[Review] HP Envy 17t 6 Months In

It’s been the longest time since I wrote/typed a review and in this one we have the 2017 HP Envy 17t being our first ever laptop review and long term review too.

Well lets not hold things up any longer. Time to jump right into it.

The HP Envy is classified by HP as their premium line of PCs. This really shows in the design of the laptop it is quite the looker from any angle. Here is what is comes with.

The Box

There really isn’t much in the box. Just a 90W AC power brick, some literature and the PC itself. Literally that’s it. I honestly thought there would be something more but hey.

Exterior

The PC is under HPs premium line as I said earlier and this means it comes with a generous helping of metal. Specifically aluminium. In it’s closed position you have a satin finish with polished, angled bars of alternating length making up a fancy HP logo.

While on the lid we see a strip that goes along the top part of the lid. This is a plastic insert helping with wireless communication. It is where the bluetooth and WiFi antennas are located. These signals cannot pass through metal.

To the right edge we have the power/charging port, an always on USB type A port version 3.0 and a CD drive. The latter is getting phased out quite quickly it was interesting to see it still here.

To the left we have the rest of the IO. A kensington lock is present followed by an ethernet port then an HDMI port. Next to it are 2 USB type A ports both on v3.0 but not always on. Next to them is a USB Type-C port v3.1 which is not only always on but supports fast charging if you so happen to connect a smartphone that is capable of fast charging. Next up there is a 3.5mm headphone/mic combo jack and an SD Card port.

It is quite the assortment of IO to handle probably all your needs, old and young.

Open the lid and you experience the 17.3 inch IPS LCD with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. The front glass is Gorilla Glass and it is touch enabled. You can get this pc with a 4K 3840 x 2160p display but you may have to forfeit the touch feature.

On the top bezel are 2 cutouts between the glass and the plastic buffer between the glass and the metal frame. These are the 2 microphones. Below them under the glass is the web cam and the pair of infrared flood illuminators for some 3D face recognition.

The base of the PC is also a slab of metal housing the full size island keyboard, dual speakers tuned by Bang & Olufsen with one of the coolest speaker grille patterns, a generous size touchpad and the ENVY branding.

The bottom of the PC is plastic and very minimal. 2 rubber strips run transverse across the PC to raise it and give it some grip. The grille for cooling is done in quite a symmetric way completing the premium look.

Specifications

Display	17.3″ FHD 1920 x 1080 IPS LCD with LED Backlight
OS	Windows 10 Home
RAM	16GB DDR4 (2x8GB) Dual Socket
Storage	128GB NVMe SSD 1TB Mechanical HDD
Processor	Intel Core i7 8th Gen 8550U
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 620 Nvidia GeForce MX150 (4GB)
Ports	3x USB type A v3.0 1x USB type C v3.1 1x HDMI 1x SD card slot 1x 3.5mm jack 1x ethernet port
Biometrics	3D face unlock (Windows Hello)
Weight	3KG
Battery Size	3-cell, 52.5 Wh Lithium-ion prismatic Battery
Max Power Rating	90W

The Good

The display is quite a looker both in size and in clarity. The IPS panel is joy for us creatives as it has wide viewing angles and impressive colour accuracy and almost no colour shift if you shift your viewing angle.

At Full HD resolution text on the display is quite crispy and with it’s size of 17 inches you can fit a lot more of your spreadsheet than you would on smaller laptops.

The touch feature has some interesting use cases too. When scrolling web pages for example it has proved to be a natural task. Zooming into photos or a map is also more intuitive using this touch feature.

The wealth and variety of ports means power users won’t be facing port anxiety on this PC. The ports also support old and new tech too with the type C port supporting fast charging, a feature I have properly enjoyed on this PC.

Battery life has been properly solid. I have been able to watch 2 and half movies before I had to seek for power which is about 5 hours and if its just document editing I was able to stretch it to just over 8 hours which is literally a full working day.

What’s even more shocking is it can pull such a respectable marathon regardless of it having 2 hard drives and a luxurious 17 inch full HD display. HP quotes 10.5 Hrs before it runs out of juice but in my 6 months of use I have not been able to get over 9hrs. None the less 8 hours on such a big PC is quite impressive.

One cannot deny that the design on the HP Envy 17t is gorgeous. The way the display wraps around the back. The clean aesthetic. It’s what I like to call elegant simplicity where everything is coherent and contributes to such harmony in it’s design. It’s a beautiful piece of hardware. My only qualm is it ONLY comes in silver. #MatteBlackEverything or at least a Space Grey option should have been on offer. I mean it’s already there on the HP Spectre.

It also supports 2 external displays if anyone is interested.

The Bad

With great size comes great mass…unless if it is a hot air balloon. The Hp Envy 17t is however not a hot air balloon. It is rather a 50% metal, 17.3 inch machine weighing in at a back breaking 3 Kg. It is honestly a very heavy PC and before I leave with it I have often asked myself if I really need to carry it.

The sharp edges don’t work in it’s favor as well as it gets a bit uncomfortable using it on your lap after an hour or so. The overlapping edge digs in a little too much

Windows hello uses some nifty 3D face scanning tech but the downside is that it is brutally affected by varying light conditions. In several instances if your face is not well lit you will be asked to move closer or look straight before you are asked to enter a pin instead.

I wouldn’t mind at all if they had just added a fingerprint scanner for good measure. It’s a big PC i’m sure there is some space for it.

The Nvidia GPU here is merely average as far as dedicated GPUs go. It also means it’s performance is pretty average. Don’t get me wrong it is LOT better than Intel HD or UHD Graphics so if you are moving from no dedicated GPU to this one you will be quite happy.

However if you are planning on doing some serious gaming you may want to dial the quality down to medium if you wish to get decent frame rates. Titles like Need For Speed Payback and Battlefield One were particularly a bit more than the GPU could handle at high or ultra graphics settings.

Verdict

The HP Envy 17t is a stellar BUSINESS PC. It has a lot of storage to store all your documents, it’s got enough juice to literally last you a day and it has a display that will reduce your scrolling marathons in spreadsheets.

If you choose to work it out a little more with some video editing or some architectural design software it’s able to do that too.

And it does this all in a beautiful clean sleek metal body that feels really sturdy with almost no flex.

In the time that i have used it it has felt like it’s trying to be the perfect all rounder. A complete balance between performance and endurance.

17 inch HP Envy 17t vs 14 inch Acer Swift

A 17 inch PC might not be portable enough to carry around and at 3KG it might not be everyone’s cup of tea but on productivity this PC has been a complete powerhouse. Spectacular effort from HP here.

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