HP ZBook Studio G3 Owner's Review

Review Summary

This is a personal review of the HP ZBook Studio G3 from a user's perspective. A number of NotebookReview forums members have questions about this machine, so I will update this review over the next few days with answers to the most frequently asked questions. I can post photos, benchmarks, etc.

Disclaimer: I work for an engineering and design firm, not for HP. These opinions are my own and do not represent those of my employer. I alternate between engineering tools and design software, on both PCs and Macs. I have some experience with MacBook Pros, Dell Precision laptops and HP ZBooks so those perspectives (biases?) will probably show here.

System Specs

• Model #T6E86UT ($2899 USD)
• Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 (2.8GHz) with Intel HD graphics P530
• 512 GB HP Z Turbo Drive PCIe SSD
• 16 GB DDR4-2133 (2 x 8 GB)
• 15.6" diagonal UHD UWVA IPS anti-glare LED-backlit (3840 x 2160)
• NVIDIA Quadro M1000M (special edition with 4 GB dedicated GDDR5)
• Intel 8260 ac (2x2) + Bluetooth 4.1
• Fingerprint Reader
• Windows 10 Pro x64

Photos

Top View - Exterior



Bottom View - Exterior



Bottom View - Taking Cover Off (vents removed)



Bottom View - Interior



Photo disclaimer: I added the Samsung 950 Pro in the second M.2 SSD slot. Not included with machine.

Size Comparison (15" MacBook Pro vs. HP ZBook Studio G3)

 

Benchmarks

UHD 4K Display (non-DreamColor)

I calibrated the display with an X-Rite i1Display Pro using the open-source dispcalGUI app. dispcalGUI also calculates the measured sRGB, Adobe RGB and CMYK gamut coverage.

I also ran the i1Profile app to obtain luminance and contrast ratio measurements.

Disclaimer: these results are for the display in this specific laptop. HP doesn't provide sRGB or AdobeRGB gamut guarantees for non-DreamColor displays. Your results may vary.

For those that don't want to analyze charts: the gamut coverage is unexpectedly strong (nearly 100%) so this display can reproduce a photo's or video's intended colors with strong accuracy.

To interpret these: the dotted outline is the profile spec. The larger multi-colored outline is the measured gamut coverage of my display.

Luminance and Contrast
Luminance: 251 cd/m^2
Contrast ratio: 1068:1

CMYK Gamut
Coverage: 100% CMYK



sRGB Gamut
Coverage: 99.9% sRGB, volume: 152.5% sRGB



AdobeRGB Gamut
Coverage: 98.8% AdobeRGB, volume: 105.1% AdobeRGB



512GB Z Turbo SSD Performance

The Z Turbo SSD's performance is wicked-fast: slightly slower reads than the Samsung 950 Pro (and slightly faster writes).

 

Opinions

Design

This laptop is pretty. At first glance, it doesn't scream "eye candy" as much as it does "portable workstation." But every once in a while I notice the little details and they make me smile. And after a few hours with this machine, my MacBook Pro's design is starting to feel "tired."

The dimple pattern on the top is pretty cool, and the HP logo looks great in a dark mirrored finish. The lid doesn't look like any other laptop that I've seen--and I think that will catch a few eyes.

The bottom of the laptop is my favorite, design-wise. HP did a slick job of integrating the regulatory info and product info (including serial number) in printed gray text right down the centerline of the darker-gray case bottom. The Windows sticker sticks out a little bit, but it's not too bad.

The pyramid pattern throughout the bottom half of the laptop's bottomside is really interesting to look at, and the mesh pattern (alternating inverted triangles over a mesh of circles) is pretty cool. Speaking of cool: I believe that the bottom vents are intake, with the large heat exhaust vents hidden inside the lid hinge area.

A few nice design touches:

• When the laptop is plugged in, an LED next to the power barrel jack lights up...no need to figure out which of the LEDs on the front are for power.
• HP put "Mobile Workstation" in small print right on the back edge. "Hi, I'm not just pretty: I'm a powerful laptop." Nice touch.
• The hinge design is pretty great. One long, sturdy, confidence-giving hinge.
• The "Bang & Olufsen" text on the display bezel is in a darker gray text, putting the world on notice that this laptop has premium sound while itself fading into the background.
• The trackpad is big. Really big. More on this below.

