Thinking about buying a new HP laptop

[sneakypete]

@sneakypete

From your new specs:
Still a butt-ton of money. I can't remember the last time I spent more than a few hundred on a laptop. Too easy to steal. to easy to drop. So on that alone, I can't see it.

Find used or refurb'd... I don't even think you'd have to settle very much at half the cost. maybe even a quarter...

Jussayin. 

@roamer_1

Normally I would agree and done that to start with. I just can't take a chance on that with my memory these days because if I get one and something doesn't work,I wouldn't be able to figure out what is wrong with it or how to fix it. Hell,I just had a shop put brakes on my 37 Dodge 4x4 pu on a 72 F-250 chassis because I would get confused trying to do that,and I have done that stuff my whole life.

Until the fog lifts,I am stuck with buying new that has a warranty.

[roamer_1]

This is a dumb thing @sneakypete , but another 'must have' for me is bluetooth. If there is any single thing that I am always critical of laptops for, it is speakers. Always.

You can get some really passable sound out of a decent bluetooth speaker and opens you to nice wireless headsets and mikes.

Maybe not your thing, but just for playing music and Yootoobs, that speaker is a necessity. It is an easy fix anyway, because you can get bluetooth over USB easy enough, but jussayin. Internal would be nice.

[sneakypete]

Your build is SSD + Optane - unless you're getting the optane pretty close to free I'd cut that cost. With a large, fast-refresh screen your cost isn't that outrageous, especially if it's IPS rather than TN.

@Snarknado

The identical SSD without + Optane is the exact same price,so I got the one with it even though I have no idea what it is or what it does. I figured it was something new,and they were just trying to promote it.

[Snarknado]

I looked at the HP and Dell sites - I see that your Optane is free and the screen is IPS - that's good. Dell has a similar system at a higher price but with 1660ti graphics, so very similar value. That 17" screen severely limits your options.

While you'd have many more options to get a lot more bang for the buck in a desktop, in your situation the HP may be well worth the cost.

One thing to keep in mind is that most lower-end laptops use shared system RAM for video. With games, that can take a big bite out of the 8GB. Your 1650 has it's own 4GB of fast GDDR5 so you'll have the full 8GB to work with. I'd still try to bump it to 12 or 16 if you run across a good deal on laptop RAM.

[roamer_1]

Yes. I noticed that too, didn't want to say anything.
A laptop these days for $1000 better be made out of gold or something.
You know what kind of system I could build with a $1000...It would be close to a supercomputer.
With a network adapter I could link multiple computers together as one.
The last computer I bought from Amazon. And it is much more than I will ever need.
It was around ~$300+ plus add-ons, but that was a desk-top.
$1000 is too much.

That's right. But I got out of building em, and just refurb out of the used market. Way better money. I can't make a buck white-boxing anymore. New stuff is just too dang cheap. But, that also means folks readily throw them out too... I can't tell you how easy it is around here to buy up barely broken machines for resale. Normally they just need a reload or a hdd and off to the races...

I can turn a couple hundred on a resale/repair and find it pretty hard to make the same building a white box.... without all the layout on parts to float till the sale.

I haven't built a contracted white box since maybe around harvest time, and generally speaking those are only for gamers or graphics guys. Joe homeowner doesn't need to lay out enough for me to profit.

[sneakypete]

This is a dumb thing @sneakypete , but another 'must have' for me is bluetooth. If there is any single thing that I am always critical of laptops for, it is speakers. Always.

You can get some really passable sound out of a decent bluetooth speaker and opens you to nice wireless headsets and mikes.

Maybe not your thing, but just for playing music and Yootoobs, that speaker is a necessity. It is an easy fix anyway, because you can get bluetooth over USB easy enough, but jussayin. Internal would be nice.

@roamer_1

I have some pretty good speakers,but I have them packed away in a box. If I start listening to music,that's all I do for the rest of the day.

[sneakypete]

I looked at the HP and Dell sites - I see that your Optane is free and the screen is IPS - that's good. Dell has a similar system at a higher price but with 1660ti graphics,

so very similar value.

