HP Envy 15 review
By Joanna Stern 
posted December 10th 2009 5:45PM
posted December 10th 2009 5:45PM
Hardware
The Envy 15 packs plenty of muscle with a 1.6GHz Intel Core i7-720QM processor, 8GB of RAM, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 and speedy 7,200rpm hard drive. It's a powerful system, but that Core i7 generates a lot of heat -- more on that later. Ports-wise it's pretty much all laid out on the right side of the laptop with a hybrid audio plug for headphones and/or a mic, a eSATA / USB combo jack, two USB ports, HDMI and Ethernet, while an SD card slot is nestled on the front bottom lip. (The Envy 15 actually comes with its user manual on a 2GB SD card, which we... read thoroughly. Right after we popped it into our camera.)
The 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080 resolution screen under the lid is incredibly nice on the eyes, and although it's not as intensely bright as the Envy 13, we found it to still be super crisp. Watching a downloaded 1080p clip of a Killers' concert made us feel like we were front row at the show; we could see the beads of sweat beaming off of Brandon Flowers' forehead. We would have preferred if the screen had a flush glass bezel, rather than the thick raised plastic border that surrounds it, however. Above the screen is a a "nightvision" VGA camera that uses infrared LEDs to provide illumination in dark environments. We'll let you, kind reader, imagine what this could be used for, but we will report that the cam lives up to its promise; a Skype call made in the dark was actually visible and our face was illuminated and discernible.
We'll admit that we're happy to see the keyboard deck is void of any finicky brightness or volume touch controls, though you can change those settings with function keys. There's also a column of dedicated shortcut keys for opening the browser or e-mail client. Overall we enjoyed the typing experience; the keys themselves feel sturdy and had a nice bounce as we wrote this review on them. But HP, why no backlight?
The award for most improved touchpad goes to HP's ergonomics team. The trackpad itself is the same glass multitouch unit with integrated mouse buttons found on the Envy 13, but the software's thankfully been updated since our last experience with it -- it takes a bit of getting used to, but most of the issues have been sorted out. Pinching to zoom gestures were responsive, but two-finger scrolling was still a bit choppy in Firefox and Internet Explorer.
Still, we generally plugged in a mouse when we used the Envy 15 -- the trackpad might perform adequately now, but the palm rest got hot. Uncomfortably hot. And this wasn't just when the system was under a lot of stress: the wrist rests and bottom would heat up with just a browser open, and temperatures got hot enough after an hour that we took it off our lap and set it on a table. We surmise this is a result of the Envy's very thin design and hardcore performance parts -- there could just be too much going on underneath its short-on-space-hood. We aren't the first to complain of the heat either, users who have purchased the system also find it quite toasty.
Software, performance and battery life
Software complaints aside, multitasking was incredibly snappy; running iTunes, TweetDeck, Skype, a number of tabs in Firefox all while a DVD played in the background was no challenge for the Core i7. Though not a likely scenario, playing a 1080p video in QuickTime with a DVD playing in HP's MediaSmart software didn't cause either of the videos to lag. As for gaming, our WoW gnome his new 1080p life, running around quite happily at 35fps. Of course, playing games meant the system once again got insanely hot -- we simply couldn't use the Envy on our lap while slaying orcs.
Performance comes with battery sacrifices, however. While writing this review in Google Docs with a few additional Firefox tabs open, the system lasted just under two hours on a charge. That's pretty abysmal for a larger laptop: the Core i7-equipped Dell Studio 17 gets close to three and a half, while the 15-Inch MacBook Pro gets just about 4 hours. And without the ability to switch off the discrete graphics, there are no battery saving measures. We'd be more forgiving if the power brick weren't so damn large and heavy. It's the kind of charger that belongs underneath a desk, rather than stretched across a bed. Sure, you can always get HP's neatly designed nine-cell slice which fits right on the bottom of the laptop, but that will cost you an extra $125 bucks, and add additional weight and size.
