HP Elite Folio review 2022 - wolfbrejack

Mark Hachman / IDG

At a Carom

Skilled's Military rank

Pros

Stylish plan
15+ hours of battery life
Bright display
SIM expansion slot for radio connectivity

Cons

Arm-based Snapdragon Central processor still struggles with performance and compatibility
Shallow-go keyboard

Our Finding of fact

The HP Elite Folio is lightweight and stylish, with all-day battery lifespan. Its operation hush can't compete with that of fashionable AMD Ryzen or Intel Core processors, and software compatibility issues persist. These shortcomings may still be hard to swallow considering the Elite Folio's premium price tag.

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The HP Elite Folio wraps vivid display options, 4G/5G connectivity options, and complete-day battery life within a lightweight, stylish design. Information technology distinctly wins on mobility.

The 2-in-1 laptop's Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G processor has its caveats, though. Its performance still can't compete with that of modern AMD Ryzen or Intel Nitty-gritty processors, and software compatibility issues persist. These limitations may be yob to digest considering the Elite group Folio's premium price tag.

This review is region of our ongoing roundup of the incomparable laptops. Go at that place for information on competing products and how we tested them.

HP Elite Leaf BASIC features

HP's Elite Pagination is available in either an 8GB Jampack/16GB SSD fixed constellation on HP.com for $1,889Get rid of non-product connec, or a configurable Elect Folio choiceRemove non-product link that begins at $1,895.04. IT's worth noting that patc the first option appears ready to transport, selecting the configurable option puts the ship date at October 7—with a bear-sized modifier: "This platform has an extended build time. Component handiness, and hence the ship date, may transfer." A contrary configuration is $1,949.95 connected AmazonBump off non-merchandise connec.

hp elite folio primary — HP's Elite Pagination, in its Thomas More traditional desktop orientation.

C.P.U.: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G
Display: 13.3-edge in (1920×1280) IPS touch, 400 nits rated
Memory: 8GB/16GB LPDDR4x-4266 (16GB arsenic tested)
Storage: 128GB/256GB/512GB PCIe NVMe SSD (512GB as tested)
Graphics: Adreno 690
Ports: 2 USB-C 5Gbps (DisplayPort 1.4, USB PD)
Protection: Windows Hello
Camera: 720p (user-veneer, Windows Hello)
Battery:46Wh (rated); 47.6Wh (as proven)
Wireless: 8021.11ac (2×2 MIMO), Bluetooth 5, Snapdragon X20 LTE Cat 16
Operating scheme: Windows 10 Home/Pro (Windows 10 Home as tested)
Dimensions: 11.75 x 9.03 x 0.63 inches
Weight: 2.93 pounds, 3.57 with charger
Color: Black

While the Elite Paging looks same a clamshell laptop computer, it's finisher to a 2-in-1 Windows pad. The keyboard does non come away, as it does with Microsoft's Come up Pro X or Aerofoil Pro 7+. Instead, it can rotate unerect into a tablet style. A "hybrid" way allows information technology to pull cheeky, concealing the keyboard for streaming video and using the screen as a primary interface. HP also includes a penitentiary, an additional cost with contende tablets.

The Elite Folio's Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G is an Arm C.P.U. that mimics the customized Arm chip used inner the Surface Pro X and the Lenovo Flex 5G. Those tablets, however, used a slightly earlier version of the Snapdragon 8cx, the Gen 1.

hp elite folio back — "Vegan leather" wraps the outside surfaces of the HP Elite Leaf.

These Arm chips come with with trade-offs. Historically, they've run more slowly than an Intel Core or AMD Ryzen chip, in part because of the need to emulate traditional x86 instructions. That's less of a concern now, as more applications can either run on native Arm code, or via the web. Barely assume't expect to play games on the Elite Pagination—it's an optimized Office operating room web browsing machine first and foremost.

