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

Hello guys, can someone help with with a small issue thats been bugging me, please?

FOr some reason when i try to arrange icons on my desktop it wont let me move the icon anywhere, (example: if i try moving "recyclebin to the bottom right where i usually put it , it wont let me.)


all thanks would be much appreciated

 

Auto arrange might be checked.

Right click on your desktop, View -> Auto Arrange Icons to uncheck it.

 

Nope, 500 GB HDD.

 

Thanks!, i set autoarrange on by accident.

Also. does anyone know how i can remove this hp envy theme that i accidentally set up? because it wont let me change the color/transparency of my taskbar

thanks

 

Right click on desktop, choose personalize. Then pick a theme you like. Or in the same panel choose a custom window color and adjust transparency.

 

The laptop just crashed. I opened Task Manager and it shows MsMpEng.exe consuming almost as much memory as Firefox. What is this and how do I fix it?

 

Installing the Momentus XT is incredibly easy. As with any hard drive for the Envy 14 you have to be careful with the thin metal frame and mylar that goes around the hard drive. Boot times are fairly quick, somewhere in between a SSD and a regular hard drive. I get around 38 seconds to the login screen.

Supposedly this hard drive aggressively pulls small system files that get loaded into the RAM into its NAND flash for quick loading. If you defrag the drive it erases what the drive learned but it only takes 3 reboots to reach maximum load speed. This matches with my experience using the drive so far.

As for battery life, I don't think the hard drive will have a significant effect. You will still be able to get around 4-5 hours of battery life as long as you set up some power management settings.

I'm liking the drive a lot. Once you run apps like Photoshop CS5 once (which takes around 12 seconds to load initially), they'll start up the second time in only 2 seconds!

 

hi everyone
long time lurker of this thread but first time posting.
im not quite the computer person so i told a friend to clean install for me.
now that its done and all the drivers from hp's site is installed, do i still have to install anything else? also i notice the beats (fn+b) settings are gone so i was wondering where i can find those again.
finally, i think my friend threw again the hp_tools partition. is it very important and can i get it back?
appreciate the help thanks

 

Okay, so I really didn't want to bring this up again since people are so tired of hearing about it. However, my CPU started whining today and I can't stop hearing it whenever I use the computer. I was reading about different things to do in order to stop the whine, and one of them was undervolting the CPU. So my question is, has anyone with whine on their Envy 14 tried undervolting their CPU and if so, DID IT WORK(you can see I am going crazy here)?!

 

Any idea on good color calibration for photography on our screens? Or should I just buy one of those spyder 3 pro or elite?

 

Because you guys have been helping me I will post this here since I know a bunch of you were looking for new headphone for laptop:
UE 700 65% off $200 -> $70. free shipping!

Code: UEBONUS1
Code valid for 24 hours or until 2000 codes are used.
Order from their website, doesn't matter if it says out of stock.

These are pretty good head phones, not top of the line like UE's other stuff, but for the price they're a dam steal. Better than Bose/Skullcandy crap.


to stay on topic, just downloading all the drivers on my desktop and will transfer to E14 tomorrow.

 

Solved ethernet problem...or more like I already had it installed correctly all this time.

The culprit: bad ethernet cable. Time to order a new one on Amazon.com. I'm going to buy a high quality one.

 

I jumped (or tried) on the free deal, doubt I got it. $70's a good price as it's about $180 on Amazon.com

 

$70 for a headset? You guys must make six-digit salary.

 

Nope. I just perceive quality.

Truthfully, I've only bought one set of pricey earbuds in my life and it was the SuperFi 4 (or 5>) when it was going for $50. I bought them almost 3 years ago. They're still running strong. Super durable, I tell you...not to mention the fact that their wires are replaceable for cheap. One problem with them is the bass is almost nonexistent!!


My current Sonies are decently balanced, they retailed for $30 on eBay when they came out. They came with my Sony mp3 player which I paid $140 for when I bought them 2 years back.




I was hoping for a new set of earbuds. I have no problem paying $100 if I feel the quality's there. I know Ultimate Ears are durable and replaceable when the wires/tips break. I enjoy listening to music during study breaks on my laptop or mp3 player.


EDIT: If you think $70's a lot...check out the $400 earbuds!!!!

 

Order cables and stuff from either newegg or meritline. I like newegg cuz fast shipping. Meritline's good for prices.

 

Word. I'm gonna stick to my old basic headphones.

