PLEASE TELL ME WHERE CAN I GET THESE LAPTOPS ON BLACK FRIDAY.

Is this laptop a good buy? I am trying to find my son a laptop to use for college. Is this a good laptop?

Beth- the C712US is a good basic notebook. It is reasonable specs that will be just fine for most students. The C712US is part of HP’s Compaq 700T line, which is the cheapest computer sells.
It’s a great value at $349- if you configure this yourself at HP’s website the total comes to around $550.

If your son needs something just to get online, do homework and watch some videos this computer will be fine.

That being said- this series does have some limitations, especially when it comes to graphics. If your son is into video games or needs to use it for any serious graphics applications this won’t be the best choice.

The C712US also looks cool, and that matters a lot for college kids. It doesn’t sceam ‘cheap laptop’ like some other brands’ low-end models.

Agam- emailed you some info about Black Friday for those of us who don’t live by major retailers. My suggestion is to wait for the Cyber Monday deals that will be available online. You can still get a $400 discount on some models without waiting in lines.

when you say serious graphics what does that mean, like if for example you wanted to let a kid play on nickjr or disney video games would those work? if possible please email a responde at alanastar4@excite.com thanks!

Alana- you’ll be fine with this notebook for flash video games on nickjr.com. The c712us is not suitable for video game enthusiasts who play games like Quake, which have intensive 3d graphics and need much more horsepower.

does the one at staples have the light scribe like the one at Circuit City?

I don’t think the lightscribe burner is included with the c712us, but I could be wrong.

I was wondering would this be ok to play sims 2 on?

the one at Circuit City does have it, but this one says supermultidrive and it is 8x etc like the one at Circuit City. does anyone know for sure?

This is the first I’ve heard of “Cyber Monday”. What and when is it?

Also, what are the chances of some of these deals being available on the internet since I have no interest in standing outside for hours for a laptop I’ll never get my hands on.

Cyber Monday is the Monday following Thanksgiving and is the Internet’s answer to Black Friday. Many retailers will run one-day specials and limited-quantity deals. A lot of people who miss out on Black Friday will get something on Black Friday instead.

Unless you’re willing to wait in line for a loooonnng time, your chances of getting a C712us are very, very slim to none.

If you hate crowds, go for one of the online deals. Keep an eye on this page- http://www.notebooks.com/black-friday-deals.

is this a better laptop then the one at Dell, for $399? Still debating which is better. the Dell one has a better graphics card, and 40 more gb than the Compaq but it is a dual-core processor

http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=bqdwisc&cs=04&dgvcode=ss&c=us&l=en&dgc=BF&cid=7421&lid=197378

hi,

would you be able to tell me what differences there are between the compaq c712 at staples and the compaq c717 at Circuit City (besides the mail in rebate). thanks.

Lily - that dell’s video card actually is WORSE than the one on this laptop.

really?? how do you know that? would the compaq be able to play warcraft 3/ star craft games?

but which laptop, overall, is the better one?

I am an artist and need something for Photos and small business, so that I can run my website and take credit cards via the internet at special events.
I have an older PC at home still too but it is running a little slow these days.

The Staples deal for the C712NR seems like a good deal especially with the free printer but I have been researching laptops and found good reviews on the Lenovo Thinkpad and have heard bad things about HP laptops.
Problem is I can’t really afford the Lenovo with-out a smoking deal, cuz I am a starving artist after all.
Please help to clarify the specs and if I should just wait to get the Lenovo. Do you know if these prices I am seeing for these two laptops usually include software like windows office, excel, word, etc.? Or will I have to purchase these seperately?

Sorry, silly question but what/where/how/
“Cyber Monday” I never hear about that…

Cyber Monday is the online equivalent to Black Friday. There will be online notebook deals, which are nearly as good as the doorbuster Black Friday deals.

If you aren’t able to score a notebook on Black Friday, come back to notebooks.com and look for a Cyber Monday deal - we’ll post these on Friday.

lily - I know that because I work in the computer business and have done extensive research on it. The video card on it will run those two games on it. They may not run at the highest possible visual settings but they will run. This is the laptop I will be getting most likely as I know it will run World of Warcraft decently.

olly - yes, Lenovo are generally better computers than HPs but for this price, you can’t beat it. I would suggest seriously considering it. I don’t think you would be disappointed. The software it will include is the Operating System (Windows) and a bunch of other 3rd party programs. It will NOT include Microsoft Office. You would have to purchase that separately, which gets very costly. But that is normal for most computers.

