Home > Consumer Reviews > Compaq Presario 5300US Desktop (1.1-GHz Celeron, 256 MB RAM, 20 GB hard drive)

i had problems with unit freezing up when i tried to use a game cds. video and audio cards are not much to start with and are integrated into motherboard, so upgrading is either very difficult or not possible from what i have been told. ask specific questions and demand accurate answers about what this and any computer will and can do in the future. live and learn. j

This computer, i bought and it arrived yesterday. It is really fast. Team it up with a good sound system, and you will enjoy your DVD experience even more on your PC. it is a fast DVD player. 12x DVD, 8x cd writer... complete! It has network card installed for your broadband connections (DSL).

Well... for me. i am completely satisfied. this computer is fast. :)

I bought this computer in January of 2002. I have had so many problems with it. Every time I would call up compaq I would wait 2-6 hours just to talk to a support specialist then they would transfer me and again i would wait an additional 1-6 hours. I don't have the patience to wait and if you don't have 10 hours a month to wait on hold with compaq don't buy a compaq.

it still suffers from some typical Compaq flaws. This is a handy all around household unit with some gaming features that make it more playable than the 5400. Certainly, the price isn't bad either. However, it does not include a monitor, which you'll need to buy separately. The machine's limitations for gamers lie in its limited, mothboard-bound graphics capabilities (a result of the low power NVidia card) and its mediocre ESS sound. There is an aqequate sized hard drive and a pretty good 12X CD burner, so MP3 collectors will not suffer too much. Anyway, like I said, it's a good, basic machine and if that's your interest, you'll be happy with the unit. I should point out that expanding these Compaqs (a lot like their HP bretheren) is a daunting task; things are tight in the case and adding cards and drives is a challenge, so you better like the machine the way you get it, and not the way you envision it upgraded. Lastly, Compaq's reliability has been acceptable, though its service has been less so.

I bought this PC in November 2001, and this one just worked efficiently and normally 12 months beyond the warranty.
since then the harddrive failed to boot and i lost tons of valuable data.
i also replaced the pd card because the software broke and not available from the manufacturer anymore. the floppy drive broke later.
right now the power switch failed so that i have let power the computer on in case i will not turn on.

what a saving pc i have. great price great computer.