Customer Reviews

HP Envy 14-1110nr 14.5-Inch Relic Laptop PC - Up to 3.45 Hours of Battery Life (Carbon)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Amazon appears to be the only place that has user reviews for the envy 14 WITHOUT the 1600x 900 radiance display, which is no long available. I searched and read every blog talking about this before I bought, here's the bottom line. I was so hesitant and hemmed and hawed about buying this after reading all the blogs- why? Because I'm like a lot of buyers out there, it really bugs me to get something new without having the best of everything installed on it, especially when it comes to computers because of the rapidness in which your brand new technology becomes 2nd best, and then nearly obsolete. The blogs were filled with people who got the radiance screen bragging profusely and potential buyers refusing to pull the trigger on this laptop unless the radiance display comes back...mixed with all the technical jargon about 1366x768 vs 1600x900 for this or that application, etc etc.

I bought it anyway, why? It truly is the perfect size for the perfect balance between portability and performance. Amazon had an awesome price of less than 1000 bucks for not the lowest speed processor or smallest hard drive, a very nice build of 640 gb, 7200 rpm drive and the 3rd fastest available core i5. It also just plain looks sexy compared to any other windows based laptop being produced! It truly is a strong competitor for the MacBook pro, being made to look like it, but just different enough with some extra flair to set it apart.

Now the display- it is sad that HP lost the radiance display, that display is what in my opinion would have made the envy 14 laptop the absolute best laptop produced in 2010, and would have outdone the 15 inch and higher MacBook pro in every single category. As it stands now, I believe it outdoes the 13 inch MacBook pro, and for 300 bucks less! As far as windows based laptops in the same size and class, like I said, it's the best balance of price, performance, and portability, and best looking. The 1366x 768 edge to edge glass display is still nice, it honestly is- iTunes movies at 720p look great, text is crystal clear, colors are brilliant, honestly, even if you are a power user, I don't see why you would be disappointed with the quality of the display, and remember the radeon 5650 card can do anything you need it to do more than what the laptop display provides when you hook it up to an HDTV or external LCD HD monitor. So, be angry at hp if you must, and refuse to buy this laptop without the better display, but if you can get over it, you will not be disappointed with this laptop if you do buy it...

For background: I get a new laptop every 6 months or so aand have owned over 20+ so I understand what is normal and what is not.

This Envy is fabulous in terms of speed, heat management and fan noise is low relative to other HP laptops. However still higher than Sony, Dell and Asus, but not too bothersome.

Video card handles StarCraft 2 perfectly and is ATI 5650 is right up there with Nvidia GTS 360M, will handle upcoming call of duty black ops just fine.

You are here because you know all the good part, now Ill get to the bad.

Trackpad:
-Very jumpy, even moving your palm near it while typing cause cursor to jump all over, i nearly lost half of my note in class due to this.
-Poor construction, google HP ENVY 14 TRACKPAD NOISE, OR TRACKPAD PROBLEM, you will find pages and pages and pages of people (i'm one of them) with trackpad making loose clicky noises, or stuck or make loud clunky noises while being pressed upon. A comparable feeling would be driving a brand new Lexus with a loose and vibrating steering wheel. There's no way to self repair, you have to RMA or send it in for repair. As for software for the trackpad, there is an update that helps some but 2 finger scroll and the jumpiness still very much apparent. This trackpad cost it 2 stars and me to RMA the laptop.

-Wirless ON, display dimmed to lowest, no flash web site, only MS word taking note and stuff, power saving mode, real life battery under this condition is approximate 4 hours. U can squeeze 30 more probably with wireless Off.

PS: I have done extensive research online and went to see actual demo in store, trackpad degraded the experience of this laptop exponentially, otherwise if you will only be using a wireless mouse with it, this is a marvelous computer.

