Compaq EVO N600c RETRO Business Laptop from 2002!

In this video we will explore the Compaq EVO N600c Business Notebook PC from 2002! This retro laptop was way ahead of it's time in terms of build quality and design. Let's go over this system, see what features it has and what upgrades we could possibly perform!
#retropc #retro #compaq #evo #pentium #intel #saved #business #pcrepair #N600c #upgrade #laptop #notebook

[@_Jadewolf_]

Oh my that's a throwback, I had the Evo N610, DJing for a few years! Pentium 4 based, Windows XP, and using Winamp 😊 What a great find, it's like new! 👍🏻

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome!!! Winamp... Ohhh how I miss that. Yes pretty lucky to find the machine in this great of condition!

[@shawnstillman736]

@@TheRetroRecall Im still using Winamp the llama still gets its ass whipped to this day. Lmao

[@TheRetroRecall]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@USArmyVet91]

I LOVE your stuff. Always so nice to chill and watch you show us this Retro Tech! Laptops of old actually impress me more than today's. So many options! I hope you are doing awesome, my friend.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hey there! You are welcome, glad to have you along for the ride. I am doing awesome, thanks! I hope you are equally as awesome :)

[@johnmay4803]

good vid as always

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!!!

[@Troppa17]

I remember the Evo N series. These were the last real Compaq laptops. Had an Evo N400c I think (PIII-M as well) here on loan around 2005-2006. I had the option to buy it for the original owner for a friend of mine but I didn't. The problem was that it only supports 802.11b via Mulitport which is as you mentioned USB based. There was an bluetooth option as well but HP killed Mulitport basically right away. N400c came out just before the fusion and N600c shortly after. I heared of people that modified the Mulitport adapter with an USB WLAN stick but I wasn't comfortable doing that at the time so I gave it a pass.

[@TheRetroRecall]

This is great info, much appreciated. It sounds like you had quite a lot of experience with your machine. I just hope to find the restoration software for it to restore it to factory!

[@jasmijndekkers]

Nice laptop to work on. Keep up the great job. Greetings from Steven from the Netherlands

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!

[@projecttimetech7022]

Neat video! I remember supporting these when they were new.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome! Do you know what else that multiport was for besides the WiFi module?

[@projecttimetech7022]

@@TheRetroRecall Almost every one we've ever supported had the WiFi module (802.11b if I recall correctly). The only other module I can remember seeing was bluetooth, but I believe that one was a bit more uncommon in the wild.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yeah, it seems so.

[@rmcdudmk212]

Surprisinglingly clean laptop for its age. Pretty cool machine. 👍

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed, thanks!

[@strikdevroblox9079]

What a lovely model

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yeah, it's a pretty neat machine! Well built for sure.

[@jamesevans3492]

Great Find . . . :-)

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed!

[@Vespirah]

I have N400c with its dock I still use it today running pure dos and system has full sound blaster pro/16 support totally a fantastic machine I absolutely had always loved the smaller 14" notebooks/laptops of that Era small and slim and not big and bulky ty so much for showing off your n600c what a great machine 😊

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome that you still have yours and your welcome! It was Fun to do.

[@Vespirah]

@TheRetroRecall absolutely I had lost my windows 98 se factory restore cd for it a long long time ago I had found out not long ago that both the n400c and n600c share almost the same drivers and some softpaqs if not most can be used on both machines not only that the n600c has win98se support I found a n600c windows 98 se restore iso from internet archive which crazy enough will restore both the n400c and n600c I didn't think I would ever see 98 on my n400c machine again just thought I'd share that 😀 👍

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's great to know!! Thanks for that. I will check out archive and get the restore discs. I tend to do that with any machine I come accross if it's oem to restore it to factory - to see what fun things were installed that we uses to complain about haha.

[@branscombe_]

29:30 it plays better than I thought, nice work.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed, thank you!

[@CasioMaker]

My dad had one of these back in the day. Cool and nifty laptop for the era and even served as my college laptop for a few years till I got one of my own

[@TheRetroRecall]

Oh wow, lasted that long and through the various uses, nice!

[@CasioMaker]

@@TheRetroRecall Dad used to be very careful with his devices and he only gave them to me when they were no longer useful to him. I loved tinkering with this laptop and a companion Pocket PC he also bought at that time. Heck, I'm pretty sure that if I rummage around my parents place, I still might find them!

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's amazing!!! It would be great if we could find the QuickRestore cd for it.

[@richardestes6499]

That was neat. I only knew that they used the Evo branding for the Pentium 4 successors to the Deskpro line. The modular WiFi adapter is a neat feature as well.

