*HP Envy 15 Owners Lounge! PART 2*

This is the reply i got when contacting zagg about their shield

"Thank you for your help! We have received your submission. If we determine there is enough demand for an invisibleSHIELD for your device, we will reach out to you for you to ship us your device. Keep a look out for an email from us as the first person to commit to sending in their device will be the only one eligible for the free invisibleSHIELD. Thank you again."

So whoever sends their device first gets a free shield, i would guess they put it on for you but i am not positive.

Also thanks to everyone for contributing to these 2 ENVY 15 forums, you guys have finalized my decision on buying the ENVY 15.

 

That would be neat! I got the matt screen and really don't like the cheap looking bezel.

BTW, are they trying to make an anti-glare shield for the glossy envys? Cause I might swtich to glossy but don't know how well that would work.

 

To Zagg the primary factor is the cost of tooling ( or programing ) to cut the material to exact dimensions. Once this is done they could use any of their standard shield materials depending on demand (glossy or matte).

 

Rofl wrong thread.

 

Pita, I'd have to disagree with you there. The Corvette is a beast, yet it can get 27mpg cruising at 60mph, as you stated. My i5 Envy is quite the capable machine as well, yet it, on the other hand, barely gets 2.5 hours in cruising mode (reading blogs, Facebooking, and emailing). A MBP easily manages double or triple that in cruising mode and the only reason it's not as powerful as my Envy is because it's 6 months older. I can guarantee you that when the refreshed MBPs are released, they will be just as powerful as my i5 (no performance differential) and still achieve at least 2x more battery life.

 

Let me start by thanking everyone that has participated in this thread. Thanks to your tips and chats, I was able to get through a 3 week wait for my Envy a lot easier.

Overall, the Envy is a nice laptop. I have the i5 540m, 4Gb RAM, HD Screen (gloss). My only gripe is the small squeaking noise that occasionally occurs from the right wrist area (take quite a bit of pressure).

Thanks to your inputs, I have been able to reassign my HP media key to MS Media Player, performed a clean install of windows (32 bit), and installed a Corsair P128 (updated with TRIM support). My laptop boots in 22 seconds! If I add more RAM, I could probably get it down to 15 seconds!

In terms of cars, I would consider the HP Envy to be more like a Lexus 460. It looks more like a luxury car that just happens to be faster than you think it will be. Just my 2 cents

 

Well HP won't replace the unit, not without having their tech people pour over it first.

I have even referred HPCS to this forum for details, even to my pseudonym to read all the diagnostic that I have done.

But, as a side note, they wanted me to run repeatedly the hard drive diagnostic.

 

PM me your email address and I will forward the invite Zagg sent me. I can't ship them my Envy b/c I need to ship mine back to HP for the stupid blank screen issue!

 

How did you reassign the keys?

 

just wanted to point out that i contacted Zagg a few weeks ago about the Envy shield. For all laptops, they only protect the keyboard area, and outside. The screen is not protected by these shields due to the fact that the adhesive currently used in invisible shields can damage laptop lcds... i really hope zagg makes cutouts for the bezel on the envy, as this is the area that really needs the protection/

 

How on earth are you guys scratching your bezels? When the screen is closed, nothing touches it. When the screen is open, nothing should be touching it.

 

The squeeking from the lower right palmrest seems to be a common theme. I have the same issue and I know several others have mentioned a creeking noise in this area.

Once I open my laptop, I'll be real curious as to whether I can eliminate the squeek by shaving off an edge that might be rubbing against another edge, because I *think* that's what is causing the problem.

 

my 2nd envy (replacement for the 1st) arrived with tons of scratches and scuffs on the bezel...

 

my envy arrived with scratches on the bezel, mainly around the microphone array.

 

Hey everyone --

Anybody know of an easy way to move the recovery partition from the primary drive to the secondary drive? (I have the 160+250, and i really dont want the recovery partition wasting valuable space on the SSD, but i would keep it if I can move it to the other drive)

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

BTW, add me to the cohort of people that returned the XPS 16 for this. The envy is a huge upgrade so far (at least in my eyes).

 

Mine did too, except my small scratches are all over the bezel. Mine originally shipped from China, so that may part of the issue. QC oversight can take a hit.

 

the only way I can think of right now, is to use Norton Ghost's clone function. Ghost will clone the drive partition, and save it. You can then reload it on to the new partition you have created on the 250GB hdd.

 

I could've easily done that. What I was asking was something I don't know with what keyword to google: that how much "hidden harddisk usage" Win7 has done secretly. Those were 2 files I found by mistake - OK here I am conceding I have not much knowledge about them but I was guessing they were paging/hibernation related even be4 asking. Induction can still bring me to this simple conclusion.

Alright. THANKS after all.

