install windows xp on it and you wont need to upgrade the parts.

My only question is, is this base compaq going to run extremely slow with 512mb of ram and vista? Is the upgrade to 1gb worth it if your buying it for a kid going off to college and dont have time, or live in the same state, to upgrade seperately?

Also is the upgrade to vista premium the way to go? And for my 3rd only question, is upgrading the processor really a big upgrade if all the kid is going to use it for is surfing the internet, using it for college, email, aim, watching videos, etc.

Thanks

I got in on the last deal for this laptop with a slightly more expensive base configuration (but 1GB RAM, DVD burner and 80gb HD standard). It looks like if you price this out to similar specs, it's only $10 more.

For the last deal, shipping was $50 (I'm in CA, but it seemed as though it was $50 for everyone, as the laptops were shipped FedEx directly from China). I configured mine with the T2250, intel wireless + bluetooth, brightview, and Vista Premium for a grand total of about $730 after shipping, tax and CA "recycling fee".

The stores do NOT stock the laptop, and it took about 2 weeks before people started receiving their laptops (mine was delivered this past Monday)... so if you need a laptop NOW, this might not be the deal for you.

All of that being said, I'm actually pretty happy with the unit. Build quality is pretty good (coming from an older Sony Vaio PCG-GRS100), though the headphone/mic jacks are in a horrible spot (if you have headphones plugged in, your wrist will rest on the plug while using the touchpad, putting pressure on the jack). The unit comes pre-loaded with way too much junk, and my machine ran slower than I expected until I started to offload some of the bloatware (i.e. Norton Internet Security, and some HP helper apps). I still need to contact HP/Compaq to see if I can get a Vista disc to do a clean re-install.

The onboard graphics seem to run Aero okay (gives a 2.2 Windows Experience Index, whereas my old 128MB AGP nVidia FX5600 gives a 3.0), but things ran noticeably smoother when I turned off the transparency effect.

Overall, it's a pretty good, cheap laptop. Throw 2GB of RAM into it and it will probably last you a few years.

Note: See Quick Summary from my link to the previous deal for information on how to better track your order.

mrmzytplk said:Doh! Do I want a cheap Compaq or a top of the line Thinkpad ... decisions!

well you can get one for $4000-5000

??

springboards said:Freezing Cold. Whhhoooo... Time for a hot chocolate.

gulfwindx said:??

springboards said:Freezing Cold. Whhhoooo... Time for a hot chocolate.

he posted the some freaking thing over and over again. About 100 in the last 30min

puppyfriend said:bicmos said:700 is a warm deal, not very hot.


Luckily it's $400. I don't know why people add in everything to come up with a not so hot price. My $16,000 Prius wasn't such a hot deal since I had to add on that $1,000,000 house to put it in. At $1,016,000 it was only warm.

Compare the base config with the other celery m $400 laptops and this is hot.

Ummm, A million dollar house would be $5000 dollars a month house payment. Im assuming you were being sarcastic?

Conservative1 said:Ummm, A million dollar house would be $5000 dollars a month house payment. Im assuming you were being sarcastic?

Nope. I just live in California.

corinthos said:i have no OD near here argh

Do you live in the boonies? lol... IMO <--Don't flame me...lol

tb40nd said:man, i'm all over this... any chance to order tomorrow and rebuy on Sunday? i just don't want to miss it. the core 2 duo and vista premium seems like automatic upgrades for $85 or so.

any coupons to offset some of the shipping costs?

You won't miss it. They make as many CTOs as are ordered. You wouldn't even need to go in tomorrow.