HP Envy 14: Availabilty, etc.

true dat. However I am not very keen on installing a new processor myself... just about to start university and have been waiting to get a new laptop for like 4 years at least lol I wouldn't mind upgrading everything myself, except the processor.

Just give me a core i5-5xx series HP UK for 1000 - 1200 and i'll do the SSD and 8gb ram myself lol or else I'll just have to see if i can get one from the US and get it shipped over here... may have to buy a uk keyboard tho

 

Kudos to HP for quickly improving the Envy series. I'm really glad they got rid of those retarded quick launch buttons on the side of the keyboard. And I LOVE the edge to edge screen. I returned my HP Envy 15 partially because the glossy bezel really killed the premium feel. It's like wrapping your BMW leather seats with a cheap leopard print cover from Walmart.

I really hated the Touchpad on the Envy 15, so we'll see how much HP and Synaptics can improve it.

I wish they left out the optical drive and somehow kept the Radeon 5830 in the Envy 14. It would be nice if they had docking station option as well (not that usb or express card based dock nonsense).

The starting price of $999 is really reasonable too. The only competitor I can think of is the Acer Timeline series. And their build quality isn't in the same as the HP Envy's.

 

I agree, just give me the basic Core i5 520/540, ATI HD5650, 1600x900 Screen and i can handle the rest If you intent to buy from the us mabe we can do a bulk buy ;P

 

lol I'm down with that

That's exactly what I'm hoping the UK models get as well... £999 is a fair bit of dosh and if they're gonna compete with apple in the uk they ideally need an i5 520/540 in the envy 14.

 

I returned my (Gen 2) E15 because of one specific problem with the Synaptics touchpad, so am also very interested in the specific changes HP might have made for the E14.

My specific beef was that I couldn't find a way to disable mouse functions in the lower right and left (button) sections of the touchpad. As a result, there were many times when a left- or right-click would move the cursor location slightly before executing the button click operation. In most cases, this simply meant that the cursor missed the hyperlink I was aiming at, so I had to relocate the cursor and try again. But in extreme cases, it could mean clicking on the wrong hyperlink (or dialog button), with nasty consequences (like confirming instead of canceling an online purchase transaction).

If I concentrated on pressing directly down on the button areas, the right results almost always occurred, but after years of using dedicated mouse buttons and not having to think about the precise angle of depression, the prospect of having to learn a new mouse-clicking habit didn't appeal to me.

I had some other minor beefs with the E15, but this particular touchpad problem was the deal-breaker, for me. The Synaptics configuration UI provides control over the size of the scrolling regions, but I could find no way to disable mouse operations completely for the bottom (button) portion of the touchpad. Maybe I just missed it, somehow, but I spent a lot of time looking for this control feature.

In other respects, I thought the Synaptics pad was great, and very flexible. But if HP / Synaptics doesn't have a solution for the mouse / button conflict in the E14, it will be another deal-breaker for me. I really like what I see in the E14, so hope they provide a solution.

 

you can always get the Envy 17 !

 

If the base model of the Envy 14 with i5 5xx sells in the UK for £999 it may well sell like hot cakes! I'd prob buy 2, 1 for me and 1 for myself

 

Does this mean the envy 13 can be upgraded with an i5 - i7 processor?
God how I love the sie of the envy 13.... if only it had the specs of the envy 14!

 

They killed it with that stupid optical drive.

 

rule # 1 of product developement - You can't please everybody.


For every one person that an optical kills the device, there are probably 5 to 10 that it makes worth getting.

 

Well add me to the list I've read some rumours about a July release in the UK but nothing official. Is there a way to import from the US ?

 

Easiest way is to know someone there and get them to send it here for you. Otherwise you could try an international courier or something.

Personally, I just hope the Uk ones have the i5-5xx series, I really don't want the US keyboard tbh and I don't want to have to change it out, or have to pay any extra taxes etc for shipping. I don't mind paying the extra dosh for getting it in the UK to be honest as long as I get a reliable product. Worst case scenario would be getting one shipped from US and then seeing some kind of defect or something on the case like on the envy 15's and having to send it back and stuff...

Yes, I've also been hearing rumours about a July release for the envy 14, hopefully early July And some customization options from HP UK would be nice too

 

It would be better to have an external drive. The only time you really use a cd drive is mainly reinstalling windows. I dont see why you have to include the drive inside the laptop, 2 HD bays would of been so much better.

