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

I totally agree about being able to set your laptop down anywhere. I recently installed HWMonitor on my old dv6 while it was sitting on the bed, and found my CPU to be idling at 98*C. I wish it had at least one intake vent somewhere else so that if it was placed on a bed or lap, the airflow wouldn't be completely eliminated.

... But if you put it underneath a blanket with you, it's a great heater.

 

I think you may be the first person to get it!

Just like the MBP Multi Touch, once you have the options and user experience, anything less is just poor design. I find myself reaching for his MBP more and more, and I H8 OSX.... blauuuuuuughhhh. But I can set it on the couch or bed and not worry cause it has no vents on the bottom. The fruitcakes said hey, lets let them use laptops on their laps. Duuuuuh!

I can see myself sitting Indian style with the Envy 14, and my right leg totally covering the CPU exhaust vent. Ive even measured the Envy 14's dimensions to see where it would hit my leg. Its evident that HP Envy's designers dont think about how people may use a laptop; I must sit a specific way just to use a laptop? ?

Its breaking my hopes... beautiful, feature rich, nice materials, looks like good build quality, average battery life, and ya gotta use a laptop stand.

Fail.

 

LOL! Ive got company for that! But when he's a fanboy (pun intended), I'll consider that next time!

 

By looking at the bottom of the envy 14 it looks like you might be able to put it on your lap no problem. Not sure about a bed, couch etc. And I'll tell you how I have come up with my theory. On the bottom of the envy, there is 1 vent running (about) through the middle of the laptop, there are no vents in the corners or sides. And if you sit down and put the laptop on your lap there is a gap between your legs (where the vent is), so I think it will be fine (unless you cross your legs). It might be a problem putting it on a bed however. But I think as long as your not doing anything intense on the CPU or GPU like gaming etc, then you can even put it on your bed. I'm going to try it and see how hot it gets when I get my envy.
By the looks of it, I think HP put a lot of thought into this laptop. They could have done better but I think they have done fairly well.

 

Question for StefanHT & erathostenes & anyone else:

I assume the Bluetooth 2.0 includes the A2DP spec, but does it include AVRCP spec as well?

Why? Glad you asked.

Ive got my surround sound system hooked up to a Bluetooth 2.0 receiver, and the only way I can adjust the sound volume through the Envy is if it includes the Bluetooth AVRCP spec. My Envy 15 does stream stereo music to my surround system (A2DP), but adjusting the volume on the laptop does not effect any volume settings (yes Ive checked everything), so I must also use the stereo remote.

Alternate example: Even the iPhone 3G and 3GS did not support the the Bluetooth AVRCP spec, although iPhone 4 does.

Edit: Great, I see Bluetooth 4 is coming out Q4. Sigh.

 

Yeah, its just got to be tested. My Envy 15 has vents on the bottom corners, and you dont want to cover them up for long!

I'll be sure to lookout for your review, thanks in advance!

 

Do you know where to find out? I was checking the Bluetooth Dialogue and Device Manager, no luck so far...

 

Im looking.... Im not sure. I just PM's a friend.

I updated my previous post about this with specs.

Bluetooth 2.0 + A2DP
Bluetooth 2.0 + AVRCP

Its so nice to be able to have a laptop play all your MP3's wireless to your surround sound system. Volume control is a must....

Edit: Possibly if you could provide all the info about your Bluetooth (screenshots of Device Manager and driver details?), one of our more knowledgeable friends here could help us.

Edit 2: After reviewing your screenshots, I found this post.

 

Does anyone know the 3DMark the ATI 5650 graphics card gets? Does 3227 points sound right? Is that good? I have no idea about graphics cards.

 

Maybe this or this would assist you.

 

Its quoted as a
HP Integrated Module with Bluetooth 2.1 Wireless Technology.. Not much more information available..

 

I dont see any drivers for WiFi/Bluetooth here or here.

Ok, so we know that Broadcom 43224AG supports Bluetooth 2.1, but we dont know if it support A2DP & AVRCP?

Ive not seen anything that specifically states that Bluetooth 2.1 includes both A2DP & AVRCP specs.

As I stated before, as a tech comparison, both the iPhone 3G & 3GS do support A2DP ( streaming stereo), but not AVRCP ( volume control). Only the iPhone 4 supports both A2DP & AVRCP specs, so Im thinking since the Broadcom 43224AG is around a year old, it may not include it. I wonder if the Intel Wireless N card supports both Bluetooth specs?

Maybe this is why user 0m3gA pointed out that Envy 14's use 2 different WiFi cards. I think maybe ExodusC, DerpDerp, or Zeth006 may have mentioned 2 WiFi cards as well.

Still looking....

 

Well its 7:38 pm in Shanghai and my order has not shipped....so its not looking good for being built today or there is a lag in the status updates.....lets hope for lag!!

 

No ship notice for mine either of course. I'll cancel if it's going to be a huge delay, unless they offer me a nice free upgrade or discount.

 

Can you upgrade the disk drive later on in the future if you wanted say a bluray readable one?

 

Hi Guys,

If am booking the laptop on my friends hp academic account, on whose name the laptop will be booked? Will there be any problem when using the warranty?

And also if the billing address and shipping address of the credit card are different, do they still take the order once we talk to the customer care?

