Compaq CQ56-115DX

[Old-Polack]

I'm not fond of laptop computers in general, but I find myself in a situation where one would be useful for a week or two, after which I'm not sure whether it would be more than a paperweight. With that in mind the Compaq CQ56-115DX is on sale, but this is the last day. It's so far the lowest priced full sized laptop I can find locally.

It has an AMD V140 processor, which I know nothing about, ATI Mobility Radeon 4250 graphics, and an unspecified wireless chip. Only information is Wireless-B+G+N. Has anyone had any experience running Linux on one of these or a similar Compaq/HP unit? Would it be worth the $299.00 price as a Linux machine, or is it more trouble than it's worth?

[Village Idiot]

Well there's a first. O-P asking for help!   

I'm a bit like you too, laptops are mostly for other people, but it sounds quite cheap. I'd be a little worried of it's cpu power down the track. That's a mistake a lot of people make with netbooks. They are slow to begin with and become out of date very quickly.

Remember, if the wireless is crap, you can plug in a usb stick. The only other advice I can offer with regard to travel (I am assuming that's your plans) is check the screen view angle. You might want it to be very wide, that is you can view the screen from side on. You might want it to be very narrow if you are surrounded by prying eyes.

 

[T6]

does it has to be compaq?  compaq is not that good anymore

can you see the machine in person or just order one quick?

that cpu is basically a atom

the video card is supported by the current amd driver on repos

the wireless probably is a realtek or a atheros, bot probably covered by current kernel

[Old-Polack]

What I can find about the CPU on the internet, basically says it's anemic beyond considering. I think I'll pass and keep looking.

[Village Idiot]

What I can find about the CPU on the internet, basically says it's anemic beyond considering. I think I'll pass and keep looking.

Hahaha. Told ya!  Turns out there is a reason for it to be that price, my friend. I really like my eee-pc 1000h even though it is slow, it's well behaved and it is not too small or too big. Compared to my Thinkpad r50 which is a tank and not really portable.

[T6]

before buying a laptop, what do you want to do with it?

what size of screen is your target?

weight is important?

battery life and system usage?(big cpu or regular cpu, powerful graphics or simple graphics)

as you see my questions are oriented to determine if you need a laptop or a netbook

[Old-Polack]

What I can find about the CPU on the internet, basically says it's anemic beyond considering. I think I'll pass and keep looking.

Hahaha. Told ya!  Turns out there is a reason for it to be that price, my friend. I really like my eee-pc 1000h even though it is slow, it's well behaved and it is not too small or too big. Compared to my Thinkpad r50 which is a tank and not really portable.

Considering how cheap you can get a fast multicore Athlon or Phenom CPU for a desktop, I fail to see why they bother with a chip like that at all.

[T6]

price and availability?

[Village Idiot]

What I can find about the CPU on the internet, basically says it's anemic beyond considering. I think I'll pass and keep looking.

Hahaha. Told ya!  Turns out there is a reason for it to be that price, my friend. I really like my eee-pc 1000h even though it is slow, it's well behaved and it is not too small or too big. Compared to my Thinkpad r50 which is a tank and not really portable.

Considering how cheap you can get a fast multicore Athlon or Phenom CPU for a desktop, I fail to see why they bother with a chip like that at all.

Mine was cheap, available and compatible with the distro. I was going overseas and needed something as small as the E. And I actually process video on it while I'm away. GMail has a 25mb send limit. And the encoding time for that resulting filesize corresponds nicely with the amount of sleep I need: 7 or 8 hrs.

 

[Old-Polack]

before buying a laptop, what do you want to do with it?

what size of screen is your target?

weight is important?

battery life and system usage?(big cpu or regular cpu, powerful graphics or simple graphics)

as you see my questions are oriented to determine if you need a laptop or a netbook

I could use the portability for a short time, but need a fairly large screen; eyes can't take a small screen. Battery time in good to think about, but with my last Laptop I almost always used it at a desk, plugged into a wall socket.

I'd want to be able to burn a CD/DVD if necessary, and watch a DVD or two. Any unit can do web browsing, so that's a given. Basically I'd like to be able to do most of what I do with the desktop, possibly a little slower, but not at a crawl, which this seems to offer.

That unit seems to have fairly decent hardware features, except for the CPU.

[Village Idiot]

I could use the portability for a short time, but need a fairly large screen; eyes can't take a small screen.

Yeah. 

Maybe an external monitor for when it's on the desk. I'm so lazy I just ssh into it. 

[Old-Polack]

I could use the portability for a short time, but need a fairly large screen; eyes can't take a small screen.

Yeah. 

Maybe an external monitor for when it's on the desk. I'm so lazy I just ssh into it. 

The point is to not lug a monitor and mini tower around and have to set it up. I doubt I'd ever use the laptop at home, only away from home. Being self contained is the main purpose, but it still needs to do the job too. All laptops become obsolete at an accelerated pace. This one seems to start life already obsolete.

[Village Idiot]

I could use the portability for a short time, but need a fairly large screen; eyes can't take a small screen.

Yeah. 

Maybe an external monitor for when it's on the desk. I'm so lazy I just ssh into it. 

The point is to not lug a monitor and mini tower around and have to set it up. I doubt I'd ever use the laptop at home, only away from home. Being self contained is the main purpose, but it still needs to do the job too. All laptops become obsolete at an accelerated pace. This one seems to start life already obsolete.

Fair enough. What about hunting around for some software in the repo which allows you to zoom in and out preferably controlled with the mouse. What you really need is a tablet! 

[Old-Polack]

Fair enough. What about hunting around for some software in the repo which allows you to zoom in and out preferably controlled with the mouse. What you really need is a tablet! 

No, no, a thousand times no! 

[Village Idiot]

Fair enough. What about hunting around for some software in the repo which allows you to zoom in and out preferably controlled with the mouse. What you really need is a tablet! 

No, no, a thousand times no! 

Just a thought.