Should I sell my laptop or keep it?

[iamskew]

Hey everyone,

Right now I have a Hewlett-Packard Pavillion zt1195 laptop for school. Bought it nearly 3 years ago for college, and it's starting to get old. For some reason the cd-burner doesn't want to work, but it will read dvds/cds and will rip cds. It also has some kind of power problem where if you disconnect the power cord, it just turns off. I thought it was the battery, but I got a new one, and that wasn't the issue.
I still have like 5 months left on my Best Buy extended service plan, so I should be able to get those problems fixed. I would have by now, but I need my comp for school.

So here's the specs of the laptop:

Processor type Pentium 4-M

Clock speed 1.5 GHz

Processor manufacturer Intel
RAM
RAM installed size 512 MB

Max supported RAM 1 GB

Memory speed 266 MHz

RAM technology DDR SDRAM
Storage Hard Drive
Hard drive size 40 GB

Hard drive 40 GB IDE Internal

Hard drive installed qty 1

Hard drive type Portable
OS Provided
OS provided Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Optical Storage
CD / DVD type CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo

CD / DVD drive 1 CD-RW / DVD-ROM combo Plug-in module

CD / DVD read speed 24x (CD) / 8x (DVD)

CD / DVD rewrite speed 8x

CD / DVD write speed 8x

Optical storage enclosure type Plug-in module
Optical Storage (2nd)
2nd optical storage type None
Audio Output
Audio output type Sound card
Audio Input
Audio input type Microphone
Battery
Battery technology Lithium ion

Max supported batteries 1
Cache Memory
Cache size 512 KB

Cache type L2 cache
Modem
Max transfer rate 56 Kbps

Modem protocols & specifications ITU V.90

Modem type Fax / modem
Mainboard
Data bus speed 400 MHz
Video Output
Graphics processor S3 Savage4

Video output interface type AGP 4x
Display (Projector)
Color support 24-bit (16.7M colors)

Display (projector) diagonal size 15 in

Display (projector) technology TFT active matrix

Max resolution 1400 x 1050
General
Country kits United States

Localization English

Model Zt1195

Packaged quantity 1

Product line HP Pavilion
Networking
Data link protocol Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, Fast Ethernet

Networking type Network adapter
Dimensions & Weight
Depth 10.9 in

Height 1.5 in

Weight 6.2 lbs

Width 13 in
System
Designation Home use, Small business

Notebook type Notebook
Miscellaneous
Features Locking device keyhole (cable lock)

Included laptop accessories Weight saver module

Miscellaneous compliant standards ACPI
Storage Floppy Drive
Floppy drive type None
Input Device
Input device type Keyboard, Touchpad
Interface Provided
Interface provided 1 (1 free) Display / video S-video output, 1 (1 free) Display / video Composite video output, 2 (2 free) USB, 1 (1 free) Parallel IEEE 1284 (EPP/ECP), 1 (1 free) Audio Line-out, 1 (1 free) Docking / port replicator, 1 (1 free) Modem Phone line, 1 (1 free) Network Ethernet 10/100, 1 (1 free) Microphone Input, 1 (1 free) Headphones Output, 1 (1 free) Display / video VGA, 1 (1 free) IEEE 1394 (FireWire)
Video Memory
Max video RAM supported 16 MB

Video RAM installed 16 MB
Power Device
Power device form factor External
Storage Removable
Removable storage native capacity None

Removable storage type None
Slot Provided
Slot provided 1 (1 free) SD Memory Card, 1 (1 free) MultiMediaCard, 2 (0 free) Memory SO DIMM 200-pin, 1 (1 free) CardBus Type II
Software
Software type AOL 6.0, HP RecordNow, Microsoft Fax, CompuServe 2000, MSN Explorer 6.0, EarthLink 5.0 Lite, Microsoft Firewall, MusicMatch Jukebox, Cyberlink Medi@Show, Drivers & Utilities, Microsoft Works 6.0, Microsoft Money 2002, Norton AntiVirus 2002, InterVideo WinDVD 2001, CyberLink PowerDirector, Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0, Quicken Financial Center, Microsoft Outlook Express 6.0, Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0, Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe 2001 Online
Storage Controller
Storage controller type IDE

I figure that with all the problems fixed and a clean install of xp, that this laptop should be worth $600-$700. So there lies my problem.
Do I sell the laptop (if I can get everything fixed and get 6-700) and buy a mac mini? I suppose I would upgrade the RAM..but I'd just use an external HDD I already have for extra storage space (If I can figure out how to make it mac-ready). I would also get the keyboard.
Or, do I sell the laptop and build a cheap PC? Definitely AMD...etc...
Or do I keep the laptop and just fix the problems and go on with life?

