AMD Ryzen 4000 Lands in HP Envy 2020 Laptop Lineup

 HP is going after a growing market of creators -- as well as Apple’s lunch -- with its new Envy laptops for 2020. Announced today and arriving throughout May and June, the refreshed clamshells and 2-in-1s focus on battery life and the ability to juggle multiple creative workloads. For the 2-in1s, HP is calling in the new AMD Ryzen 4000-series APUs, namely the AMD Ryzen 7 4700U and Ryzen 5 4500U. 

Additionally, HP is refreshing its clamshell Envy laptops. It already introduced the HP Envy 17 earlier this week, but today it’s pulling the curtains off the Envy 15 and Envy 13 too. 

HP Envy 2020 Laptop Specs

HP Envy x360 13 and 15: AMD-Fueled 

Like with previous Envy x360 13-inchers, the 2020 version will be an AMD-exclusive (the current models offer up to AMD Ryzen 7 3700U). The Envy x360 13 opts for the Ryzen 7 4700U, which packs eight CPU cores and eight threads (no simultaneous multithreading) with a base clock speed of 2.0 GHz that can boost up to 4.1 GHz.

The larger 15-inch Envy x360 comes with two Team Red options, the same Ryzen 7 4700U or the less-powerful AMD Ryzen 5 4500U, which has six cores and six threads with 2.3 GHz / 4.0 GHz speeds.  You can tell they’re packing AMD because they come in black, as opposed to the Intel SKUs’ silver. 

The Envy x360 15 also features Intel 10th Gen Ice Lake options that bring Hyper-Threading but lower core counts and clock speeds in the Intel Core i5-1035G1 (4 cores, 8 threads at 1-3.6 GHz) and i7-1065G7 (4 cores, 8 threads at 1.3-3.9 GHz). 

AMD claims improved battery life with its 4000-series APUs compared to predecessors, and Intel also touts the battery life gains of its Ice Lake architecture. But we’ll have to wait to do some testing with HP’s implementations before making final calls on that front. 

With integrated graphics, the Envy x360s pack less of a graphical punch than the clamshells, but they have a greater focus on mobility. According to HP’s survey of 4,400 creators in the U.S., UK and China, two-thirds of consumer creatives work outside of their home, making the ability to flip into tablet mode a potential plus. It’s also why the x360 15 looks to make things more convenient with a 17% larger touchpad than the previous generation.

In addition to its 360-degree hinge, the x360s include features of their Envy clamshells siblings, including Bang & Olufsen-tuned speakers and a redesigned unified backlit keyboard with the fingerprint reader and power button all in one area. Both Envy x360s also have an 88% screen-to-body ratios, with the 13-incher fitting in an 11-inch footprint.  

HP Envy 15: MacBook Pro Rival 

After announcing the updated Envy 17 clamshell, HP is introducing refreshed Envy 13 and 15 designs that it describes as “minimalist.” That includes a unified keyboard with everything -- including the camera shutter and mic mute button -- together for less clutter. 

The Envy 15 also boasts a 4K resolution OLED touchscreen option and also supports HDR at a minimum of 400 nits max brightness. Of course, color accuracy is key to creatives, and HP promises every 4K screen is factory-calibrated with a Delta E of less than 2, meaning errors shouldn’t be visible to the human eye. 

With an i7-10750H (6 cores, 12 threads at 2.6-5 GHz), and a discrete RTX 2060 Max-Q graphics card, HP claims the Envy 15 can handle running multiple creative applications at the same time, partially thanks to HP introducing “gaming-class” cooling to its Envy lineup for the first time. This includes using a vapor chamber solution for keeping cooling efficient and compact, HP Dynamic Power for allocating power for the CPU or GPU based on the current workload and an infrared thermopile sensor. Together, this allegedly allows for 33% more processing power compared to a “traditional heatpipe design.”

HP in its press conference wasn’t shy about pitting the Envy 15 against the 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro in the hopes of capturing a burgeoning market of creators. According to HP’s numbers, 61% of people use their PC to create, and creative jobs top the list of remote work opportunities in the U.S.

HP is specifically going after prosumers with the Envy -- like video bloggers and editors, photographers and graphic designers -- as well as professionals, developers, photographers, designers and architects with greater focus on emerging tech like XR, 3D, AI and simulation. 

HP claims the Envy 15 is 33% faster at video editing with Adobe Rush than an i7-quipped 15-inch MacBook Pro and 13% faster with Adobe Premiere Pro. The former uses 10th Gen Intel Core and Nvidia RTX graphics, compared to the latter's 9th Gen and AMD Radeon Pro 5500M. 

The 15-incher also has slightly greater pixel density (282 versus 226 pixels per inch), VESA DisplayHDR 400 and True Black certifications and claims up to 600 nits brightness, while the MacBook Pro is stuck at 500 nits  

Similarly, the Envy 15 brings greater port selection than the MacBook Pro’s four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports by including two USB-A ports, HDMI and a card reader. By this point, many Apple fans have likely gotten used to dealing with dongles. But for those who haven’t--and who aren’t wedded to macOS--HP’s Envy 15 may offer up an enticing alternative.