HP EliteBook WJ681AW Notebook - Core i5 i5-520M 2.4GHz - 14-Inch - 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM - 250 GB HDD - D

I've had the HP Elitebook 8440P laptop for just over a month now, and I absolutely love it. I used to use a 13" macbook, but got sick of not being able to customize the software to do exactly what I wanted (since I grew up as a PC user). I expect the HP Elitebook 8440p to last me at least 3-4 years. I've installed Windows 7 ultimate 64-bit on it so that I could run Adobe Premiere Pro CS5 for editing videos, and the laptop renders video fast and hasn't crashed yet.

I've replaced the standard 6 cell battery with a 9 cell battery, giving me 5-6 hours of battery life while browsing online and watching youtube videos. I noticed the battery life lasts even longer (up to 9 hours) if you turn off the wifi, and do something offline like word processing. When you put it to sleep, it doesn't drain the battery at all, yet it turns on right away again when you hit the power button.

The machine is designed excellent with a business/professional and sleek look with the stainless steel lid. It's also scratch resistant and finger-print resistant due to this material. It's quiet and stays very cool. This may also have something to due to 160gb Intel solid state drive that mine has.

The HP protection suite that comes with it has many great security options if that is an important issue to you. It can manage all your passwords for you.

The only bad thing I could say about it is about the speaker/mic volume. The volume won't get very loud even on the max settings. When you record your voice on microphone, it doesn't play back very loud. Still it's good enough to handle a skype call.

This is a high quality made laptop. It's highly robust and the one I got includes all I need: Smart card reader, SIM reader, GPS, DisplayPort, Memory reader, keyboard light, etc.

I highly recommend this model. This is an enterprise version that is made to last. Don't buy those models made for entertainment or students as those are made of bad quality materials.

Mine is running on Windows 7 Ultimate and works fast.

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I've owned a dozen or more computers over the last 28 years and with out question, this is the most hateful computer I've ever owned. It's so loaded up with HP help-ware, that the computer does not work. Simple tasks like reviving from sleep mode takes up to 5 minutes, most of the time I have to turn it off and restart. I'll be trying to read something and it will go to screen saver while I'm reading even though I've totally turned off the screen saver setting. The HP help-ware constantly resets settings, I've changed, back to THEIR default.

I've had this computer for 4 months, put no software or files of my own on it and still can not get it to work reliably for simple tasks. Thank God it's not my main computer!!

HP has been of no help. In one instance, HP help put me on hold for 20 minutes while researching the problem (new slang for "I need a cigarette break") then disconnected me and even though the researcher had taken my phone number "just in case we get disconnected", I never heard from him again. This computer has been just one expensive mistake. DON'T MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE.

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HP Pavilion 14-b017cl 14" Sleekbook Laptop / Intel Core i5-3317U, 6GB DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB Hard Drive,

My review is going to be in sections about each feature or aspect of the laptop and then an overall thought about it.

Size: This is a nice portable, not too small not too big laptop. I carry it in my backpack to and from school and I can not feel a difference between this and a small text book. It's nice not having to lug my 6 year old hp around anymore.

Screen: On the highest brightness setting the screen is very bright and well lit. Lowest brightness setting will save some battery life and it's not too low where you cant see anything but just perfect. The led screen is much brighter, more energy efficient and gives a better picture when watching movies or playing games compared to the older fluorescent style screens. The hd resolution is typical for any standard computer and on a 14 inch screen it looks better than on a 15 inch or 17 inch. You just loose some screen space but improve the clarity. The screen itself is pretty thin too. Stack two nickels together and that about how thin it is. Although it is pretty solid

Build: The computer is all plastic. Its your typical plastic that most laptops use today but everything on the computer feels pretty solid and not chincy. There is no metal screen back or anything like that.

Ports: The hdmi port works great. Hooked it up to my led tv the other day and worked right away and looks nice. Usb 2.0 port works like every other usb 2.0 port I have used and seems very standard and is located on the left hand side. I currently use it for a wireless mouse dongle. The 2 usb 3.0 ports are located on the right hand side, side by side, next to the hdmi port. I transferred some file in about 15 seconds that would have taken probably a minute with usb 2.0. If you do not know usb 3.0 is alot fast than 2.0 but if you are just transferring small word documents or small pictures you wont really notice it. I find it pretty convenient this laptop includes both and not just one or the other. It also has your typical cat 5 which includes a clasp type of mechanism where the plug in goes I'm assuming for extra security which is nice too. There is a mic/headphone port (not seperate). I read somewhere that this was a bad thing as it a combined port an not seperate for a mic and a seperate pair of headphones but the way I see it is there is already a built in microphone by the webcam so you don't need a seperate mic anyways. So if you have earbuds or headphones with a built in mic it works that way as well.

Trackpad: Has raised bumps which I prefer over a smooth one because you can get the feel of it more. Also you can turn the trackpad off by double tapping the circle indentation in the upper left hand corner. All finger control for windows 8 feel fine and I don't have a problem with them. Just takes time to get used to if you aren't already. You also have your typical left and right buttons that have a nice solid click.

Keyboard. Chiclet style. I prefer this setup as the keys are more on their own "island". Just like mac keyboards. They are more spaced out than a standard keyboard but I was able to get used to it after a couple minutes of typing. Keys are very easy to press and I don't feel a slight bit of finger strain at all. The up and down arrows are smaller than white I am used to but not a problem at all. Features on the keyboard also include screen brightness adjustment, mute, sound up/down, wifi on/off and is a standard size keyboard. It also has play and stop etc.

Sound: I didn't notice this in the advertisement but this laptop has altec lansing speakers with dolby advanced audio. They sound great for such a small laptop and wathcing a movie would be enjoyable or listening to music or playing games.

Performance: This has 6gb of ram and the 3rd gen i5 17 watt processor. The 6gb of ram should be enough for almost anyone which i nice that you don't have to upgrade it right away. The processor is the 3rd gen i5 with Ivy Bridge. I look at this processor as an efficient but powerful processor. I was able to download some files off the internet, watch 3 movies in 1080p and play music on pandora all at once. So this should be fine for almost anything you want to do. I am not a gamer so I can't comment on that. The 17 watts i5 processor had me concerned when I first got it thinking it might be too slow since the regular ones run at 35 watts but that all gone and I am very pleased to do anything I really want without having to wait for anything to catch up. I also read a review on the 17 watt i5 vs the 35 watt and the tests came back almost identical. So you get the performance while using less power. Also my older style hp would heat up lie an oven. I've been running this one pretty hard that last hour and it has yet to get hot. Stays cool to the touch. The vent is also located on the side which is great for people who actually use laptops on their lap.

Battery: Every laptop that you can get a good deal on always has a cruch. The battery life on this is about 4 hours. Thats surfing the web, watching some online videos and listening to music. It is pretty good for a 4 cell battery and just how small it is but there is better out there. I find that I am able to go to school and work on anything I have to before I leave so it works for me. So if you use this for travel or dont have a power outlet near you, you might want to consider buying another battery or a portable power supply.

Webcam: Webcam is front and center and works. It's not 1080p hd or anything but it works and has the same resolution you will find standard anywhere else.

Overall I love the laptop. It's lightweight, powerful, slim and has all the features you need. The only reason I took away the one star is because of the battery life. Its great to have this much power in a smaller laptop but it needs a bigger battery some days. Also any upgrading of the hard drive, memory etc...requires you go through the keyboard which can be a pain but it's not that difficult to do. If you are looking for a lightweight laptop that has great performance, resolution and you dont plan on using it for more than 4 hours at a time without a charge then this would be it.

****After a couple months now I have really enjoyed this laptop. I still have to reach for my charger every now and then but most of the time the battery life is long enough where I can get done what I need to. It last about 4 hours on a dim screen. Overall performance is still excellent. Loads and plays a 1080p movie on youtube without hesitation. The issue with my last hp laptop is it would get really hot. This one gets warm if I leave it on the bed, but not hot or even really warm. The paint by the keyboard and mousepad haven't dulled at all. I paid $400 for this on black friday. I would pay the asking price for this laptop if I needed a lightweight, fast and efficient laptop.

Update 4-13-13

Still running strong. No issues yet and I still like everything about it.

I wanted to inform some people who have not experienced Windows 8 yet. All of the advertisements shown for Windows 8 has the "tile" layout, similiar to smartphones and tablets. It's great for those devices but Windows 8 also has a "retro" user interface which is the traditional layout most people are used to and is found on Windows 7, Vista, XP etc. So you can have icons just like the Windows 7 but there is no start menu. You can add a start menu through a free download, google it, that works fairly well. That way you can access everything traditionally like you normally would in Windows 7 and XP by clicking on Start. Also Windows 8 is incredibly fast when starting up. Windows XP and 7 take an average of 45 seconds plus. Windows 8 Takes about 15 seconds for me to get signed on with this laptop. So it if fast which is nice if you have to log on quickly. Any questions please leave a comment.

In my lifetime (I'm 65 years old) I have owned too many desktops to count and this was my 30th Laptop. I must say that this is the BEST of the BEST !!

I have never owned a Laptop that was so responsive and trouble free !! It basically set itself up, maintains itself automatically and allows me to just use it instead of always having to upgrade and maintain it myself ! When I turn it on it boots up and is running in 2 to 3 seconds .... WOW !! Battery life is around three hours which is great and this machine even gives me a warning at 14% battery life left, so I can hook it up to the charger and run it from there without missing a beat ! This little machine has NEVER gotten near hot, just mildly warm !!

Now, I am not a big fan of HP ( I have several old HP machines in my garage) but this really is the best engineered machine I have ever owned. HP has thought of everything ! The only thing missing was the mouse and a CD/DVD Drive so I purchased a LG GP10NB20 Portable DVD+/-RW External Drive and a Logitech Wireless Mouse M325 from Amazon.com, both of which worked flawlessly with this computer !

Well, I can't say enough good things about this machine, but soon I would just appear to be rambling ... so I will close with this :

If you are looking for a super fast and powerful Laptop computer at an exceptionally low price, buy yourself one of these !!

You won't regret it !

Buy HP Pavilion 14-b017cl 14" Sleekbook Laptop / Intel Core i5-3317U, 6GB DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB Hard Drive, Now

This laptop is way beyond my expectation. Before bought this laptop, I had a Thinkpad X61s. Since the X61s is so slow for my daily calculation, I have to buy a affordable new laptop. I only spend 500 on this one. And the performance is just great.

This laptop is thin and light. And compare to my X61s, the screen is bigger and much more clear. The 14" LED screen is bright and clean. I don't know what to say. Thanks to the technology. I can not use my old laptop outdoor in a shine day because I can barely see nothing. However, now I can bring my laptop to the outside of the library.

And I was expecting a heavy fan noise since it is a hp product. However, it runs very quietly under regular use. Maybe the i5 CPU helped a lot. I don't feel the warm or the noise. It just perfect.