Can anyone answer my previous questions, Lenovo thinkpad vs compaq Presario?
Is the Presario such a good deal that I should take it or am I better off spending a few hundred more and getting the lenovo?
There is a $400 price difference between them considering the Staples sale, is it worth it? Will I have to add a bunch of stuff to the Compaq that may already be on the lenovo?
Does anyone know if there will be any better deals on the Lenovo coming up?
Please help!

Thanks Josh!

The salesman in Staples recomended getting extra ram for the Compaq Presario because the vista system it comes with usually bogs it down. Any thoughts on this?
What would be needed and any idea of cost?

Holly - 1GB is actually decent. I’d probably recommend upgrading to 2GB though if you stick with Windows Vista because it does use more memory. When I get the laptop, I will be downgrading to XP and upgrading to 2G anyways myself.

Also, does anyone know if ALL Stables are going to be getting this deal? I REALLY want it so I will probably go camp out ridiculously early but I don’t want to camp out for 12 hours in the cold if they won’t even end up having it lol.

I’ve heard Vista is not very good, so how do you downgrade to XP? Just buy XP seperate and delete Vista?
You can try calling the Staples near you and maybe they will tell you, I got lucky and the guy there gave me a tip about the sale.

Vista has a lot of positive points but just like any new software, especially a major operating system upgrade, there will be bugs. Ya I already have an XP CD so I am just going to delete Vista and put on XP.

I went to the Staples website and went to the store in my area and it showed the thanksgiving ad there with that laptop so I would assume they will have it…yay!

How much would upgrading to a 2gb be?

Adam (or anyone else wanting to upgrade to 2GB) - Well since I believe the laptop will come with two sticks of 512MB, we’ll have to take both those out and sell them and then purchase 2GB worth of memory. I can get a 1GB stick for probably around $25 from my retailer. So $50 total to upgrade to 2GB and then sell the two 512MB sticks on ebay or craigslist.

I heard that some Staples in different cities will not have this laptop, is this true? And does anyone know which will not?

Dana - yes it is possible for your store not to have this laptop. Best is to ask them (if they will tell you) or go to staples.com and you can look up your nearest store and look at their Black Friday ad to see if this laptop is on it. That is what I did.

Man! My area does not have it… I don’t know what to do. There’s a Compaq Presaio being sold at Circuit City, but CC will be packed Thursday night. I called Staples and they do not even know if the will have it or not.

***ALERT***

Upon my research, it seems that this laptop and the very similar Circuit City deal may MAX out at 1GB, which means that it will NOT be upgradeable. Myself and a lot of online folks have been trying to find out for sure. Compaq themselves doesn’t even know for sure lol. This is a big deal breaker for some people, it certainly is for me. The problem lies is that Sony laptop from Best Buy for $399 would be the next best one but it’s going to be a lot more difficult to get one there. Oh the decisions, I don’t know what to do myself. I could take the risk and get the Staples one and it could be upgradeable to 2GB but then again it couldn’t and it would be too late to get the Sony deal.

Hey guys- sorry I’ve missed some of the memory debate, but wanted to give the definitive answer.
The Compaq Presario C700T series CAN BE UPGRADED TO 2GB of MEMORY.

I’ve verified this through HP’s memory finder tool. I’ve double-checked this against Crucial’s memory finder as well. The C712US is a retail version of the C700T series.

Click here if you want to see for yourself

The spec sheet from HP just describes the maximum amount of RAM you can configure the C700 series from the factory. Same idea as when a manufacturer lists maximum hard drive sizes- the spec sheet may say ‘maximum 160GB,’ but a user could certainly upgrade it to whatever they want down the road.

The C712US (and all C700T Presario notebooks) have two memory slots that can take up to 1GB each.

If you want to triple-check go ahead and call Crucial or any other memory supplier.

Hopefully you are correct Xavier. I have found several documents from Compaq that have contradicted themselves…some saying that it is upgradeable to 2GB, some saying it’s not. I even contacted Compaq a couple times myself and different reps had different answers lol. So it’s not set is stone I suppose. But I would imagine it’s max 2GB. In this day in age for a laptop not to be max 2GB would be insane.

I heard there is also a $30 mail in rebate for this laptop. Is that correct? If so, does anyone have any documentation on that?

Staples also has PNY 2GB DDR Notebook Memory (Two-OneGB sticks) on sale for $47.98. Upgrade the notebook to 2GB and the proce is still a very reasonable $400.

Thanks Vincent. Not a bad deal at all for a retail store.

