Help comparing/choosing between two laptops.

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:16 am

Today at Costco, I was looking at some laptops, while helping my dad choose a minifridge for the office. After choosing the fridge, my dad also looked at the laptops, I told him (In a joke, my dad hates buying me stuff) that he should buy me a laptop. Well, to make things short, he didn't want to buy the laptop I wanted, which was the most expensive one there, but he "liked" two (As in, he didn't cringed when he read the prices)

So, I come to you guys to ask for advice, which of these two laptops are good, I know close to nothing about computer hardware now, so maybe you can help me decide on one.

Because the computers are sold here (Mx) their hardware is quite old compared to the current ones in the US, hell, I couldn't find them in HP's US website, so here I got the specs from the Spanish site, even if the stuff is labeled in spanish, the things have their english name, so I guess there isn't a big problem.

HP Pavilion dv2423la notebook PC wrote:Sistema Operativo
Windows Vista Business Original
Garantía
HP limitada de 1 año en partes y mano de obra
Webcam
Web Cam y micrófono integrado
Estación de acoplamiento
Base de expansión opcional
Procesador
Intel® Pentium® dual core T2080 (1.73 GHz)
Caché
1 MB Cache L2
Bus del sistema
Bus de sistema de 533 MHz
Memoria
1024 MB DDR II 667 MHz; expandible a 2048 MB
Pantalla
Pantalla de 14.1" TFT/WXGA Widescreen con tecnología BrightView High-Definition, resolución 1280 x 800
Gráficas
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950, hasta 224 MB de memoria del sistema compartida
Disco Duro
Disco duro de 120 GB (5400 rpm)
Disco Óptico
Super Multi DVD±RW y CD-RW Combo Drive con soporte para doble capa y lightScribe
Audio
Altec Lansing
Interface
USB 2.0 (3), IEEE 1394, VGA, S-Video, RJ-45, RJ-11, 2 puertos para audífonos, control remoto, expansion port 3, consumer IR
Medio Digital
Lector 5 en 1 de memoria digital Secure Digital, MultiMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro y xD
Conectividad
Modem de 56K de alta velocidad, tarjeta de red 10/100 y módulo wireless 802.11b/g
Conexión inalámbrica
Integrada 802.11b/g WLAN
Ranuras de expansión
Una ranura para ExpressCard/54, incluye soporte para ExpressCard/34
Batería
Una batería de 6 células y una de 12 células
Adaptador de corriente alterna
Adaptador de corriente alterna de 65W
Teclado
Teclado compatible 101 teclas
Mouse
Touch Pad integrado con boton de encendido/apagado y pad dedicado de desplazamiento vertical
Controles
1 par de audífonos Stereo, control remoto (Versión Express Card), 2 botones Quick Launch
Características de Seguridad
Cerradura Kensington® MicroSaver, password de encendido, acepta dispositivos de seguridad de terceras marcas
Mantenimiento y seguridad
Symantec™ Norton Antivirus 2007™ (60 días); Adobe™ Acrobat Reader; Notebook Ayuda y Soporte
Software de entretenimiento
Roxio Creator 9 Basic; .QuickPlay 3.x para Windows/DVD; HP Games; Muvee autoProducer; HP PhotoSmart Premier
Software de productividad
Microsoft Works 8.5, Office 2007 Home & Student (60 días de prueba)
Dimensiones y Peso
33,4 x 23,7 x 2,6 (cm)
Peso: 2,41 kg

I like the weight and screen, but I last time I heard, Intel Graphics sucked, right? But right now I have a Ati Radeon 9000 Pro in my desktop, so I think it's better than that. This one has a Core Duo Chip, and it costs around 16000 pesos, around 1500 US dollars, yes, expensive.

