22nd July, 2000. I still remember the date on which we bought our first personal computer. Before making the final purchase, there were several brand names before us. Compaq, HP, Dell or an assembled one. The worldwide reputation of Compaq, the magic of the brandname & the mind-blowing ads forced us to go for Compaq. We opted for a Compaq Presario 7500 pc.
The configuration stood as follows: Pentium III/600 Mhz processor, 64 mb SD Ram, 10 Gb Hard-disk, 40x cd-drive, Floppy Drive, Internal Modem (56Kpbs), ATX Cabinet, Mouse, Keyboard & a 15-Inch Colour monitor.
At that time it was heavily priced at Rs. 54,600(Including the discounts offered by the dealer) compared to the other brands available at that time. Had we went for an assembled pc, it would have cost a lot less.
Anyway, the PC gave fine service for one year. One fine day, the computer refused to start up. A message was just floating on the monitor ''Fixed Drive not found '' After taking the CPU to the dealer it was found that a single chip made by Philips on the logic card of the hard disk was burnt. It made the whole Hard Disk unusable. At that time 10 Gb Hard Disks were being phased out from the market at a rapid speed. 20 Gbs were in the incoming line.
Later, I heard that almost all the similar 10 Gb Hard Disks that came with the Presario 7500 models faced the same problem. It was the Philips chip, responsible everywhere. As it was very hard to find a similar logic card I was left with no other option other than going for a new Hard Disk. Normally Compaq recommends original spare parts. It is not advisable to go for non-Compaq products (For Up gradation/Replacement) during the warranty period, as that would make the warranty invalid. As my warranty was over I chose for a Seagate 40 Gb Hard Disk. A Compaq HDD was also in my mind but that 10 GB HDD was priced at Rs. 10,000 whereas the Seagate cost me only Rs. 4400. During the installation, I was in dilemma whether the disk would work or not.
But it worked wonderfully.
But the biggest surprise was that during the warranty period of the new Hard Disk, 4 Hard Disks were changed. Just when I was really thinking madly about the ill fate of myself, a miracle happened. The Hard Disks were developing Bad Sectors (Physically). After reading an article, I applied the procedure stated over there to tackle such problems and that worked !! If you find the same thing happening with you, (I mean if you find that your Hard Disks are developing bad sectors quite frequently) you can try one thing. CHANGE THE ATA CORD, the cord which connects the HDD with the motherboard.
A damaged cord can create bad sectors .
After installing the New Hard Disk , I installed a 256 Mb Ram (Hyundai Brand)& A LG 40x Cd-Writer. As adding more Ram speeds up the system, the pc became quite fast.
These days, I have added a DVD Writer on the system which is also working fine.
If you think that this article tends to turn a Branded Pc into an Assembled one, well there's one thing which I think an assembled pc can never offer compared to a Compaq computer. I am talking about the speakers.
Powered with JBL pro Speakers A Compaq PC turns into a High Fidelity Sound System. Truly, Compaq computers can be purchased because of the quality of the speakers alone. You cannot buy these speakers separately from the market as Compaq does not sell them separately.
Next comes the monitor.
Compaq is pioneer in making quality monitors, which are bound to give tremendous service over the years. Our monitor worked well for 5 yrs. After that we had to change the EST of the monitor. (Well, it can happen with any monitor as monitors face continuous wear & tear). After changing the EST (The Repairing cost Rs 1100) These days the monitor is as good again as it used to be before. The resolution is great. There is a default button with which one can turn the monitor into the factory made settings, if anything goes wrong with the settings. This is simply great!
Plus the monitor has a microphone at the upper side of it which records quality sounds!!
Though the HDD went bad and the EST of the monitor had to be changed I was not that frustrated on them while my frustration built a little when the USB ports of the motherboard stopped working. Can't find out the reason what I did to solve the problem is that we had to install a PCI USB card which is working finely. Later, I was told by a friend of mine that this happens due to some power flowing problem in the ports.
The chassis of the pc is also great. It has a sliding system. If the motherboard unit needs to be taken out sliding the whole unit can easily do the same. This is an example of good designing.
As far as original softwares are concerned we got Windows 98(SE), Microsoft Word-2000, Microsoft Money-99, Recoil (Game) & IBM World Book Encyclopedia with the computer. ALL were directly from their respective manufacturers.
As far as the customer service is concerned, it is better than ''The Best''. I got all the answers of my queries through email or by phone which I placed in front of them.
I personally feel that Compaq's customer service is extremely good. Still after 5 yrs , whenever I put any query in front of them, they never disappoint me. This is a great example of customer satisfaction.
To keep up the pc live with age one can download the motherboard utilities such as Bios update, graphics driver, soundcard driver, softwares directly from Compaq's websites. Compaq always update the site and latest downloads are always available no matter how old is the pc is. This is another great example of Compaq care.
Compaq has a annual contract system called Carepaq. Under this contract (Which could be signed after the warranty gets over), if anything goes wrong Compaq will take the sole responsibility and change accessories/do the servicing/whatever needed. This is also a great service.
Because of the heavy competition in the pc market nowadays, Compaq has been forced to cut down the prices of its products.
Nowadays, within a moderate budget it is possible to get a good pc from Compaq.
My suggestion is, if you want a good pc and if you are ready to spend some extra money, go for Compaq. It will give you good computing experiences over the years. As far as up gradation/ replacement of peripherals is concerned one can easily go for reputed (Non-Compaq) brands after the warranty gets over as Compaq spares are heavily priced.
We are still very much satisfied with our 5 year old pc. Rather than changing the 10 gb HDD, USB ports and changing the EST of the monitor we had not changed anything. The mouse, keyboard, speakers...all working as fine as they were.
It would be better if the user gathers some good knowledge of computer maintenance. In that case no problem can arise at all!
You can do all the maintenance alone!
This is my first review written in Mouthshut.
Thanks a lot for reading the same.
