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

A) 7670m? This is getting worse... In other words, a brand new Envy 15 will absolutely have less GPU power than a two-year-old Envy 15. Garbage.

B) The display is listed as a 1080p LED Brightview display. Brightview is the brand name they use for their lower-end displays, which is a bad sign. You don't see too many mainstream companies offering two displays with the same resolution on the same machine, so if they're offering an LED Brightview display, I suspect that the IPS is probably mythical.

I'd be willing to bet that the Envy 15 referenced in the link near the beginning of the thread was nothing but a concept model specced out with a nicer screen (and apparently a more powerful GPU) to impress the journalists. My experience with the Envy line is that they're good computers hyped as great computers.

 

Idk they took all the time to make product videos with hyping of the radiance. That will be there. As for the graphics we can only wait and see. I NOTHING is official yet.

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We don't know if anything's official yet, so we'll see when it either comes out, or the info becomes official.

 

The top part of this mid-range offer is represented by Thames Pro and Thames XT GPUs clocked at 600MHz and paired up with 1GB of 128bit GDDR5/DDR3 memory. These four SKUs will be quite easily differentiated as the Thames Pro will carry Radeon HD 7570M (DDR3) and HD 7590M (GDDR5) name while the Thames XT will be known as the HD 7670M and the Radeon HD 7690M.
source: GPU Wars: Nvidia vs. ATI: AMD Radeon 7000M to come in December

 

Thanks for the advice everyone from SWEDEN!

I ended up ordering a DV7 with full HD screen, 8 gigs ram, 1 TB, 2670qm....

In the end I just figured for me it was the best product for the price (student discount was 20%). I liked the envy a lot but the new gen was too much of an unknown quantity plus my luck as an early adopter once before was abysmal (6 RMA's). The current gen Envy seemed like something was always missing on the lower priced models (mainly screen). Thanks again for the advice....I will let you know how it works out!

I guess I cannot hang out in the ENVY lounge anymore...I will have to slum it in the DV7 lounge.

 

Doesn't look to me like those specs can be accurate. No USB 3? Also seems odd that there is no difference between the two models listed other than hard disk size/speed, but a AU$300 difference; it's not a game console or a tablet.

 

And I just noticed in the "Overview" section, it claims a "15.6" Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit Display," whereas it lists a Brightview display in the specs section. Just looks unreliable.

 

Please calm down a bit, what you write is not true (and don't take this as an insult, I just don't like this type of writing)

1.) the 7670 has GDDR3 memory, that is the only thing that differentiates it from the 7690, which has GDDR5. Every source says 1GB GDDR5 for the Envy 15, so it is virtually impossible to have the 7670

2.) HP offers the the Envy 17 with matte screen in Australia, with glare screen in the US and then also with 3D screen, all FHD. So, here you even have 3 screens with the same resolution in a consumer line.

Also, HP offeres very different configurations for different countries, like a DV4 with 6750 (India and Singapore) or 6470 in the US.

We are still talking about rumours, not facts, so take all of this with a grain of salt. They might have been wrong on the GDDR5, or something else, but they might also have not. We'll see


some news regarding the envy 17:
HP ENVY 17-3000eo notebook pc (A2Q37EA)
there might be a second GPU option availible, as the 7690 is not at all an Enthusiast level GPU which was mentioned by HP (see official website) or again not and HP is far better in marketing than in technical truth

 

I'm sure hoping that the Dec 7th launch date is accurate and will be able to place an order that day.

I was "this close" -||- to placing an order for a pair of matching current version (2nd gen?) Envy 17 3D fully-loaded customized machines today for a small surgical clinic, before stumbling onto this forum site and finding these threads about the new 3rd gen models, and finding this info about them on HP's website: Premium Laptop, Professional Audio Laptop | HP Envy


Anybody know if this Dec 7th launch date is for real? These laptops have to at least be ordered/purchased on or before Dec 8th in order to make it by the cutoff date for inclusion on the business's 2011 tax deductions, else we'll have to go ahead and buy the 2-gen versions, or maybe not get any new laptops at all

I don't care if they don't ship until Jan/Feb timeframe, I'm fine with that, we just have to get the purchase itself made and officially filed before the early cutoff date.

