HP Envy 16 review: Premium config in a midrange build

Price When Reviewed

$2,199.99

Best Prices Today: HP Envy 16

The HP Envy 16 is a big-screen, content-creation laptop computer that packs a punch. With a roomy 16-inch 16:10 show, media professionals and hobbyists have loads of area on which to work. And our check system options an OLED panel that provides a dynamic picture with a stellar distinction ratio. Powering the show on our check system is an Intel Core i9-12900H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 GPU, a duo that places our check system on the excessive finish of the worth scale.

HP presents good and wide-ranging configuration choices for the Envy 16 and, when you can configure a mannequin in your wants and price range, you’re caught with a somewhat hefty journey companion. At simply over 5 kilos, the laptop computer is heavy even amongst 16-inch 16:10 fashions. I’m additionally not wild about HP’s pattern of outfitting its laptops with low-contrast keyboards that function silver keys and grey key symbols, a design resolution that places kind over perform. In the tip, the Envy 16 doesn’t surpass higher content-creation choices from Asus and Dell.

HP Envy 16 specs and options

Our HP Envy 16 check system is priced over $2,000 and options the next specs: 

• Display: 16-inch UHD+ (3840×2400) OLED contact panel
• Processor: Intel Core i9-12900H
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060
• Memory: 32GB
• Storage: 2TB SSD
• Ports: 2 x Thunderbolt 4 USB Type-C, 2 x SuperSpeed USB Type-A, HDMI 2.1, audio combo jack, MicroSD media card reader
• Camera: 1080p with Windows Hello help
• Battery: 83 Whr
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1
• Operating system: Windows 11 Home
• Dimensions: 14.1 x 9.9 x 0.8 inches
• Weight: 5.0 kilos
• Price: Starts at $1,399.99

The HP Envy 16 line begins at $1,399.99 with a mannequin that contains a Core i5 CPU, 16GB RAM, Intel Arc A370M graphics, a 512GB SSD and a 2560×1600 IPS show. Our check system options upgrades to every of those elements. Our check system’s Core i9 CPU with RTX 3060 graphics, 32GB of RAM, and 2TB SSD are the very best choices out there. You may save $380, for instance, by opting as an alternative for the Core i7-12700H CPU with RTX 3060 graphics. You may also save $140 for sticking with 16GB of RAM or $170 for those who go along with the 1TB SSD as an alternative of the 2TB unit.

The OLED show possibility just isn’t but out there within the US. With simply the touch-enabled 2560×1600 IPS show, the price of our check system could be $2,199.99. Upgrading to the OLED panel will doubtless push the worth near $3,000. However, HP didn’t present pricing data for the OLED panel. While our OLED panel gives shiny white and true black ranges, the 2560×1600 IPS show needs to be greater than ample to create a crisp picture throughout the 16-inch show. What you lose in distinction ratio and determination you acquire in refresh charge, going from 60Hz on the OLED panel to 120Hz. If you could be trying to put the RTX 3060 GPU to 3D gaming use along with content material creation, the quicker panel is of nice significance.

So a lot silver

The Envy 16 is a sea of silver. The all-aluminum chassis contains a silver lid, silver keyboard deck with silver keys, and a silver backside panel. With branding and design prospers at a minimal, the laptop computer appears to be like constructed for enterprise. The firm’s funky HP emblem is centered on the lid and under the show, whereas Envy badges are positioned on the keyboard deck and the again fringe of the show lid. There’s additionally Bang & Olufsen branding on the keyboard deck to indicate the candy tuning of the laptop computer’s quad-speaker alignment. (I’ll get to the Envy 16’s spectacular audio output within the subsequent part.)

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Not fairly an inch thick, the Envy 16 cuts a reasonably trim profile for such a big laptop computer. It’s definitely extra compact than gaming laptops and different high-end fashions that should preserve RTX graphics from overheating. Looks may be deceiving, nevertheless, as a result of the Envy 16 is heavier than it seems. It ideas the scales at 5 kilos, which is on the heavy finish of the dimensions for a 16-inch laptop computer. By comparability, Lenovo ThinkPad Z16 weighs solely 4.3 kilos, and HP’s personal Spectre x360 16 weighs solely 4.45 kilos.

