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

I have a messenger bag that barely fits a macbook pro, so I'm assuming since the 15 inch envy is .2 more than the MBP, it will not be fitting in my bag. Does anyone have an indication when the 14 inch envy will be released?

Thanks

 

ugh, see, having had my envy sent from the US to italy, getting warranty is going to be a pain in the bum, so I'm quite terrified by these horror stories...please, please be good, my lil envy...it's been here for half a week so I can rule out DOA issues, but I worry a lot...

 

The $200 coupon still work. I just tried it 5 minutes ago. Here is a screenshot. You can use it to give to them.

As far as the $250 coupon, that worked only online for some odd reason. I was able to add it to shopping cart and that showed up. But when I called them, they said it was invalid. So I told them, to cancel my order and I'll just use the coupon to order online. They decided to just give me the $50 credit to make it easier.

Wow. that is fast? You purchase the quick ship model or something? I order mine a week ago and build date is March 10th. Wierd that they billed my credit card already and I have yet to receive the laptop or even it is in build yet.

 

@Smilpak

What did you use to add the red arrows to the image?

 

HP Envy has HDMI output, but HP support can't tell the max. resolution they support. HDMI suports higher resolution than 1080p ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HDMI) Can someone plaese connect the Envy HDMI to any HDMI Monitor with higher resolution than 1080p and check if Envy 15 supports more than 1080p (Acer 27" B273HU 2048x1152px, Dell 27" U2711 2560x1440px, Dell 2790W 25" 1920x1200px)

 

I'd kind of been wondering about output. I',m planning to try and hook the Envy to my 55" WS TV and wondered what settings I should use. I know it, the TV can handle 1080i and 720p but wasn't sure if I had to make any desktop rez changes before I hook it up/send the signal to the TV.

 

Snag It...Love the program. Used it since the early free days.

Windows 7 has SnipIt, which is a like a cheap version of Snag It.

 

FYI: TOUCHPAD DRIVER

I just noticed that HP has an older version of the synaptics touchpad driver (14.0.5.9 A) listed as the current download.

The new envy's come with 14.0.11.2 installed for the touchpad. Do not know the differences but if you want the most current touchpad driver after a clean install make sure and get it from the SWsetup folder that came with your machine, NOT the HP website.

 

FYI: New BIOS available

HP now has BIOS F .19 listed on the support page for download / burn. Does not have any details as to what is different.

It comes up as valid for my i5-540M model number when I searched. Has anyone tried this upgrade yet??

I am leary to try since I have F .18 which is not available for download if i had to revert back for some reason.

 

I just downloaded and installed F.19 BIOS. No problems, although I don't know what it fixes.

 

I hooked my Envy 15 up to a 1920x1200 monitor and it could not output that resolution. The max was 1920x1080, which is very disappointing...

 

Strange, my envy 15 can do 1920x1200 just fine. I have a hans-g 27.5 in monitor, fyi. I have the 10.3 beta driver and f.19 bios installed; the only problem I have with this envy is that it difficult to find a stable oc for the gpu. One day its stable as a rock and I can play borderlands at 550/1100 -- on other days, it black screens with the same setting, and even lower oc's.. =\ Oh well, hopefully the new envy that is coming will be better than this one -- AND with two G2 ssd's!

 

If my 13in macBook with a 9400M can output to my LCD (2048x1152) and do my MacBooks LCD at the same time(1280x800) I'd be surprised that the 4830/5830 can't out put out 1080 or more.

 

Good to know as I am looking at new external monitors.

What is the GPU monitor app I see in your screen shot? Does it read all the items shown ?

 

Oh, that's just the windows widget I found on the internet, and yes it does read all the items shown.

http://gallery.live.com/search.aspx?q=gpu
It's the third one on the list "GPU monitor"

 

new bios eh? I'll wait for the release notes before installing that...if it aint broken, don't fix it...

 

Well, I decided to not go with the envy 15 after all but instead get the asus G73JH. For those you are going to buy the envy 15, I think it's a great notebook, very powerful in such a thin and small package -- I just didn't like the game that hp plays with the hardware specs, making its own customers play a guessing game. Anyway, I have a tip for those who plan to buy this laptop: on top of your discounts, you can possibly get 100-200 dollars off if you order your notebook and then call in 1-3 days later and ask for a cancellation. Tell them that you have decided to go with another brand of notebook from another company and well, just sound really depress (haha). I was asked so many times that it bordered on annoying.. I think it's a sure shot to get an extra 100$ off, I wouldn't try your luck though cause they could just say screw it and cancel your order for real. I think I only got to the 200$ mark because I kept on rejecting them and telling them that their HP customer service sucks, so a no is a no.

