*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 1*

I can give you a small preview on the Review if you want.

Thoughts?

No replacement for me, bought it on October 18 2009 and came on time, got it 2 months later (I am in France and had to wait for a relative to bring it), and I have enjoyed it a lot so far.

 

It's not made of a single piece of aluminum, otherwise it's good.

 

the laptop is made of magnesium and has aluminum touch points

 

Serg's take on the premium feel and build quality echoes what I've read in almost every other review online..... except for just one - GIZMODO. Read their review and compare it to everyone else's and you'll be convinced they were either high or reviewing a Toshiba or Acer thinking it was an Envy. That's why I read Engadget instead.

 

Sounds good and I agree with your impressions.

A few items you may want to double check:

I believe the bottom case is a Magnesium / aluminium alloy and it is molded then machined (you can see molding marks and machine tooling marks inside the case).

Also the patterns are made by a chemical etching process not laser etching (this is even mis-stated on the hp website), watch the 'how envy was developed' video -- the industrial designer talks about the chemical etching...

javascript penWin('http://h30428.www3.hp.com/?fr_story=087140e55df2dbd0cb5a52dec07a5abe3b4c02fd&rf=bm' ,750,500)

 

The base is an aluminum piece, the palmrests are magnesium alloy.

You sure about those facts? So I can correct them ASAP?

Do you have pices of the interior?

 

Not sure why the link didn't post correctly. Its on the 1st page of the Envy 15 page (before you choose a version to configure) right colum, last link at bottom

 

Fixed, thanks, it is chemical, not laser etching.

 

Ok watched video again, it only confirms that they use chemical etching process for designs.

The base material observations are my own, based on my experience working with aluminium (both solid, formed and molded) and it is definately not aluminium only, it is an alloy of some sort. No pictures of interior but I took a very close look when I had it opened. If I recall you can even see mold marks and machine marks inside the battery compartment.

 

If anyone has any questions what the envy is made out of, check this out:
https://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=1175448&native_or_pdf=pdf

It's the FCC filing and it has all of the material, paint, LED, and etching details. You can see exactly which parts are magnesium and which are plastic. This link originally appeared on Engadget.

 

The FCC filling says laser-etching and magnesium for palmrests and lid confirmed.

It seems the base is a magnesium/aluminum alloy or magnesium only.MEMORY DOOR COVER:
Material = Magnesium
Surface = Quasi-Anodized Paint
Paint Color = Anodized Aluminum*
Finish = Satin (Bead Blasted)

More interesting notes:

TOUCHPAD:
Material = Glass
Surface = Foxconn Process
Finish = Satin
*see backprint callout for more info

MAIN BATTERY BOTTOM:
Material = Aluminum
Surface = Quasi-Anodized Paint
Paint Color = Anodized Aluminum*
Finish = Satin (Bead Blasted)
*Match Bond’s Lower System Case

LOWER SYSTEM CASE:
Material = Magnesium
Surface = Quasi-Anodized Paint
Paint Color = Anodized Aluminum*
Finish = Satin (Bead Blasted)
*Match Bond’s Lower System Case

Confirmed, base is magnesium

 

Well this says the base, lid and palmrest/keyboard area are all magnesium and that the etching is laser...

Since this is what they filed with FCC it must be correct.

Sorry for the confusion on my part.

 

Should I go with laser or chemical now? Well, now we know it is fully magnesium except for the battery.

 

Has anyone had problems with the touchpad coating wearing off over time?

 

A rather random question:
The screen of my old laptop could be turned off using fn + F3, is similar functionality present on the Envy?

 

Laptops are still new, so I dont see that happening just yet.

Mine is from the first batch and has only 3 months (almost), so I think that is going to have to wait till a year or more to show up, if it does.

 

LOL...

I'd go with laser as per FCC dwg. Based on our experience with getting good info out of HP i would trust the drawing.

 

If you have it hooked up to a projector or via HDMI, hitting F4 opens a small menu that allows you to choose Computer Only, Duplicate, Extend, Projector Only modes.

 

right... so i should take it there is no just turning off as i like then. kind of unused as i have been so used to turning screen off when i read/do sth else whilst listening to music

 

Not sure if there is a pre configured way to do that but just read something about a free-ware task bar icon that does what you want...click icon and laptop (only) lcd shut off, all else keeps working, hit any key to reactivate...

Will post details if I can find the article / laptop mag or maximumPC i think

 

Has anyone seen sleeves for the E15? Kind of like the ones Incase makes for the macbook pros?

 

You could close the laptop or set it to turn of the monitor after X minutes have passed?

 

just looked some up earlier this evening but haven't found many on UK sites
so far i've seen this belkin neoprene 15.6, given the internal dimension 38cm x 27.5cm x 4.5cm i guess it should work for the envy?

 

That's correct. And the parts page lists it for $338. So the only good way to get the bluray drive is with the laptop order.

I called HP and they "added it" to my order for $186

 

Is it true that the Hibernate function in your computer can make the batteries in your laptop computer last longer? With the i5's, before I hibernate should I switch to the intergrated mode, or does it even matter? Or should I just turn it off, period.

 

Does the power LED blink on and off when it is in standby?

 

Thats really nice. On my hackintosh netbook, I set it to turn the LCD off when you move the mouse in the upper right corner. My old thinkpad 240 also had an Fn key combo to turn the screen off. It is really essential IMO.

 

I suggest this read: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91846

There are some interesting threads in the link in my signature, I suggest reading it.

 

Lucky you, I just tried to call them and they couldn't add it as they said it had to be ordered during the configuration of the laptop.