This i5 cpu + 6g ram laptop runs very fast. With the win8, it starts in seconds. I run Matlap, Ansys and ArcGIS with it. Not a single problem at all. Maybe my old computers are too old? I just feel it so fast and enjoyable to use.

The audio speaker is loud and clear and the camera is clear as well. I don't know what else I would want from a 500 product. It's just perfect.

Thanks HP and Intel. You make my money worth.

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The only problem was that the photo of the laptop was not accurate. It doesn't have the number keyboard on the side , it only has the numbers on top. Be careful if that is what you are looking for, otherwise its very nice. I don't really like wondows 8 inicial windows, it kind of confusing.

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My granddaughter was delighted to get this, especially for its weight and excellent performance, meeting all her needs as a college student.

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Lenovo IdeaPad N580 15.6" Laptop - Windows 8 (Black)

Great laptop for the price, not much else to say about it. Doesn't get warm, very quiet, and a nice design.

I hastily bought this as a hurry-up necessity when I sent my good laptop in for refurbishment. I figured for the low price, it would be a toy that I'd used only rarely. I find, though, that for a "toy" it performs extremely well. Not the fastest processor in the world but it is serviceable enough, and enough memory for my purposes.

When I streamed a movie last night I was impressed by the decent sound quality, both with earbuds and without. The keyboard action is a little stiff and I understand the rough touchpads on these models tend to deteriorate with light use so I would recommend buying a touchpad skin to protect against wear.

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It did not work and cost me $24.00 to return to manufacturer. Still waiting for refund. Asked for return shipping label, did not receive. Would have cost me that much to have the manufacturer repair, so I returned it. Never had a problem with electronics for Amazon before. I bought it because of reviews, very dissapointed.

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Dell Inspiron 1440 Black PDC 2.0GHz/4GB/500GB/DVDRW/14.1"/WiFi/Vista Premium

My wife and I have been saving up for a laptop for quite some time. My wife is a teacher and wanted a personal laptop that she could use to work on lesson plans and report cards at home and at work.

I could write a lengthy story about everything that went wrong with this laptop, but I'll just cover the main points.

The laptop we purchased was a refurb, and although we had our reservations, we were told the 1 yr warranty would cover all issues.

2 months after purchasing the laptop, the OS began to crash on a regular basis. We contacted support and they sent a new Hard drive to replace the faulty one. We were directed to a website with step-by-step instructions on how to replace the hard drive. We were not given an option to send in the laptop to have them replace the hard drive, we had to do it ourself. I was lucky that I had some computer building experience. I really couldn't see the average adult taking apart their laptop to fix this issue.

Less that 2 weeks after replacing the hard drive, the monitor started messing up. We contacted support again and were asked if we dropped or spilled anything on the monitor. The answer was no. My wife had finished school at this point, and the laptop had been sitting on our computer desk since the hard drive had been replaced. The only "wear and tear" came from opening the laptop and closing it back.

Our only options now are to send in the laptop to Dell and pay for PARTS + LABOR, or fix it myself. We were told "accidental damage" is not covered, despite the fact this is NOT accidental damage. This is a crappy, faulty laptop failing for the SECOND time in UNDER THREE MONTHS.

NEVER BUY FROM DELL!

This laptop is incredibly disappointing. I would caution anyone to beware of it. At the least, try it out in person prior to purchase.

The problem is fundamental: the design. The basic hardware and software is excellent. Unfortunately, the case is so low-quality that it's impossible to use effectively.

It's such a problem to type on that I'm actually writing this revew on another computer.

The light plastic of the case bends far too readily to even the slightest pressure, even when on a flat, hard surface. The result: the cursor goes off course, wrong letters and spaces are added, and immense time is lost getting to a good written product.

Regrettably, Dell's customer service is notoriously poor as well. So this computer will soon be replaced, far earlier than it should have been. I've got a lot of sunk costs in the Inspiron and it's time to bring them to an end. This has been a very expensive mistake, and prolonging it by using it longer would be a mistake (really, if the expense weren't so great, I'd have been wise to have junked it much, much earlier).

I'm inclined to go with an Apple. There are trade-offs with any computer, but their products are tremendously well-designed and assembled in my experience, and their service is much better.

What's more, having used an iPhone and studied Apple, my expectation is that they would not risk their reputation and brand by putting out a flawed product such as the Inspiron 1440. Frankly, I don't know what Dell was thinking on this one; big, big mistake that must be bringing harm daily to their reputation and brand value. The only other experience like this I've endured was a Compaq laptop, some years ago, that ended up in the trash bin after a few months.

Almost any computer will be such a relief after trying everything to make this Dell work, that I'll surely fall in love with it and be thankful for the productivity.

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I have used this computer for about 3 and half years now, and I have to say that it is still holding up quite well. The tasks I use for this computer are: typing essays and notes, running programs, such as STATA, for my classes, streaming movies, and going on line. I use this laptop every day, almost 5 to 8 hours a day, and I haven't had any problems yet. Yes, the design could be better, but it truly doesn't hinder the performance. So, I don't really agree with the reviews below. This is a useful and effective laptop.

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This was the second computer I purchased for college. (First one was an acer and just as bad). About 6 months after I got it, it wouldn't charge when it was plugged it. It took hours on the phone with dell customer service, but eventually (about a week of phone calls later) they decided to send someone out to fix it. The entire motherboard had to be replaced. A few months later, after I had allowed my warranty to expire, the hard drive broke! It refused to boot at all and I had to buy a new one. Now, almost a week after fixing that, the battery says it may be broken and is only holding about one hour of charge! I'm thinking dell manufactures these things so you have to keep repairing them one thing after another. WORST COMPUTER EVER!!

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I refuse to even give this POS a star. I bought this BRAND NEW last year for school. About 2 months after I got it, the screen would stay completely black after startup. NOTHING could get it to come on, no kind of booting or anything. So the first two times Dell had us uninstall and reinstall everything. It would never work. Then they sent us a hard drive. It continued to do the same crap. They proceeded to have us reinstall everything yet again. The only thing they offered to do was send a refurbished computer, which was BS because I paid for a BRAND NEW one and that one never worked to begin with. We had to take it to a place in town just to figure out what was wrong. The factory image settings on the computer was corrupted. So everytime we were reinstalling everything, it never fixed the problem. So about 10 months into this, we just settled with the refurbished computer since they refused to send a new one. Well guess what? Now I am having hard drive errors that I can't figure out. I am using a friend's computer, because mine can barely type a sentence without a huge 10 second lag. The customer service is awful. I will NEVER buy a Dell again. JUNK!

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Toshiba Satellite L675D-S7052 17.3-Inch Laptop (Fusion Finish in Helios Grey)

I recently purchased the Toshiba L675D-S7052 laptop for my daughter to use in college. After reading some reviews I was a bit nervous, but went ahead anyway.

I am not disappointed with this purchase. In fact, I'm quite pleased.

I have a lot of confidence in Toshiba Satellite laptops. I started off with a Compaq, years ago. It was nothing but trouble. When I replaced it, I purchased a Toshiba Satellite. I have stuck with Toshiba ever since. I have found that they are a hardly piece of equipment that just keeps going...and going...and going.

One of the things that concerned me, with some reviews, was the claim that this laptop is flimsy, bendable and liable to all sorts of bad things. I have not found that to be the case whatsoever. This laptop is nicely protected and is made out of a decent, sturdy material. It appears it can take a beating bouncing around in someone's car and backpack. I'm both comfortable and confident giving this to a teenager.

I am a fan of AMD processors. In my experience, I have grown to prefer them over Intel processors. This Phenom II Dual core processor appears to have plenty of power and speed. One thing my daughter requested, was that she could play games on it. She made me promise her. Guess what? This little laptop does just fine.

I am not too happy with the fact that this Windows 7 (64bit) version regularly sucks up 1.2 gigs of RAM just to operate. But then again, it comes with 4 gigs of RAM and is upgradable to 8. If I decide to add more RAM, it will take me all of one minute to install it.

One of my main concerns was with the number of USB ports. Many of the new laptop models only have two. That made me nervous for a couple of reasons. One, laptops get hot, so we're going to need to plug in a cooling pad. Two, some external hard drives require two USB slots to power themselves. Three, beside the other two...where is she going to plug in her mouse?

I didn't need to worry. I sat the laptop on the kitchen table all day long as I updated Windows, installed software and tested out the system. After sitting on the table without a cooling pad for 8 hours, i picked up the thing and it was still cool. I mean...really cool. My personal laptop gets so hot you need a cooling pad. After running hard for 8 hours, this little unit felt like it was still sitting at room temperature. This is nice.

It is also my understanding, correct me if I am wrong, but the newer external hard drives are back down to one slot. However, even if I am wrong, we still have three to play with. So, if it takes two to run an external hard drive, we still have another slot for a mouse.

Here is a nice feature: Ever had trouble with a laptop when you are typing and the cursor moves all over the place because of the pressure on the keyboard? I have experience this with IBM, HP, Compaq and Toshiba units in the past. However, on this unit...just below the space bar...there is a tiny button that can disable the built in mouse pad. When you want to use it again, just press the button and it starts working again. Nice!

Only thing I didn't like very much, was that the keys seem to show fingerprints easily. However, they are easily wiped off.

The 17 inch screen is beautiful.

I am very pleased with this purchase.

Awesomeness: Price, screen size, hard drive size, low heat, thin

Whine Factor: No Blu-Ray, no Bluetooth

This lap top is the BEST it works the BEST I can not ask no better I have check at All Lap Top in stores This Lap Top Best.

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After owning several problem-free Compaq and Dell laptops over the past 15 years, I made the mistake of buying my first Toshiba, a Satellite L675D. I admit that I was enthralled by the 17" display. Big mistake. HUGE MISTAKE. Less than four months after purchase, my wife opened the laptop one evening and the screen showed a crack in the upper right corner. I sent the laptop to the Toshiba repair depot and they claim she accidently damaged it and they want $325 to repair it. BTW, the entire system only cost $530 brand new. According to Toshiba Customer Relations (and I quote) the "accident was caused by opening the case too hard". I asked how that was even possible. Seriously, how do you open a laptop too hard? Toshiba said (and I quote), "you could have pulled too hard". If anyone from Toshiba is reading this, refer to T1-1174583 case # 110 331 001 320. I swear these are exact quotes. I currently own several Toshiba products, but after this experience I will never purchase another Toshiba product of any type in my lifetime. And now whenever I see someone even looking at a Toshiba laptop in Best Buy, HHGreg, WalMart, etc, I will warn them not to even consider Toshiba. Stick with manufacturers who stand behind their products. Toshiba is not one of them.

