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

i used to use true image, moved on to clonezilla. free, same functionality and probably easier to use.

not sure about this driver magician you referred to. i would feel safer to install each driver manually and ensure each registers properly with the OS.

 

hey guys...i just have a question about your expereince with battery life on your envy17 units. i have the i7 720 qm with 6gigs of ram. is ur battery life with the six cell just about an hour? i feel that mine drains so quick. is this normal? thanks

 

hey guys well today prob in the morning ill be able to stream my unboxing live if anyone want to follow me with my envy 17 that would be great. but im afraid i am not allowed to show my ustream site... can i?

@ Insomniac2k77
hey dude i loved your overview mate and are you going to review your new envy with i7?

i hope you keep us updated with a review

 

Has anyone found anywhere other than HP direct selling these in the UK? They don't seem to be pushing it much here.

 

Try ebay,there are several there and a lot do international shipping,and should be covered under full warranty

 

Thanks, I'll have a look, having the wrong keyboard layout wouldn't be ideal but I could probably get used to it.

 

I have an i7 with 840 and with the Balanced power plan it does take about an hour on the 6 cell battery as well.

 

I have a question for you guys, i bought the envy 17 off newegg and like 3 days after i got it my touchpad is starting to pop up around the corners and the entire left side. Does anybody know how to fix this or even heard of such a thing?

 

hey guys i have finally got the envy 17 i7.. it delivered this afternoon at 12

i feel like a little boy now because of my new toy as some people says it does make you feel that way ^^

my overview or should i say first esppressions

i have been using this for couple of hrs and so far its awesome...

[SPEED]
its fast but the thing is hp used like 32gb out of 640gb of some things. also im afraid that i might delete some important files or something lol. so i dont know what to delete... i need to delete 32gb of space so i can work on my projects. is all of it neccary? if it is then i will have to get 1tb external hard drive later.

[FULL HD 1080p Screen]
the screen is very crisp so clear with full HD and im loving it good to see videos or movies and playing games too... no dead pixels as of yet when i checked....

[Heat/inside of machine]
as other have issued i had experienced with the wobble but i didnt see any gaps. also with heat issue i think its common . it goes to the left side but the right side its kool. also with the heat i am getting a cooling pad for my notebook i hope this helps the issue...

[outside appearance]
the wobble part is not a big issue for me when i just tap my fingers it wobbles alittle bit... i like the design it feels great and it looks classy and yet sexy.

[chicklet style keyboard]
when you press the keyboard hard it flexes but when you press it lightly you hardly notices it... i also like the lighting ckicklet style keyboard its just awesome...

[beats audio]
the sound is awesome i can def hear good with music or playing movies. i just love it.

[trackpad]
its good lol it feels like a macbook pros trackpad. but in my opinion its better.
i dont feel any issues with it.

overall this laptop is just awesome when im using it.. im going to do another unboxing video my 2nd version of it i just used my netbook webcam to film it and it was horrible...

im also getting my iphone 4 to film my 2nd version

im going to film it in a day and test this out in about a week or so to give a review... i just hope this lasts longer i know the battery is the issue here so i just bought a 9 cell battery incase. but i didnt get the bottom one which sucks lol...

 

apparently, this circuit noise issue is not new to HP. however i am unsure of what line of notebooks the firmware addresses and how old this article is.

High Pitched Noise Emanating from the Notebook PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

after a second service, the issue wasn't resolved. instead the drives were replaced and reimaged.
i swear the accounts manager i am dealing with was a business lawyer in a prior life or something ....
that moronic 'neither confirm or deny the existence of ...' bs is all i hear from him.

 

Well I RMA'd my second one. The screen had so many dead/stuck pixels and there was massive backlight leakage coming from the top right of the screen. I hate to RMA because of the screen, but since I payed the premium for the FullHD screen I expect it to have no dead/stuck pixels.

Is there any way to tell the manufacture date on these things, or if you getting a refurb model or a new one?

 

I bought this external battery: UNIVERSAL NOTEBOOK BATTERY (MT6350) :: MediaTech - Knows Your Needs for my laptop.

The voltage on the power brick states 18.5V. The battery can only be set to 19V.

Can I connect this battery to my laptop, or will this voltage difference dammage my battery/ internals?

 

holy sheesh seems like the envy 17 is plagued with problems...

 

It seems to me that the wobble/warping issue is connected, the speaker noise can be fixed by some people. The heat is more of an issue for some than others. We also don't know how many were sold and what percentage of people are complaining...

