The
good: The HP Folio 13 has everything that matters most in an
ultrabook: very good battery life, an excellent backlit keyboard, all the
requisite ports for mobile use, and a very comfortable feel, along with a
competitive entry-level price.
The
bad: The Folio 13 is no looker compared with other ultrabooks, and is a
bit thicker and heavier than thin laptops such as the MacBook Air. The
clickpad's just a bit too finicky for our tastes, too.
The bottom line: When it comes to Windows ultrabooks, the HP Folio 13 is the best
of the bunch in terms of performance, price, and ergonomics, provided you can
live with a less-than-razor-thin design. This laptop is targeted at small
businesses but it's really for anyone who wants a reliable ultrabook that isn't
a MacBook Air.
As ultrabooks become a major part of the laptop
landscape this year, the key to finding a good one won't be
specs--since so many have identical innards--so much as look, feel, and bang
for the buck. The HP Folio 13 is a small business-targeted ultrabook that
should be equally at home in the hands of a mainstream consumer. Aside from TPM
support, the "business" differentiation is cosmetic and arbitrary:
the HP Folio 13's hardware--a Core i5 low-voltage CPU, 128GB SSD storage, 4GB
of RAM--befits any laptop in the 13-inch ultrabook universe circa 2012.
The Folio 13 is a thicker laptop, and a
heavier one, too, than the MacBook Air and any of last year's ultrabooks, but
not by much. It's a little over 3 pounds, and still thinner than any standard
laptop. It's just not wafer-thin. However, the HP Folio 13 only costs $899,
which undercuts a lot of the ultrabook competition by at least $100. And
consider the battery life: in our tests, the HP Folio 13 had the longest
battery life among Windows ultrabooks thus far. I'd give up a bit of thinness
to gain more battery life any day, and at 0.7 inch thick, the Folio 13 is still
plenty svelte enough for compact travel.
Are there sexier ultrabooks, and even
laptops, than the HP Folio 13? Certainly. I'd be hard-pressed, however, to find
one as practical, affordable, and solidly performing as the Folio 13. And, if I
were currently picking an ultrabook out of a lineup to go to war with, the HP
Folio 13 is the one I'd take in my backpack.
Starting price / price as
reviewed
|
$899 / $1,049
|
Processor
|
1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M
|
Memory
|
4GB, 1,333MHz DDR3
|
Hard drive
|
128GB SSD
|
Chipset
|
Intel UM67
|
Graphics
|
Intel HD 3000
|
Operating system
|
Windows 7 Professional (64-bit)
|
Dimensions (WD)
|
12.5x8.7 inches
|
Height
|
0.7 inch
|
Screen size (diagonal)
|
13.3 inches
|
System weight / Weight with AC
adapter
|
3.3 pounds / 4.1 pounds
|
Category
|
On a whole, the sense of deja vu I
felt when using the HP Folio 13 is justified: it comes across as an evolved
sibling of the HP Pavilion dm4, a laptop I loved just a year or
so ago. To lovers of super slim laptops such as the Samsung Series 9, the HP Folio 13 may seem thick
and less responsive. To mainstream laptop owners, the HP Folio 13 will feel
sleek, fast, and very portable. It's all a matter of perspective.
In fact, I'd say that the whole laptop looks
a little bit like a Hewlett-Packard throwback. That's not a bad thing,
necessarily, especially since I've liked the feel of HP's recent designs. It's
not likely to grab the eye on a table at Starbucks--its brushed-aluminum back
lid and palm rest and black keyboard will probably blend right in amid a jungle
of laptops and venti lattes--but to those who don't want to treat their laptops
like Ferraris, that might be a good thing.
Brushed aluminum gracing the back lid gives
the Folio 13 a "professional" air, while the smoothly opening lid and
rigid construction makes it feel safe to wedge in a backpack--the Folio 13 has
barely any flex in its chassis.