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HP nc6120 15" Notebook PC - REFURBISHED

The equipment was delivered in good working order, but was shorted a 256MB (DIMM). Advertised as 512gb RAM, had 256MB and start-up showed that the system had been altered. Someone obviously removed the DIMM.

I e-mailed customer service. They referred to it a defective system, which was incorrect, it was merely missing the DIMM. They took no action other than to guide me to the 800 number. No service there. Should change their name to customer mis-direction.

While I like the laptop I don't feel this vendor did a very good job of delivering what they advertised. Poor on delivery, poor on follow-through. If I have to chase to get what I paid for it takes away from an otherwise good deal. I won't purchase from this vendor again.

It was shipped promptly and is in great condition. I uninstalled Windows and installed Ubuntu and all is well. Works fine. The one that I got will need a new battery if I ever want to use it without the cord but that's no biggie. Until I need the battery I'll just plug it in. Works for me. The total price that I paid was $155.00 S/H included. Great deal. :0)

UPDATE: November 6 2012 :: The seller called my home phone suggesting that I was trying to pull a scam by mistakenly placing bad review (from a different seller) in his seller comments area. I felt intimidated by the call and thought that it was far too reactionary for a mistakenly placed bad review. The above review was written first and he didn't even mention that. He was slightly rude and a bit too aggressive for my taste. The battery does not work but I was forgiving for that just because I am not one to stir up trouble. His response to my asking if the battery should be working was something to the tune of " we test them all before we send them out". Mine does not work. I am not a scam artist and I do not have a bad history with Amazon. This seller should apologize and allow me to post the exact apology here in the comments section and he should send me a working battery. NEVER LET THE SELLER HAVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER. Don't get the sort of call that I did. Get it all in writing as Amazon keeps the seller buyer text exchange for a while and you and or the seller can use that to back up your claim should an issue arise.

SELLER: Do not call me again. Put it in writing please. Thank you.

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Despite being around 6 years old, this laptop still has a lot to offer. Right out of the box I started it up and hooked up to the internet. My first thought was "Wow! I really got a bargain!", I could surf the web quickly and seamlessly. Later on I added Microsoft Word and other programs for college work. Even though it feels kinda hefty, it is very compact and can fit in a bookbag easily. Ive had it for a while now and never had a problem with it so far. Its great for college work or just surfing the web, which is exactly what I needed.

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The refurbished laptop that I purchased works just fine. I don't see a problem with the body of it. I'm loving it, and its just the right size for me to take when traveling around town.

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At first I was very sceptical on ordering a refurbished product...-But then again it had to be better then the broken laptop that I had.So I took a chance and I Love it. So far so good...The price was excellent to because a new laptop was triple the price...Definately was the right choice and I would definately do it again...LOVE IT!

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Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5150 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver)

Great laptop, plays games very well... not great but very well. Plenty of power, but this thing does produce some heat! Overall ill give this laptop a 8 out of 10, thats condsidering the first one i received was defective with stuck keys. But Amazon is great i have my replacement in less than 24 hours

I bought this computer for my 19 year old son and he is so happy with it. He received it on time and has been already 6 months since my purchase and He has not problem at all with his laptop. Highly Recommend it.

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excellent, it was exactly what I was looking for, yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

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Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 Notebook (28479UU)

I recently acquired a slightly upgraded version of this laptop and I have to say, I am highly impressed with the Lenovo quality. And I'm an IT guy.

For those that don't know, Lenovo (a Chinese company) purchased the PC business from IBM, including the product names (one with business clout is the ThinkPad line).

When it comes to building a robust machine that's capable of taking the kind of beating a business professional doles out on a machine, the ThinkPad line always stood for high quality and high expectations. Thankfully those expectations continue to be met by Lenovo in the ThinkPad line.

Pros mostly unique to Lenovo's systems:

Powered USB port; you can plug in any device that can be charged via USB into the computer (the yellow USB port) and it will charge even if the laptop is powered off. You won't need to pack every wall wart with you when you travel anymore!

Textured touch pad; when you're working in darker locations, this helps you easily locate the touchpad

Fn and Ctrl keys can be swapped via the BIOS; Lenovo has positioned the Fn key used to switch to external displays, change screen brightness and so on, where you'd normally find the CTRL key on the left part of the keyboard so you can swap the function of the two keys in the BIOS

Robust recovery options

Useful bundled software; password vault used to store passwords in an encrypted file, connection manager makes connecting to wired and wireless networks easier, excellent power control (let's you see a ton of info that straight Windows 7 doesn't show, such as how much power the machine is currently using)

LED light on screen to illuminate the keyboard (though there is a con; see below)

ThinkVantage button; press the button during boot up and it takes you to system restore which can restore files, just the OS or completely reset the system to it's factory installed configuration (which nukes local files, so backup before running that option if you have files you don't want to lose!). You can also access driver updates for your machine directly from Lenovo with this button as well (yeah, like I said, I'm an IT guy!)

Bundled software. Being an IT guy I HATE most company's bundled software. Not so with Lenovo, as everything on this machine, with few exceptions, is worth keeping and using.

USA based support. Purchase a Dell, speak to someone in India. Purchase a Lenovo ThinkPad, speak to someone in Atlanta, Georgia. And no, I'm not dismissing the capability of India based support, but we all know it is sometimes difficult to understand Indian speakers.

Cons:

The textured touchpad, when used for extended periods, may make your finger uncomfortable

The LED light for keyboard illumination works, but not nearly was well as the backlit Dell keyboards

As configured this system is Windows 7 32 bit; I recommend 64 bit only these days especially if you ever want to upgrade past 4 GB of RAM (something else I'd recommend). If you want Win7 64 bit, you can purchase the 64 bit restore CDs from Lenovo's customer service (WHICH IS USA BASED!) for ~$50.

2 GB RAM is adequate but should be 4 GB at least for a Win 7 machine to really shine

Case design. One thing that never seems to change from ThinkPad model to ThinkPad model is the design of the laptop itself; a ThinkPad LOOKS like a ThinkPad, even if it was built 5 years ago. This is good or bad, depending on what you're looking for.

Working where I do, I have the luxury of directly comparing this Lenovo laptop w/ the Dell E-series. When comparing the 2 side by side, it's amazing how much better built the ThinkPad is. Sound quality from the speakers on the ThinkPad is so much nicer than the Dell E6410. The screen is brighter and cleared. The E6410, if dropped on a corner of the laptop, would be shattered and destroyed. The ThinkPad? Maybe pop the bezel back in place and you're back up and running.

And let's talk about heat dissipation. If you plan on using your laptop as a LAPtop, don't even consider the Dell E-series. It is scorcher. You will sweat with it on your lap. And don't even think about leaving it running on a table with varnish. It WILL melt the varnish if left to sit long enough. Always put it on a place mat or something else. Then you have this ThinkPad. I've left it running diagnostics over night, on a table and guess what? It was STILL cool to the touch. There is a very slight warmth but not something you'll notice in general use.

Overall I feel Lenovo builds a vastly superior product for business users than the other 2 of the big three (Dell, HP and Lenovo). Neither of the other manufacturer's laptops have the feel of a high build quality and design. They are OK, but if you're looking for the perfect business laptop to travel around with you, and not just pretty eye candy to show off your prestige, buy the ThinkPad, even at a slightly higher price point than Dell or HP. You will appreciate it in the long run, as this is a machine that will last for a couple years longer than your warranty runs, unlike the Dell and HPs of the same class. And a Dell you'll be lucky to have last more than 3 years.

Even using my company's Dell employee purchase plan and the higher discount it affords, I chose a Lenovo and will do so for as long as Lenovo continues to build one of the best designed, robust and well thought out laptops for business users.

Highly recommended (the ThinkPad line, not necessarily this build). For this particular laptop, call Lenovo and spend $50 on the Windows 7 64 bit restore discs.

Pro

I like this laptop , does not have warm problem. this is the best part.

The battery life is excellent, very resistant, excellent display.

Cons

But, i dont like the keyboard, the Fn key and Ctrl key are inverted.

And look like than the drivers for trackpad has some bug.

Buy Lenovo ThinkPad SL510 Notebook (28479UU) Now

I have had this laptop for 3 years now. In the meantime, I maxed the RAM to 8GB and Hardrive to 1 TB. It is very powerful and sturdy laptop. THe design allows it to be roughed and it keep on powering through. I run a lot of large spreadsheets and have not been disappointed. I also do music and video editing on the side. It is slower than anything with an i3 processor but it is very logically setup and designed. I use the red trackpad on the road and a wireless mouse on the desk. Battery life has gone down to an hour now, but I would only trade this for another Lenovo Thinkpad. It may not have all the fancy features, but it is a workhorse.

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I ordered a SL510 -received it damaged. Returned and got another. This one would not connect to wi-fi. Called many times with no help. Returned for repair THREE times and still did not work for more than a couple days at a time. Got my son to do a temp. fix but the unit still keeps dropping the Wi-Fi connection and shuts down on me at any time it feels like. (Lenovo said it did all it could and I now had the unit beyond warranty.)

I had an IBM Thinkpad that was great, but the Lenovo is a piece of garbage. I'll never buy a Lenovo product again!

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Lenovo ships from China and while you wait and wait for delivery the price will drop. Lenovo's price match offers to pay you the difference if you submit an identical Lenovo quote within a certain number of days. Lots of luck making the quote and your order identical. ANY discrepancy will result in denial of the entire refund and you will not be told that there is a discrepancy in time for you to resubmit. This will happen even if you were told by a Lenovo agent on submission that you should receive a refund of the difference in price! This behavior will be cited as Lenovo Policy. The PC itself is not worth the bother of dealing with Lenovo and its policy.

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Compaq Presario CQ60-215DX Laptop Notebook - AMD Athlon X2 QL-62 Dual-Core 2.0GHz, 2GB DDR2, 250GB

I bought this laptop in april of 2009. I upgraded the RAM from 2 to 4 GB's. I had to replace the screen recently but that was due more to my cat sitting on it. The computer its self is great. I upgraded from Vista to 7 and it runs that flawlessly. I have also booted Ubuntu and it recognized everything. I expect this laptop to last me another 5 years at least. Its a great computer if taken care of properly. I only had to format it once but that was due more to user error. The USB on the left side broke awhile back and i have yet to get it replaced. I would definitely purchase another for my wife.

Paid $300 for this laptop and a year and a half later it's proven to be a good buy. You really can't beat the price. I don't game much but I have run WOW on it and it does fine. A little lag when you go to Daleran but otherwise it's great. Short battery life but it's always plugged in anyway. It tends to get really hot really fast so be sure to ventilate properly as another reviewer suggested.

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Bought one at MicroCenter with my severance package when laid off in 2009. Used at my little start-up business, at home, in hotels around the US, in customer offices.

Only two "complaints": Shiny keyboard limits where you want your lighting placed; no built-in webcam.

I have used it with the factory Vista Home Premium, Ubuntu, Mepis, and will soon upgrade to W7...

