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

Haha. In that case, I might do my first ever video review! All that's needed is for me to configure my camera settings and avoid revealing my smecksy smecksy face!

 

Has anyone tried to use their $25 coupon received for the delayed shipment? Mine doesn't work.

 

This may be a silly question, but does the 5850 come with GDDR5 memory?

 

Funny name you have mr. hamster, yes all of them should have GDDR5 bandwith.

 

When I first got the laptop, I did notice similar faults on mine but it didn't bother me enough to worry about it, although mine does not creak (if it did I would probably be worried). I have pretty much the same areas of defects, except that my red area extends lower to around the tab key. This is exactly where the exhaust fan is, so perhaps the body is buckling from the constant heat?

I examined mine more closely and found that there is a pretty bad fault on the right side of the right hinge. I think the pictures below show pretty clearly what I mean. Let me emphasise that this is not an issue for me; as mobilezila mentioned, it's not a functional fault, just cosmetic.

 

Benny thanks a lot, I was looking at the manual on the SDCard that came with the laptop, I totally forgot about this other more in depth manual (which is also in the first post of this thread for anyone's reference).

 

Definitely not an attribute that should impact reliability or cause structural problems, but still a huge turnoff. It's definitely something HP designers should have seen before production time.

That's it. I'm keeping note of this when I order and receive the E14.

 

All I see is problems after another... not sure if I want the envy 14 anymore ;(. Anyone with a 17 they actually would like to have with no problems?

 

Sure the Envy 17 has some MINOR flaws with it right now but i think people are only noticing the bad at the moment. Its good, as it lets everyone know what the little nuisances with sound, casing and so forth. Nobody's perfect though. My old plastic Macbook has chipped edges and looks horrible from a cosmetic point of view but still works perfect. I did have some creaking with my previous Pavilion dv2845se but it never bothered me whatsoever. Lets give it a little time to see if these problems really bother us or if its just cause were on here reading about everything horrible (now i know im gonna get a DOA unit! lol)

 

fwiw, I had similar physical/assembly problems on a TM2, which is made of the same "new" design and materials. They only got worse with time, until there were some gaping separations between seams in the casing. That machine was extremely cool. I would have some concerns about the gradual degradation of the casing from the extraordinary heat generated at times by the E17. If it is not perfectly assembled and airtight when brand new, the future could be trouble. You have a right to a perfect specimen in a $2000 computer. This kind of manufacturing defect is a hallmark of early production HP products. Caveat emptor!

 

Hm, my top left creaks when applying a lot of force and the computer is hot, but it only creaks on a very small spot.

Ugh, this plus the rocking on the right side make me want a 8740w again. .

 

Agreed. Detail any other minor issues you may have too. The more returns and more detail, the more likely they are to make a change to their assembly process to improve quality. Hopefully they learn from this Envy 17 and apply better practices to the 14. Not that I want you guys to be the guinea pig or anything.

 

Mob,

I would definitely return that. A laptop shouldn't creak that way. I don't have any creaks with mine so it is definitely defective in my book.

 

When you get a replacement in the first 21 days for defects, do they send you a new one before you send your old one back?

 

I've had my Envy 17 for a few days now so I thought i'd give my initial impressions.

