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

Well, if you've seen or used a SATA port on a hard drive, it's essentially an external SATA port.

The only thing that really uses it would be an external hard drive. It's much faster than USB 2.0 external hard drive transfer rates, but with USB 3.0 you won't be able to tell unless you're using an external SSD.

 

esata is a lot like usb. It's faster than usb 2.0 when transferring files as it doesn't have to go through a controller or something? Anyway it's an interface just like USB. Esata is not powered so often you see them on external hdd with an external power source. But it's not as common IMO but many external drives offer it as an alternate source of interface between the PC and drive.

 

Regular eSATA is not powered, however, some special hard drive enclosures can use USB power and eSATA transfer from a single USB/eSATA combo port.

For example, this enclosure:
Power eSATA - External Hard Drive Enclosure | 2.5in SATA | USB/eSATA Combo Port - StarTech.com

I am considering purchasing this enclosure if I go with the Envy 14.

 

damn.

i should've played WoW for work.

 

@skhope damn that's some uber loot! wanna buy my lame lvl 80 DK? hahah

 

Modern internal hard drives (and SSDs) use SATA as the interface to connect to the rest of the system. ESATA is just a SATA port that's available from the exterior of the system rather than the interior.

It's a much faster interface than USB 2.0, and roughly equal (maybe a bit slower than?) USB 3.0. The truth is, modern hard drives don't even come close to saturating SATA II 3GB/s anyway, so any additional bandwidth is wasted at this time. Some solid state disk configurations can saturate the SATA bandwidth limit, but even then, they're often running in crazy-expensive RAID setups or specialized PCI-E devices. You won't be using those on a notebook.

All in all, as long as you have one or the other (eSATA or USB 3.0), you're good to go. Until USB 3.0 devices become widespread and common, there isn't much benefit to having the port on your computer, unless you're a stickler about future-proofing. Personally, by the time it becomes common, I'll probably be ready for a new machine.

 

oh awesome, do u think eSATA is utilized my engineering and scientists?

 

Eww... WoW, paying monthly for a game is absolutely insane.

 

esata and sata connectors are physically different

 

are you guys saying that if i get the i5 450, i wont be able to run vmware? or will it just be slower?

 

Eh WoW was tons of fun..and I made a lot of money from it lol
I sold two accounts in the two years i played and made in total $2100

 

IMO - that is a very "at this current moment" statement

Two years from now when more software makes use of Quad cores that statement may no longer be true.

Now - for some people, they flip their laptops every couple years or so making this not a big deal. For people like myself who hold on to laptops for 4-5 years, this makes the extra power worth it.

 

very much so. SATA = Serial ATA located internally. my desktop has a SATA HDD.

eSATA stands for express/external SATA i think.

 

yeah i need a laptop that will last me for min 4 yrs.

oh really? so is eSATA used for say IR Cams and other sensors?

 

It'll be slower. And dual booting is 1000x times better than vm.

 

Jonathan's has a Broadcom. IMO, Broadcom is good enough. On my dv2610us, I was able to get very good speeds on downloads. Connections were just as good as my desktop's wireless card. The bluetooth is the only concern, because it's very "skippy." It'll connect to a device whenever it wants to. That might be the drivers' problems though.

This newer "2010" version of the Broadcom adapter, I'm guessing it'd be better. On the other hand, if HP advertise$ Intel, then we should bargain for it. Cash rules everything around me: C.R.E.A.M! Dolla dolla bill ya'll.

 

No. It's pretty much limited to storage devices (external hard drives).

Think of it like a USB 2.0 port on steroids that you can only connect hard drives to.

 

That's true, but unfortunately we've had multicore processors for over 5 years now, and it's just getting to the point where developers are starting to parallelize code. Hopefully in a few years we'll see more code that is capable of using more than two threads. Unfortunately, some code, no matter how you code it, just can't really be parallelized.

Anyhow, my statement about battery life still remains true. Having a quad-core will not allow you to use switchable graphics and it going to kill your battery life.

SATA (and by extension eSATA) is really only used for hard drives/solid state drives. It's not the same type of transfer medium as USB is.

Anything like that will either be serial (if it's very old), or USB (if it is modern).

 

ohh. Also ur statement on battery life is true. My classes are like 2hrs or more maximum 3hrs. i have 2-3 classes a day. if i go for i7 quad (probably taking notes, computational physics/engineering maybe during labs) be enough?

 

Not when you need multiple OSs running at he same time.

 

Please, if you haven't already, move this question and related discussion about sleeves, bags, cases, backpacks, etc to the other thread (it's in the HP section), cuz this question might get lost in this fast paced thread.

Thx

 

Wow. You should write a tutorial on how to do this.

 

Well, with the current Envy 14 results from the few people that own them, the internal battery (with integrated graphics) seems to be giving something like 4 hours tops if you're doing light web browsing. Maybe a little more if your wifi is off and you're just doing note taking. If you're actually going to be doing heavy engineering work in class (as an Engineering major, we generally just do this stuff in labs on computers they provide, classes are mostly lectures/note taking), you're not going to get very good battery life.

