HP ZBook 15u G3
Specifications
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Average of 3 scores (from 2 reviews)
Reviews for the HP ZBook 15u G3
Affordable, portable, professional… The HP ZBook 15u G3 brings us a thin-and-light mobile workstation with capable specs, all within the realm of affordability. But is it a workstation, or is it an Ultrabook… or is it a little bit of both?
Source: It Pro Archive.org version
The HP Zbook 15u G3 is an odd laptop. It has almost everything most professionals could want out of a workstation, but not quite enough. HP not only fumbles the software but it also chose to include a surprisingly mediocre screen. That might be excusable in a cheaper laptop, but not in a portable workstation that costs so much.
Single Review, online available, Medium, Date: 06/02/2016
Rating: Total score: 60%
Source: Mobile Tech Review Archive.org version
The HP ZBook 15u is like a Hummer H3 with a Mazda Miata drivetrain--it's hard to say exactly where it fits other than as an upsell for the more powerful ZBook Studio and ZBook 15 models, or as a corporate purchase for those whose jobs don't entail heavy computational and design tasks.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 04/27/2016
Rating: Total score: 60%
Comment
Model: The HP ZBook 15u G3 is a thin-and-light mobile workstation clad in a magnesium-reinforced casing. The display lid features a soft-touch paint around the perimeter with a stylish yet still rather subdued aluminum inlay in the middle. The display lid is thin yet rigid, and it does a good job of resisting twisting or pressure from the back. The HP ZBook 15u G3 is configurable with a few different display options. Among them are three 1080p displays - a standard TN LED anti-glare display, an anti-glare IPS panel with Panel Self-Refresh, and a touch panel with a glossy finish - and a 3840x2160 high-end IPS display. The HP ZBook 15u G3 is configured with the Intel Core i7-6600U. The Intel Core i7-6600U has a base clock rate of 2.6 GHz, with Turbo frequencies of up to 3.4 GHz (single-core) and 3.2 GHz (dual-core).
This is certainly powerful enough for everyday activities, but the limitations of a dual-core chip should be considered before deciding on something as critical as a professional workstation.For most users, it will be perfectly adequate, especially when paired with the dedicated AMD FirePro W4190M GPU and 16 GB of DDR4 RAM. The keyboard is backlit and key visibility is good. To the right of the keyboard is a full-sized number pad, which those doing a lot of data entry are sure to appreciate. During continuous web surfing, the 3910 mAh battery is able to last up to 5 hours 12 mins before running out of juice. Standard accessories for the HP ZBook 15u G3 are a 720p HD webcam, internal speakers, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, dual SIM, 3 USB 3.0 ports, a fingerprint reader and an SD card reader.
AMD FirePro W4190M: Professional lower-mid-range workstation graphics card which is based on the same Mars chip as the Radeon HD 8790M and FirePro W4170M.
Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.
» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.
Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.
6600U: Skylake-based ULV dual-core processor for thin notebooks and ultrabooks. Offers an integrated HD Graphics 520 GPU and is manufactured in 14 nm.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.
15.60":
15-inch display variants are the standard and are used for more than half of all laptops.
The reason for the popularity of mid-sized displays is that this size is reasonably easy on the eyes, often allows high resolutions and thus offers rich details on the screen, yet does not consume too much power and the devices can still be reasonably compact - simply the standard compromise.
» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.HP: Founded in 1939, the US company is a major server and printer manufacturer and one of the leading IT companies in the world. Until 2015, the company was called Hewlett-Packard Company. After a split, the computer division was renamed HP Inc.
In 2023, HP had an approximate market share of 22% of global PC sales, making it number 2 after Lenovo.
65.9%: This rating is poor. More than three quarters of the models are rated better. That is rather not a purchase recommendation. Even if verbal ratings in this area do not sound that bad ("sufficient" or "satisfactory"), they are usually euphemisms that disguise a classification as a below-average laptop.
» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.