OCTOBER 2019 • TECH ADVISOR 61BUYING GUIDEWe hoped for some significant improvement over
the MX150 used last year, but there’s barely any
difference. Just like the last version, the Envy 13 also
getsthelower-powerversionoftheMX250.Thisis
nogreat surprise considering how slim the laptop is.
It can just about play Ghost Recon: Wildlands,
at 1080p with the graphics set to ‘low’. It averages
30.2fps, so you will see some slow-down in busy
scenes. At ‘medium’ graphics this drops to 19fps,
anda dismal4.2fpsatUltra.Theperformancedrop
iscompound the humble amount of video RAM.
You can play tricky games with the HP Envy 13,
but only at very stripped-back settings. We also did
some mild stress testing and found the ‘Low’ graphics
30fpsresultdropsto28fpsaftera coupleofruns,
suggestingsome heat-related throttling.
Warhammer II runs at 21.4fps, medium settings,
droppingto12.8fpsat‘high’visuals.Wefoundyou
canget a much smoother 33fps average if you switch
the resolution down to 720p. You can play games like
The Witcher 3 on this laptop.
This is still much better than the results you’d get
with the UHD 620 integrated graphics of most other
laptops in this class. The HP Envy 13 isn’t a laptop for
gamers,butit’sfarbetteratplayinggamesthana lot
ofthin and light models.
Connectivity and audio
Yougettwofull-sizeUSB3.0ports,a microSDslot
(veryrare these days) and a USB-C 3.1 socket. The
power adaptor is separate too, so the USB-C is not
taken up when charging.