Home > Consumer Reviews > Compaq Presario 2175us Notebook PC (1.80-GHz Athlon XP-M 2400+, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

Those who are migrating from a desktop to a laptop might notice that simple things like loading up a picture might take a little longer because of the limitations on the speed of the hard drive (4200RPM compared to 7200RPM for most desktop h/ds)(Hard drive included in laptop is 40gig)

The Athlon XP-M 2400+ (Running at 1.79ghz) processor is remarkable. It stands up to a 2.4Ghz Pentium 4 and it flys encoding Mp3s and video. It has PowerNow! technology with adjusts the clock speed acording to the processes. (530mhz idle to 1.79ghz max) You can have it set to 1.79ghz even while idle by changing the power settings to Always On (know that keeping it at this speed increases heat and decreases Battery time)

Battery life is average. 3.5 hours idle (running at 530mhz), 1:45 watching a DVD, 1:20 playing games (running at 1.79ghz)

The integrated ATI IGP 320M graphics card with up to 128mb shared memory (configarble from 8-128mb in the bios) preforms easily in older games but lacks in todays high-power 3D games. If you look at the recomended specs for a game you want to buy, make sure it doesnt say more than 32mb of video memory recommended. Even though it can have up to 128mb shared video memory it cant make much use of that much memory because of the relativly old and under powered chip. Comes with a VGA port for connecting an external moniter and an S-Video port for connecting to a TV.

(NOTE: because of ATI PowerPlay Technology it limits the power of the graphics chip while on battery power, therefore for optimal preformance you must have the laptop connected to AC power. I have tried various stragties to disable to powerplay but have not succedded.)

Games playble: (tested by me)
Unreal Tournament
Quake III
Red Alert 2
Mechwarrior 3&4
Operation Flashpoint (not very good)
Unreal Tournament 2003 (remarkably this game can play adaquatly with some tweaking as long is the laptop is connected to AC power)

Sound is great from these speakers and very clear. It is powered by a Conexant Audio chip. Laptop has headphone and microphone ports and a external volume button.

The Tobisha CD-RW/DVD combo drive preformes adquatly. It is rated at 24x read, 8x write, 8x rewrite, 8x read (DVD). But if you open up Easy CD Creator 5 (included with laptop) you will see supported speeds up to 24x write. If you select 24x write it will write at an average at 15x (flucates between 7x and 21x). CD read speed is more like 17x. DVD read speed and CD Re-write untested.

Keyboard is OK, keys are large enough for comfort but are not very sensitive, i constanly find my self exerting pressure on the keys.

Comes with 2 USB 1.1 ports and 1 IEEE 1394 (firewire) 4-pin port. Serial and parrell ports as well as a PS/2 port are included as well. An intergrated V.92 56K modem and 100mbps network card are inculded. What makes this laptop stand out is the integradted 54g wireless lan (WLAN)

Overall this laptop is a remarkable buy, it has great sound and power, but if you want to use this laptop for tommorrows 3D games, get a laptop with a more powerful graphics card.

I purchased this computer one week ago. It took me two days to set up the computer the way I wanted, but after that it has been great. I have migrated from a P2-350 to an AMD 2400+. Remember even though it is marked as 1.8GHz, according to AMD it will really perform like a 2.4GHz computer. I have had no problems with the computer. I felt that this product is the right combination of money and technology. For just over a [money amount]you are getting a machine that is relatively up to date, yet inexpensive in comparison. The great thing is that with the money you save you can pay for the Compaq Accident Protection Plan, 3-years=[money amount]. That way you have a great computer and insurance.

For those of you who are leary of Compaq computers because of the particular battery quirk with the Evo. That problem is not present here. I have unplugged my computer and then replugged it in and the battery is not charging which means that the battery did not discharge while the computer was off. This was a common problem with the Evo.

I would suggest this computer to anyone.

I'm really in love with this Notebook, I've purchased this computer about 2 weeks ago and so far no problem at all, It's fast and reliable something I did'nt expect from a Notebook, I'm a very satisfied customer.

about two weeks after the warranty ended. I haven't figured out yet what I'm going to do with it :(. It got really hot often, the CD-RW would often give me errors when trying to burn CD's, but I haven't seen this coming :(. Maybe Compaqs are cheap for a reason.

My 2175US is now 1 Year Old !! Has not crashed even once yet..
Lesser heat, Very little Noise, Great battery life..
What more do you want from a notebook that costs $1100 ??

Absolutely no worries with an AMD. This notebook Rocks!!