Compaq Presario V2000, V2000Z and M2000Z

Although both Dell and Gateway offer good configuration options, only Compaq gives you the freedom of going AMD or Intel with their $600 notebooks.  The three notebooks that we have here today are the Compaq Presario V2000, V2000Z and M2000Z.  The two notebooks with a 'Z' at the end of their names use AMD's Sempron 2800+ processor, while the regular V2000 is based on Intel's Celeron M 360 running at 1.4GHz. 


Compaq M2000Z (left) vs. Compaq V2000 series (right)

The V2000 uses Intel's 915GM chipset and its accompanying integrated graphics.  The two AMD based notebooks, however, use ATI's RS480 chipset, and its accompanying ATI based integrated graphics solution.  But that's, of course, all on the inside; externally, they all look similar, with the exception that the V series offer widescreen displays while the M series are strictly 4:3 displays. 


The 4:3 display of the M series gives it a larger footprint (right)


Compaq M series (left) vs. Compaq V series (right)

Since Compaq keeps the general features pretty similar between all of the notebooks, regardless of CPU manufacturer, we'll be talking about all three notebooks together, and simply pointing out where they differ as we go along. 

Compaq Presario
V2000 V2000Z M2000Z
CPU Intel Celeron M 360
(1.4GHz/1MB L2/400MHz FSB)
AMD Sempron 2800+
(1.6GHz/256KB L2)
Chipset Intel 915GM ATI Radeon Xpress 200M (RS480)
Memory 256MB DDR333 (1 DIMM)
GPU Integrated Intel Extreme Graphics Integrated Radeon Xpress 200M Graphics
Display 14.1" WXGA (1280 x 768) 15" XGA (1024 x 768)
HDD 40GB Toshiba MK4025GAS 40GB Hitachi HTS541040G9AT00
Optical Storage 24X CD-RW/DVD-ROM Drive
Wireless Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Broadcom 802.11b/g
Ethernet Realtek RTL8139/810x 10/100
Modem Internal Soft 56K
Audio Conexant Integrated AC'97
Ports Headphone, microphone, PC Card slot, 2 x USB 2.0, Ethernet, Modem, VGA out, S-Video out
Mouse Trackpad
Size (L x W x H) 13.15" x 9.1" x 1.29" (min) / 1.53" (max) 13.15" x 10.8" x 1.41" (min) / 1.78" (max)
Weight 5.21 lbs 5.38 lbs 6.55 lbs
Battery 6-Cell Lithium Ion
OS and Other Software Windows XP Home SP2
Price as Configured $604.00 $604.00 $604.00
Warranty 1 year

Index Compaq Port Configuration, Build Quality and Aesthetics
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  • rqle - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    Hmm, didnt know these littler celeron M 1.4ghz can pretty much outpace the new architecture of the sempron 2800+ cpu. interesting.
  • Questar - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    How about an Inspiron 6000? I snagged one for $584 + $19 shipping.
  • Questar - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    BTW, that was with a P-M, not a C-M.
  • bjacobson - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    nice
  • Questar - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    Yeah, and now I see you can get a 600m for less than $600.
  • Alphafox78 - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    I have a V2000Z with a Turion64 and its great!!! It sounds like the article is biased against compaq or something, the thing is sweet. works great in World of Warcraft and even plays BF2, althouh its not too fun. the form factor is great, I highly recommend it. mine does have the brightview screen, 1GB of PC3200 ram and a 5400rpm drive tho.. ;)
  • SS - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    The point of this was for $600 range laptops, going with the Turion64 setup over the Sempron and upgrading the RAM and hard drive all would push the price well over the price point this review was for.

    So you are basically asking to rate the $600 laptop based off the $1400 model's preformance.
  • Alphafox78 - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    I got mine for $760 after tax. then the free buestbuy ram, used the HD from my old laptop. lower than $700 after the free ram and stuff. I didnt get it for $500, missed that offer by a week! arg!
  • Hacp - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    Tell that to the people who got the Turion 64 V2000Zs with wireless/12cell for around 500 shipped taxed. Then add the free 1GB bestbuy ram.
  • Hacp - Tuesday, November 29, 2005 - link

    Ya if you can get it for under 450 taxed shipped of course its great :).

    Also to further my comments, I think this article really shows the strenght of the Intel centrino platform. In other tests with dedicated graphics cards, the Turion/sempron/ and Pentium M come really close in terms of battery life, but in this test, comparing the V2000 to the V2000Z, we see that the whole platform makes the celeron have much battery life, even though the sempron "should" have more Blife.

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