Like many other people I stayed out all night on the thanksgiving night in line to get the best deals at our local Circuit City. I ended up buying a Compaq Presario C700 laptop for $300 (after all the rebates and discounts – normaly $650 to $700).
The laptop has Vista on it as the operating system. It was my first time using Vista. It wasn’t as bad until I realized that Vista uses more than twice the memory that Windows XP uses. My laptop had 1GB memory and was using close to 700MB of it with just Windows Vista coming up. So I added another 1GB of memory to it myself and took it to 2GB. It is faster and better now. As for the vista, I still haven’t had any problems with it, but we’ll see if all my softwares run fine on it.
So far I have noticed one bad thing about the laptop. It gets extremely hot – the bottom part of it does -. I used to have a laptop (SONY) that overheated all the time and turned off by itself because of the heat. But that started happening after I had owned the laptop for over a year and used it 24/7. I haven’t owned this laptop for even a week yet.
One other missing feature is that it doesn’t have the middle button that IBM and DELL do (that is used as mouse instead of the mouse pad on the laptop).
The fan on the laptop is very loud too. Every 5 minutes or so, the fan works very fast and makes a fairly loud noise which is annoying.
I’ll add more reviews to this page as I use the laptop.
There is wide range and variety of computer notebooks available but before deciding its better to consider reading reviews about particular product and company. One of reliable machinery is acer laptop. But on the other hand compaq notebook is a part of Presario family of computers known for quality and rich experience.
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i had my C700 over half year .i also have a problem.its sound drivers are not founded .so plz help me.i have try to search but not found.
why wont this laptop take the 4 gig ram did i pick up wrong that this 1g of ram thats in it already is actually 2x 512meg?????????????? cheers i would like to put 2x 2gig ram for each processer sorry if this is the wrong type of forum jjust trying to gett a more detailed idea of this lap top best £450 i have spent and yes this is my first ever pc ………….,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.,…
I bought a C700 about a year ago. The laptop stayed extremely hot and I guess thats what finally got it. The motherboard went out on it 54 days after the 1 year warranty ran out. The cost of the motherboard labor and all is about $400 so it wasnt worth fixing. We only paid like $450 for it last Christmas ’08. I have since bought a new Toshiba and love it. It stays cools and works great. We bought another C700 for sister in law about six months after ours, and hers is still working fine as far as I know. so I guess you can get good and bad in all of them.
I’ve had mine for a little over 6 months now. Everything works decent, especially for the price that I payed. I hear everyone on the overheating, but you just need to be careful and make sure not to cover the fans. The one problem that me and my father have both had (he also owns the same laptop) is with our power adapters. Each of our chargers have died and don’t work at all. He went out and bought a new one, and mine is slowly dying as I type this comment. Does anyone have any suggestions for this?
I think I’ve had mine for roughly 6 months, and other than getting scorching hot all the way down the left side, it’s been a truly good purchase. I’ve packed the software on it – a bunch of design software, Sims games, iTunes – I’m fairly impressing.
I bought this laptop as a temporary replacement whilst having my IBM HDD replaced; I then gave it to my mother. I find that the issue of the cursor jumping around is exacerbated by not shutting down correctly. This pc isn’t a big fan of hibernating, so shutting down completely seems to really help that particular issue. Yes, the fan is noisy, but to keep the temperature down I also found that using it on a desk seemed to keep it cooler than sitting it on my lap (there are a couple of vents on the under side, so I think part of the overheating issue is caused by them being blocked whilst on my lap).
All in all, I think that this is a pretty decent machine for the money. It can take a max 3GB RAM, but that is really more than sufficient for most applications. My IBM T60, at almost 3 times the price, has been no less problematic.
I’ve had mine for a few months now. The fan isn’t terribly load but the heat worries me a bit. I’m not terribly fond of Vista because of the memory issue and the battery life on this thing is a joke.
