HP/Compaq :: HP Envy I5: Heat, Graphics Switching And Battery Life
Feb 21, 2010
I spent a couple hours reading through dozens of pages in the 3 separate HP Envy 15" Owner's Lounge threads and couldn't find a definite answer to the following questions--there was usually conflicting info.
In total there's over 1k pages, so despite considerable time spent perusing and searching perhaps I missed a definite answer somewhere in there. So hopefully, it's okay if I ask this outside of those threads for a conclusive answer:
1) Every review I've read mentioned the heat issue with the i7 system. Has anyone read an official review or gathered a consensus from users if the i5 version of the 15" model has lesser heat issues?
2) Does the i5 have graphics switching? And does the i7?
3) The i7 has very short battery life, which dissuades me from getting it. Is the i5 any better? What sort of usage are most i5 owners getting out of it?
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May 31, 2010
I just got a new envy 15 the other day. There is a high pitched noise that is kind of annoying, but I'll be using the laptop at a cafe 90% of the time and probably won't notice it. I'm pretty happy with the laptop otherwise.
Does anybody have any tips on increasing the battery life? Other than screen brightness and lowering the "maximum processor state" in the power plan, are there any other settings i should be aware of? I've read posts claiming to have increased battery life of an i7 envy 15 to 4-5+ hours. I think I'll be pretty happy if I can squeeze 3+ hours on my i5...
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Feb 5, 2009
my new 15" unibody.
I was having bad battery life (under 2 hours) And noticed my fans were not spinning up to counter the increase in heat.
I called Apple and they had me reset my PRAM. With that done the system worked fine for a day.
Currently my Unibody will not stay connected to any wireless networks. I have tried 2 of my own routers and a friends. It will not stya connected, either on AC or battery.
Next issue involves CPU hitting 95c before the fan go past 2k rpm. Try and and play wow and the system locks up when the CPU hits 98c and the fans are still at 2k. Tried reseting the PRAM again, no luck.
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Apr 14, 2010
1.I really didn't find much info on the (now not so) new white unibody Macbooks, expect some items for sale. And please, don't tell me that just buy the aluminum model for the extra $200, my question is strictly from an engineering point of view: heat. We all know aluminum Macbooks are quite hot, right? But how does the white unibody compares to the aluminum regarding heat issues?
2.What might be the reason that the whole bottom of the white unibody contcts the table beneath it, compared to the aluminum model, which has four rubber contact points on the four corners?
3.On the other thread I read a dedicated graphics card does not really add to battery consumption. Can you confirm that?
My main usage profile is office, web and seeing (HD, if available) Youtube videos. This one is rather a 15" vs. 13" Pro question, and half hypothetic. Let's say, all things are being equal on two models, the processor none the least, the only differences are one model has the integrated Nvidia, the other the integrated Intel plus discreet Nvidia combo, which one would serve me better, regarding performance and battery life? The discreet graphics would at least turn on when playing the HD videos?
4.Running native Windows (7 or XP) still suck on Macbooks, because of the drivers?
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Jul 23, 2009
how long does the battery last on this laptop with the discreet graphics?
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Apr 21, 2010
Just wondering if anyone has had any heat issues with the new i7 processors in their MBP's, and whether or not it would be worth NOT opting to get the i7, and just sticking to the i5 because of heat issues?
I would ask about battery life, but being a mac I imagine it gets at least 5-6 hours whether on an i7 or an i5 anyways correct?
I am still debating different laptop brands, but leaning towards a MBP upgrade now. I can get a 15" i7 antiglare, for only $5 difference from a 17" i5 antiglare so... just wondering if there is any significant advantage with one over the other.
I'd be doing graphics/3D work, and a game here and there perhaps.
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May 7, 2010
After seeing the release specs of the new envy 17 My mind is very torn on if I should sell my current setup (see sig below) and get the envy 17. I love the dx 11 supporting gddr5 ati card but I wonder how much performance I will lose over dual GTX 280m's? I also love the eyefinity support and the USB 3.0 support. Is it hard to adjust from a 1920 x 1200 to a 1920 x 1080?
I am basically looking for some pro's and cons between the two systems. I am also curious what my current system would possibly sell for?
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Mar 4, 2010
I've been looking at the envy 15 and it really looks like a laptop I want. The only problem I've found about it(for me at least) is heat. While a lot of people say that with the i5 processors heat isn't an issue, I was wondering if with an i7 processor like the i7 820QM or i7 720QM the heat spikes up as compared to the i5 ones. Sorry if this just adds to heat questions but it seems a lot of people saying heat is fixed are people with i5 and I just wanted an answer from someone with an i7.
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Apr 16, 2009
I have an dell m1710 xps and the graphics card has died (again). I know there is an onboard graphics card, and I am hoping/wondering if I can use that to transfer my files off the hard drive.
I thought maybe I should hook a monitor up to the machine, but then I don't know how to access the bios to set which card to use - as the screen is blank. I know there is a way but I cant figure it out.
