My "new" computer: HP Compaq MP8200S

A 2.5 GHz quad-Core i5 with 4 GB of RAM, ATI graphics, and a 250 GB hard drive, running Windows Embedded 2009. I added a DVD-RW drive, an SD card reader, and replaced the hard drive with a 128 GB SSD.

[@lmull3]

excellent choice of computer if i do say so myself! i have a soft spot for small form factor machines. they're just neat. hopefully many years of good service come from that machine.

[@EzeeLinux]

COMPAQ = Couldn't Open My Program And Quit. :)

[@vwestlife]

Or "Computers Often Make People Quite Angry". :-) "How To Spell Compaq" - JOHN CLEESE Compaq Commercial

[@mariushmedias]

Nice system. Nice that it has so many usb connectors. The "special connector" for the usb card reader should be plain USB. The power supply is a fail though. It's so big it should be put inside the case.

[@CatololOSU]

i am here after 7 years

[@CatololOSU]

ayeeee i got a heart and a like

[@expgretaillegacy]

@@CatololOSU make that 5

[@dosdude1]

I'd put Windows 7 on there, you're not going to want to run any form of Windows XP on an SSD due to the lack of TRIM support.

[@vwestlife]

Intel SSDs have built-in wear management, and I have the Intel SSD Toolbox software installed. I've have the same model of Intel SSD running fine with XP in my ThinkPad since 2012.

[@EastonPillay]

vwestlife Do you run anything newer than XP? What is your opinion about the end-of-life?

[@MN12BIRD]

***** They still wear out as the memory cells have a finite amount of write cycles they can take before they die but a good SSD should easily outlive the average HDD assuming it doesn't have other issues like bad firmware code. That can be the failure of most SSD's and even HDD's before a mechanical failure kills them. TRIM and other wear leveling on an SSD is there to minimize the write cycles and also spread them out across all memory cells (memory chips) as to not wear one out faster than the rest so they're designed to last as long as possible.

[@Gmoney6422]

fuck windows 10. It's a virus

[@fyredragon2816]

+Gmoney 6422 it comes bundled with bonzi buddy!!!

[@thesmashbrothers2782]

I love seeing these odd computers. I like that it combines a desktop with a laptop. I love playing around with older pentium servers like the dell poweredge servers and building fun little machines out of them. I also love using the awesome cases from older computers to create sleeper pcs. I dont get why people say that you need to put windows 7 on it, I think that version of xp is just fine. I personally use xp on a few machines that I use as servers or as data backup stations because they have a lot of modability. I enjoy watching your videos especially the ones that go over some of the older pcs that you have.

[@HappyJigg]

This computer brings back memories. We used to have these at our schools and I distinctly remember them.

[@Jallge]

Ooh very nice! I'm a big fan of HP Compaq hardware, it just seems that they're the ones getting it right nowadays. Lots of people seem to have this very blurred idea of what HP Compaq actually is, and what kind of quality they produce. My next computer will probably be a HP Compaq SFF machine, or maybe a USFF machine. Those VESA mounts are actually for a specially designed monitor stand that HP sells with some monitors to create an all in one unit. An example being the HP LE1901wi monitor. Also for a machine like that, I'd expect a maximum of around 16GB of RAM. I honestly had no idea that those can be configured with dedicated graphics, all of the ones that we have at work seem to have integrated video. I've also yet to try Windows Embedded Standard 2009, but it looks a lot better than POSReady for sure. Enjoy using your new computer. Oh and one last thing: DisplayPort is actually backwards compatible with VGA, so you can get a passive adapter and use a second display that way.

[@MN12BIRD]

That's neat it has a dedicated AMD (ATi) Radeon GPU and vRAM on a mini notebook style (MCM?) PCI-e board (the small red board with the heatsink behind the optical drive) I've never seen that style notebook video card in a slim desktop before. It must have 2GB of vRAM on the video card hence the OS only sees 2GB of system RAM.

