HP nc8430 replacement?

Hi there,

I purchased an HP nc8430 in 2006, and its been brilliant.

Its getting a bit long in the tooth and I am now after a replacement.

I do some moderate gaming so a dedicated video card is a must.

At present, I am looking at the Dell Studio 15/16 models as they seem to offer good bang for the buck. However I have been so happy with my HP Notebook that I would like to see what HP have to offer.

I have tried the HP UK website, however I totally hate the layout of it, and am totally confused with the myriad of options and model ranges. I cant seem to filter out what I want.

What I am looking for is a 15" (approx) laptop with a dedicated video card.

Budget is up to £900, would prefer options about £700 however.

Any assistance appreciated!

 

I switched from my nc8430 to a 6730b and have no regrets.
The only drawback is that it doesn't have a dedicated video board but that also makes it more silent. It's a very nice machine.
And I edited a lot of videos using this machine even though it's "just" a business line machine.

If I thought twice though I would have bought a MacBook so I could get the best rated Windows machine as well as a Macintosh letting me develop apps for the iPhone.
My next machine will be a MacBook just for that reason.
I hate its keyboard but otherwise, MacBooks get the best scores for Windows machines, which is kind of ironic...

If I had to stick to PCs, then I'll go with the new HP Business line, including the 6730b, 69nnb, etc... You can't be wrong.

And yes, stick to HP if you want quality.

 

I had another go and ended up looking at the HP Pavilion dv6-2100 series with the Nvidia GT 230M Graphics card.

Drops in my price range nicely and seems to tick the boxes.

Any general comments on this laptop before I have a look through the 52 page owners thread? (lol)

How does the GT 230M stack up against the ATI 4650 in the Dell XPS 16?

 

Why aren't you looking at the HP Elitebook 8530p?? It's the successor to the 8510p, which is the successor to the nc8430. From briefly playing around with an 8530w, I can say that they are a huge step up in build quality over the nw8440 (nc8430 in your case). They start around $1300, which would equal about L803.79 (Sorry, I don't know how to get the "pound" symbol). A little bit over your preferred L700 budget, but still under your L900 maximum budget.

 

There may be some weird pricing or inflation involved on this side of the Atlantic - I did look at the Elitebook 8530, but the pricing over here seems to be a bit mental, they start at £1100 if I remember rightly from my research. (Im getting old, I may not remember correctly!).

 

Yep, just checked the hp UK website - £1337 (har) for the base model.