HP Dragonfly G4 laptop review: Small updates over the already excellent Dragonfly G3

The Dragonfly G4 directly succeeds last year's Elite Dragonfly G3 by officially dropping the "Elite" moniker and replacing the 12th gen Alder Lake-U options with 13th gen Raptor Lake-U. Other than that, the external chassis remains identical year-over-year and so we recommend checking out our review on the Elite Dragonfly G3 to learn more about the physical features of the laptop.
Our review unit is a midrange configuration with the Core i7-1365U CPU and 1280p 400-nit IPS non-touch display for approximately $1700 USD. Other SKUs range from the Core i5-1335U up to 3000 x 2000 OLED starting from $1300 up to almost $2400 depending on the RAM and storage.
The Dragonfly G4 competes directly with other high-end ultrathin prosumer or business laptops like the Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3, Dell Latitude 9330, Microsoft Surface series, or the Asus ZenBook S 13.
More HP reviews:
Potential Competitors in Comparison
Rating | Date | Model | Weight | Height | Size | Resolution | Best Price |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
91.9 % | 07/2023 | HP Dragonfly G4 i7-1365U, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.1 kg | 16.3 mm | 13.50" | 1920x1280 | |
91 % | 08/2022 | HP Elite Dragonfly G3 i7-1265U, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.2 kg | 16.3 mm | 13.50" | 1920x1280 | |
86.2 % | 05/2023 | Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel i7-1370P, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.3 kg | 15.85 mm | 13.50" | 2256x1504 | |
90.6 % | 06/2023 | Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE R5 PRO 6650U, Radeon 660M | 1.3 kg | 18.1 mm | 13.30" | 1920x1200 | |
89 % | 11/2022 | Dell Latitude 9330 i7-1260U, Iris Xe G7 96EUs | 1.2 kg | 14.1 mm | 13.30" | 2560x1600 | |
92.3 % | 07/2022 | Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry M2, M2 8-Core GPU | 1.2 kg | 11.3 mm | 13.60" | 2560x1664 |
Case — Part Prosumer, Part Business
Communication
Webcam
HP Spectre, EliteBook, and Dragonfly laptops continue to ship with 5 MP or higher webcams for noticeably sharper images than the webcams on most other laptops where 1 MP and 2 MP sensors are still common. Both IR and a privacy shutter come standard.
The HP camera software now supports keystone correction to crop or flatten a video feed for sharing whiteboards or papers, AI-powered Auto Camera to keep your eyes focused on the camera instead of on the screen, and multi-camera support for streaming two video feeds simultaneously.

Maintenance
Unlike most other manufacturers, HP uploads very handy videos on how to service or disassemble many of their laptops including the Dragonfly G4. We recommend checking out the video below for the full teardown.
Display
The model offers six display options ranging from 1280p IPS to 2000p OLED. Touchscreen, Sure View, and 1000-nit options are also available but only for certain 1280p IPS configurations. Our test unit ships with the base 1280p 400-nit Chi Mei CMN13C0 panel which is identical to what HP offered on last year's Dragonfly G3. Thus, the year-over-year viewing experience remains identical.
