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

Take it for what it's worth, but I got the same setup as you and got just below 8000 on 3dmark06 when I ran it.

 

Might as well ask in this thread as well (they should merge) since I do have a 2nd gen Envy.

If you tilt the Envy, does it sound like something is loose up near the CPU fan? For me it sounds like something is moving in there when tilting it back and forth. I also have this annoying sound from the CPU fan, like something is touching it and it starts to freak me out a bit. It wasn't like that before and nowadays the computer isn't as quiet as it was.

Thinking about leaving it for service but want to be assured there really is something wrong with it before I do so!

 

you need to remember there's a 7200 rpm drive spinning in there (unless you have SSD)
I remember tilting my envy upwards a bit too quickly and hearing a bleeping sound from the reading heads as the gyro forces tried to keep the plates level, so watch out

 

8007 without OC is perfectly respectable and I think even a little bit above average..check out the benchmark thread.

also, the biggest factor in games is wether you decide to play at 1080p or 720p...some, like just cause 2, look almost exactly the same with twice the framerate...

 

Well it is definitely not the hard drive. It sounds like a smaller, maybe plastic, item that is loose in there.

But I read in the driver thread some minutes ago about someone that found some black plastic loose where the two extra ram slots are under the battery. I'll check that when I get home laster. Sounds like something that could be it.

Though, that probably won't fix my fan noise so I might turn it in for service anyway. Or open it up myself to take a look but I'm afraid that nullifies my warranty.

 

There are no stickers to break if you open the laptop. Just make sure you pay attention to the cables attached to palmrest when you open it.

 

HenrikBalsnes,

I got mine 2 days ago and i had to send it for exchange for reasons similar to yours:

1. Every time I tilted (not shake )the notebook from vertical to horizontal and vice versa then it could hear something loose to the left of the track pad. It sounded like how wall clock's second tick sounds.

2. While the computer is on and everytime you would tilt the computer toward yourself then you will hear light buzz sound coming from the middle of the keyboard... kind of like a fly buzzy by your ear.

3. One of the key was leaning to one side.

4. the rubber stoppers gluded on the screen were getting unglued. I experienced this when i opened the notebook. Boy did that make an impression on me. For the record i think it's the most F****** dumbest idea to glue on the screen in the 1st place.

Anyhu, was really looking fwd to this pubby but man 1st impression was anything but disappionting. I've request an exchange so let's hope it goes better; otherwise, i'm willing to buy outdated MBP just to have piece of mind from the Quality point of view. MPB release the dam updates (stupid iPAD).

The End

 

I've got a theoretical question that's also being discussed in my thread, but which probably belongs here.

Do you guys think that it would be possible to replace the CPU on the i7 version of the Envy with a dual-core one (specifically, something like a PGA 988 version of i7-640LM)? The point of this would be to increase battery life and decrease heat, while still keeping the USB3 and whatnot. The service manual, which was linked on page 69 of this thread, has a guide for replacing the i7 CPU, so it seems like it's not soldered on... but maybe there are other problems, such as with the BIOS. If it means that only 2 RAM slots will be usable, I don't mind, but I have a feeling that there might be more important issues.

 

IIRC you can go one way but not the other, I think from a dual core to a quad. It is a standard 988 socket and PM55 chipset. Try searching for posts from; Sleey0 and Johnobts (spelling?). They both changed the CPUs'.

Why not consider the i5 version of the envy 15? No USB 3.0 but it does have an e-SATA port and I can get 3 Hrs on battery with the 540M. I don't believe the LM versions will have any significant impact on battery life since the CPU is throttled to an x7 (i7) or x9 (i5) multiplier when on battery (no way to override) so the 25W vs. 35W TDP will make little difference, if any.

EDIT: Looked at your thread and FYI the slice battery (9 cell) weighs 2.7 Lbs. I just use an extra 6 cell ( .8 Lbs ) and can get well over 5.5 hours that way. Plus it is very easy to store in a bag, ~ 4" x 8" x 3/8".

