Toshiba Satellite R845-S85 14.0-Inch LED Laptop - Graphite Blue Metallic with Line Pattern

I bought this Laptop when it was the Amazon Deal of the Day for $599. I couldn't be happier with this purchase, especially at that ridiculously low price point. Instead of going over all the specs, I'll highlight some pros and cons of this laptop for potential buyers.

Pros:

Construction/Look: The chassis and chiclet keyboard (spill-resistant) feel real sturdy and of high-quality. The construction of this laptop doesn't have a cheap "plastic" feeling like some laptops out on the market.

Battery Life: The battery life on this 6-cell battery is unbelievable, especially for a 14' laptop. For the first few charge cycles, I've been able to consistently get over 7 hours of battery life surfing the web and playing music with headphones. The ecoUtility app really helps with prolonging battery life.

Intel WiDi capable: I really wanted a laptop with this capability so that I can wirelessly stream to my TV while working on my laptop. Note that you need to buy a WiDi adapter to connect to your TV/display (~$100).

Performance: The i5 processor coupled with 6GB of memory gives this laptop plenty of juice for 99% of computing activities.

SIZE of hard drive: 640GB of space is more than you'll probably even use.

Weight: 4.2 pounds and just about 1 inch thick makes this laptop pretty portable.

Optical Drive: This may not factor much for some people, but as more and more companies opt to remove optical drives from their laptops, it was nice to see Toshiba put in a full DVD burner/drive on this machine.

Connectivity: 1 USB 3.0 port AND capability for USB Sleep-and-Charge (charge stuff while laptop is off) AND an e-SATA/USB combo port AND an HDMI input is awesome!

Value: For the 600-800 price range for a 14 inch laptop, you'd struggle to find a laptop with this much under the hood.

Cons:

No Bluetooth: a tiny external USB dongle runs for about 10 bucks, but I wish Toshiba would have built-in a bluetooth receiver.

Screen: 1366 x 768 resolution (720p). Not bad by any means, but for a 14', It would have been nice to see a higher resolution offered.

Speakers: Sound can be a bit tinny at loud volumes. Noticably better than Portege R835 speakers though.

SPEED of hard drive: the 640GB hard drive only runs at 5400 rpm. I would have liked to see that be at 7200rpm or even a SSD drive, but all things considered, I can't complain much...just a nagging annoyance.

Bloatware/Volume of Apps: Toshiba seemed to have cut down on the total amount of bloatware they put on this machine but they have too many apps pre-installed on this machine for my liking so I ended up manually uninstalling some that I knew I would never use.

I would DEFINITELY recommend this laptop to anyone considering it at the $600-800 price point, as you'd be hard pressed to find significantly better deals. As another reviewer said, this is basically the 14 inch version of the Portege R835-P81 laptop (also sold on Amazon). That's just a smaller version (13.3' 3.2 lbs), but overall there are a LOT of similarities, even with the look. If you're in the market for a laptop with comparable specs but want something smaller, check that out. I hope this helps potential buyers out!

First let me tell you that this laptop not only looks good but it's also powerful, Thin and light weight.

I watched a bluray file and a 1080 mkv file at the same time with no stutter and with only 18% CPU load. My Quad core Desktop would start stuttering when I do this and cpu load goes to 100% (it's a Q6600 intel quad core cpu)

Had to instal java 64bit edition and directx runtime environment. Just make sure that whatever software you're instaling is 64bit compatible. had to increase color saturation to add more color but led display looks great. Tweaked touchpad settings a little bit to make it the way I like it. Theres an eco button that doubles your battery consumption to 10 hours with light use but dims the display brightness but you'll get used to it. Also it seems that pushing the eco button disables one core of the cpu. The computer wakes up instanly when you open the lid and resumes whatever it was doing. the wifi is very strong and picks up a lot of networks. Hard drive is easily accessible, only two screws. It runs very cool. I ran two 1080p bluray files at the same time through wifi N streaming from another computer with ease and no stutter. This laptop looks thiner in person and looks good. you can carry it with one hand from the corner and it doesn't bend like some do. you have esata, usb 3.0-2.0 combo. The speakers are loud, just make sure you enable loudness in audio properties and also select equalizer and increase the treble a little bit. No inputs in the back. when you rest your hands on the laptop wihile typing feels solid. Keyboard is very nice and I'm pretty picky when it comes to keyboards. After adjusting the color settings in the onboard video properties I watched the planet earth bluray streaming from my media server the display was crisp and clear with vivid colors like I was watching my 1080p led tv. Here's the color adjustments that I'm using, Saturation 10, contrast 1, brightness 0 and see the difference.

Update 6-5-12

if you do a lot of typing and word documents, I won't recommend this laptop because the cursor jumps all over the place while typing and you're constantly trying to get back to where you are to continue typing. It's not the way I type either because my fingers are away from the touch pad while typing. This is a major flaw with this laptop.

Buy Toshiba Satellite R845-S85 14.0-Inch LED Laptop - Graphite Blue Metallic with Line Pattern Now

Pros:

Fast i5 processor

6 gigs of RAM, a spacious HDD

Long battery life (at least 4.5 hours on full blast; up to 7.5 hours if not used aggressively)

USB 3.0 (w/ sleep and charge)

HDD protection gizmo allegedly protects the hard drive from minor accidents

Cons:

Squishy keyboard beware if you're a regular touch typist!

The wireless antenna works only on the 2.4 GHz band even my 3-year old HP Pavilion can connect to the 5 GHz band! However, this laptop has far better reception, so it's not such a big deal. Just a tad disappointing.

Everything seems cheap the hinges creak, the plastic looks cheesy. When I lug it around closed, I'm afraid it will crack open.

A really silly choice of dedicated shortcut buttons (there are only two; one is for turning on the Eco mode why would I need to do this in a hurry? why? the other one switches on the WiDi; IMHO a mute + wifi antenna buttons would have made much more sense)

Despite all the negative remarks, the laptop gets the job done without breaking a sweat, and if it weren't for the horrid keyboard I'd have given it 4 stars.

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I payed a little extra for this computer thinking faster speed etc. compared to my 2 year old 15.6 inch toshiba we bought on sale from Best buy for $350. I was wrong. So far, there is absolutely no advantage compared to the lesser version from two years ago. It's not just the Core i5 processor either, as I bought my brother-in-law the HP equivalent (same processor, memory, speed etc)and that computer performs much better than this one. Something is just off with the design or this specific model as previously I have been happy with Toshiba products (why I kept this one and gave the HP as a gift). Battery life promised 10 hrs but I get 8 hours at best (when relatively inactive and only on the Eco mode where it shuts down every 30 seconds and the screen is dimmed to point where you can barely read). I get 3 hours of battery at most when online.

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With an SSD Upgrade (I'd recommend Crucial 128 GB for around $160), this baby just flies.

Windows boot-up time is around 14 seconds, programs open almost instantly, and even programs that take up a few gigabytes install in seconds. By far the best laptop I've owned, comes to around $800 with the SSD upgrade. Besides you'll have a free 640 GB external slim hard drive for all your storage (movies, music, photos) purposes. (Don't forget to order an HDD enclosure for around $5-10)

The power usage while browsing with wireless on and brightness at half averages around 7 Watts, so I'd expect to get a good 8.5-9 hours of usage with the 66 Wh battery. (SSDs consume less power than HDDs)

Compared to various higher-end ultrabooks costing around $1200, the R845-S85 has a slightly better CPU, same Graphics (Intel HD 3000), better battery, and more ports (3xUSB, HDMI, VGA, ethernet). Besides the Crucial SSD also outperforms other brands in benchmark tests. OK, it's a pound heavier, quarter of an inch thicker, and doesn't have the "looks", but it's hundreds of dollars cheaper despite the higher performance&quality components and the build quality of Toshiba. (owned an Asus before buying this, which fell apart because of the cheap plastic case, poor DC Jack and bad build quality overall)

The only downside is that the GPU (Intel HD 3000), which won't allow new games with high settings. But then again, sub 14-inch notebooks almost never have dedicated graphics cards.

If you are looking for a portable and inexpensive powerhouse, this is the one to go with. Highly recommended.

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Asus UX31A-BHI5T11 Ultrabook 13.3" Touch Screen Laptop 4GB Memory 128GB SSD Radiant Black

DESIGN

Very sleek, very strong and very lightweight. Asus says, "Inspiring Innovation"? This point is questionable, since it so closely resembles a thin-profile laptop of another OS, but it is a good design nonetheless.

Some people complain that this particular model with a black finish `attracts fingerprints'. Really, it doesn't attract more fingerprints than anything else you touch, but does show them quite prominently. For me, this is very low on the list of complaints, especially since it does not affect `normal use' of the laptop. I may even prefer the black finish to the silver-gray, since it looks more professional.

I would prefer that Asus would make their "ASUS" logo at the bottom of the screen smaller, but this is also a minor point.

