HP ENVY TouchSmart 15t-j000 Quad Edition Notebook PC Review ?

I haven't done precisely this, so I don't know for sure what will happen. My best guess is, though, that you're going to render the laptop unbootable when you disable the RAID, and re-enabling it with another drive won't help. I'd strongly suggest just leaving it disabled.

If you have a Windows install disk, you should be able to install on the blank mSata SSD. I can't help you with the issue you mention, since I cloned my boot partition rather than doing a fresh install, so I didn't encounter it.

I only went with the stock 8 GB RAM, but I can't imagine any reason you can't upgrade to 16 GB. I'm not sure 16 GB is really all that helpful, personally. I monitor my memory usage on my desktop computer which has only 6 GB, and it was clear that for both games and CPU-intensive tasks (astrophotography post-processing) that my typical usage is more like 3-5 GB.

 

Thank you for the reply, Gussmed. Sorry to have so many questions for you. I just have a few more.
1. Does this guide ( Z68 - SRT cache and boot volume on a single SSD disk - it works! - AnandTech Forums) look promising to you? Does it seem like it could be done with our HP Envy 15t? Is our CPU chip z68, or something close? I would upgrade to the Intel 525 240gb mSATA mSSD drive, allocate 64gb (the max) for Intel RST, and then install Windows 8 Pro onto the remaining space of the mSSD. Opinions?
2. If I make a recovery drive (usb) of the Windows 8 Pro pre-installed on the HDD, can I remove the HDD, insert the recovery USB, and boot Windows 8 Pro onto the mSSD from that? Or, must I get another copy of Windows, and clean install that way? Any advice?
3. Did you need any SATA identification drivers when you upgraded your mSSD? If so, could you tell me what they are, and where you got them?

Thanks for all you help, again. Probably my last questions.

 

I'm pretty sure that's not the correct method for setting up a Smart Response cache. I'd follow this guide instead:

1. Configure the SSD and HDD as a RAID 0. You can do this during pre-boot... sometimes. As an experiment just now, I tried to get to the Intel RAID menu, which I often encountered when I was booting in Legacy mode. I couldn't get to it now that I'm booting in UEFI mode. It might show up if you don't have Windows installed.

I fired up the Intel Smart Response configuration program under Windows, and it looks like you can make this change from there. I didn't try, because I like my setup as-is.

2. Install Windows to the HDD. You can skip this if your Laptop currently boots.
3. Run Intel Smart Response program, where you can set up how much of the SSD you want to use for caching. Any you don't use can be used as a regular SSD partition. It appears that it will configure the RAID and copy data to the RAID if you aren't currently in RAID mode.

Yes, the HP Envy 15t comes with a motherboard chipset that fully supports Intel Smart Response SSD caching.

Whether you want to use a chunk of your SSD for HDD caching is up to you. The main advantage is that if you use a particular piece of data, like a spreadsheet, all the time then it should be as fast as keeping it on the SSD. You can of course manually move frequently used data to your SSD. That's more work, but then you know the data is on the SSD 100% of the time.

Personally, I feel the loss of SSD storage is not worth it for the cache. 64 GB out of 240 GB is a lot, and yet 240 GB is large enough that I feel I can comfortably fit everything I use frequently on the SSD. Including data - my Documents folder remains on my SSD. Pictures I have on the HDD, but I don't feel I'll access any particular photo so often that caching the photo data makes sense.

Intel Rapid Start is a separate thing from Smart Response. Rapid Start is about loading a memory state from a SSD partition so you can go from Hibernate to running quickly. Frankly, I think that 99% of the time, Sleep works better. The HP can Sleep for over a week easily without running out of battery, and time to open from Sleep is almost instant with a SSD. The power savings of Hibernate seem unimportant.

If you do go with Rapid Start, that's another partition, that should be roughly the size of your system RAM.

