Looking for a new forum...

[Clockface]

These forums are great, but I no longer use a Thinkpad, since my T20 fell of the table (not to allocate blame, but we have an enormous ginger and white cat who likes to jump on the table to escape our bassett hound when he's playing, so I didn't need to hire a detective to guess at the probable cause ), so I've bought a new laptop, a Compaq Evo N610c 2GHz, 1400x1050 512MB model, which is fine for what I need (it lets me word process, handle bitmap graphics, and view .pdf and html, plus I can play emulators and my favourite PC games (Deus Ex, Unreal Tournament, and even Morrowind), and since it's not "cutting edge" it's Vista-free (phew!).

On the minus side, the volume controls and the keyboard aren't as good as on the T20, and the screen doesn't have as wide a viewing angle. But at least it doesn't have the potentially fatal "CRC Boot error" problem that had me so worried whenever I booted up the T20 in the past.

Anyway, the thing is, I can't find a forum for it that's as good, friendly and professional as this is for IBM laptops. Are there any good forums covering Compaq or Evo laptops?

Thanks for any answers, and for all the help I've recieved in the past. I'll still be frequenting these boards from time to time, as I've learnt a lot from visiting here, and no doubt that will continue.

[rkawakami]

A Google search using "compaq notebook forum" should reveal some useful information. Can't recommend any from personal experience as this is the only laptop forum I have joined. Good luck in your search!

P.S. Put "kitty cuffs" on that cat!

[Purcy]

There's always the option of selling that Compaq and buying a nice used T41 and staying right here You know you'll miss us.

[wearetheborg]

Check out http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

How much was the compaq (and did it have any warranty) ?

[Eric Giles]

I was going to suggest notebookreview.com, but after browsing there for a while I have to say that place is just a mess. Lots of whining, arguing, etc. with not a lot of useful information overall. I guess that maybe it isn't that bad in comparison to other forums, but nothing compares to thinkpads.com!

I say take Purcy's suggestion!

[pianowizard]

There's always the option of selling that Compaq and buying a nice used T41 and staying right here

Good recommendation! How about a T42? It looks like I'll have either a 14.1" SXGA+ or a 15.0" UXGA Flexview T42 for sale by the end of the week. Stay tuned!

[mattbiernat]

why did you decide to go Compaq in the first place?

[GomJabbar]

Someone here should be "clocked". J'king

[sorry, couldn't resist]

[Clockface]

Someone here should be "clocked". J'king

[sorry, couldn't resist]

I chose the psuedenym "Clockface" after Clockface Crisps, which I used to like when I was a kick (they don't make them anymore). So you can post any crisp related jokes, if you like

Edit: Why are my quotes not working?

EDIT by Bill: I don't know.. i set BB code to ON in your profile and it still does not seem to work..

Edit by tomh009: "Disable BBCode in this post" was checked ... unchecked now.

[Clockface]

>[wearetheborg] Check out

>http://forum.notebookreview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=3

>How much was the compaq (and did it have any warranty) ?


Thanks for the link. The laptop was £200 including delivery, it was used or refurbished, so it only had a 90 day warranty, but it's in fine condition, no scratches or dead pixels or scuff marks or anything. I've had it for several months now, used it almost every day, and it works fine.






>[Purcy] There's always the option of selling that Compaq and buying a nice used T41 and staying right here You know you'll miss us.[/quote]


That is very tempting, actually. Apart from anything else, I just prefer the T20's keyboard, and a comfortable keyboard is soooo important for typing. The T20 was very well made, and just felt so much more substantial than the Evo.

Does the T41/T42 etc range still have the CRC-error-prevents-booting-for-ever problem that the T20 had? That really biased me against Thinkpads.






>[mattbiernat] why did you decide to go Compaq in the first place?


I didn't really. I just wanted a good, cheap laptop (I do agency work, which means that aside from giving nearly a third of my wages to the agency (and getting nothing in return), I frequently have to spend a small fortune on commuting, so I don't have much money, but I do have dreams of going postal in every job agency I've ever worked for ), and so I compared specs and prices on the 'net, and read the reviews of ones that looked promising, and the Evo looked a bargain for £200. And to be fair, it is very nice. But I do miss the
ol' Thinkpad feel.



Come to think of it, why don't you all have a whip-round, and get the cash together to buy me a T41? That way I can stay here, and -

Hey, come back!

Sigh. I should have pretended to be a woman. They'd have paid up then...

[Eric Giles]

There's always the option of selling that Compaq and buying a nice used T41 and staying right here You know you'll miss us.

That is very tempting, actually. Aprt from anything else, I just prefer the T20's keyboard, and a comfortable keyboard is soooo important for typing.

While the T2x series keyboards were good, the T4x keyboards are even better. Any more tempting?

[Purcy]

Sigh. I should have pretended to be a woman. They'd have paid up then...

Oh not really, this is a pretty non-sexist group

[Purcy]

Edit: Why are my quotes not working?

check in your Profile and be sure you have BBCode set to ON

[mattbiernat]

Come to think of it, why don't you all have a whip-round, and get the cash together to buy me a T41? That way I can stay here, and -

Hey, come back!

I'm sure if you ask nicely in the market forum, someone will offer you a good deal.

[wearetheborg]

Does the compaq have pentium M 2ghz or Pentium4-M ?

If you're comfortable with it, keep using it.

You can upgrade to a thinkpad next year when prices fall further

[Magic Wonder425]

neowin.net is alright, it's a general computer forum, but plenty of in-depth sections.

[Clockface]

Does the compaq have pentium M 2ghz or Pentium4-M ?

If you're comfortable with it, keep using it.

You can upgrade to a thinkpad next year when prices fall further

Er, it seems to be the Pentium 4-M (whatever that is), to judge from the results via google, such as at:

http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quic ... 2_div.HTML

(I tried a few sites, and they all agreed it was a Pentium 4-M). What's the difference between the Pentium M and the Pentium 4-M, by the way?

[qviri]

Pentium M is a newer CPU architecture that is much faster than equivalent MHz Pentium 4-M and uses less power, allowing for longer battery life.

[eddy eddy]

Try the HP Business Support Forums

http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/foru ... g=en&cc=us

I've found useful information for some problems I had with an IPAQ 1950.

[Clockface]

Pentium M is a newer CPU architecture that is much faster than equivalent MHz Pentium 4-M and uses less power, allowing for longer battery life.

Sounds about right - with my luck, if there'd been a Pentium 4-M-4, which ran at 486 speeds and used more power than the sun, then knowing my luck I'd have bought that

Incidentally, I used to put PCs together for people in the 486 to Pentium 3 era (when it was cheaper than them buying a complete system from a showroom - I gave up partly as shop prices fell, but mainly because I was sick of being phoned up at eleven oclock at night with "Quake 3 keeps crashing", "my new joypad won't work", "Does my CD burner make DVDs" etc). Nowadays I wouldn't have a clue about the CPUs, the motherboards, etc. Back then, you chose the speed of the CPU and the amount of RAM you wanted, and then chosing the motherboard was straightforward. Now you have different CPUs that each need different motherboards, the CPU vs CPU decision isn't based on the clock speed anymore (I never bothered with early AMD, Cyrix etc), the RAM speed must be taken into account via the motherboard, and so on. It's a totally different world.