HP ZBook Fury G1i 18 workstation review: Great with some flaws

The HP ZBook Fury G1i 18 has some notable advantages over the Dell Pro Max 18 Plus. It runs cooler, is slightly thinner and lighter, includes per-key RGB lighting and actual mouse buttons, and it ships with a faster 165 Hz display with less noticeable ghosting. Meanwhile, the hardware is built just as tough if not arguably more versatile with its wider hinges and "tool-less" bottom panel for easier servicing.

Unfortunately, several drawbacks hold back the HP from being the ultimate 18-inch mobile workstation. Perhaps most notably, its CPU and GPU run slightly but consistently slower than on the Dell when both are configured with identical processors. The Dell Pro Max 18 Plus runs warmer while targeting a higher TGP of 175 W for more performance. Battery life and fan noise for the HP aren't necessarily longer or quieter, respectively, despite any performance differences between the two models. The Dell machine is also more optimized for AI workloads with its higher capacity CAMM2 RAM and removable DGFF that can be swapped with a discrete Qualcomm inference NPU. Performance hunters may therefore find more value out of the Dell machine.

HP is now shipping the ZBook Fury G1i 18 starting at $5660 for the base configuration up to over $10000 if configured with the Core Ultra 9 285HX and Nvidia RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell.

The ZBook Fury G1i 18 is the first 18-inch model in the Fury family of high-performance mobile workstations. It ships with the latest Intel Arrow Lake-HX CPUs and Nvidia Pro Blackwell GPUs to be one of the most powerful in the category.

Our specific test unit has been configured to the brim with the Core Ultra 9 285HX CPU, 150 W Nvidia RTX Pro 5000 Blackwell GPU, and 64 GB of DDR5-5600 RAM for approximately $9000+ retail. All SKUs at the moment ship with the same 2560 x 1600p 165 Hz IPS display.

Competing 18-inch workstations are far and few between with the Dell Pro Max 18 Plus being the only direct competitor at the time of writing. Lenovo, for example, does not yet offer an 18-inch ThinkPad with professional Nvidia GPU options.

More HP reviews:

• 17t-cn500
• Omen 17z
• Victus 15
• ZBook X G1i 16
• OmniBook 5 14

While the aluminum alloy chassis is not noticeably weaker or stronger than on the Dell Pro Max 18 Plus, it is slightly thinner and lighter than the Dell while being larger in length and width. One notable advantage for the HP, however, is that its display can open the full 180 degrees for a bit more versatility.

The model features all ports found on the Dell Pro Max 18 Plus albeit with one fewer USB-A port. Our main complaint is that the two USB-C ports along the left edge are too close to the AC adapter port. Connecting multiple cables can be cramped as a result.

A 5 MP camera comes standard alongside IR and a physical shutter. The Poly Camera Pro software, which is also included on most other HP laptops, comes pre-installed on the ZBook Fury for additional video conferencing features.

40 percent of the plastics around the chassis are sourced from post-consumer recycling while the packaging is mostly paper pulp with some plastic wrapping for the AC adapter.

There are no extras in the box other than the AC adapter and paperwork. Disappointingly, the system comes with just a one-year limited manufacturer warranty when ordering from the official HP website instead of the usual three years for high-end workstations.

We set Windows to Performance mode with the discrete GPU active before running the benchmarks below. Advanced Optimus is not supported unlike on the competing Dell Pro Max 18 Plus.

The Core Ultra 9 285HX in our HP runs consistently slower than the same CPU in the Dell Pro Max 18 Plus by just a few percentage points. Turbo Boost appears to be weaker on the HP as shown by our CineBench R15 xT loop results below, but both machines plateau at nearly the same clock rates once their Turbo Boost benefits settle down.

Configuring with the Core Ultra 7 255HX instead of the Core Ultra 9 285HX is expected to impact processor performance by just 5 percent based on our time with the Lenovo Legion Pro 5 16IAX10. Users may therefore want to consider the lower-end CPU option to save on costs.

PCMark 10 would fail to run to completion no matter the GPU settings and so its scores are not included below. Note that AIDA64 memory scores are notably slower than on the Dell Pro Max 18 Plus as RAM technology is one of the key differentiating factors between the two models.