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

When did you place your order?

 

Jaxxy,

Have you tried calling the Resolutions dept directly and asked for an extension of time to return it until a replacement is available? They have done that for me - extended to 60 days, gave me an additional $200 discount and offered a refund and the same pricing if you have to return it and reorder after the extended period is up.

As to alternative DTRs, please tell me your minimum requirements and I will suggest some good alternates. The biggest issue will be if you require an equivalent gpu. If you are willing to accept a mid range GPU, there are models from SONY and Dell, which have been on the market long enough to get the kinks worked out so yoou should have few problems "out of the box" otherwise specs will be similar to the 17 but they will run cooler and get better battery life. Not nearly as sleek or light though. Tradeoffs, always tradeoffs.

Tell me what your min. requirements are and I will make a few recommendations.

 

2:00 am Mountain time today.

 

I've read a few posts here saying the backlit key light output is adequate.. but that doesn't help much .

I almost get the impression the keys aren't that bright.

The video showing the keyboard flex (which was a crapload of flex might I add... pretty disappointed there) gave a nice view of the lights in action, but I still couldn't tell mcuh.

Any owners able to give more feedback on the backlit keys?

 

Does anyone else get the feeling that this thread is starting to sound like a broken record? I mean, I haven't contributed to this thread, but I have lurked through the entire 136 pages, and it seems like the same questions get asked over and over lol.

 

^^thats the story of all the threads

 

And mine, Monday night. Can it be supposed then, that the "Estimated ship date" according to the online HP order status in fact means the "Estimated delivery date"? For surely if I ordered several days before you, mine should be delivered no later?

 

@YESHHHH

The backlit keys aren't as intense as you would expect from some other varieties, like the Alienware keys. I'm not sure about comparisons with the G73 keys, but mobilezila or nevian should be able to comment on that. Also, it's been a while since I used a MBP, but as far as I remember, the backlight mechanics work differently than the Envy 17 (ie. MBP light turns on/off automatically per environmental light, vs always on/off for Envy 17. I think you could also control the degree of intensity for MBP). If anyone can chime in about the MBP comparisons, that'd be great as well.

It's almost noon here in sunny California, and the keys are exhibiting a visible glow underneath. and slightly through the glyphs (letters, numbers, symbols, etc). The backlighting is clearly visible from a 45 degree view at the keyboard from any direction, but when you stare down at the keyboard from right above it, you cannot tell the light is on (unless you toggle it on/of using fn+f5). The intensity of the light shining from underneath the keys are about two times brighter than the light that shines through the glyphs. However, the difference in intensity between the "under" light and the "top" glyph lights become minimal once used in a low light environment. Also, the keys transition well to the eyes during the shift from bright-to-dark enviroment.

What I appreciate about the backlighting of the Envy 17 is the "you can't notice it until you need it" approach taken to its design. From my perspective, backlighting serves more of a utilitarian tool versus a design element. Yes, it's nice to have super bright keys that attract attention, but that can work against you as well. I honestly don't like how bright the keys are on the AW notebooks- they distract my eyes away from the screen in an annoying way. If you've ever used a HP notebook before with those bright touch-control interfaces at the top, you'll understand how annoying it is to have the light from those controls compete with the light from the display (then again, if you liked those bright lights, then I have nothing to say about that ).

Taking in the design cues of the entire Envy package, you can see that the intensity of the backlit keys on the Envy 17 are appropriate from an aesthetic and utilitarian perspective. Though I would have appreciated the option to dial in the amount of intensity for the keys, I think HP did an okay job with calibrating the default. Others should weigh in their opinions, but overall, I'm satisfied with the design of the backlit keys.

 

When clean installing, should I use the drivers in the SwSetup folders or should I download from hp drivers? Which are more current?

 

Webcam Quick & Dirty Test

Just walked around with my laptop in these lighting conditions:

1) Room lit with only natural filtered sunlight
2) Flourescent lighting
3) Tungsten lighting
4) Bright Californian sunlight

From what I can see, I do not notice ANY blue image issues that seem to affect the older ENVY 15s. Colors all seem acceptable, with natural tones. Frame rate was great.

Other owners please comment

 

The HP rep told me that the estimated build date was the worst possible scenario of me receiving my envy. So I guess it can be assumed that is the estimated delivery date from what I was told. Did you order an i7 by chance?

 

No, an i5 520. Let's hope you had the luck of talking to a competent rep!

 

alright.


really I dun care about it enough to be all "whoa let's get that thing instead"

anything'll trump the speakers on this asus g1.

