As the line between home and work continues to blur, HP has revamped its mainstream Envy 14 laptop with a fresh new design, which includes a taller display, a physical webcam shutter, and faster components to better balance play and productivity.
By moving up from last year’s 13-inch chassis, the new Envy 14 is a bit roomier and better equipped for work or education. HP has shifted from its previous 16:9 display to a taller 14-inch 16:10 1920 x 12900 IPS touchscreen. And with its bigger body comes new internals, including an 11th-gen Intel Core i5 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 256GB m.2 SSD, and an optional Nvidia GTX 1650 Ti GPU. That means with the right config, the Envy 14 should be more than capable of handling some video-editing duties or playing games (though you might have to adjust the settings depending on the title).
For getting work done, the Envy 14 comes with dedicated keys to mute your mic or activate the physical shutter on HP’s somewhat low-res 720p HD webcam, so you can be super sure that you don’t find yourself at the centre of a video call “incident.” On top of that, HP even includes an AI Noise removal feature to reduce ambient noise and ensure you sound clear and crisp, and an enhanced lighting feature that should help make you look better on video, too.
HP says it has even increased the Envy 14’s airflow by 11% to help improve performance, while also adding IR sensors inside the chassis to more accurately measure system temps. And while manufacturer claims about battery life are always a bit idealistic, if the Envy 14 can come anywhere close to delivering on HP’s claims of 16.5 hours of battery life, we’re looking at a pretty long-lasting system.
So even though the Envy 14 might not be as brawny as a standard gaming notebook or as sleek as HP’s more premium laptops, the new Envy looks to offer a nice balance between power and portability, along with a slightly bigger and taller screen for better productivity at home. And starting at just $US1,000 ($1,289), the Envy 14’s price is pretty nice, too. The Envy 14 is expected to go on sale sometime later this month.