Let’s begin with the excellent news on the keyboard. The keys are roomy and well-spaced and supply snappy suggestions. HP additionally omitted a quantity pad, which I contemplate addition by subtraction. A numpad typically makes an look on 16-inch laptops however doesn’t right here. I’d somewhat have the keyboard centered beneath the show with no shortened keys than have it shifted over to the left with some keys diminished to accommodate a numpad. In place of a numpad, the Envy 16 has a useful column of keys on its proper facet with Page-Up and Down, Home and End keys. Along the highest row of Function keys are two appreciated inclusions: a key to mute the microphone and one other to kill the webcam. Both keys have small LEDs so you understand when every is enabled. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Now the unhealthy keyboard information: with the Envy 16, HP continues its pattern of outfitting its laptops with a low-contrast silver keyboard. The silver keys with grey key symbols make it inconceivable to learn the keyboard in sure mild. The keyboard can look clean, as if it’s some form of touch-typist check. And the keyboard backlighting typically doesn’t assist because it simply provides white mild to the sunshine silver keyboard. Why not follow the tried-and-true black keyboard with white symbols? There’s a purpose that’s the usual.

The touchpad is sufficiently big to not really feel cramped but compact sufficient to keep away from bumping it if you don’t intend to. Its matte end presents clean gliding, and it precisely recorded my mouse gestures. The click on response is spot on with the right quantity of journey and a quiet response.

Awesome AV

The 4K 16:10 OLED panel on our check system is superior. Incredibly sharp image with an unparalleled distinction ratio and absolute black ranges. It’s rated for a ample 400 nits and  covers 100% of the DCI-P3 coloration gamut. Colors look correct and particulars stay seen within the brightest components of a picture in addition to the darkest. For creators doing detailed picture or video work, an OLED show presents clear benefits over an IPS panel.

The 16-inch 16:10 facet ratio makes the show really feel a lot bigger than the 15.6-inch 16:9 widescreen show on final yr’s Envy 15. If you’ve been engaged on a small laptop computer related to an exterior monitor, the Envy 16 gives sufficient display actual property that you just received’t must hyperlink as much as a monitor as a lot. It gives sufficient room to juggle a number of home windows and work with two home windows facet by facet. Unless you spend a lot of your time in entrance of your laptop computer watching films, the 16:10 ratio is the best way to go.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

If you might be searching for a content-creation laptop computer that may additionally double as a gaming laptop computer, nevertheless, then you definately would possibly need to forego the 60Hz OLED panel for the 120Hz IPS possibility. HP presents a lower-resolution 2560×1600 IPS panel with or with out contact help, and every has a refresh charge of 120Hz that’s a greater match for fast-moving video games. And with the non-obligatory RTX 3060 graphics, the Envy 16 does have some 3D gaming functionality.

The webcam gives two objects on any laptop computer purchaser’s guidelines: a 1080p decision and IR capabilities. At 1080p, it shows a crisp, well-balanced picture that’s far superior to the grainy, over-exposed results of an older 720p digicam. And with IR, the webcam works with Windows Hello to allow you to login through facial recognition — simpler and safer than a password. And whereas it doesn’t have a bodily privateness swap, you’ll be able to kill the digicam by toggling a Function button on the keyboard.

With its four-speaker array, the Envy 16 produces booming laptop computer audio. There are two audio system that fireplace upwards from both facet of the keyboard, and there are two audio system that fireplace downward from the curved entrance fringe of the underside panel. The sound is surprisingly sturdy, with clear highs which are separate from the mid-tones and a little bit of bass on the underside finish. The audio system have sufficient oomph for watching films and exhibits with out headphones — dialog was clear and results sounded highly effective. And music playback was pleasant, a rarity amongst laptops.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

IDG / Matthew Elliott

A pair of USB-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 help spotlight the port choice, however you additionally get two USB Type-A ports, which saves you from having to maintain observe of an adapter. Oddly, the USB-A port on the left facet has a drop-down jaw whereas the USB-A port on the precise doesn’t require such awkwardness. I nearly ripped the jaw off as soon as by chance when placing the heavy laptop computer down on a desk — deal with with care. With no apparent want for the inclusion of a second USB-A port, I’d somewhat HP skipped it. There’s additionally an HDMI port and a MicroSD card reader, a helpful inclusion particularly for a content-creation laptop computer to streamline getting recordsdata out of your digicam to the laptop computer.

