HP EliteBook X G1a Review: A premium AI-powered business laptop with Ryzen AI, OLED, and pro-grade security.
HP’s range-topping EliteBook X G1a 14-inch business laptop is based around AMD Ryzen AI processors. The $2,099 base model includes a 1920 x 1200 IPS screen, a Ryzen 7 AI PRO 360 processor (8 cores, 5.0GHz boost), 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD. A higher-performing Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 processor (12 cores, 5.1GHz boost) is available, though it loses out on the AMD PRO management features. Meanwhile, 2880 x 1800 OLED models start at $2,599.
Standard features include Windows 11 Pro, AMD Radeon integrated graphics, a backlit keyboard, a 5MP IR camera, a fingerprint sensor, and MediTek Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. Although the memory is soldered LPDDR5X and can’t be upgraded, the M.2 SSD can be swapped. Many models include HP’s hardware- and software-based Wolf Pro security suite.
Advanced AI Capabilities
The AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 processor brings advanced AI capabilities to thin and light laptops through its dedicated neural processing unit, delivering an impressive 55 TOPS of AI performance. Combined with its hybrid architecture—featuring 4 high-performance Zen 5 cores (up to 5.1 GHz) and 8 efficient Zen 5c cores (up to 3.3 GHz)—and integrated Radeon 890M graphics, the processor achieves approximately 85 TOPS total AI compute power. It is built on a cutting-edge 4nm process and offers a flexible TDP range from 15W to 54W, enabling powerful yet energy-efficient performance ideal for ultraportable designs.
This robust AI performance unlocks practical applications in thin and light laptops, enabling real-time video enhancements, background blur, eye contact correction, and accelerated image processing. It also facilitates advanced productivity tools like Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC certification, Windows Studio Effects, Cocreate for creative tasks, and the upcoming Windows Recall feature for intelligent activity organization. We recently showcased that even lower-powered devices like NVIDIA’s Jetson Orin Nano with 67 TOPS can effectively run substantial large language models. The Ryzen AI 9 HX 375’s higher AI throughput comfortably supports sophisticated on-device AI workloads without relying heavily on cloud resources.
In practical terms, the Elitebook seamlessly handles day-to-day AI-driven tasks that previously required more powerful desktop systems. Its processor, equipped with dedicated NPU acceleration, consumes less power during routine workloads and can leverage GPU acceleration to deliver the full 85 TOPs of performance for more demanding tasks. This makes the Elitebook a compelling choice for next-generation thin-and-light laptops designed to fully harness the potential of AI-driven computing experiences.
HP EliteBook X G1a Specifications
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Product Name | HP EliteBook X G1a 14-inch Notebook Next Gen AI PC |
| Available Operating Systems | Windows 11 Pro, Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Home Single Language, Windows 11 Pro (Windows 11 Enterprise available with a Volume Licensing Agreement), FreeDOS |
| Processor Family | AMD Ryzen™ AI 9 PRO processor, AMD Ryzen™ AI 7 PRO processor |
| Available Processors | AMD Ryzen™ AI 9 HX PRO 375 (2.0 GHz base clock, up to 5.1 GHz max boost clock, 24 MB L3 cache, 12 cores, 24 threads) with AMD Radeon™ Graphics and AMD XDNA™ 2 architecture (55 NPU TOPS), AMD Ryzen™ AI 7 PRO 360 (2.0 GHz base clock, up to 5.0 GHz max boost clock, 16 MB L3 cache, 8 cores, 16 threads) with AMD Radeon™ Graphics and AMD XDNA™ 2 architecture (50 NPU TOPS) |
| Neural Processing Unit | AMD XDNA™ 2 architecture (55 NPU TOPS); AMD XDNA™ 2 architecture (50 NPU TOPS) |
| Product Color | Glacier silver |
| Maximum Memory | 64 GB LPDDR5X-8533 MT/s; (Transfer rates up to 8000 MT/s.) Memory soldered down. Supports dual-channel memory. |
