Looking for Notebook Advice

I'm currently in the process of shopping for my first laptop. I will be bringing the laptop with me to college so I'm looking for a "desk top replacement". My family purchased a customized Dell Dimension 4600 two months ago and we have had extensive problems with it, therefore, I refuse to buy a Dell again.

I first started looking at Apples because I thought I might like something entirely different. For comfort sake, I'm only looking at laptops with a 15+ in. screen. This eliminates all apples except the 15' and 17' powerbooks, which look really nice, but are incredibly expensive (after customizing prices came to around $2,600 and I have problems justifying something that expensive when I can buy a seemingly comperable PC for $1,000 less) I started looking at HPs only because I've always had good luck buying printers from them. Currently I've been looking at the zx5000 series and zt3000 series HP notebooks.

I would like...
* A notebook that runs smoothly, and doesn't crash constantly.
* A company which has good technical support.
* A notebook that's durable, attractive, and lightweight (but these are secondary to performace)

I will be purchasing Microsoft Basic Office 2003.
As a student, is there any reason for me to upgrade to Windows XP Professional? I currently have XP Professional on the Dell Desktop I have and what's the difference between Professional and Home edition?

I'm hoping to spend no more than about $1,800.00, but I;ll be flexible if I find a superior, quality notebook.

The computer will not be used for gaming at all, but a clear comfortable screen is important to me. I may, however, watch a DVD on it every now and then. Other than that I need it to connect to my school network, for e-mail, word processing, photo editing from my digital camera, etc.


I'm not limiting myself to HP notebooks and haven't yet explored many other brands. I would love to hear any suggestions anyone here may have.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide me with.

-Molly

 

Hi Molly,
I bought an IBM R40 and could not be happier with it!
I thought an IBM would be out of my price range until I shopped at www.newegg.com
IBM is tops in reliability and dependability and this unit had everything I was looking for.
Great battery life. 15" screen for watching DVDs, high reliability and a great feeling keyboard and IBM tech support is very fast. I called them twice and both times I got a real person by the 3rd ring!

Here is the link to the one I got at newegg.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=34-146-021&depa=0

If you will be connecting to a large network like at a university, then you will need XP pro, XP home is just for that home or a very small network. Do a search on google and you can read about the differences between the two.

Good Luck
Jack

 

PS, one more thing.
I've had my R40 for just over 3 months now and use it 8+ hours/day and it has never locked up or crashed

Jack

 

What are the things you would like to do with your notebook if its games then the zx5000 or R3000T dedicated would be great at a very good price.

The zt3000 and x1000 are lighter notebooks with great performance and upgradeable to the ATI 9200 for moderate to no gaming.

Slightly heavier and cheaper are the zv5000 and R3000T Shared with relatively no gaming

Than for best processing power without graphics are the zv5000z and R3000z

There are many people here who own and have researched on all these models and are very satisfied with them, so feel free to ask about them.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

Molly,

Will this notebook be mobile or will it always be on your desk? If you will travel with the unit, you may want to go with a lighter unit with good battery life which the HP ZT3000, X1000 & NX7000 series offer within your $1800 price limit. If this unit will just sit on your desk, then you're probably looking for raw processing power which the ZX5000, R3000 Series offer with their Pentium 4 CPU. Another model from HP you may want to consider is the ZD7000 series. This is HP's contribution to the 17" LCD notebook market. It has fairly decent processing power and a nice HUGE 17" Widescreen LCD which will be VERY easy on the eyes.
Something else I've noticed about the HP LCD's is that they seem to be brighter and sharper than most other brands in the market in its price range which is approx $1800.
HP products usually run fairly smoothly without any major problems. Their Tech Support is OK when speaking to their Level1 tech's, but get much better the higher you go. And their units are built fairly well, especially their hinges for these large LCDs.

XP Pro as mentioned is more for business use as it contains more networking features than XP home, otherwise, they're generally the same OS.

Watching DVD's, well, imaging watching a DVD on a 15.4" or 17" Bright/Sharp Widescreen LCD. You're gonna love it! IMHO.

-Vb-

 

If you're going to connect to a genuine Microsoft Windows network server, then you need WinXP Pro. I seriously doubt you'll need to do that though, so save your money and get Home. (Pro also supports multiprocessor PCs.)

