*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

no UK...GO AMERICA!

 

Hmm I'm thinking about the Sony F series now too... they have several immediately available models that are comparable to the envy.. but of course its not 5lbs.. more like 7lbs... kinda like the XPS16

 

yeah...me too lol though, if i can find something with the same specs and <1.5" i'll jump on that. Heck if the F series vaio had the 5830 i'd cancel my order now and get that. But so far the envy is the bestest and who knows maybe mine won't be delayed....

 

Some of us called HP this morning and were told that our notebooks had shipped, but that fedex has not updated the tracking numbers. Although I agree that HP support isn't the best, it isn't good to lie to your customers.

I like the $50 gesture, I'll probably use it to get a slice battery for almost half off.

 

oh snap! i thought the slice was $180?

 

I haven't gotten the delay email, so does that mean that my order might not have been delayed?

 

Hmmm...I thought it was a $125 add on when purchasing, I'll have to check the part number now.

Ouch, $170 for the part alone. Guess I'll pass.

 

http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/...otebook_batteries/1/accessories/VL841AA%23ABB

of course thats an accessory purchase. though I bet we could get them to sell it at the 'add-on' price and use the coupon.

Edit: If i'm delayed thats what i'll try. 125-50=$75 add on slice and i'll wait til the 30th.

 

I haven't got a delay notice yet but I'm not surprised that this is happening I guess. I'll hope it's not as horrible as the situation with the Dell Zino HD I once attempted to buy (That took over two months before I went and canceled)

On the plus side, this will give me a chance to see what Apple does with the MacBook Pro on the 27th. Or Lenovo's i5 systems.

 

Absolutely agree that there is zero excuse for those people that have been lied to - but I've seen this happen in so many forums and it all gets blown right out of proportion. I've had many many notebooks delayed in the past, so I know fully how frustrating it can be.

Those that have been lied to obviously stand much more of a chance of getting more from HP, but past experience tells me that most wont - I know that countless hours on the phone has yielded success in only a few instances for me.

Going back to a post earlier by someone else, I actually read that page on the performance of the 5850 just before signing in here; it was pretty disappointing. I can only hope that results from the Envy is better, and that the result in those tests is something to do with the ACER in that test.

Whilst it's frustrating that the US gets these machines before the UK does, it also works in my favour as I get to hear from folks on these forums as to any immediate issues / concerns before I even have the opportunity to make a potentially bad purchase. I don't think my mind will be changed about this notebook, I really hope it doesn't.

 

I got my zino right away and i ordered on black Friday. not sure how i lucked out. guess im not so lucky this time

 

Well, my unit was delayed as well, from the 18th to the 30th :/

 

I wonder why this stuff happens? Probably a parts manufacturer not following through with their arrival date?

 

mm maybe the low performance from the 5850 its for the drivers..
Because checking the ati website they dont list yet a driver for the mobility 5000 series...
Maybe later with some new drivers will perform better (at least thats my hope...)

 

I think the numbers are about right. Perhaps only slightly slow because of immature drivers.
The Mobility 5850 in that review only has GDDR3 memory. In essence, the performance you see in the review should be indicative of the Envy's 5830 with some overclocking.
The only difference between the 5830 the 5850 in the review is that the reviewed 5850 has a higher core clock.

I think you guys were expecting the performance numbers you'd see with a 5850 and GDDR5.

 

That is a huge delay!

I wonder what this means for those of us with later ship dates. My status still says it will ship out on the 27th. If this gets pushed back, I'm going to be very pissed. From this weekend on, I will not have a laptop, and the additional time will just make things harder.

 

Are there any patterns to the notebooks that have been delayed, or is it all of them? Mine is supposed to ship tomorrow, but I won't hold out hope for that.

 

You think the numbers for the review i posted are right???

If so, then one can assume that you also believe that the new 5830 is significantly slower than the outgoing 4830. Correct?

Lets just get this all straight.

Personally, I think the 5830 will be about 15% faster than the 4830. It will provide a 9000pt 3Dmark06 (defaults) and break the 10k barrier when overclocking software is available for it. One user has his, it would be nice if he could squash the rumors. His has an HP Catalyst 9.11 driver installed.

