With an expected availability this month, HP’s upcoming Elite Dragonfly Chromebook could be the King of all ChromeOS devices when it finally arrives on the scene. Ahead of its imminent release, our friend Kevin Tofel has stumbled upon a listing for the Elite Dragonfly on Google’s shopping website. Before you get too excited, the listing links directly to HP’s website where the premium Chromebook is nowhere to be found. (Likely, this was an early listing that was pulled from HP’s website but made it into the Google Shopping database.)
We know that the starting price of the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook is going to be $999 but what we do not know is what internals will come at that MSRP. Hopefully, it will be no less than a 12th Gen Core i5 and 8GB of RAM because this device is as premium as they come and it deserves to have a solid baseline for the entry-level model. The aforementioned model on Google Shopping, however, is carrying the hefty price tag of $2,165 and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that this is the top-tier configuration.
Don’t worry. I’m not going to gloss over that seemingly exorbitant retail price. We’ll get to that in a moment. First, let’s take a look at the listing. Unfortunately, there isn’t much to divine from Google’s landing page for the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook. Apart from an image, a price, and the brief description below, there are no clues as to which model this is.
Sharpen your focus with a high-performance Chromebook featuring the latest innovations in cloud-first computing. Designed for virtual collaboration with cutting-edge HP Presence AI-enhanced video and audio. Work confidently with the highly secure and manageable HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook.
That price, though
I know what you’re thinking. $2200??? That’s an insane price for a Chromebook. Maybe but then again, maybe not. First of all, this isn’t the first Chromebook to carry a price tag of this magnitude. Let me remind you of Dell’s Enterprise Latitude family that came out a couple of years ago. The 2-in-1 Latitude 7410 retailed for a whopping $2155 and it only came with a 10th Gen Core i5 and 8GB of RAM. It wasn’t a dud but it certainly didn’t warrant anywhere near the price that Dell was asking. Aside from that, the Dell felt completely uninspired. It was designed for enterprise customers but lacked any cutting-edge features or anything else that really set it apart from devices that cost half the price. It simply felt like a premium vanilla Chromebook that didn’t excel at anything.
Comparing the HP Elite Dragonfly to the Dell Latitude is a classic case of apples and oranges. HP has done something revolutionary in the ChromeOS space with this new device and for the right buyer, it very well may be worth every penny. First, this is the first-ever Chromebook to don the prestigious Dragonfly badging and that’s just the beginning. HP threw everything it had at this device and you get all of the industry-leading features you’d expect from a premium laptop regardless of the operating system.
The Elite Dragonfly Chromebook comes with a magnetically recharging stylus, a 3:2 super bright display, 12th Gen Intel CPUs and up to a monstrous 32GB of RAM. You can opt for a 1000 nit display, 5G, and HP’s Sure View Reflect screen security. If that weren’t enough, this Chromebook is the first of its kind to feature a haptic touchpad. Throw in Thunderbolt 4 support, Wi-Fi 6, an HDMI port, MicroSD, and a few other features, and you have the most full-featured Chromebook ever created. It doesn’t hurt that this thing is absolutely gorgeous.
So, is the HP Elite Dragonfly Chromebook worth nearly $2200? I suppose that really depends on your use case and your personal preferences. For the average consumer? No way. There are plenty of devices on the market that run $500-$700 that will handle almost any task with ease and offer segment-leading features. However, there are some outliers that will gladly pay this premium price for everything that the HP Elite Dragonfly has to offer.
For example, Google has finally taken the wraps off of Steam for ChromeOS and this Chromebook will be a gamer’s dream come true for accessing Steam’s massive library of games directly from a Chromebook. If you love Chromebooks but you still need a solid Steam gaming laptop, this is going to be the number one contender. Then there are the developers. For those wanting to take full advantage of Linux on ChromeOS, this Chromebook will give developers access to more power and productivity than any other device on the market.
Last but not least, there are people like us who simply want the best that ChromeOS has to offer. Yes, we may be impractical but sometimes, you just have to let your little light shine and buy the thing you want. I know. It’s kind of an Apple-y way of thinking but you know me, I like to have every bell and whistle I can get along with all the horsepower you can give me. That said, I’m most definitely going to purchase this Chromebook unless something more interesting comes along. It’s still early in the year but I agree with Robby that this will be the Chromebook to beat in 2022. Stay tuned. We’ll update as soon as we get some more information on this model and when we finally see it available.
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