HP ENVY 17: At First Glance
It is getting more difficult to get a 17-inch mainstream laptop because of the growing interest people have in desktop replacement laptops. The HP ENVY 17 is one of those desktop replacement laptops.
Just like the typical desktop replacement laptop, the HP ENVY 17 is large and heavy. However, it justifies its size with its big screen, upgraded hardware performance, and a good selection of ports.
Nonetheless, the HP ENVY 17 feels a bit too heavy for a non-gaming laptop. You might find yourself not wanting to move around too much with this laptop.
HP ENVY 17 Design, Dimension, and Weight
As I mentioned in the last section, this laptop is on the heavy side. HP ENVY 17 weighs 2780 g and measures 405 x 266 x 22 mm.
Although this laptop’s weight range is not unheard of, it is becoming unpopular to have laptops weigh as much as this – even for gaming laptops. Moreover, the HP ENVY 17 weighs more than some gaming laptops.
In comparison, the MSI GS75 Stealth is lighter than the HP ENVY 17. The MSI GS75 Stealth weighs 2267.96 g.
Moreover, some 17-inch gaming laptops like the LG Gram 17 weigh less than HP ENVY 17. Therefore, the HP ENVY 17’s weight is a bit of a concern.
Despite its weight concerns, the HP ENVY 17 has an elegant and premium design. It has an aluminum and magnesium chassis that is similar to Apple’s all-metal design.
Moreover, the HP ENVY 17 is similar to the Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch in terms of design. The design similarities between both laptops go on from the HP ENVY 17’s outer body covering to its backlit keyboard and a large touchpad.
The HP ENVY 17 has a widely spaced island-style keyboard. This keyboard is very comfortable to type on.
Also, the HP ENVY 17 touchpad is an exact replica of Apple’s touchpad that has the left and right-click buttons built into the clickable bottom part. However, HP ENVY 17’s touchpad sensitivity is nowhere near Apple’s.
Furthermore, the HP ENVY 17 has a good port selection. It has one 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A USB port with HP Sleep and Charge. The laptop also offers one USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-C, also with HP Sleep and Charge, Power Delivery 3.0, and DisplayPort 1.2.
This laptop’s ports also include two USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A (Data Transfer Only), 1 x HDMI 2.0, 1 RJ-45 port, and a headphone jack.
Overall, the HP ENVY 17’s clean design and neatly squared edges complement its silver color scheme. This laptop’s construction feels solid and durable.
Hence, it scores an eight in this design review.
HP ENVY 17: Processor (CPU) Performance
HP equipped the HP ENVY 17 with a quad-core Intel Core i7-10510U processor. This processor can clock between 1.8 and 4.8 GHz.
The HP ENVY 17 can easily handle basic computing operations like web browsing, document editing, and working on spreadsheets. This laptop also performs well like its competitors such as the LG Gram 17 – when it comes to multimedia editing.
Furthermore, the HP ENVY 17 scored 188 points in a Cinebench R15 single-core processor test. Moreover, the laptop surpassed its competitors, such as the LG Gram that scored 185 – it also did better than Dell Inspiron 15 that scored 135.
Meanwhile, the HP ENVY 17 scored 580 points in the multi-core processor test. It did beter than LG Gram that scored 529 but it fell behind the Dell Inspiron 15 that scored 672 points.
In conclusion, I rate this laptop’s processor performance an eight in this review for its excellent CPU performance.
HP ENVY 17: Memory (RAM) Performance
The HP ENVY 17 comes with a 16 GB DDR4 SDRAM. This laptop has 2 memory slots – you can upgrade the memory with one of the memory slots.
Moreover, this laptop’s RAM is so powerful that the HP ENVY 17 barely slows down or stutters in multitasking operations. While running 23 Chrome browser tabs, this laptop allowed me to stream a YouTube video and download a 1 GB media file simultaneously without hanging.
Furthermore, there was no noticeable lag or slowdown during normal productivity tasks. However, the HP ENVY 17 performed lower than its competitors in a PC Mark 10 productivity test.
The HP ENVY 17 scored 3524 points on this test, surpassing the LG Gram that scored 2967 points. The Dell Inspiron scored a higher 3581 points and the Acer Aspire 7 scored 5128 points.
Nevertheless, I am able to rate HP ENVY 17 an eight in its memory review for its impressive multitasking capabilities.
HP ENVY 17: Storage Options and Performance
HP offers a 256 GB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD for the HP ENVY 17’s storage. The ENVY 17 also offers a multi-format card reader as part of its storage options.
