How does this customized HP look ?

Hi all, I'm about to purchase my first laptop and the dv2700t series looks like a great deal.

I have customized one to my likings, and it's coming out right about at $800 which is in the price range for me. I am a college student so portability is a big factor. I will mostly use this for school work (business student), occasional gaming (though nothing that would be a strain. Games like Counter Strike or Madden), and iTunes/music.

I would greatly appreciate any feedback/tips or any comments

Thanks in advance!




Components

* • Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
* • Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor T5850 (2.16GHz)
* • 14.1" diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1280 x 800)
* • 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)
* • 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
* • 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* • Webcam Only
* • Intel Wireless-G Mini-card
* • SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support
* • No TV Tuner w/remote control

 

Oh and if anyone has anything to share regarding the series, I'm all open ears !

 

I think the newer dv4t or dv4z with coupons are a better deal.

The dv4t was only $900 dollars a few days ago with $500 dollar coupon.
T9400 2.53mhz 45nm 3mb cache 1066fsb
1280*800 LED screen
3GB DDR2 800mhz ram
256mb Nvidia Geforce 9200 GS
250gb 5400rpm Hard drive
Intel wireless N
SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support

 

I would buying the minimum amount of RAM and upgrading it yourself; manufacturers really overprice the cost of memory. Also, you would be taking a small risk in buying a system with an Nvidia 8400 or 8600 GPU as there have been major long term issues that resulted in the GPUs failing prematurely because of heat stress. You can read about it more on the forums; Nvidia has claimed that this issue has been resolved by using more heat resistant materials for their GPUs, but many people are still experiencing failures.

 

the 9 series nvidia cards are affected as well.

 

^ I don't want to scare you out of buying Nvidia products, but there have been increasing numbers of people reporting that their Nvidia GPUs have failed; mine included. If you do decide to buy the dv2700t, please be aware of the risk; Nvidia is not going to issue any recalls.

 

I have 4 notebooks with nVidia cards and zero problems.
3 of them are HP and one is Clevo.

Guess I am lucky.

 

Most importantly even 7 series Nvidia users are facing problems with their notebooks. My GPU failed last saturday. In this forum itself, quite a lot of members' notebooks with Go 7200 failed. I am beginning to suspect that this is a bigger scam after all.

 

Yeah, my 7200 failed as well. I got this new Dell with sweet ATI graphics as a replacement.

 

I'd get the dv4z to avoid NVIDIA. The Radeon 3200, despite being integrated, performs about as well as the GeForce 9200 GS. Spend some of the money you save by buying AMD on upgrading to a LED backlit screen and 802.11n with Bluetooth.

 

If that is the situation can we say that Nvidia is trying to fleece its customers by actually claiming that only certain batches of 8400 and 8600 have been affected? I was listening to music when the card failed. And they were keeping quiet for more than a year before revealing a half baked truth. How preposterous!!!