HP's second-generation Envy laptops have been favorites of ours, mixing smooth design, plain construction, and high-end components, all for a in accord with cost (at smallest compared with the initial era of Envy laptops). The ultimate chronicle of the Envy 17, a might call it era 2.5, adds 3D capabilities.
While the feature-packed Envy 17 includes a Blu-ray drive, both HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, and a USB 3.0 port, the add-on of 3D hardware and active-shutter eyeglasses isn't as sufficient fun as it could be. Instead of using Nvidia's timeless 3D Vision platform, HP uses XpanD eyeglasses with the TriDef 3D program we've seen on a handful of pacifist 3D laptops.
The doing is clunky to say the least. The TriDef program is awful and confusing, you weren't able to fool around 3D Blu-ray cinema out of the box without downloading extra software, and the TriDef program coupling for running Personal Computer games in 3D cut support rates scarcely in half in a few tests.
Once you had worked by the kinks, the 3D outcome was good-to-excellent, mainly in 3D videos, but for a starting cost of $1,599 we'd similar to a small more polish. Putting in reserve the 3D issue, the Envy 17 waste an glorious high-end desktop deputy and a of the favorites in this category. Unless you're failing to mix the Envy with 3D, look instead to the non-3D chronicle of the Envy 17, that cuts about $300 from the price.
The 3D chronicle is physically same to the non-3D Envy 17 , and the broad impressions of the pattern and building sojourn the same (and a few of these observations are taken from that progressing review). With a slim, but heavy, aluminum and magnesium chassis, the Envy 17 is reduction of a desk-hogging network than many of its 17-inch counterparts, heading us to compare it with the (still slimmer) 17-inch MacBook Pro. The similarities even expand to the backlit set of keys and oversize clickpad.
The same pointed pattern of imprinted squares covers the wrist rest and back of the lid as we've seen on other Envy laptops, and the building feels rock-solid and durable. Even better, this is a of the few indeed fingerprint-proof laptops we've run across.
The flat-topped, at large spaced island-style keys are typical opposite many of the laptop attention at this point, inclusive the majority of HP laptops. Even with a full number desk pad enclosed on the correct side, there's still lots of room in the set of keys tray, and there's room for an even incomparable keyboard, nonetheless the a here was immaculately fitting for typing.
The large clickpad evokes Apple's version, with the left and correct rodent buttons built correct in to the clickable surface. The size is decent, but could simply be even larger, and the multitouch functionality can't grip a candle to Apple's (which is something that can now be mentioned of any non-Mac laptop). The next era of clickpads will hopefully bring updated functionality and responsiveness, but they're still a ways off.
One of the system's highlights is its big 1,920x1,080-pixel display. Under edge-to-edge glass, the full-HD shade looks great, and is precisely the correct fortitude for Blu-ray and other HD video content. As in the other Envy laptops, HP has teamed with Beats Audio to add special bass-boosting program and hardware that purportedly functions mainly good with Beats-branded headphones, but moreover sounds coherent and hefty with other headphones or by the network speakers. It won't fill the room for your next residence party, but it of course sounds really good for laptop speakers.
In 3D mode, the manifestation stays splendid and clear, but the 3D outcome is quite receptive to problems with off-axis observation (as with many 3D systems). The enclosed XpandD eyeglasses do not have a power button; when you indicate them at the shade with 3D calm playing, they simply spin on.
We obviously couldn't obtain 3D Blu-ray discs to fool around by with possibly the enclosed TriDef program or HP's default media player software. Instead, you had to download CyberLink PowerDVD 10, that worked fine (as we're certain many other media-playing applications would). Onboard record about how to fool around 3D files and games, and what file formats are supported, was scarcely nonexistent. For 3D newbies, you can suppose it being a really frustrating experience.
For games, a has to launch the game's EXE file by a TriDef coupling app, that requires scanning for it automatically, and if that doesn't work, tracking down the correct EXE file and manually adding it to the TriDef app's list of established games. It's a unwieldy process, and not as discerning as Nvidia's 3D Vision platform, that combines the 3D program and hardware--in this case, we're traffic with 3D program and hardware from not similar companies.
Most (but not all) of the games you attempted launched in 3D, but the disparity in high quality whilst running in 3D mode was really noticeable. In Street Fighter IV, for example, the diversion ran at 59.8 frames per second in normal 2D mode, as we'd expect from this absolute gathering of hardware. But running the diversion by the TriDef 3D coupling app cut the support rate to 30.7 frames per second. Still playable, but that's roughly a 50 percent drop.
The prominence of the Envy's ports and connectors gathering might be the inclusion of a still-rare USB 3.0 jack. While there are a handful of USB 3.0 unstable hard drives out there, for now the combo USB/eSATA dock might be more useful.
The Envy 17's opening was on par with other high-end Intel Core 17 laptops, even even though its 1.6GHz Intel Core i7 720QM will shortly be eclipsed by the ultimate era of Intel Core processors, before well known by the ethics name Sandy Bridge. The chips are only starting to find their way in to the market, and for now, only in high-end quad-core versions.
Upgrades to the 2010-generation Core i7-740QM and Core i7-840QM are existing for $100 and $400, respectively. It might be probable to find or configure a faster laptop, but for functional purposes, it's hard to suppose any multitasking incident in that the Envy 17 would run in to sufficient slack or stuttering.
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