Customer Reviews

Compaq Presario MV540 Multimedia 15" CRT Monitor

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

We had purchased this monitor brandnew at our PX. It seemed to look nice and I thought it would be nice to have a smaller more spacesaving monitor. Well little did I know that a common problem of 15 inch monitors or maybe just this one is, that it has difficulty displaying anything higher then 640x480. As soon as we changed it to 800x600 it would start humming and it had this high pitch noise. Needless to say that is quite useless for internet surfing and any software. We exchanged it for a Compaq FS740 and are very happy now!

I had this monitor and it started to make a loud noise one night and I could smell a strong odor of copper wire burning eminating from it. The screen was black on the sides and white down the middle. When I hit the mouse to clear the screen and it started to make a shrill sound and I just pulled the plug. I had this for less than a year. If your kids have this in their room please take care. I'm the only one that used this.

This monitor is everything I expected from a Compaq product. Excellent picture quality and sound. I have never found another manufacturer who can match Compaq for sound quality. Another nice feature of Compaq monitors are the microphones that are built into the monitor, so there is no need to buy a desk-cluttering external. The microphone also works great with voice recognition software. This monitor replaced a Compaq Presario 1410 monitor that I have used for the last six years (still has better sound and picture than most new monitors, just figured it was time to update!).

This was given to me along with the Compaq Presario 5000SR computer (2001 era computer). Having been mothballed for about the last 3 years the computer and monitor are definitely from another generation of the PC industry. At the time the 1st Apple Bondi blue and subsequent fruit color iMacs were making the staid vanilla PC industry look stale. PC giants responded in an attempt to inject a bit of style in their product lines. The Presario 5000 for instance has a front face plate with interchangeable color (Grape, Lime, Graphite) flashings. The 15" monitor matches the styling. The main issue is that with the brightness using the OSD menu is turned all the way up but is not near enough. Using the video card built in screen calibration tools to tweak up the brightness always results in a saturation in the image. Drawing from experience with a few monitors from this era and the 1980s, I am disappointed that Compaq poor choice of build quality will contribute to yet another landfill travesty. But mostly I bemoan the loss of a matching component for an otherwise serviceable computer.
Caveats: The included JBL speakers are wonderful and although the wiring would be better engineered into the monitor cable (like the Sony Vaio of same era) the speaker mounting and cabling does work.

This is great for those on a budget who want to spend more on the core components of the pc and don't mind a small 15" monitor. The picture is crisp and clear, flicker is minimal(though it lacks a glare shield, so you may want one for all day viewing) and even though it's 15", it has no trouble displaying crystal clear text at 1024x768. So don't feel you'll be stuck at 800x600 or lower if you opt for this. It's an especially good deal for me because I got it from a computer a family member was getting rid of.

I acquired the MV540 from a friend who decided to get another monitor. So far, he and I have not had come across any safety issues, but since I'm used to resolutions higher than 800x600, and this monitor is not able to have a sufficient 1024x768 at a refresh rate of over 60Hz. The monitor's video quality is crisp and the lack of anti-glare makes the image much sharper than competitors'. The speakers sound fine and the power supply is within the monitor, without the unnecessary transformer taking up space. The curve-laden design permits use in a small built-in cabinet, which is improved from the MV520 (previous design).

I recommend this monitor due to the image quality, audio quality, and convenience; but with three stars, it's due to the limits of resolution.

So far, I'm impressed.

I have had this monitor since 2000 and have never had a single problem with it. No humming sounds or smoke coming out and I have changed the resolution quite a few times. I highly recommend this item.

I have my COMPAQ FS740 with CPU for 3 years now. I bought it from Best Buy. Best Buy did a shabby software installation job, but it was affordable and I am not knowledgeable in these areas. That being said, I have done a Recovery twice and I now have a problem wherein my pc reboots around 7pm at night. No virus. None. Its a gremlin, I tell you. Now!!! The pc is turning pink. It does it so often that I believe the whole thing might be on its last legs. I would not care as much because of the low prices of pc's and the upgrades available to me at such low prices, but I barely use the darn thing. For this reason alone, I am annoyed at best, and disappointed and disillusioned at most. I have no clue what I should buy next or what scam to watch out for. Just my 2 cents.