After our
mixed feelings on the HP Envy 13, we were excited but also a little bit scared to see the 13's big brother, the
Envy 15. It's running a Core i7 processor clocked at 1.6GHz, and has 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 discrete graphics fronted by a 1920 x 1080 15.6-inch display despite the fact that it doesn't have a built-in disc drive. Luckily there's an external Blu-ray packed into the box (that's a $225 option on top of the $1,800 base price), but most games and apps these days are available via download anyway, so it's not that big of knock on your power-user cred. The unboxing experience is actually identical to that of the Envy 13 (quite elegant), and we were happy to see that when we fired up the laptop the trackpad seemed better configured than that of the pre-update Envy 13 we reviewed. We were less enthused to see that the IE comes pre-installed with HP
and Norton toolbars -- pretty janky for a premium machine -- but luckily we rarely have to see the ugly sight of IE more than once on a new machine. For the most part this is just an Envy 13 bigged up, and that's nothing to complain about.
posted November 10th 2009 4:21PM
I checked these out at the local frys and they are both sweet machines, though the super glossy screen would keep me from ever buying either one. What happened to the good old matte displays?
If you want to run any flavor of Linux on it, better first have a look here;
http://h30434.www3.hp.com/psg/board/message?board.id=OS&thread.id=22243
It's basically a no-go.
I want to defend the Envy 15's design! Though it got the same form factor, I found that it has lots of different design perks in it to stand out from the MBP like the pattern grill and board. So it's not a total copy cat. Plus the spec is way more amazing than a MBP atm.
But build quality for this thing is really not that good, a MBP feels extremely solid like a single unit (unibody design). WHile this dont feels very weak and i'm actually afraid of handling it with one hand. Finally, I'm not too sure if the envy uses an ips panel or a tn panel. the MBP uses IPS which is indeed a lot better than tn.
It's worth stating that the only screen resolution available to UK customers is 1366 x 768. HP have successfully released a computer that pairs the engine of a Ferrari with the visual brilliance of a Scooter. Well done.
The tremendous insecurity demonstrated by Apple fanboys is absolutely astounding. I cannot help but feel a bit apologetic for them as their only means of having any sort of social identity is through the possession and use of a more distinct-appearing machine in order to adopt the image manufactured for them by other minds. It is then no wonder Apple fanboys are always the first to sieze any opportunity that comes across to speak of their delusional self-proclaimed superiority with belittling words towards all others during even the most absurdly unrelated possible situations.
If simply by possessing such a product would associate me with such psychotic beings, then never again would I even consider its acquisition regardless of any potential usefulness that would have practically pertained to me (Apple notebooks in this particular case). For normal persons to be associated with such a group of individuals, a cold night spent nude swimming in an overflowing outhouse would be more appealing even if only by an extremely narrow margin. I would greatly advise the avoidance of both, however.
You are awesome!
Hp shouldn't have put the fan vents on the base of hte Envy15 though. I guess they figured it would be better to add the vents even though it may be blocked at times.. Better than having a battery swell and blow up, ala Macbook Pro:P Macs should be cheaper than the HP Envy. the Envy has NEW current hardware, not 2 year old processors and stuff like the MBP. The Envy is still overpriced, but you get a great desktop in the form of a laptop. Needs the edge to glass screen though....
@BOGRASH
nice find! yes, HP always makes frying pan, gives customer a crapload of bloatware, aweful battery and when they realize the computer performance is not what they were hoping for, get out coupons in the market to make us buy HP.
@dynamius
i am not an apple fanboy but wish at this point if i could be. it's a fact that HP is jealous at apple (read: some other companies as well). not a single lappy from HP has ever existed in my life or others (friends and family) without tremendous headache. no innovative designs, shameless copy from others, frying panlike notebooks, tons of bloatware, superheavy lappies, that's all HP about.
Nice Macbook...
Those scuff marks in gallery pic 16 come straight from the factory???
