HP ENVY TouchSmart 17-inch FHD m7-k010dx Laptop

HP ENVY TouchSmart m7-k010dx
via Amazon

Silver HP ENVY TouchSmart m7-k010dx is a 17.3 FHD touchscreen notebook with a top of the range 4th generation Intel i7 processor and a large 12GB system memory- so quite the powerhouse that can handle all daily multimedia and business tasks smoothly as well as more complex software and current day games at a fair price for all that is included in the package. This is a great large screen multimedia PC laptop.

HP ENVY comes with the Haswell quad core Intel i7-4710HQ processor (6MB cache) at 2.5GHz speed up to 3.5GHz speed with Turbo Boost, 12GB DDR3L SDRAM for super multitasking- which can be a lot more than what is needed by many users, large 1TB hard drive at 5400 rpm rotating speed and Windows 8.1 64 bit operating system as a stable platform for most of your needs for work or entertainment including intense gaming and multimedia. The i7-4710HQ is not only good for daily stuff but also things like photo editing and video production.

Large 17.3 inch WLED-backlit HD Brightview touch display with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution and Intel HD Graphics 4600 with up to 1792MB total shared VRAM offers very decent, sharp and crisp image quality but this is not an IPS display so you won’t get the wide screen viewing angles. Intel HD 4600 is about 60% faster than the standard Intel HD 4000, but the gaming performance is about 30% superior and is equal to the dedicated graphics cards like GeForce GT 620M and 630M, but this is not designed to be an advanced gaming PC as you need at least a mid-range dedicated graphics card that will be good for 3D game rendering at higher settings, unlike the Intel HD 4600. It comes with the 1080p resolution HP TrueVision HD webcam with dual microphone for informal Skype chats and videoconferencing with work colleagues. Sound is clear and immersive with the Beats Audio, stereo speakers and subwoofers- great for music, videos and games.

Silver metallic looking finish HP ENVY weighs 7 pounds and has the dimensions of 16.50 x 11 x 1.20 inches (not lightweight but slim for a 17 inch laptop) and has a luxurious/premium feel- portable enough to be taken around occasionally but mostly designed to be a desktop replacement. We don’t have the info on battery life but with something like 4-cell 41WHr 2.8Ah lithium-ion battery it can’t be very long- considering this is a large display laptop and a power hungry processor. It comes with a full-size colour matching backlit keyboard for accurate typing in low-light with a 10-key numeric pad for easier data entry and a large ControlZone trackpad supporting multi finger gestures with integrated buttons. Some of its connectivity options are the built-in DVD writer, Multiformat Digital Media Reader, 3 x USB 3.0 ports, Intel high-speed 2x2 802.11ac WLAN, 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet with RJ-45 connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0, 3 x USB 3.0 ports, Intel WiDi wireless display technology and an HDMI output.

Conclusion: HP ENVY TouchSmart m7-k010dx is one of the best performing and fastest computers you can get at this price level- for example it boots up in about 20 seconds. The Intel i7-4710HQ has a Passmark benchmark score of 7967 on the day of this review and a 12GB RAM that is not upgradeable but already plenty- allows you to handle a great range of applications smoothly. The non-IPS Full HD touch display is very responsive on this PC like the rest of the K series and the touchpad is no different- feels quite user-friendly. It comes with a 12 month warranty by HP and a 30 day trial version of Microsoft Office 365 which you can upgrade to full version if you wish. Although it is a very powerful PC, works very quietly and stays cool during operation. It is not designed to be an advanced gaming PC, but you can still play the current games at lower resolutions as it has an Intel HD 4600 rather than at least a mid-range graphics card. Overall a great value home multimedia PC with decent modern specs and features and is offered at a fair price.

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