good buy?

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Does this laptop look like a good buy/good quality?
Hi I was wondering if
sorry for all the questions

1-this laptop looks like a good machine(regardless of price)
2- it would be a good buy(i could get it price matched for 350 dollars
3-if amd is a lot worse than intel..and if an amd a6 is better than an i5 like the staples employees claimed it was as it's supposedly faster.
4-windows 8 looks lame and confusing, do i just need to-suck it up and get used to it and ill love it?
5-why are they making laptops with no scroll pad and all these dumb textured pads?
6-unrelated question but i was wondering how i could check the hard drive capacity on my current laptop. we i go to system properties it shows everything but the haddrrive. I want to compare t to all models i am considering purchasing, as i want to make sue i am upgrading.



thanks

http://www.staples.com/HP-Pavilion-g6-2 ... sc_content

you could do lots better. i've seen 17.3 inch screens, 6GB RAM and pentium multicore for less than $500.

It looks like a reasonable low-budget laptop.


Yes.


The i5 is definitely faster than the A6. The advantage the A6 has is that the built-in graphics processor is much faster than that of the i5. So if you plan on playing some games, the A6 will win out (but don't expect too much). For CPU-heavy tasks (photo-editing, video-editing, etc...), the i5 will easily win. For simple day-to-day stuff like browsing, text-editing, etc... you'll likely not notice a big difference. The A6 is also cheaper.


You can disable most of the new Win8 interface things with third party programs (such as Classic Shell) and make it look very much like Win7.


Who knows? Probably cost-related.


Go to Computer screen in Windows and add up the sizes of the disk partitions listed there (C:, D: - You may have only 1 partition, sometimes there are 2).

HP consumer-base laptops have the WORST track record for quality and service of any make/model. I'm not a fan.

I'm not talking personally - I'm talking about consumer reports. They're junk. An Acer would be a big step up.

You could do worse. Also FWIW, a little clarification on AMD Processors. The Clock speed of AMD CPU's is generally slower than Intel CPU's, but AMD CPU's are capable of processing more information per clock cycle than Intel's so even though the clock speed of the CPU is slower they are capable of processing about as much information as an Intel in the same period of time. It's kind of like comparing an American Big Block V-8 engine with a Porsche or Ferrari engine. The American V-8 will redline at about 4-4.5K RPM while the Porsche or Ferrari will redline at 8-10K RPM, but both will produce the same amount of power.

I have had problems with hp costumer service. one of my ram chips went bad and it took them a really long time to get it fixed and asked for an error code when how can it start up with bad ram.

I kind of agree with BlueMax regarding HP quality, but it also depends on what you plan on doing with the laptop.

but this one will cost 325 plus tax after a coupon. Im surprised more people arent saying it';s a great deal..Im no expert but 2.7 ghz plus boost to 3....750gb hd......4gb ddr3 ram ..usb 3.0 ports...webcam, mic, number pad, 15.6 monitor, windows 8 free for 325?? I thought it was a sick deal lol.Plus fro what ive seen the a6 is a mid range not a budget processor so i thought it would be great to pay a budget price for it. I dont understand how people say that i5is faster though. Im not a gamer but i want the best laptop for the money. My dad is buying one too and he is a CPA who-runs intensive tax programs. I have heard bad things about HP as well though. ill give you all that.

the cache looks lame though..1mb l2

burps

For that price I could build you a powerful desktop.

For that matter, why do you need a laptop though? What do you do with yours?

i prefer laptops to desktops.I use my laptop for movie watching, internet browsing, and school work. sometimes play games on here too. nAy laptop should work as i am not a world of warcraft or skyrim player, but I want the best laptop I can get for the price. for instance, if an amd a4 laptop with 1.6 ghz 320 harddrive 2gb ram is 300 bucks and an amd a6 with 2.7ghz and 1tb hd is 300 id prefer tht one/

Well if you absolutely need the mobility of the laptop that would be your priority. I was just wondering since laptops are ridiculously expensive for the low performance and longevity they have compared to a desktop.

If you're going to be playing any 3D games at all, go for a laptop built around the AMD A8 APU platform for decent 3D speeds yet remaining under $400-ish.

And avoid HP's consumer-end garbage!

how much, then, for a 'puter with multicore pentium cpu, twin 250G solid state drives [one for OS/memory] the other for files and a few programs], video-editing-grade video card, quality audio card, silent power supply, all of which is bulletproof for video-editing/DVD-mastering tasks?

If you need to be concerned with value, the Momentus XT hybrid drive for only $100 is very nice! It's a 750GB drive with 4GB of SSD automatic cache for the OS and programs you use most. Of course, being a desktop, you can use any drive 64GB or smaller as your own SSD cache. If you can afford it, video editing will certainly benefit from running off a true, big SSD!

Video editing doesn't need a fancy video card, but as much system RAM as you can throw at it. The onboard Intel 4000 graphics are more than enough and most motherboards can be upgraded to 4x8GB DDR3 very cheaply!

i5 4-core processor = $200 (or 4-core plus 4 hyperthreading cores for a small boost for $100 more)
typical socket 1155 z77 motherboard = ~$100
32GB RAM = $150
Good, quiet case w/ power supply (I'm fond of the Antec Sonata 3) = $100
~256GB solid-state disk for OS and applications: $200 (plus another for "thrashing" your actual editing)
don't forget a big mechanical drive to store your work when it's done for another $100
Since you're an audio guy I'd recommend a pro audio card like the M-Audio Audiophile 192 for about $150

That's around $1200 but it'd be an absolute MONSTER for the task at hand! You could easily get by with half the RAM & one SSD instead of two to cut initial costs.

You're requesting several very expensive components that push it beyond that laptop's price (and performance by a magnitude).

If you want this to do video editing at home (aka not professionally nor for work) the specs change a lot.

At a glance, without doing much research 'n all @ newegg the price came to ~850 bucks.

ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900)


(I refuse to use or build Intel. Its too overpriced for the minimal performance advantage it has over the AMD chipsets)

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Card
(I dont know what you mean by 'quality' audio card. This one is a veteran..I use it on my own PC and the quality of the sound is excellent)

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
(Not the highest end card out there but it runs any game no problem and video editing for home stuff doesn't require much more than this).

Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 ST3000DM001 3TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M2 RS720-SPM2D3-US 720W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready

Two SSD's in a system makes no sense unless its possible to do something like a RAID setup (which I do not know if it can be done in SSD's) so I put one SSD for the OS as requested and a big, fast 3tb disk for video stuff. The power supply is ample for any future upgrade but I cannot say about its 'silent' operation... I've never, ever seen a truly silent fan.

Add'l costs would be heatsink and any cables you might need ..case/monitor/mouse/keyboard/dvd burner.


I normally build systems for friends that want good, inexpensive gaming rigs and are upgrading from their older systems. The SSD/huge HD alone cost near 400 dollars. The CPU/VID/RAM/PSU/Motherboard & sound card cost about 400 bucks. That setup will last for at least 4 to 6 years until the vid card needs to be upgraded in 2 years time (if for gaming) and perhaps the RAM in 4 years time depending on how programs/OS changes come about.

Buying the latest, most powerful components is the worst thing you can do. You pay for the premium of 'new tech' that software you will be using for years to come will not take full advantage of. The way to go is to buy mid-range that doesn't hurt your wallet, get the equivalent of about 85% of the newest tech for many years and then, many years later, upgrade at low cost to stay at 85%. If you buy the latest cpu and vid card it will indeed last you 2 years more than the mid-range but you will have paid three times the price for an almost unnoticeable performance boost.