Miscellaneous laptop discussions forum: HP Pavilion zd8000 vs. Dell Inspiron 9300

The HD size is not as important as the RPM (by the way, I could only select the 7200 RPM HD from costco.com website, not hp.com). I used to live with an old 2GB HD in my desktopn for something like "ever", so 60GB would be OK (my old Toshiba had 30GB, and I never got over 10GB used space). Plus I do not download songs. I do have a library of CD's from my digital camera and I am good at keeping my HD in reasonable shape.
The media center does not make much sense to me, either. If I have to have cable or satellite connection, I usually find TV attached to it.
I have not seen the new 9300 (saw 9200) and I like the non-reflective screen better. My eyes are too sensitive to any reflection, etc. (I can't use CRT anymore). I do like the HP screen, though. Have you had any problems with the reflection (even in your home), eyestrain? I may sit in front of it for 8+ hours a day?
HP also offers 17" WXGA + Wide Viewing (1440x900) for $25 less. Is this the non-reflective screen?

If so, I am purchasing the HPzd8000 and am torn between the 17.0" WXGA+ Wide Viewing (1440x900) and the 17.0" WXGA+ BrightView 1440x900. I am not sure I understand the difference between the two screens. I currently have a DELL Dimension 4600 with a 17.0" E171FPBb Flat Panel Display and love it for surfing the web, however watching movies is challenging at times. The picture is a bit dark and theres a glare when the lights are on. Please help.

One thing that might *really* swing your opinion is the new coupons out for the Dell 9300. You can get $600 off instantly using coupon code V929$6QK7GHP3J

If it's that much, use coupon code ?W$W$3K$D5R90Q for $750 off $1999 or more. I'm looking at buying a system like this myself.

I have done all the reading on the subject I could handle, all the reviews, opinions, etc. As I mentioned I had Toshiba Satellite before and was very happy with it. But for my needs I would have to buy Qosmio, and though great system (except the dual HD and old Pentium M), if I wanted DVD player, I would buy one. Plus the price difference is great and their support lacking (once I had to resolve an issue with someone in Turkey; not much fun plus no solution was found).

The heat issue concerns me. I do not like to sit in fridge, so my PC is comfortable. I have read review on zd8000forums.com and some people recommend Tagrus cool pad. So that means something else to take lug around. What I have done in the past is getting 4 small size Post It pads and put them under the PC. Stable, light, cheap and the PC has all the air in needs.

Regarding the dedicated video, the x600 is not available on the 9300, it's either x300 (and I could not find any info on it on ATI website) or the GeForce 6800. I may never need this much video memory, but once you buy laptop without it, you can't add it latter (unlike memory, if expandable, of course).

Cost wise, they are pretty much the same. By the way, what resolution did you get on your Dell, the XGA or UXGA? What about other specs?

I will keep your email and contact you for updates. My current situation is, that I may need the PC next week or maybe next month.

And remember, only the paranoid survive .

I would not go with either for your needs. Unless you work out regularly. I have the Compaq X6000 custom built for gaming (going to gaming parties) and watching DVDs and after adding the power supply and some items I need to my backpack Im around 15-18 lbs, if your running around traveling that will get to you after awhile, even with a good padded backpack. I would recommend a laptop with a 15.4 screen and either P4m, P4 w/HT or the new AMD 64, you get the best of both worlds, shave some weight from a 17" but still get a big screen and make sure you get one with at least 64 meg video. For your needs it doesn't matter if its shared or deicated. The key thing is at least 512k ram and 40-60gig hd. Spin speed of the HD helps in performance, so go for at least 5400rpm or 7200. Some PC's have DDR, so you can order a PC with only 256meg and buy offline cheaper another 512k, the new DDR2 is not so cheap as its new higher speed memory. I search pricewatch.com and found a 512k ddr2 for $120, ddr is half that but go with name brand, ex: samsung, micron, etc. As for name brand PC's? Im happy with my Compaq X6000, love the fit and finish, color of silver and black top looks nice and since Compaq was bought out by HP, service has been great and its build quality is way better with HP engineering. Dell is a good choice as I just sold my Inspirion 8200 and never had any issues. I looked at the 9200, but it was over 2k with the same config as my X6000. I was really tired of black PC's & wanted a newer and faster desktop and read alot about HP/Compaq service and build quality....so I am very happy so far. Good luck!

