How good is the HP zv6xxxus series?

What I need is a decent enuf desktop replacement :
DVD writer,
512RAM,
good 15" screen (widescreen 1280 X 800),
Want the ATI X200M so I can play half-life once a while.
Prefer AMDs to Intels.
I dont care abt the weight as its only for home use.
Budget is only around $1000

The zv6007us and zv6130us fit nicely into my scheme of things. But there is hardly any difference between the two except that the 6007 has 20GB more HDD space and the audio chipset is different (6007 has HP-audio while 6130 has altec lansing). Thats it, apart from that, hardly any differences!

zv6130us is available for like 990 bucks...while I simply cant find anyone selling a new zv6007us. Anyone knows where I can find it? Or if someone knows its price?

Later I also saw that there are just too many PCs in the zv6000 series and many seem to fit my bill....and now...I'm just too confused as to which zv6xxx to buy.

Need help ASAP from all you HP-owners....how is the performance of the zv6000 series...any major hardware problems? which one is good in this series? I wont prefer the customised ones...want to go for pre-built.

Any other manufacturer which fits above requirements considering my tight budget.

Would really appreciate the help

Thanks in advance

 

The zv6000 is a fairly good notebook for everyday purposes and some number crunching, and does a good job overall as a desktop replacement. However, don't plan on any hardcore gaming, because its equipped with the X200M GPU, which is not a horrid graphics card, but is not a lot compared with some of the other graphics cards out there. However, for your purposes, it should handle Half-Life 2 at low-med settings, and can even handle max settings if you buy 1.5GB of RAM. The build quality is pretty good for the amount of money you pay, and I haven't heard of any dead pixels in the notebook series from anybody yet. The keyboard could use a little work IMO, but has a solid feel to it. The touch pad is large and spacious, and is great for internet surfing, and can be deactivated while typing word documents, which is a big help. I customized mine off costco.com, which I highly recommend, as it allows you to do what you want, coupled with costco's industry leading 6-month warranty. However, if you did have to buy in-store, I would go for the notebook that has Altec Lansing speakers if the two notebooks are similar in price and have similar components.

 

Personally I would prefer to get a customized one at HP.com. You can get it the way you want, HP charges tax only in a few states and has a 30 day return policy. I'd recommend the 5400RPM hard drive for much better system performance. I think the zv6000 is a good budget DTR for those who don't game much. Has a good glossy screen and decent keyboard. Most zv6000s you buy at CircuitCity or BestBuy come with a 4200RPM drive. Good Luck.

 

costco is giving zv6201cl, which again, has the same features as above with altec lansing speakers (just a 20GB lesser HDD) for around 900 bucks.

I think its a good deal...what is your opinion?

Although costco doesnt say it anywhere on the webpage, is there any-way this could be a refurbished model? Any idea about how costco displays whether its a refurbished product or a new one?

 

It say on the top of the page "New Offers". I would take that to mean it is new, but you could ask. It seems like a nice machine. You could upgrade to a faster hard drive for better system perfromance and throw the old one in a case for extra storage. Good Luck.

 

Their generous 6 month return policy is a nice bonus as well.

 

Yeah - if you can get it at Costco, then by all means, do so. They have the best return policy out there, and customer service is great.

For around $1,000, you're not going to find a more powerful notebook. The only other notebook that compares in terms of price/performance is the Gateway MX7515. Might want to give that a look.

 

I just picked up Costco's Thanksgiving weekend coupon book. They have the HP zv6201cl listed for $799 after $100 off at register. I'm in need of a notebook to
run 3D CAD applications. I can upgrade the ram to 2 gigs, but I'm a little worried
about the video. I'm currently using an HP ze4610us (Athlon XP2500) and it is "just" usable. Assuming the zv6201cl comes with the 128MB ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M,
(the ad doesn't specify) will this be an acceptable solution? I too am on an "under a grand" budget. Thanks for the feedback in advance.

 

I am sure it is better than your current rig, but the 200m is on the lower end of the graphics card spectrum. Upping the memory will help. 3D cad it very GPU intensive. I would look at the Compaq v4000t. You can get with a Pentium M and 128MB x700 card for around $1k on HP.com. The x700 is a much better card than the 200m. You can upgrade the hard drive and memory later. Acer 4402 is another option. Good Luck.

 

The X200M will be way better than your current solution. However, as zazonz says, it is low-end, so don't expect miracles.

See if you can get an HP dv4000 or a Compaq V4000t with a 128MB X700 for under $1,000 - a little while ago you could on HPShopping.com, they had the V4000t for $899 with a Celeron and an X700. I'd definitely look into that, the X700 is 4-5X as fast as the X200M.

Bumping the Celeron to a Pentium M would help performance, but I don't think the Celeron is a bad processor. The Pentium M does have better battery life due to improved power management, and will also run cooler for the same reason.

 

Are those video cards embedded, or you can upgrade them yourself, much like the hdd, ram.. etc?

 

It's impossible to upgrade the video card the zv6000. It is integrated into the motherboard.

 

Exactly, ChazMan is correct. Anyways, it is extremely difficult to replace Video Cards in notebooks that have dedicated cards. In addition to that, you are limited by what family the card is upgradable to. For example, you can't go upgrading an ATI X600 to an ATI X700, nor cross between companies, like upgrading an ATI with a Nvidia card.

 

I have an HP zv6000 and am very happy with it. My only problem as well is that it does only have the ATI Radeon Xpress 200m which is pretty good for an integrated chip but still not too good. In retrospect I wish I had gotten the HP DV4000 but overall I am quite happy with my zv6000. For the price it is about the best you can get at this time in my opinion.

 

I would agree with you happy - the zv6000 has probably the best price/performance ratio out there. AMD64 kicks, but yeah, the video card holds it back...a shame. But, it's better than the crappy SiS or GMA900 graphics - always a positive side