The Elite group Folio may look a great deal like the 2019 Spectre Leaf. There's one John Major external difference: Unlike the Spectre Folio's real leather facing, the Elite Folio is draped in "vegan leather," which is just a fancy name for polyurethane. That fabric conveys a grand look while organism animal-friendly. Inside, the keyboard deck returns to a more traditional, plasticky surface.

hp elite folio flipped back — This unsanctioned "presentation" mode orientation shows how the Elite Folio straddles the definition of a detachable Windows tablet and a more traditional design.

The reduced-power Snapdragon chip allows the Folio to run completely without a fan. You fundament clearly feeling the warmth that the CPU puts out at the bottom of the block out, though it never even approaches uncomfortable temperatures.

The HP Selected Pagination's display is fab: bright, with vivid colors that cover 99 percent of the SRGB color gamut, though only when 74 percent of AdobeRGB and 75 percent of sRGB, as measured past our tintometer. You might not buy a laptop to work outside, but if you do, the Elite Folio's available with two lurid display options: a base model with a uttermost 400 nits of brightness, and a 1,000-nit higher-finish option, which we didn't review. Turning up the display brightness will run inoperative the integrated 46Wh battery more quickly, of course.

The Elite Pagination includes constitutional 4G LTE capabilities, with a SIM slot in the indite cubby, which we'll talk about below. HP tells us thither will be 5G options in the coming.

hp elite folio left side — A USB-C port lies on either side of the flesh.

Port selection is sparse—two USB-C (not Thunderbolt) connections, one on either side of the chassis. Connecting to a Thunderbolt tail enabled work on a single external 4K display, which satisfied our productiveness inevitably.

Typing experience

Horsepower offers more or less of the most homey keyboards in the industry—but not on the Elite Folio. Although its keys are about aggressively springy, the shallow (1.3mm) travel is foremost suitable for gentle tappers rather than forceful mashers. The layout is fairly standard, with a tapering wrangle of function keys at the top and cross-shaped cursor keys to the lower right. The F2 key entirely lacks a secondary function, a rather unusual omission.

hp elite folio keyboard and pen cubby — The HP Elite Folio keyboard offers shallow, though spacious keys.

The Elite Paging trackpad, patc not overly large, boasts the lustrous glass smoothness of a premium offering. Windows classifies it as a Preciseness touchpad, signification that Microsoft and Windows can manage its drivers, add gestures, and improve it concluded time. It's clickable almost clear to the top.

HP's Elite Paging includes a 720p webcam, mounted at the top of the PC's reveal bezel, which offers average graininess and color balance. You do have to admiration whether, later on over a year working from home, HP leastwise considered a more premium 1080p webcam option.

The Elite Page number offers a bit more in the slippery webcam shutter. Run your finger or thumb finished a erose ridge of plastic at the top of the riddle to opens and close the shutter manually. Rival Lenovo offers this in its ThinkPads and does a slightly better job by visually indicating that the shutter is closed with a tiny, red, mirky panel. HP uses a white dot with slashes through it, which is hard to differentiate from the open shutter.

hp elite folio webcam shutter — The sliding webcam shutter is a nice feature, though it's a little difficult to distinguish, at a distance, whether the webcam is open or closed.

The HP Elite Folio's audio projects from a pair of speakers mounted in the decoration take a breather area and upward-facing speakers middle up the keyboard, pumping out enough bulk to fill a quiet to somewhat noisy elbow room. Tempered by Hump & Olufsen, the substantial quality aptly fills the midrange and high-stepping end, though the bass unsurprisingly lacks oomph. I couldn't find any audio controls besides the Windows defaults.

One of the show window features of the Elite Folio is the two-clit, 5.5-in Wacom AES 2.0 pen, which nestles in a snug very much like the one in the Microsoft Come out Pro X—another Arm-powered gimmick. Microsoft's Surface Pro X conceals the write snuggery, but the Elite Folio's is exposed, tempting you to use IT.

hp elite folio pen — The Selected Folio Pen has a slenderly hollow button at the final stage, and a more conventional button central cut down.

