Compaq Presario v2000z Review (pics, specs)

What do you mean by enclosure? Is that something you can buy that converts a laptop internal hd into a usb drive?

 

Yes - it's an enclosure in which you can put a 2.5" hard drive. There are also enclosures for 3.5" desktop drives.

Here is an external 2.5" enclosure at Newegg, it's the one I have.

 

Those are great. Who would ever need to buy an external usb drive??? It's much cheaper to buy an internal drive and put it in an enclosure...

 

My thoughts too. When I construct an external drive, I just buy a hard drive + enclosure. The advantage with the dedicated exteral ones is that they usually have better protection than just a HDD + enclosure, especially the mobile ones.

The Vantec I linked comes with a nice little bag, it keeps it protected well.

 

Does it use power off usb port or do u have to plug it in?

 

I have it hooked up via USB 2.0, one plug. With USB 1.1, it requires two USB ports - it comes with an adapter for that. I believe you only need an AC adapter if you have a single USB 1.1 port.

 

Specific to V2000z, you need only one USB port. No external power adapter is required. It is pretty small and handy.

 

Thanks to Chinna_n and everyone else who has provided so much info on the spec and upgrade infor on v2000z. I have been eyeing this laptop for quite sometime now. I have emailed the Compaq technical staff about if they have plans to move to the MT series chip (vs. the currect ML chip), but they haven't replied to me after 2 weeks . I am wondering if anyone hear knows about any plans of HP/Compaq moving the core to the low power MT chip?

also, does the v2000z support DDR2 (533 MHz) RAMs?

thanks,

 

No, the v2000z can only use DDR333 memory. AMD Processors do not support DDR2-533 - only the newer Pentium 4 and Centrino-based notebooks do.

As for moving to the low-voltage MT Turion, there has not been any news yet. I do not think that HP will update the v2000z with that anyway.

 

I don't know about the Semprons, but the Turions do support DDR400. My memory runs at 200MHz @ CAS 3.

I’d like to add two additional comments on the V2000Z that I haven’t seen much of on this forum:

I took my laptop out in daylight for the first time today. Though I knew it would happen, I had no idea that the glare from BrightView would be so bad. It was like looking into a mirror to the extent that I noticed that I hadn't shaved this morning. Nonetheless, since I use my laptop in the office 99% of the time, I'd rather have BrightView than not.

I have the extended 12 cell battery and this was the first time I've run my laptop off it. I started using my laptop at exactly 1:20pm with the wifi on, screen brightness at 30%, background processes untouched, and no undervolting whatsoever. I used MS Office for about an hour, watched a few short video clips, listened to music (no headphones) for almost two hours at 1/3 volume, all while browsing websites. I shut down my laptop at exactly 5:20pm with 26% battery power remaining. That’s 4 hours of use with over a quarter of my battery life remaining. All I can say is get the 12 cell… doesn’t matter if you think it’s ugly.

 

That is amazing battery life J0hn - you're right, definitely worth the extra size.

As for the memory - I implied that the v2000z supported DDR333 natively - that is what HP equips it with. Of course, just about any DDR So-dimm would be compatible, such as the DDR400 you have installed.

 

One more thing... BF2 does run on my laptop. Albeit, AA off, textures at medium, and the rest at low settings. It's not so bad that you can't pay it, I'd just rather play it on my desktop at the highest settings.

 

Oops, my bad.

But yes, I'm glad I paid the extra $25 for the double capacity battery. And I'm one of those people that acutally likes the slight slant for easier typing.

By the way, this was without using my laptop cooler. My CPU temp hovered in the mid to high 40s and my HDD was in the low 30s. Not as cool as a P-M, but not so bad either.

 

Did they change the price of the extra battery? It now displays a +$39. Is it necessary to buy an extra 12cell and have the 6cell too or is the 12cell enough on its own?

John - how do u like the 7200rpm drive? Where did you get it?

I am set on this laptop unless something else changes my mind within the next 2 months... I am gonna check out the after thanksgiving day sales but at this point might just wait until after christmas.

 

Well it was $25 when I bought it in late September. I got my HDD from zipzoomfly.com (Hitachi 7K100 80GB 7200RPM). It runs much cooler than the 5400RPM Fujitsu I got with my laptop from HP, though it is slightly audible when it's being accessed. I didn't get a huge performance boost by upgrading, but it does help when I'm transferring large files. Personally, I love this laptop. For the price, you really can't ask for more.

