HP Pavilion zd8214EA. Anyone know this one ?

Can anyone help me? Need to know if the following notebook, HP Pavilion zd8214EA is a good purchase for 7,999 DKK ($1,272 USD) and is a good notebook overall. The notebook will be used for architecture, so the programs which will be used are very large and in 3D. That’s the reason for the 17 inch screen and graphics card. I am a bit of a novice when it comes to notebook judgement of price and specs. I have been looking for reviews on the net but I cannot find anything.
Any reviews on this model or other recommendations on other notebooks would be appreciated. Thanks and Merry Christmas

Sorry but the only specs that I could find are in Danish

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Installeret operativsystem: Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition

Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 processor 530 understøtter Hyper-Threading Technology ,3 GHz, 1 MB Level 2 cache, 800 MHz bushastighed

hukommelseslayout : (2 x 256 MB)

Systembus: 800 MHz bushastighed

Maksimal RAM: Understøtter op til 2 GB DDR2 hukommelse

Cache: 1 MB Level 2 cache

Standardhukommelse: 512 MB

Hukommelsestype: DDR2 533 MHz

Intern harddisk: 60 GB

Harddiskcontroller: EIDE harddisk, ATA 100

Harddiskhastighed: 5400 o/m

optisk drev - type: DVD Writer Dual Format (+/-r +/-rw) med understøttelse af Double Layer

Hukommelseskortenhed: Digital medielæser (6-i-1) (xD, SD, Smart Media, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Multimedia Card)

Netværksinterface: Integreret 10/100 netkort

Eksterne I/O-porte: 1 VGA port; 4 USB 2.0 porte: 1 IEEE-1394; 1 RJ 11 modemstik; 1 RJ 45 Ethernet stik; S-video TV out; Fjernbetjent infrarød port (Fjernbetjeningen er tilbehør); 1 hovedtelefonudgange, 1 mikrofonstik; Kabel dockingstik

videooptagelse - interface: Stik til FireWire tilbehør (IEEE1394)

Udvidelsessokler: Et type I eller II PC card slot. CardBus-enabled One ExpressCard/54 slot

Skærmstørrelse: 17" WXGA+ High Definition BrightView bredskærm

Skærmopløsning: 1440 x 900

 

I'm not sure what video card is in that...I'm gonna guess an x600? It'd probably be fine. If you're rendering or stuff, it'd probably be a good idea to plan on upgrading the RAM in the unit.

Also, the P4 will provide a minimal increase in performance for you over a Pentium M based processor...but expect heat and battery life to suffer because of it. I opted for a similar machine configuration but with a Pentium M processor instead and got noticeably longer battery life and no heat build-up on the palmrest. If you don't care about battery life, maybe that's not an issue for you.

The HP zd8000 series is pretty common. I think zd8000 is the configureable version off of HP's US site and there's a variety of different versions(pre-configured) that are all based on the same platform(i.e. like your zd8214ea). Just search for zd8000 reviews to get a general impression(but pay attention to any spec differences from the reviewed model and yours).

 

I would recommend against this one only because it has a Pentium 4 processor and it will run very hot. If you will not be carrying it around with you and will keep it plugged in it might be okay but otherwise I would recommend trying find a notebook with a Pentium M or an AMD Turion processor as it will run much cooler. You might take a look at the HP DV8000z. There has been a review of this recently on the site and it is 17" and has an AMD Turion processor. Only problem is the graphics card is not as good as the zd8000. However, it probably would be good enough for your use.

 

I'm with lappy on this one - P4s are no good in notebooks. I reccommend taking a look at the HP dv8000z, the zd8000's replacement. If you want a nice gaming machine, take a look at the dv4000. It can be customized on HPshopping.com, and you can get one, fully decked out for under $1500

 

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