Compaq Presario SR5710f Desktop PC Review
The recent addition to Compaq Presario PC family is SR5710F. This simple-looking industrial style functional system will not only blend with your home decor but will also make your life easy by allowing quick access to web, e-mail, online voice calls, movie downloads with a single click.
Incorporating all the good old characteristics of the Presario family, the Compaq SR5710f Desktop Computer system has gone extra mile by adding loads of new features that makes it an ideal All-in-one desktop PC.
Built on new generation X2 Dual-core processor the system performs twice as faster than its predecessors. But it uses only 45watts power to deliver same power and agility while leaving rest for other components.
Benefiting both home and businesses users, this energy-efficient AMD Athlon processors are particularly designed to liberate less heat and noise, thus making your computing experience pleasing and enjoyable.
Design
Smooth black finish wraps the CPU case. The colours of keyboard and scroll mouse are complimentary with the CPU colour.
But at the front-end where power button and status indicator reside are polished with dark silver colour with greyish white Compaq logo embossed on it.
Manual Eject button, 3.5-inch drive bay, 5.2-inch drive bay, SuperMulti DVD+RW Dual Layer LightScribe, 2 USB 2.0 ports, and 1 headphone and 1 microphone jacks are also located at the front side on the black panel.
Additional vents are created on the left and right hand side of the CPU to keep the system cool.
The rear end of Compaq Presario SR5710f Desktop PC is designed to fit I/O ports that include Line-In jack port, Line-Out jack, Microphone jack port, RJ-45 Ethernet (10/100) port, VGA port, PS/2 mouse port (green colour) and PS/2 keyboard port (blue), 1 VGA monitor port, RJ-11 modem port that supports 56KB modem, and vents for PSU Exhaust fan,
The system has a total of 6 USB 2.0 ports which you can use to connect any devices from digital cameras to MP3 players. Use either 2 USB port in front or 4 USB ports at the rear end.
Weighing just 12.8kg and measuring 16.7 x 6.67 x 14.85 inches the system is light weight and you can easily carry it around.
Features
The system is bundled with great features and options. To start with this desktop PC comes with Windows Vista Home Premium operating system pre-installed. This operating system serves all your computing needs that also include absolute support for running high-level enterprise software. With Windows Vista you have added tools that warn you of your awaiting hardware failures thus protecting you from loosing your personal data. That’s not all. Vista also provides you option such as parental control feature which lets you control internet usage of your kids, like web browsing, messaging, games, and so on.
Other software applications that come preinstalled when you buy SR5710f are Cyberlink DVD Suite Deluxe that helps your edit videos, and burn and archive date to CDs and DVDs, 60-day trial version of Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007, and Adobe Reader 8 to read and print PDF files.
With in-built Media Center features you have option of turning your PC to an HDTV. Watch your favourite movies and shows and then record and save them all in this home entertainment system. Along with Windows Vista Home Premium and Windows SideShow you can access your important data from your PC even when your system is shutdown. Easy-to-use interface makes files sharing between your desktop and laptop easier and this is facilitated further by in-built WiFi feature.
Sharing your files are also made easy if you add ultra portable 160GB pocket media drive and surge protector keeps your equipment safe from power disturbances while you are away.
Connect your MP3 players, digital cameras, and camcorders with high-speed 2.0 USB and FireWire ports. Download all your family moments to your PC which you can later edit using AutoProducer Basic and CyberLink DVD suite software. After editing you can burn a DVD using double-layer DVD±R/RW SuperMulti drive. Label your newly created DVD using HP’s cool LightScribe feature. LightScribe also allows you to create other designer labels such as a photo, design, silkscreen-quality text.
With SR5710f arrange your media files into a media library in a single click. Bring all your movies together and then add them in a library to form a digital movie library that will help you and your family access and play DVDs on your PC.
Hardware set up of this system makes this PC indeed a winner. With AMD’s Athlon X2 4450e Dual-core processors built on dual-core technology you have two processors working for you for greater performance and speed. Processor having AMD features also enables greater communication between integrated circuits. Thus audio mixing and playing high-definition video works perfect.
The system does not come with a monitor but any 19-inch monitor will fit in with this desktop PC. But the system is packed with power cord, Compaq keyboard and mouse. Both keyboard and mouse works on PS/2 connection.
In terms of warranty and support Compaq assures 1-year hardware warranty and software support. Get help within an hour with HP’s real time support at www.hp.com/go/totalcare .
Inside the PC
As you unlock SR5710f’s CPU case you will see massive 250GB Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive (7200 RPM) powered by AMD Athlon X2 4450e Dual-Core Processor running at the speed of 2.3 GHz. The processor helps the bus transfer data at the rate of 2000 MHz enabling each Core process 512KB L2 cache memory totalling up to 1MB.
