HP Unveils New ZBook Mobile Workstation Line

HP unveiled its latest lineup of laptops at a press event in New York City on Wednesday, including the ZBook Studio mobile workstation aimed squarely at the professional market and chock full of features that rival Apple’s 15-inch MacBookPro.

“Apple continues to abandon the professional market, and leaves a huge expansion opportunity for our business in media and entertainment, video production [and] 3D animation,” HP VP Jeff Wood said during the event.

At 18mm thick, HP's new 15.6-inch notebook is super-thin, and weighs in at just 4.4 pounds. The ZBook Studio runs on an Intel Core i7 Skylake or Xeon desktop-strength processor, with up to 32 GB of RAM and up to 2TB of storage with the HP Z Turbo Drive G2.

The new flagship laptop comes with two display options: an HP DreamColor UHD or Full HD touchscreen display. The laptop is targeted toward consumers who use portable computers to do heavy workloads, such as video editors or digital designers. It can be equipped with either Nvidia's Quadro M1000M with 2GB of its own GDDR5 memory for 4K display capable of more than eight million colors or Intel HD graphics 530.

Available in December and starting at $1,699, ZBook Studio is also equipped with Thunderbolt 3-compatibility and has ports for an Ethernet cable, three USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4 and a SDXC card reader.

HP also introduced three additional HP ZBook Mobile Workstation models, the company’s third generation of professional-grade laptops geared toward the media and entertainment market:

• The 15.6-inch HP ZBook 15u has a 15.6-inch display as well with 1.5TB of total storage, can be powered with Intel Xeon processors and will retail for $1,099 when it becomes available in January.
• The 1-inch thick HP ZBook 15, weighing in at 5.7 pounds, come equipped with 64GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage.
• The HP ZBook 17 has a larger 17.3-inch screen, and is lighter, thinner and has 67 percent better battery life than its predecessor. With up to 4TB of total storage, dual Thunderbolt 3 and NVIDIA graphics support, it comes with optional HP DreamColor UHD or FHD touch displays.

Both the ZBook 15 and ZBook 17 are planned for availability in January, although there’s no word yet on pricing.

Offered with HP ZBook Workstations is the new HP ZBook Dock with Thunderbolt 3. Users can link up to 10 devices at once through ports that include Thunderbolt 3 (supporting DisplayPort 1.2, USB 3.1 Gen 2, and PCIe), four USB 3.0, RJ-45, VGA, combo audio, and two additional DisplayPorts. HP ZBook Dock with Thunderbolt 3 is planned for availability in December starting at $229.

Read the full press release below for further details:

HP Inc. Combines Power and Style as it Unleashes World’s First Quad Core Workstation Ultrabook™

Launches ZBook Mobile Workstation - HP’s thinnest and lightest full performance model ever

PALO ALTO, Calif., Nov. 11, 2015 – HP Inc. re-asserted its workstation market and innovation leadership with the introduction of the HP ZBook Studio, the world’s first quad core workstation Ultrabook.⁽¹⁾ The 15.6-inch diagonal HP ZBook Studio, a meticulously-designed performance machine for professionals on-the-go, revolutionizes the design language of mobile workstations – becoming HP’s thinnest and lightest full performance model ever brought to the market.

The ZBook Studio represents the expertise developed over the past 30 years of HP workstation engineering excellence, HP Z DNA, and the extensive testing that went into the development of the system.

“As the world’s first quad core workstation Ultrabook, the ZBook Studio is a perfect combination of brains and beauty with the engineering toughness of a HP Z Workstation,” said Jim Zafarana, vice president and general manager, HP Workstations and Thin Clients, HP Inc. “The ZBook Studio endures 120,000 hours of testing and features numerous first-time workstation advancements, including Intel XEON CPUs with ECC memory, Thunderbolt 3, Gen 2 Z Turbo Drives, HP Sure Start client security, and an eight million color-critical pixel DreamColor 4k display.”

Starting at just 4.4 lbs. and 18mm thin, the HP ZBook Studio can be configured to fit business and road warrior needs with professional choices of memory, processor, graphics and more. The model features Intel Core or Xeon processors, dual 1 TB HP Z Turbo Drive G2 for up to 2 TB of total storage, up to 32 GB ECC memory, dual Thunderbolt 3, dual cooling fans, and optional HP DreamColor UHD or FHD touch displays. The ZBook Studio is built to handle heavy graphics loads, with a choice of new NVIDIA Quadro M1000M 2 GB GDDR5 Professional graphics or Intel HD graphics 530.

HP also introduced three additional HP ZBook Mobile Workstation models. Dramatically thinner and lighter than their predecessors, the third generation products boast the performance, innovation, and reliability expected from the technology partner trusted by customers designing everything from running shoes and racecars to animated characters and deep-sea submersibles.

