Remember Compaq? Those where the first two words, the starting point of the article that announced the new power packed cheap PC from the almost forgotten brand bout by Hewlett-Packard way back in 2002. While some where being bombarded by the sell of Dell and now the wow of netbooks,HP has kept the name alive as a secondary brand mainly relegating Compaq to overseas markets (particularly popular in Asia) and as second-tier PCs sold on the cheap at warehouse-style stores.
But now HP announced today the rollout of a line of ultra-inexpensive PCs, both laptops and desktops, with extreme budgets in mind.Check this out the Compaq CQ61z (pictured), a 15.6-inch laptop with an AMD Sempron CPU, 2GB of RAM, DVD burner, 160GB hard drive, and discrete graphics. Running Windows 7 Home Premium, the machine costs a nearly unfathomable $399. Of course that’s the price point that’s become almost standard now…but for netbooks which in comparison offers a tiny screen and minimal hard drive.
I love the idea of this competition in the cheap PC space. Only hope that by the time it gets to Jamaica with the exchange rate being at 88JMD=US$1 the market can still afford it. Or maybe companies like Digicel, Flow or other PC sellers can find a way to sell it near $400usd, still make a profit and help drive the internet access penetration rates passed 50% here. Welcome back Compaq!