HP Envy 15 is a new high end 15” laptop with very good performance, but quite poor cooling system. This laptop is sometimes compared to a MacBook although I cannot see why. It is true is performs quite well and has an HD screen, but it also has many disadvantages.
HP Envy 15 pros:
+ 1.6-GHz Intel Core i7-720QM CPU
+ ATI Radeon HD 4830
+ Brilliant design
+ Great build quality
+ Excellent performance
+ Vivid HD screen
+ Lightweight
+ Good speakers
+ Windows 7 on board
HP Envy 15 cons:
- Poor battery performance
- Gets too hot
- Uncomfortable keyboard
- No optical drive
- No VGA-out
The design:
HP Envy 15 measures 15.0 x 9.6 x 1.0 inches and weighs 5.2 pounds so it might seem a bit heavy. The laptop is made of aluminum and magnesium so it should be really durable. Its lid is covered with patterns which make it more beautiful and will surely attract glances. The keyboard in the HP Envy 15 has large and responsive buttons and what’s still rare in notebooks it has two additional rows of keys. On the left side of the regular buttons you have a columns of shortcut keys, and on the right column of keys such as Page up/down, Home and Delete. Because the touchpad is somewhat unevenly placed it in fact disturbs writing which becomes uncomfortable, or full of mistakes when you accidentally touch the touchpad. More importantly, the HP Envy 15 get a lot too warm for comfortable use especially in the ares where you rest your wrists while typing.
Performance:
The 15.6-inch in the HP Envy 15 does a really good job with its 1920 x 1080 resolution. The screen is very evenly lit, the colors are vibrant and the viewing angles are excellent. Moreover, the laptop has a built-in sensor which automatically adjusts the brightness of the screen. As the laptop has plenty of ports you will be able to connect practically anything to it, although the HP Envy 15 unfortunately lack a VGA-out connector.
The HP Envy 15 is a really strong performer. In its class the HP Envy 15 is not only better than the average laptop, but in PCMark Vantage it scores twice as many points as the class average, so it is a real beast. The laptop is capable of doing all the regular business activities, but also playing the latest games and it can even convert some videos.
However, the HP Envy 15 will run only about 2 hours on one charge which is too little to watch a good movie on a longer journey.
The HP Envy 15 is highly customizable so you can add more RAM, larger hard disc, or even a stronger battery if you have more cash. All in all, the HP Envy 15 is not that bad, but it’s not much of a portable computer with its heat issues and poor battery performance.
Selected HP Envy 15 features and specifications:
- Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium
- Processor
Intel Core i7 processor
- Memory/RAM
Up to 16GB
- Display
15.6″ HP Brightview high-resolution LED backlit screen
- Graphics
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 graphics (1 GB Dedicated)
- Optical Drive
None; External optical drives in standard and Blu-Ray variety may be purchased separately
- Battery
Up to 7 hours with optional Slim-Fit
- Wireless
802.11n
- Audio/Video
Stereo speakers, microphone jack, headphone jack, integrated video camera
- Ports
2x USB 2,0, HDMI, 1 eSata/USB combo
- Price $1,799
- Software
Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 and Corel VideoStudio Pro X2
Other recently reviewed laptops:
Asus K50, Gateway LT2016u, HP Pavilion dm3, Sony VAIO X, Acer Aspire 1410
