Your honest thoughts about the Envy 14?

Hey guys I own a M11x and I'm not that satisfied with it's current performance. Thought I would sell it and get an HP Envy 14, but I'm not sure if I should wait for a refresh or not or even get another laptop.

So I was wondering how do you guys like your Envy 14s so far?
Is the brightview screen really that bad? and compared to the radiance?
Should I buy a refurbished 14 with a radiance?
How is it's performance compared to M11x?
Performance compared to other machines of its calibre?
How much of a price hit would I take for a i7 Envy 14?
Do you Envy 14 owners have another laptop you wish you have gotten instead?

Thanks for reading guys, hope you can help me make this decision.

EDIT: Oh as for what I'm planning to use it for, mostly gaming, school stuff, typical college student stuff

 

fabulousness, performance for form factor.

Radiance is recommended but not a must.

only gripe i have is the soft screeching/whining noise. I sent my envy back to HP to get this repaired.

 

Wait for a possible Sandy Bridge update. Brightview isn't as bad as people make it out to be.

 

honest opinion. the only laptop i would want instead would be a mbp 13 or mb air 13.. for the form factor the envy 14 is the best you can find.. performance and style. i have the radiance and i think once you use it you can never go back..

 

Hmm but if I wait for the refresh, how much do you guys think it would be? I'm trying to stay in the less than 1k range

 

Put it this way: I will not let anyone touch my Envy 14!
That's how much I like it!
The screen, the performance, the battery life!

 

If you don't really care about battery life and a small increase in performance, then you should buy now (assuming HP doesn't refresh with a higher-res screen). With some tweaking, I can get 2:45-3:45 of battery life while browsing on an i7 envy. When word processing, batterybar estimates up to 5:45 (although I doubt that claim).

 

If you want to stay under 1k, I'd bite the bullet and buy now. You'll be getting a 10%-18% performance increase by going with the next gen if you wait.

As far as my feelings about my purchase. I'm pretty happy. The brightview screen is disappointing. But I have a nice 24 inch screen with 92% color gamut that I use. So it was a calculated choice for me to buy a laptop with a screen that is just okay.

The sound, is killer. I have a nice pair of sennheiser's I use. Just outstanding. If you use any cheapo heaphones or earbuds, be prepared for some static. Really need like 30+ ohms of impedance.

Fans get a little loud when playing games, I don't have a comparison laptop to compare to. But I play with headphones so I don't really care.

The i5 is pretty good, handles what I throw at it well.

I have the beats edition, I love the backlight on the keys, I cannot speak for the regular edition. My only complaint on the keyboard is that I use the right shift key more often then left, and it is short.

Chassis is very nice, very stable. I wouldn't mind about a pound off the weight of the laptop, but it was a trade I made such that I could have a laptop that would survive taking a bus every day in my backpack. It does an out standing job.

 

Owner of HP Envy 14 "normal" carbon relic version for 2 months now.

This is the best laptop I've owned. The build quality is good and the casing is very sturdy. Reminds me of the unibody MacBook Pro in that regard. Performance is good, processor is very fast. I've upgraded to 8GB DDR3 RAM and an SSD, which has improved performance furthermore.

Radeon 5650 is a very capable graphics solution, and plays modern games like DiRT 2 without any problems. Radiance display is very good.

Battery life compared to the m11x probably falls short slightly, but it's still good at about 4 hours of average use on Intel GMA "Power saving GPU". Switchable graphics can be annoying sometimes when selecting "Power saving GPU" or "High performance GPU". Sometimes it does nothing without any feedback. However, telling it to switch automatically when going from A/C to battery (and vice versa) seems to work fine.

If you're looking for battery life, go for the i5 so you get switchable graphics. the i5 450M is a very fast processor from my benchmarks, but you can go further with the i5 580M.

Couple of things that are slightly annoying, but not dealbreakers:

* CPU whine. It only happens when the CPU has clocked itself down and is idling at 0% - no longer bothers me, as I have gotten used to it
* Uneven keyboard backlighting. The center of the keyboard has dimmer backlighting, the result of a slightly misaligned keyboard

 

Does that mean the i7 version doesn't have switchable graphics? How big is the differential in battery life between i7 and i5 as well as performance?

I was looking at benchmark numbers between Envy 14 and M11x and it seems Envy 14 is ahead by a significant amount but what do you guys mean by only "small increase in performance" ?

Just so I get an idea of how different it is.. How does it play Starcraft II? I tried playing it on M11x and it feels like I have to drop settings because the processor can't handle it.

Btw all your comments are really helpful so far Thanks a lot everyone who has responded

 

One of the major selling points of the newest Sandy Bridge processors are that they have switchable graphics for the i7. The current Envy is still using the last-gen i7, which does not have switchable graphics.

Clock-for-clock, the newer SB processors are about 17% faster than the older i7's in the current Envy 14. The SB's run faster in general, but turbo boost less.

