HP Envy 17 with Trinity APU for me, what would make you throw your wallet at HP?

While waiting for our Envy laptops from the new lineup to come (this is before anyone got theirs and while they were still in production, close to the Dec 10th to Dec 22nd timeframe), I was in some discussions with some of the guys on the forum here that were wanting a new Envy but with more powerful graphics card. I than suggested the HP Envy Gamer Edition and watched those guys take off and do an amazing job drumming up the interest for it (kudos to those guys). Well that got me to thinking, even though I prefer the configuration options (more balanced for my workloads) of the new Envy since I am not a gamer but a web programmer/developer. designer, and photographer (entertainment junkie too), I would love to see the new AMD Trinity APU chips in an Envy 17. I had to return my Envy 17 3D due to a couple of defects and am waiting for Ivy Bridge now, since I got the time (they take about a month to build and get them to you, I can wait another 3 months for the new parts). Well with the guys here promoting the Envy Gamer Edition and saying they would throw their wallet at HP for it, I thought if HP produced the Envy 17 with a Trinity APU, that would be what made me throw my wallet at HP.


Why Trinity APU? (Don't get me wrong, I use Intel and they make great products including Sandy Bridge and how things are shaping up, Ivy Bridge will be a killer)

Much is not absolutely certain yet since Trinity is not released and tested yet, but AMD has stated that it would be around 25%-30% better performing than Llano (AMD's current mobile chips) on the CPU-side and 50% better performing than Llano on the Graphics-side in the same 35w TDP. Yes Sandy Bridge destroys Llano on CPU tasks, but Llano demolishes Sandy Bridge on GPU tasks.

So far APU's from AMD have great power management and the new Trinity is supposed to be even better (AMD states they will have a 17w Trinity APU that performs the same as a 35w Llano APU, that is the same 32nm process). Also the better graphics performance of Trinity would allow you to do more functions on the graphics built on the APU die before switching to the discrete graphics card, thus saving power and keeping the laptop running cooler. The graphics in the Trinity APU can Crossfire with the ATI discrete graphics card providing up to additional 50% of performance over using just the discrete graphics card (according to early indications of tests, like I said rumors for now).

Though AMD's Bulldozer architecture was greeted lukewarmly, there is no doubt it was built for multitasking and does it very well (singletasking/single threaded performance sucks), Piledriver should improve further on this and the help of the new scheduler in Windows 8 also.


Why do I suggest Trinity?

It is because it fits better in with my workflow and what I do. Definitely HP should keep Intel if they do a Gamer Edition with a better discrete GPU. With all the work I do, I am constantly on the go and need great performance tied with great efficiency (battery life). The additional performance of Trinity will be great if AMD meets its stated expectations (I might be optimistic in wanting them to) and even though the CPU will still be weaker than Intel, CPU is not as important to me. GPU is more important for most of the things I do and Trinity in Crossfire with a medium level discrete ATI card (7600/7700 series) would allow me to reach close to high level discrete gpu performance when I need to, but also retain great battery life when I don't need it. Also I am a huge multitasker, I am usually watching a movie, coding, have a browser or two with a minimum of 100 tabs opened, and sometimes throw a game in there while doing the other stuff; thus the reason that AMD Piledriver core with its focus on multitasking is very attractive to me.


I understand it would be an investment on HP's part to get a new motherboard designed for the Envy lineup for an AMD APU, but like myself, I believe that their is a crowd of people desiring the Trinity chip in a laptop of the highest build quality such as the Envy. Trinity APU is rumored to cost the same as the Llano APU or even less depending on the source, which makes it far cheaper than the mobile Intel i7 CPUs, thus Envy could be a little cheaper for us and bring in a little more money for HP if they marked them up a little from the direct cost of the AMD APU (AMD mobile APUs are far cheaper than Intel's i7 mobile CPUs).

The new HP Envy lineup is absolutely amazing. So if I could decide the specs for a new edition or configuration of an HP Envy laptop, I would want an Envy 17 with a Quad Core Trinity APU, AMD 7700 series with GCN at 28nm, 16GB of ram (1600mhz or higher), 120GB msata with Sata III tech, 1.5TB 7200rpm hard drive (2x750GB), Blu-ray player (burner maybe), Intel Wireless (new 802.11ac would be awesome), 1080p or higher resolution screen (rumors suggest Apple's next Macbook Pro 17 will have an option for something like 2800x1800 screen), same or higher capacity battery that fits in the current Envy 17 (jump from 7 hour battery life to 8-9 hours possible with Trinity), and of course a 3 year warranty with accidental damage protection (2 year normal warranty automatically comes with configured Envy's). That configuration from HP I would throw my wallet at HP for.

