HP Elite Dragonfly G2

A gorgeous and lightweight laptop, but most people will be better served by the upcoming G3 upgrade

The Dragonfly is in that awkward period of gestation between G2 and G3. That means the G2 is coming to the end of its life – models can be found in the channel but not directly from HP – but the G3 is yet to actually flutter its wings. Nor is it a straightforward evolution from one generation to the next. One area where the G3 clearly wins is its inclusion of 12th gen Intel Core chips, but it loses the G2’s touchscreen and its convertible design.

That’s a shame but, in most scenarios, it isn’t fatal. HP bundles a stylus with the G2, and it certainly benefits from being light at 1.1kg, but a 16:9 aspect ratio screen always feels odd when you slip into tablet mode; it’s too narrow and tall. This is a high-quality 4K screen, though, hitting a high of 548cd/m2 and covering 90% of the sRGB gamut, while an average Delta E of 0.9 proves its accuracy. The only potential negative for office workers is its glossy finish and thus annoying reflections from overhead lighting.

The keyboard isn’t at all annoying, with a solid feel to each of the keys and sensible layout throughout. Naturally you enjoy luxuries such as backlighting, a fingerprint reader and a smooth (if compact) touchpad, while Bang & Olufsen speakers on either side belt out strong audio for such a slim laptop.