HP ZBook 14 - The svelte mobile workstation

Dressed for Success

In the world of computing, workstations often refer to specialized systems built for professionals who might require it for tasks that require substantial CPU or GPU processing power or large amounts of memory. Some examples include managing complex data sets, engineering simulations as well as graphics and animation work. Given the nature of the tasks that they are asked to do, it is no surprise then that they are often bulky and ungainly systems.

HP is one of the world’s leaders in workstation systems and has a portfolio that consists of desktop systems, mobile workstations and even all-in-one systems. Two years ago, we reviewed the very innovative HP Z1, a workstation AIO that features upgradeable components. And now, they are following up on the Z1 legacy with the new ZBook 14, which they claim is the world’s first workstation Ultrabook. Well, to be sure, it does fit the physical requisites of an Ultrabook as it is just 21mm thick and weighs just around 1.6kg, or roughly around just 300g more than ultra-thin notebooks like the MacBook Air and Lenovo Carbon X1. But does this slim Ultrabook really have what it takes to be a true workstation? Join us as we find out.

The Hardware

First of all, while HP calls the ZBook 14 the world’s first mobile workstation Ultrabook, it is necessary to clarify that the ZBook 14 has numerous variants and different specifications, and that not all variants qualify as an Ultrabook. This is because some of the conditions must be met before a notebook can be called an Ultrabook. For Haswell-powered systems, these conditions include not exceeding 23mm in thickness for models with a 14-inch and larger display, and it must also offer at least 6 hours of HD video playback and be able to last at least 9 hours on Windows 8 idle. Furthermore, It must also be able to resume from hibernation in just three seconds. Considering how quick it must recover from hibernation, this means that all Ultrabooks must utilize some sort of flash storage. In that sense, while the ZBook 14 certainly conforms to the physical requisites, only the variants with flash storage can be considered true Ultrabooks.

Strictly speaking, since our unit doesn't have a touchscreen, it cannot be called an Ultrabook, but anyway, let’s take a closer look at it now. Our unit is powered by a dual-core Intel Core i7-4600U processor (2.1GHz, 4MB L3 cache), which also happens to be the most powerful CPU that HP offers for the ZBook 14 and it comes with 8GB of RAM (the maximum) and a workstation-class AMD FirePro M4100 mobile GPU that has 1GB of dedicated GDDR5 RAM. On the other end of the spectrum, the ZBook 14 can also be outfitted with less powerful CPUs such as the Core i5-4300U and Core i5-4200U.

For those wondering the class of graphics performance to be expected from the AMD FirePro M4100 GPU, it's graphical prowess for gaming related tests would peg it in the range of the AMD Radeon HD 8750M, NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M / 640M. But coming from the FirePro professional line-up of GPUs, these would be better tested and qualified for use in demanding environments, not to mention acceleration support in workstation programs that are designed to take advantage of the GPU for certain processing and rendering tasks.

Storage comes in the form of a 256GB Micron RealSSD C400 (Crucial M4) and the ZBook 14 can also be equipped with hard disk drives with capacities of up to 1TB and also SSDs with capacities of up to 512GB. Our unit also supports the latest Wireless-AC standard via Intel's AC-7260 wireless networking module.

HP also offers a variety of different displays (all 14-inch, obviously) with different resolutions - 1366 x 768, 1600 x 900 and 1920 x 1080 pixels. And to add, there are two 1600 x 900 pixels resolution displays to choose from - one with touch and one without. Ours has a Full-HD 1080p display and so it does not have touch capability.

Design & Features

The first things that most users would notice about the HP ZBook 14 is not that it is remarkably slim and light, despite its rather beefy specifications. As we have mentioned, the ZBook 14 measures only about 21mm thick and weighs around 1.6kg. As such, it is very manageable and portable. Its lightweight is due mostly to the fact that the chassis is made mostly out of plastic. Even so, it feels rigid and solidly put together. The lid also features an aluminum panel with a recessed HP logo, which gives the ZBook 14 a more premium look and feel. The ZBook 14 is available only in black, which we think is fitting given its intended purpose.

One unique aspect of the ZBook 14 is that it is extremely easy for users to upgrade its components. Simply flip the notebook over on its lid and unlatch the HP Easy Access Door to gain access to its internals - no tools whatsoever required! With the bottom panel out of the way, users can easily replace the memory and storage in just mere minutes.

