Hp Envy X360 Convertible Laptop - 15z Touch Review
Our Verdict
With an impressive Ryzen seven 5700U CPU, a bright screen, plus a skilful keyboard and battery life, HP's $999 Green-eyed x360 15 has a lot to like. Perhaps that's why it'south consistently out of stock.
For
- + Good keyboard
- + Brilliant display
- + Very good performance and solid bombardment life
Against
- - Slower ports than Intel models
- - Consistently out of stock
Tom's Hardware Verdict
With an impressive Ryzen 7 5700U CPU, a bright screen, plus a adept keyboard and battery life, HP's $999 Envy x360 15 has a lot to similar. Perhaps that'due south why information technology's consistently out of stock.
Pros
- +
+ Good keyboard
- +
+ Bright display
- +
+ Very good performance and solid battery life
Cons
- -
- Slower ports than Intel models
- -
- Consistently out of stock
Whether it's due primarily to the
ongoing fleck shortages, the
increased demand for laptopsduring the pandemic, or only full general performance impressiveness, HP's Green-eyed x360 15 is the latest convertible to launch in both Intel and AMD flavors. The
$999 (eu0097nr) modelwe're looking at here sports an 8-cadre, xvi-thread Ryzen vii 5700U, paired with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB NVMe SSD in a pleasing metal chassis that looks and feels premium, without being overly flashy.
It's a strong hardware combo, complimented by a very good keyboard, and a 400-nit, 1080p panel upgrade that both looks good and performed well in our testing. Whether information technology winds up making our list of
best ultrabookswill have to wait for testing results and a deeper look at some of the laptop's features. But we like that HP and other manufacturers (like
Asus with its ZenBook thirteen, and
Microsoft with its Surface Book) are increasingly giving consumers a choice in premium laptops between AMD and Intel. We'd simply like to run across the AMD-based models in stock a bit more regularly.
Specifications
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 5700U |
| Graphics | 8-Core AMD Radeon (Integrated) |
| Memory | 16 DDR4-3200 MHz |
| Storage | 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD |
| Display | 15.half dozen-inch, 1920 x 1080 touchscreen |
| Networking | Intel Wi-Fi half-dozen AX 200, Bluetooth 5 |
| Ports | 1x USB 3.2 Gen ii Blazon-C, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Blazon-A, HDMI 2.0, SD card reader |
| Camera | 720p |
| Bombardment | 51WHr |
| Power Adapter | 65W |
| Operating Organisation | Windows 10 Habitation |
| Dimensions(WxDxH) | 14.09 10 ix.06 x 0.74 inches / 357.9 ten 230.1 x 18.8 mm |
| Weight | 4.42 pounds / 2 yard |
| Price (equally configured) | $999 |
Pattern of the HP Green-eyed x360 15
HP's Intel Tiger Lake-based Envy x360 15s come in a shiny silver, but its Ryzen 5 and seven models come up in a darker metallic grey shell that I find much more appealing. Aside from the attractive modern chrome HP logo on the chapeau and a tasteful Envy emblazoned on ane of the hinges (and in smaller letters below the keyboard), the design is pleasingly modern and minimal.
The metal shell also feels solid and premium, merely at an even 2kg (that's 4.42 pounds), this convertible isn't exactly a lightweight. We haven't tested many other fifteen-inch convertibles recently, merely of the iii 14-inch fold-overs we'll be pitting this Envy against in our functioning testing later, Lenovo'southward Yoga 7i is the heaviest, at 3.1 pounds.
And at fourteen.09 x 9.06 10 0.74 inches, the HP Green-eyed x360 15 also isn't the sveltest of premium convertibles. But it'due south not so bulky that it shouldn't slip into about backpacks or medium-sized bags without an consequence.
My simply beef with the general design is a small one. The 2 vents at the rear of the laptop, in between the hinges where your fingers tend to land when lugging it around, have cut edges that feel a fleck sharp. Not and so much that they cutting or scratched my hand, only they experience a scrap crude against your fingers with the 4.4-pound weight of the laptop pressing the edges into your fingertips. You can avoid this past carrying the laptop with the front edge facing down, only the rear is where the most bulk is, so that's how I tend to grab and carry laptops, much similar a hard-bound book.
In terms of connectivity, the Envy x360 15 is well equipped -- in the variety of ports, if not in speed. The left border houses a headset jack, USB-C, full-size HDMI 2.0, and USB-A.
