NOW AVAILABLE - Updated ENVY 15, ENVY 17 / ENVY 17 3D

but you were asking if one of the headphone outs was headphone+mic, its not. Both headphones out are headphone out only.
the icons on the connections are clear in that matter, and in the older model you did had the combo, and the icon also showed it that way (a headphone + mic combo)

you also asked if it would be analoge surround, I would assume so as long as your receiver unit can transform it to analog surround.

 

Thanks for the info . I just ordered one from the Swedish branch of the same online store HP ENVY 17-3000 CI7 2.2 6GB/1000 17.3" W7HP they also had it in stock. I should have it early next week .

-EDIT-

Just got a mail from the store my Envy 17-3000 has been shipped and should arrive within 2-4 days unless there's the usual Christmas mail overload.

 

With the preliminary tests run, we already know roughly the performance. The 7690m from the 15 should slightly outperform the 6770m and the 7690m XT of the 17 should slightly outperform the 6850m (make sure you don't look at benchmarks from the desktop version of the 6850, apples and oranges compared to mobile version) of the previous gen 17. The 7690m XT will have around double the performance of the 7690m, which the 7690m will be impressive itself. I see the big advantage here in the TDP over the last gen, especially the 7690m XT performing a little better than a 6850m in supposedly with half the power usage (according to what sites have estimated power usage to be), therefore they are more efficient, run at lower temps, and idle with less power usage too.

The 7970 single card is projected to be around the performance of the 6990 dual gpu card, with such huge jumps in performance in the upper range, it shouldn't surprise us that the lower range will have at least decent gains. They are using a very mature process (40nm, very good and they are used to working with it) and probably have been tweaking the hell out of the 6000 series just in case problems continue with TSMC and Global Foundries in getting the 28nm online and with decent yields because they otherwise would have to rebadge/refresh that whole series of cards including the upper end (nVidia would have to do the same thing since they use the same Fabs to fab their gpus).

Don't just suppose that they took the 6770m and put it in the new one, these have been heavily tweaking on a very mature process. I make the prediction that these will outlast the 7700m-7900m series in longevity due to them being made on a very stable process (haven't had this in a while as both companies have been rushing from process to process), it wouldn't surprise me that without overclocking that all of these 7690m and 7690m XT will last 5-8 years easily in these laptops, whereas the 7700m-7900m will probably last 3-4 years in other laptops before they start to have issues (due to newer process and not having all the kinks worked out in order to make a very stable card).

 

I agree but theres still no proof that the 7690m XT is 28nm or is any different than the 7690m except the assumption that XT refers to thames XT.

 

It's not 28nm.

Benchmarks on pre-production Envy's: HP Communities - AMD?s Radeon 7600M Graphics for New ENVY Laptops - HP Communities

It's on a very mature and stable 40nm process (AMD is very used to and comfortable designing and working with it since they have for over 3 generations of products now). In many ways this mature process will produce more stable cards than the new 28nm that will take a generation or two to work out the bugs and further optimize for the new process. I imagine it is tweaked and heavily optimized version of the 6000 series just in case further delays happened with 28nm at TSMC and Global Foundries which would make the whole 7000 series a 40nm rebadge/refresh instead. The 7690m XT will outperform the 7690m as shown in the pre-production Envy benchmarks from above (the XT moniker use to stand for extreme performance like the X1900 XT vs the X1900 and the 2900XT vs the 2900)

 

Will be interesting to see how this plays out, clock speeds are going to make all the difference here, and sadly there's no reliable answer yet. Still not 100% convinced about the info in that link either. Other than an update to the names, the information was using "late prototype" hardware. At this point there is so much conflicting info it will just take a full review of production models to sort it all out.

 

It is good to remain skeptical, at least until people start getting theirs and testing them (first CTO should be shipping today or tomorrow). I imagine with the units being late-prototypes that the changes would be negligible compared to production units. I will say there is an 85% chance of accuracy which is much better than the earlier reports we got that were between 20%-40% accurate when it comes to how trustworthy the final production units will be.

 

Yeah it's possible. I just don't see how the same chip with the same number of SPs and the same GDDR5 can vary in performance that much.

Unless the 15 is running at like 400 MHz core and the 17 is running at like 800, this difference seems pretty out of control. I don't know that the maturation of 40 nm process could account for much increase in clocks above the 725 MHz of the 6770m anyway, would be very surprised if it was clocked higher than that, if for no other reason than HP wouldn't want the extra power draw.

