Two choices to make. What's better? ZD8000, R4000

I like to play games and surf the internet. That's about it. I have seen that the GPU isn't that great on the R4000, but there's a pay off for having a better CPU. The latest game that I play that seems to drag the desktop down is GTA San Andreas. I hope I have given you enough information to help me out with. Here are two computers that I have built. Could you tell me what you would recommend, because I'm leaning towards the ZD8000?

ZD8000:
Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 630 w/HT Technology, 3.0GHz
Display 17.0" WXGA+ BrightView Wide Viewing (1440x900)Memory 512MB DDR2 SDRAM, 400MHz (2x256MB)
Hard Drive 80 GB 5400 RPM Hard DrivePrimary CD/DVD Drive FREE Upgrade DVD+/-RW/R CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer
Graphics Card 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) X600
Networking 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
Primary Battery 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works/Money

R4000:
Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
Processor AMD Athlon(TM) 64 4000+ (2.4GHz/1MB l2 Cache)
Display 15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x800)
Graphics Card 128MB ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/Hypermemory(TM)
Memory 512MB DDR SDRAM (1x512MB)
Hard Drive 80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support
Networking 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
Primary Battery 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works/Money

Sorry if this is long, but I wanted to give as much information as I could.

 

The graphics card on the R4000 is such a POS. I have an ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 Pro Turbo and in several graphic benchmarks, my graphic card pulls through much better (and my laptop is 1.5 years old). Simply put, that Express 200 is huge kick in the ass and huge waste of money. Please don't waste your money on that.

If your into playing games and stuff (like I am), then you will prefer the ZD8000. The X600 256 MB offered on it is siginificantly (like 100X) better than the one offered on the R4000. You'll be able to handle GTA: SA much better as well as play Battlefield 2 (if your into that). It would also save yourself some money to buy just one stick of Ram (say 256MB) from HP then simply buy two 512 MB sticks of RAM off another vendor (i.e. Newegg).

Don't let anyone tell you that the Xpress 200 is a capable performer. Its not.

 

My budget it around 1400 or less. I have looked at Dell because they are offering the 750.00 off thing right now, but I can't find anything that sounds like it has a good graphic card and processer at the same time. The next problem that I ran into with them if everything else matched up is small hard drives. Over all it seems like the HP is the best for the money. I guess the 1 - 1.5 hr isn't too bad seeing now it will hardly ever be used just on battery alone. Also on this setup for the computer they don't offer just 1 stick of memory. I had thought about that first, but all they have is 256 x2, then it jumps to 512 x 2 and up from there, so I'm kind of stuck with that.

 

Thanks, that is what I was looking for. I have a ZE5155 right now and over all it is an ok laptop, but the video card sucks on there. I think it's the mobility M6 or something. How's the battery life on the ZD8000? Right now on my old comp I'm getting around 1hr 15min or so.

 

Well, seeing that the processor is a "Processor Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 630 w/HT Technology, 3.0GHz"

This is known as a hog or "desktop replacement." You'll get anywhere from 1 to 1.5 hours with this processor.

I have a Pentium M and I get about 4 to 5 hours. Its a shame they didn't offer that on this laptop.

I could also suggest that you take a look at the Dell 9300 or XPS2. But that all depends on your price range.

 

The Inspiron 9300 offers both one of the best ntoebook graphics solutions (The GF Go6800) and options for up to the 2.0GHz Pentium-M (roughly equivelent in power to a 3.6GHz P4HT). You may not be able to get the 2.0GHz in your price range, but even the 1.6 can match the processor in that zd8000 behemoth, and the GF Go6800 is a much better video card.

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Dell Inspiron 9300 (Waiting on a good coupon): Intel Pentium-M 1.86GHz Sonoma, 1.25GB DDR533 RAM, GeForce Go6800

Gateway 7422GX: AMD Athlon 64 3400+, 1024MB DDR RAM, 64MB Mobility RADEON 9600 (Going to my parents.)

AVERATEC AV3270-EH1: AMD Mobile Sempron 2800+, 512MB DDR RAM, 64MB (shared) S3G Unichrome

 

Thanks for the replies. I have decided to go with the ZD8000 instead of others because of features that I could get with it for the price. I am just hoping that I won't be disappointed in the long run with my choice.

 

You could also wait for the AMD version of the ZD8000...

http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2005/050614b.html

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Compaq Presario R3340US AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512MB, 80GB 5400rpm 15.4" Brightview WXGA.

Acer Aspire 3003WLCi AMD Mobile Sempron 3000+, 512MB, 80gb 4200rpm 15.4" CrystalBrite WXGA
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<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by miner

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by Rami

 

Well I ended up customizing the zd8000 last night with the above options and with that processor (P4 3.0 ghz 630) it jumped the build date to July 13th. I checked the other processors which were faster and the build date stayed at July 1st. I wonder why it jumped it up so much just for one certain processor? Can anyone recommend a good notebook cooler to use? I have heard of Antec, but I haven't seen any reviews on it.

Thanks