HP Pavillion zv5000z Review

So I finally got fed up with all this, printed out Crucial's 512MB PC2700 SODIMM page showing the $130 price, walked up to Best Buy (dangerously convenient) and asked "Can you price match this?" They couldn't, but they could do $160, which with the $15 rebate (ends today) and 6-months no interest payments was close enough. I bought two sticks, dated 6th week of 2004, made-in-USA Micron parts. MemTest86+ says no errors in 38 minutes of testing, which is further than the other sticks ever got. So:

Infineon: errors
Corsair: errors
Micron: OK

HP needs to get the Infineon SODIMMs out of their supply channel ASAP, or at least reroute them to Intel notebooks. At this point I wish I'd just spent the extra money to buy my 1GB of RAM from HP, though with my luck they'd have used Infineon chips, I'd have had the same problems, and I wouldn't have been able to diagnose them. Now I've got a whole bunch of stuff to sell on eBay.

 

brian, I hope the memory issue is resolved now and sorry to hear of your troubles here! The one lesson that can be learned is that although it's cheaper to configure a notebook with less memory and then add it yourself, at least if you configure the notebook with more memory while purchasing you can hold the original manufacturer responsible for doing something about memory issues.

 

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

 

If you had ordered the 1gb of ram from hp, even if they used infenion they would've gotten it to work since most units are tested before they are sent out to avoid expensive shipping costs to hp for repair and frustrated consumers taking their business elsewhere. However, the reason you didn't was it was probably not the best price you could get and were willing to do the work yourself.

 

I just took a look at this weeks specials at Best Buy. They again have the zv5000z with the custom configuration at $250 off. It is the standard HP $100 rebate plus the Best Buy $150 rebate that they offered back the week of March 7-13. That is when I got mine! Incidently, I ordered on the 7th and recieved it on the 12th. Go getem while they are hot!

Bill

 

Looks like $2,002 fully equipped (3400+, 1GB RAM, 1680x1050 screen, 12 cell battery, 802.11g and Bluetooth, 4x DVD burner, 40GB HD), minus $250 in rebates, plus the cost of swapping in a 7200RPM drive... damn. Very impressive. But their estimated ship date is end of the month. I'm going to guess that demand has been a tad higher than anticipated [ ] and/or they're stockpiling prebuilt systems for Best Buy's shelves.

HP is going to have a support nightmare when people who bought single Infineon SODIMM systems start calling up when their systems go unstable after adding a second stick. It's unreasonable to expect people to send their systems to HP for a memory upgrade. If they'd done a more thorough job of testing they'd never have used Infineon memory, they'd have listed what chips work and at least some of the ones that don't, and they'd save us all a lot of grief. If they were only using Micron chips I'd cut them some slack but that's not the case. I'm assuming that they're not putting two Infineon sticks in the notebooks; so far the folks who bought two sticks have all received Micron memory. HP really ought to add memory voltage and latency controls to their BIOS, at the very least.

 

I am going to upgrade my memory shortly. I currently have a single Infineon 512 MB module. What I intend to do is go to a local store the deals only memory, and see what they can do for me. Will advise any progress later--maybe before the end of the week.

For the record I have BIOS F.01

Bill

 

I thank god i found this site. you guys are brilliant!

I have a few quick questions though. (ive read all the posts but i just want to have it summed up for me so i remember it all easier)

#1. Best type of RAM to buy and upgrade a ZD7000 machine?
#2. Best type of RAM to buy and upgrade a ZX5000 machine?
#3. I take it, the ZX5000 has been performing better then the ZD7000, am I reading that correctly?
#4. What program(s) are you running to test memory compatibilities?

Thanks!

 

sup guys,

well fortunately I hadnt read these formums before I decided to buy my memory otherwise i wouldnt have bought it. I was going to go with Crucial/micron, but the price difference wasn't worth it to me, so I bought PC3200 512MB sodimm from Corsair. I currently have it paired with my infineon right now without any problems--ran memtest for 1.5 hours and not a single error detected. I am going to move the Corsair under the keyboard and see if it handles just as fine there so I can use the outside upgrade slot to upgrade in the future more easily. Hopefully other people will have good luck with PC3200 sodimms from Corsair.

I only know of 1 site currently offering the 512mb pc3200 corsair, but I also have the ability to order them now, but only if I have a large enough order so (i would need atleast 5+) to hear back from people. I don't know what the prices are right now since they've been fluctuating so much lately, but if i get PM looking for them I'll check into getting them.