@Snarknado

I upgraded to the GTX 1650. The 1660 would have added another $280 bucks to the price. I think the I-7 9750H and the GTX 1650 will be fast enough for me.

 "Intel® Coreâ„¢ i7 9750H (2.6 GHz, up to 4.5 GHz, 12 MB cache, 6 cores)+NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR5)"
While you'd have many more options to get a lot more bang for the buck in a desktop, in your situation the HP may be well worth the cost.

One thing to keep in mind is that most lower-end laptops use shared system RAM for video. With games, that can take a big bite out of the 8GB. Your 1650 has it's own 4GB of fast GDDR5 so you'll have the full 8GB to work with. I'd still try to bump it to 12 or 16 if you run across a good deal on laptop RAM.

That's why I bought a 8 MB RAM stick instead of a 12 MB. I can just add another 8 MB stick to it later if I need more ram. I MIGHT go and and add another 8 MB of RAM before I place the order. Depends on if I have any bad surprises between now and when I do the deed.  I plan on buying with the PP plan that lets me pay what I can afford each month and doesn't charge any interest for the first 6 months. If I pay it all off before 180 days,I will have paid zero interest.  So really,my out of pocket expenses if I bought it today would be zero dollars. I would just have to pay 200 bucks to PP each month to avoid interest.

[roamer_1]

@roamer_1

I have some pretty good speakers,but I have them packed away in a box. If I start listening to music,that's all I do for the rest of the day.

@sneakypete Yeah, I get that, but that ain't what I mean so much. Video is such a big part of computing anymore... you can't hardly get on the thing without having to watch a vid somewhere... and on a laptop w/o bluetooth, that generally means hauling out the earbuds and pluggin em in, because you can't hear nothing out of the native speakers. Then you have the earbuds all strung out, to get tangled up in next time you want to get up... What a bother.

This box is my very first one with native inbuilt bluetooth... I have a little 2 speaker crappy bluetooth box sitting on the endtable here, and it is always on. The laptop just hooks up to that every time it is on and nearby... And viola! 90% of the time, no more earbuds. SWEET!

[240B]

I haven't built a contracted white box since maybe around harvest time, and generally speaking those are only for gamers or graphics guys. Joe homeowner doesn't need to lay out enough for me to profit.

Yes, I know. I am Joe Homeowner. Sometimes I think when I upgrade, 'why am I doing this?'. I'm not running CAD. I'm not calculating the end of the Universe or doing advanced image processing. What am I doing? When I check my CPU stats, my stupid puttering around barely registers. Why do I do it?

Like Dr. Frankenstein, I can't help myself. I do it simply because it is doable. I get off simply by watching it work, even if I can never use all that firepower. There is pleasure in building a thing and watching it work. For no reason. Just because you can.

[roamer_1]

Yes, I know. I am Joe Homeowner. Sometimes I think when I upgrade, 'why am I doing this?'. I'm not running CAD. I'm not calculating the end of the Universe or doing advanced image processing. What am I doing? When I check my CPU stats, my stupid puttering around barely registers. Why do I do it?

Like Dr. Frankenstein, I can't help myself. I do it simply because it is doable. I get off simply by watching it work, even if I can never use all that firepower. There is pleasure in building a thing and watching it work. For no reason. Just because you can.

@240B
RIGHT. I get that. My only whitebox that I still own is CICERO, my main server. I don't rightly know how much drive space there is in there.... all 2T and up drives, eight of them I think.. maybe ten...  And I dutifully roll new drives through it on upgrade, and every few years it gets a new MB... The last time was for conversion to USB3 more than anything else... And I have a new board fixin to go in it right now... So I still do what you do there... And of course WACKER, my main whip, That's my monster box... But that's mainly just bolted on stuff to an already monster HP (added water cooling, big vid, giant RAM, SSD, etc...).

But the rest of my stuff is run-of-the-mill corporate HP, just as it came out of the box... other than ram of course, and hdds - every installed drive in the house is WD black 7200rpm... and all my boxen have ssd system drives. There are tons of crappy used 5400's around here, but they are mainly laying around for transfer drives, where speed and reliability is not all that important

For the most part, if you have access to off-lease corporate, with companies rolling em over on 2 or3 year leases... I get em to destroy the drives, and they don't care about the cans... so I get em basically for free, except the cost of the new drive .

