Based on a really positive review by Notebookcheck, I bought the HP ZBook Firefly G10 14" from HP.
Specs: Ryzen 9 PRO 7940HS, 32GB DDR5 RAM (2x 16GB), 1TB NVME, 1920 x 1200 IPS Display, 60Hz., 400nits. Price ~1400 euros.

Performance is amazing, even on battery. Fan noise is well managed, even on heavy loads. Both RAM slots are upgradeable up to 64 GB DDR5.

Battery life is around 6-7 hours (HP Optimized power plan) based on my usage: MS Office, 2x VMWare Linux VMs, emails, some scripting and Python programing, web browsing, and watching YouTube videos.

Port selection is really good IMHO: 2x USB 4 ports, 2x USB A, 1xHDMI, headphone/microphone jack, SIM slot. Don’t have any use for the smart card slot personally.

However, I am a bit disappointed in its build quality, i.e. it feels a bit hollow, and the black frame around the display has a small gap that gathers dust.

Cinebench R23 Scores (on A/C power, Balanced power plan):
CPU (Multi Core): 14468 pts
CPU (Singe Core): 1742 pts

  • ArsLoginName@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    That sucks on the build quality feeling. From everything I read, I thought it was a candidate. Can you compare it to any other laptops you have tried or owned for ‘feel’ issues? For example, I have 2 old AMD laptops and 2 Intel laptops - one being a 1 year old XPS. XPS by far the nicest screen and build quality but keyboard is shallow for my liking and had to tune it a lot to improve performance and batterty life (it is undervolted). The last 2 reasons are why I am considering ditching it and finding an AMD laptop.