HP Z series on Ubuntu – AI development on enterprise workstations, now in your remote office

Today, HP announced the launch of its Z series of laptops and workstations certified with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, the latest additions to their popular professional workstation line. Made to drive AI and machine learning and with hardware that is also suited to 3D and virtual reality development, the Z series is an ideal enterprise workstation for developers. 

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is certified on several of HP’s new portfolio, including the ZBook Fury G7 15 and 17. The 17″ model is the world’s smallest mobile workstation with an NVIDIA RTX 5000 for unthrottled performance but the benefit of a large canvas. Compared to the previous generation, the ZBook Fury 15 G7 provides 1.7x faster rendering and visualisation. Users can now multitask power-demanding tasks side by side with the latest Intel CPUs and NVIDIA Quadro RTX GPUs. Also available with Ubuntu are the HP Z4, Z6 and Z8 G4 models, the Z Central 4R and the HP Studio and Create G7.   

With the global pandemic forcing remote work on many, the Z series’ advanced functionality with Z Connect is very timely. Z Connect allows a remote desktop or laptop to act as an enterprise workstation, by enabling online access to GPU and other compute hardware remotely as if they were local to the machine.

“We are excited to see the launch of HP’s new Z range of workstations and desktops certified with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. The combination of HP’s advanced hardware capabilities and Ubuntu provides an ideal platform for data scientists and AI developers. With enterprises increasingly recognising the need to equip developers with the tools of their choice, this new range will enable enhanced productivity through the latest data science tools, utilities, and deep learning and ML libraries” said Nilay Patel, Product Manager for Ubuntu Desktop.

HP and Canonical’s engineering teams perform thousands of rigorous tests to ensure that Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and all of its subsystems (such as WiFi, Bluetooth and fingerprint authentication) work flawlessly from first boot. As with all LTS releases, Canonical will continue to provide security updates for up to ten years and perform regression testing throughout its lifecycle.

Today’s announcement continues the long-standing partnership between Canonical and HP, designed to offer developers and designers their ideal enterprise workstation based on input received from the community.

Highlights of Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 LTS:

• NVIDIA GPUs work out the box with hardware drivers included by default
• Use Visual Studio Code, Slack, Spotify, Plex and the JetBrains portfolio through the Snap Store
• The latest stable versions of the tools developers need – Ruby 2.7, Python 3.8 and GCC 9.3
• Get your workstation or laptop looking how you like it with a new theme and light/dark modes
• Control WiFi, wallpaper and application with ease, through a revamped Settings menu

Features of the HP Z series:

• Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 LTS pre-loaded on Z Central 4R, ZBook Fury 15 G7 and 17 G7, Z Book Studio and Create G7, Z4 G4, Z6 G4 and Z8 G
• Remote compute capable
• Intel® 125W 10-core processors
• Up to NVIDIA® Quadro® RTX 3000 graphics

For more information on what’s new in Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 LTS, check out the release notes for detailed information or our blog.

More information on pricing and availability of HP’s new models can be found here.