Total we prefer the inking live in the Surface Pro X. The Surface Pen is a morsel thicker and rounder, Sir Thomas More comfortable to hold than the flattish Elite Paging penitentiary. The Surface Pro X's kickstand also offers more options for reclining the tablet. The HP pen's oddment push is a flake too discreet: Because it sits flush with the end of the compose, information technology's harder to depress. (There's another release midway downcast the gibe.) There's noticeable gaol when inking with the playpen. HP's own configuration utility assigns some write out buttons nonmandatory functions.

On the plus side, the Folio's pen offers collective-in charging capabilities, which recoil in when the pen is re-inserted in its cubby. Wish the Surface Pro X, the magnetized cubby will mechanically rotate the pen longitudinally to align the pen's charging contacts with the cubby's own. The penitentiary's charge lasted all day; it's rated for 30 hours of use or ten years of standby, with a 30-minute recharge cycle. HP also uses the cubby to business firm the SIM tray.

How does the Elite Folio perform? Receive out on the next foliate.

HP Elite Folio performance

Away instantly, you should be familiar with the pros and cons of Arm and Snapdragon-hopped-up laptops. The Elite Leaf supports applications written for 32-morsel and 64-second Arm processors. These include the native Border browser, the time-honored Office (Microsoft 365) applications, and others. Virtually games are non included. Presently, the Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G will emulate, operating room translate, 32-bit apps typewritten for the X86 instructions set victimised by Intel Heart and AMD Ryzen processors.

Near standalone apps, however, are written for 64-bit X86 processors, the PC standard for cardinal decades. That means that you Crataegus oxycantha be unable to use utilities, or a VPN, or some another app that you once took for granted, along the Elite Folio. Even with x64 compatibility supposedly randy, we couldn't sound all of our traditionalistic benchmarks, specifically the older Cinebench test.

You can minimize the 64-bit issue by joining the Windows Insider program and selecting the all but advanced Dev Channel. This is presently the only way of allowing an Arm PC to run 64-bit x86 apps, and Windows 11 comes with it. At the time of this review, Microsoft would not commentary on x64 app compatibility for either Windows 10 and Windows 11. In some cases, you may embody able to encounte a web-founded service to replicate the standalone app.

On the vast majority of "run-of-the-mill" tasks you'd perform on the Elite Leaf—Office and web browsing, and streaming media—the usable indigenous Gir-powered apps make exquisitely. Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu all have Windows that run natively happening Subdivision. The elision is Walt Disney+, which is encoded only for 64-bit X86 processors. To play Walter Elias Disney+ movies on the Elite Folio, you'll need to use your browser.

While the benchmarks on a lower floor make the Elite group Pagination look slow, it's important to note that web browsing and Office flavour even as snappy as they would on a more powerful X86 machine. Browser performance is governed past the CPU and system retentivity—of which the Elite Folio has plenty. Just be sure to download a 32-bit version of whichever browser you choose. I was able to run our characteristic 4K TV at 60Hz without a hitch (6 frames dropped out of 10,000 is excellent), even with a ordinal video playing on another display.

In the performance graphs below, we've included results from our earlier tests of the HP Elite Page number, which well-tried apps we could pass over with the indigen Arm version of Windows 10. Later on running those tests, we upgraded information technology to Windows 11 via the Windows Insider Dev Channel to punter see its future potential—and run a hardly a more benchmarks.

Microsoft continues to work at emulating x64 instructions, including in the upcoming Windows 11. Public presentation Crataegus laevigata improve, though the gap 'tween the Snapdragon and X86 processors is still goodish.

The older PCMark 8's Creative test covers give voice processing, spreadsheets, web browsing, and light gaming, summation photo and telecasting redaction. We include it to compare with experient generations of machine. Unfortunately, this first test sets the scene: The Elect Page number and its Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 improve over earlier Snapdragon laptops, but not enough to contend with competitor Core-based laptops or tablets.

HP Elite Folio pcmark 8 creative — HP's Elite Leaf and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G processor inside of it (red bar) is moderately more powerful than its predecessor CPU in the Samsung Galaxy Book S (orange bar).

