No integrated ethernet port. Most laptops nowadays don't have one anyway. You can always get a USB to ethernet adapter.
Radeon Graphic iGPU uses 512MB of the 8GB ram along with other system resource leaving 7.3GB free ram. The iGPU does not steal more ram with upgrade to 16GB and beyond. AMD ditched Vega from the 3500U. The speed of this new iGPU with dual-channel 3200 RAM is only minimally faster than the Vega 8 iGPU in a motile M142 which only have single channel 2400 RAM. Very interesting...
Userbenchmark for Motile M142 with R5 3500U: https://www.userbenchma
Userbenchmark for HP Envy x360: R5 4500U: https://www.userbenchma
The laptop is confirmed to be able to drive two 4K monitors at the same time with both the USB C and HDMI 2.0 in use.
SSD: Samsung MZVLB512HBJQ 512GB M2 NVMe or Intel SSDPEKNW512G8H 660p Series NVMe (512GB, M.2 80mm PCIe 3.0 x4, 3D2, QLC) or SK Hynix BC501 HFM512GDJTNG-8310A 512GB M.2 NVMe
According to the service manual on HP site, there is one M2 slot which could use both SATA and NVMe SSD.
CPU: Ryzen 5 4500U is faster than i5-8300H and i5-9300H but slower than i7-8750H. Amazing considering this is a 15W CPU being compared against 45W CPU. It is slightly faster than i7-1065G7 in multicore and slightly slower in single core.
Watching a 4K HEVC X265 movie file with MPC-HC 1.9 uses 14% of battery for each hour at minimum brightness and with wifi on but inactive on balanced setting in HP command center.. So that's good for almost 6.5 hrs of 4K movie watching with 10% battery left. Can probably get more hr if playing 1080p files as the iGPU usage is lower when playing lower-res files.
The thermal settings inside the HP Command Center really does make a lot of difference regarding how fast the laptop runs, when plugged in. Cinebench R15 was 924 on performance setting dropping down to 702 on Cool setting.
The Cool setting does seems to lengthen the battery time a bit more but not that much because on battery, the laptop is already throttled down a lot anyway.
RAM info: Crucial RAM [crucial.com]. Check for these specs: DDR4 3200 and SODIMM 260-Pin Memory. (need to add filter)
RAM replacement guide: youtube tutorial [youtube.com].
Thoughts from user:iGeorge.
Can someone please test if this laptop throttles by running Prime95 for 10 minutes then run hwinfo64 to check if the laptop throttles? This is very important for me.
This laptop throttles after 10 minutes:
https://slickdeals.net/f/14126537-hp-envy-x360-15-6-touchscreen-2-in-1-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-4500u-1080p-599-99-6-24-costco-ymmv-in-and-out-of-stock-online-check-in-store?p=1383485
https://i.imgur.com/MMhS04z.png
https://i.imgur.com/cqvpwOk.png
https://i.imgur.com/iqvLHKP.png
Someone said it didn't, but the above seems to say this laptop does throttle. Wish HP could have provided better air flow.
Top Comments
1) Make sure you don't do a fresh OS install right off the bat, I actually got an offer from Dropbox for 25 GBs free for 1 year (in addition to whatever storage plan I had so far). All I had to do was sign into Dropbox (that was already pre-installed)
2) Make sure you do ALL windows updates, ALL Windows Store updates, and finally, ALL HP Support Assistant Updates (which does include a BIOS update already)
3) Make sure you're plugged into the power outlet to charge the battery, and go to HP Command Center and set the performance mode to "Performance"
4) Click on the battery icon in the bottom task bar, and slide the slider to the right for "Best Performance"
5) Uninstall any junk from control panel (I uninstalled mcafee, some VPN bloat ware, and alot of games from the app list)
Now, for initial thoughts on overall package:
1) I'm coming from an HP Pavillion x360 that LITERALLY just died 1 day after my 1 year warranty expired. I sworn off any HP products ,but decided to roll dice on this, PRIMARILY due to Coscto's return policy (90 days) and the 4 year warranty stack with citi card. I'm going to use the shit out of this in the next 90 days (before I upgrade SSD or RAM), just to make sure all is good.
2) The trackpad is plastic, but does support windows precision. Gestures work fine, overall feel ain't bad honestly.
3) Keyboard feels nice IMO. Nice spacing, nice feel, can't complain for something that's $599 pre tax
4) Screen is 1080p, but honestly, I wish it was brighter. Well lit indoor room is pushing the visibility on this, and outside use is impossible (just my opinion)
5) Haven't tried wifi yet (to confirm if I have any connectivity issues reported by previous comments). I'm hard wired into my 1 gig router with anker USB C dongle, getting my usual 900+ up and down, no problems.
6) Speakers aren't anything special, but don't sound bad. I haven't blasted on full volume just yet (to check for rattle as reported on some youtube video of the 4700U ryzen HP ENVY x360.
7) Power cable included is a barrel one, BUT it's kind of small and looks nice. Cable isn't braided, obviously isn't USB C, but I'm not disappointed.
