Many questions about Compaq R3000Z

Hi,

I currently use an old Compaq N610C (Pentium 4-M 2Gz, 5.5 lbs, 512Mb, 40Gb, very nice 1400x1050 screen display), Mobility Radeon 7500 at work, and have an old Compaq 906US (AMD 1600, 512Mb, 20Gb, 14 inch TFT, Shared graphic) for personal use

However I'm looking to buy a new HP or Compaq for personal use at around $1300 max

I'm just looking at HP/Compaq laptops right now, since I can take advantage of a 12% company discount (EPP) and there's a $100 rebate floating around and fatwallet of 3%

I don't travel at all, so lightness isn't a huge concern. I cruise the internet a lot. I do a lot of manipulation with digital images (mostly low intensive Photoshop work i.e crop, curves), minor games playing e.g Dungeon Siege 2, and not really into FPS like Farcry.

I was thinking about the Compaq R3000Z
That choice (although not final) was largely driven by

A) the notion that AMD chips should have a higher price/performance ratio compared to equivalent Intel Pentium M's i.e I get better value and some future proofing for Windows Longhorn
B) I can get a 12% EPP discount now (and there are various rebates floating around and hard disc upgrades for HP/Compaq laptops)

This is the Compaq 3000Z spec that I'm considering: Athlon 64 1.8Ghz, 15.4 WXGA Brightview, 64Mb Nvidia Geforce 4 440 Go, 256Mb ram, 80 Gb 5400 RPM drive, DVD/CD-RW combo drive, Free 54g 802.11g

This comes to about $1053, with free shipping. But I think I can also go to fatwallet for 3% discount and also there's a $100 rebate kicking around somewhere for CTO products, so would bring it to around $921 plus tax, gets me to around $1000 (so well under my budget of $1300). Also an individual 10% off coupon - which may not apply to EPP purchases

1) Is an Athlon 64 at 1.8Ghz a worthwhile upgrade compared to Athlon XP 2800 at 1.6Ghz (extra $100) pr Pentium-M equivalent ? I know it's 64 bit, but is current software e.g Photoshop or web cruising, taking advantage of this, or am I just paying to be an early adopter ? Is there a significant difference in performance for the 3700+ 2.4Ghz, or is it total overkill ?

2) Am I losing out considerably on battery performance by going with Athlon 64 compared to lower spec Athlon or Pentium M ? How many hours on each ?

3) What is the Intel Pentium M equivalent of the AMD 2800 and Athlon 64 (probably nothing for the Athlon 64) ? Is there still a price performance benefit for the AMD over the Pentium-M equivalent ?

4) I definitely don't want shared graphics. But I see alternative video cards within the Hp/Compaq range e.g Nvidia Gforce Go5700, ATI 9000, 9200, Intel Extreme graphics (On the Compaq V2000).

If gamesplaying is not a top priority, is the Geforce 440 64Mb good enough ? How does it compare to my current Compaq N610C with Mobile Radeon 7500 ? Is 440 significantly worse than ATI 9000, 9200 and Nvidia 5700. Is there any sign (before the end of the year) that HP will replace the 440 with something much faster ?

5) Does HP Brightview compare favorably from a sharpness and brightness perspective to equivalent technology from Toshiba and Sony ? I saw in Frys recently that there was some kind of luminance measurement for the Sony of 300 and that was a fabulous display. I realize that I can only get a max of 1028 with Brightview. Has anyone who got Brightview regretted not going with the higher resolution model ? I know some third parties sell 'screen coatings' which attach to the LCD display. How well do those work ? Are they poor man's brightview (an option for me is to go with higher rez display and buy one of these)

6) Does anyone know if the HP coupon for 10% off (NB8384) will work with EPP ? From what I gather, the best I can do is go with the coupon, fatwallet 3% and the $100 rebate, rather than go through EPP. But any thought here

7) Are there any other models in the HP/Compaq range to consider for a similar type spec/price than my current configuration with the Compaq R3000Z. Can I do much better for $1100-$1300. I realize that the HP ZV5000Z is pretty much the same, but it's more expensive by $60 and there's really not much difference

8) From what I gather 5400 RPM drive is about 50% faster than 4200. Is this in theory, or is this real world applications and use i.e Photoshop use, bringing up large files, starting Windows etc ?

9) If there are any people who own the R3000Z, do you recommend this laptop ? And where you considering any others ? Overall, happy with yor choice ?

10) What make and model is the DVD-R ? Is it possible to flash the firmware to burn at higher speeds ?

11) Finally, I like the trackpoint on my N610C. Are laptops with trackpoints being phased out. I don't see any in the current HP range with one. I'd certainly love to have the option of using the trackpad and trackpoint

A lot of questions, I know, and some specific to the R3000Z
If better to split these out into separate threads I can do that, but don't want to 'swamp' the board with my enthusiam [ ]

Many Many thanks in advance
Richard

 

hey Richard, whew! long post, you might scare some people off and breaking it up could help if you don't get much feedback. But I did want to make sure you are aware of the review we have of this notebook

http://www.notebookreview.com/default.aspx?newsID=1922

It won't answer all of your questions, and I have never used the R3000z so it's the best I can help you with for now.

