HP’s new ZBook Studio x360 laptop is aimed right at creative professionals
posted Thursday, April 5, 2018 at 11:00 AM EDT
HP has been really ramping up and focusing their PC efforts at creative professionals in the last couple years, and today's announcement continues that trend. Called the ZBook STudio x360, this convertible laptop has the supposed power to tackle "large files" and run multiple applications without lag or delay and can be outfitted with the NVIDIA Quadro graphics card and 6-core Intel Xeon processor. I mentioned it's convertible, and that's a major player as to why HP is focusing their marketing efforts at retouchers and artists. The new pen for the X360, built for the laptop in tandem with Wacom, has 4000 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt to work directly on HP's bright 4K screen.
Built on Windows 10 Pro, the laptop is quoted to have up to 16 hours of battery life and will charge "ultra fast" 50% of the battery in just 30 minutes. The Studio x360 has two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and 2 USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 3 support. One USB 3.0 port supports charging, so do the USB-C ports and it also has a dedicated charging port where you'll see the best performance. There is also a built-in UHS-II SD card reader. For security, the x360 also features a fingerprint reader, an optional Windows Hello facial recognition camera, and the option of a privacy screen you can activate by simply pushing a button.
Their audio was designed by Bang & Olufsen, and feature custom tuning, dual stereo speakers, dual array digital microphone, functions keys for volume up and down, combo microphone/headphone jack, world
facing microphone, HD audio, and HP Clear Sound Amp.
This laptop has a lot packed into it, so it's no wonder that the spec sheet states a weight of 4.99 pounds, or 2.26 KG at the low end. That's the least they can weigh!
The HP ZBook Studio x360 is expected to be available beginning in May with a starting price of $1,499.
HP didn't just announce the Studio x360 today, but also showed off several other new laptops and one external monitor: The HP ZBook Studio Mobile Workstation (not to be confused with this x360), the HP ZBook 17, the HP ZBook 15, and the HP ZBook 15v are all expected to be available in May. The HP ZBook Studio will start from $1,299, the HP ZBook 15v will have a starting price of $949, the HP DreamColor Z27x G2 Display will be available in April with a base model price of $1,999, and as for the others, HP hasn’t disclosed pricing for them as of their announcement.