HP ENVY 4t (Sleekbook 14") Review

Hi,

Can anyone tell me what i can expect as Windows Experience rating for the envy 4 1002tx ultrabook model (3rd gen i5, 500GB HDD-32GB SSD, radeon 7670 - 2gb)?

How good is the windows rating in capturing real life performance?

 

So I just got my envy 4t...is there anything I can do about the slow wifi speeds?

 

Any idea on why
when I try to hibernate the envy,
the screen become dark(as what usual hibernation process do),
but it won't shut/hibernate completely?

 

Hey, was thinking of getting the SSD to replace the HDD in it.
What kinda performance issues are there?

My wifi is alright, i dont really take note of the speed. But it uses jus fine

 

Is there another forum where users are more active?

 

Question: Is the Envy 4 a sleekbook or and ultrabook?

Answer: HP is calling whatever is likes.

I brought this Envy 4 in New Zealand, there is only 4 pre-built models we can buy here. I just watched a TV advertisement for the Envy 4, this has been fully marketed as an ultrabook. From the start of the ad to the finish, including the printed texted on screen mentioned ultrabook. The ad also featured a heavy themed beats audio action, I am sure this ad must be running in other countries.

According to what I just seen on TV, it is not a sleekbook, even though it does not officially meet the ultrabook specification.

What is going on here? HP has various models none of which I can see meets the ultrabook standard, even going as far to call the Envy 6 an ultrabook.

Envy 4 Sleekbook:
HP ENVY Sleekbook 4-1000

Envy 4 Ultrabook:
HP ENVY Ultrabook 4-1030us | HP® Official Store

Envy 4 Sleekbook:
HP ENVY Sleekbook 4t-1000 | HP® Official Store

Envy 6 Ultrabook:
HP ENVY Ultrabook 6t-1000 | HP® Official Store

 

there are 4 versions 2 for each of the 2 sizes.

the ultrabooks are the ones with intel processors and they are the "4t" and "6t" and yes they do fit ultrabook specs, even the 15 in one


the sleekbooks are the same exact thing but with amd parts and since intel coined "ultrabook" amd cant use it so that's why they are "sleekbooks" also since they are geared toward lower budgets, they dont have the higher end ssd's and what not. the sleekbooks are the "4z" and "6z" models.


hopefully that helped

 

Is anyone able to successfully OC the GPU via Intels Extreme Tuning Utility?
When I try to set anything the OC GPU option just gets disabled, also I can't tune the CPU. I'm guessing it's locked down via the Bios, anyone know of any way to hack the Bios? or are there any custom Bios options? I love the laptop but the lack of customization is bothering me.

Also has anyone installed an SSD?
I have the 4t-1000 3rd Gen i5 with 4Gb ram and 500GB HDD

 

Wait are you saying that I can't install a 9.5mm SSD in it at all? For example the Intel 330 series? It's 9.5mm, is that extra 2.5mm enough to not allow me to install an SSD? because if that's the case I'm returning this tomorrow.

 

U will need a 7mm SSD which most or perhaps all ultrabooks use.
Online show u can remove the 9.5mm ssd casing and then it can fit into the 7mm ssd.

 

Can you post a video on how to add a SSD onto the envy 4t?

 

I'll make a video when I get mine later this week

 

Awesome thanks! Name and size of the ssd you bought?

 

Buying an OCZ Vertex 3 7mm. 120GB

Also on a side note has anyone been able to use the Intel Extreme Tuning Utility to overclock their processor or gpu? When I hit apply the overclock settings get disabled. I have a feeling HP has some sort of Bios lock on this. Would anyone know a way around this? Because I'm trying to play some Prototype2 and I'm getting frame rates because this iGPU won't stay at max speeds.

 

Very interested to unlock the bios also. Would like to have the advance feature.

BTW can i check if the envy 4 supports sata 3?
Planning to buy an ssd but if it oni supports sata2, purchasing a sata 2 is much cheaper.

 

If you open up the laptop to replace the HDD and upgrade RAM, will your warranty be void? Also, there's no option to turn on AHCI in the BIOS?

 

Have you gone to disk management and assigned a drive letter to the HP_Tools Partition? It is not assigned a letter by default therefore you can not access it without assigning a drive letter. After that your bios should be in the "HP_Tools\Hewlett-Packard\BIOS\Current" folder

 

That is not exactly true. HP sell's an Intel Sleekbook versions as well. Here is how it works.
Envy 4t + Intel CPU + 32gb Cache = ULTRABOOK
Envy 4t + Intel CPU + 320/500gb HDD = Sleekbook
Envy 4z + AMD CPU = Sleekbook
Same goes for the Envy 6

 

Hi guys, my bios version seems weird.
Its a F.0B

Out of the box with this bios ver. Could not find any updates on it. The latest seems like its F.0A but surprisingly mines a F.0B

Any info?

