*HP ENVY 17 & 17 3D (1XXX series) Owners Lounge*

$90 price difference between the 2.0 and 3.0 versions it looks like. Quite a premium in my opinion. I guess I'm just not sure I would see such a performance increase to justify the price increase. Couple years from now prices will be what the 2.0 is, I could see getting it then.

I mean don't get me wrong I'm happy to have a 3.0 in my new computer whenever it comes, just not sure I'll actually use it.

 

I think I was sold by the number pad (seriously, it's difficult to find an attractive laptop with a number pad), external monitor capabilities and a bright 1080p screen. The usb 3.0 is just an exciting extra. But, those 1 & 2 TB drives that consuminghatE wrote about are pretty exciting.

 

Yeaa I was looking around some more and found Ioemga makes a 500 and sells for 114. Thats probably more reasonable for those who arent convinced.
usb 3.0 hard drive
I currently have x2 2TB drives on my desk and have a ton of movies/TV shows/games hanging out and would like to see if those transfer rate are really worth it.

 

You are not even going to come close to USB 3.0 speeds with external harddrives. Harddrives don't even max out eSATA speeds which is theoretical 187.5 MB/s or 1.5 Gbps. Save the money for now and wait till USB 3.0 devices come down to current USB 2.0 prices before ya try it out.

 

I can confirm that there is an option in the BIOS of the Envy17 to enable/disable virtualisation support.

 

I'm excited about this new HDD/SSD hybrid technology they were talking about this week at computex, a 7200RPM notebook drive with 4GB SSD that performs at close to SSD speeds. Saying a 500GB hybrid drive will cose $150. I'll still use a 160GB SSD for programs and OS, but that would be a sweet second hard drive for an Envy 17.

 

The usb 3.0 didn't factor into my decision for getting the Envy 17. It's a nice future-minded hardware to have, but with lightpeak still in the works by intel, nothing is for certain about the next-gen bus "standard" and if there will be a single standard at that.

What I want to ask people here is this- did the three display ports+eyefinity play a primarily role in you deciding to get the Envy 17? I ask because this particular feature was about the only key feature the HP reps talked about in the previews.

 

when will Envy 17 offer i7-840QM option?

 

According to the Intel road map, the i7-840QM is slated for Q3 of this year. You could probably expect it in the refresh G2 model of the Envy 17.

 

as soon as the 840qm cpu is available. also interested in the 580m

 

Ok, with all the talk about the new Seagate Momentus XT drives, I was wondering if anyone would chime in to let me know if there would be a huge difference in performance between these two set ups. In both setups, the OS and Programs are installed on the 160GB SSD while data files are stored in the secondary HDD.

1) 160GB SSD + 1 TB Western Digital 5400rpm drive(Secondary Drive)
2) 160GB SSD + 500GB Seagate Momentus XT drive(Secondary Drive)

I would assume the difference in performance would not be too great.

As with the nature of data storage drives, where the XT is used as a Secondary data drive in this case, where different files are being called up all the time, I would think the advantages of the XT drive would be lost since it requires the same file to be accessed a couple of times before speed benefits are realized (Like OS and program files).

What do you guys think?

 

i dunno. I mean you're right about the files needing to be accessed several times for a speed boost. I think 2 of the 500GB momentus XT drives in Raid 0 config would obviously not be as fast as a 160GB SSD, but would be pretty darn fast and much bigger, and cheaper to boot.

I think hybrid drive technology is pretty compelling. Would like to see a hybrid drive sometime soon that does read and write off the flash memory, and has a little extra memory to boot. Could still be 1/3 the price of SSDs, and and larger capacity.

 

Eh, if I get a 14 Ill probably just skip the SSD for now and go with Momentus XT. Momentus XT (for storage) + SSD (OS) seems like a waste on the Momentus. Really I would only want some programs or the OS on the M-XT. Files just seem like a waste.

 

Nope, I'll probably never use it either.

I got it because it has 2 HDDs, a bluray drive, 5850, good CPU, a big trackpad, eSATA, and USB3 in a thinish package. The screen is also pretty nice, from what I hear.

