OCTOBER 2019 • TECH ADVISOR 55BUYING GUIDECompare the HP Envy to an HP Spectre or MacBook
Pro and you will notice a few obvious build cuts. Its
anodizedaluminiumlooksquiteshiny,asthetexture
isrougher than that of the treated metal used in
£1,300-pluslaptops.Youcan’topenthelidwithout
thebase trying to go with it.
There are some nice touches, though. When you
fold out the Envy 13 screen, the hinge lightly lifts the
screen up, adding a slight angle to the keyboard – this
is liketheAsusZenBookS13.Thecontoursofthe
sidesalso make the laptop seem slimmer than it is.
Wehavea lotofaffectionfortheEnvy13.And
whileit hasn’t really changed much in two years, it
doesn’t look dated yet.
Keyboard and trackpad
Typing is another highlight, and a reason to be glad
HP hasn’t messed with the basic HP Envy 13 design
much. Keys have a chunky action, each depresses with
a satisfying clonk rather than a weedy click. You could
call this an old-fashioned approach, but we much prefer
it to the ultra-shallow style for long-form typing.
The layout remains largely unchanged since last
year.Yougetverysquare-lookingkeys,anda handful
offunctionkeysareshiftedtoanextracolumnto
therightin ordertoaccommodatetheheatgrille
abovethe keyboard.
There’s one obvious change to the keyboard. Last
year we noted the Envy 13’s backlight was a bit weak,
and offered no level control. This time there are two
intensity levels and the laptop cycles through them
when you press the backlight button.