I was in the market for a 12.6 netbook and started looking at what else was out there for small laptops... then I came across this. I have a custom built 3.7 ghz (oc'ed) pc that I could not bring with me and this more than satisfies my needs. This is the perfect laptop for anyone that wants a powerful computer without spending outrageous amounts of money. I've owned if for only one day and I'm very impressed so far.Positives:
Dual core processor.
HD Video Card (handled a 1080p file I have with no issues or lag!)
Beautiful screen
3gb of memory
Spacious keyboard, with number pad
Non-glossy cover so no fingerprint or smearing.
Camera is sharp for only .3 MP
Free 60 day trial of MS Office 2007
Face recognition feature for sign in
DirectX 10
16:9 Display
Windows 7 premium bundled
Wireless network works perfectly
USB ports on both sides laptop
Quick and easy setup
Negatives:
As expected bloatware and bundled programs
No gloss or shine cosmetically. A little gloss would have been nice somewhere.
Screen does not lock when closed
Battery charge icon does not change when charged
No HDMI out
After looking around for about a week, this was easily the best deal for a laptop under $500. The only thing I wish it had was an HDMI output. The negatives do not take away from the laptop as I was able to remove all the unnecessary programs in under and hour. The hinge for the screen has the perfect amount of resistance that it wont go flying open on you when it is closed, so the lack of a lock is nothing to worry about it. I am very satisfied with my purchase and no complaints thus far.
1) Lower quality WiFi transceiver it seems
2) Impossible to type with jumping cursor until I disabled the touchpad
3) I could shave in the shiny reflective screen
4) The battery drains faster than the advertising
5) I'll add the bloatware myself thanks if I think I need it
1) I experienced some dropped connections that now apppear to be isolated to the extranet WiFi at work though both my Lenovo T60 and an Asus eeePC 901 I keep at work have never dropped a WiFi connection. The G555 did so repeatedly not keeping the connection for more than a few mins at times. I would have to disconnect and connect to regain my connection. At home the WiFi did not get dropped across the house but the performance was half to my Asus eeePC 1000H that I keep at home. So sitting next to the router the G555 could achieve only a 75Mb/s connection compared to 150Mb/s for my 1000H. Across the house the G555 drops down to 32Mb/s less than half again of the 1000H. I attribute this to seeing for the first time a Broadcom transceiver vs Atheros or Ralink. I noticed on the Lenovo support website for the G555 that the lastest drivers are from Atheros. Does this mean that Lenovo has done a WiFi switcheroo in production and I'm just one of the unfortunates not to receive version 2 of the G555. Why are the latest two drivers from Atheros?
I fixed 2) by buying a mouse and disabling the touchpad, I've never had to disable a touchpad on many a laptop before. There is no sensitivity setting for the touchpad available.
3) The screen is very reflective making it harder to see in a bright room or with a window behind me. I thought reflective screens like this disappeared a decade ago, how much could it possibly cost today to add a non-reflective screen.
4) The battery is advertised as 4 hours but I got low power warnings after 2.5hrs on Windows 7 Power Balanced setting. This of course was a little expected due to higher performance CPU and GPU than my ASUS machines.
5) Finally as mentioned in many reviews there is a silly amount of bloatware installed, I removed 90% of it. The software installs are located on the D: drive.
Other than the above the rest is pretty good for the price. It feels pretty solid, its fast. The screen is nice and bright (if only they had made it non-reflective). The camera seems to work fine, all the basic features are there that I enjoy on my ASUS eeePC machines. My mum will be happy (she did not know a mouse could be used with a laptop). Hopefully Lenovo can fix a few of those issues I mention for future owners.I bought this Lenovo laptop to replace a Toshiba that I gave away. It sits on my breakfast table and is used like a desktop PC for reading news, trading stock, watching video...etc. I have owned it for about 8 months and I like it a lot.
Things that I like:
1)The screen is big and bright, which is a positive if you use it as a PC replacement.
2)It has a dual core CPU good enough for web browsing and video watching.
3)Battery lasts 3 to 4 hours.
4)Integrated SD card reader.
Things that I don't like:
1)No bluetooth. Not really a problem. You can get a USB bluetooth "plug" in less than $5 on ebay.
2)It uses the old DDR2 memory. If you plan to upgrade its memory you better do it now; DDR2 is being replaced by DDR3.
3)All external connectors, such as USB port, are either on the left, right or front of the laptop which occupy more real estate on my breakfast table. I prefer them on the rear.
4)The normal placement of the Ctrl button on the keypad is now occupied by a Fn button. This screw my copy-paste operation a lot.
5)The Home and End keys, which I use a lot during typing, require "Fn" key being pressed down.
6)This is no easy way to automatically disable touch pad when a USB mouse is used.
Update 02/22/2012
After one year of usage, the laptop develop a weird problem that it won't boot if the laptop is warm. This means if I want to reboot my laptop, I need to shut it down, wait for 30 minutes before it will boot up again. Too bad that my warranty is past when this starting to happen.Well I would first like to say I've had this laptop for about a month and its been a perfect Gem handles 1080P MKV Media files better than expected.
Like everyone else I had issues with the touch pad being in the way so I just bought a wireless mouse and use that instead and disables the touch pad.
Pros:
Nice big and beautiful screen
Good Processing Power
Nice keypad and number pad placement
Light weight
Portable
Durable
Cons
Battery life could be better
Speakers could be better!!
HDD space is a little low
Touch pad Placement
I would recommend this laptop to anyone looking for a nice affordable, durable, portable and user friendly laptop!!Excellent product! Good value for the money! I've had mine for 4 months and couldn't be happier. It's lightweight and the screen has much less glare than my Sony Vaio (and weighs a lot less too!).
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