One sleek 12.1″
Is this the hottest, cheapest 12.1″ branded laptop in the market today? I think so. At Php 35,950, it’s closest rival would be Acer’s Aspire 2920Z which costs Php 39,900. It’s already ahead in the price category, so let’s see what else this sleek machine has to offer. And to think I bought a slower Php 39,900 worth 14.1″ Acer exactly a year ago.
The shopping spree
I recently crashed my company-given blue laptop, so while I was out shopping for a new memory module (the culprit), I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful Compaq Presario B1200 – the one I always wanted – in a cheaper, downgraded version. It tickled the impulse buyer in me. Bank was already closed, plus I needed a day’s worth of research, so to quote Douglas McArthur – “I shall return.”
Truth is, there wasn’t really much stuff in the internet about the B1256TU (fairly new), so the next day I shop-hopped Town Center to find out the best deal for the B1256TU. No luck, prices were exactly the same (as expected). All except 1 shop had it in stock. I couldn’t base my shop of choice on anything, so I tried to base it on store aesthetics. I landed on PC Live, the newest, most organized computer store in ATC. I was just about ready to cough up plastic when I heard the salesman say something about a free memory upgrade. Wait a minute, so stores sold it for the same price, but what about freebies?
Halt. I had to check what the other stores offered. PC Live was willing to upgrade my memory to 1GB and give me a 1GB flash drive. I told exactly that to Electroworld but they couldn’t top PC Live’s offer. They were however, willing to give a Php 2,000-worth printer. One last, most cluttered shop left – Silicon Valley. They had the same RAM upgrade, with a 2GB flash drive. They came out on top, but I told them PC Live offered the same thing and asked if they could give me a 4GB flash drive. So 40,050 pesos and 0 centavos later, I went home with a new laptop, a new copy of Windows XP, a 4GB flash drive and was happy. But would I be satisfied?
Specifications and a comparison
In the spirit of competition, I’ll consider both laptops – my Compaq Presario B1256TU and the Acer Aspire 2920Z – in it’s base form. No free upgrades or add-ons. The B1256TU has a Core Duo T2370 1.73 Ghz, 1MB L2 Cache, 533Mhz. FSB processor – same as the Acer 2920Z. They both have 512MB RAM, 1.3 MP webcam, 8X DVD±RW, 80 GB hard drive, Bluetooth, card readers, the works, and all that jazz. So what else is left?
Aside from being cheaper by Php 3,950, the Compaq is a lot more gorgeous. Don’t get me wrong, I love Acer and I love their new Gemstone design as well, I just feel that they didn’t quite get it on the 12.1″ version. In my opinion, it looks a little bulky and feels like a toy. The Compaq is just plain sexy and sleek with it’s black theme and carbon fiber-looking design. By the way, both units don’t come stock with operating systems.
Insignificant rants
You already know how much I adore this laptop so I’ll just do a short summary of what could have been made better – borderline unimportant. For starters, the touchpad feels sticky. It has this certain gloss to it so my finger sticks instead of slides. The whole design is “takaw-gasgas” like a Mac, especially the shiny black plastic surrounding the screen. Being an OC, it bothers me knowing that scratching is inevitable. However, it’s what makes it sleek-looking.
Two USB slots on the left side are too closely situated with the power adapter slot. This makes inserting USB stuff like flash drives difficult. The unit does not come with drivers. Drivers are to be downloaded from HP’s site. It’s slow as hell and it took me 6 hours to download a 6mb file (no exaggeration). The laptop was obviously designed for Windows Vista, so I encountered some problems installing Windows XP, especially with the SATA hard drive.
Final thoughts
What else… It came with a free microfiber-type cloth which won’t scratch the finish. The laptop bag is nice, but is quite big. The sound from the headphone jack is quite ok (important to me), but Acer’s is better. The quick launch buttons are like the ones from an elevator’s – touch sensitive. I’m not seeing any firewire but I don’t really care. So all in all, I’m really, really satisfied and happy with this purchase. After all, in line with Robert Kiyosaki’s philosophy, I don’t shy away from buying stuff that will help make me money.
I’m quite surprised though how Compaq suddenly offered budget laptops. If at all, we should probably be thanking Acer for starting the budget class slash barebones category of laptops. But Compaq beat Acer in the 12.1 category this time. I wonder if Acer will start slashing prices once again. I also wonder what’s in store for next year’s laptops. At the rate I’m going, I spend the same amount of money (circa 40k) every year, and just see what upgrades I get. To sum up this year from last year, I got an additional core (processor), 512 more RAM, Bluetooth, a smaller screen, a 1.3mp webcam and a dvd writer. All for the same amount. Cool huh?
