HP Envy 14 review
The HP Envy 14 is like the final revision of a C+ term paper that always had potential, but just needed an bit of extra information and refinement to get an A. In fact, when HP introduced the Envy 14, the company was rather blunt about the fact that many of the issues that plagued the original Envy systems had been addressed, including the lack of an optical drive and backlight keyboard, the frustrating touchpad and the heat caused by the Core i7 processor. On paper, the 14.5-inch Envy 14 has everything we wanted to see in those first models while still maintaining its beautiful yet tough etched aluminum chassis. It's also got a new lower $999 starting price, though our review unit rang up at $1,290. So, has the Envy 14 finally make its way to the head of the class? We've spent some quality time with the rig to find out.
The Envy 14's smaller screen makes it slightly narrower than the 15.4-inch Envy 15, but other than that it's pretty much a replica of the previous laptop. And we've got absolutely no problems with that, considering we found the original Envys to be two of the most downright stunning laptops to ever grace the earth. There's still no denying that the all-aluminum body and curved edges are reminiscent of Apple's unibody MacBooks Pro, but as we said in our Envy 15 review, HP's take is a bit more daring with its textured dark metal lid and palmrest. The little divots in the lid create a subtle swirly pattern that can only really be seen when standing at a distance. Still, the curved metal edge that runs around the laptop comes to a rather sharp edge, and like the MacBook Pro, it can be slightly uncomfortable when your wrists lay across it.
The Envy 14 is solid to the bone – seriously, the build quality is fairly remarkable for the price -- and even better, it's not all that heavy for a 14.5-inch machine. At 5.2-pounds, it's .4 pounds lighter than both the MacBook Pro and HP Pavilion dv5. The 1.09-inch thick system does have room for some added ports as well – it's got two USB ports, an eSATA / USB combo port, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, and two headphone jacks, one of which double as a mic jack as well. It's still peeving that there's no VGA port, but you can pick up an HDMI to VGA cord from HP for $50, or from Amazon for around $20. A two-in-one card reader dwells on the front lip of that laptop, while the left side makes room for a slot-loading optical drive. HP opted to exclude a Blu-ray option on the 14-inch system because of its size -- HD disc seekers have to head for the Envy 17.
The Envy 14's soft coated chiclet keyboard, like that of the previous Envys and the Pavilion dm4, is a pleasure, and we mean a real pleasure, to type on. And now that you can turn on the backlight in dim lighting, we really can't praise the feel of the squared-off keys enough. Come to think of it, it may rival the ThinkPad Edge's keyboard as our favorite out there.
And now the million-dollar question: has HP improved its single-buttoned ClickPad, to the point where it doesn't ruin the rest of the premium Envy experience? The answer, dear readers, is yes, although it's still got issues. The good news is that the pad itself is quite wide, making navigating and double tapping to make selections easy. The bad news is that we much preferred to click using the double-tap because we had repeated issues with the physical buttons. Just like we've noticed when using the pad on the Pavilions, if our thumb crosses over the left mouse button line, which it does every so often, we lose all control of the cursor and it jumps all over the screen. We're not fans of having to adjust our thumb on the button, but assume that users will get start to get used to the positioning over time. The multitouch gestures have also been improved -- two-finger scrolling was responsive for the most part as was pinch-to-zoom.
The 14.5-inch, 1,600 x 900-resolution display is a breath of fresh air compared to the laptops we've recently reviewed. Not only is the resolution better than the 1366 x 768 displays we've been staring at lately, but the quality of the flush glass LCD is miles better than the others HP's used lately. A lot of that has to do with the HP Radiance Infinity LED panel, which was also on the Envy 13. The 350nit display has a higher color gamut than other displays, and you notice the difference upon first boot -- even the blue of the Windows Start button sticks out more than on other screens. Viewing the Tron: Legacy trailer was a pretty stunning experience with the blue glowing lasers appearing extremely detailed. Even better when we tilted the screen backwards, we were still able to make out Garrett Hedlund's face, and similarly when we moved to the size of the screen we could the moving images. It always feel good to take a break from complaining about poor LCDs and viewing angles. We do have to say the display is rather glossy, and when turned off it could have your mirror worried about losing its job.
That sweet visual experience is met with an equally awesome audio experience. To start, the speakers on the front edge of the laptop are seriously loud and full. However, HP's also teamed up with Beats Audio to provide a high end hardware and software-based audio-out experience. When we plugged our Sony MDR7506 headphones into the audio jack we could immediately hear the difference between listening to Eminem's "Not Afraid" on the Envy and our MacBook Pro. The fuller and more detailed sound was also obvious when we turned off the Beats option in the software controller.
