Poker Laptop? - from a Mac user who has no idea about the Wintel world

[darcythepug]

Can someone give me some advice. As a Mac user I have only been able to play at pokerroom where I have done quite well for the past six months. I would like to invest in a dedicated poker laptop - I have Macs to do everything else I need.

I would like to be able to 4 table with no overlap and preferrably some extra room too. I only need the laptop to use pokertracker and run the various poker sites software.

I am looking at a HP zv5000t. Some questions:-

Should I spring for the extra $100 to upgrade from a 15.4 WXGA (1280 x 800) to a 15.4 WUXGA (1920 x 1200). Will this give me more "screen room"?

Is 256 MB RAM enough for just poker apps? Can I save some money by going with the Celeron 2.8 GHz vs Pentium 4 2.8 GHz. Also is 30 GB enough hard drive for (eventually) a large pokertracker DB?

Any help for a Windows neophyte would be most appreciated!!

Darcythepug

[NewGuy]

[ QUOTE ]
Should I spring for the extra $100 to upgrade from a 15.4 WXGA (1280 x 800) to a 15.4 WUXGA (1920 x 1200). Will this give me more "screen room"?

Also is 30 GB enough hard drive for (eventually) a large pokertracker DB?


[/ QUOTE ]

Yes and yes
Party tables are 800x600 so you need 1600x1200 to avoid overlap.
PokerTracker DBs are limited to max Access size of 2GB.

[RandR]

If you need any other recommendations, you could go with the Dell Inspiron 8600 or the Sony VGN-A190. I would also opt for wuxga display, that will easily fit 4 tables with room left over.
As for the processor, the Celeron will not preform quite as well as the Pentium 4, but if you are just using your laptop for the basics (Poker, e-mail, internet, word processing) I would save your money and go with the Celeron it will be more then adequate.
Hope this helps,
RandR

[radar5]

Dude, don't get a Dell. I have one....bad times.
Customer service is not the greatest, and they use the cheapest/worst hardware they can find. But that's just my experience...... [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[MiloBloom72]

The screen resolution.... true about the 4 tables. However be warned it will be very small for that resolution on a 15.4" screen! I'm not up for multitabling yet but for other work I never go over 1024x768 because my eyes can't handle it. Your mileage may vary.

I would spring for 512MB of memory to go with Win XP but it may be cheaper to do it post-purchase rather than from the mfr--but check all the deals.

The HPs are probably OK but see what the other vendors have. We are currently buying IBMs at work & we're happy with them so far. We got Toshibas for a while but they seem to be in the shop too often. Unfortunately the bottom line is any of them can turn out a lemon and nobody's customer service is really fabulous these days.

Also I'd consider a 3 yr extended warranty (from the manufacturer, not the retailer). I'm skeptical of these things in most cases but because of the nature of laptops I've found it a good investment for ones we get at work.