HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook Review

HP and Google really, really want you to think of Chromebooks as fit for the corner office as well as K-12 classrooms and cash-strapped consumers. The HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook (starts at $1,149; $1,734 as tested) is a corporate 2-in-1 convertible laptop built for cloud-first hybrid work. It's the first Chromebook with Intel's vPro IT manageability and security tech and the most advanced Chrome OS laptop to date. The Elite Dragonfly is unabashedly expensive, replacing its 2020 predecessor the HP Elite Chromebook c1030 Enterprise as the priciest Chromebook we've seen. But if you're not impressed by its exotic haptic touchpad and Wi-Fi 6E, you might perk up at claims like “three hours less downtime per week” and “zero ransomware attacks in history.” The HP claims our Editors' Choice award for Chromebooks for business.

The Chromebook Is All Grown Up 

Like our consumer Editors' Choice winner the Acer Chromebook Spin 713, the Elite Dragonfly Chromebook has a 13.5-inch IPS touch screen with a squarish 3:2 aspect ratio, which lets you see more of a document or webpage without scrolling and feels more like a pad of paper when held in tablet mode. The $1,149 base model's display has 1,920-by-1,280-pixel resolution and 400 nits of brightness; it's paired with a 12th Generation Intel Core i3 non-vPro processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB NVMe solid-state drive.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

For $1,734, our Chrome Enterprise Upgrade test unit also has 8GB of memory but steps up to a Core i5-1245U vPro CPU (two Performance cores, eight Efficient cores, 12 threads), a 256GB SSD, and a 400-nit Gorilla Glass 5 screen with 2,256-by-1,504 resolution matching the Acer's. A third display option has the lower pixel count but is a 1,000-nit panel with HP's Sure View privacy screen. The RAM and SSD ceilings are 32GB and 512GB respectively; flagship models have Intel's Core i7-1265U and 4G LTE mobile broadband. (HP says 5G is coming this fall.) 

The Elite Dragonfly claims to be both sturdy and environmentally friendly, two must-haves for enterprise computing these days. Not only has it passed MIL-STD 810H tests against road hazards like shock and vibration, HP boasts, but it also has a 90% recycled-magnesium top, 50% recycled-aluminum bottom, and 50% recycled-plastic keycaps. The Chromebook measures 0.65 by 11.6 by 8.7 inches and weighs 2.8 pounds, a bit trimmer than the Spin 713 (0.67 by 11.8 by 9.3 inches, 3.2 pounds). The competing 13.3-inch Lenovo ThinkPad C13 Yoga Chromebook is 0.61 by 12.1 by 8.4 inches, and the heaviest of the trio at 3.3 pounds. 

The side screen bezels are thin, though the top one is thicker to accommodate a webcam with sliding shutter. The system feels robust and sturdy, though as with most thin convertibles there's a bit of flex if you grasp the screen corners or mash the keyboard. The display also wobbles a bit when tapped in laptop mode—the annoying but impossible-to-eradicate “screen bounce” phenomenon. A fingerprint reader in the palm rest speeds sign-ins.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

On the laptop's left side are USB-C/Thunderbolt 4 and HDMI ports—the latter a big Chromebook bonus for connecting an external monitor without fussing with a USB-C dongle—plus a microSD card slot. You'll also find the power button and a volume rocker for use in tablet mode.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

A second Thunderbolt 4 port joins an audio jack, a USB 3.2 Type-A port, and SIM-card and security-lock slots at right. The AC adapter has a USB-C connector; the Elite Dragonfly is compatible with HP's Thunderbolt docking stations.

A Clever Camera 

The 5-megapixel webcam puts most notebooks' cheap 720p cameras to shame, capturing 1080p videos (and, in a nifty new Chromebook option, five-second GIFs) and 2,560-by-1,920-pixel stills. Images are sharp and colorful, though a bit dark in rooms that aren't brightly lit. 

The Bang & Olufsen-tuned speakers above the keyboard are surprisingly loud without being boomy or distorted at top volume. Highs and midtones are crisp, and bass is stronger than I expected; you can easily make out overlapping tracks. One of the top-row keys mutes the mic and all apps so you won't disturb conference calls.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

Backlit for use in those dim rooms I mentioned, the keyboard follows the standard Chromebook layout with top-row browser, brightness, and volume controls, plus keys for switching among virtual desktops, capturing screens, and locking the system. Windows migrants will be frustrated by the lack of Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys (worsened by HP's trademark placement of the cursor arrows in a row instead of the proper inverted T), but the keyboard has a comfortable, responsive typing feel, even if it is a bit noisy. 

