*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 2*

If anyone has played around with different settings to maximize battery life I'd love to hear them. On battery I'm running the HP Recommeded Plan (I use high performance when plugged in) and am at 1 hour 10 minutes right now with 20% battery remaining. My brightness is about 50%. Any other "reasonable" things I can set to increase battery life?

 

Don't forget that USB protocol overhead is fairly large. If USB 3.0 has a theoretical bandwidth of 4.8 Gbits/sec then real world bandwidth is between 3 - 3.5 Gbits/sec. As I and others have said, eSATAP is a better fit for external storage in most cases. There is a good bit of CPU overhead when running USB at full bandwidth vs SATA.

Thats not to say USB 3.0 won't be useful in the future but as of today eSATAP is better suited for some tasks.

 

hello....

im a student looking to buy my first laptop for a design studio...the desktop im leaving behind is old and tired to say the least... and am looking to replace it with a much faster laptop... im not really sure how well some of these components perform in a laptop with certain software, but any/all advice is appreciated...

i use autodesk: autocad, revit, and 3ds max (almost all 3d and rendering) also a little matlab and adobe CS4. i work between these programs for often 6-10 hours a day...i seldom play any games, but may in the future if i ever find some free time. im around an outlet 90% of the time

i looked into some of the "mobile workstations" but they seem a little pricey for what you actually get...maybe not though...other than the price the graphics card seemed the only major differnece and i heard that consumer graphics work just as well as the quadros with autodesk, anyone know if this is true. being that i have no idea when the envy 17 will be released (the bigger screens help a ton with cad) i might just settle for the 15 as ill need this within the next 6 weeks and can always use an external monitor if needed...

as of now im considering this set up:

i7-820 (although im not sure if it would perform any better than the 720 for my purposes)

8 or 16 ddr3 (id really like 2x4 but 4x2 is all they offer... so maybe the 16 is a better investment since id have to dump em all to go to 16 in the future)

320GB SSD (anyone know which drives these ones are? Intel?)

1920x1080 (i guess the anti-glare.... if that is the matte finish)

It runs about 3000 (with 16GB DDR3) with the student price which is the upper end of my limit, but seems like it should last awhile...no?

anyway... all advice/opinions are appreciated as this will probably be the most expensive thing ive ever purchased... except for my car
thanks

 

THe 820 is a waste of money. Buy it only if you have money to burn.

Get 2x2 ram and then add 1x4 on your own for a total of eight. Then you have one empty slot to get up to 12 later, and if you really need to get to 16 you only need to get rid of the 2x2s.

Yes, they are Intel drives.

 

I've been hearing a high pitched noise since last night It's not on all the time though, but it's very annoying. Wife sitting next to me noticed it, and said: is that your new laptop? I can't tell what side is coming from? You said your's coming from the right side? What is it?

 

I paid extra for the SSDs, but they worked the price so that it would match how much I would've paid for them if I had orderd it the same day with the $350 coupon.

 

While your correct about the theoretical transfer rates, Im not speaking of theoretical transfer rates. Im comparing my $2200 Envy (2nd replacement after the first faulty mouse-pad and scratches all over the screen upon new opening) vs my 3 year old $800 Dell. I tried transferring a small batch of mp3's, and 4Gb MKV video files, and either way the Envy chokes on USB 2.0. My eSATA port does not work, so my 3rd Envy is shipping right now.

Im also having major problems with wifi speed, as the 3 year old Dell gets 20+ Mbps 10 feet from the router, and the Envy gets 12Mbps.

The transfer problem with USB/wifi existed on the new Envy, and still happens after a fresh Win 7 install with correct drivers. Heck my Dell hasnt been reformated in 2 years and it performs how it should.

