*HP ENVY 14 SPECTRE (3XXX series) Owners Lounge*

Hi, just found this page.

Have been considering the HP Spectre 14-3200ea for some time now, but holding off due to my dislike of Windows 8 and the potential grief of downgrading the OS changing the UEFI etc.

Now I've discovered there is a 3100 model which has the Ivy chipset set and Intel 4000 GPU, which is excellent. So my question for the owners of this version of the Spectre, where can I buy it, best place to buy, I am in the UK.

Thanks

 

Hi All,

Any RAM upgrades to recommend for the 3100?
I'm currently on stock 4GB, would like to upgrade to 8GB..
Is it true that I can't add on, but have to remove the current 4GB and install an 8GB RAM?

Many thanks in advance!

 

The 3100 is the model I have as I wanted Win 7 and not the mess known as Win8. Mine came with 8GB Ram, you are correct the machine only has one memory slot.

 

Hi all, I'm planning on picking this one up on the cheap, the older 3010 model with Windows 7. Runs under 6 bills now, been wanting to upgrade for over a year to this. Anyone else have experience upgrading to Windows 8, should I ever want to later on? I'd like to make this purchase relatively future proof. There was an earlier posting about how someone had a lot of issues putting Windows 8 on it so I'm wondering if others are experiencing the same thing.

 

6 bills, I guess that's £600 you are talking about, Christ I'd bite your hand off for that price, I paid £750 on EBay for a 3100 model 8GB Ram and I thought that was a good price at the time (was 8 bills at laptopshopdirect). Beautiful machine, can't see why there would be an issue installing Win8 clean on this machine.

 

Guys, have you noticed a slight high-pitched whizzing/hissing sound coming from the laptop even when it's in standby mode?

It's only barely audible but enough to make me ask. It seems to be most audible along the entire bottom edge (the one right next to the screen). Maybe it has something to do with the power supply?

 

New issue: I suddenly can't get this laptop to resume quickly from sleep. It takes a good 20+ seconds instead of the 2 it used to. Any help greatly appreciated!

Also, any recommendations for a second mSATA ssd to increase storage? I'm looking for 256GB that doesn't have to break speed records but needs to be reliable. I'm not sure if this laptop has SATA II or III capability. Also, I've seen posts here that say they can't get the Spectre to recognize the second SSD. Suggestions?

Thanks much for either or both answers.

 

Nope can't say I have that issue.

Yeah I have noticed that on my machine, I think it revolves around turning hibernation off, I don't have the syntax at hand, but basically from an admin cmd line disable hibernation.

As for the drive, Samsung PM830 SATA 3 256GB mSATA SSD Review - Ultrabooks To Gain Capacity and SATA 3 Speed | The SSD Review is what you need, I was going to go down that path, but once I deleted the image partition, hibernation option, backup of software installs, patches etc (swsetup), decided to live with what I have and use an external drive. The samsung drives haven't really moved in price as far as I can tell.

Here is more info for the mSata drive Adding second SSD to envy 14 - HP Support Forum - 1299593

 

Thanks much. I diabled hibernation a while ago. Are you saying I should turn it back on?

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No, it needs to be off.

What I have noticed with my own machine, is that instant on, compared to windows is resuming, seems to depend on how long the lid has been closed!!!!

 

Sorry for the delayed reaction. I too find the time to wake up from sleep increases with how long it has been in sleep, but that after around 10 minutes in sleep it plateaus at around 20 seconds to resume, not much shorter than the full cold boot time.

I am positive there is a way to get around this! Even my 4 year old HP laptops wake from sleep in 5 seconds or less. HP seem clueless when I contact them.

Help, please!

 

Hi to every hp envy spectre proud member.
I broke my charger and i am in desperate need of a new one. I would like the original slim power adapter with usb port and if i can't find one, at least a non-brand one. I mention i need the EU power adaptor, does anyone know where i can buy one fast?

Thanks,
AlphaM.

