COMING SOON: ENVY 13 Spectre XT / ENVY 13 Spectre XT Pro

The ENVY 13 will be coming back as a Spectre model! Again, not much on details or availability but I think it's going to look a lot like the ENVY 14 Spectre. Keep checking back for more information.

HP ENVY 13 Notebook PC series

This is the only model currently listed (for Europe).

Update 4/23: HP has delisted the ENVY 13-2000 Spectre notebook.

Update 5/9: Continue to discuss the now announced ENVY Spectre XT in the following thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...nvy-13-spectre-xt-envy-13-spectre-xt-pro.html

 

So mystifying, I am bewildered!

 

Hmmm....maybe I should have posted this at a later date, when there's more info to go on. But I thought I'd just throw it out there because it could influence the buying decisions of someone looking for a smaller ultrabook. You never know!

 

It's about time IMO.

The 1st gen Envy 13 was a great concept, if not exactly perfectly executed. It was nearly as thin and light as the MacBook Air despite the optical drive and benefited from insanely long battery life using the slice.

 

I appreciate you posting this when you did as I would definitely be interested in a smaller Envy Spectre, hopefully with Ivy Bridge.

 

ugh so many new hp envy laptops and no info about them

 

But the 14" Spectre is already the footprint of a 13", so will this be the footprint of a 12" like the Dell XPS 13?

 

Fingers crossed.

 

maybe they will include a dedicated gpu in the 14 spectre this round?

 

If they're scaling down in size... And using their ultrabook name tag... I wouldn't expect to see one..

 

well slimmer ones than the 14 spectre are using dedicated... the spectre should have it too >.>

 

Well, I'm willing to admit that I haven't looked into ultrabooks that much.. And they might have dedicated GPUs.. and you know, that would really awesome if the spectre 13 had a dedicated GPU..

 

if they put it in the 13 then that owuld be amazing but i expect there to be one for the 14 spectre :|

 

If you look at the benchmarks from this HP Elitebook with Ivy Bridge and Intel HD 4000 graphics, it actually beats a lot of computers with dedicated graphics.

HP EliteBook 8470p Review - Intel Ivy Bridge Shines

 

eh i was looking at those and I think those scores might be skewed. the hd 4000 is around a gt 520m...

 

What is wrong with HD4000? I will take that over any mid-end dedicated GPU any day. The fact itself that it is integrated with the CPU gives it a huge advantage.

 

can i ask why u would? and how does it being integrated give it an advantage over reg cards

 

The advantages of HD4000 are size, power, and heat. You can have a smaller, lighter, cooler-running laptop with a smaller adapter and longer battery life if you're using HD4000. Performance-wise, however, it's only competitive with tech from the last couple years if you compare it to low-end dedicated GPUs. Any dedicated GPU that's worth getting will hammer the HD4000 in performance, not least because Intel has historically done such a poor job supplying drivers that take advantage of its potential in real-world usage.

 

lol well they can fit 640ms in ultrabooks (slim)which is about equal to gtx 460m in performance. also optimus is good (so good battery life and can switch to integrated for cooler ) i dont really see a reason besides price not to put in the 640m if it can work in that kinda form. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see the igpus improve lol (gaming on battery would be amaazing) but the 4000 is still very weak compared to almost every gfx card besides the very few low ends.

 

Because I would not expect to be gaming on a mid-end dedicated GPU and if I do not expect to be gaming, what do I need the GPU for - just for it to use more power?

 

It's amazing that I've been on this forum since last summer and I've seen this discussion come back every couple months. Basically:

-There are those who want gaming machines.
-There are those who want powerful high-end machines that are sexy.
-There are those who want both.

The first group needs to look elsewhere. Sorry, but gaming machines are generally not sexy looking - they're garish, like the Clevos and Alienwares. I don't subscribe to the argument of "if you want to game, get a desktop," because I can see how some life environments are not conducive to desktops.

The second group should look at machines like Envys, Samsung Series 7s, Dell XPS (sexiness is debatable), and Sony Vaio SA/SE. List not claimed to be all-encompassing.

Sorry for everybody in the third group... THERE IS NO SUCH MACHINE.

Do a bit of historical reading to see why Envys are the way they are today. For example, one of the most prominent issues with the first gen machines was overheating, both for reviewers and users (read back through these forums!). Obvious reason for the graphics cards used by today's Envys. For example, from Nvidia, anything above 555M (not counting 6xx series) doubles the power draw and is a lot hotter. Similar challenges with AMD... there's not a whole lot better than 6770M that doesn't start to use huge amounts of power and creates huge amounts of heat, which are two historical complaints about earlier generations of Envys.

Envys are not marketed to be gaming machines, so anybody who wants to buy them for gaming is looking in the wrong direction. They are well-rounded enough performance-wise to be pretty decent gamers, but if you want to play BF3 or Skyrim at 50 FPS at 1080p, go get a Clevo.

People complained about the second gen Envy 14 and its middle class 6630M... Now we've got the 7690M/6770M on the Envy 15, which people pined for (read back through the forums!), and that's not good enough anymore! Remember there were overheating issues before.

The original Envy 15 had miserable battery life. It may not be class leading now, but at least its battery life is respectable.