HP Pavilion dv6422la notebook PC wrote:Sistema Operativo
Windows Vista Home Premium Original
Garantía
HP limitada de 1 año en partes y mano de obra
Webcam
Web Cam y micrófono integrado
Tarjeta de Televisión
Express Card (NTSC)
Estación de acoplamiento
Base de expansión opcional
Procesador
Procesador de doble núcleo AMD Turion™ 64 X2 TL-56 con tecnología móvil (1.8-GHz, 512KB + 512KB L2 cache)
Bus del sistema
Bus de sistema hasta de 1600 MHz
Memoria
1024 MB DDR II 667 MHz; expandible a 2048 MB
Pantalla
Pantalla TFT/WXGA de 15.4 pulgadas con tecnología Brightview y resolución de 1280x800
Gráficas
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 hasta 287MB de memoria compartida
Disco Duro
Disco duro de 160 GB Serial ATA (5400 rpm)
Disco Óptico
Super Multi DVD±RW y CD-RW Combo Drive con soporte para doble capa y lightScribe
Audio
Altec Lansing
Interface
USB 2.0 (3), IEEE 1394, VGA, S-Video, RJ-45, RJ-11, 2 puertos para audífonos, control remoto, expansion port 3, consumer IR
Conectividad
Modem de 56K de alta velocidad, tarjeta de red 10/100 y módulo wireless 802.11a/b/g
Medio Digital
Lector 5 en 1 de memoria digital Secure Digital, MultiMedia, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro y xD
Ranuras de expansión
Una ranura para ExpressCard/54, incluye soporte para ExpressCard/34
Conexión inalámbrica
Integrada 802.11a/b/g WLAN
Batería
Batería de Lithium-ion de 6 células
Adaptador de corriente alterna
Adaptador de corriente alterna de 65W
Teclado
Teclado compatible 101 teclas
Mouse
Touch Pad integrado con boton de encendido/apagado y pad dedicado de desplazamiento vertical
Controles
1 par de audífonos Stereo, control remoto (Versión Express Card), 2 botones Quick Launch
Características de Seguridad
Cerradura Kensington® MicroSaver, password de encendido, acepta dispositivos de seguridad de terceras marcas
Mantenimiento y seguridad
Symantec™ Norton Antivirus 2007™ (60 días); Adobe™ Acrobat Reader; Notebook Ayuda y Soporte
Software de entretenimiento
Roxio Creator 9 Basic; .QuickPlay 3.x para Windows/DVD; HP Games; Muvee autoProducer; HP PhotoSmart Premier
Software de productividad
Microsoft Works 8.5, Office 2007 Home & Student (60 días de prueba)
Dimensiones y Peso
35,7 x 25,7 x 2,54 (cm)
Peso: 3,12 kg

This one is heavier, and has a larger screen. But it has a Geforce Go 6150 and a Turion 64, is it better than the Core Duo?. For some reason, this one was "cheaper", for around 15000 pesos.

A couple of notes:
1) I CAN'T buy it in the US, all my plans of trying to explain to my dad that stuff there is cheaper/better have been shot down by his paranoid "I don't want to pay taxes" stance, that it's kind of understandable. You can get a Wii in Mexico.. If you are willing to pay 450 Dollars.
2) I can't get a Macbook, my dad thinks they are too expensive and they don't have enough support in Mx, I will have to reserve the idea of getting a macbook until I get a real job.
3) I don't have anything sure, maybe once I make up my mind about one, my suggestion will be blown away, but when your main computer is a:
AMD Athlon 2600, 384 RAM, Ati Radeon 9000 128 MB, for about 5 years, I will take any upgrade.
4) I want a laptop, it will help me a lot with my office/study work, and I don't really need a powerhouse to play games.

Thanks for the replies.

SquareHead · Post by **SquareHead** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:13 am

As far as I'm aware, Intel's Core Duo beats the pants off of offerings by AMD these days. Mind you I'm stating all of this as personal opinion, as I may be wrong. But the AMD one has a faster system bus, runs off of DDR2 and had a good graphics adapter. Id go for the second one of you are looking into moderate gaming and whatnot. It appears to be the better deal.

kieran_ · Post by **kieran_** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 1:12 pm

That second one has similar specs to a former house mate of mine. I rememebr not being able to play HL2 at the native res of 1200*800. I could do it just fine on a similar laptop that had a geforce 7300. Oblvion played just fine as well, as long as grass was turned off.

