*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

Through the weekend I was able to set up OS X Snow Leopard using VMWare on my Envy. I just love the virtualization on this laptop.

Still can't set up sound drivers on OS X, anyone was able to do that?

 

I've played some YouTube HD videos through HDMI to my HDTV and the audio plays through HDMI to my tv speakers just fine.

 

Cool. I guess all four RAM slots aren't so hard to get at after all.

I might upgrade the RAM, CPU, and HDD's later to save some cash atm.

 

Very interesting video. Thanks for recording it.

So if a person buy this laptop, replaces it with SSD and install a fresh Win7 on there, shouldn't be an issue. Any special drivers needed or configuration for the SSD to function properly?

I wonder will the price drop a bit after the new year. The black edition looks nice. The silver one a bit ugly. Would be nice to have backlit keyboard and fingerprint scanner on there too.

 

I used Acronis TrueImage 2010 to image the original drive then restore that image to the SSD. A fresh w7 install on the ssd will also work. Windows will automatically install the proper drivers. There are a few tips I wrote on post #2663. These tips may show up on the OP tomorrow.

I'm sure when competitors start shipping i7 notebooks prices will drop.

The only reason I purchased the Beats Edition was for the black

I wish the keys were backlit as well, or at least glow-in-the-dark. I am considering this:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4547490&postcount=25
http://www.myglowkeys.com/
http://www.funkeyboards.com/glowmain.html
I just wish they were not all huge capital letters :/ I think it may look fugly on the Envy.

 

Has anyone ever noticed that two finger scrolling up a page only works if you use the upper half of the touch pad sometimes? Scrolling down uses the whole pad, but scrolling up only works on half of the pad for me most of the time. Wonder if theres a fix in the settings for this.

 

Already is. ^^ Thanks.

Hi there. I am sorry to say that installing OSX on a non-Mac is illegal (at least last time I checked it was) and therefore discussing that is not permitted by the Forum Rules. Sorry.

Perhaps it is because the lower half of the pad is the buttons themselves? No idea.

iTBaggedUrMac, the attachments you have I am going to put them on the front, but the first 3 images are not loading...

Oh, and I loved this: http://www.funkeyboards.com/glowmain.html my name all over that page...hahaha SERG on every little pic.

 

In what country?

 

Announcement:

23/11/2009
OP updated and fixed.

 

From the Forum Rules:

 

Does anyone know if you call HP direct, will they customize the order for the Beats Edition…so you can you get price reduced by removing Beats Headphone and replace Slide Tray DVD (which is too bulky) with standard portable DVD that comes with Envy? Currently, I’ m on the fence with the Gun Metal color for the all black.
Thanks

 

I can see the lines in your video. looks the same as the lines i have on my envy.

so far I have not had these lines cause any interference in image editing or wathcing videoa though.

 

Got it, forum rules illegal. Thanks.

 

HP had me reinstall the video drivers, which didn't help. They wouldn't help me any more than that because I did a fresh install of the OS. Anybody else have some ideas?

 

I would not use these video's to judge whether you can see lines in my display. These videos are converted, highly compressed, and reformated from AVCHD files. I can take a 12mp macro closeup of the screen if you want. There are no lines such as the ones described and pictured in this thread on my display. I would have sent it back to HP immediately. I have tried everything to see these lines and they are not there. What you may be mistaking for lines is most likely the beats edition theme.

 

Hate to be the one to say it but, restore your system to factory and call HP if it still doesn't work. As a rule of thumb, I usually don't tell the manufacturer that there is anything other than the factory install on my notebook, maybe tweaked a little.

They may. It won't hurt to call. HP answers very quickly so you won't be on hold very long. I think the OD is way out of proportion to the notebook as well. I will probably never use the headphones or the DJ track spinning thing that comes with the beats edition. The black is beautiful. I don't think I would have an Envy if it were not for the 25% BCB



Just got notice of my 10% 2nd delay refund! Bing is still active! It will be interesting to see if this actually works and doesn't affect my BCB. If it works I'll have 35% off + a $50 HP store credit. This definately makes me feel better about the waiting and a few of the "mis-advertisements".

 

Is anybody able to make an image of the recovery partition for me? I didn't back it up and the laptop doesn't come with a restore cd. I have webspace to host it if anybody is able to make the image.

 

Does anybody elses trackpad make a sound when you press lightly on it? I expect it to click when I press the bottom corners of it, but most places whenever I touch it, it makes a quiet clicking sound like it might not be connected properly? Is that normal?

