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

For me it also makes tap-to-click work, which did not previously. Anyone wanting to learn more about the Synaptics gestures should check out:

Synaptics Gesture Suite? for TouchPads | Synaptics

I can only get a few of them to work so far but practice seems to help.

 

if anyone interested to know about the screen.

manufacturer is AU Optronics and model number B173HW01-V5 for ultra bright screen.

 

Thanks very much HannesS for giving me specific directions on what to do. I downloaded and installed the driver. There are many computer wizs who blog here and I am always ashame to admit my ignorance of many computer details.

 

How do you find the model number for the envy 17?

In the HP assistant it says
model HP Envy 17 Notebook PC
hp envy serial number CNF0236DMZ
product number VX197AV

BUT no specific model number like Envy 17t-1000 CTO Notebook PC.
I looked in the system folder also again to no avail.

 

I really wanted to hear a compare/contrast review between the e17 and the g73 back when I was deciding, and now I am in a position to do so.

G73jh vs. Envy17

Performance:
My builds were pretty close in price other than picking up an 160gb SSD for my g73. Minus that, both sat around 2k bucks, except I recieved 4gb more ram in the g73, the 5870 over the 5850, and a secondary 500gb HD (at the time I purchased, first day, the single drive option for the e17 was a 320gb, hugely disappointing in the variance between purchase dates)

With that in mind, the machines perform remarkably similar! I've so far run HoN and Metro 2033 on both, and it seems equivalent. I don't think any game is going to make having over 4gb ram useful at this point, and the difference between the graphics cards is pretty much unnoticeable. I will say the g73 required more work to set up properly, and I did encounter a GSOD (though the issue seems to be resolved with removing all of my power4games), but the e17 crashed upon installing 10.6 drivers, so there are issues with both (both are running 10.6 now).

I am also somewhat disappointed in the performance of my first SSD. Granted, startup times are faster, and copying things is faster, but I've yet to notice any real difference in games besides patching times. I think I'm glad I have it, but if you're tight on a budget, I would save yourself the 400 bucks. Maybe when g3 comes out it will be a different story.

Overall, I'm declaring performance a tie. Neither is noticeably stronger or faster, outside the differing HDs.

Usability:
This was the kicker for me, and why I returned the e17 for the g73. The e17 runs extremely hot, and worse, the internal design is poorly planned, so this heat is radiated into your left palm area. Now the debate is wether your environment (ambient temp), your build (HD+proc), and your daily use (games/apps) will result in a tolerable heat level. Only you can decide for yourself, but for me, having put the g73 through some graphical paces, I am reminded what IS and IS NOT comfortable.

The g73 remained cool through all gaming sessions. Repeat: it remained COOL. The palmrest temp was noticably under my body temp, which made for a comfortably cool palm rest. Likewise, gpu temps maxed at about 83, and cpu at 75. The e73 however, even after the bios update, was at or higher than my body temp at all times after say, 20 minutes of use. Using the hard drive in any notable way resulted in an extremely hot palmrest, to the point where I didn't want to rest my hand there at all. Gaming was very similar. GPU maxed at about 87, and cpu maxed at around 98.

As a result, the e73 was tremendously louder than the g73, as it's one fan exhaust vainly attempted to keep the system out of the red. My g73 has yet to climb above a whisper, in all tests.

Overall, as far as usability goes, the g73 blows the e17 away in my mind. I plain didn't like doing things on my e17 when it got hot, and that was pretty much anytime I did anything. The g73 runs cool and quiet, and most importantly, does so in all the right places. I can easily sit it on my lap and the thing STAYS UNDER MY BODY TEMPERATURE. It's amazing, and I love it.

Construction:
Both machines have a completely different feel to them. The e17 was definitely more eye catching; smooth, sleek, thin, but a the cost of usability. The g73 has a clean strong look to it, but it definitely feels more like a man's laptop (my gf hates it). I would say the e17 feels a tad sturdier, but suffered from a bad wobble. The g73 is more flexy, but there is no wobble.

I definitely prefer the slot loaded drive to the popout one, no question. As for contact areas, I prefer the g73, as the rubberized plastic is quite comfy. I think IF the e17 metal top remained cool at all times, it would be more comfortable, as the feel of cold metal is nice. But it wont. Ever. An e17 with the internal structure of the g73 would have been a monumentally perfect 17 inch laptop.

Overall, I think construction ends in a tie as well. As far as practicality, the g73 edges out the e17, but for straight up sexiness, the e17 is the prettier of the 2 beasts.

