HP Envy x360 13 vs. Apple MacBook Air M2

HP’s Envy x360 13 is an excellent convertible 2-in-1 for not a lot of money. It’s extremely flexible, well-built, and it provides solid productivity performance while being priced to undercut much of the competition. That includes the Apple MacBook Air M2, an excellent laptop that’s among the least expensive MacBooks.

If you’re looking at 13-inch machines, then these two laptops should be on your shortlist. They’re quite different, though, and so the choice between them isn’t an easy one to make. We’ll try to make it a little easier.

Specs

Price and configurations

The Envy x360 13 costs $900 for an Intel Core i5-1230U CPU, 8GB of RAM, a 512GB solid-state drive (SSD), and a 13.3-inch 16:10 WUXGA IPS display. The most you’ll spend is $1,300 for a Core i7-1250U, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 13.3-inch 16:10 2.8K OLED panel.

The MacBook Air M2 is a pricier laptop, starting at $1,200 for an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU M2 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. At the high end, the laptop costs $2,500 for an 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M2, 24GB of RAM, and a 2TB SSD.

The MacBook costs more across the board, and note that HP often puts their laptops on sale. When we reviewed the Envy x360 13, for example, the entry-level configuration was just $700, making it a true bargain.

Design

It’s hard to beat Apple’s build quality, and the MacBook Air M2 is no exception. Its unibody construction is outstanding, although the lid does exhibit some uncharacteristic bending thanks to the laptop’s extreme thinness. It comes in at just 0.44 inches thick, making it one of the thinnest laptops you can buy. The Envy x360 13 also enjoys an all-aluminum construction, and it’s also a solid machine — arguably, it’s more rigid than the MacBook. Apple’s hinge is smooth and allows opening the lid with one hand, which HP’s hinge can also do, albeit without the same refinement. The Envy x360 13’s hinge must support the lid in four orientations, though, including clamshell, media, tent, and tablet, so it’s more complex and heavier.

Both are attractive machines with minimalist designs. The MacBook Air M2 takes on the same blocky design as the more expensive MacBook Pro models, and it no longer sports the model’s iconic wedge design. It comes in four colors, Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, and silver, with matching MagSafe 3.0 charger cables. The Envy x360 13 has simple lines with a few angles that lend it some panache, and it’s available in Natural Silver and Nightfall Black color schemes. The MacBook’s display bezels are slightly smaller, giving it a more modern look than the Envy, which also has a larger bottom chin to accommodate its 2-in-1 hinge.

When it comes to inputting information, the MacBook Air M2 is the more comfortable laptop. Its Magic Keyboard remains among the best available on laptops today, with shallow but crisp switches and perfect keycap sizes and spacing. It’s a true joy to use. The Force Touch haptic touchpad is also the best around, being precise and responsive across its entire surface with virtual clicks that feel better than the real thing. The Envy x360 13’s keyboard is also excellent, if a slight step back from Apple’s, with deeper switches with a feel that’s just slightly less precise. Its mechanical touchpad is a good example of the best Windows laptops can offer, but it’s not as nice to use as the MacBook’s.

The Envy x360 13 benefits from a touch display that also supports an active pen for Windows inking. Thanks to a taller 16:10 display, the Envy makes for a fine digital drawing and notetaking platform, something the MacBook can’t match.

Another area where the Envy wins out is in connectivity, thanks to the same number of Thunderbolt 4 ports to go with better legacy support thanks to USB-A, and it has a microSD card reader. It also boasts more up-to-date and faster wireless connectivity.

Finally, both laptops have high-resolution webcams, and HP adds in an infrared camera for Windows 11 passwordless login via facial recognition. The MacBook Air M2 supports a Touch ID fingerprint reader embedded in the keyboard.

Performance

Apple’s M2 ARM-based processor builds on the excellent performance and efficiency of the M1. It features eight CPU cores and either eight or 10 GPU cores, the latter of which include optimizations for creative processes in applications like Adobe’s Creative Suite. The Envy x360 13 we reviewed was equipped with the 15-watt Intel Core i7-1250U, a 10-core/12-thread CPU that’s aimed at providing excellent productivity performance. The Envy’s integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics aren’t as strong in creative apps, leaving it behind the MacBook in creativity workflows.

Both laptops are excellent productivity machines and closely matched in CPU-intensive tasks. If you edit photos or videos, though, the MacBook Air M2 stands out.

Display and audio

The MacBook Air M2 has an excellent 13.6-inch Liquid Retina IPS display running at 16:10 and 2560 x 1664. It’s sharp, bright, offers great colors, and enjoys deep contrast. Any productivity user will love the display, as will all but the most demanding creators. The Envy x360 13, though, offers a 13.3-inch 16:10 2880 x 1800 OLED panel that’s sharper, offers even better colors, has incredibly deep contrast with inky blacks, and will delight all users. Its only weakness compared to the MacBook’s display is it’s lower brightness, but it’s still more than bright enough.

The Envy x360 13 has two downward-firing speakers that are fine for YouTube and system sounds, but the MacBook Air M2’s quad speakers sound a lot better and play considerably louder without distortion. The MacBook is also fanless, meaning it’s completely silent and so there’s no fan noise competing with the speakers for attention.

Portability

As mentioned earlier, the MacBook Air M2 is stunningly thin at just 0.44 inches, compared to the Envy x360 13 at 0.63 inches. The laptops are almost identical in width and depth, an accomplishment for the MacBook given its larger display, and the Envy is a couple of ounces heavier. Nevertheless, both are highly portable laptops that slip easily into a backpack.

The more significant difference is in battery life. Apple’s M2 processor is incredibly efficient thanks to its ARM architecture, and that showed up in our battery benchmarks. The Envy x360 13 did well for a Windows machine with a power-hungry OLED display, but the MacBook lasted considerably longer.

Two great laptops, but one’s considerably more affordable

The HP Envy x360 13 is a more affordable laptop, particularly as you ramp up its configuration. It’s well-built, provides excellent productivity performance and solid battery life, and enjoys the flexibility of a convertible 2-in-1. The MacBook Air M2, on the other hand, is the epitome of today’s thin and light laptop, providing an equally good build, great performance and even better battery life, and Apple’s all-around excellence.

In the end, we have to give the nod to the Envy x360 13 given its lower price. You simply get more laptop for your money.

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