[crazy4laptops]

I'm thinking it's time for me to upgrade to a new laptop. I can't seem to find a reliable source of guaranteed new parts
(the "mew mobo" i got from a reputable store only lasted me about a month before something went wrong with the display circuit)

What laptops would you reccommend as a replacement for the compaq v2000z?
I have the dell 1501 with the same specs as my compaq, but the dell is noticeably slower in the areas of loading/editing large pictures, multi-tasking, read/write speed from flashcards, running virtual machines, etc. The battery life is better by about 1.5- hours tho

Main requirements-
must have a flash card reader that can handle SD and XD cards
Speed
AMD processor with multi-tasking/effective power saving properties
strong wifi
name brand video (ati or nvidia) and quality audio
good battery life
15.4" widscreen display
expresscard slot

Any suggestions?

[Flashorn]

Hey crazy!!



Yeah, I have a good one for you. I just bought the same one for Mom

and the next day my Sister went out and bought the same one.

HP-Pavilion AMD + ATI .

The only thing with this one is that the HDD is only 160Gigs.



Too bad about your Compaq. I bought one for my youngest in 2006 and she wouldn't

trade it for anything new.





FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[crazy4laptops]

Whats your mom's/sister's opinion about this laptop? Any quirks or hiccups worth noting?

It does fit what i'm looking for. Thanks for the find. And online buying direct from hp i can get it about $60 cheaper too.

one thing, i still live in the 32-bit world. Would the 64-bit version of vista home premium be of any use to me right now?

[Flashorn]

Hey crazy!!



Actually , my Sister's kids are on it all the time and they just love that notebook.

Well, not kids anymore 22 and 25.

My Mom is her first and I wanted something that would last for a while and

that I could fix if and when she clicked on things she shouldn't have.

All in all , this is very easy to get around with and Mom likes her first experience

even though she hasn't touched a PC in over 20 years.

Like I said I don't know if you like the fact that it only has a 160 Gig HDD.



As for the 64 bit, before I bought my HP 17" notebook in Mai I asked here

about it. I was told that for now , I would be more satisfied with a 32 bit OS.

I don't know what you intend to do or what kind of programs you use but,

I would certainly verify the possibility of a 64 bit OS. It all depends on the

work and the availability of the programs that you would be using to do your

work with. I did notice a number of programs that are now compatible with

the 64 bit Vista. Allot more than say, 6 months ago and since this is a AMD

well, you could just be in a win fall. So, check as to whether or not what you use

or will be using comes in 64 bit and if so, then, I would go for it. I was ready

but, MPH, told me that for now I would be better off with the 32 bit. Do your

home work and find out about those programs. This should give you a good

idea on what you should do.





FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[crazy4laptops]

I'll stay with 32-bit for now. x64 just isn't quite ready for mainstream

the 160 gig hdd is no biggie- i have an external backup drive and a network server with 100 gigs of free space. I'm not going to run short on space anytime soon.

I was also considering the sony vaio N330NB, any opinions/reputable reviews on this computer?

[rgreen4]

Hey Crazy, I am also an HP guy, but the one thing I like is the ease of finding drivers and support information on their website. I have a one year old dv9500t (Intel) that was replaced by the dv9700 and has now been replaced by the dv7t (the AMD version is the dv7z), simply replace the 7 in the new series with a 5 for the 15" versus the 17" screen.

I don't have anything specifically against or for the Sony, as most of the people I know either have an HP/Compaq or a Dell. If you order the 32bit, the max memory you can get is 3GB, but you can order a new matching 2GB module from Newegg for around $48 and replace the 1GB in the notebook to get to 4GB. The only way they will sell 4GB of memory is with the 64bit version (probably not wanting to argue with uninformed users why they bought 4GB but can only use 3.5GB). Course it's also cheaper to do it that way, since the jump from 2GB to 3GB is about $50, but the jump to 4GB is another $100 or so.

My dv9500 has a built in SD/XD card reader that I have never used (I have to still carry a reader for my CF cards), and also had HDMI output since I have the upgraded video card. You can custom order it and it will be shipped directly from overseas via FedEx. Mine took only 8 days from the time of order until it was at my front door. I love it, although it rarely leaves the house. I have an older zv5300us that is XP only (ATI 9000 video chip not upgradable) that does the traveling.

If you are not going to travel much, you might want to consider the 17" as it had two drive bays. But if you order directly from HP, put the second HD in at the time of the order (going from a 250HD) it is $50 to get two 160GB HD's ore $150 to get two 250GB HD's. The kit to install the second HD after the fact is $140 which includes the tray, 4 screws and the connector, so you can see it is cheaper to get the second HD at the time of the order.

Of course it does come with Vista, and XP is well nigh impossible to install, because you cannot change the IDE/AHCI/Raid setting for the HD controller. It is fixed on the AHCI/Raid setting (cannot be changed in BIOS) and that requires a third party driver and a specific USB Floppy drive to install. (This is based on the 6000/9000 personal experience and exchanges with other members who have tried). One method that has worked is slipstreaming, but I have not done that. Here is a link to a [document|d-1670] about doing this.

[Flashorn]

Hey crazy!!



Sorry about the delay in answering your post. As a matter of fact I was in

the process of posting you a reply when I lost my internet connection.

I don't know if this was a drop by my ISP but, this has never happened before.

So, I played around with the config. in the router and screwed things up badly.

Anyways I'm now back up and running.



