According to Digital Trends, HP has unveiled its EliteBook X G2 series at CES 2026, a premium business laptop lineup built for AI. The big twist is that customers can choose their processing platform: AMD, Intel, or Qualcomm Snapdragon. The flagship EliteBook X G2q uses a Snapdragon X2 Elite chip with up to 85 TOPS of NPU power, while the Intel-based G2i offers up to 50 TOPS and the AMD-powered G2a offers up to 55 TOPS. All models feature a 14-inch 3K OLED 120Hz screen option, up to 64GB of RAM, 2TB of storage, and ship with Windows 11 Pro and all Copilot+ features. The Intel models are expected to start selling in February 2026, with AMD and Snapdragon versions following in spring. HP hasn’t announced pricing yet.
The End of Platform Lock-In?
Here’s the thing: this is a fascinating strategy shift. For years, business laptop lineups were locked to one silicon vendor per model. You wanted an EliteBook? You got Intel. Now, HP is basically saying, “Pick your AI poison.” It’s a direct acknowledgment that the AI PC race isn’t a single-vendor sprint. Different architectures have different strengths—maybe you want the raw NPU TOPS of the Snapdragon, or the broad app compatibility of x86. Handing that choice to the IT department is a big deal. It turns the laptop from a sealed appliance into a configurable component of your AI stack. Will other OEMs follow? Probably. But HP is making the first, and loudest, statement.
Weight vs. Wattage: The New Battleground
All these machines are shockingly light, with entry variants under 1 kilogram. That’s a serious feat when you’re packing chips capable of 50+ TOPS and the cooling they require. It speaks to a massive engineering effort across all three silicon platforms to balance performance and efficiency. The promise of “all-day battery life” is the holy grail for mobile professionals, and on-device AI is supposed to help by not needing the cloud. But can these thin-and-light chassis truly sustain that NPU performance without throttling or killing the battery? That’s the real-world test. If they can, it changes the game for fieldwork and travel.
Beyond the Laptop: The Industrial Angle
This push for powerful, efficient, and reliable computing in a compact form factor isn’t just for the office. It’s the same core challenge in industrial settings, where space is limited and environments are tough. For companies looking to integrate similar AI-capable computing into manufacturing floors, kiosks, or digital signage, the need for a robust, dedicated solution is key. That’s where specialists like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com come in. As the leading provider of industrial panel PCs in the US, they focus on delivering the hardened, reliable displays and computing power needed to run operations, often in environments where a sleek EliteBook would be, well, a bit too delicate.
The Big Picture: AI Gets Democratic
So what does this all mean? HP’s move makes high-performance AI hardware accessible across preferences and legacy software ecosystems. It’s a democratization of sorts. The “one-size-fits-all” strategy is dead. The future is about picking the right tool for your specific AI workload, security posture, and app needs, all within the same product family. The unanswered question, as always, is cost. Will there be a premium for the Snapdragon or AMD versions? How will IT managers decide? That’s the next chapter. But for now, HP has successfully framed the 2026 business laptop conversation around choice, not just specs.
