*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

Hey new owner of this beast and I've had some issues. I bought it from bestbuy and it worked for a day and a half, then the mouse pad broke and windows wouldn't turn on. I returned it for a new one, and while it works much better than the first, I am a bit wary. I am looking to uninstall bloat ware, but I'm not sure which programs to delete, and my laptop gets very hot. The most annoying issue are the horizontal lines, they are very evident in games and videos, and while its not a deal breaker because this computer is just sexy, I'd like to fix it! Oh and I was wondering how you get the computer to stop dimming and brightening on its own, I can't handle it!!!!

 

I tried that driver it doenst' update to 9.9, How did you guys do it?!

 

Would you mind if I put your initial impressions in the front page?

Running 9.9 here.

Would you care if I put your impression in the front page?

As a reply to what to delete, this guide is extremely useful The Out-of-the-Box-Guide for Windows7 which I used and worked perfectly, and I recommend.

As a little sum up:

Use Revo Unistaller, it is supported, and works like a charm. WARNING: After using the Advanced Mode you will delete registry and left overs, so the software will be gone for good.

Use Win Update to check all drivers too.

Do as I did. Right click on the desktop. Catalyst Control Center option. You should get the welcome screen, if not, on the top right corner thre is a small dropdown menu, pick Welcome. There you have the option for "Check for driver updates", it will automatically send you http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx then choose your OS, the GPU under mobility radeon, choose the HD 4000 Series and go. It will find the 9.9 and it is working on mine very well.

The lines seems to be a hardware issue, so I see little to no solution to it, but I would love to be corrected here. Use the guide in this post. I erased almost all of them.

CCC>Check for new drivers>IE8>Win7>Mobility Radeon>4000HD series>GO>Download

 

The driver version is 8.65. When people say version 9.9, they are referring to the version of the Catalyst Control Centre suite, which contains many different elements, only one of which is the video driver itself. People often get the two confused, but for the record, version 9.9 includes the following:

Radeon™ display driver 8.65
HydraVision™ for both Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7
WDM Driver Install Bundle
Southbridge/IXP Driver
Catalyst™ Control Center Version 8.65

As per the release notes here: https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206/0/www2.ati.com/drivers/Catalyst_99_release_notes.pdf

 

by Serg

Introduction​

I started looking for a laptop a year ago, and I found these Forums where I could ask around, so I joined. As time passed I learnt a lot and my decisions and budget changed over time, so when it was finally the time to pull the trigger, I did it on the Dell Studio XPS 1645. The next day the Envy 15 was announced officially and launched. Needless to say that the smaller body, better GPU, similar price and beautiful design caught me as soon as I saw the laptop. So Dell was cancelled and HP was preferred.

The Envy was delivered on time, to the US location, unfortunately I am France-based, so I had to wait until it got here with a relative. This happened a few days ago only, so I am just starting to set this up and enjoy my new laptop.

Initial Impressions​

The laptop is just beautiful, I would say is one of the most sexy laptops around and the pattern makes it even better, it is not even noticeable unless you have a 45 degree angle or more pointing at it, then it becomes obvious.

This thing is big. I mean it is wide. The thinness is unbelievable but the wideness surprised me when I was packing back from Paris to my city, I had problems fitting my laptop as it was a little to wide for the backpack, I thing I am going to find a case for it...the thinness has me amazed, I cant believe it yet, since I am used to a chunkier laptop...

As I did an initial inspection, I noticed the weight of the laptop, is for me almost non-existent. Unfortunately the 1 Kilo (weighted) PSU is not very friendly to this lightness concept...such a shame.

The mobility concept of this laptop is based on the PSU in fact. I think they meant as when plugged. They cord is very long, so I have quite some freedom with the laptop plugged in. But the moment I need to carry the PSU, dang that thing can be a brick...I find it to be twice as large as my Dell PSU. (PSU stands for Power Supply Unit)

As fire up, the first time it was quite sluggish. I blame the bloatware. Starting with 94 processes as a first turn on is a bad idea. It was slowing me down by a lot. I removed all that bloatware, flashed the Bios to the F.06, updated all drivers, defragmented my HDD, ran CCleaner and restarted my laptop. My temps dropped from scorching hot the first time to barely lukewarm. The CPU went from 63C to 48C when idling. Albeit not ideal, it is a lot better. Right now the laptop is very fast, and under one minute I get to restart the laptop and be back online. It took me 3 minutes to do a full system restore and be back online, so that is fast. (bad old XP drivers being non-compatible with Win7)

The screen is beautiful. No lines, no problems, very bright and crisp, colors seem quite good, and the resolution was love at first sight. Now I cant watch my old WXGA monitor without thinking that looks bigger and squarer. This thing is very bright for me, I am using it at around 40% brightness...

