Compaq Presario 900 1500+: The Radeon IGP Goes Mobile

The layout of the remainder of the Compaq Presario 900 is actually different than the layout of the Presario 2800 due to the different motherboard and cooling design that each notebook uses.

The front of the notebook was fairly simple, with the LCD latch in the middle and two speakers on each side. Our system was outfitted with the JBL Pro sound system. Frankly we were skeptical as to how much of a difference the JBL Pro speakers would make over a set of standard notebook speakers. There is only so much that different manufacturing techniques in speakers the size of match boxes could make; or so we thought.

We were thoroughly impressed with the JBL Pro speakers in the Presario 900. The audio quality difference between these speakers and a set of typical laptop speakers was stunning: the JBL Pro speakers were able to output crisp high end noise, somewhat basey low-end noise, and was able to do so without much distortion at even high volumes. The extra $25 that the JBL speakers will add to the price of the notebook is well worth it in our minds.

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The left side of the Compaq Presario 900 is fairly crowded. First up on the left side is the system's integrated floppy drive. Unlike the Presario 2800, the Presario 900 comes with a built-in internal floppy drive. The drive is not end-user upgradable. In fact, the drive is actually built into the Presario 900's wrist rest. Next to the floppy drive is a single type II PCMCIA slot. The system is only able to accept one type II PCMCIA card because there is just not enough room in the crowded system layout for two slots. The space goes to more critical items, such as cooling.

Speaking of cooling, that is what a major portion of the Presario 900's left side is devoted to. Right behind the PCMCIA slot is a vented area. Behind here lies the Presario 900's CPU heatsink. Air is blown across the heatsink and exhausted out this vented area. The warm air exiting the cooling area got up to a a fairly mild 135 degrees Fahrenheit (57.2 degrees Celsius). The final component on the unit's left side is a single Kensington lock port.

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The back of the Presario 900 is where all the system's ports are located. The first port, found the the far right side of the system's rear, is the unit's modem jack which provides an input for the internal 56kbs modem. Right next to this port is the ethernet jack. To the left of the ethernet jack is a small cut out area that serves as a cooling port for the CPU (which is found behind this cutout). Next to the cooling port are a set of six ports covered up by a small plastic cover that snaps in place when the ports are not in use. The first port under here is a parallel port followed by a PS/2 and a VGA-out port. An s-video out port and two USB 1.1 ports round off the ports located in the recessed area. As a note, there is also a small cooling fan located between the s-video and USB ports that is used to help cool the Radeon IGP northbridge.

Immediately to the left of the plastic cover is another cooling vent used for passive cooling. To the left of this is the AC power-in port followed by two 3.8mm audio jacks, one for headphones out and one for microphone in.

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The right side of the system is home to one more port. A single, unpowered 4-pin IEEE-1394 port is located on the back of the right side. Also on the right side is the unit's optical drive. The Presario 900 comes standard with a DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive running at 8x8x8x24x. At the bottom of the drive is a small cutout where the IR window is located. The drive is not user upgradable and remains firmly planted in the system unless fully taken apart. Finally, the right side of the system is topped off with the unit's battery.

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There are three access panels on the bottom of the Presario 900. Removing the single screw holding the bottom right access panel in reveals the unit's hard drive. Removal of the hard drive is simple and the hard drive carrier should be able to accept any 9.5mm notebook hard drive. Directly above this is an access panel that gives access to the Presario 900's internal modem. The modem is mounted in a mini-PCI slot and is easily removed. Finally, there is an access panel on the middle left side of the system. This access panel has a rubber surface over a large portion of it. Under this cover is the unit's memory. Our system came outfitted with 256MB of PC2100 266MHz DDR memory in an SODIMM configuration, with each slot used for 128MB of memory.

Interestingly enough, it was on this access panel that the bottom of the Presario 900 got the warmest. The rubber pad over the memory access panel reached a scorching 145 degrees Fahrenheit (67.8 degrees Celsius), making it uncomfortable to have on ones lap for an extended period of time. Truthfully we could not figure out why this area of the system got so hot. The only thing we can figure is that some of the heat from the Radeon IGP northbridge is being channeled down to this area for cooling. Whatever the cause, the system's warm bottom temperature left more cooling desired.

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The Presario 900 also makes use of Compaq's MultiPort module. For an explanation of this, we turn to our Presario 2800 review.

One interesting part of the Presario 900 is actually located on top of the system. It is here, on the back of the LCD panel, that one finds the Compaq MultiPort module. The MultiPort is intended to provide wireless connectivity to the Presario 900 by mounting the radio and antenna at a convenient and effective location on the system. Out of the box the system comes with a plastic cover over the MultiPort module, but the cover is removed with a simple slide and MultiPort options are easily added on. The current options are an 802.11b wireless network module and a Bluetooth module, both of which are easily snapped onto the top of the laptop. It seems that the MultiPort solution would prove to be a good one for wireless applications, especially considering that the majority of PCMCIA wireless solutions use damage prone external antennas. Plus, the MultiPort module places the antenna in a location that seems to be more apt to receiving radio signals.

The Compaq Presario 900's form factor lies between a desktop replacement notebook and a thin and light one. The system measures 1.55" x 12.89" x 10.53" and weighs a respectable 6.82 pounds. This makes it slightly larger and heavier than the Presario 2800.