HP EliteBook Ultra G1q Review

We’ve been massively impressed with HP’s ultraportables in recent years. Now here’s our first Snapdragon-based model, the ‘business-grade’ HP EliteBook Ultra G1q. We’ve had some issues with Snapdragon laptops owing to their software compatibility limitations, but how will this fare? Does it make sense for workers and business users?

HP EliteBook Ultra G1q Specs

Features, Ergonomics & Design

The EliteBook Ultra G1q feels very solid thanks to its metal chassis and robust hinges. I always like a blue laptop as it’s that bit different to the many grey models we see that cross our path, yet it’s not ostentatious enough to draw attention to itself whether out and about or in an office. It can be a bit of a fingerprint magnet though.

The 14-inch screen has a slightly unusual 2,240 x 1,400 resolution but it still displays a crisp and clear Windows Desktop. It’s got a responsive touchscreen but (like many ultraportables) it’s also glossy and reflective, which is something I’ve started to rail against – modern monitor tech should have eliminated glossy coatings by now. Meanwhile, the IPS technology ensures colours are accurate and vibrant – almost OLED like, but not quite.

Despite not being an HDR screen, contrast is generally good with details usually retaining visibility in shadowy areas. They can, however, get blown-out in bright areas. Monchromatic gradients can occasionally get very blocky but colourful transitions only exhibit some light stepping. But, these are relatively minor foibles and aren’t enough to spoil multimedia viewing. It’s a good screen, all in all.

Do note, however, that it has a standard 60Hz refresh rate (which can dip to 40Hz to eke out a bit more battery life). This marries with a relatively slow pixel-response time to leave fast-moving objects appearing blurry – so bear that in mind if you fancy trying any fast-and-frantic gaming.

The G1q’s twin speakers get relatively loud and punchy and generally produce well-rounded fidelity from top to bottom. There’s even some decent bass response. I did detect some light distortion in loud voices and treble, but it’s minor and only rears its head at high volume.

Above the EliteBook Ultra’s screen is an excellent, 1,440p webcam which does exceptionally well at fending-off noise in low light. It’s backed-up by HP’s Poly Camera Pro App which adds multiple Ai-based lighting and background enhancements plus, potentially-useful features like watermarking. I do miss having HP’s lighting app, though. This superimposed a size-and-colour-adjustable, virtual ring light onto the screen to improve your appearance in video calls and it worked very well.

The webcam is also Windows Hello compatible for face-recognition log-in. Plus, there’s a hardware-based privacy slide.

The microphone array captures very clear audio (even though it sounds very muddy for the first few seconds when you turn it on). It’s very good for web-conferencing.

I’m a big fan of the keyboard which has low-travel Scrabble-tile keys that are comfortable and accurate to type upon for extended periods. The arrow keys are usable, there are plenty of shortcuts including a Windows CoPilot+ button to activate the onboard Ai. It also has two levels of white backlighting.

The trackpad is large, smooth and accurate and the buttons have a well-weighted, quiet actuation.

For general office usage, the EliteBook Ultra G1q works well and I briefly forgot I was dealing with a Snapdragon-based Windows laptop. It runs Microsoft Office perfectly and Microsoft’s Copilot+ Ai assistant is responsive.

Other notable features include HP’s Wolf Security which offers extra layers of malware protection for Windows. There’s also HP’s Ai Companion app which is a local version of ChatGPT (that can operate without the internet) which will please those who don’t want to send sensitive information across the internet to third parties.

However, there’s no getting around the fact that the x86 architecture (favoured by Intel and AMD) is gargantuanly more popular than ARM architecture in the Windows-laptop space and the number of applications available reflects this. Apple ARM-based MacBooks are obviously thriving, but they’ve been around as long as Windows and use an in-house-developed, polished, top-to-bottom software and hardware environment.

By comparison, Qualcomm only entered the Windows laptop market less-than a year ago. It’s got some serious catching up to do if it wants to rival these mature rivals and it remains to be seen how many developers will move to focus on ARM-based Windows laptops in lieu of x86 and Apple.

That all said, this is not such a big deal on a business laptop where sysadmins typically lock down workers’ notebooks so they can’t install their own unlicenced/distracting/incompatible/malware-ridden/security-compromising software. Removing that possibility through compatibility may be regarded as a boon by some.

Ports and Connectivity

Inside there’s Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. That’s an OK connectivity complement, but I like to see an HDMI port on business laptops.

All in all, HP’s EliteBook Ultra G1q is a pleasure to interact with for most office tasks. Much will depend upon your requirements of software compatibility.

Features, Ergonomics & Design Score: 3.5 / 5

Performance

We recently overhauled our benchmarks to enable better comparisons between laptops of different platforms. If you’re struggling to sleep, you can read about our testing methodology, here. The benefits of this mean that, even if a laptop doesn’t run all of our benchmarks, it runs enough to provide some direct performance comparisons.

General Computing & CPU Tests

The EliteBook Ultra wouldn’t run our general-computing PCMark 10 benchmark due to multiple software compatibility issues. It did, however, run both our primary UL Procyon Microsoft Office benchmark and its multi-platform sibling test. In the former, the G1q scored 6,302 which is impressive for an ultraportable laptop and puts it right in between Intel’s previous-generation Meteor Lake-based rivals and those that use its current-gen Lunar Lake platform, in terms of MS Office performance. Score: 3 / 5

In the multi-platform version of the office test, the G1q scored 216,000 which represents a score of 3.7 / 5. It appears that significant work has gone in to ensuring Microsoft 365 (Office) is fully compatible with ARM.

