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

@erathostenes

when u have the time, can u check on battery life? i want to see how close i am to my 3.8 hr estimate (3hr, 48 min)

 

im gonna eventually flash the bios anyway i did it for my other two computers, and i think im getting the i5 so ill get 1066mhz ram, and its only like an extra 40 bucks for me to get 8gbs of ram i can trust cause i have a freind who works at corsair so im just gonna go with that.
this envys gonna be sweet,
core i5 520m
240gb ocz vertex 2 ssd
8gb corsair low timing ram

 

720p HD webcam, with infrared nightvision.

 

Also i wonder why HP build a 2 in 1 cardreader into the device.
I mean, it surely can't cost much more to build one that supports more formats into it...

 

Woah, people got their Envy 14s already? That's pretty awesome, I thought it would take longer. And wow, this thread is already almost 300 pages after only a week.

 

lol, what laptop DOESNT have built in speakers? really? what the hell man?

 

The rest of us will be getting it sometime next week.

 

I dont know about the infrared nightvision.. It still works in low light, but I havent seen the night vision mode apart from a color filter in the webcam driver that makes it look like night vision..

The webcam has to be around 720, but the resulting image from the standard driver is not, its being calculated down to 640*480 with the benefit of smooth pan and digital zoom...

On my second run now, so the estimate below is while running.. Dont take it as the gold standard yet..!
The first one being not very easy to read because I put my laptop in standby several times and also ramped up screen and everything.

With wireless on (and very bad reception out here in the garden, so high power on transmission) it now shows a consumption of 15.000 mWh, which is in the 3:30 battery life range..

One further observation, wireless reception breaks down (its already at one bar only) when I close the display, so streaming music gets laggy and stutters.. Drawback of the metal body, I guess...

 

So that's not even 1,3 MP ?

 

its 0.92 MP

 

I don't want to be picky...but that's still weak for a premium modell.

 

Just called and got my $22.50 back =]

 

HP claimed that the webcam was going to be able to operate in complete darkness, not just low light, but total darkness.

 

HP can claim as much as they want before hand (see USB 3.0 port)....

 

poor camera and its bad drivers.


whelp. not like I'm using it for more than a microphone

 

Gross and... gross.

Although I'm looking for a semi-portable laptop capable of doing some semi-hectic graphics work, battery life for this unit seems sub par, especially when they advertised it much higher. I might end up passing on this OR I'll pick it up when the slice battery becomes sanely priced.

Wish I had the money for a Sony Z, though.

 

I actually prefer the bronze-ish tone. LOL. Ah well, to each his own. =)

 

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!:laugh:

 

hmmmm. woulda thought it'd of lasted longer.


oh well.

 

the bronzish color in the pictures seem to be a product of the angle and lighting. i could be wrong.

anyway, 3:30 hours is sad. i told myself i wouldnt get this laptop if it couldnt even get over 4 hours.

 

I think thats a real cool optical effect, sometimes it shows as silver and sometimes as bronze. Like how you can see rainbow colors on gasoline when the light shines on it different ways.

btw laptop antenna are in the lid, reception degrades if you close it, they are also somewhat directional, so not entirely a envy flaw to lose wifi when closing the lid.

 

wonder what the drain is with aero turned off.

 

hopefully, HP placed the wireless card near the plastic parts of the laptop to allow for better transmission. but battery life is close to my estimate, so thanks again!

 

thats only its second cycle, give the battery more time...

 

okay longtime "since before the other envy 14 posts got closed" looker first time post

i thought that the battery was stilll in question thought you had you know like break it in or something so is the battery really only going to be around 3:45 mark

 

The aforementioned provision that allegedly interprets the pentultimate portion of the amendatory adjectival clause is most certainly and clearly legalese.

Bronsky

 

I don't see why it would not be able to. Any of the envy models has an infrared illuminated light source on when the camera turns on. Invisible to the naked eye, but all you need to do to see the added light source is take a snapshot with a camera or a video of it. The camera, unlike our eyes, WILL pick up the light source.

