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

I just logged my CoreTemp data for an hour now. Here are the results:

Idle: mid-low 30s, some random spikes to high 30s. Core load: <10% Core Speed: 1462mhz

Light Browsing, Music: mid-high 30s, passes up to mid 40s. Core load: <35%. Core Speed: fluctuates between 1462mhz - 2061mhz.

Gaming (DA:O for this instance): mid 60s, peaks around 74. Core load: ~60% on each core Core Speed: 2659mhz

What do you guys think? my idle and light usage temps are too hot for my liking. Also the fan ALWAYS comes on at 35C+. so if i had the Fan Always On disabled, it will still be on a majority of the time since my idle temps are near 35C.

 

your idle and light usage temps are good, what were you expecting? a refrigerator?

 

haha that would be nice. Well im curious to see because some people report their temp in the sub 30s. i mean ive had my readings go to 19C after putting it on standby in a 70F room. but i never can idle at a low 30s. with temps going beyond 35C all the time i dont see why they have the option to turn off the fan if it comes on at 35

 

I need help hooking up my Envy14 to my Dell SP2309W 23" Monitor. What could i do to get the full resolution of 2048 x 1152? The monitor has VGA, DVI-D and HDMI but the Envy only has minidisplay and HDMI. HDMI only supports 1920 x 1280 or whatever. Would a minidisplay to DVI adapter work? HELP PLEASE??

 

stupid question but is the win7 home premium installed the x86 or x64 version?

 

it's the x64 version.

 

Indeed.

But to check, go to control panel and system. It will be listed there.

 

Something must be wrong with the software you're using or our sensor is off. 19C = 66F. Your machine is running cooler than ambient room temperature? Plus I would expect at least 30C in a 70F room, low 30's is more realistic.

 

hello everyone!!

just purchased my envy 14 and now the long torturing wait..

I was wondering what does 1 dimm and 2 dimm mean? I purchased the 1 dimm because I thought it meant that it only occupies 1 slot (1 x 4 gb) so I can install another 1 x 2 gb that i currently have. Is this true or am I wrong?

 

That is correct

 

i guess this means i wasted a dvd burning the 32bit win 7 lol

 

you're right but make sure the 2GB stick that you have is DDR3, otherwise it won't work.

 

It might be the sensors, I've had some inconsistencies with CoreTemp. i only had the 19C instance once after leaving the apt with it set on 70F and the laptop on standby sitting on an aluminum base laptop-cooler that was turned off. It read low temp as 19C; i did not see it read 19C when i turned it on. i was never able to achieve a consistent idle temp lower than say on average 33C. right now it is running at 43C and staying near there. please note that my e14 is not from a clean install, but i removed as much bloatware as i seemed right for me.

 

Anyone know how to restore the HP Recommended power option in the battery settings menu thing. Or is that not much different than the Balanced?

 

to my knowledge, its the same

 

By the way, I highly discourage anyone from messing with any screws on the motherboard thinking that it will fix the CPU whine. It won't. What it will do is add to that whine a somewhat loud staticy noise. Trust me, I know

Just ordered a replacement for mine.

 

Does anyone know if there is a program/utility to control the fans in the envy 14? I know there used to be one for old dells. I am interested in cranking up the fans, not make them stupid quiet.

 

I'm not sure how many people in this thread are concerned about the sub-par settings on their Radeon 5650's, but we may be making progress in getting attention from HP.

I contacted a senior HP executive about the issue and just received a response. He forwarded my message to the notebook team and advised to "stay tuned."

I assume we'll have a response soon and will update with additional information as it becomes available. If you have not voted in the poll yet, please do so:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/503246-hp-envy-14-gpu-clock-undervoltage-poll.html

I included this link in the message; HP employees may take a look and would surely like to see a larger sample.

 

Can any ENVY14 owners tell me what is the wireless card? I think on the HP site they advertise it as "integrated a/b/g/n wireless" but the explore HP Envy 14 website says it has "Intel Ultimate-N 6300 wireless card," which is the best to date. I'd really like to know which one HP is actually including

 

See the first post. It's amazing how much information it contains!

 

Intel 6200 (2 antennae instead of 3)

 

Intel Ultimate-N 62000 wireless card for me.


broadcom something or another for non US envies

 

Is the 21 day return starting from day of delivery or day you receive the item?

