Rating: 
Summary: AWESOME DESKTOP REPLACMENT!
Review: Had good experience since purchasing it 2 weeks ago. The SXGA screen is good for watching DVD movies. The laptop has good exterior styling. To add to the confusion on the USB ports, mine says USB 2.0 and I was able to transfer videos (1 minute to transfer for a 1-minute video clip) from my Mini-DV camera to the laptop through the USB.
The fan switches on and off periodically. The fan could be quieter though.
All in all it is a good laptop for the price and I recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Value for Money
Review: Had good experience since purchasing it 2 weeks ago. The SXGA screen is good for watching DVD movies. The laptop has good exterior styling. To add to the confusion on the USB ports, mine says USB 2.0 and I was able to transfer videos (1 minute to transfer for a 1-minute video clip) from my Mini-DV camera to the laptop through the USB.
The fan switches on and off periodically. The fan could be quieter though.
All in all it is a good laptop for the price and I recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Impressive performance for a laptop!
Review: Have owned a 1525 US since October 15,2002. What a great performer. Lots of Power 2.4 , great display 15". I travel to job sites and with case and laptop at 7 lbs + its a little heavy, but the power is worth it. Battery time appears to be 2-2 1/2 hrs , easy recharge when plugged in. There was confusion on some 1525 us models having 60 g hard drives , mine has 40 g and thats plenty.Link this up with a 450cbi hp printer and you have a great travel combo.
Rating: 
Summary: Dissappointment
Review: I have great problems with this computer, from the first day of my purchase, I started to get errors and it is restarting itself everyday without any reason and gives hardware problems for the cause, I am very disappointed with compaq, I am going to send it to customer service soon..
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME DESKTOP REPLACMENT!
Review: I love this laptop I have hade it for a month now I use it for surfing the web and flight simulators (flight simms take alot of power in order to not lag especally Falcon 4.0 in its real time campaine). Lets just say I have this laptop on all the time and it does not get hot!
I can notice right off the bat the dispay is beautiful and bright when it is home I hook up a monitor and turn the laptop screen off. The 32MBDDR video card is a champ I have had no stuttter in my simms in the heat of battle. Also 512MBDDR RAM is a big pluse for multi tasking when you want to surf the web and run othe applications at once.
2.4GHZ is as fast as the come at this time in laptops and the processor really moves for all aplications I have used it for.Take my advice spend the little more money for more than you need for latter when you want faster in the laptop world it is hard to upgrade you almost have to buy new. This laptop will last me well in the next couple of years, also take my advice and buy the extra waranty from compaq so that if it does break it will be up and running in 48hours with thier at home pick up and drop off in 48hours.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent value for the money
Review: I've had this laptop for about a month now and have been pleased with its performance. I want to clear up a few misconceptions before I begin. The ATI Radeon 7500 included in this laptop is DEDICATED video memory. ATI does NOT make a 7500 variant that uses shared video... The 3d performance of this laptop is on par with some desktops. Counterstrike runs flawlessly, and so does the new Splinter Cell demo (which has a few slowdowns w/ everything maxed out). I had no bad pixels on my screen and was impressed at the overall quality of the laptop. The only complaint I have is the rear port cover. It seems to be made of cheap plastic that will break over extensive use. Thankfully, you can remove this piece by removing 2 screws, but the fit was so tight I was reluctant to snap it off.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent value for the money
Review: I've had this laptop for about a month now and have been pleased with its performance. I want to clear up a few misconceptions before I begin. The ATI Radeon 7500 included in this laptop is DEDICATED video memory. ATI does NOT make a 7500 variant that uses shared video... The 3d performance of this laptop is on par with some desktops. Counterstrike runs flawlessly, and so does the new Splinter Cell demo (which has a few slowdowns w/ everything maxed out). I had no bad pixels on my screen and was impressed at the overall quality of the laptop. The only complaint I have is the rear port cover. It seems to be made of cheap plastic that will break over extensive use. Thankfully, you can remove this piece by removing 2 screws, but the fit was so tight I was reluctant to snap it off.
