HP ZBook 17 G4 Workstation Review

Gone are the days when a “workstation” would be a drab cubicle in an office, where you’d spend several hours slogging away on your projects. The modern workstation is mobile and needs to be competent in handling projects irrespective of the physical location — the precise promise of the HP ZBook 17 G4 workstation, a laptop built “for the road.” This new addition to the HP family offers an impressive platter of features, not the least of which is support for NVIDIA Quadro P4000 graphics to elevate your ride through virtual reality by several notches.

The Vital Statistics

The HP ZBook 17 G4 measures 16.5 x 11 x 1.3 inches and weighs about 6.9 lb. It comes with a somewhat pricey $3,479.00 tag. But then again, this 17.3″ workstation claims to deliver the best of both worlds: desktop-class performance with refreshing on-the-go agility. Time to drill deep into that promise…

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When the Going Gets Tough

Well, on the road, it often does. You’re talking intensive projects that demand high performance sans the reliability of a stationary, well-adapted cubicle. The HP ZBook 17 G4, running Windows 10 Pro 64, really does do a wonderful job of managing heavy workload without skimping on performance or losing resilience.

This workstation is powered by an Intel Xeon E3-1535M v6 processor (four cores, Intel CM236 Chipset) with a base frequency of 3.1 GHz, 8 MB cache and 16 GB memory (DDR4-2400 SDRAM). You can up the processing power further with the Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 (up to 4.2 GHz). This makes it competent in handling even the most elaborate of projects.

Professionals in creative and design fields are likely to find this especially handy, as this laptop smoothly maneuvers through zero-compromise, exquisitely detailed assignments. You get a 1 TB internal drive for storage and can do an additional 512 GB with the HP Z Turbo Drive PCIe SSD. There are four SODIMM memory slots to assist you with your storage requirements.

A lot of the durability of the HP ZBook 17 G4 comes from its very foundation: 120,000 hours of intensive testing and a family that has 30 years of excellence in providing reliable computing solutions. It comes with a 6-cell and 96 Wh Lithium-ion prismatic battery, compliant with HP Long Life. Moreover, it is ENERGY STAR certified for efficiency in power consumption. Add to this mix a three-year warranty (on both the workstation and the battery), and this is as peaceful as it can get in these chaotic times.

Display, Graphics & Sound

Since this 1920 x 1080 workstation nurtures a soft spot for design professionals, the graphics support is par excellence. It has an Intel HD Graphics P630 integrated graphics co-processor as well as a discrete NVIDIA Quadro P4000 to give you brilliant, meticulous rendering. The latter has as much as 8 GB dedicated memory (GDDR5), so performance is smooth as silk.

We must say, while this graphics outlook looks terrific for work engagements, it also unleashes good potential for entertainment (read: multimedia and gaming!). The screen is full-HD and comes with In-Plane Switching and anti-glare, so you get faultless rendering and coloring irrespective of the angle. Excellent outlook to not let all work and no play provoke anyone to dullness!

Acoustically, the workstation delivers a satisfactory listening experience; the Bang & Olufsen audio system is High-Definition and has stereo speakers integrated into it. The microphone adapts into a dual-microphone array if needed, say when you use the webcam (720p, High Definition).

Accessibility & Connectivity

Being open to collaboration and friendly to collaborate with is core to a workstation’s mission in life. A modern-day professional plugs in and out throughout the day, gets onto the internet, accesses shared workplaces, and works out of umpteen devices/drives.

To support this “average” workday, the HP ZBook 17 G4 has two Thunderbolt ports (USB Type-C) — superior in speed and performance. You can also avail of three USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI 2.0, one RJ-45 and a smart card reader. There’s also an SD flash media card (UHS-II) with backward compatibility to SDHC and SDXC (High Capacity and Extended Capacity).

A particularly thoughtful feature is the spill-resistant keyboard; after all, coffee and working professionals get along like a house on fire. The keyboard is backlit to let you work smoothly in low-lighting conditions, and it also provides you with control over function keys.

As far as the network support goes, you are reasonably sorted: the workstation supports Wireless-AC (8265 802.11a/b/g/n/ac), Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.2.

Security Sentinels

The HP DNA loves security, and this is evident in this technology-child as well, more so because of the inherent mobility of this workstation. The HP ZBook 17 G4 supports several industry-leading security features including Sure Start, Automatic DriveLock, SATA port disablement, an embedded security chip, and an optional fingerprint sensor.

The pre-installed software also ups the ante for security, especially with the well-loved HP Client Security, HP Drive Encryption and Microsoft Defender. Suffice it to say, this workstation is well-settled for a mobile, high-risk work atmosphere where threats are aplenty.

• Keep reading: HP ZBook Studio G5 Mobile Workstation Review

The Verdict – HP ZBook 17 G4

For the professional of today, the world is their oyster; the sky is the limit. Distances disappear, and dreams come alive when people work together from around the globe, staying connected even when physically apart, the distance never affecting their performance.

For this exciting population, the HP ZBook 17 G4 workstation is a fitting companion, facilitating grueling assignments while offering an on-the-go experience. The graphics quality and the innate operational robustness are especially noteworthy and at par with desktop-class performance.