HP Envy 16 Laptop specifications
The HP Envy 16 is fast, well-connected, and cheaper than competitors, so it's perfect if you need a laptop to create content on a budget – but if you want a great screen and a slimmer and more stable design, you'll have to pay more or shop elsewhere.
Key features
The powerful interior of Intel and NvidiaIntel's Core i7-12700H is a fast, versatile content creation chip, and Core i9 upgrades are available. It's paired with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060, which offers powerful gaming capability and some extra creative leverage.
Amazing battery life You've been interested in the components, you'll get through a working day with this powerful mobile device – and on some occasions you'll get twelve or fourteen hours of use with Envy.
16-inch HD display The virtual IPS module features a resolution of 2560 × 1600 along with good sRGB color handling, so it's perfect for everyday creative tasks — and the Envy 16's OLED upgrade helps rival its Apple and Dell rivals.
Introduction
If you want a laptop for challenging creative workloads, you'll probably buy an Apple MacBook Pro 16 or Dell XPS, but there are other options – like the HP Envy 16.
You may not take a second look at this laptop when the alternatives are very powerful, but HP has many attractive attributes. Its display options include high-resolution OLED and IPS touchscreens, are available with Intel i7 and i9 processors, and include Nvidia graphics.
Don't assume it's going to be expensive either. The revised model costs $1,749/£1,599/€1,959, and that figure compares well to rival excavators – the latest MacBook Pro 16 starts at $2,499/£2,699/€2,999, and the Dell XPS 15 starts at $1,959/£1,849/£2399.
There's always a risk that a low price means a lack of quality, so it's time to see if the HP Envy 16 can compete and earn a place in the chart of the best laptops of 2023 .
Design and keyboard
Decent working environment and reasonable range of ports
A beautiful-looking platform, but heavier and thicker than its contemporaries
Excellent webcam
The HP Envy 16 (2022) may cost less than competitors, but the inspiration for its design is clear. From the small screen bezels and recycled aluminum chassis to the curved edges and speaker grilles, it's clear that this notebook has received lessons from the MacBook Pro School of Design.
On the right side of the Envy aluminum enclosure, you'll find a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port, an HDMI 2.1 output and 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, and using a cylindrical adapter means you don't have to sacrifice one Thunderbolt port for charging. The left edge has a headphone jack, another full-size USB port and a microSD card slot.
The intercom comes from Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 dual-band, so I have no complaints there. Amazing webcam - 5MP module with Windows Hello support and privacy button with stylish status light.
Cameras are the most competitive laptops, and Envy beats them in some areas of connectivity too – Dell has one full-size USB port and Apple gets rid of them altogether. However, keep in mind that both competitors have full-size SD card slots and the MacBook Pro has an additional Thunderbolt port.
There are other areas where the Envy could be a little better as well, even if some minor vulnerabilities are expected at this price. Like the competition, it doesn't have any wired internet. There is no fingerprint scanner. The screen is powerful, but the underside of the base looks very weak. With a weight of 2.3 kg on the scale and a thickness of 20 mm, the Envy is larger than its competitors.
In practice, envy is fine. The keyboard is fast, comfortable and quiet, although light keys will be welcome. Positively, it has an additional row of function buttons on the right side and the backlight is suitable. It even has an emoji button that loads a list of emojis and GIFs – a smart feature borrowed from smartphone keyboards.
Negatively, though, there is no number plate and a single-height return switch. The trackpad is good, but the button presses are pretty deep.
screen
The default option of 2560 × 1600 is good enough for sRGB workloads
OLED panel matches MacBook Pro's Retina display
The refresh rate of 120Hz makes animations smoother
The HP Envy 16 you reviewed uses the three cheapest types of monitors. It's a 16-inch IPS display with a resolution of 2560 × 1600, so it's reasonably clear and the 16:10 aspect ratio offers extra vertical space. The refresh rate of 120Hz is suitable for everyday gaming.
Quality levels are also reasonable. The excellent Delta E score of 1.4 ensures color accuracy, and the brightness level of 418 nits means that you can use this panel both indoors and outdoors. The 1161:1 contrast ratio is a good IPS result and provides strong vitality and depth without excess saturation.
However, there is a reason why this panel is the least expensive. The black dot of 0.36 candles may be slightly lower, meaning that darker areas lack some depth. And while the HP palette produces a reasonable 96% sRGB color gamut, it hovers around 70% in the Adobe RGB and DCI-P3 color spaces. This particular screen contains only the colored pieces of the dominant creative workloads.
