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

Seems to vary. My i7 820 came with 1066 but have seem posts that others got 1333.

 

Meh. I like the Gimp myself.

 

I can't figure out which subfolder of the sw directory has the Corel stuff LOL.

 

Can anyone describe how hot their right palm rest is? I have turned fans to be continually on all the time now, and the left palm rest (where the cpu is?) is cool and comfortable. My right palm rest however is hot even while not doing anything (7200rpm).

Does anyone else notice this? Does having an SSD help here? I was wondering how the 160+250 combo heat was like. Does having 2 drives have any effect on battery life???

Also, are people getting consistent battery life? I can only manage to squeeze like 2 hours battery life out of this thing now (just web browsing, battery saver, med bright)

 

FYI

Since we are all talking about Corel

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1006&thread=34404099

Corel Paintshop Pro X3 -> $19.99 for a limited time until Feb 7th

 

Awesome, thanks I think thats a great deal.

 

when did u order yours?

 

The Envy G1's were shipped with 1333, the new ones 1066.

Not that you'll ever notice a difference, though

 

Are you guys reinstalling from a backup on the hard drive that is already there or a Windows 7 DVD that you have or got legally online? (I remember Microsoft hosting these themselves).

Do you guys just have the SWFolder on a zip drive or on the backup DVD?

Is everything including the Coral Studio and other software that you can choose to install yourself in the SW Folder?

I'm debating on whether doing a clean install. Thanks!!!

 

It's official, I am getting the hp envy 15 =D

i7-720 QM, 8GB ram, 500 GB HDD 7200 rpm, Blu-ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Double Layer, glossy 1920 x 1080p screen. So excited XD

Finally they got the usb 3.0 on the 15-1100 uk editions.

 

It won't fit into a zip drive.

 

I personally used a legal copy of Windows 7 Enterprise (not really sure of the differences with the Pro version). I made a copy of the disk on a 8Go flash drive following the instruction I found on a website (did that 3 months ago).

For the drivers, I initially forgot to copy the SWsetup dir, so I struggled a little with that. The Win7 install took me about 25 minutes from the flash drive, and about 1 hour to get all the drivers working properly (plus several hours getting the SWsetup directory back!).

I must say, the laptop is running faster with a fresh install, bu for some reason, the HP softwares (multimedia and webcam) are running slower...maybe due to Win7 enterprise?!

I would suggest to do a fresh install if you are used to installing OS and playing with drivers. Otherwise, be wise and stick the factory settings (although you can remove the uninteresting softwares)

 

I ended up copying all the drivers and some other useful tools on the Envy SD card. All I needed fit in it.

 

Sheesh, would love to know why UK can get Blu-ray but US can't

 

I bet you meant 6h03 on the 15 (9+6) cells.... ?


From my experience (working everyday with the Envy) here are the battery life I get with a i5, 7.2k HDD, and 1900x1080 screen:
- doing nothing but some MS office, wireless on, browsing websites, brightness to 50%: ~3h00 on the 6 cells battery
- watching streaming movie online with sound volume to 90%, and brightness to 90% (obviously wireless on): ~2h00

With the extra 9cells slice, just multiply by 2.5 those values.

 

I ordered these...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104158

8GB total to replace the 6GB 1066 mine shipped with. I hope they are compatible. Kingston is usually pretty good about that tho.

Can anyone else confirm which 1333 models they bought aftermarket and that worked great? I know i heard about a few of you doing it. Thanks.

 

Nowadays it doesn't make that much difference because the memory controller is onchip. Us performance mongers out there always want the fastest thing availible. Rumor has it that DRAM prices will drop toward the end of the year so upgrades to 4GB sticks will become much cheaper.

 

Anyone using a bluetooh mouse? I figure it would be the best mouse to get for when your on the go and I know right handers don't like the usb ports being on the right side.

The one I was looking at was a Razer. I'm love my G5 Logitech Laser mouse but I don't see any offerings from Logitech for Blu-ray. Anyone have experience with this mouse?

http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Orochi-Bluetooth-Notebook-Gaming/dp/B002JTWODG/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1265149596&sr=8-8

There is also this one that is more expensive and I believe it is not blutooth but just wireless. I'm not sure what it uses.

http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Mamba-Wireless-Gaming-Laser/dp/B001WAKR3W/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1265149596&sr=8-1

 

My envy g1 had 1066, 6gb of it. it was a toss up.

i wanted 8gb so i figured id pop for a little more and swap it all out to 1333, and cas7 at that. hope it works.