DISPLAY

Let's get this out of the way: You're buying this laptop because of its great 1080p screen, right? Make no mistake; Asus has serious build-quality issues with their Zenbook displays. It has been a known issue since the first UX31A models and before, and, unfortunately, they have not fixed it on the latest touch version.

Light bleed is rampant on all of these units, and I have yet to see a Zenbook without light bleed around the edges of the screen. If this is a potential issue for you, do not even consider buying this laptop. For me, I can tolerate (but do not like) this light bleed, so long as it does not interfere with normal use. But on this point--normal use--I have had additional issues. My 1st unit had so much light bleed in the bottom-left and right corners that it caused white backgrounds (word documents, websites, etc.) to appear yellow in those areas, several square inches into the screen on both sides. My 2nd unit had less of the corner yellowing, but a significant orb of uneven backlight in the center of the screen, extending several inches upward. My 3rd unit (and hopefully final) I would call the `least problematic' of the 3, though certainly not perfect by any means. There is some irregularity of the backlighting, and light bleed on the edges, of course, but nothing so jarring that it will prevent me from normal use.

IF you can find one of these laptops that has few enough issues with the display, you may then proceed to enjoy the clarity of the high resolution, 1920 by 1080 pixels. It may be of concern to some that the high resolution might interfere with comfortable use of the computer in Desktop mode. With Windows scaling set at 125%, however, and Google Chrome default zoom also set to 125%, I have not found this to be an issue at all.

The IPS display allows for very good viewing angles, which helps alleviate the age-old problem of constant readjustment of the screen. The brightness is also very good, compensating greatly for the glossiness of the display. A note about brightness: I noticed that the display would `flicker' when on battery power if a screen with a light background was switched to a screen with a dark background (as if dimming, when auto-brightness and adaptive brightness were turned off), and vice versa. It turns out that there is a setting in the Intel Graphics software called "Display Power Saving Technology". I unchecked both of the "Power Conservation Features" in the Intel Graphics and Media Control Panel to alleviate this problem.

The hinges on the display are questionable. They allow for easy opening of the screen, which is good, but also tend to allow the display to fall backward once open. Any time I give the computer a good bump or pick it up quickly, the display opens to its full extent. Fortunately the good viewing angles of the IPS screen make this less of an issue.

KEYBOARD

The keyboard is above-average for an Ultrabook. It is not as good as a ThinkPad keyboard, but actually better than the Lenovo Yoga keyboard. The keyboard itself does not flex in the middle, very solid. Key travel is short, but it is pretty crisp. Coming from a ThinkPad myself, the biggest adjustment has been the short travel of the spacebar. Nonetheless, I have found my stride within a few days and now type almost as well on this one as I did on the ThinkPad.

Backlighting on the keyboard is a big plus. As many users have noted, once you have this feature, you will find it hard to go without it. Three levels of brightness allow for some variableness if you like.

The secondary functions of the Function keys (F1 thru F12) require use of the "fn" key on the keyboard. What adds insult to injury is that there are no dedicated volume button elsewhere. So adjusting the volume always requires 2 hands, a big pitfall if you like to keep one hand on an external mouse.

But! There is a remedy... until Asus is willing to fix this. Download and install a key-remapping software (such as KeyTweak), and remap f10 to Mute, f11 to Volume Down, and f12 to Volume Up. You won't have use of those f-keys anymore, but if you're like most users, you probably never used them anyhow. I further did a re-mapping of the Context Menu and Right Control keys to dedicated Home and End keys, respectively, since I use Home/End keys frequently and do not care for them being relegated to second-class functions of the arrows.

TOUCHPAD

The touchpad is average. It is not great, it is not terrible. I find pointing to be pretty accurate, but two-finger scrolling to be abhorrent. Note on this point though: There are currently 3 touchpad drivers available for the UX31A from Asus' website. The oldest of the 3, version 32, has much smoother two-finger scrolling than versions 35 or 36. The newer versions may have more accurate pointing, but worse two-finger scrolling, so pick which is most important to you. I am using version 32 for now, and it works okay. Adding a smooth scrolling extension to your web browser can somewhat improve the experience as well.

The surface of the touchpad is not the smoothest for gliding your finger across. I find it to be a bit 'sticky', even though the surface appears to be smooth. Maybe adding a slight texture to the touchpad would improve the situation.

SOLID STATE DRIVE

It says "128 GB", so how much space do you actually get for you files? Less than 70 GB. It's a shame, really, that over 45% of the supposed space is eaten up from the start. Manufacturers need to become more forthcoming about this truth, and do a better job of partitioning the SSD if possible.

WIRELESS

Unlike the Lenovo Yoga, this model includes a professional-grade dual-band Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 wireless adapter for 802.11agn networks, which supports 5 GHz frequency for reduced wireless congestion. I have not had any issues with wireless performance.

NOISE

One of my favorite features about this laptop is how quiet it is. The fan is running most of the time, though very quietly, even in a silent environment. I was not very impressed with the high noise levels of the fan on the Lenovo Yoga.

WRAP-UP

There are a host of other features on this laptop, but other reviews can provide information on their function. I have documented the particular aspects which I found to be of particular concern. Overall, the positives still outweigh the negatives, and in every respect, this laptop is FAST. I plan to keep it, even though Asus still has a long way to go in fulfilling the second half of their motto, "Persistent Perfection". It still has a lot to offer compared to the competition, and, if they would get their act together with the display defects, I would even recommend it to a friend.

OTHER MODELS CONSIDERED

Lenovo Ideapad Yoga, Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon, Dell XPS 12

UPDATE 2013-02-11

Overall I am still very pleased with this laptop. I did have an issue with the CTRL key 'sticking', which may have been due to remapping the CTRL key to a dedicated END key. I removed this remapping and reinstalled the keyboard driver and have not had this problem since.

I have also been much more pleased with the touchpad since installing a more generic version of Elantech's touchpad driver available from Acer's (not ASUS's) website. I am currently using the Elantech Touchpad Driver version 11.6.8.001 (found under Acer Aspire S7-391). Touchpad sensitivity is better, palm rejection is better, and overall there are more customization options than what ASUS provides with their touchpad drivers.

UPDATE 2013-03-25

Now using Elan touchpad driver version 11.7.8.5. Pointing is smooth and accurate.

Amazing notebook. Asus has really stepped upstart with all of its design. It's directly competing with thin MacBook Air, which I almost got but this is what beats the Air:

-screen resolution is 1920x1080, very crisp, bright display

-128GB flash drive

-touchscreen

-windows 8

Here is what I love about this zenbook/:

-all metal, durable design. This is no cheap plastic materials

-glass, touch screen

-ultra cool to touch, silent

-ultra fast USB 3.0, mini HDMI, display port

-only 2lbs

-fast, responsive Windows 8, boots up in 8 seconds, back from sleep in 2 seconds

-good battery life

-comes with a very nice Asus case

Here's what I didn't like:

-only 90GB of free space

-when screen is all black there are light leakage on all sides

-wish the power charger was magnetic or simpler like Vivobook

-bloatware that no average consumer needs

This is by far the best notebook I've ever owned. I've installed Adobe CS6, and it runs like butter. Much better than Samsung quality and even the overpriced Sony. Asus really gets the value, design, and quality. Would recommend to anyone who's looking for an awesome notebook.

Buy Asus UX31A-BHI5T11 Ultrabook 13.3" Touch Screen Laptop 4GB Memory 128GB SSD Radiant Black Now

What's great about it: Most everything,, size screen back lit keyboard, touchscreen

What's not so great: sometime wifi is a bit touchy

Firstly. for some of you that have noticed the sound not being up to par. You can enhance, (make louder) the sound by clicking on the speaker icon on task-bar, when menu pops up click on enhancements, and again click on loudness enhancements ... wala,,, much better sound output. if you are playing music while doing this you can hear the difference the menu settings make. real time

The Screen is to die for.. So much better than any i have had in the past, I don't have to constantly move the screen tilt to get just the right angle. I can see clearly now... LOL from the sides at a better angle also. Vibrant colors, slight bleed on start up, but once on page not seeable for me at all.

This computer is a complete remake of the last year model, which i happen to have two of. Keys are great, Hardly ever miss a stroke, and when i do it is my fault. Back lit keyboard is beautiful in dim light, or typing while wife is sleeping. Fast, Responsive. but sometimes i do loose the wifi for some reason,, usually after a sleep period.. I think it is probably due to Win 8.

Speaking of Win 8. I hate it.. Usually stay in the win 7 area. and have added CLASSIC SHELL to get the full function of the tool and task bar. along with the Start menu. I use LibreOffice. seems to work in place of the previous Microsoft scaled down version. I really don't like having to reach over the keyboard and swipe the screen to search for things. I have had cancer in the right shoulder and makes it difficult to continue to reach forward, Esp while hunting for something..