 

Ahhh, got all excited for nothing. My envy shipped today, but it missed the cutoff, and won't be here until friday. Here's hoping that the heat issues don't make me have to return it. This thread is pretty mixed there.

 

Well I am now waiting for my 3rd Envy xD The first one had some dead pixels so I sent it back, waited 2 weeks and got the one I have now. This one is having some other issues so HP agreed to let me place a new order with 25% off so I don't have to worry about my bing order being canceled. Now the new laptop is supposed to ship out on December 1st and I get to keep this laptop until my new one is here.

 

oh man. i'm having a big problem. my friend already bought the envy for me in the US and is expected to arrive anytime today. sad thing though is he'll be able to bring it to me on december 23. so that makes it past the 21 days replacement. oh god i hope and pray that nothings wrong with my envy..huhu.

i did told him to check for heat and noise problems but i'm not quite sure if he can check for dead pixels. he isn't a techy.

anyways, any of you guys know how to detect any dead pixels more visible? so that my friend can check on it without much work on his part?

 

Use a background that is one solid color (blue works well). This way he will easily see a dead or bright pixel.

 

thanks. i'll have him change the background.

 

Is anybody able to get the restore image for me?

 

Yeah it should have audio. HDX18t offers audio through the HDMI cable, no reason the Envy shouldn't. The Nvidia video driver install even installs the HDMI audio driver. (on the hdx)

 

How are you guys getting 25% bing cashback? I am only seeing 3%.

 

It was only 25% if you got it the day the Envy came out, which is when I ordered my first one.

 

Are there any delays with the envy 15 shipping? I couldn't find an order status thread. Thanks.

 

So my custom Envy 15 finally arrived today, after seeing a two week delay in shipping, and about 5 weeks after I ordered it. 8GB RAM, Win 7 Professional were the only custom changes. Very excited I unpacked it, plugged in the AC adaptor, pressed the power, and ... nothing. Hmmm. OK so maybe I better leave it to charge. 1 hour later, nothing. Took the battery out, with AC only. Nothing. No light, dead, defunct, defective. AAAAAGH. Phoned HP. They agreed it was an X Envy, and told me that I could return in, and when they got it they's send me another one standard shipping ... 5-7 days. NO WAY. I told them just to refund me, and I'd go to Best Buy and get a slightly less specified one I could upgrade. Just got home with my 6GB Win 7 Home Premium model. Got it going, and it has just finished BLUE SCREENING 3 times whenever I tried to run the utility to create recovery discs. Now it is running ok, but I swear if I have issues with this one I'm returning it and getting a Mac Book Pro!!!!

 

Well, it can take several weeks for HP to build an Envy 15. I'd say normally about 2 weeks, but it can vary a bit depending on what configuration you chose and how many orders they have to fulfill at the moment. HP doesn't have any local warehouse with built laptops they can ship from quickly, but I hope they start to catch up soon and build some stock.

Or perhaps HP just never keeps any or their laptops in stock?

 

lol, there isn't enough people getting delayed here (and not nearly as long) as the Dell's to warrant a separate thread for ordering issues.

People have been commenting here and there throughout this thread, so you might have to search this thread if you want a quick answer.


Serg - I just ran 3Dmark06 with updated drivers and stock HP/W7 install @ default 1280x1024:
SM 2.0: 3088
SM 3.0: 3237
CPU: 2997
3DMark06: 7841

I'll re-run it after a clean install on an SSD just for Shi-giggles later this week.

Also, the Dell Studio XPS 16 guys just found out that their power brick is limiting their systems. Some of them run 3DMark06 with max power settings, they are getting in the mid 5000's. That's low for them. Well, turns out that they had their screen brightness set to max also. When they turned it down, it went up to the 6000's. Next they tried setting the power settings in battery mode to mirror the power settings in plugged-in mode. They then ran the test with the laptop unplugged and were able to get around 7000.

Just to make sure our system's are not being limited too, I ran the test unplugged and we are definitely not being limited by power. It makes me glad that this isn't happening to us. Now I'm not so bummed about lugging around that huge brick of ours. lol

 

I'm sorry to hear about the problems, brucehal. At least with a BB purchased system, you can swap it out with a new one on the spot (as long as they have one on hand). No 2-3 week wait. Just make sure you backup your stuff before it BSOD's again...which hopefully it won't.

