8510p expensive!

I called them up today asking for any sort of student or general discount, but they would give none. They even informed me that the employees get no discount on the business models. 1,928.00 for a 2.2ghz laptop with only 1 gig of ram, and no burner, 5200rpm hdd and n card? That is really ridiculously steep...not to mention they include shipping. I am really having a hard time considering this laptop due to price. Anybody else in the same boat, that knows of any coupons? I can get the T61p for 1900 with the same specs, 2gigs of ram and a 7200rpm hd...what gives?

 

The only models really worth the money are the base ones, it's true. Any higher up and you might as well grab the 8510w.

 

I'd wait until you can customize it which will hopefully be soon. Another reason why the price is so high is the standard three warranty. I figure the best bet is to wait until you can customize then buy the RAM and HD yourself. It will probably be much cheaper. If I remember right, HP like other companies charge almost as much for 2 gb RAM as 4 gb from newegg. I bet without any HD or RAM upgrades, it may bring down the price by around 300-400. Looking at the base model being ~1500 that means around ~1100 - ~1200. Then if you think about a 1700 system with 4 gb RAM and a 7k200 with a dvd burner, things look much better.

 

Not to disappoint you but when you customize an HP business notebook, it always ends up to be more expensive than the pre-configured models. Also, they don't really offer full customization but only for some parts.

At least that's been the case up to now...

 

HP Compaq 8510p Notebook PC (RM269UT) - $1479

+

1 extra GB of ram from Newegg - approx. $45


I'm almost positive you won't notice the difference between the T7300 and T7500. The 5400RPM drive should be speedy enough, and might even reward you with lower heat/noise output and/or reduced battery consumption.

ENJOY

 

What I mean by customizing is not adding things, but taking away things. For instance, I believe getting the cheapest HD and lowest RAM should bring down the cost, as well as, getting rid of bluetooth (though that won't help much).

 

Basically stick to the Smart buy's... they're definitely cheaper. The interesting part is that there really is only one smart buy model -- as I recall with the nc8430 they had a better selection of smart buys. Maybe once the dust settles a bit they'll get better selection and offers.

Also, you might be able to find a 3rd party seller who'll offer it cheaper than HP. Again, there may be a bit of lag time on that as well.

 

You are paying for the 3 year warranty and better build quality.

 

expensive????

For 1479, you get a t7300 processor, 1 gig of ram, 160 gig 5400 rpm hardrive, 256 meg ati x2600 graphics, all the ports u need plus hdmi, dvd rw, wsxga+, wireless and bluetooth, and 3 year warranty. Get yourself 2 gigs of ram for 60 bucks, and you have one hell of a business laptop.

pretty darn cheap if you ask me.

 

The smartbuys are a good deal, yes, but step it up to the 2.2ghz and it is ultra expensive. More expensive than the T61p similarly configured, v1s, and the MBP. For less than 2k I can get a T61p 2.2ghz, 7200rpmHD, N card, 3yr warranty. HP really needs to take the price on the 2.2 models down a notch...the computer is great..but not 2400 great. Especially if the GPU turns out to be an unworthy competitor to the Nvidia 8600gt/570.

 

Why 2.2GHz? Is there a significant increase performance-wise? Afaik, there isn't any real justification considering the price difference between a 2.0 and 2.2.

 

speaking of a unworthy competitor..............

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

more of a preview of what to expect, like everyone else, we have to wait for some real reviews.

If you're stuck on a 2.2 ghz processor, then its a bad deal. Otherwise, even Im dead close on cancelling my vostro order just to get this instead. This thing is lighter and smaller, seems to have better build, hdmi, comparable battery life to the 9 cell (going off 8510w review), and a 3 yr standard warranty. Vostro only wins in graphics (im a light gamer). My only concern is the screen (going off 8510w review).

 

The performance increase may not be worth the money..atleast when it comes to the HPs...but I need a computer that will last 4 years..so I would like to future proof it as much as possible. I also do encoding from time to time and people say thats very CPU intensive. It is also a bit disappointing knowing that you can get a 2.2ghz model for cheaper from other great laptop companies such as lenovo, asus, and apple. That being said...I may have to go for the 2.0ghz due to the ridiculous price increase for the 2.2s.

 

I wonder how reliable that link is listing the graphics cards in order of performance. If it is reliable, then the ATI 2600 is only slightly better than the GS...which I am not liking at all.

 

for the most part, most of us guessed it wasnt up to par with the 8600 gt, and considering that i got it from the gaming subforum sticky, seems pretty reliable.

Heck, if u got the mula, get a mbp, the 2500 one.

 

typically notebookcheck is a poor source of information. take everything there with a grain of salt.

if you hit up the gaming forum there's a thread on the HD 2600 vs 8600 gt...the only consensus in 8 pages is that notebookcheck sucks