Rating: 
Summary: Okay machine, if you plan to just type.
Review: My friend owns this machine, his parents purchased it this past summer.
There are plenty of issues with this machine. The Celeron processor is always put to task, even on web pages. This model has sufficient video memory; however, it's shared, and it won't play some games correctly (GTA: Vice City, for example) without some addition to RAM. The machine has better ideas of what to do.
The machine is loud when taxed, and it can warm a cold room in minutes (well, I'm obviously exaggerating) and his machine's optical drive seems to cease to work on DVD-ROM and video discs. The LCD screen is easily marred by this design (think of Apple's 'chiclet' iBook design), which is definitely going to distract the user.
This machine's only worth a look if you run a company, have the power to buy in bulk and knows the limits of this machine; but other comparable machines surpass this model in everything performance, price, and value.
HP also markets this configuration with slight cosmetic change, which is sold at many discount retailers.
The good thing about this notebook is that it actually has ports for PS/2 (keyboard/mouse), infared, and a serial port. The video ram is sufficient if it was not shared.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Low-price Solution
Review: This notebook computer is certainly a great way to go for anyone looking for a low-cost, home laptop.The processor is certainly fast enough to accomplish most anything typical home users are planning on doing. As long as you are not planning on running several RAM eating programs (e.g., Adobe Illustrator and Freehand) simultaneously you will never really occur to you to call your computer is "slow." I am running a full Microsoft Office Suite and programs like Adobe Photoshop (also Elements) and have not run into any significant memory or speed issues. The computer runs a little slow at start up, but otherwise it moves right along. I would recommend not installing every little program that you can on this (or any machine) since doing so will chip away at your memory and create a slower and less stable system over time. The touch pad isn't the greatest I've used, but there is a nicely placed mouse port so I can use my favorite mouse most of the time anyway. Compared to other notebooks, the keyboard is certainly up to par, though not as nice as some desktop keyboards (which you could also easly plug into the notebook). I'm not sure why the other review was unable to find an adequate CD burning utility. It has Roxio which is fine for music, data, or CD-RW burning. The screen plays DVDs very nicely, while the computer has several DVD player pre-installed to choose from. I am very happy with this machine. It's certainly not as powerful as comparably-priced desktop machines, but I'll the slight differences in performance to have the portablity. (The battery has about 3.5 hours of life when fully charged.) Like any computer, getting rid of the pre-loaded promotional software (AOL et al) is annoying. But the money Compaq gets from these placements means I was able to secure a great quality notebook for [a great price]. It's a great way to go.
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