I made a USB recovery drive using the pre-installed copy of Windows, but I couldn't use it to re-install Windows. I don't know why. At one point in my experiments I had just the mSata SSD installed, and the recovery drive refused to see it as a possible destination for a new Windows install. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong. I found this very frustrating, which is why I ended up cloning the HDD boot and EFI partitions to the mSata SSD. That worked.

I needed no special drivers to use my Plextor mSata SSD. Installation consisted of removing the laptop battery, unscrewing the single screw holding on the access panel, inserting the mSata SSD into the connector, and fastening the SSD with a screw provided in the Plextor blister pack. It wasn't immediately visible in Windows because it didn't have a partition, but the Partition Manager saw without trouble.

 

I'd like to jump in and ask a question, what software did u use to clone your had to the mSATA? I have had issues properly cloning all the partitions with Ghost, especially with Windows 8. I have the Plextor mSATA drive on order and my intention, once my laptop arrives is to go through setup out of the box, back up the drive, then add the mSATA drive and clone the 1tb HDD to the mSATA, finally delete the partitions on the 1tb and that should do it. Comments? Thanks!

 

I used Paragon Migrate OS To SSD. $20, and I found a coupon somewhere that brought the price down to $15. I was concerned about alignment, hidden partitions, etc. so I didn't use one of the free partition copy programs out there. I'm pretty sure something free like Clonezilla or Macrium Reflect will work as well - just be sure to copy the EFI partition (260 MB) as well as the OS partition. You don't need to copy the Windows Restore partition, that's very large and can stay where it is.

This was not quite enough, as I detailed in another thread. The problem is that the Envy 15t's InsydeH20 BIOS is unusually crippled, and won't let you specify drive order for booting. You can put an external CD in front of the hard disk in the boot order, but you can't specify which SATA slot boots first. So what you have to do is modify the BCD (Boot Control Data) in the hidden EFI partitions. That works.

 

Great reply. I really understand the mSSD situation a lot better now. So, I could install the Intel 525 240gb mSSD, boot with the pre installed Windows 8 Pro on the HDD, use Intel SRT to allocate 64gb (the max) for caching the hard drive, and then clean install (or clone) Windows 8 Pro onto the remaining space on the DATA portion of the mSSD, correct? I am considering using the Paragon cloning tool, if I don't want to do a clean install. I saw a guide online about making Recovery USB drives, and it said that Windows would not install on any drives smaller than the original (in our case, any SSD we use will be smaller than the 1tb hard drive, so we cannot move Windows to the SSD in this way). Anyway, I just wanted to make sure I have it right and understand the process you went through; this will be the first significant upgrade I have performed on a computer. I still want to use 64gb of the mSSD for cache, since I want the 5400 rpm HDD to speed up over time, and the rest for the OS and/or other programs (Office, Adobe, etc.). Now, can I have 16gb ram, alongside a mSSD with a hidden Intel SRT partition, a data (OS) partition, and a Rapid Start partition? How would I install/set up rapid start? Before or after the srt set up? Is it a program? Lastly, you mentioned HP's poor BIOS. Since I do want to change the boot order a few times, how did you accomplish this? I am unfamiliar with modifying the BCD and the sort. Thanks so much.

 

Very good! Thanks, thorough explanation ! Reading your other thread, I believe that once you made the changes to the bcd, it actually pointed to the SSD and would have booted forever from the SSD even without the HDD in the laptop. I wonder if you could have made those changes in the paragon program during the clone? Hmmm. Your information is very helpful!
Thank you again

 

Correct.

The rule for the recovery drive is it needs to be large enough to hold everything on the partition, rather than being as large as the partition. It required a 32 GB drive for me. I had a 32 GB Compact Flash card on hand and a CF card reader, and that worked. I just couldn't figure out how to do a Windows install to the mSata SSD from that drive, once created.