The Screen Fonts in the Win 8 interface are entirely too small.. Have tried many options to make them bigger... so some thing i am not doing i guess... Of course that may be because this screen has the absolute best resolution i have seen IN A STORE. besides the $2000 Mac Pro, so even the small fonts are clear,,, just too darn small.

Over all, I really like this better than any notebook i have had, including my Samsung s9 which was terrible on the battery 2.5 hours as is the s5 i still have. The Asus will get 6-7 hours battery life in every day usage.. Depending on your individual settings. The Mac Air is one nice book, but the screen scares me to no end,, Having a busted one sitting in my basement. Cost more than it is worth to replace on a two year old model. the screen on Asus Zenbook has edge to edge glass.. not just a film as on many computers. Will make it a bit heavier.

Really if you want a great, stylish, functional ultrabook, ?? You cannot go wrong with this one, for the money..Kind of hard to get but worth it.. Buy from best buy, or AMazon,, If you don't like the computer, take it back in 30 days... No restock fee.. Caution, If you take it back, you might have "RETURNERS REMORSE"

If you have read my review on the old Aenbook, you would know i hated it, but this new model is way above any i have used. ANY.

This product is...GREATTTTTTTTTTT Plus it is a WINDOWs machine.. All my software works with it

Read Best Reviews of Asus UX31A-BHI5T11 Ultrabook 13.3" Touch Screen Laptop 4GB Memory 128GB SSD Radiant Black Here

This is the best ultrabook on the market to me (despite its minor cons), and it is a PC! I cannot rave enough about how beautiful this machine is. If you're getting one, make sure you get this randiant black color, as the regular one has a silver body which to me is a bit boring.

Pros:

* all metal casing has brushed circular patterns on the surface and a really Apple quality solid build

* very thin and light (0.9" and 2.9lbs)

* high-res screen with brilient colors, great for movies

* touch screen for win 8

* fast and silent

* lit up keyboard

* comes with nice sleeve and accessories in its own pouch

* nice touch pad

Cons:

* light bleed around the edges (the

* cannot change/remove battery (just like Apple products)

* expensive (this is subjective)

* only 4GB ram and not upgradable

* weak graphics processor (not a gaming machine)

* metal casing is easy to scratch (use care!)

* touch screen is too glossy and attracts fingerprints like honey to ants (apply a screen protector to fix)

Handle the machine with care, and it is easily the most beautiful piece of hardware you can buy. BTW, the ASUS TX300 is coming soon, but I will keep this machine still because even though the idea of a transformable ultrabook and tablet sounds really appealing, the fact the machine will not sit stably due to being top-heavy and the hinge will likely become loose over time due to constant connecting and disconnecting tells me it will not be practical in the long run. Not to mention it will be more expensive than this.

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Computers nowadays come with more processing capacity than most of us (among non-gamers) need, so I usually don't bother to do some research in that front. I needed a new computer and my priorities were, therefore, the screen (high resolution, touchscreen and no bigger than 13") and low noise levels. You get all that with this machine. But there are some aspects I don't like and this is the reason I gave it only three stars:

With 128 Gigabytes of physical memory, I would not call this machine an "ultrabook", but an "infrabook" instead. I knew about this limitation so I can't complain about it. What really disappointed me is that to get a bit round this problem I bought a 128GB SD card to have it permanently installed as part of the computer memory. And here I got a sad surprise: the card only makes it halfway into the slot (as opposed to enter completely as it did in my much smaller 11" older notebook). Half of it poked out of the machine, making it an ugly sight, unsafe (you can easily lose it) and not suitable to carry around (without removing it). Money lost in this try.

On ergonomics: the borders were designed to close tightly and look then "aerodynamic" (so it is kind of annoying to open it you need strong nails), not for user's comfort. In fact, depending on how you use the computer, the sharp metallic edges will definitely hurt your wrists. Other reviewers liked the solid finish of metal personally I prefer good old plastic, as it is less conductive of heat and therefore it does not have that "cold" feeling on contact with the skin. But this is a matter of personal taste.

I can confirm some difficulties with wi-fi connection that another review reported. In a network where my iPhone and other laptops can obtain signal normally this computer often looses connection. Therefore I have to restart the computer to get it back (very nice if you are busy working and with several documents opened...).

Finally Windows 8. It is difficult to express how much annoying this new system is, and how much time I had to waste trying to make it work relatively similar familiar (i.e to Windows 7) so I would not be lost in their bizarre world of invasive and nonsensical organized (?) screens and shortcuts. I have grown tired of Microsoft during the last years and with this new release I am ready to move to Linux whenever I have some time to do it. Other people are ok with Windows and I respect that, but I wish my choice of not liking it would be respected as well, so I would not to have to swallow (and pay for) it every time I buy a pc. But this has been too much to wish for in a long time already.

My overall assessment: Awesome screen and pleasantly quiet and good looking machine. If you are ok with the limitations above (not my case), it is a good buy.

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Toshiba Satellite L855-S5244 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mercury Silver)

When I first bought the Toshiba Satellite in the summer of 2012, it was the most powerful computer at Best Buy. This computer was marketed at $850, but was only $750 at that time. Even at the discounted price, this is a wonderful computer. The Toshiba anti-theft and virus software has gotten me out of many problems that killed off my previous computers. It is very fast, and very reliable. The computer screen is beautiful, the number pad is a great addition, and the hardrive protection is wonderful. However, it isn't flawless. On more than one occasion, this computer has overheated due to it's metal body. The computer will automatically shut off protecting it, which is good, but the fact that it does it at all, isn't good. I've had this issue with my Xbox where it'd do that and turn off randomly during a game. It's worse with this because I use my computer for important things, like generating essays. Another problem is that the trackpad is very glitchy. I'd definitely reccomend a USB plugin mouse for this. I've only gotten the bluescreen once, and that was due to a software issue from one of the programs I've installed on here not being configured properly. So if you want a cheap and fast computer, I'd reccomend this over the MacBook Pro any day.

After careful research, on October 24, 2012, I bought online from Toshiba Direct a Toshiba Satellite L850 customized laptop for roughly $844 with taxes. I received it 2 weeks later but was out of town on work, so when the package was officially opened, it was after the 15 day "full refund" time period. What irony?! Well, I opened it, it worked fine the first time and the next morning, when turning on again, I got the "blue screen" treatment that so many other unhappy Toshiba buyers have experienced. I called Toshiba and got the scripted customer service replies for the next few days with no resolve. To be clear, I said I want to return it each time because I knew from former reviews that this was not going to just go away. No one helped at Toshiba's customer or tech service phone support and when I asked to speak with a supervisor, I was told they would have to call me back within 2 business days. Seriously? Well, that also didn't happen. So, I've now had the Toshiba laptop opened and out of the box for officially 3 weeks at this point, can't return it for a full refund, can't get sales or tech support to solve the problem, and can't get upper level supervisors to speak to me. Any wonder how I feel about spending $844 on this piece of garbage? It get's better too. Toshiba now wants to charge me shipping costs to send the laptop to their repair facility and perhaps within 2 more weeks, they'll tell me all of this is NOT under warranty and for a mere $200 more, they can fix it. Well, I decided I wasn't going to give them the option to fail me yet again. I took the laptop to a STORE (Best Buy) and spoke face to face with a PERSON (in their Geek Squad) and they ran a diagnostic in 1 day and yes, $200 later, fixed the blue screen problem and removed the spyware and adware that was also on the system too. One more thing; this is the first review I've ever written. Spending the five minutes of time to write this review will be worthwhile only if other online buyers don't also get fooled into wasting their time or money buying a Toshiba.

Buy Toshiba Satellite L855-S5244 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mercury Silver) Now

I bought this as a desktop-replacement for my wife for $460 Nov 2012. Not sure why the price is higher now. You can find a higher performing toshiba than this for $680.

PROS:

Quality and durable hardware.

Textured D-Pad

Moderate windows 7 performance

CONS:

Be prepared to uninstall 10+ preinstalled toshiba bloatware.

Hassled constantly to purchase an antivirus program when Microsoft Security Essentials provides it for free.

Basic no-frills laptop that's great after an hour of uninstalling programs.

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite L855-S5244 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mercury Silver) Here

I like it. Awesome for the price. Feels cheap but acceptable given the price. Looks very good though. If you are looking for the best laptop under 500, and don't want a huge laptop, this is the one to get

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This Toshiba laptop is a great value. I am very pleased with its performance and speed. I would purchase this product again.

