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

C:\SwSetup\HPToneControl\install.bat

 

Yeah, can someone send me a copy? I cleaned out my HD and didn't save my swsetup folder. Probably not a great idea.

If possible, could you send your entire swsetup folder? lol.

 

Would HP price match amazon for the same specs? I hear amazon wont be delivering until august, and would hate to wait that long, but when I set up the same specs at the HP website I have to pay well over $200 more for the same specs

 

HPToneControl.zip

 

Thanks! is that the only thing in the swsetup folder that isn't on the website?

 

How did you confirm this?

 

whoa if thats the case the amazon one is a STEAL

why are you USA folks ordering from HP? even with 25% bing, you get no where near Amazon's price, spec for spec. and most of us don't even need 8gb ram... so just sell one of the 4gb sticks... save urself even more cash...

i guess if you didn't need the i7... but still..

only downside to ordering from amazon is the delayed ship date

 

says it right on Amazon's description

Optical Drive
Slot-loading Blu-ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support

Blu-ray Disc Drive - INCLUDED
Watch high-definition Blu-ray DVDs using your laptop PC

 

Hey nohm, I don't really notice the morse-code high pitch sound, but could you do me a favor and pass me the info on how to go about doing the SONY F series trick? I want to see if there I can notice any difference in my system.

Thanks

Btw, I am hoping someone could put all these little fixes on the first page for easy reference

 

I would, but the folder is close to 5gb, haha. I have a feeling it should be buried in your recovery discs somewhere. You should probably pop in each one and perform a quick search for the folder name or "HpToneControl" specifically.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...io-f-series-owners-lounge-55.html#post5748529

If you don't notice it, then you have a good copy of the 17, or you're just blessed with "not able to hear morse-code high pitch sound" ears

 

o m g...

i can only hope amazon has a similarly spec'd envy 14 at this insane discount

Amazon price $1,649.99 + no tax for most states

HP price $2,424.99 - (at most) 25% Bing Cashback + (NY) tax on $2,424.99 = ~$2,012.



Saving nearly $400 AND you pay less money up front.. damn! lol

 

I think I'm going to forgo a full reformatting when I get my 14 and simply do a good bit of deleting. It seems HP has done quite a bit of software customization on these Envys.

 

WOW~
The i7 processor worries me (no IGP and heat) but buying the Envy 17 as a student probably isn't a good idea anyway... Augh! I hope an i5 variant comes up soon.

 

Thanks nohm. I think my ears are still quite sensitive, but maybe I never noticed them go down in sensitivity over the years..hee. But thanks for the link!

 

ok, what was the fix to get rid of the high pitch whine? I'll put it on the OP

I've been busy so I'm having some trouble keeping up.

 

Yes, at the rate people are posting in this thread it almost seems like we should get our own forum...

 

haha, check out the Asus G73JH Forum.

That's crazy.

 

Ok, I had some free time and since my friend graciously let me borrow his 3DMark Vantage, I ran three tests (using the Performance preset). I tried to space them out so the system could have some time to cool down. Here are the average results:

3DMark Score: 6626*
GPU Score: 5877*
CPU Score: 10731*
*rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Screenshots, or it didn't happen:





And lastly, my specs (just ripped the important parts from my HP receipt):

• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Quad Core processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.8 GHz
• 4GB DDR3 System Memory (1 Dimm)
• 160GB (Solid State Drive Flash Module)
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5850 Graphics
• 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080)*
*Apparently, the benchmarking was done on 1280x1024, and not the native 1920x1080 resolution.

 

Nohm,

Can definitely tell the difference between my i5 processor score and your i7 processor score! Several thousand different. Mine are the on the first page. Similar GPU obviously, probably using the same drivers as what HP provided?

 

Guys,

Wanted to give a more detailed impression of the laptop so far.

Laptop Case & Ports:

I'm still in love over the design of this thing. Nice to have the metal instead of the plastic feel. It just seems so rock solid. This thing from front to back just looks clean, I can't think of any other way to describe it. The front edges of the laptop are a little rough. I definitely see what Jaxxy was saying about this.

