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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1621 in Personal Computers
• Brand: Hewlett-Packard
• Model: EP377UA#ABA
• Dimensions: 11.00" h x 4.50" w x 13.15" l, 5.38 pounds
• Display size: 14

Features

• Notebook with widescreen 14-inch screen and 1.8 GHz Mobile AMD Sempron 3000+
• 40 GB hard drive, 512 MB of RAM (2 GB max), DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive
• Two USB 2.0, one VGA, one S-Video, one PCMCIA, microphone, headphone
• Built-in 10/100/ BASE-T ethernet; 56K (V.90) modem, 54-Mbps wireless LAN (802.11b/g) with HSM/Speedbooster support
• Windows XP Home edition, SP2

Amazon.com Product Description
Take your computing life with you wherever you roam with the Compaq Presario V2555US, designed for the budget-minded mobile professional. Featuring a cool, modern metallic design, the V2555US weighs only 5.4 pounds and is as thin as 1.29 inches. The widescreen 14-inch BrightView display is easily viewable even in direct sunlight and is great for watching DVD movies in their natural aspect ratio. It's powered by a powerful 1.8 GHz Mobile AMD Sempron 3000+ processor, and also offers a 40 GB hard drive, 512 MB of installed RAM (2 GB maximum), DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive, and 54g wireless connectivity with 125HSM/SpeedBooster support.

The Basics

• Hard Drive: The 40 GB IDE hard drive (4200 RPM) is on the small side compared to other notebooks. However, it does offer a decent enough capacity for storing documents and productivity software for road warriors--but not enough for much multimedia storage.
  
• Processor: A lower-end cousin to AMD's XP processor line, the 1.8 GHz Mobile AMD Sempron 3000+ found in this notebook is speedy enough for everyday computing needs and running office productivity software, but won't be quite enough for higher-end video editing or 3D gaming. This processor features AMD's Cool'n'Quiet Technology, which conserves power while also keeping the notebook's decibels to a minimum. It also features up to a 1600 MHz front-side bus (FSB) and a 128 KB L2 cache. (An L2, or secondary, cache temporarily stores data; and a larger L2 cache can help speed up your system's performance.)
  
• Memory: The 512 MB of installed RAM (PC3200) is enough to get you started, but you'll want to add more RAM to handle today's demanding multimedia and productivity suites. This notebook has a 2 GB maximum RAM capacity.
  
• CD/DVD Drive: With the included DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive, you'll be able to watch DVD movies as well as burn data and your favorite music mixes to CD. It has 24x write, 10x rewrite, and 24x read speeds for CDs, and a 8x DVD read speed.
  
• Keyboard & Mouse: This notebook has a full-sized 101-key keyboard and touchpad with four-way scroll zone on/off button and dedicated vertical scroll up/down pad.

Screen, Graphics and Sound
The 14-inch BrightView WXGA high-definition widescreen display has a 16:9 aspect ratio and 1280 x 768-pixel resolution, providing 25 percent more screen information and the same widescreen film picture size as a standard 15-inch XGA screen. You'll get TV-quality images, even in direct sunlight. Video is powered by the ATI Radeon XPress 200M IGP video/graphics card, which delivers good, though not high-end, 3D graphics. It delivers 32 MB of video RAM shared with the system memory, which is configurable up to 128 MB. ATI's HyperMemory technology allows the chipset to run in either Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) mode or with dedicated frame buffer memory to enhance graphics performance. It also features an integrated audio card with microphone and headphone jacks.

Connectivity and Expansion Slots
The V2555US has an integrated 54g wireless LAN that's fully compatible with 802.11b/g wireless networks. The 125 HSM/SpeedBooster support will enable it to be ready for tomorrow's 125 Mbps wireless LANs. You get a basic offering of connectivity options, which does not include FireWire:

• 2 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals--from digital cameras to MP3 players
• 1 VGA monitor port
• 1 S-Video port for connecting to a TV
• 1 PCMCIA (or PC Card) slot (Type I/II, 32-bit)
• 1 headphone jack and 1 microphone jack
• 1 notebook expansion port

It also has an integrated 56K modem (V.90) and an RJ-45 LAN network port (for a 10/100 Ethernet connection to networks and DSL/cable modems).