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HP 2000-2a20nr 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

I love this laptop. I work in IT, no I'm not a 20 yr veteran but I know a good pc at a good price when I see it. A couple things I'll say about performance. Boot times seem fast to me, but I'll admit I'm used to my SLOW old laptop. 4g of ram is excellent, PLENTY for a web surfing email type user. So far it is sufficient for mid grade power users in my experience. I was able to run vmware (for those who dont know it's a software that allows you to run multiple operating systems simulatensously in different windows, for example Windows 7 and Windows XP). I have ran an XP virtual machine while working off my Windows 7 pc at the same time. It was very smooth transitioning, I was honestly surprised by this. (Note: I wasn't running demanding applications on the 2 systems.)

I'll admit the second day I bought this I got a shutdown error twice, but I hadn't shutdown incorrectly. This has not happened since, over a week and a half later. For the price it has a good sized monitor, battery life seems good to me but I plugin almost all the time, webcam and mic are nice for skyping. I've never owned a webcam and am very satisfied with the preinstalled software. I am not a hardware expert but I know the processor is decent. Considering my performance has been good I'd say the processor is doing it's job.

I don't do a lot of pc gaming, but I have tried some decent free to play games like Offensive Combat (a google search can find this) and the frame rates are good enough for me. I have not tried anything graphic intensive. I am also an avid musician. That said I have not had time to install Pro Tools or Ableton Live yet, but I will update later with my experience.

The ports are sufficient. I think maybe an extra usb port would be nice but 3 gives me what I need. HDMI port is also a plus. I bought this product from amazon (http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-HDMI-Adapter-Cable-Meters/dp/B001TH7T2U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346614854&sr=8-1&keywords=hdmi+to+dvi) and it works great to extend to my external monitor. I use an external hard drive so the 500gb is unnecessary for me, however it is a huge amount of space and would be great for others.

The only other thing I can think to mention for any rookies is that 64bit Windows 7 is the "newest" windows operating system other than Windows 8 which will be released soon. 64bit is "better" than 32 bit. Here's why from microsoft themselves. "The terms 32-bit and 64-bit refer to the way a computer's processor (also called a CPU), handles information. The 64-bit version of Windows handles large amounts of random access memory (RAM) more effectively than a 32-bit system." Click start, right click on Computer, select properties: to see what operating system you currently are using.

Have a great day everyone, remember: "Everyday you have some trouble, when you worry you make it double."

** UPDATE: I added a video of me playing bass to give an idea of what this mic/webcam can capture. You can also see an intro fade and maybe 1 or 2 transitions between clips. This is the software I was talking about that comes for the webcam. PLEASE NOTE I AM USING COMPUTER SPEAKERS AND AN EXTERNAL AUDIO INTERFACE TO PLAY THE BASS THROUGH THE COMPUTER. YOU ARE NOT HEARING THE SOUND OF THIS PC'S SPEAKERS.

First of all, I'm no computer genius. I wanted a laptop that could run Reason which is a music program for producing drums and much more. I was told by two employees from different stores that this laptop would not be able to run it. This is bullshit. Works just fine. And for everyone else looking for a decent computer for cheap, buy it. Is it the fastest laptop? No but it's fast enough. I've had no issues with the internet. I've watched videos and downloaded music with no problems. Any customer service rep out there will tell you that you need the "holy shit" computer to do anything. I promise you that this isn't true. Hope this helps!

Buy HP 2000-2a20nr 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

This laptop is Amazing! It runs very fast, the speaker sound is crisp and clear. I plugged in my external speakers and the sounds great for playing music and videos! Easy to use laptop. Enjoy!

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This is a great and affordable laptop. The screen has great resolution. I have no complaints. I highly recommend it.

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So far item meets all expectations. Mainly purchased the computer for online classes and light internet browsing but it has a quick boot up and doesn't seem to lag much when opening various applications.

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Asus K52F-BBR5 Laptop PC

i have had this laptop for sometime now and after messing around with it for a couple of days i fell in love i had an hp pavilion and that had alot of things that didnt work, so fr everything is working smoothly, the touch pad is pretty big and has some basic multi touch features and works pretty good even though im not the biggiest fan of them, the keypad is amazing! very comfortable and theres a set aside number pad!! 15.6 is big enough for me to edit videos on and the quad processor keeps it running i did upgrade it to 8gb of ram which u dont really need to do unless u plan on using A LOT of programs at once i left with the original 3gb for awhile it ran fast enough until i put final cut and premiere pro on here.over all its great deal i got mine under 400 at another store but i would still pay 500 for this laptop know what i know.

This laptop has been great for me so far. Picture and sound quality are good and has a pretty fast processor. I have downloaded most of the Adobe cs6 suite and the programs run smoothly. The only thing, the webcam on the computer was flipped when trying to use skype. I tried looking up how to fix it online but I wasn't able to. Overall great computer for a fantastic price.

Buy Asus K52F-BBR5 Laptop PC Now

I bought this unit for a friend of mine as a gift. I have heard that Asus brand is good and is built to last. This unit (Asus K52T-BBR5) failed right out of the box. I could not make it to stay on and log in. It would shut down and reboot itself, unless I switch to safe mode.

I contacted Amazon to return the item. Amazon referred me directly to the seller. The seller was take4less. I did not have a good experience communicating with the seller. Initially he agreed to take it back for a full refund plus the cost of return shipping. He never sent me the return label as he promised. It would take several days before he would respond by email. After he got the unit back, he claimed that the unit is working fine!

Not what I expected to experience on Amazon. As of today 5/7/12, I have not received my refund yet. My overall experience has been very poor. I will not purchase any electronic products from Amazon.

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ViewSonic VNB132 13.3" Notebook Intel ULV Celeron SU2300 1.2GHz; 2GB RAM; 320GB HD; HDMI; 1.3MP Cam

I bought one of these for my daughter who needed a laptop that was very portable, but had a bigger screen than notebooks have. It proved to have a solid build quality, and setup was very easy. The keyboard is good, and the screen very crisp. Intel chipset is stated to be a GS40 but CPU-Z reports it is actually the better GS45 chip. Only found a few negatives to report on an otherwise nice unit.

Cons:

Internal Video camera has poor frame rate. Viewsonic does not provide a custom driver for the camera, so it uses a Windows 7 downloaded driver dated 2006. Switched to a entry level Logitech USB2 webcam, and that worked perfectly.

No latch to keep unit closed, but this is minor as the hinge is very firm and it takes a lot of pressure to open and close the laptop.

Noticed a slight lag on startup on some applications with the stock memory configuration of 2 Gigs. Probably due to the memory sharing of video card. Adding another 2 gigs of DDR3-8500 memory made this unit noticeably faster.

Depending on the actual price paid, this unit can be a great alternative to the heavy 15" screen choices typically found for under $500.00

I needed a laptop that was portable and was initially drawn to the netbooks. But their screens and keyboards seemed too small to be useful. The Viewsonic VNB 132 fills the bill very nicely -its full-size keyboard is comfortable to use; it has a good display and so far seems to work very nicely. It comes with Windows 7 Home Premium instead of the starter edition. Pleased with the purchase.

Buy ViewSonic VNB132 13.3" Notebook Intel ULV Celeron SU2300 1.2GHz; 2GB RAM; 320GB HD; HDMI; 1.3MP Cam Now

This little computer is a great combination of netbook and notebook features! It's incredibly light and portable, but the dual core processor also means it runs surprisingly well! I rarely run cd's or dvd's on a laptop, so I don't miss it at all. I have an external dvd burner, so I can make a backup and restore disk -something I consider a necessity. It comes with minimal programs installed, which I like. Mine came with a trial version of Office 2007, which I uninstalled and never touched. It also came with MicroTrend Internet Security, which actually happens to be what my husband already runs with a subscription, so that's great. It has face recognition security option, which I don't like but think it's nifty. Also, be aware that the power cord uses a 3 prong grounded type, so if you only have 2 prong outlets you'll need an adapter.

I ordered this computer with a much lower processor than I originally wanted, intending to sacrifice power for light-weight and portable. I am delighted that I feel like I didn't sacrifice a thing! I may actually sell my other laptop as I am very happy with this one. Although I will upgrade the RAM if I sell my other laptop, for the moment I don't feel the need to.

I can stream Hulu and Netflix without any issues, so I'm very happy.

I also don't have any issues with the trackpad that I've seen others mention. Although be aware that the trackpad is level with the laptop instead of in a slightly lowered area like others.

Read Best Reviews of ViewSonic VNB132 13.3" Notebook Intel ULV Celeron SU2300 1.2GHz; 2GB RAM; 320GB HD; HDMI; 1.3MP Cam Here

Bought this for college. Pros are only that it's lightweight and aesthetically pleasing.

Cons are through the roof. Though it worked okay for the first 6 months, then this POS took a face first dive. Excruciating load times, freezes constantly, unusable webcam, overheats, struggles in every aspect of computer performance. Lately I can't even have this run for more than 5 minutes until I have to do a hard shutdown after windows crashes.

I'm a tech savy guy, and I know what to put on my computer. This thing can't handle jack. I run no programs other than antivirus and it's become a struggling media holder for me.

