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

If the plug is compatible, you'll have to compare the power specifications on the back of the Dell one and the HP one - if they're identical, then it's probably safe, but still a risk...

I have a couple of the same bricks, and it would be nice to have two adapters, so if it's 100% compatible with the E14, I might just hold on to one of the ones I've got when I sell my Inspiron...

 

I'd be interested too. I have a beta key, but no Envy! I guess it's a good sign my CC got charged. Here's to hoping mine ships before the estimated build date of 22nd.

 

Can anyone tell me how hot it runs on your lap/in bed? I'm trying to decide if I need to fork over the money for a lap desk.

 

I looked up a couple 90w AC adapters HP offers (couldn't be sure if either was the E14's adapter, though), and they both had slightly lower voltage outputs than my Dell adapters. No amperage info on the spec sheets, though - I believe I've been told in the past that that's one of the big questions.

That's all assuming that the pins are identical between the two adapters - if the Dell doesn't plug smoothly into the E14, it's all off.

 

HP charges the CC the moment they process the order.

So...

yeah.

 

Yeah, I know. I just took it as a sign that there's some activity going on.

 

What is the BCB that everyone talks about? I've never ordered HP before, is this a special discount some people can get?

 

Check first page of the thread.

 

Would anyone who's recieved their Envy 14 be able to comment on the screen quality in comparison to the MacBook Pro and Sony Z? I'm a graphics designer so while I'm 99% sold on this thing already any extra reassurances regarding the screen would be great

 

Looks like mine has the whine with the 520m as well. Played with it for 2-3 minutes then packed it back up and called HP to return it. Already placed a new order with the i450m, hoping that will solve the problem : (

 

OUCH! :/ that sucks.

 

That's simply not true at all. WoW's graphics can be cranked up quite a bit and frames can drop considerably, especially while running newer 25 man content and simply walking around places like Dalaran.

The M11x R1 and R2 have some issues while running 25 man content WoW and it's a fairly beefy little system.

 

Yeah, bigtime. The build date on my new one is July 27th... awesome. So much for having a laptop when I travel next month.

 

anybody receiving envy with 450 anytime soon to confirm there is no whine?

 

I'm getting mine with the 430 sometime next week (bloody delay..I'd have it today if they hadn't lied ><), I'll do whatever you guys want me to with it when I do. I actually wonder if I couldn't just go to alaska and get it from fedex in anchorage myself...I do have flight benefits :d

What's this about a whine, though? Missed a few hundred pages ><

 

processor makes a noise when on lower power.


intel chips have been doing this since 2007 and it's supposed to be random.


However it's not always the chip (or the capacitors around the chip) but can at times be the inductors or something.


either way normal ways of avoiding it aren't working so it may just be a noise that all envies make since the motherboard is iffy (someone didn't put laquer on the right place somewhere and it fell off..and now something is vibrating a lil bit)

 

So far everyone here who has received their laptop has the i5-520 and the whine?

if so, that is very frustrating as i have ordered 2(one will go back of course) both with the 520.

 

two users with the 520m have said their laptop has a "whine" to them.

worst part, its 2/2

 

Didnt that german guy who received his envy 14 say he heard a loud whine but then rebooted it and it was fine? he had the 520 I believe.

do you still have the whine after a clean install?

 

erathostenes hears it but it doesn't bother him.


he also doesn't really hear the fan that well which also bothers joel.

'course erathostenes has got that ambient noise up higher than joel. (TV on or something or AC is loud or whatever)

 

This is mostly true. However in the case of the m11x you have to consider the ULV processor it uses. WoW is a very processor intense game, so a lack in processing power will bottleneck the performance you'll get, especially in 25 man raids and Dalaran.

That said, it still needs a beefy GPU if you want to play at ultra settings, especially with full shdaows (which I don't recommend since it's horribly optimized).

So, with the E14's i5 CPU and HD 5650, I'd say you could play on high settings very comfortably. Only on Ultra will it start to stutter.

