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MBP vs HP Envy

ghsDUDE

ghsDUDE

macrumors 68030
Original poster
May 25, 2010
2,949
763
Okay...so I have been REALLY comparing a lot between the baseline MBP for $1799 and this HP Envy Beats Edition.

The specs are pretty comparative if anything the HP is better and I can get the HP for $900 total. (After tax)

Plus I get a free Xbox 360.

BUT, the only thing holding me back is that I've wanted a Mac for a long time and i don't want to look back and regret this. My HP of 3 years has treated me well and I feel like a MBP will be like leaving a GF for another GF. I don't wanna look back and be like WHY did I spend $1000 and basically get the same thing when I'm a broke ass college student lol.
 
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Idk but that's so funny you compared girls to a computer LMAO


I got a mac for the OS and apple store support.
 
It all comes down to whether or not you think OSX is worth it. If Windows has treated you well, then don't change. Moving from Windows to Mac requires a leap of faith. When I made the move to Mac a couple of years ago, I wasn't sure it was the right thing to do at the time. Now a couple of years later, I wouldn't trade my 2 year old MBP for three brand new HP Envy's. Of course, I guess I could sell the Envy's for a new MBP. :D
 
If you can afford it, I'd get the MBP. Since you are asking this here, it sounds like you really want the Mac, but (with good reason) don't want to regret paying so much for it. If you use your computer a lot, as in several hours a day, then it is a big part of your life, so consider if an extra grand is worth it to make your life better for a few hours each day. I think most people would say yes.

If you plan on regularly selling to get a newer model, remember that the MBP will keep its resale value much better than the HP will.
If you plan on keeping this model for several years, know that the MBP will (probably) hold up better over the years.

They both look like pretty good computers, but the main advantages for the Mac would be the 1-inch bigger screen while still being a few ounces lighter, slightly thinner, OS X, build quality, overall design, Apple's excellent support, and a slightly faster processor (HP looks like it is either 1.73 or 1.86 vs Apple's 2.0 ghz).

HP's main advantage is the price, which is undoubtedly the biggest factor in most people's purchase. The other advantage I noticed was the 1gb graphics vs 256mb that Apple offers, which is important to some. Only you can decide if all of the Mac's advantages are worth the extra ~$900.

Since you're a college student, you can get $100 off the Mac, bringing the price difference down to $800, which is still quite a bit, but slightly better.

edit: I'm not sure if by saying "when" you're a college student, you mean that you aren't currently but will be soon, so the education discount may not apply to you.
 
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I just came from a PC, been using PCs my whole life. After buying a MBP I wont ever personally buy a PC unless a gun is held to my head, even then, death might be worth it.

The HP Envy is nice, good specs, but it runs Windows... ewww. With the MBP you can run windows if needed.
 
i've been dating both macs and pcs all my life, but my main girlfriend has been pcs. recently, though, i switched to mac. sure, she costs a bit more and puts out a bit less in terms of specs, but her os fits me a lot better. occasionally, i come across annoying quirks (word for mac isn't handling vertical alignment of asian text well), but that is easily offset by things like global shortcut keys that enable me to insert macrons in any program.

i know, these are pretty specific to my environment, but the os makes a huge difference in my daily life. of course, she also has the sexiest body, and her trackpad is a joy to use. there are lots of other little things. in the end, i figured that it was worth it to spend more on a companion who will be with me most of my waking hours.

i haven't dumped windows. i still keep her around, but she (a windows 7 netbook) sleeps in the closet. i take her out and dust her off every few weeks.
 
It really depends on what tasks you are looking to perform with your computer, how long you plan on owning the computer for, and other usage based factors.

From personal experience, having used both computers I would wholeheartedly recommend a MacBook Pro over an HP Envy, for a few reasons.

First and foremost, the quality on the MacBook Pro is far better in comparison to the HP Envy. The HP Envy tends to have lots of little gaps in the chassis and uneven keyboards.

The sound quality is night and day between the two as well. The MacBook Pro provides excellent audio quality from the built in speakers as well as the audio out connection, while the HP Envy's speakers leave a lot to be desired - there is absolutely no bass reproduction from the built in speakers (I have heard audio coming from small netbooks that were louder and clearer).

Third, the graphics switching solution on the HP Envy is nowhere near as seamless as what is offered on the MacBook Pro. For example, if you have applications such as Internet Explorer open you are required to close them prior to switching graphics cards. On the MacBook Pro, your computer switches between the integrated and dedicated graphics cards without interrupting your workflow and you don't even notice the switch occur.

Just my two cents, hope that helps and best of luck with your purchase decision. :)
 
Hrmm... I was saying something about the Envy having Optimus but on further review it looks like it DOES NOT. Odd.

HP's audio systems blow Apple's laptop sound systems out of the water. No contest. Where'd you come up with this stuff? -_-

Anyway, you probably ARE going to get way better battery life with the MacBook Pro, and while it costs more now, it'll be worth more down the line - At $900 now, that Envy will be worth maybe $400 this time next year. However, it does cost less :)

I think you'd better go use them both a bit in person and then make up your mind :) As far as running OS X goes, you probably won't be able to do it on the HP any time soon, if ever. (I'm not sure, but I have a decent feeling on that note).
 
Before getting my MBP, I was also considering the Envy. For me it came down to battery life and OSX. I can always run Win 7 on my MBP if I need to... You can't do the same with the Envy. :D
 
JoeG4 said:
HP's audio systems blow Apple's laptop sound systems out of the water. No contest. Where'd you come up with this stuff? -_-
Click to expand...
The audio out connection on the HP Envy provides good sound quality with a lot of "oomph", but the built in speakers are terrible. The Altec Lansing speakers found on the 2010 Pavilion DV6 models and even the speakers found in the older Pavilion models have more definition to them compared to the speakers found on the HP Envy 14 (tested on three models, all with the same results).

