HP Elite Dragonfly

A gorgeous screen and a slight build make this a great choice for business people on the go

he HP Elite Dragonfly is making a strong claim to be one of the best Windows laptops of the moment. With a beautifully well-designed chassis, a keyboard that’s a pleasure to type on, a gorgeous display and some top-tier specs, it’s going to take some beating.

Ostensibly designed for business types, it’s actually a great laptop for anyone – or at least anyone who can afford it, because all of this polish and power doesn’t come cheap. Even at its premium price though, we’d say you’re getting plenty in return for your money.

This is primarily a laptop, but it does double duty as a 2-in-1 if you need it to. That means the superb-looking display folds right over against the keyboard when necessary. It’s not very practical, but you can use it as a tablet, at a push; you can also prop it up in a tent mode if you want to sit back and enjoy some Netflix or YouTube videos.

The Elite Dragonfly does really well to cram a 13.3-inch (1,920 x 1,080 pixel) display into a laptop so compact and so light. That display is

TFrom $3,395 hp.com

bright, vivid and sharp, with bezels you’ll hardly notice: whether you’re ploughing through rows of spreadsheets or watching movies, it’s a fantastic screen. You can also ramp up the display to a 4K resolution, if you want (and you have some extra cash to spare). Audio isn’t anything special, but it’ll do for what you need it for, unless you’re thinking about running a small disco with it.

The magnesium-based, dark blue chassis is a joy to look at and to handle, and the typing experience is one of the best we’ve come across too. The trackpad can’t quite match the keyboard in terms of quality and sensitivity, but it’s fine.

A shout out too for the battery life, which is excellent – we put this through a 12-hour workday and it still had some juice left at the end. And if you’re not on it all the time, it’ll last you well into two or three days.

Overall, the looks, the finish and the lightness definitely make the HP Elite Dragonfly worthy of your attention. It oozes style and feels premium in use, and you can add to that the very good specs and the excellent battery life on offer. There are a few categories where it is just good rather than very good – the graphics, the audio, the trackpad – but really these are minor annoyances that don’t detract much from what’s a really good overall package.