Many knowledge workers and office professionals spend a substantial chunk of each day online, using a browser. Time in a browser, though, is about more than just surfing the web. Modern web technologies make it possible for workers to accomplish more online than ever before with the help of browser-based apps, extensions, and integrations with collaboration and productivity software. For those workers, a laptop that’s fast and responsive during web-based work can be a vital part of success. For organizations looking to enhance workforce productivity with new business laptops that excel online, it can be difficult to sort through the many options on the market. Objective comparison and performance data can help buyers make the best choices for themselves and their teams. 

We used industry-standard benchmarks to assess the web-browsing and productivity performance of two laptops: an HP Dragonfly Notebook PC G4 powered by an Intel Core i7-1365U vPro processor and a 13-inch Apple MacBook Air powered by an Apple M2 processor (the fastest available at the time of our test). We found that the Intel processor-powered HP Dragonfly produced similar or better performance scores on each benchmark than the MacBook Air. In our browser-performance comparisons, the Dragonfly scored 11 percent higher than the MacBook Air when we tested both systems with the Chrome browser, and 15 percent higher when we tested with each laptop’s native browser. Those wins suggest a web-browsing performance advantage for the Dragonfly that users can enjoy as they work online.  

During our tests, we noted that the HP Dragonfly offered a greater variety of ports for connecting to common business accessories. It also included key manageability and security capabilities from HP and the Intel vPro and Evo platforms—technologies not available on the Apple MacBook Air.  

The HP Dragonfly we tested provides users with a 13th generation Intel vPro processor, web-browsing and productivity performance advantages, and more business-class features than the Apple MacBook Air—but it still came in at a lower cost. For enterprise laptop buyers in the market for lightweight systems that can give workers a productivity boost without adding unnecessary costs, the HP Dragonfly Notebook PC G4 may be a good option. 

For more details about our HP Dragonfly and Apple MacBook Air performance comparison tests, check out the report and infographic below.