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

I think it's more a lighting thing. When it catches it just right it has a greyish silverish look, but in comparison to the silver rim, it looks champagne.

 

This laptop never has the same color twice. It always changes.

 

check your display adapters and let me see what there is.


also which ATI drivers did you install?

the one from swsetup? 'cause that set has both ati and intel drivers in it and should work correctly.

 

I bought my Envy on July 8. Received it on July 22 and had to send it for repair because the hard drive died after an hour. It was supposed to be fixed and shipped by August 3, but they delayed it up to August 17. What kind of crap is HP pulling?

The good news is I told him I heard you all were having CPU whine problems and that they were already looking into that for my machine. I don't think I'll ever buy from HP online anymore. By the time I get it back it will have been one and a half months since I initially ordered it.

 

I sent mine in as well and haven't heard anything back either. Just that I should expect it this week.

 

The cpu whine sounds more like a hiss to me when I put my ear next to the computer. It also does indeed seem to be linked to usb devices. Goes away when I unplug my flash drive.

 

Hooray me..just received my Envy 14 today. Put on the slice, plugged it all in, waiting for it to charge. Fit and finish seems to be almost perfect. Track pad looks like it's suppose to, all gaps seem correct, haven't really noticed much flex (then again, haven't really typed on it). Screen looks flawless, though I have yet to turn it on, lol. Battery cover opens very easily. The only thing I have noticed is a pin head size ding right above the two USB ports (which aren't difficult to plug and unplug from) on the edge of the laptop, very minor. As soon as the 14 is charged, I'll turn it on to see if there are any screen issues, whine's, groans, cricks or any other misc problems. If not then it's time to remove the bloatware.

I am thinking about buying a SSD to play around with. Any consensus on what the best 256g drive is? I heard the Crucial C300? is a good one....anyway, nice to be an owner instead of just a lurker. For everyone still on the fence reading through these threads, I'll post an update on the overall condition once I turn the thing on and use it for a few hours.

 

That Engadget review is worthless. The folks there don't have a clue what they're talking about and their envy 14 review sounds like something they could've written without having the laptop in their possession. They probably have a whining CPU and the cycling fans but are oblivious to it.

 

You will not see full spee don teh C300 with the ENVY, the C300 is for SATA3 the ENVY has SATA2. They only get ~240MB/s on the ENVY, with SATA3 they get ~321MB/s.

Get a SandForce based SSD, they have the same READ (~230MB/s) but much higher Write ~230 vs the ~190 of the C300

 

Thanks for the info. I'll check it out.

 

Heh, I was thinking the same thing. Either that or their review unit was hand picked and thoroughly vetted by HP. It is known to happen.

Hopefully we'll get out hands on one soon. I'll check upstairs to see who, what, when, and so forth.

 

No mention of the fan here either HP Envy 14 Review - A Review of the HP Envy 14.

 

Something changed with my BatteryBar. It had been showing how much time was left, and now it is showing what percentage is left. Anyone know what happened, and how I can get it back to showing how much time is remaining?

 

Left click it.

 

So whats the deal...is this coming to Canada?

 

yes. in bestbuy or something

 

That's exactly what I was thinking. There's no way HP would send any laptop over.

 

I think they just did a basic review, without taking it around as if they will own it.
Most people report the whine after plugging something into their USB or turning on bluetooth, so I highly doubt that Engadget tested out the ports...

 

Thanks! That did it.

 

Yeah, somewhat disappointing. Really all they did was benchmark it. But in any case, I've just ordered mine last night. I'm not expecting perfection, so I hopefully won't be disappointed. One question though, I bought a 64GB SSD to use as the system drive, because I'm too cheap to get the Intel one. Is the Minimal Install people keep mentioning an option from the recovery disks? I intend to have the system files on the SSD and some programs that I access a lot, and then for things that I don't use as often or don't need the speed (eg. Steam games, multimedia) I'll set up NTFS junction points to an external drive.

 

So I checked upstairs to see if we will be getting a review unit of the Envy...

Nope, doesn't look like it.

How's about I come over to one of youse guys house and use your unit for a review? There's free beer... I mean will work for beer. Oh and you just need to put some newspaper down. I'm not housebroken yet.

 

Come on over. It's not like my 1 and 2 year old boys haven't flooded the damn house with urine already...

