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    need help choosing college notebook.

    Discussion in 'HP' started by sganjam, Aug 22, 2004.

  1. sganjam

    sganjam Notebook Enthusiast

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    I am in need a of a decent desktop replacement laptop for college.

    I ahve narrowed my choice to the following two.

    1 ) Dell 5150

    MY budget is very small, only about 1400 and I need to buy a 3 year warranty. So the 5150 was the best choice that dell could offer me. ITs good. Problem is, i have no money for upgrading video size, screen quality or ram oreven screen resolution. The good thing is it comes with great service, warranty and accidental protection. Good processor, decent batteryu life, i have hbeard it gives 4 hours with the upgraded battery.

    3.06 ghz p4 with HT and xga screen.
    256 ram
    32 mb video memory
    30 gb hardrive


    2) HP zv5000z series notebook

    It looks good, problem is, i dont know much about athlon 64 processors. Are they really good for gaming and multi-tasking? For the same price, hp is offering more, like hard drive space, better screen, almost same warranty (no at home service).


    AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3000+ 1.80 GHz
    FREE Upgrade from 15" XGA to 15.4" WXGA (1280x800)
    256 ram
    32 mb video
    40 gb hardrive

    So thats where I stand, any input is much appreciated.

    Also, do i really need 512 ram, is it really going to give me better performace? on my desktop computer, i rarely use more than 120 mb even though i have 512. Wondering if its worth 150 for the ugprade?
     
    sganjam, Aug 22, 2004
    #1
  2. brianstretch

    brianstretch Notebook Virtuoso

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    The Athlon 64 is definitely the better CPU for gaming and in general (hardware assisted virus protection when used with WinXP SP2, better battery life than the P4, etc). Neither notebook has a video chip appropriate for serious gaming, though the FX 5200 in the Dell is less bad than the 440 Go in the HP. You definitely want 512MB RAM, 256MB will very noticibly slow you down. Upgrade to the 12-cell battery (HP) if at all possible.

    Between the two I'd get the HP. Also see the eMachines M6800 series, if they've fixed the hinge-cracking problems they were having. Very similar to the HP but with a much better video card (64MB Radeon 9600).
     
    brianstretch, Aug 22, 2004
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  3. Brian

    Brian Working at 486 Speed NBR Reviewer

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    Please refrain from cross posting in these forums. This topic is being discussed here:

    http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5188

    Editor in Chief http://www.bargainPDA.com and http://www.SPOTstop.com
     
    Brian, Aug 22, 2004
    #3