Had the c700 since July 2008, Had no problems with it until last week, I was unable to get access to the internet, came up saying it could not find any networks, called my Isp & went through several tests & they told me to get in touch with Compaq, Was told that I would have to save all my files & restore back to the factory settings?? Was a bit puzzeled why i had to do this, he told me it was a vista problem? anyway I went into system restore & saved it to last week & now I have my connection back on, I have my laptop on a wireless connection, Has any other users had this problem??
its been a long time since i bought this laptop but i i started using it now
of course the keyboard is sexy
but i can’t find the use of that orange wireless button so i want a favor for that
the speed is fine but i m not satisfied with the lacking accessories with it
can i attach a blue tooth device like a mobile, a mouse or a keyboard (a bluetooth one)to it
also how to use that webcam offline as well online
I bought a Presario C700 in December and the only issue I have had with it is when it’s not on something level (like your lap, for instance) it tends to get very hot but it never shuts down like some do.
That is the only issue I can see right now, and I leave it on 24/7 unless I’m gone somewhere then I shut it down.
I’ve been using this laptop for about a year now and so far I haven’t had a problem with it. Ofcourse with running vista I had to immediately upgrade my ram to 2 gigs and intially had a problem with some mmo’s that I play (graphics driver would fail and restart) however a recent update to the graphics driver and the problem was fixed.
The Laptop certianly does heat up after being used, and I use mine atleast 12 to 15 hours a day. So far I haven’t had any ovehearting problems except when I first started using it, however it was my first laptop and I didn’t realize that airflow to the fans could be blocked so easily.
I’ve always had a problem with the wireless card, so I primarly use cat 5 connection. And i also find that the touchpad is very sensitive to keystrokes and i was forced to pick up a wireless mouse.
My verson is only a 120 gig hd which can be a bit stifling at times. I have had problems with the power cord stripping a bit, had to jury rig that as well.
All in all it’s a solid system and with a little tenderness it has lasted me and my abusive nature towards computers.
I bring my laptop everywhere with me and do my entire work and play on it
I’ve had mine for a year and 3 months (got it for christmas in 07) I’ve had a few minor problems with vista, and the heat does worry me. My main problem has been the chargers.In the year i’ve had it i’ve gone through over three chargers and my new charger is starting to do the same thing as the others (plug’s in and charges, but it also stops charging at times and the power button starts to flash)
Otherwise the laptop has been flawless, well worth the money
I got a C700 for my birthday nearly a year ago. I’m always downloading movies, music, and games (iTunes, world of warcraft, limewire, diablo, guild wars, lord of the rings, etc.) I am constantly on it. It always overheats and turns off, and i can hear the fan running in the other room. But i love it so much. Very easy to use and vista runs pretty well. Overall vista score is 3.2. I have two gigs of ram. This is a very fun computer. I just need to get a cooling pad, more ram, and a better graphics card and i’ll be set.
i have had this laptop sense august 6th 2008 and i have had no problems at all……the over heating thing your talkin bout happens to alot when they are on for long periods thats why i invested in a cooler 10 bucks and problem solve. mine came with 2g memory so i guess older models came out with less idk but all in all great computor for the price
Ok, I’ve had this laptop for more than a year.
I’m someone who probably should be owning a 2,000 laptop and not a cheap one like this. I’ve noticed the same problems, my computer over heats on the bottom, it also over heats on the left side of the touch pad. My fan runs 27/4, sometimes so hard I have to turn it off because computers hate heat obviously. I couldn’t stand the 1GB of RAM, I wanted to buy 4GB but then I found out that it only holds 2GB, wonderful. The vista is a memory SUCKER, so you must really optimize it like I did (i.e take out the vista look is the first step to optimization).
See though, the fan runs when you’re using up a lot of RAM, so if you got firefox open with like 10 tabs, and photoshop open, along with itunes, you’ll have one stressed out laptop, causing the fans to run harder, and your laptop to over heat. If you’re like me, you should just save up for a laptop that can widthstand what you’re doing on it. I’m looking into getting a Mac in another year.
so yeah, also this computer lacks a lot of important features, witch really bugs me.
Also had this model for about a year.
It gets hot, it didn’t have enough RAM (since added another Gig). Much better now.