I have a extra monitors at home, so that's not a problem. With a new PC, I'll have to buy windows xp, but I think the office xp from my laptop should be able to transfer. I can get both cheaper through my university either way.

Also, I don't need the mobility of a laptop, I thought I would as a journalism student, but I don't. All I need this box to do is type up assignments and surf the net.

Thanks,
skew

p.s. sorry for the long post

 

[3chordcharlie]

sell it. In my experience, people on ebay will pay too much for ANY laptop, working or not.

 

[iamskew]

D'oh, I mean to have a poll on this thead about what to do.
Thanks for responding charlie. Do you think I should go with a mac mini or a build a pc?


edit: I don't know why the poll won't show...it says it should be there

 

[3chordcharlie]

That really depends on what you want to do with it.

If you just want a relatively basic computer that works, with little worry about viruses and the like, the mini-mac seems like a good choice.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Use a CDROM drive Cleaner disc, it works WONDERS! Works on anything too!

 

[Philippine Mango]

Oh yea and BTW, if you expect this mac mini to be faster then your machine, your seriously mistaken. You system is way better then this mac mini, it's like selling your AMD athlon XP 2500+ to 2800+ system or P4 2.4GHZ system for the mac mini.... Yes the system is worth less now but I'm sure it's faster then the mac mini with out a doubt.

 

[Philippine Mango]

Need a good analogy? It's like you bought a 60K lexus back in 1997-8 though the quality of an HP can be debated just stick with this and you want something newer just because it's new, so then you sell your lexus for like 12K and then buy a 10-12K saturn. While it's a brand new 2005 saturn, it still doesn't compare to that 60K lexus you just had.

 

[Infohawk]

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
That really depends on what you want to do with it.

If you just want a relatively basic computer that works, with little worry about viruses and the like, the mini-mac seems like a good choice.

First of all, think about just default desktops for a bit. They're upgradeable and there is no price for form factor. And laptops are always more prone to break in my experience. Unless you are really clueless about viruses and spam, I don't see the need to go for a mac.

 

[iamskew]

I'm not clueless about computers thankfully I built my gaming rig. Anyway, I think that a mac mini 1.42 Ghz or whatever it is with 512 ram should at the very least be comparable to this laptop. I like the small size the mini because college desks are small and the stability of osx (though I haven't used it heavily....but it is what we use in our newsroom).
I am plenty capable of building a cheapo desktop that should be much better than the laptop, at least I would think so.

Oh, and Mango, what's the deal with the cd cleaner thing? For the lens?

I'm still very much on the fence about this whole thing...guess I was kind of hoping for a consensus

 

[Philippine Mango]

What it essentially is a music CD with a grid of feathers coming from the bottom of the disc (data side) and when the laser is following the track, it comes in contact with the little "feathers" which eseentially cleans the laser. Works wonders, only time it didn't work was when I was trying to watch DVD movies on my mom's old dell with a 2X DVD drive. Turns out the the optical drive had TWO laser heads! 1 for DVD and 1 for cd... So when the computer read the music CD in CD format, it used only 1 of the lasers and not the dirty one therfore not cleaning the other laser. I ended up opening the optical drive, took a Q-tip and cleaned the laser. Worked like a charm (dipping the Q-Tip in Isopropyl alcohol would be more effective).

 

[iamskew]

sounds good, i'll give it a try. thanks

 

[3chordcharlie]

Originally posted by: Infohawk

Originally posted by: 3chordcharlie
That really depends on what you want to do with it.

If you just want a relatively basic computer that works, with little worry about viruses and the like, the mini-mac seems like a good choice.

First of all, think about just default desktops for a bit. They're upgradeable and there is no price for form factor. And laptops are always more prone to break in my experience. Unless you are really clueless about viruses and spam, I don't see the need to go for a mac.

I'm not clueless about viruses/spam/spyware at all, but for the moment, a mac means not really having to think about those things much.

I've never owned a mac, and don't forsee doing so; I like being able to upgrade, etc, but if you have no interest in tinkering, there's nothing wrong with a mac.

 

[iamskew]

oh, i agree. Normally it would be a problem if I couldn't upgrade things...but a mini mac doesn't cost very much, so it wouldn't be a very big deal later on down the road when i'm making money instead of spending it on college.

