Customer Reviews

Compaq Presario SR1650NX Desktop PC (AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Processor, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, LightScribe Dbl Layer 16X DVD+/-R/RW Drive)

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

 

 

When my old, self-built Thunderbird 1600 started dragging its feet when I was trying to convert RAW image files in PhotoShop I knew the time had come to upgrade. Looking around it quickly became apparent that I could no longer build my own PC for the price of a ready built one. Being a AMD loyalist I wanted another Athlon based machine which immediately ruled Dell out (as the people's PC only comes in the Intel flavor).

I wanted a pretty powerful machine for a good price and the Compaq Presario SR1650NX seems to be right in that sweet spot for me. For $700 I got the 64 bit 3500+ processor (pity the OS doesn't take advantage of 64 bit yet), 1 gig of memory, 250 gig SATA hard drive, a lightsribe DVD burner. I did my homework and what really attracted me to the SR1650NX was the room for expansion. A cheap PCIe dual head video card cost me $75 - I'm not a gamer but I do like my dual monitor set up. A second gig of memory cost less than $100 - the SR1650NX has 4 memory slots allowing a maximum of 4 gigs of memory if you can use it but Photoshop seems to run very nicely with 2 gigs. I moved a 350gig drive from my old PC to house my photo collection and projects. All this fit and worked in the SR1650NX without a problem.

I did spend quite some time uninstalling all the unwanted software from the SR1650NX before I could really move in and make myself at home but you have to expect some amount of advert-type applications on a ready built machine. The SR1650NX comes with XP media edition but I'm not really taking advantage of any of the extended features yet. My only other complaint is that the built in media reader seemed to be painfully slow to transfer data from my memory card to the PC, however, my external USB2 reader that sits on my desktop is more convenient as well as much faster anyway.

The kind of little upgrades I have made make this good machine, great for a total investment of less than $1k. Certainly I couldn't find anything else that gave quite the same bang for buck and I'm very happy with how my digital darkroom now performs. If you're in the market for a pretty powerful, home PC and you want an AMD processor the SR1650NX is certainly worth checking out.

I just bought this computer from our local Military exchange. I am overall pleased with it. I live overseas and was able to quickly connect to the internet with a local ISP in minutes. I tend to run several programs at once for photo editing and custom projects, and I love that I can switch between programs with no drag time at all. The large video card has enable us to finally play MOH games that our old system couldn't support.

My only issue is with all the pre-loaded stuff. I dislike Norton because it continually pops up in the middle of tasks and is as annoying as using IE.... but I won't get into that. I also don't care for the compaq organizer that pops up. However, going into add/remove programs fixes this quite easily.

I also delete all the hot deals, AOL... another annoying browser/isp/pia....

Overall this computer gives you alot for a decent price.

This system hasn't had a single glitch since I got it -- like Taylor, I spent some time removing unwanted software, and there's a ton of it.

I've been doing lots of Photoshop work on it,and it speeds along with no problems. I'm very happy with the 250 gig HD. I would say the only thing that this configuration is missing is the dedicated DVD player -- it has a DVD Writer, and the second drive is a CD-ROM.

The media reader is a little on the slow side and is very apparent when transfering 6 and 8 megapixel RAW files.

The system runs very quietly, even after 2 or 3 days of not being powered off.

Overall, I highly recommend this system.

I bought this computer from Circuit City. When I attempted to setup the system I had trouble from the moment I turned it on. The system froze over and over and I had to manually hold down the on-off switch until it turned off and then restart the system. After numerous attempts it finally reached the desktop. I then tried to use my old ISP account by putting in the disk I had for NetZero. The system loaded the software but then locked up again and I had to reboot the CPU again. When the software finally was loaded I tried to connect on line and received an error message saying the port was busy with another ISP. I then removed NetZero and set up the AOL free trial included on the system. It locked up again. I then called Compaq/HP support. I have spent the last 3 days working with 6 different techs,3 case numbers and numerous hours. Four of the tech just tried to push me off and not help much. While two honestly tried to solve the problem. Today the last tech finally came to the conclusion that the modem was bad. They are sending me a new modem which I have to install Monday. I would not recommend this computer to my worst enemy. I'm stuck with it for now unless something else goes bad. Then I plan to send it back for a replacement or refund. My previous system was a Compaq and it has worked great. I'm no expert but I do know my way around a system pretty good. I'm careful and only attempt what I am confident with, but this system is junk.

I hate it when the review mechanism is used as advertising space by vendors.