*HP ENVY 14 (1XXX series) Owners Lounge, Part 1*

So does anyone have any idea on the temps for the 5650 in this laptop?
Hoping it doesn't get too hot.

 

they were posted many pages back. 40s-50s idle. low 70s load

 

From the pics that the german owners have shown..the cooling system is great. Idles around 38-40 C with an i5 which is really nice.

 

Thats great. Has me even more excited for a little overclock on the 5650
I'll mostly be playing FFXIV and SC2 on this so a small OC may be needed for FFXIV (Someone hit over 2000 on the benchmark with an 430m and OCed 5650).

 

Hey guys. Say I install Windows 7 Home Premium x64 on a new Envy and use the serial on the bottom of the laptop and have it activated, will it work?

 

Anyone know if its possible to disable the lit HP logo or is that just left over light from the display?

I know maybe I'm over thinking but I like to save as much power as I can when it comes to battery life.

 

You're overthinking it, that would give you an extra minute maybe three if you're lucky. Optimization of W7 power plan is much more worthwhile.

 

Are these at BestBuy yet?

 

I was planning that also.

 

It should work fine, if you check the HP Laptop Out of the Box guide for W7 I think they actually say to do just that.

 

It's light from the LCD display, so it can't be disabled.

 

My point was that disabling the lit HP logo is just slightly less pointless because it uses an insignificant amount of juice when compared to the i5 or the ram or the disk (ssd or mechanical spinning) or the screen.

That said, I'd bet you could screw with the wires and get the geek cred of having done it, just say bye to your warranty :/

 

I got 25 off for the processor, 25 from the coupon and a 100 credit for calling about a 3% cash back. $1150 with tax for i5-520 and 500GB HDD not too shabby. But she hasn't been shipped yet *tear*

 

That would probably mess up your display backlight. I think it's just LCD back lighting that bleeds out the other end.

 

What are the GPU temps like?

 

Wouldn't that make for a slightly uneven backlight? Also I thought that it glowed on and off while the system was in standby or something like that...what if you've got it running but disabled the screen for an external display? I'm pretty sure it is seperate, because its basically free advertising for HP

 

Okay, yeah. I checked it out. Just back-up my activation first. Thanks.

 

Coming from a current envy15 g2 user, I hope that the e14 has the new trackpad (displayed from the old HP guy's video review). I have the e15 and my girlfriend has the e13. The only complaints I have are the trackpad on both (you sort of get used to it but it is still obnoxious), and the battery life on the e15.

As far as HP support goes, I have been dealing with them since the end of March (with my e15). I'm currently in the process of trying to get my 3rd e15 replaced with the e14 since they don't even provide the i5 with the e15 anymore.

-If they tell you it is the maximum discount they can provide, prod a little more but not too aggressively. Always ask for the supervisor (they will tell you they are a supervisor 90% of the time), and if that doesn't work then ask for a case manager.

-When they tell you they will check with 'upper management' and call you back within 24 hours, don't feel let down when they fail to call you back - because they won't. Take initiative here.

 

oh man im disappointed
Envy14 is way overpriced in my area (more than USD 1.8k for i5-520,4gb1dimm, 500GB-7200rpm, the rest stock) *yes i know wth*
I cant order it from the US-HP website cause i dont have a US-based paypal account
Even if i were to order it from eBay i cant get the 8% Bing rebate as well, since im not a US resident

I am running out of ideas. Please share any alternatives you guys may have to can help a poor undergrad here save some money

BTW, how long does it take for the battery to calibrate before we can get an accurate reading of the estimate battery life? It is one of the main aspect of e14 that I am still trying to find out.

 

Sales doesn't know this part exists or if it is for the Envy 14. Resolutions is in the same cave. The parts store seemed to be totally clueless and could not tell me if it was compatible with the Envy 14. Neither of the three departments knew of a "slice". Apparently Envy 14 isn't enough without a serial number or HP part number to look it up. And of course the search would only verify for what models the part applies to.

I'm not in the mood to play exchanges in case it really isn't the slice. I'll let someone else take one for the team. And they don't take EPP or discount the parts either.

 

Acer 4820, though screen and build suck
You might look at samsung's laptops, they look good and run better from what I've heard
You could try ebay and ask the person to order it through your student discount account for 10% off, also come to some agreement for rebates you haggle out of hp post order

 

4820T got a review on Engadget. Nothing we didn't expect though. Sub-par build, etc.


/me still awaits July 15th + (5 to 7 days)

 

it's the same part number as the one in the envy 14 maintenance guide. Still. I don't really want the slice unless it's sub $100 so I'm passing on it

 

borrowed my friend's 4820 and tried it out for a couple of hours, not really impressed with it

And yes, im in the process on contacting the ebay seller, awaiting his/her reply now
Since I am not exactly sure why they rejected my order in the first place, I
shall try my luck and order again tmr with an alternative Visa Card that I left at home.

thanks for ur recommendations

 

Yeah, all of them come from months of wondering what I'd do if the E14 turned out to suck You might also look into the dell studio xps 16, it has a 1080p screen and good performance parts, but its pricey and big and heavy :/

 

I don't understand how you guys can even judge the build quality of the 4820TG if you haven't seen or used it in person...

Personally, I don't know how these reviewers are calling it a sub-par build. My 4820TG is well built and it doesn't feel or look cheap at all. My Sony NW series laptop and Dell Inspiron 700m has horrible build quality compared to the 4820TG (& those laptops received great build quality reviews).

If the 4820TG is a sub-par build then 90% of the Dell & HP laptops I see all over campus are pieces of plastics glued together. I'm serious.

