Walmart $299 laptop

J

jdkd

New Member
I purchased one of the Compaq laptops that walmart had on sale a couple of saturdays ago. My wife has been asking for a laptop, and for the price I didnt think I could go wrong with this unit. After doing a little research it seems to be lacking in a few options. It only has 2 gigs of ram, and it seems that at least 3 gigs is needed for Vista? Now I am wondering if my best option is to take vista off of it, and put XP on it, or would it make more sense to just add another gig of ram? I just found this site a couple of days ago, and have been busy reading all of the information that I can.
 
lol Im replying on one of the very same machines!

2 gigs is plenty for running Vista and most applications that your wife is likely going to be using it for. I chose the machine mainly because it had the faster Intel processor than the AMD version that some other retailers were selling that look the same. Also, it has a bigger HDD than ones other retailers are selling.
 
jdkd said:
It only has 2 gigs of ram, and it seems that at least 3 gigs is needed for Vista?
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Hahaha! I swear these claims keep getting more and more bogus. Come on dude, at least 3 gb? Try at least 1 gb. I have 2 gigs in my laptop and it runs just fine, even for more intensive stuff like games.
 
speedyink said:
Hahaha! I swear these claims keep getting more and more bogus. Come on dude, at least 3 gb? Try at least 1 gb. I have 2 gigs in my laptop and it runs just fine, even for more intensive stuff like games.
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I think a lot of it is the fault of retailers who probably bank on peoples inexperience or mis-knowledge to sell consumers more stuff they dont need. The Walmart deal was awesome because they usually dont sell English model numbers meaning its really hard to find drivers when problems arise but this Compaq was an American model number and it was great deal! Im using it as a portable studio for doing interviews.
 
speedyink said:
Hahaha! I swear these claims keep getting more and more bogus. Come on dude, at least 3 gb? Try at least 1 gb. I have 2 gigs in my laptop and it runs just fine, even for more intensive stuff like games.
Click to expand...

The people at the computer stores are the ones telling me this about the 2 gigs not being anough for vista. If I knew the answers already I wouldnt have asked.
 
laptop

Ok, thanks for all the info. But what about my older programs like office 2000 can I put that kind of stuff on this laptop?
 
ukulele_ninja said:
You sure can, you shouldnt have any issues. I used office 2000 till I got 07 a few months ago.
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thanks everyone. they also told me I could not put my office 2000 on this computer. I feel much better about buying this computer for my wifes Christmas present now. I saved money, and she gets a nice present!
 
jdkd said:
thanks everyone. they also told me I could not put my office 2000 on this computer. I feel much better about buying this computer for my wifes Christmas present now. I saved money, and she gets a nice present!
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again, they just want to get you to purchase something extra. Not only that, but Im sure you have noticed that best and brightest that society has to offer does NOT end up working at Wal-Mart.

Meaning, they have no idea what the hell their talking about 98% of the time.
 
ukulele_ninja said:
again, they just want to get you to purchase something extra. Not only that, but Im sure you have noticed that best and brightest that society has to offer does NOT end up working at Wal-Mart.

Meaning, they have no idea what the hell their talking about 98% of the time.
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It was not walmart people telling me this, it was Circuit city and best buy telling me this. I guess they just wanted to sell me a more expensive machine.
 
Regardless... most of these people didnt get jobs at stores like that because their really into electronics, its just a job for them. Your best bet is always going to be to research the product ahead of time on forums like this or customer reviews like amazon and such
 
ukulele_ninja said:
I think a lot of it is the fault of retailers who probably bank on peoples inexperience or mis-knowledge to sell consumers more stuff they dont need. The Walmart deal was awesome because they usually dont sell English model numbers meaning its really hard to find drivers when problems arise but this Compaq was an American model number and it was great deal! Im using it as a portable studio for doing interviews.
Click to expand...

Sounds like an awesome deal, what are the specs?

jdkd said:
The people at the computer stores are the ones telling me this about the 2 gigs not being anough for vista. If I knew the answers already I wouldnt have asked.
Click to expand...

So THEY'RE the ones spreading these rumors! Sorry to put you down, I've just heard that one sooo many times :rolleyes:

Damn retailer employees...why can't they be more like me :rolleyes:
 
Intel Dual Core 2.3 Ghz
2 gigs Ram
160 Gig Hdd
Mobil Intel 4 series express chipset
Vista Basic

It suits my needs perfectly for using Cool Edit Pro 2.1 on the go and hooking up my Tascam US-144 interface into.
 
specs

Intel Celeron processor 575
2.0GHz 667MHz MB Cache
2048 MB DDR2 System memory (2Dimm)
Expandable up to 3072MB with 2 accessible memory slots
15.4" WXGA High Definition HP Bright View Widescreen 1280x800 display
Intel graphics media accelerator 4500 MHD (shared) with up to 765MB total available graphics memory
160GB (5400RPM) Hard drive (SATA)
Vista home basic with service pack 1
Super multi 8XDVD-R/RW srive
with double layer support
 
I was quoting from memory I thought it was dual core and 2.3 Ghz.

Doesnt really matter I suppose. Neither of us are using it for gaming or anything.
 
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