People complain about the ODD. Have you noticed that compared to its direct competition, the Envy 15 is generally less expensive (especially with the everpresent coupons)? This is because its mass marketed. Though many of us power users are fine with no ODD or an external one, HP can sell these machines cheaply because it sells enough to the mainstream by providing features the mainstream wants, like a built in ODD. Again, not saying I prever an internal one, but that's the reasoning why. Lack of ODD makes this product a niche product, and raises the price due to a lack of economy of scale.

 

good rant me like i definately fit into the 2nd catagory

 

well thats ur opinion lol

 

???

Haven't tried BF3 but I've been playing Skyrim for nearly six months at 1080p with high res texture mods and all settings maxed except using FXAA instead of MSAA, and I get 40-60fps.

Every game I've ever tried runs great at 1080p (often with most or all settings maxed) except for Crysis and Witcher 2. Tribes Ascend was a bit laggy and seemed to run smoother at 1600x900.

However, recent games such as Skyrim, DXHR, ME3, DA2, JC2, Arkham City, Fallout New Vegas, RAGE - they all run just fine at 1080p on my 2009 envy. Are you telling us that you cannot get the same frame rate for Skyrim with your 2012 envy, which has a much faster GPU and CPU than mine?

As for battery life, yes it is crappy, but I would never attempt to game on battery. When I do need to use the laptop somewhere like a plane where I won't have access to a power outlet, then I use the slice battery and low power settings, which results in something like triple the normal battery life.

 

Oh I haven't played Skyrim yet, I was just guessing. BF3 1080p all settings low I'm guessing is ~35 FPS for me. IIRC (don't hold me to this) in many ways 4830/5830 is faster than 6770/7690. I didn't check to see if Notebookcheck corroborates that or not but I thought that was the case.

My basic point is the same: people who complain that the Envys aren't good enough gaming machines/don't have the most powerful graphics are not getting the point. The Envy line is not for gaming and hasn't been since it was Voodoo. It's by coincidence that they are pretty good at it because they are powerful in general, but if a person wants better than pretty good they ought to look at gaming machines like Clevo and Alienware.

 

I can understand where you're coming from.

However, you must keep in mind there are an awful lot of us who enjoy gaming on our laptops and prefer something slim and portable with decent build quality that does not resemble a giant plastic spaceship.

Personally I think HP dropped the ball on this market by not aggressively pursuing gamers. We are not all young kids who get excited by flashing disco lights. I'm never going to walk into a business meeting with an Alienware laptop under my arm. And most of the Clevos and Sagers are so massive that you will need a chiropractor if you lug them around for a few months.

These days there are actually quite a few relatively slim and portable laptops that can run most games at 1080p or 900p. I hope HP follows through with some decent guts on the next Envy 15 (or Envy 4 or 6 or whatever it's called), and I'm willing to spend another $2-3k, but if not there are plenty of other options for my next laptop purchase.

 

Hey don't worry. I enjoy gaming as much as anybody else, but I don't want to carry around a bulky and ugly laptop that gets 2 1/2 hours of batter life. The Envy is a good compromise for me.

I feel like the list of machines that can
-Play games decently
-Get 5+ hours of battery life
-Look cool
-Weigh < 6 lbs
-Not cost an arm and a leg (like MBP, Razer Blade)

is pretty short. I listed some of the ones I know of above. Asus might have one but IIRC theirs doesn't have a 1080p screen or something like that, like the Lenovo Y460.

My point is that there isn't really such a thing as a gaming laptop that is also thin, light, and cool looking/not plasticky.

I don't think HP dropped the ball by skipping gamers. I think that there's waaaay more money to be made by trying to appeal to the mainstream than power users/gamers.

That being said, however, they could make a 17" model that puts one of those ultra-powered graphics chips in it to appeal to gamers, and I think that'd be a great idea - and it'd satisfy many of the people on here pining for a gaming Envy. They could even have a good profit margin on it.

But that won't be their moneymaker, because it would be targeting a niche group. They do have to make money, after all. And before somebody else says something about greed, well, they have to put food on the table .

 

Ahh, but isn't that precisely who the "mainstream" dv4 and dv6 models are already targeting? Come to think of it, I would not be too surprised if the "envy 4" and "envy 6" are simply a rebranding of the dv lineup.

At the other end of the spectrum, for business class clients and photography work, there are the elitebooks with optional IPS panels, etc.

My comment about HP dropping the ball was not in terms of specs but simply marketing. The 2009 and 2012 Envy 15 laptops are already excellent 1080p gaming laptops with portability and good build quality - HP simply left money on the table by failing to properly capitalize on this.

Dell, MSI, Acer, Asus, even Samsung all offer certain laptop models with decent graphics cards for gaming at 900p or 1080p, and make an effort to market these models to gamers. The Envy 15 and Envy 17 are HP's only offering for this market segment.

As for the envy 14 - the 5650m was actually capable of running most games at 900p but shortly after launching the 900p display option was discontinued, and there have been some mixed signals about where they are going with the envy 13 and envy 14. I suppose we will learn more in the next few weeks.

Personally, I find a 17" laptop simply too bulky and inconvenient to lug around.

 

17 in is too big for me for college but im fine with sacrificing alittle power for a slim form. I also dont like flashy comps (tryin to be a little professional here )

 

Personally the Envy 13 was and still is the single nicest laptop I've ever owned and I STILL haven't managed to see a better screen! (My boss now has my old Envy 13)

Although the Spectre screen probably still isn't as good I'm really looking forward to see what HP releases.