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

Battlefield 2 or Bad Company 2? Sorry, just making sure.

 

Oops. These are for Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

 

Don't forget an additional 10W TDP for i7 quad configs. There have been varying reports of heat but generally I thought the MBP were cooler than the Envy.

The Engadget article also speculates on nVidia card for the Envy which is unlikely given the use of ATI on the other Envys. Although a possible use of a Professional nVidia card as a choice maybe in order.

 

Forget endgadget. You all have missed the key item on the HP site link for the envy 17. It uses the HM55 chipset which supports switchable graphics and the 5850 also fully supports switchable graphics unlike the 5830 which does not (also the newest 10.6 AMD driver supports switchable graphics for intel). Considering the 5850 is a 39W TPD part plus the extra power required for GDDR5 memory I will wager that the envy 17 will have switchable graphics as is with the AMD GPU, who needs nvidia...

PS; not directed at you specifically threeply, your post was just the last one on the topic so I just quoted it....

 

Looks like I was a victim of HP's wonderful build quality. Freakin' heatsink was separated by a bunch of thermal paste from the chip. Fixed that (trimmed the shield, put on a thinner better layer of thermal grease), now I'm showing 65C or so as the max while running the Heaven benchmark at 1024x768 windowed, 2xAA, 4xAF, DX11. Significantly better than the 80-90C I was seeing originally.

 

Just barely eked out my roommates g51Vx w/ q9000 and gtx260m.

Wouldn't recommend running at this speed long term lol.

 

The CPU comparison is a bit unfair - the Apple has the i7-620m which has only 2 CPUs. The Envy i7's are all quad core CPUs (except for that very short lived moment when you could get a 620m). You can still get the Envy 15 with a i5 - which is only minimally slower than the i7-620m that is available on the Apple. I don't believe that there is anything the 620m can do that the, for example 520m can't also do (other than basic clock binning).

Also note that the "professional" video cards are not as well suited to running the latest games as their "consumer" equivalents. Plus they cost a LOT more. In general, the "professional" video cards perform worse than their equivalent consumer variant.

I am interested in seeing whether the latest refresh of the Envy's do support switchable graphics. If they do, expect battery life to be quite a bit better at non-3D intensive speeds.

Oh, and another thing - the 5830 GPU has built in acceleration for various HD video decoding (and encoding, but nobody seems to use it...?). That specialized hardware (UVD2) is more energy efficient at decoding than the CPU is for decoding. That is most likely the reason why playing an HD movie on WMP uses less overall power than on iTunes. I don't believe that iTunes uses the UVD2 functionality of the 5830. That's why the battery life is worse.

 

got the SSD yesterday, brand new, all good. now i just have to figure out how to get it inside the Envy.

 

Here is the envy 15 service manual link (Note: 2.7MB .pdf): http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01911053.pdf

It was for the original gen 1 model but should be correct for the gen 2. Also be aware that when reading the disassembly instructions you can skip over the part about removing the actual keyboard and it's 60+ screws, that is not necessary as the whole top panel comes off with the keyboard attached.

 

Aye. Main thing to be very careful with is to re-insert the mouse ribbon cable (the tiny white one) very straight and evenly. You don't want to have to open your machine again to re-seat it properly because your touchpad won't work right.

Not that I know that from experience or anything

 

I almost fainted the other day when replacing the HDD. I though I broke that white tiny cable.

 

reinserting the stupid ribbon cable is really annoying... hardest part about upgrading the notebook.

 

amen! Last time I opened my box I was temped to leave it plugged in but then I figured I had much more chances of breaking stuff if i tried sticking my screwdriver in under the panel... sigh

 

Is anybody using their envy 15 to drive two monitors? What is required? The 5830 does have eyefinity support right?

I have two DVI monitors each at 1920x1080. Do I need a special dongle?

 

Does anyone know if the accidental damage plan also covers hardware failures not caused by accidental damage? (It wouldn't make much sense if it didn't, but just making sure)

 

A hardware failure due to a defect in the part is covered by the standard warranty. All other hardware failures are caused by "damage". That includes, electrical surges, water, being dropped, accessed by a toddler, etc.



Unless you're asking whether the accidental damage protection doesn't, by default, also cover the standard warranty?

