HP ZBook Power 16 G11 Review: Performance & Features

HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A Review

By Ambar Jimenez | 2025-04-27 18:22:53

Discover the HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A in our in-depth review. Uncover its performance, features, and why it's a top choice for professionals.
The HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A represents a compelling entry point into HP's diverse lineup of mobile workstations. Starting at an accessible price point ($1,199 base, $2,629 as tested), this workstation admirably balances robust creative performance on a spacious 16-inch display with the build quality and comprehensive connectivity typically found in higher-end ZBook models. While its display may not cater to the stringent requirements of color-critical workflows, the ZBook Power 16 G11 A stands out as an exceptional offering, delivering commendable performance and essential workstation features at a reasonable cost, earning it our Editors' Choice award for affordable laptop workstations.

HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A Review

HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A: Positioning and Key Differentiators

HP strategically positions the ZBook Power as a value-driven option that effectively bridges the gap between the lightweight ZBook Firefly and the more premium ZBook Studio. It surpasses the Firefly in raw processing and graphics capabilities, offering performance levels akin to the Studio, albeit without the latter's sleek aesthetics or high-end configuration choices. This laptop is particularly well-suited for tasks such as light content creation, 3D modeling, and general productivity, making it a versatile tool for a wide range of professional users. However, for demanding workloads like intensive 4K video editing or heavy CGI rendering, the flagship ZBook Fury remains the more appropriate choice.It's crucial to note that the base model of the ZBook Power, equipped with integrated Radeon graphics on an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, may not fully embody the "workstation" designation for graphically intensive tasks. In contrast, our review configuration maximizes the laptop's potential, featuring a powerful AMD Ryzen 9 Pro 8945HS CPU and a dedicated Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada Generation graphics card. HP also offers an Intel-based variant, the ZBook Power 16 G11 (without the "A"), providing users with platform flexibility.

Design, Build Quality, and Security Features

The HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A is a substantial business laptop, measuring 0.9 by 14.2 by 9.2 inches and weighing a solid 4.5 pounds. While it doesn't achieve the sleekness of the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, it offers superior portability compared to the more robust HP ZBook Fury 16 G11. Notably, the landscape of value-oriented AMD mobile workstations is relatively sparse, leaving the ZBook Power with limited direct competition from Dell and Lenovo in this specific segment.Upon handling the ZBook Power, the robust build quality that HP is known for becomes immediately apparent. The laptop features a sturdy aluminum chassis that exhibits minimal flex, particularly in the lid, which is forgivable given its expansive size. The gunmetal finish provides a professional aesthetic and even emits a subtle, pleasant tactile feedback when touched. The perfectly rounded edges and the understated, stylized HP logo on the lid contribute to the notebook's sophisticated and professional appearance.Despite its "entry-level" positioning within the ZBook lineup, the Power 16 G11 A doesn't skimp on premium features. It comes standard with a reassuring three-year warranty, underscoring HP's confidence in its reliability. The inclusion of a sharp 1440p webcam equipped with a physical privacy shutter is a significant boon for professionals concerned with video conferencing quality and security. Furthermore, the laptop boasts a comprehensive suite of security features, including an infrared (IR) webcam sensor for secure facial recognition via Windows Hello, a responsive fingerprint reader for biometric authentication, and a SmartCard slot for enhanced access control. Adding another layer of security is HP's acclaimed Wolf Pro Security suite, a combination of hardware and software-level protections. When configured with a Ryzen Pro processor, the laptop also benefits from AMD's PRO technologies, offering advanced IT deployment and management capabilities for enterprise environments.

Connectivity and Expansion Options

The HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A offers a generous array of physical connections, catering to the diverse needs of professional users. These include:

Two USB4 ports: Offering high-speed data transfer, DisplayPort alternate mode for external displays, and power delivery capabilities.
Two USB Type-A 3.2 ports: Providing compatibility with a wide range of legacy peripherals.
One HDMI monitor output: Allowing for easy connection to external displays and projectors.
One RJ-45 Ethernet jack: Ensuring a stable and reliable wired network connection.
One full-size SD card reader: A crucial inclusion for content creators and photographers for seamless media transfer.
One 3.5mm audio jack: Supporting both headphones and microphone connections.

