HP has chosen a silver-gray plastic case that has matte, smooth surfaces. The design of the base unit's top side is meant to simulate a brushed finish. The chassis is well made, but it should provide more rigidity. The battery is firmly built into the device. You can access the internals after removing the bottom cover. HP hasn't made the latter particularly user-friendly.
In terms of ports, you get the standard selection: The laptop has three USB-A ports (2x USB 3.2 Gen 1, 1x USB 2.0), an HDMI output, and an audio combo port. The memory card reader (reference card: Angelbird SD Card AV PRO UHS-II 128 GB V60) is among the slow models. Moreover, the reader accommodates SD cards almost completely. They protrude by about 2 to 3 mm.
The WLAN chip (Realtek RTL8822BE) supports the 802.11a/b/g/n/ac standard and offers Bluetooth 4.2 functionality. The data rates determined under optimal conditions (no other Wi-Fi devices nearby, short distance between laptop and server PC) are good.