 

Just a reminder that I posted pictures a dozen or so pages back:

http://picasaweb.google.com/adunaway/20100331HPEnvy15Internals?feat=directlink

You can get a good idea of what you are facing before opening it up. I snapped a couple close-up pictures of the hard-drive bay area.

 

just bought 8gb of ram, will need to take envy apart again, which means carefully removing and reinserting white ribbon (sigh). This makes a 540->820QM upgrade, a 1366x768->1920x1080 upgrade, a 500GB->160SSD + 250GB HD upgrade, and now 4GB->8GB... Oh, and VGA heatsinks on the GPU. Also have a brand new Envy Beats LCD backplate cover to replace if ever necessary.

 

Is the GPU on the left or right side of the computer?

 

Right side, under where the 'enter' key is.

 

I'm also shopping around for 2x4GB. Did you go with the DDR3-1333 with CAS 9 or DDR3-1066 with CAS 7?

Reading Anandtech tells me there's barely any difference between a higher bandwidth if it has a slower latency so I'm wondering if the price bump is justified.

 

The i5's will not run any faster than 1066 due to the memory controller. If you use CAS 9 1333's it will downclock automatically to 1066 @ CAS 7. I went with 2 x 4GB 1333 only because they were $30 cheaper when I ordered a few months ago. Also I would check out ewiz.com as they tend to have very good pricing, they also frequently have disount coupons floating around...

Edit: Looks like you can get 4GB 1066 modules for 129.98 (with $10 coupon) until 4/25. Here; http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name...r-Talent-DDR3-1066-SODIMM-4GB-Notebook-Memory I'm using the 'namebrand' Samsung 1333 version which are currently $154.xx each right now.

 

Wow. I didn't know about the downclocking, although with the faster latency I don't see there being much difference. That make my decision much easier anyways.

Thanks again.

 

i have an i7, went with 1333 transcend from ewiz

 

What's the white ribbon? Some sort of factory seal or something?

 

@kabobi

HUH? What white ribbon?

Edit: went back a few pages, I think what you must be asking about is the white ribbon cable from the touchpad to the mother board, that others were talking about...

 

Just got my envy 15 today. Overall i am pretty happy with it. I do hear a slight squeeling like people have mentioned, but it is hardly noticeable. Also under load the CPU never goes above 80 degrees celcius. This is a core i5 540m. How do these temperatures compare to other peoples? Thanks

 

Sounds about right. How are your GPU temperatures?

 

Seems kinda hot for a 32nm dual core....maybe reapplying TIM would be in order. Load temps should be around 60c.

 

My current Envy with the i5-520M never passes 70C under load. Hmmmm...

 

After playing with my unit for a few days, I really got to like it!! I did a clean install, ran a few benchmarks, checked for overheating, adjusted the touchpad to my liking. For those wondering about the touchpad, it works great with the right driver but it does need some setting up.

The only problem with the laptop is that I hear that electrical buzzing noise/interference, and it gets on my nerves when I am doing my homework in a quiet room. The noise is not loud but is audible, it tends to go on and off (the noise) when it is sitting idle or when I am using the computer- I feel like I am going crazy thinking to myself, am I hearing things?

Other than that one gripe, The laptop is a perfect machine.

 

Well my machine just got BRICKED while flashing to BIOS f .24 A from f 1B A ...

Sending in to HP tomorrow and very scared about what they may do it

Can anyone confirm if the windows 7 system image will actually reinstall the complete OS as well as all my drivers ?? I have a system image and multiple data backups so I am debating whether or not to remove my SSD's prior to shipping... I figure if the image will reinstall the OS then I'm not to concerned if they reformat the dives for some reason.

 

Lol -- sorry to hear. RIGHT after I made a post questioning why everyone's flashing their bios'

 

Glad to hear your liking it. I want to say that noise is your hard drive. It literally sits right up next to the right front vent so any noise the drive makes is immediately noticeable.

 

This temperature was when doing a stress test using intel burn test. It went up to 78 celecius. Do you think its worth taking it apart and reapplying the TIM? Should I see if i can exchange it with HP?

 

I've thought about that, maybe my hdd is bad, it's a Hitachi 2.5" 320gb.
When I shut down my computer, I really hear the hard drive click and spin down like a generator powering down.

Sorry to hear about this JJB. Just to let everyone know, I flashed my bios from f. 1A ( I think, ill have to double check) to f.24a without any issues.

