Editor's Note: Portions VGP-BPS13A/B of this review were taken from our earlier review of the HP Envy 17.

Design
The Envy 17 3D shares the same minimalist-chic design as the smaller Envy 14, including VGP-BPS13 a rock-solid taupe chassis made of aluminum and magnesium. A few touches, such as a paisley-esque pattern of raised bumps on the lid and VGP-BPS9 palm rest and HP's glowing logo on the lid, mark this as a premium laptop. Between the machine's durable feel and details such as quiet keys (more on that later), the Envy 17 3D feels like a luxury VGP-BPS8 laptop.
Go big or go home. That's the mantra of the HP Envy 17 3D. This large but stylish desktop replacement features an Intel VGP-BPS9A/B Core i7 processor, powerful ATI graphics, a 3D-capable, full HD display, and a Blu-ray player. Starting at $1,599 ($1,649 as configured), the 3D VGP-BPS9/B version of the notebook costs the same as a similarly equipped non-3D version we reviewed just three months ago. Sounds like a sweet deal. But VGP-BPS9/S how does this machine stack up to laptops powered by Nvidia's 3D Vision technology? And is there enough 3D content to make donning those glasses worth the trouble? Our in-depth review VGP-BPS8A reveals all.

At 7.5 pounds, the Envy 17 3D is a reasonable weight for a notebook this size, but you likely VGP-BPS2 won't carry it often (and then, you'll need the AC adapter, as you'll see in the battery section). With a maximum height of 1.5 inches, the Envy VGP-BPS2A 17 3D also feels thick, especially compared to Apple's 17-inch MacBook Pro, which is just 0.98 inches.

While the Envy 17 we reviewed in September stayed relatively cool, we noticed much warmer temperatures on the Envy VGP-BPS2B 17 3D. After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad stayed a chilly 84 degrees Fahrenheit, but the space between the G and H keys VGP-BPS2C was a very warm 105 degrees, and the middle of the underside was 100 degrees.

The left side of the Envy 17 3D is the real trouble VGP-BPS13A/Q area. We can accept a fan that blows 120-degree air. But after we played Call of Duty for 10 minutes, the left Shift and Caps Lock keys were a blazing 125 degrees. That's VGP-BPS13/B disturbing.

The Envy 17 3D has a chiclet-style keyboard and number pad that stretch across the 16-inch chassis. On the Ten Thumbs Typing VGP-BPS13B/B Test, we typed at a fast rate of 94 words per minute, even with little practice on the keyboard. In addition to the keyboard's backlighting, we like VGP-BPS13B/Q that the keys have a soft finish and make little noise when you type. We also appreciate that you don't have to press the Fn key to access media VGP-BPS13A/S controls in the function row of keys.

The Envy 17 3D has a large 4.2 x 2.5-inch touchpad which doubles as a clickable button. Although we've given HP's touchpads VGP-BPS13/Q much flack in the past for being either jumpy or having too much friction, the Envy 17 3D's was easier to use. Occasionally, the cursor jumped slightly--good battery it's worse for those who use two hands--but for the most part we had little problem moving the cursor to specific spots on the screen. The VGP-BPS21A/B integrated touch buttons were always easy to press.

Display and Sound
For the non-3D version of the Envy 17, HP offers a BrightView Infinity display, which has a 1600 x 900 resolution, VGP-BPS21/S standard viewing angles, and a 60-percent color gamut. However, the 3D comes with a higher-res Ultra BrightView Infinity display, which has 1920 x VGP-BPS21 1080 full HD resolution, wide viewing angles, a 72-percent color gamut, and a refresh rate of 120Hz. The notebook also packs ATI's Eyefinity multi-display VGP-BPS21A technology, which lets users connect up to three external monitors, provided one is attached via mini DisplayPort.

The Envy 17 3D's speakers, which are tucked discreetly onto the front lip of the notebook, are powered by Beats audio VGP-BPS21B technology. When listening to music or playing games, we were impressed with the fidelity and power of the speakers. Not only were sounds crisp and dell laptop akku bright, but there was plenty of low-end bass, too. We liked that you can also tweak equalizer settings using the Beats audio control acer notebook akku panel.

