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

Added.....

 

2.0 do you have an answer to my question? Long story short, will the 6GB option for the HP Envy 14 support dual channel?

 

Anyone had any luck with adding on the Slice battery via a part number and using 30% BCB on it? I'm on the verge of re ordering but I can't make my mind about the battery. I'm thinking of just adding another 8 cell instead.

 

Yes it will but in asymmetric mode. You won't notice the difference except with benchmarking software.

 

Well im not sure if the envy 14 dual channel supports asymmetric mode because of this message here:

DISCLAIMER: Dual Channel is supported only when the system is configured with DDR3 symmetric memory (e. g., 2x1024MB).

 

Haven't heard of a notebook with Intel's PM55 Express Chipset not working in asymetric mode as the chipset itself supports it.

 

I see. So you wouldnt recommend I cancel and reorder with 4gb or 8gb?

Im set to receive it this week so i would like to avoid that.

 

Good news, I can get Video from the webcam with up to 1280x800...

 

It's silly to get large hard drives on a laptop to store files especially things that require backup. I've been using NAS for the past 5 years and barely used more then 60GB on my laptops.

 

Sorry to keep posting, but would it be possible to get a certain bracket for mounting dual 160gbs in the envy 14? I assume if you can't that the optical drive is taking up the space.

 

If you don't play many games then you'll probably be ok. My Steam folder alone is about 100GB. Plus music, photos, and videos, another 25GB, OS and apps 30GB, virtual machines with virtual hard drives 30GB. That's 185GB right there. Not to mention dozens of GB of junk downloaded of the interwebs I like to trial. I'm sure I could dump 20-30GB of games off here though no problem though.

256GB SSD is sufficient for me. 160GB would have made things too difficult to shuffle things around.

 

I am using Picasa and chose the webcam directly, not channelled trough the HP software and can chose those resolutions..
HPs Webcamsoftware only outputs 640x480 to be used with Skype etc..

I vote for banning everything concerned with price, money, cashback, discount from this thread and keep it technical..
This is extremely disruptive and has caused me not to follow the discussion and or answer questions lately..
I cant understand why the moderation lets all this clump together..

 

See the first page with concise links and informations to everything relevant..

More here:
Unboxing pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/erathost...eat=directlink
A compilation of my impressions : http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-o...ml#post6421176
First impressions Vid: YouTube - HP Envy 14 - a first look.

 

**ATTENTION** After waiting for what seems to be eternity with an HP chat representative, I have confirmed that SSDs shipped with the envy 14 are "Either Intel or Western Digital" and that the selection is "Random".

Considering I don't believe Intel makes a 256gb SSD, it seems that the e14 is shipping 256gb SSDs with the "silicon edge blue 256gb". WD SiliconEdge Blue 256 GB SATA Solid State Drives ( SSC-D0256SC-2100 )

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Does anyone have any information about speeds of that WD drive compared to the x18 G2s? I'm currently searching google.

 

i agree. this thread is more about money than anything else. on a different note, how is battery life? i understand that preliminary testing showed slightly more than 4 hours. does your current experience reflect the same thing?

 

Off-topic from all the bing mayhem, but actually does relate to the E14...

I've been searching for a while now, with no success to find a method of disabling the bottom .5" of the touchpad (where the buttons are) from being sensitive to pointing and tapping. Someone previously (like 200 pages ago) said there was a way to disable certain zones from being sensitive to finger movements, but I can't find it. I played with the DV6 and DM4 at Costco, and couldn't find an option that helped me.

I always have rested my thumb on the left mouse button, and it's complete fail with this pad.

 

So erathostnenes, now that you've had your E14 for about a week what can you report on battery life? I know you did some prelim battery tests but we are still looking for some info on how the battery handles after some proper break in.

 

Well at least you got an answer, but I still don't think they know what they're talking about. I mean a $500+ option and no info is stupid.

I know its not Intel because the only make a 160GB max size drive. Maybe it is Intel for 160GB and WD for 256GB. I'll have to research it a bit. Problem is that Intel is awsome for random read/writes, but usually most specs just show sequential read/write. Random is most important for daily tasks though.

