*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

Anyone want to try this small app?

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5637647#post5637647

Works great to keep my Core2duo at full tilt while on battery, and according to the posts it works on the new i7 procs.

I wont have my envy til next week.... GRRRR.

 

I tried ThrottleStop earlier on my Envy, it didn't do anything for me.

 

I am pretty sure that is the freefall sensor for the HDD. I didn't install the drivers for this since I have a SSD.

 

for my envy, i didn't see any horizontal lines. no problem with the slice battery. it fits well and doesn't disconnect easily. heat is okay. running at 49C. fans are running quiet. already removed the bloatwarez..

although i have a question.

is there a way to make the fan speed up? i think that fans are just quite slow. maybe speed it up a bit perhaps will bring the temps down.

 

So I have my new Envy after the "old" one got stolen; what's interesting is that the new one has a couple of improvements.

The webcam is perfect now. No more purple, and it still works very well in extremely low light.

My old Envy had the high-pitched whine problem, but this one doesn't. In fact, my old one had two noises: an almost inaudible low buzzing sound that didn't really bother me because I never noticed it; but there was also a very high-pitched whine -- again, almost inaudible, but annoying when you noticed it. This one is totally silent. It almost makes me glad to have been robbed.

They've also changed a setting somewhere so that the resolution on certain programs I run is automatically lowered, presumably to save us from squinting at tiny font. I'd like to know how to control this behavior, however, because it can make the programs (such as Spybot S&D) look blurry and unpleasant.

But I'm still just at the cleanup phase; I'll report any more differences as they crop up...

 

Finally, I found such an addon. It's called Battery Bar and has all the necessary features I need. And it appears that it recognizes the additional slice battery.

 

The 35Watts power is only the tdp rating and should only be used to compare to the 45watts tdp rating of the processor running at the full state.


The cpu state commands are passed to the cpu through acpi which is presented to the OS through the system bios. my guess is that whoever wrote the bios did not get this part working correctly since there have been no complaints from other manufacturers that would point to a cpu/chipset hardware or windows 7 os issue.

here is the only error that looks like it is related to the problem we are seeing.
"
Platform Power Management Capabilities:ACPI _PSD Object Failed Validation
There is a problem with the definition of the ACPI _PSD object on this computer. Installing the latest system firmware (BIOS) may resolve this issue.
Group 0
Index 0
"

 

I started a dedicated thread about this issue in order to post relevant information for unclewebb:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=445178

 

Thanks for the response. Just want to confirm that you are only getting this error message once (for group 0 / index 0)?

I am getting it 8 times, all the same except group changes from 0 up to 7, I believe this would be for each core....

My other error is this:

Platform Power Management CapabilitiesCI Express Active-State Power Management (ASPM) Disabled
PCI Express Active-State Power Management (ASPM) has been disabled due to a known incompatibility with the hardware in this computer.

There appears to be a setting for this in the power plan but it makes no difference when I re-test with 'powercfg -energy'.....

Any ideas ??

 

This is an i7/4830/6gig/500 gig 7200 rpm/1080p for $2 grand that weighs 5 lbs and has higher than average build quality and aesthetics. I'll take a bezel, no Linux, and TWO creaking palmrests and still call it a deal and a half.

In general, I think a lot of posters here have insane expectations of notebook makers and vendors. $2k just isn't the truckload of cash some people think it is; it's a cheap used car or dining room set basically.

 

This thing is an under performer. 5800 PCMarks on PCMark05 and 5400 3DMarks on 3DMark06. What a disappointment.

 

yes I get this 8 time also I just put down the first one. i also get the error for he pci express but I think this has to do with the video card.

 

is that on battery or plugged in?

I thought some others posted much higher numbers in the thread...

 

Plugged-in in maximum performance setting. Such a shame.

 

Wth? Is the 4830 that weak? Cries. This is the only optical drive-less second-battery-capable bluray gaming laptop on the planet.

 

Ran the tests 3 times each. After that I said it was enough. What a shame. Although temps were good for the load, at a max of 65C with a room temp of 25C, the performance is very poor under these benchmarking tools.

 

let me know what you are looking at next. I may not be too far behind you... only my list of wants may be different than yours.

au revoir.

 

does everyone get the same results as Serg?

 

Well, if it's gaming performance you want, shouldn't actual game performance trump PCMarks? Everything I've played has been smooth as cream. I admit I haven't played anything more demanding than Dragon Age, but the videos available at the front of the thread show great performance on a couple of current FPS (forget which ones).

