Suggestions for HP DV5-1005TX laptop replacement

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alaw005

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#103083 30-May-2012 08:32

My 3yo HP DV5-1005TX is failing, HDD failure messages, mouse button broken, screen flickering and battery dead etc. I like the DV5 and am thinking I would like something similar just as long as it doesn't run as hot!

I would like to spend less than $1000 on this laptop so I can also get a NAS (probably QNAP 2-bay which would be about $600-700 with 2x2TB HDD) with absolute total budget of $1600.

My requirements:

1. I would like to think I could run just about any game although the main games I play are Civ5, SimCity, Spore (and Jewelquest).

2. HDMI output for our Samsung Series 6 LED TV as often plug into TV for bigger screen when playing games

3. I want to use VLC/serviio to stream desktop over DLNA so can display internet on screen with a high framerate (ie. 30 frames per second) so need something with enough grunt to do that.

4. Bluetooth, wireless N, media card reader, blu-ray drive if possible but I doubt it in my price range

I would appreciate any suggestions, thank you in advance.

jonb

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#632702 30-May-2012 16:13

Pretty much any laptop available today can run those older games without sweating, including laptops with the integrated Intel 3000 graphics.

If you're wanting to play some more modern games, you need to make a note of what graphics card the laptop comes with, rather than just the amount of dedicated graphics memory. Then check the graphics cards performance - notebookcheck.com is good for this, and shows you what performance you can expect against some benchmark games..

For example, this HP Probook at pbtech has hdmi out, and a AMD 7470M graphics card, at under $1000 at pbtech: HP Probook 4530S HD7470M 1Gb
HP Probooks are much better than the DV range, I had (have) a DV6 which overheated and had poor build quality too.

But looking at notebookcheck.net, that graphics chip will struggle with most recent games: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-7470M.67752.0.html

Rinse and repeat, until you find a model that fits your gaming requirements and your budget!

jonb

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#633481 31-May-2012 14:53

The Dell 15R on special today would meet all your requirements, with best gaming bang for your buck. $1050 today ($1399 RRP)

http://www.dell.com/nz/p/popular-laptop-deals

alaw005

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#633530 31-May-2012 16:09

Thanks jonb for the suggestions - the list of all graphics cards on notebookcheck.net is great!

I've checked out the Dell 15R, looks good although I'm not very familiar with Dell's and think I might have found a deal at DickSmith. They have an HP Pavilion dv6-6C02AX for $899 an ATI Radeon HD 7690M which seems to rate reasonably well on notebookcheck and higher than the Dell.

http://www.dicksmith.co.nz/product/XC8161/hp-pavilion-dv6-6c02ax

Do you think this is worth going for?

jonb

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#633559 31-May-2012 16:56

The specs are very good for the price. I'd have reservations about a DV6 with AMD chipsets though: they run hotter than Intel, and the cooling on the DV6 range was terrible. HP say the cooling is now much improved, but personally I won't buy another DV6 after my experience of the one bought 3yrs ago. You could check it out in the shop and see for yourself I suppose..

lxsw20

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#633588 31-May-2012 18:06

I'd say a good 80% of HP laptop failures when I used to fix the things were based on AMD chips.

alaw005

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#633613 31-May-2012 18:48

Ok, thanks. I've actually never been sure about AMD but will definitely avoid in an HP now. Pity because that price was so good! Will have to work out plan B now, might have another look at the Dell but never actually seen a Dell other than online.