How good are the Compaq or the HP computers?

[Guest]

I know there are better brands but to anybody with an HP or a Compaq Desktop, how good are they? have you had any problems with them? what's the performance in these computers?Thanks

[Guest wathomas777]

I have a Presario 2400XP Athlon for $498 from Wally World and I love it. I of course had to "upgrade" it immediately. The 128Meg included just would not cut it for Flight Simulator, (bought a stick of 512MB PC2100 for $80 bucks). Also the on board video is sorely lacking, so a cheap FX5200 Nvidia card was also in the cards.After that, the unit runs great. If I can do without 4x Anti Aliasing,(The FX5200's performance tanks with heavy AA running), then I can usually lock in 24FPS in Most scenarios. Also, even in heavy scenarios (such as an approach into KATL) the card rarely if all dips into single digits. Of course Compaq and HP put a lot of "crap" on your computer, so you need to weed through all the non-vital offers and trial stuff they put on there and you get some HD space back.Overall I'm really happy with mine, and given the cost of the machine vs. Performance, I don't think I could be much happier with it.

[TonyB 1]

HP/Compaq, (it's actually the same company now, though the brands may still be differentiated yet) put out a range of PC's. Thier PC's range from basic no-frills machines to some pretty good equipment. As Mr 777 said, you did get a lot of pre-installed stuff that you need to wade through and probably uninstall. Beware of video cards being intigrated into the motherboard. Watch for video cards that don't have much on-board memory and instead use the PC's memory. Check out the amount of RAM included. Many of the really inexpensive machines still come with 128MB, and that is barely enough to run XP, not to mention Flight Simulator. Try to get at least 512MB Ram. Finally, be aware that depending on the particilar computer, HP's and Compaqs are not always as easy to upgrade or replace components in. They sometimes use odd-shaped mother boards and so on. In summary, I don't think there is much wrong with HP/Compaq per say, but be sure to know what you are getting. For some reason, Dell seems to have a better reputation. I after never worked with Dell, so I can't comment on them.Tony

[Guest SlimDady]

Do not do this if u want a good performang computer.. U should relyl try to build your own for , or get someone to do it for uMy aunt just bought a hp, spend way to much on it, it performs like crap.. its got an 80gig drive but its 5200rpm, its a celeron 2ghz, and pathetic onboard video,Its just amazingly slowLearnn to build your own. they are always gonabe faster then the store bought pcs

[Guest wathomas777]

Compaq's reputation has hurt in that arena.I did a little research of course before laying down my money.My model did only have 128MB and a cruddy integrated video card. so I opened the box in layaway and made sure that I did a little personal research.First, I verified the existance of an AGP slot. I knew that 3rd party video card was a necessity in the future.Sencon, I checked and verified that it had at least a single (mine had two) memory slots. Compaq's did have some very proprietary stuff in the past, especially when they were putting their BIOS on the Hard drive (made changing out HD's a night mare). I don't think that is the case any longer. Mine did come with lots of preconfigured stuff that I stripped off. Also, I had a utility that allowed me to burn 6 CD's to bring the system back to "factory defaults".Overall, I think I got a pretty good deal, it performs better than I expected and did not cost an arm and leg. (just an arm....)

[Guest wathomas777]

True.... To a point...I have built from scratch, my last 3 machines. (Actually they were a bit of an evolution....start from scratch, buy a MB here, upgrade the HD there...If you are not familiar of how to build one, then buying one from the store is not too smart. First of all, the on board video is ALWAYS garbage, and almost always alocates the slower on-board RAM for video RAM.Internal WinModems also suck and are common.If you DO know how to build, then you CAN use a stock computer as a cheap starting point.You must do your research, but a store bought can be a good spring board for future expansion. However, you must realize that some things need to be upgraded before they are even unboxed. (namely, the video card and the RAM)

[Guest Jim Burke]

I have had three HP computers and last year I bought an HP for my daughter at college. I haven't had any problems with any of them. You have to make sure you read the specs closely because HP has quite a few different packages or bundles and you need to find the one that has the things you are looking for. I've recommended HP's to friends who have purchased them and I haven't heard any complaints. In my opinion HP proves that you don't have to spend big bucks to get a good computer.Jim B.

[Steve Cannell 4]

Building your own has become very easy. Most of the hardware components come with excellant instructions. There is nothing to be afraid of.Building your own is a valuable learning experience that can be of great benifit to gamers. You'll endup with a far better system for a lot less money.Ask fellow simmers here, what and where to buy in your area. I'm sure you'll get plenty of responses.SteveCYYZ

[Guest Mike707]

I purchased a Compaq computer last year and was totally not satisfied with the customer service, or lack customer service. I contacted their non-service department, when I had a problem with a hardware issue and they tried to convince me that it was a software issue, which was not covered by Compaq. I asked a few friends of mine that work in the technology field and they informed me that it was clearly a hardware problem and that Compaq should fix it according to thier warranty. When I contacted Compaq again, I got the same treatment. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that they could not help me. I was absolutely frustrated. I eventually sold the computer (I let that person know of the problem, by the way) and concluded that I would never buy any Compaq product again. My latest computer was built by a local computer shop, and I am very happy with it. You may be able to find a decent price for a Compaq/HP computer, but I hope you don't have to contact thier customer service department. I am sure others may have had good experiences, but I just thought I would let you know of mine. Good luck.