| Internal Storage | 512 GB up to 2 TB PCIe® Gen4x4 NVMe™ M.2 SSD TLC, 512 GB PCIe® Gen4x4 NVMe™ M.2 SED SSD TLC, 256 GB PCIe® NVMe™ Value M.2 SSD |
| Display Size (Diagonal, Metric) | 35.6 cm (14″) |
| Display | 14″ diagonal, WUXGA (1920 x 1200), IPS, anti-glare, 400 nits, low power, 100% sRGB; 14″ diagonal, 3K (2880 x 1800), OLED, touch, 48-120 Hz, BrightView, Low Blue Light, 400 nits, low power, 100% DCI-P3 |
| Available Graphics | Integrated: AMD Radeon™ Graphics |
| Audio | Audio by Poly Studio, quad stereo speakers with discrete amplifiers, integrated dual array microphones |
| Ports and Connectors | 1 USB Type-C® 10Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort™ 2.1); 1 HDMI 2.1; 1 stereo headphone/microphone combo jack; 2 Thunderbolt™ 4 with USB Type-C® 40Gbps signaling rate (USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort™ 2.1); 1 USB Type-A 10Gbps signaling rate (powered) |
| Input Devices | HP Premium Keyboard – spill-resistant, backlit keyboard; Clickpad with multi-touch gesture support, taps enabled as default; Microsoft Precision Touchpad; Accelerometer; HP Sure Platform; Thermal sensor; HP Tamper Lock; Hall effect sensor |
| Communications | MediaTek Wi-Fi 7 MT7925 (2×2) and Bluetooth® 5.4 wireless card with external antenna; NFC Mirage WNC XRAV-1 |
| Camera | 5 MP camera; IR camera |
| Software | Buy Microsoft Office (sold separately); HP Connection Optimizer; myHP; Hotkey support; HP Notifications; HP PC Hardware Diagnostics UEFI; HP PC Hardware Diagnostics Windows; HP Privacy Settings; HP Services Scan; HP Support Assistant; HP AI Companion; HSA Fusion for Commercial; HSA Telemetry for Commercial; Poly Camera Pro; Poly Lens; HP MAC Address Manager; Battery Health Manager |
| Security Management | HP Sure Admin; HP Sure Click; HP Sure Recover; HP Sure Run; HP Sure Sense; HP Sure Start; HP Tamper Lock; Absolute Persistence Module; HP BIOS Recovery; Secured-Core PC Enable; TPM 2.0 embedded security chip (Common Criteria EAL4+ and FIPS 140-2 Level 2 Certified); Security lock slot; Windows Hello Enhanced Sign-in Security (ESS) Enable; BIOS Update via Network; HP BIOSphere Gen6; HP DriveLock and Automatic DriveLock; HP Secure Erase; HP Wake on WLAN |
| Security Software Licenses | HP Wolf Pro Security Edition |
| Fingerprint Reader | Fingerprint sensor (select models) |
| Management Features | HP Client Management Script Library (download); HP Image Assistant (download); HP Driver Packs (download); HP Cloud Recovery; HP Manageability Integration Kit (download); HP Client Catalog (download); HP Connect for Microsoft Endpoint Manager; HP Power Manager |
| Power | HP 100 W USB Type-C® slim adapter; HP 140 W USB Type-C® slim adapter |
| Battery Type | HP XL-Long Life 4-cell, 74.5 Wh Li-ion polymer; Battery is internal and not replaceable by customer. Serviceable by warranty. Fast charging 50% in 30 minutes. |
| Dimensions | 12.29 x 8.45 x 0.36 in (front); 12.29 x 8.45 x 0.52 in (rear); 31.22 x 21.46 x 0.92 cm (front); 31.22 x 21.46 x 1.31 cm (rear) |
| Weight | Starting at 3.3 lb; Starting at 1.49 kg |
| Ecolabels | EPEAT® registered configurations available; TCO Certified; EPEAT® Gold registered in the U.S. |
| Energy Star Certified | ENERGY STAR® certified |
| Certification and Compliance | CECP; GS Mark; CSA/UL 62368-1; FCC/ICES/CISPR/VCCI; CE Marking; China CCC/SRRC; Taiwan BSMI/NCC; Korea KCC/KC/KES; Ukraine NSoC/TEC; EAEU Compliance; Saudi Arabian Compliance; Low blue light; WW RoHS |
| Warranty | 1-year warranty and 90-day software limited warranty options depending on country. Batteries have a default one-year limited warranty. On-site service and extended coverage is also available. HP Care Pack Services are optional extended service contracts that go beyond the standard limited warranties. To choose the right level of service for your HP product, use the HP Care Pack Services Lookup Tool at: http://www.hp.com/go/cpc |
HP EliteBook X G1a Design and Features
The EliteBook X G1a has the familiar silver look we expect from this product line. While not visually exciting, these laptops are intended for a professional audience where attracting attention isn’t the goal.
