My newest computer question:

[Jim O'Dell]

Anyone here at the Creek that has a HP Probook 4530s laptop? I'm thinking about getting one before I go in for surgery in late November. Give me something to occupy my mind for the 2 to 3 days I'll be there. Reviews are pretty good, but I'd like one from someone who doesn't have anything riding on it, if you know what I mean. Oh, I also looked at a Lenovo unit, same CPU, HD, screen size. Seems the main difference reading the reviews is the Lenovo has a little more flex in the basic structure. Thanks for any information you can offer! Jim.

[Gary Hodgin]

Know very little about computers, but I wish you well with your surgery.

[George Gyulatyan]

Can't comment on that particular model, but overall I'll just say you can't go wrong with HP.

Specs are decent. Like the fact that it's got a 7200 RPM hard drive as opposed to 5400 RPM which you see most often in laptops. i5 processor is the mid-range CPU from Intel and will give you great performance/battery life balance.

If 4GB of RAM isn't enough, you'll be able to upgrade it to 8GB as from the looks of it, HP has had the forethought of leaving an empty DIMM slot.

Two things I always do when getting new computers.
1. Take the time and create the recovery disks.
2. Uninstall all the fluff that comes from the factory.

Good luck with the surgery! Wish you speedy recovery.

[Curt Harms]

I don't know if you're aware but HP is talking about getting out of the PC business. Meg Whitman just became CEO so that decision may or may not change. The thing the "premium" PC builders run into is PCs have become commodities, it's tough to charge premium prices. IBM spun off their small systems business around 2005 and have done better since. I wouldn't be surprised to see HP follow the same track. I haven't seen any talk of selling the printer business, just PCs. I'm a fan of ThinkPads personally. The UltraNav pointing setup is optimal for me and the older ones (I have an R61 and a X61 tablet) are pretty durable. Also, for me the pieces need to be Linux friendly and ThinkPads are. I don't know about the latest models but the reviews are pretty positive.

I was considering an X120e for around $450 (low power dual core AMD, 11.6" screen) when I read an article by somebody who made sense that said skip the "netbooks" and buy an X61. One appeared on Ebay that I could pick up local and I got it for $127. That model listed for around $1800 new. Of course being used it could crap the bed tomorrow but so far so good. I downloaded the use and maintenance manual from Lenovo's web site and parts are pretty available.

[Eric DeSilva]

2. Uninstall all the fluff that comes from the factory.

Well, there's the answer to trying to occupy two or three days... Good luck on the surgery.

[Jim O'Dell]

George, I wish I had the bucks to go to the I5 unit...only 125 bucks more, but I'm already spending almost 200 more than I originally wanted to spend on this thing, so I'll have to be happy with the I3. It's kind of like tools, there's always a little nicer unit out there for just a few bucks more. I'll still need to get the memory upgrade, and the bucks for an OSS by Christmas...will probably have to hope for some cash for Christmas to achieve the latter.
Thanks for the information Curt. Hadn't seen the HP rumblings. But even if that happens, I'm sure they would sell that part of the business to someone. Most of the parts seem to be available, even upgraded case fans. Not sure about motherboards though. But I'm sure someone makes them for the end manufacturer.
I'm itching to pull the trigger. Have most of the money in pocket, and the final few dollars due by next Tuesday. Keep hoping for a coupon to save a few bucks. Jim.

[Jerome Stanek]

Jim I see Micro center has some nice I5 laptops that are pretty reasonable. I have had compaq, hp, acer, toshiba. fujitsu, and sony. The only one that I had any real trouble with was the Sony. I would buy any of them except Sony. You can check out Micro center on there web page. They are a very good company to deal with. Look at their catalog or their clearance items. I bought a HP netbook from them on clearance for $180 including tax and it has the extended battery.