On average, people with the i5 get about twice as much battery life as the i7. However, with some tweaking, I can manage in the upper 2 to three hours for an i7. People with the i5 can easily reach the lower 4's and above.

The i7 should have way more processing power than the C2D in the m11x. (I'm assuming you don't have the latest core-i series m11x)

In the end, it all boils down to how much you want to pay for an Envy. You could wait, pay more, and get a faster, latest-gen Envy (keep in mind that HP may not refresh the Envy series), or buy a cheaper Envy right now that still has plenty of oomph to be considered a fast machine for quite a while.

 

Ah I actually have an i7 but I'm not savvy enough to overclock, plus I'm already having heating problems which I'm trying to get fixed from Dell :/

Now I'm completely reconsidering the i7 for the Envy, thanks for the input :]
Problem is the Envy 14 SB refresh is just a rumor as of now isn't it?

 

I think the i7 in the M11x is the dual-core i7, which is really just an i5 with faster turbo boost...

 

If you're looking at gaming capabilities (which I assume you would, since you bought an alienware in the first place), Envy's ATI 5650 is faster than the nvidia 335GT in m11x by about 10-20%, which would result in a proportional increase in fps when gaming.

The core i5 is also standard voltage, which holds a huge advantage over the low voltage core i5 or i7 in m11x. However CPU power only matters in certain games, like Starcraft 2.
That being said, upgrade to Sandy bridge will only result in marginal increase in gaming performance for most titles. But if you play SC2 then sandy bridge could improve 20-30% in fps over current i5.

Another thing, I've no idea how you can game on an 11in screen, I think my 14.5 in is a bit small sometimes. You must be squinting all the time with the m11x.

 

LOL And that is why I'm looking to replace it.

Well so far I'm leaning on this configuration for $1,075.77 including tax:
Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-580M Dual Core Processor (2.66GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.33GHz
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 DDR3 switchable graphics [HDMI] - For Dual Core Processors
4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
500GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 6.0 hours of battery life +++
14.5" diagonal High Definition HP BrightView Infinity LED Display (1366x768)
SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth


Or to bid on this

There are new HP Envy 14s on ebay with Radiance and i5 580m processors for $1400 but I can't bring myself to pay that much :[

 

By all means get the one with Radiance. I promise you won't be disappointed. After looking at my radiance for a couple of weeks, that old brightview just looks like a crappy VGA screen to me.
I have the identical model, so expect to pay around $1100-$1200 for it.

 

.

Quad vs Dual for games is not much of a difference at all.

 

The Pros:
-Even when working hard, it runs only warm compared to my mate's hotplate of a MBP
-The screen
-The weight
-The Battery Life
-General Appearance/Build Quality

Criticisms:
-Uneven Keyboard Lighting
-Issues with mDP>VGA dongle (Still unable to make this work, sucks for projectors)
-The buttonless trackpad (played with a new MBP, I want that touchpad)
-The average inbuilt speakers (but it really is great with headphones)
-It would be nice if they used a glass overlay instead of plastic on the screen


Commonly commented on - but not experienced:
-Whine (maybe I spend time around loud cars too much)
-Keyboard flex, if I look for it I can see some displacement, but no more than other laptops
-Fan noise, I have the quietest laptop out of all my friends.

 

The battery life difference between the i5 and i7 is supposed to be rather significant, as the i7 only uses the ATI graphics card. That's why I'm on the fence about purchasing an Envy 14 right now. it seems to me that the life span of the i7 will be longer than the i5, since the next CPU update from Intel will only shrink the die size. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure in 2-3 years there might be an 8 core CPU, but the new quad core i7 will last for quite some time and with the new Sandy Bridge i7 having switchable graphics it should increase battery life somewhat. I just don't want to get the i5 because its life cycle will be far less than the new i7's. But that's the dilemma with computers, buy now or hold out for unconfirmed reports. That's where I'm current stuck at.

 

Alright guys, I decided to sell my m11x and sit on the money till the end of the month to see if theres anything new or if Envy 14 price drops a little.

If something does show up I'm probably going for the i5 SB model because the performance increase with i7 for gaming is somewhat negligible? If nothing about a refresh pops up I'm probably going for the i5 580 for the old Envy 14 on or buy used Radiance with i5 520. Thanks for all the help :]

 

I love my computer and te is nothing wrong with it. Love the trackpad, the keyboard is slightly unevenly lit, but it dosnt bother me. Its silent and fast, and im in love. Not one flaw.

My only flaw i can find is i cant find a way to backup JUST and ONLY the Recovery drive, but o well

 

Alright, if you have the time and money to wait/spend I would definitely wait for the next refresh with SB. It'll have better performance/battery life which is definitely one of the many attractive things about the envy line right now.

