HP Challenge

Ok. I'm searching for a laptop. I've made a post about it on the general hardware forum, and after doing more thinking, talking, and feeling on the subject, I'm leaning heavily towards a compaq/hp. But with all those coupons, the dell systems are looking pretty favorable to me as well (minus the quality control issues.)

So what I'm challenging anyone to do, should they accept, is to convince me that an HP/Compaq is the way to go. I'm mainly looking at the zt3000/zx5000 series HP or the r3000t dedicated Compaq.

 

I can't tell you about the current price differences since I'm not looking at the moment and most of the coupons I used are expired.
However, during my search the HP zx5000 was the best bang-for-your buck, the options you can put on this machine are awesome and you end up with a great laptop and a portable gaming machine that would especially work well for lan partys. Running aquamark on mine with the 64mb Radeon 9600 it beat my friends Sager with a 128 Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo, and that was before I installed the omega drivers. As, far as how games run on this vs. other machines I can't tell you too much as far as lappys since my friend with the Sager is the only one with a machine similar to my specs and we play totally different games. However, I can compare it to a AMD 2400+ Desktop with a Radeon 9600 PRO Turbo and 1gb or Ram. I can run the new Splinter Cell: Pandora's Tommorw on both machines with pretty much the same settings. However, in Far Cry i have to turn them down on the laptop since Far Cry pushes even the most advanced of desktops. Counter-strike runs just as well on both machines, and there is even a widescreen mode you can turn on to take advantage of the extra screen space on the laptop. The 5-1 Card reader is nice to for transfering files for mp3 players and digital cameras. The speakers on the zx5000 are the best laptop speakers I've heard. They are placed nicely in front aimed at the user for maximum impact and they have enough airspace in the case to get some nice bass in even. Controls are well placed and the keyboard has a good feel to it. The touchpad has a button to turn it on/off like all HP/Compaq models do and I really like that feature so I don't accidentaly move it if I am using either an external mouse or have no need to use one at the moment.
Well I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

If it's HP v Dell in your decision, I'd go HP all the way, simply due to the quality concerns across most Inspirons.

Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by bittahbrotha

 

Not sure if it helps, but:

I recently have been doing LOADS of research on laptops and narrowed my choices to dell or HP. I decided on HP. I was having a very tough time deciding between the zx5000 or the zt3000 series, as they are both great notebooks(from what I hear and what I found by playing with them at stores).

Due to my need to be mobile, and the fact that Im not gaming with my labtop, I decided on the zt3000 and it is being made as we speak.

I think you are on the right track by picking those as your choices,as they are the same that I was looking into, but I have found that users of HP laptops that I know, are a bit happier with their purchase than the Dell owners.

 

I've pretty much been 100% convinced to pick up an HP/Compaq. All I'm doing right now is sitting back and waiting for a really good deal on the zx5000, or for one the amd 64 systems to get with the program and offer an ati 9600 in the customization options. Gaming isn't hella important to me, but making this $1200 last as long as possible sure as heck is

Anyone know how often HP tends to offer anywhere near dell-like deals?

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by bittahbrotha