 

apple's magic mouse should work as well.

 

How much did the BDrom add to the price of the BTO eventhough they don't offer it anymore?

 

The External BDRom that came with HP is a

Sony Optiarc BD ROM BC-5600S

as per the device manager

its a USB2 device and Slot Load, also comes with 2 additional USB ports on the unit.

 

It was $150 if i remember correctly.

 

Sorry about that I ll try to look in that folder when i get home, try doing a search in that folder for corel, if you cannot find it, its problably not in the folder.

 

Congratulations and welcome to the club, its a shame about the whole VAT tax though. The envy is a great system from my experience I think you'll be satisfied with your decision.

 

Anyone order the Driver/Support recovery CD from the HP site https://warp2.external.hp.com/driver/dr_country_select.asp?Product=605540-002&lang=en&cc=us? If so, whats on it?

 

If we retain the recovery partition, how can we enable it to do recovery? I thought once we format C: we can't initiate a recovery from the recovery partition.

 

I bought the MS bluetrack mouse - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0025ZH43O/ref=oss_product

It has a small reciever which will fit close to the usb port.

EDIT: When I placed the order it was 27, now it has gone upto 34.

 

Good question.

You are about right. I know a little about that since I run into this problem (did a fresh install, but forgot to copy the SWsetup dir, and thus I wanted to do a recovery to get access to this dir).

The version of Win 7 I installed, would not let me use the image on the RECOVERY partition. Even at boot, when launching the Win7 recovery tool where you can select a "recovery image" from any support, it would not find it on the RECOVERY partition.

Then I wanted to create the recovery DVD from the partition (you can do it using HP tool - HP website - and the RECOVERY partition...if you have a DVD burner!! not my case). Thus, I wanted to use a similar HP tool that would let you do the same but on a USB flash drive. Unfortunately my flash drive was 8Go, and HP tool will not let you split the 12Go image into 2 flash drives (although it does it for the DVDs!!).

Finally I after trying 10 times, when Win 7 booted, I selected "recover from [cant remember the end]" and it worked (the other choice was "Launch Win7 without running any diag").

Hope this will (kind of) answer your question

 

I need your opinion:
I would like to get a second power charger to keep at work, so I do not need to carry it everyday. I also would like to use it when I am traveling.

The most important for me is to be able to have the full power of the laptop (so let's forget charger models with power < 100W).
I know HP is selling "certified" charger (120W and 180W) which have the same size of the actual charger.

I also found a Kensington 120W charger and a Targus 90W(120W peak) charger that are "travel" chargers. Any feedback about those chargers working with the Envy?

I am not as much worry about the tips as about the ability of the Envy to work with those "non-certified" chargers.

 

I would be very careful about getting a second charger that is not advertised to charge for the envy, the envy uses Lithium polymer (different from lithium ion) battery and requires a smart charger that is compatible with its type of charging. I have read about these type of batteries( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_polymer_battery) and I would not suggest you purchase a charger based on wattage.

Please read the article for charging in that link I ve given.

 

Weird. I can't seem to be able to install the Bluetooth drivers on my i5 Envy. It says no Bluetooth device found. Anyone else experienced this before?

 

make sure your wireless is turned on.

 

These are the 1333 (2 x 4GB) I got and they seem to work perfectly with my i5-540m. If I recall you have a 720Q and these stick are the exact same as came with my 1st gen1 envy. Also it looks like the price dropped by $8 , look for coupon code for ewiz / superbiz before you order, always seem to be a few every week.

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=D3-13S4GS

PS: these were in the envy that broke the 10K barrier

 

Thanks for the link, I will check carefully...

 

I'm not sure going from 1066 to 1333 would make that much of a diff however, if I should decide to go for it how hard is it to swap out the 3 - 2gig sticks HP installed?

 

The HP chargers have a third contact they call a 'smart pin' (center contact in barrel) This sends a signal to the computer telling it what the max output is. The computer then will de-clock itself if the max power is not sensed. On the Hp 90w charger the multiplyer drop to x9 to x11 depending on your processor, this is about 900Mhz (i7-720QM) to 1.2Ghz (i5-540M) max speed when plugged in.

I have the HP 65W slim travel adapter and it clocks my 15-540 down to x9 or 1.2Ghz, I have not done further testing to see how it works when charging a dead battery while using computer etc...

