Neat little beast (Compaq Presario 1200 Series)

Member Name: macutmore

Product:	Compaq Presario 1200 Series
Date:	01/12/00 (4997 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Value, portability, a true notebook

Disadvantages: HPA screen

Compaq are sure becoming leaders in producing high quality laptops that are extremely good value for money and highly specified.
I got an incredible deal at pc world when I bought my Compaq Presario 1200 XL-103, this is basically an internet pc notebook crammed with all the software you’d ever need. Compaq call it an ‘internet pc’ because it has easy access one touch buttons which open your search page, e-mail, shopping pages and information with one touch.
Compaq do various configurations of the 1200 with differing specifications – mine originally had a meagre 32MB of RAM, but I have upgraded this to 160MB with the insertion of the memory module, which was not expensive.
The 1200 XL is a well built piece of kit which feels very sturdy, it’s only limitations are it’s single USB socket (hardly a limitation), the lack of an infra red, the cheaper NiMH battery, and it’s HPA screen- this is ok for personal use but the viewing angle for HPA is nowhere near that of TFT screens, and not quite as bright (but ok). One doesn’t expect a firewire socket at this price but you can of course get around that. The machine has one of every socket (serial, parallel, USB, external monitor, PS2, PCMCIA, microphone and headphone).
I particularly like its portability and convenience. The machine sports the powerful AMD K6 3D processor and my memory upgrade has given me 8MB allocation to graphics (originally 4MB) but you can set this how you want.
Notebooks are becoming better value all the time and the Compaq 1200 series gives you, at a value for money price a pretty high performance. Don’t forget that laptops do hold their value better than desktops.
Highly recommended!

STOP PRESS:
I understand latest Compaq 1200's now have TFT screens and they look gorgeous!

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