*** Envy 14 vs Envy 15 vs dv6tse - Side by Side Shootout! ***

I really dont think they will update the E15 because it would then be the same as the E14 just bigger with a nicer card. Or the fact that people would buy the E15 and just ignore the E14. Just my 2 cents

 

Could you provide direct comparisons/comments on battery life? I'm planning on getting the 14 or 15 for school but also considering the dv6 since it is much cheaper.

Which one do you feel provides the best values? I'm mainly looking for on the go/coffee shop/lounging around at home usage but with some mildly intense graphics work mixed in. How light is it for daily portable use and how comfortable is the rest between the 3?

Just a suggestion but it would be great if you could edit your first post to include the Q&A too.

 

I cant help with the DV6 but for the envy 14 & 15:
Battery life - E14 approx 4.5-5hrs light surfing E15 2.5-2.75hrs light surfing.

Both very portable due to the sleek form factors and low weight. I would give the E14 the nod for slightly smaller size

 

Hey ninja remember me! I was debating on keeping my alienware m11x or not and decided to send it back due to the crappy screen. Now I'm looking at the envy 14, mostly because of the screen. I have been reading through a lot of the posts about the quality issues people are having with the 14, did yours come with any issues? Also, I'm really curious about the durability of the e14. Does it flex anywhere besides the keyboard, for example the lid? If you push hard can you get the screen to deform at all? Does it bend when you put pressure on it? How about the palm rest? Any creaks or rattles when moving it around?

Is the lid flex really this bad : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq5CkuECTv4&feature=related Or does it just look that way in this video??

I'm trying to decide between e14 and e15, are the build qualities about equal?

 

Hello mate, yeah course I do

I can tell you, selling the m11x and getting the envy was the best decision ever! I did love the m11x R1 but a few things really bothered me (poor screen, build quality, fan noise) and the R2 was a disaster in my eyes.

In answer to your question, my envy had no issues. There is a tiny amount of flex on the keyboard that you only notice if looking for it. Whilst typing I wouldnt know it existed. There is no flex anywhere else, it is rock solid. No creak, no hinge noise, no screen issues, no deforming LCD. I think the problem is you always hear about the people complaining but not enough from the people with good machines.

Also everyone is moaning about the underclocked 5650. It still outperforms my m11x in EVERY game I have tested. So far I have been playing:
DOW 2 on ultra/native
Empire TW on high/native
BFBC2 on medium/native
SC2 on high/native
TF2 on high/native
This is with stock settings, I can overclock to 500/850 but havent needed to yet.

Comparing the E14 and E15 I would say they are equal. Both my machines have no issues. Both are great in their way. The E14's screen, backlit keyboard and battery life are amazing and the E15's performance is astounding (on par with my m15x which was twice the weight and half the battery life). I would say you need to decide if its an all-rounder or powerhouse you want when you try to decide between the two

 

Any update on the review yet?

 

been like several months since the original post, must have forgotten.

 

Yes but ninja is excellent at responding to people! So ninja my last main concern before making the plunge is the lid / display cover flex. You say yours (e14) has none? So it's not like the one in the youtube video? I have an hp dm3t right now which has an aluminum lid and it's still very weak and there is a ton of flex when you push in the center. So, does the envy 14 have any sign of give in the lid??

 

It does bend in the center, but it still feels pretty solid. There is no color distortion when I try to bend it or press from the back.

 

100% agree with flipkun. If I really put pressure on the screen it bends slightly. It does not distort the image though (on my old vaio CW you only had to apply slight pressure and the image would distort). This is by far the most solid feeling laptop I have owned.

 

Thanks! Battery life is a huge factor plus the fact that I don't NEED 1080p and can swap the OD for a SSD.

 

That is exactly what I have done. 160gb ssd in the main bay and the 500gb in the ODD slot.
Sounds like you have made your mind up, the 900p screen is a joy to behold so I think you will be pleased!

