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

Thanks for helping derp, and here's my 450m cinebench now (integrated graphics)

Picasa Web Albums - Philip Radder - Screen Captures

 

I had like 72/76 or something after an hour of bioshock.


...though the AC had iced over on us and this is florida sooo...

 

you're on the 450m?


man. clean install makes it catch up to my 520m.

 

I paid about $1550 US dollars for this config. The good thing about stores here in Asia is that you can haggle. Of course the price is higher to begin with here, so I figure it ends up being a wash.

 

Just completed first battery cycle. Lasted 3:39 minutes before it went to hibernate. This is without the slice and with a clean install. I did mostly light web browsing and watched some videos on youtube. Was also listening to music on itunes. Also, this is with bluetooth receiver off.

I will do a test with the slice tomorrow and keep you guys posted

 

What CPU? SSD or HDD?

Also there's a battery runtime log here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/501066-envy-14-battery-life-log.html

You could post there so this info doesn't get lost in this thread.

 

Use synaptics scrybe for that, way cooler
You can set your own gestures for next previous etc... like >> << || |> for play blablablah. Sounds like a good alternative.


Im happy we managed to help you flipkun ^^


As for 450m clean install integrated graphics cinebench the number are : << This need to go into the OP post.
single 3644
multi 8227
Opengl 1794

We need someone to do a cinebench with clean installed 520m now or was this already done ? >.>


By the way how come your opengl score is that low ? Was that the score stored from your previous test with 1 core locked ? Do you mind redoing the opengl test ?

 

posted in the battery thread. thanks!

 

Thank you. I hope others follow suit.

 

Has anyone seen any preconfigured models that offer comparable value to hp CTO in the US?

 

Good find, except the battery isn't "sealed in". It's internal and easily accessible and swappable unlike the MBP.

 

So on the hp site it says lists the bios with date of 6/18/2010. My version says 4/22/2010. Should I d/l and update my bios?

 

Yeh Envy 14.

How did you get that price? Are you in Australia?

 

if your LCD does it as well. My external monitor let me turn that off.

 

3820TG has 1366x768. Difference between 1366x768 and 1680x1050 is substantial. That's ~ 70% more pixels you're pushing, which is a LOT.

I also have to reduce my settings on my GTX 260m to a mix of med-high at 1680x1050. It's a very resource intensive game. But lower settings still look pretty darn good. Here's the best combination of settings I've found to work:



Either way, I'm happy to hear results, although kind of what I was expecting after playing it on a Gen1 M11x (SU7300 + GT 335M)

 

Is it possible to order the slice battery seperately? In Germany, the slice battery is not an option and not available as accessory. So I think about ordering the battery in the states and have borderlinx ship it to Germany. I looked around the HP website but did not find it in the accessory pages.

 

Yes you can. Doesn't say what it does though. make sure you run it as administrator and have all windowed programs closed.

 

I posted my old run I did a few days ago in the Thread. I'll try to see if I can another one that's doing a little more work than just web surfing.

 

Can anyone post the settings/FPS they get in Warcraft in 10/25man raids?

 

Yea but even then thanks to optimizations the fps drop should only translates to at worst 15% fps loss. On the other hand now you speak about it using antialiasing on higher resolution is what causes the biggest framerate drop. Every 5650 running BFBC2 at high with good frames has AA turned off, I think the envy should run fine BFBC2 at everything on high with anisotropic 16x except shadows on medium if you disable antialiasing. (On a 14" at 1650* antialiasing or not you won't notice the difference, usually the higher you go in resolution the lower AA you need).

 

Alright, I have a new concern about this machine. After reading about the folks trying different GPU drivers and basically finding out they're limited to the drivers which shipped with the Envy, I'm worried about future driver support.

Will ATI/AMD ever release driver updates for the switchable graphics models such as the Envy 14?

Would be a bummer if they didn't... Or am I missing something here?

 

I'd be surprised if they didn't. The laptop market is moving in that direction. My guess is that they are trying to do something like optimus, with automatic graphics switching upon demand, and on a per application basis.

 

This is what I was hoping. Perhaps ATI would develop a unified graphics switching technology like optimus which would have driver support around the board. However, as with Nvidia's GPU switching tech prior to optimus, it wasn't something that could retroactively be installed as a driver update I don't believe. The difference here is that the drivers didn't have squat to do with the switching, so you could update whenever wherever at least in my experience.

So if that happens with ATI, then we might be left out in the cold since it wouldn't be possible to be a software-only update.

Or I could be completely wrong and they're testing this unnamed feature on Envy 14s right now getting ready to release it on my birthday.

 

I'd also be interested in this. I've had to give up my game play for the time being, but I'm eying some newer MMORPGs (chiefly GuildWars2 or The Old Republic) and I'm curious.

 

Those questions are best addressed in the E14 Gaming thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/499931-envy-14-gaming-lounge.html

 

So. Looks like the Envy 14 was exactly what we expected (with a few manufacturer errors on some).

Cant wait for mine to ship. You guys have to remember that the people that complain are always the minority in general, but the ones who speak the most on forums.

