Gain your freedom for less money with a Presario laptop

Specs:\r\nIntel(R) Celeron(R) M 370 (1.5 GHz)\r\n14.0″ WXGA BrightView Widescreen (1280×768)\r\nIntel(R) Graphics Media Accelerator 900 ? Celeron\r\n512MB DDR SDRAM\r\n60 GB 4200 RPM Hard Drive\r\nDVD/CD-RW Combo Drive\r\nIntel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG WLAN\r\n400MHz front-side bus\r\nHigh-speed 56K data/fax modem\r\n10/100 Base-T Fast Ethernet interface\r\n1 PCI I/II PCMCIA slot\r\n2 Universal Serial Bus (USB 2.0)\r\n1 headphone-out\r\n1 microphone-in\r\n1 SVGA port\r\nFirewire\r\n5.21 lbs\r\n\r\nP.S. Ignore the desk clutter ? I’ve been busy!

The case is sturdy enough for everyday use, but it is still delicate enough that you wouldn’t want to drop it or sit on it or something. And I would not take this on a camping trip.

The Presario V2000 has nearly a full-size keyboard with a good size touch pad for “mousing” around. Much to my surprise, the keys on this laptop are not mushy.

One key feature of the Presario V2000 is the wireless connection button (the blue button). When it is lit it means a wireless access point is detected. The button toggles wireless detection on/off. The other buttons control the volume and mute the sound ? easy access to buttons like that is a plus.

I like the big touchpad and the big left, right buttons. The button on top turns off the touchpad, which is handy when you are pounding out a heated reply to your insurance company.

The microphone and the headphone jacks are in the front, which is very convenient. The Presario V2000 has a decent pair of speakers in the front also, but I invested in a nice pair of headphones myself.

On one side you have two USB ports, a Firewire port, and the DVD / CD-RW drive.

The DVD drive and the software that came with it work very well, but I am concerned about the drive’s tray ? it is very flimsy.

The other side houses the PCI I/II PCMCIA slot, another USB port, the Ethernet and Modem connections and the SVGA port. You can see in this photo where several of the laptop’s optional features would be located if I had chosen to get them. The options include a memory card reader.

This is a look at the screen, which is gorgeous and is dubbed the 14.0″ WXGA BrightView Widescreen by Compaq. This photo does not do it justice ? trust me, it is fantastic. It is easily the best feature of this laptop model.

This is a snippet of the Compaq shopping page for the Presario V2000. The $649 price is what I paid at Best Buys, only I didn’t have to go through the rebate hoops because it was all instant savings that week. For the money, I’m not sure you can beat this laptop. Sure there are more powerful portable computers, but not at this low price.