The Bottom Line
Compaq's Presario CQ50Z is very attractive laptop thanks to its really low price. It can be found for under $500 quite regularly. The problem is that consumers give up a lot to get the laptop for so little. Performance is much lower than just slightly more expensive Intel based systems. Even worse is that the system lacks many ports essential for expanding the capabilities of the laptop. About the only other thing going for it are the graphics that are slightly better than Intel's integrated solution, but don't expect to be playing current PC games on it really.
Pros
* Inexpensive
* Graphics Better Than Most Integrated Solutions
Cons
* Limited Performance
* No Expansion Card Slots
* Lacks FireWire Ports
Description
* AMD Turion X2 QL-60 Dual Core Mobile Processor
* 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2 Memory
* 160GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive
* 8x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner with LightScribe
* 15.4" WXGA (1280x800) Wide LCD Display
* NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G Graphics
* v.92 56Kbps Modem, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wireless
* Three USB 2.0, 5-in-1 Card Reader
* 14.1" x 10.1" x 1.8" @ 6.5 lbs.
* Vista Home Premium, Works, PhotoSmart Essentials, AutoProducer, Cyberlink DVD Suite, Norton Internet Security
Guide Review - Compaq Presario CQ50Z 15.4-inch Budget Laptop PC
The Compaq Presario CQ50Z is really a system of compromises. In order to get the price so low, the system seems to lack many standard features found on just about any other laptop on the market. Some of the items missing include a FireWire port and an ExpressCard slot. Both of these are critical for those looking to expand their notebook for use with external devices such as digital camcorders or a Wireless WAN. What consumers get in exchange for dropping these features is an extremely affordable laptop.
Performance is certainly not one of the strong points with the Presario CQ50Z. The system is based upon an AMD Turion X2 QL-60 dual core mobile processor. While this is decent for basic productivity and web browsing, it falls behind the Intel Core 2 Duo processors by a fairly large margin when it comes to multimedia applications that require more processing power. The 2GB of memory will let it run smooth enough with Vista though.
One area where the Presario CQ50Z has an advantage is in the graphics. It uses the NVIDIA GeForce 8200M G graphics that give it a bit better performance than most of the integrated solutions provided from Intel or ATI. It may be able to play some of the older PC games on the market, but don't expect it to provide enough performance for modern PC games. It also lacks the ability to really support HD video decoding.
With all these compromises, the Presario CQ50Z will have a limited audience. Users with the need for multimedia or digital video will be extremely disappointed with the system, but those needing just a basic computer for productivity and internet may be satisfied with the price even with its limitations.