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

Wow, well it seems after a lot of tweaking and adjustments, the Envy can become a swan.

I guess Im more hesistant in comparison to how the Alienware m11x is getting instant priase, whereas the Envy 15 has taken awhile to find its form and no one seems to be noticing the refined quality its attained.

 

@DeathDealer

The m11x is not even in the same class of product as the Envy, it has obsolete CPU options, a class 2 GPU and a low res 11.6" screen. And IMO it looks like a childs toy that costs more than the envy 15 (with coupon). The only thing it beats the envy on is the battery life but, if you read the fine print, that is with the IGP not the discrete 335M so you won't be able to game and get the great battery life anyway.

If your trying to decide between these models you really need to figure out what you want the computer for. The m11x would not even make a 'first pass' list of possible choices for my needs.

 

Keep in mind that the Alienware series are almost always $1500+ beasts, and suddenly they're released a "mainstream" sub $1000 (base price) notebook that can still game. It's sort of like finding a brand new Ferrari at a local dealership with a down-graded engine, but they're only asking $40k.

HP, on the other hand, has all sorts of notebooks - low end, mid range, high end, business class, etc. The Envy series is more of an upscale, premium design which costs more than most people are willing to spend. With the coupons they're phenomenal deals, but how many people truly know that the deal exists? People, in my opinion, also tend to look at these as more of an all purpose / stylish machine than strictly a "gaming" unit like the M11x. Similar to the Ferrari analogy, the Envy 15 at the current discounted price is like finding a good deal on a Cadillac - maybe you've always wanted one, and at this price you can't see going with anything else, but it's going to draw far less attention than that Ferrari.

Both are great machines, but the Envy 15 wins hands-down in my book. You can keep your fancy lighting and alien faces.

 

On another note, has anyone bought a secondary AC adapter for their Envy 15? I'm primarily interested in something smaller, with just enough juice to keep this thing going while in use (and obviously not cause any damage). Perhaps 65w would be enough? Maybe 90? I'd like to leave the 120w at home and carry something smaller with me to save weight.

I spotted this one, and heard that the connector is the same for the Envy 15, dv6, dv7, dv8, and dv9 series. I'm assuming that since they listed the dv8000 and dv9000 in the product specs, this would work... any thoughts?

 

Yes, I see what you mean.

With the Envy, Im interested in Editing proper HD films through Adobe premiere, playing games like Dragon Age, SC2, Borderlands, LFD2, and MW2, and playing high end films from DVD or BLU through the laptop itself or outputting it externally to a HDTV or HD projector. While all being both portable and full of life.

 

Well what are you waiting for? If the coupon is still valid it won't be for much longer (1800 uses max).

Your statement pretty much rules out the m11x from your options, it can't do half that stuff.

Remember you get the 21 day no cost return policy with HP.

 

I was thinking this was the right choice, but had check here to make everything was good to go. Some of the negative atomsphere attached to the first gen and inital batch of the second gen had me nervous.

 

The envy uses a 'smart pin' adapter that has a center pin that tells the computer what the max output is, very few after market adapters will work with this feature. This one has been reported to work well: http://us.kensington.com/html/6330.html But there are apparently several versions of 'kits' on the market and not all include the proper tip for the envy.

You can also get away with the HP 65W slim travel adapter, I use one for travel. It does throttle the cpu the same as when on battery (x9). It's very small, light and well made and the 3 prong (wall plug) portion is removable for an AC cable which is included (confusing on HP website images). You can override the throttling using an app called ThrottleStop if higher performance is needed, available here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=452692 (link in first post) use at your own risk and make sure to read the readme file.

 

The slim travel adapter sounds like a worthy investment for me for business use. My current notebook is a Core 2 Duo SU7300 at 1.3GHz, and it does absolutely everything I need without breaking a sweat. Being stuck at 1.2GHz most of the time with a slightly faster architecture won't bother me. When I want to game, I'll have to load up the 120W bad boy.

Thanks for the tip!

