*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

Yeah I know, but it's so far away, and it's complicated but my billing is my aunts house, cause I'm not from the States, she's never at home so they're not going to be able to deliver if it needs to be signed, second she's not going to ship it to me, it's gonna cost her a lot. Lol.

If they cut costs on the the 15 inch envy for BB what did they cut from the envy 13? It's same as the base config on HP.com except it has the battery and the disc drive.

 

Speech recognition?? You spoke to the laptop?

Yes Fragilexx, I know what you mean.

I am going to explain it.

HP Envy 15 1800 bucks
Taxes 145.49 IIRC
Total 1945.49 I think

Now, 1945.49
Minus BCB 25% is 450 (give or take)
That makes including shipping 1494.74
Minus 500 that I am not paying (part of a gift)
I would have to pay from my saving 994.74 total

But if the BCB does not work, I end up paying 1445.49 from my savings. For those who have seen it/played with it, would you consider this is worth it?

 

Hmmmm, my billing address and shipping address is not the same and my order was accepted and is in production?

 

Yes, I would say it is definently worth it for that price. I payed about $100 more than that with the bing cash back. The only thing that really bothered me was the touchpad which will probably have updated drivers very soon if not already to fix the issues. Its a Solid laptop and seems very very durable and fast.

 

It's really not usual for retail outlets to have different models than are available online. Take a look at dell computers to start with, now obviously they offer highly customizable notebooks on their UK website, but a quick trip in two a PC world store will often show lesser spec machines.

Unless you need a computer very fast or you know for certain that the machine it is the same spec and you can buy online, then I would always recommend buying it online. The main reason being that when buying online you often have additional rights with regard to returning the item.

 

EDIT.

Crap! Wrong thread.

 

i paid $0 after selling my old laptop

 

Well, Asus is known for having lesser configs on retails compared to those you get online, but true it is strange that this goes like that. We shall wait and see.

EDIT: WOW double ninja;d!

 

Yes serg, I'm controlling my laptop with nothing more than my voice, of course it's only really useful for dictating things that actually you can control every single aspect of using the computer(as long as it is within windows).

Personally I would actually cancel my order and replace it as long as HP don't of course apply any penalty to you for doing such a thing. At least this way you can be certain that are Bing cash back is going to work. That is not to say the laptop is not worth that amount of money, just that it's a lot of money not to have given to you when you have qualified for it.

Regards

 

well I would like to buy it online
They just won't let me!!

 

I still find it strange that nobody can explain to you why this is? I mean if it is simply a case of the billing address and a shipping address being different surely you can have it shipped to the billing address and then they can forward it to you? I don't suppose anybody has any links to escalate this query to HP anywhere, along the same lines as the Dell escalation form?

 

I'm not sure, I just know the women i was talking too started getting angry and just said she was in Colorado, Hp HQ said no, even if you order again it's not going through, if you're still not happy call customer service and complain. If you still want the laptop go to Best buy.

 

Thanks for the response Fragilexx.

I will consider this today friday. Well, G2G, it is late here.
Now, let us all behave...hahahahahaha

Night night people

 

Wonderful, don't you just love when companies do things like that. I assume the time you spent on the phone was to customer services? I don't know if there's going to be a lot you can do at the moment but I would suggest writing a letter to HP requesting reason why they wont let you purchase this laptop.

 

(last post) Funny that HP wont simple accept your money...i thought they were into selling stuf...^^ (by seriously, that sucks csquared, I hope everythign sorts out for you and you can get this laptop)

Now I am gone.

 

So I stopped by Best Buy after work. They had out one of the pre-production models (no edge-to-edge, etc.), but I was still pretty impressed.

The screen was perfectly bright. As bright and legible as any other laptop I saw in there -- although I admit I didn't compare it to the Macs, which were in a different section -- and I didn't even see a difference from the E13 it was sitting next to.

It seemed incredibly light -- until I looked underneath and saw that they had taken out the 6-cell for the floor model! Even so, unless the regular battery is very heavy, I'm going to be fine with this little machine. But maybe that's because I'm comparing it to the 7-pound thing I'm carrying around now...

The trackpad is sketchy. I felt like I had to hit the left button twice every time I used it, probably because my mousing finger had not yet left the pad when I hit it the first time. Things went better when I consciously hit the button more firmly. The two-finger scrolling thing worked fine for me, but I only tried a few strokes. Personally, I never use a trackpad because I take a mouse wherever I go. Trackpads are only good for causing carpel-tunnel syndrome, as far as I'm concerned.

The keyboard was lovely -- and I'm picky about them. It felt exactly like typing on my wife's Macbook -- although the keys are even larger and/or more widely spaced than I'm used to. I didn't check for flex.

The case design looked nothing like the photos that have been posted. It was so understated, even in bright light, that you could hardly discern what the pattern was. The texture is what you notice when you look at it, not the pattern it creates.

