HP Envy 14: Availabilty, etc.

Well reviews of the 14 are probably a ways off. But hopefully reviews of the 17 will offer us some insight into the shared characteristics.

 

The Bing 25% off has come out twice now in the last month and a half.

There was separate 300 off coupon that came off almost right when the Envy 15 refresh came out.

450 off came out a month later.

Make no mistake, those come around more often than you guys think. Four HUGE discounts since the end of January.

Looking back even furhter, there was at least two more 25% cashback between the release of the original Envy and Christmas.

I've been paying attention to every deal out for Envy's and these coupons/cashback cycles have been going on for awhile now (even before the Envy's). There are a lot of reasons to boost sales figures beyond getting rid of old inventory. End of quarter #'s, end of fiscal year #'s, so on and so forth. Dell's been playing this pricing game for the last decade to boost #'s.

 

Is 1600x900 resolution base? Or do we have to pay to upgrade from 1336x768? I read this somewhere but I can't remember the source...

 

Any speculations on the base config going off of what was seen with the 17s launch?

Also Brightview versus Ultra... good upgrade for 100?
And SSD... Cheap HDD and upgrade or get the SSD for probably around $300+

 

the Envy documentation for the 14 suggests 1600x900 is the base and only configuration

the same document says the 17 has two resolution configuration which is does so i think the document is quite accurate.

 

All that for $999 base, huh?

I will wait until Jun 27th, then.

 

It doesn't seem like you can tilt the screen more than 110 degree... :O
I hope it's not built like it was on the envy 15!

 

are there any reviews out for the 17 yet? I wouldve thought hp would have sent some demo units out before the release

 

That's a classic trend. Never ever been interested in a laptop (just a netbook to carry around, which did the job btw), but now they seem to come together really well. Powerful, versatile, good autonomy, portable, durable. It's a good time. Before laptops were a bit crap imo, and not really what I expected from them.

And I think the MacBook Pro has a lot to do with the current trend (small, light, good batteries, sturdy, good screen, ect...).

I was also looking forward to the new Asus UL / PL series, but now, they feel completely outclassed (video card, resolution, build quality). Their loss tbh.

 

Just a word of warning. Looking at the YouTube videos, the arrow keys on the 17'' are pretty messed up. For me, it's a deal breaker.

 

Also, What would be the main achitecture difference between the i5-430m and i5-520m? Is just a 'go faster' processor? Is the power dissipation / heat vs performance significant?

I'd rather have a cooler, more frugal processor, rather than a much hotter processor for roughly the same real world performance.

 

There are no architectural differences between any of the Core i series. It's just that the lower end have less features (ie. Turbo Boost) and clock speed/cache. If you are just doing day-to-day tasks then the 430M won't be noticeably slower in any way.

 

The quality of the MBP I own is definitely superior to everything else I've owned or used. Even if it comes at a premium price / moderate drop in performance, it's a much nicer experience. Even despite the fact that I don't like OSx. You're definitely right, the MBP is going to slowly make other manufacturers step up in their premium lines.

Indeed, the E17 will have "half keys" for up and down. I guess they assume we all just use AWSD.

What about for gaming? Will the Envy 14 gain real FPS by upgrading from a 430m to a 520m, or just .3 frames?

 

BCB back up to 25% for anyone interested. You guys should probably add this twitter feed to your feed readers if you are waiting for the Envy 14 because it seems like it actually might go up to 25% again soon after the Envy 14 releases.

Twitter / Bing Cashback: HP is at it again! Get 25% ...

 

While I think there are applications where you will be able to tell the difference between the 430M and the 520M, gaming is probably not one of them. A german magazine evaluated the 430M with the HD 5650 in the Acer 4820TG. It found that the 430M was in decent balance with the HD5650. There are others, based on a study looking at average game performances (which I'm n ot sure I totally agree with) concluded that a desktop 5870 would bottleneck before an I3-350 desktop dual core processor. Here is the like to my excerpts from the german mag (pardon the crappy translation).

http://forum.notebookreview.com/6254591-post2689.html

Would 1 frame make a difference ... how about 2 ... for gaming, I would think that they are effectively the same.

Bronsky

 

I am so there.

Bronsky

 

Hi there,

I'm interested in this laptop too. I have read on this forum that HP warranty will be void if you change the OS or even format. Why would that be? Can anyone confirm if this is true?

Thank you

 

hey

im in the uk and have a HP DV6-1130sa and have installed Windows 7 previously having vista installed. i have since sent my laptop away to be repaired and they have even stated on the documentation that i had installed Windows 7 (this was during the Release Candidate of 7) and they still accepted it. Nothing came of it my warranty when checked online is still intact.

 

If they DID have a policy like that, I think they would lose a -ton of business. So I have to doubt it. Beyond that, it just doesn't make sense. No mainstream linux or windows copy would ever cause your hardware to fail.

If there is truth behind that someone please let me know before I drop 350 on a warranty.

Thanks, I think you just saved me some cash.

 

Why is slot-loading considered an advantage? Seems like more contact
between the drive and the media is inevitable in such a design, when in
fact you want a little contact as possible between the DVD surface
and anything else. They also won't take the 3" mini DVDs.

 

Really they can't take mini DVDs?

Not that I use them regularily, but I do use them every now and then.

 

it's not really an advantage. it's more of an aesthetic choice made by HP. please look at macbook pro for design influence.

also, who uses 3" CD?
I've only seen them given out in events from corporate sponsors.

 

Slot Loading also requires less space to implement, thus allowing HP to design a thinner machine.

 

Depence on the game you play. Go to notebookcheck and search for the 5650M, in bad company 2 (CPU intensive game), there is a noticeable difference (+4fps). But overall you won't really notice anything. It's just more futureproof.