So PCMarks are pretty meaningless to me... It's actual app performance that should be the decider...

 

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-Envy-15-Notebook.22272.0.html

Serg's numbers are lower than what I've seen elsewhere, but there seems to be quite a bit of variance.

 

I just ran my 1 free test of PC Mark Vantage and got 6019

All settings were standard for graphics and power plan. Not sure what resolution it was run in since the freeware test omits most of the results except total score.

 

Serg is yours the 720 or 820? also how much ram do you have? would that make a difference?

Only game i played (never ran any benchmarks) was Borderlands and that played perfectly on all settings maxed except the AA.

 

I got more than 7000 3dmarks 06 when I ran it few days ago

 

Yep, mine and my girlfriends both >7000 3d marks.... Running Dragon Age on external montitor at 1920x1200, all max settings except AA and it runs like aq champ.

So I dunno, Serg your's seems low and atypical. May be something softare related...

 

Is there a Quickship vs custom configuration divide in these benchmark numbers? Iirc someone in this thread said Quickships might use lesser spec'd parts. Edit to add, Bigcat and sakor look like they have custom configs. 7k is still a chunk off from the 9800m GS though (8200 is the lowest 3dmark06 I've seen on this).

Also, I've been using nvidia forever, but I'm always hearing that ATI drivers are crap. How much hope is there that this is a driver issue?

 

Hi everyone! I'm new here and have decided to buy a HP Envy 15" in a few days when going to Montreal. Is there anyone here who could recommend a place where I could get it from? As far as I can see, Futureshop doesn't carry it in stock and it's impossible to order it from Best Buy as a pickup from the store - the program recognizes my IP is from Europe...

 

I can't run it close to Max, If i do the frame rates are too low for me to run and shoot and is spikes like crazy.

 

That's most likely a myth.

Likely the first quickship units were the first ones to come off the production like in order to be ready at launch, but those were quickly sold out. The same goes for early in-store stock.

 

I just ran 3dmark 06 without changing any settings, I got 7136

 

i7 Studio XPS 16 with 4670 runs very close (6828 - http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Dell-Studio-XPS-16-ATI-HD4670-Notebook.21440.0.html). And there you get imho the best screen on the market, for cheaper. And the verdict on the XPS 16 is:

Of course benchmarks aren't everything, but the reported in-game framerates for Envy 15 are underwhelming as well, and I think this descrip works for the Envy 15/4830 as well. "Multimedia", not "gaming."

I still think the Envy15 is a lovely machine, but now I'm leaning toward M15x as a stopgap for now and getting the refresh on this one. I don't like the dimples for one thing, I know that will gunk up over time, and I'm guessing the deal with Beats doesn't allow HP to sell the Beats model without the useless headphones and software. I just worry the refresh will go back to the optical drive or lose some other feature like the slice battery that made the Envy 15 so attractive to me. That's what happened with m15x, secondary gpu, second battery and thin form factor all disappeared.

Btw:

I take it coolers are pointless with this thing? That would be nice, I could go without and not constantly worry I should really be using one.

Edit -- above image is Envy 13 as larsv pointed out. Here is the Envy 15 bottom:

I worry about the huge variance on this model though. E.g., half the reviews say this runs nice and cool; half say it's thermonuclear. And then there's the detaching Slice battery, although on HP forums the guy says this was fixed and Slice batteries shipped after 12/1 don't detach.

 

Umm, no not really. It's still a 6-bit TN panel like almost every other laptop screen.

Manage your expectations. If you want a gaming rig, shop for a gaming rig. Be prepared to add bulk and weight.

Why not wait for a few months then? Most posters here got early production models. Check back in February.

BTW that's the bottom of an Envy 13 you pasted in. Envy 15 has air intakes through the bottom.

 

No, no ... my Antec keeps it much cooler than without, especially when gaming: about 60 c with cooler, but 70+ without.

 

I said "imho". How can that be a "not really" lol? The RGBLED on the Studio XPS is just flat out gorgeous.

That's what I'm doing. And I don't think I have to expect that a game capable rig has to be a phone book, that if I want to game at all, I have to give up everything else I want in a laptop. We had Area 51 m15x. Now this. We'll get more thin and light while still game capable rigs, probably increasingly so, given Apple's dominance of late. This just doesn't do it as well as I hoped it would. I was waiting to see what Serg could do with it, but if he crapped out, I accept that this is the hard ceiling for now.

