Seriously looking at the V5101US and need opinions

I am seriously considering this laptop for what I would do with it. I need some help.

How is it in terms of reliablility?
Will it be ok for use as a multimedia laptop?(I am jsut going to hook it up to a 62inch TV via S-vid, and a reciever via tosling USB sound card).

Is 512MB ram good enough, and is it upradable?

What about the sempron 3000?

Anyone who has experience with thisplease give me some advice.

Thanks
Zero

 

If you are planning on hooking this to an HDTV, I think something with a DVI connector is probably a better idea. Without having a clue as to your budget or your plans with it other than hooking it to your TV, it is hard to help. Perhaps you should consider the FAQ and post back. I personally would not describe the v5000 as tops in built quality, but you are paying a lot less so it is a trade off. The Sempron is a fine CPU, but again without knowing your pans it is hard to assess whether it meets your needs.

 

This guy already filled the FAQ and I'm afraid he didn't get what he expected. Sorry.
512mb of RAM is enough right now but with Windows Vista coming, you will want at least 1GB. I have 512mb, I don't game and still I find it insufficient when I open 2-3 Adobe documents.
The Sempron is very OK. This is the 1.8ghz version if I'm not mistaken. It will perform nearly as good as a Turion but the fewer cache (128/256kb L2 Cache vs 512/1mb L2Cache for Turion) will restrict its performance in CPU intensive operations. In normal day to day use, I don't utilize even 50% of my Turion ML34, so I think you will like the Sempron.
The HDD is the main problem with your computer. It is only 4200 rpm, which is slow and you might find it drags your performance down. If you want to conver big files, copy big files, encode, decode.... you need something more powerful.
Connecting the laptop to the TV via Svideo is easy and does not depend on the power of the computer. You'll be fine with it.

Generally, however, my advice is to look at HP shopping. If you have two weeks to wait for a new laptop from them you will get a more powerful machine. If you are in a hurry, this one is good enough. Upgrading RAM after that is easy; upgrading the HDD is also not that difficult.

 

I think for the money, the laptop is all-around a great machine. This is the first laptop and I got it for only $650. From what I heard, there are 2 256 mb, so you might have some issues upgrading it.

 

Finally A thread I can add some useful insight too.

From your OP, I'm guessing you plan on using the laptop as either a HDTV playback device? Something to playback .ts files on yoru 62 tv? If thats the case - I don't know if that laptop with that HD (and possibly video) will be suffient. I happen to have a HTPC setup specifically for my HDTV (also 62 inch btw) and I used that V5105 for about a week. And for daily laptop activitiy I think its a fine machine. For multimedia applications - I think you'll find its faults pretty quickly I'm afraid.

Since I don't know your exact plans for the laptop, you might love it! My suggestion - buy from a store with a good return policy... if I'm right about the HDTV stuff (and I think I am), I don't think that machine will handle it without skipping.