The webcam has not given me any issues. It is color accurate and very fast and clear. Already tested it using Skype Professional and Windows Live Messenger. Both times it worked very good. Under low light it becomes black and white, but still works. Have not noted a bluish tint yet.

The keyboard is quite tricky. I keep missing keys. Besides Apples MacBooks and Pros, this is the first PC chiclet style keyboard I use. The feedback is very nice and the extra row is quite useful, yet I keep missing the keys...I hope it is a matter of getting used to it (I am a touch typist).

The clickpad, although not as nice as the MBP on functionalities, the surface is very good to the touch, and the multi-gesture is very responsive. I tested it with other Apple users and no complaints whatsoever about the functions. The only tricky one is the 3 fingers down to open Safari (I set that).

Fans are always on. With music or some background they are not loud, but you can hear them still, not bothering, but present. Components on this thing need to be keep cool...so I think I can live with this.

I am always listening to music. The speakers have a strange disposition. I am an audiophile. This are not the best speakers, but for a laptop the range is above average, and I get some mids and some bass. They are very clear, but still cant fight a good old pair of earphones.

I am forgetting about the right click. It is not my type of click. Is there another way to configure it using gestures? I like RTS games and the right click is essential there, and this one is not the best for that.

The reversed FN keys are useful yes, but still have some mixed feelings about it. When gaming or working it is a pain since I use F1-F12 a lot when browsing or working.

Today I have scheduled to instal CATIA V5 R19 in here, will report back on performance.

Conclussion​

This is a very nice laptop. Still needs to be tested here, and I shall update on performance and write the full review in these days to come. Would I suggest it? Yes. But there are things to be worked out yet...hopefully HP is working hard on this.

 

ANNOUNCEMENT:​

OP has had a small update. Included my Initial Impressions. I will start with the review in these days.

Keep me posted on updates and things to move to the OP.

Serg​

 

Do the dual SSD drives have proprietary connectors on them? Or is it just standard Mini-Sata?

I need to know as I am planning on upgrading the two internal SSDs with different models and want to make sure they will fit.

Thanks.

 

How and where can I find the webcam and the autodiming setting?

 

I have a problem i think.

It seems like my computer starts in safe mode after it shut itself of when my battery died. I have trouble to make this go away, I've tried to reboot but its still in safe mode... Any suggestions?

 

No, go right ahead

When I've had a little more time with the thing, I'll update with a more thorough and precise evaluation..

And congrats on the machine

 

If by dimming, you mean the sensor that brightens or darkens the screen by ambient light, you can turn off the sensor like this :

control panel :: Location and other sensors :: Light sensor disable

Webcam setting I don't know...

 

Thanks Rolf, same goes to you.
I will update with it. Let me know if you update your review, so I can put it in the front!

 

well recieved an update from hp support about my envy. seems that they are unable to find a problem with the display and do not see any lines.

I do not have the time to send this back in to support if it comes back in the same fasion... instead it will go to ebay and i will be getting either a (slower) sony or the dell m6500. I don't really wany either I would much rather keep my HP but I am just not able to use photoshop with it in its current state.

also i did not test but I normally have my brightness turned up a lot so I wonder if that makes a difference.

 

Results from a weekend gaming session:

After installing all drivers, Microsoft Security Essentials and Steam I had 55 processes running on a fresh win7 ultimate install. During a 5 hour session of Dragon Age (all visual settings maxed), the top of the laptop never got more than lukewarm. The bottom left got pretty hot, but not too hot for my lap. The side vents expelled a LOT of hot air.

 

55 processes? how did you do that?
which ones have you uninstalled?
I am running 75 or so/

 

I wiped the box and installed win7 ultimate from scratch. I belive the OS clocks in at just over 50 by itself.

 

i went into MSCONFIG and did a selective startup and got rid of anything that was unnecessary... i am around 55-56 processes now.

 

Would you mind posting your manager on the process tab to see what you are running and what you are not? I would greatly appreciate it/

 

i can when I get home...

 

NM..problem solved.

Tonight I am going to uninstall all crap according the guide posted. Then I can start using my new laptop for real!

 

Well by trying to install this I installed everything, now I can't get CCC back, where should i redownload that Thanks guys.
I think it uninstalled 4 apps, but now I only have 1 installed?

