HP are one of the biggest laptop movers in the world, but over the years, they mostly focused on cheap machines, with little consideration for design and attention to details.
That has changed recently, and laptops like the HP Folio 13 we’re reviewing here or the HP Envy Spectre 14 were designed to prove that HP can be a competitive player when it comes to ultrabooks.
I’ve got to play with the Folio 13 over these last days and also saw it in action at CES back in January. It’s not an eye catcher like the Asus or the Lenovo ultra-portables, but it’s not hideous either and HP promises to be a very competitive pick for budget oriented potential ultrabook buyers.
If that’s true or not, you’ll learn from the following article, an in-depth review of the HP Folio 13 ultrabook.
Video Review
Exterior and design
Aesthetically, the HP Folio 13 can be characterized as “dull”. You get brushed aluminum on the hood and on the palm-rest, plus plastic on the bottom, on the sides and around the screen. Overall, the package isn’t bad, but is not memorable either, like the Lenovo U300S or the Asus Zenbooks.
Speaking of inches and ounces, the HP is a bit thicker (0.7 inches) and heavier (3.3 pounds) than the average ultrabook. Still, I barely noticed the differences and I’m pretty sure you won’t either.
Solid built, but a bit dull looking
HP probably sacrificed a slender silhouette in order to get more ports on the Folio and that’s for sure a decision many of you will appreciate, as you get a standard Ethernet port, full-size HDMI, USB 3.0 and 2.0 slots and a card-reader on this machine, alongside the classic headphone/mic jack and the webcam.
So, while not at all ostentatious, the HP Folio is a solid built machine and packs the functionality you’ll be missing on most competitors these days.
Keyboard and touchpad
The keyboard on the Folio 13 is excellent. The keys are proper sized and spaced, plus offer the tactile response and travel you won’t find on most other ultrabooks. As a bonus, the keyboad is also backlit, although you are not able to adjust the illumination level.
There’s one thing i don’t like though: the gap between the keys is filled with the glossy black plastic that’s gonna catch dirt and smudges.
Excellent illuminated keyboard
The trackpad on the other hand ain’t as good. HP went for the click-able touchpad, dropping the dedicated click buttons. And while the touch area feels right and is accurate, plus supports all sort of multi-touch gestures, you’ll really need to press it hard to register any clicks. So, as long as you don’t have to click things, the trackpad is fine, but once you do…
Palm rejection also fails to work more often than it does, but at least you can easily disable the trackpad by double-tapping that small rectangle on its top-left corner.
Stiff trackpad though
Screen
There’s a standard 13.3 inch 1366 x 768 px display on the HP Folio, but It’s not one of the best in the class for sure.
First, the panel is dim and if trying to use the laptop outside or in a brighter room, you’ll hardly see anything on the screen, even with pushing the resolution to 100%. Second, there’s a glossy finish that won’t help you either. And third, the viewing angles (especially vertical ones) are as poor as you can expect from a low-quality TN panel, like we have here.
Those being said, the screen is for sure a deal-breaker for the HP Folio 13 and tiny details I usually appreciate, like the narrow matte bezel (which is kind of cheap to be frank, aesthetically speaking), don’t even matter anymore.
Hardware and performances
The hardware is pretty basic, with the default configuration offering a Core i5-2467M ULV processor, Intel HD 3000 graphics, 4 GB of memory, 128 GB SSD storage and Windows 7 Home Premium.
So there’s not much to say about performances, the Folio 13 does perform within its classes averages, being able to deal fine with everyday multitasking (browser with several tabs, text processing app, listening to music, chatting) and also with Full HD multimedia content, if needed. Games though are a no no, given the integrated Intel graphics solution.
The SSD is quite fast, especially if we consider that other similar priced ultrabooks opted for a much slower one (See Toshiba), but not as fast as that SATA 3 drive you get on the Zenbooks. The Folio boots from cold in under 30 second and resumes from sleep in about 3 seconds.
Software wise, HP bundles a bunch of apps on the Folio, most of them crap-ware, but some actually decently useful for business customers, like HP ProtectTools (that’s not available on all configs though).
Battery life
There’s a 59W battery inside the HP Folio 13 and that’s bigger than all the other ultrabooks offer right now. Hence, there’s no surprise that the Folio provides the best battery life per charge in the class, averaging around 7 hours of daily use.
That can stretch beyond, if only using the computer for very light activities (editing texts, no wireless), but also shrink substantially when trying for instance to edit a video clip.
Still, with those 7 hours of life, the HP will last at least 1-2 hours more than the other ultrabooks and longer than the 13.3 inch Aple MBA as well.
Noise, heat, speakers and others
While it’s not bothering noisy, the fan inside the HP Folio 13 is active most of the time, even when running basic tasks. It manages to keep the laptop rather cool in this case, but once running a HD clip for a longer time or even multiple programs at the same time, the laptop will get quite hot fast.
