ENVY 13-dXXX INTEL Skylake Notebooks (2015)

So what do you guys think about HP's refreshed Skylake 13" ultrabook? I'm looking to buy an i7/8GB RAM/256GB SSD/QHD+ model because it's much much cheaper than the new Dell XPS 13.

The Dell would cost me € 1400 after discounts and the HP would cost me € 980 after all discounts. That's a major difference for pretty much the same specifications and weight.

I do worry about HP's quality down the road though, mainly cooling.

Anyone here plan on purchasing this model?

http://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/Laptops/envy-13#vao

 

In the Philippines they started selling the 2015 edition of HP Envy 13 as well, it retails for about PhP 44000 ($ 960 after taxes).

http://support.hp.com/ph-en/document/c04822373

It is only available as the 13-d020tu, an i5/4GB RAM/128GB SSD/QHD model. Then again it's much cheaper than a Dell XPS 13 which start at around PhP 69000 ($ 1510 after taxes).

I'm waiting for reviews on the Envy 13, but my initial impression of it is favorable. It's like HP took the good parts of the Apple macbook line. It has --

• the thickness of the new macbook
• the storage and memory quantity of the base 13" macbook air (compared with the model available here) as well as the weight, and
• the screen resolution of the 13" macbook pro retina

All in an aluminum and magnesium body, with more ports (3 USB) and priced less than an 11" macbook air.

 

That's funny, this is the first time I see one with a 2560x1440 QHD display. In my country (Netherlands) it's only available with either a 1080p panel or a 3200x1800 panel.

I do like it, but it is so inexpensive for what it offers, what's the deal with that? I would really like to know if this is a RGBW panel or an ordinary RGB panel.

EDIT:
Confirmed RGBW panel according to a HP sales rep.

Doesn't have to be a bad panel, as the yellowing issue has been fixed in the panel used in Lenovo's Yoga Pro 3 as far as I can tell, but it could be a small disaster if it has the same yellow/mustard issue as the Yoga Pro 2.

 

So, someone in the Netherlands has received his ENVY 13 (i5/128GB/4GB/FHD). He took the time to open it and make a photo. He also had some observations:
- very bright screen
- subtle backlight bleeding on a dark screen
- good viewing angles
- keyboard and trackpad are good
- processor stays below 80C during Prime95
- ssd is M.2 SATA (Samsung 128GB)
- it has two small fans

Source with pictures

 

Hi, from the above source, it seems like it is possible to replace the SSD.

However, I asked my country's HP support and they gave me this reply:

 

The person in that topic is going to replace his SSD with a 500GB SSD tomorrow.

Edit: he has upgraded his ENVY with a Samsung 500GB M.2 SSD and it works perfectly.

 

Oh thanks, so I guess the HP support staff is wrong, or simply erring on the side of caution.

 

And someone else has received his QHD+ version, I'm eager to find out if it has the yellowing issue. If not, this will be my next notebook.

 

Hi,

I'm an owner of an HP Envy 13 i7.

The screen indeed is very bright. On the lowest brightness setting, the battery tops at around 6 hours 30 minutes. Audio is good. Loud for a laptop. I think because the speakers are facing up. It can get very hot especially during installations. When I tried to reformat the laptop, the area above the function keys got so hot I cannot even touch it for more than 5 seconds. It's that hot.

Let me know if you have any more questions. By the way, how do I check the yellowing issue? I am having QHD+ version.

 

Hello, I am interested in buying a brand new HP Envy 13 Skylake. Thin, light and cheaper than Dell XPS 13 and MBA are the reasons why I choose this laptop.

However, I need to know whether I can upgrade RAM and SSD on my own? Because I'm thinking of buying the base model with i5, 4GB and 128GB and later upgrade to 8GB RAM and 256/512 M.2 SSD.

Regarding the display, how is the color gamut/accuracy? Good enough for photo editing like Macbook Pro Retina?

Thank you.

 

When I look at the HP site, it only shows these laptops coming with 8GB of RAM. Do you see a 4GB option? It also says it's "onboard", which makes me wonder if it's upgradable.

