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

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Welcome to the ENVY 17 and ENVY 17 3D (3XXX series) Owners Lounge!

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This owners lounge is a place to meet other ENVY 17 and ENVY 17 3D (2011-2012) owners and share useful tips/tricks/mods to get the most satisfying user experience from this entertainment notebook.

If you would like to suggest something that should be added to this post, please PM me.

Notebook Images

Smile for the camera! Click the thumbnails to view them at full size.

Notebook Information

Please note that this is the late 2011 - early 2012 version of the ENVY 17 / ENVY 17 3D. A refresh of this series (32XX) is occurring in mid-2012.

The details:

• Aluminum chassis
• Weight: 7.51 pounds (or more, depending on configuration)
• Processor (30XX series)
  

  Standard: Intel Core i5-2430M Upgrade 1: Intel Core i7-2670QM Upgrade 2: Intel Core i7-2760QM Upgrade 3: Intel Core i7-2860QM

• Processor (32XX series)
  

  Standard: Intel Core i5-3210M Upgrade 1: Intel Core i7-3610QM Upgrade 2: Intel Core i7-3720QM Upgrade 3: Intel Core i7-3820QM

• Display: 17.3" (diagonal) BrightView Infinity LED
  • Standard: 1920 x 1080
  • 3D model: 1920 x 1080 with 120Hz refresh rate
• Memory: Up to 16 GB DDR3 (2 x 8 GB)
• Graphics
  • 30XX: AMD Radeon HD 7690M XT - 1 GB GDDR5 with DisplayPort and HDMI
  • 32XX: AMD Radeon HD 7850M - 1 GB GDDR5 with DisplayPort and HDMI
• Wireless: Intel 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, Intel Wireless Display
• Slot-loading drive
  • Standard: DVD+/-RW drive
  • Upgrade: BD-ROM, DVD+/-RW combo drive
• Support for up to one mSATA SSD and two 2.5" hard drives
• USB 2.0, USB 3.0, Digital Media Reader
• HP TrueVision HD webcam
• HP CoolSense technology
• HP ProtectSmart (3D DriveGuard) technology
• Backlit keyboard
• 2-year standard limited warranty

Reviews

• HP Envy 17 (2012) - Laptopmag.com (thanks tbsk8ter)
• HP Envy 17-3000 Review - Laptop Reviews (thanks Andrew)
• *OFFICIAL* HP ENVY 17 Review: A Great Entertainment PC

Related Threads

• Drivers - contains the most currently compatible drivers you can use.
• Availability and Purchase Thread - where all the action started.
• HP Coupons - find discounts to make your ENVY purchase that much cheaper.
• The HP Laptop Out-Of-The-Box Guide (Windows 7) - by v3loc1ty2.0
• HP Envy Initial Setup Guide - by Gunny5821
• Current HP Envy & HDX BIOS Releases - grab the latest BIOS release for your ENVY!

HP Resources

• HP ENVY Home Page
• ENVY 17 series - Product Page
• ENVY 17 3D series - Product Page
• ENVY 17 Showcase
• Support, Manuals, and Drivers
• Maintenance & Service Guide - May 2012 (PDF)
• Getting Started (3D Models only)
• HP PartSurfer (ENVY 17-3000)
• HP PartSurfer (ENVY 17-3000 3D)

Other Links

• HP redesigns its Envy laptops, announces the Envy 15, 17 and 17 3D (video) -- Engadget
• HP updates Envy 15, 17 and 17 3D to Ivy Bridge, game and media fans rejoice -- Engadget

 

Useful Links! If you have trouble opening PDF links, then right-click on them and click save as.

HP Envy Deals + Coupons!

HP 17 3D series - Product Page
HP ENVY 17t-3000 CTO 3D Edition Notebook PC Support Site
Official ENVY 17t-3000 CTO 3D Manual (PDF)
Official DISASSEMBLY Guide for HP ENVY 17 (Updated for 17t-3000) (PDF)

Official Envy 17 3D HP Partsurfer website (Product Number LY336AV)
Promotion Code 15% off on parts price in U.S: US21000015

I'll be regularly updating this Post with Useful Links for the Envy 17 3D version specifically. It's very nice to have them all in one place, especially considering the main Envy 3rd Generation thread is constantly moving fast and even with 50 Posts per page we're already up to page 47 meaning over 2300 posts. Support me by Adding to my Reputation (lower left of this post) and even send me private messages. If a few people are interested I might go as far as making a quick easily accessible blog to help support the new HP Envy (2012 Refresh).

