HP's New ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 First Look: Good Design and 3D Discussion

Today HP unveils new ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 notebooks. The ENVY design has been contentious, and even HP admits borrowing from Apple's MacBook Pro. The new design eases off, adding a pop of red trim and a new volume dial - read on to hear our thoughts.

Read the full content of this Article: HP's New ENVY 15 and ENVY 17 First Look: Good Design and 3D

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The Envy 15 looks interesting to me. If it has the 6850m then it'd have a good balance between performance and battery life.

 

Give me this with Ivy Bridge, Radeon HD 78xx graphics, and Windows 8 and I'd die a happy man. There, I said it.

 

I have to say, I think my favorite feature is the daggone volume dial and I can provide precisely zero logical reasons for it. I just like it.

 

but 720p on the 15" is disappointing

 

That's why they also offer a full HD upgrade.

"Starting with those bright displays, the Envy 15 will be offered with a 15.6-inch, 1080p Radiance panel, which should hearten anyone who was dismayed when HP discontinued that kind of screen for the Envy 14. " - Engadget

 

Is the Envy 15 getting IPS? Since engadget mention IPS.
"The 17.3-inch Envy 17 will come standard with a 1080p Radiance screen, but it's a TN panel, whereas the Envy 15 gets the full IPS treatment. "
HP redesigns its Envy laptops, announces the Envy 15, 17 and 17 3D (video) -- Engadget

 

Dear Hewlett Packard,

It's good to see you back.

Sincerely,
Mitlov

 

If their build quality woes are finally resolved and that they can pack the 15 with Gen-1/2 GPU power, I think they will win their marbles back...

 

Well, I'm not sure "discontinued" is the best term to use.

HP stopped offering the screens on the ENVY 14 because they had a supply issue with its only OEM for the Radiance screens ... which was made worse earlier this year after the disaster in Japan (earthquake, tsunami and radiation leak from nuclear power plant). HP had to stop offering the Radiance panels for a while because of the interruption in supply.

 

So there won't be a 14" anymore? What's the smaller screen size that they are updating next year?

 

The ENVY 14 is still being sold, it just isn't getting the fancy design treatment...yet.

I'd like to see HP release a 13-inch ENVY without an optical drive that's a good bit thinner. I'd be sorely tempted, I think.

 

Not liking the red trim, but everything else looks good.

 

Agreed. At least it's not ugly orange trim like Dell has been using on some of the Latitude notebooks.

Color is a very personal choice ... that's why I wish more manufacturers used adjustable LED backlit keyboards so each owner can customize the accent color of his/her notebook. Something like Alienware does, only NOT so extreme.

It would also help manufacturers avoid accidentally choosing a color that customers find unappealing. Make the notebooks one neutral color (black, silver, etc.) and then let the owners select the LED color they want using the software.

 

You have no taste.

Honestly though, I super dig the red trim, and there's very little of it. Just a slight touch here and there, which helps to make it distinctive. The new ENVYs look like something you might see in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (well, maybe if they were nuclear steam-powered, or something).

Speaking of configurable keyboards, not a single one of these new laptops let you change the brightness of the keyboard backlight. HP basically looked at me like an idiot when I challenged them on it.

 

YES!

+1000

 

Yeah, after toting around this MacBook Air, I'm basically spoiled against big, heavy laptops now, haha. The M11x is just a bit too much Alienware for me.

 

Any word on the thickness of the optical drive on the envy 15? I want to have a bluray drive put in this.

 

9.5mm on the ENVY 15, 12.7mm on the ENVY 17. So...possible, but pricey....

I'll update the post to reflect that - thanks for pointing it out.

 

Both look pretty good overall. I feel like they're sort of in-between the new Elitebooks and Pavilion lineup from an aesthetics point of view. The red trim is quite subtle unlike some other laptops (latest Dell Latitudes, every other MSI gaming laptop, etc). I too like the volume dial.

On the other hand, I wish they could've lost the optical drive on the Envy 15 as they did on the last generation and added more ports, a larger battery, second internal HDD bay, or even more cooling. There's so much potential for all that wasted space, and I think the first Envy 15 really recognized and addressed that quite well.