1. I am really happy with it.
2. The screen is very bright, it makes my desktop monitors look dull (and they're not!)
3. 3 monitors at once is awesome for regular work and gaming
4. Like everyone else has said the left palm wrest is warm-not quite hot, I used a tea towel on that part when gaming because it would have been uncomfortable for me.
5. Build quality: I'd say it is in the middle when comparing a macbook pro and a generic flimsy laptop. Now, for me this is quite an improvement because I am used to a generic flimsy laptop(hp tx2510us) but it is not a macbookpro so don't think that you will be getting a windows macbookpro or anything as far as build quality goes.
6. Webcam is good and clear. Though it is supposed to be "HD" which I thought meant at least 720p but I cannot find a 720p setting in the given software.
7. The beats audio sub-woofer deal is a really nice feature and makes watching movies or listening to music an experience that doesn't feel cheated like it does on normal laptops.
8. Trackpad: I don't really like using trackpads (I wish I could just get around with the keyboard instead) but this one works fine to me. I had to change a few settings with the included synaptics software (increase palm check!) to decrease the interference of my left hand. Because the trackpad is so large my left hand often touches part of it just slightly and it then tries to do things that I don't want it to do.
9. 6 cell Battery: On my first test I got about one hour and 30 minutes. I will be using it at school in class and in my office so I needed something powerful and with lots of screen real estate. The battery went down very slowly when the screen turned off which is good because in class the screen will be off most of the time. This makes me think that I could get through two 50 minute class periods at school (which is all I would need).
10. 9 cell battery: I have not tested the battery life of this yet. But, I wanted to say a few of things about its seemingly awful design flaw that is the big lump it creates at the bottom of the laptop. First, I did does not span the entire width of the laptop but it does not wobble if you put your weight on either side. Second, it actually helps using it in your lap because you can rest the lump on your left leg and that keeps all of the heat off of you. Third, when using it at a desk it really improves the keyboard angle.
11: The processor (core i-7(1.6gHZ in my case)): I like it a lot! Dealing with a warm laptop is worth it when you can do 50 things at once and do them easily. At this point in time, if you're looking for a laptop that doesn't get warm, just get one that doesn't have any power (intel atom maybe??).
12 ower brick: Jesus, that thing could use its own zipcode. I like where it plugs into the laptop, the design allows for a little bit of necessary flex.
13: Games: The only game that I have successfully gotten triple monitoring to work with is Left 4 dead 2. Bio Shock 2 looks ridiculous, I think I need an update or something because there is a youtube video of someone playing it just fine. I've also played Hitman Blood Money. The games play great at all high settings, I don't know anything about frame rates but I didn't notice that there was a problem there.

Overall: I like!

 

Can someone post the power brick dimensions please?

 

The power brick dimensions are:

5.75" x 2.5" x 1.5"

 

I'm getting some constant static when listening to the built in speakers. However, I don't remember this being a problem when I first got the machine. Does anyone else have this issue? I've got the internal microphone set to listen and mute to get rid of the high pitched whine. I also un-installed a lot of the built in software. At one point I thought it might be because I had HP tone control uninstalled. But I downloaded that and reinstalled it and the problem persists.

 

Creak-free and wobble-free here. No complaints so far.

 

hey can anyone who already got their envy 17 post a youtube video of it playing crysis (demo is fine) with fraps on so i can see the frame rate? also with it can you post the settings? so many people would watch this vid

 

So for all here who have the E17, what overall rating would you give this laptop?

 

Any profesional reviews yet?

 

Unboxing video:

YouTube - HP ENVY 17 - The Unboxing

 

Think someone posted that several pages back. There's also this vid for your interest.

YouTube - HP Envy 17 keyboard flex

 

Does the E17 have a 16:10 screen ratio? Or a 16:9?

 

If you get the Full HD it is 1920x1080. So 16:9.

 

OMG that sucks...I might as well get the M17x w/ RGB LED 16:10..stupid companies cutting costs and making 16:9!

 

Does the ATI 5850 run on GDDR5? or GDDR3 in the envy17? i just found out that the 5850 can run on gddr3, which would suck. HP doesn't really state on their site whether or not they will have a gddr3 or gddr5 on the 5850, so i geuss they have the right to put whichever they want. maybe hp's planning to have my 5850 run on gddr3 because i used a 300$ coupon. or maybe im just paranoid because my laptop is taking forever..yeah i think im just paranoid.

p.s - ordered mine on 5/26..estm build/ship was 6/7. it's now 6/13. no tracking number. my specs are all base config except for i5 540. i feel like it's just me now, everyone else received theirs. i paid by credit card too. i call them twice a day only to get vague answers. some say the laptop is still in production(?), some say it's finished and waiting for fedex to give a tracking number, but all of them said to wait another 24 hours. seriously hp? i really dont know what to think..i just dont know. i feel like a child getting his lollipop taken away by a big fat school bully.

 

No problems so far 5 days old.

