Laptop buying advice forum: Laptop suggestion(s)?

Thanks, this really helped.

...Core 2 Duo? Geforce GT 335m graphics? A new sandybridge based i7 can be had for about $1100. http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&category=notebooks&a1=Starting+price&v1=%24800-%241200&series_name=dv6tqe_series&jumpid=in_R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/$800-$1200/dv6tqe_series . Configured with a second generation i7 2630m you get four cores/8threads which runs circles around even the first generation of mobile i7s, imagine how much more powerful it is over that puny core 2 duo, 8 gb DDR3 1333 memory, Radeon HD 6770m 1gb GDDR5 graphics which is loads better than that GT 335m, 750gb 5400rpm hard drive (upgrade to a 7200rpm one costs an extra $20) costs around $1085.

Thats a far more capable machine, brand new, and under $1100.

I've held my tongue about HP but they never resolved a bug I found in some models. It appears there is no way for this to be resolved so for now until they clear out the current models HP is an avoid.

By burned I mean exactly that. My laptop went to repair, came back worse. Before it just had the firmware bug in the BIOS. On return it locked up in minutes. HP would not re-repair it but 6 months later (still a dead laptop to me) a HP rep is working the issue again.

Could average consumer live with this?
Bob

Thats true, this a new model and as far as I heard, its been great. In the past I've been iffy about HP computers but in my experience they do indeed make a solid machine (I'm on a 6 year old Compaq all original parts still work).

Moreover, my primary point being, a newer far more capable machine is well within the OPs $1100 or less budget.

The 6 months to get attention as well as the bug is bothersome.

The response to the bug was "not many people have a smart phone."

There's more but the service was a disaster as well how they respond to a bug you found in their machine.

The bug was in the bios but it appears to be uncorrectable by HP because they buy that.

--> Again, this is not a good thing.
Bob

What exactly is the "bug"? I'm not seeing anything related to a BIOS issue.

The machine will not boot with a smart phone plugged in. You'll find that bug in a few machines.

This bug appears to cause a machine lockup but rather than try to hunt that down let's keep it simple to the machine doesn't boot with your iPhone plugged in.

And no bios settings will cure that. Sorry but as an embedded software author and writer, this one is well known to me. Simple to fix, if you had the source.
Bob

...really...

thats a issue many systems have.With XP and Vista my HP wouldnt boot with an iPod plugged in, works fine with Win7 tho.

Thats an issue most users will probably never run into. Yes its a simple issue, but hardly a reason not to purchase an HP computer, its also not an issue inherent of HP computers. My Dell hangs on the first boot and restarts with my Droid plugged in but boots fine the second time, my Toshiba used to have that issue when a Blackberry was plugged in.

Sorry but I fear you have to look at how HP service handled the issue and broke the laptop then never repaired it.

After 6 months and posting this story, then and only then did I get an offer to get this corrected.

As to my Dell, flawless with the iphone and droids.
Same story for the other dozen HP machines. Works fine.

As to the flaws in your machines I take it that you accept bugs like that?
Bob

One bad customer service experience I find hardly a reason to turn away potential buyers.

Its a minor issue. Hardly can even call it an issue. It doesn't take away from the qualtiy of the machine, or how well it works. And only the Dell still has the "issue", Toshiba updated the BIOS and my HP doesn't have the issue under Windows 7.

Isn't the issue that the BIOS attempts to boot into the phones operating system? Thats what it seems to me, which can be fixed by simply changing the boot device priority, putting usb devices below the hdds.

Sorry but I kept the story to just one.

The boot priority does not fix this but it should have.

As I wanted to use this machine to port our company apps to Android this boot and lock up issue became a real problem so I thought I'd report the bug and try to get it fixed.

The result was a dead laptop. You would have thought that this would have been resolved without a public display and intervention from other HP folk.

HP walked. I gave them months before I talked about it here.
bob

but, most mass produced computers will ship with sub par SSDs that are not worth the premium. Best to upgrade after purchase.

It's a Kingston not the fastest but blows any hard drive away. My system boots in 25-30 seconds and I love that.

Next thing we'll read is that smart phones need more than that.

My laptop shipped with 6gb, that was quickly upgraded to 2x4Gb chips when the price became reasonable. 8gigs is hardly enough. My laptop on average uses 3-4gigs with just FF, Live, Skype and KMPlayer running.

As a matter of fact, Blackberry's do need more memory and faster processors.

I purchased this Toshiba above because I didn't need a lot. 4 gb probably might be the biggest amount of RAM a computer has in this house, but I'm not stupid, I know 4gb isn't alot and I don't need more than 4 gb but what that guy is looking for he just might need more RAM.

Why are you considering 6GB laptops?

The more, the better. The age old marketing ploy is not just a means to sell pricey systems. Win7 recommends 1gb, for good measure i would say 2gigs. The average flashy game wants say 1-2gigs, for good measure we give it 3. Thats 4-5gigs. Then pile on security software running in the background, any other background services from programs the average user installs lets say another gig for those, not to mention that many newer games come with additional software to "enhance" the gaming experience, game server clients, punkbuster, dlc centers etc. 6-8gigs is what you would expect in the average gaming machine.

Lets consider, a system more aimed at productivity, Office, Acrobat, browsing, email, 4gigs of memory would probably be more than sufficient, 2gigs for the OS, a gig for background services, and a gig for everything else. You won't max out that memory, but its better having extra you never use than being stuck with a machine thats locking up cause you don't have it.

More specifically to your question. When I purchased my laptop, memory wasn't my primary concern, that came down to going with an i7 or a Core 2 Quad, as in instances that were important to me, the mobile Core 2 beat out the mobile i7. It was a decision between the HP HDX1 and a Qosmio x505. The model I got was the top model(full HD, dual hdds, (ssd+hdd), number two nvidia mobile gfx card) and it came with 6gigs of RAM. Wasn't much of a consideration, as much as it was what was offered.

My media pc, only has 512Mb running Win7 Ultimate. All the unnecessary
services are disabled, but its more than apt for running HD movies even
without discrete gfx. But, basing my comment on the what the OP is looking for this machine to do, they will be better off with more than 4gigs, especially with it being within their budget.

Just last week we pulled a HP/Compaq R3000 (AMD Athlon 64 single core, 512MB, XP) out of mothballs to update a factory app. It booted and ran fine.

No HD movies but maybe that's the point. Fit the tool to the job.
Bob

comes back to my point, 4gigs isn't gonna play to nicely for what OP wants. And considering the budget, 6-8gigs is possible. or upgrade later.