Large allrounder. A large display with a high, 4K resolution in a simple case together with computing power from Intel’s 12th generation, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, and a dedicated GeForce GPU – the HP Envy 17-cr0079ng package sounds interesting. Find out in our Notebookcheck test whether the multimedia laptop is also convincing users in practice.

Note: The manufacturer may use components from different suppliers including display panels, drives or memory sticks with similar specifications.

The HP Envy 17 presents itself in a simple design in silver color. Even though most of the case is made from plastic, it offers a high-quality impression with good workmanship. The wide hinge keeps the large display fairly tightly in place, so that you have to use both hands to open the laptop.

As a 17-inch laptop, the HP Envy 17 is of course not very compact. But thanks to the slim display bezels particularly on the left and right side, the overall size remains within limits. Compared to the other large 17-inch devices, it places in the middle of the test field.

The ~2.5 kg (~5.5 lb) weight plus 500g (~1.1 lb) for the charger have an impact on mobile use. A large display diagonal demands its due. However, even at that size, laptops can even be lighter, as the competitors show. Our test unit is one of the heaviest models here, which is a negative point for mobile usage.

      Lenovo IdeaPad 3 17ABA7       HP Envy 17-cr0079ng       LG Gram 17Z90Q-E.AD78G       Dell XPS 17 9720       Acer Aspire 5 A515-57G-53N8       HP ProBook 450 G9 6A180EA       DIN A4 {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_335445’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_335430’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_335430’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_334452’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_334452’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_329562’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_329562’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_332383’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_332383’).checked = false;document.querySelectorAll(‘#showDeviceSize_330842’).forEach(element => {element.classList.add(‘hideEl’)});document.getElementById(‘showDeviceSizelabel_330842’).checked = false;return false;” title=”hide all”>❌

The Envy 17 offers extensive port equipment, except for a LAN port. Included are two Thunderbolt 4 ports with USB 4 Type-C for data transfer up to 40 Gbit/s, charging, and DisplayPort 1.4, with both of the ports positioned on the right side. In some situations, distributing them over both sides would be more desirable. One of the Thunderbolt ports is used by the included charger to provide the power.

On the left side, an HDMI-2.1 port allows you to connect an external monitor, alternatively to the DisplayPort connection. Three additional USB-A ports distributed over both sides are sufficient, and there is also an SD card reader. All the connections are easily accessible.

The built-in SD card reader isn’t one of the fast representatives of its kind. In our measurements using our AV PRO microSD 128 GB V60 reference storage card, it always places last, but the distance behind most of the competitors isn’t very far. However, those who often need to copy large amounts of data from a storage card will still be better served by other devices.

The Wi-Fi 6E AX211 module from Intel used here ensures a speedy WLAN connection that almost remains constant over time. Our measurements are at the level of the average for this WLAN module. A wired network connection in form of a LAN port or a mobile connection is not available.

The HP True Vision infrared camera is set in the center of the top display bezel. It offers temporary noise suppression and an integrated dual-array digital microphone. At 5 MP, its resolution is fairly high, and it can also be used for Windows Hello. While the image quality is good, it has a slight red tint. Compared to the competitors in our test, it has the second lowest color deviation with a solid ∆E of 8. This is absolutely sufficient for professional or private video calls.

A nice gimmick: the privacy shutter is not opened and closed manually via slider but via keypress on the keyboard. In addition, a small light next to the camera indicates when this is activated.

In addition to privacy protection for the camera, the HP Envy 17 also supports the Trusted Platform Module (firmware TPM). There is no Kensington Lock or fingerprint sensor, but Windows Hello is supported for unlocking via face recognition.

HP includes a powerful 90-Watt USB-C charger with the laptop. Optionally, HP also offers a number of accessories, but they are not specifically designed for this laptop.

The access to the insides is blocked by five tiny Torx screws. Once you gained access, you are hardly offered any opportunities for maintenance. There are no free slots for storage expansion, but considering it already offers 32 GB of RAM, this shouldn’t be too hard to accept. The battery, the M.2 SSD, and the Wi-Fi module can be replaced.

In Germany, HP offers a 2-year manufacturer’s warranty for parts and labor.

A 17.3-inch display diagonal also means that there is a lot of space for the keyboard. Aside from about 3 cm (~1.2 in) on the edges, HP uses this space for a sufficiently large keyboard together with a numpad on the side.

The touchpad is placed below the keyboard slightly to the left of the center. At around 12.5 x 8 cm (~4.9 x 3.15 in), we neither have any reason for complaint about the size nor about the haptics, thanks to the smooth surface. Left clicks are possible on almost the whole surface of the touchpad, and aside from the right bottom corner, right clicks as well. There is no haptic separation of the areas, but in everyday operation you won’t notice that this is missing.

The response to inputs is swift and without any problems. Multi-touch gestures such as scrolling with two fingers or zooming in and out are supported.

