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

Not that simple. They would need to change the mobo for dual drive connections, new controller and a new bios to handle 2 drives.

Probably determined it was not a cost effective option since rumor has it that the next gen 2.5" SSD drives will have double the capacity and built in RAID capability, essentially 2 SSD's will fit back to back in the same 2.5" enclosures due to the new, smaller 25nm chip architecture.

 

The Vaio Z and Envy 15 are the only notebooks I've seen that do this. To do it, you require a HD bay slightly bigger than a standard 2.5" (1.2mm wider and 8mm longer) along with 2 extra SATA ports. MBPs could probably find the extra space, but it would require a major change.

and what JJB already wrote

 

right on, that makes sense to me. considering they can stuff 160gb into the 1.8" form factor then it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to package two of those in a 2.5" drive with RAID controller. then no changes to motherboard are needed. amazing how fast this technology is developing. my shiny new SSD is almost obsolete.

 

The QS57, QM57, HM57, PM55 Chipsets all have the Matrix RAID feature. The PM55 is the only chipset that does not support Switchable graphics because it lacks support for graphics/audio I/O i.e. HDMI, multi-channel sound, LVDS,DVI etc.

Most of notebooks using the Core i5, i3 CPUs are using the HM55 chipset that supports the IGP and discrete graphics but has no support of RAID

 

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification.

 

Is anyone else but me extremely annoyed at the Envy15's bezel? It scratches VERY easily and it seems loose, like it isn't secured well to the frame of the laptop and there's a fairly large gap between the bezel and the lcd screen itself.

 

no, numerous folks have complained about the bezel. maybe the envy 15 refresh will feature a metal bezel, one that would fit current models (probably won't happen). I just touch my bezel as little as possible.

 

agree that that bezel seems cheap and not very well secured to the LCD/lid. don't have any scratches yet but i don't touch it much. you could put scotch tape over it if you wanted to keep it looking new for resale.. but it would look pretty tacky in the meantime.

 

coming from an acer 5920g, the envy's bezel looks luxurious enough to me...
only annoyance is the lower left rubber strip came off while I was cleaning it with a cloth..they are basically attacked with some very crappy glue. luckily I managed to push it back in.

 

I have played the starcraft2 beta for a while now on my envy, which is fine. but recently the game started crashing on me, sometime just a black screen like if its changing resolution and then go back and sometimes a full crash. Anyone got similar experience in sc2 or other games?

 

I've gone through three of these things (first was returned due to black screen/hardware issue and we kept the last two). If I understand you correctly, the black plastic around the edge of the screen on your machine is loose and prone to scratches. When is it getting scratched, when you close the lid?

None of our envys appear to have had this problem. The bezel seems to be very firmly attached to the screen and we have experienced no scratches at all from opening and closing the lid. There is no gap whatsoever in between the bezel and the screen. There are two rubber feet on either side of the bezel that prevent it from contact with the bottom section around the outside of the keyboard. Perhaps your bezel is missing the rubber feet?

 

sounds like your video driver is crashing, so try updating it. also, if you're overclocking, turn it down a bit.

 

Don't get me started on the bezel. It is the single worst thing about the Envy. The main reason I got my original Envy returned was because of the scratch-prone bezel and how the HP Techs negligently kept getting it damaged in repairs. They even scratched one that I paid to get the original one replaced for $85 dollars. My new bezel on my new unit looks like it is in near-perfect condition, with only one hairline scratch on the side when I took it out. However, I am very careful to only use air compressors to get rid of the dust on it and not even daring to touch or wipe it at all. The bezel is the worst feature on this laptop.

 

good grief. i need a replacement for a missing rubber pad on the bottom corner of the notebook and HP customer service says there is no way they can get this part. i said if you have all the parts to make this laptop, and i assert that you do since i have one in front of me, then somewhere you do in fact have a pile of sticky pads. SIR WE CANNOT SHIP YOU THIS PART. so i escalated and they will get back to me in a couple of days. maybe? geez.

 

It would be nice if the the lid clicked when it is closed. That's the main thing that feels particularly "cheap" about it IMO.

 

That's exactly one of my main problems. I'm usually not one to complain about a cheap feeling, but the ENVY15's lid feels cheaper than any laptop I've owned, including a $200 EEE netbook.