What a dillema...

 

I mean I can't speak for HP but I think you should be fine based on previous dates given by HP....

Now the online website may have glitches here and there starting the night before and going on thru the 7th and maybe even 8th so the new models may not show up on the website itself with all the right config options for a little bit.

However worse comes to worse you can always CALL them and place your order for the new Envy over the phone and meet your deadline. I'll probably end up doing that as well.

 

Legitimate points. Especially the last sentence - if HP put as much effort into actually creating a premium machine in the Envy series as they do into making consumers think they've created a premium machine, the Envy line would be the cream of the premium Windows all-around machine segment, rather than a perennial also-ran.

Regarding point number one, though, HP's got materials claiming GDDR5 and materials claiming 7670m - they're either wrong or lying on at least one of those counts...

Point number two - I didn't know about the Australian matte screen on the Envy 17, and it's certainly not unheard of to offer multiple offerings with the same resolution, but in the US the two screens are vastly differentiated by the 3D/non-3D capability, it's not about color reproduction, brightness, or anything like that, it's about a gimmicky screen capability, so I don't really think that counts. Is the matte in Australia an option or the only screen? If it's the only screen then they're still not offering options, just different builds in different places.

And yes, it's all rumors at this point, but they're starting to congeal a bit into a general range of realistic possibilities regarding GPU and screen on the Envy 15:

- An Envy 15 that specs out at base with a 7670m and can be upgraded to a 7690m.
- A 1080p LED Brightview screen on the base Envy 15, with the possibility of an LED or IPS Radiance upgrade.

@cwfnetman - AMD still hasn't officially announced their 7xxx GPU lineup that's supposed to be in these machines. Combine that with the weeks-long delay on the Envy 14 2xxx update and you've got legitimate reason to be concerned that they're not going to make the December 7th date. At worst, though, you could wait for the 7th or 8th and then order the current-generation Envy 17 if it's that important. Of course, if you'd rather wait for the 3xxx series, you can always put them on next year's taxes.

 

AMD has sceduled to reveil the 7000 series on Dec.6, so right in time here.

I don't know anything else about the Australian Envy 17, I just saw it on their website (I am not from Australia). I think it's the only model. What I ment regarding the display is that it is well possible that they use a mediocre FHD display around the world and offer a base 1366x768 display in the US with the option to go for a premium FHD display which might be different.

You have to understand that Dell and HP treat the US differently to the rest of the world. Here, they offere customizeable webshop options, very often with premium options (like DV6 FHD screen).
For the rest of the world, it's a WYSIWYG thing. Pre-configured Laptops which basically never are premium (they don't want a 1500€ DV6, because it won't sell well)

So far so good. The 7670 with 1GB GDDR5 ram which is listed still does not make sense. That's like a Porsche 911 with a VW emblem on it... We'll see how that works out. But I don't think they'll add an option to go for a 7690, that's too little difference... They will chose one, and it seems to be the ominous 7670 with 1GB GDDR5 ram


All I write is based on the information availible on the net, and some personal thoughts based on business strategies, previous developments and technical know how added in.

For how much that's worth, we'll see. As a famous writer once said: "You can paper, but you can't the audience" (please apologize those words, but he said it that way ^^)

 

Anyone know the official or an estimate of the date, of when the envy's are going out on sale in stores in Australia?

Thanks

 

I wasn't aware that the 7000 series was being revealed on the sixth, I guess that makes the December 7th release date a little more realistic. I wonder if the December 6th date includes 77xx, 78xx, and 79xx models - sometimes the lineup rolls out over time - if the upper-end stuff isn't available by then, that might explain why HP would (apparently) choose to put a 76xx GPU in the Envy 15 instead of something faster. Of course, it could just be because they're afraid of creating a thermal nightmare like the first-generation Envy 15 apparently was.

