Voodoo Envy 133, did you use it?

[mhnajjar]

I know that we have discussed the Voodoo Envy at release, but I am wondering if any of you guys here have used it and compared it to the MBA.

I was not able to find any "user" reviews on the Envy comparing it to the MBA. I have read some official reviews, but I do not believe on those as much as the ones coming from real users.

HP has a 21 day return policy without any restocking fees, which made me think of ordering one and see how it stacks against the MBA. However, I am afraid that I would like it and then go back to Windows

I know that its specs are outdated compared to the revB MBA, but the "lines" killed the revB experience for me which made me think of either the Envy or the Vaio TT. Unless Apples fixes the lines anytime before revC.

Please do not turn this on Windows vs. Mac OS since we already know the advantages and disadvantages of both. I just would like to get an honest opinion from the ones who USED the machine.

 

[SFStateStudent]

If you can put a brown paper sack over it, then I would say yes, buy it. The MBAir has it beat all the way around. My brother bought one and let me take it for a ride, and I strongly recommended that he take it back within the 21-day return period. Battery which is removable, sucks with about 1-2 hours of juice, don't even think about using it as a gaming device, and carbon fiber seems really cheap. I though I was using my former BlackBook, b/c it was totally smudge-gathering, and there just isn't enough iKlear to go through that crap again. I sold my brother my 1st MBAir...

 

[mhnajjar]

How did you like the keyboard on that Envy?

BTW, how would that Envy compare to the revA? Did you or your brother notice anything better/worse?

Thanks for the reply

 

[SFStateStudent]

I'm old school when it comes to keyboards, since I can type in the dark without looking at the keys. The home keys are the same on most computers; I actually type faster on the MBAir and MBP v. the Voodoo, b/c the Voodoo just seemed to be a weird fit for my rather large hands. Trackpad is in it's OWN WORLD! I couldn't figure out if it was oversensitive or if my hands were just too heavy, since there were a bunch of things going on that I did not attempt to do only b/c I was near the Trackpad. Definitely some weird stuff. The screen is the worse on the market for the price. I would expect a decent 13.3" screen if I were paying $2400...

(I've only had the 1.6 80GB & the 1.8 64GB SSD)

 

[tubbymac]

I was not able to find any "user" reviews on the Envy comparing it to the MBA. I have read some official reviews, but I do not believe on those as much as the ones coming from real users.

HP has a 21 day return policy without any restocking fees, which made me think of ordering one and see how it stacks against the MBA.

Sometimes we think so much alike it scares me. I'm glad somebody else shares my notebook purchasing neurosis. You have to buy and return things sometimes to figure out what you really want. I bought another HP last week even though I already have one (and was happy with my last HP notebook) to see how things have changed. To make a long story short, I returned it after only a few days and that cemented my decision to get the Air this week.

They just aren't in the same ballpark anymore. Apple machines just wipe the floor with the competition these days. That envy only has a 33 watt hours battery and an Intel X3100 graphics card. I don't think it's anywhere close to being worth $2000. I felt the same way about the rev A Macbook Air. When it was released it wasn't worth $2000 because of the X3100 graphics.

Now if that envy dropped to somewhere around $1000 it'd be a different story. But right now it's way overpriced for what you're getting.

 

[EnderTW]

I know that we have discussed the Voodoo Envy at release, but I am wondering if any of you guys here have used it and compared it to the MBA.

I was not able to find any "user" reviews on the Envy comparing it to the MBA. I have read some official reviews, but I do not believe on those as much as the ones coming from real users.

HP has a 21 day return policy without any restocking fees, which made me think of ordering one and see how it stacks against the MBA. However, I am afraid that I would like it and then go back to Windows

I know that its specs are outdated compared to the revB MBA, but the "lines" killed the revB experience for me which made me think of either the Envy or the Vaio TT. Unless Apples fixes the lines anytime before revC.

Please do not turn this on Windows vs. Mac OS since we already know the advantages and disadvantages of both. I just would like to get an honest opinion from the ones who USED the machine.

I don't know what your smoking, besides the little line problem the MBA screen kicks the envy's butt in contrast and viewing angles.

MBAIr has a gorgeous display.