Related posts:
oops.. i meant B1285 and not 1258. =)
@maggie
you could buy anton’s laptop… haha its only 29k
tanx po salahat ng nagpost ng links, helpme naman dikopadin mainstall ang driver ng bluetooth xp OS kindlypostthelinks tanx
hello guys, just a week ago bumili ako ng presario B1200 series specifically B1293TU model.. 1 gig ram and 120 hardisk drive and etcc for 39k … ive decided to upgrade the ram dinagdagan ko ng kingston 2gb PC2-5300 CL5 200-Pin SODIMM.. im not sure if tama ba ung na bili ko na ram.. XP gamit ko ngayon na OS.. i dont see the difference ,,, if me alam kayo na tama ung na bili ko na clase ng ram kindly confirm this to me please ,…. bobo kasi ako sa mga ganito… Thanks ……
tama pala if you need drives for xp i have a complete set of dirves just email me if you want some
Whew just finished installing XP OS + drivers for Compaq B1244TU, more than 12 hours ko na ginagawa ‘to! … the comments here are so helpful…
Just want to share some links that I used…
http://forums11.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?admit=109447626+1221390406128+28353475&threadId=1192872 – read the post of Cheryl G.
http://paparadit.blogspot.com/2007/06/installing-sata-hard-drive-with-windows.html – installing WINXP on SATA Hard Drive via Slipstreaming. So valuable instructions.
I also downloaded the XP drivers from Compaq website. But to make the WLAN and webcam to work… I had to ask assistance from the Live Chat Support of compaq. Very helpful as well.
It’s very tricky to install XP on this laptop unlike my Asus A8FM. I just downloaded and installe the drivers without a single problem.
But yeah I love the design of this laptop. So slick!
Another thing I observed about the Mac machines… since the creators of the hardware and the OS are the same… there are very few issues on setting up the hardware. You can buy and use it right away. I know because I got one last week. I’m not a Mac convert… I use both Mac and PC everyday side by side… like now. I’m typing this from the B1244TU.
Oh btw a tip, when downloading drivers from HP or other sites for that matter…. sobrang bagal! (so painstakingly slow – translation for the english folks.)
Download accelerator plus saved my life…. It’s been long since I ever needed to use download managers and this one is well recommended in forums and it’s for FREE. http://www.speedbit.com/
Just make sure you do a custom install if not it will install other bundled software.
@Diomar
please email me draegerdraeger@yahoo.com the driver for the network controller and unknown device in my presario b1293tu… i could not make the wireless LAN work..
TO EVERYONE… please help.. i have the b1293tu, os is xp, cant use the wlan.. i’ve installed all the drivers in the hp web site but still not working..
thanks..
Diomar Says:
September 10th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
tama pala if you need drives for xp i have a complete set of dirves just email me if you want some
Diomar, anyone, Would really appreciate if you could share the xp drivers…especially webcam, ethernet controller, and hp integrated module for the b1293tu…the vista drivers from the compaq site don’t seem to work! been installing stuff for 10 hours now and getting really frustrated.
really appreciate all the posts here though…probably cut installation time by days!
you can email them to me at luimatti@yahoo.com
thanks peeps!
Please help!!!!
I bought my acer aspire 2920z last august… Pre-loaded ng vista. Nag-downgrade ako to xp. All drivers were okay except for 1… NETWORK CONTROLLER… can you please help me kung san ako makakapag-download ng driver na ito. ung wifi ko di rin nagwo-work… plz help!!!
hi
I’m selling my compaq b1256 laptop for 32k anyone interested? 5 months used.. good as new.. complete with bag… questions? contact me @ alain.chua@ymail.com
people…please help…i bought my hp compaq b1285tu laptop four months ago…and up until now, i couldn’t still find the driver for the ethernet controller device of the laptop…i could access the internet thru the wifi connection in school, but i could not access the dsl internet connection at home…people, please help me…i am so desperate…i could not even count on the help of the nearest hp store here in davao, kasi they are asking for EXTRA CHARGE and i really am traumatized by the last time i went there…
is there any hope of redemption? i just need to know where to download the specific ethernet controller driver for my compaq and how on earth i could install it…
super help…
whats ur email add? ill send you the driver
hi! please send me the drivers for xp… charlotte_keane@yahoo.com. please… please… please…
Gail, from davao ka rin? my laptop’s motherboard and lcd were replaced free of charge because of the webcam problem. my cpu temperature issues also got better after the replacements. i didn’t pay for a single cent. where did you bring it? sa HP mismo or sa digital interface? i brought mine at the latter because HP there wasn’t so helpful. they honor warranty naman eh.