If you absolutely must have Rapid Start as well as Smart Response, you need a separate partition for that. So you should use Intel's tool to create the Smart Response partition, then use the BIOS to enable Rapid Start. Then use the Partition Manager to create a 16 GB partition for your Rapid Start hibernation data. Intel has a step-by-step guide for this. The main difference is that you want to hit ESC (which gives you the boot menu) or F10 (which goes directly to BIOS) rather than F2 as described in that article.

Note that Paragon Migrate wants to completely blank your mSata SSD, if you use that. If you go that route, do the clone first, and tell Paragon that you don't want to use the entire SSD for the OS partition. Just reserve space for the Smart Response (64 GB) and Rapid Start (16 GB) partitions. If you're doing this, maybe you should use one of the more general purpose partition cloning tools, since I'm not entirely sure going Paragon Migrate -> Smart Response rather than Smart Response -> copy partition to remainder of disk will work. I'm guessing Intel's Smart Response software may end up wanting to wipe the entire drive during setup as well.

To be absolutely clear, if you want all 3 features, you'll want 4 partitions on the SSD when you're done.
1. 16 GB partition for Rapid Start. Size depends on system RAM.
2. 64 GB partition for Smart Response.
3. 260 MB partition for EFI.
4. remaining space as OS partition.

I detailed how to change the BCD in the other thread, but I'll repeat it here.

Boot up the laptop, and press ESC or F11. ESC gets you to the boot menu, recovery tools are listed as the F11 option. You can also use a recovery disc to do this.

Troubleshoot -> Advanced -> Command Line.

x:\> diskpart ; run the disc partition program
DISKPART > list vol ; list all the current volumes

On my system, volume 0 was the HDD OS volume, volume 3 was the HDD EFI volume. Volume 4 was the mSata SSD after cloning, volume 6 was the mSata SSD. Your volume numbers may be different since you are setting up additional partitions. Be sure which volume # is which! Use your volume #'s, not mine, if they're different.

DISKPART> sel vol 0 ; this part isn't strictly necessary, but in makes things easier to understand later.
DISKPART> assign letter=H: ; I'm doing this to make clear this is NOT boot volume.
DISKPART> sel vol 4 ; now I'm making the SSD OS volume C:, again for clarity.
DISKPART> assign letter=C:
DISKPART> sel vol 3 ; we need to mount both EFI partitions so we can change both BCDs.
DISKPART> assign letter=Y: ; HDD EFI partition is now Y:
DISKPART> sel vol 6
DISKPART> assign letter=Z: ; SSD EFI partition is now Z:
DISKPART> exit

Now we need to create appropriate BCDs on both EFI partitions.

x:\> Y:
y:\> cd efi/microsoft/boot ; change to the EFI folder
y:\efi\microsoft\boot> bootrec /fixboot
y:\efi\microsoft\boot> rename BCD BCD.old ; save the old BCD for safety's sake.
y:\efi\microsoft\boot> bcdboot c:\windows /s y: /f ALL ; create a new BCD, pointing to the SSD, which we have assigned as C:. /f ALL writes the changes to BIOS.
y:\efi\microsoft\boot> z: ; now we'll do the same thing for the SSD BCD.
z:\> cd efi/microsoft/boot ; change to EFI folder
z:\efi\microsoft\boot> bootrec /fixboot
z:\efi\microsoft\boot> rename BCD BCD.old ; same commands, only in the SSD EFI folder
z:\efi\microsoft\boot> bcdboot c:\windows /s z: /f ALL ; source is Z: now, not Y:
z:\efi\microsoft\boot> exit

Your'e done, and the computer should boot to the mSata SSD.

 

I believe that's correct. I haven't yanked my HDD to see if it would work, though.

 

Looking at the Paragon website they say that the OS to SSD software has a feature to enable UEFI and BIOS boot from SSD after cloning so you won't have to perform the gyrations that you did.