|
Brightness Distribution: 90 %
Center on Battery: 408.8 cd/m²
Contrast: 1278:1 (Black: 0.32 cd/m²)
ΔE Color 2.02 | 0.5-29.43 Ø5.1, calibrated: 0.61
ΔE Greyscale 2.3 | 0.57-98 Ø5.3
70.4% AdobeRGB 1998 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
98.3% sRGB (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
68.4% Display P3 (Argyll 2.2.0 3D)
Gamma: 2.2
HP Dragonfly G4 Chi Mei CMN13C0, IPS, 1920x1280, 13.50 | HP Elite Dragonfly G3 Chi Mei CMN13C0, IPS, 1920x1280, 13.50 | Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel BOE CQ NE135FBM-N41, IPS, 2256x1504, 13.50 | Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE M133NW4J R3, IPS LED, 1920x1200, 13.30 | Dell Latitude 9330 AU Optronics B133QAA, IPS, 2560x1600, 13.30 | Apple MacBook Air M2 Entry IPS, 2560x1664, 13.60 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Display | -1% | 0% | 0% | 9% | 23% | |
Display P3 Coverage | 68.4 | 68 -1% | 68.9 1% | 69 1% | 77.8 14% | 98.4 44% |
sRGB Coverage | 98.3 | 98.3 0% | 97.5 -1% | 98.4 0% | 99.9 2% | 99.9 2% |
AdobeRGB 1998 Coverage | 70.4 | 69.9 -1% | 71.1 1% | 70.3 0% | 77.5 10% | 87.6 24% |
Response Times | -8% | -10% | 10% | -50% | 27% | |
Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 48.8 ? | 50.8 ? -4% | 54.9 ? -13% | 44.2 ? 9% | 67.6 ? -39% | 32.9 ? 33% |
Response Time Black / White * | 31.3 ? | 35.2 ? -12% | 33.5 ? -7% | 28.1 ? 10% | 50.4 ? -61% | 24.9 ? 20% |
PWM Frequency | ||||||
Screen | -7% | -36% | 0% | -12% | 11% | |
Brightness middle | 408.8 | 387.2 -5% | 503 23% | 348 -15% | 542.3 33% | 526 29% |
Brightness | 399 | 360 -10% | 472 18% | 321 -20% | 516 29% | 486 22% |
Brightness Distribution | 90 | 80 -11% | 87 -3% | 85 -6% | 85 -6% | 87 -3% |
Black Level * | 0.32 | 0.26 19% | 0.36 -13% | 0.34 -6% | 0.38 -19% | 0.38 -19% |
Contrast | 1278 | 1489 17% | 1397 9% | 1024 -20% | 1427 12% | 1384 8% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 * | 2.02 | 2.36 -17% | 3.38 -67% | 1.3 36% | 3.18 -57% | 1.3 36% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 max. * | 3.84 | 4.79 -25% | 7.08 -84% | 2.5 35% | 6.05 -58% | 2.7 30% |
Colorchecker dE 2000 calibrated * | 0.61 | 0.63 -3% | 1.21 -98% | 1 -64% | 0.67 -10% | 0.7 -15% |
Greyscale dE 2000 * | 2.3 | 3 -30% | 4.8 -109% | 0.9 61% | 3.1 -35% | 2 13% |
Gamma | 2.2 100% | 2.17 101% | 2.13 103% | 2.16 102% | 2.08 106% | 2.25 98% |
CCT | 6203 105% | 6137 106% | 6235 104% | 6431 101% | 6140 106% | 6858 95% |
Total Average (Program / Settings) | -5% /
-6% | -15% /
-25% | 3% /
2% | -18% /
-13% | 20% /
16% |
* ... smaller is better
The display comes well-calibrated out of the box even though HP doesn't advertise factory calibration. Calibrating the panel with an X-Rite colorimeter ourselves would improve average grayscale and color deltaE values even further from 2.3 and 2.02 to just 1.1 and 0.61, respectively. Users can download and apply our calibrated ICM profile above.
Display Response Times
↔ Response Time Black to White | ||
---|---|---|
31.3 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 16.3 ms rise | |
↘ 15 ms fall | ||
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.1 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 83 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (21.8 ms). | ||
↔ Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey | ||
48.8 ms ... rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined | ↗ 22.9 ms rise | |
↘ 25.9 ms fall | ||
The screen shows slow response rates in our tests and will be unsatisfactory for gamers. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.2 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 82 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is worse than the average of all tested devices (34.3 ms). |
Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)
Screen flickering / PWM not detected | |||
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 18694 (minimum: 5 - maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured. |
The super-glossy overlay and its subsequent glare hinders outdoor visibility. Thankfully, HP continues to be one of the only major makers to offer 1000-nit panel options to be up to 2x brighter than most other business subnotebooks.
Performance
Testing Conditions
We set our unit to Performance mode via HP Power Manager prior to running the benchmarks below. The Power Manager software is new to the series this year and it conveniently states that its power profile settings override the default Windows power profiles as shown by the screenshot below.
Processor
Raw multi-thread performance is up to 20 percent faster than the 12th gen Core i7-1265U in last year's Dragonfly G3. Once Turbo Boost settles down, however, the performance advantage between the i7-1365U and i7-1265U becomes smaller at just 10 percent as shown by our CineBench R15 xT loop test results below. The new CPU is generally considered a minor refresh or rebrand of last year's Alder Lake-U options.
Overall performance is slower than on most other laptops equipped with the same Core i7-1365U processor by about 15 percent. In fact, the Samsung Galaxy Book3 15, which ships with the cheaper Core i5-1335U, is able to consistently outperform our Core i7 Dragonfly G4 unit in multi-threaded workloads. HP has a habit of of running CPUs on its Dragonfly series a bit slower than the competition.
