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

yea i dont get that? who had the bright idea for craming all the ports on one side? oh yea APPLE. come on hp that was a bad decision. i dont like the power port on the side either. its better on the back.

yea heat is my biggest concern. hopefully that is addressed before it hits the market and is frankly the only reason i will wait for a review.

i think weight and thinkness all come down to the person. you might not care if you have to carry a 17 incher but i ride a bicycle to work and every pound matters.

 

I dont know if this was already posted.
But notebookcheck has a hands-on on these.
Found here http://www.notebookcheck.net/Hands-On-HP-Envy-13-Envy-15-in-Review.20675.0.html

 

Yeah this was posted already. Are you considering getting the envy 15 as well?

 

Ah, I concede your points. I wasn't aware the m15x weighed significantly more than the Clevo for no apparent reason. All metal frame maybe? I'm not a huge AW fan anyway- they usually are overpriced and rely on flashy gimmicks- which I must confess are alluring at times ;-)

The Clevo/Sager seems to me to be the best bet. Not only is it spec'd the best (280M gpu) and has an optical drive, but it is designed by the most reliable manufacturer out of all these models and is priced very well. I also LOVE the fact that finally someone had the sense to use a widescreen layout effectively and put a full keyboard on a 15" laptop. I HATE not having my number keypad. Unfortunately, while Sager does right in so many areas, they suffer in the aesthetics department. The Envy 15 is sexy. The Clevo/Sager is definitely not.

Why must I be so superficial?!

 

It's okay, I'm pretty superficial with my purchases most of the time if it's something I'm going to have to look at a lot. I was allured by the alienware brand myself, hence why I was so disappointed with the new m15x's physical size.

Some would argue though that you get what you pay for with products like the envy and aw. The alienware I'm sure is very sturdy because it's not just aluminum but pretty thick aluminum unlike apple. Still I would have appreciated a slimmer design as im sure many others were hoping for. I'm sure that conveys a really solid feel compared to plastic which is used on a large majority of laptops today, hence my interest in the envy 15.

 

The slice battery should provide ample buffer for heat on the bottom. My new concern is palm heat and fan noise. I would be a shame, a terrible shame, if the laptop was unpleasant to use, due to hot palm rests, or a noisy fan.

}:^)~

 

Oh sorry, just came across with it.
LOL! No, I like it, but after reading the temps, I will pass. And I am getting a sexy ThinkPad in a few months...I know I have to fear about costumer support and deliveries, but heck, it is VERY well priced and a good config...(I need a professional GPU, that is why I am still waiting...)

 

does anyone really think directx 11 and ati mobility 5000 series are worth the extra wait? if it was like a month i would but we are looking at an additional 3 months atleast.

considering this is a high end notebook hp wont be doing themselves any favors by puting a noisy fan in it. with all the vints it has they should put a couple of fans in it when it gets hot they could have a full breeze of air going through the darn thing. if their smart they would have designed that slice battery to help disapate heat while still shielding your lap because your going to use the slice battery when your away from your notebook fan you keep at home.

 

At any point in time, a person could wait 3 months and get considerably better hardware. There's always something better right around the corner. You have to pull the trigger at some point, but that breaking point is ultimately up to the strength of your willpower ;-)

 

You won't see HD 5xxx series until mid 2010... just remember the HD 4830 coming out in the Envy 15 was announced at the beginning of the year...

 

Yeah the 5000 series will obviously be better, but I know for my needs it's not going to be worth it. It'll play what I want to play (arkham asylum, left 4 dead, starcraft 2). I've been waiting a long time to get a new laptop and mobile i7 was pretty much as big of an architecture jump as I could expect.

 

If you're just gaming, although the quad core i7s are architecturally superior, they won't be much better then quad core C2Qs since most games are GPU limited. At least when you're not gaming and on the go, you'll get better battery life since idle power is a lot better, though you still won't have switchable graphics (for even lower power consumption).

 

LOL, it just hit me, no optical drive, means no DVD watching.....FAIL

And I definitely don't want to lug around an external drive, that would get annoying in a plane.