 

The day you recieve. Come on people ready the first post befor you make one. Wait what is the differance? The day you recieve it is the day of delivery.

 

Lol thats what I'm confused about. I guess the day of delivery in my mind is actually called day of shipment.

 

Quick Q and I apologize in advance if this has been answered as the 1st page does not contain the answer.


Is the tendency of the wificard to drop signal once someone closes the Envy a common problem? Has it been solved?

 

it's a "dude the antennae are in the lid and metal blocks the signal pretty good when the lid is closed" sorta thing I think.

 

Seriously I thought there was a block on reviews until the 20th or something. It is now the 25th and not one tech website or person has done a video review on this thing or a full workup?

Why isn't anyone talking about this thing. I find it really strange.

 

the block's sorta til august 10th I think.

 

There's ONE review. But yeah...you're right. You'd think some tech blog person would have the courage to go rogue, create a pen-name, and post on a personal blog somewhere!

(Gimme a minute while I look for it)

 

I'm just curious, how does the cooling system/ airflow work? I'm guessing its:
vents on the bottom -> fans -> heatsink -> exhaust.
I'm just curious because I have an older laptop and I clean out dust bunnies every 6-8 months and I have no idea how I would be cleaning out my envy14.

 

Somebody mentioned getting the Square Trade warranty for their E14. Can someone explain what the "Square Trade" warranty is, where you get it, and if it's a good deal to buy it? Do you have to buy it before you get your Envy, or can you still get it afterwards?

 

Square trade warranty is just another insurance company specifically targeting electronic goods. You pay them a predetermined value to "insure" your item from manufacturing damage and accidental if you pay for it. If your item is damaged, you send it in, they attempt to fix it. If they cannot fix your item within 5 days, they will send you a check for the price you paid for the item.

You can buy it from squaretrade.com.

I don't plan on buying any warranty because I take good care of my belongings and since I purchased the E14 with an AmEx card, the warranty is doubled to two years. But if you do buy a warranty, it's much cheaper than buying it from the manufacturer.

According to the company, you can buy the warranty up to 3months after delivery (new items only).

 

Anybody that is unhappy with under-clocked, lower quality 5650 in envy 14 please post here:

The Plastiki Docks Down Undah - The Next Bench

 

Already have. Thanks for the reminder for others though. We should really all post there from now on LOL about complaints.

 

I hear you guys who have to work for your stuff. I going to spend about a quarter of everything I'm earning from my summer job towards this laptop and the rest goes towards tuition. My parents have a bit saved away for me but I'm working so that money can go towards my (lazy) brother who either

A: Can't find a job (reasonable)
B: Is too lazy to get a job somewhere (unjustifiable)

Canada is a bit nicer with the loans though, no repayment/interest until you graduate/drop out.

The most annoying thing I've seen lately was at work when I saw a ~10 year old with an iPad and he dropped it. That made me rage pretty hard inside.

On topic, I went to Futureshop today, got a salesperson to open up the box and show me the E14 and I have to say:

1. The keyboard flex isn't anywhere near as bad as the youtube videos make it out to be. You have to press it harder than you would in pretty much any usage scenario (for me) to get that much flex.
2. The pattern on the lid isn't quite as bad as it looks in pictures and such. It's actually a nice series of mini-squares and dots that looks pretty cool. What I am worried about is the cleaning out of said holes after ~1 year of usage. In most objects with small holes such as phone microphone holes/lanyard slots after a while, oil/gunk gets trapped in there making a dark coloured sort of goo which looks/feels/is disgusting.
3. It feels pretty damn solid and heavy for the size, both pluses in my book and a far cry from the netbook my friend brought on a roadtrip to watch some movies on.

 

Did I screw up by not getting the SSD? I don't need more than 160GB, after all. Do SSD's have any cons whatsoever?

 

Yeah: the price. I wouldve gotten a SSD as well but not at $200. I'm just going to wait till the prices drop and don't tell me I'll be waiting for a while cause I know and I'm willing. I can spare the extra minute for my slow HDD to get what I need.

 

Wow...umm...I could easily go into a drawn-out rant on the 50+ things wrong with that picture.

 

Nice guys, be bummed cause I'm 20 and just have a really good summer job and have saved up tons for a nice laptop for school.

That said, I'd like to remind you that anyone buying an envy 14 is relatively wealthy.

