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Just purchased an Envy to compare

seanconn said:
actually, I was meaning the current 2.8 Core 2 with the 9600GT 512 DDR3.

It's 1999 in the refurb store right now, but it's bound to go down quite a bit once the new models are released. Sure I could get an HP Envy for the same price (they are a lot more expensive in canada, far more expensive when compared to American/ Canadian pricing on the MBP)

Of course I would buy the 2.8 with the 9600Gt over a 15" Envy that retails for about 2000...

I won't be able to play crysis as good, but most other games will run mostly the the same. PLUS, if I want to sell it in a year or 2 I will likely get around 1000-1300, where as the Envy would be lucky to fetch $700!

sure maybe my decisions are a bit based on fanboyism, but it's mostly because i want to use OSX as my main OS, plus have the assurance that my computer will live up to it's battery life estimates... and have real resale value. :eek:
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envy is like 1500 bucks for a nice model in the US. whatchu talkin bout 2k
 
Opstech said:
My wife was in need of a new laptop because she did not like the MBP I handed down to her. She loves how it looks, but couldn't get used to the OS change.
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And that's where she would be put out on the curb if it were me.


Interesting concept though. HP's MBP, should be fun to watch.
 
cathyy said:
Funny. I thought HP laptops always had the standard black screen, silver base and black keys since a long time ago. Heck, I even remember how there were a ton of people from these forums complaining about how the MBPs looked so similar to HP notebooks when the Unibody MBPs were first released.
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i agree

but of course, apple is always the originator....even if they copy others
 
Steve Jobs. said:
Wow the HP Envy looks like a rip-off of the macbook pro.....

hp-envy-13-1000-notebook-pc-series_400x400.jpg
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It looks like they did a revision of the body from the Core 2 based models. The intakes aren't as noticeable. I can't complain about the power of the HD 5830.

I think I'll wait for a Core i5 UM M11x instead of an Envy 15.
 
Err....

The laptop in that picture is not an Envy. It is one of their new models that looks similar, but is not the Envy 15. As the person above said, the front of the Envy is a giant grille.

I bought mine a couple of weeks ago. If the new MBPs are released tomorrow, I will still be within my return period and I can compare.

Anyway, lets clear up the misconceptions:

Price: My setup was 4gb ram/320gb 7200rpm HDD/Core i5 520M/bluetooth,wifi,webcam, all that jazz. It was $1099. I used a coupon to get it down to that, but it isn't a completely extraordinary price, and you should find some within a hundred or two of that.

Looks: It really looks nothing like a MacBook Pro. It just looks like a metal HP. Good industrial design, nice minimalism. The pictures aren ot very accurate of the real thing. The magnesium on it is painted and it is this very nice grey color, not the silvery metal color of the macbooks. I think both look great.

People always complain about the touchpad, but after using it for several weeks, I think it is great. Very similar to the MBP touchpa,d except it also right clicks.

Display: 15.6" 1920x1080. Absolutely gorgeous, not much else to say. Playing Bioshock 2 on here is just amazing.

Heat: The fans are off most of the time, it stays pretty cool. You can feel it get slightly warm, which is a given with an aluminum laptop, but I have never felt it get hot. I have gamed on my lap before and it was fine. Note: this is with the i5s. Usually when peopel complain it is about the quad core i7s, which I believe do get hot.
 
HLdan said:
The HP Envy with the Core i series processor gets hot to the EXTREME!! I've played with and it nearly burnt my hands trying to hold it. I could feel the heat coming out of it without even touching it.
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Macs aren't exactly the definition of cool. I'm on my 4 year old macbook and i can't rest it on the bare skin of my leg without feeling like i'm sitting on a blacktop during a hot day. Screen is turned down to all but two notches, and I'm only running firefox and itunes.

The heat is retarded considering the performance this thing doesn't have.
 
aberrero said:
Err....

The laptop in that picture is not an Envy. It is one of their new models that looks similar, but is not the Envy 15. As the person above said, the front of the Envy is a giant grille.
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It's the Envy 13. The 15 has the much more noticeable grille.
 
itommyboy said:
Yet somehow they are the number one manufacturer of computers...oh in the WORLD. Yeah that is a fact, not a rumor look it up they must be doing some things right to wear that crown. Just because 2 of you had bad experiences with some old Pavillion does not make them the worst company OMG IN THE WORLD EVER! I would buy any HP over a Sony or a Dell any given day if my hands and wallet were tied down from buying an :apple: (thankfully not the case). Now Lenovo I do have to say I respect.

