I need some personal storys about the new HPs. I was looking at getting a dell laptop but the HP notebooks started to grow on me.

I do alot on a computer.

Photos
Webchat - Hp wins a point for the intergrated webcam*
Digital Video
Watch TV and DVDs
Play Games -not much though
Work and study


*I know apples been pushing intergrated webcams on their laptop but have never heard anything about there performance. Any input would be great.

Thanks

I would personally go with a dell. Just because I have had good experience with them. Some people have horror stories, as will any brand.
My experience w/ dell has been good, even their service dept. has been good, sending me replacement parts if needed very fast. I service 100's of offices all over the southeast, doing server/network/digital xray support. If they ask me, I plug dell, due to a lot of factors, including price, and reliability. That's my .02
I can't speak much for the hp, but the units I have serviced, have been a bad experience with hp as a whole.

My vote is for Dell as well.

HP= Proprietary *&^%% ......

Well executed but guess where you have to go for spares .... no thanks.

Definitely steer clear of HP. Wanna talk horror stories.....yikes. My Dad was an IT guy for 6 years, and dealt with hundreds of Dell laptops, very few problems. We have a nearly new HP laptop at work that's just terrible, lots of problems, waste of money.

Guess I'm gonna be the odd ball here.I have a Dell desk top that's a POS & has been since day one & i would not give a plug nickel for the whole damm company(ok rant done) We bought our daughter a HP DV 4000 a couple years ago when she went to college & it has been great(knock on wood) She really likes the quick play buttons that let you watch a dvd or listen to a CD without booting up the OS. We also got a remote control thats pretty handy when doing a power point for school.Just my VERY non techie 2 bits.

Thanks for your opinions guys.

I was hoping for HP on this one. I just liked some of the options and lay out of the notebook.

my next question.

WHat size are you guys running 15.4 or 17?

I have 9 Dell computers here in the office. 1 - 24" LCD monitor, 2 - 42" Dell plasma TV's and 1 - Dell 700m laptop. So far the computers, monitors and TV's have worked well. The Laptop SUX major and I hate hate hate calling Dell regarding everything because I have to talk to some :censored: (politically corrected) that doesnt know how to help me and reads from a script, thats the worst part of Dell, but the computers and perf are good.`

I am not a big fan of Dell. They use to be good, but like all the other major players they have gotten worse in quality and in support. I deal with Dell allot at work and lots of people and customers I know have the HP or Compaqs at home. Dell is as proprietary as the next one. Most laptops are more proprietary than the desktop models. Depending on what you are going to use the computer for, the price difference may make the HP a much better deal/machine. If your spending over a 1,000 for a laptop, than I would definitely get a warranty. Laptops don't survive as well, any of them. Some of the basic entry level laptops I wouldn't advise a warranty. You'll spend as much for the warranty as you would to just replace the machine.

Dell

I have about 1,000 Dell products at work and 1 at home...one good things is when something breaks (and it will) they ship you a replacement within a few days (depending on your warranty plan) and you box up the old and send it back. My 866 Dell is still humming after 7 years...

I just bought a new Toshiba laptop from Circuit City for $600 and love it though! I won't stick with name brand after this purchase... I like the smaller notebooks (14" widescreen) since the larger 17" are very heavy and bulky..

As far screen goes my daughters HP is a 15" widescreen with brite view I believe. One other thing she likes about it is it has a full size key board.
When we bought it from HP.com there was a student discount where all she had to do was pick what college she was going to & got a $100.00 discount.I ended up calling them on the phone & ordering it & was shooting the breeze with a sales rep.(amercian by the way)& he ended up tossing in a usb mouse-backpack
& a lock free of charge!

I am head of IT for the entire east coast USA for my company. We exclusively use Dell at this point because of too many nightmares with Sony and HP in particular. We have one IBM Tablet PC left in the office (X41 model) and I will tell you, I'll never buy IBM/Lenovo again.

I will not and would not EVER buy an HP product. They load their computers up with SO MUCH crap to make them run that it is a miracle ANYTHING can run on them.

You will always find someone in a bunch of people who absolutely hate Dell. It never fails. Seriously. Funny....I call their support once or twice a month, I get people from Canada more often than (I won't repeat the RACIST remark above! Boise, you should be ashamed!!) anything else.

