HP ZBook Firefly 14 G7 and 15 G7 with Comet Lake vPro CPUs and Quadro P520 graphics aim to take on the MacBook Pro 13

HP has announced what it is claiming to be the world's smallest and lightest mobile workstation — the Zbook Firefly 14 and ZBook Firefly 15 G7. The new ZBooks are successors to the ZBook 14u G6 and ZBook 15u G6, which we had reviewed last year. This year's models get an upgrade to Intel Comet Lake-U vPro CPUs and NVIDIA Quadro P520 graphics.

There are some significant design changes to the ZBooks this year. The ZBook Firefly 14 G7 and the Firefly 15 G7 are now 8.8% smaller in volume and 5.2% lighter compared to their predecessors. Port selection has also reduced this time around but are useful nevertheless. The ZBook Firefly 14 and 15 G7 now offer 2x USB 3.1, 2x Thunderbolt 3, HDMI 1.4b-out, combo audio jack, and an optional WWAN SIM slot for 4G LTE. 

The ZBook Firefly 14 and 15 G7 are powered by Intel Comet Lake-U vPro options up to the Core i7-10810U accompanied by DDR4-2666 RAM up to 64 GB, and PCIe M.2 storage up to 2 TB. HP has gone the NVIDIA route this year by giving users the NVIDIA Quadro P520 with 4 GB GDDR5 RAM instead of the AMD Radeon Pro WX 3200. HP said that the ZBook Firefly series is ready for both 3D work and gaming, but we wouldn't really recommend demanding games on this laptop as the Quadro P520 is equivalent to the MX150 on the consumer side. The ZBooks are designed to dynamically shift loads between the CPU and the GPU depending on the workflow. With these features, HP is confident that the ZBook Firefly 14 provides enough power to take on the Apple MacBook Pro 13. 

HP allows configuring the ZBook Firefly models with FHD and UHD display options. The FHD display does not boast the best of specs as it covers only 45% NTSC and has a brightness of just 250 nits. The UHD panel, however, covers 100% sRGB color gamut and is rated at a 550-nit brightness for the 14-inch version and at 400-nits for the 15-inch model. HP claims a 17-hour battery life for both models, but that can significantly vary depending on the display option. 

The HP Firefly 14 G7 and Firefly 15 G7 are expected to be available in August with prices starting from US$1,099.