HP is no stranger to the ultrabook market, and the HP Elite Dragonfly Max puts that knowledge front and centre. In a compact design weighing only 2.5 pounds, this premium ultraportable packs substantial 11th gen Intel power and over 13 hours of battery life.
This HP Elite Dragonfly Max (from $2,409 to $2,950 as tested) improves on the tiny 2-in-1 in a number of ways that will assist anyone who has to conduct business outside of the office or boardroom. There’s a new webcam and front-facing microphone, as well as a built-in privacy screen and 5G eSIM compatibility, which lets you stay connected without using a network or an external hotspot.
For someone who values mobility, discretion, and versatility, the HP Elite Dragonfly Max is an excellent pick.
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Specs
| Size | 12 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches |
| Display | 13.3-inch, 1920 x 1080 |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-1185G7 |
| Price | $2,409 ($3,013 as reviewed) |
| GPU | Intel Iris Xe |
| Battery | 13:09 |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, 5G LTE |
| Weight | 2.5 pounds |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe NVMe TLC SSD |
| RAM | 16GB |
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Review: Performance
- Good CPU speed should make everyday tasks go quickly.
- Slow file transfer and video editing speeds
When the Dragonfly Max was made, many of the changes were made inside the car. It’s a shame because they don’t do much to make this laptop stand out from the rest. Our Geekbench 5.4 multicore test shows that the CPU has been upgraded to an 11th gen Intel Core i7-1185G7. This processor was also able to hit 4,928 in our single-core test. That’s a good score that puts it right in the middle of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (4,829) and Dell XPS 13. (5,420).
Our Dragonfly Max came with a 512 GB SSD that was able to copy 25GB of files at a speed of just over 558.5 MBps. In our tests, this makes it one of the slowest ultrabooks we’ve seen. It came in behind the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 (562 MBps) and the Dell XPS 13. (742 MBps).
Handbrake is a video editing tool that asks a laptop to convert a 4K video to 1080p on its own. The Elite Dragonfly Max didn’t do very well in this test. A laptop called the HP Elite Dragonfly Max did it in 19:44, which is faster than other laptops of the same size, like the Surface Laptop 4 (17:01) and the XPS 13. (18:12).
With no dedicated graphics card, HP has still shown the GPU some love. This time, they used an Intel Iris Xe intel GPU. If you want to play a lot of games, you won’t be able to do that with this much power. But games that aren’t very demanding or that have a lot of graphics should still be playable. We ran a game called Civilization 6: Gathering Storm on the Dragonfly Max, and it was able to run at about 18.4 frames per second. This is better than the Dell XPS 13 (14.4 fps), but not as good as the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 2-in-1 (26.9 fps).
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Design
It’s not the bright Dragonfly Blue of the Elite Dragonfly, but I can’t help but admire the Sparkling Black magnesium chassis. Just a little sparkle makes you want to look more closely at the laptop’s body. Short and long strips of silver chrome are put into the middle of the lid to make the HP logo look modern and stylish. There is a little bit of black chrome on both of the 360-degree hinges to give them a more subtle shine.
In terms of size, the 360-degree hinges aren’t very big, but they’ve been made very well. Dragonfly Max was easy to switch from clamshell to tent or tablet mode. It took a lot of shaking to get the lid out of clamshell mode, which shows how strong the hinges are.
Now, let’s look inside the laptop. More of the Sparking Black magnesium is used to make the deck, which is very pretty and durable. A large touchpad takes up a lot of space on the palm rest, with an island-style keyboard right above it. The fingerprint reader is right next to the end key, so you can scan your finger there. You’ll see a speaker vent on both sides of the keyboard, which means the sound is coming from the top.
Weight: The Dragonfly Max, which measures 12 by 7.8 by 0.6 inches, weighs 2.5 pounds. In comparison, the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 weighs 2.9 pounds, the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 6th Gen weighs 3 pounds, and the Dell Latitude 9420 2-in-1 weighs 3 pounds, so they all weigh about the same.
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Display
- The 1080p 13-inch touchscreen is bright and has vivid colours.
- HP’s SureView privacy screen is very useful, and it is very easy to use.
The Dragonfly Max makes the most of its small screen space with a clean, slim-bezel design. The 13.3-inch touchscreen only has a resolution of FHD.
The Dragonfly Max’s IPS screen is very good at displaying colours. A colorimeter showed that the Dragonfly Max covered 115.3 percent of the colour range in sRGB when it was put to the test. For comparison, Dell’s XPS 13 with OLED and the MacBook Air with M1 both made 117.3 percent, while the MacBook Air made 113.6 percent. This makes the Dragonfly Max display a good choice for streaming content and giving a rich picture, but it probably won’t be the first choice for editing photos or making graphics.
In our tests, the screen kept an average brightness level of 706.6 nits, which is a little brighter than the panels on the ThinkPad X1 Yoga (402 nits) or the Dell XPS 13. (516 nits). When I turned the brightness all the way up, I was only able to look at my screen for a short time before I felt like I was straining my eyes. To be honest, I didn’t see the point of this until I took the laptop outside and saw how easy it was to read even in direct sunlight.
The screen also has HP’s Eye Ease filter, which helps keep blue light to a minimum. Most blue light filters make your screen look brown, but I didn’t notice any tint on the Dragonfly Max. I only found out the filter was on when I checked to make sure it was on.
