HP Envy

HP ENVY
Developer HP
Release date October 15, 2009
CPU Intel Core 2 Duo, Intel Core i3, Intel Core i5, Intel Core i7
Website HP ENVY

The HP ENVY series is a line of high performance laptops manufactured and sold by Hewlett-Packard, which was launched on October 15, 2009 as two models, the Envy 13 and the Envy 15. Since then, Hewlett-Packard has expanded the series with the addition of the Envy 14 and Envy 17 models.

These models replaced the Voodoo Envy when HP and Voodoo merged.

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Models

Released on October 15, 2009.[1] All models have a standard battery that fits in the chassis as well as an optional slice battery that fits below the chassis, in each case promised by HP to more than double the battery life. Both machines are also constructed from layered magnesium and aluminum etched with a subtle design pattern. The slice battery adds about 1.5 inches to the laptop's height and a pound and a half. However, it more than doubles the battery life. The AC adapter is also of considerable size since it must power and charge the slice and battery in the laptop.

Envy 13

The Envy 13 uses mobile a 1.86 GHz CULV Core 2 Duo processor with 3GB of DDR3 memory. For graphics the Envy 13 makes use of the entry-level ATI Radeon Mobility 4330. The 13 has a 13.1" HP LED Ultra BrightView Infinity display with a 1366x768 resolution. Available as an upgrade was the highly praised HP Radiance Infinity Display with a 1600x900 resolution. At launch it had a price of $1,799, though it has been dropped to $1,299.

Envy 14

The Envy 14 has a 14.5" HP BrightView Infinity LED display. It is powered by Intel's Core series of processors and a mid-level ATI Radeon Mobility 5650. The dynamic swapping GPU's come in handy when gaming or using graphic demanding programs. With a Radiance HD screen at a surprising 1600x900 Resolution, there is plenty of space to use. The 14 also provides longer battery life with an 8 Cell Lithium Ion battery. Unlike the 13 and 15 models, the Envy 14 also comes with a backlit keyboard, a standard Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth and a slot-loading DVD+-R/RW drive. The base price for the Envy 14 is $999. The ENVY 14 also comes in a special Beats edition, which is in an all-black design with a red back-lit keyboard, starting at $1,099.

In Mid 2011, HP released a new version of the envy 14. The 2nd Gen Envy 14 at basic configuration comes with a 2nd Gen Intel Core i5 @ 2.4GHz and is upgradable up to the quad-core i7 @2.3GHz. Standard configurations come with 6GB DDR3 RAM installed, but the system can handle up to 16GB. The same backlit keyboard and 8-cell battery comes standard on all laptops, along with the same 8x Slot loading DVD R/RW drive. The GPU is upgraded to the dual Intel GMA 3000 and AMD Radeon HD 6630, although the screen resolution was reduced to a more entry-grade resolution of 1366x768. The base price of the system remains the same as the first generation, starting at around $999.

Envy 15

The Envy 15 uses mobile Intel Core i7 and Core i5 processors (4 and 2 cores respectively) and can hold a maximum of 16 GB of RAM housed in 4 DIMM slots (2 of which are user accessible). The 15 makes use of the 40 nm ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5830 with 1 GB of dedicated graphics memory. The 15 ships with a 15.6" HP LED BightView display with a standard 1920×1080 (N. American Version), or an option between 1366x768 and 1920x1080 (rest of the world) resolution. The webcam on the Envy 15 is a night-vision capable with infra-red sensor. The drive configuration of the Envy 15 is designed to either house a single 2.5" Serial ATA drive or two 1.8" SATA drives, with two 160GB solid state drives configuration available. This model had a price of $1,999 at launch but has been dropped to $1,299.

Envy 17

The Envy 17 comes with all basic features with certain distinct features. All 17 models have a blu-ray option and, similar to the Envy 14, come equipped with a backlit keyboard.It has also an optional Full-HD 1080p display, option for Dual Hard-disk or SSD and Supports Eyefinity by which it can be connected to 3 displays via VGA, mini-display and HDMI out supported by ATI 5850 GDDR5 Graphics.

Envy 17 3D

The Envy 17 comes with all basic features of Envy 17 plus a 3D Full HD display and HP 3D glasses.

References