Customer Reviews

Compaq Presario CQ5500F Desktop PC - Black

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Well I just received this computer about two days ago, but despite this, I think I can make a pretty good assessment about its pros and cons thus far. I'll begin by saying that from an aesthetic viewpoint, this computer looks very nice. The case itself is matte, but the front bezel itself is a nice, glossy finish that really does look nice, all things considered. It has two USB 2.0 ports on the front as well as jacks for both headphones and a microphone, so no need to reach around to the back of the unit if you don't feel like it. Oh yes, just so you're not as confused as I was at first, the power button is technically located on what would be your right hand side if the computer's front is facing you, situated near the top of the case. The button is illuminated by a somewhat irritating bright blue LED, a lighting choice that seems to have become popular in the computer market these days, so it's kind of a take it or leave it thing depending on how you feel about such. The only ridiculous part of the external design is, in my opinion, the terribly designed bay for the DVD reader. A plastic flap obscures the drive itself, and to open it, one presses a silver button directly underneath this flap. Now this is all fine and dandy until you try to use it: would a nuclear power plant have a computer monitoring the reactor that is rendered inoperable after turning it on? The same issue takes place here--the plastic flap actually flips over the button itself after opening, making it a totally unnecessary fiasco to press the button again to let the drive read a placed disc. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that after a few uses the flap becomes a little stiff; it will show some difficulty closing after the drive door recedes. This is not anything severe, but you will probably have to push it closed manually. There's one more big issue that came up, actually: NO CASE FAN. I'm surprised this evaded my notice for so long. This computer should run pretty cool, and a case fan can run anywhere from $5-20, but the fact that they didn't include this is actually really underhanded if this is HP's idea of "cutting costs." Still, it hasn't blown up on me yet, and a fan is shipping in the mail. 1/2 point off.

The hardware itself is decent; nothing mindblowing in this box to be sure. Two gigs' worth of DDR3 memory should give this computer some decent punch, but why not upgrade to four and max out its potential?***NOTE*** Apparently Amazon was wrong about the memory type. Another reviewer found it to be DDR2 memory instead of DDR3, so plan accordingly before purchasing!***NOTE*** The PSU is 250 watts, I believe. This should be enough to power everything on board adequately, but in case you were intending to add a second hard drive or add a graphics card, upgrading the power supply may be wise. In any case, it only comes with two power couplings for SATA-type devices, both of which are already in use by the hard drive and DVD drive. It does have some older MOLEX-type adaptors, however, and the motherboard hosts one IDE slot. I do have to mention that the power supply is kind of a pain in the rear to remove, though. The box also hosts one PCI slot, two PCI-e and one PCI-e16, I think. I'll verify this later. Graphics are integrated--not what you would want for gaming, but I find they're adequate enough to play PoxNora online with minimal hiccups, so it can carry you through in many cases. Processor is an AMD Sempron, which is a lower level unit, although it's definitely strong enough to run Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit without any issue. I'm having the hardest time finding out what's the biggest processor the motherboard will take, however; even the HP website and several manuals I've read thus far seem not to be willing to divulge this useful bit of knowledge. Overall, though, I think I can recommend this one as a purchase, especially for this ridiculously low price.

***EDIT*** They (Amazon) just lowered this PC's price to under $300 for a few days. It has since went back up to the default price, sadly. I'm not sure if that means I bought a lemon, but this is a definite must buy if you need decent computing power and the latest Windows OS at a price so low it could be called criminal. Just remember that Windows7 Home Premium does have some compatibility problems with older programs...to remedy this, you will need to change to either Professional or Ultimate.

Trust me, this computer is worth the money. It's very quick and stylish, perfect for a modern computer room. It has 3 or so USB docks, convenient for if you have a mouse, a p-drive, a camera, a phone... All that other junk that you need to strap up to your computer, you can do it all at once.

I've had it for a few months, and it's still as fast as it was when I got it. Now, I'm no computer tech, I really don't understand the details, but let me tell you, it almost overwhelmed me, all of the programs and upgrades and services this computer comes with, not to mention the cool backgrounds and designs you can customize your desktop with.

A great buy, you won't be disappointed!

I was able to get this computer for 279.99 over Labor Day weekend at Office Max.
It had what I needed, just a basic,fast computer. Had it up and running in 30 minutes! plus free shipping!!!!