 

@calvingoive

Hibernation and the Windows paging file can both be disabled saving you some disk space (used by those 2 files you found), but as others have mentioned, this is only recommended for advanced users. There are risks to not running a paging file, especially if your system has less than 8-16GB of physical RAM. As for Hibernation, it is a useful feature as it allows the computer to enter sleep mode without consuming any power at all. Good for when your battery runs out, since regular sleep mode still draws energy and could deplete your battery completely (not good) if left "asleep' for a long period of time. That is why the Envy's default action for reaching critical battery level is Hibernate and not regular sleep mode.

Another way to save disk space would be to disable Windows Recovery (and delete the recovery backups), but again, this isn't recommended for average users.

 

It's easy to make a copy, but hard to make bios and recover manager still recognize it.

 

Note the regular sleep mode I was referring to is called Standby.

 

Ghost "clone" the drive partition, it is not just a simple copy/paste.

 

But still you can't make bios recognize it as a recover partition. Which means you cannot restore your machine to a working state quickly without some external tools.

 

I think I may just not muck with a "Clean Install" for now. I'll upgrade to Ultimate and just use the CP uninstall for now. That way, for the time being, if anything goes wrong and I have to reset its easier. Later on once HP gets an updated drivers section for the Gen 2 and if my system feels like its too bogged down and I decide mines a keeper THEN I'll go the wipe-format-clean install. For now other than uninstalling some of the bloat junk and putting my real versions of Office 2010 and such on it just doesn't seem worth the work.

 

I used KeyTweak. Using the "Half Teach Mode", I reassigned the HP media key (right above the internet key) to the media select key on the displayed (virtual) "specialty buttons" keyboard. Now whenever I press the media key, my list of music comes up and I just double click on the song I want to hear. Very convenient...

 

By chance, is the full throttling with our laptops a BIOS issue or something with HP software? Would a clean install enable you get higher than 931 MHz on battery power?

 

no, this has been tested and although not confirmed by HP this appears to be a bios feature.

This is done on purpose to keep your batteries from exploding in flames.

 

I'm curious why other manufacturers aren't doing the same thing. Is it due to battery technology, or just that other manufacturers are taking a risk by not doing what HP has. Someone in the Lenovo W510 forum mentioned that his 820QM is only throttling down to 1.6GHz on battery power.

 

HP Envy series, uses a new type of battery, Li-Ion Polymer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_polymer_battery

Li-Ion Polymer.
Pros:
Lighter than Li-Ion Battery
Battery can be vary in shapes/sizes (Li-Ion can't)
Higher density than Li-Ion (charge/cm^3)

Con:
more expensive than Li-Ion
Can not discharge at a high rate (possible explosion/leaking if it does discharge at high rate)

 

interesting factoids. i would still like to be able to lock my multiplier at something over 13x....

 

Since the thread has gotten so long some I understand that it is hard to follow all the posts.

so here is the breakdown on the battery clock locking to lfm.

most of this info is over at the next bench although there are other forums with threads that have contributed.

the battery technology is lithium polymer and has traded longer battery life for lower performance(output wattage). The sony Vaio F11 series does the same exact thing.

also the dv7, dv6 and dell xps16 do not have this problem.

I did not check tonight to see if anyone confirmed the w510 does not have this problem but i would guess it does not.

so the trade off we have is supposedly long (really long battery lifecycle) but we are locked on the battery.

This is not a "problem" in HP's eyes and they will not be fixing it on current envy's. It is possible they could redesign the line to add the space for the other batteries but i am not sure they will do that either.

This has also been confirmed for anyone running linux although the hp tech working on this had to stop posting due to current litigation on the envyline.

hope this clears everything up for the newer viewers of the thread.

 

I remember reading an article in popmechanics with the mythbuster guys buiding an electric gocart with these batteries.. the big problem they had was from the batteries deforming under heavy load.. this could be why hp is keeping us from discharging faster than they have set.

I am not sure that is the problem but I would call it an educated guess. it would be nice if hp could verify that.

 

Thanks...that is a good explanation. Just for sh*&! and giggles I ran 3dmark06 on AC and on battery to see what it does. I got around 8000 or so on AC and 3500 or so on battery. Not that anyone cares...figured I'd just compare.

 

yes that's true. Li-Ion Polymer Battery is very problematic to heat. thus HP puts a smart chips inside the battery to limit the discharge rate, and as a side effect it also limited our CPU/GPU voltage

 

You can do much better than that on battery. If you turn OFF the AMD CCC 'power play' feature I got 6214 3Dmark06 vs. 3466 with 'power play' on.

Power play throttles the GPU to a range of 99 core / 199 mem up to 299 / 299 max. Power play off allows full speed of 499 / 799 and you can O.C. above that if you want. Be warned it really eats through the 6 cell quickly, those two 3D runs used almost 45% of the charge.

 

will your multipliers stay higher running the notebook with no battery installed, just the ac adapter? just curious....

 

Not that I know of.

