Time for a laptop, please help me with my decision...

Imprezive · Post by **Imprezive** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 8:24 pm

Ok, so it's getting to the point where I need to get a laptop to efficiently work on my school work. I would mainly be using it for web-design applications like Adobe Fireworks, Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop etc... And general stuff like typing up essays and web-browsing, and a few RTS video games here and there.

So I have my eye on the HP DV6000t with, among other upgrades, 1GB DDR2 System Memory, a Nvidia GeForce 7400 GPU, and a free upgrade to a 80GB 5400RPM hard-drive. But I am kinda stumped on the Processor. I know a core 2 duo would get the job done, and then some, but is it necessary? HP lists the following options:

Intel(R) Celeron(R) M 430 (1.73 GHz/1MB L2 Cache) (Standard)

Intel(R) Pentium(R) dual core T2060(1.6GHz/1MB L2)

Intel(R) Core(TM) Duo T2250 (1.73 GHz/2MB L2Cache)

Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo T5200(1.60GHz/2MB L2Cache)

Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo T5600(1.83GHz/2MB L2Cache)

Intel(R) Core(TM) 2 Duo T7200 (2.0GHz/4MB L2Cache)

So I'm thinking keeping the standard Celeron and upgrading later if I can, or maybe going with the Pentium "Dual Core" or the Core Duo T2250. Anything more powerful than the beformentioned 3 seems overkill. One weird thing is I can't seem to find out much about the Pentium Dual Core. All I found was a bunch of people wondering if it was a downgraded Core Duo or some crazy new Pentium...

What do you guys think?

TheSubaruJunkie · Post by **TheSubaruJunkie** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 9:08 pm

I think you should stay away from HP. Go with a Toshiba or Dell. They are made with better components and will most likely last you longer than any HP out there.

Stay away from Compaq if they even make laptops anymore.

If you want speed, the more L2 cache the better. That 4MB L2 might be overkill for a laptop, but it will be a screamer.

-Brian

Post by **DLC** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 11:01 pm

Get a Core Duo or Turion X2. Dual core on a laptop is very nice, and doesn't have much penalty on battery life, even compared with the Celeron Ms. Don't plan on upgrading from a Celeron to a Core Duo, they might be pin compatible but the Celeron chassis won't come with the extra cooling the Duo needs.

All Core Duo chips are either based off the Merom or Yonah chip in laptops. They are very, very similar to the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo desktop CPUs. The Merom is an older design and is not 64-bit, like Yonah.

Skip the 2060, that's confusing. The 2250 would be a decent choice, but if you want to run Vista in 64-bit, get the 5200.

I've always liked Toshiba and have many Dells at work. Never really liked HP.

I'd get a Macbook if it were my choice, and put XP on it with Bootcamp while running OSX most of the time.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:48 am

I also think HP and Compaq are not great. Also, 1 GB of RAM is barely enough for Vista -- I would recommend getting 2 GB. If I were you I would look at the Dell Inspiron E1505, or even better, the Lenovo Thinkpad T60. The T60 would be pretty expensive, but it is a solid laptop. I have a T43 and am pretty happy with it, besides some minor stuff that got fixed on the T60.

smh0101 · Post by **smh0101** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:56 am

Stay away from the celerons

Go with a C2D. The 1.60ghz Core 2 Duo would be a good choice. But the Core Duo's arent 64bit capable and are a little differance and Vista likes C2D better than CD

Especially if you ever want Vista capablities.

What OS does it come with.

I would probably suggest Dell but thats cuz I dont know much about HP's except they used to suck.

Spencer

greg donovan · Post by **greg donovan** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 12:57 am

why the HP hate?

i am considering an HP because the company work for gets a discount on HP computers.

we have a 3 1/2 year old thinkpad R40 right now that has been great but only has a 15 gig hard drive (of which there is only 1 gig free). plus the battery will say it is charged 100% but it will only last 30 minutes at best.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 1:48 am

greg donovan wrote:why the HP hate?

Because they are, or have been in the past, unreliable, and their support is pretty bad.

dzx · Post by **dzx** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:05 am

I sat on the phone for 2 and half hours with Dell support and a guy from india that didn't understand much english before I got my very simple question answered. Should have taken less than 5 mins.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 2:21 am

Yeah, but Dell's support is still better overall than HP/Compaq's. Anyway, if you are having trouble with Dell tech support, just hang up and try again.

smh0101 · Post by **smh0101** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 5:16 am

Thats why you use the Online Dell Support Chat, cuz they dont have an indian accent when they type. lol

ej22t kid · Post by **ej22t kid** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 5:28 am

hahaha. I agree Dell seems to have pretty good support. But HP mus be doing something right if they are still in business. BTW my brother in law owned an alienware laptop in which the graphics card burned up due to an insufficient cooling design. Alienware wont replace his laptop with their current equivilent or with anything, they are basically giving him the cold shoulder and Alienware is owned by Dell right?

