HP has been using the Dragonfly name for a series of thin and light laptops and tablets over the past few years. But so far the Dragonfly brand has been limited to HP’s business-class mobile computers. Now the company is introducing its first consumer-oriented Dragonfly PCs, starting with the HP Dragonfly Pro Windows laptop and the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook.
Both will be available this spring and HP says pricing will be announced closer to release. While both are 14 inch laptops with similar designs, the operating system isn’t the only difference. The Chromebook, for example, is powered by a 12th-gen Intel Core “Alder Lake” processor, while the Windows version supports up to an AMD Ryzen 7 7736U chip.
The processor isn’t the only difference. The Chromebook has a brighter, higher-resolution display, but only supports up to 16GB of RAM, while the Windows model can be configured with up to 32GB. Both feature LPDDR5 memory that’s soldered to the mainboard though, so it’s not user upgradeable. But the laptops also both use M.2 SSDs which are replaceable.
Another difference is the keyboard. Not only does the HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook feature a ChromeOS keyboard with keys for back, home, and recent apps, among other things, but the Windows model features a set of special shortcut keys along the right side. One opens the Control Center, another the Camera Settings, and a third is a dedicated key to contact HP’s 24/7 support services… which seems like kind of a waste of space for folks who rarely contact customer support and/or plan to keep their laptop after the warranty expires. A fourth key is user-customizable and can be used to open the app or setting of your choice.
HP says the Windows version of the HP Dragonfly Pro  was co-engineered with AMD and uses AMD Platform Management Framework (PMF) technology to balance performance and power consumption.
Here’s a comparison of some key specs for the two versions of HP’s new Dragonfly Pro:
| HP Dragonfly Pro | HP Dragonfly Pro Chromebook | |
| OS | Windows 11 Home | ChromeOS |
| Processor | AMD Radeon 7736u | Intel Core i5-1235U |
| Display | 14 inches 1920 x 1200 pixels IPS LCD 400 nits 100% sRGB color gamut Low blue light flicker-free multi-touch 86.5% screen-to-body ratio | 14 inches 2560 x 1600 pixels IPS LCD 1200 nits 100% sRGB color gamut multi-touch 87.6% screen-to-body ratio |
| RAM | 16GB or 32GB LPDDR5-6400 | 16GB LPDDR5 |
| Storage | 512GB or 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD | 256GB PCIe NVMe SSD |
| Ports | 2 x USB4 (40 Gbps) 1 x USB 3.2 Type-C (10 Gbps) | 4 x Thunderbolt 4 |
| Wireless | Qualcomm WCN685x WiFi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 | WiFi 6E Bluetooth 5.2 |
| Webcam | 5MP IR camera (Windows Hello) Camera Sutter | 8MP |
| Audio | Quad speakers (2 upward-facing, 2-downward) Dual microphones B&O audio | Quad speakers (2 upward-facing, 2-downward) B&O audio |
| Battery & charging | 64.6 Wh 96W USB-Type-C power adapter 50% charge in 30 minutes | 51.3 Wh 96W USB Type-C power adapter 50% charge in 30 minutes |
| Keyboard | Backlit Haptic trackpad Fingerprint sensor | RGB backlit ChromeOS keys |
| Dimensions | 12.5″ x 8.8″ x 0.7″ | 12.4″ x 8.7″ x 0.7″ |
| Weight | 3.53 pounds | 3.33 lbs |
| Color | Ceramic White or Sparkling Black | |
HP says the laptop is also made using some recycled materials, with the Windows model featuring 90% recycled magnesium and 50 to 75% recycled aluminum in the enclosure and the ChromeOS model featuring 65% recycled metal in the cover. Both incorporate some recycled plastic for the keycaps and some other components.
I would not buy the HP dragonfly line… low volumes too many compromises for the thin & low weight… I actually use my cpu. Ryzen 7 7736u is a nice chip, but unless they discount I would rather wait for the 3nm Ryzen 3 for the same price.
Somehow, marketing determined that screwing up the keyboard with built-in annoyances was WORSE than daring to break the flat bottom line to stick full size arrow keys on the keyboard.
Dedicated keys that open any kind of application that depends on networking have never annoyed me less than they’ve been convenient. On my old (funnily enough) HP keyboard, there are dedicated “search” and “club hp” (whatever that was) keys. It’s really easy to hit them on accident, which opens the browser, but if you should hold the button down, it’ll just keep opening browser windows. And of course, they had to put the “support” key right where your thumb might be if you hold the laptop in your right hand.
The camera settings key is not really useful unless they’re giving the device a world facing camera, or your work day involves a lot of both video conferences and changing locations.
All of these functions should have just been assigned to normal keys as alternate functions that only activate when you press fn.
Whoops, I meant “they thought that that screwing up the keyboard with built-in annoyances was better than daring to break the flat bottom line to stick full size arrow keys on the keyboard”.
I sure wouldn’t want a laptop with a “Club HP” key; reminds me of my OnePlus phone, which has an unremovable link to OnePlus’ “Red Cable Club” (incomprehensibly labeled just “U16577360 …”) prominently displayed at the top of what should be Android Settings.
4 TB4 ports on the chromebook and 1200 nits higher resolution screen….. lol what a joke.