Compaq Presario 906US Laptop (1.33 GHz Athlon XP 1500+, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive)

by Compaq

Product Details

Product Manual [2.26mb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 12 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007HF5P
• Item model number: 906US
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 24, 2002

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Compaq Presario 906US notebook is a surprisingly solid mobile computing solution at an exceptionally affordable price. For cost-conscious users who don’t intend to run the absolute latest 3-D games or animated 3-D drawing packages, the Presario 906US is a capable option.

At 1.5 by 12.8 by 10.6 inches, the unit is not particularly space efficient. It is, however, quite lightweight at just 6.5 pounds. Compaq has fitted the Presario 906US with a Mobile AMD Athlon XP 1500+ processor, 256 MB of DDR SDRAM (upgradable to one full GB), and a 16 MB ATI Radeon integrated graphics processor. This setup should provide more than enough power for standard notebook and multimedia tasks, apart from high-end 3-D animation applications and games.

In fact, the low-cost Presario 906US is a very competent multimedia performer. Compaq has fitted the system with an internal CD-RW/DVD drive to burn and listen to music and play movies, a 14.1-inch XGA TFT display capable of 1,024 x 768 resolution, and a state-of-the-art JBL Pro Performance speaker array with bass reflex enhancement. A 20 GB 4,200 RPM hard disk is ready to handle your important files and programs.

The Presario 906US features a variety of ports to accommodate peripherals and connectivity, including two USB 1.1 jacks, an RJ-45 Ethernet port for high-speed Internet and LAN access, an integrated low-speed modem, headphones/speaker-out and headphones-in, and an S-Video TV-out. The unit does not sport an IEEE 1394 connection for high-speed camcorder downloading. Controls include a full-size 88-key keyboard, a scrolling touch pad for easy Web surfing, and external audio volume and mute controls.

Compaq has preloaded a range of software to help make your computing easier, including Microsoft’s Windows XP Home Edition, Works 6.0, and Money 2001, and Norton AntiVirus 2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Value, Well built, and Fast, December 12, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Compaq Presario 906US Laptop (1.33 GHz Athlon XP 1500+, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive) (Personal Computers)

I bought an Apple iBook (700 mhz, 12" screen) before buying the Presario 906 and found the Presario to be the better notebook of the two. Processing-wise, the Presario and the Apple ran at the same speed with no difference between the two. The screen on the Presario is larger with a nice crispness and resolution. It's very durable (I dropped mine the 1st day and it continued on without a flaw). My personal experience has been that current notebooks are being built to withstand bumps and bruises and the Presario is no exception. The 256mb of memory is plenty for my main uses of internet browsing, email and games. The drive space of 20gb gives me plenty of room for mp3 downloads and photos. There's a dvd player and a cd burner included. With a wireless card working with my cable router this is a great setup and under a grand. Windows XP works seamlessly with the Presario. This is an easy to use, out-of-the-box, laptop. Highly recommended for home users looking for good performance under a budget.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not too bad for the price, December 28, 2002

By 

Scorn ""No joke movement"" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Compaq Presario 906US Laptop (1.33 GHz Athlon XP 1500+, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive) (Personal Computers)

Bought this lappie a week ago. DVDs play fine and display is decent. What I did not like is that it has only 1 PS/2 Port which means that either you can connect a mouse or a keyboard but not both simultaneously. Futhermore I noticed that when I connect a mouse the system freezes occasionally for a second completely (the sound as well as display).

If you research well you will get this one for *well* below $... with mail in rebates and other discounts.Overall a decent machine for the price.

Pros:
1. RAM upgradable to 1GB
2. DVD/CDRW is really handy on a lappie
3. S-Video Out
4. Affordable; Good value for money
5. Light for its price

Cons:
1. Only 1 PS/2. Can connect an external keybord or Mouse, but not both
2. System freezes occasionally when mouse connected to PS/2
3. Ctrl key at an awkward location (not the leftmost in the bottom row)
4. Gets over heated if not placed on a completely flat surface
5. Could not find the specs but I suspect that the FSB rating is not really good.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great value. Solid Performance, January 17, 2003

By 

J. Reed "HHH" (Charlotte, NC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Compaq Presario 906US Laptop (1.33 GHz Athlon XP 1500+, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive) (Personal Computers)

I'm pretty happy with this notebook. No more heat than normal and very quiet. Even the rarely active fan is quiet. And the JBL speakers provide the best sound in any notebook on the market at any price. I upgraded the RAM to 512 and I think everybody should plan for that. I was lucky the included RAM was in one 256MB stick. I hate losing RAM in order to increase it. The video performance is adequate, the DVD playback and CDRW works well. Most of all, I've found the AMD Athlon CPU to be a very hardy chip. Intel CPUs between 1 & 2ghz, be they Celeron or Pentium4 are total dogs. So the Athlon CPU here is a real plus. I don't sweat the lack of firewire. Don't need it. And for the complaint of it having only one PS2 port: Its called USB, look into it.

Complaints: I've found it heavier in practice than the specs lead me to believe. I wish it had a "real" video processor. That was the biggest trade off in getting this. But I did save several hundred dollars. And I've found that most games play well enough, at least with the detail on low. The screen is NOT the brightest. It is clear but can seem dim at times. Battery life is only 2.5hrs. The intractable Compaq software that takes up 6GB of space and is really difficult to remove. But it did come off and made the unit a much better leaner machine. It can take the integrated W200 multiport LAN module in the lid which is cool, but unless you need the one PC slot for something else, I would get a regular wireless card for much less.

Overall, a solid notebook and an incredible value with the rebates. Not sure what I would think about this compared to other models at its list price. But for what I paid for it, it's a winner.