dm4t ssd vs envy14 hdd

alright i am growing a bit impatient, the envy 14 looks awesome but right now they are offering a 400 dollar off coupon on the dm line of laptops and i can configure the dm4t with a 160 gig ssd and make it be cheaper than the envy 14.
here are the differences.
dm4 5450 vs the envys 5650 ( i am not a pc gamer tho...)
the dm4 would have the high capacity 6 cell vs the envys 8 cell
both would be 4 gigs of ram, both have the intel i5 450
the dm4 has a 160 ssd and the envy has a 320 gig hdd
i have an external 24 inch monitor that i will take to college with me.

the dm4t with taxes, shipping and coupon comes out to $1077 while the envy 14 comes out to $1157 with the 10% student discount.
i am not a pc gamer but my main reason for wanting the envy is because of the backlight keyboard and the styling, i hear it is over kill for a college student but i want my laptop to last me 3+ years which is why i thought the 5650 would do me good. but as a cash strapped in coming college freshman who doesnt play pc games would the smaller ssd equipped dm4t be better for me, i hear once you go ssd you dont go back so what do u guys think?

 

I did exactly what you were thinking (for college too) and went with the dm4t with SSD. However, I did grab the i7 620m. High Cap 6 cell battery should be fine when taking into account the more efficient dual core procs and switchable graphics.

 

na no need for the i7 i will be doing basic computing and rarely any gaming, i have an xbox360 and a 24inch 1080p monitor for that. frak the damn design on the envy, its so tempting but the ssd seems like such a powerful addition...

 

I own an Envy 15 and I have used a dm4t briefly. IMO, the dm4t is much more pleasing aesthetically than the Envy 15. If I understand correctly, the Envy 14 is more bulky and chunky in shape and heavier than the Envy 15, since it has an optical drive. With the brushed aluminum, the dm4t certainly doesn't feel like a cheap laptop, and I dislike the paisley dot pattern on the Envy immensely. I'm pretty certain the Envy 14 has the same flowery dot pattern. The dm4t feels very solid to hold in your hands, unlike most inexpensive laptops out there.

If you are not planning to run 3D games or do much work in Photoshop, or video encoding/editing software then I would highly recommend the dm4t. The SSD will save you a lot of time in bootup and shutdown and loading applications and it will improve the resale value more than the 5650.

 

yeah i like the lines on the dm4t and the envy 14 seems to have some wierd dot pattern, but then the envy is nice and flat while the dm4t has a wedge design... argh

 

have you considered ordering them both from HP direct and then returning whichever one you don't like within the 21-day period?

 

unfortunately i will be using my debit card and i don't have enough cash to do that.

 

Maybe you can try doing it in sequence - hopefully you will prefer the second one. ;-)

I have returned 2 different laptops to HP Direct for refund and they are pretty good about instantly emailing the return shipping label and I was credited the refund within about 1 day.