Compaq Presario V5000/V5000Z Review
I’ve never really wanted a laptop. I thought, “the keyboard is annoyingly flat, the touchpad is no substitute for my Logitech optical mouse, and the small screen won’t properly contain Photoshop, Fruity Loops, and Cool Edit Pro”.
However, when wi-fi and freelance projects came into the picture, I started to wonder whether it’s really necessary for me to sit in the same spot in front of the desktop to get anything done. Why couldn’t I be in the library, or by the pool, or at a friend’s house? Why couldn’t I write some code whenever the inspiration came – without waiting to get home and wake the desktop up?
It is no surprise why I traded my 3-year-old desktop for a brand-spanken-new Presario. Now I can be mobile. Now I can show my projects to clients in the gorgeousness of the Brightview screen. Now I can sit on the couch, watch the History Channel, and program away.
So why did I get this particular laptop?
- Price
- Quality
- Features
- Service
It rules on all levels I need it to rule on.
This laptop is pretty light at 6.6 pounds. My boss got something similar, but his is honken huge, which to me negates getting the laptop in the first place.
This laptop is ergonomically designed. Because I type a lot, my wrists immediately know an uncomfortable position. It’s been great for far (2 weeks).
The Brightview screen, a $50 option, is worth every penny. It is reflective/glossy, not matte/smudgy like its unBrightview counterparts, so it could be a problem out in the sun. However, indoors it’s a work of art. I can just sit and stare at the fonts. Here, you decide:
You might say, “dude, just turn on the ‘Smooth the edges of screen fonts’ option”. Not the same. This picture is stunning. This is coming from a guy who used to hate laptops and love his 19″ ViewSonic. Trust me on this one.
The widescreen is a cool feature allowing me to work on 1280×800 and watch Serenity like it was meant to be watched. It’s super handy for my spreadsheets and my wife’s gradebooks.
The 12 cell battery (+$80) is said to last for 5 hrs 48 min, but that’s obvious bullshit. It lasts 2.5-3 hours tops with intermittent wireless. I upgraded to 12 cell for that very reason – the 4 or 6 cell battery is crap if you plan on watching movies and use wi-fi.
Speaking of wi-fi, I got a Wireless-B Router on eBay for 25 bucks, plugged it into my cable modem, and now I’m free to roam around. That rules.
The innards are not bad – CD-RW/DVD, 512 Mb RAM, Sempron 3000+ at 1.8 GHz, ATI Radeon Xpress. It’s not decent to play Doom 3, but it has enough balls to run MySQL, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fruity Loops, Firefox, Excel, a few Explorer windows, Antivir, and ZoneAlarm Firewall. The bloatware Norton Internet Security, by the way, got whacked the minute the laptop arrived – it slowed this otherwise fast machine to a crawl. Who needs it? Anyone out there still opening *.exe email attachments from Antelopa B. Prarie? Just update your Windows, run Kerio or ZoneAlarm firewall, have free AntiVir handy for suspicious stuff, use updated Firefox, and scan with Ad-Aware once in a while. Oh yeah, and kill Norton.
The out-the-door price was $770, but I got the $50 rebate. A brisk 8-10 weeks, and I’ll get some of my money back. And by out-the-door I mean, “off the HP website”. I shopped around, and this is the best I could find. Toshibas are too bulky, Dells are more expensive, I didn’t want at off-brand, so I got an HP after getting five last year for everyone at work.
Yeah, I tried second hand – Craigslist, eBay, etc. After being around people telling laptop-related horror stories and seeing a steaming pile of shit arriving in the laptop box from some dude in Florida, you’d think it’s crazy to buy used laptops, too.
Verdict – if you need a laptop, look no further. You won’t be able to play newest games or burn DVDs, but a measly seven hundred bucks later you’ll have youself a kick-ass portable computer. I’m typing this from the bathroom, just so you know.
I am currently writing on this very laptop and oh, what a beauty she is! Laptops never were my thing until I developed this certain desire to stop dragging 8 different notebooks everywhere for different subjects that I liked to write on. Perhaps I’m a tiny bit OCD about organization and this Compaq was the answer to all my prayers!
