At HP's introduction, they gave Apple serious competition, but cost-cutting and brand expansion eventually made the Envy name all but meaningless. HP on Wednesday introduced a new generation of premium computer products that could generate the kind of excitement in the market.
What to Expect
HP has founded its new ENVY 13 premium laptops based on Intel's Core i-series Kaby Lake processors. The notebooks mirror their predecessors highlighting Skylake CPUs but generally offer all the advantages that Intel's latest chips have, incorporating higher performance and better energy performance. Other distinguished improvements over the predecessors are a new battery and a USB Type-C port. Moreover, HP reduced the starting price of the ENVY 13 from $899 down to $849 in the case of the previous-gen model.
The HP ENVY 13 uses exactly the same frame as its predecessor released not long time ago. According to HP, it features elevated hinge design to allow users to be more comfortable in typing and is made up of machined aluminum and magnesium. Its weight and dimensions are 12.95 mm thick and 1.49 kilograms (3.3 lb), respectively. This depends on the actual configuration. Display panels of the new ENVY also remained the same as HP offers a choice between a QHD+ (3200×1800) IPS panel (with or without touch support) and an FHD (1920×1080) IPS panel.
Internally, the HP ENVY 13 follows its predecessor with 8 GB of DRAM, that can be upgraded to 16 GB, 128 GB SATA AHCI or 256 GB/512 GB/1 TB PCIe NVMe SSDs. The new HP ENVY 13 is also equipped with an 802.11ac 2×2 Wi-Fi + BT 4.1 controller, a backlit keyboard, a webcam and so much more. Among external ports, the ENVY 13 offers one USB 3.0 Type-C, two USB 3.0 Type-A, an HDMI output, a TRRS connector as well as a microSD card reader.
"HP has absolutely raised their bar in design, quality and performance," said Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy.
The new HP machines target the premium end of the PC market, he told TechNewsWorld.
"The target market for these are consumers who care a lot about design and performance and are willing to pay for it," said Moorhead. "HP has been gaining premium PC market share in U.S. retail, so they must have obviously cracked the code there."
