The HP Envy 17t is one other reminder that huge laptops are again, and never only for gaming. Apple now sells a 16-inch MacBook Pro, without end changing the 15-inch fashions in its lineup. Dell has come out with a new XPS 17 for the primary time since 2011. Even LG’s Gram laptop computer line features a shockingly mild 17-inch version.
The Envy 17t isn’t a brand new product—HP’s been promoting it for years—however the surge in comparable fashions partly stems from developments in show know-how that enable for bigger screens in smaller our bodies. It’s additionally an acknowledgement of the workhorse position into which PCs have comfortably settled. Even in a world of big-screen telephones, more and more succesful tablets, and ever-lighter ultraportable notebooks, jumbo laptops nonetheless fill a singular position for getting issues finished.
That’s actually true of the Envy 17t. Just bear in mind that outfitting your self with a 4K show this massive comes with some huge downsides, particularly if you happen to don’t need to spend extra for higher efficiency.
This assessment is a part of our ongoing roundup of the best laptops. Go there for data on competing merchandise and the way we examined them.
HP Envy 17t: Tech specs
Our HP Envy 17t assessment unit carries a listing value of $1,590 from HP.com and has the next specs:
- Display: 17-inch, 3840×2160 IPS non-touch show
- CPU: Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU
- Memory: 16 GB DDR4-3200 RAM
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce MX330 GPU with 2 GB VRAM
- Storage: 512 GB PCIe NVMe strong state drive
- Left-side ports: USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 sleep-and-charge port, HDMI, headphone jack, USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port
- Right-side ports: Two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, SD card slot
- Webcam: 720p, with software-based privateness shutter
- Networking: Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 help
- Dimensions: 15.71 x 10.2 x 0.76 inches
- Weight: 6.02 kilos (6.88 kilos with energy brick)
HP’s web site has some additional configurations, ranging in value from $1,050 to $1,980. An Intel Core i5-1035G1 CPU is accessible, and you’ll improve the MX330 graphics card to 4GB of VRAM. Memory is configurable all the way down to 8GB or as much as 32GB, and you’ll go for both a 1TB SSD or a combo 256GB SSD with a 1TB arduous drive. You may get a 1080p show, with or with out a touchscreen, however there’s no possibility for 4K with a contact panel.
The HP Envy 17t’s port choice consists of the uncommon full-sized SD card slot.
Despite the scale, this isn’t a laptop computer for critical gaming or heavy-duty media manufacturing. The GeForce MX330 graphics card exists primarily to help the 4K show, whereas the Intel Ice Lake CPU matches what you’ll discover in high-end ultrathin laptops, equivalent to Lenovo’s C940 Yoga 14 or HP’s Spectre x360 13t. If you want an actual powerhouse, search out a laptop computer with Intel’s H-Series processors and higher discrete GPUs, equivalent to Dell’s new XPS 17 or Lenovo’s C940 Yoga 15.
The port choice is fairly good, although. HP takes benefit of the additional house {that a} 17-inch display affords to offer a full-sized SD card slot—a rarity on laptops nowadays—and an HDMI port that may output 4K at 60 frames per second to suitable screens or televisions. One would possibly solely nitpick the dearth of Thunderbolt 3 or a sooner USB-C port, because the one on board has a most 10Gbps switch pace.
One different notable perk: The Envy 17t has room for a tough disk drive, although you’ll need to pry off the laptop computer’s rubber ft and take care of some hex screws to entry the internals.
Design and show
Like other laptops in the Envy lineup, HP’s Envy 17t is available in a light-gray aluminum chassis, with sharp-edged sides and a barely raised palm relaxation. It additionally has the identical the diamond-shaped sample on its Bang & Olufsen speaker grille, which, mixed with HP’s extra-large keycap lettering, offers the Envy 17t a pointy, distinct look.
