HP Compaq Presario CQ42-136TU

The vast majority of today’s entry-level laptops have a very dull and bland design that manufacturers have been sticking to for ages. In some way this is understandable taking into consideration the success of these budget models and one fine example would have to be this HP Compaq Presario CQ42-136TU, priced for less than $500. Aside from looking very boring, its name isn’t very catchy as well, on the contrary. That triangular inlaid pattern makes it rather unremarkable but that’s what you get in a cheap laptop.

On the flip side, the design of this model is not that bad, featuring a very comfortable keyboard that makes typing a pleasurable activity, while the 14-inch screen is very nice as it has a native resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, making it suitable for watching HD content.

A mid-range configuration of this model will get you a modest Intel Celeron T3100 processor clocked at 1.90 GHz, with 2 GB of RAM and a 250 GB hard drive that spins at 7200 RPM. In addition, it packs a low-entry Intel 4500M Graphics Media Accelerator while in the optical drive department you get a LightScribe SuperMulti DVD+/-RW with support for double layer discs. You’ll also get headphone jacks and a 5-in-1 card reader.

The model is shipped as standard with the 32 bit version of the Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, along with the traditional HP Support Assistance, HP Wireless Assistant, HP Advisor, Adobe Reader, HP Software Update and others as well, like the Adobe Flash Player and Shockwave Player or PowerDVD.

Taking into consideration its rather thin specs sheet, you shouldn’t be surprised that this HP Compaq Presario CQ42-136TU only scores 3904 points in PCMark05 and 728 points in 3DMark06 so this isn’t a laptop that can satisfy your gaming needs. However, you will certainly appreciate the battery life of this notebook as its 6-cell lithium-ion pack should provide enough juice for 2 hours and 30 minutes if you disable all the battery-saving measures, you increase the brightness to the maximum level and you do some video testing. This means that under normal circumstances, it should be able to last up to three hours or so, which is quite respectable for such an entry-level model.

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