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

Has anyone tried putting an 740qm or 840qm in a Gen 2 envy?

 

Is the screen on this bright enough to be able to see the keyboard in the dark? If it is then I don't mind the lack of a backlit keyboard at all.

 

The problem with Horror Stories on the Internet is that you never hear from the (generally substantially more common) "it just worked the way I expected it to" people. So it seems like there are a "LOT" of horror stories, when in reality, there's really not many of them. 10 sounds like a lot, even 50 does. But that's out of how many people that buy them?

Here in Washington DC where it was close to 100F recently, the notebook didn't get that warm. Granted, I didn't use it outside when it was that hot. I think that people simply have unrealistic expectations, coupled with a total lack of understanding of what is hot and what is "warm".

Note that the slice batter is pretty heavy, and significantly adds to the weight of the notebook (though not much to the bulk of it).

I've noticed that the right palm rest has a little bit of flex in it. I'm kind of disappointed with that, but it's relatively minor.

No, you're one of the countless many that got an almost flawless envy 15. The people that complain are the unlucky few that got an actually flawed one, I think.

 

Are the better screen and graphics card of an Envy 15 worth it over a much cheaper dv6tse with a SSD, 6GB of ram, and backlit keyboard? I guess the Envy 15 is smaller as well.

 

You'll have trouble seeing the keys in the dark. Full screen brightness does not seem to help.

 

Are there any lightweight/compact 120W adapters out there for the Envy 15?

EDIT: I found this fairly new Cooler Master power adapter and was wondering if it would be enough to power the Envy 15 on load.

 

So I just got my Envy 15 on Monday and have been extremely happy with its performance so far. I do have one issue if anyone can help...

The light on the touchpad (that should be off when the touchpad is on) is always on. If I double tap it, the light gets dimmer but does not go off and the touchpad goes off. This is the opposite of what is written in the manual.

I did a fresh install of Win7 with the newest drivers on the HP site, so I don't get it. It is not really a problem so much as just confusing.

Any clues???

 

update to the latest BIOS F.2A. and download the Synaptics Drivers.

 

Thanks. I actually have the latest bios and, oddly enough, the driver version I have (15.0.9.0) is actually newer than what is listed on HP or synaptics websites (14.0.11.2a or 14.0.3). Should I try to revert back to the older (HP) version?

 

I'm a new Envy 14 owner, and while I did my best to follow the Envy 14 threads, I haven't spent much time here. I really liked the idea of the Envy 15, and would prefer a more powerful GPU. But the dismal battery life, lack of switchable graphics, and low clocked CPU's on battery turned me off.

Has there been any information regarding another Envy 15 refresh that will improve battery life and not downclock the CPU on battery? I'd love a 1080p monitor and HD 5830 (or faster). But until then, my Envy 14 will have to do!

Thanks.

 

Wait, does the Envy 15 still downclock the CPU on battery?

 

Trying to sell my x18 SSD's....if I sell them individually, do I have to unraid them first or do I just take them out and ship 'em off individually and whoever buys them should be able to just do a clean install on 'em?

Also, when I take these off of my Envy, I'll have to put the new HD in another computer first to do the "recovery" on it and then put the new HD in the Envy right? Since the Envy doesn't have a CD drive?

Thanks guys!

 

Try to put your finger on that upper left corner and hold it there for a good 10 seconds

 

My Envy screen goes blank after coming back from Hibernate and If I press the power button to make it sleep and wake it up again, the screen would come back on. However, my external mouse would stop working. I do have the latest bios and drivers (did a fresh install)

Has any experience this?

thanks

 

How hot does this laptop get?

 

Extremely slow wireless after doing all the driver updates. I don't know which particular update did this but my wireless seems to be crawling compared to what it was like just two days ago when I first got the laptop and hadn't done any updates on it yet.

I re-installed the wireless driver from HP's website, the one from 4/22/10, and still super-slow. I have the 6200 Advanced-N like most of you here.

What could have happenned to make my wireless so slow? I have a thinkpad right next to it right now and it's blazing fast compared to it...even though the thinkpad is 3yrs old with slower processor and lots of junk programs on it right now.

 

the synaptics drivers version im using is 15.0.17.4 May 10.

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp49001-49500/sp49242.exe

its works perfectly

 

I have the i5 version and this beast doesn't get very warm.... under load the cpu hits 55-65 deg c and gpu about 70deg c

And bdw I fixed the issue with my battery...apparently batterybar is reporting the wrong time and after testing it with a quick timer app my friend wrote (just reports the time system was on for when the machine reboots) I am now getting my 2hrs 30 min battery life again...yay!

 

@Mocsharp, try updating to the new Bios F2A. The previous version (F29) was said to have fixed that particular issue, while the new Bios is said to fix other and (apparently) most Black Screen Problems.

You can find the new Bios here.

Hope that helps.

 

At last I heard it does. And no switchable graphics? Come on HP!

 

well the fact there is no switchable graphics is due to the raid option of the ssds. Apparently the Hm55 chipset does not support raid where as the pm55 does...

 

So its either RAID or switchable graphics then? One would think battery life would be ever so more important in a 15" notebook than RAID. But who am I?

