HP Upgrades ZBooks With Core i9 Hexa-Core CPUs And Quadro P2000, Announces Z Club Subscription Service

by Brandon Hill — Monday, October 15, 2018, 12:34 PM EDT

Back in early April, Hewlett-Packed launched a revamped ZBook family of professional notebooks and convertibles available with Intel 8^thgeneration Core and Xeon processors along with NVIDIA Quadro graphics. Today, HP has announced higher-performing versions of the ZBook Studio, ZBook Studio x360, ZBook 15a and ZBook 17.

All of these machines are now available with 8^thgeneration Core processors up to a Core i9-8950HK. Xeon processors also remain an option for those that require additional horsepower. As before, systems come configured with as little as 32GB of RAM or as much as 128GB, making these the ultimate mobile workstations.

In addition to shining a light on processor upgrades, HP has also upgraded the previously available NVIDIA Quadro P1000 GPU to the Quadro P2000. The Quadro P2000 nearly doubles the number of CUDA cores and offers far superior graphics performance for content creators. With the exception of the new processors and Quadro P2000, the machines are largely the same as before.

Arguably, the flagship of the family is the ZBook Studio x360, which is available with a 15.6-inch 4K touch screen display with a brightness rating of 600 nits. HP still proudly proclaims that this is 20 percent brighter than what you'll find in the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro 15.

"We are listening to the needs of creative pros and investing in innovation that makes it easier for them to unleash their creativity," said Xavier Garcia, who serves as VP and GM of Z by HP. "With the most powerful hardware, feature -rich software and services, as well as innovative programs for creators, HP is reinventing the way the world creates."

To go along with the hardware upgrades, HP also announced what it calls Z Club. HP will select 100 "creative professionals" who will be given access to custom hardware/software bundles that will "take the guesswork away from finding the right tools by providing a tailored hardware and services solution to meet the needs of each creator's specific workflow."

These professionals will pay a monthly fee for the subscription based-hardware/software service, which will include a mix of ZBook computers, printers, pro-grade displays and requisite accessories. The first three months will be free of charge, after which we can rest assured that the monthly will be immense for the selected parties (or they can simply choose to send the hardware back to HP after the trial).

You can learn about signing up to be among the first 100 members in Z Club right here.

Tags: HP, Hewlett-Packard, zbook, (nyse:hpq), z club

Brandon Hill

Brandon received his first PC, an IBM Aptiva 310, in 1994 and hasn’t looked back since. He cut his teeth on computer building/repair working at a mom and pop computer shop as a plucky teen in the mid 90s and went on to join AnandTech as the Senior News Editor in 1999. Brandon would later help to form DailyTech where he served as Editor-in-Chief from 2008 until 2014. Brandon is a tech geek at heart, and family members always know where to turn when they need free tech support. When he isn’t writing about the tech hardware or studying up on the latest in mobile gadgets, you’ll find him browsing forums that cater to his long-running passion: automobiles.

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