Pros
- Easy to upgrade parts or replace battery
- Dual storage bays
- Multiple processor and graphics configurations
- Great speakers and Full HD screen option
- Standard 2-year warranty
Cons
- Glossy finish around screen and between keys shows fingerprints and dust
- No touchscreen option for Windows 8, no downgrade support for Windows 7
- Integrated mouse buttons feel cheap
- Not as attractive as the premium ENVY 17 it has replaced
Quick Take:
The replacement for the Pavilion dv7, the new ENVY dv7, offers a good balance of configuration options and cost.
The old HP Pavilion dv7 is dead. Long live the ENVY dv7! This update to HP's popular 17-inch multimedia laptop might pack enough value to be a true heir to the PC throne.
Overview
The HP ENVY dv7t-7200 is a new Windows 8 laptop release that sports a 17.3-inch screen and comes in a wide variety configurations to suit almost any budget or performance needs. If the ENVY dv7t looks strangely familiar, you're right, it's simply a rebranding of the 2012 Pavilion dv7t line but with the updated Windows 8 OS. HP is now placing the ENVY label on any laptop it deems as being a performance machine or having premium design. The company has also stopped producing the 15-inch ENVY 15 and 17-inch ENVY 17 models, citing the fact there was too much overlap between those machines and the equivalent dv6 and dv7.
Indeed change is afoot at HP, they recently lost their title as #1 PC manufacturer worldwide to Lenovo and so it's new innovative releases like the ENVY 4 TouchSmart and flagship models like the ENVY dv7t -- one of their best selling mainstream laptops, that will determine if they can recapture past glory. Read on to find out if the ENVY dv7t is a keeper or another reason to consider HP a zombie of its former self cranking out uninspired laptops.
Build and Design
The ENVY dv7t-7200 is a 17.3-inch screen 7lb notebook that's squarely targeted at an audience looking for a desktop replacement style machine. With all the rage about Ultrabooks, you might be surprised to know the desktop replacement segment of 15 to 17-inch laptops is still the top selling category. The reason being that laptops like the ENVY dv7t offer a lot of nice features, excellent performance options and a price that comes in well under a lighter and sleeker looking but lesser powered Ultrabook. People still want their notebook to look decent, no matter what the size and usage intention, HP therefore has paid attention to making the ENVY dv7t's looks appealing to a wide audience. The lid has a subtle brushed metal skin with a midnight black color finish that is contrasted with a silver trim around the edges. The HP logo on top is illuminated, this offers a pretty cool look, though it probably doesn't generate the same techno-lust as an Apple logo does.
Opening up the the ENVY dv7t reveals a continuation of the midnight black finish across the palm rests and around the keyboard. The black metallic finished areas do a good job of hiding fingerprints, unfortunately the same cannot be said of the glossy bezel HP decided to use around the screen and in the keyboard tray area. Wherever you grab the screen to open it or adjust the angle will likely be left with a greasy fingerprint mark, a matte finish would have been more practical. Fortunately the keyboard keys themselves are matte, not glossy like the tray area, the keyboard uses an island style key design with flat tops. As an added bonus for accountant types there's a number pad on the right side.
The side areas of the ENVY where the ports are found again use a silver trim made of a plastic material with a faux aluminum look. Moving to the underside of the dv7, you'll find a thick plastic skin is used to reinforce this vulnerable area and protect its internals. There is a panel that can be easily taken off with the removal of one screw and offers access to upgrade such things as the RAM, dual hard drives or wireless card. The battery is removable and upgradeable, bucking the trend of sealed case designs.
Overall build quality is very good. The ENVY dv7t uses an aluminum chassis internally to provide a solid frame that protects internals and provides resistance to flex from the outside. The only area of flex we could find on the body was in the center of the keyboard, though only if extra pressure was applied beyond that of normal typing. If you apply enough twisting force to the top screen area you can cause it to bend a few millimeters, but this is of little concern as the screen is adequately protected, no ripples appear on the screen if you push in from the lid.
The ENVY dv7t-7200 comes by default with a 6-cell 62WHr battery, this size battery sits flush with the bottom of the notebook and can be easily removed and replaced if necessary. There is also an option for a larger 9-cell, battery that HP advertises as offering 50% longer battery life. The 9-cell sticks out from the bottom which raises the back of the notebook up this can have the side benefit of creating airflow underneath for better cooling and slants the keyboard for better ergonomics. Aside from the upgradeable battery, you can also easily upgrade memory, the PCIe wireless card and one of the two hard drive bays. With so many sealed notebooks on the market these days that won't even allow you to upgrade the battery, this level of upgrade ease is nice to see.
