HP Envy 15-3040nr Laptop Review

[Redaktion]

The Radiance Notebook. What makes this high-end multimedia laptop so great? For starters, how about its bright 15.6-inch 1080p IPS display? In this review, we scrutinize the latest HP 2012 Envy 15 and explain how it managed to miss an even more spectacular rating.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/HP-Envy-15-3040nr-Laptop-Review.72051.0.html

[karthik]

excellent review, tried to explain well the flaws and pros of laptop. Thanks for your review. I need this notebook but I will wait for next generation of envy models
hoping they fix image-pad issue and increase battery life of this power house notebook

[Ava]

This could have been a great laptop if not the noise and shabby GPU... Thanks for the review!

[Juan]

Great review.
Really helped.
First heard of this new and improved series when a friend spoke so highly of it. Most definitely did not know the colour issue/blunder was this bad till I read this review. A real shame. Could have been a great laptop indeed if it wrn't for the colour issue and GPU.
Thanks for the review.

[Envious]

Why is notebookcheck so good at reviewing laptops? Head and shoulders above the rest.

It is very unfortunate that the envy still has a few seemingly easy to fix setbacks (looking at my arrow and shift keys, and the red colors on my laptop). Been looking at every Envy generation and there are always improvements. Noise will always be loud, since they're dissipating a lot of power from a compact build. On paper, the Envy is very competitive in the market, but I seem to always find myself on this fence for this.

[David32]

About the GPU, with "FIXED Graphics Mode" enabled in BIOS, you can easily overclock the HD 7690 to stock HD 6770 clocks (725/900) and a bit beyond without temperature or stability issues. Just a heads up to potential buyers.

[Louis]

The Color issue is fixed with the, 4/23/12    
sp56745.exe, HP released utility, I was skeptical as all the comments I have read seem to point  to a hardware problem and that no utility could fix the issue. The utility absolutely fixed the red/orange issue as well as the blue/violet issue. PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!! The Utility can be found here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-104511-1&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&os=4063&product=5218394&sw_lang=   

[m]

just bought one the fan is always on even if you turn it off in the bios settings. A constant annoying hum. The mouse pad is also too tight when doing drag and drop. Overall, I would not buy.

[EduardF]

I have it too. its a wonderful laptop, but the video card could have been better.

Is there anyone here that can help me with a set of recovery CD-s. I can't order new ones.

[Jonah]

What a great article. You have covered every aspect of this laptop, and I am super psyched about getting it!

[joe johnson]

Could you guys please review this model? HP ENVY 15-3204tx with the ivy bridge processors and radeon hd 7750M? I'd like to know what has changed/improved/worsened between the model you just reviewed versus the new one.

[Sergey]

He appears in Russia? and when? need to work in GAZPROM.

[Mikey]

I'm a graphic artist/professional retoucher and I will admit that one of the biggest problems I had when I purchased the Envy15 was the red-orange color issue...and it was DEFINITELY apparent! I read a lot of the forums, blogs and sites discussing the issue, and even downloaded software (the HP Utility software that they released in an effort to correct the IPS/color calibration error) and that didn't work either. It actually took me to call HP, complain, and have them put a completely new HD Anti-glare LED screen (with the same resolution as the original) on and the problem was immediately, and noticeably fixed. I compared my Envy screen with that of 2 other laptops, including a Macbook Pro, and the colors on my screen were noticeably richer ( was a little more saturated than the others), brighter, and more vibrant...it's great! Like everything on my screen that is red now is REALLY RED. As a retoucher/graphic artist, the Envy15 has all the specs I need and gives me the speed and performance necessary to run Photoshop CS6 even under the toughest pressure without slowing down, freezing, skipping, and all while other programs are running in the background as well. The mousepad I will admit is a little stiff, but I use an external mouse 99% of the time anyway, so it doesn't bother me that much. But with my screen replaced and displaying colors accurately I would definitely give this computer 5 STARS!

[PatrickA]

Hi Mikey,

I just got approval from HP to have my LCD replaced as well for the same Red/Orange issue.
I am concerned with sending it in and I am hoping that you can tell me what your experience was in sending it in for repair?

1) What was the turnaround time?
2) What condition was the computer returned in? Any scratches,dings or other issues that were not there before?
3) How is the new screen performing since you switched it out?

Thanks in advance

[bob]

Here's a petition for hp to issue a recall for the red/orange radiance display issue. https://www.change.org/petitions/hewlett-packard-issue-a-recall-for-the-defective-hp-envy-15t-3000-series-radiance-display Let's all sign it and force them to listen!