Need help picking the right laptop with a $1500 budget

for that price its not easy, 1500 isnt a small amount but its not also a huge budget. to get into high end gaming and 3d modeling you often will see laptops with price points 500 to 1000 more than that, and some even higher still.

of the two i would get the HDX but remember that both will be a pain to carry, they are heavy, large, and have limited battery life. the 17+ inch screens are really in my opinion more than most people will ever need/use

Take a look at this thread:
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread227270.html

It seems that you would get a good one!

cheers ...

GT725-212

Display
17" WUXGA (1920x1200) Matte
Video Card:
512MB DDR3 ATI HD4850
Processor:
Intel® Core 2 Quad 2.0GHz 1066MHz FSB 6MB L2 Cache
Memory:
4GB DDR2 800MHz
Hard Drive:
320GB 7200RPM (Customizable)

$1,550, link.


MSI GT627-218

Display
15.4" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) Glossy
Video Card:
1,024MB DDR3 nVIDIA 9800M GS
Processor:
Intel® Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz 1066MHz FSB 3MB L2 Cache (Customizable)
Memory:
4GB DDR2 800MHz
Hard Drive:
320GB 7200RPM

1,385, link.


GT725-074

Display
17" WSXGA+ (1680x1050) Glossy
Video Card:
512MB DDR3 ATI HD4850
Processor:
Intel® Core 2 Duo P8600 2.4GHz 1066MHz FSB 3MB L2 Cache (Customizable)
Memory:
4GB DDR2 800MHz
Hard Drive:
320GB 7200RPM

1,308, link.

Can you say crushes the HP's?

This is what the HP's should cost.
N70SV-A1 Overview

Display
17.3" WXGA+ HD (1600x900) Glossy
Video Card:
1024MB DDR2 nVIDIA GT 130M
Processor:
Intel® Core 2 Duo "Montevina" P8600 2.4GHz (Upgradeable)
Memory:
4GB DDR2 800MHz
Hard Drive:
320GB 7200RPM Hard Drives

$1,124, link.

Just look around the site. HP is for those who don't know.

Great input!

hmm - indirect insult here, pp?

cheers ...

Many of us have owned DeLL's and HP's. But if you say game?

Touché ... :-)

cheers ...

Dont buy HP ...
I got a $1573 laptop from them last September, it started to give me trouble in Jan
(heating prob in Jan in California ... so what would I be expecting in summer in California)
I called up there customer care of many days and they finally agreed to get their managers to call me ...
After 2 weeks or so I get a message that since I havent contacted them they are closing my case assuming I am satisfied ( and this is how they increase their satisfied customer % )
So i replied back saying that I am not satisfied !
so this lady calls me up and says that their manager tried to contact me for around 5 times a day , for almost 5 working days ...
So, in essence, I got around 25 missed call which i never realized :x
Then I discuss my problems with her and she says the best I can do is to get it checked. But since it is over the period of replacement, they can not and will not replace it.

a short brief about the prob.
Its a high end processor and a decent graphics card. These two, along with the Hard Drive heat up A LOT. . It becomes unbearable to keep it in the Lap.

Why I decided to seek help here today : it turned off due to heating !
What was U doing : Watching a streaming video from HULU in firefix. The laptop was in balanced mode with just windows running in background .

The flaw with HP is in the design of their vents.
So HP is not good at all for any high end processor.

It makes hell of a fan noise within 10 mins or running ... ( an immediate attention gainer in public )

Go for any other brand , but HP ...

p.s. the reply went more long than I had anticipated ...

Config of my Laptop incase u want to know

HP Pavilion DV4T-1000

Vista Home Premium (64-bit)
Core(TM)2 Duo T9400 (2.53 GHz)
14.1" WXGA High-Definition HP LED Widescreen
3GB DDR2 RAM
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 9200M GS
250GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive with Hard Drive Protection from Fuji
Intel(R) WiFi Link 5100AGN
High Capacity 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

the issue sounds like something is off in regards to the cooling of the machine. it may be that yours is defective yes. but that doesnt sound normal and i wouldnt assume it to be a normal experience in terms of the issue itself. the call to customer service sounds bad but again it happens. you should really push for them to do something more.

as for not purchasing the brand, you have to consider that an experience like the above can happen to anybody with any brand. they are rare but can occur. it is best to check the model and the brand with a place like NBF first and see what you can find. if you get alot of bad reports stay away from the model, if you ask about the brand you will find those who love it and those who despise it, assume a balance. and for some "brands" you will find nothing but bad, assume those are fairly accurate.

I considered mentioning HP's overheat and fry their MoBo's in my first post. I decided not to. But after those posts? Yea HP's overheat it is a design flaw I would run for the hills before buying HP. Add an AMD to it even more heat. I linked much better for less. But if not enough, HP's are crap. Until they figure out and fix do not buy HP.

Yea that is just the most powerful 15.4 made. Sure it is great but over $1,500?

Objection

my beat up, running "warm" 3 HPs are still running strong

cheers ...

And my wife is ugly? But we all make our bed. But I still love her not like I am a prize.

cheers ...

also please bear in mind the warranty and support, they can be a huge added value.