Too many problems, too many inconsistencies, and too many excuses from HP. I knew that HP had the lowest quality out of all laptop brands. I knew 1 in 4 HP laptops experience some kind of problem according to Squaretrade, but I expected HP's premium laptop to do better than below average.

http://blog.squaretrade.com/2009/11...e-most-reliable-study-has-people-talking.html

http://www.squaretrade.com/htm/pdf/SquareTrade_laptop_reliability_1109.pdf

Between the 1st thread and this one, there are almost 1000 pages of dialogue about HP's Envy, with most of it being negative about either poor support, broken machines, problematic bloat-ware, or misinformation by both Envy support or Thenextbench.

Im sure Notebookreview loves the usage , but in all honesty, provide a quality built Envy, and this forum would be closer to empty.

 

Originally Posted by yejun
Maybe you shouldn't disable powerplay.

I was getting the black screen of death when playing full screen video on battery power--basically the screen would turn black and become completely unresponsive (although the audio track from the video file would continue to play back normally on my locked up laptop--the only solution was to hold the power button down until the laptop reset.

My fix: Powerplay was already enabled in my ATI settings (accessed via the Catalyst Control Center) . . . I left powerplay enabled and just changed the ATI powerplay setting on "battery" to "maximize performance" and NO MORE LOCK-UPS!

Hopefully this is helpful,
N123

 

New to thread and just opened My brand new Envy 15 I5 and am ready to return the dang on thing. Speakers do not work. Spend 4 hours with tech support reloading drivers and restoring system to no avail. Headphone jack works and computer recognizes speakers they just dont work. Any advice before the unit gets retuned?

 

Well i like my 820, though I upgraded it later from my i5-520. Its an ES version, so it was a lot cheaper ($250), and I'd bought from the seller before so wasn't worried about quality issues.

 

If it's software related it has to be something in the following link from speaker tweaks I came up with a while ago. Try walking through those steps and see if anything gets sound output for you. If not my guess would be the speaker connector to the motherboard is loose;

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=5833308&postcount=744

 

It was very hard to tell which side the beep/sequel was coming from. I put my ear right over the keyboard and it seemed to be the loudest right above the right side where the ports are. It comes and goes, and pulses and it seems to be worse when I have USB devices plugged in. It sounds to me like electrical noise or maybe a capacitor somewhere went bad or something. Pretty sad considering I haven't had my computer a week :-((.

I talked with HP (surprisingly very helpful and understandable aka not Indian) they are going to repair my notebook. I should get a return shipping box and label tomorrow or Tues and depending on what service they paid for they could possibly have it by FRI I tried to guilt trip them into an upgrade to an SSD since this will be almost 5 weeks I have been waiting for my computer but no luck. If you're willing to ge mad and yell at the person then you may have better luck.

If I get my computer back by late next week I'll be satisfied

 

i refuse to ever send my new machine in to service. bottom line I will return the machine and have them rebuild and get it right. if they don't do so on my 3rd envy, i return and take my business elsewhere

 

So I have some more information about the AC adapter. I tried a friends Genuine HP 90W adapter he bought from Best Buy for his DV2000 series (sans the plug adapter)

I opened up CPU-Z and several programs including Borderlands and it looks as though my i5 540M is NOT multiplier limited. During borderlands I saw the Multi go to x23 which is 3.01 GHZ and from what I understand the highest turbo boost frequency my processor can do.

As more testing has confirmed my Envy 15 (i5 540M 1920x1080 matte 320GB HDD) does not go above 60W load power while playing Borderlands AND charging the battery which was discharged to 45% capacity.

I am guessing the computer slows down the charging of the battery when doing intensive tasks.

So anyone looking to be more mobile with a smaller AC adapter you can get a genuine HP one on Ebay for >$30 free shipping AND still get max performance out of your notebook.

Rob

 

Other than the noise everything on my Envy was tip top shape

I'm guessing they'll replace the motherboard to fix the noise problem.

I also hope they replace the LCD bezel - whomever put the rubber spacer things on must have been really tired B/C they missed the carve out divots/holes in the bezel and the rubber thins almost fell off. I'm not sure what they'll do but I hope they replace the bezel.

This way I KNOW that the touchpad, screen, speakers, hard drive etc.. are fine and I won't get a new unit with the noise fixed and something else broken.