But in contrast to different Envy laptops, the Envy 17t is extraordinarily heavy and hulking, weighing over six kilos with out a charger. The bezels arounds its show, whereas slender, aren’t as slim as these of Dell’s new XPS 17. This laptop computer is supposed for sitting in your desk, not for toting round—some extent strengthened by the drop-hinge that props up the laptop computer’s physique when it’s folded open. On a flat floor, this design improves airflow and makes typing comfier, however in your lap the 2 rubber stoppers would dig into your legs.
Jared Newman / IDGThe HP Envy 17t’s drop hinge is nice for desks, however not so good for laps.
Still, the 4K show itself appears nice, and maybe due to the MX330 GPU inside, the Envy 17t exhibited not one of the uneven animations or janky scrolling that plague some 4K laptops with integrated graphics. While the display doesn’t help Dolby Vision HDR, we measured a peak brightness of 387 nits, which is admirable for a laptop computer of this dimension.
Keyboard and trackpad
Here’s one unambiguous benefit of a 17-inch laptop computer: The keyboard makes no main sacrifices in dimension, and it simply matches in a quantity pad. The keys are on the bouncy aspect, however by no means wobbly—placing strain on simply the nook of any key causes the entire thing to depress. The keyboard additionally affords loads of journey and offers off a barely satisfying click on. There’s hardly any flex within the laptop computer’s physique when typed on. The solely notable omission is a proper Control key—HP put its fingerprint reader the place the important thing would usually be—but it surely’s a stellar keyboard general.
Jared Newman / IDGPlenty of room for a quantity pad right here, although a fingerprint reader sits the place proper Control would usually be.
The trackpad falls a lot shorter of perfection. While it’s extra spacious than what you’d discover on smaller laptops, and continues to be considerably clickable on the very high edge, the responsiveness could possibly be smoother—finger actions typically felt jerky moderately than fluid. On the upside, the Envy 17t does help Microsoft’s Precision Touchpad drivers, so it helps commonplace Windows 10 multitouch gestures and doesn’t have any accuracy points, as we’ve skilled on some previous HP laptops.
Audio, webcam, safety
HP continues to companion with Danish audio model Bang & Olufsen on its high-end laptop computer audio system, and the outcomes are predictably respectable. While the sound system doesn’t match the vocal heat or wealthy bass tones of Lenovo’s C940 Yoga 14—nonetheless the gold commonplace amongst high-end Windows PCs—they do get virtually as loud, and provide a brightness that you just don’t normally discover on laptops.
Meanwhile, HP continues to not companion with any notable digicam manufacturers on its webcam, which gives 720p imagery akin to that of most different notebooks. HP does embrace a privateness shutter that covers the lens, but it surely’s operated by way of software program by way of a perform row key, so you possibly can’t flip the shutter when the pc is off.
Jared Newman / IDGThe HP Envy 17t makes use of a perform row key (left) to shut the digicam shutter (proper).
The fingerprint reader can also be a little bit of a letdown. Occupying a slot on the keyboard, it’s bigger than the pinky-nail-sized readers on many different laptops, and I had points getting it to work reliably. Even after re-registering my finger, unlocking the laptop computer normally took a number of tries with barely completely different finger positions.
Performance
The HP Envy 17t actually appears like a beefy workhorse laptop computer, however benchmarks reveal the reality: Except within the graphics division, the Envy 17t performs equally to smaller laptops that weigh half as a lot—not shocking given the Intel Core i7-1065G7 CPU inside. But its battery life is way worse.
HP’s software program compounds the matter, with a function-row key mentioning a number of “Thermal Profiles” that may tweak system temperatures by throttling the CPU up or down. Our benchmark graphs are primarily based on the default “HP Recommended” profile, which strikes a stability between efficiency and temperature. Choosing the “Performance” setting led to greater scores in some checks, which I’ll word within the textual content.
Jared Newman / IDGThe Envy 17t’s efficiency varies relying on which Thermal Profile you decide.
Let’s begin with PCMark 8, which measures efficiency whereas simulating a wide range of workplace duties. We don’t have a variety of 17-inch laptops to check with, so we’ve blended some 15-inch laptops into our charts, together with a 13-inch laptop computer with the identical CPU.