I would have to be an idiot not to use that.

[Snarknado]

I'd love to see what your laptop looks like in action - hope you get a ton of enjoyment out of it. It will be interesting to see if the Nvidia control panel lets you enable G-sync on it. Oh, I'd also suggest visiting one of the monitor calibration sites to see if any settings need tweaking to get the best possible display - every panel is different.

so very similar value.

@Snarknado

I upgraded to the GTX 1650. The 1660 would have added another $280 bucks to the price. I think the I-7 9750H and the GTX 1650 will be fast enough for me.

 "Intel® Coreâ„¢ i7 9750H (2.6 GHz, up to 4.5 GHz, 12 MB cache, 6 cores)+NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 (4 GB GDDR5)"
While you'd have many more options to get a lot more bang for the buck in a desktop, in your situation the HP may be well worth the cost.

That's why I bought a 8 MB RAM stick instead of a 12 MB. I can just add another 8 MB stick to it later if I need more ram. I MIGHT go and and add another 8 MB of RAM before I place the order. Depends on if I have any bad surprises between now and when I do the deed.  I plan on buying with the PP plan that lets me pay what I can afford each month and doesn't charge any interest for the first 6 months. If I pay it all off before 180 days,I will have paid zero interest.  So really,my out of pocket expenses if I bought it today would be zero dollars. I would just have to pay 200 bucks to PP each month to avoid interest.

[sneakypete]

@240B  @EdinVA  @Snarknado  @roamer_1  @DB  @libertybele @Wingnut  @corbe


Just bought it. Decided I would go to the HP "on sale this week" page and look,and damned if it wasn't there. The only difference is the one on the sale page had a 256 gb ssd drive instead of the 512 gb hd.

By the time my military discount was applied to the sale price,I got it for $903.39,including shipping,and since it is already built in this configuration,it ships tomorrow.

Not crazy about spending that much money on a computer,but I did get a lot of computer for the money.

And "Yes,I will be looking into buy a Win 10 version of Quake and Doom.

[roamer_1]

Just bought it. Decided I would go to the HP "on sale this week" page and look,and damned if it wasn't there. The only difference is the one on the sale page had a 256 gb ssd drive instead of the 512 gb hd.

By the time my military discount was applied to the sale price,I got it for $903.39,including shipping,and since it is already built in this configuration,it ships tomorrow.

Not crazy about spending that much money on a computer,but I did get a lot of computer for the money.

And "Yes,I will be looking into buy a Win 10 version of Quake and Doom.

Good on ya @sneakypete  Hope it is all you wanted. 

[sneakypete]

Good on ya @sneakypete  Hope it is all you wanted. 

@roamer_1

One thing you can be sure of is that if it isn't equipped as quoted,it will be going back the next day.

Bought it using PP's "no interest if paid off in 6 months plan.

[Gefn]

I’m an Apple fan. But I’m sure your new computer will be great

[Snarknado]

@240B  @EdinVA  @Snarknado  @roamer_1  @DB  @libertybele @Wingnut  @corbe


Just bought it. Decided I would go to the HP "on sale this week" page and look,and damned if it wasn't there. The only difference is the one on the sale page had a 256 gb ssd drive instead of the 512 gb hd.

By the time my military discount was applied to the sale price,I got it for $903.39,including shipping,and since it is already built in this configuration,it ships tomorrow.

Not crazy about spending that much money on a computer,but I did get a lot of computer for the money.

And "Yes,I will be looking into buy a Win 10 version of Quake and Doom.

256GB isn't bad - I'm pretty sure all HP's come with a SD slot so just throw a 128 or 256GB card in there for your documents, video, music etc. where access speed doesn't matter much...

[roamer_1]

256GB isn't bad - I'm pretty sure all HP's come with a SD slot so just throw a 128 or 256GB card in there for your documents, video, music etc. where access speed doesn't matter much...

