The News: HP recently made a flurry of personal computer announcements to its Dragonfly portfolio at the recently held CES 2023 event in Las Vegas. These PC announcements include HPs Dragonfly Pro Chromebook and the HP Dragonfly Pro, new devices offering features that should resonate with hybrid workers and road warriors alike. See the full release from HP here.
HP Announces New Dragonfly PCs to Address Hybrid Work
Analyst Take: HP’s announcements of the new Dragonfly PCs at CES 2023 a few weeks ago were exciting. It’s clear that HP continues to address the needs of hybrid workers and its road warrior business travelers by innovating and introducing new systems and peripherals that are designed to make their lives easier and more productive. On the personal computer front, the company recently announced the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook and HP Dragonfly Pro. The HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook has an 8-megapixel user-facing camera and an ultrabright 1,200 nit touchscreen display, which is excellent for video calls or streaming movies.
The HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook
The new HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook is targeted toward the premium end of the consumer Chromebook market. Although many would still characterize Chromebooks toward lower-end devices resonating with budget-conscious consumers and business-to-business verticals (e.g., K12, non-profits, etc.), they appear to be gaining traction beyond traditional markets, which is great to see.
From a functionality perspective, the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook weighs in at 3.3 pounds, is outfitted with Intel’s 12th generation Intel Core i5-1234U. It has 16 gigs of LPDDR5 RAM, 256 gigs of NVME storage, a 14-inch 2560×1600 IPS touch screen, 1200 nits’ max brightness with 100% RGB, 8-megapixel camera, quad-speaker setup, RGB keyboard, and a fingerprint scanner.
The HP Dragonfly G4
HP also introduced its HP Dragonfly G4 notebook, which is from the company’s more premium-based notebook line targeting the commercial market. A key difference from prior generations is that the device is outfitted with Intel’s latest 13th generation processor, which includes solid improvements such as core counts, etc.
HP has clearly focused obsessively on adding more features purpose-designed to help hybrid workers be more inclusive in remote calls, and also work more efficiently overall. Although there will be myriad configurations of the device, aside from a more powerful processor, there are a few features that I feel will resonate especially well with users. As an example, the device has HP Fast Charge support, which charges the notebook much faster; it is estimated that it will charge the device up to 50 percent within 30 minutes, which is great. The device is also light and made with 90 percent recycled materials, which is great from a sustainability perspective, and also represents a key value prop for business travelers. Rapid charging capabilities and lightweight are big winners on that front.
Another feature I like is the multi-camera feature, which allows its users to use dual cameras at the same time. The multi-camera feature allows the user to connect a separate camera to the notebook and use them simultaneously. A key use case here might be a user wanting to have themselves on camera while also using a whiteboard to present information. I believe this feature will be well-received by users, especially those working at home without the benefit of a large background to illustrate diagrams, which are incredibly useful for project management, research, and development, along with other job functions.
Wrapping it up, this addition by HP of the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook and HP Dragonfly G4 to its premium HP Dragonfly product portfolio should resonate with users wanting premium experiences in the hybrid work environment.
Disclosure: Futurum Research is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of Futurum Research as a whole.
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