My zx5000 review

just as i promissed earlier, im going to post a review of my new laptop (zx5000). this is the first laptop i have ever owned, however i have used them a lot before.


these are the specs:
p4 3.0 HT
1x512ram
40gb 4200rpm HD
128meg radeon 9600 dedicated video
dvd-rom/cd-rw
15.4 wxga


first thing's first - delivery. the laptop was estimated to be shipped on the 10th of august, however it arrived at my doors on the 9th. so it was shipped about 4 days ahead of time, which was very good news for me because i wasn't sure if i would get it in time for college or not.

now ill break everything down..

1) overall look/feel - the system does look very nice, at least by my standards. it is a bit on the heavy side (over 8 lbs), but i dont mind becaues this IS a desktop replacement for me. i bought a Swiss Army backpack to carry it around anyways, so i really wont notice those extra 8 pounds on my back as much as i would if i had a standard laptop bag over my shoulder.

2) setup - setup of the system was easy. it found the wireless networking in my house within seconds of powering up, and i had no problems connecting to my network and the internet.

3) keyboard/mouse - the keyboard is actually VERY nice. the keys are soft, and dont produce a lot of noise while typing. it's also one of the easier keyboards to type on. i struggled on Toshiba and Sony laptops when iwas trying them out at BestBuy. this one, however, felt good right away. the full size BACKSPACE key is a huge plus as well.
the touchpad is standard, nothing special there. you do get the scroll strip which is handy, but it kinda gets in the way if you accidently touch it.
volume control keys that are at the front are also very convenient.

3) lcd - i have the standard widescreen screen. i decided not to go for brightview, because i hate glare. i have a lot of glare on my bigscreen tv at home and i can't stand it, so i knew right away that if i had any kind of glare on my laptop, i wouldn't be able to use it. the movies that i've watched so far looked very good even on 1200x1024 resolution. im sure if i had WSXGA they would look even sharper, but i opted out of that one as well because i dont like small font.

4) harddrive - the HD is surprisingly quiet. i really can not hear it running at all. it's also surprisingly fast. while copying a dvd to the harddrive, i was getting a transfer rate of 2500k/sec. on my desktop (7200rpm hd), i usually get about 3100, so it wasn't that big of a difference for me. in the future, i will end up upgrading to a faster HD anyways.

5) dvd-rom/cd-rw - the load time seems to be a little bit slower than what i expected. it takes about 20-30 seconds or so for the system to see a dvd that i put in the drive. once again, that's not a very big deal to me. i am a patient person. i haven't burned any cd-r's yet, so i can't comment on that.

6) processor/memory - once again, the entire system is very quiet, while being very fast. on my desktop, i was never able to do anything else while burning a dvd. on this laptop, i was burning a dvd (external burner, same one that i used on my desktop), listening to music (using the dvd-rom/cd-rw on the laptop), and browsing the internet at the same time. i couldn't see any lag in any of the operations. the dvd finished in 10 minutes like it usually does (8x), the music never skipped and the browser always loaded fast. i dont know if that's because of HT, or just the fact that it's a p4 3.0. whatever it is, i like it

7) ports - there are 3 USB 2.0 ports on the system, a firewire (4pin), memory card reader (mmc/sd/ms/sm), and a PCMCI slot. very standard stuff. 1 of the usb ports is on the right (im guessing for the mouse, like im using it now) and two are on the left. the firewire is on the right as well. i wish there was a 6 pin firewire along with a 4pin, but i can live with just the 4.

8) speakers - WOW! that's all i can say. these H/K speakers are AWESOME. you really do have to hear them yourself (and not in a store) to tell just how great they are. very very impressive.

9) heat - i didn't think the heat was a huge issue if you're doing stuff like wtaching a movie or browsing the net. however, while playing a game (nba live 2004) using just the battery, the right side did get kinda hot, but not enough to make me scream. if you use the power supply, however, it seemed to be fine.

hopefully this gives you guys some ideas of what the system is like.


let me know if you have some questions, ill be glad to answer them for you.

College Virtual Tours

 

Thanks for the review!

We are going to take a look at the brightview screen today at Bestbuy, but we are leaning toward adding that feature. We are also debating the 2.8 over the 3.0 HT...hmmm... I noticed your resolution isn't the standard 1200x800. Is there a reason you didn't go with 1200x800?

Glad to hear about doing several actions on it at once. I can't wait to hear the speakers.

Can the mousepad be turned off?

I hope we get our notebook earlier then expected also, as the date I looked at yesterday on a configured was Aug 24th.

SK

 

Yes there is a button on top of the touch pad. that allows it to be turned off, i dont like the touchpad Optical mice are the way to go.

 

i havent really timed my Zx5280 but probably 25- to 30 secs, maybe less the 1GB ram probably helps, and the slow HD could also be a factor.

 

Great Review!
Only negative thing I read is the 20 sec. start up time when loading a DVD. That seems like a really long time (I unlike you have no patience =)). My zx5000 was also shipped earlier then the shipping date so I am hoping I receive mine early as well. Good to hear that burning a dvd to your HD while browsing the internet and playing an mp3 went smooth. That's what im always doing on my pc[ ]. Quick question how long does it take to boot into windows?

 

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

 

sorry, correction: the resolution is 1280x800.

the windows load time is about 20 seconds or so. not bad at all, i think.

i DID notice that not all widescreen movies fit the screen perfectly. but that's because the screens on laptops are 16x10, not 16x9 like all the movies are. so you still have tiny black bars . not a big deal, but i was kinda hoping to avoid that. nothing big though.

College Virtual Tours

 

I saw the brightview screen today on both a 15.4 and 17" HP Pavillion. Loved it. No comparison, and we were able to view both side by side with the same pics and movies running. There is some glare, but seemed well worth it to me. Only time I saw alot of glare was with a blank black screen. After seeing the brightview its hard to look at the regular screens.

SK

 

i felt the same way today while walking through the laptop isle at work at bestbuy. but still, the glare is just too much for me. i have very light sensative eyes, so even the slightest glare is too much, usually. plus it was an extra $100 that i didnt have.


College Virtual Tours

 

really thank you for the review!!!
It strengthens my wish to buy a zx5000 again!!!
and the review is very clear, part by part!!!
I'm going to order one by the end of the month!!!
thanks again!![ ]

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I really wanna buy a zx5000...

 

im definately happy with my purchase

one thing i want to say is get a Chill Mat. bestbuy sells them for like 30 bucks, but wow they're worth it. the p4 is a powerful processor, so it really can get hot, especially if you're using the cd-rw drive. the chill mat is very nice, it keeps the processor from heating up. i can definately tell a difference with it. it makes it a bit hrder to type because it adds another inch or so ot the height of the keyboard,but it's not a big deal. if you're sitting oon a couch with the laptop on your lap, you can't even notice the added height. it's only visible if you hve the laptop on the desk.


one problem i ran into is with cd-burning. i dont know if it's because i was running off the battery, or because Windows MEdia player 9 was screwed up, but my system froze about 5 or 6 times in about 2 hours. it would copy 1 cd to the hd, but if i put another one in right away it would freeze up. however, if i gave it about 15 seconds before putting the new one it, it was fine. seems like the cd drive just wasn't "refreshing" fast enough.

College Virtual Tours