Customers are delighted by the ENVY Desktop's performance, ease of use, and ample storage, frequently citing its large hard drive and generous RAM as significant advantages. Many appreciate the computer's value for the price. However, some users express dissatisfaction with the lack of an operating system and the learning curve associated with Windows 8. A few also mention that the graphics card could be improved.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 1 Showing 1-20 of 311 reviews
Pros mentioned:
Hard drive, Speed
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
does what I need it to
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
In this review I am looking at all that came in the box with the HP Envy 700-214.
It has been a long time since I have had a desktop PC. I honestly never thought I would go back to one with the quality of laptops out there. But you pay the price for mobility as I bought this desktop with a monitor package deal for just under $900 and couldn't touch that price with specs for a laptop. However, seeing that I need some good horsepower under the hood, my minimal road travels usually only require email and doc prep, so I didn't need much for being mobile. But in the office I need quite a bit. I do desktop publishing, short videos, financial software, etc. And I need the ability to allow coding and such to happen in the background, while I continue to work.
I knew I needed an iCore 5 or higher to get accomplished what I wanted so I only looked at desktops meeting that requirement. Memory had to be 8GB or more and for some reason I thought this machine had dedicated graphics memory. It does not. It shares the system memory of a max (and defaulted at) 1792MB. so around 1.5GB of the 12GB system memory is being used for graphics. I should not run into in any issues, but dedicated would have been nicer.
So as a desktop it is as fast and quick as I expected. I am a Windows 8 fan, even though I am not using touch screen in the office (I do on my Asus T100, which Windows 8 comes a live on touch screen) but in the office it just not practical as my screen is not in my face.
**A side note on Windows 8. Dual screen is a little wonky because to access some of the settings you have to be able to get the "Charms Bar" located on the right side of the screen and the opposite is true for the left side of the screen to access current running Apps. Without touch screen setup Windows 8.1 gets a bad wrap, and I would say rightfully so. All of the changes are behind the scenes and I can attest to the fact that Win 8 runs lighter and faster than Win 7 especially on older machines. On my little Asus Transformer Book T100 I use Win 8.1 as is. However, in the office setup I employ third-party software called ClassicShell. It is free and essentially it brings back the Start Button/Menu on the desktop. Now Windows 8.1 added the feature back to skip to the desktop on startup, Classic Shell has that feature as well, but it takes a trick for it do it and I just allow Win OS to handle that task. Once you get a round the learning curve of Win 8.1 theoretically you could do with out the Start menu on the desktop, but most don't want or can't take that time to get used to it. So ClassicShell (and others out there) help bring it back. The rumor has it that Windows 9 will bring it back, which they should have just did it from the beginning in Win 8 but again that's my opinion.
Getting back to topic, I do use dual screen setup, I cannot multitask without and over the years my screen sizes have increased now running dual 23" monitors 1 is HP (bought a pc/monitor package deal) and the other is an older 23" Hanspree (not as nice as the LED HP, may have to swap it out as reading text is just not that nice in comparison and now I know why I squinted. I just thought it was my eyesight)
Anywho, the system graphics handles it all just fine. Have not noticed any issues yet, I have not thrown the kitchen sink at it yet, but I really don't forsee any issues there with it.
The pc is very quiet, much quiter than I expected which is good. Again, once I start throwing larger tasks I am sure noise will pick up but I don't expect much.
The 2TB harddrive is nice as I won't run out of space for what I am doing, but it is a little sluggish on wake from sleep. From full off, the pc starts up quickly (mostly thanks to Win 8 for that) and gets me going in under 1 minute once a few things load. I knew going that the harddrive could be a bit sluggish compared to lesser size, say 500GB or 1TB but it works fine.
I really wish I had an SSD of at least 128GB for OS and subsequent programs and the 2TB for storing files and such. But I couldn't find one and probably wouldnt' have paid the price anyway. I can make upgrades down the road, which this desktop definitely allows.
