If I were a professor grading papers and if notebooks were research papers, the very first Envy 15 which debuted over a year ago definitely deserved a C+ grade. Imagine that the Envy 15 1st generation is a 5-8 page paper. A typical prof would give HP that very grade for good effort and creativity, but poor organization, sentence structure, and grammar and thus a rather low level of coherence altogether. The Envy 15 2nd Gen which came out less than a year after that corrected most of the infamous problems such as heating issues, creaky palmrests, and a jumpy touchpad. This refresh (or rewrite?) raised HP's grade to a B+. But while some may celebrate over a "most improved award," just as people tend to be more critical of a BMW 7-series than of your average, run-of-the-mill Corolla, the bar is set rather high for the luxury notebook segment that notebooks like the Envy and Macbook Pro fall into.
Now onto the Envy 14. This time around, the grade for this notebook is rather controversial and definitely open to debate.
The Envy 14 was released on June 27th. It was advertised as sporting HP's edge-to-edge 1600x900 Radiance Display which would afford the user better color reproduction and brightness than most if not all notebooks out there, yes, even better than the Macbook Pro's, ATI infin
Without the (continually updating) Google touchpad software that can be found in the Trackpad Discussion thread of Notebookreview, this notebook IMO stays on the accursed borderline 89.5% which for many teachers can be a B+ grade or an A-. But with a 3rd party touchpad software written by a few good souls on notebookreview forums that leads to greatly improved two-finger scrolling, the Envy 14 gets a 93%. Just shy of Abut still in straight A territory. Toss in the Radiance display and you indeed get a potential top of the class paper not to mention another reason(with others to follow) for the professor to hand HP a letter of recommendation.
NOTE: If anyone wants the Google software in question, go to notebook review forums (notebookreview.com), go to the HP section, and visit the HP Envy 14 Owners' lounge. The first page will have a link that takes you to the touchpad software lounge. Make an account and ask people to redirect you to the software because my goodness, you WILL want the drivers designed by reil for smooth 2-finger scroll! Ask someone there for reil's Google touchpad software.
There's also a way to configure bottom left, bottom right and upper right as deadzones. I've configured the top right as right-click, the bottom left as go back a browser page, and the bottom right zone as go forward a browser page. Ask people on the Envy 14 notebook owners' lounge how to configure it!
To HP: Great job. You not only get the most-improved award in my grade book. You get a 93%, which rounds up to an A. Not a strong A, mind you, but an A nonetheless. Keep up the good work, and work on those lingering issues. I expect to see great things from you in the future.
What I liked:
(1) Edge-to-edge screen. I don't mind for now that it's not genuine glass. Still have to admit the edge-to-edge black border gives the screen a nice look.
(2) Radiance Display Bravo. Need I say more? If this screen isn't good enough for photographers, I don't know WHAT is!
(3) Keyboard It's simply fantastic. It's a joy to type on. The LED backlit keyboard may not be bright as the Macbook Pro's, but it's still bright enough to use at night time when there's low or no light.
(4) Aesthetics I've already drawn many glances with this notebook. Also to those who're concerned with how "fruity" the design looks, the laser etchings really grow on ya. The thin/light form factor and the laser-etched drawings really ooze of quality and refinement when you hold it.
(5) Specs With the i5 processor and the ATI 5650, you can game on StarCraft 2 easily at medium settings. My suggestion is still to get a cooling pad as thin and light notebooks CAN get hot.
A few critiques on areas which upon consideration and improvement will put the Envy 14 closer to A+ territory:
(1) Keep working on the touchpad software and install a real clickpad. Work with Synaptics on improving it so that we don't have to rely on the good will and charity of software coders in the NBR community. Improve 2-finger scroll and toss in inertial scrolling, 3-finger swipes, and 4-finger swipes.
(2) Consider doing away with the optical drive when the time is right. I understand some people need their DVD drive. That's fine. But in the future, if it'll shave off a lot of weight and allow for the installation of a 3rd fan, I'm willing to pay the usual $40 for an external optical drive. (Yes, it's true. The HP Envy 15 comes with 3 fans because the absence of an optical drive creates enough real estate for the 3rd fan)
(3) Backlit keyboard This isn't really a criticism. But making the brightness adjustable would certainly tempt me to toss in another % point to your grade.
