Compaq Presario v2000z Review (pics, specs)

Yeah, you will have to pay the $25 upgrade to the 200m if you need thoise ports. I think it is worth it to pay to get the 6in1 card reader and the extra USB port.

Regarding the other question on the screen sizes, 14 and 14.1" are the same. They are often used interchangeably.

 

That is what I thought. Even though I doubt I'll use them...im just the type of person that would pay extra money for stuff I will probably never use. heh. Thanks.

 

I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I figured the people on it are probably in the best position to help me with this... I can get a deal on either a dv1000t or v2000z for about the same price and I'm wondering which you'd recommend. After reading this thread, I'm psyched about the v2000, but is the dv1000t a better machine for the same money? Here are the configs I'm looking at:

HP Pavilion dv1000t
– XP Professional
– Intel Core Duo T2300E (1.66 GHz)
– 14.0" WXGA Widescreen
– Intel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 950 - Core
– 256MB DDR2 SDRAM (1x256MB)
– 80 GB 5400 RPM
– DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
– Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network w/Bluetooth
– 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
– Microsoft(R) Office 2003 SBE

OR

Compaq Presario V2000Z
– XP Professional
– AMD Sempron 3300+ (2.0GHz/128KB L2 Cache)
– 14.0 WXGA Widescreen
– ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/productivity ports
– 256MB DDR SDRAM (1x256MB)
– 80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
– 8X DVD Drive
– 54g(TM) Integ. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth
– 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
– Microsoft(R) Office 2003 SBE

I'm looking at using it mainy for office apps, internet/email, not gaming or video editing, etc.

Thanks for your help!!

 

I'm pretty stoked abou the v2000z too. Even with the newly released v3000
Im a notebook noob too, but I'll give you my thoughts I suppose. There is actually a comparison review of the two laptops you speak of too, I believe...

I think people are going to tell you to go the core duo route, I'm not though. I saw the v2000z at the store the other day and really like it. I love the black look of the HP's, but for some reason the silver grew on me. I believe the wireless card in the HP is better than the one in the Compaq. In my opinion, I don't think you can go wrong with either one. You would probably get better performance from the Core Duo though.

 

Finally decided on specs after 2 days of changing things up.

* – Genuine Windows XP Professional
* – AMD Turion(TM) 64 ML-34 (1.8GHz/1MB L2 Cache)
* – 14.0 WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x768)
* – ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/productivity ports
* – 256MB DDR SDRAM (1x256MB)
* – 40 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive
* – FREE Upgrade from DVD to DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive!!
* – 54g(TM) Integ. Broadcom 802.11b/g WLAN & Bluetooth
* – 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
* – Microsoft(R) Works/Money
* – HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

Im purchasing 2 sticks of the OCZ 512 ram that has been mentioned in this thread. This isn't a gaming rig and I'll be using my desktop to do a lot of stuff. This is just something to take to class and study groups. That's why I opted for the 4200 rpm HD. I don't think its necessary for me to go to newegg just get for a 5400 rpm HD. I will in the future though, I'm trying to cut some corner on the cost. I'm technically on a budget .

total cost came to $659.91

 

If you're comparing the HP Pavilion 1000 and the compaq V2000 series notebooks, it doesn't really matter which one you go with. The components in the laptop are identical. They both use the same hard drives, memory, burner, wireless, network card, memory card reader, etc. obviously the motherboard will be different, because one is for Intel and the other is for AMD. Other than that, everything is the same, except the shell. If you like the black, go with the Pavilion. If you like the silver, go with the Compaq.

Personally, I like AMD's better than Intel, I like the silver better than the black, and I really like how the 12-cell battery on the Compaq's prop up the notebook. I own a V2000z and a V5000Z and am extremely happy with both. When you're sitting at a flat surface, having the laptop angled slightly towards you is nice.

 

QUESTION!!

I purchased a V5000Z with 512mb because it had a free upgrade. It came with 2 x 256. So, I already purchased a 1gb stick of Crucial PC3200. My question is this.....

Would I be better off going with 1024mb of 400mhz ram (1 stick), or 1280mb of ram at 333mhz? If I keep one of the 256's in there, the speed would drop to 333 because the 256 is PC2700. Is less faster memory better than more slower memory?

 

More would be better, but the difference will be minimal whatever option you choose.

Nice config, although I think a 5400rpm HDD would have served you better. A HDD is the slowest part in the system and anything to make it faster will improve the speed of the whole system.

 

Is the 12 cell battery on a swivel? My father has a Compaq nc something they gave him at work and the battery can either be in the 'prop the lappy up' position or it can moved so the laptop is flat on the table.

