2 choices - can you advise me please?

shamrock2004

Hi there.
Im looking to buy a new laptop with a budget of 600 - 800 Euro.
I intend to use the laptop for studying & the odd bit of gaming, so a decent enough graphics card is desirable.
The lighter the laptop the better of course and the laptop I have in mind comes with a 1 year warranty.

The laptop is the Compaq presario V3000 and the second laptop I looked at is the HP DV6000.
The compaq presario has an amd turion 64 bit dual core processor 1.9GHz
120 GB HDD sata,
2 GB Ram, DVD Dual Layer RW +/-
wireless 802.11g/b/a
Bluetooth,
Card reader
3 USB 2.0 ports
512mb NVidia graphics (not sure of the exact model).
14' screen
Altec Lansing speakers

Price - about 500 Euro.

The HP dv6000 is the other laptop I had my eye on.It comes with much the same spec for a slightly higher price
but I suppose Im feeling slightly biased in that I would automatically go for HP for the simple reason of brand name.
Would you recommend Compaq? Are they reliable?
The laptop is brand new and I will be buying it here in Malaysia.
Ive never owned a laptop before, Im ashamed to say!
Thanks for your help.

auggie2k

Compaq are an alright make, they seem to last a good bit and the spec is nice for the price. HP laptops come with a lot of bloatware so that's one reason I'd steer clear - unless of course you reboot it.

Soundman

Just with regards the name Compaq...

They are the same company as HP, as they were bought out a number of years ago, so in theory everything would be identical build and quality wise with only the Badge on the front differing.

majiktripp

My Advice, best of a bad bunch is the HP, the Compaq V3000, I've seen several units outside a years warranty having dead motherboards, along with one that was out of PC World less than 2 weeks and it died.
Just my 2 cents.

TerrorFirmer

Both of those have rubbish video cards, especially the compaq. New games won't work on either generally, certain games will work at lowest settings but most intensive games (airborne, bioshock, crysis for example) will not be playable at any settings.

The Compaq has integrated 6150, worthless for new games, and even very poor for most games from 2005 onwards. You'd really want to be playing games from 2004 downwards for this card to function well in gaming terms. UT2k4, Battlefield Vietnam etc, all work well.

The HP has, I think, Go7200. Better then the 6150, and will work with some newer games at low settings like Call of Duty 4, but still lacks the power to run most new games at playable levels at lowest settings. Good for the same as above, really, the older games from 2004-2005.

As an absolute minimum, a gamer with fairly new games in mind should be looking at the 8400GT, which can play most new games at low-mid settings, or ideally the 8600GT, which can play most games at medium settings quite nicely. the best place to get that card is still with the Dell Vosto, machine with 8600GT can be gotten for in and around 850-900.

Of course it depends on what games you play - if all you're playing is old games from several years ago, or typically unintensive games, then either of the original laptops would probably be fine. If you're playing games from 2005-2006-ish, then the 8400GS card that comes in the Dell Vostro as standard before upgrading to the 8600GT - it runs games from 2005-2006 quite well, but will struggle with the latest games. 8600Gt is the sweet point to hit with your budget for games.

shamrock2004

Hi guys.
Thanks for the informative replies.
HHmmm, tough call indeed!
Im not particularly fussy about gaming to be honest.
I will be mostly using the laptop for internet, study and nothing much else beyond that.
The motherboard issues, as reported, seem to leave a bit to be desired.
Nevertheless, The asking price is in fact 2269 Malaysian Ringgit which is roughly 450Euro while the HP is 600Euro, before I barter.
If I choose the HP laptop and the mother board goes for a holiday, I loose roughly 400Euro which I wouldnt be TOO bothered about.

Which make would you recommend so?
Fujitsu,
Toshiba,
Compaq,
HP,
Sony....

And just one more question; if it was a toss up between the mentioned compaq and HP, which would you choose?

Im sorry to pester, but I appreciate the advice.
Thanks & Greetings from Malaysia!
Shamrock

Fabio

Compaq for the price....you'll lose a lot less IF it does break down but hey, you may be ok with it for years you never know...

Shad0w

Personally I would be inclined to lean towards Dell and stay away from the likes of Compaq and HP.

If you don't go for Dell, then I would ( reluctantly) recommend the HP. I have seen some pretty good HP laptops, but I have never seen a good Compaq Laptop.

shamrock2004

Thanks for all the info lads!
I ended up going to the Toshiba Satellite M200-E416.
New laptop with
Intel Core 2 Duo T5250 1.5Ghz
2GB DDR2 Ram
120Gb Sata Drive
14'' WXGA CSV Screen
358MB Intel X3100 Graphics (Ah so what!)
1.3 Megapixel web cam internal
Card reader
2.3 Kg weight

All for 620Euro & a bag.
I think I did ok in the end!
Thanks again & regards,
Shamrock

TerrorFirmer

Hope you changed your mind about wanting to game then

din0saur

shamrock2004 wrote: »

Thanks for all the info lads!
I ended up going to the Toshiba Satellite M200-E416.
All for 620Euro & a bag.

So where did you buy? I'm looking at a similar system on the Dell Outlet Store for €850:

INSPIRON XPS M1330
XPS M1330 CORE 2 DUO T5250 1.50GHz, 667

Operating System: English - Vista Business
Memory: 2048MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM (2x1024)
Hard Disk Drive: 160GB (7200RPM) SATA Hard Drive
NoteBook Screen: 13.3 WXGA (1280x800) Display with TrueLife?
CD Read-Write Drive: 8xDVD+/-RW Slim Slot-Load Drive
MISC: Primary 6-cell 56WHr Li-Ion Battery
Crimson Red , 2.0 Camera for CCFL Display
Uk/Irish Internal Keyboard (QWERTY)
Assembley Mod
English/Irish Ship Accessories - Power Cord
Travel Remote Control Unit