 

Yeah, I can't change the brightness of the keyboard backlighting on my Vaio F. This surprised the hell out of me, as I can do this with my 2008 MacBook pro.

 

I'm really digging that volume dial.

 

Sounds to me like you want the just-announced HP Folio 13 ultrabook.

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=6316&News=HP+Ultrabook+HP+Folio+Palm+Foleo

 

Do you have the weight and dimensions of the laptop

 

Since there aren't any 9.5mm slot load bluray drives, it is impossible.

 

Would make a really good alternative to those that are looking at the current Dell XPS 15z, Sony SE, Samsung Series 7, .... if it comes with a decent GPU and good battery life.

 

HP historically has put good GPUs in the Envy models. Good battery life is more of a question, considering how shockingly short the currenty Envy 17's battery life is, but then again, the Vaio SE (without the sheet battery) isn't setting any records either.

I think the Envy 15 with the upgraded screen is going to really give models like the Vaio SE and the Samsung Series 7 a run for their money. Besides, the more competition the better in my book.

 

I would be a happy camper if HP just applied the new design on the same principles of the original envy 15: great gpu, great cpu, thin and sort of light, not to mention add that needed battery life.

the cooling solution was well thought, and the 3 fans were a joy to see. Howe ver to lose that space to a ODD is borderline yuuuck!

 

D'oh, yes. I was obviously thinking of that tray-loading Panny.

 

Suppose I'll reserve final judgment until I see these in person, but based on the photos, I'm pretty disappointed by the design. The early Envy 13/14/15/17 had a bit of a unique look, whereas these are just out-and-out MacBook Pro photocopies-- even the metal colors and touchpad finish have been changed to match, along with a cheap Pavilion-like black screen cover (fingerprint magnet-- look at the photos on Engadget).

They're not the sleekest machines by any means, but at least the earlier models used curves and tapered surfaces to reduce visual impact. The flat edges on these, combined with the speaker grille, makes them look like a cross between a MacBook Pro and a Compaq closeout special from a few years ago.

The volume knob is a nice touch, but overall I think my old Envy 15 looks a heck of a lot more interesting than these new ones.

I think HP's dropped the ball on this by trying to clone MBPs of the past. I can see Apple making the MBP line much sleeker (more MBA-like), dropping the optical drive (which HP added back into the Envy 15 for some odd reason), and leaving HP in the dust.

Wonder if any of the Voodoo team is left at HP at all...

Except it looks like HP's business line (i.e. quite boring), and is explicitly pitched as so (press release is titled "HP Unveils Its First Business Ultrabook"). The Folio's not sleek enough for someone looking for an MBA (or an Asus UX31 for that matter) to buy -- which is the purpose of the Envy line. Might compete decently with the other conservative ultrabooks (like the Lenovo IdeaPad).

An Envy Ultrabook would be great- in 13" and 15". Thin, light, optical-free machines with great design, SSD only, maybe with a dedicated GPU on the 15.

 

Wow, really? I think the old ENVY lineup looks a lot more like a MacBook Pro than the new design does.

I do agree about the optical drive; it needs to go away, and I do think that Apple will soon be making the MBP line a lot closer to the MBA than it is now.

 

The next MBP might steel its thunder, but personally, I'm not at all worried. HP managed to use the best design elements from Compaq (namely their former Evo line), HP (well isn't that obvious), and Apple and made "the" perfect looking product. As long as the Ivy Birdge iteration looking anything like this one, 100% buy for me.

 

needs a gpu that is not a bag of balls.

 

wonder what GPU it will have... the previous one had a HD5830, which was pretty good for its time.

 

HD7690M, a rehashed HD6770M. A disappointment really.

 

Where do you get the performance rating from? If you look at the benchmarks,
HP Communities - Hands On: New Envy 15, 17 ? And A New Look - HP Communities
the Envy 15 performs a bit over the 6630m but quite beneath the 6750m and 6770m.
Looking at the Envy 17, it just performs a bit over the 6850m. Btw my 5870m has a windows rating of 6.8, the Envy 17 gets 7.0. This indicates some decent grafic power.
I know that this is just very little data which only gives some indication, so take what I am saying here with a grain of salt.

But again, where do you get the info about the rehashed 6770m from?

