*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

Stupid question maby but... How do i change from the "envy" windows theme to the ordinary windows 7? Cant get it to work no matter which team i choose or download?

 

Strange...On my i7 all you did was right click on desktop and choose 'personalize' and all the Win7 themes were available...

 

But it is realistic for the Envy. If you look at the Envy opened up it has one of the best cooling systems of any laptop- two heatpipes and 2 fans on the CPU. A third heatpipe and fan on the GPU. And removing the optical drive gave it good airflow and a clean design. Then there's also the slice battery. The i5 will get hot too just because the metal case conducts heat. The aluminum Macbook Pros have processors with a 25 watt TDP and there are numerous complaints that it gets too hot, just because aluminum inevitably transfers some of the heat. It is something that is unavoidable with a metal chasis.

I don't see why Apple and Acers opinions of the chips don't matter. They matter a heck of a lot more than yours or mine.

 

you do realize heat is all relative. the i5's should generate noticibly less heat than their bigger i7 cousins. especially when using the integrated graphics instead of the dedicated...

 

I would not say they are the best performance wise, but rather value-wise. The i5's purpose is to provide an economic cpu which can also provide better battery life. I am willing to bet money that the i7 will smoke any i5. In lieu of the recession Intel is forced by consumers to create a less expensive lower performing product. This was seen when Intel created the desktop i7's then no one was buyign them because they were so expensive. Intel might have noticed this same trend with the mobile i7's so they dittoed what they did with desktops. The least expensive i7 laptop was one of the lower hp's which went for around a grand. now if you take a look at the market projections for when there is more usage of the i5 in laptops across the board, the average price will be around a grand in Q2 or Q3 if this year. The lowest may be around 750 or even hit 500. Besides the 32nm process, the i5 is just a C2D on steroids. It would be interesting to see whether it would outperform the C2D extereme. Personally, I think not. The best mobile processor on theis the 920xm and I would not expect more than 30 to 45 minutes of battery on it, but it is the best. By best you may be referring to the IGP, but if power isn't being used by the DGPU, the CPU will use it for the IGP granted it will not be as much used by the discrete card. Overall, the i5 machines will use less power because of these two things: the number of cores, and the graphics switching capabilities. This is what makes them marketable right now, if you take the stand alone processor you just simply don't have the best.

 

Maybe you should actually re-read the link you posted:

"....Although Wang didn't go into specifics, it is clear he is referring to Intel's upcoming 32nm Arrandale parts. The new CPUs feature integrated graphics, and with Turbo overclocking it is possible to push them to 2.2GHz, all within an 18W thermal envelope.

Acer apparently told Intel that it was concerned about single-core CULV processors and discussed the use of dual-core processors in future models. Intel's recently announced SU2300, SU4100 and SU7300 dual-core CULVs could address such concerns, but not entirely....."

Acer was disapointed with the single core ULV chips (not Arrondale) and waiting for the Arrondale chips to increase performance with good battery life....And they were talking about the entry level i3 and i5 18W versions. Not the much higher spec i5 5xx chips the Envy is using

 

Apple's interests with Intel are not going to be understood by you, me, or anyone here. You can speculate all you want on their motivations/reasons for wanting a chip without integrated capabilities.

As far as Acer, well, I am not going to even comment too much about that. For a company that prides itself on cheap, inexpensive systems, I can see why they may be reluctant to use parts that cost more.

The 45nm i7's are great, but they do run a little warm when stressed (which most cpu's do in laptops).

By moving to a 32nm process Intel is able to have the same (or similar) performance while producing less heat.

I am not going to hijack this thread with you.

If Apple means so much to you why are you here talking about PC's?

 

Man, I was reading laptopmag.com review of the new Asus with the i5 and the old envy with the i7. Unless i'm missing something..... they both scored basically the same. In the video encoding using multiple threads the i5 was only like 3 seconds behind the i7. Kinda shocked me...

 

Wow.

I now have heard it all. lol

I am going to leave this thread where it is......

I'll let you guys know if my Envy has USB 3.0 and whatever else anyone wants to know

 

reread what you just wrote:
....Although Wang didn't go into specifics, it is clear he is referring to Intel's upcoming 32nm Arrandale parts. The new CPUs feature integrated graphics, and with Turbo overclocking it is possible to push them to 2.2GHz

I don't see what all the fuss is... The i5 just has a few issues- the off-die memory controller, the slower bus, the crappy igp, the smaller cache. If you prefer the lower max TDP, battery draw, and price that's your perogative but there still are those issues.

The quads shut down cores that aren't in use, a feature called powergating, so they really only run hotter when under load. In fact with the quads only one core will be activated most of the time.

 

Several Swedish stores are now listing two new Envy 15 models, 1190eo and 1195eo. None of them have any specs listed yet but the 1190eo is priced about equal to the low res model we already have and the 1195eo is about 55% more expensive.