There's so much inaccuracy, idiocy, and fanboi-ism in this thread that I felt compelled to reply as an actual owner of an Envy 15. My perspective comes from first hand, and not feeling threatened by HP finally producing a decent product.
To clear up some of the idiocy. The front grill marks are for stereo speakrs and the positioning works quite well. They're not blowingi hot air. The guy who thought that it would blow hot air into his face should walk into oncomming traffic to save us from further posts.
The screen is beautiful. If your decision is purely based on edge to edge glass, then you have your choice made for you.
The machine runs warm, but any morning pointing that out as a disadvantage compared to a MBP has NEVER used a MPB. They're the kings of heat. While I wouldn't say this unit runs cool, it's well within reason especially considering you get a killer i7. Let the Apple boys enjoy their Core 2, I've moved on.
They keyboard is great, with a relatively short throw. I find it comfortable and there's no flex to the keyboard area at all.
The case is very solid, aluminum and magnesium. The guy who feels like he's going to break it with one had must either be the Incredible Hulk, or a fanboi moron. Far as I know the Incredible Hulk isn't real.
The hard drive is huge and 7200 rpm... if you want to pay another 45-100+ dollars to apple to eliminate that 5400rpm bottleneck, more power to you. Honestly, no premium notebook should EVER have a 5400 rpm drive as an option--pathetic.
The only advantage that I would tip my hat to on the apple is the battery life to weight. Thsi unit has MPB battery life, I'd put it head to head any day. The con is that to achieve it you attach a battery pack to the bottom of the unit. It's very slick and looks like part of the case, someone wouldn't even know it's they just saw one in the store. However, it adds weight.
Bottom line, if you want a lower res screen, inferior processor, inferior hard drive (that causes bottlenecks), no ability to change your own components (read, battery, hard drive, memory, etc.) and pay more for it than this unit. Please by all means enjoy the apple, the sticker they include for your car, and the artsy douchey attitude that tends to follow around most of their users.
On the other hand if you want top end components in a VERY refined package, AND you can tolerate a slight weight disadvantage, then this unit trounces the MBP Apple boy toys in every way shape and form.
Here's a decent objective review of the unit.
http://www.mobiletechreview.com/notebooks/HP-Envy-15.htm
It also has an image of the unit with the bottom battery attached.
Cheers!
I'm with JL regarding all the Mac vs. PC BS on this comment board. Give it a rest. I posted my full review on CNET for this reason. Check it out if you are really interested in knowing more about the computer rather than arguing. http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-envy-15/4864-3121_7-33771087-1.html?tag=userReviews;summaryList
Are you guys HIGH?!?!?!
The 15"
THE MBP does NOT have the same processor or battery life.
This is a Quad core, multi-thread... to show up as 8cores!
This can go up to 16gb of ram.. and CS4 can run in 64 bit more and actually USE this .. unlike OSX where i can only run 32 bit !!
Stop being mactards and actually look at the specs!
Not good guys had a good look at this in pc world the srceen tilt is poor but how hot you coul fry eggs on the thing.....
It needs more cowbell
Why. Why HP, WHY?! Why would they put bloatware on such a high-end machine?!
please can i get it i was up for black Friday to buy a laptop but had no uck it would be great to get one
i want to win that envy 15 hope i did this right.
I just tried one out at Best Buy, I would love to actually have one here.
Need one!
Engadget for the win!!!
i want one of those too!!!!!!!!!!
hallo my macbook....HP is changing looks
Nice !
mmmm... pretty...
So when I first saw the Core i7 and graphics card I thought this might be a nice PC. Then I saw it had no internal optical drive, crappy trackpad, crappy keyboard, looks like a knockoff macbook (so not only do I look like a silly apple fanboy from a distance, I look like a poser up close), it comes with bloatware, and costs over $2000 when you add the blu-ray. Why would I want this, it includes all the things I hate about windows and mac. My 3 year old Toshiba is trucking along nicely after a memory upgrade and a fresh copy of Win7 and there are tons of great windows laptops with similar specs, I think I will pass.