Compaq Evo - Design

Design

The Desktops were small and made to be positioned horizontally instead of vertically, so the monitor could be placed on top to save space. Most featured a sleek silver and black compact design. The early models shipped with CD-ROM drives, but Compaq eventually shipped Evos with CD-RW drives and DVD-ROM drives. The design of some models only allowed for one CD or DVD drive, but some models had bigger designs for 2 CD or DVD drives. Some of the models also shipped with a 3½ Floppy Drive, positioned below the CD or DVD drive. Most models also had 2 USB 2.0 ports in the front for convenience, as well as having two in the back for human interface devices and external volumes. Most also had a headphone and microphone jack in the front, with line in and line out in the back.

The laptops were a conservative design, described by one reviewer as "the old-school black, squared-off-corner business notebook". Most models had a tough black case reminiscent of IBM's ThinkPad, a midsize 14" or 15" screen, and good multimedia capability. It offered 256 MB RAM as standard but that amount can be easily upgraded to 512 MB or even 1 GB, about the same as laptops in 2008.

The thin clients were based on the Geode processor family.