Compaq 2199US - Circuit City

This week Circuit City is running a special on the Compaq 2199US. This must be a special made model for Circuit City. The bottom line price is $849.99 plus sales tax after cash rebates. Specs are: AMD Athlon 2800+, DVD/CD-RW combo drive, 512 memory, 40 gig drive, 64mb DDR integrated video memory.

Does anyone have this machine, if so what do they think of it? I wonder what other model in the hp/compaq line it comparies to?

Also looking at Toshiba Tecra M2 and the Fujitsu S7010 (twice the price of the above Compaq).

Notebook to be used mostly for photo graphics, internet and some word processing. No games. Thanks for your input - georgetroy

 

That would probably be a Compaq 2100z series configured for Circuit City. The equivelant HP would be the ze4000 series. For home both models are about the same just look at which one you can get the best price on and if the same which one you like the looks of better.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

Well I went over to the dark side? Found a Fujitsu Lifebook S2020 Laptop on Ebay. Similar specs. to the Compaq 2199US. Price all worked out about the same. The machine I purchased is one month old with 11 months of warranity left. I hope I don't have any problems with it. Now I will be watching and posting in the Fujitsu forum.

Thanks for the reply to my first message Quikster. George

 

Congrats, just be very careful, and you may want to ask Fujitsu, but many people have found this out the hardway, many manufactuers will not honor any warranty from a product purchased over eBay.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

I bought a Compaq 2199US at BestBuy today. It's a present for a college-bound son, so it is unopened. I'm talking only specs here.

A couple of points that the original note omitted-- the processor is AMD Athlon 2800 XP-M (note the M); 802.11g (not b) wireless is built in; and 512Mb memory is standard (though in 2x256Mb). These are all VERY SWEET features in this price range.

One downer determined at the store (web specs were contradictory)-- the USB ports are only 1.0. I almost considered this a deal killer until the rep pointed out that a USB 2.0 PCM/CIA card could now be got for UNDER $30! I got the card (the slot WON'T be needed for WiFi). I suspect this USB 1.0 issue is the reason for the ultra-bargain deal (not having 2.0 is anomolous these days).

And ultra-bargain it is at BestBuy this week. The price is $1099 cash, $849 after major mail-in rebates. BUT the deal ALSO includes a second 8 cell battery pack FREE. That's worth somewhere from $100 to $130 dollars. So if the spare battery is something you value, this seems a remarkable value indeed.

- Bruce

p.s. The 2199 configuration is not "a special model for Circuit City" or Best Buy or anyone else. Just one configuration of the 2100 series (or the comparable HP version).

 

Again thanks Quickster for your imput. I know a person can be at risk with Ebay and the purchases. What turned the deal for me was the 1 gig memory installed with the Fujitsu S2020 laptop plus some other features important to me. As a buyer and seller on Ebay (349 attaboys)at last count with no negative feedbacks; since 1998. What the customers has purchased from me can also be a risk, especially the golf clubs I have sold over the years. Others on this forum have also sold their used machines on Ebay. Bottom line, if you can't afford to pay and play, don't. At age 67, I can't take it with me. GT

 

I bought a Compaq 2199US at BestBuy today. It's a present for a college-bound son, so it is unopened. I'm talking only specs here.

A couple of points that the original note omitted-- the processor is AMD Athlon 2800 XP-M (note the M); 802.11g (not b) wireless is built in
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I just bought this laptop at Circuit City today. It was a great deal for what you get. The only thing I am confused on is the wireless. I swore that the description tag said that it had built in wireless. I looked at the laptop and there is no wireless on it. I then looked at the 2199US on Circuit City's site and it said that it does NOT have built in wireless. I could have swore it said that it did, and bcollier2 also posted that it did. It was one of the main reasons I bought this machine so Im a bit bummed. Just wondering if anyone else who got this model does have wireless? Either way it does not matter too much. Circuit City has the MS wireless B card on sale for $19.99.

 

Interesting!

I have a BestBuy circular which clearly states "Integrated 802.11g wireless LAN" but no other site I've found confirms this.

I'm glad you noticed this.

Mark

 

That tmobile is to use there wireless access points that they have across the country, and costs something like 30.00+ a month depending on how many hours you want. So all you need is the integrated wireless card, it is nothing like the sprint where it is a proprietary hardware.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

The one I bought at Circuit City was the last one, so I hope they still have the description tag up at the store. If it's still there I want to check to make sure it did indeed say integrated wireless. The other thing that throws me off is that included in the box is a cupon for 1 month free t-mobile wireless hotspot access. Im wondering if there was a misprint in the instore ad.

