HP EliteBook 16" 6 G1i 2025, Core Ultra 5 235U, 16GB, 512GB SSD, Pike Silver

Great ports, meh screen, and graphics that will make you sad. Buy it for work, not for fun.

The port selection is the real standout here. Thunderbolt 4, dual USB-C, dual USB-A, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, and Wi-Fi 7 all in one chassis puts this in the 91st percentile for connectivity. That's genuinely useful for a desk setup with multiple monitors and peripherals. The 16GB of DDR5 RAM and 512GB NVMe SSD are fine for office work, but the display is a letdown. 300 nits and 62.5 percent color coverage means it's dim and washed out compared to what you'd get on a MacBook or even a mid-range consumer laptop. The 56Wh battery is also on the small side for a 16-inch machine.

Against the MacBook Pro M4 Max, this thing gets absolutely destroyed on performance and display quality, but it's also a fraction of the price. The real competition is the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro, which offers a much better screen and similar portability for a comparable price. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 is in a different league for graphics performance, but it's also aimed at gamers, not office workers. If you need a business laptop with great connectivity and don't care about the screen, the EliteBook holds its own. If you want a laptop that's also good for entertainment, look elsewhere.

Pricing is all over the place. In the US, we're seeing listings from USD 1,481 to USD 1,699 across three vendors. That's a USD 218 spread for the same machine. If you're buying this, shop around and grab the lower end of that range. At USD 1,481, it's a reasonable business laptop. At USD 1,699, you're paying too much for what you get.

The HP EliteBook 6 G1i is a business laptop that knows exactly what it is, and it's not trying to be anything else. The one thing to know: this is a solid workhorse for spreadsheets, meetings, and code, but the moment you ask it to do anything fun, it taps out. The Core Ultra 5 235U with 12 cores sounds impressive on paper, but the integrated Intel Arc Graphics and a 60Hz display tell the real story. This is a tool for getting work done, not for gaming or content creation.

If you're looking for a laptop that can handle gaming, video editing, or even just watching movies with a decent screen, this isn't it. Go get a Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro for a better display or an ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 if you need graphics performance. The EliteBook is for spreadsheets and Zoom calls, nothing more.

The HP EliteBook 6 G1i is a competent business machine with excellent connectivity and a capable CPU. But the dim display, weak integrated graphics, and below-average reliability scores make it hard to recommend at full price. If you can find it at the lower end of the USD 1,481 to USD 1,699 range and you only need it for work, it's a reasonable buy. Otherwise, the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro is a better all-around choice.