HP EliteBook x360 1040 G7 Review: A Spectre For Professionals

[Dorby]

Another issue I've noticed is the categorization of laptops they use, which is not exactly the ideal standard. For instance, a HP ZBook workstation should be in the same category under "Performance Clamshell" with Asus Zephyrus G15, but it isn't because NBC classifies "Business Laptop" as being a whole other thing.
They both share the same consumers who are looking for H class CPU, dGPU and Clamshell form factor, yet fall under different categories following the same poor marketing / intentional product diversification used by OEMs.

Here is the problem with your point of view: OEMs have the different categories for a reason. Workstations and business laptops are not marketed towards consumers, and generally, consumers don't buy them - they are much more expensive typically, lack consumer features and don't deliver the same performance for the same price.

If I would have to guess a rough estimate, probably 90 % of business laptops are sold to large businesses for use in their laptop fleets for their employees.

It doesn't make sense to just mix every laptop category together, because doing so, you lose the ability to take category specific features into account. For example: ECC RAM is generally not needed in a gaming laptop, same goes for ISV certified graphics. But both are needed in workstations. The same thing is true for security features and business laptops - consumers won't care if the laptop has a smartcard slot or not.

Your idea of categorization would be overly simplified and ignorant of the fact that large organizations like schools, governments and businesses do play a very important role in the laptop market.

You're right, it would ignore a lot of business specific features.
It's a case of "We don't have to mention them because you know who you are and where to look if you're asking for these features".

Already some business laptops make a two identical models, one with ECC, vPro and Quadro, the other without any. Consumer sub-brands are also starting to promote more "business" aspects, as gaming laptops are made with more muted designs and color accurate screens for office/production use, and ultrabook's product pages emphasize more business focused aspects than consumer needs.
OEMs are blurring the lines, because they want both corporate buyers and consumers to shop in on all their brands, as purchasing one over the other might generate more profit for them.

I've seen lots of companies deploy consumer grade laptops whether due to better prices than bulk discount on business laptops, or because business laptop simply didn't offer feature set they needed to see.

The other way around is true as well, though I do agree that doesn't compare to the sheer portion of bulk sales. Online consumers do shop through the business portal or by talking to a business rep, especially when a same "consumer grade" product is more affordable that way, or more configurable the way they want it.

Ultimately, both a Sysadmin and a Individual customer generally are looking for similar things when making the purchase. Everyone does very frequently ask: X1 Carbon or XPS 13, X1 Extreme or Razer Blade, Surface Pro or Elite X2.
Personally, I've had experiences with both in my company and when buying products myself.

[Mothertrucker19]

or because business laptop simply didn't offer feature set they needed to see.

Like HDMI 2.0. It took intel a while to fix this unfortunately.