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

Nice!!! I already love this system, and I don't even have mine yet.

 

I have 50 processes now that I got rid of HP wireless and some other stuff. I also have less start up programs than you. I disable UAC first thing when I got the laptop. And after all that still a 42 second boot. Even disabling the GUI in bootup didnt help. I don't see how you can get from pressing on button to windows screen in less than 20 seconds. The HP logo post stays there for 9 seconds =\

 

Are you using an SSD or HDD?

Edit: Nvm, i read back a couple pages.

I'd also want to know how to get it to 15 seconds boot time for when my Envy arrives.

 

so...a couple of specific questions that are not mentioned in the first page...(or i missed it, sorry!)

i want to hook up speakers to my e14 regularly. should i edit my audio settings according to JJB's guide anyway?

i'm expecting to the the 160gb ssd.....i'm not sure if i should clean install or just uninstall/delete most of the bloatware. clean install seems like a hassle, but without it, i'm afraid some unwanted. programs will be stuck in my system. i'm also getting the 4 yr lojack deal and i'm wondering if a clean install will tamper with it.

 

The clean install wont mess up the lojack, AFAIK.

 

are you shore because i have read differently

 

The audio settings I believe is to get better sound from the horrible on board speakers. In my opinion you can only get so much when the speakers weren't that good to begin with. If you have external speaker you can tweak it to your own liking if you want to EQ your sound.

 

Is there a fix to that high pitched whining noise? I remember someone talking about it a couple days a go, but i can't seem to find it.

 

I also noticed that it disappeared from their website. It was just on there Friday when I checked. It's happened about once already in the past month, it went missing for a couple days. Don't know if they're updating stuff on it or if maybe it has something to do with HP delays or so.

Edit: When the Envy 17 came out I'm pretty sure I remember seeing it on costco.com but it disappeared and didn't come back if I remember correctly, the 14 has went missing and come back though. So hopefully it's just temporary because that's where I was planning on ordering.

 

reposting question: can the guide of les in the optimization post for vista be used for win 7?

 

I'm pretty sure that it's integrated into the BIOS and all you have to do is register.

 

Can anyone elaborate on the "HP TrueVision HD Webcam"? Is it really HD in any sort of way? How's teh auido?

Can someone just upload a video to the youtube. Sing a little song, do a little dance. Keep your clothes on....or not. Just lemme see what HP is passing as HD nowadays.

Thx

 

oh yes, that's the last question i forgot!

i read a couple days ago that someone got the HD webcam to actually record in...well HD. he did it by deleting the HP software and using some kind of third party software. how was this done?

i think it was the guy who had the harvey birdman, attorney at law avatar. lmao.

 

I think using picasa

 

Well, you own the licence to the 4 years of LoJack, and you have to register serial number and everything else, ect.
So you should be able to download it from the site, and re-install it

 

Isn't the lojack a physical thing, and/or if it wasn't it would be in your bios and a clean install wouldn't change it,

I believe this article:
http://www.freakyacres.com/remove_computrace_lojack

Says in order to remove lojack you do infact need to go into bios

 

I wish... they dont really tell you much about this.
But our good friends here at NBR have reviewed it and given it nice reviews.
They seem to think its an installable program. But I would love if it were physically attached to the Mobo.
LoJack for Laptops Security Review

 

To a degree, yes. Which guide are you referring to specifically?

 

I started a thread that hopefully will serve as a log of battery runtime people are getting. Link on page 1.

Thank you. I try. It's all a work in progress.

 

When will the reviews by the pros come out? I thought it was a 21 day thing. rawr!

 

I picked up the current 13" MBP a week ago, just couldn't pass up on a deal on it (open box, it looks and smells brand new). The hardware is beautiful, dare I say flawless. Never seen any PC laptop with this level of build quality before. I have no love for OS X, so this is just a play thing for me at least for now, but it is really a great experience surfing on this with this touchpad. I have no doubt I'll get 10hrs on the battery just surfing *under OS X*.

