(MIRSE) wrote in message ...
Has anyone bought that $500 Compaq Presario now on sale at Walmart (AMD Athlon
XP 2400+)? Is it any good?
We have a Compaq Presario 5245 that we bought new a few years ago (AMD-K6-2,
400MHz).

From Walmart.com

Compaq CV7500 17" CRT monitor (16.0" viewable)

Yes, this is a decent CRT monitor, purchased seperatly a new CRT would
cost about $150

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ processor (2.0 GHz)

Good Processor

40 GB Ultra DMA hard drive

Decent enough Storage space, adaquate for most common office and Web
applications

128 MB DDR-SDRAM with up to 16 MB allocated to video memory

This is really low, you will need more, espically with the video
sharing the memory.

Integrated ProSavage DDR KM266 graphics with 16 MB shared video memory
2100 MB/second

This is not good for gaming, but for office/internet applications it
is fine.

256 KB secondary-level cache
common to the Athlon processor, very good

HP CD-Writer (CD-RW) 32x10x40

if you plan on coping a lot of cd's you'll want a second drive

High-speed V.90 56K flex modem (actual speeds may vary)
Integrated 10/100Base-T networking interface

Fine

MPEG2 for full-motion digital video

You dont have a DVD player, so this isn't that big of a deal, nice
extra

3.5-inch (1.44 MB) floppy diskette drive
Premium Polk Audio stereo speakers with Power Port technology
Internet keyboard
2-button PS/2 scroller mouse
Available slots: 2 PCI and 1 AGP

Having a free AGP slot is good
everything else is fine

Available external ports: 6 USB 2.0 - 1 serial - 1 parallel
Available bays: Internal - 3.5-inch (1)

It dosn't say it has an available 5 inch bay for a DVD or CD Player,
if you are not worried abot adding one,dont worry about it

Software Included:

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
WordPerfect Productivity Pack including WordPerfect 10 and Quattro Pro
10
Intuit Quicken Financial Center includes New Users Edition 2003
RecordNow to easily create your own CDs
MusicMatch Jukebox



Overall, this is a solid computer at a solid price. Only 2 things are
really bad about it, 128MB of RAM and 16MB of shared RAM. For any
pratical useage WIndows XP needs 256 MB of RAM, espically with shared
Video. If you are willing to upgrade the RAM as soon as you get it
then its a good deal. The most the RAM upgrade will cost you is $100
and any computer shop or Best Buy will do it. So at a total price of
$599 its a great deal.