Avoid Compaq and HP like the plague.
Check out "Compaqsucks.com" and goggle similar concepts to find out that I am one of many who would not go near a Compaq product.
My Compaq was one of the biggest nightmares of my adult life.
Customer service uniformly hideous.
They have an entire division set up to deal with people when they get to the point of telling customer service, as I did, "You are not capable of repairing this machine."
Compaq purchased HP so expect the same.
I purchased a Fujitsu - everything the opposite of Compaq - very good to excellent customer service, excellent computer, no problems in almost 2 years.
It uses some Toshiba and Hitachi parts.
On the downside, Fujitsu can only be purchased thru Fry's, one other electronics chain (wasn't familiar with them), and online.
Compaqsucks.com