[14] Compaq also offered a full-feature docking station that added several other MultiBay units to the machine, on top of additional PC Cards and an Ethernet port.

[4] Compaq used ESS Technology's Sound Blaster–compatible AudioDrive chips to handle audio and used OPTi's PCI-based Viper as the computer's video and general-purpose chipset.

[4][17] The polarizers of certain early-model LTE 5000 series machines with active-matrix LCDs were coated with a dark film intended to increase contrast when looked at straight-on while reducing visibility from far angles.

[17][19] The Houston Chronicle's Dwight Silverman, reviewing the LTE 5100, called the display's refresh rate snappy, the hard drive's seek times "lightning-fast", and the keyboard's feeling "typically nice" for a Compaq portable.

Like Silverman, Dwight praised its video performance while also highlighting its built-in speakers as "surprisingly good" in terms of range and stereo separation.

Also like Silverman, Dwight drew attention to the machine's heaviness, writing that it "harken[ed] back to the days of laptops and throbbing shoulders", but found the keyboard layout "excellent" and welcomed the addition of a wrist wrest.

[12] PC World's Brad Grimes, reviewing the LTE 5100, deemed the machine "among the best" of the portables the magazine had tested up to that point and evaluated it as the fastest 90-MHz Pentium notebook on the market.

[22] Bruce Brown of PC Magazine, reviewing the LTE 5300, called it a "stalwart choice" for "a top-quality multimedia presentation portable" and "a good bet for corporate buyers" but found it expensive at over $6,600.

In benchmark tests, Brown deemed the Compaq LTE an average performer in terms of number-crunching and graphical capability while singling out its battery life as "very good".

[24] PC World's Rex Farrance, reviewing the LTE 5400 (the final model in the line), wrote that, while expensive, the machine possessed "above-average reliability, super service, flawless construction, and a lovely screen".