The Envy 14 is just as strong internally: our review unit was powered by a 2.66GHz Intel Core i5-450M processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a 500GB 7,200rpm hard drive. It was also coupled with an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650 GPU with 1GB of VRAM. The processor and RAM alone pushed out some of the best benchmark scores we've seen in quite a while, which translated to very zippy everyday performance. Not only was the system extremely adept at handling our usual application load simultaneously – including Firefox, TweetDeck, Trillian, Microsoft Office, and Skype – but when we threw in Photoshop to edit a few pictures it didn't flinch or slow down. Also, those heat issues we complained about when we reviewed the Envy 15 have disappeared, for the most part. The keyboard and touchpad of the laptop stayed relatively cool during our usage, even while playing Flash videos. The bottom of the laptop did get a bit warm, but not to the point that we feared burning any reproductive organs. We've also heard some recent buyers complaining about fan noise, but we weren't bothered by it.
ATI's Radeon HD 5650 also topped a lot of the other laptops on 3DMark06. With its 1GB of VRAM, it pushed along a 1080p clip beautifully – though Intel's integrated solution is more than capable of dealing with HD content. When it came to gaming, the card helped KO the Joker's crew at 33fps in Batman: Arkham Asylum. We also downloaded a demo version of World in Conflict on Steam, and at medium settings it clocked in at over 40fps. The graphics performance is pretty good for a mid-range card and it can support a killer Eyefinity setup if you happen to have six monitors, but we can't help but think a solution like NVIDIA's Optimus would be nice on this sort of machine – a few times when we unplugged it wouldn't switch to the integrated graphics until we closed some programs, and we had to go into the graphics control panel to turn on the GPU when we wanted to play some Batman when running on battery power.
Speaking of the battery, the Envy 14's 3800mAh eight-cell battery lasted three hours and 51 minutes on our video rundown test, which loops the same standard definition video at 65 brightness. For a laptop of this size, that's not bad by any standard, and when writing this review and surfing the web (listening to Pandora and checking e-mail, really) we got about four and a half hours or runtime. HP does offer an extra battery slice for a whopping $200, which attaches to the bottom of the laptop.
We've knocked HP quite a bit lately for preloading too much software, and most of it's still there on the Envy 14 -- HP's just hidden it better. As you can see above, the desktop comes pretty bare, but buried in the Start Menu is a link to Barnes & Noble's Desktop eReader, Norton, and HP's browser toolbar. We don't need to tell you that the browser toolbar that's adorned with HP links and shortcuts was one of the first things to go. HP also has its own software, including its QuickWeb instant-on OS and MediaSmart media panel.
Turns out, our fifth grade teacher was right: with careful revision and a bit more attention to details a once mediocre product can be turned into one of the best around. The Envy 14's superior build, head-turning design, great audio, beautiful display, and powerful organs makes it well worth $999 – and even $1,290 for our review unit's configuration. Our complaints are really limited to the extra software and the learning curve required to use the touchpad, and well, that's really not all that much compared to the list of things we truly love about this 14.5-inch laptop.
Look and feel

The Envy 14 is solid to the bone – seriously, the build quality is fairly remarkable for the price -- and even better, it's not all that heavy for a 14.5-inch machine. At 5.2-pounds, it's .4 pounds lighter than both the MacBook Pro and HP Pavilion dv5. The 1.09-inch thick system does have room for some added ports as well – it's got two USB ports, an eSATA / USB combo port, HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet, and two headphone jacks, one of which double as a mic jack as well. It's still peeving that there's no VGA port, but you can pick up an HDMI to VGA cord from HP for $50, or from Amazon for around $20. A two-in-one card reader dwells on the front lip of that laptop, while the left side makes room for a slot-loading optical drive. HP opted to exclude a Blu-ray option on the 14-inch system because of its size -- HD disc seekers have to head for the Envy 17.
