In need of buying a laptop
 

Hey guys. I need your freedback.

I'm interested in buying this laptop;

HP Pavilion dv9548us Notebook with a NVIDIA GeForce® 8600M graphics card.

I'd like to use it on webdesign, DVD watching, Internet, gaming and school work?

What do you guys think? Would Battlefield 2 run on this computer? Will it be good on running current games made from 2001-2007?

How much RAM?
What OS (XP or Vista)?

Vista

Not sure on the RAM.

Vista sux - I hate it.

Lots. Max out the machine. RAM is your friend. Your cheap friend.

Why do you hate Vista? Anything upgrade from Windows has to be better. XP was good, though.

So, the more RAM the better? What exactly is RAM?

Vista is the biggest memory hog short of Alzheimer's. I'm trying to put at least a couple of gigs on my laptop (which would be now, if my car would stop getting hit...) and honestly, I'd prefer 4. On the other hand, the boyfriend says that he thinks Vista sees his four and raises. I think he's just making that up, but he thinks Vista has it out for him.

On another note: you play Battlefield 2? I played that, once upon a time. I was too into WOW to really get into it then, and now I'm just too busy to spend any amount of time playing a PC game.

Vista is too bugged for my preference... downgrade the OS to Xp... it will be safer for the time being.

Also, Ram is needed to operate the amount of programs. Ram is your memory... the more memory the more you can do. many programs require a certain amount of memory, 1gig is slowly becoming the norm.

most "new" laptops are upgradable to 4 gigs, some even more. I would start off at 1 and go from there... help offset the cost.

XP is better thea vista. But if you're going vista you'll need 2 gigs at the minimum.

I have 2 gigs and I am constantly running into memory issues. Granted I am on my computer non-stop all day long.

It's amazing how easily even the most innocent statement can be interpreted to be of a sexual nature.

:eek:

Only THE most important piece of information to consider when buying a computer! Modern machines you should strive for 2gb or more unless you're buying a budget machine, but you say you want to do gaming, so like a nympho at a nunnery, you need MORE RAM!

RAM = Random Access Memory

It's where all your applications (word, anti-virus, windows interface,etc...) live when they are being run. When you start an application like Word, your computer pulls the code from the (relatively) slow hard drive and loads it into RAM.

Yeah that too ;)

This PC has 2g RAM.

I posted what graphics card this notebook has. Is it good for running Battlefield 2 at a good quality level? Or Battlefield 1942? or even Counter-Strike? What about Call of duty 4? The most recent PC game to hit the market.

If you're running vista with 2 gigs you can in theory play games. But it's gonna suck.

Get at least 4 gigs.

No idea about the video card. Most video cards can handle the games these days.

It has a NVIDIA GeForce® 8600M

The bets of its kind is a NVIDIA GeForce® 8800M. Thats just for the 3D and quiality of the game.

8600 can play all games made from Today and below with the highest quality.

I think it has 2G RAM, but my friend has this exact laptop with the same features and he plays games perfectly!

I'll be honest... I have *no idea* about graphics cards.

I just remember one vital thing to make sure the computer has: a keyboard.

If that's the case, then I'd just see if he'd let you spend some time on it for a bit, just to see how it runs. My laptop needs more memory, but I don't go around complaining to my friends (only my closest of friends). Ask him "what do you like least about your laptop?" and see if that seems like something that's going to bug you down the road.

Sometimes stuff that doesn't seem like a big deal in the excitement of buying a new computer becomes a bigger deal down the road, when the "newness" wears off, or so my experience has gone.

And usually with RAM, the machine is usually set up to fill the available slots with the smallest RAM sticks to hit the advertised number. For example, the machine may only have two memory slots and for a 2GB machine, they put a 1GB stick in each slot. By ordering the machine with (for example) 4 GB, they would put a 2GB stick in each slot.

I bring this up because if, down the road, you decide you need the 4 GB, you would need to purchase two 2 GB sticks and the two 1GB sticks get pulled - effectively becoming wasted money. Even if you could sell them on eBay or somewhere else, you would be lucky to get pennies on the dollar.