 

Gotcha - thanks for the info. I think I might have to just pass on the Envy 15, then, and consider the new version of the Vaio Z and its quite inferior GT 330M and/or wait for the MacBook Pro refresh, then... or maybe hope for the Envy 14 to be better than I currently expect. Or I can just keep my current Vaio Z for a while longer; it gets ~8+ hours (overkill) with the extended battery but can't handle games like BF:BC2.

I've got a desktop for most of my gaming needs, so a new laptop is just for some occasional gaming on the go. I just figure that an i7 model might last me a long time.

 

Anyone tried the new Intel my WIFI with this new Envy? Apparently it is supported? I installed the myWIFI software from intel and it activated it. I dont have the Netgear or supported devices, but that is kewl.

 

Does it do anything for you without netgear and or devices??

 

Is anyone bothered by how the HP Envy 15's screen doesn't open all the way?

How have you adjusted or compensated for it? Thanks.

 

The screen not opening is my #1 complaint! I still bought one anyway though... will be here Friday.

If the dual SSDs are G1 I'm mailing it back! The $450 coupon hit today and I would rather save tons of cash than Intel's obsolete SSD technology.

 

I would suggest just odering a new one with the coupon (with SSD's) and returning the one that you recieve. That large a coupon won't last long, they usually have a set number of allowable uses and then expire.

The G1 SSD's are really not an issue since they come in RAID0 config so TRIM does not work anyway. Read HERE for full G1 vs. G2 comparison, and trust me you will not be able to tell the minimal difference in performance in any real world usage between the 2.

I have no issue with the limited screen angle, part of the reason is the very good vertical viewing angle.

 

In case you missed it above:

NEW COUPON FOR $450 OFF :yes: on Envy 13 and Envy 15 CTO's of $1399 or more.

CODE: NBMY33241

Thanks to 'lepton'

 

Just got mine yesterday. As well as having the "black screen issue" and missing out on the $450 coupon, I can see where the backlights are at the top of the screen -- is this normal?

 

I haven't been this this board in awhile. I have a question.

I have to spend my $50 gift certificate from HP's mess up when the 2nd gen first launched. The gift card expires on April 1st, and I don't really know what to purchase. I was looking at the cases but wasn't sure what would fit the envy 15 good. The case styles leave a lot to be desired as well.

Were the power adapters ever figured out whether you could use one with lesser watts (lower weight and bulk) and have it still work with the envy 15 if you don't use the slice?

 

I jumped on the $450 off coupon and managed to talk myself into dual SSD drives.

Build date of the 4/9 seems so far away now.

 

Well, I cancelled my Lenovo W510 and ordered the Envy 15 with the i7-720qm today after seeing the $450 coupon. Build date is also on 4/9/2010.

I realllllllllllllllllllllly hope HP has fixed all of the issues I've been reading about concerning the Envy. I don't mind the heat issue, but the shobby keyboard, dead esata port and the Black screen is really scaring me. I hope everything fans out thought. Can't wait to get it!

 

Tragick,

Call HP (1-888-227-8451) and tell them either they give you the difference (price after $450 coupon) or you'll just return this and order another one. I got mine 2 days ago and had requested exchance due to quality issues. So, after seeing this coupon i just called HP and got $100+ back (8 gig ram...wo ho)

Now, i'm praying that new one doesn't have any quality issues as i'm trying very hard to keep this laptop.

Good luck!

 

Well I located the 'loose' part (thanks to the driver thread giving me the idea what to look for). It turned out to be one of the hooks (I have no clue what they are called) on the side of the memory slots under the battery that are there to hold them in place. At least I know what it is now and I did push it a bit to the side which I think got it stuck in place.

Maybe the sound you hear when you tilt it towards you has to do with what I wrote above? If it is loose and you tilt it, the friction of the 'hook' will be less making vibrations affect it more. Well I dunno, maybe a bit far fetched but was just an idea.

