Feedback on Compaq Presario R3220 A64 notebook

[Cisco Kid]

I scooped up an R3230CA for a pretty good deal here in canada equal of about $1075 plus a free HP color printer scanner after MIR.

It comes with an A64 3000/ 512 DDR not sure what speed as I have not played with it yet/dvd/cdrw no dvd burner/15.4 widescreen/40GB HD 4200rpm plan to replkace with a 60GB 5400rpm 8 mb cache drive/ Geforce Go 440 64DDR and a nice host of plug ins and card readers

Wonder what feedback is as I can not seem to find any reviews. It has been bought more as a desktop replacement than a portable as it is pretty big.

Thanks for any feedback or links

CK

[Pinky]

Well, you already bought it... why are you looking for reviews/feedback now?

[henesse]

we could return compaq products if you dont like them.
I bought the same one from futurshop for 1499 and endup returning it few days later.
I guess yours is a refurbished one since its 1075.
I thought it was a good little laptop for an average user but i ended buy the powerbook and now the x6000 series. its hard to pick a laptop.

thats a good price for that laptop.

[Cisco Kid]

Well, you already bought it... why are you looking for reviews/feedback now?


Well I bought it cause it was the last one, it was reduced in price cause it was a demo. I have been searching for user feedback but since this laptop is only about 4 mths old info on its performance has been harder to find. I am seeking an A64 laptop and mobility is not the prime purpose. The unit will be used throughout my home via wireless.

I have basically 1 week to decide whether I should keep it. Its primary purpose will be to replace my wifes desktop. But one annoying thing I notice is that when you remove the battery to preserve it when using power outlet the unit will not sit fluch on a table. The battery has the 4th point of balance with the rubber footing attached to it. This means you have to place something under the laptop which is somewhat annoying.

Since the unit will be used to game as well occasionally I wonder if I should continue to look for better video card.

So anyone with personal use of this laptop or one who may own a 3230US or CA version give me some feedback

CK

[Prot]

You can't replace the video card on most laptops. Even though a particular laptop might say ati radeon 9700 or whatever, it is not the same thing as what is in a desktop, nor does it simply plug in an agp slot. It would be great if that is how things were designed, but unfortunately it is not, hence the need to get as good of a gpu as you can afford to begin with. The only components that are really upgradeable in a laptop are memory, hard drive, and cpu (if it isn't an old one that is soldered to the motherboard). Beyond that, any other upgrades either plug into the usb ports or pcmcia slots. In my opinion, the thing to focus on when deciding on which laptop to buy is to focus on things that are not upgradeable.

[Cisco Kid]

You can't replace the video card on most laptops. Even though a particular laptop might say ati radeon 9700 or whatever, it is not the same thing as what is in a desktop, nor does it simply plug in an agp slot. It would be great if that is how things were designed, but unfortunately it is not, hence the need to get as good of a gpu as you can afford to begin with. The only components that are really upgradeable in a laptop are memory, hard drive, and cpu (if it isn't an old one that is soldered to the motherboard). Beyond that, any other upgrades either plug into the usb ports or pcmcia slots. In my opinion, the thing to focus on when deciding on which laptop to buy is to focus on things that are not upgradeable.

From what I have found the vcard can be upgraded in this lappy, at least I have been passed that info from a current user

CK

[dreIU]

I was looking on HP and Compaq's sites and I noticed that the A64 notebooks were so much cheaper than the centrino ones. Why? The A64's have bigger screens and more features yet it's cheaper. Is Centrino that good?

[ozzlo]

i would say clock for clock centrino and A64 are pretty equal but centrino gets a wee bit better battery life... the reason an equivalent centrino costs so much is because the two top end chips are way overpriced... plus if you are looking at a a sonoma (you can tell cause it's got 533fsb) sonoma was just released a couple of weeks ago and is still expensive... i don't know how good an a64 notebook can oc but every overclocked centrino notebook that I have seen or heard manages a 20+% oc very easily, the only thing holding back higher oc's is the unlockable pci bus...


edit not all of the centrino laptops can oc because some don't have the right pll chip... but thats why you read reviews before you buy a laptop right? :D

[henesse]

Main reason i returned the 3230 was because of the video card. It wasnt up to the task of playing highend games like HL2 and D3.

If you dont mind spending the extra 500, u should consider getting the compaq 6050 on compaq's website. Since we are Canadians, we dont get the option to customize our laptops. so they only have prebuilt ones here (6050us). Inorder to buy that laptop, u need to call the compaq sales center.