[@Alps-fo3ez]

Nope, actually, Embedded 2009 can't take on more than 2 GB of RAM so it limits 4 GB to 2, not even 3.5 like XP 32-bit would. I use Vista Home Premium 32-bit and in some cases, 64-bit. I never really bought a computer but my friend has this one still and is currently using it with 7 Home Premium (i used my own multi licence for him) 64-bit and has all 4 GB RAM allocated.

[@lesrogers7310]

Great video and nice little PC. The reason these don't have 5.1 or 7.1 sound, is that as you said already these are business machines. 2.0 sound is more than enough for this purpose in 99% of circumstances.

[@themaritimegirl]

Nice find. Yep, HP uses the Compaq name quite heavily on their business machines, I think even more than on their consumer machines. Why, I don't know.

[@NALTOHQ]

Two words. Brand recognition.

[@jw5031]

I own 2 of these exact units. They can handle a minimum of 8GB Ram (depending on the BIOS version), there are no USB 3.0 ports, and only the 1 Mic/Audio out jack can be used dual purpose (only the front panel port). These are great machines and very powerful for doing pretty much anything, standard integrated graphics will slow things down for gamers however. These are almost Identical to the HP EliteDesk units sold to enterprise customers today. Both can boot off of any standard USB Drive to install any modern full (retail/OEM) version Linux/Windows 7/8/10.

[@KoopaMedia64]

I wasn't expecting such a clever joke right at the very start of a video

[@dave4shmups]

Great video! Before I watched this I'd never heard of Windows Embedded Standard. I can't understand why new PCs come with Windows 8 instead of Windows 7. I like 8, but 7 just seems a lot more useful.

[@jayrx12]

Holy crap 10 USB ports? That just seems like a lot to me considering my lenovo only has 4.

[@realgroovy24]

i thought 6 of them was crazy on my other dell machine from 2006

[@wclifton968gameplaystutorials]

I have a hp tower which has 4 usb ports on the front & had 6-8? usb ports on the motherboard although I can't verify because I threw out the motherboard that died but kept the case for future use. Hp used to give us so many usb ports back in the day compared to its competitors.....

[@TristanSpeno]

my hp has 10

[@CatololOSU]

my pc has 3

[@AttilaSVK]

That computer looks nice. I would be getting one instantly (even a lower specced model with an i3 or Pentium G and without the dedicated graphics card) to be my radio automation and streaming PC, but the lack of at least two serial ports (which could be fixed easily by USB to RS232 cables) and a full height PCI slot (for my M-Audio Audiophile 192) puts me off. So far I'll stick with my custom built tower PC for the task.

[@TheBuggyGal]

That is quite possibly the largest power brick i have ever seen for a device!

[@blipdrifter]

Oh my god my mom has that exact same computer. She bought it a few months ago, actually. Really neat!

[@ThePowerMacGalaxy]

YAY! Thanks for making a video of it. I had a Thinkcentre like that one but it also suffered from bad caps.

[@Eyetrauma]

If anyone's wondering, that 'Scala Quickstart' thing has nothing to do with the programming language. Apparently Scala in this context is software that's used for making kiosk stuff, it's not related to the language at all.

[@kbhasi]

1:11 I believe what they mean is that you can use headsets originally meant for use with Apple iOS devices where they used a 4-conductor connector.

[@stevejohnson1321]

I usually run a couple of steps behind the curve as well. Yours runs circles around my Core 2 duo 6700, but since I run Trisquel OS, this vintage hardware is sufficient. Actually I usually don't keep systems this long, but this time it's still suiting my needs.

[@kennerfee100]

I built my own computer almost 3 years ago -- I mainly use it for gaming and video editing, but I might upgrade to a new one because a lot of new games are now getting below 30 fps.

[@theeurobandit]

Seems like you don't like Windows 8 either! Cool.

[@archechme]

It's nice to see a more modern computer here. I'd like to see more.

[@Alps-fo3ez]

I have kind of a bigger and whiter version of this SFF, it has fewer USB ports on the front and a 80GB HDD. Came with a very strict Vista Business SP1 32-bit OEM which would only allow me to use IIS features or go on the internet. Even if the support has ended, I don't care, It runs Vista Home Premium SP2 32-bit with my original Microsoft SP1 licence. To be honest, Vista Home Premium runs faster than 7 Home Premium here. It also works very well, it's kinda 12 years old now so I'm not planning to sell it. Both side panels also broke off.