[Jim O'Dell]

Yes Jerome, they are a good company. I bought my desktop CPU from their store in Plano last Spring. My problem is the pricing and the need for Win 7 Pro 64. Really limits my choices until I get into the units that are away from my price range. The same unit I'm looking at but with the I5 chip and the Pro 64 OS is 125.00 more. Probably worth it, but it would be late November before I could get the extra bucks together, and I'd rather have this up and running and settled in before my surgery. I guess I could always get the I5 chip later and swap out. Would cost me more, but could be done. Maybe find someone swapping the I5 for an I7 and get it cheap. Anyway, this won't be a main computer for me, so it doesn't have to be blinding fast. Just something to play with when we are away from home. Jim.

[Bryan Morgan]

hp's are good but like Curt said, they may be dropping the PC business... 5.4% profit is not enough for them. Investors didn't seem to care for that news (dropping PCs) so who knows what will happen now. i3 processors are fine for basic computing tasks (eg, anything other than higher end gaming). I just put together an i3 Lenovo for one of our printer techs. Seems like a decent machine. You may or may not be able to swap out the processor... depends on the cooling setup of that machine. I don't know that the i5 runs hotter than the i3 but its worth investigating first. Lenovos "just seem to work" so thats what we've been buying lately. For my personal use I always stick with Acer or ASUS (they have terrible support but you get more machine for your money typically). If support is a concern I always recommend hp. The Lenovos are good and I don't recall having to deal with support for a long long time so I honestly can't say how their support is these days. The Lenovos also come with hardly any crap installed. You can always run pcdecrapifier on whatever you get.

[Tim Morton]

Get an iPad....*j/k*...good luck with the surgery...and the whole mind occupying thing...and not really kidding. :-)

[Curt Harms]

Get an iPad....*j/k*...good luck with the surgery...and the whole mind occupying thing...and not really kidding. :-)

Actually if someone is just web browsing and does not need to run MS or Adobe ......stuff..... a tablet is not a bad idea. I've never used an iPad, I guess the lack of flash support is not too much of a problem. The Android 3 tablets do have flash support. You can get cases or folders for tablets that have keyboards built in but again I've never used one; the keyboards may be absolute crap to type on. How does that differ from a netbook which may run MS and Adobe stuff? They keyboard would be detachable so could revert to the tablet size & weight & form factor with touch interface. It all depends on one's needs and tastes.

[Jerome Stanek]

You say you need windows 7 ultimate on a laptop that is not your main computer. What is the reason for this. I would get the I5 with home premium and if I needed it I would upgrade to ultimate. Easier that trying to upgrade a laptop cpu and a lot cheaper.

[Jim O'Dell]

Don't need Ultimate, but do need Pro so it will run the older programs I have. I don't do any gaming, not even on the desktop unit. It's an I3, so I think I'll be fine with an I3 in the laptop. The programs my wife will use are working on a 3 year old first generation Intel dual core that isn't as fast as my desktop, so I don't think there will be any issues there.
Thanks for the info. I did order the HP last night...got a 10.00 promo coupon for Newegg, so went ahead and went for it. Now if HP will follow through on the 64 bit restore disc that they said was free, I'll be in pretty good shape. Will order the 8 gig upgrade memory once I have the 64 bit restore disc. Again, thanks for the information! Jim.

[Jim O'Dell]

Just to update, I've had the HP for about 2 weeks now. Got the memory upgrade today. Went in slick and working very well. I have had some issues with getting all the updates done. Biggest problem was with Service Pack one. Took 6 tries to get it loaded. The first one black screened the computer and took about 4 hours to get it back up and running. But has been very smooth running since then. Ordered a soft case today, and need to get the wireless router, then start saving for shop stuff again. I'd recommend this computer to anyone looking for a fairly cheap unit that is well built. Oh, and HP did send the restore discs for the 64 bit version of Win 7 Pro. No charge, not even for shipping! Jim.

Edit: If anyone could use 2 gigs of DDR3 10600 1333MHz laptop memory, let me know. It's made by Samsung. I maxed out the memory with 8 gigs of Corsair, so this has no home. PM me, will be taken in order they come in. Jim.

2nd edit: I've offered this on another site as of 2:55 pm CDT

[ray hampton]

If the companies stop P C production what will take the place of the home computer ? will laptop fill the need ?