HP COMPAQ CQ42-203AU

The HP Compaq CQ42-203AU is the successor from the previous version of HP Compaq CQ40 and HP Compaq CQ41 notebook range. It has newer design compared with the older model. Yes, newer and ironically cheap-feeling and amazingly boring-look of a black piece of plastic component. The specification is somehow better than the older model of CQ40 and CQ41. It came with a dual core processor, DDR3 Memory and an upgraded version of graphics engine. However, since the notebook was targeted to be on the base line system, it did not come with Operating System. I had to acquire 6 units of this model in order to cater the business need for expansion. Sold off 4 units and keeping the rest for company usage. I had upgraded a few units with additional 2 years warranty due to heavy usage day in day out. Had a unit sent back to HP for repair, and next few hours, it was ready to be collected. This is the best part of HP goods and stuff. They are very good and spectacular when it comes to RMA (Return Merchandise Agreement). Maybe it was the reps at HP. 

The factory given RAM is surely low, and upgrading it to 2GB is a must. Otherwise, you will find this notebook is not much different with those super slow-motion netbook trying to run Windows 7 Ultimate with Kaspersky Anti-Virus installed. The touchpad is among the hideous part of the notebook. It is ugly and horrid in design. Why on earth did they design such a horror palm rest? The touchpad was raised to the same level of the palm rest, which looked like colored brick. Maybe if the color was carbon-grey or red, it might be cool, but black… so not cool. The led-light, which usually indicate whether we had Caps Lock and also the power indicator are so tiny. That goes the same too for the power button. It seemed that HP is trying use small parts to reduce the cost. Cheap plastic, cheap led lights, cheap power button, cheap designing yields this HP Compaq CQ42-203AU. By the way, the notebook itself was not that bad after all. This is the specification of the notebook;

AMD Athlon™ II Dual-Core Processor P320 (2.1GHz, 1MB L2 Cache)

1024MB 1333MHz / DDR3 Memory (1024 x 1 pcs)

320GB 7200rpm Hard Disk Drive

14.0” (1366 x 768) Screen

AMD M880G with ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 4250 Graphics

Integrated B/G/N Wireless, USB 2.0 (3), HDMI Port, Card Reader, Webcam

Weight: 2.2kg

Upon first few hours, the notebook managed to run the installed applications smoothly on Windows 7 64bit. After it had finished collecting the necessary updates on the drivers and Direct X, I had put them on the game test. The result was pretty much the same like its older brother, namely the HP CQ40 and HP CQ41. The CQ 42-203AU manages to run these game; Call of Duty Modern Warfare, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, StarCraft 2 (very low setting), Fifa 2011, Section 8, Crysis, Halo, Halo 2 and almost all the games near the range. Unfortunately, it cannot play Call of Duty Black Ops, Battlefield Bad Company 2 and astonishingly GTA San Andreas. It left me stumped for explanation. The CQ 42-203 has been put to test on a straight 12 hours gaming mode, at I did perform well. Apart from a few glitch, pause and hang here and there, the notebook is considerably tough a crude. By the way, seriously upgrading the warranty from the default 1 year to 3 years warranty is worthy.
Picture taken from: HP Malaysia