Ports and FeaturesThe 17-inch ENVY dv7t has all the major ports you need and the average consumer will want, though it does lack some of the more specialty and business oriented type ports. A majority of the ports are located on the left side of the laptop with just a few on the right. There are no ports on the rear edge of the notebook and the front side only has a SDHC card reader. The rest of the ports are located on the left and right sides of the notebook and here is what you get:
 Left: VGA, HDMI, Ethernet (covered), two USB 3.0, microphone in and headphone out |  Right: Indicator lights, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, optical drive (Blu-ray or DVD), AC adapter andKensington Lock slot |
While there is an abundance of ports available, there are some business oriented and specialty ports missing that some users might care about. For instance, there's no DisplayPort video output, eSATA port, SmartCard reader or ExpressCard slot. The faster USB 3.0 transfer rates should suffice for most users, but it might have been nice to offer DisplayPort and an ExpressCard slot given the size and amount of room available with the dv7t.
Screen
The ENVY dv7t-7200 comes standard with a glossy finish 1600 x 900 HD+ screen but can also come equipped with a Full HD 1920 x 1080 screen with matte finish for an extra $150. While we could complain the Full HD should be standard for a premium laptop, the low price of the dv7t you can achieve by going with the standard screen ($649 starting) and the fact not all of us have young eyes and 20/20 vision makes it an acceptable starting point. Those that just have to have more pixels per inch and value the anti-glare quality of a matte display will likely pay up for the higher resolution Full HD screen.
The ENVY dv7t-7200 comes standard with a glossy finish 1600 x 900 HD+ screen but can also come equipped with a Full HD 1920 x 1080 screen with matte finish for an extra $150. While we could complain the Full HD should be standard for a premium laptop, the low price of the dv7t you can achieve by going with the standard screen ($649 starting) and the fact not all of us have young eyes and 20/20 vision makes it an acceptable starting point. Those that just have to have more pixels per inch and value the anti-glare quality of a matte display will likely pay up for the higher resolution Full HD screen.
The dv7t under review comes with the default 1600 x 900 display. Given the 1600 x 900 resolution, the ENVY dv7t has the same pixel density as a 15.6" screen laptop with 1366 x 768 HD resolution. This screen uses TN panel technology found in a majority of laptops, not the more expensive wide angle viewing IPS technology you may have heard of that's used on theMacBook Pro with Retina display or Lenovo's ThinkPad X230. This means colors will shift as you tilt the laptop screen back and forward, a straight-on view with the screen perpendicular to your eyes will offer the best experience. There's not much else to write home about for the HD+ screen -- colors, contrast and black levels are all average. Screen brightness is fine for indoor usage, but don't expect to be able to view the screen outdoors in the full sun. The glossy finish screen does help to make colors more bold and brilliant and is nice for movie watching, but if you're working in a brightly lit room with a light source from behind and above you'll get a lot of reflection off of the screen.
It's somewhat disappointing that HP didn't offer an option for a touchscreen display when refreshing the dv7t to Windows 8 . After all, the Windows 8 UI is all about offering touch interaction and a large 17-inch display would offer plenty of room for such screen interactions.
SpeakersHP uses Beats branded speakers on the ENVY dv7t-7200, there are four speakers on top and then a subwoofer on the bottom to offer deeper tones and extra bass. The four speakers on top are located at the top of the keyboard and then bottom of the display on the left and right side. The forward firing nature of the speakers on the screen is a nice touch. The sound delivered is very clear and stays such even at loud volumes. Full volume can be defined as ridiculously loud, avoid that level, unless you need to fill a large room with sound. The Beats audio brand doesn't get much respect next to the likes of Shenheiser or Audio Technica, but for a laptop the ENVY dv7t stands out as being much better than average.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The ENVY dv7t has a Chiclet-style keyboard design (sometimes called "island style") and can be configured with a backlight for an extra $20 if customized via HP.com. The keyboard backlight is a recommended upgrade, it makes seeing key lettering easier even in a room that is lit, plus it adds a bit of design flare. The keys themselves have a matte finish while the keyboard back plate is glossy. The keys are flat and when pressed offer a good amount of travel and tactile feedback. The keyboard is firm and will not flex under typical typing pressure, but can be depressed if you apply an above average amount of downward pressure. The keyboard quality and feel is not as good as the often praised Lenovo ThinkPad series with its ergonomically cupped keys and precisely engineered tactile response and travel distances, but for a consumer notebook the ENVY dv7t is quite good.