 

Well Personally I want switchable graphics so I could be on the go longer... But at the same time some who use this laptop in a professional workplace want the speed as there using them as a very light and portable workstation

Honestly Its the best of both worlds, Lightweight and portable and the power of desktop replacement...

 

The following has been covered but the search function sucks here. My machine came with 2 1.8" SSDs. I would like to know what setups would allow me to put in a 2.5 drive. Can I replace one of the SSDs with one 2.5 drive? Or do I have to get rid both SSDs if I want a 2.5 drive? In any of these setups do I need to order adapters/kits?

 

So I am torn between the Sager 8690 and Envy 15, and just when I thought I was gonna get the Envy, I see that the apparently do not offer the i7 on their website. Also, looks like the USB 3 port is not listed under the specs, however it says the memory is expandable to 16 gig. I thought only the i7 motherboard is expandable to 16 gig. Anyone know what is going on with their products?

 

Disregard... I did some digging in this thread and saw that HP has been all over the place with what they offer in this machine. Guess they are trying to get rid of old stock or something. I can't wait much longer to order a laptop before I head for the desert!

 

already running latest

 

Sager overall has better specs IMHO, just no dual HDD/SSD option. It's heavier by ~ 2.5lbs and worse battery life, but cooling is great and you get one of the best GPU's. If you're not carrying it around with you a lot I'd recommend the Sager.

 

Yeah I would get the Sager if I didn't need to carry around my laptop. Unfortunately I do, which makes it a lot harder to find a laptop.
Personally, I'm stuck trying to decide between the Envy 15 and the dv6tse. Envy 15 has a much nicer screen and graphics card, and is slightly smaller, but the dv6tse has a SSD, better battery life, free 6GB ram upgrade, and a backlit keyboard, and is still much cheaper. Basically comes down to better gaming+screen vs. overall faster performance thanks to the SSD, and price.

 

I have this adapter, and it works great. Powers my Envy at full-tilt, but I only have an i5, not the i7: http://www.buy.com/prod/kensington-...w/q/listingid/76134518/loc/101/205147259.html

You will need to order a new adapter/drive caddy to get any 2.5" drive in, and it is not compatible with any 1.8" drives in the system. You can either have a single 2.5" drive, or two 1.8" drives, and that's it.

It's not too horribly hard to replace the drive with an SSD... it may be worthwhile for you to do that, since you'll need an external drive for media anyway. Just do like I did, order the 500GB 7200RPM drive with the Envy, then swap it to an external caddy and put an SSD in instead.

 

I was torn with the exact same decision earlier today, when I finally pulled the trigger on the Envy 15. Ultimately what really got me was the build quality. This machine is built beautifully and the screen is just gorgeous. I will be carrying it around for the next 4 years so I wanted something that would last. The whole system came out to maybe $100 more than the Dv6t SE with the configuration you listed.

As far as the SSD and ram, both get cheaper by the month. While 6GB of ram and a 160GB SSD seemed like a good deal now, they aren't worth the screen sacrifices and the build quality and feel of the laptop. I can spend $200 in a year or two and get 6-8GB of ram or an SSD, but I'll never be able to replace that low res screen. Plus, neither one is really the bottleneck in any intensive tasks I'll be doing on the notebook. Almost every situation in which I would want more juice would be the graphics card, and the 5830 definitely handled that.

In other news I have been informed this laptop doesn't actually have an optical drive. Anyone know of a cheap/reliable one I could pick up?

 

Yeah, I was thinking about doing that if I got the Envy eventually. The only thing is that it adds even more to the cost, so I can't afford it now, but I'd like to get an SSD maybe a year from now when they are cheaper and/or I have the money.

Would it also be easy to upgrade the ram later? I've never really messed around with computers before.

Do you think that if I wait for the next gen Envy, the price will go up? I read here that there isn't much different about the 3rd gen, but it has the new processors, so I was hoping to be able to choose the 450m instead of the 520m to lower the price some. I'm just afraid they might raise the base price as well.

Also, is the extra 6 cell battery is worth it since I need this laptop for college?

Also can anyone list the cons/problems of the Envy 15 for me? Or tell me where to find them. I think I know all the good things about it, but I'm not sure if I missed any bad things.

Thanks for all the help, guys.

Edit: I was also thinking of ordering both the Envy 15 and the dv6tse and trying them out and then returning the one I liked less, which I apparently can do due to HP's return policy, but I would feel like a jerk doing that.

 

The +$550 that HP charges for the dual intel SSDs is essentially a "buy-one-get-one-free" deal for those specific drives. I'm using my Envy for college and I have to say (as I have already to everyone I know who plans on purchasing a laptop) that spending extra money on an SSD is better than getting a more powerful CPU/GPU. The SSD makes SO MUCH difference in everyday tasks.

As far as the battery, I get ~1:30 with my 6 cell, but I have 2 so I get a total of ~3:00. The only annoying thing is that you can only charge the 6 cell while its in the laptop (I wish there was a separate charger for it...) but its only 0.4 lb while the slice battery is 3 lb. So worth it in my opinion.