Sound and visuals:
As far as sound, both machines have great loudness, and a bass that I have never heard in a laptop before. I'm not used to laptops sounding decent to good, and it's been a very pleasant surprise in both machines. As far as visuals, both machines again have very nice displays. The e17's display does seem to be slightly better though. I notice the g73 in reflections has an almost rippled quality, not sure what that means but I have noticed it. Both are very reflective, and I plan to get one of those matte protective screens.

Overall, I give the edge to e17, but only by a slim margin. Both have great displays and sound, and you wouldn't feel lacking with either I would wager.

Laptop-ness:
Neither of these machines performs that great as a "laptop." They are both large, heavy, and cumbersome. I used the 9 cell with my e17, and it was pretty appalling to hold, and move like that. Once I took it off to return, I kinda wish I would have left the 6 cell on, as the laptop comes off as much cleaner. But then again, it was already hot enough; I fear what that thing would have been like sitting flush on a flat surface.

Battery life on both is pretty terrible, but about what you'd expect: between 1 and 2 hours of life. Both have nice hotkeys, key lighting, and screen protection while closed. The trackpad on the g73 is better, maybe due exclusively to it's separated button. I've had no issues with scrolling and such though like I did with the e17.

One stark difference between these machines though; I can comfortably use the g73 in my lap. Right now it is resting on my BARE LEGS, a horrifying thought with the e17.

Overall, a slight edge to the g73, as the heat or lack there-of make it more portable.

conclusion:
Overall, I'm happy with my decision, and declare the g73 a superior laptop. The ONLY reason I could see anyone finding the e17 a better purchase, is if they put an extreme amount of weight on the look of the machine.

If that is you, and you absolutely must have a MBP clone, I would recommend getting an SSD, an i5, and the g13 gamepad or external keyboard to avoid heat issues and keep your hand off that damn palmrest. If you are going for a desktop replacement with an external keyboard, it may just work, and maybe more-so as the g73 really should be left open while running. But really, why are you spending so much to have a pretty desk ornament? Build a desktop, get double the performance for half the cost. If you don't need the performance, get the Envy 14, it looks to be far more promising in the usability department.

Having tried both pretty thoroughly, I just don't think the Envy 17 has a place in the laptop market. The g73 matches it's bracket but beats it in critical areas. The m17x / clevo / sager are there if you are going all out for a heavy hitter. And the e14 fills the notch of a pretty MBP replica, without all the headache.

I hope this has been useful.

 

Excellent comparison.

I'm guessing you order your ASUS from xoticpc? Anyway, G73 has like 10 fans under the hood.

 

I would also add that ENVY is more mobile than G73 (~0.6 kg less weight) and can work for longer periods with the 9-cell battery. Also dimension-wise it's much better = better to fit in a back pack.
This is what I took into consideration when choosing between the two models.

 

For those that have downloaded the new touchpad driver, has anything improved?

 

yes! it works wonders! i no longer feel like i spent on 3k on a machine that has a dysfunctional touch pad!!! yes!!!

 

Glad to hear it. It seems the later people have purchased this machine, the better it gets, lol.

 

I just downloaded these drivers and tried them out. Definitely seems to be a bit more responsive especially when 2 finger scrolling, there isn't that initial lag anymore when you put both fingers down to scroll, it just starts scrolling right away. Will play around some more and see if anything else is changed.

 

HP delayed my order...AGAIN! I am getting sick of HP at this point. Hopefully there will be nothing wrong with the new order. IF there is, I think I'm just going to return it and look elsewhere.

 

another videoooooooo!! this pne regarding teps..check it out!

YouTube - ENVY 17 TEMPS

 

Received my order from Amazon (1011NR)

Initial observations:
- No Wobble - flat!
- No gaps
- After playing FHD video left palm rest did get significantly warm. After a little while after casual browsing, it was back to comfort level.
- Trackpad - scrolls without lag
- Nice webcam
- keyboard has negligible flex - you most likely won't notice at all. I like the keyboard feedback. Although I need to get use to the up and down arrow keys.
- keyboard backlight is nice, you won't observe it until dusk
- Screen is gorgeous and bright, had to reduce it a little.
- usb slots are shallow than normal.
- Screen lid can go back up to 110 degrees
- Speakers are loud enough to fill an average sized room
- Like the direct multimedia keys. To use function keys you'll have to use Fn
- Laptop is on the heavier side, you could move it around easily, but don't thing you can travel with it everyday.
- Design - Has excellent WAF! This thing looks and feels like nicely designed laptop. This is quite important since my wife will be using this as well.

I will upload pictures soon.