 

No, I dont think so. It is fixed in size and position as far as I know.

 

Hey, I just recently got the V2000 with a ML-32. I am wondering if I should install the Motherboards with ATI Graphics or Notebooks with ATI Graphics.

 

I noticed a lot of you are upgrading to DDR400 ram. is that because everyone is using the Turion processor? I have the sempron 3100+. Would using DDR333 be ok? I'm considering adding on a 512 stick with the original 256. Should I really be going for 1gig? not going to be gaming. just word, chat, web, movies.

 

The Turion and the Sempron both are capable of supporting memory upto DDR400. So, you should be fine with either memory. Since you are currently only using 256MB memory, adding 512MB will give you the most noticable boost. Getting a 1GB stick would be better but depending on your budget either should do fine for your uses. If you want future upgradability ease, then get 1GB, so if you want to upgrade to 2GB in the future you can just replace the 256MB with a 1GB stick instead of removing both memory.

 

I'm trying to figure out what the additional capability gained would be with 512+256 vs 1G+256. As a reference point, can I compare a desktop with 512 vs 1gig? or are notebooks a whole different game?

 

Desktop 1GB and notebook 1GB memory are the same. The only difference between a desktop memory an notebook memory other than the size/interface is that notebook memory might have little bit of relaxed latencies. There will be small differences due to the fact that the other hardware might notbe comparable.

 

I just bought a v2000z today at compusa for 299$. i got the sempron 3100+ for price (included) and it had great benchmarks in sandra. I am an AMD man , but a laptop virgin. I have an amd athlon 64 and ati all in woder 9600xt( both overclocked till the bone) in my desktop and just needed a notebook for work and school (grad school. Doctorate). and i could not resist the price with a free all in one printer, that i will sell on ebay most likely. i love ATI and was thrilled that a notebook had amd and ati in them. it came with standard stuff 40 gig, express 200, wireless dvd/cd writer. and 256 ram (which i will uprgrade my self for cheaper). I cant wait till it comes looks like a good one from the reviews.

 

mine arrived....

The DVD tray design is horrible but hey rest of the lappy is not bad.

Did anyone try installing Linux, if yes which distro and where did u get the drivers from. I have a sempron 3300 on this baby.

 

Anyone know if this memory is good..... ?

http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/s...0051&langId=-1&productId=102261&cmArea=SEARCH

 

For about the same amout of money you can get cheaper and better memory.
I used the following for updating my V2000:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145562
I found Newegg.com and the buyers feedback to be a good source of information.

 

Not even close in terms of $$$ - the Staples deal is $59.99 less $20 easy rebate = $39.99 plus $15 off $40 in store coupon = $24.99 plus $3 ink cartridge recycle coupon = $21.99 - so my question is for $22 will this memory work in my laptop?

 

Your link to Staples reads:

79.98 Reg Price
- $15 Instant Savings
- $20 Easy Rebate
= $44.98 FINAL PRICE

Offer expires 8/26/06

I was refering to that price information. According to the comments on the newegg page it should run on Presario V2000Z computers. But the feedback is a little bit mixed as to the quality of the memory. Best thing is to read for yourself!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRatingReview.asp?DEPA=1&Type=&Item=N82E16820236308&SortField=0&SummaryType=ALL&Pagesize=50&Page=

 

Maybe it changed because my rebate ended Aug 19.

I paid $59.99 in store less $18 in coupons ($15 off $40 and $3 inkjet) so about $42. On top of that I filed the $20 easy rebate so I got the memory for $22. Already installed in laptop - now I have 1 256 and 1 512 so a total of 768mb. I think my parents have a free slot on their gateway so I'm gonna put the old 256 in there.

The $15 coupon I printed from slickdeals and is seperate from $15 instant savings - which I guess last week was $20 instant savings.

Funny story, I had to fake up a receipt for an Office Depot rebate re something else, so I hardcoded www.officedepot.com into my IE footer settings and forgot to change it back. It was at the bottom of my staples coupon printout so the cashier noticed it and was confused - she gave me a hard time but there was another staples 3 blocks away and I ripped off the part that said Office Depot and they took it.

Here is the coupon link http://forums.slickdeals.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=15868&d=1153317608

so it appears now you can get the memory for $30 - unless you have a $3 inkjet coupon too.

