Compaq Presario - Good choice?

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-11-01 10:36pm

I heard from a friend that Compaq computers tend to break easily and have things go wrong. This is worrisome, as I plan on buying a Compaq Presario laptop in the near future. He told me to get a Dell, as they are much more reliable, but that means shelling out over twice as much.

Is it worth the cost?

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » 2003-11-01 10:37pm

HemlockGrey wrote:I heard from a friend that Compaq computers tend to break easily and have things go wrong. This is worrisome, as I plan on buying a Compaq Presario laptop in the near future. He told me to get a Dell, as they are much more reliable, but that means shelling out over twice as much.

Is it worth the cost?

I had one of their desktops. It's still running. The downside is they are a mother-fucking BITCH to upgrade or alter.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-11-01 10:38pm

Dell is just as bad, if not worse, than Compaq.

If you want a Compaq laptop, I'd recommend their Evo line. The only downside is that, being a business line, it's more expensive. And there's always the good old mainstay IBM.

Toshiba is also an excellent choice.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-01 10:54pm

Compaq's Presario line is pretty bad. They are inexpensive, though.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-11-01 11:17pm

Hmm...are the Pavilions any good?

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-11-01 11:53pm

IBM!

or Toshiba!

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-02 12:10am

HP/Compaq's Pavilion line isn't very good either. IBM, Fujitsu and Toshiba are decent to good brands. Apple has good stuff to, but you might not want a Mac.

Crayz9000 · Post by **Crayz9000** » 2003-11-02 12:13am

phongn wrote:HP/Compaq's Pavilion line isn't very good either. IBM, Fujitsu and Toshiba are decent to good brands. Apple has good stuff to, but you might not want a Mac.

Well, hey, you can always run Yellow Dog Linux if MacOS X bugs you

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-02 12:21am

Bah, but we have MacOS X, no need to YDL foolishness.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-11-02 12:37am

If you're going with notebooks, I'd either go with IBM or Apple. Anything else is pure garbage.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-02 12:40am

Vertigo1 wrote:If you're going with notebooks, I'd either go with IBM or Apple. Anything else is pure garbage.

Toshiba and Fujitsu aren't bad.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-11-02 12:42am

phongn wrote:
Vertigo1 wrote:If you're going with notebooks, I'd either go with IBM or Apple. Anything else is pure garbage.
Toshiba and Fujitsu aren't bad.

True, but their battery life leaves something to be desired....

Its been a while since I've read any reviews, but last I looked IBM thinkpads had some of the longest battery lifetimes.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-02 12:55am

IBM has excellent battery life for its size indeed, especially the T40p/T41p which offer 9-cell LiIon batteries as an option.

The T41p is so nice - they have a FireGL T2 (R9600) option now. It's relatively light, too.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2003-11-02 01:02am

phongn wrote:IBM has excellent battery life for its size indeed, especially the T40p/T41p which offer 9-cell LiIon batteries as an option.

The T41p is so nice - they have a FireGL T2 (R9600) option now. It's relatively light, too.

Hell yes. The only problem is their prices....but as the old saying goes: "You get always what you pay for."

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2003-11-02 03:11am

phongn wrote: The T41p is so nice - they have a FireGL T2 (R9600) option now. It's relatively light, too.

But they are sooo expensive.... And hard to find

. Wait, a T2 now! Too bad it isn't a Moblity R9600 - I could use a gamer's thin and light when I go off to university. Still, it's a another two years off, so there's no point thinking about it.

I'd skip the Presario myself and at least get a Dell - they have decent reviews. Acer has a few cool models every now and then too. Gateways are fine for budget use.

IBM are expensive, but great stuff. Toshiba and Apple are ok in my book.

Post by **Dalton** » 2003-11-02 03:50am

I dislike Compaq. Intensely.

Vendetta · Post by **Vendetta** » 2003-11-02 07:08am

Depends what you want from a laptop.

In my job I get to deal with all sorts, mainly when they've broken down somehow.

Presario and Pavilion laptops are all pretty generic. They don't do anything special, but nor do they have any especially bad points. they're pretty avarage for reliability as well.

Toshiba laptops tend to be built like brick shithouses, and quite powerful, but the Satellite range tends to lack portability. The reliability's OK, we take a lot of calls on them, but then we sell more of them than any other brand.

Sony laptops tend to be expensive, but, as with their desktops, are fairly reliable. You can get some with fairly innovative components as well.

