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

Question:
Is this Amazon.com: HDMI TO HDMI 6 foot cable: DVI Gear: Electronics what I need to hook HP ENVY 14 series | HP Official Store this laptop to http://www.shopping.hp.com/store/product/product_detail/EPP_00_WB988AA%23ABA this monitor?

Also, this same cable should work for the Xbox 360 elite to the monitor, correct?

 

Yea, but don't get a cheap one. Get a gold plated category 2 hdmi cable at least if you're going to use 1080p + or you'll have crappy image. Cheap hdmis (category 1 I guess ?) i bought always gave crap images or flickered on very high res but all worked fine for 720p (1336*) like resolutions.

 

You think this one: Amazon.com: AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable (6.5 Feet/2.0 Meters): Electronics would be a better buy?

 

...yeah even better go buy a 70 dollar Monster cable for unreal like image.


Seriously, without getting into how digital video works, all HDMi cables are going to give you the same image if they are based on the same revision of the technology. Durability is the only thing that could matter...so Don't go "too" cheap.

 

Yes, but my thought is in six months chances are 160GB SSD's will be much cheaper once Intel comes out with their 320GB SSD. My other point is that if you are sacrificing CPU for SSD it's not a wise decision IMHO.

 

How come? In 6 months there will be more powerful CPUs too. We can only work with what we have now.

I think most users will see the SSD boost in day to day tasks far more than any of the CPU upgrades seen here.

 

+1 on that one

Funny how many people sip the kool aid they've been fed for so long about a/v cables.

Monoprice has never let me down.

 

The $3 one it is. If it's bad, then oh well.

 

please dont give advice on A/V things if you have no idea what you're talking about

gold plated mumbo jump won't affect a digital signal. you can get the cheapest hdmi cable in the world vs. the most expensive and have identical results.

whatever your problems were, have nothing to do with cable construction.

 

both of my home theaters are wired up with black, no name chinese hdmi cables. they are awesome set ups man. picture quality is perfect. dont buy the Best Buy sales pitch.

 

Thanks. The HP one is a rip off, most certainly. It's probably the same one as the $3 one. And to think, they're making a profit off of that one too...

 

thats what businesses are for.

 

I found this about the Envy 15 "This 1-inch thin, 5.18-pound laptop is powered by the Intel's Core i5 / Core i7 processor, updated 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5830 discrete graphics, USB 3.0 (on Core i7 + ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5830 units)". So i think when somebody posted that the sales person on the phone said that the i7 edition laptops come with a USB 3.0 and people said that didn't sound right, i think it does because that is what they do for the 15.

 

the only way it'll be bad is if you get like a 200 foot cheapo one.


that's when the higher quality hdmi cables MAY be better.


it's still a may.


and who the heck is buying a 200 foot hdmi cable anyway?

 

Just as a heads up:
I ordered windows 7 professional through HP because I need the VPN settings. It was a $120 upgrade. Windows offers the upgrade through their student store for $29.99..I called up HP to ask about it, and with a very pleasant conversation they refunded me the $90.01 and kept the upgrade. If not I was going to change my order to the home premium and just get the upgrade through windows. (I'm a college student and got HPA discount as well.)

 

Yea theres a chance you get something equivalent, but for like 10$ you get 10 time more durable cables. Just read the 1 to 3 star reviews on the 3$ cable on amazon... Theres a lof of faulty units in this price range. That said I aknowledge I forgot hdmi was digital. I was just speaking from my experience of cheap cables overall (most of which were analogs). Indeed for digital signal plating or not doesn't matter it works or it doesn't.

 

I myself buy the Amazon branded 6 dollar ones...built very solid. The only thing that will effect theses cables is poor crimping of the connectors. Other than that there is an HDMI standard everyone follows.

 

It's actually not $3..it's $2.34. My mind has gotten used to seeing the dollar sign and the first number and rounding up. Free shipping is sweet too...I think it would cost about half of the product cost in shipping..

 

I called a service tech at HP to try and clear up the rumors, because it can affect peoples decisions who haven't yet ordered.

#1 The CPU is definitely replaceable, however it will be underneath of the video card, you must remove that first to get to it, and of course the HSF. It is accessed the same way as the RAM, via the hatch on the underside by removing 5 screws, it's not something any ordinary person wants to try and do, but it is possible for a tech.

#2 If you buy a replacement CPU from HP, then replacing the CPU won't void your warranty, even if you replace it with a better one as an upgrade. For example, they offer an i7 620M for configuring the dm4t but not for the envy14. They won't allow you to custom order an envy14 with one, but you are allowed to buy that CPU as a replacement part and have a tech put it in your envy14, for instance at an HP authorized service center. If you did not buy the CPU from HP though it voids the warranty, because you aren't using HP authorized parts.

#3 They weren't able to get any information about the possibility of USB 3.0 being on the clarksfield configured laptops, but they are going to follow up with me about it in a few days.

 

thats' great news about the cpu

looks like this laptop will last a long time, barring some OLED screens going into production or something

 

wow, thanks.

 

You'll be happy with your 'budget' purchase. There was a test a while back in either Fry's or Tweeter where they set up two tv's with the exact same settings. One used a monster HDMI cable and the other was rigged up using a standard metal coat hanger. Guess what? No one could tell the difference between the two. With a digitial signal you either get a picture or don't.


