MUSE Grades

***Please only give your ratings after at least a week of use.***

So with HP's new approach to laptops (MUSE), I thought I would make a thread for people to grade their Envy 14 on Material, Usability, Sensory appeal, and Experience.

Grades are out of 5: (5-Perfect, 4-Good, 3-Average, 2-Poor, 1-Unacceptable)
Just post this:

Material: (1-5)
Usability: (1-5)
Sensory Appeal: (1-5)
Experience: (1-5)

OVERALL: (1-5)

And vote in the poll for your "OVERALL" grade

 

I like this idea. Haven't had my notebook for quite a week yet, but I thought I'd contribute now before I get bogged down with stuff later in the week. I have used my ENVY 14 for the better part of 20-30 hours thus far, so I have a pretty good idea of how to evaluate my experience with the notebook.

Materials: 5

I love the materials that went into this product. They make the overall laptop exude quality (or at least when compared to my previous HP laptops). While the build quality itself may not be a perfect 5/5 (For example, there is some minimal keyboard flex, minor gaps in the metal casing, not-quite-flush trackpad, keyboard, hinges, etc), the choices they used in which to make the laptop were excellent. The etched metal casing is gorgeous and the big glass screen is wonderful. The plastics they used for the keys, trackpad, and under-body seem tough and rugged enough. I feel that this laptop will hold up well over time. I wish that they took more care in assembling these things, but such has always been the problem with HP notebooks - mass production doesn't bode well for build quality in the world of consumer electronics.

Usability: 4

To me, the overall usability is great. It is hamstrung only by the sub-par trackpad design, which had a learning curve of a few hours to get just right. In order to make this trackpad experience better, they could provide dedicated buttons, or move to the new hingeless Synaptics pad. The keyboard is spacious, however, and the backlit keys make it easy to use, even in dark spaces. The 1600x900 screen real estate is plenty to have open multiple windows and be working a few things at once. The screen is plenty bright and easy to look at without straining ones eyes. The graphics are easy to switch, which was a concern I had before receiving the laptop. It's just a simple left-click and select. They could improve this by offering a dedicated fn button on the top row of keys. I'd rather have a dedicated key to switch the graphics than to, say, launch the internet browser (f6) or help menu(f1) (two wasted keys in my opinion).

Sensory Appeal: 5

This thing is beautiful. The finish is a glorious dark grey with a hint of style in the etched metal finish. While a fully lit room may reveal that the etchings are over-the-top for some, in most scenarios, the etching is just enough to add a splash of class without drawing too much attention. The keyboard backlight is sexy and enhances the appeal. The trackpad, while not the most functional pad I've ever used, at least plays a big part in enhancing the appeal of the notebook - it's certainly no eyesore. Finally, the screen is amazing and probably can rival the MBP in terms of brightness, color, and contrast.

The feel of the notebook is solid as well. The metal casing gives it a certain rigidity that is quite rewarding to hold. Theres nothing quite like picking up a cold metal notebook off the floor and feeling no hint of squishing from the lid or underside of the casing, a problem which plagues a great number of this notebook's plastic brethren. The keyboard is also quite satisfying to the touch, the keys have a nice mix of click and bounce - they aren't overly squishy but aren't stiff either. Best of all, aside from the glossy glass screen, you can touch it anywhere and not worry about nasty fingerprints mucking up your machine.

Experience: 4

I have to give HP a 4 on this, if not for any other reason than they continue to spam their notebooks with crapware that no one wants. When will HP make a laptop that is just good to go out of the box? I spent a few hours uninstalling their crap, updating drivers that weren't updated out of the box for whatever reason, and tweaking the trackpad to be just right. These are all things that should be attended to before the laptop ships out.

Other than that, I have also had some quirky issues as well. First, the internet will randomly disconnect sometimes (even though it is still enabled). Also, after disabling "fan always on" in the bios, my machine still runs with the fan on low 100% of the time - I've never heard it go off. ever.

Overall: 4

The notebook is really nice and I'm very happy with it. I gave it a 4 overall, however, because it's not perfect. HP needs to ramp up their build quality control as well as work on a new touchpad technology thats not so finicky. I believe they've done the best they can driver-wise, but I think the touchpad is inherently hardware limited and needs to be revised. The speakers could also be a little louder and the machine itself could be a little less noisy (although I appreciate the effectiveness of the cooling system, so the noise is an acceptable tradeoff, IMO)

 

......BUMMMMMMPP....now that some users have had theirs for a week.

 

How about expanding the poll/ discussion so its applicable to all new MUSE laptops, not only E14?