HP Elite Dragonfly Hands-On

Last month, HP their latest convertible, 2-in-1 business laptop, the Elite Dragonfly. It features a 13.3-inch color-accurate touch display, an 8th generation Intel Core iU-Processor, and a host of security features. We were able to get our hands on one to play with, so check it out with us!

The HP Elite Dragonfly’s main selling point is its weight or lack thereof. 82% of the mechanical parts are built with ocean-bound plastics, and its chassis is made of magnesium alloy. The laptop comes in what HP calls Dragonfly Blue colorway with a smooth finish that feels premium. At just under 1kg and a battery rated for 24.5 hours, the Elite Dragonfly is an extremely portable device.  

Being a business laptop, the Elite Dragonfly adopts a minimalistic design that doesn’t grab attention from the room. The top lid is bare, save for the HP logo.

Over at the left, you can find the USB 3.1 Type-A port, power button, and SIM tray.

Located on the left are two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a full-sized HDMI port.

Turning the device over reveals a large intake grill toward the back of the laptop, a pair of speaker grills, and two large rubber feet that span the entire length of the device.

Opening the device will reveal the 13.3-inch Full HD touch display with 72% NTSC gamut coverage and 400 nits of max brightness. There is a UHD variant that can go up to 1,000 nits, but it’s not available locally.

On top of the display sits the dual-array microphones, and webcam with a physical shutter.

The hinge turns a full 360°, allowing users to transform the device into a tablet. When fully tilted, both the keyboard and trackpad are disabled, and only touch controls are registered.

To save space, the Elite Dragonfly employs a compact TKL keyboard, with the arrow keys doubling as the Nav keys via the function button. On the top row, there are additional buttons that manage calls and screen options. Other notable keys are the F2 key that toggles the screen privacy mode, F9 that toggles backlighting modes, and the right Shift key doubles as the Print Screen button.

Underneath the keyboard sits the relatively small (110 x 65mm) Windows precision trackpad. The surface was smooth, and cursor tracking was responsive and accurate. The buttons underneath also provided satisfying tactile feedback when pressed.

The Windows Hello compliant fingerprint scanner is located at the bottom right of the keyboard.

Our unit came with an Intel i7-8565U processor with an integrated Intel UHD 620 GPU paired with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage. HP claims that the Elite Dragonfly can last up to 24 and a half hours on a single charge too. We’ll report more on its performance and battery life as well as giving you our thoughts on HP’s lightest business laptops in our full review.

The HP Elite Dragonfly has a starting price tag of PHP 81,440 and is now available for purchase nationwide.

HP Elite Dragonfly specs
13.3-inch FHD IPS display, touchscreen, with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, with options up to 4K
Windows 10 Home/Pro
Up to 8th Generation Intel Core i7-8565U
Integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620
16GB RAM
Up to 512GB SSD with 32GB Intel Optane memory
Bang & Olufsen speakers
2 Thunderbolt
1 USB 3.1 Gen 1
3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack
1 HDMI 1.4
1 External Nano SIM slot for WWAN
720p HD webcam
56.2Wh
30.43 x 19.75 x 1.61 cm
Starting weight at 0.99kg