Z63a vs Z62f?

Hi all - my sister's going to be starting grad school this fall and she asked me to find her a nice 14" notebook; since she's not going ot be gaming I thought the w3j (which I'll be getting for myself hopefully) would be overkill; in fact, she doesn't do all that much beyond the standard email/browsing/office stuff. (Maybe a game of Civ3 once in a while..)
So I figured I'd go with one of the lower-end models. Looking around, I see the z63a based on the same sweet w3 chassis - but it's a P-M; there's also the z62f which looks a darn sight uglier but has a core duo and a webcam... they can both be configured around $1250 with reasonable specs - with the z62f having the advantage. She doesn't really -need- the performance of the Duo (but it doesn't hurt .. ), and the webcam's a nice addition .. OTOH, the w3 chassis is far and away better looking.
Which one?

Also, are there are any other good-looking / lightweight 14" notebooks around I should look at?

 

The HP DV1000 series has long been a popular 14" system with students...

However, between the Z63A and Z62F... it's a tough choice. They're both great systems. You've pretty much nailed the pros and cons right on the head... so the choice is yours to make, not ours.
What's more important to you (or your sister, in this case): Aesthetics or performance?
To be honest, if I had the option right now, I'd trade in my Z63A for a Z62F just to take advantage of Core Duo... plus, like you said, that webcam wouldn't hurt. Besides...the Z62f isn't that ugly...

 

I have a z63a and i love it, all my friends thinks its a good looking laptop. so i say go with the z63a. but if money were an issue, maybe have a look at the compaq v2000, it meets all her reqs and it's cheaper than the z63a/z62f.

 

The v2000 / DV1000 look interesting; particularly the AMD option (the Radeon Xpress200 would be nice for occasional gaming purposes..) On the other hand, configured to anywhere near decent specs (i.e. I don't want to saddle her with a Celeron...) they start approaching $1000... at which point the ASUS options start looking nicer... I'm leaning towards a z62f configured to about $1200 right now.
Guess I'll show her the options and let her pick

Thanks, guys!

 

If It's between the Z63a and the Z62F, Ask her what she values more...the looks or having the latest in power/performance...not that she's going to notice much of a performance difference over the P M...especially if you stick in one of the higher clock speeds compared to the lower Core Duo's. Since Its her computer, ask her the same questions you asked us and see what she says.

Good luck

 

I just finished my 1st year of grad school with the Z63A and have never thought, “I wish this were faster”. Most of the time the CPU is running at 800mhz (lowest setting) anyway. I have friends that are cursing the school-recommended Dell Latitudes. Asus is definitely the way to go. I use mine about 8 hours a day and am glad I have the better-built notebook.

BTW – I do play Doom 2 on it more than I should. DVD’s play perfectly, so, don’t worry about the GPU for her needs.

 

Hmm that's good to know, but how much of a multi-tasker are you?

I was just at Future Shop testing a Very similar spec'd toshiba dual core and I opened 10 ie windows, 5 pdfs, wmp, realplayer, email, word, excel, calculator, solitaire, ran super pi program, scanned norton anti-virus, downloaded and ran Super Pi, ETC.. and I could perform tasks smoooothly!

Hehe that just felt so **** good

 

I don't think the average user is THAT much of a multitasker...

EDIT: I literally just tried the same thing with my Z63A... I'm surprised at how smooth things are running. LOL... I figured since I'm on a Dothan, it'd be laggy... but actually, I find things to be exceptionally smooth!
Who needs Core Duo? Not me

 

sure you can open all that stuff, but the vast majority of it just depends on the RAM. How often are you running super-pi while using two media players, doing a full virus scan and typing a paper? Pretty much any laptop is going to be hard-drive limited when it comes to the "snappiness" of everyday usage.

I just configured a z62f on proportable and it's about $1500USD, so if the z63a is a significant amount cheaper, which it probably would be, since I don't think they make it any more, you can pick up the darn sexy W3 chassis for a decent deal - but then again I'm biased.

 

looks like we're all extolling the virtues of our respective z63a's, so i'll chime in.

1Gb+ RAM and a 5400+rpm hard drive are all your sister really needs in terms of performance. a pentium M can handle regular usage and then some. if you're not photo/video/music editing or running galactic collision numerical models or massive statistical analyses that would otherwise cripple a regular computer, the z63a will do fine.

it's the reason why i picked one up even with core duos almost available. i wanted an asus and asus was dropping the "darn sexy w3 chassis" from its Z lineup.

 

Haha, yea I would never need that much, I'm so used to closing EVERYTHING before doing anything important

Haha, you did? How much Ram do you have? I think my desktop with amd 3000+ 512mb ram would lag.... can't wait for my Z62j!!! (hopefully I'm 100% decided this time )

I'm not sure if I really NEED dual core, but... I just think it's much better in the long run!

 

Check the sig

 

Ah sorry didn't see that... I also see you're reppin' VANCOUVER.... yeeeeah!!!

PS: where did you buy your Z63a from? what do you think of NCIX?

 

totally off-topic and a long shot... battlecat, are you on the NSMB.com forums?

 

I bought it from Vastech Computers... it's a small store on Main and King Ed.
NCIX? They're alright... decent service, great product selection, but their prices aren't always the cheapest.

 

I'll give a second recommendation to Vastech. AuroraS pointed me in their direction, and they had just opened up a store in Langley, just a quick drive for me. They had my computer ready to go in a couple days, even over the weekend, were friendly and showed me around the computer a bit when I picked it up. Not that I really needed it, but it was nice of them.

I've used NCIX a fair bit, their prices are competitive, particularly if you're used to going to Future Shop or something. Their new Langley location makes customer pickup really convenient for me.

 

Nope

Cool, I'll give Vastech a look! It's always good to see some local options!

Thanks guys... go vancouver go