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

I am fine with a low resolution screen. It helps the 5830 with the FPS on native gaming and I got used to low resolutions from my older laptops.

The only thing that concerns me is that I hope I don't get a lemon one and since I got it on eBay, it is going to be annoying to deal with then with HP Direct. I am pretty much playing Russian Roulette here lol...

 

Another new Envy 2nd Gen owner here reporting for duty.

Got the computer yesterday, ordered from NetOnNet here in Sweden which was the only place that had them in stock for the same price as the HP site (at Komplett and Webhallen it costs 1000 sek more).

We only have two options here in Sweden and both has Core i7-720 and a FullHD Glossy screen. What differs them is that the more expensive version have more RAM, Blu-ray and an SSD+Sata combo. I got the cheaper one which is sufficient for me.

Judgement after having used it for some time during one evening: wonderful laptop.

If I should say something negative about it it is what lots of people already have said:

- Heat! Well, just being in Windows browsing the web and playing some music it gets mildly warm. Nothing that bothers me or will give me sweaty palms but when playing games (only tried with World of Warcraft which is the only game I'll play for the time being) the left palm rest will be much warmer. It's workable though but I could see myself getting a bit sweaty. Though right next to the vent hole at the upper left side of the keyboard it gets burning hot. No place I usually touch but still...

I haven't touched any BIOS settings yet for fan adjustments. Right now it's just the default settings.

At first I had a bit of a problem with the keyboard but that is common when using new keyboards. It feels really nice typing on it but the problem I have is the keys for opening the web browser or mail application at the left side of it. I position my hands wrong all the time because if it. I'll get used to it though I'm sure. But when using it at my desk I'll have an external keyboard and monitor for it.

I wish the screen could be turned a bit more backwards but the maximum angle do work for me where I sit. Having it on a lower table could be problematic though.

Now I might be used to mediocre laptops but the screen really is nice. Really good viewing angles not loosing much of its colours. I can mostly compare to my girlfriends cheaper laptop with a 1366x768 screen to which the Envy screen is just in another league.

Gaming performance seems good. Have only tried a couple of minutes in World of Warcraft but I can play at full resolution with medium settings (well, mix of some low and some high) flying around in Northrend (tried Dragonblight near Venomspite where there are a lot of trees) and it's locked at 60fps.

My old desktop computer with an nVidia 8800GT (512mb version) would have around 50 fps here at a lower resolution. Hoovering above Dalaran (enough height so I had the whole city on the screen with some people running around I could see) I was at 60fps as well. Was at 26+ fps inside Dalaran with loads of people on screen.

Gonna try to adjust some settings and install the most needed addons during the weekend and hopefully do a raid to really see how it performs.

Ohh, and the sound on it seems quite good for being a laptop.

Looking forward to the weekend... gonna spend quite some time on the laptop!

 

I just ordered the 1150nr with i5 430m chip. Figure with heat issues a slightly less clock wouldn't be too bad and with tb up to 2.5 that should be enough.

Anyone have this version to talk on heat issues? Any things to watch for when I get it Tuesday.

Tim

 

I had windows test performance and the bottom center of my Envy 15 got HOT for first time. It is only 2 weeks old.

 

no envy coupon or sales for president day

 

I wonder if HP still ships 1st generation Envy 15. Now if you buy a quick ship i7 core model, how can you tell you are buying 2nd gen vs 1st gen

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...VY&product_code=EPP_00_VM247UA#ABA&catLevel=2

Regular price $1999
EPP price $1799

 

call hp and order a quick ship version from them over the phone. makes sure they confirm it has a 5830, and ask them to email you a confirmation of this. if you get your quick ship and it has a 4830, you have it documented that they erred, and you can be sure they will exhange it for a 5830. that is, if you really want to quick ship rather than customize your own.

 

Att: HenrikBalsnes, I bought my Envy 15 Gen 2 from Komplett, didn't know that netonnet was cheaper... What bios version do you have? Mine came with F.17, but there is a F.18 in the wild. I would like to get the new version since F.17 has some Linux troubles. I hope the F.18 will fix this.

 

You only need to lower shadow setting to 2nd highest, all other setting can be highest with 4xMSAA and 1080p.

 

What Linux troubles are you having? I'm not having any trouble running running kernel 2.6.32, at least no trouble caused by the bios.

 

What distro is able to run consistently on the Envy?

 

When I first heard that there was going to be a 2nd Gen Envy I checked HP's swedish homepage and it gave the price of 15995,- and of some reason both Komplett and Webhallen had it for 16995,- (though they had them up for order quite a while before delivery)... so I thought that I had to pay that as well since HP's site said they were out of stock. NetOnNet didn't have them for order until very recently so I guess I was lucky enough to check that site out before placing an order.

