Envy 14 Beats i7-740 or SB i5?

Hi all, I bought in on the $575 Envy beats price mistake about a month ago, and it came in DOA. So HP agreed to send me a new one, but were out of the i5's, and upgraded me for free to an i7-740. I hadn't even thought of getting an i7 as the work I do isn't labor intensive, but a free upgrade I'll always take. It comes in later this week. What I'm trying to consider now is if it's worth using this i7 laptop, or selling it and getting the sandy bridge i5 version that will have better battery life, which is more important than processing power to me. Seems like a lot of hassle to sell/build/wait for a new one, but I have a MBP 13.3" I'm using in the meantime just fine. I know everyone on the forum here has more experience than I do with these machines, so I thought I'd hear some educated opinions before I decide what to do. The only modification to it I'm going to do is put an intel 120gb SSD in it.

 

If you do decide to sell it I might be interested. Shoot me an e-mail. [email protected]

 

I would personally cringe away from the first-gen i7 in almost any notebook these days. Most notebooks (other than specially designed cases for heat dissipation like Alienware) have documented heat issues with first-gen i7 cpu's. Also, the battery life with that gen i7 was horrible and the lack of switchable graphics added to the problem. The first gen i5's were a sweet spot for laptops of last year and are still a good target for this year and years to come as lower cost suitable laptops for the masses. If I were you, I'd try to trade it in for a newer i7 (or i5) SB laptop. The DV6 probably has most of the technical advances you are looking for minus the Beats look and backlit keyboard. Given the impending release of a second gen Envy 14, I'd keep my eye out for that. All depends on your budget too though.

 

the envy14 i7-720 I tested did not heat up on me ...

My only cringe with the 1st gen i7's on sub 15" laptops is the lack of integrated graphics that kills battery life.

 

Thanks for the replies. I think the hardest part would be having a new HP Envy in the box and not be able to open it! I've been waiting a month already, but the usb 3.0 and less overkill processor (for my needs) may very well be worth another month.

 

I would definitely wait for sb envy 14. The 740qm is a good processor, but I don't think you'll need it. The i5 sb is almost guaranteed to get better battery life. If you include IGP, you have a far more efficient (battery-wse) system.

 

wait for the sandy i5, even tho i had a current i7 and it was ballzy

 

Wait. If you don't need the i7 don't get it. I had an i7 720QM on my first envy and the battery life was not good at all. Only got 1hr 45min on average. The two extra cores and no IGP really does destroy the battery life. The SB i5's should have the same processing power as the old i7's but with better battery life. Comparing my current i5 580m to the i7 720QM I honestly don't see any difference unless I'm doing the occasional encoding of video or music files.

 

I second this, so I would go for SB envy 14 if radiance screen is non factor for you.

 

Do we even know if the Beats Edition of the Envy 14 will have i5? The current Beats Edition is only i7.

 

They only have the i7 now as they are selling out remaining stock of the i7's before refresh.

Well, I decided to eBay the i7 and will order a SB i5 when it's released. Looks like I can get the Xbox 360 free with it, and the student discount as well so it looks like I'll come out about even between the two.

 

i just checked the HP website and both the regular Envy and the Beats Envy only show core i7. I think they are just trying to get rid of the old stock to bring in the new 2nd gen processors when june 15th hits.

 

oops just saw your post Jasonb86.

 

So I ended up selling it on eBay for $860 - I figure by the time I use the education discount and get the free xbox 360 (if you can combine the student discount/xbox deal) it'll be about even. Thanks everyone for the advice.