Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

You are here: MacNN Forums > Community > MacNN Lounge > Adventures in Compaq Land

Adventures in Compaq Land
Thread Tools
nonhuman
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Baltimore, MD
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 5, 2001, 08:49 PM
 
A friend of mine asked me for help in getting a cd burner for her Compaq Presario 1827 laptop. (We were talking online so I didn't have the comp right in front of me to look at.) So the first thing I want to find out is what kind of ports she has. I ask her if she has USB, but she didn't know (she really doesn't know anything about computers, if she did she'd have a Mac ). So I figure I'll check out the Compaq website and see. It was relatively simple to find their Presario Laptop section, but once I got there I discovered that they have virtually no technical info about their laptops what so ever. About all it said was that it uses a PIII 300, has a DVD drive, and some sort of tv-out port... Clicking the "More Info" link just gives slightly more info about those same features. So I go to the support page to look there, and after expanding the tiny tiny window it opened in my broswer I search through the links that are spread all over the page, forcing me to scroll up and down, left and right for a couple minutes just to find nothing. Finally I just gave up on the Compaq website and went to PCConnection.com. Searching for "Presario 1827" turned up nothing, and just "Presario" gave me pages of results. Eventually, the closest I was able to come to finding specific information was a port-replicator for the Presario 1800 series that, much to my delight, had two USB ports.

Is it just me, or is that a ludicrous amount of work to go to just to find out if a computer has USB?
     
olePigeon
Clinically Insane
Join Date: Dec 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 5, 2001, 11:15 PM
 
It's not just you. I noticed that with almost all brands of PC notebooks.

What I find funny is that they advertise 5 hour battery life. What they don't tell you is that it only goes as much as 1 1/2 to 2 hours. To get the 5 hours it requires a specialized (and very LARGE) $900 battery.
"…I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than
you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods,
you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F. Roberts
     
elppa cam
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: Austin, TX
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 5, 2001, 11:26 PM
 
I think we all have horror stories of friends and their PCs.
"I... baked... your... dog... for... you..."
     
nonhuman  (op)
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Baltimore, MD
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 5, 2001, 11:30 PM
 
Until now I didn't have any. I have very few PC user friends, somehow all the people I make friends with turn out to be Mac users...
     
juanvaldes
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Seattle, WA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 5, 2001, 11:40 PM
 
Originally posted by elppa cam:
<STRONG>I think we all have horror stories of friends and their PCs. </STRONG>
too true...
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.
- Thomas Jefferson, 1787
     
akebono
Dedicated MacNNer
Join Date: Oct 1999
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 5, 2001, 11:47 PM
 
COMPAQ makes some of the worst laptops available. That's just my opinion based on reports from a smattering of friends that have owned them. I recommend ibooks to all interested in a cheap laptop these days, but about half of them can not personally reconcile the requirement for windows compatibility. C'est la vis. I warn them not to come crying...
     
nonhuman  (op)
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Baltimore, MD
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 5, 2001, 11:51 PM
 
Most if not all non-apple laptops are pretty crappy in my opinion. I honestly don't see why anyone would get one with the new iBook out.
     
nonhuman  (op)
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Baltimore, MD
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 5, 2001, 11:53 PM
 
Hmm, except maybe for the old Quantus laptops. I wonder what happened to them...
     
Korv
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Jun 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 02:23 AM
 
Originally posted by nonhuman:
<STRONG>Hmm, except maybe for the old Quantus laptops. I wonder what happened to them...</STRONG>
Quantas had the same OEM as Dell (for the Inspiron line). Basically you were getting a Dell for less dough. I haven't heard from them in a few years; I don't have a clue what happened to them.
     
nonhuman  (op)
Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2001
Location: Baltimore, MD
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 02:26 AM
 
Originally posted by Korv:
<STRONG>

Quantas had the same OEM as Dell (for the Inspiron line). Basically you were getting a Dell for less dough. I haven't heard from them in a few years; I don't have a clue what happened to them.</STRONG>
Except that, unlike Dell, Quantus used to make laptops that ran MacOS.
     
The Godfather
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: Dec 1999
Location: Tampa, Florida
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 03:23 AM
 
Originally posted by akebono:
<STRONG>COMPAQ makes some of the worst laptops available. That's just my opinion based on reports from a smattering of friends that have owned them. I recommend ibooks to all interested in a cheap laptop these days, but about half of them can not personally reconcile the requirement for windows compatibility. C'est la vis. I warn them not to come crying...</STRONG>
I must be the luckiest Compaq laptop user alive. I made some research about the Armada M300 before buying and I got a lot of tech details, to the point of that I knew every feature of it before having the actual computer on my hands. Out of the box, it included all the PDF documents I had read, in book form. This Compaq laptop has survived a floppy drive bump, a smash on the keyboard and a coffee spill on the keyboard and LCD. It is up during most of the day and handles the heat pretty well. Great Linux support. OLD, OLD graphics chip although.

I bought it refurbished from Compaq, maybe they put extra attention on refurbishing.

So, if you must go for a PC laptop, go for the Armada M300, P2, P3 or Celeron.

Never tried a Presario laptop, but I believe you guys that it might be a crappy one.