 

hmmmm, now I'm thinking about a mpb 13 inch. I owned one recently for about 3 weeks but sold it as I don't really want to run OSX or waste the hard drive space on it. It seems that no one can match their build quality though unless you move to a high end business machine which is out of my price range. I can't remember now but I'm pretty sure there was zero flex on the lid anywhere no matter how hard you pushed. Anyone with a current mbp 13 confirm this?

 

Was it pretty straightforward to swap them out? I'm not keen on SSD prices but how much does a fast and reliable 80 or 160 cost these days?

I may get assistance for school so against my desires, I'll hold off hoping they make the E14 or E15 even better unless some deal pops up.

Argh...I can't wait.

 

Is the screen on the Envy worth the purchase vs the dv6tse?

 

the screens are equal (e14 vs dv6tse), for the time being, at least.

 

Are all trackpads the same across the models? How about the area around the trackpad? Same material all around?

 

/w 1366x768 screen is still a good display or what? 300$+ for 900p is such a waste...

 

I would like a more thorough explanation of the heat differences. I'm comparing between the envy 15 and the studio 1558, but I have absolutely no reliable sources on the 2nd gen i5 envy 15 heat amounts. See I imagine the i5 2nd gen envy 15 will be better than this review indicates, but there's no way it'll be as good as the envy 14, so what really matters is if it is better, and how much better, than the studio 1558 (which, for me at least, is very significantly (read: $275) cheaper than the envy 15)...

The problem here is that you have no experience with the 1558... So the question becomes: how much difference is there between the envy 15 and envy 14? This might give me some concept of how much improved the i5 2nd gen is over the heats of the first gen.




P.S. You might say "hey, the envy 15 does better on notebookcheck than the studio 1558", and it overall does, but the problem is that the envy 15 puts heat in the worst places, while the studio 1558 puts heat in places that I'm less likely to notice (read: not right on my wrists).

P.P.S. I do want to use the envy 15 on my lap, but when I do that I won't be doing anything more demanding than watching 1080p video...

P.P.P.S. Basically I am asking that you allay these fears: that it will get too hot while watching 1080p video to watch in bed with the laptop laying on me (my girlfriend's laptop has this problem, and it's highly annoying watch a movie for a while only to have to deal with searing heat 40 minutes in (even worse for the power adapter, but it seems all laptops have this problem)); and that while gaming it will get so hot that the wrist wrests will become extremely uncomfortable (or even moderately or very uncomfortable), thus nearly neutralizing the primary attraction of this computer (that I can play modern games without terrible settings, in a very portable way) (or requiring that I spend another $100 on a laptop cooler, that not only increases the price, but also severely harms the portability aspect).

 

Dont assume I know nothing about the studio 15 series! I have owned:
studio: 1555, 1558, 1749, xps 1530, sxps 1640.

I can tell you now that the heatsink used on the 15 series is junk. If you check some of my posts on the dell forum you will see I have stripped these down and photographed them.
I had no end of throttling with the 15 series due to the thermal pad and partially blocked vent used.

This causes the left side keyboard to get hot too.

I can answer what you are asking very easily.
If you want a cool running laptop on your lap, get the E14. It is the coolest machine of the three.
The E15 will be fine if just watching vids, but does get warm if gaming. You could also buy the slice for extra battery and to make the bottom even cooler.
The E15 palm rests do not get warm on general use, only encoding and gaming. Even then its nothing compared to the sxps 16 as I said earlier.

The 1558 is ok watching movies but then you will have problems if you want to game on it. Also the 720p screen was junk, you need the 1080p version
Hope that helps

 

Cool is nice, but the envy 14's weaker graphics card (and higher expense) means I prefer the studio 1558 (even if it runs a bit warmer), despite the nicer temps and the switchable graphics.

The 1558 would be bought along with a nice graphics card for my desktop; the problem is that I do a significant amount of traveling, and while I have access to my desktop the majority of the year, the mobility 5830 is probably worth more to me than a gtx 4xx in my desktop.

