I'm trying to decide which one to buy.

The Presario has the following specs:
Compaq Presario 1200 model 12XL125
AMD-K6-III 566mhz processor
128 megabytes of RAM
8.1 gigabyte harddrive
Toshiba DVD CD-ROM
Cost: $900 USD


The M700 Armada has the following specs:
Intel Pentium II MMX 366 MHz Processor
128 MB RAM Memory
6.4 GB Hard Drive
Internal 24X CD-ROM Drive
13.1" TFT Display
8MB, 2X AGP Video
Windows 98 Operating System
Internal 3.5 Floppy Disk Drive
Internal 56K Modem
24 Month Compaq Warranty
Cost: $800 USD

None .. skip compaq man .. and save yourself some headaches

Any reasons?

If you ever have to upgrade or replace a part on a COMPAQ, it's a right pain in the posterior. The parts are, for the most part integrated, so unless you're skilled with a soldering gun, you can all but forget about it.

Your best route when it concerns a new box is to get one custom-made with the parts you pick from a shop that will do it right there in front of you if you so desire. At least then you can see it assembled and know it's non-integrated.

Maybe Ive been lucky with my Compaq..
We have about 4 puters that run, and then probably enough PARTS to put together a couple more.
My hubby and son are puter geeks too.
Anyway Dynasty...no problem with my presario..of course yearly ya want something else..:D
I will be with this one awhile yet!!

El Diablo = Presario. heh... my family has devoted itself to avoiding those little glowing box demons. It's been a pain to do anything with it and the support stinks. You may want to take a look at the overly fun site compaqsucks.com As a warning they aren't censored so shield the eyes of the yunguns.

[Edited by JustinK on 01-11-2001 at 01:05 PM]

I've had great luck with little Presario laptops... but I really really really love the 15" Dell Inspiron 850MHz I got a little while ago. Worth the bucks, absolutely.

As far as COMPAQ desktoppers, though, I wouldn't touch 'em with a barge pole.

well, you guys reply before me, and said it all :)

After being in the computer business for over 7 years, I can tell you that compaq is one of the worst computers we have ever seen, it by far comes in more often than any other computer for service, in fact the only computer Ive ever seen that was worse than compaq was packard bell.

I have 3 Compaq presarios and have NEVER had any trouble with them two of them get used 16+ hours a day one is 533 MHz Pentium III 384mb of ram its almost 2 years old it was custom made the other is 233 MHz Pentium 32mb of ram i have no idea of how old it is 4 years maybe even 5 I forget when the 233MHz Pentium came out but the thing still runs somehow, i don't know what is the average life of a computer? The clock on it has been behind for a year now.

I plan on buying a Compaq Pentium 4 soon since i've never had any trouble with them :)

I forgot there is one thing I don't like about them the system resources is always low for some reason 61% free is what mines at when im online and there is nothing running in the background no virus scanners are on etc.

Originally posted by DreamWeaver
I have 3 Compaq presarios and have NEVER had any trouble with them two of them get used 16+ hours a day one is 533 MHz Pentium III 384mb of ram its almost 2 years old it was custom made the other is 233 MHz Pentium 32mb of ram i have no idea of how old it is 4 years maybe even 5 I forget when the 233MHz Pentium came out but the thing still runs somehow, i don't know what is the average life of a computer? The clock on it has been behind for a year now.

I plan on buying a Compaq Pentium 4 soon since i've never had any trouble with them :)

Maybe we are the few then that ARE satisfied...but I have about 4 more puters running here, but I ordered the Compaq online..its funny..a friend of mine had 3 compaqs, plus her mom had a compaq..then I got mine..and within about 6 months of that my sister ordered a compaq and she is very satisfied! Weird....huh?

Originally posted by Martie
We have about 4 puters that run..

This is the most important reason, as to why you dun wanna buy a Compaq. The damn things will start running aroud your place, and youll have to hire some one to catch them, or waste your time trying to catch them. I dun think you wont that, do you? :D

I always, recommend going in for a Assembled box, because you can always choose what you wont in it. Which parts, which company. With a branded PC, you cant. Also, upgrading with a branded one, is a major headache. I tend to stay away from them.

Sometimes it's the luck of the draw, I guess. I had the same experience a long time ago with PackardBell -- which at the time had the most miserable reputation in the entire industry.

Meanwhile, years and years later, I've got a PackardBell 66MHz and a PackardBell 75MHz -- neither of which can I kill. They run constantly, day and night, and simply refuse to die.

Personally, I think much of it goes to how you talk to your boxes.

I threaten all of mine with a sledge hammer every single day.

Well the last time I checked it was pretty hard to walk into a local computer store and have a laptop 'assembled' right in front of me, so anyone that says to get one that way must know a nifty comp store.

Laptops by their nature aren't particulaly upgradable. Compaq's have one RAM bay you can upgrade and the hard drives are easy enough to pop out so other than that there's not a whole lot of upgrading needed.

To answer your question though, go for the Armada. What you lose in CPU you'll make up for in rock solid performance. The reason people bitch about Compaq is due to the Presarios (both desktop and laptop). They may well as be different brands from the Armada's as virtually nothing in them is from the same source. Presario's are for the kids to do their homwork on or for Grandpa to look at his porn sites once a month.

In another thread I mentioned having just reformatted this machine for the first time in over a year, running Win 98. Not bad for a POS junker people seem to think they are. It's never missed a beat and runs perfectly.

Having said that, I'd prefer a Dell, Gateway or a VAIO, but that's for a future impulse buy :)

Greg Moore

The company I work for uses only Compag Presario workstations and have had 0 problems with them. But, if you're looking for something upgradeable and flexible, well forget compaq. Personally, I wouldn't use any brand name for a desktop at home.

As for laptops, I'd stick with Toshiba or IBM. I've seen those laptops go through hell and still work.

I thought we were talking about desk tops? :confused

Kunal,

Armadas are Compaq's business laptop range. Desktops are Presarios and Prosignias. Compaq also makes a Presario laptop as well (which they shouldn't) *lol*

Hmm.. they *may* make a Prosignia laptop as well - not sure

The other thing about the newer (and some older) Compaq Armada laptops is they are *ugly*. Ugly enought to give IBM Thinkpad's a run for their money. The 1500c (the one I have) is about the only pretty one to my mind - basic black.

After all this year black is the new black.

Greg Moore

[Edited by akashik on 01-12-2001 at 09:34 AM]

ah.. oh ok .. oh ok.. that clears things out.. hmm

Definitely one of COMPAQ's brighter moves.

Ya think maybe, just maybe, they could have thought up just one more name... lol?

Originally posted by kunal
ah.. oh ok .. oh ok.. that clears things out.. hmm The clues that he was originally asking about laptops were: mention of a TFT display, and listing of prices as $900 for a 566 mhz, 8.1 gig machine and $800 for a 366 mhz PII.

Other than that, yeah, you'd have to recognize the "Armada" name. Since DynastyHost chose not to make it easy on us readers by just saying so! ;)

Originally posted by etLux
I threaten all of mine with a sledge hammer every single day.


I use a similar approach both with my machines and my children. But when I call tech support and explain that I use this method on both, they never send a technician. They send someone from a company called Children's Aid. I wonder why that is...

*Moves away from Spider*

Originally posted by Spider John
Originally posted by etLux
I threaten all of mine with a sledge hammer every single day.


I use a similar approach both with my machines and my children. But when I call tech support and explain that I use this method on both, they never send a technician...

May I note that this technique also works very effectively on technical support people.