Hi Everyone,
With the rash of security issues and near monopoly on computer processors over the last decade at least Intel has enjoyed a rare position in Technology of uncontested dominance. With AMD releasing a new series of processors can AMD finally give Intel some real competition and not in just the bargain bin market? I am here to attempt to answer at least some of those questions in this review.
If you are in the market for a new Laptop should you even consider AMD at this time in 2018?
It all depends on your use and needs. At the moment there are only a few choices of Laptop PC's with the AMD chips in them such as the Hp Envy in this review a Lenovo 13" starting at $1049. The Ryzen 7 will be coming soon and will be released on high end and gaming systems while the Ryzen 5 is aimed at mid market. In other words if you are looking for one of these cheap it isn't going to happen unless you get the big box model in stores which you can find the HP models for about $100 under retail but that model only has 8gb ram and a 7200 mechanical hard drive and it is not easy to DIY. As for the Lenovo's I have yet to see them in stores and their price of entry is much higher the specs are better but I would rather configure myself like I can with HP and Lenovo is just one size fits all for now anyway.
So if you are looking for a bargain probably better to stick to i3 or wait a while for Ryzen to really saturate the market. However if you want value now or specially in the next several months AMD might make more sense than Intel for the first time in a long time. In comparison to the HP Envy with the Intel processor the AMD variant is almost $200 less than the same model with Intel. Not a huge difference but enough to add some extra ram and SSD to make the AMD a much more value oriented option. That is when you buy direct from HP. When you factor in Amazon and other retailers who sell the Intel variants with the hybrid 128gb SSD and 16gb ram for just a few dollars less than the AMD variant with 256SSD and 16 ram. All else being equal the Intel is just a little cheaper and the only thing better on the AMD is the integrated graphics and larger standard SSD drive which for a lot for a lot of people might not be enough to get the AMD.
The AMD Ryzen 5 2500u clocks at 2.0 GHZ and can dynamically adjust clock speed to 3.6 GHZ. The AMD Ryzen 7 2700u clocks at 2.2 GHZ and can clock up to 3.8 GHZ! The Ryzen 5 uses Vega 8 graphics with a 8 core graphics engine and the Ryzen 7 uses the Vega 10 decacore graphics engine. Both solutions blow away the integrated solutions from intel in their respective models i5 and i7 8th gen. on ultra low voltage mobile chips. The Intel i7 8550 has a base clock of 1.8 and can scale up to 4 GHZ. It is a fast chip, fast chip.
I want to point out that a lot of people compare the Ryzen 5 to the i7 and it should be compared to the i5 8250u. The Ryzen 7 should be compared to the i7 just for the sake of true comparisons.
So even though you may spend about the same as the AMD variant depending on where and how you buy it the AMD variant is still a better value. However as stated before the value might not be enough given a lot of people's past experiences with AMD.
Also I want to state that some people have suggested poor optimization by HP or just lower than expected benchmark results expecting Acer or others to do better and I can safely say now that the hardware is solid but there are reasons for their results which I will expound later. So HP is a solid choice with a few modifications that are fairly easy to make. I do wish I could buy a configured HP from the Microsoft store as the added HP software is a problem.
Now that we have covered all of that we can get into the AMD chip and the Laptop. I initially did have some software issues. Nothing big but annoying. Also the fan was running all the time like my Old AMD Turion 64! I was a little concerned at first. Before I get into that though the initial unboxing was a bit unsettling. So I have bought custom ordered Macs, Acer, etc. and they usually have an outer box and an inner retail box. Not HP. The Shipping box is the retail box and there is just two pieces of cardboard to protect the laptop which the outer box was punctured. I am happy in one sense that the minimal packaging is truly ecological unlike some companies that claim to be but it is close to being dangerous. I will add pictures and a video review later.
Build Quality-initial impressions.