 

Also do you know if this Incarcator laptop HP Slim AX727AA 65W will fit?

 

Fortunately, I have an new and original HP 65W slim power adapter with HP Envy 14 spectre connector cable left, just the cable from adapter to power outlet is missing.
Are you interested?

 

Yes ademmer i am interested. I will try to buy a power cable separately. I see you are from germany, i am from romania. How much do you want for the adapter? For shipping you can use the low-cost german post service or something cheap.

 

i forgot to mention my email is [email protected] in case you want to contact me.

 

I am very interested in this laptop and about to buy one, and i was hoping if someone could explain to me the differences between those two models 3090CA, 3010NR ?
HP Envy 14 3090CA Spectre Laptop A7U17UA Intel i5 4GB 128GB W7HP 64 14" HD 886112746483 | eBay
HP Envy 14 3010NR Spectre Laptop A9P67UA Intel i5 4GB 128GB W7HP 64 | eBay

Also, I noticed that the Manufacturer Refurbished ones are much cheaper than a new one, so my question is should I go for them or should just buy a new instead?

Any advice well be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.

 

I want to clarify this once and for all: What kind of HP Slim Power Adapter is compatible with HP Envy Spectre 14-3100? The 65W or the 90W model? Does the 65W not provide enough power for this model and it underclocks the processor or it works perfect? Does the 65W charge slower than the 90W? Does the 90W provide to much power for this model?

 

Hey guys,

Just ordered an Envy Spectre 14 3010R and very excited. Reading through this thread it looks like the only bloat included is some antivirus software and a trial version of Office. Is there any gain in performance from doing a clean install of Windows on this system or not? Also any other advice on what to do first or is this machine pretty good from the get go?

 

They both look to be the same. Model number shows same spec. Both 2nd Gen i5-2467M.

New vs old will depend on your budget. I think new 2nd Gen Envy Spectre 14 goes for ~$800 ish? So you're saving ~$200 here. 90 day warranty. One says from HP and the other doesn't seem to specify. But since its the same seller it might be safe to assume the 90 day warranty is also HP coverage.. (not that its a good or bad thing, just stating the facts).

 

OK I am beating my head against the wall on this one and I need some help from the community. I purchased a 14t-3200cto from an ebay seller, that contains the i7 Ivy Bridge and HM76 chipset. I didnt want Windows 8, but since NOBODY is selling a 14t-3100 on ebay, this is the only way I could get the i7 Ivy Bridge and the Spectre. I want to set up the windows 8 on the unit, make backup discs, then completely wipe the SSD and install windows 7 ultimate. I have no desire for Windows 8 without a touchscreen and I liek Windows 7 better. Anyway, Since the 3100 and the 3200 have the same hardware, I went on the HP site to get the Windows 7 drivers fro the 3100. Unfortunately, I want to install the Intel Rapid Storage Technology driver for AHCI control and the HM76 chipset driver. I managed to look around on the HP site and found a Windows 7 HM76 Express driver, but The 3100 drivers page does not thave the Intel RST driver. Hp only has drivers for Intel RST for the 3000 series (which it says is version 10) and for the 3200 series (which is version 11, but is listed for Windows 8). So here is my main questions:

1. Should I install the HM76 Express chipset driver I found on the HP site, even though I did not get it from the 14t-3100 drivers page? There is no HM76 driver on the 14t-3100 page under "chipsets" and there is also no Intel RST driver.
2. What would happen if I tried to install the Intel RST driver (v10) for the 14t-3000? Would v10 be compatible with the 7 series (HM76) chipset?
3. What would happen if I installed the Intel RST driver (v11) for the 134t-3200 that it says is for Windows 8? Is it possible it would be backward compatible to Windows 7 because they are both 64 bit OS?
4. Would my system function slower or perform worse if I ddint even bother to install the Intel RST driver? The HM76 chipset supports Intel RST, so I would liek to install it if at all possible.