 

That aside, can someone please recommend me a decent ethernet cable I can buy on Amazon.com? I need one that can take punishment. My current one died after 2 years of intermittent use.

 

Amazon tends to be cheap and I have Prime so I get 2-day shipping free regardless the amount I buy.

 

Not to my knowledge, but why have the additional process and sevices if it does absolutely nothing for your SSD? I jsut live with the irritating 'unknown device' listing.

 

That's what I use for my photography business and it works exceptionally well but it is probably an overkill for just a single notebook. One of it's key features is matching all your monitors to the same profile so you can edit between platforms seemlessly. It also has a very good printer calibration app that will color match your higher end printers to your screen calibration so 'what you see is what you get'.

If you do get one I would be very interested in seeing the final, after calibration, results (gamut, contrast, screen uniformity etc.).

 

Any of the cables on Amazon will probably do the job as well as the others, idk if I've ever heard of a high quality ethernet cable though since its a digital signal and they are cheap to get/make (I take that back, I'm sure Monster sells some,lol). If your willing to wait a couple days more, monoprice has 10 ft (dont know how long you need) CAT6 cables for $4.28 and the 25 foot one I have takes a beating (taped to carpet running across the hallway, so its consantly slammed between the door, walked over, etc.) and has held up fine, but thats just a bit less than the Amazon ones I found which would get to your house faster anyways and are probably the exact same cables.

 

Kind of strange but a lot of people seemed to have trouble getting ATi catalyst 10.7 to install properly, but I got it working on the first go. Now my question is...how do I get the switchable graphics back lol?

 

Is it just my E14 that's making a whining sound when it;s writing a disc?

Sounds sorta like "why-in" said fast and about twice a second. If no one elses is making this noise, it's just another minus on top of the 3 chips off the edge, the gap between trackpad and the non flush-ness of the trackpad.

 

The E14 is much more sexier then the Z definitely and the second batch people doesn't report any gap on the track-pad/keyboard. I wont recommend RMA for something small, you could end up with something big (more issue).

I think mine did too, I didnt really pay attention to it but I guess that tell me the BIOS is doing equipment check, it doesn't bother me at all.

Reinstall windows, reinstall driver correctly in order. Take a look of my previous post, I don't really encounter issue with clean install of win7 on my E14.

If you use SSD, which I believe you do...that would be intel IME driver.

Please share the ICC profile if you did calibrate your E14 screen.

 

Go to amazon, search "cat6 cable", and buy any of the ones that Cables To Go makes. Or, you can buy any "cat5e cable". Same on Newegg too. Any brand is fine. The cheaper the better--it's not like you have rats running around your house.

 

So ethernet cables are just like HDMI cables in that they're all the same quality, eh? Okey dokes. Have to buy tonight as I'm taking off next week. Probably put my budget at $10.

Amazon.com Student Prime FTW.

 

There is some cheap qualities though, looks for insulation and RJ45 cap...the good one have thicker material and more sturdy plastics.

PS:I dont use wireless @home and I disabled wifi+bluetooth, the LAN light is white which is cool! Compared to the usual green LED.

 

Yeah. Will take note of that, thanks for the tip.


I'm going to get one cable for now for my desktop replacement. A longer cable will obviously give me more options in terms of where I decide to put my desk and computer. I'm not too big on wifi at home as I'm told that a granny can hack into a wifi hotspot.




EDIT: On second thoughts, it won't matter whether i want wifi on my DTR as I'll need to have it plugged into my modem in order to be able to transmit wifi via the router.

 

To New_Vaio_F

Well, I am part of the second batch, and I have a 1mm gap. Also, looks like tr1p7s has a gap as well.

The fact that I should be worried about RBA'ing for fear of receiving an even more defective unit is pretty sad. Also, I am tying this on the Sony Z, and I have to disagree, this thing is damn sexy.

 

Damn right it's sexy! Had a 4820TG fanboy saying the E14 is only eyecandy which is completely wrong.


The screen is simply the best I've used among all laptops. Colors really do pop out at you. The aesthetics simply ooze of quality and refinement and the touchpad with a little work is the best PC touchpad out there without a shadow of a doubt (Note: install the software shown here). Build construction is also top-notch. The only part where it loses to the Macbook Pro is screen lid flex which is still pretty minimal anyway. The LED backlit keyboard adds a nice touch. I can see HP taking a page from Apple and making the LED brightness adjustable. The backlit logo itself seems like HP's way of thumbing its nose at Apple.

