This means that the top row of Sony VAIO PCG-R505 charger keys is primarily for multimedia control instead of the usual F1 through F12 functions, although this can be switched around in the BIOS by the user. Other features of the keyboard include a proximity sensor (indicated by two red lights on the left monitor edge) for the keyboard backlight – walk close enough and the backlight will automatically turn on. Of course, users can choose to disable or enable this function as desired. Sony VAIO PCG-Z505 charger

HP was quite generous with size of the touchpad. Sony VAIO PCG-N505 charger The available area of 11cm x 6.8cm is pretty much the same as that of the touchpad on the 17.3-inch Envy 17. Despite the gray and slightly raised horizontal bar near the bottom, the entire surface can be used for mouse control. To quickly disable or enable the touchpad, users can double-tap the icon directly on the top left of the touchpad. More and more manufacturers have been integrating mouse Sony VAIO VGN-BX charger keys into the touchpads themselves in order to increase touchpad size, a design that can be either hit or miss. Unfortunately, this is a bit of a mixed bag on the HP.

Don’t get us wrong – we have no complaints DELL Latitude E6120 charger on the scrolling and even the responsiveness of the multi-tough gestures, both of which work very well. Instead, it is the unusually soft and shallow right- and left clicks that have left us poor impressions. Even after continuous hours of usage, we found clicking to be the most irksome part of an otherwise great keyboard and touchpad. Fortunately, single-tap clicking makes the touchpad a lot friendlier to use. Arguably, the HP Envy Series has been popular with users due in large part to its use of the “Radiance” IPS (in-plane switching) panel. Not many other manufacturers can say they offer the same type of display technology on their notebooks, not even Apple with its current lineup of MacBooks. After HP dropped the Radiance display on the 2010 Envy 14, the manufacturer very wisely revived the DELL Latitude E6220 charger

superior panel type as an option for some of its more recent Envy notebooks. Compaq presario b2800 charger Indeed, the display here on the Envy 15 is the “wow factor” that will catch the most attention. Subjectively, this display can produce one of the cleanest, crispest and most vivid pictures found on a notebook this size without oversaturating on tones. Colors and movie scenes really pop, too, owing in part to the actual screen lying plane with the edges of the display. Coupled with the full HD 1080p resolution and a high 831:1 contrast ratio, the Envy 15 simply trounces other notebooks in terms of apparent display quality, sharpness, and viewing angles. Compaq Presario B1900 charger

With the Gossen Mavo-Monitor, the HP exhibited a SAMSUNG P428 Battery high brightness of 266 nits on the center quadrant of the display. While definitely brighter than the majority of notebooks, the screen here falls a bit short compared to some earlier entries in the Envy series. The Envy 14-1010eg and Envy 17-1190eg, for example, have potential brightness averages of about 263 nits and 376 nits, respectively. Certain high-end competitors (most notably the 15.6-inch 2011 MacBook Pro) can also reach higher brightness levels than the Envy 15, although to be fair most if not all of these notebooks utilize the more common and less impressive TN panel type. SAMSUNG NP-P428 Battery

At the very least, the 2012 Envy 15 is still much brighter than both the Toshiba PA3421U-1BRS Envy 14-1190eg and the original Envy 15. The reproducible color spectrum is very good at 80 percent of the total gamut volume of the sRGB standard. Most sub $1000 15.6-inch notebooks with standard displays can only exhibit about 60 percent of sRGB, let alone provide amply bright screens and low black levels. Nonetheless, many workstations can cover a wider gamut of colors than the Envy 15, such as the Fujitsu Celsius H710 and even HP’s own Elitebook 8540w. Of course, these latter options can retail for twice as much as the $1300 Envy 15 and are geared more towards professional graphic artists. For everyone else, the color range of the Radiance display should be more than enough to impress. ...at least when glare can be avoidedOutdoor usability is extremely Toshiba Satellite M30 Battery

difficult due to the ultra-glossy display, even more Acer LC.BTP01.016 difficult than other glossy notebooks. The HP most certainly has the potential to be used outdoors because of the high brightness, but glare will be so prevalent and troublesome that the user will likely be finding him or herself fighting against the environment for the best viewing position. Even then, be prepared to stare at your own reflection as you work and type with the Envy 15. There is no doubt that the glossiness contributes significantly to the looks of the notebook, but in practice, a matte display option would have gone a long way in improving outdoor usability. On the other hand, a notebook Lenovo L08L6C02 such as this should be considered more of a desktop replacement for indoor use rather than as a primary traveling companion. But if the notebook must be used outdoors for whatever reasons,

then we suggest increasing the brightness as Lenovo L08O4C02 that will ever so slightly diminish reflections and glare. As mentioned earlier, viewing angle stability is superior to most other notebooks due to the innate technology behind the IPS panel. The display is viewable from practically all angles – a capability that can prove to be invaluable when viewing photos, movies or content with nearby friends or family. Color shifting is virtually non-existent and apparent brightness will not dramatically change until the user is viewing from critical angles. It makes us wish we could snap off the monitor and use it as a 1080p 15.6-inch tablet! If you have had your hands on the Lenovo L08O6C02