I ordered the i7 model with QHD+ and 256GB SSD on 10/28. In case others are looking at buying one, my estimated date of delivery is 11/26 (which I doubt will happen since it's Thanksgiving), but it looks like HP is about a month out on shipping.

 

I also own a QHD+ version since a few days. I agree it can become hot above the keyboard, but when I ran Prime95 the CPU always stayed around 60C. So the cooling works fine I guess. The RGBW screen is OK, you can see the "raster" when you look close, but I can live with it. I have no issues with color reproduction, yellow looks a lot like my desktop display so no issue there.

I do have some annoying backlight bleed in the upper corners, I will exchange for a new one to see if I can get a better one.

If there are any questions, let me know.

SSD is upgradeable, it's a standard M.2 SATA SSD.

 

In my country (Malaysia), HP sell two variant of HP Envy 13.

1. i5/4GB RAM/128GB M.2 SSD
2. i7/8GB RAM/256GB M.2 SSD

I'm thinking of buying the i5 model since I don't need i7 and can save $300 now and upgrade later. M.2 ssd is user upgradable is good...but if RAM is also upgradable I would buy the i5/4GB/128GB variant in a heartbeat.

Already contacting HP Support via email and facebook but still no answer yet from them. Thanks for all your replies.

 

How about the fan? I know that with this kind of cpus, the usage of a fan is obligatory. The question I now ask is, whether you can hear the fan when doing mixed stuff like surfing the web, streaming high quality movies and similar things.

In the netherland-forum people said, they changed the fan settings in the BIOS in order to keep it off. However, if you normally don't recongnize/hear it, why then doing so?

Another question: Does anybody have a FullHD display and if so, what Panel (type, manufacturer) is it?

 

RAM is not replaceable. Fan is noticable when turned on, but it rarely spins during normal tasks. That is, if you disable fan always on.

 

I am not too convinced with this Notebook. I just got one and what i immediately noticed was the fan always being on. You can turn it off by changing the setting in BIOS, however I don't know, whether you are losing your guarantee by doing so (in the case the Notebook suffers from overheating). The second disappointing thing is the display. I ordered a FullHD Version and this panel has a very yellowish tint to it. it is also not very bright at all. I would say about 250 cd/m².

 

You will not lose any warranty by disabling the always on setting. The notebook runs fine with it off, the fan turns on when needed. When stressing the cpu with Prime95, it never gets hotter than 60-65C in my case. The displays (both FHD and QHD+) are 'OK', nothing special really. I do have a lot of backlight bleed, I've returned mine. If the next one has the same kind of bleed I will start looking for an alternative.

I don't really understand why the fan always on setting is on by default because it is not needed at all.

 

@ yellowish tint to the Display: I almost could get rid of this by calibrating the panel, however when doing so, I automaticly change all the other colours too.

Another problem I experienced was the touchpad: When doing the 2-finger-scrolling feature in browser there was some kind of lag: I scrolled down with fingers very fast, then releasing the touchpad, so the screen-contend was scrolling downwards by itself. What I now could see was some minor stuttering in this scrolling in each of these browsers: IE and Edge. Would you be so kind, to try this out?

 

I also experience the lagging whenever doing the 2-finger-scrolling. Not using IE or Edge. I am experiencing it in Google Chrome. If I do the 2-finger-scroll up to the topmost area of the touchpad, it scrolls continuously for a second or two.

 

Chrome is known for this issue, no matter which machine you are working with. Do you mean "not using xxx" that you are not experiencing stuttering with these Browsers or that you have not used them yet. If so please try it out with one of the Microsoft-Browsers as well! thx

You are welcome.


Another question: do you also hear some very quiet noises coming from the speakers? You can trigger it by changing the volume up and down. It is only hearable when nearly "lying" down your ear on the speaker.

Battery pretty disappointing: Only can manage to get about 6h at most.

 

I tried Edge after you've told me. I don't experience lagging issues when scrolling though. Regarding the quiet noises from the speakers, I don't hear them even if I pressed my ears on the speakers

Yes, I agree with the battery. Pretty disappointing. But I guess that's what we get for having a QHD+ screen.