Rating:
Summary: Overall Great laptop, but system hangs sometimes
Review: I've had this mobile laptop for one month and two weeks now. I've traveled overseas during that time without running in to any major problems. This laptop weights around 7.0 lbs, which is not light if you ultimately have to do a lot of walking... so be ready to shop for a nice carrying case. My carrying case is a multi-function style design where I can hoist it on my shoulder or flip out the backstrap and turn into a backpack. There were other laptops that I compared to this one and the only one under (at the time) US$2,000.00 was the Toshiba Satellite 1905-S303. My cost through special pricing and company connection resulted with the Presario 1525us to be cheaper than the lesser featured 1905-S303. Brand name recognition-wise, Toshiba has Compaq beat hands down. The features that Compaq 1525us has over the 1905-S303 is a bit more superior. Both laptops are made in China. Main differences between Compaq Presario 1525us and Toshiba 1905-S303: 1) Compaq - 7.0 lbs, Toshiba - 8.2 (approximately)
2) Compaq - USB 2.0, Toshiba - USB 1.1
3) Compaq - 512 DDR SDRAM, Toshiba - 512 SDRAM
4) Compaq - 32mb DEDICATED ATI 7500 graphics chip
Toshiba- 32mb ATI M6 graphics chip
5) Compaq - SXGA 15" screen, Toshiba - XGA 15" screen
6) Compaq - Max res: 1400x1050, Toshiba - 1024x768
7) Compaq - JBL Pro speakers, Toshiba - not sure Pros and cons:
Toshiba has a very sensitive touchpad, which Compaq's touchpad is grooved that makes it more difficult to accidentally touch. Compaq's resolution under 1400x1050 is fuzzy. The keyboard keys are manufactured better. The air exits the rear of the laptop, Toshiba's air exits UNDERNEATH the laptop... you essentially can't put the laptop on your lap. Compaq's laptop was easy to find a carrying case for, that was not the case for the Toshiba 1905-S303's bulky, extra-thick design. Compaq does come with a 3-prong power cord, while the Toshiba comes with the more common 2-prong cord. I prefer 3-prongs because it offers you grounding, but going overseas or some places do not offer the 3-prong outlets ... so I have to use an adapter. Only one PC Card slot, but I only use it for wireless connection so I don't need an extra slot anyways. I would prefer XP Professional as pre-installed OS, but it only comes with XP Home Edition. This Compaq Presario 1525us mobile "desktop" uses the "desktop" version Pentium 4 microprocessor. This means that you will not get the 4 hours+ usage time without hooking it up to a power cord. Maximum time on a single battery will probably be around 2.5 hours, even less if you watch DVD movies. Someone mentioned how the speed is decreased, but that is not true. The speed for this processor is not decreased as it is not designed to do so like the true mobile-version processors that are available now. With that being said, this laptop really can replace a desktop easily. The system is fast, but I haven't ran any games on it to test out. I mainly use this laptop for communication purpose (e-mail, web browsing, MSN, ICQ, YAHOO, AOL, etc), graphics design and programming. I have watched DVD movies on it and I have to admit the graphics is fantastic. The JBL outputs very good quality sound for something that is built-in. The DVD/CD combo has been great, burning CDs have been easy without running into any problems. I have not experienced any dead pixel on the screen. Around the house, this laptop is very mobile and combined into a wireless network makes it extremely convenient to use around the house. Overall, this notebook is very nice and suits my daily activity perfectly. For the price, you really get a great deal of latest features and components (ATI, DDR memory, P4 2.4ghz CPU, 15" SXGA, USB 2.0), I'm just lacking an extra battery.... Oh, my laptop came with a free HP mobile mouse (smaller mouse than normal for portability) and I love using it when I'm stationed.
