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

When gaming, VRAM is used to store mostly textures & geometry. A higher screen resolution doesn't effect the size of these elements.
No actually it's antialiasing and Vsync + triple buffering + texture quality level.
And sorry but 256MB plain sucks for most games. Unless you're playing in 800*600 and that is so 2004.
I'm a little exagerating, but aproximately, most games with a graphic engine newer than half life 2 really benefit from a 512mb Vram. And at a 1650* resolution it' be craptastic to run any game with texture quality on medium or high with 2xAA enabled or a with anisotropic filter.

 

For those of you who are RMA'ing you're laptop, the estimated build date is rediculous (August 11th). The best way to get a replacement talk to a hp rep and ask them to give you free two day shipping on a new order. By doing this I should have the new envy 14 in my hand on August 5th.

 

build date isnt arrival date, even if you do 2 day shipping it will still be built at the same time

 

Do you have to send your laptop in first? Or do you send it back once you get the new one?

 

Nope. It would have been August 11th if i had returned in since they won't do anything until they have your laptop in there hands. I placed an entirely new order so the production begins sooner, August 3rd. From my understanding, they refund you as soon as your label (they give this to use when you call them about a RMA) is scanned at the fedex department.

Also, if you do a replacement, you must send your laptop in first...I tried for a good 20-30 minutes to convince the rep to build it first.

 

So you didn't RMA it, you just returned it for a refund and placed a new order? That sounds like a good plan to me if it gets it done quicker, although I hope my $200 credit will be transferred...ugh, what a nightmare this whine is causing lol

 

can anyone help me install the new drivers then? when i click on it after i download the link a box pops up saying now perfomring intel(pro/ wireless network driver installer operations. please wait, and then the box disappears.

 

I just got my envy 14, and all I can say is that i love it hahah

 

When did you order?

 

Yeah, just be sure to ask about the free two day shipping when you call about returning/RMA'ing it. I did a decent amount of complaining about the rediculous build date and she talked to her supervisor and they were able to attach a note on my original order number about the shipping. I then referenced my original order number with the note when i called their sales office and they attached some kind of coupon code for two day shipping.

 

Hey I just found this feature in windows 7.

Open up a full window (possibly firefox), then open up another window, but not full screen. Grab the small window and start moving it back and forth using the mouse.

The big window minimizes

 

Actually, high resolutions do require more VRAM. Cards with more VRAM but the same specs in general perform much better at higher resolutions. AnandTech has plenty of benchmarks that prove this.

Low VRAM can definitely bottleneck you at high resolutions.

 

Hello all, I'm a longtime reader (as in every post) first time poster and proud new envy 14 owner. I thought I would post my initial impressions as someone who has a 450m and did a clean install right from the get go. Before I start here are my specs: core i5 450m processor, 7200rpm 500gb hard drive, 4 gigs of ram, everything else stock, no slice, clean install.

Laptop Quality:

Top notch, there are 0 imperfections on my envy (save for the "gap" below the touchpad, though to me this is a non issue)

No cpu whine

None of the reported "snugness" with regards to the to the usb ports

No fan cycling issues, though the fan is always running and audible

No wireless issues thus far, and internet speeds have been normal

Cpu is recognized as it should be (installed the chipset first after clean install)

That said I do have one question:

I installed the drivers (i thought) contained in the swsetup folder, and my fn keys don't work, any thoughts? Sorry if this has been covered, its a big thread.

If someone could give the benchmarking links I would also be happy to run any system tests requested.

Thank you all for the great info given (especially the network card deep sleep fix).

 

Windows 7 was my idea.

 

areo shake?

 

Holy crap If I open up a bunch of windows and wiggle one back and forth, all the other close!

This is amazing. I had no idea of this, but it will come in handy.

 

Yes, doing a little shake with any window in windows 7 will minimize all other windows that are up.

Also, you have a desktop reveil switch at the bottom right, hover your mouse over it to see whats going on on your desktop (for widgets).

Lastly, dragging a window till your mouse hits the far right or left will make it cover half the screen respectively, and the top will maximize

 

Yes I knew all of that (Im not that stupid) but I didn't know of this shaking thing.

I don't think mac has this, but this one feature kills the entire mac OS

 

Oh totally. What else do you need?

 

i think i ordered it on the 12th, but it was expected to ship on the 21st and be delivered on the 24th, but i guess christmas came early lol

edit: nm it shipped out on the 19th(2 days early) and was expected to be delivered here tomorrow but it came a day early

one question how do you enable the backlit keyboard?

 

Nothing. I'm just going to use my computer for this one feature

 

They start building it as soon as fedex scans the package. They don't wait until they receive it.
I'm getting an exchange for mine, and an hour after I dropped it off at fedex, my exhAnge order got "dropped to factory" and now it's in production.
My estimated build date is august 9th, but they told me that it will get sent out earlier. The date they give you is 5 days delayed because they give you 5 days to drop off the package.

