New V5101US

Just got a new Compaq Presario V5101US, doesn't seem to be too popular here. Was looking at the Turion V2000Z's but my dad up and bought this one for me out of nowhere lol. Graduation present.

Anyone have any good info on this one? Seems like the lid is hard to open and close (stuff), feel like I might be pushing too hard on the edge of the screen. Might go away with use. Just got it yesterday, he hid it in the bathroom and made me finde it lmao.

 

What kind of info do you want on it?

 

Here are the specs.

Link

 

Well I know the basic specs

I just meant does anyone know of any unique problems this model has? Any tips or tricks on ways to improve it in any way? Maybe these questions are too broad. I'll try to think of specific questions.

Is there a CPU temp probe on this laptop? I'd like to moitor my idle/load temps but so far haven't found a program that will pick up any probes besides the HDD sensor.

 

Well, I just purchased this laptop from circuit city not too long ago for $650. Itis my first laptop and I love it! No complaints so far. You might want to chck out thespeed of the hd because it lags when you open big files.

 

This is usually a good read.

 

I've done pretty much all of that out of habit Only thing I am not messing with are registry tweaks/OS tweaks. Since it was a gift I was asked not to mess with the system internals or OS integrity until the 1 year warranty was passed. That would insure I can return it within the year if something went wrong.

The past 2 days I've been removing a few GB's of unwanted "demos" and "trial" software they pre-install, and trying to cut the services from 40+ to ~20. At 23 right now

 

Sounds like a Fry's special to me You're a local boy to my neck of the woods, being in Frisco - I too live in the DFW area.

I had the same laptop for 1 week. Bought it for my wife, and it was a fine laptop, especially for the price. My only complaint in the short time I had it was the HD. 4200 rpm drive seemed very SLLLOOOWW. One of the things that drove me crazy was, if I would play an MP3, then just close the player (WMP in this case) it would take several seconds for the music to stop and to regain control of the PC.

BUT: the graphics were adequate. The CPU seemed fine unless you were going to be doing tons of intense photoshop work or heavy gaming (which you wouldn't do on that laptop anyways). I think for probably the $650 price range (which is what I paid for it with tax - rebates) its ok.

PERSONALLY: I ended up exchanging it for the HP ZD8215 for $899 - got ALOT more stuff... added DDR2, DVD+RW/DL, 17" screen, X600 graphics w/128mb, media center os and a external usb dual tv tuner. But its MUCH heavier...

If I'm right - and it did come from fry's, keep your eye's on the paper... you can exchange it NO QUESTIONS ASKED for 15 days from the purchase date - if they run a bigger/better laptop for not too much more

OTHERWISE: Enjoy your laptop, and congratulations (on the PC and graduation!)

 

Dad purchased it at Circuit City I believe, they had a one day special.

I do game on it, but play older games and they run fine. AVP2, NFSU, Blood Rayne, Kal Online, Gunz Online...all play decently. So far the HDD has been running alright, i'm not getting the lag you were describing. Disabling disk indexing and defragging might be the trick if you hadn't tried it, it was pretty fragmented when i got it after deleting all the software they put on it. I can play video and audio and it doesn't lag, however if I'm runnign firefox and chatting and downloading while doing it, it will probably do what you described.

My first upgrade for it will be more RAM, probly the full 2GB if I can wing it. With the 128M shared gfx it's only running 384MB system memory lol.
Afterwards it will either stay stock, or i MIGHT swap for a Turion if possible.

Thanks for the info

 

Yeah, as I understand it, the sockets are the same for the Sempron and Turion - but from everything I've been reading from these guys - the turion may or may not be worth the $$$ to upgrade.. no one has claimed it to be head and shoulders above the Sempron. Not sure if you got the 3000+ with DVDRW and 40gb HD or the 3300+ with DVD-ROM/CDRW and 60gb HD? When I bought it I got the one WITHOUT the dvdrw (like an idiot), they were the same price at 2 different vendors - and chose the wrong one (in my opinion). I would have kept it if it had the DVDRW drive...

But back on subject: No one has claimed extreme performance differences between the two for normal use. If you do alot of photoshop, and math/cpu intense stuff - you'll probably see an advantage to the Turion, if not - you probably wont.

but personally, if I could afford it, had that laptop, and was keeping it: I'd get the Turion, just because I know its a better chip overall.

 

I got the 3300+, 60GB, DVDR/CD-RW one. Burned a few CD's and watched DVD's on it, works like a charm. Only reason I'd go Turion is for the larger L2 cache rating I guess, 128kB seems retarted next to 512kB and 1MB chips lmao.