The HP Compaq CQ61-420US is quick and reliable.
I purchased the HP Compaq CQ61-420US as a replacement for my old laptop. I have been very pleased with the speed and memory storage available on it. I mostly use my laptop for writing/composing and recording music and producing movies. These activities can be very strenuous on computers, and I've always been impressed with how the HPs hold up (my last laptop was also an HP). The screen is very wide, which is very helpful in composing music. The only thing that I have had any amount of dissatisfaction's with (and its pretty minor) is the height of the screen. While the screen is wider than my previous laptop, it is also shorter in height. Not too big a deal, but for me it means I can not see as many of the instruments in a music score on the screen at once as I could on my old laptop. Battery Life Actually had a problem with the battery, but I'm quite certain Windows 7 was to blame. I believe this problem has been since fixed. On certain laptops (including this one) Windows 7 gave certain programs by default the power to overide standby. There were many occassionals where my laptop, while running on battery, was put on standby, but was not on standby when I returned to it. This resulted in the battery becoming overly discharged and damaged. Unfortunately I discovered this too late to save the battery (it only lasts about 10 minutes now). As I said, I believe Microsoft fixed this issue, but keep an eye out for it just in case. Support & Service Not applicable.... Have not used support and service (my brother is a computer repair tech so I bring any problems to him) Speed/Performance It's plenty fast for the price. I do a lot of video work, so I wish it was faster. However, for the price it delvers a more than reasonable speed. Durability Accept for the above mentioned battery/Win 7 issue, it has proved to be pretty durable. However, recently I have begun having issues with the left "mouse" button not working well or sticking. To be fair though, I use a "mouse" button more often than most. I click music into a music notation program and do a tremendous amount of video editing (which involves a lot of "mouse" button usage). The touchpad does offer an alternative to using the button.
earthshinemusic4u
Newport News, VA