HP Essential 17.3" TPN-I139, Core i7-1355U, 16GB, 1TB SSD, Silver

The HP Essential TPN-I139 is a 17.3-inch business laptop with a Core i7-1355U, 16GB RAM, and a 1TB SSD. It's fine for office work but held back by a dated 1600x900 display with poor brightness and color. At $939, there are better options unless you specifically need a big touchscreen.

The Core i7-1355U is a 10-core, 12-thread chip with a 1.2GHz base clock and 5.0GHz turbo. In our database, it lands at the 43rd percentile for CPU performance, which is solidly middle of the pack. For everyday office work, spreadsheets, and browser tabs, it'll feel snappy. The 16GB of DDR4 RAM helps with multitasking, though it's worth noting that DDR4 is slower than the DDR5 you'd find in newer laptops at this price.

The integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics is where things fall apart for anything demanding. It sits at the 14th percentile for GPU performance, which means gaming is basically off the table. You might get away with older titles or 2D indie games, but anything modern will struggle. The 1TB NVMe SSD is a bright spot, landing at the 80th percentile for storage. Boot times and app launches will be quick.

Stacked against the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition, the HP Essential gets absolutely destroyed on display quality, build, and battery life. The Surface is more expensive, but it's a fundamentally better laptop. The Apple MacBook Pro M4 Pro is in a completely different league, though it costs nearly twice as much. The Lenovo Legion 5i and MSI Raider are gaming machines that crush this HP on GPU performance, but they're heavier and pricier. The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is a different form factor entirely, but it shows what you can get if you're willing to spend more. For pure office work on a budget, the HP is fine, but it doesn't win any head-to-head matchups against these competitors.

At $939, the HP Essential TPN-I139 is a tough sell when you look at what else is out there. The 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM are nice, but the display is a serious weak point. You can find 15.6-inch laptops with 1080p IPS panels, better color accuracy, and similar specs for less money. The 17.3-inch form factor is the main draw here, and if you specifically need a big screen with a touchscreen, your options are more limited. But most people would be better served by a smaller laptop with a sharper display.

The HP Essential TPN-I139 is a 17.3-inch business laptop that sits in a weird spot. It's got a Core i7-1355U and 16GB of RAM, which sounds premium, but the display is a 1600x900 HD+ panel with 250 nits of brightness. At $939, it's priced like a mid-range machine but delivers a mix of high-end internals and budget-tier everything else. People searching for a big-screen laptop for office work will find the specs interesting, but the compromises are real.

This is one of those Amazon marketplace specials where a seller opens the box to upgrade the RAM and SSD. The 1TB NVMe drive is genuinely nice to see at this price, and the touchscreen is a bonus for anyone who likes poking at Windows 11. But the 60% NTSC color coverage and 250-nit brightness mean this screen is not going to impress anyone who's used a modern laptop display.

For a 17.3-inch machine, it's surprisingly light at 2.09kg. That's about 4.6 pounds, which is manageable for a laptop this size. The port selection is thin though, with just one USB-C and two USB-A ports. No Ethernet, no SD card reader, and the HDMI port is the older 1.4b standard.

Skip this if you care about display quality at all. The 1600x900 resolution, 250 nits brightness, and 60% NTSC color coverage are dealbreakers for photo editing, video work, or even just watching movies. Gamers should look elsewhere, as the Iris Xe graphics can't handle modern titles. If you need a backlit keyboard for late-night work, this isn't the laptop for you. And if portability matters, the 17.3-inch size and 4.6-pound weight make it a desk-bound machine. Consider a 15.6-inch laptop with a 1080p IPS panel instead, or step up to a Surface Laptop if you can stretch the budget.

Should you buy the HP Essential TPN-I139? If you need a 17.3-inch touchscreen laptop for basic office work and web browsing, and you can find it on sale, it's serviceable. The Core i7 and 1TB SSD will keep things running smoothly for years of light use. But the display is genuinely disappointing for 2024. A 1600x900 resolution on a 17-inch panel means text looks soft and you get less screen real estate than a 1080p 15.6-inch laptop.

For most people, the answer is no. There are better laptops at this price point with sharper displays, better port selection, and more modern features. The HP Essential feels like a parts-bin special, mixing a decent CPU and SSD with a screen that belongs in 2015. If you can live with the display and you want the big touchscreen, it's not a bad machine. But we'd recommend shopping around first.