As for Dell and HP's US business model for laptop sales, the same is true for Lenovo and possibly some other resellers as well. Even though Lenovo is a Chinese company, the range of models available here in China is all pre-configured, and they sell models overseas that they don't even offer here, and I think the US is the only CTO-friendly market they sell in. The lack of CTO options in other countries is disturbing to me. Laptops in the US are generally cheaper than almost anywhere else even though they aren't manufactured there. At the same time, they're often (slightly) more labor-intensive for the manufacturer to produce if they're configured to order - they can't just be slapped together with identical parts on an assembly line, but many of them have to be custom built. It's a small difference in labor cost, but I can't think of any reason not to offer CTO elsewhere other than the fact that it takes more work to produce a CTO laptop. If they can sell more labor-intensive laptops for less money in the US, you'd think they could offer the same kind of customization to the rest of the world.

Mind you, I'm a US citizen and I can take advantage of CTO options by buying when I'm back in the States in the summer, but it bothers me that nobody else gets the option. That said, I think a great deal of the reason for CTO superiority in the US is that two of the biggest manufacturers of laptops (HP and Dell) who were pioneers in the CTO trend are based in the US, so they offer their best product to their home-grown customers.

 

^ You can thank the US/China trade agreement for that. Same reason why many Chinese goods are cheaper in the US than they are if you were to buy them in China.

 

You guys can check out all of the details here: Premium Laptop, Professional Audio Laptop | HP Envy

 

lol, now everything is crystal clear

 

Unfortunately the option for next year's taxes doesn't exist. The finance manager says this is a one-shot deal. Spend the money now or it goes away after the 8th.

The current version option isn't really all that bad. If we have to order the current version Envy 17's, those machines are still more than well enough equipped to handle what we'll use them for... replacements for some aged Dells that still work, but won't handle the upgrade to Win 7 that the whole office network is going to.

I almost blindly ordered a pair of new Dell XPS 17 laptops until I stumbled onto 60+ pages of discussion forum customer complaints for unresolved USB problems that seem unfixable on those, so I looked at the HP Pavillion DV7T-QE and Envy models instead.

Right now it's impossible to order a customized DV7T-QE with a 500 or 750GB 7200 rpm drive, only 5400 rpm drives (what's up with that nonsense anyway? The Thailand disk shortage maybe?) and the 660GB combo 180GBSSD/500GB7.2Krpm drive option on that model is too expensive, so that led me to the Envy 17 and the 3D screen since it's 1080p and 120Hz refresh, and I can get a normal 7200 rpm disk in it.

It would however, be very nice if I am able to order the next-gen models since they look so sweet in the adverts. As I said earlier, I'm not that concerned if shipment is delayed a reasonable length... I just need to get an order placed and the company credit card charged by the 8th.

EDIT: Just got off the phone with the HP salesrep at "Call 1-888-291-7996 to reserve your new Envy" phone number and he was pretty much clueless that there is about to be released new versions of Envy 17 models. Knew about the upcoming 15 and only knew that it would be announced next week, and tried to push me into ordering the current version Envy 17 today. claiming that it is the "new version". Maybe I'll try calling back later today and see if I get someone different who actually knows what's going on.

 

nope, 7690 will be the top model released, the other ones follow in Q1 2012. That's at least what the posted roadmaps tell us.

 

Interesting, if you go to HP Envy15 | HP Envy you will see the envy 15 is listed as including a slot loading bluray player. Does the envy 15 support 12.7mm drives or did they get someone to create the mythical 9.5mm slot loading bluray drive??? I hope it's not a mistake. Afterall, the page isn't a direct copy of the envy 17 specs, as the footnote changed too between them.

 

If you look at the pictures on that page one of them shows a slot loading drive on the life hand side of it. So assuming those pics are legit it looks like it should be true.

 

Just because it has a slot drive doesn't mean that it is blu ray. Only four more days hopefully till we find out.

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Originally we were told the envy 15 had a 9.5 mm drive, limiting it to dvdrw only (no 9.5 slot slot load blurays are known to exist), so hopefully it really does take a 12.7mm drive (like the envy 17) or they made a 9.5 mm blu. If they did make the smaller blu, I'll order just that drive and put it in my envy 14.

 

This just makes it even more difficult....

Intel Ivy Bridge processors set for Q2 2012 release, specs leaked | The Verge

 

As far as known until now they pushed it back from March to April because of low demand (due to the economical crisis). It looks like a ~20% improvement in CPU power as well as a big improvement in GPU power (~60%). Other sources speak of 2-3 times the performance of a HD4000 compared to the HD2000. The current GPU in mobile CPUs is the HD3000.

