Compaq Presario 700US Laptop (900-MHz Duron, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive)

by Compaq

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 12.4 x 1.6 inches ; 6.4 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 13.3 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005QERS
• Item model number: 700US
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: March 5, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com

The Presario 700US is a reasonably priced notebook designed to appeal to business users. Featuring an AMD Duron chip clocked at 900 MHz, 256 MB of memory (expandable to 384 MB), a 20 GB hard disk, and an 8x DVD-ROM drive, this system will fulfill most portable PC needs. Also included are a 56K modem, a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet NIC, and a 14.1-inch, active-matrix screen with 1024 x 768 resolution. The installed operating system is Windows XP, Microsoft's new operating system that combines the stability of Windows 2000 with better support for peripherals and games. This system is also easily portable, weighing in at just 6.39 pounds with a height of 1.64 inches.

Product Description

Compaq Presario 700US Notebook (900-MHz Duron, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars DVD nightmare is real!, November 27, 2001

By 

"sa007" (Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Compaq Presario 700US Laptop (900-MHz Duron, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

I've got the same problem with dvd's on this unit- using it as a portable dvd player is one of the reasons i bought it, but something is very wrong- lots of frame and audio skip, and frequent screen freezes. Display units in the stores have the same problem. I've tried 3 dvd's and all three have had problems. 'Shrek', one of Amazon's top selling dvd's, is the most problematic when playing

Otherwise, this laptop is fabulous, you can't beat it for price and features this holiday season. But a lot of folks will be upset Christmas morning when they can't watch their favorite animated dvd's

I should mention that Compaq support has been very responsive to my calls for help, suggesting various configuration changes that have improved the playback, but it is still not 'dvd' quality...

Additional Comments 12/11/01 - the Interactual DVD player conflicts with some of the Compaq settings (see Interactual web site). Do not load it on this laptop. It is the one that tries to self load when many of the newer dvds are played on computers. I recovered the computer and avoided the Interactual player. It now works great with all dvd's I've tried, except for Shrek, which I think might require the Interactual player due to all of the additional content. I am now really pleased with this laptop.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The little laptop that could, December 11, 2001

By 

Dennis E. Pipper "inetguy" (Okemos, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Compaq Presario 700US Laptop (900-MHz Duron, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

This little laptop is a rare find at under 1000.00. You get a good deal of power and it's quite light weighing in at only 6.39 lbs. The price I paid was after 2 rebates, one from Compaq, the other from Circuit City.

Out of the box it was easy to setup with a simple to read/use setup poster that describes each of the ports front/back and what the buttons on the inside are for.

The keyboard is small and gets in the way at times, but fix that by adding a PS/2 keyboard and you're good to go. The RAM is shared with the Video memory, so you only get 240 MB of RAM, I imagine when RAM is cheaper for this notebook, I'll upgrade to 384MB (Maximum for this model).

It comes with a 900 Mhz Duron (which some say is better than a Celeron any day) runs quite well, faster than my PIII 550 Desktop any way. It comes with Windows XP and MS Works and some other poopy software, which I uninstalled so i could put what I wanted on it.

Consider this if you purchase this machine you get:

900 Mhz Duron with 256MB PC133 SDRAM, a 20GB Hard drive, an 8x DVD, a 14.1 XGA TFT Active Matrix, a 4X AGP with VIA ProSavage KN1334, JBL Pro Audio Speakers with Bass Reflex
Inputs/Outputs S-Video TV-Out, Headphone/Speaker-Out, Microphone-In, 2 USB Ports, an Ethernet Port, an Integrated V.92 56 KBPS modem, a touchpad mouse, and Lithium-Ion battery that lasts 2.5 hours in good conditions (not playing DVD's or games).

This is my first laptop and first Compaq, too and I'm impressed!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Same problems everyone else had, May 26, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Compaq Presario 700US Laptop (900-MHz Duron, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive) (Personal Computers)

I had the same problems as everyone else. It runs so hot that it is uncomfortable to hold on your lap. The battery life is less than a year (two batteries died total). The hinge cracks appeared after about a year, and completely broke through after a few more months so the display is dangling...I also got a quote of $800 to repair although the LCD itself is fine.

A couple things of things that weren't mentioned in the other reviews....the PCMCIA slot had no guide initially so the pins bent after I inserted the wireless card a few times, and the power adapter quit working after 1.5 years. Tech support was worthless.

Overall, this product is a joke. Avoid it at all costs.