A rough estimate is that you'll get about half of that battery life with a quad core and the discrete graphics. The Envy 14's battery really isn't that large.

 

roll your face on a keyboard a couple hours a night. profit. lol just teasing, I play wow off and on, I enjoy it.

 

Right-o! I did this earlier, realizing that this is for the Envy not accessories.
If any of you have imput on this, the thread is right over ------> Here http://forum.notebookreview.com/accessories/496745-envy-14-i-need-perfect-bag-school-laptop.html

 

I wouldn't buy anything from StarTech...very poor quality materials. Bought an external sound adapter from them for my gf's desktop, and had to RMA it twice to newegg. Their sh*t stinks. Hence the cheap prices. If you want a good external HDD enclosure, I highly recommend ACOMDATA, or Bytecc. Hell, even Rosewill makes decent ones.

 

I'm going to have to disagree with this statement for a couple of reasons. 1st being this, dual core chips are being phased out in favor of quad core chips - in fact, by 2011 even entry level chips will be quad core. ( Intel says no to 28nm, focuses on 22nm: Ivy Bridge/Haswell & Larrabee - Bright Side Of News*)

I know that's still a way to go - but it signifies the direction of technology. By that point I imagine they'll have lower voltage quad cores for the battery conscious consumer.

Moreover, if what your saying is indeed true, why does Intel's product development roadmap feature processors increasing the number of cores as opposed to increasing processor speed?

Just some food for thought.

 

I've never heard of them either, and I assumed their products were not exactly "top quality," but unfortunately, I have yet to find another external enclosure that supports powered eSATA.

If you can find one, by all means, let me know.

 

I wish I got paid to play Battlefield....

 

I think you've misinterpreted my statement. Obviously parallelization wikipedia is the way to go. Plus, if you know a little bit about the history of processors, Intel/AMD quickly eventually discovered you cannot just keep increasing operating frequency. It just doesn't work. Intel made claims at one point that they'd have 30GHz Pentium processors in the future. This never came about, as it's infeasible with the way we build microprocessors, and it's inefficient. I'd prefer not to argue about microprocessor technology, as it's rather unrelated to whether or not someone should buy an i5 or i7.

What I'm trying to say is that buying a quad core now might increase your notebook longevity some, but it's not going to be linear based on how many cores you have. We'll have newer architectures out in a couple years, and if any of them happen to still be dual-core, they'll likely blow the i7 out of the water.

I'm just trying to say a dual core i5 won't be unusable in a couple years, and it's going to get way better battery life.

 

What he said.

These days, the obstacle isn't the hardware. It's the software and the way it's coded to take advantage of the hardware. Only recently have we seen more and more software even being developed to operate in a 64-bit environment, so it's not likely we can count more than a handful of software programs out there that can make use of multiple threads.

 

I hear the hourly wages are aweful I would know...

 

Since Hp battery isn't that great. Wish Acer TimelineX 3820TG came out in USA to force HP to lower its price.

 

For me:

$120k grad school loans+WoW=disaster of epic proportions


That's why I'm probably also avoiding Guild Wars 2 and D3. MMOs for me are a time drain with my obsessive and competitive personality.

 

Interesting. Have you or are you going to buy from that ebay person?

 

I have an internal memcard reader for my desktop made by Sabrent. It's still running strong even after 3 years. Maybe this external case will work for ya, if that's the correct connection: Newegg.com - SABRENT EC-ESTK Aluminum 3.5" eSATA External Enclosure

Otherwise, this might work: Newegg.com - BYTECC HD1-SUS Aluminum 2.5" USB2.0 & eSATA External Enclosure >> As I stated earlier, Bytecc makes some quality stuff. My cousin has a 7+ year old Bytecc external (happens to be the older model of this one that has only the mini usb connector), and it's still running strong. Actually, he has like 3 of them, and they're all still good.

Else, get this one, the other brand I HIGHLY recommend. This one happens to be similar to mine, with its addition of esata connector: Newegg.com - acomdata SMBXXXU2SE-BLK 3.5" Obsidian Black USB2.0 & eSATA External Enclosure

I hope you don't laugh at my recommendations, cuz I only recommend stuff I've used, owned, borrowed, or have an older item from the same brand(s).

Thx for your consideration.

 

I keep reading stuff like this regarding 64-bit and multiple threads. Is there a relation between using 64-bit Win7 and multiple threads/cores? Or do 32-bit environments support "threads" also?

CONFUSED

 

I wasted one whole summer - 8 hours+ a day - on one MMO a few years back. I am so competitive (and boy did I do well at the game). I've since sworn to never again play an MMO. Once I get into something like that, it consumes me. A single-player game I can put down. I'm actually getting the Envy 14 for games + anime, two things I enjoy a lot but can regulate.

 

So, does anyone know how I would go about swapping my dvd drive for a second hard drive? Also, I would probably be looking for an inexpensive, medium-low capacity SSD to get the performance of fast boot times etc, without incurring the huge costs. Can you recommend one to me? (preferably at least 32GB)

 

which processor uses more battery? The i5-450 or the i5-520. If the i5-450 uses less power, I'm getting it. I don't need Intel Virtualization, Trusted Execution Technology or AES. However, if the 520 is faster (not looking at turbo boost), then I might get that one. Please help me out here.