 

[Sentinel]

i would keep it personally, not go with a mac or mini mac...

 

[hopejr]

Just some advice, don't listen to Philippine Mango because he doesn't know what he's talking about when it comes to macs
Infohawk: the number of system administrators and techies switching to macs seems to suggest that you don't have to be clueless to switch to a mac. Unless you're joking, I find that comment a little un-called for.

 

[sparkyclarky]

Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
Oh yea and BTW, if you expect this mac mini to be faster then your machine, your seriously mistaken. You system is way better then this mac mini, it's like selling your AMD athlon XP 2500+ to 2800+ system or P4 2.4GHZ system for the mac mini.... Yes the system is worth less now but I'm sure it's faster then the mac mini with out a doubt.

It's a p4-M, not a p-M machine, so you are wrong. The mini (with an equivalent amount of RAM) will be a fair bit faster. The G4 in the mini is more akin to the P-M or PIII clock for clock than the P-4 (just a very rough comparison).

 

[halfadder]

I would sell that old notebook and buy a new notebook. Perhaps a nice Avertec or even an Apple PowerBook.

As much as I like the Mac Mini, it's not a very good notebook! I would only consider buying a Mini after you have a nice notebook and after your desktop rig is already up to date.

 

[iamskew]

halfadder, the problem there is that a new notebook costs more than i'd get for this notebook...i don't want to spend anything extra at this point...i'm a big enough drain on my mom already...lol

 

[halfadder]

What do you need your computer to do for you? The Mini is a great little machine, but it's not really for gaming and it's not really expandable internally beyond 1 GB, 1 HD, and 1 optical drive. You also need a keyboard, mouse, and monitor of course. The little Mini I bought my grandpa has been a great machine, but it really needs 512 MB to run well.

When I'm on the road I use my PowerBook a lot, so I've gotten to know and love Mac OS X. But I still like to use WinXP on my desktop machines too. Both the Mac and PC worlds are pretty close in what they can do these days, so going to a Mini wouldn't really be a downgrade or anything like that. Plus the unix aspects of Mac OS X are a lot of fun to explore and learn. But again, don't expect the Mini to be a gaming rig, and there's not much you can tinker with on the hardware side of things. But when it comes to software, man, there are so many things you can fiddle with and play with on OS X. I think I could live to be 150 and still never learn everything there is to know about Unix!

 

[iamskew]

halfadder, the notebook, and the computer that may replace it, are simply for school purposes: typing papers, researching on the internet, e-mailing and what not.
I don't really mean to sound like a jerk, but i'm plenty aware of the capabilities of a $6-700 machine...aka I won't be gaming. Also, for 3 months of my life, I was a unix user on sun systems machines using solaris 9/10....in other words, I was a comp sci major before I turned to journalism...
Anyway, thanks for your comments.
Maybe I should put my question this way: given ~$700, is it better to build a pc or buy a mini? Which will give me the most bang for the buck? (Yes, I can build a computer...and I think i might go SFF if I go with a pc).

skew

 

[halfadder]

Ahh, ok. I hope I didn't sound like a jerk either, I was just curious as to what your needs were.

A Mac Mini would probably be a good investment for you in this case. The student version of MS Office for Mac 2004 is about $150 retail or your school might be able to sell you a copy for $10 or even give you a copy for free. I personally like Nisus Writer Express for a nice word processor. Apple's new application, Pages , is a nice page layout program, but it's not a full word processor like Word or Nisus.

Building a PC will always give you more bang for the buck when you look at hardware alone. There is enough volume in the x86 PC world to make it the most competitive. However you should consider the cost of software, such as the OEM version of WinXP Home for $99 plus any other software you plan on using. The Mac Mini comes with a bunch of software preinstalled (iLife: iPhoto, GarageBand, iMovie, iDVD... Quicken 2005... AppleWorks... and some other little utilities and a couple games). But you might still want to buy additional software like Office, Nisus, and/or Pages. My guess is that the bottom line Mac vs PC price will be very close in this case.

If you decide to build a SFF PC, go with a Shuttle sized case. You can use a normal P4, AthlonXP, or Athlon64 processor and a normal graphics card. If you go for a Mini-ITX or Nano-ITX based system to get something that's more like the small Mac Mini in size, you will be paying out the nose. The Mini-ITX stuff is expensive, but also slow with their VIA C3 processors and onboard shared memory graphics.