Reviews - HP Envy 14 notebook review

[HEXUS]

We take a look at one of the most stylish Windows 7 notebooks on the market.

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[judge56988]

Greatly let down by the low res screen IMO.

Is there no Windows consumer laptop with the build quality of a business machine and a top quality screen? I can't find one. Why do these companies all think that consumers/gamers want cheap plastic laptops with low res screens?
Couldn't HP take the chassis of an Elitebook, lose the business features such as TPM, fingerprint reader, Quadro graphics card etc. and give us a top notch machine to compete with the MBP?

[Terbinator]

Surprised by the low res screen here, if not only for the 1080p wow factor, 1366*768 is poo.

I'd be surprised if the adults didn't know who Dr. Dre is as well

[Denis_iii]

I purchased the Envy 14 and promptly returned it after a few days use.
It is a beautiful stunning piece of kit but unfortunately HP dropped the ball in a few areas.

Reasons I returned the laptop:
1. screen resolution was to low, there was a 1600x900 option available in the USA which would have been perfect, if i'd gotten that version I would have definitely kept the laptop.
2. two finger scrolling on the track pad was AWFUL, made worse by the low resolution required alot of vertical and in some websites even horizontal scrolling! aside from multitouch stuff the trackpad was great. Such a shame no driver option to enable vertical right scrolling section of trackpad so could disable multitough
3. gpu switching is AWFUL, AMD need to pull there socks up and get up todate with Nividia's options

Again so close and yet soooooo far! With the higher res display avialable in the USA, better multitouch or vertical scoll bar and Nvidia 445m or AMD auto gpu switchin laptop would have been perfect!

I'm come from a 17inch 1920x1200 laptop so may be perfect for those used to laptops at this res. Else spend the extra 300£ on the Envy 17.

[miniyazz]

Indeed, I can't believe it's that hard to build a decent laptop.

[vicar]

Try the Envy 17, screen is brill and i see no issues with the trackpad.

Make sure you update the drivers to Hp's latest, you get two hd's, and it looks as stunning as it's little brother. I does get a bit warm but with the horse power it's carrying it goes with the territory.

[judge56988]

Try the Envy 17, screen is brill and i see no issues with the trackpad.

I'm sure it is - but I want something a bit more portable than that! Why did they stop making the 14" with the 1600 x 900 radiance screen? I guess it wasn't selling well enough. It seems that too few people appreciate quality these days.

[Kevsta]

I'm sure it is - but I want something a bit more portable than that! Why did they stop making the 14" with the 1600 x 900 radiance screen? I guess it wasn't selling well enough. It seems that too few people appreciate quality these days.

It was selling to many. I was looking at the Envy 14 to replace my older HP laptop, but with the 1366x768 resolution is a deal killer especially as the same spec laptop in the USA is $999.

The problem is that HP has such demand for the 1600x900 screen that is hasn't been able to keep up if you believe some US forums. And that the option for the radiance screen is a back ordered option.

Shame I really wanted one.

[WestHej]

I just bought a laptop.

It was between this and a Dell XPS 15 and although not directly comparable I think the XPS wins hands down. Of course it's a bigger chassis but priced at £850 I got a far better screen ;the lovely 1080p RGBLED, slightly faster processor, 2x USB 3.0 ports and a Blu-ray drive. Admittedly the XPS is larger (and chunky), clearly loses in styling and has a slower graphics card but the pros far outweigh the cons!

[tickedon]

Glad to finally see a review of this from a site as reliable and thorough as Hexus!

However, whilst it works, the integration isn't quite as elegant as the NVIDIA Optimus technology available on rival notebooks - including Apple's MacBook.

Just as a note though... the technology that allows Apple's GPU switching is not Optimus:

http://www.reghardware.com/2010/04/1...ching_macbook/
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...t_optimus.html

[tickedon]

It was selling to many. I was looking at the Envy 14 to replace my older HP laptop, but with the 1366x768 resolution is a deal killer especially as the same spec laptop in the USA is $999.

This is something that really annoys me with HP. The Envy 14 can be had in the US for $850 on a special at the moment (loaded up with all sorts of extras), and even without that special at the moment, much cheaper prices throughout most of the year - even with exchange rate and VAT we are talking about £625 vs the £999 they want here! It's the same with the Envy 17.

I'd have purchased one rather than Vostro 3700 if the pricing had just been a bit better. HP USA seem to be happy to discount it and undercut their other lines - something HP EMEA/UK doesn't seem to want to do, and instead insists on giving us models without the things that actually make it a premium laptop worthy of the premium price (e.g. higher res screens!).

[judge56988]

This is something that really annoys me with HP. The Envy 14 can be had in the US for $850 on a special at the moment (loaded up with all sorts of extras), and even without that special at the moment, much cheaper prices throughout most of the year - even with exchange rate and VAT we are talking about £625 vs the £999 they want here! It's the same with the Envy 17.

Isn't it normal for the dollar to pound exchange rate to be 1 to 1 for most things?
I have never understood the justification for that. Companies charge what they can get away with and it seems that in the UK we will pay these prices.
The Elitebook I configured on the US website works out at two thirds the cost of similar on the UK site - the saving is enough to pay for a return flight to New York...

[Denis_iii]

I just bought a laptop.

It was between this and a Dell XPS 15 and although not directly comparable I think the XPS wins hands down. Of course it's a bigger chassis but priced at £850 I got a far better screen ;the lovely 1080p RGBLED, slightly faster processor, 2x USB 3.0 ports and a Blu-ray drive. Admittedly the XPS is larger (and chunky), clearly loses in styling and has a slower graphics card but the pros far outweigh the cons!

Did you get the new Dell XPS 15 with the aluminum case? I'm looking to buy it or the XPS 17 but only 1600x900 no 1080P option on UK or US website...

[WestHej]

yup,

Aluminium case is standard. I'm surprised they dont' have a 1080p screen for the 17".

[Kevsta]

Well I just tried to configure and buy on the US website. It would seem that the US Envy 14 isn't available with the 1600x900 screen even as an option.

[Denis_iii]

yup,

Aluminium case is standard. I'm surprised they dont' have a 1080p screen for the 17".

what laptop did you buy with 1080p screen? the studio xps is only dell laptop that comes with 1080p that i can see but is not aluminum, is plastic and leather and 565v old gen gpu