Compaq CQ56-219WM Presario Laptop 15.6" LED display / 2.20GHz Celeron Processor / 2GB DDR2 RAM / 250GB HDD / Lightscribe DVD±R/RW / 802.11 b/g/n Wifi / 6 Cell / Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) I was somewhat hesitant to purchase this laptop, but aside from the negative reviews here, other site's reviewers were much more postive so I took the plunge and have been quite pleased with its performance.Pros: Very easy setup . . . especially if you go wireless. I disabled the built in mouse pad and went with a wireless mouse, and use a wireless internet connection. The computer automatically picks up the signals and you're ready to go. Took maybe 5 minutes altogether.
Some folks have complained about its speed, but I found that the Norton Anti-virus Program that comes with it was the problem. After completely removing it from the computer and installing Microsoft Security Essentials . . . it became lightning fast, especially on the internet.
Cons: Just one: I couldn't get my printer to work on it, but decided to go wireless with a printer and got a new one.
All in all, this laptop does all that my old XP desktop did, but much faster and without all the wires dangling and protruding from it. No need for a monitor screen with its wires; got the wireless mouse and wireless printer. The only wire that I have inserted is the AC cord to recharge the battery. It's lightweight, portable and fast.
Some people complain that it's no good for games and such because it's too slow. Maybe it is too slow for some games. I wouldn't know because I don't play them. I use it for emailing, surfing the web, writing and research. It doesn't come with a webcam or other bells and whistles. It's a basic laptop for basic computing needs. It comes with Microsoft Office Word and Excel, but not outlook express. You can upgrade to get the additional programs for a price.
I've used computers for years and this is my first laptop. If you're looking for a good, solid, basic, fast laptop without the frills and thrills, you can't go wrong with this one.
Edit again: I've had it on a cooler ever since, and now at the 13 month mark the hard drive just crapped out. At least it didn't do that during my stats grad class, but I'm annoyed that it did this a day after I finally got Virtual DJ and the Emu 0204 running flawlessly by doing nothing more than creating a new user account (who knew cluttered/default Windows 7 profiles could so foul up ASIO?). I am hoping it's the motherboard, since the fan also had an issue as stated previously, but I'm not hopeful. Still, I purchased a 2.5" SATA to USB HD enclosure to test the internal hard drive with something else to be sure. If it checks out, I may buy another CQ56 and move it into that one. I'm not optimistic or even looking forward to buying another one of these if that is the case, but I don't want to go through the LONG process of installing all my stuff again. In retrospect, I was not being too hard on this computer.
Yet another edit: It was the HD. Darn. I hardly ever took this thing anywhere and it looks mint. Turns out the backup and clone features never exactly worked properly. Perhaps I should have cloned or copied the onboard HP backup partition? Windows 7 has a clone/ghost feature built in, yet even after creating a properly-sized Fat32 partition (required apparently in the wizard) on an external drive, that still never worked. I hoped it would run in the background after turning it on in Windows in control panel with my 3TB Seagate USB drive, but no. It looks like the CQ56 cannot either boot-from or clone-to an external USB drive, which is a problem considering it has only one HD slot internally.
Furthermore, the wifi adapter is not automatically recognized and plug-and-play upon a new Windows 7 installation. That means if you're on wifi, you won't be able to ever get on the net until you either go to another computer or connect to a hard line. HP really should have included a backup DVD.
Their forums are also full of people with dead fans and hard drives.
I'm changing it to 1-star and will never buy HP again.
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Original review:
It's amazing how much you can get now for $300. I won't deny that, but this is, after all, a single core Celeron processor without even hyperthreading. Windows 64 also needs 3GB before it starts to have breathing room to do good, stable work. So I upgraded the ram to 4GB total and it helps, but the lack of at least one more core terribly limits multitasking ability. I feel you ought to spend at least $500 bucks for a laptop at the lowest acceptable "end" still. You get exponentially more computer. With only integrated graphics, one core, and slow hard drives, even with double the ram it's just not capable of what a modern machine should do at minimum. With 4GB it can handle single tasks well if you're patient. Don't expect a snappy, crisp interface, though. The screen is also lacking in contrast range substantially. Are you getting ripped off at this price? Nope. It's durable and, aside from the crummy stiff mouse buttons, does the basics. But jumping up in price gives you more than buying two of these would. I recommend the following minimum:
4GB RAM
Multicore CPU of some type (Intel seems the most compatible)
7200rpm hard drives
Dedicated graphics chip and VRAM; not just because of the horsepower needs, but some software literally malfunctions from integrated graphics
Firewire or Expresscard slot... not just USB connectors
HDMI portExcelente Laptop el envio y todo fueron cuestion de 15 dias solamente, recomendado 100%, llego bien empaquetado con todos sus componentes
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