Slim and Slick
     
Nimisys
Banned
Join Date: Apr 2001
Location: San Diego, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 03:39 AM
 
Originally posted by nonhuman:
<STRONG>Most if not all non-apple laptops are pretty crappy in my opinion. I honestly don't see why anyone would get one with the new iBook out.</STRONG>
Apple does make a good laptop... no denying that. Personally i would take an Athlon4 Sony one myself, as MacOS and i don't play nicely (i seem to be the only person that can get it to crash all the time), and just like their Desktops all Dumbpaqs suck ass. they do too many propreietary **** in them to qualify as a pc... only a POS
     
Cipher13
Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2000
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 04:00 AM
 
Even I will agree that Apple makes th best laptops available - no doubt. If only the Ti was cooler...

The second best PC laptop I've used was an old 166 Compaq Armada... it was nicely built.

The best being a little known brand. "Hypec". The laptop is a 233 PII but it just feels NICE. Its nicely built, nice features (for its time), and so forth.

Compaq's are awful...

Apple is the king of portables. Always have been.
     
AlbertWu
Professional Poster
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: boulder, co
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 04:03 AM
 
My mom's presario is a POS...

Ironically, it's the only laptop besides my PowerBook (out of 2 acers and a thinkpad) that likes the ricochet...
Ad Astra Per Aspera - Semper Exploro
     
Stogieman
Addicted to MacNN
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 05:02 AM
 
Apple is the king of portables. Always have been.
Well.... not always. I consider the Powerbook 5300 a pretty big POS. Without a doubt Apple's worst portable. Thank god they bounced back when they introduced the Powerbook G3.

Speaking of the Powerbook G3, has anyone noticed how similar the Persario 1700 series looks to the PB G3? Click on this link and view the virtual tour. After you sit through the very long and useless Flash intro, click on the back view button. They must have been browsing the Hacking forum here at MacNN and seen the cool silver & black paint job that was posted.

Slick shoes?! Are you crazy?!
     
iCartman
Senior User
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: In a van down by the river
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 11:53 AM
 
I agree that Compaq blows chunks in the desktop and laptop arena. Apple does rule (especially with the iBook) in the notebook arena but thier choices and processor speeds are kinda limited (there was a time when the Powerbook was just as fast as the desktops). I always preferred IBM notebooks because they are the only vendor that actually makes thier own notebooks and design most of the technology. If Apple licensed an IBM Thinkpad keyboard for the Powerbooks... heaven. (the keyboard is my only gripe with all of Apple's notebooks)
respect mah athoritah!
     
nealconner
Mac Elite
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Sarasota, FL, US
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 12:25 PM
 
Don't you just hate how PC companies give numbers for their computers? It makes all confusing. I know Apple used to do that.
     
Raman
Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 02:04 PM
 
Originally posted by Nimisys:
<STRONG>

Apple does make a good laptop... no denying that. Personally i would take an Athlon4 Sony one myself, as MacOS and i don't play nicely (i seem to be the only person that can get it to crash all the time), and just like their Desktops all Dumbpaqs suck ass. they do too many propreietary **** in them to qualify as a pc... only a POS</STRONG>
NO you wouldn't unless you wanted to run the OS that came with the Sony for the life of the laptop.

One of my friends purchased a Sony Viao and can't get Win2K to install on his laptop. Sony does not provide any support or drivers to do so. Also remember that Sony uses many proprietary parts (whereas other laptop manufacturers will be proprietary but fit off-the-shelf generic components so you can at least find a driver for it.)

-R
     
Raman
Mac Elite
Join Date: Mar 2001
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 02:06 PM
 
Originally posted by nealconner:
<STRONG>Don't you just hate how PC companies give numbers for their computers? It makes all confusing. I know Apple used to do that.</STRONG>
It's probably because there are many BTO options. Also, it's easier for some corporate dumba$$ to say "hmm. i'm getting the 1234 - maybe i should spend the extra $100 and get the 1235"..(doesn't know what is different, but it has a higher number so it must be better)

     
iCartman
Senior User
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: In a van down by the river
Status: Offline
Reply With Quote
Jul 6, 2001, 04:50 PM
 
off topic, but;
One of my friends purchased a Sony Viao and can't get Win2K to install on his laptop. Sony does not provide any support or drivers to do so.
Sony does'nt make it easy to find Win2k drivers, but they do exist. Try these sites:

ftp://ftp.vaio-link.com/pub/W2K/

ftp://ftp.ita.sel.sony.com/ccpg/pc/
www.unofficialsony.com (this site has an uptime worse than AI!)

Also remember that Sony uses many proprietary parts (whereas other laptop manufacturers will be proprietary but fit off-the-shelf generic components so you can at least find a driver for it.)
The memory stick and jog dial are the only proprietary parts on a Sony notebook.
respect mah athoritah!
     
   
Thread Tools
 
Forum Links
Forum Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Top
Privacy Policy
All times are GMT -4. The time now is 05:56 PM.
All contents of these forums © 1995-2017 MacNN. All rights reserved.
Branding + Design: www.gesamtbild.com
vBulletin v.3.8.8 © 2000-2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.,