As far as heat goes, there wasn't too much. Although I only had, at most, 4 apps running at the same time while I was playing with it, the only hotspot was under the trackpad -- and it just wasn't that hot, especially if you've ever felt the heat that a Macbook Pro creates. I suspect under load the heat output will be no greater than an Apple's. And I think my Antec cooler, which actually makes my machine room temperature even with games, will work fine under this thing.

 

Heh, I just read a review on the Antec cooler. Apparently the cooling effect is highly dependent on the orientation of the cooler under the laptop (in relation to the hot spots on the laptop bottom surface). The reviewer tried rotating it 180 degrees and measured a huge difference.

 

Thanks, that's really nice to know. If surface of the laptop (top & bottom) is within 80 degrees (with room temp 70-72F) at idle, I am happy.

 

Since the ones in BB and the ones sold in HP's website are different, I now wonder whether will the Beat's Edition of the Envy be different or not. It seems to buy in BB isn't that worth it since it will be a 'lower' spec one...

 

Hm, that's hard to imagine, since a 180 turn would put the two fans in exactly the same position (just swapped). But I'll try it and see if I find a difference...

 

Just a note in regards to the Bing cashback... I hadn't received any cashback notification after 2 days so I contacted Bing support. Today it was corrected and shows a $520 cashback pending (56 days left).

In regards to my HP order. I've already received the printer and bag I ordered (very happy with that wireless all-in-one printer so far!). The bag fits perfectly in my backpack for travelling (it was the 16" espresso notebook sleeve). The laptop is "in production" and estimated to ship on October 29, with 2 days shipping.

With all the contradicting and subjective reviews on this thing I'm going to test it thoroughly when I get it to see if it fits _me_. Everyone have different priorities. I don't see any reason whatsoever to cancel an order (and lose out on the Bing cashback) when you can try your laptop on your own, in your own operating conditions and send it back for a full refund. For me, I'm primarily going to test it with Visual Studio, games and movies. It's rough to be productive with such a small screen but it will have to suffice when travelling... I expect to keep the Envy in the end.

If I keep it, I'm going to add a 256 GB SSD (cloning the existing HDD and reformatting it for slow mass data storage) and a HDMI-to-DVI adapter.

 

Does anyone know how much an extra 6-cell will run approximately? If the battery life is about 3hrs for me on it, it seems like the more efficient way to go in order to minimize weight considering the reports so far on how heavy the slice is.

 

We probably need to wait to draw this conclusion. Right now, it's all speculations. Let few people, who ordered at HPdirect.com, report here.

 

Yup, it swapped the fans. Doesn't the fans blow different directions? E.g. one is intake and the other is exhaust? It all depended on where the hot spots are (i.e. CPU/GPU placements) which is different on every laptop. You could try all kinds of positioning of the cooler and see if you notice any difference... Like move it off-center, rotated 60 degrees, etc...

 

Well, on mine they're both intake. The exhaust comes out one of the "sides" (but somewhat underneath) the X-shaped cooler...

 

Here is something interesting, the quick ship model number is the same as the one at Best buy, and on the Hp site it still says

Art forged by engineering

* Go frameless with the edge-to-edge protective glass on the display
* Control everything with the click pad that integrates the button in the touchpad
* Access common tasks via one-touch and action keys on the full-size keyboard
* Reduce glare in darkened environments thanks to low-luminance LED indicators on the keys
* Go in style with the laser-etched surface and the pure-grade aluminum chassis
* Travel easily with the slim case (1.04" thick and less than 5.2 lb4.)


SOoooooo? What does that mean?!

 

Ah, try 90 degrees then, or any positioning that puts the two fans closest to the hottest spots on the bottom surface...

 

This reminds me -- and I'm sorry to go slightly OT for a moment -- I too already got one of the printers on offer with the E15, but a non-wireless one. Does anybody know why it doesn't work for me to plug the printer into my Airport Express, then change the port settings on my printer configuration to the wireless port?

I know the printer isn't wireless, but neither is the 3-year old HP printer I've been using, and it worked fine to just tell it to look for the USB connection through the wireless port. (The new printer works fine when directly connected; and I'm using XP)
??

 

since i have already bought one, reading this thread is a real emotional rollercoaster. this has been one seriously controversial laptop

 

Good idea, if it were necessary. (but as I said, I have zero hotspots anyway with the normal alignment) -- But this might be a particularly good suggestion for the Envy, which seems to get hot front and center. The 90 rotation would put a fan right under it.

 

hope this hasnt already been posted. a look at the beats edition

http://www.chipchick.com/2009/10/hp-envy-15-photos.html

 

Yeah im glad I didn't go for the beats edition, definitely would've been too much gloss black for my liking.

 

Wow...ive been looking around at this thing for a while now, being like wow...performance/looks/slimness...and there it hit me when i configured it YET again to see price...i see no "optical drive" so a quick lookup and -----> THERE IS NO OPTICAL DRIVE? deal breaker right there (f**** external drives)

 

I can't stand glossy equipment. It think it's very uncomfortable to touch and looks disgusting after 2 min of use. It's too bad it's so common nowadays. I've specifically been hunting a long time for a non-glossy laptop that has the most performance and largest screen per kg... They're hard to find.

