*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

Ya, USB 1 was way faster than Serial. I think USB 3 is a major feature. If it is not included then I will get a system that can support a USB 3 add in card.

 

ahh yes, and all my mac friends were laughing at me because I was using PATA 33/66, when they had their SCSI and such. Zip drives....slowest ever I'm not sure why they ever caught on.

 

Given HP's 21-day policy, I'm considering getting an i5 system and seeing how battery, heat, performance is. Worst comes to worst, I return it and wait for the refresh of the Vaio Z or the refresh of the MBP.

 

The refresh of the Z is already out.

I think, if you already ordered, keep the order, receive the laptop, test it as it came, and dont scratch it, and if you like it keep it, if not, then send it back.

 

The Z refresh is not out yet, and won't be until Spring (according to Sony).

 

The refresh of the Z is out? From what I've seen at sonystyle.com, the only Z's available are the C2D models, and not the i5 models announced at CES.

EDIT: What sleey0 said.

I'd much rather have the Envy 15, but the multiplier issue is a deal breaker.

 

Let's see if the multi issue exists on the i5 Envy's first

 

Wait, forgot to explain, out as in showed and introduced...should have used that verb instead of out...the point is that the Z is already known as what it is to have...

What multiplier issue?

 

why Vaio Z? What Serg said. i5 i7..we'll only know when people start getting theirs..

people on this forum is the minority(and since they took the time to search it up on this forum, it means they care more about their laptop hence all the panic) and most people who buy this laptop probably do not even know what USB 3.0 is.

 

Locked multi on battery issue...

 

I have both the i5 and the i7 on order (similar specs otherwise). I'll let you know how they compare to each other in side-by-side benchmarking, battery, heat, and noise when I receive them... if I can get around to it... so lazy. heh.

 

Didn't FredFrenzy, or whatever his name is, confirm that the multi lock is across the entire Envy line? I could be imagining things at this point, with all the crap I've read these past few days.

Why Vaio Z? I want something with some power behind it in a sleek form with decent battery life. Now, the envy has meh battery life, but I was willing to deal with that due to the slice and it's amazing specs, and awesome sleek design.

 

Well, if you listen to FredFrenzy you'll become dumber by the minute

 

The man works for HP, no? If I can't trust his word on the product, I have no idea what/who to believe.

And no, I haven't ordered an Envy yet, but I think I'm going to order an i5 machine today and see how it holds up.

 

Sleepy0's giving him a hard time because of a recent gaff where he confused Watt-hours with Watts, but FredFrenzy and the other moderators have been answering questions solidly and reliably for quite some time now. You have to remember that they're mouthpieces and may not always completely understand the information they're attempting to relay, but even with an occasional mispoken explaination, I would still have reasonable trust in their word.

 

eh, with all the confusion, i'm missing my alienware m15x at this point. noticed the price has gone way up for the i7/260m version now too ($200 more)

 

Where can you buy the splice battery in Australia? HP?

At the moment I can get about 1.5 hrs on the Envy1021...

 

Just curious, but what sort of tasks are you performing while averaging the 1.5 hour battery life? wifi on/off? brightness levels?

Thanks!

 

If you don't have a coupon or any discounts, I'd wait a few weeks if I were you. There are a raft of people (including me) who have them on order and we'll be able to give you a much better idea of what the machines are actually like once we get them.

 

!@#$%^&* Just tested and got up to...drums please...*sound of drums* 7.001!!!!!!! multiplier!!! -_-

And now I am facing a worst problem, on AC I can get higher than x10 multiplier...now I am mad...

 

call em up and tell them to send a bios update.

 

I am running F.07A....is there a newer one?

 

Serg, are you saying you can't get over 10X on AC power?

 

Are you talking about the HD5830 version? That issue is known for quite some time.

 

I am quite literally on the checkout page for an i5 Envy, and now I don't know whether to hit the button or not. I suppose I could wait and see what's up, but the issue is that from this Sunday on, I will not have a laptop to use. The sooner I order something, the better.

That being said, when are the first i5 machines going to arrive for people?

 

Sometime next week hopefully

 

Quick question regarding HP products in general. Is it possible to upgrade the warranty on a machine after the initial purchase? For instance, could I call up a week or so after it arrives and purchase, say, the 2 year accidental damage warranty?

 

Do you have a new coupon code that works online? If not, why not call and order over the phone to save $300?

 

That is when the ENVY is idling. I would be reading acrobat files or maybe using the net. Nothing heavy at all. It is doing its own power management.

 

Do you, or anybody else for that matter, know this $300 coupon code?

 

Just made my trackpad on my ENVY beats edition a million times better (IMHO)...

Didn't see this posted before...Synaptics has some new tools:

www.uscrybe.com

Download the software...multitouch scrolling much better, gesture activation with 3 fingers. Very cool stuff.

 

coupon code is NBTW34871 , 300 off 1400 so you need to upgrade something.

Anyway, the coupon expired but they still honor it if you call. I did this morning, just can't resist the temptation.

 

Thank you very much!

