*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 2*

Thats the best Envy config I've ever seen, whats your WEI or 3D marks score.

 

I've noticed that the default power profile for hp has it going to sleep (not hibernate) for both battery and plugged in. Is there any reason why? Is the envy in sleep mode as efficient in saving power than hibernate mode?

With the dual SSD's should I even bother with hibernate or just have the thing power off if it is on battery when I close the lid?

I think I figured it out, but, I've got it going into sleep mode for everything, but if it is on battery, and it sleeps for more than 60 minutes, it will then go into hibernation. Is that how you guys set yours up? What do you think?

 

Just curious...people mentioned a while back about the throttling of the CPU on battery power. Has anyone talked to HP and, if so, what did they say? Will they make it possible to remove it?

 

I agree with Pitabread. Synthetic benchmarks are only good for propping up one's ego about the extra money spent on "faster" RAM. Real life benchmarks using real life programs result in mostly negligible (~1 %) and some minor improvements going from 1066 to 1333 with a desktop i7. It should be similar in the Envy.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/memory-scaling-i7,2325-8.html

Even going from DDR3 800 to 1333 results in really small changes. Note that with the "game" benchmarks even the DDR3 800 had framerates ABOVE 90 fps, so unless you have a screen that refreshes at higher than 60 hertz it's pretty much a useless comparison in my opinion. (And that's if you can perceive the difference above 75Hz on a non phosphor display... but that's another issue.)

I would not spend the money, but you are welcome to spend yours. Just don't try to convince others that they're going to get *huge* gains in performance by posting synthetic benchmark results without posting real-life application benchies.

 

I don't think he is trying.

 

they said that's how the system is designed due to battery technology they are using.

 

my WEI scores are from 7.5 to 7.9 except the graphics/3d stuff which sucks (4.6). I haven't figured out what's going on with that. I guess a driver issue or something. 3DMarks06 is 8106 though.

 

hmm..well I installed 2x2gb of the kingston hyperx to match up with the 2x2gb already installed in the system and cpuz is stating my system is running at 1066mhz with the following timings 6-6-6-18 pretty cool if thats the case.

 

I apologize if this has been brought up, but I couldn't find any info. I just got the Gen 2 i7. Has anyone else noticed that the top of the trackpad moves up and down (as if there were buttons like the bottom), even though there are no functions in the settings for that area (I mean to configure buttons). Does anyone else have this or is my trackpad lose?

 

are people really having heat issues with their new i7's?

One thing that i am surprised about is how cool mine is. (pun intended) some areas on the laptop are actually cold to the touch even when it is running.

however i did find one thing that i dont care for... the edge hurts my hand when i rest it on it. right by the palm rest there is a little lip that sticks up. not a huge deal buts its not all that comfortable resting my hand when typing or using the touch pad.

I love this touchpad BTW cant believe so many peopleare having issues with it.

 

my i7 is perfect, very cool, even when gaming though, I have only played assassin's creed 1 on my envy so far. I just upgraded to 8gb of ram and the laptop is zippy as hell.

I have no issues that have been stated in the forum, everything works perfect, and now I have to decide if I want to get the elitebook or if this is really enough for me. The form factor is great, and its super fast, only time will tell.

 

I would just keep it since the 8540w is way overpriced. I was looking at it also since it supposedly has the QM57 chipset which would allow for graphics switching. The quick-ship/preconfigured models are nicely priced and the option to dump Win7 for freedos is also a nice option but give me a break $3K for 4GB and 500GB FullHD notebook is not my cup of tea.

They are going to have to drop it at least 500 Benjamins for me to even consider it.

 

If I have 2x2gb and add 2x4gb will I still be running in dual channel mode since I have 2x2gb and 2x4gb?

 

I have the gen 1 Envy 15 and my scores are 2.0 on gaming and graphics performance, is the only thing im dissapointed in with my Envy, although seems to run the mmorpg i tried very smooth.

 

Yes. Make sure you put a 2 and a 4 in each of the slot "groups". I'm not 100% sure that's necessary, but it's the best way to be safe and sure you'll get dual-channel.

That said, if you don't want to really dig in and open up your machine, dual-channel isn't a humongous speed boost: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/PARALLEL-PROCESSING,1705-11.html

 

I got the i7 with 4gb ram (inaccessible slots) which leaves the two slots open by the battery and I could just add two 4gb sticks in there. That way the internal slots have 2gb sticks and the accessible slots have 4gb sticks. Won't even have to open up the computer.

 

Maybe sometime soon... its playtime for a while now.

Also: According to Threeply, who has an identical system to me other than 8GB of the 1066 C7 vs my 8GB of 1333 C7, that config gets a 7.3

So we can gather that 1066 C7 vs 1333 C7 makes 2 points in WEI

A boost? Yes... Synthetically? Yes... Me likey? YES!

 

WOW this ram can handle some speeds! Not that the envy can take advantage of them... but impressive SPD indeed:

 

I know. But the RAM would then be in two channels, 2x2 on one channel, and 2x4 on the other channel, and dual-channel operation can't work with asymmetric amounts of RAM on each channel IIRC. To get dual-channel mode with all 12GB of RAM you're talking about you'd have to open the case, put a 4 and a 2 in the inside slots, and do the same on the battery-bay slots. That's why I said the easy way is not opening up the case, but you won't get dual-channel operation. That said, it's not a huge boost, it's only if you really want to tune the heck out of your machine that you'd want to install them dual-channel.

