This would make a fine Linux box in general, Kubuntu specifically. I've run Linux on much weaker machines(P2s with < 500MB RAM) and performance is good on those. With Linux there is nothing installed you don't choose to install. Also, no worries about installing the same Linux distro on multiple machines. It's ok and even encouraged. A great way to learn about Linux if you aren't sure, run it next to another PC for comparison. Read online posts on how to install Linux dual boot on this thing and if you don't like Linux, uninstall it. Afraid of a dual boot install, get a Linux distro that offers a live boot option from CD or DVD. Boot to the CD or DVD and run from that without installing anything on the hard drive. That method runs slower but there is no risk. Kubuntu has a great Live CD/DVD option.

If there are still some of these around later today I might have trouble resisting the call of the woot. It would make a handy file server and backup machine tucked in the corner somewhere.

juicius wrote:I'm not sure why so many people are ragging on this PC. Stats are fairly decent and the price is excellent. You could part it out and easy get more than what you paid. One caveat: Vista is probably locked to this PC and you won't be able to sell it separately.

It's no gaming demon, but for virtually every other application, it should do admirably. The computer I'm typing this on is a Pentium 4 3.2 GHz rig and I have no complaints on it whatsoever for my daily tasks.

Of course, when you buy retail computers like this, you gotta spend an hour stripping away all sorts of crap they pre-load on it.

One Statement: Woot electronic refrub = waste of money at any price.

Actually, I've been doing video editing on a system slower than this with less RAM for over three years, professionally, and had no porblems

I bought one of these new for $350 in July. It's a pretty decent computer if you're not doing all kind of crazy stuff. Only wish they would've had this w00t then. =[

maniacdc wrote:This pc isn't worth buying for any of its components... those who've said it is don't watch computer prices...


and hp now is as bad as compaq was.


as to the one asking about vista

if you like bloat and having an OS that'll babysit you, you'll like vista. My personal beef with vista is they took a perfectly working file browser that needed almost no changes and tried to make it "better"... yeah that didn't work - obviously.

I wouldn't say HP's are as bad as Compaqs but there are steering in that direction computer wise.

Bezalel wrote:The datasheet on the motherboard can be found here. Although most Compaq motherboards are made by Asus, this particular board is made by ECS. (Maybe that's why it is refurbished.)

ECS = Extreme Crap Systems

I almost considered it until you mentioned that little important chunk of info

ECS FTL

egonpyro wrote:wow, a 3.5 floppy. Haven't seen one of those in a while.

~egon

The description states "No Floppy Drive", so you won't for a while, still.

An awful computer. I bought one off of woot and it took hours to get it up, and hours of taking to someone in India for tech support.

I do not recommend this product. Unless you have oodles of time to waste.

csg2028 wrote:it was like looking in a mirror. I am on this right now. Not bad for a slow computer without much memory. For basic internet browsing this is fine.

You're kidding, right? Slow? Only basic internet browsing? A 1.5GHz PC from 2000 could handle that without breaking a sweat, and it'll continue to handle it for the forseeable future.

Hardware these days has vastly outpaced software. This ought to handle anything short of intense 3D gaming (integrated video) or possibly running Vista. You might want to wipe it and install XP or Linux.

Well, If you like 3 year old technology, cheap parts, an OS that the machine barely meets the minimum specs for, don't mind that it's almost completely non-up-gradable, and don't mind paying more than it would cost to build a new one (and yes, that includes Vista Home or XP), and you're OK with refurbs, then by all means buy this bad boy.

It's just a bad deal, and for some reason, people just eat this stuff up on woot!. You do realize that the reason stuff ends up on woot! is that no one else wants this junk? Occasionally you can find a worthy deal, but trust me, this ain't one of those times.

Someone asked for proof that it could be built new for less? Someone posted a list on page 1 or 2 already. I'd do it, but I'm not in the mood to do the legwork for you.

Heck, for about $500-600 at newegg, you could build a machine with new, good parts, including a dualcore (slower speed, yet it would destroy this pentium in every perf. test), an 8600GTS, 2gb of ram, 320gb HDD, and Vista Home.

Add another stick of 1 GB RAM and this machine will be fine running Vista for anything other than gaming and heavy multimedia authoring.

Vanhorne is right... be very careful buying this. Compaq/HP isn't renown for actually "fixing" their issue computer... they list them as refurbished, and re-sell. I know... because my husband worked there (both Compaq and HP).

Chomeister001 wrote:I think you can get a new dell with dual core and for about $50 bucks more, if you wait for their weekly sales. Get the new stuff.

Certainly! I would consider it if it were 100$ less.

gojeda wrote:Add another stick of 1 GB RAM and this machine will be fine running Vista for anything other than gaming and heavy multimedia authoring.

How much is 1GB RAM separately?

gojeda wrote:Add another stick of 1 GB RAM and this machine will be fine running Vista for anything other than gaming and heavy multimedia authoring.

