Compaq Presario V2565US

Compaq's Presario V2565US is a good overall budget notebook computer system that has some good storage capabilities and a 64-bit processor that provides good performance.

4/17/06 – While many notebook computers are powered by Intel processors, Compaq has decided to use the AMD Turion 64 ML-32 notebook processor for the Presario V2565US. This processor is definitely more powerful than the Celeron processors and is nearly equal to that of the Pentium M. One advantage that it has is the support for future 64-bit software. This is matched up with 512MB of PC2700 DDR memory that should let it run most productivity applications without much problem.

Storage is one area where the Presario V2565US does really well, The system comes with a fairly large 80GB hard drive. While most notebooks now use the faster 5400rpm hard drives, this model is a slower 4200rpm version that does reduce performance slightly. For those looking to create music, movie or data CDs and DVDs, it also comes equipped with an 8x DVD+/-RW dual layer DVD burner. It also supports generating burned in labels on Lightscribe compatible media.

Many companies are now making 15.4” wide screen LCDs very common for budget notebook systems. The Presario V2565US uses a slightly smaller 14” wide screen display that helps make the system a bit more portable. Like most budget systems, it uses an integrated graphics processor. In this case it is the ATI Radeon Xpress 200M that shares 128MB of system memory. This has improved 3D performance over the Intel integrated graphics, but it still doesn't have sufficient 3D performance for gaming.