Compaq Presario 2805US Notebook (1.4-GHz Pentium 4, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive)

Amazon.com Product Description

Don't be fooled by the Presario 2805US notebook's lightweight, sleek design. A fast processor, excellent 3-D graphics, and a built-in DVD/CD-RW drive make it comparable to many leading-edge desktop systems, and therefore an excellent choice for students or home users who need portability but aren't willing to sacrifice performance.

The Presario sports a slim profile at 10.1 by 12.48 by 1.3 inches. It weighs only 5.7 pounds, making it ideal for occasional adventures, but may not be light enough for the hard-core road warrior.

Intel's 1.4 GHz Pentium 4 processor gives this system enough horsepower for practically any task. It's more than adequate for office and Internet applications, and the built-in 32 MB ATI Mobility Radeon 7500 graphics are ready to take on the latest in 3-D games. Those graphics can be output to either the 1,024 x 768 14.1-inch XGA TFT display, an external monitor, or, using the S-video output, to your TV set. The system comes with a generous 256 MB of 266 MHz DDR memory, which can be upgraded to 1 GB, and a large 20 GB UltraDMA hard drive.

The hot-swappable 24x/8x/8x CD-RW/DVD drive both plays DVD movies and can write CD-R or CD-RW disks. Using this DVD capability in conjunction with the S-video output lets this notebook do double duty as a portable DVD player. The built-in JBL Pro Audio speakers with Bass Reflex offer excellent stereo output for music, movies, and games.

In terms of connectivity, the notebook includes both a built-in 56K modem for dial-up Internet connections and a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet adapter for broadband Internet and home networking. Two USB ports, a parallel port, and an infrared port connect the system to peripherals. There's no IEEE 1394 (FireWire) jack, though, for connecting to digital camcorders; to add that feature you'd need to use the notebook's sole PC Card slot.

The excellent software bundle makes this notebook a powerful tool right out of the box. Microsoft's easy-to-use Works 6.0 provides important functions like a word processor and spreadsheet, while Money 2001 lets you manage your finances on the PC. Norton AntiVirus 2002 protects your system against viruses, and a one-year subscription to Microsoft Encarta Online Deluxe lets you access a full-featured multimedia encyclopedia. Roxio's Easy CD Creator makes it easy to create your own music CDs or back up important data to the CD-RW drive.

Product Description

The Compaq Presario creates the perfect balance of exceptional performance and lightweight convenience in a multimedia notebook. Its innovative design packs everything you need for the ultimate multimedia excitement. Breeze through your most demanding programs with an amazingly fast processor, generous cache and high-performance graphics. Watch your multimedia applications spring to life with the large display that features brilliant, lifelike colors and striking contrast. The Presario is the perfect all-in-one complement for the go-anywhere enthusiast who insists on the ultimate quality and performance that only comes from Compaq.If you demand next-generation performance from your notebook Internet PC while not compromising your desktop performance and flexibility, the Compaq Presario 2800 Series Internet notebook is the one for you. Presario 2800 is a powerful wireless-ready notebook computer that delivers desktop-equivalent performance in sleek, stylish designs. The Presario 2800 takes advantage of the powerful mobile Intel Pentium 4 processor - M to conquer the most demanding processor-intensive applications without sacrificing the mobility that customers demand.

Customer Reviews:

This is not Penium 4 Nothwood! only 256 Cache not 512!.......2002-08-20

This is slow CPU, not worth the money.
I Like both company AMD and Intel, but AMD 1.47 Ghz is much faster Notbeook than this.
Old Penium4 are slow CPUs!
If u buy Penium4 make sure it has 512 Cache wich is Northwood P4

My second notebook, may be my last for a long time!.......2002-05-31

Wow, three years ago I bought an IBM 760ED Thinkpad. I thought it was a good deal, but after about a week it constantly froze up. It didn't matter how far you were into Windows, it did it whenever it wanted. Well, I sold it for about 1/3 of what I bought it for to a friend. After 6 months without a laptop and taking a job that required one, I picked up this baby on May 29, 2002. WOW! is all I can say! I wanted to go all out with my newest notebook, and Compaq spared no expense!

This is the coolest looking notebook I have ever seen. A silver top and bottom; black around the screen and keyboard, with silver outlining the keyboard, and chrome trim (I'm a chrome freak!).

The DVDR/CDRW combo drive is awesome! And I never expected such an excellent DVD picture to come out of this thing. Sure, some things are a little "snowy" and the colors aren't as vivid as they could possibly be, but I had low expectations going into this thing.

My first choices before this laptop were a Sony Vaio (because they're SO slim) or an HP (since I'd used an HP at work before). But, the Vaio is too expensive, and Sony isn't built on a computer foundation like Compaq is, and the HP's look like plastic toys (the purple and black ones). With the chrome and the DVD/CDRW combo, I couldn't pass it up! Sure, the price is a bit high, but I truly believe that I got my money's worth.

I like keeping my reviews updated, so if there are any problems, I will post them here!

Update: 6/12/2002

I have had to figure out the hard way that this baby gets HOT very quickly! (If you receive an offer to buy one of those insurance programs, I recommend you do!) After about 2 hours or so, it gets so hot that my wireless network card will actually stop working. It takes about 10 minutes propped up and shut down for it to cool off, but with this amount of time, it can actually go as long as 15 minutes before getting hot again. Kind of hard to use in bed like this, but, hey. So, beware!!

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Electronics