OK, this Sony is last year's model and from what I could gather it isn't as powerful

as the HP. It has no HDMI , card reader is poor, only two Gigs of Ram and onboard

video and from what we hear Sony's Costumer Service is not the greatest.

If it's the same one I saw , it has

only two USB inputs. I might be a little bit biased here cause, I think Sony should keep

making TVs and leave the real PC making to real PC makers. So, this is what I think

of Sony. Maybe not the answer you were looking for but what I think nontheless. I hope

I'm not being too harsh. LOL!



FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[crazy4laptops]

@ rgreen
I wouldnt mind getting a dell, but they are noticeably slower than my compaq (the d820 and 1501 are the ones i borrow off and on). Plus, the hp dv5z is cheaper and i get more power and memory than the dell 1525.

I'm a true mobile user, i take notes about 2-3 times a week on a laptop and the lectures can last about 2.5-3 hours total. The 17 inch hp would be great to look at but too heavy to take around to classes.
Hopefully the AMD chipset on the hp dv5z will allow for easier xp installation. If not, i can work around a virutal machine in a low resource linux setup.

I see an option for a $99 upgrade to a blu-ray drive. That would be amazing, but the town i live in hasn't really made an effective switch for blu rentals. So that option is out... for now. Once blu becomes the norm, i'll probably actually have an hdtv to watch it on.



@ flash

the sony laptop looked great at first, but isn't looking so pretty now. I can't find a brand new one anywhere online. The one affordable Vaio N config isn't rated so great in the only review i could find. (notebookreview.com)

I'm now leaning toward the hp dv5z. Are there any other mainstream laptops worth noting that i can buy for about $700?

[Flashorn]

Hey Crazy!!



I don't know but, if you leave the dv5z configured the way it is, it will cost you

$580.00. This is with out the DVD Blu-Ray reader and only two Gigs of ram.

BTW, the dv5-1003nr is expandable to 8 Gigs of ram as compared to 4 for the

dv5z.. Now if you choose HP's configuration it will cost you $907.99. That's

$208.00 more than what you would be already getting in the dv5-1003nr from

best-buy. I think that this is by far the better deal if you can still get one. I know

that I had to go to three different stores and finally got one at the FutureShop.

FutureShop was Canadian before best-buy gobbled it up. They have the same

products but different quantities in store. It's not that I'm more HP, heck I would

be all over Lenovo if they had what I need at a reasonable price, It's just that

you get more bang for your dollars from HP along with all of the information

from their site, which I find is the most comprehensive of all. So, it's up to you.

I don't think you will find a better deal right now. Even Toshiba can't match

this one.



FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[crazy4laptops]

i'm going with this config-

vista 32-bit

turion 64 X2 (2ghz)
3gb of ram
160gb hdd

Ati 3200 graphics

dvd & cd burner (no blu this time)

and then the base choice for everything else (I have all the software i need already)

Total $630 + free shipping

saved ~20%



Thanks for all of your input. I shall write a review on the hp dv5z once i have recieved and tested it.

[Flashorn]

Hey crazy!!


You're welcomed . I'm just happy to be able to help.

I saw you were in search of a virtual environment.

give this site a look see. I don't know anything about it but, I

thought you might want to.

VirtualWin.sourceforge.net .



Waiting on your report!







FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[rgreen4]

Crazy - not to second guess, but there is a current posting by someone who bought an HP in Feb and went with HD-DVD, and of course now there are no movies on that format. At one time HP had a listing for a BD drive for the previous laptop models, but currently do not show it available (they could be out of stock). If the extra $99 is not a real imposition, I would recommend you go ahead and future proof your machine. It always harder to change out hardware several years after the model was sold.

After all the BD drive can do anything that a normal DVD burner can do, but has the BD option in addition. So when you want to use it, it's there. Of course if you going with an HDTV, you can always get a stand alone BD player.

[crazy4laptops]

@ flash
the true virtual environment i use is the nifty program called virtualbox. It handles all of my linux and windows virtual needs.

The virtual desktop is a good thought, but i don't feel a need for it b/c i don't have that many applications open at once. Usually just a firefox window with about 5-6 tabs and onenote 2007

Sometimes i have a firefox and virtualbox session running but other than that, i have to work hard to fill up my taskbar.



@rgreen

i would get the blu option, but hp wont let me get it with the base ati 3200 graphics
the total price goes up $200 and i don't want to pay extra for something that will get cheaper over time(also, blu selection is very limited where i shop)

If i really wanted a BD drive i'd wait until the external ones came close to ~$100

[rgreen4]

If HP won't allow the BD drive with the basic ATI 3200 Graphics, then that is a good indication that it won't handle it. If you try to add it later, best case you may get a standard DVD image not HD. A new graphics card is something that is hard to add later.

[crazy4laptops]

guess what, i got a new hp dv5z for $688 online. It should be here in a weeks time. Woohoo! And it was cheaper than my compaq when it was new. ($850).

technology accelerates fast when people buy it. At this rate, my next laptop (4 years down the road) should only cost about $575-$480

anticipating the jump here-
(5 years later)
by then 128-bit computing will be announced. Or the prospects of such a computing platform will be solved
Windows 7 will probably be gone
open source multi-touch tables will go on sale

[rgreen4]

Nothing like giving yourself a new PC. You'll be like a kid at Christmas when it arrives, with all the new bells and whistles. Enjoy.