Engineering Laptop

I am planning on getting an HP DV600t or a Dell E1505 in the next few weeks or so. I plan on running autocad, Solidworks, Inventor, Matlab, etc, in addition to Office 2007 and interntet surfing.

1.)What specs would you recommend on the DV6000t for the programs I will be running?

Memory:
1.) Are both memory chips accessable from the bottom panel or is only one?

2.) If I were to max out the memory straight from HP, would there be a difference in performance on the memory chips from HP and what I could get aftermarket (same amount of RAM)?

3.) Would it be recommended that i only get 1GB from the factory (to satisfy requirements for Vista) and then buy aftermarket memory and max it out or to just go ahead and max it out from the factory?

 

Get 2GB RAM from HP, assuming HP is still using DDR2-667 RAM like they ought to and even then Intel CPUs can't use the good stuff as effectively as AMD CPUs can. You're not going to save enough money by buying third-party RAM to matter.

You'll want the T7200 CPU, for its 4MB L2 cache more than anything else (Intel uses massive L2 caches to compensate for their lack of an integrated memory controlller) and GeForce 7400 GPU (Intel GPUs are to be avoided whenever possible).

Be sure to configure Bluetooth too.

 

Are you saying that AMD CPU is indeed better? But from the reviews I read, its performance is not as good as Intel's laptop-wise.

Don't get me wrong, I use AMD on my desktop.

yes, I got the T7200 CPU and glad I did so.

I regret I didn't configure bluetooth although I have no use of it now.

Also I found that 'remote control' comes handy.

 

AMD has a better memory controller but Intel has a newer core design. Overall Intel has a lead until AMD's redesigned core is ready later this year (starting with the Barcelona cores for servers) but I think that lead is overhyped and largely disappears when you compare cost, battery life being an exception but even then Intel's advantage mostly goes away when you use a dedicated memory GPU instead of the weak but power-efficient Intel GMA series integrated GPUs.

 

Id prefer the Intel processor. Why would you recommend bluetooth? I dont use aby bluetooth devices. Im wanting to spend probably no more than 1200...what complete specs would you recommend for that price for what i will be doing?

 

I recommend Bluetooth because it's cheap and it's difficult to add an internal Bluetooth radio later. Some of the Bluetooth mice are nice and lots of cell phones have it.

For $1200... geeze, can't do it without cutting the CPU waaaay back, and even then I have to strip out quite a bit to keep the 2GB RAM. For the dv6000z it's much easier, TL56 CPU, GeForce 7200 GPU, imprint + webcam + mic, Bluetooth, 2GB RAM, 80GB HD, BrightView, Lightscribe DVD, Vista Home Premium, $1187.99. 2GB RAM is a must-have for your workload under Vista.

 

MXandSXracer21,
I have a dv6000t with the T7200, Nvidia 7400 and 2GB RAM and Inventor and Autocad work perfectly. I would highly recommend getting the 2GB of RAM. I originally had 512MB of RAM and Autocad took a minute or two to load and now with 2GB Autocad starts in 15 seconds and Inventor in 24 seconds. The dv6000t is a great notebook and perfectly suited to the task. And as for bluetooth, I use a bluetooth mouse (Logitech V270, works great and highly recommended) which I prefer over using the trackpad. The nice part about getting the bluetooth built-in there is no usb adapter needed which is very convenient.

 

thanks for your feedback! I plan on using the APP discount so that should take off about an additional 100 dollars. Does anyone know of any NEW HP coupons? They have had the $100 dollars off one for a while now and the current ones expire tomorrow ( www.meanbargains.com).

 

jmhal is this the memory you have? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145098


also can someone tell me what Latency rates are?

 

Latency is the time it takes to access the memory. Lower is better, but 5-5-5 is about the best you'll find for DDR2-667 notebook RAM. Bandwidth and latency are tradeoffs.

 

So the link I posted above, will that be sufficient for my needs? Will it work on the HP DV6000t? Also are there better sticks that are cheaper or aren't rediculously expensive? Also does the more pins a stick has the better or what? What do the number of pins provide as far as performance?

 

No, that's desktop memory. If you like Corsair try this. I see no reviews from AMD users though. There is one positive review from a dv6000z owner for Mushkin's 2GB kit though. Since AMD's integrated memory controller is more demanding than Intel's external controller I'd be inclined to buy Muskin's kit between the two. Normally I prefer Crucial but their pricing is currently much higher than average.

More pins on a stick means they won't fit your 200-pin DDR2 socket.

 

Ok so i need to find memory that has 200 pins....the Muskins 2GB kit, is that for AMDs or does it work on intels too?

 

Also, on the HPs are both Memory Chips accessible from the bottom bay door? or is one under the keyboard or elsewhere?

 

If it works with AMD chips it'll definitely work with Intel. Both 200-pin SODIMM slots are accessible from the bottom bay door.

 

Thank you for your help! You have helped me out A LOT on this subject!

 

MXandSXracer21
In my dv6000t I am using Corsair DDR2 667 2x 1GB
It can be found here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145157
Newegg is also offering the same 667Mhz 2x 1GB pack in Mushkin and G.Skill for 180(after $25 MIR) and 160 dollars respectively, and the Corsair costing $170. I'm not sure which is considered the better brand or value but the corsair RAM is working great for me.

And sorry for the late reply

 

Thank you jm! I will probably go with the corsair package. I have heard nothing but good things about them.