I bought this laptop mostly based on the 3rd generation i7 processor, 8 GB of memory, and Terabyte drive. However, I made some assumptions that came back to bite me. Since this model is primarily sold as a home/entertainment computer and includes an HDMI port to directly connect to a TV, as well as Intel's WiDi to wirelessly connect to a TV, you would think it was optimized to download and stream movies. But you would be wrong, because it has both obsolete wired and wireless networking connections which is so surprising to me that I didn't even think to investigate them before buying this device. I did not buy from Amazon, but they should be commended for making it very clear in the first bullet points on the page: "Integrated 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, 10/100 Ethernet LAN". The current standard for Ethernet LANs is Gigabit (1000 megabit), and has been for some years, which is why it is difficult to find devices with the obsolete 10/100 ports anymore. Most current WiFi devices use the dual band N standard, which this laptop does not support. Many current computers support the newer dual band AC standard, for which routers are readily available. So far, no upgrade path is available for this computer to use the higher speed networks, other than buying external adapters and using up the precious USB ports, of which there are only 4, 2 USB3 and 2 USB2 ports. This brings up another question why aren't they all USB3 ports? USB3, dual band N WiFi and Gigabit Ethernet are basics that should be included on all laptops today, especially a higher end unit like the 17R. The performance of the wireless and wired networks on this computer can only be described as frustratingly and disappointingly slow.This computer also is lacking a TPM chip which makes it a lot harder to encrypt the hard drive using the BitLocker software included in Windows 8. Without the TPM chip, encryption and decryption is slower, and you have to hack the registry and use an external memory card or jump drive to store the keys, which can be lost, forcing a total erasure of the hard drive to use the computer.
This particular i7 processor is not the most powerful either. Because it has quad cores and a turbo mode, you would expect it to power through any frozen screen moments. But it doesn't seem to work that way. My experience includes the computer freezing several times a day, usually when I am doing nothing more than web browsing. The 64 bit Windows 8 doesn't seem to help much with that, either.
Also, if you are expecting a backlit keyboard that is frequently advertised for the 17R, it is not included on this model. The mouse pad does not work particularly well with Windows 8 and does not seem to support gestures. It also has the common problem of most mouse pads, it causes the cursor to jump all over the place when you are trying to type, frequently causing whole blocks of text to be selected and replaced by what you are typing, or to jump into other programs entirely. Most of the time I use an external keyboard and mouse. Hours spent adjusting settings have been futile.
The display is quite nice, but nothing spectacular, and at 3.3 pounds it is a heavy laptop that is too large to fit into most carrying cases.
It does support a second drive that can be used for a solid state drive that may shorten boot times and increase speed. The battery is OK, generally lasting about 3 hours when not plugged in.
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