Everyone knows Compaq has not existed since Hewlett-Packard bought the company three years ago. So it can be confusing for consumers who still see new Compaq laptops coming on the market. HP did explain the strategy behind this cunning branding exercise, but I never quite understood it.
The Compaq Presario R3000 is an entry-level widescreen notebook with Intel Centrino mobile technology aimed at home users.
Launched a week ago, it works with the HP Notebook Expansion base, which raises the level of the laptop so it feels more like a desktop.
The 15.4-inch widescreen display is optimised for multimedia applications and viewing. A wireless keyboard and mouse is bundled with the expansion base. JBL Pro speakers are built into the laptop to give great sound.
The notebook, equipped with a mobile Intel Pentium 4 2.4 gigahertz processor, is capable of demanding graphics applications with integrated ATI Mobility Radeon 9000IGP and 128 megabytes of video memory. Like many laptops, it comes with a five-in-one memory card reader for Secure Digital cards, MultiMedia cards, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro or SmartMedia cards. With the optional HP Notebook Expansion Base, you get a FireWire port and three USB 2.0 ports. The 802.11g feature, which allows 54Mbps wireless connectivity, is also optional.
At first glance, one would think $10,988 for the R3000 is a good bargain from a brand-name company. However, that is just the basic price for the laptop, without some of the frills described above - no expansion base and no wireless connectivity. And arguably, without the options, there are much better bargains out there. After all, one no-frills Windows laptop is much like another, so you may as well buy the cheapest.