 

ah alright wasnt aware of the intel sleekbook. didnt really check out the options i just looked at the release info from hp when i was considering what laptop to buy

 

It's cool. I just wanted to make sure people looking at buying one knew that the Intel models without the 32gb cache is not considered an Ultrabook.

 

I believe it is the same bios as f.0a but not 100% sure. If you can post the .bin and .sig I will check it out. I am working on unlocking some Advanced Options so if you post a copy I'll let you know what I find.

 

could u possibly work on unlocking advanced options for the envy 15?

 

Cant wait to unlock the bios man.
I wanna do some stuff with this machine.
UV as well as SATA control.
Intending to swap the hdd for a ssd .

 

Ok I have finally got the BIOS off my Envy 4. I had no luck using Fla$hit, had to use something else.

Here it is, version F.09

HP_Envy4_F09.zip

 

What's the difference between this and F.0B/A

 

I believe no one else has this BIOS version

 

I have installed a Crucial m4 SSD into my 4t and when I ran "fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify", the output is 0. Not sure how useful this information is to you.

 

I got my envy 4 (i5 3rd gen, 4gb ram, 32 cache and radeon 7670m). I realise the windows experience index is not something to worry about but even with the dedicated graphics i only got 4.9 rating as my "graphics" score.

Anyone know why? i was expecting around 5.5.

 

Hello

I would try running your WEI again. On my first boot it did the same thing with the 4.9 business. When i Ran WEI again it jumped upto 5.4 or 5.6. The Factory image makes it default so some weird number. I have the ivy i5 3317U, with the intel 4000 GPU it get 5.4 or 5.6 across the board on graphics. With the Dedicated graphics it should be better than 4.9.

Looking forward to a bios unlock. I need AHCI! I tried tinkering with it but am not familiar with phoenix bios mod tool 2.09 or insydeH2O but from what I read phoenix bios mod tool is the most promising prospect in unlocking the bios as per other forums. I used T2050's bios and was able to open the .bin with the tool, but most of what I saw had to do with whitelist mods and slic 2.1. With insydeH2O it gave me the logo change option but no advanced bios options.

I hope this research serves as a stepping stone to get all us Envy 4 heads an unlocked bios. Without unlocked bios were crippled to SATA II for the 500GB drive bay, and without AHCI our mSATA III SSD speeds are crippled in freaking RAID mode, and probably other problems could be fixed on an otherwise perfect laptop. Its retarded!

Link to phoenix tool 2.09
Tool to Insert/Replace SLIC in Phoenix / Insyde / Dell / EFI BIOSes

I will try to be as active in the forum as I can, Ive really torn into my Envy 4 and know it inside out.

 

The index scores or certain benchmark does not show the correct benchmark score is because the program is not using the HD7670m.
I tried to the 3dmark but score wasn't correct. And read somewhere that the cause might be the dynamic graphics not being activated.

STILL WAITING FOR THE BIOS!!!
haha cant wait i wanna get an SSD for this.

 

Why you need the bios to be unlocked for an SSD? Mine is coming in today...am I going to have a problem?

 

How did you get a 3rd gen with the 7670m? I only see the option for 2nd gen and 7670m.

 

There shouldn't be a problem as long as you made sure to get the 7mm low profile version and not the 9 mm standard version. You may also have to inject the rapid start drivers into your windows installation for the drive to be seen. (Rapid start and RAID rapid storage drivers)

There is no problem using an SSD on the ultrabook, its just that it defaults the SSD to SATA II mode from what I heard dampering the speeds to 3 Gbits/s as oppose to the full 525MB/s you would get from the SSD that SATAIII 6.0 gbits/s would offer. I bought a 128GB mSATA III SSD that runs at the full SATAIII and use my mechanical HD for storage. The problem is that Although the new Intel Rapid Storage driver supports TRIM and NCQ in RAID mode, it dampens the speeds.
(why the mSATA runs SATAIII and the regular SATA runs SATA II is only a mystery HP can answer)

My Atto Bench for my SSD is 324 MB/s Read and 525 MB/s write, even though my drive specs are 560 MB/s Read and 530 MB/s Write. My theory and from what I've read using a single SSD in RAID mode is very unoptimized and it causes problems. People who are running the Lenovo m410 who have an mSATA as their primary and that are using AHCI are not having these problems. Thats why I want AHCI so bad im loosing 200MB/s somewhere!

If anyone has had better benches on there Atto SSD disk speeds please chime in.

You can't i think that is a mistake or misunderstanding.

 

How many FPS are you getting with Black Ops? My frame rate is horrible on this machine for some reason, and it's already set to run Black Ops on high performance. It's running most every other game great though, including Crysis 2 on High setting (20-30fps).

 

Are you able to run the MSATA SSD and the HDD seperate?

