Compaq Presario CQ61-410US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) | 
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| Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Category: Personal Computer
List Price: $591.00
Buy New: $389.98
You Save: $201.02 (34%)
New (16) Used (1) from $650.00
Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 255
Color: Black
Media: Personal Computers
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
CPU Manufacturer: AMD
CPU Speed: 2.1
CPU Type: AMD Sempron
Shipping Weight (lbs): 9
Dimensions (in): 14.9 x 9.9 x 1.4
MPN: WA974UA#ABA
Model: WA974UA#ABA
UPC: 884962820230
EAN: 0884962820230
ASIN: B0031RFTEQ
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | AMD Sempron Processor for Notebook PCs M120 ( 2.1 GHz, 512KB L2 Cache) | | • | 2GB DDR2 System Memory (2 DIMM) (expandable to 4 GB) | | • | 250GB (7200RPM) Hard Drive (SATA), LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support | | • | Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, * Up to 4.25 Hours of Battery Life | | • | 15.6" Diagonal High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen Display (1366x768) | | • | ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200 Graphics with 128MB Display Cache Memory with up to 1022MB total graphics memory |
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Product Description
For those who want everyday computing capability at a great value, the Compaq Presario CQ61 series Notebook PC delivers in style. Balancing mobility and performance needs at 5.90 lbs (the CQ61 is powered by AMD processor and ATI graphics technology along with these essential features: 15.6" Diagonal High-Definition HP BrightView display for full-screen views, Integrated high-speed wireless LAN enabling connectivity within hot spots, Altec Lansing speakers delivering smooth audio performance
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 40
 Everything you'll need in a computer. July 26, 2010
B. Shelley (Lancaster, PA USA)
This computer is amazing. The cpu is amazingly fast, I'm able to run many multiple programs at once and the only lag I've seen was while 3 videos were loading and the lag only lasted for 5 seconds tops. But I'm able to run HD videos with no problem and this computer has a great sound mixer. The speakers aren't quite that loud tho unfortunately. This computer will also run a game like Left 4 Dead with no problem. I don't own any other computer game to test it on, but anything equivelent or older than Left 4 Dead will work perfectly fine. At the price this whole thing goes for, I'd say this is the best computer you will find out there for this price. I've done benchmarks and compared, you won't find anything better at this price.
so to wrap it up in pros and cons..
Pros:
-amazing 720p screen with HD video experience
-video card will allow you to play games up to the equivelent of Left 4 Dead
-Keyboard is easy to type on
-3 usb ports make it useful for the average person
-Windows 7 Premium is about the best OS I've seen and it makes tasks much more easier and enjoyable (look up reviews on it)
-very fast processor
-with 250GB memory and 7200 RPM I was able to download 4GB of memory off of a CD in under 7 min!
-moderately light weight
-boot up time takes around 30-40 seconds
-16:9 screen
-lots of RAM
Cons:
-scroll on the touch pad is a little sluggish when trying to scroll long lengths
That's about it. I love this computer. Now if you're a serious gamer and you're looking for a nice computer to play your high frame rate games, this computer won't play them. Sorry to say, but for gamers, you'll have to spend atleast a 100$ more for a better video card.
I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS COMPUTER TO ANYONE! Buy it, you'll love it!
If you find it cheap, grab it! July 26, 2010
Aaron Breer
There's a few other Compaq models similar to this one out there but in my opinion this is probably your best bet. Why?, A fast SINGLE core AMD processor. Although one of the dual core models will still probably perform better I just felt better spending less. I don't believe a whole lot of applications, at least the ones I use, use the two cores anyway. I also feel better that I can still buy a new computer in three or four years with the money saved. I don't think multicore processors are quite there yet in my opinion. In addition the graphics chip on this machine is better than those on the other models.
So how does it perform? Well, doing internet surfing and music listing at the same time it does great. All PCs now should be able to do that ok but there are still some out there new and old that have problems and will not do that well. A good example is the acer desktop I bought which was discontinued almost immediately. It had problems Acer didn't want to admit to but they knew about. Long story short I tossed that massive waste of money out and bought this. This machine only has a hiccup in the audio once every half hour to hour when not doing anything else which is fairly decent. You can expect CPU or latency spikes on any computer to cause a hiccup every now and then.
I haven't got a chance to try out much DVDs but movies in general seem to play ok on this machine with maybe a hiccup in the video or audio every half to hour or so. Of course it can be worse if you're running certain or multiple programs or a player that doesn't play well with your machine. It's not bad, not bad at all though. It also depends on the playback software you're using. You will find out which ones work the best on you're machine. Oddly WMP and the included cyberlink software seem to play it the best at least on my machine. Usually people experience problems with that included software but it works great for me.
The wifi works fine but at least on mine it's some aetheros adapter with not very good drivers to go with it. With this there is a CPU and latency spike about every minute for about three to eight seconds at worst. Thankfully this computer is tuned in such a way where you will probably never notice this while listing to audio or watching video unless you're doing a lot of things at once.
This computer probably isn't the best for HD video. I haven't tried actually buying an external Blu Ray player for it but I imagine you could probably run into some problems if that is what you plan on doing. I recommend a regular Blu Ray player or PS3 if you plan on watching HD video. This machine can play HD video pretty good if you close everything down with minimal slowdown or skips in audio. I've tried samples on this machine and they seem to play best in WMP and cyberlink. Flash HD video on youtube plays awful. I guess this machine is not quite powerful enough to do that. It's unwatchable. This is such a great machine though that I still recommend it even with the youtube HD problems. This machine will certainly tide me over for the next three to four years when I'll probably have to buy a new one anyway. At that time I imagine blu ray drives will be standard and cheap.
Like I said though I don't believe technology for multi cores and blu ray is quite there yet, so why waste all the money now on it? I don't really believe in spending a whole bunch on something that will be outdated regardless in three years. For most people this machine should be able to handle most of what you throw at it.
As for gaming it can run RPG Maker games just fine. Emulating other older game systems on this machine such as psx and snes is not a problem.
This is probably the best computer I ever owned and I highly recommend it.
 I love it, but the cd/dvd drive has never worked July 16, 2010
cingen
I have had my computer for 5 months now....I do love it but the cd/dvd drive has never worked. Did not bother shipping it back because I figured with the shipping price, I would fare better just letting someone putting a new drive in for me.
 Stoped working at day 2... July 13, 2010
SIMON
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
...and now HP cant help me because I am not at the US and this is a US excluve model.
Even though they never said so at the guaranty.
They want me to send it to the US, even tough HP exists in this country too, only because of the model, and I am will not do that because nobody will pay me back the sending money.
I mean, I knew that the Compaqs where cheap for a reazon, but not this one.
Good basic Computer July 6, 2010
R. S. Hood (Bitterroot Valley, MT. USA)
I puchased this for a friend of mine, I gave it to her after I removed a lot of bundled software that always seem to come with all computers. it took a little while but was not hard to do. Would have given a 5th star if it came with a windows 7 system disk.It is fast and easy to connect to wi-fi. Would recommend it to others as a good basic computer. great price from amazon.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 40
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