A few design gripes:

1. The power barrel jack (on the right side) is an inch or so from the back edge. The AC adapter's plug is a right-angle plug, so this works great when the cable is fed from the reverse side of the machine. But it's also a bit more difficult to find in a dark room and combined with the right-angle plug a bit awkward when setting down the machine. Also: if the cable is right-angle-facing-forward for some reason, the USB-C ports are blocked.
2. The trackpad may be a bit too big. If that's possible. More on this below.

Trackpad

Wow, this trackpad is huge. I love it. It's even larger than my previous favorite, the (late 2015) MacBook Pro's trackpad.

A few things to be aware of:

The trackpad is slightly off-center to the left, centered under the main part of the keyboard (i.e. excluding the home/pgup/pgdn/end column of keys). If you've used a MacBook for a long time, shifting your hands left a tiny bit may take a little getting used to. And you might "right-click" when trying to "left-click" the first few times, since the hit areas for both "mouse buttons" are so wide and simultaneously slightly-off-center. I got used to that in a few hours.

And because the trackpad is so large, I keep resting the edge of my palm on the corner of its surface. This leads to a ghost-cursor roaming across my screen at times, and it also leads to accidental zooming every once in a while when I'm trying to move the cursor. There's no reason this can't be fixed via software (i.e. palm rejection) and there may already be a setting that will deal with this. To be revisited.

The trackpad has no buttons. Like the MacBook and like the Precision 5510s, the trackpad physically "clicks". I was worried about the quality of this experience, since there are no secondary buttons as a backup. But so far, those fears are completely unfounded: this trackpad is really great. And according to Windows, it's officially a Precision Touchpad.

In comparison to the MacBook Pro, the ZBook Studio G3's trackpad is less "glassy-smooth". The trackpad quality, precision and responsiveness however is similar to both MacBook Pro and the Precision 5510.

Keyboard

I love this keyboard. I had a lot of troubles with the Precision 5510 keyboard (especially with having to really bang on the spacebar key to get consistent results). And I really miss the lack of dedicated Home/PgUp/PgDn/End keys on my MacBook. HP solved all those problems for me with the ZBook Studio G3's keyboard.

The key travel feels good. And no mush. The key quality isn't as amazing as the MacBook Pro's key quality, but I have no gripes about the keys. Overall, everything just works. I am a happy camper. So so much happier than with the new Dell keyboard.

For those of you with previous ZBooks, HP has made the Fn keys just as wide as regular keys with this keyboard: so you may need to relearn the position of the right-most Fn keys. Not a biggie. BTW, having a dedicated PrintScreen key is pretty great for those of us who take a lot of screenshots.

On the arrow keys: the up/down arrow keys are a little smaller top-to-bottom than on earlier ZBooks. And they're pretty wide so that makes them look small and hard to hit. I have medium-sized fingers and have had no issues hitting the right keys there without looking.

Display

I love and not-quite-as-much-love the display. The sRGB and AdobeRGB gamut coverage is pretty awesome and the display technically has great viewing angles. But I have a few gripes.

The first issue is the viewing angle. Yes, it has great viewing angles. But I've been spoiled by my MacBook Pro. I wouldn't really recommend this laptop for a bunch of friends watching a movie together on a couch because the brightness fades more than I'm used to for side-viewers.

My bigger issue, honestly, is the unbalanced white level. Windows 10 does have an RGB balance setting (in the Color Calibration app) which lets you tweak the white level. I tested an older ZBook which had really good white level balance. But for some reason this machine has a really strong propensity to drive up its green balance.

Overall, if you love display quality I have one recommendation: get the UHD panel and get an X-Rite ColorMunki Display (or a Spyder...or a i1Display Pro...something quality). And then take 15 minutes and let dispcalGUI measure and calibrate your display.

