HP Envy 14 review

The HP Envy 14 is a fluid device, with a screen large and sharp enough to make single-screen work more realistic, and it is easily expandable, with enough graphics power to easily handle a couple of additional screens.

The feeling we got after using the HP Envy 14 is that it is simply effortless. It allows you to do what you need to do without getting in the way. HP’s Envy notebooks have evolved from mid-range devices to more attractive devices for creative people. The Envy 15, for example, is a powerful notebook with a true-color OLED display that rivals other 15-inch notebooks in terms of performance and, more importantly, price. Now HP has reintroduced the HP Envy 14 form factor with a new device that uses Intel’s 11th-generation Tiger Lake CPU and a discrete graphics card, all in a slightly smaller chassis than its big brother.

The HP Envy 14 is the perfect notebook for many people. It features a powerful Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650Ti Max-Q GPU housed in a sleek aluminum chassis. Not to mention the vibrant 14-inch 1080p display in 16:10 aspect ratio and a battery life of more than 9 hours. However, $1,249 is a bit much, especially if you only have a Core i5 and a 256 GB SSD. The internal SSD is also a bit slow and the speakers can be a bit annoying.

The advantages we mentioned above are not perfect. Color and panel brightness scores are slightly below average, as is battery life, so there is definitely room for improvement. Nevertheless, the HP Envy 14 is one of the best laptops you can buy if you are looking for a rugged 14-inch computer, and it definitely ranks among the best laptops for video editing

Design

In recent years, PC manufacturers have developed much more premium designs. Bulky, plastic devices have been abandoned in favor of sleek, attractive metal. However, the challenge has always been to design a notebook that is easy to carry, that is, thin and light, without losing important features. With the Envy 14, HP has taken a sensible and attractive approach without compromising. You get a thin and portable device, but you don’t have to sacrifice many valuable ports. Virtually everything you need is packed into its angular chassis, and aesthetically there is much to like as well.

The Envy 14’s footprint is small, as it does not have excessive bezels around the keyboard and display. The keyboard is full-sized, but with little space between it and the edge of the case. Speakers run along the top of the cheap keyboards, hidden under a grid of milled microholes arranged in a repeating triangular pattern. This pattern blends into the overall motif, as the Envy has virtually no curves. There are only flat lines and corners, even at the bottom, where the case tilts to flat edges and hides two more triangular grilles for additional speakers.

Keyboard and Touchpad

We managed to type 73 words per minute, an average lower than mine of 78 words per minute. We missed some words because the keyboard is smaller and more compact than that of a 15-inch or larger notebook. Although not a 2-in-1 notebook, the HP Envy 14’s touchscreen panel worked well when our finger ran over it to create a drawing of a disappointed-looking house. The 4.5 x 2.9-inch touchpad was stickier than we expected, but overall operation was smooth and offered satisfactory click torque. Windows 10 gestures, such as three-finger tabbing and two-finger scrolling, worked well.

Display

The HP Envy 14’s 14-inch, 1920 x 1200 pixel, 16:10 display does not perform above average for a high-end laptop, but considering its price, it comes close enough to provide a vibrant and colorful image. In the trailer for Happily, the green background of the rich people’s pool was sharp and contrasted well with the crystal blue water. In the scene where the main characters are in the kitchen, the poor lighting created dark shadows around their clothes, making it difficult to make out details, especially since the panel is shiny.

However, the screen was sharp enough to distinguish every single strand of hair sticking out of Joel McHale’s head. Our colorimeter detected 82.6 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut for the HP Envy 14’s display, just a few points behind the premium laptop average of 85.3 percent. It outperformed the Acer Book RS (78.4%) and the Lenovo Yoga 9i (76%), but was left in the dust by the Dell XPS 15 (93.7%).

Audio

The HP Envy 14’s lower speakers are loud, and while they reproduce some instruments decently, others are muddled. We listened to Raon Lee’s cover of “Hated by life itself,” and the introductory piano was too bass-heavy. We heard the noisy effect that occurs when subwoofers get too heavy. The later drums sounded crisp, but not very round. The vocals were strong, but when the chorus came it overshadowed almost all the instruments. Most of it sounded like empty noise.

Like most HP laptops, this unit has the Bang & Olufsen Audio Control app, which allows you to choose from three audio presets (music, movie, and voice) and customize them. Within each preset, you can adjust the equalizer yourself or choose one of 11 presets, such as HP Optimized, Jazz or Rock. These drastically change the sound, but they do not do what we want.

