HP Envy 15 Notebook

If its good looks don’t blow you away, the sound from its subwoofers will

I must say, at first glance, this Hewlett-Packard machine looks just like a MacBook Pro. It is dressed in an all-metal chassis, has rounded edges, wears a classic black-and-silver finish, and looks stunning. But the HP Envy also has a black lid, subtle red detailing and ‘Envy’ inscribed to the left of its trackpad. All this differentiates it from the Apple product.

Envy 15 has a backlit keyboard, and each keycap has its own LED. It also incorporates a proximity sensor. When your hands approach the keyboard, it lights up. Take your hands away, and it turns off. The notebook has six speakers and two subwoofers— all inside this machine. The sound is also digitally enhanced by Dr Dre’s Beats Audio Technology. The volume can be adjusted via a dedicated analogue dial, which comes embossed with the Beats logo.

The machine is powered by a Core i7 processor, its Hi-Definition graphics, by AMD Mobility Radeon. The 15.6 inch backlit LED screen supports full HD, and even with this large screen, the battery has a rated life of up to 9.25 hours. With so much power under the hood, the Envy boots up in 21 seconds, and wakes up from sleep mode in just 3 seconds. But it does weigh about 2.6 kg.

For chat, you have a 1 megapixel webcam with dual digital microphones, a headphone ‘out’, and a microphone ‘in’. It also has an SD card slot, HDMI output, two USB 3.0 ports and Ethernet.

The machine comes preloaded with Windows 7 (its Premium 64 bit Edition). You also have the option of getting the machine preloaded with a two-year subscription of Norton Internet Security. And in case you need tech support, just call its dedicated concierge phone line. ‘Dedicated’ because it only serves Envy customers, so you won’t be put on hold forever.

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