Comment by Steph — June 13, 2006 @ 1:42 pm
I have the V5000, and I’m sending it back. I’m going back to IBM. I might pay a couple grand more, but uhhhmmmm….this is really crappy.
Comment by Maximus Eretus — September 11, 2006 @ 7:32 pm
I use a V5120. I upgraded to Windows XP Pro, which was problematic (the restore partition will restore XP Home if I ever use it), and I had to have my keyboard replaced already (I’ve owned this thing for 5 months so far). I have also had to buy additional RAM (it came with 333 megs).
Now that all that’s out of the way, when I pull this thing out of my brief bag, everybody thinks it’s the coolest thing ever with the bright screen.
Next time I’m either buying a HP or a Panasonic toughbook. Leaning towards toughbook.
Comment by Southern Lawyer — September 25, 2006 @ 6:01 pm
I am poor. Everything I own is crap. Except this laptop which I am on right now. And love! Everyone keeps telling me that Compaqs are crap, but I haven’t had any problems. I think it’s just all a matter of taking good care of your PC. This puppy is beautiful.
Comment by Colleen — September 27, 2006 @ 8:49 pm
I’ve had the V5000 for 5 months now and has been in use virtually every day since I’ve had it. It’s mainly used as an internet terminal around the house using wifi and also as a Memory Map browser. I’ve found it to be an excellent machine and only has one problem – the keyboard. I’ve already had several keys pop out/come loose while typing and one key is now too worn and is beyond repair. Waranty repair requires me to send it in for up to 2 weeks – this has made me realise how much I use it and how much I’d miss it if it was taken away – I’m currently looking for a second hand keyboard to substitute the broken key ;)
Comment by Hywel Williams — September 28, 2006 @ 4:25 am
Dave…
Interesting topic… I’m working in this industry myself and I don’t agree about this in 100%, but I added your page to my bookmarks and hope to see more interesting articles in the future…
Trackback by Computer Mouse Review — October 5, 2006 @ 1:53 am
I purchased a refurbished V5000 at Fry’s for $530 as a backup system and for surfing the web on the go. I’m a gamer, so I have a powerful desktop and didn’t feel that I needed a beefy (and expensive) laptop. I wanted something that was full sized, but not too heavy. The widescreen format of the laptop gives the keyboard the same dimentions as the main keys on a normal 101 QWERTY keyboard, which helps a lot for touch typing.
And speaking of the screen, it is a thing of beauty. It’s so bright and clear. The only drawback I can find with the screen is that it shows smudges and fingerprints quite a bit. I bought a pack of alcohol wipes to keep in my laptop bag to keep it clean.
The sound isn’t bad for a laptop, either. It is sitting behind me at my desk right now and playing MP3s on Winamp.
I’m very happy with my purchase.
Comment by Stacy — October 6, 2006 @ 7:43 pm
I bought this one at Fyes and am glad I did.It is refurbished but it is my first new computer ever.
Love the screen except in the sunlight.The 2 GHz is fine and I love being close.Richard f
Comment by Anonymous — October 11, 2006 @ 9:11 pm
I bought this one at Fyes and am glad I did.It is refurbished but it is my first new computer ever.
Love the screen except in the sunlight.The 2 GHz is fine and I love being close.Richard f
Comment by Anonymous — October 11, 2006 @ 9:11 pm
I bought the h/p presario V5000 at BestBuy…no problem…it has the famous H/P warranty…only if you live in the USA! I travel and this brand new unit had a small problem…H/P refused to fix it saying that you have to fix it where you bought it. So much for a worldwide warranty!
Comment by JKM — October 20, 2006 @ 3:23 pm
i love this laptop,its my first laptop and i really love it
Comment by biljana — March 16, 2008 @ 4:06 am
This Computer to me is a disposable piece of junk. At First when I got it I admired the looks like the blog entry, but now after 2 years I hate it! The mouse pad worn out, so It’s not accurate, the hardware freezes and the screen goes black so I have to force and restart. The only good piece about this PC is that it has another hard drive for full system recovery, other than that dont waste your money on this piece or crap. I am getting a MAC!!!
