A Solid and affordable effort from Compaq

Author's Rating:

Pros: Everything it was built to be

Cons: No floppy drive (but, Flash drives are better)

The Bottom Line: 
If you need a fast and reliable laptop that is also affordable this is the laptop for you!

Author's Review
What can I say I’m a college guy and everyone knows how the world of portability is becoming important. So has the Compaq 2170US helped or hurt my quest for extra knowledge? Click for the full break down of this lap top PC.

Price… 80/100
Probably the most important aspect for a college bound person. At about $800 it is more than affordable for the average college kid. For most of the better lap tops out there they will usually set you back at least $1000. That can be a little pricey for a person in my situation, so if I can I would prefer to save the $200-$500 with this lap top. The price of this lap top should not be the sticking point for the performance you receive.

Basic Features...90/100
This is were this product really shines. This has many features you’d come to expect in a lap top, but also out performs or comes very close to performing just as well even compared with higher priced lap tops. Features of this lap top include:

Ethernet Modem
It comes with a 10/100BaseT Ethernet modem built in so you can surf the web in style Or do research at a blazing speed for reports you put off till the last second… yeah right like that ever happens lol. It also comes with a 56K modem built in as well for you users still stuck in the stone age they didn't forget about ya.

DVD/CD-RW drive
Well what can I say you can watch a DVD of your choice, play any game of your choosing . This feature has become a must in recent years especially the ability to copy CD's. For many reasons it's important for college and non-college students to be able to make copies. For reasons such as backing up important information. The problem is most people don't use it to back up important information, but download and burn illegal copies of software and music. But, hey do what you want to do right. All in all this is a feature that is a must for lap tops.

USB ports
In a day in age where all peripherals use USB ports to connect to your PC it is vital that your lap top or desk top computer come with as many as possible. This particular lap top comes with 2 USB ports. The research I conducted before I made the purchase showed that for almost all lap tops I looked at it didn’t matter if they were $800 or $2000 dollars it seemed that all most all of them only offered 2 USB ports. So this seemed to be the going rate. NOTE: incase you are not tech savvy USB ports are what you often use to hook up products such as: Printers, scanners, MP3 players etc… products such as those will most likely need a USB port to bee hooked up to your lap top.

Processor
This comes with a very well designed and powerful performing processor. It is an Intel Celeron processor which runs at a blistering 2.0 GHZ This helps to keep everything a very smooth and satisfying result. I was a little skeptical of the Celeron brand, because I was use to running Pentiums on nearly every computer I had before it. But, I also figured with Intel behind the processor it couldn't possibly be that bad. I am glad to report it isn't matter of fact I have no complaints about it at all. I don't think you will either.

Missing feature to make you angry
There is no built in FLOPPY DRIVE. Now it’s not just this one. Other lap tops I researched into may show that this is a dying thing I really don't understand why. Yes, I know recordable CD's are replacing the need for Floppy drives, but floppy disks still and most likely for the foreseeable future will have a massive user base. I guess you know those 2 USB ports will come in handy when you have an external floppy drive hooked up to one of them!
But, with the rise of flash & thumb drives Floppy disks are just about a thing of the past.

Keyboard and Mouse...90/100
This is a very important feature to get right when it comes to Lap top computers. I have tried many lap tops where companies try to make the keyboard as small as possible. Well for portability that is good. But, for me when keyboards are small I make many more typing errors than I should, because the keys are way to close together. I can't stand that. Luckily Compaq solves this issue by just simply using a full sized keyboard and it saves the delete key from being over used!!! Keyboards are really not that big to begin with and this solves a crucial issue and a problematic issue with lap tops in general. The mouse is a touch pad which has been used on many lap tops before this one. However, on the touch pad Mouse it also has a dedicated scroll to the right portion of the touch pad. This makes it much easier to navigate up and down web pages or any other type of page you need to scroll up or down on. The touch pad is also very responsive and you should really have no complaints about it.

Hard Drive...95/100
This is also a make or break issue as far as lap tops go. This lap top came with 40 GB of memory. That is more than enough memory to save pretty much anything you need to without the fear of using up too much memory. The only people who may run into trouble with that is gamers. But, lap tops usually aren't computers of choice for gaming. Even still 40 GB is a huge amount of space and you should never realistically worry about running out of memory.

Display...90/100
Ok, yet another crucial test when it comes to lap tops, and yet another thumps up! With a 15" crystal clear viewing display you will only get people looking over your shoulder and admiring the view. There is more than enough viewing space so documents you type or web pages you view wont have a squished appearance and hard to read text. All text is clearly visible and easy to read thanks to the stylish looking and high powered display.

Portability...90/100
Well in all this lap top only weighs 7 pounds. In my opinion that is not very much at all. It also helps that it doesn't have almost any bulk on it at all. Instead it has a nice sleek and very easy portable look to it. Not only does it just look portable it is very portable and you wont have to sigh when you need to relocate some where else to continue your typing session.

Sound...90/100
The built in speakers do a very good job in bringing out clear sound. It doesn't have the muffled sound lots of other lap tops have. Whether your listening to your favorite CD, playing a videogame or watching a DVD the sound should not be a problem for your ears to hear. There is also a very nice and easy to use volume control buttons in a very sensible location. Also included by the volume controls naturally of course is a mute button. I was pretty impressed with the sound quality of this lap top.

conclusion
For the price you pay and the quality you receive and are in need of a lap top, or another one. This one would make a wise purchase. While it competes technically with the best lap tops it is also cheaper then most. If your on a budget or just like deals you have to like this one.

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