The HP zv5000z (aka Compaq R3000z, buy whichever is cheaper or looks better to you) sounds like a good fit given your critera. 15.4" widescreen (mine has 1680x1050 but 1920x1200 is now available), Athlon 64 CPU (the best!), there's a 12 cell battery option (get it), Bluetooth and 802.11g wireless, and the usual array of options. A single 512MB SODIMM should be enough to get you started. It is heavy, 8.5lbs with the big battery, but the screen is first-rate and wireless range is very good (I can see lots of neighbors' wireless APs [ ]). The graphics chip is too weak for 3D games but more than adequate for 2D work like DVD video. It's been stable as a rock. One of the two fans does run constantly at low speed, so if fan noise bothers you this might not be the notebook for you. Price should be within your price limit, fully loaded.

The other notebook worth considering is the Acer Ferarri 3200, which should be quieter and has a top-of-the-line video card, but that's just outside of your price limit ($2,000 give or take, see mwave.com and newegg.com). It's not widescreen, but it's a bit lighter and has gigabit Ethernet instead of 100Mbps. Worth a look, see the Acer forum here.

 

Careful, that IBM R40 has an obsolete 802.11b WiFi card. You want 802.11g (5x faster). That's another problem with Intel-based notebooks, Intel strongarmed vendors into using their 802.11b cards instead of competing 802.11g cards in order to get Intel's marketing money. Intel didn't have 802.11g until a few months ago so there's a lot of notebooks with the old chip still for sale. Pretty much every AMD notebook built in the past 1-2 years has 802.11g.

If you haven't bought Office already, buy the Academic edition of Office 2003 Pro. It should be well under $200 and is licensed for installation on up to 3 machines. That's what I did. If your campus bookstore doesn't carry it, Newegg does.

 

brianstretch, that Acer Ferarri 3200 looks awesome, but a little pricey [ ]

 

Thanks to everyone for your advice.

bootleg2go, thanks for mentioning the IBM. I took a look at some of their notebooks and I like what I see. They seem very no nonsense, dependable notebooks.

Would an IBM, such as R40, be a better investment than something like an HP? I'm looking for something that's going to last for the long haul-I would really like it to last me my entire four years. I still like the zt3000 and zx5000 HP models. As much as I would enjoy a 17 inch sceen like the one that comes with the HP zd7000 I think that model would be too heavy (I think it's the heaviest I've seen). I'd like to bring it to classes with me but this is my first laptop and I don't want to miss out on many desktop features-so I don't mind some weight.

In regards to the IBM R40, I like everything about the one on the page you linked except for the low amount of memory. Anyway I could order off that newegg page and have them install a single stick of 512? I'm not very technically adept and would rather not try to install it myself.

Also, if I already bought a copy of Microsoft office 2003 for my desktop, I can install the same copy on my notebook, right?

Thanks again.

 

That's too bad about the wiFi card. Thanks for bringing that to my attention because I never would have noticed that. I just can't seem to find one notebook that fits everything I want at a decent price. Any suggestions on other brands/models? Are Acer's other notebooks any good?

 

Molly,

If you're looking at the Acer line, a lot of users in the Acer forum have been considering the Aspire 2010 series. The users that have bought them seem to be happy with the quality.

-Vb-

 

https://www-1.ibm.com/shop/pc/personalpages/public/public/products/details/dsp_product_note.cfm?product=1831BTU

Any opinions on this IBM model?

 

Awfully expensive, especially given the low screen resolution (1024x768) and weak graphics chip. IBM does build nice notebooks but you sure do pay for them.

 

Expensive-yes, I agree. Too bad its hard to find a nice notebook without the huge price tag. So lets just go back to the zx5000 vs zt3000 for a minute. Is either a quality machine and durable enough to last 4 years?