I just checked the HP website again twice in the last 12 hours and it now says the notebook is only capable of “1GB” of Ram. 12 hours ago is said “2GB” was the Max. I also called HP ans the person I spoke to confirmed its only capable of 1GB(Though we were probably looking at the same page). I was going to try and get the notebook + the $50 PNY Ram, But now I’m not going to get anything… Here is a link to the notebooks page “http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=c01278437&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN”

Look at this PDF, it has a great overview of the c700 systems and its says that it has a max of 2GB. Am I looking at this correctly?

http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetD…vn&lc=e n

Woops, try this

http://h20195.www2.hp.com/PDF/c01126677.pdf

$30.00 coupon, I believe this works at Staples..

http://h30014.www3.hp.com/offers/us/detail.asp?id=1416&jumpid=ex_r602_go/firstonyourlist

Thanks Vincent. Looks like that $30 off will work.

For those of you that are going to try to get this laptop, how early are you going to go camp out?

I’m torn between this Compaq and the Sony VAIO VGN NR110 for $399. I’m not using it for anything technical, which would you prefer?

Any tips for securing a ticket in line for either of these? In other words, is it essential to get there at say 7-8pm Thursday night?

Thanks!

I’m in the same boat Jason. The Sony is a better brand (about the same specs) but it’s $50 more and their will be a lot larger line at Best Buy than there will be at Staples. That is the kicker for me. I hope I don’t have to get to Staples at 7pm on Thursday lol.

I seen that PDF, Vincent ;-). But it could very well be inaccurate. But I find it tough to believe a computer made in the last couple years can’t handle anything above 1GB. Especially with Shared V-Ram. And if by some miraculous(and unfortunate)chance it does only support 1GB, Staples says the 2GB PNY Ram and the Notebook can be returned before 14-days with full refund. Even if they have been open and used… The guy I spoke to from staples got a kick out of the whole 1GB vs 2GB thing.

Where are you guys from? Are you sure your place has the laptop is available there?

I’m from the Seattle area and I have already checked and they will have it at the store near me.

So… it’s not in the Staples ad? Am I missing something here???
Thanks

Yeah…the ad that came out today has a Tom Tom instead of the laptop we’re all talking about!

I didn’t see the Compaq in the sales ad or on the Staples web page. Is it only in certain area’s?

I live in Massachusetts and we have it. Not all Staples will have the laptop. I know that MOST stores in NY do NOT have it. I was going to send my dad to Staples to double my chances but they are not selling it in any Staples on Long Island or Brooklyn.

I went yesterday to see if they could tel me how many they had, no luck.

I’m going to try, I’ll show up around 4, I live in a smaller town and in past years I’ve arrived at 5 and was 20-30 in line….

I hve a new desktop, just want a laptop so I can manage my fantasy leagues while sitting with my wife (spend quality time..you know).

BTW, VISTA SUCKS!!!!! I am having SO many problems.

Changed my mind, I may show up around 2, I mean if I really want this what’s another two hours?

According to some other black friday websites I was checking out, this laptop should be for sale at this price on staples.com as well. I would assume at 12 midnight. I haven’t been able to confirm it. I think i’ll probably check at midnight and if it’s not there, head to the staples store.

What do you think about the Toshiba A215-S7428 at Office Depot for $499.00?

I plan to purchase one, what is the return policy if any?

for the absolute basic laptop internet service, what should I do? My use is minimal. I am a mailman and need the internet on occasion during my route. For my needs, where should I look with the Black Friday specials

I am between this one and the Sony VAIO VGN-NR110 for $399 at Best Buy which one is better??? HELP!

Hi,

I’m planning to buy the CR717NR from Circuit City and I hope I’ll get lucky (start camping at 1am). However, there are concerns that bothers me. I read the whole thread and it seems that It will support a maximum of 2gb memory. Its pretty confusing that Compaq posted it as 1gb only. AFAIK, this laptop has GM965 chipset (since it has X3100) and it should support 2GB (Intel Layout).

Moreover, let say it doesn’t support 2GB. How do you return it? You’ll be purchasing it as $450 something right (checkout), You’ll receive $450 right back right. Without rebate problems?

THanks

The reason I asked is because I’ll be using an International Credit Card and by far, this is the first time I’m going to use it abroad (here in US). I don’t want to compromise my credit history or something. I hope someone has insights on this.

