Confuse state.. Envy 14 or Elitebook 8540W

Hi,

I currently have Envy 14 with the radiance display which I got it from HP less than a month (2nd replacement already), but it is still not perfect. The latest problem being the right internal speaker not working. HP has done the check on it and confirm speaker faulty.
HP is working for a replacement either with the same model or a better spec model.
Now I'm thinking of going for Elitebook 8540W (FHD 1920 x 1080). But I have no experience with this model.

My two main criteria are:
1. I'm very particular about quality display screen. As much as possible, I would like the color to be accurate, better viewing angle. I know both models are TN panels but I believe they are better than the normal ones in the market.
Question: Between Envy 14/Radiance and 8540W/FHD, which model will come close to my requirement?

2. I will be connecting the laptop to an external monitor (HP ZR24W) for some photo editing session such as Photoshop Elements/Lightrooms. I would like to cablibrate both the laptop display and the external monitor. I don't want the calibration on the external monitor to run off when I try to calibrate the laptop, or vice versa.
Question: I believe ATI 5650 in Envy 14 can support dual ICC profiles, how about the NVIDIA Quadro FX 880M in the 8540W?
I'm a novice when comes to the technical details of the graphic cards. Btw, I'm not into gaming (at least for now), but will be into photo editing.

 

1. The Non-DreamColor 2 TN Panel for the 8540w is slightly inferior to the Radiance however, the viewing angles are on par with each other. You will lose 200 in the color contrasts and 80 in the brightness ratio on the 8540w Non- DC 2 TN Panel over the Radiance.

I doubt you can acquire a free (and fair) replacement offer for HP to give you a DreamColor 2 option on the 8540w. If they let you though, get it and run. The DreamColor 2 option on the 8540w is a 1080p Matte Panel that is 10-bit IPS and that thing will blow the Radiance into pieces. However, I doubt they will hand you that offer as a fair trade with the Envy 14 w/ Radiance.

2. The FX 880 is a nVidia Quadros card, so it is enhanced to favor graphical rendering in programs like Photoshop and CAD over gaming, so it should be set to accept dual ICC's. However, if you feel you like Radeons better, then you should consider getting the 8540w with the FirePro M5800, which is essentially a BIOS-altered Mobility Radeon 5730M and that will also do dual ICC.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for reply.
Unfortunately DC2 option on 8540W is not available in where I'm staying
Also it seems that FX880 graphics card is inferior than ATI 5650 (I may be wrong..). In my country, the pre configured is only with FX880 card.
If the Envy 14/radiance is truly better than 8540W/FHD, most likely I'll stick back to Envy 14. (I don't have a chance to look at the 8540W/FHD display in my country)

I can have an option to replace a new Envy 14 as already approved by HP but I'm also exploring the option to repair it instead, i.e. to replace the faulty speaker on my existing Envy 14 since everything on the current laptop is good and working fine including the display.
Will this be good idea instead of going for 3rd replacement?
(a bit of lost confidence in the replacement units that I've gone through so far..)

 

If it is just a faulty speaker, then get the unit replaced with a new speaker. If you go through another replacement unit, you might not get your Radiance back, since HP has stopped Radiance production again.

The FX 880M is worse a bit from the 5650M and too bad you don't have the DC 2 option. I think if you really like Radiance and your Envy 14 is just having speaker problems, then just get that repaired.