 

From this ?

 

I always liked the volume dial on earlier Toshibas I reviewed, I found it convenient. These days most notebook vendors don't even include dedicated volume up/down buttons, which is a shame (strangely enough, it seems only the business notebooks include them).

These new ENVY notebooks look great and if I was in the market, I'd be eyeing the 17. The glossy display is about the only thing I don't like.

 

Nice,where is that from? If this is true, that would be good news. It would outperform the MBP, which is the logical counterpart and quite the most powerful notebook with compareable specs, measurements.

That would also mean that my estimations from the review would be too low, which would be great and easily possible as the error bars are quite high with that little information that we have.

Thanks for the info so far.

 

Did they fix the trackpad completely?

I hope they did. This would be my next machine if they fixed it. I went to bestbuy a few weeks or so ago and played with Envy there. At times the envy STILL had problems correctly interpreting my clicks/movements.

 

Honestly, if the 7690M really is just a 6770M, then, other than the screen and looks, why get this over a Dv6t?

 

Audio, battery life, size, backlit keyboard, top Wifi configuration availible, ssd+hd combo availible

 

I really hope the trackpad is improved though....the one on the current Envy is just a complete joke....

Other than that though I've got my sights set on the new model. The 7th cant come soon enough...

 

The Audio and battry life on the Dv6t are both phenominal, however. And, with an HDD caddy and a non whitelisted BIOS, you can also have the SSD+HDD combo. Not to say the Envy 15 dosen't look absolutely amazing, but if its not too much different hardware wise than the Dv6t, why pay the price premium? (Course, w/coupons, there might not be much of one.)

 

I don't see where your discussion is going, buy the Dv6 if you want, it is a good laptop. This is like the question if you need a BMW 5 because a BMW 3 can do most of the same things already. And the price difference is not that big between Envy and DV6 (couple of hundred bucks, which buy you the things we talked about). If you don't value those things, buy the DV6.
For me for example, phenomenal battery life is 7-10h, not 4-5h, and I don't want a battery that sticks out. I also like the backlit keyboard and the real estate, and the thickness (thinness) of the Envy. The Audio upgrade etc. are also a nice thing to have.

So, if you want a horse, buy the DV6, if you want a stallion, buy the Envy

 

Completely get what your saying, and agree. I'm just saying, as long as the 7690M is just a 6770M rebrand, they are kind of redundant. Obviously, the Envy is a better laptop, but the DV6t is a better value. Just pointing that out.

And, funny you should mention the 3 and 5 series, I have a 545i. My brother has a 3 series, and I obviously think mine is infinitely better.

 

nice

Don't dismiss those little things, they are far more important that many people think. Apple's strength has not been the hardware until recently (2011 macbook pro, ipad 2 and iphone 4/4s are top notch) but they always focused on the small things, like WiFi, screen, keyboard, touchpad...
At the end of the day, those are the things you are dealing with all the time. The GPU in this form factor could be a bit stronger, ~30% or so, but is this really a dealbreaker? For most people, no, a couple of more frames per second won't change your life.

I own a Clevo gaming notebook atm, and gaming is really nice on it. BUT most of the time, I use it for multimedia or work, and it is loud, thick, heavy and has low battery life, the audio is bad etc.

I want those little things, and as long as the GPU is decent, I will be ok. You still have the option to go to the Envy 17, which will be quite strong.

 

Speaking of screen, the IPS screen would be the only reason I'd sell my Dv7t for one of these.

On another note, I had an M15x w/5870M before this, and as amazingly powerful as that is, the Dv7t is infinitely better to use. The audio and screen are top notch, and the audio is the best I've ever heard.

As for the Envy 17, if it can offer a decent price, GPU hardware on par with the 6850M and good battery life, I will snatch one up in a second.

 

The GPU will outperform the 6850M from what we have seen in benchmarks, maybe something like the 7850M.

Btw, they will both have 7xxxM GPUs, and I guess we won't hear any more before Dec. 6, when AMD is supposed to show off it's new GPUs. Envy release: Dec. 7

 

Yeah, the GPU will most likely be a 78xxM part. Got to say, cannot wait for the new GPU's from AMD. Need some good news from them.