*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

Should be fine. Windows 7 scales very well. Some text will look small, but it will be readable. Allot of programs and websites can be run in compatibility mode, ie will make the text larger.

Also remember you can increase the font size.

 

Well, that's very subjective. To a pair of teenage eyes, 1080p on 15.6" screen is probably quite readable but may not be so for aging eyes or for people with glasses.

I don't have glasses but I find it difficult to read most websites and text based applications on my 17" E1705 with 1920x1200 resolution and default 96dpi setting. Have absolutely no idea how anyone can find this resolution "fine" for continuous use on a 15.6" screen.

But Vista/Win7 has very nice scaling and mine set to 120dpi is easily readable. But the effective resolution is 1536x960. So much for paying extra for a high resolution screen...

 

Mine says it has left alaska and is hopefully on its way to southern california.

 

Don't worry, that's how FedEx works. I'm in California as well, and each previous time I have ordered from HP, it goes from Anchorage to their hub in Memphis. Then from there, it comes to me in Southern California.

 

I've used a Dell SXPS 16" 1080p screen and liked it. I did use zoom in Firefox but overall it was fine.

I'm just having a hard time deciding if I want the 13" or 15". I do light PhotoShop and web design, HD movies, etc.

Do you think the 13" is not enough screen size and I'll regret it?

 

I don't understand - the text size on websites have nothing to do with resolution or the OS. You set your own scale in the browser app. I often scale up/down (Ctrl+Mousewheel) all the time depending on which web site I'm visiting.

Other text based apps normally rely on the OS scale. A few cases ignore the OS scale. Not sure how that would differ in Win7 compared to Vista, if at all. However, at the moment I can't think of any program that has problems with text and/or image scaling...

 

Mine left Anchorage Alaska and it's now in Oakland CA. not in memphis. Delivery date is still 11/4 but my fingers are crossed....

 

So far so good guys, like I said earlier this machine is beautiful, so slim, and looks to die for, its amazing the power thats in this small laptop, it is truely portable. The low res screen isnt really an issue to be honest it was more of a case of want more without there being a real need for it, I have used a 15inch with 1080p before and i did find it annoying to be honest, not all the website scaled well and the high res really made some lower res internet graphics look bad.
Anyways moving on from the screen some of you have 1080 anyways, i'll be brutally honest the laptop has flaws but you only really obsess about them because the laptop costs so much. Most of the flaws are just a case of getting used to the laptop, the trackpad isnt that bad its just takes some getting used to, the main issue is that if your like me you tend to rest your finger on the left click button and thats a no no. The whole trackpad is useable for moving the cursor including the button area, so you can only put your finger there if you intend to touch the button because otherwise it activates one of the multi touch features and gos everywhere. The included dvd drive is a bit pants, a bit bulky i've got a samsung slimline one im going to use instead. My main beaf is the lack of vga output I just need to get my hands on that hdmi convertor that hp sell, easier said than done in the uk at the moment.

The performance is excellent and the instant on feature is impressive internet up and running in a couple of seconds. The key placements take some getting use to i'm constantly trying to press shift or tab and hitting one of the function keys instead. But I think you can see that these are mearly an issue of getting used to the laptop.To reinforce the good points this has got be the best looking and most technically capable PORTABLE laptop in existence. I played the crysis demo on high settings at the native 1366 res and it was a pleasure to play, can only get better when they update the drivers as well im sure.
If you haven't got yours yet keep on the case of getting one dont give up on this laptop, or exagerate its few flaw they really are miner issues some of which can be resolved im sure. I would give it my personal recommendation, it definetly looks the business and no one can argue with i7,4830 graphics and win 7.

 

Ok, I now have my brand-spankiing new HP Envy 15 (the i7 820M version). For my purposes (virtualization) it will suit just fine. However, I am afraid that there are some major gripes to this machine as well.

In order of seriousness:

1. The 1080p screen exhibits a clear horizontal banding pattern which is especially visible on blue backgrounds (which immediately noticed as I switched to Windows classic view).

2. The touchpad is really really awful. So awful that it compares to the one I had on my ASUS A8JS notebook. The "virtual" left- and right click buttons work really really bad and I have to click them twice every second time to get a click to register (I have now reverted to left clicking by double tapping the touchpad instead which works much better).

3. The unit has no HDD light whatsoever, meaning that you have to guess what your computer is doing when something is stalling it.