Agree, disagree, insightful comments? What could HP do to the Envy lineup that would cause you to throw your wallet at them (explain why you want that configuration)?

 

The problem is gaming remains largely single-threaded, with the exception of certain games. So that is why gamer-orientated notebooks usually employ Intel processors with relatively higher IPC compared to AMD.

 

Ohh, I know that, but since I use my computer for mainly multitasking to the nth degree and mostly work that is more demanding of graphics.

Before AMD's current lineup of mobile APUs (Llano), Intel was a no brainer for mobility since they provided much higher performance and were much more efficient (same config of previous Intel mobile CPU and previous AMD CPU, Intel would usually get 40% longer battery life in a lot of cases). AMD now can directly challenge Intel on the mobility front with much higher performing graphics and efficiency that matches an i5 and better than an i7, but lagging in CPU capability compared to Intel.

If AMD Trinity is anything near what it is they claim (HP probably already has a good idea with testing it out), it will fit my workflow better than Ivy Bridge (based upon projections of the performance of the two) and will most likely make a laptop costs lower.

I still see Intel quad cores ruling the high end of laptops, but the new Envys aren't exactly high end gaming machines, which I think leaves room for this combination of Trinity APU. I still think HP needs to build a Gamer Edition with high end Intel i7 quad core CPU and higher end GPU that would use the additional space due to a lack of an optical drive (this is what most thought on this forum would be acceptable to get higher end graphics in the same case)

 

I, too, have been hoping for a gaming edition Envy. I think it should be black anodized aluminum and should ditch the HP logo. They should resurrect the Voodoo trademark for their premium gamer series, but still have it be classy and understated like the envy's-not like the alienware or asus ROG series. Add built in Kinect and a screen trackpad like the Blade series which could double as a HUD in games, etc.

 

I agree with you, I'm also looking for a gaming laptop that looks classy and not childish like alienware or dull like clevo...

The envy 17 has the looks but not the graphical power

 

The Envy 17 is pretty much guaranteed to have a higher-end GPU option in a few months, once AMD gets the 28nm cards out.

It'll be one of the 7700M or 7800M chips.

 

I think the new HP's are simple yet elegant, similar to a Macbook pro, but I like the few design flairs HP added (red line inside keyboard, analog knob for audio, etc).

I am not willing to give up the optical drive being a media junkie and all, but I think HP would be able to get at least 7800 series card if not a 7900 series card in the Envy 17 without an optical drive and still maintain a relatively cool running laptop like the Envy 3rd gen are now.

What ever happened to the the 9 cell battery option for the 17? HP even lists it as one of its discounts on the Envy 17 currently, but there is no option to choose it at the moment. I would take half a pound more weight if it gave 3 more hours of battery life.

Ohh...one of the things that really disappointed me about the Sandy Bridge quad core i7 is that some of them don't have the full feature list. This is bull crap that Intel pulls to cause you to spend more on a more expensive processor. If I was buying an i7 cpu, I expect it to have all features, later I found out that the quad core 2670qm does not support peripheral visualization (or whatever Intel calls it; I use visualization too), I would have to pay $150 more for the 2760qm to get that feature; this feature was disabled on the 2670qm in order to make you purchase the more expensive one, it is not like it is not possible or not built in already. That is my one major qualm about Intel; if I buy an AMD A8, I know what to expect with the processor, heck all the major features go all the way back to the dual core A4 APUs which are low end. That is one of my other advantages I like of AMD, they don't try to disable features built in to processor in order to get you to pay more in their consumer lineup (you pay more for more performance).

 

Oh that's great but I hope this won't take too long, I really need a replacement

 

Me too. The only thing that would make me wait longer after Intel releases Ivy Bridge and ATI 28nm graphics both get in this laptop, is as stated above, Ivy Bridge CPU replaced with AMD Trinity APU. Otherwise, in April/May when the Envy's get Ivy Bridge and hopefully 28nm ATI graphics, I will buy the Envy 17 then.