[@holden6251]

Those were the computers my school used, those computers were my childhood :D

[@OnTheRocks71]

Wow, that thing is surprisingly loaded considering its form factor.

[@m4ttr4w3som3]

I love the amount of computer tech you own. I would be the same way if I had the money or the room for all these computers.

[@Techlin-xn7ji]

^what he said

[@lb3320]

+Techli0n680 What he said ^

[@johnnywayne3443]

Oh yes....The days of splitting Corel Draw into 18 seperate .rar files just to frustrate people. :)

[@c462-]

i'm getting this recommended a bit late

[@giammyzanna]

I've never seen windows xp on a core i5 computer.

[@HPad2]

Runs Very nice too haha. On my secondary computer (Laptop) I put Windows XP Professional running on a Core i3

[@TheComputerGuy96]

At my school we have xp on core i7's... no joke. They apparently thought it was cleverer to upgrade the hardware (previously they had core2duos) before the software that's losing support soon. www.dropbox.com/s/vme8k04y15llxrt/2014-01-27%2009.40.04.jpg

[@giammyzanna]

***** oh god... I would never use xp again.

[@13thFlProductions]

Lol

[@drag096]

It's Windows Embedded 2009...

[@RealRed01]

I have a goodwill around where i live, and they are selling these. Pretty good specs for these.

[@PuffyRainbowCloud]

Hi! You own a lot of old stuff so I thought I might ask you... I seem to mostly be a Windows guy but I assume you know what the original Macintosh keyboard looked like? What I'm wondering is if you know of any keyboards you can get your hands on that are cheaper and compatible with at least a whatever-to-USB adapter? I've been googling around but not really finding anything. I'm probably just not very good at it. I really like the simplistic design. Very interesting video, nice to see you giving this computer some of the updates it deserves!

[@vwestlife]

The modern-day equivalent is the Apple MB869LL/A keyboard, or one of its many Chinese clones.

[@PuffyRainbowCloud]

vwestlife Thank you for the reply, but I don't mean an apple one, I mean something like a clone of the original keyboard or something very similar in design.

[@vwestlife]

PuffyRainbowCloud There are many cheap clones of the Apple keyboards. The quality ranges from total garbage to almost as good as the real thing.

[@BlakeTechnology99]

What is "SignagePlayer," is it for digital signage as in those displays when you enter a building, or is it for a digital projection system in a movie theater?

[@vwestlife]

Blake Cerenzia www8.hp.com/us/en/campaigns/retail-solutions/digital-signage.html

[@BlakeTechnology99]

Thanks!

[@giggitygoebbels3612]

Erm WES2009 is not meant to be installed directly like that,you are supposed to install the Tools into a development machine,run TAP.EXE on the target machine(in this case the HP DigitalSignage),and take the Devices.PMQ file that is made in the same directory of wherever the TAP.EXE is to import it into the target designer,where you get to choose components and enter the PID. First off the evaluation version of WES2009 iso is NOT going to work with a full tools key,you need to go find it elsewhere.The Evaluation Version of the tools will not allow you to enter a PID to make sure the WES2009 image built are not timebombed.Also you need to find a proper PID,and if i recall correctly it is in a hidden file(forgot extensions) on the root of the installation. After building the image you need to copy and paste the image into the SSD from the target machine.I recommend copying it multiple times,because sometimes it gives out the ntldr error if copied only once.

[@torythefanman]

i belive HP used the HP Compq name backin the mid 2000's. i remeber seeing alot of hp's branded under that during that time.

[@coffeeandsugar20]

That machine is... really nice. Is there a port for an optical drive or is that just a filler?

[@vwestlife]

Keep watching ;)

[@Bryanmontero2000]

i was recently given one of the hp 8200 SFF, i have to say ive had no problems with it, im slowly replacing my old Dell Optiplex 745 with this hp, it has a intel core i3

[@steventechno]

If you plan to use Windows XP, consider Physical Address Extension for better RAM usage over the 3.5gb limit, No use having wasted resources. As everyone else here though, a more recent OS could prove beneficial for the newer hardware. Windows 7 still has the Classic interface we all know and love. Sadly it's Windows 8 that axes it forever making Aero the default interface for all.