The sound I am having problems with is definately the fan. I only hear it when the CPU fan is rotating, even if it just rotates the faintest. This makes the computer annoying to use even when just browsing the web in Windows. I have nothing against the 'windy' sound that they normally give, but this just sounds like something buzzing (or well, like something is touching the fan). Didn't have it at first so my guess is that some cables at first was fixed quite good away from the fan but that me transporting the computer back and forth the living room and hobby room and putting it down on tables made it sink a bit each time until it touched the fan.

The screen rubber stoppers issue you have sounds annoying! :/ I don't like them either, I think they stick out way to far from the screen and it looks bad. I wish they rather had some round knobs or something, that would have looked much better.

 

Just got my price adjustment yesterday after the coupon release. They gave me the difference. But after that I discovered that my laptop base is not even it rocks when you hit either corners, not to mention the purple cam sometimes. I really dont know if I should return(within 21days) and order a new one and risk not having a good unit.

 

Hi,

Long time lurker, first post. The $450 coupon has made me seriously consider upgrading from my dv8t to the Envy Core i5. I am discouraged that after several months of the second generation products' release, this thread is stil replete with many serious problems with these machines. This is kind of a poll, but comments welcomed to:

1) If you could get all your money back, and could re-buy the exact configuration you now wish you had bought, would you do so, or would you take your money and buy something else?

2) Would your answer change if you were not a serious gamer, looking for the best gpu available on a notebook?

Thanks very much for the feedback.

 

all my issues so far (1 month and running...) have been software related. lots of issues, gotta say, but all software, thus fixable on your own.
I fixed the viewing angle issue by applying two tall gel pads at the front of my laptop stand to raise it a few degrees and now it's bang on.
so..
1)yeah, I might have gone for the i5 540 but the 520 is treating me just fine. I would also have gone for HDD+SSD combo in retrospect, but the ebay offer was that...another lappie...the closest contender was the asus G63 line, which in looks and portability is quite a few levels below this however.
2) no. for multimedia, this thing has the best 15 in screen I've ever seen. I'm not gonna comment on the speakers cause I always use headphones.

 

Lovelaptops: I would still buy the Envy. A refresh of the GPUs on the Dell SXPS 16 might make me reconsider, but only if I got a pretty good deal; with the Bing 20% cashback that I got (which came out to around $450) you can get my specs below for under $1900.

i'm not sure I understand #2 - if you weren't a serious gamer then why do you care about the best gpu? I would recommend the Envy for mild to moderate gaming - the 5830 is a great little card for the package, but if you want 'a gaming laptop' then probably you're going to want a 5850 or 5870, which means a 7+ lb laptop as well.

 

One of my Envy's had the same 'rocking' issue. It ended up being a very simple problem, one of the rubber feet was not placed exactly right. There is a very shallow recess where each foot goes anf if one is just off by a small fraction that foot will be taller thus causing the rocking.

The rubber feet peel off quite easily, just pry a corner up gently and peel slowly, the adhesive will stay on the rubber half so you can just realign and replace it.

 

+1 rep to Lepton for bringing this coupon to my attention.

+1 rep to JJB for all his help with my Envy 15.

I just pulled the trigger on getting the price differential refund for my Envy 15.

FYI - Customer service reps are trying to get us to return the Envy and purchase a new one to get the increased discount (assuming you purchased an Envy with a $300 coupon and can still return it within the 21-day period).

Just ask to speak to a credit specialist. If that fails, speak to a manager. It took me 30 mins to get my refund, but it was worth it (saved on base price of unit AND sales tax).

The HP Envy 15 is a steal with a $450 coupon.

 

I think you are right because I remember as soon as I opened the laptop to replace the Wifi card thats when I started to realize the rocking issue. I will try to adjust the rubber stickers. Tnx Dude.

 

1. Yes. I take my time to determine the specs I need. When I buy, it's with no regrets.

2. Yes, if you're not a serious gamer, get a thinner, lighter notebook with longer battery life. Get the HP if you want a portable gaming desktop replacement laptop that doesn't weigh a ton.

