HP Compaq Presario CQ60-417DX review

The Compaq Presario CQ60-417DX's six-cell battery lasted 2 hours and 11 minutes in our battery-drain test. Considering that this laptop's running a relatively power-friendly Celeron, that's not the most impressive battery life. In the entry-level category of our 2009 Back-to-School retail laptop review roundup, the sub-$500 Asus K50IJ-RX05 lasted about 30 minutes longer.

HP includes an industry-standard, one-year, parts-and-labor warranty with the system. Support is accessible through a 24-7 toll-free phone line, an online knowledge base, and driver downloads. Retail stores offer a variety of extended warranty plans with your laptop purchase, but they're generally expensive, and we do not recommend them.

Note: While this PC comes with Windows Vista, many retailers, including Best Buy, and some hardware manufacturers, are offering a free upgrade to Windows 7 for systems purchased after the end of June.

Find out more about how we test laptops.

System configurations:
Toshiba Satellite L305-S5955
Windows Vista Home Basic SP1; 2.2GHz Intel Celeron 900; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 128MB (Shared) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD; 160GB Toshiba 5,400rpm.

Compaq Presario CQ60-417DX
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 2.2GHz Intel Celeron 900; 3,072MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 128MB (Shared) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD; 160GB Samsung 5,400rpm.

Toshiba Satellite L505D-S5965
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 2.1GHz AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core QL-65; 3,072MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 256MB ATI Mobility Radeon 3100; 250GB Toshiba 5,400rpm.

Dell Inspiron 1545-012B
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1; 2.0GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 128MB (Shared) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD; 160GB Western Digital 5,400rpm.

Asus K50IJ-RX05
Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (64-bit); 2.0GHz Intel Pentium Dual Core T4200; 3,072MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 128MB (Shared) Mobile Intel GMA 4500MHD; 320GB Seagate 5,400rpm.