Tilt Back
HP's Dragonfly G3 Folio embraces the easel
HP's Dragonfly business laptop line is getting a taste of the odd convertible laptop form factor previously used by Acer and Microsoft.
HP’s Dragonfly business laptops have been getting a lot of attention recently, and for a good reason: While not precisely affordable, they pack cutting-edge features into some of HP’s sleekest designs. I mean, look at this Chromebook!
That trend continues today with the HP Dragonfly Folio G3, a newly announced $2,379 easel-style convertible laptop that, if HP wasn’t pricing for executives, I’d almost certainly consider for myself.
Pull-forward— You might know the “pull-forward” easel laptop experience from Acer’s ConceptD Ezel and Ezel Pro, or maybe Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio, but I think HP’s embrace of the form factor is a sign it’s going mainstream.
HP’s Windows 11 laptop is covered with faux leather to fully capture the folio look, and supports stylus input for when you pull the display all the way forward into tablet mode. You’ll have a 13.5-inch 1,920 x 1,280 resolution OLED display to use as your canvas, and there’s even the ability to use the Dragonfly G3 Folio as a very expensive Wacom tablet when you connect the laptop to an external monitor.
The Dragonfly has either a 12th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7 chip, up to 32GB of LPDDR RAM, an 8MP webcam, multiple SSD storage options, and 13.5 hours of promised battery life from a 56Wh battery.
Death to tents — HP’s announcing the Dragonfly Folio G3 alongside a new 34-inch All-in-one (AiO) PC with support for up to two detachable webcams at the same time, and a new Z23K G3 4K display with an IPS Black panel. By all appearances, solid hardware in its own right.
But the Dragonfly Folio G3 stands out from the pack for how it pushes a new form factor. At some point, laptop makers got comfortable with 2-in-1 devices with weird tent modes that no one uses. I’m not saying the in-between presentation mode on the Dragonfly Folio G3 is better, but with a trackpad still accessible, it does seem a bit more functional than flopping your device into a tent as you might do on a Lenovo Yoga laptop. These are the kind of far out hardware explorations that should be encouraged, in my opinion.
The Dragonfly Folio G3 starts at $2,379 and is supposed to be available “now,” though HP’s website currently doesn’t reflect that. The 34-inch AiO Desktop PC will cost $2,119 and be available in September. The Z23K G3 4K display currently doesn’t have a price and will be available in November.