4. The preinstalled W7 Home Preimum was absolutely loaded with bloatware, making my T61p with Vista 64 Business run circles around it. I am currently reloading the HP Envy 15 with Vista 64 Business.

5. The i7 820QM sure gets the HP Envy 15 hot but not unbearably hot. However, when the fan kicks in at the highest setting it sure makes a lot of noise (more than my T61p at the highest setting). The amount of hot air blown out of the laptop is pretty amazing (please note that I have only stressed the CPU so far not run games or anything else GPU-intensive).

6. The BIOS almost lacks any options / settings. I cannot set SATA mode (it seems to be stuck in some Intel RAID mode even for a single disk according to the Matrix Manager) nor can I disable HyperThreading. Thank God that I could enable hardware virtualization otherwise I would have purchased this machine for nothing.

On the other hand, the machine has an extremely powerful CPU and can take 16GB making it very interesting for portable virtualization.

more observations to follow ....

 

I'm on the same delivery. No Memphis for me either. I'm gald becasue I am only twenty miles a way from Oakland.

 

Sorry it toke (sp?) so long to answer, my envy is a VJ288EA#UUW, called
HP 15-1099EO in the store.

I have been installing all my stuff and so far I'm very satisfied the thing I don,t like is the layout on the keyboard, I keep on pressing the printer button all the time.

I have installed my external screen via a hdmi-dvi adapter and it works just great, no problem at all. The screen resolution on the laptop isn't a problem for me, it's just the resolution I would have choosen anyway.

My envy doesn't get specially warm, I hade it on all day yesterday and installing, no problem...
I haven,t tried anything that recuires any power yet, I don't play games, but I render images and I will let you know how that works.

About the trackpad, this is my first laptop so I have nothing to compare too, but I have no problem with it at all.

I like that it's so beautiful at and feels steady. I hade a look at Studio XPS at the store and, that feelt very plastic.

I must say... I LOVE MY ENVY!

Sorry for all bad spelling, I haven't installd the english spellcheck yet

/Yvonne

 

Is there a way to flip the function of the top row keys so Fn keys are unshifted?

 

Supposedly on the BIOS you could do it.
The Dell Studios that had the FN inverted could be reversed under the BIOS.

 

What hdmi convertor are you using and where did you get it?
OH never mind I just noticed you said hdmi-dvi im after a vga solution

 

Sorry, I have thrown away the box, but I don't think it was something special about it, they hade it in the store where I bought the envy.

 

In the papers that came with the envy, there is a HDMI to VGA converter listed as extras....so maybe it can be purchased at HP?

 

Mine's in Memphis now, still showing Nov. 4th delivery... seems like it could be 11/2 or 11/3 if I am lucky here in Minneapolis. I can't wait to get this thing, it is going to feel like a Porchse compared to this Inspiron 8500 I am typing on now! (btw... this six year old laptop runs Win7 RC fine...)

 

On this thread an owner said it came with the laptop itself (its the post by wlcheng)

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=429073&page=3

 

I really want to get an envy, and its my birthday at the end of the week, so you never know.... however, I think I will wait and see if heat is an issue for anyone and how easy it is to install more ram.

 

Hi there Teknokid and welcome to the NBR Forums! And more specifically to this small Envy Owners Lounge Community.

About the 15, I tried it (should ship and arrive in this week) and I can say that the one I tried was only warm, but not hot.

About the RAM, in the OP are some links/pics (post 370 I think...cant recall ATM) on the interior. 2 slots are easily accessible and 2 are harder to get.

 

Hi there, Thanks for the welcome.

Im currently using a Vaio FW, which gets reasonably warm, so a bit of warmth shouldn't bother me.

Which link do I need to look at and goto post 370? It didnt seem to be on this thread

Thanks

 

Yeah its just impossible to get hold of. Its listed on the instructions that came with my envy. But ive been playing ping pong between hp and their approved suppliers, its just simply impossible to get hold of this convertor in the uk, it only appears on the us website.

 

Strange. I am sure I uploaded that. Anyways, here is the manual, should be in there.
Manual: http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01911053.pdf

 

I have been lurking for awhile and enjoying the thread. Like many of you I bought my Envy 15 on 10/18 to take advantage of the Bing 25% discount. My laptop has traveled from Alaska to Oakland and now it is in Memphis. Hopefully I should get it by 11/03 though estimated delivery date is 11/04.

