The HP Compaq Presario SR5610F is part of the HP's Compaq Presario SR line of budget-price PCs. Like most SR models, the SR5610F is a no-frills model that costs less than $500. Its capable handling of basic daily computing tasks (Web browsing, archiving CDs, e-mailing, standard office productivity) can make for a decent student PC or second home computer. But at this low price point, where bang-for-the-buck is king and competition is fierce, HP doesn't give you quite enough—or at least not as much as similarly priced offerings from Lenovo, Dell, and eMachines.

Aesthetically, the Presario SR5610F remains unchanged from last year's SR5130NX model. The brushed silver case with black trimming bears the traditional Compaq branding, as do the mouse and keyboard. The black keyboard bundled with the system is standard fare, but the included ball mouse is dated. It baffles me as to why HP would insist on placing such ancient technology in even a budget PC; an optical mouse costs just a few extra bucks. (To be fair, a recent budget eMachines PC that made its way to the Labs came with the dreaded ball mouse, too.)

The Presario SR5610F is fueled by a dual-core AMD Athlon X2 4400+ processor running at 2.3 GHz. While it doesn't offer the performance of the Intel Core 2 Duo processor found in the Dell Inspiron 530, it's more than capable of tackling general tasks like e-mailing, surfing the Net, and burning music. The 2GB of system RAM is common in Vista budget systems, while its integrated nVidia GeForce 6150 graphics is designed strictly for casual game play (Solitaire, anyone?). Its 320GB of hard drive space is plenty of storage to archive music and media files, but you'll have to use one of the two front USB ports to transfer media files from a digital camera or mobile device because there is no card reader. A standard dual-layer DVD± RW drive can play movies and back up data.

The expansion options on the Presario SR6150F are typical for a system at this level. While there are no available SATA ports (the two on the motherboard are occupied by the hard drive and optical drive), an available IDE slot can accommodate a second hard drive. There are two available PCI slots, perfect for adding things like FireWire, and an available PCIe (x16) slot, useful for giving your system a little 3D gaming prowess. You'll also find a single PCIe (x1) slot occupied by a 56K modem, plus an available slot that will let you expand the total system memory (a single 2GB DIMM occupies one slot).

Unsurprisingly, the Presario SR6150F is loaded with bloatware—those free trials and ads that plague budget systems in general. A 60-day trial of Microsoft Office Home & Student is present, plus a number of disposable trial Internet software like NetZero (30 days), MSN dial-up (60 days), and Juno (30 days). A 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security 2008, stingy as it is, is one of the only things worth keeping on the drive.

In testing, the Presario SR6150F's performance was nearly identical to that of the Lenovo IdeaCentre K210 and eMachines T5274. It completed the Windows Media Encoder (WME) test in 1 minute 29 seconds, and our Photoshop CS3 test in 1:01, which is a little on the slow side. (Keep in mind that there's an available memory slot, so if you're comfortable tinkering inside the case, you can add a 1GB stick of RAM for about $20, giving you a total of 3GB memory and improved performance.) The Presario SR6150F is fine for someone wanting a basic system for Web browsing, e-mailing, streaming music, and viewing media files (the system has Media Center functionality, thanks to Window Vista Home Premium), but not for a hard-core enthusiast.

Overall, the Compaq Presario SR5610F doesn't really disappoint, but it doesn't excite, either. It's a capable home system for under $500, with standard expansion options that make it a decent student PC. You can get more for your money, however, so unless you're locked into getting a Compaq, check out our Editors' Choice winner, the Lenovo IdeaCentre K210.

Check out the HP Compaq Presario SR5610F's test scores.

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