DELL XPS 16 vs HP Envy 15

This thread is just for fun!

I want to see how many people perfer the XPS 16 and how many perfer the HP Envy 15.

 

loool. Make that poll in the HP forum and you will have another results. Good idea though.

 

I agree ye I suppose its easier to get more DELL votes in a DELL forum lol.

 

It seems like nearly everyone here, though, has returned their XPS 16.

I dunno... it seems to me that the Envy is a more powerful system without Dell's problems. Unless some miracle changes my mind, I'm likely going to return my XPS 16 for one.

 

The poll speask for its self

 

Having inspected both the Envy 15 and the most recent SXL 16 at a local brick and mortar, I'm leaning towards the Envy 15. They were both running fairly warm, and I wasn't too fond of either, but the Envy 15 just feels like an overall better package. It's thinner and lighter than what I'd consider the fairly chunky SXL 16 and the materials help out as well. I hate the touch-and-click touchpad though. Utter fail.

 

I suspect that this is actually quite far from the truth.

 

I just got mine yesterday, its very well designed.. the keyboard and mousepad is "different" though. But still speedy to type on without errors, and the mouse you just have to glide your fingers and not press(which pressing leads to problems). Its a very minimalistic laptop, so pretty different from the xps 16. I know fluff doesnt like the looks too much, it doesnt leave fingerprint marks though or have any grill for things to get caught in. The only thing is, where the HD is at gets a bit warm under high IO use. but not a problem. The graphic card temps stay under 70C under full load, and has a 3dmark06 score of 8075

and no throttling LINK It actually achieves higher multipliers then the 1645, that 13x turboboost it was supposed to get for the 720qm, it apparently reaches that on the envy.

Still collecting info on it for those who asked.

 

I got mine too yesterday one day ahead of schedule.lol Im loving the ENVY 15. Very MBP look and the screen looks kind of neat. I had the RGBLED on the 1645 and I can tell that the screen on the ENVY(ultra bright) is very very comparable. I don't regret this purchase at all..... expect for the touchpad which so far sucks maybe it will take me time to get used to it.

 

Nice to hear guys !! I mean im considering it its just I havent seen one up front, so the whole ugly thing is what I have seen in pictures I may love it if i saw it up close. Some specs and prices would be appreciated.

 

the quadcores at the moment come with usb3.0, the dualcores i dont think have that yet. like the 1647's theyre pm55 chipset for the i5's, so no switchable graphics. But the 5830 sip power apparently and still score 8000+ 3dmark06. Ya have to configure a few configs on there website to see prices.



Theyre very different laptops the xps 16 and envy 15. xps 16 is what i think of when desktop replacement comes to mind, envy 15 is a thin and light notebook that has power. Thin and light theres some sacrifice such as battery etc is small, and have to have hdmi to vga adapters etc to hook up to projectors n stuff. The sound i think is better on the envy 15, its more clear sounding. The heat comes up to the top more then the xps1645 did tho, but nothing thats a issue. The no fingerprints/grill catcher on the envy is really nice.

Design goals aside, i think the envy 15 is really well designed and built. The xps 16 is good too, but i think the envy edges it out quiet a bit. Alot of it is taste though whether one likes the shiny black of the xps 16 etc. I would suggest going to see one in person to see if ya like it or not, pick it up/hold it etc its a little machine in comparison. So far couldnt be happier with envy, especially knowing i wont have to worry about throttling for years to come lol.

 

Can you comment on the heat whilst gaming? in particular the left palm rest and the WASD keys?

I had a sxps 1640 and ended up selling because of the external heat

 

Thanks alt im going to configure, if its withing my price range I wont think twice about switching but I can see me getting the same spec for the price I paid :/

 

The laptop is warm under gaming with the quad core. The laptop is so thin ya can tell the spots lol. Top left is where the processor must sit, as when it spins up it gets warm, and the bottom right/middle must be where the HD is as it gets warm with high IO access. The graphics card on the other hand doesnt get hot really and if i remember the pics right is on the other side of the laptop, which is ice cold most of the time.

When compared to the 1645 it may be a bit better overall. Nothing hot, espeically like those with the 1640 where describing. If heat is a main thing, id get the dual core envy and the 5800 the thing is going to be nice and cool.

Check one out at the local bestbuy or something. See if thats what you want. The envy is thin and light and has some compromises in battery etc. Its seems perfect for me, especially since i have a desktop as well. Most important thing is choosing a laptop that doesnt throttle and works like the envy does.