 

I don't know - it's one thing to use coupons and take advantage of cashback offers, but if you don't like the price at which they're willing to sell it to you, don't buy it. By all means, buy a different laptop. Placing an order - asking human beings to assemble you a laptop according to your specifications - when you know you're going to call back a day later and 'cancel' just to get an extra $100 off is a little low.

I'm not saying don't call and cancel if you really do change your mind, but I get a little tired of people complaining about how dishonest these companies are when they're willing to display an identical if not even higher level of deception to get what they want out of HP.

I've never owned an HP and don't have any love for them in particular - I am awaiting my first Envy and I'll send it back if it's busted or doesn't work as promised - but if you're tired of these companies playing games with you, why would you recommend playing the same sort of games with them?

 

I am tired of the company, but the notebook is a solid piece of work. I am a graduate student so I need all the financial "help" I can get. I figured, there are probably a few people out there in the same situation I am -- that's why I posted my "tip". Honestly though, these company make a grip of money off of us to begin with. My new dislike for HP only made it easier for me to post my findings. If it is fine for them have ambiguous customization options, then I as a customer should be able to be ambiguous about my purchasing decision as well.

Once again, the envy 15 itself was wonderful; it's sad I won't be using it anymore, but I don't think I will miss it that much as my new asus will be shipping with i7 920xm and 5870 gpu.

 

Two things,

Looks like this 19 bios creates some display problems. When the system boots with an external display connected, the laptop screen remains blank, and there is no way to wake it up, even if you disconnect the external monitor, or mess with the "F4" key. I have to shutdown, disconnect the monitor, then power up.

I am also noticing the machine running hotter and also way more activity from the fans just doing light stuff like browsing the web. I may just re-flash to F.18 (if I can find it)

 

Seriously, if you cannot afford it , then please don't TRY to buy the Envy . You are just wasting HP's & other serious minded purchasers time & resources.

You may wish to consider playing your 'games' elsewhere .

 

Any feedback on the F.19? Does it solve the blank screen issue?

 

You can find a link to burn the F .18 BIOS on the "Envy 15 drivers (intel)" thread. It was hard to find that thread, I'm not on my computer that has the link to it right now or I'd post it here. I do recall it went to an ftp at an HP site so it must be on the HP.com support site somewhere....

I will check my temps when I get back, F .19 seemed to be working fine for me last night. Did not try with an external display yet.

 

can someone confirm that the gen 2 accept a 2.5" Drive?

Thanks.

 

ouch, as I thought...not broken, don't fix...

 

You can use one 2.5 drive or with bracket 2 x 1.8 drives

 

Could someone with an i5 and an HDD post their temps? I would really like to know what sort of HDD temps people are getting with their i5. Rep will be given...thanks!

 

How good is the ssd that comes with the single hdd and ssd combo?

 

Can I assume since mine is being built it will probably come with f.19?

 

It's an intel 1.8" 160GB SSD, g1 or g2. Either one is still the top of the line performance wise unless you compare to server / enterprise class SSD's at 2X+ cost.

 

If you need all the financial help you can get, what are you doing shopping in the high-end premium notebook market?

Nothing like a sense of entitlement!

 

Has anyone got a minor creaky touchpad? My touchpad after a week's worth of light use feels creaky when you tap on press on the button part of it. I feel like HP reliability is once again put to the test here.

EDIT: I fixed the problem by force applying and adjusting the touchpad towards me and it kinda refirmed the springs under the pad. No more creaky-ness!

 

Has anyone changed the thermal paste on their ENVY to AC5 or anything else? If so how did the tempts change? I know on some lower end HP's the thermal "pads" they use are terrible. I was wondering if anyone has looked into it.

 

yep, temps did not change but 1 or 2 degrees. i used diamond 7 thermal compound, its my favorite kind.

 

Sorry, I think there is a misunderstanding -- perhaps I should have typed "get as much as a discount I can get off of the system because I am cheap " instead of "help" or "need all the financial help I can get". I hope this cleared things up for you. I am a graduate student and the field I am in requires me to work heavily with 3d modeling, matlab, posthoc, and the variety of fMRI/PET/EEG scans -- most of the time concurrently. I require a powerful laptop in order to pull this off, thus I chose HP envy 15. Your assumption of myself being a poor college student is expected given the info I have provided you, but let me reassure you, I could have afforded the m17x -- with every top piece of hardware. Now, when it comes down to money, if I am able to save a hundred or two -- I will take the opportunity to do so. I have read many posts of people asking for coupon deals and/or student discounts on the envy in these forums multiple times; that's why I thought I should share what I found. If your conscience will not allow you to pull such an underhanded tactic of getting some addition money off, then don't do it. At the end of the day, you are getting a premium laptop from HP at a set profit price for them [albeit the prices of envy 15s are very good considering the build and hardware it comes with] -- the "smart" thing to do is take advantage of the their "kindness" in offering you an addition discount because obviously it doesn't hurt them that much, financially as they wouldn't do it if it did.


