HP Envy 14: Availabilty, etc.

It's not quite that the HP logo "lights up", but more of "a cut in the lid lets the screen backlight LEDs' light pass through it .

The cool thing about it is that it lets you quickly analyze the backlighting quality, especially its color.

I know older MBPs had somewhat yellowish light. Newer ones have blueish light. I had one Acer 6930G that had blueish light too.

 

With a bit of overclocking anything is possible..
Mmm.. Mac bacon.. Or as I like to call it- Macon.

 

You guys are making me WAYYYYYY too excited over a hunk of metal
MY FUTURE LAPTOP?
HOPEFULLY

 

I'm gambling on the premise that E14 clickpad/touchpad's multitouch functions will be drastically improved from the E15.

 

It'll probably be better, but likely not by much. I'm scared because I'm awfully accustomed to the fantastic touchpads on the MBP. If there is anything I like about a Macbook, it's the touchpad.

 

I just replaced my envy 15 with a Mac Book Pro 13 a couple weeks ago, and I can honestly say it was a wise decision. Like many here I expected the Envy 15 to be the end all be all of computers. After its arrival I was quite disappointed.....forums had made it out to be an amazing machine....but the fact was it was not portable at all(battery life....ha).......improved trackpad...haha(it was a good attempt at copying the macs keyboard....but a failed attempt)........it was very powerful though. I dont understand the big deal with screen resolution complaints on the envy 14..... what I mean is that I had bought the 1080p model and was constantly squinting at the screen(I have excellent vision).....granted the Macbook is far from perfect(old processor etc...) but it suites my main needs. Excellent PROMISED build/battery. And no I'm not an apple fanboy.

Basically all I'm saying is that HP and these forums have hyped up this machine like crazy and if its anything like the envy 15 I ended up returning....I expect to see a lot of disappointments.

Its the little details that matter HP.

 

I hear that the one function they need to REALLY improve upon is 2-finger scroll.

 

The new synaptics clickpads, not the ones with the left click , right click dividing lines we see in the video, are supposedly excellent and even better than the macbook pro's.

In the articles, they were embedded in an envy for demonstration...so I'm REALLY hoping they put this into the new envy 14.

And yes, 2 finger scroll needs to be improved. My current scrolling is choppy and sluggish unlike the smooth scrolling on a mbp.

 

If long battery life was what you were looking for, you shouldn't have bought the Envy 15 in the first place unless you were willing to use the extra slice battery (which you probably weren't I'm guessing). It was very clear that the Envy 15 did not have the best battery life.

Also if the MBP 13 processor and graphics was fine for your needs, why would you buy the Envy in the first place? If the MBP is ok for you the Envy 15 is SUPER overkill.

I agree there are some flaws in the Envy 15, but I think you were looking in the wrong place to start with.

 

Not quite, I would actually prefer the better specs to battery life. Its just that apples equivalent machine to the envy was $600+ ........Although you get what you pay for with HP

 

Are they going to refresh the E15 at all? At least give it a backlit keyboard like the 14 & 17. The 15in seems like it would be the best of them if they spiced it up a bit.

 

Rumors say that it will be a few months (2-3) after the release of the E14

 

Any updates on release date/price for E14?

 

A system that can play games? Gotcha.

 

I'm sorry but this video doesn't convince me of anything. The dude flubs, stutters, and rambles his way through the entire video. I just don't think he had all his facts straight when they made this video.

I'm hoping for the best and think the Envy 14 will be a great machine when you end up configuring it up to $1400 or so. If you give me an HP spec sheet and this video, I'll believe the spec sheet first. People are wanting the Envy 14 to be so many things that they're trying to rationalize the spec sheet having "errors" because it doesn't agree with what some guy said in a short, improvised video.

 

I'm crossing my fingers that HP pulls this off right. There really isn't anything I want in this laptop that isn't there excepting USB 3.0 and. It seems almost too perfect, so I'm pretty anxious to see how this turns out.

*Great Screen
*excellent and backlit keyboard
*decent sound
*5+ hours of battery (hopefully) standard
*thin, under 6 lbs
*decent mid-high range graphics card
*good design
*price is good even if the $999 version comes with i3. With my upgrades it will likely be around $1200-$1300, which is fine with me.

