So I’m going to be buying a new laptop soon. Yay for me!
I’m going to get an HP HP Pavilion zd7010us.
Everything looks good, except I’m unclear on one thing.
The graphics card is an
Is this dedicated or shared?
I’m pretty sure it means it’s dedicated because this
computer lists it’s graphics as shared. I would think they’d use the same terminology if the first one was shared also.
Anyone??
Please ignore me… I found it on the website. Discrete does = dedicated.
I have a somewhat more tricked out model in this same family on my desk. It’s dedicated video memory, not shared system RAM per the note "NVIDIA® GeForce4™ 440 Go Memory: 64MB DDR SDRAM (discrete).
Here’s a good message board for all things 7000.
ZD7000 Forums
Unofficial forum to discuss the HP zd7000 laptop
Also, it is worthwhile to negotiate with the HP salesperson. I managed to squeeze out an additional 10% discount by wheedling. Also see if there are any corporate discounts or organizations you belong to that HP recognizes for discounts.
It’s a nice unit, but I hope you’re not expecting to tote this beast around with any regularity. In practical terms it’s really more of a luggable “desktop replacement” than a portable unit.
Thanks for the info Astro. More than anything this will indeed be a replacement for my home desktop, which will then become my gf’s. I had contemplated going with the 15 in. screen just for the fact that the 17 sounds almost like it would be too much. But in the end my need to compensate for my lack of computer knowledge by having something a little bit (okay actually a lot) better than I really need.
I’ll have to check out the forums. I may have an in already as my gf’s mom works for HP out here in OR. She’s got to get some kind of discount i would think.
One thing that is worth having with the 7000 is a wireless keyboard and mouse. It allows much more comfortable typing and mousing, and the screen is large enough to be able to sit back at a reasonable distance.
I recommend this unit . Usually 100., but can be had for 60- $ 80 on sale.
If the laptop has bluetooth, then its worth getting the bluetooth version so you dont need to fiddle with little dongles when your travelling.
Astro, (and mods, this is turning more into IMHO I guess) What kind of features did you end up getting. I’m leaning towards spending the extra on the Graphics to take it up to 128MB, but I’m not sure if I would actually use it. I don’t play a whole lot of games. I am a fan of the Command and Conquer series which currently reccomends 64MB (it’s pretty slow with my 32MB on the desktop), but other than that I don’t play a ton of games.
I will definitely have the wireless g added, since I’ll be on cable at home and it’ll be nice to have it integrated.
What’s the “brightview” screen?
and since you brought it up Shalmanese, what the hell is bluetooth? I’ve seen it referenced before…
Thanks for your help guys…
I got the 3.06 ghz CPU, wireless G, the 80 gig 5400 rpm drive, the 128 meg video and the DVD burner. If you’re going to play video games you’re proably going to want to at least max out the video.
Brightview is a brand new option and I am not that familar with it. It is discussed (to some extent) here onthe ZD700 forums. It appears to be a polarized plastic sheet on top of the LCD that heightens contrast somewhat but also increases glare, so there’s a bit of a tradeoff. It similar to Sony’s “superbright” technology. I saw the Sony implementation and it does what it says, but the glare is unbearable to me (I absolutely can’t stand glare) .
As a side note you might want to join the 7000 forum (it’s free) and ask the video tech questions there as well. I like my 7000, but there are some real 7000 gaming mavens on that board that could answer your questions far better than I (or anyone else on the SDMB) can.
Thanks for the info. I probably will be joining the forums shortly to ask a few questions.
Unfortunately I’m having some doubts now as to whether or not this is the machine for me. Reading a few reviews I’ve read of excess noise with the fans (this may be a problem if I get any laptop with a 2.66 or bigger I suppose) I also am second guessing the big 17in screen.
I suppose what I need to do is go into Fry’s or something and play on them a little bit to see what I like. What will fit my desires right etc.
I had been trying to limit myslef to HP just because of how well I’ve loved their stuff in the past. My desktop is HP as is my printer and my prior computer. They’ve always been able to help with any problems even after the warranty was up on one of my machines. I’ve always tired to pay back a company that’s been good to me with loyalty. I suppose in this case, with a purchase this big (for me anyway) I should figure out what’s best for me.
So now I’m open to suggestions for any kind of laptop(PC). Is anyone out there a die hard fan of what they have?
I’ve owned a lot of notebooks and the 7000’s fan is no louder than the majority of notebooks out there, but it does run more often because of the powerful “hot” P4 CPUs being used in the units. If you really want a quieter notebook you need to be looking at the energy efficient Intel Centrino CPU based units, but these do command an approximate $ 200-300 (or more) price premium over the Pentium 4 and Athlon units of equal CPU horsepower.
Is it really that much more expensive for an M (Centrino) processor?
I ask this because I notice that the notebook in question–zd7000–uses a desktop processor (the one with hyperthreading and/or extreme edition). It’s hard to believe that Centrino-based notebooks would be more expensive than ones with these top of the line desktop chips.
But there are slightly older notebooks out there that are based on P4 Mobile (P4M) processors that may be what you were referring to.
I recently bought a notebook, so I had to go and check out what’s on the market these days. So many confusing options to choose from.
Well, my questions are moot now. My lack of self control forced me to go and pick it up this afternoon. I now have it and am attempting (notice the attempting) to go wireless with it. Unfortunately, I have to figure this out tonight, or I won’t sleep.
Any suggestions? I have the Linksys
wireless (g) router. I even left all the settings at defualt, knowing that that leaves it open for anyone in the neighborhood. It’s working fine for my desktop but I must have some settings wrong in the laptop…
I know that’s not very detailed, but I just wanted to get on and tell everyone about my purchase mostly…
I have the same router. In addition to making sure the SSIDs are set exactly the same on the router and the notebook (letter case does matter), using the desktop’s browser go to http://192.168.1.1 and check all the settings and then “save settings” at the bottom. You can set the WEP security settings tomorrow.
Well, don’t I feel like a horse’s ass. It was as simple as pushing the wireless button at the top of the keyboard.
I’d like the thank the folks over at the ZD7000 forums for the answer I found!
Now I can play all night and be hungover tommrow. Thanks for all your help folks!