Graphics

Unlike most of its 14-inch competitors, the HP Envy 14 features an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti GPU with 4 GB of VRAM. At Ultra, 1080p settings, the device achieved 23 frames per second in the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey benchmark, a very impressive result. Turning the graphics down a bit, the game easily exceeded 30 FPS.

In the Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm benchmark (medium, 1080p), the HP Envy 14 achieved 63 fps, outperforming the average premium laptop (28 fps) and the Dell XPS 15’s GTX 1650 Ti (48 fps), the Acer Book RS’s Intel Iris Xe (48 fps) and the Lenovo Yoga 9i’s Intel Iris Xe (25 fps). The HP Envy 14 got 26 fps in the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark (Highest, 1080p), just behind the Dell XPS 15 (29 fps) and far from the category average (38 fps).

Performance

Unlike the larger Envy 15, which has a 45-watt Intel CPU, the Envy 14 has an 11th generation Intel Tiger Lack Core i5-1135G7 processor. We found it to be a fast option in the U-series, almost on par with Intel’s Core i7 in many cases, clocked just slightly higher. The Envy 14 delivers on its CPU promises. As you can see in the table below, it does not shine in Geekbench 5, but it is more competitive in the other tests. HP offers Command Center software, which allows you to adjust the CPU based on fan noise and heat generation versus full performance, but on the Envy 14 it doesn’t make as much of a difference as on the Envy 15 and Spectre x360 14.

Two examples. The Spectre x360 14 in particular makes good use of the utility: it is quite fast in Performance mode, while it is very quiet and much slower in Balanced mode. All the results of the Envy 14 listed here were obtained with the utility in “Balanced” mode. Overall, the Envy 14 performs admirably, even compared to its Core i7 competitors. In our Handbrake test, encoding a 420 MB file in H.265, the Envy 14 performed on par with all competitors except the Prestige 14 Evo and the Ryzen 7 5800U-based Asus ZenBook 13, which outperformed its Intel competitors. In performance mode, the Envy 14 placed third in this group.

Battery Life

The Envy 14 has a 63-watt-hour battery, honestly smaller than I expected. The Spectre x360 14, a much smaller notebook, has a 67-watt-hour battery. However, we expected the Envy 14 to last longer, since its 1,920 x 1,200-pixel IPS display has a lower resolution than the Spectre’s 3,000 x 2,000-pixel OLED panel. My expectations were met. The Envy 14 lasted for just over 12.5 hours in our web browsing test, which involves looping through a number of popular websites. This is a remarkable result, beating all the 14-inch competitors I mentioned by several hours and placing it at the high end of all the laptops we tested.

The Envy 14 was not as strong in our video test, which involves playing a full HD Avengers trailer until the battery runs out. In this case, the HP got 14.5 hours, a good result, but it was beaten by the MSI Prestige 14 Evo and the Porsche Design Acer Base RS. There is usually a larger difference between web and video tests, with the latter usually being a bit longer.

Heat

Despite the discrete GPU, the Envy 14 is quite cool under the hood. After playing a video for 15 minutes, the bottom reached 88 degrees Fahrenheit, well below our comfort threshold of 95 degrees. The middle of a keyboard and touchpad reached 89 and 81 degrees, respectively. The highest temperature was 92 degrees on the underside in front of the Esc key.

Final Words

The HP ENVY 14 is one of our favorite notebooks of the year so far. While there are many 13-inch Ultrabook’s out there, the ENVY 14 offers something different with the GTX 1650Ti in a 14-inch chassis. It also features a stunning 16:10 display that is simply stunning even in Full HD. In addition to the outstanding keyboard, extensive ports, silver metal chassis, and the $1,260 price tag, there is much to like.

John Brister
John Brister
Meet John Brister, the prolific content writer renowned for his perceptive comparison articles on Bollyinside. Specializing in topics ranging from TVs to headphones and other accessories, John's knack for breaking down intricate details into reader-friendly insights has garnered him a dedicated following. Beyond his literary pursuits, John is an avid swimmer and equally passionate about tracking, often exploring new trails and routes, feeding his sense of adventure.

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The HP Envy 14 is one of our favorite notebooks of the year so far. While there are many 13-inch Ultrabook out there, the ENVY 14 offers something different with the GTX 1650Ti in a 14-inch chassis.HP Envy 14 review