The aluminum used for the chassis feels smooth, sturdy, and durable, without any hint of flex. At 12.29 x 8.45 x 0.36~0.52 inches and 3.3 pounds, the EliteBook is slim enough given its 14-inch display, though it’s slightly heavy. The rounded edges on all the surfaces make it comfortable to carry around. You can sense the quality when using the palm rest where your wrist sits while typing.
Port selection is beneficial and should preclude the need to carry adapters. The left ports include an HDMI 2.1 monitor output, one Thunderbolt 4, one 10Gbps USB Type-C 3.2, and a 3.5mm universal audio jack. Meanwhile, on the right, you’ll find another Thunderbolt 4 port, a 10Gbps USB Type-A 3.2 port, and a cable lock slot.
HP’s keyboard has a familiar layout and comfortable island-style keys. The white backlighting is effective in low light. The arrow key size is small, but all the same size. The font on the keycaps is easy to read. The power button at the top right is also a fingerprint reader. The keyboard has a pleasant feel, with a soft, shallow throw, producing minimal keystroke noise. The keyboard deck has almost no flex. The touchpad is a fantastic size, with a subtle matte finish that your finger can glide around on easily.
The IR webcam above the display provides another biometric option. HP includes a sliding privacy shutter.
HP EliteBook X G1a Screen
We tested the EliteBook with its top screen option, a 2880 x 1800 OLED panel. The fantastically vibrant color is probably overkill for office work, but this laptop has enough performance (as we’ll see shortly) to be a solid content-creation machine. It also has touch support. The OLED panel has no grid appearance that we’ve seen on other systems and comes across crystal clear.
The base panel is a 14-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS without touch support.
HP EliteBook X G1a Upgradability
The bottom panel comes off after removing four Torx screws.
The only changeable components are the battery and M.2 2280 SSD. HP includes a heatsink to keep the SSD cool. Regarding temperatures, the system was silent during regular operation. With the CPU under a heavy load, fan noise was audible but at a whisper level, nothing that could be called droning or excessive.
HP EliteBook X G1a Performance
We received a review model featuring a Ryzen AI 9 HX 375, 64GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 2880 x 1800 OLED screen. This model retails for $2,749 direct from HP. Business purchases through a channel partner might differ.
Our comparison charts used the HP EliteBook 1040 G11 configured with a Core Ultra 7 165H CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 512GB SSD.
Luxmark
We start with LuxMark, an OpenCL GPU benchmarking utility. The EliteBooks were evenly matched in Hallbench, but the EliteBook 1040 G11’s Arc graphics proved superior in Food.
| Luxmark (Higher is better) | ||
| HP EliteBook X G1a (Ryzen AI 9 HX 375) | HP EliteBook 1040 G11 (Core Ultra 7 165H) | |
| Hallbench | 2056 | 2095 |
| food | 1027 | 1443 |
Blackmagic RAW Speed Test
Our next test is the new Blackmagic RAW Speed test. Here again, we see a tug of war, with the EliteBook X G1a dominating the CPU test but the EliteBook 1040 G11’s Arc graphics proving much faster in Open CL.