Two parting observations:

1) I spent about half an hour on the Envy at our local BB and it indeed feels very cheap and flimsy imho. But damn is it fast.
2) Sony sure makes some nice alarm clock radios!
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Number 1 by volume sales. Which means nothing except for making money of course but it doesn't say anything about the quality itself. MS has the largest share of the OS market and yet do they have the best consumer OS? BMW makes very high quality cars and yet they don't have large market share. There's a difference between Loss Leader(Dell/HP) and Premium market vendors (Apple/BMW).

Now, the majority of their computer sales are to the corporate market. The question is, how much of their sales are to consumers?
 
MikhailT said:
Number 1 by volume sales. Which means nothing except for making money of course but it doesn't say anything about the quality itself. MS has the largest share of the OS market and yet do they have the best consumer OS? BMW makes very high quality cars and yet they don't have large market share. There's a difference between Loss Leader(Dell/HP) and Premium market vendors (Apple/BMW).

Now, the majority of their computer sales are to the corporate market. The question is, how much of their sales are to consumers?
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You can't build an entire company around having a "loss leader". You have one product you take a loss on to generate interest in high margin products. HP has built a business around selling high value products. Voodoo built a business around selling boutique, high quality, low-value products. HP bought voodoo and created a high-value, high-quality laptop.


Toyota also makes high quality cars(brakes notwithstanding) and they have enormous market share. Whats your point?

Also, just because I like my Envy and my LaserJet doesn't mean that I would buy an HP Pavilion laptop. You should evaluate the product on its own strengths not baesd on whatever stereotypes you have about the company that makes it.

And yes, I will admit that HP support sucks, but in terms of return policy, they are miles ahead of Apple. I am nto the type of person that would pay for AppleCare anyway, so support means little to me. All I want is the ability to evaluate the product for a few days, and HP gives me that.

Also, HPs corporate laptops are really really good. I personally prefer a Thinkpad, but I certainly wouldn't mind either an HP or Dell business laptop. I think they are much more "Pro" than the Macbook Pro.
 
aberrero said:
You can't build an entire company around having a "loss leader". You have one product you take a loss on to generate interest in high margin products. HP has built a business around selling high value products. Voodoo built a business around selling boutique, high quality, low-value products. HP bought voodoo and created a high-value, high-quality laptop.


Toyota also makes high quality cars(brakes notwithstanding) and they have enormous market share. Whats your point?

Also, just because I like my Envy and my LaserJet doesn't mean that I would buy an HP Pavilion laptop. You should evaluate the product on its own strengths not baesd on whatever stereotypes you have about the company that makes it.

And yes, I will admit that HP support sucks, but in terms of return policy, they are miles ahead of Apple. I am nto the type of person that would pay for AppleCare anyway, so support means little to me. All I want is the ability to evaluate the product for a few days, and HP gives me that.

Also, HPs corporate laptops are really really good. I personally prefer a Thinkpad, but I certainly wouldn't mind either an HP or Dell business laptop. I think they are much more "Pro" than the Macbook Pro.
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for apple having such a limited lineup of notebooks, I think they compare to hp elitebooks, dell latitude/precision, ibm/lenovo thinkpads and (I suppose you can include) Sony Z series pretty well.
 
I think a Pro notebook needs at least some of the following:

FireGl/Quadro graphics
Matte display as standard
SmartCard reader option
Fingerprint reader
Clitmouse
Standard VGA port
At least one Expresscard slot
The fastest CPUs on the market as BTO
WUXGA displays on 15 and 17" models, if not the 13". 1440x900 on the 15" is a joke.
No extraneous LED lighting. *ahem*giant apple*ahem*
Dedicated business support.
Replaceable/Extended/Modular batteries.
No-webcam option.

Basically, the MBPs are nice prosumer machines, like the Dell XPS and the HP Envy laptops. It is the type of laptop that I want as a student. They are not business machines. People with actual computer work to do will not hesitate to get a Thinkpad/Elitebook/Latitude over a MBP. They aren't even viable Photoshop machines anymore, certainly not when the Lenovo W series is available.
 
I have an HP DM3 with the specs in the signature. I bought this thing for $500 new on October 22nd, the day Windows 7 came out.

I haven't been disappointed yet. I love this thing to death.

I admire the looks of it, and the build quality is amazing. The only thing my old MacBook Pro has over this thing is it was faster obviously (but not enough for me to warrant the $600 I have in my pocket now), and the screen was better on the Pro. But so far this thing is great, and the battery life ain't half bad too for an AMD notebook (4.5-5.5 hours).