(4) Build Construction I had an argument with the other "professors" over this. A tiny bit of keyboard flex which I myself barely noticed is fine for now. A little flex with an optical drive to boot is understandable. I gave you a high score in this area, but try to get rid of the flex. Until then, repeat after me: Perception. Matters. Take this from someone who worked several months at Subway serving some really particular customers!.
(5) Find a way to get rid of that God-awful CPU whine. I know this isn't HP-specific, but if HP could find a way to reduce the sound or get rid of completely, that would be a Godsend!
************UPDATE FOR SEPTEMBER 9, 2010************
It's been about a month and a half since I first bought and started using the Envy 14. I have to say that two issues really bothered me:
(1) Synaptics engineers decided to be a bunch of lazy jerks by omitting the option to turn off the touchpad while typing. I mean, seriously? If you're going to specialize in something, the least you can do is do the job right!
(2) The screen touches the keyboard when closed. The interesting part is it doesn't leave behind any permanent scratches. It just leaves smudges.
The first problem was easily solved by installing a third party software called "Paradisoft Touchpad Locker. Google it and you will find it. It is free and easy to install.
I've found that my touchpad problems have been reduced by at least 90% as a result of the software.
I purchased the Envy 14 to replace an old Dell 6400 which was crashing and overheating constantly. Vista is probably the cause of all its woes but I needed new hardware anyway. The Envy runs considerably cooler despite the more advanced hardware (used HWMonitor to compare) it was easily a 40 degree difference.
The Envy is sleek and powerful pretty much handles anything I throw at it. Instead of pros/cons I'm just going to list some gotchas so that people are aware of some of the quirks of this product
Build quality I've read about issues with build problems with the chassis but my own laptop is perfect. No issues with dead pixels, bent frames or misaligned trackpad.
Alignment of ports Unlike my old laptop, the Envy has no ports on the back. They are all on the sides. This is only really an issue if you have a million USB devices and connect to a monitor. It will tend crowd out the sides of the laptop with cables. Even the power cable connects from the side. Doesn't really bother me but might bother folks used to having everything organized behind the laptop.
Display The Radiance display is no longer available. I think they went out of business. I am happy with the Brightview its clear and sharp so it meets my needs. If I need something more dramatic, I just link my Envy to my HDTV via HDMI and use that as a gigantic monitor.
Video card If you get anything other then then i7 you will have the ability to switch between the integrated graphics and the discrete graphics card. This is great for battery life as the ATI is a power hog. However, this is controlled by software so you are more or less bound to the HP drivers. If you are doing a clean install, you need to install the HP drivers first don't just put the ATI drivers in or you lose the switching ability. While this laptop isn't designed as a gaming rig, the ATI Radeon can handle its own. I'm able to get SC2 to run on medium high with no issues.
Pre-installed Software Some people really dislike all the stuff that come preloaded with the laptop. You can do a clean install (follow the instructions on NBR) but I wouldn't recommend this unless you comfortable tinkering with OS installs. You can run into odd stuff related to drivers and the like. Another option (which I did), is to just go to the control panel and uninstall the software you don't like. I kept the HP webcam and Wireless Assistant since I found them useful. Mine also came with Adobe Elements and Premiere which isn't bad for pre-installed software.
CPU choice I was initially tempted to the get the i7 for the raw power but instead opted for the i5 once I learned that it came with integrated graphics. This helps conserve battery life when off the A/C and runs cooler overall. This laptop wasn't going to be near an outlet at all times so I needed something that could balance power with battery life so I found the i5 to be perfect for that use. The i7 has to use discrete graphics all the time.
Trackpad I use a mouse so I don't use it much. However, I wish that it was more offset to the left. If you want to disable the trackpad (from responding if your palm brushes against it while typing), double tap the upper left corner. An orange light goes off indicating that the trackpad is off.
