In summary
The 13-inch ENVY x360 convertible is beautifully presented with a remarkably good keyboard and a 2880 x 1800-pixel HD OLED screen that can display beautiful HDR. Unfortunately, sRGB mode doesn’t work as you might expect. HP supplied the laptop with USB-A connections and a webcam in HD that’s rare. In terms of battery life, the ENVY is a midrange powerhouse and an economical i7-1250U processor.
In 2020, we recently paid attention to the HP ENVY x360 and in the meantime HP has developed its 13-inch convertible in a big way. Of course the processor has been upgraded, but the more expensive alternative, which we will of course discuss in this review, is now equipped with an OLED screen with a resolution of 2880 x 1800 pixels. In this review we take a quick look at the ENVY x360-bf0390nd.
housing and connections
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ENVY x360 has an all-metal casing. The version we tested is blue. There is also the version whose name ends in bf0350nd, and it is silver gray. Speaking of the different versions; We tested the most expensive version with a Core i7 processor and an OLED screen, but there are cheaper versions with a Core i5 processor and an LCD screen.The cheapest version costs around €1,100 at the time of writing and has just the same ‘premium’ feel as the more expensive variants. The sharp edges that were present on previous ENVY x360 models have been replaced with rounded corners, and the chassis is thin, so it won’t fit full USB-A connections. Fortunately, HP wasn’t deterred by the lack of space and provided the USB connections with a cover, so they still fit in the chassis. You can access them by pushing the cap down and because that can put extra stress on the connector itself, it’s metal-reinforced. On the left is a microSD card reader and on the right are the USB-C connections, which support Thunderbolt 4. You also need them to charge the battery or to connect an external display, since HDMI isn’t included.
What’s great about the slim casing is that HP has also managed to build in a keyboard with excellent travel for the convertible keys. Not only can you press the keys farther, but the touch is also well dampened resulting in a crisp key feel. The touchpad has a glass surface and does what it’s supposed to do, including multi-touch gestures built into Windows.
Bookmark
This version of ENVY x360 is powered by Core i7-1250U processor. This CPU has a total of ten cores: two fast cores and eight economical cores. Define one Intel maximum turbo power 29 watts for this processor. If you start a benchmark test, like the two below, you’ll see that the maximum power consumed by the processor also moves towards 30W. So it seems HP is making the most of the processor.
In the above benchmarks, the ENVY x360 is nearly as fast as the ASUS Fold 17, which we’re “Turbo profile. However, the Surface Pro 9, a tablet with i5 processor, is much faster in Cinebench multi. That’s because the Intel i5-1235U processor can handle up to 55W reinforces, while with the 1250U, as mentioned, you stop at 29W. So for the i7-1250U the ENVY does well, but there are convertibles like the Surface that are a bit smoother in some cases.
Picture quality: Always pop with OLED
In the most expensive version, the ENVY x360 is equipped with an OLED display manufactured by Samsung. The resolution is 2880 x 1800 pixels, which gives an aspect ratio of 16:10. Samsung also makes a 14-inch OLED with the same resolution and 90Hz refresh rate, but this 13-inch screen hangs at 60Hz. How is the picture quality of this OLED screen? We check it using CalMAN software and colorimeter.
Image quality looks good and bad. Here’s the thing: Like almost all OLED screens, this screen can also display more colors than the standard sRGB color space. If we measure the display at P3 settings, we get very good results with barely perceptible deviations of 1.2 and 1.6 degrees Celsius. The laptop is also equipped with software for switching to sRGB… only the function does not work. We’ve done software, bios updates, and even recovery, to no avail. Therefore, in most cases, you are looking for oversaturated colors. This takes some getting used to, and if you don’t use your laptop to edit photos, it’s not a big deal, but something to keep in mind. A big advantage of an OLED screen is that HDR images look beautiful, thanks in part to the larger color range. HP specifies a peak brightness of 500 cd/m2, but we even got as high as 550 cd/m2.
Battery life and noise production
Battery life isn’t unimportant for a compact laptop. We test it in two scenarios, and if we stick to just browsing the web, we’ll end up with over ten hours. Our current browsing test consists of websites with a lot of white space, so if you visit websites that only support dark mode, the battery life may be a little longer, because OLED screens are more economical when we display dark colors. If you increase the load, the battery life will be only four hours.
We also looked at the noise from the cooling in our soundproof room. We look at audio production in three scenarios, with Blender being the heaviest, followed by PCMark and WebXprt as the lightest. In this latest test, we simulate browsing and the cooling is inaudibly quiet in most environments. However, the noise from the fan increases quickly. PCMark also runs quietly on some systems, but the cooling really suffers and the fan is clearly audible. In Blender, the noise level is slightly higher. If you look at the cooling in the photo below, you will immediately see that the heatsink is very small. So it’s actually made with a relatively economical Core i7 processor.
If you want to upgrade the ENVY hardware you can, but the case doesn’t open easily and the screws are hidden under the rubber on the bottom. If you remove the bottom panel, you will find a removable wireless network card and SSD. Lpddr5 memory is soldered and therefore cannot be replaced.
Conclusion
What sets the ENVY x360 apart from other convertibles? First of all, of course, the screen. This gives a beautiful (HDR) picture, thanks to the high resolution and OLED screens. Unfortunately, in most cases you are looking for oversaturated colors, because the sRGB mode does not work. On top of that, the ENVY sets itself apart with its webcam with above-average HD resolution, a nice metal body and a keyboard that writes very well for a slim convertible case. There are also points where ENVY is ‘just good’, but doesn’t really stand out. The processor is economical and this is the right choice given the compact chassis, but there are many other chips that are faster than the i7-1250U. Battery life is also good, but it doesn’t really stand out either. So there is not much wrong with ENVY x360.
The question is: is that enough? There are also other convertibles with an OLED screen, which at the time of writing are available for less than 1000 euros, for example Samsung from LBBG. The cost of ENVY is 1350 EUR. Some alternatives have faster processors on board, but the resolution in most cases is 1920 x 1080 and not 2880 x 1800 pixels, as is the case with ENVY. Is that resolution important to you and sRGB mode isn’t, and is the i7-1250U fast enough for you? So the ENVY is a beautifully finished laptop, and there’s not a tiny bit wrong with it that we definitely wouldn’t recommend it.