V2000 Quality question

I'm posting this for my sister who just bought the V2310CA (V2000z) from Best Buy. She likes it a lot, but I am concered about the overall quality of the product. I own an Asus z63a, and it seems much more solid and well built, however, there are issues with some paint wear.

My question is, has anyone found longterm problems with the quality of the v2000 series? Is there any wear / fading / flex issues that would deter somoene from keeping it?

She is also a bit unhappy with the heat, and battery life, if anyone has some tips to improve the battery life or heat output (on the plam rests) that would be much appreciated too, thanks!

 

Asus will have much better quality than HP overall, but remember that you most likely paid twice the cost for the same components. The rule you get what you pay for applies here.

 

For the price of the V2000, you get better quality than most laptops in that price range.

 

You can also look at the V2000's cosuin, the HP dv1000. HP's usually have higher quality hardware than Compaqs do.

 

Not really! They are built by the same ODM in the same factory, so there are no quality differences between these 2 brands.

*metaphysix*

The touchpad in the Compaq might be the area where you"ll most probably see paint wear after a few months of use, othwise as others have said for the price the quality s good.

 

Thats good to hear, I dont think she ever uses the touchpad, so that'll work out well. How is the keyboard quality, the reviews I read said the L2000 has a much better keyboard, is it possible to order one or switch or something?

Also, anyone have battery benchmarks for either the v2000z or the L2000? I fnd it barely gets near 2 hours with wifi, but thats stock, I haven't had the chance to look into finding new drivers and such, so any suggestions on what to get to improve the battery life would be awesome.

Is it possible to undervolt the turion in anyway? I know CHC works wonders with my Asus, but is there some sort of amd equivilent to help out the battery life for the turion ml?

One more question (sorry!), I'm wondering if it would be possible to upgrade to the MT turion later on? Will the ML chipset be able to run the MT?

Thanks for the replies guys, it'll really help my sister out trying to decide whether to keep it, or pay the $200 more and get the same asus as me.

 

I havent done a test but I have tracked it for a while and the 12 cell battery gets around 4 1/2 hours and the 6 cell gets anywhere from 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on use.

I don't think you can get an L2000 keyboard through your warrenty but if you pay I'm sure they would sell you one. I do think the L2000's keyboard is better then the V2000 but that might just be becuase I dont like grey keyboards.


P.S. as for quality I think HPs are the best bang for the buck there is. Sure some paint might were off with a lot of use but as long as the machine keeps working then I'm a happy camper.

 

I think the L2000 actually has a better quality keyboard that that of the V2000.

 

What I meant by hardware was a higher level of quality. Sorry if I got anyone confused!

 

I dont think you confused him.

He is basicly saying that except for the cases the DV1000 and the V2000 are the same machine. They pick parts out of the same boxes so to speak to build both thus thier quality is the same.

 

I get about 5+ hours on regular use on a 12-cell battery.
with ML-30 1.6ghz 1MB L2
My system is undervolted (0.950v) with RM CPU clock utility and screen brightness at mid.

I still wished this notebook came with an MT class turion so i dont have to undervolt and can use a 6-cell battery and still have 3+ of life. The 12-cell battery makes this as heavy as my 15.4 inch acer 2001.

 

Do you know if we can switch processors in the future? I gotta read up more on the chipsets to see if it can handle an MT.

And where do you get that utility to undervolt? Thanks!

 

MT should work, the chipset is the same as used in the Fujitsu S2110 which uses the MT as well as the ATi chipset+ graphics card combo. The MT's are also the same socket as the ML series, so that should not be a problem. The problem area might be BIOS. OEM Bios mostly do not recognise cpu's other than the ones the laptop was designed with(in this case Turion MT). But if the bios recognizes the processor(I think it should, but unless some tries it, we"ll never know) then the MT is good to go!

You could try RM Clock or Crystal CPUID(google them), both are good programs to undervolt with. There is a thread here detailing the steps to follow(do a search in the HPQ forums)

 

I'm thinking about canceling my order for the V2000z I bought from OD. I ordered the 12 cell battery just so I could have reasonable battery life. The problem is that it's going to make it heavy as someone previously mentioned.

I'm getting a ML-37 for only $921 after rebates and taxes so I'm not going to find a better deal. Perhaps I should just live with the weight.

 

Even with the 12 cell its only 6lbs. Seems pretty light to me.

 

RM clock looks to be what I was trying to find. What is the lowest voltgage to undervolt to with the system being stable?

Also, if say I would need to send the compaq in for service, where in Canada are the compaq service center's located? Their site didn't seem to list them, but rather said to call first and report your problem.

 

Check this thread, it should answer all your undervolting questions...
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=20249&highlight=turion+undervolt

 

It is a good deal. I compared the weight to a "thin and light" 15.4 notebook (acer aspire 2001). It is still light but i can only imagine how lighter it would be with a 6-cell ( i only have a 12-cell). It is not going to be as heavy as some of the 15.4 notebooks around like the HP ZV6000.

 

Cool, thats what I was trying to find, thanks.

Does anyone know where the closest Compaq / HP service center is around Toronto? I tried looking it up on the site, but it only said to call them first and have the operator direct you to a service centre.

Just want to know if I need to ship it to California or something if it breaks, as that would be very unfun.

 

for the 200-300 price difference, the price is justified. the asus has definitely better quality and less problems plus a 2 year international warranty.

to me i feel the asus is the same quality as a sony laptop but cheaper and better performance.

 

You'll get better performance (both heat and battery) if you remove all of the bloatware or, even better, re-install the OS from scratch. I did that and was amazed at the difference in heat output. Also, the more RAM, the better. The Hard Drive is what causes so much heat, and with an onboard video card that steals from system RAM, you really need 1 GB of RAM to make this baby purr.

 

I was just about to add another 512MB to my v2000 (aka. 2310CA), but just realized that they give you 2 sticks of 256... ****! I guess I might as well go up to 1GB to make the effort worth it...

 

To ship to US, you better spend the extra few dollars on insurance.

To answer your question, on my HP receipt, it says Please Send Returns to:
Hewlett-Packard (Canada) CO.
C/O UPS-SCS
2905 Bristol Circle
Oakville, Ontario, L6H 6Z5
But I believe this is the shipping warehouse, and also you have to get a return authorization at 1-877-231-4351

But I also believe there's a HP service center beside the HP Canada HQ at 5160 Spectrum Way, Mississauga. (If it's close to your house, then you can just swing by and ask them for more information.)