ENVY 15 - What are the major issues?

Strongly considering this laptop, however, I've heard about various issues. I already know about the red/orange color issue. Same goes for the Sony VAIO SE, another laptop I'm considering (looks like to have a "good screen" you have to orange reds, unless it's a Dell XPS 15).

Either way, what are the other issues? I've heard about sound issues (with headphones), clickpad issues, etc.

I'm just wondering what the major complaints are that people have about this laptop before I go and buy it (if I decide to do so). Of course if I did I'd get it through Costco and have 90 days to return. But I'd just like to know. Any help is appreciated

P.S.: Why no blu-ray? Seriously.

 

I think the biggest one is build quality, its hit or miss for getting a good one, another thing is that a lot of them have keyboard flex around qw and as.

Other than red and some other color issues, the 1080p screen is awesome in my opinion. Good contrast, resolution is awesome and its fairly bright.

The click pad is miles better than my tm2's clickpad that is the same design. It's not macbook good, but decent.

 

I would recommend that you go to Costco and try it out for yourself.

Here's my impression from trying out the in-store unit (1080p display):

• The keys had limited travel. The keys are big and well spaced.
• The trackpad was good as far as moving the mouse cursor was concerned. It felt good and had the right sensitivity. However, clicking the area where the mouse buttons usually are was hard.
• There was another model laptop next to the Envy 15. I set MS Paint to R,G,B = 255,0,0 on both. The other laptop clearly had a deeper (less orange) red. The Envy appeared orange.
• The laptop didn't feel too heavy.
• The screen was very sharp. However, it was fairly reflective.
• The lid does tilt quite a way back.

 

Hmm, I don't think I'd mind the reflectiveness or the issue with the keys. But the buttonless clickpad...I know that's going to be weird. Really, Apple's the only company that's mastered the buttonless clickpad--I don't trust HP with it, but I will see if the Costco around here has an ENVY 15 so I can check it out.

Thanks for the info, guys

 

I just sent a Envy 15 back primarily due to overall build quality; it's like HP has no QC at all. I cannot imagine how a major global brand allows such defects to go out the door. My unit had very visible scratches on the top plastic cover, the bottom of the unit was unsnapped from the aluminum decking (I was able to snap back together but it was never fully tight and had a little give when I typed), the left side of the keyboard had a ton of flex and the right side of the aluminum deck had a very visible mark and slight bump as if production tried to buff out some sort of damage/defect.

The guts of the machine were nice and the wireless function worked real nice. The trackpad is terrible and I found myself brushing the pad which often resulted in the cursor jumping around or the screen zooming in/out. I got the regular screen so cannot comment on the red/orange issue. I ordered a replacement to see if my experience is any better with a good built unit. If no better, I'm going to wait for one of Asus's new Ivy Bridge units since past Asus computers I have owned had what one would expect as far as basic QC.

 

Had picked up one @ Costco online for my wife and noticed no physical build qc issues. With that said, the track pad was terrible (very unresponsive) and I tweaked the color profile on the 1080p display but the red is still not true red (burnt orange IMO). Anyhow, those issues were show stoppers and back to the store she went. Wife now has a new MBP and loves it! Albeit the OS takes some getting used to.

 

Yeah, I was able to see one at Costco the other day. The red/orange didn't bother me, but that keyboard flex was definitely noticeable and the trackpad, although it didn't seem terrible, I know it's going to be bad and I want to be able to use the trackpad all the time.

I think I'm either going to go with the Dell XPS 15 or the Sony VAIO SE.

 

Yeah, after returning my wife's Envy to Costco they had one on display and the top of the keyboard was bowed up and the reds were orange. It's really unfortunate HP can't seem to put out a better product as it could be a great laptop with the issues fixed. :-(

 

Reasons I returned mine:

1. Terrible trackpad. Two-finger scrolling is difficult, random right clicks, detects palms as fingers while typing

2. Missing keystrokes. Different letters at different times would not register as I typed them. If I pressed T 100 times, it would only register 5 of the pushes.

3. Display. The clarity of text was nice, and I didn't mind the orange issue (which is true), but a 1920x1080 in a 15inch screen doesn't work well.

4. Audio Issues. Random volume increases and decreases. Beats volume wheel will randomly increase volume as it is turned to decrease. Static through headphones when nothing is playing. Beats software stopped working after installing updated driver to fix above issues.

5. Heft. This thing was heavy.

6. Back up. It took 3 hours to burn the 5 backup disks. No way am I doing that again if I exchange. So, I'm getting a refund instead.

7. Performance. It's not much faster than my Asus UL30vt. My envy had the hybrid drive, and that only took about 5 seconds off of boot times, and 2 seconds off of Outlook open times.

 

Spot on feedback about the Envy. I failed to mention the missing keystrokes...definitely an issue! Thanks!

 

This issue is fixed by doing a BIOS restore.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/641078-envy-15-3040nr-keyboard-malfunction-missing-keystrokes-2.html#post8322095

 

Does anyone know how the screen in the DV6 - the FHD, non-glare one - and whether, overall, one can configure a DV6 with the same internal components as an Envy 15 and wind up with a very similarly configured computer with similar performance and overall solid build integrity. Actually, from some of the comments on this thread, the DV6 might be a bit more solid, as I have never noticed keyboard flex on the current DV series. Going back DVto the screen, I have never read that it could not display color accurately and I have read that it is fairly bright. If so, perhaps it is a better bet to go with the DV6 over the Envy 15.

(That is, unless you like your keyboards backlit... !)

