Graduation, and the HP Pavillion?

Tucanwarrior13

With my graduation money I'm going to be buying a notebook for my college classes coming up. I've given this some hard thought, and lots of research and have come to the conclusion that the HP Pavillion DV9000t looks like a really good computer. My concern is not knowing anyone with this specific machine. I know people with HP notebooks who love them, but I've never personally owned an HP (all Dells). Does anyone here like them, hate them, know of a better computer for around 1000 dollars?

witch_ie

I've never had an HP notebook or computer otherwise, but I've known people who have had them. I would say about 95% of people didn't like them or had problems with them. HP has gone through some changes recently, so maybe they're better than they were before. Personally, I really like Dells, but if you want something different, might as well try HP.

lordswing

At my school, HPs are pretty popular, I'd say right after Dells. They look pretty solid to me, though I've heard their customer support is terrible.

powerss

Don't get an HP. At my workplace, the execs started with HP's - they're clunky, the plastics are terrible, and two have had video cutout problems because of bad hinges.

Look at getting a Macbook, it's a much better laptop for college.

Other than that, Vaio's are great PC laptops, probably the best as far as design/construction goes. The rest look cobbled together.

gneGne

Ehh HP Pavillion laptops are great. I don't see why you should want a DV9000t though, they're huge. For college you could get something like the dv2500t.

Dioltas

I got an HP/Compaq nc6120 when I went to college 2 years ago. It's one of their business models, actually. And over those 2 years, I have had exactly ZERO problems with it (and I have to admit, I'm not exactly easy on it :P). My SO has the same one only slightly older and again, ZERO problems. I paid a bit more for it than I would have for a more student-oriented machine, I'm sure, but for zero problems I would say it is well worth it. I'm also of the opinion that the pavillions are a piece. I know many people who have had to send theirs in for repairs etc.

So really my point is to look into laptops geared more towards business, not the shitty ones that are obviously marketed at freshmen.

Tucanwarrior13

Hmm, seems like some solid advice. I know that since they went from Hewlett Packard to HP they have been getting reviews. Though I've also been eyeing up the XPS from Dell any thoughts on that?

lordswing

The only XPS laptops I've seen are these huge, clunky, 17" monsters. If you're going to be carrying a laptop to class, 7-8 lbs is a LOT. Most students use the Inspirion, which isn't that slim either. Where I work, the Latitudes are pretty popular, and I'll admit, they look pretty nice too. Today I helped set-up a docking station for a Latitude, and it is damn nice.

Morskittar

I've got the 15" dv6000t, which I love the hell out of. Solid construction, runs cool, and wasn't ridiculously expensive to kit out.

The only downsides are fingerprints on the shiny casing and ~2-hour battery life on standard settings.

Cryogen

I'm unsure why you want a huge behemoth laptop to take to classes... it will be so inconvenient... i'm seconding the Macbook suggestion. Unless you have a solid reason for needing a big screen that relates to your field of study?

DavidBlaine

Do not get a big Laptop. Anything bigger than what, 13 inches?, is just horrible for carrying around.


Do not get an HP. They are clunky and are not well put together. I had one. It did not survive a year. Get a MacBook.

DeathPrawn

I've gotta echo the MacBook suggestion. It's a wonderfully designed piece of machinery. If you're decidedly anti-Mac, install Windows on it.

Dioltas

Oh, and my machine still gets 4 hours battery life, easy.

As per size, 15 inch is just about perfect. Doesn't pain you to watch shows and play some games on it, yet still fits comfortably in the backpack. It has never seemed too big, even fits ok on the wimpy little chair/desk things most colleges seem to have. No need to go for the 13 inch, personally that would annoy the living shit out of me because it's so tiny. And 17 inches is, obviously, ridiculous.

Seriously. HP webpage, "Small and Medium Business". Nice solid light machines.

taliosfalcon

I agree with 15" being the sweet spot, 17" is too big to carry around everywhere, but anything smaller than 15" cuts your productivity quite a bit due to the small screen, fairly low resolution and miniature keyboard.

