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ToolsBig-Screen Shoppers Only
If you are a big-screen-convertible shopper, you credibly already know it. This is n’t a class of laptop that you stumble on by accident. Most general shoppers would be better served by buying a ceremonious 15-inch laptop for when they need a robust calculate feel and a smaller and lighter true pad like the Apple iPad when they do n’t. Combining those two devices into a single personal computer requires some compromises .
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Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buy decisions. ( See how we test. ) thankfully, with the Envy x360 15, you do n’t have to compromise that much. It measures 0.67 by 14.13 by 9.68 inches ( HWD ), and weighs 4.53 pounds, which are admirable dimensions for any 15-incher, let alone one with a screen that rotates 360 degrees. It ‘s slenderly smaller than the latest lissome 15-inch gambling machines like the MSI GS65 Stealth ( 0.69 by 15.1 by 10.2 inches ). It besides compares well with other 15-inch convertibles, like the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 ( 0.74 by 14.2 by 9.5 inches, 4.45 pounds ) but it ‘s no equal for the about impossibly light Acer Swift 5, a conventional 15-incher that weighs merely 2.2 pounds .
I do find the Envy x360 15 awkward to hold with one hand for extended periods, but overall it gives off a streamlined, unobtrusive impression rather than a bulky one. The bright silver medal metal outside helps a lot—HP refers to it as “ Natural Silver with a sandblast anodize end. ” I ‘m not certain I ‘d want to order this laptop in a dark discolor, though a Dark Ash option is besides available. 
The car is presently sold entirely at Best Buy, unlike its smaller 13-inch Envy x360 13 cousin, which is besides available from HP ‘s web site and other retailers. The configuration I ‘m reviewing represents a very estimable respect at its $ 999 list price, for which you get an Intel Core i7 CPU, 8GB of memory, and a 512GB SSD. You can besides order the Envy x360 15 with AMD Ryzen processors and AMD Vega graphics cards .
The Envy line is one resound below HP ‘s ultra-premium Spectre laptops, but a few higher-end features have trickled down here. The most unique is a small substitution mounted on the right edge of the laptop that kills the power to the webcam. It ‘s intended to provide piece of mind against webcam chop, a problem that has led some laptop makers to install awkward physical slither doors over their webcams. I appreciate HP ‘s approach here with the kill switch, which makes the exceed border around the screen more pristine .
There are no infrared sensors surrounding the Envy x360 15 ‘s webcam, so you ca n’t log in to your Windows account using face recognition. You can, however, use the fingerprint reader mounted below the right side of the keyboard to log in without a password. The backlit keyboard itself is a mix udder, a net index that some parts but not others of the Spectre ‘s excellent keyboard have trickled down. The key switches lower with a satisfying thump, but the keys themselves are quite wobbly. Spreadsheet jockeys will appreciate that HP managed to squeeze in a consecrated count pad, which is missing from some other 15-inch laptops, including the Apple MacBook Pro ( $ 881.99 at Dell ) .
The touchpad is a retentive, reduce, rectangular affair. It ‘s reasonably responsive, and in fact I found 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 gladiolus Spectre engineering did n’t trickle down .
Envy x360 15 buyers will sorely miss the digital stylus and leather carrying case with dedicate holders for both the laptop and pen that are included with the 13-inch and 15-inch Spectre x360 convertible laptops. You can use a digital stylus with the Envy x360 15, but you ‘ll have to pay extra for it and find a station to store it. Although I did n’t try to use a stylus with the Envy x360 15, I did note that tapping on the touch screen in Laptop mode with my finger resulted in a very bouncy screen—more bouncing than I ‘ve experienced on conventional laptops .
Display, Speakers, and Connectivity
The control panel itself is a 15.6-inch diagonal IPS WLED-backlit touch screen. It ‘s got a full HD resolution, which translates into 1,920 by 1,080 pixels. It ‘s a properly expose, but it ‘s clear that HP is reserving its best panels for the Spectre lineup. even at utmost brightness, the screen appears reasonably numb and colors fail to pop. Text is crisp, though, and if you ‘re viewing a movie in a darkened airplane cabin, you ‘ll likely have an enjoyable experience .
If you ‘re able to listen to that movie without headphones, you ‘ll likely have even more fun. The speakers on the Envy x360 15 are loud, offering full-bodied, dimensional audio and a decent—though not startling—amount of bass. There are merely two speakers, but as with most other midrange and premium HP laptop speakers, audio firm Bang & Olufsen tunes them .
