HP Envy 17-cg1356 review: A large multimedia laptop ^↺

HP has manufactured the case of the Envy 17 cg1356ng from aluminum, which ensures that the laptop is very robust and resistant to warping. It is also not prone to easily show fingerprints. However, the same doesn't go for the display, since this is covered by glass. In addition, the opening angle is fairly small at only about 120 degrees. To open the lid you also need both hands, since the hinges are fairly hard to move and otherwise the base unit is lifted up as well.

At a weight of slightly more than 2.7 kg (~6 lb), the HP laptop is a relatively heavy device. With the large, 17-inch display, the size of the laptop also turns out a bit larger.

Although HP forgoes a Thunderbolt connection in the Envy 17, the available Type-C port supports image output via DisplayPort. The rest of the connections are standard. There is no Ethernet connection.

Using our AV Pro microSD 128 GB V60 reference storage card, the card reader of the Envy 17 cg1356ng achieves speeds of 74 MB/s when copying and 83.9 MB/s when reading data. The values are good enough, if unremarkable.

The HP Envy 17 cg1356ng is able to connect wirelessly via Bluetooth 5 and WiFi 6. With our Netgear Nighthawk AX12 reference router, it reaches average speeds of 1418 Mbit/s when transferring data and 1548 Mbit/s when receiving. These are very good results that are sufficient for one of the top places in our test field.

As most other manufacturers, HP also only uses a low-resolution webcam with 0.9 MP in its laptop. The image quality is correspondingly mediocre, displaying objects blurry even in good light conditions and showing colors that are too pale.

The HP Envy 17 cg1356ng can be unlocked using a fingerprint sensor, which is positioned next to the right Alt key. In our test, the sensor responded well to stored fingerprints, reliably unlocking the laptop. 

The box of the HP laptop only contains the laptop itself and the corresponding power supply. You can order additional generic accessories from the manufacturer's website.

HP offers a 24-month warranty period for the Envy 17 cg1356ng. This can be expanded at an additional cost, for example 3 years with pickup and return service for about 96 Euros (~$112). 

Keyboard

The keys of the Envy 17 provide a good grip on the fingertips and clear feedback with a rather soft pressure point when typing. After a short period of getting used to the latter, even longer typing tasks are easily possible. Due to the large format, most of the keys are arranged so they each occupy a single space, and only the arrow up and arrow down keys turn out slightly too small.

HP targets the Envy 17 not only for multimedia applications but also offers it as an office laptop. Correspondingly, there are also configurations with a more powerful CPU or without the dedicated graphics card that is built into our test unit. The equipment for the working memory and storage solution also varies. Prices fall between 850 and 1600 Euros (~$996 - $1874), with our test unit belonging to the more affordable equipment models at around 1000 Euros (~$1171).

The Intel Core i5-1135G7 used here is a quad-core processor that belongs to Intel's Tiger Lake generation. The clock speeds range between 2.4 and 4.2 GHz, with the duration how long those can be maintained depending on the cooling system and the configured TDP. With a long-term PL1 of 25.5 watts and short-term PL2 of 46 watts, the TDP falls in the middle range of the possible configuration options.

In our Cinebench R15 constant load test, the performance starts out at the level of the really more powerful Intel Core i7-1165G7 in the Acer Aspire 5 A517, but then drops fairly quickly, leveling out at a value that is about 10% lower. This result is also confirmed in the single tests, meaning that the Envy 17 cg1356ng is able to place in the middle of our test field overall.

You can find out about the performance to expect from additional laptops in comparison in our CPU benchmark list.

In the PCMark 10 test to evaluate the system performance, the HP Envy 17 cg1356ng achieves second place in our test field. In the single disciplines, particularly the result of the "Digital Content Creation" stands out, with the HP laptop leading the field of all the other selected comparison devices here. In everyday operation, the laptop always runs smoothly without showing any micro stutters. Starting applications and accessing data succeeds smoothly and quickly. 

HP has equipped the Envy 17 with a Samsung PM991 SSD that achieves very good read and write rates in the storage benchmarks. With this, it is at the level of comparable storage solutions, placing third in our test field, just behind the Lenovo V17-IIL.

You can find out what performance to expect from other storage solutions in our HDD/SSD benchmark list.

For the display of graphically more demanding image content, the Envy 17 cg1356ng is equipped with an Nvidia GeForce MX450. This is suitable for 3D applications with medium demands on the graphics performance, allowing it to perform for example video and image processing to some extent. 

In the 3DMark benchmarks, the MX450 in the Envy 17 demonstrates a significant advantage compared to the internal graphics units in our test field, and it is also able to surpass the Nvidia GeForce MX350 predecessor model. However, compared to other MX450 units, the performance of the GPU is below average. This is due to the fact that there are four versions of the MX450, all offering different performance levels, with the second-weakest version being used here.

You can find out about the performance offered by other graphics cards in our GPU benchmark list.

Nvidia's GeForce MX450 is quite suited for gaming and is able to ensure smooth frame rates, as long as you are content with medium to low graphics settings. In the games we tested, smooth gaming was also still possible in Full-HD resolution with this. However, current games such as "Cyberpunk 2077" require a significant reduction in the graphics settings and resolution in order to maintain frame rates above 30 fps.

You can find out what performance to expect in additional games in our GPU games list.

During our constant stress test, the temperatures inside the HP laptop briefly rose up to 93 °C (199 °F). At this time, the clock speeds dropped to about 400 MHz. Until the end of the test, the cooling system was then able to stabilize them at an average value of 1.5 GHz. Even though this is below the basic clock speed of 2.4 GHz, the system could still be operated smoothly during this time. Since a load such as in our stress test is unlikely to occur in practice, you don't have to expect any limitations due to the temperatures being too high.