~beast

 

Hi,
I've been following this thread since I started looking for a replacement notebook a couple of weeks ago. It's been hard to find any info on it. Anyway, I decided to get one, although I am less than thrilled about the video card. It was obsolete a year ago. But I have a desktop for games anyway, and the rest of the notebook is awesome, so I went for it.
I bought mine in a 512MB x 2 configuration, and it worked fine most of the time, but whenever I ran any game or graphic intensive app, it would lock hard. I thought that either the processor (3200+) was overheating, or the graphics chip. Ran some tests, pushed the CPU with Sandra and some other utilities, and it handled it just fine.
That was when I saw the stuff on this site about having problems with both RAM slots populated. Mine were both populated with Infineon (yes, they are still doing that). I ran the memtest86 test for over 7 hours, and it found no errors, but the problems persisted.
I finally called HP, I was pretty sure that the video card was messed up, since I couldn't get any errors to show on the RAM. Anyway, they had me take out the RAM chips one at a time, try them each out in each slot. Turns out that it was the RAM. 3dMark 2001 wouldn't run for more that a few minutes with both slots occupied, but with one stick (either one) I ran a 10 test loop just fine.
I told HP this, and they are sending me out a single 1GB stick. I hope it fixes the problem. Also, that will be cool, because then I can add another Gig if I want later. I learned from this that even checking the RAM exhaustively doesn't guarantee success.
Neither chip is bad, the two just don't work together, as many of you have stated. I'm just glad I got the RAM from HP so they have to make sure it gets fixed. Also, I'd have to say that their tech support is pretty good. I've heard a lot of bad things about them, but I have been pleased with their service. Contrast that to Dell, whom I ordered an Axim x5 (which is great) but support with them is worthless.
Any of you thinking of getting this notebook, a few things:
1. It is really fast.
2. 3d capabilities are decent, not much more.
3. Once Ram issues are resolved, it is very stable
4. It is quite heavy and thick, which is fine with me, but if you plan on really being on the move, I would go with something like a thinkpad t40.
5. The hard disk is slow, but if you have sufficient RAM, one the system is up and running it is hardly an issue.
6. Overall, I really like it, and would recommend it. It is very fast and has a long battery life for a notebook of its size and power.
I'll post again once I get my 1G stick of RAM (right now I'm running 512, had to take one stick out) and let y'all know if that fixes it.

 

ok this scares me.. lol.

ive been seriously thinking about getting the zx5000, except with a pentium chip in it tho instead of the athlon.

ami gona have problems with the ram, FOR SURE? i wont be getting this for a few weeks. its gona come wtih 512 (2 x 256). Am i gona have problems with that RAM?

And are we all agreeing that Crucial pc3200 is the RAM that is good for a zx5000 machine?

please respond! i rely on you guys for my future purchase! lol

 

guess thats one more thing for me to check now with both slots populated. What game(s) were u running with the hard lock? I'll most liklely be testing UT and Half-life when I get a chance. Hopefully it'll work out and I won't get any failures. I sure hope they do make a bios update release soon.

 

I wouldn't buy a Pentium 4 notebook. Too much heat, no 64-bit, no NX bit (see here and search for AMD64) hardware worm protection... they're obsolete chips. Stick with the zv5000z, or go with another brand if you need a faster video chip.

I had to hunt down Crucial 512MB PC2700 SODIMMs with Micron chips, but now my zv5000z is solid. (I just fired up Aquamark to make Absolutely Sure of this.) I think, but haven't attempted to prove, that Kingston PC3200 SODIMMs will work. (Running PC3200 memory underclocked at PC2700 speed has been successful for some people.) HP appears to have only tested this notebook with Micron chips. I'm impressed that HP is sending out 1GB SODIMMs to replace flakey 512MB pairs; 1GB SODIMMs are way more expensive.

 

I have a zx5000 (by the way they only come with pentium chips, amd64 are zv5000z and zv5000 for intel without dedicated graphics). I have had no issues with heat this laptop runs pretty quite and cool. I am using it on my lap right not after leaving it on all night without a problem. As to ram issues, I have not tried ot upgrade mine, but there are many who have the zv5000z are having more ram issues than the other models due to the new amd64 processors.

Just curious brianstretch what was your aquamark score?