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure! I found out that they also came with Bluetooth modules as well.

[@branscombe_]

5:00 wow, love seeing capabilities embedded on the case design. if you had this beast with WIFI and DVD you were the talk of the school and friends circles. Watch a movie and surf the web from your BED/COUCH. WOW, too cool eh TTR!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Very cool, I really love this laptop.

[@abcd1239me]

I bought one of these from the thrift store and played around it and sold it on ebay about a year ago. A very nice machine. Mine did not have the wifi adapter in it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice! Hopefully you enjoyed getting it up and running again!

[@abcd1239me]

@@TheRetroRecall I had a fun time reinstalling and finding all the drivers and testing it out. If I remember correctly I had put windows 98 on it since it had a COA for it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice! Nothing wrong with 98.

[@JeffBreyer]

When I did high school Co-Op the business laptops used at that company were all those Compaq laptops. I really wanted one for college but I ended up with a Toshiba Satellite A10 powered by a Pentium 4M (which I still have and it runs). So cool to see this here.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome, and it's pretty great you still have the Toshiba running!

[@_vilepenguin]

I was corporate sale rep at that time. Sold lots of those; Enterprise and government loved them.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I can see why, such a solid build!

[@MichaelAStanhope]

The Evo was a very nice laptop, I still have 2 of them, an N300 and N600. There is just something about the look of them that still looks good even today.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes for sure. I find the business class PC's always looked very professional and ahead of their time (VS the home based market). That and they were always over engineered :)

[@MichaelAStanhope]

@@TheRetroRecall overengineered is kind of an understatement. The Armada and Evo machines were basically equivelent to a Panasonic Toughbook compared to the Presario machines which would die by opening the lid!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha or looking at them the wrong way lol

[@PiercedJedi]

OMG Commenting early, I cannot wait to find out what that silver tumor is on the backside of the display..... I'm beaming with anticipation :)

[@PiercedJedi]

ok now that I see what's going on with that, this is just WILD!!! first I see that it says Wireless LAN on the side when you turn it, then we find out It's an add-on card?!?!?!!?!?!?!?! ON TOP OF THE SCREEN????? Hopefully you have found some info on other optional cards they offered :)

[@PiercedJedi]

And finally seeing how capable the system is with graphics, I would love to have one of these for my retro gaming, I'd pop Windows 98SE (possibly on it with an SSD), and be able to play all those old games I've been missing. Thanks for sharing, this. I literally just went to ebay and looked for one of these... but with vacation coming next week can't afford to buy one :D

[@TheRetroRecall]

I have! They offered different types of WLAN options as well as Bluetooth!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha! Priorities for sure - keep your eyes open though, there are some great deals around!

[@warrenmcclure7819]

I actully have this same model. Bought for $40.00 at Goodwill came with docking station and psu as well

[@TheRetroRecall]

Now that's a deal, nice! I have everything but the dock - so great job getting one with the unit!

[@warrenmcclure7819]

Thank you! Also with mine I didn't get the wifi card thing xD I have the normal metal piece that was from the factory. Its a very cool little laptop. I think mine was used for a good while because when I booted it up it had Windows XP on it. Im thinking about reverting back to the original OS. These machines are just so cool and for the time real thin. Still kinda baffles me how thin it is.@@TheRetroRecall

[@warrenmcclure7819]

So watching further into your video, the model I have is along the same line as yours but not quite the same. I think mine is the slim model because it only has the nip not the touch pad and there is no built in disk drive for mine.@@TheRetroRecall

[@TheRetroRecall]

I agree. I think they were built extremely well for the time.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Ah makes sense.

[@xianox8]

I have a computer from the same line somewhere. I like Compaq, they gave IBM some competition back then.

[@TheRetroRecall]

100% agree. I was always a Thinkpad guy and still am.. But this system is a nice change and I can definitely see the appeal back in the day.

[@sebastian19745]

I remember hearing about that multiport being for connectivity purpose only. At the time, I knew about a GSM/GPRS module and a Bluetooth one, the Wireless module is new to me. However, I never had a laptop with this feature so is all I know.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for the extra info, it is quite helpful!

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

I just got a Compaq laptop as well. Mine is a presario 2500 with a desktop Pentium 4 2.4ghz. It’s a pretty nice laptop. The graphics are only integrated, but they aren’t bad all things considered. Slightly worse than the Radeon M6 graphics in my other desktop Pentium 4 laptop.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice machine! These systems are definitely growing on me.

