Stop me before I jum(h)p

[deskjockey]

I am about to spend $1600-1800 on my first laptop. It'll be paid for by my business (self-employed) but my teacher wife and music-video-moderate-gaming kids will also use it. Hopefully it can go to college with #1 son in 2 years. When I use it I'll want to multi-task Word, Power Point, Outlook, Surfing and Excel. I intended to buy a custom HP zt3000 or Pavilion today from HP Shopping or BestBuy but decided to do some more research on Ntbk Forums. I've learned a LOT more about what I should be looking for thanks to the help in these threads. Now I'm not even sure that HP can supply what I want and I definitely wonder if I should consider other vendors (Sager, Acer, e-machines). Per DDDa's 10 points I'll try to pose an intelligent request for help. Here are my general specs are and then some questions.

Desired specs:
Processor- Pentium M for good power usage and decent speed.
Screen- 15.4 WSXGA+ (1680x1050). Poor eyesight requires good screen quality and this appears the best bet although WXGA Briteview/Xbrite (1280x800) is pretty decent also from what I saw at BestBuy over Xmas. UXGA (1920x1200) looks unnecessary and possibly worse on the eyes.
Graphics card- 128 meg nvidea preferred but will take ATI
Memory- 512 Mb
H. Drive- 60 GB minimum, prefer 5400 or 7200 speed but HP's seem like all 4200.
Optical Drive- DVD/CD-RW preferred as I will buy external DVD-RW to use on both desktop and laptop as needed.
Battery life- 2 hrs is ok...I'm not a "Road Warrior"
Networking- Ethernet and wireless 802.11-g

Speakers- decent sound would be nice but I'll normally use headphones or plug into a speaker system.

Questions:
To HP or not to HP...that is the question. Tis it nobler and perhaps wiser to e-machine, Sager, Acer or Donner or Blitzen? Sources in general and magic bullets (specific machines) welcomed.
Video cards- the thread listing cards for various machines doesn't look good for the card I want for HP.
Processor- Pentium-M is a good choice for me per DDDa, but is another chip comparable and available from other laptop builder??
Removable bay- important for me? I think not.
Drive speed- can I get 7200 withoug big $$$ penalty?
Service Plans- So x*%@xx! confusing! One year accident & service for $100 at HP is my bet...is 2-3 years really preferable? I have a good computer repair source nearby but I don't want to pay $300-500 there for a few hours and parts if I can get it through pre-paid service contract for same or lower $$.

OK...enough homework?? Any suggestions??

[B Nietsnie]

Pentium-M is a good choice for me per DDDa, but is another chip comparable and available from other laptop builder??

Nope.

Removable bay- important for me? I think not.

Not really, unless you really need more room.

Drive speed- can I get 7200 withoug big $$$ penalty?

If a $32 is fine, than sure!

OK...enough homework?? Any suggestions??

Yep . Not HP. By two years the notebook will be on its last legs. You need something with better build quality. When I read the specs you wanted, the Sager 3790 is everything you want. The only donwside is ATI... but that really isnt a downside . So yeah... Sager 3790 look absolutely perfect for what you want, and you can order form PCTorque and get increadbile customer service (Sager 3790 @ PCTorqu

[deskjockey]

Thanks for the advice! Only $32 for faster hard drive? I'm surprised but not surprised that HP does'nt have 5400 or 7200 on its build site. They really seem to serve the mainstream with little flexibility where it matters. I'll look hard at the Sager. Thanks for PCTorque also.

[Erebus_505X]

I never had an HP notebook, but my mom does. She has a 3 year old HP notebook for office work and it is more than fine, no bad sector, no dead pixel.
And btw, HP and sager have mostly the same ODM, so there would me little built quality.
ATI rulz, i'm not a fanboy, but they have better mobile DirectX acceleration. Unless you want 6800go, which you won't find in a CENTRINO laptop