Well like I said I'll get the M15x as a stopgap and see where HP takes this. But Feb is probably too soon, even if they make big strides.

Suck, so I'd still be saddled with a cooler out of paranoia.

 

The market leaders have set the standard pretty high WRT color reproduction. The IBM/Lenovo FlexView IPS panel is still in a class of its own (though not available anymore), being an IPS panel it's practically immune to viewing angles - a property none of the TN panels on the market share.

Dell M6400/M6500 Covet and HP 8730w DreamColor both use an LG/Philips 8-bit TN panel - all other TN panels on the market use 6-bit D/A converters. It's possible that the MBP 17 also uses an 8-bit LG-Philips TN panel but neither Apple nor LG-Philips have published specs for that a panel.

6-bit D/A converters either lead to posterization in gradations or use interpolation to simulate a higher bit-depth. Interpolation over time is a common method - if you look closely at a laptop display you can sometimes see some colors slightly flicker.

Here's something to consider: The wider apart the RGB primaries are, the more those 6 bits are stretched. This means larger steps, and large risk of artefacts. This is a risk with wide gamut displays like the RGBLED on the Dell XPS 16. Another problem is that apps that are not color managed assume sRGB gamut and thus get their colors completely oversaturated. For this reason, if you are serious about color work, it is a good idea to use separate displays, one widegamut display for full-gamut work for prints and one sRGB panel for web work. The Envy 15 has an RGBLED with more moderate gamut.

Then again, if you are primarily interested in response time for gaming then none of the above matters much.

 

I had a 3Dmark06 of 7830 on a standard Best Buy "quick-ship" model. It was run on whatever the default screen res of 1280x1024. I ran the test a couple of times (once before and once after my clean install) with nearly identical results.

I have not run any games for any FPS figures tho...

 

Interesting tech info, thanks. I wonder if it's possible that I simply like color oversaturation, because to my eyeballs, the XPS 16 screen seems to display a wider range of colors to the Envy 15. I notice no artifacts on the XPS 16 screen. And I think you're misapprehending my essential pov, gaming isn't the sole or even the main consideration, it's just a capability I'd like to have. If gaming were the concern, then I get a Sager or AW and I'm done.

That's the kind of thing I'm seeing about Envy 15 along with the lower numbers, and why I remain so torn. That's around 9800m GS performance, and would be adequate for my needs. Maybe I should just try one out.

 

You're in luck, then. The E15 is entirely capable in this respect...

 

That over-saturation is initially pleasing, but it gets annoying when you look at predominatly green or red pictures...then it's too much.

I actually think of Dell's over-saturation the same as TV companies that send out overly bright TV's to the big electronic stores so that they pop more (draw the eye and give you an initial wow factor...when in fact, things are very out of wack).




Yeah, it's weird how this (and others) are all over the map...but at least it's still a fairly upper end of the ma when it comes to very portable "multi-tasking" systems like ours. Serg et al...if you guys start honing in on something that you think might be limiting your systems, let me know. I'll try to help compare specs so that we can figure out what's different...

Merry Christmas all!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Yeah I agree, even at 5k 3dMark06 territory I can just ratchet down my expectations and play weaker games. But in my case, I currently have a stronger gpu, and going backward is tough no matter how good a place you end up. But gawd I just can't let go of E15, I'll most likely end up getting it lol. I'll always have this garbage bucket I'm typing on to game with.

But then there's this (note, much of this is linked on page 1 by Serg, if embedding this stuff is cluttery just let me know):



3dMark06 of 8,221, and respectable game stats. That's where I'm at now on my budget p.o.s. stuff-falls-off, I wrap it in a brown paper bag when I go out rig. BUT. How do you get benchmarks ranging from sub-5k to 8k+? I don't obsess about benchmarks, so maybe that's common and I've just never seen it, but I've never seen it.

 

Is yours the 820qm with 8gb ram? if it is it could simply be that i have not played enough, only had my Envy for 1.5 DAYS before the keyboard died on me and i had to send it back to HP for repairs. Will only get it back in the new year...

i want the Envy to be refreshed but i also dont, i cant afford to get another lappy....

 

First of all Merry Xmas everyone!

