Hp Envy X360 15 Ryzen 5

Laptop Magazine Verdict

HP's Green-eyed x360 13 redefines the sub-$1,000 category by delivering an uncompromised premium ii-in-1 laptop for less.

Pros

+
Outstanding performance
+
1080p display is bright and bright
+
Stylish and compact aluminum design
+
Long battery life
+
Fantabulous value

Cons

-
No IR camera
-
AMD CPU means no Thunderbolt 3
-
A scrap thicker and heavier than rivals

HP Green-eyed x360 13 specs

Price: $799
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 4500U
GPU: AMD Radeon Graphics
RAM: 8GB
Storage: 256GB
Display: 13.3-inch, 1080p
Battery: 11:52 (sometime Edge); ten:45 (new Border)
Size: 12.1 x 7.7 x 0.7 inches
Weight: 2.ix pounds

There is no shortage of great premium laptops to choose from. The Dell XPS 13 comes to listen, forth with the HP Spectre x360, Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and a few MacBook models. What do these all have in mutual? They are priced at more than $i,000. Drop your budget to triple digits and all of a sudden your options thin out.

With the Envy x360 13, HP has turned this overlooked segment on its head. Instead of considering what features need to be removed to go the price under $i,000, HP idea about what aspects of the flagship Spectre models could be brought to the Envy. As a result, the Envy x360 thirteen shares much of the same DNA equally the Spectre, including a stylish all-aluminum chassis.

Moreover, the Envy x360 xiii flaunts an excellent xiii-inch touchscreen and a comfortable keyboard. HP smartly opted for AMD'south new 4000-series CPUs, which deliver never-before-seen performance at this cost, and you lot even get a decent selection of ports (pitiful, no Thunderbolt 3). Whether you're a student looking for the all-time college laptop or but want a portable 13-inch laptop, in that location is no better option than the Green-eyed x360 13.

HP Envy x360 13 price and configuration options

There are several fifteen-inch versions of the Green-eyed x360, merely we'll focus on the 13-inch models for this review. The starting price of the Envy x360 thirteen is $649 when configured with an AMD Ryzen three 4300U CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD.

Our $799 version bumped the CPU upward to a Ryzen 5 4500U, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. If you can, I'd recommend spending another $150 on the loftier-end config with a Ryzen vii 4700U CPU and 16GB of RAM. Sadly, HP doesn't sell a Ryzen 5 model with 16GB of RAM so you'll need to splurge on the Ryzen 7 version for the memory upgrade.

If privacy is important, there is a 1080p display with ane,000 nits of brightness and an integrated privacy screen for $150 more than the base 300-nit panel.

HP Envy x360 13 design

Yous won't discover a more stylish, premium laptop for nether $1,000. I've been using the Envy x360 13 for the past calendar week and I still tin can't believe information technology falls in our "mainstream" pricing category. What's so surprising about the ii-in-1 laptop is how similar it is to the much pricier sibling, the Spectre x360 13. This is a testament to HP's power and willingness to trickle downwards features from its flagship laptops to more affordable models.

It starts with the slim display bezels, which draw your eyes toward the screen and keep the chassis compact. If you care about the numbers, the Envy has an 88% screen-to-body ratio. If you don't, well, it looks sleek.

That said, what struck me most about the Envy x360 13 is its miniature footprint. This convertible is very small. At 12.1 ten 7.7 x 0.7 inches, the Envy x360 13 is more portable than the Envy thirteen (12.1 ten 8.three ten 0.7 inches), the Lenovo Yoga C740 (12.7 10 8.5 ten 0.7 inches) and the Acer Swift 3 (12.7 x 8.6 ten 0.6 inches).

The Envy x360 13's aluminum chassis gives information technology a high-cease feel alike to the MacBook Air or other expensive all-metal laptops. It also looks fantastic thank you to the Nightfall Black end, which is a shade more than interesting than black and a affect prettier than brown. Tying the design together are some gorgeous accents, like the slick HP logo on the lid, stylish speaker grilles underneath, Envy stamped on the hinge and some aggressive vents on the spine.

While tiny in size, the Envy x360 13 (two.9 pounds) is a tad heavier than its competitors. Laptops like the 14-inch Acer Swift 3 (2.7 pounds) use magnesium alloy to keep the weight down. It's a smart way to reduce weight, merely magnesium doesn't usually have the same sturdy, robust experience as aluminum.