Read Best Reviews of Compaq Presario CQ60-215DX Laptop Notebook - AMD Athlon X2 QL-62 Dual-Core 2.0GHz, 2GB DDR2, 250GB Here

I purchased for $300

Pros:

Running Ubuntu Linux 10.04, all devices recognized and work

You can use Vista for light gaming, it has pretty good power with the Nvidia card

No frills, simple essential system

Upgradable to 4 hour battery

Large harddrive

Nice look

Cons:

Default install is Microsoft Vista

No builtin webcam

Can be heavy to carry for extended periods

Default battery life lasts about 1.5 hour with moderate use

Can get very hot without proper ventilation

May scratch easily on top of the polished case (I covered it with laminate film to protect it)

I would buy it again.

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It is fully of bloatware. that nags the heck out of you to buy, buy, buy!!!! Dang nabit, pop ups! So, the stupid OS has become corrupt and i now need to do a system recovery. I have gotten my second set of recovery disk from HP and they still won't do the reinstall. I keep getting Error 1005. Yes, I have called numerous times and they want me to buy additional phone service for $100 to trouble shot and then additional $$$$ to actually fix the dang computer. I should have just bought a better computer. Maybe next time I'll get a Toshiba.

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Dell Inspiron 15 i15RM-3415SLV 15.6-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

I absolutely love my new Dell Inspiron with Windows 8. It was easy to set up and has so many great features.

I thought it was a good deal, but just one week after start for two times, it cannot come to normal working state after "sleep" for a few hours, just keep blue screen with only mouse! I can only force restart by power button, which is not good! Now I cannot use sleep function because I cannot figure out what problem it is. That's unexpected for a brand new computer!!!

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Dell Inspiron 15R is the first laptop for my wife. She likes it. However using Windows 8 was not so easy compare to Windows XP.

Read Best Reviews of Dell Inspiron 15 i15RM-3415SLV 15.6-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver) Here

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Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5320 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black Trax)

My old laptop had burnt out after a few years of good use being a older model Toshiba Satellite. Looking for a decent replacement I found myself to this laptop due to the price. That being said, I feel that my purchase was more than worth it. Coming from Windows 7 to Windows 8 has been a learning curve to say the least but with the program Classic Shell and the fact that Windows 8 has a option to use a "Desktop" interface helped a great deal making my experience with Windows 8 a pretty easy transition.

If you're looking to buy this and downgrade to Windows 7, be careful. After all my research, it's possible the drivers will not work with Windows 7. That was the only reason I did not downgrade myself.

I will say that the sound is absolutely awful and the camera is less than satisfying. Both could have been done much much better. There is a flimsy feel to the laptop itself but isn't that bad. The keys on the keyboard when typing feel like they are very cheap and could break if I were to press too hard. I do not use the touch pad but instead a USB Mouse which works perfectly fine when you disable the touch pad. I never liked them and have always used either a wireless or wired mouse.

This model DOES come with a HDMI output and is fantastic when you hook it up to your HDTV watching youtube or other stuff.

I let my kid play World of Warcraft with this laptop and at the preset "Good" settings he can get anywhere from 20-40 fps on that game alone. Considering my old laptop that is a vast improvement and is playable to anyone looking for a cheap solution.

Be careful with the shipping method though. I chose the "Free Super Saver Shipping" and was shipped VIA Lasership. This laptop was at the facility which was only 20 miles from my house for 2 days. I was fed up and called to see if I would be able to pick it up instead of waiting since usually once the item is at the facility, I normally get the item that same day. They did however work with me, tracked down the package, and allowed me to pick it up myself with no issues.

Overall if you're just looking for something cheap to use for some light gaming or merely looking for something for school work and/or internet surfing, this is a good choice at the price. I have no qualms with it so far except with the sound and camera.

This is a solid purchase for the individual on a budget. It shipped within a few hours after my purchase which was a plus, and got it the next day. The first thing I noticed is that it was bigger than what I thought it was going to be and felt extremely durable. The display is also vibrant but lacking only a little bit compared to a more expensive laptop, which won't disappoint you at all. The sound however, is not to good at all, it's tolerable but you will feel short ended when you play music or watch videos. Also the surface (Black Trax) of the laptop is the same as the cursor pad as well as the click buttons which is a feature I can over look but some people will find it annoying when navigating. I would recommend this laptop for the price and it is a quality product. Windows 8 takes some time to get use too because of the apps but it's a cool experience.

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I'm a college student so I just needed a laptop that I could get my HUGE workload done on. This was the ticket. At an amazing price I couldn't pass it up. Yeah that sound is not that great and the camera is a little fuzzy , but then again, that's not what I bought it for. So far I like windows 8. I'm still learning to navigate it but I'm sure with time it will be just fine. The shipping of the product was very very fast so no complaints there.

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5320 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black Trax) Here

I have been using this laptop on a daily basis since the beginning of March and it is still working great. No glitches or anything.

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This much CPU for less than $400 and bolted onto that gorgeous Toshiba LCD, makes it a super cheap and just damn fast laptop for a real deal of a price. This is full powered FasterBastard for less than what most junky Celeron netbooks cost.

Let me give the highlights, you can read the appended comment for links to the downloads and longer detail if you're still indecisive:

++ It has one the brightest and lustrous screens you've ever seen on a laptop / that you've every seen in the world. My wife has an iPad with w Retina Display, I also own an exotic OLED (LCD made of electrified algae) and this cheap o laptop beats the Retina and thinly surpasses the stupidly overpriced smuggled OLED.

++ It is fast and responsive, clicking applications and menus just launches them with light bulb speed, and that is still with a BOTTLENECKED 5,400 RPM hard drive. You can install and SSD and it will speed up, but you don't need an SSD to be happy with it and it won't really improve the crappy battery life.

++ Cheap to fix, if you gotta perform surgery on it either before or after your warranty expired and you're paying for it out of pocket, ... the most expensive part is ~two hundred bucks for an entire LCD assembly and the lid. The internals are spacious, you could literally store hand tools inside the case it has so much room and that is also its attribute since the motherboard isn't tightly integrated into a single circuit board. Example: When a Lenovo or Vaio power socket wears out, it has to be carefully cut away and masterfully resoldered with a unique part specific to that motherboard. If you mess up, you'll have to replace a $900 motherboard new or take your chances with a used one that might have a dubious origin. A Toshiba power socket is a standard DC jack connected with two wires and sold at Radio Shack for less than $20, no soldering, just four phillips screws, the rest of the parts are just as easy to work on as your pregnant sisters Camaro.

BUT WHAT JUST SUCKS BLUE DOLPHIN MARBLES ////

The Integrated Synaptics Track Pad has to be the cheapest and crappiest one ever made !!!

I'm convinced Tohsiba is buying these trackpads from North Korean prison camps compared to other Synaptics pads on ThinkPads, Sony's even HP's.... they're usable, but the Toshiba trackpad is as pleasant as rubbing an open blister

Consider investing in a wireless mouse, the Microsoft 3000 Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000series is particularly neat since it works before Windows even boots such as during dry screen startup and POST power up and without installing drivers. It works must as well as their $100+ devices and from auditorium length distances. You can use a Bluetooth mouse / keyboard and Bluetooth performance is good, BE WARNED THE MICROSOFT MOUSE INTERFERES WITH THE BLUETOOTH AND SHOULD BE PLUGGED INTO THE OPPOSITE SIDE OR EVEN FURTHER AWAY WITH A USB EXTENDER SANOXY 15 Foot USB 2.0 Extension Cable OR IT MIGHT DROWN OUT THE BLUETOOTH SIGNALS.

Could they have made it any more awkwardly sized, try finding a good backpack to carry it in and you'll end up buying a bitch bag purse of unisex color since its too long for most backpacks and you'll end up at a Sporting Goods store measuring rifle cases or finding only fuschia bags from American Apparel. Its cool if you're a girl but finding the right kind of heavy and properly dimensioned nylon / kevlar case for this thing will be a quest unto itself.

The whole damn thing is made of a high gloss polished plastic that makes it as slippery and hard to hold onto as an eel skin soaked in KYJelly!!! The rubber feet on the bottom don't matter, this thing can still slide off a cheap leather sofa and if you're clumsy, get ready to work on those internal parts or consider buying the damage protection since it seems to be accident prone. Toshiba listened to their customers and also make the "L" series / "Brushed Chrome" versions that are the same performance, nicer synaptic pads and even better feeling keyboards for less than $50 more.

I purchased three Toshiba Satellites in as many weeks, two C855's and an L755, the first one was so frustrating and the LCD broke after closing it on an SD memory card forgotten on the keyboard, the Toshiba Tech Support was so larcenous I literally stabbed the laptop with a screwdriver. What the hell, the screen was already broken and it was immensely satisfying in ways that I can't properly describe. I was still hypnotized by the cheap speed of it and bought an identical one and parked it two counties away at a friends house and RDP'd to it in case I felt compelled to kill it too, I'd have some miles to separating us and time to calm down. That is the fastest $600 64bit Server I'VE ever built.

Reading the reviews, learned about the L series, sorta like a better trim model BMW with nicer interior and quieter ride and I'm determined to buy nothing else from now on.

For years I was a Thinkpad biggot, but using an overpriced Lenovo now along with its well known quirks just feels like unsatisfying kinky sex compared to a Toshibit. I'll be replacing my familys ThinkPads with Toshibas in the future.

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Acer M5-481PT-6644 Touchscreen Ultrabook 3rd Generation Intel i5-3337U (2.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost) 6GB

Bought it "refurbished" with 90 day warranty for us$55914" touchscreen, 6GB , 500gb HDD with 20gb flash.

PROS: price, Windows 8, touchscreen, CD DVD RW drive. Size.

Actually is very quick for i5U. I am running MS Office 2007 Pro plus IE 10 and 16,000 MP3s. Win 8 setup was fastest and lest painful of all Windowsespecially setting up on work network. Used Easy Transfer cable to transfer emails, etc, etc. plus transferred documents. music and others via external usb 3.0 HDD.

OKs: screen is a little washed out and needs to be a correct angle (90* to your eyesight) for best results.

Bloatwareeasy to remove for an average Windows user. Acer recovery will reinstall factory defaults.

CONs: IDIOT or brother-in-law of Acer President had to design these:

a) power on button is too easy to push when you pick up the laptop.

b) I/) ports are on the back-minor thing, but since the laptop is so thin, it is difficult to insert/remove a USB drive without picking the laptop up.

Windows 8 "recovery disk" none are included and it takes a 32gb usb flash drive (or external HDD) to create a separate recovery media in case you crash. I bought a Patriot brand 32gb USB 3.0 from Frys for $31.

EXTRA: I installed a Toshiba Dynadock 3.0 and it worked right out of the box (had to get drivers from Toshiba website). Running both HDMI and DVI monitors. A VGA monitor also worked using included DVI/VGA adaptor.

