I'm a noob. Help me out.

[Mongooose]

I'm looking at this Hewlett Packard dv6-1103tx Pavilion laptop.

spec:

Intel Centrino 2 Core 2 Duo Processor P8600,
2.4GHz, 3MB L2 Cache, 1066MHz FSB,
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 with 1024MB dedicated memory,
4GB DDR2 SDRAM, 500GB, 16" HD bright view.

1) Is this laptop any good? or are there better ones for a price of around USD1600, preferably >16" and from vaio, asus or dell?

2) What is that 3MB L2 Cache for?(sorry i'm a tech noob lol)

3) Also I heard that HP has a cooling problem and the battery life sucks. Will the cooling problem cause me trouble? Will buying that 12-Cell battery replacement help with the battery problem?

 

[frozenlead]

1. Any good for what? What are you going to do with it? It makes a decent gaming notebook, but, on the other hand, I'm sure it makes a good doorstop. If you want more performance per dollar, look at Sager notebooks.

2. 3MB L2 cache is the onboard CPU memory buffer. It's just memory directly embedded onto the CPU.

3. You heard wrong. Perhaps certain models HP makes have low battery life or run hot, but not all of them. The same goes for all manufacturers. Not just HP.

 

[Espada]

P8600 actually helps with battery usage since its only 25W comparing to T series is 35w and some have 45W laptop is good spec wise! Heres a couple of other sites that have asus msi clevo and sager laptops all good.

xoticpc.com
cyberpowerpc.com
ibuypower.com
rkcomputers.net

and usually the first thing that craps out is wireless cards when it comes to hp or at least thats what happened to me and most people i know

 

[Mongooose]

Thank you frozenlead. It's for college and gaming btw.

 

[Mongooose]

And thanks espada. I'm going for the HP since it is a good laptop for gaming and what you said about the thermal dissipation of the P8600. Appreciate it.

 

[Espada]

no problem glad to be help