 

I own the zx5000 and couldn't be happier with a laptop, I am pretty sure this will last me 4 years, now whether or not I keep it that long I don't know yet, but I'm sure it will hold up.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

Hi Molly, The memory on the R40 is easily (very easily upgradeable)I added more to mine the same day it arrived and in fact it is cheaper to buy the extra memory yourself. As far as the 802.11b vs the newer ones, that is just as easy to upgrade at some point if you decide it is needed. The 802.11b is not obsolete as every wireless access point there is out there is any college, coffee shop or airport supports 802.11b and will for many years because there is such a large installed base. The 802.11g is faster no doubt, but you won't notice it when working online as that won't be the bottle neck. I have the 802.11b and my neighbor has the G version in his, when we go to the coffee shop down the street we have tried racing a large download(25MB) and we both proclaimed "done" at the same instant. The access point was an 802.11G as I had asked the owner. We did this as I'm a power/speed hungry geek and wanted to find out. At some point my wireless card will fail and at that point I'll upgrade to whatever the fastest is at that point. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't let the fact that any notebook you choose has or does not have 802.11G, it's not a big deal, just make sure it has some kind of wireless ability.

good luck in your search

Jack

 

alright here's what i got so far

HP Pavilion zx5000 series customize notebook
- Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.80 GHz
- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Professional-only $49!!
- 512MB DDR SDRAM (1x512MB)
- 60 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
- DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
- 54g(TM) Integrated Broadcom 802.11b/g Wireless LAN
- FREE Upgrade from 15" XGA to 15.4" WXGA (1280x800)
- 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) 9200
- Microsoft(R) Works/Money
- 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- Built in Bay w/USB Digital Drive
- hpshopping in-box envelope


Any adjustments? Does the screen look OK? Also, Under the category "Removable Storage" I selected Built in Bay w/USB Digital Drive, but does a slot in insert SD cards in come standard already with the zx5000? Also, I was thinking of a 3.5 Flobby, but would that be overkill? Never having used a laptop, I'm always used to having one at my disposal. With either of these drives, do I have to take out my DVD-CDRW drive and insert the one I chose? I'm a bit confused.

 

That comes to $1,435.38. Is it worth getting 1-year HP Accidental Damage Protection with Express Repair extended service plan?

 

If possible to see if you like the screen go to a desktop and put it on 1280x1024 for a rough idea of how the resolution will look, perferably do this on a 17" monitor for the closest comparison.

The card reader for SD and other flash cards is standard and is located on the left side of the computer.

I think what you added is a bulit in usb flash drive. I prefer to use this instead of floppy disks. I bought one a couple of months ago for like 20.00 and it has 128mb of memory and will work in pretty much any computer with a usb port. So between the increased size, data transfer, and the fact that a lot of current computers don't have floppies anymore I use this. Also, floppies are very prone to failure and data loss, thus I don't trust them I've seen too mnay people trust them and loose a lot of important data.

As for the Optical drive, it is a fixed drive and will not come out so you wont have to swap anything out.



zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

I spec'd a similar zv5000z system, but with a 4200RPM 60GB drive (HP stupidly refuses to offer anything faster, I swapped a 7200RPM HD into mine), 64MB GeForce 440 Go video (not quite as good as the ATI Radeon 9200), 802.11g and Bluetooth (I like Bluetooth, nice to use a wireless mouse without plugging in an external radio) and Athlon 64 3000+ CPU (much better than the P4 2.8GHz, vastly better power management) for $1427 after $50 rebate. Unfortunately, the faster HD is one of the best upgrades you can make, someone at HP needs a serious cluestick beating for not offering it on the zv5000z. For either notebook I highly recommend the 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 screen option as Microsoft's ClearType font antialiasing works amazingly well on high-pixel-density displays (it's not quite printer quality but it's very good), though you may have to crank up the font size (I've stuck with the standard Small Fonts on my 1680x1050 display, 1920x1200 wasn't offered at the time).

For whatever reason, the Compaq R3000z is $1370 after $30 rebate, and they throw in a 64MB memory card for the digital drive. I like the zv5000z's color scheme better and the HP's speakers are marginally better than the Compaq, but those are the only differences AFAIK.

I'm skeptical of the $99 service plan. I'm never completely sure if they're actually going to cover whatever breaks. Then again, I do most of my own tech support. YMMV. These are pretty solid notebooks. If something is going to break, it's probably going to break right away.