Comment by Yesenia — April 10, 2008 @ 12:42 pm
I have the V5000 and i dont like it so much but it does enough. the only problem with this is that it doesnt play my games anymore. but that just might be a disk drive thing. but i cant play the sims anymore. This computer is very durable. its gone through some tuff times. like it got fried from a storm but it was an easy fix, the computer froze because someone got into my computer but came back after a few things and ran like new. so over all out of all the computers ive had (6) this by far is the best computer ive had.
Comment by Kristin — September 18, 2008 @ 7:34 pm
fkcwncvm…
fkcwncvm…
Trackback by fkcwncvm — November 21, 2008 @ 3:51 pm
Fantastic job done!
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Comment by laptop bettery — February 20, 2009 @ 2:47 am
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Comment by annyhaiyan — February 25, 2009 @ 8:46 pm
I got my COMPAQ Presario V5000 on December 21 2006 as an xmass gift to my self :) and i couldn’t be happier. I’m running Windows XP PRO (VISTA SUCKS. The only modification i’ve done to my laptop is to add another GIG of memory (1/2 a GIG just didn’t cut it but with 1536MB of memory it’s the bomb lol) Also because the internal dvd player cant burn dvd’s i got a Sony USB DVD burner (WOO HOO – RIP IT – CONVERT IT – BURN IT) After dumping Norton (it susks just as much as VISTA) because it was letting crap into my computer i switched to “avast! anti virus” and “COMODO Firewall” and i recomend them BOTH and there free.
Live Long And Prosper.
God Bless The CPU.
Comment by Timothy R — March 21, 2009 @ 11:27 pm
I got this computer for lawschool that began in the Fall of 2006. I am super dissatisfied with this computer for one reason. Ever since I got the computer it has a glitch where the keyboard gets stuck on a sort of caps lock on EVERY key including the number keys. When this happens, the cursor also becomes locked into a drag click mode highlighting text or icons depending on where you are in the windows. (DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE this problem, please post!) I noticed this glitch by the time I started school and was super busy with first year of lawschool. I called support and they told me to restart the computer each time it happens and finangle with some start up stuff. I was like this is unacceptable! By then I had already saved files and came to rely on the computer. So, I dealt with this random glitch that could happen at any random time (daily, weekly, or monthly, never a clear pattern). I used this computer as my notebook for school often keeping it on 10-14 hours a day everyday. The battery became useless after the first year. Warning, do not leave it plugged in after it’s charged and you are still hooked to an outlet. Read the instructions, this kills the battery.
The computer started to get slow during my second year. I don’t play games on the computer. Today, I am using this laptop to search for a replacement. In this last year, it has become too slow. I have defragged, disk cleaned, adaware’d, norton scanned, uninstalled progs, and removed programs from startup but she can’t take no more cap’n. It still takes this computer about 20 minutes to boot. One hinge on the clamshell is broken. The right click was broken after 2 years. The touchpad just barely works in very center (about dime sized), which prompted me to buy a mouse (which I recommend anyone does to begin with). The power cord has to be bent around and taped so that a current will run through it or else too much inadvertent jiggling on you switch to battery power that lasts 70 seconds (why the hell didn’t Compaq give us a dang velcro to keep the cord under control?). It’s true that the keys do fall off this computer often, but I’ve never had a problem putting them back on. The computer has taken two bad falls one from a desk, another time I dropped it when it was in my bag.
In conclusion, if you had this computer and it didn’t have this ridiculous glitch that I have been cursed with, this computer gave a strong 2.5 years after heavy use and physical abuse. It has never crashed, but it has started to shutdown on it’s own. It’s time to give you a viking funeral, after I remove your files of course!
What a love and hate relationship we have. I love/hate you computer.
Comment by Brice — April 10, 2009 @ 10:25 pm
Disk recovery of hard drive…
Recovery is all about getting data recovered that you never intended to lose. The two methods are recovery software and service companies. Look at the various choices and ask any question you may have….
Trackback by Disk recovery of hard drive — April 21, 2009 @ 5:07 pm
My Compaq Presario V5000 beeps and lines run across the bottom of the screen then it starts. Problem is when I click on anything the cursor goes to the left–by pressing the arrow keys it returns to normal before starting up and flashing icons across the top of the screen–anyone else have this problem and if so what causes it?