A lot of you don't need the Envy 14's capabilities, SSD's, entirely (practicality speaking) unnecessary (even for high end school) HD screen, the extra money tacked on for appearance alone, etc.

And I know that there will be some anecdotal engineering majors who will argue that you do indeed need it, but even then I'm sure you could find a less attractive bulkier laptop with equal *practical* capabilities and 2/3 cost.

Further to justify my actions, I work off a laptop for the work at home data entry portion of my job.
If I could see the hours my Asus was used for the year and the half, it would probably be atleast 5 hours a day 5 days a week. With 48 weeks, thats 5 x 5 x 48 = 1200 hours in a year, x 1.5 for its lifespan, thats 1800 hours of use. And thats lowballing it, easily. So really in terms of hours of usage/cost, its probably less than a dollar an hour for its life span. Honestly, even if I was making 10 dollars an hour, the amount I use my laptop makes it more than worth it.

Next I pass the Asus on to my dad, who passes on my old Toshiba to my mom

 

The "talk" about the E14's 5650 being servely undervolted/underclocked/inferior is really making me anxious :/
It wouldn't be so bad if it were in a less costly machine (im a firm believer of "you get what you pay for") but the idea of it being in a "premium" notebook is rather annoying

 

Do tell how I'm wrong about them wanting something unnecessary, because listing the laptops that have an HD screen certainly proves nothing.

Thats exactly what I'm talking about, who needs a 1680x1050?

Its a luxury.

 

I have to agree I never want to deal with another bulky laptop. I owned a cheap 15.6" Acer. It was over 7 pounds (8 maybe?), and very unwieldy. Not to mention the sub-par build quality.

The Envy 14 will hopefully last me 2-3 years. It's going to be my desktop replacement for some time, likely until next summer if and when I have time to work and make some spare cash for a desktop. I may need to take summer classes to stay on top of my major and minor, though.

 

He's showing off vertical space difference on maya or photoshop, well it does impair productivity if you work with the same layout.
But frankly if you adapt your layout or get used to it theres no productivity lost.

Here's what he shouldve linked : 1650* versus 1336* photoshop layout space gain/loss. That's taken on a viao one of 1650* the other is 1336.

Imageshack - img0513ace.jpg - Uploaded by speedwithjj
Imageshack - img0626n.jpg - Uploaded by speedwithjj

Imageshack - img0515v.jpg - Uploaded by speedwithjj
Imageshack - img0630o.jpg - Uploaded by speedwithjj

I agree that HD screen on a 14" is a luxury if you're aiming for productivity rather than learning things, you shouldn't be whatsoever working on a 14" on the first place. But on one if not two 22" 26" external replacements.

The HD screen on a 14" is only a necessity for on the move photographers/illustrators... Not engineers (unless you're a specialized engineer already). That said, what draws all engies on the envy is the performance you can pack in such a small unit (5650 + i7 + ssd at it's best) not the hd screen, it's just eyecandy bonus that goes with the awesome look of the machine.

 

Being one of those "engineering types" i think the screen is a major pro for this notebook. Im not an engineer, yet... but i am an engineering student and as i cant afford 2 external 26" screens also needing a portable laptop capable of running the programs going from one class to another this thing is perfect.

it has all the packed hardware with a decent battery... but the screen is what makes it worth while over competitors.

its definitely not a necessity but not a luxury either... its pretty much for added comfort while working for hours on a detailed model.

 

Yea ^^ think of all the indian engineers working on way smaller res screens. Doesn't prevent the job from getting done. But it's a boost in comfort in any case as you mention it. Even if it only allows to fit nearly nothing but additional toolbars in the gained space.

 

Hello everyone,

I know this question has been answered but I couldn't find it...

When you do a fresh install, Which partitions do you format and which do you leave in tact?

 

2 whole pages of complaints! Nobody noticed it yet?

 

How much free space would doing a clean install clear up? My SSD only has 91ish GB free, but the Recovery Partition is taking like 13 GB up...and I haven't removed bloatware yet (making Recovery CDs ATM). And is it possible to do a clean install without a legitimate CD? Is it possible to somehow clone/copy the OS I received on my computer and use it to do a clean install?

 

Read the first post, there is a guide on how to download a Windows 7 ISO (legally, from Microsoft, for free) that you can configure to install any version of Windows 7. You will obviously want to use the same version that came with your Envy 14, as you need to use your serial number to activate Windows.

This is the easiest way to make a DVD for a clean install.