HP Envy 14: Availabilty, etc.

take a look at the vent orientation in the YouTube videos, and take a look at the screen when it has been opened.

take a look at the studio xps 16 forum, and see why the users complain about the vent orientation in the machine..

I can't believe I just figured this out after times and times of watching the Envy 14 videos..

 

very good catch.

i went to a youtube video and confirmed your findings.
here's a SS from that youtube vid:



not sure what effect the LCD will have blocking the back vent. there's no air vent on the left but there's one of the right side. there's also some on the bottom, but seriously, i doubt they provide much ventilation.

 

oh snap... that is quite concerning, melted glass anyone?

 

I was so close to pre-ordering Envy 14.

I better wait for some reviews regarding that blocked vent.

 

First things first if/when it reaches my house is to do some vigorous temp tests.

 

how come you returned your envy 15?? that was my idea laptop... but the 2nd gen i5 version never came to the uk

 

Could be an intake. Seems like the business premium laptops have the better thought out exhaust systems. I was looking at this machine but I may end up with a Thinkpad or elitebook if there are issues.

 

I'm probably going to go with the beats edition now.

I need a laptop to last me before I get my Envy 14, and the looks of the limited edition is simply awesome

 

wait, what? laptops have vents for intake? that sounds like a terrible idea.

 

the intake vents are what are on the bottom of the laptop.

I've never heard of one that has a side intake vent..

 

My Asus eee 900HA has intake vents on one side as does my boss' tablet

 

Wouldn't the slice block a bottom-intake when it's plugged in? Everything is still speculation, of course, but it seems reasonable to suggest that the vent on the backside is a secondary intake for the fans, though I'm not sure how well that would work given the fact that the fans will be oriented perpendicular to it. If it is, they could have a mechanism that only opens the rear intake when the slice is installed, potentially improving airflow by preventing intake air from the bottom vents from bleeding out the side when the slice is off.

Then again, I'm a bit of an optimist, there's a fair shot that it's an exhaust vent. I just have too much faith in the engineers that designed this thing to automatically assume that they'd route the exhaust in such a way that it only works properly with the monitor closed.

 

Seems to be an odd design choice. I think it would have been nice to ditch the ODD, improve the cooling (a la Acer 3820TG dual heat sinks), and add a VGA out instead of having a lame- mini display port.

Of course, that would have been best, and this is HP we're talking. I don't mean to rain on the parade - I hope the Envy 14 turns out to be a solid system. However, the initial hype has tempered and people are realizing that you're going to have to pay premium to get the nice screen and whatnot.

Maybe it is intake... There is an exhaust vent on the right-hand side, so who knows...

 

From looking at pictures of how the Studio 16's vent was placed (in relation to the screen covering it) compared to the Envy 14, the Studio's was much worse as it looked basically fully covered. I plan on using mine docked most of the time so the issue is whatever to me.

Take a look at the Envy 15 - the heat problems were in the touchpad area, and on these the screen completely covered the back. I believe (rather hope) that they put that vent there and made the screen NOT cover it for that very reason.

I don't think the hype is dying at all, it still promises to be an amazing machine. Those who want premium will pay it, and for those who want something cheaper there's the dm4 or the 3820TG.

I'm shopping for a cheap Beats laptop but if I can't find one I'm grabbing an Envy 14.

 

For all the people talking about how they REALLY want an i7-620m in this, I have something for you...

Core i7-equipped MacBook Pro CPU hits 100 degrees Celsius (updated) -- Engadget

 

Main reason I couldn't care less about getting an i7 in the Envy aside from the negligible performance gains in regular office apps and games...


10 days!

 

I'm not sure why everyone is assuming the 3820TG is going to be any cheaper than the HP Envy 14. We haven't seen any pricing on a 5650 equipped 3820TG stateside yet. But what we do know is that the HP Envy 14 will be $999 at whatever specs. For sure it will have an i5 (most likely a 430m or 450m) and it will come with a 5650. Screen resolution is debatable at this point on the Envy 14 but we do know that the Acer will have a 1366x768 screen which will be pretty average at best in terms of quality. I don't see the Acer with a 5650 being significantly cheaper, if at all, than a base Envy 14.

 

So any word on when Engadget might get a review on this puppy or the E17?

Old Engadget article


EDIT: Sent Engadget a PM asking them about a rough date.

 

On HP's website, only quick launch button software is available for download for the E14. Kinda funny seeing how it's only 10 days left...

 

The point he originally made was about paying for the better screen and other upgrades. The Acer (I believe) will not be able to be customized, whereas to get the Envy an i7/the better screen is going to put it at 1500 before discounts. I'm going to go ahead and assume that'll be cheaper than the Acer.

 

If HP offers a super deal on the Envy's release, I estimate the Envy about 300 less than the 3820TG if you configure them the same (adding an aftermarket SSD to the 3820TG, etc). Regular retail price, they will be about the same or the Acer will be a bit less expensive. If there is a 25% Bing cash back on release, I would max out the Envy specs to take advantage of the discounts.

