[Vido]

Is a 4200rpm hard drive speed too slow for someone who is not really into gaming? :confused: I'm interested in the HP Pavilion zd8290EA with the following specs:

Intel Pent 4(650) 3,4 GHz 800MB FSB L2 cache 2MB
1024MB DDR2 533MHZ
100GB HDD @ 4200rpm
17" WXGA 1440x900
256MB ATI Radeon X600 PCI X
Lightscribe DVD+- RW Dual Layer
10/100/LAN,802,11 b/gWLAN,Bluetooth;Windows XP home
2 yr Warranty

The impression I get from reviews is that the hard drive speed and the graphics "card" would significantly affect the performance of the machine.Does that hold for someone who is not a great gamer? :o

I have considered the HP nx8220 :
Intel Pent M 760 (2,0 GHz);2MB Cache 2GB RAM; 80GB HDD @ 5400rpm DVD +- RW XP Pro;3 year warranty.

I'd appreciate advise on this... :D

[LTheobald]

I'd go for the 2nd laptop.

Firstly, the first laptop has a 3.4GHz P4. These aren't really built for laptops and can heat up a bit - due to this the laptop could be chunkier. Also if you're not much of a gamer, I doubt you need such a beefy processor. The 2nd has a processor built for laptops and it's more inline with a laptop used for work.

The 2nd laptop also has an extra years warranty - always a good think to have.

The 2nd laptop also has a lot more RAM. Now this is something a gamer would want but so would a normal PC user. RAM is good - your PC will run faster and smoother with more RAM.


If there isn't a major price difference between the two laptops, I'd go with the second.

On a side note, I didn't think hard drive speeds affected game performance all that much. It's normally the amount of RAM on a PC that affects game performance as this is where the majority of game data will be stored.

[fredg]

Hi,
I, also, would go with the 2nd. The longer warranty period you can get, the better off you are. A longer warranty period means the manufacturer is a little more confident in that product. Laptops are expensive to repair!
Best wishes,
fredg