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

[zeth006]

I'm fairly excited for this update, but it would have been far more beneficial to me if HP didn't even introduced the Envy 14 line, and instead, maintained the Envy 15 line. There would be no radiance display shortage issues, as 15" displays are by far, easier to acquire/produce in larger volumes, and without an optical bay that most consumers use far less than they actually realize, more effort could be put into cooling a laptop with a greater opportunity to fit in larger, more powerful components. I'm not saying that The Envy 15 didn't have heating issues initially, but that it is possible to make a very well rounded laptop in a 15" size... Look at the second generation of the Envy 15, or the Macbook Pro, for instance. It's a great piece of hardware, the only flaw being it's ridiculous price tag.

But I guess some would prefer the form-factor of a 14" laptop more than me...

I wheel my backpack around, so I would've preferred the 15.6" real estate with just an optional USB optical drive.

[zeth006]

Seriously though. In between my job and Guild Wars, I'll be looking forward to reviews on the E14 2nd gen come June. I'll be scouring the web for tech blog reviews and coming here occasionally to peruse user reviews.

[Daht88]

I wheel my backpack around, so I would've preferred the 15.6" real estate with just an optional USB optical drive.

Portability isn't a huge problem with me, and the difference between carrying a backpack with a 14.5" laptop to a 15.6" laptop inside is barely noticeable. BTW I can't really tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

[Daht88]

Ah the sarcasm is now more apparent.

[balkp]

After hearing the disappointing update, (no 1600x900), they really have not changed much. I have a bad feeling they are going to be releasing it with a 6650

Edit: Also, have any user's here posted about the battery life of the dm4, I would think it to be similar to the new Envy, I just hope it can get 5 hours out.

[zeth006]

Portability isn't a huge problem with me, and the difference between carrying a backpack with a 14.5" laptop to a 15.6" laptop inside is barely noticeable. BTW I can't really tell if you're being sarcastic or not.

No, not being sarcastic, it's the truth. The E15 and the E14 weigh almost exactly the same! Yes, you read correctly. The E14 weighs nearly the same because extra parts and mass are dedicated to accommodate an optical drive. The E15 doesn't face these restrictions and as a result leaves more room for a more powerful GPU and one additional fan. The 0.1 more extra weight is especially insignificant for me as I wheel my backpack around most of the time.

So what's not to like besides not having an internal optical drive? Not much. The keyboard layout's going to be slightly wider, but with the E15, you had a 1920x1080 screen. I saw my friend's E15's screen and while the color reproduction wasn't as great, the pixel density was nice to have. Good for multitasking between webpages and Word 2010 without needing to zoom in/out as much.

[ncc1701k]

I've been watching notebooks evolve for at least 10 years. I used to complain that notebooks, especially the thin/light ones, were too deficient for serious notebook gaming. But putting a 5650 into a thin/light form factor with decent cooling IMO was a nice feat on HP's part. Not revolutionary, but it still required some serious engineering work as thin/light form factors often leave less ventilation space available for air to flow through. In 2011, they've just kept up with that trend. Putting a midline GPU into a thin/light notebook ensures the notebook won't overheat and/or the GPU won't melt. It's the same reason I believe Apple doesn't put high-end GPUs in its Macbook Pros. The one other limiting factor besides the thin/light form factor is the DVD drive. The Envy 14 only has 2 fans to cool the entire system. Otherwise, if this were like the E15 with no optical drive present, a 58xx series GPU would've been possible. [Note: HP had to go through a lot of trial/error to get the 5830 to work inside even a 3-fan thin/light system like the E15]

Case in point: The Acer TimelineX series nailed the 5650/Core i5 combo way before the Envy with its 4820TG and 3820TG. They were even thinner and lighter than the Envy and sported a non-nerfed switchable 5650 with even better battery life, albeit with a standard run of the mill plastic casing and a standard screen. It just shows that it is quite possible to stuff a 5650 (which frankly is only a midrange card) and Core i5 into a thin and light chasis, even for a cheap $800 laptop that Acer mass produces like it's an afterthought.

That being said, I refuse to cut HP any slack for not even matching the performance of a cheap Acer with its "premium" line. Simply refreshing with Sandy Bridge and a new touchpad does nothing to increase its competitiveness. In fact the Envy stopped being a competitive MBP alternative the moment they stopped offering the Radiance screen. So unless they bring back the Radiance screen, I fail to see how the Envy series can differentiate itself among the mass of standard affair consumer laptops you find at best buy and staples.

BTW if we apply the same lazy hardware standards that Apple does over the years to HP, then we have sunk really really really low with our expectation. This is a company that had never put anything more powerful than a midrange 330m in a $2000 laptop and charged $1200 for a core 2 duo machine up until this march. HP can do better.

[ncc1701k]

No, not being sarcastic, it's the truth. The E15 and the E14 weigh almost exactly the same! Yes, you read correctly. The E14 weighs nearly the same because extra parts and mass are dedicated to accommodate an optical drive. The E15 doesn't face these restrictions and as a result leaves more room for a more powerful GPU and one additional fan. The 0.1 more extra weight is especially insignificant for me as I wheel my backpack around most of the time.

I can definitely confirm that. Especially if you have a later revision of E14 which HP put on extra weight to reinforce the keyboard flex, and even more so if you have the 5.7lb E14 Beats Edition.

However, the 3 fan design of the E15 is kind of an oddity, since they use two to cool the CPU and only 1 to cool the GPU. If it was the other way around I'm pretty sure they can throw in a more powerful graphics card.

[Daht88]

No, not being sarcastic, it's the truth. The E15 and the E14 weigh almost exactly the same! Yes, you read correctly. The E14 weighs nearly the same because extra parts and mass are dedicated to accommodate an optical drive. The E15 doesn't face these restrictions and as a result leaves more room for a more powerful GPU and one additional fan. The 0.1 more extra weight is especially insignificant for me as I wheel my backpack around most of the time.

So what's not to like besides not having an internal optical drive? Not much. The keyboard layout's going to be slightly wider, but with the E15, you had a 1920x1080 screen. I saw my friend's E15's screen and while the color reproduction wasn't as great, the pixel density was nice to have. Good for multitasking between webpages and Word 2010 without needing to zoom in/out as much.

Wait so you actually do wheel you're backpack around? Might as well get the Envy 17 or the Dell XPS 17

[MagusDraco]

well we could all be like "screw it" and get a 15.6 inch sager or something.