Port selection is excellent, never had 4 USB ports at my disposal before. Really wish they would have used dual HDMI instead of display port but I guess they wanted to please people with Mac monitors! Also sad to see it missing the port for a docking station but I suppose this isn't geared towards office people as much.

Cooling:

Cooling the laptop I think is phenomenal considering the hardware the slim case it fits in. The left side of the laptop is always warm after about 15 minutes of regular internet/email usage. Basically the touchpad divides the warm/cold lines. Right of the touchpad is essentially cool or sometimes even cold. It's crazy considering the contrast between how warm the left side gets. The palm rest gets warm but never "hot" in my opinion. The vent on the left side is warm but not hot enough to have to remove my hand at any time even when gaming or watching a blu-ray. Overall I think excellent cooling. I played WoW for two hours today and the vent was very warm but cooled quickly back to normal levels within a few minutes. The palm rest still never got above warm. The fan right now is barely audible. You can hear it under load/gaming a lot more but it is never in your face loud. There is no whine or anything like my old laptop.

Keyboard:

The keyboard for me took some getting used to. I had never used an island keyboard before so with the keys spaced out it was a little different, but now that I'm sitting here typing these thoughts up I have already adapted. I really think the keyboard is very still given my last couple of keyboards. I didn't even notice the keyboard flex until Koshin mentioned it. You have to really press down to see the flex but in no way does it impact my typing. Do you think there would be any long term issues to this flex? Will it get worse? Time will tell I suppose. The backlight for the keyboard is perfect not too bright but it's still usable in the dark. I haven't tested this too much because the screen is so damn bright I can barely tell the keyboard is backlight! The arrow keys take some getting used to. I would have given up a full shift button to have full sized up and down arrows. My old 9500 had the half shift and I was fine with that.

Touchpad:

I'll be honest I really don't like touchpads. They have always been too finicky for me. I have always used a mouse as they are more precious. However this is the best touchpad I've used before. Half the reason I like it is because it's smooth with the rest of the palm rests, there isn't a large indent that could hinder typing. I'm getting used to the gestures but it is very responsive to me. Regardless I will only use it when I sit on the couch or on the bed or whatever, I won't be using it at the office or anything. The lack of buttons took about 15 minutes to get used to but now I'm good with it and like I said I like the smooth design and with no buttons.

Display:

Iike I said this thing is bright!! Putting my old notebook next to it, the old laptop looks like an old rear projector tv way past its prime! I don't need any other kind of light when I have this sucker on! Colors are very good and response time looks good. I played half of the Avatar blu-ray and wow I was seeing details I didn't think you could see on a 17 inch screen. It almost rivals my 54 inch panasonic plasma for clarity, almost!

Graphics:

Only been able to play WoW on this as I haven't bought a computer game in a long time and I had to get a 10 day trial to re-activate my WoW account. I maxed out the settings in Fulll 1080 display with 8x multisampling and I averaged between 40-60 fps depending on being inside or outside. I've never seen WoW play this fast at such a high resolution. It was exceptional. I'm really tempted to buy Crysis and see how it plays on this.

Clean Install:

I definitely recommend this. Even though the laptop didn't come with a ton of HP bloatware doing a clean install definitely improved the speed all around plus freed up plenty of space on the SSD. See my previous post here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...hp-envy-17-owners-lounge-118.html#post6337509 on what I installed to get my laptop up and running past the clean install.

SSD:

I am still simply amazed everytime I turn this thing on. start-up and shut-down is such an improvement over a standard HDD. Using my timer on my phone I have a 25 second start-up time. This is from pressing of the power button to being able to move the cursor to open up internet explorer. It took me 13 seconds to shut-down from pressing of the power button to lights off. Programs install so quickly. Sometimes I wonder if they even install correctly because I will glance away and the window will disppear and finish before I even look back. I have used Les's SSD optimization guide to do a few tweaks. These include disabling Hibernation, System Restore, Disk Defrag and installing the intel SSD software. There are a few tweaks in his guide I haven't done because I just don't see where it will give me a performance edge. I mostly used the techniques to improve start-up and shut-down along with ways to maximize space so I can put as much on the SSD without having to use the regular HDD.

