Pattern Micro 32-Bit Editors'
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The laser-etched pattern around the lid is stylish and helps maintain the Envy 14 from hunting too much like a MacBook Professional clone—though the light-up HP emblem is not just an original idea.
The Envy 14’s keyboard is fantastic, with well-spaced keys and cozy crucial motion.
The appropriate aspect functions combo USB/eSATA, HDMI, mini-DisplayPort, Ethernet, and strength connectors, along with a lock slot.
The left side sports the slot-loading DVD drive, a pair of USB ports, a combo headphone/microphone jack, as well as a separate headphone jack.
The backlit keyboard is useful for nocturnal typing.
HP Envy 14 10 Fashionable; stellar audio; great keyboard; outstanding efficiency No Blu-ray generate alternative; extra-cost dongle necessary to output to VGA projectors The Envy 14 delivers top-notch performance, styling that can create a MacBook Pro fan jealous, excellent multimedia, and an brilliant keyboard—all at a reasonable price tag.
Price (at time of assessment): $1,
Genuine Windows 7 Enterprise,289.99 (immediate, as examined)
Crucial Specs Processor: 2.66GHz Intel Core i5-450M 2.40GHz (Turbo Improve)
Memory: 4GB RAM
Storage: 500GB hard drive
Optical Drive: 8x slot-loading dual-layer DVD writer
Display screen: 14.5 inches (one,600x900 native resolution)
Graphics: Integrated Intel Hd graphics and ATI Mobility Radeon Hd 5650 (1GB, switchable)
Pounds: 5.two pounds
Dimensions (HWD): 1.11x14.01x9.33 inches
one.11x14.01x9.33 inches: Windows seven Property Top quality (64-bit)
HP Envy 14 Review Reviewed by: Denny Atkin
Evaluation Date: August 2010
When we reviewed HP’s first-generation Envy fifteen very last yr, we had been impressed with its chic, quality development and exceptional overall performance but disappointed with its absence of an inner optical drive and its bad battery existence. HP’s latest entry from the line, the Envy 14, addresses individuals complaints head on, sustaining the superb functionality and durable design of the unique, whilst packing an optical push and much-improved battery daily life in one of the most trendy and cozy Windows notebooks we’ve examined to date.
There’s no denying the MacBook Pro must have inspired the Envy 14’s style team. Its laser-etched, aluminum lid with light-up emblem, black-framed glossy LCD, backlit Chiclet keyboard resting in a very sculpted depression, rounded edges, and buttonless touch pad are all extremely reminiscent of Apple’s high-end notebooks. It is not a slavish copy, nevertheless. The primarily aluminum case is not of unibody construction—the bottom is black plastic—and during this newest revision HP gave up on wanting to cram each of the ports onto one facet and rather included some connectors lacking on previously Envy designs. Total, the style is tasteful, stylish, and useful,
Office Professional Plus 2010 Key, and it feels very strong and tough. Measuring 1.11x14.01x9.33 inches and weighing in at 5.two kilos, it is a bit scaled-down than the Envy 15 (although it is the very same bodyweight), despite the addition of the optical drive and beefier battery.
The 14.5-inch LED-backlit display screen is extremely crisp and bright. Although the stock Envy ships which has a one,366x768-pixel display screen, our model was equipped with all the roomy optional Radiance Infinity HD+ one,600x900 display. The text is smallish around the higher-res display, but it’s sharp adequate that even small fonts are simple to study. The show features a vast shade gamut, and we could see a vibrance and richness in digital pictures and DVD playback that’s not typical of a notebook at this cost stage. Actually, viewing DVDs utilizing the slot-loading 8x DVD author had us wishing HP provided a Blu-ray drive option for the Envy 14. However, you’ll should opt for the a lot more substantial Envy 17 if you need hi-def capacity. Also, even though the display looks great, as with most glossy screens, it demonstrates reflections inside the glass; we’d love to view HP supply a matte choice.