Anyway, about the BIOS version: I just checked and mine came with F18.

 

Chakra, it is an Arch linux distro.

 

Can anyone else with the new Envy15 i7-720 confirm what BIOS version they have? I have F.17 but HP is telling me they don't understand where that came from as their most recent BIOS is version F.07A. They wanted me to flash the lower version number BIOS, but I get an error when trying. I am having a problem syncing my Ipod (Apparently some type of known issue with the P55 chipset?) Thanks for any help/info.

 

I have an i7-720 and according to HP support assistant, under general specifications, my bios is F.18

 

You mean the flash image that pops up telling you that you disabled the touchpad? I haven't checked. I uninstalled all the smart menu stuff a few minutes after I finally got it working, lol. I decided that I didn't like the useless background processes running just so I could get a visual volume key.

On top of that the media keys (play/pause, ff, rewind, etc.) don't work unless the media you're playing is the active screen. For example: if you have itunes running and you're searching the web as the active browser, pressing the media keys does nothing for me, I have to actively click on itunes and then use the media keys to change songs. That defeats the purpose of having media keys in the first place for me.

Do the quick launch buttons have anything to do with the media keys? I know on my logitech keyboard, I would need to have setpoint installed in order for the media keys to work everywhere and not just the active screen, maybe it's the same case here.

 

A screenshot from my i7 while doing some video encoding. Encoding seems to be fast - but the fans are blowing out hot air like anything.

 

Does anyone have a color profile for the glossy screen? The screen is just too blue.

 

Try this one: View attachment 2.7Gamma 7500K Envy 15 100% brt.zip

This is what I'm using for now on day to day stuff. I was trying to get good looking colors without it looking to warm like the photo editing profiles do. Let me know what you think...

EDIT: Does anyone have an accurate calibrated monitor (not an Envy) who can tell me what the colors on this web page are supposed to be?? With the above profile (on the ENVY glossy) the "post time & # bar" is medium grey vs. light blue and the "text boxes for posting / editing" are a lighter grey vs. a lighter blue for no calibration.

 

That was a step in the right direction as far as not looking too warm, but it killed the contrast and made the blacks to black.

 

Thanks much JJB. Looks like it'll take me a while to figure out how to install/active this. Never done it before. I followed instructions posted earlier by someone, also from google, couldn't get windows to use it as there was no color change (even though the profile is listed as default under devices now)

 

It was calibrated for 100% brightness. And on my display contrast is actually better (IMO) at all levels. Remember contrast is the difference between the darkest and brightest so darker 'balcks' will increase contrast.

 

If you have th free Winzip program just open the Winzip window and highlight and right click the file, a pop up menu should appear with a coice to 'install profile' , you don't even have to extract it.

 

Do you need to restart after you set the new profile as the default in the color management > advanced tabs?

It didn't seem like it did anything after I set it as the default.

 

I got my replacement Envy 15.

The lid is MUCH cleaner, no defects in the craftsmanship.

The computer is SILENT, has a different startup characteristic than my original Envy. The silence is golden.

The SSD they sent me is a G1 though. Model number SSDSA1MH160G1HP. Oh well. =P

Still blazing fast, and beautiful.

Did all of you who ordered the Dual 160gb SSD option get G2s? Should this even bother me? ^^;;

 

JBB just used your file....such a relief thanks!!!!!!

 

Good to hear you got it working.

Now could you please help the others who can not seem to get it to load? I never use the windows color program since my profiles are selected via a taskbar pop up from my calibration program.

Thanks.

 

Just to clarify: WCS device profile should show JJB's profile as default, correct? That's all I need to set as default for the profile to be added? I just restarted and I can't tell if there's any changes.

Great, I just noticed a gray dead pixel stuck in the middle of the screen... Now it's annoying me to no end.

 

How long did the replacement take? Did you first have to send back the old machine before they sent the new one?

 

It just seems too black IMO. On items that are dark but not black, I loose detail and they end up looking completely black. That's the best way I know to describe it. But thanks for posting it, and I think it's the best one so far!

 

I paid for a new system. It took a little over a week, ordered on the first of Feb, got it yesterday.

 

To use ICM file:

Right click desktop
Choose "Screen Resolution"
Choose "Advanced Settings"
Choose "Color Management" Tab
Click "Color Management" Button
Check "Use my settings for this device"
Press "Add.." Button
Press "Browse" Button
Select File
Press "Add"
Press Original "Add" Button again
Scroll to the bottom of the profile name list
Choose JBBs 2.7 Gamma File
Press "Ok" Button
Select 2.7Gamma From the ICC List in front of you
Press "Set as Default" Button
you're good to go.

