DVD/CD-ROM
The built-in 8X DVD-ROM drive performed as one would expect it to perform. Compaq includes their own software DVD player with the Presario 1800, which was very easy to use as well. My only complaint with the DVD-ROM drive is that it vibrates too much and could be a problem if one is watching a DVD movie in bed (long-term vibration is not good for your legs!)--although, I'm quite sure this would be the same for all laptops, it would be nice if somebody finds a way around it. Nevertheless, it is a pleasure to be able to watch a DVD player on the road, since it's the perfect chance for one to show off the capabilities of their laptop--why else would somebody spend this much money on a laptop? Certainly not to do work!

The DVD-ROM drive had no problems reading any CD's as well.

Now, I believe this is the perfect time to finally explain what the DisqPlay2 feature that I have been talking about so much is. As I briefly explained before, DisqPlay2 allows the user to play a CD without even having to open or turn on their laptop. This is a very useful feature that works as great as it sounds! As I mentioned before, Compaq even includes the necessary audio buttons to virtually transform the Presario 1800 into a (very) expensive portable CD audio player. There is even a status display, which is back-lit when in DisqPlay2 mode, that will show you track and disc time information. DisqPlay2 is one of those little features that helps to make the Presario 1800 stand out from the rest of the pack.

What would be even cooler, however, is if DisqPlay2 supports playback from MP3's burned onto CD's… something to think about for DisqPlay3, eh?

Sound and Audio
Being a laptop with such small built-in speakers, one should not expect too much out of the Presario 1800's sound system. Nevertheless, Compaq did a great job of including an excellent set of speakers-pending the circumstances, of course. The high tones were fairly well pronounced and I felt the bass to be somewhat lacking, but is still better than average for a laptop.

It is apparent that Compaq put a lot of thought into the multimedia-appeal of the Presario 1800, since they even included volume controls on the exterior of the laptop! These come in very handy since it's a little harder to "click" on the tiny volume control icon in the Windows system tray with a touchpad. I would have, however, preferred some sort of an indication of the volume level, such as a decibel meter on the status display, which the Presario 1800 lacks.

Input Controllers
As mentioned above, the Presario 1800 has a built-in touchpad for its pointer device. I, personally, feel that touchpads are easier to use, but others might disagree and prefer those touch "points." It is a personal choice, after all. The touchpad in the Presario 1800 is fairly easy to use, although, I find it to be a little bit sticky when the laptop has been sitting in a cool area, such as the basement, for a long time. To simplify things even more and to help users become more efficient, Compaq has built in scroll buttons to help with, well, scrolling. I find these scrolling buttons to be very useful and I use them all the time in place of the touchpad whenever I can.

The keyboard is also fairly good. I find the buttons to be a little too loose, but, again, this is more of a personal preference. The spacebar seems to be a little too small though, and I find that my thumb will not always be able to reach it, but otherwise, the keyboard is your everyday run-of-the-mill laptop keyboard.

The Tests
I decided to test against one of my desktop systems. I tried my best to match up the components in the desktop system to match the components in the Presario 1800. For example, I chose to use a GeForce2 MX graphics card instead of the default GeForce2 GTS that was originally in the system. Below is the system configuration of the desktop:

No other programs were left running in the background, no screen savers or power saving features were configured and the mouse was left still for the entire duration of the benchmark for both systems. Each test was run three times, and the average of the three scores is shown within the results shown here.

From the results above, it is apparent that the performance of the Presario 1800 is somewhat lacking compared to a similar Pentium III 1.0GHz desktop system. This is due to many reasons, the main ones being that the desktop has a faster hard drive (7200RPM, compared to only 4300RPM), faster bus and memory speed (133MHz compared to only 100MHz) and because of its faster video card. Another important reason note, as mentioned before, is that the Compaq Presario 1800 has more extra programs running in the background than the desktop.

I also decided to run the benchmarks using the SpeedStep feature of the Pentium III 1.0GHz processor that is in the Presario 1800. I have not mentioned about this feature much before, but SpeedStep is a feature of the mobile Pentium III processor that allows the processor to slow down when it is not being utilized to its full extent. This can be usefull in extending the life of the battery, while minimizing performance loss at the same time.

The results above show a considerable dip in performance. This is very much expected, since the processor is really just running at a frequency of 700MHz, compared to 1000MHz of the other tests. Keep in mind, however, that this is not an accurate representation of what SpeedStep is able to do, since the whole point of SpeedStep is to minimize performance loss by reducing the frequency of the processor only when it is not being utilized up to its full extent!

Heat Problems
This, being something that I could not fit into one of the other categories, I felt that I should mention. With the increasing speed of components these days, heat is becoming more and more of a problem with computers. The Presario 1800, with its 1.0GHz Pentium III processor, 8X DVD-ROM drive and hard drive, is certainly not immune to these heat problems. Although it is apparent that Compaq has taken some effort into reducing the heat by placing a very tiny intake fan at the rear of the Presario 1800, I still think that it generates way too much heat. After using the laptop for extended periods of time, and especially if I am playing games, watching DVD's or doing anything else CPU-intensive, the Presario 1800 gets very warm, sometimes even hot to the touch.

I also noticed that the fan at the rear only gets turned on if the Presario 1800 reaches a very hot temperature. I think that it could be put to more use and that it should be turned on at a lower temperature threshold than it currently is set to.

Finally, after reading a few reports around the Internet, I have found that the Presario 1800 has its CPU placed somewhat directly underneath where the PC Card goes into the laptop. This, I have found, is a big problem especially with more fragile PC Card devices. After inserting and using my D-Link DWL-650 wireless network adapter for a period of time, and then taking it out, it was too hot to even touch! I am lucky to have a card that can withstand such high temperatures, but others might not be.

On to: Conclusion