HP EliteBook 6 G1q review: An always-connected laptop

The benchmark results weren’t surprising, as it achieved slightly above-average numbers across the board compared to other Snapdragon X Plus laptops. Even the battery life of just over 17 hours when playing a full-screen video via YouTube (over Wi-Fi, not the HP Go) falls in the middle of all the Qualcomm-based systems I’ve encountered — though that’s still an excellent mark compared to all laptops.

The industrial design is utilitarian, although quite boring. Made of aluminum and partially recycled plastic, the silver machine has a vintage look, and at 24 millimeters thick and weighing 3.2 pounds, it’s quite heavy for a 14-inch system. (It feels heavy in the hand and on the lap, too.) Props to the textured surface on the keyboard covers, however, which makes for a more enjoyable typing experience than most laptops offer — though note that they don’t offer any backlighting. The trackpad is spacious without being obtrusive in size.

The port selection is also strong, including two USB-C ports with USB4 support, two USB-A ports, a full-size HDMI jack, and an Ethernet port. The SIM card slot can also be accessed from the side of the device; Users can bring their own data plan if they don’t want to use HP Go multi-carrier, which Works via eSIM.

Bad value

Photo: Chris Noll

The G1q is a Copilot+ computer, and as with general workloads, it achieved perfectly acceptable scores in AI-based functions like image generation and computer vision tests. It is very stable in daily use; In fact, the only problem I had was during the initial setup, when I lost my internet connection midway through and was forced to start from scratch — which is annoying, but a one-time problem that never comes up again.