as for speakers they are about even. I went with Compaq as I went to a local store and held both in my hands, check fit and finish and felt the Comapq was a tad sturdier and I liked the whey the cover closed over the HP looking like a pair of lips closed, plus I liked the mix of silver and black on the Comapaq. I never was a Compaq fan but since HP took over and I have a friend who works for them he said they reengineer there PC line and they are much improved. Dont get me wrong, I was ready to buy the HP8000, but I saved about $200 on the same config between Compaq & HP (compaq being cheaper) didnt need media center that can be ordered from HP. I would probadly recommend either, right now 3/17/05 you cant order my config from Compaq, they are out of stock on 60 gig HD 7200rpm drives & ATI X600 256 video cards and they rasied some of there prices. WIN XPPro now is $69, when I ordered it was $49, etc. If you want a great 17" today, you need to order the HP8000, it lists all options and I recommend getting the ATIx600 256 card, for $50 over 64 meg is a no brainer. I would order it with 256 mb ram, then go out and buy another 512 from someone else as HP charges too much. I would also order the 60 gig 4200rpm ($25 upgrade) then use it for storage or sell it on ebay or craigs list and buy the 60 gig hd @7200rpm, that adds another 10-15% performance. Any other questions just email me at ehellgren@yahoo.com be more than happy to hel pout anyone trying to understand what is the best connfig for laptops.

I checked the fine print, too. But when trying to actually check out (same config), the price was changed from $2,032 to $2,599, so beware! Try it.
The devil is in the detail, I guess. Like raising the price $30 backs so you can have a $35 off sale next week. Ok, why bother.

I have owned a DELL for the past two years and would be getting another if they had a bigger screen and faster processer. I just got an HP zd8000 and I can tell you this, the support with DELL is MUCH better than HP. If you call HP supprt you will get some voice over IP line to somewhere in India, your support will come from someone who can hardly speak english and I had to explain my problem from beginning to end to 5 different service people before I finally got fed up and returned one of the componants to HP(Port Replicator Hard Drive kit that didnt work)

Good Luck to you

1. Which processor is better: Pentium 4 or the Centrino "Sonoma"?

entrino is better for mobile use. The p4 is for of what I would consider a workhorse processor. As far as processors go they both are great! Get the best that your bank account can afford.


2. I really like the HP keyboard (this keyboard should be on every 17" laptop), but am not too crazy about the weight, heat issues and P4.

Even though the compaq x6000 is pretty much the same laptop as the zd8000 for some strange reason the x6000 was supposed to run cooler than the zd8000. I read that in a forum somewhere online.


3. Video memory: Dell offers ATI x300 with 128 MB, NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800. HP ATI x600. I may not need 256 MB, so how x300 compares to x600? The x600 is faster than the x300, better for gaming etc. The Go 6800 is better than both. Not by much but it is better.


4. Is it really worth to spend extra $200 for Windows Media Center (HP)? No! Unless you will use it as a Tivo then sure. But most people I know use their computers for business and games. There are other products on the market to do the same things that windows media center does. Like Tivo, Comcast's DVR box etc. Just remember, there is a fee for everything, even to take advantages of certain features in WME. By y Tivo for $49 on eBay and order Win XP Home on your laptop and save $200...lol

Which one would you recommend and why? It depends on what your going to use it for. In fact, that is such a huge question that it should be a separate area...;) j/k.

pcfitness
www.expertcomputerhelp.com

Are you sure you're copying the coupon code correctly, its "W$N7BQKNQBFM42", don't include the quotes - I just checked it, it still shows as being good as of 3/16 at 11PM PST, although maybe only for $500 now.