Am upgrading the RAM by adding an 8gb Kinston chip (for a total of 10GB). Will wait on anything else. So far is it is fast enough with the 500gb 5400rpm HDD, even with large MS Access database.

I have been using the newer model of M5-481PT-6644 for about 6 months. Ever since Acer released the latest BIOS updates in March 2013, its functionality has greatly improved and power management options work really well.

Pros:

Battery lifeeasily get 6 to 8 hours with moderate use;

Windows 8 takes a little bit of getting used to but now love the Start Screen and overall ease of use;

Hybrid SSD drive that boots up in under 6 seconds!

Good built-in sound quality;

DVD-RW Drive (which is very rare to find in a ultrathin light laptops these days);

Backlit keyboard, Responsive touchscreen;

Lets you resume working almost immediately after sleep and hibernation;

Very thin, light and portable for a 14-incher;

Included Windows7 Backup in Windows 8 works excellent to backup & restore entire hard-drive;

Great value for money.

Cons:

Touchpad is hard to use;

have to use two fingers to operate volume buttons;

NTI Media Maker DVD burning software is only temporary;

Only two USB3.0 ports;

missing VGA port (this makes it impossible to use older/legacy overhead projectors while traveling).

Bottomline: Definitely recommended. Make sure to install the latest BIOS update from Acer's website. Do not buy the older version of this laptop still on sale at Amazon (model M5-481PT-6488) as it often locks up when resuming from sleep/hibernation. The older model also has other stability issues involving WiFi.

Buy Acer M5-481PT-6644 Touchscreen Ultrabook 3rd Generation Intel i5-3337U (2.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost) 6GB Now

For the price, this refurbished laptop came with all the bells and whistles that I needed. Touchscreen works great so far and processor is fast and quiet. My only two qualms about this is that the screen could be a tad brighter and the laptop could be a little lighter and it would have been perfect. Other than these minor details, I'm still super happy and give this a max review.

Read Best Reviews of Acer M5-481PT-6644 Touchscreen Ultrabook 3rd Generation Intel i5-3337U (2.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost) 6GB Here

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Toshiba Satellite S875-S7136 17.3-Inch Laptop (Ice Blue Brushed Aluminum)

I just got this laptop today and, so far, seems great and running fast. The only thing I either can't find or it doesn't have is a keyboard backlight. I'm still getting used to the Windows 8 as I have an HP that is Windows 8. Too many things are hiding where you have to really look for them which takes time. Otherwise I'm happy.

Worth the money! Easy play, pause and volume buttons at the top of the keyboard. It's a full keyboard by the way. The only thing I thought was a little disappointing was that it didn't come with Microsoft Word, but I can always buy it later. On the pus side it comes with Windows 8 up and ready for you.The screen is nice and crisp. The speakers are on the top of the laptop, like right on top of the keyboard, so the sound is excellent(somebody was smart enough to realize speakers shouldn't be on the bottom on the laptop). This laptop isn't really for a gamer or anything, it's more for people who need a replacement or for college students like myself.

Hope this was helpful.

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love this laptop,best i have ever had,it does everything you need it to do...i only wish the battery would last longer

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite S875-S7136 17.3-Inch Laptop (Ice Blue Brushed Aluminum) Here

I am a freshman at Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas and I have been laptop hunting for awhile. I finally decided on this one. Not only is it super affordable, compared to the overpriced HPs and Asus models available at LU's on-campus bookstore, but it has Windows 8 which is super fast and crystal clear. I love my laptop, and I have only had it for a few days! It is easy to use, very fast, and an excellent size. I recommend buying the separate $129 coverage for accidental spills and drops. Better safe than sorry, and the customer service is top-notch.

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Got this laptop band new in May 2013. With wireless connection at my home, this laptop's download speed is just 0.7 MBPS,while my 4 year old Dell has a speed of 75 MBPS. I searched the internet, this is a very prevalent problem with Toshiba laptops, but I could not find a solution that solves my problem (change router settings, update Toshiba drivers, etc.)

See these links for other people's negative stories:

http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/Networking-Wi-Fi/Satellite-C855-Wifi-is-Horrifyingly-slow/td-p/372241

http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/Networking-Wi-Fi/Unbelieveably-slow-internet/td-p/77682

http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/Networking-Wi-Fi/RealTek-RTL8723AE-Wireless-Lan-802-11n-PCI-E-NIC/td-p/334864

I called their technical support (at about 8pm PST on 5/29/2013), and I had the worst experience ever with any product's tech support. The woman on the other side of the line was very rude and belligerent. She insisted that if the internet connection is slow, it must be internet service provider's problem, and "it does not concern us", despite the fact that I told her that there is another PC that has a 75mbps download speed at my home, which made it impossible for me to blame COMCAST.

She had an attitude of challenging me to return the laptop. She kept asking me "what are you going to do with the laptop?" In retrospect, she acted as if she's hinting for me to return the laptop by behaving in such a hostile way. It left me an impression that screwing her employer is her topmost priority, and insulting Toshiba's customers to make herself feel powerful is closely behind.

I cannot believe a company will tolerate someone with such an attitude problem on its team. One would expect that these companies will review the recorded calls after they've told you calls are recorded for "quality control purposes".

Toshiba: I challenge you to review the calls you recorded at around 8pm PST on 5/29/2013 and then post here to say my post is not accurate!

Buy a Toshiba at your own peril. As for me, I'll never buy another Toshiba again, whether it is a laptop or DVD player or whatever they produce!

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Samsung Series 3 NP300E5C-A07US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

This item works great. The keyboard is really nice especially on windows 8. The screen was nice and wide cos its on HD

My son's laptop that was purchase as a Christmas gift went blank. Nothing could be done to retrieve any of his stored information by the tech team at his college. We sent it immediately to samsung. I was told it would be fixed and given back to us in 2 weeks. Well the computer is fried. I will get a new one in 7-14 business days. The semester maybe over by then.The customer relations department is worthless. I was blackmailed by them to pay to have the new one shipped to me sooner. I was told I should be happy I was getting a new one. I'm still paying on the one that fried.

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HP Pavilion DV6000z Laptop PC, AMD Turion 64x2 CPU @ 1.83 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive

Works fantastic. It is quick when plugged into my internet and is in almost perfect condition.

It is 4 stars because the wifi button to enable it doesnt seem to work and wont pick up a signal but my grandpa is a computer expert and it works fine.

My review is about the HP Pavillion DV6000 or DV6500 with 2GB RAM, 225GB HD, AMD Turion 2GHZ 64bit

Of course this laptop generation is already quite old but besides that I really like the quality of this HP product. No hardware problems since years. If some then just because of WIN Vista.

PLUS:

+ great hardware quality (all components)

+ firewire input (for camcorder)

+ remote controll (DVD...)

+ great sound (Altec Lansing Design)

+ quickplay buttons (loudness, play, mute, play, pause...)

+ nice design

+ 3x USB still 2.0 of course

+ SD Card Reader

+ cd/DVD Multi Recorder burner

+ lightscripe (the dvd cd drive can print with his laser the covers of CDs)

CONS:

not for latest 3D games (too slow)

battery only up to 2h

becomes warm near the fan on the lap after some hours

If you are looking for a cheap used Entertainment PC to surf, work, watch movies, listen to music, edit videos, burn MP3 CDs or save your movies on DVDs this was and still is a good choice!

My next one will be again a HP Pavillion for sure!

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Got it wasn't to bad then starting messing up screen would go black and then finally just the screen stayed black and the charge didn't last long at all pretty much kept it plugged in. But if you decided to get one maybe it'll work better for you.

Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion DV6000z Laptop PC, AMD Turion 64x2 CPU @ 1.83 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Drive Here

The computer was in good condition, a little rough around the edges but not bad at all. Did not come with a Boot Disk though or any other sofware CD's that it may have originally come with. If the computer crashes in the future i will not have any way to boot the original program. But The computer was what it said it was, no more and no less.

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Perfect deal , Good deal and good price. see you next time lets me know by email the good deal.

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HP G62-220US 15.6-Inch Laptop

I had done quite a bit of research before deciding to purchase this laptop. It was ranked the Highest in Consumer reports, and all the reviews looked good...

After 2 weeks, the hard disk crashed and had to be replaced.. Needless to say, I was quite upset, since everything I had just installed on the computer, and all the data were lost...

HP Support was better than I expected, because their service usually leaves a lot to be desired.... The only problem was that they shipped a blank hard drive with no recovery disks.. After 2 shipments I had what I needed, so I installed the drive and got the system back up and running...

Not what I would expect from a "so called" top of the line product.

My only problem with this laptop is that it shuts down in the middle of productivity because it gets too hot. My question is,

why HP didn't build a fan to keep the hardware cooled?

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i love this laptop, a powerful processor, 4GB of RAM expabdable, a good hard drive... but this thing gets insanely hot in a very short period if time... i have 6 months with it, and now i think i need to replace the therm gel on mi processor, it boots up and in a period of 10 minutes it gets up to 94 degrees Celsius. that right ther is unacceptable... also when it goes to hibernate and then it boots up it freezes, or lost conection and has to be rebooted for it to react...

this laptop has great performance, if youre not into gaming... on the times that this laptop stays under the 75 degrees, once i start a simple game like unreal tournament 1999 GOTY, it heats up in terms of seconds, also with andry birds for pc, thats just crazy, considering that i bought it a cooler master chill par with 2 6" fans located at the hotest points of tthe machine...

it gets so hot that typing gets anoying so im gona end my review here... think about other options, if i had the money i would trade this for a newer model or even a toshiba... ( my dream is a macbook pro BTW those stays under the 37 degrees... just to compare.. )

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A fine product. It served my business very well and my partner has privatised it after discovering it great qualities.

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Just replaced my desktop after it crashed yet again. Set up was very easy and took less than four hours to copy over all my files and install everything. Keyboard is awkward and taks some getting used too. Really wanted illumiunated keys and was disappointed to learn this did not have it but I forgot to look.

Caps lock button too big. Shift key too small. Wish it had a seperate number pad. The coulmn of buttons on the left is a pain in the but, I keep hitting the DVD button by mistake.

The touch pad works well and is hidden but the buttons are too far apart and hard to click.

My first windows 7 experience but so far I like it alot. Screen picture qualtiy is great.

Recommended but would have looked at the key board a bit more closely.

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Samsung NP365E5C-S05US 16-Inch Laptop (AMD Dual-Core A6-4400M Processor, 4GB Memory, 500GB Hard Dri

I really like this laptop because its fast and has two 3.0 USB ports for my external hard drive. It also has an AMD Radeon HD 7520G graphics card which performs better than the Intel 4000 that comes with Intel based computers. Overall this is a good computer for a student or casual user.

