*HP ENVY 17 & 17 3D (2XXX series) Owners Lounge*

[cam121]

What do you guys recommend as far as memory goes? 8, 12, or 16? Since this is a laptop and I wanna play Starcraft 2 once in a while I wanted to get the 12 or even 16GB but I'm worried bout the price difference and whether it would just be overkill to get anything over 8GB.

And then apply that money towards an SSD. I'm planning on getting the Crucial m4 512GB SSD. Anyone have any guides as to how to place it in slot A and get everything working properly?

8GB is more than enough. Otherwise skip 12GB and go directly to 16GB in order to take advantage of the dual channel memory bus.

Then again, if you are blowing serious dough on the 512GB SSD, 16GB should be easily in your price range!

[jonnyhifi]

Just had my HP 3D update the BIOS: and on restarting once in Win7 got a bizare message:
The Smart AC Adapter connected will power your computer, but potentially at a reduced performance level. Your computer is designed to vary performance as needed when a smaller capacity Smart AC Adapter is connected. Resource intensive tasks may cause your system not to perform at its highest level with a smaller capacity Smart AC Adapter. Please connect a higher capacity Smart AC Adapter for full performance.

HP offers awide range of smart adapter for your convenience...

WEll that sounds a sensible sort of message, except I've got the machine plugges into the mains, via the charger it came with. (and the battery was showing 100% charge), so what is going on ?
The brick feels beefy, and claims to be 120W. Any ideas ?

In having had this machine for a month or more, I've never seen this
message before. Bug ?

Also, anyone know what this BIOS update fixed, I didn't have a problem I knew about before....


Cheers everyone. Have a good weekend.

[cam121]

That message is quite common and expected when using a non-HP power supply. However, your cause for concern was that this occurred while using the original 120W brick included with the laptop.

It's possible the BIOS update changed something that triggered this. If it continues to happen, then you might have a problem. I'd suggest a reboot to see if the message comes back.

Otherwise, you can run a software mix to push the processor to max and monitor the core speed. If you pc runs at full speed and intel turbo boost kicks in, then the message is merely an annoyance. If your machine throttles, then it believes the laptop is not being supplied enough power and you might have a bad power brick (or something more serious, but lets hope not).

Good luck.

[mav99]

Re: Testing the Centrino Ultimate-N 6300 AGN

I just got my Centrino 6300 from Buy.com (SKU 215089005 - $31.99 free shipping) and internal antenna from OxfordTEC.com (Laptop Internal Aerial Antenna U.Fl plug connector (WAEISO3-S0) - $9.99 & $5.60 S/H) replacing the 6200 and updating to the 14.1.1.3 driver from Intel. Antenna is insulated and fits easily in the same cavity as the 6300. The only caveat is that the drive cover put up a struggle during removal. There are only two screws but there is also a locking tab in the center near the rubber foot. Cracked it a little near the tab but a quick dab of epoxy has made an invisible repair.

Now, who might have a suggestion for software to test my throughput to my wireless router? I've actually got 3 Netgear WNDR3700s in my home net running the latest Netgear firmware. I never experienced transfer hangs with the 6200 but have the need (the need for speed).

Hey Bassetwrangler, curious to know how the 6300 with third antenna is working out. If it's an improvement over the stock 6200 (when it doesnt freeze) I think I will do the same. Please update!

[absolutnick]

Do we guys have any serious review of the envy 17 sb with the full hd display? I want to swap my envy 14 radiance for it. How does it compare with the envy 17 full hd screen?

[walker5467]

Do we guys have any serious review of the envy 17 sb with the full hd display? I want to swap my envy 14 radiance for it. How does it compare with the envy 17 full hd screen?

By full HD do you mean the 1080p right? I've had one since they came out and there is no equal outside the macbook line for it, good blacks and a nice even back light. Colors by default are pushing towards the cool side, but not something that can't be adjusted.

Really I have to say the Envy 17 SB has been the best PC I have ever had, I keep it closed using the HDMI port and a wireless keyboard and mouse during the day and then it travels on the road with me in the evenings to various job sites and has only locked up once on me (after our big fix bios update, unfortunately.) In the four and a half months I've owned it wear is mostly non-existent, my touch pad has always been a little high on one corner which is annoying, doesn't quite sit flush with the face of the palm rest, but that's just me getting picky on details.

Another detail: closing the PC and letting it beat around in my bag makes the keys show up on the glass, it just wipes off but unnerving when you open it and see an imprint of the keyboard on the screen.

[dlleno]

Quick question - is the 3D display better in regular use? Or is the panel quality more or less equal. From what I understand the 3D has a higher refresh rate but does it look better/have better tech specs? Again, outside of the 3D feature.

The 3D panel is spec'd at 400-nit brightness while the 2D panel is 300-nit. that and the refresh rates are the essential differences, it appears to me. For the benefits in real situations, here are some thoughts:

1. the additional brightness might be important to you if you watch movies or game in brightly lit (I mean very brightly lit) venues (like outside or under very bright direct fluorescent lighting). other than that, normal indoor viewing there will be little benefit to the 400 nit display. I'm using a 300-nit 1080p display now and find it astonishingly bright, leading me to believe that 400 nits is helpful only in the 3D situation.

2. the refresh rate benefit is debatable in the non-3D situation. yea you can go higher than 60Hz and you might see some difference if you try to race cursors across the screen. but by and large, in the non-3D situation the higher refresh rate won't give you much to write home about. One rather amusing point to make is that 120Hz will cover both 24fps and 30fps native content without having to switch frame rates -- but this isn't a show stopper either, as the 60Hz screen can refresh at either 48Hz and 60Hz to cover those situations.

[absolutnick]

Thank you for the information walker5467. Do you have any links with reviews of the unit with the 1080p screen?

[TheAtreidesHawk]

Alright! Here's what I got in the works....

YOUR CUSTOMIZED HP PC


Envy 17 3D
• Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• No Additional Office Software
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2820QM (2.3 GHz, 8MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 3.4 GHz
• 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6850M Graphics [HDMI]
• 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 750GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 2.25 hours of battery life +++
• 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP 3D Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080)
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth(R) with Wireless Display Support
• Backlit Keyboard with numeric keypad
• Adobe(R) Photoshop(R) Elements 9 & Adobe Premiere(R) Elements 9
• HP 3D Active Shutter Glasses
• HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

GRAND TOTAL: $1,539.32

That's after 30% OFF and including taxes. In the end I honestly couldn't justify splurging on 16GB of memory like that.

However I DO fully intend to get an SSD. Anyone know of any great deals on reliable/good performing ones out there? And I mean an SSD that will truly display it's difference to the 7200 rpm hard disk drive I got. I need over 300GB of space. So ideally just 1 drive.

[mastafro]

Well i've been lurking on the forums for awhile and I finally decided to go ahead and order my Envy! That 30% coupon really helped make it fall under my budget. The only question I had was in regards to the 300gb SSD, i'm not sure if it is the newest intel 2.5 drive or not!

HP ENVY 17 3D customizable Notebook PC
• 2nd generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2.0 GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz
• 1GB GDDR5 Radeon(TM) HD 6850M Graphics [HDMI]
• 8GB 1333MHz DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
• 300GB (Solid State Drive Flash Module)
• 6-Cell Lithium-Ion Battery (standard)
• 17.3" diagonal Full HD HP 3D Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920x1080)
• Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burner
• HP TrueVision HD Webcam
• Intel 802.11a/b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth
• Backlit Keyboard with numeric keypad
• HP 3D Active Shutter Glasses

Grand total $1,603.25

Now it's time to play the waiting game, so excited!