 

Prepare yourself for delays, don't let sevice reps convince you otherwise, that way you won't be as disapointed when you get the news. You won't have any way of knowing that your order is delayed until you get your official delayed email the day after your estimated shipping date, so don't bother calling/believing what HP reps tell you on the phone. I'm not trying to be a downer here, just don't build your up expectations for a early/on time shipping date. My Envy 17 order date 5/27, first expectd ship date 6/8 delayed, second expected ship date 6/11 and not shipped yet, expecting a second delay email from HP tomorrow.

Thanks and may your level of patience be greater than mine!

 

Nevertheless, the accuracy of shipping estimates/HP reps I assume would improve after the initial surge of orders is dealt with in the first couple weeks.

 

On my end, I saw an expected ship date. All the reps said that their system showed them an expected build date and not a ship date. I called HP and got elevated to supervisor and I let them have it. Filed a complaint. Don't think it'll do anything, but at least my blood pressure is lower now.

 

In regards to the keyboard flex that people are spending too much time (imo) worrying about....my F-11 has flex. Go to a BB or Fry's and press down on keyboards of other manufacturers and you feel (and see) flex. The only manufacturer to make a laptop without flex is Apple. But it has its own set of problems doesn't it. Sometimes I wonder why a manufacturer doesn't crawl through all of the complaints i.e. screens, flex, etc., and make a laptop that addresses them all albeit at a premium that I'd pay to have a laptop was major issue free. Each comes to market knowing they've cut corners to hit a price point. Case in point is the Vaio F which has got to have one of the most disappointing screens I've ever seen. The screen is worse than my wife's three year old Vaio NW and far worse than her $400 Asus with an LED screen. Did they really save that much money using an outdated single bulb screen? Would people be willing to pay more for a nice LED? I think so. How much more could it be if a $400 Asus has an LED?

 

@ nohm

Thank you very much!

 

From what I can remember, the backlit keys on the G73 was alittle brighter. But, as you put it, the brightness of the backlit lighting on the ENVY 17 is still very functional. I like it myself, as it is not in-your-face distracting, enough for you to work in poor lighting or absolutely dark conditions.

 

Same here, I've used the webcam in a few lighting situations and have not seen the same issue as the Envy15. The camera does not see into the IR range like the Envy15 does, so in low light situations, it's not as good.



On a different note, if you hit Fn+B, you can turn on or off beats audio. When I formatted my computer, I lost that capability (I know you need Quick Keys). What do I need to install to get that back?

Speaking of audio, my left speaker is slightly weaker than my right speaker.

 

so i was just about to order the envy 17 yesterday with the bing 25% cashback and now today the deal is gone.

do u think HP will price match if i order it now and ask them? i have the printscreen of the 25% off deal too, but i dont know if that will help.

 

Bind Cashback is not 25% off. You pay normal price. Because you went through Bing.com, HP pays some amount to Bing. Bing then gives you 25% of the purchase price back in 60 days assuming that you met all the requirements stated in the Bing Cashback policy.

Cashback is not 25% off. HP will not price match.

 

your 100 percent sure they wont price match?? fawwwwk i was just about to buy it too. i doubt it but, do u guys think there will be more coupons like this soon from HP?

 

probably not another $300 for a while (need to meet their current demand needs and then evaluate sales at current price point). May see a $150 or something, or "free upgrade" offers on memory or HD storage.

 

Shss...i wanna run my own projects and what i plan to do, FBI can't reach that potential yet hahahah

hip hip horaah, hip hip horaah, hip hip horah So u in AE major to? so u own the Envy, how did it help you

Nice, so there is no weakspots or anything? Clean install should help Anyway i read that post. I mean batterylife is good but i'll probably be plugged in...unless i can't find an outlet anywhere xd

So would u suggest me to go with an i7 Envy or an i5 Envy? So is the Envy 17 release better then the Envy 15..because i heard the first gen was so bad

I believe u can pick up and envy 17 in any store in Toronto right, or do i have to order from online?

 

can anyone else confirm the hissing when plugged into a headphone port on the envy 17?

 

i had done the same. i called and they gave me a $494 refund.

 

You can double tap the top left corner of the trackpad to disable it. Not sure if you need to have the HP drivers installed to have this functionality.

I have not noticed this audio glitch but I don't listen to much music, I will pay closer attention next time I do.

Yes, that's the exact same issue as with the Sony F series, and the same fix too. It's rather annoying IMO so I am returning mine because of it. I believe Sony eventually resolved theirs (with either firmware or redesign, I'm not sure), how do we inform HP so that the same can happen? Some people can't hear it due to its high frequency (perhaps older people).