| Blackmagic RAW Speed Test | ||
| Category | HP EliteBook X G1a (Ryzen AI 9 HX 375) | HP EliteBook 1040 G11 (Core Ultra 7 165H) |
| 8K CPU | 67 | 53 |
| 8K OPENCL | 30 | 56 |
Blackmagic Disk Speed Test
The Gen4 drive in our review model shows respectable data transfer performance for an OEM drive.
y-cruncher
y-cruncher is a multi-threaded and scalable program that can compute Pi and other mathematical constants to trillions of digits. Since its launch in 2009, it has become a popular benchmarking and stress-testing application for overclockers and hardware enthusiasts. We only have numbers for the EliteBook X G1a here since the EliteBook 1040 G11 we tested only had 16GB of RAM, limiting it to the 1 billion digits test.
| y-cruncher (Total Computation Time) | HP EliteBook X G1a (Ryzen AI 9 HX 375) | HP EliteBook 1040 G11 (Core Ultra 7 165H) |
| 1 billion digits | 22.510 | 43.128 seconds |
| 2.5 billion | 73.800 | N/A |
| 5 billion | 151.689 | N/A |
| 10 billion | 309.279 | N/A |
Geekbench 6
Geekbench 6 is a cross-platform benchmark that measures overall system performance. You can find comparisons to any system you want in the Geekbench Browser. Here, the EliteBook X G1a took first place in all tests by a wide margin.
| Geekbench 6 (Higher is better) | HP EliteBook X G1a (Ryzen AI 9 HX 375) | HP EliteBook 1040 G11 (Core Ultra 7 165H) |
| CPU Single-Core | 2,829 | 2,365 |
| CPU Multi-Core | 14,705 | 12,432 |
| GPU | 40,836 | 35,684 |
Cinebench R23
This benchmark uses all CPU cores and threads to generate an overall score. The EliteBook X G1a performs better.
| Cinebench R23 (Higher is better) | HP EliteBook X G1a (Ryzen AI 9 HX 375) | HP EliteBook 1040 G11 (Core Ultra 7 165H) |
| Multi-Core | 21,013 | 14,146 |
| Single-Core | 1,961 | 1,798 |
Cinebench 2024
We also started running the latest Cinebench test. The results are similar to Cinebench R23, with the EliteBook X G1a demonstrating superior performance.
| Cinebench 2024 (Higher is better) | HP EliteBook X G1a (Ryzen AI 9 HX 375) | HP EliteBook 1040 G11 (Core Ultra 7 165H) |
| Multi-Core | 1,126 | 799 |
| Single-Core | 111 | 105 |
UL Procyon AI Inference
UL’s Procyon estimates a workstation’s performance for professional apps. We tested this against the CPU only. Though the EliteBook X G1a lagged in all tests, we won’t take away much from this test as the CPU wouldn’t typically be used for AI inference tasks.
| UL Procyon Average Inference Times (Lower is better) | HP EliteBook X G1a (Ryzen AI 9 HX 375) | HP EliteBook 1040 G11 (Core Ultra 7 165H) |
| MobileNet V3 | 1.82 | 1.35 |
| ResNet 50 | 14.31 | 14.00 |
| Inception V4 | 43.55 | 42.64 |
| DeepLab V3 | 47.64 | 45.67 |
| YOLO V3 | 105.04 | 111.18 |
| Real-ESRGAN | 4,565.56 | 4,421.93 |
| Overall Score | 91 | 97 |
Conclusion
HP’s EliteBook series continues to set the bar for premium business laptops, and the EliteBook X G1a is no exception. Balancing performance, security, and portability delivers a well-rounded experience for professionals who need reliability without sacrificing power. The robust build quality, excellent keyboard, and comprehensive connectivity options reinforce its status as a top-tier productivity machine. Meanwhile, the OLED touchscreen and Ryzen AI processors elevate it beyond traditional business laptops, making it a viable option for content creation and AI-driven workflows.
While the soldered memory limits upgradability, the strong performance, enterprise-grade security, and refined design make it a compelling choice for business users who demand both innovation and practicality. If you’re looking for a powerful 14-inch laptop that can handle AI-enhanced workloads while maintaining a sleek, professional design, the EliteBook X G1a is an easy recommendation.
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