 

Hey 2.0, I have a suggestion. I say you should make an announcement that starting July 16 (since that is when most of us will be receiving out Envys) it will be strictly on topic with the Envy 14, no more talk about discounts, what people got on their AP exams, and all that other stuff we talked about (and yes im guilty for participating, i know). It's just a suggestion, up to you to decide. *shrugs*

 

2.0 might want to use this link when referencing that BCB cannot be combined with coupons/purchase programs:

Bing Shopping

Answers a lot of repeat questions.

 

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/westerndigitalsiliconedgeblue_030210212052/21865.png

It appears here that the Intel SSDs dominate the WD in random speed here. That's with the x-25m also, so I'm unsure if the e14 ships with the x-18m just like the envy 15, or with the x-25m.

 

I'm personally going to wait until SSDs drop in price. The 500GB 7200RPM will be just fine for my needs.

 

just out of curiosity have you had a chance to put it through a few intense games and or programs to see how the Envy 14 handles heat? I like to keep my laptop on my lap so this is a big thing for me. Would you say its in the comfortable range? btw thanks for contributing so much info, really appreciated!

btw 2.0 could you possibly make a Envy discounts thread and move all these BCB/discount posts to it? Since they are not necessarily limited to the Envy 14 but all Envys. Might clean things up here a bit...

 

I'll look into it and moving out the waiting for/call Hp discount posts but it would be a fairly tall order. Anyway we'll see, no promises. Still working on reorganization...

 

Owner's lounges aren't meant to be purely technical. They are "lounges" after all. However, I agree it is a bit overboard but that's due to the notebook's popularity (14/15" size). Most of the other lounges have the same type of conversation but due to there less than popular nature, do not have it in such abundance.

Likely, I will have to temporarily close this thread to clean it up but will make an alternative thread in the interim for just such posts as those listed above when I do.

 

THREAD CLOSED TEMPORARILY FOR MAINTENANCE!
(AKA, clean up. Janitorial work. Think of me as Mr. Clean but without the earrings because that's not how I roll. Never did get that when I was a kid, the earring thing? Was he a sailor? A pirate? What's the deal? Anyway...)

Continue conversation in the following thread:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-delays-mine-shipping-lounge.html#post6459629

If you are an owner of an Envy 14 or have a specific Envy 14 question, you can post it in the above thread but PM me with the link to your post so I can move it to here. OR you can wait a few hours for the thread to open up again.

 

THREAD REOPENED!

BUT WAIT...

RULES GOING FORWARD:

1. NO more posting, "mine shipped! " or "mine hasn't shipped " or "mine is delayed?!" Or where in the world your notebook is right now.
2. NO posting of what deal you received, how you got it, chat logs with HP, or Bing cashback (BCB) questions.

Those kinds of posts go here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...14-discounts-delays-mine-shipping-lounge.html

3. NO cross-posting between this and the above linked thread.

Crossposting is when you post the same information or question in both threads. If you do inadvertently, delete one of the posts in one of the threads.
Failure to do so will likely draw the ire of mods and result in a penalty levied against you. ​

​

Violators will be prosecuted under the full extent of the law. Warnings, infractions, banning.

NO IFs. ANDs. Or <s>Butts</s> Buts.

What's acceptable?

This is not a merely technical details thread (as some might like). It's an Owner's lounge. I want you to enjoy coming and staying and making friends seeing as you are sharing a common experience. A little off topic, a little joking, some debate, and showing mod-love :wub: is all good. (Mods really dig that.) When and if you go overboard, mucking things up, leaving toys out all over the floor, marking up the wall with your sticky hands, I'll (or a fellow mod) will come along and clean up after you. Think of us mods as parents . If any one of you does this too often or egregiously, like parents, we mods will discipline you (post delete, warning, or infraction). With the worse discipline being a time out (aka temp ban). No worries, extremely low probability it would ever come to that.

Anyway, just keep the thread predominately about things related to the Envy 14. Respect one another. Play nice. Exercise a modicum of restraint. ​

With that said, enjoy your thread...

OH! BTW, not everyone will read this so tell your friends (this post is linked to 1st post). Ignorance will be no excuse of the law. (Except for noobies).

Special note: If you learn of some official cash back deal or coupon code, you can post it in this thread and PM me so I can add it to the first page of this thread. REMEMBER, telling a tale about how you called HP and got something off isn't for this thread.

