Info on Presario C710ED

Hi,

First post to the Compaq forum.

I found this Presario C710ED: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...=us&dlc=en&product=3549977&rule=11211&lang=en

I am completely unaware of the meanings of the HP and Compaq denominations. Clearly it's a budget laptop, but my question is: what is the build quality that I can expect out of it? It is reasonable for a budget laptop/ less than reasonable / horrendous?

Any other info on this series (like how hot it gets, is it usually good at battery life or bad, screen quality etc.) is welcome.

Thanks in advance.

 

I kind of like HP budget laptops, but it's not a ThinkPad or a Latitude.

 

Clearly it isn't. Nor should anyone expect it to be

 

1GB memory is the max is that what you want???

 

I doubt it's the max, that spec sheet is old. Probably the mainboard takes 2GB just fine, perhaps even 2+1 = 3.

That being said, the person who I buy this notebook for is extremely unlikely to do a RAM upgrade.

Rottie, what are your opinions on the Presario? I see you have a very similar model (almost the same chassis, basically, and that's what I care about most).

Also, do you know if the WinXP driver support is good? Vista will feel a bit tight in 1GB, and it's also probably going to be in Dutch (I'm buying it from the Netherlands but for somebody who is not Dutch-speaking) so I'll probably have to downgrade to XP.

 

Bump for info from anyone?

 

First I bought Presario F572US because it is cheaper but it lacks multimedia buttons and no 5 in 1 reader I returned it back and bought V6420US when it was on sale for SAME price it comes with multimedia buttons plus 5 and 1 reader. I like F572US "Q" on the back of lid cover (no glossy just flat black) while v6420us has "Compaq" on glossy lid (I don't like everyone look at it and knowing it is a lemon notebook).
The overall quality of this v6420us is great.

 

lol, I never thought of Compaq as a lemon brand (under HP). The ones I had were just as good as the HP-labeled ones, if only a little less optioned....

 

Handled the notebook today in a store and it felt quite sturdy (hinges, chassis, screen backcover). Almost no keyboard flex. I think I like it.

I also don't like the glossy ones. Besides looking flashy they also attract a lot of prints.

 

Yea I see why you got a HP notebook instead of Compaq? I like Compaq cuz it looks sexy...HP is overrated sexy for my tastes.

 

Did you buy it yet?

 

Nope not yet it's not for me and I'm waiting for the OK & cash

I have a serious contender though, in the person of the ASUS A8He, which for 130 EUR more gives more features & ports, an extra year of warranty, an Intel CPU, and 14" with nearly 1 kg less weight...

But I'll see an A8He quit soon and I'll decide if it's worth it or not.

 

I got the HP this time out for the graphics card, as I didn't want the 6150. If they had discrete gpus in the Compaqs, I'd buy them instead......

 

Bought the notebook.

Some quick feedback:
- good looks. Very elegant LEDs, I like that they are in-place: the touchpad LED is on the touchpad and changes color from blue to red when touchpad is off; the capslock led is near the capslock key. When the leds are off they blend with the notebook, you don't see them at all. The power input also has a led outline.
- good performance. Very little bloatware installed by HP -- which is nice.
- few ports. 3USB 1VGA 1Svideo LAN Modem Audio in and out, and that;s about it.
- 512x2 to get the 1GB of memory, which means you need to throw away 1 chip to upgrade to 1.5GB, both chips to upgrade to 2GB
- making recovery disks takes a LOT of time. Bad.
- not so hot build quality. It bends a little when picked up from one corner, I can cause ripples in the LCD if I press fairly hard on the backcover. It seems the front-left leg is a bit short, causes some wobbling on the table (or the table might be uneven but this doesn't happen with my V6J)

Now, I have a question for you HP owners. I get some strange behavior out of the battery:
- No remaining life time indicator. This is because Windows cannot read the discharge rate.
- Battery does not seem to recharge when plugged back in. For instance: I plug out, leave it to discharge to 97%, then plug back in. The battery reports 100% charge but without the charge LED being activated. I plug back out, the battery is instantly back down to 97%.

ACPI driver problems? I ran HP Update and it reports all drivers are up to date. Maybe a BIOS update is needed?

This might just be transient behavior of the new battery, but maybe it's not. I would be grateful for any info from your experience/is this a problem/if so how to solve.