UPDATED 1/18/2011 (Thanks to the Thread for many of these links)
NEW HP ENVY BIOS F.05 on 1/4/2012
Link Directly to ENVY 17 3D 64-bit OS Downloads
Broadcom Bluetooth 4.0 Driver and Software (WORKING! The Intel BT drivers posted on HP's site are incorrect drivers)
Intel Autodetect Update Utility (Awesome!)
Alternative HP Envy Touchpad Mod (See this Thread for Instructions) Another post for recommended settings
Intel Centrino® Ultimate-N 6300 (Necessary because Windows 7 clean install will not recognize it)
Intel Wireless Display (WiDi) Software for Windows 7
TriDef 3D 5.0 (Save Program Files folder for HP License so TriDef 3D Ignition works properly)

Clean Install Tips:
If using a Flash Drive to install Windows 7, be sure to use the USB 2.0 port, otherwise the USB 3.0 ports will not work because Intel doesn't natively support it yet. Also the USB 2.0 port is most reliable up until you do get the USB 3.0 drivers installed.
Also, I highly recommend Ninite to really speed up very common installs.
Here's Ninite site for you to choose what to install.
Here's my recommended package
Imagepad Scrolling - most people are not used to two finger scrolling and that seems to be my only unreliable gesture. However a quick fix is to go into the Synaptics settings and allow 1 finger vertical scrolling on the side like the classics. The brilliant part is that it works simultaneously with the 2 finger scroll as well. Easy fix.

 

Wow! Only two memory slots on a 17" laptop. That was sad to know (thanks for the manual link CopticWalad) but its a great laptop nonetheless. Bought it some time back. Can't wait to play with it when it arrives. I am excited like a child...

 

What does CTO edition stand for?
Sorry didn't google. Spontaneous thread reply.

 

Configure to Order (basically customized) rather than pre-built

 

not many owners here it seems?
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I am kinda waiting for some nice pictures of their Envy...

 

Shipped!!!

 

Mine shipped and arriving on 23rd...I am so excited!

 

Mine should be here Friday morning. I feel like a kid on Christmas morning waiting for this thing, my current HP dv9500t is about 5yrs old and still running fine but definitely showing its age.

Envy 17 3D
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM
• 1GB Discrete Graphics AMD Radeon(TM) [HDMI, DP]
• 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 750GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive
• 17.3-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD 3D Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920x1080)

 

I think most of us will be getting it on 23rd

 

173D arrived today.

 

So this is always good to find.

Popped off the bay cover and a loose screw fell out

Looking at it, there is a little dab of loctite on it and it's obvious it was never installed anywhere. I don't see any empty holes so probably it just got mixed in by whatever child labour put this thing together. I set the loose screw toward the middle top for the picture.

Also notice that unlike previous editions, a connector is included for the second drive (yay!).

Once my current 2nd gen is done backing up I'll be swapping in my SSD's.

 

Slightly disappointed by the screen in comparison to my Radiance

 

Any idea where to find a cheap HD caddy for the additional drive?

 

All bad news.

#1. Drive caddies from Gen1 and Gen2 Envy's are NOT compatible with Gen 3 envy.



From left to right: Gen3 bay 1 caddy, Gen2 bay 1 caddy, Gen2 bay 2 caddy.

However unlike previous generation envy's, bay1 and bay2 appear to use identical caddies, which is nice.

#2. The Gen3 does not appear to support hardware RAID. Since the Gen2 did, I didn't even think to look into it before I ordered. After dropping in both of my Vertex3's, I went into the BIOS menu and sat there scratching my head for quite awhile.

If this can do RAID, there is no setting in BIOS for it at present. I'm going to have to sit and think real hard about if I'm keeping it or not. I spent a thousand dollars on disk IO for my Gen2 envy that is freaking useless on my Gen3

I suppose there is always Windows raid <sigh>

 

Does the BIOS atleast have AHCI option?

 

Nope. All you can really do in there is configure boot order.

 

I don't even see a need to buy anything for the hard drive. I will just get some tape for my SSD since the plug is already there. I don't see why I would spend anything extra for a caddy.

Is there no option for raid?

 

Yeah I forgot to mention that in my earlier post, the RAID thing had me kinda fuming. Unless you are super anal retentive you don't really need caddies, for the few brief minutes I had them in there duct tape and some rubber used as padding seemed like it would be just fine, after closing that baby up I'd never think about it again.

 

What are you saying? Is there no option to configure raid? There ishoudl be an option in the bios for raid.

 

How many different ways do you want me to say it?

THERE IS NO OPTION TO CONFIGURE RAID OR AHCI IN BIOS

 

AHHH! That's MY SCREW! LOL. I installed my SSD in place of my 1TB a few hours ago (until I get my Hard drive bracket next week) and literally found 1 out of the 4 screws missing.