OTOH, depending on where you are purchasing the machine from, it may make more sense (economically) to purchase the machine with a minimum of RAM and adding the larger capacity yourself. For example, if they charge a $200.00 premium for 4 GB of RAM (compared to 2 GB) and you can get two 2 GB sticks for $50 each, it would make sense to go that way.

Bottom line: I say get the 4 GB

Is the RAM in the computer and can not be touched? Or can i upgrade to 4 from 2?


Its a laptop that is built for Vista and it says it has 2g RAM.

My buddy says it plays his games very good at the highest quality. Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2, WoW. The games that i'd like on there.

Overall, I'd like this Notebook for school work, Music, Photos, Gaming and Internet surfing.

The must is gaming though.

I'm sorry, I can't let this post go by without comment. Erica needs to post this in every relationship, music and fashion thread.

Seriously.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/catalog/prodde...gon=&langid=EN

LMAO - it's a pretty true statement for any situation life throws at you.

hahaha...

Nevermind guys!

Check this one out. I may have changed my mind. Here's a better one, Same stuff, a little cheaper!

http://www.officedepot.com/ddSKU.do?...Ne=5&An=browse

All the discussion on this machine about upgrading RAM is moot: the max on the machine is 2 GB according the HP site.

First, a HUGE difference: the first machine you were looking (Best Buy) at is CANADIAN SPEC and priced in CANADIAN DOLLARS. The second machine (Office Depot) is US SPEC and US DOLLARS! Decide which country you are in, and then work from there ;)

That issue aside, the Office Depot machine is upgradable to 4 GB. I doubt that Office Depot has an upgrade to 4 GB option, but yes, you can upgrade it yourself at a later time.

Looks pretty good.

My Laptop has 1 gig of ram... sad aint it... but it was built for vista before vista came out....

in other words... more ram is better! i could run vista on this... (one of the drivers is still in beta i hear though) and crash it... if i had 4 it would run smoothly till it crashed because of a bug. (I will get vista when my dad's work thinks its safe... not before then... that and i have a extra XP disk just in case)

Get 1 gig.. or 2 gigs (better) then upgrade if your not happy after the holidays.

What does?

So how much would that laptop in Canadian dollers be in U.S dollers? I could not find it anywhere online on a US bestbuy site?

My buddy bought his at curcuit city in store, though.

If you're buying an HP - you might want to check out hp.com and see if they have it for less money. Sometimes they offer the same product but you get a free printer (free after rebate anyway.)

I agree- more RAM the better. External video card - good. Duo processesors - good. DDR2 ram is better then DDR.

I got an HP laptop from Costco. Costco extends the manufacturers warranty an additional year and they have their own tech support you can use.

What kind?

I've chekd out these two laptops and they are almost exactly alike.

Can anybody point me out a difference?

HP Pavilion DV9548us

&

HP Pavilion DV9640us

Processor:
DV9548us has 1.66 GHz Intel® Centrino® Duo processor technology featuring Intel® Core ™ 2 Duo processor T5450

DV9640us has 1.50 GHz Intel Centrino Duo processor technology featuring Intel Core 2 Duo processor T5250

RAM:
Both come with 2Gig - you can upgrade the 9640 to 4, not the 9548

HD:
Both have dual hard drives, the 9548 has a total of 200GB, while the 9640 has 240GB

PORTS:
The 9640 has 4 USB ports, while the 9548 has only 3
The 9640 has an HDMI port (for HD video and audio), while the 9548 doesn't

EXTRAS:
The 9640 comes with a webcam/microphone


... it looks like the 9640 is the newer and better model

(and I'd never forgive myself if I didn't point out that neither one is a Mac)

Moot point. You cannot get (through normal channels) a Canadian machine in the US.

Sure this one's easy:

DV9548us - DV9640us =
DV(9548us-9640us) =
DV(us(9548-9640)) =
DV(us(-92)) =

-DV92us

Who knew algebra (or is that calculus - I can't remember the difference) could actually be worth something in the real world?

Well, what the EFF, David Blane?! How does my friend have it? He said he got it at Circuit city?

Sounds good. I'll get the 9640. Thanks.