This is a very nice and speedy laptop -2 core 2.7 gHz processor, 4GB memory, and a large hard drive. In a pinch it could pretty easily replace my desktop PC. The first thing I did was to wipe the drive to get rid of all of Samsung's junkware and Install Windows 8 Pro. For various reasons I would have preferred to install the 32-bit version of Windows 8 Pro, but it turns out that that is not possible, as this laptop has the more modern UEFI firmware rather than the older BIOS firmware. But except for that, I am extremely happy with this laptop.

Buy Samsung NP365E5C-S05US 16-Inch Laptop (AMD Dual-Core A6-4400M Processor, 4GB Memory, 500GB Hard Dri Now

Exactly what it said it was.... Could use a bit more ram for the 64 bit OS... But plenty of computer for the dollar.

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great products, excellent materials and fast warm, $ 400 for the product is great and good materials greetings from Venezuela

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I received my new Samsung laptop on Monday and have spent the last two days acquainting myself w/Samsung products outside of or other than Samsung Handsets. This system is definitely for the casual-student user. It has its basic functionality as a machine but the feel is somewhat "toyish" and the mouse cursor of course jumps back and forth, all over the screen until you make whatever adjustment necessary.

Additionally, it is fast booting, and playing simple games (although it was purchased for business use), viewing documents, switching between all the gizmo's that Windows 8 has thrown at us. However, I would not recommend this product for the business owner neither the corporate traveler....just doesn't feel like it will hold up to the pressure of multi-tasking needed to run a business or operate w/multi-channel devices simultaneously.

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ASUS G53SW-XA1 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop

I've had this computer for about 3 days, and my feelings on it went from wanting to defenestrate it, to pure love. For starters, I ordered a separate 256GB corsair solid state drive so I can have fast boot and load times for the OS and apps. Now, installing an additional hard drive in most laptops requires mostly just removing the bottom plate, but not for this laptop. With this laptop, I had to remove the keyboard by prying it out and then carefully unlatching the connectors from the computer. Then, I had to remove the the piece with the touch pad and unscrew a set of screws that are holding the bottom plate in. Then, I'm finally able to remove the hard drive cover underneath the laptop after the last bit. Why did Asus have to make such a trivial thing so complicated?

Anyways, after I finally got to the hard drive bay I found out that the second empty bay has no bracket to hold a hard drive in. I looked online and nobody was selling them. Yes, that's right: this computer IS ADVERTISED as having the capability of storing an additional hard drive, but the company is not including or even selling any bracket to allow me to do it! I couldn't find them anywhere! So luckily, my drive was a solid state, with no moving parts. What I ended up doing is taping some business cards underneath the solid state drive and letting it rest evenly on those, and then folding one of them between the space that the drive and the bay would occupy so that it doesn't wiggle around. No issues so far, I'm pretty furious that I'm being put in this situation, and I'm definitely giving Asus a call and demanding that they ship or sell an extra bracket to me. There is absolutely no reason at all why I have to do this.

Lastly, once I got everything in place I decided to use the recovery cd's that I created in the beginning to reformate/unpartitian the primary drive and install windows 7 on the solid state drive... but guess what? The recovery cd's do not have the capability of reformatting. What I had to do was hunt down an .iso of windows and burn that to a disk, then use it as my windows install... because the recovery cd is not a 'true' windows. I don't understand why Asus doesn't include a generic windows dvd since, you know, I PAID for the licence and it costs them next to nothing. They did include a driver CD, which is generous.

So that's all the bad stuff out of the way. Once I got everything up and running and with the right setup, things got much better. For starters, the performance on this thing is top-notch. With a solid state drive as the main OS, this laptop boots up in 20 seconds. It handles everything I throw at it with ease. I have the laptop outputting to a second 24 inch monitor as an expanded desktop and it runs starcraft at full resolution and mostly high settings at around 40-60 fps. Best of all, it doesn't 'downclock' to cool down like most of the laptops out there do. The reason for this is an extremely efficient cooling system in the back that blows air out one vent and sucks in air at the other. This keeps things relatively stable, and quiet. I'm not waking up my GF while I game on starcraft after she goes to sleep, and in comparison the Envy 17 I had and returned before this (which cost a beefy 2300) sounded like a jet engine.

This is a top-notch gaming rig, and I'm very happy with it so far. Would I recommend to anyone else? Well, it depends. If you're going to be happy with the measly 500GB of storage, then yes. However, if you want to do what I did or install a larger capacity hard drive, then I recommend you tread lightly or have a certified technician do it for you.

We all know this is an incredible buy for the price, except for the reviews. I looked into this machine long and hard before I purchased it. Many from many vendors haved arrived "doa" and also had issues with the power button. Well believe it or not you can fix it yourself in about 5 seconds, all you have to do is swipe a magnet over the palmrest area (I go from right to left across the bottom) and wham your laptop WILL turn on. I recieved this yesterday as many had, it would not power on, let it charge for a bit, and tried the button some more, still didnt work, then tried the magnet trick and it has been working great ever since. There is a video on youtube of someone doing this as well if you need further assistance. Further what is actually happening is a sensor that is supposed to sense the lid closing is too strong (it is magnetic) it can over time while sitting build up a "magnetic charge" and thinks the lid is closed when it is not, by using a magnet you are resetting the switch. Should you have to do this? No, but at the price I dont find it to be an issue (mine has been working fine since the initial swipe of the magnet, ie the power button has been working, and if it stops in the future I know to keep a magnet handy).

Buy ASUS G53SW-XA1 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop Now

Excellent laptop, people who want to play games, but don't like to spend 1000$ +

It was problems with magnetic proximity switch it (is remain magnetized, so when you push start button nothing happened). Basicly it think's that Lid is still closed and preventing laptop from starting (this is Asus safety measures).

For people who are not advanced in PC hardware it can be a real chalenge. Cause they can think that laptop is not working and try to return it. Don't do it please... The laptop is ok, there are no any hardware problem.

This is my solution (I am assembling PC's since 1996):

you just simply need to demagnetize the Sensore/switch:

Keep the system off, lid should be open and the battery in. It doesn't matter if the power cord is plugged in or not but its better if it is plugged in;

Ok now take a paper and put it on the palm-rest to the lower right side from the touch pad. To give you an idea, this is a 2 inch x 2 inch spot under the small sticker that says "New Revision Certified Design" and lies between the touch pad and the large sticker that shows system specs and features. Furthermore this is the very spot where the magnet in the LCD lid (located to the right side of the camera) comes in contact/proximity when the lid is closed;

Now take a light magnet with medium intensity, shouldn't be too strong or big and rub it in circles on that 2 x 2 inch square spot where you have placed the paper(The paper is only optional but it is recommended as it would save the palm-rest from scratches if any). Do this for a minute or two.

Press the power button and voilà! You are done.

Happy New Year and Kind Regards

Read Best Reviews of ASUS G53SW-XA1 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop Here

For me the laptop came and is working flawless. No power button issues or any problems for that matter. I can play Skyrim on high settings, and I'm blown away by the screen. 1080p on a 15inch looks very very nice. I don't normally write reviews but I had to on this item since it seems to be getting bashed pretty badly. I noticed the negative reviews before my purchase but took my chances based on the fact that all Asus motherboards I've bought were always top notch products. Needless to say at $900 you really can't get a better or a more powerful laptop. You have the assurance of buying from Amazon so if you got a faulty one, you can always return or exchange. Asus also comes with a one year accidental warranty which I thought was a nice touch since my last laptop from hp was ruined when my wife's friend spilled wine all over the keyboard..

For anyone who's on the fence about this laptop, I would say go for it. Chances are there are many who's bought this laptop and has a had no problems like me. The laptop is cool to the touch and the construction is very sturdy. The back cooling system looks great and works even better. I'm at lvl35 with my bow/thief in skyrim, and it's always so amazing to me that such a small little machine can run it so smoothly.

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I received the Asus G53SW-XA1 as a gift for christmas/birthday. This gaming laptop is a beast and runs all of my games perfectly, I would highly recommend buying it if you're an avid gamer!

There is a slight drawback though there are two minor flaws that can be easily fixed/avoided.

1) Power Button won't work: Rub a medium strength magnet on the bottom right area of the touchpad.

2) Power Pin is fragile: Buy an "L" connector for the power supply pin.

An interesting fact: the video card of this older series (G53SW/G73SW) is actually faster/stronger than the newer series (G53SX/G74SX).

G53SX/G74SX Video Card: GTX 560M, 128bit bus

G53SW/G73SW Video Card: GTX 460M, 192bit bus

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HP Envy 15-3040NR 15.6 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver)

I really wanted to like this laptop, because on paper, there are very very few (if any) laptops that offer a similar package at this price point (up to 30% off MSRP after various HP coupons on the web for i7-2620qm, powerful graphics via 7690m, but most of all, 1080p IPS display). However, after 2 months of patience, I can no longer ignore the glaring issues HP has chosen to overlook. First, there have been numerous reports first appearing in forums about users' complaints about the Envy 15 1080p's inability to produce red colors. Since the initial reports in January, numerous tech blogs like the Verge, notebookcheck, and Engadget (among others) have confirmed this issue. While I had tried to overlook the issue myself, the non-reds eventually became far too big of a distraction, especially considering that this was a $150.00 upgrade option. If HP charged $250.00 for a screen upgrade that had a decent color gamut (come on! I'm not asking for Dreamcolor quality or even 95% Adobe coverage like Lenovo offers, just a screen that can reproduce the THREE PRIMARY COLORS!), I would have gladly and without hesitation ponied up the extra cost. I regret that HP chose to cut corners like this, when they were so close to a phenomenal laptop/display. -1 Star for display.

The second issue I take is the keyboard. To be fair, when I first received this unit, I had no skipped/missed keys, and I decided I could live with the slight flex on the left side of the keyboard. But ever since a BIOS update (F.05, for those of you keeping track), which by the way was ON HP's OWN SITE, the keyboard will miss literally about 15% of my keystrokes whenever I'm running on AC adapter (but strangely, I have no problems when running on battery!). The keystroke issue is actually distracting enough to disrupt my day-to-day web browsing (missed spaces and mistyped web addresses are nothing but common); in fact, the only way you are reading this review without typos in every 3rd word is by my proofreading. Again, to be fair, I am understanding of the fact that software/updates can be buggy at times; it's another matter when the manufacturer does not fix these bugs, not to mention refuse to acknowledge the numerous complaints from customers (google for forums in notebookreview.com and HP customer support forum for "Envy 15 BIOS keyboard" and skim through results). -2 Star, 1 each for keyboard/HP customer service handling complaints.

Others have complained about banged up USB ports, scratches, paint peeling, etc., but my unit arrived cosmetically flawless so I will not dock any stars for that.