 

yeah the envy comes with a 120w PSU, so HP took that into account.

 

I FINALLY have an OFFICIAL reply from the HP ENVY Team over at TheBench.com about the Horizontal Lines that a lot of us have.

Here is what he said:

Just to let you know - we take everything posted here pretty seriously. FredFrenzy and I take back what's posted here, back to the product and systems team and dig for answers. So thank you for taking the time to post.

There is a BIOS update due out this week F.06 - and the team has said that should fix the issue. However this is not verified - so I don't want to get people's hopes up prematurely.

Also I do know that a system returned for this issue was sent back to the systems team for investigation.

 

I wonder if this will address the SATA performance issue as well since they are getting ready to ship Envys with SSD's...

 

lugnut, that's awesome to hear that HP is at least working on it. If Dell was smart they would do as HP just did and COMMUNICATE with their customers and take the time to investigate a real answer. Even though it doesn't actually resolve anything, it is definitely reassuring to hear. Kudos to HP and Voodoo.

 

ohh a BIOS update could also address the ACPI issues linux people have been facing!

 

thats awesome.. hope the bios update comes out anytime soon.

 

I wished they came out with a new driver for the video card, it seems like it could do better.

Btw when i was in the Catalyst thingy(stock one that came with the machine), it says it's just DDR3 ram.

 

Nvidia control panels have an option to adjust the screen size on an external monitor so you can manually adjust exactly how big your tv is and fit the picture to fit perfectly on your entire screen, does ATI have a way of doing this? I am not talking about the screen resolution, I am talking abuot what is in this picture: http://www.sevenforums.com/attachme...ceware-video-drivers-windows-7-untitled-1.jpg

 

Ah, now I understand what people were talking about with this resizing thing - to adjust for the annoying legacy TV safe zones, which perfectly fine TV panels still use for backwards compability. I guess HDMI out sometimes shrink the picture so it wouldn't be cropped on a TV, whereas monitors actually show the entire image.

I can't check myself (don't have my 2nd Envy yet), but I would be very surprised if any graphics card with HDMI out doesn't have those settings - since all TVs have different safe zones. I also saw earlier in this thread that some people had resized the desktop display for external monitor, so I assume that the Catalyst driver in the Envy can do this too.

 

I haven't been able to find the option on my Envy. I haven't used ATI video cards in years and I cannot remember where/if that option is available. Do you know around where in the thread that issue was resolved?

 

Sorry, the thread search didn't bring it up... Didn't bring anything up, actually...? :/

But if I recall correctly, it didn't point out exactly where to find the option - just that it was there. I'm currently scheduled to receive my 2nd Envy on Friday. If you haven't found an answer before then I'll get you one.

 

hey guys just a heads up.

Code:

http://yro.slashdot.org/story/09/11/24/0112201/Bing-Cashback-Can-Cost-You-Money

"Microsoft and various retailers have teamed up to bring you cashback on purchases made via Bings price comparison feature. There is a little snag though — it seems that when you have a Bing cookie living in your browser, some retailers will quote you a higher price than if you come with no Bing cookie in your system."

 

Hey guys, what kind of refresh can we expect on the envy in the next 2/3 months? (New graphics card, full HD for europe, dual ssd ??)

 

The Envy 15 is already available with dual 160GB SSDs (320GB total storage) in the US. I doubt we will see any changes to the graphics card any time soon since the chipset in the Envy is still fairly new. I would expect to see a refresh of the Envy in the US next summer or next fall because by then there will probably be more powerful options for the GPU that consume the same (or less) power.

 

The Swedish sales rep more or less promised me full HD in Q1 2010. He was also a little bit angry on HP because they were told that they would get Full HD even in the first batch that is available in Sweden now.

 

I don't know if people have seen this about the BF Bing discounts:

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2009/11/23/black-friday-bing-cashback-offers-up-to-additional-35-off/

Anyone know anything about these deals, or can confirm the rate for the HP stores would be?

 

Does anybody else have problems with the slice battery not staying connected and causing the system to crash?

if I try to slide my envy with the slice on it accross my desk the slice stays on the desk and the envy moves off the connectors.

I can't believe I am the only one with this issue.


also I see the part numbers in the thread but I have not found any place to buy them. when i go to the hp site it says that you must be a reseller/service provider to order parts. then says to contact a reseller. does anyone know a good place to source these? I guess I could check Best Buy.

Thanks,

 

Hello people! What have I missed?