HP Envy x360 13 vs. Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip

Design

Both the Envy x360 13 and the ZenBook S 13 Flip are offered in Natural Silver and Space Blue, with our review focusing on the latter option. The ZenBook S 13 Flip is also offered in Refined White and Ponder Blue. If you put them next to each other, it will be very difficult to tell the difference between them. Both of them have understated designs with straightforward lines, and they resemble a wide variety of another convertible 2-in-1s measuring 13 inches. That is not a problem because they are both lovely notebooks to look at.

They are both constructed very well, and neither one of them bends, flexes, or twists in any way. The magnesium-aluminum alloy that the ZenBook is constructed of is notably more rigid than the materials used in the construction of the vast majority of other laptops. An incredible effort was put in by Asus to ensure that the all-aluminum ZenBook is just as sturdy as the all-aluminum Envy. Additionally, the hinges on both worked very well, allowing for simple opening even while the display was held in clamshell, tent, media, or tablet modes respectively.

However, the keyboard on the Envy x360 13 was a little bit quicker and more precise than the one on the other laptop. Both laptops had excellent keyboards, with good key spacing, large keycaps, and a consistent feel. Both touchpads were responsive and accurate, and the Envy’s keyclicks were confident despite their relative lack of noise. However, the touchpad buttons on the ZenBook were far too stiff and extremely uncomfortable to use, despite the fact that the inclusion of the NumberPad 2.0 LED numeric keypad was a welcome addition. Both of these devices featured responsive touch displays that were also compatible with the active pens that were included. Both laptops worked adequately for writing.

Both laptops measured 13.3 inches diagonally and had 16:10 aspect ratio displays. The displays’ surrounding bezels were roughly the same size on both machines. The ZenBook came in significantly less heavy at 2.43 pounds as opposed to 2.95 pounds, and it was also slightly thinner at 0.59 inches as opposed to 0.63 inches. Because of this, using it as a tablet was a more pleasant experience.

Both were well-equipped for 13-inch machines, but the Envy had one more USB-A port than the other one. Connectivity was nearly identical between the two machines. Both had the most recent version of wireless connectivity.

Last but not least, both models featured webcams with a high resolution that worked exceptionally well for video conferencing, although HP’s model included a few more features. Both have infrared cameras, allowing them to support Windows 11 Hello’s facial recognition features.

HP Envy x360 13 vs. Asus ZenBook S 13 Flip: Performance

The Intel 12th-generation U-series CPUs used in the Envy x360 13 have a power consumption of 9 watts, and the model that we tested was the Core i7-125oU, which has 10 cores (two Performance and eight Efficient) and 12 threads. When compared to the 28-watt Core i7-1260P processor found in the ZenBook S 13 Flip, which has the same number of cores and threads, this processor is theoretically much slower. It was discovered that the ZenBook was, in fact, faster, albeit not by a particularly large margin. It achieved the best results in our multi-threaded CPU-intensive Handbrake and Cinebench R23 benchmarks, although the gaps between them aren’t particularly large.

When it comes to demanding productivity tasks, neither will feel significantly faster than the other, and neither will be ideal for intensive creative workflows.