I got antsy yesterday like a couple other people and decided to call HP and switch out the 7200RPM hard drive with the SSD. Slept better afterwards, I hate having any kind of second doubts or buyers remorse with big purchases.

 

if you ever played with a macbook pro, you would say otherwise.

 

my only mac touchpad experience is an old powerbook G4.


two finger scrolling was cool.

 

This is extremely unlikely, there is no way they'd have room to vertically stack the video card, cpu socket and cpu, and heatsinks for both. Your getting suckered by some unknowing sales rep.

 

Does anyone know about how much battery life is saved by getting an SSD instead of a HDD?

I know that HDD isn't the biggest cosumer of energy (Screen and Processor are), but just wondering how much it would contribute to improved battery life.

 

Order status is now "Order In Production." So, unless they're planning on taking over a week to build this thing, MAYBE, just MAYBE it'll ship out early?

That would certainly be a pleasant change from my previous HP CTO notebook experience.

 

Not much. It might extend your battery life by 10 minutes tops in most cases.

 

Nope its true, I talked to an envy tech not a salesperson, and they checked this with their team lead and also against the parts diagrams and schematics to make absolutely sure. However I was looking myself in the envy17 service manual and see that they use a different HSF assy for 35W and 45W CPUs, it is probably the same situation for the envy14, so people doing upgrades should keep that in mind that they will need to order the correct HSF assy that is matched to the CPU wattage, or the laptop will get fried.

 

fun fact: SSDs use more power than standard HDDs

The SSD Power Consumption Hoax : Flash SSDs Don?t Improve Your Notebook Battery Runtime ? they Reduce It

 

that article is also 2 years old

 

124 pages, still nobody owns that thing yet

 

Only 42 pages for me.

I'm getting around CA sales tax, but I'm waiting for a month to see what coupons come out.

 

How are you going to get around the CA tax? I thought HP does charge it.

 

Is there any downside to ordering now vs ordering Sunday? are the "build date estimates" still the same?

 

And we all know how reliable these vids with the youtube reps are.

Remember..according to those reps... starting price is $999 and that comes with i5. They also claimed 14 hours with the slice, but it seems most of it was just marketing hype.

Let down by the ASUS UL30JT and now by the price change in this, but if the reviews still come in with high praises, I would probably still get this one.

 

I go to Montana in a month, so I'm shipping it there. I'm still using my regular credit card though. HP just checks the shipping address and charges tax based on it. Nice way to save $100 worth of tax.

 

Tax dodger!

 

and? there are 2 year old articles saying it both ways

in any regard, its negligible

 

Just did some research on the article you listed and for the most part it seems that the statements remains true. There is currently only one ssd out that actually consumes less power, if any at all. I wish i grabbed a link but its one of OCZ ssd's.

Btw, i finally joined the forum. i've been lurking around since i was following the ul30vt-x1. Lots of good info here.

 

2 year old articles in technology are often much outdated. We can look at 5 year old articles that go both ways. It's better to link more recent articles to make a point. But yeah either way it probably is negligible.

Looking at that article, they did re-do the test because the SSD finished the benchmark tasks sooner than the HDD, but the fixed tests showed it was still negligible.

 

-other from a tax-free state, have it shipped to you, or perhaps family members are visiting
-tax-exempted occupation
-etc

 

It's still true, sometimes. It varies from drive to drive.

If you look here, you'll notice that under load, the Intel X25-M G2 under load draws more power than a standard 5400RPM drive.

It really depends-- the Agility 2 uses less power than any of the mechanical drives under any circumstances.

 

Thats reaaally key information...

So. If I've changed a video card or RAM does that make me experienced enough to (with forum help ordering the right one) install a different processor?


Man I'm a rook.

How hard will it be...

Getting the 370 and ordering a i7 dual core sounds boss!

*EDIT* wait wait wait, how do you buy a replacement CPU from HP? They don't sell processors...

 

possibility.


might be a pain to do but there will be disassembly guides eventually (either home made or by HP) I think.


if not...then well...I'm sure someone can figure it out and help you out.

I ordered the 520m already and am just gonna stick with that for awhile.

 

HP does sell CPUs in the parts store. But in order for your warranty to remain in force, you would have to have HP do it for you. CPUs are not user serviceable parts according to HP. And HP charges retail for the CPUs.

 

the i7-620m has an integrated GPU on it right? We're assuming the BIOS will readily accept this processor and that everything will work for switchable graphics. If so this is something I would certainly look into.

 

LOL

I already give the state government a good deal in supporting the California education system.

 

It's true about OCZ vertex drives. They do use less. I've noticed gains of up to 10 mins of batt life with the Vertex drives I have installed in my notebooks.

 

Well I guess it won't really matter if you'll be going to an HP parts store and speaking with them in person & possibly needing them to do it for you,, ?

(regardless of if you're capable, as it sounds)

Maybe I'll just get the best dual core available. Then when it gets out dated, my warranty will be out anyways. And then if I can't afford the Lust 14 I'll just find a newer compatible processor and won't be voiding my warranty when I manually install it.