 

Compaq website changed the customized options again!!.
Well aside from the $39 battery upgrade (up from $25, this probably happened in mid october), I noticed they took out the bluetooth option today.
I was checking their website and playing with the options at 1:00 AM this morning, they still had the Broadcom 54g with bluetooth option. And 2 hours ago, i checked the site again, now they only have 54g w/ HSM or the dialup modem option
Why would they take out the bluetooth, it is so much more useful than HSM, because HSM won't kick in if you don't have matching client and router!

 

Hm, that is odd. I also noticed that they don't offer it on the L2000 or the dv1000. Perhaps they ran out of stock?

I'd suggest sending HP Sales an email or giving them a call, and ask when they are going to offer it again.

 

My laptop (v2410) occasionally has problem with the touchpad, the mouse cursor would jump randomly on the screen and double click here and there whenever I move my finger on the touchpad. I called HP and asked to send my laptop in for repair. They returned my laptop in 2 days with the laptop re-imaged although I told them several times that I have re-install the OS and try different version a dozen time.

I can't blame HP on this as the problem it not consistent so it's hard to troubleshoot. I even re-plug the touchpad connecter (under keyboard) but didn't help. Yesterday, when it happen again, I thought static may be the reason (my other Compaq laptop never has this kind of problem), so I unpluged the power plug from the laptop and touch the plug to discharge myself. Wow, it worked. But as soon as I pluged the power plug back into the laptop, the problem came back.

So here what I found about the problem:
- Laptop running on battery: problem disappear. Plug power in: problem reappear.
- Laptop running on battery with power plug in, but the cord from AC adapter to wall jack is disconnected: no problem. Connecting power to AC adapter again: problem came back.
- Move the AC adapter to another wall jack: problem disappear. Plug back to previous wall jack: problem NOT come back.
- The problem happened when I was at home and at work.

Any idea, explanation would be very appreciate. For now, if the problem happen, I just plug it into a different wall jack. I will try to isolate the problem more, but still have no idea to base the explanation on.

About this laptop, the only thing I complain is that the heat from HDD is too much. Somebody suggested me replacing it with a Western Digital HDD, but ...

 

I also agree HDD temp is more than it should be. But one of our user opened the HDD compartment including the some kind of cover for Mother board also and reported South Bridge Chipset is above HDD compartment( in between HDD and PCMCIA slot). I think that is adding some heat to HDD and causing that whole left palm rest area and HDD also to become quite warm.

But anyways I have been using Antec Notebook cooler at low speed(New Model CFM is around 8 CFM in low) , and it really helps a lot. HDD temps is always below 40( typical 37C) and CPU also around same. The cooler has very low noise and keeps the all CPU and HDD really cool.

 

Yes, I would recommend getting a notebook cooling pad as well. One laptop I had was very hot, especially around the hard drive area. Bought a cheap Targus Chillmat, and the temperature dropped 15 degrees - 58 down to 43. And that was with a plastic pad.

Vantec makes some excellent aluminum ones.

 

Does anyone have a link to where to buy the 12-cell battery (bought my laptop as a packaged deal, didnt have the option to upgrade at the time.)

Thanks

 

Here you go!

It is expensive in my opinion, but if you want the 5 hours+ of battery life, then that is the only way to do it.

 

Well....after much cogitation, I think I will get the Compaq Presario V2000Z. It's too bad that they don't have any Pentium M's. But the Turion 64 ML-30 (1.6GHz/1MB L2 Cache) is good enough for mediocre applications, right?

For those who have this laptop, is the screen nice and big? Even though it's 14"?
I am planning on also getting 512 Corsair Value-Select 200 pin DDR SDRAM memory stick.

Don't know whether I should wait to buy it now, or next year...... hmmmm.....

Here is what I am considering (for my next 4 year college life):

Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
AMD Turion(TM) 64 ML-30 (1.6GHz/1MB L2 Cache)
14.0 WXGA Widescreen (1280x768)
ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M
512 Corsair Value-Select 200 pin DDR SDRAM
60 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Free HP 1410 All-in-One
Belkin® USB Cable a-b, 6' (2 m)
HP Holiday Accessory Bundle
-----------------------------------------------------
TOTAL= $961.42 ( w/ APP) Max. Budget= $1000 (including printer, carrying bag, and shipping)

Or do you guys have any suggestions? Perhaps a different laptop ?

