Presairo 5304

I have had some start up problems with the unit due to the combination of printer & scanner that I am using, but after 3 runs of the supplied emergency recovery disk I am finally up and running all of the applications which I need for my business (some fairly hefty computing.)

I have an older noname unit P166 which had become unstable and I was worried about it dying (and I use it for business every day). I have no budget for a new machine so when I saw the Best Buy add for free Compaq with Cyrix 166 processor I went in and picked one up.

At some point in time I will have to add a 2nd parallel port to satisfy the scanner (epp) and the printer (ecp) required but that is the subject of my next review (see Microtek X6).

Things I like about the Compaq unit:
Nice case, quiet, win98 2nd edition disk supplied to update installed version, some decent software in the package, and the emergency recovery disk supplied.
And OH YEA!!! the price -- Just got my mfg. rebate so the price was Zero Dollars (I was using AOL and cancelled when I got Prodigy up and running at the same cost per month.) No comparison yet but I will later when I have some time on Prodigy.

Things that I don't like -- you have to be somewhat techie to use the emergency recovery disk for partial recovery. I am not a techie so I ended up having to reload everything after the crash (twice) which is the equivalent of a good weekend for the list of apps that I needed to reload.

The unit was advertised as a Cyrix 366 (which I assumed -- there is that word that we are warned about -- meant 366mhz processor) Surprize -- it is only a 250mhz processor and not a lot faster than my old 166 pentium.

If I had know that I would have waited - and paid a little more for a AMD K2-350+ a couple of weeks later. In need some speed for the CAD and Graphics work that I do.

Customer support has been available and helpful. Overall I got what I needed at a price that I could afford but I am disappointed with the processing speed for graphics applications, and I think that CYRIX, COMPAQ, and BEST BUY could (and should) have been a little more honest about what the customer was getting with the package.

I rate it a 2 1/2 on that basis.



Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 499 less 500 rebate
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Cyrix M2
Processor speed: 201-300
RAM: 64
Hard Drive (GB): 4-6