HP notebook (max. 15.4") choice question

[necrophyte]

since my present hp notebook isnt usable anymore after a general crash, im looking for a new one. my dad gets hp notebooks through his company quite cheap so im limited to hp, which im actually satisfied with, but right now after going through all the models offered on the hp hp (hp-homepage ), i cannot really figure out, which would be best choice.

i certainly dont wanna have a bigger monitor than 15.4" - for reasons of comfort. therefore the HDX series fall away although theyd be my first choice because of the ATI HD 2600XT gfx.

consequently my first real choice are the 8510p series, since the monitor is 15.4" and they have an ATI HD 2600 gfx (i suppose theres quite a difference between the regular 2600 and XT, but unfortunately theres no way of getting an XT on a 8510p). the harddisk choice is ok, too, as id be absolutely satisfied with a 160GB 7200rpm one. the big minus is an optical one - the really disgusting design, imo.. since the 8510p is a business notebook, there seems to be no reason for hp to make it look acceptable. the embossing buttons on the touchpad and the slightly-to-the-left-of-the-center position of the touchpad cant convince me. all the hard edges are really ugly.. my old nx9030 (also a hp business notebook) looks far better.

so is there an alternative by hp? all the really good looking home/office notebooks either have an integrated gfx like the intel gma x3100 or an nvidia card. since im not very familiar with nvidia cards, could you recommend me one of the following? i would only prefer them if theyre better than the regular ATI HD 2600..

NVIDIA(R) GeForce(R) Go 6150
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M
256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GS
NVIDIA Quadro NVS 320M graphics, with 256 MB dedicated video memory (512 MB TurboCache)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M graphics, with up to 256MB dedicated memory (512 MB TurboCache)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 1600M graphics, with 512 MB dedicated video memory
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3600M, with 512MB dedicated video memory (coming soon - according th the HP-hp)

how about an ATI Radeon(TM) HD 3200 Graphics supplied in a HP Pavilion tx2500z or an ATI Mobility FireGL V5600 graphics, with up to 256 MB dedicated memory (512 MB HyperMemory) in a 8510w or an ATI Mobility Radeon X2300 graphics with 64 or 128 MB dedicated video memory (256 MB HyperMemory) in a 6910p?
i suppose, all these are quite inferior to the HD 2600 in terms of gaming performance.

why doesnt hp provide better graphic cards? the only gfx from the ATI 3000 series is the 3200, although theyre already quite a time on the market..
if all those nvidia cards cant beat the HD 2600, ill take the 8510p, since in terms of processors, memory and harddisks, theyre all similarily configurable and so almost equal.

thanks

ok, i took a closer look at those nvidia cards and - since i dont want a bigger screen than 15.4" - theres only two choices:

8710p NVIDIA Quadro NVS 320M graphics, with 256 MB dedicated video memory (512 MB TurboCache
or
8510p ATI HD 2600.

again, these are those ugly business notebooks.. still, i think ill take either the
8510p (KR892UT) 2,5ghz vpro 250gb 5400rpm LightScribe DVD+/-RW SuperMulti with Double Layer
or
8510p (KR890UA) 2,5ghz vpro 160gb 7200rpm DVD+/-RW

 

[Jorsoft]

Well Quadros are mainly for rendering, basically for running 3d Studio Max and so forth. Their drivers aren't designed for gaming so they don't have great performance there. I'd say the ati 2600 is the best one out of what you've listed. Maybe these pages can be of some help:

Grafikkarten-Rangliste "Mobil" - Leistungübersicht aktueller und älterer Notebook-Grafikchips von 3DChip

Notebookcheck: Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List

I agree that HP business notebooks can be sorta ugly, especially some of the newer ones. They do seem to hold up to wear and tear pretty well, though. I guess that's the trade off.

 

[necrophyte]

thank you, i looked at some game benchmarks of the quadro nvs 320m and that actually looked quite good, but theres no configuration option for the 8710p models and the pre-configured dont satisfy me at all.

so im thinnking about the 8510p, probably the KR890UA with intel core 2 duo 2,5ghz vpro 160gb 7200rpm DVD+/-RW. the 7200rpm seem worthier for my needs than the 250gb 5400rpm, and then i can easily replace the dvd rom drive with a DL-burning capable drive, or even a blue-ray drive - theyre also capable of writing to normal cd/rw & dvd/rw, arent they?


but still, the ideal solution would be a pavilion looking notebook with 8510p specs...
i just cant believe that my 4-year-old compaq nx9030 and nx7010 business notebooks look so much prettier than their present brothers.. i hate those sharp edges and matte dark surfaces.

thanks for the recommendations!