Since there is no driver thread on this forum for the Spectre 14-3XXX series (I am not sure why), I had to pose this question here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

This is probably not what you want to hear but I think you should reinstall Windows 8. If you add one of the many excellent apps that put a standard W7 Start screen on W8 and set iy to boot directly to the desktop you really won't notice you're running W8 except that it will boot much faster, will have a far more useful task manager, better security and a number of othet benefits I cant recall the names of specific apps but there are quite a few that have proven rock solid and you can read about them all over. You'll get better support and even more improvements when W8.1 comes out. Finally, if you care to play with the live tile screen it the Spectre's touch pad should handle W8 gestures well. The need for a touchscreen to use W8 is, IMO, vastly overstated, though not as overstaated/misrepresented as the supposed problems with running W8, particularly in desktop mode with one of those "helper" apps I refer to that bring the start button/window back. You will feel like you are in Windows 7 except, as I mention above, you will enjoy much faster boot times, some nice OS feature upgrades - eg, much better Task Manager - and, I'm told, better security. (Though, I think what is meant by better security is that the OS comes with Microsoft Security Essentials pre-installed or incorporated into the OS rather than being the standalone (free) program that you download and install with W7. MSE is a very decent antivirus/antispyware program, though most seem to think that there are other free security suites that are more powerful - eg, Avast. Finally (still on the subject of W8 vs. W7), both hardware mfrs and Microsoft are sure to provide more driver updates for W8 than W7. I know that presently some have reported problems with certain W8 drivers but that is sure to be a temporary situation whereas getting upgrades of W7 drivers for newly released hardware is sure to deteriorate.

BTW, if it matters, I don't presently have a machine running W8 but I had one for a month so I know of what I speak, but I'm no kind of fanboy I do have a 14 Spectre and I love it; you made an excellent choice, notwithstanding the one problem I'm having with mine (see next post.)

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I need some help. For the last month or so my Spectre 14 3010 (first model w/Sandy Bridge i5) takes 16 seconds to wake from sleep. It used to be almost instant. I have removed hibernate and adjusted the power plan in every way I know to eliminate any process to delay wake up. Also, it wakes instantly within 5-10 minutes from going to sleep, but any longer and it's 15+ seconds, hardly faster than a cold boot. Thanks much.

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So nobody on here can help with his? Oh well..guess ill just have to plug and chug with different drivers and see what works....I can always use the recovery discs to go back to Windows 8 if necessary I guess. Sorry nobody on here could help.

 

Did you see my post two posts ago? I would have helped you with the W7 drivers if I could but I could not. Did you not find my suggestion that you do go back to W8 persuasive? I really think you can "have your cake and eat it too" that way. BTW, there id very little traffic on this thread so if you're determined to use W7 I suggest you post a new thread in the HP general forumn you'll get far more people seeing it that way.

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Hello Guys,
I'm a new owner of a envy 14 spectre N3010r with the old sandy bridge. I also purchased a mushkin atlas msata ssd-SATA III 240gb.
i read all the comments about upgrading it. after installing the drive windows isn't seeing it. I also did a BIOS F.06 update and called Mushkin customers service with no luck
Please i would need some help with this guys.
Thanks and waiting to hear from you guys.
My question

 

Hello Grandon
Would like to know how you got your Crucial m4 SSD 256GB to would on your spectre. I just for mine today with a Mushkin 240gb Msata ssd, Sata III and after installing it didn't show, even after updating my BIOS i couldn't find a setting their to enable it.
Please Help.
Thanks

 

Hello Grandon
Would like to know how you got your Crucial m4 SSD 256GB to would on your spectre. I just for mine today with a Mushkin 240gb Msata ssd, Sata III and after installing it didn't show, even after updating my BIOS i couldn't find a setting their to enable it.
Please Help.
Thanks

 

