ZBook Studio now shows up in HP Store

HP has loaded the first two ZBook Studio SKUs into their online store.

http://store.hp.com/us/en/SearchDisplay?client=&searchTerm=zbook+studio

The $1999 model has an Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ, 8GB RAM and a 256GB Turbo SSD Drive.

The $2249 model has an Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ, 16GB RAM and a 512GB Turbo SSD Drive.

Awesome. Now bring on the Xeon options! And please let us know which display option these two SKUs are using.

Note that these are currently "out of stock" presumably because they are not on sale quite yet.

 

Interesting. FWIW, that link didn't work for me but a regular search from the main store site (guessing that's what you linked) pulls up those models. Interestingly enough, there's only mention of USB 3 and RJ-45 ports, nothing about Tb3 or HDMI.

 

isn't it supposed to start at $1699

 

It looks like HP is still loading in the SKUs, preparing for the official launch.

Since earlier today, they've added another half dozen SKUs. One of them is only $1,450 but that may be a typo...they haven't listed any specs for that SKU yet.

I'm hoping that the $1999 SKU has the UHD display. This should be a pretty nice machine.

 

Yeah...I think they're still working on the published store listings. They also don't list a display on any of the models yet The machines definitely have TB3/USB-C and HDMI.

 

Yep, definitely seems like a work in progress. I'm not seeing the other SKUs you mentioned when I search but it's encouraging to see that the new docks (150W there, 200W also available) are on the site and in stock.

 

Indeed, at a staggering price as well. Almost $300 for a half dozen ports?!

 

To me it looks like those docks use a special connector that includes both the TB and a regular power connector side-by-side. Thus the dock will provide whatever power the adapter that feeds the dock can provide. In other words, there's only one dock, and you can use different power bricks with it to supply whatever power the attached laptop needs.

For the display, I really hope they will offer a non-touch IPS FHD option. For me, UHD on such a small display is a useless gimmick with next to no tangible benefits, but major headaches still for quite a few Windows applications that don't scale well, plus reduced battery life. If it was me, I'd really like an FHD Dreamcolor option; non-touch, of course.

 

HP ZBook Studio seems to be the most powerful notebook on the market witha weight of 2kg am i correct?

display is also the best you can get dreamcolour

i got unlimited money to spend when are they going to release?


any way to get this noteboook in costa rica?

 

HP sells internationally so you shouldn't have a problem getting one shipped to Costa Rica, though you might have to do it through a reseller.

I did some quick searching on HP's site and the Studio is the only one of the G3 ZBooks that show up. I was kinda hoping to pull the trigger one one this year, too ...there's still time, I suppose.

This time around, I believe you're married to 4K if you want DreamColor. All previous-gen IPS DreamColors were 1080p (or 1200p, only offered in the 8740w).

Charles

 

That's what they said at the ZBook G3 launch. Listen at 8:00.


But oddly the actual HP ZBook Studio G3 data sheet has two options: 4K (available at launch) and 4K DreamColor (available 1H 2016).
15.6" diagonal UHD UWVA IPS anti-glare LED-backlit (3840 x 2160)
15.6" diagonal UHD DreamColor UWVA IPS anti-glare LED-backlit (3840 x 2160) [available 1H 2016]
http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA6-2676ENUC

The spec sheet also lists both options. But then again it also lists the non-DreamColor panel as UHD+ in one place along with the standard UHD resolution...and in a separate place lists the non-DreamColor UHD panel as being 3840x2160 with 1920x1080 actual pixel resolution.
http://www8.hp.com/h20195/v2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=c04832209

Sigh. HP needs a good proofreader. The two store entires (works in progress) don't include the display details in their specs, so we're all still guessing for a bit longer here.

And like you, I'm really hoping to be able to order one of these units by the end of the year.

 

Woot! HP ZBook Studio is now available for order.

Click on the PNs below for direct links.

