HP EliteBook Folio 1020 G1 notebook review

HP EliteBook 1020 G1 Folio notebook review

Design:

The notebook is even compact than the 13 inch MacBook Air

HP EliteBook Folio 1020 G1 notebook measures 12.2 x 8.27 x .62 inches and weighs just 1.2 kg. It feels extremely light and is the perfect machine for productivity on the go in terms of portability.  It is even smaller than the 13-inch Mac Book Air and still integrates the fan-less chassis design.

The notebook looks premium and the material used in the construction offers a solid and robust feel to the overall design

Crafted from CNC aluminium and magnesium alloy, HP EliteBook Folio 1020 G1 notebook feels robust and has a minimal and elegant design. Moreover it is built on military standard (MIL-STD 810G) to withstand drops, shocks, and exposure to high temperature, humidity and pressure.

Display

The Full HD display is bright and offers vibrant colors

The 12.2 inches Full HD IPS display on HP EliteBook 1020 G1 Folio notebook is quite bright and produce accurate colors. Watching movies in 1080p and surfing through websites is a treat because of the rich and vibrant representation of the colors. The screen also has good reflective angles so you can carry out your productivity tasks in outdoor conditions.

Performance:

Straight from the HP’s business class line-up, the notebook is powered by Intel's new Broadwell-based Core M chip which were earlier seen in Lenovo Yoga 3 Pro. It works well for productivity tasks and you can perform all office related work without any problems. The 1.2-GHz Core M-5Y71 processor coupled with 8 GB RAM performed really well as we did not face any performance issues during multitasking. There were no noticeable lags even with 20 plus tabs in chrome, youtube streaming and a full system scan.

The PC Mrrk score: 2103

The 3D Mark score: P549

The laptop scored 2103 in PC Mark 8 Home 3.0 and P549 in the 3D Mark 11, which is lower than the Lenovo Carbon X1 powered by Intel’s i7 CPU.

The laptop is backed by a 4-cell battery that survived for 6 hours during moderate usage. In our battery mark test, it lasted for 3 hours 10 minutes which is five minutes less than the Lenovo Carbon X1. It’s good but not the best in this price bracket.

Keyboard and Track pad

The keyboard is neatly designed and keys offer a good tactile feedback.

We really liked the keyboard on the EliteBook 1020. It is neatly designed; the square shaped keys are perfectly placed for smooth input and also offer a good tactile feedback.  The keyboard also integrates the white colored backlight, which keeps you going in dark or dim lighting conditions. The top of the keyboard has a elongated speaker grill which integrates DTS sound enhancement and deliver loud and clear audio. You can enjoy your favourite movies or series sans headphones.

The touchpad on the EliteBook 1020 is equipped with HP's ForcePad technology that integrates a glass-surfaced touch sensor to register the pressure of touches and swipes. It does not offer any clickable response which might take some time to get used to it but it works quite well.  The scrolling and other gestures works smoothly as the touchpad effectively registers the inputs.

Connectivity and ports

In terms of connectivity, HP EliteBook Folio 1020 G1 notebook integrates dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.  The laptop comes with an HDMI output, a microSD card slot, two USB 3.0 ports, a headset jack, and a Kensington lock slot.

Security features

The fingerprint sensor effectively reads the fingerprints

The notebooks integrates HP’s exclusive enterprise-class security, including certified Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2/2.06, pre-boot authentication, fingerprint reader and the exclusive HP Sure Start self-healing BIOS to help better protect your device, data and identity. The fingerprint reader works extremely well in recognising your registered print. In our two week’s usage, we did not face any misses in unlocking the device.

The notebook also includes HP Client Management Solutions, optional LANDesk4 and Intel vProTM technology5 to easily integrate and deploy into an enterprise IT environment. These features make HP EliteBook a valid option for users who needs Windows flexibility and a good overall portable machine for productivity.

HP EliteBook Folio 1020 G1 notebook review