[@maxtornogood]

When you said 2002 I just immediately assumed it would be an XP rig 😉. When it comes to laptops you're leaning in more to using SSDs but with desktops you have tried to stick with the ol' spinning rust 🙂

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahha! I just have to, can't give it up lol!!

[@marksmith9566]

Would like to see age appropriate software on it like Ofiice 2000 etc.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yes, I've done that before however most don't like that process. I may do a video on the future retro software of a particular time period.

[@nushnume]

Wow that Compaq bios screen layout and looks have carried over from the first Pentium models all the way up to the 4th gen Intel i series HP Compaq computers. I think you can upgrade the CPU in this laptop with normal socket 370 CPUs,the Athlon XP version of these laptops had desktop socket 462 and they could take the regular desktop CPUs altough i think cooling would become a big issue if you do that :)

[@TheRetroRecall]

For sure, it would be interesting fun though!

[@dasgelbevomei33]

You deserve a loooot more subs, greetings from oktoberfestland😂

[@TheRetroRecall]

I agree, but am thankful for everyone of the subscribers here today!! Hello from Canada!!!!

[@BilisNegra]

25:10 Interesting to see that the OS indicates that a wireless network is detected. With an adapter SO old, of the b specification (I mean 802.11b), I wonder if it could really access the internet with your modern router and the modern encryption protocols therein. I kind of doubt it, but would have liked to watch it briefly being tried.

[@TheRetroRecall]

It could, but I have the security limited so it would never negotiate the protocol. That said, I do plan on setting up an old router on its own network (segregated from my primary) to allow older systems to connect with older hardware :)

[@marksmith9566]

PC Card slot was typically used for wireless LAN if not installed in laptop. Our security required running Wireless into the ethernet interface. Never saw the point as it's still wireless!

[@TheRetroRecall]

Hahaha so true!

[@psionski]

With that Pentium 3 this is perfect for Windows 98, I bet games from that slightly earlier era would all run at max settings. As long as all drivers are available for 98...

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed! Dedicated graphics in these machines make all of the difference.

[@deadreaver666]

MANNNNNN. I trash picked one of these as well! I'd say in 2010s. I grabbed it because it looked as it does.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Exactly! There is something about this machine I love.. Oh wait.. What's that silver piece lol.

[@deadreaver666]

@@TheRetroRecall haha. Precisely my thoughts.

[@kevingauthier7973]

I have a Compaq EVO N400c . the computer has no floppy or cd rom in computer but it snaps onto a base with floppy and cd rom. P3 processor running windows 2000. Years ago I used it to run my Christmas light show buy my show outgrew the computer.

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's neat! I need to hunt down the QuickRecovery software for this one.

[@kevingauthier7973]

@@TheRetroRecall That I don’t have wish I did

[@michaelwood9866]

i have that unreal 2004.....on mac

[@TheRetroRecall]

Nice!!! Hopefully you still get to play!

[@michaelwood9866]

i havent yet but if i wanted i can take out the 2008 mbp i have and use it....screen is bad and its password protected but can still fix that.@@TheRetroRecall

[@littlewillie65]

I have one of these, only difference is, mine doesn't have the lump on the lid or an external case for the drive not installed in the machine. Mine is older though - it came factory installed with Win98SE on it. I still have the factory disks that it came with, and it still works. I bought it 20 some odd years ago when it came off lease, and it's still in good shape. I've replaced the battery (and probably need to again) and the power supply (the plastic insert in the plug was breaking down, and it seemed a good idea to get a new one before the old one shorted out). Amusingly enough, I also have a similar Dell business laptop from the same era - difference being the Compaq is a 133Mhz frontside bus, while the Dell is inly a 100Mhz bus. And the difference shows...

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's great that you still have one. Do you remember the model of yours? And you are right, the FSB makes a big difference.

[@littlewillie65]

@@TheRetroRecall The Compaq is the exact same one you have, the Dell is a Latitude C610 (which oddly enough DID come with WinXP on it).

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome, do you have the original Compaq QuickRestore cd for it?

[@littlewillie65]

@@TheRetroRecall Sure do - copyright dated 2001 - Compaq Quick Restore - Compaq Evo Series. 230191-003 (part number maybe?).

[@TheRetroRecall]

It would be AMAZING if you could image the disc and upload to archive.org!!! I would love to restore this system to factory and with the archived disc others can benefit as well. Most of these images are lost to time. Please let me know!! Thank you!

[@northof-62]

Probably sat on the desk of some CEO as a display item 😛

[@TheRetroRecall]

Haha!!! Veryyy possible, it was so clean!

