*HP ENVY 14 & Envy 14 Beats (1XXX series) Owners Lounge, Part Deux*

For the first question, yes I've also heard of the refresh in January, that would explain why they're offering coupons and trying to clear out their current stock so quick. Not sure what new features the refresh will have except that it will have a Sandy Bridge processor, but im sure it'll be more expensive also.

 

Do you think the radiance display will be available at that time along with synaptics new touch pad? IF so i am willing to pay for an upgraded screen, cpu, and touchpad. looks like il be returning my envy once i get it only to repurchase another...

 

Yeah I'm in exactly the same boat. I really liked my 300 discount, but if there's a new screen and touchpad, I'll just take the 10% student discount and not get the slice battery.

 

I think it makes sense that there is a refresh coming soon with the launch of sandy bridge and the new synaptics clickpad in addition to the fact that they are definitely clearing house of old tech with the 300 coupon. Either that or HP just wants us to spend less money due to their benevolent nature (yeah...right) Just really hope there is a new screen....radiance or something similar/better

 

Im new to NBR, but been following this thread for a while now. I decided to purchase the envy with the brightview display. Ya, the resolution is pretty low and everything seems HUGE. This laptop was perfect except the display, and i would have paid more to have the radiance. If there is news on a refresh in January I'll probably return it. Definitely hoping for a better display. Do you guys think there will be a better graphics card for the envy 14, too?

Envy 14: i5 580m/ati 5650/6gb/500 hhd

 

I honestly dont know but the graphics card is pretty low on my list of improvements. The priorities should be in this order: screen, touchpad, usb 3.0. other than those three things, i think the laptop is great, but the screen quality is just a glaring issue and is a deal breaker. I suppose you could upgrade the GPU but the 5650 is a decent card i think. I am going to return my pc as soon as it gets to me, unfortunately, i jumped at the $300 coupon. So now i wait for news of a better screen/touchpad until then the netbook must suffice

 

Has anyone noticed there's quite a bit of flex in the screen/ display? Try slightly pushing the top end corners of the screen in the direction of the same colored arrows as shown in the image.

 

are you talking about the black plastic?

 

Not necessarily, try moving along the left and right edges of the screen. I can feel a bit of flex going on there. What about your E14?

 

no flex on mines. Even if there is a little flex, that's nothing to worry about.

 

hmmmm i dont have mine yet, but quality control could be something to improve upon

 

check out this video

YouTube - Envy14 Problems!

ROFL

 

I have until Jan 13 to return my envy. Prob going to use it for another 2 weeks and then call hp. Been doing some gaming on here and the 5650 is a nice card.
Anyone have any return experiences with hp? How long does it take to get the refund back?

 

notebookcheck came out with the E beats review

Review HP Envy 14 Beats Edition Notebook - Notebookcheck.net Reviews

 

All these issues are making this notebook less and less attractive. It makes me want to just build another desktop, but i do like the convenience of notebook. Ill give it till like january 10th for a decent refresh.

 

Quick question. Could someone tell me how to enter BIOS on the Envy 14???

 

Hit the escape key on the HP screen.

 

Thanks!!!!!!

 

if there is going to be a refresh it will probably happen by the 8th (end of CES), but availability will probably be anywhere in Q1. I'm not sure how I would survive school without a laptop, so that would be an issue for me . Hopefully they will just announce it and make it available that day.

... but then I'd have to explain to my parents why I need like 30 bucks for shipping...

 

Has anyone noticed that hp has a "red tag sale", as it states at the website, that ends on Jan 4 and apparently the sandy bridge chips comes out on the 5th?

hmmm....

 

Guess that will be my queue to leave the forums.
I'm happy with my Envy and don't need to feel envious of others with the updated hardware.

 

I don't mean mean to bring this post up again but it seems like it was forgotten. Ever since I noticed this, flex, it began to bother me and made me wonder if I'm the only one with it. There's quite of bit of flex in the screen- I noticed this as I was closing my laptop. Try slightly pushing the top end corners of the screen in the direction of the same colored arrows as shown in the image.

 

Yeah, I tried what you said, and it does flex. It is a pretty thin screen though.

 

So last night I was setting up Warcraft on my Envy and was playing around with a USB mouse. I closed the lid with the usb mouse plugged in and WoW running to move to a new spot in the house.

