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HP Envy 15 anyone?

M

macjunk(ie)

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Aug 12, 2009
939
563
Well...I have already seen the reviews of HP Envy 15 online. I am more interested in knowing whether anyone of the MBP clan owns a HP Envy...if yes, what is/was your experience compared to the MBP?

After two years with Apple, I am now having second thoughts about it. Don't get me wrong...I adore Apple's products but somehow, Apple's products do not inspire confidence anymore..IMO! Take for example, my 2.5 grand MBP is an expensive time bomb for all I know (the 8600 issue), the superdrive has conked out long ago and the firewire controller acts like a b***h sometimes (hence screwing up my time machine backups)...and lets not forget the various problems other Apple products have been having...the iMac, Time Capsule etc...

Sure, I understand that every manufacturer is bound to have these problems....but not at the price we pay for these machines!!! And last but not the least, us business users always have a hard time justifying why we are using OSX when more than half the business population uses Microsoft products....

So, 2 days ago..I came across HP Envy 1 with USB 3, core i7, ATI 5xxx 1 GB...all at 1300 USD!!!! Now that's a damn good deal if there was one!!!
So what do you all think? Did anyone take the HP Envy bait?
 
macjunk(ie) said:
So, 2 days ago..I came across HP Envy 1 with USB 3, core i7, ATI 5xxx 1 GB...all at 1300 USD!!!! Now that's a damn good deal if there was one!!!
So what do you all think? Did anyone take the HP Envy bait?
Click to expand...

I think you need to check the HP website a little more closely..
 
Wow. Other than maybe looking 'pretty'. What a lemon of a machine.

You'd be spending your life attached to power. If that's your thing go for it.

Not to mention the heat issues.

Doesn't seem like a good deal to me. If you really want to get away from Mac laptops, get something decent. A HP laptop will give you trouble free computing..... ever.
 
Yes

That is hilarious that your asking that question as I have been going through that dilemma for the past three months! The answer is yes to the Envy (as of yesterday). Like you I loved my last two macs (a mac pro tower and macbook) and still feel that OSX is the best, but I am beginning to feel that they are grosely overpriced (to the amount of 200%). I use my machine for CAD software (Revit) and frankly even the MBP 17" doesn't pack even close to the same power maxed out as the entry level envy! I got the Envy for $1400 after a $300 coupon with the brand new I5 540 (32nm low volt/graphics), a solid state hard drive (breakneck fast!) and the ATI 5xxx card which can't be touched (DX11).

The heat affected the earlier Envy (Nov-Dec) which has subsequently been updated (new motherboard, processor, and GPU with less voltage). You could fry an egg on early 17" MBP's.

The MBP wasn't even close, not even the same league for twice the price. Why? I am beginning to feel like Apple has become elitist and is closed in ways worse than Microsoft. It has become so much about image and marketing I can't support the company anymore. Convince yourself how you may for buying overpriced hardware that is a year behind. Good design however overpriced, overmarketed and too much mac kool-aid. Think for yourself, Go..ogle!
 
Willautomatic said:
The MBP wasn't even close, not even the same league for twice the price. Why?
Click to expand...

Well, given that the HPs pack the latest CPUs from Intel and that the MBPs haven't been updated yet, the difference in performance is to be exptected. But I assume that the MBPs will host the new Nehalem-based CPUs before long.

I had a quick glance and the Envy 15 specs and noticed that they had lower resolution screens than MBPs (not by much but still).

And finally, isn't the design of the HP Envy a tribute to the MBP Unibody? ;)
 
great specifications

I havent know the HP Envy. That a great Pc for the price, looks like a mac.
but better in terms of specifications.

1 GB graphics card, extend ram to 16 GB. i7. if was a mac it will cost much more. For $1500, can built a i7 with 4 gb RAM, 1 GB graphics, Win 7 Pro 64 bit and 1920x1080 display.

Great value, but don't run OSX.

Macbook Pro looks great but we need performance too. A beautiful computer don't pay the rent. Have to perform well.:D
 
I am beginning to feel like Apple has become elitist and is closed in ways worse than Microsoft. It has become so much about image and marketing I can't support the company anymore. Convince yourself how you may for buying overpriced hardware that is a year behind. Good design however overpriced, overmarketed and too much mac kool-aid. Think for yourself, Go..ogle!
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. Apple is more and more mainstream. They blame Microsoft but they are getting worst.

I have sell my 2006 macpro because apple have put a artificial limitation in that hardware! My mac pro running Windows 7, i can put any graphics cards. Running Mac OS because of EFI32 only run a short number of graphics cards and the new ones don't run only in new machines. Premature obsolesce.

Apple wake up. Remember in "Think Different" era Apple was a better company.:apple:
 
*SIGH* Another thread where people look at specs.

Its impossible to compare hardware performance across operating systems. The laptop in my sig runs circles around my HP workstation at work even though the HP has MUCH MUCH "better" specs.

Aside from that I used to be a huge HP laptop fan and recommended them to everyone, then I have no clue what happened but HP took a DIVE in the quality department.

As far as the envy its ok if your after a windows machine. ALso as for the 8600 card problem, this is not apple specific. Every manufacturer with these cards have the same problem. Luckly for Apple owners APple is covering this much longer then other companies.
 
