better than the N3250
Written: Sep 10 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: big ass screen, fast, DVD
Cons: quiet speakers, battery life
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| SHAPIRO2's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Pavilion N3270 (F1917A) PC Noteboo... |
I recently purchased the N3270 after carefully reviewing many others' opinions and comparing it to other computers. The computer is immaculate. The screen is the brightest I've ever seen (I've owned a few laptops, too) but they forgot to put a BRIGHTNESS (not contrast on TFT screens) control. It's almost too bright in dim light & I'm hoping it doesn't effect the life of the screen. It also has some sort of special coating on the screen that seems to make it even sharper than that of the competition's (it is visibly noticeable). The other CON is the speakers. These speakers are super quiet no matter how much tweaking you think you can do to them. Even plugging in some Denon digital headphones is a little quiet. That definitely helps, but if you want to go deaf, this is not the right sound card for you. BUT if you play a CD with the computer off, it can get plenty loud??!!!? I don't know.
ON THE GOOD SIDE, this computer is very well thought out. The entire laptop is very ergonomic for people: it stays cooler than other laptops (fan rarely has to turn on), few typos are made on the keyboard, and every part of it is quality. None of this cheap ABC brand junk that's thrown together. The computer is also very durable and solid (you can shake it around and you'll here no loose parts). I'm not quite sure what they did to this modem, but is is faster than any other 56k modem I've ever used on any type of ISP. The DVD is incredibly fast. It doesn't vibrate like some laptops, too. The big plus about the DVD in this computer is that it is all software based. No non-upgradeable hardware here, but all software MPEG-II controlled. If this makes no sense at all to you (as I thought until I researched it), it means that is good. So, I decided to get rid of the rather sloppy DVD software it came with and used WinDVD 2.2. The difference was incredible. Nearly home electronics performance. I also added a bunch of RAM (total of 192mb out of 256mb now). That made the system faster than anything I've ever used or tried in a store. I got the RAM at www.crucial.com for $130 for 128mb!!! As for the future, I will be upgrading the processor to a mobile AMD K6-3+ when they come out with the 600mHz version (N3270 comes with a mobile K6-2-P). That processor is comparable to a Pentium III 700mHz because of it's huge on chip cache. I would definitely buy this computer if you enjoy USING your computer instead of fixing it!! Oh! one other thing... the Compaq laptops run at a system bus speed of 95mHz, NOT 100mHz like it should. Although I haven't used HP's support for this product yet, I have used it before for their printers. They definitely knew what they were talking about...on your dime though:( I also noticed that some of the reviews on the computers are software and/or operator error based problems...not the manufacturer's defects.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
SHAPIRO2
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Reviews written: 15
Trusted by: 0 members
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