Intel Core i7-6700HQ (2.6GHz, up to 3.5GHz, 4 cores)
1. $1999 - PN T6E14UT#ABA - 8GB DDR4-2133 (2 x 4GB), 256GB Z Turbo SSD, unknown display (assumed to be FHD)
2. $2249 - PN T6E16UT#ABA - 16GB DDR3L-1600 (2 x 8GB), 512GB Z Turbo SSD, unknown display (assumed to be FHD)
3. $2499 - PN T6E17UT#ABA - 16GB DDR3L-1600 (2 x 8GB), 512GB Z Turbo SSD, unknown display (assumed to be UHD 4K)

The only spec different between #2 and #3 is that #3 has Windows 10 Pro installed (instead of Windows 7 Pro, via downgrade rights). So by deduction I'm assuming that #3 costs $250 extra because it's UHD (4K) instead of FHD. But the listings omit this very important info.

Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 (2.8GHz, up to 3.7GHz, 4 cores)
4. $2399 - PN T6E84UT#ABA - 8GB DDR4-2133 (1 x 8GB), 256GB Z Turbo SSD, unknown display (assumed to be FHD)
5. $2899 - PN T6E86UT#ABA - 16GB DDR4-2133 (2 x 8GB), 512GB Z Turbo SSD, unknown display (assumed to be UHD 4K)

Since the price difference between #4 and #5 is $500 (the same as the price difference between #1 and #3), I'm assuming that #4 is FHD and #5 is UHD.

Availability
#3, #4 and #5 are all available for order now, as custom builds, with an estimated ship date of 1-Jan-2016. #1 and #2 are currently out of stock/unavailable.

 

I am assuming that the upcoming $1699 version will be Core i7-6700HQ, FHD 4 to 8GB RAM, slower 128GB SSD, Windows 10 Home and maybe no discrete graphics. But there are no official listings yet for the low-end model.

It's also interesting that none of the current listings are for the Core i7-6820HQ (2.7GHz, up to 3.6GHz). For those who don't want to spend $400 extra for Xeon, I'm guessing that we will be seeing a $2699'ish Core i7 2.7GHz model. Pure speculation though, based on the spec sheets.

 

Looking to pull the trigger on this. Primary use is Solidworks with relatively simple machine assemblies, no real simulation, and the occasional render. Also LabView, which isn't terribly resource-intensive. Anyone have thoughts on whether the Xeon is worth it? I believe I read somewhere that the Xeon is upgradeable/replaceable in the future but can't find that.

Trying to confirm displays and configuration options with online chat now.

 

Not much luck. Had to link the chat rep to the web pages. Confirmed TB3, as expected, which was nice for me since I didn't want to wait like with some Precisions.

