HP Envy 17-ae120nd

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Reviews for the HP Envy 17-ae120nd

20% HP Envy 17-ae120nd Review
Source: Tweakers NL→EN Archive.org version
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 12/18/2017
Rating: Total score: 20%

Comment

Model: As desktop replacements are becoming more the purview of gamers and creative professionals, it is getting harder to find a 17-inch laptop for mainstream consumers. The HP Envy 17 is one of the few desktop replacements on the market with the everyday user in mind. The 17-inch Envy is an elegant desktop replacement with an aluminum chassis that matches the all-metal minimalism that Apple popularized several years back. Updated for 2017, the laptop chassis has seen some minor changes since we reviewed the previous version, including a slimmer, lighter chassis. The laptop is not small by any stretch of the imagination, measuring 41.66 x 28.19 x 2.34 cm (16.4 x 11.1 x 0.92 inch) and weighing 2.9 kg (6.4 lb). The Envy also boasts a lovely 17.3-inch 4K display that offers bright, vibrant color and crisp details. The panel produces an impressive 209 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which is much better than other desktop replacements that hover around 100 percent. Brightness is also top-notch, averaging 276 nits. The HP Envy 17-ae120nd also came with a 2.7-GHz Intel Core i7-8550U processor and 16 GB of RAM, with a 256 GB solid-state drive for the operating system and a 1 TB, 7,200-rpm hard disk drive for mass storage. The Envy 17 has a dedicated graphics card, but the Nvidia GeForce 940MX and 2 GB of VRAM it comes with will not do much for gaming. It's far better suited to non-gaming uses, like photo editing.

A stylish speaker grille runs with a checkered triangle design across the top of the keyboard. The soundbar houses two Bang & Olufsen speakers, and they produced plenty of sound, which is enough to fill one of the smaller rooms. Using the included Bang & Olufsen Audio Control software, users can cycle through presets for music, movies, and dialogue, as well as adjust bass, treble, and audio quality levels. The Envy's integrated webcam is actually one of the nicer cameras on a laptop, with Full-HD resolution and a wider angle than most webcams. The result is a mostly clear image that captures more of surroundings. The camera caught details pretty well, and colors looked pretty accurate. The Envy also has an IR camera for simple, secure login using Windows Hello. The larger chassis provides plenty of room for ports and other features, including a tray-loading DVD drive on the right-hand side of the machine. It is joined by a single USB 3.0 port on the right. On the left, there is a Kensington lock slot, a compact RJ45 port for Gigabit Ethernet, a full-size HDMI port, two additional USB 3.0 ports (one with sleep and charge), a USB Type-C port with USB 3.1 support and an integrated SD card slot. An audio jack lets user plug in headphones or a headset. The Envy 17 is one of those rare 17-inch laptops for power users that is not ‘gaming’ focused. If you are interested in something in this category, the Envy 17 is a clear choice for you.

Hands-on article by Jagadisa Rajarathnam

NVIDIA GeForce MX150: Pascal GP108 based laptop graphics card and mobile version of the desktop GeForce GT 1030. Offers 384 shader cores and usually 2 GB GDDR5 with a 64 Bit memory bus. Manufactured in 14nm.

Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

i5-8550U: Kaby-Lake-Refresh based low power quad-core processor. The four cores are clocked between 1.8 and 4 GHz (Turbo Boost) and support HyperThreading. The integrated GPU is clocked between 300 and 1,150 MHz. The SoC is manufactured in a 14nm+ FinFET process.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

17.30": This display size is a standard format for desktop replacements (DTR). The DTR laptops are heavier to carry, need more power, but texts are easy to read and high resolutions are no problem. DTR are mainly intended for stationary desk use, where weight and energy hunger don't matter. In return, you enjoy the advantages of high resolutions (more details, better legibility).» To find out how fine a display is, see our DPI List.

3.04 kg:

A laptop with this weight is comparatively heavy and less designed for mobility than for use at the desk. Therefore, the devices tend to shine less with battery life than with a large screen and higher performance.

HP: Founded in 1939, the US company is a major server and printer manufacturer and one of the leading IT companies in the world. Until 2015, the company was called Hewlett-Packard Company. After a split, the computer division was renamed HP Inc.

In 2023, HP had an approximate market share of 22% of global PC sales, making it number 2 after Lenovo.

20%: This rating is bad and very rare. There are only a few models that are rated so poorly. If the source is reputable, then a purchase is probably not advisable.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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