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

Lol. I cant wait for mine to arrive

 

based on a previous post, they removed the i5-430m and reduced each processor by around $25. i don't remember the previous prices though.

call them to ask about a price match after you make your order. it'll take several days after they ship out the laptop to see the amount credited to your account.

 

I got my money back through Online Chat, so that is an option as well.

 

I'm lurking from the shadows, its still hard haha

 

how does the 14 stack up against the adamo?
Dell Adamo 13: CULV Goes Upscale - AnandTech :: Your Source for Hardware Analysis and News

as far as the display goes, that is

 

Will be about the same or a little worse in White / Black performance and much better in colour gamut.

Funnily i just finished reading that article,
that....is....one...damn....sexy....laptop.....

 

LOL our interests in a laptop and desktop are reversed. I had a 160GB G2 Intel in my desktop for a little bit. Yes I did still notice things happen like right now compared to the RAID0 setup that was in it, but the difference is not nearly as dramatic as having an SSD in a laptop compared to a single platter drive, and I'm talking one of the fastest platter drive you can buy for a laptop. I soon took it back out and put the RAID0 setup back on, it's good enough. Besides I always put the OS to sleep, rarely have to totally reboot the OS anyway.

 

so no coupons, no cashback... damn

 

wait what? price drops? calling?
what'd i miss?

or did some people just find out about the processor price reduction?

 

So I'm starting to wonder just how hard it'd be to strip the E14 down to its bare chassis. I know a guy that paints race motorcycles (and anything else we bring him) professionally, and I know he could do some pretty sweet stuff with the Envy. I'd be nice to have an Envy with a nice paintjob and no lame engraving

Could be a fun project. I'll have to wait and see just how hard this thing is to take apart.

 

this (10chars)

 

Don't get me wrong, I'd get an SSD in a second if they were even 25% cheaper. That's why if there is a BCB 25% off it'll be a tough decision, but 160GB will be tight for me. Either way as it stands I just feel the SSD is an expensive upgrade as it stands and its performance doesn't justify the cost at least for the larger capacities.

I put the 80GB in my desktop mainly because I got a good deal on it and wanted to see the benefit of the SSD for myself since everyone has been talkin about them. Granted I went from a Raptor to an SSD so maybe not as noticable.

My original point is that people need to assess their needs before diving head first into an SSD and then wish they had more storage.

 

well, it'd still have the engraving even if you paint it...

 

Does anyone know how I can get VGA output from the mini display port (is there an adapter)? All I see is the hdmi to VGA adapter but I haven't ordered it because I want to see if I like the laptop or not. I need the VGA output to hook up to projectors for lab meeting presentations.

 

Few layers of primer + sanding will solve that. Thankfully the engraving doesn't look that deep.

 

Yeah. To me the perfect looking notebook would be adamo or voodoo envy 133 a thicker enough to pack as much cpu and gpu power as the envy. The onyx version of the adamo design and craftsmanship is astonishing, even macbook unibodies look cheap compared to them lol. The black version of the adamo will always have my <3 YouTube - UNBOXING: Dell Adamo Laptop

Hopefully by 2015 we may have something like that. rofl.

 

I posted the secret price breakdown of all the components in the envy14 yesterday, now today I am going to give you an analysis of the CPU prices compared to real world retail cost. This will help you pick what to buy if you are concerned about getting the most for your money.


HP Envy14 CPU price scheme, retail cost to customer in CTO build.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i3-370M: $200 (no comparison prices available)
Arguably the best price/performance value, but this chip is somewhat slower than the i5-450M because it loses 533Mhz of turbo.

i5-450M: $250 ($35 above retail, BEST VALUE FOR DUAL CORE)
A good price/performace value, but they should clearly give this to you standard, considering what HP get them in bulk for and that the envy was indeed slated to have i5 @ $999.

i5-520M:$350 ($125 above retail, BIG RIPOFF!)
This chip is practically identical to the 450M, and its priced $125 above retail. You do not need its vt-d feature to run VMware or multiple operating systems. Why would anyone get this chip at this price?

i7-720QM: $450 ($152 above retail, BEST VALUE FOR QUAD)
Way overpriced, but it's the cheapest quad on offer, so if you need a quad then its the best choice. You can upgrade yourself to the 840QM in the future when prices come down if you want.

i7-740QM: $600 ($145 above retail, BIG RIPOFF!)
It's barely faster than the 720QM, this is worst choice anyone can possibly make when considering price to performance benefit.

i7-840QM: $800 ($150 above retail)
If you need a faster quad than the 720QM, then this is the one to get. This will be the last clarksfield chip, no future upgrade cost or hassle if you get this. There are XM "extreme" chips coming that run faster, but they run at a different wattage, so they likely will not work in the envy14 at all.