When I opened it back up, everything still worked; however, now it seems the laptop does not want to recognize my touchpad. Even when I shut down and turn it on again with no USB mouse plugged in, it won't recognize the touchpad. And yes I do know about the LED light in the corner that you can tap to turn it on and off.

Anyway, has anyone had this issue of an unrecognized touchpad? It worked perfectly until I started tooling around with the USB mouse. Also it should be noted that I recently did a clean install with Windows 7 Pro.

I tried reinstalling the synaptics drivers but that didn't work. I read on another post that someone completely stripped out the trackpad drivers and reinstalled using a windows update. Can anyone explain how I would go about completely uninstalling the touchpad drivers?

I'm hoping this is a driver issue as I do NOT want to send this in to be abused by customer service.

Thank you!!

 

Have any of you guys noticed that it might be a bad idea to have 6gb of ram instead of 4 or even 8 on the envy. Hp is probably going to use a 4 + 2 gb configuration which takes out dual channel operation. Unless they're going to use 3 + 3...Can anyone confirm this???

 

they use 2+4 gb. I configured my envy with 6gb. Are there even 3gb sticks for sell? Honestly, 4gb is more than enough for 90% of people. I had to get 6gb to configure 1299+ with 300 off coupon.

 

That is why I'm planning to configure mine with i5-580, 640gb hdd, and a set of HP speakers. I'd rather get speakers than kill off my dual channel memory. In gaming, every fps counts! ><".

 

Flex on my right side. Not the corner.. Any suggestion to fix the flex ?

 

Anyone tried to replace motherboard ? Im gonna do this next week..

 

Is the return policy same for accessories? I should have gotten the beats headphones. the i5 580m and 6gb are an overkill for my needs.

 

The beats headphones would not have counted towards the $1300 minimum. The minimum is only from upgrades done directly to the laptop (both hardware and software). That is why I'm forced to get the slow 6gb ram. Ok ok, I know it's not that slow, but I'm being grouchy because I like 4 gb dual channel xD.

 

anyone know kind of RAM they put in the Envy? If I get 4GB 1 DIMM, can I just put in any 4GB DDR3 in the other slot and make it dual channel? Or does it have to be the exact same brand etc.

 

For best DDR performance, they need to have all the same specifications. Can be different brand, but it's easier to match the same brand.

 

I advise you to hold off on getting the envy 14 right now if you can. They are offering the coupons so they can clear out their inventory since its the end of the year and sandy bridge is almost here. The envy 14 came in July so it's about time we see a more significant refresh. I'm guessing there might be better cpu options, updated gpu (ati 6000 series), or even a better screen option. There also might be other deals that doesn't require you to configure that much so you can get your FAST 4gb ram.

If you need it now, I recommend getting the envy 14 1110nr with i5 460m 640gb hdd, and the fast 4gb ram at amazon which is $940 (without tax), since you can save some money and be happy with your 4gb dual channel.

 

Whine Fix: Replace motherboard+CPU


Worked for me. Did it myself just now. The whine went from annoying to hardly noticeable.

 

It has been many years since I have owned a notebook. Is it bad to keep my Envy plugged in permanently? I know some batteries develop a "memory". Can anyone shine a light on the matter?

Thanks.

 

Lithium based batteries do not suffer memory issues. However, they do not "like" to be kept at max capacity (or plugged in, above max capacity) for extended times.
It all depends on what you want:

-Battery to last forever? (Unrealistic), discharge battery to 40% and remove from the notebook if going to be on AC power for extended time. Kind of a bummer since you need to reinstall the battery to be mobile again and you don't have a built in UPS.

-Convenience? Use as you like. When you notice the battery going bad, hopefully it is still covered under warranty. Otherwise suck it up and buy a new battery (not the end of the world).

Quick tip: if you buy your laptop using Visa card, you can register with Visa and get a free extended warranty. They also offer a program for relatively cheap that covers battery replacement for quite a duration. Sorry I dont recall all the details offhand.
Warranty Manager Service | Visa Signature

 

Some people are suggesting that a refresh might not come until march or april, so I took advantage of the sale just in case that's true. If I hear any news of a refresh, I'll just return it within 21 days. Or i'll just keep on buying and returning until a refresh comes haha ><". Just kidding, although that idea sounds interesting ;].

Btw, haven't you guys noticed that rumors always circulated many months before an envy update/announcement. But so far, there is barely any news or leaks. So that is why a refresh soon after CES doesn't seem too likely at the moment. We shall see in the following weeks.

