Sager NP5320 Value vs. HP

I am looking for a notebook and I have decided what I want in terms of performance and the configuration. Price for me is an issue but not enough to make me sacrifice build quality/reliability. I want some opinions to see if spending the extra $200 on the Sager is worth it. I will play some games but will most likely use the computer for internet and to burn dvd's.

From HP I configured this for $1,307.22 in a compaq v4000t

Processor 740 (1.73 GHz)
15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen!
128MB ATI MOBILITY(TM) RADEON(R) X700
1.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x512MB)
80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
LightScribe 8x DVD+/-RW&CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer
Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG WLAN!
12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

The Sager NP5320 I configured at powernotebooks looks like this for $1,546.00:

15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) LCD
ATi RADEON X700 PCI-e w/256 DDR
1.73GHz "Sonoma" Intel® Pentium® Processor M 740
1,024MB (2 SODIMMS) DDR2/533 Dual Channel Memory
80GB SATA/150 Hard Drive at 5,400 RPM
LightScribe Enabled Combo 8X DVD+/-R/RW/CD-RW
Intel® PRO/Wireless 2915ABG 802.11a/b/g LAN
Battery: 8-Cell Smart Li-ion Battery

 

What types of games are you going to be playing? From what you said, it doesn't seem like the Sager is worth the extra $200.

Chaz

 

The only game I am thinking of playing right now is Half Life 2 and maybe Halo 2 if it comes out on PC. I play my sports games on consoles and FPS on PC.

 

Ah ok. I'd recommend the HP, since the extra $200 won't be worth it for you. You could put that $200 into some nice accessories or even spec out the HP some more.

It's cheaper to upgrade the memory yourself, so you can save yourself some money by just getting the base. 1GB will cost you about $90 to upgade yourself. You could also get the base hard drive and then upgrade to a 7200RPM drive for awesome performance.

Let me know what your thoughts are.

Chaz

 

I am going to change those ram specs and replace it myself. This being my first notebook I was wondering how difficult a HD swap would be? I would love to be able to do this and put in a 7200rpm drive. Also where would I look into compatability issues?

 

That's another reason to go for the HP - the hard drive compatability. The NP-5320 uses a Serial ATA hard drive, and they are difficult to find.

With the HP, you can stick in any 2.5" hard drive, as long as it is ATA-6 (ATA100, same thing). Hitachi makes the best 7200RPM drives in my opinion.

Hard drive swaps are very easy. On the bottom of the notebook, there are several panels. Under one of them lies the hard drive. All you have to do is take off the panel and swap out the drives. Takes 5 or 6 minutes.

Chaz

 

One thing that turned me off forever from HP is that they lock their BIOS, so if you ever plan on upgrading anything, like the wireless card, it will have to be HP approved hardware or the laptop will not boot.