The x360 moniker means this item Envy has the flexibility to transform into a tablet. The dual hinges feel sturdy and don't require much effort to rotate back when you lot're using the Green-eyed x360 in tent mode or every bit a tablet.

The Envy doesn't have an IR camera, my preferred means of logging into Windows 10, just the fingerprint sensor located on the bottom row of the keyboard was quick and reliable during my testing.

HP Green-eyed x360 13 ports

No Intel CPU ways no Thunderbolt 3. Apart from that exclusion, the Envy x360 13 has a decent array of ports.

On the correct side are a USB iii.1 Type-A input and a microSD card side by side to a power connector.

On the contrary side, you'll notice a second USB 3.i Type-A port, a USB Type-C port and a headphone/mic jack. I'm nitpicking here just another USB-C port (ideally on the right side) instead of the charging plug would have been dainty. And while the drop-jaw hinge for the Blazon-A port is slap-up, information technology can be frustrating to use and requires you to lift the laptop.

HP Green-eyed x360 13 display

This is another area where the Envy x360 13 punches above its weight grade. The Envy 13'south thirteen.3-inch, 1080p brandish is sharp, bright, and the colors are rich and accurate. None of these qualities are course-leading merely I'd be happy with the screen even if information technology were on a much more expensive notebook.

The panel was detailed enough that I could see the riveting on the side of a ship when I watched a trailer for the flick Greyhound. The fear in Tom Hanks' vivid seafoam green optics was palpable in ane of the scenes in this wartime movie.

A besieged frigate lit the night sky with a peppery orange hue and the red, white, and blue of the American flags draped over caskets stood out against the dreary grey sea beneath. The Envy x360 13 has a glossy screen that catches reflections in brilliant weather condition, so keep that in mind if y'all like to work exterior.

I wish HP had thrown in a stylus with the Envy x360 considering the touchscreen responded quickly to my taps and swipes. Then again, non everyone would use the pen and making it optional keeps the price down.

According to our colorimeter, the Envy x360 13 covers 108% of the sRGB color gamut, making it more vivid than the Swift iii (62%) and the average mainstream laptop (96%). The Yoga C740 (111%) added a pop more than colour while the Envy xiii (109%) practically matched its convertible relative.

I recommend upgrading from the FHD screen with 300 nits of effulgence to the ane with 400 nits. Our Envy x360 13 clocked simply under that rating, at 364 nits. That is enough bright, particularly when compared with the Yoga C740 (250 nits), the Swift three (251 nits) and the mainstream category boilerplate (318 nits). The Envy 13 got even brighter, at 410 nits.

HP Envy x360 13 keyboard and touchpad

The Envy x360 13's chiclet-style keyboard has generously-spaced keys that are clicky and responsive. The keys bridge the unabridged length of the deck, which makes them a good size for people with small or big fingers. If you'll indulge in my nerdiness for a second, I also really similar the typeface and clean font manner HP uses.

Deeper cardinal travel would have been welcome and the keys crave more strength than I prefer, but these are understandable shortcomings given the concrete constraints at play.

HP added a few useful shortcuts to the function primal row, including a microphone mute push and a webcam kill switch (tapping the cardinal puts a physical cover over the lens). Why they aren't next to one another is beyond me, but at least you lot accept quick access to those controls so y'all won't embarrass yourself during a briefing call. Some other small annoyance? The arrow keys are small and cramped.

I typed at 117 words per minute with a 98% accurateness rate, which is a notch slower than my 119-wpm boilerplate but an improvement on my usual 5% error charge per unit.

The four.four x 2.v-inch touchpad is wide plenty that my fingers didn't brush the edges when I executed Windows x gestures. Information technology'due south a minor complaint, but I wish the surface had a shine drinking glass coating instead of the slightly textured mylar. On a positive note, I'm glad HP switched from Synaptics to Precision drivers considering ii-finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom weren't an issue on the Envy x360.

