Desktops aren't dead. They're evolving – primarily into all-in-ones with huge touchscreens and even bigger price tags.
HP's new Envy 23 is a behemoth with handsome looks and a modern, clean design. The screen is sharp, a big 23 inches at 1920 x 1080 pixels of resolution. It's shockingly dim, however – the least bright all-in-one in my testing history – so keep that in mind if you're considering placement anywhere near a bright light source. The screen tilts smoothly, from fully vertical to 30 degrees back.
Despite the specs, the high price is a lot to swallow for a computer that feels a little unfinished.A speaker bar spans the underside of the screen, and the Beats Audio-branded audio is crisp and loud when you need it. For a smaller room, the Envy 23 can easily stand in for a TV, with a slot-loading Blu-ray player/DVD burner, side-mounted HDMI port, and six USB ports (two USB 3.0). Ethernet and an SD card reader round out the connectivity options – and there's even a subwoofer output jack if you want to bump up the audio experience.
Under the hood, the Envy 23 comes pretty amazingly loaded. The 3.1GHz Core i7, 12GB of RAM, and 3 terabyte hard drive are massive for any PC, and collectively they should ensure years of future-proofed usability. Overall performance is fine, but the results aren't record-breaking. That massive yet slow hard drive is the clear culprit at dragging down benchmarks versus SSD-equipped competitors, and the laptop-class Nvidia GeForce GT 630M graphics card doesn't provide quite enough power for the latest games, either. You'll get decent framerates on older titles, but I had to knock the resolution down to make more recent games like Metro 2033 playable.
A wireless keyboard and mouse – both perfectly usable but undistinguished – are also included in the box.
Performance and screen issues aside, my only major beef with the Envy 23 relates to some fit-and-finish problems involving Windows 8 integration. The most notable omission is the lack of a Home button under the touchscreen, which has become expected by most Windows 8 touchscreen users. Instead, to get back to the Start screen you have to swipe open the Charms menu and hit Start, or go hunting for the Windows button on the keyboard.
You'll find other examples of this oversight if you play with the computer long enough. For example, the brightness control hardware buttons conveniently located on the side of the machine simply don't work, nor do Windows 8's software controls for brightness. This otherwise simple adjustment instead requires five mouse clicks to complete, via a legacy application preloaded on the Windows Desktop. It's almost like HP is somehow trying to shoehorn Windows 8 into a computer that was really designed for Windows 7.
Prices start at just $1,050, but when fully loaded like this test machine, the Envy 23 hits a whopping $1,720. Despite the high-end specs, that's a lot to swallow for a computer that feels a little unfinished. Hopefully, driver updates in the near future will rectify some of these shortcomings.
WIRED Reasonably fast (not including the hard drive), and loaded to the gills with features. Great audio quality. Sturdy, simple, and streamlined.
TIRED Incredibly dim screen for a high-end all-in-one. Slow hard drive. Doesn't play all that well with Windows 8. Monstrous power brick could kill a man.