The ENVY dv7t has a Chiclet-style keyboard design (sometimes called "island style") and can be configured with a backlight for an extra $20 if customized via HP.com. The keyboard backlight is a recommended upgrade, it makes seeing key lettering easier even in a room that is lit, plus it adds a bit of design flare. The keys themselves have a matte finish while the keyboard back plate is glossy. The keys are flat and when pressed offer a good amount of travel and tactile feedback. The keyboard is firm and will not flex under typical typing pressure, but can be depressed if you apply an above average amount of downward pressure. The keyboard quality and feel is not as good as the often praised Lenovo ThinkPad series with its ergonomically cupped keys and precisely engineered tactile response and travel distances, but for a consumer notebook the ENVY dv7t is quite good.
There is a number pad on the right side that should please accounting types. One note about having the number pad squeezed in is that it means the alphanumeric keys are not centered to the display, but rather they are shifted to the left relative to the display center, this might bother some people who like precise symmetry.
The ENVY dv7t touchpad has quite a large surface area measuring 4.13-inch wide by 2.13-inch deep. That's nowhere near as large as the Apple MacBook Pro 15-inch that offers a 5.2-inch wide by 4.3-inch deep trackpad, but HP chose to offer dedicated mouse buttons instead of the integrated clickpad buttons Apple uses. With Windows 8 the more room you get on the touchpad the better, there are a lot of touchpad gestures you can do and swiping from side to side is encouraged for navigation, therefore a clickpad and deeper touchpad surface may have made more sense with the ENVY. Worth noting is the fact the touchpad is slightly sunken, which is helpful for finding it in the dark or to avoid looking down. Unfortunately if you opt for the keyboard backlight the touchpad does not receive the same backlight treatment.
As with a majority of Windows laptops, the ENVY uses Synaptics drivers for the touchpad that allow you to customize some settings like cursor speed, enabling or disabling gesture featres and palm detection sensitivity to avoid accidental cursor movement. For the most part the touchpad worked well, though sometimes the cursor would jump even though I had palm detection sensitivity turned up. The bigger issue for most users will be figuring out the new Windows 8 screen navigation features which just seem more intuitive for use with a touchscreen rather than touchpad. Certain Windows 8 navigation such as bringing up the Charms bar on the right and other hidden shortcuts that require precise placement of the cursor in specific areas of the screen can be easier to do with a mouse that provides more accurate cursor placement.
The mouse buttons below the touchpad are a bit of a let down. While they work fine they have very little travel distance and don't give convincing feedback to know you've fully pressed them.
Just below the keyboard on the right side is a fingerprint reader, this is a standard feature and can be handy as an alternative to using typed passwords for logging into the machine or even websites when used in combination with built-in software.
Performance
As with most HP laptops the ENVY dv7t is offered in a wide variety of configurations, you can either customize it only via HP.com or pick up a fixed configuration model from bricks and mortar retailers like Staples, Best Buy or even Costco. The model under review comes with an Intel Core i5 3rd generation processor and can be customized online as the HP ENVY dv7t-7200 Select Edition that starts at $799, cheaper AMD equipped ENVY dv7 models starting at $649 can be found online. If you're only interested in having the best performance available, then the Intel Core i7 Quad Core equipped ENVY dv7t-7200 Quad Edition on HP.com is where to start. While all dv7 models have the same design and construction, you'll pay more depending on the components. If you want a gaming machine, you can even configure a powerful Nvidia GT 650M dedicated GPU with 2GB of RAM. Add an SSD to the mix with an Intel Core i7 and Nvidia 650M and you'll have a real performance machine on your hands.
Our HP ENVY dv7t is a middle of the road configuration with the following specs:
- Windows 8 (64-bit)
- 17.3-inch glossy HD+ display (1600 x 900)
- Dual Core Intel Core i5-3210M (2.50GHz, 3.10GHz Turbo, 3MB Cache, 35W TDP)
- Intel HD Graphics 4000
- 8GB DDR3-1600 RAM (2 DIMM, up to 16GB supported)
- 750GB 5400RPM HDD (Hitachi Travelstar)
- 802.11 b/g/n wireless network adapter
- Internal Bluetooth v4.0
- Integrated 720p webcam and dual array digital microphone
- Beats Audio with quad speakers plus subwoofer
- 2-year limited hardware warranty
- 6-cell battery (62Wh)
- 65W power adapter
- Weight: 6.94lbs
- Dimensions: 16.4 x 1.4 x 10.8 inches (width x thickness x depth)
- MSRP as configured: $819.99 (starting at $799.99)
The configuration for this review unit is middle of the road but offers plenty enough power for a majority of consumers just looking to do productivity work. The Intel Core i5 3rd generation processor is both a very capable and power friendly dual core processor to have. It has what Intel dubs "Turbo Boost" so while the regular clock speed is 2.50GHz, it can jump up to 3.10GHz if the situation demands it. If you know you need more processing power for the software applications you run, the Intel Core i7 Quad Core processor options are available starting at about $100 more. If you're just using a web browser, watching videos, using MS Word and doing some light gaming then there's no need to pay for more processing speed.