 

Got mine back when the $350 coupon was available (Jan. I think). I got the i5-520 and matte FHD screen. I do WPF/Silverlight Windows development and this machine was as close to the perfect balance of form and function as was (and is) available. The i5 has plenty of muscle, decent battery life and weight to horsepower ratio. My only complaints are (HP are you listening?) the screen angle and issues with the HDMI/VGA converter at some resolutions (and oh yeah the slice battery coming off). The only reason I'd send it back now would be to get and extra $100 off!

 

lovealaptops:

1) yes
2) no

 

You can ask for price adjustment. They should honor it.

 

They wouldn't budge for me.

 

I recommend you follow my procedures when dealing with HP customer service (from my previous post).

 

can anyone with an I7-720QM comment on the heat this machine produces?

 

Did anyone notice that the warranty services on HP's site when you build an Envy is now in-home house call support rather than the mail-in support? This wasn't even available when I ordered. Going to call and see if they'll swap them.

 

Sorry guys, not trying to rekindle the ethics flame war earlier. Should have put a smiley face on the "only reason I'd send it back is for the $100" comment. Besides I got the Envy in January when the base processor was the 520m - so it's a wash.

 

I originally had only a $200 coupon and called to upgrade to the $450. They compromised and gave me a $150 credit... so with taxes that is within ~$130 of the full coupon price.

They are reasonable... and you can always return the product for a refund. Which I might do if they give me those outdated Intel SSDs.

I have both the Intel G1 and G2 drives and the difference is huge... much faster write performance with far fewer "stalls" on the G2. I explicitly bought the laptop thinking it would have G2... dang.

 

The difference is actually not very significant, particularly if you keep them in RAID anyway:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2829/11

 

That article is outdated... Intel abandoned the G1 and upgraded the G2 to 100 meg/sec of write performance. This combined with TRIM makes things like video capture waaaayyyy faster on the G2.

I don't plan on using RAID-0... just side-by-side partitions. The zero in RAID-0 stands for how many files you get back when failures occur!

 

Hey JJB, I was wondering if you or anyone else was able to solve the buzzing fan issue. Haven't been reading the thread lately so I'm curious if you are still living with the noise as I am.

 

If you're talking about issues that the gen2 owners (ones with the ATI HD5830) have seen, I really doubt that anything has changed. Many of us have gotten ones with decent keyboards and less creaky hand rests... it's really just a crap shoot because of HP's shoddy quality control on their "premium" line of laptops. Because of HP's 21 day no-questions-asked return policy, at least you don't have to pay for return shipping or any restocking fees if they send you a shoddily constructed unit. (Would definitely be better if they didn't send out units with obvious build issues.)

 

I started a 'trouble ticket' with HP tech support and they wanted to have me send it in for repair of the defective fan. I chose to just ordered a replacement fan assembly from HP Parts (~$63). It's now installed and quiet as can be after the first week of use, time will tell....

Awaiting on resolutions department to see if they will credit me for the cost of the replacement part.

Swapping the fan assembly is fairly easy if you are comfortable working inside a computer, you do need to clean off the thermal paste from the CPU and reapply, so it's not a good idea for a novice. It was worth the cost to me compared to being without the computer for a week or more and I may get reimbursed.

FYI: there was nothing physically touching any of the fan blades (like a wire) as I thought there would be, I even ran it while removed from CPU and it made the same 'buzzing' noise. So now I think it must be bad or dirty bearings, as the fan speeds up the noise goes away.

 

I'm happy to report that I received one of the better built HP Envy 15 2nd Gen models.

No buzzing noises, no creaking keyboards, no F11 light issues, no rocking laptop base.

Best of all, no issues with the palmrest; it meets flush with the end of the laptop (right where your wrists are when you type). There is no cutting into my wrists at all.