So, I called HP yesterday to complain about my laptop still being in the build pipeline. The representative said that since this was a "top of the line" notebook and "one of the best notebooks on the market" and that "many were being bought" it takes around three weeks to build. If I have a problem with my laptop, I'm going to turn that around on them. I suggest the rest of you do the same.

What I hope, though I have no proof, is that they're taking the extra time to get their crap together. What I actually suspect is that the increased build time is due to Back to School nonsense.

Anyone else stuck in the pipe?

 

it feels like im talking to myself here lol ohhh well

 

hit or miss with this line of laptops.
also hit or miss getting someone to listen to you in this thread ... pretty crowded

 

Warranty from Costco not available?

I just ordered a HP ENVY 17-1011NR from Newegg. Part of my decision was the price of the Costco warranty. This is upsetting. This is the most expensive computer I've ever had and I want a good warranty for it. I will have to research the alternatives.

 

yea but with costco u can bring it back to them anytime within your coverage and just get your money back. you lose the money you paid for this extra coverage but its like paying rent for having the machine a year or 2 then giving it back when you feel u want a new one.

 

Square Trade has a good warranty offering

Here is a coupon code for 20% off.

20% code no limit = "TWTYOFF" for existing customer ONLY**. It exceeds discount of 35% when price of warranty over $175. CC applies only on RETAILER items.
**If you're not an existing customer, try code "INTRODUCTION" as your coupon which should give you the 20% off.

 

My new HP ENVY 17-1011NR is on the way from Newegg. I would to start with a clean minimal Windows 7. I've been searching the forum, but I'm having trouble deciding the approach to take. Clean up the shipped OS or do a new install? Please point me to information on the approaches to this.

Thanks.

 

Again my Envy 17 is on it's way. I'd like some recommendations on a backpack or carry case for th envy 17.

Thanks.

 

Go to the first page of this thread you will see information on how to do a clean install.

I got a backpack to use with my laptop, dslr camera, and lenses. From Amazon, I'll try to dig up the model for you.

 

well this will be my last time on here then if im a miss and let people wont listen its ok by me

its just a shame really i know its crowded i mean i had seen lots of users online but something i wrote thats sufficient for others to see should be able to reply when they have time too. it looks like im complaining but what can you do when alot of people just ignores you on the forum? ohhh well id guess ill just look at threads instead of replying i maybe negative here but its true.. alot of forums that i go to always welcoming me and listen and then reply but here the feeling is different. i may not be smart but i have opinions like everyone else

sorry if i went off topic but thats how i feel about this forum.

 

It is probably best if you RMA your unit, making your own repairs may void your warranty. Better to call the vendor where you purchased your unit from. If you don't have the proper technical skills to make your own repairs you might damage other components of the unit.

 

it's better than the macbook pro track pad? you are wasted? My GF has the new MBP and the pad is amazing, twice the size, the whole thing clicks, made of glass and also has better sensors for multiple touch gestures.

 

Nothing personal, but it's kind of hard to read your post since your English is a bit... broken? It's a large forum. What did you expect? Just because someone doesn't reply to you doesn't mean no one cares. Perhaps no one knows how to respond to your post.

For others, it helps if you use proper grammar. Especially if you'd like a response... just saying.

 

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 

Yeah... I mean my grammar isn't exactly great either but at least i go into the effort of trying to correct my self before posting something....

and dude if you want someone to talk too there is a thing called "facebook"

 

I bought one of these for my envy : HardBody PRO 15.4" and 17" Laptop Cases by SLAPPA

At $130 its on the expensive side but is totally worth it IMO, solid hardbody case that will absolutely protect the laptop while traveling.

Was also impressed with the video on their website of them setting fire to it

 

Hey Sammy,

I can totally understand how excited you must have been to see that UPS/FedEx Driver show up to your door!!! I usually try to read thru the post each day or as much as I can....heck, since I was traveling from my warehouse to my sale off for the last couple of weeks, it has been hard to stay up long enough at night to read thru posts, not to mention I am a member of about 20 other boards, so I try to frequent them all as often as possible.

Since I am in the Electronics business, I see and have discussed issues with some of the over seas builds with my clients as well as my vendors that I have over seas as well about QC. Honestly, you have to remember, if you wanted a USA built spec laptop build, you would expect to pay about 30% - 40% more and the QC I believe will be a tad better but not a whole heck of a lot.