Go check www.techbargains.com to be sure you're getting the entire coupon code, its at the very bottom of the page now.

My wife and I just ordered and received the zd8000. I will say that I am pleased with the style and layout of the laptop, it has all the features you need and the keyboard is excellent. Now everyone complains about heat and I completely agree that I wouldn't want to have this laptop directly on my lap for long periods of time. That said if your fine using a table or desk heat shouldn't be a problem. I havn't seen any sort of performance problems with the laptop related to heat in any way. The X600 with 256 ddr2 ram is awesome. We play EQ2, Counterstrike and it seems to be able to run all the high end games at medium-medium high quality levels with no impact on performance. That said you can't crank doom 3 all the way up to full settings. I can't get Doom 3 to run well on my Desktop AMD 64 3400+ with an X800XT PE when I have it cranked all the way up to full settings either.

The laptop does exactly what it is supposed to do. It runs games very well at decent settings and is a perfect replacement for a desktop. If you want something a little more mobile the Pentium M's chips do consume less power. If you upgrade a 9300 to the Pentium M 2 Ghz with 1 Gig ram and the 256 6800 then your looking a $2700 which is quite a step up from the $2000 that our HP cost. You might as well get a XPS Gen 2 if your spending 2500+. XPS Gen 2 is like 8.6 pounds and the HP Zd8000 is 9.3 I believe so not much of a weight difference if that is a concern for you. For what you want the computer for I would go for a cheaper zd8000. As an avid gamer I'm considering getting the XPS Gen 2 and letting my wife use the zd8000 since she is more into Sims and less into high end 3d games. Once more I'll say the Zd8000 runs all these high end games rather well but if you want to tweak out 10-20 FPS more the Gen 2 is probably the way to go.

Anyway I know it's not a zd8000 vs XPS Gen 2 article but given the small price difference I'm not sure why you would buy the 9300 when you can spend 200 dollars more and come out with a 2.13 ghz Pentium M and a Nvidia 6800 ULTRA.

Good luck


BTW stats on our HP Zd800 which cost approx $2000 are standard with the following exceptions.

Processor: 3.4 ghz Pentium 4
Video Card: X600 256 MB
Ram: 1 Gig
Monitor: WSXGA 17 inch
Hard Drive: 100 GB
Optical Drive: Dual Layer DVD Burner

I got the ZD8060 2 months ago and all was well at first. It was so pretty that I didnt notice the weight and heat. Its 2 months later and the honeymoon is over. My lap is well done and I've had quite the workout luggin this thing just around the house. I dont travel much but I would NEVER take this thing anywhere. It would die in an hour without an outlet. You cant work on a plane or in an airport nor can you watch a full movie. Its almost senseless. I had a power outage for 2 hrs last month and it was ridiculous... my laptop died.

It's still pretty and I'm not getting rid of it... but I ordered an IBM thinkpad tonight so I actually have a mobile laptop instead of 10lb stove.

Not trying to deter you, just my experience so far. By the way, its not like I didnt know what I was getting, we have 5 laptops in the house and the 6th one is on its way now.

I decided to get the 9300 today. I found a coupon last Friday for 35% off selected Inspiron Notebooks $1499+. My PC comes to $2679 and when I was ready to check out I found the coupon is no good (yes, they have 30% off, but the 5% comes to almost $134 and would pay for good chunk of the sales tax). Upset does not come close. When I called Dell, they told me they are usually conditions attached, such as number of PCs sold, but I could find no such info. Also, if the coupon expires on e.g. 4.1.05, good luck using it on that day, because the coupon actually expires 3.31.05.

I think its a bad business practice and it seems the company is playing games. Perhaps I am crying over hill of beans, but this makes me wonder how Dell will treat me should I have a real problem.

Maybe the time is right to wait if HP will come out with Centrino version of zd8000 and say good riddance to Dell.