8) Ryzen stickers are crooked on the deck of laptop (who cares)
9) Display unit at my Costco DID have a misaligned hinge (you can clearly tell just by looking). I haven't inspected the hinge too much on mine, but it looks OK
10) Fingerprint reader is right below the period button on NUMPAD, not on the actual keyboard (replacing the CNRL button) like one of the youtube videos I saw (which actually was for the X360 4700U model)
11) Packaging was impressive IMO for a $599 laptop. Laptop itlself was sealed in plastic, everything in box was included in box, and it was easy to open. I've never owned Apple or more expensive laptops, so to some packaging might not be best of best (who cares honestly)
Overall, honeymoon phase overview, I think I feel like $599 is a fair price for what you get. Overall speed of system is snappy, and at idle, I'm only using 2.6 GBs of RAM. 90 day Costco return policy is hard to beat, so if a better deal comes up, or I just don't like something (or it freaking dies like my x360 pavilion 1 day after the 1 year warranty expires) I'll just return.
Other freebie is the 1 month of office 365, don't forget to take advantage of that, on top of the 25GB free of dropbox for 1 year.
UPDATE: some common sense tips
1) Make sure the laptop box has unopened, SEALED "HP SEAL" stickers on top
2) All I had to do when buying in store was take a picture of display sticker, and clerk just scanned the code off the picture off my phone
3) Clerk at checkout (that you pay at), SHOULD give you a receipt (that's your copy) and some pickup slip thing for the guy that usually puts your stuff in a box to walk over to the cage and pick it up
4) I have NOT heard the fan AT ALL the whole time I've used this laptop today, EXCEPT for updating the BIOS. I'm being 100% honest, I have not heard the fan kick in at all, even during the initial 30+ Windows Update list of things to update when setting up the laptop. Laptop is cool to touch everywhere (although all I have opened right now is 4 tabs in new Edge browser and spotify - 4GB RAM use)
5) The LEFT hinge on my unit is slightly misaligned (you can tell by opening the laptop flat on the table and comparing the hinges). It's not as bad as what I saw on display at my local Coscto, and doesn't seem to cause any display issues, so I will let it be.
6) Might be due to my slightly misaligned left hinge, but when I close the laptop, the right side of the closed laptop isn't 100% closed (I can push down on the screen to "close" it completely and hear it close, but it's such a small imperfection I'm going to just liv ewith it. Just wanted to point out the real world quality control issues
Screen - Seems pretty good so far, plenty bright for my use. Colors are more muted than MB Pro. Haven't played around with color settings though. Very glossy, touchscreen use could cause a ton of fingerprint smudges. Bezel is annoying at first but after a while I didn't really notice it. (See attached photo of the x360 side by side with my MB Pro and both screens on max brightness).
Trackpad - This is my biggest annoyance. Plastic feeling, too much travel when clicked, sometimes taps aren't recognized. Will use a wireless mouse in most situations so not end of the world, but definitely a pain when forced to use it.
Keyboard - Somewhat disappointing here as well. Smaller keys and slightly larger spacing than my MB pro has caused a lot of typos. Keys in the middle of the keyboard are fairly quiet while those at both the left and right edge have a hollow, plasticky sound. Have to get used to it being off center due to number pad.
Fingerprint reader is excellent. Immediate recognition every time.
Overall performance seems very good. Boots in a few seconds. Loads apps quickly. So far no issues with multiple tabs, but haven't really maxed this out yet.
Battery life seems very good but time will tell. Have yet to watch a movie, game, or do anything very taxing. Haven't heard fans at all or noticed any heat, even when doing updates.
Physically, it is noticeably heavier than MB Pro, but I will not be carrying this around daily so not that big of an issue. Wouldn't want to have to haul it in a backpack all day though.
Fit and finish seem quite good overall. Hinges aligned, lid closes completely, so far no QC issues that others have mentioned. Feels solid, though there is more flex in the screen than my MB, it's not concerning. Biggest complaint here is that the lid seems to be a magnet for smudges. Again, minor cosmetic thing but it is noticeable.
Probably will not use this in tablet mode, so no real comment here. Have not tried the pen yet.
Again, overall very pleased with it. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread and helped in my decision to jump on this one.
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Also the screen was worse than I had expected.
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Then you got the other bunch that nitpicks everything. Screen too dim... It's too loud... Dude it's $600 fast laptop in a thin metal body. It's doesn't defy the laws of physics... You want nice screen pay up. You want better cooling, buy something bigger.
Here is my personal opinion. I've owned a lot of laptop typically high end think x1 carbon xps MacBook pixelbook. Cause I like gadgets. Yes you can get everything you want but it'll cost you and you will still need to make concessions. That beautiful MacBook cost alot and still runs hot. X1 carbon, big bezel. XPS dated. Pixelbook slow.
This $600 laptop is pretty solid and a fantastic bargain. But I'll probably end up returning it before 90 days love Costco and get 4800u/h laptop cause I like gadgets.
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Lastly, if you think your kids might want to play games on it, the laptop with the AMD chip (the envy) is the clear choice. AMD is still pretty far ahead of Intel in terms of graphics performance. Fun fact, the upcoming PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X both use custom chips based on AMD's Zen 2 architecture, which the 4500u is also based off of. While the processor in this laptop is by no means the same thing as the ones in the consoles, the fact that both sony and microsoft chose this architecture clearly shows that AMD knows what they're doing when it comes to gaming performance. If you're willing to tweak the game settings, the 4500u can provide some pretty impressive performance, even in games that a laptop without a graphics card really has no business being able to run. Here's a benchmark video showing it running GTA V (not a kids game but very demanding) quite impressively: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y1tI8f
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If it's soldered, you wouldn't have SODIMM slots.
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