Webcam:

Have played around a little bit with it and I like the fact that the resolution definitely has improved and the clarity is better than I've seen before. However I'm disappointed that taking snapshots and such are only available in the low res format. This is supposed to be an HD webcam, why can't it take pictures and record in high res. I guess the HD is more of a marketing gimmick.

Battery Life:

I have the i5 540M because I wanted to maximize battery life and because I didn't do any video editing or heavy enough gaming to warrant i7. I'm glad I did because I did a semi battery test and got around 2 hours 20 minutes before getting the critical battery warning. This was under light usage of internet explorer and wireless. I'm sure using wired and turning the wireless off along with futher lowering the brightness can stretch it to 3 hours. I was hoping to get a little bit better battery life but this is a 17 inch laptop. I will deal.

Random:

Speakers and sound are great compared with other laptops I've seen. Very clear and even the small subwoofer makes a significant difference over not having one. I haven't played any mp3s on this yet as I haven't transfered over my libaries so once I do that I will check with hissing sound that people have brought up.

I really like the HP media smart DVD and webcam software. It is clean and functions very nicely.

Conclusions:

Overall I'm very happy with this laptop. The minor quirks I made above are that, minor. Everything overall with this laptop is win in my book. I also have no regrets over the paying the premium for the SSD. What a great investment for SSD, the improvements are so vast over a standard HDD. This laptop just oozes premium and I can't wait to use everyday for several years.
Let me know if you have any questions, I would be happy to help!

Please excuse potiential typos/grammar. I don't yet have Word 2010, that comes on Tuesday. Can't wait for that new piece of software either!

 

Yeah, I just came back from comparing with your score. I don't do benchmarking on a regular basis, so I don't know how the differences would calculate in terms of performance... :\

And yes, I used the stock HP drivers for the gpu. Would an update from ATI's site make a significant difference? I'm thinking about doing a fresh install (switch over to my 7 Ultimate from the Home Premium), so maybe I can do another series afterward to see if there will be a difference.

-edit-

BTW, great job on your review- it's thorough and very well organized. +1

 

Will the envy series stay geographicaly limited? Here in Hungary we had all hp business machines and quite a few pavillons, but never envys. We have a few grey imported, what means you can get some envy 15 or 13 very expensively, but not from hp directly. That means no hungarian keyboards and risky guarantee.

I was thinking about buying a hp 8740w so far (which I can get directly from hp here), but I begin to like the envy 17 more and more...

 

Thank you yukstin for the most thorough review to date. I believe you even beat out all of the big tech blogs!

One question for you, I have a $200 best buy gift card at my disposal (won a dynex tv at my high school graduation party and returned it) and would any of these ssd's be worth getting for my envy 17?

 

It's gotta be the two additional cores and cache size right? I don't do much benchmarking either I just wanted to see how my system stacked up with others. Just from a numbers perspective it looked pretty significant but I'm sure those numbers don't translate to real world usage where 95% of people and their usage on these laptops would make a difference.

Man I would recommend not updating. It gave my laptops some fits installing. First I tried the custom install and it did nothing and then did the express install and it worked but my screen started flickering at start-up and shut-down so I uninstalled that driver and went back to base HP one. It also did something strange. In my device manager it shows the ATI 5850. Well when I installed the updated ATI driver it went to ATI 5800. Not sure because it was a generic driver or not but it just didn't seem to work right. Didn't even play a game with it. Might wait for some better drivers or someone with more experience in this area tries it.

 

DUDE..what are your specs?? i ordered on the same day...also used 300$ coupon, and you got yours first(not to even mention that this is your second envy)? they said my ship date is 6/7 then delayed to 6/11...and its 6/12 now. still no shipping/tracking update info!! they better give me another 25$ coupon. my envy is everything base config, except i5 540.

 

Someone had made an observation the other day about the discrepancy of the details.

