The Compal Notebook FAQ [read this first]

[Goren]

1. What is Compal?

Established in 1984, Compal Electronics is an Original Design Manufacturer (ODM) based in
Taipei, Taiwan. While they may be relatively unknown to the everyday
consumer, Compal is regarded to be the 2nd LARGEST notebook manufacturer
in the world, being second only to Quanta. These two companies alone
produce over half of the world's notebooks! Compal has been producing notebooks for over
22 years.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/...102220108.html

Compal is responsible for manufacturing notebooks for many popular
brands, which include, but are not limited to: Dell, Compaq, HP, Fujitsu-Siemens,
etc
http://tuxmobil.org/laptop_oem.html

Generally, consumers will be unable to buy the notebook Compal produces
for other companies due to contract agreements. However, Compal also
releases their own line of whitebooks that are sold by resellers,
sometimes under different names.

2. What is a whitebook?

A whitebook is a highly configurable notebook that is often sold with
just the chassis and vital components such as the motherboard, screen,
battery, etc. What's missing is the software, CPU, RAM, Hard Drive,
Bluetooth, and occasionally optical drives. Often, Compal resellers
give consumers the option of having them install these components for them,
or allowing the consumer to purchase it as a barebone should he/she decide
to install these component themselves. As such, whitebooks can often end up costing
much less than their name brand counterparts. In addition, most American consumers
are able to avoid hefty sales tax, provided that they purchase a whitebook from a reseller
residing in a different state.

3. Where to find Compal?

Due to the number of resellers, as well as the varying designations given to
rebranded Compal whitebooks, it will be difficult to list them all. However
the list below represents some of the more well known Compal vendors.

USA:
PowerNotebooks - usually sold under Crown or PowerPro lines. Nevada based
Mwave - found in their configurable laptop section. California based
Agearnotebooks - found under Compal section. California based
Micro Express - California based
XoticPC - Nebraska based

Canada:
BizCOM - Ontario based

Europe:
Zepto - sold as Znote series. Primarily Scandinavian based
Multicom - Primarily Norwegian based
http://www.laptops4u.nl - Netherlands

Taiwan:
Marasst - One of the two large Compal distributors
Anadem - One of the two large Compal distributors

4. Summary of Compal Whitebooks:

Centrino 2 models -
JHL90 - 15.4" wxga/wxga+/wsxga+ (glossy) Nvidia 9600M GT DDR2
JHL91 - 15.4" wxga (glossy) Intel x3100
JHT00 - 14.1" wxga (glossy) Nvidia 9300M 256mb dedicated
JHT01 - 14.1" wxga (glossy) Intel x3100

Santa Rosa models -
IFL90 - 15.4" wsxga (glossy/matte)/ wxga+ (glossy) / wxga (glossy) Nvidia 8600 512mb dedicated
IFL91 - 15.4" wsxga (glossy)/wxga (glossy) Intel x3100
IFT00 - 14.1" wxga (glossy) Nvidia 8400 256mb dedicated (?)
IFT01 - 14.1" wxga (glossy) Intel x3100

Core Duo / Core 2 Duo Yonah / Merom models -
HEL80 - 15.4" wxga (glossy)/wsxga (matte) Nvidia Go 7600 256mb dedicated
HEL81 - 15.4" wxga (glossy)/wsxga (matte) Intel 945GM embedded
HGL30 - 14.1" wxga (glossy) Nvidia Go 7600 256mb dedicated (Powernotebooks has a matte option)
HGL31 - 14.1" wxga (glossy) Intel 945GM embedded

Pentium M Sonoma models -
MDL76 - 15.4" wxga (glossy)/wsxga (matte) ATi x600 128mb dedicated
MDL75 - 15.4" wxga (glossy)/wsxga (matte) Intel 915GM integrated
MAL50 - 14.1" xga, 15" xga/sxga+ (matte) ATi x600 128mb dedicated
MAL51 - 14.1" xga, 15" xga/sxga+ (matte) Intel 915GM integrated
MFL30/EFL30 - 14.1" wxga (matte) Nvidia Go 6400 64mb dedicated
MFL31/EFL31 - 14.1" wxga (matte) Intel 915GM integrated

Pentium M Dothan models -
IAL55 - 15" xga/sxga+ (matte) Intel 915GM integrated
CL56 - 15" sxga+ (matte) ATi 9700 128mb dedicated
CL51 - 14.1" xga, 15"xga (matte) Intel 855GM integrated

For pictures of these models, visit
http://www.marasst.com/index.htm

Many resellers often omit the first letter of the model name. For example
EFL30 is often labelled as FL30, and MDL76 as DL76.

5. Links & Resources

Reseller Ratings - Unsure of a reseller, check out their ratings! Simply type the name of the reseller under "Find A Store"
http://www.resellerratings.com/find.pl

Compal Electronic's homepage -
http://www.compal.com/index_En.htm

Compal Bios and Drivers -
http://www.compal.com/asp/driver_dnd/index.htm


6. Useful threads in this section

Ultimate Dummy Guide on Flashing the HEL80

Compal HEL80 Geforce Go 7600 OC Results

HEL80 Owners Lounge

HGL30 Owners Lounge

Latest Drivers for HEL80

[Goren]

well heres the faq, feel free to add or help edit it! I'm pretty sure there's more resellers than those above.

[33percentlonger]

nice faq very well made and in a very good order if i do say so myself

[paladin44]

Excellent job Goren...thank you!

[stamar]

rep point to goren for compiling information.

[Goren]

thanks stamar, really appreciate it

so anyone know any other resellers? preferably Europe, Australia, Asia, etc since the US is pretty much covered

[stamar]

i have definitely heard that quanta is the odm of all fujitsus

where is information that leads you to think that compal is?

your chart is like from 2002 or something

what id be most interested in is, right now current models. I mean, ok new model is out its toshiba yadda yadda, hp blah blah so who is the odm.
It would give us a good idea of what they make on the market.

I mean ok we can all look at like a inspiron b130 and say thats the cheapest thing there is. but ok, what are the most expensive compals out there?

the xps 1710 and the precision m90 come to mind. I wonder who makes the toshiba p105, i assume it is compal, i think all the satelites are compal but i could be wrong.

this is data i would like to know...

[Goren]

Originally Posted by stamar

i have definitely heard that quanta is the odm of all fujitsus

where is information that leads you to think that compal is?

your chart is like from 2002 or something

the chart is old, but I was referring to Fujitsu-Siemens, which include Siemen's line which definitely contain Compal and Uniwill models.

[paladin44]

Originally Posted by stamar

what id be most interested in is, right now current models. I mean, ok new model is out its toshiba yadda yadda, hp blah blah so who is the odm.
It would give us a good idea of what they make on the market.

I mean ok we can all look at like a inspiron b130 and say thats the cheapest thing there is. but ok, what are the most expensive compals out there?

the xps 1710 and the precision m90 come to mind. I wonder who makes the toshiba p105, i assume it is compal, i think all the satelites are compal but i could be wrong.

this is data i would like to know...

I agree this would be helpful information stamar, and any help you could give in digging up the answers would be appreciated by all of us.

Thank you in advance for you efforts doing this research.

[paladin44]

Another good source for current statistics is:

http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/Ma...pages=A1&seq=2

Notice that ASUS ins't even on the chart