Fully calibrated, I really like this display. It still feels a little bit off being matte (vs. anti-reflective gloss on the MacBook Pro) but oh my goodness do rich 4K YouTube videos look fantastic

Speakers

I also have a mixed review on the speakers. Compared to the grinding front-blasting speakers on the Precision 5510, the ZBook Studio G3's speakers offer much nicer sound. But they're also fairly quiet. I watched Adele's "Hello" on Vevo with both my MacBook Pro and my ZBook Studio G3, cranked up all the way, and the MacBook Pro was much much louder. That said I think the accuracy of the ZBook's speakers may have been better.

There may be some settings which will amplify the sound. When I checked the Sound applet, the actual output wasn't above 20% most of the time. Maybe HP is trying to preserve sound quality by ensuring the speakers never "clip" at the top end of the range. To be revisited.

Self-upgrades

I wanted to add a second fast SSD to my machine, to use in a wicked-fast RAID 0 array. The older ZBooks had sliding backs which made it fast and easy to replace and upgrade parts. This machine requires a T9 screwdriver and a few minutes to open up.

If you do replace or add parts in your machine, it is pretty important to follow the correct procedure to drain power out of your laptop before inserting/removing anything. The battery does not have a "stick paper clip in hole to disconnect battery" pinhole.

Before adding/removing/replacing parts: unplug AC adapter; unscrew battery; gently remove battery; unplug the battery's really nice power cable; open laptop and hold down the power button for 15-30 seconds to drain power capacitors in the system. Also make sure you're grounded.

After adding/removing/replacing parts: plug the battery back in; slide the battery down so that you don't pinch its power cable; screw all the battery screws back in; power back up the laptop on battery power or AC--your choice. If you want to quickly test the new configuration, you can leave out the battery temporarily--but you should consider unplugging the AC adapter and pressing the power button for 15-30 seconds to drain the power capacitors again before attaching the battery. These machines are expensive: take care.

Support

Apparently the ZBooks come with "Elite Support". As HP puts it, you call and get a real human with no long wait lines. And you can even ask for support reps by name. I called. He was super-helpful. We probably shouldn't call unless we need actual support. Two thumbs up

2.5" Drive Option

HP did not solder the 2.5" drive connector on the circuit board for this machine. If you want to use a 2.5" drive (instead of an M.2 SSD in the second SSD slot) I highly recommend ordering the laptop with a 2.5" (SATA) drive. In contrast, my machine did come with a small riser adapter and extra screw for a second SSD.

BTW, there's a lot of empty room in the chassis when no 2.5" SATA drive is installed. I hope that HP fills that space with an extra-large battery option in the future. With super-fast 1TB SSDs on the horizon, a lot of people would probably prefer even longer battery life.

Summary

I really like this laptop. When HP says that they built this laptop from the ground up as a workstation (instead of what Dell did...rebranding the XPS as a Precision), I believe them. And having 3 years of parts, labor and on-site service warranty with an elite support phone # is pretty cool too.

I have a few gripes. I wish the speakers went to 11. I wish that HP wouldn't make me wait to buy accidental damage coverage (since it wasn't loaded in the system in time for my order). I wish that the display was a DreamColor display. I wish that the laptop was cheaper But overall, after looking at pretty much every workstation option and trying a few in person, I am really happy with this machine.

If you'd like me to test something out, run extra benchmark, etc. just reply to this thread and let me know in the next few days. I know that some of you are equally as excited as me about this new laptop (and some of you are torn between this and the Precision 5510 like I was).

 

Thanks much for posting your review and thoughts, and for the crystal clear pics.

Charles

 

Billy - Great review. Thanks so much for sharing. Just a quick question about the trackpad - how much ability, if any, do you have to configure different gestures (tap zones, etc.)? Or is everything pretty much set?

 

What options are you looking for in particular?

The touchpad is a Precision Touchpad but by default it runs the Alps touchpad driver in "GlidePoint TouchPad" mode instead of the Microsoft-standard "Precision TouchPad" mode.

Screenshot - Control Panel > Devices > Mouse & touchpad



ScreenShot - Alps GlidePoint settings



What else can I try or look up for you?

 

Great review and pictures. Any thoughts on battery life?