Fit & Finish=10
I have checked all around the edges on the base and they are flush with no gaps or noise from pressing along the edge.
Screen=10
I haven't found 1 dead pixel. The viewing angle is better than most laptops I have seen IMO.
I have no clicking or buzzing & have not made any changes to the microphone settings.
Primary use is multimedia= Photo Editing & Video Redering
Still in factory state. I keep all my files on Ext. Drives and don't need the laptop space or faster startup by reinstalling the OS.
I haven,t tested the webcam.

 

@InOverMyHead:

Thanks for your post about using multiple external monitors with the ENVY.
When using 2 external monitors + the ENVY's monitor, is it possible to run 3 independant screens?

Thanks.

 

You're not alone. My purchase flew over my head in Portland, OR as it winged its way from Anchorage, AK to Memphis, TN. Now I have to wait for its return flight. Even Santa Claus and Rudolph knew that all he needed was a small parachute to send the lonely toys safely to their new homes and away from the Island of Misfit Laptops.

Oh well . . .

Buck up. Yours will arrive too.

 

The envy 17 uses gddr5, definitely not the ddr3. This has been confirmed. Acerbic uses a ddr3 5850 which really isn't much faster than a 5830 (epic fail acer!)

 

Random Question:
Is anyone else having a problem hibernating their envy? Mine goes to hibernate fine, but when I try and wake it up the screen stays off and I end up having to restart the computer.

Some observations:
1. I have the creek on the left side as mentioned above if you push on it, though it is largely unnoticeable unless you really push/look for it. There are definitely quite a few imperfections in the build- a few tiny chips etc. in different places but they don't really bother me/I don't think I've ever gotten a laptop without such things.
2. I do not get the high pitched sound.
3. I don't really have any keyboard flex and I bang the out of the keys when I type. gggggghhhh Just there I really pushed down on G and H as hard as I would like without fear of breaking something and a small amount of flex is barely noticeable.
4. The touchpad multi touch functions are a bit clumsy. I really only have used them to resize firefox windows based on how big the fonts where and there seems to be a pretty big delay from when you make the gesture to when you see a change in the window size. The clicking can be annoying if it moves the mouse, but if you make sure you just click up/down instead of drawing your finger across the button it works fine. I will definitely be playing around with the sensitivity settings to try and tweak that feature.
5. The palm rest heat is barely noticeable to me, although in the past I have used a 03 Area 51 which constantly felt like it was about to burst into flames so I may not be as sensitive as other posters to heat.
6. The screen is really good. I previously had an M17x I also purchased from costco (though the upgrade to 1900 wasn't an option with that one) and the brightness of this screen is much better imo.
7. the USB ports on the right side being at the front and the CD drive in the back is annoying for plugging in an external mouse - it makes the cord get in the way constantly. Will prob. have to go wireless.
8. The CD drive doesn't seem to "suck" in the cd until it is almost fully inserted which makes me fear it is broken every time i slowly slide a cd in waiting for it to take it.
9. The hard drive partitioning by HP was into 4 parts, 2 data disks and then a recovery section and an HP tools section(of 99mb). Which is different from the last 3 hp laptops I've had.
10. When I first booted it up it said there were 83 processes running, I followed the HP guide someone posted for a new computer and now there are about 50 at startup which still seems high. Can someone who has done a clean install post how many processes you have at start?
11. Not a scientific measure by any means but the wireless N seems a bit slower then the Alienware N. When installing my dropbox for the first time (on the same network) the Alienware downloaded at 2.3megs, while the envy maxed out at about 1.9 (obviously a lot of other factors could be at play here)
12. I actually miss the media control buttons of the usual HP computers and the remote


If people post what they want pics/vids of I will try and get some this week.

 

what would you rate the experience of the laptop? Are you having buyers remorse?

 

p.s - ordered mine on 5/26..estm build/ship was 6/7. it's now 6/13. no tracking number. my specs are all base config except for i5 540. i feel like it's just me now, everyone else received theirs. i paid by credit card too. i call them twice a day only to get vague answers. some say the laptop is still in production(?), some say it's finished and waiting for fedex to give a tracking number, but all of them said to wait another 24 hours. seriously hp? i really dont know what to think..i just dont know.

