ENVY 14 Quick Questions before I buy today

Hi I'd like to get in on the $500 off but have a few questions before ordering and am having difficulty finding answers..

1. Is the black edition painted or anodized?

2. Is the SSD currently supporting TRIM at this point? I saw in old posts it does not.

3. How big a deal is the radiance display? Much much nicer or just a little?

So far I'm thinking stock HP Black beats edition with the 256GB SSD. Puts me at $1574 easily qualifying for discount. But this leaves lower end monitor.

 

1. I believe black is painted on the aluminum, the palm rests are soft matte material, feel nice

2. Yes SSD has TRIM

3. Radiance display seems to be the selling point of the Envy, but the brightview is still better compared to other notebooks. I have the Envy 14 beats and the screen beat my Dell XPS 14 by a lot

 

I don't know that we've had anyone with both the radiance and the brightview to chime in. People with the radiance have really emphasized that it is a very nice screen. Supposedly it has about 88%? color gamut, which is pretty good in the laptop market. My monitor at home hits 90+% which is great, but a great deal of those colors in the higher gamut, while discernable by the eye, are still unnatural and not particularly needed.

You do get a higher resolution, which could be a big deal to you or not. It is handy if you edit images, video etc. It lowers your framerates for games. And with a 14.5 screen, depending on how far your head sits from the monitor there isn't a guarantee that you will notice the difference in resolution.

I believe the black option to be anodized, but people have claimed that the combination of color and lack of laser etched design makes it a bit of a fingerprint magnet.

As for the SSD, i'm not sure. You might consider shooting for a 900 price take and picking up an ssd
Newegg.com - Kingston SSDNow V Series SNV425-S2BN/128GB 2.5" Notebook Bundle 128GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

 

Get the screen over the Beats. Im just bought another Envy for the screen and Im selling my current beats now.

 

LMFAO!!! That is what I suggested to one user here who was complaining why the Beats Envy does not come with Radiance screen. Yah, just buy the Envy 14 with coupon and switch displays. Altough, you will have to keep both computers. Unless you want to sell the regular Envy with the regular screen now that you put on it to a friend or put it on Ebay. Just don't send it back to HP because you might get in a heap of trouble.....So either keep it or sell it. Good luck.

KJ

 

Sup Azn

Thanks guys for advice. I certainly don't need 250GB SSD but more like 90GB in a laptop. Thing is black looks cool as hell.




Right now I'm thinking

White
+$200 screen
+$200 8 cell and 6 cell
Total = $1399-$500= $899

Or
Black
+$475 256GB SSD
Total = $1,575 - $500 = $1075

Sell the 256GB SSD ~ $400-$500 drop in a Sandforce 90GB $200

Total ~ $800

 

Its also a finger print magnet and I dislike the fact that only the lid is aluminum and that they put a matte material over everything else.

 

I am doing the cheapest route also. I dont even need a new computer but this is a good deal. I actually have a kingston ssd in my computer now. I purchased it off ebay for $80. I will be putting it in the envy obviously. Its only 60gb but it came with an external case for your old hdd. I save most of my music and pictures on that and have only used 20gb of space so far on the ssd.

this is what i have. Again I purchased it on ebay.
Newegg.com - Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNVP325-S2B/64GB 2.5" 64GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

this is what I will be ordering soon.

 

1) How is the battery life on the HP Envy? I read the battery log thread but couldn't get through all of it. Is there a problem with the motherboard or something? What's a realistic amount of time I can expect for battery wise gaming, and regular power saving use?

2) What does an extended battery raise the numbers to? How much heavier does it get?


3) Any other issues to be aware of?


Thanks!

 

battery life depends on what kind of CPU you're running~ usually i3 and i5s get longer than i7s since they have switchable graphics ~ not sure how long it lasts under gaming

slice battery is very heavy... runs 4-5 hours on my previous ENVY 14 w/ lowest brightness (i7 720)

 

That's exactly what I'm doing. Only reason I'm buying is my MBP and Thinkpad has no HDMI out. Time to get modern. Helps when traveling too since every hotel has TVs with HDMI.

 

The slice battery, though it is a 6 cell, is rated 62 wh where the regular 8 cell is 59. So you should be getting double.

 

Do you mean body is not aluminum but plastic on the beats and on regular evny everything is al?

 

Whoa, u got 4-5 hours WITH the slice battery on your i7? damn..

What is the consensus on an i5 with the dedicated graphics switched off?
HP advertises that its 6.5 hours but i just saw a youtube video and some guy reviews the envy 14 and says its bs. Does the battery life differ depending on whether you get the brightview or the radiance screen?

 

I get sick of seeing this question posted on every single thread but the i5 gets somewhere between 3.5 and 5 hours depending on different settings, i7 gets 1.5-2.5 hours. slice adds less than double that.

Before you spend a grand on something use the search button and learn everything you can so you get what you want.