I see a lot of people who seem to be whining about the quality of this build, as one who deals with a lot of proto-types as well as manufacturing of electronic components, I see that the first batches are always the cream de la creme, but the production models are like a heard of cattle. This is just my opinion as there are higher people who see numbers and not really concerned about what many have to say until there are tons of defects with there units.

Well, since I am off to another meeting, I will have to check back later tonight for responses.

Cheers buddy, and I hope that you and many others are as happy with the purchase as I am!

 

none taken my friend. i know i may not be perfect with my English or my grammar. i admit my grammar is poor and i tried to re correct it and my spelling. id guess when your life is hectic or busy its getting in the way, its just hard to remember everything that the school taught you a few years back. i may have to study my grammar again from the beginning.

@ matto247

i know that feeling. actually i dont use facebook because i have lots of things to do with my life. so those socialize sites is a miss for me.

@ scrace89

please dont try to insult me like? "Eurasianman" said Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. to me in my opinion its better because you can double click it with a touch of your finger, but with MBP you cant which annoys me...

@ Revhard191

thanks for your reply mate. you seemed like a laid back person and like to talk alot with others in a friendly tone. i really like that and appreciate your replies. yes i felt really excited when fedex came i felt like jumping up and down like a little kid when i got my laptop. its just damn sexy and it works great but there a few things i noticed that can distract me. well for some whiners they have the right to say something. like others had said its a hit or a miss. mines near perfect and i am liking this so far. thanks again

 

Awesome bud....yes, I try to be as neutral as possible, especially on forums as you can never understand tones as some may be a lil bit deceiving at times. Since I am only partially concerned with some of the cosmetic flaws, it is what is driving it for me.....it meet all of my needs and I have held off on a laptop for quite some time. I was going to go with the Gateway FX laptop and even considered the Qosmio by Toshiba, but there were small little things that didn't work for me. And when I started researching for another laptop the Envy meet nearly all of my needs, 17" Screen size, HD resolution 1920x1080, 2 HD drives, usb 3.0, Blue-tooth, eSATA, Blu-ray player, 8gb of RAM, a high end graphics card, ability to run 3m monitors, and the i7 processor, it was almost a dream come true.

Now I have a powerful laptop that I am looking forward to lugging around with the rest of my photography equipment.....now if I can only get this laptop to pay for it's self like my $5,000 1D Mark IV does for it's self, I would be golden....now I just need to process and knock out pictures on location, instead of locking up my older laptop when I was doing small cropping and touch up's before burning disks for clients....I can't wait to start putting this bad boy to work!

 

Rev,

What monitor profile are you using?

 

i bought a token messenger bag a few years ago because it fit my m1730. it cost $ 170 with a manhattan portage shoulder pad.

it's a really slick messenger bag ... luckily it also fits the envy nicely, which is about 3/4" thinner than the m1730 was, at least i didn't lose my money on that

 

What size hard dives does the E17 take? I'm thinking of popping an SSD in there but I didn't find any definitive answer. 1.8" or 2.5"?

I just sent my second E17 in to HP for repairs. Hopefully they'll take care of the wobble and case separation, if not it goes back again and hopefully I'll be getting some kind of coupon or compensation. It's pathetic on HP's part. I ordered this laptop 7 weeks before college begins and now I'm looking at showing up on campus without a computer.

 

2.5"

There's literally nothing that can be done to fix the wobble except putting paper under the right-front leg/altering the leg with materials yourself. HP's own technicians can't fix the wobbly ones, no new parts of any sort will work - wobbly for life sadly.

 

Not true. After seeing how half-assed HP's "fix" was for the wobble issue I peeled off all the adhesive under each of my feet and replaced it with double sided tape. All it took to fix the wobble was a few extra layers of tape on the lower right foot. Now the warp in the chassis itself, that can't be fixed by anyone but HP replacing your laptop, but at least you can cover up the side effects and make it essentially unnoticeable.

 

Hello everybody,

Well, I was searching the internet for a website where I can ask some questions about the Envy 17 before buying it, so I will really appreciate it if my questions are answered here

And before asking the questions, I am currently using the HP HDX18t, so I am comparing the two models in some aspects.

So my questions are:

1. Concerning the screen resolution, I noticed that there are 2 options for the Envy 17; 1600x900 and 1920x1080. My HDX18t has the 1920x1080 and I am using this resolution. Now how the resolution 1600x900 on 17.3 inches screen is compared to 1920x1080 on 18.4 inches? Are the icons and text sizes going to appear the same, smaller or larger? One more thing, what about the sharpness of the text and icons on 1600x900? As I said, I am using 1920x1080 on the 18.4 and the icons and text are so sharp, if I change this resolution to 1600x900 on 18.4 icons and text will appear a bit blurry, now on the Envy 17.3 running 1600x900, will the icons and text also appear "blurry"?
Now IF 1600x900 on 17.3 was the SAME as 1920x1080 on 18.4 (and the sharpness is the same and there is no blurry stuff on the 1600x900 on 17.3) what would be the BENEFIT of choosing the resolution 1920x1080 on the Envy 17.3?

