HP Envy x360 (15-aq055na) review: A slight upgrade to last year’s model

When it comes to buying a convertible laptop, big screen laptops have always had to work a lot harder to stand out from their smaller competitors. There’s the added cost that comes with buying larger devices, along with the sacrifice in portability. This was the case with last year’s HP Envy x360, where its performance was great but everything else was a little lacklustre.

Now we’ve got a new model of the Envy x360, but at first glance it doesn’t seem like much has changed. The aluminium chassis is matte rather than brushed this time round, and the power button and volume rocker have moved position, but even at its new weight of 2.2kg, it’s still a pretty monstrous convertible.

It is, however, a reassuringly rugged device and barely flexes at all when put under pressure. The shiny metal hinge also feels reasonably sturdy, which is crucial when the laptop can flip round up to 360 degrees.

Display

If you’re getting a convertible laptop for the 15.6in 1,920 x1,080 resolution display, you’d hope you’d get a pretty fantastic screen to go along with it. Sadly, HP’s Envy X360 fails to impress on almost every account, as its overall sRGB colour gamut coverage reaches just 59.6%. This is actually marginally worse than last year’s HP Envy x360, and leads to a pretty dull and washed out display overall.

This is a shame, as its contrast ratio of 1,064:1 is actually much more impressive, and the wide viewing angles mean you won’t have to adjust the screen all that often when you move or are working on the go in tight, cramped conditions. However, as is often the case with touchscreen laptops, the glossy finish makes fingerprints much more obvious to the eye, and, coupled with its rather low peak brightness of 221.36cd/m2, it becomes quite difficult to see clearly outside in the sun.

Keyboard and touchpad

It doesn’t help that the keyboard isn’t particularly comfortable to type on, either. There’s very little travel to each key and their plastic casing also feels rather flimsy, which makes typing on it for long periods of time quite uncomfortable.

On the upside, each key is backlit, taking on the same colour as the silver chassis. I’d recommend only using the bright grey backlighting in low light, as it often makes the symbols blend into the keys themselves, getting lost in the rest of the keyboard tray.

The touchpad, thankfully, is just as responsive as you’d want, performing Windows 10 Multi-Touch gestures without any noticeable fuss. Reactions to inputs feel natural and it never lags behind, either. The touchscreen is similarly responsive, with commendable palm rejection making it a viable alternative to using the touchpad.

Buy the HP Envy x360 now from Currys

Performance and battery life

With its 2.2GHz Intel Core i7-6560U processor and 8GB of RAM, the new Envy X360 produced an overall score of 50 in our demanding 4K benchmark tests. Image editing was excellent at 82, but it was let down considerably when it came to multi-tasking, scoring just 36. Still, it’s a respectable score, and compares well with other 15.6in convertibles such as Dell’s Inspiron 15 (5668) and even smaller ultraportables, as HP’s own Spectre 13, whose 2.5GHz Core i7-6500U processor only managed a score in the low 40s.

Even more impressive is how HP’s managed to pack everything inside such a thin chassis. With so little space to dissipate heat, I was expecting severe throttling issues, but even under load the Envy x360 managed to keep its cool, only becoming a little warm to the touch during our benchmarks. Likewise, the fans were barely noticeable.

Sadly, all this power does have a rather adverse effect on battery life, as it reached just 6hrs and 28mins during our continuous video playback test when I set the screen brightness to our usual measurement of 170cd/m2. It’s not the worst score I’ve seen, especially considering the similarly sized Dell Inspiron 15 (5668) was an hour behind under the same conditions, but it still leaves a lot to be desired.

Ports and speakers

There’s a decent amount of ports to be found here. You’ve got two USB3 ports and one USB Type-C, as well as an SD Card reader, HDMI output for connecting the laptop to external displays and a 3.5mm headset jack. Unlike last year’s model, though, there’s no Gigabit Ethernet port in sight, so you’ll have to stick to the 802.11ac Wi-Fi if you want to get online.

Meanwhile, the Envy x360’s Bang & Olufsen-branded speakers are surprisingly good. My test tracks were wonderfully loud and punchy, but I did notice a bit of distortion at high volume levels, so you probably will want to keep the volume in check for the best experience. The bass could also do with a bit of a boost but that’s the case with most laptop speakers.

Conclusion

When it all costs £850, though, the new HP Envy x360 fails to make much of an impression. Yes, you get fantastic performance, but its poor display, mediocre battery life and problematic keyboard make it difficult to recommend otherwise. It’s also fairly bulky as convertible laptops go, which rather defeats the point of it being a 2-in-1 device in the first place.

Instead, you’d be much better off buying a more traditional ultraportable, such as the entry-level Dell XPS 13, or, if you’re desperate for something that folds in half, the infinitely superior Asus Zenbook Flip UX360CA does a much better job overall than HP’s effort. The Zenbook may not be as fast, but a decent display and respectable battery life, it’s still my 360 hybrid of choice.

Not convinced? Check out our best laptop 2016 guide for a list of all the best devices you can buy this year.

Buy the HP Envy x360 now from Currys