Awful, Awful Tech Support....But Tremendous Value
Written: Jan 04 '04
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Pros: Nice value, XP Pro, battery life, bright 15" screen.
Cons: Tech support needs much improvement. See "TECH SUPPORT" section.
The Bottom Line: Tremendous value. Lots of features for the price. But what you pay for is what you get when it comes to tech support.
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| lartacg's Full Review: Compaq Presario 2175US (DK576A#ABA) PC Notebook |
I had to purchase a laptop for work. It required a Windows XP Pro OS due to it's ability to access my office server from home according to my I.T. manager via ethernet connection. Not to say that XP Home edition cannot do that, but that XP pro seems to have less problems. For personal requirements, I wanted a laptop that was less than 2" in height (actually 1.62"), less than 9 lbs for mobility (7.25 lbs) and have a bright and big screen (15" & XGA/TFT screen). For personal desires, I wanted a DVD/CDRW drive (standard on the 2175US), and big hardrive (40 GB). The following is the actual specs on the 2175US:
Mobile AMD™ Athlon™ XP-M Processor 2400+
512MB DDR SDRAM (2 x 256MB) at 266MHz; Maximum Memory 1024MB DDR SDRAM (2 x 512MB)
40GB enhanced-IDE
DVD+CD-RW Combo (CD-read 24x; CD-write 8x; CD-rewrite 8x; DVD-read 8x)
15.0" XGA TFT (1024 x 768)
Integrated 10/100Base-T Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector),
Integrated 54g wireless LAN
ATI MOBILITY™ RADEON™ (M6) 4X AGP and 3D architecture
Internal speakers Volume control button and mute button
7.25 lbs.
12.96" (L) x 10.72" (W) x 1.62" (H)
Microsoft® Windows® XP Pro Version
2 USB 1.1 ports
S video out
Serial port
1 FireWire connection
2 PCMCIA slots
external microphone, and headphones plugs
Touchpad with scroll feature and left and right mouse buttons
Li-Ion battery
**NOTE: Does not include a floppy drive.
TECH SUPPORT:
I normally start with performance on my reviews. I felt that in this case performance stands a distant second with my experience (whether good or bad) with this laptop. My problem/issue all started when I ran the BATTERY OPTIMIZER on the 2175US. It's a standard software that is supposed to squeeze out another few minutes (or perhaps an hour) on your laptop by scanning your battery and recalibrating your battery. The process can take as long as 8 hours (according to the warning window when you actually it) and that it requires you to plug in the laptop and not use the battery (duh). After successfully completing the battery optimizer (after approx 3 hours) a window appeared that said my battery has been increased another 5%. Not really worth doing considering a full battery lasts approx 2.5 hours. I was able to add another few minutes. The laptop worked fine the first few days after running the BO. Then all of a sudden the battery indicator (the little blue battery icon on the bottom right corner of your screen) no longer gave the current status when using the battery. It indicated 86% only, whether or not you used it after a full charge or after 2 hours. I called HP/Compaq tech support about this. And that's when the problems began. My first call had me speak to someone in India who had a thick accent that made me ask to repeat himself several times. He told he to run the BATTERY LEARNER program that can be accessed by pressing "F6" during startup, before you see the Win OS screen. That did not work. I called again that same day a few hours later and spoke to an American who did not say to kind of words for his Indian counterpart...hmmm. I mentioned to him what I had done so far which he disagreed with saying that never should have been done. He suggested draining and recharging the battery a full twelve hours 3 times. That didn't work. AI called a few days later for a third time and spoke to a different person, again in India (thick accent once more). Who said we'll ship you out a new battery. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Two weeks go by (no really) and no battery. I called back to get the status on my battery and was told that their "system" was down and that is why I had not received it. That was fine, I accepted their reason and was told a new order had been placed. Another two weeks go by....still no battery. I called back (India), with a bit more frustration on my voice and was told I had to call their distribution department which I of course did not and told the representative to take care of this issue herself and not "pawn" it off to someone else. After waiting a few minutes on hold she said the magic words once again..."You'll be getting a new battery" and that it will arrive in a few days. Great..problem solved I thought. I mean how many promises can be broken right? A couple of days went by, three, four, a week, a week and a half...you see where this is going right? One more call to tech "support". I was steaming angry...poor guy (Indian once again) did not know what was coming. Coupled with his thick accent did not help matters much. Again I had to ask to repeat himself several times. After much heated discussion and a lot of backtracking and looking at history etc... I was given the following explanation for the repeated mishap...are you ready? I was told that since my claim went unfulfilled for several weeks due to a backorder for the specific battery that their system AUTOMATICALLY DROPS the order. I was floored and asked my representative if this is logical? He said "No". I asked him if it was my fault that the battery is in backorder, he of course said "No". Afterwards, I was told once again that I would be receiving my new battery. So after 6 calls, 60 or so days, 5 Indian and 1 American representatives...I got my battery. To Compaq's credit it arrived exactly 3 days after my last call...yeah O.K.
So that you learn, Do not use the BATTERY OPTIMIZER because 1) It only increases your battery life a few minutes and 2) The battery won't give out current battery status after the process.
PERFORMANCE:
General: I use the system mainly for work connecting via Wireless connection that is integrated into the laptop in my office. No complaints as it works flawlessly. Adding software is simple and easy...no problems. No freeze ups or "blue screen of death". The fan is somewhat louder than other laptops but not enough to complain about. The 15" screen is bright, very clear and nice to look at. Great to watch movies on. I was able to finish "Gone in Sixty Seconds" on a fully charged battery. Its DVD player program allows you to speed up or slow down the movie up to 50% its normal speed, allowing the user to adjust the speed in .5 increments. Good for long movies such LOTR.
DVD Movies: On occasion I watch a movie while using Internet Explorer to surf the web. The laptop works fairly well when multitasking. I will see a slight freeze in the movie when I click on a hyperlink in IE for it has to access the hardrive.
Touchpad: I love this feature. Not only does it allow you to move the cursor to it's desired location on the screen but it also has a scrolling pad that works similar to the scrolling wheel on standard mice. In addition, you also have the ability to scroll left and right on the same touchpad. These settings are also adjustable to fit the users needs. Works great when surfing large web pages.
Keyboard: I, like most of my fellow reviewers, also feel that this feature feels "cheap". When I type a report or enter in data I, more often that want, feel that I've missed a number or letter and have to hit the backspace to re-enter it. This reduces productivity but not enough warrant a different laptop.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 999
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD K-2
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 15 inches
RAM: 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40
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Epinions.com ID:
lartacg
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Member: Mo
Reviews written: 20
Trusted by: 1 member
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