“How do you return any cheaply purchased stuff during BF?” How do you return it after sending the mail-in-rebate or before sending it?

thanks

Guys

If you want this Compaq laptop from CC go there now. We just came back after placing a tent, we had about 15 people in front of us and CC told us that they only have 20 pieces of this laptop

The difference between c712nr and c717nr
http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/product_comparison.do?storeName=storefronts&landing=rts_notebook&category=rts_notebook&lanAttr=&subcat1=photo&leftNavIndicator=&PROD_LIST=GR335UA%23ABA%7CGR982UA%23ABA%7CGR986UA%23ABA%7CGR993UA%23ABA%7C&catLevel=3&brand_name=hp&sort_list=Black%2Bspeed%257CColor%2Bspeed%257CBlack%2Bresolution%257CColor%2Bresolution&hide_clear_link=1&a1=Brand&v1=Compaq&a2=Processor&v2=Intel&PROD_IDX=GR335UA%23ABA&PROD_IDX=GR982UA%23ABA&PROD_IDX=GR986UA%23ABA&PROD_IDX=GR993UA%23ABA&compare1=Compare
You will need an extra GB ram if you want to keep vista I have 2 GB ram on my laptop and vista hogs 43-55% of it @ 1 GB ram you’ll have about 30% of your ram avail. And it takes days for it to boot up, there’s a huge difference between 1 GB and 2GB I believe it takes PC4200 SODIMM ram but I could be wrong, you’ll know when you open it up. Good ram deals http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?CatId=2267&Nav=|c:150|c:1726|&Sort=0&Recs=10. Lucky enough for me I can have up to 4 GB Ram. The video card is decent for less graphic hungry games specs- http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Graphics-Media-Accelerator-X3100.2176.0.html . I don’t play very games on my laptop but it’s nice to know I have the option. If you Plan on downgrading to XP make sure you have the drivers and there are some important files on the HD so be carefull if you accidently format those you’ll void warranty. You can also just install XP on it and run 2 OS if you want to play it safe. On boot it will ask you which one you want to start, that way you can run Vista or XP.

Note: The rebate coupon Vincent shows in his message, which has a link to it, is NOT accepted at Staples or several other retailers. I looked at the coupon(PDF) and it lists the places it won’t be taken. Just didn’t want anyone to be unpleasantly surprised.

THIS LAPTOP IS AVAILABLE NOW AT STAPLES.COM!!! There is NO reason to wait outside in the cold. The brick and mortar stores won’t even be open for another 90 minutes but for the last hour you’ve been able to order the Black Friday items online.

If you want this laptop, go to Staples.com and just order it. If the webpage tells you the site is closed, hit ‘refresh’ (F5) until the page shows up. It’s definitely open and I ordered two of these laptops about 45 minutes ago.

In closing, there’s no such thing as “Cyber Monday”, no matter what Xavier says, and that’s why nobody’s heard of it. It’s an invented marketing catch phrase that really means nothing. There aren’t going to be any better deals on Monday than there are today. If Xavier was actually that net savvy, he would have told you how to buy this laptop online tonight instead of suggesting you wait until Monday or letting you sit in the snow outside the store.

Happy Holidays!

Yes, this laptop WAS available on staples.com despite the site saying it’s down. Just refresh a bunch of times.

I thank XmasElf for pointing out that it IS possible to add the item to your cart and checkout, unfortunately the laptop is already SOLD OUT (and it’s not even 6am EST yet). Too late a notice, alas.

*really sad*

[...] Black Friday: Staples Compaq Presario C712US Notebook for $349 … Staples is selling the Compaq Presario C712US for $349.98 on Black Friday. The Staples deal for the C712NR seems like a good deal especially with the http://www.notebooks.com [...]

Well, I did it the old fashion way, I went to the store :

My message was cut off… oh well. I got it waited a long time for nothing there was 65 of them!

AJ- I am looking at the coupon, where do you see Staples as not vaild? I don’t see them on the list.

Talk about sad!?! I arrived at the Staples store at 4:45AM in Cherry Hill, NJ. Since there were only 3 others in front of me, I was assured a laptop. The associate came out at 5:50AM and began distributing tickets. He did not have any for the laptop bacause THAT store had not received any. The time for Black Friday’s morning shopping was totally wasted. And like the Alli said, the item was sold out on the internet. Needless to say, my son was disappointed and I left cold, disappointed, and empty-handed. I should have tried my luck at CC or Bestbuy…

I just called the staples 800 number and ordered one over the phone. I tried ordering online and the website stated they were all sold out. When I called the 800 number they checked cancellations and inventory and wha la, I have one being delivered for free on Tuesday. The total including tax was $374.48.

No waiting on line, no getting in my car and battle traffic. I sat next to my fireplace in my ez chair.