The Envy 14’s Beats audio method is similarly outstanding and is a single area where the Envy plainly outdoes the MacBook Pro. HP isolated the audio elements within the motherboard to prevent the interference which will end result in static on some PCs, and additionally, it additional an amplifier and DSP to boost and improve the audio. The outcomes around the built-in speakers are extremely good—volume and clarity are far higher than average for the dual-speaker notebook. Plug the Envy 14 into exterior speakers or perhaps a excellent set of headphones, even though, and you may discover the audio is nothing quick of astounding. Even on affordable earbuds, the audio clarity and punch of our tunes was significantly greater than we’d count on from a notebook. Pressing Fn-B to toggle off the Beats enhancements shows the technique is including significant depth and added bass for the audio.
The fantastic Chiclet keyboard has excellent response, good spacing between keys, and is also extremely comfy to kind on. The keyboard now includes a backlight, which may be toggled utilizing a perform crucial. The operate keys double as media controls; you hit Fn in combination with them to enter an true F1-F12 important press.
The large touch pad supports a variety of multi-touch gestures for scrolling, zooming, and rotating images; in addition, it adds new three-finger press and flick options for quick-launching applications and navigating Web pages. The lower third in the pad integrates the mouse buttons; just press down the left or correct sides to make selections.
The earlier Envy fifteen had a limited number of ports because HP crammed every one of the ports along a single side. By spreading them out on both sides, the selection is significantly far better within the Envy 14. The number of USB two.0 ports has been upped from two to three, certainly one of which doubles as an eSATA port. You’ll also locate HDMI and mini-DisplayPort outputs, a Gigabit Ethernet connector, an SD/MMC slot, and both a headphone jack along with a headphone-out/microphone-in combo jack. Wireless support includes Bluetooth and dual-band (two.4 and 5.8GHz) 801.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi. There is also a quite good Hd webcam, which includes auto face-detection, excellent low-light performance, plus a built-in microphone. The 1 thing you might miss should you use your notebook for presentations is a VGA monitor output. In the event you use VGA projectors, you are going to want to purchase an HDMI-to-VGA adapter cable, available as being a $50 choice from HP, or for a lot less elsewhere. (Even Apple only charges $29 for one.)
This notebook is just as ######y around the inside as the outside. It’s powered by a two.4GHz Core i5-450M processor (supporting up to 2.66GHz in Turbo Enhance mode), backed by 4GB of DDR3 RAM, with 6GB and 8GB configurations available. It includes an ATI Mobility Radeon Hd 5650 graphics processor with 1GB of DDR3 video memory for games and other demanding 3D applications; the notebook can automatically revert to the slower stock Intel Hd graphics constructed into the motherboard chipset to save battery lifestyle. (This is known as switchable graphics, but as far as implementation is concerned, this could be the least intuitive. Other switchable graphics options use a hardware switch or do so automatically.) There’s a speedy 500GB, 7,200-rpm challenging push for storage, along with the aforementioned slot-loading 8x DVD burner. (The inclusion from the optical generate means the second internal push selection found within the Envy fifteen is lacking here.)
There’s one extra difference from the hardware, compared together with the Envy fifteen, which bears mentioning: While the Envy fifteen would toast your lap with intensive use,
Office 2010 hp calculator simulations, the Envy 14 remains cool to the outside even when gaming and editing videos. The fan, which is nearly silent at idle, does get noticeably audible when the laptop is working tough, but additionally, it does its job well and keeps the Envy 14 from heating up.
The Envy 14 turned in impressive benefits on our benchmark tests. It did effectively on our PCMark Vantage benchmark test, which measures all round technique functionality with productivity programs. Its score of 6,185 to the 64-bit version from the test beat its Core i7-powered Envy fifteen predecessor’s score of five,243 and was also significantly faster than five,734 scored by the Toshiba Satellite M645, a similar 14-inch, Core i5 consumer notebook that sells for $1,049.
