HP Elite Dragonfly: making computing on the go easier

Device-makers typically offer features to woo us. It could be a laptop with multiple screens or a phone with a pop-up camera.

The HP Elite Dragonfly two-in-one laptop is aimed at millennials and generation Z.

Device-makers typically offer gee-whiz features to woo us to their products. It could be a laptop with multiple screens or a phone with a pop-up camera.

Some features are revolutionary and useful; others are no more than a gimmicky marketing ploy.

HP has taken a different ­approach with its 13.3-inch HP Elite Dragonfly two-in-one ­announced in Tokyo last week. Being a two-in-one means the screen can rotate 360 degrees. It’s lightweight, compact, made from a magnesium alloy and you can use the HP Pen on the touch screen.

At its launch, HP highlighted the needs of millennial and generation Z users who are ­increasingly dominant in the workforce. Millennials make up 50 per cent of the workforce in Asia and by 2025 that will have climbed to 75 per cent, according to data HP highlighted at the event.

HP's approach is still marketing, but it has bothered to profile the needs of the consumers it is targeting, and then devised a laptop with features to meet those needs.

At its Tokyo launch, HP highlighted the work practices of Millennial and Generation Z users who are increasingly dominant in the workforce. Millenials make up 50pc of the workforce in Asia and by 2025 that will have climbed to 75pc, according to data HP highlighted at the event.

The Elite Dragonfly's strength, therefore, is computing on the go. Mobility isn’t rocket science in laptop specifications but the Elite Dragonfly takes it further, especially with privacy, security and connectivity in a lightweight form.

There’s a physical privacy shutter on the webcam and you can switch on a privacy screen so that no one beside or behind you can see what you’re working on. The person sitting next to you on a plane or in a coffee shop might be a fierce competitor or a nosy journalist like me.

HP Elite Dragonfly two-in-one laptop.

There’s noise-cancelling to cut out the background during audio and video calls in public places. The Elite Dragonfly has a slot for a nanoSIM so you have your own personal connectivity. We might live in an age of freely available public Wi-Fi but there's the security risk of using public open networks, and the annoyance of whenever you connect to a Wi-Fi network at a cafe that you’re more vulnerable to being monitored.

The decreasing cost of mobile data makes it more attractive to include a nanoSIM slot in a laptop.

HP has built in its own security at the hardware level. It claims to address the menacing threat of “zero day exploits”, where new malware infects online devices ­before the internet as a whole picks up the threat. Some third-party antivirus limits the damage by almost ­instantly notifying the millions of devices running their software of the zero day exploit. The exploit is exposed and shut out, and its damage is limited.

HP Elite Dragonfly two-in-one laptop.

HP takes a different approach. It says it uses machine learning to predict if new code is a possible threat, and if there is doubt, the code’s operation is transferred to a virtual machine within the Elite Dragonfly where it can do no damage. HP invites you to run your tried-and-tested third-party ­security software but also says you can ditch it once you are confident that HP can do the job on the Elite Dragonfly.

Fast charging and long battery life are also important for mobile computing. HP claims 50 per cent charging in 30 minutes. It says two models will go to market, with a choice of 38-watt and 56.2-watt batteries that offer 24.5 and 16.5 hours of promised battery life.

You wouldn’t use a laptop round the clock but in case you are tempted, HP includes “wellbeing software” to tell you it’s time for a break.

The lighter model weighs less than one kilogram that puts it below the weight of Apple’s MacBook Air.

HP Elite Dragonfly two-in-one laptop.

HP uses Intel vPro whose features include remote management, diagnosis and updates. That has seen it adopt eighth generation Intel Core i5 and Core i7 chips rather than new tenth generation ones. HP promises to update the chips when tenth generation vPro is available.

The Elite Dragonfly uses onboard graphics rather than a discrete graphics card. It isn’t a dedicated gaming machine. And while it is spill proof, it isn’t rated as waterproof.

Connection wise you get one USB-A, two Thunderbolt 3 enabled USB Type-C slots, HDMI 1.4, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

I enjoyed typing on this laptop. Keys offer 1.3mm of travel. HP says it uses “ocean bound plastics” under the keys to minimise the clatter of typing.

HP has announced a starting price of $2699, with ­orders in Australia to start in mid-November.

Chris Griffith travelled to HP’s launch of the Elite Dragonfly in Tokyo courtesy of HP.