HP Envy Ryzen vs Lenovo Flex Intel (Buying decision)

Aug 23, 2018
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Hello everyone

I'm planning on buying a laptop for college, but it has been difficult for me to decide between those two, so I was hoping you could give me some new insights based on your knowledge/experience

HP Envy: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-envy-x360-2-in-1-13-3-touch-screen-laptop-amd-ryzen-5-8gb-memory-128gb-solid-state-drive-hp-finish-in-dark-ash-silver/6237358.p?skuId=6237358
Pros:
Lightweight
Better build quality (I believe)

Lenovo Flex:https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1401115-REG/lenovo_81em0008us_flex_14_core_i5_8250u.html
Pros:
More storage
Intel chips are more reliable (correct me if I am wrong)

I was looking for a lightweight laptop, so I could carry it to college without trouble. Also, I need a good CPU performance for MATLAB/Scilab tasks, and a decent GPU performance for some CAD and some light gaming (in this case I believe both are on the same level, since HP runs on dual channel). Other thing that worries me is PWM on the screen, but couldn't find information on the HP, only about the Lenovo. Finnally, Ryzen really appeals to me, but it concerns me about frequent crashes I have been reading about.

Anyway, any opinion would be of great help. Thanks in advance!
 
Solution
The HP Envy looks to be the better choice. Review of the larger screen version, https://hothardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-5-2500u-benchmarks-revisited-hp-envy-x360-ssd-update?page=1

Performance wise CPU wise the Intel probably a bit better. GPU wise the AMD is better, the MX130 GPU on the lenovo is better than Intel iGPU but still worse the the Ryzen iGPU. A MX150 should perform better than the Ryzen iGPU if you can find a laptop with one. https://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-MX130-GPU-Benchmarks-and-Specs.258054.0.html

The lenovo does have a bigger SSD. The 128Gb on the HP is frankly the bare minimum and will only have space for Windows and one large program before you'll have to start using an external drive. This...

why_wolf

Estimable
Aug 28, 2015
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The HP Envy looks to be the better choice. Review of the larger screen version, https://hothardware.com/reviews/amd-ryzen-5-2500u-benchmarks-revisited-hp-envy-x360-ssd-update?page=1

Performance wise CPU wise the Intel probably a bit better. GPU wise the AMD is better, the MX130 GPU on the lenovo is better than Intel iGPU but still worse the the Ryzen iGPU. A MX150 should perform better than the Ryzen iGPU if you can find a laptop with one. https://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-MX130-GPU-Benchmarks-and-Specs.258054.0.html

The lenovo does have a bigger SSD. The 128Gb on the HP is frankly the bare minimum and will only have space for Windows and one large program before you'll have to start using an external drive. This could be a big problem for you in the long run.

Also please note you can usually get a student discount (10-25%) but you'll usually need a student ID or a @school.edu e-mail address to access them.


This Dell unit seems to be in the same class you are looking for. https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/dell-laptops/inspiron-13-7000-2-in-1/spd/inspiron-13-7375-2-in-1-laptop/dncwdamd1102s
 
Solution
The Vega 8 and the mx130 (Rebadged 940mx) are kinda close overall performance, But the mx130 does perform better in a lot of games. For example, the mx130 performs 47% better than the Vega 8 in GTA 5 at 1366x768 resolution and medium settings Looking at 108p and high settings, the mx130 performs about 16% better than the Vega, but 23.8 FPS is pretty bad anyway. On the other hand, the Vega 8 performs around 31% better than the mx130 in Fornite using 1080p and medium settings. The mx130 does okay with an average of 32.2 FPS, but the Vega 8 gets 42.35 FPS in that game. Though when bumping up the graphics quality to high settings the mx130 starts to perform better than the Vega 8. Playing at 1280x720 and low settings the Vega 8 absolutely crushes the mx130 with about 136 FPS vs. 77 FPS... but these are the lowest settings and the laptop's screen operates at 60Hz which means at most only 60 FPS can be displayed on the screen.

The TinyURL link below will lead you to Notebookcheck.net's game performance comparison between these two graphic solutions.

https://tinyurl.com/y95avyb8


In terms of CPU performance the i5-8250u will perform better than the Ryzen 5. Don't know anything about Ryzen crashes though.