The era of ultralight laptops is great for those who only need basic computing tasks, but for anything more strenuous, they fall flat. And that's where workstation laptops come in. These powerful machines are designed to be desktop replacements but portable, so that scientists, engineers, developers, and anyone with the need for speed can get their work done in the field, whenever needed.

And that's what we've got on the test bench today. The HP ZBook X G1i is a 16-inch mobile workstation with Pro-level Nvidia discrete graphics, plenty of storage and memory, and a powerful CPU to chew through data analysis or AI tasks. It's the kind of machine that's honestly not made for everyone, but if you know you need the power it contains, it should have no substitute. This model is (almost) the top spec, with everything maxed out except that the display is the 2K version and not the 4K, but with added extras like 5G connectivity, you might be too busy to notice the pixel count.

It's the kind of laptop that can crunch numbers for science, or train AI models without needing a data center's power. Or, it would be, if the discrete Nvidia GPU had more than 8GB of VRAM to use. AI models benefit when they can be entirely stored in VRAM along with the data from the token window, and this simply isn't enough memory for the types of workloads that the power user who would usually buy this laptop would need.

About this review: HP loaned me the ZBook X G1i for the purposes of this review. The company had no input in its content.

HP ZBook X G1i: Pricing and availability

Workstations don't come cheap

The HP ZBook X G1i was announced in March 2025, with an MSRP that starts from $3,401. Yes, that's the price of the lowest-tier model, with an Intel Core Ultra 5 225H CPU. That said, HP has a model with the Intel Core Ultra 5 235H, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD for $1,929 right now, so it's clear that pricing is predictably all over the place, as always when dealing with the non-standard models that aren't made for the general consumer market.

You can go up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 285H CPU and Nvidia RTX Pro 2000 mobile GPU, a tier above the model we're reviewing, and likely to be over $6,000 all-in. Mobile workstations are never "cheap," but when you know you need that power, that's the only consideration that matters.

This is a seriously slim mobile workstation

Plenty of power hides under those sleek lines

While many 16-inch laptops could be treated as desktop replacements, only mobile workstations like this model really fit the bill. It's not just the power and portability; it's things like ISV qualifications, so the industry-standard software the professionals rely on has been tested to work reliably with this laptop. Things like CAD software, or physics modeling, and of course, AI models and their training.

And with that in mind, it's surprising to me that HP has put all that power under such a slimline chassis that is entirely aluminum and isn't that much thicker than the PowerPoint-pushing clamshells that are usually on my desk. It's got two USB-A ports, HDMI 2.1, an audio jack, and two Thunderbolt 4 ports, alongside an SD card reader, a smart card reader for those of you with device unlock policies that need one, and a SIM slot to take advantage of the sub-6GHz 5G modem that's onboard. Oh, and a fold-down 1GbE LAN port because, while it has Wi-Fi 7, nothing's as stable as wired connectivity.

Make no bones about it, this is a laptop you'll want to use, not because you spend exorbitant amounts of money on it, but because it's gorgeous to touch. The aluminum has a soft-touch texture that's grippy while feeling premium. There is zero flex anywhere when typing or holding it up with one hand, and you can tell that it's built to survive heavy workloads in situations that might not be anywhere near a desk.

The display is pretty nice too

And it's not even the top tier 4K model

This model has the display one down from the ultra-premium 4K panel, but the 16-inch, 2.5K (2560x1600) IPS panel is no slouch. It's got a 120Hz refresh rate with dynamic refresh rate in Windows, anti-glare coating, and 400 nits of brightness. It's on the better end of panels that I've used this year without being OLED, and going with the hardier IPS is honestly the right play for a workstation anyway.

After testing with the Datacolor SpyderPro, I found this panel pretty good. It covers 100% sRGB, 98% AdobeRGB, 99% P3, and 96% NTSC, outperforming many of the consumer OLED panels I've used. It peaks at 458.7 nits of brightness, which is good, but only when the backlight is set to 100%.

It falls off sharply when you reduce the backlight to save power, and it's only 208.6 nits at 75% brightness, 109.5 nits at 50%, and 57 nits at 25% brightness. This makes it hard to use at anything but the highest brightness level, although 50% is close to the suggested target when doing color-accurate design work.

Adding to that is a disappointing 2.34 deltaE average color accuracy value. I don't like doing color work on anything above 2.0 deltaE away from expected color, and I'm sure many (most?) digital designers will agree. The luminance uniformity is even more scattered, and this is not the panel quality you'd expect from this laptop class in 2025.

We're used to Arrow Lake Mobile

But the Nvidia RTX Pro 2000 GPU makes things (a little) more interesting

I'm not sure exactly what performance figures I was expecting, but for a laptop that costs just shy of 6 grand, I was underwhelmed. It's true this is the Core Ultra 7 model and not the Core Ultra 9, but I expected more from the Nvidia RTX Pro 2000. Maybe the lack of GDDR7 VRAM (only 8GB) was the reason, but regardless of the Windows power profile, or if the laptop was plugged in, the results were very similar.

It feels like HP intentionally limits the power available in order to keep thermals in check, because at no point during my testing did the top of the keyboard get warm. Is that the behavior you'd want from a mobile workstation? I'm not so sure, and I'd prefer more power, slightly toastier fingertips while typing.

But benchmarks are only part of the story. Like last year's ZBook Studio 16 G11, the ZBook X G1i is a mixed bag in real-world usage. The occasional stutter when browsing or working on large documents is fine, really, and could be Windows being Windows. But it was so frisky when downloading updates or new programs, far more so than my significantly more powerful desktop PC. And trying to charge via the Thunderbolt 4 ports would always throw a "this charger isn't powerful enough" error, even when using a dock that matches the 150W power brick the workstation comes with.

Mobile workstations aren't known for their battery life, but this year, mobile chips are designed to be powerful and efficient. We ran the ZBook X G1i through the Procyon Productivity Test, and it tapped out after 4 hours and 23 minutes. That's the worst performer I've used all year, and I can't even blame it on the Blackwell discrete GPU. It's not quite as bad as gaming laptops, but it's time to rethink your priorities when your other choice as a creative professional is a MacBook Pro that can outlast by several times that number.

Should you buy the HP ZBook X G1i?

You SHOULD buy the HP ZBook X G1i if:

• You need a mobile workstation, and cost is no object
• You don't want a thick, noisy laptop
• You need to run Windows-only programs

You SHOULD NOT buy the HP ZBook X G1i if:

• You want to play games on your laptop as well
• Your work isn't footing the bill
• You need a long battery life

The HP ZBook X G1i is a seriously svelte and superbly powerful mobile workstation. On the higher-end models, like the one reviewed, it's got the chops to chew through complex calculations, 3D modeling, and anything else you could dream up. But if you can't afford to crank the sliders up to the top, it's no different from most consumer laptops, except the price tag is twice what you'd expect to pay for a comparable Arrow Lake mobile clamshell with no discrete GPU.

That said, anyone needing a mobile workstation won't be settling for second-best, which means speccing it out to the nines. In this realm, value takes a backseat to the simple equation of "can it do the task or not," and in that calculus, the HP ZBook X G1i is very good indeed. The only question mark is over the 8GB of VRAM on the discrete GPU, because while it's enough for video editing or other creative tasks, it's nowhere near enough to deal with many of the AI models that you might want to use in the field.