Do i even need CCC?

 

:: re. the adaptive brightness:

It appears that you can also shut it off (perhaps better,) in the powerplan settings. I think the service continues to run otherwise...

 

Besides having more processes in the process tab, what difference did removing any of them actually do?

1. How much memory did you regain?
2. How much faster did you boot up (to login screen)?
3. How much faster did the login process go?
4. Did you do any benchmarks to see what performance you gained?
5. What non-working things were fixed by uninstalling something?

 

Take a look in this thread for how to remove the drivers and do a clean install of CCC or video drivers. The Ati uninstallation does not always work properly.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=2991908&postcount=1233

You may also want to take a look at driversweeper here:
http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/

You can download the ATi CCC package here:
Windows 7 64 bit

Or the official HP drivers should be on your SD card I think, but can also be downloaded from here:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&dlc=en&cc=us&product=4033911&os=4063&lang=en

However, you do not actually need CCC - it just means you can't tweak your settings in the same fashion.

 

Hi All---I just ordered my Envy 15 from HP....and will be using all the tips posted by everyone here shortly!

A quick Pre-Newbie questions:
1) has anyone physically upgraded the RAM? If so, a) is it easy and b) what brand did you use?
2) has anyone used video editing software yet...and how did it perform? (I plan on editing AVCHD footage).

Hopefully it does not run too hot.

 

Hi there and welcome to the NBR Forums!

The RAM is easily accesible (2 slots) by removing a pair of screws after the battery is removed, it is only one panel, the other 2 slots will require a almost full disassemble of the Envy.

The brand? The cheapest offering lifetime warranty. Of course being DDR3 since DDR2 is not compatible.

 

Where do i see what version of BIOS i have installed? Is it the "Microsoft System Management BIOS Driver" ? Just making sure since this is the first time i am thinking of updating BIOS if its neccesary..

 

Go to:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp46001-46500/sp46124.exe
It will download directly and the program will guide you. Then a restart and you are good to go.



On a side note: I swapped to the WXGA Dell screen...what a difference...I cant bear letters so big...lol

 

No, this is the driver that Windows uses. Instead do the following:

Start > Run (or windows key + R) > msinfo32

This should then display an application with lots of info about your system. If you ensure that "system summary" is selected in the left hand pane, the BIOS version should be about half way down the right hand pane.

Note it's the BIOS version entry you are interested in, not the SMBIOS entry.

Whilst Sergs post will likely do the job - it means you need to restart and install software that Windows already has installed in a fashion.

 

Thanks alot

 

No problem! The adapter came in today. Although I did end up with the wrong one, it is very easy to open up. Even the jack part of it has a removable cover. Being an Electrical Engineer student; I simply rewired the ground and mic, tested with a multimeter, put the jack cover back on, and wrapped a little electrical tape to make sure it stays on. (there's a little play where the cover might come undone).

The most important part though is the sound. I listened to just my headphones connected to the in/out, and then with the adapter. There is no noticeable difference and I couldn't be happier. The mic works flawlessly as well.

Just make sure you get the adapter for the iphone. ( http://www.kvconnection.com/product-p/km-iphone-2trs.htm) Otherwise, you will have to re-solder it.

 

Speaking of uninstalling things... I just got around to taking out "HP Smart WebPrinting" -- which is the source of 7955 registry entries?!

 

Ahhhhh, CATIA. I just upgraded 32 HP blade workstations to V5R19 SP3 Hotfix 33 this weekend (just an update of the hotfix level). The blades are dual core Xeon with 8 GB RAM and Nvidia graphics (don't remember the card model number off hand).

So how well does V5 run on your Envy, Serg?

 

This is great info--thank you so much! I'm placing my order tomorrow (for the iPhone one; otherwise I might end up with the connector soldered simultaneously to desk and Envy!). Very glad you checked the sound quality--that's very important to me. So glad yours worked out in the end too.

What a great forum,

Larry

 

So my Envy finally arrived! Everything seems to be functioning well. I've been doing low intensity stuff for about six hours straight and it's barely warm. I ordered the 250 HDD + 160 SDD and immediately noticed that only one hard drive shows up at about 300GB. After some sleuthing, I find out that my two drives have been set up RAID 0, which was not my intention. I planned on using the 250 HDD as a storage drive. Does it even make sense to set up a 5400 rpm HDD and an SDD in RAID 0? Wouldn't this config be slower than a single SDD?

