Performance review MSI GT660R

If you're someone who wants a high-performance gaming notebook packed with 1TB of storage, a 1GB Nvidia GTX 285M graphics card and one of the most powerfulIntel Core i7 processors currently on the market then you better be prepared to pay close to $2,500. Well, that was before the MSI GT660R arrived in stores. This 16-inch gaming notebook is packed with premium components, a fantastic speaker system and the ability to overclock the CPU and the GPU for $1,700. Keep reading to find out more.

Conclusion
The MSI GT660R is an impressive-looking gaming notebook with solid performance, great speakers and the ability to easily overclock the CPU and GPU at the touch of a button. The variety of ports including USB 3.0, the ability to upgrade to 12GB of RAM and the super-fast 1TB of storage make this an attractive choice for gamers looking for a strong system for $1,700 or less.

The weak battery and the thick and heavy chassis are par for the course when it comes to large gaming notebooks, but some consumers might not like the glossy plastics and the fact that the screen resolution is just 1366x768.

That said, when you consider than a similarly configured Alienware M17x costs more than $2,500 at the time of this writing it's hard to pass up a deal as good as the MSI GT660R.

Pros:

• Very good performance
• Extremely impressive speakers
• One-touch overclocking

Cons:

• Weak battery life
• Glossy plastics
• Thick and heavy

MSI offers multiple configurations of the GT660. Our review unit of the MSI GT660R comes with the following features:

• 16-inch 720p (1366x768) display with LED backlighting
• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• Intel Core i7-740QM (1.73GHz) Overclockable
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M (1GB DDR3) Overclockable
• 6GB DDR3 RAM 1066MHz (2GB x 3)
• 1TB of storage (two 500GB 7200rpm HDD in RAID 0)
• Super-Multi/Blu-Ray optical drive
• 802.11b/g/n wireless and Bluetooth
• 9-cell Li-ion battery with 150W power adapter
• Weight: 7.74 lbs
• Dimensions: 15 x 10.25 x 1.78 inches
• MSRP: $1,699.99

Build and Design
The MSI GT660 series was designed in partnership with Dynaudio to create a gaming notebook chassis that also offers a "true-to-life sound experience." The speaker housing structures, speaker circuits and overall position of the stereo speakers and subwoofer were designed to combine the extreme performance of a gaming notebook with the rich audio performance of a premium multimedia notebook.

Despite the heavy use of plastics, the exterior surfaces of the GT660R are covered in a scratch-resistant coating to improve durability. The screen lid itself is also covered in "MSI Color Film Print Technology" which is essentially in multi-layer printed image imbedded into the plastic. In this case you can see a faint honeycomb pattern in the lid similar to the texture used on the palm rests when you open the notebook.

The build quality of the MSI GT660R is a combination of good and bad. The solid main chassis doesn't squeak, creak, or flex even under significant pressure. Unfortunately, the keyboard suffers from quite a bit of obvious flex under heavy typing pressure and the screen lid flexes inward with ease. The screen hinges are nice and tight, but the heavy use of glossy plastics means that your fingerprints and smudges quickly cover every exposed surface of the notebook and make it look dirty unless you constantly clean your notebook with a microfiber cloth. The metal-reinforced main chassis offers a fair amount of structural rigidity for the plethora of high-performance components inside, but this also adds to the bulk and weight of the notebook.

The bottom of the notebook includes a single, massive access plate for the RAM, wireless cards and the dual hard drives. The battery also clips into the bottom of the notebook underneath one of the palm rests. The three RAM slots are stacked, making use of the extra chassis thickness necessitated by the high-performance graphics card. Despite the thickness and weight of this notebook, the internal layout helps keep the chassis design as thin as possible. My only complaint here is that you have to remove too many screws to get inside the GT660. Considering that the target audience for this notebook is likely upgrade the RAM or hard drives at some point (possibly as soon as they buy it) we would have appreciated it if MSI made it easier to get inside this notebook.

Screen and Speakers
The 16-inch diagonal TFT display on the GT660R features LED backlighting and a 16:9 aspect ratio with 1366 x 768 resolution. This might just be the single biggest issue that serious gamers have with this notebook. Most 16-inch and 17-inch gaming notebooks have a minimum screen resolution of 1440x900 or 1600x900 ... unless it's equipped with a 3D screen. Since this GT660R isn't being sold as a native 3D gaming system MSI really should have included a higher resolution screen.

