HP Envy 15 vs Dell Studio XPS 16

I am planning on buying a laptop soon and I am looking at these two and I had a few questions:

First, assuming I had an unlimited budget which should I get? It looks like the HP is far superior but I want to know if it has any bugs/kinks that haven't been worked out. I also hear that it gets quite hot- will I be able to put it on my lap?

Second, is there a refresh to the Envy 15 that I should wait for?

Third, is there any one best time to buy (back to school sale etc.)? I am willing to wait until the end of August to buy if it would save me money (or if the line gets refreshed).

Thanks,
Eli

 

i would recommend the envy 15. my friend has a studio xps 16. it's a lot heavier.

the envy 15 doubles the xps 16 in vantage scores.

i got my envy as a ready to ship model, and it doesn't have any of the common issues (blank screen, blue webcam color, etc). this is also a replacement as my first one had some video card issues. and neither had the common problems.

i have no clue bout a refresh.

 

If the Envy 15 had an internal optical drive I would be sold. Any sense waiting for that?

 

Doubtful it will happen to the Envy 15. The question is, do you really need an always-connected optical drive? Some people do. I personally don't... lots of games through Steam, I don't watch movies directly from the disc.

It depends entirely on your usage. Think about how often you use your current optical drive. If you could do with a USB connected one, then the Envy 15 is great. If not, I'd keep looking.

Do remember that the XPS16 will be much slower graphically, if games are important to you.

 

If you have an unlimited budget go for the Envy, it is the superior machine

 

Well.... on the Envy 15? No, because they need the extra space to cool the 5830 in such a small chassis.

However:

The coming Envy 14 (late June) will be closer to the SXPS 16 in performance, but will have an internal optical drive and maintain the small size of the Envy 15. It'll also have switchable graphics, so at least 5 hours of battery. It'll have an ATI 5650.. which is about the same as a 4670 in the Dell. Also, starting price of $999.

 

I have an xps 16 and I would say that the envy 15 is superior in many aspects. The only down side is lack of internal optical drive. Like others have stated though, how often do you really utilize it? I typically use mine only on initial program installs. Aside from that, it gets very little use so an external would ultimately be ideal for me.
The 16 is bulky and not the best for portability but still a great system overall. Dell's lack of a smaller xps right now is really pushing me towards HP.

 

It's hot if you get core i7 envy 15 gen 1( the one is in promotion for $1199) , it's super cool if you get core i5 envy 15

 

Not in my experience. Its annoyingly warm on the palm rests when browsing and uncomfortably warm when gaming. The components stay well within their operating temperatures, but a lot of that heat gets dissipated through the body. From all reports the i5 envy is cooler than similar designed notebooks (like the 15" mac book pro) so I'm not knocking the envy. It's still cool enough to use on your lap comfortably while not gaming but it is nowhere near "super cool."

Edit: To the OP; considering how often HP puts out coupons or Bing offers 25% cash back I can't really think of a reason for getting the XPS over the Envy 15. But then I could be prejudiced because the two people I know who own XPS have had nightmare problems with over heating and Dell refusing to give them replacement machines.

 

Well, it's super cool for most people if you turn on fan always on option,

if you turn it off, it's warm for sure, no fan, what you can ask for

 

^^^ I do have the fan always on. I'm probably being unfair to the Envy, but "super cool" to me is my 6930p that I develop on for 8 to 10 hours a day at work. The only place on the 6930p that gets a little warm is in the center of the base, which I only notice when I pick it up to carry it somewhere. Integrated graphics vs 5830 means this is not an apples to apples comparison. (The left palm rest on my Envy does not get warm while on battery when the 5830 is throttled but the right palm rest still does.) I'm sure the Envy is very cool compared to similar notebooks, but "least hot" does not equal "cool."

Of course I'm working with a sample size of 1, so maybe it's just my Envy.

 

i have the i5. and the cpu never idles over 40C. it's 40C on really warm days, like the 89F yesterday.

 

Owning both the XPS and ENVY, I can say that both have v good build quality. The heat on the xps blowing on the screen might be a long term issue. I light the backlit keyboard of the xps. Other than that go for the ENVY its a far superior laptop and it looks nicer and lighter. Just 2 cents.

