J
Reason you have more problems is they do have chips probably on the motherboard they make so you can't upgrade them easily. This is actually very brilliant on their part so you have to buy their memory part or any other part. This dude asked for help with a problem he was having with no sound in Need For Speed 3. This was when I was on aol anyways. Well it looked like he needed a new sond card and he did. I don't know how he made out. I had a problem with a memory chip from another system in a very old packard bell and it wouldn't even recognize it. So i scratched that idear.
I myself rather build my own than buy a prebuilt from any maufacturer of pre-builts. Reason beign is its easier to upgrade and you can solve your own problems. My Aunt and Uncle want to get a new system sometime and I told them do not buy a compaq. I would build them one instead. Anyways thats my story and im stickin to it
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Jeff
I myself rather build my own than buy a prebuilt from any maufacturer of pre-builts. Reason beign is its easier to upgrade and you can solve your own problems. My Aunt and Uncle want to get a new system sometime and I told them do not buy a compaq. I would build them one instead. Anyways thats my story and im stickin to it
Jeff
M
To be FRANK: Compaqs have the crapiest parts in them,thier a big pain in the arse.
They take the longest to boot.
Their on board vid/sound are the crapiest ever made.Their m/b the same the only thing worth 2cents are the h.d. cause compaq wasnt able to screw them up.lol.
That actually goes for alot of them like E-machines/hewlet packards just crap.
They take the longest to boot.
Their on board vid/sound are the crapiest ever made.Their m/b the same the only thing worth 2cents are the h.d. cause compaq wasnt able to screw them up.lol.
That actually goes for alot of them like E-machines/hewlet packards just crap.
A
Most people would be happy with the store bought systems because they use them as big word processers and Email machines.
For the rest of us they are junk.
Compaq, HP, Packard Bell, and the rest of them, except for IBM are not great.
Remember most people are not very smart when it comes to PC's and the big boys take advantage of that.
All we can do is try to tell people what the difference is, but with the advertising they do it is hard.
The Computer Mags are pushing the store bought stuff, and those Dells and Gateways.
My PII 350 will flat out run them all, It doesn't matter what processer they have, they are slow.
For the rest of us they are junk.
Compaq, HP, Packard Bell, and the rest of them, except for IBM are not great.
Remember most people are not very smart when it comes to PC's and the big boys take advantage of that.
All we can do is try to tell people what the difference is, but with the advertising they do it is hard.
The Computer Mags are pushing the store bought stuff, and those Dells and Gateways.
My PII 350 will flat out run them all, It doesn't matter what processer they have, they are slow.
S
i agree, my self built p2/350 is blinding...
i disagree on the dell/gateway groan, we use dells at work here in england and i think the build quality is some of the best around... once you uninstall all the software extra crap dell puts in there machines they run really well... i think their cases are very robust as well, plus double fan cooling which is a good touch.. mind you they do tend to intergrate the cheaper entry level stuff which is a disapointment in any computer as we all know.
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[email protected]
www.panormania.com
i disagree on the dell/gateway groan, we use dells at work here in england and i think the build quality is some of the best around... once you uninstall all the software extra crap dell puts in there machines they run really well... i think their cases are very robust as well, plus double fan cooling which is a good touch.. mind you they do tend to intergrate the cheaper entry level stuff which is a disapointment in any computer as we all know.
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[email protected]
www.panormania.com
F
I agree whole-heartedly about the Packard Bell - Compaq statements, but I have to disagree about the gaetway and Dell comments. My folks picked up a Gateway and it's pretty fast, unfortunately they thought it would be better to "surprise" me when they had a computer rather that ask me what kind to buy. I have a Dell PII-450 and maxed out every option (except stayed with reg CD rom vs DVD) and it's a screamer. We use Dells at work here in the northeast US and they are high performance CADD machines. The work machines don't get the better soundcards (hell we just started getting ANY sound so no complaints there) and only come with the 8M video, but my home/gaming rig is kick ass with the 16M 2XAGP TNT card.
BTW, just in case someone is unaware, NEC and Packard Bell are brother/sister companies.
BTW, just in case someone is unaware, NEC and Packard Bell are brother/sister companies.
R
I don't think the magazines really PUSH dell or gateway as much as dell and gateway really invest in six page ads for every computer-related magazine. It's all about the money.
