HP Compaq Presario 2100

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CNET Editors' Review

The good: Cool design; lots of options; long battery life; integrated wireless.

The bad: Loud fan; limited support options; includes slower USB 1.1 ports.

The bottom line: Whether you configure it as a mainstream notebook or a desktop replacement, the Presario 2100 is a good deal for home users.

Review: HP's mainstream Compaq Presario 2100 series is one of the most chameleonlike notebooks around. It goes from a frugal $899 mainstream system (a mail-in rebate good through December 1, 2003 cuts the price by $100), with basic specs such as an Intel Celeron or an AMD Athlon processor and a 14.1-inch display, to a packed $2,266 desktop replacement, with an Intel Pentium 4-M CPU and a 15-inch screen. Things only get better from there, with the ability to add more cutting-edge options such as a DVD/CD-RW combo drive and integrated wireless. Be aware that the Presario ... Expand full review
HP's mainstream Compaq Presario 2100 series is one of the most chameleonlike notebooks around. It goes from a frugal $899 mainstream system (a mail-in rebate good through December 1, 2003 cuts the price by $100), with basic specs such as an Intel Celeron or an AMD Athlon processor and a 14.1-inch display, to a packed $2,266 desktop replacement, with an Intel Pentium 4-M CPU and a 15-inch screen. Things only get better from there, with the ability to add more cutting-edge options such as a DVD/CD-RW combo drive and integrated wireless. Be aware that the Presario 2100's lack of a cutting-edge graphics chip prohibits peak performance; still, it provides enough speed and battery life for the average tasks of a home user. If you yearn for a desktop replacement with even more features and speed, check out the Compaq Presario 3000 series.
Money 2003, Quicken Financial Center, InterVideo WinDVD, and Encarta Online. The company also provides the more full-featured Microsoft Office Small Business Edition and Professional office suites. Systems including CD-RW and DVD/CD-RW drives ship with Roxio Easy CD & DVD Creator. HP understandably supplies only one operating system with this home-oriented notebook, and it's Windows XP Home.

Mobile application performance
The Compaq Presario 2100 performed below average compared to previous 2.4GHz Pentium 4-M systems that we've tested. This performance deficiency can be attributed to its ATI Radeon 340M graphics adapter, which borrows 64MB of main memory and cripples the system's performance. The Presario 2100 scored even lower than the 2.2GHz desktop Pentium 4 Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100. The system, however, ranked significantly higher than the Fujitsu LifeBook E series, which has the same processor and uses a similar graphics adapter. The bottom line is that the Presario 2100Â's greedy graphics adapter prevents the system from achieving its full potential. If youÂ're looking to buy a system for mobile performance, you should look elsewhere.


Mobile application performance  (Longer bars indicate better performance)
BAPCo MobileMark2002 performance rating  
Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100
143 
Compaq Presario 2100 series
137 
Fujitsu LifeBook E series
119 

To measure mobile application performance and battery life, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's MobileMark2002. MobileMark measures both application performance and battery life concurrently using a number of popular applications (Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Outlook 2002, Netscape Communicator 6.0, WinZip Computing WinZip 8.0, McAfee VirusScan 5.13, Adobe Photoshop 6.0.1, and Macromedia Flash 5.0).

SysMark2002 performance
The Presario 2100 tied the LifeBook E series for a disappointing second place in maximum performance tests. The Satellite Pro 6100 with its slower Pentium 4 processor beat both machines by 16 points overall. Once again, this lack of performance is due the ATI graphics adapter found on the Presario 2100 and the LifeBook E series.

Maximum application performance  (Longer bars indicate better performance)
BAPCo SysMark2002 rating  
SysMark2002 Internet content creation  
SysMark2002 office productivity  
Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100
188 
283 
125 
Fujitsu LifeBook E series
172 
259 
114 
Compaq Presario 2100 series
172 
259 
114 

To measure maximum notebook application performance, CNET Labs uses BAPCo's SysMark2002, an industry-standard benchmark. Using off-the-shelf applications, SysMark measures a desktop's performance using office-productivity applications (such as Microsoft Office and McAfee VirusScan) and Internet-content-creation applications (such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver).

3D graphics performance
Because its graphics adapter borrows 64MB from system memory, the Presario 2100 scored very low in 3D performance tests. By comparison, the Satellite Pro 6100 scored comfortably above average for a 2.2GHz Pentium 4 system, thanks to its Nvidia GeForce4 420 Go with 32MB of its own memory. If you plan to spend most of your downtime gaming, we recommend that you skip the Presario 2100.

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Pros The Compaq name is an industry standard for quality server hardware; however, their laptop line must have been made by Fisher Price.

Cons Within the first three months of ownership: Two keyboard keys popped off (no, I don't type that hard), which required a full keyboard replacement, which required sending it in, which required a full format and reload of software; the monitor flickered co

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