The Intel HD 4000 graphics on board this model is capable of handling gaming and can even achieve decent frame rates in some newer games like Elder Scrolls Skyrim, on low graphics detail settings you can get about 40FPS on the HD 4000. If you want to run high detail graphics on the latest games then an upgrade to at least the Nvidia 630M or, better yet, the Nvidia 650M is recommended. The downside of dedicated graphics can be the ENVY dv7t may run a bit warmer and have less battery life.
The included hard drive on this model is a large capacity 750GB HDD from Hitachi, but it unfortunately spins at a slow 5400RPM. You can of course upgrade to faster hard drives or an SSD and there are several capacity options. Best of all is the fact there are two standard 2.5" drive bays easily accessible on the dv7t-7200 so you can have both an HDD and SSD for the best of both worlds of speed and storage capacity. It's easy to make upgrades and install your own storage after market, it just requires the removal of a panel held in with a single screw. In the previous Pavilion dv7t-7000 model HP offered a small 32GB mSSD hard drive acceleration cache, but for whatever reason (most likely cost) they have done away with that in the ENVY dv7t-7200.
To get an idea of the overall performance of the ENVY dv7t-7200 we ran our standard benchmarks, note that we also included a 3DMark 11 score for an ENVY dv6t-7200 configuration we have on hand that includes an Nvidia 650M graphics card and Intel Core i7-3610QM processor so you can compare scores and get an idea of the gaming potential of a higher end configuration dv7t.
wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance):
PCMark 7 is a newer benchmark that measures overall system performance in Windows 7(higher scores mean better performance):
3DMark 11 measures overall graphics performance in games using DirectX 11 (higher scores mean better performance):
CrystalDiskMark storage drive performance test:
Note that the ENVY dv6t-7200 with an Nvidia 650M GPU and Intel Core i7 trounced our ENVY dv7t-7200 model with integrated graphics, obviously if you want superior 3D performance the Nvidia dedicated graphics is a must. Since the dv6t and dv7t are almost the same except for their size, you can expect the dv7t to score similarly with such a configuration. If you don't care about gaming and 3D performance, the best way to boost overall system speed is via installation of an SSD.
Heat and Noise
To test out how the ENVY dv7t deals with heat we measured temperatures after several hours of web surfing, YouTube video watching and document typing the processor had an average temperature of 48C (118.4F) while the hard drive was a cooler 35C (95F). Surface temperatures were comfortable, the right palm rest area remained the coolest at around 72F while the right palm rest was warmer at about 81F. The back left side near the heat vent got the warmest with temperatures in the low 90s. None of these temperatures are alarming, so long as the temperature on the surface is below the human body temperature of 98F it will remain fairly comfortable to the touch.
To test out how the ENVY dv7t deals with heat we measured temperatures after several hours of web surfing, YouTube video watching and document typing the processor had an average temperature of 48C (118.4F) while the hard drive was a cooler 35C (95F). Surface temperatures were comfortable, the right palm rest area remained the coolest at around 72F while the right palm rest was warmer at about 81F. The back left side near the heat vent got the warmest with temperatures in the low 90s. None of these temperatures are alarming, so long as the temperature on the surface is below the human body temperature of 98F it will remain fairly comfortable to the touch.
We should note that if you add dedicated graphics to the mix the story will be different. Some users have reported higher temperatures that reach into the 100F range on the keyboard when gaming for extended periods with a dedicated Nvidia GPU on board. However, HP has a built in software tool called CoolSense that relies on internal sensors to help it decide when to adjust the cooling fan speed based on usage and internal temperatures so on the whole things should stay reasonably cool no matter what your configuration.
Fan noise was never an issue under typical usage such as web browsing or video watching, when running benchmarks you can hear the fan working harder, but there was no whine or annoying whirs, rather just some extra ambient noise in the room. Again, if you have dedicated Nvidia 650M graphics expect the fan to have work a bit harder and for longer periods which would add to the noise factor.