I have a question for those of you that either have or have tried the laptop. Is it hot enough that I should buy a cooling pad? If so can you recommend a specific model. I'd like to have it by the time my laptop arrives.

 

Hi there pinnacle! And welcome to the NBR Forums! And as said above, welcome to this small Owners Lounge community here.

I have one question for you. Are you planning to stress it? If so, and wanting to use it in the lap is a no-go. The i7+4830 will heat too much to be comfortable to use then. If not stressing it and using it on the lap, could be done. I found the one I tried only warm, so no problems there.

Although, if you stress the components, as any laptop, it will get hotter (no doubts on that).

 

Serg, I know that you've said the retail model did not feel hot, but the post here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5460444&postcount=22 does disagree with this.

The preview hands on by notebookcheck stated:

Mobiletechreview said:

You yourself have said yours was warm but not hot, whereas the unit I used was warm, but uncomfortably so.

So I think you'll agree that there does seem to be conflicting reports. I think that until the HP direct unit is in peoples hands and is being used for anything more than displaying a demo screen, that we should just forget about the temperature argument. The fact is, we simply don't know, and the evidence we have is very conflicting at the moment, not to mention that temperature measurements without a temperature probe are incredibly subjective. What feels hot to me might be warm to you etc. Only a few more days hopefully, and we can put this to bed

 

Thanks Serg! I will be using the laptop primarily on a table. I have a Dell XPS M1330 for laptop use. I will be stressing the HP Envy 15 with CPU intensive custom engineering software and some 3-D modeling. I also do some web design work with Dreamweaver and Photoshop along with some gaming. That is why I thought I might need a cooling pad.

 

FragileXX - I've also noticed the conflicting reports on heat. I hope this is not indicative of quality control issues at their factory.

 

I am also due to get my Envy 15 on the 3rd. I decided to not cancel or uncancel (if that is a word) my order since HP offered me $200 to keep the order after my Bing Cashback was dropped.

Does anyone know what is the suggested initial charge time for the main battery and/or the slice before the computer is used? Or does it even need to have an initial charge since it is a Lithium Ion?

 

I don't think so. I'm pretty certain it is simply that people feel temperature differently. Unfortunately we will simply have to wait and see.

 

I agree with you on this. Let us wait for users to use it and report. On the meantime the temp topic is on the air. NOTE: temperatures can be a little subjective per user, but I think we all agree that hot is hot. lol

 

BDMS08, what reason did they give for canceling your cashback? Did you combine with another discount or simply have an account with access to one of their discount programs? I have a poll going on this topic: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=430617

Hoping to find a common thread and get more than the 100-200 HP is currently offering.

 

For phot editing, real estate is everything. I use Lightroom and I understand the need of high resolution. But without a good size screen, the high resolution is just wasted. A netbook 10.1" screen with 1080p resolution will be way less usable than a 720p 13" screen. Did your XPS 16 have a 1080p screen or 1600x900? The latter is a much better resolution for this screen IMHO.

To get a feel I'd suggest going to a store where they have few 13" laptops on display. You can then play with MS Paint just to see how it looks. In PS/LR or any other photo editor, you can always zoom out the image to view it completely and then zoom into the part you'd want to work on. Same goes for a 1080p screen except that here floating toolbars/palettes will not take much space. To get the same effect, just reduce the dpi of Vista/7 to something lower than 96dpi (default) if you find they are wasting too much space.

A screen resolution of about 100 pixels (few more or less) per inch is considered a good readable screen.

Changing text size in the browser is not always a solution because for many sites it breaks the layout of the page. Yes, just pressing Ctrl+0 will get it back, but then you have to juggle. Changing the OS scaling is the best option but that is rather a permanent one (you need to boot/sign-off) and it effectively reduces the resolution of the screen. This is what I was talking about in my earlier posts on this subject. Why did I pay extra for 1920x1200 screen when I am using it as 1536x960?

Win7 uses Vista style scaling by default and also supports XP style scaling, which is ugly. If if you are looking for applications that don't like scaling, I can give you one name that I was using on my desktop. XBMC/Boxee. Probably any other non-MS application built with 10-foot GUI will have the same problem. But there is an option in Vista/7 to disable high-resolution scaling for applications that don't like it.

If you set larger font size in most text based applications and/or use OS based scaling, question to ask yourself is what do you gain by getting a 1080p 15" (or even 17") screen that costs more other than bragging rights. There is more to laptop (or any LCD) screens than resolution.

