Considering nw9440 purchase on Lifetime and Quality of notebook

I am considering purchasing a nw9440 Mobile Workstation. I am also considering purchasing a particular ASUS notebook. Three significant differences for me in the two machines are memory capacity, price and warranty. The nw9440 would be a few hundred dollars more in US dollars. The nw9440 has a capacity of 4GB vs. the 2GB capacity of the ASUS machine at which I am looking. (I believe I'm more accurately looking at 3GB vs. 2GB memory capacities given the upper memory allocation to PCI addressing.) The nw9400 has a three year warranty vs. the two years with the ASUS machine.

Do I want to spend a bit more money for a machine that might last a bit more time? In particular, I'm thinking of future memory needs more than processing power and graphics capabilities. For my use (and looking at how past machines have served me over time), I believe the later two needs will be adequate for my professional mobile needs over an extended time. (I am not a gamer.) Alternatively, do I want to save a few bucks that might go towards purchasing a new machine a bit sooner down the line?

More important, I'm making sight-unseen assumptions about the nw9440 having found only a few reviews and user experience writeups. Can someone share on the quality of the nw9440 notebook? I'm typically a happier camper spending a bit more and knowing I've made a high quality and hassle free purchase.

I'd appreciate any perspectives you may have to offer.

Thanks,

-- Mark

 

Unless you plan on using CAD or some other rendering software, you might want to consider the nc8430 or nx9420. If you don't do that (and your not a gamer like you said) also consider the D820 and the nx7400. Not going with a workstation card (which really isn't necessary IMHO for almost anything) *can* save you a load of money.

Once Vista comes out (and I'm assuming you'll upgrade eventually)...you will be able to use the full 4GB. The only reason we have a ~3.25-3.5GB limit today is because of the 32bit-ness of the OS.

 

Thanks for your feedback.

I appreciate that the workstation card is costly and more than I need though I am looking for a dedicated graphics card for some 3D needs and favor an NVidia card. Perhaps, ATI has caught up with their Linux support but I have success/experience with NVidia and Linux and at least at the moment they have me loyal to their brand.

Ideally I'd like: 15-15.4" notebook, Core 2 Duo T7200, 4GB RAM capacity, NVidia GeForce Go7700 DDR2, 100GB 7200RMB hard drive, excellent build quality, ... but I haven't found a match without a compromise in some way.

BTW, I may or may not upgrade to Vista. While at one point I thought about waiting for Vista until I made a purchase, I'm now thinking it would be best to purchase while I still get XP with the machine. The tighter restrictions on tieing Vista to a single machine limit future flexibility.

 

maf9339r,

1: Build quality of the HP business line is good. I wouldn't worry on that too much.
2: Suggestion: You need to post the model number, and links of the units you're talking about.

One aspect I think you didn't mention is, or you may want to research is:

1: Support
2: Repair

With a mindset of how much down time you can afford...

* * *

(Don't know about ASUS and they may indeed be better than HP on the above issues, but I was getting a bunch of giggles from someone who had ordered an "Alienware" gaming machine for their "business"... and ended up being without the machine for quite some time...)


I've heard that the HP business line gives a VERY fast turn around time on repairs...

Here's a guy who seems to know allot on the business line, and seems to be a "straght-shooter" on info:

http://www.notebookforums.com/post2447201-3.html



Here's one example of a HP Business laptop warranty repair:

http://www.notebookforums.com/post372325-5.html


PART II: HP SERVICE (IN FINLAND)

A few hours later I posted the very positive review of the laptop, it broke down. It simply shutdown in the middle of use and did not wake up whatever we tried. The power adapter began to keep a beeping noise too. It was time to call the HP service. Well, at least we could now review it.

My brother called the service number and a tech guy answered immediately (no queue, hurray!). The computer had to be sent to maintenance and a guy would pick it at from my brother. We were told that there might be a chance that they could format the hard drive at the service, which we told them to avoid if possible. They also were ought to return a game CD which was stuck in the CD drive.

Service Contract: The laptop has a 3-year international warranty. Pick-up and return by HP. A 2-day repair time.

Pick-up: The pick-up guy appeared 3 hours later (after giving a call), which I think was very quick (they promised the next morning latest). We didn't need to package the computer in anyway, which some companies require (e.g. Acer). Grade: 5/5.

Repair Time: The service contract has a 2-day repair time. So the computer was scheduled to be repaired by Wednesday afternoon or Thurday morning, if full days were only counted. We hoped to get the computer back on Wednesday, since we planned to stay a couple of days at our friend's summer cottage, starting Wednesday afternoon. However, HP was able to return the computer only by Thursday, still within the contract. Nonetheless, I must congratulate the service team for such a fast repair, as it appeared that they had to replace the motherboard. Grade: 4/5.

Return: There was nobody to receive the computer on Thursday and we had to negotiate a new return date with HP. Friday afternoon was best for us, since we wanted to get the computer back before the weekend and we did not want to leave too early from our summer cottage trip. The time was ok for HP, and they returned the computer as planned on Friday (giving a call before arriving). Grade: 5/5.

Repair Result: The repaired computer worked perfectly. They had replaced the motherboard and the power adapter (which had broken too). The hard drive was untouched (hurray!) and the stuck CD was in place. They hadn't touched the working parts of the computer. Grade: 5/5.

Overall: 5/5 (Excellent)

We were very pleased with the service: it was zero trouble for us, except for the loss of the computer for 2.5 days. The computer came back working and games played great. Hope that the new motherboard works for the rest of the computer's life time.