Any issues with the Envy 15 or 17 I should know about?

Hi all,

I'm tossing up whether to buy the Envy 15" or 17" (Non 3D).

It's mainly for around the house usage, web browsing and gaming as well as the odd bit of coding and web design.

I was wondering if there's any issues I should know about with the laptops before buying (the 178 page owners lounge thread is a bit daunting to tackle).

So far it seems the 15" version has an issue with red's on it's IPS panel, while the 17" only has a TN panel, is fairly heavy, and has a max battery life of 7 hours (Couldn't find any reviews to say what it actually gets with the 7850m).

Anything else?

 

Hi Matt, here's a review of the most current Envy 17-3200 (3D Version). The battery life is quite poor, 7-hours appears to be completely unrealistic. The reviewer was unhappy that Intel WiDi did not work. The ENVY 15 screen (1920 x 1080) is supposed to be fixed in the current generation and should be a non-issue now.

 

Thanks, Though I imagine the battery life between the 3D version (with the screen running at 2x the refresh rate) and the GPU locked on would cause fairly drastic differences in battery life.

 

I purchased two soon after they were released. Sent first one back due to non-existent QC; computer had a dented USB port and scratches all over the cover. Waited a few months for HP to hopefully "work the kinks out" and ordered another Envy15 (non-Invy bridge). No visual flaws but the fan always ran and was LOUD with just normal web surfing (Zero gaming). I liked the computer all right but could not live with the fan noise and very mediocre batery life so sent it back.

Perhaps fan noise is fixed with the Ivy Bridge release models but I have read some users complain about the fan. You'll need to do a little more digging.

 

Switchable graphic issue is quite serious in Envy 17 & very limited BIOS. No settings in Bios for switching

 

Isn't that limited to just the 3D version? (I'm only interested in the non-3D version)

 

I don't know why people insist on believing any laptop manufacturer when it comes to battery life.....well aside from Apple perhaps. The others always lie or overestimate by some ridiculous amount.

The most I expect to get from the current Envy 17 will be 3 at most.....regardless of what HP advertises on their website. I've come to conclusion that its impossible to get 5 or even 4 hours on battery alone.