My Compaq R3000T Dedicated - Mini Review

[canonman]

Ok,,, a little info on my R3000T,,,

First off I got the 15.0 XGA because I don't care for the widescreens. The 15 inch TFT works good in the case, wider trim on the sides and thinner top&bottom. The widescreen is thin trim on the sides and wide on the top&bottom.

The keyboard looks and feels great,,,

The 60gig hard-drive (5400rpm) is quiet,,,

Mobile P4 and 9600 cooling fans can only be heard when running full speed and then just barely,,,

Only 1 memory slot available to user. ( see photo )

64Mb ATI9600 video IS a 9600PRO,,,
Three seperate utilities identifies it as M10P.

Compaq has the clock set way low,,, 310 core and 195 memory,,,

I used Radclocker to set at 351 core and 243 memory,,, runs perfectly through hours of benchmarking,,, I did not try to overclock from these settings.

Benchmark Scores Clocked at 351 x 243: With OMEGA Drivers,,,

3d mark 01 ---- 9838

3d mark 03 ---- 2627

aquamark3 ---- 22,374

( average of 3 runs )

Fit and Finish is great,,, it is heavy,,,

I Love It !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jmanjohns]

Nice computer. Doesn't fit my needs, but it is an awesome, powerful, and well priced lappy, Congrats!!

[Rusty 2k3]

Hey that looks like a really nice laptop there m8, im so jealous as im waiting for mine to be delivered, it should be coming next week :)

[Jason Chan]

Man I love that keyboard colour reminds me of my Compaq Armada m700 keyboard. I love the colour of the case too.

[$tack$-[WaM]]

I agree, Jason!
Great looking keyboard colour...

Congrats canonman!

[Jason Chan]

One more reason why I enjoy viewing your pictures is the short loading times. Think about how many people still use 56kb. I am very lucky because I live in a city that DSL and Cable are in a lot of competition therefore driving the prices down; however a lot of people aren't.

[piranha]

I've been looking at the HP zx5000 & Compaq r3000 series laptops, they appear to have the same components but in different cases. The only thing that bothers me about the r3000 is the "silver" colored bezel, my old Presario 725us had a "silver" bezel and the color started to wear off due to usage and it looked dirty... The styling of the r3000 is fantastic and really cool (i may still buy one because of this and features) -- how are the speakers on this bad boy? suprised they're not on the top of the keyboard instead of edge pointing toward you.

- is the casing "alumnium" or plastic?

piranha

[abcheng]

it's plastic.

[djmason9]

How thick is that computer R3000T

[Buster]

Be carefull running that thing on top of that chair, looks like the fan vents on the bottom of the laptop are being blocked. One guy at work had his laptop on his lap and his leg was covering the vents, in less than 30 mins the magic smoke came out... Cant believe that moron did not feel it heating up! hahaha

[cfitz7111]

I am considering the same laptop, a few questions, how are the speakers? How is the DVD playback? Have done any gaming on it, if so how was it?

I am considering the widescreen option though...any help would be great.

[canonman]

Sorry for the delay on answers, have been on vacation.

The case is plastic but VERY sturdy,

The speakers are nice and loud and the audio software has a nice 3D positional sound.

It is 1.8 inches thick counting the rubber feet.

DVDs look great,,,

As for games, I just got FAR CRY and as you know it is a very High-End game. It looks great and will play fine if some of the detail setting are set to medium.

I do have the 9600 overclocked to 351-243.

I did add another stick of PC2700 to it a few weeks ago, now up to 1Gig.

hope that covers your questions, let me know,,,,

[canonman]

As for blocking the vents,, it was only on the chair for a few minutes and I put a few pencils under it to keep the vents open,,,

[jetmech1]

That is the Model I have been leaning towards. I like the feel of the machine in the store. So far I have owned 3 Compaqs and all have been very reliable computers.

How does the touch pad mouse work? Do you like it? Out of all the computers I have been reviewing the Compaq/HP seem to have the better touch pad mouse with scroll. My Compaq 2715US has a nice touch mouse with a scroll toggle switch that will scroll op/down and rt/lt. I really like it.

Have the fans on the bottom been a problem? I use my notebook on my lap and the armrest on the couch a lot. Thanks for the review and please post any other comments about theR3000T series if you can.

John

[canonman]

The touchpad has an Up-down area on the right of the pad. ( see my first pic )

I don't know about using on a sofa arm, would worry about air intake. Would prob be ok if just surfing.

I can play FarCry ok, just have to turn down some of the settings.

I love mine,,,, :dude: :dude: :dude:

[Juank]

What's about the battery HH:MM? and the Chipset?

[RedSky009]

hey cannonman - isn't that an old Digital Blasphemy wallpaper? Had a big collection of their stuff on my old PC...

[canonman]

I get about 3 to 3 1/2 hours on the 12cell battery. The chipset is ATI 9100 IGP.

[canonman]

Hey RedSky,, I think it is. I found it on an old CDR that I had backed-up some files on years ago.

