Sony Z vs. HP Envy 14

Hi everyone,

I'm looking at the Sony Z and the HP Envy 14 as a laptop for college. My budget is pretty high (around 2 grand) so I want something that will last me at least 3-4 years. Both of these choices looked viable to me.

The specs of the laptops which I compared are as follows

Sony Z:
Intel® Core™ i5-540M processor (2.53GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 3.06GHz
Windows 7 Home Premium
256GB (128GBx2) SSD with RAID 0 Technology
4GB DDR3 RAM
Price: $2219 (Sony doesn't offer any education discount on the Z   )

HP Envy:
Windows 7 Home Premium
Intel Core i7-740QM Quad Core processor (1.73GHz, 6MB L3 Cache) w/Turbo Boost up to 2.93 GHz
6GB DDR3 RAM
256GB SSD
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5650 Graphics - For Quad Core Processors
Price: $1948 (with education discount   )


As of now, I'm leaning towards the HP, for several reasons. Obviously, the starting price of the Sony is MUCH higher than the HP, and the upgrades also cost a lot more...the HP has slightly more bang for the buck. The Envy also has a slightly larger screen, which I like. The Envy is still quite new, so I haven't seen any definitive review yet, but if any of you already own one, I would really appreciate some advice on these issues:

First, I'm concerned about battery life; I think HP advertises around 5 hours, but with a quad core i7 (which doesn't support switchable graphics), I have to wonder if this will hold true.

Second (and I know this is very general), I wanted to know the overall build quality of the Envy. The Z is highly esteemed for its premium build quality (and I guess it carries a premium price tag as a result), but HP often gets mixed reviews. Right now, I own a Pavilion dv7 laptop, and have had quite a few problems with it, like for example, it had hard drive issues right out of the box. What's the story with the Envy?


Please advise! Thanks in advance.