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HP Envy 14 and Envy 17 finally revealed

Well, they’re finally official now and I can quit receiving these kazillion emails about the upcoming Envy 14/17 models… wait, at least until the Envy 11 and Envy 18 emails start flooding in a couple months’ time . Right now, the information being provided by HP is scarce. But after some “digging around”, I’ve managed to compile a much more comprehensive list of specifications for the Envy 14 and Envy 17, more than you’ll find on other sites out there. All the info I’ve listed below are accurate/confirmed except where noted otherwise.

For both the Envy 14 and Envy 17, the following things will come as standard/available features:

• Choice of Intel Core i5 dual core, Intel Core i7 dual core and Intel Core i7 Quad core processors (yes, the Envy 14 can be configured as a quad-core machine!)
• Fully backlit, chiclet style keyboard; NO annoying ‘quick media/quick launch’ buttons to hinder typing
• Metal/aluminum chassis with metal etching design (same patterns on the lid/palmrest as Envy 15)
• HP True Vision “HD” webcam (I think they can record/webconference in 720p; haven’t confirmed, I’m not really a big webcam user)
• Built-in slot-loading optical drives (contrary to earlier documents and HP info; somehow someone managed to squeeze in those optical drives)
• 7200 rpm hard disks will come standard; solid state drives (SSD) will also come as an option
• Dual built-in microphones
• Extra large button-less trackpads with brand new trackpad firmware/software for improved operation (really)
• Much improved cooling/airflow and heat dissipation
• LAN port for you network cable users
• Dedicated audio in and audio out ports for microphone and headphones respectively (unlike the single combo port on the Envy 15)

And looking at them individually now, first we have the HP Envy 14:

• 2 dedicated USB ports + 1 combo eSATA/USB port
• Standard full-size keyboard without numeric pad (doh!)
• 14 inch 16:9 aspect ratio “HD” (at least 1366 x 768; higher resolution panel options unconfirmed) LED backlit display; this one’s an “extra-bright” HP Radiance display (similar to how the Envy 13 had a 13 inch Radiance display)
• Two speaker Beats-branded (or logo stamped) speakers
• Single hard disk bay
• 2 or 4 DDR3 RAM slots
• 1 GB (confirmed) of ATI Mobility Radeon 56xx or 57xx graphics(unconfirmed; dm4 has ATI 5400 series graphics so the Envy 14 should have something higher)
• Optional (or probably standard in some countries) slim battery slice (styled ala Envy 13/Envy 15 battery slices) brings battery life to “up to 13.75 hours”
• Mini Display Port and HDMI port (No VGA out)
• Thin design, around an inch thick

The HP Envy 17

Next up is the much-discussed Envy 17:

• 3 dedicated USB ports + 1 combo eSATA/USB port
• Standard full-size keyboard WITH numeric pad
• 17 inch 16:9 aspect ratio full HD (1920 x 1080) display; appears to be a non-Radiance display
• Two speaker Beats-branded speakers plus “Triple Bass Reflex” (fancy name!) miniature subwoofer
• Dual hard disk bays (HP says you can have up to 2 TB of storage, not sure if they made a typo there because 2 TB in a notebook sounds… wrong)
• 2 or 4 DDR3 RAM slots
• 1 GB ATI Mobility Radeon 5850 graphics with Eyefinity “enabled”
• Optional extended primary battery juts out the bottom of the notebook
• Whopping THREE display output ports: Mini Display Port, HDMI and VGA out
• ATI Eyefinity support allows you to hook up three displays to the said three display output ports without any adapter needed
• Thin design, around an inch thick

And finally, we have a bunch of question marks floating around which I’ll post answers to when I get more information:

• Do the HP Envy 14 and Envy 17 support USB 3.0? If yes, how many of the ports are USB 3.0 and how many are USB 2.0?
• Is dual monitor “Eyefinity” enabled/do-able using the Envy 14?
• Seeing the Envy 17 has a  “stick out style” optional primary battery, will there be any (if at all) sort of slim battery slice for it?

I’m sure one of these days, either the Envy 14 or Envy 17 or both is gonna show up at my door, so meanwhile let’s discuss. You can start shooting me your questions so I can find answers to them the minute I get the chance to test out the new HP Envy’s.

HP Eliteboook 8740w specifications leak; plus leaks roundup

Picture by reader T.Y.: Is this the 8740w's lid?!

It looks like we now have enough information to construct a rumors + specifications roundup, with special thanks going out for a few anonymous tipsters, a person by the name ‘HP Fan‘ who has seen an Elitebook 8740w datasheet (!!) and plenty of internet searchers =). First off, a little update about announcement time: a reliable source is “pretty confident” that the Elitebook 8740w will be coming out this month along with other products targeting designers and people who do graphics work (ie DreamColor 2 and new external display panels) – I can see the adrenaline build-up in the crowd already!

HP Elitebook 8740w processor options (Thanks, Google Cache!)

And here’s what’s been confirmed about the HP Elitebook 8740w so far (I’ve included links to old/related posts in case you’ve missed them in the past):

• Intel Core i7 720QM 1.6 GHz quad core processor and 820QM 1.73 GHz quad core processor; ‘other’ Core i5 processors
• 4 DDR3 1333 MHz RAM slots for up to 16 GB of total RAM
• ONE hard disk bay with optical drive; removable optical drive doubles as expansion bay
• NEW ATI FirePro M7820 workstation graphics; with 1GB GDDR5 memory
• Choice of new ATI FirePro M7820 graphics above, Nvidia Quadro FX3800M or Nvidia Quadro FX2800M
• 17 inch display (up to full HD); optional full HD DreamColor 2 display (same tech, but obviously different size, as 8540w DC2)
• Full-size keyboard with number pad; partial-chiclet style!
• Selective number of USB 3.0 ports
• Single-touch trackpad with pointing set; 2 sets of 3 mouse buttons
• 7.86 lbs weight AKA 3.57 kg

Oh, the Elitebook 8740w will also be compatible with some sort of new “2010 Advanced WKS Docking Station”… whatever that means, along with other newly launched Elitebooks (except 2540p and 2740p).

Got something to share? Pictures? Info? Post a comment or email me! (Email at the top right of the site’s sidebar!)

HP Mini 200 series with Intel Atom N450 coming soon

I’ve already reviewed Modern Warfare 2 and Left4Dead 2, and partly the HP Pavilion dm3 this fall, and there’s not much left as we approach the quiet news season AKA holiday season. However, things from the rumors department are heating up with more and more news of 2nd gen Elitebook models pouring in. Let’s not get too tied up with premium, business notebooks that not everyone will/can buy, shall we? Here’s the latest scoop from the consumer product area – with the slew of new netbooks sporting Intel’s Atom N450 processor with an integrated basic graphics chipset announced last/this week, and HP seemingly quiet, a reliable source/reader has news that HP will be releasing their Mini 200 series of netbooks “soon”. They will feature 10 inch glossy displays, Windows 7, 1 RAM slot, HP’s “almost full-size” keyboard, the latest Intel Atom N450 processor and an affordable netbooky price tag. Other than that, not much is known about the Mini 200 series but presumably they will have the usual netbook affair of features and likely make their appearance during/after CES 2010.