HP EliteBook 16" 6 G2a, Ryzen AI 5 Pro 435, 16GB, 512GB SSD

Great ports, mediocre everything else. The AI branding is doing a lot of heavy lifting for a machine that scores 27.3 on our AI benchmark.

The Ryzen AI 5 Pro 435 sits at the 69th percentile for CPU performance, which is solid but not going to blow anyone's hair back. The 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 512GB SSD are both middle of the pack, and the Radeon 840M graphics are fine for spreadsheets and light photo work but won't handle anything demanding. The real surprise here is the port situation: 95th percentile, which is top of the charts. Thunderbolt, dual USB-C, dual USB-A, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 7. You can plug in basically anything without a dongle, which is rare these days.

Against the Apple MacBook Pro M4 Max, this thing gets absolutely smoked on performance, but it's also way cheaper, so that's not really a fair fight. The more relevant comparison is something like the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, which gives you way more GPU muscle and a better screen for similar money, though you lose the business-focused port selection and touchscreen. The Lenovo Legion Pro 7i is another option if you want raw power, but it's heavier and less portable. For pure office work with great connectivity, the EliteBook holds its own, but the moment you need real performance, the competitors pull ahead fast.

At $1,522 to $1,559 USD, this is a tough sell. You're paying a premium for the AI branding, but the actual AI performance is one of the worst we've tested. The port selection is fantastic and the build feels business-grade, but you can get similar specs without the AI tax for less. If your company is footing the bill and you need the manageability features, fine. But for your own money, this feels overpriced for what you actually get.

The HP EliteBook 6 G2a is a business laptop that's trying really hard to be an AI machine, and honestly, it's a mixed bag. The headline feature is the Ryzen AI 5 Pro 435 chip, which HP is betting big on for Copilot+ workflows. But here's the thing: our AI LLM score for this thing is 27.3 out of 100, which is one of the worst we've seen. So if you're buying this for the AI hype, pump the brakes. What you're actually getting is a solid, well-connected 16-inch workhorse with a great port selection and a screen that's fine but not exciting.

If you're buying this for the AI features, skip it. The AI performance is one of the worst we've tested, and you'll be disappointed. If you want real performance for creative work or gaming, go grab an ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 or a Lenovo Legion Pro 7i instead. This is a business laptop for people who need ports and manageability, not power users.

The HP EliteBook 6 G2a is a decent business laptop hiding behind a bad AI gimmick. If you need a 16-inch Windows machine with every port imaginable and a touchscreen, it's a reasonable choice. But the AI features are marketing fluff, the screen is mediocre, and the price is too high for what you get. Unless your IT department is forcing this on you, there are better ways to spend $1,500.