[@lawrencecavens5760]

(Wi-Fi 1 802.11b Year 1999 standard was used back then. at a rate of 1-11 Mbits per second {NOT MBytes} And the standard before that was (Wi-Fi 0)* 802.11 1997 1-2 Mbits per second / Wow - We've come a long way since then.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Oh have we ever. Just look at these mobile devices we carry every day haha!

[@OverTallman]

Nice, a mint Tualatin Pentium 3 laptop, and it even has a decent graphics chip. A few years ago I managed to buy an IBM ThinkPad T23 from a guy who was about to recycle it, in pretty good shape too (but definitely not as good as the Evo). Then it got some upgrades, now it has 1GB RAM and a 60GB hard drive, decently fast running Win XP Pro SP3 as long as Internet and games are not involved, much better than my first PC with a 1.2GHz Tualatin Celeron and 256MB RAM. I wish my T23 has a Radeon GPU (like the Evo and the later T-series ThinkPads) instead of the S3 Savage crap though, it's really the Achilles heel of an otherwise perfect laptop. Speaking of Linux, be aware the Pentium 3 chips don't have SSE2 instruction which is required by some distros, and even if you manage to install Linux successfully, many apps require that too.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks for sharing this and for the Linux info, I would not have known!

[@OverTallman]

@@TheRetroRecall Also FYI, SSE2 instruction was introduced in Pentium 4 and Athlon 64. With that being said, K7 Athlons are in an embarrassing situation as they're usually faster than P4 of the same era, but the lack of SSE2 instruction really limits its Linux potential nowadays.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you!

[@Squonk06]

If you're ever planning on putting XP on an SSD, keep in mind that it will have block-level alignment issues unless you create your disk partitions beforehand, rather than relying on the XP installer. It'll still work, but you'll lose performance and increase drive wear. If you weren't already aware of this issue, there's a good amount of information about it on the web. I believe there's ways to realign an already-existing partition, but I reckon it's better to just use some other program beforehand to do the partitioning. From what I've read, the simplest way is to just use a later version of Windows.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thank you! I wasn't to be honest, however after a bunch of help from the community, I found out there are free applications that can align the drive after the fact. However to your point, it may be best practice to do it prior to the installation of the OS. Appreciate it, thank you!

[@georgemaragos2378]

Hi, i have a similar machine but it is a toshiba satellite I purchased it specifically for the 10/100 Lan / parallel / serial / usb ports ( usb 1 :) ) It dual boots dos 6.22 and XP Essentially it kicks on on the 2g dos partition by default, it has the windows boot menu to select CP if required. I can go into XP mode, grab files from internal lan, then save files either on XP NT partiotion or on th edos partition Then i can use DOS and say laplink and connect up to pre Pentium retro machines that do not have a lan card, being a laptop in a bag is the convenient bonus Yes i can go smaller and do it with a raspbery pi, but i wont have a screen, but i will need to car a small 5 port hub as well and possibly hope it works via SSH and the pi's used to serial adapter - i need to follow up as the GPIO serial is 3.5 or 5v and not true RS232 on 12volt - but wither way i would have to lug a small monitor ( yes you can buy great 7 to 12 inch cheap portable flat screen monitors - but the laptop has it all in one package Regards George

[@TheRetroRecall]

That's awesome. Yes, sure you can go smaller, emulate etc.. But whaeres the fun and excitement of getting this old tech running and keeping it going:). Nice work!

[@Hadisabetghadam]

And For IBM 600X Use Lenovo EOL Protal For Get Drivers

[@TheRetroRecall]

Thanks!

[@dawn1berlitz]

i have a evo in a drawer in my basement im not sure if its this model of laptop or not but i can remember it was evo i think

[@TheRetroRecall]

Let me know!!

[@dawn1berlitz]

@@TheRetroRecall i grabbed it fromt he basement its a evo n1020v its missing the ram cover i cant rememebr how well it booted from whan i found it

[@TheRetroRecall]

Awesome that you found it, now time to get it going haha.

[@dawn1berlitz]

@@TheRetroRecalli think it boots if i remmebr correctly though its got some rust from sititng in my basement

[@dawn1berlitz]

@@TheRetroRecall i did get it to boot sometimes it freezes up at the compaq logo or doesnt even show the compaq logo at all i probably need to pen it and clean it as well as give the p4 new thermal paste

[@lawrencecavens5760]

And I'm guessing that unit is a 12 volt system not a 19 volt...But getting a battery for that might be next to impossible.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Probably. I'm just glad they aren't bulging or leaking (yet). That said, there is a fellow KZbinr who rebuilds these older battery packs with success.

