Atom-powered Compaq Presario CQ2009F desktop now on sale
By Darren Murph 
posted January 17th 2009 2:19PM
posted January 17th 2009 2:19PM
Compaq Presario's got a new 4.41- x 10.71- x 9.69-inch box for your consideration, and it goes by CQ2009F. 'Course, those following the scene in Taiwan probably know it better as the mini-Q, but apparently the model name had to be purged of any personality before being introduced to America. The so-called nettop (or maybe mini tower is more fitting here) houses an Intel Atom 230 CPU, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, GMA 950 graphics set, a 160GB 7,200RPM hard drive, Ethernet, integrated audio, a 6-in-1 card reader, a few USB 2.0 ports, VGA output and loads of additional software that you'll have to quickly uninstall upon arrival. You'll find Windows XP running the show, and the built-in DVD burner should handle the storage duties. Nah, performance junkies won't find much (read: anything) to love, but who wouldn't appreciate the $269.99 price tag?[Thanks, V & Brian]
These kinda small pcs make good home servers, I just ordered myself a 330 atom mobo to replace a power hungry AMD64.
Since its going to be headless, the lame graphics don't matter.
And because its so tiny I can stick the mobo and other bits just in a box, and forget about them!
Yep, I configured a home server, with HTTP, FTP, SSH, VNC, L2TP VPN, MySQL and Samba printing service....
Pretty amazing!
Sounds like what im planning!
I'm also thinking of turning it into a routing box as well, to replace our dlink that crashes =/
Why on earth would they use a mid sized tower for an atom processor. Compaq could have just stuffed everything into a small lan box. Advertised as a space saver.
@ zioncat
What part of "4.41- x 10.71- x 9.69-inch box" makes you think this is a mid-tower sized computer?
I wish HP's site stated the max/min power draw. I couldn't find it.
One would guess its somewhere between 20w to 80.
According to my kill-a-watt meter a 2.4GHz Core2Duo desktop system with 2GB of mem, integrated Intel graphics on an Intel G33 m/b, a 5.25" DVD/RW drive, and a 3.5" SATA hd pulls about 25W at idle, and 45W with both cores pegged. 7-9W of that is from the hard drive. For comparison, older P4 systems were right about double those numbers (also using integrated graphics). Those numbers are with Antec Earthwatts 380W or 420W power supplies.
A 2.5" drive like the one in this sytem will only pull around 3-5W when spinning. I'd guess everything else might bring the total up to around 7-10W max. That's slightly less than an older idle laptop (w/ mobile cpu) without a battery in it, and the screen backlight off (11W according to my meter).
A desktop with a dedicated gfx card and multiple 3.5" drives is a different story...
BTW - those numbers are for systems running on 120VAC.
Everything is going "Atom powered" these days.....
brave new world thanks to atom.... yeah... kinda like in the 60s.
I miss lead paint...and asbestos
"so-called nettop"
Who calls it a nettop? Haven't small towers always been mini-towers?
Usually "nettop" refers to the super small desktop PC's, like the Mac Mini form factor, I think Asus makes one too, and a few others. Those don't really fit the description of a mini-"tower", which this Compaq branded machine does (I wouldn't call it a nettop either).
Nettop refers to a small form factored PC running a slow Atom processor. "Nettop" because it's not as powerful as a regular desktop. "Nettop" because about all it is good for is menial tasks such as surfing the web.
Although I understand the purpose of these types of computers, I can't imagine so many people wasting their money on them. I know they will though. The Atom processor being slower than single core Celerons is just pointless in anything other than a netbook.
I agree with molecule-eye - for only a few $$ more you can get a much better, longer lasting pc.
Dang it! Where is Nvidia ion plate form?
home shopping network?
Nice for the price.
Although I'd wait for Windows 7 to come along before buying any OEM PC now.
My prediction:
After Windows 7 is released, we're going to see an explosion of (relatively low-powered devices such as this one) rushing to market. A lot of people are going to finally be able to hide a small, Internet capable PC behind their large, flat panel living room TVs. TV makers will be next to include Windows 7 directly into their offerings - along with built-in wifi and/or an Ethernet jack.
Houston, we have a visionair!
I totally agree. This is going to be huge!
Why not? We have TVs with Netflix, Flickr, etc....
My prediction:
Obama is going to be the next president of the United States! And SSDs will get cheaper by 2014!
Funny, it's the Windows installs on these machines that keep me from upgrading to these machines. It just adds to the price and I want SSH access. I'm looking for Linux w/ root. Or even BSD. Maybe I'm niche. The best little home server I've had so far is Excito's Bubba. But I'm always keeping my eye out for a low-powered,
@Jammy Pac
Without the Windows install, the crap ware vendors wouldn't be preinstalled on the machine. Those vendors usually subsidize the cost of the OS, so you don't save anything by leaving off windows.
Ugh. The atom 230 needs to DIE DIE DIE. All these interesting low power machines need to use the 330 CPU which should add a whopping $15 to the price. Then I'll be interested.
