As a general rule, enterprise laptops tend to be dreadfully boring.
After all, they don’t need to be fun to sell themselves to companies and businesses.
I answer all of those questions and more every time.
Like most enterprise laptops, the EliteBook X 14 charges a bit of a premium for regular people.
This review was made possible thanks to a review sample provided by HP.
HP had no input nor saw the contents of this review prior to publication.
My review configuration upgrades toa 2.8K OLED display and 64GB of RAM for$2,749 at HP.
Just be sure this laptop supports all the enterprise-specific features your job demands.
That additional mass does make it easier to add a bunch of ports, and HP definitely did.
Yes, even though this is an AMD-powered laptop, you still get Thunderbolt.
It’s a little chunky and a little heavy, but it’s built like a tank meant to last.
It’s a good selection, nicely spaced and well positioned.
If you’re willing to sacrifice some endurance, it’s a visual treat.
It also gets bright enough for an OLED panel, even if it doesn’t break any records.
On the right: HDMI 2.1, USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2, Thunderbolt 4, and 3.5mm audio.(Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)
I do have to hand out some demerits, though.
The numbers reflect the user experience.
Thermally, it can get warm to the touch, but never noticeably slowed down due to throttling.
On the left, Thunderbolt 4, USB Type-A 3.2 Gen 2, and Kensington Nano Security Slot. No microSD card slot here.(Image credit: Windows Central | Zachary Boddy)
It’s a clean build, devoid of the frustrating bloatware HP loads on its consumer laptops.
It’s also missing a lot of granular tweaks, like for the display.
This provides multi-level security that extends even below the BIOS, and is invaluable for protecting your data.
HP’s 2.8K, 48-120Hz OLED display has become familiar in a good way.
Running aWindows Battery Reportafter weeks of use returned an average battery life of around six hours of real-world usage.
Even then, this laptop’s endurance would be decidedly average, but it’s at least consistently average.
It takes little time to get enough juice for a few more hours of work.
This is a very color accurate display, but you won’t find many options to tailor it to your needs.
The layout is intuitive, and the keys are well-spaced and responsive.
You also get a customizable macro key in the function row, which is always nice to have.
It’s still heavy and the display isn’t OLED, but it’s a great laptop overall.
This laptop is meant to offer the most power you can find in anything short of a workstation or gaming/creative laptop.
The ThinkPad seal of quality means excellent reliability, durability, and security.
The EliteBook X is right in line with other premium alternatives, though.
HP’s beautiful 2.8K OLED display returns with VRR in tow, and it still looks amazing here… That’s especially true if your work can take advantage of the NPU.
This SSD keeps up with the best PCIe Gen 4 drives with little issue.(Image credit: Windows Central)
There are still too many HP apps, though, and myHP is clunky.
Keyboard
12 The keyboard legacy of HP EliteBook continues with this laptop.
It’s comfortable, responsive, and intuitive, and the touchpad follows suit.
It’s not quite “gaming laptop” territory, but the EliteBook X performs extremely well for a 14-inch laptop.(Image credit: Windows Central)
It continues to impress in Geekbench 6, although falls short of some ASUS devices with similar AMD hardware.(Image credit: Windows Central)
In terms of overall productivity performance, the EliteBook X pulls ahead of some of the best consumer laptops.(Image credit: Windows Central)
Intel’s latest integrated graphics are very impressive, but the EliteBook X keeps up.(Image credit: Windows Central)
As we’ve seen before, AMD Ryzen AI also performs well with video encoding, often outperforming Intel.(Image credit: Windows Central)
The HP AI Companion is actually useful, and it’s about to get a lot better.
I saw a low battery a little more often than I’d like, and the estimator often felt unreliable.
As expected of an EliteBook, this is a great keyboard.
A good webcam, good microphones, a physical privacy shutter, and an IR sensor for Windows Hello — it’s all here.
It’s not the laptop I’d personally choose for myself, but I still had more fun than I expected reviewing this device.