 

It probably depends on the state of the order. Mine was in the "order being verified" since Saturday morning. Technically speaking I think what he did was to cancel the original order and create a new one with the bluray in. The new order was verified today and I got the confirmation email a few hours back. So it didn't introduce any delays.

 

my first order was just cancelled (hadn't applied the $300 coupon). I really want to call them and try and cancel my second order and get the beats edition (if they'll let me use the coupon code again).

 

The beats edition looks really cool, but I wonder how the fingerprinting is. I love how the regular version is anti finger proof (besides the retarded bezel)

 

Anyone notice that all the dvt quads have the longest build times on HP's website?

Those systems have a build date a full week after the Envy and other systems...

 

well its a piano black finish, so i'm sure its a fingerprint magnet. but the B on the keyboard is the beats logo. how cool is that?

 

I haven't been able to find a guide / video on how to upgrade / add RAM on the Envy 15. Does anyone have a link? I want to add 2 DIMMs.

 

It should yell out BEATS every time you press it

 

Go to the HP support site and download the service manual (pg 46 for external slots or 53 for internal slots):

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01911053.pdf

or there may be info on page 1 of this forum.

Note: for original i7 model, no info yet on the i5 version.

 

I believe those are in higher demand and available in a wider range of configurations.

 

Yeah, I guess so.

I am just glad that the envy line is at 11 days and not 18 Let's just hope HP can get these out quickly as I need my system for school and using my desktop sucks....

 

Hi,

I have a replacement Envy 15 as of this morning (long story which I'll tell later!). When I run an HP Support Assistant Health Analysis, it passes "Connecting to HP servers" but fails (after maybe 30 seconds) "Downloading Updates", and then immediately marks Gathering Info, Analyzing your System) fail too. This ran fine once on the replacement machine, but not again. Any ideas of what's up? One time I did get a javascript error in some sort of special notification (light blue screen with two dialogs, one showing error and the other explaining how to get back to regular desktop display). I believe that was from this process but not sure. And never have seen that since. The Health Analysis runs fine on my old Envy.

Thanks!

Larry

 

Get rid of all that crap Larry. Just remove all the bloatware. You dont need it

 

Does your system have the new 5830?

 

woohoo, managed to cancel my order (again) and get the Beats limited edition with my $300 coupon (only works over the phone, not online)

 

Has anyone found out why HP is limitting the core i5 models to 4g RAM?

 

I doubt they are limiting them.

I think they just havent gotten around to updating their website to differentiate between getting 8GB of ram as 4 DIMMS versus 2 DIMMs.

That seems to make more sense than anythign else, seeing as how there is literally no information whatsoever about the Core i5s on the product pages.

 

Mine started doing that after unistalling most of HP bloatware and unchecking the boxes so it couldn't reinstall them. I just ended up unistalling support assistant and switched to windows update etc., worked great after that. I think all hp did was basically make a new GUI that gives you different visuals over the Win7 graphics...

 

I know this was brought up a few posts back, but does anyone know how "scratch-resistant" the piano black finish on the beats edition actually is? I've gotten differing opinions so far on how durable it actually is between not very to above average. I decided not to spring for it due to concerns about long-term durability of the finish compared to the standard one.

On a side note, I've also ordered the silverstone blu-ray drive to test out how it works. I'm hoping it'll work smoothly and the price seemed right. I'll post updates on how it works for anyone interested.

 

oh thats good. coz i thought you dissed your envy 15 for another. i've read somewhere you so disappointed with its 3dmark scores.

hows your envy so far serg?

 

Well, I did remove most bloatware on my old machine but I did left this one, though I understand it's superfluous. But I'm at the stage of qualifying the new machine to be sure it's ok and I'll really like to investigate any problem I see; so far this is the only one. I'd feel better to be sure it's not some issue with the machine itself.

I'll be imaging that old machine's disk and restoring to the new machine's disk. So far I've flashed the bios and changed the bios settings (enabled virtualization for example to match the old one) and otherwise expect to be able to use acronis to backup my old machine's c: drive and just restore to the new machine's c: drive. I hope it's that simple. I must use acronis true image (not win7 backup which I've been using) because the new partition is smaller than the old one, even though I'm using fewer gb of it than on the smaller new one. Also, might I run into any issue with the restore or trying to run with that old image because the new SSDs are Raid 0? (I was surprised that the two SSDs are Raid 0 because I thought I read here that they'd be configured as two separate drives. But I suppose this configuration is faster and more convenient for me; any downside?) Someone earlier posted another tip with the conversion from spinning drive to SSD with an image restore: on the first boot, force Windows 7 to go into Safe Mode. That way it can install the SSD drivers that wouldn't have been active on your image. After they install, reboot and login. But I've heard this may not be necessary from someone who did a spin to ssd drive image restore on another win7 machine (not HP I think).

No, it was just before this, unfortunately. I've had the most horrible customer experience ever regarding this purchase and ensuing issues (basically, I have the new machine because they failed to replace my $50 defective optical drive). But after complaining to the CEO's office, they could only rectify the problem by sending an entire replacement machine! I said I'd do it if they threw in two SSDs and they did. That's nice of them, but this has taken me so much time to work with them (more to the story), that I would not feel bad asking for a swap so as not to miss the refresh (5830, USB 3.0) since just a couple of days made the difference in my getting the old stuff. Think it's worth it to try to get this, or get those and an i5 instead? I plan to keep this machine 4-5 years if possible (I don't mind that assuming it's still reliable and working for me).

 

Thanks for that--that makes me feel better. Once I get the image restored, I'll remove the bloatware when on the new machine--thanks!