HP ZBook Firefly 14 G8 Gray Review

A port-rich business laptop from 2021 with a slow heart. Only buy it refurbished under $500, and only if your dongle collection is a point of pride.

This refurbished HP ZBook Firefly is a port monster in a professional's chassis, but its heart is a few generations behind. The one thing to know is that you're buying this for the insane number of ports and the sturdy build, not for raw speed. It's a classic case of a business laptop that looks the part on paper with 32GB of RAM and a 'workstation' name, but the 11th Gen Intel i5 inside is now firmly mid-tier, and the integrated Iris Xe graphics are strictly for spreadsheets, not creative work.

The performance story is exactly what the specs suggest, and that's the problem. Our database shows its CPU lands in the 37th percentile, which means it's fine for office apps and web browsing, but you'll feel it chug if you try to run modern data analysis or compile code. The big surprise, honestly, is how bad the gaming score is (a 10.1/100), but that's just the reality of integrated graphics from 2021. It's not a slow machine, it's just a slow machine for the price you might pay.

Worth it? Only at the absolute bottom of that $469-$719 price range. At $469, it's a decent deal for a well-built office machine with tons of RAM and ports. At anything over $600, you're getting ripped off. For that money, you can find brand-new laptops with much faster, more efficient modern CPUs.

If you need a compact powerhouse, the ASUS ProArt PX13 with its OLED screen and RTX 4050 graphics runs circles around this ZBook for creative work, though you'll pay more. For a more direct Windows alternative, a modern business ultrabook like a Dell Latitude or Lenovo ThinkPad with a 13th Gen Intel or Ryzen 7000 chip will be faster, have better battery life, and likely a better screen. And if you're not wedded to Windows, the base Apple MacBook Air M2 destroys this in performance and battery life for similar money, though you'll kiss those ports goodbye.

If you're looking for a true mobile workstation for CAD, video editing, or data science, this isn't it. The GPU is a non-starter. Go get a laptop with an RTX 4050 or better instead. Also skip it if you care about screen quality or all-day battery life.

We can only recommend this to a very specific buyer: someone who needs a ton of legacy ports for lab equipment or peripherals, needs 32GB of RAM for having 100 browser tabs open, and can snag it for under $500. For literally anyone else—students, creatives, general professionals—there are better, faster, more modern options that won't feel outdated the moment you open the box.