 

There's also no force eject pin hole. Ejects MUST be done through software to my knowledge. But, slot loaders are quieter and look nicer.

 

Regarding the design of the laptop, HP got back to me and said they couldn't comment on laptops not yet released, but referred me to the Envy 15, which currently has no other case options, so for the near term I think the flowery design is it. Not a deal breaker for me though, everything else about this system seems great.

 

I stating it was an advantage over the Envy 15, which has no optical drive whatsoever. It is obviously an advantage over no optical drive (for those who crave versatility), yes?

 

I was trying to get information about the 14 on the HP website and I found the following list of model numbers for the Envy 14s. I wonder what model includes what.

» HP Envy 14-1001tx Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1002tx Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1003tx Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1004tx Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1005tx Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1010eg Notebook PC
» HP ENVY 14-1020ed Notebook PC
» HP ENVY 14-1030ed Notebook PC
» HP ENVY 14-1050ea Notebook PC
» HP ENVY 14-1050ep Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1050es Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1050et Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1070ez Notebook PC
» HP ENVY 14-1080eo Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1090ee Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1090eo Notebook PC
» HP ENVY 14-1095la Notebook PC
» HP ENVY 14-1099br Notebook PC
» HP Envy 14-1099ee Notebook PC

I also noticed that there weren't any models that were tagged as some of the 15s were as Beats edition, if people were hoping for a black laptop.

 

That's a whole lot of different model numbers... I wonder what's different between them.

 

im guessing its probably different countries models with different processors and hdd and such

 

found a deal on the envy 15 with i7 if anyone's interested.
HP Envy 15-1067nr 15.6" Laptop: Core i7-720QM 1.6 GHz Quad Core, 15.6" LED backlit (1920x1080), 6GB DDR3, 500GB HD, DVDRW, BT, WiFi, ATI Radeon HD 4830, 6-cell + 9-cell slice $1199 - SlickDeals.net Forums

 

is that a typo on the graphics card??

edit: nm realized its a 1st gen

 

it is a 1st gen tho

 

I just read this @ engadget
HP Envy 15 said to be suffering from blank screen issues, lousy webcam -- Engadget

I really hope HP rectifies this before they launch the envy 14, as honestly I can say such issues are simply unacceptable for a "premium" laptop.

This article has me a bit worried now.

 

I would worry more about famine, earthquakes, floods or nuclear war. There is still 5-6 weeks to work out problems with the new design. I'm sure there will be issues as with any first gen model but there is still time to work these couple of issues out. IF not, we'll probably hear about it.

 

LOL.. good point..Ill worry about those things instead.

 

I'm curious -- why is that?

 

The only thing that seems unusual is squished up and down keys, I think thats what the person may be referring to. But yeah if you use the arrow keys a lot, that could be an issue.

 

I'm glad to see the Envy 17 out in the wild. 1600x900 17.3" base screen with a $100 option to upgrade to 1920x1080. My guess is the Envy 14 will follow suit and the base screen will be 1366x768.

Either way, I returned my second gen Envy 15 in hopes of getting one of these. If it gets an extra 2 hours of battery life (due to switchable graphics) I'll be happy. Hell, I'll be happy enough to not have to deal with the shortcut keys on the left-hand side. Everything else is just icing on the cake.

My prediction is:
- i5-430M base processor, options to upgrade to i5-520M, i5-540M, i7-620M; hopefully ULV options?
- 4 GB DDR3-1066 (or 1333) base, options to upgrade to 6 or 8 GB
- HD 5650 base
- 1366x768 base screen, $100 to upgrade to 1600x900
- 320 GB, 7200 RPM HDD base; options to upgrade to 500 GB and 160 GB Intel SSD (single 2.5" drive only, no 1.8" options)
- DVD +/- DL (no blu-ray) slot load
- base A/B/G/N wifi + bluetooth
- 8 cell 59WH base battery, $100ish to add slice battery
- No USB 3.0

If that's the case, I'll gladly pay an extra $200 total for the high res screen and slice battery, and keep everything else stock.

 

My guess is only one display option, the 1600 x 900.

 

As we all keep repeating, there's no mention of the 14 having 2 screen rez options. The same documents do mention the 17 having 2 options.

 

any official reviews of the 17 out yet? I think itll be a good sneak peak of the quality of the 14

 

wont have a review until it hits consumers doors which should be around the first week of June. I am looking for these reviews as well as I am deciding on getting the envy vs an xps 16.

 

i thought they might send some demo's and early releases for major review places

 

they probably have them but HP is not allowing them to release the review until a certain date.

i assume this is the case since gizmodo and engadget, 2 very popular tech blogs, always release simultaneous reviews of a particular product within a few hours of each other; it's almost as if they are waiting for the okay to release

 

To be fair they should be already in production, those quick ship models and the other components are in the production line being made. There is no revision that could be done at this point that we would see before launch

 

Hey !
Any news/leaks regarding Dell's Studio XPS 16 refresh with switchable graphics, upgraded GPUs, USB 3.0 ???

 

I reread the article ... they're talking about the 15, not the 14. http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/20/hp-envy-15-said-to-be-suffering-from-blank-screen-issues-lousy/. Althoug I kind of like the purple video conferencing.

 

I think you got confused with what I said. I said the envy 14 is not going to pass through any revisions until its released, since it should be in production by now.

The article from engadget only mentions the case of the envy 15, not the 14. And those other issues that they mention are related to the touchpad, the heat, and the low battery life. These complaints were taken from their review of the first gen envy 15

And it will be highly unlikely that the 14 has a review out first then the 17

 

Which one should I buy?

wait and buy envy 14( i5-430m - 5650 - 2.2kg - According to 3820t, longer battery life)

don't wait and buy acer 3820t ( i5-430m - 5650 - 1.8kg )