Australian Review: HP Envy Curved All-In-One PC – The IMAX of computers

I'm not a huge fan of the mouse and keyboard HP bundled with the Envy Curved All-In-One. The mouse is passable, but the keyboard has a somewhat unconventional layout where buttons like "enter" use non-standard sizes. It essentially forces you to relearn the keyboard layout, if you want to avoid making typos. Simply bringing your own keyboard will be a much better option for most.

The Envy Curved All-In-One's speakers are some of the better integrated noise-makers I've encountered. They lack oomph in the low-end (especially when it comes to sub-bass frequencies), but go very loud with minimal distortion, and have a great sense of stereo-separation.

While the Envy Curved All-In-One has a lot of good things going for it, they're almost all counterbalanced by its price: a cool AUD$4,599. When you consider the fact a curved 34-inch monitor will easily set you back AUD$1,300 as a standalone purchase, the fact the Envy Curved All-In-One is expensive isn't surprising, but the fact it's almost AUD$1,600 (after accounting for GST) more expensive locally than it is in the U.S. really hurts. You could buy a curved 34-inch monitor and build something much more powerful with cash to spare. You lose the all-in-one form-factor, but you get a more capable machine that's much better value for money. HP offers a cheaper Core i5 powered configuration starting at approximately AUD$4,000, but the same issues apply in terms of pricing.

I reached out to HP Australia to see if there's any particular reason the Envy Curved All-In-One is so much pricier locally, and PC Consumer Category Manager, Printing & Personal Systems for Jeff Woodhouse said that the local model has 4GB more RAM and 1TB more storage space. The remainder of the difference is attributed to logistics and retailer policies.

“Aside from the various market differences experienced when consumer products are sold in multiple regions – including the logistics of moving units to and across countries, local consumer and retailer policies, and the difference in the way prices are marketed,” said Woodhouse.

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