My guess is that the 1190 is a high res "standard" core i7 and that the expensive one (1195) is equipped with SSD and more ram. Either way it looks like Europe is finally getting more Envy models (even more may follow) and that brings hope for some reasonably speced ones.

 

he's talking about the CULV arrendales... the ones that are coming in the envys are 2.4ghz and 2.53ghz that turbo up to ~3ghz...

 

The only reason Apple mentioned that they wanted a chip that didn't have the intel integrated graphics was because there was still confusion over the patent litigation between Intel and Nvidia. Intel seems to want to force people to use their graphics. Since the envy uses ATI card technology, this wasn't a problem.

 

Apple decided to drop Nvidia last fall:
http://www.slashgear.com/apple-freeze-out-nvidia-for-3-4yrs-over-geforce-failures-0248509/
http://www.semiaccurate.com/2009/06/26/apple-nvidia-dont-let-door-hit-your-ss-way-out/

their disliking Arrandale had nothing to do with patent disputes

 

It doesnt matter if its cars, laptops or hand bags, people will always defend their purchase. Lol

 

VERY VERY TRUE. I was just thinking about this phenomena.

 

or their dispurchase. haha.

 

by the way, any good laptop bags for the envy15? One that'd be convenient for airport security checks?

 

Ok one more try! Re-read whole link you provided! Wang is saying he hopes the Arrondale will improve the performance of the existing ULV single core chips that they not happy with!

 

I recommend one with a built in clock sewn into the fabric; just in case you lose track of time and its an emergency.


PS: I got the one from HP, the urban tote bag or whatever. Looks good enough

 

Wang... lol

 

I got the Hp black slipcase. It's a tight fit with the slice and a good fit without the slice. then into any bag.

 

i really wish now i'd just gotten the beats edition, especially with the $300 coupon, it just looks cooler, and i could use a pair of dr. dre noise cancelling headphones...

 

I don't purchase anything made by Monster

 

That statement - as a generalization - is not accurate. A glossy screen with proper anti-reflective coating will reflect less than a matte screen, allowing for deeper blacks and higher contrast, even in daylight.

Once Apple started adding window glass with no AR coating whatsoever to their laptops, people started comparing to their matte macbooks, and of course the matte ones looked better than looking into what was/is essentially a mirror with a fruit logo.

If you instead look at Sony's high end 17" VGN-A series from 2004, there is little reflection, and combined with a 360 nits brightness those displlays were quite usable outdoors (while the battery lasted). I used mine outdoors in the Australian Outback for months, running off the dual batteries in my Land Cruiser.

 

For myself, I am a fan of the professional looking hard body briefcase stye bags. So I would recommend the Matias Laptop Armor Black Aluminum 14 to 17 laptop case. I am planning on purchasing this case once the price drops to below a hundred dollars. The case looks very sleek and a laptop inside can survive falls of up to 10 feet, although I would not recommend testing this .

 

Wouldn't this be a little bit heavy to carry on to the plane? It looks definitely nice though. But it's 7.6 pounds.

 

Won't be an issue to me. Looks cool too.

 

Yes, I found a 15.4" Targus 'zip-thru' model at Costco for around $40. It folds open and they let you just put it on x-ray belt with computer strapped in place, no need to remove it (at least before the 'underwear' bomber).

Fits envy 15 perfectly with extra pockets and room for accesories while still being light and slim plus it has a strap for putting over a rolling carryon handle.

Well can't find the exact model on costco.com--it is very close to this model from the targus site:

http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.aspx?sku=TBC023US

But my version appears thinner and has rubberized bottom and better handle. Worth a look at a Costco if you have one nearby...they often have in store items that don't appear on their website.

 

Good advice for anyone

 

Hello, any updates to be done? Keep me posted.

 

Just to clear some stuff up:

DDR3 1333 will *probably* work in a 1066 system. It will probably run at 1066 regardless. Make sure to check the CAS latencies on it though, because htey will probably be higher and it could end up being slower than actually getting 1066 ram in the first place. Regardless, the difference between the two is virtually indistinguishable.

Core i5 has lower idle power than Core i7 due to the 32nm process. Nehalem-based chips in general have higher idle power than Core 2 chips, so by going to 32nm, Arrandale essentially matches Core 2 Duo in idle power. The cool part though is that it can greatly exceed it in total power. This is why having the 5830 built in is really nice, because when you switch off the interanl graphics, the CPU can take over the 25w of TDP allocated to it as well as the 10w allocated to the IGP for a total of 35W. This means you cna get some really excellent performance out of the i5 when you need it. It also means that you can switch off the 25W 5830 and keep it down to a total of 35W. In the i7 model, you have a 45W CPU and a 25W video card, for a total of 70W. That means the i5 should run quite a bit cooler than the i7 without much sacrifice in performance.