This was less the case in the UL Procyon Adobe Image Editing benchmark, though. Here, it scored a lowest-we’ve-seen 4,117 (Score: 1 / 5). A look at the component scores show that it’s actually not too far behind Intel-based business-ultraportables when it comes to editing photos in Photoshop (it’s actually slightly quicker when exporting them). The issue came in the batch-processing tests (which use Adobe Lightroom Classic) where a task that took a Meteor Lake (Core Ultra 7 155U)-sporting Acer rival around two-and-a-half minutes, took the EliteBook Ultra G1q ten minutes.

In the Cinebench processor rendering tests, the processor was reported as a Virtual CPU. Nonetheless, the EliteBook scored 2,309 in the drag-race R15 test and 8,854 in the longer R23 test. These are both comparable with Intel ultraportable scores and show that there’s some capability here. Score 2.1 / 5

The EliteBook Ultra G1q also ran the Qualcomm SNPE version of the Procyon Ai Computer Vision test. It scored 51 which might mean something to someone somewhere, but not me.

Ultimately, the results show that a Snapdragon-based laptop can often quick for an ultraportable platform… if you only count the tasks it can actually do.

General Computing & CPU Performance Score: 2.7 / 5

Graphics and Gaming Performance

Unfortunately, the Ultra G1q wouldn’t run a GPU-version of the Ai benchmark. I also normally run the GPU version of the UL Procyon video-editing (Adobe Premiere) benchmark (because it’s faster than the CPU version), but Premiere doesn’t work with Snapdragon… yet. There are still plans for it to do so in the near future, though.

Gaming Benchmarks

I was impressed that the EliteBook did run several of our gaming benchmarks. But, this didn’t include the difficult 3DMark Speed Way or Port Royal ray-tracing tests, or the intensive Time Spy benchmark.

When it came to the multi-platform, 1,440p Solar Bay benchmark which is targeted at mobile computers and includes ray tracing, the G1q scored 10,425 which is an average of 40fps. That means that games using similar technology will generally work, but you’ll likely need to dial-down the resolution and settings to keep things running smooth. Score: 1.2 / 5

In the much harder, Steel Nomad test (multi-platform, 4K-resolution with ray-tracing) the EliteBook Ultra scored 510 which is an average of just 5.1fps illustrating that there’s no 4K gaming potential here. I’m impressed it even attempted it, frankly. Score: 1.3 / 5

In the much lighter, 1,440p-version of the test – Steel Nomad Light – it scored 2,160 which is an average of 16.1fps. That’s not quite playable, but some judicious adjustments of settings and resolution will get you something to work with.

I wanted to try the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 benchmark but, while the game installed, it wouldn’t run.

I also ran some other legacy benchmarks which are listed here for reference:

Ultimately, the HP EliteBook Ultra G1q can play some lesser games (think phone quality) but not much else.

3D Performance Score: 1.4 / 5

Cooling

The thin-and-light EliteBook Ultra G1q has some inherrant challenges when it comes to cooling – there’s no a great deal of room for coolers or vents in an 11mm-thick chassis. The latter only make an appearance on the base. For the most part, though, this ultraportable notebook runs cool and quiet. Under a modest load, though, expect it to get rather warm at the base and for the fans to ramp-up to a (not-intrusive) very low whoosh.

It’s worth noting, that when I ran the 30-minute version of Cinebench R23, performance did drop by seven per cent. That’s more than I’m used to when benchmarking laptops and suggests that there is some thermal-based performance throttling at play when things get hot.

Portability & Battery Life

HP’s EliteBook Ultra G1q is very well built. Its metal chassis is stiff and robust and there’s very little flex when a twisting force is applied to the lid. The hinge is solid too and I expect it to survive life on the road.

It weighs just 1.32KG and the power supply and cables add just 309g to the mix so it feels ‘barely there’ when carrying it around.

It wouldn’t run our main battery tests, but it would run the UL Procyon Video-Playback Benchmark and it did this for 24 hours. While constant video-playback isn’t quite as real-world-relatable as running office applications in a battery benchmark, I’ve found that performance in this area is generally comparable to Intel’s impressive Lunar Lake-based rivals.

The (USB-C) charger can fast-charge the notebook to 50 per cent in 30 minutes when it’s turned off or in stand-by. So, running out of battery shouldn’t be a problem.

Portability & Battery Life Score: 4.1 / 5

Price & Value

There are a couple of variants of the HP EliteBook Ultra G1q – a cheaper model (SKU: A92QZPT) has a smaller (512GB) hard drive and costs $3,628. Our review unit (SKU: A92R0PT) currently has an RRP of $3,837 at HP’s online store. That’s not cheap but there’s still value to be had considering what’s available.

Value Score: 2.9 / 5

Conclusion: Should You Buy The HP EliteBook Ultra G1q?

When Snapdragon-based laptops first launched, they immediately led the market with their 20+ hour battery life and compatibility with Microsoft Copilot+. It was a great opportunity to steal a lead on Intel-based laptops, but the high price acted as a barrier. Now that Lunar Lake is here, and it matches the benefits of Snapdragon-based laptops (while adding all-software x86 compatibility to the mix) these laptops are hard to recommend. Most consumer buyers will be better-off with HP’s excellent, slightly dearer Omnibook which matches many of the G1q’s best qualities while adding many more.

Still, if you want to keep away from Intel or if you want to utilise the Snapdragon platform (perhaps to match phone hardware for development reasons) or if you want to physically limit what workers can do on their work laptop, it’s still worth considering the G1q.

Last Updated on 26 April 2025 by Nick Ross