HP Zbook Ultra G1a review: The mobile workstation that can game, too
At a glance
Expert rating
Benefits
- Powerful performance
- Large and tall screen
- Excellent I/O selection
Disadvantages
- The keys are a little soft
- Screen color could be richer
- It could be slightly lighter
Our Verdict
The HP Zbook Ultra G1a is a stylish mobile workstation, featuring a large screen, rugged design, and plenty of graphics power.
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The Zbook Ultra G1a from HP is a versatile device. It benefits from a powerful Ryzen AI Max Pro 390 chip which has simplified all my computing needs. From digging through office apps to browsing the web, the G1a did it all. This laptop could even play a few triple-A games thanks to the integrated Radeon 8050S chip. On top of all that, it exudes luxury. From the spacious keyboard to the large screen, this is a very smooth mobile workstation to use.
The HP Zbook Ultra G1a is an ideal mobile workstation. With a generously sized screen and keyboard, it delivers the kind of luxury computing office workers want.
HP ZBook Ultra G1a: Specifications
HP’s website lists the HP Zbook Ultra G1a in configurations up to AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro 395 and AMD Radeon 8060S graphics with a high-end model costing $3,699. My laptop had a cut-down version with an AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro 390 processor with an integrated Radeon 8050S chip, which at the time of writing cost $2,229. The full specifications are as follows:
- Model number: B90JJUA#ABA
- Processor: AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro 390
- RAM: 64 GB LPDDR5x 8,533 MT/s
- Chart: Integrated Radeon 8050S
- Display: 14-inch WUXGA (1920 x 1200) UWVA display, anti-glare, 400 nits, 100% sRGB color gamut.
- Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen 4 NVMe
- Connectivity: 2 x Thunderbolt 4, USB-C 3.2 Gen 2, USB-A 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.1, 3.5mm combo jack, Kensington lock.
- Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
- Battery capacity: Li-ion polymer 74.5 Wh
- Dimensions: 12.29 x 8.45 x 0.71 inches
- Weight: 3.31 pounds (1.50 kg)
- Cost: $2,229 (this configuration)
Compared to its competitors, Dell offers the Dell 14 Premium, featuring a Core 7 255H processor with Intel Arc 140T graphics and an MSRP of $1,899.99. At 3.79 pounds, it’s the slightly heavier of the two options and its NPU only has 13 TOPS of neural processing power.
HP Zbook Ultra G1a: design and construction
The HP Zbook Ultra G1a looks a lot like HP’s EliteBook series laptops. The design is very compact measuring only 12.29 x 8.45 inches, but the design is quite luxurious. The laptop is made of a solid and very sturdy aluminum body. There’s a shortage of plastic here and more metal than you’ll find in a bunch of cheaper laptops. However, the metal material means it will last quite a while.
At 0.71 inches thick, the Zbook Ultra G1a is also very thin. It’s also relatively lightweight at 3.33 pounds. It’s even lighter than the HP Pavilion 16 laptop. It was easy to pick up with one hand and carry to the office. When I slipped it into my work bag, it nestled seamlessly against my work laptop.
Dominic Bayley / Foundry
HP has done such a good job balancing the major components that the whole design looks effortless. 14-inch 1920×1200 screen is generous and frames up to a large 16:10 aspect ratio.
The keyboard is large and the keys spacious. The hinges are strong and hold the lid at any angle. I couldn’t get the lid off despite using a lot of weight on it. The 140W charger is also small and compact and can be carried around.
HP Zbook Ultra G1a: keyboard and trackpad
HP has provided a well-balanced keyboard with left and right shift keys and right arrow keys, but it doesn’t have a number pad. Although it’s only a 14-inch laptop keyboard, HP managed to squeeze in the Page Up and Page Down keys above the arrow keys, the placement of which really got to me after a while.
Dominic Bayley / Foundry
For typing, the large bass keys are a bit soft, but the bounce isn’t completely mushy, so they’re not fatiguing.
On the plus side, the keys are very stable. They do not wobble or tilt sideways when pressing down, allowing for very precise striking. The backlight illuminates the top of each key well so they are bright and easily visible at night. The touchpad is located in a very central position. Its moderate size means there’s plenty of room on either side to rest your wrists.
HP Zbook Ultra G1a: Connectivity
The laptop has three USB-C ports and one USB-A port, which can accommodate my external mouse and keyboard as well as my external SSD without issue. Two of the USB-C ports are Thunderbolt 4 ports, which means they offer a maximum file transfer speed of up to 40Gbps and you can also stream to two displays in 4K resolution at 60Hz. The Ultra G1a also has an HDMI 2.1 port, a 3.5mm audio jack and a Kensington lock.