I can even add another 4GB of memory to total out at 16GB if needed. Honestly would add a dedicated graphics card first though.
The wireless card inside is very strong and works well. I was a little worried about this as it doesn't have an external antenna. I am only 30 feet from my wireless router (diagonally) as my office is the basement of my home but it picks up the signal just fine at full bars. It did waiver once from 5 to 4 bars, but just shortly. Could have been someone standing in the direct path upstairs, but it didn't disrupt anything I was doing.
I have more USB ports than I know what to do with, which is fine by me.
One item that was complete junk in my opinion is the included wireless keyboard and mouse. The mouse is a joke. I am used to Logitech products for the last 10 years. Actually I have an HP wireless mouse elsewhere and so I at least expected that quality. This is definitely novelty at best just to make the features sound more appealing in the "What's in the Box" section.
I have tried all the settings possible, but the mouse jumps quite a bit, even when not being used. Precision is very hard, so it has to go as when I am doing desktop publishing or video editing precision will be key.
The keyboard is okay. The keys are nice and evenly spaced, but it does make quite a racket, especially the space bar. One aspect I do not like is the shortcut keys. I am used to the Logitech where I have dedicated media key functions (play/pause etc) this keyboard is not dedicated but requires the use of a dual press of FN key and the desired command. So not very convenient. The sound level is independent though so at least that is easy.
Obviously you can tell I enjoy Logitech products, so if you are not used to them then maybe it won't be an issue for you; outside of the mouse I definitely thing you will notice that. I do like the 10-Key Numeric pad as it works great and the keys are layed out nicely. My complaints mainly rest in the mouse department.
I needed a PC fast as my current rig was overheating as it just couldn't handle all I needed to do and I nursed it along for over year. I thought about building my own machine as I could get exactly what I wanted and would have even more longevity but I needed one quick and I have bought HP before so knew of their solid nature.
I am a bit of an audiofile so the Beats Audio sounded like an extra bonus. I can't tell any difference from my previous setup as my speakers have not changed (still rocking Altec Lansing THX with external sub from 2001!)
Well there is my two cents. I don't like reviews that are one liners of "works great" as that tells me nothing about how you use it! So this is how I use and what I expect from it. Hope it helps you with your decision.
One item I did want to add is I prefer small towers (slimline) but I was not able to get one with the chipset I needed (again unless I built my own). The size though is not bad, I had to add a little side table to my desk to accommodate (I hate desktops on the floor, requires too much cleaning out of dust and pet hair)
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Longevity
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I've had my desktop close to four years now and it's been running great this whole time. The windows updates had a few hiccups and the drivers need to updated regularly but it's never crashed once yet. It plays games from steam on moderate graphics but a good GPU fixed that issue for me. I'm playing Rise of the Tomb Raider on max graphics with just a blur issue now. All and all, it's a great student desktop and it can persevere through the upgrades in the future.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Memory, Speed
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
ok performance so far. Not as fast as expected.