I agree: Single core for a nettop doesn't make much sense.
But, will it run OS X :-)
NO! All hail Steve Jobs!
Hahaha, "loads of additional software that you'll have to quickly uninstall upon arrival"
Brilliant
What was the question?
Nobody gives a dam to answer to the Mac Mini.
Faster, smaller, more powerful, cheaper, nicer, better specced,better perfoming , better everything, machines have always been available but still lots of morons would'nt buy anything else because someone told them that that one is the thing to buy if they want to look cool.
He is a troll. I thought you would have worked that out by now.
Why the hell do they and are they allowed to make atom powered desktop, is it really worth it to save 10 dollars and sell people a system ten times slower than the cheapest core2?
And why does every person that puts an atom CPU in ANYTHING get attention from engadget?
Just do a collection of atom-using crap every few days like you do with the crapgadgets.
The point is that its very low power, very quiet, very small!
I don't want a C2D running something that's basically going to sit at 0% cpu most of the time, just using extra power!
No the point is that they can throw it together for 80 bucks and sell it for 4 times that, at least that's THEIR point.
I'm building a Atom 330 + 1gig DDR2 667 + 500gig HDD for £130. (Considering I have a spare psu)
So, if you don't like the prebuilt price, build it yourself.
Up and Atom!!!
*groans
i am not very smart when i comes to computers
i know that my computer is not very good(and pretty old in computer terms), but i was wondering what is a "better" a 3Ghz intel pentium4 or the intel atom.
if anyone could get back to me on this it would be really great
The P4 might be a bit faster than the single core atom, but it will use LOADS more power.
neither are betters because neither possess the AI required to place a bet
@ Angus Hedger
thank you for the very speedy reply, quite helpful.
This coming from you who sends comments to me every article and this the second comment to you in six weeks. You've got serious problems. Oh and those pictures. You may have noticed they're giant and hanging off a wall. They're reflecting you. Yes scary. They're called mirrors. I'm sure you will have dentists wher ever you live see one Quickly. After that go see a psychiatrist. You need him more than ever.
In addition to what Angus said, keep in mind that both are somewhat sluggish compared to a Core2Duo or Quad, and then just plain slow compared to a Corei7. But if you wouldn't consider yourself a power user, none of this matters, and your P4 is perfectly useable.
These things are ridiculous. For $10 more you can buy an HP a6600z with a 2.3Ghz Sempron LE (or another $10 for the 2.8Ghz Athlon LE), 2GB ram, integrated Geforce 6150, 250GB 7200rpm HDD, Lightscribe DVD RW, mouse & keyboard. And this thing won't even consume much more power idle or loaded than the atom system.
Wow, no HDMI or graphics expansion slot? There goes any chance of this serving as an HTPC.
Lame!
Why do you need HDMI to make it a good HTPC? VGA->Component adapter does just fine. Unless what you are sending requires HDCP (most likely not from an HTPC) you won't need HDMI. Component supports 1080p resolution, which is the highest that you would use in a home environment anyway.
Did you make the above comment so that we would think you make $1500 a week?
BTW, this product was obviously not designed to be an HTPC. That doesn't make it lame.
What you have here folks is the beginning of the end of the PC industry. This is the perfect Software as a Service appliance, at the right price point (and it will drop) to be a game changer.
Let's see, it does what 98% percent of people spend 99% of their time doing with a computer:
*** 1) Use the Internet (which with SaaS now includes everything from games to word processing to accounting) ***
2) Check email (see number 1)
3) Do homework (see number 1)
4) Do home bookkeeping (see number 1)
5) Instant Message/Voip/Video Chat (See number 1)
6) Do light duty office work (See number 1)
7) Casual Gaming (See number 1)
Computer Repair Shops - Sell your stock! - Repair it? (ROFL) Sorry, no, if a factory restore won't fix it, just buy another one.
Linux on the Desktop - Why bother? At this price point, where's the advantage? What few companies still write desktop software over the next few years won't be able to afford to support multiple platforms. When the Browser finally becomes the OS (within 5 years for most things) and the manufacturers finally feel comfortable skipping that $5-10 license fee...it just won't matter anymore.
Mac - It's all downhill from here folks, see Linux comments.
From here on out, the ONLY thing keeping the PC industry going is going to be enthusiast gaming and the limited number of demanding commercial applications like Adobe Creative Suite. I don't know of anyone that edits home movies, and heck, I just can't think of anything else "demanding" on a home computer. Really, the 2GB dual core version will make even background security software a non-issue.
As for SaaS, things are rapidly shaping up nicely there. If Mint.com finally get's around to adding a "cash" category that I can update myself, well, that's close enough to Quicken that I don't need to buy that software. Photo editing? Photoshop Elements online works fine for me. And so forth.
Next step? Get rid of the DVD drive. Shrink the box even more, just a handful of USB jacks, speaker jack, VGA, and HDMI. Move to USB3 (sufficient to replace HDMI) and you'll have a reasonably competent PC the size of a power brick and dumped on the floor with them.
Z.