Performance

Our loaded HP Envy 16 check system options an Intel Core i9-12900H, 32GB of RAM, RTX 3060 graphics, and a 2TB SSD. The Core i9-12900H is a member of Intel’s Alder Lake H sequence of 45-watt cellular chips. It options Intel’s new hybrid structure with efficiency and effectivity cores; it has six efficiency cores, eight effectivity cores, and a complete of 20 processing threads.

To examine the Envy 16’s efficiency to that of the competitors, we assembled a mixture of different content-creation laptops in addition to gaming laptops with midrange RTX GPUs, from the Lenovo Legion 5 Pro with RTX 3070 graphics to the Asus VivoBook Pro 15 and MSI Katana GF76 with RTX 3050 Ti graphics. In between these two bookends are different system with the identical RTX 3060 GPU because the Envy 16.

Our first benchmark is PCMark 10, which measures efficiency on on a regular basis computing work together with workplace productiveness duties, internet looking, and video chats. All of the laptops listed below are overqualified for working normal workplace apps. The Envy 16 was extremely aggressive with this very aggressive group with a rating above 7,000, though we might have guesses that it together with the opposite Core i9-based laptop computer within the Acer Predator Triton would have completed first and second and never behind the trio of laptops primarily based on the Core i7-12700H CPU.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Our HandBrake benchmark exams how a laptop computer is ready to deal with crushing CPU hundreds over a prolonged interval—on this case, transcoding a 30GB MKV file to a format appropriate for Android tablets utilizing HandBrake, the free video encoding utility. The Envy 16 completed within the high half of the chart however was effectively off the tempo set by the opposite Core i9-based laptops and likewise behind the Core i7-based Lenovo Legion 5 Pro and the Acer Nitro 5 that options the Ryzen 7 6800H chip. 

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Next up is Cinebench, one other CPU-intensive check however one which renders a posh 2D scene over a brief time frame. The Envy 16 additionally completed close to the highest of our Cinebench chart. With a end result north of two,000, the Envy 16 is very certified for picture modifying and different media-creation chores.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

The Envy 16 turned in a powerful exhibiting on each 3DMark exams. It completed close to the highest of the RTX 3060 pack on Time Spy and on the high of the RTX 3060 pack on Port Royal. Not surprisingly, the RTX 3070-based Lenovo Legion 5 Pro completed first on each exams, and the 3050 Ti machines introduced up the rear.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Although the Envy 16 isn’t geared towards players, we ran two of our 3D benchmarks on it to evaluate its gaming functionality. On our Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark run at 1920×1080 with the Highest graphics preset, it averaged 97 fps. On the extra demanding Metro Exodus at 1920×1080 on the benchmark’s Extreme preset, it managed solely 30 fps. Both framerates are according to what we’ve seen from different RTX 3060-based laptops and point out the Envy 16 is able to enjoying AAA titles so long as the decision and high quality settings are stored in verify.

To check a laptop computer’s battery life, we loop a 4K video utilizing Windows 11’s Movies & TV app, with the laptop computer set to Airplane mode and earbuds plugged in. We set the display brightness at a comparatively shiny 250 nits to 260 nits, which is an effective brightness for watching a film in an workplace with the lights on. With a big, high-resolution show powered by a high-performance CPU/GPU combo, the Envy 16 has challenges by way of offering lengthy battery life. HP well geared up the system with a big, 83 watt-hour battery that allowed the Envy 16 to last more than 11 hours on our demanding battery drain check. That’s a formidable end result among the many massive, high-powered laptops assembled right here.

IDG / Matthew Elliott

Not one to envy

As configured, our loaded HP Envy 16 check system gives ample energy for content material creators. However, at a value effectively over $2,000, it begins to really feel as if we’ve left HP’s midrange Envy territory and entered the realm of the corporate’s high-end Spectre line. There isn’t something in regards to the Envy 16’s look that’s outright objectionable, however the sum complete feels a bit disappointing given the worth. The chassis is heavy, the low-contrast keyboard is annoying, and the general plain silver look is a bit boring. Plus, the drop-jaw USB-A port is a pointless inclusion.

While we applaud HP’s wide-ranging configuration choices for the Envy 16, we’d nonetheless steer inventive professionals to one in all our two favourite content-creation laptops, the Dell XPS 17 or the Asus VivoBook Pro 16X OLED.