Member Avatar for joshSCH

Hey, I know there are a couple threads out there with a similar question; however, this thread isn't quite the same, nor will it last long.

Okay, I'm buying a laptop for college this summer.. The one I had wanted to buy went up too high in price. I'm trying to stay at about $1k.

Anyway, here are the two different systems I am thinking about buying:

HP (CompUSA)
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?ref=google&product_code=344567&pfp=external&tabtype=rv#rb

Processor Brand: AMD
Processor Class: Turion 64 X2 Mobile Technology Processor
Processor Number: TL-52
Front Side Bus: 1.6 GHz
Mobile Technology: Turion
L2 Cache Size: 2 x 512 KB
Memory Type: DDR2-SDRAM
Installed Memory: 1 GB
Maximum Memory: 2 MB (huh? I think they meant 2 GB)
Hard Drive Capacity: 120 GB
Rotational Speed: 5400 RPM
Optical Drives: LightScribe Double Layer DVD+/-RW SuperMulti Drive:

* Create a DVD Writable at a maximum 8X Write speed
* Other speed specifications are not available from the manufacturer

Additional Drives: LightScribe DL DVD SuperMulti
Sound Support: Digital Audio (16-bit)
Video Chipset Brand: NVIDIA
Video Chipset: GeForce Go 6150
Resolution: 1280 x 800
Screen Size: 12.1 in

Fingerprint reader, rotating monitor

From $1200 to $950


Dell
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?reconfigure=true&vw=list&cart=ActiveCart&id=5efd41de-592b-46ca-9a21-986b735e6dc3&ecomm=ecomm.dell.com&c=us&l=en&cs=19

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processor T5300 (2MB) Cache/1.73GHz/533MHz FSB

OPERATING SYSTEM Ubuntu Edition version 7.04

LCD PANEL 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WXGA+ Display with TrueLife

MEMORY 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM

HARD DRIVE 120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive

OPTICAL DIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability

VIDEO CARD Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950

BATTERY OPTIONS 9-cell Primary Battery and 9-cell additional Lithium Ion Battery

WIRELESS CARDS Intel PRO/Wireless 3945a/g
WARRANTY AND SERVICE 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service edit
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Audio
Processor Branding Intel Centrino Core Duo Processor

From $1422 to $922


What do yall think? I'll bring my desktop down too, so I only really need it for classes.. I'm kinda leaning towards the Dell, but I do like the fingerprint reader and rotating monitor on the hp. Please post your opinions and links to laptops that you prefer.

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Member Avatar for Sturm

I personally like hp. My hp laptop dv6000t ( A laptop I would highly recommend. The newer version (exactly the same except for some cosmetic changes) got the "best buy" award from pc world.) is awesome. I paid only $1600 and got <see computer specs in profile>.

And dells come with intel video cards instead of nvidia ones. Of course if this is just a cheap crappy laptop for school while your real rig is going to be a desktop than maybe dell is better.

Member Avatar for joshSCH

icic.. actually, I could use this instead of integrated video: 256MB NVIDIA® GeForce® Go 7300 TurboCache™

It's an extra $80.. I just think the integrated video card should be fine b/c I have my desktop for gaming :)

Member Avatar for hbk619

2mb of RAM? hehe.

Sorry, i haven't used either. I'm inlove with my Acer Aspire 5610 :)

Member Avatar for joshSCH

Hey, I decided to change up the dell a bit.. I added the graphics card, and upgraded the processor to 1.83 GHz.. decided to go with 1 gig of ram instead of two (It costs $200 more to get 2 gigs of ram instead of one!! wtf? I can get ram for $35 off newegg.)

Member Avatar for jbennet

Dells are picky about RAM. go for the dell supplied stuff.

Member Avatar for TheNNS

when buying a dell, buy as little ram as you can, because it is so expensive, you can always buy it a newegg.com, since it's very cheap there.

Member Avatar for jbennet

The turbocache cards are crap. Dont get them, The "256 meg" cards are like 2 - 64mb cards which steal the rest from system ram

Member Avatar for Sturm

but if you have 2 gigs I wont make a difference. my geforce 7400 go has 128 dedicated and 128 system.

Member Avatar for TheNNS

how many casual users hav 2gb ram in their computer?

Member Avatar for joshSCH

Me!

Member Avatar for Sturm

me too! 2 Gigs is cheap.

Member Avatar for jbennet

you neee 2 gigs if u have vista

Member Avatar for TheNNS

yeah, but you guys are power users.

Member Avatar for jbennet

I have 512 in most of my (nonvista) machines

Member Avatar for Sturm

actually since I run linux w/ evilwm I only really need 1 gig. I just have another gig for the heck of it.

Member Avatar for TheNNS

dude, sturm, give me a gig

Member Avatar for Sturm

lol it would void my warrenty!

Member Avatar for jwenting

how many casual users hav 2gb ram in their computer?

me. And thinking of upping it to 4...

Member Avatar for hbk619

i want 2. Because it's more than 1.

Member Avatar for joshSCH

4?? Why do you need that much? 2 is quite sufficient, and I never have any ram problems.

Member Avatar for TheNNS

if you have 4, you could probably get rid of the paging file.

Member Avatar for Sturm

You can get rid of swap with 1 gig. I have swap just for the heck of it.

Member Avatar for jbennet

I have 3 . 1 gig for vista, two for my game

Member Avatar for TheNNS

You can get rid of swap with 1 gig. I have swap just for the heck of it.

That's not a very good thing to do. You should have paging file still, some programs like photoshop use it always.

Member Avatar for Sturm

I do not use photoshop. What open src apps use it? And anyways I have 2 gigs of swap space.

Member Avatar for TheNNS

most applications use it.

Member Avatar for Sturm

My friend uses debian w/ no swap and he has not had problems.

Member Avatar for TheNNS

when in windows, in case of a BSOD, the errors are written to the page file, so you can look at what they were and fix them to prevent it from happening again.

Member Avatar for Sturm

Well I don't use windows do I?

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