Advantages: Inexpensive compared to similar spec'd machines
Disadvantages: Trackball mouse inefficient and not easy to use, build quality terrible, heavy with provided battery

...Having purchased my Compaq Armada 110s based mostly on budgetary constraints, I suppose I have to blame it on myself that this machine disappoints. I have owned the Armada for a year and a half now, and have experienced many problems both hardware- and software-related. To dismiss the software complaints, my laptop came installed with Windows Millenium, to which I have had to add several patches to make the machine work consistently. Compaq support people were reasonably helpful about these problems, although utlimately a self-help approach was the rule (they directed me to downloads on the web to try to fix the problems myself, and blamed it on the Microsoft software). The main problem in this department was to do with the display adapters, meaning that my screen repeatedly shut down for no apparent reason. Having 'fixed... Read review

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Advantages: Good build quality, excellent support
Disadvantages: None really

...I bought this product second hand, and found it to be very satisfactory. The laptop had lasted very well, and was in excellent condition (i.e. the build quality was good). It is a very stable machine as well, and the hardware support from HP is excellent. My only gripe with this laptop is the connection for the external CD drive, which has a flimsy cover over its port. The double mouse is very good and the screen is excellent quality. I would definitely buy one of these again if not another HP laptop.... Read review

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Advantages: everything!!
Disadvantages: a bit slow for playing the action games!

...For Christmas this year I was expecting a PS2 as I wanted to have The Sims and my parents wouldn’t let me have it on the PC downstairs. So Christmas morning I got up at 4:30 and when I opened the Compaq Armada M300 I was absolutely flabbergasted!! The reason they said they got it for me was because I could do my homework on it as well as The Sims. (I got The Sims triple deluxe!) And if I had The Sims on the PC downstairs no-one would get a go, which is probably true! ~~~THE LOOKS~~~ This is a very small black laptop with a touch pad mouse, which I found very difficult to use to start off with, a greyish tinted keyboard with an 800x600 TFT active matrix screen. When it hasn’t got the mobile expansion unit (MEU) attached it’s a very ultra thin! Less than 1inch! There are 2 on/off buttons one by the screen inside the laptop and one... Read review

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Advantages: Large HDD for something so small
Disadvantages: Can't think of any

...So, I have recently accquired my first Laptop. This offering from Compaq boasts a Celeron 700MHz, 64MB RAM, of wich 8MB is shared with the 2x AGP graphics chip, 10GB HDD, 3.5" FDD, 24x CD-ROM, PCMIA slot, 12.1" TFT screen, 56KB modem and 2 USB ports. The screen takes some getting used after a CRT as it is very susceptible to reflections and glare however this is only a small price to pay. The battery lasts between 90mins and 2 hours depending upon what you are upto. Not too heavy on it's own, but when you stick it in a case with all of its cables etc. you soon feel the wait walking around Manchester City Centre, carting it onto trains & trams. The onboard touch pad is fine, however prolonged use did give me a lot of pain in the top joint of my mouse finger so I would recommend buying a PS2 mouse and mat if you intend to use... Read review

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Advantages: Fast, sleek looking, DVD player (Win98), good driver support
Disadvantages: Unstable, feels delicate not robust

...Working in technical support for a major healthcare company, I get to see a lot of Armada M700s. Compaq have admitted that faulty batches were sent out but this machine seems to be very unstable. It looks very smart with its black case (has a PIII 650MHz processor and 64MB RAM), blue mouse pointer in the middle of the keyboard and the newer ones coming with a DVD/CD drive (but you must have Win98 to use DVDs). As this is a notebook, the floppy drive and CD drive are interchangeable. If you want to use them both at the same time a parallel cable is provided so you can run the floppy drive from the printer port. The screen is quite large for a notebook and the display is clear. Sound output is good and it comes with an internal 56K modem and ethernet network card which frees up your PC card slots for other things. Overall, a nice... Read review

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Advantages: Durable, loads of fixes on the hp site, quite nifty for its age
Disadvantages: just getting on a bit

...Hi and welcome to my review of the Compaq Evo N600c. Please look for my video review which should be up in the next few days or so. This item isnt available new, but is well worth a purchase second hand. As with all my reviews, items are used in the most demanding places around the world, they dont always survive, but this little baby has done me proud. Without any replacement parts (Not even a battery!) it has survived in several continents and in extreme temperatures and conditions (see below) The Compaq N600c is a hard wearing reliable laptop that can easily kick the rear end out of even the newest of models. Its construction is fantastic, meaning that even when dropped, it usually survives! All bits and bobs can be pulled out and replaced with ease, i.e. the DVD can be removed, and replaced with a floppy, the Hard disk can... Read review

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Advantages: Light weight tiny Laptop
Disadvantages: As it 2 or 3 years old a bit slow

...We bought the Compaq Armada M300 as a Christmas present for our 13 year old daughter, mainly for 2 reasons, to run Microsoft Encarta to enable her to do her HOMEWORK! And to run the Sims, she’d been asking for this for about 2 years and we were loathed to load it on the family’s computer for fear that nobody else would get a look in! The Computer, we found on E-Bay for £145 plus £18 postage, we were not particularly looking for a Compaq, but rather any Laptop that had a processor that met the Sims minimum requirement ( that being PII 300). The Compaq far surpassed that! And so we went ahead and made the purchase via Paypal on Sunday night and much to our delight it arrive at 7.30am on Tuesday morning. The only problem, now was that the standard Compaq Armada comes without any external Drives and so we set about finding a CD Drive, we... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to work on, good support
Disadvantages: Rather large footprint

...I have run a IT department for over 10 years and have seen many Computer suppliers in that time. I have now standarized on Compaq throughout the company for Desktops because I find that they have worked hard on what used to be very poor in customer service. We tend to now buy EP series because they suit our needs. We are not power users but use standard off the shelf products like Microsoft Office Pro and terminal emulation software for accessing our Unix system. The speeds are more than adequate for most users, why do you need disc access speeds of .00000001 msec if you are only typing memos and reports with 2 fingers. Service calls , which I must admit are not often, are dealt with in an efficient manner by Compaq Direct. Users Manuals are never opened by most users so why spend huges budgets on them. We currently operate about 120... Read review

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Advantages: inbuilt modem, networking, usb, infrared support, light, fast
Disadvantages: no touchpad on this model, down arrow key, typing comfort

..., which is a big plus point. I've used the machine to run Unreal Tournament and found that it runs with good graphics and sound as long as you don't expect the best resolution in the world at full screen. Battery time is around 3 hrs at best though another positive if you travel a lot is that this is a very light machine. Overall I do reccomend it and it has raised my opinion of Compaq quite considerably, It comes with a good support contract (which I hope I won't need) and has so far (3 weeks) been problem free... Read review

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Advantages: It's a Sony !!!
Disadvantages: It's a little bit old.

...See, there are laptops and there are Sony laptops. 'Other' laptops are usually dull beige box like your average Compaq or Dell. The Sony, is, well different. For a start, it's a lot sleeker than most other laptops, it's colour is wonderful, It's a grey/purply shade (I've got a slight colour blindness type thing going on) that looks stunning (and probably more stunning to others) and its got on the lid SONY in 'kin big letters. This machine screams classy from top to bottom. Oh, while I remember, the machine is pretty fast for a PIII 650. I've upgraded the memory on mine since I bought it and i've upgraded the hard drive to a nice 20gb unit (that failed recently, thank you Toshiba.......) but on the whole this laptop is still working quite happily inspite of it being kidnapped by a 13 year old :) It's a shame I didn't get a nice bag... Read review

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