Laptops Arena

With this entire world crisis that has been going on, people really have to cut out some expenses if they still want to afford to refill the fridge. But what if you find yourself in such a situation where you have to buy a laptop and this was not on your monthly budgets. Let's see if we can help you as we will try to find the best laptop under $500.
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$488 is the price of the Compaq CQ50 100EM SI40. The processor it uses is an AMD Sempron which has 2.0 GHz of speed; it has 1 GB of RAM and 120 GB of available disk space plus some 319 MB of shared graphics memory. This means it's a good laptop for basic and mainstream usage, even if you won't be able to play any new games with it. It will help you get along with regular tasks like surfing the internet, reading you e-mails or using the Microsoft Office suite. You will probably get your system with Windows Vista Home Basic operating system already installed but we think that 1 GB of RAM would help the laptop run even better if you had a version of Windows XP (Vista is normally used when you have at least 2 GB of RAM). Other features of this laptop are the 3 USB ports, the 5-in-1 card reader, 802.11b/g WLAN, high-speed 56K modem, VGA out, cable docking connector and HDMI connector. In addition to all this, you have a DVD burner that uses LightScribe technology which means you can create your own disc labels and you have good Altec Lansing speakers which produce a decent sound. The display is 15.4 inch long which is the regular size for the mainstream laptop. The laptop looks quite elegant with that combination of silver and black. All this, plus the 6-cell battery weight less than 3 kilos.

The Toshiba Equiium L350-10L has almost the same price as the Compaq CQ50 100EM SI40 except the features are a little bit different. First of all, this laptop looks way better. It has a matte silver lid which actually makes it look like a jewel. When you open the lid you will find silver palm rests and a black keyboard which seem to be in perfect combination. At 1.73 GHz of speed, this Toshiba has an Intel Pentium Dual Core T2370 processor plus some 2 GB of RAM. The hard disk has the same 120 GB capacity as the laptop presented above but the graphics card is an Intel GMA X1300 which is slightly better. You have an integrated webcam which does not produce such quality images but it will do better if you use it with Skype. If you look carefully, next to the camera you will notice a small hole.



That is where you will find the integrated microphone. The really cool thing about this laptop is that you have a set of multimedia control buttons right above the keyboard and this laptop is 17 inches long. This means it's a really good desktop replacement because of the size of the display. You also have the numerical pad just like you do at your regular computer keyboard. Other good features are the stereo speakers which are quite good for such a cheap laptop; you have a wireless card, modem and even High Definition Audio support. Even if you get your with lots of software preinstalled, you can perform a disk cleanup and get rid of all the application you're never going to use.



Another very good choice in our opinion would be the Acer Aspire 5315 which kind of looks like a toy but we love it because it's really cute. We would recommend this laptop especially to students that don't wish to spend too much money on a laptop and need it for basic tasking. Personally, I would buy one for my mother because all she needs a laptop for is to check her e-mail and play Spider Solitaire. It has a 15.4 inch display which is just the right size, not too big and not too small to enjoy a good movie. We think it's funny because once you open the lid everything is white, from the keyboard to the palm rest so it's not exactly business looking. The specs (as you can imagine) are not that great. This notebook has an Intel Celeron 450 processor and 1 GB of RAM so we don't exactly recommend you run many programs simultaneously because your laptop might just give you the blue screen of death.



The battery life is not that amazing either since it will last a bit over 2 hours, but for students in campus dorms, these laptops are awesome. Even if it looks like it is made of cheap plastic, we think this laptop is very young-looking and it is still very resistant. Too bad that if you hand are just a little bit dirty, this becomes very visible on the white surface of the keyboard and palm rest. Three USB ports should be enough for you and you are certainly going to be happy to know that this laptop also has a DVD-RW drive.



If you are still looking for the best laptop under $500, you can always go with the Dell Vostro 1000 which I personally find horrible because not only it is very boring (it is entirely black - looks like it's going to a funeral) but the AMD processor has a huge amount of heat output which will quickly kill your battery. Other laptop models you can look into are the Lenovo ThinkPad R61e, the Gateway T-6815, the Compaq C700T or, if you like, you can check out some netbooks which are actually mini notebooks (mini because the size of the display varies from 8.9 inch to a maximum 12 inch) that do not have powerful components but due to their design, they are easier to carry around because they are compact and light. These mini notebook can also be found at about $300 - $400 but if you looking to use them at home, as your primary computer, they are definitely not recommended for purchase  because their components are very weak and except for web-browsing and document reading and editing, you can't do pretty much anything else with them.

