Envy vs. Pavillion?

Which type is better? And which laptop is the best of each?

 

Envy is better hands down imo. pavilions break too easy

 

Envy only has one gb of vram. The envy doesn't have an option for a matte screen. It's also plastic on top and tries to be a macbook too hard.

 

^Indeed. And the option for the bigger 9-cell battery is a plus, too. Are you looking at the Envy 15 vs the dv6 or the Envy 17 vs the dv7?

 

regrdless of what hte envy tries to do its still better imo

 

Well regardless of facts 75 miles per hour is still faster than 100 miles per hour imo.

 

The top and the bottom are definitely not plastic. I took the bottom plates off last night and you can see the metal where they didn't spray the paint on underneath.

The top is either magnesium or some other type of composite material. Definitely not plastic.

1gb of VRAM should not be an issue. I've yet to see a game that uses that much memory where the performance of the 650m didn't hit it's limit before the memory became a bottleneck.

Here's some major things to consider:

Heat/Noise
The DV series is definitely quieter, but it comes at a price. Heat. These things put out a lot of it when doing anything intense like gaming. It's manageable, but very noticeable. Equally as important is the location of the heat. The CPU/GPU on the DV series is located right under the"WASD" keys. This includes the heat pipes and the single fan that's in the upper left corner. The hard drive bay(s) are also located under the left palm rest. This means that the heat generating parts are where you use the computer most when gaming!

The Envy series has dual fans that run at all times. Only varying in intensity depending on the load. This means it's not quite as quiet as the DV series, but it stays cooler at all times. Under load, my Envy 17 barely gets warm. It never gets hot. Also, HP placed the optical drive and the battery left side of the laptop. This means the left side of the laptop stays cool at all times. Perfect for gaming. The CPU/GPU are located hear the left side of the keyboard with the heat pipes and fans near the screen. This keeps the majority of the keyboard cool at all times.

So you have to determine whether you want a quiet laptop under light load that gets pretty hot when gaming or you want a laptop that's a little bit more audible under light use, but stays cool while gaming.

Screens:

This is definitely make or break for some people. You'll be staring at this part for a long time. If you have issues with glossy screens, the Envy is not for you. In the environments I use my laptop, this is not an issue. The color reproduction is very similar between the 2 as well as the viewing angles. The finish should be the only major difference.

The Envy does have a gimmicky feature built into the screen that I'll mention here. It has proximity sensors at the top of the screen to determine if there's someone in front of the laptop or not. It will turn the keyboard backlight on/off as well as the screen if it doesn't detect someone there.

Speakers:

This was an interesting comparison. The DV7 speakers get louder and have a fuller sound to them than the Envy. But the sound does distort at max volume and I'm not sure if it's isolated to just my laptop, but there's a small amount of rattle at max volume as well.

The Envy 17 has a clearer sound quality to it, but doesn't get quite as loud or have quite as much bass as the DV7. Both laptops are miles ahead of other laptops I've heard. The Envy 17 also sounds very good as max volume.

Multimonitor support
In terms of port selection, these 2 series are very similar except when you get to options for monitors.

The Envy 15 supports dual external monitors and the Envy 17 supports triple monitors with its dual displayports and hdmi port.

The DV series supports either VGA or HDMI out, but not both simultaneously which limits you to 1 external display.

Battery options
This is more of an issue for the 17" models than 15". The Envy 15 has an 8 cell battery. The Envy 17 has a 6 cell battery. Sacrifices were made to have an extra hard drive bay in the 17.

The DV series offers 6 and 9 cell battery options.

I'd say those are all the import differences. Since these models pretty much cost the same, it comes down to what things you are willing to live with. I hope that helps.

Personally, I'm keeping my Envy 17 for it's better build quality, better cooling, and multi monitor support.

Here's a side by side picture as well:

 

The only deal breaker for me is the screen. If you could at least get a 768 for cheaper then swap out something really great later it would be a buy. The dv6 heat issue is a little infuriating, one can only hope the mobo goes before the warranty does hahaha.

 

If you are keeping the DV6 and want to keep the keyboard area cool, I'd recommend getting one of these:

Amazon.com: ARCTIC Portable USB-Fan ABACO-BZG00-010000: Electronics

It actually works pretty darn well. A lot better than my Cooler Master U3 notebook cooler when it comes to keeping the keyboard cool!

 

Does it really? I have a pretty powerful house fan rigged up under my laptop desk and the more air I blow into the laptop the hotter the palm rest gets. I just assumed the heat was something I would have to live with lol.

 

Yes. It does a really good job cooling down the keyboard. I doesn't cool down the computer itself much, but it keeps your hands cool.

 

your breaking my balls then post how you have heating issues? again just shows how much better the envy is compared to the dv whatever

 

I did a video comparison between the Envy 17 and DV7 if you're still interested in these 2 models and want to compare them.