 

HELLO MY NAMES SCOTT I READ YOUR CONCENRS ON THE COMPAQ R3000 SERIES LAPTOP WELL TO TELL YOU THE HONEST TRUTH I JUST ORDERED ONE FROM HPSHOPPING.COM YOU MAY CHECK OUT THERE WEB SITE { HPSHOPPING.COM } IM GETTING THE R3000Z SIRES IN COMPAQ NOW HERES THE DEAL MINE HAD TO BE CUSOMIZED FOR MY NEEDS OK IM INTO PHOTOGRAPHY MY SELF AND TRANSFERRING MOVIES FROM MANY DIFF, WAYS FROM CAMCORDER FROM VCR USING THE HPDC-5000 MOVIE MAKER WHEN IT COMES OUT NEW MODEL OLD ONE IS THE DC-4000 OK NOW MY NOTEBOOK WILL HAVE THE 512 MZH FREE UPGRADE FROM 40 GIGS TO 60 AGAIN FREE UPGRADE OK,, THEN THE 64 VIDEO GRAPHIC CARD WHICH I WAS TOLD GOOD DONT NEED THE 128 VIDEO CARD FOR THE VIDEO EDITING IM IN TO OK IM GETTING THE DVD+/-RW CD/RW COMBO DRIVE FOR $165.00 I LIKE THIS NOTEBOOK FOR THE PORTS U CAN CHECK IT OUT ON THE HPSHOPPING.COM SITE OK LIKE I DID BEFORE ORDERING IT CLICK ON NOTEBOOKS CLICK ON COMPAQ PERSARIO NOTEBOOKS CLICK ON THE R3000Z SERIES THEN CLICK ON THE 3-D ITLL SHOW YOU ALL YOU CAN SPIN FLIP PIC OF IT I LIKE IT I THINK YOU WILL TO ALSO CHECK OUT THE EXPANSION BASE FOR IT OK ITS COOL YOU HOOK UP NOTEBOOK COMP AND U CAN USE IT THAT WAY PLUG IN ALL YOUR THINGS LIKE DIGITAL CAM, PRINTER SCANNER ETC IN THE I CALL IT DOCKING STATION THATS $249.00 WITH REBATE FINAL COST $149.00 YOU WANT TO 512 NOT 256 RAM OK AGAIN GET 512 OK OR DO BETTER THEN I GET 2 GIGS THEN YOUR SET FOR LIFE TIME YOU CAN GET 512 IF YOU LIKE LIKE ME THEN LATER YOUR ABLE TO UPGRADE TO A 2GIG AND IF YOUR INTO VIDEO EDITING OR PHOTOGRAPHY U MAY WANT 60 GIGS OR AGAIN BETTER THEN I 80 GIGS OR HARD DRIVE SPACE I DONT KEEP HOME MOVIES OR PICS IN COMP ILL BURN TO DVD THEN DELETE IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER QUESTIONS EMAIL ME {{ [email protected] OR CALL HP TOLL FREE AT 1-888-999-4747 HOPE THIS HELPED OUT ALOT AGAIN I I DONT LIKE IT I HAVE 30 DAYS TO RETURN IT SO IM GOING TO BE GETTING IT SOMETIME IN 2 WEEKS THERE BUILDING MINE AS I WRITE YOU EMAIL NOW NOV 22ND IS THE SHIPPING DATE TO RECIEVE OR CAN BE SOONER ENJOY YOUR SEARCHON NOTEBOOK AND GOOOOD LUCK TO

 

MALEFROMNJ,
Please do not post with your CAPSLOCK on. Thanks.

Richfei,
This system will probably be more than you need for image editing and slight game play. If the photos are very large, you're probably gonna need a faster CPU & more ram rather than a better video card.

The AMD64 CPU's will probably do approx 3hrs with a 12 cell battery, a lower spec'd AMD Athlon 64 (lower clock) will probably do less (definitely no more than 3hrs) since it may not be the new low-voltage model, it will consume more power. A Pentium M CPU will run for approx 4-5hrs (max) depending on what your settings are and what you're doing at the time. This can be achieved with an 8 cell battery (lighter).

You will probably like the Brightview LCD, so I'd recommend getting a unit with this LCD. You may be able to configure the HP ZT3000 to have a 15.4" WXGA LCD w/Brightview technology.

A faster HDD will load files faster, so you will notice a difference between a 4200rpm & a 5400rpm drive.

TrackPoint's (the "nipple") is only available on the HP Compaq Business product line. Their Consumer lines (Pavilion & Presario) only have the GlidePads.

You should not be able to update the firmware to burn faster than the rated spec. You could update some drives to burn 1x discs at 2x, but your drive has to burn 2x or lower for this to work. There was a case where some old Pioneer desktop drives could be updated via firmware to burn faster (hardware supported faster speeds), but I think that was a rare case.

Although the R3000 is a nice unit, it's a lot bigger and heavier than your N610c. The NC6000 was the replacement to the N600 series. You may also want to consider the HP ZT3000 series, Compaq X1000 series or HP Compaq NX7000 series units. These are just as wide, but has a Pentium M CPU, an ATI 9200 GPU and are MUCH lighter than the R3000, but is a bit more expensive.

-Vb-

 

I have one! amd 64 3000+, processor runs smooth., 8 cell battery lasts me a little less than 2 hours straight (since you aren't traveling, 8 would be fine). My 60gig 4200rpm is very very slow loading larger applications, ie. photoshop. 256 isn't enough memory for me. My 440go is just okay (much better than any shared) with Counter-strike running on full 1200x800 widescreen. The graphics lag quite a bit on The Sims 2 though. Three USB ports are great, i use everyone of them, mouse/flashdrive/external hd. Overall, this laptop is fine for me, but i had two problems and had to repair it twice. The customer service is good though.

R3000Z CTO
AMD64 3000+
15.4 Wide
256ddr/nvidia 440 64ddr
60gig