Compaq CQ45-106AU Laptop Review

I recently was in the market to buy a laptop for my sister, intended usage was for MS Office including occasional presentations. Cost was one of the primary considerations, so was having a well rounded package with respect to features and a reasonable weight and size. After a bit of research, I narrowed down the HP Compaq CQ45-106AU laptop, which seems to be an India specific model available at less than Rs 40K INR.

Specs:

• AMD Turion X2 Dual Core RM-70 Processor at 2 GHz (1 MB L2 Cache)
• 2 GB DDR2 800 MHz memory (1 DIMM, expandable up to 8 GB)
• 250 GB HDD, 5400 rpm
• 14.1" WXGA Display (1280 * 800)
• ATI Radeon HD 3200 Graphics (using shared memory)
• 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
• 3 USB (one shared with eSATA), 1 HDMI, 1 VGA, 1 RJ-45, 1 RJ-11, Headphone, Mic
• Integrated Fingerprint Reader
• Altec Lansing speakers
• Compaq webcam with integrated mic
• HP Remote Control
• 56K Modem
• Integrated 802.11b/g WLAN and BT

I just had two days to play around with the laptop before sending it off, so did not get enough time to fully utilize or understand the system. Here are the initial impressions:

• Performance is good (at least on paper), and cheaper than comparable Intel Core 2 Duo processor based system
• Nice display, even though it is a bit too reflective for my taste
• Design and packaging is nice, but the glossy surface shows fingerprints
• Battery life seems to be a concern with the 6 cell battery
• Not a gaming machine (not a requirement for me) due to the absence of advanced graphics card with dedicated memory
• Came with Windows Vista Home Basic (included in price)
• Did not come with recovery CD/DVD, user needs to create one

Overall a neat package with a very well rounded system at a decent price. And I got a nice HP laptop bag free with the laptop.