good value
Written: Jun 12 '00
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Great features/value
Cons: A little heavy & moderate performance
|
|
|
| engrguy's Full Review: Compaq Armada 1500C (386332-162) PC Notebook |
I was looking for a laptop that would give me the features I need from a company that would be around a year or three from now. Long term support and availability of parts was key. I looked at IBMs, HPs, Dells, to a lesser extent, also Acers and Winbooks. My minimum criteria were as follows: I needed integral floppy and CD drives (I hate swapping drives). I wanted a TFT display for readability. At least 2 gig of Hard drive with something other than a "keyboard joystick mouse" (invitation to carpal tunnel syndrome). PCMCIA slos for expansion were also desired. A reputation for reliability was necessary as was the willingness of the manufacturer to stand behind it.
Lastly, I'm cheap - I wanted value for the money. I got all this and more with the 1500c. I have had it for about 6 mos now and it has been a good machine. At the time, no other machine had all the features of the 1500c for the price. I paid, about $1350.00. Not bad for an Armada, the high end of Compaqs laptop line. Armadas have a much better reputation than Presarios. It also came through with an integral V.90 modem, touchpad, sound card, 2 PCMCIA slots and a USB port! Add all that to a 4 GB hard drive, 32MB of memory and Nimh battery it is an excellent value.
The screen is clear & bright. Typical battery life is about 2+ hours unless you are heavy on the CD. My processor is a 300mhz Celeron. It is no speed demon but for surfing, Powerpoint presentations, email and standard graphics it works great. I put a 10/100 NIC in it and the USB port is wonderful for cameras, scanners etc. Don't buy a machine without it (USB). It is the way the world is going. I still have 1 unused PCMCIA slot left over for expansion.
I unwittingly tested the warranty when I bought it. 3 keys on the keyboard were bad. I purchased it over the net. The re-seller gave me the run around. I went to Compaq, they took it back & repaired it no questions asked in 2 weeks. It has been great ever since. It is a little heavy 8-10 pounds but that is understandable with all the features in that price range. If you are looking for a medium power very full featured machine by a company who stands behind their product the Armada 1500c is a good buy.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
engrguy
|
|
Reviews written: 1
Trusted by: 1 member
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.