Pros: PROS:
-IPS Full HD display (AWESOME viewing angles)*
-7690 GPU
-Improved touchpad (compared to previous Envys)

CONS:
-*HORRIBLE color gamut on an otherwise beautiful display (google “Envy 15 red”)
-sub-par keyboard after updating BIOS received from HP
-HP’s handling of known software bugs/hardware shortcomings

(Due to character limit my review will end a bit abruptly)

Cons: See below for more on the cons. Please bear in mind however, that I’m posting this review here as I have elsewhere, with no intention to spam or troll. It’s just that with all the issues HP seems to refuse to acknowledge/fix for what is supposed to be their premium notebook, the consumer should be aware of both HP and the Envy line’s serious shortcomings.

I really wanted to like this laptop, because on paper, there are very very few (if any) laptops that offer a similar package at this price point (i7-2620qm, dedicated 7690m, but most of all, 1080p IPS display). However, after 2 months of patience, I can no longer ignore the glaring issues HP has chosen to overlook. First, there have been numerous reports first appearing in forums about users’ complaints about the Envy 15 1080p’s inability to produce reds. Since the initial reports in January, numerous tech blogs like the Verge and Engadget (among others) have confirmed this. While I tried to overlook the issue myself, (cont’d)

Other Thoughts: the non-reds eventually became far too distracting, especially as a $150 upgrade. If HP charged $250 for an upgrade w/ decent color gamut, I would have gladly ponied up the extra cost. I regret that HP chose to cut corners like this, when they were so close to a phenomenal laptop/display. -1 Egg for display. The second issue I take is the keyboard. To be fair, when I first received this unit, I had no skipped/missed keys, and I decided I could live with the slight flex on the left side of the keyboard. But ever since a BIOS update (F.05), the keyboard will miss literally about 15% of my keystrokes whenever I’m running on AC adapter. The keystroke issue is actually distracting enough to disrupt my day-to-day web browsing. To be fair, I understand that software can be buggy, but it’s another thing when the manufacturer doesn’t fix these bugs, not to mention refuse to acknowledge the numerous complaints. -2 Egg, 1 each for keyboard/HP Support.

Series

ENVY

Model

15-3040NR

Part#

A9P60UA#ABA

Cons: None, considering that it’s refurbished and has no problems at all.

Other Thoughts: battery life could be a little better, but they are cheap on E-B*y, so it’s a non-issue now.

Series

Pavilion

Model

g7-1117cl

Part#

LW406UAR#ABA

Pros: – Display port output audio and video through HDMI adapter (not included)

- Window 7 Pro

- Decent performance for the price and size

- Great battery life for performance. For basic web browsing I get about 5 hrs on a full charge. Photo editing or light gaming (Diablo 2) takes it down to around 2-3 hrs. I think HP offers and extended battery too if you need more than that.

Other good features not listed:
Separate button to disable wireless for energy savings (wifi, bluetooth, etc).
HP power monitor tells you exactly how much each

Cons: – Would be nice if it included display port adapters. I picked up a couple cheap ($3) adapters for the display port to output to HDMI and DVI. Both worked flawlessly, and the HDMI outputs both audio and video.

- Multi-touch track pad doesn’t perform like I would expect. Recent driver updates have helped. Pinch to zoom and 2 finger scroll work ok. Three finger gestures don’t work for me at all.

-This product does not include a modem as advertised under product specs on Newegg.

Other Thoughts: Owned this for 3 months now and I’m very please with it. Wanting a 14″ laptop with Window 7 Pro kind of narrows your options. This offered a great combination of features and performance for the cost.

I haven’t used the following features and can’t speak to them: USB 3, pointstick & extra buttons (which can be disabled), eSATA, Express Card Slot

Everything else works as expected. Webcam and built in mic work well enough to hold Skype calls. Speakers are pretty basic laptop speakers, nothing special. Ok for watching a utube videos, or for background music while browsing.

Other good features not listed:
Separate button to disable wireless for energy savings (wifi, bluetooth, etc). HP power monitor tells you exactly how much power each feature is using for better power control and battery life control. Really like the finger print reader, works every time and makes logging into the computer really easy. Small keyboard light at the top of the display.

Series

EliteBook

Model

8460p (XU057UT#ABA)

Part#

XU057UT#ABA

Pros: Quality is amazing keyboard is nice no problems at all
fingerswipe is amazing
sound quality is amazing no problems just need to get to the built in equalizer

Cons: none so far

Other Thoughts: To everyone who says that the mouse is broken with the typeing thing. alot of people are saying that its not a good computer for gaming. Its amazing at runing games quiet and super fast. there is no problem with typeing and having an external mouse, which if your gaming you will have. speakers are amazing and the overal everything is amazing

Series

Pavilion

Model

dv7-6c90us

Part#

A6X00UA#ABA

Steel Grey Finish (prefer over the Black that HP offers)
Glowing HP on Back of scree (bottom corner)

Cons: hdd is Slow – 5400rpm but is standard in the laptop biz
DVD-+RW, would’ve preferred a Blu-ray in this bad boy. but.. oh well :/
6 cell battery (3-4hrs of use)

Other Thoughts: Battery, i had a dv7, came with 9 cell same Specs as this system, took back due to web cam malfunction, but when using the dv7 i could easily get 8-9hrs and even when overclocking to 2.6ghz @1.275v , so i dont know why i get 3-4hrs on a 6cell with this one. planning to buy a 9cell in the near future.