Well, I completely installed the unit (14t-3200CTO originally with Windows 8) with Windows 7 Ultimate. (the HP site has no windows 7 drivers in the 14t-3200 section) All of the drivers for the 14t-3100CTO for Windows 7 worked perfectly. The only two that arent there are the Series 7 AHCI Intel Controller (HM76 Chipset) and the Intel Rapid Storage technology driver. I went ahead and tried installing the latest drivers on the HP site for theese two items for the Envy 17t-3200CTO computer (which uses the same chipset) and they seemed to work perfectly. the Device Manager shows the Series 7 controller, and the Rapid Storage Tech program shows the system is operating just fine with AHCI active. One thing that is great is that HP appears to now be using SATA 3 mSATA Samsung SSDs in the latest Spectres because the IRST program shows the disc operating at 6 GB/sec and when i do a disc test I get over 500mb/s of sequential read and 250 mb/s of sequential write, which are SATA 3 speeds. Overall I am very happy with the computer and the radiance screen appears to be even better than the one on my Envy 14t-1200 with Radiance. Another thing too, this thing is FAST with 7 and that sata 3 SSD....i go from windows 7 color screen (just after bios) to booted desktop within 15 seconds, and out of standby in 3 seconds. i really dont see the need for the Intel rapid Start driver in this case, so I probably wont even load it. This is plenty fast enough.

One bad thing is that the Samsung Disk Magician software does not recognize the SSD as a Samsung drive, so it doesnt work and I uninstalled it. Doesnt make sens to me that it wont recognize the drve, but I am sure it has something to do with some stupid HP OEM thing...

The only issue seems to be the same one that plagues a lot of HP laptops lately and that is the old speck of dirt inside the display. Mine on this display seems to be about middle right in the taskbar area. fortunately i keep the taskbar dark, so you cant see it, but this kind of bad quality control is atrocious for what these things cost. (also fortunate that its not in the middle of the screen...at least they seem to keep these dirt specks to the edges. and no these arent dead pixels they are both definitely dirt) I also have a dirt speck inside my Envy 17-3000 laptop on the lower left....ridiculous.

 

Hey guys, I just had some general questions about this laptop. I am considering buying one from eBay with these specs:

Intel Core i5-3317U 1.70GHz - 8GB RAM - 256GB SSD - Intel 4000- 14.0-inch (1600x900) - 4 Cell Battery

I was just wondering:

1. Has anyone actually had the glass shatter on them? If so is it possible/feasible to replace that part?
2. I've read very mixed reports on battery life, but is it safe to assume that roughly 4 hours is average?
3. I used to own a DV6t, and it was possible to do a minimized system wipe, is that possible on this laptop?
4. Has anyone had issues using both USB ports simultaneously as they are very close to eachother?

Thank you, and I apologize if any of these questions have been asked before.

 

I need some help, please. My Envy 14 Spectre 3010 (Sandy Bridge, W7) has never been able to regularly resume from sleep in the 3 seconds or so that seems almost universal. Mine takes 9-10 secs - often but not always (and I can observe no circumstances for when it fast-wakes vs when it doesnt) , not unbearable but I see no reason for the delay.

Here's what I've tried:

1) Eliminated hibernate and it's disk allocation and made sure no power settings can invoke hibernation or shutdown
2) checked all power managent settings in the power contrl panel and individual devices to make sure none could be turned off to save power
3) made sure I have the latest Intel rapid start and other chipset drivers
4) removed all but the basic start up programs to launch with the OS (could there be one I need to have running to get the near-immediate sleep resume times?)

The machine wakes immediately when I leave the lid open and it goes to sleep on its own, when I close the lid to put it into sleep, but only within the first hour or so after put to sleep - beyond that time (approx) it takes the 9-10 secs to wake.

Just to be clear, these delayed wakes fom sleep are just that; they return the screen to its exact circumstances from before goin into sleep mode. In other words, the computer is not shutting itself down and rebooting Windows - which takes 12-15 secs from a cold boot.
Thanks for any ideas.

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you need to turn off intel rapid start in the BIOS and in windows.

 

Thank you so much for responding. Can you give me pointers on locating these?