regarding your wifi not working with your home network but is able to do so in school, i think there are compatibility issues with some features of vista and your router. i got the same problem before so i just disabled windows tcp scaling. seems like there are routers that can’t handle this new feature of vista.
try to run this command (administrator mode) and then reboot your lappie:
netsh interface tcp set global autotuninglevel=disabled
charloote:
do you have ym? the driver is too big to send in email…. coolblues5000 mine.. msg me only 9pm onwards thanks
anybody interested to buy my compaq b1256? for 30k only na! hehe
hi alain. tnx for replying to my post. i have added you to my ym acct. tnx again.
please advise where can i download working driver for compaq b1256?
thanks! (“,)
i also have this kind of unit. it doesn’t come with drivers but the salesman in villman told me all drivers can be installed on hp’s website. however, drivers were not complete which is why i had trouble installing windows xp (my brother helped me install vista ultimate the first time which has no prob but vista works really slow).
i was also told that it has a free upgrade to 1gb, sadly bec of my excitement to having a laptop i already forgot to ask about it, so i still have 512mb.. huhuhu…
just recently, my brother and i decided to switch to windows xp (obviously this is faster than vista), he got the LAN driver on broadcom website and we thought we have installed all. but after a few days i discovered that i am lacking bluetooth connection. i’m still searching for it now until i found this blog thing which helps a lot.
anybody would know where can i download it? thanks much!
need ko ng help… meron ako compaq b1285tu kaso ang prob wala ako mga driver n kailngan para mkapagformat… need ko help please.. send niyo nmn skin ung mga driver kung cno man ung meron jan??/hehehe tnx alot.. you can email me @ rakista_jacob@yahoo.com.ph tnxx
Please help me for my laptop driver compaq presario B1256TU. I have a problem on drivers compatible for windows xp. please help
please help me on driver for my compaq laptop B1256TU. email me pls
r_del_02@yahoo.com
hello to all compaq users. If you are having a problem on installing the drivers you may visit this link
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareList?os=2093&lc=en&cc=ph&lang=en&dlc=en&product=3729110
Infact, it was supposedly downloaded to you by the store (FOR FREE). In complink, they will burn it to cd for you to have a file of all the softwares. Vista is working very well in b1285tu…
I hope this will help all of you
@renmin
tol pwd list mo ung links kung saan mo nahanap ung mga drivers for windows xp. d ko nahanap ung sa ethernet at video graphics… kulang kc sa hp site mismo. vista drivers lang ung completo eh…
hi guys. anyone here who has a defective b1256tu battery pack? i’m willing to buy it. just text me @ 09236598217. tnx
gotta love msi-ecs. i brought my b1256 to their office at libis ten days before its warranty expires. my complaint was a busted left speaker. they told me to leave it with them and they’ll contact hp for a replacement. having heard that i also told them of the faded speaker grill, poor batt life and dim lcd display with a white spot on the middle. i went back about a week later. lo and behold, they replaced everything except for the internal components and keyboard. new lcd, new batt, new speakers, and new housing ( outside,insideand bottom).
i love hp warranty. it is topnotch.
take advantage of your warranty. bring your laptop msi-ecs. they are an authorized hp repair center. it’s better there than to bringing it to hp main atb uendia
I’m selling my compaq presario b1200, badly need the money. how much can i sell it for and who’s willing to buy it? It’s barely used. no scratch whatsoever, switched on for less than 30x. Used only to install OS, Ipod access software and iTunes. Please contact me, 09178685673. Never been used because I din’t know I was going to be issued my own laptop when I got my job.
Joe Esguerra
Alaine, pasend naman ng driver ng laptop driver compaq presario B1256TU. (Windows XP) thanks
~ GLENN
i need a webcam driver for b1256tu. anyone can email the driver to me? rockstarr_don@yahoo.com
pls anyone help to send me the ethernet controller and adi audio driver of presario b1256tu for xp pro..thanks
send me an info at reymarrondola@yahoo.com
thank you very much
i know you can download it from the hp official website. thats where i got all my xp drivers. everything seems to work fine