*HP Envy 15 (11XX / 12XX series) Owners Lounge!*

Check out the manual for Envy 15t-1200 CTO on HP support website. I think it lists the CPU upgrades, the choice of switchable graphics (if I"m not mistaken), and a few other things. I'm fairly certain it makes no mention of a backlit keyboard though.

 

Thanks.


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Couple Quick questions

When will we know the 3rd gen comes out?
Also is there a speakers difference between the beats edition and the regular. Or is the 300$ increase solely based on cosmetics?? ( Ive read on here that the hardware is identical but it doesnt seem that way it looks like the beats is less powerful in all aspects and more expensive...?)
I like the idea of an anti glare screen, but how does that affect the quality of the screen? Is it as bright as the glossy screen when turned up to full?

 

How are temps with the i7? I'm debating between this and the Vaio F and that machine seems to handle it well. I would think with three fans in this machine it would run cool. But everyone complained about the Gen1s heat with the i7, and I don't think they changed the cooling....?

Any info would be really appreciated....thanks!

 

Nope, there is definately no mention of switchable graphics or B/L keyboard....

@Blackthoughtz

The antiglare is not as bright, ~170 nits vs. ~220 nits on the 1080P glossy. I had both versions side by side and the A/G version IMO paled in comparison to the glossy which is brighter has higher contrast and is sharper ( the A/G appears 'fuzzy' around sharp edges / lines). As a photographer. the glossy was the only option for me.

Edit: Here is a link to a previous page where I posted full color gamut and other screen calibration results for the 1080P glossy (Ultra Brightview). I linked to the actual page because there is another post right below where I included 2 new ICC color calibration profiles for the display. HERE (about halfway down the page)

 

I have been reading this thread for a while and will likely purchase an E15. I am considering the quick-ship model with the i5-430. It, obviously doesn't come with USB3.0. Is there any way to upgrade one of the ports to USB 3.0 - even by upgrading to an i7 -720 down the road, for example? Or does it require a significant reconfiguration of things inside? I don't need 3.0 right, now, just thinking about the future. Thanks in advance for any input.

 

You would have to buy a new motherboard for it and i think an i7 to go with it

 

Thanks jjb

 

Are the i5's for the hp envy 15 permanently discontinued? They're no longer available from the HP website when you try to do a customization.

 

Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing. How much cheaper without an i7?

 

I'd say 2-300 cheaper without. Yes it's more future proof to have an I7 but in terms of what you want to do with the computer and the length of use you want to do with it is up to you. So JJB there will be a refresh huh hehehehehe time for a backlit keyboard, besides of not having a cd dvd drive its better mostly you can always just carry one around with you when you need to use it. I really feel that the 17-18.4 desktop replacements really do need those but the G3 probably will have one.

 

Hey guys,

After using my Envy for about a month, all of a sudden I'm getting this really annoying issue and I was wondering if any of you could help me out.

My wireless connection keeps dropping every couple of minutes after which the internal wireless can no long see ANY access points. The only way to get it to work again is to disable and reenable the wireless connection after which it dies after another 4 or 5 minutes.

If I try and run the diagnostics it tell me that my wireless connection is turned off, which is really weird.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

Regular Envy 15 with i5's are usually 1300-1700 USD CTO.

I suffer the same problem for three months now and the only solution I can see so far is occasionally resetting the adapter by either rebooting the laptop or reinstall the latest drivers. I am going to try to reinstall a fresh, non-factory copy of Windows 7 and see if that works later on but yeah, I am on the same boat with you on this one. However, I am for sure know this is not a hardware problem.

 

Do you live in the east coast? My laptop (Sony VAIO) does the same thing. I assume it's the heat.

 

There is a new Intel wifi driver just posted on the envy drivers thread HERE That's were the post announcing the new driver is, go to page 1 for the download link.

Don't know if it will help with your problems though....

 

I'm actually looking to switch my dual SSD setup for a traditional HD setup. I found that the cost wasn't worth the performance IMO. If you'd be interested in trading your 2.5" bracket and cables for my dual 1.8" bracket and cables, let me know. Otherwise HP charges something like $50 for the bracket, and $50 for the cables.

Also, if you're interested in taking these SSDs off my hands, let me know. Otherwise they're bound for eBay as soon as I get a new bracket.

 

@shadyshifty,

can I get the HP part numbers for the the dual 1.8" bracket with cables? I haven't had any luck finding them.

Also, does anyone know where I can get a protective pouch for the Envy 15 2nd Gen laptop like the one that comes with factory bought models? I'd like to make sure, and avoid any future scratches on top.

 

@HPexploring,

Though I'm not entirely sure this is correct (I've yet to crack my Envy open), the service manual states that 576829-001 is the part number for the Hard Drive Hardware Kit "For use only with 1.8-in hard drives", and 576830-001 is the part number for the hard drive cable "For use only with 1.8-in hard drives". I'm not going to disassemble my Envy until I know that someone will trade with me, so I can't confirm that either of these are correct.

As I stated earlier, these will run you a little over $50 each, so if you want to swap hardware (for only the cost of your shipping), let me know.

Maybe I'm missing something critical, but I thought tons of people would jump at the chance to switch their hardware to the elusive SSD setup, basically for free.

 

shadyshifty,

It looks like the hard drive mounting kit referenced is for the single drive option. Guess I'll keep looking.

 

I really need my envy 15 cool down....:cry:

It runs crazy hot when I'm in game

the left plamrest is closed to 120 F

 

Yea the east coast is sweltering ugh, but actually the new Intel drivers seem to have fixed my issue. My wireless stopped dropping, at least for the time being.

