Which Envy 15 do you think is better?

hi everybody. I am thinking about getting an Envy 15 I would be using it for gaming and college.

The problem is:
i5-520m 1366x768
or
i5-430m 1920x1080

is there a real performance difference?

 

Go for the screen. A Full HD, higher-quality screen will make your computing world so much better, especially if this is your primary computer.

Besides, there's not going to be a huge difference gaming-wise between the two processors. What matters is the graphics card. The card will have to work a lot harder with HD resolution but you can always decrease the resolution of the game you're playing.

 

Edit: Oops, this post was filled with a plethora of misinformation! Please disregard!

 

Envy 15, dude. It's easy to get E14 tunnel vision in this subforum, though...

But, yes, the better display will make a huge difference, the better processor, not so much.

 

Hah, you're right! For some reason I thought this was discussing the supposed 1366x768 Amazon Envy 14 and the regular 1600x900 Envy 14.

Definitely my bad! The Envy 15 will perform much better than the Envy 14 in games, as the 5830 is significantly faster than the 5650.

If gaming is what you want, and you don't care about battery life, go with the Envy 15.

However, I don't know where you'd be getting an Envy 15 with an i5 from, as I thought they discontinued i5's in the Envy 15.

 

i saw some on ebay but i have to ask if those are 2gen.

 

HP ENVY 15 LAPTOP i5-430M 15.6 LED (1920X1080) DVD RW - eBay (item 110555558251 end time Aug-04-10 14:00:17 PDT)

 

or do you think i should try the envy 14 because I've been reading the owners lounge and im very scared about all those horror stories with laptops in very bad conditions. I dont want to deal with HP

 

If your only choice is between these two Envy 15 models with different screens, definitely go for the 1920x1080 considering the purposes you described.

I've gotten used to this resolution and I can't imagine taking this screen back down to 1366x768. Not sure if you will be working with Creative Suite apps like photoshop, but it definitely helps with image editing or working with two documents side by side. Running 3D games in 1080p resolution is such a different experience, I've gone back and tried some old ones from years ago like Oblivion - they look gorgeous in 1080p.

 

any Envy with the 5830 video card is a gen 2 for sure...

 

thanks. now i think ill get the envy with the 1920x1080 because i really like to work with 2 documents side by side.

 

i found something interesting. does the envy 15 with i5 has switchable graphics?. i read that i has the PM55 and it doesnt have support for switchable graphics card

 

nope, currently the only chipset that supports swichtable graphics is the HM55.

now there is something curious in the gen 2 thread a user reported that when his envy came back from repairs there was a switchable graphics option, although he couldn't test it since he has a i7 (the motherboard was exchanged)

 

so do you think its a good idea to buy an envy 15 even if it doesnt have switchable graphics and that it is discontinued ? or is there an other good choice for gaming and college?

 

Do you care about battery life, or just want to game?

The Envy 17 will be the better gaming notebook (the 5850 is among the most powerful notebook GPUs), you get to game in 1080p, but on the negative side it is rather big and doesn't get great battery life, at least with the 6-cell.

The Envy 14 is still a capable gaming unit, but you can't expect to play every game on maximum settings. If it's any indication, users are playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 on medium settings and getting on average over 30FPS. It's got switchable graphics, and seems to get pretty good battery life.

If gaming is top priority, the Envy 17 is the better choice. If size and battery life matter, I'd go with the Envy 14.

 

and what about the dv6t se ist it better then the envy 14? i read that the graphics card of the envy 14 is slower clocked than the one in the dv6t, but i also read that the dv6t is got heat problems

 

I don't know if you have seen this thread

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...-vs-envy-15-vs-dv6tse-side-side-shootout.html

but the poster has bought all three models you are considering and he will be running some comparison tests

 

You're correct that the DV6t SE's 5650 runs at 550MHz compared to the Envy 14's 450MHz. It's not a huge difference, but it's significant.

If you don't care that the DV6t SE lacks a couple of the Envy 14's features (such as the higher resolution screen), then go for the DV6t SE. I've seen pictures of it, and talked to an owner, and the build quality seems pretty solid. I haven't heard about heat problems.

It's up to you. Personally I went with the Envy 14 as it's smaller (14.5" compared to 15.6"), has the higher resolution screen (1600x900 compared to 1366x768), and has the option for the battery slice in the future, among a couple other things.

 

i would love to get the envy 14 but im scared about getting one with lots of defects and having to RMA it

 

I think you risk that with any HP laptop, to be honest.

Take a look at this thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-...hat-quality-condition-your-new-envy-14-a.html

Over 84% of users were happy with their Envy 14 and will not be requesting an RMA.