...
12/16/2015 06:18:36AM john: "1. Can you confirm which displays are on models T6E86UT#ABA and T6E17UT#ABA? 2. Can you confirm that Thunderbolt 3 ports are on these models? It is in the data sheet but not the specs on the individual pages.
....
12/16/2015 06:21:41AM Agent (Rose T): "John, may I please have the exact complete name of the HP computers?"
12/16/2015 06:22:16AM Agent (Rose T): "It seems that the product number you've provided is not available in our store."
12/16/2015 06:24:05AM john: "Yes, they are both called "HP ZBook Studio G3 Mobile Workstation (Energy star). First part number is at http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/business-solutions/hp-zbook-studio-g3-mobile-workstation-(energy-star)-p-t6e86ut-aba--1"
12/16/2015 06:24:23AM john: "Second part number is at http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/Laptops/hp-zbook-studio-g3-mobile-workstation-(energy-star)-p-t6e17ut-aba--1"
12/16/2015 06:24:30AM Agent (Rose T): "Thanks for letting me know."
12/16/2015 06:24:42AM Agent (Rose T): "Thank you so much for all the information."
12/16/2015 06:25:21AM Agent (Rose T): "I need to check my resources first in order to answer your question. Would you please wait for 1-2 minutes while I check my resources?"
....
12/16/2015 06:31:18AM Agent (Rose T): "I wanted to check in with you and let you know that I'm still researching your question for you."
...
12/16/2015 06:37:03AM Agent (Rose T): "Both of the HP ZBook Studio G3 Mobile Workstation (ENERGY STAR) comes with Thunderbolt 3 ports and I am afraid it has either of the follwoing displays:"
12/16/2015 06:37:30AM Agent (Rose T): "-15.6" diagonal FHD UWVA IPS anti-glare LED-backlit (1920 x 1080);
-15.6" diagonal FHD Touch UWVA IPS LED-backlit (1920 x 1080);
-15.6" diagonal UHD UWVA IPSanti-glare LED-backlit (3840 x 2160);
-15.6" diagonal UHD DreamColor UWVA IPS anti-glare LED-backlit (3840 x 2160)
...
12/16/2015 06:39:19AM Agent (Rose T): "Please call 1.866.221.4553 and a Sales Representative will be able to assist you with you and answer any remaining questions that you have. Their hours of operation are between: 7:00 AM - 2:00 AM EST, seven days a week."
12/16/2015 06:40:09AM john: "I see that those are all the available options, but can you tell me which one specifically is on these two machines? There are only small differences to other models like RAM, but that isn't enough to account for $500 price differences between models."
...
12/16/2015 06:41:14AM Agent (Rose T): "I am really sorry, John. I’ve checked all of my resources and I'm still unable to validate this."
12/16/2015 06:41:22AM Agent (Rose T): "What I’d like to do is refer you to a Product Expert who I know can answer your question."
12/16/2015 06:41:33AM Agent (Rose T): "They can be reached on the numbers mentioned above."

 

Realistically the Xeon is going to give you a 0.2GHz speed bump on the 4 CPU cores and will enable ECC memory (for applications where reliability and data integrity is paramount). The CPU is near-identical specwise to the Core i7 CPUs otherwise and I believe it uses the same soldered (non-upgradeable) connection pads but I am not 100% positive there.

 

Thanks for trying, johnny. Has anyone had luck confirming the display and configuration options, calling HP on the phone this morning?

 

And...the ZBook Studio is now available for purchase from cdw.com too. "Ships by Dec. 28 2015".

Here is a link to the $2899 (Xeon 2.8GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) model. Discounted $140 at cdw.com.
https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/HP-SB-ZBOOK-STUDIO-G3-E3-1505M-512GB/3935358.aspx

cdw.com also lists 12 different models of ZBook Studio, ranging from $1,712.99 to $3,619.99--including some Core i7-6820HQ models. And there is a mid-range Xeon Studio price-sandwiched in between the two listed from HP's site...as well as an oddly more expensive $3,596.99 Xeon Studio machine with a 256GB drive.

Another thought--the HP Store has a price protection policy and will match competitor's prices. I wonder if they would match CDW's price? Unfortunately the policy says they only want to match prices for products that are in stock and right now I guess these are technically not in stock.

 

Thanks Billy. Sounds like it's not worth it for me. I also found some other info that confirms at least this version of the Xeon is also soldered to the board, like you said.

 

I don't think the Xeon is going to be worthwhile for most usage scenarios. It's basically an i7 quad-core with a couple of extra features that very few people will utilize. Your workflow would need to require a server-class processor and ECC memory for it to be remotely worthwhile. The price differences for the models with the Xeon vs. without are significant. An option like that, in my book, is a "halo" option to make the notebook more marketable.
The Xeon is indeed not replaceable; it has the same BGA package spec as a standard Core i7-6700HQ per Intel's Ark site.

$250 more over the $1,999 config to get double the memory and storage, installed from the factory seems reasonable. You might be able to upgrade for less aftermarket, but the peace of mind of ordering the notebook as needed and having everything covered under the warranty is quite valuable.

