Design
The Compaq Presario C500 is an attractive budget laptop which is finished in two tones of matte silver. The unit makes the most of the screen real estate with a very small bezel, and has a surprisingly small footprint. The unit is quite thick, however, due to the exhaust vents being underneath -- it even has feet to prop the laptop up off the desk, which is a little unusual.
All its ports and connectors are conveniently accessible on both sides of the laptop. There is actually nothing on the back you would need to reach around for -- not even the power supply -- which is great as you will never have to flip it around to plug anything in.
The build quality is mostly good, though the keyboard is somewhat flimsy -- it moves up and down as you type. Easily accessible above the keyboard are dedicated buttons for volume and wireless networking. These light up when active which is great for quick control and feature status.
Features
The Presario C500 is powered by an Intel 1.7Ghz Celeron Mobile processor. It may not be fast, but it gets the job done. The unit comes with 512MB RAM as standard and it has a spare memory slot so you can easily upgrade -- running Vista can be memory hungry, and so a minimum of 1GB is recommended -- even for the Basic version.
The C500's 1280 x 800 pixel widescreen has a nice gloss finish and offers quite reasonable levels of brightness. Only one combo drive included so you won't b able to burn DVDs but all other equipment levels are as you would expect, including all standard features such as 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11g wireless networking, a modem, three USB ports and VGA and S-Video connections.
Performance
Battery performance testing wasn't particularly noteworthy. Under the standard Battery Eater test its battery life was only average at one hour thirty-seven minutes. This is with wireless networking turned off, so you can expect slightly bigger impact on power if you want to use Wi-Fi.
Performance also wasn't spectacular compared to some of its bigger cousins. The Presario C500 achieved an overall 1507 with PCMark 05. Higher end laptops will generally score over 2000 so it is definitely not going to compete with them, but compared to other laptops in its price range this unit sits well above average.
(Longer bars indicate better performance.)
(Longer bars indicate better performance.)
Conclusion
At $999, this laptop is definitely good value. Features are reasonable, but a DVD burner would be a good addition to the package. Its performance is better than many other budget laptops we've tested in the past and overall it is a solid product well worth consideration.
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TRL
08/10/2008, 08:58 AM
rating
10/10
Very Slow, overheats & shuts off frequently, fan is shot, don't know why, dvd player doesnt work anymore,
dont buy.
Im getting a mac.
Pros: not much
Cons: very slow
overheats
shot fan
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tyler
16/09/2008, 09:45 PM
rating
8/10
just go to fry's (if you have on near you) pay the 40 bucks for 2 gigs of ram and EVERYONE SMILES.... hurray!!!!
Pros: nice big hard drive. wide screen =]
Cons: holy **** i hate vista
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hotdog
06/09/2008, 03:10 PM
rating
4/10
Came with Vista Basic and runs like a dead dog.
Pros: Cheap
Cons: Achingly slow
Vista
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NCman
02/09/2008, 12:30 AM
rating
8/10
Good laptop
Pros: Nice wide screen.
Cons: The only con I have is low volume. I have all drivers and still no volume. Good sound, just not enough volume.
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Vee
15/07/2008, 10:46 AM
rating
7/10
Please read my pros and cons listed below, sums up my comments.
Pros: haven't had a bit of trouble aside from the cons listed below
Cons: BATTERY LIFE!!!, Vista with 512 RAM is a joke, upgraded to 2 GB and it's much better, if I could just find a decent battery it'd be a 9 after the extra RAM
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mavasauris
11/07/2008, 04:59 PM
rating
10/10
I have to say for its value I give it a 10, added extra RAM to 2GB ($60) and speeds it up nicely. Added 500GB drive $169), and she is a great machine for so little money.
Pros: Widescreen, Great touchpad, Nice keyboard, Sturdy design.
Cons: Battery Life
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cooldude
26/06/2008, 07:53 AM
rating
9/10
great PC for $500
Pros: 100GB HDD
1.76GHZ processer (pretty fast
Cons: 512 megs of ram (upgraded to 2.0GBs and it rules)
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BMV
17/06/2008, 11:20 PM
rating
9/10
Realy good forr the price
Pros: screen, keyboard, design
Cons: default ram
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anna2488
29/05/2008, 01:54 AM
rating
7/10
I've had this laptop for a year and a half and it's done pretty well. I think it's well worth the money you pay for it. Its affordable and it gets the job done!
Pros: affordable , easy to use, nice screen, light
Cons: needs more memory, a little flimsy, dvd burner, cuter design
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luke
01/05/2008, 05:21 PM
rating
2/10
Please find something different. This laptop is so bad. Pay an extra $250 and get something decent.
Pros: None
Cons: Two common problems:
Keys pop out
Overheats and shuts itself off
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