 

It sounds like the Envy would be perfect for you. The alienware 11x is a remarkable little beast and serves it's purpose well but no way would it be sufficient to do what you require imo.

 

Anyone know if the HP Envy 65W AC Adapter throttles on 540m?

 

Read post #3558 one page back.

 

Hey all, Proud new Envy owner

I am about to format it for a clean install, but I was wondering what the System Partition (Before C Drive) and HP_TOOLS partitions are for?

Do I need them or can I delete them, and just keep the recovery partition?

Thanks in advance.

 

the only folder you might need is the "swsetup" folder. Make sure to have a backup copy for the mentioned folder as it has all the drivers plus some apps that you need later. Also, it doesnt hurt to create a recovery CDs using the recovery manager application. You can only create one set.
If you are planning to use HP's windows product key then you need that serial as well, using many 3rd party apps you can extract that key. Good Luck!

 

Has anyone been able to resolve the issue with the screen auto dimming? My screen auto adjust down the brightness, even though I've disabled auto dimming off the screen both when plugged in and when using batteries. I would love some help with this...

 

Disable the light sensor in your control panel/Hardware. Set it to disable. Once disabled it will stop dimming your screen.

 

Order in production
(Estimated to ship on April 14, 2010)

MAKE IT GO FASTER!!!!!

Eh, order placed on 4/3/2010, so I guess that's not so bad. At least it went from Order accepted -> Dropped off at factory -> Order in production over the course of the weekend.

 

@JJB:

HAHAHA. I sometimes wonder if HP has people reading this forum in order to keep track of the issues (that would rule imo) but now I know they also planted sales people!

 

On the Kensington website, the Envy is not listed in the drop down menu for compatible tips for the power adapter?

Any idea which of those laptops that are listed would be a suitable choice for power tip?

Thanks.

 

You need the n30b tip.

 

Where exactly is "Hardware" listed in the Control Panel? And is there an icon or line item called "light sensor" that we would click to disable it?

Thanks.

 

Thanks. The Kensington website doesn't have the N30b tip listed.

I just found something that JJB wrote earlier in this thread that said a tip that was compatible with the HP DV 6xxx, 7xxx, or 8xxx series laptops would be good with the Envy.

The only laptop series that is listed in the Kensington website is the HP DV 6xxx series.

The Kensington tip recommended on that Kensington website is N9.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

I would assume it's in the device manager. Just type device manager in the start menu search then look for that device to disable it.

 

No options in Device Manager to specifically disable the light sensor.

The only options I really see are to uninstall or update the light sensor driver.

 

I am preparing to buy an HP Envy 15, but I had some questions. I have read through much of this thread, but not completely. I have somne q

 

just search "light sensor" in the start menu, and go for "enable location and other sensors". the window there should have a tickbox to remove.

 

That's the ticket. Worked like a charm.
Thank you.

 

I am preparing to buy a HP Envy 15, but I had some questions. I have read through much of this thread, but not all of it. I just wanted to ask some of you with the i5 version some questions about the memory.

Can you install more than 4GB? On website, you can only get 4GB for the i5 using 2 DIMMS. I was wondering if you can replace the two 2GB DIMMs with two 4GB DIMMS for 8 GB of ram. Do you have to remove the keyboard to install memory or is it accessible from the back by the battery?

Also, I am probably going to get the 320 GB dual SSD option. However, I was curious if the 1 SSD and 1 HDD has any heat issues like in the Gen 1 versions.

Thanks for any input. Sorry if this has been asked or answered before.

 

Hi CTS
Seems like both our orders are going to ship out with the same batch no (if HP operates in that way?).
Lets hope there wont be any build quality issues for us .

These are my Specs

 

The kensington 120w psu comes in several packages. Previous posters here have confirmed the following two package "models" come with the tip needed for the envy: 38004, 33197

Someone bought it here: http://www.cty.ca/productdetails.asp?pid=3587

 

@T3Kno

Just got your PM with same question.