P.S. Thanks Aetherlights for your insight. [:

 

My CPU i5-450 automatically downclocks to 1200mhz and doesn't go back up the the rated 2660 mhz when entering windows, not even in games or anything intensive. Why?

Thanks

 

debatting between the dv6t and the envy 14, both have backlit keyboards which are required for me.

can anyone tell me if the envy and dv6t both have the same keyboard...they both look like island/chiclet style, but i cant tell from pictures if theyre the same ones.

also, do they have the same screen? i know the envy has a flush-glass type screen...but does the dv6t have this as well?

many thanks
the dv6t is about $300 less with almost the same specs, so i cant decide

 

Quick question...
Im still using the F06 BIOS that was originally on my laptop when I first bought it, and today I noticed that HP have released a new one F23 (new to me anyway) but I was wondering, should I upgrade them in order, so install F12 then F13 and then F23 or does the latest BIOS have all the previous 'Fixes' included?

Cheers guys

 

latest bios should have all the fixes included.

however, going beyond F06 breaks the recovery discs (changes your computer's ID or something and confuses them and there's no fix for this)

 

So I'm happy to report that my envy runs like a dream once I discovered that Zone Alarm was the culprit. (speaking of which, do you guys think Windows Firewall is enough?)

Anyway, I have a question about HDD enclosures. I want to get an SSD and then use the HDD as my external. Preferably something as sleek and durable as possible. I was going to buy a Lacie Rikkiki Go but realized that would be a waste.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance and have a Happy New Year!

 

Petp (sorry forgot to quote)

I owned a dv6tse before(returned). Now I have a Envy. If you get it without the touchscreen, its not edge to edge glass, with touchscreen it is edge to edge. I did not get mines with the touchscreen. Both displays are called the brightview infinity, but the screen on the Envy(non radiance) looks much better. With the dv6t, you can atcually see the lines from like 2 feet away.
From what I can remember they both have the same keyboard, except the dv6tse has a row of useless application keys to the left(like a calculater, web), it threw off my typing pretty bad for the first few days. Both keyboards feel a little cheap to the touch. Also the dv6tse has some heating issues, and can get very hot even while browsing the internet. I don't know if they fixed that recently. I think everyone here will say that the envy 14 has an excellent cooling system. I say go for the envy since it's much better quality overall and has really good audio quality. Configure the envy 14 $1299+ and use this coupon to get 300 off. NBF99357

Unfortunately I am returning my envy 14 also. I want the radiance display even if it means play a couple hundred for it. Now I have to play the wait game....

 

Although you can always downgrade to F06 if you ever need to reinstall Windows. A bit of a hassle, but probably worth the fixes that the newer updates bring.

Just ordered an ENVY 1110nr for $937 from B&H, with the 460M and 640GB HDD. Should be here this week

 

Are you using the power save plan? Usually, I have to change to high performance to get the clock speed back up. You could also try starting up the computer when it is connected to AC, I think that maybe it goes into a lower power mode when you start it up unplugged.

 

Just found a Envy 14 with the 1600x900 Radiance display at my local JB Hi-Fi for AU$1348, but I've already ordered the non-radiance Envy 1110nr from B&H for US$937 (AU$1076, including postage). Would it be worth selling the 1110nr on eBay (at a premium), and buying the Radiance model?

The Radiance model only has a 520M 2.4GHz and a 500GB HDD, though, compared to the 1110nr's 460M 2.53Ghz and 640GB HDD.

One of the advantages for the normal 1366x768 screen is that I'll be able to play most games in native resolution.

EDIT: Found the same model (with the Radiance display) at another store (the 1002TX). This one is only AUD$1185! It's really tempting, but I'll wait and see what the BrightView display is like.

 

What's B&H's return policy? Usually you can return unopened laptops for a full refund, but stores can charge 15% restocking fee for opened ones. You should call their customer service before you open.

Why do you guys get the radiance in AU but we don't have it in the US!

 

they still have gen1 stock leftover.

 

They haven't actually shipped it yet; I should be able to cancel the order tommorow and get a refund. And yeah, I think we just have heaps of stock left. The stock avaliability is listed as 'high', hehe.

Are there any other differences between the models that might make a difference? I really want the Radiance display and higher resolution for general use, but for gaming I'd prefer a lower native res. I'll mostly be playing things like Dawn of War, CNC3, Garry's Mod, Minecraft, though, which all should run fine at 1600x900.