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

You will have to contact Adobe and explain the software came with your laptop. They will open a support case and ask for some sort of proof of purchase (like copy of the receipt). They then will give you replacement codes.

 

That explains why I could OC the i7 up to 585 stable and can only bring the i5 to about 540 (stability with 3dmark06 as furmark seems to tolerate higher clocks than 3dmark06).

 

Does anyone know if you lose Adobe Photoshop and Premiere when you do the Minimized Image Recovery?

 

Hey everyone! First time poster here.

I just got my Envy 14 yesterday, and I've got to say, this Radiance display is simply gorgeous. It's kinda hard going back to use my former laptop since the display looks so bland in comparison. I'm using it for development work and I've got to say, it's a very lovely laptop. Glad to be an Envy 14 owner!

I've got a couple of issues though.

First of all, when I run EVE (the game) and I alt-tab to the desktop or if I quit, the display dims but the mouse cursor doesn't. It looks like some sort of overlay and the only way I can get it back to normal is to change the screen resolution. In the case of alt-tabbing, everything's fine when I alt-tab back into the game, but as soon as I alt-tab out of it, the display dims again. I'm not sure what could be causing this, but I'm assuming it could be a graphics driver issue. I haven't been able to find a solution for this yet. Any ideas?

Secondly, Computer Properties shows Installed Memory: 8.00GB (7.80GB usable). I remember I had a similar problem on my desktop and I had to change a BIOS setting for all of the installed RAM to be usable. Could this be the same case here?

EDIT: I wiped everything off, installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit and the drivers downloaded from the HP support site.

 

Mine says the same.

 

My assumption is the missing ~200MB or so might be the amount of memory being used by the integrated Intel graphics chipset. It would be nice if someone could confirm this.

 

Yeah, it says it's reserved for "System". Not really sure what system exactly, but on another HP computer I had with 8 GB, they had some of it dedicated to graphics with some setting in the BIOS.

 

Yeah 200mb is reserved for the integrated gpu.....

 

Anyone else's DVD drive make a brief whirr/startup sound whenever the computer wakes from sleep? I assumed this was just normal POST (power on selft test) behavior until I noticed someone else's non-Envy laptop that didn't do it, which made me wonder if it's all Envys or just mine.

 

yea I get the DVD whirr too..maybe he disabled it..btw how do you disable the DVD drive to save power?

 

its all envy's that do the whirr

 

Yes you do.
You can backup the C:/swsetup folder and reinstall.
Then contact adobe for new serials citing your receipt as proof of purchase.

 

The whir seems to be some sort of startup sequence for slot-loading drives, probably to check whether a disk is in it or not. Apple imacs with the slot-load drive do this as well.

 

Thanks all - good to know it's not just mine.

 

Hi, I ordered my Envy 14 Beats on the 19th and they said I would get it by the 4th. Its now the 5th, and my order status still says in production and the estimated delivery has not changed (saying I should get it by yesterday). Should I be worried, maybe call the support?

Thanks,
Ridiculously Old Guy (now online )

 

7 months of ownership so far and I'm still loving my E14!

 

Any word on an E14 refresh? I got my E14 for dirt cheap and am confident I can sell it for as much as I bought it for or a bit more.

 

A refresh would be nice, wouldn't it.

I'm kicking myself for not jumping on a Radiance and a 256 GB SSD when that -$500 coupon was still available.

 

What was the SSD brand? Radiance is always a nicety, pretty sure you'll come across another deal in the future that includes it. Seems to me judging from the way Radiance has come and gone HP is interested in bringing it back.

IMO Intel SSDs seem to be the ones worth going for.

 

Same here

Mine does it whenever I turn on my computer. I got tired of the sound so now I keep a blank CD in the drive... LOL

 

Total cost of my E14 came out to be $925 ($1001 tax included). Then called HP to complain about my uneven trackpad and got $50 back. So 875, not bad.

i5 580m, radiance , 500gb, 6gb ram-sold to my dad who promised to buy me a MBP when it refreshes

 

Not bad? I'd say that's great!

 

I currently have 4GB of RAM in my i7 14" Beats. The performance is quite good, but in work scenarios where I am using a few Adobe products in unison, the performance can lag slightly. Will more RAM remedy this?

Is there anything else I can do to optimize my machine?

Than you kindly.

p.s. Here is a link to the full spec sheet...
HP ENVY 14-1100 Beats Edition Notebook PC series specifications - HP Home & Home Office products

 

When I watch a video on VIMEO or YouTube in Full screen, as soon as I change the volume, either low or high, it exits out of FULL screen. I hate having to adjust the volume only to come out of Full screen then have to go back into Full again.

Any idea how I can change it so it doesn't leave Full Screen?

 

Use 3RVX instead of the default MediaSmart. See the first page of the Envy 14 Lounge.

 

Not sure. But compared to traditional disks, and considering that I use WDE and have a little performance penalty, any SSD is >> HDD.

 

Indeed SSD's are so much superior. If you don't mind paying more for it there is no question.

For me the question lies in how much I value the extra performance. At the moment I think SSD's, despite getting cheaper at a steady pace, are still overpriced.

a 256 gb SSD cost around $500 , $1.95 per Gb
a high end 500 gb HHD like a samsung spinpoint costs about $65 , $0.13 per Gb.

And so far, according to benchmarks, SSD's are between 1.5 and 3 times faster than high end HHD's like the spinpoint (HP's seagate HDD is about 15% slower than spinpoints).

So the fifteen fold difference in price/gb is way above the performance difference.
I'll seriously consider it when it gets close to the 5 fold difference.

references : passmark HDD benchmarks

 

Wonder how long it will take them to build my laptop. Its in production now.