Thoughts on the envy 15 before I return it & and my solution to black screens
Besides that, I still have the laptop so I am still doing tests on it. The F.19 BIOS that I recently installed does run a little bit hotter, 3-7 degrees Celsius more. I have also noticed that the fans are more aggressive -- which is a good thing because before it was too passive -- although it did just fine in providing adequate air circulation while under heavy stress. Even with the increase in fan speed, it is still whisper quiet and hardly is noticeable. My envy came with an i7 820 cpu, and under an overly heavy load, i.e. crysis 1920x1080, High settings, no AA and matlab & posthoc running an active virtual model organism conditioning experiment, obviously things were slowed down a bit in crysis and things got moderately warm but it was no where near unbearable hot like other people have reported it to be. Keep in mind, the level of stress the envy was under was pretty high IMO, I did this process with extended display settings. I had the crysis on the large 27.5 inch monitor, and the matlab, posthoc, and 3d brain imaging on the envy display. Again, overall it is a solid notebook as during my stress test, it did not black screen and/or slow down drastically at all -- if any slow down occurred, it was minuscule.

I solved my own black screen problem by:

1. devicemanager>display ad>ati 8730>uninstall drivers [check install software too]. EDIT: I forgot to mention that I also uninstalled ALL the microsoft visual c++ 2008's via control panel>programs>programs and features.

2. After the uninstallation, it will probably ask you to restart, refuse and go ahead and install your 10.3 ati preview driver. After the installation, do a restart.

3. On restart, you could get a message that asks you to do another restart, comply and wait for the second restart -- if not, don't worry about it. Go to ccc and check to see if everything is set i.e. drivers version etc.

4. Note that the gpu is located in the upper right hand corner, and that is where the fan pushes all the hot air out from; obviously providing a healthy area for displacement of hot air coming from this vent should be common sense -- I did not do this, as it was close to books [eventhough there was still a lot of space between the notebook itself and the books]. I found that after fully uninstalling stock drivers and mediating favorable air flow halted all the black screens I was getting with an oced gpu.

4. Overclocking has a tendency to cause black screens -- even though the gpu left alone, does not black screen at all, fyi. Overclocking is nice to see how far you can push the 5830 so it's a shame everytime I oced it would black screen me. I was able to get a stable 550/1100 [549.97/1098.87] with a 3dmark06 score of 899X. Anything more than this would still cause a black screen.

 

Is that 3Dmark06 score after your 'fix' with the 10.3 drivers ??

If so I think you must have other issues with your system. Was not aware until this post that you had the i7 820QM, with that CPU you should be getting higher scores.

I just re-ran 3D06 with everything at default settings and my base score was 8011. Same default settings with a matching OC of 550 / 1100 I got 9622. Everything being equal your CPU score should add an extra 150 - 250 points above these scores.

 

Yes jjb, unfortunately that is my 3dmark06 score after my black screen fix with f.19 bios/10.3 driver. It's good to have your input on this because now I know for sure there is something wrong with the hardware. Just an FYI my system spec is: (copying your format)

ENVY 15 l i7 820QM l ATI 5830 GPU l 4GB DDR3 1060 l 2 x 160 GB SSD l 1920x1080 matte l Win7 64bit Homeprem

The memory sticks that came with the notebook were not made my samsung, I can't really remember the name but I'm sure you know what I am talking about. It's the 860hz-1060hz dd3 ram they have been putting into all their gen 2 envy15's ordered with 4-8 gigs ddr3 -- 16gig envy 15's come with 1333hz samsung sticks.

 

The brand you probably got is 'Crucial' by Micron tech. (1066Mhz) which are excellent quality. I assume you realize that even though I'm using 1333Mhz sticks they are running at 1066Mhz as that is the max speed of the i5 memory controller. Considering this, I don't think the memory has any bearing on your low scores.

I have had issues before with multiple installs of CCC and drivers from ATI. From what i've read there can be conflicts from overwriting old versions. Here is a link to 'DriverCleaner' which I bought and was amazed at how much left over 'garbage' it found from ATI/AMD after I uninstalled everything with revo unistaller. http://www.drivercleaner.net/ If you try it make sure and follow directions exactly and I would have the 10.3 preview file saved and unzipped so you don't have to do that in VGA mode.