This entry-level screen sits behind the MacBook Pro 16, which has a 3456×2234 Liquid Retina XDR panel with better contrast, brightness, and color ability – it's a no-brainer.
If you need more creativity, you'll have to pay $200 for HP's OLED upgrade. This panel has a resolution of 3840 × 2400 and installs sRGB and DCI-P3 series, but it still can't handle the Adobe RGB color space and still peaks at the 400 nits brightness level in SDR mode.
This upgraded board is compatible with MacBook and XPS monitors for quality and gives you more creative freedom – a worthwhile and impressive upgrade for a device that still costs less than $2,000 and will therefore still be much cheaper than an OLED-equipped MacBook and XPS.
There is a bite in the tail here. This OLED panel is the best display option for Envy, but it's not currently available in United Kingdom and Europe – so buyers in those markets save money but miss out on quality.
The HP third screen option costs an additional $70 and adds touch functionality to the entry-level IPS display. In United Kingdom, the touchscreen version is available as the default option.
Pumping sound from the front edge of the device and either side of the keyboard, Bang & Olufsen devices provide good sound and good bass, albeit with a slightly weak midrange. This audio set can't quite compete with the MacBook, but it's good enough for everyday media.
performance
Speeds from Intel i7 and Nvidia RTX 3060 chips
Faster than Dell can offer, but MacBook Pro 16 will be faster
In workloads, envy is reasonably calm
The Intel Core i7-12700H processor has impressive productivity credentials - it has six performance cores and eight efficiency cores that handle 20 threads, and these performance cores provide a top speed of 4.7 GHz.
The Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics center has 6GB of dedicated memory, 3840 streaming processors and a healthy 95W TDP, and the Envy also deploys 16GB dual-channel DDR5 memory. The Micron 3400 1TB SSD has impressive read and write speeds of 6814MB/s and 5016MB/s, so PC boot times and applications are fast.
The Envy i7-12700H CPU is one of the fastest chip versions I've seen. Their Geekbench single- and multi-core results 1779 and 12214 are excellent. Its PCMark 10 score of 7127 is also excellent, and I expect the Envy to always be a little faster than the XPS 15.
This bodes well for creative computing. The Core i7 chip will easily handle any photo editing task, daily video editing, and coding burdens. Multitasking, encryption, and office apps work easily, and you can open as many browser tabs as you want.
The only way you will get a major upgrade is to upgrade to the Core i9-12900H. This is useful if you want to tackle more stringent content creation tasks, such as 4K video work and CAD software. This version of the Envy starts at $1949 / £2099 / €2799, and US and UK pricing looks particularly good – the XPS costs $2399 / £2249 with the Core i9 CPU.
Envy's biggest performance competitor is the M2 Pro chip inside the new MacBook Pro 16. When deployed in the new Mac mini, this CPU scores around 1950 and 15,000 points in Geekbench, so it looks like Apple's updated laptop will retain leadership performance.
However, HP doesn't slack in creative apps, and it performs decent gaming performance as well. Stick to a more manageable resolution of 1920 × 1200 and you'll be able to play the required single-player titles in fixed frames – the Envy ran Borderlands 3 at 62 fps and was 15 frames faster in the Horizon Zero Dawn.
Any esports title will run at averages exceeding 120 frames per second at native resolution, which bodes well for the competition – although avid esports enthusiasts will need a refresh rate above 120Hz. Go to creative apps, and you'll get solid support for any software that can exploit GPU acceleration.
If you want to use the HP GPU for gaming, expect some heat headaches. When the core of graphics is emphasized, the external panels become hot and the noise level matches the output you expect from a high-quality gaming laptop. It is not impossible to overcome it, but it is annoying.
The situation is better in business standards - fan noise is there and the outside is warm, but it is more modest and easier to manage, especially if you use speakers or a headset.
battery
You will easily spend a whole day with this laptop
When playing or pushing internals, expect low battery life
Despite the bad internal elements, the HP Envy 16 has performed well in battery parameters. Use Envy to perform traditional everyday work tasks—including a little content creation—and you'll succeed in a full day of work. Indeed, in the prevailing work test, envy lasted for 8 hours and 42 minutes.
This battery life extended to 14 hours and 52 minutes in a test run movie with low screen brightness, so you'll also be able to navigate if you're careful about how to use your laptop.
If you really want to push components or use Envy for gaming, expect a more modest 90-minute use – a disappointing but not surprising result.
This lifespan is better than anything XPS can manage, although you'll get better results from your MacBook Pro. And remember that battery life will decrease if you choose to upgrade OLED.