Help with my HP Envy 15 purchase

Hey everyone,

I just started work this week and I'm in serious need of a new laptop. My Dell XPS-17 inch (from 2008) finally died in my last month of college this May and I've been holding off on purchasing a new laptop since then. I was originally thinking about a Macbook Pro purchase, but after I talked to the IT director at my office, he said that neither our companies CRM system or programs work with Mac. So essentially, he said if you want to ever work from home with your laptop, you better buy a PC laptop. He recommended getting a Dell.

I've been searching online trying to find a good balance of performance, portability and professional uses. I'll be using my laptop for basic things such as working from home, maintaining my Wordpress websites, watching movies, etc. I'm not a gamer, nor do I have any crazy specific needs in terms of storage, graphics, etc. However, I'd like a laptop with fast speed and reliability, that enables me to work both at home and on the go.

One of the laptops I've found to be a good combination (or at least in my uneducated opinion) is the HP Envy 15 inch. Here are the specs I'm looking at, and please comment because I don't really know what's what and what I need. My budget is around $1800 max I'd say.

HP ENVY 15t-3000 series
Windows 7 Home: Figure there is no need to go Professional or Premium as I'll likely upgrade to Windows 8 when it officially arrives.

3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M Processor: One of my main questions.. This is the standard processor. Is it worth upgrading to the 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor for an extra $105 or should I leave it as is.

750G 7200 rpm Hybrid Hard Drive or a 256 GB SSD (extra $390): Which one would be better for me? I've been reading a lot about SSD's an how they make the laptop boot up faster, run quicker, etc. Is it worth it to buy? And I'm assuming that having a 256 GB SSD eliminates the DVD/CD drive?

15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit Display (1366x768) or a 15.6-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080): I'm thinking that I will definitely upgrade to the better screen. It's $150 but I think it's worth it, your opinion?

Overall, the configuration I have set up currently is running at $1,788.99. That's without the upgraded processor. If you can comment on anything, specifically the processor and hard drive vs SSD issues, I'd highly appreciate your help.

Also, if you have any other recommendations for a laptop of similar quality with what I'm looking for, I'd be open to hearing about it. Thanks for your help.

*I originally posted this under the "What laptop should I purchase" sub-forum, but decided it might be better off here. Not exactly sure where it belongs, so if a moderated wants to move or remove this from one of the sub-forums, please excuse me for my ignorance.

 

1. Unless you're doing video editing, 3D modeling (ie. AutoCad), or something else that's processor intensive (not word processing, internet browsing, music playing, etc), I'd say go with the i5 since based on your needs, I don't think you'd notice the performance boost with the i7. You will notice increased battery life with the i5.

2. I think the SSD is worth it, as it's more reliable for mobile work and although the speed boost in daily tasks is probably a few seconds or so, it definitely adds up and is noticeable after you've tried one. And I don't think having an SSD eliminates the DVD/CD drive, but someone else will have to confirm. I'm almost positive that you only need to remove the DVD/CD drive if you want to install a 2nd HDD/SSD.

3. Definitely go for the 1080p Radiance. If not for the resolution, then for the quality. Trust me, HP's 768p brightview displays are horrible, especially when compared to the 1080p Radiance.

I say save on the processor and use the $100 to help pay for an SSD. Also, depending on how tech-savvy you are, you could buy an 256GB SSD online separately and install it yourself for about $200 instead of paying HP $390 to do it. This would allow you to keep the 750GB HDD and replace the CD/DVD drive with the 256GB SSD for a total of 1TB if you wanted.

EDIT: Also, look around for coupons. HP almost always has a good one (33% off or $450 off). The $450-off coupon just expired today I believe, but I imagine there'll be a new one soon. Even without it, a model configured with the i5, 750GB HDD, and 1080p screen is only $1250. With the 256GB SSD it's $1650.

 

Thank you very much for the advice, it mostly confirmed what most of my thoughts were. I think I'll definitely go for the SSD drive, the HD display and likely keep the standard processor.

The 3rd generation Intel is the Ivy Bridge processor, correct?

 

Don't buy the SSD from HP itself. You can get a 256GB SSD for about $200 instead of the cost of choosing it as an option when you buy the laptop. Installing the SSD should be easy so you won't have to worry about breaking your laptop.

 

Yeah, 3rd gen is Ivy Bridge


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

Just purchased my HP Envy 15t-3200, thanks to some of the advice on this board, a few Youtube videos and checking out comparable laptops from Dell, Samsung and at Best Buy. Here are the specs of the purchase if anyone is interested. Thanks again for the advice.

HP ENVY 15t-3200 Notebook PC
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 3rd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3610QM Processor (2.3 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache)
• 1GB Radeon(TM) HD 7750M GDDR5 Graphics [HDMI, VGA]
• 8GB 1600DDR3MHz System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 256GB (Solid State Drive Flash Module)
• Microsoft(R) Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word/Excel(R) only, No PowerPoint(R)/Outlook(R)
• 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery - Up to 10.25 hours of battery life +++
• 15.6-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display (1920 x 1080)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• 720p HD video streaming webcam supports Skype
• Intel 2x2 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN + Bluetooth(R)
• Full-size Radiance backlit keyboard
• Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 10 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 10
• 2 year limited warranty included
Total Price (with Tax): $1,859

I went a little overboard and upgraded the processor from the i5 to the i7. I also went ahead and purchased the 256 SSD and the 1920 x 1080 HD display.

This is my first new laptop in over 4 years, so I'm really excited for it. It ships on July 4th, but hopefully HP will get it to me sooner! Thanks for the advice and comments.
-Rob

 

You overspent by alot, A new coupon from HP will be coming out any day now. 30-33% off which would've made your purchase around $1100-$1300 at most...

 

Ditto. Definitely wait on a coupon! They ALWAYS have them. I just so happens that the current major coupon ($450 off) was used up and/or expired today, but there should be another very soon.

 

The current coupon was $250 off, so the original pre-tax price was actually over $2,000. I probably over spent a bit, but I since I had the budget already set out for a Macbook Pro, which would have run me well over $2,000, the pricing wasn't my biggest issue.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the value I got for it, although a 30% coupon would have definitely been nice.

 

You can ask HP to cancel your order if it's not too late because with a 33% off coupon. A $2000 Laptop becomes a $1340 Laptop. With the extra $600+ you could have gotten a cheaper and better SSD, Maybe some accessories and whatever you wanted... You would only have to wait less than a week, these coupons from HP come out pretty fast when the old ones finished...

 

Well if you change your mind or have to exchange your laptop for some reason, here ya go: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/672775-new-envy-coupons-6-24-6-30-2012-400-off.html