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

Yesterday I posted about the USB 3.0 My book and you guys said it was not a good deal, but from looking on NewEgg most 500GB 2.5" HDD's cost around $100-$130 and then you'd have around $30-50 for the USB 3.0 enclosure.

So how is a 1TB USB 3 drive that's $150 worse than a 500GB setup that will cost even more?

 

Received my Envy this week. Thought I'd recap some of my initial impressions before I do a clean re-install of Windows.

My system:

• Core i5-520m
• 4GB RAM
• 320GB 7200rpm
• 1080p Glossy
• ATI 5830

Positives:
Thin & Light: Love the portability. Makes using it on my lap and carrying it around the apartment MUCH easier than my older Inspiron.
Performance: Seems great so far, and that's no surprise to me. No hiccups running on battery either. Expecting it to perform even better once I format/re-install.
Looks: This really is a great looking laptop. Better looking than 95% of the laptops on the market IMO.
Build Quality: It feels solid as a rock.

Flaws:
Sharp front edge of palmrest: Front edge is definitely sharp. Probably not a total deal breaker, but it can get uncomfortable at times. Since it's a 2-piece design, the base portion protrudes above/beyond the surface of the flat palmrest portion creating a lip and adding to the sharpness of the edge.
Creaking sound on right palmrest: I have a spot on the lower right palmrest that if pushed down, will flex back and make a creaking noise. Unfortunately, since I know it's there, I find that I'm always "testing" it by putting extra pressure on the area, so now it's a mental thing for me. Wonder if I can open the laptop and figure out how to make it stop. Not sure if this is a deal breaker yet, but it does suck considering there are no other defects.

Annoyances:
Can't disassemble laptop without removing rubber feet. Huh?

Could be Improved If:
Edge-to-Edge glass: By far, edge-to-edge glass would be the biggest aesthetic improvement and would totally complete the premium look. The black glossy bezel is very $500-Best-Buy-laptop-ish.
Backlit keyboard: If executed properly (that is to say, no bleeding of light around the edges of the keys), this would add another element of premium to the laptop.
USB 3.0: Disappointed that it was excluded on the i5 models.
Switchable Graphics: Another disappointment as I'm sure this would have improved battery life.
Screen (hinge) angle: Not a deal breaker, but another 20 degrees of tilt would be perfect. Although, I wonder if they did this to prevent the laptop from tipping over because it does seem a little top heavy when the screen is opened all the way.

Could be promising, might need more testing:
Touchpad: Bit of a learning curve here. I thought it was glitchy at first but after tweaking some of the settings and updating to the latest driver, it is working out better than I thought it would. Love that it's big and very smooth feeling. I was able to increase the surface area that allows for one-finger scrolling and I'm already getting used to the two-finger scroll and circle-motion scroll. Scrolling is now pretty enjoyable!
Keyboard: Pleasantly surprised by the light touch/feel of the keys. Haven't done enough typing on it to know whether the extra set of keys on the left will throw off my flow.
Screen: Screen is very bright and looks decent enough. My old monitor was pretty nice, so this isn't a huge improvement. Might need to play around with color calibrating and experimenting more with that ClearType text program. Glossy factor is still a question mark for me. I mostly use this in the evenings with no overhead lights or sunlight reflections, so I don't think it'll be a problem.
Sound: The volume is too low. Might need to try JJB's recommended settings.
Battery life: I was hoping for GREAT battery life (see switchable graphics), but I think what I got was decent battery life. I'm getting 2:20 on pure browsing alone with screen brightness at 60% and Bluetooth turned off. Compared to my older Dell, it is adequate. Still need to do my clean re-install to see whether that will improve things.
Heat: Hasn't bothered me yet, but I haven't gamed or pushed the system either. Right palmrest area, which houses the 7200rpm HDD, gets moderately warm and so does one spot on the bottom. Overall, seems to run pretty cool.

Conclusion:
Although I don't see the Envy as perfection, I need to keep in perspective that I only paid $1,050 (they credited me $50 for the delay) and got a free 16GB thumb drive. I'll have to use this a lot over the next couple of weeks to see if I can live with the creaking noise and sharp edge. The next best thing for me would be a 15" MBP but I'd be paying 2x the price (assuming a refresh brings comparable specs). Overall, I'm very pleased with the build quality, looks, and size of this thing. Looking forward to making full use of my evaluation period.

Clean re-install here I come!

 

Yes, I am currently using 2 of them:

http://siig.com/ViewProduct.aspx?pn=JU-SA0312-S1

I have 7200rpm 2.5" Hard Drives in both of them, plug and play with one cable.

 

a 1TB WD Superspeed drive for about $150 to your door isnt bad at all.

its the same price for the 500GB because its single cable/portable/plug n play/no wall adapter needed. just a matter of choice.

 

I've got an Optiarc (Sony) BC-5500S that works fine reading on just one port with my Envy, even on battery. I did plug in both cables to burn the backup DVD's (because it admonishes you that you can only do it once...), and I haven't yet tested it with just a single cable.

 

The text probably looks bad because the scaling isnt correct. What kind of TV are you putting it on? make sure you set it to its native resolution first.