I just got my Envy 15" 2 or 3 days ago, and I was wondering if anyone had any problems patching the Bios update F.07. After it installed it automatically shutdown my computer, and now my computer displays the HP startup screen and is stuck in a reboot loop. The weird thing is, if I hit the esc button, it brings up all the regular options (system info, system diagnostic, bootup devices, etc) and still lets me select the harddrive as a bootup device and loads fine...

Anyhow, just wondering if the experts here knew what I did wrong... or if I should run some of these diagnostics to find out!

Thanks in advance!

 

No i have the weaker CPU and also only 6 gb of ram that might be why.

 

Well I'm glad you posted that link to the comparison chart. I think it answers your questions (and my own) about the variance in scores. If you look at the 3Dmark06 column it shows that those tests were run at 'default' res of 1024x768.

I downloaded and ran the free test several times today and got an average score of ~7100 which I thought was low compared to what I've seen posted. The free version of the test runs it at 1280x1024 resolution with no options to change the setting (purchased version only). This explains why some results are much higher than others, at this resolution you are processing ~25% more data ....

I'm going to buy myself a last minute Christmas present and see what score I get at the lower resolution settings. Will advise my results shortly.

Anyone know what resolution is used for the official postings of 3DMark06 ?

 

Was there ever any real confirmation of differences between the 1050NR retail/quick-ship version and the custom ones? I can't really believe there's a manufacturing difference between them.

 

JJB I am pretty sure the 3dmark standard test is run at 1280 x 1024. This would make sense seeing as most people just use the free version?

 

A lot of the reviews I'm seeing aren't using that res for the benchmarks. PCMag as linked above, and:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-HP-Envy-15-Notebook.22272.0.html

LaptopMag, which doesn't specify a res, returns 7200ish (and 11000ish for M15x as a point of reference.)

So, then, what, 8k+ at 1024x768, low 7ks for 1280x1024, sub 5k for, what, what did Serg put his settings on?

 

Well here are my results for 3DMark06 in 4 resolutions (higher of 2 runs each):

1024 x 768 7553
1280 x 768 7116
1280 x 1024 6584
1920 x 1080 5591

(Note: I was averaging 7100 on the free version @ 1280 x 1024 ??)

All were run on 'high performance' battery setting, catalyst default settings except the 3D settings first page--slider on performance (slider all the way left), normal start up and screen resolution set to match test resolution.

I thought the res. differences would have more of an impact on the score. From what I've seen on recent posts it seems that the graphics performance has gone down from the original units that were shipped out for reviews and initial shipments. I wonder if one of the fixes for the initial heat issues was to de-tune GPU and/or CPU ?

I'll also post my Win 7 performance scores here for reference:

7.1 (CPU)
7.5 (Mem 8GB)
6.8 (Graphics)
6.8 ""
5.9 (HDD)

Anyone have any significant differences from these scores ?

 

http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?t=33957487

Can anyone confirm that these 9.12s work better than the normal modded ones?

 

Hi everybody! So finally I bought my Envy 15 in Hong Kong just several hours ago and am setting it up! It has the 720QM CPU and 6GB of RAM. The standard package here comes with the HDMI->VGA convertor - but no slice battery. No that I care about that that much after hearing all the troubles associated with it and that mainly I aim to use it as desktop replacement - I live in Hong Kong and study at uni in London.

So my initial impressions are pretty great. not as boiling hot as described by you guys (partly because of my ultra high tolerance, having used a Samsung crap with malfunctioning fan for quite a while)

So the serious business: I have followed this thread since roughly 200 pages ago and vaguely remember someone mentioned and recommended turning on 'Passive Cooling' instead? I have tried searching the thread but haven't been returned any result unfortunately...
Would anyone recommend what crapwares to uninstall as well pls? Much appreciated!

 

It has been mentioned a couple of times in the thread.

The difference between Active & Passive cooling is this. Passive cooling will throttle your CPU before it turns on the fans, active cooling will turn on the fans before throttling your CPU.

Realistically, passive cooling is fine to use if you are only doing light tasks on your machine. As heat is not a factor for you then I would say the above is the only benefit. Some people may argue that it will increase battery life, but in fact this depends on what you are doing as it may end up taking you twice as long to achieve something.

What you lose of course is performance.

BTW, passive cooling will still turn on the fan if needed, and active cooling will still throttle the CPU if needed - just that it will use these as secondary methods to cool your CPU.