Bought myself a Compaq Presario Laptop

[cas]

Since i last sold my C2D and the gigabyte mobo, been looking for a laptop which could fit my budget. At one time i nearly placed a deposit for the Asus Eeepc just to be put on the waiting list for the stock to arrived

Compaq presario model is C744TU but then any idea why does it shows C700 on the LCD screen as well? Also it doesn't comes with any recovery cd, all it has is a recovery image on a D drive

[tcsenter]

For Christmas, we gave my sister a different model from the Presario C700 family; C714NR. $450.00 out-the-door no rebates (plus tax and LCD recycling fee) for these specs:

Mobile Pentium Dual-Core T2310 1.46GHz
1GB DDR2-533
120GB Hitachi SATA HDD
8x Mult-Format DVD Writer
Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Chipset w/X3100 IGP
15.4" WXGA
Vista Home Premium

Vista ran crazy slow during initial setup, Welcome Center, and all that. After the following, it wasn't too bad:

- grabbed all Vista updates
- installed the latest Intel IGP drivers
- uninstalled some of the OEM application bloat
- uninstalled Norton Internet Security trial
- installed antivirus "only" program (no bloated security suites)
- disabled real-time protection in Windows Defender, leaving the daily quick scan
- restarted 20 times
- ran defrag a few times

After that, it booted to the desktop in a reasonable amount of time, but things continued loading or working in the background for like two minutes after the desktop. However, once everything was loaded, performance was alright considering the low-end IGP with shared memory.

I ended-up wiping the disk and installing Windows XP after creating a disk image of the Vista installation, in case she wants to use Vista in the future. Because HP is only supporting XP for its business product lines, I had a difficult time finding XP drivers for the Conexant HD audio and modem, but I got that resolved after digging around a little on HP's website.

It is way more responsive with XP and I'm pretty sure it gained 15~20 minutes of battery run-time to boot. If you decide to install XP and have trouble finding XP drivers, let me know and I'll see what I can find.

[cas]

If you decide to install XP and have trouble finding XP drivers, let me know and I'll see what I can find.

Tks for the offer, tcscenter. Or yar i forgotten to mention there's vista and Office 2007 pre install and another recovery on D drive. Just felt abit disappointed that it doesn't comes with a recovery cd.

Also i have one issue here which is when i hit the pause key to stop POST so that i can have a clear look at the key option say like F1 is for so and so, F10 is for so and so. After verifying the key option i hit pause key again thinking by doing so POST would continue it way to window welcome screen but it just stay put there, though i try hitting esc, ctrl+alt+delete also no use, it just wouldn't
Go into window.

In the end i have to power off manually and power on again to release the pause.

[cas]

Images of my notebook coming up, bear with the distorted images as i'm using a mobile to snap the picture

[cas]

Next thing i would need to do is to get the wireless to connect to my dlink router and get it secure before it get tapped

[cas]

My wireless is up and right now i'm using the lappie to post this thread. initially having some problem getting the wireless connected due to the ssid being disable.

One thing good about having a lappie which is i can laze and lying on the sofa or bed while posting this, wouldn't need to be tie on a table

[boyblue]

Nice laptop you got there Cas

[cas]

Originally Posted by boyblue

Nice laptop you got there Cas

Tks boyblue, is actually quite a good deal given the specs as i bought it from someone here who signup for a upgraded internet plan from his ISP and managed to get the offer.

Only cons are the batt flat quickly and it heat up easily, judging from the fan vent which pull out the hot air

[boyblue]

"Only cons are the batt flat quickly and it heat up easily, judging from the fan vent which pull out the hot air", Mine does as well so it was no use on the plane. Its just handy to have a backup computer as I don't use it much.

[Jaii]

Originally Posted by tcsenter

For Christmas, we gave my sister a different model from the Presario C700 family; C714NR. $450.00 out-the-door no rebates (plus tax and LCD recycling fee) for these specs:

Mobile Pentium Dual-Core T2310 1.46GHz
1GB DDR2-533
120GB Hitachi SATA HDD
8x Mult-Format DVD Writer
Intel Mobile GM965/GL960 Chipset w/X3100 IGP
15.4" WXGA
Vista Home Premium

Vista ran crazy slow during initial setup, Welcome Center, and all that. After the following, it wasn't too bad:

- grabbed all Vista updates
- installed the latest Intel IGP drivers
- uninstalled some of the OEM application bloat
- uninstalled Norton Internet Security trial
- installed antivirus "only" program (no bloated security suites)
- disabled real-time protection in Windows Defender, leaving the daily quick scan
- restarted 20 times
- ran defrag a few times

After that, it booted to the desktop in a reasonable amount of time, but things continued loading or working in the background for like two minutes after the desktop. However, once everything was loaded, performance was alright considering the low-end IGP with shared memory.

I ended-up wiping the disk and installing Windows XP after creating a disk image of the Vista installation, in case she wants to use Vista in the future. Because HP is only supporting XP for its business product lines, I had a difficult time finding XP drivers for the Conexant HD audio and modem, but I got that resolved after digging around a little on HP's website.

It is way more responsive with XP and I'm pretty sure it gained 15~20 minutes of battery run-time to boot. If you decide to install XP and have trouble finding XP drivers, let me know and I'll see what I can find.

Hi, i having a problem with changing frm vista to xp. ive got most of the drives right, but just the "Conexant HD audio " that i couldnt find for days. ive tried many different drivers on HP web but still cant, wanna ask u which didu use and its working le
thx reply, need ur answer urgently!