HP - Envy 2-in-1 14" 2K Touch-Screen Laptop - AMD Ryzen 7 - 16GB Memory - 1TB SSD - Glacier Silver

I was watching BB through several sale cycles before finally pulling the trigger on this one. My 2019 HP pavillion 15xx still runs pretty well. Considering it gets its miles mostly streaming youtube videos after years of being primarily a Microsoft Office machine. But the battery is almost done (i dont take it places anyway), and a few keys stop working spuratically. My cat always stomps over the keypad, cracking the AFTERMARKET wristguard cover i already had to replace, and the volume was doing its own thing. Still, it's getting the job done impressively well for the mileage - think of a 5 yo Lexus with 280k miles that needs a new timing belt and a few cosmetic repairs. So because i am lazy and obsessive, i took off work to statch this up...then proceeded to NOT set it up for 2 or 3 weeks. I like my old HP, but the volume issue became irritating enough to unbox. First glance, its sleeker, slimmer, and more modern looking just case alone. It's smaller - 14" comp. To 16+ im used to. But i dont need a huge screen just for screwing around, im just glad its clean. Graphics are nice, but boring if you stick with stock. I have, bc i havent been motivated to personalize. I actually havent tested all the hyped up features, so i cant speak to that. The AI I experienced was not by choice, but i do like getting things sumarized for me by default on top of my results. Of course, dont blindly trust it, but it saves me a ton of time reading through 2k reviews, like getting cliff notes for WAR AND PEACE.Z. I dunno, im okay with it so far, well see. Um, set up was prompted and simple, though i havent tested the completeness of it, but i assume my pics and autofill came with my chrome account. You can choose to skip specifics if u arent into personalizing your homescreen right away. Thats why the default, Bing of course, and all Micro prop is mine on startup- it did change my phone home screen when i linked accounts, which i dont really like but havent changed yet lol. I did go back to using chrome though because there was so much annoying pop ups and unwanted interruptions that i got mad and noped out. Google search is trash now, but it beats constant pop ups, opt out enrollment in everything, and 5 minute loading time per page of based independant engines. Im still getting the keyboard layout down, since its slightly different, but its backlit!!! Which lacked in my old HP. Also, my old HP was intel 5 which worked great even today. But im not a gamer, so i just need it fast and reliable and intuitive enough for watching youtube and sometimes writing or searching. Since i was hearing more often that it was better and id only ever had intel, I really just wanted Ryzen 7 on HP or a Surface (bc gen 9 was 2x the price open box at best, and good luck sniping that up). Surface looked good and i trust microsoft (for machine quality, not anything else), but reviews were mixed and then i learned the keyboard is sold separately. For $700 open box, hard no. S my D. I wanted to spend less than 500 and had about 100 in gift cards. Cheaper brands or older processors could be found for 300, and i knew i5 was good. i7 with larger screens 17" were often found for 400 or less on sale new! But i had my criteria and my choices were an HP, Samsung, or Dell. Dell was competitive, and i almost chose it bc it had all the same things as HP i wanted, but about 100 less. My list included Ryzen 7(or better), touchscreen, 1T, 32G minimum, i think 8 core? I cant remember but it HAD to be faster than i had before, backlight, and less than 600. Between these candidates, i compared graphics, camera quality, reputation, and having some AI potential. Dell was cheaper and bigger and checked all the boxes, but had a lot of negative reviews and nobody recommend them. I only considered samsung bc i have a galaxy and wearabes and was curious about AI and they had a lot of sales. In the end, it underpreformed next to HP even if it met all my needs. It was also never under 800 with all the features. I chose the Envy for its features mentioned above, high cust reviews and personal experience with the brand, and cost. It sold for 1100, but open box in excellent condition 15 mins away had one for just over 500 (i think new ones were on sale, making it less than usual). With 100 in gift cards, i think i spent under 450 incl tax. So i got everything i wanted. But i still havent used most of the features, completed setup, or played arou d much. So far, everything seems to work fine playing youtube. No troubleshooting or failures, and the res is great. Getting used to the smaller keyboard but no buffering, volume or connection issues, so no complaints. So far. I dont see yet why ryzen is better than intel- seem the same, maybe its a gamer perk i dont appreciate, but i need more time with it. Just hope my cat doesnt step on this one.

I’m seriously impressed with this PC! The AMD Ryzen 7 8840HS processor is super fast and handles everything I need. Add the AMD Radeon graphics, and games and movies look and run fantastic. The PCIe NVMe SSD makes everything lightning quick—no more waiting around for files to load. The WUXGA IPS display is bright, sharp, and has great color, and the Gorilla Glass gives me peace of mind knowing the screen is durable. I love how fast it charges with HP Fast Charge—50% in 30 minutes is a lifesaver. AMD FreeSync makes gaming buttery smooth, and the Windows CoPilot key is a really cool feature for getting stuff done faster. The 5MP IR camera is awesome for video calls, and the sound quality from the Poly Studio Audio speakers is top-notch. Plus, with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3, everything stays super fast and connected. The 360-degree hinge is perfect for switching between work and play, and the backlit keyboard is great for late nights. The slim bezels make the screen feel huge, and the privacy features like the camera shutter and mic mute button are a nice touch. Overall, this PC is an all-around winner—great for work, gaming, and everything in between. Highly recommend!

I got this laptop to use toward my goal of starting a small business, and so far it has been everything I needed and more. It holds a charge for around 8hrs consistently while in use, it has lots of storage space for my saved files, and it handles the hundred tabs/windows I have open at any given time without a hitch while I'm doing research and designing marketing graphics online. The metal casing feels sturdy. It does have a very glossy screen though, so I invested in a matte screen protector for it to cut down the glare. I also love the flexibility of being able to flip it around to use as a tablet basically since it has touch-screen sensitivity. This is easily one of the best investments I've made this year.