Customer Reviews

Compaq Presario SR2180NX Desktop PC (Intel Pentium D Processor 820, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Drive, SuperMulti DVD Drive, Vista Premium)

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

 

 

I've been using this computer for a week now and haven't had much in the way of trouble. Windows Vista looks great and runs really well. Primarily I use my computer for pictures, music, and video. I have installed Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0 and Adobe Premier Elements 3.0. Both run perfectly, but I had to download a patch for Premier Elements.

Some of the things I like about this computer having Windows Vista is the integrated picture importer, which I like better than the one in Photoshop Elements, and the ability to use a USB thumb drive to speed up your system, almost like adding RAM. Also, Aero Graphics look great! Media Center is cool too, especially if you're a media nut like me.

For pictures, this computer does real well, but for video you might want some more RAM. You can add 1GB to the 1GB it already has, which I would recommend for video editing (or trying it with a 1GB thumb drive). The front inputs are very nice. There's a card reader for most types of cards and two USB 2.0 inputs and a fire-wire input. So you can hook up your photo/video equipment easily.

The only reason I don't give this computer five stars is all the programs that HP/Compaq pre-install on it. This is all essentially adware trying to get you to buy internet or some other service. It is kind of difficult to fully remove all this software. I figure you would have this problem with almost any new computer though.

All in all this is a great computer that performs well. It would be great as a home computer for anyone who isn't interested in major gaming. I am very happy with my new computer and highly recommend it.

This machine may not be as fast as the Core Duos available, but for the money I don't think it can be beat. The Pentium D is still dual core, and at 2.8 GHz, this thing has handled all I've thrown at it very well. The one area lacking on the machine is video, but it has a nice PCI Express x16 slot for gamers to throw in a monster card.

To beef up my machine, I upped the memory to 4 GB (The installed Windows Vista 32-bit will recognize about 3.5 GB of it), added a 500 GB SATA 3 GB/s hard drive and threw in two TV tuners (Hauppauge PVR-150-MCE and HVR-1600). Both Windows Media Center (preloaded with Windows Vista Premium) and BeyondTV (installed separately) work great on the machine, although watching High Definition video at 1920x1080 on a 1920x1440 screen with the integrated Intel Graphics you start to see the deficiencies of the graphics subsystem (although Intel has allegedly fixed the issues, HP/Compaq has yet to provide the updated driver).

Out of the box, I think the machine is a great value. Windows Vista *is* a memory hog, but the 1 GB is passable, although if you really want to fly, take the money you saved on the initial purchase of this PC and buy an additional 1 GB or 2 GB memory kit. The SR2180NX also has many USB 2 connections, which run at full USB 2 speed, and firewire 400 ports front and back. I looked at the lesser models before purchasing, including offerings from other companies as well as the Compaq SR2150NX and SR2170NX and this SR2180NX machine offered a dual-core processor, firewire, more USB ports, greater memory expandability, and a bigger hard disk than the others, for an incremental price bump. Oh yeah, and Windows Vista Premium, which comes with Windows Media Center.

I like the machine so much I bought another one to use as a dedicated Media Center PC (although I will most likely be using Beyond TV over the pre-installed Windows Media Center [due to its greater flexibility - I'm rather particular]).

For those who care, here are the default Vista performance scores, as received:

Processor (Calculations per second): 4.7
Memory (RAM): Memory operations per second: 4.5
Graphics (Desktop performance for Windows Aero): 2.7
Gaming Graphics (3D business and gaming graphics performance): 3.1
Primary hard disk (Disk data transfer rate): 5.4

for what i am doing with computer, the compaq does plenty. the con of it is that i do not have a recovery disk. i had to back up my files myself.

Very satisfied with the product and the way the purchase was handeled.. Would buy again.

Unit came in perfect working condition. Works better than a single core 3+GHz desktop. Vista Home Premium works reliably. No software or hardware problems so far (updated 7/25/07).

I have earned my living purchasing computers so I thought I had a pretty good idea as to what I was looking for before buying. I don't think the blame lies with Hewlett Packard. I can honestly say that I intensly dislike Microsoft's Vista Operating System. When my not too old computer crashed, with the exception of some files, I thought I was covered by my backup program. Apparently not so - Vista is very particular about what programs can be loaded so all my back up files were lost. I ended up having to purchase a new audio card because Vista wouldn't recognize the program by Creative Labs (not even when I tried to download the drivers from their website). I have had nothing but grief setting things up because of Vista's over the top protection. Also, the system freezes, stalls frequently and runs very slowly.

I have truly thought about formatting the hard drive and installing Windows XP but I will wait until the warranty is up. I never had any problems with XP. Maybe I will get used to Vista, but I am having my doubts.

If you are shopping for a new computer, make sure that the programs you like and use are compatible with Vista before you buy or you may be out of luck!

JB, San Jose

I would rate the computer 5 star-BUT--since the first day I used it I have been on the phone with Tech support because using the back-up device built into the computer caused my "D" drive to become 100% full and I cannot download any programs onto this drive. I keep getting a flash message to delete from this drive, but the only thing that comes up is the "deleted matter bin", and there is nothing in it to delete. The tech in India was on with me until 2:30 A. M. and we could not correct this situation-so I am still sitting here with no usable "D" drive. I have E-mailed several time asking for some relief--to no avail.
Maybe you can help me, or replace this computer which I have had less than 1 month.

Pls. advise.

P. S.
I will be leaving for a stint overseas this Monday and should be gone about 6-7 weeks, so pls. keep this complaint current until we solve the problem one way or another.

Thank You

I. Eisenman