But, as I said, my fears are that the envy 15 will get too hot when gaming to properly game on (thereby nullifying its value and changing my preference to having a gtx 4xx in desktop despite its inertial properties), and that it will get too hot while watching movies to have on my lap (e.g. while in bed, or while sitting in an airport) (thereby further reducing the value of the "multimedia" laptop). Well, those and that the battery life won't be sufficient for my average "time away from a plug" day, but I guess I can sort of fix this by purchasing another battery or a slice battery (but 2.6 lbs and $150(?) seems a bit excessive, the slice really should come in other sizes).

If I'm watching a movie with a power adapter plugged in, will the battery then get too hot to have the laptop in my lap? I'm sure the power adapter gets very hot, it's one of those unfortunate things people have just gotten used to, but I worry about the laptop (battery) itself getting very hot while plugged in (again, worried about it getting too hot to game on... obviously I can only game for about an hour on battery life, which is very little time, and if I want to game longer I have to plug it in).

I guess I'll order it through HP directly, and then if it's not acceptable I can return it.

 

OK, well I think you are worrying needlessly.

And in all your situations it does not get too hot. I will try and cover each point.

1. Whilst gaming on a desk the i5 does not get so hot as to make the laptop uncomfortable (and I am very sensitive to heat). The bottom gets very hot but it will be on a hard surface so that will not be on your legs. I overclock my gpu to 550/1100 and have an i5 540m and can play BFBC2 for hours (I have actually ditched my desktop as this plays all my games flawlessly and I love the mobility. The palmrest will get warm. I have a zalman nc2000 I bought for when I had my sxps 16 but actually do not even bother with it on the Envy 15.

2. You will be able to watch movies with the laptop on your lap without it getting uncomfortable. It will warm up but still remains at an acceptable level. There are only a few laptops I have found capable of doing this (m11x, netbooks, vaio cw, envy 15 and 14 are all fine for this kind of use from the laptops I have bought) The advantage of the E15 is that it also has vents on the front of the machine so even if on bed/legs it still gets air!

3. I havent noticed any heat from the battery charging. I will let it drain tonight and then charge with it sat on my lap and let you know how I get on.

4. The E15 comes with a 120w huge power adapter, it doesnt get that hot. I do find it too bulky for mobility though so keep the 120w plugged in at home and use a standard HP 90w for mobility. The 90w does get quite hot but it is tiny and causes no throttling with the i5 laptop even with the gfx overclocked

Any more questions please fire away

PS I am not an envy fanboy, I have been through hell of a lot of laptops both personally and through my work as an IT manager. We mostly use Dell/HP and I have found of late that Dells are getting worse and worse. I used to always buy dell but the last decent laptop I owned from dell was an xps 1530, every model since has had heat or throttling issues (except for the studio 1749 which instead of throttling had the craziest fan profile that drove me nuts). Have also enjoyed some great alienware models but as good as they are they are very bulky

 

I love how the actual reviewer seems to have ditched the thread Just out of curiosity, do you guys think that HP will bring back a lower price for the Radiance screen? Right now an Envy 14 with an i5-450M, 500GB hard drive, and Radiance screen costs $1389. An Envy 15 with a better card and otherwise same specs costs $1199, or $1249 if you buy an external DVD drive. I'm not sure I'm willing to pay that kind of a premium for a machine not capable of the same power. I'm willing to try out the E14, even if I'm nervous about its GFX performance, but not if it's going to cost me that much more.

So, after all that, does anybody know the best way to get in touch with HP to ask if they plan on lowering the constantly wavering price of that screen?

 

I debated for a long time about getting the Envy 15 or 14. I chose the Envy 15 and personally I am extremely glad I did. The graphics card is AMAZING (compared to what I had) and this machine looks super awesome too. I would go for the 15 because the screen to me is still amazing and i wouldn't have wanted to spend that much extra money for a screen.

And I've tried contacting HP about future prices and components before and they never told me anything.