I was looking for a reasonably priced computer to replace the one I had, and was pleased with the price, initial quality, and ease to set up of this computer. When it arrived, I was frightened, as the amazon.com box it came in was almost completely destroyed, but the box and computer itself were fine. Otherwise a good purchase.

I purchased this computer as a replacement/upgrade for computer whose power unit fried unepetedly I was amazed at how easy it was to familiarize myself to windows 7 and the software package is decent.

I don't know what Amazon is selling this PC for, but I bought mine at Office Max for [...] (that's including tax and all) it was marked down [...] dollars off, unopened box.

This thing runs great right out of the box. There is no HP/Compaq recovery CD for restoring the system included, instead they have a separate partition setup on the hard drive containing all of the Windows 7 files and goodies with a utility that can format and reinstall windows whenever you like.
Out of the box, setup is as follows... plug it in, turn it on, after about 5 min Windows 7 is up and running fresh and clean, now go about your business.

The Hardware...
The processor is good enough to work with, although it is the bottom line cheapest CPU on the market at about $30.00 bucks retail value. It can accomplish most tasks at a reasonable speed, but I'd recommend upgrading this sucker if the speed bugs you. The motherboard supports a very large variety of processors from AMD all the way up to the new AMD Phenom II Quad Core processors, if you want the top of the line processor currently on the market it will be about a $130.00 chip you can swap out. I did it, installation was a breeze.

The integrated video card is fairly weak. While its enough to do basic business tasks or view 3d models, you won't be able to do much gaming with the integrated graphics. The motherboard does support PCI-E X16 graphics cards though. All I had to do was take the PCI-E video card from my old PC and stick it in. Once again, installation was a breeze and I was good to go. If you're looking for a good gaming graphics card for this PC it will probably run you around another $130.00 (EVGA GeForce GT 240 should do fine (this is a PCI-E 2.0 card, but it will work with this board))

The memory this PC comes with is a good amount for any user (2GB DDR2), I haven't found the need to upgrade this yet. There is an open slot available though to add additional memory if you wanted to. Another stick of memory could run you about $20-$30 bucks

The only other addition I felt needed to be installed was a wireless network card. $40.00, stuck it in the available PCI slot and I was good to go.

I started with a great PC and over time I've found ways to upgrade it to make it better and better. Its very serviceable, its very expandable. I'd recommend this PC to everyone.

...because, after almost 6 hours having to endure the unproductive, absolute farce called "technical support," it was determined that the unit was shipped with defective software and has since been taken back to factory default. That done, for the one week of service, the machine seems to have been giving at least adequate performance. Part of the reason it isn't possible to offer more specific observations is that I'm new to WIN 7.

ADDENDUM: This unit replaced a Dell Desktop Vostro 200 (XP Pro platformed) which "died" just short of 3 years of use. After about 2 months of operation, it can be said that the performance of the Compaq is barely adequate because it is VERY slow, by comparison. Is it worth ca. USD325 ? Well, I'd have paid $100. more for even 50% faster.

I'm helping my aunt with this model, which runs pretty well and seemed to be a good buy. It's 4 mos. old--I called HP tech support and they told me that the warranty expired after 90 days on "refurbished" models. No where on the box that this thing came in does it say "refurbished". Boot disk error is easily correctable provided you made the disks, but we unfortunately didn't do that. Nonetheless, it's not a positive sign that we're getting this error after 4 mos. Fortunately, there may be a work-around of tech support. At the startup, DOS should have a function (F12?) that will restore the OS from day 1. Moral of the story--if you spend a comparable amount of money on a computer such as this, you should make your boot disks ASAP, get good anti-virus and dot your i's and cross your t's when operating it. Better to spend a couple of hundred bucks more. Cheap models now a days are getting lots of problems. They seem to be cutting more corners in China now.

The first time I start up during the day usually results in a Book Disk Error. Replaced Hard Drive, no change. HP support is useless, after sending it back, they said they ran diagnostics, but couldn't replicate, so they sent it back. Problem showed up as soon as I turned it on.

This is my third unit that I have purchased, the system is superbly fast and the price is even better. I had it up and running in no time and I am amazed at the speed of the system running Windows 7. It is whisper quite as well, Just perfect, the memory is easily expanded. Thank you HP, I think I will buy more of this model, this is a Bargain.