So, I Think I Might Be Buying an HP

I was at CompUSA today to check out the new laptops with Vista on them.

Of everything they had there, the two models that caught my eye the most were the HP dv9220us and the dv6275us.

They both seemed pretty nice to me. I liked the feel of the keyboard, the speakers really impressed me for laptop speakers, and I thought the screens were excellent.

I think probably what it comes down to for me is the size. I definitely like the specs of the dv9220us more, but I'm trying to decide if I want a 17" laptop, since I would like to take it around with me to work on writing away from home, school, etc.

I generally liked the dv6275us, and I think the only sticking point for me would be the GeForce 7400 in it, compared to the GeForce 7600 in the other laptop. I probably won't be doing much gaming, but it's nice to have the options, and the GeForce 7600 would certainly be a bit more capable than the 7400 is.

The other big thing is that CompUSA has the dv9220us on sale, with $150 off instantly plus another $50 rebate, so the final price of that model would end up being only $1249, which seems like a great price to me. The dv6275us would be $1449.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate.

So, certainly on price, and features, the dv9220us seems to win out. The only reason I would want to go with the dv6275us would be for the smaller form factor, but it didn't necessarily seem THAT much smaller.

I think the only other thing that concerns me about the dv9220us is the 1.6GHz T5200, which seems to be the slowest possible Core 2 Duo CPU, compared to the T5600 at 1.83GHz in the 15" model.

Realistically, I'm not sure how much of a difference this would be. My primary use of either laptop is going to be word processing, web browsing and probably some video and DVD watching.

So, just wondering if anyone has any suggestions or opinions on the choice between the two. I think I'm leaning to the dv9220us (the extra instant savings also make it hard to ignore), but I'd love to hear from anyone with experience with this laptop, especially in terms of how portable you've found it compared to a 15" laptop, etc.

 

I'd definitely go with the dv9220us for the better given price and graphics card, it's not the end of the world to be carrying a 17" versus 15.4" screen laptop -- if you really wanted a laptop you could take to say a coffee shop you'd need a 14" screen or so. 17" is fine for moving between home and office/school.

That T5200 has a 553MHz FSB versus the 667MHz on the rest of the Core 2 Duo family, and it is the lowest end. Most of the cost savings probably comes from the fact the dv9000 has this and in my opinion it's worth saving the $ as the performance will still be comparable though not as good as the 1.83GHz processor with a 667MHz FSB.

 

I just bought the Dv9230us @ amazon for $1,398 after $175 rebate

 

Supp Dude.. Just realize that one of the benefits of the T5600 1.83 gig 667 fsb is more than just the extra FSB and cpu speed. It happens to be the ONLY processor thats not a 7000 series that has the Intel Virtualization Technology. So yes, while one may save a few dollars here and there by choosing a T5500, 5300 or 5200, few know dig deep enough to see the specific differences between the top of the line processors, and the mid grade, and the one thats between them both (T5600). Hope this helps.. and ohh to see for yourself, heres a good link for laptop chips, which start on page 3: http://www.intel.com/products/processor_number/proc_info_table.pdf