zt3000, zv5000z or zx5000

The more I research HP's website the more I get confused
This is my first notebook. I am an experienced PC user.
The home PC is AMD XP 1533MHz, 512MB, 140GB, Radeon 7200 (crappy vcard).
I am going to graduate school for two years and need reliable, fast and not too heavy portable PC.

The budget is around 1500.

Min. requirements:
1. HDD - 60GB (4200 or 5400 - does not really matter)
2. High quality sound system (movies, mp3, games). I am not going to purchase separate speakers. I have a feeling that zt3000 has inferior to 5000 series sound system. Is that correct?
3. Decent vcard for rare gaming. Actually 440GO looks ok, but 9200 and 9600 sound much better
4. CPU - prefferably AMD 64 or mobile P4. But CPU is NOT a major criteria.
5. Memory - 512MB and one free slot.
6. DVD/CDRW
7. Wireless, Modem, and 10/100 is a must.
8. At least 3hrs on batteries.
9. LCD - I am not sure. Both WSXGA+ (1680x1050) and WVA WUXGA (1920x1200) will perfectly satisfy my needs.

I have configured 3 different HP notebooks: zt3000, zv5000z and zx5000.
They all are priced around 1500.
I AM LOST!

What would you recommend?
It's very tempting to get zx5000 with its Radeon 9600.
On the other hand, there is an excellent AMD64 CPU in zv5000z.
Or maybe go mobile and get zt3000?

Do you think that there will be a new AMD 64 + ATI M9/10 offering from HP anytime soon.
I can wait with the purchase for another month or so. But after that I MUST have the computer.

Thank you guys for any advices!

 

I personally like the zx5000, but unless they offer the P4-Ms again you wont get over 3 hrs of battery life. Regardless you will want the 12cell battery unless you get the zt3000, which doesn't have that option.

I believe the owners of the zv5000z have been able to get 3+ hours so that would limit you to either that system or the zt3000.

If the go400 graphics chip is enough for you, than that would be a good system with a great processor. However if not the zt3000 will be able to better handle games, offer better battery life up to 5 hours depending on usage, and a lighter machine.

As for the screen people usually recommend the wsxga+ as the best for your money and for most people the highest resolution they would want to use.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

Vr5,

I'd recommend going with the ZT3000. It's lighter than the ZV/ZX series by approx 2lbs. Since this was one of your criteria, this would be the better choice.
The speakers on the ZT may not be as powerfull as the ZV/ZX, but does have enough power when watching movies either in a quite room or in a noisy area without crackling.
With the Pentium M CPU in this unit, you should be able to get the 3hrs you're looking for.
It does have a 9200 which doesn't compare to the 9600 but unless you're going to be playing the latest DirectX 9 games or using it for very graphics intensive apps, it should be fine.
An WUXGA screen may be too high of a resolution, the fonts will be really small, but then again, it's a user preference.
So, depending on what your needs are, the ZT3000 fits all your requirements and is lighter to boot. It's much more convenient to carry a lighter notebook around the campus with you. You lap will thank you for it when you decide to sit outside under a tree to work or to watch a DVD.

-Vb-

 

Thanks for the recommendations!
Very helpful.

zt3000 dissapointed me with a lack of built-in flash card reader (only one type).
Other than that it still is very high on my list.
If zx5000 within a month will get back an optional mobile P4 I will get this machine.
Otherwise, my choice is limited to zt3000 and zv5000z - what a wonderful thing to have a choice.

Actually, I hope that HP will offer a new AMD64 machine with a decent GPU within next. It's going to be "back to school" time!

 

If HP changes and offers a good GPU with the R3000Z in the next month I'm sending back my R3000T!

 

Unfortunately, it's doubtful there will be new gpu options soon. HP doesn't have a habit of changing available gpu offerings midstream. Maybe they'll realize though that the nVidia 440 is a bad pairing with the AMD64.

-n

Current toys:
R3190us, zd7120us, x1000CTO, Apple G5

www.hpnotebookforums.com
www.r3000forums.com

 

UPDATE
It looks that there going to be no update in HP's AMD64 product line.
That gives me the following choice (the notebook should be ordered by the end of July):
zt3000/x1000 - the only downside is ati 9200
acer 2012 - I really really want higher resolution screen
zx5000/rt3000t - bulky and desktop CPU, but overall looks more like a compromise for me

1. Acer's built quality is questionable for me - any opinions?
2. Shall I get over gaming and get a proper work PC - zt3000?
3. Bite the bullet (heavy one) and get a heavy zx5000?

I did not know how is it difficult to spend 1.5K$ for a notebook and get satisfaction.

What's the hell with HP:
zt3000/x1000 - NO DECENT GPU
zv5000z/r3000 - NO DECENT GPU

What's the hell with Acer:
2012 - NO HIRES LCD (15.4 widescreen with low res simply sucks)

 

Does it have to be a 15.4" widescreen model? I've been looking at the NX5000. It has a 15" LCD and can be configured with an SXGA+ LCD. It can be configured with better specs than the ZT/X series for about $1700. This price can be reduced by chnaging a few options. It's based on the NC6000 Business line, so I'm pretty confident it has a good build quality. The video card should also be an ATI 9600 w/32 or 64MB depending on the model/config.

