It is a desktop-style computer which measures 14.5" long, 12.5" wide, and 3.5" tall. This is convenient if your desk has a thin level under where the monitor sits, designed for desktop computers to be placed. Having the computer on your desk protects it from dust accumulating on the floor, and allows easier access to the disk & CD drives. Conveniently located on the front are the power button, microphone jack, and headphone jack. However, the USB ports being located on the back is less convenient for those who frequently use portable USB devices. Other ports include two PS/2, a standard VGA monitor port, two serial ports, two other audio ports, and an Ethernet/RJ45 jack. It does not have a built-in modem or joystick/game ports. There are two expansion slots, one of which can be used for a modem if necessary.

It is fairly heavy and has a mostly metal (some plastic, especially on the front) beige exterior. It lacks a reset button. There is a single 3.5" disk drive and a thin laptop-style CD-ROM drive. There are no standard 3.5" or 5.25" drive bays, so devices such as a Zip drive would have to be installed externally. It is designed so that the housing can be opened without a screwdriver (two buttons on either side are pushed down while the housing is pulled off; it is somewhat harder to replace the housing properly), and the unit which holds the drives in place can be lifted up (to access the motherboard area under them) without the use of tools. Wires are kept to a minimum (they are short and the CD-ROM only has one wire attached to it, carrying both data & power), making it easier to work inside but limiting the upgradability. It has two memory slots; the unit used for this article has a single 64MB memory card but this is upgradable. A sticker on the power supply reads "120W Max", indicating that the maximum watt consumption is lower than that of most modern computers (usually 200W, 250W or higher, except for laptops). The computer's fan runs rather quietly. A drawback to this computer is that most internal parts have to be replaced with Compaq parts (there may be other brands that are compatible with Compaq parts), not cheaper generic parts. However, this is typical of many brand name computers. It is possible to use non-Compaq expansion cards (modem, video card to use instead of on-board video, etc.) and hard drives.

A sticker on the front indicates that it is "Designed for Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional or Windows 98." Its hardware meets the system requirements for Windows XP as well, although 128MB (or more) memory is recommended by Microsoft.

This computer can often be purchased inexpensively (under $50), especially on internet auction websites like eBay.com. Its relative lightness and small size make shipping costs lower than that of most equivalent tower-style computers.

Overall, if you don't mind the potentially higher costs for replacement parts, the Compaq DeskPro ENS C500 is great for most tasks, including web browsing, word processing, programming, games that aren't especially demanding, spreadsheets, and digital photography, despite its small size and inexpensive cost.