Which should I get?

[Synomenon]

I'm currently trying to decide on an 11" notebook. I had an 11" Acer Aspire in the past that I was very happy with. It's finally stopped working so now I'm looking for a replacement. I'd like to keep it cheap (less than $600) and I'm looking at two HPs right now. First one is:

HP Pavilion DM1-4170US
- i3-2367M
- Intel HD3000 Graphics
- 4GB of RAM (upgradeable to 8GB)

or

HP Pavilion DM1Z-CTO (configure to order)
- AMD Fusion E-450
- AMD Radeon 6320M
- 4GB of RAM (upgradeable to 8GB)


I'm mostly going to be using this for on-the-go office work (word documents, emails, internet), but would still like to get the one with the better specs.. I do have a spare SSD I'd be installing in it too.

Which one of the two is better?

 

[podspi]

What is the price differential? And what are you going to be using it for? The i3-based machine is going to be faster in most tasks.

I own a dm1z (older 3000 series) and I have to say the build quality is excellent.

 

[Synomenon]

The i3 model is almost $100 more (but still below the $600 mark I'm trying to stay in). I did mention above that I'm going to be using it mostly for work on the go.

 

[gmaster456]

The top one will offer the best overall performance although the GPU's are in the same ballpark and the bottom one should offer the best battery life. It's a tradeoff. If your going to be on the go I would personally chose the laptop with the best battery life unless you can be near a plug. I'd estimate the top one with about 3-4 hours of battery life and the bottom one with about 5-6.

 

[Synomenon]

I had an Acer Aspire / Timeline AS1810T-8488 before and I'm looking for something that'll perform on par or better.

The Acer had an Intel SU7300 CPU and Intel GMA4500HD graphics.

 

[corkyg]

In laptops, I would always select one with an Intel CPU as opposed to AMD. Yeah, . . . I'm biased, but with reason.

 

[jihe]

In laptops, I would always select one with an Intel CPU as opposed to AMD. Yeah, . . . I'm biased, but with reason.

But stay away from atom at all costs.

 

[Synomenon]

Ok, so I've discovered that the AMD model has a huge advantage going for it. The whole bottom panel can be removed to easily access the hard drive, DIMM slots and mini-PCie slots. Th Intel model does not have this easy access. Must be a difference b/w the DM1 and DM1Z.

 

[jihe]

Ok, so I've discovered that the AMD model has a huge advantage going for it. The whole bottom panel can be removed to easily access the hard drive, DIMM slots and mini-PCie slots. Th Intel model does not have this easy access. Must be a difference b/w the DM1 and DM1Z.

I personally would go for the cheaper model since the fusion cpu would be enough for office works. $100 is a lot for something less than $600.