Hp Dv9035nr

I'm thinking of buying the HP notebook DV9035 for my son for gaming. Is this a good notebook for gaming?

 

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Buy a Dell 1705 with the 7900GS gpu (video card)

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Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

Will xyz run xyz game?

The Mobile Graphics Card Info Page

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=1246649


Upgrading a Graphics Card?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=41454

Notebook Video Graphics Card Guide 2006
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=65548

 

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PS: in a few months a new platform is coming out if you can wait called Santa Rosa:

Santa Rosa info:

http://www.notebookforums.com/post2496587-9.html


It's the next generation machines designed for Vista with improvements.... 800, vs 667 bus, Hybrid hard drives, better gpu's DX-10... but other stuff..

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=Santa+Rosa+Intel&spell=1


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/01/16/intel_centrino_roadmap/

http://www.techspot.com/news/20130-intel-santa-rosa-centrino-to-appear-in-2007.html

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/display/20060419053800.html


Intel’s Santa Rosa Mobile Platform to Adopt EFI.

The transition to extensible firmware interface (EFI) from the widely adopted basic input/output system (BIOS) has begun with the release of Intel-based Macintosh computers, however, in the general personal computers EFI is still not used any broadly. However, this is going to change with the release of Intel Corp.’s next-generation mobile platform code-named Santa Rosa, which will use EFI instead of BIOS.
American Megatrends Inc. (AMI), a leading supplier of BIOS, announced at Intel Developer Forum (IDF) in Beijing, China, that Santa Rosa, Intel’s next generation Centrino mobile technology, will be the first of many future customer reference boards (CRBs) from Intel mobile platform group to offer Aptio, an EFI 1.1/UEFI-based firmware.
AMI Aptio is compatible with EFI 1.10, Unified EFI (UEFI) standards, and the Intel platform innovation framework for EFI which is Intel’s “product-strength implementation of EFI and UEFI”. Aptio offers a wide set of mobile features, such as enhanced embedded controller interface, digital thermal sensors, hot key support and quick boot. Aptio also supports the latest advanced mobile features of Intel’s next generation mobile chipsets, including innovative power saving technologies, advanced display options and dual-core processors.
UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) is a specification detailing an interface that helps hand off control of the system for the pre-boot environment (i.e.: after the system is powered on, but before the operating system starts) to an operating system, such as Windows or Linux. UEFI provides a “clean” interface between operating systems and platform firmware at boot time, and also supports an architecture-independent mechanism for initializing add-in cards. EFI and UEFI are set to replace BIOS in future computers.
Intel’s code-named Santa Rosa mobile platform will feature code-named Merom processor with 800MHz processor system bus, new core-logic code-named Crestline which incarnations sport DirectX 9.0 shader model 3.0-compatible built-in graphics core, Intel NAND technology that boosts performance of hard disk drives, code-named Kedron wireless network controller compliant with an 802.11n standard, which will increase bandwidth to up to 600Mb/s, and some other innovations.

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But there's always something better coming out in a few months, you can't make a decision based on that.

As to the question at hand, I found it at BestBuy and specs can be referenced there:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8045288&type=product&id=1158317339247&ref=06&loc=01

The 7600 graphics card is pretty darn good, but not high-end for the most demanding games. Also, the processor is 1.66GHz so it's the "slowest" Core 2 Duo, which is still pretty fast. If this laptop is purely for high-end gaming I'd look to see what kind of price you can get on a Dell e1705. However, the look of this HP dv9000 is kind of more spiffy than the Dell if that counts for points.

 

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Like I said... "if" you can wait.... Santa Rosa will offer some improvements.... if you can wait.

Regardless the Dell 1705 with the 7900Gs blows the 7600 away and would make a much better gaming machine, plus would be able to do so for a longer period of time, due to the fact it does have a faster gpu...

To the OP, I'd also check this place as a place to buy a HP due to their 180 day return window, a no hassle return policy... getting ALL your money back.

If you get a unit with problems you can send it in for 'repair", OR you can just return it and then re-order.... Another option is to order the replacement first, since there will be a delay of 7-10 days it takes to build and ship a CTO unit..... OR you could pick from in-store models to buy...

www.COSTCO.com and here is the CTO link: http://www.costco.com/CTO/HPLanding.aspx?Prodid=10029570&whse=BC&Ne=4000000&N=4017749&Mo=1&pos=9&No=1&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&cat=28163&Ns=P_Price|1||P_SignDesc1&Sp=C&ec=&topnav=

Addtionally you can CTO a unit (Custom to Order) picking the parts /OS you want. Units are shipped DIRECT from the HP factory in CHINA... which is a plus over getting a "pre-built" because you get the hardware that has the latest revisions, bug fixes... CTO units take about 3-4 days to get built and another few days to reach you.

I CTO'd a unit a few months ago, ETA was the 12th.... Placed the order the 3rd, was shipped the 7th on a Friday at 3:54pm Fed-Ex picking up AFTER the Fed-Ex cut-off... and it arrived the 10th East Coast U.S.A by 8:30am delievered to my home.

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To the Op and anyone that might be interested... had to go buy groceries today.

At my local COSTCO store they had the following for the same price as BestBuy unit linked to above...

I think this unit may have a $50 mail in HP rebate as well... If that's the case then, even after paying the "membership" fee the price would be the same, the only differance being you get 200 gig, instead of 160, plus get a larger return window. 180-day return window with the COSTCO unit noted below:

(FYI: For those needing the HP extended warranty... it can be bought after the sale, just call up HP.)

Item #138007 (date on pull ticket 11/24/2006)

HP Pavilion
Dv9033CL
US Product Number RG341UA#ABA

$1,499.99

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...1139&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

Spec's look the same as the BestBuy unit, except you get 200 gig of hd space, instead of 160.

200GB 5400RPM Dual Hard Drive(s) (2 X 100GB) (SATA)

Both having the HP ExpressCard Analog TV Tuner with HP Media Center Remote.

Here's the link to the free Vista upgrade (Free, but you may have to pay a couple of bucks shipping..)
http://www.costco.com/Browse/Productgroup.aspx?Prodid=11185364&whse=BC&topnav=&browse=

http://www.costco.com/Images/Content/Misc/PDF/11185364.pdf



Gee who should I buy from , if pricing is about the same?

Lets compare:
COSTCO -180 day return window
Circuit City =???
BestBuy - ?? day return window
HP Shopping 21-day return window
Newegg 30? day return window
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