The Wi-Fi 7 feature gave me a fast enough connection to download the programs I needed to benchmark the laptop. My review model also came equipped with Bluetooth 5.4, which was handy for streaming music through my laptop’s speaker.
Connectivity was fast enough to render images through the laptop’s 5MP IR camera in great detail. The AI-enhanced camera produced very natural-looking images, and the dual-array microphones did a decent job of making my voice clear.
HP Zbook Ultra G1a: screen, audio
My review model came with a 14-inch IPS-quality, 1920 x 1200p LCD screen. I had the base version, but some configurations come with an upgraded 2880×1800 resolution OLED touchscreen.
Overall, the display itself is pretty decent. The panel offers 100% sRGB colors and 400 nits of peak brightness, which together result in a sharp image. However, I noticed much richer color saturation and contrast on other OLED panels.
Still, I was never unhappy with the visuals. There was no lag or delay in media playback, and videos were smooth and flicker-free. The anti-glare feature also kept reflection to a minimum.
The laptop’s top-firing speakers also produced fairly detailed sound for such a thin laptop.
HP Zbook Ultra G1a: performance
The AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro 390 chip in my review model is a powerful mobile processor launching in January 2025 and based on AMD’s Zen 5 architecture. It has 12 cores and supports 24 threads, and reaches a maximum clock speed of up to 5.0 GHz.
The Ryzen AI Max Pro 390 features the Radeon 8050S integrated graphics chip and a 50 TOPs XDNA 2 neural engine.
The first benchmark I tested it on was Maxon’s Cinebench Multi-Threaded benchmark. This test activated all 12 cores of the processor to simulate how it might handle a similar computing task on deck.
Dominic Bayley / Foundry
As you can see, the Ultra G1a came out on top in this test. That’s not surprising considering how powerful the AMD Ryzen AI Max Pro 390 chip is compared to the power-saving ultralight laptop chips in the field.
The Ultra G1a has proven that it can control thermal temperatures to quickly complete heavy tasks, which even gaming laptops with high-performance processors sometimes struggle with. I figured that was the amount of time it took to complete our standard PCWorld encoding test in the Handbrake utility. This is a better result than most light and thin laptops achieve.
Dominic Bayley / Foundry
The PCMark benchmark provided an indication of how well the Ultra G1a could handle a range of different office tasks, from creating spreadsheets to web browsing.
Dominic Bayley / Foundry
Certainly, the Ultra G1a performed very well in this task, almost leading the pack. In fact, a score of 6,083 means it will run office applications and programs comfortably.
HP Zbook Ultra G1a: graphics performance
The Radeon 8050S has 32 computing units and is based on the RDNA 3.5 architecture. Its performance is similar to the Nvidia RTX 4060 laptop GPU, so I expected better performance than most ultralight laptops in the lineup.
In the 3DMark Time Spy 1.2 benchmark, the HP Zbook Ultra G1a performed well. It earned an overall score of 4,343. This indicates that it has slightly better graphics performance than many productivity laptops.
Dominic Bayley / Foundry
You can even game on the HP Zbook Ultra G1a, as confirmed by The Rise of the Tomb Raider reference. In this test, the Ultra G1a averaged 59 FPS, which outperformed some lower-tier gaming laptops in terms of performance.
Dominic Bayley / Foundry
These results indicate that the laptop is a very capable laptop in terms of graphics for a computer with an integrated GPU. Performance is still much lower than many high-end gaming laptops, but it’s powerful enough to tackle tasks like 3D editing that would make full use of the laptop’s Radeon 8050S.
HP Zbook Ultra G1a: Battery life
To test the laptop’s battery life, I set a 30GB 4K video to loop in the Windows Movies and TV app. But first, I charged it fully, set the volume to 50%, turned on airplane mode, and adjusted the brightness.
I also turned off the keyboard backlight and plugged in a pair of cheap headphones to reduce noise. Just before pressing play, I unplugged the laptop from the power outlet and timed how long it took to run out of juice.
Dominic Bayley / Foundry
The HP Zbook Ultra G1a lasted just over 14 hours before running out of juice. This result is better than expected. That said, our battery test is light (it’s not too demanding). You can expect the laptop to last about half that time running more demanding applications.
HP Zbook Ultra G1a: conclusion
The HP Zbook Ultra G1a is an ideal mobile workstation. With a generously sized screen and keyboard, it delivers the kind of luxury computing office workers want. It also delivers powerful performance that outperforms most ultrabooks. It even holds up against some gaming laptops. While it may be more powerful than most ultrabooks, it’s just as portable, being a thin and relatively light 14-inch laptop that’s perfect for everyday travel.