It is my own fault for waiting 2 months to try to like this laptop and end up discovering all of this, instead of returning the unit within the initial 21-day period. I hope others will benefit from my less-than-pleasant experience with the Envy 15. I will update this review should HP offer any solutions to these and other complaints not even mentioned in this mini-review, but I am not holding my breath.

EDIT 2/21/12: BIOS F.06 also does nothing to address the keyboard problem.

EDIT 3/20/12: I'm adding one star back to my review. F.07 was released a couple of days ago, and I'm happy to report that all of the keyboard woes are gone! Here's to hoping that those problems don't return... I would like to add on a half-star if I could, for the fact that HP's coming around to responding and ACKNOWLEDGING the problems surrounding the Envy. HP recently made a formal (though somewhat vague) announcement about HP's proposal to fix the screen issue. This gives me some hope that the company's at least taking steps to do what it can to remedy the issues at hand. I will update again after seeing what HP ultimately does w/ the LCD problem.

EDIT 5/10/12: HP released a software that allows some control over colors for the display, but as I had suspected, the software doesn't do anything to fix the red/violet issues (I wasn't hoping for too much out of the software option anyway since my research had confirmed the colors are a limitation of the LG panel itself).

EDIT 7/10/12: I honestly didn't think I'd be updating this review again, but here I am. First I have to say that HP's engineers offered better customer concern/service than any dedicated customer service departments, period (Thanks again, Jonathan!). Second, HP contacted me a few weeks ago to ask whether I had the orange-red issues with my panel, to which I provided details about the problem. Long story short, I was offered a free exchange (HP paid shipping both ways), and quite frankly, I wasn't expecting any difference despite the different panel part number of the new panel. Well I was wrong--wrong about my customer service comments above, and wrong about the panel. The new panel isn't perfect or even great by any standard, but it is definitely a noticeable improvement on the original Envy 15 panels' reds. In light of these two points, I'm adding one more star back mostly due to the way that HP decided to handle the crappy-display issue because the screen, as improved as it is, is still only average. Here's a quote from a post I wrote on another forum, describing the difference:

"While the reds on the new panels are still definitely not a natural, deep red, it's a noticeable improvement from the older panels. The red is at least almost on par with my Galaxy S phone, and noticeably but not hugely worse than my Dell U2311h. Reds are noticeably more orange than on my Dell U2410, but I'm not expecting much there because that is, after all, a 118% gamut display. My Envy 14's red is definitely redder, but I didn't expect the E15 to be as good anyway since the E14's panel is 84% gamut, and the E15's is supposedly 60%. The reds are indistinguishable from the reds on my wife's Late 2011 Macbook 15 (1680x1050 panel), and in some cases (netflix website, fullscreen red in Paint), the E15 actually appears redder--and no, there is nothing "wrong" with the Macbook's panel.

It's very hard for me not to expect more though b/c I've been far too long spoiled by the likes of HP's dreamcolor display, Dell's no longer existent RGBLED XPS 16 display, and excellent desktop monitors... yet, in spite of that, I can confidently say that at least the color aspect of the new panels are no better or worse than the colors of a typical TN panel on the average laptop. That said, I always thought that given equal color reproduction, there is little/no reason not to opt for IPS or TN (at least on a laptop), so I think I can lay aside my gripes about the orange-y reds. I can always wish/complain about wanting a higher gamut, but I know that's not what I paid for, nor did HP advertise high-gamut displays on the E15 as they did with the E14."

I bought this from Amazon but I ordered it through my wife's account (she has a prime student) and that's why Amazon is not showing as verified purchase. This laptop is gorgeous, very much a clone of a Macbook pro. I use a Early 2010 Macbook pro 17" for my work, and I can assure you it excels my Macbook pro in the following functional aspects:

1. It has a full keyboard. The Macbook's so called "Full" keyboard is really not that full. Macbook misses all the home, end, page up and page down button. And trust me, even after two years of regular usage, I find it irritating. True, you can use Command + Up/Down etc. combination. But it's really a productivity issue.

2. The Envy's 4 speakers and the woofer combination is really awesome. In fact, this is the first laptop that I saw that outperforms my 17" Macbook pro speaker (both sound quality and volume). Previously I compared Asus N53, hp DV5, Lenovo (forgot the model number) and hp DV6 and all of them had much inferior sound quality than my Macbook pro

3. The USB ports are distributed on two sides, which is really nice

From aesthetics and ergonomics part, it excels my Macbook pro in the following aspects:

1. The corners of the rectangular chassis is not sharp like my Macbook pro, which is really nice. The Macbook's sharp edges cut into my palm everytime I lift it. Even while typing, it feels like a knife against my arm.

2. I liked the back lighting of the hp keyboard better

Now some cons in comparison to my Macbook pro 17 (early 2010):

1. My hp envy 15 power button's painting is already peeling off!! My Macbook pro still looks like brand new (not just the power button). To be fair, the Envy 15 doesn't seem to have any other weak part to peel off, and I am planning to keep the laptop as that minor cosmetic blemish is not a big deal for me.

2. The screen on my Macbook pro still would outperform the radiance display (to be fair, this is the best display of all the non Macbook pro that I have seen (refer to the earlier mentioned laptop models that I played with)). That being said, the Macbook pro 15" display really SUCKS. Refer to my updated comparison with Macbook pro 15" at the end of this review.

3. My 2 years old Macbook pro's 640x480 resolution webcam (yes that's only 0.3 mega pixel) still outperforms this Envy HD webcam (True vision or whatever they call it). That being said, again, to be fair, this is one of the best webcam that I have seen in non-Macbook pro laptops. Particularly, my last attempt with Asus N53SV webcam was horrible! It was sooo laggy and soo horrible quality that it was a deal breaker for me. (UPDATE: I changed my opinion, and kindly refer to my updated part of this review for my current subjective opinion).

4. The touchpad on my macbook pro has NO competitor. It's really awesome, and the hp touchpad can only dream to be of that quality.

Now some common complaint and their solution:

1. The touchpad is horrible, doesn't do smooth scrolling, doesn't register click etc. The solution is to install the latest driver. The notebook review forum has a Envy driver page which is up to date with the latest drivers (including drivers that are still not officially available from HP) and I downloaded a Synaptic driver from that link. It's a direct download from HP server, so nothing to be worried about. HP is probably going to release that soon. The driver was built at the end of January and after installing that, this touchpad is REALLY awesome. Almost as good as my Macbook pro (but as I said, it's still has a long way to go)

2. The two finger tapping has no right click configuration: If you come from Mac world, you are probably accustomed to tapping with two fingers and that acts like a right click. You can install an open source program named TwoFingerScroll (hosted on google codes) to achieve that. After that, IMHO, the touchpad is feature complete (you can configure many options in original Synaptic control panel + TwoFingerScroll)

3. Battery issue, and smooth switching between built in and ATI graphics card: Right now I have fixed mode driver enabled and I am only using built in Intel Graphics, which is more than adequate for me as I don't play games. You just need to go to BIOS settings and set Fixed mode in video switching setting (instead of Dynamic (the default)), and then right click on the desktop and go to Configure Switchable Graphics and set the power saving GPU as the graphics card. That seems to give me around 5 hours of typical usage, where I can edit the documents or browse typical web. Please refer to the updated review at the end of this review for some battery comparison with Macbook pro 17" and 15".

4. People complain that the red looks orange. But that's a common problem of the recent IPS panels (I heard Sony has same problem). And to me it doesn't look bad at all. The notebook review forum has some color calibration suggestion to improve the red accuracy. But I don't think it would be fixed with such a simple solution. So, if you really need a very accurate color output, look elsewhere.

Some features that I really like:

1. The analog volume control: Oh my gosh, that is sooo handy and sooo cute. You really need to feel it to understand how great that feature is. I always got lost between various top row volume control button. Now I never miss volume up and volume down. And they also have a cute mute button next to the analog volume control.

2. Buttonless touchpad: While they copied it from Apple, I think that's really great. Particularly, now you have the whole area as a touchpad and for multi-touch gesture.

Some issues that I hate:

1. The fan sound. It's definitely louder than my Macbook pro (Which is almost silent), and it's even louder than my Asus N53!

2. The left side of the keyboard (a, s, d etc. keys) feels loose (probably people call it flexing??) It doesn't feel solid.

3. I hated the crappy painting that is peeling off from the power button

All being said, this is the best non-Apple laptop that I have ever seen in my life. I am really happy with the build quality and the look (which they definitely copied from Apple), and the laptop is really very snappy (as you would expect from such a high end laptop). Unless the IPS Red accuracy is an issue for you, and you can live with some hit and miss on the build quality, it should be fine. Give it a try, and of course Amazon's excellent customer service would help you get a refund if you are not happy.

UPDATE 02/22/2012:

I now played with the laptop little more, and I also compared it with my brother's late 2011 Macbook pro 15" (The latest model). Here is my findings:

1. Envy's display might be inferior to my Macbook pro 17" which has a full HD (not 1080p) 1920x1200 display. But it blows away the latest 15" Macbook pro's display which only has 1440x900 and you cannot even upgrade that display. In fact, the Macbook pro 15's display looks super pixelated next to Envy's display.

2. I heavily tested the webcam, and compared it against both my Macbook pro 17 and my brother's Macbook pro 15. While the Macbook pro's webcam looks more brighter, it is actually inferior to HP's true vision webcam. The hp webcam gives high color accuracy and more contrast. In return, you get more noise. In a first look it does appear that Macbook's webcam is smoother. But my wife pointed to me that my green t-shirt during testing was looking almost whitish with the Macbook pro (both 17" and 15") webcam.

3. Moreover, on the Webcam part, the HP webcam is buttery smooth. I don't have a scientific comparison. But, I felt like they are capturing the frames at at least 20+ FPS. Macbook pro's Webcam is also quite good. But I felt like they have little bit of lag and not as smooth as HP.

4. Apple actually lost their battery edge! This is particularly surprise to me. My 17" Macbook pro still gives me 6+ hours of battery life. While the brand new Macbook pro 15" actually depletes within 3 hours of continuous video playback! On skype video calling, it was showing me a dismal 1.5 hours of estimated battery life! The MBP 15" battery life is therefore very similar to Envy's battery life. I believe this is because of the quad core processor. Another thing that irritated me is Apple's unwillingness to disable the dedicated graphics card. In my Early 2010 MBP, there was an option in System Preference, where I could disable my dedicated graphics card to save some power. As I never play game, I never use dedicated graphics card. But, looks like in OS X Lion and the late 2011 MBP, they only either allow you dynamic switching or a dedicated graphics card. Neither could accomplish the best possible battery life with just an exclusive non-negotiable built in graphics card (as I mentioned, both my MBP 17 and Envy is currently set to built in graphics only).

