Compaq Presario 1610 - The Best Laptop I've Ever Owned
Written: Jun 26 '03 (Updated Jun 26 '03)
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Pros: A great laptop when it was first introduced …
Cons: Prehistoric when compared to today’s technology…
The Bottom Line: Great for word processing, spreadsheets and decent internet connections, the Presario 1610 is a real workhorse that never let me down.
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| Freak369's Full Review: Compaq Presario 1610 (293720-003) PC Notebook |
When I first purchased this laptop I thought it was the end all, be all of human existence. I had a laptop. Something that was portable, lightweight and compact [at the time that is] and allowed me to play CD’s, surf the internet and “write on the run”. I’ll admit it, when I purchased this I was a complete moron in the area of computers, things may not have improved much in the area of computer intelligence where I am concerned – but I do know a bit more than when I started. Since this was purchased some five or six years ago, technology has grown by leaps and bounds. Laptops now come with DVD players, CD burners and faster internal processors. Even so, my Compaq Presario has never seen a day in the shop, died on me or refused to boot up. Since this laptop I’ve gone through three desktop computers, another laptop and have since purchased a computer just for the boys to use. This one still sees some use from time to time and for whatever reason, I just can’t bear to get rid of it or gut it to add newer parts.
I doubt you would be able to easily find this model anywhere – unless you scour the used computer sites or come across it at a computer trade show near the Tandy and Radio Shack computers of yore. I really want to write this review for those that are looking to pick up a used laptop, don’t want to spend a large sum of money and are just looking for the basics from a machine. As I said, this laptop has never had any repairs made to it, been in a shop or cracked open for any reason – and it did see a tremendous amount of use. The only thing that I had to replace were the keys and that was only to replace the worn off letters. When a laptop can perform that well under a lot of different circumstances and being used on average of five to ten hours a day for several years without needs any professional service – that really says something about the durability of a model. I can’t say that all Compaq Presario laptops are this dependable or will serve you this well, but the 1610 was a total Prince Charming for me.
Compaq Presario 1610 Notebook Computer
One of the nicest features of this laptop is that it has a decent sized screen – a full twelve inches diagonally. The screen has a thin coating on it so it deflects most glares but you will need to adjust it a little to get it to just the right spot. The small pop out feet under the unit can also be used to properly position it for optimum comfort when typing and screen view. The unit is pretty heavy when compared to those that are out today – about ten pounds. Mine came with a nice carrying case that had several Velcro pockets on the outside and an extra long padded strap that made toting it around a complete breeze. Since we got this when we were doing a bit of traveling, I needed to be able to open it quickly when we were at airports so I could turn it off and on at security check points. The case opened easily and I only needed to unzip one section to pull out the laptop. These were standard issue with all the 1600’s and I considered it to be the best laptop case I have ever come across.
Speed
When I saw that this had Pentium technology I knew that I had to have it. Of course, at the time this was the best that was available to consumers without paying an arm and a leg. I never had any trouble with the speed or how it processed information and chalked up a good bit of the internet speed to using AOL and their crumby dial up access numbers. This came with 16 MB of RAM and an Intel 150 MHz processor. This was more than adequate for my needs at the time but as you might gather, I’ve outgrown it and moved on to bigger and better units.
Mousepad
The small built in mousepad was nothing more than a cool gadget that became a real nightmare. You had to have clean fingers in order to get it work properly and when the pad got a little grease on it, your cursor would jump all over the place. The port on the back of the unit allowed for an eternal mouse to be added and I opted to pick up a nicer one than the one that was included with the set up.
Keyboard
This was the only part of the laptop that I need to made any type of repair to and that was simply due to wear. The white ink in the keys started to wear off on about ten of the letters and I ordered replacement keys from an online site and popped them in to place with no trouble. The keyboard worked great under a lot of different situations and conditions and never gave me any trouble.
CD Player
The CD player for this unit is located on the right hand side and ejects with a loud ‘thunk’ but other than that – it has worked perfectly. The independent controls on the top of the unit allow you to play, stop, control the volume, skip ahead and skip back. The small [and I do mean small] LCD display tells you the track you are on and information about the computer itself [power level, sleep, CD function etc].