 

I also confirmed that this laptop does include the special-edition NVidia Quadro M1000M with 4GB of GDDR5 RAM (double the normal RAM).

 

Which benchmark is best for testing battery life under Windows 10?

If there's no good benchmark, what kind of tests should I run? Watching movies on Netflix?

 

Excellent review Billy, thank you. The Z drive looks like a keeper

How about fan noise and chassis temperatures when loaded? Can you share a few thoughts on these too, especially comparing to the competition?

 

Oh and according to a HP salesman this machine was built on the base of the Omen / Omen Pro.. might be just a legend though

 

Using PCMark8 seems to be the standard way of testing - with wifi on and screen at normal brightness

 

Great review! Interesting to see it has an Alps Touchpad. That is probably a first for HP.

My only question is if the bios has a dedicated graphics only option. That would help make a Linux install a bit easier.

 

Hi, I 've been sitting on the fence for sometime. I need to replace my old macbook pro in the near future.
I thought I would give windows a chance.
My short list is as follows:
- lenovo p50
- dell 7510
- hp zbook studio g3

My priorities:
- build quality and durability (have small kids around and work sometimes at home
- keyboard quality (I have to write lots of strategies)
- display (apple spoiled me, so I want a better display)
- future proofness (would like to keep it for a few years)

I don't mind weight, but of course better portability ie less weight is an advantage and so is better battery life

You wrote that you tried a couple of rivals , though did not specify which ones.
Could you elaborate on keyboard and durability (naturally you can't have hands on experience concerning durability)?

Right now, I am leaning towards dell 7510 as I was quoted a really attractive price that lenovo can't match. However, a big company would source it for me, so they might
get the same discount from HP (I'll find out in the coming days).

Thanks
Cheers
Adam

 

Great review, thanks. How about pictures of the laptop with lid open?
Hey, I had to ask

P.S.: Gosh, your screenshots remind me of how much I hate those Windows 10 controls. For cryin' out loud, why, in 2015, do we need to go back to DOS-style ASCII art from the 1980s? Been there, done that. Sheesh...

 

My take on this: If you're already used to and invested in OS X, and given how much Windows has deteriorated since Windows 7, then I would not move over to Windows now if I were you. As a matter of fact, I am still debating with myself whether I should abandon Windows. This is coming from someone with a huge investment in the Windows ecosystem, by the way.

Other than the reinvestment in training and software, if you go Windows you'll also have to deal with the near-non-existing support for high-DPI displays, Microsoft spyware, non-existing app ecosystem, and generally beta-like quality of the OS at this point (although praise for El Capitan right now seems somewhat muted, too...).

 

IMO there is still no manufacturer that can touch the quality and overall feel of a Lenovo keyboard, but I'm also curious about the amount of key travel on the G3 Studio. I suspect, being a super thin machine, the travel is pretty shallow.

 

I guess that gets pretty much subjective at this point. Having a background of 8+ years with various Elitebooks, I do prefer those keyboards to my friend's X1 Carbon's one..

 

There is a difference between x1 carbon and p50 keyboards AFAIK. Though, I haven't seen the p50 in the flesh ,yet.

 

I have been a mac user for 15 years for personal purposes. For work, I use Windows too.

Normally, I wouldn't need a workstation. I do edit videos and work with photoshop etc, but not professionally. I would just like to get something that is on par with MBP in terms of build quality.

I am bit bored by Apple products... But I also might be in for a big surprise (disappointment)...

 

Well, yes, I can see how their design has gone stale by now. As for build quality, professional-class PCs have equaled Apple products in this area for a long time now. Not all of them, mind you, but there's plenty to choose from. Lots more choice than you get from Apple, obviously.

 

That's my idea, too.

Comparing notebooks by going through specs, I have noticed that the hp studio's UHD display contrast ratio is only 400:1. I know that it alone doesn't say much but is it a mistake or am I missing some info?
Lenovo's UHD display has 1000:1.

 

The chassis temperature has been consistently cool so far. A hot chassis is a dealbreaker for me for laptops, since I frequently use laptops on my lap.

