Thursday, March 28, 2024

Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip vs. HP Envy x360 13: it comes down to price

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We love the HP Envy x360 13 convertible 2-in-1 for its excellent build quality, awesome display, and fine performance and battery life. It’s a hard laptop to beat, especially with a starting price of $700.

Contents

  • Specs and configurations
  • Design
  • Performance
  • Display
  • Portability
  • Almost equal in every way, except priceShow 1 more item

Enter the Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip, and 2-in-1 that’s similar to the Envy in many respects. But it’s also $500 more fully configured. Is it worth the extra money?

Specs and configurations

 
HP Envy x360 13
Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip
Dimensions
11.75 inches x 8.46 inches x 0.63 inches
11.67 inches x 8.26 inches x 0.59 inches
Weight
2.95 pounds
2.43 pounds
Processor
Intel Core i5-1230U
Intel Core i5-1250U
Intel Core i7-1240P
Intel Core i7-1260P
Graphics
Intel Iris Xe
Intel Iris Xe
RAM
8GB LPDDR4x
16GB LPDDR4x
8GB LPDDR5
16GB LPDDR5
32GB LPDDR5
Display
13.3-inch 16:10 WUXGA (1920 x 1200) IPS
13.3-inch 16:10 WQXGA (2560 x 1600) IPS
13.3-inch 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED
13.3-inch 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED
Storage
512GB PCIe SSD
1TB PCIe SSD
512GB PICe 4.0 SSD
1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD
Touch
Yes
Yes
Ports
2 x USB-C4 with Thunderbolt 4
2 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2
1 x 3.5mm audio jack
1 x microSD card reader
2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4
1 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2
1 x 3.5mm audio jack
1 x microSD card reader
Wireless
Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2
Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2
Webcam
5MP with infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello
1080p with infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello
Operating system
Windows 11
Windows 11
Battery
66 watt-hours
67 watt-hour
Price
$700+
$1,500
Rating
4.5 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5 stars

The HP Envy x360 13 has several configurations available, starting at just $700 for a Core i5-1230U, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and a WUXGA IPS display. That’s a bargain price for a great midrange and near-premium laptop. Ramp up the configuration to a Core i7-1250U, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 2.8K OLED display, and you’re only spending $1,100. That, too, is a great price for a very well-configured laptop.

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There’s just one configuration of the Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip, and it’s not net available for sale. It’s $1,500 for a Core i7-1260P, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 2.8K OLED display. That’s a full $500 more than the similarly equipped Envy, making the ZenBook a very premium option.

Design

  • 1.
    HP Envy x360 13
  • 2.
    Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip

The Envy x360 13 is available in Natural Silver and Space Blue (we reviewed the latter), while the ZenBook S 13 Flip is available in Refined White and Ponder Blue (the only color available in the US). Put them side by side, and you’d be hard-pressed to tell the difference. They’re both minimalist designs with simple lines that look like many other 13-inch convertible 2-in-1.s And that’s okay because they’re both attractive laptops.

They’re both also built well, with no bending, flexing, or twisting. This is unusual, in that the ZenBook is made of a magnesium-aluminum alloy that in many other laptops isn’t as rigid (while still being strong). Asus did a remarkable job of making the ZenBook as solid as the all-aluminum Envy. The hinges on both worked well, too, opening easily while holding the display in clamshell, tent, media, and tablet modes.

Both laptops had excellent keyboards, with good key spacing, large keycaps, and a consistent feel, but the Envy x360 13’s was a bit snappier and more precise. Both touchpads were smooth and accurate and the Envy’s enjoyed quiet but confident keyclicks. The ZenBook’s touchpad buttons were far too stiff, though, and very uncomfortable to use, although the addition of the NumberPad 2.0 LED numeric keypad is a nice touch. The touch displays on both were responsive and supported the included active pens. Both laptops were fine for inking.

The laptops were very close to each other in size, with similar display bezels around 13.3-inch 16:10 displays. The ZenBook was much lighter at 2.43 pounds versus 2.95 pounds, and a bit thinner at 0.59 inches versus 0.63 inches. That made it more comfortable to use as a tablet.

Connectivity was almost identical, with the Envy enjoying one extra USB-A port, but both were well-equipped for 13-inch machines. Wireless connectivity was up-to-date on both.

Finally, both had high-resolution webcams that were great for videoconferencing, although HP built in a few more features. Both have infrared cameras for Windows 11 Hello support via facial recognition.

Performance

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

The Envy x360 13 uses 9-watt Intel 12th-gen U-series CPUs, and we reviewed with the Core i7-125oU with 10 cores (two Performance and eight Efficient) and 12 threads. That’s theoretically significantly slower than the 28-watt Core i7-1260P in the ZenBook S 13 Flip with the same number of cores and threads. As it turns out, the ZenBook was indeed faster but not by all that much. It pulled furthest ahead in our multi-threaded CPU-intensive Handbrake and Cinebench R23 benchmarks, but the differences aren’t radical.

Both will feel about as fast in demanding productivity tasks, and neither will be great for hardcore creativity workflows.

HP Envy x360 13 2022
(Core i7-1250U)
Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip
(Core i7-1260P)
Geekbench 5
(single/multi)

Bal: 1,435 / 7,285
Perf: 1,460 / 7,288
Bal: 1,602 / 8,559
Perf: 1,639 / 8,923
Handbrake
(seconds)

Bal: 136
Perf: 138
Bal: 132
Perf: 117
Cinebench R23
(single/multi)

Bal: 1,504 / 7,436
Perf: 1,504/ 7,441
Bal: 1,583 / 7,595
Perf: 1,614 / 9,220

Display

We reviewed both laptops with 13.3-inch 16:10 2.8K (2880 x 1800) OLED displays, and the Envy x360’s was a bit brighter, had better contrast (not that you’d notice with OLED), and better accuracy. But both were excellent displays The Envy x360 13 has more display options available, including 1920 x 1200 and 2560 x 1600 IPS options that would offer better battery life.

HP Envy x360 13
(OLED)
Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip
(OLED)
Brightness
(nits)

391
337
AdobeRGB gamut
98%
97%
 sRGB gamut
100%
100%
Accuracy
(DeltaE, lower is better)

0.72
1.02
Contrast ratio
29,420:1
23,590:1

Portability

Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

As mentioned above both laptops are about the same width and depth but the Zenbook is considerably thinner and lighter. It’s easier to use in tablet mode, but you won’t notice the difference as much when using either laptop as a clamshell.

Battery life favored the lower-powered Envy x360 13 by about an hour in each of our benchmarks. Given the almost equal performance, that extra hour of battery life is a plus in HP’s favor.

HP Envy x36 13 2022
(Core i7-1250U)
Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip
(Core i7-1260P)
Web browsing
9 hours, 30 minutes
8 hours, 38 minutes
Video
14 hours, 14 minutes
13 hours, 16 minutes
PCMark 10 Applications
12 hours, 48 minutes
11 hours, 18 minutes

Almost equal in every way, except price

In terms of their designs, build quality, performance, and display quality, there’s little to differentiate these two laptops. The Envy x360 13 gets slightly better battery life and it has a better touchpad, but that’s about it.

The big difference, though, is in the price. The Envy can be had for just $700 with a nicely configured machine for productivity users, and at most you’ll spend $1,100 for a very well-configured laptop. The ZenBook is only available in a configuration that’s $500 more than the most expensive Envy, and there’s nothing to justify the increase in price. The Envy x360 13 wins this shootout.

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