Today I exchanged a PM with a member who, like I, had owned an HP HDX-18 (with a backlit keyboard) and had, in late 2009, upgraded to an HP DV8t, a kind of a "refresh" of the HDX-18 with the first mobile quad core i-7 cpus, and attendant evolutions to DDR3 1333 mhz RAM and some body color changes but no changes to the chassis nor the features offered...except that the DV8t did NOT offer a backlit keyboard!

Moral of the story: HP works in mysterious ways. Forget their near-death experience last summer, the company continues to produce innovative and feature-rich notebooks, often elegant, class leading designs and nearly always the most aggressively priced (via coupons and discounts) entries in every market segment. But baked into their DNA is a tendency to have a brand death wish at times!

-- 2010-11 Envy 14 "Radiance" screen fiasco
-- failure to offer a better screen than "Brightview Infinity 136X768 screens on Envy 14 (post-fiasco) and all Pavilion models until very late 2011
-- Since the HDX line went extinct in 2009, no notebooks with backlit keyboards have been offered except on Envys - while Dell made it a "standard "option on even Inspirons! (New DM4t is first exception in 3 years; wonder if they will offer it on a $1,200 loaded DV7-QE anytime soon!!)

HP, we love to love you, sometimes have to hate you, lol.

 

People who return their Envy's for issues that are readily solvable with a little bit of customization kill me. If you get this machine and dont like the trackpad, update the software. Its not the pad itself in most cases. Use the suggestions on this forum thats been posted a gazillion times... Reils or whatever.

"1. Terrible trackpad. Two-finger scrolling is difficult, random right clicks, detects palms as fingers while typing"

Really? You can turn off the trackpad while typing if you install better trackpad software, along with 2 finger scrolling. I never, EVER even use the left/right click buttons, tapping works fine, as does scrolling.

Some people get dented USB ports and such. My machine was flawless cosmetically, other than a SLIGHTLY raised bottom left edge of the trackpad. That was nowhere near a dealbreak, and I never even notice it unless im actually looking for flaws. Same with the Red/Orange. Only notice it when its plugged up by my TV or something, using the TV as a monitor on the same pages.

Its a great machine man, especially for the price. If someone wants to be extremely picky, then you need to pay for being picky and just get a MBP. Thats the bottom line, really.

 

What really kills me is that I had returned mine which was cosmetically perfect. If only I had known how to properly reset the machine it might have solved the keyboard (missing keystrokes), volume control (simply stopped working), and wireless problems (sometimes stayed powered off). I tried reinstalling the factory image which briefly fixed the keyboard and wifi, but the volume control never came back.

Still, it must be said that these QA issues are extremely rare with the fruit company in my experience (hence the stellar resale value on their products). Microsoft and the HW vendors have a long way to go to reach that level of QA (yes I blame the OS as well). In the end, this is a Foxconn product folks - if Apple can get amazing quality from them, why can't HP?

 

This ENVY 15 is from Inventec, Foxconn made the CNC aluminium chassis.

 

Inventec is an ODM for Apple as well - my point stands, what's going on at HP??

From Inventec:

"We are committed to achieving Six Sigma performance throughout our operations and business processes worldwide."

The 2011 HP Envy 15 surely ain't one of those processes. Keeping fingers crossed for the sample I'm picking up tomorrow.

 

Hp pays them less...

 

My volume control (and brightness is the same way) will stop working sometimes. usually when thats the case, its due for a reboot, and it solves the problem anyways.

Minor inconvenience. Does suck you sent back a cosmetically flawless one tho, seems those are rare.

 

Yeah, my volume control never came back - not with the factory reimage, or a clean Windows image. Now we know how to do a BIOS reset, yay!

My new Envy 15 seems perfectly fine so far, volume control works, keyboard hasn't skipped yet, and *no* visible cosmetic faults. It still has the F.04 BIOS on it. I will resist the temptation to upgrade this time, lol. BTW, manufacturing date is 2/7/2012. Maybe they fixed the QA issues. Here's hoping.

 

So, a question:

One of you mentioned static through the headphones when nothing is playing. Is this a universal problem with this computer? Because I noticed static in an HP dv7t (the latest one) but I did not notice it in the HP dm4t (the latest one).

But leave it to HP to have inconsistent hardware issues out of the box...

 

Everyone is obviously entitled to their own opinions. With that said, as a consumer you're paying good $$$ for a product that has some known issues. Be they large or small is a matter of interpretation. IMO, you should not have to reset a bios, etc. on a brand new computer, perform other tweaks, etc. IOT be satisfied with the product. Again, just my opinion. I'm just a picky consumer I guess! . I do own two Lexus'

 

That's exactly how I feel. It should work out of the box. I can see why a lot of people like Apple so much.

 

The uprated screen on the dv6 (the 1080p one) is a matte 75% color gamut screen with good brightness and contrast. Since it is a TN screen and not IPS, the viewing angles are worse than the Envy and it's not quite as bright. However, within the limits of the tech of TN screens, it's a very good screen. The only better ones are the ones on the Sagers, Elitebooks, and the XPS.

You can get a dv6tqe with a quad core i7, 16 Gigs RAM, Bluray player and an extended 9 cell battery good for 6 to 7 hours of real usage. the build on the dv6 series seems very solid to me.If you can find a 25 to 33% off coupon, you can get a quad core dv6t with 7690 GPU and 1080p screen for right around $800. If HP made it with a backlit keyboard it would own the <$1k market 15.6" laptop market.

 

I totally agree, though I like the metal build of the envy and after not having a backlit keyboard and now having one, I will never buy a laptop without a backlit keyboard unless their is some major reason...