HP Envy Notebooks Have a Super Sweet Design
Could these be of an even spacier design than Apple's MacBook Pros?
When HP acquired Voodoo, it was buying not only an established name in the boutique computer business, but also some of Canadian-based computer-maker's special know-how.
The HP Firebird serves the desktop enthusiast, but what about for the road warriors? We're not talking about gaming laptops, but rather something sexy on-the-go. Voodoo has its specialized Voodoo Envy laptop – and it seems HP has taken that and is mainstreaming next month with the Envy 13 and Envy 15.
HP says that the new notebooks, announced today, are built from the "Voodoo Envy legacy," but the design appears to borrow a lot from Apple's unibody MacBook Pro line.
"HP Envy includes the latest in materials and technology inside and out and pushes the technological and performance boundaries of what can be done in sleek, powerful and lightweight notebook PCs," said Ted Clark, senior vice president and general manager, Notebook Global Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP. "Discerning consumers will get a premium experience and performance."
Like the MacBook Pros, the Envy 13 and Envy 15 feature metal casing – though HP's offering uses a combination of both aluminum and magnesium, making it lighter at the expense of losing some rigidity.
Both models also feature Beats Audio thanks to HP's partnering with Beats by Dr. Dre.
The Envy 13 boasts an LCD worthy enough for HP to brand it as "Radiance," and say that it is twice as bright as other notebook displays in its class with 410 nit (a measurement of display brightness) and 82 percent color gamut (versus standard 45-60 percent).
Those not taken with Apple's non-removable battery will be pleased to know that HP's Envy line features removable battery packs, as well as an external battery attachment that could give the Envy 13 up to 18 hours of battery life. The standard battery still delivers a very good 7 hours.
The Envy 13 will have ATI Switchable Graphics technology dynamically switches between ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 discrete graphics and the Intel integrated graphics processor for either high-powered graphics processing or low power consumption for long battery life. Intel Core 2 Duos will be the main CPUs powering the Envy 13.
The Envy 15 is what HP calls its fastest consumer notebook and "dream machine," coming in a 1-inch thin, 5.18-pound package. It'll pack a 'future' Intel Core i7 processor and up to 16 GB of DDR3 1,066-MHz system memory in four SODIMM memory slots. It also has space to add two solid-state drives in a RAID-0 configuration if you need the speed.
For graphics, the Envy 15 will use an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4830 graphics with 1 GB of dedicated video memory, though there doesn't seem to be the dual-GPU trick that the Envy 13 has.
The Envy 15 also sadly won't have the same "Radiance" display as its smaller sibling, but should still have a decent screen with the choice of two 15.6-inch HP Brightview high-resolution LED backlit displays, including the Full High Definition LED HP Ultra BrightView Widescreen Display with up to 300-nits brightness.
If you like to cam with people in the dark, the Envy 15 has a Nightvision VGA LED-assist infrared webcam that is optimized for low-light or zero-light conditions.
Battery life on the Envy 15 won't be nearly as strong as on the 13-inch model, giving 7 hours with the optional Slim Fit Extended-Life Notebook Battery.
The HP Envy 13 and Envy 15 are expected to be available in the United States on Oct. 18 with a starting price of $1,699 and $1,799, respectively.
- Microsoft Introduces Visual Search for Bing
- Intel Shows Off 32-nm Westmere CPU Wafer
- Apple Causes NAND Shortage in Taiwan
- Ferrari Speeds Into Netbook Race
- Windows 7 Upgrade Could Take Over 20 Hours
- 802.11n Finalized After 7 Years in the Making
- Bethesda Sues Interplay Over Fallout Game
- Asus Eee Keyboard Launching in October
- iPod Touch Tear Down Shows Space for Camera
- DISASSEMBLED: The Zune HD
- Lightning SSDs Provide Crazy Fast Speeds
- HP Launches Ion-based Mini 311
- Lenovo Thinkpads X200, T400s Have Multitouch
- Blizzard: More "Broad Appeal" In Next MMOG
- Sony to Kill Half of Its Star Wars Servers
- iPhone 3.1 Jailbroken for Older iPods and iPhones
- Lenovo's Super Bright Outdoor X200 LCD
- Windows 7 Not Afraid of Netbooks or Macs
meh, idk
HP people must have been so proud when their boss walked in with a macbook pro and said: "copy this". Copying someone else's work really gives you a nice feeling of satisfaction and pride in your work
I'll take a gaming desktop (a really nice one at that price too) instead.
it better not have intel graphics
Envy 13 looks pretty neat. Do they still build this in the US?
^ oh it doesn't, my bad lol
Plug
I am not paying that much for a HP product. I have always had problems with any of the products that I have purchased with the HP and Compaq name. If they offered these laptops at $1,100 for the 13 and $1,200 or $1,250 for the 15, then I might consider it a better deal.
I really just do not see a lot of laptops out there that really stand out as a good deal now a days.
trih: I suppose you think Mac are all original and innovative, don't you? If not for copying others(and then adding a gay man fashion sense), they wouldn't have ANY products.
Steve Jobs: "Boys, writing an operating system is REALLY hard, the legal department tells me that we can get away with stealing BSD UNIX and rebranding it as our own, go download the source code and get to work. In the mean time, I'll have our marketing department spin this in a positive light."
but can they play crysis!?!?!
The 15" model can play Crisis.