 

Can someone tell me if the 14.5" Diagonal Display is actual screen real estate, or if it is to the ends of the bezel?

 

its the actual LCD panel.... its not measured from the bezel

 

Jeez, I hope its to the end of the bezel. I'll try to find out

 

Yeh it's the LCD itself not including the bezel. Damn

 

To my knowledge, thin slot load BluRay drives are not available right now, hence the absence in the thin Envy 14 and thin MBP's.

Anything could happen in the year 3000...

Good question. ?

 

Hmm, any thoughts on adding % discount options to the original post?

E.G.

Bing - X% *
Employee Purchase Program - X%
Student Purchase Program - X%
Fatwallet - X%
Ebates - X%

* Not combinable with other discounts

Or something of that fashion? Considering the coupons aren't that great now, the % discounts are the best bet.

 

... ahhh. Nice to know. Ive never measured my Envy 15.

 

The funny thing about that is you can get a Bluray drive in the Sony Vaio Z, a machine thinner than the Envy 14. Granted it costs $500, and most like a Sony proprietary design, but still. Maybe Sony will sell them to HP, yeah right...

I wouldn't doubt that within a year there will be a Bluray drive thin enough to fit in there.

 

Screen sizes are always referring to the size of the *SCREEN* diagonal dimension. Never the bezel.

 

@erathostenes or StefanHT or anybody with superior knowledge of this thread (-:
Sorry, if this question was already covered, but its kind of hard for me to follow this thread, as i'm traveling alot between Germany and Hungary (without internet connection):
I remember that at least the 1st gen envy15's fixed cpu multiplier on battery meant, that it even doesn't lower the multiplier when idling. I can't recall, whether this issue ever was resolved for the second gen envy15 and more importantly: I would like to know, whether the envy14 uses the full potential of lowering the cpu mutliplier when idling, to save battery live.
erathostenes or StefanHT could you shed some light on this?

 

This was discussed a few pages back. Yes you can use the full potential of the processor on battery. Tests were done.

 

Found it... Thank you very much aleckazee

 

Appreciate all responses on screen size, nice to know for sure!

 

Added a few with links to the programs.

 

Guys,

Am not sure if this was already discussed but can someone clear my doubts.

 

Warranty follows the machine, not the user afaik. You might want to register the machine in your name though. As far as credit card, call the credit card company and add your address as an alternate shipping address.

 

Norton Internet Security is no longer $1. iunno if this was mentioned in the past 20 pages.

 

Dang still "Order in Production"...

 

Same, but it's just the beginning of the day (Yes, I know they are being produced in Shanghai). Give it until the end of the day - US time! - before saying they are late

If they're going to be really late, I'm just going to cancel the order and pick up the 4820TG at Microcenter. When there were production delays with the Envy 17, were they able to accurate tell the people who pre-ordered how late expected shipping was?

 

Something that was asked earlier: Using several Screens at once:

It only works when the dedicated GPU is active, but then its really easy, just use the Windows dialogue and set up position and resolution of the different screens:




This also gives a screen size comparison, the other 16:9 screen is a 20" Full-HD-TFT

I think the picture shows I like self referential pictures..^^ Big fan of GEB by Hofstadter..!

Sorry for the mess, its not my desk, its from my coworker... ^^
He just has the two screens sitting around doing nothing..

 

Thanks htwingnut.. ..

envy 14, here comes the 10% academic discount..

 

An interesting, if overly long performance value comparison between SSDs and standard hard drives: Today's solid-state drives: The value perspective - The Tech Report - Page 1

 

Great, thanks! Here's the ebates link:

HP Home Coupon Codes - find coupons, online rebates and discounts for HP Home

I'm guessing if you can get EPP or Student Discount to combine with ebates or fat wallet, the 13% discount is the best bet right now.

 

Added, credited.

 

Good read. Added to 1st page.

 

Thanks for the link. Very informative. Didn't get a chance to read everything, but did read a few areas of interest. Seems Indilinx is the way to go for now.

 

Hi All,
I am just comparing
HP Envy 14.5" dimensions (14.01"(W)x 9.33"(D)x 1.09"(min H))
with
Sony EA 14" dimensions (13.60"(W) x 1.07"(H) x 9.39"(D))

Why hp envy Depth 9.33 is less than sony EA 9.39?. As HP is 14.5 inch screen I feel the depth also should be more.

Any comments ?
Nivas

 

cool.

man I hope stuff ships by today.

 

Me too, need my stuff by Friday. If I paid for 2 day shipping and don't get it by the weekend...it doesn't really matter how long it takes to get here.

 

Same here. If I don't see an expected delivery date of Friday the 4820tg at microcenter will get my money.

 

I keep hearing about a drop in the price of the CPUs, and a phone call to get it.

1) Does this apply to all purchases, or only purchases that were made before July 3rd?
2) What was the old upgrade price for the 450 & 520, prior to this drop?

 

450's old price was $75

now it's $50.

 

Size of the LCD bezel is larger. The height of the screen is shorter than the width, and screen measurements are on the diagonal, so your height will be only a fraction of the 0.5" screen difference too.

 

My order has been showing July 14th as the estimated build AND ship date...should be interesting to see when I actually get the laptop.