 

Battery life makes it a no-deal for me atm. Shame because the rest looks spot on. Not really keen on the slice, the laptop is already pretty big and heavy for a mobile platform.

 

true, but don't expect some drastic change like 4.5 hours or 5 hours.

 

i dont know what your talking about maybe if you compare it to a netbook

 

Legal jargon aside, is this a SIM card slot?

(Please see attached photo)

Thanks!

 

think there's a wwan option you can choose and that might be where that thing goes.

 

btw. This is what HP uses to figure out battery life.

Code:

Reported times are with all wireless off.

Reported times are with Vista Home Premium operating system.

Battery life times use MobileMark 2007 battery benchmark.

at least that's the disclaimer.

 

I wonder if we would see the stated ~7-8 hours battery life if it just idled at min brightness and max battery mode.

 

that's very disheartening =[.

but then again, what can we expect from a standard voltage i3/i5?

 

I don't think that is too bad. I'm getting the extra 8-cell battery b/c the slice is way too expensive, so 7hrs battery seems reasonable to me. How hard is it to carry an extra battery, I'm not a stickler for huge battery life.

I would also like to discuss your humble opinions on a warranty for this jewel. I'm maxing out my budget at my current config (1200$) do I really need a warranty, and is it possible to just buy one after I have my Envy14?

 

I'm sorry for being lazy, but I don't feel like scrolling through 50 new pages to get the info I need. First, do we have a rough estimate on battery life? and second, has anyone attempted to play games on the envy?

 

3.5 hrs in win 7, with wifi on.

Laptops are for work, not play, silly boy

 

The Acer Timeline series is lighter and have more battery life.

Only downside are the ty screen....as usual.

 

So what do you think is going to happen? There is going to be another laptop with the same components, but that it will somehow have drastically different current draw?

The only thing that you could change (if you want to keep the rest of the config) to get better battery life would be a different battery. Maybe another laptop company gets better batteries, but I wouldn't count on it.

If you want a small, lightweight laptop that has long battery life, get a netbook. Most laptops this size aren't going to get five+ hours when they're configured with an i5 and a really nice display.

 

@valismp:
Read my post above.

If the display is dimmed to the same brightness it shouldn't consume much more energy (for the contrast).

Well, whatever.

 

damnit, i just spilled Squirt all over my keyboard

 

Sorry, I must have been writing my post while you were posting that one

I'm not sure if its fair to compare the screen in the 4820 with the one in the Envy and assume linear brightness (cd/m^2/watt or however you want to do it) between them. It might be the case that the display in the envy 14 requires a higher wattage at all levels of brightness. I'm not sure. There's also the fact that the 4820 has a slightly smaller screen than the Envy 14, which I'm sure also plays a role in battery life.

In any event, I'm not sure that it's a fair comparison to make.

 

Yes it is.. Like other HP notebooks with the option for WWAN they have a sim card slot and a place to put the wireless module..

For older models its about 30€ for the module as spare part on eBay, interesting alternative to the surfsticks that got so popular lately..

 

@erathostenes:

How solid does the display feel? Can you flex it at all?

 

all work, no play makes Jack a dull boy.

 

The main problem is that the Acer Timeline series have 66 Whr batteries.
The Envy 14 only 60.
8cell doesn't mean anything regarding battery life.

And surely the screen does consume a bit more.
Also Acer somehow managed to save some energy.

Adding all these facts up, the Envy will have significant less battery life.
The potential max performance on the other hand is about the same.

 

I just called in and got my 45$ dollars back. I'm wondering if its worth my money to call back and request the 450 instead of paying the extra 100$ for the 520. That would give me 150$ towards the 160gb ss hd. Would I notice a bigger differance in speed switching to a slower processer but a solid state drive?

 

well if you already ordered and if it is in production they have to stop it at the factory (and may not pull that off) meaning you'll have to return it after it arrives at your place.

and then wait 3-5 days for the refund to happen...which may not start til after they get the laptop back

 

crap, now Squirt in the USB