Should I buy this laptop now????

[KamaL]

Hi there everybody

After many searching and checking, I'm considering to buy a new laptop..

I live in Israel, and because of the holidays, I can get one an HP series ZT3000 laptop with these specifications at a good price:

• HP Pavilion zt3447
  Intel Centrino 725 1.6GHZ /400Mhz/2M
  15.4" WXGA 1024x768
  ATI Radeon 9200 64MB Dedicated
  256MB DDR
  60GB Hard Disk
  DVDx8+CDRW
  1 Year Warranty

PRICE: ~ 1300 $

It might be pricey comparing to the US or other countries, but it's a great deal compared to prices in here...

But I still have some hesitations:

1) My biggest concern is the upcoming Sonoma based laptops ...I can wait another month or two, BUT - the new laptops will be VERY expensive, and it will take some more months until their prices become "reasonable" here in Israel..

2) Windows Longhorn - from what I've understood , I need at least a DIRECTX9 capable card with 32 MB to view the new graphical system in Longhorn, the one similar to Maox OSX, while this laptop's Radeon 9200 supports only DIRECTX8 ... and since I won't be able to upgrade the graphicsd card, this is another hesitation... :scratch:

3) I'm a Medical student - I'm in the 2nd year, and I have 5 years left until graduation... I'm searching for a laptop that will be enough for the next 5 years, at least for the basic university needs...
I will also use it for designing - mainly Photoshop...
Also - playing some new games (even at the lowest settings) will be nice ....

Do you think it will be still "usable" after 4-5 years from now???

To conclude:
Any advices guys??? Should I get it, or should I wait for the next Sonoma based laptops???

I've been postponing this buy for a year now, when I decided to wait for the current Dothan based laptops' prices to drop down... but now that the Sonoma ones are coming - I'm really confused!!! :scratch:

Thanks

 

[TimothyB]

If you'll be using photoshop, then I'd suggest whatever you get you upgrade the HD from 4200 rpm to 5400rpm, maybe even a 7200rpm drive like on a desktop, opening files on a 4200rpm drive can take twice as long or more compared to a desktop.

Also, I'm guessing you meant to type 1280*800 for the screen as that's a WXGA screen, 1024*768 is regular XGA and wouldn't be good for working and photoshop and such. So make sure it's WXGA or better for the screen.

What about this Gateway 7405GX:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1093468591790&skuId=6852783&type=product

Best Buy has it on sale now and then for $1250

Specs are much better than what you showed. A DX9 card, the ATI 9600. Then a larger HD, though, still only 4200rpm, a 64bit CPU that is more future proof in a sense. More ram too. Just depends on size, weight, and battery life too.

Also, whatever laptop you get it's not likely you'll run Longhorn on it. That's 2 years away atleast and the chance of your laptop running it without updates from the manufacturer are slim. For example, some people have problems just updating windows XP from SP1 to SP2. But the specs of the Gateway machine would pass for the requirements, but that is if you can get it to run.

 

[nonsequitur]

Hi there everybody


1) My biggest concern is the upcoming Sonoma based laptops ..

2) Windows Longhorn -

3) I'm a Medical student - I'm in the 2nd year, and I have 5 years left until graduation... I'm searching for a laptop that will be enough for the next 5 years, at least for the basic university needs...
I will also use it for designing - mainly Photoshop...
Also - playing some new games (even at the lowest settings) will be nice ....

Do you think it will be still "usable" after 4-5 years from now???

Chrismakkah sales in isreal? or is it a post haunnakkah clearance? anywho..

if you are on a budget, don't worry about what hasn't come out yet. as you mentioned, the latestest and greatest will be hella expensive, so don't worry about it.

also don't worry about the next windows release yet. it will be late 2006 before we see anything.

i'm no gamer so i can't comment on the gaming potential. keep in mind most people here go overboard when they talk about what you need to have to play a game.

besides, since when do med school students have time to play games?

 

[KamaL]

TimothyB

If you'll be using photoshop, then I'd suggest whatever you get you upgrade the HD from 4200 rpm to 5400rpm, maybe even a 7200rpm drive like on a desktop, opening files on a 4200rpm drive can take twice as long or more compared to a desktop.

I don't know if I can change any part of it... it's a big sale in a bidding site.. not a normal sale.. I think that's the HD speed is slow - yuou're right - but maybe I'll be able to change it after some time, and get even a better and bigger HD...

Also, I'm guessing you meant to type 1280*800 for the screen as that's a WXGA screen, 1024*768 is regular XGA and wouldn't be good for working and photoshop and such. So make sure it's WXGA or better for the screen.

Sure... It was a mistake It's a 1280x800 WXGA screen, maybe the best part of this laptop

What about this Gateway 7405GX:

Well, Unfortunately, Gateway here in Israel isn't popular at all.. It will be very difficult to get warranty, since I'm quite sure there's no worldwide Warranty...
To be clear, I can't buy a laptop from the US or any other country, since I would pay lots of customs when it passes the borders here... This is real life

I obviously won't be to change the graphics card - and tha

Also, whatever laptop you get it's not likely you'll run Longhorn on it.

Well, what do you exactly mean by that??? It won't run AT ALL, or it won't run smoothly, with allnice new effects??? (Glass or something like this)...

