nc8000 and other questions - Page 3

Great! That does stink about the sales tax. I recently moved to Montana which has NO sales tax, so I didn't have to worry about that extra cost. I know this is a hard decision. Heck, after the discussion we are having right now I am tempted to just order another nc8000. But I am going to wait a month or 2 and see how things play out. I don't understand how I was able to get the 10% and it is not offered now? Doesn't make sense. Let us know what specs you end up with.

I got my nc8000 not quite four weeks ago, and am very happy with it. I ordered the DV107U model, which is a reseller model which seems to be identical with the base model on HP's web site. I actually found it listed on the HP site (there is a tab titled "reseller models"), and then searched for the model on some of the price comparison sites.

I ended up ordering from PCConnection.com, partly because it was within $10 of the lowest price listed, and partly because I had done business with them in the past. I figure I saved enough in sales tax to make up for any 10% discount that may or may not exist on the HP site. Also, shipping (overnight!) was only $30. I ordered on a Sunday around noon, and it arrived before I left for work on Tuesday morning (less than 48 hours).

It came with a free (after rebates) wireless router, which I haven't found a use for yet. The worst part of the purchase was dealing with the rebate forms.

Total price with shipping (excluding router and rebates, which canceled each other) was about $1740. Again this is the "base" model, with 1.4GHz, 802.11b only (& Centrino sticker), SXGA+, 40G HD (5400 rpm), 512MB RAM. The ATI 9600 video adapter is "only" 64MB, but consider that this unit has only 1.4 Megapixels to manage, compared to a widescreen WUXGA with 2.3 Megapixels.

As far as "chunkiness" or "retro design", this thing feels way more portable than the Dell 8600 I returned a couple of months ago. I guess it's about 3/4 lbs lighter, they say 6.6 lbs compared to the 8600's 7.5 lbs with CD/DVD player. It actually feels like more than 3/4 lbs difference. Also, the HP is about 1.5" narrower, but the same depth, even though the screen area is about the same on both models.

Screen response is not terribly fast--I guess about average-- I do see some blurring with the "Wordpad test" (fill a couple of pages in WordPad with random text, change the text color to grey, and then scroll up and down rapidly), but it's definitely better then the Hitachi WSXGA+ screen on the Dell I returned.

I do like the SXGA+ resolution (1400x1050) better than the WSXGA+ widescreen (1680x1050). Pixels are slightly larger, so I don't have to use as many tweaks to be able to use the machine. Actual screen surface area is about the same as the wide screen (12 x 9 versus 13 x 8.2).

Battery life is better than the 8600. HP claims about 5.5 hours; at one point I ran it for a good 4+ playing a DVD much of the time, inadvertently leaving the wireless enabled the whole time, and still had juice left. I haven't really tried to run it into the ground yet.

Sorry, this started out as a quick comment. I didn't know this was going to to turn out to be a review or I would have posted it in the right place. Again, I hope someone finds it useful.

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1.) How do YOU find the touchpad and the touchpad buttons, a forum member said he found it small, and also several professional reviewers said it was poorly designed and that the buttons were uneven, and too stiff???

I have no complaint about the buttons, but they may take a little more pressure than some. It's purely spring pressure though, not like they're sticking or anything. Maybe it's to prevent unintentional clicks. Hadn't noticed any unevenness.

I hadn't noticed any problems with the touch pad either, but I did bump the pointer speed to near max. At the highest speed setting you can get the cursor from one side to the other in one swipe (I recall someone else saying he couldn't), if you slide your finger quickly enough (it's sensitive to speed, just like mice are-- if you slide your finger slowly from edge-to-edge the pointer will only move an inch or two). The pad measures 2.25" wide by about 1.5", if that means anything. The corners are rounded, which is unusual. But it feels pretty natural to me. I like the way it's recessed a little, makes it harder to touch it accidentally. A bigger pad might be more prone to accidental movement.

For some reason the track pointer thingie seems more usable than on my Dell 8600-- easier to control somehow, but I can't explain why. I had previously thought my spastic pointing was due to inexperience, but seems to be better now. (I understand that the track pointer is no longer available on newer 8600s anyway).

2.) Have you seen the nc6000 ever for comparison???

No, never have. I was swayed by the higher monitor specs (300:1/180 nits, versus 250:1/150 nits), but don't know if the screens are really in fact different. I was also leery of a shared-memory video card, even though I'm not much of a gamer (no sense limiting my options).

3.) Sounds like you are not totally "crazy" about the screen??? My one desire, more than anything is to have a really, really nice display, not necessarily the fastest video card. Do you know any make and/or model that has an outstanding display (not including the SONY's, etc. with the glossy, reflective finished coated displays that I don't like at all)???

Don't get me wrong, the screen is nice. It's bright & sharp, evenly illuminated, haven't noticed any bad pixels. The only weakness is the pixel response rate seems about average, so you might notice a slight blurring when scrolling certain web pages. This would probably only matter to a hard-core gamer, in games where there is a lot of rapid movement on the screen. It didn't seem noticeable in DVD playback though. Seems a bit of a mis-match with a fast video card, but I've definitely seen worse. Response rate is not an attribute that appears in most manufacturer's spec sheets, so I don't know how you shop for this, other than actually try it out.

I hear that Fujitsu has good screens. I don't think they have the typical dull finish, but wouldn't call it "reflective coated" either. The Fujitsus I have seen all seem to have the basic Intel shared-RAM video cards (same as the nc6000), don't know if that's a concern.

My mistake, I was confusing the nc6000 with the nx5000, which I had briefly considered. I didn't really look at the nc6000 because of the 14" screen. I'm using it partially for work, with some applications where font sizes aren't easily configured. With SXGA+ resolution a requirement, I wanted the extra pixel size of a 15".

If going with XGA, I would have stayed with 12" or 14", or maybe a 15.4" WXGA (although the widescreens seem far less portable than even my 15").