Another laptop help topic!

**Justinian** · May 04, 2006, 07:00 PM

Justinian is getting a laptop. Justinian wants a good laptop which will last him. Justinian likes to pretend he actually knows jack about laptops. Justinian has been searching the web. Justinian's budget is around $1,300. Justinian's main concerns are mild portability but nothing super light and slim, since he doesn't travel that much, and to use the laptop as replacement for his TERRIBLE desktop circa 2003 which was old when he bought it until he can scrape up enough money for a smokin' desktop. Justinian has found this:

HP dv8000t

Windows XP Pro SP2
Intel Core Duo processor T2400 (1.83 Ghz)
17.0" WXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1440x900)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400
1.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x512MB)
80 GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
DVD+/-RW/R CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG w/BT
8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft Works/Money
Backup XP CD
One year limited warranty

Clocking in at $1,363.99 after a $50 rebate, 8.1 lbs and free shipping!

Good? Bad? Ugly?

EDIT: Updated with XP Pro

**Titus** · May 04, 2006, 07:05 PM

Originally Posted by Justinian

Justinian is getting a laptop. Justinian wants a good laptop which will last him. Justinian likes to pretend he actually knows jack about laptops. Justinian has been searching the web. Justinian's budget is $1,300. Justinian's main concerns are mild portability but nothing super light and slim, since he doesn't travel that much, and to use the laptop as replacement for his TERRIBLE desktop circa 2003 which was old when he bought it until he can scrape up enough money for a smokin' desktop. Justinian has found this:

HP dv8000t

Windows XP Home SP2
Intel Core Duo processor T2400 (1.83 Ghz)
17.0" WXGA+ BrightView Widescreen (1440x900)
256MB NVIDIA GeForce Go 7400
1.0GB DDR2 SDRAM (2x512MB)
80 GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive
DVD+/-RW/R CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG w/BT
8 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Microsoft Works/Money
Backup XP CD
One year limited warranty

Clocking in at $1,248.99 after a $50 rebate, 8.1 lbs and free shipping!

Good? Bad? Ugly?

Let see not so bad but I would not like that 5400 rpm hard drive. The GPU is good, small hard drive, 1.0gb ram good, so over all I think its not so bad. :original: Good price also!

**Justinian** · May 04, 2006, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by Titus

Let see not so bad but I would not like that 5400 rpm hard drive. The GPU is good, small hard drive, 1.0gb ram good, so over all I think its not so bad. :original:

The HD isn't small by my standards, I'm used to tiny hard drives... Let's put it this way, my current HD on my ancient desktop is 40 GB...

**Titus** · May 04, 2006, 07:13 PM

40gb wow!!! small! compared to my 232gb.

**Gaius Baltar** · May 04, 2006, 07:09 PM

Try EBAY. You can get great deals for very good prices. With Dell refurbished systems, you get the warranty as well. Try an Inspiron 9300.

**krazykarl** · May 04, 2006, 07:12 PM

If you can, get it loaded with XP pro. XP home doesnt support mutiple CPU's and thus would make your dual core cpu act as a single core system.

**Justinian** · May 04, 2006, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by krazykarl

If you can, get it loaded with XP pro. XP home doesnt support mutiple CPU's and thus would make your dual core cpu act as a single core system.

What?

Well, it's only $1,363 with Pro, so it's no sweat. Thanks man.

40gb wow!!! small! compared to my 232gb.

No need to rub it in :laughing:

**krazykarl** · May 04, 2006, 07:29 PM

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1797

this article explains the whole SMP thing in depth

**Incinerate_IV** · May 04, 2006, 08:01 PM

The Core Duo is a plus, but the Graphics card isn't that good. Don't expect any top quality gaming on that, since you probably will have to turn something down in some newer games. Also the 7400 Go uses turbo cache, which means it uses system memory for video memory. Its a good computer, but I don't think its that good of a deal. If you be patient, Dell will always have some kind of huge rebate every couple of months. I remember some time ago it was selling Dell XPS with Geforce 7800 GO for ~$1200.

**Justinian** · May 05, 2006, 09:55 AM

Originally Posted by Incinerate_IV

The Core Duo is a plus, but the Graphics card isn't that good. Don't expect any top quality gaming on that, since you probably will have to turn something down in some newer games.

I never really expected top quality gaming (good gaming laptops are waaaay out of my price range), and I'm quite used to having to turn down game settings ... I can't even play newer games on my desktop, so this laptop is a huge improvement.

I'll look around though, thanks for the advice. I loathe Dell though.