 

that doesn't sound like tip top shape to me

 

USB 2.0 should give up to 58MB/s however in the testing I have done with a Vertex ssd shows that the speed maxes out at about 30MB/s on my envy gen 2.

I also connected to the esata port and saw 200+MB/s.

I do not have a USB 3.0 enclosure to do testing with.

 

I agree with all your numbers...

I do have a couple usb3 enclosures on hand, and they easily match the esata. I tested a spare 80GB intel G2 SSD with it and both sustain over 210MBps. I wish I had a device to test the 500MBps claims, but I don't. I have seen benchmarks elsewhere sustaining 305MBps via the usb3. Look up the super-talent raid ssd demonstration to see.

 

I have read many a external hard drive and flash drive review and from what I remember 30MB/S is the maximum actual bandwidth that I remember them getting (give or take 1-2 MB/S)

If it takes 2 high end SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration to max out the actual bandwidth of USB 3.0 than I will hazard to bet that no external device within a reasonable price range that has that kind of bandwidth that is also useful will come out within the next 2 years.

regular mechanical hard drives haven't even come close to reaching the actual bandwidth limit of SATA (or eSATA)

With SSDs still having such low capacities and such high prices I fail to see a purpose of an external SSD drive which is the only thing right now that would benefit from the differences in bandwidth that you guys are talking about.

This is also pre-Gen 1.0 USB3 equipment perhaps a firmware update for the USB3 card at a later date will improve performance.

I guess my point is that those performance differences that you guys are talking about look significant on paper but who has a USB 3.0 device (or eSATA) that can even utilize that speed that the person would realistically use over that interface.

I apologize if I repeated myself there but you get the point.

Rob

 

Hehe you do have a point...

although I'm not too worried about 2 little sticky pieces of rubber.

The important parts of the computer are functioning correctly is what i meant.

Rob

 

yes the esata port would be just fine for connecting to portable hardrive except that there is only one port and I usually have more than one harddrive to use when editing photos/video. USB 2.0 is very capped for even 5400rpm sata drives so USB 3.0 will be usefull for me right away.

your point is valid for most people though...

 

You still only have one USB3 port though, right? Or are both of the non-SATA USB ports USB3 in the i7 versions?

 

I don't have a usb 3.0 device to test with however I was under the impression that both usb ports were USB 3.0.

 

That is great news. How is the size in comparison?

 

Humm, wonder if the same would apply to an i7 Envy or do the i7's need more power? I'd like to have a spare brick but HP's prices are so dang high

 

both of my i7 envy laptops lock the multiplier when using the HP 90w adapter.. for me it takes the 120w adapter to get full power.

 

Thats what I was afraid of. Has anyone found an good aftermarket for the i7?

 

I'm hoping an aftermarket company will make a better replacement battery...lighter than the slice.

 

HP has produced a whole bunch of 90W adapters - I think any discussion about these adapters needs to involve part numbers.

I'll start: My 90W does throttle i7-720 to max 11x multiplier. It is called KG298AA#ABA on HP website (same in US and Sweden it seems). Also: Part no 519330-001, Spare no 463955-001.

 

Its significantly smaller but about the same weight.

I will take some comparison pictures this evening and post them.

You have a good point about connecting multiple mass storage devices and transferring data between them - USB3.0 would be greatly helpful in that aspect.

Although it doesn't really matter to me since both of my external drives are USB 2.0 only :-((

 

Hey guys check out the shipped contents of the $1500 Quick Ship Envy.

It SHIPS with a 90W AC Adapter !!!

It would be interesting which model # it comes with.

Although it does come with the bilge-water processor

Rob

 

I just saw this post about NEC's new USB 3.0 driver:

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/14184/new_nec_usb_3_0_firmware_update_available/index.html

Has anyone tried installing this latest version on the Envy?

 

Well since the Envy I have here is going back I suppose I could at least see if it will run before I restore the computer to factory

 

Does anyone have any info on where to buy the hard drive enclosure for the Envy to enable dual 1.8" hard drive configuration of an SSD and HDD?