 

Aquamark on zv5000z Athlon 64 3200+ GeForce 440 64MB:
1,038 GFX
9,205 CPU
9,839 Total

So, great CPU and weak GPU. My Athlon 64 3200+ desktop gets about the same CPU score but triple the GFX score (GeForceFX 5700 Ultra). The framerate drops to the mid single digits on the more complex scenes. I may yet sell this notebook because of the weak graphics chip, but it does everything else very well and I really shouldn't be playing games anyhow. If I bought a different Athlon 64 notebook I'd have to make a different set of compromises. No one has gotten it 100% right yet.

The more I think about it, the Athlon 64's low-latency integrated memory controller must just have a lower margin for error than the external memory controllers used by the Intel and Athlon XP CPUs. Using PC3200 memory, which Crucial specs for this notebook on their website, makes an awful lot of sense, regardless of what HP says. There's certainly no harm in underclocking and the price difference is minimal. Micron may just have stricter engineering standards than Infineon, etc. So, PC2700 is OK for Micron chips, but definitely go with PC3200 when buying from anyone else, and stick with the better brands regardless. Many PC3200 SODIMMs default to 2.6V (instead of 2.5V) and CL3 latency (vs. 2.5), further helping stability.

 

Yeah the Aquamark test on my zx5000's score:
GFX 2,400 ATI 9600
CPU 5,182 P4 2400M
Triscore Total is : 19,496 (are you sure your total is right?)
Its a shame you can't get the nVidia 5700, ATI 9600 or 9700 in the zv5000z.

 

Yes, I'm sure about my total. My desktop gets about 30,000. A low GFX score really clobbers the total, which makes sense given how GPU-dependent games are.

Someone at HP marketing needs a serious cluestick beating over their GeForce 440 selection, or at least for integrating it into the motherboard rather than mounting it on a user-replaceable card. I really, really want a 5700.

I picked up a D-Link DWL-2100AP and a 6dB omnidirectional antenna at CompUSA today. I can set the AP's power output to 1/8th normal, take the notebook to the other end of my condo, and still maintain 54Mbps. Pretty neat. Between the low power output and shutting down SSID broadcast the AP is pretty stealthy, and if stealth fails there's WEP (which isn't all that secure but you can't crack what you can't find). This only works because the zv5000z has those two very good integrated antennas. Only as strong as the weakest link and all that. Now, if only Broadcom would cough up Linux drivers so I could have wireless networking under 64-bit Linux...

 

Well I received a 512 MB SODIMM today. The only thing this local memory specialist (The Competition, Lorton VA) had for me to try was a PC2700 Mosel Vitalic stick. Plugged it into slot two (slot one has the infamous Infineon 512 MB stick from HP) and away it goes. Only benchmark readily available is the 3DMark2001 SE Pro. Do not know what it means, but the first round gave a score 6013 3D Marks. Now looping on 10 passes, no problems, score 5985. Tomorrow I will run memtest, and report back.

Bill

 

For me it's between this system and the Dell 9100... but oh I love AMD! Any word on linux compatibility? (Fedora, Mandrake, Suse, I prefer Fedora but...?)

Question: I think I might wanna do video editing on this baby, does it have enough ports for that? I'm guessing firewire? My church has a video camera, not sure what it has or whatever, but it'd be nice to be able to that sorta thing on this.

my proposed specs for the HP:
AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3400+ 2.20 GHz
80GB HD
1 GB Ram (2 sticks...)
4x DVD writer etc.
15.4" WXGA
1 year accident protection etc.
for 2123

or the Dell with
2.8 GHZ P4 15"WSXGA+
same ram, HD, DVD burner, warranty
128MB graphics card
2226

seems like a no-brainer to me... go HP! Just curious about the linux compatibility/video editing.

the Dell is thicker(2") but not as deep by an inch.

I'll be leaving for the weekend soon but the thing is, my parents are gonna buy a laptop for me tonight (it's 2:46 am right now... we'll probably get it around 6pm tonight, I need to get it soon because I'm going on http://www.semesteratsea.com this summer (!!) so want to get it before i leave to make sure any RAM problems as mentioned in this thread or whatever else are ironed out...)

if anyone sees this and can AIM me at brandonfpu that'd be great, i'll check my email though too... i'll try to check in before i buy of course too... (but a big chunk of time tomorrow will be packing, driving home, etc...)

Thanks! I'm pretty excited i finally found an AMD notebook at the last minute... what a great site!

