*HP ENVY 14 & ENVY 14 Beats (2XXX series) Owners Lounge*

Heh. I bought an Envy 14 and I'm pretty pleased with it. You guys can miss out and complain about how HP dropped the ball all you want.

 

With the possible exception of the Radiance screen, the Envy 14 has never really been a "premium" computer when judged by its specs. But if judged by build quality, I think it does qualify as a premium machine. So if specs matter most, the new Envy isn't for you.

 

Well for me what makes a premium laptop is not just build quality alone or specs alone I wouldn't call the DV6 a premium model even though the specs are much better. A premium laptop would have both build and specs quality imo which for sure the Envy lacks

 

Yep saved me like 800 bucks, I upgraded everything.

 

Why can't HP just say screw it and combine the dv6 with the envy and resurrect the Envy 15!?!? Same internals and a different paint job (externals).

 

Look forward to an REAL envy refresh with 7000M (15" and 16" models) so that we can have atleast 128bit GDDR5 graphics and fullHD.

 

The 1st gen Envy 14 gets cheaper and cheaper where I live.. now the total price cut is 400-500 USD in two weeks, no sale no coupon Should mean the SB Envy is just around the corner, yaay

 

Let's face it the free xbox 360 deal saved things for most people. Simply no substitute for a radiance display.

Those who are well informed are hanging onto their radiance and waiting things out for awhile.

 

Fair enough. But to be fair to HP, they don't even list the Envy line under the "High performance" header on their main laptop webpage. "Envy" has its own header that emphasizes build quality:

• Beats audio premium laptops with 2 year warranty.
• Precision crafted with the latest materials, innovations, including 3D

The "High performance" header shows a DV7 and emphasizes

• Premium, powerful & stylish computing with 2nd Generation quad power, stunning graphics, Blu-Ray, Beats audio, HP Coolsense technology.

I just don't think that HP intends the Envy 14 to be the computer that a lot of people on this forum want it to be.

 

As a first time Envy user here are my quick first impressions of my Sandy Bridge Envy 14-2020NR:

1. The screen is obviously not up to the quality of the rest of the external components. It looks washed out and has a very narrow viewing angle (especially vertically). The case, keyboard, trackpad, everything else feels and performs wonderful which makes this screen stickout like a sore thumb.

2. I don't know how bad the prior trackpads were (they seemed to get a lot of bad press), but I have almost no complaints with mine. The click button on the pad is a little stiff (slightly more so than the dedicated left and right click buttons) but that's about it. It seems redundant to have the click pad as well as the left and right click buttons. If they removed the buttons it would give a lot more space for the pad, but then it would be a direct copy of the MBP (patent issue maybe). In any case the multi touch gestures works flawlessly. As the trackpad was one of the major complaints of previous year models this was one of my biggest reasons for waiting for SB models, and overall I'm pleased.

3. I seem to be getting around 5 hours with light use (web browsing, initial setup, etc).

 

lol HP never said optical. this un-substantiated designation appeared on some rumor/news site and what is magical is that it keeps getting repeated enough so that people believe it.

there isn't one shred of verifyable evidence, beyond some blogger or news site opinion, that the image pad is optical.

The strength of evidence points to the capacitive technology in Synaptics Image Sensing (IS) product for OEMs

 

That screen is one of the biggest complaints of Pavillion purchasers as well. I cannot believe that the Envy 14 refresh doesn't, at least, offer 1600 x 900. I played around with some specs (I have the Sandy Bridge Envy 17 3d)...could not believe that this machine has as little as it does. The video card could be better, certainly the screen resolution can be better...

Question for you. Pavillion owners are up in arms about switchable graphics. On my Envy 17, I can disable switching as well as manually switch graphics cards. On the Pavillion...that choice is gone. All switching is dynamic and everyone complains because when they game, it doesn't always switch to AMD GPU. On the Envy, the AMD is the main GPU. On the Pavillion, the Intel is. Supposedly, when you crank up a 3D game...the AMD is supposed to kick in with Pavillion. People with Opengl games are finding this NOT to be true...

Thoughts?

 

Pulled the trigger on the Beats(2050se) via Amazon. With it's shortcomings, why would the envy earn my dollars?
-Great build quality.
-A good Macbook is $2200
-Discrete GPU
-Red backlit keyboard
-Ok battery life
-Well designed touchpad

Of course there are things I would want in the laptop, for example a 570 GPU would be awesome. An amazing all around laptop does exist in the form of a Macbook 15, just pop Windows 7 on to it. But I am not willing to pay the price for that. And...well... you get what you pay for in life. For a grand, you get a decent laptop, and for several thousand you get the best.

I'm looking forward to testing out my purchase and playing with my free xbox 360. Good luck to those of you hunting for your next laptop. I am pleased to have possibly finished my journey for another 2 years. Then, back to cruising the forums!!!