5. And finally, I really got disappointed at my brother's latest Macbook pro 15" after introspecting with what he got after paying 1.5 times the cost of Envy:

5.1. MBP 15 has 512 MB of graphics RAM, while Envy 15 has 1GB.

5.2. Envy 15 came with Radeon 7690M while MBP came with 6750M.

5.3. Envy 15 came with 750GB Hard disk, while MBP came with 500GB HDD. Also, Envy came with 7200 RPM faster Hard disk, while MBP 15 came with 5400 slower hard disk.

5.4. Envy 15 came with 8GB 1600MHz RAM, while MBP came with 4GB 1333MHz RAM

5.5. Not to mention the super CRAPPY display of 15" MBP. That itself would be a deal breaker for me.

That being said, would I stop buying a Macbook pro in the future, when such a perfect Macbook pro clone is around? NO. I am a Computer Science researcher and I love the power of Unix. I am writing this part for those parents who often times buy Windows machine for their college going sons/daughters with Computer Science major. I personally believe that for productivity of a Computer Science major, Mac OS X has NO competitor. While Linux could be a viable alternative, it doesn't have any polished software. E.g., when I first bought my Mac, I commented that just for Unix compatibility, Omnigraffle, Keynote and native PDF integration of Mac OS X, I would pay the Apple premium. Linux simply doesn't have the Apps ecosystem. And Windows will never be able to emulate a Unix system as it doesn't have the POSIX layer. That being said, Windows is an excellent Entertainment OS. E.g., you cannot easily stream your media to your TV through a MAC (it doesn't come with DLNA and UPnP support), while Windows 7 is bundled out of the box with all those nice features. I can keep going on. But, my point is, for productivity, buy a Mac. For leisure and entertainment buy a Windows machine. That's just my personal opinion of course.

Update 03/24/2012:

After updating the bios to F.06, my keyboard started missing lots of keystrokes. Fortunately, Amazon was happy to send me another one. The new one came with F.06 pre-installed, but it only missed keystrokes when the backlit is ON. Luckily, HP released their latest F.07 BIOS. And now, all my problems are gone! The keyboard is perfectly working, and thanks to Amazon, I have got a new laptop with no power button paint peeling. So, I am hereby updating my review to 5 star. I know I have gone through lots of ordeal to get to this point. But I don't wanna keep any hard feeling, particularly when the laptop is so fast and smooth, and cute looking.

Buy HP Envy 15-3040NR 15.6 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver) Now

So, I bought this computer after my last HP (which I loved) went bad. First of all, I own a MacBook (that I use for ProTools) and 4 other laptops that I actually use on a regular basis. This was bought to be my "personal" computer the one I actually use for me.

THIS REVIEW IS FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE FIGHTING ABOUT BRAND AND NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO FUNCTIONALITY FOR THE PRICE

So, maybe earlier versions had a few problems, or for Apple users (more likely) had a different feel. I get that, but it's clear that whatever early bugs this had were fixed. It's pretty common for all makers to have buggy first batches of hardware. I don't give anybody a pass, and I include HP, Sony, Apple, and MS in this category. Mine had no errors of the original buyers, so I can't comment on that.

I buy computers based on:

1. What's inside them are they fast, can they be upgraded, will they do what I want?

2. Are they durable/high quality, in terms of design?

3. Is the price being asked fair compared to other company's models with similar specs?

The amount of complaining about how it looks like an MBP "but isn't," or basing your decision on "how close is it to another MacBook? to me tells me that you're completely looking at the wrong things. Here's what I think about this computer, and also how I made it as fast/faster than several $2500+ laptops (yes, MBPs included) for a whopping total of $1200. I bought an 83" DLP TV and built a movie theater with the money I didn't spend on having a specific brand like Samsung/Apple/Sony on my laptop case. I bought the best computer at the best price on the market; simple if you can set aside some bias.

PROS

FAST The i7, 8g RAM, Radeon, and 7200rpm HD make this thing incredibly smooth. Even before the SSD I put on (more in a second), it was a 5-10 second boot and had no lags/delays using any program or function.

STURDY The design on this is exceptional (in my opinion). While seemingly very simple, having an analog volume control on the side is a brilliant idea, and the computer is not cheap feeling. It's not heavy, and all and in the design/layout is great.

Easy Upgrade Potential (SSD!) For a whopping $200, I bought a new 240gb SSD, an external USB case for the existing drive, and the clone kit, and I literally was able to put in the SSD (including the clone) in about 40 minutes. This series has a back that simply slides off, lets you take out the 2.5" SATA HD case, put in the SSD, and close it up. With an SSD, this computer is insanely, insanely fast, and if I need it, I have my 7200rpm 750gb HD in a nice slimline case.

PRICE. Look at the specs, what you're getting, and then compare to Apple, Sony, or Samsung. At $1050, you're saving at least $1000 if you're considering an Apple (for close to equal stock specs), and probably $500 or so if you're looking at a Windows laptop. Given that I now have this with a top of the line 240gb SSD, and my TOTAL price was $1300.....it serious cannot be beat.

Windows 8 for $15 upon release this is what you maybe should use 1 of your 2 HDs for when it comes out? Have both OS's set up, and have a real copy for $15. I dig it.

HDMI Out, Full 1080p HD Screen no explanation needed...any computer that doesn't have an HDMI out now, to me, is a joke. The screen looks great, and I have no negative things to say about it vs my MacBook, MBP pro, or other high-end laptops..

CONS

Default TouchPad Settings The touchpad has (in my opinion) too many annoying double/triple tap and touch features. If you're in to those types of functions, they're all there, but it's annoying as hell at first to have the scroll and resize and whatnot on by default. I want just the touchpad to move the cursor and have the left/right buttons. I have the screen-res change ability on too, but that's it. Also, you should play with the scroll speed and sensitivity to have it set up "your way" right away.

All in all this is an amazing computer that costs about $2000-$2600 (if you factor in the SSD install) from Apple, or $1500+ from other makes. It has some neat design aspects, and is basically HP's "hip" computer for those people who don't care about whether their computer is a Dell, Asus, MacBook, or whatever.

The specs are great, and it has more features that I'll probably ever use. I've had no issues with it, and I'd recommend it both for its' specs and price, and for its 'fun" features like the audio/Blu Ray/etc.

Solid computer for a solid price, and if you put a Solid State in it, it becomes a speed demon. I'd buy again without blinking. The 15" is the perfect size for this type of computer, especially with the 1920x1080 resolution on the go.

Read Best Reviews of HP Envy 15-3040NR 15.6 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver) Here

My previous laptop was a Macbook pro 17" unibody. It was a beautifully built product. I'm quite surprised that I'm just as happy with the Envy as I was with the Macbook.

Pros:

Good build quality. Almost up there with the macbooks.

Based on the pictures, I thought the bottom and the lid were made of plastic. They're made on metal instead!

The drivers and base software bundle is very polished.

Re-install from recovery media is very streamlined and a pleasant experience.

Not a single crash so far.

The 1080p display quality is great. But there are some drawbacks. I use it in graphic design at work.

Quick boot time ad least with an ssd. The bios/post screen is a blink of an eye.

Battery life is good in normal tasks. I haven't tested anything heavier so far.

The gpu switching utility is simple and very useful. You specify which programs you want to fire up the more powerful gpu. That's something I missed on macs.

The usb port which lets you charge devices even when the computer is off is superb. Tablets and phones charged without problems. Now you can charge your phone when it's getting low on battery even while walking down town.

Nice stylish font on the keyboard.

Quite decent connectivity for such a device

Ability to function as a wlan access point and share the internet connection even while you're connected via wlan yourself.

Cons:

The bottom cover wobbles just slightly after a couple of opens. Normally no one needs the open it though. It is opened only if you replace the hdd, memory or battery

The volume levels tend to be to high with headphones and the volume knob. On the first level of volume it's too low and on the second level it's too loud. It kind of takes the usefulness out the knob. I haven't found a way to fix that so far. You really shouldn't need to search for a solution for volume settings.

The displays black levels seem to be quite high. The back light bleeds through quite a lot. On the other hand it's very uniform (led backlight), so it doesn't bother that much.

The power brick is huge and hideous. HP really needs to do something about these. It's a pain to carry them around. I bought a smaller one right away and use the original one only on my work desk.

Super reflective display finish.

Arrow keys are awful.

Recommendations:

I recommend to reinstall everything from the recovery dvd and select minimized install. That way all the non-essential software won't be installed.

Buy an ssd. It makes the world of difference.

Want HP Envy 15-3040NR 15.6 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver) Discount?

Spec wise and all. This laptop is pretty good.

The display is very crisp and clear.

It's fast.

It has a sleek design.

Cool button for changing volume.

Back lit keyboard.

Switchable graphics can save power.

HD

Beats Audio provides great sound through the speakers.

That being said, there are some issues I have with this laptop.

First, as I type this right now, it seems I have to hit my space bar key pretty hard when I use my right thumb since it seems to not respond when I hit it from the right side.

The red is not so red. I don't really care much about it, but it's an issue some of you might not really enjoy.

Switchable graphics not so switchable. Sometimes, it doesn't switch GPUs, but it's not that big a deal since you can simply, no, I advise you to change it to manual switching on the BIOS if you chose to get this laptop, so you can switch the GPUs yourself.

As I feel through the edges of the laptop, it feels uneven. It's not noticeable when you look at it, but you can feel it.

Looks like a Mac book. Originality please.

As for game performance and display, it performs great for the basic games, though it struggled a bit with GTA IV, but I was not on High Performance power mode, so I can't be certain.

Summary: If you are into Photoshop or you do stuff that involves colors, than I'll advise you to stay away from this laptop. If you are just a gamer(casual) looking for a portable gaming machine from this era, and you don't care much about color, then go ahead and get this.

Color-wise, I don't feel like returning it. Keys-wise, I just might.

EDIT(2/21/2012): According to some info I got from another forum, there was a BIOS update to attempt to fix the keyboard issue (BIOS F.06). I installed this update, but it didn't fix anything for me. On the other hand, some people claim that it fixed the issue for them. There was also another fix which would force the BIOS to recover, and some said that fixed it for them while others, like me, still remain with the keyboard issue. I guess right now, it's a game of chance for those with this laptop.

I have also decided to return the laptop since I couldn't bear the missing keystrokes any longer.

EDIT(3/8/2012): Long story short, I couldn't return the item yet, but I was able to ask for an exchange. I received another Envy and this one works way better than the one I got before even though it is still running the F.06 BIOS. The one thing you'll have to do to avoid skipping keystrokes is to dim the back light of the keyboard while on AC (You don't need it to be too high anyway). While on Battery, you should turn off the back light, and that should solve, or "improve", the missing keystrokes issue (It did/does for me) until HP decides to throw out a fix.

EDIT(3/28/2012): Hp released BIOS F.07 update to fix the keyboard issue. I have updated to that version and I am convinced, and can conclude, that the keyboard issue has been rectified. So if you aren't running F.07, get that.

Later.

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