[@ChrisPowa-]

This /is/ a surprisingly new computer!

[@Tr3vor42532]

That's a pretty cool computer, I've never seen them have external power bricks like that before. My dad has a similar machine with a Sandy Bridge i3 in it. I would rather stick windows 7 on it though, its more than capable enough to do so.

[@jwoolery99]

They still use these types of computers in the local court house over where I live, still running Windows XP Professional.

[@Trance88]

Very nice little desktop. What is the manufacture date?

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

Awww it's cute! More modern than my Dell desktop with Core 2 duo inside !

[@daco111]

You have an Optiplex 780 don't you

[@jjjjentges]

I'm surprised that you didn't get a model with PCI expansion. I like to be able to add cards and expansions. Whatever works for you though!

[@dysfunctionalwombat]

I have an HP Compaq 6200 Pro MT workstation i5 2400 6 Gb ram, 2 DVD Multi Recorder 500 plus 160 Gb HDDs, Wifi, and An Nvidia GT 730 4Gb It's my main desktop, and W7U

[@gmodderr]

That CPU is actually very good, it has 99% the performance of my i5 3470 in my gaming machine, with a good graphics card it would max out all the latest games easy : P

[@gmodderr]

Levi Pinkard runs cool, low power use and stuff

[@danrulz98]

That mic/headphone combo port might be a 4 conductor port that would accept an iPhone type headset that has stereo headphones and an inline mic

[@Evaldas65]

Nice, i have a sff system myself, it's a dell optiplex 3010. It has an i3 3225, 8 gb ram. I put a gtx 1050 ti in it and it's a tiny powerhouse of a pc. Love it, believe it or not it runs most games on high settings.

[@compactc9]

Believe it or not I haven't really used the SD card reader on my Mac Mini. Main reason being that I use my iPhone as my primary camera. I do wish I could save things to an SD card on my iPhone though...

[@WILLZCO]

That SD card reader appears to use the standard usb motherboard connector so its a good chance you can boot from it!

[@ypoora1]

I would personally install 8.1 or 10 when it releases due to software support, but i can get why one would remain XP-based. Nice little computer, although i would definitely hook up some better speakers.

[@FreddyStudio]

What a good computer :P

[@ElectrofizzStudiosCo]

+FreddyStudio i3's are decent with i5's being pretty good.

[@n__neen]

that first twelve seconds is a really solid humor

[@jackmcdonald8355]

pretty OP PC for what it was used for

[@coondogtheman]

I have another XP machine that refuses to boot past the bios screen with an external hard drive connected and if I unplug it then it's fine. I looked on the motherboard and many of the caps are bulged. I'm assuming the power supply may have bad caps as well. I have a bag of caps I can possibly use. This machine is a 2.8ghz 2GB and the one i'm on now is a 1.8ghz 1GB.

[@gwreijman]

Looks like a system for narrowcasting.

[@WhyWePlayTruckSims]

My school have these PCs now, except the larger version with the slot for the Floppy reader. They also don't have dedicated graphics, I think, but maybe they only disabled the ATi graphics. In System Information, it seems they dedicated 1.7GB of Vram to it. I don't even know how I got into System Information. They also have mSATA SSDs instead of the WiFi card because our school have ethernet wired. We parted with HP Enterprise so we have HP everything - HP Keyboards, mice, and monitors. The teachers have HP Laptops.

[@JonnyInfinite]

Have you got the SSD yet? You should see the HP mini computers we have at work, the size of a Mac Mini...

[@airingcupboard]

HP Scala Signage Player - is that the same as the Scala Video titling software that used to run on the Amiga? Did this unit drive information displays?

[@andic6676]

Do you still use this PC? Sandy Bridge era PCs are still very relevant and can be used for many tasks, even today. I wish Windows 11 would support them.

