By Brady Betzel
A strong cell workstation is likely one of the most releasing instruments a creator can personal. Whether or not you’re chopping in Adobe Premiere Professional, compositing in Adobe After Results or grading in Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve, the very last thing you need is a spinning beachball or a blue display screen mid-render.
HP’s ZBook line has a fame for reliability, and the brand new ZBook X G1i continues that pattern. At $5,959, it’s not a funds laptop computer, however this isn’t shopper gear dressed up as “professional.” It’s a workstation with parts designed to run laborious and maintain going 24/7.
Out of the field, you get a three-year restricted guarantee, however it’s price spending $113 to improve to HP’s “Important” guarantee, which provides on-site restore — vital peace of thoughts in the event you depend on this technique for deadlines.
Working system – Home windows 11 Professional
CPU – Intel Core Extremely 7 265H (as much as 5.3GHz with Intel Turbo Increase Expertise, 24MB L3 cache, 16 cores, 16 threads)
Neural Processing Unit (NPU) – Intel AI Increase (13 NPU TOPS)
Reminiscence – 64GB DDR5-5600 MT/s (2 x 32 GB)
Reminiscence slots – 2 SODIMM; helps twin channel
Inner drive – 1 TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe TLC M.2 SSD
Show – 16-inch diagonal, 2.5K (2560 x 1600), 120Hz, IPS, anti-glare, low blue gentle, 400 nits, 100% DCI-P3
Graphics – Built-in: Intel Arc 140T GPU
- Discrete: Nvidia RTX Professional 2000 Blackwell Era Laptop computer GPU (8GB GDDR7 devoted)
Community interface – Intel I219-LM GbE
Exterior I/O Ports – Left aspect: 1 USB Kind-A 5Gb/sec signaling price (charging), 1 HDMI 2.1, 1 headphone/microphone combo, 1 energy connector, 1 sensible card reader, 2 Thunderbolt 4 with USB Kind-C 40Gb/sec signaling price (USB Energy Supply, DisplayPort 2.1)
Proper aspect: 1 USB Kind-A 5Gb/sec signaling price, 1 RJ-45, 1 SD card reader, 1 nano safety lock slot, 1 SIM card slot
Audio Options – Audio by Poly Studio, twin stereo audio system, HP World Going through Microphone
Webcam – 5MP IR digital camera
Wi-fi know-how – Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE201 (2×2) and Bluetooth 5.4 wi-fi card, vPro
Energy provide – 150W Slim Good exterior AC energy adapter
Battery – HP Lengthy Life 6-cell, 83 Wh Li-ion polymer
Dimensions (W x D x H) – 14.15 inches by 9.88 inches by 0.9 inches
Weight – Beginning at 4.5lbs
Guarantee – Three-year (3/3/0) restricted guarantee consists of three years of elements and labor. No on-site restore.
Safety software program license – HP Wolf Professional Safety Version (three years)
Sustainable Affect Specs
Bulk packaging out there; exterior energy provide 90% effectivity; molded paper pulp cushion inside field is 100% sustainably sourced and recyclable; 60% post-consumer recycled plastic; low-halogen PCAs; outdoors field and corrugated cushions are 100% sustainably sourced or recyclable
Proper off the bat, this model of the HP ZBook X G1i can be nice for a content material creator or skilled who solely must edit, coloration or create VFX in HD or lighter-weight codecs. Playback of heavyweight codecs, like Purple Uncooked, actually slowed in Premiere Professional, and rendering simultaneous exports in Adobe Media Encoder crashed the system each time. In Resolve, I had a lot better success in enjoying again and rendering heavier-weight codecs, though Resolve doesn’t permit for simultaneous exports.
Let’s get to some precise work testing. I used my private benchmarking clips from completely different cameras and utilized a fundamental coloration correction in a UHD, 3840×2160 decision timeline:
- ARRI RAW: 3840×2160 24fps – 7 seconds, 12 frames
- ARRI RAW: 4448×1856 24fps – 7 seconds, 12 frames
- BMD RAW: 6144×3456 24fps – 15 seconds
- Purple RAW: 6144×3072 23.976fps – 7 seconds, 12 frames
- Purple RAW: 6144×3160 23.976fps – 7 seconds, 12 frames
- Sony a7siii: 3840×2160 23.976fps – 15 seconds
I exploit 4 timelines for the next Resolve checks:
- Colour Correction Solely
- Colour Correction, Resolve Extremely Noise Discount
- Colour Correction, Resolve Extremely Noise Discount, Sharpening, Grain
- Colour Correction, Neat Video v6 Noise Discount
The timelines are one minute in size, no proxies are used, and all caching is turned off. My export settings: “Bypass re-encode when doable,” “Power sizing to highest high quality” and “Power debayer to highest high quality” to keep away from utilizing any earlier caches or renders. From there I export a DNxHR 444 10-bit MXF OP1A MFX, DNxHR 444 10-bit .mov, H.264 4:2:2 10-bit MP4, H.265 4:2:2 10-bit MP4, AV1 MP4, and at last a UHD RGB IMF.