Any PCMark rating over 2,000 is suitable. The Envy 17t’s rating of 3132 is sweet, although on the decrease finish of its cohort. It even falls behind final yr’s model of the LG Gram 17, which weighs solely three kilos. (We haven’t reviewed the latest Gram with a 10th-generation Intel processor.)
Melissa Riofrio/IDGAmong Core i7 CPUs, PCMark scores are extra comparable than they’re completely different.
Similar outcomes emerged in Cinebench, which checks the CPU with a fast burst of heavy efficiency calls for. The Envy 17t’s single-threaded rating of 188 is strong, however its multi-threaded rating of 579 is nicely behind a variety of different laptops. Switching on HP’s “Performance” mode bumped the rating to 684, which continues to be on the decrease finish.
Melissa Riofrio/IDGAt default thermal profile settings, the HP Envy 17t’s multi-thread Cinebench scores falter, although single-threaded efficiency is ok.
Switching between HP’s thermal profiles yielded essentially the most dramatic ends in our HandBrake benchmark, which checks a heavy workload over time by encoding a big video profile. Out of the field, the Envy 17t completed the job in a dismal 71 minutes, matching the form of heavily-throttled efficiency you’d see in a a lot smaller laptop computer such because the Envy 13. Turning on HP’s “Performance” mode resulted in a a lot greater rating of 3,146 seconds, or 52 minutes, but it surely’s nonetheless no comparability in opposition to a laptop computer with Intel’s 10th-generation H-Series CPUs, such because the Dell XPS 15 in our chart.
Melissa Riofrio/IDGThese Handbrake scores don’t look good, however switching to the Envy 17t’s “Performance” setting would put it forward of a lot of the laptops right here.
Graphics efficiency is a shiny spot: The Envy 17t’s MX330 GPU’s Sky Diver rating of 10,401 squarely beats laptops with built-in graphics. While ostensibly not a gaming laptop computer, it might probably squeeze out 60 frames per second at 1080p with medium graphics settings in some 3D video games, together with Fortnite and Deep Rock Galactic.
Melissa Riofrio/IDGNvidia’s MX330 GPU helps make the HP Envy 17t satisfactory for 3D gaming (however not at 4K decision, in fact)
The actual letdown right here is battery life. The HP Envy 17t’s 55Whr battery is tiny for a laptop computer of this dimension, and it’s no match for a 17-inch show at 4K decision. While looping a video file offline at roughly 255 nits’ brightness, the Envy 17t lasted solely 7 hours and 11 minutes. HPs personal Spectre x360 15t from 2019 lasted 45 % longer in the identical check, in all probability partially as a result of its battery capability is 36 % bigger.
Melissa Riofrio/IDGSmall battery, plus giant 4K show, equals unhealthy battery life.
All of this places the HP Envy 17t in an uncommon place. At $1,590 as reviewed, it’s extra inexpensive than Dell’s XPS 17, which prices $2,000 with comparable show decision, reminiscence, and storage. It undercuts Apple’s MacBook Pro by about $800.
But these are additionally extra highly effective machines with H-Series Intel processors, supporting the sorts of heavy workloads you would possibly need to accomplish on such a big display. If you don’t want all that computing muscle, the HP Envy 17t might need some enchantment, however provided that you’re unwilling to bend on the notion of a 4K, 17-inch display.
With a bit extra flexibility, the choices open up. LG’s Gram 17 is an intriguing different with comparable efficiency and significantly better battery life at half the burden. It has a lower-resolution 2560×1600 panel, however chances are high you won’t notice the difference. Smaller laptops like HP’s Spectre x350 15t are price contemplating as nicely, particularly if you happen to can join a 4K monitor.
With the Envy 17t, you’re sacrificing a variety of portability only for the sake of that display. While 17-inch laptops are making a comeback, an especially heavy laptop computer with out heavy-duty efficiency to match is a distinct segment inside a distinct segment.