Compaq Presario M2010US Laptop (Intel Celeron M Processor 350, 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW drive) | List Price: $1,061.00
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Platform: Windows XP Home Edition
Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Binding: Personal Computers
Warranty: 1 year warranty
Features: - 1.3 GHz Intel Celeron M processor with 400 MHz system bus
- 256 MB DDR SDRAM (266 MHz, 2 GB total expansion), 40 GB hard drive, combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW drive
- Two USB 2.0 ports, one Firewire port, one PC Card/CardBus slot supporting one Type I or Type II card
- Built-in 10/100/ BASE-T ethernet; 56K (V.90) modem, 54-Mbps wireless LAN with 125 HSM/SpeedBooster support (802.11b/g)
- Windows XP Home Edition, Service Pack 2
Good Bang for the Buck [Posted on 2005-04-13]
I got this for $599 on sale and after a rebate at Staples. It is what it is: An economy laptop with some unexpected bells and whistles.
The built in wireless internet is wonderful. The sound is terrific for a laptop. The screen is a nice size and produces a nice picture. I love having a burner and a dvd. It comes with the usual software that most preconfigured laptops come with. Has ilink/firewire hick is nice for us iPod users.
Negatives....not much to mention. I'm going to upgrade the Ram because 256 doesn't cut it nowadays. I'd like more than 2 usb ports.
If you're a gamer, buy an Alienware laptop for 4 times the price. This laptop should be more than enough for most people. The price is fantastic for a laptop that is a little more than basic.
A Very good Budget PC [Posted on 2005-05-09]
I received my computer yesterday and it was a pleasant surprise for me to open the box and take it out. Before ordering this one, I personally did not like the appearance of non-widescreen computers but this computer changed my view.
256MB RAM is a bit less and with shared video memory, XP crawls on this. Adding extra RAM is highly recommended, which I did by adding 512 module separately. After this small modification, this computer works wonderfully.
Beware of one small feature of HP's default system settings while you install the drivers. They set Clear type setting for smooth screen fonts, which make them blurred (display settings->Advanced->Effects). It took a while for me to figure that out.
In Summary, VERY happy with this purchase. Could not have expected more from a computer of this price (got it for $499.99AR from CUSA)!
Very Good Laptop & You Just Can't Beat The Price! [Posted on 2005-05-12]
I got this at CompUSA for 500+tax AR. This was bought for my parents, so the majority of the usage will be for web surfing and e-mailing. I also have a Toshiba M35 that i paid over 1800 a year or so ago, the majority of this review will be a comparison between the two, yes i know that it is unfair to put this against that other one, but i was surprised at how this laptop can hld its own. I use the benchmark portion that is in a utility program called batteryeater to give you a reference between the two.
First off, as many people will tell you, the 256MB RAM (224MB because the video takes a minimum of 32MB and can be set up to 64MB) isn't enough, the laptop has two slots for RAM (1 is already occupied by the 256MB PC2100), so it would be a good investment to purchase another 256MB stick (~$30) or a 512MB (~$50) if you plan to do more than office work. Since i had an extra 256MB stick laying around, i did not have to spend the extra money for one, so i have 480MB or system RAM on this, whereas my M35 has 512MB of RAM because it has dedicated video ram. The score where 4012 for the 2010us and 4024 for the M35
The CPU is a 1.3GHz Celeron M 350, which has its ups and down, the up is that it has 1MB of L2 cache and 400MHz FSB, which is a bit stronger than the normal Celerons. The downside is that it does not support any type of power savings features such as SpeedStep on the Centrino line of CPU from Intel. The M35 has a 1.5GHz Centrino processor. The 2010us scored a 1470 where as the M35 had 1943 for the CPU benchmark.
The batter is a 53wHr Lithium-Ion, which lasts for a little under 2hours in the benchmark, Whereas the M35 had almost 3hrs with the speedstep on.
