HP Envy: Too plain?

I looked at the HP envy in store. If I didnt know it was an HP envy, I would have thought it to be some cheapo plastic laptop when I very cursorily handled it. The design/color is very plasticky

 

Lol, I think you are confusing the lightweight aluminum/magnesium cover for plastic. I see you are aware its not, but I sort of agree. Somewhere before I posted that I was surprised when I first picked it up, I thought the cover would be more "solid" with not so much give to it, oh well. I only have two issues with the Envy eventhough I purchased it.

1. I wish the metal color was more copper/gold like and not so dark.
2. Why have they gotten rid of the amazing finger reader beats me! The only thing I can think of is maybe because they didn't think it was aesthtically in line with the "simplicity" of the Envy look... yeah...

KJ

 

Ah, texture, I think texture is what is bugging me. The texture felt plastic like. The DV6 special edition suffers from the same problem. On touching/seeing the laptop, it doesnt scream quality (the keyboard does). Maybe they chose an inexpensive paint/finishing process?

I honestly thought the DV6 special edition was all plastic before being told otherwise.

 

As you see, I fully agree with you as you read my post above. I was sort of fooled when I saw the professional Youtube videos on the HP Envy 17 3D, same with the 17 Envy and the photos of it. What I thinkn happened all those prof. shots had nice lighting either warm, and bright so yeah... but at home it did not have that nice shine that I was looking for. Therefore a bronze, white silverish color would have given in more elegance... and I wanted it more solid...but still, she is beautiful...and what I'm more interested in is performance.

If she can last me for 4 years I'll be happy.

KJ

 

I'm perfectly fine with the looks of my Envy 17, it's all plug in and fire 'er up. No need to waste time peeling off a bazillion stickers, for instance....

 

i like the envy 17's looks. wish it came in a black beats limited edition with an illuminated beats logo though. but oh well... wish the hp light on the back could be turned off, or it was located in the center, a la macbook.

 

I love the way my E14 looks personally, it looks stylish without looking aggresive or demanding attention compared to the lets say...Alienware. The texture feels like metal to me, not plastic maybe its because of the identation that is on it.

I love the way it looks and the typing is nice and solid

downloading a billion drivers is sad though

 

Doent HP have a utility to automatically install Hp drivers? Lenovo had such a utility...

 

Are you sure it wasn't a dv7? It resembles the Envy, and although it is aluminum, it does come off less like metal than the Envy. As for the Envy, it is not plain to me. It is elegant and minimalistic. The embellishments suit that style, and I love them. The palm rest etching and the pattern on the top are lovely. That said, the design is overly inspired by the MacBook Pro.


I would consider copper and gold darker than the Envy's deep silver color. I would have preferred chrome, but then it would look just like the MacBook Pro. I'm glad the finger reader isn't here.

I regret that blu-ray writing was not available, especially since it sold two lesser laptops with this feature. But I have taken matters into my own hands.

Unless it's some gaudy gaming PC, a premium laptop probably should not come with a bunch of stickers.

 

Is there? All I know off is looking at the drivers on the website. If there is a tool can someone post a link of some kind? Would be much appreciated.

 

I think I will be able to help you with this.

1. Go to START, All Progragms, scroll down to the HP folder. Look for the icon that says HP Update, you should also see an icon for HP Support Assistant. This one is great because it not only downloads the drivers you need and you can set how you want it to be install, or notify you firt for permission, it also tunes your system, meaning it will defrag, scan, etc. Don't forget that we also have a built in Windows Update from the Start Menu.

Orange Canary, here is the link to directly download the awesome HP Support Assistant! Although you know how some memebers will delete this because they don't want bloatware, but I feel this is a vital piece of our system. Just fill in the box where it asks for your system.

HP Support Assistant <<<<< AWESOME!!

Best of luck. Enjoy your laptop.

KJ

 

Ah, support assistant. Yes that was the program I was thinking about. I have a problem with support assistant, it did not show me all the available drivers, only a few (for my dv8). Why is that?

I had to go and manually download many drivers/utilities from the hp site.

 

THANK YOU JOE!

Was getting tiring because I didn't know if I was installing drivers that I actually needed.

I'm really enjoying my e14, sturdy build ( bit of keyboard flex around the l and colon button )

Installed my browser of choice, run a just cause 2 benchmark 1600x900 res everything on high, low shadows was getting stable 35 fps w00t

 

Plain? Yes, that is why I bought it over some stupid Toshiba or other brand with stupid styling and bright pointless lights and extra buttons. However, I would call it classy and minimalist, not plain. Plasticy - not at all!

 

No way. I think it's a beautifully designed piece of work. The simplicity is what makes the design so appealing.

I've had my envy for about a month and everytime I use it I fall in love with it a little more

I think you can rag on it for some shoddy quality control but the design is fantastic.

 

Umm Dexter? With all due respect, have you ever seen what Asus, Dell, Toshiba, and Lenovo shell out these days? Compare those epic fail designs to that of the envy line. So far, hp and apple are pretty much the only laptop companies who care if their products look good in my opinion.

 

QFT. Some of the designs of other laptops are absolutely terrible. It's getting better, though.

 

I do think the Envy could have a better design and, particularly, a sturdier construction. I like the minimalist design and etching, but it does evoke the MacBook Pro more strongly than I'd care for it to. I still do not care for the black and red combination of the Beats edition, though it is not as garish as I once feared.

Companies like Toshiba do have some painfully gaudy computers. Some of those other manufacturers just sell ugly computers that aren't gaudy. A big, black, obtrusive mass of plastic with a screen. Asus actually has some gorgeous laptops, too. Dell has a few appealing ones. Every Lenovo I've seen has been ugly.