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Apr 4, 2010
Just got my new Z-series laptop last week and I discovered one bit of annoyance. I can crash the laptop consistently by simply using the "Dynamic Hybrid Graphics System" switch.
Here's what happens:
- Push the switch over to "Stamina" mode
- Reboot the system
- Push the switch over to "Speed" mode
- Screen flashes, goes black, then the system crashes instantly and powers off. Sometimes it reboots, but most of the time it simply shuts down .....
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May 6, 2009
Following the excellent flipfire's undervolting guide and inspired by Silvr6's experience with undervolting his dv2, I decided to give it a try and...I was able to increase the battery lifetime from almost shameful 2h 25 minutes to 3h 30 minutes for mpeg 2 play, or even to 4h 20 minutes (light browsing and lots of reading). So, you get at least 25-30% more battery lifetime. This makes me like my dv2 a lot more!
Perhaps, it's the noted AMD's tendency to overvolt their CPUs, perhaps something else, but I was able to get the following 100% stable (in my case) voltages:
4.0x-0.6875 V
4.5x-0.7125 V
5.0x-0.7250 V
5.5x-0.7500 V
6.0x-0.7750 V
6.5x-0.8000 V
7.0x-0.8000 V (yes, it’s 0.8V again)
7.5x-0.8250 V
8.0x-8.5000 V
these voltages are stable for my particular CPU; yours might be slightly lower or higher. For example, Slvr6 was able to get a bit lower with 4x – 0.675 V. Read the undervolting guide!
But I hope that the table above will encourage you to try the undervolting (btw, unlike the overclocking it’s 100% safe), since the benefits for dv2 and AMD’s “neo” are so dramatic!...........
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Jan 25, 2009
I'm thinking of the following configuration:
8730
DreamColor 1920x1200
QX9300 processor (quad core)
Quadro FX3700
Anyone have something similar (even if one component is off) and can tell me how long their unit lasts on battery?
I'm thinking of jumping on the 8730 deal that's going on and battery life is the main thing that would make me choose this over something else.
(I had an 8710 with T9600 processor and the Quadro FX3600 and it got 3.5 hours on power saving profile. Wondering if the QX9300 kills battery life, because a Dell M6400 with that in it gets only 1 hour 45 minutes.)
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Aug 16, 2009
I am considering buying a 8530w with a intel x9100 and 7200rpm drive. What kind of battery life can expect from this with power save mode on doing web work or watching a blu-ray disc?
How much time do you get with your 8530w?
how do you like the 1900x1200 screen?
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Apr 22, 2010
MacBook Pros with NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M silicon making questionable graphics switching decisions
Quote:
Originally Posted by Engadget
"With every choice you make, ask yourself: is this a good choice, or is this a bad choice?" That's the sage advice we were constantly given as tykes -- and it's advice that replays in our feeble brains every day as we write news. Turns out it's also a piece of wisdom Apple's latest round of MacBook Pros would be wise to heed, because currently, they're making some awful decisions about when to turn on that power-sapping NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M discrete chipset. Read on to see what we mean........
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Mar 23, 2010
I am considering a blu ray laptop. HP's DV7 comes with a 128MB dedicated video at Best Buy. The DV7 at Walmart comes with 1GB of dedicated video. Will the 1GB video be that much worse than 128MB for battery life?
The BB Laptop with 128MB says 5hrs 15min, the WM laptop does not say.
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Apr 20, 2009
i have purchased a new HP laptop DV5 1215 TX [url] [basically Intel c2d, 2.2ghz (t6600), nvidia 9600M GT] when on its 6cell battery , it only gives about 1 hr 40 mins, regardless of use, i.e. playing crysis or running internet.Is it acceptable for these specs or is there genuinely a problem with the battery?. in either case bluetooth , wifi was turned off, dvdrom was not in use as well.
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Feb 27, 2010
before microsoft rated it at 6 hours now they have knocked it down to 4.4
hp rates the dm3 @ up to 10hours
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Jan 14, 2009
Grabbed a display model of the DV4T-1147CL from Sams Club yesterday for 599.99 + tx.
Configured as:
14.1 high def brightview infinity display
4gb
64bit vista home sp1
320gb drive
dvd+/-R drive
6-cell battery
intel 5100 wifi wireless N/bluetooth
T5800
Geforce 9200M GS w/ 512 ddr2
Pretty nice overall, however the battery life is horrendous!
High performance power plan w/ default settings for the plan, with wireless/bluetooth on, web surfing, some youtube playback = 90 minutes!
balanced w/ same use as above =120 minutes
power saver w/ above: 145 minutes. (just shy of 2 1/2hr).
The unit was on display for about 1 1/2 month and did have the battery in it from the start, and was always plugged in. Did this damage the battery , or is it just normal for this high of battery consumption?