Keyboard and touchpad

And now the million-dollar question: has HP improved its single-buttoned ClickPad, to the point where it doesn't ruin the rest of the premium Envy experience? The answer, dear readers, is yes, although it's still got issues. The good news is that the pad itself is quite wide, making navigating and double tapping to make selections easy. The bad news is that we much preferred to click using the double-tap because we had repeated issues with the physical buttons. Just like we've noticed when using the pad on the Pavilions, if our thumb crosses over the left mouse button line, which it does every so often, we lose all control of the cursor and it jumps all over the screen. We're not fans of having to adjust our thumb on the button, but assume that users will get start to get used to the positioning over time. The multitouch gestures have also been improved -- two-finger scrolling was responsive for the most part as was pinch-to-zoom.
Screen and audio

That sweet visual experience is met with an equally awesome audio experience. To start, the speakers on the front edge of the laptop are seriously loud and full. However, HP's also teamed up with Beats Audio to provide a high end hardware and software-based audio-out experience. When we plugged our Sony MDR7506 headphones into the audio jack we could immediately hear the difference between listening to Eminem's "Not Afraid" on the Envy and our MacBook Pro. The fuller and more detailed sound was also obvious when we turned off the Beats option in the software controller.
Performance, graphics and battery life

ATI's Radeon HD 5650 also topped a lot of the other laptops on 3DMark06. With its 1GB of VRAM, it pushed along a 1080p clip beautifully – though Intel's integrated solution is more than capable of dealing with HD content. When it came to gaming, the card helped KO the Joker's crew at 33fps in Batman: Arkham Asylum. We also downloaded a demo version of World in Conflict on Steam, and at medium settings it clocked in at over 40fps. The graphics performance is pretty good for a mid-range card and it can support a killer Eyefinity setup if you happen to have six monitors, but we can't help but think a solution like NVIDIA's Optimus would be nice on this sort of machine – a few times when we unplugged it wouldn't switch to the integrated graphics until we closed some programs, and we had to go into the graphics control panel to turn on the GPU when we wanted to play some Batman when running on battery power.
| PCMarkVantage |
3DMark06 |
Battery Life | |
| HP Envy 14 (Core i5-450M, ATI HD 5650) | 6038 | 6899/1928 | 3:51 |
| Sony VAIO Z (Core i5-450M, NVIDIA 330M) | 9949 | 6193 | 4:25 |
| ASUS U33Jc (Core i3-370M, NVIDIA 310M) | 5574 | 1860/3403 | 5:10 |
| Toshiba Portege R705 (Intel Core i3-350M) | 5024 | 1759 | 4:25 |
| Acer TimelineX 4820T (Intel Core i3-350M) | 4926 | 1724 | 5:04 |
| Dell Vostro V13 (Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300) | 2687 | 556 | 2:39 |
| ASUS UL50Vf (Core 2 Duo SU7300) | 3724 | 827/3438 | 6:10 |
Speaking of the battery, the Envy 14's 3800mAh eight-cell battery lasted three hours and 51 minutes on our video rundown test, which loops the same standard definition video at 65 brightness. For a laptop of this size, that's not bad by any standard, and when writing this review and surfing the web (listening to Pandora and checking e-mail, really) we got about four and a half hours or runtime. HP does offer an extra battery slice for a whopping $200, which attaches to the bottom of the laptop.
Software

Wrap-up





























macbook clone
/s
@briguy266 fastest downrank ever, especially for a sarcastic one..
@Engadget
When are you guys going to review AMD based notebooks?
@daytripper Soon. I did review the Acer 521 and 721, but more on the way. Promise.
@ok old news again
Because the iMac isn't actually a laptop and is probably the leading all-in-one on the market?
@ok old news again
1) Worse OS is your opinion, not that of the reviewers
2) We get its expensive. So is every other AIO. It would be wrong to compare it to a similarly spec'd tower, seeing as that you get increased style, less space consumption, and a 21.5in LED IPS screen.
Good try though.
I literally GASPed when I saw the title... FINALLY!
@ok old news again If you ever see an Apple product get less than 9/10 from Engadget, it must be the biggest piece of crap in the Universe. Honestly. It might be on fire or something.
Good review on the Envy 14, but it would be nice to see a little more objectivity in the whole Apple vs. Windows thingie.
@briguy266
i mean if you look at the keys alone it is //incredibly// similar looking[esp. the function keys, look there is even an eject key]. and you're delusional if don't think this is targeted for the macbook pro users. of course its a macbook pro clone. that's not a bad thing though. it does a great job of keeping apple on their toes. it is missing one thing though. the efficiency and reliability that is os x. :) and a 7 hour battery life.
