HP Z2 G1i 2026, Core Ultra 5 235, 16GB, 1TB SSD, Black

A port-packed productivity beast with a CPU that punches above its weight, but the integrated graphics make it a one-trick pony. Great for office work, useless for gaming or GPU-heavy rendering.

The Core Ultra 5 235 sits at the 77th percentile for CPUs in our database, which means it's well above average and will chew through multi-threaded productivity tasks without breaking a sweat. 16GB of DDR5 at 5600 MHz is solid, though it's only at the 55th percentile, so you're getting mid-pack memory for a workstation that can technically handle up to 256GB. The 1TB NVMe SSD lands at the 70th percentile, which is respectable but not going to set any records. The real story here is connectivity: 99th percentile for ports. Nine USB-A ports, two USB-C, Thunderbolt 4, four Mini DisplayPort outputs, and Wi-Fi 7. You could plug in a small office worth of peripherals and still have room for a USB desk fan.

The Mac Studio M3 Ultra absolutely demolishes this thing on GPU performance and raw compute, but it also costs a fortune and locks you into macOS. The Lenovo Legion 90YA003GUS and MSI Aegis ZS2 are gaming-focused machines that will crush the Z2 G1i in graphics but lack the workstation pedigree and port selection. The Dell Aurora ACT1250 is probably the closest real competitor, offering similar professional positioning with better GPU options. If you need a discrete GPU for CAD or rendering, skip the Z2 G1i and look at the Dell or the Mac Studio. If you need a reliable, port-rich office workhorse, the HP holds its own.

Pricing is all over the map. US listings range from USD 1,386 to USD 2,399, and CAD listings span CAD 2,001 to CAD 2,852. That's a USD 1,013 spread in the US alone, which is wild for the same machine. If you're buying in the US, hunt for the listing at the USD 1,386 end, that's a genuinely fair price for this hardware. At USD 2,399, you're getting fleeced. In Canada, the CAD 2,001 listing is the one to grab. Shop around before you commit, because the same tower costs wildly different amounts depending on where you click.

The HP Z2 G1i is a workstation that knows exactly what it is and doesn't apologize for it. This is a machine built for spreadsheets, code compiles, and multi-monitor office setups, not for fragging noobs at 4K. The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 with 14 cores gives it real muscle for professional workloads, and the port selection is frankly absurd in the best way. But that integrated Intel Graphics is the elephant in the room, and it caps what this tower can do.

If you're looking for a machine to game on, do GPU-accelerated rendering, or run CAD software with any kind of smoothness, this isn't it. Go get a Lenovo Legion or a Dell Aurora with a discrete GPU instead. If you're a creative professional who needs serious graphics performance, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra is the obvious upgrade path, assuming your wallet can handle it.

The HP Z2 G1i is a solid professional workstation for office productivity, software development, and multi-monitor setups. The Core Ultra 5 235 is a genuinely capable chip, and the connectivity is unmatched at this price. But the integrated graphics hold it back hard, and 16GB of RAM feels like HP cutting corners on a machine that's supposed to be upgradeable. Buy it if you need ports and CPU grunt for non-GPU workloads. Skip it if you need any kind of graphics horsepower.