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

I read here (forgot who wrote it) that GDDR3 is a faster and lower powered memory made to compliment graphic cards. Confusing!

 

I've called Hp and asked about many things, they've lied 80% of the time. If it's not written somewhere on their terms, I wouldn't believe it.

The problem with sending it back is that they won't process your refund until they receive the unit and even then, it'll take 3-5 days to process. By then, the sale would probably be over.

 

we'll ask someone who owns one to check out gpu-z tomorrow (it'll tell us what's in the radeon 5650)

 

I kind of like it like that. :laugh:

 

Thanks to both erathostenes & StefanHT for providing photos, details, and entertaining us with facts about your new Envy 14. We all look forward to more clarity and positivity about the Envy 14 in your future communications with us here.

 

Don't forget you can get the additional "slice" battery and get somewhere in the 6.5-9.0 hr. range off-AC.

 

has anyone confirmed that the over sized 6 cell is the slice?, because it is worded differently on the other envy laptops.

 

No.
But most of us seem to believe it's the slice.

 

I'm sure you got a run-around, as many have reported, but I think it would be misleading to suggest that it is not HPs policy and very prevalent practice to match price and/or give you full refunds and that some "rogue" (there are less nice words for them ) agents go off the reservation, policy-wise. I've made use of those policies at least 4 times in the past year. You are right that it takes 3-5 days after receipt of a returned product to get your credit card refunded. If the HP agent you get on the phone suggests otherwise, ask to speak to a supervisor or just hang up and redial. I buy nearly entirely HP notebooks for my business and I would not touch a single one of their products if I wasn't assured they would always make good on these most liberal in the market return/refund/price match policies. For real.

 

Damn. Now I somewhat understand what it's like to have unrealistic expectations. You drive yourself up the wall trying to get what you can't have: An i5-520M-equipped Envy 14 for $1,000 or less.

The logical side of me tells me I don't need this notebook. But my greedy side tells me I WANT it!!!

 

I hope so

For an HP laptop, this looks amazing, and I really want it. The only thing that is holding me off is the price since I live in Canada. $500+ more than the exact same thing on the US amazon site. I will not pay $2000 for this laptop, so I have to find another way.

A few of my options are:

1. ordering off of Ebay, saving tax but loosing warranty (I think)
2. Getting an old friend who works at HP to get me a deal (hopefully)
3.Get my family from the states to order it for me
4.??

 

Anyone can please run cinebench ( MAXON: CINEBENCH R10) on 450m and 520m to see how it finally compares ? Thanks a lot for everything so far.

If you order on ebay and call warranty support they'll give you a warranty but it will be starting from the bios date and they'll have to check it themselves.

 

Anyone know the socket the e14 uses? I'm considering purchasing the i7-640LM which is 1288 BGA. I called HP but they are cluless.

 

Yeah, for $200 extra friggin dollars!!!

Besides, if the 8-cell only gets 4 hours then the 6-cell would put it not much more than 6.5 hours for an extra 1.5 lbs and $200. 1.5lbs may not seem like much, but many 15" notebooks are 6.5-7.0lbs which is where this machine would end up. Wonder if there will ever be a 9-cell battery enclosed or even larger battery that would fit and not add a whole lot of extra weight?

I guess I can't complain too much. My current notebook lasts about 1.5 hours basic use. I wanted something that could do regular desktop stuff for up to 5 hours, thin and light (1" and 5lbs or less), and game for close to 2 hours on battery without degraded performance. Based on 4 hrs of light use, probably lucky to get over an hour of gaming time.

I still think the Envy 14 is a better buy than the Vaio Z because of the larger display (13.1" vs 14.4"), larger SSD (128GB vs 160GB) if you opt for it, and a DX11 ATi card (GT 330m vs HD 5650) drivers that you can update since Sony rarely updates their drivers. But damn, 13.1" with similar guts for less than $200 more, weighs only 3lbs, and can game up to two hours or over five hours of regular use on battery.

If it weren't for the possibility of a decent coupon, I'd probably go with the Z. Problem is I can go with the Z with the above config with academic discount for ~$1430 + tax. Hopefull will be less with a decent coupon or 25% BCB.

