The $650 Gaming Laptop Worth It?

Hey guys, this is Austin. Today I'm going to be reviewing the new HP Envy x360 laptop, which might not look like a traditional gaming laptop but packs a powerful punch under its hood.

So, what's inside this laptop? Well, it's powered by AMD Ryzen Mobile, a brand new processor that has been gaining attention in recent years. Not only is it more powerful than Intel's offerings, but it also comes with some seriously impressive graphics capabilities. The 15-inch display might not be the biggest, but it's definitely a key feature of this laptop.

But what really sets the Envy x360 apart is its convertible design. This means that you can use it in multiple modes - as a traditional laptop, tablet, or even stand-alone device with a 360-degree hinge. The flexibility is impressive, and I have to admit that I was impressed by how well the hinge works.

Now, let's talk about the specs. The Envy x360 comes with an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB mechanical hard drive. It also features a 15.6-inch Full HD display with good color accuracy and contrast. The trackpad is okay, but I wish it had Windows Precision drivers for better performance.

One of the things that really stood out to me was the keyboard. Not only does it have a nice feel, but it's also backlit, which is a major bonus considering the price point. And speaking of price, the Envy x360 comes in at around $600, which is a great value for what you get.

But it's not all sunshine and rainbows. I experienced some screen issues out of the box, including a problem with sleep mode disappearing altogether. Thankfully, a few Windows updates fixed this issue, but it was still frustrating.

The webcam is also somewhat lacking, but at least it's 1080p resolution. And while the speakers are not bad, they're not exactly top-notch either.

Overall, I'm very impressed with what AMD has pulled off with the Ryzen Mobile processor and its accompanying graphics. It's forced Intel to price gaming laptops in this range, which means that we'll see some serious competition soon.

In terms of games, the Envy x360 can handle some pretty demanding titles at lower settings. The performance is not on par with high-end gaming rigs, but it's definitely a step up from what we're used to seeing in the $600 price point.

The biggest issue I have is that the hard drive is still mechanical, which means it's slow compared to an SSD. If AMD had configured this laptop with an SSD instead, it would have really elevated the overall performance and feel of the device.