 

Thanks again. Yes, colors are much better. I also found how to activate it in windows. You have to enable "windows display calibration" as explained in the second post here: http://social.answers.microsoft.com...p/thread/71b8d8e8-afa3-435a-aae4-6a8a184b6439

 

Can other people who have gotten the 160gb SSD + 250gb hard drive confirm which SSD they received? Thanks.

 

Quick Guide to activate color profile: (Rep appreciated)

1) Once you've downloaded a color profile, double click the file to install it into your system. (nothing will happen yet, this is normal)
2) Download and unzip this program: http://www.xrite.co.uk/downloader.a...iew.aspx?ID=757&Action=support&SoftwareID=539 (it's very small and doesn't even install)
3) Run the program and select the newly installed color profile from the list and watch the color change before your eyes.

Hope that helps.

 

or you can just install it through windows...no program needed...see my above post

 

Yes, but this program makes it easy to switch in real time from one to another profile. And this program doesn't install anything, it's really small and works great!

 

oh ok, gotcha, I only need 1 profile, the one that makes the pretty colors

 

I picked up this laptop and am enjoying it, but i'm regretting not having kicked in for the dual ssd option. It seems like going with after market drives is going to be a hassle and right now the prices aren't really great. I already called and got bounced around a bit with what seem to be uninformed answers. If I could pay the difference between the configs that'd be swell, but it doesn't seem like a very likely scenario. Is return and repurchase pretty much the only option?

 

I agree. Altoid's instructions are very easy to follow and you see the colors change before you eyes by selecting either profile (new one or old one) and making it the default.

Note to all... gotta unzip JJB's file before installing

 

so the drivers page is up, but with the old gen1 drivers, including 4830 instead of 5830.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=4063&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=4121195&lang=en

 

Fry's has the kensington 120W ultra portable charger for $25. Would it work with the Envy?

http://www.frys.com/product/5530860

 

Ugh, this stupid gray pixel got stuck yesterday (I never saw it before and I clean my lcd daily with a soft cloth) and it won't go away.

You can't see it on a black background, but it stands out on every other damn color, it's in the middle of the screen!

I tried rubbing the area with light pressure, covering a ballpoint pen with a soft cloth and tapping it, using that javascript color fixer program for 5 minutes then tapping it, but nothing works.

 

Unless there is something I'm missing, G1 vs G2 shouldn't be anything to worry about. They note a 0 to 10% "real-world" performance increase at the bottom of the page on the second link.

Edit: G2s get TRIM, G1s do not.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3607&p=4
http://anandtech.com/storage/showdoc.aspx?i=3631&p=11

 

Should I expect better battery performance with the 410GB option compared with the 500GB option? I would think the OS could shut down the 250GB drive and just run the SSD most of the time.

 

Hey guys, a little problem I had with my friend's 2nd gen Envy......

Whenever I start a game, like Mass Effect 2 or World in Conflict, the mouse cursor will not show on the game. I have to alt tab to the desktop to center cursor, then alt tab back so I can know where the mouse is, even though it's still invisible.

This happens with the Razer Orochi and the trackpad.

Sparknotes - No cursor in games. Help.

 

I used an Xrite Display 2 with the default settings and the default brightness.

You can give it a try if you like. Even though it may not be ideal, I tend to use HP's light sensor. This keeps me from going blind when I browse at night.

HP Envy Gen II 1080P glossy screen

http://cid-64267eea538c142d.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Monitor^_2-4-2010^_1.icc

Huge change from factory defaults!

 

okay.. update...
First of all, the new Envy 15 I received have Intel SSD G1 160GB HDD. So If you are thinking about sending yours back for a replacement, your SSD might be a G1 as well.

I tried to swap the i7 CPU, and find out something quite interesting: Even thought my new envy 15 comes with 4 RAM slots, with Dual core processor ONLY 2 of the 4 slots are enabled.
My Envy comes with 4x2GB RAM in all 4 slots. So after I swap out for the i7 620M CPU, my Envy would just stuck on POST with no display. At first I thought the CPU was at fault, but then I remember how i5 and i7 on the HP page configured differently. So I tested out the memory theory, by placing the RAM in the same configuration as the i5 Envy's. Hence Slot 2+4 empty, and Slot 1+3 filled with RAM. Vola! The comp posted. Right now I don't really have the time to fully test the i7 620M system, so I placed back the i7 720QM into the comp.

More to come for the next few days.

FYI: This system is able to OC the Graphics to 565/1050 Stable. not as great as my first Envy 15 refresh, but it is ALOT better than the last crappy one.

 

FYI: Won't load for me. Get an error that the profile is an unexpected length... Both in my spyder 'profile chooser' and windows.

 

Has anyone been able to reinstall the Corel Apps on a fresh copy of Windows 7? I can't find them in SWSETUP.