John D. it’s voila - not Wha la

All

Check Staples (ore others having a sales) for memory. The 1 Gig is a little slow. It’s a nice computer, sounds good, looks good, wireless works great, etc. But its a little slow, Upgrade to 2gig!

I’m not too happy myself. I was going to purchase it online at staples.com. I had the page open ready to go when 6am EST hit. Well I went back at like 4am EST just to check and they had already sold out! What the heck?! The staples website lied about it being open at 6am. by that time, the line was too long at my local store so I totally missed out. If I would had known staples.com would had lied, I would had gone to the store earlier.

I got mine this morning. I was 7th on line at my local store. They opened 25 minutes early. I was home by 6AM. I picked up the 2 gig DDRAM set for $47. The whole thing with tax cost me $429. A great deal if ya ask me!

Greetings,

I was able to get the last one at our local Staples. Also got the 2gig upgrade chips — they installed just fine.

Now shows 1.99 GB RAM

Cheers

I got mine too, this morning. Circuit City was packed with ppl and Staples had only 20 or so ppl. I think CC deal was better with 5-1 card reader included plus less $50. Staples Presario C712NR doesn’t include that.

But the model name is GR986UA#ABA and doesn’t end with US to qualify for the $30 rebate. I am not sure I am correct to assume that. Can anyone share your thought on this?? Thanks

I woke up this morning and got a laptop I was the third in line I was so happy. Now I am cotemplating on if I want to keep Vista or not? any suggestions also I want to be able to download music on Limewire or somthing like that is that a good idea or not?

Before you wipe Vista, take some time to see how you like it for a while. There are a lot of changes vs. XP to get used to.

For those of you who have this laptop AND already have or are planning on downgrading to XP, have you had any issues with the drivers?

I recently got a great deal on an desktop for my sister that came with Vista Home Basic, and when we clean installed XP, there were no XP drivers in existence for the integrated sound.

While a simple sound card installation fixed the issue there, it would not be so easy here.

Any information is helpful

Thanks in Advance!

I bought the one from Schuanburg Staples daring the cold. I was there by 2:30 and there were like 15 people ahead of me, luckily there were like 20 or so pieces which they handed out at 5 am.
Well, did any body tried upgrading to 2 GB and had any success?
Please suggest as from the internet as over i am getting directionally opposite views. I have also bought the 2 GB card and just waiting from previous owners of the C7000T series who had tried.

Thanks in advance.

i got the c712nr from the staples black friday sale.. it DOES work with 2 gig of memory, i got the same pny 2 gig deal they we’re selling.. no problem. BUT .. downgrading this to xp is a real pain in the rear. took hours of trying different drivers from intel but i got all the main things working EXCEPT .. the audio.. i cant seem to find a working audio driver for this ANYWHERE. if anyone knows something that will work.. please help.

Thanx, John D.

I called the 800 number and was told that the item is on back-order expected to arrive by next Wednesday. The final cost will indeed be $374.48. Great advice!

Hey bk, give this driver a shot and let me know how everything works out.

Conexant High Definition Audio
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp34001-34500/sp34386.exe

Hopefully it works for you.

Thanks BK, I tried and worked just fine. Just a question, why would you downgrade to XP, is this laptop not compatible?

Thanks again.

googo- some people prefer XP because they’re used to it and because Vista is still in its first iteration and still has some issues. Vista is also resource intensive, which means it can make a machine slower than if it’s running XP, which is several years old and was designed to run on machines of that time.

Which 800 number did you call? and what did you say?

Thanks Xavier. I bought this 2nd alptop for Vista and hence was wondering if i over looked something other than the memory hogging.

Well, I got some news to share in 2 days of ownership.
I had my first core dump and crash just now and said to myself welcome to Windows. Installed a new ZEN V also just for teh sake enabled the voice hearing settings. One of these caused the crash. I could reverse the voice settings and still searching the Add Remove programs like in XP ( Xavier I see what you mean now :))

Is the monitor flickering a memory issue, I now have 1.5gb? As a new window is launched the entire screen goes black and then comes back.

Thanks

Just found the info on how to uninstall programs:
http://www.netomatix.com/Development/VistaAddRemove.aspx

I got one at a Staples in Loveland, CO and also got the 2G RAM - installed it and running ok. I am just not comfortable with Vista though and would rather go back to XP. The HP site only has drivers for lightscribe and a few others, no video, audio or network. Does anyone know if XP default drivers will work?

Thanks for all the great info! I got one of the notebooks from Staples and was wondering about XP as well. I emailed Compaq to see if they could help, but of course not. Once someone gets all the drivers sorted out would you please post them here? Thanks again!