I'm not the best judge of fan noise. Most of the time I don't notice the fans at all, and it seems like the two fans turn on independently. When I set the laptop on top of another laptop, I occasionally hear a brief intermittent spin-up-to-fast fan sequence.

I did notice that there are options to run the fans constantly in AC-powered mode and I assume that would create a constant quiet fan noise. For people who want a silent environment, a fanless PC might be a better choice.

 

Dang. I tried that, but for some reason the PCMark8 "battery life" option is grayed out. Full battery, grumpy software. I tried.

This is the top of the line SKU with Xeon and UHD 4K and a dGPU. I'm guessing that 4-5 hours is realistic. I'll try to watch a movie on it later, streamed over Wi-Fi, with the screen at full brightness. And I'll try doing a typical engineering workload. And I'll approximate and let you know. Hopefully someone else with a ZBook Studio G3 can run some proper battery benchmarks too.

 

There's definitely some (Voodoo) Omen DNA in there. If you look at the bottom venting and bottom design of the Omen Pro, it feels like an earlier iteration of the design used on the ZBook Studio G3. Except instead of airflow cutouts in the front and rear, HP sculpted the bottom of the machine so that there were huge vents on the left and right sides.

And really...basing design elements of this machine on a proven gaming platform makes a lot of sense. Both machines have power-users who want lots of GPU power and push the limits. And frankly the venting design is pretty darn cool looking.

 

Are these the BIOS graphics options you're looking for?

 

Brave man I constantly switch between Mac OS X and Windows so I have some perspective here (although probably not as much as you on the OS X side).

I love the refined feel of Mac OS X and how simple it is to do simple things on the Mac. But then it kind of drives me nuts having to learn and use a ton of multi-key combos for things which are both frequently-used and straightforward on the PC. A good example of this is switching between windows: on the Mac, Command+tab switches apps but then you have to use Command+"~" to switch between windows within an app. On a PC, you just use Alt+Tab regardless of whether the window is part of the same app or another app. I feel so much more productive on Windows--but I also feel like Windows is "pretty and designed for productivity" whereas OS X is "gorgeous and designed for ease of use". Both have pros; I just wish I could mash them together sometimes.

Lenovo does make great keyboards, or at least they used to when they were IBM ThinkPads. They probably still do. We can't use Lenovo computers for sensitive work for political/legal reasons so I don't have a lot of recent experience here.

The Dell Precision 7510 is a pretty big laptop. It's probably more of a purpose-built workstation than the Precision 5510. If you're looking for something more MacBook Pro-sized, you may want to stick to the ZBook Studios and the Precision 5510s.

On displays: the Dell Precision 5510's UHD display is sexier than the ZBook Studio's UHD display. There are some color shifting issues at angles to be aware of, but if you like the beautiful glossy look of the MacBook Pros you'll probably gravitate toward the 5510. If you want color accuracy for design work, the ZBook Studio's upcoming DreamColor option will be a safe bet.

The Precision 5510 has a bigger battery and will probably give you longer battery life than the ZBook Studio G3. They both weigh 4.4 pounds.

As you said, I can't really comment on durability of the ZBook Studio's keyboard since it's a brand new machine. But I have used ZBooks in the past and have never ever had a key wear out or start to feel mushy after a year or two of use.

Honestly, my only complaint with the keyboard on the ZBook Studio is that I keep hitting my palm on the touchpad while typing and that moves my curor. I haven't figured out how to get the Alps touchpad palm rejection to work yet but I see there are options--so I expect that to be a non-issue very soon.

 

I don't have any measurements for key travel, but it's a very reasonable amount. Every key I press registers with me mentally, and I haven't made typing mistakes yet.

From a day of testing and comparison with my MacBook Pro's keyboard, I would say that the MacBook Pro's keyboard is slightly nicer for reasons I can't really quantify. But both machines have quality keyboards.

 

.
That sounds about right for the standard UHD display. The upcoming DreamColor display's spec is a 1000:1 contrast ratio.