 

The V2000 is the P-M version.

Yes, that processor is more than enough to run "mediocre applications" and the screen is big enough for practical use. As for the memory, an extra 512MB will make a big difference... so if you can afford it, I'd suggest getting it.

 

Yes - check out the V2000 if you want a Pentium M. It might be more expensive, depending on the configuration. Another thing to keep in mind is that the V2000 has a much weaker graphics solution than the V2000Z, if that matters.

 

I am considering buying the V2000Z.

I read the bits on the possibility of taking out the optical drive the unit comes with and swapping it with a slot-loader.

I am currently considering this one: http://www.slidirect.com/web/do/pub/sku/view?categoryId=24&id=75

What I need to know is the physical dimensions of the removed drive and if the connections match up.

I don't really care about the edges lining up so long as I don't have one of those **** trays sticking out...

I will likely look for a better price on the drive, but the $125 does not sound bad to me...

 

I think, Dimensions and mounting wise you should not have any problems. As you already know it not going to be at the same level as current drive face plate. So it may not look good at all.( check CDRlabs forum, some people changed with Samsung Drives). But if you do not care looks you should be fine.

BTW, I you could get good Pioneer slot loading Dual Layer Burner for $105 including shipping, and that is much better/proven than this model. If I remember correctly it support DVD-DL/DVD+DL both. Anyways, best of luck, and please let us know your findings.

 

You can find 12 cells for less but still over $100 I think. Just get the part number from the link above and do a search. Just be careful that if you click on a link its not the 6 cell and also it may not be OEM.

 

I've set my eyes on HP dv4000, :hp: Presario v2000z, and v2000....yet I am having a really hard time deciding. I am afraid that I will make the wrong buying choice and I will regret it.

I am concerned about the display. It's only 14". My sister's Dell Inspiron 1100 has 14.1" and for me, it seems kind of "small"....

 

Keep in mind that the v2000z has the widescreen, so it may not be as small as you think. I've had mine for a week and I love it. In retrospect though, I should have paid the extra $35 and got the 12-cell battery.

I would suggest going to CompUsa (or other store) and check out the series that you're looking at. That way you'll see for yourself how the screen looks. The CompUsa by me had all three of the models you mentioned in stock.

 

Hi,

i am pleased to join the crowd of CP V2000Z laptops.
this is my first laptop. i have one question thats bothering me.
this is the congifuration that i got for mine.

Compaq Presario V2000Z Customizable NB
- Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
- AMD Turion(TM) 64 ML-37 (2.0GHz/1MB L2 Cache)
- 14.0 WXGA Widescreen (1280x768)
- ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/productivity ports
- 1.0GB DDR SDRAM (2x512MB)
- 60 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
- DVD+/-RW/R & CD-RW Combo w/Double Layer Support
- 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
- 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
- Microsoft(R) Works/Money

it costed me $$1006 with rebates and stuff...(while ordering the laptop, talk to a CSREP and ask for a 10% discount)
i notice that the total capacity for my HDD is only 55.88GB.
i then deleted the existing partition to install windows xp professional and these are the numbers i noticed during the setup(creation of new partition)

total capacity: 57232 MB
max use for c: 57224 MB
min unused : 8 MB

i talked with the sales ppl and they say that 60GB HDDs are not exactly 60GB. a difference of 1 or 2GB makes sense, but i am surprised at a difference of 4.12GB. So, i want to know if this is normal or i got a wrong HDD. i checked the product name for my HDD. Its SAMSUNG MP0603H , supposedly a 60GB one. This is what worrries me.

Q2. THE TECH GUY WITH whom i talked said that laptop harddisks dont support more than 1 partition. is this true?

So can anyone with info reply here.
Thanks,

Sagar

 

The hard drive is 60GB, that is true. However, when the drive is formatted, the drive's size is only ~55GB or so. It is perfectly normal.

No, the tech is wrong. You can have more than one partition on your drive. One of my laptops has two partitions. You can have as many as you want.

By the way, you got one of the most awesome deals I've ever seen on a V2000Z! Congrats!

 

WOW, all those configs for only 1000 bucks?!?!!, that is just freaking awesome man. congrads on the deal. i have a couple of questions for you. So if you order via telephone, do you get more discounts? I remember my first laptop was a Sony, and I received some bonus and extra discounts when I ordered through phone.
My second question is what is your machine's performance in Super PI? Try running it to 1 million digits. I am EXTREMELY interested in the ML37 + 1 G ram combo performance!!!