It's too bad that the series does not offer any Core-P options as the Core i7-1370P would have boosted multi-thread performance significantly by up to 75 percent based on our time with the Framework 13.5.
Cinebench R15 Multi Loop
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
Cinebench R23: Multi Core | Single Core
Cinebench R20: CPU (Multi Core) | CPU (Single Core)
Cinebench R15: CPU Multi 64Bit | CPU Single 64Bit
Blender: v2.79 BMW27 CPU
7-Zip 18.03: 7z b 4 | 7z b 4 -mmt1
Geekbench 5.5: Multi-Core | Single-Core
HWBOT x265 Benchmark v2.2: 4k Preset
LibreOffice : 20 Documents To PDF
R Benchmark 2.5: Overall mean
* ... smaller is better
AIDA64: FP32 Ray-Trace | FPU Julia | CPU SHA3 | CPU Queen | FPU SinJulia | FPU Mandel | CPU AES | CPU ZLib | FP64 Ray-Trace | CPU PhotoWorxx
Performance Rating | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 |
AIDA64 / FP32 Ray-Trace | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (6720 - 8270, n=4) | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 |
AIDA64 / FPU Julia | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (33777 - 41487, n=4) | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 |
AIDA64 / CPU SHA3 | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (1754 - 2216, n=4) | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 |
AIDA64 / CPU Queen | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (67557 - 69991, n=4) | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 |
AIDA64 / FPU SinJulia | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (4589 - 5145, n=4) | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 |
AIDA64 / FPU Mandel | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (16808 - 20668, n=4) | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 |
AIDA64 / CPU AES | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (34968 - 41413, n=4) | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 |
AIDA64 / CPU ZLib | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (519 - 650, n=4) | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 |
AIDA64 / FP64 Ray-Trace | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (3513 - 4367, n=4) | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 |
AIDA64 / CPU PhotoWorxx | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (37846 - 43780, n=4) | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE |
System Performance
PCMark scores are consistently higher than on last year's model while being just shy of the Framework 13.5 and its faster Core-P CPU. Results are comparable to the Dell Latitude 9440 2-in-1 which comes with the same Core i7-1365U CPU.
CrossMark: Overall | Productivity | Creativity | Responsiveness
PCMark 10 / Digital Content Creation | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U, Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs (6392 - 6735, n=4) | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 |
PCMark 10 Score | 5690 points | |
Help |
AIDA64 / Memory Copy | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (57654 - 69736, n=4) | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel |
AIDA64 / Memory Read | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (49203 - 54068, n=4) | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE |
AIDA64 / Memory Write | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (70434 - 85570, n=4) | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel |
AIDA64 / Memory Latency | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
Average Intel Core i7-1365U (90.2 - 102.2, n=4) | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel |
* ... smaller is better
DPC Latency
DPC Latencies / LatencyMon - interrupt to process latency (max), Web, Youtube, Prime95 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel |
* ... smaller is better
Storage Devices
HP is sticking with the Micron 3400 NVMe SSD for the second year in a row in contrast to the Dell XPS 13 series which can include SSDs from Samsung, Micron, or Western Digital.
Drive Performance Rating - Percent | |
Framework Laptop 13.5 13th Gen Intel | |
HP Dragonfly G4 | |
Lenovo ThinkPad X13 G3 21CM002UGE | |
HP Elite Dragonfly G3 | |
Dell Latitude 9330 |
* ... smaller is better
Disk Throttling: DiskSpd Read Loop, Queue Depth 8
GPU Performance
Graphics performance is slightly faster than on last year's Dragonfly G3 due mostly to the slightly faster CPU. For a more significant boost, buyers will have to look elsewhere for the AMD Radeon 680M or 780M such as on the Asus Zenbook S 13 or Lenovo Yoga Pro 7 14.
Running the system on Balanced mode instead of Performance mode can hinder CPU and GPU performance by up to 12 percent and 6 percent, respectively, as shown by the 3DMark 11 comparison table below.
Power Profile | Graphics Score | Physics Score | Combined Score |
Balanced Mode | 6061 (-6%) | 10145 (-12%) | 4879 (-16%) |
Performance Mode | 6440 | 11465 | 5780 |