As long as the display has about 100 ppi, The following would be lot more important to me than a 1080p screen - Brightness, Color reproduction, Glare, Contrast, and viewing angle. Resolution is not the only measure of picture quality, it's about time we give megapixel myth a rest.

Edit: I should also add that US version of E15 comes only in 1080p, so my post doesn't apply to US buyers. In countries where they have an option of paying less for a lower resolution, it might apply to those buyers. Personally I feel 720p is good enough for 13-14" screens and 900p for 15-17" ones.

 

Changing the scale in the browser normally scales everything - not just the text - with the layout intact and everything. What browser and what web sites doesn't work with this? Can you post a link to a web site where this breaks so I can understand what you're talking about?

How do you mean? The higher resolution is only there to give you a sharper image and more readable text, nothing else. A font that is 4mm high on your screen will look sharper and be more readable in 1920x1200 compared to 1536x960. The only consideration is whether your eyes can detect the difference in quality (which is only detectable up to a certain point and varies from person to person).

There's no need to pay for quality that you can't detect anyway. Like paying big bucks for a high-end CPU if you're never going to stress it anyway. If you don't notice the difference between a 4mm font in 1920x1200 compared to a 4mm font in 1536x960, the higher resolution will only make your computer slower and doesn't give you any benefits whatsoever.

 

If you use the slice battery, you will not need a cooling pad.

 

Lisa G from MobileTechReview directly measured temperatures on her Envy 15 (not subjective opinions - measured with temperature gun), so we do have some actual numbers.

60 min light usage:

• Palmrest: 90-100 F
• Bottom: 105 F (two hot spots)

30 min heavy usage:

• Palmrest: 93-104 F
• Bottom: 108-112 F (two hot spots)

 

So that equates to:

Light usage - 60 min: palmrest 32 degrees Celsius - 37 degrees Celsius
Heavy usage - 30 min: palmrest 34 degrees Celsius - 40 degrees Celsius

For 30 minutes heavy usage, that is pretty darned hot. Also, that is a lot of variance in temperature - was that a reading at start and one at end, or simply variance between different parts of the palm rest? Perhaps it's the difference between the palm rest and the touchpad?

My machine rarely goes above 90 fahrenheit, and my old Studio XPS (which I returned due to a change in mind) hit 95, and I considered that on the edge of being uncomfortable.

Whilst some might think this is not so bad, as I use my notebook intensively all day, I want something that is comfortable to use.

I still intend to wait for confirmation from other sources, but if those temperatures are correct, well, then I'm glad I've yet to push the button on this.

 

Yes, I went to the APP portal through Bing. So it applied a double discount. I ordered very early and didn't realize I couldn't do APP and Bing at the time. (I am new to this forum and new to the intricacies of ordering from HP/Bing.) I read about it afterward on the forum but had already placed the order. It looked like everything was working until I got the email that the Bing cash back was cancelled. So I called HP to cancel and they offered me $80-$100 to keep the order. I told them no. They said they would intercept the package and have it shipped directly to them. This did not happen.

I then read on the forum where other people were offered $200 to keep the order after their Bing was cancelled. I called HP back a few days later and told them others on the forum were getting a $200 (or 10%) offer. They agreed to $200. And since they had never done what they said they would do--have the package redirected, it was still on its way to me so there was no delay. I used the $200 to put towards the purchase of the 3 year accidental damage/service warranty in case the Envy 15 bursts into flames from heat. Hopefully the Envy won’t cause a nuclear meltdown through my laptop pad--but I will soon see.

 

I think the variance was for different spots, as measured after 30/60 min of usage.

Hehe, that's the beauty of actual numbers. Lisa G apparently thought the palmrests were quite comfortable at these levels. This just proves how different everyone's comfort-level is, and how useless statements like "it's hot" or "it's warm" are... Personally, I don't think these temperatures will pose any problem at all for me.

The only confirmation I trust is my own experience with my laptop, since my usage situation and priorities probably differs quite a bit from anyone else's. Free return policy means I can try it out on my own with no worries. It's also possible that different machines may be slightly different... Especially considering retail purchases vs HP.com online purchases, different configurations (CPU/mem/screen), room temperatures and air circulation, etc.

 

The bottom line on the heat is...

If it's too hot for you, return it. For me, the heat is fine. Others will obviously have a difference of opinion.