I might go for another HP after this one stops satisfying my uses in what I am guessing will be 3-4 years if Apple doesn't have anything that compelling out.
 
kny3twalker said:
for apple having such a limited lineup of notebooks, I think they compare to hp elitebooks, dell latitude/precision, ibm/lenovo thinkpads and (I suppose you can include) Sony Z series pretty well.
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No, they don't, at least not anymore. See aberrero's post.
 
aberrero said:
I think a Pro notebook needs at least some of the following:

FireGl/Quadro graphics - Would be a nice option
Matte display as standard - As an option, but why a standard?
SmartCard reader option - Would be a nice option
Fingerprint reader - Gimmicky from everything I've seen so far.
Clitmouse - Why? The trackpad's great!
Standard VGA port - Got this with the dongle anyway.
At least one Expresscard slot - An express card slot is definately missed below the 17 inch by quite a few professionals I know, yeah.
The fastest CPUs on the market as BTO - Yup.
WUXGA displays on 15 and 17" models, if not the 13". 1440x900 on the 15" is a joke. - Yeah, the res needs a refresh for sure.
No extraneous LED lighting. *ahem*giant apple*ahem* - Yeah, would definately be good to customise this, but it's not going away...
Dedicated business support. - Fo sho.
Replaceable/Extended/Modular batteries. - Yeah, this. Personally though I'm happy with the current setup but I know swappable batteries would be appreciated.
No-webcam option - I know people who use their webcams occasionally in their work. Don't see a problem having them.
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My personal opinion on your list, I agree on several points.
 
Steve Jobs. said:
Honestly, i think you should keep the envy, it looks awesome. I don't think the new Macbooks would really match those specs anytime soon.

But if they get released within the return period, then you could think about an exchange =P

disregard the fact that im Steve Jobs.
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It says you joined MR this month. I can't believe that no one took the name "Steve Jobs" until now! :eek:
 
TheMacBookPro said:
$1799 will get you a MBP with... a 2.53GHz C2D, 4GB/250GB 5.4k and a crappy 9400M. $2199 will get you an Envy with... a Intel Core i7 720qm, 4GB/500GB 7.2k and a (quite powerful) ATI Radeon 5830.

Also are you saying that video editing is Mac only? :confused:

Good luck playing Crysis on that 9400M on your 1799 MBP...

So you're right. it is a no-brainer. I'd (and most others) would take the Envy... unless you're saying you'd take the Pro? ooooh fanboyism to the max :rolleyes:
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funny...i beat crysis on my macbook air....it has a 9400m...not playability issues.
 
The 13" Envy has an average review of 4.8 stars compared to the 15" average review of 4 stars. Not only that, the 15" Envy is $200 cheaper base configuration than the 13" Envy.

I seriously doubt the next 15" MBP will have ATI 5830 graphics, nor include 1GB dedicated video RAM, nor have an option to 16GB RAM (because probably no 45W CPU), no Quad Core CPU, no dual drive configuration from Apple, no 3 USB ports, nor an eSATA port, nor an HDMI port, nor 1920x1080 HD display option, and DEFINITELY NO BLU-RAY!

It's an awful lot of compromise to be "stuck" with a MacBook Pro, isn't it? This is everyone's dream MBP, and it's too bad Apple will not give it to Apple Mac lovers. MBP buyers would gladly pay for every one of those options to get a MBP with the power and performance of the Envy. It's too bad that Apple doesn't really have a lot of BTO options to allow MBP buyers to configure the MBP they really want even if the costs are ridiculously high.
 
Scottsdale said:
The 13" Envy has an average review of 4.8 stars compared to the 15" average review of 4 stars. Not only that, the 15" Envy is $200 cheaper base configuration than the 13" Envy.

I seriously doubt the next 15" MBP will have ATI 5830 graphics, nor include 1GB dedicated video RAM, nor have an option to 16GB RAM (because probably no 45W CPU), no Quad Core CPU, no dual drive configuration from Apple, no 3 USB ports, nor an eSATA port, nor an HDMI port, nor 1920x1080 HD display option, and DEFINITELY NO BLU-RAY!

It's an awful lot of compromise to be "stuck" with a MacBook Pro, isn't it? This is everyone's dream MBP, and it's too bad Apple will not give it to Apple Mac lovers. MBP buyers would gladly pay for every one of those options to get a MBP with the power and performance of the Envy. It's too bad that Apple doesn't really have a lot of BTO options to allow MBP buyers to configure the MBP they really want even if the costs are ridiculously high.
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I hate to say it but you are probably right. I guess we will found out one way or another soon enough anyway though...
 
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