P8400 vs. P8600: Extra $50 worth it?

Just recently seeing the 30% coupon, I plan to purchase a HP dv5t off their site seeing that's it's cheaper than the ones at the retail stores and offer a lot more. I plan to at least get an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 minimum, but I was wondering if the extra $50 is worth it to upgrade to the 2.4Ghz P8600. It's only a 1.4Mhz increase so would I see that much difference in performances such as games, applications such as Photoshop and Sony Vegas?

 

I think you meant 0.14GHz (140MHz) increase. For $50, I would get it, but that's just me.

 

with the 30% off coupon, assuming you're going to use this laptop for a while, why not opt for the biggest and baddest processor they offer?

 

You wont see a difference.

If you don't mind a slight decrease in battery life, and a small increase in heat, go with the T series CPU's. If you wont be using CPU intensive programs, P8400 is more than enough.

 

I don't think it's a good value to pay $450 just to go from 2.4Ghz or something to 2.8Ghz. 2.26Ghz or 2.4Ghz is a good enough processor enough for me and I don't think I would need that much processing power. And I'm kind of on a budget so I wouldn't take it that far.

 

Your not only getting a 400Mhz increase though. A T9600 would tear apart a program like Photoshop though..

If you feel good enough with having a P series CPU, P8400 will be good enough. It will also put an extra $50 in your pocket. I have the P8400 in my dv5t and everything runs flawlessly.

 

Alright, thanks! And I was wondering if it would be a good idea to put a couple hundred dollars into an extended warranty. Do laptops have a high failure rate that I would need to extend my warranty to 2-3 years?

 

Get at least 1-2 years Warranty with accidental drops and spills.

You never know when something like that can happen.

 

On my current dv5t, I went with the P8400. On the replacement, I went with the P8600. No real reason for the upgrade other than to get the closest CPU to the T series. I did not opt for the T-series since I won't be doing heavy rendering or serious video editing. Either the P8400 or 8600 are more than adequate for my needs.

 

as for me, my dv7t will be my main PC here at home - a desktop replacement actually. so i wanted to get the highest specs i possibly could. i wont be playing games much or rendering jurassic park (LOL), but still didnt want to take a performance hit moving to a laptop as my 'main' machine.

my current desktop though is a 3 year old emachine. insert laughter here: _______

i watch simpsons/family guy/ most extreme elimination challenge / south park on one of the laptops i have but wanted something with a bigger screen. this way, i can take it from my living room to my bedroom. in the past, i would (at times) copy whatever i want to watch from my desktop to my laptop and then take that to my room.

l0l

 

Did you notice any significant speed boost with the P8600 or was it really close to the P8400?

 

Personally, I went with the P8600 since I figured I wouldn't ever want to upgrade my CPU later on whereas RAM and Hard drive space is more manageable. And I had to hit $1299 somehow. But you most likely would not notice the difference so it's up to you.

 

The P8400 is more than enough for just about everyone.

Even in rendering, which is almost entirely a CPU-intensive task, you're looking at a ~14% performance increase at most with the T9400 over the P8400. That's the difference between taking 60 minutes to render something (P8400) and 52 minutes (T9400). Doesn't matter. Save the money.

 

New dv5t is not here yet. I don't expect to notice a difference though.

 

Okay. Thanks guys! Here's the specs for my configuration. Advises are nice for what I need to change or don't need.

- Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)

- Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo Processor P8400 (2.26 GHz)

- 15.4" diagonal WSXGA+ High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1680 x 1050)

- FREE Upgrade to 3GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm) from 1GB DDR2 System Memory (2 Dimm)

- 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT

- FREE Upgrade to 250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection

- Webcam + Fingerprint Reader

- HP Color Matching Keyboard

- FREE Upgrade to Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100AGN from 802.11b/g WLAN

- No Modem

- SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support

- No TV Tuner w/remote control

- High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

- Microsoft(R) Works 9.0

The prices come to about $972.67 with tax and everything.

 

quite bordered by this too.. am getting the samsung q310. there is the P8600 and the P8400 models, with ~£60 price difference. is the P8600 worth the extra bucks as I could get t.v. card and stuff with that..

 

~£60 probably not, that's close to $100.
Notice OP used a 30% off coupon, so it was only $50 x 0.7 = $35 difference.

 

I upgraded to make the coupon requirements, but it was more because there wasn't anything else I wanted at that point. The performance on the DV5T is great, although I feel like the hard drive is always doing something (this could be because of Vista)

 

could someone point me to this coupon please the 30% off or w.e else is available? is there any coupons available for the HDX16t by any chance?

sorry to not be so helpful

 

Absolutely not. Consider that when your laptop is running on battery power it downclocks to like 1 GHz and most people never notice.

 

At a high expense of battery life that is. Not worth the trade off I would say.

 

there is no difference in battery life with the P8400 and P8600...

 

coupons?.....

 

I was thinking the P8600 vs the T9400.

 

30% deal ended bro, along time ago

 

How much of hit does a battery take using a T-series processor vs. a P-series processor? I didn't know that processors really affected the battery life that much. I don't know why I never considered that before.

 

It will come back. HP keeps recycling a few coupons, 30% off, $400/$500 off, $200 stackable coupons; but I am not so sure which HP will allow on the HDX series.