That said, we'd give this screen a "good" rating within the narrow vertical viewing angle sweet spot. The backlight in our review unit is even and bright, colors are good at default settings though contrast is a little low. Vertical viewing angles are just as narrow as we typically see with most laptops while the horizontal viewing angles (side view) are nearly flawless.

As previously mentioned, the MSI GT660 series features Dynaudio-branded premium speakers and a built-in subwoofer. For those readers who aren't familiar with Dynaudio, these are the folks who supply car speakers for Volvo, Volkswagen and Bugatti. Like many of the premium speakers on multimedia notebooks, Dynaudio tweaks the audio drivers and equalizer settings to deliver a high standard of sound quality. When I first opened the notebook and tested the speakers I was pretty impressed ... then I noticed that I had left the protective plastic covering the speakers. Once I removed the plastic blocking the speaker grills I was even more impressed. The large stereo speakers and subwoofer produce a fantastic range of highs, midtones and low frequencies that let you hear all the details in your favorite music and hear subtle sound effects in your favorite games.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The Chiclet-style keyboard on the GT660R offers a reasonably enjoyable typing experience and is also fine for hours of gameplay. Individual keys are a little mushy and the center of the keyboard flexes inward under heavy typing pressure, but the individual key action still delivers acceptable feedback when pressed. The typical gaming keys of W,A,S,D feature special red paint to help you quickly identify where your fingers need to be during a game (just in case you didn't already know). Each key is flat with a nice matte texture and a little extra spacing to prevent typos. I was a little annoyed that MSI didn't include an LED backlit keyboard considering that there are multiple decorative LEDs all over the exterior of the notebook. A backlit keyboard would have been far more useful than lights next to the touchpad or under the edges of the palm rests.

The touchpad itself offers a quality interface with a lightly textured surface and excellent responsiveness. The touchpad itself feels just the right size for the notebook: any smaller and it would have been too small and any larger would have made this notebook even bigger than it already is. The touchpad drivers provide excellent accuracy and minimal lag with a range of options. The touchpad buttons are hidden under a single "rocker bar" and have a shallow press with audible "click" when pressed. I really hate single touchpad buttons but at least MSI was wise enough to put a notch in the middle so you can feel the obvious separation between the left and right sides. Although separate buttons are idea, at least you can fell where the left touchpad button ends and the right button begins.

Ports and Features
The MSI GT660 chassis offers a fairly robust collection of ports even for a massive desktop-replacement notebook like this. This gaming notebook is packed with two USB 3.0 port, two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA port, ExpressCard slot, Ethernet, two video out ports, a media card reader and audio jacks. When so many 17-inch notebooks are starting to lose their ExpressCard slots and limit the number of USB ports to three, it's nice to see a notebook that offers as much connectivity and expandability as possible. That said, we would have liked to see a combo USB/eSATA port instead of a dedicated eSATA port since most people would rather have an extra USB port rather than just eSATA. While we might complain about the fact that the MSI GT660R weighs almost eight pounds it's hard to complain about all the stuff that is packed inside.

Here is a quick tour of the ports on this laptop:

Left side: Heat vent, two USB 3.0 ports, 4-in-1 (SD/MMC/MS/XD) card reader, one USB 2.0 port, and ExpressCard slot.

Right side: Audio jacks, one USB 2.0 port, and optical drive.

Front: Activity lights

Back: Security lock slot, power jack, RJ-45 Ethernet, VGA, eSATA port and HDMI.

Performance and Benchmarks
When it comes to overall system performance, the MSI GT660R certainly doesn't fail to impress us. Starting with an Intel Core i7-740QM processor running at 1.73GHz and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 285M with 1GB of GDDR3 dedicated memory, this system easily ranks among the best gaming notebooks you can buy for less than $2,000. As impressive as that might sound, MSI wasn't going to stop there.

