HP Compaq CQ2000 in Desktop PCs

The world of nettops seems to be growing by the week, with the current crop of machines - most of them made by smaller manufacturers - now being joined by offerings from truly global players. HP's Compaq CQ2000 is the latest system to try dethroning our favourites, the Novatech ION and all-in-one Advent AIO-100.

The Compaq isn't an all-in-one like the Advent, though - instead, a separate 20.1in monitor, keyboard and mouse mean that the CQ2000 bears more resemblance to the ultra-cheap Novatech. While the HP isn't as cheap as that package - an RRP of £329 exc. VAT is well above the ION's £234 - there seems to be more quality on offer to compensate.

The monitor, for instance, is a 20.1in TFT that is instantly more palatable than the 17in Hanns.G screen included by Novatech, and is also bigger than the 18.4in TFT built into the Advent AIO-100. Picture quality is reasonable, too - the native resolution of 1,680 x 1,050 provides plenty of desktop real estate, and there??s a surprisingly even backlight lurking underneath the panel instead of the leaking mess we often see from cheap screens. It's not all good, though - bright whites exhibit the same grainy finish we often see in netbook panels, and colour reproduction, at the high end especially, is mediocre. Nevertheless, it's more than adequate for working and surfing the web, which will surely be the staple tasks of this machine.

The chassis is one of the most stylish efforts we've seen so far from a nettop: the glossy black finish and gently curving facade look far better than most, and even trump the retro-tinged Advent AIO-100 when it comes to a PC that we'd be happy to sit on our desks. A reasonable amount of versatility is included alongside the solid design, too, with a pair of USB ports, card reader and two audio jacks sitting on the front of the machine. The rear offers two USB ports, a VGA output, two PS/2 connectors and a Gigabit Ethernet port.

The inside of the chassis even offers some upgrade potential. Unscrewing the back of the chassis and opening the front, which works on a hinge mechanism, allows access to every component that you could, in theory, upgrade: the optical drive, hard disk, RAM and single PCI-Express 1x slot are all theoretically available for future expansion. It's not much, but it's certainly more than was on offer from the Novatech ION, which unhelpfully kept most of the components hidden from view.

The components themselves are typical nettop fare: Intel's desktop Atom N230, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard disk and Windows XP Home Edition. One disappointment is the lack of wireless - even the £234 Novatech included 802.11b/g WLAN - so you'll have to use the 10/100 Ethernet, or a USB dongle, to get online.

Accordingly, performance was mediocre. Our review sample came pre-installed with Windows Vista Home Premium, and in our 2D benchmarks the Compaq scored a disappointing 0.32 - slightly lower than what we'd expect from the average nettop. However, we anticipate that the retail model, which will come with Windows XP Home installed instead, will offer performance in line with every other Atom-based nettop we've reviewed. Thankfully, there's a DVD writer to add versatility - an attribute that this machine and the Novatech ION possess but is far from standard on nettop machines.

HP didn't supply a keyboard and mouse for this machine - although a basic set will be supplied with the finished product. We can't say for sure what quality will be like, but from past experience they should be solid enough to use on an everyday basis. Should this prove wrong when the set arrives in the Labs we'll post an update.