Under the absolute best case scenario, the Core i7 can be about 30% faster than the i5. In the vast majority of cases though, it will be only slightly faster. It will always draw a lot more power however because it is 45nm isntead of 32nm, and it has 4 cores instead of 2.

Moreover, in the future, many CPU-intensive tasks such as physics, video encoding, video decoding, and things like F@H, are moving to the GPU. The 5830 is quite beefy and has a substantial number of SPUs, making it ideal for this type of work. This makes whatever advantages the i7 has less relevant over time.

Also, there is another wave of arrandale chips supposedly coming out in about 6 months. These will be more well "tuned" and should reach higher clock speeds than current ones. If you can find one available at retail, it might be a good way to bump up the battery life and speed of your i5 system.

 

Will the ability to switch between graphics help much with battery life? My original Envy gets very hot on the left part of the case where I believe the CPU is. The right side of the case doesn't even get warm (if not doing anything demanding). Surely ATI would have built in some good power management?

 

PCMark05 5971 I would have hoped better.

 

http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.aspx?sku=CBT301DUS

 

True that it will downclock to match the 1066 limit the board has.
Going from DDR2 to DDR3 system RAM is negligible too.

First part is true but consider that Clarksfield (i7 is Arrandale too) has double the cores and a more aggressive TurboBoost than Arrandale.
Second part I disagree. Arrandale consumes a lot less than C2D, and not only due to the smaller die-size, but it is a fully integrated chip, those 35W account for CPU, GPU, NorthBridge, SouthBridge, IGC, IMC and basically everything, which would make the CPU alone be far less than the 25-35W C2D.

A C2D using 25W has the northbridge, the IGP (if it has or GPU), the southbridge, the FSB, the interconnections, etc. And it has no integrated memory controllers or graphics controllers. Add up all that and you reach 40W easily.

My 720QM idles at 14-15W and can push it to 45-55W when needed (yes, 55W)

Depends on usage basically. On daily tasks it is negligible. On multi-threaded environments the i7 will have the edge. But I agree, it is not worth in general to get an i7 unless you need.

Con you confirm that please? That sounds interesting, since I heard that Clarksfield is not getting a refresh until Sandy Bridge.

 

You may be referring to the new 3 core / 6 thread versions of the i5 line that intel has provided development samples to PC manufacturers. Have seen varying reports of Q3 and Q4 production release dates. No published spec yet that I know of...

 

Perfect fit for mine. Literally.
http://www.megabuy.com.au/targus-156-targus-notepac-p12659.html?utm_source=getprice&utm_medium=cpc

 

Ya and that's why the i7 gets great battery life...lolz

 

i went with this:

http://www.booqbags.com/All-Products/Boa/Boa-flow-XL-laptop-backpack

and i don't regret it one bit, the build quality is amazing

 

Anandtech said that there will be a new stepping of arrandale in a few months. It is not a refresh, just a silicon tweak that makes them more efficient. This happens all the time with CPUs, usually the first run don't live up to the real potential because the manufacturing techniques are still in their infancy.

 

Oh, just a revision most likely, or something like Montevina Plus was a few months ago, before Arrandale.

But, hey, I have an early i7 running...and I is serving me well.

 

One thing I haven't heard much about is the feel of the laptop. Does it feel like a premium machine? How are the keys? Am I going to get this notebook and think, "Wow, this feels like a cheap knockoff," or, "Wow, this is the real deal!"

 

The bezel is the only thing that does not feel at the same level as the rest of the laptop, other than that it does feel premium to me, and quite sturdy.

 

Keys feel cheap IMO. Plus mine came with 2 broken keys. The rest of the machine feels solid and premium though. Just wish it had E2E screen to complete the premium look.

 

Quite premium in build quality, I would say. Considering just how thin the case is, it's amazing just how rigid it is. To get a feel, remove the memory cover next to the battery and take a look at it.

 

Hmm, that's a bit troubling. Did the keys themselves feel crappy, or was there a lot of flex or something?

As for the E2E screen, it would be nice, but it's in no way a deal breaker for me. I can see why it would be preferred, but it's one of those things that I wouldn't give a second thought.

 

Yup, the keys feel really cheap and almost like they used the thinnest plastic to make them. At first only one key was broken, then after typing a bit, 2 more keys just fell off under normal usage.

I'm using an Alienware i7 M15-x right now, and the keys on this thing are much better quality.

 

Most people seem to really like it, the only ones I've seen that didn't was Gizmodo:
http://gizmodo.com/5413076/hp-envy-15+inch-review

 

@Serg: Hows your envy 15? just wanna know if you replaced it with another brand new laptop or you just had it replaced by hp?