How did a perfectly good mobile workstation suddenly become “AI“?
The reason is simple: the new HP Zhan 99 Core version is equipped with the Intel Core Ultra 7 processor 155H, as well as the latest NVIDIA RTX 500 Ada professional graphics card, which has certain AI computing capabilities.
Higher specifications of independent graphics cards such as RTX 2000 Ada and RTX 3000 Ada are available.
That’s why the industry is saying this year is the “AIPC Year”, as everyone suddenly supports AI from the core configuration, similar to the popularization of Windows 11 back in the day, where AI hardware has reached thousands of households.
So, as a mobile workstation leaning towards professional fields, how does this “AIPC” perform in real tests?
Today, we will conduct a brief analysis:
Swipe left to see the ports
Its configuration is as follows:
Intel Core Ultra 7 processor 155H
RTX 500 Ada 4GB independent graphics card (50W)
16-inch 2560×1600 resolution 100% sRGB color gamut 120Hz refresh rate IPS screen
Reference price 9999 yuan
Its pros and cons are as follows:
2. Large battery capacity, good endurance performance
3. Good internal/external expandability
1. Performance release is relatively conservative
2. Among similar products, the body is quite heavy
3. Arrow keys are too small
This laptop is not difficult to disassemble; simply remove all screws from the bottom to take off the back cover.
The three screws on the top only need to be loosened.
Dual-channel 32GB DDR5 5600MHz memory can meet the needs of most purposes; the machine has two memory slots, which can be replaced if needed.
The solid-state drive has a capacity of 1TB, model Samsung PM9B1, supporting PCIe 4.0×4 and NVMe; the machine also has a second M.2 slot of 2280 specifications, which can be added if needed.
1. Pursue longer endurance performance
2. Require both internal and external expandability
3. Do not have high performance release requirements
This year, HP upgraded the screen of the Zhan 99 to a 16:10 ratio + high brightness, greatly improving quality, and the position of the power button has also been improved, making it more reasonable.
Regarding the screen, the measured color gamut volume is 99.7% sRGB, with a color gamut coverage of 96.3% sRGB. Based on sRGB, the average ΔE is 1.03, and the maximum ΔE is 2.56, with the measured maximum screen brightness of 493 nits, which is higher than the nominal 400 nit brightness.
Regarding the ports, the left side of the body sequentially has the power port, two Thunderbolt 4 ports (both support 100W PD charging and DP1.4 integrated display output), HDMI 2.1 (integrated display output), USB-A 5Gbps, and 3.5mm audio port;
The right side of the body sequentially has the RJ45 network port and USB-A 5Gbps port.
Regarding noise, its full load human position decibel value is 47.7dB. (ambient noise is 33.9dB)
Regarding endurance, the test score of daily application simulation scripts is 8 hours and 03 minutes. The PCMark 10 endurance test score is 13 hours and 19 minutes. (Scene: modern office)
The entry price of the Zhan 99 Core version using professional graphics cards is 8999 yuan, and if you choose the consumer-grade RTX 4050 graphics card, it starts at 7299 yuan, with the processor being the latest Ultra 5 125H.
So if you want a long-endurance professional mobile workstation product, this laptop is worth considering.
But if you pursue stronger AI performance, then models equipped with the RTX 2000 Ada professional graphics card will be much stronger.
The above image is a disassembly shot of the HP Zhan 99 Core version, featuring a dual-fan three-heat pipe combination.
BIOS version: W97 Ver.01.01.04
In full load state, with performance mode enabled, the maximum CPU temperature is 101℃, stabilizing at 70℃, power consumption 25W, P-core frequency 2.0GHz, E-core 1.7GHz;
The graphics card temperature is 66.1℃, power consumption 40W, frequency 1695MHz.
Single burn Stress FPU, the CPU temperature maintains at 81℃, power consumption 45W, P-core frequency 2.8～3.5GHz, E-core frequency 2.6GHz.
Single burn Furmark, the graphics card temperature maintains at 65.5℃, power consumption 50W, frequency 1860MHz.
The surface temperature is shown in the above image, with the highest keyboard keycap temperature of 40.6℃ appearing on the letter “O” key, around 32.9℃ near the WASD keys, and 34.3℃ for the arrow keys. The left wrist rest temperature is 28.0℃; since both the CPU and graphics card temperatures under full load are relatively low, the keyboard temperature is lower than that of ordinary thin and light laptops.
Overall, the cooling performance of the HP Zhan 99 Core version is average, with both overall temperature and noise well controlled, but due to the traditional calibration method of business workstations, the performance release is relatively conservative.
[AI Performance Brief Analysis]
The new Intel Core Ultra series is equipped with an independent NPU unit, marking a significant step into the AI field. We used the currently industry-referenced UL Procyon SD1.5 image generation test to see the AI capabilities of the Core Ultra 7 155H.
The Zhan 99 Core version equipped with the Ultra 7 155H scored 99 points, with an image generation time of around 1 minute per Stable Diffusion image.
This performance can meet the needs of lightweight AI applications deployed locally.
The Zhan 99 Core version also has models equipped with RTX 2000 Ada professional graphics cards, so let’s directly look at the testing results of RTX 2000 Ada:
As can be seen, the RTX 2000 Ada scored 861 points in SD1.5, showing a comprehensive improvement compared to the Core Ultra processor, with this level already capable of running Stable Diffusion applications locally at7s/image, and also capable of locally deploying tools like ChatRTX that support offline large language models for local retrieval enhancement.
In addition to hardware iteration, HP also pre-installs HP AI applications and development tools. (Above image)
This set of tools integrates more than 60 mainstream AI applications that can be deployed locally or in the cloud, such as large language models, automatic generation of PPTs and web pages, text-to-image, text-to-video, AI translation, etc., allowing quick access without having to search for each one. The provided secure download or free trial links will not accidentally download various counterfeit software.
For AI developers and programmers, the HP AI applications and development tools also provide step-by-step installation and setup guides and resources for AI development environments (including WSL2/Ubuntu), as well as commonly used IDEs and AI code assistants.
[A Conscience Conclusion from the Pig King]
Overall, the HP Zhan 99 Core version mobile workstation has seen significant improvements, with the most intuitive upgrade being the screen, which has high resolution, high refresh rate, and wide color gamut, making it a very good screen for the vast majority of people.
In addition, there’s the endurance, which not only includes an 83Wh battery, but also combined with the energy consumption performance of the Core Ultra, even under medium to high load scripts, it can achieve 8 hours of endurance, sufficient to handle a full day of work.
However, it must be said that current generative AI has a high demand for video memory capacity; if you want to use the discrete graphics for AIGC creation, then the Zhan 99 Core version offers models with RTX 2000 Ada and above specifications, which have larger video memory and Tensor Core specifications.
If there are no professional software needs in the industry, and the AI requirements are limited to local assistant levels, the integrated graphics version can also suffice.