ThinkPad X220 before in the past, then you have a Lenovo L08S6C02 good idea of the viewing angles of the Envy 15. By now, we’re sure that some of our readers have heard of the supposed color problems of the IPS display on the Envy 15. Reports around the web have been claiming that the notebook incorrectly reproduces certain colors, with red being the most dramatic. HP has since acknowledged the complaints from users, but concluded that the Radiance display is both “functioning properly” and that colors “may appear differently” when compared to other monitors. So, what’s the verdict on this seemingly contradicting response? Lenovo L08S6D02

After spending some time with the Envy 15, we’re going to side Acer BT.00607.127 with the consumers on the issue. We can confirm that reds appear intensely orange and that any calibration attempts with the X-Rite i1 do not solve the color concerns. Our image below shows pure red (color:# FF0000) on a variety of displays alongside the Envy 15. We’re not saying that these monitors can produce perfect colors either, of course, but the differences here are clear to Acer BT.00607.130

see and hard to overlook. Red color comparison between 2012 Envy Acer LC.BTP00.123 15 and an Acer AL1912, HP w2408h and Samsung Galaxy SHP has promised, though, to release an optional software utility that will allow users to adjust the color settings as desired in hopes of alleviating the color problems. As of this writing, the official update has yet to release. Even with the dubious color accuracy, the IPS panel on the Envy 15 is still all-around superb and can output colors correctly through the HDMI port. Note that users can opt for the standard HP “BrightView” TN panel which doesn’t suffer from the unfortunate color reproduction problems Acer 934t2078f

currently plaguing the Radiance panel. However, Lenovo FRU 42T4702 the IPS display is what makes the Envy series so attractive in the first place, so we’re hopeful that the upcoming software patch can put the color issues to rest. The model under review has been pre-configured with the high-end and relatively new Core i7-2670QM rated at a base clock rate of 2.2GHz. This quad-core Sandy Bridge CPU is normally found in gaming or high-performance notebooks (e.g., MSI GT780DX or Acer Aspire 5755G) and is quite similar to the i7-2630QM that it supplants, down to the substantial 45 Watt TDP, 32nm lithology and 6MB cache size. The take home difference between the two is that the newer i7-2670QM can support Turbo Boost up to 200MHz faster than the i7-2630QM for a theoretical maximum of 3.1GHz. The powerful processor is Lenovo ASM 42T4796

guaranteed to run everyday applications and even modern Lenovo FRU 42T4751 high-end games flawlessly. In this case, any sort of slowdown would more likely be the fault of a bottleneck elsewhere in the system. For RAM, the system is equipped with two Samsung 800MHz DDR3 modules for a combined 8GB. Two RAM slots total are available (and easily accessible) to the user for a maximum of 16GB. According to the DPC Latency Checker, the notebook s Lenovo FRU 42T4755

uffers from no recurring high latency peaks even with Lenovo FRU 42T4791 WLAN and Bluetooth active. In the synthetic CPU-oriented benchmarks, the Envy 15 places itself alongside some of the top notebook performers. Results weren’t as high compared to the higher-end i7-2760QM, of course, but the CPU scores from the HP are directly in line with other i7-2670QM notebooks we have tested. For example, CPU scores from 3DMark 06, SiSoft and Cinebench R10/R11 between the Envy 15, HP Pavilion dv7 and Acer Aspire 5755G are literally percentage points away from one another, suggesting very consistent performance of the Intel CPU between a variety of notebooks. Lenovo FRU 42T4793

Raw single-core and multi-core performances of the CPU were Lenovo FRU 42T4795 also tested with Super Pi and wPrime (set to 8 threads), respectively. In theory, the slightly higher-clocked Turbo Boost of the i7-2670QM means either scores here should be marginally stronger or at least the same as the i7-2630QM when running those same tests. Indeed, this is exactly what we see with the Envy 15. The HP scored 11m15s and 5m28s in Super Pi 32M and wPrime 1024M during our tests, respectively, which are about the same or better than the average i7-2630QM according to our database. Lenovo FRU 42T4797