*HP ENVY 14 & ENVY 14 Beats (2XXX series) Owners Lounge*

[one33_bpm]

I wouldn't consider getting anything less than something with the following specs for a 14" to 15.6" laptop:

ATI 6750m or NVidia 555m
1 GB of GDDR3/5
switchable graphics
i7-2630m
1600x900 resolution
5+ hours of battery life on IGP
SATA-III
eSATA or USB3.0
HDMI out

To put things into perspective, the 13.3" Sony SB will have a 6630m. And, the HP dm4 has been spotted with a 6750m. CNET Asia says that the new Envy14 will have a 6630m. However, there has been no official announcement yet, so it is still possible that the Envy14 will not disappoint...

Thank god my dv6tqe will not be ship until June 6, giving me time to cancel the order if the Envy14 lives up to my hopes.

[altecX]

If the 6630 is as fast as the 5650 then I'll be fine with it. Even more so if it means less heat/better battery.

[one33_bpm]

If the iGPU (HD3000) is sufficient to run the original Guild Wars, i prolly just wont use my dGPU (6770m) until either Diablo 3 or Guild Wars 2 comes out. And even then, i will try to underclock the dGPU as much as possible such that I can still run either on a second separate monitor in 1080p, maybe even less when just on the laptop display.

You may ask, well then why isn't the 6630 sufficient? Because when i need that power in the future, it will be there. The GPU is ultimately the most important factor in determining how long a computer will stay relevant.

[ArchEnemy]

Given a choice between Envy 14 SB and Alienware M14x now i would go for the latter without hesitation Unfortunately it wasn't available when I bought mine so I'll have to live with it for the next year or so. Life of a poor college student haha.

[one33_bpm]

Hey make the decisions you can live with. I never had a laptop in college, just a desktop in my room. I was an electrical & computer engineering major,and found that nothing was better than a pencil, notebook, and big eraser. Lookin back, I think that a laptop would have been a distraction, so thank god im all gradumacated now. =)

[Daht88]

The Alienware M14x looks pretty damn good right now, especially if HP drops the ball on the Envy 14... Great build quality, excellent processor, great graphics card for a notebook in it's size, and not as expensive as I imagined at first.

[lovelaptops]

Cannot wait to see HP try to release a nerfed 6630 and a non-hd/radiance display, oh lord if they think people will buy that over any other companies laptop or even there own dv6t or dv4.

Edit: HP's Pavilion dv6t and dv7t available with 1080p screens, people who bought three months ago sigh -- Engadget
Apparently now even the dv6t are getting 1080p screens as of today, maybe hp worked on something for the envy 14 too :O

I'm really surprised reading this thread that people are so pessimistic about the new E14 being far better than the DV6. I don't think the notion is lost on HP that people have been waiting IMpatiently for the new Envy 14 and that with the Dell XPS 15, the Alienware M14X and now HP's own 1080p non-glare DV6 model, the Envy 14 is going to have to be really, really special or the brand will essentially die a fast death.

I would take $100 bets right now that the new E14 will blow away the old one, the dv6 and dv7 and will be competitive with the Dell XPS 15 but have some significant features (including very likely multiple GPU choices AND much better battery life) than the previous ones and than competing models. This is a make/break model for the Envy line and with all the awesome screens that the competition and HP itself have put out since the Radiance died, they would be suicidal maniacs to make the new Envy 14 anything but a blockbuster model and I expect that they will introduce it with massive discounts as well, to get the market share way up quickly and blow all the competition away.

I will also take $100 bets that if I am wrong, this spells a huge demise for HP as a consumer brand. If you don't have a flagship, your "budget lines" have no panache at all.

Come to think of it, with the experiences I've had with HP in the last 6 months, they ARE stupid enough to completely blow it! If I was about to buy, nonetheless, I would wait to see what they come up with.

[mariusvt]

I'm really surprised reading this thread that people are so pessimistic about the new E14 being far better than the DV6. I don't think the notion is lost on HP that people have been waiting IMpatiently for the new Envy 14 and that with the Dell XPS 15, the Alienware M14X and now HP's own 1080p non-glare DV6 model, the Envy 14 is going to have to be really, really special or the brand will essentially die a fast death.

I would take $100 bets right now that the new E14 will blow away the old one, the dv6 and dv7 and will be competitive with the Dell XPS 15 but have some significant features (including very likely multiple GPU choices AND much better battery life) than the previous ones and than competing models. This is a make/break model for the Envy line and with all the awesome screens that the competition and HP itself have put out since the Radiance died, they would be suicidal maniacs to make the new Envy 14 anything but a blockbuster model and I expect that they will introduce it with massive discounts as well, to get the market share way up quickly and blow all the competition away.

I will also take $100 bets that if I am wrong, this spells a huge demise for HP as a consumer brand. If you don't have a flagship, your "budget lines" have no panache at all.

Come to think of it, with the experiences I've had with HP in the last 6 months, they ARE stupid enough to completely blow it! If I was about to buy, nonetheless, I would wait to see what they come up with.

The question is, what is high end in our eyes may not be high end in HP's. They may feel that an Envy with better CPU options, a 6630m graphics, etc is higher end than what they have in the severely nerfed DV4 and the mid range DM4 machines.

In terms of what we feel the Envy must have, a 67xx card, high res screen, etc probably aren't concerns of HP. I really hope they make me eat my words by releasing a high res 67xx graphics equipped machine but I just don't see it happening. I would love nothing more than a truly high end Envy14 to hit the market because I absolutely do not want a 15" or bigger laptop. They are just too big. Also I get a nice $200 or so discount through HP thanks to where I work so that is a nice bonus but if they don't offer a machine with what I want I'll gladly spend the extra money for a sony or wait another 6-8 months for the next generation of laptops and get a new smartphone instead.

[Daht88]

Honestly, if HP wants to compete against the Alienware m14x, or their own DV6t, they'll have to put at least a 6750 in for their graphics card. A 6770 would be optimal, and I know that people have been arguing over it's power consumption and TDP, but Dell managed to gram a GT 555m into their m14x, which consumes more power than a 6770, despite being less powerful.

[Karamazovmm]

Honestly, if HP wants to compete against the Alienware m14x, or their own DV6t, they'll have to put at least a 6750 in for their graphics card. A 6770 would be optimal, and I know that people have been arguing over it's power consumption and TDP, but Dell managed to gram a GT 555m into their m14x, which consumes more power than a 6770, despite being less powerful.

very different formats, not that the envy 14 is the slimmest nor the smallest of all, but the format is still very different. There is no use comparing the envy with the m14x, the m14x is barely a 14'', much like the m11x is barely a 11''

Now if you compared the envy 14 with the thinkpad edge e420s, this might be good. Or the LG blade P430, the vaio CA...

deal with it. Since the chassis is not redone, there is little hope for a better cooling system, its going to be a 6630m. It still will provide decent gaming, and for people who like the envy will be a good buy.