A Review of the Very Accessible Compaq Presario F761US 15.4" Laptop

Now that students are beginning to get their school acceptance letters there has been a noted increase in the number of budget laptops being sold. These notebooks allow students to hit the road with a little computing power without breaking their (or their parents bank). I have been able to get my hands on the Compaq Presario F761US 15.4" laptop and have decided to give it a thorough once over. First I'll start with some of the basics.

Hardware:

Processor: 64-bit 1.9 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-57

Storage Space: 160GB hard drive

RAM: 1 GB of RAM (upgradable to a 3 GB maximum)

Optical Drive: a CD R/RW with integrate LightScribe dual-layer DVD +/- drive

Graphics Accelerator: Nvidia GeForce 7000M video card (using a total of 287MB of video RAM)

Dimensions: 14.0" x 10.1" x 1.5" and weighs a paltry 5.6lbs.

While not known for their displays this compact has an excellent wide screen WXGA high-definition display operating at a resolution of 1280 x 800. This display is clean and crispy with a glossy finish. It does have some washout and glare in direct sunlight but it isn't overwhelming.

The processor is very strong in this notebook especially considering it's price point. I also like the graphics card which allows for some gaming, however don't expect to turn the graphics up all the way. It desperately needs a RAM upgrade it is a bit disappointing, you need at least a minimum of 2GB of RAM in my opinion to run Vista properly. As far as storage space goes, the 160GB is adequate for this notebook's capabilities.

Connectivity:

Integrated Wireless

1 Ethernet port (to connect to wired LANs)

3 2.0 USB ports (these are used to connect various peripherals like printers, iPods or digital cameras)

1 VGA port (a typical monitor connection)

1 S-Video port (typically used to connect to projectors or some compatible televisions)

1 audio out / 1 mic in

1 modem port (so you can dial up to the Internet)

5 in 1 memory card reader (this is used to directly insert solid state memory from mobile devices like PDAs or digital cameras)

The connectivity in this notebook is great, although I would like to see an integrated Bluetooth adapter. This isn't a huge problem because these can be picked up relatively cheaply but then you sacrifice a USB port and you need to also factor in the RAM upgrade you'll likely need. In the end this notebook comes in at around $579 which is right on target. Shop around though and see if you can't find something on sale that might beat this notebook out. If this is a notebook that will be tossed in a book bag or otherwise handled roughly this would be a perfect option.