However, the graphic performance is the sorriest thing on earth (well close anyhow).
If anyone has a solution to improving this I’d be very grateful to hear it……
I am owing the same model from last six months.
Yea, there is a problem of getting heat, and its irritating a lot. sometimes i feel the comp will be blasted, ….
Anyway, i too had 2 gb ram, in built, and 180 gb hdd , as per the price the laptop is best .!!!!!!
Of course i will not tell my laptop is bad
My Presario C700 is now overheating and turning itself off. Just like you predicted in your original review. Compaq/HP Customer Service is terrible to further compound the problem. Even though the computer was inexpensive the problems I am now having with it make it a bad investment. Anyway, I hd the same fan and overheating problems you are speaking about.
I also had my laptop for at least 7 months from now. It really does get hot on the bottom of it. Specially the left hand side. I really love watching movies so I use a lot the DVD Drive. But sad to say I guess it gave up on me. One day I tried to watch a DVD movie but it is not detecting that there is actually a disc inside of it thinking that I just watched a DVD movie the other day. I’m also somehow technical so I tried to boot to a disc to really isolate it is not a software problem but to no avail. Now I have a laptop with no working DVD drive but I will have to have it fix one day before the warranty runs out. Hehehe! So far it is ok except for the DVD that easily gets busted.
Ive had my C700 for ages now, my fan does work alot and makes the base of the laptop very hot, but i find that this only happens when i have the laptop on ‘High Performance’ mode and am using multiple large programs that require high processor usage. Although when i am just browsing the internet and listening to music the base temperature is fine.
I’ve had the C700 for over a year now and the only problem I’ve had is the annoying mouse pad/jumping cursor. The computer only gets very hot and loud if you leave it directly on your lap or like on the couch for an extended period of time. This can be solved by putting the computer on top of a three ring binder or using it on a table. Definately needs upgraded memory which I never got because I don’t use the computer for anything besides writing essays and internet. I use it for the internet a lot though because I go to school online, work online, and watch tv/movies online. The speakers are loud enough, but when I watch movies sometimes I attach a small radio I have and voila ghetto surround sound. I also purchased a converter box that allows me to hook the computer to the tv if I want to watch a movie on a bigger screen. I guess I don’t have problems with vista because I don’t really use any software. It seems like everyone whines and complains about it though.
Anyway the computer is good, especially for the price.
i had my compac for about hmmm 5 months. I love it but i also face the overheating factor it shuts down by itself alot and at first it use to shsow a blue screen then shut down but now it turns off by itself and when i turn it on sometimes it does this weird screen splicing. But all in all its an awesome laptop and its cute
I have had this latop since december, and ever since, I have had nothing but problems, problems and more problems!
It worked great for about 2 months, ran flawlessly with no errors. The laptop does get hot, and makes a loud whirling sound. I have had a problem with the CD\DVD drive. It allways stalls when a disk is inserted and i had to reset the system. After about 2 months of using this laptop, the hard drive failed. Got it replace, took about 5 weeks with Comets Warrenty. All the data was lost and my old HD – i never got back.
anyway, was running flawlessly again for about 2 months, until recently, its desided to faile on the hard drive again! I’ve given up. All my work for college has now gone. I have only older backups to use.
Now investing in an Apple iBook.
Compaq c700 is nothing but utter crap.
DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY.
I also have the C700 that you described above. I am having A LOT of trouble with my fan – even after I upgraded to 2GB running Vista. Recently, I’ve been smelling burnt plastic coming from my laptop – it’ll probably overheat on me soon and die…sad thing is that I’ve only had this thing for only about 1.5 years…
Other than the embarrassing fan noise, it’s been decent since I started using it. Once it dies, I’ll go back to my Thinkpad… =)
I’ve had my Presario C700 for almost a year, and it’s the C766CA model. It has 3gb of RAM, a 250gb hard drive, and it still runs great, except for the loud fan, which still comes on very rarely. I love it
i think this computer is not that great. But it has some quality that i like about.some of the things that i really don’t about this laptop is because you would need an extra money to upgrade this computer to play games.it has a stupid grafic card.
