Compaq Presario SR5350F

We often do reviews of high-end desktops like the Dell XPS One, HP Blackbird 002, and the Dell XPS 720 HC2. Today’s review is on a desktop that may be a little more affordable. Compaq is known for their low-end low cost desktop computers. A few years back if someone had mentioned Compaq I would have laughed at the though of owning one because their quality standards were quite low but a lot has changed in those few years.

The Compaq Presario SR5350F is the latest desktop computer in the Presario line. It has a number of great features like a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of ram and a 360GB hard drive all for a low price.

Here are a few of the technical specifications for the Presario SR5350:

• Street Price: $459.99
• Dual-Core E2160 1.80GHz processor
• 2048 MB of RAM
• 360 GB SATA hard drive

Things I like
The thing I like most about this computer is its price. At $460 this is an extremely affordable computer. While it doesn’t come with a monitor I’m sure you could find a cheap crt for under $50. This computer doesn’t come with all of the bells and whistles that some computers do but it has everything you would need if you’re just surfing the web and doing day to day activities. The 2GB of RAM is plenty, the 320GB hard drive is actually quite large and I think Compaq did a great job with this computer.

I’ve been using this computer as a secondary computer for a while now and I haven’t had a single problem with it. For surfing the web and doing work on it, it works perfectly.

Things I don’t like
I have two problems with the SR5350F. My first problem is the processor. 1.80GHz isn’t fast enough for my liking. I realize that you “get what you pay for” but there are a number of low-cost computers that have a better processor in them. I would have like to see at least a 2.0GHz C2Duo processor. My second problem with the SR5350F is it’s graphics card. It only has an integrated Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 950 with 64MB dedicated graphics memory. This isn’t enough to run any games or even Vista. Luckily they do provide a free PCI-e slot so you can put you’re own graphics card in if you have one laying.

Other than these two problems this computer is great and well worth the money.
Pros:

• Very Cheap
• Lots of RAM
• Fairly large hard drive

Cons:

• Slow processor
• Bad graphics card

Final Thoughts
If you don’t have a lot of money to buy a new computer but still want one that can run the latest applications and run them quickly then I suggest that you pick up the Compaq Presario SR5350F. This computer has a lot of RAM, a large hard drive and will run really well all for a fairly low price.