Need some opinions on this laptop

Apr 29, 2010
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Basically, my uncle is getting me a laptop for Christmas. He sent me a link to an HP this morning, and I want some outside opinions.

Here are some of the specs:
Screen Size-15.6"
Processor-AMD Athlon II 2.2GHz
RAM-3GB(up to 8)DDR3
HDD-320GB SATA 5400 rpm
Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW drive
Video Card-ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250
USB 2.0-3 ports
HDMI output-yes
OS-Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Wireless Networking- Wireless-B+G+N

Don't know what else to add, but based on that is it worth it? It seems good to me, but I want to be sure. Keep in mind he's in Mexico at the moment, so there is not a lot of places he can go besides Best Buy.
 

Danzaivar

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Worth it for what? You haven't given a price.

But that is a darn nice laptop.
 

RheynbowDash

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Jan 26, 2009
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That is a sexy piece of modern tech. If priced between $1,000 and $1,600, I'd say, hells yea.
 

ReverendJ

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Mar 18, 2009
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I have never, ever, EVER had anything remotely good come from HP, and I've dealt with a lot of their product. Good luck.
 

5-0

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Apr 6, 2010
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I have a Dell laptop with similar spec which I'm sure costed much much more. Yeah that sounds good enough.
 

Darkgoosey666

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superbatranger said:
Shit, I can't believe I forgot the price. $399.99
get it, and upgrade the ram. 400 dollars is an insanely good price for any laptop, and thats decent so sure.

Its not for gaming though, it wont play that much without better ram. might want an external hard drive as well.
 

Deofuta

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Nov 10, 2009
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Very nice laptop, especially if it is the first you have owned. I believe the video card is a bit older than some, but should be able to tackle most of your gaming fancies. VERY nice find for 400 dollars!
 

5-0

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I'm not sure about that. 3gb is plenty. I can play most new games with no problems at all. But are you actually a PC gamer?
 
Apr 29, 2010
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Darkgoosey666 said:
superbatranger said:
Shit, I can't believe I forgot the price. $399.99
get it, and upgrade the ram. 400 dollars is an insanely good price for any laptop, and thats decent so sure.

Its not for gaming though, it wont play that much without better ram. might want an external hard drive as well.
Already have a 750GB external hard drive. As for upgrading the ram, I guess I could see what can be done.
 

omicron1

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Mar 26, 2008
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Well... let's look at the gaming essentials:
As far as I know, the HD 4250 is on the low end of graphics options; it's got new tech but no power to speak of.
ATI GPU Power is as follows (correct me if I'm wrong): Budget is anything under x5x0 series; low-end is x5x0; medium is x6x0 or x7x0, and high-end is x9x0. (where the first x is the generation and the second is related to changes within a particular power band)

For some speed-numbers comparisons, my current laptop graphics card is a GeForce 9650M GT. (The laptop itself cost $900 a couple of years ago) It gets 24042 points on 3Dmark 2001. The HD 4250, in the same test, gets 7995 points. This 1/4 power ratio carries through 3Dmark 2003 and 2005.


The CPU - looks like the only AMD Athlon II running at 2.2ghz natively is a triple-core 400e chip; it's ok for most tasks (faster than my last desktop processor) but not a speed demon.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+Athlon+II+X3+400e (literally the second entry from the bottom!)

And 3gb of ram is low-end nowadays.

So... if it's costing him any more than, say, $600, it's probably not worth it. Also, if you want to do any sort of real gaming on the system, it's probably not worth it. (Based on the following $600 system: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146852)

EDIT: For $400, though, it seems like a good purchase! Just don't expect to play new games on it.
 
Apr 29, 2010
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omicron1 said:
Well... let's look at the gaming essentials:
As far as I know, the HD 4250 is on the low end of graphics options; it's got new tech but no power to speak of.
ATI GPU Power is as follows (correct me if I'm wrong): Budget is anything under x5x0 series; low-end is x5x0; medium is x6x0 or x7x0, and high-end is x9x0. (where the first x is the generation and the second is related to changes within a particular power band)

The CPU - looks like the only AMD Athlon II running at 2.2ghz natively is a triple-core 400e chip; it's ok for most tasks (faster than my last desktop processor) but not a speed demon.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=AMD+Athlon+II+X3+400e (literally the second entry from the bottom!)

And 3gb of ram is low-end nowadays.

So... if it's costing him any more than, say, $600, it's probably not worth it. Also, if you want to do any sort of real gaming on the system, it's probably not worth it. (Based on the following $600 system: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834146852)
My uncle is somewhat limited to Best Buy, Best Buy, and Best Buy.
 

omicron1

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superbatranger said:
omicron1 said:
My uncle is somewhat limited to Best Buy, Best Buy, and Best Buy.
Well... for that price you're probably not going to find a laptop with better graphics, so... yeah, go for it.
 
Apr 29, 2010
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5-0 said:
I'm not sure about that. 3gb is plenty. I can play most new games with no problems at all. But are you actually a PC gamer?
I've never had a computer that was good enough for gaming.