Along the right border resides an SD menu slot, another USB-A, and the barrel connector for ability. Notation also that the USB-C port on the left side tin too exist used for charging the laptop--if you bring your own USB-C charger.
The number and form gene of the ports hither is solid, but all of the USB ports are three.ii Gen 2, which tops out at 10 Gbps. Most of the Intel-based competition, meanwhile, has Thunderbolt ports. And a Thunderbolt four or
USB 4port has a tiptop theoretical bandwidth of 40 Gps--four times that of the USB ports here. That said, unless you work with very fast external storage, or promise to plug into multiple high-resolution displays with a single cablevision, the speed of the ports here should suffice for most users.
Productivity Performance of the HP Envy x360 15
Because of its 8-core, Ryzen 7 5700U processor and 16GB of RAM in our $999 review configuration, paired with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB
WD SN530SSD, nosotros expected the HP Envy x360 fifteen to stand out compared to the Intel-based convertible competition. And for the most part, it did.
Simply speaking of competition, there aren't many 15-inch premium convertibles to pit this arrangement against, and so nosotros settled on a trio of slightly smaller (14-inch screen) competitors. There'south the
MSI Prestige 14 Evo, powered past an Intel Core i7-1185G7 and selling for $1,149 in our review configuration. Post-obit that up is the more affordable ($899)
Lenovo 7i, with its Core i5-1135G7 (and a lesser 12GB of RAM). And last on the listing is HP'due south ain
Spectre x360 xiv, with an i7-1165G7 CPU and an OLED display that sold for $1,699 in our review configuration.
On Geekbench 5, a synthetic criterion that measures overall performance, the HP Green-eyed x360 fifteen was a chip behind the Intel-based competition on the single-core exam, at 1,204. But its multicore score of 6,851 is well alee of everything else here, with the MSI getting closest at 5,727.
The Green-eyed x360 15's multithread prowess carried over to our Handbrake test, where we transcode a exam file from 4K to 1080p. The Envy finished our exam in 8 minutes apartment, while the closest competitor here took more than 50% longer, 12 minutes and 27 seconds. And the slowest upshot here, HP'due south ain Spectre x360 fourteen, took over x minutes longer, (18:05).
The Envy x360 15 landed merely behind HP's smaller Spectre x360 14 on our file transfer examination, in which we task laptops to read and write 25GB worth of files. Its speed of 570.v MBps wasn't quite as fast as the Spectre's 580.half-dozen, just it was better than anything else here, especially the Lenovo Yoga 7i's 318.ane MBps. That said, none of these scores are particularly fast. Whatsoever of the
all-time SSDs(at least the best NVMe SSDs) would perform amend here.
We also ran the HP Envy x360 15 through 20 consecutive Cinebench R23 runs to simulate an extended work session. The laptop averaged a score of 7827, while its CPU ran at an average clock speed of 2.half-dozen GHz and hit average temperatures of 76.82 degrees Celsius (170 degrees Fahrenheit).
Brandish on the HP Envy x360 15
While the lower-end models of the Green-eyed x360 15 ship with a 250-nit 1080p IPS touchscreen, ours came with an upgraded 400-nit model. And fifty-fifty if y'all opt for one of the lesser versions of this laptop, we'd say information technology's worth the $80 upward-charge.
Covering 77 per centum of the wider DCI-P3 colour gamut (and 199% of the bottom sRGB), this panel isn't the most colorful. Simply it's only really shamed here by the much-pricier Spectre x360 fourteen, with its OLED screen. And those two laptops match each other in the brightness department, although our average 339-nit measurement was below HP's 400-nit rating. Anecdotally, this is an appreciably vivid brandish. I had no problems using information technology even in my living room with the afternoon sun streaming obnoxiously in.
Bated from flipping through some jump travel photos from years past (sigh), I also watched the Venom: Let There Be Carnage trailer on the laptop. The blacks were nearly every bit inky equally Cletus Kasady's soul. And while the color palette of that movie is subdued, the few bright spots (the buttons on a lethal injection machine and a raging fire) were as vivid as Venom'south quips almost eating Eddie Brock's friends.
Keyboard and touchpad on the HP Green-eyed x360 xv
HP carries over what it calls its "All-In-1" keyboard hither, which puts handy features similar the mic mute and photographic camera shutter buttons on the top row. The power push button also lives here, to the left of the delete central. While this has been problematic in the past, it's tough to activate accidentally hither because yous actually have to press it for a few seconds to initiate sleep or a shutdown. And HP has given the power button a stiffer feel than the surrounding keys, so you lot should find if you lot've striking it by accident.
