I'd like your expert opinion fellas.... For those of you who don't know my sad story, here it is....

Right around winter break, my desktop computer died -- specifically, the main boot hard drive, a 60gb western digital, was making some awful clicking noises and refused to be autodetected. I tried several things, and nothing worked, so I got approval from Western Digital to do an RMA. I'm actually still sitting on it, but about three weeks ago, I finally got Windows reinstalled onto the second 60gb WD hard drive that was in there (I had two 60gbs and a 120gb). I got everything working finally.

I had to get the data from my laptop to the desktop; unfortunately, the laptop had had its share of problems, including overheating, turning off by itself, and very recently, a burning plastic smell (I suspect the chips were burning). Finally, as I was backing up my e-mail, it began to hibernate, and refused to charge or be turned back on.

Because I'm too scared to build my own laptop, I got a three-year service plan on it at Best Buy. After three weeks of attempting to repair it, the deemed it "unrepairable," and are (thankfully) going to send me the hard drive. I get to buy a new laptop, though, with whatever money I spent on the first one (about $2k).

This is what I came up with:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1069300677346&skuId=6237333&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01174

Major selling points for me:
2.8GHz Intel Mobile P4
533MHz FSB
15.4" WXGA display
60GB hard drive
Integrated 802.11g/b (school is going to G and I have B at home)
3 USB 2.0 ports
Dedicated VRAM and a semidecent video adapter (the last one sux0r3d).
8x DVD-ROM + 24x10x24 CD-RW

Concerns for me:
4200 RPM hard drive (seems slow...)
512MB of DDR (although I might go to 1GB at the store)
It's HP again, like the last one.

Well I guess that's really it.... I'm going to (probably abuse) my MSDN license and upgrade to WinXP Pro (I think I'll actually wipe the hard drive and start fresh), and put Office 2003 on it too.

Thoughts? Comments? Concerns? Please let me know. I'm planning on going to buy it tomorrow afternoon.

Thanks!

no h/t?

and mine has the 4200 rpm hd i think thats why its so slow

Every single person whom I've met with an HP laptop complains about it. I haven't owned one personally, but I think thats reason enough not to get one? lol Might want to make sure you get an extended warrenty if you're going to go with HP, and be prepared for random weeks without it while you send it in to be fixed. :P How much money do you have to work with, I can almost definitly find something better for you.

[quote author=crashtestdummy link=board=2;threadid=5443;start=0#msg45897 date=1077674767]
no h/t?
[/quote]
h/t? what's that?

[quote author=Hostile link=board=2;threadid=5443;start=0#msg45899 date=1077675049]
Every single person whom I've met with an HP laptop complains about it. I haven't owned one personally, but I think thats reason enough not to get one? lol Might want to make sure you get an extended warrenty if you're going to go with HP, and be prepared for random weeks without it while you send it in to be fixed. :P How much money do you have to work with, I can almost definitly find something better for you.
[/quote]

Yeah, I was complaining about it too. The problem is I'm rather restricted to Best Buy, because when I bought it with the service plan, when they decide that it is unrepairable, I just get a gift card back with the amount of money that I originally paid for it. I wanted to go with the Toshiba model that they had, but they're out of stock for a while (so it appears from their website, anyway).

Anyway, with the memory upgrade and the service plan, after the rebate it looks like I won't spend much more than $50 more than I did originally, and I'm more than happy with that.

And don't worry -- after the last one, the data will be synchronized all the time among my laptop, desktop, and DVD-RWs. I will be prepared.

[edit] On the other hand, I believe that when I bought my last laptop, the only chipset HP was using was AMD. I have a little more faith in Intel. :) [/edit]

I've personally never had a good experiance with any laptop except for IBM's, but that might of been because the other brand was Dell. Anyways, naturally, I'm sure you can already tell I'm going to recommend IBM for laptops, but I've always fancied Sony, so maybe they're worth a try too? As for the hard drive.. always try to get 7200rpm or better.. hard drives will really slow your system down! Oh, and of course.. don't forget to get XP Pro instead of Home.

I heard the Satellites, especially the higherend ones, have terrible battery lives. How mobile do you plan on being with your laptop?

Also, it might be a good idea to pick one up with a WiFi card (802.11g). Apparently access hotspots are popping up all over the place, so I believe it'd be convenient to be able to receive highspeed internet access while on the move, especially if you're working at a library or something.

If you're that unhappy with the selection available at Best Buy, perhaps it may be a somewhat good idea to actually sell your giftcard online for like ~$300 dollars less. Atleast that way you'll have cash to spend (even if its somewhat less than what you'd have at best buy) and perhaps you'd find a system you're happier with elsewhere for cheaper.

I've heard bad things about HP as well. I got a Dell i8500 for a graduation present last June - it's running like a champ. They did have a bouncy keyboard issue, but it seems to be resolved. My opinion is either build one yourself first (desktop), or buy a Dell with at least 512 ram. It's just that I've had problems with other brands (ie cheap).

Take a look at Thinkpads, they kick ass.. I just got a Sony VIAO Z1VA... its sweet as fuck... centrinos are nice. Anyhow sony.com asnd ibm.com go go go. "wget sony viao"

i got one of the new hp pavilions with a 17" screen it was nice til someone put it on the floor and stepped on it
gotta buy a new monitor for it now and they are $750

HPs and almost any brand I don't list isn't worth buying, unless you enjoy bringing problems apon yourself and bitching alot. Then its perfect.

Dells have the best all around system for less expensive laptops/desktop ($1000-2500 USD).

Gateways/Alienware have the best all around system for more expensive systems ($2500+ USD). Dell jacks up their prices too much with upgrading the components too high, especially memory.

Toshibas have good all around performance, the best that you would buy in any store like best buy. -Personally- I would choose Dell over them, and I don't recommend them for their expensive systems, unless you get a good dealer warrenty.

IBM and Sonys are not bad.... but unless you shop around a bit and find a very good deal, theyre almost always more expensive then they should be, with no real benefit in buying them over competitive systems.