Difference between the ready to ship ENVY 15-3040nr and a similarly configured machine.

After looking at different laptops I have finally decide to buy the Envy 15. I would like to know the difference between the ready to ship ENVY 15-3040nr and a similarly configured CTO machine. I did notice the warranty period is different, 1year for the 3040nr versus 2 years for the CTO. I have included a table comparing the 2. The spec for the ENVY 15-3040nr says 8GB is the max for the ram but on the CTO it goes up to 16GB. Does this mean athe mother boards on the 2 are different? The price difference is only about 20$ between the two. Which one will be the best buy?

	ENVY 15-3040NR	HP ENVY 15 Customizable Notebook PC
Operating system	Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit	Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor	2nd generation Intel Core i7-2670QM processor 2.20GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.10GHz	2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz
Memory	8GB DDR3 1600MHz System Memory (2 DIMM); Max supported = 8GB	8GB 1600DDR3MHz System Memory (2 Dimm)
Accessible memory slots	2	2
Display	15.6-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit display (1920 x 1080)	15.6-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)
Video graphics	Radeon HD 7690M switchable graphics with 1024MB GDDR5 and up to 5093MB total graphics memory	1GB AMD Radeon(TM) HD 7690M GDDR5 Discrete Graphics(TM) [HDMI, DP]
Audio	Beats audio, 6 speakers and a subwoofer and HP Wireless Audio	Beats(TM) audio for superior sound
Primary CD/DVD drive	Slot-Loading SuperMulti DVD burner	SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Hard drive	750GB 7200RPM HDD with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection	750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
Networking	Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)	10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Wireless options	Intel 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN + Bluetooth with WiDi	Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) with Wireless Display Support
PC card slot	Digital Media Card Reader for Secure Digital and Multimedia cards	Multi-Format Digital Media Card Reader
I/O ports	2 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ;1 Universal Serial Bus (USB) 2.0 ;1a DisplayPort ;1 HDMI ;1 RJ-45 (LAN) ;2 Headphone-out ;1 Microphone-in
Warranty and support	1-Year Limited Hardware Warranty with Toll-Free Support (NA) ;1-Year Free Hardware Technical Support ;30-Days Free Limited Software Support with 1-Year (from date of purchase) with Product Registration.	2 year limited warranty included
Backlit keyboard	Yes	Yes
Power	120W AC adapter ; 8-cell 72WHr lithium-ion battery	8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Price	$1,198.00 on amazon	$1,216.24 with coupons

 

The only difference is one is prebuilt

 

And warranty, prebuilt is 1 year, custom ones are 2 year...

 

So the mother board on both is the same? And i should be able to upgrade the ram on the prebuilt model to 16GB later on right?

 

I just bought the one from amazon and I'm typing on it now. Everything is fine, keyboard types fine, no missing keystrokes, very solid laptop, the pictures online don't do it justice. It really is impressive up close.

I do have the screen problem. It clearly produces oranges instead of reds. For me, doesn't bother me. I only noticed it when I compared the same picture side by side with a macbook pro 13. There's some very minor fit and finish problems that aren't enough to return it and Ill probably forget about them by next week and I'm pretty picky about this stuff.

Ive never had hands on with a customized Envy so I cant answer your question, but there may be a chance that hp has corrected problems with hardware and you may end up with re-visioned hardware. For example, the screen, they may have pulled the screens used earlier and are now replacing them with a different model that can produce reds properly. The prebuilts are usually sitting for a few months, so its older hardware. Don't quote me on any of this, I don't know for a fact, just speculation.

 

I would guess that the motherboards are the same, and yes you can upgrade the ram fairly easily.