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

On the Envy 2xxx I was able to OC the 6850 using Afterburner, hopefully the same will be true on these new machines.

 

lol with afterburner or trixX? anyway my 15 is still in productioon

 

Ya, can someone who is very informed inform us. I ordered 12 gb of ram, does that decrease the speed???

 

Hey guys, I am having a hard time choosing between the pre-configured dv7-7012nr and the new Envy 17-3200 (both at almost the same price after applying the coupon). I know the Envy will blow the dv7 out of the water, but my main concern is more about heat and factory defects because the shipping company I'm dealing with in my country won't be able to return the notebook back in case of such problems.

Here's my configuration for the Envy 17:

Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
Radeon(TM) HD 7850M Graphics 1GB GDDR5 Memory [HDMI, DP]
8GB 1600MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
750G 7200 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive
Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
FREE 2-year Norton Internet Security subscription (a $99 value). Pre-installed.
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery - Up to 5.25 hours of battery life +++
17.3-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920x1080)
Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
720p HD video streaming webcam supports Skype
Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) with Wireless Display Support
Full-size Radiance backlit keyboard
Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 10 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 10
2 year limited warranty included
HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

I can sacrifice all these higher premium specs for a cooler, dent-free and well-assembled laptop.

1- which one do you think has a better cooling system, taking into account that the new Ivy Bridge processor proved to run hotter than the previous Sandy Bridge?

2- Does the 750G 7200 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive get hot easily? Is it worth upgrading to the MSSD 80GB+HDD 750GB 7200 rpm Hybrid?

3- Afer reading the customer reviews on Hp site, I am under the impression that ready-to-ship models (dv7-7012nr in my case) are less likely to have factory defects, faulty keyboards and assembly problems than configured notebooks. Is this true?

4- Otherwise, I'll have to go buy a lousy dv6 at a local store that will charge me the same for oudated specs. The only advantage is that I will get a local warranty.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

The support chipsets' built-in memory controller, first appearing on the Sandy Bridge line is ' suppose' to make the whole dual channel requirements irrelevant... which required both modules be identical (and memory modules only are available in powers of 2, i.e., 1G, 2G, 4G, 8G)

 

1. The Envy should have better cooling from what I've heard. I sent back the Ivy Bridge dv6 two days after I received it because it ran crazy hot. Felt like the keyboard area was on fire while playing DOTA 2 and SC2. Not to mention it idled at about 60-65C.

2. It would probably be wiser to order the laptop with the stock RAM and HDD than order upgraded parts. I say this because everyone charges a huge premium for these parts and it would be cheaper to buy them your self.
If you were going to buy it from HP getting a hybrid drive plus an MSSD wouldn't be worth it. The MSSD is already used as a cache in conjunction with a standard HDD. HDD's typically don't run very warm unless under heavy load for extended periods of time.

3. If you can wait, order a custom laptop. You can use the 25-33% off coupon this way to save yourself a huge chunk of change. If the custom laptop comes with a defect, HP will usually do right by you and fix the problem.

 

From what I've read, the general consensus is that you can't tell the difference even the difference between 1333Mhz and 1600Mhz RAM chips in a laptop like this.

So, any difference in speed from having differently sized RAM in each slot is even less important. I think it's negligible. Sandy and Ivy Bridge chipsets handle it automatically these days. You simply will not be able to notice any difference from having an 8+4 setup, even in gaming.

 

Does anyone know if any of the storage options uses the new Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT) which is essentially SSD Caching?

My hope looking at the configs was that the OS would see only one drive when getting a config like the following:

MSSD 80GB+HDD 750GB 7200 rpm Hybrid

That would be a very sweet double SSD cache leveraged across a lot of storage giving high performance across a lot of storage for relatively little cost...

If none of the base configs use SRT then my thought is to just get the fast HDD and then buy my own mssd to enable SRT.

Anyone know if there is a technical reason to not use SRT on top of a Momentus Hybrid drive (double caching algorithms)?


If none of the base configs come with SRT enabled, does anyone have a recommendation for a good SRT MSSD to add for SRT cache?