 

Hi i have a presario v2000z and am looking where i can find a good price on a 12 cell battery, my 6 cell is too short of a time. and also what are the specs of the ram i need if i want to go up to ddr 400. can someone help me a n00b in the laptop world. i look at pricewatch .com for ram and they all have diff breakdowns i dont understand. i know i need a 2.5 cas lat and 200 pin , but what is 64x64 and that stuff mean and does it matter?
thanks alot

 

I know this is not really the thread for this but since it is on a V2000 I'll post it here hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

Basically I want to convert vhs to dvd. My input to the laptop needs to be rca (red, white and yellow) cables.

Is it best to go in through the firewire port? If so, what do I need? I don't own a camcorder. Also what software that is included with the V2000 is used for encoding and burning dvds?

 

hi,
my compaq v2000 2374AP is a year old now, its a celeron 1.4Ghz one.
RAM performance is real slow on current 256MB slot.

Can i use a 512 MB DDR 400(PC3200) slot on this laptop config.
Screen shot of current RAM details shown by cpuid is attached.

Any suggestion much appreciated.

regards,
pk

 

Yes, you can but you will pretty much be limited to run at the same speed as your current RAM. Also, some older versions of the V2000 could run memory only upto DDR 266(2100). But you can stil use DDR 400, just that the system wont be capable of using all the bandwidth available to it.

 

hi,
thanks for your suggestion, how do i check whats the RAM speed my laptop can support.

if i go for only PC3200 slot and remove the existing one will it help ?

regards,
pk

 

CPU-Z should be able to tell you. Check the 'Memory tab'. If the speed is listed as 133MHz, then you are pretty much limited to PC 2100. Running only PC3200 wont do much since if your system is not capable of running memory at PC3200 speeds, then it will just again downclock the memory to PC2100 speeds. In any case adding more memory should help your performance rather than the bandwidth. It would be better to have 512MB PC 2100 rather than just 256MB PC3200.

 

This is an extremely DVD newbie question but
what kind of basic dvd media do you buy to work with dvd burner - does it use regular DV-R - I know there are 2 types but I am confused as to which ones to buy. (I am not talking about lightscribe dvds)

Also is any of the software that is included decent enough to burn dvds?

 

The type of disc to use depends on what types of DVD's the burner can burn. Usualy DVD-R or RW(if you want re-writable) should be fine for home PC use. The others(DVD+R,DVD-RAM) should be fine as well as long as your burner can burn/read those drives. There can be compatibility issues with some drives, so try a couple and test them before buying a lot of DVD's.

See the link below for more detailed 'anything you would ever want to know about DVD's'...
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html#4.3.6

As for the software to burn the discs, there are a couple of free ones, but I havent tried those. USually HP/Compaq's ship wth Sonic DVD burning software which should work well for home use.

 

DVD-R do have compatibility issues. I use only DVD+Rs

 

I didnt purchase my laptop with bluetooth but say I wanted to add it... can easily be added internally or should I just get a usb dongle?

 

I was able to purchase an internal Bluetooth adapter for my V2000z from the OEM.

As you may know, Quanta Computer manufactures notebooks for HP/Compaq. Go to http://www.quantafremont.com/index.aspx to get the toll-free number. If you're lucky, as I was, they'll have a refurb unit in stock. They're very helpful there.

Chuck

 

i do not see anywhere on that site where i can buy internal bluetooth adapter ... i sent them an email

another queston...

can the built in card reader read compact flash or memory stick?

thanks in advance

 

They didn't respond to my e-mail but they were very helpful once I called the toll-free number. Once you talk to the rep, he'll give you an e-mail address. One thing: I thought the shipping charge was a bit much but the cost of the module wasn't that bad.

Sorry, right now, I have a defeatured motherboard so I don't have a card reader. Someone else will have to answer your question.

 

No, it does not accept Compact Flash, Memory Stick also not support I think.

 

I have had the exact same computer for around 2.5 years. I have had major issues with cooling. The fan began by clicking when turned on, now it is completley dead. I have to keep this on a cooling pad to stop the automatic shut down due to over heating. After driving and hour and a half to a HP/Compaq service center, they refused to fix it under warranty and said I had to pay for it.
I know of others and have read many forums with the same issues. Give it time and I bet my bottom dollar that it will happen to yours.
I would not reccommend Compaq not only becuase of the problems I have had for over a year, but because of their poor tech support. They really dont seem interested in warranty claims.
I am currently seeking out a new laptop. Acer seems to be reliable enough, so I may purchase one, and I am afraid my compaq presario v2000 will be sold on ebay for spare parts, becuase thats all it is worth at the moment.

 

Excuse me, sir. I'm from the Old Thread Police. I'm going to have to ask you to step away from the keyboard slowly and place your hands on your head.