Wrap up
@rcjones
+1 for this.
@Mikeo A work laptop that only lasts for 2 hours isn't a good work laptop at all.
Equals the unibody design? What planet do you live on? It is not anywhere close. It's cheap, plasticky, and creaky.No CD drive, no backlight, and the trackpad, like HP's customer service, sucks. Oh and it costs more than a MacBook Pro.Also the current i7 mobile proc sucks which is why anyone who wants this in a laptop should wait until Arrandale due out next month. What MacBook Pro are you using that last four hours? They last 7 or 8 hours unless you are using something not current.
Seriously Engadget this is a pathetic excuse for a review.
Isnt there an option for an extended battery? its huge, and covers the entire buttom of the laptop, but i was told you can get up to 7 or 8 hours with it? They have it on the Envy's at work..
I would try underclocking and undervolting the CPU to see if you could squeeze any battery life out of it and make it cooler. If not, then I don't see the point of a laptop if I can't work on it on batter for longer than 2 hours.
Does anyone like the ugly designs that HP puts on their laptop lids?
I would like it much better if it didn't have that design.
Also, did HP just throw creativity out the window?
@Kyle P
THANK you. Someone who agrees those designs are tacky as hell.
This sucks like hell because it tries to copy the MBP and sucks without some good battery life.
MBP design is better than any other laptop in existence.
/end rant
High performance parts, high heat, and low battery life? It seems what the Envy 15 wants to compete against and what it actually competes against are two very different things.
Engadget, take it from someone who studies design:
Copies does not mean equals. Just because this laptop copies the MacBook Pro as much as it possibly can doesn't mean it was designed well. A copycat is not a job well done. HP deserves no praise for this 2 hour lasting, lap-searing, apple-copying piece of shit. Core i7 be damned.
This review confirmed that I will be getting an ENVY. Any review where the best thing they can bash a laptop with is temperature and battery life (which, by the way, it comes with an extra nine-cell if you need power on the go) of a computer that "looks like a mac" and has incredibly higher performance screams "Were on the defensive here"
I don't understand why heat dissipation is not given any thought at HP. I don't care if this looks like an MBP (I own one btw) but every HP laptop I have owned has doubled as a room heater. It is not even funny. Why does HP keep doing this to itself? I had a nice HP tablet which doubled as an awesome eReader but I had to sell it on ebay, when I tried to use it for taking notes / reading, it would burn and it was extremely inconvenient.
@Shriphani Had the same heat problem (bottom, and wrist area) with the original MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro is the only laptop I used with a cooler full time.
@jimtravis I have been using my MBP with a dual monitor setup and hence might have been biased in my assessment of this laptop. Nevertheless, the industry has been moving away from producing ergonomic laptops to producing stuff like this (Apple and HP included). I guess part of the reason is that we are far too eager to trade comfort for extra processing power / extra battery life / nonsense in some cases.
I see absolutely no way how this can compared to a unibody MacBook, it's fugly, I would not even consider it for a second in terms of style, in terms of power and function, that is a different story, but honestly, this is not even a contender :-/
Nice Review! Thanks!
Just a heads up. It's ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 not 4850.
@EliteGeek Indeed. It actually makes a difference, I think, because although the performance delta is not huge, laptops are seriously outgunned compared to their desktop counterparts and every bit of performance counts.
I recently got an HP Pavilion dm3-1030US at office depot on sale for $500. it's a great little laptop(really happy with my choice of this over a netbook, I can do HD youtube vids and all sorts of other things that the atom can't do) but seriously HP loads their PC's with so much bloatware it's not even funny. Their were seriously like 12 programs preinstalled on here, crap like HP update manager that might have been useful in the windows XP days but 7 does everything automatically for me so I don't get it at all. I uninstalled it all, but still it was kind of disapointing the first hour or so spent on my shiny new laptop was deleting programs.