 

Ivy Bridge tends to reach higher temps because there are more transistors packed in a smaller space but your cooling systems will have less heat to dissipate because it consumes less power. It seems intel has designed Ivy Bridge so that it can safely reach higher temps than Sandy so you should be fine.

 

My Envy 17 will be here on Wednesday and I still have the new DV7T in my possession. I will do a comparison when I get the Envy. But from a design perspective, the Envy 17 should have better cooling. It's well known that the redesigned Envy line runs the fan more aggressively than the DV series. You can do a search and you'll see lots of reviewers stating the fan being more audible. Coupled with the fact that the Envy 17 has separate fans for the CPU and GPU versus a single fan on the DV7.

I'll post an update later.

I plan on doing the following videos:

1. Unboxing
2. Comparison with DV7T
a. backlit keyboards
b. heat
c. screen quality
d. port selection
e. general build quality
f. 650m vs 7850m benchmarks
3. SSD installation (to confirm if the caddy from Newmodeus fits)
4. Initial impression/review of the Envy 17

At a minimum I'll do a writeup. This is my first time attempting to do a video review, so we'll see how it goes. I'm using a Panasonic TM700 so the the video quality should be pretty good.

 

I think the 7850M will utterly destroy the 650M. It should perform close to a desktop 7750 which crushes the desktop GT 640 (basically a higher clocked DDR3 650M), even at low res where the inferior memory type of the latter doesn't make much difference.

 

That's crazy how yours has shipped already. I was one of the first to order (with mostly basic options, only cpu and blu-ray changed) and it's still in production. Nerd rage incoming....

 

Yea, it appears the CPU may be holding up some orders. I went with the 3610QM and also got bluray. Did you get a 3720?

 

Thanks! That would be awesome! Looking forward to your review.

 

I got the 3610qm also. I'm raging now lol.

 

Good thread and research everyone. I mainly wanted to post and say thanks for all the good info sharing. I was thinking of ordering an Alienware r4 with the 3D screen but really don't need a maxed out GPU and couldn't really justify the cost... Was considering splurging for the Alienware until I saw this...

No one answered my question regarding the MSSD being configured as cache or boot so I opened an IM with HP chat and they said it was a boot drive and NOT cache... I realize that they could be wrong but figured that it isn't worth the risk (and the markups are high even with the discounts) so I will just order my own mSSD and will do some research and decide if I want to go with the "Intel SRT SSD Cache" or the "DataPlex SSD Cache" and if I have time maybe I will test/benchmark the two for my work (can reload the PC a few times from recovery DVDs or use an extra 7200rpm HDD)...
===
The following is my order:
• Product Number: A6U46AV
• HP ENVY 17 3D edition customizable Notebook PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3720QM Processor (2.6 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
• Radeon(TM) HD 7850M Graphics 1GB GDDR5 Memory [HDMI, DP]
• 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 750G 7200 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
• FREE 2-year Norton Internet Security subscription (a $99 value). Pre-installed.
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery - Up to 5.25 hours of battery life +++
• 17.3-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD 3D Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920x1080)
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• 720p HD video streaming webcam supports Skype
• Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) with Wireless Display Support
• Full-size Radiance backlit keyboard
• Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 10 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 10
• HP Pavilion additional 120W AC Adapter
• 2 year limited warranty included
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
• Estimated ship date: June 27, 2012
=======
Unit price:........$2,439.99
33% discount:... - $805.20
extended price:.$1,634.79
=== other potential savings ===
7% Mr Rebate:....-~ $114.44
10% AmExOpen:.-~ $163.48
1% AxExDiscnt:.... -~ $16.35
Hopeful extended:.$1,340.53
=====================
Wow, potentially ~45% off... 33% is a good deal even if I don't get all the other discounts...

 

Don't buy the upgraded RAM. Even with discounts, it should still be cheaper to buy it separate.

