ENVY 17-32XX Intel Ivy Bridge (AMD 7850M)

Quick question for you guys before I pull the trigger. Do you think the 7850m would be able to handle light CAD work?

 

So I'm on my second Envy 17 and it's perfect..except, now the sound doesn't work. The other day I had it hooked up to my external speakers but today it won't work! I hook it up and no sound! The integrated speakers work fine but I can't figure out why these aren't working..

Pissing me off :|

 

Does any one know of any other laptop manufacture that make a laptop with the ability to run 3 external monitors?

 

You probably already did this and if so forgive me.
Did you push the Beats button and play around with the settings. There are 2 options......speaker and headphones and the other option is communications headphones. Ya might play with those.

 

Not being very familiar with these types of usb attachments I wonder how common these ssort of issue is. If the issue is not so uncommon I wonder if it may make sense to use an externally powered usb hub in order to provide all the required juice.

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Drufaith... hey man I feel you and no you ARE NOT alone bro... I raised this very same issue with HP Tech support a month ago including one three hour stint with Tech Support (which did not have a singal 32xx version of either the Envy 15 or 17 which they could look at) and after actually talking to AMD along with HP Tech support AMD didn't have a freakin' clue what HP had done to their drivers and the bottom line seemed to be that there was no Eyefinity and no three (let alone four) monitor support built into this Envy 17 as i don't think there is any way to force the 7850M discrete graphics to kick in and without the 7850m there is no multiple monitor capability beyond the two monitors that the Intel supports... its a helluva thing... the guys with 3D can't get the Intel card to fire up and the guys with the dual graphics can't get the 7850m to fire up when they need it to for something like multiple monitor support... what's truly stupid in all of this is why in the heck we have two display ports and an HDMI port on this laptop that only supports up to two monitors at any one time including the built in display!?!

Personally I would like a few minutes of quality time with a baseball bat and the HP tech genius that decided to remove my option, as the end user, to designate in the bios that I want integrated graphics on battery and discrete on power as we were able to do so on the 3xxx series... I mean come on HP, get rid of this Enduro crapware and let us tell the machine which card to use when we want it to use it instead of the machine deciding on its own (poorly) when it would like to use which card it wants to when it chooses to do so... this would be the perfect laptop in my humble, but experienced opinion, with that simple bios change back to the way the 3xxx handled video card selection...

Drufaith keep us informed if you would my friend as I also would love to use three displays but I gave up trying to figure it out...

Ramius

 

HP Envy 17 with AMD Radeon HD 7850m Dead Island (Max Settings) - YouTube
Here's Dead Island on Max Settings... 50-60FPS the whole time...

 

Hi Ramius
I hope you won't be too disappointed to have to call me "Bra" instead of Bro ...as we go on this journey.

I am with you on this laptop.....I LOVE IT !!!!!! and have no complaints other than this. I had vowed never to buy another computer from HP after the treatment from the Care Pack Warranty people. However that 3external monitor threw me over the edge!!!!!

My Tech Brandon is very nice...respectful and seems truly concerned about my experience. They do have the envy laptops on hand now. He was surprised as I that there was ABSOLUTELY NO option in the Catalyst version pertaining to Desktops and Displays. So we shall see after tomorrow with Amd how it goes.

I don't know about you but I am still in the 21 days and can return this. I have been doing some research as to what I would replace it with. I thought about getting an older model of the Envy 17 that has all the kinks worked out as far as the displays....at a really good price. I am not interested in fps as I am not a gamer.

I have also the option to purchase from a different manufacture. Toshiba is out because they will not let you install the 2nd hard drive yourself. I forgot how it was worded on their site ...but that was pretty much what it said. I called Dell and I don't think you can even run 2 external monitors on theirs. To get a Dell with that specs of the HP was going to be wayyyyyy more.

I am assuming since this is a new line that has only been out for a month or so that they would get the kinks worked out in the future. If I knew that....I would hang on to this (because I love it) and wait it out. My Tech already has mentioned connecting me with with someone (forget how he worded it) who would give me some type of compensation. So if I milked the compensation and then got happy down the road...it would be worth it.

I found out today that there is a problem with the hdmi. When I have a dvi adapter in and the regular hdmi .....it kicks out the hdmi. If I have the dp to dvi adapter and also a dp to hdmi adapter in.....it kicks out the hdmi. If I have a dp to dvi and a dp to vga....both of those work together. (don't know about 2 dvi's - I only have one dp to dvi adapter) I have eliminated the HDMI cable as a problem by switching it out. However If I use the straight HDMI port....it is just fine...but bye bye when an adapter is inserted. Also if I have the Hdmi adapter in the DP port it is just fine....until another is inserted.

