Compaq's Mean Little Machine
Written: Jan 13 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: portable, easy to use
Cons: quirky, not much memory, not much battery life
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| korendil's Full Review: Compaq Presario 1270 (104722-003) PC Notebook |
"Mean," in this case, denotes "unfriendly." I can't complain about the usability of my Compaq laptop, except to say that it's perhaps TOO easy to use. For example, I don't need the "Easy Access Buttons"; nor do I need the "Quick Save" feature: I am as capable of clicking a desktop icon as I am of turning my computer off or supplying it with power before the battery dies. (Interestingly enough, I can't reprogram my access buttons, either; the website that's supposed to "guide me through the process," or some such nonsense, is down, and I still can't find something similar on the Compaq website.) I would prefer to see the memory--which is limited to 2 gigs on the "C" drive; I'm down to 70-some megabytes "free," now--go to better use. Beyond the factory's use of much of the memory on my computer, I have this problem with the system crashing and/or spontaneously restarting (endlessly, and making a horrible high-pitched noise while it does), particularly when it is connected to a dial-up server or LAN, and even more particularly, when I'm playing music. That may be a quirk of my own computer, however, and I keep meaning to call Tech Support.
Here's a quick, qualitative description of what you get (besides what Epinions tells you on the menu page): relatively nice speakers for a laptop, every type of port you could possibly need (USB, etc.), a network card slot and modem, and an excellent "monitor"--essentially everything. Win98 is, of course, standard on this model, and having used Win95 on a desktop for four years, I enjoy it immensely.
For college students, or prospective college students, I would suggest a desktop. Truly. There's less worry about theft, more memory (and you'll use memory(!); believe me, you'll understand when you get there), and more stability, really, for what is often a smaller price. I enjoy having a notebook computer, but nobody takes them to class, so I don't. It has less than two hours (less than one, depending upon what you're doing) of battery power; that means dragging the power cord along with it and finding an outlet. (It DOES save room on a desk, though, and if you're as cluttered as I am, you'll appreciate that.) Also, most people prefer to be on the school network when they're on their computers; you'll find that, short of libraries (at least at UVa), there aren't many places where you'll find network outlets around campus/grounds. There are also MANY computer labs, and if you, like me, have a printer that barely works, you'll find that you use those more than you'd expect; they allow you to do anything you would want your laptop to do, except perhaps to use ICQ. You don't have to worry about dropping a computer lab, or having it stolen from you.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
korendil
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Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Reviews written: 10
Trusted by: 7 members
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