 

New bios update allows you to re-enable touchpad when it is disabled!! and @sylphic mine does that too randomly

 

yun, with amd gpu clock tool, can't you adjust the fan speed?

my 4670 can't, but who knows, give it a try

and have you put the fan to not always on, you know in the bios?

and what about to use the envy in a table?

 

Anyone know of any good deals/coupons or whatever to get the price down when buying an envy??

 

Is there a way to increase the speed at which the display adjusts brightness? What I mean is, when I press the button to change brightness, the display gradually gets brighter or dimmer, rather than changing instantly. I was wondering if there's a way to make the process faster or instantaneous.

 

The GPU is not too hot

The problem is from CPU, do yours run hot?

or only mine is running hot in gaming?

The fan is always on

 

are you blocking in any way the vents underneath the laptop? the cpu draws some of the air from it.

you can also try to open your laptop to see if the fans are really on

 

love playing dirt 2 on my envy 15 right now.

 

Anybody get touchpad discoloration? I first thought it was a grease stain but I used alcohol/water to clean the touch pad and it still remains. Basically the center of the touchpad and left click button look darker than the rest of the touchpad like I had greasy fingers while using it (even though I don't).

 

As I recall, you have an i7 720QM, which should barley even be stressed by any game, it's the GPU doing most of the work so, if anything, the right side should be getting hot not the left. Make sure that you have not set the power plan CPU settings to a min and max 100% level which would prevent it from idling, the only other things to check are maybe one of the two fans is faulty or possibly they did not apply the thermal paste to the CPU / Heatsink properly. If those are all OK then I think you may have a fualty machine.

I do not recall anyone having major left palmrest heat issues while gaming, the only complaints of CPU (left side) heat have been from those who do major processing tasks like rendering or encoding....

Another thought, make sure that your GPU is set for 'maximum performance' in CCC and / or 'Power plan' settings while plugged in. If by chance it's set to 'max power savings' the GPU will be throttled to 299/299 and the extra load while gaming will be picked up by the CPU....

 

I just got my envy 15. It's a real nice machine. However I can hear a high pitched whine noise when the fans are off. I have dual SSDs. Searching online revealed that this is an issue with the cpu entering a c4 power state. The envy bios has zero options whatsover.

Is there any other fix for this besides a constant cpu load? i tried setting the minimum processor speed at 100% in the power plan. Multiplier stays at 21, but the whine is still there.

 

Thanks JJB

My unit only has i5 430.
This is a replacement unit, it comes with flaw which is missing screw under battery slot.So I assume this unit has really bad quality since it is replacement.

I think one of the fan is dead.....I have to get it repaired

 

are the black screen issue's still going on with people upon receiving their envy 15's? I am ordering the beats edition in a week or so and am nervous as I live in England so returning it would be a huge hassle and expensive

 

Still dealing with HP's miserable customer service. If anyone wants to buy my i5-430m with dual ssd, let me know before they accept it as a return (machine is perfect but rocks back and forth).

Seeing as they aren't making the 15 with the i5 anymore, I'm in the works of trying to get them to send me an envy 14 of equal value instead.

 

I read earlier in the thread about the problem with the CPU underclocking while on battery power due to the lithium polymer battery not supplying enough power. Does everyone experience this issue, and is there a fix? Thanks

 

It's not a problem-HP limits the cpu multi to 9x on battery power. No way around it.

 

No discoloration here, and I've had my Gen 1 since December. It may be that yours is the result of using alcohol on it. Even diluted, I would think that shouldn't come anywhere near your touchpad...

 

My first Envy had a dark spot on the touchpad from the factory. My second one does not. It's a manufacturing defect.

 

Even on high performance mode? So we're talking 1.2 GHz max per core for the i7-720?
9*133 MHz = 1.2 GHz

 

Does this product sold only in USA? Where can I officially find it in Europe? I'm living in Turkey and after summer going to move in Vienna

 

Actually on the i7's you get throttled to x7 or 931 Mhz, it sounds very slow but in reality it's hardly noticable with normal tasks... remember you'll have 8 threads running at that speed.

 

That's probably a deal breaker for me... Downclocking the CPU is a good thing for the power saver setting, but if I need to do a CPU-intensive task every now and then while on battery, I want to be able to set it to high performance and get full performance.

 

You'll want to have a look at the E14 then.

 

the only thing that the envy 15 beats doesn't have that i want from the envy 14 is the radiance screen... JJB how much of a difference is there between the two once calibrated? I haven't seen a decently calibrated envy 15 1080p screen yet

 

If that were the case then the entire touch pad would've turned color. It just looks like a giant grease stain in the center of the touchpad.

 

I have to admit, the Envy 14 is very intriguing, especially with the option for an i7-840qm. That is a beast of a processor.

 

Why do you say that? I believe the E14 is throttled just like the E15...

Have no idea what the 14 looks like, never seen one and have no plans to, I have no need for a thicker, heavier, lower res computer with built in DVD...

The 15 looks fantastic when calibrated properly and as I posted earlier it reproduces 90+% of the sRGB gamut and 220 nits brightness. It's the best 1080p 15" screen I've seen so far.

 

Really? 90% ?

Is it for anti glare screen?

 

No it's for the glossy (as in my signature). HERE is the link to my previous post showing full color calibration results from the new spyder 4.0 software. The color gamut (first image) shows my envy's gamut in red and the 100% sRGB gamut in green over 90+% and the larger triangle is full adobe RGB gamut, this is almost never used for notebook displays as the color gamut spec (apple included), looks like the envy gets ~ 75% of adobe RGB.

 

I know this thread is about the Envy 15 2nd generation. I was just wondering if you guys know if or when HP will release the Envy 15 3rd generation? What I mean by 3rd generation is with backlit keyboard and probably a better gpu card like the HD 5850 or Nvidia 360m gts?