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

When my Envy 17 gets here, I will do an hour long unpacking video. I'll rip the tape of slowly, taste the adhesive, cook the cardboard, make some soup, and enjoy a nice cup of tea with the Envy.

 

Can you please show the sensors tabs.... I want to know the temps under load preferably running crysis...

Thanks

 

I see, thanks. What do you think it would be like if you'd switch the SSD to the right and left the left hdd "slot" empty?

If anybody feels adventorous enough to try this - it would be much appreciated!

 

IMO The most heat will be coming off of the cpu & video chips then you have memory. The ssd will also go up in temp if you are gaming or video rendering. I don't think you will gain anything as the heat from any component will eventually exit the left vent. I was going to order the Asus G73JH-A1 that unit has a better cooling system if that is your main objective.I can bring home a digital laser temp. gun calibrated to 1/4 of a degree from work and take some readings from what ever is under the access panels.

 

good news, and bad news. good news, i was able to negotiate a 50$ credit back to my credit card. bad news, 2nd delay,new estm ship date - 6/18. my original estm ship date was 5/26. i also recieved an email on my second delay saying i got a 10% discount on my laptop? im not sure if that's what they meant, or if i'm supposed to accept it by emailing or calling them. here's what the 2nd delay email should look like for those who used 300$ coupon around the days 5/26, 5/27, 5/28.

URGENT - RESPONSE REQUESTED: Notification of Additional Delay - 06/14/10 (10% discount)

Dear Valued Customer,

Due to continued product constraint of one or more components in your custom PC, we will be unable to ship your order on the revised estimated ship date. We expect your PC to ship on 06/18/10. Your response is now required within three business days to accept this delay if you still want this order to ship. If we do not hear from you within three days, we are required by law to cancel the unshipped order.

Please respond either by email or calling our toll-free customer service number at (866) 217-6014. Customer service is available between 7:00 A.M. - 2:00 A.M. (ET) Monday through Friday and 10:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M. Saturday and Sunday. Due to the additional delay we would like to offer you a 10% discount off of your custom built computer. Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this additional delay has caused. We thank you for your patience.

Regards,
Regan Manning
CTO Customer Advocate
HP Home & Home Office

i did already call them to tell them i wanted to keep my order, but i forgot to mention the 10% because i was too busy negotiating the 50$ credit back. will i still need to contact hp in some way to accept the discount? or was it automatically taken off once i called to keep my existing order? pls lemme know. thanks guys!

so lets see...my total price including tax was 1360$ 10% off - $1224. and 50$ back -1174$. now we're talkin'

 

IT HERE FINALLY HERE!

Cya guys in 2 days!

 

2 Pictures attached. One at idle. Computer has been on for several hours though here at work. Second on is after playing WoW for about 30 minutes. Sorry that is the only real game I have on this at the moment. I had the settings cranked to ultra, Full HD resolution and 8x multisample.

 

I would definitely call them again since you got this new email. Sounds like they will cancel your order if you don't.

 

if anyone is planning on ordering an Envy 17, please contact me. i would like to order the 160gb SSD with bracket (in other words as a 2nd drive including the bracket) in your order.

i will pay you a small premium for it.

thanks,
nevian

 

i accomlished exactly this using norton ghost 2003.

you'll have to have a windows 7 dvd to fix the mbr the first time you boot up.

 

@nevian

You cannot order an SSD with a harddrive now through HP. If they do offer the option again, the SSD will become the first drive. Thus, it will pose problems for the owner because the 2 drive bays use different brackets.

 

it is recommended? yeah, by everyone on forums...there isn't anything official about recommendations and the clear reason it is "recommended" by people on this forum is because they probably screw up their clones or disk copies or don't know how to do it and so rely on "clean installs".

everyone needs to stop recommending "clean installs"....the stock OS environment is fine...it's fine out of the box, it's fine when replacing your drive, it's fine period.

has anyone actually done a performance comparison using any type of accepted benchmark? i mean, other than "it feels faster"?


geez.

 

oh no, i did call them saying i want to keep my order. i just wasnt sure how the 10% discount works, like i wasnt sure if i am supposed to call them to say i want the 10% off, or will they automatically take off the 10% by themselves. but yeah i got caught up with asking for the 50$ credit, and the sales rep didnt really get to mention the 10%. so im wondering if she really did take it off.

 

i actually do agree with you. but i guess the people in this forum are a little more advanced then the average notebook user(me). i definitely wouldnt bother with the clean installs or the manual upgrades everyone's buzzing about. i actually dont think it's worth it. yes, the parts are cheaper when you buy then seperately from different sites, but the time and the labor used is just too much. it's risky too, depending on what you want to upgrade.

 

Well, they just delivered mine to my home today, Monday. The bad news s that after multiple delays, I'm in London and won't get to it until Sat. What a PITA.