Sorry, but you're not alone... And I'm very frustrated as well.
I ordered mine on 5/28 using the $300 coupon. Stock except for the i7-720QM. I received the delay notice on June 10th, the day after my system was set to be built and shipped. The notice was vague, I called and they gave me a $25 coupon and $50 credit when it actually ships. The issue I have is that HP knew of the "product constraints" and they waited until the order is supposed to ship before notifying the customer (me) that it has been delayed. I wouldn't have minded the delays if they had waited to bill me for my order when it actually ships. Now it seems as if I am actually paying for their "product constraints." I'll chalk this up to severe frustration. Here is a list issues I've had with HP's service.

1. The initial delay.
2. The wait on HP's part to notify customers of "product constraints." until it was supposed to ship
3. It's been four days since the order was to ship and their website (order status) shows it's still supposed to ship on June 9th.
4. Next Estimated Ship date is June 23rd.
5. Survey link on their delay email sent me to another persons order that already shipped and the survey was invalid.
6. I changed the order number in the survey URL to my order number and it said that my order had already shipped. (HP thanked me for bringing this to their attention)
7. HP CS continues to try to sell me Printers, Ink, Extended Warranties, Speakers, etc... on every contact I've had with them. In the last email, I mentioned this and asked them not to sell me anything until I have my order, and they did remove the sales portion of their response - thankfully.
8. HPs CS emails seem to be form letters with some tweeks to fit the current situation... I actually have two emails with the exact same paragraph from two different reps.
9. I've already paid for something I don't have except for this lousy CS experience.

Now, to be fair. The actual people have been very courteous and friendly to talk to. I understand it's not their fault and they have to live with and work with inconsistent manufacturing & communications processes. I've also owned 5-6 HP computers and handhelds that have given me no trouble whatsoever.

Thankfully my wife is making me wait before I cancel this order and go with my first instinct - a Macbook Pro 15" - i5.

So - sorry to bring a negative tone to the forum. HP is having obvious difficulty in meeting demand for this product.

I am however, despite this comedy of errors, looking forward to receiving my Envy.

 

koopal,

Do you mean like in this video?

YouTube - HP Envy 17

If so, yes.

 

I also ordered about the same time as you (5/27) with the $300 coupon and have yet to see any update on my order status, still says estimated ship date of 6/8 and my delay email saying it would ship 6/11 was also incorrect as it is not even built yet as of 5:30pm on 6/13, I know it is Sunday but come on, all HP is doing is assigning a tracking number once they are built and it takes about 2 days for FedEx to pick up.

I am seeing a trend with delays and the $300 coupon. I wonder if there is a priority on non coupon orders or if HP is consciously delaying them to force order cancellations to to heavy orders at full purchase price.

I would like to hear a soundoff of every one on this thread who purchased with the $300 coupon to report if they recieved their order either; 1. early, 2. on time, 3. already received but arrived late, 4. Delayed and in transit with FedEx or 5. delayed and still not shipped and how late it is. Maybe this will debunk this hypothesis and lay some fears to rest. Hp reps have now lied to me twice on the phone saying on the day after each subsiquent ship date that they are looking at my actual order and that it was finished and it was just waiting to ship, they have no way of knowing that, they are just seeing and repeating the same info I have access to.

I would love to get to the point of giving feedback and discussing the computer itself but if MaybeMac's additional 14 day delay from 6/9 to 6/23 is correct then I just feel this is a very noteworthy discussion for those of us here that are still waiting.



Thanks for your patience, mine is running out.

 

I can do this, but need instructions, had a quick look and I found crysis and crysis warhead...which one is it? crysis seems to be 3 years old?

 

No. I mean like, running 2 external monitors, each at 1080p and the ENVY screen (at 1080p too, e.g.), not like "one big monitor". I'm probably not making much sense

 

Someone has got this working but it requires one monitor to be connected via mini display port. I have ordered a cheap miniDP to DVI converter off ebay and hopefully it will let me use both my monitors as well as the laptop screen at the same time. My monitors are only 19" 4:3 but if I can get it working I will post a video.

 

mine was supposed to come Tuesday but looks to arrive tomorrow instead. I have to extract my 820qm and other components and get ready to do some upgrading.