 

The platter hd of envy is very hot and slow. If I could, I would definitely reorder it with dual ssd. Overall I think envy is better and faster, but neither is as sturdy as professional laptop.

The only thing better on xps is rgb screen and touch sensitive keys.

 

How much faster is the HP Envy's video card?

 

About 25% I think.

 

Its a bit faster, as the envy has the 5830 with gddr3 memory. only thing i have so far numbers wise is a 3dmark06 score of 8074. But gaming wise its a lot smoother at 1080p resolution, it is noticeably different from the 4670 at the same settings/resolutions (throttling aside of course). Heat wise it is much much cooler then the 4670, as the 4670 would reach 80C+ when loaded, this one barely goes over 63C when loaded. in my room here, which i admit is a bit chilly.

 

I believe you got the USB 3.0 with your i7. How is it running? I didnt get the USB 3.0 because I ordered the i5

 

I didnt know thsst the HP envy didnt have a internal disk drive! Seriosuly f**k that. I have a netbook without one and I find carrying nd external rive around to be a pain in the bum.

 

The only way i could tell was if i looked in device manager to see the usb 3.0 host controller lol. At the moment i couldnt even notice unless i looked. Probably change as more 3.0 comes out maybe.

That is one thing, all usb ports etc is on one side of the laptop. The right side as the only thing that connects on the left side is the power cord. to those interested about the laptop, may be a limitation to some.

edit: fluffy, its a thin and light notebook first. Which i dunno if ya could fit a drive in the base as its pretty thin. But how often do ya actually use the optical drive is a question. I hardly ever use one after i get it setup. The important thing is you find a laptop that doesnt throttle, as the hp is just one example and probably isnt for everyone for that reason.

 

I am also seriously considering the Envy 15 after returning my 1645. The external DVD drive does not come with a recordable Bluray I don't believe. Also I don't think the Envy has a backlit keyboard. Two features I really liked in the 1645. Someone please confirm that this is the case with the Envy 15. Otherwise the Envy 15 should be a great replacement for the 1645 and I am getting ready to pull the trigger on it in the near future.

 

I'm thinking of ordering an additional 6 cell for the envy as I really don't want to add 2.5 pounds using the 9 cell. However, I have looked everywhere including hp site but couldn't find 6 cell for the envy. Any insights on this?

 

They used to have external blu-ray drives for the envy, but like dell they have since pulled them. Must be a big blu-ray shortage. being as its just a external usb drive, ya could use anyone external drive not necessarily from hp. And no there isnt a backlit keyboard, although the keyboard in my opinion is very very nice. I can find keys a lot easier then i could on the 1645 i had, at least thats my opinion im sure others will differ. I would suggest checking one out if ya can and thinking of the envy.

I bet if you called them ya could get one, i saw a 6 cell and 9 cell battery on the website for the envy, they both had the slice picture which was odd. Didnt know they had a 6 cell slice?? perhaps thats an error.

 

What is this.. the HP forums? Sounds like people are trying to sell the Envy 15 instead of comparing and having a healthy debate rofl

 

Its "Envy vs Xps" topic.

 

I agree lol, although the 1645 is really throttled. The envy that some of use have gotten after returning has no such problem. And is a good baseline to show how the I7's are supposed to run. Although i think this was just for fluffy considering the options

 

HAH it was, I love the i7 quad ! better than any duel if I can just get it to work lol !! And yes your right atl the reason there isnt a drive is its designed to be lightwegith, although that is a feature I know id miss for sure.

 

To be honest, what we are finding out now is that the XPS 16's that have the i5's and WLED use less power and don't throttle nearly as much if not at all like the i7's

 

They shouldnt throttle at all period if it was designed correctly, i feel its a lot of money to pay for a improperly designed laptop. Stormwerks stuff concerns me, honestly i havnt seen much confirmation on how bad it exactly is for the i5's. Just cause something doesnt stutter etc doesnt mean its not a problem. As it can still be a reduction in FPS even if it is still playable. need more concrete results i think. But if you all are happy with the i5's thats fine, as at least you know of the potential problems and throttling. While it looks like storm is still working on getting results.

 

I always found it pain to have to carry my external DVD drive with me everywhere I went (I've used tablet pc for years). That was the main reason I went with the XPS 16 over the Envy 15. I bought a 130W adapter (and use TS) to get around the throttling the few moments I find time to game. But that was before the ATI update on the Envy. I guess if the XPS 16 gets a gfx update, I could always buy a new MB and swap it out...