 

Just got the samsung 4 gig ram upgrade from EWiz everyone was talking about a few days ago. Talk about the easiest hardware upgrade I've ever done on a computer. 4 screws to open and really easy to put the ram stick in. I guess I was slightly off on the model number for the ram that was stock in my machine to begin with but I'm sure that won't affect performance. Now to see how I can actually get my system to need that much. Wonder how many windows I will need to open!?

 

Call them and make sure just to be on the safe side, just got my 2nd delay email today also, hell I would call them again tomorrow also just to make sure the first two HP service reps got it right.

I ordered 5/27 with i7-820qm, 1 stick 4gb ram, 2 X 500gb hdd, 1080 full hd, bluray & standard battery. My original ship date was 6/8, first dalay promised 6/11, second delay promises 6/18, one more delay puts it at a month from order to build date and thats not including ship time. Thanks for the 10% back HP but I would rather have my computer. Anyway here is my HP email showing 2nd delay:



Dear Valued Customer,

Due to continued product constraint of one or more components in your custom PC, we will be unable to ship your order on the revised estimated ship date. We expect your PC to ship on 06/18/10. Your response is now required within three business days to accept this delay if you still want this order to ship. If we do not hear from you within three days, we are required by law to cancel the unshipped order.

Please respond either by email or calling our toll-free customer service number at (866) 217-6014. Customer service is available between 7:00 A.M. - 2:00 A.M. (ET) Monday through Friday and 10:00 A.M. - 7:00 P.M. Saturday and Sunday. Due to the additional delay we would like to offer you a 10% discount off of your custom built computer. Please accept our sincerest apologies for any inconvenience this additional delay has caused. We thank you for your patience.

Regards,
Regan Manning
CTO Customer Advocate
HP Home & Home Office
www.hpdirect.com


EDIT: Oh and by the way I did use the $300 dollar coupon on 5/27, very suspect.

 

oh really, that sucks....

well...if someone wants to sell their 2nd drive bay's brackets....i'm a buyer!

 

I used a $300 coupon that I got them to honor after my EPP. I had to call them to give me an additional discount cause the $300 coupon can't be used with EPP. My specs are similar to Itarmstrong3 except that I have one 500 GB drive and no blueray.

My order was delayed 3 days and I received it today. I ordered on 5/24/2010.

 

my envy 17 6 cell battery is not working

 

I Agree & 6 months down the road it will not be as fast as day1.

 

The reason why we yell "clean install" is because the factory default actually has a lot of tweaks that can interfere with the proper operation of some software. Example, some CAD software. Uninstalling the HP bloat doesn't necessarily revert the changes because HP expects the end user to keep the bloat and further more, it is a cost savings for HP to only have to worry about installing the bloat and not removing it.

By doing a clean install, you are more in control of the changes on your system. It aids with debugging programs because then you can quickly identify what is causing what problem as you bring your new computer to your working state.

 

2nd that...It is really better to do a clean install. I have an alienware m11x and hp dv9700. There were tons of unwanted software on the HPs which are waste of HD space and resources of your cpu if you don't remove them. Space is more valuable when it comes to SSD, and you don't wanna rewrite and erase it too much especially for those junky software. If you are going to clone and then uninstall those junks, why not just clean install? Takes less time, no?

 

For future reference, how exactly does one go about performing a clean install? Is there a guide somewhere to which I may refer?

 

My experience was this: I called originally to complain about the $25 "coupon code" not being accepted at the HP parts store. The Rep credited my credit card $25 and said my $25 "coupon code" was still good. After this, less than an hour later, HP called me to notify me that I was due a 10% discount. She then credited me the 10% LESS THE PRIOR $25.

So, the maximum credit was 10% from the original purchase price, following two missed, declared, late ship dates. My Envy arrived one day before the third late ship date. In fact, it arrived five hours ago.

For you, YES!!! Call HP back to get the full discount.

 

yeah, i'd really like to know what factory default installs or tweaks interfere with which specific CAD software. i'd also like to know why HP wouldn't worry about you being able to uninstall something from windows - which actually is a windows function anyway.