 

For all intents and purposes 64-bit architecture just allows you to have more memory - to my knowledge, all processors sold these days are 64-bit. Software companies are slowly developing their software to make use of 64-bit architecture.

The best way I can describe cores is like this. Back in the day of Pentiums, every process running on a computer shared one CPU - this is why increasing processor speed was so important. More recently, Intel decided that a more efficient route to go was to split up the workload. A dual core CPU can thus split up the work between the two cores. As an example, if you were burning a DVD and watching a movie at the same time they could each operate independently on their own cores rather than competing against each other for resources. As Intel sees it, increasing the amount of cores on processors will further improve efficiency of everyday computing. It should be noted though, that as many above have said, to truly get the most out of these additional cores software must be engineered to take advantage of it.

Now what you believe is more important is a matter of opinion. Arguments could be made for both sides. If raw power is all you seek, i5 is the way to go and allows you to make use of the switchable graphics. If your a strong believer (as I am) that software is shifting towards taking advantage of multiple cores, then by all means go for the i7. Bear in mind though that the i7 options currently offered on the Envy 14 do not allow you to have switchable graphics (thus cutting down on battery life). Also note that not all i7's are quad core processors (product model will have a Q in it if it is).

 

Also - to shed some light on "multi-threading" - this basically means that instead of the cores working independently of one another (essentially they are off when they aren't being used) they work together to create a super-processor.

For this example, let's say you were playing a super intensive game. The four cores could combine their power into one beast of a processor. This is currently where software these days is lacking, but in my opinion, not for long.

 

Is this like 2 people working on a project and splitting the work, vs. me doing it alone and working harder to finish it by the deadline?

Or do you mean me being able to multitask?

 

I am liking that 1600x900 Radiance screen more and more. I don't know if I can settle for a 1366x768 screen now.

Damn you, HP! Just give me the 25% BCB so I can be done with this laptop indecision.

 

Seagate GoFlex.

 

Ok, let's visualize this for a moment.

Let's say we're you sit down in a restaurant of 20 tables. There is one waiter serving all of these tables. The waiter comes and takes your order after some time, but any time you need something from the waiter it takes a while because he has so many tables to serve. This results in very slow service because so much stress is put on the one waiter. Now, let's say the restaurant hires a second waiter (dual core) - now the workload is much more manageable for the two employees. They have 10 tables each and respond to customer requests much faster. However, the restaurant only allows each waiter to deal with their own tables - so this means each table has to wait until their own waiter is ready before they can be assisted. New management takes over and decides to allow the waiters to interact with all of the tables - which means whenever a table has a request the first waiter that is available will handle the request (improving efficiency). On top of that, if a larger table of say 10 people were to sit down, the two waiters could work together to make serving the table easier by splitting up the work (this is what multi-threading is)

That's my personal analogy that I use explaining multi-core processors to people. Comes from my experience from working in a restaurant while in high school and college (I now work for a software company).

 

I have ordered one from them as I am in the UK.

I will let you know how I get on.

 

Its about 5-8 Seconds, really fast...

 

Erathostenes, are you able to make any judgments about battery life as of yet?

 

Im sure there are many copyrighted elements that make up Apple's touch pad, although the material, size, and general idea that it intercepts communication through our fingers... its fair game for any company to come up with creative and usable ways to navigate a computer in a fashion that is not directly copyrighted by Apple.

HP's purchase of Palm should greatly benefit future laptops, its only a waiting game now.

Envy will lose this every time. Windows will lose this every time. Mash the two up.... and they lose every time. Until Windows begins to acknowledge the need for powerful laptops/notebooks to be able to work a full day on 1 charge, Apple will continue to lead. The whole idea of a computer that is mobile is to be able to take it where you want. The second part involves the duration... of which Windows hasn't a clue about, and Apple knows a whole lot about.

Even if both battery's were the same, both screens were the same, (both CPU's may be the same, and the difference in GPU is negligible as neither is a front runner for mobile graphics), MBP's will keep on running and any Envy will run out of power.

See ExodusC's quote below....

Construction, Touch Pad, Battery Life, and other valuable points of interest that make a fantastically rugged mobile computer with easy intuitive input that is gentle on the eye is finally being noticed by the big box generic computer companies... like HP.

The Envy 14 will not measure to the same standards in Construction, use of Touch Pad, and longevity of Battery Life as the MBP. There, I said it. However, the Envy 14 may shine as the best attempt at a MBP killer that any PC manufacturer has done to this date. Did HP beat Apple? I doubt it. Apple is worth more money and has done so with less products in a shorter time period than HP has ever done with any product. Apple gets it... HP understands that it needs to evolve, and Envy is the first attempt. I say its an above average attempt, but clearly HP has room to grow. Give us an absolutely rock solid laptop that is intuitive, simple, powerful and smart enough to work a full day. 3-8 hours is more than 2-5.