Need Help in Choosing a Laptop

I am trying to buy a laptop this week, customized, but don't know what to choose. Could use some help. I really will only use it at home for homework and on vacation to play games. Don't plan on carry it around that much, but want a good one I don't have to upgrade anytime soon.. I need advice as to whether the HARD DRIVE AND PROCESSOR should be upgraded from the two I chose below. Also, do I really need a "brightview" screen? I appreciate anyone's advice.

$1346

Compaq R4000

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Professional Processor AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3200+ (2.0GHz/512KB L2 Cache)
Display 15.4" WXGA Widescreen (1280x800)
Graphics Card 128MB ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/Hypermemory(TM) Memory 1.0GB DDR SDRAM (2x512MB)
Hard Drive 80 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support
Networking 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
Primary Battery 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Office 2003 SBE

or

$1357

HP Pavilion v6000

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Professional Processor AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3200+ (2.0GHz/512KB L2 Cache)
Display 15.4" WXGA Widescreen (1280x800)
Graphics Card 128MB ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/Hypermemory(TM)
Memory 1.0GB DDR SDRAM (2x512MB)
Hard Drive 60 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive FREE Upgrade DVD+/-RW/R CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer
Networking 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM) Primary Battery 8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Office 2003 SBE

 

You want a 5400RPM HD, a 12 cell battery, and I recommend getting Bluetooth since you can't add an internal Bluetooth radio later (not easily, at least). Other than those things it looks like you've found all the good stuff. A faster CPU is always nice, if you go with the Compaq the 3500+ and 3800+ upgrades are fairly inexpensive, but it's not an absolute requirement. For +$100 I'd get the 3800+.

BrightView is supposed to be nice if you can deal with potential screen glare (they remove the glare filter). BrightView wasn't offered when I bought my zv5000z.

 

What type of games are you planning to play. If they are highly graphics intensive, there are better options than the 200m out there.

The 3200+ is a pretty fast processor, but getting a 3500+ or above should be the optimum. Definately get a 5400rpm hdd. The performance gap with a 4200rpm hard disk is huge & you will definately noyice some improvements. Brightview is a nice option if you can live/avoid the glare the screen when used near source of bright light. But it does still offfers more contrast & vibrant colors than the normal screen.

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Compaq Presario R3340US AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512MB, 80GB 5400rpm
15.4" Brightview WXGA.
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That set-up would work pretty well, you should probably go with atleast 5400 rpm drive (although not nessesary it is very noticable)
What other choice would he have other then 200M ?

Scratch that one, NEW MACHINE!!!

 

I think your set-ups look pretty good, however, i would try and see if you cant get 1 1GB stick of ram rather than 2X512MB. That way you can add more ram when you need. If HP/Compaq doesnt offer that, i would get the cheapest size memory they have and buy 1 1GB stick on newegg.com. You could either keep the stick(s) or sell them on ebay!

~HP Pavilion ZV6000 series~
-AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 2.0GHz
-512MB RAM
-128MB ATI Mobility radeon X200m
-80GB 5400RPM HDD
-15.4" Widescreen w/ Brightview
-DVD±RW W/DL support
-XP Pro
-2X 12-Cell Batteries