The GT660 series features a complete system overclocking feature called TDE+ which overclocks the CPU and the GPU simultaneously at the touch of a button. MSI claims this "Turbo mode" provides a "16% performance boost" but our own lab testing shows the exact percentage of improvement varies greatly depending on a variety of factors. Since this is intended to serve as a gaming machine, it's important to point out that different games will react differently to the CPU+GPU overclocking feature on this notebook. In most cases, such as when we tested Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, Shattered Horizon and Resident Evil 5, there was an obvious increase in the frame rates while gaming at the native screen resolution with detail settings maxed out. That said, when we tested the overclocking feature with Mass Effect 2 we noticed an odd drop of several frames per second for the maximum frame rate. The bottom line is that the overclocking feature offers some added value for serious gamers but it isn't a magic bullet for all your gaming needs.

standard CPU and GPU speeds

overclocked CPU and GPU speeds

While the processor and graphics card are impressive in their own right, one of the features I appreciated most was the 1TB of super fast storage thanks to the use of two hard drives in a RAID 0 array. For those readers who aren't familiar with RAID 0, this is essentially a method whereby two hard drives are combined to become a single virtual drive that allows you to use the full capacity of both drives and boost the speed of the storage. As you can see in the CrystalDiskMark storage test below, the RAID 0 array in the GT660R provides exceptional read and write speeds that translates into faster game start up and faster level load times while playing.

The only potential down side of a RAID 0 setup is that if one of the two hard drives fail then you lose everything. Combining two hard drives in a RAID 0 array means that both drives rely on each other ... so you better have an external hard drive to backup your files.

The MSI GT660R also include 6GB of DDR3 system memory in three SO-DIMM slots inside the notebook. This means you can upgrade the laptop to a maximum of 12GB of RAM if you decide that you need every little bit of performance possible.

Wprime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):


PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):


PCMark Vantage measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures overall graphics performance for gaming (higher scores mean better performance):

CrystalDiskMark storage drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
The MSI GT660R does a pretty good job controlling the massive heat generated by a high performance processor, a high-performance graphics card, three RAM modules and two hard drives working overtime in a RAID 0 array. Most of the common external contact points remained in the "lap-friendly" zone with only a few hot spots. The self-adjusting fan speeds range from being barely noticeable to sounding like a jet engine when the system is working hard to push heat away from the internal components. The GT660 series notebooks also feature the "MSI Cooler Boost Technology" which is a dedicated button located above the keyboard that allows you to manually force the fan speed to the maximum setting, making the notebook cooler and MUCH louder.

Battery Life
Let's be perfectly honest: No one buys a high-performance gaming notebook and expects it to deliver great battery life. Between the high-performance CPU, the high performance graphics, the dual storage drives and the giant cooling fans, there is simply a ton of hardware to keep running on a battery. In the "balanced" power mode with 75% screen brightness, the MSI GT660 lasted for two hours and 31 minutes of non-stop use while surfing the Internet and using a word processor. This is pretty pathetic for a general use laptop, but since many gaming laptops deliver less than one hour of battery life we can't complain too much. You can also extend the battery life by dropping the screen brightness to the lowest useful setting. Still, if you need a notebook that can provide hours and hours of battery life this simply isn't it.

From : http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=5822&review=msi+gt660+gt660r

Read rest of entry

Big Screen Feeling with Toshiba Qosmio X505

Aimed at both media enthusiasts and gamers, the Qosmio X505 is Toshiba’s largest and most powerful desktop replacement machine featuring a quad core processor and a mid-range nVidia GPU. Does the X505 live up to expectations? Read our review to find out.

Our Toshiba Qosmio X505 review unit has the following specifications:

• Intel Core i7 720QM (1.6GHz, 6MB L2 Cache)
• Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, 64-bit
• 18.4-inch WUXGA glossy screen (1920x1080)
• 6GB DDR3 1066MHz RAM
• 64GB Toshiba SSD
• 500GB Hitachi HDD
• nVidia GTS 360M, 1GB VRAM
• Internal fixed Blu-Ray optical drive.
• Realtek 802.11n Wi-Fi, Atheros Gigabit Ethernet
• LED Backlit Keyboard
• 12-cell 8000mAh battery
• One-year warranty
• Dimensions: 17.4 x 11.6 x 1.63 inches
• Weight: 10.5 pounds, not including the 2 pound power adapter
• Price as configured: $1,899

Build and Design
Our first impression of the Toshiba Qosmio X505 is that it is big, heavy and is a champion when it comes to build quality. When it comes to design, the X505 has a very sophisticated look. The piano black finish with metallic red highlights could appeal to people who never would have considered a “flashy” notebook. The glossy surface is a fingerprint magnet though. Even the LEDs on the notebook match with the black and red theme.

Despite the X505's all-plastic design, build quality is superb. The base of the notebook uses high quality plastic that should brush off bumps and bruises easily. The palm rest and other areas of the notebook are satisfyingly firm and gives us the impression that the internal design and structure of the notebook was carefully planned. The LCD housing does a good job of protecting the screen as well. We were not able to produce distortions on the screen with poking or prodding on the back side of the LCD housing, and it also resisted twisting motions well.