 

how did you get it for 1000?

 

1. HDD companies counting 1000MB = 1GB but the computer counting 1024MB = 1GB so, it is right size. it is depends on company sometimes little more or less than other brand.
2. that is not true. you can create as many as you want.

ps. you got great deal... how and where did you got your laptop?

 

Just joinedhte v2000z family.

Just ordered mine and hoping to get in a week and a half. I was hoping if someone could elaborate on what kind of benefits does the bluetooth networking capabilities provide. Also, I play Guild Wars as well on a Compaq Presario R3230US. I put the settings to low. If I do this with the v200z, will it be able to handle it? Thanks everyone.

Operating System Microsoft(R) Windows(R) XP Home Edition with SP2
Processor AMD Turion(TM) 64 ML-37 (2.0GHz/1MB L2 Cache)
Display 14.0 WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280x768)
Graphics Card ATI RADEON(R) XPRESS 200M w/productivity ports

Memory 1.0GB DDR SDRAM (2x512MB)
Hard Drive 80 GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive
Primary CD/DVD Drive DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
Networking 54g(TM) 802.11b/g WLAN w/ 125HSM/SpeedBooster(TM)
Primary Battery 12 Cell Lithium Ion Battery
Productivity Software Microsoft(R) Works/Money

Total price:$1,063.72

Got a free printer as well. Just ordered it online with the student discount. It was only 75 dollars less with the student discount.

 

Welcome to the club... you definitely made the right choice by getting the double capacity battery. Hope you like yours as much as I like mine.

 

how do you get the student discount? I didn't see a button when i was playing with the checkout. and how do you prove that you are a student?

as for bluetooth, you can have bluetooth mouse, bluetooh keyboard, bluetooth printer (which i like), and exchange ring tones and pix and sounds with your bluetooth capable phone. so in short it allows short-range wireless communication with other bluetooth devices.

 

when you go to the hpshoping.com, there are higher education page. they will ask you about state, school, student ID, etc.

 

http://www.ebatts.com/compaq_presario-v2000-series_laptop_accessories.aspx

This place has them for $109. This one is a bit affordable

 

hi,

>>>WOW, all those configs for only 1000 bucks?!?!!, that is just freaking awesome man. congrads on the deal. i have a couple of questions for you. So if you order via telephone, do you get more discounts? I remember my first laptop was a Sony, and I received some bonus and extra discounts when I ordered through phone.
My second question is what is your machine's performance in Super PI? Try running it to 1 million digits. I am EXTREMELY interested in the ML37 + 1 G ram combo performance!!!
>>>>

thanks everyone...in the first place, i saw the quote onliine for 1174 $. with 50$ mail in rebate, but i had some questions like the performance, screen etc and the hence i decieded to talk to CSREP before buying it..and she answered my questions and further told me that if i would place the prder then and there, she would give me a 10% discount upon the MIR. but i took my time and placed the order 2 days later. i called a CSREP, and asked her if she could give me a 10% discount. she said yes, and i went ahead and placed the order. thats how i got this for 1006 bucks...(MIR including)
u can also say that u r a student to get the student discount, but thats less than 10%.(i tried that also..

i could have got the free printer, but for some reasons decieded not to..


>>>>My second question is what is your machine's performance in Super PI? Try running it to 1 million digits. I am EXTREMELY interested in the ML37 + 1 G ram combo performance!!!

HEY, I dont know how to check the m/c performace..can u plz elaborate on how to find that out..
thanks,
SAGAR

 

thanks for sharing on how you obtained the discount.

as for the performance test, I was talking about the program Super PI. This is pretty much the standard method of calculating the Processor and RAM speed (and only processor and ram, no harddisk or video card). There are several flavors of the program, but i find this one the best -- no installation required. just run the *.exe file, and select "1M" in the drop down menu and watch how fast the computer finishes calculating 1 million decimal places of PI. Let us know the result (a screen shot would be nice).

thanks

 

hey ChazMan,
after emailing HP for a about a week now, i guess they finally had enough about my complaint. the main reason they took the bluetooth option off was that it added to the build time... so i was told. and after filling their email accounts with my complaint email, they have put the option back on. YES!!!!

