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HP Envy 17 Review
by John Jordan Manager The Envy 17 is slim enough which you could not think, at first, that it qualifies getting a genuine desktop-replacement machine. At just 1.25 inches thick and 7.5 pounds, this could be an impressively sleek machine. The laser-etched lid as well as the chassis, equally in bronze-colored aluminum, scream durability, resist displaying fingerprints, and hint in the high-end factors lurking underneath. The uncluttered keyboard deck can be aluminum, pursuing the dim bronze motif. As using the lid, it carries a dotted texture that arrives from an etching method that we?ve observed only on Envy notebooks. The left palm relaxation gets very warm, however, even through mild usage.The backlit Chiclet keyboard and dedicated amount pad are very protected and satisfying to type on. The well-spaced, flat-top keys should really please anybody with slender-to-medium-size fingers. (The keys could possibly be merely a little little for individuals with bigger fingers, however.) The keys are hard plastic material with decent vertical holiday for just about any laptop computer as well as an awesome tactile response. Also, we such as the fact that media-playback and show features have been completely swapped using the "Function" functions. (Not in any way confusing, we know!) Translating: What this implies should certainly be the reality that instead of acquiring to hit, for example, the important mixture Fn+F7 to cut back the volume, now you only should strike F7 to cut back the volume. in situation you actually should trigger the F7 important getting a method function, you then would take advantage of the important combo.
Here, you can see the fact that mass media features are key as well as the purpose features are secondary.
The full-HD show was gorgeous for actively playing back again Blu-ray movies, as well as the viewing angles experienced been merely just one of one of the most effective we?ve actually observed within of a laptop. In fact, we could see the complete photo no subject how much off-center the viewing angle. in situation you can see the the front near to the display at all, you can see what?s actively playing on it, without any the loss of color. Glare was very noticeable on this glossy display, but that is to acquire anticipated from the media-centric machine.
Listening to mass media was also a fabulous knowledge near to the Envy 17, many thanks toward the Beats audio tracks method (Beats is high-end audio tracks app introduced with the documenting artist Dr. Dre, exclusively for HP notebooks.) the total amount was very strong, as well as the speakers experienced been much additional effective than whatever you frequently get from the notebook. while we observed additional bass than standard from computer speakers, this method was nevertheless merely a little lacking in that department.
HP consists of Beats audio tracks technology, which designed decent (but not great) appear quality.
The port assortment near to the Envy 17 is generous. Along the left side, you will uncover a VGA port, a mini-DisplayPort, and an HDMI port?all for outputting to an outside monitor. You can perform all three at once, too, many thanks to ATI?s Eyefinity multi-display technology, which lets you connect to three outside displays; that's designed feasible with the onboard ATI Radeon artwork chipset. Also near to the left borders can be an eSATA/USB combo port for connecting an outside hard drive, just one USB 3.0 port, as well as a headphone/mic combo jack (for headset use when producing VoIP calls), furthermore to some solitary additional normal headphone jack. That's a massive amount of connectivity by itself, but near to the right, you will uncover two USB 2.0 ports, a five-format memory-card slot, a energy jack, as well as a Kensington cable-lock slot. We experienced been also content to decide a slot-loading Blu-ray drive, which could be uncommon among the notebooks. (Nearly all Blu-ray drives we've observed in laptops up until now have been completely clunkier tray-loading drives.)
On the left, you'll uncover a VGA port, Ethernet jack, a mini DisplayPort, an HDMI port, an eSATA/USB combo, just one USB 3.0 port, a headset/mic jack, as well as a standalone headphone jack.
Another pleasant additional should certainly be the HP TrueVision HD Webcam, which designed superb imaging for movement photo chats. On our end, complexion tones while in the electronic camera looked a touch red, however the somebody near to one other complete stated the photo was crystal obvious (we experienced been linked by means of Ethernet), and she do not think we looked red-colored at all. The electronic camera captures images at a greatest of 640x480 resolution, which seemed reduce for an HD Webcam. The pictures looked pretty good, though, even when blown up toward the complete display size. We do uncover some tone and movement blur while in the movement photo capture, but not enough to genuinely complain about. It handled reduce lumination surprising well; we could see the subject?s come upon just good utilizing only the lumination while in the screen.
Wireless-connectivity options really are a touch limited on this laptop, with just wireless bluetooth and 802.11n radios included, but supplied the sizing with this notebook, help for cellular broadband or WiMAX possibly would have been completely overkill. We do not presume to decide an awesome offer of 17-inch notebooks producing daily commutes.
Now, onto the enjoyment part: performance. The Envy 17?bolstered by its quad-core 1.6GHz Intel middle i7-Q72 CPU and 6GB of DDR3 memory?performed very properly on our tests. On our PCMark Vantage test, which could be genuinely a evaluate of standard method performance, the Envy 17 hovered near to the standard scores we've observed from desktop-replacement laptops, with scores of 5,849 near to the 32-bit edition near to the look at (the standard is 6,289) and 6,324 near to the 64-bit edition (the standard getting 6,288). possibly additional important, however, should certainly be the reality that it handily beat out two of its closest competitors, equally priced just $100 less: the Acer Aspire 8943g (it scored 5,969 near to the 64-bit edition near to the test), as well as the Asus Republic of Gamers G73Jh (which shipped a a good offer reduce 3,936 near to the identical test).
The HP Envy 17 is not the quickest or most effective laptop computer to grace a LAN celebration or an artist?s studio; it is not only a workstation or perhaps a gaming rig. it may be an leisure laptop computer that does an superb location of entertaining. tunes playback was very good, Blu-ray films looked terrific, and high-end 3D gaming is additional than feasible on this notebook. Plus, you obtain so countless extras, which consists of the slot-loading Blu-ray drive, the three-display performance with ports onboard, the HD Webcam, some genuinely dependable app that could frequently worth a few hundred dollars, and more, all for just about any very acceptable $1,699. What?s possibly most impressive, the method weighs only 7.5 pounds however manages to suit in that gorgeous 17-inch display. in situation you need a efficiency laptop computer for much under $2,000 (not to mention much under $4,000), this should certainly be the one.
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About John Jordan 
Manager
7 connections, 0 recommendations, 32 honor points.Joined APSense since, June 5th, 2009, From jinan, China.
Created on Dec 31st 1969 18:00. Viewed 0 times.
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