HP Envy 14: Availabilty, etc.

yeah the resolution is the only thing holding me back... and they do have a 14'' model (Y460) with the same specs ....can't decide...

 

Yawn, I resisted. It lacks the aluminum body that is exclusively found only on Envy and Macbook Pro

 

you're right nevermind... i'll wait!

 

Not everyone is living in the US .

 

yer, for the UK the starting price will be £999... that's a whole loada money

 

How long do you think its gonna take to be available in Europe? Hurry up HP!

 

HURRY UP HP IN THE US TOO!!!

 

I know how you feel. Waiting is the hardest part but you'll be glad you did in the end. I just returned a MSI GX640 I was waiting on for a month and now I've got an other one to go for the Envy 14.

 

no one has answered me yet...
is it possible to install an i5 or i7 into the envy 13?
if so I might go that route.
I just love that size and weight of the 13 so much!

*Edit - that is if the price comes down when the 14 is released, if not the 14 will do.

 

It's not possible to install those chips in the 13, since the socket is different

 

Nope. The envy13 uses a core2duo, which has a different socket than the arrandale dual core (i3,i5,i7) or clarksfield quad core (i7).

 

Pshh, I'll just bend some pins and use a hammer to make it fit! haha.
looks like the 14 will be my best bet.

 

I really want the envy 14, but I'm worried about HP's reputation of their reliability and high failure rate compared to other brands. Can anyone with an envy comment on the envy's reliability? Did HP make great changes to the 14 compared to the 13/15 like better air vents, material, etc?

 

I'm very interested in the mbp 15 (i7) , mbp 13 and of course our Envy 14.

Three of the most critical factors are:

A Operating System and convenience.
I have heard that OSX and their various gestures and applications (Spaces, expose...etc.) convey greater convenience and productivity compared to windows 7 laptops.


1. Can anyone comment on this?

B Graphics and Battery Life.
The switchable graphics on the new MBP's are okay but they seem to be on the weaker side for any gaming (such as Starcraft 2 on parrallels/ fusion).
HOWEVER, for the Envy 14, I know that the "switchable graphics" mean that it can switch between the radeon and the integrated intel chip but...


2. if you are going on the road or in class, can you manually switch on the discrete radeon graphics card without a power supply? (otherwise, the point of multimedia is pointless for a laptop)
*Is there a simple software where you can switch between the ATI and Integrated graphics cards for the Envy 14 without having to plug and unplug?

3. I have heard the integrated Intel graphics are EXTREMELY weak...meaning they will produce choppiness even when just minimizing windows... is this true?

4. The click pad was one item of HUGE controversy. It was regarded as finicky and horrible on the Envy 15 (which I can testify to). On the contrary, the MBP's clickpads are legendary with ergonomic gestures and intelligence for the utmost convenience (which I have also used).
Can anyone comment on the clickpad for the Envy 14?

5. Overall use. I am a college student and so I want power (for gaming and such which is why switchable graphics is key), battery life (4+ hours for classes and etc.), and productivity (ease of use and convenient features like the swipes and spaces of a macbook pro).

Can anyone comment on this aspect for the Envy series?


Thanks so much!

 

Jhnboy,

Not sure why you'd even consider the Envy 14. The only reason to choose an Envy is if you simply cannot live without native Windows and in your case that does not sound like an issue. The Macs will likely always have better build quality and a better touchpad and in the case of StarCraft II even the "underpowered" MBP 13 can run it well on medium settings.

 

The Envy 14 has better specs for a lower price and if the terms of convenience and bells and whistles (like the multi touch on a mbp) are similar to that of a MBP, then I would go for the Envy 14.

Basically, more power, more bang for the buck and wont be as afraid to be outdated (when USB 3.0 or light peak comes out).

On the other hand, I wish to know exactly how much of a difference in terms of enjoyment I may be missing from the MBP if I do choose the Envy 14. That way, I can better gauge my options.

 

Jhnboy.
the envy 14 is not out yet

I sure hope there has to be some sort of software settings that let you choose what graphics you want to use, if not then it sucks, but then again, your battery is going to take a major downfall which kind of defeats teh purpose.

I have not heard anything about the integrated Intel graphics being that poor, is this true?

No one can comment on the envy 14 touch pad but the HP people, and they all say they used new synaptics, imporved from the envy 13/15.

I wish we had a real review

 

I've read about it only in the Mac forum. Perhaps since Mac OS X uses OpenGL (through Cocoa?) and Intel has had poor implementations of OpenGL it could be a problem there. However it could also be entirely exaggerated.

 

Is OSX really better than W7? Can someone tell me the advantages and cons?

 

Go to the Mac / Apple forum. Thanks.

 

what kind of question is that? Brb writing a 100 page response. Go use a mac somewhere see how you like it.

 

Yes that's where I've heard it too.

 

lol, agreed. Totally insane question actually. I just did some research and think I'll stick with W7.

 

Has it been confirmed for sure that he 14 has a 9.5mm DVD drive? Man if it were onl7 12.7mm I could fit a blu-ray drive...

 

No, it is not. I like OS X and W7. I'm using OS X now, and very well might be using the Envy 14 on W7 Pro come release day. Each has benefits; "better" is simply the preference of the user.

 

1A. Depends on the user. Gestures are nice and while new windows laptops support them, they are still most refined on a Mac. It's nice to have, not a necessity. Try it out at the store.