Is it possible to break apart the RAID without having to reinstall everything?

 

I am currently running 58 processes and between 45-50*C with a clean install of W7 Pro.

 

QUESTION

I have the [email protected] GHz and when setting processor management to 100%, the frequency is 2643 MHz as reported by CPU-Z ?

I cannot get it to drop below 931 MHz either (settings less than 50% does nothing)

Does this mean that at 100% the CPU is overclocked ?
And is it not possible to go below 50% efficiency?

 

I'm not sure what exactly you are refering to when you say "processor management", but a CPU p-state values cannot be directly controlled through a user interface; the p-state controlled through an interaction of the OS, the firmware, and the hardware sensors. The firmware supplies the DSDT with extensions in the machine language (usually called AML) that's necessary to read HW sensors and to manipulate power, frequency, voltage, etc of the microprocessor. And the power consumption scales with not only the frequency (which is a linear scale), but also with voltage (quadratic scale) and other factors. It's a fairly complex interaction, such that it's very difficult to find exact correspondence between some administrative settings in the OS and the p-state and throttling of the chip itself at some exact time.

You probably don't need to worry too much, just watch the amount of heat dissipated from the fans and the chassis, and monitor the component temperatures through some utility.

 

Wow, the installation tech must have been brain-dead or close to it. No one in their right mind would recommend RAID0 for these two drives. It's just a disaster in terms of capacity utilization, performance, and reliability.

I actually have the same hardware configuration coming, hope that it doesn't have the same storage config that you have. Maybe I should give them a call to put in a note.

 

It just means that CPU-z has problems with i7s at the moment. You should see some of the readings I get on my desktop i7.

 

Thanks for the replies

It seems that it is the Intel turbo boost stepping in (the MHz increase fits with the intel specs..)

Also I dug up this document, which on page 51 says the temperature tolerances range from 35 celsius (idle) to 100 celsius at full power.

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

I use HWmon for temperature readings, and they seem to match the idle temps (34, 35, 37, 33 - cores 1-4 respectively.)

Turbo boost with example :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turbo_Boost

 

Try the CPUID TMonitor to see what your cores are actually running at:

http://www.cpuid.com/tmonitor.php

 

i truly envy owners of HP envy...

 

CPUID reports (at lowest frequency) : 931.1 MHz
CPU-z : 931.1

After running a bit of L4D, things got a little murky...

TMon (CPUID) reported a spike up to 5400 MHz (which I kind of doubt happened) but usually reported MHz much lower than CPU-z (around 931 to 12 something. CPU-z hovered around 1700 to 23 something.

Max temperature was 73 celsius, stabilizing at 65.

For fun I throttled down the power plan to min-max 50% processor speed. temperatures dropped about 10 degrees.

Here TMon had the occasional increase in MHz, but usually stayed at 931. CPU-z was constantly at 931.

I didn't notice any slowdown in L4D

Love this machine

 

It warms up the laptop considerably when being stressed, other than that, runs faster than the desktops C2D at uni...lol

How about you?

How did you get those temps?

Thanks, I downloaded this, and tested it, 931 or x7 multiplier is when idling.

 

So it looks like I'll need to disable RAID and reinstall the OS from my (to be made) recovery disc. Does this sound right?

I couldn't find anything in the BIOS about disabling RAID. Can anyone point me toward a "disabling RAID and reinstalling OS for dummies"?

HP tech service admitted they need to "do research" before they can advise me further. Ugh...

 

Check the NBR Software Forum and most precisely the Windows 7 sub-forum. There are tons of those guides here in NBR.

 

Hey guys. Thanks for the great forum! I have a couple questions for you:

1. Has anyone tried using a 90W power adapter (HP's or otherwise)? I have a Kensington 90W slim adaptor (K38030US), and while it comes with a compatible tip, the Envy won't run on it. Is this due to the amp limit (the Kensington provides 4.74A at 19V)?
2. Have there been any updates on the slower SATA speeds? I'm really hoping for a firmware update that addresses this.

 

If you want to use a different adapter, you will need a 18.5V and 6.5A with a minimum of 120W according to the one I have.

Check the Amps and volts on the one HP offers, perhaps it is not strong enough to run the i7+GPU+fans and the screen

 

Hi,

HP Support Assistant just found eight different "Important" updates it wanted to perform. Has anyone done these? WinFlash, HotKeys, Webcam, Media stuff, etc. (sorry, doing that from memory). Every time it's run in the past it hasn't found anything.

Thanks,

Larry