 

hm...i just ran into this

Lenovo IdeaPad Y460 Review

the lenovo y460. at lenovo's site it's for $999...after taxes would be 1100 ish.
y460:
i5-520
1366x768 LED
4g 1066 ddr3
5650 1g
500g 5400 hard drive
$999 before taxes

my e14 config
i5-450
1600x900 radiance
4g 1066 ddr3
5650 1g
320g 7200
~1200 w/o student discount
~1100 w/ student discount (both before taxes)

i think the e14 is better...ftw!

 

Not only that, but I have heard Lenovo IdeaPads have very poor build quality... not to mention the entire reason I'm looking at the Envy 14 is the screen and build quality.

 

This just shows that Sony made a serious error with the Z by making a SSD the base option. If the Z Series starts out with a 320 GB HD and starts at $1300, it instantly becomes one of the best and most popular laptops on the market. Only 3 lbs, beautiful aethetics, premium build quality, and respectable power? That's a hell of a package.

I'd still prefer the Envy because I plan on doing light gaming and need the extra power, but there are lots of people who'd go crazy over a 3 lb laptop with those specs.

 

no, the slice has more Whr so if the original battery is 4 hours, the slice will add +4 hours (if not a little bit more)

don't think in terms of cells because it means squat

 

In fact, there have been multiple 15% off coupons that lowered the Y460 price to ~$850 before tax. So, when you buy the Envy, you are paying $250 extra for a nicer screen and much nicer aesthetics. That's it.

I agonized over whether to buy the Y460 or the Envy14 (by the way my parents have a Y450 and the build quality is just fine) but I decided to treat myself to beautiful, premium laptop because, well, why not?

 

It is most likely soldered in, and not changeable. Probably need a full mobo swap with new chip.

 

There are definitely other choices out there and cheaper if you don't want/need a higher resolution screen or decent battery life. Acer 4820TG, Lenovy Y460, Sony CW. But the one appeal of this notebook for me is the thin and light, 1600x900 screen, and long battery life (although that's looking a little short now).

 

You can eBay it if you're getting it from UAS, but it's probably pairable with an American warranty.

 

As far as I know the Acer 4820TG isn't sold in the US so it's not an option. The Sony CW is 5.3 lbs - a bit on the heavy side, and its graphics card - 310M - is about half as powerful as the 5650 according to notebookcheck.

For people in the US who want a 5lb laptop with a good graphics card, the y460 and envy14 are your only choices.

 

guys i don't mean to burst your envy bubble but...

Dell Adamo Intel Core 2 Duo SU9300 13.4in Laptop w/ 128GB SSD $999 Deal - Reviews and Compare Prices

even though it has no graphics card....an SSD for under 1000??? WOW.

 

A little off topic but..
If anyone is still looking for a nice sleeve for this laptop I just ordered the Tom Bihn Cache size 4Z. I called them yesterday and they said it would fit perfectly inside this sleeve. It is very slim and made out of really nice material, looks like a great tool with the E14.

EDIT: here is a video of the same product http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-DTUh9tA68

 

damnit!!! i just placed my order but got the error "Paypal did not authorize this payment, please contact Paypal to correct this blah blah blah"

and of course i go into my paypal and it says payment to hp pending

goddamnit!

 

id get an adamo if it had a 1080p display and a better cpu

 

I think somebody is trying to dissuade us from buying an Envy 14 so there's less of a line in the factory,lol. Only problem with that one is its a ULV,no discreet graphics, and a standard screen. Pretty much the opposites of what I was looking for in the Envy 14 .

 

Good sir I don't mean to burst your bubble but the fastest consumer SSD is just a bit over $500
OCZ Technology 240 GB Vertex 2 Series SATA II 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive (SSD) OCZSSD2-2VTXE240G:Amazon:Electronics

 

no i'm faithful to my future envy 14 LOL. just wanted to have some of you reconsider....so there will be less in line d^^b

 

what does that have to do with anything?

ps: the link you posted is for well over 600, not 500

 

Will the Size 4Z fit it perfectly?

