HP ENVY 14 Review Discussion

The HP ENVY 14 is a slim gaming notebook powered by the ATI Radeon HD 5650 graphics card. The new 14.5-inch model is the successor to the older 13-inch ENVY, offering a similar size but way more power. Read on to see what we think of the new ENVY 14.

Read the full content of this Article: HP ENVY 14 Review

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This is a really nice laptop. If they make a Sandy Bridge version of it, it'll be one of the leading candidates for my new machine simply by virtue of having a halfway decent display.

 

Not very helpful to review the 1600x900 version, when they aren't even on sale anymore...

 

That changes based on the parts HP has in stock for CTO sales on their website.

 

So what's the battery life with the slice battery? Also is quad-core a bad idea in a laptop small like this?

 

A very slick, sophisticated looking machine. I wonder if it would be too much trouble to include the 'CoolSense' tech (from the dm3 series) on this, or if the design would negate that??

 

Sweet review, Sweeter machine. Two quick questions:
- About the touchpad: you say "clicking the touchpad" took some pressure, by this I assume you mean the integrated touchpad "buttons" (not just anywhere on the touchpad)? I've been out of notebook looking for a while so that may be a dumb question...
- Second, you mention it gets quite hot (and hotter than your average notebook on NBR it seems). Could you or anyone give some insight into the long term effects of this? My current notebook had/has overheating problems (though my model is known for it) and I've had it repaired once near the end of the 2 year warranty. But I still get artifacts when gaming for a few to several hours, depending on the game/settings. I really don't want to buy another well rounded gaming/student notebook only to have it die on me in 1-3 years.

This is an amazing looking notebook, and at a very reasonable price (I think, again, I've been out of the notebook loop for a while so I don't really know what's good value). At this price, I would consider actually replacing my current notebook soon, especially due to the overheating problems I mentioned.

 

so what does that mean? the 1600x900 is only available at specific times? would it be possible to call HP sales and request the display?

 

no. the 1600x900 display is gone for good for now.


the supplier of the radiance screens went out of business.

 

well, that sucks...

why even bother reviewing a configuration that can't be purchased.

weak sauce

 

Nice review, Kevin. I have been curious about the Envy 14 for a while, I've have not actually seen an Envy in person.

The base Envy 14 is very reasonable for what you get, this is a tempting choice for ~$1,000. Although the review unit had an i5-450M, the base i3-370M is more than powerful enough for just about any task, including gaming. Once you start spending money over the base processor, you start getting less processing power for the money.

Review units usually come from early production lots.

 

It's a nicely built laptop but 3 things would prevent me from purchasing it:

1. cooling system performance/noise
2. the intolerable amount of glare on the screen
3. to lesser extent: chicklet keyboard

 

Disappointing. At the rate this is going, my next laptop will have to be from Apple or Sony simply because nobody else is offering any 14-16" displays that are not the utter garbage with 1366x768 resolution.

 

Also look at the business class notebook lines, namely Dell Latitudes, HP EliteBooks, and Lenovo ThinkPads -- they offer high-res displays up to 1080p, and, on the workstation variants, higher quality displays at as well (IPS, RGB, etc).

 

You can still get one with radiance if you do it quick, look here

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/522692-fight-envy-14-radiance-display-8.html#post6790322

 

The one config we used to have in Canada(1050ca) had the Radiance display and yet HP themselves said it was the WXGA one lol I checked in store and lo and behold it's 1600*900.

The newer version has the WXGA though

 

I already asked this but how is the 1366 x 768? I know it's not amazing but is it as good as 1280 x 800 on a 13 inch macbook?

 

It will be very similar. With 1366x768 you lose a small amount of vertical space; approx. 32 pixels' worth, so a few lines of text in a webpage.

Just about every consumer notebook up to 15.6" in size comes with 1366x768 as standard, so if you go to any computer store you should be able to use it firsthand.

 

Why do people not like it?Isn't just like a normal 15 inch display?It's easier to game on it right?

 

Correct. A 720p will game better than a 1080p with the same components.

Everyone is different and people have specific needs when it comes to screens. A photo or video editor is going to want all the pixels they can get to make their work easier to do. A general user is usually not going to need a higher res screen for the things they do.(Email, word, internet)

 

The reason people do not like it is that it is outright inferior (both in terms of resolution and in terms of quality) to the displays of older laptops which this sort of machine would hypothetically be replacing. The vertical resolution is like something from 2002 -- it might be OK for movies, but it's awful for even really basic stuff like browsing the web, Word, etc. etc. Prepare to do a lot of scrolling if you buy a 1366x768 machine.

As to gaming, no, it is not easier to game on. If the video card is low end, turning down the resolution will yield a better frame rate, but if the video card is decent (as the 5650 in this machine is), then the game will simply look worse without you noticing any other difference (the frame rate will be even higher, but past a certain threshold it simply doesn't matter).

 

To be fair, a mid-range card will smoothly run modern games at 1366x768 at higher settings than at 1600x900 or especially 1920x1080. Still, you can always run a game upscaled, so it's not like a high-res screen absolutely forces you to turn down the settings. Besides, you're probably used to the scaling artifacts anyway if you play any console games. Still, if your primary use case is gaming, I can see why you might prefer a lower resolution. If you need reading glasses, I can also see the desire for low resolution...though you can easily change DPI settings nowadays for bigger text almost anywhere, and it's clearer at higher resolution.

