I got to walmart at 7:30 this morning, they already had 30 people waiting in line, but luckily the store here got 86 laptops......they handed out numbers and I got one, paid for at the electronics dept. Then as I was walking out I noticed they were selling them up at the front of the store also, and the lady at the electronics dept. never took my numbered slip......so I ran the laptop out to my car and ran back in and bought a second one at the front, will make a good christmas present for my gf
Anyways, I was lucky enough to get in on the recent Gateway m-6862 deal from best buy, which I upgraded to a T8300 so I had the spare T5750 laying around. I went ahead and installed it on this Compaq.......just a forewarning, it was a PITA to install, because the whole laptop had to be disassembled to get to the CPU. In any case it was a worthwhile attempt, and the Compaq recognized the T5750 without a hitch......I have to admit the stock celeron was dog slow and I wasnt very happy with the stock performance.
Overall the Gateway was a much better purchase in my opinion, but here are my impressions of the Compaq CQ50
Likes:
It has a very stylish appearance, and seems to be built very solid.
The speakers are great.
The screen is nice for a glossy screen.
Has 2 DIMMs for easy ram upgrade.
Has a button to disable the touchpad if desired.
Nice sized CPU HSF assembly.
Easy access to ram, HDD, and wireless card.
Dislikes:
Did not come with an OS disk.
No bluetooth and didnt see another mini PCIe slot to upgrade to.
No card reader, webcam, or HDMI port.
The touchpad is painted so its kind of sticky and hard to navigate with.
The DVD rom drive is a pain to open, has a very small button on it.
CPU upgrade requires complete disassembly of the machine.
No wireless N. b/g only.
Dispite its flaws I think this one is worth the money, but anyone doing more than just meanial tasks would probably want to upgrade the CPU which might be a daunting task for some. With a pricetag at just over $300 most of the dislikes can be warrented as extras.