 

You do realize that this is a high turn over, high traffic forum, meaning lots of people come and go. That means the same questions and answers will come up. And I'm not knocking research and diligence by any means but not everyone has the time to read 72 pages of information (and that's just 1 thread AKA Hp envy battery log) just to find a simple answer like expected battery life.
I do and did search before I asked the question but it took you about 10 seconds to give me the information i needed instantly which would've taken me hours to figure out. Not that I don't do my own research but sometimes, it's easier and means more to get a direct answer from someone else. This goes for anything in life. It'd be fairly rude of someone to tell you to "go search, the answers everywhere" if another person asked them for advice in academics or fixing their car, etc. Its definitely possible but not very efficient. If it wasn't me, someone else would've asked the question, and if it wasn't you, someone else would've chimed in with the answer so check the attitude. Thanks for the info though I guess.

 

No need to get defensive i just meant that if you would have searched for it you would have found it very easily and you would have also learned why it is that the i5 is more battery efficient along with which processesor is right for your needs. I wouldn't spend a grand on something because some random guy answered one basic question about it. I'd research the problem and get a little knowledge on whatever it is that i didn't know before . Buying without much knowledge of the product usually results in not having exactly what you want.
If i was mad i wouldn't have answered your question.
When i first joined i was told the same thing and now i understand why as one day you will. Don't take offense. i bought my first of 3 envy's with an i7 because someone told me it was better. Ended up having to cancel my order and wait an extra week. I apologize if you thought i was talking down to you. And i read the entire envy 14 owners thread in a night (both). I highly recommend it.

 

spencerp - I have been reading all day but some info is conflicting. Like for example if current SSD supports TRIM or not. The sticky thread says no or maybe while some other threads say yes. Battery life as well. Fan noise as well and so on. Anyway, no reason to get upset about noobs not knowing this particular laptop, most of which were called in by the "deal" so have limited familiarity.

 

Anyone know if the beats version sports a all metal or plastic body? If it's plastic I'm going silver version.

 

Yeah no hard feeling. I'm doing plenty of research because it's not a cheap buy at all but trying to do it fast before the $500 coupon expires. Hard to sift to all this material.

I will definitely be checking out the owners thread. But it's long as hell

 

Dont know about you but...

i3/i5

* 4:23 achieved by a poster: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6523184-post182.html
* 4:40 achieved by a poster: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6490089-post16.html
* 4:51 achieved by a poster: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6515152-post129.html
* 5:08 achieved by a poster: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6533500-post243.html
* 5:12 achieved by a poster: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6523184-post182.html
* 6:27 achieved by a poster: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6499615-post80.html
* 6:45 achieved with optimization: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6499615-post80.html
* First poster to get 7 hours battery life w/o slice: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6493133-post41.html
* A little over 9 hours with slice: Envy 14 Battery Life Log

i7

* <2:00 achieved by a poster: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6499450-post78.html
* <2:00 achieved by a poster: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6525651-post198.html
* 2:10 achieved by a poster: http://forum.notebookreview.com/6529711-post212.html
* 3:39 achieved by a poster (No slice) : Envy 14 Battery Life Log

 

Both are all metal. Beats has no etching but a flat black "rubberized" paint on the inside surface that allows for grip. When people say it's a finger print magnet thay are down playing it. It shows every speck of dust and the finger prints are harder than you think to clean. It didn't bother me at first but after having to clean it after each use it gets annoying. It is a beautiful laptop but not beautiful enough to pass on the radiance. My GF has a new reg mac 13inch and she was veiwing a pic on mine and then the same on hers and told me "for some reason these pictures seem to look better on my computer" and she is by far computer illiterate. Skip the black in my opinion.

And to answer your 1st post. I'm by far a noob but basically any general question has an entire thread devoted to it for that very reason. I really didn't mean to give the guy a hard time honestly. i went back and re-read my initial post to him and saw how it could have been implied that way. Once again i apologize if i offended him and didn't mean to offend anyone.

 

I got an average of 3:30 mins on mine with the brightness up. Turning brightness below half wasn't worth it to me. If you were on a bus trip or something i could understand dealing with it to stretch out some time but getting 4 hrs with brightness on high and not on power saving mode was pretty much impossible on my envy anyways.

 

All envy models have a metal chassis, the only plastic part is the bottom cover.

 

Thanks bro..eh I'm a neat freak too so black no good... I was calling the guy and myself a noob not you sorry for confusion Anyway I went ahead and ordered silver w/ radiance and slice totaled out at perfect 1399 to recieve discount.. thanks for all your help..

 

Just wanted to chime in and say everything's good. No worries I may also have acted a little too defensively.


