Tell me why I shouldn't buy this laptop (HP zv5000z)

[moondogg]

Hi all,

Yesterday either the motherboard or the CPU in my Compaq died. Considering the age of the laptop and the cost of parts, spending the money to get it fixed would be insane.

So, I'm in the market for a new laptop. Here's what's important to me:
- Fast processor, faster than my existing P4 2.4Ghz. 4 Party tables+PT+PV is sluggish, and I can can't use PT realtime with Crypto 4-tables (I'd like to fix that)
- RAM expandable to more than 1GB. I already have two almost-new sticks of PC2700 512MB that I want to reuse, but I want to be able to expand it more in the future
- Zero interest or payments for 12 months. I have a few large expenses over the next few months, and I do not want to add a new one. However, 12 months is not a problem.
- Solid construction. I want the expandable RAM slots so I can use this thing for a few years.

Here's what's not important to me:
- Video/graphics. I don't play fancy computer games, and don't have any intention to
- Sound, if I can hear the noise, it fine.
- General DVD/multimedia crap, I wouldn't mind being able to watch a DVD on a plane, but most of the time I want to watch TV, I'll just watch TV. I don't do any video editing, etc.
- OEM RAM (I'm just using my own from the Compaq)
- Hard drive space/speed, 7200rpm would be nice, but as long as the HD interface is standard I can get a better one down the line. I've found anything over 40GB is big enough for me.
- OEM OS/software, I'm going rebuild the OS the day I receive it.
- 1600x1200 - I am used to a 15'' laptop screen, 1600x1200 on a 17'' screen would kill my eyes, I already have a 2001fp, and I'm not paying more than 1500 for this thing
- Customer Service, unless it's a hardware lemon, I'll be able to figure the problem out myself.
- Size/weight, as long it fits in a standard laptop bag, it's fine; even if it doesn't, not that big a deal. I don't travel much anymore, and I could use some execise when I do.

After doing some research, here's the front-runner:
HP zv5000z Series (Customized)
- Processor: AMD Athlon(TM) 64 3200+ 2.00 GHz
- Display: 15.4" WXGA BrightView Widescreen
- Graphics Card: 64MB NVIDIA(R) GeForce(TM) 4 440 Go + 1394
- Memory: 256MB DDR SDRAM (1x256MB). Expandable to 2GB (2x1GB)
- Hard Drive: 60GB 4200 RPM
- CD Drive: DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
- Networking: 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
- Battery: 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

After $50 mail-in rebate, price = $1,074.00.
Free shipping.
$0 payments for 12 months.

This is the price from hpshopping.com, and it beats the price for equivalent systems at Best Buy and Circuit City.

Dell and other sites I looked at did not have deferred payments for 6 months or more.

I saw BIGRED's post from a few days ago about freezing on this model, but no responses. I'm going to install a pretty bare-bones XP Pro SP2 build with no productivity stuff. This laptop is going to be used for both poker and software development, but never both at the same time. The only thing running in the background with be AVG, SpyBot, etc.

Seems like a perfect fit. Anything I'm missing?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Moondogg

[Sarge85]

[ QUOTE ]


Anything I'm missing?



[/ QUOTE ]

Yes.

You seem to missing that fact that it's a HP and not a Dell.

Sarge[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

[MD2020]

I'll sell you back your old computer. $200 plus shipping and handling. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[moondogg]

[ QUOTE ]
I'll sell you back your old computer. $200 plus shipping and handling. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, that's what I need. A good ole' fashion P2 200Mhz with 128MB RAM and a 10GB hard drive. You're using that thing as a doorstop, right? [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

(Yeah, and bump too)

[TheMetetron]

Just realize that it looks like there are only 2 memory slots. So you have to take the 256MB stick out of the laptop and put your 2 512MB sticks in. So you are losing that 256MB of RAM and if you intend to upgrade later, you will have to dump one (or both) of your 512MB sticks as well and buy a 1 GB.

[moondogg]

[ QUOTE ]
Just realize that it looks like there are only 2 memory slots. So you have to take the 256MB stick out of the laptop and put your 2 512MB sticks in. So you are losing that 256MB of RAM and if you intend to upgrade later, you will have to dump one (or both) of your 512MB sticks as well and buy a 1 GB.

[/ QUOTE ]

I know I'll have to get rid of the 256MB stick, I picked that one because it was the cheapest. I wish they had an option for no OEM memory [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Anyhow, I've accepted that I'll have to throw the 512MB sticks out at some point when I upgrade. 1GB total is fine for now, I mostly what to have the option to upgrade later and not lock myself into a 1GB max now.

Thanks

[RollaJ]

Ive had over the past 6 years.... 2 Dells, a toshiba, an HP, and a Sony (all laptops)...... and one brand X desktop. By FAR the worst I ever had was the HP. It is noisy and freezes all the time. Do yourself a favor and pay a few bucks more for the Dell 8600. BTW both Dells I had were the most reliable.

[moondogg]

[ QUOTE ]
Ive had over the past 6 years.... 2 Dells, a toshiba, an HP, and a Sony (all laptops)...... and one brand X desktop. By FAR the worst I ever had was the HP. It is noisy and freezes all the time. Do yourself a favor and pay a few bucks more for the Dell 8600. BTW both Dells I had were the most reliable.

[/ QUOTE ]

Reliability was definitely one of my concerns. I've been disappointed overall by the HP desktops and the Compaq laptop I've had.

I definitely walked into this research biased against HP for those reasons.

I read a crapload of reviews on notebookreview.com, cnet.com, etc, and they have pretty much all been positive. They seem to imply that a lot of the noise and stability problems have been resolved with this model.

The major complaint those reviews have had is size, weight, and mostly the graphics card (none of which I really care about).

Anyone else have issues with this model (or a similar model)?

Thanks

[illunious]

1600x1200 resolution should be important to you too (you didn't mention what the max res was).

I don't know much about laptop pricing, so maybe that's not possible in a $1000 laptop.

[moondogg]

[ QUOTE ]
1600x1200 resolution should be important to you too (you didn't mention what the max res was).

I don't know much about laptop pricing, so maybe that's not possible in a $1000 laptop.

[/ QUOTE ]

The max resolution is 1280x800.

I have a 2001fp. Currently, I 4-table on that, and then use the laptop screen for PT, 2+2, or a 2 or 3 more tables. It does me fine.

1600x1200 would be nice, but those pretty much start around $1600, and I'm just not going to get enough value out of it to justify it.