Difference between the HP Envy 17 and HP DV8T?

Aside from the screen-size and graphics card (Dv8T has 1GB Nvidia GeForce GT 230M and Envy has 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon), what is the difference between these 2 lines? The Envy seem to cost more though.

 

Notebookcheck: Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List

The Nvidia GeForce GT 230m has a lower clock speed and results at the 72 rank on this list. The 5650 is at 46.

 

No, the Envy 17's graphics card is at spot 32. The Envy 17 has the 5 850 in it, not the 5 650...

However, if you ignore the graphics card and the screen size/quality, then, no, there isn't much difference between any 17" notebook with the same CPU's and hardware inside. So I suppose I should ask, "what is it that you're trying to get at?"

The build quality of the Envy 15 (I don't have the 17) is excellent, however. I'd expect that the Envy 17 is also excellent. But I've also heard some very good things about the build solidity of the new aluminum based HP consumer line (though the DV8T isn't one of those) ...

Anyway, if you're not interested in the GPU, then go with the DV8T instead, and save a bundle. But if you want one of the fastest single GPU cards on the planet (the m5870 and the 480m are faster), then look not much further than the Envy 17.

BTW, the fast GPU will be mostly useful if you play games. If not, then save the 150 dollars and get the equivalent DV8T (I just priced them out). The Envy 17 is also a little bit lighter (7.7 lbs vs 8.7 lbs), and smaller ( 3/4" by 1/2" by 1/8"). The Envy also comes with "Premium Support" for whatever that's worth. BTW, the DV8T with the same CPU as the Envy 17 won't last all that much longer with battery life than the Envy 17, either. BTW, I'd consider (if you don't care about the screen or GPU options) the DV7T over the DV8T - it comes with slightly faster GPU than the DV8T (but not the 1080P screen) for quite a bit less.

 

Hp takes more care and time when building premium notebooks the envy is a premium notebook and the dv8t is more of a middle class notebook. The envy is in a metal casing and the dv8t is plastic as far as I can understand, the dv7tse has aluminum casing so I would chose an envy or the dv7tse/dv7t since they are both newer designs than the dv8t. The 5850 is a great card, when I got my envy 15 everyone said that it was the best card. I did not fully appreciate it until I started gaming, and it outperforms my 6 month old desktop. So if you are planing on gaming cough up the extra buck and get the envy.

 

The Envy 15 comes with the 58 30, not the 58 50 card like the Envy 17 comes with...

The 5850 has a faster clock, and comes with GDDR5 memory over the GDDR3 memory in the 5830. This can make a (substantial) difference in situations where the GPU is memory bandwidth limited (which happens at higher resolution, and fancier post-processing effects like AA and AF).