Updated Product Review: Compaq Presario F700 Laptop Computer
Part of this review was originally published on 7/01/2008 See Link to view original article http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/854951/product_review_compaq_presario_f700.html
Read on to the bottom for the 2011 updated information.
So our family was needing to get a laptop computer, our desktop was far too large a set up to keep in the bedroom or living room safely with small children in the house. We decided to get a laptop for upstairs use and set the desk top PC downstairs in my den to use primarily for my small home recording studio setup since it has the scanner, printer, and sound mixer already and needs the respective space for all it’ related accessories and peripherals. We went to the local Best Buy store her in Jefferson City, Mo and after shopping with in our budget picked up a new Compaq Presario F700 laptop. It came with Windows Vista Home Premium operating system, over 1GB of Ram, and 160 GB hard drive, CD / DVD burner that plays Blue Ray Discs as well.
I’ve used XP for years on my Desktop so I was skeptical of using Vista as with any new Windows operating system there’s usually a margin of doubt to its stability. Over all though Vista seems very reliable like XP with most the same Windows features games and is filled with tons of gadgets and other programs and such. My only snag has been Service Pack 1 for vista hasn’t fully updated yet. It also comes preloaded with tons of trial software and games that expire after a few months or uses.
The Presario F700 has been a great laptop so far being it was a display model picked up at a reduced price. So far were still averaging a little over 2 hours of battery life with the standard battery. It comes with an AC power supply cord / charger and it has a great cord reach of about 8 feet so having power at reach hasn’t been an issue yet.
It has a built in WiFi so we picked up a Wireless Router to run internet service through the house between the desktop and laptop. We’ve traveled with the laptop and it has been handy to use at friends houses, worksites, concert venues, hotel and restaurants WiFi connections.
The laptop has been very fast on the internet and when using other programs, the AMD Turion64 X2 processor and NVIDIA graphics / video card.
It also has a great built in universal memory card reader, this was great since we take lots of photos, and are always swapping digital photos with friends from their digital cameras.
It also has 3 hand USB ports, 1/8th inch microphone audio input jack, 1/8th headphone audio output jack, external monitor output and S-Video output. Both of these video out puts is very handy when taking to concert performances that have a Digital TV or Digital Projector and Screen in the venue or on stage so I have been using the Laptop for Power Point type slide shows, video and other digital presentations.
Overall it’s been a great laptop and has fulfilled its needed purpose for the house and travel for the past few months since we picked it up in February of 2008. My wife and daughter use it daily for games and such, I use in for hours on end writing, graphic art, surfing the internet and uploading pictures, audio / video files and text files to several sites for writing and my music from the recording studio and such.
It comes with over a year parts/labor warranty, and seems built to easily get into to upgrade or replace the Ram or hard drives if ever needed.
I’d highly recommend the Compaq Presario F700 laptop for any family, student, or professional who travels for work or pleasure.
UPDATE 7/01/2011 So now we have used this laptop for about 4 years now, it’s still working pretty well for being considered obsolete.
The only issues to report are: The cord to the AC Adapter wore around and exposed some wire. Which I easily fixed with duct tape.
The battery life has greatly decreased to less than an hour or so of charge, but that’s the expected lifespan of most laptop batteries anyway. Several models of laptop batteries where recalled for both HP and Compaq laptop computers. But last I checked My battery hasn’t been effected by the recall.
When I play audio (Wav and MP3 files) in any of the media players the audio stutters when you hit the stop button wile audio file is playing.
I had a difficult time getting Windows Vista properly updated with the much needed Service Packs, buy after a few calls and emails to Microsoft’s online tech support we where able to trouble shoot and get it updated.
So over all The Compaq Presario F700 is still a great Laptop even after 4 years of wear and tare.