HP Z1 G1i, Core Ultra 5 235, 16GB, 512GB SSD, Black

The HP Z1 G1i is a solid productivity tower with a genuinely good Core Ultra 5 235 CPU and excellent port selection. But the integrated graphics and 512GB SSD hold it back, and user sentiment is surprisingly low at 65/100. US prices swing from $1,329 to $1,832, so shop carefully. It's a decent foundation if you plan to add a GPU later, but not a great out-of-the-box workstation.

The Core Ultra 5 235 is the star of the show. It's a 14-core part with a 3.4GHz base clock, and it lands at the 78th percentile in our CPU rankings. That's well above average, and for everyday productivity it's going to feel snappy. App launches, browser tabs, light multitasking, all handled without breaking a sweat. The 16GB of DDR5 at 5600 MHz helps too. It's not a huge amount of RAM by 2025 standards, but the speed keeps things responsive.

The integrated Intel Graphics is where things get real. It sits at the 51st percentile, which is about as middle-of-the-pack as it gets. For a machine marketed with the word 'workstation' in the name, that's a bit of a letdown. You can run older games at low settings and handle basic photo editing, but anything GPU-intensive is going to struggle. The 512GB SSD is also just okay, landing at the 42nd percentile. It's PCIe 4.0 so it's fast, but 512GB fills up quicker than you'd think once Windows 11 Pro and a few apps get installed. The good news is the 500W PSU means you can drop in a proper graphics card later without swapping the power supply.

The Z1 G1i sits in an awkward spot. The Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 10 and Dell Aurora Gaming both offer discrete GPUs and stronger all-around performance for similar money, though they lean more gaming than productivity. If you need graphics horsepower, those are the obvious alternatives. The Apple Mac Studio M3 Ultra is in a completely different league on performance and price, but if you're doing creative work and have the budget, it's worth a look. The ASUS ROG GM700 splits the difference, offering better gaming chops without abandoning the desktop workstation form factor.

The trade-off with the Z1 G1i is expandability versus out-of-the-box capability. HP gives you a 500W PSU and a tower chassis with room to grow, which the Mac Studio absolutely does not offer. But the Legion and Aurora give you a GPU today, not as a future upgrade. If you're comfortable opening the case and adding parts, the Z1 G1i's foundation is decent. If you want to unbox and go, the competitors win.

Here's where things get tricky. The HP Z1 G1i is listed at $1,329 to $1,832 in the US depending on where you look. That's a huge spread for the same tower. At the low end, you're getting a solid productivity machine with a genuinely good CPU and room to grow. At the high end, you're paying workstation money for integrated graphics and a mid-tier SSD, which is a tough sell.

Our advice: if you're buying this, hunt for the $1,329 listing. Newegg's listing appears to be the more aggressive of the two US options based on the retailer notes. At that price, the Z1 G1i makes sense as a foundation you can upgrade over time. At $1,832, you're dangerously close to machines with discrete GPUs and more storage out of the box. The CAD listing at $1,925 is the only option for Canadian buyers, and it's harder to judge without more local competition data, but it doesn't scream bargain.

The HP Z1 G1i is HP's attempt to make workstation branding feel approachable. It's a tower desktop built around Intel's Core Ultra 5 235, a 14-core chip that sits in the upper-middle of our CPU rankings. The pitch is simple: pro-level expandability without the pro-level price tag that usually comes with HP's Z-series lineup. And on paper, there's something to that. You get 16GB of DDR5 running at 5600 MHz, a 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe drive, and a 500W power supply that leaves room for a discrete GPU down the road.

Who's this actually for? HP says students and home office users, and our best-for scores back that up. Business use lands at 68.8, home office at 68.3, and workstation tasks at 66.6. Those are decent numbers, but nothing that'll make you spill your coffee. The integrated Intel Graphics is the obvious bottleneck. If you're doing spreadsheets, writing, or light photo work, you'll be fine. If you're rendering 3D models or editing 4K video, you'll want to budget for a GPU upgrade.

The interesting wrinkle here is the price spread. US listings range from $1,329 to $1,832 depending on the vendor. That's a $503 gap for what appears to be the same machine. We'll dig into that more below, but the short version is: shop around before you click buy.

If you need graphics performance on day one, skip this. The integrated Intel Graphics will frustrate anyone doing 3D rendering, serious video editing, or gaming. You'd be better served by the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 10 or Dell Aurora Gaming, both of which include discrete GPUs for similar money. The Z1 G1i's gaming score of 15.7 out of 100 tells the story.

Also skip it if you're not comfortable opening the case. The value proposition here depends on future upgrades, a GPU, more RAM, a bigger SSD. If you want a machine that's fully capable out of the box, this isn't it. And if you're seeing the $1,832 price tag, walk away. That's too much for integrated graphics and a 512GB drive, no matter how good the CPU is.

For students and home office users who need a reliable machine for documents, research, and light creative work, the Z1 G1i is a reasonable choice at the right price. The Core Ultra 5 235 is genuinely good, and the port selection is excellent. You won't be waiting on this thing for everyday tasks. Just make sure you're paying closer to $1,329 than $1,832.

For anyone doing serious workstation work, 3D modeling, video editing, or gaming, this isn't the machine for you without a GPU upgrade. The integrated graphics are the bottleneck, and the 512GB SSD will have you juggling files sooner than you'd like. If that's your situation, look at the Lenovo Legion Tower 7i Gen 10 or Dell Aurora Gaming instead. They cost about the same and come with actual graphics cards.