Compaq Presario CQ1-1225

With the Compaq Presario CQ1-1225 All-In-One Desktop PC – Black Save your space, money and energy. Everything you needyou will have on your desk because the computer is built into an 18.5-inch diagonal display. This desktop PC is integrated into the widescreen display, making it easy to watch DVDs, edit home videos and burn your own discs. Plus, use the integrated webcam and microphone to video chat with family and friends.

Design
In order to achieve such a compact machine, all of the Compaq computer parts had to be shrunk down to the bare minimum.

The Compaq systemboard and power supply are more reminiscent of a laptop computer design than a desktop.

With so many parts in a confined space, heat could be an issue, making the computer fans work harder to keep up, but overheating doesn’t seem to be a problem for this model.

Display
The screen of the CQ1-1225 remains unchanged from previous versions. It still uses the 18.5-inch display that is relatively small and comes with a 1366×768 resolution more commonly seen in smaller laptops.

At least it is larger that the typical netbook. Unfortunately, the graphics are still severely limited with the Atom platform.

The GMA 3150 graphics are fine for basic use including web browsing or watching DVDs. The big issue is the lack of performance for even basic 720p high definition video streams, something possible via both YouTube and services such as Netflix streaming.

Ports
The Compaq Presario CQ1-1225 All-In-One Desktop PC - Black provide a wide range of port such as external ports 6-in-1 memory card reader, Line-out, MIC-In, 8 USB 2.0 ports (2 left side, 4 back,1 port for card reader at front side, 1 port for WLAN ) (6 ports available), RJ45 (10/100 LAN), DC-Jack (adapter input).

Operating System
Unlike the previous version of the Presario CQ1 that were based around the Windows XP netbook licensing, the CQ1-1225 uses a full version of Windows 7 Home Premium. This resolves many of the limitations that Microsoft placed on the system but it did increase the price. They could have used the Starter Edition but this gives the users more flexibility and and bypasses some of the hardware restrictions the Starter license incurs.

Performance
Even with such a weak Atom processor, it boots to Windows in about a minute or two. As long as you don’t need to work with stressful processing tasks, this computer will be an absolute pleasure to work with. If you want to play modern games, use powerful resource-intensive professional productivity programs or rip HD video, a single glance at the PC’s specs will suffice to deduce it’s not for you. But for everyday use, the AIO will handle whatever you throw at it and not break a sweat.

Even though the Presario CQ1-1225 is a very inexpensive system, HP did not skimp on the included software. Many companies would not include items such as anti-virus, multimedia and sometimes even productivity software. Thus it is very nice to see all of these applications installed. Of course there are other trialware that clutter up the system so users will want to uninstall unwanted applications to free up resources.