I love OLED displays for their contrast (including totally black blacks) and IPS displays for their quality. I expect that the DreamColor option will probably be a good balance of the two. In the meantime, the current UHD display in my ZBook Studio makes for really striking and surprisingly accurate colors in photos and videos. [I wish it were DreamColor though. Sigh.]

 

Thanks for trying! I just assume the normal formula of dividing the manufacturer-quoted battery life by two, which would indeed give 4-5 hours.

One other thing I'm curious about is if a 2.5" SSD is designed to fit where you have the Samsung 950 M2 -- it's hard to tell if a special cable is required

 

Good strategy

Yes, the area where my extra SSD is installed is designed to accommodate either an M.2 drive (leaving a whole bunch of empty space) or a 2.5" SSD.

Be aware: for the high-end model I ordered, HP did not solder a connector for the 2.5" SSD onto the circuit board. They did include a standoff for an extra M.2 drive, so I assume that they pre-build these machines for one intended configuration or the other. In short: if you're going to want to use a 2.5" SSD, buy a model that comes with a 2.5" drive. Or at least have your HP sales rep confirm that the SATA connector will be soldered on for you in your machine.

 

Just got my ZBook Studio yesterday and wowzers it definitely very nice. I can confirm as well that it does come with the special edition NVIDIA Quadro M1000M 4GB card too that the webstore is showing. Sounds like all systems will include it.

My specs below:

Windows 10 64 bit
Intel Xeon E3-1505M v5 2.8Ghz
15.6" diagonal UHD UWVA IPS anti-glare LED-backlit (3840 x 2160)
Special Edition - NVIDIA Quadro M1000M 4GB
32GB ECC Memory (2x16GB)
512GB Z Turbo Drive (NVMe PCIe SSD)
WLAN vPro

I was definitely surprised at the drive speed as well....>2GB sequential read. Sounds like its the 2X faster version than what Dell 5510 uses which is the PM950 version. It does feel pretty rugged as well - the military standard 810G certification adds a nice "peace of mind" stamp to the overall build quality - I think.

 

as I understand it from reading the documentation , ZBook Studio will only support M2 drives - i don't think there are any 2.5" drives available - its very thin space available when you consider the 2.5" drive bracket. I think the ZBook 15u and ZBook 15 do support 7 mm drives but ZBook Studio does not.

Btw amazing writeup, thanks for sharing with everyone your insight! I'm part of the Studio club too now haha

 

Woot! What do you think of your new machine? I'm excited to hear that others are getting theirs too...

Between the super-fast CPU and the super-fast drive, I feel weird when I power it up: aren't computers supposed to take more than a few seconds to go from "off" to "ready to serve you, master"?

BTW, quick tip if you keep touching the huge touchpad with your palm: I switched off "allow taps on your touchpad" option in Touchpad Settings and also switched to Microsoft "Precision Touchpad" mode.

Any tips and tricks you can share with me as well?

 

This confused me as well. I don't know what thickness is supported, but 2.5" drives are supported on some ZBook Studio models.

Here's a good explanation from HP, in the service manual...
http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/doc/...934839&docId=emr_na-c04925075&docLocale=en_US

From page 45: HP has two SATA (2.5" drive) options: a 128GB TLC SSD and a 256GB SATA3 self-encrypting SSD--plus a Solid-state drive bracket.

From page 46: HP shows a diagram explaining how to install/remove a 2.5" SATA SSD ("hard drive").

From page 47: Diagram showing how to install/remove the bracket and special 2.5" SSD SATA adapter connector. Note that the adapter connector marked as "3" on this diagram has nowhere to go in your and my laptops: HP left the mating connecting off of the motherboard and gave us a second M.2 connector/riser instead.

Happy to share, and feeling lucky that I got one of the very first machines. Looking forward to hearing what everyone else thinks about their ZBook Studios, to sharing more tips with each other, etc.

 

I'm really enjoying it so far - purchased a USB-C to DisplayPort adapter to allow external display connectivity. haven't tinkered much with the touchpad just yet since been working with the lid closed. However, when in mobile mode I do find it helpful that the touchpad controls are accessible via the bottom right task tray and you're able to quickly switch from ALPS to Microsoft PTP mode depending on your preference. ALPS is pretty darn smooth thus far.