 

The V2000z / L2000 is the best price/performance on the market. I got my maxed out one (BT, DVD-DL, 2GB RAM and 100GB HD, etc.) for about $1300, and that was several months ago.

 

Was looking at the V2000z and found one for $378
....
Sempron 2800+
256megs ram
40gig hd
cdrw/dvd combo drive
b/g wireless
WinXP Home

Pretty stripped model but was wondering kinda how this compares to the Toshiba L25 series performance wise. The only thing that I can think of is the L25 has no option for a card reader while the HP does.

 

Well, you'll get a lot better build quality out of the HP. Also, the Sempron is a better budget processor than the Celeron M. I would stick to HP's if you are going budget - Toshiba has some very poorly built options in that range.

 

hi ,

I JUST RAN super_pi (after trying in many places to download it) and my AMD TURION(TM) 64 Mobile tECHNOLOGY ML-37 processor took 24 iterations to calculate PI upto 32M digits. it came up with the first value in 33s and the final value in 45 Mins and 29 Secs.
So, thats the figue, 45Mins 29 Secs.

and on 1M the time is 49secs.

This program seems to be some heck one..the moment i hit the ok button, the CPU fan was on for all the 45m29s. it stopped when the program terminated.!!! wooo!!

Hey, why dont you all run this Super_pi program and post the time here against diff. processors. or is there a place where this can be found..
Just out of curiosity..nothing more...
THANKS,
Sagar
PS: PLZ NOTE THAT I DID A TYPO ERROR IN MY FIRST POST. I TYPED THE NUMBER AS 49Mins which is wrong. 45 Mins 29Secs is the correct one. This is the edited post

 

i never ran the 32M one, cuz i know my current laptop will melt and die before it gets half way. but wow 1 M for only 49 seconds. I'm assuming this is with the default RAM supplied by HP.

for your reference:
My 1.8GHz Pentium 4-mobile takes 1 minute and 52 seconds to complete 1M calculations. I almost cried after I saw that. Sure my laptop was 3.5 years old. But i spent about 2000 USD back then on it, it was the first one that had the DVD-writer and subwoofer built-in. sigh... the CPU, ram and bus are just not fast enough anymore

also, it's normal for your fan to suddenly come on when running this program, as it ONLY benchmarks the CPU speed and RAM speed (and the bus speed of course, since it connects the two). So all three components will ran at full speed, if your fan doesn't come on at full throttle then your computer will melt, much like mine if I ran the 32M calculation, except mine will melt even with the fan at full speed

thanks for posting the results, if you need more benchmark info, there's a whole posting on it here
but most of them are on desktop with full featured processors, so their speeds are much faster than the ones from laptops. These guy ran the calculation to 2M digits.
If you want 1 M calculations, here's the link , your time stack up quite well even against some of the desktop CPUs

cheers,

 

I Just want to post some updates.

Battery Life: I am getting around 2:50Min to 3:00Hrs without RM Clock Under volt with wireless on, 2nd level brightness from bottom.

With RM Clock it goes from 3:00Hrs to 3:10Min at similar settings.

While viewing DVD/Real Movies: Solid 2:30 Min with Brightness level 3, wireless off( with or with out RM Clock).

All these battery times are average of several runs(atleast 10 runs).

In all these cases RM Clock is making only typically 10 min difference max, because Processor is running at very low speed( typically 20% at 800Mhz). With load it makes more difference.

But where RM CLock is making difference is FAN. FAN almost never turned on with RM Clock, without that based on ambient temp fan may turn on every 20-30 min once. Keep in mind, when battery is completely discharged and laptop is running on AC, Fan runs more often, because voltage regulators and battery charging units generate more heat during this peak load.( 18.5V has to converted to Battery and MB voltage and there will be some efficiency losses).

BTW, if you want to use RM Clock, user WINDOWS POWER SCHEME "ALWAYS ON". Any other power scheme may get you into unexpected hangs, because Windows and RM Clock both trying to control processor speed. Home/Office Desk is not useful as at this setting also Windows tries to scale processor speed. Laptop may hung with Home/Office desk settings while using RM Clock. Typically it hangs when processor usage goes up and both windows and RM Clock try to scale processor( but different steppings and voltage does not match).

 

this question is for chinna_n, how do you recycle your battery (power cycle i mean). do you charge it up to full, then unplug the AC and run laptop on battery till it shuts off? when you are in AC, do you unplug your battery (i've heard ppl doing that)?

thanks,