 

Mine shipped as well, (upgraded to base i7 & Hybrid hard drive)

 

isnt the 7850m based off of a desktop 7770? u should prolly be able to match that with a good OC. I think the 7750m will come close to 7750 with a good OC. Btw i might be wrong but the only desktop keplers are 670+ the 640 i think is just a rebadge of the fermi chip where as 7750 is kepler.

anywho keep us informed! (my envy 15 should be here hopefully by the end of the week... it has yet to ship and i was one of the first ones ) I will be doing a review too

 

Order has SHIPPED! A few days early too!

Order Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 @ 08:52 PDT
Originally estimated to be shipped on June 14, 2012
EDD (5-7 Day Shipping: Friday, June 15, 2012 by 1630 PDT
Shipping from Shanghai, CN

Configuration
Envy17
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
• Radeon(TM) HD 7850M Graphics 1GB GDDR5 Memory [HDMI, DP]
• 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• SSD 160GB+HDD 750G 7200 rpm Hybrid
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
• FREE 2-year Norton Internet Security subscription (a $99 value). Pre-installed.
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery - Up to 5.25 hours of battery life +++
• 17.3-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920x1080)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• 720p HD video streaming webcam supports Skype
• Intel 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN + Bluetooth(R)
• Full-size Radiance backlit keyboard
• Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 10 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 10
• 2 year limited warranty included
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

 

I see your point if this was a personal laptop... That being said, this is a business expense for me so ~30%+ more savings after tax deduction... The difference in RAM savings isn't worth the hassle for me to look up certifications (if available) & mess with installing, burn-in, memtest, etc... I make consulting wages hourly so my time is money and worth way more than the potential savings for RAM and I don't want to have to swap back/forth for warranty service... The "Intel SRT SSD Cache" verses the "DataPlex SSD Cache" is something we want to test for our users. That and my boss is highly interested in both and would enjoy the contrast/comparision as much as I will (the test drives will also be tax deductable IT expenses)...

 

I'll be looking forward to the video and review! I also still have the dV7t with me and just got my shipping confirmation for my Envy 17t and should arrive 6/14! I was thinking of doing a comparison as well but you beat me to it, i'll just wait and watch yours! Please make a video too when you swap out to SSD, installation, caddy, and restore or clean install on the SSD!

Wow, that TM700 should be very good, i bought my wife the Panasonic SD600K, TM700's little brother but same 3MOS sensor Maybe i'll just take photos then, i'll use my D7000

 

Seriously? What the hell HP?!

 

Anyone have a surge protector/adapter they like or would recommend? I like to bring my laptop to Caribou and do some work there.

 

Lucky you ! I ordered on the 4th, and mine still shows "in production". I was hoping it might ship earlier than 6/13. We'll see what happens - can't wait. Enjoy your ENVY !

 

Mine still hasn't shipped either!

 

THIS. This is what I want to see. If you have games, test to compare them for FPS too. I haven't been able to find any benchmarks for the 7850m yet.

 

I have Diablo 3, but that's kind of hard to benchmark. I'm going to focus on standard benchmarks even though they are flawed. At least it's testing common components. The only difference between the 2 laptops is the video card.

Mainly: 3DMark06, 3DMark11, 3DMark Vantage.

Also important is that I'm returning the DV7T on Thursday, so I want to get as many items as possible. I only have Wednesday evening to video the comparison so I don't want to spend too much time installing games, although I'll take suggestions if there is something that's quick to install that has a built in benchmarking tool.

 

the 7850M should be equal to the 660M more or less (certain games like AMD, many more like nvidia). The 650M is not as powerful.

