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General discussion

Dell Inspiron 8600 or Gateway 4530 GZ or other?

Dec 30, 2004 8:23AM PST

Hi folks

I've been looking at notebooks for quite a while and reading up on this forum and i've basically narrowed down my search to the centrino technology based on what i've heard....

Being from Canada, the Dell Inspiron 8600 seems to be a good choice, however i was surprised to learn that the basic model doesn't have an 802.11g wirless card, also the basic model seems to emphasize the fact that its WSXGA+ with better resolution than the standard WXGA processor, should this be a major consideration considering i'm not a serious gamer?

I've also read feedback here that the model is somewhat flimsy with a slippery keyboard etc. i'm not sure what to make of this, as the town i live in doesn't have any Dell kiosks. All said and done this computer looks to be about 1900 dollars (with taxes about 2250C$)(1.2 C$ = 1 US$). This price looks somewhat on the higher side that what i had initially had in mind, however i don't mind paying for the higher price if i get something decent....

i then looked at the Gateway 4530 GZ, 1.6Ghz centrino , 60GB hard disk, i like this machine a lot, looks really slim and light, the only problem is that it has an intel extreme 3D video card....i'm guessing this means shared memory? it also doesn't have a S-Video output, so could i connect it to my television without this output? (ideally my dream would be to surf the internet on my HDTV, sitting on my lazyboy via a wireless keyboard when i'm not on the roads, but the resolution on televisions isn't there yet to support this or so i've been told, is this correct?) on the plus side this computer is cheap at 1599 canadian dollars, has a DVD burner (which the Inspiron 8600 doesn't have) and has 4 USB ports unlike the 2 for the dell machine and the look is decent...

Ken had also suggested i look at HPZT3000/Compaq X1000 series of computers, i didn't find this exact brand on the HP canada website...however the closest thing i found was HP compaq NX 5000 priced at $1599 and the NX 7010 priced at $2000. Are these similar to the X1000 series? How would these compare to the Insipiron 8600?

Your help is much appreciated!

Thanks

Discussion is locked

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HPnx7000 is HP business version of HPZT3000/Compaq X`1000
Dec 30, 2004 9:08AM PST

Kamran:

The HPnx7000 series (of which the Nx7010 you cite is a prebuilt version) is the HP business model version of the HPZT3000/Compaq X1000 consumer versions. In Canada, I understand they don't offer custom ordering but they did have these in the past.

The advantage of the Nx7000 series is supposedly that it has a 1 year international warranty (for service anywhere in the world) and HP business warranty service is a cut above the consumer service which is mostly overseas. If you go to X1000forums.com you will see that it covers all three notebooks - HPZT3000/Compaq X1000/HPnx7000 series

If you can get one of these with at least the Pentium M 725 1.6 processor (to get the 2mb L2 system cache -- 710 Pentium M and lower (some 1.5's and all 1.4 and less) have only 1mb L2 System cache) great.

Also, these come with 32mb dedicated RAM or 64mb dedicated RAM on the ATI 9200 video card (not as good as the ATI 9600 on the Dell 8600 but still good with 64mb) -- I hope you can get one with 64mb as that allows you to play more games, etc if you want. Note that some HP models have a DVD burner that is DVD+ only while custom ordering allows you to get a multiformat DVD burner. DVD+ is find for computer use but harder to find a consumer DVD player that will play it (if burning video) so getting multiformat DVD- and DVD + is preferable. But I have a desktop with a DVD burner so I have the cheaper CD-RW/DVD ROM (burns and reads cd's, only reads DVD's) combo drive so I don't worry about this.

Make sure you realize that LCD's have a fixed native resolution (pixels are fixed) so the resolution you pick is the only one that is going to look its best. There are programs where you can adjust down the resolution (powerstrip) but again it is not the native resolution and does not adjust as a CRT does.

Many power users like SXGA as an alternative to the extreme UXGA resolution as it is still readable. But most web pages will look their best in standard widescreen XGA which is 1200x800 -- note that you will already see more excel spreadsheet columns and more of the lines of code if programming as you will have a 15.4" WIDESCREEN LCD which is also great for DVD's.

The Dell 8600 keyboard is not horrible but it is not as good as the HPnx7000 and definitely not up to IBM notebook keyboards. Also, the case is much more plasticky and it is heavier and thicker than the HPnx7000 series (6.9 pounds to 6.5 pounds).

If gaming is a priority and you could get the 8600 with an ATI 9600/9700 video card with 64mb dedicated video or 128mb dedicated video that is better than the HPnx7000 but I think you will be fine with the HP for your use (hopefully with 64mb dedicated video on the ATI 9200).

Make sure you get a notebook with an Intel 2200b/g or equivalent -- you don't want to hassle trying to upgrade from b to g as HP and some other brands won't allow it unless you pay them for their card (over $100) or downgrade the notebook bios (which you don't want to do unless desparate).

See X1000forums.com for all details and best specs but keep in mind the discounts posted would only be for the US hpshopping.com site.