Sharp laptops are solid all rounders, and are pretty reliable, but their battery life is woeful. They do, however, do an intriguing looking ultra-portable, which is a 12" laptop that weighs less than a kilo, using the Transmeta Crusoe processor. They also have a forthcoming laptop based on a stereoscopic TFT display (that sends different images to each eye, producing a 3D image without any glasses or other foolery)

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2003-11-02 09:59am

Dalton wrote:I dislike Compaq. Intensely.

Who doesn't?

When I hear 'Compaq', the word Craputer comes to mind. Repeatedly.

And the World seems to agree with me...

I'll take a 700MHz Pentium 3 over a Compaq 2.4GHz P4 any day...

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-02 01:05pm

Ypoknons wrote:But they are sooo expensive.... And hard to find . Wait, a T2 now! Too bad it isn't a Moblity R9600 - I could use a gamer's thin and light when I go off to university. Still, it's a another two years off, so there's no point thinking about it.

The FireGL T2 is an R9600M. The R50p also offers the same GPU as an option. IBM will probably offer a straight R9600M later on, though.

I'd skip the Presario myself and at least get a Dell - they have decent reviews. Acer has a few cool models every now and then too. Gateways are fine for budget use.

Dell's consumer line is not very reliable.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-11-03 11:40pm

Ok, I'm a bit overwhelmed. Therefor, I submit to whoever has any free time, the following test:

Find me a reliable, decently priced laptop that can do the following:

Play most games at a decent clip. I don't care about playing Doom 3 at fifty million frames per second, I just want to be able to play Warcraft 3.

Has wireless broadband. This is a must. Preferably a very good wireless. Huge consideration. Really, really good wireless. Bluetooth unnecessary, but excellant wireless a must.

Has a decent amount of storage space, 20-30 gigs.

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2003-11-04 08:36am

phongn wrote:The FireGL T2 is an R9600M. The R50p also offers the same GPU as an option. IBM will probably offer a straight R9600M later on, though.

Hopefully - that's basically what I meant, that the chip is installed in T2 form rather than R9600M form. Thanks for the correction about the Dells though.

Mind you, love to see the source - I don't have anything solid.

I don't think Hemlock's looking for a thin and light; maybe something 7-8Ib's? Vendetta's advice is good. Any laptop can fill his hard drive needs, but I suppose a Toshiba Satilite would be a good choice overall?

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-04 09:56am

Vendetta wrote:Sony laptops tend to be expensive, but, as with their desktops, are fairly reliable. You can get some with fairly innovative components as well.

I have found Sony laptops to generally be unreliable, and God help you if you don't want to use their custom install. Their drivers only work (IIRC) if you use Sony's special distribution of Windows. Warranty service leaves much to be desired as well.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-11-04 09:58am

Ypoknons wrote:I don't think Hemlock's looking for a thin and light; maybe something 7-8Ib's? Vendetta's advice is good. Any laptop can fill his hard drive needs, but I suppose a Toshiba Satilite would be a good choice overall?

Toshiba wouldn't be a bad choice at all, but as before, they are a bit on the heavy side.

Kazuaki Shimazaki · Post by **Kazuaki Shimazaki** » 2003-11-04 10:08am

I had two.

My first one was stolen. But before that, it was pretty tough. I flat out DROPPED the thing to the floor at least twice, and it still ran perfectly, even after between those two bumps and other little bumps, a piece of the outer shell plastic had already broken off near the ventilation fan.

My second Presario. I'm using it now. As a few people might have noticed months ago, the battery that came with it died fast. I got that replaced for free. So far, the battery is giving me adequate service. But my fucking LCD backlighting is failing. Even as I type, it is visibly dimming.

The craputer stuff on that site is not all true, or maybe I got lucky. I think I did get a Windows XP CD, not just a recovery disc for my second Presario. And I am unbugged by ads.

I'm going to get it fixed on Thursday. Thank God I still had the warranty up.

As for Sony Laptops. My dad had one. It took a year before we managed to persuade it to play a VCD somehow. He's now in India, and the laptop at least seems to be working otherwise...

El Moose Monstero · Post by **El Moose Monstero** » 2003-11-04 02:01pm

I have a Presario, no complaints here, it does what it's supposed to do, I'm not too sure about the DVD player though, it was stopping and starting last time I tried to watch a DVD on it, but it was in need of a cleanup at the time, so it might have been that.

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Compaq Presario - Good choice?

Compaq Presario - Good choice?

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