 

well, opened my envy 15 up once again, swapped out my speakers. WOW! My new speakers sound much, much better than the original. Wonder if both my L and R speakers were defective?

 

Hey guys I ordered a envy it will be here thursday, but hearing all this negative feedback worrys me. Does anyone have good experience with there envy.

 

Yes! Mine has been terrific. The only reason I've opened mine up so many times has been for upgrades (SSD, memory, CPU). The only problem I've had has been with my right speaker for some reason. Hp would have fixed it for free, but I didn't want to be without my notebook (have to mail it out) so I just bought the part and installed it myself. If you want a sleek form factor with graphics and processing horsepower, there really isn't a notebook on the market quite like it.

 

Hey did you happen to compare actual P/N's from your new vs. old speaker 'module'? Just curious if they may have upgraded something due to your earlier post of much better sound...

Also I would suggest that you make sure the lowest beats / adt equalizer control slider is turned down below the '0' level, the speakers cannot produce any sound at this freqency, it will just rob power from the amplifier and add distortion which can damage the speakers. I have mine turned all the way down when listening to the built in speakers...

 

Compressed air! That's a good idea!

 

on your ssd install was it hard, also does it void warranty, how bout u JJB u happy with your envy. Tips for when I get mine.

 

It's a great machine once you get it set up properly. I would suggest a clean install of the OS if your comfortable with doing so, it's a bit of a hassle but, IMO, worth it due to lower temps and better battery life. My biggest complaint is the screen bezel like everyone else and the fact that my machine is in for repair due to getting bricked by the most recent BIOS update.....

 

alright so I will do a clean install, but will mine come with the new bios. If not should I update it. also whats wrong with the bezel, also should I get an extened warranty

 

not sure if i've voided my warranty, have all the original parts. if i need to have it fixed by hp i'd just re-insert them all. would be a pain though.

 

How do you unRAID?

I'm trying to update my SSD firmware, but it won't recognize the RAID'd SSDs. The instructions say to go into the BIOS and temporarily unRAID them, perform the upgrade, then RAID again, but the BIOS doesn't have that option.

 

Bad news, several others have tried this and the end result is you cannot update the firmware version since the intel update program will not recognize the SSD's as intel drives because the imbedded P/N has been modified to include an 'hp' in it. Not sure why they did this or if there is a work around, I never tried it myself since people much more knowledgable than I am could not get it to work.

Since this was all several months ago, maybe something has changed with the firmware update.... To get to the BIOS for RAID options you need to hold down the 'ctrl' key while rapidly tapping the 'i' key during POST. As far as I know there is no way to 'temporarily' unRAID a RAID0 configuration, since data is written across both drives, unRAIDing will wipe everything. If you have any luck getting the update to work please let me know...

 

Make sure to backup data before you unRAID because it will erase everything on both drives.

 

The firmware update tool guidelines say to disable RAID using BIOS by enabling "legacy" or "compatibility" mode, run the update tool, then re-enable RAID. It specifically says do not use software based RAID manager like Intel Matrix Storage Manager, which I believe ctrl-i does.

JJB: The embedded P/N should be fine, as the last two digits of the P/N are supposed to be wildcards. Intel lists it as: SSDSA1M160G2XX, with the Xs being anything. My SSDs are SSDSA1M160G2HP, which conforms to the Intel P/N.

I'm really beginning to hate the ENVY's BIOS. It's ridiculously basic, it has no features at all.

 

As far as I know the 'ctrl + i' is using the BIOS, you are loading it before the OS loads and the screen you get looks just like the BIOS setup screens, unless something has changed in the many BIOS updates since I unRAIDed my drives in Feb. The 'intel matrix s.m. is a software interface you load from windows....

Maybe the firmware upgrade has changed since others have tried it, as I said earlier the P/N was not recognized due to the 'HP', I believe the 'xx' are supposed to be numbers. Several even took the drives out and tried using a desktop machine with no sucess...

FYI; matrix storage manager has been replaced by the newer intel Rapid storage tech driver.

 

Like JJB said CTRL+I is using the BIOS and it has nothing to do with Intel matrix. even if you don't matrix installed you will have the crtl+i option to use before the OS kicks in. I recommend RAIDing and unRAIDing using the ctrl+i option and not the matrix manager.

