I've been looking to get my wife a laptop for Christmas for when she starts graduate school in January (she's going for a masters in reading and she's currently a first grad teacher).
Anyways, i've been searching for a 14.1" widescreen that would be light but functional, built well, and maybe have some extra features in case she enjoys it or uses it more than her desktop. After searching, I decided on a compaq v3000 or hp2000. Having a limited budget (around $400), I went to ebay. Earlier this week I found one with a BIN on it for $600, but a spammer won it instead. The seller and I had been talking before it ended and said if the deal feel through (the spammer had 0 feedback), I could have it at the reserve for $550. Sure enough, a couple days later the spammer started racking up negative feedback and had his/her account canceled by ebay. So last night, I met the seller (he was local to me thankfully), checked out the machine, and paid $550 for it. This is what I got:
5 Month Old HP DV2000Z with warranty still left
WinXP HOME
Everything it would come with new, including the box
Sempron 3400+
768 Ram
60 gig 5400 rpm hd
dvd+-rw
HP IMPRINT Casing with microphone and webcam
hp remote
wireless a/b/g card with bluetooth
6-Cell battery
Brightview screen
AND MS OFFICE 2003 PRO RETAIL (Not OEM)
I plan on selling the copy of office for $150 (she gets office from her school employer) to bring my cost down to $400 when things are all said and done.
My mistake you ask? This laptop absolutely RULES! I've owned a compaq before and currently a Dell Inspiron 6000, but this thing is so much better. First of course is the looks, then there's all the little things: the metalic like feel of the touchpad, soft buttons on the touch pad, a button to disable the touchpad, a switch to turn off the wifi, the touch media controls, quickplay 2.0, all the blue lights, the sturdiness of the case, the black/sivler colors, the TINY power brick, the weight (compared to my dell). I've used HP laptops in the past they always seemed too plasticy and chinzy. I don't know what happened at HP, but wow, they just made an impressive little machine. I LOVE IT. I love it so much that I kinda want to keep it for myself. I've always had an interest in a laptop smaller than the 15.4" widescreens because of their weight and size, but after using this 14.1" model, it really feels like a "laptop". I guess this means that next year I'll have to sell my dell and get a fully decked up dv2000z. But before that, i have 2 questions: What's the likelihood HP will expand their line to new colors (I know their's a special edition white dv6000 which is gorgeous) and how likely is this to be their main design for (1 year, 2, 3 years)?
Anyways, i've been searching for a 14.1" widescreen that would be light but functional, built well, and maybe have some extra features in case she enjoys it or uses it more than her desktop. After searching, I decided on a compaq v3000 or hp2000. Having a limited budget (around $400), I went to ebay. Earlier this week I found one with a BIN on it for $600, but a spammer won it instead. The seller and I had been talking before it ended and said if the deal feel through (the spammer had 0 feedback), I could have it at the reserve for $550. Sure enough, a couple days later the spammer started racking up negative feedback and had his/her account canceled by ebay. So last night, I met the seller (he was local to me thankfully), checked out the machine, and paid $550 for it. This is what I got:
5 Month Old HP DV2000Z with warranty still left
WinXP HOME
Everything it would come with new, including the box
Sempron 3400+
768 Ram
60 gig 5400 rpm hd
dvd+-rw
HP IMPRINT Casing with microphone and webcam
hp remote
wireless a/b/g card with bluetooth
6-Cell battery
Brightview screen
AND MS OFFICE 2003 PRO RETAIL (Not OEM)
I plan on selling the copy of office for $150 (she gets office from her school employer) to bring my cost down to $400 when things are all said and done.
My mistake you ask? This laptop absolutely RULES! I've owned a compaq before and currently a Dell Inspiron 6000, but this thing is so much better. First of course is the looks, then there's all the little things: the metalic like feel of the touchpad, soft buttons on the touch pad, a button to disable the touchpad, a switch to turn off the wifi, the touch media controls, quickplay 2.0, all the blue lights, the sturdiness of the case, the black/sivler colors, the TINY power brick, the weight (compared to my dell). I've used HP laptops in the past they always seemed too plasticy and chinzy. I don't know what happened at HP, but wow, they just made an impressive little machine. I LOVE IT. I love it so much that I kinda want to keep it for myself. I've always had an interest in a laptop smaller than the 15.4" widescreens because of their weight and size, but after using this 14.1" model, it really feels like a "laptop". I guess this means that next year I'll have to sell my dell and get a fully decked up dv2000z. But before that, i have 2 questions: What's the likelihood HP will expand their line to new colors (I know their's a special edition white dv6000 which is gorgeous) and how likely is this to be their main design for (1 year, 2, 3 years)?