2. Plugged in it runs discrete graphics, unplugged it runs integrated. I think a few have said that there is probably a setting somewhere to change it. We'll have to wait and see.

3. That is absolutely absurd. Intel integrated can't play games but they can still handle HD video. The new integrated graphics on Intel cpu's are actually decent. Perhaps whoever made that comment about choppiness upon minimizing windows should investigate how much ram they have in their system. Crazy.

4. 2nd Gen Envy 15 users have said updated drivers have improved a lot of things. Still not the best but it's less finicky. With the Envy 14 we'll have to wait and see, can't comment on something that has not been released.

 

Do you have any links for this? I'm really interested, because I want to be able to play SC2 on High or Ultra settings.

 

Does the Envy 14 come with BlueTooth?

Would there be a chance that a 12.5mm 1TB HDD could be squeezed in yourself?

 

Well the 9600GT in my MacBook plays SC2 on almost ultra and the 5650 is faster than the 330m thats also faster than the 9600 so the ENVY14 should have 0 problems with SC2.

 

Of course it comes with BT. And oh no, I doubt you will be able to fit 12.5 mm drive in there. It must be cramped enough already with the OD, i5/i7, and the 5650. Even if you removed the OD, it might not fit, not to mention you would need another bracket.

 

Sadly yes - see an earlier thread with a product spec page from HP explicitly stating it's a 9.5mm drive.

Maybe someday someone will come out with a slot loaded 9.5mm drive and we can swap it out.

 

Cool - I didn't see it on the spec list! What version is it?

HP Envy 14: Style and Power Starting at $999 (video) | Notebooks.com

Dangit! Some people managed to swap one in to an m11x so I thought it might just be possible!


Also = HP Envy 17: Most Powerful HP Consumer Notebook Yet (video) | Notebooks.com

Does the Envy 14 read/write SDHC as well as SD?

Could a ATI 5850 be swapped in to the Envy 14?

 

due to the size of the 14 I am sure the 5650 will be soldered on and not an mxm module so you wont be able to upgrade it

 

These notebooks rock

Any word on the screen on envy 17?

 

I just ordered the envy 15, but now I am debating if I should return it within the 21 day return period and wait for the envy 14. How much of a difference is there between the envy 15 anti-glare screen and the radiance screen of the envy 14 ? Is the radiance screen really that great ? My main usage is for development, and photography work, (Photoshop) and some light gaming. My main concern is the battery life and screen type. (color accuracy). What I liked most of the envy 15 is the screen resolution and the light weight. Don't really care much if it has a dvd-rom or not.

 

Maybe I'm not thinking creatively right now, but why would the Envy 14 require a single key to "flip the keyboard on and off?"

YouTube - HP ENVY 14 and ENVY 17 hands-on @ 1:44.

 

the backlight on the keyboard he means.

 

So it's not adjustable brightness?

 

From what I have heard it doesn't seem to be, however everything right now is speculation really so you never know (also nothing about adjusting the backlit keyboard on the spec sheet... but once again could change easily). Personally I don't think it will be adjustable.

 

probably both like it is in the dell

 

That's not what i was playing at. I think the release won't take much longer than in the US.
But unlike in the US, you can almost configure nothing and the base price will be 1300€.
Well, let's wait how the base of the 999$ US device is configured compared with the 1300€ here.

 

In europe the cheapest model tends to be the US quick ship model... that's how it was for the envy 15, envy 13 and few other pavilion models that I've seen over the years.

 

You think the BestBuy model (if they have one this time around) will be $1000 also? Cuz the ENVYs at BB right now are like 17,18,1900...SHEESH

 

Ahh, thanks, sas... you're right. That makes sense.

 

Nobody knows for sure except the ppl at HP and BB. I'm guessing it will carry it tho because it's such a hot laptop and it just wouldn't make sense to not carry it. Not too sure why they don't carry the refreshed Envy's, maybe because the original ones were too expensive and not too many people picked it up, so they didn't give the refresh a chance. I'm betting HP will convince them these new guys (14/17) are definitely worth carrying.

 

Oh wait, I just looked at the spec sheet http://www.hp.com/united-states/personal_again/datasheets/envy14_17_ds.pdf

It doesn't say Bluetooth anywhere. It might not have it. But doesn't the Envy 15 have BT?

 

Yeah, the E15 has it.

 

Does anyone use bluetooth frequently on their laptop tho??

 

Bluetooth is funny. I used to think it's a must-have feature but man, it's useless. Well actually, i have an iPhone, so for me it's especially useless lol.

But even when my Nokia n73 was my primary phone transferring and connecting over BT was just a pain. It's a lot slower than USB and the software and heck is just a pain. I've never run into a hardware spec that just had so many issues. Half the time I had the yellow exclamation point on three devices in my device manager. I'd spend 2 days trying to fix the bloody thing, and end up using it for 3 minutes.

But regardless, I'm pretty certain it will have BT. Heck, doesn't the Intel chip have BT built in at this point?

I'm beginning to think that site that says the 14 has USB 3.0 was mistaken, and it meant it has 3 USB ports...

Oh well. Come on HP, release more info!

By the way, that spec sheet isn't complete, as I will bet you a bucket of chicken the 1600x900 screen will not be standard....would sure love if it would be though.

 

It's only a $20 module so I don't see a reason why any current/new laptop should not come with a BT module. It's good for connecting with phones and for connecting a mouse to your laptop without having to use a dongle.