As most of you may already know, Compaq laptops have had many problems, especially in the period before HP's takeover of the company. The Compaq nx6125 has been a pleasant surprise to us, since we didn't expect to see anything good and new from Compaq.  The first thing that catches the eye is the business looking dark grey skin of this machine which gives us a big hint about who this laptop was made for. The price of $1200 dollars did not seem that much compared to what we usually expect to see in HP models. The justification may be the (low) quality of the AMD Turion 64 processor compared to the Intel processors that HP normally uses. The good thing is that since this CPU is not that powerful, this helps save up battery life. The 512 MB of RAM should be enough for business needs especially since most people who buy this laptop just use it in the office.
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The display in 15 inches long and so the laptop weight 2.7 kg which is not that heavy. Using the ATI Mobility Radeon X300 graphics, you can use this laptop for general programs, not suitable for any fancy gaming but it's ok considering the market segment and the destination of use. You also have a fingerprint reader to assure maximum security. Now it's safe to leave the laptop anywhere as nobody can log on to Windows but you. No other person can access your files to copy, modify or delete them with this fingerprint authentication system. You have 60 GB of free disk space to store your files and if this is not enough then you can use the DVD writer drive to make some DVD with the files you need.  The 6-in-1 card reader should come in handy as well. You also have a PC Card slot and an Express card slot that might be useful likewise. You will probably get your system with Windows XP Professional preinstalled and some other HP software which you can choose to delete if you find it useless (I would keep the Norton Antivirus and the Win DVD creator if I were you).

Due to the business look, this is a very manly notebook especially since the color is so dark and the shape is kind of square. This laptop is very durable thanks to the built-in features. The display is ok and it isn't tiring for the eyes. You can also adjust the brightness and squeeze the juice out of the battery life. The laptop has two large speakers located right on the front edge and they provide quality sound from what we expected to find in a Compaq laptop. But if you want to enjoy the full sound quality of a game or movie, we recommend you buy a decent set of headphones.



The keyboard really reminded us of your usual computer desktop keyboard, which is solid and hard to scratch. The keys are very large and the whole layout of the keyboard is naturally sized. You will find those multi-functional keys very useful to adjust the brightness and such and you have the regular wireless switch, mute volume button which have light-indicators above them. The touchpad has the scroll area integrated. The button may be a little loud but his is something you will get used to do. We recommend the use of the external mouse, especially if you have your laptop placed on a plain surface like the table or the desk.



The 6-cell battery will last about 3 or 4 hours with wireless function turned on and the display adjusted at its full brightness. If you choose to change the battery and buy another one, we recommend you consider a normal battery, not a very heavy one which will spoil the entire portability concept.  We are not satisfied with the poor graphics card as we expected to find a much better one considering the price you have to pay for this notebook.

Overall, people are quite happy with this laptop and it's a serious business look gadget. Above all, they consider it to be quite cheap and even though they are mostly good only for regular applications (like surfing the web, writing documents, listening to music, watching a movie or editing pictures) than you a got a notebook that is about to do some serious work here. We think the Compaq nx6125 laptop has shown some stiff competition for other famous brands like Acer of Fujitsu (even HP, I might add).



You get good build quality and it has everything you need for mobile purposes and everything is topped by the good price offer. The keyboard and display are just what you need for the size and weight of this laptop and the automatic power save feature you come really in handy even if this is not that important to you (you never know when you'll be in need of some extra battery power and have no power outlet around).

The cons are not that big of a deal and by cons I mean the poor display of the model presented above and the poor graphics card which turns out it's not such a negative aspect anyway. The DVD writer is also a bit slow but this should not affect your usage of this laptop very much. As for the ports and connection, which are less then on other laptop models but they should be enough unless you are very very picky about your laptop.



As a wrap-up, it's fair to say that Compaq performances have improved since HP took over the company back in 2002 and you should really look into some other Compaq models and give them a change. There are user's reviews available on different websites which can help you form an opinion prior to buying a product.  The Compaq nx6125 laptop is surely one very good business machine which you should take into consideration when purchasing a notebook for office needs. Just read some other reviews as well, you don't have to take our word for it.

Founded in 1982, Compaq Computer Corporation used to be one of the largest suppliers of personal computing systems in the world. In 2002, the company merged with Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Compaq is now an HP brand. In case you were wondering, Compaq stands for „Compatibility and Quality". In 1982, Compaq also announced the launching of their first product, a portable IBM PC compatible personal computer. The Compaq Portable was the grandfather of today's laptop and it was even called a "suitcase computer" back then.
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The Compaq R3000 is a laptop that looks good and has nice features. The CPU is an Intel Pentium 4 at 2.8GHz and 512MB of PC2700 DDR memory and the graphics card is the well known integrated ATI Radeon 9000. The display is 15.4 inches long but since the laptop weighs around 8 pounds, we would not exactly call it portable. You get one-year limited warranty. Seems enough, as the Compaq R3000 has proven its durability thanks to the smooth rounded corners it has. As far as the design goes, this laptop is quite pleasant to the eye, as there is a nice combination of black plastic and a thinner-feeling silver plastic. On the bottom side, the laptop was equipped with rubber feet in each of the four corners, probably for cooling purposes. Just like most Toshiba models, the Compaq R3000 has all of its USB ports and interfaces on both sides of the laptop.