I have a tech support 'trouble ticket' they are working on. They are trying to confirm if the 90W adapter can be used for full performance on the lower powered i5 processors, it has beeen a week with no response so far...

I have heard reports that the after market chargers do not work at all since they do not have the 'smart pin'. Would like to have more confirmation on this if anyone has tried another brand on the Envy 15 ??

No offense but your info is very flawed. The AC adapter has nothing to do with the charging of the batteries other than providing DC power to the computer. All the charging circuitry is in the computer itself. The adapter just converts AC to a regulated DC voltage. In the case of the HP adapters they also send a signal telling what the max output is via the third contact or 'smart pin', see above info.

 

I just tried to send them an email with similar question, but of course their server refused my email... :-(

 

I got the 1333's only because they were $20ea less than the 1066's at the time I ordered. They seem to work perfectly and in the 'everest' info program they show a matching timing table for running at 1066 speed (7-7-7-20).

I have posted specific instructions twice in here regarding changing the internal memory. also see the internal photos I posted. basically 17 screws, 4 rubber feet and the trackpad connector on the mobo. Look at the gen 1 service manual it has step by step instructions with drawings, just keep in mind that you can skip over the section on removing the actual keyboard and it's 60 screws (not necessary for memory xchange).

 

NOTE TO ALL POSTING ON THIS THREAD, OUR MODERATER SERG POSTED EARLIER THAT THIS 2ND GENERATION THREAD IS FOR THE NEW I5 SERIES PROCESSORS AND THE ORIGINAL THREAD (NOW PART 2) WILL BE FOR THE I7 PROCESSOR MODELS.

PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND WHILE REQUESTING SPECIFIC INFO ON YOUR VERSION OF THE ENVY. IT IS GETTING VERY CONFUSING IN HERE WITH ALL THE QUESTIONS FROM PEOPLE THAT DO NOT SPECIFY WHAT PROCESSOR / MODEL THEY HAVE.

COULD EVERYONE PLEASE ADD A 'SIGNATURE' TO YOUR POSTS THAT INCLUDES THE BASIC INFO ON YOUR SYSTEM, THIS WILL MAKE IT MUCH LESS CONFUSING FOR ALL OF US.

To do this go to the top of any page and hit 'quick links' then choose 'edit signature'

Obviously there is a lot of crossover between the two versions and common questions / issues. It has just gotten very tough to follow things with all the recent activity so lets try to keep the threads seperate where possible and if we all add a sig to I.D. our systems it should make things a little easier to follow

 

There's so many damn threads about this laptop (regardless of generation), that I just click on the title and hold tight, hoping I can read where I left off the day before.

 

You jerk. You just influenced me to buy one 4GB CL7 stick of Samsung 1066

On a completely different topic, anyone want to buy a 2GB stick that came with an Envy?

 

What?! just 2 Gigs? if someone is selling the original 4 gigs I'll take it =D

 

6GB is still more than the 4GB you have I'll sell the other 2GB eventually, it's just that I'm not made of money, I have a 1 year old and another on the way, and I want some headroom to make it perform better as it's getting older I'll hold off on the SSD for a year or two.

 

How much do you want for it? =D

 

okay... weird. just received an Email from HP in regard to my replacement Envy 15 i7 720QM 4GB 410gb HD (160 SSD + 250HDD).

Dear XXXXX,

Thank you for purchasing an HP notebook computer. We would like to inform you that the webcam option you had selected has unfortunately become unavailable. So we have upgraded your order to include both a webcam and finger print reader at no additional cost to you.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and feel free to contact 1-866-217-6014 if you require further assistance. Thank you again for selecting HP as your product of choice.

Sincerely,
Customer Service

I thought Envy 15 doesn't have a fingerprint option.....

 

Apparently it does now

 

Maybe they're changing the mouse-pad to include buttons on the bottom with a fingerprint reader in the center of them. All speculation, but if it did it would fix integrated mouse buttons that skip all the time when you use two fingers. That would be great!

 

So you get an external webcam and fingerprint reader instead of built in webcam? That sucks. Otherwise, how can they upgrade you to something they don't have? lol

 

well i swapped out the i5 520 with an i7 820, very big temperature difference. will keep the i7 installed a while and see if i can get used to it.

also, for those wanting to upgrade from i5 to i7, you will need to clean the CPU copper heatsink off. the pad covering the copper plate has to be removed. took me 45 minutes to clean it thoroughly.