Tucanwarrior13

Okay. I've been looking at Dell. I know Dell, I like Dell. I think if I go with Dell I'm going to get the Latitude, with the 1gb of memory, Windows Vista Business, and the WSXGA+ UltraSharp (200 nits) 1680 X 1050 resolution screen. The Monitor is only 15.4 inches wide, and I believe it's only in the range of 6 pounds.

lordswing

You might want to rethink on the ram, see if you can get the cheapest amount, and then upgrade yourself. I saw an ad at Fry's for a gig of ram for ~$40 after MIR, which was half of what I paid for just 6 monthes ago (though my speeds were higher). I hear that Vista plays well with more ram, so 1 gig should be the minimum.

EliteLamer

I am a college student and I love my ibook G4 12 inch I got for 400.00. First apple too. When you carry around something all day you want something light.

Eat_Fire

Would just like to put in my 2 cents on things here. I work in a tech shop, here are some things I have noticed....


Dells have really crappy motherboards....

Some HP's CDROM drives go out quickly...

Dells cannot be upgraded except with Dell ram or sometimes other random crappy brands of ram (no Corsair for you)

Dell has no ASP's (Authorized Service Providers) if you do have a problem under warranty all you can do is send it to them.

If you are getting a notebook you intend to carry around and not leave at home, then 17in is too big. Go with a 15.4in at the most.

Macbooks are very well made for the most part (some weird quirks in some models), the magnetic clips on the A/C adapters will save you from damaging your computers D/C jack (ex: you trip over your cord).

A new non crappy Mac goes for $1500+

Macs are never on sale and cost the same everywhere.

Legoman05

If you wait until this summer - they have their promotion for a free ipod with the Macbook.

The 13 inch macbook, which is all you'll really need, costs a cool grand. I'm recommending that.

lordswing

Eat_Fire wrote: »

Would just like to put in my 2 cents on things here. I work in a tech shop, here are some things I have noticed....


A new non crappy Mac goes for $1500+

Macs are never on sale and cost the same everywhere.

I have to say I completely disagree that you have to pay $1500 for a "non crappy" Mac. I bought the lowest end MacBook (when they had the $180 iPod rebate, $100 printer rebate) and that served me well for a while until I decided to bite the bullet and upgrade from 512 to 2 gigs of ram, as I was being pretty hard on the system. Now though, with the updated system specs, there's no need to upgrade the ram like I did, the base system is just fine (2.0 ghz C2D, 80 gigs, 1 gig of ram), falling far short of your $1500 range.

Morskittar

Tucanwarrior13 wrote: »

Okay. I've been looking at Dell. I know Dell, I like Dell. I think if I go with Dell I'm going to get the Latitude, with the 1gb of memory, Windows Vista Business, and the WSXGA+ UltraSharp (200 nits) 1680 X 1050 resolution screen. The Monitor is only 15.4 inches wide, and I believe it's only in the range of 6 pounds.

If you're getting Vista on a machine, try to go with 2gb of RAM. After it conditions itself for a month or so, a single gig will be just a bit faster than XP (and still lower game FPS). 2gb will far surpass XP with load times and stability (except in FPS).

Tucanwarrior13

Ya, I was considering that. I actually didn't know this, but the computer my Dad uses for his work is the same exact model I wanted to get. So I gave it a little looksy, and decided I REALLY like it. He said he's had zero problems with it, and loves how it works.

Morskittar

Tucanwarrior13 wrote: »

Ya, I was considering that. I actually didn't know this, but the computer my Dad uses for his work is the same exact model I wanted to get. So I gave it a little looksy, and decided I REALLY like it. He said he's had zero problems with it, and loves how it works.

My wife's had one of the Bigass Dell 17" machines for over two years, and it's not once had an issue. Other than it being huge (and me ending up carrying it often) it's a good machine.

kaliyama

I've never found a computer to be very useful in-class - it just lets you get distracted from the lecture/reading/whatever, in my opinion. Buy a desktop and you'll get a lot more bang for your buck.

Tucanwarrior13

Well, I've also considered that. But I'm going into college for the Culinary Arts, and while it may seem like Culinary wouldn't have much use for a laptop but I could use it to run spreadsheets of recipes, stock sheets, and keeping track of various menu items I come up with.

edit: Comparatively is the Sony Vaio FE Series a good machine? I'd get it with the 2 gigs of memory most likely. 1220 for a Vaio with all of the stuff I want on it seems like a pretty good price.