Laptop HP ENVY 13-BA1055NR Features

Design & Build

The Envy 13 doesn’t break the boundaries when it comes to design, but it does look good: it’s made from aluminium and features an unfussy, sleek body. You don’t get fancier features like RGB LEDs, but the HP doesn’t look out of place when lined up alongside the Dell XPS 13 and Apple MacBook Air. It’s got reasonable connectivity, too. The HP serves up two full-size USB ports that are cleverly hidden behind drop-hinges. There’s a USB-C port that offers power delivery and 10Gbps file transfers, and there’s an audio jack and a microSD card reader. On the inside, there’s dual-band Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.

That’s entirely fine for everyday use, but there are omissions too. There’s no HDMI output, and no Thunderbolt 4 either. In fact, there’s not even Thunderbolt 3 as found on the Envy 13 (2020) as the ‘SuperSpeed USB-C’ port is limited to 10Gbps. Extra USB-C ports would have been welcome, and the USB ports could be faster, too. There’s no wired internet and while the HP does have a webcam, it doesn’t support Windows Hello for easier log in. Build quality is acceptable for everyday use, but this is another area where the HP is ordinary. The base flexes, the keyboard deck bends a bit and pushing the rear of the display causes a little desktop distortion. It’s not a disaster, but a sleeve would be prudent if you regularly take the HP out and about. The Envy 13 is 17mm thick and weighs 1.3kg, which are fairly ordinary figures too – not bad, but easily undercut by competitors.

Keyboard & Trackpad The keyboard is on the softer side, and that means the buttons are comfortable and quiet – ideal for long typing sessions. They’re impressively large and they’ve got a clear font and a bright, crisp backlight. It’s solid mainstream hardware, but the Dell has a crisper design if a keyboard is high up your priority list.

Screen & Speakers The IPS panel on the Envy 13 has a Full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution, which is solid for everyday use. It’s a touchscreen, too, which adds versatility. It’s a shame that HP hasn’t gone with a 16:10 or 3:2 aspect ratio to deliver some extra height, especially when this machine will so often run web browsers and office apps.

The HP’s 13.3in panel serves up superb quality. The backlight reaches a maximum level of 422 nits, so it’s easily got the punch for outdoor work and the black point of 0.21 nits is fantastic meaning loads of depth. The resulting contrast ratio of 2,009:1 is a stunning figure for any IPS panel and it lends the HP loads of vibrancy and nuance.

Specs & Performance Unsurprisingly, the HP has a mid-range specification. The key component is the Intel Core i5-1135G7, which is a Tiger Lake CPU with four cores and a peak Turbo pace of 4.2GHz. There’s 8GB of dual-channel memory and a 512GB SSD while an Nvidia GeForce MX450 GPU is a nice surprise considering most rivals runs on integrated graphics. The HP’s single- and multi-core Geekbench results of 1,37 and 4,486 are fine, and they enable solid everyday performance – there’s enough power here to run Office tasks and loads of browser tabs. It’ll run undemanding creative apps, too. It’s a good thermal performer, with hardly any fan noise and heat present during benchmarks.