So what did they tell you.....that you are Chit out of luck or did they just leave you hanging? How long ago was your 3 hour tech ride?

Keep checking back and I will add the updates to my case as I get them.

 

For my part I just gave up as I figured that until their Tech guys(and gals) got the 32xx series in house and until a few other people (such as yourself) raised the issue it was not something that was going to be fixed... in my mind his should be something that would be a relatively easy fix at least for the non-3d versions as I believe something as simple as bringing back the bios selection option that forced the 7850m into an active state when plugged in would fix this thing both for eyefinity and multiple monitor support and I can't imagine how that would be all that hard to do... as it is, having owned an HP Env 15 1100CTO for two and half years prior to getting this Envy 17 3270nr and having gotten such fantastic service from that laptop prior to it being on the wrong (receieving end) of an electrical storm I am a firm HP Envy fan so I have decide to live with it hoping that these guys may in fact fix this issue at some point... put differently Drufaith, I have done the same analysis myself and as an attorney that still sometimes (when my wife lets me) plays games on my laptop there simply is not another laptop out there that I have seen that allows me to put in my own Samsung 830 SSD for system OS and then put the 750 Gig in an internal 2nd bay for the 300,00 or so documents I keep handy on my laptop at any one time all while sporting a beautiful 17" screen, 5+ hours of battery time and a kickass video card... Typical HP (big business) though is that they make this fantastic product almost perfect and then send it out unto the world for people like us to use in a fashion that makes us feel like we are all essentially beta testers for an almost perfect .90 release to manufacturing product that we paid full value for nonetheless... frustrating to say the least!

Ramius

 

My Tech Brandon didn't call in the morning and by the time he called in the afternoon I was gone. When I got home I got a message from him with a number to call the tech support back and he also left the phone number of AMD. He suggested that I just go ahead and call AMD because that was what he was going to do with me on the line. I did call but it appears that Canada is on some sort of a "Holiday" and they won't be back open until tomorrow. So another day of waiting.

 

Ah... Well at least he called. Im glad Someone at HP is doing their job.
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No doubt. Plays graphic intensive games with no problem (same number crunching processes). And it renders Adobe after effects with haste
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HP Envy 17 with AMD Radeon HD 7850m Need for Speed The Run - YouTube
Here's a video of Need for Speed The Run on Medium Settings. You can play on High Settings but the Framerate dips in the low 18-30FPS. The game is locked at 30FPS so playing on medium Settings gives you that obviously.
Hope you enjoy my cool driving...:laugh:

 

Ha ha...U sure are a cool driver..Can I add u on Origin..whats ur id..??

Bro are u sure cant play on High..My G73 can play fine with everything set to high and texture on ultra..and it plays great..with very long hours of gaming at least 3-4 its struggles on just a few tracks with a lot of details..cant remember in the story mode where u have to beat the girls..tht track stutters a lil with long hrs..or else I have never had a problem..and its only GTX 460M..!!

I m sure maybe the ENduro is limiting gameplay on the Non-3D version.. :-|

 

Yeah dude. You can put the Settings on High and still get 30FPS but it will dip in the low 20s on some parts of the race... Maybe a mix of Medium and High Settings will get you 30FPS throughout the whole race... I can lower Shadows since I don't like using it in my videos...

 

Another chapter in my story :

I did get a hold of the ATI guy and was on the phone with him for around 2 hrs. He was quite surprised concerning the version of Catalyst that I have...being there is no option to work with desktop displays or eyefinity. We went through some stuff and then he noticed a driver on the HP site that he wanted me to try. It was the same version / The same date as the other except it was twice the size. He felt confindent that that would install the more extensive Catalyst control center as oppossed to the mini version. WE downloaded and installed but it was still the same. He had me plug in some monitors and said that the system was not even recognizing the Radeon ....only the Intel (which I already knew) He tried to disable the Intel and upon restart I got the BSOD like 3 times trying to get back into Windows. He said he really couldn't help me any further except to tell me to disable the intel in the Bios which cannot be done.