 

The screen is great but not as great as my bro's RGB LED on his AW M17x - that thing is BRIGHT. So get the AW peeps I returned my E17. It's a nice lappy tho but I have more than enough for AW.

 

@Insomniac2k77

You should log the temps while gaming. As soon as you close the game, the temps will drop within seconds. What is important is not the temperature after running a game, but the temperature while the game is running.

Furthermore, I found that some games, even on all high settings, don't fully load the GPU. Even 3dMark Vantage on all high and 1920x1080 did not fully load the GPU. Thus, the temps I recorded during the benchmark did not compare to the temps I found when running Furmark, a program that actually fully taxed the GPU. You can actually check the GPU utilization using GPU-Z.

Now, one of the reasons that many people spent a lot on this laptop was because they want it to last more than 1 or 2 years. Try taxing both the GPU and CPU and you'll notice that the CPU downclocks itself below the 1860 MHz standard speed. The CPU drops to 1330 MHz. However, I found the GPU temps to hover around 100C and the CPU temps to fluctuate around 90C.

I believe it was a bad decision on HP's part to combine the GPU and CPU cooling systems. They should have kept them separate like on the Envy 15. The GPU gets much hotter than the CPU and thus, the CPU gets shafted.

One thing that I am curious about is the heatsink size. The Envy 17 heatsink seems to be slightly larger than the Envy 15 CPU heatsink. Maybe Johnobts can give some insight here.

I have the i7-840QM.

By the way, nice video! Now if only the Envy series had a firewire port.

 

Do the gaps occur after or before using the laptop?

 

Thanks for the excellent comparison. I myself had to decide between the g73 and the e17... and as you can see I chose the Envy 17 and am happy with my choice.

The bottom line for me is I need a laptop that conforms to a business personae first, with gaming secondary. The Asus was simply too thick, too heavy and just screamed "gamer" too much, even though it was one of the more understated gaming laptops.

The e17 won't make anyone I meet in a meeting stereotype me, it can actually fit in my standard laptop case (G73 is a little wider and will not fit, not to mention the extra weight and +3/4 inch thickness), and when not gaming it is cool and quiet enough to work on my lap (or rather propped up on my thighs while typing this in bed).

The E17's place in the laptop market is basically exactly what you said it is... a 17" laptop with good gaming performance for people who do not want the look and bulkiness of a typical 17" gaming laptop (Asus g73 included).

I do envy the Asus's ability to perform heavy gaming without any noticeable noise or temp increase...

 

What I'm trying to establish is this - the G3 Intel SSD's will have a S-ATA 6GB / s interface and this wouldn't be supported by the chipset in the E17 right? So newer SSD's and the increased speed won't be of any use thanks to the chipset?

In other words, any SSD that comes out from now on will more than likely have the faster S-ATA 6GB / s interface, will they not?

 

@kiwi_style

The increased speed is of no use because of the limitations of the chipset.

 

Thank you, so right now the S-ATA 3GB / s interface is where we are at and where we will stay, can't go any further correct?

 

Just put in my order for Amazon, looking forward to joining the ranks (with problems at a minimum hopefully )

 

@kiwi_style

You are correct and incorrect. Currently, SSDs are not maxing out the 3Gb/s sata connection. In fact, the theoretical for SATA 2.0 is 375MB/s. Current SSDs are hitting around 200-250MB/s it is possible that next generation SSDs can hit higher speeds. If they are faster than the theoretical bandwidth of SATA 2.0, then next generation SSDs will be limited by the SATA 2.0 connection.

So can you improve? Yes. Is it worth it? Up to you. Are you limited? Yes

In other news, I just tested Dirt 2 on the replacement Envy 17 that I have. This Envy is going back cause I ordered one with 8GB ram and the 640GB drive and it was $60 less than the replacement HP sent me. The replacement has the wobble. Anyway, thought I'd test some things out.

Dirt 2 is smooth as hell. Getting constant 40 fps with 4x MSAA, 1920x1080, and everything on high. It is amazing. Compare that to the 22 fps that people were getting with the 5830m in the Envy 15 using the same settings as above. GDDR5 makes a HUGE DIFFERENCE!

 

Did you get an estimated ship date?
I will order one as soon as I return my Envy 14.

 

I ordered mine on July 1 from Amazon. Estimate delivery date is at the end of the month. So far no one has reported wobbles with the Amazon HP Envy 17. So I am hopeful mine will be perfect as the other posted who ordered from HP.