But despite some minor quibbles, I think the Envy x360 is a great option for anyone looking for a powerful and versatile laptop at an affordable price. It's not perfect, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're in the market for a new gaming laptop.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys, this is Austin.Is a $650 gaming laptop worth it?So this is the new HP Envy x360.Now while it might notlook like a gaming laptop,inside it is rocking thebrand new AMD Ryzen Mobile.If you've bought a laptopin the last few years,more than likely it was powered by Intel.However, AMD has stepped up ina big way with Ryzen Mobile.Not only does this havea much more powerful CPU,but the graphics should begood enough for actual gaming.So it is definitely a largerlaptop with a 15 inch display.But, as part of their x360line, what we're getting hereis a fully convertibledesign, which actually isn'ttoo thick either.Cover wise, it feels pretty nice.So we're getting a slightlysharp, angular design, whicha lot of HP laptops have had these days.But considering the $650price point, it looksand feels pretty premium.Open this guy up and we'regoing to see the full sizekeyboard, as well asnumber row, as well as theBang & Olufsen speakers.Something you won't find,however, are any stupid Intelstickers all over the laptop.Actually, there are no AMDstickers at all, are there?For ports, there's a prettydecent selection, includingHDMI, a USB 3, as wellas your headphone jack.And on the other side,you're going to be gettingone more USB 3.0, a USB-Cthat supports charging,as well as a full size SD card slot.HP doesn't claim this is agaming PC, but with Ryzen 5inside it should be capableof some decent gaming.So not only are we gettinga Quad-Core Zen processor,but we're also gettingeight Vega GPU cores.Now that's not going tobe able to blow away someproper dedicated graphics,but the idea is, is thatfor $650, especiallyconsidering that this isa very battery focused,sort of, lightweight laptop,it should give us decentgaming performance.Ryzen has proven to be prettyimpressive on the desktopside, offering a lot of fastcores at a reasonable price.Thankfully, that comesacross to Ryzen Mobile.So in Geekbench, while it'snot quite on par with Intel'slatest 8th-gen, 15 wattprocessors, it actually performsreally well compared toslightly older Core i5s.Definitely plenty ofperformance for pretty much anykind of normal usage.Where things get reallyinteresting is withthose Vega graphics.So it is a huge step upover something like IntelIntegrated Graphics, andit's even on par withsome of the lower enddedicated graphics options.Now this might not soundthat impressive, but considerthat this is all in a 15 watt chip.It nearly matches Intel'slatest and greateston the processor side, andcompletely destroys themon the graphics side.And again, this is from AMD.To put this to the test, we have CS:GO.Now here running at 1080pmedium, we're actually gettingpretty decent frame rates.So we're averaging somewherebetween the high 40sto mid 50s.And that is definitely very playable.Obviously, ideally you'rerunning in like 300,000 frames,but considering thatwe've got a $650 laptop,I'm definitely not complaining.Next up, we have Rocket League.Now this is a game that ispretty popular, and it'salso not that hard to run.And yet again, here we'rerunning at 1080p, this timeon quality settings.Now the frame rate's actuallyreally impressive here.We're just pretty much stayingabove 60 frames per secondat all times.Wow, that was terrible.So, in theory, we actuallycan bump those settings up,all the way up to the highquality if we wanted to.Move over to GTA, andwe're actually gettingpretty decent performance.So on normal settings, at1080p, we're getting between30 to 40 frames per second.For less demanding areaslike this, we're actuallyin the mid 40s or so.When you get a lot ofexplosions, sometimes it dipsaround 30, but again, pretty playable.To really put this tothe test, we have Pubg.And well this, is not so great.So, low settings at 720p, we'rebarely getting like 27, 28frames per second.I mean, this is a littlebit more of an open area,but even after we walk insidethis building we're stillbarely touching 30.It's kind of usable.It's not the worstexperience I've ever tried.But, maybe not the bestPubg machine in the world.Things aren't all perfectin normal use either.So when I was first settingup this laptop, I hadsome weird driver issues,where the screen would goreally dim and I wouldhave no control over it,and sleep mode justcompletely disappeared.Thankfully, a few Windowsupdates fixed that.But still, not the bestout of box experience.Now it's not a huge surpriseconsidering that this is oneof the very first RyzenMobile products to actuallygo on sale.So there might be a fewkinks to be worked out.I will say though, the AMDx360 is nice piece of hardware.And of course, you do havethat fully flexible hinge.And while it is nicelyweighted, I don't like how muchwobble there is whenyou actually touch it.Although again, this isa very common complaintwith pretty much any of thesesort of convertible designs.The keyboard also isn't too bad.So not only do I like thespacing and the layoutwith having the number row,but also has a nice feel,and importantly, especiallyconsidering the price,it is going to be backlit.With the screen issuespatched it's a good panel.So at 15.6 inches, witha 1080p resolution,it looks pretty good.And especially with thiskind of size and price point,I feel like 1080 is atotally reasonable sweet spotfor gaming, as well as productivity.Now the actual display itself.The color is nice, and thecontrast is pretty impressive,however, it just doesn't get that bright.So when you're lookingat it dead on, it's okay.But that, combined with the fact thatit's really reflective, meansthat if you get this guyeven slightly off axis, it isreally hard to see anything.So like a lot of other HPlaptops recently, it does haveBang & Olufsen branded speakers,and especially consideringthat it's a pretty bigspeaker row that's directedstraight at you.Not only does it sound pretty good, but itgets surprisingly loud.However, it's not all great.So the trackpad is just kind of okay.Now I really wish it did haveWindows Precision drivers.As it is, the tracking isokay, and it does supportmost of the major gestures,but the tracking could bea lot better, andespecially the trackpad sizefeels a little bit smallfor a laptop in 2018.There's also Windows Hellosupport for facial recognition,which is a nice feature, exceptthat for me, it only workswhen I get my face very,very close to the laptop.The webcam isn't much better.So it is at least 1080p,but as you guys can seefrom this quality, TeamCrispy, this is definitely not.The biggest issue though,is the hard drive.So while the rest of thesystem is pretty wellspecced out with the Ryzen5, dual channel eight gigsof memory, however, havinga mechanical hard drive ina laptop in 2018 just feels slow.It would be so nice if theyhad actually configured thiswith an SSD.On one hand, Ryzen Mobileis seriously impressive.Look back just a few monthsago, and Intel was selling15 watt laptop processorswith lackluster graphicsand only two cores.Yeah, they've steppedit up to Quad-Core now,but you look at AMD, whohas come out of nowherewith an impressiveQuad-Core design, and someseriously powerful graphics.And again, this is from AMD.I know I keep saying that,but it is really impressivewhat AMD has been able topull off, especially comingout of nowhere like this.Now sure, this is not goingto be a super high endgaming machine that'sgoing to work for everyone,but it does have enough power to play somepretty decent games.On the other hand, the Envyx360 is good, but not perfect.I feel like they got about 85% right.With a better trackpad,a couple of tweaks, andespecially a standard SSD,I would like this thinga lot more.What gets me really excitedis that this has forcedIntel Nvidia to price somegaming laptops in this sort of$600 price range.So, if you guys wanna seea video on one of those,definitely be sure to let meknow in the comments below,and I will catch you in the next one.