BTW: Do do some posts by people come in GREY? It so HARD to read the text? I generally don't even both trying to read them. I don't see color options when I make my posts.
too bad its made by HP
Finally some one started to copy the best thing about new MacBooks - the solid and sturdy built body of the notebook, but the price.... The HORROR THE HORROR
From what I been reading on the web, it appears the Envy 15 will come standard for $1799 with:
Intel Core i7 720QM (1.6GHz Quad core with hyper threading / turboboost to 2.8GHz)
6GB DDR3 (upgradable to 16GB DDR3)
500GB 7200 rpm hard drive
1GB ATI 4350 video card
Now, you know how HP and Dell always have coupon codes, right. I can't wait to see the 25% off one day coupon. Maybe bump up the ram and video card, price goes to $1900 MSRP. Apply 25% off coupon, and now you have a super notebook for ~ $1425. That seems to be a screaming deal to me.
it better not have intel graphics
Seriously..did you read the whole article?
Finally some one started to copy the best thing about new MacBooks - the solid and sturdy built body of the notebook, but the price.... The HORROR THE HORROR
What the holy hell are you talking about?
$1799 gets you:
15" Macbook Pro
2.53 GHz Core 2 Duo
4GB DDR3 ram (upgradable to 8GB)
320GB 7200 rpm hard drive
Intergrated nVidia 9400M video
- or -
15" HP Envy 15
Intel Core i7 720QM (1.6GHz Quad core w/ hyper threading / turboboost to 2.8GHz)
6GB DDR3 (upgradable to 16GB DDR3)
500GB 7200 rpm hard drive
1GB ATI 4350 video card
Clearly, the HP has better hardware. Quad core with 8 processor threads, 1GB of dedicated video, more ram, better expandability, more storage space, slots, and options for the same price.
Oh, and HP runs coupons, deals, and sales all the time. The best you'll see discounted of a Macbook Pro is $100 with the academic pricing. With the HP, you will see HP knowing anywhere from $100 - $350 off or their 20-25% off coupon codes, depending on the promotion they are running that week.
I am tipping my hat to HP on this one, unless Apple can answer back with a Core i7 notebook putting out the same power with similar pricing.
@godwhoismike
I am not comparing prices with Apple products, just that ~1.800 $ is an PAINFUL price to pay(for me at least).
About that i7 is it a new (as in low energy consumption new dye)type or is it just throttled usual i7 (to save energy in an laptop)?
Very nice but way too expensive!
crapint0sh_ana1_OSe_X_
I fail to understand how they stole BSD to begin with. The operating system (BSD) is open source. Apple does give back to the community as well so you need to do a little research before commenting like that.
Imperiex: Is OSX Open Source? Does anybody really even care about the pathetic contributions that Apple made back? Is stealing BSD not completely relevant to trih's comment?
I fail to understand how you can fail to understand how stealing open source code and making it closed source isn't stealing. Apple is a footnote to the open source community, they have no open source products of their own, just some vague contributions to other's projects. They are not a juggernaut like Sun Microsystems, Canonical, etc...
crapint0sh_ana1_OSe_X_I fail to understand how they stole BSD to begin with. The operating system (BSD) is open source. Apple does give back to the community as well so you need to do a little research before commenting like that.
Open SOURCE means (among other things) that you include the source code with your program and not that your program cannot be stolen.
As for Apple allegedly stealing BSD: I don't think they would got away with it, open source or not, just how much they borrowed is another question.
410 nit on a laptop display that will be no more than about 18-24 inches from your eyes? I hope it can be dimmed to well under 80 nit or it will be uncomfortable to use in low light situations.
The extra brightness might help when using it in bright sunlight, but there are better ways of dealing with that than trying to out-shine the solar glare.
What is the battery life without adding several pounds for the slim fit battery? 2.5 hours.
Mind you, those run times are with the significantly improved power saving features of Windows 7.
Source
"Like the Envy 13, the Envy 15 come with an extended (95Wh) battery that covers up the entire area of the base, because the included six-cell battery will only get you 2.5 hours, according to HP. Both the Envy 13 and 15 will features Microsoft's Windows 7 OS, and as such, will ship sometime after Microsoft's Windows 7 launch on October 22."
15" HP Envy 15 Intel Core i7 720QM (1.6GHz Quad core w/ hyper threading / turboboost to 2.8GHz)6GB DDR3 (upgradable to 16GB DDR3)500GB 7200 rpm hard drive1GB ATI 4350 video cardClearly, the HP has better hardware. Quad core with 8 processor threads, 1GB of dedicated video, more ram, better expandability, more storage space, slots, and options for the same price.
Don't know where you're getting your info, since HP hasn't yet announced what configurations and pricing apply and Intel has not yet announced these CPUs. Some of the review machines are configured as you state, but HP has only said the Envy 15 starts at $1799 (estimated street price).
HP Envy Press Release
Note that neither Envy comes with an optical drive (that's not a complaint, just FYI). Optical drives are optional external USB drives (fine with me) and are purchased separately from the machine. Since I generally only use the optical drive about once a week, I would gladly switch to an external USB and use the space and weight savings to allow room for a second internal HD or SSD. That's exactly what the Envy 15 does.
Maximum PC has pics of the batter base.
I didn't see anywhere on the HP site it mention if it has a disc drive. The picture didn't show it either and neither did HP's 360 view. If it doesn't have a disc drive then no deal!!! (Even though this is soooo sick!!)
I smell price cuts...can't wait 'till this stuff comes to Canada. Horray for competition!
Author titles the article "HP Envy Notebooks Have a Super Sweet Design"... really? Looks like any other notebook trying to copy a Macbook.
All I heard was Intel, Intel and more Intel Inside... So for me that is bunch of you know what, though the machine looks quite nice.
It looks really good and that HD4830 can give you a little gaming power.