 

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

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>

my proposed specs for the HP:
.....
1 year accident protection etc.

or the Dell with
........
same.... warranty

<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>

one more thing... the cool thing about the dell and the accident protection, is that you get 1 year or 4 years protection for the same price ($119 for four years protection is nice)...while the HP costs $99 one year, $299 for three years, and dosent even cover 4 years.

 

Since the zv5000z's video chip is fine for 2D work like video editing and it does everything else as good or better than the Dell (especially the CPU), I'd go with HP. There is a FireWire port in addition to 3 USB 2.0 ports. Fedora Core 1 for AMD64 runs so long as you use the "idle=poll" kernel option workaround until HP fixes their BIOS (they've been informed). Wireless won't work under 64-bit Linux since Broadcom won't release the drivers they've ALREADY WRITTEN (speaking of cluestick beatings...) but 32-bit Linux can use a wrapper (http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/) and use the Windows XP drivers. I haven't had a time to thoroughly test FC1 AMD64 but it does install and boot OK.

Be sure to select the 802.11g/Bluetooth wireless card and the 12 cell battery option. Microsoft's Bluetooth keyboard/mouse kit works very well with this (I recommend buying a set of NiMH AA rechargable batteries for at least the mouse).

 

Thanks for the very speedy replies. anyone else have any more input? (I signed that online petition for the Broadcam drivers... too bad HP uses that compnay too... I don't plan on doing much wireless internet stuff anyway).
and yes i am talking about the zv5000z.

 

I agree with everything brianstretch says about the zv5000z except in my experience the video card runs even advanced games perfectly well. It's a great computer. Statistically an extended warranty is a waste of money.

 

I now have had my zv5000z for almost a month and am more impressed each day. Last night I upgraded from 512MB to 1GB (see above) and memtest has now completed the first pass successfully. I will let it run several hours and report back later. Does anyone know memtest? It is properly reporting an Athlon 64, but it says at 797.8MHz. Does anyone know if that is the default speed when you boot to DOS? How would you get memtest to test at full speed, or is this a bug in memtest86+ v1.11? Is CPU speed under bootup controlled by AMD's PowerNow? I have the system set to run at full speed all the time under WinXP.

I am basically using the system for video editing with Adobe Premiere (6.5 currently). It is working beautifully for this application. I will later benchmark this notebook against my desktop system with a rendering sequence.

Bill

 

I bought it today... with the specs i listed above

 

Whomever: I've seen some ire on these boards lately over blanket statements such as the one you made: statistically an extended warranty is a waste of money. I usually don't agree with people getting upset over blanket statements, but here I must express my disapproval. I personally would like some hard numbers (and somewhere to verify them) that support your statement. I know that an LCD screen for a lappy costs more than the warranty, and the possibility that other components may also need replacing in the time period seems to make the investment worth it. Is this really, "in your experience, the warranty is not worth it?"

 

TheShaman, an extended warranty is insurance. Insurance is like a lottery. The insurance company makes money because the odds (what I wrongly called "statistics") favor them. In other words, the majority of people who purchase the insurance will never receive a tangible benefit. They won't get their money's worth. Furthermore, extended warranties are full of exclusions and other barriers. Better read them carefully. You are right that you would be better off with an extended warranty if you broke your screen (assuming that is covered). But the odds are that you will not do so. Also, as the value of your machine depreciates your insurance becomes less valuable. How much is it worth after the standard year expires? After two years? Do the math. Read any consumer magazine. Google for "extended warranty consumer organization," etc. Savvy consumers don't play the lottery, and they don't purchase extended warranties on anything they can afford to replace.
Granted, there are intangible benefits to extended warranties, like "peace of mind." Many people are willing to pay for this feeling, so I guess in that way my blanket statement was my opinion.

 

Honestly,

I disagree that extended warranties are a waste of money. I had a compaq that gave me nothing but hardware problems...after the third time they replaced the whole computer without a problem (went from a pIII 800 to a p4 2.8ghz/HT). And similarly, my rooomate works in a chemical laboratory and had water get all over his laptop--without the warranty he woulda been **** outta luck so I think its up to an individuals personal situation.