At that place'south likewise a fingerprint reader where you'd unremarkably find the correct control or fn key, to the left of the arrow keys. Since I don't generally use those keys, I like the placement of the biometric sensor here, though I'd prefer if the webcam likewise worked with Windows Howdy -- it does not.
In terms of layout and feel, the keyboard hither is very good, with large keys and good spacing, equally well as a expert amount of travel for a thin laptop. I notwithstanding adopt Thinkpad keyboards, but what'south here is ameliorate than most premium portables. It would simply take me a while to get used to the flatness of these keys.
Equally for the touchpad, it'due south nice and roomy at almost 5.75 inches diagonally. HP says it's xix% larger than in previous models, and most of that's in the vertical dimension. I had no issues with information technology handling my swipes, taps and multi-finger gestures. But the surface did have a tendency to pick up finger smudges. So if y'all care about looks, you'll want to wipe it down regularly.
Sound on the HP Envy x360 15
The pair of downwards-firing speakers that sit beneath the keyboard, on the underside of the HP Green-eyed x360 15, are solid if non stellar. They pump out a decent corporeality of volume that sounds pretty good, especially when the laptop is sitting on a hard desk-bound or table. I listened to the Chaos Theory EP from Colombian Synthwave maestro, Meteor, and the opening track, "Blue Thunder" was loud and articulate at maximum volume. The retro synths and rhythm guitars pumped out past the Green-eyed 15 were enough to fill my pocket-sized living room with a pleasing level of audio--merely just just. And I didn't really notice the dial of the drums the way I did on my desktop, which is currently connected to a Yamaha YAS-108 soundbar.
In curt, the speakers on the Envy fifteen are fine for watching movies and YouTube clips and listening to music in front of the laptop. But if y'all like things loud, or with more than a moderate level of low-terminate thump, you'll want to pair a Bluetooth speaker or plug in a practiced gear up of PC speakers.
Upgradability of the HP Envy x360 fifteen
HP says that naught within the Green-eyed x360 15 is designed to be user-replaceable. And indeed, with only 2 exposed screws (1 of which nosotros couldn't get to turn, despite a concerted attempt), we couldn't get the lesser off the laptop ourselves. Likely in that location are more screws hidden under the rubber foot strips, which would almost certainly be damaged if removed.
But the company did ship united states of america an image (above) of the system with the underside removed. The M.two SSD backside a shield on the lower-right looks removable, every bit does the Intel Wi-Fi 6/Bluetooth carte du jour in the upper-left. And the battery should be fairly easy to replace, and then long as you're careful about the speaker cable that sits just below it. In fact, HP has posted a video explaining exactly how to remove the battery, here.
Just again, given that you'll likely have to damage the bottom of the laptop to do any upgrades, yous should probably opt for the components you'll exist happy with when ownership from HP, rather than attempting to add something yourself afterwards.
Bombardment Life on the HP Green-eyed x360 15
On our bombardment test, which involves browsing the web, running OpenGL tests and streaming video over Wi-Fi, all at 150 nits, the Green-eyed x360 didn't look bad compared to the competition -- but it didn't stand out either. Lasting eleven hours and 23 minutes was enough to catapult it ahead of the smaller, OLED-equipped Spectre x360 fourteen (which lasted just 7 hours and xiv minutes). Just both the MSI and Lenovo competition lasted about an hour longer. Still, xi hours of unplugged runtime is solid and should be enough to get you through a workday, unless you're doing more CPU-intensive tasks.
Heat on the HP Envy x360 xv
The HP Envy x360 15 didn't go overly warm during our temperature benchmark, where nosotros stream video for 15 minutes and then record its temperature in fundamental areas.
The convertible's touchpad registered 85.half-dozen degrees Fahrenheit (29.eight Celcius) Fahrenheit), while the middle of its keyboard (between the G and H Keys) hit 90.seven degrees Fahrenheit (32.6 Celcius). On the underside, things were a bit warmer, just far from toasty. Nearly of the surface registered between 86 and 87 degrees Fahrenheit (30-30.6 Celcius, but the hottest betoken was most the back vents, where the temperature climbed to 96.7 degrees Fahrenheit (35.ix Celsius) near the back of the laptop and its vents.
Webcam on the HP Envy x360 15
The Envy x360 15's webcam is decent in terms of colour accuracy and dealing with low low-cal. But its resolution is stuck at 720p, so don't expect miracles (or even a curiosity) when it comes to particular.