 

Yes I did but I also signed up for the amazon prime to get the low price on 1 day shipping ($4) so that brought it to:

Delivery estimate: July 30, 2010 - August 5, 2010

With the free two day shipping they were offering it was like aug 2-5

for $4 one day shipping why not. It could be sooner than the estimate so.

I plan to cancel the amazon prime eventually

 

Yes, but gaps are still there. I wonder if all units are like that. Even if the gap is very thin, it will bother me. But the price is too good to let go.

 

I am also a O.C. person, but you can't have it all in life. Lets just hope our Amazon orders are perfect like what others have posted.
I already ordered a 160GB Intel SSD from newegg to replace the main 320gb drive.

 

uh, i have an Envy 15 and dirt and get 40fps easy with mine. just sayin...

 

I was going based off of the 22fps listed in the first post of the Envy 15 gen2 benchmark thread.

 

Does the 21-day return policy apply to Amazon orders? I am going to order right now. Boy, I hope I can return it if I don't like it.

EDIT:
Ordered! Now, another long wait.

 

From my understanding unless the unit is defective they will charge you with a restocking fee. I don't know if you can argue that if the left palm rest is hot that it is defective. However, having a wobble might be considered defective, I don't really know. I am just praying that I'll get one without the wobble. The little gaps won't bother me. Amazon told me their next shipment will arrive on July 19 to August 21. I opted for the 2nd day delivery, I've waited long enough.

 

I placed the order from amazon on the 11th June and my unit will be shipped on the 15th July. hopefully i will get it early next week.

really looking forward to it

 

Has anyone tried Calibrating their Envy 17? Spyder or Xrite?

 

Also interested. The display is nice and bright but seems blue to me.

 

If you read the Amazon fine print, the unit is essentially only returnable for DOA. That's the main reason I didn't cancel my order with HP Direct.

 

I have an early E17 with i720/160GB SSD/500GB HDD/BluRay. The Bios update seemed to have solved the palmrest heat problem until the last few days when the left palmrest was getting quite warm. This, even tho there was no activity on the HDD which is under the left plamrest.

So last evening I turn off the machine to install a 2nd 4GB stick (which works flawlessly) and I notice on restart that the machine is running much cooler. Now I know that adding memory couldn't *decrease* heat, so I'm preplxed.

This morning I notice it's running warm again. Finally, I realze that it has to do with where I'm using it! I have it sitting on a laptop pad (not cooler) and I'm lounging length-wise on a couch. When I am sitting with the left side of the laptop pointing toward the couch's back, it runs hot. When I move to the other end to avoid sun coming in the window and the left side of the machine points into free space, it runs cool.

The moral of the story seems to be that if the air stream exiting the primary vent on the left rear side of the machine doesn't have adequate ventilation space, heat will build up on the left side of the machine.

Guess where my cat sits? Hint: He is a heat-seeking mammal.

 

of course cats go for the warm spot.

at one point mine decided to just lay on the keyboard. (made using the computer a tad bit..uh...impossible)

 

Has anyone received their hpshopping.com order without being sent a tracking email first?

My order was supposed to be shipped on the 9th. Per the website it is still in production. I chatted with an HP rep who said "if you haven't received a delay email from out production team then it might have already shipped. Call back in a few days."

Posting or emailing a tracking number at time of shipment is such an integral and basic part of ecommerce. If a mom and pop sporting goods shop in Utah can master this, why can't HP?

 

I'm in the same boat, mine was also supposed to be shipped on the 9th. I was going to give them two days before I called, but I got a feeling I'll get the same response that you did.

 

That's not the case at all. There are virtually no situations where you actually need to transfer data at 6Gb/s (BTW, it is Gb with a small b, meaning bits, meaning it is actually 750 MB/s(Actually, I think now the correct term for it is GiB, meaning gibibit, but I refuse to say the word "gibibit")).

It might come in handy if you are moving stuff between SSDs, but how many people have multiple SSDs? Usually you will want to move stuff between an SSD and a HDD and hard drives don't even come near reaching 3Gb/s.

Future SSDs will have faster random data times, lower prices, higher capacities and increased reliability. None of that is affected by the SATA bandwidth(although admittedly the extra headroom certainly doesn't hurt).

 

So where do you guys recommend buying one of these from?

HP has 10% bing, Amazon seems to have lower prices and no taxes, and then there are some models at Frys.

BTW, as someone who waited over a month for my Envy 15 to ship, I certainly don't envy any of you guys with your shipping date changes. I know how you feel.

