HP EliteBook Folio G1
Apple’s tiny 12-inch MacBook finally has some Windows competition.
Back in 2015, Apple introduced a new featherweight 12-inch MacBook that still managed to pack in lots of high-end features, including a near full-size keyboard, high-res Retina display and lots of memory and storage space. Up until now, we haven’t seen many Windows alternatives.
The Folio shares a lot of commonalities with that Cupertino machine. This is a 12.5-inch unit that, even just from looks alone, has similarities: the silver chassis and black keycaps are very MacBook-like, and the Folio is also a bit light on ports — there are two USB Type-C sockets on the right edge and a headphone jack on the other. One of those USB ports also doubles as the power socket — if you plan on using this one mostly plugged in, you’ll definitely want to invest in a USB hub. Its compact footprint is notably smaller than 13-inch laptops, the carry weight is respectably low at 1.07kg (sans charger) and the build-quality is quite robust. This is a tough little ultrabook with a mostly-aluminium body — there’s zero flex in the keyboard and it’s quiet thanks to its passive cooling, so there’s no fans inside.
That 12.5-inch display uses a gorgeous 4K (aka UHD) panel that’s capable of showing off subtle variations in colour and, at this physical size, is exceptionally clean and sharp. The keyboard and trackpad are likewise first-rate — and there’s a solidity and dependability to the Folio’s physical design that few Windows laptops can match.
HP sent us a nearly topspec version for this review, which sells for around $2,600 online — you can find less-pricey configurations starting at around $1,500, but they often have 1080p displays and 5th-gen Intel Core M CPUs, rather than the 4K display/6th-gen CPU combo that’s used here. At this price, you also get a 256GB SSD for storage and a generous 8GB of memory.
However, despite those high-end specs, there are still some very obvious limits to the Folio. That ultra low-power Core m7-6Y75 CPU is only a dual-core model, which means there’s not a lot of processing grunt. While it handles the basics just fine (web browsing, streaming word processing, movies and so on), multitasking can see things slow down to a crawl. Even just tasks like installing Windows updates or running some of our tougher benchmarks take two or three times longer than a Core i5 laptop.
Battery life could also be better, lasting around 3.5 hours in most of our tests. We get the feeling the highres UHD display and topdrawer Core m7 in our test model are a bit too taxing for the four-cell battery inside — you’ll likely fare better with a 1080p display and a lower-end Core m5.
Still, the Folio is very easy to love, if you can handle that ‘ business class’ price.