Just bought a dv2637TX

Hi all,
I spent all weekend looking for a nice laptop and decided on the dv2637TX [click for pdf of specs]. It was a toss up between one of the older model Sony VAIO SZ's and the M1330 both off which came in at $2400-$2800. This HP though caught my eye and I quite liked the slightly bigger screen size(14.1"). I managed to get it for $1690 after HP's $150 cash back. The price is what had me sold, I couldn't find anything in that price range that came close to these specs. I even got the 2.2GHz! I wish the resolution was bigger and the graphics card was slightly better but what can ya do?

I'm picking it up on Tuesday so I've began preparing a few things. Firstly, I wanted to play Call of Duty on it but not sure if it's up to the task with the 64MB 8400M GS video card. My plan was to plug it into my desktop monitor and set the resolution ands settings to fairly low. Since I'll be gaming I'll probably need to install XP, but when I'm not gaming I'm on Linux. Seeing as I have 250GB to play with I'll probably give Vista, XP and Linux 40GB each. and the rest for a NTFS partition to share with every OS.

I'll shrink Vista, install XP, then Linux and use GRUB to tri-boot them. When I get to partitioning am I going to see anything out of the ordinary like hidden partitions with stuff on it? Can I blast it all away? Will it have any negative effects(on Vista or HP's setup)? Surely it won't void any warranties? I haven't used Vista before but I'm assuming I can destroy the partition table and set it up how I want from scratch. Do HP provide the installation disks for Vista so I can put it back on?

Any help would be great.


Thanks.

 

Where did you buy it? What are the specs and what was the total?

 

lol u go it for $150 ...did u mean $1500??

 

Yep sorry I meant $1690.

mitya I bought it from Dick Smith Electronics. Harvey Norman and JB-HI also had it.

 

make sure you make the recovery discs before destroying the recovery partition

 

Likewise, I'm currently looking at the DV2637TX.

The only things i'm concerned about are -

The Graphics Card - Will the GeForce 8400M GS be sufficient for all normal work and a few games? And how good is it? will i be able to play COD4? and if so at what settings? Can anyone who has one please let me know.

Secondly, some of the reviews on Battery life were pretty average. What is some of the battery life you are getting when using WiFi, playing games or watching DVDs?

I'm drawn toward this laptop because it is smaller than a 15 inch, its visually attractive and has good specs.

Thanks for your responses in advance.