UPDATE as of November 13, 2010. Kudo's to Amazon, I returned the Envy 14 with defective trackpad, and received FULL refund plus shipping and got a replacement ENVY 14. Trackpad is a NONE issue now. Clicking is gone, while it's still a bit jumpy, but I just went to the synaptic trackpad setting and lowered the sensitiveness slightly and now it's perfect. Fan noise still low, display is gorgeous and all game can be played at max level e.g. Starcraft 2 and Black Ops. By the way, as a pleasant surprise, I just found out All ENVY series laptop are covered under 2 years warranty! This is the best laptop I have EVER owned, don't hesitate to buy it!

UPDATE as of January 8, 2011. After a software update for trackpad from HP last month, the trackpad works fabulously. 2 finger scroll and all other functions work as advertised. The laptop continue to provide 4 hours of battery life with power saver mode, screen dimmed to lowest,video card turned off and wireless ON, with a few office program running. This continue to deliver highest detail with no lag on Starcraft 2. I updated to the latest ATI Catalyst from AMD web site with no problem. Still runs quiet and cool. By quiet I mean I can sleep with it on overnight 1 foot beside me. BUY IT!

Finally upgraded from my 4 year old Dell inspiron e1505 and I will never look back. Easily the highest quality laptop I have ever owned. Was able to get an i7 core processor with 6 gbs of memory and 500gb 7200 RPM harddrive for under $1000 with a coupon (watch gotapex.com, they pop up rarely).

pros:
-beautiful! The laser etched aluminum frame and cover are unique and gorgeous. Yes it is vaguely reminiscent of the macbook but they really did make it unique.

-heat management. I am aware the the envy 13 and 17 series had overheating issues but mine (even with the i7 core) runs nice and cool. The fan never even has to kick it into high gear.

-excellent backlit keyboard. The nicest feeilng and most responsive keyboard I've used on a PC. Period.

-weight/size. My last laptop was 15.6 inches which was nice but very inconvenient. Myw ife's 13" macbook seemed just a bit too small. The Envy 14 (which is really 14.5inches) filled the gap idealy. Also manages to keep the weight off and be only 1.1" thick.

-mouse pad. You will read a LOT of negative reviews about this but I am very pleased with it. Note that there have been several driver updates since the initial reviews. I am absolutely thrilled with it.

-slot loading drive. Looks classy.

-beats audio. You should know beats audio does NOT mean that the laptop has special or unique speakers. It doesn't. Beats is a software driven optimization which provides clear, interference-free, crisp audio via the audio out ports. Makes a distinct difference when listening via external speakers or headphones. Can toggle on and off to hear the difference, definitely enjoyable.

-speed. I opted for the 1.6Ghz four core i7 processor and this computer is BLAZING FAST. Even if you don't play games the responsiveness of the operating system is truely remarkable.

-screen brightness/quality. The 1080p radiance display remains unavailable when I purchased this laptop. I have the lower resolution birghtview display (720p) which has it's plusses and minuses. The picture is VERY bright and crisp. Has much more liveliness when compared to my Dell. It WOULD be nice to have a slightly higher resolution but this in no way significantly detracts from the overall experience. Even if the radiance display was available I would not have spent the extra $200-300 to upgrade. Part of the appeal of the laptop is that it can be had for under $1000.

UPDATE: was on phone with customer service and inquired about the radiance display. HP says it is PERMANENTLY
discontinued from the HP envy 14 line.

-useful software/minimal bloatware: I only had to remove the Bing toolbar and that ended my bloatware removal. Also it comes with Adobe photoshop elements (which I had just bought seperately!) and adobe premier. Very usefull tools to apply that processing power!

-Build quality. This laptop is one of the only laptops in the sub-$1000 range with a metal frame. It is SOLID.

