*HP ENVY 17 & 17 3D (2XXX series) Owners Lounge*

I have a question. Since my laptop is being shipped where do I go to get a SSD? My major is video editing so do I need a ssd? I'm not quite good with the details with specific specs.

 

I'm in the same boat idk which one to get i got the dv7t quad with these specs:
HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition customizable Notebook PC

* • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
* • 2nd generation Intel(R) Quad Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz
* • 1GB Radeon(TM) HD 6770M GDDR5 Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
* • 8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* • 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
* • No Additional Office Software
* • FREE Upgrade to Norton Internet Security(TM) 2011 - 15 Month Subscription (activation required)
* • 9-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (over-sized) - Up to 9.5 hours of battery life +++
* • 17.3" diagonal HD+ HP BrightView LED Display (1600 x 900)
* • FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
* • HP TrueVision HD Webcam with Integrated Digital Microphone and HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
* • Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN
* • Standard Keyboard
* • HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Estimated build date: April 12, 2011
No tracking number available

* This product is covered by the standard HP warranty
* Support for this product is provided by HP Customer Care
* The HP Home & Home Office Store will accept returns or exchanges for this product up to 21 days after delivery

I ended up paying 893.XX shipped so i got it for a very good price. tHE ENVY WOULD BE ABOUT 1200 WITH THE SAME SPECS SO I DONT KNOW IF ITS WORTH THE EXTRA $$$ BUT I REALLY WANT THE INFINITY SCREEN AND THE BACKLIT KEYBOARD AND THE SLIGHTLY BETTER GRAPHICS CARD.... hOW MUCH BETTER IS THE GRAPHICS CARD COMPARED TO THE DV7 I OREDERd?

 

Does anyone know how the switchable graphics in the Envy works? I heard someone say it requires a reboot and has to be chosen manually during startup. This would beat the entire point of switchable gfx which is to automatically go to the powersaving gfx card when the dedicated one isn't needed.

 

Whoever said that is wrong.

People say a lot of wrong stuff on here.

 

i think someone else said it does switch, but that the switch is not immediate but more of a gradual process...

 

Swithable Graphics Instructions Below

Wow, weird. Anyway, it should be just like on the pavillions with switchable graphics. You just right click on the desktop over an empty space and one of your menu choices will be "Configure Switchable Graphics." That is all. You then left click that option and then choose between power saver and high performance. Easy as pie.

P.S. Not sure why there was so much confusion on this issue.

KJ

 

from what i gather, the main difference is the obvious base & max clock frequency. Then there's the L2/L3 size 6MB for the 2630 vs 8MB in the 2830. Then max DDR3 freq. 1333 for 2630, and 1600 for 2830.

core i7-2630QM does not support WiDI diplay – while 2830qm does
2630qm does not support Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) while the core i7-2830qm does.

The core i7-2830qm supports Intel My WiFi Technology which core i7-2630qm does not.

 

Can someone answer my question?

 

here's a side by side comparison from Intel's website: Compare Intel® Products,

 

Can someone please be nice enough to answer my recent question?

 

Thanks for the info KJ. I pulled the trigger a while ago..

I made them use the 25% coupon and they issue to me additional credit.
Specs including the i7-2820, 8GB RAM, and 750GB 5400RPM. All for ~$1500 final price after taxes down from $2200 final prices after taxes.

Again personally even if they where able to give me the SSD for $300, I see no reason of why pay for getting the old Intel X-25 SSD and not order/install myself the new Intel 320 series.

Apoxxx why you didn't get the new Intel 320 series? I have read nothing but extremely positive reviews for it. Plus its cheaper and it is available now.

 

rere77, thanks for helping out~ That sounds correct.

KJ

 

nMIK-3, awesome!!! So glad you're on board. I know about the Intel 320, but didn't want the hassle, plus its good to have the HP SSD incase there are any "issues." Also, if HP has again striped the SSD/HDD, I'll be sure to ask for further discounts, although I hope that is not the case.

