After 6 years, time to replace the laptop...

[Cebby]

I've been thoroughly pleased with the HP Pavilion ZT3000 laptop I bought back in the summer of 2004. Paid just north of $4k. 1.6Ghz Centrino with 2 Gb of Ram, HUGE 60Gb HDD and 15.4 widescreen. Added a 24" Dell LCD to extend the desktop later on. This setup has been pretty nice.

Only mishap was me spilling an entire cup of coffee in it - the only casualty was the HDD. So that got upgraded to a 120Gb along the way.

About 3 weeks ago, the display quits - if figure it was the display inverter (on my 2nd), so I promptly buy one on eBay. $9 part, $29 for next day shipping... Replace it and no improvement. Must be the LCD tube - I bought one a long time ago but can't find it. I've been able to use my external monitor, so no big shake until I need to take it with me...

Impending vacation at the beginning of August made me pull the trigger on a new lappy so I have it with me to go away. Even in this age of low priced laptops, I still managed to spend $3300.

The new horse will be here July 22nd - HP Envy 15 - Intel i7-820QM, 16Gb RAM, dual Intel 160Gb SSD's, 15" widescreen, 1Gb ATI 5830, etc. All the goodies... Also getting a 27" external since my 24" doesn't have HDMI in and that's all the Envy has for external monitor output - plus the 24 is the wrong a/r (seemed like a plausible excuse at the time).

Can't wait!! (Sad I know, I never used to get excited about getting a computer...)

[YotaFun]

Wow, you def did get all the goodies, can't wait to see how you like it.
Working on trying to get myself a used tough book currently, well see how that goes...

[Crinale]

holy crap cebby... thats a lot of money :screwy:

sounds like a sick lappy though :bowdown: :clap:.. my laptop decided to take a crap recently too, but i cant afford to replace it :flipoff:

[Cebby]

It's definitely more than I wanted to spend (said that 6 years ago too), but its mission critical to my livelihood - plus the fewer times I need to install and configure all the stuff I use the better. 6 years of rigorous use is pretty good - hope this one lasts even longer!

[Lee]

wow mike, that's a nice get. You got your money's worth that's for sure :)

imo, though, 16gb of ram seems like overkill. 8gigs would prob do you fine for a 5-6 yr lifespan.

Will you play any games on it?

[Lee]

which 27 inch display are you getting by the way? Right now I'm using a Samsung SyncMaster P2770HD and it's a nice tv/monitor but only does up to 1920x1080.

Honestly the best one out there is the Dell UltraSharp U2711 (only monitor of that size matching my 27" iMac's 2560 x 1440 res)... I'm crossing my fingers for an Apple 27" monitor.

[DHC6twinotter]

Two 160gig SSDs? Awesome! :drool:

[Cebby]

wow mike, that's a nice get. You got your money's worth that's for sure :)

imo, though, 16gb of ram seems like overkill. 8gigs would prob do you fine for a 5-6 yr lifespan.

Will you play any games on it?


I'm hoping the RAM helps with some large CAD files and some absolutely massive PSD files I've had to work on (for printing huge tradeshow banners). I remember saying that I'd never use a 60Gb HDD or more than 1Gb of RAM 6 years ago too...

[Cebby]

which 27 inch display are you getting by the way? Right now I'm using a Samsung SyncMaster P2770HD and it's a nice tv/monitor but only does up to 1920x1080.

Honestly the best one out there is the Dell UltraSharp U2711 (only monitor of that size matching my 27" iMac's 2560 x 1440 res)... I'm crossing my fingers for an Apple 27" monitor.


I think the HDMI out on the Envy is only 1920 x 1080 when used simultaneously, so that's what I'm getting. (new HP 27")

[Cebby]

Two 160gig SSDs? Awesome! :drool:



:)

Raid 0 too.

[fenrisx]

Hey Cebby, might want to check this out:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-envy-hdx/563791-definitive-guide-envy-trackpad.html

Might give some better clickpad functionality. Basically, the drivers are for the new version of the Synaptics pad, not ours. So, it unlocks some nice features that our drivers don't have. I want to try it out, but my wife uses this laptop a lot now... I don't think she'd enjoy adjusting to the change. She hated this trackpad when I first got the laptop, and it'd be like the same thing all over again.

[MTL_4runner]

Two 160gig SSDs? Awesome! :drool:



:)

Raid 0 too.


All I can say is WOW, can you say smokin fast!