Amazon.com:ENVY 17-1011NR 17.3-Inch Laptop

Product Features

* Intel Core i7-720QM processor 1.60GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.80 GHz; 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 DIMM) - Max supported = 8GB; 640GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive - Dual 320GB (SATA); Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* Laser-etched aluminum finish in carbon relic; HP TrueVision HD Webcam with integrated microphone; 5-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader
* Integrated 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector); Wireless LAN 802.11b/g/n WLAN & Bluetooth
* 1 SuperSpeed USB 3.0: Three USB 2.0, 3rd port shared with eSATA; mini-Display port; 1 HDMI; 1 VGA (15-pin); 1 RJ -45 (LAN); 1 Headphone-out/Microphone-in combo jack (compatible with 3.5mm 4-conductor jack with stereo audio and mono mic)
* 17.3 inch diagonal Full HD Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920 x 1080); ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Graphics with up to 4091MB total graphics memory with 1GB dedicated; SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support; Beats Audio and HP Triple Bass

I think it is still a good deal.

 

Ya sorry, that was me. It was a glitch with amazon's product page where if you click on technical details, that shows up and the bottom half of the page listing blu-ray and the pdf with the final specs disappears.

 

i noticed that discrepancy too

but u are correct, it's still a GREAT deal. in fact, the best. beats any coupons, bing cash back, etc. granted this is if you need the i7 quad core w/ 8gb ram.

the way i see it, is if it doesn't come with blu-ray, you're getting the most for your money anyway.

if it does come with blu-ray, you are getting an absolute steal.

and not to mention, amazon has one of the easiest / convenient return policies ever. you could just say "your product description said this had a blu-ray but now that i have the laptop, it doesn't"... they would accept a return no problem... no restocking fee.. free return shipping..

<3 amazon

 

Can't remember if Windows will tell me what brand the RAM that came in my ENVY 17 is. If Windows cannot, can anyone recommend a tool to check the detailed specs info(Brand, timings..ect) of the RAM that came with my laptop?

I kinda remember Jaxxy showed a screen that showed that his memory was Samsung Branded.

I am looking to purchase a Samsung branded RAM as I think all the RAMs in the ENVYs are Samsung branded?

Not sure if this helps, but this is the picture of the RAM that came in my ENVY. It's 4GB 1stick.

 

Agreed. If all true to spec. Only set back is you may have to wait up to 2 months(August email notification) for it.....though 2 recent posters mentioned that their estimated delivery is within the next 2-3 weeks. Many others have called in only to be informed by the Amazon Reps that it is impossible for anybody to have received email notifications as it has not yet been released. Go figure.

 

@yukstin

Ic, it looks like the non native drivers gave you some trouble? I saw this with some other drivers as well, but it looks like ATI groups their drivers into families. So, in this case, the drivers for our 5850 would be under the 5800 series family (kinda explains why you see the 5800). It's strange, but with the minimal difference between the xx50 and xx70 (excluding the bigger difference with the 5830), they didn't find a need to separate the drivers. Just my guess. But seeing how in your example, you couldn't even play a game... now that is very odd indeed.

@mobilezila

Have you tried taking the RAM out and seeing if the other side had any info?

 

I would bite on this envy 17 from amazon except 2 things:

would rather have i5 dual core vs the quad core i7

would rather have 4gb ram vs 8gb ram

the extra 4gb stick should be really easy to sell...

but the less battery life with the i7 is something i can't live with. i don't need that much processing power as well.

is the cpu switchable? can i simply put in a i5 520m chip?

 

I think you are being tricked.
The spec still says BLU-RAY and the PDF is still there! That link he listed is the technical details tab. Go look again...

 

u lost me..

tricked in what way?

(i believe amazon's does come with blu-ray)

 

I just did a HDTune test and it shows around 160mbs maximum read. I created a 50gb OS partition on my 160gb X25-m G2 (the rest is unused atm).

What could be causing such low performance benches? I'm in high performance power mode btw.

 

The 4gb ram stick on my Envy 17 is a Samsung M471B5273CH0-CH9 (use CPU-Z to check). This is the same model as the ram on SuperBiiz someone linked a while back ( http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=D3-13S4GS1). I'm not sure why this ram was/is so cheap.

 

i7-720, 1 4GB dimm, SSD, 1080p

bummer, I don't know what the deal is with yours.. How did you pay? the fedex data may be behind. It may ship 6/12

 

HP Envy 17 HDD HARDWARE KIT (Primary & Secondary), HP Part # 603772-001

The following link displays 23 detailed pictures of HP's hard drive mounting kit (not SSD), beginning with the image below:
Picasa Web Albums - 11806062974673551... - HP Envy 17 HD...



