Help choosing laptop

I'd be surprised if most of us couldn't use that one.

Some may over-analyze and those should not consider this model.

Bob

thanks for your promt answer, but what about the comparison of the nc6000 and the tecra m2...im looking for something with good performance and ligth

Let me be clear. Only those that are over-comparitive would not be happy with that model.

It's light, plays DVDs well, gets over 4 hours on a charge, has many features I didn't see in other models and more.

Here's just one -> That button just above the touchpad turns off the pad so when you are typing... no oops. Priceless and nice touch.

Here's another. The unit is very good looking when in use and when it's closed.

Bob

what about the performance of 1.4 m, compare with the 2.0 or the 7200 rpm hard drive??

I am a surgeon who uses pictures and that why i was looking for something fast. the machine you are recomending is 1.4, and the hard drive is 4200 rpm, can you please recomen d in relation to 2.0/1.8 and 7200 rpm or 54 rpm and in relation to hp nc6000 and tecra m2
Thanks

Rafael

The machine boots XP in under a minute. Nothing takes very long to happen. Open Office launches in seconds. I'm unsure you could tell any real difference between the items you noted.

In fact, let's make this simple.

Pick a laptop with your needs of CPU and hard disk and go get it?

I'm writing about the v2030us since I have one to play with and frankly it's very nice and I'd not give it much of a second thought.

The machine is quite fast.

Bob

The HPnc6000 and Toshiba Techra are business line notebooks so you are paying a bit more than the consumer lines and they lack some features in some cases. Case construction and durability can be better in business lines (this is definitely the case for IBM).

The HPnc6000 has a high rating from Cnet (see review-- over 8.0 is great) and it has the Pentium M Dothan with 2mb L2 system cache. You only need to order the Pentium M 725 Dothan as that has the full cache and is much less expensive than the 755 2.0 which is the top chip so you are overpaying (just as you overpay for a Ferrari in comparison to a BMW).

One thing the HPnc6000 does not have relative to the consumer model HPZT3000 / Compaq X1000 twins (see X1000forums.com for specs and discounts) is it does not have a firewire port.

Also, the HPnc6000 is a 14" square LCD and the HPZT3000 / Compaq X1000 is a 15.4" widescreen -- much better for DVD's and spreadsheets (more columns to right and left. It weighs 6.5 pounds. You can order it with up to 64mb dedicated video memory which is highly recommended as you can't upgrade that later.

HP/Compaq only has the 5400rpm hard drive option but many at X1000forums.com have ordered the cheapest 4200rpm hard drive and put in an Hitachi 7200rpm hard drive later themselves for under $200. That is only 20% faster than the 5400rpm though which is 50% faster (see time) than the 4200.

The HPDV1000 and Compaq V2000 cited above are very good for all but games and high-end video as they do NOT have dedicated video -- if shared is ok it is 5.3 pounds and plays DVD/CD with the operating system off. It is a 14" widescreen. The HP DV1000 adds a few features and has the built in remote control (Compaq has a few less features and is not priced very much less).

The key factor in any of these notebooks is try out the keyboard fell and lift up each to see which has the best case integrity. The HPZT3000/Compaq X1000 has a metal bezel surround for the LCD and also an aluminum lid so it is quite rigid. The DV1000 does not have this so it is less rigid.

Dear Ken, if i get the low rpm hard drive and the low dothan, and then change it, do you think that the warranty will be void

Lots of people at my user forum for my Compaq X1000/HPZT3000 buy the cheap 4200 rpm hard drive and swap it out for the Hitachi 7200rpm hard drive(Dell parts had it on sale at one point for only about $125).

The hard drive is under the notebook and all you have to do is open the slot, remove the old hard drive from the cable, switch the notebook proprietary adaptor from the end from the old one to the new one (at least on this notebook) and replace the cover.

The new hard drive would not be covered under the 1 year manufacturer warranty but if you had a failure you can just put the old 4200rpm hard drive in and sent that to service -- that will have the operating system still on it -- they often reformat your hard drive anyway to diagnose any problems so by taking out the Hitachi or other upgrade drive you are saving your data from being erased. Since you don't have to access the motherboard area to replace the hard drive you should have no problems with this.

I would not upgrade the processor while the notebook is under warranty as that does involve removing the keyboard and accessing the internal motherboard area.
Someone did take a Banias 1.4 Pentium M (1mb L2 cache) and upgrade it to the 1.7 Pentium M 725 (2mb L2 system cache) but you want to do this after the warranty is over.

Also, he ended up spending over $200 to upgrade so it was not very cost effective.

Down the line you may be able to get a Dothan 1.6 Pentium M 1.6 Dothan now and move up to a Pentium M 2.0 later but you really are not going to see a lot of performance difference later.

Get the Pentium M 725 Pentium M 1.6 or Pentium M 735 Pentium M 1.7 and you will be fine. Save your money for the faster hard drive, the most dedicated RAM you can get in whatever model you choose (at least 64mb dedicated video -- some have 128mb dedicated -- you CAN'T UPGRADE THIS LATER), RAM (fill 1 slot when ordering and get your own 512mb notebook PC2700 RAM later yourself -- Kingston PC2700 notebook 512mb on sale this week at Best Buy for 79.99 after rebate), etc.