~beast

 

My point is this:
10 people buy computer x from company Y. All 10 pay $179 for an extended warranty, so company Y gets $1790. Person #1 has an issue that company y pays for under the warranty at a cost to company y of, say, $1000 (high maybe, but point remains valid). Person #1 (smilingbeast?, guy in the lab?), jumps for joy and reports on forums about how lucky he was to have purchased the warranty. Other people think "wow, that could happen to me too, I'd better get that warranty." People 9-10 do not use the warranty. They paid for "peace of mind," person #1's repair and company Y's $790 profit. Odds are that you will be persons 9-10, not person 1.
If your personal circumstances make it more likely that you will be person #1 (some clever people buy warranties and break the computer later to get a new one), and you are aware of HP's warranty exclusions, then the warranty might be a good purchase for you.

 

and another:
"Here's the thing about HP accidental damage protection- it does not cover normal wear and tear. You can drop the unit, but there won't be coverage it a key breaks off due to use, which can cost $250 (seen it happen to someone). Many retail tores offer warranty plans that due cover such normal wear and tear, that's what I'm going with." (Retail plans are an even bigger gamble.)

 

Here's a clever strategy (from zd7000forums.com):

"You can purchase the HP Extended Waranty anytime with the first 12 months of ownership.

For example, I'll take delivery next week on my new ZD7000.

If I drop the laptop and break the 17" screen in October 2004, I have two options.

1) Send it to my closest HP repair center and have them replace the screen ($850 part/ $150 labor = $1000)

2) Purchase the accident coverage warranty ($99 for 1 year extended accident coverage here:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/cgi-bin/hpdirect/shopping/scripts/product_detail/product_detail_view.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1044221328.1073317901@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccdfadckgfmklmkcfngcfkmdflldfjk.0&product_code=U4822A&cross_link=1

The process takes about a week to complete the paperwork. Then I can send my broken ZD7000 and have it fixed under the extended warranty."

 

If stores and companies had a pretty good idea that their product would be falling apart sometime soon, then im sure that a warrnaty at a store would be alot more then 350$, or whatever it is on HP. etc. The reason its so cheap, is because they know people out there are thinking "well, chances are its not going to break, so i dont need the warranty", so companies make it appealing by having a low price for a warranty, "just incase".

Stores keep trying to sell me their warranty, and it is a good idea that they offer it, because it actualy would help if someone major happend, like the screen broke.. etc.. but the otherside of it, hwo often do peoples notebooks break down? not often. I'm in my third year of an interne technologist program, and all 30 of us having notebooks, different models and makes, and not ONE has had a big enough problem that they have had to go and get it fixed under the warranty, and these are people that are going to school everyday carrying their machines around, for 3 years.

So the chances of a notebook actualy busting, well they are pretty low, as long as u keep good care of it.

Everyone should know, that the main point of a warranty is just so the company can get a little extra money. if there was an incredible need for everyone to get an extended warranty, they woudl sucker us for every dime ew have and make the thing alot more then 350 bucks.

ive had to debate getting a warrnaty ont he future notebook im looking at, for a few months now.. and ive decided i dont need it, even tho i can get it for 100 bucks cheaper then everyone else (friend works there). If i had the extra money, hey, sure why not, ill give futureshop their 250 bucks, and just incase somethin happens to my machine ill have a better chance of them fixin it.. but im pretty low on the money thing.. so i cant do that.

 

Hey guys,

Yea i do agree that most people don't use their warranties. Regarding having to pay for it, the thing I like about the HP warranty is that when I bought it, they were offering the 0%, 12 month offer for orders over $200, so as a student I should be able to pay it off by the time the 11th months hits (or so i hope). well either way, I'm hoping it will be a good investment for me seeing as my laptop is always in a chemical lab just like my roommates that got water damage.

~beast

 

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

 

I got my zv5000z two weeks ago.
And started watching this topic when I ordered.

Here is my experience.

I ordered with 256M and 3200+ CPU

I bought a 512M PC2700 stick from circuitcity before I heard someone say it will not work. But I have no problem with memtest.

I was unable to run aquamark when I added the 512. Last night, I put the 512 under the keyboard (thanks goes to Venombite)and everything's fine now. Got aquamark score similar to brianstretch. I also let it run memtest overnight last night, no problem. Just a new-commer's luck?

The CPU normally runs at speed far below 2G, I saw ~380Mhz reported by WXP. Normally stay ~800Mhz. I am able to use speedswitch (?) to keep it run at 2G through.

When pushed, the CPU CAN get hot and blow hot air. But for me, it it hard to keep it up there all the time (not a gamer --- yet).

Overall, I am happy with my first notebook experience.