 

FHD version also has disappointing battery life. Fortunately it's not an issue for me since I always have access to an outlet.

 

Hi, can anyone compare the Full HD matte screen vs QHD+ glossy - are they equally bright, and is the glossy "too glossy," to a distracting level? Also, does the glossy have less backlight bleed than the matte?

 

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As far as I know, the QHD+ Panel is quite okay but not outstanding, speaking about brightness. Whether the glossiness is too distracting depends on you, yourself. I would always prefer a matte panel if I could choose. And I also can't understand, how people are eager to have a resolution higher than FullHD. In this netherlanden thread mentioned the page before, many people complain about backlightbleeding with the QHD-Panel and are sending their envys back in order to get a new one with hopefully less backlight bleeding. In my FullHD-Envy it was barely noticeable. So I would say it is the other way round: matte panel has less bleeding.
Just read through this special thread by using google-translator. The people who returned their books are going to get new ones the upcoming days and will report! What they are hoping is that it was only the first charge which was affected.

>>this is the thread<<


[edit] backlight bleeding is still there in replacement devices!!!

 

It's like an epidemic. I had two Lenovo T450s with terrible backlight bleed across the bottom of the screen. I think the main culprit is the fit of the bezel - if it's too tight against the screen it causes the bleed. And since the tightness is not uniform all around, where it pushes too far it causes the bleed.

 

Bezel fitment is indeed the issue. If I remove the bezel at the top, the bleed disappears. My replacement does have some noticeable bleed on a black screen, but I have decided to keep it. Pretty much all QHD versions will have some form of bleed and I need my notebook for school. At least it is not noticeable during normal use, which was not the case with my previous one.

The QHD panel is extremely thin and flimsy, so any kind of pressure will show in the form of backlight bleed. My guess is that the FullHD panel is stiffer, and thus suffering less from pressure.

 

Hello Guys,

Do you know if it is possible to change the wifi card of the skylake HP Envy 13 ?

The manual states it's a Broadcom BCM943142 (only wifi n) but also mention Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265.



So I guess we can replace the broadcom with the intel. Sadly the intel doesn't have 5ghz either

Do you know any possibility to find a AC 5 GHZ wifi card ?

 

I just posted this in the wireless section of the forum too : http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/no-wifi-ac-on-new-hp-envy-13-skylake-how-to-get-it.784187/

 

The RAM for Envy 13 is soldered, so there is no way to upgrade RAM. SSD appears to be upgradeable from the posts above.

 

I've decided to return mine for a refund. The backlight bleed on this thing is insane and unacceptable. It became worse by just opening and closing the lid.

No more HP for me.

 

The Envy 13 is massively lower in price in the UK than the XPS 13. How does the Envy 13 do thermally. Does it overheat? And did you have the 1080P version or the 1800P model?

 

1800p.

It was a bit warm sometimes above the keyboard, but the CPU always stayed cool. Also during Prime95, always less than 65C.

The XPS 13 would be worth it for me looking back. The RGB IGZO panel is a lot better than the Samsung RGBW panel in the HP. The RGBW subpixel grid makes fine text very blocky. Not to speak about the insane backlight bleeding.

 

I've ordered the d008na model (Core i5, 1080p, 8GB RAM, 256 GB SSD) today in the UK for 594 GBP with the Cyber Monday 15% discount

Can anyone tell me what are the detailed tech specs of this model or point me to a link? I'm most interested in knowing what is the SSD model and type (PCIe or SATA etc) and the speed test - they just say "M.2" on the HP site.

(It's not coming to me, I ordered it as a gift for my sister, and I'm not in the UK)

 

The SSD is a Lite-On L8H-256V2G, using the M.2 standard, so probably PCIe x2.

 

Does anyone have a Skylake 256GB M.2 SSD model and can post SSD speed benchmark here?

 

There are different ssds (Samsung, Liteon etc), they are all SATA.