It's a very nice laptop. the x300 on there is replaceable with the x800 when it comes out. I got my x6000 series customized from the states by my uncle and he sent it over.

[ozzlo]

Since we are Canadians, we dont get the option to customize our laptops. so they only have prebuilt ones here (6050us). Inorder to buy that laptop, u need to call the compaq sales center.




If you can't get what you want with one company, why settle for less why don't you try a different company.... I've been getting only medeocore reviews for compaq in my stickey... try out somebody else that can customize to your exact needs.... If I wasn't able to customize my laptop I would go crazy!!!! :temper: :temper: :eek:

[henesse]

the x6000 series is one of the best from what i could see.

17" brightview
1024mb ddr2 400
pcix x600 upgradeable to the x800
intel p4 3.66 upgradeable to the 600 series (64bit intel p4) cpu thats coming out.
7200 rpm 60gb
full sized keyboard
weighing in at 9.6lbs (the lightest 17" laptop)

whats not to like about this laptop besides the low battery life?

[ozzlo]

^^^^ how bout the fact that it's 9.6 pounds!!!!!

my lappy is 7.4 pounds and combined with just a couple of books can kill me if i walk acrossed campus... plus whilest on battery that lappy runs at half speed which means it can get it's butt kicked by any athalon or pentium-m laptop for mobile performance wise!!!


did you know that the new pentium-m chipset the 915pm has the same memmory bandwidth as the p4? dual channel DDR 2

[Prot]

Have you considered this?

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=1099386075236&skuId=6969097&productCategoryId=pcmcat22300050001&type=product

It's on sale right now and the specs are impressive. The weight isn't bad either.

[Cisco Kid]

thde X6000 series does look very appealing. I will prolly make decision to keep the R3230. I am keeping it for a desktop replacement however if I can come into some extra cash by this Sat the x6000 my be my choice

Thanks for feedback guys I appreciate it

ck

[Cisco Kid]

Well I have kept the R3230CA and I really like this laptop. For what I paid the performance is awesome all I have to do is upgrade the drive and find out if the Geforce 440 64DDR ca actually be replaced. Anyone know for sure as I have had conflicting answers.

If it can not be replaced it is still decent enough for most games with no eye candy, but so far I really like the unit!!! I love the connections it has and the sound and plan to get the neat docking station with wifi keyboard and mouse!

A64 3000 @ 1.8 with 1mb L2 cache
2x256 PC2700
40 GB drive>>> 60 GB 7200 or 5400 8 mb cache
15.4 WXGA widescreen, the true brites are not for me
Geforce 440 64 DDR >> praying I can upgrade it and if not ohh well
802.11 G/B
DVD Rom/CDRW
JBL sound
7.6lbs, it will remain in the house most of the time:)

CK

[henesse]

3230 is a nice laptop.
I had a hard time making up my mind before i returned it.

ozzlo, depends on what type of bag you'll be using. packpacks tend to make it much lighter then they are. im not a big fan of shoulder bags. im not sure which one you have.

[Cisco Kid]

I ran 3D01 to test it out as I have not plauch with the notebook yet.

when will the processor actually use its full speed because after the run my processor speed on the ORB was shown as 797mhz. I scored just shy of 5000 at default settings.

I am running on AC and have it set to maximum performance, why is the unit not powering up the processor when it is under load. I actually do not know if it has ever gone over 797 to date but 3D01 is the most stressful app I have used to date as well due to limited play time.

Any ideas guys?

CK

[funnyperson1]

What up Cisco?

3dMark probably measured the speed before or after the test, 5000 sounds about right for a Geforce4 MX440.

My dad has the same laptop and upgraded, got the Hitachi 60GB 7200rpm drive and the dock, and he is very pleased with it so far.

[henesse]

yeah 5000 for that alppy sounds right.
you got one mighty cpu partnered up with a loser of a gpu.

[Cisco Kid]

What up Cisco?

3dMark probably measured the speed before or after the test, 5000 sounds about right for a Geforce4 MX440.

My dad has the same laptop and upgraded, got the Hitachi 60GB 7200rpm drive and the dock, and he is very pleased with it so far.



all is good FP on the west coast but I am searching high and low for a dvdrw drive to replace the combo drive. Other than that I love the unit and in time will get a faster drive for sure, just trying to find the best deal on both parts.

CK