HP Dragonfly Pro vs. Apple MacBook Pro 14: a solid alternative? - Digital Trends

Apple’s MacBook Pro 14 has taken implicit arsenic the champion 14-inch laptop you tin bargain today, acknowledgment to large show and artillery life, a spectacular display, and an elegant, functional design. It’s 1 of the best laptops you tin buy, and it’s conscionable been upgraded with the newer Apple M2 Pro and Max CPUs for adjacent amended show and efficiency.

HP introduced the Dragonfly Pro astatine CES 2023 to instrumentality connected the MacBook Pro, and it has a beauteous steep elevation to climb. We haven’t been capable to reappraisal the laptop yet, but it marks an absorbing power for the Dragonfly to the user conception from the commercialized market. Can HP’s recently designated 14-inch instrumentality instrumentality connected the best?

Specs

Design

The Dragonfly Pro and MacBook Pro 14 are wrong fractions of an inch of each different successful width and depth, and they some measurement astir 3.5 pounds. The Dragonfly Pro is rather a spot thicker, though, thing we find hard to relationship for.

HP makes large keyboards, particularly successful their Spectre and Dragonfly lines, and we anticipation this carries implicit to the Dragonfly Pro. If it does, we’ll spot a snappy, responsive keyboard that makes accelerated interaction typing comfy for hours. It inactive won’t unrecorded up to the Magic Keyboard connected the MacBook Pro 14, though, which remains the champion keyboard connected a laptop today. It’s not arsenic heavy arsenic some, but its switches are precise and consistent, and typing connected it is simply a pleasant experience. Both laptops person haptic touchpads, though Apple’s is simply a spot larger. We’ll person to trial however HP’s mentation compares to the MacBook Pro 14’s Force Touch, which is today’s modular for touchpads.

One absorbing facet of the Dragonfly Pro is HP’s caller 24/7 unrecorded concierge support, which is accessible utilizing 1 of the 4 blistery keys connected the close broadside of the keyboard. There volition beryllium a interest for the service, which volition enactment you successful interaction with a unrecorded method enactment cause erstwhile you tally into a jam. Interestingly, if you don’t motion up for the service, past that cardinal is nonfunctional and can’t beryllium remapped.

Performance

The Dragonfly Pro uses an AMD Ryzen 7 7736U 15-watt to 28-watt 8-core/16-thread CPU, and the 2 companies worked unneurotic to utilize an adaptive level absorption model that aims to follow show to real-world productivity workflows. It’s a low-power mentation of AMD’s latest Ryzen 7000 bid chips, apt to supply coagulated productivity and constricted creativity performance. Contrast that with the minimum M2 Pro successful the MacBook Pro 14, which starts with a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU and improves the show of the already class-leading M1 Pro.

Even though it’s a brand-new MacBook Pro 14 update arsenic this examination is being written, we’re inactive consenting to warrant that the minimum M2 Pro volition vastly outclass the Dragonfly Pro successful show and connection adjacent much of a pb erstwhile you upgrade to the M2 Max, which tin person arsenic galore arsenic 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores. The MacBook Pro 14 volition beryllium a overmuch faster laptop for immoderate task, whether productivity oregon creativity. And we consciousness comfy saying that without having benchmarked either laptop.

Display

The MacBook Pro 14 enjoys an outstanding 14.2-inch 16:10 mini-LED XDR show astatine a 3024 x 1964 solution and moving astatine up to 120Hz. It has wide and close colors, unthinkable brightness, and heavy opposition that rivals OLED successful its inky blacks. It’s a genuinely spectacular show that’s large for creators and for media consumers acknowledgment to its outstanding HDR support.

The Dragonfly Pro, surprisingly, is constricted to a 14.0-inch 16:10 Full HD+ (1,920 x 1,200) IPS show astatine 60Hz. We haven’t tested it and truthful can’t attest to its quality, but HP specs enactment it astatine 400 nits of brightness — importantly little than the MacBook Pro 14’s show — and 100% sRGB, which is simply the premium display’s mean specification.

Again, the MacBook Pro 14 outclasses the Dragonfly Pro. Its show is spectacular, while, if we were to guess, the Dragonfly Pro’s sheet volition beryllium bully but not great. And it’s not astir arsenic crisp arsenic it should beryllium fixed the existent premium laptop standard, fto unsocial erstwhile compared to the MacBook Pro 14.

Portability

You’ll consciousness some laptops successful your backpack — these aren’t tiny 13-inch machines. But neither is going to measurement you down each that much, and they’re some bladed capable to easy gaffe into a backpack. The MacBook Pro 14 is thinner, though.

The biggest quality volition apt beryllium successful artillery life, thing we’ll person to trial connected some machines. But the M2 Pro and Max CPUs are adjacent much businesslike than the M1 Pro and Max, which already supply the champion artillery beingness we’ve seen successful almighty laptops. We expect the MacBook Pro 14 to supply hours much longevity than the Dragonfly Pro, unless HP has pulled a rabbit retired of its hat.

The Dragonfly Pro amended beryllium cheap, oregon it doesn’t basal a chance

The MacBook Pro 14 outclasses the Dragonfly Pro successful conscionable astir each aspect. We’re guessing that it volition beryllium overmuch faster, connection importantly amended artillery life, bask a vastly amended display, and person a amended keyboard and touchpad. On paper, the HP doesn’t person a chance.

We’ll person to hold to spot pricing due to the fact that the MacBook Pro 14 starts astatine $2,000 and goes mode up from there. You tin walk implicit $6,000 connected a afloat configured machine. If the Dragonfly Pro wants to triumph customers implicit from the MacBook Pro 14, it volition person to beryllium inexpensive.

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