CheckMag | Hands on with 2026 business laptops: These are HP's ThinkPad competitors
The laptop market is facing a difficult time ahead. With rising prices, it is likely that demand will suffer, especially in the consumer sector, as consumers typically price sensitive and will rather continue to use their old laptops than buy new ones. This leaves businesses as the most important customer groups for the laptop manufacturers.
HP has recently introduced their 2026 business lineup, which consists of HP EliteBook, HP ProBook and HP ZBook laptops. We were able to look at the new HP business laptop at an event in New York.
HP's lineup is huge, and there are many different lines. For general use in the office, going from cheap to expensive, you have the HP ProBook 4 G2, the HP EliteBook 6 G2, the HP EliteBook 8 G2 and the HP EliteBook X G2. On the workstation side, for CAD and AI usage, HP introduced new models in the HP ZBook 8 G2 line and the HP ZBook X G2 series.
The new HP EliteBook laptops: All eyes on the EliteBook X and EliteBook 6
Most of these new laptops are basic refreshes, which means that HP is reusing last year's designs. The big exception is the HP EliteBook X G2, which was completely redesigned - and HP did a great job. It feels like a high quality machine in all aspects, including the haptic touchpad and new keyboard, which has a "lattice free" design. Currently, this is the only EliteBook with this design, but HP said they may consider bringing it into other EliteBook laptops in the future. Importantly, this keyboard is top-loaded and thus, user removable.
Besides the EliteBook X, the big focus for EliteBooks this year is the new HP EliteBook 6 G2q 14, which will be powered by the Snapdragon X2 CPUs - we justed tested those. Physically, it is identical to the previous model, but of course, the internals are the big news here.
HP ZBook X is an affordable performance laptop
Last but not least, you have the three new ZBook workstations, which are distinct from the EliteBooks by their darker color scheme. The ZBook X G2 is the more expensive one of the three, but interestingly, it has a mylar plastic touchpad - while the less expensive ZBook 8 G2 has a glass one, curtesy of the EliteBook 8 series. In any case, the EliteBook 8 G2 models, which are available as both AMD and Intel versions, are for more lightweight tasks. Far more interesting is the HP ZBook X G2i, because HP will offer it with the Nvidia RTX Pro 3000 now. The predecessor was limited to the RTX Pro 2000. For a relatively lightweight and affordable workstation, the ZBook X packs a lot of power.
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