I can easily live inside of 256g... Shoot, mostly, I can live inside of 80g. for a personal machine. Now, I know that is largely because I eschew pics and vids, which are the biggest contributors to drive weight, and I tend to be very spartan with respect to onboard programs... but I can live very well inside of 256.
And if that box has an M2 slot, that's where I would put that 256, with an option toward more room in the SATA.

Sadly, this box I am on doesn't have an M2... And instead, I have a 256 SSD as a system drive... And since this is a DEV box for me, I removed the DVD (which really has no use anymore), and bought a DVD2SATA conversion bay, and stuck a 1T standard SATA in there instead. That's TONS of storage for my DEV platform, without sacrificing the speed of an SSD system drive. Works great.

[EdinVA]

@240B  @EdinVA  @Snarknado  @roamer_1  @DB  @libertybele @Wingnut  @corbe


Just bought it. Decided I would go to the HP "on sale this week" page and look,and damned if it wasn't there. The only difference is the one on the sale page had a 256 gb ssd drive instead of the 512 gb hd.

By the time my military discount was applied to the sale price,I got it for $903.39,including shipping,and since it is already built in this configuration,it ships tomorrow.

Not crazy about spending that much money on a computer,but I did get a lot of computer for the money.

And "Yes,I will be looking into buy a Win 10 version of Quake and Doom.

@sneakypete
Lotsa power.  sounds fun.. make sure you have your seat belt on...

[roamer_1]

@sneakypete
make sure you have your seat belt on...

His eyebrows won't come back down for a week and a half...
woohoo!

 

[EdinVA]

His eyebrows won't come back down for a week and a half...
woohoo!

 

[240B]

$800 at most.

[sneakypete]

$800 at most.

@240B

True,but it doesn't have the faster I7 9750H processor or the GTX 1650 Graphics card. Or the 144hz screen refresh rate. The screen upgrade from 60 HZ alone added 100 bucks to the price.

[Fishrrman]

Well, I gotta say it, and I don't care if you razz me:

Get a Mac instead.

iMac, Mac Mini, or MacBook Pro.

Yes, they "cost more". But they'll serve you well.

However -- DO NOT buy a 13" MacBook Pro right now. The current keyboards can be problematic. Apple will release a 2020 MacBook 13" (might end up being 14") in May/June that will have a good keyboard. The MBP 16" being sold NOW already has the new keyboard, but it ain't cheap.

My choice: 2018 Mac Mini i7. Got it from the Apple refurbished store.

[DB]

@240B

True,but it doesn't have the faster I7 9750H processor or the GTX 1650 Graphics card. Or the 144hz screen refresh rate. The screen upgrade from 60 HZ alone added 100 bucks to the price.

If you are a gamer, and it sounds like you are, the 144 Hz refresh rate is a big deal. 15 years ago or so we used Sony 21" FD CRT monitors and video adapters that could run 240+ Hz  refresh rates just for gaming...

[Victoria33]

@sneakypete

The first price you mentioned, is $1134.99.  Since I am not a Veteran, I did not get a reduction of price.
This amount is about the price I paid for my HP ENVY maybe that was two years ago, or three.  I had won a $2,000+ jackpot at a casino and used part of that money to pay cash for it.

Here is the important part you need to know:
When I got the computer, I went to @roamer_1 by PM and told him what I got. He said it was a good machine, and then he said something like this, "I don't have lighted keys on keyboard."  AHA!!  I have something roamer doesn't have - LIGHTED KEYBOARD!!  The King of computers, roamer, doesn't have a lighted keyboard!!!  I think of him every time I click it on.

I am glad you have this at this time.  It may sound funny to some, but I think this computer will be your companion.   It can take you anywhere on earth.  When I was growing up, I read constantly, and read a lot sitting in one of our backyard trees, with peaches or plums or figs we grew.  The books took me from where I was to anywhere on earth.  Now, a computer adds to books to go anywhere.

When you are in hospital, send me emails; you are my special friend although you drag me through mud when you post to me on a thread.  @Cyber Liberty should give you a time out due to what you say to me.  Then, you send me a PM and profess your undying love for me. You and I are attached, two great minds and I am always right and you are always wrong.