Resolve 20.1.1.7 Exports:
Resolve 20.1.1.7
DNxHR 444 10-bit .mxf
DNxHR 444 10-bit .mov
H.264
4:2:2 – 10-bit
.mp4
H.265
4:2:2 – 10-bit .mp4
AV1
.mp4
IMF
RGB UHD
Colour Correction Solely
1:00
1:05
1:10
1:21
00:48
1:42
CC + Resolve Extremely Noise Discount
11:49
11:49
11:43
11:36
11:35
12:20
CC, Resolve Extremely NR, Sharpening, Grain
12:12
12:11
11:55
11:54
11:55
12:45
CC + Neat Video 6 Noise Discount
04:22
04:00
04:03
04:25
04:24
05:10
In comparison with a desktop laptop with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 utilizing the native Resolve plugins, the outcomes are about 10x slower on this ZBook. Utilizing Neat Video, the outcomes are about 3x slower. You could find these outcomes right here. Resolve’s Magic Masks 2 processed the ARRI clip at a max of 8fps, the RED clip at about 7fps and the Sony a7siii at 10fps.
Utilizing Adobe Premiere Professional 25.5, I imported an XML I created utilizing the identical Resolve Challenge above however changed the native Resolve plugins with Adobe Premiere Professional’s variations of these plugins. I didn’t use Neat Video within Adobe Premiere Professional.
Adobe Premiere Professional 25.5 (Particular person Exports in Media Encoder)
DNxHR 444 10-bit .mxf
DNxHR 444 10-bit .mov
H.264
10-bit
.mp4
H.265
10-bit .mp4
Colour Correction Solely
2:20
1:30
1:15
00:43
CC + NR, Sharpening, Grain
2:17
1:37
1:24
1:04
Adobe Premiere Professional 25.5 (A number of Simultaneous Exports in Media Encoder)
Colour Correction Solely
NA
NA
NA
NA
CC + NR, Sharpening, Grain
NA
NA
NA
NA
The Premiere Professional outcomes are solely roughly 2x slower than my outcomes utilizing the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090.
Different Benchmarks
Blackmagic Proxy generator:
Blackmagic Resolve (20.1.1.4) Proxy Generator:
Sony a7iii UHD (3840×2160) MP4 Grasp Information (46 Information, Whole Grasp File Measurement: 15GB)
Proxies:
- 265 10-bit 4:2:0 1080p: 263 fps (Nvidia RTX GeForce RTX 5090: 235 fps)
- ProRes 422 10-bit 4:2:2 1080p: 289fps
RED Uncooked – Varied Resolutions (2 recordsdata, Whole Grasp File Measurement: 3.81GB)
Proxies:
- 265 10-bit 4:2:0 1080p: 13 fps (Nvidia RTX GeForce RTX 5090: 77 fps)
- ProRes 422 10-bit 4:2:2 1080p: 13fps
Blackmagic RAW Velocity Take a look at:
HD:
4K:
8K:
V-Ray CPU: 19,298 vsamples
V-Ray GPU:
- CUDA: 2169 vpaths
- RTX: 3341 vpaths
Cinebench 2024:
- Single-Core CPU: 125 pts
- Multi-Core CPU: 1109 pts
Blender CPU Benchmark:
- Monster: 132.416868
- Junkshop: 84.449515
- Classroom: 62.977508
Blender GPU Benchmark:
- Monster: 1483.550578
- Junkshop: 942.973769
- Classroom: 826.086222
Puget Techniques PugetBench for Creators 2.0:
- Adobe Premiere Professional 25.5: 81606
Puget Techniques PugetBench for Creators 1.0.1:
- Adobe After Results 25.4: 7322
Puget Techniques PugetBench for Creators 1.2.0:
Day-to-Day Use
Numbers apart, the ZBook is simply snug to make use of. The 16-inch show is vivid and correct, and the slim bezel retains it smooth. The webcam seems sharp on calls and features a privateness shutter. Regardless of lengthy periods in Resolve, the chassis stayed cool sufficient for precise lap use.
The keyboard features a 10-key pad, which is an actual productiveness enhance for timecode entry or information work. The audio system are serviceable however lack bass. My largest gripe: the proprietary energy brick. A USB-C charger can be safer and extra versatile.
Battery life is restricted — about 90 minutes below Cinebench loop, with a 2-hour-and-15-minute recharge — however that’s the tradeoff for workstation-class efficiency.
Remaining Ideas
The HP ZBook X G1i isn’t constructed to interchange a high-end desktop, and it doesn’t attempt to. What it does provide is enterprise-level reliability, a vivid and correct display screen, glorious cooling and assist backed by HP’s guarantee.
In case your workflow leans closely on Purple Uncooked or simultaneous exports, persist with a tower. However for editors, colorists and VFX artists who need a reliable, well-cooled machine for HD and mid-tier UHD initiatives, the ZBook X G1i is a rock-solid cell choice.
Brady Betzel is an Emmy-nominated on-line editor at Margarita Combine in Hollywood, engaged on reveals like Life Under Zero. He’s additionally a member of the Tv Academy. You possibly can e-mail Brady at bradybetzel@gmail.com. Comply with him on Twitter @allbetzroff.
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