 

I disagree about the HD being the best upgrade they could offer. The only thing a faster HD helps with is load time, it doesn't help at all once the thing is actually loaded and for the most part wont make that much of a difference.
My desktop has 2x 80gb special edition hard drives 7200 RPM and 8mb cache in raid 0 (http://www.acnc.com/04_01_00.html), and as far as performance goes other than 10,000 RPM drives this is about the fastest you will get, and there isn't all that much of a difference between my desktop and laptop except for faster initial load times.
I think video card, processor, and memory are much much more important than a HD.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

I'm still unsure as to what this "removable drive" does. Here's the description Hp gives...
Built in Bay w/USB Digital Drive
The built-in bay provides an integrated docking bay and HP USB Digital Drive. The digital drive holds a pocket-sized SD (Secure Digital) memory card for copying and transferring files. The Digital Bay provides a secure fit for the drive, flush within your notebook, so you don't have to worry about losing or breaking the drive while it is docked in your notebook. High-capacity SD memory cards sold separately (not included).

Would it be wise to upgrade to
Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 3.20 GHz w/HT Technology
54g(TM) Integ. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth
15.4" WVA WSXGA+ (1680x1050)
...or would any (or all) of these be a waste of my money?

Thanks again for everyone's advice!

 

HT (HyperThreading) allows the CPU to run two threads at once, which sometimes helps and sometimes hurts performence. It also makes the chip run hotter when it is used, and the P4 is a pretty hot chip to begin with. It can be disabled though. If you have applications that are going to max out the CPU then getting a faster one is always nice. The Athlon 64 3400+ would be a far better choice in that case.

Definitely get 802.11g, Bluetooth, and the 1680x1050 screen.

 

I agree with Brian,
Skip the the service plan, if something is going to break, chances are that it will be in the beginning before the typical 1 year warranty expires.

I also have to disagree with Quickster's comment.
"The only thing a faster HD helps with is load time, it doesn't help at all once the thing is actually loaded and for the most part wont make that much of a difference."
Actually the faster hard drive helps all reads and writes to the drive. Most programs do not load the entire into memory when they load unless they are a very small application, most of them only load a portion and depending on how the program branches will load the next needed batch of code. As well as writing info to the hard drive all along the way. If your using XP then many much of the kernel/OS is cached to the hard drive (the registry can be modified so that part is always run from memory, but not all)A hard drive being a mechanical device is the slowest part of a computer and the overall performance of a PC is only as fast as it's slowest component, so speeding up the HDD speeds up the whole system. This speed increase is the whole reason for most desktop systems going from the 5200 to the 7200rpm drives a couple of years back. Now the only desktop that come with 5200rpm drives are the "budget/value" line of PCs.

Jack

 

Hi Molly,
I'm not sure what this "removeable drive" thing is. Is it the DVD/CDRW drive? or the ability to remove the DVD drive? If not, I don't think I would pay any extra for it unless a fellow forum member knows exactly what it is and if you really need it. After rereading it, it sounds like a SD memory card slot; if so I would just skip it. A USB thumb drive would be better.D epending on how cheap it is to upgrade from the 2.8 to the 3.2Ghz cpu, if it is only like $50 then maybe. Otherwise just stick with the 2.8 as the only way your going to notice it is in a benchmark anyway.
One thing I was not sure if your aware of, did you plan on using your notebook on batteries much? The reason I ask is I was not sure if you know about the power drain that the regular CPUs put on the system when compared to the Pentium M CPU. The regular P4's and AMD CPUs have great processing power, but their power consumption is hugh, most P4 & Athlon64 systems cna run off of batteries for 1.5 to 2 hours. If your a student and plan on going from class to class and only needing to recharge at the end of the day, then you need to get something with the Pentium M(it can last 4.5-7 hours)or have a couple of extra batteries that are charged and ready to each morning or sit next to a power outlet in class and hook up to keep it charged.

Jack

 

Thanks for the heads up, brianstretch and Jack. First off I think I'm going to stick with the 2.8 GHz. In regards to the battery, I'm really not sure how much I'm going to be bringing it to classes-it's just nice to have the option. How much battery like would I get with the 12 cell with this notebook?

