look out noob comin your way!

[K-dude]

yes im a total noob to most of this. anyways im looking to purchase my first laptop and i've done a fair amount of research. but i have a few questions i want to get cleared up before i go ahead and get one. first, whats the difference between an AMD and an Intel processor? also, i know any laptop (or computers for that matter) usually become outdated pretty fast. i know about upgrading the RAM, but what about the processor? i see processors for desktops, but are those compatible with laptops? how else would i upgrade my computer besides the ram? i'm only going to be using my laptop for school work, surfing the web, and maybe a little gaming, but nothing compared to an alienware laptop. this is the laptop i'm thinking about getting. any feedback would be great!

[e!i]

Ahhh, happy days! Cant give you any advice xecpt to say noobs will inherit the earth

[Blazer]

Welcome to Driverheaven, K-Dude.
There used to be a difference between intel and amd processors for laptops, (the intel mobile processors ran more efficently) but I am not so sure about that anymore. also when buying a laptop, you are pretty much stuck with what you buy. as far as upgrading down the road, you might be able to add more ram, and a different processor, but I am not sure about that. But the laptop you are looking at looks good to me.

[swimtech]

Bang for the buck - I like the Gateways - and I have used a Dell (see sig below) for almost four years now without a hitch. Just don't know about the HPs enough to comment.

Know that support is very important for laptops - much more important than for desktop computers. Look at HPs site for support on an older model (say, three years old) and see how many software updates for the various pieces of hardware in the laptop they have released over the past three years to get an idea.

Another important consideration for buying a laptop for any gaming (or use with Vista/Longhorn - the coming OS from Microsoft) is the graphics hardware - and as was mentioned it is not generally upgradable. DirectX 9 done in hardware is going to be necessary to get all the graphic features of the new OS, so try to get as powerful a graphics processor as possible. Remember, you'll likely still be using this laptop in two or three years...

You ought to read some of the other threads in this forum for more buying advice too - there are many man-years worth of experience buried in them.

[K-dude]

thanks for the info! but i came up w/a few more things. what exactly does a level 2 cache do? i see numbers all the time and I have no idea what they mean. i also heard that if i'm going to upgrade the ram it has to operate at the same MHz of the frontside bus. is that right? and it must have the same PC# (i forget what that is at the moment). and the rpm of the hard drive. what's the difference in them? is it better to have a faster hard drive?

[fobis]

Hey, K-Dude. That laptop looks okay, but the biggest problem with it is that its an HP. HP's in general, suck monkey nuts, desktop or laptop. Their support is pretty bad, software is never updated, and they only support their products for 2 years MAX.
But right now in laptop world, the Pentium M processor is the top choice for most laptops. The AMD Turion MT series coming in next. The Pentium M generally has the best combination of battery life and processing power.

As for your questions, I don't know exactly what the L2 cache is, but I do know that its where the CPU caches data.
I don't think that your RAM has to operate at the same clock speed of the FSB, but it may be wise to do so just so there isn't a bigger bottleneck. But here's the thing with Pentium M's: if you're looking to get DDR2-533 (only if your laptop has a Intel 9xx chipset), don't expect a gigantic speed boost or anything because the CAS latencies are extremely slow (4-4-4-11 typically), so you may be better off with just getting DDR2-400 with typical latencies of 3-3-3-x.
For hard drives, it has been found that 5400 RPM drives are usually sufficient for laptops. 7200 RPM drives are nice, but they may use a tin amount of extra energy than the 5400 RPM drives would use, and they are generally much more expensive due to the density of the disks.
These are other laptops they you may want to take a look at (found based on the price of the laptop you pointed out):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834224035
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115317
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834115316
Be wary of Acer's laptops, though. I've heard good stories concerning them, but also very bad things about them too (breaking after 3 months).

Good luck finding a laptop you are happy with!
If you have a bigger budget and care to get a nicer laptop, then I'll be more than happy to help you find some.
-fobis

EDIT:
Oh, and about the memory thing again... For AMD Mobile CPU's the RAM generally never runs the same speed as the FSB. I don't know why, but AMD based laptops always have DDR-333 for some reason (most likely chipset limitations).

[g35x]

no! dont get a pentium M or anything with sis mirage graphics.....u wont be gameing with sis mirage.....never tried pentium M but ive heard some bad storys.... the sempon is better then the Pentium M and it has ati graphics,if u want to game/want it to last a long time get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16834224016 thats pretty much the king of laptops,better then an alienware or any of that overpriced crap

[fobis]

What on earth are you talking about? Pentium M's are very good CPU's, and this is coming from an all-out AMD lover. But you're right, SiS graphics suck, period.
As for that laptop you listed, its nowhere near the king of laptops. First off, it just has an Athlon64 in it, not mobile, just desktop, which means battery life suffers dearly. Second, it has a Mobility Radeon 9700 which is pretty old, especially sine they have Mobility Radeon X700's right now. And besides, that laptop you showed is way more expensive than the one he was looking at originally.

[K-dude]

ahh thank you everyone for your input. it has definitely swayed my opinion on what to get. although i'm still not quite sure so now im asking you guys. i'm on a 1000 USD budget, i dont wanna spend anymore than that. what in your opinion is the best laptop i could get for that much?

[fobis]

What kind of games do you play? Are they graphically intensive or not? Depending on what kind of graphics you want, the price could vary.

[K-dude]

games are really the least of my worries, but the sims, C&C generals, and tribes 2 are probably the 3 games that demand the most resources.

[fobis]

Tribes 2! Yay! Someone still plays that game! Wow... Too bad I don't play that much anymore... Everyone left. =/
I was snooping around on NewEgg and found this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16834146098
It's an IBM ThinkPad, which are very good, usually.
The specs aren't very impressive, but you can EASILY overclock that 1.6GHz Pentium M in there to a whopping 2.13GHz with a pin mod which you can find here:
iJib.com // View topic - Howto: Pentium M Overclocking (BSEL0 wire-mod)
or here:
A Photo Guide for Pin Modding 9300/XPS and Applying AS5 to GPU - Notebookforums
Also, you can upgrade the RAM for a relatively fair price, I should think, and if you really wanted more of an HDD, you can upgrade that, too, and sell the old HDD.

Anyways, that's a really good deal, and for what you are doing, that sounds like a perfect laptop. Plus, IBM ThinkPads are known for great quality, stability, reliability, professional build, etc.

Hope this helps!
-fobis

**EDIT**
I forgot to mention that overclocking the CPU doesn't take any extra voltage or increase temperatures by more than 2-3 degrees Centigrade.
Also, even if you upgrade the RAM and HDD, this laptop should still be well within your budget of $1000.