Don't buy this.

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Great computer for anyone that is wanting a small, thin, light, portable laptop. Screen size has a great resolution everything looks good. typing on this laptop is also very easy. would recommend to anyone needing a smaller lighter laptop

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Lenovo G570 4334EGU, 15.6" Intel Pentium Dual Core B950 2.1GHz (2MB Cache), 4GB Memory, 320GB HDD D

What a bargain -almost impossible to believe. MSRP on Google sites showed costs anywhere from $379, all the way up to nearly $600. I paid $309, with free shipping and no tax (thank you, Amazon!!). I bought this laptop to replace my Toshiba, which was heading toward an imminent hard-drive crash. I have owned numerous laptops and PCs, but this is my first Lenovo. I knew it was essentially a new generation of IBM products, so I faith that I would like it. It arrived promptly to my P. O. Box here in Hawaii (the vendor, Lei Gu, was amazingly fast, and deserves a hearty recognition), and was easy to use, right out of the box. There are many things I love about this computer, but perhaps one of my favorites is the keyboard: the letters/numbers pads are slightly raised (far more than on most laptops I have used), and, since I have long fingers, this particular component makes it far easier for me to type, and to preclude hitting incorrect keys. At $309, it was simply a steal; in my opinion, probably worth nearly twice that cost. This is unquestionably the best laptop I have ever owned, and I am an instantaneous fan of Lenovo. Amazon rocks (as always).

Lenovo G570 4334EGU, 15.6" Intel Pentium Dual Core B950 2.1GHz (2MB Cache), 4GB Memory, 320GB HDD DVD RW

EDIT on 2012-11-26 :

This vendor has increased the price to 382 bucks. It's still one of the best deals out there at this time.

I bought 2 of these for my twins. One works perfectly. The other has a bad wifi adapter. I know this because I was able to swap to the adapter from the other "known good" laptop. In trying to fix the 2nd laptop the hard drive failed, so I sent the laptop back to Amazon.

#### Note that AMAZON'S 30-DAY RETURNS DO NOT OFFER A REPLACEMENT UNIT.

I can't replace it at anywhere near its original cost.

Since this vendor has increased this laptop's price by 50 bucks in a single day, I bought a Lenovo B560 model (from another vendor) with a faster processor for the same higher cost, 380 bucks. It looks nearly identical since it's just a different model. The Lenovo 43302AU B560 has an Intel i3-380M processor instead of a B970 processor in this Lenovo G570 4334EGU. The Lenovo 43302AU B560 has flatter keys which I don't like quite as much, but its keyboard works fine.

Guess what ? THE Lenovo model B560 43302AU laptop ALSO HAS THE IDENTICAL BROKEN WIFI ADAPTER !

I contacted Lenovo directly and they will send me a free-shipping-back-to-Lenovo box to replace the wifi adapter. I refused to give them an 80 dollar loan just to be able to have them send me a new adapter so I wouldn't have to send the bad adapter back to them first. Remember that it's their problem to begin with, so I won't pay anything to get it fixed under warranty.

Note: I ordered an Intel WIFI adapter anyway (Intel 6200 IEEE 802.11n (draft) Wi-Fi Adapter Mini PCI Express 300Mbps) from 3Bay for a whole 13 bucks and it arrived 5 days later. I substituted it and this newer Lenovo B560 now has working WIFI. I did this because I've read several reviews very critical of Lenovo's Customer Support. It looks like they were right.

??? Just how long does it take Lenovo to ship to me an empty shipping box so I can send back the broken-from-the-factory WIFI adapter ??? Both "mini PCI-E" adapter cards are about 1 inch by 1.25 inches by 3/16 inches incredibly tiny !

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pros:

-) The incredibly low 335 buck cost [Edit: Not any more ! It's now 382 buck as of 2012-11-26 ]. The price keeps bouncing randomly anywhere between $350 and $380, most times at the higher end.

-) Only a few crapware programs for a low cost laptop : The "Lenovo" games written by some other company, the MS Office trial that you pay big bucks later on to keep using it and the ooVoo (?), a Skype look-alike, but you pay for it. And finally, the biggest piece-of-garbage antivirus: Norton. (Use Microsoft Security Essentials. It's free and is much better all around. Google it It's available directly from Microsoft. Did I mention Security Essentials is free ?)

-) Great looking screen, though it has a very glossy finish. The screen has a very narrow vertical viewing angle range, but it;s entirely acceptable.

-) A trackpad with no glitches and a keyboard that works well. I really like the raised keys.

-) Didn't have to pay extra $ for a larger hard drive whose extra storage will never be used.

-) 4 (four !) USB ports, one of which doubles as an eSATA port. The Lenovo B560 model has 4 USB ports, too. Must be a Lenovo thing because most other cheaper laptops have only 2 or 3, never 4.

-) Good overall stiffness of the case and solid hinges with just enough friction to keep it fixed at the same screen viewing angle when the laptop is moved around.

-) Two RAM slots, not just one. Only one was occupied by a 4GB DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM module rather than two slots with 2GB modules. System max RAM is 8GB. Another 4GB module costs only 18 bucks at NevvEgg.

Cons:

-) The One-Touch restore disc creation program has an annoying bug that requires you to repeatedly press the Start button 40 times to actually start burning the initial disc. No kidding ! This happened on both the 2 different Lenovo laptop models. They have the same faulty backup utility.

-) A replacement battery costs around 65 bucks, which seems to be twice the amount I expect for a typical 6-cell unit. Maybe the usual 3rd-party battery vendors haven't come online. But, maybe they never will.

Observations:

Even though the Intel B970 processor is supposed to have only about 80% of the processing power of the third generation Intel i3 2.1GHz processor, it actually seems faster than my Toshiba with the Intel i3. Maybe this B970 processor is better matched to the video graphics.

I think this wifi adapter problem has been a marketing disaster for the Lenovo 'G' and 'B' series of laptops, so they are being sold off cheaply. BE PREPARED TO REPLACE THE WIFI ADAPTER ON YOUR OWN (with a compatible Intel model). I bought a brand new Intel 6250 622ANXHMW adapter on e3ay. It's very easy to install this when you have a small Phillips screwdriver. This is far less hassle than returning the entire laptop, especially when Amazon won't replace it. Lenovo will replace it under warranty, but you'll probably end up with another bad wifi adapter and you'll be out of a laptop for 6 to 10 weeks.

This is a great laptop once the wifi adapter is working.

It seems ideal for the 95% of all the laptop users who do only email, web browsing, word processing and light gaming. The G570 4334EGU is definitely *not* a toy and runs Windows 7, not the new "eye candy" Windows 8 version designed for all the idiot kiddies.

NevvEgg is selling this model laptop for 100 bucks more than this vendor. Be careful comparing Lenovo models. There are multiple G570 models and B560 models which differ mostly by the processor which determines the overall speed.

Here's Lenovo's own "whitelist" of compatible wifi adapters: Intel 625DNX, Intel625DGx, Intel 515DAG-WX, Intel 6200N, Intel 1000N, Gtc BCM4313, Qualcomm AR9285 HB95 BGN, Liteon AR9285 HB95 BGN. Personally, I would only use an Intel adapter. The laptop came with the Qualcomm Wi-Fi adapter which I later found out is notorious for its incredibly high failure rate. What was Lenovo thinking ??? They are *supposed* to know better.

.

Buy Lenovo G570 4334EGU, 15.6" Intel Pentium Dual Core B950 2.1GHz (2MB Cache), 4GB Memory, 320GB HDD D Now

I like te laptop, just thought it came with numbers key board but not!! but is an excellent computer!! great

Read Best Reviews of Lenovo G570 4334EGU, 15.6" Intel Pentium Dual Core B950 2.1GHz (2MB Cache), 4GB Memory, 320GB HDD D Here

For the money this is a basic budget laptop, but it does everything you'd need a basic laptop to do, It's quick and light. It also has a numbers pad, which is rare on a laptop but very very useful if you work with numbers a lot.

Time will tell how this holds up as it hasn't been in use for more than 2 months, but at this point very impressed with it.

Want Lenovo G570 4334EGU, 15.6" Intel Pentium Dual Core B950 2.1GHz (2MB Cache), 4GB Memory, 320GB HDD D Discount?

Stopped Charging After 1 week.

Called Lenovo Tech Support on a Saturday, Sorry our system is updating, we will call you back in 24-48 hours.

Not Confidence Inspiring.

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Acer Aspire V5-571-6605 LED Notebook (6GB Ram, 500Gb hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium 64, HDMI, W

I love this computer.. it's light and fast and I love how the keyboard is set up.. very sleek.. it's perfect for what I need it for!

I have nothing but praise for the Laptop; great price, fantastic screen, fast and nowhere near as much heat given off as with my HP relic.

I just wish I didn't have to use Windows. As soon as it's out of warranty, I'll probably load Linux.