It is specifically designed for ATI & Nvidia driver removal. Unfortunatly it costs $10. I used it on this machine after having issues with the 10.2 upgrade but never got to test the results as I ended up doing a clean install of Win7 (for other reasons) and just loaded the 10.3 preview instead.

 

@kzdomo:

This is mostly another post as verification that something is fishy with your computer.

I have an Envy i7-720 and 550/1100 are the clocks I've ran with the most if overclocked (very stable). I get 9666 in 3dMarks06 with the 10.3 preview drivers and a lower clocked CPU than yours. Using F.18 BIOS though.

 

Regardless of whether he's a poor college student or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company he has every right to save money if the opportunity arises. Just because someone has a decent income doesn't mean they can just throw money away like it's toilet paper. Get off your high horse... he found a notebook that fits his needs and he's trying to get the best deal he can for it.

 

My horse is only high with respect to calling and threatening to cancel your order for an extra $100. OP basically instructed everyone to do that and is now backpedaling and saying no, just take advantage of every coupon that's out there.

If he (or I) did just misunderstand the bit about threatening to cancel, then I agree with him (and you). Shoot, I probably got more off mine than he got off his, since I had the Bing 20% cashback on my order. I even understand people sending their premium notebooks back because they got G1 SSDs instead of G2s. The only horse I've got in this game is 'hows about we don't lie to the people with whom we want to do business?'

My point is that everybody around here rails against these companies for being deceptive and dishonest but a great many of us would gladly say or do just about anything for that extra hundred bucks, particularly if we can justify our financial 'need.' You can say that HP deserves it. Who knows, maybe they do. I just think it's a bit cynical.

 

I agree, there is a difference between saving money and cheating/stealing from a company.

If people don't like HP then they don't need to buy their products. The money taken from HP probably hurt some elderly lady living off Social Security with some supplemental income from her IRA.

 

Alright, this is my first post and I need some buyers advice. I currently have a 3 year old desktop that is getting pretty slugish and I want to get something portable this time around. I've been researching laptops for a couple weeks, and this forum feels like I hit gold. I'm not in a big rush, but I would like to purchase a new laptop in the next couple months.

I'm pinned between these two laptops:

15in Macbook Pro

2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
320GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm CUSTOM UPGRADED to Intel 160gb ssd X25-M G2

1849$ Laptop
499$ Intel X25-M Mainstream G2 160GB SSD
180$ Windows 7 Home
2528$ = Total

I have never owned a Mac, but I really love the look and design of them. I use them at school and I really enjoy it. I have toyed around with a new 2009 model of the Macbook pro and I have to say, the experience of the device is awesome. If i were to purchase I would use bootcamp for some windows games; nothing super hardcore.

One thing really holding me back is that the Macbook pro is not Arrandale yet. I would love to purchase a Macbook Pro if it had a i5 540m inside. The life cycle(about 8 months) is at its end and apple should be releasing updated versions of their laptops any day now. But, what if apple's new Arrandale laptops cost significantly more than the core 2 duo? I don't think I could afford it then, but god, a Macbook Pro with an Arrandale Chip is what I dream about.​

HP ENVY 15​

i5 520m
4GB Ram
320GB Dual SSD
15.6" diagonal Full High Definition LED HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen Display (1920x1080)
One 6 Cell Lithium Ion Polymer Battery + One 9 Cell HP Envy Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery

$2,175

I have to say, HP's envy look damn sexy. Probably because they look so much like Apples, but I don't care. HP ENVY 15 is by far cheaper and faster and the better value if you look at the numbers, but I still have a hard time deciding.​

Let me compile my + and - of both systems

Macbook Pro

+ Design
+ Trackpad
+ Resell Value
+ Mac OS X and Windows 7
+ I always wanted a Mac
++ Battery life is double or more than Envy 15

- Price
-- No Arrandale

This could change very soon with Macbook Pro's update imminent​

- 160GB SSD(Intel G2) vs ENVY 320GB SSD(Intel G1)

I really really REALLY want SSD, I see the performance is incredible, but what will be the downfall of Intel's G1 drives verses their G2 drives? As far as I know the Envy comes with G1s and not G2s and they both perform about the same, but the G2s can be produced cheaper and last longer(correct me if i'm wrong) Oh, and their is no TRIM on mac os x as of yet​