A notebook this large has to have a solid screen hinge to support the weight of the LCD, and Toshiba delivers in that respect. The hinge is firm enough to keep the notebook closed and open when needed, but the screen wobbles a little when bumped and the hinge occasionally squeaks. It also takes some effort to open the notebook.

Screen and Speakers
The Toshiba Qosmio X505 comes with a glossy 18.4-inch CCFL backlit screen with a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 (the 16:9 equivalent of WUXGA). Colors are bright and vibrant, text is crisp and sharp and videos are smooth and clear. With a maximum measured brightness of about 141 nits, it is a little dim compared to LED backlit screens and will be unsuitable for outdoor use, but indoors (like on the desk that this notebook will rarely leave) the screen is stunning.

The X505 has eight distinct levels of screen brightness that can be adjusted by using Fn+F6 and Fn+F7 key combinations. The brightest settings on the notebook won't wash out colors or strain the eyes, and the dimmer settings for the screen are great for darkroom entertainment. During normal use, we would usually have to leave the screen at one of the four highest brightness levels for comfortable use.

Notebook screens tend to have poor vertical viewing angles, and the X505 is no exception. Colors and text fade fast when viewing the notebook screen from above or below. Horizontal viewing angles are much better and are quite impressive. Even at the far left or right field, the screen is still easily readable and the visual quality of text, images and videos were consistent throughout.

When we typically see that a notebook with Harman/Kardon speakers, there are high hopes that we are going to have a great listening experience. The two very large front speakers live up to our expectations with excellent audio in the treble range, but the bass range is non-existent. Music fades when there is low volume in the treble range. For a notebook this large, the lack of perceptible bass is a big disappointment.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The X505 has a comfortable keyboard that easily outperforms many other notebooks. The LED backlit keyboard uses a fairly standard layout and design that has a great amount of feedback but is just a hair too springy. The spacing and feel of the keyboard is just about right and we think many people will like it.

At first, the glossy finish on the keyboard was a drawback; the keys seemed to grab our fingers a little bit. After a day or two, with a sufficient amount of oil building up on the keys, that problem was resolved. The only unresolved problem that is that we cannot find a way to turn the LED backlight off on the keyboard...

The large amount of palm rest real estate on an 18.4-inch notebook means that the X505 has a full size keyboard, a number pad and a few inches to spare. Toshiba uses that space by including eight capacitive touch special function buttons to control media playback, volume and power settings on the notebook. It's a nice feature but there are two big problems with these buttons: they are easy to accidentally trigger and they always beep at you when you hit them. Even the mute button beeps at you when you hit it.

Like the keyboard, the touchpad requires a little bit of oil to build up for optimal use. At first we found ourselves running off of the flush touchpad, but we adapted quickly. The tactile feedback provided by the touchpad was excellent and its responsiveness was equally satisfying after we updated the touchpad drivers. The touchpad also has an on/off button (and a giant red LED indicating if that the pad is on or off) that you can deactivate if needed. The two large touchpad buttons are red and hard to miss, but they are also difficult to work with since they require a lot of force to get them to register a click.

The Synaptics touchpad on the X505 also has a few other productivity features like circular scrolling, multi-touch zoom and multi-touch rotation motions, and even two-finger scrolling, which required us to space our fingers uncomfortably far apart for the touchpad to acknowledge the gesture. The rest of the features worked well.

Ports and Features

Let us be real – this is an 18.4-inch desktop replacement machine. Toshiba has the room to put any type of port on this computer that they want, and they did a good job of including the essentials. With three USB ports, one combo eSATA/USB port, audio ports, a Firewire 400 port, SD card slot, Ethernet port, VGA out and HDMI outputs, the notebook has almost everything a user needs. The X505 also has an ExpressCard/54 slot above the optical drive so you can expand upon the notebook as you see fit. There is even space for a DisplayPort connector on the notebook, but we are unsure why Toshiba chose to omit that feature. Our only complaint is that we wish there were more USB ports. The VGA port might baffle you a little, but Toshiba smartly figured that a lot of HDTVs have VGA ports dedicated for computer connections (and not all HDTVs have enough HDMI inputs). Let’s have a quick look around the notebook.