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:01 pm

kieran_ wrote:That second one has similar specs to a former house mate of mine. I rememebr not being able to play HL2 at the native res of 1200*800. I could do it just fine on a similar laptop that had a geforce 7300. Oblvion played just fine as well, as long as grass was turned off.

Hmm, I don't really mind running things on 800x600 to be honest, still. Are Core Duos better processors than Turions?

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 5:06 pm

Joe Camacho wrote:
kieran_ wrote:That second one has similar specs to a former house mate of mine. I rememebr not being able to play HL2 at the native res of 1200*800. I could do it just fine on a similar laptop that had a geforce 7300. Oblvion played just fine as well, as long as grass was turned off.
Hmm, I don't really mind running things on 800x600 to be honest, still. Are Core Duos better processors than Turions?

AFAIK, this period is simply Intel dominated.

Also, DO NOT go with an Intel video card.. you will automatically regret it.

Clements · Post by **Clements** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 6:01 pm

I would take the second laptop personally. Yes, Core Duos in general are probably going to outperform the Turion X2 in battery life and performance by a negligible amount, but the second laptop has much better integrated graphics, slightly bigger hard drive and a physically larger screen. The other specs are more or less equally matched.

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 7:18 pm

Question: I don't see Bluetooth/Firewire listed in both laptops, is Bluetooth a standard issue, or should I look for a laptop with Bluetooth listed?

I know my old Compaq Brick has firewire.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 8:57 pm

To get the core duo with intel integrated graphics or the amd book with nvidia integrated gfx (which actually *tries* to be a good chip)...

I'd personally get the nvidia book. at least then you have a 160GB SATA disk..

edit for core duo and more commentary

Joe Camacho · Post by **Joe Camacho** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:03 pm

adventure_of_link wrote:To get the core2duo or the nvidia...

I'd personally get the nvidia book. at least then you have a 160GB SATA disk..

Are "Core Duos" and "Core 2 Duos" the same thing? Because the laptop in question has a a "Core Duo", not a "Core 2 Duo".

Deathlike2 · Post by **Deathlike2** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:06 pm

Try and Wiki it... but I don't believe so.

Edit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_2

As I thought, they are very different.

adventure_of_link · Post by **adventure_of_link** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 9:32 pm

Joe Camacho wrote:Are "Core Duos" and "Core 2 Duos" the same thing? Because the laptop in question has a a "Core Duo", not a "Core 2 Duo".

Meant to say Core Duo, my bad

anyhow, my point still stands, get the nvidia book.

funkyass · Post by **funkyass** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 10:04 pm

I wouldn't buy either.

Dell, Lenovo, or Toshiba.

Post by **Nach** » Mon Jul 30, 2007 11:37 pm

Go for the second one.
The Core Duo chip isn't that powerful.
nvidia video card is also better.

kieran_ · Post by **kieran_** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 12:31 pm

Deathlike2 wrote:Try and Wiki it... but I don't believe so.

Edit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_Core_2

As I thought, they are very different.

Are all core2duos 64-bit? that was the imprewssion that i got from the wiki. I have a 1.6ghz core2duo in my laptop and I could have sworn that it was 32-bit

Clements · Post by **Clements** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 1:08 pm

All Core Duos are 32-bit.

Core 2 Duos all have Intel 64 (AKA EM64T, or 64-bit). If you are running a 32-bit OS, then you won't be able to take any advantage of 64-bit.

kieran_ · Post by **kieran_** » Tue Jul 31, 2007 9:04 pm

Clements wrote:All Core Duos are 32-bit.

Core 2 Duos all have Intel 64 (AKA EM64T, or 64-bit). If you are running a 32-bit OS, then you won't be able to take any advantage of 64-bit.

Holy crap. I did not know this.