Considering how aggressively priced this thing is, HP made surprisingly few design compromises. Okay, the bottom is made of plastic, not aluminum, and the display offers narrow viewing angles, but other than that it's well-made and yes, tasteful, even. We'll wait a moment for all those folks who hate 1366 x 768 screens and things that aren't metal to leave the room. Are they gone? Good. We think the rest of you will agree that tried-and-true brushed metal lid was a safe design choice and also, a perfectly elegant one. Even better, those smooth metal surfaces continue onto the keyboard deck, stretching down to the palm rest. Particularly after reviewing split-personality machines like the Aspire S3, we appreciate that what's underneath the lid matches the exterior.
The keyboard is black, as are the nooks and crannies between the keys, but in this case we don't mind the color-blocking: since the trackpad, hinge, and bezel are also black, the effect feels balanced, not jarring. It also helps that there's just one button above the keyboard, which helps keep the design from feeling too busy. Even the bottom has a soft, rubbery finish that makes it that much more comfortable to grip in one hand. Despite all this, there's no pretending this has the same luxurious feel as the UX31, MacBook Air or Lenovo Ideapad U300s. Still, we can assure you of this: it's clean, understated and unlikely to embarrass you when you whip it out in public. And really, we don't ask for much more than that.
HP did in fact make an additional compromise, but this one had nothing to do with keeping the cost down. At 3.3 pounds (1.5kg), the Folio is the heaviest of all the 13-inch Ultrabooks we've seen so far, the rest of which have weighed in at three pounds or less. It just so happens that we have a two-and-a-half-pound laptop lying around, and next to that the Folio naturally seems big-boned. But unless you, too, have a notebook test lab set up in your living room, you most likely won't be able to appreciate the difference between 3.0 and 3.3 pounds.
If anything, the Folio's girth comes with some practical trade-offs. Though it's relatively thick at 18mm (0.71 inches) with a boxy profile, those sides make room for an Ethernet jack, something we've only seen on one other Ultrabook, the Toshiba Portege Z835. It also sports a full-sized HDMI port, which is more common, though absent on the Zenbook line. (Apple, of course, never adopted this standard.) In addition, you'll find requisite USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, along with a combined headphone / mic port. All told, this is one of the best selections of ports you'll find on an Ultrabook today. Between that and the long battery life (spoiler!), we can think of two very good reasons to make do with the Folio's extra pudge.
As for that plastic bottom, it's here that HP installed a pair of vents. If you enjoy resting your laptop on your legs (guilty), gird your loins because those quadriceps are going to get nice and toasty. Although this makes use of HP's CoolSense technology, expect to feel some warm (but never scorching) air on your thighs, even if you're just surfing the web. Throughout our testing, we also noticed an incessant, but not-too-distracting whirring coming from the vents. After awhile, it registered as white noise, but it's worth noting that this sound doesn't go away, and is especially discernible if you're working in an otherwise quiet space.
Keyboard and trackpad
We had a feeling when we first got hands-on with the Folio that its relatively cushy keyboard would be an improvement over what all of the other early Ultrabooks have to offer. After all, laptops like the UX31 and Aspire S3 didn't exactly set the bar high: if the keys weren't too shallow, they were undersized, or failed to register the occasional press. Here, though, there's plenty of travel, and they're bouncy enough that you're not likely to suffer any dropped letters. HP also enlarged all of the major keys (Caps Lock, Shift, Enter and Backspace, etc.), thereby removing the last likely obstacle for touch typists. As is the case with other Ultrabooks, the arrow keys are quite miniature, though the right and left ones are at least wide enough to accommodate the pad of your finger; the up and down ones are more tightly packed, but we still think you won't have much trouble finding the one you want.
The keyboard is also backlit, a welcome feature on an Ultrabook this inexpensive. The backlighting's not enabled by default, though, so be sure to press F5 if you need (or just crave) that white glow. Which brings us to one other thing we like about the Folio: its brightness, volume and multimedia controls are built into the top row of keys, meaning you don't need the fn button to take advantage of them. This may or may not impress some of you, but we always appreciate the convenience of pausing songs with the push of a button, and would rather avoid a two-fingered keyboard shortcut.
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