Things may seem pretty good so far, but the Compaq R3000 has some negative aspects that the company has failed to deal with so far. There have been numerous complaints about a power issue with this laptop as it will not hold a connection with the AC adapter. Lots of consumers have reported the same power jack problem, the laptop does not charge and this eventually leads to shutdown. The general problem is that the jack on the motherboard comes loose and the solution to the problem is quite simple, all you have to do is solder it. However, if HP does not acknowledge this problem, they will lose many customers.

The are lots of Compaq R3000 laptop complaints available for you to read on the web. Customers would go so far as intending a lawsuit against HP. Unsatisfied clients who experienced problems with their R3000, called customer service or the tech department. If the product is out of warranty, you have to pay some hundreds of dollars for the repairs. An unhappy customer even threatened HP to write a letter of complaint to the State Attorney General's office as they are the ones who monitor the business dealings of any company in the United States.  This customer also said he would write a letter to the local newspaper, to inform them about all these problems.

Here are some tips on how to get this problem solved. Be careful though, you should have a minimum knowledge in IT or engineering field or else you might mess things up really bad. If you are having the same power problems with your Compaq and you need to plug and unplug it constantly to get the charge to work and if you experienced power down problems when using your laptop, this is what you have to do. If there is a problem with your power jack, you may need to take your R3000 apart down to the motherboard and re-solder the power jack. Taking your laptop apart is not such an easy process and it may take a couple of hours to do it. Be careful where you put those tiny screw, you wouldn't want to lose any of them. Just know that it's pretty hard to put everything back together again. If this does not solve your problem, then you may need a new power jack which is quite cheap if you place an order on EBAY. When it arrives, you need to fit it on the end of the power charger cord and if it is much tighter than the one you have before, than that was your problem. After many years of use, the power jack can get too loose. Take the unit apart again and solder in the new jack.



If the power cord is your problem than the end of the charger that you plug in the laptop may be worn out and this causes intermittent charging problems. In this case, you need to clip the cord and do some cutting for which you need a special knife and then you must rebuild the end and secure it using heat-shrink tubing. Don't forget to check the voltage by plugging the charger into the wall (you should have 18.5V). To do all the above you will need proper equipment. If you decide to send the laptop to a service for these repairs, it will cost you at least 200 - 300 dollars. Another solution for the problems above is to buy a docking station. This bypasses the AC port but your laptop will lose the concept of "portability".

Other people have experience problems with the volume down button which seems to get stuck. This makes it impossible to have sound anymore. This may be caused by a problem with the circuit board that is behind the sound connections. There were also some complaints about headphones not working with the Compaq R3000 (people heard distortions though the headphone) but this is easy to handle, as it might be a simple matter of incorrect settings in the control panel.



If you are having trouble with a blinking screen you may have a cable running loose in the flat panel connector on the back of the screen. Usually, this is a factory problem because they do not insert the parts correctly when manufactured. Again, if you don't wish to pay hundreds of dollars on repairs, you need to take apart your laptop.

Remember, if your laptop does not charge properly, the first thing you should do is check if this is not a battery problem. Laptop batteries run out pretty quick, especially for old laptop models and it may need to be replaced.

Hewlett- Packard is considered to be the largest technology company in the world who operates in nearly every country. HP is specialized in developing and producing computing, storage, and networking hardware, software and services. Also, HP is the largest seller of personal computers, surpassing Dell according to market research firms Gartner and IDC reported in January 2008.
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HP produces a wide range of notebooks for every segment of the computer market. A special attention is grated to the mobile business solutions. Such a solution is the HP Compaq 6830s. This notebook was designed for business men who need and want a large screen notebook. It comes with Windows Vista 32 bit pre-installed , with an optional downgrade to Windows XP.

Although it is a business solution, the 6830 weighs 3 kg and it is rather difficult cu carry around. The notebook is large due to the case which must fit a 17 inches display. The display is very good, supporting nearly full HD video -1,440 x 900. It is also very bright and pleasant to look at but when it runs on battery the image is very poor, sharp and with a wide viewing angle.

For business travels- HP has provided the 6830 with an 8-cell (63WHr) lithium ion battery. Having a large display, the 6830 needs every resource in that battery. Still, the battery lasts little over 2 hours. Because of its size, the 6830 has a near full sized keyboard with separate numeric keypad on the right side of the main keyboard. The layout of the keyboard makes use of the function key to access PrtSc, Scroll Lock and Pause. The function key can be used for selecting brightness, for volume and for monitor.