 

I actually wouldn't mind seeing a poll on this, considering the amount of interest/hype this laptop has/had.

Would be interesting to see:

Exceeded my expectations
Met my expectations
Did not meet my expectations (but plan to keep)
Extremely disappointed (plan to return and buy a different product)

Or something along those lines.

 

*runs bios thing, watches as the orange-blue/white light thing for the wireless key (f10) stops changing to orange when wireless is shut off*


whelp.


*reboots a few times, it works again*

oh. hey.

 

Thanks 2.0. There's TMI - but in a good way.

 

There's a poll for build quality linked on the first post of the thread. About 60% gave the highest rating (Great/Perfect Condition - No RMA or Return in sight), and another 24% gave the second highest (Small imperfections - NOT requesting a RMA).

I gave the second highest, since I'm a whiner.

 

GOOD NEWS! I got my envy 14!

BAD NEWS! It came with physical damage! Which included etch marks on the space bar....like 10 dots. AND an etch mark on the plastic part of the keyboard.

HP is being a and wont let me price match with the credit if i purchase a new one and return the old one.

UGHHH! I am utterly pissed off that I had to wait for a delayed laptop AND have a defective model.

 

that sucks kangu


also damn man. no AC is making the right palm rest get warm (stupid hdd)

 

Yeah! It's around 90 and humid in Boston. I've got my Envy on integrated, just web surfing and downloading, and its pretty hot. Maybe I should have bought less RAM and an air conditioner instead.

 

question: ok, so i am going to be ordering a new laptop at the same price with the same credit offered back to me, and I will be returning the defective one....my question is if i make a recovery with this one first to say one step ahead...would it matter if i used it on another envy 14? im sure it wont...but i want to make sure since its the same laptop.

 

What are the benefits of doing a clean install with the recovery discs vs. a Windows7 disc i have laying around and using the key from the laptop?

 

If you got good credit, just keep it, and when replacement keyboards and parts pop on ebay just replace the etched keyboard. It won't cost you more than 50$.
Did you even try to talk to hp about a RMA and replacement of the keyboard (that came already damaged) instead of a refund and reorder ?

Edit: ho well that seems solved, yea recovery disks are the same for all envys.

 

yeah. I turned the ceiling fan on full blast and it dropped back down to 36 C.


that's better. It was getting up to 42 C for the hdd. Started feeling like my old computer (even though the old one was going at 60 C. ...it was whatever plastic and stuff the Asus used. not metal)

 

recovery discs don't do a clean install. they just set it back to factory in case you royally break things (and let you delete the recovery partition, you don't need it anymore).


use your win7 disc. Backup ALL of the SW Setup folder (there's a couple hidden folders in there you wanna grab)

never delete the HP Tools partition, that's how the computer updates the bios, apparently. It uses it

 

Really? Ooops, I already deleted mine. Uh oh.

 

That only addresses build quality. It doesn't touch any of the highlights to why people bought in the first place (e.g. battery life, screen quality, switcheable graphics, etc). I think it would be a better all encompassing measure of what people think of the laptop.

 

Source for the HP Tools thing? I plan on deleting it when I get mine.. don't see why it would need a whole partition to flash a bios.

 

Those attributes are pretty much implied by those who are keeping it versus those who are sending it back. Even if it meant lowering expectations. If anything, perhaps finding out who among those who are returning it, are or have ordered another. The ones who are not would very likely fall under the category of "Extremely disappointed (plan to return and buy a different product)."

 

My first Envy 14 arrived. There were gaps near the bottom and a big gap on the right side of the trackpad. The flex was not bad at all. You have to push hard to make it flex. Otherwise, beautiful laptop. I'm going to return this because they could not cancel it.
Hopefully, my second one will have no gaps!

 

https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=...c01564727/c01564727.pdf?jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

This talks about the HP_TOOLS Partition. It can be recovered as needed, and it doesn't sound that important.

 

Got bored and took apart my E14 to explore the optical drive, here are the results:



Didn't take any other pics than that, sorry. I forgot my camera at home and all I've got is my cell phone. You can see the bracket on the right; it looks like normal ol' sata ports to me, but then again I'm not familiar with laptop component form factors (I'm a desktop veteran, laptop newbie). I guess an ODD->HDD swap may quite painless after all

 

So how do you tell if someone is returning it, but not because of build quality? The current poll is supposed to capture build quality, which to me are the physical attributes of the laptop (i.e. the materials and assembly). IMO build quality is partially independent of the performance attributes of the laptop that attracted us as buyers of the Envy series in the first place.

 

Can you tell me what temps you're getting on the cpu on idle or just browsing the internet because I think mine are little high on my 520m
Internet browsing:
room temp 75F

CPUID
core #0 41C (105F) I can't get them below 40C and my fans are on medium blast all the time!
core #2 37C (98)
GPU 48C (117)

Thank you for the info

 

Well done mate! That is a standard Sata ODD connector. Guess I will be installing my caddy then

How long did it take you to get it out?

 

What caddy did you get?

 

Looks like you can do a clean install with the recovery disks if you choose custom according to the second page on the link on the first page: