HP Laptop Advice !

[jyeh74]

Hi Everyone. I am in the market for a HP 14 inch laptop and waiting for the best deal. I was thinking of a Toshiba but reviews indicate that HP is a better brand.

Do you know what hte difference is between the "DV4" and the "DV4T" series? HPDirect seems to sell the "DV4T" series. I looked on fatwallet and slickdeals to see if there are any deals but did not see any coupon codes.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/computer_can_series.do?storeName=computer_store&ca tegory=notebooks&a1=Display+%28diagonal%29&v1=12.0 %26quot%3B+-+14.9%26quot%3B&series_name=dv4t_series&jumpid=in_ R329_prodexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/12.0"_-_14.9"/dv4t_series

But Costco seems to only sell the "DV4" series.

http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11502053&search=hp laptop&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Mo=22&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=4001486&whse=BC&View All=23&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000 000&D=hp laptop&Ntt=hp laptop&No=1&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&s=1&topnav=&N ty=1&s=1#

Sorry for the ignorant question, but what is the difference between the 2MB L2 Cache, 800MHz FSB vs the 3 MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB? I am not looking to play games or do anything fancy. Just regular internet browsing and word, excel, powerpoint use. Is it worth going for that extra 1MB L2 Cache and bigger MHz FSB?

Thank you!

[redwudz]

Not for web browsing or most non-CPU intensive operations. You may find the faster RAM and the larger cache will speed up some operations by a few microseconds. If you are doing long encodes or intensive gaming, you may see more speed improvements. With most laptops, the hard drive is a bigger bottleneck than the CPU cache or the RAM.

HP and Compaq are essentially the same. Best to look at both. They usually have the best pricepoint compared to other laptops. Toshiba may be a bit more and may have a few more features. If you are looking for just a 'utility' laptop, then HP/Compaq is often a good deal.

[ryangarfield]

Just curious where you read that HP's were better than Toshiba? I'm pretty sure that HP's have the highest failure rate of any brand where as Toshiba is near the top. I know my HP has had two things gone wrong with it.

[redwudz]

I didn't say HP/Compaqs are better quality, just a better price point. I've worn out two HPs and my Compaq LT is about two years old and due for replacement in the next year. And no real problems with any of them. Considering they were half the price of the other laptops at the time, I'd say they were a good deal for web browsing and word processing. But I wouldn't use one for video or gaming.

[hech54]

I'm pretty sure that HP's have the highest failure rate of any brand

I'm pretty sure that this statement comes from someone who is clueless about computers.
I'M JUST SAYING that is what I've heard.....well I'm pretty sure that is what I heard.

[MJA]

happy $299(last year black Friday) HP owner here.it's a celeron single core 575. it does the job from net,office,,,I even installed convert to dvd software on it .the key is to try to keep it cool

[ryangarfield]

It was jyeh74 who said that he had read that HP's were the better brand than Toshiba and I was just curious where he had read that. This is where I had read that HP's had a high failure rate: http://gizmodo.com/5406415/laptop-reliability-study-asus-and-toshiba-come-out-on-top
HP's will definately do the job for internet browsing and such, so long as they don't fail. My HP had faulty ram which needed to be replaced from the day I got it and I have 2 batteries that dont last longer than 5 mins on a full charge.

[videobread]

HP laptops had real problems a few years ago. The motherboards has bad solder jobs and went bad - micro shorts. If you have one sitting in the closet there is a guy at http://seattlelaptop.com who dies board level repairs on the HP's. Real find.

[redwudz]

Sorry, ryangarfield, I thought that was addressed to my post. Guess I should have re-read the entire thread. But I haven't had any more problems with HP/Compaq LTs than other brands. I probably use a LT for about 4 hours every day and they last a couple of years before the KB or the mechanical parts wear out. But that's about their lifetime anyway.

My old HP is still running OK, but it has XP, no wireless, and most of the keyboard letters have worn off, so I put it in the closet. I run off a power brick most of the time and the batteries are usually the first thing to fail. But that seems to be the same with most LTs.

[turk690]

According to http://www.tomshardware.com/news/most-least-reliable-notebooks-laptops,9102.html HP makes the least reliable laptops. How vexing.

[ocgw]

I have owned HP and Toshiba laptops and my impression is that one isn't better than the other @ any combination of price point/performance level except for one thing, Toshiba laptops have some nice loud clear speakers built into them even on the most low budget models whereas you need to buy a higher end HP to get great speakers

in my humble experience

ocgw

peace

[HotDamn!]

I had a HP Pavillion dv6000 laptop which has had quite a bit of talk about the motherboards going out on them. Mine finally went out after about a year and after about 2 months of owning it the screen was flickering and would some times not even turn on. HP extended the warranty on these laptops due to that.

Don't let this lead you away from the HP but just to be a warning with it. Look into what your buying before you get it, just google the laptop and I'm sure you'll find everything you need to know about it.

[SingSing]

There is a hidden problem that you want to look into is the LCD display under battery power. Many HP and others laptops have a unreadable LCD display when it is unplug from the wall, not matter how you tune the display.

[HotDamn!]

Thanks for the reply. I went into that a while back and tried a variety of display modes. Such as the brightness being all the way down or all the way up and the contrast... it was a pain but nothing seemed to work so I just figured that there might be a short in the cord, possibly being pinched.

I took it apart and put a layer of electrical tape over where it was pinched a little and it worked for a little longer but just started to do it again.

It's all good though, I have a different HP laptop now. HP Compaq 6710b which is more of a business type but it works really good since it came with 2gb of ram.