As in do not use raid0, make both the SSD and HDD run on standalone.Since the raid0 is causing the problems.

I believe by deleting the raid0 on both drives will allow one to see the drives during installation with out the raid drivers.

Need to wait further to see if its worth to get the SSD for my envy 4.

 

Nope not a mistake. the exact model number is "Envy 4 -1002tx".

Not sure if its available around the globe.

 

I tried hitting the ctrl and I but there was no intel raid greetings.

It brings me to the boot manager. Where i can press F8 for advance menu.
In the advance menu there is afew options.

Boot to last good state.
Safe mode
safe mode network

Any help with the CTRL + I to get into the raid setup.
I Flashed the F.0A BIOS over my F.0B still the same.

Any1 can help me make the BIOS bak to F.0B?

Thank you

 

There are a few ways to get into the raid menu but it depends on the application or why you want to use the RAID software.

The first way is if you want to fodify your RAID volumes you have to do it through windows. You have to use the matrix software or the rapid storage software.

If your trying to remove your raid volume or disassociate your 500GB from your 32GB Express Cache its a bit more complicated. Go over to the 6t-1000 thread for an outline.

HTML:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/667656-envy-s

HP basically Locks the RAID ROM Because to them there should be no reason for you to modify it.

 

I read that by pressing CTRL + I one can enter the raid setup.
Was giving it a shot so that when i change to ssd it would have been explored.

My BIOS is now F.0A.
Is the F.0B better?

Wonder if its me or the BIOS F.0A makes my boot time longer by 2s.
From 20s, now its 22s.
From the time u push the power button.

Feel like changing it back to F.0B. tried to swap the .bin files but they say "error" something about signature being wrong.

 

any news on an amd envy 4 yet?

 

I have the Radeon HD 7670M graphics card, but am not entirely convinced that the switable graphics work.

How to do i make sure? Anyway to disable the intel HD4000?

 

run a game with both gfx and compare frames with fraps.

 

Has anyone upgraded the RAM in this laptop to something higher than 1600mhz? Like 1866mhz? Wondering if anyone knows if this motherboard supports those speeds or if anyone has any documentation for it? Thanks

 

Couple of questions:

- Is the mSATA slot (that the cache drive would go in) SATA-II or SATA-III ?

- If I install a 240GB mSATA SSD, can that be used as the primary drive while a 7mm drive is used as a storage / secondary drive?

- What type of panel is used in the screen? IPS, TN, etc.?

 

1. The slot is a SATA III

2. Yes I currently have a 128 MUSHKIN Atlas on mine and I use it as a full primary with my 500GB secondary... BUT there are two problems

a. Since you cannot tell the bios which HDD to boot off of first you must install your windows 7 efi boot partition (the 200 MB hidden partition) on the 500GB which will hand off the boot to the SSD where you installed the OS. This is because the Envy sees the 500GB drive first. This is what HP wanted and god forbid you want to go against them. BUT if you were to just run the SSD alone the laptop would see only one drive and boot off of it. When i called HP about it they said it couldn't be done and that the mSATA was for Cache only, and I "would never get the envy to boot from the mSATA...its impossible and never heard of" but im typing this to you on a system with windows 7 on the 128GB mSATA SSD :-S

b. since the bios is crippled you cannot switch to AHCI mode. What happeneds on my envy is because of this my write speeds are much faster than my read speeds. By like 40% (300mb/s read to 500mb/s write in atto.) I see a possible remedy is to buy another matching msata SSD and put it into a SATA housing and install it in the SATA bay and run it in RAID 0 mode, but since the SATA bay is only SATA 2 it will bottleneck anyway.

3. i think its ips, its written in this topic somewhere,look to verify i think its in the service manual too.

Oh!

and a warning to buyers or potential buyers I found out the bios are RSA signed and encrypted... this means possibly no bios unlock. Unless there a genius out there who did it, it is something to consider if you need extra settings. Im still thinking of returning mine. I hope there is better info cause i love my Envy 4 except for the bios.

 

Thanks for the info.. Does HP's locked BIOSes also prevent users from using any wifi card they want if they wanted to replace the stock card?

 

I wouldn't doubt it. Un-whitelisted laptops are probably non existent now-a-days from factory. There was some law passed by the FCC calling for vendors to regulate wifi cards to prevent people from using modified or hacked wifi modules. Thats why there is such a demand for mod bios for whitlisting hacks over anything else.

What happend to the days when we were alowed to mess up our computers and be forced to buy new ones. Companies make it so hard now for us to give them our money...

 

Hmmm... Did a search of this thread and the only mention of panel type (IPS, TN, etc.) is my post above asking about it...

 

i highly highly doubt its an ips panel. IPS are supposed to be crisp with extra wide viewing angles. THat's not the vibe im getting from the OP's review:

+rep wouldnt hurt