2. Will playing Blu-Ray movies on 1600x900x17.3 differ from playing it on 1920x1080x18.4?

3. I read here and there that the Envy 17 gets heated a lot when playing some games to the limit that the laptop shuts down automatically, is that true? Does the new BIOS update fix this issue?

4. What about the sound quality of the speakers of the Envy? Can anyone compare them to those on the HDX series? The HDX series have Altec Lansing speakers along the top of the keyboard which - i assume - will give louder sound as they are bigger than the ones on the Envy.

That was all, thanks in advance

 

x2, I didn't pry the feet up though. Instead I just put some black hockey tape on the bottom-right foot. It worked well enough.

Given the price I paid for the machine I figure I might as well give it a shot. It seems like some people in the thread have gotten a computer they're happy with. At the very least they should be able to fix the case separation.

Thanks for the quick responses!

 

welcome ... i will answer ur questions as this thread is crowded and i didn't like the feeling of asking and not getting responses due to the crowd of other conversations going on ...

anyway,
1. resolution is pixel density. pixel density is # of pixels per square inch. if you take one resolution, say 1920x1080, and apply it to 3 screen sizes, say 15.6, 17.3, 18.4; the one with the the best rendering will be the 15.6 because it has more pixels per area. as screen size progresses towards 18.4 the density becomes less. so basically, the 17.3" envy with 1920 will display crisper more detailed imagery than the 18.4 at the same resolution. to get a grasp of this, a 1920x1080 resolution is used on flat panel TVs, so a 46" TV with this resolution would have the same number of pixels as an Envy 17 with 1920x1080, but each pixel is larger. 1920x1080 = 2,073,600 pixels. therefore, the pixel size changes with varying screen sizes, but the density (quantity) may be the same. overall, more pixels per square inch usually results in a sharper rendering.
now, i owned a 1010NR which has the 1600 display. in comparison, the 1920 is significantly improved. it has less backlighting bleed than the 1920 and the color gamut is less, leading to a decent overall picture, but not as good as the 1920. as i have sat in front of both resolutions on the same machine and used for several hours i prefer the 1920 screen.
2. 1600x900 is defined as high definition (720p), but 1920x1080 is full high definition (1080p), so a 1080p display will render a 1080p blu-ray movie as it was intended to be viewed. the same movie on a 1600x900 screen will be scaled down to 720p resolution for playback.
3. i have not run my laptop very hot yet as i haven't gamed much with it. i have crysis installed and will play around to see how steamy i can get it. but if you have the latest bios and latest driver updates, the machine should run just warm on the left side during light use. you should also take into account the other issues mentioned in the last 10 or so pages of this thread. i myself have had an issue with 2 units, but the 3rd one seems to be doing fine so far. as for HP customer service and satisfaction, they don't really care about REALLY making their customers happy. in interacting with them and the problems i've run into, i am under the impression that the company is geared towards max profit with minimal effort to satisfy their customers such that they could potentially 'overlook' issues you may complain about, and then tell you they have not found a problem and will not fix it. the other laptop makers out there are much better at handling customer complaints and rectifying problems.
4. the sound quality of the speakers is pretty good. this laptop has a subwoofer (or a wanna-be subwoofer, since it's so small). don't expect real bass, but it does fill some midrange frequencies not present on conventional laptop speakers.

overall, if you have a laptop at the moment and aren't burning to get a new one, wait another 4-6 months because if you bought one today, it would be a hit or miss whether you get a good unit or have an issue. if you must buy soon, at least make sure the retailers policy allows an easy return and refund in case you find an issue. after my experiences with the company, i am doubtful i will buy another HP product again.
a computer is a computer, for the most part, if it survives the first 24 hours of full use without issue, chances are you will not have a major problem with it in the future. but don't let this fact attach you to a particular brand, because all laptops exhibit the same behavior if they are designed well. hp laptops i believe use medium-grade hardware, not super high end motherboards or optical drives. if you want a rock solid notebook to run with much less worries over 2-4 years, consider a Vaio Z series or a macbook pro.