Unlike the HP Envy 17, the HP Envy 14 doesn't have a subwoofer built in at all. The 15-inch and 17-inch MacBook Pro's do have a subwoofer built in.
 
JoeG4 said:
Hrmm... I was saying something about the Envy having Optimus but on further review it looks like it DOES NOT. Odd.
Click to expand...

Optimus = nvidia, the HP uses ATi. It still a first gen i7, so only the i5 has GPU switching.
 
I think I might work the extra 2 weeks to have the $900 more. :D
Read some bad reviews on the HP's battery and I need a good battery.

Thanks for helping me make my mind up guys.
Looks like I'll be dumping her for another girl very shortly lol
 
Yea, I'm kinda surprised on that, but I didn't think Optimus was proprietary (just carried under different names) - it's very simple, all it does is share the framebuffer between the IGP and the dedicated GPU chip.

Even with the i5, the old Envy 15 couldn't do it because the PM55 and HM55 chipsets didn't support it. Didn't know the Envy 14 was using something like that, or that it had crappy speakers! Too bad :(
 
If you dig a little further with finances, then Envy and the MBP almost cost the same.

A HP Envy in 3 years will be worth nothing, you may even have to pay to get it recycled.
In the other hand you can easily sell a 3 years old 15" MBP in at least 600dlls.

Actually is all about initial spending, not actual long run cost.
 
mac00l said:
If you dig a little further with finances, then Envy and the MBP almost cost the same.

A HP Envy in 3 years will be worth nothing, you may even have to pay to get it recycled.
In the other hand you can easily sell a 3 years old 15" MBP in at least 600dlls.

Actually is all about initial spending, not actual long run cost.
Click to expand...

A 3 years old Envy would probably be around 300-400ish, while original is 900 plus a xbox 360, which in reality you paid for 700.

For MBP, you paid 1700, but after 3 years you can only sell it for 500ish.

Mac you lose 1200 dollar value compare to 300-400 dollar value on PC.

It's really not a wise comparison... ;)
 
To make it more comparable to the MBPs specs it's more like $1,349.99. and that's still with a slower processor. the screen of the envy is also slightly smaller, but roughly the same pixels per inch so that's not that big of a deal.
 
shansoft said:
A 3 years old Envy would probably be around 300-400ish, while original is 900 plus a xbox 360, which in reality you paid for 700.

For MBP, you paid 1700, but after 3 years you can only sell it for 500ish.

Mac you lose 1200 dollar value compare to 300-400 dollar value on PC.

It's really not a wise comparison... ;)
Click to expand...

Not true at all, just do some digging on ebay and craiglist. I can find original 2009 Envys 15 (which was 2,000dlls at introduction) as low as 500 dlls, while 2008 15" MBP range (depending on cosmetics) from 500 to 800dlls. 2009 15" MBPs are selling as high as 1,000 dlls on ebay, if you can find one that is...

You tell me which one devaluates more.

It's a known fact that MBPs tend to hold its value much better than others, even Envys
 
The MacBook Pro is a better machine offering newer Sandy Bridge CPUs, a better graphics card, and very likely much better battery life and it is consequently a fair bit more expensive.

I say the MacBook Pro if you can afford it and also want it for either (or both) the hardware or (and) software. But if you can't afford it, or have no good reason to get the Mac, I say get the Envy. And sell the XBox 360 :D
 
I think you can compare the new 17" Envy to a MBP but this 14" beats with the old hot quad cores is really not the best choice. Battery life on those is really bad.
 
mac00l said:
Not true at all, just do some digging on ebay and craiglist. I can find original 2009 Envys 15 (which was 2,000dlls at introduction) as low as 500 dlls, while 2008 15" MBP range (depending on cosmetics) from 500 to 800dlls. 2009 15" MBPs are selling as high as 1,000 dlls on ebay, if you can find one that is...

You tell me which one devaluates more.

It's a known fact that MBPs tend to hold its value much better than others, even Envys
Click to expand...

You do realize that Envy 15 the original version have heat issue right?
And the price wasn't 2000 when launch. You must be either customizing to the max on that laptop, otherwise its around 1400.

The second revision of it which comes with 5830 solve the issue, and was priced around 950 in HP store for quite awhile with core i7 720M with 1080P resolution.

Also, tell me when 2008 that MBP sells out @ 800 dollar price.. Because it never will..
Who the heck is going to buy 2008 with such a price tag?
MBP 2009 is also pricing between 500-700 ish on ebay.

The money loss is always higher on higher end MBP than any other laptop, unless its a gaming laptop.
 
He's talking about spending $1000 on the envy and getting a free xbox.

The 15" MBP starts at what, $1700? If the Envy is worth nothing in 3 years and the MBP is worth $600 in 3 years, it sounds as if the MBP's depreciation is actually $100 worse. :D

That and the Envy 15 didn't run that hot, I've used them (almost bought one lol). The battery life sucked though.
 
HP Envy is not that great. Poor sounds, heavy, loud fans. Get a dm4 instead. Still has bad audio, but it's much lighter and quieter. Too bad the newest MBP don't have a real video card.
 
Sidenote: I hate laptops with the exhaust on the side. My Sony is like that and it gets on my nerves lol. Sadly back exhaust = that huge hump in the rear like that huge Asus 17", some alienware laptops, and some Dell laptops. >>
 
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