Oh, and regarding RAID, the HM67 DOES Support it, but obviously our BIOS settings don't yet. There is the possibility that the Setting is there if we use the UMEI driver (which needs to go on a FAT32 partition or FAT32 USB Drive) and is some type of graphically improved version of the BIOS including support for the mouse. I may try it soon but will have to use up one of my flash drives.

 

Has anyone tested the battery life on the Envy 17 yet? I've searched and search and cannot find the answer. I'm 99.99% decided on purchasing one of these, but I would like to know what battery life they actually get compared to what HP says it will get.

 

17 3D
Hollow vibrating noise on a few of the keys, left shift key is really awful with this.
Indented USB port on the left.
Trackpad misaligned.
Excessive fan noise.
Backspace key takes a bit more effort to press. The keyboard in general I am just not happy with, the one on my dv9500t has a more solid and uniform feel.
I also picked up some resonating from the speaker area while my son was watching the puss in boots 3d video, volume was only halfway up and it happened about 3/4 of the way through. I'll have to test that more in-depth tomorrow.

Fairly unhappy after the first night. I'll give it a week before I make a decision but I am probably going to end up returning this and more than likely putting my money elsewhere.

 

There is always perfect macbook for $1k more...

I have the same issues and I'll probably end up asking for replacement.

 

Anyone who got the 17/17 3D with the TWO HDD configuration, how was it set up?

 

Keep in mind, if you have the 17 with an SSD, along with an HDD, you really wouldn't want to use the RAID anyway... Correct!

 

I ordered dual 750GB HDD. No SSD here.

 

I have the 2nd Gen, which actually only has an option in the BIOS to display the RAID config during boot up (on or off). Other than that, it is all done from inside windows. Check in the start area for INTEL and see if the Intel Rapid Storage Technology program is listed. If it is, you have RAID 0. Since the Envy 17 comes with the Intel HM67 chip, it should have RAID available..

Here is the Intel Link:

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...duct=Intel®+Rapid+Storage+Technology&lang=eng

 

I tested the battery twice and got 6.5 hours while using the envy mostly browsing with firefox and flashblock and 5.25 hours when i left it alone sitting on a webpage with plenty of flash ads and flashblock disabled.

 

I think mine has the HM65 southbridge.

 

Yeah I went ahead and picked up a 17" macbook a couple hours ago. You can definitely see/feel/enjoy the quality differences.
Im not fanboy, I am just saying that for not MUCH more (my Envy 17 3D without the coupon would have been about $1900) the quality is pretty great. I am debating now on downsizing to the 15" though.

 

Unfortunately, my screen has ceased functioning altogether. A box has been sent to me. I hope I won't be without my computer long.

Sorry, wrong thread.

 

Please double check that...get hwinfo32, download it and run it. It will give you your chipset. Envy 2nd Generation had HM67. Pavillions have HM65

 

Hwinfo64 says my envy 17 has the "Intel HM65 Cougar Point B3" chipset. It also has a bios and not UEFI.

 

I just got done playing skyrim for the first time on my ENVY 17 3D. I freaking love this display. I was able to play it smoothly at 1080p, high settings, 2x Anti-aliasing, and 4x Antiscopic Filtering. The top right of the laptop (By the right hinge) heated up quite a bit, but nowhere near he keyboard, and everywhere else on the laptop remained cool to the touch. The fan did get louder, but that only makes sense.

Bottom line of my impressions:
I love, love, love this machine. It really sucks that they had to rush the QC to get them out before xmas, but I'm sure that if people wait and get a new one, or return theirs for a replacement, and they get the full experience, they'll love it too.

The ONLY thing I don't like is the click pad, as I'm used to seperate buttons from the pad, so I'd like a way for it to not respond to touches on the button area, and only on the pad portion. If someone can tell me how to do that, that would be great.

 

Yes the Envy 17 is a hell of a nice machine, good performance, nice looking, very good panel (i always thought my dv7 had a good panel but know i know what a good panel looks like ). Fan is not that loud at all and clearly lower than on my dv7 but i must have been unlucky with my fan since i got a high frequency pitch that annoys the hell out of me . For all of you that got good envy 17 - enjoy the hell out of them .

