HP Envy 16 Review
Officially, HP’s Envy laptops are only its second-best consumer models, coming in between the cheaper Pavilions and the top-of-the-line Spectres, but the new HP Envy 16 (starts at $1,389; as tested, it costs $1,809) would make you think otherwise. It’s a desktop replacement that can be used to create content and play games. It has a fast Intel Core i9 processor, a cool OLED screen, and extras like a 5-megapixel webcam. It’s neither cheap nor featherlight, and its midrange Nvidia graphics processor won’t satisfy serious gamers. However, it’s a good all-around performer that costs hundreds less than a Dell XPS 15 with similar specs. It’s good enough to replace the XPS 15 as our Editors’ Choice for high-end creative laptops.
HP Envy 16 Specifications
| Processor | Intel Core i7-12700H |
| RAM | 16 GB |
| Wireless Networking | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth |
| Weight | 5.12 pounds |
| Battery | 6-Cell Li-ion Polymer 200 Watt AC Adapter |
| OS | Windows 11 Home |
| Audio | B&O sound system with four speakers and HP Audio Boost |
| Display | 16-inch OLED with a 3840 x 2400 resolution, touch screen, 60 Hz refresh rate, WVA edge-to-edge glass with micro-edge, 400 nits brightness, and WVA white-light-absorption technology. |
PROS
- The Core i9 and RTX 3060 work well together.
- The 16-inch 16:10 4K OLED screen is big and beautiful.
- Full sound comes from four speakers.
- Beautiful touch screen 4K OLED
- Fancy 5-megapixel webcam
- Performance and battery life are both great.
- GeForce RTX 3060 GPU is strong
CONS
- Even for 16-inch laptops, it’s a hefty device.
- Inadequate contrast on a 60 Hz OLED panel with a silver keypad.
- Costly upgrades are not out of the question.
Pricing
HP Envy 16 is available at several stores. Depending on where you look, some configurations might not be in stock. On HP.com, the base model of the HP Envy 16 starts at $1,400. That will get you a 12th Generation Intel Core i5 H-series processor, Intel A370M Arc graphics, a standard 16-inch UHD+ display with 120Hz refresh rate, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB SSD. On the HP site, it’s often on sale for $1,180. If you really want a lot of power, you can upgrade this machine to a Core i9-12900H processor with Nvidia RTX 3060 graphics, 32GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD, and a WQXGA 120Hz panel. This will cost you $2,600 or $2,380 if it’s on sale.
Design
If you spend more than $1,000 on a laptop like this one, you want it to be of the best quality. You don’t want to feel cheap materials or plastic. You want to be happy with what you buy and be proud to use it. That’s exactly what the HP Envy 16 gives you. This laptop is built to last like some of HP’s Spectre and Pavillion products. Aluminum is used to make it. Even when I pushed hard on the keyboard deck and pulled on the screen, there was no bending or flexing. I do not doubt that this laptop will stand the test of time.
Display
There are a lot of laptops with OLED screens that I can name, and we even have a list of them. So it’s great that HP is again giving the Envy 16 an OLED option. Last year’s Envy 15.6-inch model had one, so it’s not new, but this year’s model has something new. With the Envy 16’s new switch to a 16:10 aspect ratio, there’s more space to see things, and the content looks even better. It goes back to what I said at the beginning of the review: OLED displays can help both creative and regular people. The content on a traditional laptop with an LCD screen looks so much more vivid and alive. On laptops with OLED screens like this one, you can get blacks that look more like real life and colours that look more alive.
Keyboard and Touchpad
This island-style keyboard looks and feels big because it has speakers on both sides. I can type quickly and easily on any keyboard, but I always worry that a new laptop’s keyboard will take some time to get used to. With the HP Envy 16, that was definitely not the case. My average typing speed went from 90 to 91 words per minute on the 10FastFingers.com test. Even though that isn’t a big difference, it’s a good sign that this keyboard feels natural, maybe even more natural than my regular laptop. It doesn’t have RGB lighting, but if you’re typing in the dark, you can turn on a white backlight with two brightness levels.
FAQs
Does it make sense to get an HP ENVY?
The HP Envy x360 comes in at number 11 on our list of the best laptops of 2023. It also comes in at No. 2 on our list of the Best 2-in-1 Laptops of 2023.
Is HP Envy better than Canon Pixma?
Both the HP ENVY Inspire 7255e and the Canon PIXMA TS6420a are all-in-one home printers, but the Canon is better all around. Even though the cost of the cartridge is almost the same, it prints more colour pages, so it costs less per page to print.
Will HP Envy hold up?
If you take good care of them, laptops in this series can usually last up to three to five years. They also look pretty cool.
Conclusion
The HP Envy 16 has a lot of power and did great in most of our tests, including when we used it to play video games. Casual gaming is great on the Envy 16, as long as you expect some fan noise and know that your games won’t run well at 4K. If you don’t play games at all, the HP Envy 16 excels in every other way, making it the perfect companion for work or play. When you watch something on YouTube or Netflix, the colours will be bright and clear, which will make the whole thing better.
