R3000T - yay or nay? and some questions

Specs:

Compaq Presario R3000T-dedicated customize notebook
- Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 3.20 GHz w/HT
- Microsoft(R)Windows(R) XP Home
- 1.0GB DDR SDRAM (2x512MB)
- 80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
- DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
- FREEUpgradeto54g(TM) Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN !!
- 15.4" WVA WSXGA+ (1680x1050)
- 64MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) 9600
- Microsoft(R) Works/Money
- 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- hpshopping in-box envelope
+ 1 yr accidental protection
+ Kensington® MicroSaver™ security lock

Total: $2,019.04 - 100.00 rebate

I went with this over the AMD64 3400+ machine for three main reasons... ive heard bad things about using both memory slots... no option for faster hard drive, and the 9600 KILLS the 440 in the AMD lappy... The price diff is like $400 tho, which kinda hurts, but This is gonna be my new baby, so i guess its worth the extra money...

Question!! How long will the battery life be with the 12 cell? Just curious... not that big of a deal because it'll be plugged in a lot, but i still kinda wanna know!

 

This looks like a good config. I assume this will be mainly a gaming system, so the 9600 graphics chip is definitely the way to go. I don't know about the price, since I live in Canada, we can't customize the HP/Compaq notebooks. We just buy what is available [V].
The 12 Cell battery will give you approx. 4 hours of runtime.

-Vb-

 

Not sure about 4 hours with Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 3.20 GHz w/HT. When you configure HP at staples.com it does not let you pick 8 cell battery with this monster. 12 cell is minimum for any +HT processor, so it may easily be less than 4 hours.

 

yeah can't tell you how long it will last since I have a 2.4M which requires a lot less power but I get around 4 hours with the wireless on and the screen 2 levels down from full or lower. The lower your brightness is, the longer your battery life will be.

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

 

so i guess no one really has a good time for battery life, but im assuming around 2.5-3 hours with the p4 as it is a power hogg...

how does performance compare to say the 3400+ AMD??? and will i honestly notice a difference between the 4200 and 5400rpm drives? im kinda of questioning if its worth the extra money for some of this stuff...

I may also downgrade to 512ram to save some money... thoughts on that?

 

The processing power of an AMD64 is a lot higher than the p4, the only drawback of the HP systems with this is the old graphics card they include in the process. I know people have said that they can get around 3.5 hours with the processors though on a 12 cell battery.

As for hard drive the only time you will notice the difference is the amount of time it takes to load some things. It will take slightly longer with the 4200, but once it is, it should run about the same.

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

 

I recently got the 3190us model which has the AMD64 - 3400 in it. I agree with Quickster that the biggest disadvantage is the graphics adapter which is pretty middle-of-the-road (nVidia 4 440). Over all the unit seems quite solid and a good performer - but I need to run some benchmarks. Not sure if I like the keyboard or not - my last laptop was an x1000 that had an excellent keyboard. The R3000's is much different.

I also miss the 4+ hours of battery life - my r3000 is coming in at only about 2-2.5 hours. I would assume the P4 version would be no better. I'll need to look into getting a 12-cell battery...

There's a new forum dedicated to the r3000 at www.r3000forums.com for anyone who cares (last time I'll mention it).

So, does anyone have a guess why the AMD models are only available with the lower end video cards? Compatibility issue with the ATI cards?

-n

 

My guess is a contract or deal they got with nVidia for these AMD processors.

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