Members Phait Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 He's in the market for a cheap laptop and I found a Lenovo and MSI, very good options for him (Picasa photo managing, internet). The netbook screens were too small for his liking. Now, his friend who is also very experienced with computers like me is offering to sell his Compaq for $300 - but they were never in my top 3 brands to trust. However, after googling, I just can't find any recent reliability reports on Compaq - I know HP owns them, so would an HP report matter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Compaq is HP. HP bought the failing boxmaker to get their deadhead corporate customers who just kept buying the poorly made machines because they always had. After the purchase, HP's customer sat figures headed south and Compaq's came up. But eventually HP's recovered as well. (I don't believe they're great, mind you.) Dell once had some of the best customer sat in the industry but, for whatever reasons, they've sunk below the other majors. Me, I've had very good luck with the four computers I've bought for myself (2) and for my mom and a friend: 3 lappies, 1 tower, all refurbished and, in retrospect, very good deals. The Pentium M Centrino I bought refurb in early 2004 has served me extraordinarily well. [That said, the last purchase was almost two years ago, IIRC.] One thing about laptops: people appear to think they are indestructible... or at least treat them that way. I can't help but feel that one of the reasons my 5+ year old laptop (don't forget, someone else had it before me, however briefly) is still going strong is that I treat it like what it is: an incredibly tightly packed case full of extremely delicate and sensitive components, a number of which have the added liability of moving parts manufacturered to incredibly tiny tolerances. When I pick up my machine and move it around, I'm continually aware that I've got a plastic/composite case with big holes everywher, held together by screws and that torquing is a very real issue, since the jacks and slots are mostly connected to the case and connected by easy-to-break edge and other connectors that may be stressed or broken by case-torquing or shocks. [FWIW, I've dropped it in a thinnish shoulder bag from waist-height, bouncing it off my toe, and it's dropped from chair height to carpet floor a couple times... so it's not like I'm inhuman, or anything. I just go out of my way to not introduce any torquing or shocks.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted May 31, 2009 Author Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Doesn't really answer my question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members daklander Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 I think it's too much. Fry's has entry level laptops that are probably as powerful as that Compaq, depending on which model and age, for around $400.00 and have had some in the $300.00 range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted May 31, 2009 Author Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 We don't have Frys here. I've been looking online at Newegg and TigerDirect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members staticoverdub Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 you have specs of that compaq? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted May 31, 2009 Author Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Here it is http://www.officedepot.com/catalog/catalogSku.do?id=817575&configurableItemType=UNDEFINED Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members staticoverdub Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 good deal for $300 if it's in decent shape. verify the battery life and if it isn't bad I say go for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted May 31, 2009 Author Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 I would probably suggest that too, but I need help finding articles about Compaqs reliability. I can find some but they're from like 2004! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ggm1960 Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 I only have one Compaq story but it's an amazingly good one..... I bought my GF a refurb Compaq laptop for Xmas a couple years back from Buy.com. One day it stopped connecting to the wireless network so I checked it out and looked it over. I came to the conclusion the wireless card had died. Now I don't have the dates but it had to be close to a year since I'd bought it. I called HP support and had difficulty understanding them but over the phone I went through a series of tests with them. Finally they said they would send a prepaid box so I could send it in. Within a couple days the box was on the porch and we sent it to them. It was back in shortly over a week working like a new one and there was never a charge for any of it! I was real happy with the support I got from HP when my all-in-one unit went weird too. I finally discovered the problem to be just a bad USB cable but the HP people were very helpful. What's perhaps most amazing is that these units are what I consider to be low dollar consumer devices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted May 31, 2009 Author Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Then it was probably within warranty, which makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members normh Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 I have had several HP notebooks. Everyone has failed numerous times within the warranty period. One of the units went back for repairs seven times in a six month period. A few times the unit came back with the report that the problem could not be reproduced. Finally, I took the unit to an authorized HP service center and paid for an analysis. It took about 30 minutes to find the problem, which was exactly as I described to HP. I took a copy of the report and had a copy faxed to HP. Hp promptly offered to replace the unit. The warranty specifically states 'equivalent or superior replacement.' HP tried to buffalo me and sent unit that was inferior in video performance, but equivalent in all other aspects, I surmise under the belief that newer is better. I refused to return either unit and went to an attorney who suggested I keep both units until HP meets the warranty. They never have. I repaired the failing unit and have never had a problem with it since. I have had to repair the replacement unit once and it also has failing pixels on the display. By trade I am a computer programmer, system administrator, consultant and repairer. Anytime someone asks about an HP product, I routinely present the above experience and recommend against the HP product. HP has gotten a little better over the last year, but no real significant improvement in product reliability or service. Compaq is a low end HP product. I would suggest spending a little more and purchasing a better product. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Doesn't really answer my question Simple answers to complex questions are often worse than no answer at all. But, yeah, I suppose one might say overly wordy, vague, and rambling answers are probably somewhere on that same continuum, and quite likely somewhere in between. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted May 31, 2009 Author Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Yeah I think I'm going to have him get an MSI or Lenovo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members staticoverdub Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 i base my positive opinion only on an hp desktop that's been running XP well for 7 years and a laptop for 5. The desktop was originally a refurb unit (very very cheap). The only time I dealt with customer service wasn't great. It didn't ship with system restore discs so I ended up having to buy them for $15 or so. Other than that I've had no issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vintagevibes Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 I worked for Compaq and then HP when we were bought out. HP took the Compaq brand and made it the low quality cheap line. I've owned them and I would avoid Compaq at all costs. I like the new HP stuff but my next laptop will be a Dell. Well made and great customer service IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blue2blue Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 i base my positive opinion only on an hp desktop that's been running XP well for 7 years and a laptop for 5. The desktop was originally a refurb unit (very very cheap). The only time I dealt with customer service wasn't great. It didn't ship with system restore discs so I ended up having to buy them for $15 or so. Other than that I've had no issues. Cracks me up. My only personal dealing with Dell customer service was fine.* But... I did have a really frustrating go around with their sales side trying to get an OS disk. Like you I'd been caught acropper by the then relatively-new practice of not shipping OS disks and called up to buy one. (They were like $10 extra at time of sale but I missed the option when ordering somehow.) My first mistake was calling Dell sales instead of customer support. "Am I in the right place to buy an OS disk for my new computer?" Uh, yeah, sure, I can help you with that... let me put you on hold/transfer you to someone else/who will put you on hold/ignore you/lose your call/play horrible background music/etc... please hold on. Of course, my second mistake was believing that I can help you... That was sales and many of them sounded like North Americans. And they were all, effectively, jerks. I spent almost an hour before I got a guy with a woefully thick, thick accent and a scratchy connection and I exaggerated/misdirected a little and said the connection was so bad I couldn't understand. (I know, how will he ever know if... trust me, this guy knew. His tone was so apologetic coming on the scratchy line I could tell someone had just finished chastizing him.) When I called back, I was so ticked off I was just going to climb up the customer support ladder so I called Customer Support -- and it turned out that was actually the place where I should have gone in the first place instead of a bunch of jags trying to sell systems not system disks but apparently not allowed to redirect to customer support, even as they could pass you from one sales rep to another. Meh. Anyhow Customer Support handled it politely and with a minimum of hassle -- but it still took like 15 minutes just to order a stinkin' OS disk. Funny thing was, they ended up doing it for free after hearing about my hourlong runaround on the sales lines. FedEx and all. Big outfits. Go figure. (See my asterisked footnote below for my best support guy ever story.) *My only dealing with Dell's tech support was a little more complex. It was a client's machine [i'm not a hardware/systems guy so I normally reject any such work but I took pity] and it had supposedly been fixed by a Dell authorized field service guy and all the client had to do, supposedly, was call Dell tech support and they would robo-guide the rest of the OS reinstallation and software setup. Only the field guy didn't leave the HW ready to go at all -- it looked like he couldn't figure it out and left one of the HDD's disconnected, and he bollixed up the network connections to boot, so even though he told my client it was ready for him to call up Dell support and do the rest by phone and over the net -- just plain not true at all. I'm pretty sure the field guy (a contractor) was axed after that. When I finally got stuff put together and got on line with Dell support I was pretty jacked up and they passed me to a guy (presumably) someplace in India who was clearly one of their key trouble shooters, without doubt an escalated case handler. He was amazing. No question the best phone support guy I've ever worked with in a quarter century or so of computer work. He knew XP in and out. He was friendly. And he sussed my level really quickly and didn't make me go through proving my bona fides or try to work off of some preprinted step-by-step, he just cut right to the right level (I'm savy, I write app code, but I'm no OS expert). And he knew the best XP key shortcut ever: WinKey-PrtScrn/SysRq-PauseBreak -- which brings up the System Properties dialog... I think that saves something like 7 or 8 menu, button, and tab sequences... They should put that at the very top of the Windows Help system, put it on peelaway stickers on the computer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted May 31, 2009 Author Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 I'd rather toss on a new XP install instead of a restore disc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Rudolf von Hagenwil Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 My grand father avoided to buy a new refrigerator. He always said next year there will be an even better model. He never got a refrigerator. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the stranger Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 Simple answers to complex questions are often worse than no answer at all. But, yeah, I suppose one might say overly wordy, vague, and rambling answers are probably somewhere on that same continuum, and quite likely somewhere in between. I find that in the context of the typical thrust of the conversation... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ggm1960 Posted May 31, 2009 Members Share Posted May 31, 2009 I don't know what you expect to find in the $500 and less range. The truth is that all brands of computers in this range use the same hand full of suppliers. You're really buying the same computer with a different name stamped on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jimbroni Posted June 1, 2009 Members Share Posted June 1, 2009 I don't know what you expect to find in the $500 and less range. The truth is that all brands of computers in this range use the same hand full of suppliers. You're really buying the same computer with a different name stamped on it. Bingo! And guess what for the average person who gets a computer and has no idea what to do with it so they get hooked on Facebook. Its perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members deanmass Posted June 1, 2009 Members Share Posted June 1, 2009 http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/828230/Toshiba-Satellite-L305-S5921-15-4/ Brand new, a bit more, with warranty.. Honestly, I would keep my eyes peeled for deals like this, add the extended replacement warranty at Office Depot for $100, rest easy..there are too many little things that can FUBAR a laptop..Get a new one, or a higher end used one with warranty. Check here or here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Phait Posted June 1, 2009 Author Members Share Posted June 1, 2009 Yep I was considering the TOshiba for him too but the opinions seem to waver on that brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ggm1960 Posted June 1, 2009 Members Share Posted June 1, 2009 Well, I'll bite again. I'm currently typing on the Toshiba Satellite core solo I bought at Best Buy in June '06 for $800. I've put a lot of hours on this baby, it's traveled with me on vacations and I even used it at gigs for a while, it's been a great computer. I've never cracked the seal on the restore disc, however, I recently purchased a new battery because the original no longer holds a charge for more than about 15 minutes. The things I like best about it are the firewire port (albeit 4 pin) and the SD card slot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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