HP Envy x360 Review

2-in-1 laptops are usually thin, light, flexible, sophisticated, and has a pen too but they aren’t new anymore. What sets the HP’s Envy x360 apart from the crowd is the fact that it’s not powered by Intel. Taking a leap, the unit lent to us is loaded with AMD’s Ryzen 7 2700U processor with Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics. This one is definitely for those who are always on-the-go. Check our full review below.

Design and Construction

Talk about portability and flexibility, having a 360-degree laptop can be useful in specific situations especially if you just want to use a tablet when traveling. Weighing at 1.3kg, it’s not the lightest but the Envy x360 is something we can really call premium. It’s available in two variants: Natural Silver and Dark Ash Silver which is the one we got to test.

It boasts an aluminum shell with an anodized grey finish look with a patterned spine and black glass bezels that I think would look better if they’re thinner. It also has a modernly designed speaker grille that’s supported by Bang & Olufsen.

A 720p Webcam is placed on the top bezel like common laptops have while it has an IR scanner for facial recognition. It works quickly and won’t recognize your face when your eyes are closed.

The sides give space for two USB Type-A 3.0 ports (one for each side), a microSD card reader, 3.5mm audio port, fan vents, and a USB Type-C port which can also be used to charge the device as long as it outputs at least 30 watts. There’s also a designated volume rocker that we found pretty useful.

Up front, the keyboard has a similar design to the other Spectre X360 devices. It’s well-spaced and I like how clicky and comfortable it is to type with but it won’t work when you flex the screen to a 360-degree angle. The right-most side of the keyboard holds a bonus column to keep the dedicated keys for Pg Dn, Pg Up, home, end, and delete. It’s quite an odd positioning that I often mistook them for the wrong keys, but it’s good that HP managed to squeeze those in.

The trackpad is okay. It’s wide but it would definitely be better with more space especially for people with big hands (no offense to them). There’s no doubt that it is smooth and responsive and if you’re used to maximizing MacBook gestures, then you’ll easily get used to it. Either way, if you get frustrated with the trackpad then just tap on the screen to get the job done.

Since the Envy X360 is a 2-in-1 convertible laptop, it can be prone to smudges because of its matte finish. Nonetheless, the screen is very sensitive, yet, you’ll need to put more nudge when using the pen. Moreover, about its pen, you can tweak it in the settings and customize its quick controls. It comes smoothly when sliding through the screen and comes really handy as well when performing powerpoint presentations.

Display and Multimedia

Having a 13.3-inch touchscreen, don’t expect 4k resolution from the Envy x360, instead, you get an acceptable 1080 display. Colors are sharp and very accurate but I wouldn’t recommend it for serious color work. Nonetheless, you get to enjoy a detailed viewing experience in Full HD with very good viewing angles. Brightness is just at average, maximizing at just 250 nits since I am quite a struggling to see under direct sunlight.

You can easily morph the laptop into a tablet and turn on Tablet Mode while using the pen included in the box to get the whole experience. It’s also notable that there’s a Night Light mode for a less blue-ish display and picture-in-picture mode that automatically works when you’re watching videos on Netflix but decided to do something else. Just keep the show playing and open a different task, and you can place the small box wherever on the screen.

Audio quality is good as it comes out from the speaker grille near the keyboard and two other speakers at the bottom. Of course, it’s not as great as a fully dedicated speaker, yet with Bang & Olufsen’s system, the sound can be loud enough to be heard in a regular sized room with crisp quality. Music lovers would be happy to know that you can customize the audio quality when you use a headset in the dedicated Bang & Olufsen app. Also, the Noise Cancellation feature works great!

OS, Performance, and Benchmarks

For daily computational tasks, the HP Envy x360 performs well running on Windows 10 powered by  AMD Ryzen 7 2700U processor, Radeon RX Vega 10 graphics, 8GB of memory, and a rapid 256GB SSD storage.

Its performance sits in the middle. It keeps a few pre-installed apps while McAfee Live and Microsoft Office are on a trial period. What’s good is that this laptop can handle a number of apps in the background so multitasking won’t be a worry.

For games, there’s a Game Bar feature in the settings to personalize controls, record game clips, broadcasting, and more. The Envy x360 can handle heavy games in high settings thanks to the Ryzen 7 chipset. I got to play Fortnite and Counter-Strike smoothly with very minimal lags.

Check out the benchmark scores below:

Thermals

As for thermals, you wouldn’t want to work while the laptop is on your lap for hours. The bottom part gets easily hot while the top doesn’t much. In our test via Prime 95 and FurMark CPU, it showed that the cooling system of the Envy x360 works well with 68-degrees C being the hottest. The fans worked immediately and not in a too noisy manner. Note that these are artificial tests and do not reflect real-world usage.

Battery Life

The Envy X360 is equipped with a 4-cell 52.2 Wh Li-ion polymer battery which HP claims that can last for up to 11 hours of battery life. But sadly the results in our standard video loop test (1080p video played on loop, 50% brightness and volume) showed far less than expected. We only had the laptop running for a little over 4 hours before it automatically shut down. For gaming, it will range around 2 to 3 hours depending on how heavy your game is.

It’s somewhat disappointing for price tag so make sure to always bring your charger. For charging, it took us 2 and a half hour to fully charge the laptop and that sounds reasonable.

Conclusion

It’s been a while since I last saw a laptop powered by a Ryzen chipset and I must say that the HP Envy x360 stands out. Besides its core, the design looks classy and robust for a convertible laptop–not to mention that it has a touchscreen with an included pen in the set.

It’s meant for those who need productivity anywhere without having to compromise style and heavy applications. Although it offers great specs, we still think it’s a little over budget at PHP 63,990. Well, you can trim it down with a Ryzen 5 CPU and Radeon Vega 8 graphics that’s priced at PHP 56,990.

HP Envy x360 Specs

• 13.3-inch IPS display
• AMD Ryzen 7 2700U
• AMD Radeon Vega 10 Graphics
• 8GB DDR4 SDRAM
• 512GB SSD
• Windows 10
• 4-cell 52.2 Wh Li-ion polymer battery
• Bang & Olufsen Quad Speakers
• Full-size island-style backlit keyboard
• HP Imagepad with multi-touch gesture support
• HP Active Pen
• 720p webcam with far-field microphones
• 2 x USB 3.1, 1 x USB Type-C 3.1, 1 x microSD
• 802.11ac (2×2) Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 4.2
• 306.7 x 214.6 x 14.9 mm

What we liked:

• HP Active Pen included
• Touchscreen and convertible
• USB-C charging alternative
• Premium design and build
• Dedicated volume rockers on the right side
• Good sound production
• Accurate and crisp colors

What we didn’t:

• Below-average battery life
• Small trackpad
• Right bonus keyboard keys
• Warm bottom