HP G50 & G60-Compaq Presario Cq-50 &60 VS. C700

I am so much happier with this notebook than I was with my Presario C714NR.

Why;
Upgraded Intel GMA 4500M 768MB Max VRAM VS. 384MB on C700 GMA x3100
Upgraded support for 8GB Max Memory VS. 3GB with the C700 **Some G/CQ's can only handle 4GB
15.6" Screen not really a big deal from the 15.4" C700
HDMI Port VS. none on the C700
Media Card is standard in the G series.. VS. optional in C700 series.
Discrete Graphics offerings available for the G series and CQ-Series VS. integrated only C700
G/CQ offers shiny black top finish. C700 More grainy finish.
Better gaming performance, however, not really a gaming laptop.

HP has made some great improvements to the Compaq offering, however compaq will always lack some of the premium features like FingerPrint reader.

I find the design to be more like dv series notebooks, I personally like the C700 notebook design, and the mouse pad better, because being right-handed, I tend to slide across the scroll line on the mouse pad much. This is much better on the C700. Plus, the blue led lights on the C700 are pretty in contrast to the White lights of the G/CQ. But to each his own right? The surface on the G/CQ is much better, and improved to avoid wearing of the mouse pad. In summary if you like the C700's performance, and bang for buck, you will appreciate the G/CQ series. If you like the C700's design you may be disapointed with this one.

My G50:

Intel Pentium Dual-Core T3200 2.0GHz/1MB/667Mhz
4GB DDR2 PC5300
DVD-RW Dual-Layer w/ LightScribe
5-1 Media Card Reader
Intel GMA 4500M
802.11 b/g
15'6" LCD Widescreen HD Glossy
HDMI, 3USB, LAN, 56k, 6 Cell Li-Ion Battery
Microsoft Windows 7 Beta 64-Bit

 

Yes, I also like the fact that the Compaq models are seeing more options again like they did a few years back. Granted they don't call the "G" series Compaqs anymore, but that it still what they are from a chassis standpoint.

I bought a CQ50 for my nephew during the summer and had a few days to play with it. I did like the design, so a CQ60 or G60 would be another step up from that specwise.

I just wish that the AMD model had been upgraded to a 9100M or 9400M IGP instead of keeping the same 8200M. Its still a better IGP than my discrete Go 7200, but there are better alternatives available today....

 

i own a cq50, its great i like how they gave a decent graphics card, and that they are giving this bargain laptop some power. but the memory is only upgradable to 4gb, but i bought this for 400$ +30$ for tax at bestbuy so why would i say no?


here are my cq50-215nr specs (basic shipped model from hp)
Compaq Presario Cq50-215nr NoteBook
AMD Athlon X2 QL-60 Dual-Core Processor (1.9 Ghz)
3GB DDR2 System Memory
15.4" Diagonal WXGA High-Definition HP BrightView Widescreen (1280 x 800)
160GB Sata HardDrive (5400 rpm)
NVIDIA GeForce 8200M Graphics Card
Double-layer DVD±RW/CD-RW OPtical Drive
Built-in Altec Lansing Spreakers
802.11b/g WLAN
6-cell Lithium Batter

ports for cq50-215nr
3 Universal Serial Bus USB 2.0
1 VGA (15-pin)
1 RJ-11 (modem)
1 RJ -45 (LAN)
1 headphone-out
1 microphone-in

 

Yes, that is a very good price. When I bought the CQ50 I think I payed $550, and it was not as high in specs as yours.

I like the numeric keyboard on the new CQ60, and I might get it just for that.

 

well i bought mine 3 weeks before christmas, which is near blackfriday basically so they had a big sale on most laptops their including the acer aspire 5735 model for the exact price.

shall we make a owners lounge eh?

 

I'm surprised that nobody started one back then, but now the CQ50 is pretty much discontinued by the CQ60.

 

ya pretty much, the only difference is the graphics card, cpu, and some minimal specs between the too. but maybe we can combine them all eh?
hah

but if we can we should.

 

You could, but the AMD and Intel models should be in a seperate thread. Too many hardware and driver differences would just cause confusion......

 

The 60 models are also 16:9 15.6" widescreens vs the 16:10 15.4s they were using. My former room mate just got a CQ60-215NR, and I had the black friday special G50-104nr, great laptops for the money, but if you want looks they may disappoint being relatively plain. Also they tend to come with the lowest of low end chipsets (the G50's mostly have GL40 which has virtually 0 upgrade path).

 

I appreciate the feedback on this series.. The Intel & AMD versions are quite different in spec, but pretty much same chasis.
The GL40 does in fact offer limited upgrade, but is really only processor wise, memory is really all I wish to upgrade and it can support 4Gigs which is more than good for most. Some versions do however offer GM45. Most version can support up to 8GB max, but this is not specified on HP's website due to the fact the laptop is shipped with 32-bit Windows Vista which can only support 3.5GB. Try Windows 7 on it... pretty snappy.

**I also like that the G60-and CQ60 have full keyboards.

 

Hp G70, Compaq CQ-60 & 70 chime in also

 

The c700 serries was a weird botched laptop if you ask me. It didnt use standard parts like the rest of the serries.

 

You mean it wasn't cheaply built for a low priced laptop

 

well im just about to upgrade my cq50;s harddrive to 320gb instead of 160gb

 

+1 to the Compaq CQ60 great value for money...
Payed $1000 Australian for mine

Specs
P7350 45nm Core 2 Duo 2GHZ
Nvidia Dedicated 256mb 9200M GE/GS
2gb Ram
250gb HDD
15.6 Screen (16:9) 1366x768