Compaq x1000 and Screen res. questions...help

Before i even begin. Thanks to anyone that reads all of this (i know its a lot but this will prevent multiple posts). And especially thanks to all the people who help, comment, and lend their expertise. Your comments and help are much appriciated.

I am a college student and am going to downsize from a desktop to a notebook. I figured that since im going to a notebook i may as well get something that will be mobile and have good batt life. I will mainly use it for normal xp and xp office apps, music, video, and picture storage, dvd viewing (for travel), web browsing, light gaming, light photo and video editing. Not anything to extreme but i always like the option of having a little more than what i need (room to grow).

After factoring all that and much time doing research i have decided that the x1000 would be best. This is the configuration i am considering. 1.4m or 1.6m processor, 1gig ram, 80gig @ 5400 HD, 64mb video, and wsxga or wuxga. Now after deciding this much i need some questions to be answered to make a final decision. So here goes:

What is the cdr speed on the dvdrw drive? I have heard 24x, and 16x. Which one is it? And is the drive removable?

What are the REAL LIFE pro's and con's when comparing the 1.4m vs 1.6m? Is the 1.6 that much faster...will the 1.4 extend batt that much more...etc?

If i were to be watching a dvd on a wuxga (1900x1200) screen would the movie shrink? Meaning will the dvd picture become smaller and not span the entire screen? Same question with the wsxga (1680x1050)

And finally...When i went to check one out at the local Circut City i noticed on their display model that I couldn't tap the cursor pad to click; i had to use the actual mouse button. Is that true? Can the cursor pad be tapped to click, or will i have to press the actual button everytime?

I have been trying to research answers for these questions and figured posting this in a forum would yeild the most accurate results. Please Help...Thanks again for all your comments, and help.

 

I'll help you with the mouse button problem.
I purchased the HP analogue of the Compaq x1000 series, the HP nx7010, and it did not have tap clicking. The thing is that HP laptops (i guess Compaq too) do not come with the tapping software. However, they installed it for me for free in the shop (i think it's called "Synoptics Touchpad" or something). So, it's just a software matter.

HP Compaq nx7010, 512 RAM, PM 1.5 Ghz, 64 MB ATI 9200, 40 GB 4200 rpm, WSXGA (1680x1050)

 

Nick_e,

1. I haven't seen any X1000 series with a DVDRW drive (but I could be wrong), but the CDRW is rated by HP as 24X, but in reality it's only 8-10X. They uses something called Zoned-CLV, the drive doesn't start rotating at max speed. It increases speed in a stepped manner, like stairs, every couple minutes. Using cheap CDR's you'll burn a full 700MB CD in about 8-10mins, & using a brand name it will burn in 5-6mins. HP said this is how the drive works and there is nothing wrong, therefore nothing to fix. I went through 4 drives on the NX7000 and all were the same.

2. Personally, I would recommmend the 1.6 because of the added computing power it provides. You may not notice the amount of extra power it consumes. Approx. runtime of a fully charged battery is approx 3-3.5hrs possibly more.

3. Watching a DVD movie on either WUXGA or WSXGA would not cause the image to not span the entire screen. The images will always span the entire width of the screen, plus you will have little to no black bars on the top & bottom of your screen because of the Wide-Screen aspect ratio.

4. Regarding the tapping, Quesoyyo is correct, all that needs to be configured is the Synaptics software in the Control Panel to enable tapping, it's kinda funny why it's not enabled to start, but I guess that's what HP wanted.

-Vb-

 

Just wanted to chime in about the mouse tapping...my zx5000 came with tapping disabled, but I was able to change this easily by going into the mouse properties in teh control panel.

dordale [ ]

 

hi nick_e
i'm a proud owner of Compaq Presario X1000 almost 10 months. I oredered it on-line custom buil(i advise u to do the same). About the tapping is a u just have to download the new drivers from compaq and to set this thing up in the Control panel as the guys mentioned befor. About the display, my is 1920x1200 e.g.UXGA and is very crisp , smooth and bright and brighter than the SXGA+ 1680x1050, my friend has the same laprop but with the smaller resolution display. My advice is if u have good eyes go for the UXGA it's worth every cent.and about the DVD+RW no such a things as 10x, it is reading CD on 24X and it depends on the quality of the CD record more. Yes this drive haz CAV which is constant angular velosity and this means that u are going to read faster on the outer part of the CD than the inner. The Drive is not removable. About the Processor i have P1.5Ghz,nad it is fast enought, but recommend u , buy 1.6. About the DISK and the memory , I bought them separately from another on-line shops it much more cheaper. And they are very easy accessible on the bottom of the PC. 1 screw and u can change the MEMORY only one of the SO-DIMMs, pay attention that the other is below the keyboard and if u want to change it u have to take the keyboard off. and 2 screws for the HDD.
In real life application the speed of the processor won't be so sensitive as the speed of the HDD which is the bottleneck of the PC, go and buy faster HDD a 7200rpm for example they are not so rare and cost about 200-240 USD.
This is my configuration
P1.5Ghz M ,with all the wireless stuff, 1024 Mb RAM
15.4" WUXGA(1920x1200), ATI Radeon 9200 64 MB,
DVD+RW 2.4 R/RW
HDD Hitachi Travelstar 60Gb 7200rpm/8Mb Cache- HTS726060M9AT00
I have it 10 months , i am designing PCBs on it and i have never had any problem, it's very good machine.
About the DVD+RW it is Sony DVD+RW DW-P50A
and u can
Write/ReWrite DVDs x2.4
Write CDs on 16x
ReWrite CDs on 8x
Read on 24x
I hope i was usefull to u
if u have any questions just write them down