Comment by Sandra Swain — June 2, 2009 @ 11:26 am
TO BRICE,
I dont know if you are still reading this blog, but its spooky as most of the things you mention are issues that have occurred to my V5000 too.
I received it as a gift after passing my exams 2 years ago, and it was a brilliant machine, compared to the sony viaos’ that my brother and sister both own, it seemed to be faster. However, gradually over time it slowed down, and then i had issues with the keys as two just randomly fell off.
Over the last year, i moved away from home to go to medical school on the oher side of the country hence i was often commuting back, and the laptop seemed to be quite heavy. also dont know if its a consequence of my travels, but the screen was quite floppy until one day the hinge on the right hand side completely broke, and so now i need a support such as a wall behind to keep it open. after comparing the laptop with others i realised most laptops have metal hinges compared to the cheap plastic ones used on this model.
I thought it would last me a few months, but now the power cord has issues of its own and i need to twist it around before it works.
And to round it off, yes i also have had the issue of everything just suddenly being in cap locks, and i have to restart the dratted thing to normalise it. furthermore, about 6 months after the purchase, the cd drive stopped functioning.
Glad to know that its not really a result of how i handled it, as the fact that other have had these issues shows its the actual poor quality of the laptop. My v5000 looks like a hundred years old, yet i have only had it two years compared to my sisters 5 years old sony viao. definitely investing in that machine next, pure quality!
Comment by Aleesha — July 3, 2009 @ 3:07 pm
i have purchased my compaq V5000 one year ago as a backup for my desktop. it is a pretty good buy but the battery is a problem. it lasts about 30 min on a good day. and sometimes the typing will jump into another part of the page…how much is a longer lasting battery?
Comment by joey bang — July 10, 2009 @ 12:37 am
I am currently on my compaq v5000, i have had this computer for 3 years and it has always worked great. The battery is about shot and the hinge is broken. but its still a great computer, i fixed the hinge with goop (rubbery glue). It cant play games any more speed demanding than roller coaster tycoon 2 but is fast enough to watch movies, online videos, and just bout anything else… just not games. I am 16 and this computer has been through a lot, i cant believe i didn’t break it back when i was 13. I am currently saving my money to get a new hp dv7 series, i think im actually going to miss this trusty and durable computer. lots of memories.
Comment by Alex — September 17, 2009 @ 8:27 pm
as far as the caps lock thing that nobodey can seem to figure out. the problem is that one of the shift keys is not working properly, push them both several times. it will stop.
Comment by Alex — September 17, 2009 @ 8:31 pm
fix my credit…
Wow This place is great. I have to bookmark it and come back here again!…
Trackback by fix my credit — November 24, 2009 @ 1:48 am
Picked up this v5000 used for practically nothing. Had to put in a hard drive; big deal. I’ve loaded a beta of Win7 on it, seems to run just fine. The windows license on the bottom is for XP Home which will not install any way you slice it, I guess you need the restore set… So anyway, the display hinges are both pretty wobbly, but everything else works great. The screen is actually TOO frigging bright in the living room at night, but it’s crystal clear. I haven’t seen any of the keyboard or touchpad issues everyone else is talking about. Maybe I haven’t owned it long enough?
Comment by matrixreload — December 17, 2009 @ 9:39 pm
Have to ditto the comments about the V5000.
Since I bought it in 7/2006, I’ve upgraded RAM …
replaced 2 broken hinges (easy to do, and replacement parts are cheap on eBay) …
rolled my eyes at the CAPS problem, which I can usually workaround by pressing CTRL/V to paste clipboard contents into a notepad session …
watched the perf degrade …
worn out the touchpad (1.5″ in diameter wear spot) …
and lost the CD R/W functionality on the combo drive.
Have bought a Toshiba, which I could return as it is still in the box. Should I deep six the V5000, or buy a replacement combo drive and touchpad?
Thanks for your votes!
Comment by Aggie CO — January 4, 2010 @ 10:23 pm