-comes with a TWO year warranty rather than the standard one year with other HP products

cons:
-battery life. I will admit that my poor battery life is mostly my fault for getting the i7. You should know that even though the graphics processor can be turned off (to switch to the integrated graphics) this feature is unavailable on the i7. Therefor I get to enjoy full processing power all the time, at the expense of battery life. I would say that using everything (bluetooth, wireless, full brightness, ect) I can get 2-2.5 hours of use out of it. I chose this because it is VERY rare that I use my laptop away from an outlet. I have a netbook for that purpose.

To sum things up I am happier with my envy than I have been witha ny computer before it. If you decide to buy you will not regret it.

UPDATE: Six months later I'm still extremely pleased with the laptop. I would happily purchase it again in a heartbeat!

I received this laptop about a week ago, and I certainly have not regretted the decision. I was looking for something larger than 11", but smaller than 15", and solidly built. Battery life was certainly a consideration as well. Fortunately, I was able take a look at several laptops in person at our local MicroCenter, and take them for a test drive. Initially, the price of the Envy steered me clear when I first looked at it, as you can get comparable specs for 200 or more less.

However, after much consideration, I went back to the Envy -- especially so after this 14" model was released with revised specs. Now, onto the meat and potatoes:
Pros: Bright Screen, excellent keyboard, backlit keyboard, decent switchable graphics, excellent battery life (about 4 hours), not much bloatware (easily uninstalled), LED's for various functions are not super bright, slot-loading DVD drive, solid construction, attention to small details compared to other laptops, and most importantly, my wife is a big fan.

Cons: The touchpad. I don't hate it, but it does take a bit of getting used to. A bit heavy for a 14" laptop. A tad expensive. I wish the screen could tilt a bit more back. The ethernet adapter "disappears" from device manager, until you plug a cable in -- could be just a power-related setting though.

All in all, I feel this laptop fits our needs very well, and unlike the competition, has current hardware and a bit of muscle under the hood. For those of you interested, the Windows 7 Scores are as follows for the high performance GPU:

-Processor: 6.9
-Memory: 5.9
-Graphics: 6.7
-Gaming Graphics: 6.7
-Hard Drive: 5.9 (Highest a standard hard drive will go -- need a SSD to increase this score)

Highly recommended!

When I received this laptop the right speaker was not working. Can't believe HP has no quality control over their Flagship product Envy 14. But Full marks to Amazon. I just picked the phone told the Amazon rep on the phone about the issue and with in a couple of minutes they shipped another laptop which reached me Next Day. HATS OFF to Amazon customer service. I am very happy to see Amazon stepping and taking measures to keep their customers happy. HP please learn some thing!!!

About HP Envy 14, really liked the build quality, though there is still a little flex on the back of screen but much better then any other laptop ( except Mackbook) Touch pad has its own learning curve. I really think they could have kept the old touch pad. But then its large too which is a step in right direction. Key board is best in its class. Love to type on it. Screen is ok compared to other Pcs but no way close to radiance display or Macbooks display. Gives around 3.5 hrs battery life with wifi on and normal surfing. Stays cool ( have not tried Gaming Yet. Another complaint to HP about graphics card. Clocking it down DOES NOT HELP MUCH. Hope they can fix this with next upgrade of this product. All and All I really liked the Product, Its fast, shut down and boot time are also less ( comparative to other Pcs.) Tip :- do minimal recovery to remove all bloat ware and then see how zipping fast this machine could get.

Many of the users have been complaining about various small issues of Envy 14. I was worried about these issues, and as a result I did a lot of testing after I received the computer. I have to say it's an excellent product and I didn't see any issues by now. (after 5 hours of use).