You have 3 USB 2.0 ports, a 4 pin firewire port, and a SVGA port for running off the TV on the HPnx7000 -- also, they have Briteview LCD on XGA LCD models but SXGA models only have non-Briteview.

If you think you will play any games at all or don't want the video to bog down the processor at times (as integrated or shared video does) stick with the Dell 8600 or HPnx7000 series.

By the way, you can find the HPnx7000 series on the US site at hp.com in the business notebooks for comparison purposes (the HPZT3000 and Compaq X1000 are at hpshopping.com).

You can't order from the US sites unless you have a US address and credit card but if you did have that option of course you could take advantages of the consumer discounts and rebates and also completely custom order the notebook ........

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help in choosing between HPzt3000 and compaq x1000
Dec 31, 2004 2:01AM PST

I have read quite a few messages indicating that both the notebooks are essentially the same. But on configuring the Compaq x1000 comes out ~$170 cheaper than the HP zt3000.

Config:
Windows xp Professional
Intel 725 (1.6 GHz), WSXGA+
2x256 MB RAM, 60 GB HDD, 64 MB ATI Video RAM,
Intel Pro 2200/bg wireless card, 4x DVD +/- RW drive

For the above config the HP zt3000 model costs about $1699 while the Compaq x1000 costs around $1524.

I want a reliable notebook with good build and design. Could you suggest which one to choose?

Thanks

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Yes, they are the same -- compare price and color preference
Jan 3, 2005 6:18AM PST

As indicated on the other post these machines are identical internally. So if you don't want the all black inside (with silver sticker glued over touchpad) versus the Black/silver Compaq inside (with black touchpad with no sticker glued over it) choose on price.

Again, the Compaq X1000 has a ridge on the touchpad between the mouse and scroll areas as it is not being covered over by a silver sticker like on the HPZT3000

Make sure you look at the mail in rebates link for both HP and Compaq at the hpshopping.com homepage (lower left corner) to insure you are getting the highest rebate available. Often the order screen rebates area lower.

Any valid rebate that says any configure to order notebook means any HP custom order notebook (or Compaq if a Compaq rebate) ordered through hpshopping.

Supposedly in service reviews I have seen HP consumer service rates just a touch higher than Compaq consumer service (they run it separately) so that is a factor if the price is only $50 different. I have the Compaq X1000 and have resolved all my issues through X1000forums.com (for both notebooks as well as business nx7000 series) so I can't comment on the service difference. Both are overseas mostly which is a pain but the repair facility is in Milpitas, CA

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Just ordered the nc8000
Jan 11, 2005 3:37AM PST

well just decided to order the HP Compaq NC8000 notebook. The list price for this notebook is about 2049 C$ with the following specs:

15" SXGA montior 1400 X 1050
Pentium 725 1.6 GHz processor
CD R/W DVD ROM
40 Gigs hard disk @5400 rpm
802.11 b/g wireless card
ATI Radeon 64 MB video card
512 MB RAM (1 chip)
3 year warranty
6.5 lbs 1.6 inches 3-5 hours battery life

The thing that clinched this notebook was its 3 year warranty, which i think is a good deal....purchasing the Dell 8600 machine with EXACTLY similar specs would have been about C$2159 but with only a one year warranty. This machine is also lighter than the Dell 8600 inspiron.

If i had gone for the no fringe Inspiron 8600, i would have got an XGA monitor, Windows XP Home Edition, and only a 802.11 b compatible network card for about $1800. The video cards on both machines are the same (although the Dell machine had a choice to upgrade to 128 MB RAM, for more price which i don't think i'll need). The other thing i liked about the machine is that it has one chip of 512 MB ram, which means that i can add another 512 MB chip in the second slot.

I also compared this to the Compaq nx7010 machine (which as Ken pointed out is the compaq zt3000 business edition) which is at C$1949...however it again has only one year warranty and only a standard XGA monitor.

The only thing that this machine lacks is a 15.4" monitor, which i really don't care too much about as i find myself used to the 15" (looks nicer) and while at home, i'd be plugging it into my flat panel.

What do you guys think?

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Yes, the nc8000 is fine if you prefer the 15" LCD square
Jan 11, 2005 6:03AM PST

Yes, the nc8000 is a nice notebook and if you want the 15" square LCD over the 15.4" widescreen that is the key difference. if you are using it for mostly internet and business use the square 15" LCD is probably preferable as many square internet website images will not fully populate a widescreen LCD (they make the largest square they can on the rectangular screen).

However, the 15.4" widescreen is a better choice for consumers (and mixed business/consumer use) as you get the widescreen format for DVD's and also Excel spreadsheets and writing code are better on this as you can see more to the right and left (more columns, slightly less rows).

I doubled my 1 year limited warranty to 2 years limited for free using my American Express card so I would not want to pay more for an extended warranty but for your use that may have been a good deal.

Also, you have the international service with the business model (can repair it worldwide) and the business support is supposed to be a bit better than the consumer one.

For Canada, it does appear that the HP/Compaq business models are worthwhile as you cannot order the consumer models custom at hpshopping.com anyway.