Is it potential to “have everything” in a laptop computer? To reply that, it helps maybe to start out with some floor guidelines on what constitutes all the pieces. Killer efficiency—on each enterprise apps and graphical duties—is a should. Add to that a nice display screen, wonderful battery life, a good keyboard, plus an appropriate weight and value given all the above.
HP’s new Envy 16 doesn’t unilaterally tick each one in every of these bins, nevertheless it comes shut sufficient on all fronts to benefit severe consideration in case you’re on the lookout for a powerhouse pocket book PC.
Green With Envy
Photograph: HP
The Envy 16 is, because the identify implies, outfitted with a 16-inch show with a 16:10 side ratio. You can discover sharper screens available on the market than the Envy’s 2,560 X 1,600-pixel decision, however that spec is nice sufficient for many customers and most varieties of computing. The OLED touchscreen isn’t amazingly vivid, however it’s impressively clear, although I discovered it regarded greatest close to its max brightness ranges.
Under the hood, you’ll discover a 2.6-GHz Intel Core i9-13900H CPU (thirteenth era), 16 GB of RAM, and a 1-TB SSD. Those are stable specs, nevertheless it’s the inclusion of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Max-Q video card that adjustments the sport. Together, these parts gave the Envy 16 among the highest benchmarks I’ve ever clocked, notably on the graphics entrance, the place I skilled absolutely playable framerates on fashionable gaming titles and silky easy rendering exams. On enterprise apps, the unit was off the charts, doubling the efficiency of high-end laptops from a few years in the past.
All of this energy should come on the expense of battery life, proper? More excellent news: I used to be stunned to realize simply over 9 hours of uninterrupted video playback on the max display screen brightness—although that may absolutely be stretched by firming down the efficiency settings a bit.
With its big trackpad and spacious, responsive keyboard (a customary island-style design), getting work finished isn’t laborious—and also you all the time have the choice of interacting immediately with the touchscreen if desired. Unlike so many modern laptops, the Envy 16 doesn’t skimp on growth ports, providing two USB-C ports, two full-size USB 3.1 ports, HDMI output, and a microSD card slot. All ports are side-mounted, as your complete bottom of the laptop computer works as a single hinge for the display screen. All of it will weigh you down a smidge greater than 5 kilos, with a svelte 26-mm girth.
Photograph: HP
Talk of the Town
All work and no play makes for a uninteresting day on the workplace, and the Envy 16’s built-in audio system from Bang & Olufsen give it loads of audio energy, a lot in order that I discovered it uncomfortable to take heed to at full quantity when sitting immediately in entrance of the unit. Music, videoconferenced voices, and gaming results all got here by crystal clear, and there’s loads of bass to go round courtesy of the downward-firing woofers.
Machines like this usually must compensate for his or her excessive energy ranges with loud, aggressive followers, however HP has clearly finished some work to maintain issues moderately quiet, even underneath heavy load. Chalk that as much as what HP calls a “gaming class” thermal answer known as the vapor chamber, in which airflow is directed by your complete chassis through two centrally positioned followers. It works properly, holding issues cool and, whereas removed from silent, quieter than anticipated.
The mannequin I examined—roughly in the center of the Envy 16’s configuration lineup—runs $1,750, which feels cheap, although decidedly not cheap. (The top-end configuration hits a whopping $2,685.) For anybody who wants the additional actual property supplied by a 16-inch display screen—and doesn’t thoughts that it’s going to most likely imply upgrading your laptop bag to accommodate it—it’s a standout computing choice.
