New HP Envy user and very disappointed

I have had high end HP laptops for the most part and own several laptops and desktops of different brands.

I currently have a dv9500 from 2007 and the Envy was going to replace it.

I mostly use the laptop for business, email, proposals with several windows programs running at the same time. I have always liked how big and nice the screens on HP laptops are so even-though they are an overkill for what I do I have enjoyed them.

I just got the Envy and I can barely use it. The track on it is almost impossible. There is a lag when I move my finger across the pad, I know there were issues but I thought I could get use to it after a while. This is almost impossible to use? the mouse is not moving with the speed of my fingers when I'm trying to move windows, close things and click on specific places.

Secondly its' SLOW! I can't believe a $1800 laptop is this slow. Windows alone takes so long to login. When I first put Windows 7 on my dv9500 I was amazed just how fast it was. Even now with all my crap loaded, it's extremely fast.

My dv9500 blows this machine away and I only have 2gb ram and 2.0ghz processor on it.

Am I missing something here? I'm just trying to do basic things like surfing the web, word processing and a few other things.....

.just thought I post before I return it.

my specs:

• Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Dual Core(TM) i5-2520M (2.5GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.2 GHz
• 1GB Radeon(TM) HD 6850M GDDR5 Graphics [HDMI]
• 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 1TB 5400RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• No Additional Office Software
• 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 2.25 hours of battery life +++
• 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080)
• SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R)
• Backlit Keyboard
• Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 9 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 9
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

 

Try to remove startup items. Remove hp bloatware that u dont use. You could also do a fresh install of windows 7 without all the hp stuff. turn of pagefile, turn of indexing. How slow is slow people have a different view on slow. I know it takes my pc about 30 seconds to boot windows7 and i am running an core i3 at 2.40ghz and everything is lighting fast

 

Do a fresh windows reinstall. If that doesn't work then you have hardware issues and need to return it asap.

 

I also suggest a fresh install of Windows 7; omitting all the HP bloatware that comes with the system. See where you are after that.

 

drivers, drivers, and drivers.......

 

How do I do a fresh install? I don't think I got any CDs

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-compaq/120228-clean-vista-install-no-activation.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html

First thread has the basics of "how to do it". Second thread has the download links for Windows 7 discs.

 

I would advise the same. I did that the moemnt I got mine and even thoughit is much lower specs than yours it is blazing fast.

 

Sigh, people should research what makes a computer fast before buying. Ram+Processor=not the end of the equation.
You still need a good enough hard drive, and a decent graphics card. Believe it or not a graphics card will make things feel snappy due to the increase of 2D graphics power (albeit a low end 9500 GT will behave similarly to a HD 69** for 2D applications since 2d power does not scale anything like 3D in changes of stream processors/frequencies).

A good hard drive, preferably with the largest density platters will help make the whole computer far more snappy from loading windows to opening programs to just opening Documents or start menu's etc. A SSD will just make the computer fly.

 

I suggest that you also visit the trackpad options to change the touch settings to light, otherwise, you have to press that bit harder to move. Once you change the setting you can fly around the screen.

As for the slowdown, as above. ANY machine can be crippled by the rubbish YOU and the oem install

 

in bold are things that are the very definition of "slow."

That said, if you aren't exaggerating about "slow", then there's something wrong with your laptop. What is this, an Envy 17?

 

What's wrong with the 6Gb memory ?

 

Unsure if he even knows the difference, Botsu.

Nothing wrong with using a 2GB dimm and 4 GB dimm slot. Sure it's technically slower then 2x 4gb dimm slots, however the difference is in ridiculously small numbers, and will not matter in real work performance.

The 5400 RPM hard drive is of concern however my 1TB 5400 RPM hard drive on my Envy 17 is not slow.

More then likely OP got a defective laptop.

 

It depends on what he considers slow. For example, the E14 has an unfortunate lag on bootup thanks to the ATI Drivers. It still gets up and running in about half a minute, but if the OP is expecting ten seconds, then he's sure to think it's slow.

Also, if he's running on a power saver profile, certain activities might bog the laptop down - I find that some applications just run better if I pop it into balanced or high-performance.

The HDD is probably the slowest component on that computer, but at 1TB it should still be fairly fast, regardless of the 5400 RPM speed, since the platters will be pretty dense.

First thing, as others have said, is to do a fresh install, or probably better: a minimal recovery of the OS followed by some targeted bloatware removal and driver updatess. If it's still really lagging at that point, beyond basic hard drive stuff, then it's probably got some issues.

 

Check the owners' lounge: extreme slowness may be a sign of a motherboard problem.

 

LOL, your post made me laugh out loud. I was looking for the bolded words and forgot that when quoting, the persons forum name is also bolded. I saw tim_chase01 bolded and thought to myself "that's just uncalled for," then realized I was just being stupid. And getting back on topic, I would do a clean install because the computer should not be slow at all.

 

I didn't notice but now that you mention it it's funny indeed

@Crimsoned I thought as well. I've read enough articles about RAM & dual-channel / quad-channel that came to the same conclusion that there aren't any noticeable benefits.

 

First, I noticed the same thing with the bolded name; didn't think it was meant as an insult, but a funny coincidence just the same. Tim, it's not your fault!

Second, I have run so many Hp computers as delivered and with your specs, you should not be experiencing a "slow" computer. While clean installs, removing bloatware and getting a faster hdd or an ssd all help, as specd and without modifications, your computer should be blazing fast. I'd send it back and get a replacement, without doing anything else.

 

I've got the sneaking suspicion this is a case of not understanding what your computer's specs really mean.

Is the HP Envy a little slow on the boot? Yes. But this is likely a Bios issue, and only really apparent from cold boot. On resume, from any state, its about as snappy as any computer with the same stats.


Also, try PC decrapify. My guess is bloatware slowdown.

 

That's weird my Envy 17 SB has a very fast BIOS boot up. Takes only a few seconds before Windows starts loading.

OP Probably got a defective motherboard.

 

Clean install can cut boot times to 20 seconds even without SSD. My old HP computer can do that.

Updates updates updates! Just to reiterate it.

Update the driver for the touchpad. Or use the custom guide that some guy wrote. It's somewhere on this forum.

Check if there's a bios update. Just go on the HP website and type in your model number.

 

The slow boot time is due to the switchable graphics driver. Its only boot though and how much does an extra 15 seconds during boot really matter? It shouldnt be slow after Windows boots up though. If it is, reinstall Windows.