You could say there's a war going on between location-based services right now, what with Facebook Places jumping into apple notebook akku the check-in war already being fought by such popular services as Foursquare, Gowalla, and Yelp. But only one of those options offers a ibm notebook akku unique combination of plentiful users and local cash incentives, and that is Foursquare.

When we watched Blu-rays on the Envy 17 3D, we hp notebook akku were impressed by the level of detail. As promised, the display was bright, too, and the colors were true. We were also able to watch movies comfortably from the sides and even with the lid pushed far forward, but that required us to dim the lights; sony notebook akku with the lights on, the display was too reflective to watch at wide angles. We also wish HP included skip buttons on the keyboard; if you want to skip asus notebook akku chapters in a DVD or Blu-ray, you have to use the touchpad and touch buttons.

Founded in March 2009, Foursquare is the fujitsu notebook akku location-based phenomenon that's one half check-in-based social game and one half community exploration tool. In the 20 months since its launch, the service has garnered more than 3 million users. Though this number pales in comparison to the 500 million toshiba notebook akku potential users of Facebook's new Places feature, Foursquare has the added benefit of alerting users about special offers--such as discounts, dell notebook akku limited-time deals, exclusive sales prices, and group bargains--at more than 50,000 bars, restaurants, retail stores, and other acer battery businesses.

If you've been standing on the location-based sidelines, there's plenty of motivation to jump in now. I signed up for the apple battery service two months ago and found that, though the check-in game can be fun and the battle for mayorships is an entertaining challenge, the best bottom-line ibm battery benefits to new users are finding great places to go and money-saving offers.

Getting Started
Joining the Foursquare party is simple enough. hp battery I'd created an account months ago, but new sign-ups can join via www

But even with other cool features such as posting informative venue tips for other users to review and save, tagging sony battery venues to visit them later, or playing to unlock achievement awards, Foursquare's most practical lures are the specials, both those offered to users asus battery with the most check-ins at a particular venue (mayors) and deals open to everyone.

.foursquare.com, m.foursquare.com, or fujitsu battery through the dedicated mobile apps for Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, and webOS devices. The mobile site or apps can both be used to check into businesses, and users with phones that cannot access the web can check in via SMS by sending a text message toshiba battery to 50500 in this format: "@Madison Square Garden! Knicks aren't doing so hot tonight."

Next up: Finding friends with Foursquare accounts. At your request, the service can dell battery search your e-mail contacts, Twitter followers, and Facebook friends for those with preexisting Foursquare accounts. Once found, friends are acer laptop battery automatically sent an e-mail alerting them to a new Foursquare presence. If they choose, your friends can follow you so that you have access to each other's check-in history.

When I signed up, I was happy to see that several friends and acquaintances in my Gmail and Twitter contacts were already apple laptop battery avid Foursquarers.

After entering basic information including name, password, and e-mail address, new ibm laptop battey users have the option to connect their Facebook and Twitter accounts to Foursquare. If check-ins are pushed to your Facebook account, the name sony laptop battery of the visited venue and a message is shared in that service's Places tool. If check-ins are pushed to Twitter, the venue name and any accompanying message are tweeted saus laptop battery to followers.

You can control how many personal details appear on your profile page, aside from your check-ins, your telephone fujitsu laptop battery number, and e-mail. When I signed up, I chose to make that information available while browsing Users Settings. It made it easier for friends to contact me toshiba laptop battery if they wanted to chat about my involvement with Foursquare.

The next level of privacy involves "shouts," dell laptop battery where you check into a location while simultaneously making a comment or leaving a tip for Foursquare friends, Twitter followers, and/or Facebook friends. Before each check-in, users may select whether to share with Facebook and Twitter. You don't have to share acer notebook battery the details of check-ins at all, not even with the people you've granted access to Foursquare. (See p. 73 for more details on Off the apple notebook battery Grid check-ins.)

Privacy is a common concern for anyone ibm notebook battey new to Foursquare. The question of whether it is dangerous to share your location isn't cut and dry, though.

Strangers cannot see your check-in history. In order for a user to see another user's history, they must first request friendship,sony notebook battery and then have that friendship confirmed. So if you don't accept Foursquare friendship requests from unknown users, those unknowns cannot access saus notebook battery your profile or see the record of places you've been.