The placement of these ports is practical, with the barrel-style powerconnector located on the left side and a Kensington cable-lock notchsituated on the opposite side for physical security. For wirelessconnectivity, the laptop comes standard with the latest Wi-Fi 6E standard for high-speed and low-latency wireless networking, as well as Bluetooth 5.3 for connecting wireless peripherals. While the cutting-edge Wi-Fi 7standard is not currently an option, HP does offer the availability of 4G LTE mobile broadband for users who require consistent internet access on the go.

The expansive 16-inch display and the inclusion of a full keyboard with a dedicated numeric keypad position the ZBook Power 16 G11 A as an excellent candidate for a primary desktop replacement, providing all the necessary tools for a productive workday.

Display Quality and Keyboard/Touchpad Experience

Our review unit of the HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A was equipped with the upgraded 2,560-by-1,600-pixel (QHD+) screen. This panel offers a significant step up in resolution compared to thebase 1,920-by-1,200-pixel (FHD+) option, delivering impressive sharpness and clarity. The display also boasts a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, contributing to a more fluid and responsive visual experience,particularly noticeable during scrolling and fast-paced video playback.The anti-glare coating effectively minimizesdistracting reflections, making it comfortable to use in variouslighting conditions. However, it's worth noting that thishigher-resolution panel lacks the touch capability offered on the baseFHD+ screen.

While subjective colorperception indicated well-saturated colors, our objective testing,utilizing a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor, revealed that the display does not fully cover the professional-grade Adobe RGBand DCI-P3 color spaces. This limitation makes the ZBook Power 16 G11 A less ideally suited for color-critical work in fields like professional photo and video editing where precise color accuracy is paramount. For users who prioritize a wider and moreaccurate color gamut, HP offers the ZBook Firefly 16 G11 with a vibrantOLED screen at a similar price point, albeit with potentially differentgraphics performance characteristics. However, for the vast majority ofother professional tasks, including general productivity, contentconsumption, and even light content creation, the display on the ZBookPower is more than adequate, offering a bright, sharp, and visuallypleasing experience. We also appreciated the laptop's fold-flat 180-degree hinge design, which proved convenient when using the laptop in various positions, such as propped on our lap.

The keyboard on the ZBook Power 16 G11 A provided a positive typing experience. During our testing usingMonkeyType, we achieved a respectable typing speed of 117 words perminute with an accuracy of 99%. The keys offer ample travel and a satisfying tactile feedback, contributing to a comfortable and precise typing experience. While thekey spacing felt slightly closer than initially anticipated, likely adesign compromise to accommodate the inclusion of the dedicated numeric keypad, we ultimately appreciated the added productivity benefit of the numpad. The keyboard layout is refreshingly standard, with no unusual orfrustrating key placements. The touchpad was particularly impressive, offering ideal actuation pressure for precise clicks and smooth cursor control.

Audio Performance and Cooling Efficiency

While exceptional audio fidelity isn't typically a primary concern for a workstation, the speakers on the ZBook Power 16 G11 A offer sufficient volume and clarity for personal use and casual media consumption. The included HP Audio Control app intelligently switches audio presets depending on the detected mediatype. The "music" preset provides a well-balanced all-around sound,while the "movie" preset noticeably widens the stereo soundstage for amore immersive cinematic experience.

The cooling system on the ZBook Power proved to be effective in managing thermal outputduring demanding tasks such as rendering. The cooling fans were audibleunder heavy load but remained at a non-disruptive noise level. Airflowis strategically directed out the back of the laptop, towards thedisplay hinge, keeping the palm rests and keyboard area relatively cool. During typical everyday usage, the fans often remained silent, and thelaptop maintained a comfortably lukewarm temperature to the touch.