 

I can say that Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit installed without problems on my Envy 15. Everything works from the boot CD, if that's important to you...

 

so what I'm getting is that there probably wont be a refresh for the envy 15 within 4 months?

 

I had an XPS16 side by side with my Envy 15 for a little while. *Almost* everything is better on the Envy 15, except CPU performance while on battery, and poor wifi performance.

I just noticed severe dropped frames playing mkv videos with VLC player, so I ran cpuz to see what's going on with the CPU. The Envy 15 will absolutely not run the CPU at more than 1.2GHz while on battery, not even when running Prime95.

As for wifi, I don't know if it's the Envy's antenna or if it's the Intel 6200 card. With the Dells I had (Dell 1510 and Intel 5300 cards), I can see no less than 12 wireless networks around me. With the Envy 15, I see FOUR including my two. On the Dells I can copy files at 15-18MB/s depending on how far I am, on the Envy 15 it's 10-12MB/s max.

The Dell XPS1340 I had before I bought the Envy 15 felt more responsive during everyday tasks while on battery. It had the P8600 CPU, GF9400, and 4GB in it. See my Envy 15 specs in my sig. I change laptops all the time (all Dells), this is the first time I have any kind of regrets switching - the keyboard, short battery life, and now I just discovered this CPU thing are all adding up fast. Too bad I already sold both the XPS 13 and 16.

 

Yes, you are right

But when you compare envy 15 to studio xps 6, it can be considered super cool

It's impossible to touch studio xps 16 when it's under load

 

Don't worry you can switch back to dell, MS is running promotion right now, 13 is for 649 , 16 is for 704

 

Its the ENVY antennas. I changed wireless cards just to test the reception. Currently i have the 6300 and it made no significant difference. The Envy antenna receptors are weak in comparison to that of Dells.

 

actually all metal chassis notebooks have this problem with the wifi reception. In the new imac apple has put the antenna in the only plastic part of it, the symbol

its a matter of the material, not the quality of the antenna

 

Antennas? hmmm, I have six laptops sitting here. The Dlink wifi router is about sixty yards away, The two 17" Gateways (Nx860xl, FX6860XL), the 15" Emachine e627, and the Envy15 Gen 1 (just bought from MicrosoftStore.com) are all showing 4 bars. The little MSI 210 (12") and the Compaq g60 are switching back and forth between 3 and 4 bars.

Dunno which driver everyone is using for the 5100, but I'd make sure you understand the driver options and set them appropriately. Makes a huge difference. Default settings in my own case were mediocre, running MUCH better now.

seer

 

I thought that promotion was one day only?

 

Yes for 16 , no for 13, it has been last for about a week.

 

If I knew about that 40% thing I probably wouldn't have been able to help myself and ordered the Sony Z.

No not going back to a XPS1340. I'm loving having a 1080p desktop on my laptop (that sounds very strange). For the price I paid for my Envy 15, I'll accept it.

 

one thing about 1920x1080 on a 15 " Envy, if you're over 40, you might want to consider a good pair of reading glasses HOWEVER, once you get them, the screen is like laser drawn text. It's a wonderful screen. Though I would've liked the 5830, After a few std op sys tweaks, I'm getting just under 8k on 3dmark06 with the 4830. Temps under normal use are fine, when gaming, the right hand rest gets warm, but that's my "mouse" hand so m right hand isn't there The left is not nearly as warm . The extra slice battery, is for me, not offensive at all and serves to further cool the bottom of the laptop. The external dvd works fine on those very rare occasions when I use it. Not a problem really, and I don't mind it not being internal at all. The keyboard is excellent, and as a touch typist, the lack of back lighting of the keyboard is not a factor. All in all, for the price? not bad, not bad at all

seer

 

I think that's just a problem with VLC's code. VLC seems to perform pretty bad on DVD's. But when I use Media Player Classic things play nice and smooth.

 

just an update on the 4830 Envy, was getting just under 8k on the 3dmark06, but changed bios, changed drivers, a few more tweaks, and now rock solid at 9300 3dmark06's. Temps are not a problem.

seer