Vaio Z on the other hand or even the TT has a nice display. I'd look into it. The only problem I heard of the Z/TT is that it has double keying. So if you hit the key it sometimes spits out two characters when you only hit once. There was some youtube videos on it. Very sad, it is what kept me from purchasing it.

However, now that I use the mbair regularly, OSX makes the purchase complete. I am glad I went with OSX just due to productivity (spaces, etc).

Overall though, Vaio's by far have the best screens.

 

[LinMac]

I'm not really all that big on screen quality if it looks good to me. The Envy looked good compared to the Black Macbook and White Macbook from early 2008 when I owned one. I never compared it to the Macbook Pro or Macbook Air because we didn't have one around when the person that owned the Envy was actually in town.

I can say that I like the hardware quite a bit. It was a very nice looking computer and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one for the right price. The Windows install on it was wiped away almost immediately after it reached my hands just to see what it could really do and almost all the hardware worked right out of the box with the latest Linux kernel/drivers/etc.

What would I pay for it? I think $700 - $1000 is about right for it.

 

[kakapo]

Apple machines just wipe the floor with the competition these days.

you might be right to say "better than the competition" but it's definitely not "wipes the floor."

i just did a fairly thorough search for sub-4-lb notebooks for a work notebook. i really wanted to get an apple, but i just couldn't justify the MBAir with its lack of replaceable battery, real processor, discrete GPU, firewire, ethernet jack, docking adapter, TPM, etc. the sony Z mentioned elsewhere on this thread has much superior hardware specs for about the same price, and even the dell e4300 or thinkpad x301 are competent competitors.

not trying to rain on the apple parade (that's what i'll buy for home use) but there are other games in town...

 

[mhnajjar]

Thanks for all your input guys, I would like to see more of a one-to-one comparison with the revA please.

BTW, the x3100 sucked on the revA, but it is excellent enough on every PC while even running HD youtube videos and some nice simple games that revA could NOT run. Therefore, it should not be big of an issue on the Envy!

 

[LinMac]

Thanks for all your input guys, I would like to see more of a one-to-one comparison with the revA please.

BTW, the x3100 sucked on the revA, but it is excellent enough on every PC while even running HD youtube videos and some nice simple games that revA could NOT run. Therefore, it should not be big of an issue on the Envy!

You just made the case that the chipset itself doesn't suck, but the software does.

Flash is horrible on OSX and has been horrible on every OS except Windows for awhile now. It is starting to get better with 64bit Flash in Linux which represents some interesting new code from Adobe. I'm definitely no apologist, but this is not really Apple's fault. HD video is intensive for any computer much less an ultraportable class machine like the Air. You should find that VLC, Quicktime, and other players are able to handle very high quality HD video quite nicely under OSX even on the Rev. A.

The Macbook Air sucks because Adobe's software is such a resource hog on OSX that the slower hardware can't handle it? No, just no.

 

[mhnajjar]

You just made the case that the chipset itself doesn't suck, but the software does.

Flash is horrible on OSX and has been horrible on every OS except Windows for awhile now. It is starting to get better with 64bit Flash in Linux which represents some interesting new code from Adobe. I'm definitely no apologist, but this is not really Apple's fault. HD video is intensive for any computer much less an ultraportable class machine like the Air. You should find that VLC, Quicktime, and other players are able to handle very high quality HD video quite nicely under OSX even on the Rev. A.

The Macbook Air sucks because Adobe's software is such a resource hog on OSX that the slower hardware can't handle it? No, just no.

Well, we should blame Apple since they did not know how to deal with Adobe to have a better support for their OS!

Regardless of that, thanks for your input

 

[LinMac]

Well, we should blame Apple since they did not know how to deal with Adobe to have a better support for their OS!

Regardless of that, thanks for your input

We should just blame Adobe for writing crappy software.

 

[EnderTW]

We should just blame Adobe for writing crappy software.

Lin, mhanajjar seems to have trouble understanding that Apple doesn't write Flash.

lol.

 

[Turmoil]

HP?

nuff said.

 

[Turmoil]

Lin, mhanajjar seems to have trouble understanding that Apple doesn't write Flash.

lol.

hint: it's a troll.

 

[mhnajjar]

hint: it's a troll.

Is EnderTW your women that pays your phone bill?

You stated that on the iPhone forums according to your post history.

I am glad that we have people like you in life so we appreciate our standards.