However, if hp can pull off a low-heat, high battery laptop, I would probably still buy it. Loving the graphics card.

I would buy the new sager, but then the batt. life just turns me off.

Ugh, but really, no optical drive?

 

the M15x would weigh the same or less then the sager if they did not use the metal chassis and it is not thin @ all

if they used plastic it would be alot lighter

@ the topic of mobility i use my 13 pound M17x every day for classes that gets 3 hours of battery

 

Hence, my point. The definition of mobility changes for everyone. Some people (myself included) would definitely not call an M17x portable. Some people would only call a netbook portable. The average user, obviously, falls somewhere in between.

 

The notebook w/ optical drive is still fairly light... how many DVDs can you watch on a plane anyways? I would just copy the ISO and store it on my 2nd HDD.

 

yea movies on the go arent a problem it will be games on the go that present a challenge. unless you carry the external optical. i guess you could always try to find the crack for the game but i hate that i always get viruses

 

Just do the same. Copy ISO and run off of 2nd HDD in virtual drive.

 

Sigh, people complaining about needing the optical drive to watch DVDs. Ever heard of virtual drives? You should rip the DVD into an ISO and mount it on a virtual drive. This provides 4 benefits:
1) Saves the weight and space taken up by an optical drive in the laptop.
2) Saves the need to carry around a set of DVDs.
3) Saves battery life as optical drives consume more power than regular drives.
4) Optical drives are noisy and more prone to mechanical failures.

You either get a ridiculous laptop like the M15x if you really want the optical drive, but consider the sacrifices you have to make which isn't worth it (weight, battery life, 2 less RAM slots, no dual hard drive in RAID set up).

As for games, that is a different issue and I believe the game companies are the ones behind the curve.

As for portability, you shouldn't need to prove your brawniness by carrying around laptops such as M15x/M17x all day. You are proving your silliness as opposed to your manliness.

 

Power users tend to have all their stuff on a backup drive anyway, whether movies, music, or apps. This laptop has dual HDDs, its perfect to have one SSD for OS and app, and another HDD for their data. The last time I used a DVD must be back in May or June, it's just not something I use enough to justify having in the laptop. Hope they still could ship free external DVD drive with the laptop though.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiYz9ZpK4z0

Sounds like we will get an external optical drive with the computer, although this vid is about the Envy 13. (at 5:20)

 

The lack of an optical drive bothers me not. As has been said, movies can be ripped and watched via a virtual drive, and near enough all my games are bought via Steam, so no discs required anyway. Got tired of pulling out an old favourite only to find it scratched anyway.

 

Can you recommend a a thorough site/tutorial/software on how to setup virtual drives? I have never attempted this and would like to read some recommended material before I attempt it.

 

Just have a search on google for magicdisc. It's easy enough to use and completely free.

 

I can see how some people could get around needing an optical drive, but what I can't believe is how anyone would consider having to take all those extra steps beneficial. I mean, come on. Ripping DVD's, creating ISO's and virtual drives, taking up several GB's of HDD space... OR you could just pop in a DVD you just picked up at the store and watch it immediately with no hassles, no extra steps and not have to worry about HDD space. If you opt for the blu-ray drive, this issue becomes even more exasperated.

And for everyone with an optical drive, they have the option to go through all these extra hoops as well, it's not like just because you have an internal optical drive you're required to use it when you're wanting to conserve battery life. I'd much rather have the option rather than be in a situation where I need or would benefit from an optical drive and not have it. Having it and not needing it is much better than needing it and not having it.

For movies, games and media creation, it would be very impractical to not have an optical drive. Each person's needs varies, but when the Macbook Air came out I laughed that it didn't have an optical drive- it was basically a glorified netbook. The Envy 15 is much the same. If you're buying a laptop with that much power though, you're probably using it for more than email.

It's sexy, but heat concerns and lack of an optical drive disqualify it from my short watch list. The Sager has a much better GPU, has better heat dissipation, has a full keyboard and has an optical drive, all for about the same price. It also has a much better warranty. So for me, it's tough to justify the Envy, even if it does look nice. But my momma always said "don't judge a notebook by it's cover..."