-Vb-

 

The thing is that nx5000 comes only with an integrated Intel video soultion.
And the nc6000, which I absolutelly love comes all the way up to $1,813.001 with the cheapest acceptable configuration (max video and LCD, pentium 715, 256ram, 30gb, wireless included). Which is very sad
After adding tax and shipping cost the price becomes absolutelly unacceptable.

That brings me back to the home line of HP products.

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

 

That's weird. I'm positive when I looked at the specs after doing the config from the HPShopping.com site, it indicated that it has an ATI Mobility 9600 w/32 or 64MB of dedicated memory. I'm sure of this because I was considering getting the notebook from the US rather than in Canada because of this one big factor. Hmmmm....I just checked the site again and you're right, it doesn't have that info listed anymore. Maybe they changed it, I swear I saw that, that's why I kept mentioning it to other users. DAMN!!!!!!
In any case, my bad. The NC6000 is still a nice notebook, it is a few hundred more, but gives you everything you need a in a small light package.

-Vb-

 

they may have remvoed it to upgrade the video. For some reason they did that with the zx5000 when they moved from 64mb 9600 to 128mb 9600 for about a month.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

First of all, let me say I was thrilled to find this excellent forum.

I have been looking at the zx5000 series for my first laptop. I will be doing a little bit of traveling with my job in the next 4 months (a round trip plane ride every 2-3 weeks) and wanted my system to be able to play some of the newer games to help pass the time (maybe even online multiplayer games), play DVDs, do some digital camera work, and of course, surf the web. It will also serve as my main computer when I get back.

I configured a system from HP's EPP site. Let me know if this system would be good or if anyone suggests any modifications.

P4 2.8Ghz
512MB RAM X1
60GB 5400rpm HD
DVD/CR-RW Combo Drive
15.4" WXGA Brightview
128MB ATI Radeon 9600
802.11 g/b WLAN

It comes in at just under $1500. Most of my questions have been answered by reading other posts. I will go over what I think I have learned. The upgrade to the Brightview screen is worth it, esp. for gaming. The faster HD will improve some wait times, but I'm still unsure if it would help with gaming performance.

I had 2 quick other ones.

Would the P4 3.0 w/ HT help in my gaming or digital photo work? Is it worth it to get the upgrade?

Does anyone know if the coupon code for $100 off will work if you buy through the EPP (Federal Employee) site?

Thanks in advance.

 

One more quick question. I've heard people talking about going with the cheapest hard drive and installing a new, bigger, faster one. How hard is that to accomplish (physical removal, hardware agreement, etc.)? Is there any way to easily transfer all the programs that come with the laptop to the new HD? Would I need to purchase anything additional to get this done?

Thanks again!

 

First off I really want to thank all the notebook guru's who offer their advice on all these HP systems. I was origionally looking at DELL's because they send me alot of shiny mail I guess. My wife has a 3 year old HP ZE123(?) laptop (through best buy) and we use it all the time with some minor issues in the first 6 months but thats it.

I was in the ZV5000 vs ZT3000 internal battle of whiz bang for mobility. I've come to the point that if I really want a gaming system I should invest in an X-BOX or upgrade my DT for less money. I'm going to grad school this fall and will need to haul a laptop to campus 3 or 4 nights a week. I decided it would really be nice to know I don't need to bring the charger and that plugging it in before I go to sleep every day will do just fine. Even though the alure of 64 bit processing really had me struggling to keep myself from making the plunge. I probably will upgrade my desktop to a supersytem next summer anyway [ ]

I purchased through an EPP program on HP's site and recieved the following:

ZT3000 (forgot to add this how dumb of me... Thanks Venom)
PM (1.5 GHz)
XP Professional-only
512MB DDR SDRAM (2x256MB)
Hard Drive 60 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
2200 802.11b/g WLAN
Display 15.4" WXGA
64MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) 9200
8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

For $1408-$100(c)=$1308 after the $100 rebate it will be $1208 no tax and free shipping!!! Thats a great deal as far as I'm concerned.


I went ahead and added the 3 year warrenty which adds back $179, but for $60 a year and they take care of express shipping that's a pretty good deal.

FTR we did a 3 year warranty on our old laptop and cell phones with Best Buy with mixed results. For the phones we actually waited inline for almost an hour to be told we need to take them to the Sprint store to get serviced. I could not figure how they earned the $60 I paid for their extended warranty to just march me to the Sprint store? BTY the phone never worked again so we traded it in for a different one eventually. That was another hassle and a half though. I always smirk when ever I now hear the BB guy pitch the warranty saying they gladly will exhange back any item for something different if you keep having issues with it.

BB did a good job fixing the laptop, BUT it always took me 3+ hours every time if you figure going there, waiting in line and getting help to fix my problem. They had to send it in the third time and it took almost 2 months. It was like pulling teeth to get anybody to give us a status either. On a side note I can't believe how many people I encounted shouting down the tech guy because their computer won't work only to find out the reason was they were to cheap to invest in any virus software.


Hopefully I never have to use the HP warranty, but I like the idea of dropping it off with the FedEx guy and going on with my life.

 

Congratulations on your purchase. I'm sure your gonna be happy when you get it.

From you specs, I see you decided on the ZT3000. This will give you a good balance between computing power and mobility. Especially since this weighs approx 2lbs lighter than the ZX5000 (AC included) it'll definitely be easier to carry around with you.

When you get it, let us know what you think!

-Vb-