I guess my choices are the DELL 1505 or the HP dv6000t. They are both in my price range, I dont know about toshiba.

corsair · Post by **corsair** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 4:01 pm

I'm a bit surprised nobody has mentioned Gateway...

I'm using a Gateway CX200 tablet because my laptop didn't get shipped in time for winter term and it's really nice. The laptop is a NX260X and if I ever get to use it I'll tell you how it is. It's funny how it's already been replaced in their lineup but I'm sure the NX270 is very similar.

I had a bit of a problem earlier this term where I dropped my Treo on my keyboard and smashed the hell out of a few keys. I didn't realize my Treo was so dangerous. Anyway, I have their accidental damage protection so I called them up and they got a tech here to install a new keyboard, no questions asked, in less than 2 days. Not too shabby.
Plus it sounded like the guy I spoke to on the phone spoke English as a first language.

My Dad has always used Gateway laptops with few and far between problems.

I had an Alienware senior year of HS through my fall term but found that although the 17" screen was really frickin nice and it was a really powerful laptop, it was just too big for a college student to tote to the library and class if needed. I never had a problem with it either.

Manarius · Post by **Manarius** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 4:12 pm

Big fan of the IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads. Strong, Reliable, just bloody expensive.

T61 WS is a nice laptop.

Post by **Legacy777** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 6:25 pm

I've got a dell at home, and have used a dell at work. They're pretty good.

I have however been pretty impressed with the IBM I have at work. It's been a real good machine.

555BCTurbo · Post by **555BCTurbo** » Fri Mar 16, 2007 8:05 pm

I have a Thinkpad, and I am extremely happy with it, in fact, I don't think I will ever buy any other brand.

IBMs are like 1st Gen Legacies...they aren't Mega fancy, but they are tough, reliable, and get the job done with no fuss!

Just my $.02

Imprezive · Post by **Imprezive** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:33 am

So, I think I an gonna stick with the HP DV6000t, and just get the C2D 5200. So whats so special about Vista? I should be able to function just fin with 1gb of DDR2 ram. I mean HP offers less on the standard dv6000t.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 2:45 am

Imprezive wrote:So, I think I an gonna stick with the HP DV6000t, and just get the C2D 5200. So whats so special about Vista? I should be able to function just fin with 1gb of DDR2 ram. I mean HP offers less on the standard dv6000t.

Just because they offer less doesn't mean it runs well. When XP came out it was offered with 128 MB of RAM on many entry-level machines, but everyone knows it hardly runs on that little memory, and really needs 512 MB or more to run well.

Vista is extremely resource intensive. Even Microsoft admits this, although they probably wouldn't go so far as to say it needs 1 GB or more.

smh0101 · Post by **smh0101** » Sun Mar 18, 2007 8:55 pm

Right now I'm runnin Vista Ultimate with a gig of ram and it has gotten choppy so I'm gonna get another gig.

Vista is just plain purdy. It's really stable. And its even hacked on my laptop so I'm good to go.

The reason I would ay go with Vista now is so you dont have to ight through the upgrade process in about a year. If the manufacturer will put in on DO IT. Unless of course you enjoy multiple reformats and back ups and all that sheat.

Imprezive · Post by **Imprezive** » Mon Mar 19, 2007 3:47 am

Vista comes standard.

Bheinen74 · Post by **Bheinen74** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 2:22 am

you might burn your nuts with one.

Imprezive · Post by **Imprezive** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 5:41 pm

Interesting hypothesis... Anywho, I don't want to pay $1k for a laptop... Does anyone know if the memory is upgradeable? If it is then I'm going to go with just 1gig for now and save money. I'll still get the C2D tho.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 6:53 pm

It is, but you might have to replace both sticks. That can be a bit more expensive, although you can check prices to see if the upgrade from 1 GB to 2 GB through HP will be more expensive (it may well be).

Imprezive · Post by **Imprezive** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:59 pm

it costs $65 to upgrade from the standard 512mb to 1gig, and another $135 on top of that $65 to get the 2gigs of memory...

Post by **DLC** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:07 pm

I don't think anyone ever regrets paying for memory upgrades on a laptop after they use it. I really need more on XP Tablet Edition because 512MB is so easily used up.

thefultonhow · Post by **thefultonhow** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 10:34 pm

$135 is worth it unless you can somehow make sure you're just going to get one 1GB stick instead of two 512MB ones.

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Time for a laptop, please help me with my decision...

Time for a laptop, please help me with my decision...