 

not really sure if this means something but i did some googling before and found this:

Best Graphics Cards June - 2012

by 3DMark graphic score ranking

AMD 7850 is #13 = 5810
Nvidia 650 is #64 = 2140

 

idk if thats desktop or laptop
---
edit yeah its desktop u gotta look at mobile parts

 

Just thought I would share the best "apples to apples" cost comparison of the HP Envy 17 3D to the Alienware 17 r4 3D:
============
The following is my order:
• Product Number: A6U46AV
• HP ENVY 17 3D edition customizable Notebook PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3720QM Processor (2.6 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
• Radeon(TM) HD 7850M Graphics 1GB GDDR5 Memory [HDMI, DP]
• 16GB 1600MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 750G 7200 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive
• 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery - Up to 5.25 hours of battery life +++
• 17.3-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD 3D Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920x1080)
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) with Wireless Display Support
• HP Pavilion additional 120W AC Adapter
• 2 year limited warranty included
• Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 10 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 10
=======
Unit price:........$2,439.99
33% discount:...- $805.20
extended price:.$1,634.79
=== other potential savings ===
7% Mr Rebate:....-~ $114.44
10% AmExOpen:.-~ $163.48
1% AxExDiscnt:....-~ $16.35
Hopeful extended:.$1,340.53
=====================
COMPARED TO Alienware:
=====================
• Alienware M17x 3D
• OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Ultimate, 64bit
• PROCESSOR 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3720QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.6GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
• VIDEO CARD 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 660M
• MEMORY 16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz ( 4DIMMS)
• HARD DRIVE 750GB 7,200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s
• Primary Battery 90WHr 9-Cell Primary Battery
• LCD PANEL 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 120Hz NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle
• INTERNAL OPTICAL DRIVE Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
• WIRELESS CARD Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 2230 With Bluetooth 4.0
• Additional 240 Watt 3 Prong AC Adapter with 6 ft Power Cord
• WARRANTY AND SERVICE 2 Year Basic Plan
========
Base Price: $2,868.99
Discounts: None; If you go with a more expensive GTX675M 3D GPU you can get $145 off but it costs $350 more...
========
AlienWare M17x 3D: ....$2,868.99
HP Envy 17 3D: ...... - $1,340.53
=========================
SAVINGS.................. $1,528.46
Savings % ................. 53%
=========================
Obviously other pro's/con's each way...
The main thing loss that jumps out to me is that the Alienware is more expandable and able to accommodate 4DIMMS with more cooling and able to handle a more powerful GPU...
That being said, I think I will be OK with the HP GPU and the HP looks more professional in my office and should be a lot lighter to carry back and forth...

 

The Alienware fails in one thing for me, looks. I don't want alienship looking laptop. I am still dreaming of a MacBook design at HP price

 

didn't see that, thanks for pointing that out

 

I think that is a desktop AMD... I like the following sites to compare:

Comparison of Laptop Graphics Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Computer Games on Laptop Graphic Cards - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Unfortunately there aren't any actual benchmarks posted but notebookcheck.net seems to do pretty good job of predicting both general and game performance and I think their algorithms look at comparable desktop GPUs (simliar shaders, ddr speed, etc)....

 

I can understand that... I actually like the Alienware look for fun/personal but would prefer to have the Envy in the office and I like to carry my main laptop with me everywhere so the weight difference matters a lot... I currently am using my aging Asus 15.6 workhorse with 8GB RAM & an SSD which is like a glove to me after using it so much but it's video card isn't really sufficient anymore and I wanted to play with 3D a little without spending a lot...

On a related note, a back-lit keyboard is a must for my wife to not divorce me... To not mess with vision at night in the house I would much rather have the ability to have red light back-lit keyboard as I could leave it on and not mess with sleeping at all when not in use (with screen set to blank out/turn off)...

edit: I also like that the HP can run all the extra external displays as at work I have multiple LCDs for VNC or Terminal sessions... I have a desktop sitting there at work as my Asus can't push that many external displays... Not sure if the Alienware can or can't but the HP seems to excel there...

 

The M17x can also push 3 monitors.

The Envy 17 as 2x displayport and 1x HDMI.

The M17x has 1x HDMI, 1x VGA, and 1x Displayport.

As long as you have a monitors with displayport, it's supposed to work. If not, you have to get an active DP to VGA adapter.

Hot Pursuit Eyefinity 3 Monitor - Alienware M17X R2 - YouTube

Really it comes down to portability. Battery life should actually be quite similar. The Envy 17 might get an extra hour.