In addition to the kill switch for the webcam, you ‘ll besides find a USB 3.1 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 reverse border, there ‘s another USB Type-A port, a life-size SD wag reader, the power button, a world power interface, and a earphone jackfruit. That ‘s an excellent port complement, and while it would be better if the Envy x360 15 included a Thunderbolt 3 port, I do n’t expect 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 room for cooling equipment than there would be on a 13-inch design, which in turns means that manufacturers can outfit more brawny CPUs and graphics processors. That ‘s what HP did in the configuration of the Spectre x360 15 we reviewed earlier this year. With our Envy x360 15 review whole, the company alternatively opted to install a U-series Core i7 CPU and an integrated graphics check. The “ U ” designator indicates a low-powered chip that needs very little external cool. This is a very common configuration in ultraportable laptops, and it helps keep the Envy x360 15 ‘s price reasonable .
See How We Test Laptops
To compare the laptop ‘s computing operation, I pitted it against other similarly priced and similarly configured convertible laptops, whose spectacles are in the graph below. I besides included the Spectre x360 15 for good measure, even though that is a much more potent and expensive 15-inch convertible. Overall, the Envy x360 15 held its own with direct competitors like the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 2-in-1 ( $ 881.99 at Dell ), though obviously underperformed the more expensive Spectre x360 15 on some tests .
For general computing tasks like vane browse and discussion serve, the Envy x360 will not let you down. I experienced no lethargy or crashes during a full day of practice, including installing multiple background apps and opening many browser tabs at once. The PCMark 10 benchmark confirms my feel, with the Envy x360 15 performing within a few hundred points of all of its competitors save for the Spectre x360 15. On this screen, which simulates overall system performance for light gambling and office-centric tasks like web crop and videoconferencing, anything higher than 4,000 indicates good performance .
The like is true of the PCMark 8 test, which simulates the like types of tasks, but focuses entirely on how well the personal computer ‘s storage subsystem is able to handle them. All of these laptops have SSDs as their chief boot drives, so they performed roughly equally .
The differences are more marked on our media creation tests. The Envy x360 15 was neck-in-neck with every rival except for the 15-inch Spectre x360, which showed an enormous advantage thanks to its powerful GPU. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex persona. The result is a proprietary score indicating a personal computer ‘s suitability for processor-intensive workloads .
When it comes to applying a series of filters and other effects 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 14 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 flush for brawny systems .
I did not attempt to play resource-intensive games on the Envy x360 15, and the results of our bet on tests below explain why. 3DMark measures proportional graphics muscle by rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting. Like 3DMark, the Superposition examination renders and pans through a detailed 3D view and measures how the system copes .
Read more: Acer Aspire E5-575G-562T 15.6-inch Reviews
The Envy x360 performed ill on both of these tests, which is n’t necessarily a drawback, since no ultraportable with integrated graphics can play demanding games identical well. As with Cinebench, if the laptop has a discrete GPU from Nvidia or AMD, it will perform vastly better. Stick to casual games like Candy Crush and you ‘ll be fine .
The Envy x360 15 ‘s 56Wh battery offers adequate life, as measured by our video-rundown test, which involves looping a locally store 720p file with sieve luminosity set at 50 percentage and volume at 100 percentage until the system conks out. thirteen hours will get you through a cross-country fledge or a day at work, but it ‘s not equally good as the closely 21 hours that the Spectre x360 13 can achieve away from a spark plug .
You’ll Know If It’s for You
If you actually need a laptop with a 15-inch screen that rotates 360 degrees, we ‘re not going to stop you from buying one, and the HP Envy x360 15 is n’t going to stop you from enjoying one. Just remember that alternatives exist, including buying an excellent smaller convertible like the Lenovo Yoga C930 ( $ 881.99 at Dell ) that ‘s more portable, or buying a conventional 15-incher for its screen door real estate and using a freestanding tablet when you need portability .
HP Envy x360 15 (15M-DR0012DX)
4.0
See It
$ 899.99
at Amazon
MSRP $ 619.99
Pros
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The Bottom Line
With streamlined style and utilitarian features like a webcam kill switch, the HP Envy x360 15 offers excellent value for big-screen-convertible laptop shoppers .
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