The kit costs $88.35, plus shipping.

Purchase Timeline:
Jun 09, 2010 4:33 PM Part Ordered (from Nashville, TN)
Jun 11, 2010 9:45 AM Part Delivered (to Portland, OR)

My Envy 17 is still flying down from Anchorage, so I have only these bits of mylar, stamped metal, and wire to slake my impatience for now.

A ruler is included within the pictures for those game to build their own brackets--doable, but not easy.

 

@BennyPac

Thanks for the photos. I'm hoping that HP decides to sell the secondary mount separately. Why? Because I have a brand new 500GB drive lying around

I think I will call them every other day to harass them about it, haha.

 

If I got an ssd for mine,would I be able to use the hdd as an external portable drive if I bought an enclosure for it? I don't know about the sizes, compatibility, etc.
I wasn't planning on an ssd but all this talk about their speed has me salivating lol.
Oh and what ssd should I get? Intel seems to be the only one talked about here, is that purely because HP only sell Intel or are they the best? Samsung 64GB seems to be cheapest here in Oz, $AUD170. Would I need to buy a special bracket or is it simply slotting it into where the hdd is now?

 

Is the noise present when operating on battery or only when connected to the AC supply?

 

I have been using the 160 GB Intel X25-M G2 since last December in my desktop. IMO the 50 GB partition is probably too small. Try making it 80 GB and above and do not let the free space on the OS partition run under 20 GB.

 

Yes, you have a choice between USB, eSATA+USB, and USB 3.0 enclosures. I'd go with a USB 3.0 enclosure for the fastest transfer rates. Second best would be eSATA+USB. But you'll need a eSATA+USB combined cable or separate eSATA and USB cable. THe USB cable would power the enclosure and drive since eSATA is data only. With the USB 3.0 you just need the USB3.0 cable which is usually supplied with the enclosure.

Look at OCZ also. They are among the best and have the best support website. As for bracket, just use the one in the Envy. It will fit the SSD.

 

SSD option back up on HP.com for $325. All other options still same. No dual SSD+HDD option again yet!

Edit: the SSD option is for a 160GB drive, pretty good pricing considering they usually run $400+

 

Finally they put it back up. I've read earlier (but need to confirm this) that if you purchase only 1 HDD/ SSD with ENVY 17 and want to install a second HDD, then where can you get the bracket from?

 

Hi, I am considering this lappy
I was wondering two things...

Is the screen quality good? Compared to other laptops such as MBP or Alienware laptops?

How bad is the heat with the i7 820qm?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

Thanks 2.0.

I'm looking at Welland Turbo Leopard which is around AUD$53 here.

 

That is correct! If its not Broke don't Fix IT.
My last build is running Windows XP Pro. for 4yrs and never reinstalled the OS. Envy 17 running 4 days no problems will start installing some new programs over the weekend.

 

A few USB 3.0/Superspeed enclosures are already available in the US and elsewhere. Enclosures "enclose" the drive in a box. This might be considered more travel safe. Docks, however, expose the drive, allowing many docks (not all) to be hot-swappable. You can plug/unplug the drive in the dock while the computer is on, like the hard drive was just DVD disk or data tape cartridge.

There are a few vendors in the market now. See Google search or Amazon for examples. I prefer a dual drive dock.

Vantec sales people tell me their dual drive dock is scheduled for the market in late July, 2010. Its website displays this unit, but with a "Coming Soon" banner. I am sure other vendors are also preparing products.

When shopping, just be sure the product explicitly lists USB 3.0 or Superspeed; otherwise, you will likely be getting only USB 2.0.

Single drive USB 3.0 docks/enclosures appear to be retailing for around $60 - $120 (US).

 

Man i would definitely get one. There is such a large performance difference can you can see just by using it everyday. Yeah there is a price premium but it is worth it. Koshin on these boards pushed me towards it before I ordered and I don't regret it at all. The intel 160 GB drive is probably your best bet. It is consistently near the top of performance. There are some there that are less but they don't perform as well. Plus you know intel has solid relability for their products.