Compaq Presario 2500 A Big Bang for the Buck
Written: May 28 '03
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Pros: Speed, Hard Disk Size, Memory, Support, Screen
Cons: Noise, Size, Lack of USB 2.0 ports, Battery Life
The Bottom Line: An excellent notebook for students, teachers and other professionals who want a big bang for their buck.
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| nikondon's Full Review: Compaq Presario 2500 Series Notebook Computers |
The Compaq Presario 2500 I recently bought came with a 60 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM, a 2.66 Ghz Pentium 4 processor, and SXGA 15 inch monitor, for a price of $1599.00. This computer is very configurable and upgradable and you will find a large range of prices depending on the specs you want. The 2500 has proven to be an excellent notebook in all respects, save one: it is not terribly portable for cross country travelers. For a graduate student like myself, however, the 7+ pounds is not difficult to deal with.
I much prefer the 2500 over its slightly more expensive sibling the 3000 because it has a more ergonomic keyboard (including a touchpad with an on/off switch and scroll area) and it comes with a built in floppy drive. This may not be important to many, but as a student and teacher I deal with a great many floppies each day and to have to use an external floppy would be difficult. The on/off switch for the touch pad is great: No more suddenly finding yourself in some strange place of your document because your thumb inadvertently moved your cursor.
I wish that the Presario 2500 came with USB 2.0, but it doesn't. Instead it comes with three regular USB ports. The notebook comes with an ethernet card and a firewire connection. It also has an infrared port to accept wireless transfer from PDA's or printers.
Even though I wasn't a fan of the silvery metallic surface at first (preferring the jet black executive look), the ambience of the computer has grown on me, especially since a lot of my other accessories, like my mouse and digital projector also have a silvery metallic finish. The feel of the keyboard is good to very good, but not fantastic like some of the IBM Thinkpads. There are convenient buttons for linking to the Internet and so forth, but they are not obnoxious like many early Compaq Notebooks. Neither is there any of that awful chrome, that still plagues some laptops.
The processor and huge RAM make this computer very fast and capable. Because the P4 processor generates so much heat, however, the unit has three fans to keep it cool. This has the unfortunate effect of making it the noisiest of the ten notebook computers I have owned in my lifetime. Still, the noise is not unpleasant, but it is there.
The screen, for a notebook of this price, is spectacular. While not as dramatic as the 17 inchers, it is bright and superfine. I do a lot of graphic work and this is by far the best screen I have worked with on a laptop computer.
One of the best features of this notebook, however, is the splendid support that Compaq (Hewlett-Packard) is offering. Beside the usual FAQ, email and phone support, HP has realtime 24/7 chat support with technicians from around the world. I have always obtained a support technician instantly and in almost all cases they have proven to be very helpful to me, whether my issue was computer or software related. This is a big change for Compaq, which used to be known for its lousy support.
The software the computer comes with is nothing to brag about. Most users will want to opt for more powerful office applications and graphics software. The 2500 did come with excellent CD burning software (Roxio) and DVD playing software (Interactual)however.
For the package and the price, this is the best notebook computer I have found on the market. To top it all off, I bought it at Costco, which has the best return policy of any retailer: Six months, no questions asked.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1599.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): Over 50
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Epinions.com ID:
nikondon
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Reviews written: 1
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