That said, I'm more than happy with the laptop, now that all the HP bullshit programs are gone. I guess its nice HP doesn't put a shitton of tacky stickers on their PCs(just a nice little AMD vision sticker and Windows 7 sticker, 2 stickers I'll proudly display due to entry-level intel machines featuring awful intel GPUs and windows 7 being awesome, haha).
@jpoppyz I have the base dm3 as well, I just wish they gave as an option on the dm3 the screen they attach to the envy. Oh well, guess they do not want it stepping on the envy 13 turf. But the envy 13 is priced too high to compete with the 13" mbp. The dm3 could be a better contender with a couple more tweaks. I think the dm3 aesthetics already look better than the mbp (oh that's right, I went there).
Great review.
My brothers a fan of HP and was looking to replace his new(ish) dv3 with an Envy 13. Unfortunately all of hp's latest machines seem to focus too much on the aesthetics rather than usability. The dv3 has vents on its bottom corners - where the machine would rest on your lap - and after half an hour of basic use it starts to get uncomfortable to use. It seems the Envy line has similar or worse problems that impede in daily usability which frankly for the price is unacceptable.
Can anyone recommend another similarly speced/performing notebook? (Lenovo X300?)
who actually builds this: voodoo or hp? does voodoo make anything of hp's?
i checked these out at frys. the screen is just too shiny. bring back the matte finishes on laptops. this whole trend towards reflective screens is horrible
Can you get it with a matte screen? This glossy trend really sucks.
Nice Review .. nice laptop .. but the battery backup is for very short period ..
Best,
Daina
I'm surprised by these battery life comments. You can't have it all. If it's going to be very high performance AND small you're going to lose battery life. If it's going to get pretty good battery life AND high performance you're going to lose out on size. There's just no engineering magic out there to solve this problem. The key is to find a well rounded machine where you don't have to lose out on any one area too much.
I tried out the Envy 15 at Best Buy today primarily because of the i7 and decent (for laptop) graphics. As an owner of HPs, Sonys, Winbooks (Microcenter's house brand) and MBP, I was pleasantly surprised with the build quaility. This is not the usual craptastic plastic toss off so typical of HP.
Obviously, they are copying the MBP. So what?
A small demerit. The Envy palm rests are carved with some etching doodles. No reason except to show it's not a MBP.
HP bloat ware is obvious even testing at Best Buy. HP's business model/profit margins obviously require it. But it reminds why earlier HP products were annoying.
The envy uses the 1.6 mobile i7, the slowest offered. Almost all software you use can not utilize even this slower i7. CS4 and the rest will not utilitize hyper threading. (Your decision if if it's a gimmick anyway). Games and other applications aren't written to use quad cores. What this means is that one core will bear the brunt of alot of the grunt work. Thus the 1.6 i7 will 'turbo boost' overclock that core(s). Ramping up heat beyond the baseline from what I understand.
So one pays for the slowest mobile i7 that most software in the next few years can't fully exploit, it has inherent heat issues, and lacks an optical drive.
It's a beautiful piece of hardward on the outside. One hopes it has better HP quality control on the inside. My recommendation is to hold off on a mobile i7 premium until the second or third design cycle in 2010. The price will come down and there won't be significantly more (if any) software that even then can exploit the i7 even moderately.
Of course the battery life is weak. i7, hello? There are almost no applications at present that use hyperthreading (especially CS4, for example). Gamers will be disappointed that most games are not written to take advantage of multi-cores. Intel's essentially copying AMD's RISC direct CPU/memory interface is real performance boost. Triple layer cache access means performance, too.
But as with desktop i7s, with 'Turbo Boost' the single core that will be used most often will be overclocked. And this is dynamic, i.e., it will depend on use. The heat problem now is really unmanageable because it will vary with on chip overclocking use.
@EvaShiboki
Plenty of software is written to take advantage of multicore processors. Most modern games, Photoshop, video encoders, iTunes etc. are all faster on an i7 than a faster clocked Core 2 Duo. Plenty of benchmarks on AnandTech.