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EDIT: Never mind It was a cinch to disable Intel Rapid Start in both the BIOS and to uninstall the driver in Windows 7.

Do you care what I learn from this? It really seems ridiculous that a laptop with only an SSD would have this function - Intel Rapid Start - installed and active in the Envy 14 Spectre's SSD-only configuration, yet Intel apparently requires that all Ultrabooks default to having the Rapid Start driver active, even when it will make the computer behave more like a pre-C2D computer HDD-only configuration. I may have gotten this wrong, because it doesn't make sense that all SSD-only Ultrabooks - marketed in part stressing the fast boot/wake from sleep capabilities - would be so hamstrung out of the box.

My thanks to dtrell for making short work of the fix - that is, after I spent hours trying to fix the problem using all the approaches I documented in my previous post on the subject. Duh

 

Hi everyone, I just bought a HP Spectre 14-3210 nr. What are some bloatware programs I should remove? Ty!

 

Did you try to install it? If yes how did it go?
At the moment I'm trying to decide wich one to buy: the Crucial 256gb M4 SSD3 or its successor, the Crucial M500 240GB (CT4105217)[/COLOR]. Ont the Crucial website they guarantee that the M500 is 100% compatible with the Envy 14 Spectre, but the M4 has more space (256gb vs 240gb). If the M4 is equally compatible, I would buy it for that extra 16gb space. What do you think? I hope to hear the opinion of someone that has succesfully installed a Crucial M4...

 

I have yet to install mine but I don't consider 16Gb more than the 368gb that you would have after installing the M500, and while I imagine the M4 will probably install ok in the 14 Spectre, why not trust the highly acclaimed Crucial web site and go with the model they identify as 100% compatible?

Either way, I too await hearing from a "successful" installer - basically to chicken to be a pioneer. As far as your comment about how great this computer is. Don't care if its got Sandy Bridge hardware, it meets my needs as a non-DTR second laptop, even like it enuff to unseat my beloved Sony Zs! So sorry HP was to clueless to keep this model in the line; imagine a Haswell Envy 14 Spectre. The only thing I am remotely displeased with - other than power components - is the glossy screen, which I've come to enjoy for watching video content.

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I bought and succesfully installed the Crucial M500 240GB mSATA internal SSD in my HP Envy 14 Spectre 3100-el! :thumbsup: It took me just 10 minutes to install it, you just have to unscrew the 8 screws of the battery, disconnect the battery, lift the battery, place the new SSD in the connector just next to the original and secure it with a screw! (my SSD already came with the necessary extra screw). I then powered on the pc and Windows recognized it immediately, I was able to see it next to the original SSD in Computer.

I then left the original SSD as it was and installed Ubuntu 12.04 in the new one. Also Ubuntu recognized the new SSD with absolutely no problem (just remember to install the boot loader on the original partition, otherwise you'll only be able to access the Windows system). I also tried to move big files to and from the new SSD and didn't have any issues at all. Ubuntu is really fast on this pc and everything works out of the box, except:

- the red Beats light (which I don't really care about)
- the Beats software button to customize sound (though you can install pulseaudio-equalizer or other sound equalizer to enhance your sound)
- the keyboard backlight proximity sensor (the backlight and its three levels work perfectly though)
- the extra gestures of the touch pad (the two-finger scrolling works both vertically and horizontally, but other more specific gesture don't, though I think you can fix it with little programs like touchegg, synaptiks or gpointing-device-settings, I haven't tried it yet)

Feel free to ask if you need more information!

EDIT: After a BIOS update the proximity sensor works in Ubuntu too! (actually it even works better in Ubuntu than in Windows!)

 

That's awesome cla5h! Just one question : can you clarify what you meant by installing the bootloader? Is that only necessary if you plan to install a second OS such as Ubuntu or are there benefits even if you only intend to use the additional SSD for storage? Also, is it possible to extend the c partition to include some or all of the second drive or does it have to have its own new partition, such as D:?