Buy Acer Aspire V5-571-6605 LED Notebook (6GB Ram, 500Gb hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium 64, HDMI, W Now

Slim, sleek, lightweight and fast. Great screen. Keyboard is good, and the overall fit and finish is good silver body better than my dark blue laptop, which is a fingerprint magnet. W7 working well. I actually bought this for my wife she loves it. I may get one for me.

Larry H50

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This is the first computer/laptop that was not an H. P. I was out of my comfort zone when I purchased this one. For a short while I had a Samsung Series 3. I like the Acer laptop better than the Samsung laptop. The other thing was the Acers Windows 7 is more user friendly than Samsung Windows 8. This Acer laptop speaker has a really poor sound quality compared to the other computers. This is the only complaint I have. Good Luck.

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this is my second acer laptop and it's doing me well. getting this much RAM for the price made it worth the purchase. the screen is large and overall quite light. and it didn't come with windows 8, so that was a plus

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Sony Open Box VAIO(R) SVS15125CXB 15.5" Notebook PC - Black

Great notebook overall. The specs on the amazon page aren't really clear but do check them out.

The hd display is great, at first everything seems small but you get used to it and its neat. The backlit keyboard as well is good sized and comfortable as well as the touchpad.

There's a lot of sony software pre-installed, I'm not a fan of this but it happens and some of it I think isn't bad. The only huge CON i find is that you're stuck with windows 8. There's no support from sony (as to drivers) to change to w7 if you have it and IMHO windows 8 eats up some resources and is a pain in the butt. I lost a day trying to switch to w7 with no success because of the way the HD is configured. I guess its up to each one to get used to it.

Anyway performance is good, the fan is super quiet but if you start gaming it does rev up. However I'd say I've had no heating issues, no noise problems and I'm a happy overall with the notebook.

Pros: Great performance, backlit keyboard, HD display really!, usb3.0 ports, some sony software isn't bad. Very thin, lightweight, quiet, smooth and aesthetic, metal-alloy cover.

Cons: VGA output (no kidding), windows 8, and the rest of the pre-installed software.

Other: Sound could be better, but its not bad at all. Haven't really tested battery life sorry about that.

So I think its very well equiped, gaming capable (possible nvidia gt 640m overclocking i read) notebook. (but i really dont like windows 8)

UPDATE:

Getting used to windows8 now, battery life is pretty decent 4+hrs the Stamina/speed button can be useful so can the other sony quick access keys.

Really great product well specified and in perfect state: new.

I recommend it to everyone who wants a fast computer.

Buy Sony Open Box VAIO(R) SVS15125CXB 15.5" Notebook PC - Black Now

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ASUS UL50Vt-A1 Thin and Light 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - 11.5 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home P

I watch the tech market fairly closely. My wife has the 13" Macbook (newer LED aluminium one) and really I love it...the "two finger scrolling" is wonderful, but I need a PC for work.

So, here's what I wanted in a new laptop (not in specific order):

1. 2 finger scrolling or at least dedicated scrolling areas (yes, 1 finger dedicated areas on laptops are nice, but still not quite as nice as 2 finger...plus, w/ the multi-touch pads, you get "right-click" w/ 2 fingers)

2. LONG battery life. And no, I don't mean "3 hours" long...I want 10 hours! (remember, each year a laptop battery will lose 1/3 of its performance, so a new 3 hour battery will only last 2 hours after a year!)

3. Performance

4. LED screen (goes w/ battery life), 15".

5. Quality/Build/Warranty

As odd as it seems, there aren't a "lot" of LED screens out there yet, I was looking at a Lenovo, but only the T400s seemed like what I was looking for, and at the cost and only 14", wasn't a good fit. Dell's have gone LED's on most all models, but not great review's on build quality depending on the model series...plus, compare the price of a similarly equipped Dell to this UL50VT...you'll be spending almost 2x as much.

This UL50VT is a PRO for:

1. Switchable graphics (switch from onboard graphics for long batter life...or when plugged in, switch to the 512mb Nvidia card for performance). Really, the best of BOTH worlds. Want awesome performance when sitting at a desk...but also want long battery life when on the go? Who else can provide this? The dedicated Nvidia obviously helps system performance, allowing graphics to run on the video card, freeing up system RAM etc for other things...or switch to battery mode/onboard graphics and live long & prosper.

2. 8-cell battery quotes 10-12 hours of battery life. I have only had this for 1 week, and still tinkering around with the settings, so haven't confirmed this, but 5-6 hours I've had easy, which is definitely more than you'll get with any other laptop regardless. The "ultra low volt" Intel processor draws less than 10 volts of juice. Its a 1.3ghz Core 2 Duo, but Asus overclocks it by DEFAULT and it arrives to you out of the box running at 1.7ghz. This is key...when you are looking at laptops, you have to remember that the "quad-core" and P9600 Core 2's are high-voltage drains...so you really have to decide "what do I want this laptop for?" If you are very rarely going to be without a power plug, then sure, get some other Asus model with a faster processor & full-time dedicated graphics. For me though, I like to grab the laptop and sit on the couch & not have to move the power cord over to the couch as well...plus I travel quite a bit for business...seriously, after a year or two any standard laptop with 2-3 hours of battery life "new" will only be good for an hour or so before turning off. With this Asus, with the extended 8 cell battery stock, the "ultra low"-volt 1.3ghz overclocked to 1.7ghz, plus the onboard video, you can actually grab this notebook and run to the coffee shop or couch for HOURS without having to worry about the power cord...and isn't that really what a laptop is for? Google "Asus Ul50VT" for other reviews on the processor etc, there are more informative articles if you want more details. The Macbook uses the UL voltage Intel processors as well, albeit a slightly faster one (1.9ghz?). Low volt processor, LED screen are two key ingredients to battery life. If you want a P9600 or quad-core or 3.2ghz processor, don't travel too far w/o your cord:) the 1.7ghz is much faster than my old Toshiba, plus w/ Windows 7 it really is awesome and more than capable of handling the vast majority of any consumer's needs.

3. LED screen looks great...I am apparently not that savvy of a screen consumer as others, so I can't complain about the screen, looks much better than my old LCD Toshiba screen, not that different than the Mac.

4. Windows 7 is AWESOME!!!!! I've long been an apologist for Windows, especially having used the Macbook for awhile, but need not apologize any longer! W7 64bit w/ the 1.7ghz and 4gb DDR3 is simply amazing, by FAR the best Windows product I've ever used...and as other reviews will confirm, this OS is nearly on par w/ Mac. I can LITERALLY go TO sleep, and back FROM sleep to an ACTIVE Outlook or Firefox, in LESS than 5 seconds with this Asus. Remember in the past, you might have wanted to look up something on the computer, but would opt not to, b/c it would take 3-5 minutes for your system to load into a use-able state? Not anymore, W7 is efficient & fast, if you switch the power settings to "sleep" instead of hibernate, it literally turns on & is ready to use in mere seconds, same as Mac's. (plus, drag a window to the left of the screen, it auto-sizes it to the left-half of the screen, drag another window to the right edge of the screen, voila! W7 auto-resizes both windows to share the screen 50/50.)

5. Build & quality: Ask tech's at your local retailer or online retailer, which brand they see back the least for repairs, and you'll hear "Asus" more often than not. Unlike other brands that farm out all the hardware to companies around the world, Asus makes most of the components themselves. Who invented the Netbook? Asus. What brand of motherboard is in many laptops? Asus. Many techies swear by Asus, regardless of the poor review NBR gave the UL80VT.

6. Warranty. Asus is the *ONLY* brand to offer the following standard warranty: 2 year global parts/labor & shipping, PLUS 1 year accidental warranty. Go through the checkout process on any other brand online, and you'll add on $100-200 to your laptop cost to have a similar warranty. Figure that for $800 you are getting 1 year accidental and 2 years parts/labor/shipping, plus Asus' reputation for build, and its close to a no-brainer.

CONS for the UL50VT:

1. NOTE! The UL50VT and the UL50AG ARE NOT THE SAME! This is probably my main pet peeve with the "VT"...when I tried out a UL50AG at Best Buy for $675, I was in love with it! Why? B/c the surface around the keyboard/touch pad is a matte rubber...no finger prints! So I ordered the "VT" for $100 ore and am disappointed...Asus, along w/ Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc figures that 99% of all laptop users must be in high school. I mean, high-school kids like shiny things right? Who doesn't like neat shiny surfaces!? Well Asus (& HP & Toshiba) here's an unknown fact for you...most people that actually "use" a laptop instead of polishing it & placing it on a mantle as a room decoration, *HATE* glossy/shiny surfaces...If the UL50VT came w/ the same matte rubber deck as the "AG" this would be a 5 star notebook, but it is a serious flaw IMO.

