One of the cheapest full-function notebooks we’ve seen, HP’s Compaq Presario CQ42-136TU is powered by a 1.9GHz Intel Celeron T3100 processor with 2GB of RAM and 32-bit Windows 7 Home Premium. Given the notebook retails in Australia for only $599 (and usually quite a bit under that), it’s not bad value, especially when you add in 802.11n Wi-Fi, 250GB hard drive and DVD burner.
Battery life isn’t bad at over 2hrs35mins and you even get SD card reader and HDMI output. It’s the first time we’ve seen a 14-inch notebook chassis at this price and from our testing, it doesn’t a pretty decent job. Did we mention it’s only $599? This one shows you don’t have to pay a fortune to get a decent notebook. In fact, why would you bother with a netbook at these sorts of prices.
