Compaq Presario v2000z sempron3100 red/green

[spingmis]

Friends,

Im looking for a notebook which is

around 5 lbs
decent battery life 2-3 hrs?
14"
for - basic web surfing+watching DVD movies+ running some programming applications like visual studio.net+lots of microsoft/oo office suite usage
decent speakers@
I camp a lot, so want to use this to read books while camping

Then I came across the Office depot advt special which has a

Compaq Presario v2000z Notebook Computer with AMD Sempron? Processor 3100+ Mobile Technology
14" WIDESCREEN
? 256MB memory
? 40GB hard drive
? Read & write CDs & watch DVDs via the Combo Drive
HP F380 All-In-One Printer

for 280$

<am not worried about printer at all>

I know its nothing close to dual cores or 64 bits, but for my purpose this looks ok? I want your opinion on this. Please help me, my greetings in advance. The deal ends on Aug5.

I also want to buy a 1 Gig ram from newegg and upgrade it later..


link to the offer: http://officedepot.shoplocal.com/office...ion=browseshoppinglist&storeid=2279206

 

[Ionizer86]

$70 shipping = not the hottest deal after all. Plus there are a lot of $25 upgrades they offer, such as for 60GB hard disk, wireless, etc that might be necessary before the laptop is decent. It's still an ok deal, but the Celeron M 410 HP at BBuy was better. See if this is available in your area:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp...yId=pcmcat64100050013&id=1149206615548

 

[spingmis]

thanks for your reply Ionizer86.

Bummer: I never saw the 70$ for shipping @

Im looking at the bestbuy deal@ thanks once again....

update: sold out in my area BB deal...

 

[postmortemIA]

If you do programming in VS .NET, I recommend at least 1440x900 resolution. 1280x768 will not give you enough desktop estate for proper and ergonomic work.

 

[spingmis]

I think I did a royal screw up..

I went to the ODepot and showed them the special. They opened up the config for me, and foolishly I upgraded stuff like:

processor upgrade to amd sempron 3300+ (+25)
5400rm 80 GB Hard drive (+75)
Wireless +20
dvd+-rw +25
12 cell lithium Ion +39

Shipping +69

so the frekking grand total is 813

now with MIR its comming to 534!!

I dont know whether its worth so much or not becoz I still have to upgrade the ram by buying 1 Gig stick

pals, even after your advise I think I screwed up the deal..

I might just give this laptop to my gf now ....

 

[Parasitic]

That's not a bad price.

I paid $499 for something like that from Frys AR, only without the DVD burner and the 12-cell battery.
It's a very decent laptop, now battery life needs some tweaking but I get ~2 and 1/4 hours on the regular 6-cell (estimate, but it is probably close to 2.5) so you should have no problem with the 12-cell. I also like the ultra bright screen.

 

[electrosoccertux]

Originally posted by: spingmis
thanks for your reply Ionizer86.

Bummer: I never saw the 70$ for shipping @

Im looking at the bestbuy deal@ thanks once again....

update: sold out in my area BB deal...

Yeah the $70 shipping was evil. If you live in GA however, it is the tax-free holiday Aug 3-6th? Maybe 7th as well.

I got that lappy and 1GB ram as well, upgraded Brightview and Wireless and 12-cell battery. Gonna upgrade hard drive when perp-recording tech comes to laptops cheaper, as in 400GB for $100.

Edit: That sempron is plenty good for what you need. We're at the point where pretty much any processor out now (except for desktop Celerons) can do anything you need. You'll notice I game with my Sempron 3100+. Its a good processor.

Don't feel too bad about not getting the Best Buy deal, Celeron-Ms are Pentium-Ms that run full speed all the time. At least the Sempron is allowed to clock itself back.

 

[spingmis]

the tech guy at the OD was kind of ******, pissed and mad, bad customer service. I forgot to add brightview@ I called the techdepot and they said they cant add more features now@ bummer ..

I was wondering were I can get a 6 cell battery? because sometimes i take it to school where I dont need that extra pound or two..

electro: keep me updated here

how much did u pay for the 1 gig ram update ? Did they give you any shipping time estimate?

I want to buy a gig stick of ddr333 to the existing 256 MB

 

[electrosoccertux]

They have to build it before they ship it. Mine is still being built, and I bought it thursday. 7-10 days build they say, + shipping time. Meh....

I spent $105 including shipping on some [I think it was] Kingston DDR400 ram from newegg.com. Got 400 to see if I can overclock fsb (gonna push the mult. lower on purpose anyhow.)

 

[bearcatt]

Greetings All,

I just picked this up less than 24 hours ago.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp...=7888379&type=product&id=1149205182079

I know there are more expensive notebooks out there, but this seems like
a decent bang for the buck.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: bearcatt
Greetings All,

I just picked this up less than 24 hours ago.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp...=7888379&type=product&id=1149205182079

I know there are more expensive notebooks out there, but this seems like
a decent bang for the buck.

That's a pretty good deal. You'd like it.
Although having gone through several laptops I'm finding the 14" wide to be a nice compromise between portability and value.

 

[bearcatt]

What's this ? ... Mods please delete.

 

[bearcatt]

The screen on here is very wide ... nice viewing.
I'll have to see if becomes an inconveinience in mobile enviroments.


Other considerations are the platforms available within the same model.
I opted for the Intel Celeron M 410 1.56 Ghz based on Intel's core duo.
Equipped with DDR2 memory.

The otherplatform ( currently available at Staples ) uses the AMD Sempron 3000+
2.0 Ghz Mobile with AMD's hypertransport. Equipped with regular DDR.

Both are priced very similar.

I would like to see benchmarks between those two platforms.