2. The mouse left/right buttons are a sure bet to develop repetitive stress injury (RSI). Unlike most right/left buttons, which have two different buttons/pads...this has "one" long button, that has a pivot point in the middle of the button. As such, the button is near impossible to use without pressing on the far edge of either side of the button, and your fingers/thumb will certainly get tired copy & pasting, dragging & scrolling as it requires considerable force to hold the button down.

3. 2 plastic stickers over the screw on the bottom of the screen panel look like they'll come off soon. The DVD tray seems to vibrate against the chassis when in use (loud noise)...I use a CD/DVD like 3 times a year, so this isn't an issue for me, and I'm not sure if this is an issue for all units or just mine.

Solutions:

1. If you can find a skin to put around the keyboard/touchpad, that'll fix the finger-print issue. has one, but they won't sell you the skin unless you buy the Asus from them:( Skinit.com really only sells the "A" surface skin (the back lid)...I might have to buy a generic skin and try & cut it out to fit around the keys/pad, or carry around a lens cleaning cloth!

2. Luckily, the Asus comes with the Elan mouse driver...which supports the multi-touch/multi-touchpad. Asus really just needs to realize PC's are trying to catch up with Macbook's here and not try to re-invent the wheel. The default settings it comes with must be changed for best results. Change the "right-click" to be actioned by "two-finger" tap, instead of three-finger tap by default. Now, you can scroll up & down (& left/right) with two fingers anywhere on the touchpad (not just the right edge as w/ one-finger scrolling). You can left click with one finger tap. You can now right-click with two-finger tap...just like the Macbook glass touchpad. You double tap with one finger then scroll left/right to highlight text, then tap the highlighted selection w/ two fingers to bring up the right-click menu (copy/paste/etc). Once you get used to using the touchpad like a Mac, w/o the left/right button, you'll forget how bad the right/left buttons are (plus its more efficient in the long-run to just use the touchpad I think...two finger scrolling will make you wonder why you wasted years and caused carpel-tunnel on a PC...too bad they wasted space w/ the RSI causing buttons instead of a bigger touchpad).

Summary: If only the UL50VT came in the same material the UL50AG came in and with a right/left mouse button that didn't cause RSI (repetitive stress syndrome), it would be 5 out of 5 stars; a true Macbook killer for 1/2 the cost!!! Long battery life, LED screen, Full size-keyboard (Number Pad), Chicklet keys to keep out dust, ultra-low voltage processor, reliable quality, awesome standard warranty, switchable graphics and DDR3 memory on a 64bit W7 OS. For $823 you can get the UL50VT, or for $100 less (don't forget taxes if buying locally), you can get the UL50AG. Honestly, if you are on a budget, I think the "AG" is a steal of a deal and saves you the glossy/fingerprints. For $100 more w/ the VT, I'll take the upgrade to DDR3 instead of DDR2 memory with the AG, plus switchable graphics (read: increased performance while plugged in). For $800 I'm not worried about extended warranties, although if I were paying $1500 with a Dell or Macbook I would be forced to buy one. In terms of performance/cost/features/value/battery life, the "VT" is almost a true home run. With the glossy cover, and poor right/left buttons, I'll still give it a standing "triple" base hit instead of home-run; for the cost its tough to go wrong with this Asus:) You could certainly spend a lot more and get a lot less.

This is my first computer since my Apple Powerbook G4. I decided to shop around for a new PC because a new Mac simply doesn't exist for the amount of money that I was looking to spend.

I shopped around for a few weeks and once I finally came across this model, I jumped on it.

The laptop arrived in two days thanks to Amazon. After all of the bad press about Vista I was hesitant about coming back to the PC world. Now after using Windows 7 for a week, I am hesitant to ever go back to a Mac.

I was immediately impressed with the look of the brushed aluminum lid and the chiclet style keyboard. The numeric pad is also nice and overall the laptop has a very sleek, impressive look. However, coming from a zero gloss aluminum Powerbook, it took me a while to adjust to the high gloss of the UL50VT. The screen, the plastic surrounding the screen, and everywhere else besides the aluminum lid and underside are all glossy black plastic. The track pad is directly on this glossy plastic which takes a little getting used to. Also the mouse buttons are a little stiff and I wish they were two separate buttons instead of just one. These small gripes almost turned me against my new laptop, but after a week I am used to the look and feel of the laptop and more importantly, I am very happy with its performance.

With an Intel rated 5 star Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of DDR3 RAM, I have no complaints about performance. I use my laptop for movies, music, web browsing, and college. I don't often play games but it is nice to know it's a definite possibility.

The UL50VT boots up fast and lasts for a long time. With brightness maxed out while doing web surfing and homework, I am averaging about 6-8 hours. This is more than enough already and if I lower the performance and brightness the battery lasts for around 10.

The screen is widescreen and bright. I do wish the resolution was higher than 1366 x 768. For a 15 inch laptop I found that to be a little low, but it is not a show stopper.

Overall the Asus UL50VT is a sleek, well performing portable laptop. This laptop is well worth the price and so far has easily handled everything that I have thrown at it. If you don't mind the glossy appearance and can get past the less than great track pad and mouse buttons, the Asus UL50VT is a very solid purchase.

Buy ASUS UL50Vt-A1 Thin and Light 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - 11.5 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home P Now

This computer replaced a six-year old Toshiba Satellite laptop that served flawlessly, but is clearly in its final, noisy days.

While it's far too soon to know if this Asus product can match that length of service, their motherboards enjoy a good reputation among the build-it-yourself crowd and their netbooks have been well received. After exercising this computer for a short time, I'm very impressed.

This laptop is very strong in four areas that helped me narrow my selection from a dizzying array of laptop choices in its price range:

(1) display size and quality (15.6 inches, crisp and bright, separate video processor with 512 MB of its own memory)

(2) system memory (4 GB DDR3)

(3) battery life (Asus advertises 12 hours; more on how they get to this below); even without the tweaks that get you to the high end, it offers great battery performance.

(4) length and scope of warranty coverage.

About the battery life which other reviewers have criticized as not meeting the marketing hyperbole (Amazon indicated 11+ hours and a sticker in the packaging claims 12+ hours)....

Asus has a power control scheme offering the option to select from two video adapters: a discrete NVIDIA Gforce G210M video processor or the integrated Intel display adapter. Users then have to decide whether they want enhanced video or extended battery life. A small power button above the keyboard lets you make this selection. You can also select an auto mode, which makes the choice for you based on whether using AC power or the battery is being used.

Asus also includes a power management utility offering four power setting scenarios (high performance, entertainment, quiet office or battery saving). Each of these can be further customized (display blanking, screen savers, sleep mode, etc.) as you determine your balance of performance vs. battery life.

So: can you really get 11 or 12 hours of battery time? Maybe.

IF you select the battery saving mode, and IF you accept the diminished video performance, and IF you give up power-hungry goodies (like with Windows sidebar) and if you avoid power-intensive tasks (like CD burning or video rendering)...you might get there. I always figure the marketing figures are make some best-case assumptions...

What I have done it used this machine for six untethered hours while enjoying the enhanced video and writing to multiple DVDs. As an upgrade to an old machine that could barely get to 90 minutes away from an AC outlet: six hours battery time for full-featured operation is excellent.

Their support seems better than many other manufacturers. I registered with the Asus support site, and posted a question about operating the webcam. Within five hours, I had an email response. Very impressive. Although I haven't tried it --or had a need to-they also have a 24/7 toll free number.

Asus offers the following mix of warranties on this computer in the US and Canada:

-30 days for "bright dot" (hot pixels...they don't say anything about about dead ones!) on the display. ANY singe pixel qualifies for this.

-1 year on the the battery

-2 years on the computer

-1 year accidental damage coverage (which they immediately extend to 2 years when you register online)

-two way shipping for any repair/RMA situations.

For the money, this is a superb laptop choice and Asus appears ready to stand behind it.

Why not five stars?

Small issues with the overall package.

Each is minor, a and couple are a matter of personal preference rather than an actual flaw. However, they probably reflect how Asus achieved this combination of price point and computer performance. While they don't detract from the overall value of this machine, they collectively stand between four and five stars. If there were a 4.5 star option, this computer would be there.

Gripes:

(1) No recovery media is included. An automated utility prompts you to run it at setup (or you can do so anytime you'd like to afterward). You will need four DVDs to do this; if you use DVD-RW media, this will take well over an hour). Just like with user manuals in soft copy: this is something that should not be pushed to the consumer, and should have been in the box. Even though the utility interface indicates success (or not), I'm left with less confidence in my self-made recovery media than I would have with media that shipped from the factory.

(2) No speaker volume control wheel. Volume is controlled either with via the task bar (using a mouse or touchpad) or FN keys.

(3) No physical switch to turn the wireless adapter on/off. This is done either through a FN key or a task bar icon (and you may not remember the latter, because it can be hidden under Windows 7 options!).