HP has equipped the Envy 17-cr0079ng with a large 17.3-inch, high resolution 4K IPS panel from BOE with 3,840 x 2,160 pixels, 60 Hz, and short response times. Alternatively, you can also choose versions with an FHD display in this model series.

The manufacturer promises a display brightness of 400 Nits, which we are able to confirm in our test measurements in some spots and also almost on average across the whole area. In our comparison field, our test unit offers one of the brightest displays, but unfortunately that doesn’t help when using it outdoors, since the manufacturer has decided to use a reflective version. Even though that looks great, it also creates strong reflections, making the contents hardly recognizable outdoors (see pictures below). Indoors, this works better, but you still get annoying reflections from light sources such as lamps or windows.

In terms of the black value and contrast, the HP Envy 17 is surpassed by most of our competitors. In our comparison field, the display produces one of the best overall results, but it also suffers from some slight clouding and significant backlight bleeding, meaning that you can see some lighter spots in the background illumination at the edges when dark contents are displayed.

* … smaller is better

Compared to the other test candidates, the color space coverage is good. The panel covers 100% of the smaller sRGB color space. With a good 98% of the P3 and 87% of the AdobeRGB color space, it achieves good values but still wouldn’t be the perfect choice for graphics designers.

The device also offers a good color reproduction compared to the competitors, as the low Delta E measurements show. The values that are already fairly balanced in the state of delivery can be further improved by a calibration.

Display Response Times

↔    Response Time Black to White
7 ms … rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↗ 1 ms rise
	↘ 6 ms fall
The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.4 (minimum) to 240 (maximum) ms. » 12 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (22.5 ms).
↔    Response Time 50% Grey to 80% Grey
1 ms … rise ↗ and fall ↘ combined	↗ 0 ms rise
	↘ 0 ms fall
The screen shows very fast response rates in our tests and should be very well suited for fast-paced gaming. In comparison, all tested devices range from 0.25 (minimum) to 636 (maximum) ms. » 1 % of all devices are better. This means that the measured response time is better than the average of all tested devices (35.4 ms).

Screen Flickering / PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation)

Screen flickering / PWM not detected
In comparison: 53 % of all tested devices do not use PWM to dim the display. If PWM was detected, an average of 19122 (minimum: 2.4 – maximum: 3846000) Hz was measured.

The reflective display creates some problems when using it outdoors. The IPS display offers the good viewing angle stability that is typical for this kind of panel.

In our cr0079ng (72W72EA) test configuration, the HP Envy 17 is equipped with the Core i7-1255U from Intel’s 12th processor generation (Alder Lake U). The manufacturer combines this with an additional 32 GB of DDR4 3200 MHz RAM (2x 16 GB) and a large 1-TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD. Depending on the demands, the dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 2050 Laptop GPU with 4 GB GDDR6 or the internal Intel Iris Xe Graphics handle the graphics output.

Alternatively, HP also offers the Envy 17 in many other configurations, for example with less RAM and storage or different CPUs such as the Intel Core i5-1235U or Core i7-1260P.

With the Command Center, HP offers its own tool, allowing you to choose among the performance modes “Balanced,” “Performance,” and “Cool,” as well as a “Power Saving” mode in battery operation, or you can also select an automatic “Intelligent Adjustment” mode. For our benchmarks, we usually chose the “Performance” HP mode together with the “Best Performance” Windows setting.

The Core i7-1255U used here comes from Intel’s 12th processor generation (Alder Lake) and is designed for high-end laptops. The ten-core processor consists of two Performance and eight Efficiency cores, resulting in twelve threads due to hyperthreading of the P cores. The clock speed ranges between 1.7 and 4.7 GHz.

In the CPU benchmarks during our tests, the HP Envy 17 delivers mostly very good results, usually positioning above the average for the CPU and the competitors with the same CPU. In our constant load test, the performance is also available constantly. In battery operation, the performance is reduced by around 70%.

* … smaller is better

Help

In practical operation, the hardware used here delivers more than a solid performance. In benchmarks such as PCMark 10, the laptop is able to keep up well with the top of the field and is mostly only surpassed by the two laptops that are equipped with more powerful hardware. Those who want even more performance are even better served by the Intel Core i7-12700H in the Dell XPS 17 9720, for example.

For some strange reasons, the Creative Benchmark test of PCMark 8 was always interrupted in the middle with the hardware and driver configuration of our test unit. We therefore left out this benchmark.

* … smaller is better

Our test unit shows relatively high DPC latencies. While this could be an indication that some problems might occur with real-time audio and video processing, as always this is also only a momentary snapshot of the current driver configuration.

* … smaller is better

The 1-TB SSD from Samsung doesn’t perform particularly well in our test measurements. Not only does it place behind most of the other competitors but also below the average level for the SSD. HP didn’t do itself any favors with this choice, but you still wouldn’t notice any limitations during daily operation. At least the values remain almost identical in the constant performance, without starting to be throttled.