So.. anyway, I noticed in your sig that you had the brightview envy and then returned it for a radiant. Any regrets? I managed to find a sealed HP envy with a brightview for $730 but seeing as how if i add the slice battery that runs anywhere from $150 after taxes or so, it'll be a difference of about $100 to go to Hp's website and order one with a slice battery + radiance screen.
Would you say that the screen is worth $100?

 

the bottom cover seems aluminum to me..take off the battery cover and see for yourself

 

The BV screen isn't horrible but its nothing special at all. just a regular screen. The radiance however is freaking unreal. It's like comparing a suv to a maxed out hummer. I'd pay $300 for it nd be extremely happy with the value. I never realized the difference a screen can make.

 

So I'm ordering an Envy 14, and I've decided on everything except for the processor. Right now it's down to between the i5-580M and the i7-720QM.

The laptop will be used for 2 things: gaming sessions (usually fairly long in length, maybe 2-3 hours but only once a week or so in nature) and for running MATLAB. Obviously the usual word processing and such will be thrown in there too. What I want to know is whether using the Quad will cause my temperatures to go dangerously high during the gaming sessions when both the CPU and GPU are on.

My old laptop died to heat issues, and I'm REALLY hoping to avoid the same for this one, to the point where I am willing to go with the lower processor to avoid heat problems.

Any opinions anyone? Thanks in advance!

 

I've used mine for a little while and it stays cool. I don't have exact temps, but I beleive the max anyone has seen during heavy usage for the i7 is around 80C and it's rated at up to 100. You're probably going to be at a similar cusp as I was between them and I went with the i7, I've explained why in a couple of other, similar threads. If you're going to be mostly mobile but have an availability of power outlets when needed, such as working at school or the book store, it's a good choice. I get between two and three on my battery when I'm on the move, doing coding and the like, no gaming or rendering. Check the battery life log thread for the envy 14 and the first post in the owner's lounge to get some ideas how to maximize performance and battery life.

 

Okay, as long as it stays cool, I can live with short battery life . I would just hate myself if I got an i7 and ended up shooting myself in the foot on battery life though. I'm pretty confident that with proper undervolting and such, I'll be able to pull off the same kind of times that people in the i7 thread are hitting, if not better so I'll take the plunge. Thanks for the response .

 

you cant undervolt the core i serie, so dont expect more than 2h30 of battery life even with brightness to 0% and very lower CPU usage. 3h may be possible if you disable the wifi.

I had the i7 for a week, nice computer but the battery life killed me. So when the radiance and the coupon came back, i did not hesitate to switch back to an i5. Most people say it won't affect gaming as only the 5650 is bottlenecking the system, not the CPU;'s whether its i3, 5 o5 7.

 

Yeah I'm not too concerned about gaming performance per se, merely the amount of heat the processor will produce while gaming, so as to preserve the longevity of the components as much as posisble. I'll be using the computer pretty much perpetually on AC power, and when I'm not I can use it with Wifi off and the processor downclocked all the way.

 

I don't think you could say it better than that.

I am just jumping in on this thread (been active on DV8 for a year) because I just ordered my Envy 14, i5-560, Radiance, 640/7500, 4gb on one stick, net price: $944. But I have spent some time working on a friend's original E14 w/Radiance and it absolutely is "unreal." It's as good or better than the MBP 15 1600X900 (cost: at least $2,100) and the only laptop screen I've ever seen that beats it was the RGBLED screen they had for a while for the (now defunct) Dell Studio XPS 16 - that was beyond unreal!

Given how ubiquitous and powerful all Core i cpus (2010) and gpus like the AMD 5650 (for non-gamers, at least) are, and how cheap they are, the display is just about the only major component of a laptop that differentiates the true classics from the also-rans. Not that all the other attributes don't matter, but 90% of the 14"-16" laptops that have comparable specs and prices have absolutely crappy screens, though if you haven't spent time with an exceptional one, you might not even know how "bad" you have it.

I think HP did itself a lot of harm killing the Radiance for so long, and made the E14 an also-ran (but a good one, don't be offended BV screen owners ) and it became the "MacBook pretender." I think the reason HP brought the Radiance back - aside from whatever enabled them to stock it in quantity again - was to re-polish the Envy image in anticipation of a refresh. Regardless of the reason, it gives us all a remarkable bargain, one that I can't imagine anyone looking for this size class not jumping on.

Last year I bought a well equipped HP DV8t for the same $950 as I just spent on my Envy 14, and that 18.4" 1080p screen with gorgeous colors and extremely high contrast (but not nearly as bright as the Radiance) has spoiled me for good and I'm only buying the Envy now because I want the laptop I take with me to look and feel as deluxe, and I'm willing to carry an extra 1.5 lbs to save a grand vs. the SONY Z. Other than the Z, the MacBook Pro (both over 2 grand) and some very pricey Thinkpads and Dell Precision models, I can't think of another mainstream laptop with this caliber display, and the $500 discount is a pure gift - grab it!

 

well put my friend, I entirely concur