Once in a blue moon I come across a laptop that fascinates me. The HP Folio 13-2000 is surely one of the more impressive models available on the market. HP has packaged powerful components into a very elegant yet sophisticated system.At the time of this writing, Intel had recently announced that they would be beginning their "Ultrabook" laptop initiative to place systems on the market that would compete with Apple's thinner Macbook Air series. As a disclaimer, my years of experience with computer systems have been spent in a Windows environment, so this review will focus strictly on the HP Folio rather act as a side-by-side comparison with Apple's Macbook Air products.
In the original box and packaging, the Folio is held in place by two pieces of foam on each side, with space between the Folio and the cardboard box, which I suppose is a good thing in the event it were to come into contact with some blunt force. Aside from the Folio itself, a power adapter and packet of papers are included in the box.
Upon physical inspection, the Folio is very solid to the touch. Unlike my previous Asus netbook, the laptop casing is not flimsy at all and very resistant to bending. As shown on the Specifications page for the Folio on HP's website, the Ultrabook measures 8.67 inches in width, 12.54 inches in length, and 0.7 inches in depth. Needless to say, the Folio is extremely thin. On top of that, its weight at 3.3 pounds is noteworthy. The left side has the RJ-45 (Ethernet), HDMI, USB 3.0, and SD memory card ports; while the right has a USB 2.0 port and headphone jack. Interestingly the Folio lacks a Kensington Security Slot; whatever the reason for its absence, I will assume that owners of this superb computer system will rarely leave it out of sight for any period from would-be thieves.
The top of the Folio has a very nice metallic silver finish with the HP logo embedded in the center, and the bottom contains the usual assortment of exhaust ports and stickers.
Starting up the Folio for the first time would be when things got very interesting. The startup process itself, from BIOS to the Windows loading screen, was very fast, which should not be too big of a surprise since HP as put a Samsung SSD inside. Even though I managed to finish the Windows setup without any issues, the HP registration program that followed was a complete disaster. As I tried to enter my information into the contact information fields in the registration program, the HP program suddenly froze, leaving me no choice but to abort it and register the traditional method (via HP website). Compared to my past experiences with HP computers, there is significantly less bloatware and other programs installed, but they still remain nonetheless. Certain things about HP's software was particularly annoying, notably HP including an entire program solely dedicated to opening PDF files (e.g. User manual) was totally unnecessary. For an Ultrabook that's supposedly designed for powering through the "workday," the extra software can really drag you down.
On another note, Windows 7 Professional is absolutely necessary for those needing to join Domains in business environments. With a 64-bit operating system installed, the Folio has 4GB of DDR3 SRAM; HP states on the website for the Folio that the RAM has been downgraded from 1600 MHz to 1333 MHz. The 13.3-inch LED display is marvelous to look at, without any significant strain on my eyes; changing the display settings will be necessary, as is necessary for any new computer out of its box. I was initially skeptical about purchasing this particular model due to its 128 GB SSD, but with all of the latest updates and drivers installed, there is still a significant amount of space remaining approximately 100 GB. Returning to my point about HP's disappointing software, the Folio is configured at factory automatically for a recovery partition that is used by HP Recovery Manager. I should also point out that Recovery Manager is essentially useless for most users who have at least some experience with both Windows 7 and setting up backups. For inexperienced users, I would recommend leaving Recovery Manager installed in the event that you might need to return the system to its original factory configuration. I personally recommend installing CCleaner by Piriform after the initial setup of the computer so unnecessary files are removed automatically.
Regarding performance of the Folio, I would not recommend purchasing this system if you plan on doing any serious gaming on it. Again, I want to emphasize that this is a more business-oriented computer system, rather than one that targets mainstream consumers. While this particular Ultrabook only uses the quad-core 2nd generation Intel Corei5 processor, there will be more than enough power to get through whatever you need to in a day at the office. Unless you are running the system with display brightness set to maximum and CPU usage at 100% across the board, the Folio will fetch you several hours on battery power alone. HP estimates approximately 9 hours, but I have yet to test this out.