 

I agree it's a great notebook for the price. I'm just going back to Circuit City after work today to see if the in store display does have mention of built in wireless. If it does I'm going to call them on it and see if they will kick me down a wireless card (it's worth a shot). If not I'll just get the $20 wireless B Microsoft card.

Thx again for all the info everyone. [ ]

 

The 2199 does not come with 802.11g integrated, I bought one at staples and the guy told me it didnt. So I called Best Buy to see if they were selling a different version with integrated wireless. The girl on the phone told me it WAS a misprint. This should answer your questions. One thing that did get my hopes up was that it comes with all the documentation as if their is a wireless card inside. Even the software comes with drivers for a wireless card. Good computer though, even without the wireless.

 

I just got this laptop today at bestbuy. Since the ad says 802.11g is integrated, the manager had to honor the ad. So the guy threw in a d-link wireless g card to make up for the print mistake. There is no where in the ad that it says they do not honor typographical errors so I would try to get a free wireless-G card out of the manager. Also do the reward zone thing so you can get 50 bestbuy giftbucks back.

 

Are you sure that they don't come with the wireless. I have a 2195US and by looking at the pics of the 2199US there is a button on the front right of the case. You push that button to activate the wireless.
-Daniel

 

It does come with a 802.11b card, but they are complaining because the ad says 802.11g

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 21,862

 

I also bought this at Bestbuy. As per an earlier post, it does not have any built in wireless. Bestbuy had a printed note explaining the error and stating that they would supply a wireless G card at no charge. Works fine but would like it a lot better if it was built in. The protruding area of the card takes up a lot of room and could make it difficult to use another pcmia card. That would appear to be especially true if using a card to get usb 2.0 ports. Oh well - its clear that this notebookis not the latest technology, otherwise it wouldn't be such a great price.

 

Does anyone know if the hard drive is user replaceable? What are its specs?

 

you can replace it with any standard 2.5" hard drive.

zx5000 :: 2.4M :: 512 DDR :: 40gb 4200 RPM HD :: 15.4" :: Radeon 9600 Mobilty M10 :: Aquamark3 22,856

 

The speed of the default drive is 4200rpm. I'd recommend getting a 5400rpm, but if you have the money, get a 7200rpm HDD, you'd get WAY better performance than your standard 4200rpm HDD.

-Vb-

 

Great site here .stumbled upon it by accident.
I just ordered a 2199Us and am waiting to get it. (store ran out of in 1 day!!)
I have a question regarding the graphics. I know it says integrated ATI radeon mobility, but I'm getting many different specs as to if it is 92xx,94xx,75xx. Does anyone know for sure which it is?

Also, This is my first notebook (great price @ BB) and am a pretty big gamer. I have a ATI 9600xt in my desktop and play alot of the DirectX9 games. How will this unit compare to my desktop? Has anyone tried Far Cry or any of the newer games?

Thanks!!

 

This unit has shared memory, therefore at most it can be an ATI 9000 IPG. I'm sorry to say, but, this unit may play Far Cry, but not at full quality. You're going to have to drop the settings to med to low for it to work properly. This card also does not support DirectX 9. With a 9600XT graphics card in your desktop, the 9600 is one of the most recommended graphics chips to get when buying a new notebook.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news [V].

-Vb-

 

Hi,

I just bought this notebook too. Does anyone else think that this one gets really, really hot? Both the top and bottom get really warm. What can I do to lower the temperature? I do a ton of writing so I'm constantly using the keyboard and the heat is really annoying....

 

Does the fan come on when you're using it? There might be an option in the BIOS (F10 at bootup) to have the fan always on. If this is not available, you may want to look into getting a notebook cooler. It's a platform the notebook sits on with fans on it that blow directly onto the unit's underside to keep it cool. Here's a link to a site that did a review on one of these products.

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/cooling_devices/bytecc/

Hope this helps.

-Vb-

 

This week Circuit city and best buy have put this model(Compaq 2199US) on sale for 949.99.I thought this is the best deal till I read in this forum that it was on sale in April for 849.99.Thank you georgetroy and other users for this info.

I want to know from the users of this model about the performance of this model for home usage purposes.I would use this notebook for net browsing,games,songs and watching movies.

