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
System Performance
By opting to employ an Intel Core i5 instead of Core i7 (ULV, of course), and then only operating the DDR3 in single-channel mode, HP puts the Folio 13 at a bit of a disadvantage compared to the competition. The Toshiba Portege Z830 is the only one that really has things worse off, but it's also the least expensive of the lot. Here's how the performance charts pan out:
Ultimately the Folio 13 bounces around the middle of our PCMark charts, buoyed somewhat by the decent Samsung SSD included. You can certainly make the case that all of the above systems are "fast enough" for most users, and the SSDs in the ultrabooks definitely help in that regard. As long as you're not doing any heavy number crunching or trying to play games, ULV Sandy Bridge is likely more than sufficient.
Unfortunately, once we get to the CPU-isolated tests, the Folio 13's i5 gets absolutely buried, only really able to best the Toshiba Portege Z830's i3. The difference between the two is wide enough to make the i3's lack of turbo boost felt, but the i7 systems almost all put in stronger showings across the board with the exception of the Dell XPS 13, which may be struggling with thermal limitations. If we ignore the full-voltage CPUs, the difference between the i5-2467M and the fastest i7-2677M ranges from as little as 11% in the second pass of our x264 test to as much as 28% in our single-threaded Cinebench result. That's certainly noticeable, but it may not be worth the added cost--HP obviously felt the i5-2467M was a good balancing point, since they didn't bother to support any of the other ULV chips.
3DMark once again reminds us that these aren't gaming machines; the thin-and-lights equipped with dedicated graphics fare worlds better. Llano likewise easily surpasses the ULV HD 3000, and in fact outside of single-threaded performance the quad-core Llano chips generally offer comparable to superior performance; of course, getting Llano into an ultrabook form factor with an SSD would require some changes to the design and pricing strategry for such laptops.
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thxdts - Thursday, April 19, 2012 - link
how many of the detractors have actually used one? the battery life (I get 8 hrs) and the super fast resume when i open the lid (2 seconds on average) makes it worthwhile in a very slim and light weight package. For lugging around such a lightweight laptop with a backlit keyboard running Windows 7, full size ethernet port for regular business environment, it is worth the $999 price.Mugur - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link
I used one and I disagree. There are ultrabooks much better than this one. I mentioned the Asus because I've seen it and it's thinner, lighter, the design is much better IMHO and the screen is in another class, with 1600x900 resolution. Same price here as this Folio, but with a faster processor.And FYI, all ultrabooks (with the exception of Acer probably) have 2-3 seconds resume from suspend.
thxdts - Friday, April 20, 2012 - link
I looked at the Asus x31/x21 but they lacked 2 items i needed for my business/travel needs, 10 backlit keyboard for typing in dark and full size ethernet without a dongle for port testing, dongles are too easy to losecliffa3 - Thursday, April 19, 2012 - link
I only read one line of this review...the spec on the screen. I threw up a little in my mouth, decided to post this comment, then am moving on. I hope consumers start selecting based on what they see rather than just price or the specs on the box. It's sad that Apple has remained the only one that values screen quality. I held out hope for IBM/Lenovo for the longest but they caved.linuxhead64 - Saturday, April 21, 2012 - link
Even an HP Exec wouldn't use one, just look at the picture of HP Chairman Ray Lane using his MacBook Air at home.omaudio - Monday, April 23, 2012 - link
.3MP, 1.3MP, 2.0MP? So many reviews skip this detail but I think it is worth adding. Thx.Jehnavi24 - Saturday, April 28, 2012 - link
Although the Folio didn't last the claimed 9.5 hours during our battery life test, performance was still adequate. Battery Eater Pro's Reader test went for a full 206 minutes before draining the battery.http://www.techiecop.com/
megaphat - Saturday, May 5, 2012 - link
GF bought one of these recently. It was the i3 version for about $740 AUD which is an excellent price. Admittedly the laptop does have its shortcomings, such as the trackpad and resolution. And it only has 2.4GHz Wireless N (which is un-upgradeable due to HP's whitelist). It also doesn't have a tapered design.But on the plus side, its a very sleek piece of kit. It looks much better in person than a lot of the other ultrabooks. The brushed aluminium and rubberised black plastic work well together giving it a professional guise. None of this silver painted plastic crap and HP have shown restraint with that awful glossy plastic. The backlit keyboard is great. The build quality of the machine is excellent. There are very few gaps and there is almost no screen flex. Much less so than my rickety VAIO S series. Honestly it feels about as firm as a Macbook Air. HP hasn't made many concessions on the connectivity front either, challenging the competition with USB 3, Ethernet, HDMI and an SD card reader (in addition to the usual suspects). The ethernet port takes up pretty much the entire width of the machine. And the SSD is lightening fast compared to those old 5200rpm drives.
Due to the good build quality and strong port complement I'd recommend this machine to the power user, especially someone who travels.