If you have ever seen those obnoxious TV commercials, then you’ll know that there are apparently people who consider themselves “a Mac”, and those that are a “PC”. Me? I’m a PC. I’ve got a lot of reasons to be a PC, but the main one is that I always want the best my money can get me, without having to compromise. Despite being a longtime PC user, one aspect of the Mac world always makes me jealous – Mac’s are gorgeous computers. Sure, they come with a matching price tag, but you always pay for style.
Thankfully, there are similar good looking options out there for PC users – and one of the best available, is the HP Envy 13.
The Envy line of machines is the top of the line in consumer laptops from HP – they sell them in 13″ and 15″ models, and this review will focus on the travel friendly 13″ version.
Lets get one thing out of the way – this is a not a budget computer. With an opening price of $1,499, you are well into Mac territory, and once you start adding options and other accessories, you can easily bring the final price towards $2,500. Obviously, this is not the computer you buy if you just want to do some simple browsing on the road.
Inside the machine Gadling got to review, is an Intel Core2Duo SL9600 running at 2.13GHz with Intel Integrated graphics and ATI Radeon HD 4330 graphics (more on that later).
The machine has 5GB or ram, a 250GB hard drive, Bluetooth, a 13.1″ HD LED screen (1600×900) and comes with an external Blu-Ray drive.
But enough about the insides – the real treat of the Envy 13 is on the outside. Built around a gorgeous aluminum and magnesium frame, the Envy is quite simply stunning. The screen features edge-to-edge glass, and the chiclet keyboard is one of the best I have ever tested.
On the sides are an HDMI video port, power port, 2 USB ports, a memory card reader and a combined audio input/output jack. Included in the box is an HDMI to VGA (D-SUB) adapter, which I found to be a nice touch. There is no built in Ethernet port, but a 10/100/1000 USB adapter was included in the box. WiFi access comes from an Intel Wireless-N adapter.
Performance is what you’d expect from a notebook in this price range – stunning. The machine blazed through everything I threw at it. It’ll be perfectly at home with some basic office tasks, but also very content with photo and video editing and even some of the more advanced games (though this is by no means a “gaming machine”). As delivered, the Envy 13 comes with Windows 7 professional 64-bit and a suite of image and video software from Corel. In addition to this, it also comes with the HP MediaSmart multimedia interface.
If you need quick access to basic applications, you can boot into the “Full web access” without having to start the main OS – which shaves a good 45 seconds off boot times.
The webcam in the HP is also very impressive – a 1.3 megapixel camera with HP’s awesome webcam software. Audio may have been my favorite part of this machine – the speakers and audio circuitry come from the Beats brand – and performance was great. Once you add a pair of Beats headphones (by Dr. Dre), you end up with an amazing combo.
The Envy 13 for travelers
All this metal and high performance makes for a fairly heavy machine, in fact – at 3.68 lbs, this may appear to be a very unfriendly machine for travelers. However, I’ve taken it on four trips now, and actually find the performance and battery life to be more important to me than the weight. One of the best options for the Envy 13 (and something not found anywhere else) is the optional “Slice Battery” – a super thin extra battery pack that slots onto the bottom of the machine.
The Slice Battery blends in perfectly, and with the exception of a tiny gap, the 2 merge together nicely. Best part of this $249 battery? It’ll bring the Envy 13 to a little over 11 hours of battery life (with a bunch of optimizations and screen brightness turned down). Bottom line is that the Envy 13 with its Slice battery make for a very powerful machine, with plenty of weight, but enough performance to get work done without any compromises. Yes – there are netbook computers that’ll outlast the Envy when it comes to battery life, but none of them have the same performance and specifications.
Sadly, the Envy 13 uses a non-standard HP charger, and none of my universal chargers worked on it – the machine obviously comes with its own (compact) charger, but if you need a spare or a car/air compatible charger you may be in trouble.
The trackpad
The Trackpad on the Envy 13 deserves special attention – not because of how well it performs, but because how horrible it is. Button presses are often missed, and despite a bunch of integrated multi-touch gesture features, it fails at the most basic of tasks. Very disappointing, and something that usually just forced me to use a travel Bluetooth mouse instead.
Final thoughts?
Thankfully for HP, the bad trackpad is quickly forgotten when compared to the rest of the machine. Fantastic looks, super performance, a stunning screen and optional Blu-Ray player make for what I consider to be one of the best notebook computers on the market.
The “Envy Experience” is equally impressive – which starts with the box. HP clearly spent some time designing the computer, but also put a lot of effort into making the unboxing something that makes the steep purchase price a little easier to accept.
As I mentioned earlier – this is not the computer you’ll be considering if you just want basic – this is what you buy if you need performance, without settling for a laptop made entirely of plastic with lots of squeaks.
You’ll find the HP over at the Envy store, where you’ll also find exact prices and available accessories.