My 2 1/2 yr old AMD dual core HP was not working very well anymore, I am a power user and it just can't keep up with having two screens running, outlook open with 4000 e-mails, 10 word documents, 2 spreadsheets, 20 chrome tabs, 20 internet explorer tabs, skype, and ringcentral running phone calls over a usb headset. The old laptop was overheating and locking up constantly.
I wanted to get a laptop that could keep up, so I considered everything from Asus ROG to MSI and Alienware, before settling my choice on this laptop. For the bang for the buck it's a winner. and it's a triditional size macbook clone looking laptop so it's light and portable unlike the true gaming laptops.
It reboots FAST 10 open programs, closed and completely rebooted and all startup programs done in approx 1 minute. This took approx 10 minutes on my old laptop. It also has 8 usable cores, so even when pushing it HARD (2 screens at 1080p) with similar usage as expressed above, it's generally running 2 cores at 5% and 6 at almost nothing, with an occasional spike on one or two cores up to about 20%. Office 2010 professional programs start INSTANTLY as does everything else that is installed on the SSD drive.
ONE NOTE it comes pre-configured to store all of the my documents, my videos, my pictures, etc... on the SSD which will fill it up very quickly. I had to go on the Microsoft help site to figure out how to re-map the "library" folders to work on the larger traditional drive. Once I did that it fixes that problem.
The only other complaint is that I wish the recovery partitions, etc... were on the larger drive. This thing ships with only about 20-30GB of usable space on the SSD drive because of the extra partitions using up space.
Pros
Blazing FAST Quad core, with an SSD primary drive. Programs open instantly
Attractive Macbook type looks means that it's appropriate for a business meeting, a trip to the coffe shop, etc... and it fits into my old 17" laptop bag.
Display is excellent. Very bright very good viewing angles, best I've ever seen.
-Excellent battery life I'm getting 3 4 hours of battery use (browsing and file transfers) old laptop was done in 30 minutes to an hour even when new.
RUNS COOOOOOOOOOL --I can't stress this enough. Compared to the frying pan that was my old laptop (Could not be used on a lap even for casual browsing and often overheated and shut off) this one ran half a million files over 20gb of data over ethernet for 6 hours while running all needed applications, and playing around with the 3d video, etc... and was literally cool to the touch the entire time.
Cons
1gb video memory on a high end machine seems a bit light, but it's more than I'll need as a business user (non gamer) but in a high end machine 2-3 would have been nice.
Placement of recovery partitions and document video and picture librarys kills most usable space on SSD.
NO VGA OUTPUT I had to buy a special displayport adapter to tie in to my external monitor, then the monitor wouldn't detect any signal. Ended up buying a new monitor with an HDMI input and an hdmi cord problem solved.
---THIN THIN THIN ALUMINUM Laptop less than an hour old and already aluminum bent around a usb port. My old laptop with the plastic shell was ABUSED for 2 1/2 years and not a scratch on it.
Overall excellent laptop with a few minor flaws, would recommend.
I bought this direct from HP with a discount at about $1400 with a SSD and 750 GB extra HD. I only got the 8GB of RAM. This is a media beast and does cause Envy from Mac users.
One thing of caution. I think there may be a design flaw with the heat vents in the back as they blow right onto the screen. I returned it once to HP to fix a burnt out key and a ding on the case by the USB port. I am NOW sending it back again for a flickering screen. At first I thought it was a software issue, but after updating almost everything from HP and even trying video drivers from the manufacturers, it has to be a hardware issue.
I think HP is onto something with this series and has great potential, but their QA/QI and engineers have their work cut out for them. Maybe they're taking plays out of the MS X-Box 360 play book. Create an awesome product, that fails periodically. I don't mind sending back a video game machine, but a laptop could be crippling to productivity. Help us out here HP!
Update 8/2012
So they sent me a 3200 after six months of issues. It is long past due. I hope the China manufacturing issues have been resolved. It seems to be blazing fast with 64 bit programs so far.
Update 9/2012
I think the 3200 version has solved a lot of issues I was having. No trackpad problems, no reving of the fan endlessly and using heavy Adobe software has not caused overheating. My screen works fine now. So now I can say the second time was worth it and am happy to not have gone over to a Mac. I can now move it to 5 stars. It only took 7 months though...
Buy HP ENVY 17-3090NR 17.3 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver) Now
I've had my HP Envy for about 6 weeks now. Overall happy w/ it. I upgraded the RAM and CPU and have been doing some HD video editing; so far, so good. Nice screen, nice audio, easy to use volume control, and has desktop power.
The one serious irritation I have with it is the keyboard/touchpad--and that can be fairly annoying. Often when I am typing, the cursor will jump to some random place in a document and by the time I look at the screen, i have no idea where or how it got there. Takes time to cut/paste to correct the error. There also seem to be some keyboard shortcuts that perhaps I am unaware of and accidentally hitting--have had to do a bit of research to correct some of the changes that seem to happen out of nowhere. It may be that the thumbs, even though not physically touching the pad, are close enough to reposition the cursor in some cases.
Keys also seem to vary in terms of pressure needed--another annoyance. OFten they will respond well, but sometimes, even after hearing the key hit, nothing appears on the screen and I have to go back and hit it a few more times before the character appears. All of this tends to disrupt the flow of typing and work and diminish efficiency, hence the three stars.
Before you chalk it up to "user error"--I've used laptops and touchpads exclusively for the last 15 years, everything from Dell to Lenovo to Gateway, and never, ever had this problem before.
Read Best Reviews of HP ENVY 17-3090NR 17.3 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver) Here
I recently tried ASUS G73SW-A1 Republic of Gamers 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop.
I returned it and got this instead.
The D/L speed MIGHT just be one tenth of a second slower, BUT:
The color is greatly superior, with more subtle adjustability.
(light pink, pale blue, orange, lemon yellow, if one prefers that for certain projects over
Hot pink, Burnt sienna, indigo, or lime green yellows).
But even though there is a little more subtlety...
The LED screens will NEVER have the mellow tone of LCD,
(hoping that LED monitors go the way of the 8 track tape...soon
LED is like a cold polar sun,as opposed to the south of France ambience).
The sound is FAR better, with overtones rather than a hollow echo.
The half size up/down arrows do not bother me at all.
The keyboard layout is very pleasing, and the track pad is not overly slick.
The mouse buttons are wider than the ASUS so i do not keep hitting the frame by mistake.
I bought it direct from HP compaq (who have always provided excellent phone support.
This was considerably LESS $ than the ASUS.
And was packed with great care in 3 separate boxes.
Delivered lightening fast bt FEDEX on a Saturday.
Want HP ENVY 17-3090NR 17.3 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver) Discount?
I bought this laptop for a friend and they seem happy with the product. I had a difficult time acquiring the product through Amazon, but otherwise I was happy with the product.
I've had this unit for over a year now and its a great piece of machinery. Especially for any animator or artist looking to draw digitally. This computer was recommended to me by my drawing instructor Glenn Vilppu and its done nothing more than what I would of expected. It has great sensitivity for drawing. The only negative thing I can say is that it can get really hot after hours of use. However, the newer models can have the option to have solid state drives, so, I'm assuming this takes care of that issue.