I don't care that much about cool effects - I just want it to be fast and reliable... But I'm quite sure now it will run Longhorn with the minimal effects... won't it??

 

[KamaL]

BriguyNJ

Chrismakkah sales in isreal? or is it a post haunnakkah clearance? anywho..

Hehe... it's a Hanukkah sale....

if you are on a budget, don't worry about what hasn't come out yet. as you mentioned, the latestest and greatest will be hella expensive, so don't worry about it.

When you say "don't worry about it", what do you exactly mean?? What should I be worried about ?? You mean I should buy the cheaper onmes like the one I mentioned or what??

also don't worry about the next windows release yet. it will be late 2006 before we see anything.

Since I intend to use this laptop for several years, maybe 4-5 years, I HAVE to be "worried"... I'd better say I'm planning for the future, and not worrying ... If I can ensure it will run Longhorn, why not be prepared already from now??

i'm no gamer so i can't comment on the gaming potential. keep in mind most people here go overboard when they talk about what you need to have to play a game.
besides, since when do med school students have time to play games?

Hehe... I'm not a gamer too... Actually I RARELY use the computer because of the amount of time we spend studying...

But who said that med students study all the time??? I know many students who make "regular" lives, have children, work, and become physicians without any problem....
I think that if one schedules his time well, nothing is impossible, neither medicine

Besides, it depends on how what grades and future projects you are planning for... If u wanna excell and get high marks, well, then you have to study until you're truly fed up and sacrifice all yur gaming hours

Thanks for the reply

 

[nonsequitur]

When you say "don't worry about it", what do you exactly mean?? What should I be worried about ?? You mean I should buy the cheaper ones like the one I mentioned or what??

I'm of the opinion that there's no need in worring about what might come out when when you know that you can't afford it. it's another thing to consider if waiting to purchase a $3,000 laptop is a good idea. $3,000 might get you somthing different in 6-8 months; however the specs of a $1,300 laptop probably won't be much different in 6-8 months (maybe more ram, better hard drive, but not a dramatic difference unless the lcd prices drop faster than they are now).

i haven't paid too much attention to the whole longhorn pipeline discussion, but it just seems like waaaaaaaaay too much is up in the air to use that as a basis of what to buy. i'm of the mindset that you buy the best that you can afford. it's plenty true that sometimes you should just wait, period, but i don't think your situation applies.

and i wouldn't call the laptop you want "cheap". it is inexpensive. it sounds plenty good for a mid-level purchase.

 

[TimothyB]

About longhorn, the chances of it running correctly are slim, at least that's how I feel. Mainly because laptops are specialized hardware, drivers and configuration. Then stuff like the special function keys, battery managment, etc would need updating. You'd need new drivers, maybe a new laptop bios, etc. So not much of a chance that a company would spend time on a 5 year old laptop to make it work with Longhorn. If someone could comment on this it would help.

For example, My Emachines 6805 would crash the second I tried to use any specific function key (like changing the screen brightness) or run on the battery after simply updating Win Xp to SP2. I had to uninstall it to get things running again and no updates from emachine when they'd ever fix this (some people resorted to installing the bios from newer machines, voiding their warranties and causing some different problems). So the chances of installing Longhorn on my laptop without some kind of compatibility issue is slim, or any current laptop.

And what what be the point of Longhorn anyway, it won't add much functionality in the future to what you'd already be using the laptop for. It also might kill battery life since it will be using the video card nearly 100% of the time to run the the special effects and such.

 

[OutOfGum]

The laptop will last for a while if you upgrade it as you go along.

I think the best thing to do now if you get the laptop is to get a stick of 512 ddr, and then get another 512 stick in a few years. On running longhorn... it may not run, and if it does, probably not smoothly. I wouldn't base a purchase on an operating system about which little is known.

Installing a new OS on a laptop is always a shaky proposition... many operating systems are tailored to laptops by the manufacturer so, you're taking a chance if you try to upgrade anyway.

 

[TimothyB]

On some laptops, at least what I know of the emachine models that come with 512mb they are actually two 256mb chips. And one is deep in the case that you can't get to, so you only have one slot for upgrading and it already has a 256mb chip in it. So if you buy a 512mb stick you'll have to throw away the old stick and you'll only end up with 768mb. The best way to upgrade a machine like that is to spend more to get a 1gig ship for a total of 1.25gigs of ram, or take it apart to get to the other slot.

So make sure whatever you buy it's easy to upgrade or know how it upgrades. If it says max 1.25gigs, then most likely it upgrades like the way I described above.

 

[Cross]

Yes the emachines or gateway m505 series if you want penitum M setups would be best. Even on ebay they will not go above 1000. Here you can get them cheaper and the cards are 9600 Radeons so they can handle the new longhorn. I had both the m6805 (3 of them) and the m505x gateway and both ran SP2 just fine. yes you do have to update the BIOS to a newer version (I always used ver. 6811) But its so easy there are no problems. PLlus Best Buy has not said a word on the warrenty yet. I would say for the 25K in aquamark 3 you will pull and the 1000 price tag not to mention even if you did the fastest shipping you would be at your 1300 price and have a much better system even though it will be a hassle to get it going with a US purchase I am sure you could find someone here on the forums to help you. I would be happy to just to ensure you get a better system ^-^