The large, buttonless touchpad uses haptic technology, like that of Apple's MacBooks and just a few high-end Windows laptops, so clicks are registered equally wherever you press (even at the top edge) and indicated by feedback instead of physical movement. The feedback is rather faint, but you quickly get used to it, and is a welcome addition when you drag or snap windows to the sides (halves) of the screen.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

As with most Chromebooks, the display offers a range of faux or “looks like” resolutions (the default is 1,410 by 940 pixels) if you find that its native resolution of 2,256 by 1,504 pixels makes screen elements and text too tiny. The panel is nicely bright (though I stuck with the top two or three backlight levels), with clean white instead of grayish backgrounds, and rich, well-saturated colors. The 5.5-inch pen clings tightly to the Dragonfly's right edge and charges wirelessly; it kept up with my fastest swoops and scribbles, and exhibited good palm rejection.

Thanks to Intel vPro, IT managers can revel in remote manageability and security, including total memory encryption (TME) and Keylocker. The vPro functionality also includes approving and blocking apps and extensions, and remotely wiping or disabling misplaced machines.

In addition, HP provides QuickDrop software, used to transfer files between your Chromebook and iOS or Android phone; a trial of the Concepts sketching app; and one year of Parallels Desktop, so Chrome Enterprise customers can run Windows programs.

Testing the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook: A Top-End Duel 

For our benchmark charts, I compared the Elite Dragonfly with four other Intel Core-powered Chromebooks. Besides two additional 13.5-inch convertibles with 3:2 aspect displays—the Acer Chromebook Spin 713 and HP Elite c1030 Chromebook Enterprise—I chose two 14-inch clamshells aimed at consumers and business respectively, the Acer Chromebook 514 and the Asus Chromebook CX9. You can see their basic specs in the table below.

We test Chromebooks with three overall performance benchmark suites—one Chrome OS, one Android, and one online. The first, Principled Technologies' CrXPRT 2, measures how quickly a system performs everyday tasks in six workloads such as applying photo effects, graphing a stock portfolio, analyzing DNA sequences, and generating 3D shapes using WebGL. 

The second, UL's PCMark for Android Work 3.0, performs assorted productivity operations in a smartphone-style window. Finally, Basemark Web 3.0 runs in a browser tab to combine low-level JavaScript calculations with CSS and WebGL content. All three yield numeric scores; higher numbers are better.

The Elite Dragonfly trailed in PCMark Android but scored a win in Basemark Web and more or less tied for first in CrXPRT 2, so it's a great performer for the Google Workspace and other office tasks it's destined for. It's one of the quickest Chromebooks we've tested. 

Sadly, the Dragonfly balked at our Android CPU benchmark, Primate Labs' Geekbench (likely a software glitch, not a deficiency with the laptop specifically). It did run our Android GPU test, GFXBench 5.0, which stress-tests both low-level routines like texturing and high-level, game-like image rendering that exercises graphics and compute shaders, reporting results in frames per second (fps). 

Finally, to test a Chromebook's battery, we loop a 720p video file with screen brightness set at 50%, volume at 100%, and Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting disabled until the system quits. Sometimes we must play the 69GB video from an external SSD plugged into a USB port, but the HP had more than enough room on board.

We've never seen a Chromebook with a dedicated GPU instead of integrated graphics, so we've never seen a Chromebook with blazing gaming performance, though the Dragonfly is more than quick enough for browser and Android games. More important, it delivers solid if not record-setting battery life. You should easily get through a day's work without worrying about staying close to a wall outlet.

Do You Dare to Defy Windows?

Google is serious about selling Chrome OS to corporations, touting its continuous, automatic updates; no need for third-party antivirus software; swift startup, voice support, and cloud profiles that work across devices; Google Workspace's compatibility with Microsoft Office; and built-in Google Meet videoconferencing and Screencast screen recorder with auto-transcript. With the cutting-edge, vPro-compliant HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook, the platform has its best example yet for enterprise deployment.

(Credit: Molly Flores)

The rather large drawback is that the Dragonfly is shockingly expensive, or at least will seem so to anyone not used to premium Chromebooks. Even with HP currently discounting the $1,149 base model to $979.99, it'll make consumers turn away and prospective business buyers hesitate. But if they take the plunge, IT managers will find the Elite Dragonfly the best Chromebook ever and an Editors' Choice-worthy showpiece for cloud and flexible work.