HP Envy 14 x360 Review: a ‘spectre-acular’ affair

When I sat down to write about the all-new HP Envy 14, I couldn’t help but get a sense of Deja Vu. You see, I recently reviewed the company’s Spectre x360, and the laptop left a lasting impression on me. I felt a sense of familiarity transitioning to the company’s more affordable convertible, and more than the differences, the similarities between the lineups stood out. Both laptops sport luxurious designs, high-res OLED displays, nifty trackpad and webcam features, and more. So much so, one can’t help but wonder – how does the Envy 14 x360 stack up? I’ll try to answer that in this review. 

Design and Display

HP recently published an article highlighting the key differences between its Spectre and Envy lineups. In it, the company says that the Spectre series is crafted with ‘premium materials and an aluminium body, giving it a sophisticated look.’ Well, I’ve spent the better part of my review period with the Envy 14 x360 gawking at its svelte build. To me, the laptop feels every bit as premium as the Spectre x360 I was using a week or so ago. 

Additionally, the brand confirmed that both devices are made out of high-strength aluminium. If anything, the Envy 14 x360 doesn’t sport the eye-catching gem-cut design synonymous with the Spectre range. Other than that, though, the laptops feel equally luxurious. 

The Envy 14 x360 is also quite compact, and can comfortably be used as a tablet if need be. The laptop’s manageability can also be attributed to its chamfered edges and featherlight frame weighing just 1.4kg. The hinge is exceptionally reliable, too, and it can anchor the display at any angle of your liking. The panel doesn’t sway when used on the go either, which is excellent.

Since we’re on the subject, you should know that the HP Envy 14 x360 features the same display as the one on the Spectre series. The OLED screen measures 14 inches, refreshes at 120Hz, and sports a 2,800 x 1,800 resolution. The display also comes with the IMAX Enhanced certification and can seamlessly relay HDR media. As for the brightness, the display offers a peak SDR and HDR brightness of 400 and 500 nits. Lastly, the panel covers 100 percent of the DCI-P3 colour gamut. 

The laptop’s display truly stands out in its segment. The screen offers vibrant colours and an excellent contrast ratio. The OLED display overturns inky blacks, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching movies on the laptop. Funnily enough, I recently purchased an Apple TV 4K, which has been all but sidelined since I got my hands on the Spectre and Envy convertibles. Rest assured, if you watch a lot of movies or just need a vibrant albeit colour-accurate screen to go about your day, the HP Envy 14 x360 will not disappoint you. 

The screen’s 120Hz refresh rate deserves a mention, too. Not only does it pave the way for smoother animations, but it also adds to the laptop’s gaming creds. Granted, the Envy 14’s hardware can’t push too many games at 120FPS. That said, a lot of platformers and RPGs like Hollow Knight, the Ori series, and Hades can run at 100+ FPS on the laptop. Additionally, these games pop on the laptop’s OLED display, so if you’re looking to play some games on the device, do give these a go. 

I should also add that the display picked up on my touch inputs quite well. The company also bundles a stylus which you can use to sketch on the Envy 14 x360. I used it to take notes on the go and didn’t notice any significant latency, which is excellent.

Audio and Connectivity

As ludicrous as it may sound, the HP Envy 14 x360 ships with more ports than the 16-inch Spectre. The laptop has two USB Type-A 3.1 ports, a Thunderbolt 4 connector, another USB Type-C 10Gbps port, an HDMI 2.1 slot, and a 3.5mm combo jack. Quite frankly, the port layout didn’t leave me wanting more, and it’s refreshing to see a compact, thin-and-light convertible ship with so many connectors. 

The laptop features a 5MP IR webcam, which can record videos in 2K resolution. While you will miss out on some of HP’s GlamCam features from the Spectre range, the Envy’s webcam is no slouch and comes with a few AI tricks up its sleeves. As such, it can blur the background and keep your face in the frame when you’re on a video call. As you may have guessed, these tasks are allocated to the Core 7 Ultra 155U’s dedicated NPU. 

The video quality is top-notch, too, and the webcam is more than adept at taking video calls on the go. The camera array also has an IR sensor, so you can use Windows Hello Facial Recognition to unlock the laptop quickly. I should also add that the Envy 14 x360 doesn’t come with an e-shutter for privacy. Instead, it uses a physical slider to disable the webcam.

Keyboard and Trackpad

The Envy 14 x360 features a comfortable keyboard deck. The keys offer satisfactory feedback, too, although there is some flex towards the middle of the deck. You’ll also get support for backlit LEDs, which is excellent. 

The Envy x360, much like the Spectre, features a ginormous trackpad. However, unlike the one on the Spectre, it is not a haptic touchpad, so you can’t control the click intensity. You also won’t be able to use HP’s excellent brightness and volume control trackpad gestures that are enabled via the Command Center app. Nevertheless, the Envy x360’s trackpad is one of the best in its price range. 

