HP Envy 14-eb0021TX: Substance with style

Price: Rs 1,24,900

Specs: 14 inch 1920x1200 pixels resolution screen, 11th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650, 16GGB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, Windows 10 Home, 1 Thunderbolt 4 with USB4 Type-C, 2 USB Type-A, 1 HDMI 2.0, headphone/microphone combo,

In the box: Laptop with charger (including adaptor)

A powerful workhorse that is convenient to carry around is what I would say creative professionals look for. HP’s Envy 14 has got it all, right from design to power.

A well-balanced design: 13.3-inch machines are perfect to carry around but to some creative professionals it might feel small. However, the 15.6-inch becomes big and bulky to lug around. A 14-inch laptop is just perfect – offering more screen estate to work and at the same time is convenient to carry around. So is the HP Envy 14 - boasting a wedge shape for sleek design.

Even with an all-metal chassis, it weighs just under 1.5 kg. Unlike many companies (including HP) offering premium convertible and hybrid laptops, my review unit was a clamshell machine with a lid opening to maximum angle (~145 degrees). The overall design of this Envy 14 is quite similar to the Pavilion notebook I reviewed recently. Although I am not whining about the design, HP could have made it a little extra premium.

For a productivity-focused machine designed for creative professionals, a high-quality display is a must. While our review unit does not feature a 4k or a touch display, the 1920x1200p resolution screen isn’t bad either. With sleek borders on both sides, the 16:10 aspect ratio contributes to the big screen estate, while the anti-glare display enhances the viewing experience. More importantly, colours appear accurate - an utmost priority for those into editing, designing, etc - as everything appears bright and sharp.

With Delta E less than 2, the colour reproduction looks accurate. While the default display settings are great, there is an HP Display utility app that allowed me to switch to native (with no optimisations) to settings optimised for photo/video viewing and editing.

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Even with the wedge-shaped design, connectivity isn’t a problem. The Envy 14 has it all – USB 3.1 Type-A, HDMI, a Thunderbolt 4/USB-C port, an audio jack on the left, and USB Type-A along with a microSD card slot and power port on the right. So be it connecting the camera to dump the photos, transferring data to a USB dongle/Type C USB or even mirroring the screen on a bigger display, the Envy 14 handles everything without any hiccups.

Being addicted to AirDrop on the Apple ecosystem, I often look for quick and easy way of transferring data. And HP’s QuickDrop worked flawlessly for sharing files between my iPhone and this laptop wirelessly.

Powering the snappy performance on this Envy 14 is the 11th Gen Intel Core i7 – 1165G7 processor, 16GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 and 1TB storage, which handled my workload without any hiccups. Other than the regulars including browsing across multiple Chrome tabs (approximately 25 across multiple windows), downloading heavy files, hours of video conference, it smoothly handled image and video editing too.

While testing this machine, I recorded many video calls for which the 720p camera felt a little less. While HP has added an enhanced lighting feature for brightening face which allowed me to adjust the colour and temperature of the circular ring that appears on the screen, a bumped up 1080p camera would have been better. The sound output of the Bang & Olufsen-branded speakers is loud and clear, which I experienced while playing titles such as GTA V and watching movies like Mortal Kombat, amongst others.

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Overall, this Envy laptop scored 5357 on PCMark 10, the benchmark simulating real-world productivity and content-creation experiences. Even when used extensively, there weren’t any freezing issues or the machine barely got warm. This experience is extended to the well-spaced keyboard as well. With just the right amount of travel, the keyboard is comfortable to type on. The backlit keyboard shortcut to switch between off and on (two levels) makes it convenient to work in low light.

Adding security features onboard, HP has replaced one of the dedicated control button with a biometric (fingerprint) scanner, which might be a reason to worry if you are addicted to using the one on the right. Unlike select Lenovo machines with a physical shutter button on the webcam, HP has adopted a more sophisticated way by adding this feature to a function key. There is also a physical key to turn off the microphone.  

Another compelling reason to consider this powerhouse is the battery backup. It packs in a 4-cell, 63.3W Li-ion polymer, which HP claims can last 13 hours. When used at high brightness for documentation, browsing, editing images, experimenting with video content and gaming, the Envy 14 lasted a little over 9 hours for me.

Priced at Rs 1,24,900, the HP Envy 14 is a powerhouse. Although HP calls it a portable creative studio, this is a great business machine.

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