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

Being such a big videophile I can honestly say I wouldn't care too much about the 1080 for movies or even games. Especially games since the GFX card could only handle medium settings at best at 1080. I just want the extra real estate. I paid $300 for a Radiance screen just for that extra bit of room to have stuff open in. The awesome color reproduction is just frosting on the cake. Like someone said on here before students (of which I am) have Wikipedia on one side and Word on the other typing. My 22" 1080 monitor is great for this and that's why I don't want to "downgrade."

 

is the intel wireless the dual band type, perhaps a 6230?

thanks

 

The last few 1st gen ENVY 14 to be produced had a different 59Wh battery made in KOREA - I've one DOA set pending replacement.

 

Just got this from our friends at HP, NO Envy NO dv6t Quad ed. I guess HP is not big on timing. It should have shipped on 28 June.

Due to an unplanned delay in the production process, we will be unable to ship your customized order by the original estimated ship date.

We now expect to complete your order on or before a revised ship date of 7/15/2011 at which time we will email you a shipping notification with your carrier tracking number. You can then track your shipment online to obtain the estimated delivery date.

 

good point. I'm used to 1440x900 on my 15" business notebook 1080p would be great for real estate conservation. In the Envy line I'm focused more on on "work" involving photo editing -- so the resolution and color gamut are essential, and I've got my eye on the Envy 17 3D -- not for the 3D but for that gorgeous display.

 

Hey guys, do you have any information on battery life (with the ATI graphics turned on and off) of the new Sandy Bridge envy 14?

 

Does anyone have any idea when we will be seeing the refresh in the UK

 

Good question!

 

I've heard it's about two hours better with the i7's and roughly an hour with the i5's. I'd love to pull up my source but i've been reading so many lately I can't tell them apart!

 

I've heard some sources mention mid-july for Europe, but I hope it gets here sooner...

 

Hopefully the same goes for Canada, if not sooner. Any info on Canadian release date?

 

Hey Auxillo is there any chance you could do a mini review? Hows the battery the touchpad etc.?

Oh and would you say the beats edition look is a bit over the top or is it still somewhat classy?

Thanks

Onelove23

 

I didn't plan to wait as im sure futureshop/bestbuy will get them eventually but you cannot customize only in USA so I shipped to family in the usa (but i got a dv6t instead)

 

When I spoke to someone at Best Buy he said that new Envys were on their way to be delivered within a few weeks. I normally don't believe anyone at that store but he did show me model numbers and they were the 2*** numbers. Price was ridiculous at $1299, though.

 

Don't have any family in the US, so that would be a bit difficult. Also IF i were to get it from the states, how would the warrenty work if there were any problems?

Did he say anything about what was include for $1299? If its decent/comparable to what i would have liked to add via customization i might not mind.

 

There never has and doubt ever will be customizable laptops from HP in canada only dell. It is quite bad as HP you can use like 30% off coupons less sales tax than canada and you can customize your laptop.

The envy does not really have anything worth customizing anyways thats why I did not buy it. No upgradable gpu/screen and the cpu upgrade is gone for the 2720 and they want $500 for the 2820.

 

I am so disappointed with this weak upgrade, especially since I had to wait so long for it. I don't think HP has any business calling this a premium laptop. Even though they have inferior build quality, Lenovo, Samsung, Sony, and Dell all have competing models with better components +/- screens. HP lost my business as a result of weak hardware and now I am awaiting a new MBP instead. Pity, I was hoping there would be a real PC alternative to the MBP for a change. I am a little surprised that so many people still bought this thing after all the complaints about the upgrade options early on...

 

I agree. LG P330 is the true successor to the 1st gen Envy 14. No word as to when it'll enter America.

How much are you willing to spend on a new Macbook Pro with a dedicated GPU?

 

There are just 1st envy series in canada.
The 1st envy 14's price is 1299 who will buy it?
Any info on Canadian release date?
I am planing to ask someone go to across to Niagara Falls bridge to buy a 2nd envy 14 in the USA.
But the Warranty is a problem.

 

I completely agree, I personally can't stomach the idea of paying more money for an envy with a 6630 and a 720p over a dv6t with a 6770 and 1080p...it's a shame that the update wasn't better as I prefer the envy's case aesthetics and build.

The LG P330 is a great successor to the first gen envy, it's a shame though that they aren't releasing it sooner to appeal to incoming college students who need to purchase laptops before september.

 

To be honest I was willing to spend $2500 as I work on a laptop a lot, and they usually last me 5 years or so. My current computer is an Asus A8Js bought in late 2006, so I am expecting a significant upgrade. I play the odd game as well and edit photos and videos, so I need the video card. To me, if the laptop is well made and will last, it is worth the money. It's debatable as to whether the MBP offers value for money, which is why I was looking for an alternative and had high hopes for the Envy 14 refresh. So much for that.