The ZBook 14 offers a healthy selection of I/O ports, but we suspect most users would be miffed by the fact that there is no HDMI output. However, the ZBook 14 does offer VGA and DisplayPort connectivity, which is arguably more practical and forward-looking. For HDMI connectivity, you can get your ownDisplayPort to HDMI converter to achieve this.  There’s also four USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet jack, SD card reader and a Smart Card reader.

When it comes to networking, the ZBook 14 is offered with a selection of different Intel networking adapters, offering standard dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n connectivity or the newer Wireless-AC standard. Our unit happens to have Intel's latest Dual-Band Wireless-AC 7260 networking card.

The ZBook 14 has a chiclet keyboard, which is pleasant and satisfying to use. The size of the keys is great and the layout is logical and typical, so there is no quirk that might potentially require users to adapt. The trackpad is not clickable, but it is relatively large and we found it to be accurate and responsive to use. It also has four separate buttons, two above the trackpad and another two below, for the left and right click functions when using the pointing stick and trackpad respectively. These buttons are fairly large, but feel a bit mushy to use. Finally, to the bottom right of the keyboard is a fingerprint scanner.

Since the ZBook 14 is a positioned as a mobile workstation, we were not surprised to find that its speakers were average at best. Like most typical notebooks speakers, the ZBook 14’s speakers sounded thin and weak. If you do need to listen to music while working with the ZBook 14, we would highly recommend investing in a pair of decent headphones or speakers.

Test Setup & Performance Benchmarking

To evaluate the HP ZBook 14, we will be including some professional benchmarks and CPU-intensive benchmarks on top of our usual suite of utilities. Specifically, the additional benchmarks that we are including are SPECviewperf 11, Cinebench and Lightwave 3D. And since we don’t have some of the older notebooks to run these professional benchmarks, the ZBook 14 will be pitted directly against HP’s own EliteBook Folio 1040 G1 and the HP Z1 AIO workstation. Here is the full list of benchmarks used:

• PCMark 8
• 3DMark 2013
• Tomb Raider
• Far Cry 2
• SPECviewperf 11
• Cinebench 11.5 (OpenGL)
• Lightwave 3D 11.5

The ZBook 14 will be compared against comparable Ultrabooks such as the HP EliteBook Folio 1040 G1, Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro, ASUS Zenbook UX302 and Acer Aspire S7.

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PCMark 8

The ZBook 14's performance on PCMark 8 was erratic as it did poorer than expected on the Home, Work and Creative scenarios. Compared to HP's own EliteBook 1040 G1, with which it shares similar specifications, the ZBook 14 mysteriously trailed by around 15% to 30%. However, it did redeem itself somewhat on the Microsoft Office app workload, and its scores on the Storage and Adobe app workloads were more competitive.

3DMark 2013

The FirePro M4100 discrete mobile GPU in the ZBook 14 has 384 stream processors and is a fairly entry-level part as we've notified on the earlier page. However, it does have certified drivers for professional 3D software like CAD. Its scores here were amongst the highest, which is to be expected given that apart from the ASUS Zenbook UX302 (NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M) the other notebooks are powered by Intel integrated GPUs. 

Far Cry 2

Moving on to real-world gaming benchmarks, the ZBook 14 only managed barely playable frame rates on Far Cry 2. We also found it to trail the EliteBook Folio 1040 and Zenbook UX302 slightly. In any case, the ZBook 14 seemed to be under performing in this DirectX 10 test as it wasn't any faster than notebooks running on integrated graphics.

Tomb Raider

Since Tomb Raider is a fairly new addition to our suite of benchmarks, we could not include results from some of the older Ultrabooks. However, it is painfully obvious that the FirePro M4100 mobile GPU is clearly not up to the task of gaming when compared to notebooks that are made for such tasks. Even on just “Normal” graphics settings, it could barely manage 30 fps in this modern DirectX 11 game title. That said, it did manage to outperform both the EliteBook 1040 G1 and Zenbook UX302. This time, the resulting performance is better in-line with its GPU's capabilities - churing frame rates twice that of the EliteBook Folio that was running on integrated graphics and somewhat better than the GeForce GT 730M totting Zenbook UX302.

SPECviewperf 11

SPECviewperf is a benchmarking utility that measures graphics rendering performance in professional applications. This is where the FirePro M4100 GPU and its professionally certified drivers will show its worth. And unsurprisingly, the scores attained by the ZBook 14 completely blew the general-use EliteBook 1040 G1 away. We have also included results from the HP Z1, a workstation AIO that is powered by a workstation-class NVIDIA Quadro 4000M, and the ZBook 14's scores were quite encouraging. The less powerful ZBook 14 even managed to outscore the Z1 on the "light01" viewset.