Bluetooth This is really a software issue but I will note it here since it really bugged me until I figured it out. Sometimes my mouse would lose connectivity to my laptop randomly. I thought it was a battery issue but then discovered that it was the driver doing something odd. If you go to the properties of the Bluetooth radio (not the enumerator), there is a tab called Power Management. Unclick the option that says "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Viola problem solved!
Overall, I'm pleased with my purchase. I guess I was lucky not to get the odd build issues that others have reported. In terms of what I use it for, it works perfectly.
Buy HP ENVY 14-1010NR 14.5" Laptop (2.40GHz Intel Core i5-450M Processor, 6 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive, Now
If your graphics is switched to on board you will experience choppyness in 1080p videos on youtube. You do not get this issue when the 5650 is switched on. I cay play starcraft 2 comfortably on medium high settings.
Battery Life: I purchased this laptop primarily for use in school. I use it about 3 hours every day I have classes and the battery will last when switched to on board graphics if it is fully charged the night before. I would say it has about 3 hours of battery life. Obviously this is depending on your brightness settings and what you are doing on the laptop at the time. With the 5650 turned on the battery life is poor at best. If your an IT major I would say to not get this laptop and instead go one with similar specs without switchable graphics since you will most likely have a plug near by.
Grahpics: The 5650 is a good all around card that will still allow you to get up to about 2 hours of battery life. With this card you can easily play starcraft 2 on medium high settings. You can easily watch 1080P videos with the dedicated card as well. If you turn on the on board intel gma graphics, you will experience choppyness on high quality videos on youtube. Skype video calling and basic flash sites will run fine though.
Performance: I am extremely happy with the core i5 in this build. It is a very powerful duel core with hyper threading. I almost prefer it to my Athlon X4 on my desktop build. 6GB of DDR3 is more than enough for a year or two to come. I never cap out. The 500gb 7200 HDD is fast enough to handle anything you can throw at it an SSD would be nice but whats in there is not noticeably slow at all.
Software: ATTENTION!!!! If you buy this laptop DO NOT WORRY ABOUT BLOATWARE! Immediately after I turned it on I booted into HP Recovery and did a minimal recovery. This got rid of EVERYTHING except the drivers. The HP Cam software and the HP update/warranty software. Simply amazing. Sony offers this feature for $50 when you purchase a laptop from them. So happy that HP included this. That is probably why mine is running so fast is due to the lack of bloatware :)
Other thoughts: The Keyboard is great. At first I thought it was a little too small but its perfect. I was originally attracted to a Vaio because of the huge nice keyboard. This one is pretty darn good.
The track-pad sucks. Buy a mouse..
Back lit keyboard is very nice and is pretty classy :)
quick brightness controls work well and effectively.
DVD Drive works great and speakers are great sounding compared to other laptops.
Read Best Reviews of HP ENVY 14-1010NR 14.5" Laptop (2.40GHz Intel Core i5-450M Processor, 6 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive, Here
No one can dispute the HP Envy 14's Radiance Infinity LED display is the best display on any laptop in this class. It's 50% brighter than anybody else's. (Sorry Mac Book Pro users) Unfortunately that isn't the display for sale with the system listed here. This is just to give anyone checking out this system the information to make them an informed consumer. (By the way, the Radiance Infinity display will set you back $200 additional.)
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Overall I love this laptop, the screen display and back lit keyboard are wonderful, can't be beat. The processor is fast and the machine is beautiful to look at. Not too much bloatwhere came with it. Didn't have any keyboard issues.
Pros: Speed and screen display
Cons: Lot heavier than I expected, short battery life, and I had to purchase a VGA converter cable (I present and I was sorry to see that it didn't come with the machine).
Over-all I would purchase the machine again for use at home, and would recommend to anyone who wants a good laptop for home use, too heavy for business trips and conferences.
I've ordered this notebook on February. Very satisfied with It. One thing makes me annoying is the fan speed, but It is easly fixes by updating BIOS from DELL official web-site. Now there is no heavy fan speed! Just perfect!
