HP Folio 13 Review: Deviating From the Norm
by Dustin Sklavos on April 17, 2012 12:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Intel
- HP
- Sandy Bridge
- Ultrabook
Battery Life
HP's engineers seem to have short-changed some of the hardware itself in the Folio 13, but those sacrifices (along with sacrifices in form factor) were made in an effort to cram as large a battery as possible into the Folio 13. Indeed, it does include the biggest internal battery of any of the ultrabooks we've tested; the Acer TravelMate's battery is bigger on paper but it sticks out of the chassis slightly, while the Alienware M11x R3 can't really be classified as an ultrabook.
Interestingly, despite having a bigger battery than much of the competition, HP's Folio 13 is only able to provide middling efficiency. Battery life isn't poor by any stretch of the imagination, but ultimately the gamble doesn't seem to have paid off as much as HP would've liked as it's clear there's still some optimization that needs to be done.
Heat and Noise
Another area where the HP Folio 13 benefits tremendously as the result of HP's engineers willing to go a little bit thicker than the competition is in its cooling system. Noise even under load is a fairly quiet whine, and the system does a good job of keeping the i5 running frosty.
Having gotten used to seeing systems running in the 80s and higher, it's refreshing to see the Folio 13 only peaking in the mid-70s where full-sized notebooks tend to hang out. That said, I'm still not thrilled with the idea of having the fan intake on the bottom of the ultrabook (or on any laptop, really). As systems designed to be as light and portable as possible it stands to reason these are going to be used on laps most of the time, and while HP smartly positions the intake near the back and center of the bottom of the notebook, it still seems like this could cause problems. I feel like there has to be a better way to turn ultrabooks into true laptops.
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nitram_tpr - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - link
HP have appeared to create a chassis that can fit so much, yet all they do is chuck in a big battery that is, well, quite frankly useless.If they have loads of room for cooling, why not put an i7 in it?
Only one stick-o-ram :(
And a pretty aweful screen, oh dear oh dear, why they hell would anyone buy this?
And yet you seem to recommend it?
One of your recommendations is based on the battery, but the battery performance is poor when compared to other ultrabooks with less powerful batteries.
Is the keyboard worth the $1000 cost?
Gunbuster - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - link
From one side of their mouth they say they want to compete with the macbook airFrom the other side they say how much they need to get the price point down to $600
When all is said and done we'll have the same bottom of the barrel $499 lowest common denominator HP/Acer in Best Buy and the only difference is that it will be painted silver.
ExodusC - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - link
I stopped reading at 1366x768 display.Are you even trying, manufacturers?
quitesufficient - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - link
stopped readingDustin Sklavos - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - link
Comments like these help no one.french toast - Wednesday, April 18, 2012 - link
I agree, its a fantastic article most tech sites dont even bother to engage with the readers.Can you have a look at my request comment please?
andrewaggb - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - link
I've spent years dogging apple for overpricing everything... I could always build a way better machine for the same price.Then laptops came along and you can't build them yourself anymore... surely somebody can build a DECENT laptop for less than apple?
It's ridiculous. I have a friend who wanted an all in one, we looked at all the options and he ended getting an imac because it has hands down the best screen and graphics card (and more than double the price). He runs windows 7 on it.
And if the best ultrabooks still have crap screens by my next laptop refresh, I'm going to end up running windows 7/8 or whatever on an overpriced mac too because we are seriously hurting for options.
I understand having an entry level model, mid range (what I consider the folio), but they seem to get lost in the high end. There's high end that you'd use for gaming or 3d content creation, and then there's high end that you'd use for writing, publishing, software development, etc which is where I see an ultrabook with a great screen and great keyboard really being an asset. That's what I want. I can play games on my desktop. But a computer with a lousy screen and/or keyboard really isn't good for anything in my books. Might as well just use an ipad if you're that casual.
ReverendDC - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - link
I got a cheap HP for $379. It has a 1600x900 (granted, it kind of has to, being 17.3"). Mine's an A4, but there is one at BestBuy with an A6 for $429.99...with a 1600 x 900 screen. Again, granted, these aren't the best in terms of quality of picture or tint. I bought a PNY 8GB set of 10666 RAM and installed. It now has the same or greater power than an i3, and very close to an I5 in terms of overall performance (also upgraded with a spare copy of W7Ult).How could HP actually ask me to go with a system that has less power, a worse screen, no dual channel memory support, and a middle of the road battery life for $600+ more dollars? So my laptop is a little less portable (3 pounds Folio vs about 5.5 pounds G7). So I don't have the admittedly awesome SSD drive (i get by with a little help from my 500GB mechanical drive). So I don't have a backlit keyboard. Are those three things worth $600+ dollars?
Why, HP, WHY?!?!?!
Beenthere - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - link
An Intel CPU with HD3000 graphics? You MUST be kidding.Pirks - Tuesday, April 17, 2012 - link
FUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!