Left: Ethernet, combo eSATA/USB, another USB port, HDMI out, Firewire 400, Blu-Ray optical drive and ExpressCard/54.

Right: Audio in/out, 2x USB ports, a VGA out port, AC power and a security lock slot.

Front: Wireless on/off switch, SD card slot.

Back: Nothing.

Performance and Benchmarks
The Toshiba Qosmio X505 is among the largest notebooks we've seen, and it packs an equally large punch in the performance sector thanks to a powerful quad core mobile i7 processor, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, a strong nVidia GPU and a fast solid state hard drive.

A quick look at these performance numbers reveals that the Toshiba OEM SSD keeps up with the aftermarket competition fairly well. The critical figure, 4K reads and writes, is still 10-15 times faster than a traditional hard drive and as a result, the notebook feels much more responsive. Given our experiences with current aftermarket SSDs, it's difficult to differentiate the performance between the Toshiba OEM SSD and the competition.

wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 comparison results against notebooks @ 1280 x 800 resolution (higher scores mean better performance):

The Toshiba Qosmio X505 also scored 9250 PCMarks in PCMark Vantage, and 5766 3DMarks in 3DMark Vantage.

CrystalDiskMark hard drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
During light and medium workloads, the X505 is nearly silent. While we can sometimes hear the LCD inverter buzzing and the fans gently running in the background, for all intents and purposes, the machine produces very little noise during normal use. It also produces almost no extra heat, except around the rear center of the notebook. Considering that it comes with a powerful dedicated GPU and a quad core CPU, it is impressive that the notebook is this cool and quiet.

During gaming or benchmarking runs, it was a slightly different story. The hot spot of the notebook got little bit hotter, but the fans were much more noticeable. They were not high-pitched, whiny or obnoxious, but the fans make their presence known. Users playing games or running power hungry applications might want to turn up the volume a little.

Battery Life and Bundled Software
The X505 is stocked with high performance components to help reduce power consumption. Toshiba included the "eco Utility," which is a custom power management suite. Does it affect anything? Aside from altering your display brightness settings, Windows 7 power configuration settings and turning off a few LEDs … not really. When enabled, a little green LED turns on, so you get a warm, fuzzy feeling that you are helping to save the planet.

However, the "eco Utility" is useful for reliable power consumptions readings and shows a graph of how much power the computer is using. Even when the display is down to half brightness and Windows 7 running on a "balanced" power setting, the computer still manages to pull between 35-45W.

With that power draw, the notebook manages to run for one hour and 35 minutes before the battery drops out. It's not great, but it's also not bad for a desktop replacement, either.

But what is bad is the amount of bundled software that came with the X505. Trial bloatware for backup tools, office tools, anti-virus software, financial management software, online/social gaming applications and much more was found on this system. By the time we installed a few of our own benchmarking tools and one game, only 5GB of space was left on the primary hard drive. Between the Toshiba restoration partition, the OS and bloatware, more than 40 GB of the 64 GB SSD was used up. As a point of reference, Windows 7 installation with Microsoft Office included would use about 20 GB of space.

Conclusion
The Toshiba Qosmio X505 is a gigantic notebook that is more than capable of handling many things thrown its way. Designed for both gamers and computing enthusiasts, the notebook offers a great screen, decent keyboard, above average build quality and a high performance platform that stays cool and quiet.

It is not without flaws though. The most pronounced negatives on the notebook is a lack of audio capabilities in the bass ranges and the amount of bloatware that came pre-installed on our test system.

Ultimately, it's a nice machine, but is it worth $1,899? That is a question best left to you, but for the performance and quality that the X505 delivers, it could be.

Pros:

• Massive, beautiful, 18.4-inch screen
• A ton of power, yet little heat or noise
• Nice build quality

Cons:

• Poor speaker performance (no bass)
• Mouse buttons are difficult
• Bloatware and spammed advertisements

Read rest of entry

Review HP Envy 13

Last year, HP claimed to "redefine the premium notebook PC" when the company unveiled the new HP Envy 13. This 13-inch notebook offers high-performance, power-efficient processors, ATI switchable graphics, lightweight aluminum and magnesium construction, and features a bright screen with amazing color depth for exceptional picture viewing and video playback. On paper, the Envy 13 promises to be everything you want in a laptop. Keep reading to find out if this premium notebook is worth its premium price tag.