I’ve been reading these posts…my wife bought a C712NR and she wants XP on it. Like bk, I’ve been able to get everything working EXCEPT the audio. I’ve installed the requisite sp32646/kb888111 hotfix to no avail. I’ve tried sp34386 like Tox T suggested but that didn’t work. I’ve also tried sp34200 and sp36682. Nothing. I’ve been at this for almost 48 hours straight. Is there anyone out there who’s done this and succeeded in getting the audio to work?

i just bought the 712NR and was wondering what typ of memory i need to get an upgade.

ty for your suggestion tox t. but to no avail. from what i can tell there simply is no known available audio driver to downgrade to xp. i am seriously not a fan of vista for the exact reasons that xavier pointed out. i dont believe i will ever run a machine on vista because of its obvious code bloat. i did find a better alternative for this laptop though! i went to ubuntu 7.1! please though.. the faint of heart or linux inexperienced, please seriously do your homework if you want to attempt this. everything works perfectly right off the disk except the broadcom wireless drivers.. it was a quite a struggle to get this going.. i ended up having to use ndiswrapper instead of the stock ubuntu module which seemed useless (this is typical for broadcom devices which are closed source windows only devices). also realize, because of the way that these laptops control video memory usage, you will not be able to get the flashy desktop effects in ubuntu to work, it will be the stock plain jane look of gnome, i dont mind this, it leaves lots of overhead processing/memory power for real tasks.. its very very fast. theres no doubt after all the struggle that for 375 bux its now a laptop with some real horse power.
thank you all for your help
i hope my comments help you
bk

jake: i got the pny stuff that was on sale at staples for black friday .. its ddr2 667 .. it worked without problems. normaly i would recommend corsair or crucual or something other than pny, but the pny worked well in both the new compaq and ultimately it ended up in my acer aspire 3610 where it works well also.

oh!
i almost forgot, for those of you trying to downgrade to xp .. BE AWARE .. the sata drivers required for xp to install on this laptop are NOT on the xp disk.. this leaves you with 2 options to install, either have a usb floppy drive with the drivers ready (on compaq’s website suprisingly.. but why no audio? no idea..) OR you must create a slip streamed iso of your xp cd with the sata drivers. you can easily do this with a program called nlite .. just google it. its simple to do but a step i had to take just to get xp on it.

Upgraded to 2GB of RAM with 2 x 1 GB PNY DDR2 PC2-5300 SODIMM. Bought from Staples. The link is
http://www.staples.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StaplesProductDisplay?&langId=-1&storeId=10001&splCatType=1&catalogId=10051&productId=200415&cmArea=SC3:CG18:DP1986:CL142708

I went out on Black Friday and was very disappointed. Got to Staples before 5am, had about 15 people in front of me, waited till 6am, only to find out that they supposedly handed out the vouchers earlier. One person said that they were 4th in line and never saw anyone come out with vouchers. I have read about similar problems at other Staples. The store employees are either keeping them for themselves, or Staples was using false advertising. Either way it’s just a scam. I got a much better laptop today from Office Depot for just 100$ more, see their flyer for this week. I am never getting suckered into going out on Black Friday again!

Bryan, it’s not a scam…like I said above, my wife and kids “camped out” and got one, although they got the last one. Our store had 12 of them and they were all gone within 60 seconds of the door opening. My wife didn’t wait for a voucher. She ignored the clerks’ insistance on a voucher and commanded our teenage boy to push his way through and grab one off the shelf. Black Friday is pretty primitive, in my opinion.
As I said above, like bk I have not been able to get any audio drivers to work under XP. This should be a warning to anyone wanting to “migrate” the machine to XP.
What bk says about the SATA drive is correct as well. I had to download the Intel SATA AHCI driver and the Intel Matrix Storage Manager, then extract the drivers onto a floppy disk. I then had to hook up a USB floppy drive to the machine, boot it to my XP disk, press F6 at the beginning of install, and tell it to look at the floppy disk for storage drivers at the appropriate moment.
At first, I turned off SATA compatibility in the BIOS, and this let me install without the drivers, but I didn’t like that ’cause what’s the point of SATA if you can’t use the performance advantages?
Anyway, those are the big gotchas with moving this puppy to XP. I’m still holding out hope for an audio driver. Be warned.
I can’t complain, though. Caveat Emptor and all that stuff, you know?

The audio driver is the sp6090.exe file. You must install the uaa driver first them restart the computer. Next, use the install from new hardware. Choose pick from list. The Don’t find for me, pick from device list. Choose audio driver the the have disk option. It will then force it to update. Update driver in device manager won’t work. Hope this helps.