 

The BIOS reports have scared me off attempting to flash, especially when I don't really have a reason to. I'll wait until it's not a game of Russian Roulette.

Pretty sure I'm buying 2x4GB from eWiz as they have the best prices. I'm not sure about the Super Talent brand they're selling though. Sounds generic. Anyone have experience with them?

 

Super Talent is not bad, not the greatest, but not bad.

Are you guys doing super memory intensive stuff?

 

I have bad habit of never closing applications, opening 10+ Firefox tabs, and then running either MLB/NBA broadcasts or a video game at the same time. While no singular app is all that intensive, they do add up.

 

JJB, are you sure its totally bricked? I thought I bricked mine earlier when upgrading from f15, turns out the notebook was still working, but only the external video was running, was able to reflash to previous bios using an external monitor. of course if hp wants to give you a replacement unit or motherboard, maybe that's better anyway (I'd like a new one with a better 5830GPU)... and don't forget to request an invisishield from zagg at some point.

 

I'm sure it's bricked. The HDD light actually blicks RED the second you try to boot into BIOS recovery (I didn't even know it was a dual color LED) If you just power it up nothing but fans and RED light with no external video output

Unfortunately I don't want another mobo or different GPU as mine seems to be able to OC higher than most others and all my temps seem to be lower than average... Made a big issue of having notes made in my repair return ticket to clearly state that no changes are to be made on the above items.

FYI: They actually emailed me a form to fill out and place in the box with the computer that allows you to put specific instructions for the tech who will do the repairs, they told me to make 2 copies and to actually tape 1 to the computer with a note to leave in place for the tech... Makes me feel like they have no confidence that the paperwork will actually follow the machine the whole way

Edit: here is a link to the form if anyone needs to send in their Envy: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...ttd&zw&sig=AHIEtbTnYMpo7vY99Bv5_AM8gkutbqQZ9A

 

To be honest with you, your motherboard won't be a new one and no part will be swapped at all with a new one. They will mostly do a hard-wire re-flash of your BIOS chip on your current one and reassemble. My unit came back with the motherboard and other component came back to be the original ones installed in my Envy (even the data on my HDD). I didn't get any new parts replaced in mine. HOWEVER, I do SEVERELY warn you that cosmetic damage will occur, especially with the LCD Bezel.

Also, I fear that my replacement Envy coming in will be inferior to OC'ing. I really hate to lose the ability to OC to 550/1100 stable. BTW, is your Envy a VR878AV product number model?

 

My model # is NX369AV, no idea how they assign these numbers...

Thanks for the reminder about your bezel 'damage' I'm going to put a note on the form taped to the computer and hope the tech can actually read. I will also call the service dept back and have them make a note on there file that if damaged I will require a replacement bezel under warranty...

My GPU actually runs stable up to 633/1133 so you can see my concern about any changes...

 

It was because of the bezel damage that the Technicians did to my current Envy that made my CM to give me a new Envy from the factory. So yeah, beware of that.

Also, I find that the earlier Envys tend to be better at OC-ing then some of the recent batches. I assume you had a VR878AV but I guess I was wrong. I know that the VR878AV must of been the Product Number for the first few batches of custom i5 Envys made back in January. Hmmmm...

 

i ordered mine at the beginning of april and my product# is also VR878AV...

 

Here is what the 'parts' page show for envy 15t 1100 CTO model numbers;



looks like they must all be the same base model with some differences called out by the model #. Mine was part of that 1st release group that got the delayed shipping due to parts shortage (~ mid Feb.)

 

I just got my ENVY back from a BIOS flash and I had zero cosmetic damage...

Not saying you will have the same luck but it's far from a foregone conclusion that it's going to get damaged... be realistic about it. It may happen, it may not lol.

 

Haven't seen you post any results on battery life. Any word on how the 640lm performs and battery life and heat.

I did more research and found out the Q2VG ES 640LM chips reports 000 as model for sure. and also the q2vg chips only have 3mb cache since it was an engineering sample.

 

Well my current Envy that is due to be returned to HP for a replacement has a i5-520M and has a # of VR878AV, like bubzer's, who he also have a i5-520M. My replacement Envy (still being built) has the i5-540M and it has a # of NX369AV like JJB's. So I think the Part # difference is due to what i5 is being used or something in the lines of that.

 

Were you replacing yours because of a defect? If so, were the customer support reps fine with you upgrading your processor on the replacement?