I’ve had my C700 for about a year and it just died on me two weeks ago. The overheating problem is ridiculous and it started shutting itself down because of it over the past two or three months. Now it apparently baked my hard drive as It would lock up on the traveling bars during boot up. I managed to recover most of my data using Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows after several days of trying to find a boot up recovery disk that actually would work. It is a free downloadable program but needs to be run on a working computer as it assembles a Windows environment that runs off a CD/DVD from YOUR Windows installation and jam packs it with recovery tools, with networking capability and Hard drive testing software. After reformatting my hard drive and installing the Windows 7 RC1 it started freezing up and crashing again.
Turns out my hard drive has bad sectors, most likely, in my opinion due to the constant and excessive heat. I have a four year old Averatec laptop that is pretty beat up physically (a couple of missing keys and the hinges are broken due to excessive use by myself and my three teenagers but it is still running great and I’ve never had the problems I’ve had with this C700. I thought it was a good price but I bought my Fiancee a Dell Inspirion at Best Buy for $50 more than this Crappaq and it never gets hot at all, runs great and has a built in HDMI output too. Only buy this thing if you want a portable space heater.
I had my presario c700 for 5 or 6months & my graphic card or virtual card what ever its call is actin up my screen jumps & it dont want to stop someone help me out what do i do???
C700 IS A VERY NICE AND COOL LAPTOP…i dont want to re sell it but i have to pay my school fees that is why i must sell it for now..i wish to get new one cause am very poor..anyway i miss it so much and i will like to have new one
This is a really BAD laptop. The bottom gets soo hot that it can burn you. But it does have a saftey feature….it turns off by itself…..all the time. The fan is loud as hell and it does nothing. It was cheap, but I would rather pay 200 more and get a better quality laptop.
I got this laptop last summer and it has been great. I haven’t had any problems with it. I agree the bottom does get pretty warm but not so hot that it crashes. I would recommend using a cooling pad if it is on for a long time working, such as watching a movie. The only other thing is that the keys are wearing out.. well the letters are still there just the keys are turning shiny. They should have just made the whole keyboard smooth shiny instead of having it more rough. BUT other than that it has been great so far for a whole year
i want to buy a laptop but i dont know what is the best model that i should buy and the problem that i want it not to be over than 300$ so piease i want any one to give me any advise
Ive had mine for over a year and have not had any problems with it at all. Took some things off of it that i didnt need like the games trial software etc. Bought Norton 360 and been using that and have not had one problem with it. No over heating, or touch pad problems.
I have a random black spot in the to right corner of the screen on my C770 US. I have also had the issue with the bottom getting hot as well. My CD/DVD drive has also quit working. I makes a really lound grinding noise almost like it’s gonna bring up the CD and then it never registers it. Can anyone help me with these issues? I have only had the laptop a little over a year
Ive had my laptop for over a year, it came with 2 gigs of memory and runs extremely fast. I don’t find the fan loud at all, the bottom gets somewhat hot. I does however freeze sometimes which can get annoying. It came with norton anti virus but i got rid of it and i pay for windows live care. Overall i am very pleased with the laptop it runs smoothly and i use it everyday and havent had any serious problems with it.
This is my 2nd entry here (the first entry being on June 6th 2009). I will say that with Vista installed on this computer will kill it. Vista is so memory and processor intensive that it quickly overheats this computer. After it baked part of my hard drive It took me about two weeks but I was able to reformat the hard drive and partition out the bad sectors on it and I installed Windows 7 RC 1 and the computer runs 1 million times better and much cooler. I think most of the overheating problem is caused by Vista being a huge piece of crap. I would recommend either installing Windows XP or Windows 7 on this computer as it will definitely alleviate much of the overheating and use much less of your available memory. Also don’t use that crappy Norton Antivirus, get the Avast Free Home edition. It is free and I have been using it for years on all of my computers and I have never gotten a virus with it, with my three teenagers using the internet constantly.
