HP Envy 13 (2021)

HP Envy 13 (2021)

If you want a lightweight, beautiful, and elegant laptop that doesn't come with a high price tag, the HP Envy 13 is a perfect fit for your needs. It looks very similar to a MacBook Air in appearance but runs Windows. One thing I am not satisfied with is that this machine has a plastic touchpad. Perhaps they did this to save costs, or maybe to maintain a distance from the more expensive Spectre line.

Minimalist Design

The HP Envy 13 is a mid-range portable laptop. Its exterior design is not as flashy as the Spectre line, and the hinge does not rotate 360 degrees like the Envy x360. However, the HP Envy 13 still provides a wonderful feeling when using it.

The entire chassis is made of silver aluminum, making it look more premium compared to laptops made of magnesium alloy that often come with a higher price tag. As far as I know, using magnesium alloy reduces the weight of the laptop, but that is not a trade-off that is worth it for everyone.

The HP Envy 13 is not too heavy, weighing only 1.3kg with thin bezels. Additionally, it has more ports than a MacBook, featuring a USB-C port, a USB-C port, a headphone/microphone combo jack, and a microSD card slot. The machine also has a DisplayPort 1.4, allowing you to connect to a 4K 120Hz monitor or two 4K monitors at a 60Hz refresh rate.

The keyboard has good key travel, feeling solid and sturdy. The good tactile feedback allows you to type as quickly as possible. I really love the HP Envy 13 keyboard; I can type a long essay on this laptop very comfortably, much better than many other expensive models.

The HP Envy 13 keyboard also features LED backlighting with two different brightness levels for use in low-light environments. The laptop also has a fingerprint scanner, though it is a bit small. As for the touchpad, I don't rate it very highly; it doesn't feel very secure. Since the touchpad is made of plastic, the sliding sensation is not smooth.

The machine is equipped with two speakers from Bang & Olufsen. The stereo sound feels quite good and the mid-range is quite thick, but the bass is somewhat lacking.

Sharp Display

At a mid-range price point, one cannot demand too much from the display. The machine features a 13.3-inch screen with Full HD 1080p resolution. A 4K screen on a laptop would look sharper, but it wouldn't be necessary as high resolution would also impact battery life. Even the recently released MacBook Air only has a 1600p resolution.

Regarding color gamut, the 2021 HP Envy 13 features 100% sRGB, 79.3% DCI P3, and 74.7% Adobe RGB. This means the HP Envy displays colors relatively accurately, making it suitable for graphic design or content creation. sRGB is the color standard for traditional laptops, while DCI P3 is the standard for high-end phones, laptops, and tablets because its colors are deeper, richer, and sharper.

If you want 100% DCI P3, you might have to pay more. Even the MacBook Air does not reach this level. Personally, I find the 100% sRGB of the HP Envy 13 to be beautiful. Additionally, it is supported by a very good contrast ratio (for an IPS screen) of 1675:1.

Outstanding Performance

The unit I am using has an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and a 256GB SSD. The Core i5 in this machine will be slower than the Core i7 in the Dell XPS 13, as well as the Ryzen 7 CPU in the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7. For basic, simple tasks, there is not much difference.

The HP Envy 13 2021 has an option for an Nvidia MX450 graphics card. In the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark, the Nvidia MX450 scored 66% higher than Intel Xe. With this graphics card, you can confidently play some graphics-intensive games. When typing documents or browsing the web, the HP laptop is completely silent. However, when working at full capacity, the fan will run harder and emit airflow and noise, similar to a computer preparing for takeoff.

The SSD has moderate read and write speeds, with a read speed of 1708MB/s and a write speed of 967MB/s.

Up to 12 Hours of Battery Life

The HP Envy 13 is equipped with a 51Wh battery, similar to the capacity of the Dell XPS 13 (52Wh). HP claims a battery life of approximately 10 hours to 16 hours and 45 minutes when streaming video. In practice, I was able to use it for 12 hours and 15 minutes while streaming video on YouTube. Battery life will also depend on your screen brightness settings.

Conclusion

It can be said that the HP Envy 13 - 2021 is a laptop with a much lower price than the Dell XPS 13 and Apple MacBook, yet it offers relatively stable performance and even comes with a dedicated graphics card. The only main issue is that compared to the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7, which has a similar price point, the latter offers better CPU performance and battery life. However, the HP Envy 13 compensates with a dedicated GPU option.