Our HP Envy 13 Specifications:

• Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor SL9600 (2.13GHz, 6M Cache, 1066 MHz FSB)
• 3GB DDR3 SDRAM (1066MHz)
• 250GB 5400RPM SATA hard drive
• 13.3-inch diagonal High Definition LED HP Radiance Infinity Widescreen Display (1366x768)
• ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 Graphics (512MB) with Intel X4500M integrated switchable graphics
• External Slot Blu-Ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW Double Layer with 2 USB Ports
• Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
• Dimensions: 12.59"(W) x 8.46"(D) x 0.8"(H)
• Weight: 3.75 pounds (not including weight of AC adapter).
• 4-cell 41Wh battery
• One-year standard warranty
• MSRP: $1,924.99

Build and Design
The Envy 13 marks a significant design departure for HP. Gone is the glossy HP Imprint finish that was common to its Pavilion line, and plastic has given way to aluminum and magnesium alloy. The simple magnesium lid doesn't feature any kind of eye-catching design, but we appreciate the emphasis on function over form. This is one of the most durable lids we've seen on a 13-inch consumer notebook and should easily withstand any use and abuse from most owners. We applied significant force to make the lid flex, which means the screen should be well-protected inside your laptop bag or backpack.

Build quality remains very good thanks to a solid chassis and durable components throughout. The etched-metal palmrest provides an interesting combination of style and support. The magnesium palmrests don't flex like typical plastic palmrests and the etched pattern is a subtle way to add a splash of creativity to a typically boring area of the notebook. I suspect the recessed etching might collect dust and dirt over time, but the etching is shallow enough that you can probably clean it with a microfiber cloth.

People who like to upgrade their computers on their own by adding extra RAM, a new hard drive, or other aftermarket features will be in for a rude awakening with the Envy 13. HP built this notebook with an emphasis on the thin form factor and clean lines. There aren't easy-access panels on the bottom of the notebook or quick release tabs for the keyboard. Getting inside the Envy 13 isn't a task for the faint of heart. If you decide to upgrade it yourself, you'll need to remove four rubber feet from the bottom of the notebook in order to expose recessed screws, then remove the battery and several additonal screws before finally removing the entire bottom plate. Given the complexity of disassembly, you're probably better off purchasing upgrades when you buy the notebook rather than trying it on your own.

The ENVY 13 and 15 are packaged in new "green" yet stylish paper carton boxes using minimal ink. To further HP's environmentally-friendly goals, the only paperwork included in the packaging is a simplified setup poster. All additional documentation - from the user manual to the warranty guides - are contained on a SD card in the box. The power adapter, VGA display adapter and optional external Blu-ray drive fit neatly inside storage spaces beneath the notebook.

Screen and Speakers
The 13.3-inch "HP Radiance" display is roughly twice as bright as other notebook displays of the same size – 410 nit brightness – and this helps compensate for the glossy surface covering the screen. It also allows you to cleary see the screen even under direct sunlight. This LED-backlit display offers 82 percent color gamut (versus the standard 45-60 percent on other notebooks), so photos have more intense color saturation and video "pops" off the screen. Of course, if you're a photography enthusiast you might want to tone down the colors on this display since they are a bit too rich compared to natural colors. Viewing angles are average, though at first glance, the screen looks better since the intense color depth masks the typical signs of color shift and inversion at steep viewing angles.

The built-in stereo speakers carry the "Beats Audio by Dr. Dre" branding which suggests a premium listening experience. In our test lab, the results weren't as impressive as the "Beats" brand implies. The speakers produce clear sound with plenty of volume but bass is lacking and the overall sound quality is rather tinny; akin to listening to music from inside an aluminum can. Headphones are the best option to enjoy music and movies from the notebook. Another alternative is using the HDMI-out to pass digital audio to a home stereo.

Keyboard and Touchpad
The full-size island-style or "Chiclet" keyboard is a welcome change from HP's previous keyboards and provides excellent key spacing and support. Most of our editors agree that the 13-inch form-factor is a perfect compromise between size and user comfort when typing. Too small, and the palmrest won't support your wrists. Any bigger, and the notebook ceases to be travel-friendly. Key action is smooth and quiet with a mild click emitted when you fully press a key. Key wiggle is minimal and individual key depth or "throw" is perfect. We didn't notice any keyboard flex on the underlying support struicture even when we pressed forcefully on the keys. In short, the Envy 13 keyboard is among the best we've used on a 13-inch notebook.