 

Search these owner's threads for "bracket" and it should lead you to the HP part number you need.

 

Well I don't have anything USB 3.0 yet to test with I did go ahead and run it and it seemed to take. Not sure how to make sure it was updated but if you do let me know. If I launch the Nec tool from the start menu is shows me having driver 1.0.17.0 & FW 3021. My usb 2.0 stuff still works so it didn't "break" anything as far as I can tell.

EDIT:
Well duh, should of read the readme file LOL

"7. Confirm FW Version.On the Start menu, click All Programs, NEC Electronics, USB3.0 Host Controller Driver, and then USB3.0 Host Controller Utility.

8. Show USB3.0 Host Controller Information. If "Firmware Version" is 3021, you succeed in updating FW."

 

Ok most of the day I have had the wireless slowness and now I know why you guys have been complaining. talk about a bad day to happen too anyway after about 4 hours of trouble shooting cifs slowness on my netapp I finally figured it was my wireless.. I am capped at about 200kb/s that is unusable... so at least I can start troubleshooting...

I have not had the problem the whole time so the problem is sporadic for me well it is still slow so maybe it will stay this way... I will report back after doing some more testing

 

How far are you from the wireless station? It's not the best wireless connection I've had, but I was still getting 8Mbps (in g mode) from speedtest.net and Comcast over my router at the other end of the house. Seems about par.

 

after going switching to the utp and then back to wireless I am now at full speed again getting about 2MB/s uploads to my netapp.

strange.. no reboots no moving of equipment just shutting down the wireless and after testing the gig link turning back on the wireless

 

You may want to check the 'Advanced' tab in Device Manager for the intel 6200 AGN adapter. It gives you some choices for connection speeds for g and n routers as well as a 'throughput enhancement' option which was disabled by default when I did a clean install yesterday, after enabling this I have been maxing out my 3Mb/s g connection anywhere in my house.

 

I have an Envy 15 1st generation. Man, this thing gets hot. Are these temps normal? My unibody MacBook Pro didn't get this hot.

 

So I bought this build. It's going to be built at Feb 22 and be shipped.
Does anyone have a similar build?
How was your experience?
How do I know if this is a 2nd gen?
Comments on my build?

Specs:
• Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-820QM Quad Core Processor (1.73GHz, 8MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to3.06GHz
• 16GB DDR3 System Memory (4 Dimm)
• 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5830 Graphics - For i7 Processors
• 15.6" diagonal Full High Definition LED HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen Display (1920x1080)
• One 6 Cell Lithium Ion Polymer Battery + One 9 Cell HP Envy Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery
• HP Pavilion additional 120W AC Adapter

 

Very nice. The only thing i would have done diffrent is went with the next lower proc to save some money and they put it towards the SSD option.

I am sure you will be very happy with that setup. I am luvin mine so far.

 

forgot to answer your other question. if you have the ATI 5830 it will be the 2nd gen

 

You know it's 2nd gen because anything customized to order after Jan 8th or so was 2nd gen.

And because all 2nd gens come with the HD 5830.

 

hi guys, I'm a hair away from buying one of these babies but first I'd love to know EXACTLY at what angle the screen can be opened since I have an inclined laptop cooler and I heard there really isn't much angle to play with on the envy..

 

I'm a memory guy. I like having alot of memory because I dislike deleting stuff. Hell, I even bought a 2TB external HDD to go with it.

Plus after reading this: http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...D_worth_the_money_?taxonomyId=19&pageNumber=3

I declined to the SDD option. I can't wait for it to arrive!
I'm going to have it shipped to US [Illinois] then have it shipped to Philippines. So It's going to be longer than usual.


BTW How fast do they ship to the US? after building.

 

There's an app for that

120.3 degrees or 30.3 degrees from vertical! According to my iphone icarpenter app which has a very accurate angle measuring guage. That's on both my gen2 i5 machines.

 

iphone trolling? here?
just kidding, thanks for the hint; that doesn't sound nearly as bad as some reviews made me think