[@Rustbelt_Research]

I'm glad you got a more recent computer.. That old Deskpro EN was getting a bit old.. I have a very similar to that running my Minecraft server

[@vwestlife]

The Deskpro EN has not been my main computer since 2009 when I got the ThinkCentre.

[@Rustbelt_Research]

vwestlife Those old Compaqs are very tough computers.. So are IBM/lenovo machines.. The old ones especially

[@tomsvideosofrandomcrap6223]

Would this device have costed more or less than the 8200 Elite/6200 Pro devices?

[@cheeseninja3063]

Holy fuck that's the computer my school uses.

[@KOSMOS1701A]

this sounds like a decently capable machine. Mainly with that graphics chip

[@TAVIII]

the cpu is by far the most capable part of this system.

[@evanrozsa]

What about the Sandy Bridge i5?

[@anthonyscottferreira]

that graphics card is no good, any card with less than 1gb dedicated vram is rubbish

[@TAVIII]

not exactly, there are some ok 768MB cards. The main flaw is the chip.

[@MarcCarlessProductions]

actually, i just noticed, i used to have the same compaq deskpro when i was younger, oh god, the memories

[@drcikk]

We have these at my School! Apart it has usb 3.0 and dual display port outs

[@TobyWilks]

How much did this cost, minus the upgrades?

[@Mayala285]

what do you do with the computers do you sell them afterwards or do you store them away?

[@vwestlife]

It depends on how much I use them.

[@thegeforce6625]

Recently got the normal HP Compaq Elite 8200 USDT one of these for $50, has a i7 2600S but only the intel graphics. I plan on using a FirePro M5100 that I got from a dell precision laptop. (I will see if I can find a suitable heatsink for it, I’ll probably get a HD5450 from this machine with the heatsink and mount it on the FirePro)

[@WhyWePlayTruckSims]

Could you put Windows 7 - 10 on one of these?? I would probably use one as a game stream computer in my living room. Maybe some internet usage too.

[@vwestlife]

Yes.

[@WhyWePlayTruckSims]

+vwestlife Thanks for the quick reply. These are a ridiculously good deal on eBay for about £150! Definitely going to buy one, as my HP G5330uk is kinda messed up.

[@iambadatsomefunnies5572]

+vwestlife can you test it with an hd monitor? please! test it :-)

[@vwestlife]

FryorSatin Super What kind of test?

[@iambadatsomefunnies5572]

+vwestlife with an hd monitor

[@jerseydevil1995]

that intro, savage

[@Fuzy2K]

That intro reminds me of Whose Line Is It Anyway?... "Believe it or not, I stepped in a Pyle of Pooh." :P

[@connorm955]

Interesting. Never seen a Philips DVD before.

[@segaprophet]

I swear that jazzy tune is straight out of Simcity 3000 . . anyone else hear that?

[@Jones5121]

These are great computers tho, i have the successor (elitedesk 800 g1 usdt) with a Haswell i5

[@CmanXirone218]

where do you get all of your machines you play with, dump donation yards you said in a previous video?

[@ATCRyderX]

Never used that Windows Embedded deal. Looks pretty good (and being based off XP it should be!). I'll teabag a bear trap before I use that Windows 8 piece of shit. 7 is bad enough but at least its a proper windows.

[@Erdie5]

An external dc power supply? That is a new one on me, but it makes sense. Should be perfect!

[@radicalgamingnerd986]

This was just recommended to me. Nice video

[@PresidentHayes2023]

What's the name of the bossa-nova/smooth jazz piece in the beginning of the video?

[@vwestlife]

I don't know. It's whatever was playing on the radio at the time.

[@MrCoffeeman58]

do u do any gaming on that computer? even light stuff like Legue of legends? cuz that had me thinking when i saw that computer that i should try and get one to use as my secondary pc, cuz my computer im using right now is a Dell optiplex 745, 4 hard drives, 4 gb ram, nvidia geforce 8400gs.

[@vwestlife]

GaminGod Coffeeman I'm not a PC gamer.

[@MrCoffeeman58]

What games do u play?

[@vwestlife]

GaminGod Coffeeman Nothing, except occasionally classic video games (Atari, NES, etc.).