I will designate this last segment to what I think is the most interesting piece of hardware HP included in this ultrabook. For those who are somewhat familiar with computer security, a TPM 1.2 security chip is pre-installed on the motherboard at the factory. To minimize technical jargon and complexity, the TPM chip essentially a security chip that prevents tampering with the computer system. Its true potential is unlocked when it is paired with Windows BitLocker (available only in Windows 7 Ultimate and Enterprise). With BitLocker enabled, the TPM chip ensures that no hardware settings were altered between the last shutdown and next powerup. Note that BitLocker supports full-disk encryption, for those who need it.
While this is undoubtedly a superb system, a four-star rating is warranted since the shoddy HP software simply will not warrant a five-star review. However, for would-be buyers, HP's failure in producing functional software should not overshadow the many other great features offered by this ultrabook.
1. Windows 7 Professional. It's not Windows 7 Home or Windows 8 (which is horrible to run software or do usual business tasks). I was actually thinking of getting a MacBook Air but need to install Windows 7 Pro and Parallels into a Macbook Air that would set me $360.00 back.
2. It is superfast, boots up and shuts down super quick just like your smart phone (iPhone, Andriod or Blackberry). I hate laptops that that forever to boot up or shut down. Finally an Ultrabook that boots up like a Smartphone or iPad.
3. It has SSD instead of HD. I hate hard drives because it is noisy and breaks down. SSD is the way to go. Macbook Airs are all SSD.
4. Superlight. I hate heavy and bulky laptops.
5. Superlong lasting battery. The battery goes for 7++ hours!
6. Responsive mousepad and keypad. No need for external mouse. Some ultrabooks like Samsung and Acer has this problem.
7. Great Price. For $699.00 for a brand new Ultrabook, that is a $400.00 lower than a comparable MacBook Air 13 inch ($1,099.00).
8. This is an excellent Business Class laptop and even my old software such as Microsoft Office XP, works like a charm, no issues.
9. Wifi connection is easy and no problems. Some Samsung and Acer Ultrabooks has this problems.
10. Webcam works and sound is decent for a laptop this size.
11. Printing and scanning from this Ultrabook is easy.
12. Connecting to the network is a breeze.
13. Connecting to DVD drive/burner is is breeze, no issues.
14. It doesn't get hot or warm.
15. It is very thin and elegant, comparable to a 13 inch Macbook Air. Very stylish!
16. It has an internet Ethernet port (which the macbook air doesn't have). This is useful if you need to connect to the internet with a hardwire instead of wifi.
I have looked into HP Windows 8 Ultrabooks but HP Windows 8 Ultrabooks ones are crappy and I would have to downgrade from Windows 8 to 7 to meet my business benchmarks. That's too much trouble!
If you are looking for a Ultrabook that has SSD instead of a noisy harddrive, get this Ultrabook, there's no better one out there. HP is no longer making this Ultrabook, this is a pity. So get this before you can no longer buy this. I am thinking of getting an extra one as a backup.HP Engineering provides a wonderful design with a nice layout, good screen resolution, excellent wireless and enough ports (USB2, USB3, HDMI, etc.,) to provide great flexibility to connect to almost any device.
The problem that we encountered was the additional HP installed software provided for customer support seems to have conflicts with the Windows 7 operating system. The result is a repeated blue screen and a system dump. The problem only worsened when we had to engage HP customer support (located in the Philippines). The agents were friendly but unlike Dell they did not really understand the configuration of the PC (e.g. Dell service tag) and as of this writing have not resolved the PC issues. After four sessions of trying to work with HP technical support and 12 hours of wasted time, I am beginning to lose interest in HP products. Their resolution finally was to send me a pre-paid box to return the PC to their repair service center with a promise that I would have it back in a week. Poor consolation for the amount of trouble that the HP product support has caused and a very weak comparison to the Dell support that we have received over the years.
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