bloatware was a term used back in the day when OEMs like hp would allow lots of software to run that did nothing but ask you to sign up for a subscription (real player, earthlink, aol, yahoo toolbars, etc), run unnecessarily in the background (reminders to install unnecessary programs or online features like webhosting, extra emails, etc) and other type of programs or apps. everyone hated "bloatware" because back in the day memory was precious...with only 256 to 1gb...we felt an obviously hit when a program took 10% of your total memory. back in the day, it wasn't two or three apps that were installed....there were up to a dozen or more. some were even ad-specific (net-zero)! sending an OEM computer with pre-loaded junk was a standard practice until OEMs obviously felt the backlash from consumers and stopped shipping boxes out with so much junk. today, they send out packages of items pre-installed or semi-installed that users actually use (anti-virus, hp care, etc). most people don't like the idea of having HP run its apps to ensure your drivers are up to date...however, maybe if you let them run people wouldn't complain about incompatibilities or crashes becasue of a driver from your webcam manufacturer's website that isn't "tweaked" to perform well for your envy...or a video card driver that was intended for general release but didn't take into consideration the pre-configured 3 video outs of the envy and now you're crashing because you were so anxious to have the latest drivers on your laptop. here's a bit of news for you guys, latest is not always better...take it from smeone who works in software...patches are sometimes bad. i normally do clean installs because i know how to do them and because normally i can care less of the software OEM laptops come with...however, this envy 17 is far from needing a "clean install"...it doesn't have "bloatware" it has some utilities that are helpful and do not slow down an 8gb-i7 equipped machine. the only thing that maybe will is the anti-virus...and if you hate it..hey, guess what, you can uninstall it... takes 3-4 minutes.

if anything, the pre-installed OS will work with MORE applications than a "clean install"...HP has staff whose only job is to test the laptop with that same pre-configured OS you guys are blowing away. it is MORE likely the drivers you guys are digging up (if not from HP's dvd or website) will cause more problems after your "clean install".

i love how guys on this forum and many other are so quick to judge what is best. i bet the majority of people suggesting clean installs are using downloaded ISOs from torrents...probably installing windows ultimate 64 vs the windows home premium the envy comes with...for what? they think it's better..because it's ULTIMATE and costs more. unless you're important which you're probably not...you don't need encryption on your files. if you speak english you probably don't need the 35 languages ultimate comes with. most of you are edgy enough to have let go of win XP dependent programs and moved on to better and newer things. i'm certain the majority of you are not running full domains at home...and if you are, well that's just silly with all 5 people in your house - domains are for serious work environments, not for the guy who likes to do "clean installs". ironically, since you guys are not going to use any of these Windows 7 Ultimate-only features that pretty much makes them....here it comes..."bloatware"! and you can't uninstall that.

do yourself a favor...stick with HP's pre-configured OS which isn't really all that pre-configured. if you don't like something on it...uninstall it....simple as that. people need to suggest this FIRST...and recommend "clean install" when they actually need it.

 

battery started working, have no idea why. this concerns me.
swapping out the 320GBx2 with my 160gb ssd and 1tb drive, doing a fresh install. Won't swap out CPU and Blu Ray drive till I know I want to keep this thing. I can say right now I definitely think my Envy 15 Limited looks and feels nicer, better build quality. The performance of the 17 will have to win me over.

 

Yes you are correct. I have done it many times but it seems like 2nd post after yours most have never and I wouldn't recommend it. Build a desktop and learn first.
My Envy 17 = 1st Laptop and only the 2nd computer I ordered factory built, the 1st one was the Apple II GS with a whopping 65k of ram.

 

Sure you can uninstall stuff. By the way, uninstalling a software is not a function of the operating system. You still need to create an uninstaller. Depending on what changes you make with the installer, creating an uninstaller is not as simple as an undo. An example would be antivirus software.

I mentioned CAD software because I had this issue with the ASUS G1S where the default nvidia drivers caused AutoCAD to crash. Uninstalling the drivers and running a driver cleaner did not work. I reinstalled from scratch and had to use desktop drivers that were modified.

HP has done a lot of customizing with the Envy 17. Sometimes it is just not worth it spending hours on end trying to figure out all the changes they made and then trying to undo them. Some things are not as simple as uninstalling, such as the explorer skinning. I've had issues with the Stardock program in the past.

It is not a matter of whether the factory default is good or not. It is a matter of time needed to diagnose a problem and fix it because you do not know about every little thing changed or already on the system. A clean install gives you a clean slate to work with that you can safely assume is problem free.

But, each to there own. Even if we recommend a clean install, it is up to the end-user.

You could compare it to getting a virus. With some viruses, like boot viruses and BIOS viruses, it is easier to prevent them than to remove them once you get them. Thus, if you start from a state that is problem free and maintain that, then it becomes easier to diagnose issues in the future if they ever arise.

With my factory Envy 17, I am having problems detecting existing Homegroups. I have tried removing the homegroup from each of the computers on the network and recreating it, but the Envy 17 has a problem detecting other computers and homegroups on the network.

 

aww darn, i called a second time to ensure my credits back but this time the sales rep said that i can only have one or the other, the 10% off my laptop or the 50$ credit back. of course i chose the 10% off my laptop because it's 124.9$.

 

had the same problem. i called HP today and told them about it. they're sending me a new one.

 

somebody needs to upgrade the GPU driver to 10.4 or never and see what happens with this system. Currently the clocks are way below what M15x is using. M15x with the same card is getting about 7.5K Vantage GPU where this one is not even hitting 6K. 6K can be reached with 5830 with GDDR3.

