Enlarge / ZBook 15u G5 internals. As a corporate machine, it’s easy to take apart and repair. (credit: Hewlett-Packard)
After spending some years improving the quality and design of its premium systems, HP is turning its attention to its mainstream, corporate laptops. The new range of 800-series EliteBooks, ZBook workstations, monitors, and docks, brings many features of the premium 1000-series to a wider audience.
The EliteBook 800 G5 range—available in 13-inch, 14-inch, and 15-inch variants—is HP’s main corporate workhorse laptop. “Mainstream” here means that they’re not quite as thin as the 1000-series, while “corporate” means that they sport a bunch of things not found on consumer systems: for example, there’s a smartcard reader, gigabit Ethernet, and a docking station connector for HP’s slim, non-Thunderbolt 3 docking station. Their keyboards included buttons for answering and hanging up calls on Skype for Business, they’re available with Intel vPro management, and they use HP’s latest generation “Sure Start” firmware to protect against certain kinds of malware. Integrated 4G WWAN is an option, along with NFC, 802.11a/b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.2.
HP EliteBook 850 G5. (credit: HP)
Further enhancing their usefulness on conference calls and Skype, mainstream devices include dual microphone arrays. One that faces you, while another one faces the rest of the world for more effective noise cancellation.
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