The Envy 13 offers a large and spacious Synaptics touchpad with integrated touchpad buttons. HP calls this a "Clickpad" but that name feels odd to me. When it comes to size, this is one of the nicest touchpads I've used on a 13-inch notebook - with a few exceptions. If you are someone who rests your thumb on a touchpad button and moves the cursor with one of your other fingers, you will need to learn to use the touchpad in a completely different way. The cursor will often jump from one finger to another when the thumb is resting since the entire touchpad surface is being used. You can get past this dilemma by using one finger to move the cursor and then use the "tap to click" setting to click on icons. The touchpad is just too sensitive for two fingers.

Ports and Features
Port selection is disappointing on the Envy 13. You get a SD card slot, two USB 2.0 ports, HDMI out and a combo audio jack. This is simply depressing since most 11-inch notebooks offer more. Frankly, given the cost of the notebook and the amount of unused space around the edges, HP could at least add one more USB port as well as FireWire or eSATA. On a more positive note there are three large heat vents on the sides and back, so at least overheating shouldn't be a problem.

Performance and Benchmarks
System performance with the Intel Core 2 Duo SL9600 processor is average and not particularly impressive considering the price. The dual-core processor is more than capable of handling multiple applications with minimal lag, but if you're going to pay almost $2,000 for a notebook, you want serious performance. The SL9600 underperforms against the older Core 2 Duo P8400 used in last year's 13-inch MacBook Pro. That said, the Envy 13 still offers noticeably faster application switching and file conversion than cheaper notebooks using the Intel CULV class processors.

The Envy 13's graphics solution is more interesting than the processor. The ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330 Graphics card with 512MB of dedicated memory and Intel X4500M integrated switchable graphics means the Envy 13 offers the best of both worlds: You get performance for HD video and gameplay and extreme battery life when on the road. HP set up the Envy 13 so that the ATI discrete graphics are always enabled when the power adapter is plugged in and the Intel integrated graphis are always used when it's running on battery power. You can switch these default graphics settings using the display menu in Windows, but we would have liked to see a keyboard shortcut to quickly force the laptop into discrete or intergrated graphics modes.

Wprime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):

PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance):

3DMark06 measures overall graphics performance for gaming (higher scores mean better performance):

HDTune storage drive performance test:

Heat and Noise
System temperatures stayed within normal ranges with the dual-core processor. The hard drive cavity was noticeably warm, but the temperature wasn't uncomfortable. Noise levels were about average for a computer of this size, but the fan runs at a constant low hum even when the notebook is running on battery power. If you need absolute silence in your workspace then the Envy 13 might not be an attractive option. If you don't mind subtle white noise in your daily routine, then you might not even notice the fan when it's running on battery.

Battery Life
Battery life with the 41Wh Li-Ion battery and the L9600 processor is good for a 13-inch notebook running on integrated graphics. In our test with the screen brightness set to 70%, Windows 7 set to the "HP Recommended" power profile, and wireless active, the system stayed on for 6 hours and 55 minutes before going into standby mode. Power consumption during this test floated around 6 watts. When we plugged the external Blu-ray drive in, the battery life dropped to just under three hours while watching DVDs. HP also offers an optional second 6-cell battery "slice" that connects to the bottom of the Envy 13 and covers the entire bottom surface of the laptop. Although this essentially doubles the thickness of the notebook, HP claims it more than doubles the system's running time.

Conclusion
Without a doubt, the Envy 13 is among the most innovative consumer notebooks that HP has ever created. However, it still feels like HP engineers spent too much time and effort trying to make a "MacBook alternative" and missed the mark completely. Yes, the Envy 13 offers exceptional build quality, a fantastic keyboard, good battery life and a stylish design, but it lacks a number of ports and is more expensive than a 13-inch MacBook Pro.

The Envy 13 is a nice laptop, but few of our editors would rush to buy one for its starting price of $1,500. Here's some advice for HP and other PC manufacturers: If you want to make a MacBook subsitute, don't try to copy the MacBook. There are many PCs out there that are more compelling than Macs in terms of design, features, and price, so think outside the box - or, at least, outside the Apple.

Pros:

• Excellent build quality
• Great keyboard
• Cool "green" packaging

Cons:

• Expensive
• Overly sensitive touchpad
• Limited number of ports

Individual Ratings: *
Software & Support
Upgrade Capabilities
Usability
Design
Performance
Features
Price/Value Rating
* Ratings averaged to produce final score

Read rest of entry