 

If you call them, they *may* cancel it for you. Especially if you commit to ordering another one.

 

I tried cancelling mine ten minutes after I ordered it and they said they'd try but it wasn't able to be cancelled (I actually got an email many days ago about how they can't cancel it because it's finished and has shipped...which it isn't and hasn't)

 

Yep. Same here. Still in production.

 

Coupons are only valid for one usage per customer. Even if you buy two identical products, you only get to apply a coupon to one of them. They can check your billing and shipping addresses and credit card numbers across purchases to enforce this. Even if you try to place two separate orders to try to game the system they probably have ways to detect this.

 

Husband -Visa. Wife - Discover. Worked.

 

Just for your information, GPUs are very complex, so if one was 800mhz and compared with a 400mhz of the same parts, 800mhz would be much better than double probably closer to quadruple the performance. At 800mhz it could do double per second, but by second two the distance would be greater, by second three even greater.

As far as MHz compared to the 6770m, I would think both the 7690m and 7690m XT could have slower MHz but due to tweaking and optimizations made to the architecture will end up performing better still. Basic Specs for both CPU and GPU are not necessarily the best indicator of performance, since so much under the hood can make a difference

 

Double clock speed would not create a quadruple performance in most cases I have ever seen.

Also, this is not a "tweaked architecture" it is the SAME architecrture, VLIW5.
I agree that clock speeds doesn't always apply across architectures, but these are the SAME 480 VLIW5 SP's as were in the 6000m series.

 

Why... is it the same screen? And Vaio SE has issued with displaying reds.

 

It is the same architecture and technology, I don't disagree with that, that doesn't mean it has not been tweaked or optimized. AMD and nVidia had to have a backup plan if TSMC and Global Foundries weren't able to bring there 28nm tech online in the next 6 months (Southern Islands wasn't design nor be able to produce on 40nm), what do you think it was? It would have to be on 40nm and they wouldn't have time to create a new architecture, what would they do? What they have done for many years when running into issues, they took what they had and optimized and tweaked it for better performance. This commonly happens for both AMD/ATI and nVidia in the past and will continue the same way in the future.

 

Did you use two different customer login accounts/email addresses too?

 

Okay, I know graphics cards and their model numbers + performance have boggled my mind for years and am confident that it's the same with most people. Keep it simple, follow the benchmarks. Even though the 7690M XT isn't on this list yet ... compare the performance of it (where 6770M seems to be closest) vs the assumed better performance of the discontinued 6850M

Passmark Radeon HD 6850M @ G3DRating of 850

Passmark Radeon HD 6670M @ G3DRating of 1450

I highly recommend everyone to compare their own current graphics card performance to this. You can easily find your graphics card through Start -> Run -> Type "dxdiag" without quotes -> Click yes if prompted -> Hit Display tab at top -> Shown on first line. Then type it in on this searchable site here.

Keep in mind these scores are with many samples helping to make it more accurate. If you look at other graphics cards on list be sure to look for the "M" for mobility.. as the desktop versions highly differ in performance. Oh and sure there are unbelievably great benchmarks with some Mobility cards like the 6990M, but if you do your research you will find that these are the bulkiest non-portable computers... for HP Envy, this 7690M XT I think will be very awesome for it's size + form factor.

Example: My dv9000t from (12/2006) (17" 1st redesign model of current dv7t series) with the higher 512MB Nvidia Geforce Go 7600 Graphics card has G3DRating of 220 just to compare.. so I know I'm getting a Sick upgrade and I will now be able to play the latest games.

 

@CopticWalad

Just curious, are the chips of the higher end GPU's larger? Or do they just need a larger chassis to hold them due to heating issues?

If due to heating, is it possible to stick an underclocked 6990M into a Envy for example? Not that I would, just trying to understand.

 

Yes to both

Downclocking it wouldn't make sense, by the time you would reach the thermal levels to be ok (it wouldn't fit in this laptop regardless) with the 6990m, the lower cards would perform better and be more efficient at idle and heat output. The 6990m is geared towards high performance and efficiency at that high performance, would not be able to compete with chips geared towards much lower performance and efficiency at those levels and at the same thermals, due to having to sacrifice massive amounts of performance to get to those thermals (this is all assuming the same cooling system is implemented)

 

lots more shaders requires a lot more silicon. The size of the GPU itself still isnt much bigger though. The extra heat produced requires more cooling so bigger heatsinks.

