HP Envy 15 – Notebook Review

The Hewlett-Packard Envy 15 series is the personification of a personal computer put into the chassis and size of a portable notebook. Like its name suggests, the HP Envy would be the envy of those that see you use the product. With a price tag of more than $1,000, the HP Envy 15 has to do more for the user.

The Envy 15 is a very powerful beast to begin with, with a 1.6GHz Intel Core processor, and the capability of accommodating up to 16-gigabytes of random access memory space. With a Windows 7 operating system working behind the scenes, there should be much that one can do with the Envy 15 notebook.

The Envy 15 is very much capable of doing things that a more powerful PC unit can do. For example, it has extensive network connectivity capabilities. You can use it as a home server, for example, to link up any existing computers in the house to further its file and data sharing capabilities.

Specs

SPECS	AVAILABLE OPTIONS
CPU	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Processor (1.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB) Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-820QM Processor (1.73GHz, 8MB L2 Cache, 1333MHz FSB)
RAM	6GB-16GB DDR3
Screen Size	15.6″ diagonal Full High Definition LED HP Ultra Brightview Widescreen Display (1920×1080) 15.6″ diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366×768)
Operating System	Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Professional 64-bit
Battery Life	7.25 hours (manufacturer’s estimate)
Graphics	Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X4500MHD 256 MB NVIDIA® GeForce 9300M GS Graphic Card

Pros

The best thing about an HP Envy 15 unit is that it is fully expandable just like a PC. When you need something new or an upgrade to improve its capabilities to suit your requirements, Hewlett-Packard will certainly be able to customize your Envy 15 for you.

Of course, there is also the exceptionally large screen. Fully high-definition viewing can be enjoyed with the HP Envy 15. Unlike most laptops or notebooks, HP has endowed the Envy 15 with a pleasant 15.6-inch screen. You can now easily view movies, read documents and edit photos with more attention to detail than ever before.

The HD experience can be taken even farther thanks to the capability of the Envy 15 to connect to an outside output device. Because of that you can use the Envy 15 to watch HD-quality videos on a real HDTV, or in an equally sized computer monitor.

Cons

Heat is an issue in using the Envy 15, however. It has been observed that the computer will heat up even when it is not actually in use. This means that even in idle mode, it will still warm up to 40 degrees Celsius.

Conclusion

Because of its heating issues, the Envy 15 may not be ideal for users like hardcore gamers to use. On the other hand, moderate users will certainly appreciate the features of this notebook. Nevertheless, the heating can be addressed by installing a cooler pad.

Despite that, however, the Envy 15 is certainly worth the price thanks to the top-notch specifications and features of this HP laptop.