HP COMPAQ NC8000 P-1.7GHZ 15.0IN ( DH918U#ABA )Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Binding: Personal Computers
Warranty: 3 years warranty
Glad I did not pay for my nc8000 [Posted on 2005-02-04]
The Compaq nc8000 comes with fair share of softwares and is quite stable. It conforms to the industry standard so it is a breeze to install OS or other softwares (I installed Win 2k, Win XP Pro, Knoppix, Slax, and they all were able to sniff out every piece of hardware this laptop has).
However, the display panel started going dark on the right edge of the unit, and the fadeout is spreading. Almost 30% of the screen to the right is now dim - I am having to crank the brightness to its max value to be able to see the right portion of the screen.
The volume control buttons on the body of the laptop (to the right) respond only when you are working actively. This makes them almost useless most of the time. Say your screen saver kicks in when you are listening to the music - you cannot mute or change the volume until you have logged back in!! While your laptop is starting up, you cannot control all the sounds the laptop makes (like the starting chime) using these buttons - the buttons do not function until you are logged all the way in! All my previous laptops (Toshiba and IBM) had these volume buttons that control the speaker at the hardware level, so that they are functional no matter when you use them, as long as the laptop has power.
In short, I'm glad I did not pay for this unit (issued from work). I would recommend IBM ThinkPads instead - I had one from work (before it ran out of expansion capacity needed for my work, and I got the nc8000 unit) and never had any reasons to complain in the 4 years I owned it.
Chunky but powerful Compaq NC8000 [Posted on 2005-04-18]
I have my Compaq NC8000 for about 3 months and I have to say that I was both surprised and let-down by its features. I am a University Professor, and I use my laptop to give lectures and seminars at work and at other Universities. Also, I travel to many meetings and conferences, as well as between the University and the Hospital. This notebook has handled all of this quite well.
I configured the NC8000 with the following specs:
Intel Pentium M Processor 755 2.0 GHz
1 GHz 333 MHz DDR DIMM
80 GB 7200 RPM hard drive
15" UXGA screen
128 MB VRAM
8x DVD +/-RW drive
Wireless B/G Card internal
Pros:
-Very powerful notebook. I often have the Microsoft programs (PowerPoint, Word, Excel) on at the same time, as well as SigmaPlot and Adobe Photoshop 7, yet the notebook seems unaffected. Also, I always have the Norton Suite running in the back, which is a known resource hog, and the laptop is still whizzing on.
-Nice monitor with super-high resolution
-Instantly recognized my Netgear Wireless-b network
-Fast wireless network (Note: It connects faster and with faster transfer rate than my other HP notebook)
-Nice Speakers (Harmon Kardon)
-Battery life lasts me up to 6 hours, if working only with programs (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.); battery life drops when wireless enabled (not surprising), or when using CD/DVD drive (again, not surprising)
-DVD movies play without a hitch; I've also used it to play other file types (AVI and MPEG), which works great! For my last trip to Italy, I converted a dozen movies onto my hard-drive, so I used less battery power by not using the DVD ROM. (However, I still was not able to have six hours of battery life, more like four hours, which is still good)
Cons:
-Looks chunky/boxy. It looks more like one of the old (old, as in 4-5 years ago) notebooks like a Dell. (I wasn't expecting it to look like my old Toshiba Satellite 315 CDT.)
-Monitor works optimally only when at UXGA setting; hazy and unclear when viewing at lower resolution (ex. SXGA), and refresh rate is set at 60Hz
-Minor: Power light does not indicate that the cord is plugged in when the cover is closed. This was a problem of this series, and recognized by HP/Compaq tech reps. As of now, no fix is available, and no fix will be made for it.
Conclusion: This is a powerful workhorse notebook that can handle almost everything that is thrown onto it. However, it is a bit big and heavy for a portable computer. Still, it is not as big and heavy as other desktop replacements. I only gave it three stars, but I am more in between three or four stars. So, I would like to have given it 3.5 stars if I could.
Chunky but powerful Compaq NC8000 [Posted on 2005-09-16]
I have my Compaq NC8000 for about 9 months and I have to say that I was both surprised and let-down by its features. I am a University Professor, and I use my laptop to give lectures and seminars at work and at other Universities. Also, I travel to many meetings and conferences, as well as between the University and the Hospital. This notebook has handled all of this quite well.
I configured the NC8000 with the following specs:
Intel Pentium M Processor 755 2.0 GHz
1 GHz 333 MHz DDR DIMM
80 GB 7200 RPM hard drive
15" UXGA screen
128 MB VRAM
8x DVD +/-RW drive
Wireless B/G Card internal
Pros:
-Very powerful notebook. I often have the Microsoft programs (PowerPoint, Word, Excel) on at the same time, as well as SigmaPlot and Adobe Photoshop 7, yet the notebook seems unaffected. Also, I always have the Norton Suite running in the back, which is a known resource hog, and the laptop is still whizzing on.
-Nice monitor with super-high resolution
-Instantly recognized my Netgear Wireless-b network
-Fast wireless network (Note: It connects faster and with faster transfer rate than my other HP notebook)
-Nice Speakers (Harmon Kardon)
-Battery life lasts me up to 6 hours, if working only with programs (Microsoft Word, Excel, etc.); battery life drops when wireless enabled (not surprising), or when using CD/DVD drive (again, not surprising)
-DVD movies play without a hitch; I've also used it to play other file types (AVI and MPEG), which works great! For my last trip to Italy, I converted a dozen movies onto my hard-drive, so I used less battery power by not using the DVD ROM. (However, I still was not able to have six hours of battery life, more like four hours, which is still good)
Cons:
-Looks chunky/boxy. It looks more like one of the old (old, as in 4-5 years ago) notebooks like a Dell. (I wasn't expecting it to look like my old Toshiba Satellite 315 CDT.)
-Monitor works optimally only when at UXGA setting; hazy and unclear when viewing at lower resolution (ex. SXGA), and refresh rate is set at 60Hz
-Minor: Power light does not indicate that the cord is plugged in when the cover is closed. This was a problem of this series, and recognized by HP/Compaq tech reps. As of now, no fix is available, and no fix will be made for it.
Conclusion: This is a powerful workhorse notebook that can handle almost everything that is thrown onto it. However, it is a bit big and heavy for a portable computer. Still, it is not as big and heavy as other desktop replacements. I only gave it three stars, but I am more in between three or four stars. So, I would like to have given it 3.5 stars if I could.
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