Solved! Which is the best Notebook comparable to HP G71-358NR?

[MaMiami]

Please tell me which notebooks are recommended that are comparable to HP's 17" G71-358NR?
It features: 2.2GHz IntelCore2Duo T6600, 4GB RAM, 320GB HD,
Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS,
Blu-Ray with LightScribe and SuperMulti DVD+-R/RW double layer drive,
802.11 b/g/n wireless,
6-cell li-ion battery,
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500 MHD (shared) with max of 1759 MB total available graphics memory,
built-in webcam with microphone,
5-in-1 media card reader, and
software: McAfee Virus Scan 3-yr subscription, Microsoft Works suite, Adobe PhotoShop,
LapLink PC Mover w/cables.
Sale Price: $800.00 (plus tax & shipping).
[NOTE: This HP model was purchased as a Christmas gift for my son. Unfortunately, the vendor shipped us the wrong HP notebook, which didn't include the Blu-Ray optical drive, and told us they were "sold out" of the blu-ray model. My son was very disappointed and now cannot play his blu-ray movies he received as gifts. We need a replacement laptop that is comparable in value that also packs the power for gaming, as well as includes Blu-ray]. Thanks.

 

[Maziar]

Well before saying which models are comparable i have to say that HD 4500M is a low end card for gaming so don't expect to play games with it.
SAGER NP2098 would be a good alternative,HD 4650 leaves Intel 4500MHD in dust in terms of gaming:
http/www.xoticpc.com/sager-np2098-custom-laptop-built-compal-khlb2-p-2581.html

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Playing the most demanding games on a laptop is a $2k investment. But you can play most games decently in the $850 - $1000 category. Do get into the laptop buying mode, first recognize that HP doesn't make notebooks, they resell things made buy someone else.

* Quanta sells to (among others) HP/Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu, Acer, NEC, Gateway and Lenovo/IBM - note that Quanta is currently (as of August, 2007) the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the world.
* Compal sells to Toshiba, HP/Compaq, Acer, and Dell.
* Wistron (former manufacturing & design division of Acer) sells to HP/Compaq, Dell, IBM, NEC, Acer, and Lenovo/IBM.
* Flextronics (former Arima Computer Corporation notebook division) sells to HP/Compaq, NEC, and Dell.
* ECS sells to IBM, Fujitsu, and Dell.
* Asus sells to Apple (iBook), Sony, and Samsung.
* Inventec sells to HP/Compaq, Toshiba, and BenQ.
* Uniwill sells to Lenovo/IBM and Fujitsu.

The Sager model recommended above is made by Compal who also builds for HP, Sager however is most widely known as a Clevo distributor who you can read about here:

http/forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=91510

In the US, Clevo's major distributor i a company called Pro-Star but as you can see they are now selling other ODM's products at the lower price ranges. The KHLB2 starts at 4581 there depending on how you customize it. The option of buying w/o an OS is available in case you are eligible for student or other discounts.

http/www.pro-star.com/index.cfm?mainpage=productdetail&model=KHLB2

Bumping up the following:

CPU to 2.53 Ghz
RAM to 4 GB
320 GB 7200 rpm HD
Win 7 64 bit Home premium
WiFi lan card
Intel BT Adapter

It comes to $979 ....same as the Sager model but Prostar gives 1 year parts and 3 years labor warranty to Sager's 1/1. Could knock off $130 with standard 2.0 Ghz processor though I would go w/ at least the 2.2 Ghz model which is $40 more than the 2 GHz CPU

I have bought 6 Prostar laptops to date, the oldest of which they repaired (I paid shipping only) 38 months into the 36 month warranty period.

 

[Canuck1]

What do you recommend in the </= $1000 category then?

Out of these?: HP DV7, Dell Studio 15/17, Sony, Asus, Toshiba???? Any of those?

I don't think Clevo/Sagers can be found in that price territory, right?

 

[Maziar]

Canuck1,i deleted your last post because you have to ask your question in a new thread so please make a new one and ask there.

 

[Canuck1]

Okay, sorry about that...'will do!

 

[violet_41]

I Know what vender you are talking about. When I recevied mine with the blu-ray it would only let me play some of the blu-rays. Called HP and they said that was because this system did not have HP Media Smart on it. It was a nice laptop but when I would play games on the laptop and then turn the game off the laptop gave me a blue screen. Called Hp again! To make a long story short. I sent it back to the vender and went to Best Buy and bought the HP DV7-3065dx 17.3 notebook with blu-ray that plays all my blu-rays. 4gb ram, windows 7 for only 699.99 right now.
SKU 9556296. The blu-ray is Great. I play my games on it like hide & seek games. ect. I have only had it for one day but I love it. You can see better with this screen. The speakers are better. You might want to take a look at Best Buy. Hope this helped