@briguy266
You're kidding, right? HP has been doing these types of designs way before Apple took a page from their black and silver design book. Remember how all Apple products had an extremely tacky all-white casing? Yeah, you can thank HP as well as other tech manufacturers for saving them from that disaster.
@briguy266
More like Macbook done *right*.
@Arayta Actually the old Powerbooks were originally back, and then became aluminum about 10 years ago, along with the white iBook, which became the Macbook. The MBPs have always been aluminum.
I don't know where you get HP's influence. They've always been made out of plastic.
@briguy266
You're are incredibly cool
/s
@Fess that one was right back at em lol good one.
@Arayta L2/s
@movies I love Apple hardware, but I miss the functionality and usability of win7 so im drooling over this laptop.
@briguy266
Maybe it's just me but I hate the lid and arm rest design, looks girly to me. I don't understand how plain silver was so hard they screwed it up. Otherwise it looks like a pretty good laptop, minus the touchpad problems which isn't acceptable either.
@briguy266
Why are macbook benchmarks never included? Sure, some of the software isn't available for macs, but what about the battery benchmark?
I'd DEFINITELY trade my MBP for this.
/no sarcasm
@daytripper What? AMD makes notebook hardware? hooda thunk
@daytripper as soon as they stop sucking
@briguy266
really engadget? your scorecard says the bad is "No VGA Port"? Now, to me that IS a negative, but I don't think I've EVER seen a Macbook review saying a negative is that there is no VGA port & no HDMI port. In fact, HP even included a Mini DisplayPort which requires a VGA adapter just like a Macbook Pro! They even included a HDMI port which a Macbook has never included on any revision.
It seems like a small thing to pick on, but why is there a double standard? A VGA port is required on a PC but not a Mac? Why doesn't every Macbook laptop review say --> Negative: No VGA, No HDMI, costs a ridiculous $30 for each adapter?
Is it just because Macbook Pro's have always been that way so you don't care anymore? or is it just because the laptop and box were so shiny when you were doing the review you forgot to check for a VGA port?
Both Macbook Pro's and this HP Envy are excellent consumer laptops. No VGA port on a Thinkpad or Vostro is a REALLY big negative because they're primarily business laptops and hooking up to a projector/monitor is likely going to happen more often. HP clearly thought this was more of a consumer laptop and figured an HDMI for a flat screen was sufficient. In fact, since Macbook's are for "creative" individuals, wouldn't that mean they'd want to show photos/videos/presentations more often that most consumers? Isn't a lack of VGA port a BIGGER negative on a Macbook than this HP Envy?
/InexplicableRantOver
@ravissimo That made so much sense... too bad engadget or the Joanna isn't going to care/reply to you, because they really have no excuse for that double standard
@ravissimo This often happens in reviews. The reviewer can't simply acknowledge every little thing. For instance, why didn't the complain about its inferior multitouch trackpad? Or why not complain about its lack of motion sensors that park the hd head in case of fall? Or why not complain that it doesn't have 10 hours of battery life? They even praised its battery life even though the MacBook has better battery life. I see what you're saying but you have to look at it from their standpoint too. It's nearly impossible to consider everything.
@hulahoophugs
True, you can't consider everything, but this isn't like the things you mentioned. Ports are cut & dry. A laptop either has them, or they don't. It's an easy thing to consider on every laptop review.
The things you mentioned... they DID complain about the touchpad. They also put it in "The Bad" section of their scorecard (how'd you miss that?)...
lack of motion sensors isn't something that's easily determined from "looking" at a laptop and reviewing hardware (it's on the spec sheet), whereas ports are easily visible...
battery life - the 10 hours of a Macbook is advertising. according to Engadget's own most recent review, the Macbook got 5 hrs 20 mins, the HP Envy 4 hours in their tests. Considering you can't remove the Macbook's battery and it's bigger, it's on par with this laptop, not something like twice as long.
My point? A Macbook should be docked points for not having a VGA or HDMI port ESPECIALLY if the HP Envy is because it's EASY to see.
Technological Double Standards are unjust. I'm just trying to right the wrongs one review at a time... da dada da!
@ravissimo i can assure you that my mbp can go for 10 hours, typically a little bit more if you really try, its not just advertising
@movies
You're delusional if you think OS X is a better OS than W7. (Though my favorite is still Linux for its reliability and security)
@hulahoophugs
The touchpad is great. I've used both and have no complaints about the Envy's.
Also the harddrives have those sensors built into them.