The speakers of the 6830 are relatively large but the sound they produce is tinny comparing to their size. Between the two speakers one can find the power and wireless network switches. The touchpad is located on the center-left side of the notebook in order to be aligned with the main keyboard.

The 6830 has a memory card reader which supports SD-MS, Pro MMC and XD cards, sockets for headphones and an external microphone. Located above the display there is a VGA (640 x 480) webcam which can help you in having a virtual face to face conversation. On the right side of the notebook there are two USB sockets and a Blu-ray drive. This can be used also for reading and writing DVDs and CDs. On the left side, we can find the Gigabit Ethernet socket, an external monitor connector, power socket, telephone line socket and another two USB sockets with an ExpressCard slot located above them.



The 6830 uses a Marvell 10/100/1000 Ethernet and built in modem, a Broadcom wireless adaptor that supports 802.11a/b/g/n draft 2.0 standard as well as Bluetooth 2.0- all these for a good connectivity and a sure data transfer.



HP Compaq 6830s is equipped with an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor with 1,2 or 4 GB of RAM. The large screen is supported by the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 343 with 128 or 256 MB of video memory. Because it is a business solution, security is very important. That's why, the 6830 is enhanced with: HP Protect Tools, Enhanced Pre-Boot Security, HP Spare Key, HP Disk Sanitizer, Drive encryption for HP Protect Tools, Credential Manager for HP Protect Tools, File Sanitizer for HP Protect Tools and Enhanced Drive Lock. Also, HP offers a 3 year limited warranty for this model.

Hp Compaq 6830s is a business notebook, with a large amazing display, a Blu-ray drive and some good pieces of hardware. Its size makes it rather uncomfortable to carry it every moment but the display pays it off. Also, the display is guilty for the 2 hour-lasting battery. All in all, using this notebook will surely be an experience.

Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq  existed as an independent corporation until 2002. Afterwards it merged with Hewlett-Packard and its name, meaning  "Compatibility and Quality" changed into HP. Compaq brand remains on only some consumer-orientated products, notably the Compaq Presario PCs.
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Compaq Presario 700 is a styled notebook- with a rounded case with black and metallic highlights and a large push-in release pops open the clamshell-style lid. Near the notebook's black keyboard you can find a silver power switch, volume buttons, and four shortcut buttons. The mouse is surrounded by a metallic border which makes the transitions to the mouse buttons at the ends. This notebook also has a four-way rocking button that lets you scroll vertically and horizontally through documents and Web pages. Other distinctive features include:  a bean shaped PC card release, a plastic business-card sheath on the bottom, and flip-out feet that tilt the keyboard for typing at an angle.

The Presario 700 is equipped with standard connections- two USB ports and an S-Video port for connecting a TV- all of them covered by the a long drop-down cover on the back.

The notebook has a floppy drive and a DVD- ROM drive which both are fixed so that you can't insert another drive, like another hard drive. If you run out of electricity, the battery will last you a little over 2 hours - which, in comparison with other notebooks is quite little.

Although the mouse buttons have an important visual effect, their comfort  is doubtful- they are too thin and stiff. If you don't like large designer labels you might find it difficult cu accept that this notebook has a large such label on the lid.  The Compaq Presario 700 doesn't have hinges- instead, it uses bendable plastic which looks very fragile.

If you need to follow the user's manual, this laptop doesn't come with printed documentation but you have everything you need to know on a CD-ROM.

Regarding dimensions, the Presario 700 has a typical size an weight for a notebook, with the floppy drive on the left and the DVD-ROM on the right. The speakers are very powerful but the memory and storage can be accessed very easily. The hard drive can be removed with a little help from a screw and push on a finger hold.

If we speak about system configuration, the Presario 700 has a 900-MHz AMD Mobile Duron CPU with 256MB of RAM, 64KB L2 cache. It comes with Windows XP Home already installed. The 14.1-inch active-matrix display is in a close connection with the  integrated Via ProSavage KN133 graphics chip with 16MB of SDRAM. You can save the information you need on the 20 GB hard drive and,if you run out of free space you can use the 8X DVD-ROM drive. Connecting to the internet is very easy with this notebook as it has both a V.90 modem and a network adapter.

The Presario 7000 has a weight of 7.6 pounds including AC adapter and phone cord and an one-year parts and labor warranty.

The stylish Presario 700 is well suited for those who want to be different- who are tired by the regular boxy notebooks. Although it is tastefully designed, this notebook is not suited for travelers because of the short battery life and the fixed drives.