 

I just used one of the new dv6s/7s last night and IMO those are much better for the price compared to my Envy. Aluminum body and comparable/better performance for cheaper pricing? The only thing that it didnt have was back lit keyboard which sucks on the Envy anyways. The back light is so dim there's no point using it anytime other than complete darkness. The only thing the Envy had going for it was the body and the screen and now they dont have an advantage in both.

Im happy with my Radiance, but if I had to choose today, I'd get a dv6.

 

I looked at the dv6 earlier today, and apart from the screen, it was a nice laptop. Had the retail models (only thing available here) been sold with a HD screen, I would have bought one, no doubt. But retail dv6 has the same screen res as the Envy, and so the Envy wins for me

 

What is the battery capacity of the new envies?
if it is higher than the 59 kWh I got (earliest Envy - 1000) then I might go for it...

And does the new battery fit into the original envies?

 

I saw 1080p screens for the dv6t at bestbuy

Ya well I am most definetly not buying the envy. $500 for the proccesor upgrade and no i7-2720 what a joke.

I would buy the dv6t but the problems with the dynamic graphics I am not sure if I should.

Who's ready for the next refresh ivy bridge lets go ~ lewl

 

...and once again I am jealous of the americans around here.. The dv6t isn't even sold here! But HP is an american company, so I guess it makes sense that the options are better in the US. I just hope for a decent retail version of the Envy 14, maybe close to the 1st gen 1260 With a 6 year old laptop that constantly crashes and its non-functional battery, I'm not willing to wait any longer hahaha

 

Oh wow I just realized the dv6t does have a 1080p screen.. fuuu

 

The HP press release said something like "HP Image-Sensing technology" - they implied that it was their own technology and not something from a third party, and people here (and possibly some tech sites as well) assumed that "Image-Sensing" was the same thing as "Optical".

Edit: From the actual press release (hit "show press release" button at the bottom): "...a new HP imagepad that uses image sensor technology..."

 

Ya, what is the battery capacity? I see many 6-cells with a 56 kWh battery. Apple's 8-cell batteries have somewhere like 76 kWh!!

 

This is exactly what I'm talking about, and how rumors turn into perceived fact. HP did not imply it was their own technology - readers and the rumor mill did that. The HP press release did not put the word "HP" in front of 'image-sensing technology' either, but as you just demonstrated thats how the word spread.

The exact words of the press release I read were as follows: "new HP imagepad that uses image sensor technology for advanced gesture support "

But I guess if one reads superficially, with and eye out for the sensational, you could read, "HP.... image<blah>sensor<blah>", and imply a host of things that are not there, start a rumor, attract some web hits, and sound like an authority.

Not many serious technology watchers with a lick of sense actually know of any optical technologies used in a touch pad! and the thoughtful ones know that Synaptics "Image sensing" technology is capacitive

 

The confusion is that they call it an "HP imagepad", implying that the pad and its technologies are HP's. In reality, it's probably just the Synaptics pad rebranded for a small licensing fee, though I'm not sure why HP would bother to do so - the pad's got a good enough reputation as a Synaptics product, whereas most savvy consumers suckered into thinking it's HP's technology are likely to assume that it's first-gen technology and therefore buggy and not worth adopting yet.

 

yea but putting 'HP' in front of something doesn't make it HP's invention either. Why this one? why now? when we see "HP Brightview" -- do we all run out and claim HP invented a new panel surpassing LCD technology? Moreover, even a cursory examination of HP's use of Synaptics over time, and of Synaptics own use of the "image sensing" terminology-- just doesn't lead thoughtfull observer to an optical innovation.

IF one would only read more widely, especially about synaptics capacitive touch technology (and their IS 1.5 and IS 3.0 products), I think one would be less inclined to mis-interpret the press release and imply things that aren't there. I will grant, however, that the HP language does appear to invite the less-read reader to do that!

 

Just curious: is it possible that HP will introduce a revision for the new envy 14s say, a month later, like they did with the dv6t/dv7t (60xx->61xx) and add features like a 1600x900 display, better GPU, etc.? I'm interested in whether or not HP is known to do these things with their products.

 

dude, 56kWh sounds pretty good to me. that could power a car!


(i think you mean Wh...)

 

# of cells is actually not a good indication of the charge capacity. Asus U series have 8 cell 84Whr batteries. I doubt the new envy will have a significant in battery capacity. However battery life should be better anyways since sandy bridge is more efficient.
More importantly the switchable gpu accounts for quite a bit of leak voltage (as much as 5W even when the dGPU is off), so if HP can fix that then battery life should improve substantially.

 

Has anyone already gotten their Envy 14 SBs? How's the touchpad?

 

I've got mine and think the touchpad works well. I have no issues with it, but I can't personally compare it to older versions as this is my first envy.

 

If it works well, then that's a huge improvement out of the box compared to us 1st gen E14'ers. Trust me on that one.

I won't go into a long-winded rant but say that there's a GOOD reason we were celebrating when the NBR community found different ways to make the touchpad actually work.

