What makes you choose between laptop sizes? Specifically 15.4" (dv5t/dv5z), HDX16t, dv7t/dv7z, or HDX18t

So, what makes you choose between these sizes, seeing as they all can provide the same pretty much everything except HDD space.

I'm just curious. Also some background info would be nice, like are you a student? Do you want battery life? etc.

I currently have a dv5t that is going to be returned for a refund since it has some physical defects. I'm just going to hold off on a laptop till a good coupon comes out, but i'm still wondering what to get. I'm thinking of the HDX16t, but the price might be a bit higher at average specs (which is what i'm planning to order at). To it's max specs, its cheaper than the dv5t/dv7t, plus the design, full size keyboard (which i'm still wondering how if the dv5t/dv7t have no numpad and the HDX16t is only slightly bigger/smaller), and of course, the 1920x1080p resolution (25$ to 125$ upgrade... what the hell seriously.)

 

To me, once you go above 15.4, it loses its portability. Also, i have a nice little stand for my laptop that doesnt take up too much space, and can pe pushed into the corner. If the pc was bigger, it wouldnt fit. and then i'd need a desk. if i get a desk, why the HELL would i buy a laptop? i just paid $1000 for a built to the hilt DV5T, that deal blew me away. Even still, for $1000, if i was into desktops, i could build something FIERCE!

 

I had a 15.4 inch for about 4 years and I wanted a bigger screen so I got a 17" and Dell didn't have a 16" screen. I like the design of the HDX16t so I'd go for that.

 

How much difference is ~2lbs and a couple inches more? I'm thinking about getting the HDX16t as it is only .6" bigger. My current laptop bag is able to fit up to 17" laptops and my Zalman nc2000 too. Always use my laptop on desk anyway.

 

I'm a student so I want something with a good balance between screen size, weight, and battery life. The dv4z was a good compromise.

 

Looks like I'm the first to vote ! 17' here. I'm not calling mine a 'desktop replacement;, instead I'm calling my 17" notebook a 'desktop alternative'. I just figured since I use a 19" on my desktop a 17" would be closer to the desktop experience but still plenty portable enough.

I will mostly use it around the house both inside and outside. I'm not a student just a small business man and weight and bulk isn't really a concern. I can see why students would want something a little smaller.

 

I own 2 laptops which are both popular in the poll conducted here. Here are my views:

I got the 15 incher for portability. Even though it is fairly old, it gets all my work done. I use it for occassional gaming too . Disk space is an issue, so I have to flush some files onto my external hard drive.

I got the 17 incher as my desktop replacement machine. I do not regret this decision as I beleive that it is better to have a bigger screen with a larger desktop resolution, rather than squint for reading text on a smaller screen with a larger resolution. I was also able to get it at a bargain price when I got it.

Personally, my choice for laptops is always influenced by the graphics chipset that it carries. This has helped me as the graphics chipset alone has been a huge factor for the OS that I have used or tried to use. I tried running Vista on the 15 incher (though it was more than 3 or 4 years old) and it worked very well. I just got bored out of using Vista on it .

Brandwise, both choices are pretty good. HP is very classy in its looks whereas the Toshiba is means business . I miss the inbuilt Bluetooth on both of them, but this feature is just a small USB dongle away!

The HP keyboard very good to use (in the absence of an external keyboard) as it is full featured one with a separate number pad. Lugging around the HP is a task sometimes due to the screen size and weight, but it seems very worthwile since I would never need a bigger external monitor to work with this laptop.

The HP runs cooler than the Toshiba as the extended dimensions help cool the components better, even though they differ a lot spec-wise .

 

Every laptop I have had so far has been 15.4", or 15" before widescreens came about. But this time I decided to try a 17" dv7t, mainly because I don't travel around with it much and I thought I might enjoy the larger screen. I would say 95% of the time I will be using it at home, so portability isn't a huge issue. I felt that the 17" screen would be easier on the eyes, and it would also be better for the many movies that I watch when I bring it with on vacations (since most hotels don't have DVD players, and i'm not about to pay $13 for a pay-per-view movie that I can rent for free on my Netflix account!). I haven't gotten it yet so I can't really provide any comparison to a 15.4", but I'm sure I will be happy with it.

But if you're someone who has your laptop at your side (or in your backpack) all day, such as taking it to school or bringing it back & forth to work every day, then you should probably stick with either a 15.4" or even go down to a 14.1".

Bottom line - if you laptop doesn't leave your house much, then a 17" is the way to go. But if you carry it around a lot, then a 15.4" or 14.1" is probably better.

 

In the past, I've flip-flopped between 15.4 and 17 inches. I went back to 17 inches simply due to my desire to have a number pad and a larger screen. In addition, I also got my new laptop when it was on sale for a rock-bottom price. I also didn't like the smaller number pad that some of the 15-16 inch wide screens were offering.

 

I have a 17" DV9700T but, I think next time I get a laptop, I will go for a 15.4"; a buddy of mine got a DV6700T and when I compared the size of the 2 the 6700's screen was only slightly smaller. The only thing I might miss is the number pad but I can live without it.

 

i got the 16" as it had the native 1920 x 1080 resolution as an option
got my mother the dv5t first and thats also a great size

 

I've always owned 15.4" ones. I like having a big enough screen to play games on and a small enough machine to travel with me once a week.

I don't think I'd be happy with a 17" one. I used my dad's for a bit and the resolution was unworkable. When I put the resolution down it just looked way too stretched.

Plus I don't use much space. I only like putting one window next to another while I'm at work here, since I use dual screens.

 

i dont watch tv much but i like to watch something as im falling asleep. i had been doing this on my ibm x41 tablet but the screen was too small. at the same time, i was looking for a desktop replacement.

it was annoying to copy things over from my desktop to my laptop that i wanted to watch at night so.... i bought a 17" desktop replacement laptop!

now i have everything in one location - no need to copy files over that i want to watch. plus the screen is 17" so watching it from a few feet away isnt bad. icing on the cake: i have 640GB of storage on the laptop itself. the freedom that this type of space gives me is SICK!

it also came with media center and the remote which i use every single day. this was a really nice feature on top of everything else. i also bought a usb tv tuner and can watch tv on the unit too. and i have the laptop shutdown automatically around 2am so the machine isnt on all night long ;]

 

Portability, Features, Price (and overall value) are what I kept in mind when I was researching.

For me though, I wanted a fairly powerful mainstream laptop that I could lug to school, take on the road and just sit around with at home. The custom dv5t config I came up with fit the bill perfectly. Definitely agree with the second poster too who said anything over 15.4" starts to kill the portability factor.

Built my own custom gaming rig just 11 months ago....so really anything bigger or more powerful (like an HDX with a few upgrades) would be overkill