I'm on the phone with a sales rep who just said the multiplier is initially locked at 7 on the new machines, *but is user changeable*

 

I asked the same question when ordering. I was told I can upgrade within the one year standard warranty window and that the warranty would apply from the original purchase date (i.e. a two year warranty upgrade purchased a year into ownership would yield an additional year of actual coverage).

 

Im restarting the PC, its been on for almost 48 hours non-stop...lets see if that helps the multipliers...

 

See if it makes a difference if you press the power button while it's plugged in vs. not being plugged in. I've heard that starting it while unplugged "unlocks" all the multipliers.

 

That was with the F.04 and F.05 IIRC, the F.06 supposedly fixed that.

 

Edit*****

forget it

 

Just purchased an i5 Envy 15 with the $300 discount. Figured I might as well get the system now with the discount and not have to pay an extra $300 later if it's solid.

As I said before, the sale rep over the phone told me the multiplier, at least on the i5 systems, is user adjustable. I asked him to confirm this a second time and he did. I might try calling up a few more times to see if I get the same answer from other employees.

 

FYI:

I just returned from Costco and was suprised to see 2 new Pavilions that are not even on HP's website;

1) 17.3 " Dv7 with i5-430m with Nvidia g105m 4gb DDR3 1440x900 $999

Out of curiosity I had them get it out of demo mode and tried to see if there was switchable graphics> not that I could find. This could be because the g105 is a ~12W GPU so maybe not much power savings over IGP. One item of note was Battery life of 5.5hrs (claiming "as tested by Mobile Mark"), no info on battery size available.

2) 14.1" dv4 With i3-330m Did not spend any time w/ this just noticed it available with Arrandale at retail store when not even specd on HP.com

3) Display ad 'Coming Friday Jan. 15' New 16" sony F series W/ i7-720qm -- surprised me that Costco would be getting anything with this high end spec. -- looks like it might be interesting for some, here is the link:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...yId=8198552921644691998&N=4294953518#overview

 

NONE the the i5 notebooks have switchable graphics yet. It requires drivers from ATI or Nvidia that support switchable graphics and we are several weeks away from those being released.

 

I'd be happy if there was even a BIOS switch. Too bad JJB probably couldn't have talked them into testing that

 

Why not?

Just restart the machine. Half the time no one watches you in those stores anyway.

 

There should be, after all, there is Hybrid Power and Hybrid SLI for ATI and NVIDIA...the drivers for the T400 should be around the same and those used on the VAIO Z...ATI and NVIDIA switchable with 4500MHD.

On other news, problem "fixed" it seems to go up to x21

 

He said in his post that he had to get them to get it out of demo mode. Implies that they were watching. And it's a rude thing to do anyway, without permission.

Was it just a reboot? BIOS changes? What is different?

 

Rude?

He is a customer checking out a computer.

It's not like he is going to steal it or upload some malware to it.

Geez....

 

agree with that

 

In all honesty USB 1.0 was not really about speed, but more about trying to make a start on four of the biggest and best things to happen to personal computers in a long time.

1. Standardisation - before USB, there was an array of ports that could be used, often you'd find that you didn't have enough parallel ports or serial ports, or you'd need a male to female converter etc. If you used a lot of peripherals, it could be a real pain.

2. Plug and play - OK, so this took time to implement, and is still not entirely there, but USB was really one of the crucial pieces to getting as far as we have so far with this. I remember having to install drivers manually from 3.5" and 5.25" floppy discs for every single peripheral I bought.

3. Power - If a device required power, well it had to have it's own power supply. Combining the two points above along with the fact that the ports could also power small devices was truly magnificent.

4. Hot swapping - Back in the days of serial ports et al, you'd need to power down the machine just to plug something in. I love the fact that this has changed, and embraced it openly with both arms when it happened.

However, the speed was absolutely amazing. A serial port could operate at around 115Kbps (if I remember correctly), whereas USB 1 was 1.5Mbps. That is a huge increase.

Whilst I wish USB 3.0 is on the i5 version of this machine, It is absolutely not a deal breaker by a long distance. Yes, there will be plenty of devices that launch in the next year that require USB 3.0 no doubt, but that's why I have a desktop too - I can upgrade that at a fraction of the cost of a new laptop.

At the end of the day, what I need from a laptop is the ability to go where I need to go, do what I need to do and to look good at the same time (yes a little vain, but meh, I've got enough pennies in the bank to allow myself that every now and then). As soon as HP decide that us in the EU are worthy of this machine, I'm buying one no questions. The only alternative for me is one of the Sony line up, but I've had issues with them in the past (hence my current machine is a cheapo make do Dell).

 

Reboot only. It had been working to hard for too long, and the i7 "got tired"? No idea, but as soon as I turned it on, I got the x21 instead of the x10 fixed...

 

Nvidia and ATI have supported switching with Intel graphics for a while now. No doubt the i5 will require some tweaking but I'm not so confident that the industry is waiting on drivers from ATI/nVidia.

Do you have proof? If not, perhaps you should state your speculations as such.
We've got enough rumors flying around on this board.