In addition, AMD is releasing their new GPUs over the next months (lower ones in Dec., higher speced ones in Q1). They are supposed to have around double the performance of the 6000 series.

You can of course wait for HP to update the Envys in April or May or so, but this is still around half a year in the future and you never know what will come next. Last time, HP killed off the Radiance screen on the Envy 14 with the update, and before they did not continue the HP 15. In addition, the update to Sandy Bridge took them until June I think for the Envy 14, when the release was Feb/March.
So, if you think the new Envy15/17 is nice for you, I guess it's still an ok time to buy. Especially, if you don't really need the best hardware. If you wait, you will have to wait for around half a year and might even find yourself with no or a mediocre update of the Envy series, which leaves you with the choice of an updated MBP at that time (they are basically always quite on time with the updates) - for ~2000$ - if you want a laptop with these specs. (powerful, good display, thin, good battery life, ...)
I don't really want to wait no more If HP did their job on these envys, then I am sold.

p.s. You can always sell and buy a new one. Don't wait for THE PERFECT product, live the moment

 

Not to me. Ivy Bridge is still many months away, it seems mostly an improvement in gpu and power consumption, and even then it is more an evolutionary step than a revolutionary tick upwards.

I guess you could argue that the gpu increase is more revolutionary, but the revolution is overturning such a low performing crapshoot that it means very little, I'll be using the amd gpu anyway which no matter what they put in will be more powerful than the highest end ivy bridge gpu, and have better driver support in games.

The biggest plus seems to be on battery life increases, but I am not sure how much extra that will bring, ~20 increase in time? anyone know?

Is that worth delaying a notebook purchase for nearly half a year if you are in need now?

Not to me, not even close to a reason to delay a purchase.

 

Is this laptop going to come in stores (in aus preferably)? Or is it going to be order online only (from us) ?

 

Not sure if I want to wait and pay extra for ivy. Im pretty much convinced that at the same price the higher ends sandy we are getting are stronger than the mid range ivys.

 

personally... if the 14' model was updated with a better GPU i wouldve got it in a heartbeat...
15' isnt exactly portble for college...

guess i am going to wait for the ivy refresh and hopefully the nmew 14' with it

 

The majority of people at my college carry 15's, it's really only an inch difference and it makes very little difference in the long run.

 

if youre buying a notebook and battery life is not one of your concerns, youre doing it wrong.

15" is only two more inches than a 13" so everyone looking for those 13's may as well get a 15. right?

 

Sorry MaX but your missing the point. He is saying the better battrey life due to ivy bridge is not worth half a years wait.

 

I think this discussion is drifting away a bit, we are now debating if it is a good time to buy a laptop. We are actually quite in the middle of a cycle, the next gen. CPUs are not coming within the next months and the GPU is very up to date (wether it is strong is a different question). Sandy Bridge has no major flaws - so why are we debating this?

I would be happy to get back to the new Envys and talk about any leaked information. I am looking foreward to Wednesday

 

IF thats a serious question then I'd say the answer is most of the time yes.

2 inches will not kill anybody. You act like its some unspeakable crime.

However we are talking about 13 inches versus 15.6 inches and I can see where that "0.6" may change things drastically for someone. Anyways its up to you. No one is forcing you to get it. I suppose if its a matter of 2 lbs difference in weight then sure getting the smaller one would probably appeal to a segment of people.

Thanks for the input regarding Ivy Bridge. I'm definitely gonna get the new one out and then we'll see how things stand 6 months from now.

 

This comment makes no sense. Ivy Bridge CPUs will be released at the same price-point that Sandy Bridge CPUs currently fill. It won't be more expensive to get an Ivy Bridge when they come out than an equivalent Sandy Bridge now. So if you buy a higher-end Sandy Bridge CPU over a mid-range Ivy Bridge you're spending more money for less product. The reason to buy now should be time concerns, not money.

Having gone between 15.4", 14.1", and 14.5" laptops in the last few years, I'll say that those differences are quite notable. My 14.5" Envy 14 is way more portable than my 15.4" ZX5000 was, and I'm a big guy so we're not talking the straw that broke the camel's back, an inch really makes a significant difference when you're mobile.

