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General discussion

Dell XPS vs HP zd8000

Feb 9, 2005 2:58AM PST

I'm thinking of replacing my desktop with a desktop replacement and want to get either one of these. I have always have been a Dell customer but am intrigued by HP's lower cost and additional features. But am just nervous because I have never had any real problems with my dell products and am not sure about HP's reputation when it comes to performance and customer service. Any adive would be appreciated. Also am wondering if anyone has heard if either of these laptops is planning on upgrading their video cards to the Radeon X800 or X850, if not is it possible to just upgrade to this card myself?

Discussion is locked

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ZD8000 ~= Dell 9200
Feb 9, 2005 6:14AM PST

Well it's really not a fair comparison, because the XPS is a 15.4" screen vs. the 17" screen of the ZD.

The Dell 9200 is a Centrino system with lots of power, the 17" screen, and a nice graphics card. However, none of these three machines will be able to use the X series video cards without a major redesign. The reason is the X series radeon uses the PCI-Express x16 bus, which isn't implemented on any of those systems yet.

However, in about 4 months, expect a Sonoma version of the 9200 with PCI-X16 and the Radeon X series.

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X series video cards
Feb 9, 2005 12:31PM PST

Thanks for the info, but if you could clarify because I am confused because the Hp zd8000 does use the radeon x600 and according to the cnet review "the Pavilion zd8000 is the first notebook we've seen with an ExpressCard slot for the new PCI Express-based modules." Does this mean you can upgrade to the X800 or X850?

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Whoops!
Feb 9, 2005 9:40PM PST

My bad. I shoulda done my research. Yes then that means it's using PCI-Express x16. However, that doesn't mean you can upgrade it.

You might be able to but as far as I know (which as we've seen is not everything), the only laptop to offer user-upgradeable video cards was the Alienware Area 51 . . . and it used AGP8x.

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ZD8000

I just brought this computer this past weekend and am very happy with it. I'm assuming you've read the various reviews on it. The main complaints seem to be heat, weight, fan noise, battery life. Yes it does get hot so you don't want to put it on bare legs, it's heavy but it's designed to be a desktop replacement, not for traveling etc, but easy enough to move around in your home. The fan noise to me isn't bothersome, I rather like the noise. I do wish the battery had more life but I will be using this mainly in places where I will be near ac so not really an issue for me. If you haven't seen this in person take a look the screen was the deciding thing for me. As soon as I saw it, that was the one. It is a media center complete with tv tuner etc, I haven't had the time to play with that yet. This is th 6th HP I've brought personally or helped buy and all have performed wonderfully. Pre-configured one has a nice assortment of software. The wireless network peformed flawlessly. Hope this helps.