HP Envy x360 13 sound

The dual speakers located on the bottom of the Envy x360 13 have the same sonic shortcomings every bit those on the Spectre x360. Treble-heavy songs and sibilant vocals sound tinny and shrill at maximum volumes. My wife firmly urged me to plow off the music seconds subsequently I started playing Circa Survive'due south "In Fear and Faith" because the upper frequencies were piercing her ears. I also heard the same buzzing baloney that I complained well-nigh in my Spectre review.

It'south a shame considering the speakers sound fine at lower volumes or when playing songs without those soaring treble tones. When I listened to Glass Animals' "Heat Wave," the vocals and treble were detailed without sounding shrill. As expected, the bass was lacking even when I gear up the preset to "bass" style in the Bang & Olufsen Sound Control software.

I personally wouldn't touch the B&O Sound Control app unless you're expert at using an equalizer. None of the presets I tested sounded any ameliorate than the default "HP Optimized" setting.

HP Envy x360 13 performance

The tides accept officially turned in AMD'due south favor. The Ryzen five 4500U CPU with 8GB of RAM in the Green-eyed x360 13 delivers outstanding performance for the price, crushing its Intel-powered rivals by a significant margin. It fifty-fifty outperformed the $i,799 MacBook Pro on certain tests.

It'southward not simply almost benchmarks, either. The Envy x360 xiii breezed through my typically enervating workload, which involves 25 Border browser tabs running in the background with YouTube Music cycling through my favorite songs. Google Docs tin be finicky when a arrangement is being taxed, even so I didn't encounter any problem as I wrote this review. Ability users will nevertheless benefit from a beefier H-serial CPU, merely the amount of functioning the Green-eyed x360 thirteen gets you lot for $800 is simply remarkable.

Allow's look at the numbers because they are staggering. On the Geekbench 4.3 overall operation test, the Envy x360 13 reached 19,064. The Envy thirteen (15,738, Core i7-8565U CPU) and Yoga C740 (fifteen,590, Cadre i5-10210U CPU) with Intel CPUs were thoroughly demolished. Just the Swift iii could outgun the Envy x360 thank you to its Ryzen 7 4700U CPU. Oh, and the category average? A beggarly fifteen,260.

Laptops with the All-time CPU Performance

Moving on to the more demanding Geekbench 5 test, the Green-eyed x360 13 put upwards a score of 4,617. Again, the Yoga C740 (3,878) and the boilerplate (3,495) were embarrassed by the HP while the Swift 3 (4,862) eked out a win. If you need more than disarming, the Green-eyed x360 13 outscored the $1,799 MacBook Pro (4,399, Cadre i5-1030NG7 with 16GB of RAM) in this exam.

Our real-world criterion saw the Envy x360 convert a 4K video to 1080p resolution in 13 minutes and 44 seconds using the Handbrake app. Video editors volition save a ton of time using the Green-eyed x360 thirteen instead of the Green-eyed 13 (23:38), the Yoga C740 (xx:43), or the average laptop (22:38). The Swift iii, with its Ryzen 7 CPU, completed the task in a speedy 11 minutes flat.

We finally found a corner cutting to bring the Green-eyed x360 xiii'south price down; the laptop'due south somewhat sluggish 256GB NVMe PCIe One thousand.2 SSD doesn't run into the standard gear up by other premium notebooks. The storage needed sixteen seconds to duplicate iv.97GB of multimedia information, which equates to a transfer charge per unit of 318.1 megabytes per 2nd. That's slower than the SSDs in the Envy 13 (363.v MBps), the Yoga C740 (848.ii MBps), and the category average (358.seven MBps).

HP Envy x360 13 graphics

Y'all don't get a discrete chip in this fiddling machine but its integrated Radeon Graphics are pretty capable. The Envy played Dirt 3 at a smooth 78 frames per second with the graphics fix to 1080p on Very Loftier. The Envy 13 (31 fps) and Yoga C730 (31 fps) with Intel UHD graphics barely striking our playability threshold of xxx fps while the Swift iii put an exclamation mark on AMD's authorization (79 fps). That could all change when Intel introduces Tiger Lake fries with Xe graphics, then keep an center out for those later in the twelvemonth.

HP Envy x360 13 bombardment life

The Envy x360 13 lasts a full workday without needing to be recharged.