For those dark morning work calls, the visitor too bundles its Enhanced Lighting app. Information technology lets you use the display'due south backlight equally rudimentary lighting to illuminate your face. I could see this coming in handy in a pinch, just it likewise obscures large parts of the screen while you're using it, which means you either have to make your video call window small, or yous won't exist able to see some people. You lot can choose to have the brandish'south top and bottom, sides, or both plough into light confined, or opt for a round ring-similar light, and even adjust the color temperature. Merely if yous have reason to utilize this more than once or twice, y'all should probably just invest in a rechargeable light
like this $20 model from Neewer, which will nearly certainly put out more light, while also letting yous really see and use your total laptop screen.
The handiest characteristic here is a concrete shutter, housed inside the bezel. Hit the camera icon button just to the left of the ability push, on the top row of the keyboard, and you tin can encounter the shutter appoint, and the pigsty in front end of the camera gets obscured by a series of diagonal white lines, and then you know your camera is blocked at a glance. With physical shutters like this, I always wonder how often they get jammed or otherwise fail over months and years of utilize. Simply so long equally the shutter doesn't get stuck in a position that blocks your webcam, yous tin always just use a piece of tape or a sticker to cake the camera when you need privacy.
Software and Warranty on the HP Green-eyed x360 xv
HP has done a fairly good job of keeping the bloatware that'due south here nether control. Considering after casually using and testing the laptop, I didn't remember there was much. Only one long look at (and a full ringlet down) the starting time menu reveals shortcuts for McAfee. Booking.com, Adobe trials, Lastpass, ExpressVPN and the Utomik games subscription service, amid others. Many of these are merely shortcuts, which isn't quite equally bad every bit pre-installed software, only while at that place's a lot hither, I didn't discover much in the manner of nagging popups, which I capeesh.
HP bundles its own software as well, including (oddly, for a non-gaming laptop), its Omen software, which gathers your game installs and screen grabs from various services into one identify. Maybe this makes a bit of sense, as the laptops AMD integrated Radeon graphics are more capable of light gaming than older Intel Integrated graphics. Only if you want to play more than than coincidental and older titles, you should probably invest in something with a dedicated GPU.
Besides here is HP Command Center, which presents system information, lets you manually adjust cooling and performance, and prioritize the network traffic for specific programs.
Command Middle likewise has an interesting Focus Mode that, when activated, gives the screen'south full brightness to whatever window is in the foreground, while dimming out your desktop background and other apps. The company claims this tin can aid with battery life, and perhaps it volition for some. Only Windows already has a "focus mode" for when you desire to merely focus on one matter: Information technology'south more often than not enabled by clicking the box in the upper-right corner to make what you're working on have up the whole screen.
HP sells the Envy x360 15 with a one year limited hardware warranty and 90 days of phone support.
HP Green-eyed x360 xv Configurations
Aside from the $999 Envy x360 15 system we're looking at here with a Ryzen vii, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, the company sells a $699 model with a Ryzen 5 5500U, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
In that location are a couple of Intel-based, silverish-clad Envy x360 15 options, but for fans of the Atari 2600 (or grandma's old station railroad vehicle), there'south likewise a "nightfall blackness+ wood modernistic walnut" option that's black with woodgrain paneling. That model sells for $1009.99 with a Cadre i7-1165G7, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. As is typical with HP, yous can configure most of these models with more RAM or storage, and better screens. Interestingly, on the woodgrain-adorned Intel model, you tin can also choose a 4K AMOLED display for an extra $150. Note to HP: It would exist nice to have that option on the AMD-powered variants every bit well.
Bottom Line
While the HP Envy x360 fifteen is a smartly designed premium 15-inch convertible that performs well and has a expert keyboard and brandish. At $999, it'south a good option, particularly for those doing video editing or other highly threaded tasks on the go. With viii cores and xvi threads, information technology outperforms similarly sized Intel-based alternatives and even manages to deliver stiff (though not course-leading) battery life in the process.
The convertible'south primary problem is 1 nosotros've seen quite often over the final year, and longer than that when it comes to AMD-based laptops with college-end CPUs: It'south consistently out of stock. Every time nosotros checked while testing and reviewing this model, over the form of about two weeks, it was sold out. And as nosotros were finishing up this review, virtually of the Intel-based models were as well, and so perchance stock bug aren't just limited to AMD-based devices. Should that state of affairs amend, this convertible is worth considering. Only in that location are also plenty of great alternatives on our all-time ultrabooks and premium laptops page.
Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/hp-envy-x360-15-2021
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