However, the size differences don't have to be as big as it seems.

HP Envy 15 Dimensions (W/7690m): Can't find exact numbers (SURPRISE) but "Thinness" is listed as 1.11"
Found it on the CNET Asia mini review: 380 x 244 x 28.3 mm = 14.9" x 9.6" x 1.11"
Sager NP8150 DImensions (with 6990m):14.80" (w) x 10.08" (d) x 1.38"~1.69" (h)

Almost the same size except for .3-.6" in thickness.

Really the biggest reason they don't put higher end GPUs in these computers is because of cost and battery life.

 

@franklyshankly

I understand the cost issue, but if it was a configurable setup I think it would be a nice option, and not much more of a cost to the manufacturer. Regarding battery life, with switchable graphics it wouldn't be too much of an issue?

I understand I'm ignoring a lot of factors in my questions

 

I'm with you, I would pay extra and sacrifice some battery life for an upgrade option if it was available. My personal opinion is that any flaghship "premium" notebook should come with something better than a rebadge of a rebadge of a really mid-range gpu. Something like a 6870m or 560m. Not nearly as hot or power hungry as a 6990m but still more capable than what they have.

 

Now you're talking. With a 560M equivalent I'd say it's the perfect laptop. I picked the 6990M in my question as an extreme option, just out of curiosity.

It's unfortunate the GPU in the Envy won't be 28nm. If it was, what do you think their equivalent counterparts would be in performance? Obviously impossible to know... but entertain me

 

Now we are what they call the "average consumer", or.... "apple costumer". Just kidding (but not really)

 

Shoot I dunno. The biggest advantage of a die shrink is a higher efficiency that runs cooler with substantiallyless power. So you can run a more powerful chip with less heat and juice. I would say that if the 7770m is really 28 nm and on the newer VLIW4 architecture, it could easily match a 560m, but that's pure speculation on my part.

I think HP will definitely put a refresh out once the real 28 nm chips release, I really need to know full specs and see benchmarks of this model to decide if its worth it to buy now or wait for the inevitable refresh.

 

Maybe there needs to be an Envy Gamer edition for those who don't need the balance the new one offers and are willing to accept a thicker notebook that as better graphics and lower battery life. But for me at least, the new Envy strikes a nearly perfect balance for design work, programming, pro photography work, and lite to moderate gaming

 

I'm definitely on a 3 year cycle when it comes to laptops. But if a refresh did come out next year with a substantially improved GPU and another 33% off came along, I would buy again. I just couldn't pass this deal up because of the discount plus my current laptop is on its last legs.

By the time we get benchmarks though the discount may be over. Maybe it's worth it for you to order and return if it doesn't work out? Assuming you have the luxury to do that.

 

Yeah i mean i have a desktop at home for serious gaming. Really I just need a notebook for moderate gaming when I'm on the go or when i feel like chilling on the couch and playing something instead of at my desk. The 7690m could definitely work for that I think, and is a worthwhile trade for its sleek size and design, I mostly just have a compulsive problem with needing MORE POWAAAA.

 

Yeah I'm considering doing that, just hard from a principles standpoint to support this somewhat cloak and dagger routine going on right now.

 

lol, Exactly what I'm doing, but I'm have a 29xx in the mix also. I will run any test you all want on both machines when I get them. In the end just helps me decide which one to keep.

 

Yeah pretty much the only reason I pulled the trigger on this is is because of the 21 day return policy in place. My main things that will make me keep it are 1.) great screen (I read someone say gamut won't be as good as the old radiance displays, so we'll see). 2.) "feel" and build quality; aesthetics looks great in photos, but it's never the same until it's held in person 3.) what graphics card is actually inside this thing

 

Plus the Envy uses the Mobile Intel HM67 Express chipset, where as the Asus uses the Mobile Intel HM65 Express chipset..

 

Could somebody tell me what the difference between HM67 and HM65 really is,please?