.
.
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real world cost of CPU's, retail stores
--------------------------------------------
dual core
i3 370M: -- too new ($128 per 100, bulk wholesale. cant find it retail)
i5 430M: $235 (special orders)
i5 450M: -- too new (expect $215)
i5 520M: $225
i5 540M: $271
i7 620M: $362

quad core
i7 720QM: $298
i7 740QM: $455
i7 840QM: $650

quad core extreme
i7 920XM: $700 ~ $1238 (just to show the upper end of pricing)

 

Do you think this will work? The processor is a 620LM but he listed it as a PG988 socket instead of BGA. Looking at the picture it loos like a PG988 socket.



Intel Core i7 620LM 620 2.0G 4M SLBML PGA988 mobile CPU - eBay (item 250659587765 end time Jul-06-10 09:50:27 PDT)

 

Hm, the reasons mentioned may as well be the reasons I didn't get an SSD. The lack of space is the biggest issue (I want my 120 gb of music and 50 gb of games with). 160 ain't gonna cut it.

Don't really know the works behind it, but any reason an SSD doesn't really have like similar size options as an HDD, i.e. 500 gb, 640gb. Why all the low memory sizes still?

 

They have them. But who is willing to pay $1000+ for a 512GB SSD?

 

The thing with HP notebooks is that if it isn't supported in BIOS, the notebook tends to not post(boot).

 

lol...id rather get another Envy 14 for my gf with that $1000+ =D

 

Give it a year, they'll drop in half

 

Daaaannngggg. Forget performance. 1k is just too much for that space. x_X

 

Well that's the point where I'm at. < $300 is reasonable for an SSD for me (which is about what I'd get with 10% student discount), but I need about 250GB to be comfortable, but am not willing to part with $500 in order to get it.

I'm still toying with getting the cheapest HDD, which isn't half bad either 250GB 7200RPM, and throw in a Seagate Momentus XT and get performance somehwere in between HDD and SSD. I'm really waiting to see if WD comes out with something better though, before I throw $130 at Seagate.

 

+1 - what he said.

 

Anyone know of a review for this laptop?

 

Same, waiting for either a competitors product or Momentus XT 2.0. I'm not in any rush, so it's all good. 500gb 7200's are faster than a lot of people realize, minus seek times.

Theres no official reviews out. Some of the germans have recieved systems and posted impressions, but that doesn't mean too much in the whole scheme of things. (we are really thankful though!)

 

the 160 gb works for me. I don't mind buying a cheap external TB since I only need a fraction of my stuff on hand anyway. Hopefully they go down enough in a year.

 

guh, but i couldn't really afford that extra $200 on the i7 840.. so i had to settle for the 740, oh well. Maybe i can attempt an upgrade from hp later.

so I just called HP and got my $45 price match rebate, sweet.
It was kinda frustrating tho as the 1st lady couldn't hear me so I called back, the 2nd hung up on me... and the 3rd just kept blabbering! I basically had to tell her, "i'm done, leave me alone now please!"

welp, at first i thought it was only going to be 22, but 45 is nice.

 

According to Square-Enix, score of <1500 = insufficient performance to even run FFXIV at all.

 

The i7-740QM is an extremely bad buy, when you consider the price/performance difference to the 720QM, and the retail costs, it is like throwing away $300 and not gaining any real benefit. You should cancel the order and get the 720QM, or at least threaten to do it, maybe they will cut you a deal.

 

So I take it the higher res screen, is a big selling point on this compared to the Dv6t? I keep thinking that a small screen size, compared to higher res, I'll be squinting just trying to do anything. Maybe that's not the case?

 

Higher res with an overall smaller screen size, which makes it (arguably) more portable. The Envy 14 also has a better build quality than the Dv6t, which is useful if you're moving the laptop around.

 

Wow! I was curious, so i just called the ENVY tech support line,and it's wonderful! I spoke to an american who really knew what she was talking about! I learned a lot actually.

1. no usb 3.0 i5 or i7
she told me they draw way more power than 2.0. I mentioned future-proofing and she said that on average, the turnover for laptops these days is around 2-3 years. so even by then, usb 3.0 probably won't have caught on too much to warren the cost increase and extra power drain. She said they were even considering removing it on the next ENVY 15 revision.