 

you make it sound complicated but you can buy all your movies, music and games from the internet. i just bought crysis directly from EA and im downloading it now. i dont need to burn anything anymore because of jump drives i can put media on that and plug into my PS3 to put it on my TV which is easier than burning a disc and cheaper. with current internet speeds i honestly dont see the need for an optical drive. but maybe your needs are different than mine.

 

Well, we do have to admit that deleting the OD bay is a risky move. Some have their opinions about it, and feel happy, some dont. It depends on each user and what the laptop is going to be used to...

Now, is it better to have or not OD Bay, that depends on each one. I for example, dont find it really necessary and I could survive without it...other might disagree too.

 

The thing is that they didn't eliminate it. It's just external now. If you don't want to copy it to your HDD, just bring it along.

 

yea if you do need it then it is still there.

 

We are not stupid, we know about virtual drives, they're nothing new, its just I don't want to have to burn an iso every time I want to watch a DVD. Ripping a DVD is no 2 minute task, its a pain. Whatever you think or not, no optical drive is a negative, though maybe not too much for some if they back up their movies regularly, which I don't but I guess I could start.

 

Anybody know how heavy the external drive is? I've never bought one so I don't know if it is cumbersome to lug around

 

Yes, having no optical drive is a negative. However, having 2 HDDs is more of a positive than missing an ODD for me. Everyone will have to weigh up the pros and cons. Different strokes for different folks and all that - otherwise we'd have one notebook manufacturer offering one model of notebook.

 

Check out the videos. The drive will probably add around 0.5 lbs, but it's very slim and not cumbersome IMO.

 

I think not having the optical drive could be hassle when you just want to quickly pop in a dvd, but even with dvds I find myself much more often either getting them online to begin with or ripping over several of them to my hard drive so it saves me the hassle of having to carry the discs around with me or bother with them at all. The way I see it it was a choice between 2nd HDD or internal ODD and I know I could benefit far more from the 2nd HDD with the possibility for RAID and also a SSD boot drive. It was a risky design decision, but one that might ultimately pay off for even professionals with the benefits the 2nd hdd brings to the table when on the move.

On a unrelated note, do you think they might be able to create some sort of dock for the envy 15 using the connection for the slice battery? I don't know what technical implications there are, but that seems like a good idea for those who absolutely need the built in optical sort of like how lenovo does it on their slimmer thinkpads.

 

I thought I had seen a dock on one of the videos / pictures somewhere that looked like it connected in place of the slice battery. I'll see if I can find it again and post the link.

EDIT: Funny.....I just saw the picture; it was a reflection from the table it was sat on. Ooops......

 

I don't like owning digital media, so yeah, that's a big difference between us. I want a physical disc that I OWN and can resell if I choose. Buying movies, music, or software online has some advantages and a lot of disadvantages. Digital distribution is still in its infancy stage and a lot of kinks are still being ironed out. Steam may be great, but it's the exception, not the rule right now. But no matter how you slice it, you can't resell any media you purchase via digital distribution and it bloats your already taxed HDD. With blu-ray, there is no way I would want to download 20-50GBs per movie and store that on a HDD when I could just have a disc that I can use in my PC on the go, in my home entertainment system at home or take to a friends house and watch it at his house.

On top of that, you have to realize that internet speeds are NOT that great in most areas. If you happen to live in an area that offers fios, great. But overall dial up is still very common for American households and even those with access to broadband don't have a fast enough connection to download GBs worth of media in a timely manner. I have cable at my house and sometimes even downloading a single gigabyte of data can take hours. Broadband speeds, prices and availability need to be an order of magnitude better than they are today to make full digital distribution a real possibility. But even then you have to deal with the DRM and lack of ability to resell. Even for music I prefer to buy a disc as the quality is much better.

 

Back to topic:
Yes, it was a risky move by HP, and you do really NEED the OD Bay, then the E13 and the E15 wont suit you, even you think think they are sexy and powerful and everything. The dual HDD offers any user to have 1TB or more of space. So space is not a problem, considering the low prices on eHDDs.

