HP Pavilion zv6203cl

My wife just bought me this laptop. Now I know little to nothing about laptops. Specifically in regards to video, upgradeability, and a few other aread. I've built my last two desktops but I have been looking to buy a laptop for awhile now, only draggng my feet because I am fairly skeptical about spending so much on a computer that will do so little compared to my desktop. But, back to the point. Here are the specs (sorry to make this so long):

Processor and Memory:

AMD Athlon™64 Processor with PowerNow!™ Technology (2.0GHz, 2000MHz system bus, L2 Cache: 512KB
1024MB 333MHz DDR System Memory (2 Dimm) Max supported 2048MB
2 Accessible Memory Slots
Hard Drive and Multimedia Drives:

80GB (4200RPM)hard drive
DVD±R/RW and CD-RW Combo Drive with Double Layer Support
Audio, Video and Graphics:

Altec Lansing Audio
ATI RADEON® XPRESS200M IGP with 128MB DDR (dedicated)
6-in-1 integrated Digital Media Reader for Secure Digital Cards, Multimedia Cards, Memory Sticks, Memory Stick Pro, or Xd Picture cards
Data, Fax and Modem:

High Speed 56k Modem
Wireless Option 54g™ 802.11b/g WLAN with 125HSM / SpeedBooster support
Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)
Connectivity:

Integrated 54g™802.11b/g WLAN with 125HSM/SpeedBooster™ support
Ports:

4 Universal Serial Bus USB 2.0
1 VGA (15 pin)
1 RJ-11 (modem)
1 TV-Out (S-video)
1 RJ-45 (LAN)
1 Expansion Port
2 Connector
1 headphone-out
1 microphone-in
1 IEEE 1394 Firewire (4-pin)
Consumer IR (Remote Receiver)
Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor:

101-key compatible
3 Quick Launch Buttons
Touch Pad with On/Off button and dedicated vertical and horizontal Scroll Up/Down pad
15.4" HD BrightView Display
Dimensions and Weight:

Dimensions: 1.8"H x 14.25"Wx 11.08"L (w/hinge)
Weight: 7.97 lbs.


It was $1000 at Sam's Club. Mainly I need this for net surfing and school work simple projects, but since I travel a lot I like to be able to play my games on it as well. From what I've read the dedicated video memory is good but the chipset itself is not of quality enough to play WoW or EQ, let alone EQ2. Is that a true statement? Should I take this back or will it be capable or gaming? I really don't want to spend much more than she already did, perhaps $1500 tops and preferably less. Thanks in advance!

Have been looking around for alternatives, so many choices. Ibuypower is by far the cheapest I've seen but I've read several bad posts about the company and their products, so they may not be the best choice. I'm going to load up WoW and EQ at a minimum and see how they run. If I don't like it then I guess it's back to the drawing board.

Is there another game, perhaps something not online, that I could load up that would test this system similiar to EQ/WoW? Maybe Medal of Honor Allied Assault or Return to Castle Wolfenstein, or are those online type games more intensive than the ones I mentioned? I know I can't simulate a load of 100 characters on screen like I would see in EQ/WoW and I also know I need something with similiar system requirements. I just don't want to spend hours loading the game and downloading patches.

Well, looks like I am stuck loading WoW or something along those lines if I want a true indication of the computer's ability to run those games. I don't have anything else that comes even close to the requirements of those games, unless I go buy something new, which I'm not opposed to doing.

Just finished loading and patching EQ2. Ran pretty damn good with no changes to the default settings. I ran through a couple of areas of Qeynos and such to see if I could find a crowd but best I could do was a few NPCs. But still, I'm impressed. WoW and probably EQ tomorrow.

WoW installed, logging in....servers down

Logged my hunter in, ran him to Ironforge, no glitches. Took him to the auction house where even on my desktop I hang a bit, no problems. Granted it was probably 2/3 of the normal crowd I usually see in there, but hey, works for me! Thanks to those who helped this laptop n00b!

Now that I've decided to stick with this one, can I just do a slick and reload of only the software I want? It came with so much junk on it, some of which I want to use but a lot of it I don't. I'm not sure how these driver/application recovery disks work but I would like to keep some of the software they put on here. Plus I like to have some control over the programs that run at startup and where they put their icons.