I still can't get over the fact there's no 2.5" drive on the Studio. That really drives up the overall cost if you need to transition away from hard drives. I'm going to hold out and see what the ZBook 15u G3 pricing is like; that notebook will have a much lower starting price, accepts both an M.2 and a 2.5" storage device, and for me, its 15W dual-core CPUs are plenty. I don't plan to go DreamColor this time around because it's 4K, and my Adobe CS5 software doesn't work with Windows scaling. I'll probably buy one of the 1080p or 2560p DreamColor desktop monitors and get the dock with the ZBook.

If you're going to buy one of these notebooks, I suggest calling. HP is decent about discounting over the phone. I got 24% off my CTO 8740w years ago. That was well below what I'd have paid going through the website.

Charles

 

You can buy M.2 SATA 3 SSD, same price as 2.5" SATA3 SSD.

 

I wanted to do a hybrid setup, with a 2.5" hard drive for storage and an M.2 SSD for the OS and programs. A 1TB hard drive is a little more than $50 right now whereas a 1TB M.2 SSD is $350+. So that's where the cost factor goes up, if you want to keep all your storage with the Studio - must be SSD.
Charles

 

HP just listed a new lower-end model of HP ZBook Studio G3 at $1799. Core-i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB Z Turbo SSD. No discrete graphics.
http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/busin...le-workstation-(energy-star)-p-t6e13ut-aba--1

 

hey guys - I reached out to hp support and they indicated ZBook Studio will fully go on sale on Tuesday Dec 22nd

 

Ship date for orders placed today has moved from Jan 1 to Jan 5. Hopefully HP is getting quite a few orders for these new machines

 

im placing mine next week - want to see the full menu

 

Hopefully they have added some critical details to listings by next week...like which displays are used on the various models

Any idea when the customization options are going live? It can't be too long of a wait now. Based on the ship dates for pre-built configs, I believe that January 1st is effectively the launch date for these machines.

 

yes that's what I was told online - configuration and special price SKUs

 

Just bought the $2499 list price unit in the HP store for $150 off, called SMB sales. That unit (T6E17UT#ABA) comes with the non-DC UHD (4K) panel. The DC panel is not yet offered, even in the OTS Xeon units ($2899 in the store). Ships 05 Jan 2016. (parallel post)

 

Really torn between this and the Lenovo P50. The Lenovo P50 with 4K IPS Display, 512 SSD, 16 GB DDR4, i7-6700HQ will cost me $2.180 (education discount). Would be available mid Jan 2016.

Looks like the HP ZBook Studio G3 with the 4K Display will cost me quite some more, which will probably end up being more than I want to pay for although I prefer the HP due to it's thinness.

 

Very different machines. The HP is an ultrabook, the Lenovo isn't. If you need an ultrabook, you need one. If you don't, then there's little reason to spend the extra money.

 

Did you consider the Dell 5510, too? I ruled out the P50 due to the shoddy build of my last Lenovo (T440p), less than stellar battery life specs, and lenovo's strange fascination with keyboard numpads on its 15" machines. The HP will probably be better built and looks like it comes with a 3yr on site warranty, which is worth something, but it won't have quite the same expansion capabilities as the P50. A better comparison would be with the HP Zbook 15 G3

 

Also, it looks like the Lenovo P50 uses a lower quality 4K panel since it is only 300 nits (LG?). The panel from HP appears to be from Sharp (from online documentation) - which is at 340 nits.

 

I did consider the Dell 5510, but from my understanding only business users can buy the Precision/Vostro/Lattitude laptops - whereas I'm a student. So can't buy one. Could buy a XPS 15, but almost every unit has flaws, whether it's the screen flickering, the crappy space bar and so on (just go over to the Dell forum).

Is there a way I could buy a Dell 5510 as a private user?

Might consider the ZBook 15 G3 as well then. Thanks.

 

They sell one to anyone who pays. If anyone really asks, just tell them you are a consultant.