Rating:
Summary: Great DESKTOP replacement
Review: I've had this mobile laptop for one month and two weeks now. I've traveled overseas during that time without running in to any major problems. This laptop weights around 7.0 lbs, which is not light if you ultimately have to do a lot of walking... so be ready to shop for a nice carrying case. My carrying case is a multi-function style design where I can hoist it on my shoulder or flip out the backstrap and turn into a backpack. There were other laptops that I compared to this one and the only one under (at the time) US$2,000.00 was the Toshiba Satellite 1905-S303. My cost through special pricing and company connection resulted with the Presario 1525us to be cheaper than the lesser featured 1905-S303. Brand name recognition-wise, Toshiba has Compaq beat hands down. The features that Compaq 1525us has over the 1905-S303 is a bit more superior. Both laptops are made in China. Main differences between Compaq Presario 1525us and Toshiba 1905-S303: 1) Compaq - 7.0 lbs, Toshiba - 8.2 (approximately)
2) Compaq - USB 2.0, Toshiba - USB 1.1
3) Compaq - 512 DDR SDRAM, Toshiba - 512 SDRAM
4) Compaq - 32mb DEDICATED ATI 7500 graphics chip
Toshiba- 32mb ATI M6 graphics chip
5) Compaq - SXGA 15" screen, Toshiba - XGA 15" screen
6) Compaq - Max res: 1400x1050, Toshiba - 1024x768
7) Compaq - JBL Pro speakers, Toshiba - not sure Pros and cons:
Toshiba has a very sensitive touchpad, which Compaq's touchpad is grooved that makes it more difficult to accidentally touch. Compaq's resolution under 1400x1050 is fuzzy. The keyboard keys are manufactured better. The air exits the rear of the laptop, Toshiba's air exits UNDERNEATH the laptop... you essentially can't put the laptop on your lap. Compaq's laptop was easy to find a carrying case for, that was not the case for the Toshiba 1905-S303's bulky, extra-thick design. Compaq does come with a 3-prong power cord, while the Toshiba comes with the more common 2-prong cord. I prefer 3-prongs because it offers you grounding, but going overseas or some places do not offer the 3-prong outlets ... so I have to use an adapter. Only one PC Card slot, but I only use it for wireless connection so I don't need an extra slot anyways. I would prefer XP Professional as pre-installed OS, but it only comes with XP Home Edition. This Compaq Presario 1525us mobile "desktop" uses the "desktop" version Pentium 4 microprocessor. This means that you will not get the 4 hours+ usage time without hooking it up to a power cord. Maximum time on a single battery will probably be around 2.5 hours, even less if you watch DVD movies. Someone mentioned how the speed is decreased, but that is not true. The speed for this processor is not decreased as it is not designed to do so like the true mobile-version processors that are available now. With that being said, this laptop really can replace a desktop easily. The system is fast, but I haven't ran any games on it to test out. I mainly use this laptop for communication purpose (e-mail, web browsing, MSN, ICQ, YAHOO, AOL, etc), graphics design and programming. I have watched DVD movies on it and I have to admit the graphics is fantastic. The JBL outputs very good quality sound for something that is built-in. The DVD/CD combo has been great, burning CDs have been easy without running into any problems. I have not experienced any dead pixel on the screen. Around the house, this laptop is very mobile and combined into a wireless network makes it extremely convenient to use around the house. Overall, this notebook is very nice and suits my daily activity perfectly. For the price, you really get a great deal of latest features and components (ATI, DDR memory, P4 2.4ghz CPU, 15" SXGA, USB 2.0), I'm just lacking an extra battery.... Oh, my laptop came with a free HP mobile mouse (smaller mouse than normal for portability) and I love using it when I'm stationed.
Rating:
Summary: A beauty of a computer!
Review: In addition to what the other folks have said, I love this machine.
The keys have a very solid feel. When I checked the Compaq website (actually HP now) this model is described as having 32 MB of dedicated video ram. Some other sellers of this model also quote the dedicated memory aspect while other sellers still refer to shared video ram but this really is 32 MB dedicated video memory One thing I notice is that, at 2.4 GHz, it's not really that fast. I suspect Win XP is a resource hog and the 4200 rpm hard drive is not as fast as the 7200 rpm in a desktop. Boy, it takes almost a minute just to do the shutdown function! LCD screen was perfect - not one damaged pixel.
The USB ports are 2.0 but there are only two. How many of us have only two devices we want to plug in to the PC? The ports are in back of machine with a flexy plastic hingy thing. With time, this is sure to break off, maybe after a year or two. Sucka is heavy and a bit slippery - hold on tight to it or SPLASH goes [$$$]. IR port is on CD drive, next to beautifuly done silver eject button; thus, I keep getting fingerprints and smudges on the IR. Nine thumbs and one pinky up on this notebook PC. Updated 07-March-2003:
I've had this for 2 1/2 months now and have not had any of the problems other people have mentioned. I've had it up and running for days at a stretch and did not experience any hanging.
My only complaint is that there is only one [CTRL]-key and it is on the left side. This makes it really hard to do a [CTRL] click if you set the mouse/pointing device to left-handed use.
A big plus is the SXGA+ resolution on this seemingly small 15" screen. You get 1400 *1050 and even most 18" lcd screens only go up to 1280 * 1024.
It's a great disappointment (for others) that amazon.com no longer sells this model as I got a great deal when I purchased this laptop from them.
| 
