*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

So we don't know yet what are the SSD inside this new model? It will be Intel G2?

 

I have got rid of my Envy 15.

I don't know if I was unlucky but i'm going to list my reasons and faults. I should add I was a very early adopter. I'm glad to see HP have done a refresh.

Cons

• Horizontal Lines on the screen, most of all on blue images which made designing a blue website annoying.
• Machine temperature and cooling was an issue, not terrible but not good by any means
• HDD access was incredibly slow, once apps had loaded once and were cached it was quick, however this mean't i would put indesign, dreamweaver, outlook and photoshop into the startup folder so that in the morning I could turn on the machine and then make tea and smoke a cigarette before it was all ready
• Machine was light, but once you carry the slice, external dvd and power supply you might as well be carrying a 17"
• High pitch squeal from the machine, some said it was HDD some said is was CPU either way it wasn't fun
• Disappointing GPU performance and gaming
• At random my machine would black screen in games and refuse to start up thereafter for about 10 minutes. (this would also happen on some flash videos)
• Speakers were rather quiet for a "Beats audio system"
• Linux support due to rubbish BIOS was almost non existent
• I had a sticky "f" key on the keyboard
• Keyboard layout was annoying due to the offset function keys and ctrl not being the most bottom left key.
• Only HDMI out mean't using the machine for presentations mean't additional adapters
• Screen bezel was quite cheap and I bought the machine expecting E2E glass
• 2 HDD was also promised when I purchased the machine but 2 1.8" drives really wasn't acceptable for me
• Slice would disconnect whilst in transit. When you booted you didn't know if it was engaged and if you tried to realign it whilst the machine was running sometimes it would black screen and reboot.
• BIOS updates from HP had no decent changelog so it was hard to know what you were really patching.
• All the ports on the right hand side, not that annoying but with everything else...

I'll stop there

Pros

• I've had warm hands though the coldest UK winter for 30 years
• 15" Core i7 machine
• Exceptionally fast stock memory
• Best graphics card in a consumer machine outside of clevo's
• Loved the multi touch touchpad.
• Bright decent screen
• Having an external dvd drive meant all my mates could load their netbooks with xp.
• Good looking machine
• HDMI just worked at all resolutions I threw at it.

All in all I wanted to love the machine. Cheers for the support, above all to Serg. Hopefully my M6500 will have less issues for me

 

Tomcom2k, sorry to hear that. Have you thought about giving the refresh E15 a crack? Or is it too late now with the Dell on order?

 

If I were to take the Envy again I think i'd take the i5 as it has a lower TDP and should run cooler. The biggest fear I have is having another machine with the horizontal lines or other issues I had before as apparently HP have no quality control...

My biggest problem is that I cannot get the Envy in the UK with a 1920 screen so each time I have to order in the States, wait 2 weeks for the import, pay uk customs and then if it has issues be utterly annoyed again.

Most of my work involves pure brute power like video encoding so I saved up a treated myself to the i7 820 and the geforce 3800m and the GPU encoding software to go with it.

 

Hi tomcom2k, may I ask how you imported it? I'm also overseas and could not find any easy way of getting it shipped here.

 

There are 2 ways (talking about the uk)

Either parcel2go.com which provides you with a us address, you ship to that address, when it arrives they quote forward shipping at a decent rate (i've done that twice)

or just find a trusted seller on ebay that ships internationally

 

I'm sorry to hear that tomcom2k,

I got rid of my Dell XPS 1645 to come to this one.. the RGBLED on the Screen was just too over saturated, no matter how I calibrated it.. plus there were some messed up issues with the Screen and power issues..

Anyway good luck on the M6500, the Precision line is definitely better than their consumer stuff.

and I hope my Envy 15 experience will be better than my XPS 1645 experience

 

Ok thanks. I looked on ebay already but they were all charging a lot extra. I'm probably going to try a site like shipito.com (like yours except it ships worldwide).

 

Thanks so much for the fantastic info, I was considering being as drastic as getting a cheap flight over there for the discount/improved specs!

However, now I've seen that I can get almost any i7 laptop from america, i'm (almost) tempted to go for a Dell...again! lol

I do love that this laptop is lightweight and slim, and of course the lovely design. But as someone who doesnt care for battery life, or too much about weight, I now have to consider other products out there.

I know its a bit off topic, but does anyone know of an i7 laptop that they've had, or perhaps a friend or family member, that they would say worked well and was good value? Or should I just stick with the envy? hehe

 

Approx $170 at www.ewiz.com for 4GB DDR3-1333.