A rubberized bottom surface feels
smooth to the touch, and has excellent grip on a desk surface. Heat vents along
the bottom might get uncomfortable during lengthy use on a lap, but I never
noticed a problem in my week or so of lap and desk typing. That, combined with
the smooth palm rests and comfy keyboard, make this a laptop to love working
on. No, it doesn't feel like an ultrabook...but credit HP with the decision to
stay with its own design philosophy and not bend over backward to make its own
version of the MacBook Air.
A single, small power button above the
keyboard boots up Windows 7, and if I have one complaint about this laptop's
ergonomics it's that this small button is nearly thin enough to require using a
fingernail.
The wide, raised backlit keyboard
is excellent, beating shallower keyboards on other ultrabooks. This keyboard
feels more generous in terms of its key space than the ones on the MacBook Air
and Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, which are already excellent. The
design is reminiscent of HP's ProBook laptops, with keys that are soft to the
touch, but respond crisply when depressed. They feel like they have more
travel. I'm a keyboard fetishist, and the Folio 13's surprised me with its
quality. The top media-control function keys are function-reversed, so hitting
volume up doesn't mean fumbling for the Fn key. All laptops should have this,
and yet they still don't.
The touch pad, or rather clickpad, beneath is
comfortable and easy to use in tap-to-click mode--my preferred way of
working--but it's still not as good as the pad on a MacBook Air. I found myself
making fewer errors than on other Windows laptops, but the pad was still prone
to occasional sensitivity quirks that can slow down a highlight-cut-and-paste
process. The touch pad has marked-off zones on the lower third for left- and
right-clicking, which adds useful surface area to the pad, although I found
locating and clicking by feel was more difficult than engaging tap-to-click.
The responsiveness of two-finger scrolling is passable, but hardly what would
be considered great.
The glossy, bright 13-inch display has a
1,366x768-pixel resolution and looks very good head-on. At side angles, the
image deteriorates as on the average screen on the average mainstream laptop.
For the price, the screen is more than adequate, although it's not a stunner.
Now, a word on laptop screen resolution: some
might drool over 1,600x900-pixel, 13-inch displays, but 1,366x768-pixel
resolution is standard for any mainstream laptop, and I've never wished for a
better resolution. A larger resolution at this screen size would sacrifice text
size for virtual desktop space, a compromise I don't need. I wish my iPad had a
finer resolution for displaying full pages of text, but on a laptop, that isn't
a concern at the viewing distance you're likely to be at from the screen.
A built-in Dolby Advanced Audio-branded
stereo speaker bar above the keyboard is louder than I expected, and more than
suitable for video playback or Web chat in noisy rooms. An HD Webcam offers
better-than-average video quality (1,280x1,204-pixel capture).
HP Folio 13
|
Average for category [13-inch]
|
|
Video
|
HDMI
|
VGA plus
HDMI or DisplayPort
|
Audio
|
Stereo
speakers, headphone/microphone combo jack
|
Stereo
speakers, headphone/microphone jacks
|
Data
|
1 USB 3.0, 1
USB 2.0, SD card reader
|
2 USB 2.0, 1
USB 3.0, SD card reader
|
Networking
|
Ethernet,
802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth
|
Ethernet,
802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, optional mobile broadband
|
Optical drive
|
None
|
DVD burner
|
The other aspect of the HP Folio 13 I
appreciated was its ample selection of ports: a single USB 3.0 port, plus one
USB 2.0, HDMI, an Ethernet jack (a rarity among ultrabooks), and an SD card
slot. Bluetooth is also included--maybe not surprising in a $900 laptop, but
it's a feature often inexplicably absent in many mainstream machines.
There are no upgrades available on HP's Web
site per se--you can have any HP Folio 13 you want, as long as it has an 128GB
solid-state drive, 4GB of RAM, and a 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M CPU. There are
no graphics options other than the included integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics,
which are fine for most basic needs, photo editing, and even video editing and
some casual gaming. As an ultrabook, the HP Folio 13 doesn't have a DVD drive.