 

Signed up to ask a question about the new Envy 13 range - to those that own one, how is the wifi connection when out and about? I ask because I am in urgent need of a decent and affordable ultrabook, and this looks like it might suit. I previously tried an Asus UX305 and ended up returning it within 30 days because its wifi performance was absolutely appalling, substantially worse than my very decrepit three and a half year old HP Pavilion dm1 that has literally been around the world with me - where the HP could find a low but perfectly usable signal, the Asus could not connect at all or, if it did connect, was impossible to use because it was shockingly slow. I noted that the HP Envy 13 appears to use the same Intel adapter as the Asus and there have been a lot of complaints about its performance in many different makes of laptop, hence my concern. An ultraportable machine that I cannot rely on to connect to an available connection is no use to me, so any feedback would be much appreciated.

 

I have had a good experience with the wifi in several locations so far, no complaints here. Stays connected to various routers with solid performance.

 

That's good to hear - thank you.

 

I might return mine as well unfortunately. The issues for me are the almost constant fan running (which wasn't the case in the beginning), more heat than before, and much less battery life than expected.

 

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting an Envy 13 too and was wondering if anyone had installed (k)ubuntu on it? I've seen discussions about getting it working correctly on the Spectre x360 but nothing about the Envy (similar to not finding any reviews on tech sites).

I don't really need the touchscreen of the Spectre so will probably go with the i5/FHD/256GB SSD version and change the disk, if it suits my needs.

Cheers,

sev

 

Did you mean that the temperature was 60 degrees Celsius? That would be extremely hot!

 

Never mind, found someone who's posted a review on Amazon.com saying that it works with Mint which is built on Ubuntu.

sev

 

Looking at a buying a new laptop/ultrabook after something portable and light how do people think this will run Football manager 16? not sure if it will get really hot or the graphics will be enough?

HP ENVY 13-d008na Laptop - HP Store UK

HP ENVY 13-d008na Laptop

Processor
Processor family Intel® Core™ i5 processor
Processor Intel® Core™ i5-6200U with Intel® HD Graphics 520 (2.3 GHz, up to 2.8 GHz, 3 MB cache, 2 cores)

Memory
Memory, standard 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM (onboard)
Drives
Hard drive description 256 GB M.2 SSD

Dimensions
Minimum dimensions (W x D x H) 32.65 x 22.6 x 1.29 cm

Weights
Weight 1.36 kg

Price £699.00 but I can get it for £559.55 through work


any opinions?

Thanks,

Callum

 

Hey guys,

Just bought the Envy 13 (i7, 256Gb, 8Gb) from a HP reseller in Malaysia. Just used it for 2 days - updating Win10 and installing the antivirus program. The heat is extreme (above the keyboard; below the monitor) and the fans are working overtime! The heat cools off a little once the installations have been completed but it doesn't give me a good impression.

The battery life is dismal - maybe because the fans are working overtime or maybe installations / upgrades suck up more power than anything else, I don't really know. I kept the screen at (between) 30%-50% and at times, it showed that my estimated battery life was 3 hours!

Any feedback or advice on this guys? Cheers!

 

What screen resolution did you choose? I wonder why the reviews are so mixed for this laptop? Some people say one thing and others the complete opposite.

 

We have the same configuration I believe. I think it is because of the 4K resolution. My brightness is set at 0% (still good for indoor use for me), battery life is between 5-6 hours. I haven't tried changing the resolution to Full HD. I doubt it will make any difference.

It is indeed very hot above the keyboard from what I have mentioned in my previous post here. But it quickly cools after some time. It is too hot I cannot even touch it for more than 5 seconds.

 

bubuchacha what country did you buy yours in?

My 1080p i5 256gb ssd envy 13 turns up today so I will post my impressions

 

3200

3200x1800

 

I believe the battery management software is wonky in a way whereby the way it calculates the remaining battery power seems off a bit. If the laptop is left idle with say 3 hours of time shown, after i check it again say after 15 mins, it will show a totally different reading like 6 hours or something.
I read about switching off the fan option in the BIOS, which will enable the fans to function only under heavy load, I have yet to try it though. Also, read about HP CoolSense but don't think this model has that feature installed.