Compaq 702

Friday, August 14th, 2009 at 5:17 pm

PRICE

Approximately £300

ESSENTIAL SPECS

Price: Approximately £300
Size: 10.2 inches
Weight: 1.02 kg
Battery Life: Approx 3 Hours
Processor Speed: 1.8 GHz
Hard Drive: 60 GB
RAM: 1GB DDR2

REVIEW

HP’s Compaq Mini 702EA is the company’s latest netbook and follows in the footsteps of the impressive Mini-Note 2133, offering the same excellent keyboard and rounded design, but this time with Intel components.
The design of this small laptop has changed slightly, with black and glossy patterned plastics that replace the brushed aluminium finish of its predecessor. The shiny lid attracts fingerprints, but it’s still sturdier and more attractive than most netbooks.

Along with the excellent quality, it also boasts a light weight of 1.2kg, so you’ll be able to take it compaq 702 netbook with you wherever you go.

The 10.2-inch screen features the same 1024 x 600-pixel resolution as most of its rivals. The bezel around the screen is slightly smaller, however, which gives this small laptop a more compact appearance.

The display has a glossy coating, and colours are brilliantly vivid. Unfortunately, the effect is less impressive when on the move, as it’s one of the most reflective panels we’ve seen. This can be countered by turning the brightness up, although battery life is affected as a result.

The keyboard is one of the best we’ve seen on any of the latest small laptops, with keys that are larger than many full-sized laptops and all of which are responsive and firmly attached, which makes typing a pleasure.

Unfortunately, the touchpad lets the design down, proving shallow and featuring buttons on either side rather than below. It’s usable, but is awkward and takes some getting used to.

Where HP’s first netbook featured a low-powered Via processor, this machine features an Intel Atom chip. Rather than Windows Vista, it also uses the less resource-heavy Windows XP. This allows the 702EA to boot and shut down rapidly, and it only suffers from lag when running several applications simultaneously.

We also managed to get just over three hours of use from a single charge – a reasonable result for the slimline 3-cell battery.

SPECIFICATIONS

Product Description: Compaq 702 Intel Atom Processor 1.6GHZ 10.2″
Screen: 10.2-inch WSVGA High Definition HP LED BrightView display
CPU: Intel Atom processor N270, 1.60 GHz, Level 2 cache 512 KB
Graphics: Intel GMA950, up to 128 MB total available graphics memory
Memory: 1024 MB (1 x 1024 MB). Supports up to 1GB DDR2 memory
Storage: 60GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 4200 rpm (up to 9GB partition for system recovery), 2-in-1 card reader for SD/MMC support
Webcam: Webcam with integrated microphone
Communication: Ethernet 10/100BT integrated network interface, 802.11b/g WLAN, Bluetooth wireless networking
Sound: 3D Sound Blaster Pro compatible sound, 16 bit integrated Altec Lansing speakers
Keyboard: 92% full size keyboard, Touch Pad with vertical scroll up/down pad, left and right clicks
Ports: 2 USB 2.0, 1 RJ45 ethernet connector, headphones-out + mic-in combo jack, expansion port
Power: 30 W AC power adapter, 3-cell Lithium-Ion (Li-Ion) battery
Software: Microsoft Works, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Windows Mail, Adobe Reader, Windows Media Player, Cyberlink PowerDVD SE DVD Codec, Macromedia Flash Player, Windows Internet Explorer
Service and Support: Recovery CD/DVD, Symantec Norton Internet Security 2009 (60 days live update), Notebook Help and Support
Weight: 1.02 kg, packed: 2.45 kg
Dimensions: 16.67 cm (L) x 26.17 cm (W) x 2.52 cm (H), packed: 33.5 x 11.0 x 29.5 cm