 

Thanks so much! It must have taken you a long time to write all of your replies, and they were very detailed and helpful. I am almost completely informed about what I will do during the upgrade. So, just enter the commands that you did (except for the names of the disks originally) after entering the BIOS, and then make all of my partitions? If I have anymore questions, I will certainly be speaking to you. Many, many thanks.

 

Also, Gussmed, with the BCD/EFI command naming/selecting/disk creations, do I make the partitions on the mSSD using that process (and, sorry for the noobish question, but what is the EFI partition, and is it made automatically?)? Or, is the BCD/EFI process strictly for naming the two drives on the laptop and specifying boot order? If I make the partitions (64gb, 16gb, the EFI? partition, and then the rest for the OS/data) after BCD/EFI, how would I do so? Are they made by using Intel's programs (SRT and RS)?

Wow, again, I am sorry for all of these questions. I don't want to be a bother. I'm just new at modifying pc components, etc. Thanks.

 

I want to make sure if my product is not defective. Does the HP light glows? Tell me if I am wrong. Just like MacBook Pro the HP Logo that is on the center is a light that glows, when the laptop is powered on?

 

I have a serious problem!

I just got this laptop a few days ago, and today I did a clean install on an mSATA I bought. I ran the touch-screen file that was on their website along with the rest of the drivers ( here) and now the touch-screen does not work!! I have tried it in the original Windows installation.... Is there a download for the touch-screen driver anywhere?

 

It doesn't work. Or rather, it only works with laptops that have a better BIOS than the HP Envy 15t.

When you're done with the migration, Paragon has updated the EFI data in the SSD partition, but it tells you to use the BIOS to set the boot order so the SSD boots first. The InsydeH20 won't let you do this, you can't specify which SATA slot boots, all of the SATA slots are lumped together as "internal HDD."

If you follow the steps I outline to create new BCD files, then the hard disk EFI partition points to the SSD. That works. It appears that once you've booted from the SSD, the laptop will start looking at the SSD EFI partition first, rather than looking at the HDD every time.

 

The EFI partition is a hidden, 260 MB FAT32 partition that contains boot information. Installing Windows creates one. If you use Paragon Migrate OS to SSD, that will create a EFI partition on the SSD. If you don't use that software, and you don't install Windows from scratch, you'll need to use some form of disk partition cloning software to create one on the SSD.

The process of altering the BCD is required to get your laptop to boot from the SSD. You only need it if you intend to create an OS partition on the SSD, and you intend to boot from the SSD, not the hard disk.

Intel's Smart Response software will create a partition for the SSD cache. I strongly suspect it will destroy any other partitions on the SSD, so you probably have to do that first. I have not actually used the Smart Response software myself, though I've looked at it without actually implementing a SSD cache.

From Intel's documentation, the Rapid Start software will not create a partition for your hibernation data. You need to do that manually. In the past, when I've created partitions, I've used the Windows partition manager. Under Windows 8, you can find that by pulling up the Search sidebar, selecting "settings" as your search area, and typing "partition."

DISKPART, the command line disk partition manager, can also create disk partitions. The command is "create partition logical size=n", where n is the size in megabytes. For a 16 GB hibernation partition, 16384 is probably the size you want.

 

No. It's just a printed logo. The power button (upper left) glows when the laptop is on, though.

Have you tried cold booting? I had the touch screen stop working on me once after restoring from Sleep. It started working again after I completely shut it down and rebooted.

Looking at HP's support page, they have no specific mention of the touch screen driver, and it's not a device that shows up Device Manager. Which is weird and unheplful. You might have to contact HP.

 

I have rebooted a few times, and I have tried both my clean Windows 8 Pro install as well as the original Windows 8 install that came with the laptop. I've tried running the "TPK Touch Panel Firmware" install again but after the InstallShield wizard it just launches opens and closes immediately. I'll phone HP and see if they can help.

EDIT: I phoned HP and I'm sending it in for repairs. Darn it!!

 

exactly what i was thinking... how did premier and after effects work. fast enough with 4700 and 740m? or did you go with 4900?