 

What in the world gave you that idea? Anyone can buy these machines, of course.

 

Waiting for the reviews and the 30% off coupon.

 

how will you get the 30% off coupon?

 

I'm not sure yet that the Dell XPS 15 9550 and Dell Precision 5510 are really different machines, other than the different GPU and the different branding. It's possible that the Precision laptops have better quality control, but there are not enough of them out there yet to make that call quite yet.

A lot of people who are going the route of Precision 5510 are probably picking up the XPS 15 (which has been on sale at Best Buy for the holidays). You lose the slightly faster CPU options--but for most consumer applications the XPS 15's graphics card may be a better choice than Quadro anyway. The Precision 5510 doesn't even officially support ECC RAM with the Xeon processors, and the XPS 15 has the TPM feature business users ask for.

Personally I feel that the quality of the ZBook Studio will probably be better than the Dell Precision 5510. From keyboard quality to screen quality to sound quality to expansion options to the fact that the ZBook has proper Home/End/PgUp/PgDn keys, I'm hoping that HP has made us a real winner here.

 

I hope the zbook studio is on a par with older thinkpads a in terms of build and longer term reliability. Is that a realistic hope? I've never owned an HP, but have heard good things about their business laptops. As long as the keyboard is better than dell I'm in, although I doubt any laptop can touch a thinkpad in terms of keyboard quality.

 

Dell Precision laptops used to be really awesome, purpose-built machines. Now some of the more popular ones are "upgraded/rebranded" versions of Inspiron/XPS/Latitude machines.

The good thing about HP ZBook is that they're built to be workstations and to be more rugged than typical laptops. I actually like ZBook keyboards better than the MacBook Pro keyboard although MacBook Pro is often touted as a gold standard. IBM made some really awesome ThinkPad computers too and Lenovo seems to be following in that tradition--but since a Chinese company now owns ThinkPad quite a few companies moved to ZBook or Precision. I won't get into the pros/cons of that whole situation or the fact that most laptops are probably assembled in China regardless of brand--but it does seem to mean that HP has more potential volume to build us some good ZBook designs

I just wish that the ZBook Studio was more the size of the Precision 5510. It's slim which is great--but 14" footprint is the new 15". The ZBook Studio is a bit larger than the MacBook Pro 15".

 

As far as reliability goes, ZBooks seem to last for at least a few years under normal use. I recently realized that they even warranty the batteries ("long life") for 3 years too. I don't know the details there--but I appreciate the fact that they care enough to build robust hardware.

 

Any idea how to get ZBook Studio in France? I'd like to buy this if Dell XPS 15's thread doesn't stop showing QC problems.

 

Wait until it's fully available in the HP online store or other resellers...?

 

I'm hoping the prices we're seeing appear on the UK and EU HP sites aren't finalised otherwise it seems on the high side to me - the T7W06EA model with Xeon, UHD (non-DC) screen, 512GB PCIe SSD and 8GB DDR4 RAM is £2938 ex VAT. The same configuration on the Dell 5510 is £1923.37 over £1000 cheaper!

As I say, hopefully the prices aren't finalised or I've missed something but that seems very high, no?

 

That's an obscene amount of money ...I would call them and see if they can do better.
Charles

 

Yeah, I'll probably see what tomorrow brings (assuming it is the official launch day) and give them a ring if that is what they advertise it at.

 

That's probably list price - they have promotional SKUs ready to ship and then configurable SKUs that you can apply a promo code to. I think someone earlier in this thread said it was 30%

 

http://www8.hp.com/fr/fr/products/workstations/product-detail.html?oid=8934839#!tab=models they literally double the price in France....

 

Is that actual pricing, pokenguyen? The 8GB RAM version of the Xeon SKU is 10% more expensive than the 16GB RAM version--with no other change in specs. So perhaps they're still building out the pages, and the prices aren't accurate yet?

At least you know which display comes with each unit The US listings still don't include display details (UHD vs FHD etc.)