We ran the battery test using both the old and new versions of Edge. On the former browser, the Envy x360 xiii lasted for an outstanding 11 hours and 52 minutes while continuously web browsing at 150 nits of effulgence. While it didn't fare equally well on the new browser, the x hour and 45-infinitesimal runtime it put up is nevertheless splendid.

Laptops with all-time bombardment life in 2020

Other top laptops in this category did similarly well. For instance, the Envy 13 went xi hours and eleven minutes before shutting down, while the Yoga C740 (ten:18) and Swift 3 (eleven:09) also breached the 10-60 minutes mark. The category average is 9 hours and 25 minutes.

HP Green-eyed x360 xiii cameras

The 720p webcam on the Envy x360 13 is fine for coincidental video calls. A selfie I took indoors with the bright Texas sunshine streaking in through a nearby window looked grainy when I zoomed in. The lens did a proficient job of capturing my dark-green eyes and mildly sunburnt face simply I had trouble identifying private strands of pilus in my bristles or on my head.

At least the camera is located higher up the display instead of below the screen like on other thin-bezeled laptops. I wouldn't be embarrassed using the Envy x360 thirteen in a call with friends and family unit but you'll desire to buy an external webcam when you're chattin' with the boss.

HP Green-eyed x360 13 oestrus

Don't worry nearly using the Green-eyed x360 thirteen on your blank pare — the laptop kept its cool in our estrus exam. After playing a 15-minute Hd video in full screen, the Envy x360 13 peaked at only 86 degrees Fahrenheit, which is well below our 95-caste comfort threshold. The center of the keyboard reached 84 degrees and the touchpad was a pleasant 77 degrees.

HP Envy x360 13 software and warranty

I'thou going to keep saying this until it happens: HP needs to consolidate its apps. I counted ix HP-branded apps on the Envy x360 thirteen, many of which could be packaged into a unmarried program. Instead, you have HP Audio Switch, HP Control Center, HP Documentation, HP JumpStart, HP… the list goes on.

Of these, HP Back up Assistance is the app you should be most familiar with. Its dashboard shows you lot important info most the laptop, including the remaining warranty, battery life percent and storage remaining. Information technology's also the easiest manner to download upward-to-appointment software and drivers.

HP gets a thumbs up for including the Bang & Olufsen Audio Control app where you tin use an equalizer to customize your audio profile. It's two thumbs down for the unneeded bloatware apps, similar Booking (information technology's a good service but the app should be opt-in), ExpressVPN (same idea), McAfee Personal Security, Netflix and Amazon.

The Envy 13 x360 runs Windows 10 Home and comes with a one-year warranty. See how HP did on our Best and Worst Brands and Tech Support Showdown special reports.

Lesser line

The Green-eyed x360 13 is the best sub-$1,000 laptop on the market. It'south improve than the clamshell version we reviewed final year and any of the current Asus ZenBooks, which take historically delivered on value.

I'm still struggling to figure out how HP kept the price down. There are only a few areas where corners were cut, including a mediocre m.2 SSD and the lack of an IR camera. And since the Envy x360 13 uses AMD chips, it doesn't support Thunderbolt 3. Sure, our $799 config doesn't have tiptop specs but the Envy x360 thirteen still costs under four figures even when you opt for the Ryzen vii CPU with 16GB of RAM.

Everything else almost the Envy x360 13, from the bright, vivid brandish to the luxurious aluminum chassis and blisteringly fast performance, is undeniably tiptop-charge per unit. You even get ii USB-A ports in this little package and the keyboard is surprisingly comfortable to type on. It'southward weird how good the Green-eyed x360 13 is considering information technology basically feels like the Spectre x360 13 only at a significantly lower toll.

With that said, the Envy x360 13 gets my highest recommendation. It's the perfect laptop for those who desire a premium notebook at an affordable price and is every bit skilful or better than many laptops that cost hundreds more.

Phillip Tracy is the assistant managing editor at Laptop Magazine where he reviews laptops, phones and other gadgets while covering the latest manufacture news. After graduating with a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin, Phillip became a tech reporter at the Daily Dot. There, he wrote reviews for a range of gadgets and covered everything from social media trends to cybersecurity. Prior to that, he wrote for RCR Wireless News roofing 5G and IoT. When he's non tinkering with devices, you lot tin find Phillip playing video games, reading, traveling or watching soccer.