I replaced my dell inspiron with this laptop, and I was quite impressed when I first layed my hands upon the envy dv7.EXTERIOR DESIGN:
It has a very solid chrome-like feel. It isn't made of plastic except for the outer edges of the screen (which most laptops these days are trending to have), but the rest is very sturdy. It has an LED-lit HP logo, and also a light if you plug in your computer through the ethernet via the ethernet cable. A small warning would be that the light is particularly bright, but that does not bother me one bit when I go to bed, as it is all personal preference. Another smaller LED light is next to the charger port, but compared to the other lights, this one is barely noticeable.
The Keyboard is very sleek, living up to my expectations. The keys are able to be lit-up with a bright white LED, which can be turned on/off at any time of preference. Overall, the keyboard is nicely done and comfortable to use by HP, as all other Envy models. Same goes for the mousepad.
PERFORMANCE:
I was impressed in that they lived up to their spec's expectations. It boots up very quickly from a hard shutdown to a working desktop in around 20-30 seconds. With 8 gb ram, multitasking is strongly encouraged, with a 2.5 gHz clockspeed processor. However I must note that this is note a gaming laptop. Intel HD graphics 4000 is at the very low end of the graphics card department, but that does not drag down my experience with this laptop. Intel is still known for delivering crisp and simple graphics, though it isn't made for anything too graphic intensive. Another thing to note is that for some odd reason, all of my youtube videos seemed to stream inexplicably slowly. I upgraded to the latest version of adobe flash, but I would have to wait to stream anything that is 360+, forcing me to watch videos at 240p. Despite this huge letdown, overall the general performance was generally good.
The camera was flat-out average, with the mio. Nothing was too impressive here, it was all standard.
The sound was impressively loud. I would always be shocked of the capabilities of noise being produced by the Envy dv7, though I wish the subwoofer can do more of the base work. The sound quality was kind of a let-down. I could feel the base change as I toggle it through the Beats program, however the change is not very noticeable. This is not a problem for me though, because I usually only use my laptops at home, with built-in conveniences such as another external 3-inch creative sub woofer with surrounding speakers.
OVERALL:
Pros:
-Fast in general for basic use
-Great specs for price
-Great sturdy build
-Loud built-in speakers
-Great layout with lit-up keyboard and comfortable mouse pad
-17.3 inches delivers crisp experience
Cons:
-Not made for anything graphic intensive like games
-Youtube streams very slowly (may be just me)
-Camera and mic are average
-Speaker quality didn't live up to the hype it has received
I am not saying anything about windows 8 because I feel like it should not affect a PC/laptop's rating in general. I feel like if you want to review 2 stars on a laptop just because you strongly dislike windows 8, you should review windows 8 directly somewhere else.
OVERALL= 4/5
The speed is impressive, bootsvery quickly, goesfrom fullshutdown to ready in about 20 seconds. Movesamong appsblazingly fast,no lagtimeasit repaintsthe screen,exits and shuts downwithease. Set upfor anewmachine was easy withthe offer of standard orcustom. There arequite afewset up chpoice available in Custom, which I liked. I wasonlinevery quickly, itseemed the longesttask wasgetting the passwordfor the securenet.
Whilemany peoplearegoing forsmallerandsmallerlaptops (wonder when laptops and iPhoneswill converge?) I chooseto go big screenbecasue I usemy laptop forreal work. Iwantedessentialya desktopthat I couldtake with me. Idoalot ofpublishing and like to be able to seelayouts andgraphics clearly. Also,I canshowslideshows tosmall groupswithout need for aprojector.
Thescreen is allI'dhoped.The speed is all I'dhoped. Thekeyboard,forall itis extremelyattractive, just seemsbroken fortyping.
Added November 28: After working with HP Tech support, which was very polite and useful and agreed I had a hardware problem, I then went to Amazon customer support, which arranged for me to get a new, replacement laptop, and ship the defective one back no cost to me. The new one arrived and--after Thanksgiving holiday--I had time to explore the Envy.
The same delights: speed, graphics, big display, fast boot and shut down, fast change between apps, were all there. The keyboard works well, and I notice, the mouse buttons are easy too. After a day or so of typing, I am as fast as ever I was on my other keyboards. In fact, the keyboard has a nice feel: a gentle travel, responsive, nice space between keys to lessen the dread two letters/one touch problem. The ports are good, the SD up front is good design.
I'm upping from the original three stars to five. It is a handsome, quick, useful, easy to use, much more than adequate to my current needs. I don't regret the earlier review, HP's quality control should have caught that. I'm very glad I bought from Amazon. Their excellent customer service made the small increase ($6)over the lowest online price well worth it.
Buy HP Envy dv7-7240us 17.3-Inch Laptop Now
I bought this computer to replace my old HP Pavilion dv7, works well, looks great, sound is bomb and it is a whole lot faster than my old computer. Only issue I have is that the LED light on the side that is on when you plug the power in, is waaaay too bright. So if you have this in the same room while you are sleeping plugged in it can be a problem though I just unplug when I sleep.Read Best Reviews of HP Envy dv7-7240us 17.3-Inch Laptop Here
I needed a laptop with a large screen and a solid processor. This seemed to fit the bill. It arrived quickly and was well packaged. It. The screen is crisp and clear and the full size keyboard is quite usable. The sound is also very good. It has held up to well to minor abuse. I am also quite pleased with the battery life.The only short coming is windows 8. It is extremely infuriating. The "metro/modern" interface (the tiles) may have limited usability on a touchscreen (which this is not) but not in any other significant capacity. Navigating through it was an effort in frustration. Additionally, every time my mouse got to the edge or corner of the screen, some kind of windows related pop up would appear. This slowed me down as I waited for it to recede. Additionally, various build in PDF, picture, and video player/viewers were not at all user friendly. Fortunately, I was able to fix most of these issued. By using Adobe PDF reader and VLC video player as the default, I was able to replace the incredibly frustrating native Windows 8 viewers. I was also able to solve the windows 8 usability issue.
While I was researching laptops, I found references by others to a program called CLASSIC SHELL. I had not used windows 8 previous and within 30 seconds of full boot up that it would be a mandatory installation. It installed quite easily and Windows 8 went from being a (to be polite and thereby less accurate) tremendous headache to being usable. It removed the worthless Metro/modern/tile interface, provided a standard start button, allow for disabling of the edge of screen pop ups, and provided easy access to all of Windows functionality. In other words is basically made it like previous versions of Windows. Without CLASSIC SHELL, I would have been forced to return this computer for one with windows 7.
This computer would have rated 5 stars except for the fact that it came with Windows 8. It would have been rated 2 stars except that the problem that is windows 8 was so easily fixed.
Would I recommend this to others? Yes but only with the above mentioned fixes. Otherwise, no. Windows 8 isn't worth the frustration.
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I am happy with the purchase of the 7240us laptop, i am having a hard time with windows 8 ,but i will figure it out soon.
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