Cons: Compact keyboard
3305M (the worst a4 CPU, comes with the worst GPU as well)
Turbo Core RARLY activates and when it does for fractions of a seccond.
Can’t overclock, mobo is locked up

Other Thoughts: I can’t really review this as well as I normaly could because mine came with the a3320m instead of the a3305m. It is great for me, but I can’t give you infromation on the CPU and GPU preformance, because I have 2 steps up on the CPU and 1 on the GPU. Also THIS IS NOT A GOOD PRICE! I got mine for $330, look at staples (were I got mine), best buy, or any online deal site! The one thing that I like the most (I didn’t learn this until after I bought the laptop) is it has a PCI-e slot!! That means you can buy whatever mobile GPU you want online (or at your local PC shop, but it is probobly more expencive there) and replace the intergated card!!! You can also pick up a 4 GB ddr3 laptop RAM card for $26 and turn this into a 8gb RAM computer. I have to say this laptop has lots of ability to upgrade for being an HP. One thing though is you CAN’T

Brand

HP

Model

g6-1d60us

Part#

A6Z59UA#ABA

Pros: Powerful enough to run modern games at medium/high settings.
Good battery life if switched to low power mode.
Beautiful chassis.
Not as heavy as one might expect (little over 7 pounds)

Cons: Becomes very hot during intense gaming when not used in conjunction with a cooler.
Price is too expensive for what’s being offered.

Other Thoughts: I’ve used it for a couple months now, I’ve enjoyed the use of the product. There are better bargains out the to be sure such as cyber power pc but you pay for the name and it does perform well. Recommend buying it through dell.

Brand

DELL

Series

Alienware

Model

M14x (AM14X-6667BK)

Part#

AM14X-6667BK

Pros: This laptop performs as well as my last pc build (before this one), and that is saying alot for a laptop (i build my pc’s for gaming). I played assassins creed revelation at 1080p with all high settings and 4x antialiasing with 30-60 fps. The cpu performs better (by 30%!) than my 4.1 ghz overclocked phenom II x4 be. very impressive for a laptop.

Cons: The only thing i think is wrong with this laptop is the pricetag. yes, it is the coolest brand of laptop on the planet. yes, it has high end processor and very passable mobile graphics. yes, it has pretty lights and a lot of ways to configure them. but 1500 dollars for a laptop with the same specs as dells xps that runs under 1000 dollars… pretty expensive for some ‘bling’. that being said, i knew all that and still chose to buy the alienware, so i guess their strategy works lol.

Other Thoughts: There will be drool. Puddles. Just got one today (from another site, hence my lack of ‘verified owner’ status on this item) and was not let down. artfully crafted and decked with cool stuff like lights, and more lights. and a couple of alien head… lights.

Brand

DELL

Series

Alienware

Model

M17x R3 (AM17XR3-6842BK)

Part#

AM17XR3-6842BK

Pros: Wonderful laptop would recommend to anyone that is looking for a good laptop at somewhat of a low cost this thing is way faster than what I expected it to be seeing as how it has a 5400 rpm hdd in it.

Cons: Came with some bloatware and java already installed on it.

Other Thoughts: It there was not enought cons to take an egg away because the bloatware was 3 programs that I had to uninstall (java being one of them). I got it for my wife all she does is some video and photo editing and school work on it and she plays sims 3 it runs everything she does like a champ. I would still highly recommend anyone that can afford this badboy to get it you will not be disappointed.

Series

Inspiron

Model

15R (N5110)

Part#

i15RN-3647BK

Pros: *Aluminum cover is nice very clean look
*very good value you really get a lot for your money
*comes with adobe photo shop preinstalled elements 9
*clean interface great keyboard very comfortable

Cons: *dell bloatware some of it is use full like the snip it app but mostly annoying easy to remove though
*finger prints get on the cover easily and are hard to get off might not go well if your ocd
*integrated graphics not optimal for gaming but to be expected at this price range

Other Thoughts: My initial impression is good the device feels and looks solid. Bottom line is its a no brainer for somene that just needs a laptop to get the job done but also want solid computer that isnt cheap or flimsy feeling. I would highly recomend to college students its a baseline priced computer with some high end features. If your a gamer or a techy person this might not be a good fit due to lack of dedicated graphics and though the 2nd gen i3 performs well you may want something with a little more umf for intensive task.

Series

Inspiron

Model

14z (i14z-1424BK)

Part#

i14z-1424BK