Spoiler

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Is the "minimal system recovery" done instead of a clean install? If so, that sounds like it's for me. What steps are needed to do this?

 

Just put in your recovery discs and select "minimal system recovery". It still loads all the HP utilities and such though. Not sure what it doesn't load, because I spent all of 20 minutes with it before I clean installed.

 

LOL. Good deal. Be there this weekend. Can I bring a friend? He's a real pisser.

 

Another review. Dunno if its been posted
HP Envy 14 Review - A Review of the HP Envy 14

 

So I finally turned on my Envy and have some first impressions.

Fit and Finish

First off, kudos to HP for the packaging, nice and simple.
As I mentioned in my earlier post, my Envy's fit and finish is really good. I have none of the cosmetic flaws others have reported. Battery cover works as it should, so do the USB ports. The HP logo light looks right. No defects in the screen, no discoloration from any angle. Hinges work well, no noticeable flex in the keyboard. The keyboard looks flush as does the rest of the fittings. I can use the touchpad without any major issues.

Boot up, slice battery, fans and first overall impressions

With the slice battery this laptop is heavy. I read that the slice added a couple of pounds but did not think much of it. Take it from me, it does add noticeable weight. Of course if you just need battery life and aren't moving around a bunch it would be useful, otherwise I would probably not attach it.

I booted up for the first time, then went through all the hoops that HP makes you jump through. Rebooted after updates installed and then just played around. The first thing that caught my attention was fan noise. Now I have to say I went with the i7 since I do a fair amount of multitasking and figured why not (this is mainly a work laptop). Perhaps that may have some bearing on the noise level, but it IS noticeable. After about 30 mins the fans died down/cut off and the noise was gone. Which is nice, but when my fans come on, I know it.
The next thing I noticed is the screen. I'm sure this will ruffle some feathers but I'm not THAT impressed with the screen. Is it nice? Sure. But to be honest, I have my son's Asus UL30V 13" laptop open beside my Envy 14 and while the screen may be smaller (and a lower resolution), the color (imho) is nicer on the Asus. At this first viewing, I'm not convinced the display is as nice as I was expecting. The screen (resolution) was one of the main reasons I went with the Envy and I feel let down. But, let me say that was because of my expectations, YMMV.
Speed, as compared to my son's Asus, is not noticeably faster. I'm sure benchmarks will prove me wrong, but from a cursory glance, launching programs from the desktop didn't seem worlds different (perhaps that is to be expected). I have not played any games as of yet but I'm sure the Envy would bury the Asus in that.
Now as you read my impressions you have to keep in mind that all this is in my humble opinion. And those opinions are based on what I was hoping/expecting from this laptop.
I am gamer, but this laptop is mainly going to be used for moving around at work and occasionally used on vacation. In the light of those facts my initial impressions are mixed.
The Envy feels solid, has a nice tough casing, the light up keyboard is nice and is fairly powerful. However it's a bit heavy in comparison to the lesser Asus(especially with the slice battery) and it's very noisy (fans).

For my personal taste I think my son's laptop works better for me (except for the gaming). It's more portable, has a lower resolution screen but the colors and desktop looks nicer to my eyes. I would trade with him but it's not practical.

If you need a very mobile PC to do school work, or business on and gaming isn't really on the radar, I would go with a lesser, lighter PC. If your in college, need/want something with a small footprint, but want to have some gaming ability, the Envy is a really good option. If your main reason to buy the Envy over something like the Acer is because of the screen it would behoove you to try and see them side by side (though I'm sure that is difficult to do). I think people read about the resolution difference and equate that with a better looking screen, which may not always be the case.
Even though my kids computer is lower spec'd and half the price it really holds it's own against the HP when it comes to day to day basic usage.

Again, it is all in what your expectations are. If I sound negative about the Envy I don't feel that way. The Envy is a fine laptop. It's powerful for it's size, has good options for different configurations and is a looker. But it's noisy (at least my unit is) and a bit heavy (compared to what I was use to using prior).

More impression to come after I get some more time with it.

**Update**
Some interesting observations.

After taking off the slice battery two thing immediately happened. First, the laptop felt more reasonable in weight. Secondly, and most importantly, the fan noise died down significantly. Apparently the slice, while it has vents in it somehow restricts(?) the airflow enough to force the fans to stay on longer? I'm not sure and I am still testing this, but so far the fans stay off much longer without the slice battery connected.