If this turns to be a dud my backup will be a MBP 15. But I really, really, don't want to shell out $2000 on a laptop whose specs don't justify the price at all, especially since I see nothing in OSX that would lead me to use it over Windows.

Like I said, crossing my fingers.

*as I type this very post out on a MBP 13, lolz*

 

I'm in a similar situation. Hardware+touchpadwise, the MBP was the best option. But my problem was the screensize and native support for my Windows programs.

Here's to hoping the HP Envy 14 turns out to be a resounding success!!!

 

Dear HP,


The Envy 13 and 15 showed you guys have the means to create a thin notebook with an extremely refined form factor. The screens were beautiful, the keyboards were pleasant to type on with the exception of a few annoying navigation keys on the 15, but the multitouch touchpads on both fell far short of expectations. Now that you've upped the ante through the 14 and 17, we've now seen the potential for improvement. Please make sure to iron out the imprecise touchpad gestures and keep the price and heat levels low on top of ironing out any other potentially serious hardware or software issues that may crop up. Do all this, and I am yours forever--or at least until my 3-4 year notebook warranty support officially expires.

Love and kisses,

Zeth


P.S. Hey Mark, you think you could work out a deal with Microsoft to introduce 35% Bing Cashback or at least a similarly generous online coupon the day the 14 gets released? You could say it's HP's way of thanking its customers and celebrating before the Bing cashback party ends in July! Pretty please? With a cherry on top?

 

Even on hp's blog they are stating "starting at 999$" tho. That means i3 no slice battery 4gigs of ram to me.
http://h20435.www2.hp.com/t5/Voodoo-Blog/HP-Envy-14-and-17-notebook-Big-Changes-for-Less/ba-p/55842

The guy that works at voodoo and goes often in the HP labs also answers some comments on this page. This one is quite interesting.

Floral is a bit meh but, even I had trouble noticing it was floral, it's more like abstract art to me really lol.

 

Does it have a fingerprint reader?

 

That blog says that the E14 comes in i3/i5/i7 flavors. This is actually good news for me, because previously people were saying that its i5/5650 base. This makes it look like it might be i3/GPU base, which might actually let them hit the $999 price. I'm fine with i3 because hell, my alternative at this point is a MBP with C2D (can't afford the i5 model).

I have a PS3 for gaming fortunately, so the GPU doesn't really matter to me, so if I can get 4GB RAM at base price (or for a $50 upgrade max), I'd be pretty happy. Some sort of discrete GPU would still be nice though, since I don't want the extra 0.15" thickness (it IS noticeable compared to an MBP) and the extra weight to come without any benefits whatsoever.

Disappointed that their customer feedback suggested an ODD; but understandable. For a premium model at a premium price, and competing in the MBP space, an ODD is necessary. I wonder how much it added to the weight of the machine though, since the DM4 has an ODD but still comes in at 4.4lbs.

 

If I go with this laptop I am planning to buy a vinyl cover from skinit.com, the floral pattern was not a good idea. Sometimes, marketing people are not too bright

 

It's a lot more understated than the pictures make it out to be.. as a male, I liked the subtle look, and no one else really noticed it. You might end up, when you receive the laptop, liking it... just give it a chance.

 

The video interview, he specifically says only i5/i7. I just wish they'd release specs already though. This speculation is driving me nuts. I figure I can spend about $1300US. Here's what I'd love to have:

i5-520m
4GB RAM 1333MHz
1600x900 screen
320GB or 500GB HDD (preferably Momentus XT)

assuming wi-fi N, bluetooth, etc is standard

Hopefully I can get those specs in my machine for under $1300.

 

im pretty sure for 999 it will have i5 standard (hell, there are some laptops out there that have i7 standard for the same price!). and the inevitable proof that the guy says it in the video.

but the display, and possibly ram will need to be upgraded. MAYBE (MAYBEEEE) the graphics card. it doesnt say that the ATI 5650 is the only option, but its safer to say that it is since nothing else it mentioned.

 

I would hope base RAM would be 4GB, but maybe only 1066. If they had a GPU upgrade, that would be spectacular. I'd jump on that in a heartbeat, well as long as it wasn't a $300 premium.

