Author Topic: Compaq CQ50-204CA (Aka CQ50-210US or G50-209CA, and a handful of others) (Read 3230 times)

rl9009 · « **on:** March 17, 2009, 05:38:29 AM »

Well... I'm planning to get the Compaq CQ50-204CA or the HP G50-209CA and so far I'm stuck between the two.

The Compaq and HP essentially have the same hardware, price and configuration. They both come with:

AMD Athlon X2 QL-62 CPU (Same core as the Turion TL-6x series, but with AMD-V and better HT Speeds...),
3GB of RAM
160GB HDD (Hard Disk Space is no issue as my NAS box already has 1TB lying around...)
nForce chipset featuring NVidia GeForce 8200M integrated graphics.
802.11g WLAN (802.11n won't be any use for me until 802.11n finalizes after years of debates on how n should be handled...)
10/100/1000 Mbps LAN connection by the nForce chipset... (That is what I really care about, no GbE speeds, no WDS restores... )

I'm going to primarily use this laptop for viewing h.264 encodes of anime as my current HP 2133 can't handle h.264 encodes properly even with CCCP and I heard that the Nvidia 8200M series does indeed have hardware h.264 decoding (h.264 encoding won't be needed as my current workstation has an ATI AVIVO enabled card that does h.264 encoding for the moment...). Is this laptop any good for my usage?

psyren · « **Reply #1 on:** March 17, 2009, 06:03:06 AM »

Should be more than enough... but 3GB of RAM? WTF?

fohfoh · « **Reply #2 on:** March 17, 2009, 06:03:42 AM »

Look up the NVidia video card to see what kind of issues it might have. I KNOW there are a handful of 8000 series have issues that are DIRE. They can burn out the Mobo. Especially I think the 8400 and 8600 series. Also, Both the Compaq and HP seem to have a design flaw that doesn't properly vent heat. This aids to the quick death of the 8000 series Video Card. Not to mention that AMD runs hotter than intel, which adds to the issue.

Basically overheating in my personal experience fucks up the wifi. (But you dont need wifi, so it's ok) it can also sometimes do funny things to the video card, but usually can be cleared up with a quick restart.

If memory serves... Processing power > Video card for H.264. I'm using a T7200 processor @2.0 GHz and I can play probably all 780 encodes. 1080 begins to have issues with me though.

But for sure, double check the 8200 Video card to make sure there's no abnormal issues.

But yeah... last year's laptops... many had issues.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_8200_Chipset

I also read teh 8200 is a rebuild of the 8400. So I'd double check before using that card. I'd be wary... but not paranoid. For a notebook, I'd suggest getting a laptop cooler if you're going to use it for long periods of time. (several hours +) It keeps performance going and it also keeps the notebook going for a longer period of time.

vuzedome · « **Reply #3 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:34:46 AM »

Yeah..... I got a compaq as well and the cooling is terrible.

fohfoh · « **Reply #4 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:44:53 AM »

Yah... last gen of laptops... Dell, HP, Compaq were the ones that died the fastest.

iindigo · « **Reply #5 on:** March 17, 2009, 12:07:41 PM »

I would personally advise to avoid Compaq, as I've had nothing but bad experiences with them. To me, they are the epitome of cheap junk.

Dell and HP are only slightly better.

mgz · « **Reply #6 on:** March 17, 2009, 01:48:31 PM »

Quote from: iindigo on March 17, 2009, 12:07:41 PM

I would personally advise to avoid Compaq, as I've had nothing but bad experiences with them. To me, they are the epitome of cheap junk.

Dell and HP are only slightly better.

HP = Compaq

And only certain dell models

rl9009 · « **Reply #7 on:** March 17, 2009, 03:33:05 PM »

Wow. If what you're saying is true, then I wold be expecting my HP 2133 to die out anytime? I think HP's build quality has improved over the years esp. the business line of products they make...

mgz · « **Reply #8 on:** March 17, 2009, 04:05:21 PM »

Quote from: rl9009 on March 17, 2009, 03:33:05 PM

Wow. If what you're saying is true, then I wold be expecting my HP 2133 to die out anytime? I think HP's build quality has improved over the years esp. the business line of products they make...

hp and compaq are the same company

fohfoh · « **Reply #9 on:** March 17, 2009, 04:11:00 PM »

Quote from: rl9009 on March 17, 2009, 03:33:05 PM

Wow. If what you're saying is true, then I wold be expecting my HP 2133 to die out anytime? I think HP's build quality has improved over the years esp. the business line of products they make...

No, it has decreased. The old ones are damn great bricks to use for a long period of time. The new ones fry themselves in periods less than 2 years.

NaRu · « **Reply #10 on:** March 17, 2009, 04:11:45 PM »

I recommend Acer , Lenovo, and Toshiba laptops

vuzedome · « **Reply #11 on:** March 17, 2009, 07:57:54 PM »

Toshiba A's series kicks ass!!!

fohfoh · « **Reply #12 on:** March 17, 2009, 10:49:54 PM »

It's slightly harder to get a decent Toshiba in Canada. Even if you can, they're much more expensive. They're not bad for durability though, and aesthetic wise, they're half decent.

Acer is a brick. Not the greatest looking, but will last a while. It can take a bit of a beating... but not something I'd want to lug around. Usually cheap, but at the same time... hard to find a decent one sometimes because you only find the cheap old refurbished ones.

