Discount quality at premium price
Written: Dec 08 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Integrated LAN, modem, floppy AND CD/DVD. Feet for tilting.
Cons: Very bad keyboard, bad screen, bad design.
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| jfallesen's Full Review: Compaq Armada E500 (470027-663) PC Notebook |
Only a big name manufacturer like Compaq could get away with making such a low quality product and sell it at such a high price. Comparing to similar products from HP, Toshiba, and even IBM, you do not get much for your money.
The Compaq E500 is an average size notebook computer which earns credit for having integrated ethernet and modem and for having both floppy drive and CD/DVD on board at the same time.
I am currently using a 600MHz version with 192 MB RAM and 12 GB harddisk. It does not seem to be a particularly good performer compared to other products (for instance, the HP OmniBook 6000 at the same clock speed seems to have better performance--this is based on personal experience only, not by using benchmarking software).
Now, what's wrong with it? First of all, competitors can sell smaller and especially lighter PCs at the same price, all with similar performance and features.
Add to that one of the worst keyboards I have even been in contact with on a portable PC (keys have a terrible feel and cursor and special keys are way too small), a screen with weak colours that is almost impossible to read from an angle (put the HP OmniBook 6000 next to it and watch how big the difference is!).
It has the infrared port in the right position: On the side. But what on Earth made the engineers put the PC Card slots just at the front on the right side of the unit? This will annoy any user trying to use an external mouse. PC cards belong as close to the back of the PC as possible.
The same can be said for the ethernet and modem ports (that they belong near the back). On the E500 they are in an acceptable position but even further back would be better.
Perhaps the engineers were left-handed? Because apart from putting the PC Card slots in that terrible place, they also put the connector for the external mouse near the left side of the unit rather than the right as with most other products.
Oh, and the PC Cards do not have small flaps covering the slots when they are not in use. Instead, the computer comes with two blank cards to use when the slots are not in use. This is probably the most stupid thing about the design of this computer.
If it is not the fact that while the left front corner of the PC is nice and round, the right front corner is sharp and makes using the PC very uncomfortable if is on a desktop.
My conclusion is therefore that I do cannot recommend this PC which is too big, too heavy, performes disappointingly, has lousy keyboard and screen, and has been designed without any though of the user's needs.
Why I am using it? Company policy of always buying Compaq.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
jfallesen
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Member: Jens Fallesen
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 0 members
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