Hp Envy X360 Laptop - 15t Touch Reviews Cnet

A 15-inch laptop like the HP Envy x360 15 (starts at $619.99; $999.99 as tested; available exclusively at Best Buy) is a chip of an odd duck. This type of 2-in-one convertible laptop has a 360-degree-rotating swivel, which is slightly more complicated and oftentimes heavier than the one on a conventional laptop. Meanwhile, the chassis required to firm the 15-inch screen is uncomfortable to hold in your easily for more than a few seconds compared with a more manageable 13-inch two-in-1. But there are niche use cases for a 15-inch convertible, such as propping it upward as a tent for an impromptu presentation. The Envy x360 15 performs tasks like this well, information technology has a sleek all-metallic design, information technology's relatively inexpensive, and best of all information technology isn't every bit heavy as y'all might retrieve. For big-screen-convertible shoppers, it's worth a look.

Large-Screen Shoppers Only

If you are a large-screen-convertible shopper, you probably already know information technology. This isn't a category of laptop that you lot stumble on by accident. About general shoppers would be better served by buying a conventional xv-inch laptop for when they need a robust computing feel and a smaller and lighter true tablet like the Apple iPad when they don't. Combining those two devices into a single PC requires some compromises.

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Thankfully, with the Envy x360 15, you lot don't accept to compromise that much. It measures 0.67 by 14.13 by 9.68 inches (HWD), and weighs four.53 pounds, which are admirable dimensions for any 15-incher, let alone 1 with a screen that rotates 360 degrees. It'south slightly smaller than the latest svelte 15-inch gaming machines similar the MSI GS65 Stealth (0.69 by xv.1 by 10.2 inches). It too compares well with other 15-inch convertibles, like the Dell Inspiron fifteen 7000 (0.74 past 14.two by nine.5 inches, iv.45 pounds) but it'southward no match for the about impossibly light Acer Swift 5, a conventional 15-incher that weighs just 2.2 pounds.

I exercise find the Envy x360 15 bad-mannered to hold with one hand for extended periods, but overall it gives off a sleek, unobtrusive impression rather than a beefy one. The vivid silvery metal exterior helps a lot—HP refers to information technology as "Natural Silver with a sandblasted anodized finish." I'yard not certain I'd want to order this laptop in a darker color, though a Nighttime Ash option is also available.

Similar Products

The automobile is currently sold exclusively at All-time Purchase, different its smaller xiii-inch Envy x360 13 cousin, which is also available from HP's website and other retailers. The configuration I'm reviewing represents a very good value at its $999 list toll, for which you get an Intel Core i7 CPU, 8GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD. You can also lodge the Envy x360 15 with AMD Ryzen processors and AMD Vega graphics cards.

The Envy line is 1 rung below HP'due south ultra-premium Spectre laptops, but a few higher-terminate features accept trickled downwardly hither. The most unique is a small-scale switch mounted on the correct edge of the laptop that kills the power to the webcam. It's intended to provide piece of mind against webcam hacking, a problem that has led some laptop makers to install ungainly physical sliding doors over their webcams. I appreciate HP's approach here with the impale switch, which makes the top border around the screen more than pristine.

There are no infrared sensors surrounding the Envy x360 15's webcam, so you lot tin can't log in to your Windows business relationship using face recognition. You tin can, however, apply the fingerprint reader mounted below the correct side of the keyboard to log in without a password. The backlit keyboard itself is a mixed bag, a clear indicator that some parts simply non others of the Spectre's fantabulous keyboard have trickled down. The fundamental switches depress with a satisfying thud, but the keys themselves are quite wobbly. Spreadsheet jockeys will appreciate that HP managed to clasp in a dedicated number pad, which is missing from some other fifteen-inch laptops, including the Apple tree MacBook Pro ($881.99 at Dell) .

The touchpad is a long, thin, rectangular affair. Information technology's reasonably responsive, and in fact I institute it much easier to mouse around without needing to customize responsiveness settings than I did when using the cumbersome pads on the HP Spectre Folio and HP Spectre 13 ($881.99 at Dell) . This is one area where I'm glad Spectre engineering didn't trickle down.

Envy x360 15 buyers will sorely miss the digital stylus and leather carrying case with dedicated holders for both the laptop and pen that are included with the 13-inch and 15-inch Spectre x360 convertible laptops. You lot can employ a digital stylus with the Green-eyed x360 xv, merely you'll have to pay actress for information technology and find a place to store information technology. Although I didn't try to use a stylus with the Envy x360 15, I did note that tapping on the touch screen in Laptop way with my finger resulted in a very bouncy screen—more than bouncy than I've experienced on conventional laptops.

Brandish, Speakers, and Connectivity

The panel itself is a xv.half dozen-inch diagonal IPS WLED-backlit affect screen. Information technology's got a total Hard disk resolution, which translates into 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. It'southward a decent display, merely it's clear that HP is reserving its all-time panels for the Spectre lineup. Even at maximum effulgence, the screen appears somewhat dull and colors neglect to popular. Text is crisp, though, and if you're viewing a movie in a darkened airplane cabin, you'll likely take an enjoyable experience.