If your having trouble with stable OC's check the following:

Reboot before test runs or games

Using the correct amd clock tool 9.26 for the 5870 ( http://downloads.guru3d.com/AMD-GPU-Clock-Tool-v0.9.26.0-For-HD-5870-download-2383.html)

Do not 'set' voltage in clock tool

Turn OFF Power Play in CCC, Set 3D 'standard' tab slider to high performance, Set catalyst AI to 'advanced' (left)

Use 'high performance' power plan

Turn off or unplug all unecessary programs, apps, accessories, services, wifi...

Had to do all those in order to break the 10K 3Dmark06 barrier.

P.S. I had best luck with OC speeds of 1:2 ratios, like 533 / 1066. Could be nothing but it works for me.

 

You're right...I set the power play to maximum performance, and got it up to about 5800. It drained my slice battery 9% running the test.

 

Can somebody help me,I get a tingling feeling when my palm touchs the grey areas around the laptop when charging

 

Folks forgive me for being lazy here but there is a lot of "Envy" related material on the site to read. I have a 15-1110ea on order and in the UK that comes with the straight option of Win 7 Home Premium. I intend to get rid and put Win 7 Enterprise (corporate disk - no charge to me and want Bitlocker running) on after a clean install. I will backup the SWsetup folder as many have alluded to and take a disk image before any wipe as well....work tools!

Questions:

• Is there an up to date 2nd Gen fresh install guide outlining problems?
• Has the Envy got TPM?
• Generally is there anything I should be looking out for and is it a decent product ?

This is my first HP and I was going for MBP but opted to stay in Windows land...hope I'm right...yikes

Regards to all and thx in anticipation.........

 

As I recall you changed your CPU, so I was wondering if you can tell me if there is any major complications involved in changing out the CPU fans?

I have 2 i5 envy's and the one I am keeping just started making a minor 'buzzing' sound from the CPU fan(s), the one that is being returned is almost silent. So I'm thinking of swapping the fans before I do the return. Is it a fairly clean process to just swap fans or will I have to mess with heat sink compound etc. when I remove the heat pipes to get to the fans?

 

Since I got my Envy 15-1110ea delivered earlier this week I can answer some of your questions

Firstly, there's no TPM. Would have been nice in what is meant to be a premium machine but I'm more disappointed it didn't come with Windows 7 Pro or SSD options.

I did a clean install yesterday and found you need the NEC USB3 driver to complete Windows 7 setup as it isn't included on the current RTM disc. When the missing driver error message appears simply browse Windows/System32/DriverStore/FileRepository and look in the USBSTOR folder IIRC.

Make sure you have burnt the recovery discs before deleting the recovery partition and backup the SWSetup folder. Once Windows setup is finished I found I had to install the HP Wireless Assistant to be able to switch wireless and bluetooth on / off separately. Apart from that I'd say the other HP software is pretty much optional; I chose to install HP Support Assistant and HP Update.

I bought a 27" iMac i7 in January and also considered going MBP but the features to price ratio changed my mind. Really liking the Envy 15 so far - for the money I don't think you can find a higher-spec notebook on sale in the UK.

 

Mr Nick really grateful..... same thoughts on the SSD and Win 7 Pro !#

How have you found the heat issues / screen performance out of interest ?

Peter

 

I never installed HP Wireless Assistant after my clean install and I am still able to switch the Bluetooth radio off separately from Wi-Fi. I have an icon in my system tray allowing me to right-click and select "Turn Adapter Off."

 

Interesting. When I first got my unit, I swore that my touchpad was shocking me, but my girlfriend thought I was crazy. Either it's gone away or it doesn't bother me anymore.

 

If you think my post was helpful some added rep would be welcome

The screen is excellent, pin-sharp, side to side viewing angle is impressive, up and down no so good but wouldn't be an issue under normal conditions. Colour is also very good, slightly warm but I'm thinking of buying a ColorMunki or similar to calibrate this and other HD screens.

The chasis does get warm but not greatly considering how powerful the Envy is; maybe my opinion will change once I've finished installing Ableton Live Suite

 

That's what I expected but it wasn't my experience sadly and installing the latest ProSet/Wireless software resulted in Windows throwing up a hardware error, even though Intel's drivers are the same release (13.​0.​0.​107) as shipped on the Envy 15.

 

I think it has something to do with the electric source,I'm currently in the country side meaning it's probably different than the source in a big city. I didn't encounter any static electric problem in the city.

By the way, the i7 is real hot without a cooling system but somehow I played Modern Warfare 2 at max setting and switch to CPU HW Monitor ,the cores are 60 degrees

 

Since it appears im gonna have to lug around the 120w power supply, I did a little shopping around and found this little piece of portable power. We have the 70w version here at the office and I've been using it for a while: works like a champ and weighs nothing. at 7oz it certainly is nicer to carry around than the HP120w adapter.

Anyways, for those looking for a lighter power brick that should give your Envy full power, here it is:

http://shopper.cnet.com/power-equipment/kensington-wall-ultra-portable/4014-3055_9-32574975.html

I<should receive it this week along with my Envy so i'll try and do a littlre review on it.