KJ

 

Let me know how is the performance with the HP configuration.
Hopefully they do not use any RAID configuration. I read from other users that got SSD/HDD from HP with RAID and it was a mess.

Of course even if thats the case you can easily format and use the regular HDD as a storage only

 

as far as i know SSDs have one prominent advantage - they are hell of a lot faster than any 7200rpm or even 10000rpm HDDs, amongst other things like better battery life, or running cooler. but generally they cost more per GB, so ideally you'd want to combine an SSD with a regular HDD where you can get all the space you need for large video files. e.g. 120 or 160 GB SSD (for your operating system and for your program files like final cut, motion, or Adobe premier), and then a 1 TB or 1.5 TB HDD to hold all your raw mpeg,mov, or avi video files...

 

you can get SSDs from newegg.com but read the reviews before buying any one. Intel's brand is usually the more popular/reliable, but also more expensive.

Newegg.com - SSD, Solid State Drive, Solid State Disk Drive

 

I have been a student of this forum for a month now and it has been a great help in guiding me in my ENVY 3D purchase so I would like to thank you!

I have had 5 HP laptops and the only thing holding me back on an ENVY 3D purchase was the ridiculous omission of a stand alone 7200 RPM hard drive. You all have made me too anxious to wait so I pulled the trigger on March 28th and tried to apply the NB7275 coupon (not for ENVY 3D). They would only give me $100 off on top of my EPP discount. Not a good deal compared to what I read here but I ordered anyway despite the 5400 RPM drive options. This week I noticed the 25% off deal the same day my ENVY 3D shipped. The HP rep tried to tell me it was for laptops under $999 only...after his BS for 3 "holds" I received what I considered a killer deal - $454 ($545 including AMEX 5% Disc) off so I ordered my 2nd ENVY 3D! (I will return the first). I have made a half dozen calls and could never get one of these discounts on top of my EPP - they said that just will not happen.

ALSO - American Express business card will give you an additional 5% off of your order AND double the warranty. So I received 30% off.

In closing it took me at least 5 tries to register to this forum over several weeks. I never received the confirmation emails (not even in my spam in box) and tried 3 different email addresses. I wanted to tell you about the AMEX discount and I noticed the 25% off coupon right after it came out and wanted to share it on this forum but could not. Glad to be here.

 

Mine has shipped today as well. So excited!

 

STEEL43, welcome to NBR/Envy forums...glad it helped.

Maybe you can help me in return. I too used the American Express business card. How do you get the 5% off? Is it automatic? Do you have to call AMEX and ask for it?

KJ

 

Can somebody please tell me whether this laptop supports Sata III at 6 Gb/s.
I have heard many different reports.

 

How do I check this without opening up my laptop?

 

Well, I'm happy to say that my Envy 17 3D SB arrived in Anchorage, Alaska or as Fed Ex
likes to call it; "ANCHORAGE, AK." I'm hoping it arrives soon!

Also, if any of you received multiple discounts on your Envy 17 3D SB I strongly suggest that you check your order status on http://shopping.hp.com to ensure that all credits were succesfully applied to your credit account. In my case, HP forgot to apply two very significant values of $120.00 and $124.99 to my account. A quick call to resolutions quickly corrected this mess and got me back on track.

Additionally, the representative I spoke to informed me that the delay was indeed due to a shortage of Intel Sandy Bridge i7 processors. The Resolutions representative explained that they were compensating customers who called to complain about the delay.

While it was a pleasant experience I am glad that it was my last call to Resolutions. I will of course post an unboxing video as soon as it arrives. Stay tuned!

 

You should see it shortly after your purchase automatically. I used gold card BTW if it matters.

 

Does the AMEX 5% discount only apply to the business card?

I used my AMEX Gold card for my purchase; is there any discount for that too?

 

If you look on the back of your statement it shows companies that you get discounts with like Hertz, ect. You should see "HP home shopping" 5%. I was pleasantly surprised several days to a week after my purchase to see a $89 credit from HP. It was automaticly applied.

 

It may only be the business card.

