HP Envy 14, Envy 17, and new EliteBooks leak onto the scene
By Vlad Savov 
posted December 28th 2009 9:50AM
posted December 28th 2009 9:50AM
The tap that keeps on leaking has inadvertently let loose an internal "notebook index" document that corroborates earlier rumblings of a forthcoming Envy 14. Sourced from HP's Korean site, this little ditty reveals Envy 14 and Envy 17 models, which both tick the 'HP external USB DVD Drive' category, bringing up the intriguing possibility of a 17-inch laptop without an integrated optical drive. The bigger machine is also listed alongside "new" 6- and 9-cell battery packs, but other internal specs remain unknown. In other news, successors to the Elitebook 2730p tablet, 2530p ultraportable and 8730w desktop replacement have been spotted, with 16:9 display ratios on the smaller machines and 16:10 on the 17-inch workstation. Hit the read link for more details, and keep it locked to the Engadget channel as CES hits in a few days' time, when a lot of these sketchy leaks will be replaced by exhaustive spec sheets and full-color, in-the-metal photography. [Thanks, Billy]
Please, let HP first release the Envy line in Europe. I'm killed with jealousy when someone does a clean install of the Envy 15, it looks good and it's blazing fast.
@24hourpartypal
Its out in the UK. Where about are you.
It's not on the Dutch HP page, and I do want it with the extra snap on battery. But if it's out in the UK (I didn't really search, only the official HP page), then importing would be no problem. I might pick it up in my upcoming London-trip. Thanks for the heads-up.
Would you say that you're... envious?
Getting rid of internal optical drives in laptops? I approve. Do this every laptop model you've got HP.
If they'd drop the Radeon and go nvidia I'd be all over this.
~Bitter ATI/Ubuntu user
@vman81 :
But But But, ATI has open source drivers, why would you wanna go close source and proprietary with nVidia?
@Proud Japanese
Those drivers have poor performance, and the catalyst drivers break the compiz effects on my 3650 mobile unless i resort to patching manually (and remember to never update xserver), and i still haven't seen video decode acceleration (incl flash video) that works like it does on my Atom/ION setup (flawlessly).
Just a bunch of headaches that I simply don't have with my nvidia machine.
@vman81 I agree. I don't care what Ati has out. I will never again suffer through having to use their buggy lackluster driver support.
@vman81
But they're open source! Surely someone could have looked at the code and made it better. Isn't that what open source is all about? Are you telling me that closed sourced is better than open source all of a sudden!
@Proud Japanese I don't know how many coders out there have ATI graphics cards, with the knowledge to write graphics drivers and patch the kernel, and with that much time to do it for free. Coders got to eat too.
@Proud Japanese
The open sourced drivers are of course a huge step in the right direction and i commend them for the gesture, but currently no match for the catalyst drivers that are giving me the grief.
So there is no way for me to get good 3d performance on both my compiz and apps at the same time without some sort of voodoo that life is too short for on my Radeon mobile 3650.
It wouldn't be such a big deal if it wasn't a laptop, because I'm stuck with it.
This reminds me, where is my hp envy from the giveaways?
wow, a 17in lappy with no optical drive? now you've gone too far HP. We must duel!!!
In the comments on the envy 15 review page, and elsewhere on the internet, a lot of people slammed the envy 15 for having no optical drive. I think this is actually a brilliant move by HP. I rarely use an optical drive, so I don't want to carry one around everywhere I go. I can keep an external drive at home for the occasional software install, and for movies, buy or stream them online, who needs DVDs?
With a Core i7 chip and that powerful graphics card, I think the envy 15 has the best power to weight ratio of any laptop on the market, though not power to price ratio. It really is a 15 inch laptop, with the weight of a 13 inch, and the power of a 17 inch. It doesn't get much better than that.
i saw this
http://www.tradekey.com/selloffer_view/id/3776679.htm