1.75" vs 1.28" is a big difference in thickness.
9.39 lbs vs 7.37 lbs is also a noticeable difference.

It is interesting that the M17X has HDMI IN. So you can connect things to it like a dedicated monitor.

 

Can't wait for 7850M benchies.

 

Very cool videos & the HDMI-In is certainly unique but I don't see myself using it.

Battery is nice but not a huge deal for me so I didn't factor it in the HP favor even though you are probably right that you will get more on the HP.

One thing to note is that the weight difference for the Alienware is more than the above as the 240 watt power adapter is a friggen brick beast compared to the HP power adapters... I have an older Alienware 17 and didn't want to go back to lugging something like it nor it's darn power adapter around again...

 

7850 (desktop card) is not the same as 7850M (mobile part).
From what I've heard, the 7850M is closer to performance to the 7750 desktop card. But I'm not sure if that's correct or not, so I'm looking forward to some benchmarks from the early adopters.

 

its based off the 7770 card

 

Can't wait to see the benchmarks on this video card.. Its all i am waiting on to see if i am returning my dv7 for an envy.

 

Quick Question: If you order direct off of HPDIRECT the Amex discounts are a slam dunk. My question is have you ever used fatwallet or Mr Rebate to link you through to HP and then also get your Amex rebates before? Donno if I want to risk Amex for Mr Rebate as I know I'll get the Amex not linking through.

 

Good question. I thought of that and figured worst case I would get the 7% & not the 10%... I figure it is worth it to risk 3% (10-7) for the potential extra 7%. I have never purchased this was so I can't speak from experience that any of them will work... If I remember I will try to come back and update the site with results but that will be quite awhile from now...

The above being said, the HPdirect & the site mr rebate send you to both look the same with same URL... I checked and both came up with the same costs... Mr rebate tracks your session and click through from their website while the AmEx doesn't so I figure it is based upon HP solely hitting your AmEx card... Worst case, I am a big AmEx user & we use HP a lot so I figure if I really want the 10% I can complain and get it with the worst thing being I lose the 7% though I likely won't bother for a net 3%... All in all, because they use separate mechanisms I think there is a reasonable chance to get both... If I only get one (or even none of the extra rebates) I will be happy as even just the 33% off is huge... Considering it saved me from paying for and lugging around an Alienware with a mega-power-brick for the 3D testing I am ecstatic...

 

Wonder if the chipset in these new Envy 17's allow for dual drives to be set in RAID - would be sweet if so

 

I am curious also... My buddy put 3 SSDs in RAID 0 in his Alienware and it is totally Sick so between that and his dual SLI GPUs he smokes... If I end up having to blow away my hard drive to test the SSD caching I may try various RAID combos and post back... Will try but it will take enough time to test both types of SSD caching...

 

Thanks for the update. I actually feel exactly as you do on every point you made. I'm gonna sign up for Mr Rebate tonight, if you want to PM your email I'll use you as referral. It says you get 20% of my rebate value. Matters not to me but $ is $.

 

I read that even though the Envy has 2 spaces for hard drives, you cannot use it for RAID.

 

The marginal difference in RAID v/s the speed of an SSD SATA 3 is minimal,,,,,,So why take the risk of data loss due to a FAIL in one of the drives?
RAID is old technology v/s the speed of a SATA 3 SSD,,,,,do the math, crunch the numbers, all the other bottle necks in your system is not worth the extra 7% you MAY get......
Intel 320 SATA 3 SSD for me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


@nodozen:
If you DL the INTEL SSD Tool Box to your system,,,,,,,caching is disabled,,,,,,,,
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18455

Other good Intel SSD and PC tool HERE:
http://www.intel.com/support/utilitytools.htm
(I especially like the Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility)

@johnnydugood:
The new 3rd gen i7 Intel chipset that allows for RAID is in the ENVY, if the BIOS that HP set up allows for this is yet to be seen.

 

@johnnydugood:

If you want speed on your system, SLC is the only way to go.
SLC is 10x faster and 100x more durable........
Big $$$ though!
But I'm sure you know this.