Next step....called HP Got a tech named Mandy (very nice) she did tons of things and had her leads (I guess her lead tech people) in on it. The looked at the dump file.....looked at all the events. They did several things. The tried to install the graphics driver from the 3000 and that didn't work. They ended up doing a restore and pretty much said they did all that they could do at that point. She assigned me a case manager and said I may be able to get some kind of compensation.

So the case manager called and this is what he offered me. He offered me an additional year on the warranty and accidental on all three years. He also said they could throw in a addition power / charging cable. Other than that .....that was it. I told him I would think about that option and the 21 day return option.

I need you guys to help me decide if that is fair or not.

Also other than the monitor issue.....I LOVE THIS laptop!!!!!! I actually can get two external monitors going. I feel down the line that they will have to put out some sort of update to rectify this issue as all their other 17" ENVYs prior were capable of it.

So if you all would leave your 2 cents.....I would appreciate your opinion. Sometimes it's are to make a sensible choice when you are emotionally involved.

So the original 33% off......3 year warranty with accidental.....xtra power cord and adapter.....possible fix not too far down the road.....IS IT WORTH IT?

Thanks in advance for any opinion

 

Well the main thing is how crucial is it for you to have 3 external monitors? If it is necessary and you need it right now then you might want to return it and get a mbp (if you have lots of throwing around money) or some other laptop that can utilize 3 displays. But I do think that they will fix it. Just don't know how long it will take. I think the main thing is to make sure that this problem is getting forwarded to the actual people who can fix it. I would hope they're working on it right now though I'm not really sure how a blunder as large as this was allowed to go through in the first place.

BTW what do you need the triple external monitor setup for? There are usb monitors and usb 3 to hdmi/dvi adapters. Not sure if these options will work for your situation or if these will trigger the same problem as using the displayports/hdmi.

 

1rst of all....I cannot even dream or think about a MBP.

And actually I don't even need the 3 monitors on it at this time. My desktop has 4 and I am just use to it. I am a Bible studier and I have 2 major Bible programs I run so there are 2 monitors. One I run my Outlook and a Dictionary in (3rd). The 4th is present but not on all the time. I use it for spread sheets of info that I want to retain and need handy to review and add to and a label program I use frequently. I just like the real estate and have grown use to it.

The laptop will be used for video rendering and editing at this time. But I figured down the road when my desktop bites the dust instead of building another system (I am getting to old for that) I would just slide that laptop in to replace my desktop when the time comes. So I actually some time before it is necessary. So hopefully HP can get it together by then.

Coreshooter....what do you think of what they are offering me? Do you think it is fair?

Thanks for your input

 

Well it isn't bad to be honest. What they're offering is worth a couple hundred. If I were you I'd keep it but in the end it will come down to if you have faith that hp will fix this problem (and while they're at it the enduro problem). I do believe they will fix it but I have no clue about the time frame. I think again the main thing is to demand that they fix this obvious error no matter what they offer you.

 

i would say its fair, cause with the accidental warranty, a couple years down the road when the new envy's come out, u might "accidentally" drop your laptop in a pool resulting them having to replace it with the new one (hopefully the problem is fixed by then )

 

Good point
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Had a bit of a scare today. Was listening to music last night. Then this morning neither of the 2 audio jacks were working (tried my sub/speakers and headphones). The internal speakers worked fine though. Had to cold boot twice before they started working again. Thought it was quite strange.
Sent from my SGH-i917 Windows Phone using Board Express

 

Had this happen once, just put it into hibernate and waited 10 seconds then worked fine.

 

Hello guy some question to the owners of this magnificent laptop. OK so I'm a college student and I'm looking for a laptop that has that macbook pro style but i refuse to pay so much money for something with the specs of 1000 plus i hate OSX... I love gaming so i was looking for a laptop with good gaming performance and good battery life. Until know the only laptop that is sexy powerful and has a great battery life is the envy 17. So what battery life are you guys getting out of it doing normal stuff like browsing word, college stuff and how portable is it is being a 17" monster.

 

I would not count on HP fixing it. Their quality control shows you how much they care about customer satisfaction. They don't need you to be perfectly happy to make their money. They just need you to be happy enough to keep the defective laptop.

I got my laptop a week ago and haven't had a chance to hook it up to multiple monitors yet. I was looking forward to 3 monitor capability. So help me get this straight... You can only hook up a maximum of 2 monitors and when you do so the AMD card is inoperable (thus making, oh..say video editing pretty much impossible)?