 

Someone posted a modified intel flasher that would flash any intel G2 ignoring the part #. The drives also have to be moved to a computer with a "real" BIOS, since the Envy does not run them in the appropriate mode for the flasher to work.

I was going to attempt the above, but someone also posted the benefits of the new firmware were not significant and did not improve at all the bad 4k reads (which is believed to be a controller issue on this machine)

 

Perhaps the BIOS is hackable. I think there's a thread in this forum about hacking the Insyde H2O BIOS's in another HP. (Is the Envy Insyde H2O?)
I wouldn't know where to begin, though.

 

Hello everyone I am planning to order a HP Envy 15 soon with a i7 chip. A few quick questions. Is the new 2nd Generation Envy 15 Edge to Edge? What is an viable alternative to the Envy 15?

 

Hey guys, I have a question regarding the slice battery. I've heard in the past that letting batteries completely discharge reduces the lifetime of the battery. I noticed that when in use, it'll completely drain (0%) the slice battery before it starts using the built-in 6 cell. Is there anything to worry about?

 

No worries, it really is not truly draining to zero, it is just sensing the battery voltage and at a (safe) preset voltage the system says 0%, which is actually ~8.2V. Even the defualt 0% you see there is still a 12% reserve battery capacity unless you reduce this in the power plan settings, which is safe to do to gain extra battery life....

 

Cool, thanks for the info. I just checked and my reserve battery settings are at 7% which should be fine. One thing I wonder if that's a per battery setting or for the entire system battery level - meaning that it may only apply to whatever battery it's currently running off of when it falls below 7%. You're probably right though and I'm just over-thinking it - I'll take your word for it. Thanks.

 

Hey don't know if someone has posted it yet, but HP just did a press release of the new Envy 14 and Envy 17.

Engadget's write-up:

HP Envy 14 and 17 officially official, Envy 13 slowly waves goodbye -- Engadget

Kinda makes me wish I held out alittle longer with my purchase.........

 

AHHH...Im really pissed...aprently my envy failed clearance check and on the fedex's page is says the new est is a week from when it was.....AHHHH

 

For anyone interested, there's some good-looking Envy news.

(edit: beat to the punch!)

 

Well, maybe for the 17, but not for the 14. Glad to see them drop the price too, a welcome change. So are they discontinuing the 15 along with the 13?

Only things I'm jealous of with the 17 are the backlit keyboard and the 5850. I don't care about and internal DVD drive.

 

One thing is for sure that the Envy 14 WON'T be getting a HD 5830, especially with a built-in slot loading drive. More or less, I do want a backlit keyboard.

 

They're claiming 14 hours on it - so they must offer new more efficient processors (new intel ULV processors? i5 520UM?) or a weaker GPU. Besides the lower price and backlit keyboard I don't think we're missing out on much.

If you look at the pictures it looks like they added edge to edge? EDIT: They also got rid of the app launch keys on the left.

 

according to zdnet both the new models of the 15in version have the 5830 still along with a mini display port for another lcd attachment! and the new 14in will have the 5650

link

 

Well the 17 has a very odd profile, it's wedge shaped and one picture shows a very tall add on battery at the rear, guess no slice option. The E2E and especially the full rubber surrround on the display look great, I just hope they keep it this time as the 15 started with E2E which they dropped at the last minute to save wieght. I hate the fact they added a full NUM pad and offset the tracpad to one side, it just looks...off.

Anyone see any weight and thickness figures on the 17 ?? EDIT: 5.25lbs and 7.51lbs (no dimensions yet)

@texanman

The posting from HP's website last week (which they pulled) definately lissted the GPU as the 5850, they have also added the 5730 to the list on the envy 15 1200 CTO manual.

 

Question: what wifi card comes in the envy? I say this because I have a spare intel 6200 that I bought a while ago for another use but didn't need it and now its just sitting here collecting dust. I rather use it since its the latest and greatest intel wifi card

 

that's what is in the envy already

 

7.5lbs= pretty light for a 17 incher, but like my 5lb Envy 15.

 

well I did not know because according to hp's site they say its the intel 5100


"Wireless options1 with Intel Wi-Fi Link 5100AGN and Bluetooth"
source: Hp's site

 

So the new Envy 14 is 14.5" has 1600x900 displays, dvd drive, backlit keyboard, and switchable graphics with ATI5660 and weighs 5.25lbs (envy 15 is 5.16)? Sounds good to me.