HP Envy 15? i7 meets 4830+15" screen!

Personally, I don't think that the upgrade is worth it. Your CPU will rarely, if ever, be the bottleneck of your system, so you won't notice any performance difference for most of the time. Compared to the reason why SSD is such a significant upgrade is because the HDD is almost always the bottleneck.

 

Anyone know if that "Envy" text is a removable sticker? i don't want to read "Envy" every time I look at the screen

 

Put some electrical tape over it.

 

I'm pretty sure it's not just a sticker, that'd look pretty cheap on a laptop that starts at $1799.

 

Envy 15 at IDF 2009 (sept 09):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP1pXgVCqkQ&feature=player_embedded

Screen not edge to edge. Glass cover looks to be.


Envy 13 doesn't look edge to edge screen either:
http://www.notebooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/HP_Envy_13_8.jpg

 

When the screen is closed and you push on it with a finger and give just a little force, you can see it bowing a little, which seemed like a little more then you would expect with this laptop. But no, it wasn't poor build quality or anything......it was strong, but just not as strong as I would of expected if that makes since.

 

The Envy 13 is a Edge to Edge screen, I was looking at it today at Best Buy. Just not the Envy 15 .

 

I don't know, I wasn't really expecting anything better. Even small cellphone screens have a little bezel though HTC Touch HD2 is taking things to a new high.

 

Bezel vs edge to edge is not a big deal to me, just thought I would try find some shots of it.

I guess both of these would be pre mass production units since they are from the previews that all the sites did in september. For those of us who ordered on the 25% days it is hard to say exactly what we are getting.

 

Hi all,
Just found the forum.
I ordered the Beats LE Sunday with the 25% Bing deal. Config'd with the 820QM, 8g(2dims) and got nearly $1k back... I was amazed. I just couldn't take that etching pattern on the base model. I am replacing my MSI GT725 with this. I hope the gfx performance is close to that of the GT725's, or better. I will be taking my 160gb Intel x25-m G2 out of the MSI and putting it into the HP. Anyone want to buy some nice headphones in a couple weeks?

 

this might be a dumb question but is this the right model ssd for this laptop?

Intel X25-M Mainstream Solid State Drive - 34nm Product Line - Solid state drive - 80 GB - internal - 2.5" - SATA-300 SSDSA2MH080G201 - $234.99

 

Ya, I got a 160 x25-m G2(34nm) waiting to go into it.

 

I'd need glass electrical tape to match the edge to edge glass

 

how much was your 160gb?

 

It was $550 a few months ago. AmaZ on has them for 477 atm. The other one I would consider is the OCZ vertex turbo. The OCZ is a little faster at sequential writes and consumes a little less power. If I didn't allready have the Intel I would probably get the OCZ Vertex.

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631

I would hate to have to choose between the 2 atm because of this article.

 

AFAIK the OCZ Vertex Turbo consumes a little more power than the Intel and isn't much better than the regular version (no noticeable differences in a blind test). Do you have figures for battery life btw the two in an identical machine?

 

http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631&p=26

Intel Idle is .575W
Vertex turbo Idle is .435W

Intel Load is less than the Vertex Turbo at 2.5W vs 2.82W. These drives are in idle more than load. I would love to have a Vertex EX(SLC Chips), best atm imo, but they are still really expensive.

More importantly, Random Write Power Consumption:
Intel x25-m G2 Average is 1.6W
OCZ Vertex T Average is 1.17W

The Vertex Turbo can be found for ~$30 more than the regular vertex, that is why I would choose the turbo most likely.

 

Interesting. I thought the Turbo was more than that but I haven't been interested in it, so I haven't checked it out.

 

Ya, I was surprised they were that close in price as well. Funny what the internet will do to prices.

 

HP's Envy 15 Support page live:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/product?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&man_lang=en&product=4029962&

No service manual posted yet.

 

I just noticed a couple things on HP's site.
1 Under drivers for the evony 15 they show TV tuner drivers. I was not aware that it had a TV tuner in it.
2 In the configure window, where you select 6 cell/9 cell, the picture on the left shows 6 cell, 12 cell!! I wonder if they are going to release a 12 cell battery for the Envy

 

No. That picture is there for every HP configuration. The extended life battery is the battery slice. The slice won't fit around a larger battery in the back, so the only option will be a 6 cell and a 12 cell.

The TV Tuner isn't standard, its an option.

 

Hang on... they're selling the laptop with only 1 HDD in it? Wasn't one of the reasons didnt include an internal OD that they wanted to sell the laptop with 2 internal drives? ?

Before someone (Serg =P) tells me where i can shove my OD-- i wasn't trying to bring up the discussion again, just pointing out a silly move on HPs part .

As far as SSDs go...

What kind of improvements performance wise can the SSD provide? Is it going to be a noticeable difference?

Could i get away with maybe an 80gb drive just to run the OS and maybe a few programs i use often?

Is it easy to install?

 

I just went thru both customizations (Beats and base) and there is no option to add a TV tuner. I assume that you ment 9 cell slice

 

I have read that it will have 2x250gb drives standard.
Read the anandtech article on SSD's. http://www.anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631

Yes, you will see huge imrpovements. Yes you will be fine with an 80gb, even a 60gb would be plenty. You have 2 drive bays so put a 60gb SSD for your system and then buy the 500gb Seagate 5400.6(very low power consumption) and put it in the laptop for storage.

 

somebody say tv tuner? lol

 

What improvements exactly? Would windows 7 boot up in like 15 seconds or something? I'm just curious. I can't imagine that it would be that great of an improvement. Maybe shave off a few seconds here or there... but I don't know... please, inform me!