2. hp will not upgrade the processor
but best buy, or similar store might be able to do it for you and still be covered under warranty

3. they put the dvd drive back in because not only did people miss it, but they DAMAGED AND LOST THEIR EXTERNAL ONES....

4. the warranty is on a per parts basis, so if you change one thing yourself, it won't be covered, but the rest still will be (unless u f-up the rest while changing something)

5. the reason why 3yr warranties are so expensive is because they don't want ppl to buy them. It costs hp a lot of money to keep old parts in stock in case someone has an issue, and it's even more expensive for them when they don't have the obsolete parts in stock and have to give the person a new computer. 2 yr warranties are their best-seller, she said.

6. The only thing that will completely void all of your warranty for the entire computer no matter what is actually.. get this... a BUG infestation! And i'm not talking about computer viruses here, i'm talking straight up six-legged creepy crawlers! Because if those things make it into the factory, their screwed! (she said they literally have to quickly wrap it up in a bagillion layers of plastic bags and tape, stick a bio-hazard label on there, and ship it back to the person at extra cost because bio-hazard shipping is pretty expensive!

Huh...

so lesson of the day, if you want to know something, ENVY tech support might actually have an answer for you! I'm considering actually purchasing an HP warranty now...

oh, i forgot, also, the reason why they have all that crap software on there is because of advertising revenue (which i suspected). She said if there was an option to not have all that crap, it would probably cost about $100 smackers more!

overall, i'm impressed.

 

Won't get into the build quality argument, but ya, the overall portability is nice.

I guess my main concern is having issues with the screen being readable/viewable at such high resolutions with such a small screen for that resolution.

 

i'm pretty sure its only like throwing away $150, cuz that's how much the upgrade was, and I had student discount, and it actually IS a performance boost (albeit perhaps not too much), so maybe that's worth like $50 to me, so that cuts my losses to around $90. Considering I did call and complain about this (and got $100 off) I'd say my losses are around $-10, hey, wait, awesome!
(haha, u like my backwards reasoning here to make me feel better?) Considering that my computer is about to be shipped (tomorrow) I just really want the damn thing ASAP, and at this point, i don't care anymore. If the thing turns out to be too hot because of the i7, well then perhaps i'll return it.

 

You... You found a knowledgeable sales rep.
2.0's dividing by 0 must've changed the universe.

EDIT: Oh, nevermind. you said tech support

Thanks for posting that! and good luck with the i7!

 

my 5 yr old dell inspiron 8600 had a WUXGA screen (1920x1200) in a 15.4" package. Those were some pretty dense pixels for back in the day! I admit, perhaps it was a bit hard to read at times, but at least I could fit a helluvalotta things on my screen! (going to a netbook after WUXGA was kinda tough tho, but then going back again is like, WOAH! I can SEE things!)

 

They ship out tomorrow, pretty exited. I wonder whose will be the first to ship out...

 

Haha, it's a RACE! I got 50 on sparky!

Runners at the gate... waiting for the signal...

 

If the tech support ladys name was martha then I spoke to the same person.

P.S. I am strongly considering blackmailing HP for a free slice battery when I order mine.

 

My netbook's motherboard lost its magic smoke recently so i'm left using an ipod touch (320x480) for portable web browsing. or my phone (240x320) if there's no wifi.
I suddenly want my 1024x600 cramped netbook screen back. (though I'm at work on a nice 1440x900 monitor. I'm compiling... shhhhh)

 

Blackmailing? You've had the tinfoil cap on way too long regarding HP and this laptop...

 

I never remember their names...
but how do you plan on accomplishing that one? got some nudey photos or something? >_<

 

Went from a 20" 1650x1080 desktop monitor, to the Dv6t screen (1366x768) 15.6" screen. The readability is really nice, and I didn't think it so bad. Some times I wish more fit on the screen, but for web browsing and stuff it was perfect.

Just was curious about other peoples experience going to the higher resolution screen in such a small package, 14.5".

 

I think they would rather hand out a free slice than RMA the machine, they have a huge profit margin on the made in china slice battery, giving out a free slice is more profitable to them than giving a customer even a $50 discount, and we know they are doing the discounts.

 

Take your pick:
mini display port to vga - Google Product Search

 

Yeah, probably. But I have doubts seeing as they priced the slice at $200

 

Those are specifically for Apple's MacBooks they do not work with PCs they only wok with macs alot of complaints on apple's store and amazon as tons o people buy em only to see it say compatible with Mac only
It's hard to find ones for pcs as they're rarely used... Heck hp only has hdmi to vga no display port ones yet envy very new feature