Lenovo is a brick with style. The acer is a gameboy, the lenovo is a PSP. Beat the shit out of this thing... it'll be moving. Quality is great, price is a little premium, but it lasts a shitlong time. However, specs are somewhat hard to get on this sometimes.

Sony is a hit or miss. Some are decent, some are cheap, some are bricks with style and some are good. However, there is a price premium... and remember, you're paying for aesthetics and not necessarily performance.

Compaq... shit. Go home.

Gateway... unknown. Basically a dell though. with less customization and less tech support.

Dell... hit or miss. Brick or decent. Easy to customize. But... quality again is hit or miss.

HP... aesthetics is decent. Build quality isn't bad. Parts wise they have slight issues, and the design sucks for ventilation.

Or something like that...

rl9009 · « **Reply #13 on:** March 18, 2009, 01:29:08 AM »

Quote from: fohfoh on March 17, 2009, 10:49:54 PM

Compaq... shit. Go home.

HP... aesthetics is decent. Build quality isn't bad. Parts wise they have slight issues, and the design sucks for ventilation.

Isn't Compaq and HP the same people these days? If you said that, then HP would be a piece of shit too... Now I'm worried about getting any HP products in the future

fohfoh · « **Reply #14 on:** March 18, 2009, 05:27:18 AM »

Quote from: rl9009 on March 18, 2009, 01:29:08 AM

Quote from: fohfoh on March 17, 2009, 10:49:54 PM
Compaq... shit. Go home.

HP... aesthetics is decent. Build quality isn't bad. Parts wise they have slight issues, and the design sucks for ventilation.

Isn't Compaq and HP the same people these days? If you said that, then HP would be a piece of shit too... Now I'm worried about getting any HP products in the future

Same company, but different design. It's the design chassi that cause overheating and self detonation of hardware. the new stuff runs with lower power and temperatures... so it's not as bad anymore...

but last years stuff and stuff from the year before is quite iffy.

MTR · « **Reply #15 on:** March 18, 2009, 12:53:35 PM »

I've personally never had any trouble with HP or Compaq. My friend has an HP desktop that I found someone throwing out on the street one day and gave it to him (he didn't have a computer at the time). It still works perfectly to this day and is about 10 years old.

My mom also has a Compaq presario that we've had for 6 or 7 years and it is still going strong. Our first computer was also a Compaq Presario which lasted 5 years.

I just also bought an HP for Christmas and have no problems with it either.

dankles · « **Reply #16 on:** March 18, 2009, 01:17:23 PM »

Compaq has a long history of using Non-Standard/difficult/frail hardware in there systems. HP has purchased Compaq, but the two ship computers somewhat Independently or at least they did last time I was looking at stuff like this. So in regards to quality HP != Compaq as far as I've seen.
But over bang for your buck I'd go with a Dell if you want a pre-build system, otherwise go with the great Hardware support of IBM.

EDIT:
Oh this is for a laptop.
GET AN IBM THINKPAD!!!!!
Because one word: Bulletproof
I've done work with tons and tons of laptops. The ones that last and have less hardware failures are the thinkpads. The hardware is good and the casing is thick, no panzy "so frail is going to break" feel to it

fohfoh · « **Reply #17 on:** March 18, 2009, 03:11:25 PM »

The main reason last generation tanked was HEAT. C2D and AMD came out with processors that were hotter than the former P4s and the current P(thousands) centrino 2 series. That heat, when not properly disbursed is strong enough to destroy internal components. Dell, compaq and HP especially failed to disburse it and ended up destroying components. With new hardware, it's not as big of an issue... but you know the issue is still there if C24 comes out with lots of heat again.

mgz · « **Reply #18 on:** March 18, 2009, 04:23:28 PM »

Quote from: fohfoh on March 18, 2009, 05:27:18 AM

Quote from: rl9009 on March 18, 2009, 01:29:08 AM
Quote from: fohfoh on March 17, 2009, 10:49:54 PM
Compaq... shit. Go home.

HP... aesthetics is decent. Build quality isn't bad. Parts wise they have slight issues, and the design sucks for ventilation.

Isn't Compaq and HP the same people these days? If you said that, then HP would be a piece of shit too... Now I'm worried about getting any HP products in the future

Same company, but different design. It's the design chassi that cause overheating and self detonation of hardware. the new stuff runs with lower power and temperatures... so it's not as bad anymore...

but last years stuff and stuff from the year before is quite iffy.

some models are different.

Many are exactly the same

rl9009 · « **Reply #19 on:** April 06, 2009, 06:00:56 AM »

Well...

Just to report back, I've decided to let go of the HP/Compaq G50-209CA/CQ50-204CA. I bought it from Future Shop two weeks ago and guess what? WDS's discover image won't recognize the GbE card. Also that laptop runs hot enough that you can cook eggs with it! What the hell was HP thinking?

There wasn't even a single heat outlet on the side of the laptop, only heat could disburse on the bottom of the laptop!

Returned it to the store just last week and the customer service rep asked me if I was just a noob or what. I told him that no, I used to work in a computer repair shop and I know laptops running that hot out of the box won't last long. Even told him that the GbE card wasn't recognized under WDS's discover image! They reluctantly took my return in and I'm planning to get the Toshiba L300D-040 or L300D-043. Those two come with the same CPU, different IGP (which is an AMD 780V with Radeon 3100 IGP!), but they don't have GbE which I was hoping for :'(