Comparisons have been made by the nattering nabobs of Appleism that the HP Envy 13 is just a knock-off of the Macbook Pro 13-inch. This is the cowards way out and I shan’t stand for it. I will look at HP’s latest notebook – don’t call it a netbook! – as a harbinger of things to come.
The Envy 13 reflects a few trends in Windows hardware. First, consumers are realizing that notebooks are garbage. They are willing to pay a premium for a more powerful computer in a sexier case. Second, Windows 7 is here and it’s ready to kick posterior and jot down identifying information.
The model we tested was running Windows 7 Professional and had an Intel Core Duo 2 L9600 processor running at 2.13 GHz. It also had 3GB of 1067 Mhz memory. Its GeekBench score was 2375. To put this into perspective, this ToughBook scored 1893 and something like the MSI Wind it 837. This is, needless to say, a full-bodied machine. Battery life hit about 3 hours of movie watching.
The Envy is definitely quite a looker. Clad in metal alloy it’s not quite unibody but it does have some very slick design queues that tell you it’s a higher end machine. First, the glass on the screen is flush with the edges of the lid and melds seamlessly a la the Macbook. Then you have some nice dotted detailing on the wrist wrest which, I suspect, will be full of crud after a few weeks. The keys are a bit mushy but the keyboard is big enough for daily use. Then you come to the trackpad.
Your friends won’t “envy” this trackpad. It has two buttons, one on either bottom corner, and a central finger sliding area. It also supports limited gestures including two-fingered scroll but to activate them you need to tap the trackpad. Botton-scrolling is nigh on impossible because your thumb starts to touch the upper touchpad and results in all sorts of scrolling mess. HP tried to make a buttonless trackpad (like another laptop, ahem) but they failed. The trackpad is also very large and very sensitive, resulting in missed tracking every few swipes. This is the Envy’s biggest problem but something that can be accepted and even embraced given enough time and patience.
Like a lover, the HP Envy opens itself slowly and you come to realize the true majesty of future Win7 laptops. The operating system is specially tweaked to match the Envy’s style and the menu bars and buttons all flash for a moment before settling down. This is a nice touch.
The Envy also includes an instant-on OS which allows you to surf the web, run Skype, or listen to music. Is there value in this? That’s debatable, but it’s nice to know it’s there, I suppose.
The fan was a little noisy at boot-up and during major activities but nothing major. There is no optical drive but it has an SD card slot along with HDMI-out, two USB ports, and a headphone port.
Overall I was pleased with the Envy 13. It’s a small laptop with a minor trackpad quirk but it proves that the big guys like HP can still make a quality product without pandering to the Wal-Mart lowendization of the market. That said, guess how much this thing costs. $1,800 in this configuration. Oof.
Given that the cheapest 13-inch MacBook (I know, that word again) costs $1,199, the premium placed on this laptop is a little rough. Presumably this one is for the trendy early adopters, those who want Win7 Pro the very first week it’s on the market, and, to be fair, there’s a lot of machine here for the size.
Bottom Line
Windows 7 is going to be the belle of the ball in the next few months so expect lots of machines like the Envy to hit stores. While that price is fairly rough, there will be few options for folks who want the Win7 Pro experience on a laptop and those few options will be expensive. Manufacturers will have to clear out their Vista/XP netbooks before moving to Win7 and even then they won’t want to come down much in price. It’s the premium play all over again and it will suck for a while.
Also remember that this is based on the higher-end Voodoo Envy, a machine with a high price tag. Can HP take out the Voodoo DNA and sell laptops under the same branding without losing customers? Debatable, but we’ll have to see.
However, if you’re looking for a stylish, fairly powerful notebook with enough horses to run Win7, this is one of the better models out there. Give it a second look.
Why do I always make the first comment? Nice netbook. It IS a NETBOOK. NO CD DRIVE. NETBOOK. XD
Okay, maybe it isn’t but no CD drive? May as well go for a Adamo or Air then.
See ya later guys!
Stef,
the 13 year old gadget blogger
PS: It’s my birthday!
Actually the term Netbook is often debated however in my eyes it is most often synonymous with “small, light, inexpensive, 7-12 inch screen, and lacking an optical drive” Also the majority tend to be run based on either an intel Atom architecture or Via processor.
While this does classify under a few specifics of the “netbook” category I see this simply out pacing a majority of full scale notebooks and therefore belongs in the notebook category.
The moment I saw it I was thinking it is a MacBook Pro 13′ knockoff. And the more I am looking at it, it indeed is a rather poor and expensive lookalike. Aluminum body, black keyboard buttons, big trackpad. Hey just look at the screen and notice how it is connected to the body …
Having the buttons under the touchpad is such a stupid idea… I hate how whenever I try to click the mouse moves over to whatever I didn’t want to click on
Wow, I’m going to buy some Apple stock. If the main competitor to Apple thinks that this is worth $1800 without an optical drive (meh?)? Not to be a fanboy, but I don’t see the value. Maybe they have to post the price higher to account for the “instant $200 off” they’ll eventually be doing?
so let me get this straight, it’s $800 more than a macbook, it’s ugly, and it runs windows.
total failure.
Ditto!
Yep she is alright looking good but what is it on xp or vista?
The answer to your question is… Neither… it’s “on” Windows 7.
(Next time be sure to check out the little squiggly black things that fill up the areas of the page not covered by pictures. They are called words and they tend to answer stupid questions before they are asked.)
It might cost a lot more than the Mac people assume it is ripping off.
I hope CrunchGear will review the Mac with Windows 7 as an option for people who must use MS OSes.
Maybe this will end up being worth the difference in price.
I am surprised that the pad cannot be switched off. We have two HP laptops and the pad has a little switch to disable it. The biggest problem we have with HP is overheating (with subsequent shutdown).
looks good… better than my Macbook Pro 13″ running Windows 7 like a dream and that also comes with an optical drive? I think NOT!
… and it is more expensive…lol
I’m considering this because it’s the only 13″ laptop that has a 1600×900 display other than the Sony Z series which is a better comparison than a MBP. I couldn’t care less if the keys are a little sunk in and the screen glass goes edge to edge. The 13″ mac book pro (i have one) has 1280 display and a joke of a graphics subsystem ,i use it for trivial things. The Sony Z can switch to a low power graphics subsystem on the fly to reduce power. It also has a carbon fiber chassis so it comes in lighter (aluminum is old tech and heavier). The Hp Envy has the most accurate color display for image rendering. The Sony Z and The HP Envy 13 are for people who need to get sh*t done on the move and have no need to stand around looking how shinny it is.
The Z sells like mad and starts at 2K and goes to 5K if u really need to rig it out (raid 0 SSDs). I couldn’t care less if it’s a Mac or HP or Sony, I need the best lightest most reliable machine i can get my hands on. That’s the demographic for this machine. If you want a shinny toy to show of at your local internet cafe, this is not it.
it may look like a mac, but on the inside it is nicer than a mac can even come. no matter how much money you wanna toss at the fact that Mac Sucks.
I was looking for a stylish HP laptop and I was really excited when I heard about this one coming out. It is kinda expensive. Does anyone see the price dropping soon? Also it does have a CD Drive?? How do you install games and watch movies you have on a disc?? What about the Envy 15? Does it have a CD Drive?