2020 HP Envy x360 13 Convertible 2-in-1 Review: Ryzen 5 Beats a Core i7

[_MT_]

I wouldn't even mind it lasting just an hour as long as I could set the various control panels to a "max performance / minimum battery" setting to get the same performance as the 4500U benchmark videos I've seen on Youtube for dozens of games, but I'm not even sure that the various power options give that level of control to make battery performance equal to wall performance.

This isn't that powerful hardware so you should be able to get pretty close. And this review does say that 3DMark score is barely reduced on battery (less than 5 %); that should give your a good indication for gaming. It kind of depends on how much headroom you have. If a game barely breaks 30 fps plugged-in, you're pushing your luck. If it's 40+ and you're happy with 30+, it should work. It's also a thermal question. Running a short benchmark and gaming for an hour are two different things. If you loose 15 % fps due to heat over time, it's going to sting if you don't have enough headroom. And then there is the fact that you want to use it folded up... If I were you, I would probably buy it, try it and return it if I'm not happy. Your use case is just too specific and unless the games have a lot of headroom in benchmarks, you just don't know. Unless you can find someone to test it for you.

[Michaelflat1]

Thanks for the excellent review!

Couple of questions that I may have missed the answer to in the article:

1) How is the battery life when gaming?  I see the load test shows 116 minutes, but is that a purely CPU load, or CPU + GPU?  (Power draw numbers weren't listed for Witcher 3, so I believe that load test may just be CPU load).  I'm hoping the machine can get 90-120 minutes while running a modern game at moderate brightness.

2) Does the machine throttle under CPU + graphics load, like playing games, when it's fully folded over into tablet mode with the back of the screen up against the back of the base? 

I have a use case where I'd like to use one of these in tablet mode propped up on a treadmill to play games.  The exhaust would be facing up, so that should be fine, but I am concerned the screen being folded over might not allow the intake to get enough air and the machine could throttle.  Would really love to get confirmation that the machine doesn't throttle in that configuration while running games for a period of time!

2hr battery life is minimum. 25w draw from the battery. This is with a CPU power limit of 14w in HP Recommended mode.
(starts off 18w then slowly goes down to 14w as 'skin temp' warms up) this is STAPM boost.

The fan noise is surprisingly low in this mode I find, once all the turbo boosting has subsided and you are just in game, power throttled to 14w, it's really reasonable.

As for fan intake, it's quite bad. Placed on a flat desk this machine is suffocated quite badly, and a little bit in tablet mode aswell. Don't even think about running anything intensive on a bed/soft surface. I am tempted to get some stick on feet for this laptop, i'd rather it not be suffocated.

Fortunately, the fan intake is in the middle, so laptop use it is fine.

[Jan O.]

Is the fan actually turned off in idle, or does it keep spinning all the time?

The review says that it stays quiet but not completely sure what that means.

[Sepp Eisinga]

A couple of days ago I saw you would make a review of the 4700u 8gb model.

Did you decide to make one of the 4500u instead of the 4700u model or is that review still coming?

And if you would like to game on the go with it. Is it worth it to spend 100 euro more for the 4700u 8gb model or 200 euro for the 4700u 16gb model?

Or are the differences that miniscule and just buy the 4500u 8gb?

Best regards!

[Chris Lamke]

Excellent review. Thank you for being so thorough and choosing such relevant models to compare this to.

[Dobby]

How is the actual tablet experience of the device such as ergonomics, speakers and pen functionality?

[Gump]

Is the fan actually turned off in idle, or does it keep spinning all the time?

The review says that it stays quiet but not completely sure what that means.

The fan does turn off and will remains off until reaching +40°C

[winston]

The chassis looks great. Too bad it's 16:9 and therefore unusable for any professional work.

[Bob]

This is an 'ultrabook' not a gaming rig.  Their mid-tier kit at that.  Since it is not billed (designed, built or marketed) as gaming machine...not sure knocking it for its performance (or lack there of) with gaming is fair.  As it pretty well kicks a** at most everything else (that it was designed for).

Unfortunately you are going to need to get a high end machine or one of the many designed for gaming (that's why they exist/what they're for), if you want a machine that 'excels' at gaming (and therefor can easily handle all other applications).

[rickyprose]

Hi guys,

one question in the article they say using USB C we can connect to Display port and ok is clear.
But they say no HDMI (connector) and of curse no thunderbolt, but this can create confusion, this means if I have USB-C to HDMI adapter it will not work due no thunderbolt?
Thanks
Ricky

[spacemate]

Hi!

Great review, but is this a great laptop for people attending uni? I'd like to better understand if its table mode is any good, if it's compatible with a pen/stylus, how good it is at that (so I can know if it works for taking notes in class). I feel like this would truly make a difference in 2 in 1 reviews where people are paying attention to the convertible characteristic.

Thanks!

[vertigo]

Hi guys,

one question in the article they say using USB C we can connect to Display port and ok is clear.
But they say no HDMI (connector) and of curse no thunderbolt, but this can create confusion, this means if I have USB-C to HDMI adapter it will not work due no thunderbolt?
Thanks
Ricky

From what I can tell, there are two options: USB-C to DisplayPort, which is better as long as your display as DP, or USB-C to HDMI, which requires a special active cable with a chip to convert the DP signal to HDMI.

[Francisca]

Hello, everyone...

I have this laptop and I love it. Recently I bought a pair of Apple Earpods (wired, 3.5 mm jack) and they won't work well with my laptop. Every other brand works just right, but the Apple Earpods are not recognized properly. The sound is awful and the microphone doesn't work - it doesn't even show up on the sound settings.

The earbuds work just fine on other laptops (I tried it on two Asus laptops and they work with no problems at all. The microphone is properly recognized, too). Can anyone give me some advice on how to fix this?

Thanks in advance.

[vertigo]

3.5mm devices aren't "recognized" like USB devices are, i.e. the software has nothing to do with it. Since the earbuds have a mic, the plug has four sections, and each section on the plug has to line up with the appropriate section in the socket/port. My guess would be that it's either not going in far enough (possibly because of embedded lint in the port or the casing on the plug being too bulky for that particular port) or it's going in too far. So try plugging it in the backing it out very slightly a little at a time to see if it works at any point, and if it doesn't then try checking for lint (no idea how you would go about this in such a tiny hole). You could also try another 3.5mm "headset" (headphones with mic) to see if it works, which would point to the Earpods molding being too bulky for the Envy.

[Francisca]

3.5mm devices aren't "recognized" like USB devices are, i.e. the software has nothing to do with it. Since the earbuds have a mic, the plug has four sections, and each section on the plug has to line up with the appropriate section in the socket/port. My guess would be that it's either not going in far enough (possibly because of embedded lint in the port or the casing on the plug being too bulky for that particular port) or it's going in too far. So try plugging it in the backing it out very slightly a little at a time to see if it works at any point, and if it doesn't then try checking for lint (no idea how you would go about this in such a tiny hole). You could also try another 3.5mm "headset" (headphones with mic) to see if it works, which would point to the Earpods molding being too bulky for the Envy.

Thank you so much for replying so quickly!

I have other headsets and they work just fine. I tried doing what you suggested (backing out slightly at a time) but it didn't work. Would this mean that the molding is too bulky for the Envy? And by that, does that mean that it isn't plugging deep enough on the port?

Thanks again!