I'm booted into Win7 U x64 on this right now. The touchpad plains sucks in Windows (any Synaptics on a native PC laptop performs MUCH better than this), as is the battery life - BatteryBar showing 3:30 remaining on a 75% charge as I'm typing this, and I have nothing else running, just finished loading Boot Camp and drivers, nothing else. WEI score is 6.0, 5.9, 5.3, 6.0, and 7.3 in that order. Everything is stock on this MBP except the hard drive, I got a 160GB Intel SSD in there. I think gaming on this will be pretty disappointing.

Do not get the MBP thinking you'll primarily use it as a Windows laptop. You will be sorely disappointed.

 

There are some alternatives to lojack that are free no/low cost don't know how well they work though. Check found here on nbr and also Adeona. It looks like Adeona may not be working. I personally haven't tried any of these, but figured they might help some people.

 

I changed my post above to include this article:

How to remove Computrace Lojack | Freaky Acres

This person had to edit his bios to stop lojack from tracking his computer,

He was afraid it was a spy-type tracking device haha.


Later a comment said:

False. Clearly its in your bios and isn't just software or an add on.

 

Ok, sorry for the confusion I was incorrect, just double checked and my cold boot is 18 sec (not 14) and restart 24, was going from memory, . Below is a link to a video that another E15 owner took of his 17sec boot time, he just has a single x25m 160GB which he installed himself, poor quality vid but you get the idea, the second vid I'm not sure what he is showing (restart maybe?), oddly his boot is 1sec fasterthan mine but restart is 2 sec slower....

BTW starting with no GUI made 0 difference in my times so I turned it back on, looks better than a black screen... Also did you find the info in the guide on how to reduce shutdown time in regedit? that helps with restart time also..

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-drivers-hp-envy-15-intel-80.html#post6470824 Second post from bottom.

 

I trust most of the people on here more than any of those "pros" that have never touched a motherboard.

 

with i3/ssd and totally clean install no drivers, 10 seconds, now that i have things installed, im at like 25-27 seconds

hope that helps

 

But most of the people on here dont make clear, crisp 5-10 minute videos.

 

LOL 10 seconds with no drivers

 

Hmm Yes I read the guide. Didn't do anything. But I did notice in the video his post was extremely short compared to mine. I swear I have the lastest bios...

 

AFAIK all the envy's now have the same BIOS F 02A, Maybe some of the additional hardware the E 14 has slows the post down, mobile broadband, DVD, switchable graphics, mini display port, backlit keyboard....... Also I had a geek friend who helped me disable dozens of of services from loading that aren't necessary....

FWIW I just measured my post time at 4.05 seconds, from power button push to HP logo disapearing.

 

When ever I offer any valid information or say like anything good at all no one ever thanks me or says good find.

lol

 

Ah.. I see you are on the Envy 15. Even so the differences shouldn't be over doubled... I'm tempted to do a clean install now since This is frustrating

 

Heh, good find on the graphic.

 

Before that check your post time. AFAIK that won't change with anything software, driver, service or process related.... I'm at 4.05 until the HP logo disapears, so however much longer you get should be the difference for a target boot time to hit.

I also have hibernation & page filing turned off and write caching enabled and write cashing buffer flushing turned off for the ssd's, if that may make a difference.

 

So any of you guys think it possible to buy a la carte one of these trackpads and install it ourselves?

Synaptics Introduces Four-Finger Multi-Touch and MacBook Style TouchPads - Laptop News - TrustedReviews

Seems like it would be like 100 times better than the one currently on the 14 (I havnt received mine yet so I dunno) but I defiantly like the looks of it alot better!

 

Okay seriously.

If we could install the new touch pad;

 

Good catch, that is definately an envy it's on so the question is does it have the same dimensions as the existing touchpad, if so it would be simple to swap out as long as the cable is the same

Also did you note they released a new version of the scrybe software (gesture reading) compatible with all synaptics touchpads

 

can someone school me on keeping my battery in good shape?

is it still true that leaving your laptop plugged in after the battery is fully charged, will degrade the battery?

anything i SHOULDNT do, so that it keeps its charge as long as reasonably possible?