 

^for you not for everyone, and this as the other increments appear to be per request.

And let us remember that this is a laptop that is here to substitute the 13, and as such is a mobile powerhouse, with a ''slight'' inclination to business and education, and as such a common media in their use is CD/DVD. Thus we can assume that what the HP rep said in the video is true a per request inclusion

 

I agree that 2 HD bays are better, but the fact that the E14 includes a slot-load CD/DVD drive doesn't necessarily eliminate a 2-HD configuration. For example, I replaced the Superdrive in my MB Pro with a second HD.

Given that a 2.5 in. HD is much smaller than a CD/DVD drive, space isn't the issue. And you can find plastic frame "adapters" that make it relatively easy to secure an HD in a CD/DVD footprint. The only real concern is adapting the power connector (the SATA connector should be fine, as-is).

If I buy the E14, I plan to install an SSD as the primary drive and replace the CD/DVD drive with the factory rotating drive.

 

This is my plan too. Except I want dual SSD's. One for OS, one for storage. Only concern is if the second SSD will perform ok with the Cd/DVD drive connector.

That or wait for a good Blu-Ray 9.5mm to install. hah

 

Why would you want an SSD as your storage drive? I really don't see a point. A rotating disk will be much more capacious and much much cheaper ($0 if you just use the stock HDD)

 

My primary laptop is now a Dell Latitude 6400 with a 256 SSD. Granted, it's a company laptop so the cost for the upgrade to the SSD wasn't an issue but now that I've had it for a little while, I'll never go back to a spindled drive. Bootup/shutdown times are significantly quicker, there's zero noise (except for the occasional fan) and most importantly (to me anyway), I don't worry about my laptop getting bumped around. I'm just hoping that HP has a quality SSD drive available as an option for the 14.

 

I think he's talking about the necessity of needing a SSD for something that you use for storage. A hard drive that is meant to store will not be accessed frequently, thus negating the need for a SSD.

 

You serious? How about on the laptop screen on HIGH or ULTRA? Will the 5650 be able to handle those? If not, I'm going back to waiting for the Timeline, or debating on the MSI's some more.

 

I dont think they are doing this for the 13 since it will be phased out. Only the 14 and 17 for no. Maybe the 15 if they do a refresh.

Cool
Since HP US only ships to the US we can get a US 'Address' to get it shipped to then get it shipped to the UK. Shout be abt $50 usd per laptop not including the Tax

I really hope it comes to the Uk sooner rather than later..

 

FYI, the Timeline will have the same videocard so plugging into an external monitor will yield the same results. The only difference is that the screen on the Envy 14 has a 1600x900 resolution and the Timeline will have a 1366x768 resolution. So the Timeline due to it's low res screen will be able to play on higher detail. But really, what's the point in playing with high detail on such a low resolution? Just turn the detail, AA/AF down a tad. Honestly, I'd take 1600x900 over 1366x768 any day of the week.

 

The 5650 isnt too bad imho. You should be able to play SC2 using the 5650 on an external monitor with medium settings. Or high settings on your Laptop screen.

 

I don't plan on connecting to an external monitor, and plan on playing SC2 on High or Ultra settings. The 5730 was confirmed to play "really really well" on High, so how far behind is the 5650?

 

I don't need tons of storage and just like SSD's (much prefer no spinning drives in my system for reliability, noise, heat, bat life, etc.).

 

Try looking here for some bench marks. Notebookcheck: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650

 

The 5730 and 5650 are essentially the same card with the only difference being clock speed.
Most people are able to clock the 5650's to 5730 speeds and above.

I briefly owned a studio 1749 with 5650 and it easily overclocked past 5730 settings

 

Haha, if you have the money to spend on SSDs then sure, why not. Just a note though, you won't see any battery life improvements with an SSD. Especially your secondary (storage) SSD since a mechanical drive can completely stop when you're not accessing it but an SSD is constantly sipping power. Not a huge difference, but still, just so you know.

 

Depends on the SSD on Macbooks users saw an average of 30min gain. Its not all about minimal draw but also max draw. If the HDD draws more power on average than the SSD then the SSD will result in better life.

 

well actually ... even tough the ssd is \draining power ... it's not much.
And if you compare the avarge power drain on a laptop; say go to uni, study and take notes and then come home, the ssd will win with power consumption.

just my 2c.

 

That isn't true...

 

I am very interested in this soon to be new HP Envy 14 model. A couple of questions:

1) Will this come with Intel Wireless Display Technology (WIDI)?

