Got my very first laptop! Good deal or did I get ripped off?

[hindupapi69]

Hello everyone,

I bought my very first laptop a few days ago and I love it thus far. Everything about the laptop is great except for the video card. The laptop I purchased is the HP zv5320us.

The specs on the laptop:
Athlon XP-M 3000+ (1.6 GHz)
512 MB of PC2100 RAM
80 Gig Hard disk
15.4" WXGA screen
built-in wireless
nVidia GeForce 4 420 with 32 MB of RAM
DVD/CD-RW drive
Windows XP with Service Pack 2

The laptop came out to $1000. After tax and extended warrenty the total was $1300. I feel like I got a really good deal since I have yet to see a single laptop with similar specs for the price I paid. And the only thing I don't like about it is the crappy DirectX 7 video card. I wish it was atleast some DX 8 card. Oh well...

Perhaps someone here can recommend me a laptop with similar specs with a better videocard. But somehow... I suspect that laptop will cost well over $1500.

Thank you for your time,
The Hindu Papi

[bucksfanjimj1]

I'm not one of the experts on computers here, but I will say that you threw money away on the extended warranty. In about six to eight months there will be better products on the market for a similar price. If not sooner. HP I think has a pretty decent 1 year warranty that comes with all of their products. Extended warranties in general are almost %98 profit for the store that sold it. Meaning that there is very little likelihood that you will actually use the warranty. Therefore it is all money in their pocket.

If your concerded about DirectX7 on your laptop then you must have a slightly older laptop. Microsoft is now up to DirectX 9.0c and you can download the update for free at microsoft.com.

[IronMentality]

Dude, you should've got a Dell. =o

[hindupapi69]

Originally Posted by bucksfanjimj I'm not one of the experts on computers here, but I will say that you threw money away on the extended warranty. In about six to eight months there will be better products on the market for a similar price. If not sooner. HP I think has a pretty decent 1 year warranty that comes with all of their products. Extended warranties in general are almost %98 profit for the store that sold it. Meaning that there is very little likelihood that you will actually use the warranty. Therefore it is all money in their pocket. If your concerded about DirectX7 on your laptop then you must have a slightly older laptop. Microsoft is now up to DirectX 9.0c and you can download the update for free at microsoft.com.

Actually... I've ended up using the warrenty on just about every product I've bought that cost over $200. I'm hoping it's different this time around and that I won't have to use this warrenty. Well... maybe! Perhaps if this laptop dies in a year or so, they'll have to replace it or give me store credit equivalent to the cost of the laptop.

And about DirectX. I'm not talking about the software. I'm well aware of the fact that I can download DX9.0c from Microsoft's website and install it on my laptop. But it will not do any good since my video card has no hardware compatibility with anything after DX7. The GeForce 4 420 has no shader support or bump mapping or any other fancy special effects.

[hindupapi69]

After doing some extensive searching, I found only one other laptop with similar specs for a similar price!

The alternative:
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4198613
Intel® Pentium® M 725 Processor (1.60GHz, 2MB L2 cache, 400MHz FSB)
Microsoft® Windows XP Home (SP2)
No Microsoft® Office software
512MB PC2700 DDR333 SDRAM (256MBx2)
15.4" Wide-screen XGA Display (1280 x 800)
Intel® 855GME w/16MB-64MB shared video memory
80GB HDD (4200rpm)
DVD/CD-RW
Intel® Wireless Pro 2200BG (802.11g)

The one I have right now:
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4200164
Mobile AMD® Athlon™ XP-M processor 3000+ (1.6GHz)
Windows XP Home Service Pack 2
512MB DDR SDRAM
80GB hard drive
DVD/CD-RW combo drive (24x)
15.4" WXGA high-definition widescreen display
NVIDIA® GeForce™ 4 420 Go graphics
54g™ 802.11b/g wireless LAN

Which system do you guys think is superior? The main advantages of that Toshiba is that it's a Centrino system. This means it will be a thin and light weight laptop. The HP I have now is kinda think and heavy but it looks like it has a dedicated videocard at least.

[PMich]

A laptop is one of about three things you want to buy the extended warranty on. A screen replacement alone will run anywhere from $600 and up.

[sataraid0]

Hmmm, ya said ya love your new laptop...........so be happy with it.

The warrenty normaly I would say avoid, however, in the case of a laptop, it is proberly money well spent.

I purchased a Sony laptop some years ago and after a year and a half the video card went. Boy did I wish I had got the extended warrenty. Still got the usless thing. CaNT EVEN FIND A CARD FOR IT. This was about 5 years ago.

Anyway, be happy with your choices and enjoy them....

Regards.............................Sterling

[pam123]

Laptops are accident prone ( so is anything that moves around ).
Getting an extended warranty with one is a good idea since it usually covers such things as knocking the comp off a desk.

[dmbshu]

I'm running a Dell Inspiron 600m and I couldn't be happier with my comp, so I am a bit biased in my opinions . It did, however, cost over $2000 when i bought it in July of '03.

Pentium M 1.4GHz
1024MB SDRAM
Mobility Radeon 9000 64MB GC
802.11b/g Dell Trumobile wireless
dvd/cd-rw combo
*AND THE BEST PART*
14.1" Super XGA Display (1400x1050 Desktop res. )

w00t

[Yuanji]

don't know about laptops much but the Pentium M blows away all other CPUs. 2.4ghz Pentium M beats an FX-55 in gaming... ouch but i think you got a pretty good deal.