Voodoo

The HP Envy as you call it used to be the Voodoo Company. I owned one back when it was still Voodoo spent 8K on a kicks ass desktop replacement Laptop and it was the ****. It was 2 years ahead of any desktop and it was a super amazing computer. BUT AND A BIG BUT It is still operating on windows. Nothing wrong with the computers but it is windows. If you like windows go for it. But if you do not then do not get one. They are kind of overpriced and i do not know how they are now since HP bought them but i have heard they really went down in quality because HP wanted to make them main stream and be the gaming laptop for HP.

Buyer beware i guess.

Good luck.
 
well...i had a look the envy...out here, we are still to receive the updated envy spec. I was really impressed with the machine....as far as i could see...the build quality was pretty good....it had win 7 home premium on it with all the crapware...I spent a good 20-30 mins on it...spec wise...it blows the mac away...though the trackpad is lame attempt to mimic the MBP. The speakers were awesome and the display was pretty good...

However...the battery life is apparently just 2.5-3 hours....So this meant that I had to invest in the 'slice' which would add another 3 hours...the slice, though nicely designed, is not my thing...I don't wanna lug it around everywhere i go...

Win 7..like i always say..is like vista in a frock,,so nothing new there...it is still inefficient as ever...

despite all the shortcomings...i started to imagine the ownership experience of the envy..i came home calculating the price i need to sell my mac for...
the moment i switched my mac on...I dropped all my plans to go for the envy;)...fresh from my experience with a Win laptop...it reminded me why I had spent 2.5 grand on the MBP in the first place...the software and the hardware dancing in perfect harmony even after 2.5 years...:)

looks like i am gonna stick with Apple...my investment in PD5 seems secure ... for now!

I will wait for the updates to the MBP line...hopefully, the core i5 and i7 processor updates will also bring in a welcome price drop...
 
macjunk(ie) said:
well...i had a look the envy...out here, we are still to receive the updated envy spec. I was really impressed with the machine....as far as i could see...the build quality was pretty good....it had win 7 home premium on it with all the crapware...I spent a good 20-30 mins on it...spec wise...it blows the mac away...though the trackpad is lame attempt to mimic the MBP. The speakers were awesome and the display was pretty good...

However...the battery life is apparently just 2.5-3 hours....So this meant that I had to invest in the 'slice' which would add another 3 hours...the slice, though nicely designed, is not my thing...I don't wanna lug it around everywhere i go...

Win 7..like i always say..is like vista in a frock,,so nothing new there...it is still inefficient as ever...

despite all the shortcomings...i started to imagine the ownership experience of the envy..i came home calculating the price i need to sell my mac for...
the moment i switched my mac on...I dropped all my plans to go for the envy;)...fresh from my experience with a Win laptop...it reminded me why I had spent 2.5 grand on the MBP in the first place...the software and the hardware dancing in perfect harmony even after 2.5 years...:)

looks like i am gonna stick with Apple...my investment in PD5 seems secure ... for now!

I will wait for the updates to the MBP line...hopefully, the core i5 and i7 processor updates will also bring in a welcome price drop...
Click to expand...

I think you made an excellent choice, like I said in my previous post in a year and a half or so those wonderful specs wouldnt matter much as windows would have slowed your system down considerably with all its bloatedness.

"the software and the hardware dancing in perfect harmony even after 2.5 years"

that right there is where Mac's justify their higher price IMO
 
macjunk(ie) said:
Win 7..like i always say..is like vista in a frock,,so nothing new there...it is still inefficient as ever...
Click to expand...
I disagree. I think MS has made great strides in increasing win7's stability, decreasing its footprint and increasing its performance. All in all, its probably one of their best OS in a long time.
 
No, no, no... They even called it an Envy (It must be out of envy for...) Come on, its a complete copy with holes in it and "pretty engravings" please. No not cool except for the intel i7 prcessor, but watch the MBP will have one soon and it will be stable and it will work properly... Just say no. :D
 
maflynn said:
I disagree. I think MS has made great strides in increasing win7's stability, decreasing its footprint and increasing its performance. All in all, its probably one of their best OS in a long time.
Click to expand...

you might be right there...but I was comparing win 7 with SL..like I compared Vista with L....In both the cases, I never found Windows to have a harmonious design....I feel that the design is not 'consistent' enough...

I might also be more forgiving to SL's flaws than I would like to admit...guess that does make me an Apple fanboy...:)
 
honestly... the envy is a dead sexy machine, and it can be configured to be higher spec'd and cheaper than a macbook pro. with apple, you're paying for seamless hardware software integration, which cannot be had with windows.
 
fiatlux said:
And finally, isn't the design of the HP Envy a tribute to the MBP Unibody? ;)
Click to expand...

It's quite amusing because when the Unibody MacBook Pro was released it was accused of looking like a HP, because they were using the glass screen with black frame long before Apple.

It's the same every time Sony announces a new laptop and they are accused of ripping off the MacBook chicklet keyboard even though they had used it for a couple of years before Apple. :)
 
Wierd, Funny, or otherwise - it happens. The same was true of my old 15" MBP - that regularly hit >70 deg C under heavy load.

The top of a colleagues recently acquired i5 27" iMac is also painfully hot.

Compact computers get damn hot. It's what they do. No point attempting to pick out HP on this one, Mac's certainly do it, Toshiba, Sony, Acer, Gericom, Lenovo, Dell...all do it as well.
 
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