 

[/quote]Sorry, but you're not alone... And I'm very frustrated as well.
I ordered mine on 5/28 using the $300 coupon. Stock except for the i7-720QM. I received the delay notice on June 10th, the day after my system was set to be built and shipped. The notice was vague, I called and they gave me a $25 coupon and $50 credit when it actually ships. The issue I have is that HP knew of the "product constraints" and they waited until the order is supposed to ship before notifying the customer (me) that it has been delayed. I wouldn't have minded the delays if they had waited to bill me for my order when it actually ships. Now it seems as if I am actually paying for their "product constraints." I'll chalk this up to severe frustration. Here is a list issues I've had with HP's service.

1. The initial delay.
2. The wait on HP's part to notify customers of "product constraints." until it was supposed to ship
3. It's been four days since the order was to ship and their website (order status) shows it's still supposed to ship on June 9th.
4. Next Estimated Ship date is June 23rd.
5. Survey link on their delay email sent me to another persons order that already shipped and the survey was invalid.
6. I changed the order number in the survey URL to my order number and it said that my order had already shipped. (HP thanked me for bringing this to their attention)
7. HP CS continues to try to sell me Printers, Ink, Extended Warranties, Speakers, etc... on every contact I've had with them. In the last email, I mentioned this and asked them not to sell me anything until I have my order, and they did remove the sales portion of their response - thankfully.
8. HPs CS emails seem to be form letters with some tweeks to fit the current situation... I actually have two emails with the exact same paragraph from two different reps.
9. I've already paid for something I don't have except for this lousy CS experience.

Now, to be fair. The actual people have been very courteous and friendly to talk to. I understand it's not their fault and they have to live with and work with inconsistent manufacturing & communications processes. I've also owned 5-6 HP computers and handhelds that have given me no trouble whatsoever.

Thankfully my wife is making me wait before I cancel this order and go with my first instinct - a Macbook Pro 15" - i5.

So - sorry to bring a negative tone to the forum. HP is having obvious difficulty in meeting demand for this product.

I am however, despite this comedy of errors, looking forward to receiving my Envy.[/QUOTE]


wait...u were told u will get 50$ credits back when it ships? hmm..they never spoke of that. do you think i'll be getting that? or should i somehow talk them into giving it to me?

edit: how did u know the next estimated for you is june 23rd? pls let me know. thanks!

 

koopal,

how about like this:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6340882-post1262.html

 

so guys.. what is everyones general opinion as far as buyers remorse towards this laptop? I want the envy 14 but im not sure.

 

i dont even have the laptop, and im already having buyers remorse. hp seriously messed up, making their customer's wait. why cant they just be honest and let all their customers know whats going on with the delay? they shouldnt leave it to the customer service to bs their way out every phone call. if it werent for the 300$ coupon that i was so lucky to use, i would have canceled this order decades ago.

 

Bro, I'd say you have an opportunity here. Complain to a HP CSR until he/she offers you additional money back.

 

@johnnobts

Fedex delivers on Monday?

My order is supposed to come in on Tuesday, but it's already at my distribution center.

 

Why wouldn't they deliver on a Monday?

 

So I received my 2nd new unit over the weekend and I said in my last post I would open the it up last night.

Well guess what................. SAME PROBLEM!!! Wonky front-right corner! Exactley the same as the last one, straight out of the box, hadn't even turned it on.

So I take it straight down to the service centre, call the HP guy I was dealing with and he says he will get back to me on a replacement, but he says HP will look into this as it seems there has been a dodgey batch shipped to our shores early... you think!?

I don't know what's worse, you guys who waited weeks to receive you custom builds after ordering, or me - brought the first one from the shop nearly 3 weeks ago, and now waiting on a third replacement!

Anyway, I told the HP guy I still just want an envy that works and is built properly and I'm prepared to wait now for one to be shipped in from wherever. When I hear back from him I will start demanding compensation.

 

Just a reminder of my experience: HP records accounts of all their contacts with customers if you identify the purchase number. When my original order was delayed, the customer service person gave me a date certain for its shipment. When this first late date was missed, I was given a second late date. When this second late ship date was missed, the customer service person told me I qualified for a 10% discount. They knew of the two declared late shipment dates because the customer service person recorded the fact in their records.

I suggest using this 10% discount after the second missed late ship date as a reference when you negotiate for your own compensation.

Best of luck.