[@MrCoffeeman58]

Same here sometimes on emulators

[@theshroomer9825]

Lol, I have the same exact one, bought it refurbished, and luckily it came with a 160GB SSD. One of the fastest pc's I have, good choice :D

[@theshroomer9825]

Oh, oops, mine is a bit older though. It came with an intel core 2 duo. And it also came with an optical drive, although I believe it is read only

[@Striky71]

personaly I own a beautiful HP Compaq 8200 elite small from factor and it a war machine! I own 3 mincraft server plus I do gaming on it and it still have some juice to run a 4k youtube video on my other screen. seriously does computers are made for life time durability. spects: (i5-2500 (socket 1155) 8g ram 480g ssd crucial m500 (power supply 240w original and original mother board) and a radeon r7 240 2gb ddr3)

[@WindowsXP-pk6rd]

great computer its nice all around but Windows XP makes it complete. :)

[@DoRC]

that intro cracked me up

[@Bluethunderboom]

Pretty interesting. =) Doesn't seem to be like a Laptop Version to me, and hey, you get plenty of room for your desktop! I've never heard of the WIndows Embeded Standard 2009 before.

[@Alps-fo3ez]

I used it on an old Pentium 4 before, it's kinda worse than POSReady 2009. The 2 GB RAM limit of both, really sets me down. It would've been great for my uses if it allocated all the RAM.

[@Brycereigle2000]

nice. i had a 3.2 i5quad now i have a 3.5 i7. u still use it?

[@fxckrio]

you can get something like a GTX 780M or 980M for that MXM slot for an upgrade

[@adobewanjerkobi]

I guess we can officially welcome you the 2010s ;)

[@Honthetube]

Damn... I wish i could find something this well spec'd. If you run some multi processor optimized video editing software on it, that quad core will shave some considerable time off your video rendering and encoding.

[@Alps-fo3ez]

i have an old hp sff almost close to this one but a little worse, it supports up to 8 gbs of ram if 2x4. currently has 1x2

[@Alps-fo3ez]

it also has a reliable core 2 duo e6550 2.33 ghz which works well

[@Alps-fo3ez]

my main is a dell xps 430 which i upgraded. the core 2 duo inside is what i didnt change. i upgraded the 6 gb ram it had to 8 and put in faster hdds (2tb western sata 7200 rpm + 1tb western sata 7200 rpm (OS) and replaced the 256mb 3650 hd with a 5700hd 512mb. now it works pretty well and reliable

[@The_Laser_Channel]

I just wonder how much money he put into this computer......he bought the SD card reader and Optical drive separately...and in the description, he's stated that he's put an SSD in it already.....seems like an awful good bit of money in upgrades....but if he got the computer cheap then it may not be too bad.....I got an e-machine from WalMart back in 2012 b/c I needed a computer to replace the other POS I had...I didn't care that it was an e-machine, i just needed SOMETHING to replace the junk I had....but looking back on it, I kinda regret getting one of the "slim" model computers.....lack of expansion is what I hate about it.....but if you don't plan on expanding it, I guess its good......

[@connorm955]

In 2013 HP dropped the Compaq name from products.

[@kbhasi]

With all those upgrades, you basically upgraded your HP SignagePlayer mp8200s to a full-on HP Compaq 8200 Elite USDT...

[@tomsvideosofrandomcrap6223]

I have something Similar, Called the 8000 Elite but mine's the Small Form Factor

[@Evaldas65]

Umm doesn't windows XP based operating system bottleneck that system?..

[@realgroovy24]

very good system! with my favourite os and also my system has 1.25 gb of ram it runs really well i want to upgrade it to 1.5 which i have a spareDDR stick of ram and a athalon 64

[@JakeJoris]

this hp pc can take up to 16gb of ram. Or with newest bios - 32gb for ram

[@alexlelel]

A USB 3.0 port has blue colour on its head instead of black also to have 4GB of ram unlocked you need a 64-bit or PAE Operation System. My system is worser but it can run Windows 7 and Windows 8 (with Aero activated) perfectly (Had to disable Aero just for gaming).

[@Prouties]

What's the HP part number on the video card please? I was looking for one a while back.