which laptop should I choose?

[Goldmund]

We're going to mainly use it for photoshopping, typing and live music (on reason software). The soundcard plays no role, as I have the MobilePro audio interface.
The laptops to choose from:

1) Acer Aspire 1681WLCI,
Centrino 1500M, 15,4"TFT
512 Ram, HDD60 GB
DVD/CDrw
Radeon 9700, WIFI G, 3in1, IRDA

OR:

2) Hewlett-Packard zv5000
Athlon 64 3000+ 1,8
512 Ram, HDD40 GB
DVD-R/RW
GeForce 440 GO 64 MB III

From what I know, it is much better to have DVD-R/RW than a combo, which tends to be faulty, but let's say I might order to have the drive changed in the Aspire.
I'm completely at a loss however as to the superiority of other specs (especially graphics card - which one is better?)
If any person of deep knowledge and understanding of laptoppy lore could express their opinions, I'd be grateful!

[LGM]

Can't go wrong with Athlon. Get the HP.

[Ghormak]

As for graphics card, the Radeon 9700 is better, but unless you're going to play any of them fancy 3d games it doesn't matter much. You'll still get the same frames-per-second in Photoshop!

[Crash]

My laptoppy expirience say my aspire 1700's 17" screen is awesome. Screw small, compact, portable laptops, HUGE LCD SCREEN!!!!!

[Goldmund]

Well, it's got to be portable, since my girlfriend will drag it around with her camera. Still, the aspire is about one kilo lighter than the hp - but is it as durable?
Questions, questions!

Thanks to all who replied; I'm still at a loss, though. The aspire is a bit more expensive, but not so much that it could be a deciding factor. And who knows, maybe I'll finally take liking to fpp shooters?

[c.leksutin]

Goldmund! you live!!!

go with the athlon processor my old friend.


C.

[Goldmund]

Hey C, it's not so easy to kill this old dog!

Thanks for the advice, but where exactly lies the superiority of Athlon over Centrino? Or is it just an overall reputation?

[Squinky]

My Father was killed by a "Centrino".....

And someday soon, I shall excact my tottally non-sexaul revenge....

[scotch]

http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=1800&p=13 it varies depending on the test, but according to benchmarks a Centrino 1500 is roughly as fast as a Pentium 4 2ghz, an AthlonXP 3000+ is roughly equivalent to a 3ghz Pentium 4, that's quite a large speed difference, just on processors I'd definately go for the HP laptop.
You have to decide what's more important for the rest of the system,
The Acer has a better graphics card, which will be important if you wan to play new games, it also has more disk space obviously, is 20gb more going to make much difference to you?  Personally I'd go for the HP, I wouldn't use a laptop as my main gaming system, and the DVD writer would be useful.

[Goldmund]

Thanks Scotch and others, few hours ago I avenged Squinky's dad and bought the HP.
It's beautiful and heavy. And the panoramic screen is pretty handsome, as well.

As for the lacking 20 gigs, with a dvd-burner it's not much of a problem; most of our storage is consumed by Dominika's raw photographs and it's time she practiced some proper archivisation...

Now I only have to get used to XP and its colourful dumbness (You cannot see these files because you may spoil them and everyone will die!!!) and wash my old MS-Office CDs in vodka (works wonders).

[Las Naranjas]

Or perhaps be commutarian with open office.

[Goldmund]

Ah, but open office is soo passe, just like el Che.
Now it's Adam Smith and Microsoft Excel, bro!

[Las Naranjas]

Java does move slowly, like a command economy.

[dasjoe]

hey, where's my post?

why did you delete it?
pff..

just tried to be honest. and imo a centrino is way better than a mobile athlon.
nonetheless i won't use intel processors in my server.. dual athlon in  there.

back to topic,
centrino: 4 hours
athlon: 2 hours

same speed. better graphics at the acer..

[Goldmund]

Thanks for your opinion, dasjoe! But now I've already bought it, it's as if you told a youngster that his sweetheart has an ugly nose: he will never see it.

The price of the Acer grew by 350 euros when I asked about replacing the combo drive (I'd have to buy a different model if I wanted a DVD burner) -- and this was the deciding factor. I'm not very rich.

Besides, Centrino's got Squinky's dad's blood on its hands, so...

[Squinky]

Thank you, kind sir, my father may now rest in peace...And I may drop my crusade of vengence and take up my midget porn again....


You have done a good thing...