Also, unless you're an engineering student (like me) and need to do graphic/processor intensive tasks, get the i5 4xx cpu. Best bang for the buck in all other cases.

 

Quick question:

Does anyone use a cooling pad with their Envy? If so, any recommendations given the Envy's vent design?

 

Keeping checking Newegg.com every once in a while coz they regularly give out pretty good rebates on "slim" external drives with free shipping.

For example, I got this ASUS external drive re-certified with a rebate last month. Works perfectly fine.

 

Looks like there are currently some official HP drives available on eBay for only $100: HP Envy 13 15 Slot-in external USB Blu-ray DVD RW BDROM - eBay (item 140425123387 end time Aug-07-10 06:22:49 PDT)

 

Yeah I really would like an SSD which is why I was thinking about the dv6tse (which I can get with the i5-450m, 6GB ram, 160GB SSD, and other stuff for aroun $1100 thanks to a $200 coupon). I just can't afford an SSD on the Envy right now, even if it's a good deal. I can upgrade to an SSD later, though, but I won't be able to upgrade the dv6tse's screen or GPU.

Also, I haven't declared a major yet, but I have been thinking about engineering. I was told that as an engineering major, I won't have to do graphics/processor intensive stuff until my junior year, but mainly my senior year. So I figure I'll probably need a new computer for my senior year anyway and not worry about it now, since I would prefer the extra battery life of an i5 processor. I also plan to do some moderate gaming now, so an i7 might be helpful there, but I think I'm OK with the i5 for gaming, even if it restricts me a bit later on. I'm not the most hardcore gamer.

 

So which sleeves are people finding out work well with this?

So far through the thread I have:
Incase's Macbook 17 sleeve
HP's Onyx Sleeve
Watershed Sleeve

I had a nice zeroshock one for my thinkpad but it's close to $40 after shipping and all...plus it doesn't match the envy's luxurious feel/style. (and all the zippers eventually broke off of it after a couple of years)

Any suggestions? Which sleeve are you using? I like the idea of a sleeve having at least a mini handle.

 

I think the Envy 15 has 4 Ram slots. This means you can upgrade to 8GB of Ram for $85 on Newegg.

 

Hi. I am planning to get myself one of these new envys (either 14 or 17), but I heard that both their video cards are underclocked. Is it the same for envy 15? I want to get the premium I will pay for.

Thanks.

 

Correction... the i7 version has 4 slots...the i5 only has 2

 

There's now a $75 coupon for the Envy 15 by the way.

I'm thinking about finally ordering this tonight. If anyone could quickly list for me the negative things about the Envy 15, that would be great. I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything that is a deal-breaker.

 

Love my envy 15 (i5, ssd's). If you get ssd, it's worth noting 4k read/write speeds are sub-par. It's a controller issue, not a drive issue, so post-purchase upgrades will have the problem. HP is aware of it and no fix appears to be forthcoming (maybe not possible w/out hardware change?).

Nonetheless, in my opinion, the ssd performance of my envy has still been very good. Significantly better than any hdd-based system I use regularly and enough so that I now dread working at non-ssd systems, even my fairly new desktop machine.

Just throwing this out there as an fyi as something that at present has no fix. Further discussion of this here.

 

So ho noticeable is the difference between full speed SSD and the SSD with the Envy 15 during regular use?

 

Unfortunately, I don't know. The only other SSD systems I've used have been too different for any meaningful comparison.

Like I said, I'm happy with my envy's performance. Lately, I've had arcgis10 and either autocad or an adobe cs5 app open, as well as firefox with a ton of loaded tabs and streaming video going, all while simultaneously running a vmware windows 7 session and arcgis 9. It handles that like a champ.

 

Just wondering, but I ordered my Envy 15 on the 4th, and it said it would be finished processing/building by the 17th. Is it actually going to take that long, or is that a sort of "just in case" date for HP? The only thing I ordered differently from default would be the screen.

 

In my case it took 2-3 weeks after the initial quoted shipping date due to supply constraints.

 

My Envy 15 missed the shipping cutoff. One extra day to wait. Sad Panda

 

Mine was supposed to ship out on the 2nd. Got notified that there was a delay and still waiting for it...

 

Hi guys,

Having read through a large portion of these posts, I thought I'd compile some of the more interesting things for the users who are about to get their ENVY.

To do a clean install of Windows so that you get rid of all the extra crap pre-installed:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...ut-box-guide-2-0-windows-7-a.html#post5496472

Already listed in the threads above, but to get drivers after reinstalling
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-drivers-software-forum/426181-drivers-hp-envy-15-intel.html

To upgrade your video card driver
ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

To have control over clocking the speed of your video card
techPowerUp! :: Download AMD GPU Clock Tool v0.9.26.0 For HD 5870
By underclocking the video card, you can gain significant amounts of battery time.

To get a skinned monitor volume viewer
3RVX Reviews - 3RVX is a skinnable volume display and controller. - 3RVX Download

To learn about using the trackpad
SYNAPTICS | Scrybe

To upgrade to an SSD if you don't have one
HP Envy 15 SSD install

Have fun guys. I know I will!