Cheers.

 

I saw a weird issue today at frys with envy 15.It is 1999$ model listed with slice battery added.Another person was looking at it and i just joined to see it as i was still not able to decide between alienware m15x,dell sxps 16 and this

Anyways it was around 10:00am and the store was open for about an hour.I definitely felt laptop was hot even though it was idle and on for only an hour .There was no internet connection also to it.Just plugged in to power outlet and there is no battery also.The other guy clicked on windows score index link and the pc did not respond.He clicked it couple of times and the whole pc froze up and message popped up not responding and he chose to kill it.Then the computer went blank and we are not able to see anything.Tried some things pressed on keyboard once windows logo showed up but again nothing.So switched off and on again finally

A message popped up and showed BIOS detected computer is near dangerous hot level and it may permanently damage the system.Please shut it down .Code 902 something like that not exact wording.I told him to switch it off and we left.It was very strange and scarry.I am really scared ordering this system.

 

DAYMN? thats not a good thing right?

 

My model should be arriving tomorrow or tuesday at the latest. I really hope that MobilityModder gets "fixed" so that the latest Catalyst 9.10 drivers work on the Envy. Even more importantly, I'd like to know if Cat 9.10 Linux works as well, or if I'll be waiting until 9.11 to install.

 

Sorry, but this whole narrative sounds suspect to me. I don't buy it.

There was text produced by the BIOS that said "computer is near dangerous hot level! ... may permanently damage the system! Danger! Danger, Will Robinson..!" ?

 

Agree... But how bad, really, can the just-installed factory drivers be? Will there really be that much difference...?

 

Wow! You are good you found my post! I'm known as Shibby513 on that site.. I didn't get an answer to that post ...kinda disappointed. Thought it would have been seen as a challenge to the guys since this is a current gen laptop card. I've since gone with the preinstalled drivers and will just wait. I'm self taught when it come to pc and this is the first time I've been defeated by a single program. I literally spent 24hrs -installing bsod'ing uninstalling-driver cleaner- wash rinse repeat. Maybe I'm doing it wrong since this is my first 64bit OS. Any other takers wanna give this Mobility Modder a try? Laptop is completely restorable after BSOD in safe mode. This just frustrates me because I think HP may have a program that reinstalls the drivers automatically if there's an error or caches the driver on the partition drive. [email protected]

 

Yes, it scales everything but that sometimes causes the issue when the webpage was coded to automatically reorganize itself so that horizontal scrollbar doesn't appear (also images get fuzzy as they are blown up). Right now I can think of only dpreview.com whose menu was broken for Firefox with high zoom for a long time. Either FF 3.5 fixed it or Amazon fixed the site.

I am not sure what you mean by 4mm font as fonts are normally defined in points. If you mean the height or width of the font is 4mm at default settings (96dpi), then with custom DPI set to 120, there will be a 25% increase in size. So, the new height or width would be 5mm making it more readable.

What this custom DPI setting does is that every component is drawn by the OS with 120 dots per inch instead of 96, which is default. So, every component now has more dots. But the screen resolution is constant with same number of dots/pixels, so they appear larger by 25%. You'd get a similar effect if you keep DPI setting at default (96) and change the resolution of the 1920x1200 screen to 1536x960. Now every component / text would appear larger by 25%. This is why I said 120dpi in a 1920x1200 screen is effectively a 1536x960 screen without any scaling. But LCD screens get fuzzy when a non-native resolution is selected and that is why we use OS based scaling (custom DPI). In the days Windows 98 and CRT monitors, one didn't need custom DPI as they could just reduce the resolution without worrying about fuzziness to increase component size.

That's my point exactly to people who can get a 900p 16" screen (just an example) for lesser price than a 1080p one. If the price was same, I'd choose 1080p (if color/brightness/glare etc are comparable) as I know I can always use custom DPI. BTW, the size of the text wouldn't be same when the resolution is reduced, it'll be larger.

 

Well, you've done us all a service with your painful recon. But do we have any specific reason, aside from the general nerfing given to mobility drivers, to believe that the installed 4830 driver is particularly inefficient?

 

Borderlands - native res, everything on/high avg fps 30.

Take the dynamic shadows off avg fps around 50

Happy

I've also got used to the touch pad now two finger scrolling etc.

 

^ Wait but are you 1080p res? Cause if thats the case Awesome I want this machine to play that game well!!