@ryanthered
I get the i7 performance benchmarks, that's why I looked at the Envy 15 to begin with. My point is that very little software will be able to take advantage of the quads fully beyond brute force for the foreseeable future and almost none takes advantage of 'hyperthreading' that I know of.
Benchmarks I have found often have little relevance to day-to-day real world tasks and take them as a data point but not a definitive rule.
I use Final Cut, CS4 and run a Strat and Gibson SG into my Mac as a DAW so believe me, I fully take your point that *some* i7s are faster, particularly on rendering. I'm not convinced that this 1.6 i7, however, offers a substantial difference over a very fast dual core. Not to justify the price.
A major performance boost felt by all software is Intel's finally conceding AMD's point and having the direct memory interface. Even Photoshop - which you are right has been technically multi-core capable for years - still, depending on operation puts most of its demands on a single core (and depending on image/layer size, etc.) My CS4 comment was overbroad. But my guess is that for most Photoshop users they are not going to access 4 cores and the remaining 1.6 cores will Turbo Boost up, adding significantly to heat. (Adobe propaganda about PS aside).
It's a beautiful machine for an HP product. I personally would pass on a mobile i7 deployment for a couple of iterations (as well as to allow software to catch up). The price differential to be a early adopter, heat issues and the actual work flow benefits of a very fast but cheaper dual core tell me, at least, to pass for now.
@IPSGraphics The mobile core i7 is not a static 1.6 GHz speed. The beauty of that particular chip is that it can dynamically increase its clock speeds when needed.
If an app is only single threaded, the 720 can bump a single core up to 2.8 GHz, dual threaded, it can get 2 cores up to 2.4 GHz, fully multi threaded, it can bump the 4 cores up to 1.73 GHz.
This is far and away a superior cpu to and core 2 duo, it is more versatile even on single threaded and dual threaded apps, and for the programs that DO use all 4 cores, it will pull ahead that much further.
It is better on both todays less threaded software world, and has the legs to last a good while once more multi threaded apps come online.
In every way, this is superior, not just a side grade, VASTLY superior. Now if you are just checking email and watching dvds, then the extra power is moot. But for raw power, the mbp line is not in the same league, despite what too many people seem to believe. At least until they refresh their lineup with the mobile quad chips on the higher end.
@tybert7
I am not carrying water for Apple. I've worked with HP senior management and spent time at HP Labs. No name drop. And certainly not to assert expertise (quite the contrary, believe me).
Just to emphasize my assessment of the Envy 15 and i7 would apply if it was a new Apple, Toshiba, or Sony Wintel.
First, I assert the 1.6 i7 is not only not worth the huge price it but already obsolete. Now.
Intel on December 17th in SF unveils their new 32 nanometer next generation. (The Envy 15 is 45). A big portion of this will be Intel migrating customers down to the new i3, but also a revised i5 and a new mobile i7 family. Just 5 days from now. Which means product is being prepped in Taiwan/China now.
Whether the new Arrandale technology of merging 2 cores with graphics processing is the next leap forward Intel claims, I don't know. The point is the 1.6 i7 is already yesterday's news and the HP product has problems, including but not limited to heat. And the overall software really isn't there to take advantage of the 1.6 i7. Your claim of a core boosting to 2 + makes my point - the heat issue will only scale up.
If one has $2,000 to spend on a chip and unit that is already in the past and has issues more power to em.
What I said before still I think stands. The 1.6 i7 is problematic in the mobile environment (even conceding your to me unrealistic claims of 'far superior' to a top of the line dual core for most uses. I played with an Envy 15 for about half an hour and it's faster but nothing mind boggling).
The smart move still remains (to me) to wait for at least one if not upcoming two product refreshes for mobile i7. And see if the heat issues are solvable and software catches up to use the cores beyond brute force. And the new i5s may offer a different dollar/performance mix. Current 1.6 laptops should drop soon in price in any event. Why try and catch a falling knife and pay the premium now when it's even more immediately obsolete than usual?