Again, great work and a huge service to all of us. Do you mind saying where you got the Crucial and how much you paid? Is there any spec the second drive needs to have other than msata? Also, is if SATAII or SATAIII?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

The bootloader thing is necessary only when installing a second OS. As for your second question, I'm not sure but I think that it is not possible, because after I installed the new SSD it would appear in windows as a separate drive with its own letter.

I bought it from the Crucial European website ( http://www.crucial.com/eu/index.aspx), they ship from UK. It is a SATA III (but it is backward compatible with SATA II) and I payed it €200.
If you're in the US, you can buy it from the Crucial US website ( http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx) for $219.99, while the 480gb model is sold for $399.99.

I think the only necessary spec is the mSata, but I suggest you to use the Crucial Memory Advisor Tool on the Crucial website: you just insert the manufacturer and model of your PC and it will tell you automatically which parts are compatible with it.

 

I went through all of this, including deleting the hibernation partition. Now everything re-starts within a few seconds just as I want it, I followed the steps laid out here;
Hibernate - Enable or Disable - Windows 7 Help Forums
. However I have noticed a minor downside. Under power management I have selected the option sleep on both mains and battery when I close the lid. When the machine is not plugged into the mains there is a battery drain during sleep, which didn't happen if it went into hibernation, a minor issue to be aware of if travelling.

Regarding inserting a second SSD drive, £200 still seems very expensive compared to plugging in an external drive to the USB 3 port.

If I had to find one gripe with the machine, it would be, every time I handle it, I accidentally touch the beats volume control on the side, which then displays on screen. Also I have found the volume control doesn't always work in youtube for some reason. I have to minimise the youtube page, adjust to the required volume and maximise again, not sure why.

 

I just downloaded and installed a BIOS update (SP60460, version F.16Ap1).

I don't know what it's all about but I did notice that the fan profile has definitely changed. It now comes on softer, accelerating gradually to the usual speed.

 

I did the same update and noticed exactly the same thing!

 

Also, for Ubuntu users, I hadn't yet tried the card reader (Realtek RTS5209) on Ubuntu and it doesn't work unless you do what is explained here. You don't need to download and compile the Realtek driver, it is already installed but it is not loaded, so follow the instructions from the "Load the module" section only. After this little operation, it works like a charm! :thumbsup:

 

Thanks for the helpful info. I just started having fan noise problems.

I own one Spectre-3010 (Sandy Bridge i5) and just got a virtually untouched open box Ivy Bridge 15-3317U/128GB SSD. Two things I notice on this one that I do not with my older, lower powered one: 1) the fan goes on more often and is an obnoxious whining high pitch sound; 2) I find the right palm rest, I believe over the mSATA SSD, gets quite warm when doing a lot of disk i/0: eg, downloading and installing 100 Windows updates while simultaneously running a full virus scan. The only place that gets hot is the right palm rest and it actually gets uncomfortably hot. I will definitely try the bios update for the fan noise (if the newer models don't already have it) but I was wondering if anyone could tell me if they experience this heat issue on the right palm rest and only when there is a lot of disk i/0 (also when running an SSD benchmark like Crystal Disk Mark.

Thoughts? Particularly interested in hearing from those with an Core i5-3317U/128GB Samsung PM830 mSATA SSD.

Last thing: I can still return this for a full refund, so don't go easy on me if you think the hot area is not "normal." Also, it does have a full year of wtty so sending it to HP is an option, though never an enticing one.

Thanks.

 

I own a Spectre 3100-EL with Ivy Bridge i5-3317U, the original 128gb Samsung SSD plus a 240gb Crucial M500. The right palm rest area is right over the SSD slots and it certainly gets hot for this reason when you do a lot of reding/writing with your SSD, but I must say that for me it rarely gets so hot to be uncomfortable. I rarely use the original 128gb SSD though, because I have Windows on that and I use Ubuntu, which is installed on the Crucial. Could it be that the original SSD gets hotter than the Crucial?
Try also to look at this review to have a better idea of the temperatures of the Spectre (the one in the review has a little different hardware though).