Internal dimensions are listed as: Size 4Z: 14.3" x 9.8" x 0.9"

 

I thought it wouldn't either but the lady i spoke to said it should fit snug. We will see I guess. The video shows that the MBP 15 has a little room inside, and the E14 is hardly bigger in dimensions.

 

Does anyone know if it's possible to stack Bing Cashback with HP Academy's student discount? I know BCB is only 5% right now, but 5% on a E14 w/i5-520 and the 160gb SSD is still ~$80.

Now that someone has pointed out that HP has a price-match policy, I'm going to drink the kool-aid as well and order one tonight

 

^no, your BCB will most likely be denied when it gets close to the end of 60 day period that they wait before crediting your account. Can't hurt to go through Bing and hope that it slips through the cracks, but don't count on it. I think there were one or two people who mentioned other cashback sites that might have worked, but if I remember correctly those were around 3%.

 

Haha, the asus n82 line is coming out now too. The N82JQ-A1 is up for preorder on xoticpc for $1,159:
14" 16:9 WXGA Color-Shine LED Glare-type (1366x768)
i7-720QM
nVidia GeForce GT 335M 1024MB - with optimus
4GB (2 SODIMM) DDR3 1066MHz
500GB 7200RPM 16MB
usb3.0
5.0lbs with 6-cell battery

Not as good as the envy14, but it looks better in my opinion, and it has usb3.0. This should come to about ~$900 with the i3/i5 versions. Site claims a release date of some time during the 1st to 2nd week of July.

 

Seems like a good alternative but envy screen makes it a lot better than the ports imo.

 

The E14 is just slightly thicker but shorter and probably not as wide. =-/

 

edit 2: sorry, misread. if it's up for preorder, then it'll come out haha. isn't this heavier though? and how's the battery life? is there optimus?

 

that asus would be a contender for me if it had a better screen. But once again, I am back to build quality and materials used. Everything about the envy just looks so sexy and solid....

 

I have to agree about the build quality and screen of the Envys being one of my main reasons for getting one too. After I returned my Envy 13, I was forced to go back to my old dv6. I never realized how dim, colorless, and just plain bland the screen was. Once you see the Radiance display and use it for a while, it's hard to go back...

For anyone who is wondering why I returned my Envy 13, it was because the hinge was becoming loose, and HP repair failed to fix it the first time I sent it in. Luckily for me, right around this time I happened to read Engadget's post on the new Envy 14 and 17, so I made HP take my laptop back because they wouldn't fix it, and now am happily buying the 14.

 

Micro Center - Acer Aspire Timeline AS4820TG-5637 - Carbon Black LX.PSE02.227

i5 version should be available shortly.

 

Sorry guys, but the screen is everything. None of these laptops have a better/higher re screen than my 3-year-old 13" Macbook. I'm getting the Envy because it actually has a good display, and at a reasonable price. I figure in 3 years displays should have changed in more than aspect ratio.

 

QFT. The screen is the biggest draw to the Envy 14 imho. It has a nice resolution and a high quality screen. If the Envy 14 had an average screen then I would strongly consider an Asus or an Acer. However given the option to spring for something with a high resolution and high quality panel then I'd gladly pay a $200 premium for a better screen.

 

Hey everyone, I've been following along and am now considering getting the E14 for college. As a student who doesn't do a lot of gaming, what is the best configuration to maximize performance and keep the cost down?

 

Base configuration.

 

In college myself. I'm gonna be getting the i5 450m (the best deal for the processor), 1 4GB stick of RAM (to allow a RAM upgrade later), and the base HDD. I'll buy a Momentus XT when the next gen drive comes out.

This combo should keep your costs down. High-end CPU's and SSD's are the easiest ways to increase your price.

 

If you have $70, at least get the i5-450. This will give you very good performance at a decent price. The hard drive should be more than enough for you, and if its not, by the time you fill up all those gigs, externals will be even cheaper than they are now.

 

looks like the 430 has been taken off the hp site and 450 is now a $50 upgrade and not 75

 

wow you guys are fast.

right, i noticed that the 450 was $100 less than the 520. I knew for sure I wanted to get the i5 over the 3 considering I can upgrade other things easily. This thing is a steal at under $1200 (with student discount).