The correct audio driver for xp for the c712nr is sp36090.exe file. I left out the 3, in my earlier post…..

Here are links to the drivers for xp for c712nr notebook
Video:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/14388/a08/win2k_xp14311.exe
Chipset:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/13799/eng/ChipUtil.exe
Realtek RTL8100CL/RTL8110Sb NIC Driver
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp30001-30500/sp30156.exe
Intel Pro Wireless:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp33001-33500/sp33404.exe
Or…
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp32001-32500/sp32156.exe
Synaptics Touchpad drivers:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp35001-35500/sp35444.exe
HP Help and Support for Microsoft Windows XP :
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp36501-37000/sp36545.exe
The microsoft uAA driver.
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp33501-34000/sp33867.exe
Conexant CX20549-12 High Definition Audio driver:
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp36001-36500/sp36090.exe
Similarly install Modem Drivers:
Conexant CX20548 Modem Driver for Microsoft Windows XP
ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp36001-36500/sp36089.exe

So would the 712nr drivers work on the 717nr? I would think they are pretty close no?

Anyone?

Ryan

Staples Compaq C712NR Conexant Audio Driver:
Thanks, Ryan, but just before you made your post I got the audio working with the drivers at the end of this link:
http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/support/downloads/conexant_audio_os2006203a.exe
After letting the file uncompress, I had to edit the BD1HDAa.inf file and change this line:
%HdAudioFunctionDriver.Waikiki5047.DeviceDesc% = HdAudModel,HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_14F1&DEV_5047&SUBSYS_1179FF31
to match my hardware id (HWID) like this:
%HdAudioFunctionDriver.Waikiki5047.DeviceDesc% = HdAudModel,HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_14F1&DEV_5045&SUBSYS_103C30D9
After that, the driver installed and my audio works fine.
I came back to post that solution here for others, didn’t know Ryan has already posted another solution.

The specs of C712NR on HP site says the max memory is 1GB DDR2 only. Will upgrading to 2GB hurt the laptop? I don’t want it to die after one night.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=c01278415&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN

E- you’ll be fine upgrading to 2GB of RAM. The specs only show what the notebook can be ORDERED with, not what you can upgrade to.

So I have ALL of the drivers for the 717 FROM HP if anyone wants them. The only thing is that the Wireless doesn’t work and I have no clue why.

I tried the Intel pro and nothing I found the broadcom (which I think mine is) from the web and nothing. The touchpad (the part that slides the webpages up and down on the right side of the touchpad) doesn’t work right or at all really. Other than that I got everything else working

Anyone have any clue on the wireless thing?

Rya

I am trying to install windows xp on my laptop and having some trouble doing so. I tried using an external floppy drive and after I choose the partition to install on it tells me to insert the Intel matrix storage disk. The disk is still in floppy drive from earlier point and it appears that the drive is not be detected at this point. I also tried slip streaming xp with the driver and it blue screens before i choose the partition to install on. Any help getting xp installed on my laptop would be appreciated.

jeff, you might want to consider using nlite which i mentioned in an earlier post.. this way you create your own custom xp install disk.. you can put whatever drivers you want slip streamed into the install (applications and what not too!). at a minimal though i would put the sata drivers on it though and if your having trouble with matrix drivers you might want them on too.
ryan, i never had any issues with the wireless when i put xp on it.. check to make sure you are using the right broadcom drivers. you can double check to be sure you have the right ones by opening the memory lid on the back of the laptop and inspecting the broadcom chip .. mine was 43xx .. i’m guessing yours is too. you could allways try the drivers directly from broadcom if the hp ones are not getting the job done.

Does anyone know how to upgrade the CPU in this laptop? It was pretty easy to upgrade the memory and it seems like the CPU was right next to it.

