Frontpage Story #57

I must confess that I was surprised to find this site upon typing "compaq sucks" into the search engine's box, but I am glad that I did. I am writing to let any prospective first time PC buyers know that they should ABSOLUTELY not buy a Compaq! I wont take up the readers' time with a long novel, I will just list my problems with my Compaq 5140.

1.) The hard drive is SLOW. I am no computer whiz, but even I can recognize that my hard drive is appreciably slower than the drives in my friends' "built from scratch" computers, or even store bought machines of other brands.

2.) Software issues from HELL. My computer fails to boot up at least 3 times out of 10, and crashes quite often. Again, I am no computer whiz, but even I can recognize that these problems don't occur on my friends' :"built from scratch" computers, or even store bought machines of other brands.

3.) Sleepiness. My Presario LOVES to sleep! It sleeps whenever it gets the chance, and often (QUITE OFTEN) fails to wake up. I finally took Windows up on its offer when it asked me if I wanted to prevent my computer from going on standby. Once again, I am no computer whiz, but even I can recognize that these problems don't occur on my friends' :"built from scratch" computers, or even store bought machines of other brands.

4.) Upgrades are IMPOSSIBLE. I was shocked when I purchased a new 3D video card, only to find that there was no AGP slot on the PC. It puzzled me that my computer (which HAS an AGP card)
had no slot, until I learned that the card was seemlessly integrated into the motherboard. To be honest, I think EVERYTHING is integrated onto the board with the exception of the modem, which I don't even want to TRY to replace. RAM is also proprietary, so you must buy Compaq RAM in order to upgrade. LAME!!

5.) If there is a software problem, kiss EVERYTHING goodbye. You must use the "recovery" disc to reinstall goofed up programs. This means that the computer is reset to the settings it had when you brought it home. LAME!!!

Front Page Story
Author: Tom Edwards
Email: shinzaru@aol.com