Speakers
At the bottom part you have two split speakers that are built into the laptop. If you are typing most of the music or sound will be muffled but for just listening to music or CD’s when not using the laptop – it does have a pretty good sound. You won’t be able to get a tremendous amount of volume out of it but you can opt to use headphones if you want it louder. The headphone jack is on the right side along with a port for a microphone and auxiliary data jack.
Battery
I never had much luck with the battery for this so I tried not to rely on it. When I did have to use this when we were on the road I was able to get about an hour and a half of use before I got a warning that the battery was starting to lose its charge. I followed the recommendations and allowed it to completely discharge before I plugged it into the wall to recharge it. A salesman told me that I should get a new battery for it but since this is mostly used in the house by the boys or when I have to drive them to camp, I didn’t really see the need to invest in another one. The battery is located on the left side of the unit and the small door that covers it is a real pain to open and close.
Floppy Drive
Located right next to the battery, the floppy drive allows you to transfer files, save to a disc or access information from a disc. I used this to save a lot of large files and never had any trouble with it saving or pulling up files. Of course the real trouble with floppy disc and laptops is that there’s no place to store them on the unit. If I could have one computer related wish it would be for designers to create a small box or slide case where you could store such discs.
Provided Necessities
Surprisingly, I remember almost every single thing that came with this laptop. I was so thrilled to finally get one that I guess the event was etched in my brain. You get the standard power cord that plus into the back of the computer and also serves to charge up the battery when the unit is turned off. The instruction manual shows you how to operate the computer, common pitfalls, trouble shooting and the basics of each of the features. The warranty card is always an important thing to fill out and mail in and it was tucked into the back of the book. You also get a basic external mouse. There is a mousepad build into the body of the laptop but this can be plugged into the back for easier control or for those that can’t get the hang of the mousepad. There were also a few quick reference cards that were inside the instruction booklet that could be removed to find answers of the most common troubles. Everything came wrapped individually – that gave me the added thrill of unwrapping everything – I must have looked like a kid on Christmas morning in the midst of all the bubble pack and protective static free sheets.
The Internet
I’ve had a cable modem for several years now so I am a little spoiled. If I had to go back to dial-up services I’m sure that I’d pull my hair out. I never had any issues with the modem not working so the slow internet connections were the result of having AOL and K-Online [local service provider]. I only had small problems with pages that had massive graphics or I had too many pages open at once, other than that, this was great for cruising the internet. Since you dealing with an older machine, chances are you won’t be able to upgrade the modem without taking it to an authorized service center or have a qualified professional do the work. When I asked Cox if they could hook the laptop up to the existing internet cable service they said it wasn’t possible because I needed a card installed inside the computer and there wasn’t enough room for it.
Games
I played a fair number of games on this including Sim City and Sim Farm. The boys used it for entertainment and educational games and never had any trouble with it freezing or locking up on them. When I tried to play several of the Lego games [Rock Raiders, Lego Island etc] the stream was a little slow but I was impressed with how it handled the games. The display on the games was just as good as the desktop computers we have but it took a while to save and access games. They use this mostly to play games and for educational software and for when they go to day camps and want to have something to do word processing on or when they have a break between classes.
The Bottom Line
When I first got this, I was totally impressed with the way it performed. Before this I had other desktop set ups that were comparable but not portable. Since technology has grown by leaps and bounds, this laptop is rather outdated but I am continually amazed at how it keeps on working without needed any upgrades or repairs. I am sure that this could be found online or at used electronics stores for a few hundred dollars [if that] and would be suitable for someone that wants to access the internet while on the road, needs to use spreadsheets or do word processing. As I’ve said, my boys use this now and as you might imagine, it doesn’t exactly get treated with a lot of care and it still works like a charm. They don’t bang it off walls or toss it out windows but I’ve seen the poor thing get bumped and knocked around when they are getting in and out of the SUV and I can only imagine what happens when I’m not around. If you are looking for a dependable laptop that will give you the basics, allow you to listen to CD, do word processing and access the internet through a dial up connection and you happen to come across one of these units – snap it up and enjoy it.
As always … thanks for the visit!
^V^ Freak ^V^
© 2003 Freak369
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): $990.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Screen Size: 12 inches
Hard Drive (GB): 13-20
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