 

Greetings! - I live in Victoria and face the same issue with the new Envy not being released yet, along with the inability to customize. I let HP Canada know on their Facebook site that I'm not pleased they treat us like second class citizens, lol. I thought of ordering through the US as you did but I'm concerned about warranty issues. Do you know for certain that Apple US will support you for any problems down the road? I've heard the Envy should be released here soon so I'll probably wait till then and add more memory and a solid state drive later on.

 

"In Production"

 

Thank you. I will call AMEX and ask them if I'll get the HP discount. I don't expect it, but if I do, it will be sweet.

Edit: Wow, yeah. I just checked my American Express Online Account, sure enough I have the discount applied. <3 AMEX.

KJ

 

guys can anybody post benchamrks or link me to the benchamrks of 6850m in envy17 is it slightly underclocked than 5850m? can it be stable oced to 700~750 on the core while running games?

i want to see stock/oced benchmarks of 3dmark 11 unigine heaven 2.5 crysis 2 bulletstorm, avp, lost planet 2 etc if possible

 

Alright...

For the people who are asking for benchmarks in anything (CPU, GPU, HDD, SSD, etc...) go to Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News - Notebookcheck.net. That website is probably the greatest (PG-13) website I've ever been to. You'll see why. Click on FAQ/Tips/Technics on the left hand side, then you'll see "Benchmark list of laptop processors" and "Benchmark list of laptop graphic adaptors" and, even more fun, "Gaming list of mobile GPUs". You can restrict the lists too. It actually shows you game FPS performance of all graphics cards. The 6850 is up there...3rd tier iirc. Good 'nuff.

So much fun.

KellyM - I actually live in Victoria, I just say Vancouver because no one knows where the hell Victoria is, haha. I have an American Touchsmart as well, with an American warranty. When I got it, HP said it would be covered up here in the Great White North as well. So I'm optimistic.

For those wondering, Victoria is not white at all, thankfully. Demographically yes - but the weather is temperate

 

No one knows, and all the "reports" are nothing more than mere speculation and guessing.

HP support said that it supported SATA II only when they were asked, I have posted the email in the massive waiting thread.

I and a few others suspect that this information was factually incorrect.

We will have a definitive answer with proof on Wednesday 4/13, if not sooner.

 

Yeah I know, but I'm kind of a performance freak so I know the Vertex is marginally better, so in my simple mind it's the only option

 

Killa Joe did you use a business card or gold card on your purchase, I'm on a trip and wont be home for a few more days to have access to my AMEX account information. I used my Gold card but have a Business one too.

 

mrgod2u, I have an American Express Business card from Costco. I was afraid it wasn't going to give me the 5% off, because when I Googled AMEX and HP discount it took me to HP site with American Express OPEN...I don't think my card from Costco is open, but non-the-less, it worked!

P.S. Another reason everyone should use the American Express....it adds an extra year of warranty if its 2 years it will make it 3, or doubles it to 2 years if its 1 year. Can't lose.

KJ

 

Good stuff! Well I hope you enjoy your new laptop. It will be my first so I'm really stoked about it. Cheers.

 

so now that the first batch seems to be shipping (mine missed the FedEx cut off time, so it will be stuck in China till Monday night), I am looking into cooling pad options.
I am debating in between these:
1. Zalman NC 3000 Amazon.com: Zalman NC-3000U Notebook Cooler: Electronics
2. Zalman NC 2000 Amazon.com: Notebook Cooler, Silver, ZM-NC2000: Electronics
3. NZKT Cryo LX Amazon.com: NZXT ACC-NT-CRYO LX Aluminum Notebook Cooler 120MM Adjustable Fans (Black): Electronics

any recommendation from you guys?

 

Hey Kelly - HP just withdrew the money from my Paypal account, so it definitely worked! Get even more stoked

Just get a friend to ship it to in the US, phone HP, haggle, get it shipped, then tell your friend to give you the tracking number he gets after shipping it. Call the shipping company, tell them the tracking number, and let them know that you would like to broker the item yourself. That way you avoid brokerage fees. Since laptops don't get charged duty, brokerage fees and taxes are the things you'll pay for.

