The Compaq 201 is a budget netbook… on a budget

Tom on January 06, 2010

HP’s subsidiary Compaq tends to take the models designed and produced by its older, better, bigger brother, slightly lessen the quality, use slightly inferior materials, and slash the price tag on products that are by-and-large simply HP models on a tight budget.

While their nomenclature is scarily alike, the Compaq 201 and its more expensive cousin the HP Mini 210 are not that similar in terms of design or specification. The Compaq 201 is a remodel of the previous HP Mini, the Mini 110 – a model we looked fondly upon.

Unfortunately, the Compaq doesn’t splash out on the updated Intel Atom netbook processors coined Pine Trail, unlike the new HP Mini line. Instead, users will have to make do with the 2009 Atom processors – and in this one, it’s a 1.66GHz Atom N270.

Slightly more appealing is the inclusion of a whole gigabyte of RAM standard – great at this price point – and Windows 7, at least, although it is Windows 7 Starter Edition, which is fairly crippled in terms of power usage and multitasking. But at a retail price of only US$229, we’re certainly not complaining.

[Photo credit: HP Press via Engadget]