I have recently bought a
Compaq Presario C710ED for somebody. The notebook was bought in The Netherlands, Europe. I wasn't able to find any review or user feedback about it before buying, so I think this compact review might be useful to some.
Configuration
CPU: Core Duo T2310, 1.46GHz / 1MB L2 cache
GPU: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
RAM: DDR2 1GB = 2x512MB, no free slots
HDD: Fujitsu 120GB 5400 RPM
ODD: DVD RW SuperMulti
LCD: WXGA 15.4"
BATT: 47 Wh
WLAN: IEEE 802.11b/g
PORTS: 3xUSB, 100Mbps Ethernet, Modem, VGA out, S-video out, line out (no SPDIF), line in, Kensington lock
Weight and size:
* 3.1 kg w/o batt, ~4kg w/batt, adapter, mouse, cables
* 35,7 cm (l) x 25,7 cm (b) x 2,54 cm (min. h) / 3,96 cm (max. h) (advertised so please add 2mm for the feet)
Full product spec sheet on hp.com
Build quality and aesthetics
Build quality is an important concern in the budget range that this Presario belongs to.
* The build quality is quite good, without being excellent. There is some bending when picked up from one corner, and poking fairly hard in the back of the LCD causes ripples on the screen. The palmrest material is high-quality and picks up no smudges (it may be some carbon fiber alloy, but probably it's high-grade plastic). However the LCD cover and the bottom case (belly) are made of a lower-quality plastic that does pick up fingerprints that are not easy to remove.
* The notebook looks well, and is quite elegant. It has an all-black chassis, and rounded corners. I especially like the LEDs which have a pleasant blue/orange color theme, and are placed near the elements they refer to (e.g., touchpad LED on the touchpad bezel, CAPS and Scroll leds near the respective keys). The touchpad and wireless LEDs are orange when they signal the "off" state, the rest are turned off in the "off" state (and then you can barely see them, they blend into the background). The "on" state for all the LEDs is a nice blue.
* The keyboard feels a little soft and there is minor flex in some places. Key feedback is good.
* It seems the front-right foot is a bit short, so the notebook wobbles a bit on a flat table...
* There is a bit of wobble in the screen hinge as well.
Performance
* The CPU scored 1min34 seconds in SuperPI with 2 million digits. Given that my 2MB-cache 1.83GHz Core Duo scores 1min20sec, and considering that the T2310 has only half the cache, the score is respectable.
* The GPU runs Aero very smoothly in WXGA. Vista gives the GPU a 3.1 in the Experience index, which might seem low; however as I said Aero is very smooth, so Vista just underestimates the card.
* Other Vista scores range in 3.9 - 4.6 with the memory giving the 3.9.
* The performance out of the box was reasonable. HP included very little auto-starting bloatware. I only had to remove the LightScribe tool -- the system doesn't have LightScribe --, Norton, and one or two other applications the names of which I don't remember. I installed AVG Free instead of Norton.
* Vista feels a bit tight in the 1GB of RAM, it always uses around half of it. Given that the GPU also takes its share, that leaves precious little for applications. If you need the laptop for more than emailing, surfing, and document editing, upgrading to 2GB is a must. That means that you have to lose either one or both of the 512MB memory chips (depending on whether you want 1.5 or 2GB of RAM).
Battery
On battery saving profile, with Aero & Vista gadgets turned off, wireless on, and the screen around 50% brightness, I got a rundown time of 2hours 45 minutes, when starting from 85% battery. So the notebook will probably get around 3 hours on light tasks on a full battery.
A few battery quirks:
- when the battery is discharged only a few percent and then plugged back in, those few percent are not charged; instead the reported charge "jumps back" to 100%. This phenomenon disappears though as the charge becomes lower, and the battery starts charging normally.
- the charge and discharge rate are not reported (or are reported as 0) to Windows. As a result, Windows cannot compute the remaining run time on battery power. There are other ACPI quirks, like the battery capacity being reported as 4.7 Wh instead of the correct 47 Wh to Linux.
- there is a significant drop of battery charge (10 to 15%) overnight, when the computer is in hibernation. This is probably due to a device not being turned off in hibernation, which is either the fault of Vista or the BIOS.
Screen quality
Reasonable. Quite bright and vivid. Viewing angles are typical: horizontal good, vertical quite poor.
Heat and noise
The fan is always on (but can only be heard in a very quiet environment) and the exhaust air is warm without being hot. I did not bother installing software to get exact temp readings. As always, make sure to use the notebook on a flat and hard surface, because the air intakes are on the bottom.
Layout (ports and others)
The layout of ports is not good. All the ports are crammed onto the sides towards the user, so any devices and cables can disturb typing and using the mouse. 2 of the USB ports are to the right (where the mouse is) so that is diminishing the available mouse space. Also these 2 USB ports are very close together so unless the (plugs of the) USB devices are very slim, you're not going to be able to plug two of them in these neighboring ports at the same time.
There are no ports on the back since the hinge is Macbook-style.
The vent is on the left-hand side.
The battery goes to the back of the computer. This means you will need two hands to open the notebook, and to tilt the screen back (otherwise the notebook will lift to follow the screen).
Miscellanea
You can select the OS language upon boot, but this selection cannot be changed afterwards (because the recovery partition is rebuilt to accommodate your choice).
It takes a large amount of time (over 1 hour) to make the 2 recovery DVDs from the partition.
I also find it annoying that a clean Windows installation is impossible to obtain using the recovery partition; and on top of that, that a driver & applications CD is not included separately. This means that if you want to install a fresh copy of Windows without the bloatware, you will (a) need to have your own installation disk to do it, and (b) need to invest time into searching for and downloading drivers for every hardware component. To keep things in perspective, I will emphasize again that very little bloatware was included, so the lack of a clean Windows install possibility is not a major issue.
Conclusion
Pros:
- Elegant looks
- Good performance
- Good build quality (but not excellent)
- Good quality palm-rest
- Very little or no bloatware
Cons:
- Plastic on LCD cover picks up smudges from fingers, that are difficult to remove
- Bad port layout, and poor ports / connectivity
- A bit on the heavy side
- No possibility for a clean Windows install; no driver & applications disk
Summary:
The Compaq is a reasonable, mid-range quality machine for its price. I'm not sure if it has anything special besides its good looks.
Hoping this helps,
E.B.E.
Compaq Presario C700 / C710ED -- A quick review
)