 

I ordered on Sunday the 10th, and this whole while my order has said:

"Estimated to ship on January 27, 2010"

Pople who ordered after the 10th were givin sooner shipping dates?

I have yet to get the delay email...

 

I do think the 5830 will be faster in some cases. However, in many cases its still going to be limited by memory bandwidth and be approximately the same speed. The 5850 in the review is the same way, limited by memory bandwidth.

In terms of memory bandwidth 4830 = 5830 = 5850 w/ GDDR3

No, I think in some situations the 5830 and 5850 /w GDDR3 will perform approximately the same as the 4830 because the limiting factor in those situations will be memory.

 

I second that
and would be nice to see some real benchmarks with the 3Dmark06 with that thing plugged directly from an electric station... or a car battery

 

This Intel datasheet mentions LFM mode:

http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/320765.pdf

In LFM mode the TDP drops from 45 to 35 W, just 10W difference. I find it hard to believe that LFM would be necessary because of battery limitations. I think HP just pulled a fast one and locked in LFM on battery power.

 

Thanks to all those who replied to my questions regarding SSD's! (several pages back)

Looks like I will have a lot more time to do research before my envy arrives. lol

Have not recieved my 'delay' email yet but I'm sure I'll see it soon. Have 1 i5 scheduled for today and 1 scheduled for the 28th.

Did anyone catch the error in the math on HP's email? 'will ship on 1/30 or no longer than 10 days from original date' that equals the 29th on my calendar....

 

Okay, my understanding is that Catalyst drivers are for desktop GPUs, but some of you enthusiasts use the drivers for mobile GPUs.

My question is how do I install the Catalyst driver and will there be any performance gains in terms of gaming?

 

You can install the desktop drivers and use the mobility modder to make them laptop compatible. Simple !

 

Can you be patient with me and tell me how to do that?

 

I don't think the 5000 series is supported yet. Follow the link below for some guidance on the update process.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php

 

I have my Envy 15 and so far I love it

 

1. Install the lastest from ati and extrac tbut DONT install just cancel the installation
2. Go to this website: http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php and download the ati mobility modder and install it and when it asks you just directs it to the ati folder you just extracted. it will modify some files to make them laptop compatible. then installation will finish normally.

NOTE: I did them with my xps 16 which has ati 4670 and it worked no problems. Im not sure it will work on the ati 5 series since they are new, but you can try. Please report your findings.

 

Lerts compare the 4830 to the 5830 in terms of an engine:

1. The 5830 has 25% more displacement, but redlines at 10% slower RPM. (regarding the 800 shaders vs the 640 shaders, but clocked at 500 vs 550mhz)
2. The engines have the same fuel system in terms of line diameter and fuel type, but the 5830 operates with 14% more fuel pressure. (regarding the memory type and bus width, but now at 800 vs 700mhz)

For the faster engine to indeed put out more power, it will need more fuel.

The 5830 meets all these demands, which should translate into 15% more performance.

Remember that Memory Bus Width performance is directly influenced by the Memory Clock.

 

I could be wrong since I don't have a Envy 15 w/ a 4830 but, from the GPU-Z screenshots I've seen on the first page, it has 800mhz.


Still, I agree. There are situations where the 5830 will be faster than the 4830. Unfortunately the weakest link on the 4830, 5830, and 5850 w/ GDDR3 is the memory bandwidth not shader performance. It is for this reason that you can't always expect 15-25% faster performance out of the 5830.


To continue your engine analogy, having 128bit memory interface w/ GDDR3 is like having a governor on your car. It doesn't matter how much better the engine is if there is a bottleneck keeping it you from being able to use it.

 

geez, its amasizing how they jacked the envy beats price up to $2099. With my coupon, got mine for under $1600. I'm thinking maybe ebay for $1850... and get that Asus G73JH.

 

Hi drizek,

So my estimated leadtime was 2 days shorter than yours? That is weird.

I ordered on 01/09/2010 at 11:10:16 PST and got a 1/18 ship date.