Few pointers on Compaq Presario C712NR laptop. This is for the benefit of ALL of us so that we are sure that we got a RIGHT product!
1. Start –> Control Panel –> Performance Information and Tools –> Advanced Tools –> Generate a System Health Report. System Diagnostics Report would open. Under the first heading, Diagnostic Results, there are 5 Warnings(in some cases it might be 6!). I clicked on what remedies they suggested but to vain. These warnings are still there. Called the CC but they said that there’s some glitch in the way the software for this Performance Application is written and has been already reported to HP – there’s no problem as such, we need not to bother. Well, just wanted to confirm whether others are also getting such messages.
2. Please check the Hard Drive. Right click on C drive and look at its Properties. Do you see Used Space~27GB and Free Space~39GB. Similarly D drive, Used Space~6GB and Free Space~2GB. I know that many of you might have already stored some additional data, that’s why am asking approximately. Also take care that bytes data is NOT matching the GB data. Bytes data put together gives us 80GB, so that’s fine!
3. Did you get the original booklets inside the box OR the Xerox – specially the online purchasers.
4. Last – FYI only (and repeated info, sorry!!) for those who are still wondering whether RAM could be upgraded to 2 GB. Start –> Help and Support –> System Information –> Memory (RAM). It shows that 1 GB RAM can be put in each of 2 slots. Now those who have already upgraded this, could you please advise me whether it’s easy to do it on our own if we order RAM online. Second, I could very well see that the Vista system is very slow – is there a marked difference when we put 2GB RAM (are we able to make out clearly).

Regards,
Anu.

hey, i am thinking about buying this computer for christmas. i play the game “world of warcraft” and was wondering if this computer would be good enough to run lag free. i am gonna upgrade to 2gb ram if i can ( i see alot of debates about this ). so can anyone please email me telling me the answer.

sk8ace52@hotmail.com

I sucessfully upgrade my compaq c717NR to 3GB.
I’m pretty sure this laptop support 4GB max RAM. I Run CPU-Z to test my memory. Surprisingly the system shows dual core channel symetric, which means the same dual channel performance as 2GB RAM. I read about new intel mainboard already support flexible memory channel, and it seems true for me.

Ryann, could I get the XP drivers from you please?

is there a way to improve the video card that came with this laptop or is it intregrated in a way where it isnt possible to replace it.

c caz alot of games i want to run requires a vertex shader version and it seems it doesnt have that or video HW transform and lighting

It’s not practical to replace the video card on the C712US. The graphics are integrated.

Buyers of Presario C712NR, could you please answer my queries posted earlier.

Regards,
Anu.

Is this the memory I need to upgrade to 2GB ram?
2 X Crucial Technology CT12864AC667 1GB DDR2-667 PC2-5300 200-Pin SODIMM

YES goo - http://www.crucial.com/store/mpartspecs.aspx?mtbpoid=53FB8C9EA5CA7304.

Could you please respond to my earlier queries.

Anu.

I was thinking about adding some ram to my laptop. I saw a single 2GB stick for close to the same price as 2 1GB sticks. I was wondering which would perform better. The laptop with the two 1GB sticks or a 2GB stick and 512 stick.

It’s going to be better to get two 1GB sticks of RAM for the C712US. Matched pairs always perform better than mis-matched RAM.

anu–
any ddr2 memory should work. i used the pny stuff from the black friday sale and it DID work. so upgrading to 2 gig of memory should not be difficult. yes. just find something online for the price your looking for, as for vista, i have no idea.. i removed that the first day, and went to ubuntu. didnt even make restore disks. vista is garbage. and in my humble opinion no service pack is going to fix it. you will be better served by getting rid of vista and putting xp or ubuntu on it. with either xp or ubuntu you wont even really need to upgrade the memory.. my wife has been using it for weeks now with ubuntu with no issues. its rock solid. if your not going to game with it (and i would suggest you dont, it doesnt have the video power for good gaming) then linux rules on this machine.
good luck
bk

i have a problem in first i bourgh C712tu laptop it not cut the sound when i use headphone and i go to the shop for help but they can’t help they said the my laptop need sound driver for window XP but in the shop they dont have for XP they have only of Vista
i search in the internet but i not work
can someone help me about this problem.
please e-mail to me meetfang@hotmail.com
thank you

[...] Sahar Tadayyon: [...]

Installed xp, but my wireless light is solid red. Can someone direct me to a driver for the wireless network adapter?

Thank you-
Chris

I loaded XP on my c717nr and of course no sound.I need the XP drivers for my card.So, where can I find the XP drivers?

Here are links to the drivers for xp for c712nr notebook
Video:
http://downloadmirror.intel.com/14388/a08/win2k_xp14311.exe
this link doesnot works….

hi, i tried installing audio driver on my compaq presario c712nr. firstly i installed the UAA drivers, but when i try to install the audio drivers it show error “No media device found” dont know what to do? i hv tried updating the driver from device manager also but it didn’t work. please tell me how i ll get the sound on my compaq presario.

hey i have solved my problem.
i installed the UAA drivers then restarted the machine.after that in device manager i updated the audio driver by giving the path of .inf file of audio driver folder in c drive. there is problem with the modem driver though… will solve that also…