[@marksmith9566]

ESS Sound fine for Windows; sucked in DOS.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. Check out my Armada video. Case and point lol.

[@lawrencecavens5760]

The HP Compaq goes as far back to 1983

[@TheRetroRecall]

Good to know!

[@shawngould1719]

putting win 98 on it for a nice retro laptop

[@TheRetroRecall]

Not a bad suggestion for sure! What are your thoughts on a Linux distro?

[@branscombe_]

9:20 hot swapabble but there is no tray, and need to unscrew? heh : )

[@TheRetroRecall]

Yup!

[@caffeinatedhuman4035]

What I would love to know is... What is the maximum H.264 screen record you can do on this Pentium 3 I imagine my self back in the day when KZbin went HD owning this second hand. If you can get it up to 3 FPS H.264 you could actually make decent tutorials for people. Which sounds completely wrong. You do not technically record screen activity... You create a PDF You insert hyperlinks into the PDF Instead of scrolling you click on the hyperlink That prevents blur You open the PDF... You screen record the open PDF while jumping via hyperlinks. You could test this using more modern programs on XP Either that or on a far more modern version of Linux. You use a program called simple screen recorder KZbin still accepts 3FPS believe it or not Image being productive on a machine this old But its probably best to put to a 720 screen...

[@TheRetroRecall]

Lol. Sounds like a pile of work (all of which we would have done back in 2002!)

[@caffeinatedhuman4035]

@@TheRetroRecall 🤣 I'll take that as a no...can not be bothered 🙃 That's all good... I 100% agree with you in that regard It's only hindsight using Linux on modern machines I can retro fit ideas. The 3FPS PDF trick works perfectly on a celeron N2840. (2014 chip) Which is still not fast enough to record 720/1080 at 50/60 FPS Only celeron with UHD from 2017 I think can do it. Looking back in hindsight I knew I technically could have been more productive 🙃 H.264 appears in 2004 I think... Meaning if you could screen record in AVI 3 FPS Then transcode to H.264 Perhaps people could have uploaded to KZbin on 56k...maybe. I wasted to many hours playing starcraft.🤔😏 Seeing motion blur was the primary thing that put me off for a decade or so. So I solved a problem that no longer exists.

[@MixShadowlight]

These use the same power connector as your typical acer aspire laptop from the early to mid 2000s. I have a n600c as well, mine lacked that hump for the wifi. The 2 key rollover keyboard and the really terribly bogged down custom to Compaq ESS allegro it has made it a really terrible windows 98 laptop for retro gaming.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Good to know. Do you happen to have the QuickRestore cd??

[@MixShadowlight]

@@TheRetroRecall no, mine didn't come with it. the harddrive on mine was replaced as well, so I could not even provide a hdd image of it.

[@TheRetroRecall]

OK I appreciate your reply. I'll be on the hunt :)

[@bobamu]

I suspect 2gb ram will work with that laptop.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I could certainly try, wouldn't hurt. Specs say max to 1gb however.

[@bobamu]

@@TheRetroRecall Yes, there's sometimes a disconnect between the marketing/offical part spec/hard limits. I can understand why they'd do it for marketing differentiation and also chip makers not "quite" presenting the real limit for hardware due to quirks that cause things to work or not work depending upon implementation details.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Agreed. I've had some systems like that - that I have surpassed the recommended specs. Let's see what I can do!

[@maniatore2006]

I have this notebook, just without the Wi-fi Modul. It Works With Windows XP Pro on it Nothing Special Notebook for me, some kind of Boring.

[@TheRetroRecall]

I guess it all depends on what you like. The WiFi module caught my eye and the system is built quite well with some user accessible upgrades. With dedicated graphics, it certainly helps making this a nice machine of the time (in my opinion)

[@mybigfatpolishlife]

What is that big silver thing on one side

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

It's a wi-fi module that emulates USB - so it can potentially be plugged in or out while using the machine.

[@EastAngliaUK]

watch the video

[@TheRetroRecall]

I was also going to recommend to watch :). I'm always very detailed.

[@terrydaktyllus1320]

@@TheRetroRecall I agree and thank you for some very interesting content - I am also a Thinkpad collector and old hardware nut so I appreciate the sentiments on your side. With that said, I am not familiar with many Compaq models and I would not have guessed that was a wifi module without reading the text on the side.

[@TheRetroRecall]

Absolutely. Love the Thinkpad line as you know. I am always detailed as I always assume people come to enjoy the full aspect of the retro hardware.