 

My new 17 has an interesting issue. There is a rattle coming from inside. It's something big. It sounds and feels like the size and weight of a nickel. It's definitely much bigger than any screw that would be used in a laptop. It's directly under the bottom panel that isn't the battery panel. When I tilt my laptop left or right I'd say it slides a good inch back and forth. I am certain it's not the battery door release slider. And it's definitely not something under the battery/hard drive panel. It took me a couple days to notice it but after I heard how big it had to be it got me very concerned. Anybody else hear anything when tilting their 17 back and forth? And can anybody refer to the picture and let me know what they think is under there? Or, could you just tell me if taking that panel off won't void my warranty? I'm only assuming it would.

I don't want to send this thing back because, cosmetically, it's perfect.

 

Don't worry you wont void your warranty by taking off the bottom panel. The only way you void the warranty I believe is if you remove the battery. So remove the bottom panel and do some inspecting. It's probably something loose under there like a screw or a cable... More likely a screw...

 

Khruby...
If the monitor is coming from an HDMI cable (straight or Display Port adapted) you can only run a single external monitor. The way I was able to get 2 up was to hook 2 on the DP ports. One thru a DVI active adapter and the other thru a vga active adapter. It may have worked on passive but I didn't have those to test with.
HOWEVER ......those are running on the INTEL Graphics. The ATI Radeon never really raises it's head. There is NO option in the Catalyst Control Center to manage the Desktop Displays or to set up the Eyefinity groups.

So what we have here is the opposite of what the 3200 3D group is having. They are stuck in ATI land and can't visit Intel land. We are stuck in Intel land and NOT allowed on ATI territory.

The earlier versions of the Envy 17's were capable of this so I think they are going to fix this. It's not like it's new unchartered territory. I AM NOT justifying HP's actions by releasing it like this in ANYWAY.....but I am telling myself that this has only been on the market for less than 2 months (may be wrong on that) so I have my fingers....arms .....and legs crossed that this shall be addressed shortly.

 

I doubt non-professional video editing will be hampered besides not being able to use 3 external monitors (and considering some shows on tv are edited on a laptop with 0 external displays I think you can get by without 3 externals). Not an excuse for HP since this shouldn't have been an issue in the first place but I believe it's a pretty rare need outside of a small number of hardcore gamers or maybe daytraders. I believe the intel gpu can playback 1080p footage no problem (it might have a problem with uncompressed 1080p video but not sure). The amd gpu will (I assume) still be recognized and utilized by your video editing program on the laptop itself. Unless someone knows otherwise.

 

So let me get all this straight. On the non 3d version you CAN run 2 external monitors, but at this time they can't utilize The AMD GPU. Also am I understanding this correctly, from reading this thread and the owners thread that on some games like Skyrim and Diablo III that some people can't get the AMD to work, or was this just referring to playing those games on external monitors? Any explanation will be greatly appreciated.

 

Code:

I can only vouch for my experience on the NON 3D VERSION pertaining to the monitor issue. You CAN run 2 external monitors. The only way I was to get 2 monitors to work is when they were in the 2 display ports on adapters (active is all I had to work with). The adapters were for a DVI and VGA. 2 DVI's or 2 VGA's "may work" but I did not have the ability to check with 2 of the same. When I used a straight hdmi hook up or an HDMI to DP adapter with NO OTHER CONNECTION that worked. I DID NOT test 2 HDMI hook ups at once.

I am not a gamer so can't help you out on that end of it.

 

Hello Ladies and Gents,

I have been working with HP tech support about the 3 external monitor thing for a few days and thought I would share.

After a couple days I received this info from Anjan -

"I am personally following up with you concerning your recent e-mail.

I would like to share some additional information with you as the Graphics Card that is shipped with your pc is an OEM graphics card which has the functionality of supporting two displays at a same time if the system has been shipped with 3 display ports. As your pc has 1 HDMI port and 2 Display Ports, you would be able to set up 2 displays at a time and not three as the third port automatically gets disabled."

I have been escalated to higher level tech (after emailing a screenshot of the HP page saying "supports up to 3 external displays") and received a phone call. Apparently they will call me back monday with some sort of solution. No compensation or solution offered just yet.

It seems as though everything operates properly on mine except I can only get 2 monitors to work in the DP connectors. Enduro still seems to work properly - Amd card turns on and picks up the heavy load programs - except that it does not have direct control over the external monitors. The Intel gfx stays in full control of the external monitors and thus it can only run 2.