 

Or you could get a 17" and have an ODD and 3 HDDs! The options are endless... Which brings up the question, why haven't we seen any companies bringing this tech into the 17" market?

 

Well, some of us prefer to have a smaller and not so heavy big and clunky laptop as a 17 inch one.

Perhaps because we can have the power of a 17 inch in a 15 inch and keep it light, small and powerful? I would much rather get a 15 inch rather than a 17 inch, due to portability, weight, size, and IDK, seems like the right size to me lol

 

Be nice to see a Envy 17 - or something similar with backlit key, better cooling, Dual HDD+4 RAM slots, and a BR drive.

Basically want a slimmed down Dell M6400.

 

Simply put, the vast majority of people prefer smaller notebooks. Go into a retail outlet and see how many people are viewing the 15" machines in comparison to the 17" machines. Also, there was a report compiled by DisplaySearch that said netbook sales accounted for 22% of the sales of notebooks over a period of time. People simply prefer smaller - with so many tech things this is the case. Would you want to carry around a mobile phone the size of those sold back in 1996? Nope, you want a small streamlined phone no doubt, and for good reason. Battery life is improved, weight is less, size is physically more portable.

In fact, lets take a look at xoticpc, I just counted their notebooks and these were the results:

Less than or equal to 14" = 6
Between 15" & 16" = 13
17" = 7
18" = 2

You can see where this is going. If more people were happy with 17"+ notebooks, there would be more demand and therefore more variety being sold.

The lack of an optical drive is clearly an issue for you. That's fine, it will be an issue for many others. Buy a different notebook. Simple. Many people also said this was an issue with the Studio 14z that Dell recently released; yet there are many many people who have still bought one. Surely this is an indication that this is not an issue for a vast number of people?

I'm sure the mobile i7 technology will make it into the 17"+ notebooks, but again, the smaller notebooks must sell better, so that's what they've concentrated on first and foremost. If that's not the reason, then all of these businesses are missing a trick by not updating the type of notebook that will sell the fastest.

 

I wonder what their sales numbers are for 17'' premium laptops in general. I think though with an envy 17 its main competitor would be the apple mbp, which it might not make much sense to compete with considering the sales numbers involved in selling such a model.

 

I wondered this too, but alas I could find nothing on the usual research sites I frequent / have memberships for. Still, it reasons that if 17" notebooks sold more, there would be more widespread availability of them. I know the computers most of my friends have because I often am consulted on whether it's suitable - and out of 20 people that I know what their laptops are, only 2 have 17" machines. Maybe we should create a poll on here - that might give us a good indication.

 

Whoa! Sorry guys, I didn't mean to step on your 15" toes, lol. I realize smaller laptops are more popular, I wasn't trying to say they were inferior or anything. My question was simply why haven't companies announced any i7 (mobile- there are i7 desktop based notebooks) 17" models.

Gamers, media creators, CAD designers etc. etc. all want laptops with larger screens and all those people also need the most horsepower. Is this market smaller than the 15" portable web browsing market? Sure, but Ferrari is still doing business despite all the Fords and Toyotas on the market.

 

Took the words out of my mouth, lol.

 

Well there's been full on desktop core i7 laptops out on the market for a while now as you said, but as far as mobile i7 goes I think you'll see a lot more announced as you get closer to the windows 7 launch. I know MSI already said they have some coming and plenty more will start popping up soon. Granted I still think there's not a good chance of seeing an envy 17.

 

found a buyer for my HDX!!! just waiting for the release and a good review!!! cant wait.

 

Cool... going from home theater to mobility?

 

Probably not, however this option is probably my best bet at seeing an internal ODD and a better GPU and still get a sexy chassis. If HP made an Envy 17 with a 280m GPU, I'd probably be all over it.

 

I still think that HP did great with the E13 and E15. Nice design, high configs, small profile. They are aimed at mobility and power, that is why they carry an LV and an i7, power and mobility together! A E17 would not fit there that much IMO.