The Envy 14’s Core i5 CPU also turned in great numbers on our media-centric tests. It completed our Windows Media Encoder test, which measures the speed of converting a video file to a new format, in 3 minutes and 59 seconds, nearly tying (by one second, give or take) the Core i7-powered Envy fifteen and the Toshiba M645. It did even greater on our iTunes conversion test, converting 11 songs from MP3 to AAC format in 3 minutes, 11 seconds, compared to 3:49 for that Envy 15, and 3:15 for that Toshiba M645.
On our Cinebench test, which taxes every one of the available cores of the CPU, the Envy 14 held it own, slightly beating out the category regular for other 64-bit notebooks, with a score of 8,159 but this time, falling behind its closest competitors, which managed 8,348 (Toshiba M645) and 9,896 (HP Envy 15). The regular 64-bit score is 6,810, showing that the Envy 14 has the mettle to multitask and deliver on CPU-intensive chores, even though it’s not best-in-class.
The ATI Mobility Radeon High definition 5650 chip offers very good 3D functionality. Its score of 5,967 on our 3DMark 06 benchmark at native resolution isn’t best-in-class, but it’s double the regular for other thin-and-lights tested this year, and it’s plenty fast to play modern games like Starcraft II smoothly and which has a excellent level of detail. On our Company of Heroes DirectX 9 test, the Envy 14 managed a smooth 50fps at native resolution; that dropped to a still-playable 27.1fps in DirectX 10 mode.
The Envy 14 lasted an remarkable 3 hours and 17 minutes on our DVD rundown test, a significant improvement over the Envy 15’s embarrassingly limited 1:04 result. This is a tad brief of the category regular (3:26) but still better compared to Toshiba M645. While writing this review, browsing the Web, and listening to Pandora, we managed just over 4.5 hours on a single charge. This is due to its ability to shut off its ATI Radeon GPU on battery. Unfortunatley,
Office Home And Student 2010 Product Key, you are going to must go into the Control Panel to manually re-enable the GPU when running on battery. Unlike the MacBook Professional it pays tribute to, the Envy 14 incorporates a removable battery. You can purchase an additional eight-cell inner battery for $75 when configuring the Envy 14, or go for the $200 six-Cell Slim Fit Extended Lifestyle Battery, which clips onto the bottom of the notebook and works in conjunction together with the built-in battery.
On the software front, the Envy 14 includes Envy IOS (Instant-On Solution), a preboot environment based on Splashtop technology that gives you quick access to a Web browser, Skype, and other basic functions without needing to launch into Windows. Once you do boot the 64-bit version of Windows seven Property Top quality, you're presented using a cool-looking (if somewhat dark) re-skinned version from the operating technique. The provided HP MediaSmart utilities are actually worth a look, with sleek, easy-to-use modules that include a music player, photo manager, Web video viewer, basic video editor/DVD player, and Webcam controller. Bundled applications include Corel PaintShop Photo Pro X3, Corel VideoStudio Pro X3, Microsoft Works, as well as a 60-day trial version of Norton Internet Security 2010. There’s also a preinstalled copy of
Microsoft Office 2010. It’s not a demo version. Rather, you can purchase or enter a product essential to utilize the full product, or choose the free, advertising-supported Office Starter 2010,
Office Standard, which includes stripped-down versions of Word 2010 and Excel 2010. You likely won’t use or appreciate all these applications,
Buy Office Professional 2007, but aside from the 60-day trial, we wouldn’t ding them as bloatware.
HP offers some decent—though not astounding—support. You get a one-year hardware warranty on the Envy 14, complete having a dedicated toll-free 24/7 Envy support line, free shipping both ways on repairs, and online chat support.
With its trendy and durable design, exemplary performance, and stellar audio, HP earned an Editors' Choice for that previously Envy 15 despite is pitiful battery daily life and optional exterior optical generate. Together with the Envy 14 directly addressing those grievances, HP has definitely struck gold. The Envy 14 has looks, durability, performance, and excellent battery existence. It’s extremely comfy to use, and it is reasonably priced for a laptop in its class. With its super-sharp and colorful display screen, wonderful illuminated keyboard, and exceptional audio playback, it is challenging to think of significantly that HP could do much better here.
Price tag (at time of review): $1,289.99 (immediate, as examined)
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