A great laptop for everyday usage (Compaq Presario CQ60-214EM)

Member Name: Ducky78

Product:	Compaq Presario CQ60-214EM
Date:	01/08/09 (46 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely wide screen; great speed and memory; great reliability.

Disadvantages: Sound quality is poor

I bought my Compaq laptop at John Lewis for £379. It came with 2 years guarantee - the first year is the manufacturers guarantee and the second year is provided by John Lewis themselves.

I bought the computer to replace my Toshiba laptop which had lasted over 3 years but died due to an unfortunate accident with a cup of tea.

About the computer:
It is about 38cms by 25.5cms by 4cms. It weighs 2.75kg. I find it is best used as a home laptop rather than one you would carry around on a regular basis.

Screen
The screen feels like a widescreen but is 15.6inches. The screen quality is good. It makes finding things much easier on the computer screen.

Keyboard
The keyboard is really nice to use with well spaced keys that only need a light tap. The main part of the laptop is wide enough to have a laptop and a numeric keypad to the left. This has been an excellent feature for me to use as I do quite a lot of spreadsheet work. If you are used to a laptop with just a standard keyboard the addition of the keypad is a little strange as you have to type 'off-centre'.

Sound
This is one feature I really am unimpressed with. There are no mechanisms for adjusting the sound except using the on-screen system. This can be really hard when you are watching a film/iPlayer etc. I have also found the sound quality to be poor especially when I am loading tracks into itunes.

Operating system
The laptop came preloaded with Windows Vista along with a 60 day/20 use trial for Microsoft Office 2007. I won't talk about this in much detail except to say the transition from XP and Office 2003 has been a bit hard for me.

RAM/Memory
The computer comes with 3GB of RAM and 250GB of memory. This is probably too much for my needs right now but I want a computer that can cope with future needs as I plan to keep the computer for at least three years.

Other extras
The laptop has a webcam; 5-in-1 card reader which is really useful for downloading photos etc; 3 USB ports; a Lightscribe DVD re-writer.

Battery life
The battery life is pretty good. I can usually use the laptop for a good 90 minutes before it is a problem.

Usability
Overall this is a great everyday laptop. I use it most days and I never have to worry. It is fast enough to cope with my usage. The extra year of insurance provided by John Lewis has given me extra piece of mind.

Summary: A great all-round laptop

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