HP Envy 17 3270NR

Fry's in my area has a pair in stock. I'm coming from a five year old macbook that still works great, but it's old...I'd get another, but Windows 7 isn't too bad and Apple is charging waaay too much when you compare specs to PC laptops.

I'm looking for enough horsepower under the hood to last me as much as my macbook did. I'm not too much of a gamer, but every once in a while I'd like to pop in something that's definitely more graphically intense than Plants v.s. Zombies (which I love too by the way). So maybe for the first 2 or 3 years of ownership I'd like it to handle at least 70% of games out there in high settings.

I was looking at the HP Envy 17 3270NR on the HP website and like the specs, but do any of you actually own/messed around with one to know if it's a good laptop?

What are the pros and cons?

 

It's a great laptop.

Con: HP just put out another 33% off coupon for CTO machines so it's cheaper to order on HP Website and customize to similar specs than getting the pre-built 3270NR.

#EDIT:
The other con: if you happen to want to use an app that AMD drivers doesn't detect (I haven't found one yet), there's no way to force the machine to use the AMD GPU:

Spoiler

 

I'm surprised there haven't been any real official reviews on that particular model yet. Must have launched recently?

 

Yeah it just came out like a week or two ago.

 

I purchased the 17 3200 CTO and have been really happy. No troubles with Enduro yet. With the 33% coupon, just get it though HP and don't look back

 

The Envy 17 is nice, when it works which is not as often a say an Apple product would. You are getting a lot, but at a price, which is to say, not much, and there is a reason for it. Keyboards across the board are junk on Envy's. Do not expect an HP to be the same quality as an Apple MacBook Pro. Not going to happen. However if you find one that does work, they are fine machines , look good, etc... I recommend you really research well before committing. BOL. If not for the soldered RAM, limited HDD, I would own the MBP. That Retina is killer.

I would avoid Fry's though. Shady and returns are always a hassle. I always buy from Amazon due to their 30 day no hassle return including prepaid pickup at your door on laptops. HP is also running a good deal but apparently more difficult to deal with. Amazon was listed as 2-4 weeks out but I received mine shipped in 3 and received the next as they gave me free overnight for the POS Envy 15 I had to return.

 

Just got mine a few days ago. I gotta say I'm loving it so far. I really don't know what's so bad about the keyboard. Feels just about the same as a macbook keyboard to me. My only complaint is they could have shifted the track pad maybe 1/8th of an inch to the left. Hardware-wise though, I'm happier than I could have been with a macbook pro. Retina display is better, but not THAT much better that you'd want to spend an extra thousand bucks, I think.

But wow, I knew the macbook pro's battery was freaking glued in there, but the RAM was soldered in too? For sure I was staying away from that thing. Back when I got my first macbook Apple still gave a crap about putting a quality product, but not so much obviously, I'm digging the Envy though. Honestly think it's better right out the box minus the screen obviously, but like I said, retina display isn't immensely better.

As far as quality goes, I can honestly say I've been lucky enough to never have owned a computer that gave out on me. I've just kept them all until they were outdated completely. My first computer was an HP. It was louder than my car, but it worked great. Then I went to Apple for two generations, no problems (except the macbook was made was such cheap plastic that I had to replace the casing around the screen and the casing around the keyboard because the magnetic latches would crack it), and I'm back to HP again. Got a squaretrade warranty just in case anyway.

 

MacHater,

I just recently ordered the 3270NR, and I am planning on buying the same SSD you have in it and moving the original HD to the second bay.

I was wondering if you could explain how to do this on this particular machine, or if you have a link to somewhere that explains it. I'm pretty new to doing something like this so any help is appreciated.

Thanks.