The top most shell is metal, aluminum I believe, which is better than I expected. Overall good experience with this laptop, for the price I payed at 450 in May 2024. The battery can be improved though. Get the factory memory upgrade as you won’t save much by DIY. The memory is from micron in case you need that info.
It's ok. The touchpad doesn't work great. Sometimes the right click menu comes up when I am not clicking the bottom right corner. It is also super sensitive and I changed the sensitivity to low.
This is not a laptop for work or those who would like dual monitors. The USB-C only supports data transfer. This is a terrible experience for me and further reason to avoid HP products.