Also I need suggestions on whether it is advicable to buy extended warrenties for 3 years which can cost around 325 dollars.I am worried on this because I keep travelling to different countries and if I have such a warrenty with international coverage then I will be able to use it atleast for next 3 years without further expenses.

frustratedvaiouser

 

As to extended warrentee coverage:

Don't do it. This is a wager between you and the seller. You are betting that you will get back (save on repairs) more than you pay. But you have NO IDEA what the odds are. The seller DOES know. They have oodles of statistics on repair histories, payout rates, etc. They wouldn't offer the bet unless the odds were stacked in their favor.

It makes sense to willingly engage in a bet you know you are likely to lose when it gives you some protection against catastrophy. Liability insurance is like this. But the old rule of thumb still applies: never insure anything that you can afford to lose.

Apart from the general principle, most extended coverage would be much harder to utilize when travelling internationally.

 

I'm sorry Bcollier2, I must disagree. The extended warranties available for the HP units can be purchased through HP directly and not from the retailer, therefore ensuring that you get an HP warranty rather than the "retailer's" warranty. It's a piece of security that you have in the event that anything breaks down the road.

At $325, this should hopefully be an HP warranty, if it is, it's the Accidental Coverage warranty. This will cover broken/cracked LCD's ($500-$1000), liquid spills which may require a systemboard replacement ($400-$1000, depending on what additional parts are needed) & the most important, a dropped unit which may require that most of the system be replaced ($$$$$$$).

If you wanted to travel, that will also be OK because HP's warranties are Worldwide and are covered internationally. They have a list of countries where you can get the unit fixed. The only thing is, it's depot only, so you'd have to send/drop off the unit to the service center in the country you're in and wait for it to be returned. I don't think the onsite will work, but best to check with HP. I just replied to another user in this form about International Warranties for the HP ZT3000. Here's the link:

http://www.notebookreview.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2336

So in general, I'd recommend you call HP and get some more info regarding the options you have and what's covered. The extended warranties (from the manufacturer, not retailer) are a good security blanket to have incase there is a problem. The level of warranty coverage is dependant on how careful you are or what you're going to be doing/going with the unit.

-Vb-

 

Venombite--

I do agree that the manufacturer's extended warranty are a good security blanket to have, but I also agree with Bcollier2--the manufacturers make a profit on these rebates. They keep statisics on component failure/breakage rates, etc. and price their warranties accordingly.

For people who tend to be accident prone (like myself [ ] ) it might be a good idea pay the extra for the warranty, although I don't. Again, I agree with Bcollier2--I don't buy warranties (insurance) for losses that I can afford the replacement cost of (albeit just barely!).

dordale

 

These kinds of deals have been around since at least the beginning of the year at different retail outlets: Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Depot. I got a 2596us from Office Depot in April for $699 after rebates: 2.6GHz Celeron, 40GB hard drive, 256MB RAM (I immediately upgraded to 512MB), 15-inch TFT 1024x768 ATI Radeon 64MB (shared), DVD/CD-RW combo, IEEE 802.11g wireless internal, Ethernet/Fast Ethernet port, 56K internal modem, 3 USB 2.0 ports, etc.

A few weeks after I bought mine, I saw a similar model w/AMD processor for $649 afte rebates but it didn't have the wireless.

 

I just got a compaq 2199us from circuit city. Does anyone
notice the "noise" (or large click sound) the HD makes it data is
being accessed? I call it
noise b/c toshiba's HD is MUCH quiter. Is this a problem or is this
normal? Any idea?

 

i got this laptop a month ago for my moms for 650 after rebates at BB

0dp

 

I own a Pavilion ze4430us, a model very similar to your 2199. If you are using it for just office work, it is very effective. Suggestions to move to a faster hard drive for those using this system for just office apps is overkill. The speed boost that one will find would be negligible. Increasing the RAM by 256 MB (to 768), might be the best performance enhancement for similar money (about $100).

As for gaming, the integrated graphics system is the IGP 320. Once again, for office apps and light gaming, a good choice. To play the most recent games, however, this integrated solution will not satisfy you. For the price, though, this level of performance is unbeatable, especially considering the Celeron systems at $799 (yuck!).

 

Help!!

I have been trying to install McAfee Internet Security 6.0 onto
my new 2199us. No matter how I tried, the virus scan just could not
be installed; other parts, like fire wall and spam killer were
installed fine though. I am not sure if this a Win XP problem or
McAfee problem. (I was able to install McAfee onto my desktop running
WinXP.) Did anyone run into the same problem?