 

I saw it in the MG but it doesn't say slice. What gets me is that the Envy 13 and 15 parts say slim fit extended-life battery. The Envy 14 says extended-life battery (over-sized).

The wording makes me suspicious and I hope no one here reports that they got an efin internal battery that's 3Wh/.8-Ah more for only $200 more. And why would you order it for $200 when you can get it for $150 through parts? Where's the savings? I asked that question to all the reps I talked with and of course no answers.

 

I hardly think a Dell Inspiron counts as a paragon of exceptional build quality. IMO they're comparing it to the likes of the Dell Latitutdes, HP Elitebooks of the world.

 

Aren't those business laptops and not consumer laptops? How can you even compare those with the Acer TimelineX series? Shouldn't you be comparing those to the Acer TravelMate series?

It's like comparing apples and oranges. That makes no sense, since they are made for different purposes.

 

No because the point is they represent objectively solid build quality, something that according to the early E14 reviews, (hey, I even brought this back on topic because its not page 700 yet! ) this laptop has. You could also compare the TimelineX to the MBPs, even though the MBPs are "pro" they are popular as student notebooks, just like the E14 seems to be based off the number of people with AP scores to post here, anyways.

 

I think the reason for the comparisons is that the 4820TG is the only other laptop on the market with the same graphics card and the (almost) same size screen. I agree with your sentiment that it's not really fair to compare the Envy 14 and 4820TG.

 

Good build quality for review = mbp
I never saw a review state good build quality for anything except some asus computers, mbp, envies and professional lines.

 

No, this helps not.
Crap keyboard, crap LCD, crap case quality.

I think none of the potential envy buyers(quality buyers) decide between an envy and the timeline.

For people with less money it could be the best price/performance in the <800$ section.

 

Also, read the reviews on the Sony NW series laptop and the Dell Inspiron 700m. All the reviews are praising the build quality on those laptops, but I own them both and are sub-par build level compared to my 4820TG.

There are so many people who say the build quality is crap, but they never even seen or used the 4820TG in person. They never even touched or seen the Envy 14. How is this all relevant then?

 

I had the Dell 1558 for a while, it was very solid build and was consumer notebook. I played around with the 4820, was seriously drawn back by the quality. Keyboard sucks big time IMO

 

Agreed. The only Dell lines to have good build quality are the redesigned Latitude and the new Adamo. I bought a Studio XPS 13 laptop last Fall, and it is a $2000 POS. Dell only offers cheap plastic crap to the Home & Home Office/Consumer sector.

 

it's all subjective. LCD is pretty standard as any other laptop, keyboard looks fine to me. so you are saving over $300 over Envy 14 if you don't care about LCD screen. I personally do, so I am still waiting for Envy 14.

 

Someone is showing a bit of ENVY.

 

Anyone noticed how HP made there other models look like the Envys, it kind of annoying.

 

I see you are fighting your case for your laptop of choice, 4820TG but this is the envy 14 owners lounge. For those of us that have not held the laptop in hand, at least I myself am going off of engadgets review and long ago decided this was not the notebook for me, and that the envy 14 was. Not sure how your statements are relevant unless you are trying to convert the envy lounge into an acer one?

maybe i'm way off board but you defending your choice and comparing it to x y and z when none of those are the envy 14 is pointless.

Also ordered on the 28th @8am and still nothing. No delay email no tracking, lame envy purgatory. Please HP give me something other than credit to my account already.

 

Has anyone checked out the Gateway new ID series? One of the models, the ID49C08u, looks extremely tempting:

Gateway Official Site: Shop - Notebooks - ID49C08u Laptop Product Details

Just throwing it into the competition ring.

 

Hello, I understand there is a lot of bloatware on HP systems, but do you guys recommend a clean install over finding and deleting the useless programs? In other words is there going to anything worth keeping on the envy 14?

Thanks

 

Hmm. Glowing touch pad. Interesting. I can't tell what the chassis is made of.

 

I dunno, in my experience, the Vostro line has been of good build quality.

 

That is a rebranded TimeLineX 4820TG. Obviously with some internal changes (NV vs ATI) but if you look at the pics of both laptops side-by-side it's the exact same chassis, keyboard and port layout. Not surprising since Acer and Gateway are the same company.

 

Ok. Maybe I overspoke. I've never used a Vostro. My family has been buying Dell computers for 20 years, though, and they use so, so much plastic. It's irritating for that to be the case on such expensive machines.

 

eh. I'm alright with dell's business line ever since my dad got his lattitude 5500 for..well.

almost half off (it was some crazy $500 coupon deal thing)

 

The LCD is pretty standard crap.
Just because all the other cheap laptops have actually somehow the same specs(brightness 200-250cd/m²; contrast somewhere between 120:1 and 200:1).
Unfortunately its pretty standard at this time, you are right(even some of the Thinkpads have mediocre LCDs with contrasts of ~ 100:1).
But just compared to other not to my own demand of quality.

Good Panels you will only find in Macbooks, Envys, Pro- and Elitebooks and in some Dell and higher priced LG and Toshibas.

Brands like Acer, Asus, MSI, Samsung just use mediocre cheap displays.
It's really horror to watch movies on this. Colors like washed a dozen time with stones and the black is a bright grey.

 

Yep. My UL30A-A2, while a great machine, has a horrible screen. The viewing angles are poor at best, and black levels are absolutely abysmal. If it wasn't for the excellent battery life and decent build quality, I wouldn't be able to stand it.

 

Ha. I remember being in HS (in the 90's), and Dell had some insane promo like that exclusively for business customers. I guess they were pushing old inventory. My dad bought a laptop for each of us 4 kids.