 

Really?
You ordered it 3 days after I did and mine still says in production.

What are your specs?

 

Look, to my understanding a lot of you are very annoyed by my whine about the whine.

I apologize that I'm annoying about it I just don't think you understand the gravity of it's annoyance, I have seen atleast 3 people talking about RMA'ing their devices due to the whine problem alone. The only reason I'm putting in extensive questioning is to get to the solution or find the key elements in common with whining Envy 14's to avoid getting one that will have it.

My (most likely) FINAL question about the whine,

Does anybody WITHOUT an SSD have a whine? I noticed Tee Kay and two others further back who are all RMA'ing their devices all had the whine and the 160 gb SSD. (I'm highly aware the SSD itself has nothing to do with the noise, it may be the low requirement of voltage/current)

I RMA'd my whiner. So I will (most likely) stop whining officially.

 

Congrats! Can't wait for your 2nd hdd install!

That sucks about the screen, I was hoping to use it outdoors as well.

 

What are your specs?

 

hmmm.

yeah it does that when they're already installed.

weird.

maybe somehow you're not connecting to the router correctly. or through wireless b (or a) or whatever.

 

idk man? but basically my connection is awful, and it disconnects every 2 minutes.. so i do have the most up to date drivers? what else could it be? i mean i'm on my other laptop connected to the wireless so i dont think its my connection.

 

Uninstall and install latest wireless drivers and see if it fixes it.

 

how do i uninstall them? and then just install the ones i was previously trying to install?

why is it so hard to use a wired internet connection on windows 7? its making me try to set up a new connection and i need a username from my isp plus a password. why cant i just plug the cable in and enable to connection like in xp?

 

yeah maybe they got installed wrong.


maybe your wireless card is underpowered for some reason.


how did you guys go and check on the power to the card (or well the performance and stuff. I never messed with that stuff)

 

Try power cycling your router, and then reconnecting.

 

Because you are doing it wrong. lol

Go to Device Manager (You can search this in the Start menu), then find the wireless card. Download new drivers first before uninstalling old drivers and then install the new ones you downloaded. This is all obviously assuming the problem is on your computer and not router.

 

Are you guys using the HP Wireless assistant? If so, get rid of that P.O.S. app. and use win 7. If you already are then NM...

 

i meant to say 12th sorry, but my specs are i5-450 500gb hdd and 4gb ram(1dimm)

 

its not the router. i am using the internet fine on my other laptop

 

Just found (dont know if it was posted yet)

Full HP Envy Review + Hands On | waffleTech

also another unboxing, but was from last week, but the same person.

http://thewaffletech.wordpress.com/2010/07/16/hp-envy-14-unboxing-first-impressions-new/

 

yeah i am but i'm just trying to be able to connect to the internet before i go thru and delete a bunch of bloatware and stuff. i just want to be able to have my wireless work before i move on to the next step

 

I have a whiner with 520m 256 samsung ssd no trim
My envy is going back to hp

 

lol oh... sorry for my ignorance. i really have NOO idea what i'm doing in windows 7, this is just making things worse as i am having a problem and i am so unfamiliar with 7 that i cant even navigate something as simple as this, thus making me very frustrated..

edit- the thing is tho i tried downloading new drivers, it downloaded but then it wouldnt open because i supposedly already have the up to date drivers (according to MagusDraco) because when i would open it it would start then the dialog box would close

 

BTW my post was meant for wireless connection. The wired should automatically work by plugging it in.

 

Interesting...I also had a SSD.

 

ok thru the device manager i found the wireless card then i went to driver> updade driver and it searrched the internet and then said that windows has determined the driver software for my device is up to date.

 

I consider the HP wireless assistant one of the worst offending pieces of bloatware that HP provides, had nothing but trouble with it and it would add 8 seconds to connecting online compared to the default Win 7 wireless feature.

 

so i should uninstall the driver then?

i already downloaded the drivers from the link that magusdraco provided earlier and it is sitting in the downloads folder.. so i should now uninstall the driver then install the one i downloaded?

 

so do you think that i should uninstall the wireless assistant first ?

- on a side note, you all can probably see why i'm choosing not to do a clean install and rather just delete things on my own... lord knows what i could screw up trying to do a clean install.. haha

 

You need to chosse 'update driver'> Browse my computer for driver software > let me pick from list..... > click the 'have disk' button > point it to the c: drive where you downloaded the updated driver ( if it's a .zip file you'll need to extract it to a folder and point to that folder)....

 

@Kobe882

Forgot to ask (or missed it) did it ever work correctly before you started having problems? If so a system restore may be much easier for you to do.

 

Has anyone had problems releasing the battery door? I dont want to break the slide but it just isnt going and wont let me access the battery door. Is this a bad envy I need to return? THank for the help guys.

 

That happened to me and I actually broke off the latch for the door. Had to RMA it. There was definitely something wrong with it cause I could not even open it with all my force.