Brandon Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 Well, I received my replacement laptop from HP only 2 days after I called, complaining about my Pavilion ze4630. I got a brand-spanking-new Compaq Presario X1360. Specs: Intel Pentium M 1.4GHz 512MB PC2700DDR Fujitsu 60GB 4200RPM, 2MB Cache 32MB ATI Radeon Mobility M9 9200 128Bit, 220MHz GPU/RAM 15.4" WXGA (1280x800) DVD/CDRW 8x24x10x24 Intel Pro 2200BG 802.11G I opened it up and powered it on. Windows XP Home loaded and I registered it into my name. HP was nice enough to send me a system that was 95% charged, so I only had to wait 20 minutes to do my testing on battery life. I immediately began uninstalling all the HP stuff, and left me with Windows XP Home, with all drivers, Quicken, MS Money, Norton AV 2004 OEM, and Office 2003 Professional. After doing that, my computer booted much faster, and I had 49.5 GB remaining ( I left all of the HP software recovery on the system for the heck of it, but you could clean up another 1.8GB of stuff) I only have one dead pixel, which can only be seen on a pure white screen, and it is in the very top left, and I wouldn't have noticed, unless I got within 2 inches of the screen looking for dead pixels. Compaq/HP fixed the buzzing noise with the original X1000 series, and the system is just as quiet as my old Pentium II laptop that is now at about 4 and a half years old (fan never turned on) When running on battery, the fan seemed to turn on every 20 minutes or so after the initial 40 minutes, and stayed on for about 40 seconds. I got about 4.5 hours of battery life on the initial charge, and as we speak, the battery has only dropped 5% for the last 20 minutes. I found the design MUCH more attractive then the Dell Inspiron 8600, and the fell much more solid, and I wasn't afraid to carry it around. The black on top actually hides the touchpad and buttons, and it doesn't distract from the sleek design. The touchpad takes about an hour to get used to, because the click buttons are smaller then usual, but it is easy to overcome. I put on some music, and used Music Match Jukebox, and the sound was great, and almost no tinny sound even at full blast. The screen is nice, crisp, and bright, and it can be sued outdoors, but you need to turn the brightness up to 100% in order to see clearly. The keyboards 20mm (full desktop) can be harder to get used to from a 19mm keyboard (normal laptop) but the keys are responsive, and are not mushy like others have complained. I installed Halo PC and the v1.4 patch, and fired it up. I ran it at 800x600, medium detail, no AA or AF, and I got a constant 40-55FPS online, and I got NO lag even with the wireless connection. I ran 3DMark 2001SE, and got a score of 5367 with the default drivers (ATI 3.10), not bad for the 32MB card which is supposed to suck. Sure, its not my desktop's Radeon 9500 Pro, but for a laptop that will only see gaming at friends houses, or on vacation, its perfect, but I would have liked to get the 64MB version. I played Finding Nemo, and was so impressed with the widescreen, and the color depth, I actually watched the whole movie! (I was planning on doing other stuff instead, but hey) Two Weeks Later: Well, I still love this machine! I updated to the ATI Catalyst 4.2 drivers, and I got 5684 in 3DMark 2001SE, and it corrected the problems in UT2004 that I was having. The keyboard is awesome, and feels better then my desktop's, and the touchpad is perfect. I went back to my old laptop with 4:3, and I hate it. It looks very weird now, although finding wallpaper that doesn't look stretched for the WXGA is getting hard now. I get between 3.5 and 4.5 hours of battery life consistently, and with Win DVD 5, I got about 3 hours of battery (enough to watch 1-2 full length movies. I don't miss the Serial and PS/2 ports, although there was room for them. Having the power adapter on the right side doesn't even bother me, and the cord never comes out (compared to my old HP) I do miss hotkeys on the system, but I have reassigned keyboard shortcuts to all my software. I have burned 3 CDs using Nero Burning Rom 6, and have made 0 coasters. The speakers I have found aren't that great, and do hiss at you at anything over 50% full, but work fine at full with external speakers. Also, a slight annoyance is a mild whine that can be heard when the battery is being charged, and Window's Power management is set at either Home/Office Desk, or Always On. I am having a VERY hard time in finding a laptop sleeve that will accommodate the widescreen system, but I have found on www.ebags.com that will do for $20. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmoove Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 Nice notebook. When I bought one in November I did consider this model, though due to my previous experiences with Compaq service I decided not to do it. Instead I bought the Acer TravelMate 803LMib, which is a similar notebook (a little better, scores around 7500 points in 3dmark2001se). Anyways enjoy your purchase!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger H. Veteran Posted May 3, 2004 Veteran Share Posted May 3, 2004 sweet machines....can i get one? LOL just because of the titled tho i'll move this.. Moved - Nothing to see here??:ninja:a:i> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 looks like a very nice laptop (Y) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yvo Posted May 3, 2004 Share Posted May 3, 2004 Sweet another x1000 user. I personally am a zt3000 user (HP's version of the x1000... its blue instead of gray). Fry's Electronics sells a lot of wide screen sleeves. Forgot what they were called but they run about $20. Enjoy your laptop. I have an original HP zt3001 not the new zt31xx or zt32xx... so I don't have the PC2700 memory (PC2100 only :-() but I did get the 3 year Accidental Damage Protection which I already used once because I dropped my laptop when coming out of the car... only thing hurt was the dvd burner, but they also fixed the cosmetic damages. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandon Posted May 31, 2004 Author Share Posted May 31, 2004 yeah, i got the one on ebags.. i need it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asdflkjsdrhthfhrhr Posted June 10, 2004 Share Posted June 10, 2004 I can't wait until I have the cash to get this... getting the WUXGA screen (1920x1200) and it's not cheap. Probably going to come out to around 1300 after the employee discount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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