HP ZBook 15: Hands On Review and Benchmark - Faster than HP Z800 Workstation!

Following up the information about new HP ZBook 15 as Realtime 4K Video Editing Beast, I've managed to secure my time in writing a hands on review, including the benchmark on "the beast". This would be the first hands on review of the unit in Indonesia.

 Here are some pictures on the physical unit.

The ZBook 15

Next to HP 8760w

On Top of HP 8760w

Thickness Comparison with HP 8760w

Configuration
The reviewed unit configuration has following config yet it's still having some more rooms for expansions.

Configuration Details

Configuration Diagram

Few Important Things
There are some important things I addressed on HP ZBook 15 for those of you who might not be aware of it. These things are crucial for people who are relying on desktop unit previously but want to have desktop replacement unit that works well.

1. VGA port. Most portable projectors are equipped with VGA port. Even HD television. Some notebooks consist of HDMI, DisplayPort or even Mini DisplayPort which require you to have display converter in order to connect your notebook to any projector which doesn't match the port of your notebook. By having VGA port in ZBook 15, you don't have to look for any converter.
2. Ethernet Port. Even most places are equipped with WiFi network, some workplaces (mostly Engineering and Broadcast Multimedia) require any desktop or desktop replacement unit to connect to the network using Ethernet (RJ-45) to gain access to Gigabit network environment. So, immediately with ZBook 15, you don't need to bring along your docking just to connect to hardwired network environment. By the way, it's also allocated nicely behind the unit, next to the power connector.
3. SuperSpeed USB 3.0. You can connect any USB devices (mouse, keyboard, storage, etc.) to the available USB 3.0 ports and expand your ZBook 15.
4. Thunderbolt. Now this is trully a very useful port. It allows you to connect to more displays and even storage with extremely high bandwidth, double your existing USB 3.0 bandwidth. It's blazingly fast!
5. More rooms for expansions (memory, storage, broadband device, etc.)

VGA Port

Ethernet Port, next to Power Connector

Thunderbolt, DisplayPort, USB 3.0 (more USB 3.0 ports on other side)

More things to add, everyone?

Performance
This "beast" is equipped with Intel 4th Gen Core i7 4800MQ 2.7GHz with 4 core Haswell processor, Intel Integrated HD 4600 Graphics along with Nvidia Quadro K2100M GPU. The results? A true workstation performance in a mobile form factor. Some tests were performed using Blender 2.69 64-bit, Cinebench R15 and ATTO Disk Benchmark.

HP ZBook 15, ready to be benchmarked

GPU vs. CPU Rendering Time Comparison

Cinebench R15 Numbers for Both GPU and CPU

ATTO Bench Results, Showing Numbers for Primary HDD

1. Blender 2.69 Rendering Test. Using Mike Pan's BMW rendering bench file, the numbers showed that both Intel Core i7 4800MQ and Nvidia Quadro K2100M are in par. The Quadro K2100M is just slightly faster when completing the rendering. The result recalls me to my previous bench test using HP Z800 with Dual Xeon. This ZBook 15 is much faster than the HP Z800!  You may find my previous bench test of the HP Z800, here.
2. Cinebench R15 Test. HP ZBook 15 has strong OpenGL performance, thanks to its Nvidia Quadro K2100M GPU. Rendering performance for the CPU using the Intel Haswell processor showed bold results as well.
3. ATTO Disk Benchmark. Having average of more than 100MB/s performance on spinning drive, showed better performance than having consumer HDD on a consumer desktop. Want some more? Configure it with professional Solid State Drive and you'll get a flying numbers around 500MB/s!

Battery Life and Weight
Just to make it clear, when you're using HP ZBook 15, it comes with Intel's 4th gen processor Haswell and Nvidia K2100M with Optimus. This means, that you're immediately getting longer battery lifespan when you use it off the power outlet. My personal test on this ZBook 15, carrying small modeling task using Blender, typing some documents and playing some movies, could bring the ZBook running for nearly 4.5 hours on battery. That is quite an improvement over my HP 8760w that will only last for nearly 3 hours on battery.

Some of you might think that it's quite strange to have 2 graphics card inside the ZBook 15. Why not just have 1 in it? Well, both graphics cards work together hand in hand. In fact, having those 2 cards inside the ZBook 15 prolongs the battery life. How could it be? If the ZBook doesn't require heavy graphical processing power, for example, you're using a common office application to create a document, spreadsheet or similar, it will use the integrated Intel HD 4600 graphics. This, will save a lot of juice inside the battery. Once the system detects huge demand for graphical processing, it will switch to the Nvidia Quadro K2100M immediately, giving more processing power from demanding graphics application. Such conditions are quite dynamic as it will intelligently manage to balance the power consumption as well.

It's quite convenient as well bringing HP ZBook 15 in my backpack as it's around 30% lighter on both the unit and the power adaptor as well. I can feel the difference immediately when holding the same backpack between the 8560w and ZBook 15.

Conclusion
If you're looking for a true desktop replacement, look nowhere else. HP ZBook 15 is the right choice for engineers and multimedia professionals (editors, animators, etc.) like me. There are plenty of equipment I could add to this ZBook 15 to match my HP Z800 yet, having greater portability:

1. Thunderbolt RAID Storage. With this, editing common tv commercial materials up to 4K videos wouldn't be an issue. If the RAID Storage consists of stacks of SSDs, it's easy to achieve 1GB/s performance rate.
2. Thunderbolt display chain. This works when I would like to put more than 2 displays at a time, connected to the ZBook 15.
3. USB 3.0 Storage. Exchanging materials/contents from/to my colleagues no matter how big it is, would no longer be an issue.
4. Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 Blackmagic Design editing deck. This will work flawlessly with Adobe Premiere CS and anything related to it.

Put those add-ons into a single backpack, and I'm ready to go for high-end mobile post facility. Another bag is just for Canon 5D or RED camera. That's it.

If you feel that you're in a need for more, there is HP ZBook 17 that can hold even more rooms for more performance and expansions.

As for professionals with less loads and easier tasks, the ZBook 14 will become the answer. Eventhough it's wrapped inside an ultrabook form factor, it will still leave the competition behind as it's still a mobile workstation with the same professional components (Intel 4th Gen Core i7 and AMD FirePro graphics). I'm thinking of migrating every single of my work on my existing HP 8530w and 8760w to the ZBook 14. It feels like carrying an empty backpack, where ever my work requires me to go to.

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Sony Xperia ZL was used to take all pictures in this article.