Dell has top class service compared to anyone else out there (especially for business, and Home has gotten exponentially betteR). I have a mix of about 300 of their laptops, servers, printers and switches in my office and have had the pleasure of using at least 2,000 of their products in the last 7 years.

I prefer their business laptops more than any other (We use the Latitude D620's, in fact, I'm posting from my personal D620 right now :)). Very plain looking...but very reliable. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new Core 2 Duo laptops! Very powerful.

IF you get a laptop, be very careful about the display - look at the resolution carefully. Try to get a display with the (+) sign at the end of it for the larger resolution and DO NOT get an XGA monitor - go SXGA/SXGA+ or WXGA+. DO NOT get a celeron processor, stick with the Intel "Mobile" class processors, Core 2 Duo or similar. Get something "Vista compatible".

NEVER get a computer with less than 512MB of RAM. For best performance, get one with at 1GB of RAM. ALWAYS get a laptop with a 3yr warranty, even if it is $200 more. I can tell you, from professional experience supporting friends, family, neighbors and from my business experience (both side business and main work) that this is the one absolutely largest mistake people make - not getting a warranty. Normally if something is going to fail, no matter what brand you buy, within the first 48 months of use. Most laptop manufacturers use the same internals, but have different design and testing methodology before putting the combination of components to market.

The biggest mistakes people make when buying a new laptop:
- Going cheap on the processor
- Skimping on RAM (doing something utterly ignorant like getting 256MB of RAM, then bitching about how slow the computer is later, and blaming the manufacturer!!)
- NOT BUYING WARRANTY
- Going cheap on the monitor OR not understanding the diff'ce between monitors and what to get for their use.

If I had to estimate, in my experience, 99% of all people who complain about Dell have one of two problems:

- They fall into one or more of the four previously listed categories.
- They got a lemon (just like with cars, this happens sometimes, but if you get a 3-4yr warranty, a company like Dell will continue to send someone out to fix it till it's working. I speak from experience on this one).

PS - I am only using a 14.1" widescreen laptop, and it is plenty sufficient for my needs. The importance to me is *not* in the size of the monitor, it is in the *quality* of the monitor and what resolution it can put out. (Please see notes in previous post about WXGA+ versus regular WXGA)

How much good does it do to have a 15" or 17" monitor, if your highest screen resolution is 1024x768? Meanwhile, I could have a 14" that will do 1600x1200 and stuff twice as much on the screen.

thanks a lot guys. Like i said it going to be a everything laptop so i might not go for a notebook with a 14 inch screen. Thanks for all the reminders shifty.


Another question. Whats the bluetooth option for?


Anyone know if dell will be pushing a notebook with a intergrated webcam?


...........maybe i should take into consideration a Apple Powerbook:cool:

(I won't repeat the RACIST remark above! Boise, you should be ashamed!!)

whatever! When you actually pay out of your own pocket for these computers and TV's as i have you get a little frustrated when your call is routed to India and you deal with somone that cant help you because they dont understand the meaning of your language. Sorry for the "RACIST" comment but I spent 30k (my own money) with Dell last year and i still cant get this 1200 laptop fixed and its because of some :censored: head in India!! It is why I'm looking at Apple for my next purchase.

Sorry if offended you.

I'm offended any time someone spits out racial slurs. It's uncalled for. Why do you feel the need to refer to them as "dot heads", why can't you just call them "East Indians", or "people from India"?

I've spent over 2 million dollars with them in 6-7 years now...that doesn't give me the right to call someone a n***er if I wind up talking to a person that sounds black on the phone with Dell support. I guess, ultimately, whether you spent 30k or not, I don't share your same experience with their support (7 times out of 10 I don't get anyone from India). It's just a little .... disturbing to hear someone talk like that. Really shows that racism and hatred is alive and well here in North America.

Another question. Whats the bluetooth option for?


Bluetooth is a wireless technology - it allows your computer to connect to other Bluetooth-enabled devices. Examples:

I can use Bluetooth to send files to a Bluetooth enabled printer.
One of my friends syncs his cellphone to his laptop using Bluetooth.
Another one of my friends uses his Bluetooth enabled phone to control his Media PC, changing channels and creating playlists, etc.
You can also use Bluetooth to connect to small devices like bluetooth-enabled Mice, Keyboards, and headsets (such as those used for telephones).


Anyone know if dell will be pushing a notebook with a intergrated webcam?

Not sure.


