Advice for a new owner, bought 1st lappy today!

Just purchased an HP laptop today. ships in 9 days!
My First laptop!

SPECS:

HP Pavilion zv5000z Athlon XP-M 3000+
15.4'' WVA WSXGA+ ( 1680 x 1050)
512 MB DDR SDRAM (1x512MB)
Microsoft Windows XP HOME
30 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
64 MB NVIDIA GeForce 4 440 Go
Built in 56k + 10/100 Lan
12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft Works/Money
__________________________________
$1184 COST - $100 Gift Certificate - $350 rebates = $734 TOTAL MY PRICE

Any advice for a newbie laptop owner like myself? I heard of pixel issues and problems with new laptops. Anything I should be aware of and test out right away for known issues or possibly problems I should look for in this model or any laptop in general? Best way to test out the machine and find out its not a real lemon?

 

Google "Nokia Monitor Test" and download NOKIA.EXE as an easy way to show a series of solid color screens - makes it easy to look for dead pixels. (my 1920x1200 WUXGA has none)

Take about $190 of your rebates and buy a Hitachi 7K60 7200 rpm drive. You can get a USB2 external case for the old slooooow drive for about $20, makes a nice portable data store. The fast drive will make it boot a whole lot faster.

Stefano
HP zv5200 DP523AV: AMD 64 3400 2.2GHz, 2x512MB RAM, 60GB 7200rpm HDD (Hitachi 7K60), 15.4" WUXGA (1920x1200), XP Pro; Paradox

 

did you skip the internal wireless on this laptop [V] If so, I highly recommend getting at least a cheap wireless card for $40 or so.

 

ya, i'm actually gonna get a wireless router for home and a wireless notebook card for home . I am buying aftermarket b/c i wanna make sure the same card works for both my home & my campus. If i got the 56k/10/100LAN choice, there is still a slot for me to put wireless card right?

another question is, i decided not to get a floppy. I will use my 64mb thumb drive in place of that, does adding a built in 3 1/2 floppy add alot of weight to the lappy? is it noticeable?

 

i dont think u can add a built in floppy, most notebooks dont even come with them mostly CD burners now.

 

Its because on my campus, we use floppy's, just like in the prehistoric age.

The stupid USB connection @ school labs are in the back and its too dam hard to access it for a thumb drive. I think when i get my wireless hooked up on campus i can just email whatever i want to myself and grab it on the lab or vice versa.

I can still add a wireless notebook card to my setup right? i have a slot right?

 

most dont Really have a use for floppys anymore. but there still some that do i guess, but why would they want to? they cant hold any big files. DVD burners rule

 

I just went to hpshopping.com , zv5000v customize.

REMOVEABLE STORAGE
Built in 3.5" Floppy Drive $50
This optional internal floppy drive allows you to transfer and load files utilizing a 3.5" floppy disk.

Should i just get a usb external floppy drive so I only use it when i really need it?

 

yes i think it would be possible for you, to add a wireless card.

 

Even if you cant add an internal one most likely the notebook has a PCMCIA slot, though these cards have wimpy antennas and wont pick up as well as a built in one.

 

HP has rigged their BIOS to reject non-HP miniPCI wireless cards, so finding the correct internal wireless card is difficult and/or expensive. You can plug in a PCMCIA wireless card from just about anyone but you lose the benefit of the two antenna panels HP has mounted just behind the LCD screen (GREAT range).

I used to have an ORiNOCO 802.11b PCMCIA card with an external 5dB 6-inch blade antenna from HyperLink Tech. Very slick, did wonders for range, maybe slightly better than the HP panels. Not as convenient though. The newer 802.11b/g cards lack external antenna ports (damn FCC) but you can find the old 802.11b cards on eBay. If your AP is close by this is overkill though.