The bottom can get even close to scorching temperatures (above 100 F), thus making the Folio unusable on your lap, and the top gets warm too, around the middle and left side of the keyboard. All these despite HP claiming they’ve implemented this innovative HP CoolSense technology that should make the laptop run cooler.
Runs hot, despite HP’s Coolsense technology onboard
The speakers aren’t bad, in fact they are quite punchy and decently good in terms of audio quality. They don’t carry the Beats Audio brand though, like other HP laptops do these days. Perhaps on the next generation.
Pricing and availability
The title o this review mentions “excellent bang for the buck”, and you’ve seen above what to expect in terms of bang.
Let’s talk about the buck now: the HP Folio 13 starts at $899, that’s for the tested configuration, with the Core i5 processor, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD. And YES, you do get the SSD for this kind of money, while other similarly priced ultrabooks mostly offer hybrid storage options (Samsung, Acer) or a very slow SSD (Toshiba).
Of course, the price mentioned above is the official list price-tag, the HP Folio 13 is probably going to sell for less online.
Wrap-up
There are plenty of things to love about the HP Folio 13 and not that many things to hate.
The Folio 13 is not the best looking ultrabook out there, but it’s not that bad either, just nothing impressive. The hardware, the keyboard and the speakers though are just some of the things you’ll like about this unit. On the other hand, you’ll resent the screen (which is just bad, no matter how you put it) and the fact that the laptop does tend to get hot when pushed.
Plenty of things to like about the HP Folio 13 ultrabook
Are these deal-breakers? Perhaps, but if we consider the excellent price tag, they might not. So, while not perfect, the HP Folio 13 does pack excellent value for the money and this might be just enough to persuade many of you, potential ultrabook buyers.
Your article was helpful and a appreciate your review. You should consider having someone take a second look at your grammar before future postings. “Ain’t” isn’t a word and makes you sound dumb. Starting sentences with the word “And” doesn’t look good either.
Hi!
I love the work you’re doing here, making us potential buyers of ultrabooks able to make an informed decision when choosing the right one.
I really really like this one. It’s got everything I need and value in an ultrabook: good battery life, great keyboard, SSD etc.
However, the only thing about it is that it’s an older platform, and I don’t really know if I can justify to myself buying old hardware (especially when I’m sinking hundreds of dollars into one. It feels better knowing that you’re buying the latest, even though it’s quite possible that the extra performance offered by an Ivy Bridge platform wouldn’t ever be an issue for me). Another thing is that I can’t even seem to find it on HP’s site, which suggests to me that it’s outdated and preceded, but BY WHAT? I would love just an updated version of this one, but I can’t seem to find it.
However, what is the equivalent to this laptop in terms of keyboard (I will need to type a lot), battery life, SSD snappiness and overall design?
It doesn’t matter if it’s a higher class ultrabook as long as the price isn’t 1200$+ or so.
Hey Folmer
The thing is, HP haven’t updated the Folio 13 to Ivy Bridge. IN fact, I beleive they won’t, because from what I know, they will have two 13.3 inch ultrabook: the Spectre XT, meant for mainstream/multimedia, and the HP Elibook Folio, meant for business. And i think the latter will replace the Folio 13. However it won’t be available till October. I was present at the launch event and here are some early impressions on it:
As for alternatives, for typing I would only go with the Lenovos. However, there’s an issues here again: their premium 13.3 incher, the Lenovo u300S, was not updated to Ivy either. They have some cheaper models, the Lenovo U310/U410 but they have some issues. I’ll post the review for the U310 in a day or two, I’ve been playing with it lately. here’s also the new Thinkpad X1 Carbon, which is awesome, but also insanely expensive.
So, you’re out of options, if you want a premium ultrabook for typing. If you want an ultraportable… you could check the elitebooks and the lenovo x230. yeah, I might wound weird recommended all these lenovos, but to be frank, I find those to have the best keyboards, evne better than the ones on the macbooks in my eyes. And yes, I too own a Lenovo and use it for typing thousands of words a day
Anyway, about buying a sandy bridge ultrabook. well, you’re not going to feel a big difference between sandy and ivy in daily use, the ivy CPus are usually about 5-15% better in benchmarks. You will however if you plan to run games, cause the newer platform bundles much more capable graphics. One more thing: ivy cpus should be more efficient (run cooler, eat less battery), but once again, there’s no massive difference between the two.
I for one have a Sandy full-load Core i7 processor on my Lenovo and I don’t plan upgrading for this year’s version, I’m more than happy with the performances. So, bottom point, would I get a Sandy laptop right now? Well, yes, if I couldn’t find a proper Ivy alternative within the same price and I did not care much about games.