zv5000z and R3000z questions (owners please check)

Hello, I am currently considering buying the Compaq Presario R3240 (or R3260) and HP Pavilion zv5255 (or zv5260) both containing Go cards. I read somewhere here that the 420 Go runs graphics very decently (which is all i need) so i am thinking of getting them if the amilo a630 (top of my wanted list) is not available. also the same fellow who has it told me he gets 3 hours battery life watching DVDs which is just great!! Plus i have a desktop with a radeon 7000 with 64 drr vrram and for me that is decent.. Is the 420 Go worse than the radeon 7000?????

Of course i would like to get something with 128 MB but i will get this if the amilo is not available.

Also, another question. Is there a chance of these models being released with a bettwer GPU before october??

Thanks alot

 

probably not those units are mid range to low end, the Geforce 4 420 Go wont play the latest games at a good framerate, and the redeon 7000 in a laptop is intergrated and uses Shared memory. i had one and it was horrible for games. the Zx5000 is the next leg up it is more expensive, and the battery life is so so. 2 to almost 3 hours depending on what your doing, i get almost 2 and ahalf hours on my Zx5000 When gaming if u intend to game the Zx5000 comes with a Redeon 9600 128MB, which can play any game out right now at a suitable framerate. DVD's drain the battery more then if the comp is just Idling the Drive is being accessed constantly, and therefore battery life lessens.

 

You'll get 3 hours of DVD playback with a 12-cell battery, which is only available on the Configure-To-Order (CTO) models. If you can wait 2 weeks (average) for a CTO model I recommend getting one. There are lots of neato upgrades available.

The GeForce 420/440 Go is a dedicated video chip, so it'll beat any shared memory solution such as the Radeon 7000. That said, if you're seriously into 3D games it's too slow. For 2D work and older games (Quake 3, CS) it's perfect.

There is a good chance of new Athlon 64 models being released by October, but I've yet to find any concrete details. Right now all I can do is speculate.

 

the A64 beats the P4 hands down, i had 1 awhile back it was a great laptop. but i ran into problems and returned it.

 

thanks.. as for the zx, im going for amd 64 lappies and not others..

And also the question was, does the go 420 (for lappies) beat the DESKTOP radeon 7000??

 

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

 

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

 

Hey alekkh,

I notice you said that HP sent you a refund after you saw the price had dropped on the lappy you bought. Do they have a price guarantee policy or something? Can you please elaborate a bit on the process you went through to get them to give you a refund? I know a lot of people wouldn't mind getting some cash back if they were entitled to it!


Thanks and cheers,

Stevo


zv5000z: Ath64_3200+ (2.0GHz) - 1GB DDR - 80GB 5400rpm - 64MB 440 - 15.0" XGA - Win2k (tentatively)

 

Hey alekkh,

I notice you said that HP sent you a refund after you saw the price had dropped on the lappy you bought. Do they have a price guarantee policy or something? Can you please elaborate a bit on the process you went through to get them to give you a refund? I know a lot of people wouldn't mind getting some cash back if they were entitled to it!


Thanks and cheers,

Stevo


zv5000z: Ath64_3200+ (2.0GHz) - 1GB DDR - 80GB 5400rpm - 64MB 440 - 15.0" XGA - Win2k (tentatively)

 

I was curious if anyone else has been able to get HP to kick down with a 'Price Guarantee' refund of some type, after seeing their laptop price go down after they ordered theirs?

(Should this be a separate post / topic?)


Cheers,

Stevo

zv5000z: Ath64_3200+ (2.0GHz) - 1GB DDR - 80GB 5400rpm - 64MB 440 - 15.0" XGA - Win2k (tentatively)

 

I have the R3240US and I got it from best buy. The screen is 1680x1050. Like all stupid LCD monitors you can't change that. If you do a lower resolution its all fuzzy and nasty. **I cannot see this screen at 1680x1050**. Today I went to another comptuer store and saw one with 1280x800. It was also a R3240US. You would think they would change the model number.

What is going on here? Did someone figure out a way to hack the LCD monitor to actually be viewable or are they trying to confuse us with weird numberings.

 

I have a R3240US and I can run Doom 3 no problem in pretty high detail. This computer has been great to me so far. I have an emachine and got the dreaded crack on the hinges. It had the Radeon 9600 and actually froze repeatedly when trying to run Doom at anything but the lowest settings.

Previous owner of E-machines M6810
but had the dreaded
hinge crack.

Now I own a Compaq R3240US.

 

Dear alekkh,
I'm new to laptop world and going to buy zv5000z(Athlon 64 3700+,DVD+-RW,Wireless,Bluetooth, 12 cel Li-ion ...) but first I wanted to investigate the battery life. I know that 3700+ is a desktop CPU (85w power consumption). I wonder if you have ever tested the battery life of your notebook under different situations. I would be glad to have the results. a mean value would be of greate worth.

Mohammed hagh
[email protected]
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<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by alekkh

 

In moderate use, when the CPU spends most of its time in power-saving mode (web browsing, etc), figure 3-4 hours of battery life. At its slowest speed the CPU only burns 13W max, and it's more than fast enough for watching DVD movies. I was able to watch 3 hours of DVD video on my zv5000z. If you're going to do CPU-intensive work the battery won't last anywhere near as long but, hey, at least that CPU power is there.