Highly Reliable - Good Standard Features - Budget Friendly
Written: Apr 19 '04
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Pros: Highly Reliable - Good Standard Features - Budget Friendly
Cons: USB Port Speed, Port Placement
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for a high feature / budget priced notebook this Compaq definitely deserves a look.
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| cplumbley's Full Review: Hewlett Packard Compaq Presario 2100US (DB954A) PC... |
I am a self employed network consultant. I have owned this particular notebook for almost a year now. I use it in the field almost every day and take "Reasonable" care to not let it get banged around too much. I basically use it to configure routers and such so the com port comes in handy.
Touchpad:
If you are a touch pad user this one works as well as any. For more than a few minutes use I break out the wireless mouse. This isn't to criticize the notebook; it's more of a personal preference.
Reliability:
I also use this notebook to test the effects of any given virus and do “risky” registry edits etc. Needless to say the OS gets killed often. I just throw a new image on and I’m good to go. I would guess it’s been re-imaged 20 times or more I have yet to have a single hardware problem.
Display:
The display is actually pretty good if the driver is current and correct.
Battery Life:
With proper care its not bad and certainly better than some.
Keyboard:
What can I say, its a notebook keyboard and I have fat fingers. To be fair I am not wild about anyone’s notebook keyboard but when compared to other notebooks this one is pretty good especially considering this notebook’s price point.
Performance: The notebook shipped with a 1.6GHz Celeron and only 256MB (SHARED) RAM and just as one should expect, performance was a little on the slow side. I bumped the RAM to 512MB and the performance is now very acceptable.
A Couple of Nits to Pick
USB Port Speed: Version 1.1 USB not really a big issue for my application
Port Placement: Nothing really makes me dislike this notebook however having the RJ-45 Plug, USB ports, and Power Plug are too close together. Because I use all three, this is a minor beef. The USB ports are mostly used for a Jump Drive and Mouse transmitter. Moving the transmitter around the corner to the PS/2 port it gets in the way of the DVD/ CDRW drive.
Summary: For all the things this notebook does right I can definitely live with a couple things that could be better. If you are looking for a high feature / budget priced notebook this Compaq deserves a look.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 800.00
Operating System: Windows
Processor: Intel Celeron
Processor speed: over 1000
Screen Size: 14 inches
RAM: More than 256
Internal Storage: CD-RW and DVD
Hard Drive (GB): 21-30
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Epinions.com ID:
cplumbley
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Reviews written: 1
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