For $150 extra, you could always upgrade to Windows 7 Professional instead of
the included Windows 7 Home Premium OS, but the typical consumer won't need to.
The HP Folio 13 feels fast in everyday use,
and especially in terms of startup and wake-from-sleep time. A cold boot
launched in about 20 seconds, and a lifting-the-lid wake from sleep took only 4
seconds. It felt just as fast as a MacBook Air, but wasn't as silent; I heard a
gentle operating whine from the Folio 13 most of the time, although it's
possible that toying with the HP CoolSense controls might have helped.
The included 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M processor is a bit slower than
the Core i5 models we tested in the Asus Zenbook and Lenovo IdeaPad U300s, but faster than the Toshiba Portege Z835 configuration we reviewed. This
second-generation processor fits right in the middle of the standard Intel
ultrabook processor spectrum, enabling programs to launch quickly and making it
possible to handle most everyday office tasks easily and efficiently. In terms
of performance the Folio 13's closest ultrabook peer is the Acer Aspire S3, although most ultrabooks perform similarly. Anything I'd feel
comfortable doing on a MacBook Air, I'd feel comfortable doing with the HP
Folio 13.
The integrated battery on the HP
Folio 13 lasted for 5 hours and 58 minutes in our test--just a hair under 6
hours, which is excellent for the ultrabook category. Only the MacBook Air
fared better. Taking this laptop into the thick of things at CES 2012, I was able to get through most
live blogs and even several hours of blog posting without needing to recharge.
That's as strong a real-world endorsement of as I can think of.
HP includes a standard one-year warranty with
the Folio 13, but offers a variety of warranty and service upgrades when you
order on its Web site: home pick-up and drop-off service, warranties of up to
four years, and accidental damage protection and LoJack theft protection.
Prices vary, from $89 extra for a two-year Care Pack pick-up-and-return
warranty extension, to $344 for a four-year warranty with House Call service
and accidental damage protection. HP's Web site is a bit of a jumble, but the
support section is more streamlined. A toll-free number, 800-474-6836, is
available for support for any laptop under warranty.
Road warriors looking for a thin PC, take a
close look at the Folio 13. I don't think you'll be disappointed--unless, of
course, you own a MacBook Air. No, the HP Folio 13 won't set your world on fire
in terms of design. But it's the most reasonably priced and solidly performing
Windows ultrabook I've seen thus far, and, at this point, the best.
System configurations:
HP Folio 13
Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 3000; 128GB Samsung SSD
Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 3000; 128GB Samsung SSD
Dell XPS 14z
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2640M; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 520M / 1GB(Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 750GB Western Digital 7,200rpm
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 2.8GHz Intel Core i7-2640M; 8GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 520M / 1GB(Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 750GB Western Digital 7,200rpm
Toshiba Portege Z835-P330
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.4GHz Intel Core i3-2367M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated)/1696MB (Total) Intel GMA HD; 640GB Hitachi 5,400rpm, Intel HD 3000 Toshiba 128GB SSD
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.4GHz Intel Core i3-2367M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated)/1696MB (Total) Intel GMA HD; 640GB Hitachi 5,400rpm, Intel HD 3000 Toshiba 128GB SSD
Asus UX31E-DH52 (Zenbook)
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-2557M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB(Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 128GB SSD
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.7GHz Intel Core i5-2557M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB(Dedicated) Intel GMA HD; 128GB SSD
Lenovo IdeaPad U300s
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-2677M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 3000; 256GB JMicron 616 SSD
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.8GHz Intel Core i7-2677M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 64MB (Dedicated) Intel HD 3000; 256GB JMicron 616 SSD
Acer Aspire S3-951-6646
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 128MB (Shared) Intel HD 3000; 320GB Hitachi 5,400rpm + 20GB SSD
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) w/ SP1; 1.6GHz Intel Core i5-2467M; 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 128MB (Shared) Intel HD 3000; 320GB Hitachi 5,400rpm + 20GB SSD
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