Laptop buying advice please?

T

Thien

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Feb 1, 2011
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Im about to buy a new laptop and Ive decided to build one direct from HP. I dont know too much about hardware so I just want some opinions on how I did with the build. Im not going to be gaming with this laptop. Im mostly going to be using it for working on my sites. Also I will be listening to music and watching TV show and movies. Anyway here are the specs and price.

HP Pavilion dv6t Select Edition customizable Notebook PC

  • Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
  • Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-460M Dual Core Processor (2.53 GHz, 3MB L3 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.8GHz
  • Intel(R) HD Graphics [HDMI, VGA] - For Dual Core Processors
  • FREE Upgrade to 6GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm)
  • 640GB 7200RPM Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
  • 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) - Up to 5.25 hours of battery life +++
  • 15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768)
  • No TouchScreen (includes HP TrueVision Webcam)
  • LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD+/-RW with Double Layer Support
  • Intel Wireless-N Card
  • Backlit Keyboard with HP SimplePass Fingerprint Reader
  • HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope
The total price including tax and shipping AND if I get the rebate will be $715.99

If I dont get the rebate then the total price would be $865.99

So what do you guys think? Sorry if this is a long post.
 


Looks good to me. When I'm making a decent sized electronics purchase, I hunt slickdeals for a week or two before. Those people don't let any deals slip by.
 
jaxstar said:
Looks good to me. When I'm making a decent sized electronics purchase, I hunt slickdeals for a week or two before. Those people don't let any deals slip by.
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Cool, thanks for the advice, I might just go ahead and do that first and see if there are deals coming.
 
The biggest issue I see with that build is the:

Intel(R) HD Graphics [HDMI, VGA] - For Dual Core Processors

Get one that has a dedicated video GPU, its the one thing next to maxing the RAM that can make a big performance issue (Short of a SSD but that jacks the cost up)
 
Andrey said:
Really good specs, but I think I will never buy HP ever again.

They overheat like mofo.
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What brand do you suggest? My current HP kind of overheats, the fan runs loud at times but nothing major. I had the same problem with my previous Dell. Im leaning towards HP again because I like them better than Dell.
 
I'll get called a fag for this but whatever...

If you're not going to be gaming, I'd spend a little bit extra and get a Macbook Air.
 
Andrey said:
Really good specs, but I think I will never buy HP ever again.

They overheat like mofo.

btw, isn't i5 supposed to be Quad core, not dual core?
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From the looks of HP website all the i5 are dual core and all the i7 are quad core.
 
No, no, no ... HP overheats and sucks. Stay away from HP and Dell. Stick to IBM, Asus and Sony Vaio. Good luck bro.

(Or Acer ... mine never overheats and is still running smooth after 4 years)
 
My advise is don't. Desktops are way better. Huge screens and killer specs for half the cost. The ONLY advantage of a laptop is it's portable, and most people don't take their laptops often enough to justify the extra expense and all the other disadvantages of having one. Get a really simple laptop or a tablet or something for on the road and get a killer desktop with a 24"+ monitor for at home.
 
amanda11 said:
No, no, no ... HP overheats and sucks. Stay away from HP and Dell. Stick to IBM, Asus and Sony Vaio. Good luck bro.

(Or Acer ... mine never overheats and is still running smooth after 4 years)
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This^

I have a Lenovo ThinkPad.. works like a Mexican. And not loaded with all those dumb buttons and software that HP and all them include.

Friend as a Vaio and swears by it.

IMO, trying to replace a desktop with a laptop is impossible.
 
Andrey said:
Really good specs, but I think I will never buy HP ever again.

They overheat like mofo.

btw, isn't i5 supposed to be Quad core, not dual core?
Click to expand...

amanda11 said:
No, no, no ... HP overheats and sucks. Stay away from HP and Dell. Stick to IBM, Asus and Sony Vaio. Good luck bro.

(Or Acer ... mine never overheats and is still running smooth after 4 years)
Click to expand...

This is generally true (especially for other HP laptops I've had) although my HP Envy has been pretty good so far.

SpeedFan says my laptop is 75C right now with 100 chrome tabs, Market Samurai, 10 ubots open, 15 Firefox tabs, Photoshop, Frontpage, Pidgin, NetBeans, and RDP all open.

If I were to open Starcraft (with all of the other stuff still open) I'd still be fine.

But then again the HP Envy is pretty much all fans all around the laptop (no internal CD-Rom because they put massive fan there instead lol), I think the other HP laptops overheat even worse.


sapphirescales said:
My advise is don't. Desktops are way better. Huge screens and killer specs for half the cost. The ONLY advantage of a laptop is it's portable, and most people don't take their laptops often enough to justify the extra expense and all the other disadvantages of having one. Get a really simple laptop or a tablet or something for on the road and get a killer desktop with a 24"+ monitor for at home.
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What I think I'm going to do in the future is get an amazing desktop, then get a cheaper laptop, and then just use that laptop to connect into my desktop using RDP when I'm on the road. So then my desktop pretty much becomes portable.
 
Thanks for the advice everyone, I will take everything into consideration before making my purchase.
 
macbook-pro.jpg


Don't skimp on your main source of income.

And better yet, unless your moving around all day get a fucking desktop, it will help your productivity.
 
I've had a HP Dv5 for 3 years and have never had any issues. They rape you on any replacement parts (I had to replace the power adapter because I lost it), but you can get around that by buying online.

If you're getting any of the i-series processors (i3, i5, i7) you should definitely bump up to quad core. You're going to be using this thing for a few years, so why not stay as current as possible for as long as possible? Max out your RAM, too.

If you ditch the HP idea, go for a Lenovo.
 
gotta say, my $350 acer aspire has been great. I highly recommend this computer. Cheap and reliable. they are the honda (late 80s and early 90s version of course) of computers in my opinion.
 
amanda11 said:
No, no, no ... HP overheats and sucks. Stay away from HP and Dell. Stick to IBM, Asus and Sony Vaio. Good luck bro.

(Or Acer ... mine never overheats and is still running smooth after 4 years)
Click to expand...
+1 Against HP.

Right now i have two HPs - Pavilions dv7 and dv6 - they have the same problem - Browser freezes often and they make so much noice - have have to realod them a least once a day... I set all the Windows affects tp zero - anyway. after 3 hours of active work it runs slow...

Will recommend you Sony Vaio - 4 my friends got them - and all hell happy.
 
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