One troubling event has occurred, the Envy went into standby mode for the screen and would not wakeup. I waited for 3 mins and the screen never came back. I am hoping it was just a glitch.

 

Guys fixed my windows experience score, it seems like if you run it a few times it finally reads it correctly. Got to go up on my 4th read, its at 7.5 now.

 

Would my Envy 14 warranty be voided if I replaced the SSD that came with it with something else and sold my existing SSD?

BTW, 2.0, after you and your pisser friend come over , you might want to update the first post regarding SSD's. It currently says "both support TRIM" which as we know is not the case... yet at least.

 

No, but your 21 day return would be. Drives and RAM are user serviceable.

Updated. Yay, roadtrip. BTW, we're going to park on your front lawn. Hope you don't mind. We're ghetto like that.

 

If anyone wants the outer case temps of the envy 14 i7 720 model, I can provide them. I have a fluke thermal ir sensor. During my win 7 installation, the highest temps on the back most vent was 126 Fahrenheit, 122 on the right side vent. I don't believe it ever got above 98 on any of the trackpad/ keyboard locations.

 

When your laptop's booting up, repeatedly hit the Esc key. You'll get prompted with a menu, and I believe that F10 brings up the Recovery screen in the BIOS. The options are labeled though, so just choose the option for recovery.

From there, choose "Minimal Image Recovery".

That reformats your C drive (but does NOT remove the Recovery/System partitions) and reinstalls Windows 7, the HP drivers, and a few of the HP-specific programs like their media bar. And that's it. No crazy bloatware to worry about uninstalling, unless you just hate the HP-specific programs.

The whole process took about an hour for me, and I've been pretty surprised at how smooth the machine runs afterward. I was SO thankful I didn't have to go hunting for driver installs or digging through SWSetup to find the programs I needed. It was just a set-it-and-forget-it option. Couldn't have been more pleased even if I did a fresh install off a Windows 7 disc.

I've loved my Envy ever since, and performance was (for me) remarkably better after the Minimal Image Recovery, even compared against the "fresh" state of taking it out of the box and booting it for the first time. It certainly seems speeder.

Now if I could just get the trackpad behavior to improve, I'd love this laptop. As it stands right now, I'm 95% adoring this machine. But that 5% of hate comes from the trackpad, and given how often I'm having trackpad problems, that may prove to be a problem.

 

Are the problems with the trackpad a result of the Minimal Image Recovery??or were they always there?

 

More impressions....

Without the slice the Envy is a better laptop. It adds weight, magnifies the sound of the fans and makes the fans run more often. I read a post where someone suggested just buying an extra 8cell, I would have to concur that as the best option. While you can use the slice AND the 8cell concurrently the extra weight and impact on heat aren't worth it in my opinion.

I've grown a little warmer on the screen. The extra resolution does add some extra detail, but I still standby my comments on color versus the Asus.

The biggest news has to be the improvement to the Envy without the slice. It now feels more like I was hoping it would. I just hope I can return the slice for a refund or for another 8 cell.

 

Almost every time I turn on my computer, I lose internet about 5-10 minutes later. When I first turn it on, I will pick up about 12 different networks, and than a few minutes later I lose all of them. (My other computer picks them up just fine).

Any idea what this could be? I have to restart my computer to get connection back. And no, I did not do a clean install of my computer after I recieved it...

 

I've had this pop up a few times... who knows..

 

Guys! I found a place selling the Targus Portable Universal Charger for only 34.99 brand new! Theres only 30 minutes left so go quick!! DealsClick . just ordered one. came out to about 39 buck


edit: donezo

 

update the wifi driver

 

Thanks.
Link for drivers?

 

Thanks for the review quibbs. very detailed. I'm interested in the fact that you think the Asus has better colors. The UL30VT is known to have a pretty lousy screen

 

Here's the (very positive) Engadget review, to go along with LaptopMag and Slashgear.

HP Envy 14 review -- Engadget

 

Intel® PRO/Wireless and WiFi Link Drivers-Only for Windows 7*

 

Thanks for the info. I may just have to jump on that Crucial deal then. I'm sure I can find a sucker, er, buyer for my Samsung. Actually the Samsung is fine, read speeds are good, just writes suffer a bit. I'm just OCD with that stuff. I probably wouldn't notice the difference, but in my head I will.