...........maybe i should take into consideration a Apple Powerbook:cool:

I highly recommend getting one of the Intel powered machines. Using a program called "Parallels", you can install Windows XP on it. I'm doing this on several PCs at the office right now. You can literally boot up and shutdown Windows XP from inside Mac OS.

I personally hate Mac OS, though, so it's hard for me to work in it :) But it kinda gives you the best of both worlds, and if I had a buck or two to spend on a new Intel powered Mac, I would do it.

When I bought my home PC, Compaq had the best deal going that I could find. I was looking for a PC that did not have an integrated video or audio card, because I knew I would upgrade for gaming. I did the online custom build and it arrived quick. It did come with a bunch of crap on it, but every new PC I ever purchased did too. I spent a few hours getting rid of the crap and putting on what I wanted. It has been a great computer and is almost 1-year old now. I would definately consider Compaq for my next PC.

Also we have 3 Sony Vaios at work that have been some pretty good machines. When I was shopping for the home PC I actually wanted a Sony, but they were too much money. Nice machines though, still like the one I use at work.

Hey Eddie,

Were those Vaios the desktop PC's or the laptops? My major gripe is with the laptops - we just recycled one of the desktops (was like 7 years old) and people were pretty favorable with them.

I agree Sony is way overpriced though.

so i found the dell with the intergrated webcam but the problem is it the size of a palm pilot, kidding......it´s the XPS m1201 (http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsnb_m1210?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs)

The XPS systems are the high-end Dell laptops.

They have the XPS 2012 ([/url]) That comes with the 20" screen. I got a chance to dork around with this one in mid-December. I wouldn't buy one, larger than a standard laptop, but smaller than a compact desktop, not very portable for airplane trips (might need to check the computer), but a really cool concept for a powerful but compact system.

You can get that m1210 system with the integrated camera for $1200, once this deal becomes active again (it's expired right now):

[url]http://dealnews.com/deals/Dell-XPS-M1210-Core-2-Duo-1-86-GHz-12-Widescreen-Notebook-for-1-200-shipped/130541.html (http://dealnews.com/deals/Dell-XPS-M2010-Core-2-Duo-2-GHz-20-Widescreen-Portable-Desktop-for-3-500-shipped/133381.html)

The base looks a little thicker for the m1210 than most of the other laptops. It comes with a base CPU of 1.83GHz (dual core, so, effectively a 3.66GHz CPU), which is pretty freaking nice...and you an go up to 2.33GHz as well....cool deal.

Now, if they would just stuff a killer video card and a Core 2 Duo Extreme CPU in a laptop ... :D (C2D Extreme has 4 cores :D)

Lets stay on topic from this point on to keep the thread from being locked or deleted.

Thanks

Ok, breaking it down.

Looking at two 15.4 inch notebooks from Dell.

One is the Ispirion 6400 Dual Core (http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspn_6400?c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04).


The Ispirion


Congratulations! Your system is ready to be built.We have some recommendations for you highlighted in green below.

Components

PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® XP Professional edit
UPGRADE TO WINDOWS VISTA No Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Selected edit
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen SXGA+ Display with TrueLife™ edit
MEMORY 2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM edit
HARD DRIVE 160GB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™ edit
WI-FI WIRELESS CARD Dell Draft N Internal Wireless edit
BLUETOOTH WIRELESS Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) edit
SOUND OPTION Integrated Audio edit
MEDIA DIRECT Media Direct 3.0 edit
Accessories
BATTERIES 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit
Software
PRE-INSTALLED PRODUCTIVITY No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD edit
PRE-INSTALLED SECURITY No Security Subscription edit
Service
WARRANTY & SERVICE Get $70 Dell Dollars with 3 Yr On-site Mobility Plan. edit
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS 6 Months of America Online Membership Included edit
PURCHASE INTENT Purchase is not intended for resale. edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Miscellaneous Inspiron 6400
Processor Branding Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Labels Windows Vista™ Capable
A/C ADAPTER Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Digital Music Music Jukebox by Yahoo! Music - Basic music software
Digital Imaging Corel Snapfire Basic - Organize and Edit your photos

For around 1,801

I was trying to stick to around 1500.......kinda a kick in the balls.