If you're able to mind to that movie without headphones, you'll likely have even more fun. The speakers on the Envy x360 xv are loud, offering robust, dimensional sound and a decent—though non startling—amount of bass. There are only two speakers, simply as with most other midrange and premium HP laptop speakers, sound firm Blindside & Olufsen tunes them.

In addition to the impale switch for the webcam, y'all'll also notice a USB three.ane Gen 1 Type-C port, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A port, and an HDMI output along one edge of the Envy x360 15. On the opposite edge, there's another USB Type-A port, a full-size SD card reader, the power button, a power port, and a headphone jack. That'southward an fantabulous port complement, and while it would be better if the Envy x360 15 included a Thunderbolt 3 port, I don't look one at this price.

Wireless connectivity includes 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 5.0, which supports file-transfer speeds of up to 1GBps.

Computing Performance

One of the benefits of a 15-inch laptop is that there's more than room for cooling equipment than there would be on a 13-inch design, which in turns ways that manufacturers tin can outfit more powerful CPUs and graphics processors. That's what HP did in the configuration of the Spectre x360 xv nosotros reviewed before this twelvemonth. With our Envy x360 15 review unit of measurement, the company instead opted to install a U-series Core i7 CPU and an integrated graphics chip. The "U" designator indicates a low-powered scrap that needs very little external cooling. This is a very common configuration in ultraportable laptops, and information technology helps go on the Envy x360 15'south cost reasonable.

See How We Test Laptops

To compare the laptop's computing performance, I pitted it against other similarly priced and similarly configured convertible laptops, whose specs are in the nautical chart below. I also included the Spectre x360 xv for expert measure, fifty-fifty though that is a much more than powerful and expensive 15-inch convertible. Overall, the Green-eyed x360 fifteen held its own with direct competitors like the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1 ($881.99 at Dell) , though plain underperformed the more than expensive Spectre x360 xv on some tests.

For general computing tasks like spider web browsing and discussion processing, the Envy x360 will not let you downwardly. I experienced no languor or crashes during a total twenty-four hours of use, including installing multiple desktop apps and opening many browser tabs at once. The PCMark x criterion confirms my experience, with the Envy x360 15 performing inside a few hundred points of all of its competitors relieve for the Spectre x360 15. On this test, which simulates overall system performance for light gaming and part-centric tasks like web browsing and videoconferencing, anything college than 4,000 indicates good performance.

The same is true of the PCMark viii examination, which simulates the same types of tasks, only focuses solely on how well the PC'due south storage subsystem is able to handle them. All of these laptops have SSDs equally their main boot drives, so they performed roughly as.

The differences are more pronounced on our media creation tests. The Envy x360 15 was cervix-in-neck with every competitor except for the 15-inch Spectre x360, which showed an enormous advantage thank you to its powerful GPU. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to return a complex prototype. The issue is a proprietary score indicating a PC's suitability for processor-intensive workloads.

When it comes to applying a series of filters and other furnishings to a JPG test image in Adobe Photoshop CC, however, scores were all over the identify. The Envy x360 15 actually performed competitively against both of its HP siblings and the Dell Inspiron xiv 5000 2-in-1, while the Inspiron 15 7000 lagged significantly. The Photoshop test involves "bursty" demands on the CPU and GPU, and it can throw a curveball even for powerful systems.

I did not try to play resources-intensive games on the Envy x360 15, and the results of our gaming tests below explicate why. 3DMark measures relative graphics muscle by rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting. Similar 3DMark, the Superposition test renders and pans through a detailed 3D scene and measures how the organisation copes.

The Envy x360 performed poorly on both of these tests, which isn't necessarily a drawback, since no ultraportable with integrated graphics can play enervating games very well. As with Cinebench, if the laptop has a discrete GPU from Nvidia or AMD, it volition perform vastly better. Stick to coincidental games similar Candy Crush and you'll exist fine.

The Green-eyed x360 15's 56Wh battery offers adequate life, as measured past our video-rundown test, which involves looping a locally stored 720p file with screen brightness gear up at 50 percent and volume at 100 percentage until the arrangement conks out. 13 hours will get you through a cross-country flight or a twenty-four hours at work, but it's not every bit practiced as the nigh 21 hours that the Spectre x360 13 can achieve away from a plug.

You'll Know If It'due south for Yous

If you really need a laptop with a 15-inch screen that rotates 360 degrees, we're not going to stop you from buying 1, and the HP Envy x360 15 isn't going to stop you from enjoying one. Just call up that alternatives be, including buying an excellent smaller convertible similar the Lenovo Yoga C930 ($881.99 at Dell) that'due south more portable, or ownership a conventional 15-incher for its screen real estate and using a separate tablet when you need portability.

HP Envy x360 15 (15M-DR0012DX)

Cons

The Bottom Line

With sleek styling and useful features like a webcam impale switch, the HP Envy x360 15 offers excellent value for big-screen-convertible laptop shoppers.

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Source: https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/hp-envy-x360-15-15m-dr0012dx

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