As for the fans, after the BIOS update they go on often (even on idle), but for brief periods of time, after which they stop for long periods and the computer gets really quiet.

 

cla5h, I would like to say, in the presence of you, me and the avg. 2.5 visitors per month who visit this thread (and the 7 others worldwide who have discovered how truly awesome this underappreciated computer model really is ) that you are the most responsive, informative and helpful NBR member I've encountered in my nearly 3,000 posts in some 50+ forums over almost 4 years! (Furreal.) Allow me to show my gratitude in the only way you can in an electronic social medium : by giving you both a +1 *and* liking your post .

So, I take it you are finding the Crucial M500 to your liking? I am getting temps comparable to NBR's measurements so I think it was the extreme disk i/o I was doing that caused the excessive heat; it hasn't returned. I also am getting double the sequential r/w times on my 3100 as they got using, I thought, the same Samsung PM830 SSD. (edit : last year's were SATA II and the ones in the 3100/3200 are SATA 3 right? That would explain the doubling in speed. Would you think the NAND chips in the SATA 3 version of the same PM830 drive would be specd for the additional heat from doubling the data throughput? ) Have you yet had post purchase remorse since the [insert model here] has been released or the [insert... ] fell in price by 40%? I am about to pull the trigger on my own 240GB M500 (actually 2, one for my wife's 3010; we're an all glass-Spectre 3xxx family!) Last question for now: 4GB RAMor 8? I have 4 in mine and running fine, but would upgrade them in a second if I wasn't intimidated by the dissembly/reassembly.

Joking aside I really am nuts about this laptop and when I find a laptop I really, er, love (note my screen ID ) I like to make it my daily driver for 2-3 years. Last such one was the Sony Z1 of 2010. Don't think I'll ever part with it, and its got a way better screen and 1 less lb than the Envy 14 Spectres, but there the superiority ends and I find the drop dead gorgeous design, 14" screen, wonderful keyboard, very smooth and powerful audio, port selection (espec. for a 2013 ultrabook), battery life (I'm getting 5-6 reliably) and high quality build and components make it a runaway winner for moderate duty productivity and multimedia. Seems like my wife and I, you, and the 4 others that bought one can all agree on this.

Thanks again for the timely and helpful input. See you around.



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Where did you find this BIOS update? When I went to the HP site it says I have the latest version available (VersionF.06, 4.03M). I have the 3010nr running Win7 and the fan noise is quite annoying on it so anything to help alleviate it would be great...

 

It was an automatic update, suggested by the HP Support Assistant (the little blue questionmark).

The update doesn't really alleviate the fan noise per se, it just seems to change the profile.

 

lovelaptops, thank you for the compliment, though this time my reply comes a bit late, sorry!

Did you buy the Crucial M500 in the end?

As for the RAM, I am keeping the original 4gb for the moment, because I don't really feel the need for a new 8gb one. Even with several applications in use at the same time, the 4gb works just fine. Moreover, I'm also intimidated, like you, by the dissembly/reassembly process, so if in the future the 4gb should not be enough for newer applications, I'll take the risk and try to substitute it (and of course will let you know if i do ), but for now I'm fine with it.

I haven't had any post purchase remorse in relation to other models because, to be honest, after buying such a beauty I don't even look at other laptops! :thumbsup:

The only things about which I have two slight complain are the USB ports:
- I miss an extra USB port on the right side, which could have been placed, for example, in place of the Beats button;
- the two USB ports could have been placed leaving a little more space between them, because when using bigger USB pendrives or cables, it gets a bit difficult plugging two at the same time (though this problem can be overcome by buying an USB hub).

 

Can somebody help me. I've flicked something, now when I enable the built in WiFi button F12 it knocks out the sound from all sources.

It may have something to do with WiFi internet radio option, I may have enabled it and can't find where to disable it. When I press F12, I used to get some on-screen display telling me WIFI is enabled / disabled, this no longer appears.

Thanks