HP targets digital creatives with new ZBook mobile workstations, Envy 15 laptop

A couple of weeks ago Nvidia announced 10 new laptops in its RTX Studio family, which are optimized with the latest hardware and drivers for content creators working on video editing, ray tracing, and other digital media applications. It also promised a couple of more systems from HP quickly following, and the PC maker fulfilled that promised the other day with a trio of new laptops for digital media professionals.

Two of them are the latest in HP's ZBook family of mobile workstations. In addition to the latest components, the new ZBook Create and ZBook Studio lose bezel space from the previous versions while also getting new vapor cooling chamber technology to help handle the power required by the new hardware. Other materials innovations include being what HP claims is the first mobile workstation to use recycled ocean-bound plastic.

While HP calls the Create "the world's smallest 15" notebook for creation and gaming," it refers to the Studio as "the world's most powerful mobile workstation per cubic centimeter." They'll offer over 17 hours of battery life, according to the manufacturer, along with custom cooling that provides nearly three times as much power density as the previous generation. The bad news is that you'll have to wait to find out more and get your hands on them until August.

On the other hand, you'll only need to wait until June to get the creator-centric version of the Envy 15. Like its ZBook cousins, this Envy relies on vapid chamber cooling rather than heat pipes, and is the first Envy to have a glass-covered touchpad. It will come equipped with up to a 10th-gen Intel Core i9 CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB of storage.

The new Envy 15 also features a 4K OLED touchscreen display with 400 nits of brightness and 100% DCI-P3 color gamut, along with support for the latest Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. Despite being loaded with top-shelf components, the Envy still promises up 16.5 hours of battery life, according to HP, with a Fast Charge mode that can charge the battery halfway in just 45 minutes. The premium design and features of the Envy 15 sport a correspondingly premium starting price tag of $1,349.99, which means the even more powerful ZBooks will be pricier still.