• HP ZBook 15u delivers workstation performance in a low cost, compact package. With its 15.6-inch diagonal display, it is the perfect combination of mobility and affordability. This workstation Ultrabook⁽⁸⁾ can be configured with up to 32 GB of memory, AMD FirePro professional graphics with 2 GB frame buffer, HP Z Turbo Drive G2, 1.5 TB of total storage, and a FHD touch display.
• HP ZBook 15 is the next generation of the world’s top-selling mobile workstation.⁽⁹⁾ This thin and light, portable powerhouse was redesigned inside and out, and is 27 percent thinner and 7 percent lighter than the previous generation. Boasting a 27 percent⁽¹⁰⁾increase in battery life over previous generations, the HP ZBook 15 with a 15.6-inch diagonal display is equipped with an Intel Core or Xeon processor, 64 GB ECC memory, dual 1 TB HP Z Turbo Drive G2 for up to 3 TB of total storage, dual Thunderbolt 3, and optional HP DreamColor UHD or FHD touch displays.
• HP ZBook 17 features a 67 percent⁽¹⁰⁾ increase in battery life and the 17.3-inch diagonal workstation is now also 25 percent thinner and 11 percent lighter than its predecessor. It is configured with an Intel Core or Xeon processor, up to 64 GB ECC memory, dual 1 TB HP Z Turbo Drive G2 for up to 4 TB of total storage, dual Thunderbolt 3, and optional HP DreamColor UHD or FHD touch displays. The ZBook 17 also features NVIDIA graphics support up to M5000M Quadro with an 8 GB frame buffer.

The HP ZBook Studio, ZBook 15 and 17 all feature the new NVIDIA Quadro Professional graphics, providing nearly two times the performance of previous generation graphics. These systems also offer a choice of Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580, Intel HD graphics P530 or Intel HD graphics 530, offering customers more choices.

All HP ZBook Mobile Workstations are reliable, designed to pass MIL-STD 810G testing.⁽¹¹⁾ HP ZBooks also come preloaded with HP Remote Graphics Software for remote collaboration, HP Performance Advisor for optimal performance and HP Velocity for more reliable and fast network performance.

Offered with HP ZBook Workstations is the new HP ZBook Dock with Thunderbolt 3. Users can link up to 10 devices at once through ports that include Thunderbolt 3 (supporting DisplayPort 1.2, USB 3.1 Gen 2, and PCIe), four USB 3.0, RJ-45, VGA, combo audio, and two additional DisplayPorts.

“HP ZBook products have significant reliability advantages and are designed to pass military standards testing and endure 120,000 hours in HP's test process,” said Ron Rogers, vice president and head of engineering, Workstations and Thin Clients, HP Inc. “HP practices physics of failure techniques to predict reliability and improve product performance. This engineering approach has provided end-users our most reliable workstations available.”

Price and Availability

• The HP ZBook Studio is planned for availability in December starting at $1699.
• HP ZBook 15u is planned for availability in January starting at $1099.
• HP ZBook 15 and ZBook 17 are planned for availability in January – pricing not yet available.
• HP ZBook Dock with Thunderbolt 3 is planned for availability in December starting at $229.

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1. Based on HP’s internal analysis of all mobile workstation models from any vendors with >200 thousand unit annual sales as of October 29, 2015, having Quad-core CPU’s, with Intel’s Ultrabook Certification.
2. Weight will vary by configuration.
3. Multi-Core is designed to improve performance of certain software products. Not all customers or software applications will necessarily benefit from use of this technology. Performance and clock frequency will vary depending on application workload and your hardware and software configurations. Intel’s numbering is not a measurement of higher performance.
4. For hard drives, GB = 1 billion bytes. TB = 1 trillion bytes. Actual formatted capacity is less. Up to 16GB (for Windows 7) and up to 30GB (for Windows 8.1) of system disk is reserved for system recovery software.
5. Sold separately or as an optional feature.
6. DreamColor and Touch options are expected to be available mid-2016. All specifications represent the typical specifications provided by HP's component manufacturers; actual performance may vary either higher or lower.
7. ECC Memory is an optional feature available with Intel Xeon configurations.
8. Not all models will qualify as an Ultrabook.
9. Source: IDC WW WS Historical Tracker 2015Q2
10. Comparing HP G2 platform MM07 benchmarking and HP G3 platform MM14 benchmarking. Battery life will vary depending on various factors including product model, configuration, loaded applications, features, use, wireless functionality, and power management settings. The maximum capacity of the battery will naturally decrease with time and usage. See www.bapco.com for additional details
11. MIL STD 810-G testing is pending and is not intended to demonstrate fitness for U.S. Department of Defense contract requirements or for military use. Test results are not a guarantee of future performance under these test conditions. Damage under the MIL STD test conditions or any accidental damage requires an optional HP Accidental Damage Protection Care Pack.

Source: HP, Inc.

Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.