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Good memory and disk size. Worked ok out of box except for problem with mouse. Wireless mouse battery compartment is accessed by removing top of mouse. Replacing it initially caused right button to not work right. Replaced cover three times before started working right. Was getting a replacement from HP until I fixed it. Cancelled replacement mouse. However, do not like size of mouse compared to my current wireless mouse, so not using it normally. Single usb interface for hp wireless mouse and keyboard. So using my mouse means using two of the usb ports. However, 8 usb 2.0 ports and 4 usb 3.0 ports on computer. Hp warranties and extended warranties will not allow adding your components to the computer. However Best Buy extended hardware warranty will. Bought it because of that. Moved second new 3TB drive from old computer to the new computer. Found the Hp computer has a slide clamp system for drives that require a special screw to work. They use Fillister head T15 torx about 3/16 inch 6-32 machine screw. The normal hex head screws will jam in the slide system. The Fillister head is round and about 1/16 inch tall. Found some through Fastenal, a local fastener company. They had to special order them for me. However a web site pointed out the power supply in the case is using 4 of these screws (slightly longer about 1/4 inch). The normal hex head screws can be substituted for them and that is one added drive covered. There are 4 SATA connectors on the motherboard which are 4 colors. The dark blue and white ones are 6Gb/s rated. The light blue and orange are 3Gb/s rated. The first drive is on the dark blue and the optical drive is on the light blue one. There are three drive slots and two optical slots. Only four can be used due to SATA connector limits on the board. Best Buy got me a good deal, so happy with the product. Since the processor has 8 threads versus my older 2010 computer with 4 threads, I expected much faster performance. However, other hardware limits seems to hold it down to about 20% improvement. Not measured exactly, just my impression while doing similar tasks.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Hard drive, Speed
Cons mentioned:
Operating system, Windows 8
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
great all around fast computer
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
super fast computer with lots of ram and large hard drive good all around pc very nice design only thing not so great right at the beginning is windows 8 but give it a chance and after a few days or so windows 8 is ok just takes a little time to get used to the new operating system but after that is great ..I would buy another one of this exact pc
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Hard drive
Cons mentioned:
Windows 8
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great Desktop
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Machine itself is great. That being said, out of the box when I connected to internet something started downloading 2 MB of unknown data per minute – yes per minute or 120 MB per hour – hope you have a large data plan! Over the next 3 weeks I deleted every app I could to no avail. A Microsoft rep and an HP rep tried to stop the downloads with no success. I was just to the point of returning the PC to Best Buy when one rep had suggested it might be my ATT DSL that was not compatible with Windows 8.1. Although that did not seem the problem since data downloads are just vanilla packets, I tried disconnecting the DSL and instead using my cell phone hotspot. Walaa, no more extraneous downloads. I then cancelled ATT DSL and went to Comcast cable and problem has not recurred. PC and Windows 8.1 working great. One other caution, though, Windows 8.1 is not self-explanatory and not easy to learn. I had to buy the 8.1 Dummies book, but after reading the book I am working with 8.1 easily. I understand that Win 8.0 was even worse as it did not have the old desktop that they added back to 8.1 after public uproar. Oh yes, do not accept the recommended install as Microsoft sets you up with a lot of privacy invasions. Use the custom install and ignore the bad stuff. All that cloud storage could end up costing you a lot when the PC 2TB disk is quite adequate, and why should Microsoft monitor my PC habits?
Oh, one other thing. I do not like the wireless keyboard and mouse as they run off batteries, and when the wireless mouse did not work out of the box I finally discovered they had installed the batteries backwards at the factory. I am tired of buying endless batteries, so I bought a wired Logitech keyboard and mouse, both of which I like the design much better than the HP keyboard and mouse plus NO batteries.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Memory, Speed
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Very good computer
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Bought this to replace my office PC after my anti-virus ate my hard drive. The extra memory and a bit more speed in this box are great. Setting up out of the box was quick and painless. After the 1st month I'm still happy with everything except the smaller keyboard. Will replace that at some point. Does have lots of USB ports that are easy to get to.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Hard drive, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Solid Machine with good performance
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
After much research, I went with the new HP envy. I wanted a big hard drive and plenty of RAM which this has. The i5 has performed just fine. I don't even notice windows 8 anymore as I am always in desktop mode.
What's really great about the machine is that everything is wireless and has bluetooth and the machine itself is incredibly quiet. I am very happy with this machine. The only issue I have had is with my existing monitor, when it goes into sleep mode it keeps beeping like it is being plugged in and removed, right now the work around is to shut monitor off. The keyboard and mouse that comes with it is pretty basic but they work.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Memory, Performance, Speed
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Good performance at a good price
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Looking to replace an older computer that was deteriorating performance and maintenance wise. Set up was easy and performance and speed increase is great. Expanded memory is terrific for my use.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
A little speedster
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The ENVY Desktop is a great machine. Packed with speed and power I jet along whether it's just using the internet or working on a spreadsheet or word document or playing a game. I recommend this workhorse.