The memory slots that houses inside the CPU holds 3GB PC2-6400 DDR2 SDRAM running at 800MHz. 3GB RAM comes preinstalled with the system. You can expand the RAM maximum up to 4GB with 2GB RAM on each slot. The RAM processes its data at the speed of 800 MHz. To keep the CPU cool, Heat sink and Fan are installed next to the memory slots. They operate pretty quietly while keep the system cool.
At the right hand corner you will see 250W power supply unit. The in-built networking feature includes two PCI slots which are located adjacent to the power supply box: one PCI Express x16 slot, one PCI Express x1 slot (available), and two 5.25-inch bays, and three 3.5-inch bays (two available) are positioned right opposite to the power supply unit.
The DVD drive that comes with the system is multi-format drive compatible with both
DVD+ and DVD- disc formats and dual-layer (DL) DVD+/-R discs. It is capable of storing 8.5GB data. The DVD drive also features 16x DVD±R, 12x DVD±R DL Write Once, 8x DVD+RW, 12x DVD-RAM, 40x CD-R, 32x CD-RW write speeds and 40x CD-ROM, 6x DVD-RW, and 16x DVD-ROM read speeds.
The audio and video capability is built using Nvidia GeForce 6150 SE graphics card built using NVidia’s PureVideo technology offering great picture quality and true colour output. The graphics memory allocated is 128MB. If you have Windows Vista installed it allocates up to 1343MB of total graphics memory.
Perfect hardware configuration for editing movies, photos, and audio files makes this system ideal for your personal use.
Performance
Web browsing is pretty quick and video streaming is faster than ever using Compaq Presario SR5710f. With 250GB hard drive you have ample space for all your internet files, movies, photo albums.
Sound output is equally good and so the graphics quality. This is possible due to Nvidia GeForce 6150 SE graphics/video card with in-built audio card support. The system also generates high definition surround sound even when you connect up to eight speakers.
NVidia’s PureVideo Technology facilitates excellent picture quality with high image precision and natural cinematic effects on movies played on Microsoft DirectX 9.0 software.
This system is a great buy but not without a problem.
First of all it is not an expandable desktop PC. With two pre-allocated RAM slots you cannot expand the memory more than 4GB. Inside the base unit you cannot accommodate another hard drive without taking out the DVD drive. Other limitations include three modem slots where as four is the most desirable configuration.
The second problem is no two pairs of headphones can be used together. If one pair is plugged in and you try to hook on another headphone your system freezes up immediately and you need to close all the program and sometimes you even need to restart the system. This is due to the new upgraded sound card which is fitted with this Compaq system.
However, it is indeed a good buy for your home and family use. Playing movies and audio files are really fast with the help of Windows Media Centre features.
The Dual-core technology helps this desktop PC handle multiple applications including photo editing and movie download all at the same time. Even when it is multi-tasking between more than two applications the system performs amazingly fast.
When you have an existing system at home and you like to move all your files to the new Presario SR5710f, the file transfer is quite fast and it is done in a minute. With in-built network capabilities and WiFi connectivity sharing resources between your desktop and laptop is done immediately. Easy-to-use interface makes the file transfer smooth and hassle free.
This desktop computer is absolutely recommended for someone who spends lot of time working on multimedia stuffs and at the same time needs a home computer for doing everyday computing job.
Compaq Presario SR5710f Desktop PC - Technical Specifications, Features
| Manufacturer | Compaq Presario |
| Model Name | SR571 |
| Display | Check with you Dealer |
| Dimensions ( H x W x D) | 378 x 169 x 426mm |
| Hard drive Capacity | 250GB 7200RPM Serial ATA hard drive |
| Optical drive | DVD+-RW DL |
| Graphics hardware | NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE Graphics with 128MB dedicated graphics memory. Up to 1343MB Total Available Graphics Memory |
| Memory | Installed RAM: 3GB expandable up to 4GB DDR2 SDRAM with 2 x 240 Pin DIMMs memory slots having PC2-6400 memory speeds |
| Processor | AMD Athlon™ X2 4450e+ Dual-Core Processor |
| Processor speed | 2.3 GHz |
| Audio | Realtek ALC260 - High Definition Audio |
| Operating system | Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 |
| Mouse | Optical Compaq Presario mouse |
| Keyboard | Compaq Presario keyboard |
| I/O ports | 4 High Speed 2.0 USB ports (Back)/ 2 High Speed 2.0 USB ports (Front) 1 Headphone port 1 Microphone port (Front) 2 PS/2 1 Microphone - line-in /line-out 1 VGA-out (Back) |
| Software | Adobe Acrobat Reader Microsoft Works 9 HP DVD Play Muvee auto Producer Basic Cyberlink DVD Suite Deluxe Microsoft Office Home and Student Edition 2007 Trial Version |
| Warranty | 12 Months |
April 21st, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Great post! This is why I love blogging. Always something interesting to read, watch and enjoy. It keeps the mind active. Thanks, Amy x.