Battery Life
While the ENVY dv7t isn't a laptop most people will be carrying around and travelling with, it's still nice to know that if you're away from a power outlet for an extended period of time you'll be able to do some work and the battery won't conk out after a couple of hours. We used Futuremark's PowerMark battery test program in "Balanced" mode that tested running the dv7t with a combination of automated web browsing, word processing, video playback, and gaming workloads with screen at half brightness to see how long the 6-cell standard battery lasted. To our surprise it managed 4 hours and 14 minutes of battery life, quite outstanding for a pretty demanding workload. In a more conservative battery test with screen at half brightness and just web surfing and letting the dv7t idle for a time, battery life was around 6 hours 30 minutes. Most people will be pleased with these numbers, but if that's still not enough battery life for you then there's a larger 9-cell battery option that HP claims offers up to 50% more battery life than the 6-cell we tested
While the ENVY dv7t isn't a laptop most people will be carrying around and travelling with, it's still nice to know that if you're away from a power outlet for an extended period of time you'll be able to do some work and the battery won't conk out after a couple of hours. We used Futuremark's PowerMark battery test program in "Balanced" mode that tested running the dv7t with a combination of automated web browsing, word processing, video playback, and gaming workloads with screen at half brightness to see how long the 6-cell standard battery lasted. To our surprise it managed 4 hours and 14 minutes of battery life, quite outstanding for a pretty demanding workload. In a more conservative battery test with screen at half brightness and just web surfing and letting the dv7t idle for a time, battery life was around 6 hours 30 minutes. Most people will be pleased with these numbers, but if that's still not enough battery life for you then there's a larger 9-cell battery option that HP claims offers up to 50% more battery life than the 6-cell we tested
Powermark battery life test results (higher scores mean better battery life):
SoftwareThe ENVY dv7t-6200 comes with Windows 8; there's no option to "downgrade" to Windows 7. You'll have to find an older Pavilion dv7t model if you're not ready to make the jump to a new OS yet. We won't go into the features of Windows 8 here, but if you're unfamiliar and would like to learn more check out our Windows 8 Featuresand Windows 8 tips articles. HP has a couple of utilities worth mentioning, the HP CoolSense application helps to detect the laptop orientation and internal heat and adjust the fans accordingly. The HP Support Assistant and HP Recovery manager are also good support applications, the recovery manager makes it easy to reinstall the Windows 8 OS with what's called a "minimal image" that leaves out bloatware and is close to being a clean Windows 8 install equivalent. Speaking of bloatware, out of the box there's a ton of it so it's recommended to either remove it manually or go ahead and do the HP minimal image recovery right away to quickly get rid of it. Some garbage applications you get are app tiles for eBay, iHeart Radio, Norton, HP Games (Wild Tangent Games rebranding), Snapfish photos, Netflix, Kindle, and an HP Connected Music store to name a few.
Conclusion
With the discontinuation of the ENVY 17 line, the ENVY dv7t-7200 is now at the top of performance charts for HP's notebook lineup. The dv7t-7200 doesn't quite have the design aesthetics or blow your mind performance capabilities we'd like it to have for a premier offering, but if you ignore that fact and focus more on the value proposition and features you get for the dollar the ENVY dv7t becomes quite appealing. If you take advantage of sale pricing and HP coupons you can often get the ENVY dv7t-7200 configured with an Intel Core i7, Nvidia 650M, full HD screen and 8GB of RAM for under $1,000. The precise configuration we have was found on sale last week for $599. Given that kind of pricing for a sturdily built laptop with top shelf components and the fact HP offers a 2-year standard warranty for this model, it's an attractive deal.
Pricing aside, things we really like about the ENVY dv7t-7200 are its flexible configuration with powerful performance options, ease of upgrades after market, sturdy build quality, excellent speakers and audio quality, dual storage bays, and attractive black brush metal finish. Downsides to the ENVY dv7t include the annoying glossy screen bezel, stiff mouse buttons, lack of a touchscreen option to take advantage of Windows 8 and amount of bloatware installed out of the box. None of these complaints are showstoppers and are actually quite minimal, so don't be deterred, on the whole the ENVY dv7t-7200 is a well featured laptop that stands out among 17-inch offerings as being a capable performer with lots of nice features and nice price to match.
Pros:
- Easy to upgrade parts or replace battery
- Dual storage bays
- Multiple processor and graphics configurations
- Great speakers and Full HD screen option
- Standard 2-year warranty
Cons:
- Glossy finish around screen and between keys shows fingerprints and dust
- No touchscreen option for Windows 8, no downgrade support for Windows 7
- Integrated mouse buttons feel cheap
- Not as attractive as the premium ENVY 17 it has replaced
Individual Ratings: *
Software & Support 
Upgrade Capabilities
Usability
Design
Performance
Features
Price/Value Rating
* Ratings averaged to produce final score
Upgrade Capabilities
Usability
Design
Performance
Features
Price/Value Rating
* Ratings averaged to produce final score
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