HP Envy 13 [Linux Laptop Wiki]

Introduction

This is a compatibility guide to running Linux with the HP Envy 13 laptop. If you have the HP Envy 13 and are running Linux on it please consider editing this page or adding a comment below with your compatibility details. By contributing you will help other people running this laptop or trying to make a decision on whether to buy it or not.

This page is just for discussing using Linux on the HP Envy 13. For a general discussion about this laptop you can visit the HP Envy 13 page on LapWik.

Specifications

For full specifications see the HP Envy 13 specifications page.

Name	HP Envy 13
Processor	Intel Core2 Duo Processor SL9600/SL9400/SU9600 : 2.13 GHz - 1.60 GHz, 1066/800MHz FSB, 3MB On-Die L2 Cache
Screen	13.1” HD (1366×768) or HD+ (1600×900)
Graphics	Switchable graphics with Intel GMA 4500 MHD and ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4330
RAM	Up to 5GB
HDD	250GB - 5400rpm 160GB SSD
Optical Drive	External DVD Super Multi Drive or Blu-Ray Drive connected through USB
Network	External 10/100/1000 Ethernet adapter connected through USB 802.11 b/g/n

Linux Compatibility

Device	Compatibility	Comments
Processor	Works fine	Tested with Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 12.04
Screen	Works fine	Tested with Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 12.04
HDD	Works fine	Tested with Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 12.04
Optical Drive	Works fine	External USB Blu-Ray Drive tested with Ubuntu 10.10
Touchpad	Unusable/Works fine	Need an external mouse - Tested with Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04 and 10.10; fine with 12.04
Graphics	Almost usable	Only Intel integrated graphics works by default - The ATI discrete graphics adapter is consuming power but is not usable, can be turned off though - Unable to plug an external display through the HDMI port because it works only with the ATI discrete graphics - Tested with Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 12.04
Sound	Works fine	Tested with Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04 - Need to install package linux-backports-modules-karmic-generic under Ubuntu 9.10
Ethernet	Works fine	Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 12.04
Wireless	Works fine	Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04, 10.10, 12.04
Bluetooth	Works fine	Ubuntu 10.10, 12.04
USB	Works fine	Tested keyboard, mouse and external HDD with Ubuntu 9.10, 10.04 and 10.10
Card Reader	Works fine	Tested with Ubuntu 10.10, 12.04
Webcam	Works fine	Tested through Cheese and Skype with Ubuntu 9.10 and 10.04, 12.04

Summary

The HP Envy 13 is not fully ready to be used with Linux nowadays:
* This laptop provides “switchable graphics” but this feature is not supported by mainstream distributions like Ubuntu 10.10 or Fedora 13. Only the Intel integrated graphic card can be used by default, while the discrete ATI graphic card still consumes power. More information about switchable graphics here: http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com/. Fortunately the discrete graphic card(ATI Radeon 4300 series) can be switched off by ACPI method to lower the system temperature : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1242590&page=2.
* This laptop provides a Synaptics ClickPad (http://www.synaptics.com/solutions/products/clickpad). This new kind of touchpad is not supported by current drivers and prevent you from left or right clicking. You can only “tap”. More information about possible workarounds here: http://georgia.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1388164&highlight=clickpad&page=2. This is solved in 12.04

Author(s)

Nicolas Grilly

Discussion

Patrick, 2010/12/18 07:36

Anyway to toggle wifi on and off from within ubuntu?

Whenever I boot ubuntu the wifi (F12) button is lit up yellow (for wifi disabled) and I cannot get it to turn on. Any ideas?

Works fine in windows.

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Excellent
	9% (1)
Good
	45% (5)
Fair
	27% (3)
Poor
	18% (2)
Unusable
	0% (0)

HP Envy 13