You can't park on my lawn. I don't have one any more. This is what happens when you don't pay your water bill, they remove your sewers, and your lawn (yes this is actually footage from my house)...

Spoiler

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Betcha never thought you'd see huggies commercials and sewer videos in an Envy forum did'ya? eh? eh?

 

The very first Envy definitely deserved a C+ grade. Imagine that the Envy 15 1st generation is a 5-8 page paper. A typical prof would give HP that very grade for good effort and creativity, but poor organization, sentence structure, and grammar. The Envy 15 2nd Gen IMO raises the grade to a B+ after a rewrite in the form of improved touchpad drivers, a redesign that leads to fewer heating issues, and palm rest problems solved.


But the Envy 14? I'll admit judging from the 10,000+ posts I've read through the owner forums that the grade is completely debatable and subject to personal experience. Without the (continually updating) Google touchpad software that can be found in the Trackpad Discussion thread, this notebook IMO stays on the accursed borderline 89.5% which for many teachers can be a B+ grade or an A-. But with the improved software that allows for improved two-finger scrolling, the Envy 14 gets a 93%. Just shy of A- but still in straight A territory. Toss in the Radiance display and you indeed get a potential top of the class paper not to mention another reason(with others to follow) for the professor to hand HP a letter of recommendation.


To HP: Great job. You get the most-improved award in my grade book. Keep up the good work. I expect better things from you in the future.

What I liked:

(1) Edge-to-edge screen. I don't mind for now that it's not genuine glass. If you can, try to toss it in, but I still give you points.

(2) Radiance Display - Bravo. Need I say more?

(3) Keyboard - It's simply fantastic.

(4) Aesthetics - I've already drawn many glances with this notebook. The laser etchings really grow on ya.


A couple of critiques that will put you closer to A+ territory:

(1) Keep working on the touchpad software. Work with Synaptics on improving it so that we don't have to rely on the good will and charity of software coders in the NBR community. Improve 2-finger scroll and toss in inertial scrolling, 3-finger swipes, and 4-finger swipes,

(2) Consider doing away with the optical drive when the time is right. I understand some people need their DVD drive. That's fine. But in the future, if it'll shave off a lot of weight, I'm willing to pay for an optical driveless Envy 14.

(3) Backlit keyboard - This isn't a criticism. But making the brightness adjustable would certainly tempt me to toss in another % point to your grade.

(4) Build Construction - I had an argument with the other "professors" over this. A tiny bit of keyboard flex which I myself barely noticed is fine for now. Overall build construction with an optical drive to boot is understandable. I gave you a high score in this area, but try to get rid of the flex. Until then, repeat after me: Perception. Matters. Take this from someone who worked several months at Subway.

(5) Find a way to get rid of that God-awful CPU whine!

 

you should write for engaget, good review

 

No kidding. All Asus laptops reviewed screens i've read all say they have horrible screens, including the recent U30JC and Bamboo.

 

As I mentioned before it is just my opinion. With the two units sitting side by side the color just looked nicer to my eyes on the Asus.
You can't go wrong with the Envy's screen. It has a clearer picture meaning it's smoother all the way around and has a higher resolution. I just wish it's colors were a bit deeper (best way I could put it) then what they are. Maybe lower contrast. On my unit it as if someone turned down the color setting a bit. Perhaps when I have a chance to tinker with settings I can find a way to adjust the color more to my liking.
The Envy 14 screen in many ways is nicer then the Asus screen. But in one way it wasn't (at least to me). This shouldn't deter anyone from getting a HP. There isn't an overwhelming inherent flaw with the screen. It was merely a critique, based on a first impression.

 

Nah, my specific problem with the trackpad has to do with its physical placement. My hands generally hover over the home row keys on the keyboard, and since the trackpad extends over into the right half of the laptop, my right palm keeps brushing against it.

 

Thanks Zeth006. Good points. My single wish for an updated Envy 14 would be for a unit without an optical drive, and instead offer improved cooling with a more powerful GPU and room for a second HDD or SSD. Even a 1.8" would be great.

 

I have a hunch that every Envy has the CPU whine. But some people just chalk it up to regular sound while others are aggravated by it.

I hear a whine myself, but it's not really disruptive or intrusive enough for me to complain. I could see how it would drive others crazy though.