@DLeb I'm sure the Macbook Pro can GO for 10 hours, just as this HP Envy can probably GO for 10 hours if you really "try" like you say. I'm going off Engadget's video rundown tests for which peg the HP Envy at 3hrs51mins and the Macbook Pro at 5hrs18mins. Still a difference and if you're not watching video, both laptops will last longer than Engadget's findings.
@ComboBreaker
same dude, i have been waiting to buy this thing but could only find one official review, i couldnt believe engadget hadnt done a review especially when the envy 14 is on the back to school recommendation list
@ok old news again *Cough*......................moron.
Nicely priced and spec'ed. Probably start seeing a lot of these around campus (along without the countless netbooks) once classes start up soon.
@Templarian
bah i ordered my new laptop just yesterday, now engadget have written a guide to good laptops and shown me this, youve gotta be kidding me right?
:(
still, this laptop DOES look a beast, and looks like a good price too
@HoldenMccrotch, the envy's have been around for a while now. Nothing new to HP's lineup.
(also my above comment was /with/ not /without/.
@Templarian Misleading statement, as this IS new, even if the HP Envy name is not. The Corvette isn't new either, been around for sixty years, but that doesn't mean one dismisses the launch of the new ZR1, heh.
@Ducman69, you know what I meant, if he was in fact looking through the laptops he would have seen it.
@HoldenMccrotch so cancel your order
I really want one of these now.
@Aeolus
This is a very nice computer.
I'm personally partial to the Acer 3820TG (Timeline X) which has similar specs in a lighter, thinner frame, with better battery life. Arguably the Envy 14 has a better screen and build (very pretty), but I personally like battery life, so the 3820TG is nice in this regard. There are other differences that will likely value it differently to different people. They are both winners.
@MagnetMan
Your comment inspired me to look around for the laptop you mentioned as I'm in the market for one. Where is a link to the buy page?
I couldn't find one..
@Aeolus
I just got mine a little over a week now...and I love it! I have to agree with them with their scorecard. I found the touchpad to be a little "touchy" a few times...but I use a Razer Orochi most of the time so no biggie....and the extra stuff on the software side? I thought it wasn't too bad. And the backlit keyboard? Sick nasty.
(I have also been waiting FOREVER for this review post to come up....THANKS ENGADGET! I LOVE YOU!) :D
@MagnetMan
The lack of an optical drive more or less kills the 3820TG for me.
I'm going to try my damnedest to get this laptop for school and games. I'm sticking it with 6GB of RAM and the i5-520 with a 160GB SSD; it will crush anything >:D
The only downside of this laptop for me is the apparent underclocking (it's clocked at 450, the minimum availabe for the GPU) and undervolting (at 0.90 volts) of the 5650; they found out about it on this forum:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/503246-hp-envy-14-gpu-clock-undervoltage-poll.html
However, the Envy 14 should still be able to handle most games, even if it did get a lower-quality 5650.
Looks great, and for $1200 is a pretty good buy.
@KillaChaos and people complain that macs are overpriced..............
@KillaChaos
I've seen this and it looks good but the touchpad and OSX mean I'm going with a MacBook...when I get the money.
@Sil
Yeah because the closest spec'd wise Macbook Pro is $1800. So how about next time you look up the prices so you don't look like an idiot.
@Sil
How is this overpriced? Compared to a Macbook Pro 15 it has similar processor and memory, better graphics (leagues better actually), better display, and costs less.
I have bought a i5, 4 GB RAM, 160 GB SSD, 1600x900 display, for $950 with 30% Bing Cash Back. Best deal I've ever had. Too bad BCB is dead for good, but there are going to be other deals out there.
@CJisohsocool Yes you are correct about the specs, this hp has better ones but with a cheaper price. But it does run a stable operating system, you know the one with no viruses,crashes etc. so i dont know about you, but with my old pc, that thing would crash every week. i wouldnt want to go back to that
@Sil
Only idiots get viruses lol. I don't even need to have any antivirus anymore cause I know not to click or download stupid shit. But if it works for you then have fun paying that extra $600 lol. Or you could like read "How to not fuck up your computer for dummies"
And for stability and crashes, I've never had a problem with Windows 7. Never once crashed.
@CJisohsocool Haha, thanks for the laughs, apparently u havent heard the viruses can be transfered as easy as opening a link from an email thats looks like its from someone you know. I got a lot of friends that i know, that have gotten viruses.