Looking for some positive Envy 17 feedback

I'm about to purchase a 15-580m 6gb 640gb 1080p Envy 17 and for the life of me all i've seen is complaints about the heat. I think it's expecting too much for a laptop this thin to perform so cool.

Anyways, i wanna hear from all of you some great experiences especially when it comes to watching movies, graphics/animation work, gaming benchmarks and all. Pump me up and let me know all the great stuff i'm in for(i already heard enough of the down sides)

Oh yeah and I want to know before the final order is done what I'm missing by getting the 580m over the 740qm.

Thanks guys. This forum rocks.

 

If you wanna hear some positive words about the ENVY, as a satisfied user, I will list them below.

Firstly gaming performance. ENVY can deal with any new game no problem. I'm currently running Mafia 2 on ultra settings and so far no hickups (even during intense action). ATI MR 5850 is a very capable card, something between a 260M GTX and a 280M GTX.

The screen is beautiful, FHD resolution really makes everything look sharp and crisp. Viewing angles and colors are very good, certainly above the average.

Sound from built in speakers is very decent. Bass is well audible, together with high tones. Mid-tones maybe missing at times, due to lack of bigger mid-range speakers, but this is not a big issue. Sound is much better than in most laptops, especially when you plug in external speakers/ headphones.

The keyboard has a nice touch too. The keys are sturdy, well placed and there is only a minor flex in the escape area + the enter area, but it does not hinder typing performance at all; at least for me.
I also like the touchpad, contrary to many opinions about it. It has a very nice feeling surface, with super gliding properties. Scrolling and other functions do work, but require a specific placement of fingers. It requires getting used to, but once mastered it works good.

As for the heat, I observed one funny thing which happens to my laptop. During stress, when I have my laptop sitting flat on the desk, the internal hardware temperatures are quite high 85-90C, but the left palmrest is only a little warm. However when the back is lifted up (e.g. by the 9cell battery or a cooler), the temperature of components decrease, but the palmrest gets (for me) unbearably hot. That;s why I game without lifting it up.

Only choose the quadcore if your doing video editing, CAD, large projects etc. For gaming or normal usage the dual core is a better choice (cooler and better battery life-wise). I get 2.5 hrs on the 6-cell and around 3hrs 50min on the 9-cell, on the 740m.

If you want to know anything more specific, let me know. I can recommend the ENVY, as the best Windows alternative of a Mac and the best Windows (portability, power, slim looking) laptop.

 

For the Envy 17, I would go quadcore. The dual cores are good and certainly do give better battery life. However, the Envy 17 is nonetheless a desktop replacement.

If all you are going to do is word processing, web surfing, and light weight stuff then go for the dual core. If you want to game heavy then you want the Envy 17. If gaming isn't all that important for you, then go for the Envy 14.

If you are going to be multitasking heavily or doing anything processing intensive, then go for the Envy 17 with the quadcore. The heat output is very manageable. Furthermore, I have found temperatures to drop within a couples weeks after purchase. You really need to burn the laptop in since I doubt that the thermal paste was fully cured within the short time from factory to retail.

 

I have the i7-740QM (got it a Future Shop in Toronto last week) 17-1190CA, and so far couldn't be happier.

Heat: A non-issue so far. The left side of the left palmrest does get a bit warm under load, and if you're an idiot like myself and put your fingers right against the left fan vent during gameplay, you'll feel some crazy warm air coming out. However, I was playing a game last night for a couple of hours (EVE online....not the most taxing game, but still running at full resolution and full settings) and immediately ran GPU-Z afterwards to seem my GPU temps at 71 degrees celcius. VERY respectable.

I'm extremely happy so far...best laptop I've ever owned by far.

 

unfortunately i am about to get an envy 17 now...

unfortunately because the alternative is an elitebook 8540w - and i am an elitebook fanboy ever since my first 8510p.. but my bad luck to live in europe where configuring the notebooks pre-purchase is impossible, and the only pre-configured model XT907UA meeting all my preferences - even exceeding them with the DC2 display - is only available in the US, forces me now to leave the elitebooks for the first time ever... and go to the envy, at least for a year until the next elitebook series comes and hopefully features some acceptable hardware configurations among the models available in europe.

if you want to read my thread on that topic:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-gaming-capabilities-gpu-driver-question.html

and for those who may recognize my love for gaming - yes, the envy definitely is far better than the 8540w for gaming, but once you fell in love with the elitebooks, you can easily live with any performance weaknesses, since the other strengths simply rule out any competitor, especially one from HP's consumer line..

just one question i am really worrying about with the envy 17 - do the usb 2.0 plugs on the right side bother while gaming (i play cs:s semi-professionally, so this may be quite a critical issue) when your usb mouse is plugged in and one is right-handed? or is it possible to plug a usb 2.0 mouse into the usb 3.0 plug on the left side?

i am wondering about this obvious design flaw since the first launch of the envy 15...

and another question on the heat and other possible hardware cons - has anyone really suffered from these, meaning hardware failure > defect? or is it just "hot" and the temps look too hot after gaming (i plan to play games like crysis & metro, among others), but without any serious issues? i read a lot on this topic in the last few days, but i only read some harddisk issues (clicking) etc. and BSODs - if theyre heat-related, fail HP... and fail myself, getting the envy now...


thanks

 

Thanks man,
thats exactly what i needed to hear. I had chosen the 580m because other than gaming, I will not be using the laptop for video encoding or editing. I thought I'd get better battery life and less heat issues but what your saying makes me want the 740qm now!
Now about gaming, what games are you running? Do you run at native 1920x1200 all the time or do you tone down res? I intend to run Mass Effect, Cyrsis, Dragon Age, Force Unleashed.
Thanks for the great response. I can't wait for my machine

 

I have the 740qm model with fullHD. I just installed the new Medal of Honor and am running it at full resolution, all medium settings with good frame rates. The games you mentioned in your question....this laptop will annihilate them

As a side note, even when playing MOH, my GPU tem never went above 70 degrees celcius.

 

You can plug the mouse into the USB 3.0 port or into the USB/eSATA ports both of which are on the left side.

 

great, thanks!