The HP Compaq Presario series is a line of business laptops that have been produced by Compaq. It is currently made up of three models: the CQ20, the CQ40 and the CQ60. For this review, let us look at the series as a whole as well as take a quick peek at what each unit has to offer the consumer.

Clearly, Compaq has intended this series to appeal more to the businessman or the student rather than the gamer. These people need processing power that will allow them to finish work quickly. They cannot afford lags as these are people that are always constrained by time requirements and tight deadlines. As such, they are all powered by an Intel Centrino 2 GHz P7350 Core2Duo processor. Though a little older than the next-generation Core i7 processor technology, the Core 2 Duo processor can still hold its own and is powerful enough in its own right. In other words, the HP Compaq Presario series still promises a satisfactory performance in multi-tasking and multi-threading even with memory hungry applications. This power is backed by a fat memory bank of 2 gigabytes.

The CQ laptops lack dedicated graphics card, with the exception of the CQ60 which has an Nvidia GeForce 9200 GS 256MB video processor. Otherwise, the CQ20 and the CQ40 rely on an integrated Intel GMA 4500MHD and an Intel GMA X4500 graphics card, respectively. This doesn’t matter though, because first and foremost the HP Compaq Presario is intended solely for normal computing requirements. The CQ60 does stand out with its dedicated graphics adapter, although at 256 megabytes it still cannot process heavy graphics like 3D and the newer games on the market. You would need at least 512 megabytes of video memory for that, and you would be better off looking at other models.

Since its target base requires ample disk space to store their important files in, the HP Compaq Presario laptops are equipped with 250 gigabytes worth of hard disk space. There’s more than enough room for school reports, business documents, as well as multimedia files like music and movies.

The HP Compaq Presario series laptops are all armed with the necessary connectivity features to make data sharing a bit easier. They all have USB ports, as well as connections for both infrared and Bluetooth. They even have modems for 56kbps Internet, although so few people now rely on such a connection. They are all also capable of running wireless local area networks with support for multiple LAN standards.

Lastly, all HP Compaq Presario notebooks are armed with HDMI ports that will allow you to connect them to an HDTV. You can use this to watch your favorite shows in true HD resolution. With the CQ60’s GeForce graphics card, you can even play some games in large screen.

HP Compaq Presario CQ20

The little brother of the three HP Compaq Presario laptops, the CQ20 is armed with a very small 12 inch LCD screen for its display. It is also the lightest of the three, weighing less than kilograms. This makes the CQ20 a very good traveling companion.

Price: The CQ20 falls right into the US$1000 price range, as estimated by Cnet.

PROS

It is very light. It is like carrying nothing when taking the CQ20 along on a journey. The HDMI port is also a very welcome feature, as well as the 1280×800 resolution on its display screen.

CONS

The CQ20 lacks a good graphics card that will allow it to process 3D graphics. People who’d like to play games would be sorely disappointed at the CQ20. The 12-inch LCD screen could make it difficult to use by people with vision problems.

HP Compaq Presario CQ40

The middle range laptop of the series, the CQ40 is a 14-incher sports a similar resolution as its little brother the CQ20. It shares all the features of the CQ20 as well as some of the features of the CQ60 with the exception of the dedicated graphics card. Just like the other two HP Compaq Presario notebooks in this review, the CQ40 also has an HDMI port for connection to an HDTV.

Price: for the CQ40 are estimated to start at US$700 according to Cnet figures.

PROS

The 14-inch screen is large enough, and its native resolution gives the user access to clarity and detailed displays. You can even expand it to an HDTV like the CQ20, thanks to the HDMI port in its graphics processor.

CONS

The CQ40 also lacks the capability to process heavy graphics, since it also has an integrated graphics media accelerator that shares memory with the motherboard.

HP Compaq Presario CQ60

The CQ60 has all the features of the other two CQ models. However, it is unique because of its Nvidia Geforce 256 MB 9200M GS video adapter. This gives the CQ60 the ability to process games that the CQ40 and the CQ20 cannot accommodate; however, the options are still quite limited for the gamer.

Price: The starting range for the CQ60’s price is at US$1,103.64, as estimated by Cnet.

PROS

The Nvidia Geforce graphics card boosts the performance of the CQ60, since graphics don’t have to eat away at the memory used by the computer to run programs.

CONS

Though it has a dedicated graphics card, it only has 256 megabytes of video memory so it still cannot play the heavier games common today.

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