Some people might not know that HP SureView has an integrated privacy screen. It dims and disappears when you look at it from a 45-degree angle, so you can’t see the screen at all. Not the most exciting thing about this laptop is that it has a cover. It’ll be a welcome addition for anyone who wants privacy.
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Keyboard
The Dragonfly Max Chiclet keyboard is a bouncy, clicky joy to type on. With brilliant white backlighting, the keys are adequately spaced. On the 10fastfingers typing test, I reached my typical 70 words per minute. My fingers never bottomed out since the keys had just the proper amount of snap.
My fingers glided across the smooth surface of the 2.6 x 4.3-inch touchpad. Pinch-zoom, two-finger scroll, and three-finger tap were all simple to use in Windows 10.
HP Elite Dragonfly Max 5G Connectivity
If you need to be able to get online no matter where you are, the Dragonfly Max is for you –– if you’re willing to pay for a data plan. An AT&T SIM card came with my review unit. With a Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 5G LTE antenna, the AT&T SIM card for 5G worked great. Down, I saw speeds of 76 megabits per second and 5.88 megabits per second. I have Verizon 5G in my Brooklyn, New York home.
It’s not as fast as my Verizon Fios network, which had 478.6Mbps down and 195.5Mbps up. But it’s more than enough to get the job done on a commute or in a place where there isn’t a lot of or no web.
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Battery Life
Because you worked eight hours, you should not leave your laptop at home, even though it should. On the Laptop Mag battery test, which lasts for 13 hours and 9 minutes, the Dragonfly Max lasted for 150 nits of brightness the whole time. That’s a lot longer than the 10:49 average for a high-end laptop, as well as the 10:53 for the XPS 13, which is a laptop. There were, however, both the ThinkPad Yoga and the Latitude 9420 that took longer to finish. They took 14:45 and 15:02 to finish.
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Heat
The Dragonfly Max is going to stay cool no matter what you do to it. We watched a full-screen HD video for about 15 minutes. Then, we measured a few places on the screen’s frame. The touchpad measured 78 degrees Fahrenheit, while the centre of the keyboard and the bottom reached 89 and 90 degrees, respectively. All of this is below our 95-degree threshold for comfort, which is why we didn’t like it. Read also; HP 250 G5 Business Laptop Specs, Price, and Best Deals.
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Webcam
When it comes to laptop cameras, the Dragonfly Max has one that is a lot better than the ones on most of them. It was able to take stills and videos at 2560 x 1440 resolution. It did a good job of capturing the seams and creases in my shirt. So it still made noise. It was a little less than you’d hear on most webcams, but still. As the picture shows, I was very happy with the colours. The photographer was able to accurately show the blue, purple, and pink in my locs. This picture also shows my hair growing out orange, which makes me sad because I need to go to the salon soon.
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Software and Warranty
Pre-installed software on business laptops is usually more than what is found on most laptops. Dragonfly Max, on the other hand, is such a case In addition to the security software, the laptop comes with HP Power Manager that lets you switch between performance modes and a Programmable Key that lets you make your own macros.
Need to get rid of all the junk on your computer? Allow HP Easy Clean to turn off the laptop’s keyboard, touchpad, and screen so that you can clean it up with a sponge or cloth. HP PC Hardware Diagnostic Windows lets you run system tests to make sure your computer is working at its best. When there is a problem, HP has a support tool called HP Support Assistant that can help fix it.
When there was so much proprietary software, there wasn’t much room for a lot of third-party junk software. Even though there was Microsoft Solitaire and Xbox Game Bar, there wasn’t much else to play outside of those two games. Read more; Do you want to build a PC? It’s the Best Time in Years.
HP Elite Dragonfly Max Verdict
All good business laptops should be light and durable, secure, and have enough power to get things done. The HP Elite Dragonfly Max has all of that and more, as well as many other things. The Dragonfly Max is only 2.5 pounds, but it has a lot of security features, is durable, has 13 hours of battery life, and has an 11th Gen Intel processor. It passed 19 MIL-SPEC tests. Plus, you get a very bright and vivid screen with a built-in privacy screen, 5G connectivity, a powerful webcam and speakers, and a very comfortable keyboard with a lot of space. There is nothing else you could want.
Well, there was a price cut for one. A $3,013 price tag for the Dragonfly Max is hard to swallow, even with all the bells and whistles that come with it. Plus, I can’t help but be angry that HP wants you to pay to use a pen. Dell Latitude 9420 2-in-1 is a laptop that costs $2,902 and is more powerful than the HP laptop. There are other business laptops that are very secure, but if you want a durable and light laptop that is also very durable, you can’t forget about the HP Elite Dragonfly Max.
All good business laptops should be light and durable, secure, and have enough power to get things done. The HP Elite Dragonfly Max has all of that and more, as well as many other things. The Dragonfly Max is only 2.5 pounds, but it has a lot of security features, is durable, has 13 hours of battery life, and has an 11th Gen Intel processor. It passed 19 MIL-SPEC tests. Plus, you get a very bright and vivid screen with a built-in privacy screen, 5G connectivity, a powerful webcam and speakers, and a very comfortable keyboard with a lot of space. There is nothing else you could want.
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Performance
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5G Connectivity
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