About the Compaq thing, I have worked on a lot of Compaq's, and they are a strange breed. The higher end machines tend to include non-integrated sound and video, but they are extremely finicky. A large percentage require a specific type of RAM (exactly 3.3volts for example), and most have a hard time using new video and sound cards (as do many Packard Bell's, Emachines, and IBM's that are sold in retail store). Building your own is definitely the way to go for the veteran user.
About the Compaq thing, I have worked on a lot of Compaq's, and they are a strange breed. The higher end machines tend to include non-integrated sound and video, but they are extremely finicky. A large percentage require a specific type of RAM (exactly 3.3volts for example), and most have a hard time using new video and sound cards (as do many Packard Bell's, Emachines, and IBM's that are sold in retail store). Building your own is definitely the way to go for the veteran user.
R
Only way you get better system by homebilut and get good motherboard. Find good name motherboard is important like tyan,gigabyte and etc.If you know how to built will be better.Mine system is gigabyte mb 440bx ,
voodoo3,64 ram,and etc that it work fine so far. Depend on your knowledge problem then fix it.
voodoo3,64 ram,and etc that it work fine so far. Depend on your knowledge problem then fix it.
G
Compaq? ewwww..... I called them about a RAM upgrade and they wanted to sell me special Compaq RAM. I asked about using normal SIMMs and they said reluctantly "ooh you might be very lucky and have it work, but we haven't tested anything other than compaq ram so we don't know [if it'll blow up your computer etc etc essentially pay us the money rather than take a chance]". Well standard SIMMs were about a quarter the price (no joke) and I plugged one in and it still works perfectly years later.
Bloody compaq, I'll never buy another compaq so long as I live. Proprietry components SUCK.
Geoff
Bloody compaq, I'll never buy another compaq so long as I live. Proprietry components SUCK.
Geoff
J
I have a good one for ya about those compaqs. I knew this girl when I was on AOL and she had a compaq. Well this was funny as hell and I was like told ya but. I woulkd see her get booted all the time and it wasn't AOL it was her computer crashing. The damn Compaq kept crashing. At the time I had a p2 266 that was a prebuilt but not from any of the leading vendors. It was a Tiger PC and it ran pretty fast. It had basic windows on it and whichever drivers so it ran faster as it didn't have HD hogging software. Now I am building my own and this is my first and runs pretty damn good. I get some vxd errors but I found what they are (vid card) well all as we know COMPAQ sux and there is no 2 ways about it
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. That's my story and im stickin to it.
Jeff
Jeff
R
Hello Rottie,
I understand you had experence built 8 pc that is great.So for tweaking bios i have no idea but i heard that bios can be tweak but i think too risky try tweak bios can harm all compenetant on mb so if want improve speed just upgrade cpu or ram that effect than try tweaking bios that i think. If tweaking bios not harm mb that is allright i have not tried bios tweaking but i am afraid can mess up mb system when try tweaking.But not hurt if tweaking video card but carefully .
thank Rwc
Hello Geoff
Not worry about compaq you can buy ram to upgrade your pc as follwing your mb manual book specific. Buy ram from any store, if you know much about mb then you can do it. Compaq they want people buy their parts as their business. So try ask any compaq owner about ram they can help you.
Thank Rwc
I understand you had experence built 8 pc that is great.So for tweaking bios i have no idea but i heard that bios can be tweak but i think too risky try tweak bios can harm all compenetant on mb so if want improve speed just upgrade cpu or ram that effect than try tweaking bios that i think. If tweaking bios not harm mb that is allright i have not tried bios tweaking but i am afraid can mess up mb system when try tweaking.But not hurt if tweaking video card but carefully .
thank Rwc
Hello Geoff
Not worry about compaq you can buy ram to upgrade your pc as follwing your mb manual book specific. Buy ram from any store, if you know much about mb then you can do it. Compaq they want people buy their parts as their business. So try ask any compaq owner about ram they can help you.
Thank Rwc
V
I agree CompaQ does Suck but I know Packard bell and NEC are brother companies but i bought a NEC Ready and it was well built it hardly ever crashes, and i havent had any driver problems or anything it was built with good equipment in it too it has a pentium II 400 mhz on a pretty good motherboard it is an intel 440bx/zx 2 mobo and 64mb sd ram pc 100 and Hitachi DVD i put my own Voodoo3 card in it and it ran perfect in every game every program i have installed in it has run really great! i was wondering since packard bell and nec are brother companies does that mean pb owns nec and builds everything in the necs and designs them or are they just paired in buisness???
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