****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I reviewed several high-end laptops with the following specs - i7 processor, 8 GB RAM, multiple-HD display capabilities, 1920X1080 resolution, dual hard drive slots, USB 2 and 3, and aesthetics. I read the reviews here, Newegg, and PC sites which revealed a few common themes about the Envy 17. It's a dressed up workhorse with a refreshing minimalist design. I'm a big Apple fan and own many of their products, and this comes pretty close to their design appeal. I prefer using smaller laptops and netbooks and most recently the iPad for travel and don't understand the criticism of some reviews regarding battery life. I bought this to literally replace both my home and office desktops with a powerful "portable" machine that I can unplug and plug back in. I can't see why anyone would want to lug this 8 lb monster around for use in the "coffee shop." If you're still reading . . . here's more info regarding my Amazon purchase:1. Shipping to Seattle was fast and it arrived in an outer shipping box and there was no visible damage to the HP Envy box.2. You'll appreciate the details that went into designing the HP Envy box, the laptop itself is enclosed in a nice cloth sleeve and the manual comes on a 2 GB SD card that you simply insert to get started.3. The upgrade screen is fabulous and easily matches the display on the high end MacBook Pro in terms of clarity of brightness.4. There is a fair amount of bloatware that will take some time and effort to sort through and remove.5. There have been past reviews that commented on QI issues. My unit came unblemished, no wobble, perfect screen without a single pixel issue, and a quick check showed all the advertised components (320 GB HDD X 2, 8 GB RAM, BD optical slot drive, etc.)6. After one day of continuous use on a laptop stand, the unit was warm (particularly on the left corner), but not noticably hot (granted just running Office apps with Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator). Given the many reviews, I had ordered a Zalman 3000U cooler which fits this laptop perfectly and both the fan and laptop are whisper quiet.Overall, I'm satisfied that I made the right choice to get the Envy 17 which exceeds the specs on the highest end MacBook Pro. Price was not a determining factor, but I certainly appreciated paying $1000 less for a better machine. For all of you media-philes like myself, Windows 7 is a pleasure to use (Vista was a nightmare) and truthfully this HP Envy 7 brings the whole Mac vs PC battle back to parity.*** update 12/18/2010 ***The Eyefinity multidisplay technology is AWESOME. Took me a while to find out that you need an active DisplayPort dongle (google: AMD Eyefinity FAQs) to enable 3 monitors. I purchased the Accell B087B-006B UltraAV Mini DisplayPort to DVI-D Single-Link Active Adapter for ~ $30 from Amazon and it works beautifully running an HD monitor at 1080p via HDMI, Envy display @ 19020X1080, and 3rd monitor at 1440X900 via DVI. This feature alone makes this a must-buy!