About the actual laptop itself- I only had my first for about 20 minutes before it screwed up :/ And just a warning, the HP support is awful. absolutely, completely, truly terrible. I luckily (finally) got a replacement model to be built for me, so I guess that's good.
Anyways, the build is very good, at least it seemed to me for those 20 minutes. Keyboard was excellent, trackpad isn't superb like the macbook pro's but definitely above average.

 

According to Notebookcheck.net, Radeon 5650 and GeForce 335M GT are similar in performance. Great site for reference, by the way!

* GeForce 335M GT: NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M - Notebookcheck.net Tech
* Radeon 5650: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 - Notebookcheck.net Tech

Games like DiRT 2 favour the GeForce GT 335M, whereas Crysis and Far Cry 2 seem to be better on the Radeon 5650. This however, could be the difference of the 335M only supporting DirectX 10 in a DirectX 11 supported game.

Overall, I don't think you'll see a *huge* difference going from the m11x to the Envy 14 in terms of GPU performance for some games, but others may have a noticable improvement, like Crysis and Far Cry 2. Depends on the game really.
The other big thing is the Radeon 5650 has better features, such as DirectX 11 support, whereas the 335M only supports up to DirectX 10.1.

HP has also underclocked the ATI GPU memory from stock on the Envy 14 as well, probably to help avoid overheating, so those benchmarks reported on Notebookcheck are probably going to be a little lower in practice.

 

Getting the i7 Envy may net you higher core voltages for the 5650, allowing higher overclocks. I can get mine stable @ 550/900 clocks. The Hynix memory that HP uses is rated at 800 MHz, so they're not downclocking the memory.

 

I have had my Envy 14 for 5 months now and it is a superb small and portable laptop. I am using it with the slice battery and battery life is excellent. Performance is excellent too and the laptop itself is a very good one. I do not think I would choose anything else now.

As for BV and Radiance screens - I do not give a damn about the diference and am not going to add extra 20% just to have a different screen.

P.S. I am not saying this is the best laptop I have ever had as I still think the HDX 9000 Dragon was better.

 

Lucky you. My radiance has spoiled my so much. I find my eyes to be so extra sensitive to pixel density, contrast and color saturation these days, that I have to try really hard to look at regular screens and not be blinded by its fuzziness. You should find a friend who has a radiance, then you'll know the curse...

 

I eally doubt it will change anything. I have an HP IQ830UK with 1920x1200 screen and can see the difference for sure, it is not my main concern with a laptop though. It is being used while travelling and at work and foremostly it has to give me batery life and performance in a portable package. Besides, the bigger the screen resolution the higher battery consumption.

P.S. I am not going to watch HD movies on a 14.5 screen so that reason does not mean anything to me either. Of course higher resolution means more usable space, but even with the BV screen Envy 14 is the best laptop in its class with everyone else miles behind in most respects.

 

I'll gladly relieve you of your burden sir!

 

This is the first time I have posted here in a while..
I ordered my Envy 14 first day it came out, still LOVE it.
I have the Radiance screen, cant imagine going back to BV, but if I had that I would live with it. Beats audio is great, especially with good headphones. I am able to play the new WoW expansion at all high settings with no lag even in raid settings. Best laptop still happy with it. Only thing I want on this is the MBP touchpad

 

My best laptop of three that I have owned. Also like it alot more than everyone else in the house/friends. A beaty!

 

you obviously did not use the radiance pass a few hours.. after a few days with it you will love and want it.

 

agreed, but it might be years.. until windows computers get it as smooth as apple's touchpad

 

and by then, apple will already have another "magical" device that controls the computer, rather than an ORDINARY touchpad!

 

Well there's a few manufacturers using glass coating touch pads already. Was it lenovo? :/ I forget.

Anyways Apple's touch pad is nice but definitely not a day and night difference between good touchpads.

@Radiance display
The radiance display isn't anything that special in terms of PPI, etc. There are plenty of even better screens in the 15" range, and Sony has (or had?) their Vaio Z@ 13.1"@ 1920x1080 if I am not mistaken

1600x900@ 14.5"= leads around 125ppi~
15.4" @1920x1200= 146.8ppi
13.1" @1920x1200= 168.2ppi
Typical 14" screen has a ppi of 111.9

To be an about it, the HP Envy 17" with a 1080P screen has very similar ppi if not maybe even just a tiny bit better.

 

The way I get around low pixel density is making things in Windows smaller (window buttons, borders, etc.) Also making the fonts smaller by a notch makes the screen seem higher-res, and it fits more information as well. Windows' font smoothing should make even smaller fonts easy to read. I can read most websites with the font pretty small 2-4 feet away.

 

MBP is great, no doubt, but at 2.5 to 3 times what i paid for my envy, i couldnt justify the price gap. and then youre tied into more apple products in the future.

envy 14 is IMO the best PC laptop. would the radiance have been great to have?, sure, but the way i see it is it doesnt have blue-ray anyway, so whats the point of having a HD screen. im not gonna watch movies on my computer anyway. the regular screen is pretty good regardless.