 

Just got my Envy 17 3D with the upgraded i7 ,dual 500GB drives, 120hz Radiance screen - no damage to the USB ports or accelerated fan noises as previously noted - screen is fine no dead pixels tuned down the gamma big difference. Upgraded the OS to Ultimate with my Tech Net acct - uninstalled all the bloat, updated all the drivers via Driver Genius, loaded all premium software, Adobe CS5.5 Master, Power DVD 11 Ultra, Full Office 10 Professional Plus.. only two things irk me. The fact we cannot raid these dual drives (hopefully will be available with a future BIOS update due to the current chip set) and that the power adapter plugs into the right - since I'm right handed the placement is awkward.. was thinking about sending it back .. but since it is so slick looking think I'll evaluated some more..just upgraded from my mint, trusty Gateway FX P-7805U w/x9100 dual raid 0 1TB 500 WD Blacks, 8GB HyperX DDR 3 and 1900 X1200 NEC Screen

 

First, Congrats on getting your Envy! So for anyone out there who is new to the HP Envy, I would suggest you follow this little guide, so you ensure your up to speed on what needs to be done with your new Envy.. Just my suggestions of course:

1. Start the Envy and create your Restore / Backup Disc's.
2. Copy the following folders to backup media (DVD, CD, USB Thumb Drive, etc.. etc..):
2A~~ SWSETUP folder (C:\SWSETUP).
2B~~ (This step is for Envy 3D Owners ONLY) TriDef folder (C:\Program Files (x86)\TriDef). The TriDef folder contains your license for the program that plays games in 3D. Also, I would suggest you go to TriDef (TriDef 3D - Downloads) and get the latest version of the software. However, DO NOT uninstall the current version on your machine, just install the update over your current version, this will enable your license to stay current and activated.
3. Install your software (MS Office, Games, etc.. etc..).
4. Download HP Updates, via the HP Support Assistant, a must.
5. Download the windows updates, EXCLUDING the AMD GPU update. Make sure you do NOT download that. Find it, uncheck it and hide it. You will need check for updates about 10 times, depending on what MS software you have installed.
5A~~ While doing steps 4 or 5, I setup my start menu area the way I like it and setup my desktop using Fences and Object Dock (free download from Stardock: Stardock.com - Your Edge In Software.
6. Add any external devices (keyboard, mouse, UPS, printers, speaker system, etc...).
7. Run the Heaven 2.5 DX11 GPU Benchmark ( http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads...hmark_2.5.html ) to test your screen and GPU.
8. Run disc cleanup.
9. Run disc defrag.
** If you have a program like "Tuneup Utilities", run it last to tie off all your loose ends..

By doing it in this order, your not stepping on the toes of things not done yet or interfering with other jobs your running.

Good luck and please keep us posted!

 

I have the Envy 17 - 2nd gen and here is what HWINFO64 reports for mine:

Intel HM67 (Cougar Point) [B3]

 

I don't know if you have this or not, but if you don't, I would highly recommend adding it to your desktop. That is of course the "Core Temp Gadget 2.7", which you can find here: Core Temp - Add Ons

 

Just did. At idle/low usage (browsing the web/installing updates) the temp is at a 50 Celsius degree max.

 

That is GREAT! When you game, let us know what the temps do. When I play Skyrim for a couple of hours it bounces between the high 70's to low 80's and mine is the Envy 17 2nd gen, so yours should probably be at least 10 degrees cooler or close to that, since you have 2 fans to my 1...

 

I gave my envy 17 the furmark burn in + wprime and reached +92C after 10 minutes, strangely the topside was still cool.

 

Mine is HM65 also. Interesting that they went down on chipsets. Also not sure I like the idea of the heat blowing across the screen like a car's defroster. I guess its away from my legs but what will 3+ years of 90+ heat on the screen do?

 

Other things to note. 128GB MSata is a Sata II, SAMSUNG_MZMPA128HMFU. No Trim. It also appears in order to get a firmware update you get to RMA it. Also no Hardware RAID, hopefully a firmware update will fix that.

*edit - appears the HM65 doesn't support raid (Its the value line), way to go HP, value chipset in a premo laptop.

 

This really sucks. I got the envy thinking it would support raid. I wonder if it is too late to cancel the order. I don't want to pay 1300 for a laptop that does not have what I want.

 

Suddenly my backspace key became unresponsive... takes several clicks to register keystroke

 

Ditto here...likely return it next week for a complete refund...and the cust svc - sales and tech support guys were so dumb-a** clowns ...so totally messed up my X'mas 'present'...deceptive advertising as well - not the product that is shown in pictures or in the product demo. Just not worth the 1.5K. Apple Mac anyday over this 'Lemon'

 

I decided to return mine after all and keep Envy 14 a bit longer. New 17" other then extra resolution and nice speakers doesn't offer anything exciting for me. Screen is ok, but not as good as Radiance. Design is nice, but smooth finish might not be as durable as textured 14" design. GPU is weak for BF3 and any future games and I guess I shouldn't have expected any miracles. In either case I'll consider it again in a few month when Ivy Bridge comes along, hopefully they'll upgrade some things.