 

2.0 needs a :wub:

 

Great work, 2.0. It is amazing that you cleaned this up this fast. Probably the best mod on NBR, imo.

A little more on topic, is this the fastest thread to this many posts in the history of NBR?

 

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Boo to the new rules! Now it's going to be slow-paced and boring. Joking! Please don't ban me! *hides*

 

K who likes my new sig? vvv

 

Heh... I got my eye on y'all. <--- see? Just one eye. Something in the other.

 

Takes a bow. (But opinions will vary... widely. LOL.)

Probably. Though might be tied with Envy 15 Owner's thread.

 

$10 OFF COUPON UP FOR GRABS. 1 USE ONLY

I know $10 is kinda insignificant, but I bought a mouse from hp.com the other day, and they gave me a "$10 off on the next purchase of more than $60" coupon code.

I don't need it, and it expires on Aug 30th.
So anyone who would like this extra $10 off, take it.

Probably only one use though. Better be the first to use it! But make sure you review your order before submitting

Good luck!

CODE:
SVC55871


P.S. I'm expecting a sleeve soon too. They might have a $10 coupon for that too? I'll post that too.

 

Updated sig, I changed it a bit.

Who likes ? V

 

I found the same code here. it must be able to be used more than once. Best Deal: $400 off HP Coupons, HP Coupon Code and HP Coupon

It's the $10 dollar code. It can be used with academic accounts.

 

I ordered envy 14 I5 520 with 1x4gb ram.
Is there any performance difference in rts games 4gb vs 8gb ram and
do we know from our German friends who is the ram manufacturer?

Thank You for the info

 

There shouldn't be any noticeable difference between a 4gb and 8gb while gaming.

 

I've ordered and everything, but just have a general RAM question.


I hear 2-4 gigs is about the max that programs today can even utilize. I got 1x4 gigs so that I can upgrade later to 8 if I want. What are the RAM intensive applications of today? Would MATLAB even come close to utilizing 1 dimm of my 4 gigs?

 

Well, one category would include virtual environment software like Virtual Machine. Software engineers generally need the extra.

 

Sooo.......to confirm: Does HP ship the Win7 reinstallation DVDs for the Envy? Is it recommended that I copy/backup the Sw_setup files?

 

Repeating my question.

 

Oh, I'll be using a lot of virtual environment software. But I'll upgrade when I can tell that I need to...probably will be 1.5 years until that happens.

 

Well I reordered my laptop. Hopefully it gets here in time for SC2's debut.

 

Thank God, 2.0 you cleaned up this ridiculously fast moving thread.


I especially liked the guy who had to post "must...resist...pulling...the..trigger" every page. Hopefully he read the thread about the 30% bing cashback, but it would be kind of funny if he didn't.
Anyway, if anyone wants to see the great deal I got, saving $685.50, check out the quasi thread.
Finally, I did not miss out on the deal, like I did with the SOny Vaio Z at $1140 a month or two back.

 

No they don't.

copy the SWSetups folder.

Then download a free 7 iso from microsoft (yes they're free, and they are hiding on the main hp board in that hp clean install windows 7 2.0 thread that's stickied)

edit: also backup your activation by following the instructions in that thread

 

I'll agree with you on this. I'm mostly a software engineer these days and can tell you that for most of the bigger tools I've used like special builds Eclipse, MS Visual Studio and Matlab wouldn't occupy more than 1GB in the worst case. I got the 2 x 2GB for now and expect it to be plenty. If there is ever a reason to upgrade to 8GB down the line it will likely be a much cheaper upgrade than it is today.

 

Cool. Yeah, saw that the activation thread. I'm going to keep my generic Win7 Home Premium copy on hand for clean installs and a copy of HP's Win7 OEM installation stuff around for those times when I have to send my notebook in for warranty service.

 

Ok, awesome. I'm just going into my first year of engineering, so all of this software talk is new to me. They just made it clear that our personal laptops would not always be powerful enough, so they have labs for us to use. I'm glad I didn't spend more to get 8 gigs; I was basing the 4 gig 1 dimm upgrade on Moore's law, so I'll upgrade for much less later.