Performance Benchmarks: Productivity, Content Creation, Gaming, and Workstation Tasks

Our review configuration of the HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A was equipped with a powerful AMD Ryzen 9 Pro 8945HS processor (8 cores, with a maximum boost clock of 5.2GHz), a dedicated Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada Generation graphics card (8GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory, with a maximum graphics power of 50W), a generous 64GB of DDR5 RAM, a fast and spacious 4TB NVMe solid-state drive (SSD), and the professional-grade Windows 11 Pro operating system. Notably, the laptop also includes a second M.2 slot,providing convenient options for future storage expansion.

The pricing of our specific configuration fluctuated during the reviewperiod, reaching a high of $6,818 on HP's website before settling at amore reasonable $2,629. HP also offers more budget-friendlyconfigurations, such as a Ryzen 7 model with an RTX 2000 GPU, 32GB ofRAM, and a 1TB SSD, which was priced under $2,000 at the time of review. When compared to competitors like the HP ZBook Fury 16 G11 and theLenovo ThinkPad P16 Gen 2, which often exceed $3,000, and the 16-inchApple MacBook Pro starting at $2,499, the ZBook Power 16 G11 A clearlypositions itself as a compelling value proposition in the mobileworkstation market.

For performancecomparison, we benchmarked the ZBook Power against several otherhigh-performance laptops, including the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch, theHP ZBook Fury 16 G11, the HP ZBook Studio 16 G11, and the LenovoThinkPad P16 Gen 2. It's important to note that all but the ZBook Studio are typically considered full-power mobile workstations and areexpected to outperform the ZBook Power in certain demanding tasks due to their higher-end components and significantly higher price tags.Therefore, our performance analysis aims to provide a relativeunderstanding of the ZBook Power's capabilities within this competitivelandscape.

Productivity and Content Creation Benchmarks

We subjected the HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A to a suite of industry-standard productivity and content creation benchmarks:

PCMark 10: A comprehensive benchmark simulating real-world productivity and office workflows, including a storage subtest. The ZBook Power deliveredstrong PCMark scores, surpassing the ZBook Studio and closelyapproaching the performance of the more expensive competitors,indicating excellent overall system responsiveness for everyday tasks.
Cinebench 2024: A CPU-intensive benchmark utilizing Maxon's Redshift engine to render a complex image, testing both multi-core and single-core performance. The Ryzen 9 Pro 8945HS processor, while powerful, lagged behind thehigher-end CPUs in the ZBook Fury and ThinkPad (by up to 50%) and theMacBook Pro (by nearly double) in the multi-core test, highlighting itslimitations in extremely intensive rendering workloads.
Geekbench 6.3 Pro: A cross-platform benchmark simulating various real-world applications,including PDF rendering, speech recognition, and machine learning. TheZBook Power performed respectably in both multi-core and single-coreGeekbench tests, showcasing its strong general-purpose processingcapabilities.
HandBrake 1.8: An open-source video transcoder used to convert a 12-minute 4K videoclip to 1080p resolution (lower times are better). The ZBook Power'stranscoding time was competitive, demonstrating its suitability forvideo editing tasks that are not excessively demanding.
PugetBench for Adobe Photoshop 2024 (v1.2.20): An automated benchmark evaluating a system's performance in a varietyof general and GPU-accelerated Photoshop tasks. The ZBook Power excelled in this benchmark, indicating strong performance for photo editing andgraphic design workflows.

Overall, the ZBook Power 16 G11 A demonstrated robust performance in productivity and content creationtasks. While its Ryzen HS processor may not match the raw renderingpower of higher-end mobile workstation CPUs, it holds its own in mostother creative applications, particularly excelling in photo editingworkflows.

Gaming and Graphics Benchmarks

We evaluated the graphics performance of the HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A using UL's 3DMark suite:

3DMark Steel Nomad and Steel Nomad Light: DirectX 12/Vulkan/Metal benchmarks designed for high-end gaming systems (Steel Nomad at 4K, Light at 1440p). The RTX 3000 Ada GPU, with its 50W power limit, understandably showed a performance deficit compared tothe more powerful GPUs in the ZBook Fury and ThinkPad in thesedemanding, non-ray-traced tests.
3DMark Wild Life and Wild Life Extreme: Less demanding benchmarks (Wild Life at 1440p, Extreme at 4K) aimed atcomparing midrange systems. The ZBook Power's graphics performance wasmore competitive in these tests, indicating its capability for lessgraphically intensive gaming.
3DMark Solar Bay: A benchmark specifically designed to measure ray tracing performance.The RTX 3000 Ada, even with its power limitations, demonstrated some ray tracing capabilities, although it lagged behind the more powerful RTXGPUs in the comparison laptops.

The Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada Generation GPU in the ZBook Power, while a capable professional graphics card, ispower-limited to 50W, which significantly restricts its gaming andgraphically intensive rendering performance compared to higher-wattageGPUs found in more expensive workstations. The ZBook Studio, with its70W RTX A3000, delivered mixed results, occasionally outperforming thePower but also falling short at times.

Workstation-Specific Benchmarks

To assess the ZBook Power's suitability for professional workstation applications, we utilized:

SPECviewperf 2020 (v3.1): A benchmark measuring graphics performance in professional CAD,modeling, and simulation applications (Creo, Maya, SolidWorks) at 1080presolution. Despite its mid-range positioning, the RTX 3000 Ada in theZBook Power outperformed the ZBook Studio in several SPECviewperfsubtests, demonstrating its competency in accelerating professionalcreative applications.
Blender 4.2: An open-source 3D content creation suite used to measure CPU and GPUrendering performance across three distinct scenes. The Blender CPUrendering tests further confirmed that the Ryzen 9 Pro 8945HS CPU can be utilized for rendering tasks, although it is not as fast as thefull-power mobile workstation CPUs in the comparison group. The GPUrendering performance was in line with the RTX 3000 Ada's capabilities.
PugetBench for DaVinci Resolve Studio 18: A benchmark evaluating video editing performance in DaVinci Resolve.The ZBook Power successfully completed the DaVinci Resolve benchmark,even finishing slightly ahead of the more expensive ZBook Studio,indicating its viability for professional video editing workflows within its performance tier. Notably, the ZBook Power encountered an issuecompleting our Adobe Premiere Pro video editing benchmark, which wasattributed to a fault with the benchmark software itself, not a lack ofcapability on the laptop.

Battery Life and Display Analysis

We evaluated the battery life of the HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A by playing a locally stored 720p video file at 50% display brightnessand 100% audio volume with Wi-Fi and keyboard backlighting disabled. The ZBook Power achieved an impressive 16 hours of battery life in this test, a remarkable result for a large-screened mobileworkstation and significantly outperforming most of its competitors,with the exception of the Apple MacBook Pro.

To assess the display performance, we utilized a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor. Ourmeasurements revealed that the QHD+ panel on the ZBook Power covers 99% of the sRGB color gamut, which is excellent for general productivity and most contentconsumption. However, its coverage of the wider professional colorspaces was less extensive, achieving 77% of Adobe RGB and 82% of DCI-P3. The display reached a peak brightness of 380 nits and maintained a brightness of 372 nits at 50%. These figures indicate a bright and usable display for mostenvironments, although it doesn't match the color accuracy and widergamut coverage of professional-grade displays like the DreamColor panelfound on the ZBook Studio.

Conclusion: A Powerful and Value-Oriented Mobile Workstation

The HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A emerges as a highly compelling mobile workstation that successfullybalances performance, features, and affordability. Its powerful AMDRyzen 9 Pro processor and dedicated Nvidia RTX 3000 Ada graphics provide ample power for a wide range of professional tasks, from contentcreation and 3D modeling to video editing and CAD. The robust buildquality, comprehensive connectivity, excellent keyboard and touchpad,and impressive battery

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HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A Review

HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A Review

HP ZBook Power 16 G11 A: Positioning and Key Differentiators

Design, Build Quality, and Security Features

Connectivity and Expansion Options

Display Quality and Keyboard/Touchpad Experience

Audio Performance and Cooling Efficiency

Performance Benchmarks: Productivity, Content Creation, Gaming, and Workstation Tasks

Productivity and Content Creation Benchmarks

Gaming and Graphics Benchmarks

Workstation-Specific Benchmarks

Battery Life and Display Analysis

Conclusion: A Powerful and Value-Oriented Mobile Workstation

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