Thanks for the tip. I persisted with them and they have magically found stock from another dept! So I should receive another one in a couple of weeks, I pray to god that it doesn't have the same fault, but judging by the 2 or 3 other reports of the noise issue in this thread, I am a bit scared.

I posted the video of the keyboard flex not because I thought it was a problem, but because it was just easier to show than words. I hadn't even noticed it in the few weeks I've had the laptop until someone mentioned it here. I don't want people to think that it's a major issue.

I noticed the imbalance in the speakers right from the start but has not really bothered me enough to try to fix it.

 

Wish I could find a store that has it in Canada. I talked with HP customer service, and they said right now, if I want it in Canada, I have to ship it to a relative in the US, using their name for the billing and shipping address (i.e. no Canadian stuff, like a Canadian credit card).

 

Does anyone know if the deal offered through Amazon actualy includes a blu-ray or is it dvd? There seems to be contradictory information there.

 

Just confirmed with Amazon that it dos come with Blu-ray.

 

To all those who chipped in about the webcam thing - much appreciated! top stuff

David

 

I used the software equalizer to rebalance it

 

WHAT :O



NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

Yeah. I think by next year, or maybe by December (if Canada is super lucky). Right now, we get the old Pavilions, and the HP Envy 15 Gen 1 laptops.

 

bs...i heard envy 15 gen 1 have lots of error's

 

How did you get to this, just wondering. Is it HP software?

@True_Sultan

Yup. Gen 1 had lots of issues. Even Gen 2 does. Gen 3 anyone?

 

yup

and so SoldierJAW what in the name of Holy God is Software Balancer :S

 

Does anyone know how long it takes for HP to verify the order?

And yes, True_Sultan, I copied your signature. I also 1up'ed you on it as well

 

LMAO...thanks and yeah u can use my sig

 

Install HP Tone Control and reboot.

 

I also hear the static noise on both ports and with 4 different headphones/earphones. It's fairly loud too. This is interesting because most of my notebooks produce static noise while some don't (w/ no biased trend toward a particular notebook brand or sound card manufacturer). Something to note is that my Envy 15G2 didn't produce it, which was nice. Is this a faulty sound card design? I always thought it was normal considering most notebooks I've used produce some level of static noise.

-edit-

I thought it was interesting that while playing around with the stock windows audio properties, the static dies down dramatically once I enter the "Recording devices" menu. Try it out yourself: right-click the speaker icon in the taskbar and click "Recording devices". You might notice the drop in static as well. I'm no sound expert, but my guess is that the static has something to do with the mic input and speaker input being shared.....

On a related sound issue...

I haven't been able to confirm if my 17 also creates the high pitch noise (had on two other computers the whole time so the sound might be getting superseded). However, I did hear slightly familiar "morse-coding" in between the fan cycle ambient noise, so I think my copy also has the pitch noise. I will try the solution that jaxxy found, but you might as well try it out too and see if the solution for that in anyway could lead you to fixing the static noise from the ports. Good luck.

 

I don't hear any hiss on mine. But I do if I tick "Listen to this device" on the Microphone Properties, you don't have that on do you?

 

I do hear a slight hissing too, but it is only evident when no music is playing. When music plays, the music just overrides the slight hissing sound, and I dont notice it anymore.

Where do you access this panel and checkbox? I would like to try that to see if the hissing feedback would go away.

I mean its really not noticable to me if there is any music playing.

 

- right click on the speaker icon in the system tray, select "recording devices"
- select your Microphone and click Properties
- on the Listen tab, check "listen to this device"
- on the Levels tab, make sure the mic is not muted

 

I have an order in with Amazon - sounds like it could be until august when they ship?!? Woke up at 5am this morning, couldn't get back to sleep, so I logged on to NBR. Saw the 25% BCB. Pulled the trigger, again! Supposedly June 24 build date. Seems like fate woke me up early today

 

Looks like both of us pulled the trigger on that deal at a good time, as it is not available anymore. My build date is the 24th as well. Let's hope they come sooner!

 

Well, the static was audible before the "Listen to this device" check- all it did was make it louder, haha.

Anyway, I went ahead and did the Sony F Series trick, and it effectively cancelled out our high-pitch problem. Thanks for being aggressive with trying to find a solution for that. I think I'll just live with this tweak instead of going through a replacement process.

Now, I'm going to try and figure out this static noise issue...

 

Where do I find that?

 

If you backed up your SwSetup folder, it's under:

SwSetup\HPToneControl

If not, I can send you my copy.