sir i want drivers for my laptop whose model is presario C700 C795TU DRIVERS I WANT ARE WI-FI AND AUDIO ONLY
I got my presario c700 a year ago on my birthday, when i first got it it was running great the heat thing isnt that big of a deal and i don’t mind the fan. but now the screen randomly decides to go black and barely show anything
I have all the drivers for Xp and Vista for C700 tested and working =], so if anybody needs any help, just ask!. I would recommend this model
sir i want the driver for C700 C791TU audio driver pls help me
My sister gave me this C700. I started school this year and she used it for like 3 months before storing it. I would never buy one. Gets way to hot. The vista is a joke takes all the memory. My question is why would they include it if they know it does not fit? I have a problem with the keys comming off werid I know. It also makes a crack noise when I turn it off or on. I think she is dying (that was fast) I think I will stick with Dell I have one from college I prefer to use. Sad
i have this c700 which heats up very fast. Is it possible in laptops (like in desktops) to open the cover and clear debris from fan and ventilation through this air compressed can we get in the market.
please reply me @osric_dh@hotmail.com
I think there was a battery recall on these laptops (i’m using one right now) that will take care of the heat problem, the crack noise goes away if you turn down the sound before turning off the laptop. I also have the jumping mouse problem when i rest my wrists on the area next to the mousepad, but can stop it if I’m typing alot by turning off the mousepad. Look into the battery recall!
http://bpr.hpordercenter.com/hbpr/M14.aspx battery recall info!
I bought this C700 last year, with the so called vista, but it doesnt work right. Whenever I charge it or unplug the charger, the toolbar/bottombar, slids to the left.. (isnt that so wierd?) then it wont open anything windows associated, and then freezes..everytime it does that,the only solution is to restart and it is really annoying to have to restart a computer every 2 hours!!! I am so disappointed. Do anyone know a solution to this? Should I get rid of the vista and use XP professional, its not like vista is soo cool or anything.
Hey, i have had the C700p for over a yr now, i find that the bottom heats up, but it has never turned off, also abt two weeks after i got it, i upgraded to vista ultimate, but lately i havent been able to open any folders, like, i can still open files.
the only other problem that i had with it, was that my mouse pad is very jumpy, but i just bought a wireless mouse (the only problem with that is that the other wireless mouses that are around school do interfere with it) but i think that this happened because i was late for the bus one day and i had my laptop in my bag, and it flew open and my computer fell out, hit the road, then landed open faced in the mud, it a really funny thing, it worked really good.
also one thing does piss me off, i have found that it will play random clips when i am connected to the net, but only the sound, and only three days ago it was playing chinese porn, for well over three days (i dont like to turn off my computer), i was wondering if anyone could help me out with these stupid promblems as well, thanks
I’ve had my Compaq Presario C700 for about a year and a half now, and I can hardly stand the thing. It overheats, has a crappy battery life, and sounds like a leaf blower! I’m a college student, and need to use multiple programs, and this laptop cannot handle it. I’m getting a new one soon. When it overheats it just shuts off, and then is too hot to even turn on for a few minutes. It seems others have this problem. I do not recommend this laptop.
I have a compaq C700 that I bought in May 2007 – Duo Core, 2GB of Memory. Having what I would definitely call “overheating problems” although HP apparently disagrees. I’m sorry, but… when you’re using it and it BURNS YOUR SKIN – that’s right, leaves a red mark on your leg when you use it – I would consider that a major problem. I’ve sent it in 2-3 times and all HP will do is “blow the fan out” and reglue something. Well like sorry but, having my laptop gone for a week so that you can clean the fan out isn’t exactly convienient, especially when it’s not fixing the problem. O___o Not to mention, last time I sent it in, I got it back with Spyware… way to go HP! *rolls eyes*
it’s never turned off though, but I wish it would so that I would have more than this “ghost” problem!!!
I have C700 for 2 years now. I have no complains. My primary purpose is for studying and it does my work efficiently, helps me get A’s and B’s. . . .
I have C700 for 2 years now…I don’t have any complains for it… I still love it!
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