 

The Envy is not a bad machine, I think I just had a bad unit

A mate of mine has http://www.xoticpc.com/asus-g73jha1-order-p-2731.html and it is fantastic.

If you looking at 15", short of clevo most other i7 machines have some issue or another

 

It doesnt have to be 15", but thats probably the smallest i'd consider. I had the dell xps 1645, and even after less than a month then moving to the envy I felt it hard 'downsizing' on the screen.

 

So I just called them, and they confirmed to me that all new envy 15 models will be shipping with USB 3.0 ports.

 

I really cant argue there! I've checked it through and looked at the 2nd laptop link on the page and spec'd up what i'd have, and it works out cheaper than the envy, even if it is heavier and bigger. But wow, what bang for your buck!

You say your mate has it already? or is it just pre-order still?

 

I ordered the i7 setup, but canceled to go with the i5 in the end because...

The i5 (520/540) is the new, cooler 32nm processor... the current (hot!) i7 is an older revision set to be updated in Q2 2010. Lacking in the i7, but present in the i5, is the opportunity to use switchable, on-die graphics. Also, the i5 requires a new motherboard revision, so if any model were to immediately receive USB 3.0, it would be the i5.

Finally, I just decided the potential battery life benefits outweighed the extra bit of power the i7 would provide.

What you decide is up to you... I might order soon to receive the $300 discount though. You could always cancel before the 18th/19th estimated ship date.

 

If you are close to the power supply, why not do the I7? I was in the same boat and opted for the stronger processing power.

 

32nm won me over

 

Any words on the laser etching? Is it still there or is it gone?

 

I think I will be taking the plunge within the next week or so, and will def. be going with the i5-540M.

Is there a particular reason why the glossy screen is more expensive than the anti-glare screen? I suppose the glossy screen might have a bit better color and brightness, but I've always thought matte screens are superior to glossy screens.

 

Probably because the average consumer thinks glossy screens are better, since they're newer and shinier. I don't know how many times I've had to explain the advantages of a matte screen to a family member or user at work.

 

They are checking to see if the glossy may have better brightness.

 

Hope not, I got the matte screen

 

It is a shame that unit does not have the USB 3.0, and the battery life is only around 30 to 45 minutes. Otherwise, it would be a total win.

 

Glossy screens have better contrast and brightness. But they reflect everything. It's really down to that choice... the screen itself in back is pretty much identical, it's the coating on top that makes the difference in how things look. I got the matte because although I adore the display of my glossy 14" in the dark, it's a royal pain in the rear to use it anywhere where there's a significant amount of light.

 

So I've read that the Envy 15 has a honking huge 120W AC adapter. For those who aren't lugging around the 6+9 cell battery, what options will work with the Envy?

I found this AC adapter chart on HP's website:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/shopping/pdf/HP_ACAdapter_Compatibility.pdf

According to the chart, the HP slim travel adapter VF685AA#ABA is the only one that will work that's smaller. Anybody have empirical experience with this?

 

I think the best bet is probably to get something from Targus or some other company that specializes in making slim chargers.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Targus+...964&skuId=8488629&st=targus adapter&cp=1&lp=3

The problem is the price. And of course there is no guarantee that it will work.

 

I ordered an HP Envy 15 the other day, when the 300 dollar off coupon was available. This was before I was aware about the possibility of USB 3.0 included in the Laptop!

In any case, I'm glad to finally pull the trigger, it's been a while since I've gotten a laptop. Voodoo was independent of HP when I got my envy u732, has been a great machine, and I hope the new Envy lasts just as long!

 

The charger didnt seem all that huge to me. It fits into a laptop bag no problem.

 

Can anyone compare it to Dells 130w XPSM17xx charger?

 

Hi tomcom2k thanks for this indeed extremely helpful information!
May I further ask if it is 'rent a usa address' or simply 'usa to uk service'?

 

There is a couple of problems with the i5 though. First, the memory controller is off the CPU die (although it's still on the CPU package), this gives you about a 10% performance hit. Secondly, it has a 1066 MHz bus while the i7 has a 1333 MHz bus. This will limit the graphics card some. It has a smaller cache. Lastly, the Intel integrated graphics are just aweful. A couple of companies didn't even want to use the new chips in their laptops. Apple reportedly asked to get their own version of the new i5s without the integrated graphics because they are worse than the integrated graphics beings used in the Macbook Pro since last year.