Sometimes brokerage fees aren't too high though, and it might not be worth the hassle to go over to the shipping depot (wherever it is...usually in Van) to do it yourself. So check how much the brokerage fees would be.

Cheers.

 

This is a fine link indeed and highly recommended! BUT it doesn't hold any results for the 6850 ddr5 edition!

Your best bet is to go to page 48 of this Thread SpartanJet has posted some benchmarks!!!!

 

Yup, Coupon Expired!

 

Why are people buying a thin laptop when they're going to sit it on a bulky cooling pad anyway?

 

Great. Glad to give back. I do have one thing that I need advice on. My config has 2 - 750 GB 5400 RPM drives. I plan to replace drive 1 with the WD Black Scorpio 750 7200 from New Egg for $109. I don't know much about RAID. Does he ENVY 3D Dual drive setup ship with the RAID config that writes writes equally to both drives (RAID 0?) or just drive 1 with the operating system on it? In other words if I just replace drive 1, save old one for warranty work, load my $19 system back up DVR am I good? I want to primarily write to drive 1 and have all my programs reside there while utilizing the stock 5400 drive in bay 2 for backup data etc. It will not try to write equally to the new 7200 and stock 5400 ...correct? I am not interested in ssd until they get larger and cheaper.

 

Okay so I was excited to get my laptop and now I'm sortof sad. I didn't purchase any ssd. So how would I get it on my laptop and where do I buy a ssd from? And now I'm reading that its expensive.

 

You snooze, you lose!

 

...there will be more coupons for the refreshed (Ivy Bridge) Envy 17 3D by this summer... I'll e using my dv7 for 20 days, then a current Envy 17 for another 20 days until the new one arrives

 

Why else would HP offer 25% off? To be kind to there customers? To get rid of inventory quickly, for whats coming next...

 

I think it would be best if you purchased a laptop from costco while you waited ;-)

 

Jose my friend, did you not learn from my previous posts? Lol, J/K, well, sort of. As our new member eba0922 also mentions above (by the way, welcome to NBR), COSTCO, COSTCO, COSTCO. I have mentioned this several times throughout the threads. These guys cannot be beat for their return policy, especially on TVs, Computers, etc....

Ok, I admit, maybe I was one of the people that caused Costco to change their 6 month return policy to 3, but oh well, it is so worth it. Actually, I think Costco just wised up and realized tech changes so fast it made no sense to offer a 6 months return policy because after 6 months there is sure to be a hot new faster computer....a HDTV with higher MHz, etc...

How many other stores do you know, allow you to buy a new computer, walk in at the end of 3 months and just hand it over and expect to receive 100% money back? Answer: Only one that I know of, Costco.

In fact, I am typing this on my dv7-4283cl from Costco, and the many others I've had through the years. When I heard about the Envy 17, and then the Envy 17 3D.... I knew my days of "buying" laptops from Costco will finally come to an end. I was relieved. Do you know it can be a pain to delete, reinstall your personal info, software ...every so often.

As soon as my Envy gets here and all the software is installed, optimization complete, this pavillion is going back to Costco. After that, I plan on just getting soom veggies, fruit, other things, and pizza/hot dogs from Costco. If and when I upgrade in 3 to 4 years to a new laptop, I would think my Envy would hold out long enough for me to do the transfers to the new laptop.

Summary: Go to Costco, get a laptop, and you won't have to worry if your Envy is defective, you can send it back for an exchange and still have a laptop until your replacement arrives.

End of Costco rant, sorry.

KJ

 

STEEL43, from my understanding, the dual drives are usally in the RAID config. HP recently made the mistake to RAID the SSD/HDD combo drives, but were made aware of this flaw, and hopefully corrected this.

I am not too good with replacement of HDDs, SSDs, that is why I chose to just get the SSD/HDD combo from HP to save some headache.

There are many others here with lots of technical knowledge who will help with the details.

KJ