HP unveils the Envy 14, 17, thumbs its nose at Apple

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Months after launching its revamped Envy 13 and 15, HP has officially unveiled 14 and 17-inch iterations of the MacBook Pro challenger. Both models have long been "confirmed" through various leaks and support documents, but HP has mostly kept its lips sealed until today. If you're at all familiar with the existing Envy lineup, the new models shouldn't come as a great surprise.

They boast the same all-aluminum chassis, Intel's latest Core CPUs, and ATI Mobility Radeon HD graphics. The Envy 14 pledges up to 13.75 hours of battery life and optional 3G connectivity, while the Envy 17 brings up to 2TB of storage, multi-display support via ATI Eyefinity, an HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer, and up to eight hours of juice with the discrete GPU is disabled.

They don't ship without any new tricks though, as both address a few of the Envy 15's design flaws. For instance, both have backlit keyboards and slot-loading optical drives. Unfortunately, they still have the same "ClickPad" touchpad that many users complained about, but HP has reportedly reworked a few things software-wise and Engadget says it's a bit less finicky now.

The Envy 17 will be available as of May 19 with a starting price of $1,400, and the 14-inch version will kick off on June 27 for $1,000.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/38846-hp-unveils-the-envy-14-17-thumbs-its-nose-at-apple.html

 

[SNGX1275]

Does everything on the frontpage have to take a shot at Apple if at all possible? This story would have been fine mentioning that it is similar in appearance to the Macbook Pro or even similar/better specs at a lower price. Putting "thumbs nose at Apple" in the title is a cheap shot and not exactly high class journalism.

 

[Zilliak]

i meen apple does charge a little bit to much i understand they have excellent support and stuff but its all because ignorant people think that apple is some god laptop when really they just dont know whats in it....apple knows this so charges more for their stuff. its ridiculous. So good job hp way to make something that looks reliable.

 

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Everything on the front page takes a shot at Apple?

 

[Guest]

The cheap shots as you call them are all part of being popular. It's simply popular to hack on Apple now. They did it to themselves and I for one think they deserve it and a BUNCH more.

 

[Julio Franco]

Rather than seeing Matt taking a shot at Apple, all I see is PC manufacturers taking the shot themselves by offering me-too versions of Apple laptops.

Or is it a mere coincidence that most of them are moving towards thinner, aluminum, minimalistic models that resemble the Macbook? There are obvious differences, but the trend is clearly there.

 

[Guest]

This looks nearly perfect. I really hope they have a matte display panel option.

Still wondering why no one has copied the magnetic power plug from apple yet, that is one of the best idea's of the decade for laptops.

 

[Rick]

Still wondering why no one has copied the magnetic power plug from apple yet

Most likely reason: patents.

SNGX1275 said:

Putting "thumbs nose at Apple" in the title is a cheap shot and not exactly high class journalism.

I think the word choice could be slightly "sensational", but a 'cheap shot' isn't the correct word. It doesn't say anything negative about Apple at all and I think that's a pre-requisite to be a cheap shot: It has to say something bad about Apple, no?

 

[TheQuestian]

Rick said:

I think the word choice could be slightly "sensational", but a 'cheap shot' isn't the correct word. It doesn't say anything negative about Apple at all and I think that's a pre-requisite to be a cheap shot: It has to say something bad about Apple, no?

+1. If anything, it could be construed as a dig at HP (for shamelessly copying Apple's design idea and attempting to better it for a lower price). But personally, all I saw while reading the article was: DO. WANT.