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General discussion

HP laptops???

Jul 29, 2004 8:14AM PDT

I'm looking to get a pretty top of the line gaming notebook for around 1500. the HP pavillion zx5000 has some nice customizable features and is relatively cheap . . . but I'm not too confident with the brand. Does anyone have any advice???

Discussion is locked

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Re: HP laptops???
Jul 29, 2004 8:55AM PDT

You are looking an a Pentium 4M chip which is fine for gaming but keep in mind you will get very low battery life and high heat with it.

The ZX5000 series does have the option for the ATI 9600 video card with 128mb video dedicated graphics. If you want this than go for it.

Otherwise the Compaq X1000 and sister machine HPZT3000 (Pentium M) have the ATI 9200 video in 32mb or 64mb which is good for many games as well. But the more video memory you get the more games you will be able to play or at higher frame rates.

I have been very happy my X1360US (X1000 variant). You can read all the posts and HP discounts (Which would also apply to this laptop -- $100 rebate and $100 coupon) at x1000forums.com (10,000 registered users).

Toshiba is slightly better at reliability so look at Toshibas also but basically all the PC notebook manufacturers have similar reliability as they all are making the laptops overseas and they have similar components.

Apple is tops in reliability/service.

The only issues I had were taken care of by bios updates and driver updates on the HP/Compaq website.

Note, the X1000/ZT3000 weigh only 6.5 pounds with the same 15.4" widescreen and last 3.5 to 4 hours of battery life when using wi-fi. The Pentium 4M chip laptops will be much less.

You will get less battery life while playing intensive games that use the hard drive on all notebooks though.

The 1 major thing the HPZX5000 series has that the ZT3000/X1000 doesn't is the Briteview LCD screen option (in XGA). This is very nice and similar to Sony Xbrite or the new Toshiba Trubrite. It looks like a thin layer of glass over the LCD and it looks much sharper but some people don't like the reflection that gives off (and may be more of an issue outside). So see these screens at Circuit City, etc to decide on that.

If you decide you want a Pentium M laptop but also want the new screen technology look no further than the Toshiba M35S456 (retail 1999 with DVD burner and Trubrite but on sale for 150 off twice recently) -- this also has Nvidia 64mb dedicated video graphics and weighs 6.2 pounds.

note, if you do get a Pentium M cpu make sure you get a Dothan Pentium M at least 1.6mhz or higher as it has 2mb L2 system cache instead of the 1mb on the older Banias Pentium M's.

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Re: HP laptops???
Aug 16, 2004 2:17PM PDT

We ordered a HP zx5000 this past weekend and did add brightview. We saw it in BestBuy and must say we loved the look of the brightview. I highly recommend it.

Here are the specs:
- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition
- Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 3.00 GHz w/HT Technology
- 15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen(1280x800)
- 128MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) 9600
- 512MB DDR SDRAM (1x512MB)
- 60 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
- DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
- 54g(TM) Integ. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth
- Microsoft(R) Works/Money
- 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

Hoping it arrives next week!

SK

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Re: HP laptops???
Aug 17, 2004 7:17AM PDT

Yes, if you want the 128mb dedicated video memory and the new HP briteview LCD this is one of the only models that has it (Toshiba has Trubrite on a Pentium M notebook).

This notebook will be heavier of course and have lower battery life than the HP ZT3000 but if using it for gaming and plugged in most of the time than the Pentium 4M chip is fine (and HP ZT3000 maxes out at 64mb dedicated video also)

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Re: HP laptops???
Jul 29, 2004 11:44PM PDT

well, for $1,500, your options are limited for "top of the line" laptops. personally, if i was looking for a gaming machine with this budget, i would be in search for a desktop. As many like to put it "you get more bang for your buck," but if you insist on latops for gaming (UT2k4/Doom 3?), you will need a pentium 4, 3.0 ghz+ (though EE is great it is not easy on the wallet; better off with standard p4 w or w/o HT). you need a good graphics card...128 mb video dedicated. also, you'll need around one gig+ of RAM.

things like upgrading to a dvd burner cost a lot, so, if you don't see yourself using a dvd burner often, don't upgrade. buying memory from crucial will save you $$$ over buying the RAM straight from hp/dell.

beware of pentium M (as kensanramon mentioned), service and support by the company you chose to buy from, and shared video. gl on your computer hunting.

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Re: HP laptops???
Jul 30, 2004 4:13AM PDT

If you want the 128mb dedicated video in the 9600/9700 ATI then you can get it with the HP Pentium 4M machine you listed.

You can also get the 128mb video on the Dell 8600, which is a Pentium M Centrino at 6.9 pounds. This does not have as good a keyboard as some others but it does have all the other components you would want. Also, the Acer Ferrari is a good gaming laptop that has 128mb dedicated video memory.

A Pentium M performs about 1.5 times faster than its mhz in comparison to a Pentium 4 M so if you get a 1.7 Pentium M Dothan that will be very comparable to a Pentium 4M 3.0ghz.

If you really want to just have this laptop tied to your desk (or moving around a fixed area only) then get one of the 17" LCD monsters or the 15" screen you have selected by the Pentium M is the best value out there overall for notebooks right now.

Intel's last report had profits up but indicated rising inventories of some chips in the future may slow it down. But the success of the Pentium M cpu was its main profit motivator in this recent 2nd quarter.

Whatever you do, you cannot easily upgrade the video memory on a laptop like on a desktop (you can easily buy a new card and install it at anytime) so make sure you get what you want now if you want a notebook.