Yes you can add up to 8GB max, 2 x 4GB modules. One slot in battery bay and the other requires removal of the top cover of chassy (with keyboard attached). This takes the removal of the 4 rubber feet (re-usable), 17 screws and 3 cable connectors. Fairly simple if your familier with working on notebooks.

Here is the service manual link: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01911053.pdf Note it shows 2 double RAM slots for the i7's all else should be the same, also you do not need to remove the actually keyboard from the top panel, that part is just listed in the order of disassembly of the computer.

I have no heat issues with the dual SSD's

 

yeah they don't list the envy probably cause they're not up to date but with the n30b tip that came with mine it works A1.

 

As I had so much luck getting help with the auto dimming problem, I'll put this out there as well: Is there anything I can do about the black-screen issue a lot of people seem to be experiencing?

Basically I've had this problem since the get-go, when I first got my Envy it would shut down every 15 minutes or so. I reinstalled Windows 7, installed every driver listed and I'm still having the same problems, albeit more seldom. Today I reinstalled the graphics driver suggested by JJB in this thread: ATI Catalyst 10.3.

Ran well most of the day during gaming, music, watching videos etc so I began to hope the problems had gone away. I get back home tonight, fire up the Envy, start some downloads and voila, enter black screen of death. Basically I don't know whats causing this so I can't reproduce it except by accident. Seeming as HP pulled the BIOS updates from their website, is the only way to solve this to send the machine back and get it replaced? What are your experiences of this?

 

Just purchased an Envy 15 two days ago using the $450 coupon and now I'm having a bit of buyers' remorse, although nothing serious. I went with the i5-430m & 1920x1080 anti-glare with everything else stock. I've spent HOURS reading through this thread and ended up with some answers, but mostly just a lot more questions.

I purchased this laptop to replace an HP DV4 (14" 1280x800 / T4200) - the idea was to keep the weight (~5lbs) the same as my previous laptop, but to get a lot more screen real estate. I'm an adjunct professor and I like to have A LOT of chrome tabs/windows, excel worksheets, etc. open at once for grading.

I'm also a filmmaker / freelance multimedia guy so on top of that I do a lot of photo, video, dvd type work. 1920x1080 would be incredible for this. I have a monster of an overclocked desktop quad core rig with external RAID storage for the really serious stuff so I don't need that much power here (hence the i5-430m). SO lots of web / office, lots of multimedia, and zero gaming.

Biggest Negatives:
Battery life -------------- i5 envy's don't even last three hours??
Battery options ---------- light / weak 6 cell or 2lb slice - no 6 cell extended or slim 9 cell
24 watt 5830 graphics --- 5470 w/15 watts would be best (same gen, features & DX11)

Smaller Negatives:
No optical drive ---------- not able to play / burn / read dvd's during meetings w/o external
No usb 3.0 (i5) ----------- can't connect next-gen peripherals
Screen angle ------------- wth?

Positives:
SCREEN
Lightweight
Reasonably powerful
Esata & HDMI (requirement for me)
Good speakers (for presentations)

---Are there enough compromises here that a different laptop might suit me better?

 

@JBB - thank you for the information. I think I am leaning towards getting the i5-540M as it's plenty of power for what I need. I just wish I could get 8GB installed and not have to do it myself by removing the keyboard. I have never done it before, and the thought of it kinda worries me. I have put together 20-30 computers, but never messed with the insides of a laptop.

I guess the other route is to get an i7 with 4GB initially installed as it will have 2 DIMMS on the back and 2 DIMMS behind the keyboard. I can just upgrade the 2 DIMMS on the back to 8GB in the future.

Too many options!

 

@grenadier: The Dell Studio 15 would be a good alternative for you. Weighs a little more but it's got all the positives you want without some of the negatives, and the 5470 is an option. With the $450 coupon on the Envy they cost about the same.

But try out the Envy and see if it gets the job done. I've never had 3 hours out of the 6 cell (2, sure) but a spare 6-cell is very light.

Still, the 'zero gaming' part means you have quite a few other choices that will give you some more battery life.

