HP and Dell have disabled hardware-accelerated HEVC decoding on select business laptops, even though their CPUs include native HEVC support. The shift appears tied to the escalating licensing costs associated with High Efficiency Video Coding, as manufacturers reassess the economics of including hardware decoding across broad product lines.
HP’s data sheets for affected models—such as the ProBook 460 G11, ProBook 465 G11, and EliteBook 665 G11—carry a note stating that “Hardware acceleration for CODEC H.265/HEVC is disabled on this platform.” The disclosure underscores a policy that some modern laptops no longer expose HEVC decoding natively in hardware, despite the feature being present in the silicon.
Details from Dell are more opaque. The Dell 16 Plus 2-in-1 page makes no explicit mention of HEVC, and related online owner’s manuals do not call out HEVC support. Dell’s general support page has instead pointed to configurations that enable HEVC streaming only on certain computer configurations, suggesting selective hardware or software prerequisites.
Users have reported browser playback issues as a result, with some needing to disable the HEVC codec or hardware acceleration to prevent degraded performance in web apps. Posts in admin and user communities recount the frustration of watching otherwise smooth video playback in media players but encountering stuttering or long load times in browsers.
Licensing costs around HEVC are rising in January, and analysts say the higher royalties may incentivize OEMs to limit or avoid hardware HEVC support on some devices. The broader context includes industry shipment data and licensing-environment analyses, which highlight the cost pressures facing PC makers as they balance performance with licensing obligations.
