Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
I bought this recently to replace a Dell Studio 1537 that had its share of problems. After using this laptop for a few months (I bought mine this past April) I can say that it is definitely one of the best laptops I've used.Pros:
1. Very solid feel to it. Being an aluminum body laptop definitely makes it feel better than the cheap plasticky feel that some laptops have. Some reviewers have stated that the laptop is heavy; I haven't really noticed it.
2. The webcam's pretty good... I've had Skype chats lasting for about 2 hours without the webcam shutting off. My previous dell's webcam was notorious for shutting off at random and not coming back on without a restart. The quality seems pretty good for an integrated webcam.
3. It's pretty easy to upgrade/replace parts, which is definitely nice given that previous laptops I've had make you jump through hurdles to get to them. All you have to do is remove 5 screws to take off the entire back plate. Very easy to do a thorough clean using compressed air.
Speaking on this topic, I upgraded the RAM on this computer to 8GB. I ended up using this:
Corsair 8 GB DDR3 Laptop Memory Kit CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9
amazon.com/Corsair-DDR3-Laptop-Memory-CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9/dp/B002YUF8ZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1309126699&sr=8-1
Perfectly compatible with this laptop, if anyone was interested.
4. There's a little circle in the top left corner of the trackpad that you can double tap to turn it off. Definitely a nice feature when you're typing alot and accidentally move the mouse by rubbing the base of your hand on the trackpad.
5. There are two exhaust fans in the laptop, one in the back and one on the right side. This helps in keeping the laptop cool... I've ran MATLAB with multithreaded code that takes several hours to run on this laptop and it never gets too hot.
Minor Annoyances:
1. The trackpad takes some getting used to, and sometimes feels unresponsive/stuck. You'll definitely need to invest in an external mouse for dedicated use of the laptop.
2. Although HP advertised the screen as being one of the brightest screens found, I've had laptops that have had brighter screens. The screen does display colors pretty well though.
Neutral Points:
1. Only 3 USB ports. Technically, it's 2 USB ports + 1 USB/e-SATA combo. I've never needed more than those 3 at any one time, although I could see where it could be an issue.
Overall, a solid laptop. Definitely recommended.
Best Deals for HP ENVY 14-1210NR 14.5-Inch Notebook PC (Silver)
Overall I like this laptop alot. If it wasn't for my Cons, I would love this laptop and have rated it a 5 star. It was fast out of the box. It comes pre-installed with Photoshop Elements and Premier Elements which is awesome! It definitely makes me happy to have something better pre-installed than Windows Movie maker and Paint...yeesh! I definitely plan to test this laptop out with some gaming and photo/video editing to see how it performs under intense use, but I'm liking it's performance so far.Pros:
-Great design
-Large 750gb hard-drive
-Nice LED screen
-Great graphics (switchable is a very nice feature for a laptop)
-Photoshop and Premier Elements comes pre-installed
-Fences is a cool add-on as you can hide your desktop whenever you want, not sure about the rest of the features but we'll see
Neutral:
-RAM...would have liked 6-8 GB but 4 gigs will do for now
-Envy Theme...I prefer the Windows Aero theme over the "Envy" theme. To me the Envy theme felt dated and dirty in appearance. If you install this theme you have to go into the MyColors app to reset the theme back to the standard Windows theme.
-No Blu-ray player. While obviously not a deal breaker for me, it would have been nice to have one included on this laptop.
Cons:
-Wireless Connection: I don't know what's going on, but my wireless shows Excellent connection (full bars) but lags at times loading pages and downloading. I'm going to look into it further, but it can get a little annoying. When running on a third-party browser (Chrome) internet seems to be better, so I'm thinking it's HP bloatware on the IE8 install, but will also look into driver updates for the wireless card.
-Touchpad: It's bigger and less responsive than I expected. My hand will also accidentally touch a part of it without realizing (this causes the cursor to jump away from what I was trying to do). Also, the left/right mouse buttons also move the cursor which causes the cursor to jump to a different part of the screen sometimes causing miss-clicks.
Honest reviews on HP ENVY 14-1210NR 14.5-Inch Notebook PC (Silver)
This was purchased to replace a HP DV-5. This notebook had several appeals that enticed me want to try it; the backlit keyboard and the included Photo Shop software. Upon getting and using the computer for a couple months there are something's that are amazing and a few bothersome things that could be improved.Pros:
This notebook is genuinely built of hard quality material and you can feel that it will hold up for a long time. The beats audio is not bad and works great although sometimes the placement of the speakers at the bottom can be a bit awkward, unlike most notebooks that have the speakers at the top of the keyboard, just below the monitor. The included copies of Photoshop are greatly appreciated out of the box for quick editing. On the specs end, getting 4 GB of ram and a 750 GB hard drive up front is great and the processer speed works out great for demanding applications. Least I forget to mention the backlit keyboard that outside of the Mac realm is not standard on many notebooks PC's.
Cons:
There are several things that disappoint me about this notebook. First it has a beautiful screen but it is covered by a plastic cover leaving an "air gap" between the LED display and you. Why this is so bad is it produces more glare than you would normally get with a notebook screen and on top of that placing that plastic on top of the screen makes the picture seem less clear and kind of washed looking. My second major concern is the jumpiness and overall design of the touchpad. Overtime I believe a software update can fix this but for now it's bothersome. I use a regular mouse anyway so it's not that big of an inconvenience. I'm not so concerned with the lack of a VGA port or only having 2 USB + 1 Sata but one could always have more.
Overall I would recommend this computer and would love to give it 5 stars but for the way the display is designed and the jumpiness and inconsistent response of the touchpad I'm giving it 4 stars.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP ENVY 14-1210NR 14.5-Inch Notebook PC (Silver)
After many reviews and thorough searching for a good deal, I finally purchased my Envy over a month ago.I am very pleased with my purchase and loved the overall performance of the components. Only flaw would be the touch pad which doesn't recognize certain actions, but getting a wireless mouse would fix that problem.
The design of the Envy is sleek, and the performance is top notch. I was very impressed with the sound card which is Beats Audio. The laptop speakers are weak but plug in some good headphones and enjoy the crisp thumping of your favorite tunes. I compared my sound card to one of my friends recent laptop purchases and even he was impressed by the sound quality! The interchangeable graphics card is also a neat feature and the display is impeccable.
Coming from a Sony Vaio, I can say that I am pleased with my HP Envy! I'd give it a 8.5/10. If it had Blu Ray capabilities then we would have a perfect 10.
No comments:
Post a Comment