How's the 2-finger scroll? Does it kind of "fidget/limp" down like when you're scrolling with a clicky mouse wheel, or is it butter-smooth?

 

much more clicky than buttery :-(

 

In my SB Envy 14 box I got two power cords (laptop to adapter) one 4 foot, one 5 foot. Is that normal? Seems weird to get two that are only a foot apart. Is there some reason for this that I'm not thinking of?

 

great to hear! maybe this imagepad will appear on the Envy 17s ...

 

For most non- or borderline enthusiasts, going that deep is more than they're interested in - and I'm speaking for myself as well. Most people don't care as much as I do about what's in the computer they buy, but even I don't care enough to research what Synaptics has been doing. It's probably a misnomer to say that someone unacquainted with Synaptics new touchpad technology is not well-read, though - personally, in the last two weeks, I've finished Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace and read the entirety of The Soccer War by Ryszard Kapuscinski and In Pharaoh's Army by Tobias Wolff, but I didn't know much about the newest technology from Synaptics... ;P

 

okay, TOTAL sidebar, but david foster wallace's kenyon college speech was great. probably the most eye-opening contemporary speech i've ever read. (please don't respond to this so mods don't yell at us for going off-topic )

 

Well, the touchpad software quality is a step up from the previous gen. But it still needs work. Try reil's touchpad software.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I'll check it out.

 

lol thats good no I don't mean to suggest you don't read touche' on me!

but -- look at the series of mis-calculated conclusions that common sense should avoid, even eithout knowing much about synaptics. If one is going to parse through a press release and make conclusions, one should be careful to show the evidence. Take out a few choice words from the press release, apply some assumptions, and you have a perfectly meaningless drivel of rumor that means nothing, adds nothing, and promotes nothing useful except for entertaining rumor. And don't get me wrong I enjoy rumor as much as the next guy, but if all one has is rumor, with no evicence, then say that -- don't change what HP really said and then conclude something without evidence.

I just suggest that when the rumors start flying, we should ground ourselves in the established facts and call out what is opinion versus fact. If one wants to say "well to me this means optical" then halleluia that opinion is as good as any. But just don't repeat that as fact.

on edit: i came across a rumor site that pretty much stated that the new pad was optical. But the site gave no evidence -- just opinion which is great but all of a sudden the rumor was treated as some authority and voila we had people believing that the pad was optical when it really wasn't; there was no evidence for optical, and all we had was a series of stretches to the truth which took on a life of their own because folks believed what they read without applying common sense.

 

for those who already have the laptop, can you switch the graphics manually? (i know this is not possible on the newer dv6's)

 

Quick question. I have been reading today about the amazon beats edition. I have found descriptions say AMD Radeon HD 6630 graphics (1 GB switchable graphics and up to 4GB total graphics memory).

How could I get the extra graphics memory? I would love to be able to have 2 GB if I buy this.

 

cant upgrade the video memory on these.

Besides, 2 gb in a medium range laptop video card is overkill and uneeded, even on the dv6's 6770.

It won't improve performance at all, as the overall performance is limited by the GPU chip itself, not the memory.

Save your money and stick to 1gb.

 

Can anybody weigh in on the touchpads ability to preform like the MBP's clickpad. I've been lurking for all 95 pages and definitely all of the touchpad threads on the old Envy and am really interested in getting the new Envy14 if it can be used with click to click. I do not want that tap to click active for longer than it needs to be.
Real question i guess is can it be used as a clickpad like the MBP's?

 

yes the envy's touchpad has a button that you can "click" to select. The top 1/3 is the only area of the touchpad that isn't clickable. I think the older version of the Envy was this way as well.

 

Can drivers fix that or is simply a hardware limitation? And can anybody who has a new Envy SB discuss their reaction to the clickpad? post video?

 

The Envy 14 Beats Edition is available:

HP Envy 14 Beats Edition Gets Sandy Bridge Processor Refresh | PCWorld

http://www.amazon.com/HP-14-2050SE-...ctronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1309204724&sr=1-3http://

 

I don't know if this has been mentioned and I'm not trying to start something but does anyone else think it's crazy we can't get a 1080 screen on these? I was just reading about the Sony Vaio Z update and it has 1080 on its 13" screen!

 

and it costs an arm and a leg too.

 

It's a hardware limitation. I've spent all of 30 seconds playing with a MBP at a Best Buy, but I thought their clickpads had the same limitation with the top third being unclickable.

 

It must be cost. It seems to me that most Envy 14 users could maintain the required maximum viewing distance to really benefit from 1080p (this distance is about 24"), certainly when playing games or watching movies. So there is a technical argument in favor of 1080; Apparently, HP must not be targeting that market.

But I do find it odd that we don't have 900p...

 

Sorry if was mentioned, but I'm curious about the battery of those new Envy 14. I have the 56Wh battery and I'm not happy with the performance.