This review is in regards to any X1000 series notebook which not only includes any Compaq Presarios named X10XX (where XX is any 2 numbers) but also includes the HP ZT3000 and NX7000 series notebooks as they are the same notebook.

Like many other people I purchased the X1000 because on paper, and even in person, it seemed like a good deal on a feature packed laptop. My own is a built-to-order model, and it has everything from bluetooth and wifi, to a built in SD reader slot in the front-which to be honest I've used once in all the time I've owned my laptop and it was on that one occasion it crashed the laptop with a "blue screen of death" error.

That experience actually sums up the X1000 pretty well. It's loaded with a long list of great features, but if you look closely at them, you might soon seen that there's some serious issues.

Since there's quite a few, I will break the problems down into a list of major categories:

BIOS related issues: Whoever designed the original BIOS for this system didn't do a very good job. Initial production models had keyboard timing issues-meaning that pressing the shift key right before you type the key you want capitalized would mean that you wouldn't get the capitalized letter you want because the computer would misread the timing of keystrokes. Thankfully this problem has been rectified by BIOS updates but you have to wonder about the quality control. To make things worse, the BIOS revisions that fixed the keyboard often seemed to add fun new problems into the mix, with odd screen problems popping up. These too have since been fixed. But of course, the update that fixed the screen added yet another new bug in the bootup process, previously you could turn on the computer even if you had a CD or DVD in the drive, and still be able to type in the needed BIOS and Hard Drive lock passwords. The BIOS that fixed the video issues of course, made it so that if you tried to boot up with anything in the cd/dvd drive, it would completely ignore the passworded hard drive, and instead of asking for a password to boot from the hard drive, give fun error messages about how there isn't a bootable disc. This is even with the hard drive set as the first thing to boot from-the computer simply ignores it since it's passworded, instead of prompting for the password, unless there's nothing in the CD drive-something it's NOT supposed to do.

Lousy Driver Issues: I will admit that Compaq themselves are not the ones writing the drivers for the computer, but perhaps if they actually put some effort into making sure their suppliers do a good job, or perhaps simply use other suppliers for parts, these problems wouldn't occur. The most annoying problem of all, is one with the on-board NIC. The NIC in the x1000 series is based on a Realtek chipset. Unfortunately this NIC will crash and stop responding if you attempt any of several things, including but NOT LIMITED TO:
1) Attempting to transfer files over a local network from shared folders
2) Attempting to download using BitTorrent/Blizzard Entertainment Downloader (which is based on BT)
3) Attempting to download using eDonkey
4) Attempting to download over IRC's file transfer protocol
5) Using a download acceleration program and opening too many streams
Realtek has been aware of this issue for over a year, but has done nothing to help the problem. Compaq surprisingly, is actually even less useful, as it's even more impossible to get anybody at Compaq to understand what the problem is, lest actually get someone who can get the problem addressed.

Build-Quality Issues:
Let's see...well, first off how about the fact that the "Radeon Mobility 9200" series videocards in these laptops turned out to have Radeon Mobility 9000 chips on them. Perhaps that's more of a dishonesty issue than a Build-Quality issue though.
Cheap paint quality-the palmrest area wears very quickly on this laptop, and paint all around comes off very easily, not a huge deal in my opinion though since this doesn't really affect operation.
Massive LCD screen die-off at around 1 year of age-this particular issue is perhaps the most important one. The problem doesn't appear to be with the LCD screen itself, rather the connection to the screen from the video card. Perhaps the creatively rebranded Mobility "9200"'s warp over time, but regardless, after about one year of use the LCD screen will start flickering, and then go black, at which point if you're lucky enough for it to have died just before your warranty ran out, Compaq would replace the video card for you, if you have it die on you afterwards, you're out of luck since it's not going to be a cheap repair.
Another issue is relatively minor in my opinion but it was enough of an issue that HP is willing to address it on out-of-warranty laptops, the LCD lid will cause scuffing to the palm-rest area when closed. HP has released new thicker pads to address this but some people report that it still isn't perfect. This isn't a huge issue in my opinion since the palm rest will eventually become very well worn anyway so what's the point of addressing the slight scuff line when there will be giant faded paint spots right above the line? Another issue they've addressed are the pads on the bottom of the laptop, which have been thinned down in the middle to prevent rocking that occured on some x1000's. Personally some of my pads just fell off, and the ones that didn't have been leaking goo, but I haven't experienced any noticable rocking although sometimes there was less than optimal grip which may have been caused by the mis-sized pads on the laptop preventing all of them from gripping.

Issues aside though, the laptop does in fact have some great features. It's Pentium-M/Centrino(when equipped with the intel wifi chipset it's named Centrino) processor gives excellent battery life, and the 15.4" LCD screen it comes with is gorgeous although some of the screens are less bright than competitor screens, but regardless they're wonderful screens and DVD and movie playback is excellent on the Compaq X1000. Battery life weighs in at between 3 hours to over 4 hours depending on screen brightness and whether wifi is turned on (wifi drains a lot of power on all laptops) which is excellent amongst laptops. Upgrading the memory is also relatively easy, although one of the SODIMMs is hidden under the keyboard.
Speaking of which, aside from the initial timing issues, the keyboard is nearly fullsize in terms of key spacing and key size. The keyboard is easily one of the best laid out amongst laptops, most likely because the widescreen 15.4" LCD gives plenty of space for laying out keys on the keyboard. Regardless of the reasons, the keyboard allows the more skilled typists out there to type fast enough for any occasion, something that may be difficult on more cramped keyboards.

I guess in the end, you get what you paid for. The X1000 seemed like a great deal in the beginning, but now it's seeming more and more like an expensive liability due to repairs. My own screen has started dying off like so many others', and I don't even feel that it would be worth it to spend the money to repair it only to have it break again. To use an analogy with cars, this would be a cheap car that might have great styling, a ton of features on the window sticker, and even a huge customer rebate, but after owning it for a while you realize why people are willing to pay more for some cars than others, even if they have similar features and styling. That said, some people don't mind buying new cars every 6 months, and if you do the same with laptops then maybe this laptop is for you.

Recommended: No

Amount Paid (US$): 1200
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Other
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: Greater than 15 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 31-40