COMMONLY REPORTED ISSUES:

1.CPU whining:
I can't say all envy's has no CPU whining, but mine definitely has no strange noise at all. All I can hear is normal fan noise, steady and low pitched. The noise is much more pleasant than the old Acer I was using.
2.touch pad:
works well, easy to lock. You can just lock it when typing, it doesn't bother me at all. I can see a very small gap (0.3mm or less) on the right and lower boarder. It's OK guys! I think it's just designed to be this way to make assembly easier.
3.keyboard flex:
Admittedly, the flex IS an actual issue, may bother somebody. Area around the key "P" is looser than other area and the noise is a little bigger. The difference in noise volume is about 20 percent. Nevertheless, the overall quality of keyboard is still great, although not as good as macbook pro. Another thing I want to say is that, unlike the macbook pro, the whole keyboard of envy is separated from the palmrest, I assume that if the keyboard ever gets any problem, I can simply remove it and place another one on there.
4.logo issue:
Mine is good'. Light panel in right position.

If the envy's sold by Amazon is in the same batch, the situations above maybe exactly the same with u.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
1.The number of bloatwares IS D*mn God Huge!!! It took me about 3 hours to clean all these and installing updates...

2.It's really blazing fast...compared to my 4 year old Acer though...

3.It's a pity that radiance display is no longer available. The resolution looks no better than my Acer, and of course much coarser than the Dell of my roommate, which has a 1600*900 resolution.

4.Heavier than I expected, still acceptable though.

UPDATE ON 1/3/2011:
1. Tested battery once. In median brightness, power saving mode, using integrated graphic, used it for 3.5 hours and still got 23% left.

2.The sound effect is just nothing special.

I kept this laptop for about a week. Pros: beautifully crafted, like a macbook pro running Windows 7; great display; fast. I subtract two stars for the Cons: cooling fan runs 95% of the time, too loud for my liking; audio had a continuous, annoying hiss accompanying whatever was playing and there was a squeal/beep upon track changes. These problems, or least the latter, were probably defects with the laptop I had.

I hesitated a long time to buy this laptop but gave in as soon as Amazon dropped the price, for it seemed a good combination of style and features (backlit keyboard) and I heard good words about its display too.

The machine is slick and sleek, medium weight, and comes in an absolutely classy packaging. A startup guide is offered electronically, on a 2 gb memory card. It contains the manual in various languages, and an installable that I didn't experiment with.

Display is eyepleasing. The 'beats' audio is supposed to be one of the selling / differentiating points of this laptop. It comes switched on by default, but there was no difference that I could see. I have heard as good sound on my Compaq Presario laptop with Altec Lansing speakers and this 5 years ago. Dr Dre makes good music, but he doesn't necessarily make better speakers.

As with any computer with this much RAM and processing power, it's fast.

The keyboard is well spaced out, and has a handy 'eject' button for the cd drive. The 'FN' key didn't work out of the box for me, the manual indicates that it may need to be activated via bios. I could use [ctrl]+[alt] instead to access the function keys activated features such as keyboard backlight / mute / sound / brightness. The keyboard is too smooth, my fingers are slipping off it right now. My business laptop is a HP ProBook 4410s with a similar 'chiclet' keyboard but it doesn't have such polished keys. I guess it will take some time to get used to the 'slipperiness' of the keys.

The laptop doesn't have a VGA port, only HDMI, I guess that's the way of the future, and till such time as HDMI becomes universal for all projectors, we'll have to use convertors. This may be a big issue for you though, it isn't for me.

HP has included very little "bloatware". The default music player is a HP software, not Windows Media Player. I don't play much music, so I don't particularly care. Microsoft Security Essentials provides the antivirus protection. Have to wait and see how good it is. There's a "skinning" tool that applied a nice custom skin that goes well with the laptop.

The laptop only sees the 'N' portion of my dual band router's network, so that bears some investigation. Not a bad thing by itself, helps in routing traffic.

To sum: a good laptop, the only negative I can see thus far is the extra-smooth skin on the keys. Perhaps they'll throw in a discrete graphics card in this price by the time Thanksgiving comes around.. I needed a system righaway but see if you want to wait..
I will update the review as time goes by.