2) Is this a laptop that Best Buy would carry?

3) Concerned of HP's reliability issues as a recent report stated that HP was one of the least reliable laptops in the long run. 1 in every 4 break down within 2 years.

 

I wish it was the same thickness as the 13!

14 is a bit too thick...
it's thicker than the envy 15!
and also too wide...
it's as wide as most 15's!

 

It is a 14.5" so it is not as small as the name implies... especially compared in width to 15.4" laptops.

 

To all the people who disagreed with me on the SSD power consumption thing, my reasoning is that his STORAGE drive will be exactly that: for storage and will not be frequently accessed unlike the OS drive. Therefore it will be in an idle state most of the time.

 

1) HP didn't announce anything so I would say no. It's not something they would leave out of the press release.

2) All previous Envy's were carried by Best Buy. Best Buy will get the 14 and 17 for sure.

3) Statistically speaking, HP laptops fail most frequently compared to other manufacturers. Probably true. But HP also sells the most cheap budget laptops compared to everyone else. I bet their top of the line laptops (Envy) would be of much higher quality and will not fail as frequently as the report you cited states.

 

for question three someone on these forums put up a good post about the brand biased and how it is somewhat unfounded. That its really something you should judge from model to model rather then by brand.

That being said, I am a little weary since this is such a good laptop at such a cheap price. Like we've all heard, if its too good to be true it probably is.

 

Good point. Let's hope that it's due to increased competition and all that wizardry which brings the price down without sacrificing quality.

 

I hope to goodness that they were just responding to one of the common criticisms of the HP Envy series -- they were (and are) expensive!

 

Expensive? Maybe the 13 inch is a bit overpriced, but the prices of the Envy 14 (a steal), Envy 15, and Envy 17 are excellent, if not a bit underpriced.

 

I am more excited about this laptop release than the upcoming iPhone 4 release. Of course, I am biased since I need a new laptop and not a new phone

 

Look at the "press" for the 13 and 15 (before the 2nd gen, which no "major" magazine seemed to review) and you will see that many mention the price as being excessive. I personally think the 15 is a steal now, but the 13 could use a nice price cut before it is discontinued, if that is indeed happening.

I need a new phone, but I think I will get a new laptop instead.

By the way guys, I made this little chart as a comparison for myself but I figure some of it might be useful to other people considering laptops. I used the best approximate performance scores I could find, which I couldn't find any for the UL-30Jt's processor and its score is messed up. I also used the same processor in the Envy 14, 15 and MBP 15. Edit: Also the HP Envy's price probably isn't accurate. The i5-520M isn't going to be $999

 

I can't wait for the reviews first!
if heating and battery life are good, then I am sold...

but if bing has a 25% cash back or whaterv they did for the first envy's, I will buy it on day 1.
The thickness and weight seem to bother me a bit.

The asus ul30jt might be more my thing, but a bit over priced.

 

I think I will get both the iPhone 4G and the Envy 14....yea, I'm just swimming in dough right now.

 

With all those massive coupon codes that were available for the envy 15, it was an absolute steal, and it is a solid choice at full price as well for the form factor and gpu.

The gpu is memory bottlenecked, but you can upclock that, I have seen examples of people getting 30% overclocks on the memory running stable, even 20 would be a solid boost. Basically a bit less powerful than a 260m, with dx11, and a lower power draw enabling it to be usable in such a small form factor.

 

Nice chart. Pretty simple and helpful Basically shows that the Envy 14 has the best bang for your buck.

Lol. I intend to do the same. Hopefully the 4g isnt too pricey, but its apple and they dont do cheap.

 

So will we be able to pre-order a customized version of the Envy 14 off of the website anytime soon or do we have to do it by phone? I really don't want to call and pre-order because that just leaves the door open for something terrible to happen... Also, I like to see all of my options before making a decision... like if the Envy 14 will really offer the ATi HD 5830 because if they do... I'm jumping all over that

 

None of the documentation indicates it will have a ATI RM HD 5830 and ordering will probably be available near its launch date, which is June 27th if I remember correctly.

 

Hey guys what do you think of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560?

Lenovo IdeaPad Y560 goes on sale; starts at $949 | ZDNet

USPIDEAPAD0513 for $350 savings on i7 models is still working! hard to resist imo...

 

The resolution on the Y560 is too low for me to use on a 15'' inch system.