I’ve been avoiding this review for the better part of a month because, with all the hype the Envy line has gotten (some deserved), I took the Envy 15 out of the box and had one thought: “Cheap.”

In brief, the Envy is indeed light system with plenty of power, but it never feels premium, nor does the battery life reach adequate levels.

Sure, it comes in a nice black box labeled “ENVY” with properly monolithic upscalism. And the computer itself is wrapped in a very, very soft black cloth.

But once removed, I can’t distinguish this $1,800 laptop from any random PC on a table at Best Buy. HP’s premium laptop, one that’s been oooh’d and ahhh’d ad nauseam, could have been a $600 budget system.
The aluminum magnesium body, which works well enough in the 13-inch Envy, scales to become a big, synthetic-feeling disappointment. Yes, it’s just an inch thick and 5.2lbs (about a pound lighter than peers), but the footprint is so large that, upon opening the packaging, I at first believed HP had sent me a 17-inch system (keep in mind, there’s still no room for an internal optical drive).

It was a surprising thought, but at that moment, I realized something: HP is the new Dell. Disregarding their impressive TouchSmart desktops, HP has built the quintessential drab PC laptop and labeled it as “designer.” Meanwhile, Dell, with their fashion-forward Adamo line, has left rivals like HP somewhere back in 1995.

Kudos, Dell.

I almost hate to continue describing the system, lest I beat a dead horse. The keyboard is adequate, but every impact reverberates through your finger, making the laptop feel more fragile than it probably is. The trackpad, despite multitouch promises, is dreadful to use. Two-finger scrolling is met with a perpetual half-second (or greater) delay, and clicking the buttonless pad (engineered much like a MacBook Pro pad) screams unfinished prototype.
There’s simply nothing elegant about the mechanics, even though the 1920×1080 screen is indeed sharp, HDMI and eSATA connections are convenient and the Beats-branded speakers are very balanced and rich…for laptop speakers.

Performance

But my hate-fest for the Envy ends there. If you don’t mind the aesthetics and feel—and at this price, you really should—the system won’t disappoint. The 1.6GHz Core i7, coupled with 6GB of RAM, 500GB 7200RPM HDD, and ATI Mobility Radeon 4830 (with 1GB RAM) has gotten performance nods from around the web.

While the system can’t best 20fps in the higher tiers of Crysis, it can reach 32fps if you scale the graphics down to 1024×768, according to Notebookcheck. Older and less insane titles perform even better.

PCMag’s cross-laptop testing found that the Envy isn’t the fastest laptop out there, but it keeps pace with other Core i7 systems to the point that such a distinction doesn’t really matter. And it’ll shame Core2Duo systems, like the aging MacBook Pro.

In real world use, the speed is a pleasure, and a welcome level of overkill for mediacentric web browsing in an era when Atoms are chugging to just get the job done.

Battery Life

But all this performance comes at a heavy, heavy price. You should only expect the Envy to get a measly 1 hour, 20 minutes of battery life*. Given this system’s sizable footprint, it needs to last more than 2 hours under moderate use. Stick a bigger battery in there, HP. Something. Please.

(*nonstop web browsing, Wi-Fi on, screen at 3/4 brightness.)

Misguided Envy

Some of you will be fooled by the light body covered in laser-etched paisley—probably the same among you who can drink instant coffee, listen in 92kbps MP3s and think that SD broadcasts look identical to Blu-ray movies.
And that’s fine. I can understand why someone might like the Envy, especially given the processing power and modest 5.2lb weight. It’s just a shame that anyone would pay so much for it.

HP, Acer, Toshiba, etc, you think I like giving Apple all my money? There’s a staggering amount of design talent in the world. Find it. Fund it. And give it a chance to wipe the smug grin off Cupertino. Offer us all something that we should really be envying.



Light


Fast


Respectable I/O


Feels cheap


Wretched battery life

Enjoy the Excitement of Off Highway Vehicle Excitement on your Idaho Vacation at St. Anthony Sand Dunes

Are you someone that is always searching for a exciting place to go on your Idaho vacation with challenges and yet great thrills? If so you may want to visit the St. Anthony Sand Dunes and take your off highway vehicle and face the adventure provided by this great playground. There are over ten thousand acres of dunes which rise above four hundred feet for you to test your fears on.

If you aren’t an off road vehicle sportsman there are still great times available whether it is by climbing or horseback riding along the dunes. There are fifeteen adventureous miles of open sand for you to enjoy.

White Sands in New Mexico isn’t the only area with the shifting white quartz sand. Saint Anthony Sand Dunes is another one where the sand grows eight feet each year.

There are camping sites for you to stay at but be prepared for some primitive camping at many of them. They are undeveloped with out door toilets – however there are some that are modern service for those that don’t want to experience the extreme. Recreational vehicles are also allowed and there is a gravel parking area for use with hook ups, even a store of sorts to buy you those items that you forgot to bring.

Check out the adventures of Choke Cherry where you will probably have to ride up the back side because the front is too steep for most vehicles. Then off to Devil’s Dune and Dead Horse Bowl along with a whole bunch of other places that you will discover as you ride the area. Do not simply stop at the “main” dunes, explore the less used, and enjoy the spot that is ideal for your desires.

Thunder Mountain is the place everyone races so if you are into racing this is the place to go. You probably will just race to the top and then go back down because the other side is really steep and not conducive to racing.

The park is under the management of the BLM. There are laws, like a 5 mph speed limit in the park that must be followed so you don’t risk your fellow campers. If you abuse this you will be required to leave, and you should be!!

The dunes are located just fifty miles northwest of Idaho Falls, nearby St. Anthony in the beautiful Eastern region of Idaho, on of the more popular Idaho attractions. Stop and tour and come again and often, you are more than welcome.

Looks like Microsft may well have a hit on its hands in Windows 7. In just eight hours, Windows 7 pre-orders outpaced the total number of pre-orders for Vista on Amazon UK. Vista was available for pre-order for a full 17 weeks, so this is something of an accomplishment for Microsoft.

On sale October 22, Windows 7… how do I phrase this? The fact that it’s not Vista is reason enough to consider buying it, especially it you’re clunking along on Windows XP. (To think that people, myself included, prefer the nearly eight-year-old Windows XP to Vista says something about the quality of Vista. But let’s not beat that dead horse, for the zillion time.)

IDC analysts predict about 170 million copies of Windows 7 will be floating around Europe by the next of next year. How many of those installs will you be responsible for?

Of course, not that any of this matters. Once Google Chrome OS comes out, we’ll all be like, “Yuck, who stores their presentations on their hard drive? How 2008 of you!” /eye_roll

Win 7 News