Criteria
Comments
Rating
- Speed and features No comments
- Design and form factor No comments
- Battery life No comments
- Display No comments
- Durability No comments
- Expandability No comments
- Noise No comments
- Portability (size / weight) No comments
Detailed review
Here are some of my impressions of the Envy 15.
The Good:
I love the keyboard. It feels very nice. It is spaced very well, and the keys have a very nice feel. I really can't say enough about how much I like the feel of the keyboard.
The machine is very snappy. I haven't done anything to really stress the GPU, but everything feels very snappy.
The design of the laptop is very nice. The materials are very high quality and the design is excellent. The etched pattern is very nice. As other have said, it is much more tasteful and subtle than pictures on the web indicate. It just doesn't photograph well.
The display is very nice. Every time I turn it on I think it is just too short for the high resolution and I should hate it, but it ends up being very pleasant to use with the DPI set at 125% (which is the default setting on the machine) and a few other adjustmets for specific apps. I actually think most of the OS looks better with this setup than at standard DPI on a desktop LCD.
The Bad:
I think we all know the letdown on some of the specs. No dual 2.5" hard drive bays, no edge to edge glass. I have a 120 Gb Vertex SSD that I was planning to put in it, but I wanted to be able to have a drive for some data as well (especially considering no internal optical).
The heat. This is very subjective, but the machine does seem to be fairly warm under normal usage. Not unbearably hot, just annoyingly warm. I don't use a cooler, but I use a lap desk that has a built in mousepad and flip up supports to allow air flow under the unit. I could probably use it without the desk, but it would get a little uncomfortable after a while. I think it is probably just a tad warmer than my old Asus V1JP.
No backlight on the keyboard. This is a feature that doesn't matter most of the time, but now every time I have to squint at the keyboard it makes me very irate.
The touchpad. Actually, the touchpad is mostly very excellent. I have two issues. First, the two fingered scrolling isn't quite there yet. I have installed the updated driver as well, and it helps a little, but there are still issues. In some applications, the scrolling just doesn't work. These applications also don't scroll well with Microsoft mice, but they do work great with logitech mice or the apple touchpad. Weird, I know. It also requires that your two fingers be at the same vertical position on the pad, which isn't natural. Secondly, the touchpad feels like it should be working just like the apple one because when I press hard it actually clicks (both the feel and the sound). But of course it isn't actually clicking. It's very annoying.
Build quality. This one is surprising, because the build quality seems like it should be excellent. The materials and design are premium, but everything is not put together completely right. The touchpad has issues as identified above. The palmrest on the right side has play along the edge and creaks and clicks when you press on it. The lid also rocks and creaks when the laptop is closed and you pick it up.
Overall though, I really do like this machine. The few niggles are very frustrating to me though, escpecially on a machine this expensive and with the option of just using the MBP I picked up for work. I may end up returning this and using the MBP (running windows!) until the next refresh, but every time I think about sending it away I get sad!
The Good:
I love the keyboard. It feels very nice. It is spaced very well, and the keys have a very nice feel. I really can't say enough about how much I like the feel of the keyboard.
The machine is very snappy. I haven't done anything to really stress the GPU, but everything feels very snappy.
The design of the laptop is very nice. The materials are very high quality and the design is excellent. The etched pattern is very nice. As other have said, it is much more tasteful and subtle than pictures on the web indicate. It just doesn't photograph well.
The display is very nice. Every time I turn it on I think it is just too short for the high resolution and I should hate it, but it ends up being very pleasant to use with the DPI set at 125% (which is the default setting on the machine) and a few other adjustmets for specific apps. I actually think most of the OS looks better with this setup than at standard DPI on a desktop LCD.
The Bad:
I think we all know the letdown on some of the specs. No dual 2.5" hard drive bays, no edge to edge glass. I have a 120 Gb Vertex SSD that I was planning to put in it, but I wanted to be able to have a drive for some data as well (especially considering no internal optical).
The heat. This is very subjective, but the machine does seem to be fairly warm under normal usage. Not unbearably hot, just annoyingly warm. I don't use a cooler, but I use a lap desk that has a built in mousepad and flip up supports to allow air flow under the unit. I could probably use it without the desk, but it would get a little uncomfortable after a while. I think it is probably just a tad warmer than my old Asus V1JP.
No backlight on the keyboard. This is a feature that doesn't matter most of the time, but now every time I have to squint at the keyboard it makes me very irate.
The touchpad. Actually, the touchpad is mostly very excellent. I have two issues. First, the two fingered scrolling isn't quite there yet. I have installed the updated driver as well, and it helps a little, but there are still issues. In some applications, the scrolling just doesn't work. These applications also don't scroll well with Microsoft mice, but they do work great with logitech mice or the apple touchpad. Weird, I know. It also requires that your two fingers be at the same vertical position on the pad, which isn't natural. Secondly, the touchpad feels like it should be working just like the apple one because when I press hard it actually clicks (both the feel and the sound). But of course it isn't actually clicking. It's very annoying.
Build quality. This one is surprising, because the build quality seems like it should be excellent. The materials and design are premium, but everything is not put together completely right. The touchpad has issues as identified above. The palmrest on the right side has play along the edge and creaks and clicks when you press on it. The lid also rocks and creaks when the laptop is closed and you pick it up.
Overall though, I really do like this machine. The few niggles are very frustrating to me though, escpecially on a machine this expensive and with the option of just using the MBP I picked up for work. I may end up returning this and using the MBP (running windows!) until the next refresh, but every time I think about sending it away I get sad!
good review!
2 people find this review helpful