New laptop!

[technical.angel]

I've almost completely decided to get a new laptop.

I'm looking at a Sony Vaio and a HP.

The Sony VPCEB190X $1019.98

Intel® Core™ i5-520M processor (2.40GHz) with Turbo Boost up to 2.93GHz
Genuine Windows® 7 Professional 64-bit with free ugprade to Blu-ray player
Iridescent Blue
Blue Keyboard Skin
500GB Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
4GB (4GBx1) DDR3-SDRAM-1066
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5470 GPU (512MB VRAM)
Free Blu-ray Disc™ player with Windows 7 Professional 64-bit. Includes eCoupon good for $90 in Blu-ray movies in box.

And the HP dv6tse $965

Operating system $30 OFF! Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64-bit edit
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-430M Dual Core processor (2.26GHz, 3MB L2 Cache) with Turbo Boost up to 2.53GHz edit
Memory 4GB DDR3 System Memory (2 Dimm) edit
Hard drive 500GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection edit
Graphics card 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon(TM) HD 5470 switchable graphics edit
Display 15.6" diagonal High Definition LED HP Brightview Widescreen Display (1366x768) edit
Touchscreen No TouchScreen edit
Primary optical drive FREE Upgrade to Blu-ray ROM with SuperMulti DVD+/-R/RW with Double Layer Support edit
Networking Intel Wireless-N Card edit
Keyboard Full-size island-style backlit keyboard with HP TrueVision Webcam + Fingerprint Reader edit
Primary battery 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (standard) edit
Productivity software Microsoft(R) Works 9.0

I'm leaning more towards the HP. What's your opinion?

[Nashida]

I actually love HP, I half wish my college had offered those as student laptops instead of the Dell Latitudes they had. I say half because I actually adore my Dell.

I do have a couple of hardware piece from HP and I really enjoy their customer service lines, too. I've never had a problem with them if I have to troubleshoot.

Plus...touchscreen! How cool is that?

[trailerparkmedic]

Much as I dislike HP, I think their computers are good. I haven't dealt with customer tech support but I am amazed at the age of some of the computers I have that still work (I have stuff that dates back to the big merger).

You should totally spring for the touchscreen. OMG they are FUN to play with. Not really practical though.

[technical.angel]

You should totally spring for the touchscreen.

Not for $150 bucks!!

Plus, I have to get a bag of holding for it too.. And a sleeve. And a numerous amount of other goodies..

Maybe an all in one printer?

[trailerparkmedic]

No fair linking stuff from ThinkGeek! I already want far too many things from them.

I totally agree with you on the cost of the touch screen. It's HP's big push but you can't use it for much. I played with it when they were demoing new Windows 7 features and it was lots of fun with their specific programs but I can't see how I would use it in real life.

Coworker Bob has a previous generation of that laptop and he's had good luck with it though he hasn't done anything beyond work stuff with it.

[Eric the Grey]

Plus, I have to get a bag of holding for it too.. And a sleeve. And a numerous amount of other goodies..

To quote a semi-popular cartoon character; "Aieeeee! It must be mine!"

Actually, I could use two of them. One for day-to-day carrying of laptop, school supplies, etc and one for D&D gaming night. My current laptop bag smells of cigarettes for days after a night of gaming.


Eric the Grey

[Geek King]

Just to pop in, but make sure you look over the Toshiba Satalite line. I recently got mine, and have several friends who got one as well. So far, all working well, and all purchased for a good price. All laptops were speced for gaming at decent resolution, with USB mice. The keyboards are roomy enough that I don't have the need for a seperate USB keyboard for gaming, so that's a plus. The on-board wireless seems to have a good range on it, as I can frequently see networks other friends' laptops cannot.

On the other side, they run warm while gaming--not entirely unexpected. A mini "laptop desk" may be in order if it is to be used away from a table. I can't really speak to battery life, as I usually use it at a friend's house, so I have a plug handy.

[ottid]

Current laptop is an HP dv5000, it's over 3 1/2 years old and still holding up Not much that I can't do actually, except I am still running XP, but was bought Vista ready (I did upgrade the RAM from 512mb to 1gb when I bought it though, just in case I did want to upgrade at some point) and according to my brother could run Windows 7 if I so choose. When I get a new laptop I will. Think I will donate this one (after a re-format) to my grandmother so she doesn't have to buy a brand new one, and it will do all that she needs

Oh, so uh, my vote is the HP, but then I'm biased! My parents bought one of their desktops in 98, my Dad was still running it two years ago, I think it got him a little depressed that my little mp3 player had a larger memory than his computer...

[technical.angel]

Well, GK has convinced me to wait until HP releases their new line of lappies. Which should be soon. (I hope!!!!!)

BUT, in light of the soon to be mine laptop and my very soon trip to Florida, I got a new geek toy I have to share with the rest of the geek population..

Macroloader laptop backpack by EBags

I'm hoping I can get away with it on the flight, because it's a little big to count as my personal item. Mom and I are trying to get away without checking any luggage.