Our new lab has HP Intel Core 2 Quad systems with DVD/CDRW and SATA. I can provide the model number if needed.
They stop on kernel startup when trying to boot the CentOS 5.2 boot CD. It is during ACPI.
Model #'s would be good, even some cheap units have quad cores now, so its Impossible to guess. Most certainly support RH -> CentOS. Check the Manual, there are likely some BIOS settings you need tweaked.
jlc