Aside from that though, 1366x768 resolution is just abysmally low, and it has no business being the de facto standard for displays as large as 15.6". As you said, it's a step backwards from older laptops (and the bezel space on 16:9 displays is depressingly wasteful too), and it's totally inadequate for many uses. Contrary to popular belief, some people actually do more with their computers than browse the web, watch movies, and game.

 

Because less isn't more in terms of real estate. Basically, if you had to pick between a smaller apartment and a bigger one, would you pick the smaller one? Some would, some wouldn't. Sure it'd be easier to paint the smaller one as opposed to the larger one but some prefer the increased space.

 

Oh, ok thanks for the help guys.

 

The WXGA screen is also inferior to the Radiance screen in terms of contrast ratio and brightness as well. I've seen the two side-by-side, and I would gladly pay an extra $150-$200 for the Radiance screen.

I've seriously thought about replacing my 15 with a 14, but with the Radiance screen no longer available, I've pretty much dropped the idea. I hope HP finds another contractor for those screens, because without them, the Envy line really loses quite a bit of its appeal.

 

I have a 1680*1050 15.4 inch laptop, the higher resolution is way better for working with Visual Studio or Geneious or Office. I think most of us geeks like high resolution and just don't want to downgrade because it would cramp our work styles.

 

I use 14.1' laptop with 1366x768 screen. I put taskbar on the side on Windows7 (and KDE, as well) -- I highly recommend doing this -- as that is the only way to make this setup somewhat usable. The thing is, almost everything we use the computer for (except games) are made for the use with vertical scrolling. Websites, PDF files, Word documents, R outputs, they all use vertical scrolling. It is more difficult to use these softwares when there is a limited vertical space.The issue is exacerbated because many softwares have UI that mainly occupy the top side, instead of left-hand side (which many widescreen LCDs have in plenty). "Ribbon" interfaces of MS office is the worst offender here.

All in all, 16:9 is a bad idea unless you are using it solely for games and movies. And 1366x768 makes it even worse.

 

Why not just use an external monitor? Do people generally do video editing and photoshop work while sitting in an airport lounge?

I am not saying that 1366x768 is a good idea, but I also do not think doing graphic work on a 14" or 15" screen is a good idea either.

 

Depends on the rent

 

Even for simple reading, 768 vertical pixels sometimes isn't enough. Not everyone likes hitting the page down or scroll button so much when they're reading either. Don't forget that a lot of regular documents like PDFs and other basic text documents won't adjust to screen size; they have fixed formatting and lines.

 

Because it's an extra expense and it is not portable. And the issue is not photoshop, it's Word and Firefox and every other application where you have tools at the top and rely on scrolling to access content.

 

Same with screen res, depends on the price

 

I'm a college student. I don't do Photoshop or video editing. Microsoft Office, Visual Studio, and bioinformatics tools are what I use. For me, I've always found high-resolution to be the way to go. I don't even need an external monitor, I'm sure it could be useful but I just don't see the need for one. And I need to bring my laptop to class and do work there too, so obviously I can't bring a monitor to class too.

An otherwise perfectly good laptop is ruined when it only has a low-res screen, for me.

I have good eyes, too. If you have bad eyes then I can see why you wouldn't want to touch a high resolution screen. My eyes are 20/20 by the way, although they could be more acute.

 

Try doing Excel with a piece of junk low res screen. That'll be fun.

 

Giving this a rating of 4.5/5 for upgrade capabilities seems waaaay off to me. No ExpressCard or PCCard slot, no dual drive (nor media bay) support, no USB 3.0. Is there a WiMax option?

 

I just picked one up with the radiance display yesterday. Clean installed from scratch and got everything up and running. I have to say, it's a beautiful machine. Great performance, amazing screen, super build quality. Really happy with it.

I run VirtualBox with multiple development machines and servers (4 at a time), and it runs no problem.

I guess I got lucky getting the 1600x900. I did have to go to a couple of different stores to find one.

 

Whoa, you found a radiance in store? Which one might I ask?

 

The Airport Road location in Brampton. The one at the Trinity also had one, but it was a display unit. I would have bought it, but wanted a new one, so drove the 10mins to get one.

 

There are still a couple left in the Ottawa area for any Canadians interested.

 

Does it use a LiPo battery? Sure looks like it...

 

Future Shop and Best Buy Canada still carry the 1050CA which has the Radiance screen. The price went back up to 1500$ though.

 

whats the coating on the keyboard ? It looks similar to Dm4's keyboard . In the brochure it is mentioned as uv painted keyboard

 

Charles, thanks for the tips. I want a notebook with 1600x900 and checked out a few you mention. But they all seem to come in around $1600-1700! Isn't there something with 1600x900 at a reasonable price?

 

you could wait until a configurations hows up on the Dell Outlet, then use one of those 25% off coupons that comes every now and then (there's one right now)..

I did that with the m4400 2 years ago.. got a $2000 configuration for just $800 including a 3 year warranty (on 2nd year and used it twice.. replaced a keyboard and screen for free!)

 

Hmm ... looks good. Pity about the screens reviewed not being available any more. The heat is still a concern for me though.... Good battery life with the switcheable graphics options (including the slice).

 

I'm probably going to buy a macbook pro 13 in April 2011, but I might consider hp envy 14 at that time too. I wish they remove the DVD drive and use it for the better. Bigger battery, or air path for less heat making a quiet laptop. Oh, the screen resolution is really important for me too. It's a waste of 14 inch screen space if the resolution sucks that bad.