 

For me, it's a cross between raw performance increase, everyday usage improvement / "seat of the pants" improvement, and whatever benefit there is from no moving parts / battery life. I picked up a MBP back in '09 for ~$1600, and if memory serves, I priced out an Envy 14 with an i5-560, 4 gigs, the Radiance panel (as I will not buy a 1366x768 laptop -- personal preference), and that 256 gig SSD for something very close to that with that -$500 coupon. That's worth it, imo. Having a 5-series i5 to take advantage of the new AES instructions, the SSD, the display, ...

 

A ram boost will help a bit, but if you are using one of the newer CS suites, then it may not. I use them as well, as there just seems to be a bit of built in lag that you can't escape, no matter the rig.

 

When you throw the coupon in, that indeed changes the deal

I wanted to keep my radiance built around the 1399 mark w/o buying parts I could upgrade later at a much cheaper price. So I took the SSD out of the question and paid only $1028 (tax included).

My idea is to get this HDD used for a year or so and then replace with an SSD that will then be much cheaper. I just hate knowing I overpaid for something

We all have different plans, ideas and budgets

 

I wanna watch youtube in FULL screen, and when i change the vol, it comes off FULL screen.

I downloaded 3RVX but Mediasmart is still working. How do i disable Mediasmart

 

I think you would have to uninstall mediasmart..I just use VLC media player, you can use the media smart volume control even in full screen

EDIT: Just noticed that this is for youtube

 

I didn't want uninstall mediasmart so disabled from starting with windows in msconfig under the startup tab and now I also use 3rvx.

 

Does anyone know if its possible to install a radiance screen in an Envy 14 Beats laptop?

 

It's the whole top lid, so technically you should be able to, but you'll end up with something that, aesthetically, looks like a Frankenenvy. Since the whole raison d'etre of the Beats edition is aesthetics, I can't imagine that being an appealing option to anyone.

Someone did post on the forum, however, that you can separate the LCD panel from the lid fairly easily, so in theory you might be able to swap out just the panel.

 

where do i go to create them?

i uninstalled cyberlink would that be a problem?

 

Hey, how long after a unit goes into production does it usually ship?

 

So after a month or so waiting, my Envy 14 (basic config - i5 460M / 4Gb / BV / 640 HDD) finally arrived yesterday, and I must say: I'm very impressed. The whole thing has absolutely no physical defects whatsoever, I can't even begin to describe how well built this thing is. The trackpad is perfectly aligned, screen has no dead pixels, no cpu whine, no heat issues, nothing.

One thing though, that I don't really think it qualifies as a defect, is that the keyboard is not that evenly lit. It's a liiiiiiittle brighter around the WASD area, but it doesn't bother me at all (and I consider myself OCD), it's not noticeable unless you read about it here .

The trackpad makes a little annoying noise when tapped on, and I don't mean when you click on the buttons, but I think that happens because is so perfectly aligned, and not exactly a defect but a design flaw. Have to live with that.

The one thing I'm absolutely not impressed about: the speakers. Many claim they sound awesome, but my old DV5-1235dx sounds a lot better in comparison. Was not this thing supposed to come with a subwoffer? I can't hear any bass at all. Listening through headphones is a whole differente story though, this thing packs some serious high quality internal components.

All in all, I couldn't be happier . It's the first time I buy a product and not feel like "I could've done better ". As I posted on another thread, the BV screen is, at least to me, an incredible improvement over my 2009 laptop. Having a Radiance could've been the missing link to a full premium laptop, but this is by no means a bad screen, is just a standard one. I think it might have been a premium display a couple of years ago, and I intend to compare it to a friend's MBP 15 from 2008, and see how it stands.

I gotta thank all of you for making my wait a little less sour, with all your posts .

 

the speakers were always known to be horrible, its just the sound card that makes it worth the "beats" recognition, so you can only tell the difference via headphones/external speakers. Glad to know that HP didn't mess up all the Envy's lol how long does your battery last btw

 

@Fixr: Any keyboard flex?

 

i notice that whenever my envy 14 wakes up from sleeping mode, the upper left corner always have some sort of noise, is it a CPU whine or a fan problem or something else?

 

just the dvd drive..its normal

 

I think it lasted a little over 4 and 1/2 hours on light surfing use, but that's a very rough estimate, as I was not paying attention to that. Will report back later

Only if you press a harder than what anybody would under normal circumstances, but yes, there's some . I'd prefer if it wasn't there, but it's not troublesome at all, unless you type like the laptop did something horrible to you and your family and you're making it pay

 

@fixr: That's good to know. Mine just went into production.

 

It actually took a month for the basic config? Damn...thats what I ordered....so I guess the "estimated build date: Feb 25" is accurate after all. *goes and sits in corner and weeps silently*

 

There there, I'm with you too.

 

to be exact. am i changing both the basic and advanced power management to gray? because i dont feel a difference..

 

Well this sux, the "W' key popped off and it seems like one of the tabs inside it broke off. Also the plastic piece that holds the key has a lil part broken off. Anyways I'm able to push it back in, and it seems to stay in place, but do u think if I call HP, they can just send those part out to me without me returning the whole laptop for repair?

I dont wanna be out of my laptop for weeks. But I'm upset how fragile the keyboard was

 

Well I am sorry to tell you but HP Consumer doesn't do Customer Self Replacement on the Envy 14 Keyboard. Maybe if you had On-Site, they could have a technician do it at your home but based on my experiences with HP Envy Customer Service, it will require a depot drop-off and repair for a week.