 

The latest 2.2 i7 MBP15 is quite a step up in power from the 1st gen Envy14 and worth it IMO.

I had my gf waiting on the E14 refresh but when it started shaping up to be as weak as it is, I had her buy the 2.2 i7 MBP.

It kind of just worked out for us, but if you can find a good open box at a Best Buy right now you can probably save a ton of money. We snagged hers over a month ago for $1750 because it was open box and they need to kill off their current stock of Macbooks that come paired with Snow Leopard.

Most companies pay Best Buy to put their items on planogram and if Best Buy can't sell their stock by the "out of stock date," they usually get hit with huge penalty fees on the inventory. By huge, I'm talking usually 90% of the total cost per item that repeats every term (week/month) until it's finally out of inventory. My guess is this is what's going to happen on their current stock of MBP's because I know for a fact Best Buy doesn't even get them for $1750...

 

Hey Guys if anyone wants to buy the refreshed beats edition quick ship model from HP its available now.

Heres a link: HP ENVY 14-2050SE Notebook PC, Beats Edition, black aluminum | HP® Official Store

The student discount brings it $944, and then with tax it comes to $1026. HP does have the generous return policy so I say its better to buy it from them then from Amazon.

Anyways if this was useful somebody, rep+ would be much appreciated.

 

Today is the last day of my 21 day return policy. I currently have the beats edition with an i7-740QM. I've heard the i5-2410M could possibly out perform the i7. Anyone have any input? I will be using Adobe CS5 frequently (Photoshop and Premiere Pro). So far heat hasn't been a big problem I usually top out around 70C while rendering, nothing else open.

 

Does HP know how much they KILLED a machine that was amazing when it was first released? When the ENVY14 first came out it had great power/display/size/weight for its price. Now it has none of those.

A good display can make or break a machine, in this case it breaks it.

 

BoxcarSpawn, I'd return it. Yes the i7-740qm is powerful, but it significantly reduces battery life due to power gating not being as efficient as it is in the Sandy Bridge architecture. I say go for the i5 2410m, photoshop and premiere should perform great on it.

And yeah I just ordered the dv6t with the 1080p matte screen. Made the laptop for me.

 

Agreed. Simple solutions:

1. Kill off the optical drive and ignore the whiners who claim they need it. I've gotten into lengthy debates on NBR with people who made humorously weak arguments who tried to argue in favor of burnable DVDs over external HDDs which we can now get for dirt cheap. Never mind that external DVD drives are also affordable!

2. Use the extra space available to improve the cooling system. An extra fan or enlarged and faster fans that spin when the GPU's active would do nicely.

3. ???

4. Profit!

 

TBH I say they should move back to 15.6 where there are plenty of high end 1080p screens available rather than the 14.5 where no one makes a mass produced high end screen.

 

^yes!

And reintroduce the 13''!

 

i actually agree with that. i loved last year's envy because at 14.5", it seems pretty in-between to me--it's portable, like 13" laptops, yet still large and powerful like a 15". but i do agree that 14.5" is an awkward size, so screens are hard to find.. plus, most people tend to flock around 13.3" and 15.6" anyways. this won't affect me much as i HAVE to buy a notebook this year for college, and since it's basically a graduation gift, i'd feel horrible returning lol. but i guess for those who are buying later, maybe hp will revive the 13 and 15 lines!

 

Heck, even the m14x, probably what should be it's closest competition has a 1600x900 display.

 

I'm starting to get tired of waiting for the SB Envy.. has anyone in Europe heard anything about release dates in their country? I did hear something about mid-july, but it has still been no word of it, so I wonder if it was a rumor or if its just HP's way of doing things.. The 1st gen Envy 14 is on sale here now though, and the largest store has like 20 units left in stock..

 

if you are gaming, buy the old gen envy as you will get nearly the same performance. Especially if its on sale.

 

Not a gamer. And I don't want the 1st gen with i7, which is the only retail model left on sale here.. I want better battery life than that

 

in this case yes the old gen i7 has a pretty bad battery life (hence i got the i5-580)

 

Just got my new envy beats. The color scheme on this and the ports are a little different, and something seems weird about the screen, but I can't put my finger on it. First off there is no chrome around the laptop like on the previous beats, it is just black aluminum like the rest of the laptop. 2 Headphone/microphone jacks instead of 3. The new trackpad does not seem much different than my old envy, but I had one of the newer models from the last gen and really did not see any flaws with that trackpad. This trackpad is really working great so far. Just wish the GPU would have been a little better, going to try out some games after I get back from the gym Man this thing looks sexy. Also the hinges seem a little looser than they need to be, my old envy had nice a stiff hinges, this one closes on me if the screen is like around 2 inches open, not to thrilled about that.