Both units have their good and bad points. Most people who compare the two completely forget to consider the Acer's incredible cooling system. It is nothing short of amazing. IMO, the major considerations are weight, cooling and size vs. optical drive, great display and full metal chassis. More simply put, portability vs working comfort and looks. Depending on how important these things are to you will probably determine which you choose (if Acer ever gets its units here). Assuming that the Envy does not have heat issues with a dual core CPU, it and the Acer should perform identically. These are probably the two most evenly matched units on the market from a performance perspective. You could not go wrong with either one. The 3820TG is already in wide circulation (except here ) and has shown that it has very few flaws. The Envy is still a bit of an unknown commodity but I think it is going to perform well, given its specs.

Bronsky

Turtle goes into single digits soon.

 

Could someone provide some info on the available free benchmarking tools, those for measuring temperature, CPU and GPU performance? It's been quite awhile since I've gotten a new computer and I'd be interested to run some of these when I get it.

Thanks.

 

I'm wondering when actual reviews of the Envy 14 will hit the big websites...

It might be that on June 27th, the only new thing we get is access to the HP configuration page. That will be nice, but I need more info than that before I pull the trigger on a purchase.

 

Just wondering but does anyone know what exactly it means by "premium" service? or however HP may advertise it. To put it simply, is there anything special about HPs customer service for their Envy line compared to other ones?

 

No. 10char

 

Just assume that both are going to suck.

 

Try and find Envy 17 reviews. They don't exist most unfortunately, and it came out on the 19th of last month. So, if we're to take that for any sort of indication of the availability of Envy 14 reviews, it doesn't look good.

 

This is my worry... if I wait for reviews and such before ordering there is no way I will get this thing in Early July.

M11x R2 doesn't seem to be a major improvement over R1 considering the price bump (over $300 since I was going to get the i7 UM)

Acer 3820 seems to be in oblivion as far as I'm concerned.

So with everything getting crossed out for reasons like this the only thing I got left is Lenovo Y460 with i5 520M / 5650... And this deal goes away on 6/20. Right now you can get this config for low $800. Decisions decisions...

 

I'm giving up on the elcheapo dv6t:se (or at least 200 off coupon and free blu-ray drive version) to wait on this.

 

Go to Guru3d.com. There is a download section. Get Intelburntest 2.3(I think that's the latest).

 

the 620m is a dual core, the macbook's i7 is a quadcore. I believe that makes quite the difference as it still falls under the arrandale line if I remember correctly.

 

i thought macbook 17" had an i7-620m....

 

It must, based on Apple's spec page:
Apple - MacBook Pro - Technical specifications of the 17-inch.

"2.66GHz Intel Core i7 processor with 4MB shared L3 cache"

 

for CPU temp, I usually use coretemp, and for gpu temp, gpu-z. For stressing the CPU, Prime95 is good. For stressing the GPU, furmark is good :]

For the guys talking about the vent on the back of the laptop that would be blocked by the screen, in a video, HP said that it would be an exhaust vent. I forgot which video it was though :[

 

Its the video where Stacey Wolffe is talking about the HP Envy Notebooks.. I think it was uploaded by notebooks.com

 

If an amateur review, extensive pictures and some tests serve to ease your mind, wait until I get my unit in about exacly two weeks. Unforseen delays excluded of course!

 

In practice it makes a big difference, both in terms of clarity and "workspace"

1600x900 will allow you to put a firefox window next to a MSword or openoffice window and comfortably use both. I currently have a 1440x900 and it's just shy of being enough horizontal space. 1366 is another drop down.

For gamers, higher res means you don't have to deal with a large blocky user interface, and therefor get to see more of the actual game world, in more clarity.

1600x900 is also a great blend between clarity and framerates in games.

 

Disregard my message about the i7 in the macbook. It would be nice if they gave us solid numbers such as which model it is, but they don't. A few of the laptop review places out there list it as a quad core, but I'm guessing that's because they thought i7 meant quad core.

I couldn't find any mobile processors clocked at 2.66 that weren't dual core. So I'm guessing the macbook has the 620m.

 

Yea its a 620M its stated in a lot of benches.

 

MBP use Core i7 620M Dual Core CPU.

 

Does HP sell spares directly to the customers or do you have to ship it to a service center in order to change the keyboard?

Reason im asking is because I bought my last Acer from France and then swapped to a Swedish keyboard myself. Turned out to be cheaper and I had the computer way before it was launched here in Sweden.

Guess the backlit keyboard will be expensive though, if HP even sells it?

 

From what i remember,
the other laptop backlit additions were only like 25 bucks.

 

yep, the backlit keyboard won't be expensive I think.

 

Out of curiosity what is the coupon code? and is there a spending minimum?

 

Waiting for real reviews here.

If the device is really worth the high price here, then i will think about getting one. But only if it's really worth price, in which case, it will have to meet certain criterias.
I don't like the idea of spending over 1200€ too much.

Too bad, HP doesn't care about European market, where you can't configure anything.

 

If the envy 14 launches the same way that the 17 did, HP will be losing a sale.

 

Is anyone considering just going for the 17? I see they're at $1199 after a coupon, on some of the deal sites.

 

Hopefully it comes with USB 3.0 even with i5. If not does anyone know of a good looking eSata HDD? (kinda matches the Envy style)

 

Huge difference in portability. If I wanted a DTR, I would've gone for that one long ago.

 

USB 3 would just be icing on the cake with the current prices of USB 3 flash drives. I'll be really happy with my purchase if everything falls through with none of the problems people in the E17 thread are reporting.