I have not tested this with gaming yet as I only have 3 monitors at work, not at home...... Gaming not being allowed at work

I will post an update when I get it. If anyone has an Envy 17 3200 though, I would email HP and start the process. Maybe if we get enough people putting in tickets, they will fix it faster.

 

Hi LT.......

Are you saying that this is what he told you
"I am personally following up with you concerning your recent e-mail.

I would like to share some additional information with you as the Graphics Card that is shipped with your pc is an OEM graphics card which has the functionality of supporting two displays at a same time if the system has been shipped with 3 display ports. As your pc has 1 HDMI port and 2 Display Ports, you would be able to set up 2 displays at a time and not three as the third port automatically gets disabled."

If it is.....what the heck!!!!!!!!!! Be glad you are away from that guy.....obviously he hasn't a clue and doesn't do very good research!!!!

Beside this on their product page:

Premium viewing.
•Create immersive, panoramic viewing for work or play. Connect up to 3 external displays to the ENVY 17 to make a total of 4 screens for your viewing pleasure.
•Sit back and enjoy your favorite videos, photos, and Web pages on your TV with Intel Wireless Display[2].
•See brighter, cleaner images in high definition from HP TrueVision HD Webcam. Chat with friends virtually any time of the day, anywhere in the world[3].

You might want to bring up page 71 in the Getting Started Manual (link) http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03341457.pdf

Thanks for sharing your info.....we all need to keep on this. If I were you I would suggest some type of compensation. I just received a 3 yr accidental warranty and an xtra power/charger. I am still with in the 21 days.

Your time is worth something here not to mention that you want that feature. In my case it isn't something I need immediately so I am hoping for something down the road.

Let's all keep reporting over here.

 

That is correct. The red quoted part is exactly what I received via email. I think he was hoping that I would just accept that it only supports 2 external displays.

As soon as I told them that it was false advertising to only support 2 displays when 3 is CURRENTLY listed on their website as a selling point, they advanced me to a case manager. She should call back Monday to offer a "solution" after she speaks with high level tech support.

Sadly I am outside my 21 days so I have less bargaining power, but I would like to keep it anyway. I think they should offer some compensation hopefully like what you received.

Thanks tons for your posts and help. You guys have helped a lot (I would have thought it was just my laptop before I read these posts).

Edit - just wanted to add that this is an EPIC fail on HP's part wth an otherwise awesome laptop. How did they screw up the 3D and this so bad. Someone dropped the ball on the bios/software end.

 

My experience with the HP Techs have been a positive thing .....even tho my problem has not be solved. If they try and act like they haven't heard of this (and maybe that particular tech might not have) Be sure and bring up the rest of us....and tell them if they want names...you can get them.

I have started a thread over on the HP forum concerning this. You might want to sign up over there and put your 2 cents in. From what I can tell HP monitors that site. My strategy is to be calm....respectful and not to come across too over the top to maintain an open dialog over there. I will try and keep it alive until we hear something.

 

Get ready for some really ignorant questions coming concerning the graphics. This is be sides the 3 monitor issue.

At this point in time I am going to be using this laptop for video editing. I bought an HD camcorder along with a Blue-ray burner so I am editing....converting....rendering.....blah blah blah.

The specs for the Envy 17t-3200 (non 3-d) for the graphics say : Radeon(TM) HD 7850M Graphics 1GB GDDR5 Memory [HDMI, DP]

So is that Gig graphics memory tied to the 7850? Because it doesn't seem like I am able to access that....at least not as far as managing in the Catalyst Control Center. Will this effect the spend and efficiency of the rendering and editing?

I am still on the fence about keeping this thing.... the video editing along with the 3 monitors were my main factors. The resolution / dedicated graphics and so on were the selling feature for me.

Thanks

 

Just in case anyone else needs to know...the large rattle I heard in my laptop was the little coin battery for the BIOS. It has come unglued and was just moving around. It couldn't move far because it was connected by wires but it was definitely moving around. Anyways, if anybody ever hears a rattle in their laptop, that's probably what it is.

I would call HP and complain about the monitor issue but I don't even have access to some display port monitors to test out my laptop right now. I was planning on getting a couple monitors and using my small tv for video editing. I just don't have that setup yet.

 

I just received my Envy 17, and it came with a Broadcom Bluetooth module. That's NOT what I ordered. It's supposed to come with the Intel Bluetooth module. Does anyone else have this problem?

