The display on the V2000 and V2000Z is basically identical to what Gateway uses on the NX200S; it's a 12.1" WXGA panel (1280 x 768 native resolution). While it doesn't get nearly as bright as the Dell's panel, the Compaqs are decent.
The M2000Z features a 14.1" XGA (1024 x 768 native resolution) panel, much like the Dell, but with no where near the brightness capability.
Just like Dell, Compaq stuck the function key between the left CTRL and Windows keys, but Compaq has a keyboard that's spread out a little better than the Inspiron's - much like Gateway's, so typing is quite natural.
The keys themselves are probably the noisiest out of the lot, with the Dell being the quietest and the Gateway falling in the middle.
The trackpad on all three Compaqs is pretty nice mainly for their inclusion of a disable button right above the trackpad itself. You simply hit the button, which has its own LED, and the trackpad is instantly disabled. Hit it again to re-enable it. The trackpad has both horizontal and vertical scroll areas, which work just the way that you would expect. The vertical scroll area is obviously the most useful of the two, but it never hurts to have easy access to a virtual horizontal scroll wheel as well.
The wireless NIC has a dedicated on/off button, similar to the trackpad, at the top of the keyboard to the left of the power button. A dedicated wireless NIC button is great for quickly disabling the wireless NIC when not in use, thus conserving battery power. To the right of the power button, you have three audio buttons for volume down, up and mute. If you've ever accidentally forgotten to turn off or turn down your audio, nothing is more useful than having quick access to buttons that will silence the situation.
A single button to disable the wireless network adapter
And easy to access audio control buttons
Once again, like the other notebooks in the roundup, the Compaqs were fairly quiet and didn't put off much heat at all. The base of the notebooks did get warm, but keeping them on your lap won't make you uncomfortable.
The Compaqs performed reasonably in our tests as you will soon see, but interestingly enough, they all performed very similarly - despite the fact that two of the notebooks used Celeron M 1.4GHz processors while the other used a Sempron 2800+. The most interesting item? The V2000 Celeron M notebook offered significantly better battery life than its Sempron counterpart, the V2000Z, in all aspects. We were particularly shocked in how much better the V2000 did in the wireless web browsing tests when compared to the V2000Z. The same performance, but significantly better battery life? We at least found which of the three Compaqs that you should choose.
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trexpesto - Wednesday, December 14, 2005 - link
Didn't notice much about screen quality.cactux - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Hello,Such articles are great, but you say nothing about the Linux compatibility of these PCs.
In only 5 minutes, you could test them, using for example a Knoppix. This Linux distribution boots are works from one CD.
This would allow you to say what works and what fails (sound, screen, nouse, etc.)
Regards
Yann
CB1 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
Want Linux? Get an Acer. A version of the Acer TravelMate TM2312LCi has been sold briefly with a Linux boot disk and no OS. There is an Asian linux distro linked at Acer's website.HP has had an Ubuntu option available in Europe.
I've just booted a Compaq X1000 from the latest Ubuntu live disk, and it produces a perfectly working desktop, at the correct screen resolution. I wasn't in a location to check the modem or wireless, but I doubt there would be problems. Win 2K wouldn't give me the proper screen res or colours without the Compaq driver disk.
Short of gaming, you'll have as many issues with Win as Linux. I don't think it requires special consideration in the test.
nullpointerus - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
I'd love to see a test like this, too.In the meantime you take a look at building your own laptop from Linux-compatible parts:
http://www.anandtech.com/news/default.aspx?newdate...">http://www.anandtech.com/news/default.aspx?newdate...
artifex - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
...because a couple of weeks ago, we bought my sister a v2000z, with a 3000+ chip, for $400 or so after rebates. I think the office supply company that sold it to us figured out they screwed up, because it hasn't been that low, since :) Anyway, at these prices, look at the Sunday ads before you buy, because if one is substantially cheaper than the Gateway, like ours was, go for it instead.Myrandex - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
I have seen plenty of laptops for sale under $600 with 512MB ram. Well at least on a sale and not a regular price. I wouldn't buy a machine w/ 256MB of ram at all anymore :-/bupkus - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
What's with these 90 day warranties?unclebud - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
heartily enjoyed!and also printing out to share with my coworkers -- the most asked question for me "is how good is this laptop?"
can just give this to them (to read) instead...
MacLean - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link
You can't review low price great bang for the buck laptops without including a model from Acer. The Acer AS3003 is AMD Sempron based, has WI-FI and all the of the specifications reviewed for the other models.I am very interested to find out how the integrated SIS Mirage 2 graphics go head to head vs. Intel and ATI.
Hardly a beauty contest if you don't invite all the contestants.
CB1 - Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - link
I too was surprised by the absence of a model from Acer. They are ubiquitous in the market here in Vancouver, and have a good reputation for quality. Their bottom end models, both Cel M and Sempron, use SiS chipsets. I could care less about gaming capabilities of the onboard video, but would really like to know about the performance and battery life of the Cel M Acers with an SiS chipset.Please include one when you test the new Dell model.
Otherwise, this was a very well done and thorough test, up to the usual Anandtech standards. The idea of testing the loss leader versions was brilliant.
Bottom end model locally is the Acer TravelMate TM2312LCi-H.