Can anyone give more info on harddrive upgrade? I found there are two 7200RPM harddrive out there. 60G 8M cahce by Hitachi and 50G 16M cache by Toshiba. ANy experience, suggections here? Just started thinking about it.

 

Any single PC2700 SODIMM will work, but adding a second PC2700 SODIMM will usually fail, under stress if not immediately. Micron PC2700 based SODIMMs will work perfectly since that's what HP tested against. For just about anything else, you'll need PC3200 memory to have a decent chance of reliable operation. Regretably, HP has shipped an awful lot of zv5000z's and Compaq R3000Z's with Infineon PC2700 memory that does not work in two SODIMM configurations (some people received Micron memory that does work). I tracked down Micron memory locally for my zv5000z. Crucial recommends PC3200 memory for this notebook, likely because they've added Infineon memory to their product mix. Aquamark is an excellent stress test, as you discovered.

AMD's PowerNow! is far more sophisticated than Intel's SpeedStep. PowerNow! will adjust the clock speed and core voltage as needed. Run anything requiring heavy CPU power and it'll kick you up to 2GHz immediately. I recommend leaving it enabled.

I swapped in a Hitachi 60GB 7200RPM drive. Works great, BIG improvement, very easy to do.

 

I'm glad I saw this site before I committed myself to a laptop.

After some research of my own, as well as running my laptops needs and opinions across a friend or two, I've decided that the zv5000 line would suit my needs most. However, I do have a few questions:

1) I'm currently considering the zv5101us, available on hp.com and at Staples. It has 256 of memory, and from what I've read here, upgrading the memory can be a challenge. Should I go ahead with a CTO, or maybe another pre-configured model in this line, one with 512 memory?

2) I may order directly from hp's site. Does anyone here have any personal experience with their extended warranties? I am in the habit of buying the extended stuff, because I used to live in a place that experienced a lot of power surges.

3) I plan on using mainly MS Works/Word, watching DVD movies, going online (not wireless yet, but maybe in the future), and managing my finances on my laptop. I'm not much into gaming on the computer, but do play occasionally. Is the zv5000/zv5000z line the best one for this, or one of the other hp lines?

 

brianstretch,

Thanks for the info on the harddrive. I think I will go for it when my heart say so.

Just in case I did not make it clear, I am now running with the centon 512M under keyboard and the original Infineon in the accessible slot. I did run the aquamark with the new setup and it works. (It did not work when the 512M centon was in the accessible slot, call that interesting?) I will live with it for now.

I will definitely let the power now work for me. The speedup is fast enough (ahead of CPU load goes to 100%). Just in case you want more control on the performance part, I think that speedswitch (http://www.diefer.de/speedswitchxp/) under windowsXP is fun to have. It worked for me.

Silver Rose,

I belive the zv5101us is not using the AMD64, only zv5000z does.
A lot , if not all people here tend to want do something ourself to get something more for less.

 

zv5000_1st: interesting about the Centon, thanks for the info. I had no such luck when I tried the same thing on my notebook.

Silver Rose: The zv5101us's 2.4GHz P4 CPU is severely inferior to the Athlon 64 3000+ in terms of performence, power management, the lack of 64-bit capability, and the lack of NX (No Execute) buffer overrun protection (stops many Windows worms in hardware) that will be enabled when WinXP Service Pack 2 is released. Its integrated graphics (uses a portion of main memory rather than its own dedicated video memory) is slower than the already modest GeForce 440 the zv5000z uses. Between the two, I'd go for the build-to-order zv5000z. The eMachines Athlon 64 models are also well worth consideration. There is a Compaq R3000Z model (very similar to the HP zv5000z) available at Circuit City and Best Buy. I suspect we'll see some interesting retail offers in Sunday's newspaper ads. Now that I've got my memory issues straightened out I do like my zv5000z but it's not a gaming notebook (the eMachines with its high-end Radeon 9600 graphics chip is). The primary reason to select the zv5000z over eMachines is to be able to custom-configure options the eMachines doesn't have (Bluetooth, 12-cell battery, 1680x1050 screen, all of which I did); otherwise, there's no real advantage and a big disadvantage (slower video).

 

If its graphics performance you want the zx5000 will kill both the zv5000(z). You just can't touch the ATI 9600 coupeled with a good processor, yes I know the zv5000z would be it if it had the same card, however that is not an option, nor a possiblity from HP/Compaq. Also, I'm sure he realizes the zv5000, can't compete with the zv5000z but if he doesn't want/need that extra power and/or is trying to get in budget you can't beat the zv5000 for just basic computer usage, no big time gaming.