 

Is Intel going to release an i7 quadcore with intergrated graphics which will be offered in the Envy 17? Maybe they will implement IGP in the second generation.

 

Me either. I can see it coming in handy for massive multi-task jobs or just showing off to friends, but I'm fine w/ a reliable dual monitor setup. I also got it for most of the reasons you mentioned as well. Another reason was for the 17" screen. I've always used 17" for notebooks, and my stint with the Envy15's didn't go too well- my eyes couldn't handle the same 1920x1080 resolution on a smaller 15" viewable size (would've been hell if the res was x1200 @_@). I am amazed at how some of you can slave away on a 15" or smaller with WUXGA and have no eye strain... give me your eyes

I just took a look at the roadmap again and it looks like the i7-620UM-680UM will be ULV. I'm not sure if these are quad-core (kinda doubt it), but if they were, it would be awesome to have integrated graphics since ULV is all about saving power and all.

 

I'd like to think I'll get to use the eyefinity triple display some day.

 

I can't see using all three monitor options myself. Only have one 23 inch monitor and will use HDMI for that.

 

Monitor prices have fallen so far though, you can get 3 full-hd 20-21" lcd screens today for $400. That's really amazing. I would want 3 with thin bezels though, those cost more.

 

Eyefinity has never impressed me as a consumer. Technologically, yes, but I don't think the experience is any better than using a larger monitor or TV, because the bezel of the monitors takes you out of the experience.

 

Eyefinity was definitely a selling point for me. I hate the fact that I can't use my current laptop on the dual monitors that I use for my desktop. I just hope that I will be able to use two external monitors and keep the laptop display going at the same time. This is still a total 3 monitors but I worry that it might not work for some reason. Anybody know about that? I don't play games so hopefully having different size monitors/laptop screen will not be an issue.

 

So has anyone run 3dMark06 yet?

 

re:usb 3 - I needed that as I'm running my virtual environment off an external SSD (ocz enyo - neither my computer or this SSD is available yet, but both coming soon - I'm using another external solution for now but I'll just copy the files over when it comes in)

re: eyefinity - I just bought 3 23" monitors so I can take advantage of this, I've waited a long time for a laptop that would do this built in (without external display components/adapters)

To each his own though! Can't wait for tomorrow!

 

Has anyone's customized ENVY 17 shipped yet?

 

One of the only two people here who have the Envy 17 so far has faulty hardware, so probably figures he'll get inaccurate numbers, and the other one is MIA.

Ordered on the 19th. It still says "Estimated to ship on June 1, 2010". I was hoping for shipping to start at least one day earlier... no such luck.

 

I've had the experience of enjoying, at a recent LAN, an Eyefinity setup with 3x30" monitors. I got to play Battlefield Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Metro 2033, Left for Dead 2 and World of Warcraft.

For those of you who haven't experienced Eyefinity, hold your judgment, because it is awesome. We were playing all of the games at 7680x1600, at a solid 40fps+. To have your entire scope of vision taken up with the game was a lot of fun and the same kind of experience could be setup with this laptop, not at that res, but 3x24" or 3x27"-28" 1080p lcd's would also provide quite a nice experience.

My laptop says it's shipping on June 2nd and I did the 2 day shipping, so I hope to have it by June 4th. I'll be doing like a few of you already said on this thread, I'll be using the laptop as a monitor and be pushing an external 30" and 28" lcd's. What I'm wondering, which I highly doubt, is if I'll be able to plug the 24" into it as well and run all the external as well as run the laptop screen. This is becoming my work machine as well as gaming so I'm really excited, also ordered the x25 ssd for boot (80gig - sitting here on my desk) and getting the momentus xt for storage.

I'll take some pics when I get it.

My friends and I that do a podcast @ PCPCgames.com are also putting together a lengthy video review of this laptop, the new ASUS G73JH, the Gateway gaming machine and some Dell. I'll provide a link once we get it up.

 

I like how this forum dies when it's a regular work day (or holiday like today).

 

Does the eyefinity works (for gaming) if i have two monitors, one 1920*1200 and another 1680*something (both 16:10 i think). Does eyefinity needs the two monitors to have the same resolution or aspect ratio?