 

I get about 4 hours with the wireless turned on with my 12 cell and 2.4 P4-M

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

thats not bad

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by molly

 

yeah now that he mentions it i did see in the manual that the slot for this was on the left side and is covered up left side on mine since I didnt get that option.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Quikster

 

I couldn't figure out a compelling reason to buy the Digital Drive either.

I disabled screen blanking and HD spindown and unplugged my zv5000z at 6:09pm. It's 7:56pm now and I have 50% of my battery power left. This is with a 7200RPM HD, 1GB RAM (pair of 512MB PC2700 sticks), and wireless enabled (using Bluetooth for my wireless mouse but not actively using WiFi). So, battery life is pretty decent. With the stock 4200RPM HD and not using Bluetooth, figure on 4 hours of battery life while doing the usual Web and word processing work.

Interesting. I just tried pegging the CPU to max (Quicktime movie on fast forward) and that sent the CPU to 1.6GHz at 1.3V, versus the plugged-in max of 2GHz at 1.5V. The CPU temp slowly crept up to 55C (usually 38C-40C idle) and the heat exhaust was barely warm. That's a pretty good compromise, much better than Intel SpeedStep would allow (half speed on battery). (Intel chips run at higher clock speeds but process fewer instructions per clock cycle, which has a detrimental effect on power consumption. AMD's rating scheme roughly matches a 3200+ Athlon 64 running in 32-bit mode to a 3.2GHz Pentium 4.) This is with a DTR Athlon 64, the least power efficient of the notebook Athlon 64 CPUs.

 

yes it is just an hp branded usb flash drive that fits in nicely on the laptop so nothing is left sticking out.
Personally I already had a 128mb stick and didn't think it was worth buying it, but it is pretty nice since you don't have to worry about sticking it someplace else while not using it or storing your laptop.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

Sorry for the confusion....

So, if I want to transfer images from my digital camera to my notebook using my SD card, I need to select that option under removable storage, right? It doesn't come standard? Other than that I think I'm about ready to order

HP Pavilion zx5000 series customize notebook
- Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.80 GHz
- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Professional-only $49!!
- 512MB DDR SDRAM (1x512MB)
- 60 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
- DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
- 54g(TM) Integ. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth
- 15.4" WVA WSXGA+ (1680x1050)
- 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) 9200
- Microsoft(R) Works/Money
- 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- Built in Bay w/USB Digital Drive
- hpshopping in-box envelope

What do you think?

And a 3.5 won't be necessary? I can just burn whatever I need to share on to a Cd if necessary, right?

 

looks good, but no you do not need to select any option to get the SD card reader. That is built right in on the left side near the top, right next to the ~ and ESC keys. The digital drive, usb flash thingy, is completely seperate.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

No, there's a SD/MS/MMC/SM multiformat memory card reader on the lefthand side of the notebook. The digital drive option is effectively a docking bay with a matching USB flash memory drive that you can load with SD cards. I didn't think it was worth the money. I didn't bother with a floppy drive either, as you said worst-case you can burn a CD.

Outside of the CPU it looks like a good configuration.

BTW, WinXP SP2 RC2 was released yesterday. I'm about to install it, I've been running RC1. Among other things it enables the NX bit buffer overflow protection (stops many/most Windows worms in hardware) that the Athlon 64 series CPUs have. http://www.microsoft.com/sp2preview

 

So I'll scratch the Built in Bay w/USB Digital Drive. What do you recommend in regards to the CPU?

 

The Athlon 64 in the zv5000z.

 

These are the options they offer for the zx5000. Which of these would you recommend? Do you really think I should switch the model just to get that processor?

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 2.80 GHz Included in price

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 3.00 GHz w/HT Technology
Boost your system's performance with Hyper-Threading +$75.00

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 3.20 GHz w/HT Technology
High performance option +$150.00

Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 3.40 GHz w/HT Technology
+$300.00

 

I say the 2.8, he is talking about a different model with the amd, which has a faster processor but far inferior graphics and it costs more.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

I just compared the two, the zv5000z with Athlon XP 3000+ is $75 less than the zx5000 with the 2.8GHz P4, but while the CPU is far superior the graphics chip and hard drive are slower. It's a tradeoff. It sounds like the graphics chip won't make a difference for you but the HD would.