 

It can, but not as fast as symmetric configuration.

 

Ahh, thanks for the info. In that case, it's an even lesser speed boost than the already quite meager one

 

Strange. I was trying to get into Safemode so kept trying to hold the fn button + f8 and it wasn't working. Then tried it one time just holding the f8 key and got my menu. is the fn only needed once the system has gotten into windows?

Also is there a function key you can hit to select booting from a thumb drive or how do you mange it for installing Win7 via thumb drive?

Thx

 

Is that using this memory?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104158

 

My envy is almost always warm, but I turned off the option to have fans always running in bios so it's probably only running on passive cooling 99% of the time. I agree that the touchpad is really nice. Once I enabled some useful options (right click tap, increasing the tapable area) it became even better.

The only annoying thing I noticed about the trackpad is that two finger scrolling doesn't work too well if you start scrolling from the bottom. I already have pinch to zoom and rotate unchecked and that didn't seem to help. Does anyone have any suggestions for improving two finger scrolling when starting from the lower half of the track pad?

 

Do you have a harder time scrolling up than down? I sure do.

 

Yup, that's exactly the problem I have. I have to repeat it enough times that the tips of my finger feel like they're rubbing.

 

i think you may need to spread your fingers a bit. at least thats what helped me

 

In preferences, Wheel tab, set the number of lines to scroll at a time to "1", see if that helps. Someone else posted this earlier.

 

Yes, that should work on dual channel. What I found out is that the 2 in the hidden slots are not configured as dual channel. You have to another Dimm in the open slot to complete the bank.

 

That confirms what I was thinking. You'll only get the full dual-channel boost if you have 2+4 in each of the slot groups, instead of 2+2 and 4+4.

 

Yeah, running my i7 envy now (been running it for a half hour) and I just touched the palmrest area above where the CPU is and it's cold to the touch. It will get warm while watching a movie or playing a game but not so much I've had to remove it from my lap.

 

Just curious about using silicon rubber to rebuff the heat from the wrist area?

Would this work in keep the area cool, or would it more likely force the heat back onto the motherboard and subsequently the processor and harddrive driving their temperatures up?

 

That's obvious, heat need to go somewhere.

 

i really have not had any issues with keeping this thing cool. I have been very impressed so far. One thing to note is that i have the SSD's so that probbaly helps on the right palm rest any ways.

 

Thought as much, I just needed someone to confirm that for me.

I would love to go SSD, but right now the way the Aussie dollar is trading means prices are ridiculous.

 

Yes it is...

 

I find it really comforting that the left side of the computer is warm.

It means that the copper heatpipe inside is doing it's job.

And it's doing it pretty much quietly, all I hear is a constant whooshing of air, even while doing some heavy gaming.

On a side note, I shouldn't have bought a laptop cooler, this thing doesn't really need it. =P

 

SSD's definitely help. when i had my i7, it got warm. nothing terrible, but it was warm. with the i5 and dual ssd's this thing has yet to really warm up like my i7 500gb setup

 

It won't do anything to cool it. It may make it very slightly hotter, but the most important thing that it'll do is slow down the thermal transfer to your hand which will make it FEEL a lot cooler, even if it's not actually cooler, and may even be warmer.

 

i'm playing Mass Effect 2 on a 24" in 800x600 on my desktop.

I want my Envy.

 

I feel for ya ninthparadigm.

Hope you have better luck with your replacement.

The Envy is worth it though! =D

 

I am Loving my envy. i5, dual SSD's. Just awesome. Do you guys run with the fans on all the time or fans off? I've noticed the video card fan comes on from time to time when I'm not doing anything graphically intense. Is there a way for me to calm it down?

 

I run it without the fan. Found that running them all the time was sometimes counter-productive in that it was just cycling warm air.

The GPU fan, however, is always on for me - constantly blowing out warm air.

 

Does your video card fan actually turn off after starting up?

The fan on the right side just turns on after awhile.. and never turns off. I have keep fans on disabled.

Should I be hearing any fans anywhere else? It seems like there is only one fan that goes high (the right side one). Do ppl with SSDs not have any wrist rest heat issues?

 

Really? Mine isnt. It will turn off completely then turn back on. Maybe the ssd's keep it cool enough. No issues with heat at all at the wrist. Just the right fan turns off then on again. I have the i5 processor.

 

Did you format yours?

Left palm rest is warm, right palmrest is uncomfortably warm (7200 rpm)

My battery life has been pretty shoddy as well. I get only 2 hours on 6 cell.

 

Nope, just ripped out all of the added on stuff. Ill have to time the power as well. I dont think im getting much more than that too

 

I just see a major discrepancy in what people are describing as a 'cool' system. Mine is just hot all the time.

The palmrests are hot, yet the air being pushed out of the right vent is cool. Is there supposed to be any suction coming through the front vents ?
Is the left side supposed to have a similar fan? I only have wind blowing out of the right side.

 

should be coming out of both sides and it should be warm.

 

Oh, nm, the left side just kicked off for a second. So really, its just the palmrests are hot.