[Sseaott]

Hey CanonMan:

You showed pics of your R3000T with only one memory slot user accesible. I just ordered the R3000Z model and the sales guy swore to me that both modules were accessible, that he was looking right at one. Did he BS me or are the modules that are accessible different compared to the 3000T verses the 3000Z? I knew I should have ordered with 1 stick of 512 instead of 2 256 chips. If it turns out that he screwed me, will I ever be able to upgrade the memory to the full 2 gigs if I wanted to in the future, in other words can a tech guy open up the labtop and take out one of the 256 chips that is not accessible to the user (if it really is not accessible?) Man this is ticking me off now.

Thanks.

Ok,,, a little info on my R3000T,,,

First off I got the 15.0 XGA because I don't care for the widescreens. The 15 inch TFT works good in the case, wider trim on the sides and thinner top&bottom. The widescreen is thin trim on the sides and wide on the top&bottom.

The keyboard looks and feels great,,,

The 60gig hard-drive (5400rpm) is quiet,,,

Mobile P4 and 9600 cooling fans can only be heard when running full speed and then just barely,,,

Only 1 memory slot available to user. ( see photo )

64Mb ATI9600 video IS a 9600PRO,,,
Three seperate utilities identifies it as M10P.

Compaq has the clock set way low,,, 310 core and 195 memory,,,

I used Radclocker to set at 351 core and 243 memory,,, runs perfectly through hours of benchmarking,,, I did not try to overclock from these settings.

Benchmark Scores Clocked at 351 x 243: With OMEGA Drivers,,,

3d mark 01 ---- 9838

3d mark 03 ---- 2627

aquamark3 ---- 22,374

( average of 3 runs )

Fit and Finish is great,,, it is heavy,,,

I Love It !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sture42]

You showed pics of your R3000T with only one memory slot user accesible. I just ordered the R3000Z model and the sales guy swore to me that both modules were accessible, that he was looking right at one. Did he BS me or are the modules that are accessible different compared to the 3000T verses the 3000Z? I knew I should have ordered with 1 stick of 512 instead of 2 256 chips. If it turns out that he screwed me, will I ever be able to upgrade the memory to the full 2 gigs if I wanted to in the future, in other words can a tech guy open up the labtop and take out one of the 256 chips that is not accessible to the user (if it really is not accessible?) Man this is ticking me off now.

Thanks.


I´ve got a R3000T and as far as I can se the design on the T and Z are the exact same. Its only on the inside they are diffrent.

from the hp homepage:
Memory can be fitted in one of two memory slots (one of which is accessible by the user for later upgrades). A "2x" solution fills both slots, while a "1x" solution leaves an open slot to add even more memory later.

But I belive its possible to uppgrade it anyway. With some technical skill and a screwdriver :)

[canonman]

Yes you can get to the 1st slot if the keyboard is removed,,,,,

Check this forum out under UPGRADES, / RAM & HARDDRIVES

http://www.r3000forums.com/




Here it is,,,,, :p

http://www.r3000forums.com/viewtopic.php?t=8

[superzingy]

If you had the 128mb radeon 9600 would farcry work ok without turning down the settings?

[canonman]

Of course 128megs would be better than 64megs but FarCry works "OK" with my 64mb 9600,,,, most of my settings are on Med or High. I think it's more the speed of the core than the amount of video memory........

Now system memory is REALLY important for FarCry, once I added another stick of 512 memory it really helped,,,,

:D

[Sseaott]

Hey Cano!

Thanks for the website! I had no idea the R3000 had it's own discussion forum. Is that the only one or are there others? I'm so glad I will be able to get to the "other" module.

[C-Cubed]

I just bought th R3240 64 bit 60 gig 5400 Hd512 ram dvd+_rw/Cd-rw 15.4 wsxga 802.1G 64 bit vid card from nvida . the darn thing just came off the truck when i asked them if they had any of the newer 64 bits inthe shop. In fact im the first guy on my block to get one ( i live in a really small town )
I have to say that this lappy is a really nice machien . It has great battery life and stay cool , and it really really quite . there is a bit ( verry little ) light slip onthe bottom og the screen bit i really have to look to find it . Dvd playback is killer the screen is very nice . I fix computer for a living and i have seen alot of laptops come through my shop , i see gateways and newer dells but havnet seen to many newer compaqs ( the 1200 series i see every day seems like ther life span is about up) The full size keyboard is nice a bit loud but i really like the sound , makes me fell important.
For the cash its about the best buy on the market for 64 bit lappys . i was looking at the emachien ( but i fix the desktops all day long) and thought the chasie was cheap and when i asked he teck to play a dvd on it , the dvd got stuck in the lappy. If it can stand upto a bit of showroom abuse ill break it in a week . Ill do some benchmarks and game playing on it and let you all know how it fairs . Oh btw i got a 4 year warrenty on this baby ,,,,,, maybe ill drop it (opps :)) when the 3400 comes out ....naw ,, i like it to much

[canonman]

Ok, Installed DOOM 3 and it ran like crap until I installed the new Omega 4.10beta CAT Mod. Now runs great.

Still no problems with my R3000T,,, :D

[Ardiseis]

How do you remove the keyboard on this model?

[Gravis2480]

Look here:

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c00057181.pdf