 

Yes I agree with you. If this price is right I will also be ordering on launch day. So what if Ivy is going to be out in six months. In another three months we will hear about something else coming out in six months that is also going to change the world. Go with what's out when you need it. For me that's before Spring.

 

Precisely.

It's clear people havent owned various sizes as its pretty evident that the differences are huge.

 

Yes the sizes are apparent, but to say the 15 is unportable is also an exaggeration too I believe. My father carried a 17in MBP for years without complaining. To each his own.

 

The standard 15" form factor (used to be 15", then 15.4", now 15.6") has generally been considered the upper limits for a "portable" machine for a long time now, but I would personally only consider a 15" machine for general portability if it were thin and light and had a small screen bezel to minimize the overall footprint of the machine. Personally, 14" is still a bit big for true portability for me, but I put up with it because the Envy 14 is just so dang sexy.


People who value portability over power should definitely be looking in the smaller form factor and "ultrabook" segments these days, though. Netbooks were one thing since they were so underpowered and the keyboards generally stunk, but there are a ton of good SFF options these days.

 

Hence why I am looking here and the Samsung 7 series. 1.1 inches here and sup 1 inch there. Both generally light and very powerful for a 15.6 laptop. Wednesday can't come fast enough.

 

Word! And for everybody looking for a ultraportable thing, there are many many threads discussing those. (btw, I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, which is very portable and less powerful - the tradeoff someone has to make)
The Envy 15 will not shrink, as much as some might want that

Soooooo - any news? ^^

 

trade offs, it's not an issue of good battery life and no battery life.

What is the % battery life improvement of ivy bridge? It won't double battery life, so what will the increase be?

20%?
30%?

if the current dec 7 envy can last 5-7 hours on a charge, let's take a high estimate of 30% more battery life.

6.5-9.1 hours instead of 5-7 hours.


is that enough of a jump to wait 4-6 months for an ivy bridge envy? Not to me. Anything above 5 hours on a change is above my minimal threshold, I could even live with a bit less, so my standards are met. But then I don't get too anal about not having the absolute best in class performing spec every second of every moment. I ask myself can I live with the performance and battery life a certain product brings for a year or more? If the answer is yes, I don't go stress and worry that in another 4 months I'll get an incremental boost.

 

I don't even think the CPU equals 100% of a laptop battery life. Maybe 30to-40% at best if you account for the screen and everything else...
So the improvement should be 30% of 30%... that means 9% extra battery life at best ?
And if someone knows, will it really consume less if it's actually clocked higher ? Or will it consume less even if the energy saving mode set TDP is at 5w on both sandy and ivy bridge for example ?

 

He means series 7 Chronos laptop

 

Yes I am looking at this and the 15.6 inch Chronos. Come on wednesday! Even with the rumored poor GPU in the new Envy, it should still preform favorably to the 6750m correct?

 

At 1080p I don't think so.
I'd basically forget this laptop for any serious gaming if you take the 1080p radiance screen instead of the lower res brightview.
By the way on the swedish HP website the new envy 17s are listed.
750 go x2 with radiance 1080p 8 gigs blu-ray = about 2228 USD http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/homelaptops/se/sv/product.php?id=A2Q39EA&experience=direct
750 go x1 with brightview display 6 gigs dvd = about 1708 USD http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/homelaptops/se/sv/product.php?id=A2Q37EA&experience=direct
1 tb x2 with brightview 3D 120hz 8gigs blu-ray = 2 524 USD http://h41112.www4.hp.com/promo/homelaptops/se/sv/product.php?id=A2Q39EA&experience=direct
CPU (i7) and the rest are the same.

So 2 gigs + bluray + radiance upgrade = 500$ ? Rofl HP.

 

The 7690M better not be the highest end card available for the Envy 17.

 

I have a question for those of you who are already complaining about the new Envy. What are the alternatives?

 

HD 7690M XT grafik 1 GB DDR5

 

For me the alternative is the samsung series seven. Both are thin powerful 15.6 laptops. I will be ordering Wednesday whichever has more bang for the buck. Both seem well built and well designed.
Additionally this new gpu better preform better than the 6750m otherwise it will have a worse cpu and gpu then the samsung.
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