Many admirers of HP products can be confused by the words Compaq Presario CQ57 372SR in the name of the laptop. This is explained by the fact that back in 2002 the brand merged with the rather successful electronics manufacturer Compaq Computer. This line is positioned by the company as devices designed to perform business tasks, while remaining universal and budget models. One of the characteristic features of the Presario CQ57 is that the filling of the device is completely built on an AMD platform.
Let's try to figure out what this model is good for and whether it is worth dwelling on such a budget option, where, for the sake of cost, very unpleasant nuances may appear.
Design
Notebook Presario CQ57 (see photo below) looks a bit cumbersome, but nevertheless, in terms of calm and simplicity. Monotony and discreetness speak of a device designed for office work or serious students. Due to its size and weight (376x247x34 mm / 2.5 kg), it will be more convenient to use a laptop stationary, as it is too large and heavy to carry (especially for ladies).
Even despite small design tricks, such as rounded corners and streamlined shapes, the device is the epitome of rigor and seriousness. The absence of any texture on the surface of the device only confirms this fact.
The device is made of black plastic in a matte style, but even despite the fact that the surface is not glossy, the gadget collects fingerprints and dust well, getting rid of which will not be so simple.
Notebook Presario CQ57 is completely devoid of chrome details in the interior, but this is not surprising, since the budget option is equipped only with monotonous plastic with the usual unremarkable keyboard and a frame around the display.
In the upper part of the frame are special rubberized plugs that prevent contact between the display and keyboard. The hinges are unremarkable and have standard characteristics for the Presario CQ57 line, but judging by user reviews, they are tight enough to hold the display at the right angle. The maximum spread of the lid is 130 degrees, which should be enough for work and study.
Assembly
Presario CQ57 assembled surprisingly high quality. No gaps were observed during the inspection of the entire case, no creaks and backlashes were found, and the palms on the pallet could not be deformed even with rough pressing. The bottom of the device turned out to be just as strong, but the same cannot be said for the cover of the new model, which the HP Compaq Presario CQ57 laptop is equipped with. User reviews have repeatedly noted that when you click on the device’s cover, it bends, distorting the display.
Just like all other parts of the gadget, the bottom is made of plastic. Unlike the cover of the laptop, the lower part has a rough structure. The bottom is equipped with rubber feet to keep the device on a smooth surface, and ventilation grilles. The lower part of the Presario CQ57 is divided into several sectors. In order to get to one of them, you first have to pull out the battery using a special slider. After unscrewing a few screws under the cover, you can see the hard drive compartment, a place for RAM and the Wi-Fi wireless module.
It will not be difficult to disassemble the structures, so if you decide to make a small upgrade of the device, it will not take too much time, as was the case with previous lines from HP.
Display
The Presario CQ57 models feature a 15.6-inch LG raster display with pretty attractive LED backlighting. Screen resolution is standardized - 1366 by 768 pixels in a ratio of 16 to 9.
The surface of the display itself is made in a glossy style, and not in a matte, as in previous lines, and this is not at all pleasing. Numerous user reviews are full of complaints about glare, reflections and the inability to work near a window or in the fresh air. The only thing noted as a plus is the matte frame around the display, which, although slightly, is protected from fingerprints.
The display itself has a tolerable picture - moderately contrasting and quite saturated. Some may think that the colors are not rich enough, but in general they are not bad and do not spoil the overall impression of the Presario CQ57 372SR. A laptop (a review of angles) has very mediocre indicators of vertical and horizontal viewing, and if you can still put up with the latter somehow, when you change the screen height, the picture completely loses its saturation and contrast, and the image goes dead before your eyes. In principle, watching a movie or photo with friends is possible only if they are in the same vertical plane with the user.
Sound
The speakers of the device are conveniently located on the work surface - just above the main area of the keyboard. They are covered with a decorative perforated grid. The sound at the output is quite loud, you can hear all the melodic details even next to the window that opens onto the roadway.
The sound quality is quite tolerable, and the sound is obtained with a predominance of high frequencies. Bass can be fully felt only in the headphones or on third-party speakers, otherwise the sound seems a little flat. The maximum volume settings are calibrated quite intelligently, and if you put the sound to full, you will not hear wheezing, distortion or some other cacophony. For a budget model, the sound indicators are quite acceptable, the existing speaker system is enough for work and study.
Input Devices
The appearance of the keyboard is very similar to the design of a similar model of the HP 630 brand. Looking at the entire working area, we can say that input devices take up very little space. The keyboard is full-sized with rough and flat buttons (85 pieces). The only thing users are dissatisfied with in their reviews is the reduced navigation arrows, it’s not very convenient to use them, especially for people with thumbs, as the designers brought the function keys for working with the page into a separate block.
It also upsets that with such an abundance of space, there is no numerical block, which many owners of past rulers are probably used to, but, apparently, this also affected the price of the device.
Touchpad
Around the center of the work surface is a touchpad (92x50). The dimensions of the manipulator allow you to freely perform positioning and work with the main applications. The only thing users complain about in their reviews is the lack of perceptible boundaries of the touchpad, so those who are used to working “blindly” will have to look at the manipulator from time to time.
The device supports almost all known multi-touch gestures, such as vertical and horizontal scrolling, scrolling, scaling, rotation, etc. Also, you can add the ability to disable the touchpad as it is not needed in the piggy bank, so if you use the mouse, accidentally clicking on the manipulator will not interfere with work .
Performance
The dual-core processor from AMD E-300 with the trade name Zacate is responsible for the speed of operations. The chip is built on a 40-nm process technology and has a frequency of 1.3 GHz - not as fast as we would like, but it can cope with office tasks.
An integrated graphics card “Radeon” HD 6310 with 1 GB DDR3 memory is used as a graphics accelerator. The kernel supports DirectX 11 graphics processing, but you still can’t play something serious - the device will master the toys of 2008-2010 at medium and low settings.
Summarizing
The device has the characteristics of an office "employee" for daily needs. Interfaces for the periphery are quite enough, the display will show a good brightness for working with texts, and the keyboard (if you get used to it) is relatively convenient. That is, from a practical point of view, there are no complaints about the device: a matte surface, strict design, good assembly and a strong case.
This model can be recommended to unpretentious users who need a device to perform simple tasks like web surfing, watching videos and printing documents. Count on high performance is not worth it, and where does it come from at such a low price.