Once I got the shipping/retail box out of the way my impressions were very good for a mid range laptop. I consider anything over $1000 to be more than mid but that is me and this just breaks that mark. I had a late 2016 MacBook Pro 15" model space gray with similar specs to this machine and before that I had a 13" Aorus gaming laptop with an overclocking Intel quad core Skylake Cpu and 16gb ddr4 ram so I understand decent performance in a thin and light notebook format. The build quality of this machine fits between the MacBook pro and Aorus being better than the much more expensive Aorus but not as good as the much more expensive still MacBook Pro. In my opinion it feels nicer than a mid tier device. It feels like a high quality device with all aluminum build, glass touch screen, nice loud stereo front facing speakers, and fits in the same backpack as my MacBook Pro. The keyboard is very nice and backlit and has a numeric keypad on the right which the MacBook didn't. Also I feel the touch screen is much more functional than the touch bar. So having rather high expectations this Laptop does a really good job. The antenna band on the top edge of the screen is not inlayed evenly so it doesn't look or feel right but a minor issue and the polished beveled edge around the touch pad had marks new-again just a couple and not a huge issue but not something you would ever see on a MacBook of any kind. For the cost the build quality has exceeded my expectations. Also there are a couple of nice design features like a light near the charging port that tells if it is charging and turns color when finished, a dedicated volume rocker button on the right, and a lighted power button on the left. I like the little extras. A Nice touch.
Performance,
So as you can tell by my previous experience I was used to decent performance and this Laptop certainly does not disappoint. I have not had a chance to do any gaming yet but I was able to run Geekbench 4. I also have to say here is where the HP programs screw things up. I was having Wifi drop outs for no reason on my brand new Laptop. Fan was running crazy when I first got it. Started looking at the HP coolsense software, uninstalled it and rebooted. No more fan noise unless really heavy load and still less than before. With coolsense I felt like I had an old AMD processor always running the fan even at idle and when I uninstalled and rebooted it was like a different PC but with no performance or coolness difference I could tell. I should run thermals but I just recommend getting rid of it. Then there was a connection HP software and when I uninstalled and rebooted that my WIfi signal stopped dropping out and turns on faster at boot. Long story short I uninstalled all the HP software except drivers and performance is way better. My lowest Geek bench score with HP software was 3798 single core and 10444 multi core, Once All Hp software was gone and Eset replaced Mcaffe my score was 3886 single core, 10530 multi core. Now these are not huge differences but you can see it does impact system performance pretty bad and I am sure over time it just gets worse.
Performance in relation to the other two mention PC's is better than the Aorus or the Mac. At least in every day tasks and even in installing software and resetting the AMD is faster than the Aorus if we are comparing same OS. I have to test gaming but in most applications I have tested this machine does very well in the real world. I really don't think there is much of a difference in the real world use between this CPU and the 8th gen i5. My daughter has an Acer with the 8th gen Intel i5 and it is fast too. So I wouldn't say that the AMD is faster than the i5-in some cases yes and in some no. Integrated graphics the AMD is better but with cheap Nvidia Mx150 it is hard to say who is better. I am still leaning in a slight edge in real world use once drivers are good for AMD. Nvidia will perform better but may throttle back more over time while the integrated AMD solution should be able to perform better longer but not as powerful in peak performance to the NVidia.
Screen,
The glass screen has full 1080p resolution and around 250nits of brightness. Color gamut is also not so great. So outdoor use and graphic artists would not like the screen but for the rest of us it is very nice and glass is great! I love the screen but it could be brighter and more saturated.
Sound,
One of the strong points. It doesn't have quad stereo or subwoofers but the standard stereo sound it does have fires up in the front and get rather loud with pretty good bass response from a laptop. I like the media experience a lot on this machine!
Windows 10- So far no issues. Runs stable and fast. Really like the latest Windows 10 and love the touch although I don't use it often when I do it is nice to have! The AMD processor in this laptop is one of the best I have ever used and is certainly as good as the Intel competition. I hope AMD can keep the pressure up. I for one love to have a choice!
Final Thoughts.
Should you go out and buy an HP Envy or an AMD laptop? I really don't see any reason why not and there are a few benefits of doings so such as slightly better specs and slightly more secure processor. However, if you are not in the market now don't rush out to buy one. There will be more to choose in the coming months and prices should fall a bit. Once that happens I would fully endorse an AMD processor for most people in a laptop which is the first time I have said that in a long time. Even the Turion wasn't as good as this!
Is the HP worth buying over others or is it worse than others? I think it is a better value than other brands right now but the Hp software really makes me cringe. I wish I could get a clean install with just needed drivers out the box-HP!!
I will post a more detailed review with pictures later and a video.
I hope you enjoyed this write up. If you like technology and gadgets then follow me because I will be doing a bunch more. I will be doing a review of the HP Elite X3 windows phone-yes a windows phone in 2018! Xiaomi mi A1 and Xiaomi Mi Max 2 will also be reviewed as well as the Teclast Master T10 Android Tablet. If you have any questions or devices you would like to see reviewed check my YouTube channel and you can post comments there or maybe here. Not sure how everything works yet!