HP ENVY 15

++Arrandale i5
++ 320gb SSD for only 500$

Can someone explain to me how HP can put two 160GB intel G1 or G2 SSD drives in this laptop for only 500$? As far as I know they run about 500$ per drive on newegg, so wouldn't it make more sense if HP charged 1000$ for the upgrade? This doesn't seem right to me, if these are true Intel G1 drives that have been labeled the BEST of the BEST SSD's wouldn't it cost a lot more? The upgrade looks like a steal to me, and this is a reason why I would love to purchase the ENVY 15 over the Macbook Pro, because they offer the intel SSD which has been known to be the best.​

+ Price/value per $ of performance

If you only look at the price, it is only a 350$ difference, which is not THAT much a difference, but then If you look at performance, the Macbook pro has no chance​

+ 1080p Screen
+ Speakers, Beats audio

- Battery Life is awful compared to the Macbook Pro

I know there is a slice, and I would buy the slice if i choose the ENVY, but why should I have too? The laptop should have long batter life as is. I do like the idea of the slice though.​

- Trackpad (compared to macbooks)

I have read many reviews saying the trackpad is not very good. I heard their was an updated firmware to fix the intitial problems, but it's no Macbook trackpad.​

- Heating Issue

Can someone give me a straight answer if a HP ENVY 15 with an i5 chip running heavy programs be too hot to handle? Too hot to place in lap or have palm rest on the computer? I don't want to have to use a mouse and keyboard, I would have just bought a damn desktop. I DON'T WANT A LAPTOP THAT IS HOT! From what I know, the generation 2 Envy's no longer have as bad a heating issue as the first generation, can someone confirm this?​

- No OS X
- No guarantee an Intel x-25m G2 drive will be inside

​

I feel somewhat lost. If the next update on the Macbook Pro's indeed uses an Arrandale chip at the same price tag, I think I would go with the macbook pro, but as of right now I feel like it's a toss up. Give me some advice, and your two cents. Are you happy with your HP ENVY 15? Is it too hot? Are the 1.8'' SSD drives intel's G2 or G1's; how can it be such a cheap upgrade?

Thank you,
Jon

 

NEW COLOR PROFILE FOR THE GLOSSY 1080P GEN 2 DISPLAY

This one was created at 85% brightness level (2.4 gamma / 7500K) and should be a good all around profile for general use, it gets rid of the excessive blue tint while preserving good color and contrast without being to 'warm'.

If your currently using my "100% brt....." profile, this one is almost the same with slightly better shadow detail and a little brighter overall. I think it works better on lower brightness settings (60 - 80 %).

It's a .zip file and you should be able to just right click and select 'install profile'.

View attachment Envy glossy 90% bright profile.zip

 

I montior temps regularly, and I can tell you that as far as performance laptops go, it's pretty normal in terms of heat output. It also runs significantly cooler at full load than other laptops i've had (XPS15/UL80VT). If anyones curious I can post screencaps later today.

I can't really speak on how it feels in the lap as that's rare for me, but I think it might be only slightly uncomfortable while gaming.​

 

MacBook is like 2-3yr old technology that was over priced when it came out 2-3yrs ago. Now its even worse of a value.

 

@ Jon03021

The i5 models have no heat issues. My sisters MBP 15 '09 (OSX) runs much warmer doing anything taxing. Also, from what I've read, if you run bootcamp and windows the battery life is about half of what you get with OSX, so about the same as the envy. Not bad considering the much higher performance and smaller internal battery (53W vs. 73W). I don't like the slice as it adds 2.7 Lbs. I went with an extra 6 cell (.8Lbs).

One big thing you seem to have overlooked is the GPU, graphics wise the envy is 2-3 generations ahead of the MBP as far as performance goes.

SSD's: HP buys at OEM prices not the retail numbers you see. You get 2 1.8" 160GB SSD's in RAID0 and you can't use Trim in RAID which means G1 or G2 doesn't make any real difference. Are you even sure that the intel 2.5" SSD will fit and is compatable with the MBP? Apple has a way of tweaking just about everything to force you to use thier 'upgrades'.

The Apple has better design and build quality, the envy is the closest a PC has come to match it but it's not at the same level. I really cannot imagine Apple pricing the next refresh of the MBP to compete with thier exisiting products they will likely charge a large prememium for the higher performance (at least initially)

 

Thanks, this profile looks quite good on my envy. +rep

 

Coolie. Updated my HP Envy 15 Tech Blog for it. -- Thx


Another awesome, my HP Envy 15 is in Shipped status. Interestedly fast. Build date was March 10, shipped today.

 

You may want to make sure it works correctly before adding to your blog

Edit: I guess it does from the above post.