Below is a screenshot of my internal system topology - you can do it too by opening up the HP Performance Advisor app - it's pre-installed I believe. This is where I confirmed the 4GB special edition graphics card.

 

I am glad both of you are enjoying your machines. Sounds like they are very nice. I like that its possible to disable the hybrid graphics on the Zbook Studio, that should make running Linux much simpler.

I am very happy with the Lenovo P50, and I do prefer Synaptics hardware over Alps. We really have lots of awesome choices of hardware this time around!

 

P.S. A bit more display info (measured on my laptop, with an i1Display Pro):

Luminance: 251 cd/m^2
Contrast ratio: 1068:1

 

@ Billy or GosuDesign
What's your experience regarding Win10 scaling on your 4K displays?
I'm thinking about FHD display + Win7. Do you think that scaling will work better on FHD than on 4K (with Win7)?

Thank you.

 

Scaling issues will be vastly reduced if you go with the FHD screen. Depending on what software and/or combinations of external monitors/projectors you use, you could be in a world of hurt if you choose the UHD display.

I have tried setting some UHD displays (on display in my local Best Buy) to FHD resolution (essentially grouping the pixels in groups of exactly four), and the results have been disappointing. The FHD display you get this way is significantly lower quality than a native FHD display. For me the conclusion is to stay away from UHD displays for Windows. Windows 10 works better than 7 in that regard, but there's still plenty of issues.

 

Thanks for the info. I am becoming more and more interested in the studio. I wish it had dedicated TouchPad buttons and a track point...

 

Billy said the 4K non dream color display is good but has a view gripes with his display. What are your thought on your systems display?

I don't need a color accurate display but some days I'm away from my desk and spend 10 hours staring at the built in screen so it's important to have something that's easy on the eyes My 2560x1440 display on my X1 Carbon (gen 2) is complete crap and I want to avoid another low quality screen.

 

The non-DreamColor 4K UHD display looks pretty good. Didn't notice any light leakage on the edges. from the documentation, it's from Sharp and is ultra wide viewing angle / IPS so the viewing angles are ideal. Also, the brightness nits is 340 relative to Lenovo P50 which is only 300 nits. One of the biggest dealbreakers for me for the Dell precision 5510 was that it was UHD Touch only so it had a glossy screen with no anti-glare - so it would be a fingerprint magnet. I think matte 4K screen is the way to go

I do agree - that ideally, it would have been better to get it color calibrated from factory but it does cover the AdobeRGB color space as Billy said and you can use your own color calibration tool.

 

Does the screen show any banding/posterization? If so, what's the smallest change in <R,G,B> grayscale before stepping to the next color?

Also, how many bits is the panel?

 

+1 for Vinvent's question.

Also, are the HP screens user upgradeable? IE, I order the 4k IPS screen today and then buy the 4K DC display when it comes out? Has anyone tried anything similar?

 

No one knows for sure about the Studio G3. However, past experience on these boards upgrading a non-DC unit, namely an EliteBook 8740w, to DC, is a complicated process - not to mention it's very difficult to source the parts. There are other components besides the screen that need to be purchased. The bottom line is, if you want DC, buy it that way.

Charles

 

I would love to know some more about the battery life. You don't have to run any test but just a general feel, are we talking 4-5h surfing or 7-8h?. The quickspec doesn't even have a rating, its only XX hours XX minutes. HP always has bold claims that they never deliver on, I saw in the Elitebook G3 QS that they promised 13,5h on the 840. I would be glad if I could get 7-8h with this one with light workload and 1080p non touch and without discrete graphics.

 

dreamcolor display release date will be in the next 4 months ?
and it will only come in 4k resolution no 1080p ?

 

HP Quick Specs state 1H16, meaning anytime between now and June 30th.

Only a 4K version of the Dreamcolor display has been announced as of now. No indication of a 1080p DC.

 

@Billy Cantor are you using this with any non-UHD external displays? I'm curious how it (Windows 10) does with having different scaling factors on different displays, and whether apps that aren't DPI aware tend to look OK or not.