The 256 GB SSD delivered acceptable read and write speeds in a CrystalDiskMark test. With the Solid-state drive, You will hardly notice delays when opening your files and folders on the HP ENVY 17.
For more storage performance details, the HP ENVY 17 recorded a sequential read speed of 1447 MBps and a sequential write speed of 872 MBps. With this record, it surpassed the LG Gram 17 that recorded a sequential read speed of 454.9 MBps and a sequential write speed of 422.4 MBps.
However, the Acer Aspire 7 recorded a better sequential read speed of 1432 MBps and a better sequential write speed of 1457 MBps.
For additional storage performance comparison, Dell Inspiron 5’s storage speeds performed less than HP ENVY 17 – with a sequential read speed of 423.2 MBps and a sequential write speed of 1165 MBps.
Nonetheless, I rate HP ENVY 17 an eight for its storage performance.
HP ENVY 17: Graphics Card Performance
HP offers two configurations for the HP ENVY 17’s GPU. You can buy the laptop with either an integrated Intel Iris Plus GPU or a dedicated NVIDIA GeForce MX250 GPU.
The Intel GPU doesn’t come with a dedicated VRAM, but the NVIDIA GPU comes with a 4 GB GDDR5 dedicated VRAM. As expected, the NVIDIA GPU offers better performance than the Intel GPU.
Moreover, this review focuses on the NVIDIA GeForce MX250 GPU. With NVIDIA GeForce GPU, the HP ENVY 17 performs slightly better than its competitors in gaming tests.
Furthermore, the HP ENVY 17 has no issues playing old title games at high graphics settings. However, you may need to reduce gaming settings in order to play more complex AAA title games smoothly.
The HP ENVY 17 played games like Bio Shock Infinite at 96 FPS and Dota 2 Reborn at 77.4 FPS at high settings. However, it was until the game settings were reduced to the medium that it was able to play The Witcher 3 at 38.6 FPS and Final Fantasy XV at 18.3 FPS.
As a result, it scores a seven in this review for its above-average gaming average performance.
HP ENVY 17: Battery Life and Performance
The HP ENVY 17 comes with a 3-Cell, 52 Wh Lithium-ion battery. This laptop’s battery life is not very impressive.
To offer you more battery performance details, the HP ENVY 17 lasted 4 hours 20 minutes on a continuous web surfing test over Wi-Fi. It was outpaced by the LG Gram 17 that lasted 11 hours 47 minutes and the Dell Inspiron 15 that lasted 7 hours 6 minutes.
Moreover, the HP ENVY 17’s battery life is woeful in comparison with most multimedia laptops – like the few mentioned above. Based on battery life, the HP ENVY 17 ranks at the bottom of the comparison table.
It also falls a few minutes short of the category average battery life of 4 hours 30 minutes. As a result, it scores six in this review for its below-average battery life.
Frequently Asked Questions
The HP ENVY 17 is a large laptop with a sharp 4K display, a comfortable keyboard, and decent graphics performance. It offers all of this in a sleek design. However, its short battery life is a bit of a concern.
HP ENVY 17 does well as a basic gaming laptop if you need it to be one. However, it is not the most powerful workstation available, but the laptop’s price to performance ratio is excellent. It competes closely with the Apple MacBook Pro for creative or engineering professionals.
The HP ENVY 17 plays old title games at high graphics settings. However, you may need to reduce gaming settings to play more complex AAA title games smoothly. It plays games like Bio Shock Infinite, Dota 2 Reborn, Fortnite, and PUBG.
Dell’s Alienware offers much better gaming performance than any HP laptop can offer. However, HP laptops are a perfect balance between performance and price.
HP laptops usually have better quality than Acer. Although HP has been lagging a little in recent years, it is still a very good brand. However, the quality of both brand’s laptops could vary with the specific product.
Conclusion
The HP ENVY 17 is absolutely worth it. It is a laptop I would recommend, especially if you are in the market for a desktop replacement laptop.
Unfortunately, this laptop’s battery life is not very great. Nevertheless, it is a good laptop.
I hope you found this HP ENVY 17 review helpful? If you found the review helpful, click Yes to “Was this post Helpful?” below.
You could also review this product with the “Leave a Comment” form found at the end of this page.
Finally, for more laptop reviews, visit our Laptop Reviews page. You may also find our Laptop Specs page very helpful.