 

You should excersize it each day, make sure to feed it lots of high energy food, make sure it gets plenty of sleep and try to keep it's stress level to a minimum.....

 

What's the difference? Doesn't the Envy 14 use a clickpad anyway?

 

Use it.

Big myth from the old school days that doesn't wholly apply. There is some truth to it but not enough to be concerned about.

Li-ion batteries have a fixed cycle life. Figure around 500 full charge/discharge cycles. So if you always charge you batt when it hits 50%, you'll have 1000 of those cycles.

But keep in mind they will lose capacity over time no matter what you do. Nature of the chemistry involved.

Just figure on getting 3 years of usable life out of the batts.

Once or twice a year, recalibrate your battery. Lots of tutorials around about how to do that. But basically, you do a full cycle on the batt to calibrate.

 

It's fine to leave it installed and plugged in. People get so bent out of shape about this. If you use it, it degrades over time. If you don't use it, it degrades over time. It's the one item that really wears out over the life of your laptop no matter how you use it.

I have my Sager notebook, and according to BatteryBar has only lost a few % of its charge over a year's time, and I've powered it all the way to 3% before auto-shutdown a couple times. Granted I think my battery had a charge higher than the rated charge of the battery, but still, it hasn't degraded all that much and leave it plugged in all the time. Depends on the charging software too.

That's the other thing. Don't buy a second battery unless you know you'll need the extra battery life. Otherwise a stagnant battery will lose charge anyhow. "They" say if anything run it down to 40% and store it in a cool, dry environment if you're going to store it for any length of time.

 

I am at 9 seconds on the dot. It takes about a few seconds to get to the HP logo and then HP logo appears for a few seconds and disappears. That whole process was 9 seconds.

 

It's just likr Apples, the whole pad is just one big button anywere you push, plus it now cans sense 4 finger gestures. It would have an issue with right clicks though unless you could assign a gesture or somethign to = right click. I think apple uses a 3 finger press to do this (or that mught be middle button click).

 

Well there is a 4.95 seconds additional post for the E 14. My 4.05 was for the same measurement.

 

that was always my understanding until someone recently told me "thats why" my old laptop's battery is dead now....i shrugged them off and told them that was an old-school myth, then did some searching and found ppl saying the same so i started second guessing myself ever since the 14 came in

 

I don't know how correct this is but I have read (and it sounds like decent info), that the more you charge, discharge the battery, the faster it looses it's charge. And this is because you are putting stress on the battery and by charging, discharging it gets hot which is not very good for it. So what I basically do is charge it to 100% and then I go to Power Options > Dell Battery meter > Battery Life and I tick the box which basically says that the AC Adapter doesn't charge the battery instead it feeds the computer directly. Because otherwise the battery would be using its power to power the computer and the AC Adapter would be constantly charging the battery.

I tested my battery last night doing light web browsing and using Word and I got 3 hours and 44 minutes out of it. The laptop is just over a years old but I didn't test the time when I first got it.

 

For those of you who did a clean install:

after making the recovery disks and running the iso file did you delete all 4 partitions when going through the clean install?

 

Wow, can someone else please measure how long it takes from pressing the power button to get past the HP post screen on cold boot? 9 secs is WAYYYY too long.

 

Batteries die, nature of the beast. If you plan on keeping your laptop 3-4 years, buy a new battery after two years or so when your existing battery will most likely start to show significant degredation. Start to use your new battery, and then you have the other for probably a good 60% more battery life at least if you need it.

I'm hoping within a year there will be a much higher capacity battery available to stretch its useful battery time to well over 4 hours with regular use. The mWh rating on this battery is low for an 8 cell it seems. And while the slice seemed appealing at first, its weight just negates the 5 lbs laptop.

I wanted thin, light, and powerful, with long battery life. Something like the Alienware M11x, except with a larger screen and regular mobile i5 CPU (not ULV). I'm hoping it lives up to its hype and specs.