 

hey guys after i played GTA4 for couple of hrs i noticed that the screen flickers and it gives off different colors to the right to some parts.. is that normal ? when i turned off the game it appears like that and i was worried a bit.

but when i pressed the screen against it, it does not appear like that anymore. i was worried if my screen was a defect or some kind..

 

So, I had quite the scare today. My envy 17 started doing the double post. When I powered the machine on in the afternoon, it took longer than usual for the HP logo to come up. Couple seconds after, it turned off abruptly and turned on again by itself and booted normally. I was able to rinse and repeat this over and over again. Even restarting from Windows caused it to do the double post.

I tried unplugging the power adapter and reinstalling the battery. I even tried switching between the the 6-cell and 9-cell batteries, but it only temporarily fixed the issue.

Lo and behold. I was exploring the other options in the ESC menu and ran the start-up test. This seems to have fixed it because I've already restarted at least 10 times and shutdown and turned it back on another 10 times.

Now someone buy me a beer so I can forget about all of this. Besides, I'm a year too young to buy it myself.

 

Oh, the kids today, and the wacky trouble they can get into with their shenanigans . . .

Here, son, have a refreshing lemonade and an avuncular pat on the head.

(But seriously folks: Metril--congrats on clearing your hardware scare.)

 

i just bought my envy 17 but i only got 6k from 3dmark06 is there something wrong ?

its with i5 450m,4gb ram,ati 5850.

 

this is how much i scored as well with that same hardware.
futuremark compares scores to what i believe is the latest/highest-end hardware currently available. keep in mind this is a laptop, mobile hardware is still 1-2 levels below what is available on desktops. if you wanted the latest/best hardware available on a desktop in a laptop, you'd be looking at something like a clevo or falcon northwest, and would be paying upwards of $ 7000 for it. those machines have desktop components in them.

 

Long time lurker here. I just got my Envy 17 with the i7-720QM from NewEgg. I like the machine overall, but I think it has a problem. I noticed that about 30 seconds after turning it on, the fan runs at full speed, all the time--even at an idle desktop.

So, I downloaded CPUID HWMonitor and found that the TZ01 temperature (motherboard?) stays at 90C constantly. If I sleep the computer and turn it back on, it will stay at 58C for a few seconds but then it jumps to 90C and the fan spins up. I have the notebook elevated on a passive cooler and the fan is blowing air that is barely lukewarm. It makes me think the temperature sensor is faulty, because the other temperature readings seem normal. Such a wide temperature difference between the TZ01 sensor and the other ones seems odd. The only readings I've seen for TZ01 are 58C and 90C. At idle the processors are running at 37C-42C, the GPU at 44C, and the hard drives at 33C.

Other owners: does your fan run loudly at idle? Do these temperature readings seem odd?

Thanks.

 

Obviously, the fan is responding to the heat. That TZ01 temperature is very high.


Right now, after running for weeks (with a cooler), my i7 720QM Envy 17 is only 66C.

Some predictable questions:

Are the vents clear of obstructions?

Are the vents clean (no dust)?

Given that you have only seen 58C and 90C for the TZ01, a failing temperature sensor may be an issue. I don't know how to test for this without special equipment. Of course, assuming a false positive when the data may be real is a problem, too.

I'd start talking to HP support (rats nest though this may be).

 

zero7404, thanks a lot man for your answers, you really gave me the answers I need to know

Well, I.m not really burning to buy a new laptop, but I was browsing the HP laptops the last few days and I liked the Envy 17. But since there are still some issues related to this laptop, I'm now a bit concerned buying it, as I live in Jordan, and if I want to buy it I have to order it from the USA and ship it to Jordan, so if any issue comes out I will have to return it back to the USA for a replacement (I don't really trust the Service Center in my country) which is almost impossible for me to send it back to the states.

I was also considering another model, the dv7t Select Edition, but it has less options which I REALLY need, such as the backlit keyboard.

I will check the Sony VAIO Z series as I always believed that Sony has rock solid laptops.

Again, am really thankful for your quick response, I will make up my mind and sure I will let you know

 

It sounds like a bad sensor to me. The fact that it only appears to have two states leads me to that conclusion. I can't remember what temperature zone TZ01 is but my TZ01 follows my core temps within a degree or two.

Running Prime95 with large ffts The fan stays on low until the TZ01 temp reaches about 70C. It ramps up some more at about 75C.

Good luck,

Dave

 

Ouch on the price. I was thinking something like the Swiss Gear Ibex 17-Inch Notebook Backpack, $67 at Amazon.