HP’s new Envy Desktop brings more power, new design for modern creators
The HP Envy desktop PC has been overhauled to better act as a powerhouse for creative work.
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What you need to know
Announced at CES 2022, HP’s pre-built PC lineup is getting a big upgrade with the expected Spring release of the new HP Envy. It’s been a few years since the Envy design saw an update, and HP has moved beyond the vertical tile look for a cleaner (but taller) look. Thanks to a ton of configuration options ranging from a 12th Gen Intel Core i5-12400 CPUs up to aCore i9-12900KCPU and up to a NVIDIA RTX 3080 Ti GPU, the Envy is a PC built for every level of creativity. It should insert easily into our collection of thebest desktop computers.
Take a look at the configuration options HP is offering.
Ports have been expanded with this new design, with the top front panel of the PC offering up an SD card reader, three USB-A, USB-C, and dual 3.5mm audio jacks for headset and microphone. The back of the PC has another USB-C port, one Thunderbolt 4 port, Ethernet, four USB-A, and three 3.5mm audio jacks. Video ports will differ depending on the GPU you choose; there are four PCI expansion slots available, with at least a couple being taken up by the GPU. The PC will be able to handle up to four 4K displays if you go with the RTX 3060 GPU or better.
Not only is the performance hardware capable of handling just about every level of work — from productivity tasks like email, web browsing, streaming, and word processing to video editing, design, and development — it’s also upgradeable thanks to easy tool-less entry. The blow-up diagram shows no use of proprietary hardware, meaning you should be able to keep this PC relevant longer into the future.
To help you up your productivity, HP includes its Palette suite of software, including Duet and QuickDrop. Duet allows you to connect a secondary tablet, PC, or phone to be used as a secondary monitor (complete with any inking capabilities), while QuickDrop lets you move files quickly and easily between HP products.
If you’re searching for a powerful pre-built PC with the best CPUs andbest graphics cardsthat doesn’t look like a gaming PC, the HP Envy should now compete much better with the likes of theDell XPS Special Edition desktop. The new HP Envy desktop is expected to launch Spring 2022, with prices coming closer to launch.
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Cale Hunt brings to Windows Central more than eight years of experience writing about laptops, PCs, accessories, games, and beyond. If it runs Windows or in some way complements the hardware, there’s a good chance he knows about it, has written about it, or is already busy testing it.