Anyone know any good racing or shooting games which would be nice to try out.

Not sure if its in my head, but these speakers also seem a bit better. Also the volume, brightness icons which come up when changing that are beats icons instead of the normal light blue bar.

 

Yeah, I know.. So I'll wait for the SB Envy instead Tired of waiting now though..

 

What type of switchable graphics does the SB envy have?

 

Here is my mini review of SB Envy 14 beats edition

Why choose Envy 14?
I was looking for something smaller and lighter than my 8540w with comparable quality and gfx power.

First impression:
-Cool box,
-nice matte black bottom an surface surrounding the keyboard. Surface of the laptop also feels expensive
-e2e screen is nicw but bezel to me is a bit thick.
-A bit heavy
-touch pad is quite large which i am not used to
-backlit keyboard is cool
-charger is cool

The screen:
I just calibrated it using the eyeone display 2 and it still looks pretty poor quality. Compared to my desktop 2509b HP monitor it looks like crap.

The contrast is very poor and black level is horrible. Moving your head slightly will shift the black level around the screen causing a full black screen to look washed out.

I'm not going to bother with batt life/perf tests but overall I am a bit disappointed. The screen quality is really bad and it is as heavy as a 15" laptop without the 15" advantage of better resolution screen or gfx power.

I'm also quite surprised how loud it is even at idle. It seems like it is louder than my 8540w.

Anyways looks like i'm going to send it back.

I think the only good contrast mass market TN panels seem to be 15 or 17" 1080p laptop screens or some asus 10" netbook screens based on reviews I've seen on notebookcheck (alienware m14x,x220 IPS, Vaio Z are also good panels).

 

@ Snipester....

I returned my 2050se Beats Edition to Amazon the same day I received it. Your review is spot on. I can't believe how disappointed I was with the screen. Also, I felt the keyboard had way too much flex.

I actually settled on the DV6 Quad Edition in the end. Great battery life, and a 1080p screen paired with 6770 vid card. Hopefully this one turns out to be a positive.

 

you guys who went ahead and bought the sb envy 14s, why did you? i'm fairly set on getting an envy after months of laptop researching, but the weak specs of the sb envy 14 makes me think that a cheaper first-gen envy 14 would be a better deal since the specs really aren't all that different.

so what motivated you guys to purchase the sb envy instead of the first-gen?

 

As a replacement for my first gen ENVY14 due to unsolvable issues,
HP has offered another set.

Original
i7-740QM
6GB
640GB 7200
5650M
Internal LAN

Offered
i7-2630QM
2GB
500GB 7200
6630M
External LAN

It seems like a ripoff to me. I've tried to get better specs, but they wouldn't budge.

The external LAN port is a mystery to me, can someone who has the new generation ENVY14 confirm if theirs is an internal LAN or external LAN?

 

The Envy seemed to best match the positives that I saw in my wifes Macbook Pro, but in a windows flavor. I wanted a Windows Sandy Bridge laptop with discrete graphics, good battery life, good build quality, and a good touchpad.

The relative performance increase associated with Sandy Bridge makes me feel that the laptops useable lifespan will be greater than that achieved with a first gen I5.

I was really dead set on the Envy. Even after reading all of the complaints about the display quality. I was wrong.

 

I've said it before but The only reason I don't have an Envy 14 is the lack of Radiance, or even any 1600x900.

 

Wooowww!!
HP Envy Beats now available for customization.
With that the also included 3 dual drive options (SSD + HD) 80gb + 500GB, 80gb +750gb, 120gb +750gb and a single 300gb SSD option.
Notice that this option is also available for the regular Envy, something that wasn't available before.
The display and video card are still with one option only.. 768p and radeon's 6630..

Does anyone have any idea of the battery life with the i7-2630QM??
thanks!

 

??
I can't customize anything? Only windows version and some bundles but nothing hardware related.
And did you say SSD+HDD ??? 2 brackets and still using DVD player, this can't be?

 

You're probably at the quick ship page..
try: HP ENVY 14 Beats edition series | HP Official Store

 

The SSD is at mSATA form factor(much faster by the way), so it won't use any of the bays.

 

what speeds are we looking at with mSATA? (write/read mb/s)

 

I have no idea and couldn't find the specs of the msata SSD used at the envy, not even the model/brand. But searching around I was able to notice a couple benchmarks and tests with 80 and 128gb msata SSD's.
We're talking about 250mb/s read and 200 mb/s write speeds.