What do you think about the laptop Compaq Presario CQ61-410EP?
I searched it up, and it looks pretty good, according to a few youtube reviews, and the price looks good.
But I need some more reassurance, is it as good as it looks?

I plan on using my laptop for school work, writing, playing sims 3 and other games, and using paint.net and photoshop. I also open a lot of tabs on the internet as well as chat on MSN all at once, can this laptop take it?

If not, do you have another suggestion?

Well, I'm not the best person to answer a question like this, and I am kind of bias when it comes to brands...especially brands that I have used in the past and have come to hate.

Compaq being one of those but that was a desktop, not a laptop. Same can be said for HP and from what I was seeing in search results, it seems HP owns Compaq. Compaq is actually the one brand I hate the most, followed by HP.

But anyway, to said laptop. I looked it up then had to google the page just so I could get it in English to read it. It seems okay. But I believe 2.1GHz for the processor speed is slow (obviously in my opinion). I'm actually currently looking for a laptop for my dad to buy me for my birthday where the processor speed is at least 2.5 GHz and under $1000 USD. They're not as rare as they were earlier in the year.

It comes with 4 GB of RAM which is nice and you can upgrade it to the max of 8 GB if you so desired to.

The lightscriber is also nice. Never used one though but I've always wanted to try one. It doesn't say how long the battery lasts where I'm looking at. But if battery life (as in how long you have to you have to charge the battery) is under three hours, I'd say pointless, but it is probably at least three of four hours since most last that long now. It also doesn't mention anything about USB ports either.

The processor speed and the RAM is the main things that I look at in a computer/laptop. Then how many USB ports it has (well, for a laptop at least) as well as long as it has a cd/dvd RW (mainly for a laptop since desktops normally always have it) in it.

I'm not sure how well it would handle the games and photoshop. For everything else you've mentioned, it seems like it should handle it though. My current laptop can barely handle Photoshop CS4 but the processor speed and the GB of RAM is less than what it on the laptop you're looking at. Here on my desktop, I can handle firefox in multiple tabs, AIM, photoshop, and illustrator. That's all I've really had opened at one time. But the processor speed on my desktop is 2.7 GHz and 6 GB of RAM.

I'm not sure if I was a help. I'd suggest to wait till someone else who is more knowledgeable comes around to give advice.

Thanks a lot Animula. That certainly has helped. Laptops may be different, but I've had a few similar reactions to yours about that laptop, so I may dump it.

As for what laptop to buy, I'm now clueless. There are a lot of little things I'd like the laptop to have, but I guess the most important is what you mentioned. I need it to work.

Any other suggestions people?