 

One last question about ethernet cables. Is it worth it to get cat6 over cat5e? Is whatever DSL/cable modem I use for my internet going to be able to deliver gigabit internet? I just plan to plug both of my laptops into an ethernet hub. (last time I'm going off-topic for now)

 

which part that you have a gap on?I couldn't seems to see my keyboard/track-pad have a gap.





Do you have any pictures? Let me compare yours with mine. Yea, trust me...once it built and dissembled, it wont feel the same. Unless you dissembled it really2 careful and know E14 specifically, which people who work on your E14 less likely do.

I guess its a taste, I think the Z looks kinda un-sexy since its boxy, no rounded edge.

PS eople who were on the first batch reporting the USB is very sticky but mine is not, its like any regular USB slot on a laptop, easy to plug and unplug.

 

Well cat6 it has more twist and pair, but Ethernet only need 2 pair for it to work. However the twist might help with data transmission so I would definitely get the cat6 over cat5 if I can but not necessarily needed.

 

after installing all my software (Photoshop, Office 2007, winrar, Itunes, and SCII) The display brightens controls have stopped working! Has anyone had experience with this yet? im panicking thinking Ive broken something.

 

Most likely HP programs that need to be re-installed. Its called HP quick something.

I Installed photoshop, office, itunes and no issue with brightness control.

 

guys.

the trackpad is supposed to have the gap.

it's a button you push down.

 

Huh. So it's not supposed to be flush?

 

well..it gets flush while pushed down.

so *shrugs* well flush everywhere but where the buttons are at the bottom.

 

Weird. Completely weird. If my laptop's an anomaly, I hope it is in a not so bad way. I mostly tap to click, so hopefully I don't encounter any hardware issues later on down the road.

 

Question about RMAing: If I RMA will BCB be voided and for exchanges do they put in the order for a new laptop when HP receives it or when FedEx scans it in?

 

is yours flush?

maybe yours is right and ours are wrong but it doesn't matter since it's hardly a difference

 

Should I regret buying an i3 instead of an i5? Especially in terms of battery life?

 

Yep. Completely. Right/left clicking is done as with any other touchpad.

 

After a couple hours spent using the laptop, I'm quite disappointed. I thought I got one with no whine, but after burning the recovery discs, the whine came. It's not like it's holding it's note for you musicians, it's whining, taking a breath, whine some more. Sometimes it'll choose to go staccato.

Then I can't connect to the internet. "No internet access." I tried to connect wirelessly to the schools internet, one secured, one not. I tried to connect using a cable. I tried a new port with a tested cable. I tried the port with the cable I've been using to connect on my old laptop, and still I get no internet access. So this might be a problem with the schools network but eh.

There's a gap between the right edge of the touch pad and the wrist rest.

Here's a photo album documenting flaws on my E14. Most of them are minor and easily overlooked, but with finals looming ahead of me, I expected perfection from what I had hoped to be a little piece of heaven.

http://picasaweb.google.com/111789761950078850682/ProblemsWithE14?feat=directlink

I plan on calling to exchange this laptop after I play around with it a bit more. Hopefully the next one will be better. I want to love my E14, but it's one thing on top of another. If any one can tell me how to connect to the internet (cause apparently I can't) I'd appreciate it. Would prefer to take this to class than my old laptop...

 

Hello,
I am thinking about buying Envy 14 soon, on the basis of specifications, some reviews and alternatives (or rather lack of those) on the market, as regards high-performance 14'' laptop.

As more and more people buy Envy 14 I would like to ask a simple question - would you recommend it?

I have come across some negative experiences (some strange whining being the most worrying) so, if you had the choice again - would you go for Envy 14 or by something (what?) else?

Thank you for your general views!

Best,
Theriel

 

At the price I paid the E14 thanks to BCB, I would definitely give it a couple more chances. I'd be hard press to find these specs for $800-900

 

Ok, can someone please tell me the difference between doing a clean install and simply uninstalling all of the bloatware? I'm still not 100% sure I want to do a clean install. How long did it take you to get it back running (with updated drivers and all) after you'd already burned the backup disks and SwSetup file?

 

I an already sending my ev14 back to HP for a dvd drive issue. Something is preventing me from inserting a disk and it is not another disk. Anybody else have any issues with this?

 

Hey guys! I just noticed that HP reduced the base price of e14 to $999, but the base config does not have the radiance display. You have to pay $200 for the upgrade which means they raised the price by $100