True for me whether it is HP, Dell or Cupertino. YMMV.
I would seriously think of buying this, but I just can't get past the fact that you need an external DVD drive.
I can't be hauling round an external DVD drive with me everywhere all the time.
What they need to do is let you laser etch your own design on to the cover and not put on those hideous attempts of some for of art.
@Spartan001 Now there is a great idea !
Sounds like with a cooler running i5 or Core 2 Duo this notebook would be really great. The battery life and heat are unacceptable IMO, though.
Would an SSD lower the temperatures ?
Does anyone know of any i7-based laptops other than the Dell Studios?
Even better, does anyone know of any i7-based laptops that have a "nub" on the keyboard? I checked the Dell Latitudes and the Lenovo laptops and neither seems to offer an i7 option yet.
Is it called the Envy because that's what you'll be doing to people with laptops with built-in optical drives?
First, I have an HP Envy 15. I have to say that it is the FASTEST machine I have EVER worked on. It really, really blazes. If you are a software developer (as I am) or a graphic designer (as I am), you will really appreciate how it flies through an Adobe effects filter at the speed of light or how it can handle the extreme amount of memory that applying Adobe effects uses. You will also appreciate how you can have many, many, many, many, many windows open and the thing doesn't miss a beat. What you will NOT be happy with is the fact that the optical drive is attached to the Envy via a USB cable. It is EXTREMELY difficult to lug around the laptop AND the separate optical drive together - think AIRPORT! You have the Envy on your lap and the optical drive in the chair beside you with the USB cord that comes attached to the optical drive running over to your Envy. How many times am I going to forget that the thing is attached and stand up and knock it on the floor? Hmmm...... The second thing you won't like is the fact that it doesn't come with a FireWire port. Some people may not find this to be a big deal, BUT the Macbook Pro has it and so do HPs lower priced laptops. You will also not like the HP slice, or as normal people call it - the HP heavy duty battery that attaches across the bottom of the computer. It allows you to stay on the Envy for about 5 hours. HP says 7 but I counted a little over 5 hours not including the battery time of the original battery. All told it was a little over 5 hours using both batteries. That sounds nice right? Well they don't tell you that the slice makes this HP Envy 15 heavy as hell! It goes from being lightweight to being very heavy with that attached slice/battery. It works, but it certainly comes at a price.
It may sound like I don't like the Envy 15. There are certain things that I certainly don't like. I think they could have put the optical drive INSIDE of the computer instead of adding it as an attachment, BUT (and this is a big BUT), THIS MACHINE CAN TAKE UP TO 16GB OF MEMORY AND IT IS FAST, FAST, FAST!! I have other laptops and I have had even more laptops, however, Nothing and I mean NOTHING works as fast as this thing does. If you are a multitasker in need of a machine to help you do software development, movies, music, graphics or anything else memory intensive, the Envy is the best bet right now. There is honestly nothing that even comes close. I wish that Sony would develop a similar machine. If they did, I know they would do it better because their laptops really are quality built. However, right now the Envy 15 is a great machine.
i love this, and the battery power and heat does not matter, compared to my old dell laptop... as much as i disagree with apple they were the first with the multitouch touchpad, and i like that in the envy. i just wonder y the 15incher costs less than the 13 inch envy... anyone know y?
I just bought one, and as a desktop replacement its fantastic!
Mine shipped with an external drive, but no hdmi to vga. :( i should probably get a new monitor,
I actually like the fact that it has no optical drive. I was actually torn between a powerful gaming laptop, and a thin, lightweight laptop. Now I can just sacrifice the optical drive, which I rarely use, and have the best of both worlds. Why carry around an optical drive that I only use to install software anyway? Just get a cheap external one to keep at home. Aside from the heat issue, this laptop is exactly what I was looking for. Its definitely not for everyone, but for the small niche of people who want both power and portability, and don't use an optical drive much, this is absolutely perfect, IMHO.