Preloaded System and Software
This system comes with the Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 operating system with Advanced Security Technologies, which helps to reduce unwanted downloads and pop-ups while surfing the Web. It also comes preloaded with Microsoft Works (for working with word processing and spreadsheet documents), Symantec Norton Internet Security 2005 (with 60 days of LiveUpdate), Adobe Acrobat Reader, Sonic Digital Media Plus, InterVideo WinDVD, Apple iTunes, Adobe PhotoShop Album STE, Muvee autoProducer, Microsoft Money, MSN Encarta Plus, and Microsoft Office Student and Teacher Edition (60 Day Trial Version).

Dimensions and Weight
This lightweight notebook is easily portable at just 5.4 pounds. It measures 13.15 x 9.1 x 1.29/1.53 inches (LxWxH).

Power
This notebook is powered by a 6-cell rechargeable lithium-ion battery, which offers up to 3 hours of battery life (dependent upon computing conditions).

What's in the Box
This package contains the Compaq V2555US notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It is backed by a limited warranty for parts and labor for one year from date of purchase as well as technical telephone assistance for one year. Software is also covered for 30 days from date of purchase.

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Customer Reviews

Good for a year...then it's junk
This laptop fell apart piece by piece after a year. It's a good thing I purchased an overpriced HP warranty to replace the parts b/c it's garbage. Either get a Dell or get a mac. Don't waste your time on this unless the only thing you'll be doing is surfing the internet. Anything else and it's garbage.

Excellent Choice
I've owned this computer for about eight months and I like it so well that I recommended it to my mother. If you use a laptop primarily for writing and Internet this one is a great value. The screen is excellent and the keyboard has the best feel of any I have tried (though I have not tried them all). As a writer the keyboard is particularly important, and I am completely happy with this one. The mouse pad works fine, but I prefer a track ball so I've added a wireless Logitech. The wi-fi feature is wonderful.

If you spend much time on the Internet, the file cache should be purged frequently because it will bog down with unused files. It has no problem, however, with book-sized manuscripts, the writing of which is my primary use for this machine. Overall, I am quite satisfied with it.

J Douglas Bottorff, author of The Whisper of Pialigos

Money Well Spent
For what you'd pay for this Compaq V2555US, you get more than what you'd expect from a value-priced laptop. I bought this system to be used as part of a home business and I'm very glad I did.

The 14.1" hi-def screen is perhaps delivers some of the brightest, cleanest images I've seen, which makes it very good for playing DVDs. The Altec-Lansing speakers sound pretty descent for a laptop. The Sempron 3000+ is the fastest chip I've seen from any computer in this price range. It's easily portable: not too big, not too bulky and not too heavy. In terms of performance, it multitasks very well with E-mail, websurfing and working with apps like OpenOffice. Fit and finish is also very nice. The system looks and feels like it's put together for the long haul, nor does it have that cheap, flimsy feel that I've seen from other brands in this price range.

This thing can run kinda warm from the tight confines within the system, so you don't want to keep it in your lap for very long. As I said a minute ago, this notebook is best for things like web surfing and firing off the occasional E-mail. Even though the Radeon Xpress 200M *is* capable of running most newer titles, this is not a hardcore game machine. There are no FireWire ports, but since I have no need for them, it doesn't matter. A lot of the pre-installed software was unnecessary, though it was nothing a visit to the Add or Remove Programs panel couldn't fix. Performance isn't too bad, but the shared video memory and system memory can be a bottleneck if set to 128 MB. An upgrade will go a long way in boosting performance, and you can always resell the old sticks on Amazon or eBay to offset the cost.

Overall, this is a great laptop for the budget conscious with a nice set of features and good performance. Hardcore gamers or multimedia buffs may want to look elsewhere.