 

anyone had any luck overclocking the gpu? figure I might as well push this notebook since I have 20 days to return it.

 

my 6 cell started working all of a sudden for no real reason...

 

I'm happy to overclock and install new drivers, I'm returning mine anyway. Just let me know the instructions on how to do it.

 

download the amd gpu clock tool vs. 9.26. run it as administrator. It will read the clocks at 400/1000. I think that's not right, the core clock is 500 i believe, b/c when I lock the core at 400 I get a 400 point performance hit on 3dmark. So try locking the cpu speed at 500/1000, test it, then slowly go up from there.

 

you can also just download the latest catalyst and install it

 

I downloaded and installed the latest catalyst. No problems with it.

 

m15x has a core of 700. Can anyone try pushing close to that? and test the temps?

 

You mean this one?

 

That's the one, I'll play with mine tonite too

 

ran at 525/1000 fine, score boost,
ran at 525/1025, score went down...
running at 550/1000 now, we'll see, trying to get 11000 on 3dmark06

with only 6GB RAM and an i5-430m at the moment, will try with 820QM and 8GB RAM another day.

 

my previous 3dmark06 score was 11444 i think, I have i7-720QM/6GB RAM. I will try to o/clock tonight.

 

5850 in m15x with i5 gets about 14K. So we will see if these cards are comparable or not.

 

Make sure you guys are running at the 1024 resolution when doing these benchmarks.

 

A while ago, I was doing the same thing like you mentioned above...uninstalling, it turns out to be more time consuming and it's not really a clean uninstall unless you use a third party software. BTW, you do think HP tech will test each of the system they sent out of the factory?

 

Finally got mine, so I'll add a quick review to the pile.

For reference, I got the 720qm, 9-cell, 1080p, with everything else base.

Polish-wise, this thing looks slick as all getout. Sitting next to my GF's 17 MBP, we both agree the envy looks BETTER. Screen is quite glossy which is kind of annoying, but quality is nice. This is the best looking/feeling non-macbook laptop I have owned, and I'm glad to finally have found something with a comparable build quality. There is a slight wobble with the 9-cell on though.

Heat-wise, this thing sucks, plain and simple. Granted it's a hot day and the room is warm (85ish) but the left side is too hot to hold your hand against. The palm rest is uncomfortably warm, like resting your hand on a restaurant dinner plate that just wont cool down. It gets progressively hotter as you approach the left bezel and move upward, but pretty much the entire left side is uncomfortably warm, maybe (hopefully) much less so in a colder environment (I know some of you like to live in AC iceboxes). It really comes off as a design flaw to me, as 95% of the time my left hand is resting on the palm / asdf, and my right hand is on the mouse. Would have been INFINITELY preferable to have the heat issue on the right side. Palm temp didn't seem to change much between full load and minimal load, so the cooling is doing it's job, just wish it was better positioned. Fan is also decently quiet; couldn't hear anything over the other computers in the room.

I've had it on the last 5 hours, played HON on it for an hour or so. Was some stuttering which was unnerving. Need to see if it was the result of playing over wireless, or heat taking effect. Stuttering was infrequent though, and the rest of the time it was smooth as butter, more so than my desktop.


Will take this to a cooler location tomorrow and really put it through the paces. Gonna test with some games (metro 2033, more HON, BF:BC2, and maybe a few others if I get really bored, might snag some fraps too. Also plan to try clocking down the graphics card and cpu via software and see if I can't set up a power-save profile to maybe squeak 4 hours out of this thing.

Overall first impressions: I like it's potential, and wish they had worked the internals out so heat was distributed in a place that my hand ISN'T located 100% of the time. I want to say it's a dealbreaker, but there's not much competition in quality to replace for. Maybe the envy 14, but I think I love the sizable display. Maybe AW will release something at E3, who knows.

 

Nevian, there is no need to perform benchmarks, as those usually are only done for bragging rights, I think you mean hard evidence.

The hard evidence that you so need is in the envy 15 gen 2 thread, just at the owners lounge.

The usual contenders are lower operational temps (as in light usage like reading some forum pages, listening music and so forth)

Lower ram usage, even with the bloatware gone, it is indeed several hundred mb more resource grabbing as the clean install

So yeah, if you take a look at any article dealing with bloatware you can see that it clearly hampers performance, ranging from much longer loading times, to a much slower system while in use.

The worst OEM at this are the usual, HP, Dell, Sony, Acer, actually lenovo is fairly bloated, but the thing is in these system the bloat is useful.

The other problem is that those ''increase productivity software'' are hardly like that, I haven't see a single useful program in what HP puts in its new pcs.

I actually vouch for higher priced printers just because I don't like to install 200mb of ''drivers''.

 

I wonder if i5 owners have the same problem with heat.