You know what specifications you want in a notebook so you will have to determine which one fits best in lieu of one notebook that has it all.
One caveat: The dual cpu 64bit chips are on the horizon from both Intel and AMD.
If you wanted an efficient and light notebook that is the Centrino (Pentium M) but you want the maximum performance so you may be very disappointed when those new chips hit and the Pentium 4M cpus are immediately rendered obsolete.
So don't pay over $2,000 as you may well want something else within a year and definitely when Windows Longhorn is released in 2006-07 with 64bit.
The HPzd7000 is a popular notebook for the extreme gamer or desktop replacement hound (Realtors also like these or the Toshiba 17").
See zd7000forums.com for all information on that notebook.
note that if you order custom you can get a $100 instant discount and a $100 custom mail in rebate (not $50 -- see other post I already put on Cnet today) and also a free upgrade to a CD-RW/DVD ROM drive.
The instant rebate will not last for long but the $100 custom order rebate is good through 12/1/04 on any HP or Compaq custom order notebook.
If you can't find the information for that at zd7000forums.com go to my forum X1000forums.com
I am currently searching for a desktop replacement notebook, and have narrowed my search down to the four notebooks mentioned above.
I like the HP zd7000 series notebook a lot as I am able to configure a 3.2Ghz P4 Extreme Edition running under Microsoft Media Center Edition O.S. (2004 version). I have fully configured the notebook with everything I would love it to have, BUT I have discovered that Dell is the only one, at the moment, selling ATI's Mobile Radeon 9800 GPU. This is the least of my problems, as I have also discovered that ATI is in the works on releasing the mobile X600 GPU, which is PCI Express and is basically a X800, but for notebooks.
I have put a lot of my time into researching and staying ahead of the technology curve, and really love the Toshiba and HP for there intuitive inclusion of a TV Tuner (the Toshiba's is integrated and the HP's is external). Neither the Dell nor the Mac give this as a option. I realize that the Dell is a beefy piece of machine, but it lacks in other areas where the Toshiba and HP give more, also the only reason the Dell is better is because of the fact it IS THE ONLY notebook with the ATI Radeon 9800.
I guess my true dilemma is whether I want a Apple Powerbook G4. I am excited and anxious to play with Apple's OSX, but also afraid it will not allow me all the privileges that I would have with a Microsoft O.S. like multitudes of games at my fingertips.
If anyone can help me make a decision, I would be grateful. At the moment, I am leaning toward a HP zd7000 series notebook, but expect to wait until a better GPU is available. I will not purchase a notebook with an outdated GPU.
If you have gotten this far in reading, Thanks!

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