 

QFT. If you aren't going to be using the GPU, the Envy is overkill for many people. There are other machines that fit all your requirements, except they don't look as sexy (IMHO) as the Envy. Life's full of trade-offs

 

In all fairness, I wanted to point potential buyers of the HP Envy 15 2nd Gen to this thread;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=6103018

Basically, the Envy does NOT run as cool as I'd believed. While I'm sure it runs cooler than the Gen 1 model (I've never used one though), the Gen 2 model does run extremely hot on the bottom when playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 (BFBC2). So hot that I can't keep my hand on it for more than 5 secs. I would not advise using it on your lap or exposed legs when playing this game.

The left and right palmrest get warm, but not unbearably so.

 

I totally agree that spec-wise, the above poster could get a laptop that suits his needs for half the cost of the Envy.

However, just throwing this out there - my last computer was a Dell Studio 15, bought two years ago, and I was less than impressed. The fans failed 8 months in, and I had to send it in for 2 weeks to get them replaced. Two of my keys came off the keyboard by a year and a half after buying it, and when I tilt the display back and forth, it squeaks. It's also a fair amount louder than the Envy with fans running. So, buyer beware.

 

Just called in to check if my rig will come with g1 or g2 SSDs...

Ships on April 12th and I was guaranteed it would ship with g2s.

Once I get it, how do I check/verify to see if I actually received g2s or not?

 

The Intel Rapid Storage Manager (linked from the Envy Driver thread) will list the model numbers, which will include either G1 or G2.

 

You may want to check this link http://h20435.www2.hp.com/t5/HP-Envy-Notebooks/Is-anyone-listening-HP-Envy-15-Blank-Screen-Issues-lets-do/td-p/54168/page/5 for updates. A Mod will be bringing it up to the Envy's team of engineers. Someone on that forum seems to have solved his issue by reapplying thermal compound to his cpu / heatsink but he may have just gotten lucky.

 

just a quick question (couldn't find the answer searching) but is the xb4 docking station compatible with the envy 15? not sure why its not showing this info on the HP site, or should i be assuming its not compatible? thanks in advance.

 

There is no Expansion Port 3 socket on the Envy 15, so no Expansion Port 3 Dock will work with the Envy.

 

I have been facing a problem with my Envy since today evening. My hard drive temprature is hovering between 115-129 F with no applications running. From cold boot, it took only 5 minutes to get to these temparature.

Normally when I was playing crysis or mw2, fans used to pump hot air through the vents. But now there is no activity from the vents also. It starts with the right palm rest getting hot and then gradually the whole laptop is becoming too hot that it is difficult to use it even on a desk.

The most recent s/w change I made was to install virtual box and itunes. I have uninstalled both, but there isn't any improvement.

Please let me know if anyone has any suggestions/tips to fix the issue. Thanks in advance.

 

Have you always been on the same BIOS?

 

Yes - on F18

 

Please clarify. Are you saying that niether fan is working ?

You should have air blowing out of the large vents on each side when the computer is on. The right vent is the GPU and the left is the CPU. Check the temps on the processors to see if one or both is also heating excessively, use HWmonitor or realtemp or similar program. You can also check the BIOS settings to make sure the 'fan always on' option is enabled.

It sounds like your GPU fan may have died.

 

While on the topic of fans. Does anyone use a fan control application that works with the Envy?

While it maintains a reasonable temp... the on/off/on/off/on/off cycle of the GPU fan gets annoying fast. I would prefer a constant low speed... or to be able to set the time to spin-down to be long. I'd rather it stay on for a few minutes than cycle.

All of this is obvious to Apple engineers. Wake up HP!

 

I have fan always on enabled in bios. I have attached a screenshot from HWmonitor - it doesn't seem like the processor and gpu are not getting hot, though I can't say for sure. It was the right palm rest and the area around that became hot early on.

I had called tech support who asked me to run system tests using the F2 option. It didn't report any issues. And the person who answered my call ended the call saying this - as long as the laptop is rebooting on its own or locking up, they can't do any thing and in the meantime don't use the laptop in your lap and preferrably get a notebook cooler.