Also, my keyboard gets pretty warm under the arrow keys after several hours of use. The rest of the keyboard seems fine. Does this seem right?

What should I do about these problems?

 

One other thing: I just got off the phone with HP technical support. They said that they can't help me right now because I deleted my recovery partition (I clean installed with a Windows 7 DVD and wiped everything and created my own partitions) and they need me to verify that re-installing from the recovery partition still shows a Broadcom Bluetooth module. I told them that after clean-installing Windows 7, the Bluetooth vendor ID and device ID are NOT Intel, but instead are Broadcom. Furthermore, trying to install the Intel Bluetooth driver posted on the Envy 17 driver support site fails. The only drive that works is the driver I downloaded from Broadcom. In spite of all this evidence, they said that they can't be sure unless I re-install from an HP recovery partition or an HP recovery DVD, and that installing my own operating system "voids the software warranty." Yeah....

 

Which Wifi card did you pick. Do you have Intel 6300? If so, the 6300 card is not a Wifi and Bluetooth combo, hence the need for the broadcom.

I have not noticed my number keys getting warm yet. Pull the bottom panel off and see what is underneath it. I think it is the HD (maybe battery)? I am at work and my lappy is at home so I cannot check for a while. You should open it up and see what is causing the heat. How hot does it get?

 

my envy 15 comes with broadcom+6300 also. I think u should be happy with it cause isnt the 6300 best intel card? (maybe im wrong i dunno much about wifi cards)

 

I have the Ultimate-N 6300 AGN. If that Ultimate-N doesn't come with Bluetooth and thus the Broadcom module is needed, I guess I don't understand why HP doesn't post Broadcom Bluetooth drivers on the Envy 17 support site, but does post Intel Bluetooth drivers. Also, I dug around, and the specific Broadcom Bluetooth module that I have is the BCM20702A, which is also used in HP's G series laptops, so the part is, at the least, familiar to HP.

Also, the part of the keyboard that gets warm are the little arrow keys, not the number pad. I don't have a good way to quantify the temperature, but I think it's near body temperature. That doesn't seem appropriate, given that the only parts in the vicinity are the battery, a hard drive, and maybe the Intel wireless module.

 

Please guys, who own the 3D version, how many fps do you get while playing "Need for Speed The Run" on Medium and high Settings? Does it fluctuate during gameplay? I want to know if the Enduro is limiting gameplay on the 3D version as well. Do you get the most out of the 7850M? Ah, I have one more question. Does the GPU, being used all the time, get hot when idle/surfing the web/watching flash videos?
Thanks in advance!

 

Other than the fact that it never turns off, yes I feel like I get the most of of it. My games are more than playable with no stuttering. It becomes noticeable with flash and html5 content for me... If it's just text and pics, im good.
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HP Envy 17 with AMD Radeon HD 7850m Fear 3 - YouTube
Here's Fear 3 gameplay video... Game and Graphics were pretty good. Game was creepy though... 45-60FPS on High Settings... I recommend it just for the creepy campaign...

 

You're stuck with someone reading from a script if that's what they say, have them escalate the call to someone that knows more than which end of the knife is pointy. All they need to know is the device id to know a mistake was made.

 

Hello there,

I have the HP Envy 17 3D and i was so excited to see 3D on my laptop, but though i tried to play with several players i can't see .MKV files on my laptop.
I see side by side mode and when i try to swich to 3D both images going 3D.
If someone could help....

Thank you in advance.

 

I currently have the NON 3D version of Envy 17 32xx. I am using to run 3 external monitors successfully. I have not tried eyefinity gaming, but I do have my desktop extended to 2 other monitors. I have also played few games successfully using the switchable graphics option in CCC on my main monitor while the other 2 monitors were active. Here is my setup. The key is that the displayport to dvi/vga adapter must be an active adapter and not a passive adapter.

Displayport 1 -> HP ZR24w Direct display port connection
Displayport 2 -> Cintiq 21ux Display port to DVI using ACTIVE displaport port adapter
HDMI -> HP l2335 HDMI to dvi cable.

Now if I turn on/open my envy17 screen, then the HDMI monitor will disconnect. But either way I am able to run 3 monitors. Before I got an active displayport adapter, I used a passive adapter that I had, and I could only 2 monitors to connect.

 

hmm i was thinking people were thinking more along the lines of 3 external +1 internal

 

Ahhh, that I also could not get to work.