questions on the envy 15/17.

The hp shopping site is extremely poorly designed imo, I am having trouble finding basic answers to these questions.

1)exact graphics card in envy 15?
2)exact graphics card in envy 17?
3) do the laptops thickness increase in the rear?
4)is it made of plastic or aluminum or both?
5) is the lid fully black or is there a design on it?
6) does the hp logo glow?
6b) battery life?

also looking for the following help

7) is it better than the m11x for gaming?
8) is the 1080p screen quality good?
9) is it thick for a 17" laptop?
10) any reviews of these new models?
11) heat/noise?

 

1+2) The graphics card on both is the AMD Radeon 7690M - however the ENVY 17 has the XT version, which seems to have better performance. The cards are comparable to and slightly better than the older 6850M GPUs used in older models.

3) The laptop is the same thickness all the way through to the rear of the system.

4) The inside, laptop lid, and edges are all a mix of Aluminium, Magnesium, and other Metals. The screen and click-pad are both flat glass. The bottom seems to be hard plastic - not sure though.

5+6) The lid is fully black, with the small HP logo on the bottom corner - it illuminates when the laptop is turned on.

6b) Batty life for both is rated by HP around 9 hours, expect around 7.5 to 8 - this always depends on what you have running however.

7) The M11x is much much smaller, and will end up around the same cost for the same internals. I'd say the ENVY is the better computer overall, especially with the 33% off coupon going right now. For playing games, I have no idea what the M11x can do, but I think the ENVY will be better.

8) The ENVY 15 has the radiance display, which is touted as one of the top IPS displays on any laptop - so yes, it's good.

9) The ENVY 17 and 17 3D are both the same size - exactly .3" taller when closed than a MBP 17. Height is 1.28” when closed.

10) No new reviews yet, but we are expecting some before the weekend.

11) We don't know about the heat and noise yet, but it seems that they have very very good air intake/cooling systems, so there son't be any problems like the first generation of ENVYs.

I hope I helped!

 

thanks for the detailed response...ok so I might buy this laptop!!! the m11x was really close but wow I just randomly went to hp's website and noticed the update, and it looks amazing!!! everything I want and need in a laptop. so the thickness and overall size seems less the the g73. My main concern is that the graph card is really unknown and not yet proven. also without optimus or any kind of graphics switching how can HP's claims be real? just asking...

lol the details on the "power savings" are so vauge, need more info. thanks.

 

As far as I can understand, it has intel graphics for when you are simply web-browsing or doing other simple tasks, but when gaming or watching movies, it uses the 7690M.

Also, the 17 has a rather large 6-cell battery, which actually cannot be removed - so it's most likely a specialized battery for the system. I think this also helps the battery life as well.

If it helps you, my HP 17 3D, after using the 33%-off cost me only $1,466.68 with the following specs:

• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2670QM (2.2 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.1 GHz
• 1GB AMD Radeon 7690M XT
• 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 1.5TB 7200 rpm Dual Hard Drive (750GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery
• 17.3" Radiance Full HD 3D Display (1080p)
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) with Wireless Display Support
• Full-size Radiance backlit keyboard
• Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 9 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 9
• 2 year Limited warranty + 2 year Extended/Accidental warranty

A M11x with "comparable" specs would be $1,927.00 - those specs having 750GB less storage, no optical drive, smaller screen, no 3D, 1 year less of a warranty, no phone support, and a 540M instead of a newer card.

I'd go with the ENVY while the coupon still works.

 

33% did not work for me, $500 off is working. in any case I can't place my order till next week. I guess I will just hope that I can get a similar deal in a week cause I think the $500 will expire by then.

 

Just to add greater clarification to what my friend SoulMisaki has stated.

The Envy 15 gets the 7690m graphics which on a late-prototype model outdid the 6770m graphics by roughly 10%-15%. The Envy 17 gets the 7690m XT graphics which on a late-Prototype model was around 50% faster than the 7690m from the Envy 15 and slightly outdid the 6850m of the previous gen Envy 17 (these cards use much less power than the 6850m, so great performance with great battery life potential)

The graphics in these laptops will easily outperform the M11x.

The battery is internal, but can be easily user replaceable, but HP says doing yourself will void the warranty (maybe they might change that or do upgrades with free labor) (to replace the battery itself would be about the maintenance level of replacing a hard drive)

 

wow i started looking at this laptop after seeing an older one in person. I hope they still have good coupons in the next two weeks as that is when im looking to order. the coupon is better then the epp price also. Wish i knew about the 33% off one before.

 

The 33% off coupon is still valid through today: NBH7589

 

I am thinking of getting the SSD as changing the hard drive will void the warranty. Anyone know how fast/what drive HP is using?

 

Why would changing the hard drive void the warranty? The new hard drive won't be covered under HP's warranty if something goes wrong with it or it causes the issue, but I don't understand why it would void it. If you have a link that validates that it would void the warranty, I would like to see it. Thanks.

 

In speaking with several customer service reps they all told me that it would void the warranty to change the hard drive, ie it is not a user serviceable part. Battery is in the same boat.

If anyone one is wondering I found out the SSd offerings are intel.

 

Changing the hard drive does not void the warranty. The manual has instructions on upgrading the hard drive. They just wouldn't provide support on the non-stock hard drive. The customer service rep that you spoke to has no clue. The memory and hard drive can be upgraded or changed or else they wouldn't provide the instructions in the manual.