Part 1 - Envy 17 vs DV7 Intro and Lid Design Comparison (2012 Ivy Bridge) - YouTube
Part 2 - Envy 17 vs DV7 Screen Comparison (2012 Ivy Bridge) - YouTube
Part 3 - Envy 17 vs DV7 Keyboard Comparison (2012 Ivy Bridge) - YouTube
Part 4 - Envy 17 vs DV7 Port Selection (2012 Ivy Bridge) - YouTube
Part 5 - Envy 17 vs DV7 Sound Comparison (2012 Ivy Bridge) - YouTube
Part 6 - Envy 17 vs DV7 Noise and Heat Comparison (2012 Ivy Bridge) - YouTube

 

How is the keyboard on the envy? I just got a dv7 and the keyboard has a major wave in it.

You are indeed correct about the screens Maverick. I have the glare 1600x900 and its a very nice screen. Glare is not a problem indoors.

 

The Envy has no wave in it. It does have a minor amount of flex so it's not comparable to a Thinkpad keyboard if you've ever used one, but it's still pretty good.

From a typing experience standpoint, they seemed the same to me, but I know at least one person commented they liked the keyboard on the DV7 better.

 

I'm looking at the Envy 15 vs the dv6. I'm a kid going to college doing heavy virtualization. I like how the dv6 seems to have more power for money, but I don't like the heat issue, and I've heard it's build quality is not good compared to the Envy. The Envy 15 seems to be better build quality, but its a glossy screen and slightly more money for slightly less spec-wise. I'd like it to last +3 years. What do you guys think?

 

I also want to know the same about Envy 15

Want to use for at least 3 or 4 years as desktop replacement + light gaming and light visualization and long day use for net surfing. Will Envy 15 serve my purpose well.

 

Maverick yours videos made me choose the envy over the dv7, I had an old dv7 with amd processors, that died 1 yr ago coz the overheat, playing wow( before cata release) it started shutting down coz the over heat, tried everything and nothing worked.

Was about to give a second chance to Dv7 now with intel processor, so doing some researchs found maverick's video, that was the first time I saw the envy, the noise inst an issue for me, my desktop is a jet nothing can't be worst than that, the screen, if that is a problem, I can get an "screen protector" with anti-glare.

The only drawback, might be the battery, but 5hr in normal use is good enough for a 17"


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

I would love to know about this as well. Any advice?

 

Hello Maverick,

I'm hoping you can help. On this this thread you mentioned => Heat/Noise

The DV series is definitely quieter, but it comes at a price. Heat. These things put out a lot of it when doing anything intense like gaming. It's manageable, but very noticeable. Equally as important is the location of the heat. The CPU/GPU on the DV series is located right under the"WASD" keys. This includes the heat pipes and the single fan that's in the upper left corner. The hard drive bay(s) are also located under the left palm rest. This means that the heat generating parts are where you use the computer most when gaming!

I currently have the HP Pavillion DV7 and your above quote is right on the money. I ended up buying a targus chill pad for a 17in laptop with 3 fans on it so if I didn't know any better that's the only thing that's saved my Mobo from going up in flames. I'm not much of a gamer but I do stream movies, fights, sport games etc... which heats up just the same if not more than gaming. Correct me if I'm wrong. Nonetheless, I am wondering if this issue has continued with the next edition of Pavillions. Pavillion 15z for example. I am trying to decide between the Pavillion 15z (AMD10) and the Envy 15t (i7). Both through Costco if that matters which is where I bought my Pavillion DV7 from approx. 5 years ago. Any assistance and feedback is highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

Envy and HP products are garbage low end consumer crap.
I have an Envy 17-3090NR 3D that's. In warranty, 1year and 9months old, 81 days in the repair depot, no part??
HP is sending it back unrepaird, not replacing it with a compatable unit, breaking their warranty.
Ripped off for the $190. exrended warranty as well.

GO MSI AS A NOTEBOOK!

 

I am on my third 15" Pavilion notebook since 2007 and they're really nice computers. I've had nearly zero issues with them except maybe some battery/power issues with it not being enough to last for as long as I would've liked them to. There have also been overheating issues as well on both Pavilions I've owned. Otherwise, they've served me nicely for both gaming and various college work, ie research, net browsing, emails, writing papers, notes in class.

My 2012 dv6t-7000 CTO has been such a pleasant machine to own! The specs are great but could always be better. The matte IPS 1080 screen I opted for has been the best screen I've laid my eyes on for a 15" laptop of this caliber. I may be selling this model and I'll take offers... My sig has the specs listed haha

As for the Envy, I ordered an Envy 15t 2 months ago and had it returned promptly. The keyboard quality was sub par at best. It had major sinking and a key was lodged and stuck underneath the keyboard plate. The TN screen colors were washed out comparatively to my high quality matte IPS display on my dv6t. It wasn't an acceptable laptop to me so I returned it after a week of usage.

I've recently purchased an OMEN 15t which I am currently awaiting.