I used to be a Compaq computer dealer in the early 80's. In my opinion what destroyed the company was the way they obilerated their dealer channel.

To have a Compaq "medalion" you had to jump through hoops to become a licensed reseller of their machines. Then Compaq took the government sales away from the dealers and then they began selling to consumers through internet sales bypassing the dealer network... this destroyed dealer confidence in the product and cause them to lose market share to the point where they could be taken over by a printer manufacturer.

I worked for Compaq in the server and training division, and Carly Fiorina will always be a symbol of what is wrong with American manufacturing. She looted the company, and most everyone who's shirt had a red logo on it lost their jobs. The day the board finally had the courage to fire her I had seven people call me and most started with the same sentence: 'Ding Dong the Witch is dead....'

I own a Compaq IPAC Legacy 866MHZ desktop that has a 20GB HD, 256RAM, CDROM, w/multimedia using USB connections. I have had this system for over a year. It runs XP professional and has the capability of running movies. This system in its day was a sound company office machine. It seems easy to work on and is small enough to move around.
Since HP took over I have been able to obtain technical support w/o any problems. They have been known for making solid printers, copiers, and by obtaining Compaq has now become one of the top computer companies in the US.

My Compaq notebook PC is a Presario 700Z with an AMD Athlon 4 processor. It runs Windows XP. I purchased it in 2000. Think it is obsolete? You may think so, but it doesn't know it. It is obviously a little slower than new models, but is more than adequate for my purposes. The only problem I have had is that the DVD-CD drive operates erradically. The purchase of an external drive solved the problem. All in all, a super specimen.

I have owned two Compaqs. Back in the early 80s, Commodore 64, IBM PC or Apple were the only choices if you wanted a home computer. Then Commodore (which was seen as a toy at that time) came out with the Amiga which competed directly against Apple's Mac. I bought an Amiga 1000. Other companies started marketing the "IBM Compatible" home computers, including Compaq. Compaq became the standard "clone" if you didn't want to pay for the IBM name. In 1986, I purchased a Compaq Deskpro 386 for which I paid over $3000 and thought it was a bargain! It even had a 10MB hard drive! When Dell first hit the market and started their marketing campaign in about 1988, it was directed against Compaq who had surpassed IBM in personal computer sales. The ads were funny and worked - as Dell grew quickly. I owned several Dells in the 1990s.

In 1998 I purchased a Compaq Presario. The only negative thing I remember about it was that it was not upgradable. What you bought was what you were stuck with forever, as to memory or hard drive. But it functioned well for what I needed it to do.

It's so much fun to go down memory lane for the past 30 years and remember how home computer technology developed. Thanks for jogging the memories!

I owned a Compaq Presario desktop and have mixed emotions about it. It was an ok computer although ocassionally I had to do a restore to an earlier date as things would screw up on it. Guess that would be my Compaq horror story, but al in all I liked it.

I had three compaq computers. The first one folded up like a suitcase, so that you could take it to a business meeting etc. I purchased it in the 80's. The second one was a screen with the speakers, and the computer itself built into the sides of the screen and the small base, it didn't take up much room. I purchased it in the early 90's, and the third was a laptop that I purchased in 1995...I loved them all!!
Now I have a sony laptop, and It's ok.

My first laptop was a Compaq 700 Z and was an excellent unit;a little slow by to-days standards but very trouble free.
I now have a Japanese "T" brand suposidly one of the oldest and most experienced companies in computer manufacturing.
It has been to the repair shop 3 times in 2 years and back to the Company for a hard drive replacement. It still locks up at least 3-4 times a day.I am afraid to ask my Grandson for my old one back.

I've used several different models of Compaq computers over the years. I even used to own one of the little Compaq IPAQ pocket PCs back when they were popular prior to the HP takeover. I'm glad that HP has carried on the tradition of making affordable, well made Compaq PCs still to this day. My wife and I both purchased new Compaq machines within the past year and are pleased with what they have to offer.

How the world has changed. I worked for Radio Shack selling TRS-80's and of course their "clones". Best thing I can remember from back then was keeping a copy of Flight Simulator around. Why? Back then you sold more "clones" just demonstrating that program than using any other pitch or tactic. Period. Too funny that one program, a game no less, would be responsible for the sale of so many computer systems.

I had a compaq 286 @ 16mhz. That's a long time ago, but it was a very adaptive machine back in the days of dip switches. I also had a 160mb hard drive with a neat little switch bios system. DOS only could handle 100 mb at the time. The 19" color monitor was nice too. This was in the mid 1980's.

As a 'road-warrior' going thru on average one laptop per year, Compaq Pro was THE laptop of choice for 'pro' users. Reliable, state of the art, solid, compact, although pricey -- but worth it!! Customer service second to none. Example: Flying in late night to a small town in Louisiana, with a large crowd presentation to make the next morning, my computer fouled up. I called Compaq's 24hr "800" number. They had a brand-new unit with cable and transfer software at my out-of-town doorstep before 8am (don't know how they did it) without charge -- part of the road warranty. From my customer point of view, where Compaq went wrong is when they started mass marketing thru the discount chains. When they dropped the prices, the dropped the quality as well as the service. The Presario line was a joke to we serious computers. Someone else's machine in Compaq clothes... The 'Pro' line was great!!!

I have owned one compaq desktop, my sister owned a compaq laptop, and I know several friends who have owned compaq computers. All of them tanked within a year or so. Never have I seen such a ubiquitously poor made computer. Maybe packard bell/gateway...anyways, I wasn't too bummed they got acquired lol. Not a big fan of HP anyways either.

I still keep a Compaq Presario 5000 from June 2000 with 64Mb memory and 15Gb hard drive. It works fine, if a little slow compared to modern equipment. The Compaq may not be the fastest computer but I've nick-named it "Old Faithful." You can always use it in a pinch when newer computers crash.

Our first home computer was a Compaq desktop we purchased in 1998 at Circuit City. We thought it was a great deal at $1,600. It came with a 15 inch CRT monitor. It even had a zip drive (whatever happened to those?). It was recommended by Consumer Reports at the time as being the best bang for the buck.
I actually still have the computer and it still works. I even have a Macintosh SE with it's little 9 inch b & w screen and that still works. However,
I've since upgraded to Dell's. We have a desktop and laptop.

I have a Compaq Presario 4910 that still runs after 10 years. The only thing changed was the CD rom.
It's slow but I still keep it in the basement for my 12 year old son to play older games compatable with Windows 95 and as a backup for documents when the newer computers crash. It has a 6gig Quantum Bigfoot hard drive.48meg ram, and a AMD (forget how much) mhz processer.

This article left out the section in time where Compaq did the same thing to DEC (Digital Equipment Corp), leader in mini-computers, that HP did to Compaq. Why was this not even mention in Compaq's history???

I would like to say that the compaq was a great machine. I have a few compaq presario laptops 17xl265, 18xl380, and a few compaq desktops. This is being typed from my 17xl265, a 600mhz p3 with a 13.3" screen. Still works great and runs XP with no problem. I used this while couching and to download drivers to rebuild my brothers 1 year old HP laptop. Ironic, but true this is a very stable machine and takes 512 RAM and I have upgraded to 7K RPM hard drive. Fiorina trashed a good company with good support back in the day.

I have a compaq presario 5104us and i feel that it is more reliable than my new computers the only problem was norton antivirus which i uninstalled.

I have a compaq presario 5104us and i feel that it is more reliable than my new computers the only problem was norton antivirus which i uninstalled.