 

according to Charlie:

An introduction to Sandy Bridge | SemiAccurate

"This time around Intel has no less than five mobile chipsets, but we’re not quite sure we’re following Intel’s market segmentation here. The consumer focused standard models are the HM67 and HM65 where the main difference being RAID support for the HM67 along with support for Intel’s Extreme Tuning Utility or in other words overclocking. We would expect most consumer notebooks to use the HM65 chipset as the extra features on offer by the HM67 has somewhat limited value in your average consumer notebook, especially as an Extreme Edition CPU is required for overclocking to work."

Looks like RAID, and a bloatware OC utility that doesn't work unless you have an extreme series CPU. Not much of a difference imo.

 

While I'm sure no one cares, I'm a nerd, and bored, so I shall continue my Envy-song-a-day-till-arrival!

This guy is once again (you guessed it!) all Envy. No external audio interface/hardware, heck this one wasn't even done with a midi controller. All the melodic elements were drawn in via the sequencer. Monitoring was via Audio-Technica M50 headphones and then a quick reference check on the trusty little white Apple earbuds.

Software this time around is Ableton Live. Drum samples are one-hits from the Vengeance series, all the synth work is from a VST named Sylenth. (awesome synth!) Effects are via the default assortment built into Ableton.

Twas put togother in about an hour and a half while we waited on our set time at SXSW last year.

Sort of electro-housish?

Anywho, here ya go: "Depth Charge"

 

Don't know the answer to that. But I imagine the chips are integrated in the motherboard which has been traditionally seen in laptops. So it would require more room, more Watts of power, even better cooling/room. It doesn't make much sense to buy a more advanced graphics card to just underclock it especially due to cost, and very unfortunately we can't upgrade laptop graphics cards. I've been waiting for Thunderbolt / USB 3.0 solutions to come out for external upgradeable Graphics cards for laptops (which we Will see next year as 1/1/2012 manufacturers can put thunderbolt alongside USB 3.0 ports in laptops).

However to make everyone feel assured on the value and performance of these new Envy Laptops and the graphics cards they chose... let's compare a laptop with that ATI Radeon 6990M. Only laptop I can see that's closest to Envy that can accommodate it is the Alienware M17X. Here's the closest configuration I made to my own order, and keep in mind this 6990M doesn't support the Optional $200 more 3D display which requires the Nvidia Graphics.

$3223 Pretax for Alienware M17X:
Intel® Core™ i7 2860QM 2.5GHz (3.6GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
8GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1600MHz (4DIMMS)
2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M OR 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 6990M (same price)
750GB 7,200RPM HDD
17.3-inch WideFHD 1920x1080 120Hz WLED w/ NVIDIA 3D Vision Bundle (requires nVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M)
Intel® Advanced N + WiMAX 6250 a/g/n 2x2 MIMO Technology (This is only option that includes the bluetooth + WiDi we're getting with our Intel 6300)
Internal High-Definition 5.1 Surround Sound Audio
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)
Alienware M17x 240W A/C Adapter (240W ... You read that Right.. insane compared to our 90W)
2 Year Basic Plan (HP has 2 Year Warranty as standard which is great)
Only 2x USB 3.0 ports + 2x USB 2.0 ports.
1 VGA+1HDMI+1 miniDP
SPDIF + eSata + very surprising HDMI Input
Webcam is 3MP
Customizable color led for keyboard
Ability for 2 HD Bays but no mSata 3rd bay option.
9.7 lbs starting weight
Dimensions: 16.14" x 11.96" x 1.77" (W X D X H)


My configuration"
$1514.19 pretax + SSD I will install.
Envy 17 3D (2012 next generation)
Intel Core i7-2860QM 2.5 GHz (3.6Ghz Turbo)
1GB AMD Radeon 7690M XT with GDDR5
8GB 1600MHz DDR3
Kingston HyperX 240GB SSD 550MB/s Read + 510MB/s Write (Self-Install)
1TB 5400 rpm
17.3" Radiance Full HD 3D Infinity LED-backlit Display (120Hz)
Slot-loading Blu-ray + DVD Burner
HP TrueVision HD Webcam (1280 x 720 @ 24p) - no idea on megapixel stills yet
Intel Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 (Supports 450Mbps) with WiDi + Bluetooth
Wireless KleerNet Audio Streaming (Lossless Uncompressed Audio with 7.1 speaker support + 4 wireless receiver zones @ up to 150 ft)
6 built-in speakers + 2 Subwoofers Beats Audio system
2 DisplayPorts + HDMI 1.4a + WiDi
3 USB 3.0s + 1 USB 2.0
90W A/C Adapter
2-year hardware limited warranty
7.37 lbs Weight
17 inch = 16.37”W x 10.67”D x 1.28”H
(For reference, 15 inch = 14.9”W x 9.6”D x 1.1”H)

So obviously we're getting an amazing deal. Is it worth another $1500 for better graphics, another 2lbs+ weight, almost no portability with battery and 240W needed by system? You decide.

