screen brightness for COMPAQ R4000

i have had no time at all to read the manual for my new baby. needless to say, i feel so foolish after having messed around with the advanced settings for days on end only to find out that all i had to do was..well, you know!

so far, i'm loving the notebook. if you have any cautionary tales or user tips to keep 'er running smoothly, i'd appreciate it.

cheers,
mon

I too own the r4000, and totaly enjoy it. finally a notebook that has comparable speeds to a desktop that is reasonably priced. And to think I used to bash compaq.

Still, when unplugged almost all notebooks will not run at max CPU output. Here are some things you can do to help.

1. Right click my computer/properties/advaced/performance settings/adjust for best performance/apply.
This will change the look more like windows 98, but will run faster.

2. Don't allow many programs to run when not needed.
You can change settings to stop most programs from runing on startup. Check your taskbar and turn off programs when not needed. This will also reduce the chance of freezups due to program conflicts.

3. With memory so cheap, upgrade to at least 756mb of memory. A 512 chip is less than $100 Canadian. Mine only came with 512.

On the caution side, liquids are a killer. I spilled beer on my toshiba satelite and lucky me, only had to replace the keyboard. Also be careful when bringing in from the cold. You want it to climatize and don't want any condestate. Best bet, don't let her get cold.

These are just a few tips, there are many other things that can help, but I feel these are some of the most important that many people are not aware of.

Have fun yall

i really needed to hear the beer/liquids warning..i was notorious for burying my old computer in food and *****.

minus the beer mishap, have you had to replace much else. i got scared into buying a three year warranty with future shop. it seemed so comprehensive and worthwhile should something happen.

mika

Within the last year a tremendous change has come about with laptops. You can now buy one with comparable speed and features to a desktop without costing 5 times as much.

With this said, one must keep in mind components are getting cheaper daily. As for buying an extended warranty, it may be more benificial to some than others. I did not get any extended warranty, but if my hard drive craps out, or my motherboard fries, I will change it out myself. One thing that is a real killer cost wise however is the LCD screen.

Be very careful when handling your machine and always try to pick up with both hands. lifting by a corner could crack your LCD Especially if cold.

Still pouring liquid in the keyboard is probably the # one killer of these machines. Booze probably tops the list. This can happen quite easily, "as I found out", and getting away with only a keyboard is lucky. Quite often the liqiud will leak through and damage the motherboard. This would well justify having a "warranty, "providing it covers damage due to this". Might want to read the fine print and know whats not covered.

For the most part if treated with respect one can expext minimal problems. Any deficiancies should show up within a year and be covered by factory warrany. I had a Toshiba performance wise.

Happy Surfing, Pipetweaker.

read carefully the warranty. Although it says that it says about accidental damage, it also mentioned that it only cover one major part each time. Also if it's unintentional.

I'm not sure how HP Compaq handle their extended warranty (after 1 year). I know they are pretty linient when dealing with cases within a year of purchase. There are a few incidents in my office where my coworker screwed up their new Compaq laptops (within 1 year). They just made 1 phonecall and the person only asked them if they had any important data they want to keep in the broken laptop. After they returned the laptop to the company, they sent them brand new one (didn't even repair it) straight away. But those are not customized notebooks. I'm sure it'll take more time for Compaq to replace a customized ones.