 

i5 and i3's only work with a top speed of 1066 for RAM anyways... only the i7's actually utilize the extra speed the 1333 RAM provides

 

My bad, guess I was thinking of desktop...

 

Either way, 22 days to go!

 

For US or Europe release? Or both?

 

US as far as i know of.

 

Yea anyway, laser engraved patterns, even if its floral is still better and more good looking than stale grey cold aluminium like on macs.

 

I'm quite partial to the brushed design on the silver ASUS laptops. Macs use that matte aluminum that I don't particularly like.

Anyhow, the floral design doesn't really bother me. I just want the Envy 14 to be everything it's cracked up to be.

 

Cant see how anyone would prefer it over the Mac if seen in person. But its a necessary sacrifice.

 

Agreed. The Mac finish looks a lot nicer in comparison to the Envy imo when i saw the two next to each other in person. But the Envy finish is far from terrible/disapointing.

 

I don't like the Mac finish. It's silver, dull and boring.

At least the Envy finish has something non-dull\boring about it, despite being silver.

If it was black it'd be total heaven for me though

 

Hmmm, I was just checking this out. The MSI GX640 is remarkably similar to the Envy 14, maybe a tad bit better:

i5-430m
ATI Mobility Radeon 5850 1GB
15.4" 1680x1050
4GB DDR3 1066
DVDRW (not slot load, but can be 2nd HDD if desired instead)
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
~$1160 shipped

Dimensions:
Envy 14 / MSI GX640
Width: 14.0" / 14.1"
Depth: 9.3" / 10.2"
Thick: 1.1" / 1.2"
Weight: 5.2 lbs / 5.9 lbs

Obviously the depth and weight are a little larger on the MSI, but it's almost splitting hairs considering you get the larger screen and resolution and much better GPU.

 

you should remind yourself again that Envy has better then just an average screen on MSI.

 

and build quality.

 

It's not splitting hairs at all. A full inch difference in screen size is huge.

With that line of thinking, why stop at a 15.4" laptop? We can talk eventually talk ourselves into a 17.3" laptop...

An inch in depth and .7 lbs is a significant difference. That's not even including the humungous battery life difference (assuming the Envy reaches even 80% of what the #'s say).

 

Exactly.

HIs main considerations were battery life and build quality and he went for the Envy 15?

Makes no sense here.

 

There are more and more third party retailers offering the Envy 14 in Germany, with prices ranging from 1300€ to 1170€..
Interestingly there are offerings in different color versions, e.g. bronze or silver, something I havent noticed before..

As far as I can see its the Envy 14-1010e version with the following configuration: HP Envy 14-1010eg W7HP64 silver, Core i5-520M 2.4GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, 36.8cm/14.5" 1600x900, Radeon HD5650, DVDR/RW DL, GB-LAN, WLAN a/b/g/n, Bluetooth, USB2.0, SD/MMC Cardreader, Webcam, Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

Source Links:
Cyberport
Computeruniverse
Aibach.com
Passiontec.de

Cyberport is a well known online shop for computer and notebooks, I have used it before and was very satisfied.
They quote a shipment date of the 01.07.2010...

The other shops look a bit fishy. Maybe not worth the lower price...



By the way, this is my first post on this board, even though I have been lurking for quite a while already.... I am also looking forward to see if the hype about this machine is justified. Even though they really know how to make me salviate^^.

 

it's probably end up on Amazon or Dabs. That will be my port of call.

 

Yeah, I didn't consider battery life. Envy 14 is looking quite good now. I just hope it's affordable and lives up to its claims.

 

I have done some more digging and found a "Envy 14" on a taiwanese website which claims a black color:
HP Envy 14.5(??)-55500??(?????)???6????(?8cell??) Yahoo! ????
But the picture is showing an Envy 15..
Black color metal surface would also be cool..

 

thats not an envy at all. Envys have Beats audio.

looks like the dv6 or 4

 

The CPU's mentioned in the PDF are upcoming intel core processors.The Intel Core i5 450m processor is available in Lenovo IdeaPad Z560.

 

That is a sony viao, but that is a 13.3 "

 

I have a feeling there is only one color offering from HP and different interpretations of the color. I hope I am wrong as I would prefer a more standard black or silver color over the bronze, but I can see how confusion over the true color can stem from the press photos.