Fix the scaling: In catalyst control center, under "desktops and displays" look in the lower left for a tiny black triangle by your display. click it and choose configure. under "scaling" slide the bar all the way to the right to 0%. apply.

Fix the colors: next to the scaling tab, click pixel format (far right tab) and set it to RGB 4;4;4 Full. apply.

 

I just tested my cpu with cpuid software, it took the 1st cpu to 78 degrees C the leveled back to 76. The other three cpu's never got that hot. While I did this the Envy 15 (one week old) was warm but not hot. The vent of the cpu on right side of the case did spit out HOT air. Not enough to get burned buy a surprise.
Let me know if anyone makes a laptop cooler for front and side venting.

 

Anyone? Please

 

did anyone ever look at the hp hdx 16 series??? I am not really sure why the envy doesn't have an edge to edge... like the x16 wudn't be that much heavier would it?

 

nobody has the Anti Glare panel ??

is good ?

how about Adobe rgb coverage ??

somewone use this laptop for photo work ??

 

Several of us do. JJB and Genryu both posted some color profiles that seemed to work well. I like mine at least.

 

do you know what % of colour in Adobe Rgb shows ?

 

I don't like my matte panel at all.

This panel would be lucky to be at 60% color spectrum, most likely less...

 

HP seriously is going to give me an ulcer.

i had to return my 2nd envy this morning and reorder identical specs. they are charging me full price and then crediting me the difference after they get my replacement which is fine.... but they didn't match specs of the first one so I am now calling again to get it fixed... they tried to give me the matte display instead of the glossy. 2 hours on the phone with these people. so mad

 

Hp pretty much blows.

My 2nd Envy should be shipped monday and we'll see if the screen is up to par....

 

Wow that's crappy get them to give you a free SSD raid setup for sucking so hard

 

What I've found ideal is to set the dpi at 140% (no larger), then just rely on Ctrl-MouseScroll to adjust most applications.

In the end, the size will be fine and the higher res presentation will actually make things easier on your eyes than otherwise.

 

funny thing is this machine will end up costing me more than the one it is replacing since they refused to honor a 120 credit that they gave me. fair enough, but I told them point blank, if there's ANYTHING wrong with the machine, I would be returning it and taking my business elsewhere.


this has been quite the headache. at least they resubmitted the order for the right specs and promised to expedite the build given all of the trouble I have dealt with.

now i have to restore this envy and pack it up to be shipped.

 

Not sure why it doesn't have E2E either but I highly doubt it would have added a lot of weight. I'd speculate that the REAL reason they excluded it was because it cut into their gross margin percentage. I think consumers would have tolerated a few more ounces in favor of the sleekness of E2E.

 

Not me. I see no point at all in E2E.

 

I just bought the elitebook CTO in my sig for about $2600 shipped (envy was about 2200 shipped with the ADP warranty) and got the 3 yr on site ADP too, the business section of HP is way more intelligent and patient. You might want to call them up and get the phone discount and the 24% off and good customer service too. So far headache free and I'm really happy I snagged one, just gotta wait for it to come in.

 

Wow, that is more expensive than (2) of my i7 Envy's with the 1080 screen! ($1249)

 

Officially rated 60% Adobe RGB. Better than most, not as good as some. Only viable options I am aware of:

Dell XPS 16 w/RGB screen (weaker graphics, has other issues)

Lenovo W510 w/95% gamut screen (more expensive, and currently not available, only touch screen version currently online and carries about $450 premium on its own)

 

HEAT: most of the time the envy is a pleasure to use on the lap, even doing some fairly intense encoding/editing. It is usually only warm and the fans do a GREAT job.

I did finally play some games however(FarCry2 specifically) with the GPU clocked up and everything maxxed out, and yes the thing gets HOT! I had no problems whatsoever, everything was within spec according to my temp monitors, but i did take it off my lap because it was uncomfortable hot.

Just felt like telling you all... hahaa

Oh ya? Did anyone else use the quick paperclip trick to make the screen bend back all the way flat? Sweeet! (...LsRamAir hides in a dark corner and camps...)

 

What trick is this? Now I want to know about 2 tricks, this one and one that was mentioned about a different motion for scrolling.

 

Sorry, i had alot of really strong coffee, and that was a bad joke. There is no trick. I apologize.

 

:tongue: you meanny, LOL. Okay so I still want to know about the other way someone mentioned for using the touchpad to scroll, I have a hard time getting the 2 finger method to work.

 

smells like you have the i7-720 which is interesting because it was a $550 upgrade to the 820 on the envy and a $160 upgrade on the elitebook, nevertheless elitebook is a way better value at the prices i mentioned, maybe not so much at $1249 lol.

 

I just set the region on the right side of the touchpad to be scrolling... i just put my finger over there and it scrolls. I left the 2 finger one as well, it works ok sometimes... but im just used to the right side method because of previous laptops. All the settings are there. look in control panel, under mouse, and you will find a million ways to tweak the touchpad.

 

Separate your fingers. Keep them wider apart. That's what I end up having to do, because I can only guess that it's seeing both my fingertips as a single touch. Works every time now. You can have them as wide apart as you like.

