uStarate.info

Great deal. No complaints.

My theory on laptop purchases is that they only last 3-6 years before they become outdated or they simply stop working, so I buy the cheapest thing I can find.

I have owned this laptop for about 1 month, and so far it has been great. It’s quiet, fast, and most importantly it was cheap. I purchased it brand new for $479 at Staples! Just be sure to uninstall all of the advertising and trial software that comes with the standard installation. Also, as soon as you get the junk uninstalled, put in a couple of blank DVDs and burn a set of recovery disks (you are supposed to do this–it doesn’t come with any).

I am a computer programmer, and I find it to be thoroughly sufficient for my needs. Of course, if you want something blazingly fast with hundreds of gigabytes of storage, then you should spend a little more. If you want something tiny and really futuristic-looking (and also therefore cramped with a small screen and small keyboard) so that people in airports will stop and talk to you about it, then you should spend a little more. Otherwise, the Compaq F730US is a great deal.

Pros:
- Cheap
- DVD Burner
- Nice screen
- Sufficient RAM (1 GB)
- Sufficient Storage (120 GB)
- Keyboard feels nice–fairly solid foundation, but keys soft to the touch

Cons:
- Battery life is respectable but not enviable (2 hours or so).

Update (5/20/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.

The featured review for this product, Compaq Presario C771US 15.4″ Widescreen Notebook Computer. Intel Dual-Core T2390 1.86 GHz, 2GB RAM, 160GB Harddrive, DVD+/-RW, 802.11b/g WLAN, Vista Home Premium Personal Computers, was written by D. Knights.

The average rating for this item is 2.5 out of 5 stars, according to 2 reviews.