another, The Ispirion E1505

Congratulations! Your system is ready to be built.We have some recommendations for you highlighted in green below.My Components
PROCESSOR Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7200 (2.00GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667MHz FSB) edit
OPERATING SYSTEM & TV-TUNERS FREE! Genuine Windows® XP Media Center, CD and Ext USB TV Tuner, Remot edit
UPGRADE TO WINDOWS VISTA No Express Upgrade to Windows Vista Selected edit
LCD PANEL 15.4 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen WXGA+ Display with TrueLife™ edit
MEMORY FREE! 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHZ, 2 DIMM edit
HARD DRIVE 120GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive edit
OPTICAL DRIVE 8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability edit
VIDEO CARD 256MB ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON® X1400 HyperMemory™ edit
SOUND OPTIONS Integrated Audio edit
My Accessories
BATTERY OPTIONS 85 WHr 9-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery edit
WIRELESS CARDS Hi-Speed: Dell Draft N Wireless edit
BLUETOOTH OPTIONS Dell Wireless 355 Bluetooth Internal (2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate) edit
My Software
PRODUCTIVITY No productivity suite- Includes Microsoft Works 8. DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD edit
ANTI-VIRUS & SECURITY I chose Security with Value, Plus,or Premium Warranty Bundle edit
PHOTOS, MUSIC & MORE! Trial pack- Basic and trial products from Corel and Yahoo edit
My Service
WARRANTY AND SERVICE PC-Care Plus Bundle edit
DIAL-UP INTERNET ACCESS 6 Months America Online Internet Access Included edit
ALSO INCLUDED WITH YOUR SYSTEM
Network Card and Modem Integrated 10/100 Network Card and Modem
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 7.0
Miscellaneous Award Winning Service, Support
Processor Branding Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
Labels Windows Vista™ Capable

This one ran for 1,802 after discount

So break them down guys. Does dell give hook up over the phone?

Lets stay on topic from this point on to keep the thread from being locked or deleted.

Thanks

??

Alexis,

You'd get more bang for your buck with the Inspiron. The one thing I can point out to you is this: The 6400 comes with a "shiny" screen on it, which makes it hard to view outdoors. This may not be a concern to you. IT really makes DVDs look better IMHO, though.

I don't know if the E1505 is the same way.

With regard to the prices....Are you using dealnews.net to get your prices? Or are you just going to Dell's site and tossing things together? The latter of the two will have you spending 30% more

??

he meant the arguing, and bringin the post off topic with that. Ya'll know better :)

I just did the dell.com setup. I´ll check out dealnews.com right now.

I´m floating towards the ispirion.

I went the dealnews.com and got some of the codes to get a discount from Dell Home but when i ran them thru dells website they didn´t hook me up on the E1505.

At the moment I´m settled on the 6400 cause it gives me more for the money and I´ll just go buy a damn tv, finally.

Any comments and changes i should make to the 6400?

I´m going to try to hustle them on tuesday when i call in for my order.

The deal you were trying to enter may have expired. Here is the main list of active hot deals for laptops:

http://dealnews.com/categories/Computer/PC-Computers/PC-Laptop/49.html

A lot of the deals dont' require codes or anything. Although, there are usually add'l coupons available if you want them (sometimes when you enter the coupons, it just replaces the coupon deal with whatever deal they were automatically tacking on - you can't stack some deals together).

IMHO. Dell's quality has been slipping almost as fast as their common stock price. Compaq's quality has really improved since they were bought by HP. With HP or Compaq you have a whole family of peripherals you can buy. I have a Compaq V5115 which has performed perfectly. A 15.4 inch screen is plenty. Get a minimum of 1GB. For less than $1000, this has been a great buy. However, the first task I performed was to remove ALL unnecessary programs. Just go into your Control Panel and get rid of all their pre-loaded crap. Then your new notebook should run just fine.

Well i just ordered the 6400


thanks for everything guys. can't wait to get it now.

Saw this post late...

I'm also an IT guy and totally agree with Shifty's commments regarding Dell. We have a 17" HP Media Center laptop that after 3 months of minor use and it can no longer holds its battery. Meanwhile the Latitude D600 and D800s we've had for years haven't had any issues. We just got in a new Latitude D620 and a D820 and I really like the new fit and feel.

I won't even get started on Toshiba and Sony laptops...

The 6400 is a solid laptop you should be happy with it Alex. :cong:

Well i just ordered the 6400


thanks for everything guys. can't wait to get it now.

Congratulations on your pic. It looks like a solid platform. :)