S$2603
Product Summary
7
out of 10View score
The bad: Loud fan; limited support options.
The bottom line: The Presario 2100 offers nearly everything a mainstream laptop should--and then some, including a smart design, long battery life, and a reasonable price.
Read full review of the Compaq Presario 2100 (Celeron 1.6GHz, 256MB RAM) »
Average User Rating
CNET Asia Review
Most bargain notebooks feature a few flaws that you have to overlook in favor of a rock-bottom price. HP's mainstream Compaq Presario 2100 series is a refreshing exception to this rule. Standard configurations start at US$1,499 (S$2,603) and include respectable specs such as Intel Celeron or AMD Athlon processors, 15-inch displays, and 40GB hard drives. Things only get better from there with the ability to add more cutting-edge options, such as Pentium 4-M CPUs, DVD/CD-RW combo drives, and integrated 802.11b wireless. At this price, you can't expect peak performance--for that, you'll need to step up to a thin-and-light or desktop-replacement notebook--but the Presario 2100 still provides enough speed and battery life for the average tasks of a home user.
Design
The Presario 2100 series is a well-crafted mainstream notebook, and our only major complaint with the design is the loud fan that kicks in on occasion. The 6.9-pound notebook measures a slightly wide, 13.0 by 10.7 by 1.6 inches, which is reasonable when you consider that every system in the series comes with a big and bright 14.1- or 15-inch screen; an integrated floppy drive; and a built-in CD, DVD, or DVD/CD-RW combo drive.
We're particularly partial to the unusual blue lights that complement the Presario 2100's power button and standard touchpad (no pointing-stick option is available). A button above the touchpad turns the pad on or off, helping you avoid accidentally moving the pointer by bumping the pad. We also like how the right side of the touchpad is sectioned off by a vertical line, indicating which part of the software-enhanced pad you should use for scrolling. Two mouse buttons form a smile shape underneath the pad. Finally, the wide keyboard features a familiar, desktoplike layout, with Insert, Delete, Home, and End keys huddled in the upper-right corner.
The Presario 2100 comes with a full assortment of ports and slots. Its right edge sports one PS/2 port and whichever secondary optical storage drive you choose. The back edge includes two USB 1.1 ports and one each for serial, VGA, Ethernet, FireWire, S-Video out, and parallel. On the left edge are the floppy drive; a 56K modem port; one Type II PC Card slot; headphone and microphone ports; and three buttons for volume up, down, and mute. The front edge features an IrDA port.
Features
The Presario 2100's extensive configurability is a nice change from the limited options typical of a mainstream notebook. You can currently choose between AMD mobile Athlon XP, Intel mobile Celeron, or Pentium 4-M processors running from 1.6GHz to 2.4GHz. The four hard drive choices are 20GB, 30GB, 40GB, and 60GB. The active-matrix display comes in two sizes and two native resolutions: 14.1 or 15 inches at an average 1,024x768 pixels, as well as another 15-inch option with a finer 1,400x1,050 resolution. All memory consists of fast 266MHz DDR SDRAM starting at 128MB to 1,024MB. You can also order integrated 802.11b wireless (Wi-Fi); models that include Wi-Fi also offer a convenient wireless on/off switch. The model we tested included a 2GHz Celeron processor, 256MB of memory, and a 30GB hard drive.
The laptop's two internal bays ship with a built-in floppy drive and your choice of a CD, DVD, or DVD/CD-RW drive. Due to the fixed nature of these drives, you can't swap them out for other modules such as a second hard drive or battery. The only other static component in this series is the ATI Mobility Radeon graphics chip that borrows up to 64MB of video RAM from main memory. If your head is swimming from all of these choices, HP also offers several preconfigured versions of the Presario 2100.
HP offers a satisfying selection of software with the Presario 2100. The penny-pincher's option includes Microsoft Works 6.0, along with Money 2003, Quicken Financial Center, InterVideo WinDVD, and Encarta Online. The company also provides the more full-featured Microsoft Office Small Business Edition and Professional office suites. Systems including CD-RW and DVD/CD-RW drives ship with Roxio Easy CD Creator. HP understandably supplies only one operating system with this home-oriented notebook: Windows XP Home.
Performance
From a purely architectural standpoint, it's no surprise that the Presario 2100 and the HP Pavilion ze4200 had only a three-point difference in their mobile-performance scores. Aside from the battery, the systems have the exact same specs. The Presario 2100 came in a couple of points behind the Pavilion ze4200, but this small difference is negligible. The Gateway 400's architecture, on the other hand, is different from that of the two comparison systems, particularly with the hard drive. The Presario 2100's Fujitsu MHS2030AT hard drive may have been the reason the system was able to best the Gateway 400, which uses an IBM Travelstar 40GN. Although it comes nowhere near comparable Pentium 4-based systems, the Presario 2100 with its 2GHz Celeron processor shows that it can hold its own against its peers.
Battery Life
The three systems in this test group share the same-speed processor and screen resolution, so battery performance here pretty much comes down to the size of the cell. Thus, the Presario 2100, which lasted a little more than three hours, wins this roundup because it has the most powerful battery. The system's 14.8V, 4,400mAh battery beat that of its nearest competitor, the Pavilion ze4200's 10.8V, 4,500mAh battery, by 24 minutes. The Presario 2100 also beat the Gateway 400 and its 11.1V, 3,800mAh battery by an even more impressive 41 minutes.
Service And Support
According to HP Singapore, the Presario 2100 comes with a three-year on-site warranty as well as standard carry-in servicing. Turnaround time for notebooks varies from three to five days, depending on country. Users can also log into the HP Web site for software patches, driver updates, manuals as well as online technical support.
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