The wrist cutting palmrest issue was one of those issues that concerned me the most when I placed an order for the Envy 15. FOrtunately, it's a non-issue.

Now if only someone could develop an easy fix for the lid not opening up at a wider angle. Why would HP design a lid with limited opening angles?

 

You do realize that it has been stated many times on this forum that only the First batch of Gen2 Envy15's were shipped with G2 X-25 Intel SSD's. All subsequent shipments were all G1's. It's an unrealistic expectation that a recent order would be shipped with G2 SSD's.

Especially since the current market price for two G2 X-25 160GB SSD's is $860 and HP's upgrade price is only $550... This is from a manufacturer that charges $150 to add one more stick of 2GB Micron DDR3 that is available from crucial.com for $64.

You may *hope* to get G2 SSD's, but you're most probably going to be disappointed.

 

Yeah that's unfortunate -- that's how HP treats us. Make people think they distribute current generation hardware -- then pull back on component and build quality.

The SSD issue isn't that big. I'll live with it. But for $2300 I think a person should have reasonable expectations:

- screen should be flawless (no dead pixels or bad mura)
- no rattling or loose internal parts
- no uneven mating of body component surfaces
- no general build quality issues (keys being uneven, etc.)

These are just QA issues... not engineering or design. It comes down to HP only caring about margins. I'll still be a stickler.

 

@bbf

You are looking at 'retail' pricing for the SSD's which is typically at least 60% higher than OEM volume purchase pricing and probably lower in HP's case as they are one of the highest volume SSD buyers in the world. You also didn't account for the cost of the 320GB HDD that they 'remove' from the build (~$50). This means they pay ~$150 to $170, so call it a $320 (2 x 160GB) cost less the $600 'upgrade' price ($550 + $50) and HP is making an ~88% profit margin on the upgrade. Good deal for us and them.

Since intel has stopped production on the G1's and went to the 34nm (G2) design to reduce manufacturing cost, increase performance & density, and provide more competetive OEM and retail pricing. Sometime in the near future HP will be shipping G2's in all products. When that will happen depends only on when the inventory run out on HP's contract with intel. I will wager the 'upgrade' prices will remain the same for G2's since HP will be paying less for them.

@Lepton

HP does not in any way suggest what brand or series of SSD they will supply especially what version. There are no guarantees of what you'll get and I don't see how that, as you put it:

"Yeah that's unfortunate -- that's how HP treats us. Make people think they distribute current generation hardware -- then pull back on component and build quality."

You are the one who is expecting something that HP has not in any way committed to providing you.

 

Certainly makes sense -- get good reviews with newer stuff then switch out for the old. Maybe HP should offer an option to avoid the 1.5 year old drives?

They should at least mention what you are buying... for all I know they've downgraded again and I'll get two Plextor disks!

 

I'm not saying that HP will lose money if they actually did put G2 SSD's in for the $550 upgrade price, but I'm saying it's unlikely that they'd price it for less than it would take you to put it in yourself... the pricing of all of HP's other hardware upgrades available at retail seem to work that way.

Then how do you account for HP charging $150 for a stick of 2GB DDR3 Micron RAM when one can purchase it from MICRON RETAIL for $64?
Also, a Momentus 7200.4 320GB HD is only $30 less than a 500GB one in retail. Why does HP charge $50 for the upgrade. That's *more* than the difference in retail price.

So the retail price for 320 GB Hard Drive is $70, 2x G2 SSD's $830. The difference is approximately $750... so HP if they kept with their normal pricing of upgrades, they would charge >$750.

Do you honestly think that HP would have a different strategy for pricing SSD's upgrades that work out to be less than the retail price, but then gouge for more than retail for RAM and HD upgrades?

Also if HP is one of the largest OEM customers of SSD drives, there's no reason why they couldn't convince Intel into manufacturing a whole bunch of older G1 units before closing the line for a *much* lower price than the G2's. (A one time end-of-life purchase.) Then HP would make even more money than if they stuck G2's in.