HP Envy i5: Heat, Graphics Switching and Battery Life

Hi everyone,

I spent a couple hours reading through dozens of pages in the 3 separate HP Envy 15" Owner's Lounge threads and couldn't find a definite answer to the following questions--there was usually conflicting info.

In total there's over 1k pages, so despite considerable time spent perusing and searching perhaps I missed a definite answer somewhere in there. So hopefully, it's okay if I ask this outside of those threads for a conclusive answer:

1) Every review I've read mentioned the heat issue with the i7 system. Has anyone read an official review or gathered a consensus from users if the i5 version of the 15" model has lesser heat issues?

2) Does the i5 have graphics switching? And does the i7?

3) The i7 has very short battery life, which dissuades me from getting it. Is the i5 any better? What sort of usage are most i5 owners getting out of it?

Thank you for any info.

 

1) Official review not yet, but since I hace an i5, I can tell you that the i5 runs pretty cool (we're talking about processor right not the graphics), even in gaming isnt too hot, the only place that gets warm its the Left Side of the keyboard (when intense gaming), but not too much to alarm, anything else its cool; surfing on the web, listening to music and some normal stuffs the laptop its very cool and quiet for me

2) Nope, no switchable graphics for the i5 Envy since we're using the PM55 motherboard we will never have the option for switch graphics since the motherboard cant do that,
and the i7 (quad core) Envy doesnt have that option, since doesnt have graphics chip on it (and they are using the HM55, wich supports switchable graphics, if you are talking about the new i7-620M, I cant tell you since I dont read nothing about it yet)
good thing about the i7 its that they are getting USB 3.0 and 16gb max RAM, i5 only gets USB 2.0 and 8gb max RAM (I get 4gb its more than enough for me)
The benefits from the i5 its than runs cooler, has a lower TDP of 35W, and it have faster clocks that the i7 quad, so in most apps the i5 will perform better than the quad i7

3) I get 2-2.5 hrs (using wi-fi, brightness at 3/4, web browsing all time, listening music 2/4 volume and etc with HP recommended settings)
I guess I can get 2.5-3 maximun just typing on microsoft Word with the lowest bright and almost everything off and with Power Saver mode)
Battery for the i5 its kinda good, I really would you to expect 2+ hours of normal use

 

I have an i5 with the slice battery, and I use it while traveling. I've watched an episode of Angel, two episodes of The IT Crowd (~2hr total video time), various other surfing, and played Civilization 4 for about an hour, and the slice still had 11% left on it, 100% left of the "main" battery.

 

Thank you Jatata for such a thorough reply. Good to know it runs fairly cool.

Pitabred, I won't be getting the slice if I do end up getting the Envy. Would you say you get roughly similar run times as Jatata on the main battery?

 

Oh nice.

So the way the battery drain works is that it drains the slice first? VERY cool.