Laptop Choices

[Prime]

So I have a choice of one 3 machines

HP 625

• AMD Athlon II Dual-Core Processor P320 2.1 GHz Processor,
  
  2048MB DDR3 1 DIMM Memory,
  
  320 GB 5400rpm Hard Disk Drive,
  
  LightScribe DVD+/-RW Optical Drive,
  
  Fixed Broadcom 802.11 b/g/n,
  
  BLUETOOTH,
  
  15.6 HD LCD Display & Camera,
  
  ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 (Integrated Graphics),
  
  WINDOWS 7 BASIC 32bit,
  
  Office Starter 2010 Preinstalled,
  
  1~1~0 Warranty (1 Year parts and labour, Carry -in)
  
  HP Basic Carry Bag included in the box

R4985.22 inc Vat

----

HP 620

• Intel Core2 Duo T6670 2.20 GHz Processor,
  
  2048MB DDR3 1 DIMM memory,
  
  320 GB 5400rpm Hard Disk Drive,
  
  LightScribe DVD+/-RW Optical Drive,
  
  Fixed 56K Modem Realtek 802.11 b/g/n,
  
  BLUETOOTH,
  
  15.6 HD LCD Display & Camera,
  
  Mobile Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD,
  
  Windows 7 Professional 64 w/32Bit Recovery Disc,
  
  Office Starter 2010 Preinstalled,
  
  1~1~0 Warranty (1 year parts and labour, Carry-in)
  
  HP Basic Carry Bag included in the box

R6840 inc vat


----

GIGABYTE® i1520M Notebook:

• Intel® Core™ i3 350M 2.26GHz Processor,
  
  2GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory (1x 2GB - 2 Slots),
  
  500GB 5400RPM 2.5" SATA HDD,
  
  8x DVD Super Multi Writer,
  
  15.6" Glare Type 1366x768 Gloss Widescreen,
  
  1.3 Megapixel Webcam,
  
  Intel® HM55 Express Mobile Chipset,
  
  Intel GMA X4500M Graphics,
  
  Integrated Gigabit LAN,
  
  Wireless LAN 802.11 b/g/n @ 300Mbps
  
  HDD Storage Security,
  
  Intel Wireless Display Technology,
  
  Bluetooth,
  
  6 Cell Battery,
  
  Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit
  
  Office 2010 Starter Edition,
  
  Facial Recognition,
  
  2 Year Global Warranty With Fetch And Repair Warranty
  
  4x USB 2.0, 1x Headphone Jack, 1x Microphone Jack,
  
  1x D-Sub VGA, 1x PC Card Express slot, 1x RJ-45 Ethernet, 3-In-1 Reader

R5700 Inc Vat

The 620 is above my price range.

So its really between the 625 and Gigabyte.

I intend to use it for varsity work, including programming in matlab, Visual Studio and Java and AVR, as well as doing reports and picture editing. Certainly going to watch series on it, and might play the odd game, though nothing intense or new.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/produc ... id=3363#sp
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/za/en/sm ... 73277.html

The HP has better graphics but the Gigabyte has a faster processor and a better version of windows 7. Otherwise they are pretty on par.

Both are easy to upgrade. So any other advice or insight into which of the 2 I should get?

[-Prometheus-]

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[Stuart]

Gigabyte would get my vote if the extra R700 is absolutely no problem.

[Prime]

Stuart, as much as I am a huge fan if gigabyte, any specific reason?

[hamin_aus]

Gigabyte would get my vote if the extra R700 is absolutely no problem.

Same.

And not because of any preference for Gigabyte because as far a notebooks my brand loyalty would be with HP if all things were equal.

The GB has got a decent CPU, lots more drive space, better warranty and more features - yes the graphics are a bit better on the HP - but that's like comparing a Tata to a Cherry and saying the Tata is better.

[Prime]

I'm inclined to agree with you that it's a better machine.

Going to try get the i5 version of the Gigabyte notebook. its more than what I want to spend but so be it. (an additional R1300)


Thanks guys, will post some comments once I get it.

[Stuart]

Stuart, as much as I am a huge fan if gigabyte, any specific reason?

Pretty much what jamin said.

[Prime]

Right, so I've been using it for a week or so.

Firstly convenience - Unless I seriously game in the future, I'm not buying another desktop. I'm getting far more done in a day, spending the same amount of time on the laptop as I did on the PC and I'm not confined to my room.


Battery life is good. I get about 4 hours on average usage - browsing, programming, etc.
Machine has a few driver quirks - It doesn't always wake up and I've had USB issues which are also power management related.
The Keyboard is full size but despite that I keep hitting some as yet undetermined key and it jumps halfway back through the sentence I'm typing.
You'll either love or hate the track pad-it's finished in the same style as the rest of the body and it doesn't have any silly gaps in it to collect finger grease, but it doesn't indicate where the scroll points are - turns out, these are mapped to regions in the right corners, rather than down the whole right side. And the lack of a middle button is driving me nuts.
Screen size is great for browsing and watching stuff, but lousy for document editing, the aspect ration and resolution are not suited to a4 pages.

Haven't run anything taxing yet, will give that a bash later

[THE_STIG]

Yea the Gigabyte is the one to go for......Jamin I see you are not mentioning "Alpha's" have you taken interest in Tata now??