 

Uh oh. So from the scientific explanation this is an Intel issue and since the i3/i5 processors all use the same die that makes it an Envy issue right?

 

nah it affects some amd too

 

Buuut the point is any hope that it doesn't affect my 430m is kind of false?

 

I'm getting mine with the 450m sometime today. It was put on a FedEx truck from the airport about 5 minutes from my house about...2 hours ago, so knowing FedEx they will deliver it at 10pm. I'll post my first impressions of it ASAP.

edit: Mine originally went from Shanghai > Memphis > Cali

 

*shrugs*

it doesn't affect all laptops period.

It's random as hell and depends on how good/bad a job they did at making things

 

Which is confusing because I thought the e14 had a good build quality?

 

Mine slept in Anchorage last night, I'm afraid its gonna freeze its little LEDs off! I wish FedEx would do the humane thing and bring it down here to me right away >.>

 

well yeah.

but build quality doesn't include "oops someone making the motherboards screwed up somewhere before it got to HP" or something

 

and then there's also the official party line from Dell about this: "This isn't a hardware defect, all processors make this noise, some howerver are much quieter than others"

 

I want to use laptop #1 as my own laptop before laptop #2 gets here. I should just be able to install everything on it, make documents, and all that, then backup my entire computer onto an EHD when laptop #2 gets here, then transfer it to L#2. I guess I'll reset L#1 back to factory settings before I return it...?

 

I'm not very familiar with the MacBook pro, but I can certainly give a decent comparison between the envy and the Z.

Firstly, the Envy is Glossy while the Z I had was matte. This by it self isn't necessarily a good or bad thing. Some people like matte, and other the gloss. The gloss on the Envy isn't a huge deal either, mostly because the screen is SO bright. When the brightness is up all the way, you can't even tell there's a reflection going on, but once you lower it, even a little bit, you can start seeing reflections.

The Brightness overall, is a definite win to the Envy - It completely blows away the brightest setting offered by the Z. I have a big bay window on one of the walls in my home, and I've always had to move from the chair that sits in front of it when sun comes through and washes out the screen - not with the Envy. It was great!

One other issue the Z's screen has is the 'diagonal lines' syndrome that many users experience. Mine had it, but it wasn't as bad as what some other members made it out to be. Basically, when moving your eyes quickly across the screen, or when something fast is playing (like a movie) diagonal lines appear (from upper left to lower right). They're a little distracting, but they're only really noticeable if you're looking for them. If you want to know more, there are several threads in the Z forums about it.

Color depth and quality is also very good on both, and the brightness on the envy's makes it seem better, but I really don't think either has a clear advantage.

 

that's because the m11x has a CULV processor. WOW, in general, is processor-intensive. slow processor = bottleneck for wow

the envy, on the other hand, has a full-pledged (mobile) i-series processor so it's not going to wimp out on you

 

That's really bizarre - Mine went from shanghai - anchorage - Oakland

Also guys - When I say my house is quiet, It's VERY quiet. I love working in silence. (This is also what's making me lean towards noise canceling headphones...I'm not so much after audio quality as I want something I can put on to make 'everything else' go away)

If I have noise at all, it's CNBC on very low volume. With that said, comparing the Envy directly to my Wifes 12" fujitsu, there's no comparison...The stupid envy fan is horrible in comparison. (the fujitsu has a 35w T6600 and stays a bit warmer, but like i've said - i'd easily compromise 5-7 degrees for peace and quiet)

 

I believe someone said how to turn the fans off the "on all the time setting" and onto auto. I don't remember how though, exactly.

 

I'm going to do a side by side and my impressions of e14 (once i get it) vs my e15 (if hp doesn't make me send it back by then!)