The LCD has a resolution of 1024x768, which is the lowest resolution for a 15" LCD by today's standards, and the LCD isn't high quality, the screen is bright...but that's only if you look at it directly on, from the side, the screen becomes dim and color reproduction is inaccurate. But considering that this is again for Office-type work this not so much a problem. my M35 a ultility that turns down the brightness of the LCD based on the amount of battery left, but i think a program of such can be found on the internet, but i just want to mention that because it would help to conserve the battery.
The mouse pad is an odd dimension, it is about 1.5"H x 3"W, which is a little short and wide compared to other laptops, it is made by synaptics, which makes touchpads for like 95% of the laptops out there. The one thing i didn't like is this mouse, the buttons are very slender and flushed with the palm rest and doesn't have a textured surface, so with my medium sized hand, i find it a little difficult to use without looking at it and having my finder directly on it, otherwise, i would have to use more pressure than on any other laptops because my thumb is about twice the width of the button.
Another thing that i would like to mention is that he power cord connection to the laptop seems very "fragile" it is thin and plugs into the left side, what makes is fragile is the fact that is plugs in perpendicular to the side so if you had this on your lap, and it happened to slip on the left side, i think there is a good chance that the plug would break. If it had a 90 degree plug, it would be a little better, a thicker plug, or having plugging into the back would help even more.
The hard drive is a 40GB @ 4200rpm, which is more than enough for office works, and some music and videos. The included DVD-Rom/CDRW drive is very nice addition on a budget laptop such as this, it doesn't come with a floppy drive, but all laptops today do not either. It scored a 2207 on the HDD bench, versus 3156 for the M35 which has a 60GB 5400RPM.
It has JBL pro speakers, which is better than most laptops i have used over the year and pretty much surpasses most of Dells laptop speakers. And it is placed on the front, facing you, so the sound is not pointed way out in space with some laptops. Though it is good, it cannot compare to the Harman/Kardon speakers on the M35.
This laptop has the intel extreme graphics2, with 32MB (can go upto 64MB) of ram, whereas the M35 has a 32MB GForceGo, so in the bench this only scored a 1912 whereas the M35 scored a 3441.
It does have 10/100 LAN as well as 54G wireless and 56K modem, 2 USB2.0 ports and a firewire port. These are all very nice addition with a budgets laptop such as this, the wireless get excellent reception from my wireless router, and is better than the intel 2200G that is on the Toshiba M35.
All in all, I think this is the best bang for the buck anyone can buy if you can get it for the 500 price, there just isn't anything else out there that I am aware of that can match this laptop in terms of features and price. But even at 700, it is still a very very good buy.
HP makes bad products [Posted on 2005-05-19]
HP products are horrible. After about 2 months since purchasing the laptop, something broke and I couldn't use it without the battery in it. So the battery was depleted quickly. Then the power connector on the back went loose, so I had to put up with constant interruptions because I had to always jiggle the power connector in the back for the power to get back on. After a while nothing was working. So I sent it for repair just before the warranty expired. They sent it back and they didn't do anything to fix it. I called customer service again and they told me to send it back. I also purchase a new extended warranty to keep them working on it. I wasted about a month on their incompetence and deception before they called me and said I have to pay for the motherboard because the motherboard is not under warranty. That was the first time I ever heard this. So now I am trying to get the money back for the extended warranty I paid for nothing. Customer service wasn't rude. But the company engages in deceptive practices and makes bad products. Too bad I couldn't give a 0 star.
extraordinary for the money [Posted on 2005-07-20]
Bought the M2010 from Circuit City about two weeks after it was introduced for $600 after rebates (all of which have come through, I'm glad to say). I felt it was an extraordinary value then and after using it for several months I haven't changed my mind. Although 40gig in on the short side these days, it appears more than adequate, and in any case one should always have an external HD or disc burner for backup (having had 5 HD failers since 1979, I speak from experience.) My immediate upgrade was an additional 512 meg memory. The great weakness of the M2010 is it's 6 cell battery, which will not get you through a 2 hour DVD; a 12 cell is available, but only from HP at $180, about 1/3 the price of the whole computer.
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