 

a few pages back lugnut said he went to best buy and got to play with a 15 he said it had only 1 500gb hard drive

 

EDIT.........see post above.

 

Hard drives are commonly the bottleneck in a system.

This review has some SSD vs magnetic drives (high end desktop drives).
http://hothardware.com/Articles/Windows-7-Disk-Performance-Analyzed/?page=5. SSD had 20 Second improvement over them for windows 7 boot.

 

^^Looks like they were using a first generation(50nm) Intel drive. That would explain why they were having a few problems with it slowing down

So... you read the article and still have those questions...

Yes, I think W7 does load in about 15 seconds, properly configured.
Here is W7 on a GT725 with an older Samsung 64gb SSD(slc model) from power off to online. A newer SSD will be much faster than this even.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiogIpIfAd8

 

An empty HD bay is still smaller than an optical drive

 

Back on topic. Not that SSD's aren't fun to talk about, but I was wondering what this meant.... Here's a quote from the HP Envy 15 page on HP's website.

What upgrades do you guys think are going to be available in the future? (Besides Ram or HD). Do you guys think we might be able to switch out our processors in the future for better ones? Seems to be like it might be a possibility if they were able to design it in such a way (but I doubt it...). Any ideas about what else might be upgradable besides the HD and RAM?

 

If the CPU isn't soldered on then you should be able to change that out too.

 

Is there anything else we could possibly upgrade? It kind of sounds like they specially made the Envy 15 to be upgradeable in ways you can't upgrade other notebooks. I'm probably just chasing a make believe fairytale--unfortunately.

 

If you're wondering about the GPU being able to be upgraded, well I personally am pretty skeptical about that. I'm sure someone will pull it apart and take some nice pics so we'll know for sure. Once I get mine I'll be sure and do that if I get any requests on it.

 

Considering they said that even 2 of the memory slots weren't easy to access, I really wonder how upgradeable it is. I mean almost every notebook, you can easily upgrade memory, hard drive, and wifi/bluetooth card. CPU is a bit more complex but still doable in majority of notebooks, while the only thing that would stand out is if GPU could be upgraded.

 

Upgradeable gpu and cpu would be nice and may very well be possible. Fun to dream about but I doubt they designed the Envy to easily upgrade those items.
The Asus c90s was suppose to be easily upgraded like this. Imo Asus dropped the ball with the lack of new parts development for it. Many users have figured out how to upgrade the c90s substantially without the help of Asus though.

 

If the Envy 15 is anything like the Envy 13, don't expect to be able to remove anything more than ram or hard drive. I don't get why is HP so vague in their description... What is upgradeable and expendable? is the videocard DDR3 or GDDR3? And so on and on..

 

Yea, I am still trying to figure out if the system memory is DDR3 1066 or DDR3 1333, as well as the graphics card being DDR3 or GDDR3 as mentioned above.

 

I went into the Harvey Norman shop at Martin's place as I wanted to see the Envy 15. They did not have it in stock and they would not stock it.

Moreover, the specs in the computer for the $3299 unit stated that it was an i7-720 version running at 1.6GHz ....

 

Oh c'mon...lol BTW, I think it is better to have only one massive 500 7200RPM (which for its density runs faster than others 7200RPM AFAIK) and the second free, so you can get your own in there. I was thinking, if you have a small SSD and a humungous HDD, it is better, you put both, and done! You done lose nor size nor speed!

Indeed. For a HDD to go into the ODB, you need an adapter/caddy for it to fit. I had also thought of that, but I think it is a no-go (besides, there is nowhere to make the CD come out...lol

According to the HP site, a PDF posted back some pages ago, with full specs IIRC was 1066 and GDDR3. But I cant remember.

 

Fair enough. I work at Chatswood Chase (i posted the original). We received a spec sheet which is sent to the management. I was looking at with the purchasing manager because I too want an Envy!! On this spec sheet the 820 was listed, not the 720 like you would of seen on the computer at Martin Place. The same has been listed on my system at Chatswood. You wouldn't of been able to see the Envy yet as it is only meant to be released on the 22nd (tomorrow). The higher end model envy 15 is (according to the spec sheet and purchasing manager) supposed to be part of Harvey Normans advertising material displaying a large chunk of the new Windows 7 machines. I know for certain that we have ordered 5 of the higher end model envy 15 as well placing an order for 1 of the lower end envy (for myself). I spoke to the manager today and he told me that the new HP range had not arrived yet. My guess is that it either arrived later today, or that it will arrive early tomorrow (22nd).

I might end up with the higher end model if it comes with the battery slice and external OD. I'm also hoping that HP update their Australian website at midnight tonight (might be wishful thinking).

If they do arrive tomorrow, I'll be there in a flash! I will try post something if that occurs!

 

edit: the spec sheet sent was very limited. Didn't mention the screen resolution, the graphics ram or whether the battery slice or external OD is included. It did say that it contains a DVD player/writer, so I would assume that means the external drive.

 

How odd that those things we are all wanting to know, are not yet available...wow
I just hope that fpr those who went with the lower end, get the faster GDDR3
Thanks for the info!

Sorry, massive typo. I was posting via the BB...lol sorry guys

 

tell me about it. Even those supposed to be in the know (ie, myself) know just as much as all of you!! Damn irritating!

 

My Envy's status now says, "Order in Production". I really hope they get the orders for 18th out early (before the 28th)!

 

GDDR7? what? where did that come from? is it a typo?

 

GDDR5 is so last year, get a grip on technology you newb

 

But don't worry, the Envy 15 with sport the latest GDDR9. Fastest 2nm technology to date. Runs for hours off a battery the size of a quarter...