 

FYI: I think my Envy 15t is running linux Ubuntu 13 stably w/ most components working. Had to configure BIOS to enable legacy boot in order to recognize other bootable drives. Graphics HD 4600 is supported by Ubuntu at start although OpenGL wouldn't work for rendering app like Cairo Dock. Playing music smoothly needs little hacking. Touch screen works fine at start. After install run, booting into Ubuntu needs another hack to preset brightness during login. Wifi, touch pad, media function buttons, keyboard backlit.

 

I'd love to tap into some of the brilliant minds on this thread... I'm very close to purchasing this laptop with all the upgraded configurations. I need a decent graphics card for my daily use of Autocad with 3D renderings...I don't do any gaming whatsoever...but love the idea of having super 3D graphics. I don't need the touch screen but am a little intrigued by it. I am concerned by the 'flex' issues mentioned earlier, I like the feel of a solid machine/keyboard, but I want something as lightweight as possible. Cost is not an issue.

I'm currently using a Samsung Series 7 Chronos; core i7, intel 4000 + NVIDIA GeForce GT 630M...I want to upgrade from this and I'm not sure the HP envy touchsmart15 quad will do that.

Any suggestions/feedback would be so appreciated!

 

I am getting ready to order one of these but am worried that I may not get an IPS screen. When you upgrade to the 1920x1080 screen is that an IPS??

 

No. I don't think there's an IPS option yet. At least not that I found. My 1080p screen is definitely not IPS.

 

does your non IPS screen have a lot of ghosting? is it a good screen? Thanks.

 

Hello. Gussmed, thank you for all of your help. I was able to get everything working. I now has a C: mSSD with Windows 8 Pro on it, with 64gb for cache, 16gb for rapid start, and the rest for OS; also, a D: Data with about 930gb of storage. I have only one problem: the EFI system partition is still on the HDD. Is there any way I can move it to the SSD? Or, make a new one and then delete the old one? Please advise.

 

It doesn't have any visible ghosting, but honestly, no, it's not good. My impression is that it's really low contrast. I moved some of my standard wallpapers over there, and they look washed out to me. I've been meaning to calibrate the screen with my Spyder3, but I haven't gotten around to doing so yet.

You can make an EFI partition on the SSD. Paragon's Migrate OS to SSD made it for me, so I didn't do it manually, but I expect you can use any partition-copying software to copy the EFI partition to the SSD. Macrium Reflect should work, for example. You may have to re-size your current C: partition on the SSD if you didn't leave room for an EFI partition.

I still have EFI partitions on both drives personally. They're really small, and I figured it wasn't worth trying to recover a few hundred MB.

 

hey guys, I'm thinking of ordering one but I'm not sure the build quality as well as the look of this lap. Can you guys give some thoughts? Is it a completely great deal? I was afraid that 1.18" is a little thick for me. Also how do you compare this to the Asus N550? Thank you very much

 

I can help with this a little. I ordered an HP AMD A10-5750 based laptop from hp for about ~$800. Very loud system (fan wise, not speakers) and terrible terrible screen and I sent it back. Next, I bought the Q550LF asus (bestbuy version of N550 but with 745m instead of 750m). This Q550LF had a bug in the bios and the nvidia card fan would kick on at 100% and run continuously unless you shut down (not restart but shutdown) and then turned on. Asus released a bios fix that was supposed to fix this issue of 100% fan on the Q550LF but I had flashed it and it still occurred. Therefore, I took it back to bestbuy.

Next, I am currently on the N550JA from sams club. It does not have the discrete graphics of 750m. However, it is whisper quiet and cool. I do not plan on gaming with the N550JA therefore I may keep it. However, Sams club also sells the N550JV with the 750m discrete graphics. I have asked in that asus thread on this site how that model sounds fan wise. If it is not loud or to hot then I may exchange.