Cinebench 11.5

OpenGL is a standard specification multi-platform API for writing applications and physics simulation. It is widely used in computer-aided design, virtual reality and scientific visualizations. The ZBook 14 managed a respectable 36.78fps, which makes it around 70% faster than the EliteBook Folio 1040 G1. We have also included results from the HP Z1, and that managed almost 60 fps.

Lightwave 3D 11.5

Lightwave 3D is a CPU intensive benchmark and despite the two notebooks sporting the same Intel Core i7-4600U processor, the ZBook 14 consistently finished rendering the “Sunset” scenario faster, even if it was only by a small margin.

Battery Life & Power Consumption

Battery life of the HP ZBook 14 was pretty decent as it managed 226 minutes - almost four hours - and was comparable to the other Ultrabooks. Calculating its power consumption, we arrived at a figure of just 13.27W, which is pretty impressive considering it has a discrete mobile GPU, and the others (with the exception of the ASUS Zenbook UX302) are powered by Intel integrated graphics.

Portability Index

Our Portability Index factors in battery life, weight and volume so you can see which notebook is the most worthwhile to carry around. The scores do not look flattering, but in truth, the ZBook 14 offers decent battery life and is actually relatively light and easy to carry around, especially when compared to traditional mobile workstations. That said, it is around 200g to 300g heavier than the other Ultrabooks featured in this comparison and that translates to a weight disadvantage of around 20%, which explains why the scores seem so lopsided.

Only for Professionals

As we have mentioned in the beginning of this review, a notebook has strict standards to be met before it can be called an Ultrabook. For the most parts, these standards are mostly concerned with portability and battery life, and less so with performance.

This poses a problem for the ZBook 14, because most workstation machines are used in applications where heavy computing power and graphics rendering capabilities are required. After all, this is the reason why there are called workstations. As such, the very nature of these machines are conflicting with the guidelines set out by Intel, and as a result, the ZBook 14 feels like a compromised product.

Depending on your specific needs and requirements, the ZBook 14 either delivers or under delivers on this front. As our benchmark results show, its overall performance is certainly comparable to other Ultrabooks, and thanks to its workstation-class mobile GPU, it has the advantage when it comes to professional applications such as CAD utilities. However, there is still a pretty significant performance disparity if you look at the benchmarks when it was compared to the HP Z1. Mind you, the Z1 is not even a full-on workstation-class machine so to speak, as it is powered by a mobile variant of NVIDIA’s Quadro. Furthermore, the Z1 unit we've compared against is over two years old.

While performance may not be its strong suit, the ZBook 14 does score points for its attractive design and ease of upgrade for its intended user group. It scores high on portability as well, thanks to its light weight and above average battery life for its class. Build quality is also very good and it comes with a useful selection of input and output ports.

The HP ZBook 14 also scores highly in terms of price and value. At S$2,799, the ZBook 14 must seem pricey at first, especially when you consider that most premium Ultrabooks with comparable specifications (minus the workstation-class GPU) cost around S$2000, but it is actually reasonable and decent for a mobile workstation.

Lenovo’s 15-inch W540 mobile workstation, which has a quad-core Core i7-4800MQ processor and NVIDIA Quadro K2100M GPU, costs substantially more at S$3,699. Admittedly, it may be more powerful, but it is also considerably bulkier and heavier coming in at almost 2.8cm thick and weighs over a kilogram more at 2.5kg.

On the other hand, a comparably equipped 15-inch Dell M2800 mobile workstation will run up to $3,200, and it is over 1cm thicker and close to a kilogram heavier. Dell’s slim mobile workstation, the 15-inch M3800, which is only 18mm thick and weighs just a little more at 1.9kg, is a whopping S$5000 for a comparable spec'ed system

All things considered, the ZBook 14 offers decent performance, good battery life, and is actually quite reasonable priced for what if offers and for its intended user group. However, it only offers noticeable performance increases on applications that can take advantage of its workstation-class GPU. Hence, it is really a specialized notebook that is really best suited only for users who find themselves out of the office a lot and absolutely must have a highly portable machine that has a workstation-class GPU for running professional applications and require business-class security options.

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