If you’re using a workstation-class laptop, odds are pretty good that you didn’t buy it. Your employer did. These things are only “portable” in the sense that it’s technically possible to carry a cinder block around, and they’re designed to be full-power desktop replacements for industrial or professional media applications. That said, HP’s new ZBook Fury G1i does something so cool I had to show it to you.
During the demonstration at an HP media event, the presenter grabbed this chonkster of a laptop, flipped it over, and unlatched the bottom with just two tabs. He then pulled it off—without a screwdriver in sight—to expose four, count ’em, four SO-DIMM slots, all of which are accessible to the user. Metal covers protect them, but they’re easy to get out with just a finger. There are also four M.2 SSD slots in there, at least one of which is Gen5. This is the kind of expansion you can usually only get with a desktop PC… and it’s all available in just a few seconds.
Michael Crider / Foundry
The ZBook Fury G1i comes in 16-inch and new 18-inch designs, with a top-end configuration using an Intel Core Ultra 9 285HX processor with 24 cores. This one’s maxed out at 200 watts of TDP and paired to an Nvidia Blackwell RTX 5000 graphics card (exact specs aren’t nailed down yet). Most of the other internal components outside of the motherboard can be replaced fairly easily, all the better for an IT department to save time. The only unfortunate thing is, all that power needs an old-fashioned barrel charger to get it going. USB-C just won’t cut it.
HP
This is not, repeat, not a gaming laptop, though some developers might be able to make use of it that way. It’s got a little gaming DNA in there in the latest generation. The 16-inch can get up to 120Hz on the screen and the 18-inch can go up to 165Hz, and HP has splashed out on an RGB keyboard with program-specific bindings… purely for the sake of showing hotkeys in your important creative workflows, you understand. If you were to, hypothetically, sync it to your Overwatch ult, your manager might have to give you a talking-to.
Michael Crider / Foundry
These ZBook Fury G1i laptops can be loaded with up to 192GB of RAM and 16TB of storage when they’re configured to the maximum, a truly astonishing amount of power and capability when paired with those CPUs and GPUs. How much that would cost? I couldn’t guess, except that it’s probably worth more than my car.
Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer, PCWorld
Michael is a 10-year veteran of technology journalism, covering everything from Apple to ZTE. On PCWorld he's the resident keyboard nut, always using a new one for a review and building a new mechanical board or expanding his desktop "battlestation" in his off hours. Michael's previous bylines include Android Police, Digital Trends, Wired, Lifehacker, and How-To Geek, and he's covered events like CES and Mobile World Congress live. Michael lives in Pennsylvania where he's always looking forward to his next kayaking trip.