Compaq Presario v2000z Review (pics, specs)

[dr_st]

60gigs in decimal (how manufacturers count) is about 55.9 gigs in binary (like software counts), so I see no problem.

[chinna_n]

Yes, dr_st is right. Manufacturer counts it differently( it is wrong though) as 1000bytes as one KB, where as it should be 1024. Like that its actual size is going to be around 55GB rather than 60GB.

[jmsnyc]

Ok Circuit City lowered the price to another $50 on the 2410us. Is this still a good deal or is HP offereing better deals onlone/phone with APP? If I do buy it should I get extended warranty?
http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/produ...&cm_keycode=85

For $100 more Best Buy has the V2424NR which includes a 100gb (still 4200 rpm) and the 1.8 ML-34. Not sure if anything else is different. So which do you think is a better deal, the V2410US at Circuit City for $799 or the V2424NR at Best Buy for $899???

[JimmybobSammyjoe]

Well, thanks to Chinna's review I decided to take the plunge.
I am moving from a Toshiba Satellite A-75 S226. Purchased at $1500 odd dollars, it had, in brief:
- Pentium 4HT 3.06GHz
- 512MB RAM
- DVD+/-RW
- 60GB 4200 RPM hard drive
- 15.4" screen
- ATI RADEON 9000 IGP
- Atheros 802.11g

Problems included:
- One month after purchase, motherboard failure. Sent for replacement.
- Seven months after purchase, overheating issues. Sent for repairs.
- Thirteen months after purchase -- one month outside warranty -- the connection point where you plug the AC Adapter into the laptop broke, preventing the machine from recharging. Toshiba wanted too much money for repair.

I bought the V2000Z for $1228.35 with a $50 main in rebate, a free 1410 HP Multifunction printer, free bag, and free optical travel mouse. Here's what I got:

- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
- AMD Turion(TM) 64 ML-30 (1.6GHz/1MB L2 Cache)
- 14.0 WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x768)
- ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/productivity ports
- 1.0GB DDR SDRAM (2x512MB)
- 60 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
- DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support
- 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
- 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery

My regrets: Not getting the full 2.0GHz CPU, and not getting the 12-cell battery. I simply could not afford them -- in fact, getting 1GB of RAM stretched me just over the edge.

I am a serious gamer and I knew going into it that this machine would not handle the latest and greatest games very well, if at all, but I needed a machine ASAP and this fit the bill. Shipped in just three days, too. Fantastic.

[nathanhuth]

Jimmy,
You could have gotten aftermarket ram for much less, about $50 per quality 512 stick. I highly recommend, if possible, change your order to the minimum amount of RAM.

Also, the v2000z processors on the customize have just been updated, faster and cheaper. Freeing up this money could allow you to get the ML-37 and 12-cell.

If you are a hardcore gamer, you will be very dissapointed with the graphics. If you are looking for dedicated graphics in a compaq, go with the v4000t.

[Charles P. Jefferies]

You will be fine with the ML-30 - the only place you would notice a difference between that and the 2.0GHz would be in games (maybe), mathematical calculation programs, rendering, or encoding. The 1.6GHz is quite capable of those though.

The 5400RPM hard drive is nice, it is eons faster than the 4200's. 1GB of RAM helps as well, although I agree that you could have gotten it cheaper aftermarket.

[nathanhuth]

I knew I should have gotten the 5400 RPM. Is it really that much better? If it is better, what does it do the best vs 4200 rpm? If it is worth it, what are your recommendations for a quality aftermarket 5400 rpm drive that'll work with the v2000z?

[JimmybobSammyjoe]

Nathanhuth, 5400RPM is light years better than 4200 RPM. For me, it marks the difference between waiting one minute to open a PDF and waiting thirty seconds. Still, I would recommend getting the fastest laptop HD your money can buy -- I would have gone for a 7200RPM drive if my money allowed it.

All, thanks for the comments, but I truly hit my budget right on the nose. I spent an hour tweaking the options and going over all the different manufacturer's offerings. The bottom line for me was that no other computer at this price point had a good graphics accelerator for gaming -- they all had Intel XTreme or SiS chipsets, which are garbage for gaming. I know I won't be playing Battlefield 2 or anything, but so long as the thing plays Half-Life 2 and Homeworld 2 I'm a happy camper

[nathanhuth]

Who makes the best quality notebook hard drives? The v2000z is just ata right?

[Charles P. Jefferies]

In my opinion, Western digital makes the best hard drives - both notebook and desktop. Extremely quiet - no clicking either - and they run very cool. Highly recommended.

Next to that, I like Seagates.

Yes - your V2000z is ATA-6 (ATA/100)