Customer Reviews

Compaq Presario R3230US Laptop (2.80 GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

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

 

 

I'm writing a review because I knew that I really wanted to read one about this notebook, and I'm sure many of you guys are itching to read what someone thinks of the notebook too other than, "pretty outstanding notebook." Though my review might not be as credible being that I've only had this for one day (08/05/04 Thursday), it might give you a little insight into what you're getting into. First of all, I'd like to say that I am extremely pleased with what I'm working with right now. It's fast, it performs well and stuff like that. The price was excellent, at just a little over $1000 after rebates, after pulling a couple of strings here and there (nothing illegal of course).

Things I'm displeased with are the fans at the bottom. I never really liked fans on the bottom because it limits your options on where to put your notebook, like on a bed or something, because it sinks. It also doesn't really let you put it on your legs because the fans are around the sides, so I have to balance it with one leg. Another thing that ticked me is the false advertisement of 512 MB RAM. This computer has only 384 MB RAM right now and I'm going to complain sometime in the near future. The keyboard feels really nice but it's noisier than my old laptop's keyboard, and the touch pad isn't that nice when your finger skips around the touch pad (the old laptop didn't have that problem). One thing I also overlooked was the size of the laptop. Though it is a 15" screen, it's still a little bigger than your average 15" screen, so it doesn't fit in cases that are made for 15" screens. That was a problem that I encountered, so you might want to think about buying a case for 15.4" screens, or something. But all else said, these are just little things that really shouldn't take away from the greatness of this laptop in my opinion. That's why this still gets a rating of 5.

I mostly like this laptop: it has a nice-sized keyboard that's easy to type on and wide screen. It's so far done everything I've wanted it to more or less satisfactorily. For my own preference I upgraded to 1 GB of RAM, which has improved my performance.

However, I can't help but consider it an irritating behemoth of a computer. It's ridiculously heavy. I thought perhaps that was the fault of the battery, as those tend to make a noticeable difference in laptop weight, but when I had to replace it, I noticed the battery-less laptop still weighed far too much. It really is not a very portable laptop for this reason. For that matter, the wide screen and keyboard seem nice until you're trying to stuff it into a laptop case or a backpack. There are no contours to this laptop to narrow it down at any point in its frame. Even the power brick for the cord is massive and heavy.

It also runs very, very hot. Don't expect to comfortably use this as a literal "lap"top. I've not had problems (yet) with it overheating and shutting down, though, but I also mainly use it while its propped up in its docking station, which keeps the fans and vents in mid-air.

So, while fairly nice, this laptop is not physically user-friendly. If Apple can make a laptop with better specs at a fourth of the weight, I see no excuse for this one to be so monstrous. Look elsewhere if you actually want your laptop to be portable, as I will when I replace this one.

I got this laptop originally to replace an older Dell laptop that served me well. I have now had my Compaq for over a year, and am ready to write a review for it.

Problems: I had the computer for only 4 months when the connection where the power cord enters the computer broke (inside the computer) which means no charging of the battery. It was under warrenty, so I shipped back my computer, and within 4 days I had a repaired computer back on my lap. There is a small secondary quirk from that repair (my screen black outs from time to time, but it's an easy fix) that wasn't worth me returning the computer for service.

Pros: This screen is beautiful. I use it for many hours each day as a student, then also as my primary home computer. Having the extra wide screen is great for DVD's, but it's most useful when using word processing, as I can fit quite a bit of text on the screen at a single time if I am bouncing around in my notes. The screen is very impressive. The keyboard has great sensitivity and is full sized. The sound from the speakers exceeds 95% of all other laptop speakers. The integrated wireless works flawlessly. There are ample USB ports, and a firewire port. The hard drive is fast and quiet. The processor works like a champ. The fans that cool it all are incredibly quiet, which is very important in class. Nothing worse than when a classmate's computer has a fan come on and it sounds like an remote control plane trying to take off. I love the vertical scroll function of the touch pad.

Cons: It's heavy, really heavy. The touch pad generally works great, but I think it could be better placed to the left another half inch and it would eliminate a lot of unintentional mouse movement when typing. The button that ejects the DVD/CD-R is easy to bump and trigger. I think it would make sense to have your batteries be able to connect directly to the power cord, outside of the computer itself. This would allow recharging a second battery, and would be a life saver if/when the connection where the power cord enters the laptop breaks. This is a weak link on all laptops, and I wish they would redesign it universally.

I highly recommend the Presario 3000 series. It has served me well, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy another one when that time comes. This laptop has made me turn on my desktop maybe once a month. I hadn't intended/expected it to be a full replacement for my desktop, but it quickly became so.

I bought this laptop in Nigeria and 3 days later I was back in Paris, France.

To my Horror it did not have 512MB RAM but 384 MB RAM. Being a great fan of World of Warcraft in august 2005, I was obliged to buy a 1GB RAM combine it with the inbuilt memory to get a total of 1.12 GB of RAM.

Then my next problem was the touchpad. for some unknown reason mine has been messing up. I used to use my wireless mouse just for games but now i use it for everything.

This laptop is really heavy, and i cannot afford to drag to school like the really cute and light Apple laptops.

And apart from the fact the laptop can overheat, it is important to check that you do not have a battery pack with a bar code label starting with GC, IA, L0 or L1. If you do please check the internet for more information, because these packs have been recalled by HP. (they have a tendency to overheat).

Despite the above, I truly love my first laptop. ^^

this computer barely has any battery life and always overheats its self and shutting off. if i had a choice to buy another computer this would be my last choice....

This review doesn't pertain to this laptop, it refers to a Presario 2132 that I bought a year ago but from what I've seen of newer Compaq machines it applies.

The lid is made of soft plastic that's highly flexible. This means that if you carry around your laptop a lot, the screen gets pressed against the keyboard--I now have many visible scratches on the screen as a result.

The battery has also died after about a year of use. The computer will just shut off, with no low power warning / hibernation after about 15 minutes of use on the battery. I have only been running the computer off the battery regularly in the last month.

I have used AST and Toshiba laptops before, for about four years each, including a year each being carried around in a backpack / on public transportation in rural Africa, without any problems. I would not consider bringing this machine to the field--it doesn't inspire confidence...

R3270CA notebook PC (3200 amd64, 1 gig of ram)

Good laptop until battery life became absolutely nothing shortly after a year of use. Laptop has also started using the fans too much in order to cool it down and crashes the odd time due to this.

As I said, when its working the laptop has served its purpose for me, unfortunately the battery life and overheating problem would prompt me to discourage buying this laptop.

good luck,

TCB

You sir, are a FOOL! It came with 512 ram, but the video card on this machine has INTEGRATED RAM, meaning that 512-Video card ram. Your card must have been turned up to 128 MB. 512-128 = 384! Read description before giving a bad review, idiot.