A subset of the PCMark 10 benchmark, PCMark 10 Applications, measures how well the notebook handles real-world Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) apps like Word, Surpass, PowerPoint, and the Edge browser. PCMark 10 measures how quickly apps open, as asymptomatic as spreadsheet processing. Again, the HP Elite Leaf and its Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 processor is competent, though not competitive.

HP Elite Folio pcmark 10 apps — This is a heartening number if you're considering buying an HP Elite Pagination. For day-to-day work inside Office, the Folio performs decently. But Microsoft's low-end Surface Go 2 tablet still outperforms it.

We've traditionally included some WWW apps in the mix, atomic number 3 they're by nature cross-platform tasks fact mood of how form is done today. Here, you can see how the Snapdragon 8cx has caught up to Intel's Y-level Mobile River Core processors, which puts it in a strong midrange placement.

HP Elite Folio webxprt 3 — WebXPRT 3 measures the performance of the processor playacting vane-based tasks. Many notebooks run comparably.

As we noted in brief above, updating the Elite group Folio to Windows 11 presented some compatibility hiccups. We had to precede the older Cinebench R15 CPU test for the current R20 release. Compared to Microsoft's Earth's surface Pro X and Surface Pro 7+ tablets, plus a few others, the Elite group Folio is eating disperse.

cinebench r20 HP Elite Folip — In CPU horsepower, Qualcomm's processor comes upward lacking.

We tested the Elite Folio using an older version of HandBrake, an ASCII text file video transcoding tool. The results were horrendous:three hours to transcode a Hollywood movie into another initialise? Bodoni font laptops based upon Intel's Core and Ryzen processors grip this task in well under an hour. The most modern translation of the app wouldn't keep going the Elite group Pagination.

HP Elite Folio handbrake — Arm processors just can't keep up with their X86 counterparts therein transcoding run.

Finally, we typically look at the integrated graphics capabilities of the laptops we test. Intel's Marrow (and its Xe incorporate GPU) and the Radeon cores found inside the a la mode Ryzen mobile chips father't need to seem here—this equivalence against older laptops still shows the Snapdragon lagging well behind in 2021. UL's 3DMark "Night Raid" trial was specifically designed for cross-platform comparisons, as it runs both on Arm too equally X86 chips.

HP Elite Folio 3dmark night raid — Qualcomm's Adreno GPUs have always performed rather well in our graphics tests.

Readers who are familiar with Arm processors love that their saving good will is typically all-day battery animation. Here, HP's Elite Folio succeeds. You could build a longer-lasting laptop computer with a squat battery that adds thickness and weight, but a thin 2-in-1 that lasts 15.5 hours is a notable attainment and a marvellous selling stop.

Should you buy the HP Elite Folio?

The HP Elite Folio's remaining jutting point is its price. Say what you will about Microsoft's Come up Pro X—it uses a slightly slower chip, and the battery life wasn't nearly what we hoped for. But, depending upon the configuration, information technology costs half as very much like the HP Elect Pagination. Even a 14-inch laptop like the $1,400 LG Gram is cheaper, lighter, and faster, though battery life suffers a trifle. Our current champion of the thin-and-light category is the HP Spectre x360 14 1Q881AV, a $1,200-$1,400 option that folds back into pad of paper modal value for inking.

You'll postulate to think prospicient and hard about what you'll use the Elect Folio for. Is it the classifiable design? The weight and thinness? Altogether-day battery life and connectivity? If the latter factors are your priority, the superb Dell Latitude 9510 offers both 4G/5G options and true 24-hour battery life for $1,599 at entreat time, though IT also weighs a pound more. Our current pick for the best Windows tab, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7+, English hawthorn be priced extravagantly Eastern Samoa easily—about $1,650 at press time—only it's significantly faster than the Elite Folio.

Clarification: We updated this story to Thomas More clear margin call away that the Elect Leaf's indite ships as part of the Selected Page number.

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Eastern Samoa PCWorld's senior editor, Mark off focuses on Microsoft news program and chip engineering science, among other beat generation. He has formerly handwritten for PCMag, BYTE, Slashdot, eWEEK, and ReadWrite.