Notebook dilemma?!

Hello!

I am flying from Europe to USA and one of the things to do is get a good laptop (much cheaper than in EU). Since I don't have much money to spend on laptops I narrowed down my dcision to models:

a)Compaq PresarioR3140US
-AMD64 3000+
-512mb RAM
-60Gb HDD
-DVD+RW/CD-RW
-Widescreen TFT WXGA
-Nvidia® GeForce™4 420 Go 32mb
-etc.

This is $1,299 @ circuit city (expires in a few days)

b)HP zt3000 series
-Intel(R) Pentium(R) M 1.5 GHz
-512MB RAM
-40 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
-DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
-15.4" WXGA Widescreen (1280x800)
-32MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) 9200

This is $1,299 @ hpshopping.com

HP has only $50 rebate (since I "made" my own config), CC has $150 + $100 from HP. Any other tricks for slashing the price?

I don't know which one to take.

I have sent an email to circuit city if they can change the 8 cell battery with the 12 cell battery ($25 upgrade @HPshopping). No response yet. The $100 rebate cannot be applied with my current setup?

My laptop requirements:

-it should not overheat! (my Presario 700 is terrible).
-cool battery life

I use computers for internet, translating (multiple office&pdf open documents, dictionaries, reference books etc), some graphic editing ...
Not too demanding user but this laptop must provide comfortable worksttion for at least 3 years.

Your opinion?

P.S.: is AMD64 overheating?

Thanks!

PIC

 

The zt3000 is a bit lighter and has the better graphic card of the two, but the R3140 has the stronger processor and larger hard drive. The zt3000 should give good battery life, and if you can get the 12 cell for the R3140 then it should give around 3+ hours as well.


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

 

If you care about Battery life. Get the 12 Cell, I got the 8 cells and I barely get 2 hours with wifi on.

 

12 cell only apies to the R3140 though, 8 cell is the only option in the zt3000 and it will get good battery life with this option.

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

 

Between the two, get the R3140US. Much better CPU. 32-bit-only CPUs are so last century.

Check out the eMachines M6805 too, Best Buy is the best place to get them. $1250 after rebates, DVD/CDRW combo but vastly better video chip (Radeon 9600 64mb), otherwise almost identical to the R3140US, built by Arima instead of Compal. The Compaq R3000z and similar HP zv5000z have some very nice upgrade options if you want a build-to-order model (1920x1200 res screens, etc), not sure when you're planning to head back across the pond, they average 2 weeks to build and FedEx from Shanghai.

I have been unable to get my zv5000z to overheat (3200+ CPU), unlike previous Toshiba and Sony notebooks. The cooling system is very impressive and the Athlon 64's burn less power than the Pentium 4's (but not the Pentium-M's). Power management is excellent, 800MHz to max in 200MHz increments, better than Intel. Plus you'll get that nice performence boost when 64-bit WinXP ships at the end of the year (or run 64-bit Linux now).

You've actually got more choices at home than we have here. Apparently the notebook OEMs are slightly less gutless about crossing Intel when they're outside America.