 

You are right that the HP version of the 4830 does have 800mhz memory! Looks like they may have the same bandwidth in that department (Pre Overclock... )

Governor only applies to top speed i believe, the vette is going to smoke the prius 88mph! haha, after that, well... where we're going, we dont need roads!

 

Thanks for the info, but I have the old Envy 15, 4830, no the 5830.

 

haha, if only a Envy 15 could produce the 1.21 Gigawatts needed for the flux capacitor. Maybe then i7 users could run higher than a 7x multiplier on battery.

Don't get me wrong I'm hoping the 5830 will be at least 15% faster since I bought one.

 

Well my Dell xps 1645 was delayed two months before I cancelled it.

That was a blessing, maybe this is too.

 

Sounds to me like you despise the gift she got you. Just be honest and tell her, man. If she truly loves you, she'll let you cancel your order and get that MBP that you really want.

 

I wonder what the difference is between the i5 graphics card and quad core graphics card (the ordering system specifically makes you pick the corresponding graphics card with the right processor)? Could it be that one ships with GDDR3 and the other ships with DDR3?

 

I too was an Envy i5 purchaser with a Jan 09, 2010 order and a "estimated to ship on January 18, 2010" who received a delay email....

Two quick thoughts - I just returned my Dell XPS 1645 and experienced firsthand via notebookreview forums that those who ordered "first" (and were delayed first) didn't necessarily receive their laptops first (e.g. those who ordered a week or two later just received their laptops in the normal course of business while the "delayed" users were anxiously waiting.) This of course was Dell...has anyone experienced any delays with HP? Would it be safer to place another order instead of relying on the delayed order to get here?

Also, I decided not get the Blu-Ray external with my purchase...but I'm definitely regretting it now. Has anyone heard the status of if/when the blu-ray players will be back for sale? Has anyone tried to order one off the phone (versus using the online section) I believe you can still order them through Costco.com's custom build option still but that may be an error on their part.


Thanks all

 

Great, this has made my wishful thinking meter go back up to 100.

I mean, I can only assume that the delays are due to HP getting all of the new Envy components into the assembly plant such as:

• Edge-to-edge glass
• USB 3.0 ports
• Revised hinges

It probably also has to do with their engineers working out all the software kinks like CPU multiplier issue and switchable graphics

But, realistically, I don't mind the delay in return for a $50 coupon. Now I can purchase the external optical drive that I was too cheap to buy originally.

 

Hehe, here's to hoping mine gets delayed a day or two. xD

 

i just called to cancel and they offered me another $50. i was planning on cancelling this order anyways because i ordered another one with the ssd's

 

Haha, I tried to upgrade the hard drive on mine, and they offered me 100 dollars to keep my build. I agreed emphatically. ^.^

 

I saw this link... http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/19/2-000-wintek-workers-go-on-strike-over-bonus-payments-may-affec/ ... and thought about my laptop.

 

this one is cancelled. if they would have offered me another 100 off i would have had to keep it because it would have been to good of a deal. I would have probably dropped another 4GB into it and ebayed it.

 

Highly unlikely at this stage, all of this would have been done before it was available to buy.

The i5 has just gone on sale, so it's possible that it's a shortage of that. Likewise, this is one of the first notebooks with the 58xx GPU, so could be a shortage of that; remember there were supply problems with the 5000 series desktop graphics card too. Who knows, could be a shortage of power supply units.

It could even be something really obscure, like the laser that does the etching on the case is broken and it'll take time to get an engineer to fix it.

OK, I admit that last one is not particularly likely; but it would explain how someone on this forum already got the beats version

 

Initial delays are a frequent occurrence when new models are released. I guess its hard for the maker to estimate how many units they will sell. Actually its more likely a shortage of i5/i7 processors from Intel, HP aren't the only ones offering the new chips.

Oh, and at least you people have been able to order a new refresh Envy, I'm still waiting for the chance over here!

 

BTW -- I used HW Monitor while running 8 instances of Prime95 to gauge the temperature (in High Perfromance power mode).

Screen print below



Will try some more stuff later on.

 

Perhaps HP underestimated demand for the refresh Envy 15, which would explain the sudden hike in price and early unit delays...