Compaq Presario V6500Z - a New Affordable Laptop

Hewlett-Packard has expanded its 15.4-inch notebook lineup with the affordable Compaq Presario V6500Z, featuring AMD processor and NVIDIA nForce 630M chipset.

The Presario V6500Z is offered with a choice of the AMD Sempron Mobile or the Athlon 64 X2 dual core CPU. The laptop’s chipset incorporates the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M integrated graphics, which manages the 15.4″ widescreen 1280-by-800 pixels display. There is no dedicated graphics module option. The HP Compaq Presario V6500Z comes with 512MB DDR2, 1GB or 2GB of system memory, and with a 80GB, 120GB or 160GB 5400rpm SATA hard drive, depending on the customer’s choice. There are also DVD burner and Combo drive options.

For networking and communications, the V6500Z is equipped with an Ethernet LAN, a 56K modem, and a 802.11b/g or a 802.11a/b/g/n wireless module, as well with an optionally built-in Bluetooth and the external Verizon Wireless V740 ExpressCard option for broadband wireless connection.

The notebook’s stereo sound system is powered by the integrated Altec Lansing speakers, while for watching TV, purchasers can select the HP ExpressCard Digital/Analog TV tuner.

Along with an ExpressCard slot, the HP Compaq Presario V6500Z features three USB ports, a Firewire port, an infra-red receiver, and VGA and S-video outputs.

The system weighs 5.71lbs with a standard 6-cell battery and has the new HP Imprint Finish called “Trace”.

The V6500Z starts at $499 after instant savings and is available via the Hewlett-Packard’s online store.

The PC maker has also released the HP Pavilion dv6500z and dv9500z laptops, which are similar by design and internal components to the Presario V6500Z.

My question is if HP will ever do anything with the Compaq brand. It seems like they have relegated Compaqs to being underpowered machines with no style.

I recently got this notebook as a replacement because HP/Compaq didn’t repair my notebook correctly two times. Anyway, it’s a fairly good notebook, it’s been pretty slow for me and it’s only rated 2.6 from Windows Vista so, I wouldn’t recommend this notebook unless you’re getting it as a replacement.