You mean 2 sticks, right? Because this machine has only 2 slots, and I would bet my firstborn that they are both filled now with 512mb sticks. Remember, 3 year old, cheap technology.

And if you were to spend any more money on upgrading this puppy, then it becomes a horrible deal as the total money spent could have bought you something better, faster and brand new.

bah... I give up. Just buy it if you think it's right for your situation. G'Day.

rahat wrote:How much is 1GB RAM separately?

The 2 1gb sticks you'd have to buy to actually upgrade it would cost about $90 for the cheap stuff if bought online. 1gb can be had for about $50.

But can it play DOom?

This is decent computer. I have a compaq slower version put some more memory in at and I have had it a couple years now. Picked it up at the time from CompUSA for $200 without a monitor. For what this offers it is a good buy.

I hate HP products and even though HP owns Compaq I feel that these are better made. Maybe I just got lucky though. I have the SR1710NX and it has been great to me.

jojoinnit wrote:But can it play DOom?

you should rather play Packman http://game.ayumex.com/flashman.html! HP is a delicate cat, so only feed simple apps like Notepad, MS Paint and if possible stick with os like M$ DOS( http://www.freedos.org/)

can one give a constructive idea of where to buy a decent pc for a similar price?

OK...i got one. I needed a desktop for my sister when she went to college, so i figured I'd get it. Hope she enjoys!

Just in case you need the documentation and user manual for this Compaq Presario I attached my personafile.

Compaq Presario Desktop Intel Pentium SR2170NX

mikreb wrote:Did she need a $300 paper weight for college?

For people who use it to download music, talk on aim and use myspace, this is a good computer. I was piecing all the parts to build her a new computer and I figured I'd spend 250 on getting her something usable. However, if woot will give me this for 300, i'll take it easy. Could something go wrong with the refurb (rox0rz!)? of course! I'd be surprised if it didn't! But I'm not as stupid as the last people who bought this from best buy and didn't know how to do anything with it. Now I just need to find some deals on a flat screen. Tigerdirect has one for sale today only, 20" widescreen for like 130 or 140. Anyone think thats a good deal?

rhausafus wrote:Poor Woot! They can't please anyone. I already have one. I could build one myself. I'd really rather have a new Porsche for $300. I don't like Microsoft. I was so anxious to enter a message, I didn't have time to read the specs., could you explain it to me?

Woot!, have a good time hauling your money to the bank (you must be pleasing someone). I look every day, and some days, I buy.

I have to totally agree with you. What is wrong with everyone? It's almost as if some people posting on here think you're supposed to want to buy EVERY item woot posts. How exactly that makes sense, I'm not sure, but the negative comments suggest it. Also, try to remember that these are overstock items, not the newest and best products out there.

I love checking woot every day to see if i can get a nice deal on something. It's fun. I've been doing it for about a year now and have only bought once, though. Do some of you guys enjoy waiting for the next item just so you can hate on it? Seems that way.

I always here from these people who say I can build a computer cheaper than this system. I seem to always fall for it...go to builder sites to price components and always end up with more money than I could just buy one for. Vista Basic alone will run $150 leaving $150 left for the case, power supply, mobo w/ processor, HD, cd/dvd, keyboard, mouse, etc. If it's so cheap then please price one out for us to see with the same specs but better components right here...

Wow....a Linux guy who cant find something nice to say about Microsoft. Surprise Surprise.

I am sure your Ubuntu-Gen-too-Debian-BSD-Red Hat box took much less than 10 hours to get familiar with..../sarcasm

Its a new OS, bite the bullet and learn it...or better yet use it to tout your Linux prowess...ooooh

Jackass

The non usb keyboard and mouse are defiantly cool...

Thanks, I've been reading thinking I'd get one for my senior for papers, homework etc but I think I'll go with one of her peers here and say no this time.

I actually considered buying this for spare parts (i.e. more RAM, another HDD, etc)...but then I thought better of it. I'll see you at the next wootoff, Mr. Presario. :op

zyodei wrote:Is anyone else sad about how hard it is to buy new consumer level PCs that DON'T come loaded with Vista? Vista is bloatware garbage, they took a perfectly good thing and screwed it up.

XP was relatively stable, easy to use, and powerful. After spending about ten hours using Vista on various computers, I have found NOTHING to like about it, and it kills the performance of most PCs. 1GB is barely enough.

doody, I would rather just get a computer with nothing at all on it and just put Linux on it myself. As such, the idea that any of that $300 is going to M$ for their lousy efforts is a deal breaker for me. Which may well mean that I am going to have to stick with used PCs for the near future.

Way to screw over the whole PC industry, Microsoft.

Perfectly good? You mean... Windows 98, right? XP is to 98 what Vista is to XP. It's kinda funny... look at all the comments being made about why Vista is bloated... and they're mostly the same comments made about XP being bloated when it came out.

