December 26, 2010 – HP Envy 17 3D XG554AV $1.984.00 Plus $180 more for 3 year on-site.
Warning: HP Red Tag Sale coupon MU1457 (10% off “any” configured Portable) doesn’t work.

Costco: The HP Configuration from Costco is actually close to $180 more than HP direct and Costco can not provide the HP 3 Year “on-site” warranty for dropping, spilling, electrical…

The GOOD
Huge difference: The Envy 3D offers a 1080i monitor and ATI Graphics worthy of an i7 while the DV7 only offers a reduced monitor resolution and a graphics card that actually caused bottleneck with an i7 processor using 8 GB of RAM.

Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (Best to upgrade to Windows 2008)
Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-720QM Quad Core processor
1GB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5850 Graphics [HDMI]
8GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
1TB 7200RPM Dual Hard Drive (500GB x 2) with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
One 6 Cell (standard) and One 9 Cell (over-sized) Lithium Ion Battery (two bateries)
17.3″ diagonal Full HD HP 3D Ultra BrightView Infinity LED Display (1920×1080)
Blu-ray Player-Only & SuperMulti DVD burner
HP TrueVision HD Webcam
Intel Wireless-N Card with Bluetooth
Backlit Keyboard
HP 3D Active Shutter Glasses
(in fine print – One USB 3 but NO Firewire port)
Four Years from Computrace LoJack One Year

The BAD
HP does not offer Windows 2008 operating system. You will have to do this yourself. I also could not find a “HDMI transmitter” for video monitors (or HDTV). That would be fantastic for professional sales – doing 1080i or 3D presentations! Shame on you HP!

The UGLY
The HP dv7t with the exact configuration (except for a 900i instead of 1080i and a not so great graphics card and no HP Shudder Glasses) is $1,478. This makes just the Display, graphics card and shudder glasses worth $415 more!! A huge tax considering it is only worth about $200 more. In addition, HP offered a 10% discount on the Dv7t but not the Envy 3D! That widens the gap to around $515 difference for a monitor, a $30 graphics card, and shudder glasses.
Come on HP! For that kind of tax, at least throw in $350 of your overpriced accesseries!

Recommendation:
Wait, don’t buy! The 2011 line of PC’s will offer more RAM, HD and better graphics.
If HP dropped the Price by 14%, it would be a “buy”.
But, wait until 1 QTR of 2011, chances are very good that newer technology and cheaper prices are already planned.