 

I setup my eyeinfinity last night (only 2 monitors though) and it worked pretty well for games, except with 2 monitors it's kinda sucky due to the center of the action being right on the bezels >.> 3 monitors makes a lot more sense with the center of the action on the middle monitor. But I did get that sense of a huge display and can easily see how 3 monitors surrounding your almost total field of vision would make it very immersive. To use 3 monitors you have to have at least one monitor that has the mini DP port OR use an "active" adaptor. There is a list of supported adaptors on the ATI site.

When you have grouped your monitors for eyefinity, the laptop panel is disabled unfortunately. Would love to get around this but I don't think it's possible.

Having different sized monitors shouldn't be an issue as long as you run all monitors at the same resolution (which may mean you are not taking full advantage of a higher res monitor).

I did try to run 3dmark vantage, but it kept coming up with an error complaining about monitor resolution not supported, this was when I had no monitors plugged in at all. I will try the 06 version and see if that works.

 

You have to set all your monitors at the same resolution. So for example, you have a 1920x1080, a 1600x900, and a 1440x900 or something, then all the monitors will need to be set at 1440x900 or lower (1280x720). I'm guessing that with the 5850 mobile GPU, if I want to play FPS games with medium to high settings and using eyefinity, I'll have to set the display res pretty low.

 

Hey Jaxxy,

What do you mean by "grouped your monitors for eyefinity"? So, I guess you can still have the laptop display and one external monitor, but any more than one monitor and the laptop display shuts off? Thanks!

 

That's what I want to figure out for eyefinity- how much resources does it use and with the 5850 in particular? I would imagine, like you said, that running a game on a three monitor setup would force you to compromise on the details or resolution...more than you'd like to give up.

 

One thing that's annoying is that to use 3 monitor eyefinity, one has to use the analog VGA port.

 

Everyone who ordered on release day might want to check their order status. My custom order has shipped apparently...

 

"Order in production (Estimated to ship on June 1, 2010) Tracking provided upon shipment. "

 

yes, not too thrilled about the vga port.. should have provided 2 HDMI ports or something. On the other hand, using an analog signal at low res (720P) won't be that bad as opposed to full hd or higher.

 

In production... hopefull it ships sooner than next week (it says June 7)

 

On the videos it looked like they were playing Dirt 2 at respectable settings at 1080p too. It looked about medium-high settings to me. But I guess I can't be sure since it is a video.

 

Really looking forward to getting a look at the i5 heatsink assembly to make sure I can intall my i7 820qm. I'm sure they are the exact same size (like the Envy 15) but the i5 just has the "special" black plastic sticker surrounding the border of the heatsink. Seriously, that did not help with cooling for the i5 cpu (if anything is made the temps hotter).

 

Still in production for me as well. Hoping it does ship tomorrow as it's supposed to. Will suck if it doesn't, wait is killer!

 

It was the graphics engine for the game I think, but I didn't see any other cars in the game, which would certainly impact frame rates.

 

Mine is still in the production stage, and estimated to ship on the 1st. I ordered mine with standard shipping, but that shouldn't be affecting the production phase leading up to shipping. Did you do express 2 day shipping?

 

Just checked, Order still in production....still estimated to ship tomorrow. I went ahead and just ordered my WD Scorpio Blue 1TB anyways. Hopefully both the Laptop and HDD would ship at the same time tomorrow, and arrive around the same time so that I can plug the 1TB into the 2nd HDD bay asap!

 

It's On The WAY! Just received the email item shipped. FedEx has no info on delivery date & tracking at this time.

 

what specs?

 

I want someone with an i5 processor to get theirs and see if there is USB 3.0.

 

I don't know about that, but I'll let you know if I can cook a meal with the heat coming from the left vent on the i7 config

 

The Envy 17 info page states the following:

# A SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port for data transfer up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0
# Three USB 2.0 ports (one is shared with the high-speed eSATA combo port)

They don't have an asterisk or anything after it like they do with some of the other statements, so I'd say its a 99% safe bet the i5 has a 3.0 usb connection.

 

I will also do temp comparisons with mine upon arrival. Will check temps with an 820QM, a 430M, and a 520M. If I can get a cheap 620M, will test that too.