I also opted for the HP 3-year Care Pack House Call Service with Accidental Damage Protection for $150 ... you can never be too safe and it's an awesome deal for 3 yrs.

 

And the thickness... To make notebooks pretty and thin you have to sacrifice the performance, that's why we have so many ugly & fat gaming machines...

 

The Big difference as I understand it is the ability to use Intel RAID 0 in a "Hardware" Configuration! So unless your going with an SSD, a RAID 0 Array is a nice speed boost! Of course you must have two identical (In Size) HDD's for the RAID 0 Array to work, which I do have in my Envy, as well as many others have with the Envy configurations as well!

Hope that helped...

 

WHat about the Sager NP8150 I mentioned before that can be had with the same CPU, plenty of ram, decent 1080p panel, 6990m, and maybe .5" more thickness than the Envy 15 for about $1500?

 

I don't know what's going on.

... but an HP ENVY 15 is involved. If anyone here knows Korean, let us know what they're talking about.

Also: What seems to be a TV ad for the new ENVY - not sure.

 

Thing is, it weighs a pound more, is built from plastic, the speakers are much, much, much worse, and the build quality in general isn't as good as what you'd get from a major brand.

I had a Sager 8130 and it flexed like crazy - why I returned it for my incoming ENVY 17 3D actually. Metal/Aluminium/Magnesium won't flex like the cheap plastic on those.

Sure they give you performance for cheap, but they sacrifice practicality and quality.

 

That why I purchased my HP Envy (See Signature Block) when I was shopping for a new PC. Prior to purchase, I looked into the Del XPS line, the Toshiba Qosmio Line and the Alienware line. None of them could beat what the HP Envy line was offering AND when you consider the HP Envy has "Concierge" Warranty Support, well that just seals the deal IMHO!

 

Well sure they don't have the metal body and macbook-esque build quality, but the post i was replying to made it seem as though the only way to get a 6990m was to pay 3300 for a 17 inch alienware behemoth, and that's clearly not the case.

 

Hi. Just cancelled my order for the dv6z, looking to buy something with better performance, either dv6t quad i7 (no 7200rpm drive option!!!) or Envy 15 i7.

Can someone tell me if the Envy 15 Radiance screen is very "glossy", what about reflections, I'm so used to matte screens.
I've been searching youtube & interent for some good photos or videos of the screen, can't realy find an answer.
I need to make a decision before the coupon expires (12/17)

Thanks

 

So I customized the 17" version... and while these guys are impressive like many other smaller manufacturers (Digital Storm is an outstanding one), people might not go for it because smaller reputation and if problems arise it takes longer to resolve (in contrast very popular laptops like HP Envy supported by #1 in world HP will have a massive community that will resolve issues alongside HP's support)

3D Display is optional for another $200.. but once again requires the Nvidia Graphics card... which may be a huge reason why HP didn't go with the 6990M.. because of no 3D support.



So $1514 vs $2128 + $200 3D 120Hz Display = $2328.

 

Well, the way you can look at it then is:

Build Quality + Power - Cost:
Alienware M17x = $3,000+

Build Quality + Mid-Range Power + Cost:
HP ENVY 15/17/17 3D = $1,100+

Power + Cost - Build Quality:
Sager/Clevo NP8150/P150HM = $1,300+


Each of them has to sacrifice something - the ENVY just has you sacrificing the least, which is why many of us took the plunge.

 

That brings up a decent point I hadn't thought about yet.

I know AMD has released 3D capability in their drivers, but I haven't actually seen an AMD 3D implementation yet. 3D isn't really something I care about, so I'm just asking out of curiosity, but how well does the 3D in the current gen Envy work, and does it work in games or just for bluray?

 

I'm very curious myself and we can supposedly do 2D to 3D on the Fly with Cyberlink PowerDVD software (with movies + picture Stills) and supposedly also with AMD's software do 2D to 3D with games too.