Ready to pulll the trigger on a beats edition E14, but not w/o Radiance...

My E17 is fantastic. I use it as a workstation and as PC driving my iMac's brilliant IPS display for when I want to do heavier gaming. I couldn't ask for a better set up.

My m11x is perfect for light gaming in bed.

I want an E14 to bridge the gap. I don't run a desktop, I use an iMac for general computing. I want a "compromise" machine; light enough, powerful enough, long enough lasting to take around with me off battery, and big enough. That's the e14 in a nutshell. I'm ready to buy one, except I absolutely will not settle and skip the Radiance (honestly IMO, if any of you do you're nuts). Any ideas when this screen will be available again? I know the company that made them for HP went out of business or something.

The screen on a laptop is absolutely something you cannot compromise on. Almost all consumer laptops skimp on the screen and use a crappy one with poor black levels/contrast/brightness. The Radiance was a huge step above a standard laptop screen in every way. I want one. v_v

 

I don't want to be a negative Nancy but honestly the screen on the Envy 14 (non radiance) was the worst laptop screen I have ever laid eyes on. Viewing angles were the largest problem. For example if you were looking at the center of the screen, the top left and right corners would be color shifted severely.

 

Exactly why I would NEVER purchase a 14.5inch 13xx by 7xx resolution screen.

First of all, that's like standard netbook resolution, secondly, I've already researched it and the screen's quality is abysmal.

I'm frustrated the laptop is still being sold without an upgraded screen option.

But what do you expect? The average consumer knows nothing/doesn't care about screen quality.

If they did, you wouldn't see so many horrible displays on consumer notebooks. Maybe we'd start seeing the dreamcolor 2 *jaw drops*.

 

Honestly, the 1080 screen on the E17 pleasantly surprised me.

It's not the RGB LED of my old m17xR2, but it's close enough.

 

Maybe you misunderstood the original poster but they were stating that they wouldn't buy an Envy 14 without the Radiance display. I think everyone is in agreement that without that display there is no point in getting an Envy 14.

In regards to the original poster you might be waiting a while for the return of the Radiance screen, your best bet would be to buy a refurbished machine. That's what I did and couldn't be happier. There are a few on ebay right now and also some available via HP's Outlet store.

 

Even my m11x is horrible as far as screen quality is concerned.

It's bright, but the contrast is LOLable.

Why is Apple like the only company that offers incredible screens standard?

Look at an Anandtech comparison of laptop screens; the MBP's IPS takes a steaming crap on every other notebook screen by miles.

It's honestly why I have an iMac, the IPS screen is just unbeatable.

If I wouldn't feel like a tool running windows on a Mac constantly, I'd do it. But a Mac is terribly optimized for Windows and heat/battery life would be too great an issue. Hence the E14, if we ever see it with a real screen again.

 

Thank you. I will check that out.

I'm not really in to buying refurbished, but I guess in this case I may have to.

 

I am not usually into it either, especially for a laptop but this screen is too impressive to miss out on. You can always buy an extended warranty with the money you save if you are concerned over that. I run an HP Elitebook 8540w for work with a 900p display that I thought was nice but the Envy 14 with Radiance blows it out of the water. If only I could have gotten work to approve the Dreamcolor display which is universally praised as the best screen on any laptop (although at a $500 premium).

There haven't been any reviews on it but I know Dell just released a new XPS 15 with an RGB LCD, it should best the Radiance for color accuracy and come close to it for brightness and contrast although it will probably fall short on viewing angles.

 

The beats edition was never offered with the radiance even when it was available for the E14...

And Mac's are offered with a better standard display because they are significantly more expensive, at least companies like HP offer it as an upgrade so the people who don't want it can save some money. And yes, not everyone has to have the radiance, god forbid .

 

Well I bought one without the Radiance on Amazon. Ill be getting it on Wednesday so Ill see how good/bad it is. I decided to get it anyways because the most Ill be doing on it is surfing the net and using Word and a little bit of WoW/SC2 here and there.

 

I really don't think everyone is in agreement on that. I am sure that there are a lot of people who like the size/power combination of the Envy 14 that are just fine without the radiance display.

 

My point is more that without the Radiance display there are any number of laptops with similar specs. Perhaps my comment was a bit of an overstatement but to me the Radiance display is what made the Envy 14 special.

 

yeah. even without the radiance if I had a choice between the e14 and the dv6t:se I'd still pick the e14 on account of the cooling system design (which is very nice..at least with the keeping the keyboard cool for where you normally put your hands while gaming...also yeah, computer stays pretty cool), and well 14.5 inch 1336x768 is better than a 15.6inch 1336x768.


I mean if I was stuck with 1336x768 in general and wanted a gaming laptop I"d go for the acer 3820tg but that's still not really available in the US

 

4820TG is available from amazon for 800. Also, there's a slickdeal for the E14 for 945 shipped to cali with various configs (-400off from 1249config).

@Magus, respond to my post in the gaming lounge por favor