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

 

Um, Quickstar, I hope you weren't referring to me as a "he". I'm a "she". [:X]

Anyway, I'm not a hard-core tech person, so I don't need a whole lot of bells and whistles, just the right bells and whistles. And, I've heard pros and cons on the AMD Atlhon processor, so I'm confused. [?] As long as it's not Celeron (my 5-year-old desktop has that, and I can't stand it!), I guess.
Also, I forgot to ask something (which exposes my lack of tech experience, I realize). While I hate my computer, I like my printer, since about the most drastic work I've ever had to do on it is change the ink. It's an HP DeskJet 712C, and almost as old as the computer. Any chane of finding something out there that'll work with my printer? I'm trying to stay within a certain budget here.

- SR

 

I mean *Quikster*, not Quickstar. Sorry![:I]

 

The Deskjet 712C has a parallel port instead of USB:

http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/document.jhtml?reg=&plc=&lc=en&cc=us&prodId=dj712c&docName=bpd06281&cat=prodinfo

But the zv5000z has a parallel port too so you're OK there. I wouldn't expect any trouble getting it to work.

If you're on too tight a budget for an Athlon 64 notebook, check the eMachines M5309. Same price as the HP P4 2.4GHz you were looking at, same 15.4" widescreen, similar integrated graphics, same 802.11g networking, but it has twice the RAM, a bigger HD, and a slightly better Athlon 2500+ CPU.

Yes, definitely avoid the Celerons like the plague they are [ ].

 

If you do get a new printer you might want to look at the Epsons, since they use the cheapest ink for refill. Each color has its own cartridge, and they run about 10.00 a piece, 5.00 if on sale so you could end up saving a lot on ink.

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

 

Word is that the Compaq R3140 Athlon 64 notebook will be $1299 after rebates at Best Buy and Circuit City tomorrow. It only has a 32MB video chip but does have a DVD burner (DVD+R only). It's worth a look, and I bet Best Buy is going to do their usual 18 months no interest financing.

 

brianstretch

You are correct! We get our Sunday advertising sections on Saturday. I have the fliers here from Best Buy and Circuit City. It is the R3140US. How can they call a 32MB video card be a "Gaming" system? Both have 512MB RAM and a 60GB drive plus 802.11g wireless. Best Buy is 18 months no interest, Circuit City is 12 months.

"Word is that the Compaq R3140 Athlon 64 notebook will be $1299 after rebates at Best Buy and Circuit City tomorrow. It only has a 32MB video chip but does have a DVD burner (DVD+R only). It's worth a look, and I bet Best Buy is going to do their usual 18 months no interest financing."

Bill

 

"How can they call a 32MB video card be a "Gaming" system?"

Heck, I don't know how they can call the 64MB GeForce 440 a "gaming system". They've got the right CPU, I'm sure strategy games rock, but I have to cut UT2004 back to 800x600 to get frame rates similar to what my desktop's FX5700 Ultra gets at 1280x1024 and even ignoring the resolution diff it doesn't look anywhere near as good. I want a GeForce 5700 Mobile!

Oh well, I guess HP expects serious gamers to buy the eMachines M6800 series. I wanted the 1680x1050 res screen and what not you can get with the build-to-order HP models more than I wanted gaming performence, plus I wanted nVidia for better Linux support. Speaking of Linux, Fedora Core 2 Development should be fixed enough to install correctly now, gotta try that.

Thanks for the confirmation on the Sunday ads.

 

NVIDID support for linux is pretty good now.

I installed fedora 64 and knoppix 32 on my r3000z. After downloading and installing the right drivers, you need also modify the xf86config or xf86config-4 files, then you will have really nice widescreen display and high resolution.

 

I'm typing this from Fedora Core 2 Development at 1680x1050 res. Neato. idle=poll is no longer required. I'm using the stock drivers, nVidia's drivers won't compile on this development kernel.

Power management isn't enabled, I'll need to look into that. I need to figure out Bluetooth (http://www.bluez.org) too.

Sane people should stick to FC1, everyone else should probably wait for FC2 Test 3, but if you don't want to wait Fedora Core Development works as of today. You will need to plug in a USB mouse though, the touchpad no longer works (it did on FC1).

Yeah, Linux at 1680x1050 res is spiffy [ ]