Performance and Battery Life

While the HP Envy 14 x360 and Spectre 14 x360 may look similar on the outside, their core components couldn’t be any more different. Unlike the company’s premium convertible, the Envy 14 x360 uses Intel’s Core Ultra 7 155U processor. While the name may sound similar to what we get with the Spectre x360, which is powered by a Core Ultra 7 155H processor, the processors are quite different.

Spec-wise, the Core Ultra 7 155U features two performance, eight efficiency cores, and two LPE or Low Power-Efficient cores. The P-cores and E-cores can turbo up to 4.8GHz and 3.8GHz, respectively, and the processor operates on a lower base power of 15W. Additionally, the processor works in tandem with Intel Graphics, an integrated GPU with four Xe cores.

The Core Ultra 7 155H, on the other hand, features more P-cores, more threads, and a more powerful Arc GPU with eight Xe cores. Naturally, the Spectre x360 is geared toward professionals with a demanding workload. To help you understand the differences better, I’ve compiled some charts that pit the laptops’ CPU and GPU performance against each other.

Let’s kick things off with CineBench R24, which gauges a processor’s single-core and multi-core performance by subjecting them to a high CPU load. Here, the Envy 14 x360 overturned 377 and 95 points in the multi-core and single-core runs. The Spectre x360, on the other hand, logged a much higher multi-core score of 830 points. The same can be attributed to the presence of more P-cores. The single-core sprint was comparable, though, with the device outputting 101 points.

Turn the page to GPU-focussed benchmarks, and you’ll get a similar result. The Spectre x360 logged 28,659 points in the Night Raid test, which is designed to test the gaming performance of laptops with integrated graphics. The Envy 14 x360, on the other hand, overturned 16,600 points. 

Note that the comparisons outlined above are meant to showcase the capabilities of Intel’s Core Ultra 7’s H and U-series chipsets. My experience with the HP Envy 14 x360 was good enough, and the laptop could easily keep up with my day-to-day. Sure, the processor would occasionally slow down to catch its breath, especially when used with the battery preset set to the ‘Balanced’ profile. 

That said, I didn’t notice any glaring performance niggles when using the laptop. Chances are, you won’t either, especially if you mostly dabble with apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams or use a laptop to primarily sift through emails or work on Excel sheets. Anything more, though, and you will start to see the chinks in the Envy 14 x360’s armour. For instance, while the laptop can be used for photo editing, it’s not the quickest of the bunch.

Additionally, it can heat up quite a bit, too. In PugetBench, the device logged a cumulative score of 4,617 points and could complete tasks like applying lens correction filters and adaptive wide-angle filters. 

That said, the Spectre x360 logged better numbers, particularly for more demanding synthetic edits like applying the wide-angle lens filter to correct lens distortions. Here, the Envy 14 x360 took 106 seconds to complete the task, whereas the Spectre x360 took just 85 seconds. All said and done, creators should be able to make the most of the laptop’s colour-accurate display for casual editing on the go. However, serious professionals may want to opt for a more powerful laptop in the segment.

Similarly, gamers should keep their expectations in check as the laptop struggles to play older titles like GTA V, too. With the game running at the laptop’s native resolution, the built-in benchmark hovered around the 20FPS mark. Dropping the resolution to 1,920 x 1,200 does help, but it’s quite evident that gaming is not Envy 14 x360’s forte.

As for the battery backup, I could get around six hours of use out of the machine on a single charge. The display brightness hovered around 40 percent, although I did switch between the ‘balanced’ and ‘performance’ battery presets. PCMark 10’s Battery Video test, which was run with the display brightness set to 80 percent, scored a favourable result for the laptop too. Here, the Envy 14 x360 lasted a little over nine hours.

Verdict

As specced, the HP Envy 14 x360 costs Rs 1,07,999 in India. For the price, the laptop sports a premium design and is outfitted with a class-leading display that is neck and neck with its Spectre counterpart. Of course, some niceties are reserved for the Spectre line, including various GlamCam features, a haptic trackpad, and a more powerful processor with a better iGPU. Even so, the Envy 14 x360 doesn’t feel like a stripped-down version of the Spectre, especially when you factor in that it costs Rs 80K less! 

All things considered, the Envy 14 x360 is a compelling option for consumers seeking a high-quality yet affordable convertible laptop with an OLED display.

Editor’s rating: 8 / 10

Pros: 

• Gorgeous OLED display
• Lightweight and luxurious design
• High-quality webcam
• Good selection of ports
• Good battery life
• Decent performance

Cons:

• Not geared toward power-hungry users
• Heat dissipation could’ve been better