HP Envy 13 (2020)
A compact and forwardlooking laptop that has the advantage of Nvidia GeForce MX450 graphics
SCORE
Range starts at: £750 (£900 inc VAT) Model tested: £750 (£900 inc VAT) from store.hp.com/uk
You know exactly what you’re getting with an HP Envy 13 laptop. This isn’t a luxurious machine, with HP holding back the all-metal finish for its premium Spectre ranges, but with a silver and black trim and compact dimensions it has enough understated style to feel at home in a business class lounge. Plus, HP wisely chooses to protect the screen with a sturdy metal lid.
The 13.3in IPS display is technically excellent, hitting a peak brightness of 430cd/m2 with a superb contrast ratio of 1,942:1. Then there’s exemplary sRGB gamut coverage of 98% with an average Delta E of 0.28. Unlike the MacBook Air, it doesn’t have a wide gamut screen, so don’t expect colours to “pop” despite a glossy finish – and yes, that finish means overhead reflections are quite obvious.
HP goes in the opposite direction for the touchpad, with a finish that’s almost chalky. We got used to this, but it feels odd after a lifetime of glossy touchpads where your fingers slide easily over the surface. At least it’s wide, which makes using three or four fingers for gestures an easy affair.
You may need to adjust your muscle memory if you’re used to the Backspace and Enter keys at the far right of the keyboard: HP reserves that space for navigation keys such as Home and End. Note the Enter key is single height too. Nor is it a great choice for people who like plenty of travel to their keys. After all these criticisms you might think we don’t like this keyboard, but just like the touchpad we got used to it and enjoyed its quiet thrum and spaciousness.
Where things get more exciting is inside, with Nvidia’s recently released GeForce MX450 graphics chip in place. This provides a big jump over the integrated graphics we see elsewhere, hitting an average of
56fps in F1 2020 and 46fps in Metro: Last Light. Unlike the MSI on p86, it doesn’t have enough firepower for Metro Exodus at High settings, scoring 13fps, while Shadow of the Tomb Raider would only run at Medium settings (it averaged 23fps).
This is a speedy laptop in day-today use as well, hitting an excellent
118 in the PC Pro benchmarks. This is the advantage of Intel’s 11th-gen Core processors, with a Core i5-1135G7 inside. While HP does sell higher-spec versions of the Envy 13, we think you’d be wasting your money to upgrade: there’s enough power here to last for years, and the slim chassis places portability over active cooling in its list of priorities. As such, we doubt you’d get the most out of a Core i7.
We also like the fact that it’s possible to gain entry into the Envy 13’s chassis to upgrade the SSD and fix most components should something go wrong. You’ll need patience and some Torx screwdrivers, but only the motherboard with its embedded 8GB of RAM (and the CPU) are out of bounds.
The supplied 512GB Intel SSD has enough space for years of use, and HP has most bases covered when it comes to external expansion. A microSD card slot sits on the right-hand side, together
“The Envy 13 isn’t the world’s most exciting laptop, but it’s perfectly suited to our current working environments”
with a USB-A 3.1 port and DC input. On the right, you’ll find a combo 3.5mm jack, second USB-A port and a USB-C 3.1 connector. The latter is your only way to connect a monitor, but it supports charging: buy a monitor with a USB-C connector and you can leave HP’s supplied DC power pack in your travel bag.
Not that you’ll need to top up the Envy 13 on a single-day outing: it lasted 10hrs 22mins in our videorundown test. Even accepting that as a best-case scenario, you should easily last a full working day without searching for a plug.
For now, it feels safe to assume we’ll all be using our laptops at home for work for months to come. The 720p camera is fine but nothing special, but HP has invested wisely in the microphones and speakers: the former pick up voices well, while the latter are pleasant enough to listen to music on. That’s not something we can say about all the laptops here. Two other nice touches: HP provides on/ off buttons on the keyboard for the mics and the camera, making it easy to make things private and giving you a visual reminder that you’re on mute.
The Envy 13 isn’t the world’s most exciting laptop, but it’s perfectly suited to our current working environments. Powerful enough to get you through a working day and then release all your tension by killing alien invaders in the evening, it’s a great buy at £90o.