Over the last few years, I have had the privilege of getting to review a wide range of high-end HP EliteBooks from their different series. Today, we will be checking out a unit from their lower-end EliteBook 6 series, formerly the 600 series. This class of laptops still sport a premium look and feel with all-day battery life and still packs enough performance to help you get your work done with ease.
My latest unit, the HP EliteBook 6 G1q, is a 14” unit powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip, paired with 32GB of LPDDR5x RAM and a 512GB PCIe NVME SSD, settling it comfortably into the mid-range spec model of this new class, though HP allows you to customize the specs and options on their units to suit your needs accordingly. Coming in at a cost of $ 1,699, this unit is still not generally meant for the average user to purchase, but rather intended to be bought in bulk to support a corporation’s fleet of laptops for their workers.
Ports/Connectivity
One of the biggest surprises when it came to looking at the HP EliteBook 6 G1q laptop was its incredibly generous port selection when compared to not just previous EliteBooks, but other business-class laptops as a whole. Those carrying the HP EliteBook 6 G1q will not have to worry about needing a dock for anything.
Looking along the left side edge of the unit, from top edge to bottom, you find an HDMI 2.1 port, a single USB 3.2 Gen 1 type A port, dual USB 4 ports that support both charging and DisplayPort 1.4, and a 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack. Along the right, also from top to bottom, you find a Kensington nano lock slot, an RJ45 ethernet port, another USB 3.2 Gen 1 port and on some units (mine included) a nano SIM reader for on-the-go connectivity options.
I personally would’ve liked to have seen one more USB Type-C port on this side for the flexibility of being able to charge up the laptop from either side, similar to that of the higher-class HP EliteBook 8 G1i that I recently reviewed. Overall, finding a thinner business-class laptop that offers this much of a port selection is rare these days, and I am very appreciative of that fact.
Display/Webcam
To start things off, we will start by looking at the screen on the HP EliteBook 6 G1q. Similar to that of the HP EliteBook 8 G1i I recently looked at, my unit has a 14” matte display that outputs around 400 nits of brightness, which, in my testing, has been adequate for using the laptop in most situations, minus trying to use the laptop in direct sunlight.
This display packs great colour accuracy for those who wish to do some light photo edits, and I always enjoyed seeing how great videos looked when watching them on the HP EliteBook 6 G1q. Those looking to save a few bucks can opt for lower-quality screens if they do not need the accuracy or brightness. At
the opposite end of the spectrum, users can also opt for a screen with up to 800 nits of brightness that would likely work well in even the brightest conditions. It is important to note that if you wish to have a unit with a touch screen, the only option available from HP will only support 300 nits of brightness, so that will likely be best suited for office and indoor use only.
All screen options from HP for this class of laptop sport a 5MP IR camera that supports Windows Hello facial recognition for snappy and easy logins or authentication purposes. These cameras have often been among the best I have tested among a wide range of laptops, not just when it comes to business class.
“One of the biggest surprises when it came to looking at the HP EliteBook 6 G1q laptop was its incredibly generous port selection…”
Keyboard/TouchPad
For the last few years, HP EliteBooks have offered one of my favourite keyboards on any laptop I have used. Despite being a lower-tier series from HP, the HP EliteBook 6 G1q is no exception to this aspect, thankfully. I was easily able to get up to my full typing speed with minimal effort, and I generally enjoyed my time typing on this keyboard. Keys are well spaced out and offer a great degree of key stroke travel that makes typing very comfortable, especially when typing out longer emails or documents.
One aspect that disappointed me, however, was HP removing the keyboard backlighting on this keyboard. While I understand not all people use their laptops in darker environments, I feel this is a bit of a misstep from HP, especially for those who might want to use their laptop on a dark plane or even in a dark room when light is not as available.
The keyboard also lacks a fingerprint reader incorporated into the power button, which I found slightly bothersome, although there is still one built into the palm rest. While not a problem, it is a slight nitpick as it doesn’t look as clean as its higher-end series models.
The touchpad is also excellent to use in day-to-day use, although it did not feel as smooth to the touch as the higher-end models. While this is likely due to a change of materials compared to other models, and likely won’t bother most people who haven’t tried multiple series of EliteBook, it was certainly something I noticed right away.
HP GO/5G
Unlike any other laptop I have tested to date, HP has built in not only e-SIM capabilities but additionally a SIM card reader on the HP EliteBook 6 G1q, further expanding its connectivity options when on the go. While I haven’t seen what providers outside of HP will be compatible yet, HP itself will offer plans for a starting price of $19/month.
“Unlike any other laptop I have tested to date, HP has built in not only e-SIM capabilities but additionally a SIM card reader on the HP EliteBook 6 G1q…”
I still don’t know how much data that will give you access to, but the piece of mind of knowing you don’t need to find local hotspots or even have to worry about using your phone to provide internet to your laptop makes it a great option for those times where you are on the road for extended periods of time, such as my career as a truck driver.
Battery Life
When companies boast about having all-day battery life on a device, I am generally skeptical, as their claims rarely come close to real-life testing. This is likely the first time I can confidently say that a Windows laptop truly has all-day battery life. While HP claims it will get over 24 hours of battery time, my results were close but still lower at around 17-18 hours, doing mainly web-based tasks. If I didn’t need internet and continued doing other light tasks, I could get even closer to their claimed rating.
I was absolutely blown away seeing numbers like this, especially coming from only a 56WHr battery and couldn’t help but wonder how much longer you could get if HP packed a larger battery found in other series of EliteBooks into this chassis. No doubt, this is a great laptop for those who are on the road or away from wall plugs for extra-long periods of time.
Performance
As previously stated, my HP EliteBook 6 G1q packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor paired with 32GB of RAM, which is the mid-range chip available for this series of laptops. HP also offers the non plus and Elite models of the Snapdragon X chips with varying amounts of RAM to help you spec your unit how you need it.
In my testing, I was quite impressed to see that this pairing performed similarly to different laptops I have tested with the Intel Core Ultra 7 268V. There weren’t ever any noticeable slowdowns or problems I came across in any tasks I ran, and I was able to get some fairly respectable numbers in a variety of synthetic benchmark tests. Cinebench R24 gave me a total score of 515, which was about 100 points lower than the Intel chip; however, users are likely not going to notice the difference. Geekbench delivered scores that went shot-for-shot with Qualcomm delivering 2432 points in single core and 11392 in multicore (compared to 2818 and 11086 from Intel).
At all times, I never noticed the HP EliteBook 6 G1q getting overly warm in any manner, regardless of what task was being performed. Where some laptops have gotten uncomfortably hot on my lap, this was never something I experienced when using this laptop, thankfully.
The HP EliteBook 6 G1q is no doubt a great laptop for those needing a computer that can handle being away from a charger longer than most in this class of laptop, while offering very few compromises. The addition of a SIM reader and a wide range of available ports gives it flexibility not typically seen, further easing the need for dongles or adapters in your travel bag and therefore lightening your overall carry load. These laptops don’t come cheap, but the HP EliteBook 6 G1q is yet another great laptop from HP and their EliteBook lineup.