 

Since most of our 2nd gen Envy's were configured WITHOUT the external DVD drive, how are you guys creating recovery disks prior to doing clean re-installs?

I remember a short discussion in one of the 3 or 4 Envy Owners threads last week about using third-party disk imaging utilities but can't find it now.

Is there a way to use the HP recovery tool to burn to a virtual DVD drive/ISO image and then put it onto a bootable USB thumb drive?

 

Quick question for gen 2 owners.

I know this may have been answered elsewhere, but I can't find anything using the search feature on the forums.

Anyway, I heard that the gen 2 physically looks different than the gen 1. Does it have the same texture on its surface? or does it look identical to the gen 1?

thnx

 

Identical in every way.

 

You should be able to call customer service and order them. I'm not sure, though... I bought a separate drive instead of the $150 for the Envy one. Maybe you know someone who has an external DVD/CD writer that you could borrow?

 

Hi guys, I've read through just about all 174 pages since Jan 20th. I've ordered my Envy and should be getting it this coming Wednesday. I have a few questions; how are the rubber feet secured on the under body? By glue or do they have rubber clips? If by glue, then how to you keep them from falling off again in the future? I'd want to add an additional 4 GB, but I'll be reluctant if I have to peal off glue held rubber feet to do so. Anyways thanks everyone for your posts and information.

 

If anyone has had any success with a clock-gen / clock multiplier control utility, please, please post here - I would like to have some direct control. I have a i7 CPU, in case it matters.

 

The feet are adhesive backed (peel and stick originally), I have removed and reused them on all 3 envy's I've had with no trouble. And they never came off after reapplying them. Just make sure you keep the sticky side clean / dust free while they are off the machine.

 

Another great scrolling tip is -- Once you start 2 finger scrolling you can remove 1 finger and it still works with remaining 1 finger, you can also 'walk' your fingers from one to the other to scroll long pages without having to reset/restart 2 finger scroll.

In the settings I activated 'edge motion' which allows you to scroll to the edge of the pad and the page will keep moving that direction until you lift your finger(s) or slide away from the edge. Works great for me.

 

It's frustrating that the HP Recovery Manager doesn't let you choose an alternate destination when creating recovery discs. It automatically tells me that my computer does not have a burning drive. No $hit, HP, you sold me an Envy!

Shouldn't it be able to generate a .ISO file that you can store anywhere and later burn to a DVD or put onto a bootable USB drive?

I can't figure out a way to trick the utility into thinking I have a DVD writer. Any thoughts?

Not sure why I'm so worried about recovery discs though. Maybe because it's the first time I'm doing a reinstall from a USB thumb drive?

 

Try this tool from HP - it allows you to make a backup to your USB drive.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&os=4063&product=3995938

 

If you upgrade to windows professional, you can create system image without dvd.

 

Does anyone know if there is a car adapter for the Envy 15?

 

The Orochi is a really fantastic mobile mouse. It does both bluetooth and wired connections. In wired mode it supports a 1000hz refresh rate (1ms) versus the normal 125hz refresh rate (16ms) which makes it feel extra smooth, especially at higher sensitivity levels. The high quality materials feel great, especially after other smooth/shiny mice which feel slippery and icky after extended use. This is the best mobile gaming mouse out there, bar none. It also makes an excellent mouse for high precision work such as Photoshop. I recommend the Kabuto mousing surface as an excellent travel mouse pad.

While the Mamba is an excellent desktop mouse (if a little pricey) because of the receiver it is not a good travel mouse.

The Orochi is a smaller mouse as befits its travel purpose, as a desktop mouse the Mamba is larger and feels better if you have larger hands.

 

If your doing a clean install don't forget to copy the SWsetup folder to an external drive so you have the needed drivers to reinstall. They aren't available to download from HP yet.

 

Thank you, that sounds like it'll do exactly what I need! Will give it a try.

Thanks, JJB. I've already backed up my SwSetup folder onto the same USB drive that has my bootable Windows 7 installation.

Hmm, since my thumb drive is a full 16GB, is it possible and/or wise to have both my Windows 7 installation (plus SwSetup) AND the HP factory restore disc on a single thumb drive?

 

If this was possible, I'd have the option of launching either a clean Windows re-install or factory restore from a single thumb drive.

Even though that sounds awesome, I'm starting to think it's not possible, lol.

It would kind of be like 2 discs in one, but I don't think the computer would know whether to run the Windows install disc or HP recovery tool, right?

 

This has probably been already asked but which directory has the Corel S/W VideoStudio and Paintshop Photo?

 

Okay I have several nice headsets I use with Dragon but they all use a seperate plug for ears & mic. What kind of adapter am I looking for so I can use one of my headsets with my envy. I'm assuming its some kind of combiner but not sure what to look for.

 

Thank you!

 

Apparently a "boot loader" would be needed on the USB drive to allow me to choose either the Windows 7 installer or the HP recovery program. I think this is the same as dual/multi-booting two OS's on a computer.

Anybody have experience doing this on an USB thumb drive?

Theoretically, this should work, and allow us to boot into all types of recovery apps and tools - I just don't know how to make it work