Intel hasn't said when they will be shrinking the quad cores to 32nm. The i7 is 30% hotter when stressed (but it also has 2 heatpipes with 2 fans to cool it), when not stressed they should run at about the same temps.

 

FYI guys, the coupon is still working.

 

the integrated graphics are more than sufficient for non gaming activities. last I read it was 1.5x better than the old 4500 series integrated graphics. if you're going to game you can switch on the fly to the dedicated solution. it's really a great solution no matter how you slice it

 

I'd like you to quantify that (or provide some proof).

 

8 more days until mine ships. They must still be waiting on parts

 

lets just benchmark them when we get them and call it a day? I have an i5 coming.

 

I have 2 coming

I just wish people would post some proof instead of spewing

 

Nobody ever used the old 4500 series graphics (except the real cheap machines) they were so bad, which were switchable as well. The only reason anybody is using these new integrated graphics is because Intel is shoving it down our throats and you can't get the CPU without it. Nvidia had a better chipset solution they were going to release but Intel sued to stop them.

 

it's still MORE than powerful enough to run daily tasks and conserve a substantial amount of battery life. it gives you flexibility,and I find it hard to believe people think this is a negative feature. and also according to the i5 review in maximum pc, the integrated graphics is more than capable for 1080P HD content.


like i said, if you want to game... then switch, but if you want to extend battery life doing normal computer work, this solution is wonderful

 

Integrated Intel GPU's are plenty for what they can do.

No one is expecting to game on it, obviously. Yes, the 9400m is more capable but neither are decent enough for real gaming.

As long as it provides extra battery life (which it does) and is accompanied by a dedicated gpu (which it is), then what's the point of arguing over the quality of it?

 

Here is a very good test/review showing the new i5 integrated graphics are far superior to any older intel IGP options:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mobile-core-i5-arrandale,2522.html

Also noticed that the test i5 unit was using DDR3 1333Mhz memory -- Anyone know if the i5m supports that frequency?? Intel specs say only 800 / 1066 DDR3 support.

 

You are not going to notice any difference between 1066 and 1333 ram.

This has been debated, tested, and proven over in the AW threads.

 

Thanks for that, but what I was trying to confirm was will the 1333Mhz have any problems if installed in the envy i5? I am planning to upgrade to 8GB and for some reasom the 4GB 1333 modules are $25 less than the cheapest 1066 modules.

 

Hopefully true. And not very surprising, really. A new motherboard is needed to allow for the upgraded graphics chip. This new motherboard should be able to support both i5 and i7 processors -- they can simply make one version of it with 2 DIMM slots, and another with 4 DIMM slots. So it wouldn't make sense for USB 3.0 to be available on the i5 systems, but unavailable on the i7 quads.

 

Not usually.

A basic rule with RAM is you can put faster memory into a motherboard that supports a slower bus, but not vice versa.

 

I read it in an article when Arrandale was first previewed last fall. 10% is the only estimation I've seen on the performance hit for moving the memory controller off die. Everybody agrees there is a performance hit. But don't take my word for it, look up up yourself. Look at the benchmark tests. The issue isn't whether or not the integrated graphics are adequate for light use (if I wanted just adequate I wouldnt have bought an Envy), the issue is that Intel took the memory controller off the die to support integrated graphics that are worse than what has already been out there for over a year now (Nvidia 9400). Of course it will be better than the old intel graphics, which were only found on sub $700 notebooks theye were so bad. When Apple says "hey, we don't want your new processor, please send us a custom one without integrated graphics" you know something is up.

 

you might want to address my post about this.

 

The new Arrandale procs are the best Intel has released to date.

You are the only person I have heard complain thus far.

And why do I care what Apple says and does? Everything, no, EVERYTHING Apple does relates to money. Doesn't matter about performance, etc... Just money.

So your Apple argument is pretty much worthless in this forum

 

Not only was Apple unimpressed with the Core i5 Arrandale's performance, but Acer was too:
http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/16259/35/

Arrandale isn't the best mobile processor Intel has released to date, the quad core Clarksfield is. And that's not even a debate. What happens is that every time Intel releases something new is gets a lot of hype and praise.

 

While the quads are great and all, the TDP makes it unrealistic for a majority of laptops.

Now the dual core i7's are more intersting to me, for sure.

But saying that Clarksfield is better and that it is "undebateble", so-to-speak, if far fetched Performance wise, yes. Overall, maybe not.

Oh, and quoting the Wal-Mart brand of laptops about performance tells me all I need to know about your thinking....