 

After using the machine most of the day yesterday, Standard battery + Slice gives readings of 9Hours 40 min via Battery bar and 10.5 hours via Windows. My power plans are also all messed up because I've been trying to find a way to kill the electrical noise I have. (so bluetooth is on, listening to microphone muted, usb selected suspend is off, etc)

Like I've said before, if battery life is important to you, I'm confident that 4.5 hours is easily attainable on the standard battery. For the price of the slice (which is just a little bit bigger in terms of capacity) you can buy 2 standard batteries that are lighter to carry, and less burdensome to use.

 

See what I said above:

 

It seems HP was so concerned about heat issues after the Envy 15 that they made precautions to ensure this thing doesn't overheat!

 

Don't worry, the longer it stays there the better your temps will be.

 

Most higher end headphones isolate better than noise canceling technology does. What noise canceling tech does is listen to ambient noise and it creates and wave form in the music completely opposite to the noise it hears. Using the principle of destructive interference in waves, it can eliminate noise. The microphones can only hear so much though. You will still hear the higher pitch noises that the microphone cannot account for. If you want to be isolated, go for headphones with foam eartips. They are by far the most comfortable experience and they block quite a bit of noise including higher pitch noises that noise canceling headphones generally tend to miss. So no matter what you do, your ears will be exposed to higher db's and therefore damage your ears faster. With nosie isolating IEM's, you can listen to music at lower volumes and still be isolated from the world. Also, for the price you pay for noise canceling, you can buy yourself a nice pair of noise isolating IEM's. Your ears will thank you later.

 

Were e15 or e17 users reporting CPU whine? I wonder if its just a power feed issue to the CPU on the e14 board.

I've definitely had this issue before on video cards, there were a huge range of Nvidia cards that made electrical noise because they weren't using digital PWMs I believe.. ATI had higher board quality and wasn't experiencing the same problem.

 

Did you turn off Sony's Auto-Brightness utility on the Z? If you turn it off, the Z's brightness cranks up to be extremely bright. Burn your pupils bright.

 

Have you tried the HLT command in RMClock? I don't know if it's supposed to target this issue but I found this old thread about it.

EDIT: Ah it seems like it'll drain the battery faster, which is probably not an acceptable compromise.

 

...and require shutting down the system and (if I'm not mistaken) unscrewing and removing a panel to swap. I know the slice is bulkier, heavier, and more expensive, but I am taking it over a second regular battery because of its pros and in spite of its cons. Good decision? Maybe not, but I'm excited about it anyway.

 

All it takes is Hibernate > Easy Open Panel > Swap in > Turn on

It's a tough call but a 7 pound laptop for me just isn't worth it, especially when I can get another light standard battery for half the price.

Oh and to the guy before, mine went from Shanghai > Memphis > Oakland as well, then flew to Monterey which is where I live.

 

Actually, you can just hibernate, take off the panel by way of a switch, remove the battery, replace, replace panel and you're done.

Damn I got sniped... but there's no screws to mess with if you want to get to the battery, or for that matter the ram I think. May be wrong about the latter. But the former is correct.

 

Remember we need a 450m user review about :
- Cpu whine, is there any ? Low pitch, high pitch ?
- Cinebench performance to compare it to 520m MAXON: CINEBENCH 11.5
- ???
- Profit

First person to achieve it will win a cookie.


For the slice battery, yea it's confirmed you can swap the main battery within 60 seconds because there is no screws and a easy access latch (10sec hibernate 10 seconds of replacement 40 seconds to boot back (or 15 seconds if you got a ssd)).

 

there is no screw, its just a little slider and the panel comes off, pull out old battery and pop new one in.

 

Just hibernate it. It takes 30 seconds. Also, there's no screws on the bottom to take the other battery off. In fact, it requires more handy work to put the slice on / off than taking the standard battery out and putting another in. You get double the power for the money, and two standard batteries weigh the same as the slice.

If the 30 seconds to hibernate your system and change a battery is too burdensome, then by all means, buy a slice. I see no other cons to using another standard battery.

EDIT: Wow, we beat that horse to death.