1210US Good for Average User
Written: Mar 03 '02
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Pros: Price, ease of use, lightweight, JBL sound
Cons: 128MB of memory isn't enough, 16MB of video would have been nice
The Bottom Line: Bottom line, this a good computer if you will be using it for primarily Office-type applications, internet surfing, and light gaming.
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| meccompliance's Full Review: Compaq Presario 1210US (470011-353) PC Notebook |
I bought my 1210US last August at Best Buy. When I was shopping for laptops, there were probably about 4 in my price range at the store. This was my first laptop, so I wanted all I could get for the money (I was willing to spend up to $1800). I had borrowed a Toshiba from my company for a month and had to send it back for service the second day I had it (bad processor fan), so they went off my list. HP and Sony were known brands, but at the top of the price range. A friend of mine said to go with Compaq because they can take a beating and will work every time.
I paid about $1200 and I purchased an extended warranty, an optical mouse (a must have) and the complete restore CD package from Compaq ($30, but you can reclaim the hard drive space that is used to store the backup image on).
So far, I've been pleased. I did realize right away that 128MB of memory wasn't going to cut it though, especially when I started running graphic-intensive games and heavy applications, like MS Office. I purchased a 256MB SODIMM chip off the net and it made a world of difference. My one recommendation to anyone who buys this computer is to invest the 40 or 50-dollars in more RAM. Compaq should have put it in at the factory.
As prices have come down over the past few months, I wished I'd have waited. You could get this model for about $300 cheaper, and for what I paid, I could have had a CD-RW and more video RAM. Oh well, c'est la vie...
As far as gaming goes, Command and Conquer runs smoothly, but I'm hesitant to load anything more graphically intense. Picture is smooth and, for a laptop, the sound is great. Compaq made a good choice on the JBL sound. I've been pretty rough on my machine. It's endured a lot of banging around inside my briefcase and hasn't failed me yet.
In summary, if you have reasonable expectations of what a laptop in this price range should do, you won't be disappointed.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 1200
Operating System: Windows
Processor: AMD Athlon (K7)
Processor speed: 801-900
RAM: 128
Internal Storage: DVD
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Epinions.com ID:
meccompliance
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Reviews written: 4
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