 

To me, it makes sense. ODs take up an enormous amount of space in a machine that's trying to stay slim for a single limited function that I only occasionally use. On those occasions I'm happy to plug in an external drive, just as I do for any peripherals -- most of which I use more often.

(btw, just got my cheap Buffalo multidrive in the mail today...)

 

Btw, jwhit, do you mind telling us how much you paid for your 80g ssd? Sorry if you already mentioned it...

 

The external drive is pretty much the size of your DVD. If you're comfortable carrying around DVDs you might as well use the external drive as DVD case. Pretty much the same size.

Personally I'm extremely happy to get rid of the DVD drive in exchange for smaller size and dual HDD. It's very rare that I use a disk with my computers. The few times per year I would need it, the external drive works perfectly for me. USB-powered (no extra cables) and the size of a DVD case.

I would be more worried about the missing Firewire port. Since there's no PC card slot, there's no way to connect a firewire device to it at all. If you have firewire devices...

 

Wait, there is absolutely no firewire? Lame.

I've been waiting for a laptop that can officially claim the slimness, looks, battery life of a MBP, but with more power and same or less price. However, the battery slice messes up the slimness, the battery life of a MBP can only be almost reached by using the slice, and the price is still a bit high for my tastes.

However, I don't really mind the price too much. But with that price, an optical drive should be included (I am not debating the utility of the device). Either that, or put a better graphics card. Or better put in a hybrid graphics system (if that was implemented I would have bought this laptop for sure) so the slice isn't necessary and perhaps 5+ hours could be reached without the slice.

Also, they should created a model that had a C2D instead of an i7, and offer a cheaper version.

Out of all these points, I would have to say a hybrid graphics system in a laptop of this caliber would have really convinced me to buy it.

Looks like my wait will continue, in search of a laptop that has portability, decent graphics power, and lengthy battery life.

 

Surprisingly, not many laptops have FW. As I explained in one of these threads before, the efficiency of HP's Envy 15 is really high for it's components. Capacity wise, the two batteries (103WHr) together aren't much more than the MBP's battery (77WHr), for similar battery life (7 hours). Unfortunately, it is impossible to have switchable graphics in any of these computers due to Intel not selling integrated graphics on their chipsets anymore. Most likely, since this is their premium product, they won't lower the price much nor introduce a lesser version (such as Dell's Adamo). There is no perfect laptop, but this one seems to be near it IMO.

edit: yay 5,000th post

 

$230 x25-m 80gb on ebay + 8% bing cash back (basically just canceled out the shipping.

i also got a toshiba dynadock which looks like a pretty good port replicator for $50 on ebay with 5% bing cash back (again just canceled out shipping)

 

Anyone know when envy will be available in scandinavian? I thought yesterday, but it just says "Coming soon" on the HP site

 

Hopefully when BB starts selling them they will be selling ones like you get when buying from HP directly, if not I wont be purchasing it (on principal) I have to buy from a store because im only on holiday in the US

 

I just hope they finally start shipping them tomorrow. If best buys already have them in stock I don't see what the hold up is.

 

BB doesn't have E2E but you do? lol.

 

Afaik, the ones from HP do not have Infinity displays either (edge-to-edge). Those options are expected to come next year, in line with a 410-nit screen.

 

Sorry for being slightly off-topic, but would be grateful for the views of this crowd...

Do you guys think the Envy 15 works as a true desktop replacement?

I am tossing up whether to take the plunge on the Envy 15, but am torn as for similar or less $$$ (having missed out on the 25% Bing CB) I could go for what seems to be a much higher spec'ed desktop (eg, HP e9280t with i7 9xx, 8 to 24GB DDR3 (up to 6 DIMMs), HD 4850 or GTX 260, multiple HDDs including SSDs...).

Are those of you who've bought it going to use it as a primary computer?

It looks like a sweet machine, but if I'm going to be using it in the same workspace with external monitor & kb/mouse 80%+ of the time, at the current price do you think the Envy 15 is worth it over a high performance desktop for the sweetness/portability/size factor (could probably deal with the second two by using my existing slightly sour, slower and heavier laptop when needing portability)? Arghhh!

 

If your going to consider a desktop, I wouldn't buy from HP. You can get much better value from a more custom built company. At least you'l get a far supperior graphics card. (I'm from Australia but i've heard of these guys) www.ibuypower.com.

However, if you arn't gaming the HP would work out for you well.

 

The Envy 15 manual is now online:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01911053.pdf

 

Press release from a week ago said end of October.

 

HP Sweden now lists one model 15-1099eo: 720QM, 1 x 4096 MB, 320 GB 7200RPM, external ODD, 1366x768.

However the support page only lists 15-1066nr and 15-1030ef.