Compaq CQ50-130US

I just picked up a Compaq CQ50-130US laptop this weekend for $449.99, w/$130.00 off at the register, and a $30 mail-in rebate, from Staples. Circuit City had the same exact laptop for $429.99, but w/$150.00 and $30.00 mail-in rebates only. I don't like rebates, so I try to avoid them when I can.

The laptop comes w/a 2.0 GHz Intel T3200 Core 2 Duo CPU, which has a 667 MHz Front Side Bus (FSB), 2 GB of PC-5300 (667 MHz) DDR2 memory, 160 GB 5400 RPM HD, LightScribe Super Multi 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support, the very latest Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD (x4500) video w/up to 765 MB shared total available graphics memory w/the Mobile GM45 Express Chipset, 15.4" WXGA High-Definition BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800), built-in Altec Lansing speakers, Integrated 10/100 Ethernet LAN network card, 802.11b/g WLAN Wi-Fi, and the Vista Premium O/S (32 bit) w/SP1.

The first thing I did was a Vista Update, a cleaning of the useless installed junk using CClean, and did a Defrag on it. I went and found a new BIOS on the HP/Compaq website and installed that. It doesn't fix anything major, but I like to have the very latest installed anyway. I also installed the very latest Intel chipset and video drivers. Ran 3DMark06 on it and got around an 800 on it. With a faster 1060 MHz FSB CPU and PC2-6400 memory, the numbers should be a lot better.

I went and installed four (4) GB of memory (2x 2 GB sticks) that I have and it recognized it, or I should say around 3.2 GB of it w/the installed 32 bit version of Vista. The Compaq C700 series only support up to 3.0 gb max (1x 1 GB and a 1x 2GB stick), and won’t even recognize any memory if you install two (2) sticks of 2 gb memory, so that is a plus w/this model. The shared graphics memory went to over 1300 MB, so it supports more than the stated 765 MB.

Ran 3DMark06 on it again and got about the same on it w/the 4 GB of memory as I did w/the stock 2 GB.

I did some research on this laptop before buying it by reading its Maintenance and Service Guide on the HP/Compaq website. What I found is that this laptop supports a maximum Front Side Bus (FSB) of 1060 MHz, as well as PC2-6400 (800 MHz) DDR2 memory, thanks to it having the very latest Intel Mobile GM45 (x4500) Express Chipset. In the manual it said that it supported CPU’s up to, and including, the 2.8 GHz Intel T9600 Core 2 Duo, and in between. It also said that it supported memory up to 8 GB (2x 4 GB sticks), which can only happen w/the 64 bit version of Vista or XP. With the high cost of 4 GB PC2-6400 laptop memory sticks at the moment, it’ll be a while for me to upgrade to that. It would be nice if the laptops came w/four (4) instead of two (2) memory slots, so that the affordable 2 GB sticks could be used.

According to the manual, the CPU is socketed, but you have to disassemble the laptop in order to get to it. The manual shows you how to do it.

I plan install the 64 bit version of Vista Premium tonight on it. The installed Intel T3200 CPU supports 64 bit. That will for sure show if the system supports 4 GB of memory.

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I got the 64 bit version of Vista Premium loaded.

The drivers for it are here:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareCategory?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3795221&

The only issue that I had was to manually download, and load the driver for the network card, before I could get onto the net in order to download the rest through Vista.

The 64 bit version does see all four (4) GB of memory that I have installed on the laptop now.

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Anyone have further info on this? I'd like to upgrade the memory first and then the processor eventually on the HP CQ50130US. Thanks