Note: Recovery disks can only be burnt on single layer DVDs, and you'll need 6 of those. Probably a software limitation. You want to burn recovery disks after first boot, before connecting the system to the internet. I had ordered dual layer ones (Verbatim 30 ct pack) but had to go out to get single layer ones.

I understand... if you are looking for that special PC laptop its pretty tough out there. I have 4 home computers and needed an updated PC laptop. My MBP 15 is a few months old and to be honest my favorite computer ever. It is amazing in every way, so if you just need one laptop I would recommend buying it - no regrets ever. Don't be afraid...I was and I can't for the life of me figure out what I was scared of. This from a die-hard PC girl.

Let's get to the Envy-14.

Its pretty special and if you own an ordinary laptop PC like I did (a Dell D830) its over the moon. Here are some things to think about.

1) DO NOT order this computer from HP. They have zero retail experience and it will be a nightmare. I tried and failed and told them to kiss off. Really in my entire adult life I have only failed to order expensive things I do not need like three times and all successful. In this case I tried to order three times and they told me no. Go figure.

2) Order it from Amazon - seriously these folks know what they are doing. I ordered late on a Saturday and chose the cheapest ship option possible and they delivered on Monday. These Amazon folks are retail geniuses. And btw, they know about pesky little things like returns and stuff that fails to work. Four gold stars.

3) This thing is solid. Man I love that. You can pull up the top without knocking it over. One of the turn-offs (for me) shopping around for a new laptop was all the light-weight plastic from other brands (deal breakers). Man they were cheap pieces of crap.

4) Price for features - Paid $925 - About $700 less than my MBP yet same/similar specs (larger HD with envy - same processor). Also the 14" laptop package is really a good size for portability. big tip: I recommend you switch if you are using a 15.4" model. I find the 15" form to bulky now. 14" rules!!

5) Connected HDMI to my Dell monitor and wow looks like a brand new monitor. Really like this option as it connects to TVs and also mini display port option. Resolution is 1920x1200.

6) Love the backlit keyboard - feels just like my MBP. Also I have no issue with my keyboard. Not sure what the vibe is out there that the keyboard is weird. I don't see zero weirdness.

7) Fan noise - maybe because I'm coming from Dell laptop - its really kind of quiet. My Dell D830 ran the loudest fan ever (annoying). To date I have not experienced the running hot & fan noise that other buyers reported. Its been cool and quiet as much as my MBP.

8) USB ports - don't worry you have enough with 3, not sure what everyone was worried about but I have no issues. I ran one out to a hub and use the hub except when traveling. No worries with 3.

9) Screen - its fine, not wonderful - and definitely not Apple. I like it, not love it and for the price point is more than fine. A little glare but if you are used to mac products you might appreciate. It seems very advanced compared to my Dell laptop.

10) Speakers - I think the critical remarks about the speakers are more on target. They are not great and if you care about music you might want to add some good speakers. I find them reaching for more (w/o headset). The equalizer and other settings help but at the end of the day they are simply laptop speakers and we all know what that means.

So in closing, I do highly recommend this laptop. Price and features you will feel right at home with your decision. Do not (I repeat) do not feel like you should pay more than 1k, for $925 you can get exactly what you need. Love it and happily finding out each day what it has to offer. Very happy with my purchase.

I bought the 14" Envy as a gift to my son who likes games,video and music. My inicial impressions:

PRO
-Very good graphics. Few consumer notebooks come with better card.
-Intel I-5 460 is powerful enough for video editing and multi-task.
-The Beat sound is fantastic when a decent headphone is used.
-Adobe Premiere and Photoshop Elements full versions included.
-Probably the best package I have seen for a notebook so far.
-Price is OK, considering the specs.

CON
-Display is very reflective and 720P only. I expect full HD at this price.
-Beat audio sounds just average with the buil-in speakers.
-Flexible keyboard, although doesn't bother me too much.
- Heavy, very heavy for a 14" notebook. My old Dell inspiron is lighter and most premium notebooks are at least 1 pound less.