I'll stick with a Mac... or Linux. Neither are as bloated as Vista... and... a $300 Mac OS X system does as much as the $1000 Vista Ultimate... yay?

niceguy9903 wrote:The non usb keyboard and mouse are defiantly cool...

I noticed that and can only see 2 usb ports listed in the specs. My computer came with 8 and most of those are used so this one would be tough to use. My wife would love it just cuz she's stuck with the HP 850 Mhz junker with bootleg os right now and is always using mine.

Not a horrible deal, but there are similar machines all over eBay from reputable sellers for a whole lot less and at about the same price point , many with LCD monitors.

Like a lot of posters here; I'd prefer XP on an older machine like this & for a mass market machine I'd go Dell before HP/Compaq ( although problems there too, just A LOT fewer).

Woot does not specify who the warranty is through...even tho it has the Compaq faceplate, the warranty could be thru the fly-by-night company that 'Refurbished' it.

Refurbished, used, new; you take your chances with PCs these days... anyone who has dealt with East Indian tech support on a problematic new PC knows that new does not mean trouble-free.

Wow a refurb (rox0rz!) Presario... Why not just sell a refurb (rox0rz!) USB rock... Out of all the computers I've owned, the Presario definately took the award for absolute crap!

Good luck Wooters!

Note: This wooter has nothing against refurb (rox0rz!) in general. In fact my livelihood depends on folks buying high-quality refurb (rox0rz!) barcode equip. But a refurb (rox0rz!)'d turd is just a turd with a facelift...

But... it's a Compaq! :-(

Compaq is and always will be "junk".
VISTA makes it junkier!

Dibbler wrote:I always here from these people who say I can build a computer cheaper than this system. I seem to always fall for it...go to builder sites to price components and always end up with more money than I could just buy one for. Vista Basic alone will run $150 leaving $150 left for the case, power supply, mobo w/ processor, HD, cd/dvd, keyboard, mouse, etc. If it's so cheap then please price one out for us to see with the same specs but better components right here...

Eh, you're kinda right and kinda not-so-right at the same time. I'm one of those "computer building guys" (though I've only built 1, so I'm no expert). But with mine, I shopped around a lot for parts, and most of what I bought was from newegg.com, special sales from frys.com, or used stuff from amazon.com. And then I saved a bunch of money by using software that I already had (though you can get a new copy of Vista from newegg for $111...I just checked). But the point is that you are right. You probably can't go out and buy all new parts and build an equivalent computer for the same price as this re-furb. But you CAN shop around, find deals, and use free parts/software that you already have, and put together a computer cheaper than if you were to go to Best Buy and buy a new one off the shelf. I spent about $700 on all of my parts and software for my 1 computer, and at the time, it would have cost well over $1000 to buy a similar one. It's just a question of whether you're up for scrounging around for good deals and cheap parts...and I am up for it. :oD

(P.S. I know I didn't send you the links for individual components that you were hoping for, but at least I sent you 3 websites where you can do your own research. That's more than a lot of folks around here do.)

jimba wrote:Compaq is and always will be "junk".
VISTA makes it junkier!

Not true, Vista works well if you've got a modern dual-core (last 2yrs or so) 1gb ram and an sata hard drive.

I ran Vista Ultime Beta on my old Athlon XP 1.4ghz with 768mb DDR400, IDE 7200rpm drive, and ati 9800 pro. It ran it a little clunky, but it still was usable. They've improved Vista a lot since then. I just got a new laptop to replace my 4yr old one and it runs Vista better than the old one ran XP, for $500 which is < 1/2 the price I paid for the Dell 600m. This is even considering the 600m had dedicated gfx and the new one does not.

I work on windows boxes for a living (a poor one), and compaq is one of the most obnoxious to work on because of the software that they pre-install, AND the crap they do to make sure you use the stuff they want you to use. The only other company that I hate as much as compaq is hp because they do the same garbage to their boxes. I have used the same emachines box as my media pc (2.1 processor, 1.3 gbs ram, 256 mb ddr video card) and it has run like a dream for a few years now with only 2 major 'procedures,' really needed to keep it running as quickly as it should. I use it basically 24 hrs a day to download torrents, and I watch ton's of tv on it because I like free (stolen) entertainment, so it constantly gets plenty of use and abuse. The point is that cheap and empty is the way to purchase a computer (if you're not building your own), and emachines puts very little crap on their systems to bog them down. If you don't know what you're doing, buy a Mac; if you know how to replace ANY COMPONENT than buy this, and if you only know how to install basic hardware buy emachines.

edit: at the poster a few above, you can get oem operating systems for less than $40, and if you KNOW what you're doing you can easily build something that runs as well (often better) from parts that you want to use, plus you get the added nerd crown of being able to build a computer. Listing the specs like you want someone to won't do YOU any good because you DON'T KNOW, when you KNOW you can.