 

As I am still waiting for my Envy I was looking to buy an SSD to see what all the talk is about. I wanted to put the SSD as the OS drive in the second bay so that it would hopefully be cooler than a normal hard drive. Since I haven't built a computer since IDE was the standard, I was just curious if it matters which SATA cable goes to which drive. Will switching the placement of the drives cause any Master/Slave issues? I wound assume not since I wont have an OS on the second drive, but I was just curious. And I'm sure I could specifiy the second drive as the first boot option in the BIOS, correct? I know this all probably sounds pretty noobish, but it's just been a while for me.

 

I have noticed the laptop display is bluish...are these calibration tools free? Can anyone recommend an easy to use, free one? I had a look at the builtin one (I think it's part of windows, or could be HP installed, not sure) but it looks very basic.

 

Hi,

Not sure if this is the appropriate thread, but here goes. I've been looking over this E17 thread with some apprehension over the past few days due to the negativity towards the heat issues. I'm leery about the issues, but if they're manageable I'm willing to deal with them.

I'm a college student, but do plan to use this to play an MMO or two (WoW, maybe the new starwars game) and possibly SC2. I'd also be watching videos every now and then. I do programming work between several applications, and would be working on some art projects for classes on the side. I plan on getting quad core (only cpu available atm) and 8gb of ram and using this as a mobile DTR. I have a netbook for my light work.

Based on owner experience, will the E17 still work for me with this setup for my tasks, or would I be better served with different hardware configuration or even a different size Envy?

Thanks,

Klutz

 

To the Amazon 17-1011NR Buyers:

Does your laptop read blu-ray? There a review there saying its only a DVD-RW
Did you get dual batteries? "Get up to 5 hours and 45 minutes of total battery life with the included
6-cell 62WHr and 9-cell 93WHr batteries."
Also is the DVD drive light scribe capable? Amazon doesn't claim it but other retailers do.

 

If your a college student, I'd be looking at something with smaller size and better battery life. I would take a look at the HP Envy 14.

 

A few pages back, somebody wrote that it does indeed play bluray, and come with both batteries.

 

What configuration on that unit would you recommend?

 

I am a college student and I am pleased with the Envy 17. The notebook does get pretty hot if you fully load the GPU and CPU. However, if you give the left side vent enough ventilation, the only area that gets very hot is the area above the keyboard. There is some heat seepage through the keyboard, but it is manageable.

I have tried the Zalman NC2000 notebook cooler and it does make a significant difference compared to placing the Envy on a flat wooden table. With the cooler, the left palm rest is cooler. The temperatures of the GPU and CPU have also dropped about 4-6C at full load. This is in a room where the ambient temperature is around 80-82F.

I am pretty sure that if I cool my room down to about 72-75F (which is more comfortable), the Envy temps will further decrease. I am waiting for the NZXT Cryo LX to come back in stock because it pushes more CFM than the NC2000. Though the Envy 17 has only 1 fan, it does have more vents than the Envy 15. A cooler of some sort is recommended because it will definitely help cool the hard drive and system memory and help with air intake for the single heat sink.

One of the reasons I bought the Envy 17 was because of senior design for Aerospace. I'll be getting my first degree in another two semesters. My previous, and still current while my new Envy 17 gets here, was the ASUS G1S. The G1S was great, but it suffered from the 8death. In other words, all 8 series cards used in ASUS notebooks at that time were plagued with substrate cracking under thermal loading. The great NVIDIA fiasco of our time. The G1S screen was not enough for me especially when I started with my Fluid Dynamics and Structural Analysis courses. I mean, I needed to work with spreadsheets with anywhere from 10 to 100 columns and 1,000 to 100,000 cells. My longest and biggest report relied on 15 spreadsheets with over 250,000 cells and around 50 columns each. Each file was somewhere around 20-30 MB. I had never seen a spreadsheet that big until I experienced Fluids Lab. Furthermore, I'd have to have my spreadsheet, document, lab pdf, and several external sources open at once while I compiled my reports. It was a pain switching between windows and trying to remember exactly where lines crossed and how they crossed and how many times they crossed...you get the idea.

The Envy 17 offers me the ability to use three displays at once. Though, just like before, I will be using only two displays. However, the Envy 17 gives me the ability to expand to three. This is not only useful for my Aerospace work, but it is extremely useful for my Solar Car team. I can't wait to move into our new office and showoff our design (once we have it finished) and other things using three screens (if the school will let us get that many) to prospective sponsors.

I could have gone with the Envy 15, but 1920x1080 on a 15" screen is just too much. The only other option was way too small. The 17 provides good real estate and a nice resolution. It'll be great for when I need to show my senior design project team some graphs and things without having to drag around another monitor.