Regardless, the IPS screen on the Asus N550xx, Q550LF models blow away anything I have seen from the HP Envy series this year. This Asus screen which is an LG display I think, is beautiful!

Until HP gets a nice IPS screen--I am staying away.

 

Yeah, the non-IPS screen is not the best. Photo editing on it is a bit trickier but I have done it on non-IPS screens before and you get used to it by tilting the screen just a bit more than usual. I have also created a reference desktop picture that I know how it looks like on my 30" 98% gamut screen back home. I tilt the screen till it matches what I remember the desktop picture to look like on my home screen. So far this has work for fast edits. I would never ever use the non-IPS screen for anything that needs to be color matched.

 

Can anyone share a calibrated color profile for 1080p?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk - now Free

 

Hi,

I decided to order one since I've read some reviews and watched some videos online and they generally embraced the laptop and they said the screen was not all that bad. Also, I got some good deal from HP. So I have a few questions regarding this machine:
1. Has any of you tried playing 4k video on it? and was it smooth?
2. I'm planning to use handbrake on this one. Is it running cool during the encoding process? and most of all, is it powerful enough to handle Handbrake?
3. I'm planning on upgrading to 8.1. Can I do a clean upgrade without losing the product key?
4. What should I install when first getting this laptop (for example BIOS, touchpad, graphics etc)?

Thanks

 

Just got mine from Costco $799. i7-4700mq 16G 1920x1080 Nvidia 740. Upgraded with 256 mSata + 960G SSD + 7260 WiFi+BT

Pros
- Great package for the price.
- Boots in under 5 sec with plenty of power (nice to have 8 threads with a under 5lb laptop)

Cons
- Nvidia 740 is low end
- Huge power adapter with new power connector format that's impossible to find (all my old travel adapters are now useless)
- Track Pad that you CANNOT turn off. No button, short cut or even control panel setting to disable the extra large track pad. (probably can blame MS for this for win 8 compatibility)
- Soft and low contrast LED for a HD display (would have preferred IPS). Also very poor viewing angle.
- Should have included an Intel 7260 in the first place to much better wifi and BT

 

can you give me the link to the one you bought? Thanks.

 

Has anyone tried upgrading to Windows 8.1?

 

Hi mate, I'm running win 8.1 now.
everything works fine except for the 2 finger tap function.

 

Hi all,
Question might be too easy for you pros.
Looks like after this new BIOS update everything is getting more complicated to use the mssd as the primary boot drive.
I ordered my laptop on Monday and I believe it's going to arrive with the new BIOS. It's a 4900, 8g RAM and 1tb nonhybrid HDD. I am going to add an extra 8g RAM and also a 256 ssd. I am not that familiar with these tasks nor have the time to go through the web and find the best footsteps to use the mssd as the primary boot drive, allocate a part of it as cache for the HDD, format both drives, modify the boot sequence and make usb, iso and install a fresh windows, drivers and everything.
Here's the question,
if 256g is enough for me (for now), wouldn't it be easier to just change the current 1tb with a 2.5" ssd (Samsung evo or something else) and just clone the current one with the windows 8.1 with the new ssd and sell the 1tb HDD(or keep it as external storage)? I'd still have that extra unused mssd slot which I'd be able to use later if I need more space and it'll get cheaper I believe in the upcoming months.
Thanks.
Abe

 

I've searched, but can't seem to find it. Anyone know what the size is of the OEM image on the drive. Can I survive with a 256 SSD?

 

I have only a 256mSATA drive and on a clean install I think it only occupied about 30GB.

 

The TouchSmart 15t-j1000 Quad Edition now comes with a Geforce GT 840M instead of the 750M.

 

Great . . . Just got mine w/740M.

34Gb pre-installed it seems and 21 GB for the recovery

 

Don't rush to the 840 so fast. Just did a comparison on Nvidia's site between the 740M and 840M and it appears as though the 740M is actually a better card, more resolution supported display port and GDDR5 vs DDR3 on the 840.