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Apr 29, 2009
Got a new laptop a few days back (6730b), which is alot nicer than the nx7400 i had. When i got it, it came with vista business and a whole load of 'bloatware' i didnt need. so i did as i normally do and formatted the pc and re-installed vista (although XP was very tempting). I finally got round to getting everything how i want it but i've realised since formatting the battery life seems to be less than it used to be....
before the format, when the battery was full it would say i had 4hrs+ of battery life (i even remember seeing it say 5hrs once). Now it says 2hr 30 mins on 'HP optimized', 2hr 45 on power save!
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Aug 14, 2009
Is this due just because of LED? Seems pretty crappy the 14" gets about 2 hours on a 6-cell battery and the 13" gets 6.
I wonder if they are planning on redoing the dv4 line to get LED displays if this is the reason?
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Dec 7, 2009
I have the following set-up on my DM3T that is getting 4.5-5 hours of battery life at a maximum with light use, ie: lowest screen brightness, wifi off, word processing. I am not running any background programs (anti-virus) or anything else that is resource intensive.
SU4100 1.3ghz 2MB L2 cache
4gb DDR3 ram
320gb 5400rpm HD
Why am I getting less than 5 hours of battery life on a unit with low specs that is supposed to get "up to" 10 hours?? Is this consistent with what everyone else is getting? Battery bar currently says that my battery's 'full lifetime' is 4:58. I just returned an Acer timeline that had the same processor and 3gb of ram instead of 4, and that thing was getting 8-10 hours easily.
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Jan 11, 2009
i heard there were several heat issues with the graphics card and stuff.
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May 20, 2010
i've had my Envy 15 for over two months now and although i don't use it frequently enough my wife noticed that on a full charge, unplug then the next day or so the battery is drained.
Basically here is what she does:
she would charge the laptop up
unplug then use it for like 20 mins
shut down Start>>shutdown
CLose lid
About or two days later she would try to use it and the thing wont turn on. Plug in the brick and voila! thing comes up.
Is she not shutting down properly? or is there some program on sleep eating the battery?
Or is that the rate this battery drains?
this is still on the FACTORY image, i didnt rebuild it
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Mar 7, 2010
looking at purchasing one from futureshop, getting a decent discount, it has the i7 6gb of ram, 4830 graphics. It comes with both 6 cell and 9 cell, my question is, that is there anyway for me to get 3 hours from the 6 cell battery, with just office and wifi. Is there a way to underclock the processor a lot to do this, disable cores temporarily
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Mar 7, 2010
How much time does it add to the Envy?
Will the laptop automatically switch from the 6cell to 9cell when the 6 runs out?
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Jan 30, 2010
Now I haven't used my notebook on battery very often but judging by reviews and battery use here and there I do believe HP could've done better with designing their battery. I mean they can achieve up to 24 hrs with an elitebook (given its like a battery slice plus sticks out in the back) but don't even get close to a proper battery usage time with the standard battery. I've read reviews where the battery runs about 2hrs on battery and even some around just an hour, and that really is sad. I know the MacBook Pro was able to get about 7-8 hours out of a thin-n-light(given crappy hardware) so I know hp has the resources and capability to make this new battery. At least bring it out by the time the next gen Envys will come out and make sure these batteries will be backwards compatible with older Envys as well. Besides the battery life and locked multiplier I love my Envy
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Oct 31, 2009
Does anyone have the Envy 15 along with the additional slab battery that connects to the bottom? Anyone found a sure proof way to connect it?
I latch the latches, battery is secure... However, it still says that the 2nd battery is not found. Move it around a bit, and then its there.... Wait, then its gone...
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Dec 23, 2009
My Envy has the i7-720QM processor. I noticed significant reduced performance when running on battery.
RealTemp, Sandra, i7Turbo, Intel turbo boost monitor, cpuid, etc.. all report the multiplier at 7 (~930MHz), and won't move from there no matter what I do on the machine.
The multiplier seems locked/fixed at 7 regardless of load. As soon as it is unplugged it dives to 7.
I've changed the power plan to high performance and set min/max power management to 100%. This made no difference.
Is the BIOS forcing this? I believe 7 is the low frequency multiplier but shouldn't this kick in only is there is no activity (to save power?). If I am doing work, I expect the processor to at least run at the minimum frequency specified.
This behavior has been confirmed now by other members of the forum. Previos BIOS releases (F.05 and F.06) have been tested and showed the same issue.
I attached two screenshots, one the system running on power, and the other one on battery. Both running prime95 small FFTs.
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Apr 30, 2010
Playing an SWF (flash) file with video embedded in on AC power looks great. When unplugging the power and working on battery, the same video becomes very sluggish and unwatchable.
I've checked all power setting and ATI control panel and changed all "Optimize video on battery" I could find.
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Jun 17, 2009
I am looking at this as one of my next buys. I have read plenty of reviews, but nothing recent. I have read that new BIOS and such had solved some initial problems. I was hoping someone with my configuration who has bought one recently can tell me:
A) How is the battery life?
B) How is the heat?
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