Edt: Need help deciding..

I'm buying a new notebook and need help deciding. The only part I am decided about is that it'll be an HP and not a Compaq (had problems in the past with them). I know I want at least a 40HD, 256 Ram to start off with, a basic DVD drive and 2.8 processor. I'm looking for the notebook to be $1100 or less with student discount.

The notebook will be used for classwork which involves Visual Basic, MS Office and C++. The only gaming done on it will be Sims 2 (when it comes out) and maybe Tycoon series (Rollercoaster and Zoo). I know dedicated graphics would be great but with those kind of games could I get by with shared?

Any comments would be greatly appreciate which I am quite confused on what to get.

 

looks good, just a few things.
1) I wouldn't recommend a celeron processor, for a little bit more money you will get a lot better performance.
2) you may need to check out what the specs are for sims 2 I'm not sure how well the integrated card will play it, but I know nothing about that game.
3) Compaq is now owned by HP and the only differences in btwn the two are mostly cosmetic except for speakers and button layout.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

These are the specs for the Sims2:

If you have a T&L capable video card with at least 32 MB of video RAM (such as nvidia GeForce 2 or better or ATI Radeon 7000 or better) then you need at least:

600 MHz P3 processor
256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98 or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space

If you have a non-T&L capable video card (such as TNT2 or Intel Integrated for example) then you need at least:

1.5 GHz processor
256 MB RAM if Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, or Windows 2000
At least 3.5 GB of hard drive space
Recommended video cards (and the more video memory the better):
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
Nvidia Geforce 4 or FX series cards

With Sims1, you don't ready need a special graphics card per say (my desktop doesn't have a graphics card) but with Sims 2, you need it for the 3D effects. That's the part that I'm having problems when it comes to deciding b/c I don't want to buy a notebook and the game not work on it b/c I already know it won't play on my desktop properly. I looked on the ATI site and Dell's Inspiron 600M and Alienware's Area51m both use the same card so it must be good enough for light gaming.

 

the radeon 9000 should be able to play it well enough then. You may have to turn the graphics to medium, but it should play fine.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

Thank you for the info. It helped with my decision on my first notebook. Now all I have to do is wait until August (if I can wait that long[ ]).

 

Check the HP zv5000z. The graphics chip is weak by dedicated video standards but far better than any shared video solution, and most importantly it's got the Athlon 64 CPU. You should be able to configure one within your price requirement. When 64-bit Windows comes out at the end of the year (or if you want to run 64-bit Linux now), you'll be ready.

 

What Athlon processing speed would equal 2.8M P? I've never had an Athlon before so I really don't know how they perform or what their speed difference.

 

The AMD rating scheme roughly matches the P4's clock speed, ie, an Athlon 64 3000+ would match up with an Intel P4 3.0GHz, a 3400+ with a 3.4GHz, etc. That's while running 32-bit code; in 64-bit mode (which Intel doesn't have) you'll get an additional performence boost. 64-bit WinXP will be out around the end of the year, I'm running 64-bit Linux now. Plus the AMD64 chips have hardware-based worm protection when used with WinXP Service Pack 2 (August, I'm running Release Candidate 2 now), it'll stop a hefty chunk of the worms that don't require user intervention (nice for those "zero-day" attacks that hit before your antivirus definitions have been updated). Given your price limit the Athlon 64 3000+ will do nicely. Try to squeeze in a single 512MB SODIMM rather than the 256MB stick if you can.