The keyboard is wonderful and easy to type on. (The keys aren't stretched out like I've been seeing lately.) The mouse does need to be turned off which has taken some getting used to.
(It does have a red 'eye' that stretches across the front. If the machine is not turned off correctly it will 'active' and move from side to side like a Cylon hours later. Seemed alive the first time that happened and was a bit unnerving.)
I would recommend this Desktop.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Hard drive, Memory
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
I bought this as the hub for my stereo system.
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I bought this as the hub for my stereo system. I specifically wanted a lot of memory, especially hard drive, and good sound. Initially, I picked a tower because I intended to add high end audiophile sound card.
After working with the hi-deff sound chip, and beats, i found this to be unnecessary. I have paired it off against a high end dedicated Sony cd deck and after adjusting beats, there is no difference in sound between the two!!! I can literally run in synch the same album off the cd deck and the Hp Envy and switch back and forth while both are playing. Sound quality is identical, phenomenal!
The Envy is loaded with both usb 2 & 3 ports front, top, and back!
The stock key board & mouse are good, though wireless.... If you want to switch to Bluetooth, not a problem. The Envy supports Bluetooth 4!
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Hard drive, Speed
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Fast and efficient
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Replaced our Del desktop with the HP Envy. Very easy to set up. Much faster, bigger hard drive, plus many USB ports and ability to plug in my photo SD card directly into the computer. No adapter needed. Works great. Good value for the money.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Cons mentioned:
Operating system, Windows 8
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Very gogod machine and fast
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Just bought this machine. Working Great. Speed very good with plenty of storage. Windows 8.1 is not so much fun after windows 7.x. Need some adjusting to live with it.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Memory
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
price/durability/well-known name
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I really love how fast this hard drive is and the memory it can store for the price. I need a hard drive that has this kind of memory as I am a college student and a special education teacher. I need quality and speed to be able to get my work done with little time to do so.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Memory, Performance, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Fast
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The HP unit is plenty fast for HD video editing applications and the extra memory comes in handy as well. Great machine
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Performance
Cons mentioned:
Operating system
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Another Fine HP Desktop Product
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Powerful and fast, easy to set up and use. Comes with Windows 8.1, which takes a little getting used to after 10 years using XP. Well worth the money, though I wish it came with a monitor. Keyboard and mouse are wireless, which is convenient. Comes with the usual assortment of software. Be prepared to buy Microsoft Office, though, unless you're getting this purely for internet stuff. I owned a HP Pavillion for 10 years and was very happy with it. This one lives up to expectations.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Hard drive
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Exceptional speed and capacity
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
My old system was beginning to freeze up, and crash. Originally wanted a Mac but this HP is an excellent product. Extremely fast, 12 gig of RAM, and 2 TB hard drive. Good graphics and compact clean design.great product for the money.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
nothing but net as they say in basketball
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Best buy I've made in a long time - here's hoping that the capacity will hold up for years to come when new Windows versions come out.
Incredible speed and rich graphics. Anyone looking to upgrade from XP, I highly recommend it.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Cons mentioned:
Operating system
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Great unit-windows 8???
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The unit works great, much FASTER than my previous computer, however Windows 8 takes some time to get use to, I would prefer the same computer with Windows 7 Professional
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Memory, Speed
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
great product
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
fast fun great and lots of memory , I use it for recording music and watching movies
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Memory
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Very nice desktop computer
|
|
Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This HP desktop computer has met and exceeded my expectations for an upgrade. I needed a new computer and had already been shopping on line and felt this would be the right choice for me. I have had this for about 3 weeks and have enjoyed the increased speed for downloads and watched a couple of videos online (for the first time). It was enjoyable. If you are looking for a desktop with lots of hard drive and memory -- this is a great choice.