HP ZBook 14 G2 review

ZBook 14 G2 — the traveling workstation badge on Broadwell patience

The 2015 ZBook 14 G2 is HP's compact mobile workstation: an i7-5600U with 16 GB of RAM and — in this unit — no discrete professional graphics (best GPU score 0 against a 42.23 workstation-class median). At $215 it sits far below the $471 workstation median. The verdict frames it as worth the asking price for mobility; the registered top strength is mobility at 44 against a 36 class median, with RAM at 16 GB — 75% below the workstation norm of 64.

The mobility-first workstation concept

The ZBook 14 line was built for frequent travelers who wanted workstation credibility without the 17-inch brick: this unit is one of the more portable machines in the workstation class (top-half mobility placing). The i7-5600U dual-core delivers patient business pace, and the 16 GB of RAM — modest against workstation norms — remains workable for the machine's realistic workloads.

What the badge can't deliver here

A best GPU score of 0 in a workstation-class machine voids the professional-graphics contract: no ISV 3D, no CUDA, no GPU rendering. The performance index of 15.9 (−74% versus class median) confirms the compute side is also far from workstation-grade. What remains is a well-built 14-inch business ultraportable — judge it as one, and the price is fair; judge it as a workstation, and it fails the class definition.

Price trajectory

From roughly $2,200 new to $215 today at 8.3% per year, projecting to $181 in two years (15.9% lower). A decade of workstation-curve depreciation has already worked through — the residual is chassis value.

Where it sits against peers

Pricier neighbors are the HP ZBook 17 G2 ($228) and Dell Precision 3510 ($243) — the latter with genuine entry workstation graphics; the 17 G2 is the desk-bound sibling. The 14 G2's honest rivals are business ultrabooks, where its keyboard and build compete well at this price.

Bottom line

Worth it as a compact, well-built 14-inch work machine for document-heavy travelers — with the explicit understanding that the workstation badge is heritage, not capability. No GPU work, modest compute, comfortable chassis. At $215 the price matches what the machine actually is, which is the definition of a fair used deal.