(4) The webcam software was not easy to identify. This was mostly because of a silly, cartoonish user interface that also makes it hard to use. They could have done better by talking to at least one user.

(5) Others have written about the super glossy wrist-rest area. It's an an absolute fingerprint magnet and skin oil pallate. A matte or brushed finish, similar to this machine's outside cover could have eliminated this. I'm considering fine-grain sandpaper to roughen this area up!

(6) I prefer a power adapter that plugs in at the rear of a laptop. This one plugs in on the left side, which can be in issue depending on the AC outlet location.

(7) One of the three USB ports is at the front right of the machine. If you use this for a mouse (as many right-handers might), you'll have mouse cordage right where you might prefer to place the actual mouse.

None of those are serious enough to diminish a "buy with confidence" bottom line for this computer. It's light, powerful, power-stingy and full-featured.

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So, maybe you don't get 12 hours? But at least that's a ballpark figure being thrown around... Especially when you consider the smart power management Asus has thrown in this peppy, thin, cool to the multi-touch, 4GB DDR3, 16:9 LED, laptop. The intel core 2 duo + nvidia G210M is a potent combonation.

The system claims EXPRESS GATE boots in 8 secs, and it really is 20 secs to a Hulu video. Windows 7 Premium took my picture instead of a password after an impressive 1:05 and was streaming video in another 12. I easily overclocked the 1.3Ghz duo by 5% using the super customizable Asus bios. I want to tweak the embedded linux, or maybe just run ubuntu on that 500GB hard drive (it came pre-partitioned with two 250GB partitions).

There are two POWER buttons. One controls windows power options; stepping down the processor. It has 4 power modes, that could frankly use some tuning. Too bad I can do a better job customising, but Windows 7 isn't saving my desktop prefrences right now.

Turning off the discrete grapics also turns off Aero. Then this HUGE 15" becomes a netbook, seemingly gaining unplugged longevity by closing the lid. Standby resumes in an impressive sub 5 secs. Maybe I'm the only one who remembers when computers were slow. I haven't had this computer plugged in all day! The touch pad seems a bit off at first, but then you realize that it has to be offset to the left to keep your palms out of the way. This allows for a full keypad to the right and a plethora of FN keys. And did I mention the multi touch trackpad? It does three fingers. Now I'm considering the 2 yr warranty and 1 year accidental damage that is included?!

Best machine for the OPTIONS!

[EDIT]

I have loaded Ubuntu 9 (thus triple booting the laptop). You can enable all CompizFusion desktop effects, including the desktop cube with no jitter (very smooth animations)! Very fast, very impressive. Also, unexpectedly, Ubuntu picked up on the multi-touch trackpad. I haven't played around with it too much to figure out how to change the two finger tap to be right click (it is set to do some desktop effect right now), but knowing it is possible is awesome.

Also, I only plug in this laptop at night, while I am sleeping. I have been using it all day at work (I am an IT systems administrator) and even watched a couple full length movies while working and still never had to plug it in. WOW! Asus has it loaded up with the "Power4Gear Hybrid" program that lets you set your power options (High Performance, Entertainment, Quiet Office, & Battery Saving). The built in defaults are fine for most people, but again the options are what sets this baby apart. You can define the Maximum and Minimum processor state, toggle Turbo mode, adjust display brightness, change sleep / hibernate options, enable disable devices (camera & ODD), and base it all on the plugged in state (thus giving you eight 8! power modes).

Want ASUS UL50Vt-A1 Thin and Light 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - 11.5 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home P Discount?

I have been playing around with this laptop for about a week now. I dont know what people are doing to their keyboards. I type very fast using this notebook and do not see the complaint about it flexing.

Now I am not new to computers or notebooks. I have believed the hype and bought an Alienware a few years back. It was probably beautiful on paper and reality it was something else.

This time around though. I was looking for two things. Portability and good graphics. I found this laptop with switchable or hybrid graphics. It is quite impressive to say the least. I enjoy the portability of it. First time I took it out of the house. I had to check the bag to make sure it was in it. It is that light. If you turn off the wireless radio when using it. You can get over 10 hours of battery life and with the wireless radio on. You average about 7-8.

The heat situation in laptops is something else people talk about. I don't think this even generates heat. I have yet to feel any type of discomfort due to the heat issues. You can not say that about the previous laptop. I probably could have cooked an egg on the shell.

I really dont mind the glossy shiny coating. It stands out and says to people walking by "Hey Look at me!" If you want a dull leather wrappings that crack with age. Then go for it. But i prefer the gloss. It serves as a reminder to wipe the laptop down and keep it clean.

The speed is great. Windows 7 is great. Its very responsive and you can hit that power button and be literally working on your computer in less than 30 seconds. Its that fast.

On the warranty, You can apply for it online. You dont have to send that card in. You can register and go about your merry way.

On the graphics on it. I was running high settings in Dalaran on a heavily populated Warcraft server with zero lag. Not even a bit. That is something that i thought was impossible.

Being this is the first generation in a new direction in laptops. I look forward to seeing what ASUS can do with it. I know Nvidia is planning more for Hybrid Graphics and we as laptop users can finally get the best of both worlds. So in two years or more. I am going to look forward into seeing what asus has to offer. They earned a new customer and that loyalty is not misplaced.

So take the chance on this laptop. You will not reget it.

(Update)

Smooth Gameplay when playing Modern Warfare 2 and still no heat issues.

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Alienware M14X 14" Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor, 8 GB RAM, 750 GB Hard Drive, Win

Alienware seems to have gotten all the "little things" right with this laptop. The form factor is large enough to game or do "real work," yet it is small enough to be portable. The strange-looking beveled keyboard is actually very pleasant to type on fewer errant keystrokes and better speed. The trackpad has discrete buttons with nice tactile feedback. There is no annoying bloatware (trial AV, toolbars, etc) like you might find on an HP. I was worried that the styling would be garish and distracting/embarassing, but it really isn't that bad.

The components, are, of course, top notch. You could probably get them in other computers as well, though.

Overall, no complaints.

I purchased this laptop through Dell's website. I have a 6gb ram, 1.5gb graphics card configuration.

All in all, the laptop performs well. I did have an issue with Windows no longer being able to install drivers, which led to my graphics card no longer having a driver, which led to me having to respawn the system to factory settings to fix the problem after Dell's tech support was unable to correct the problem. However, all that is really due to problems with Windows rather than the laptop itself.

Pros:

Excellent performance, and the price isn't too steep for what you get.

The m14x is a nice looking laptop, and garners quite a few envious glares from people who see it.

The keyboard feels great, but bears a certain issue I will touch upon in the cons.

The touch pad is good, and has a lot of customization built into the Alienware control center software, from touch

sensitivity, to settings that help mitigate accidental palm grazes.

The keyboard back-light customization is a nice touch, though it can be so distracting I usually have most of the lights

off.

The screen is crisp and performs well.

Cons:

The screen has a very high gloss. I've gotten used to it a bit, but I can literally use it as a mirror in even low-

light conditions.

The keyboard, while it feels nice and responsive, squeaks a lot while typing. Yes, squeaks, like a bunch of little

rusty hinges. It isn't a deal breaker, but it is an oddity one doesn't usually see in keyboards.

It's a laptop, so it doesn't perform like a desktop gaming rig will. You'll find plenty of games that run at their

highest settings, but most newer games won't.

Since Alienware specialized in gaming PCs, I feel their laptops should come with a mouse. Mousepads aren't even

adequate for flash games.

All that being said, it is still an excellent laptop for those who want to be able to game, but need a laptop. The larger versions have some nice options on them, and prices to match, but the m14x nails the combination of balance and portability nicely.

Buy Alienware M14X 14" Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor, 8 GB RAM, 750 GB Hard Drive, Win Now

I really wanted to love this laptop, I really did. The AlienFX thing is pretty cool with the whole keyboard lights and the rest, the screen was great (1600x900). It was nice and fast, although, booting it up took about 4 minutes before you could actually do anything on it, and that's WAY too long for a brand new top of the line computer. The video card (GT555m) was great and games looked great and the frame rate even at high detail never really took a nosedive. The klipsch speaker set up in this thing was awesome too, had a tiny little woofer in it that brought some great sound with it.

All these things kept me wanting to like or, or even to use it, but the ONLY thing stopping me, was the fan. Any other review that you read, if someone says the fan isn't that bad, is lying or borderline deaf. I'm sorry. I've been building and repairing computers for at least 15 years now, and never have I heard any fan that gets THIS loud. I understand that things need to be kept cool, but things also need to be designed better to keep the airflow going. The fan noise was unbearable playing a game to the point you had to use headphones just to hear what you were doing, even just browsing webpages in chrome fired the fan up and got it spinning, albeit not as loud as when gaming.

I tried everything I could to get the fan down to a comfortable level. Updating the BIOS to the latest one (which dell wrote specifically for the fan complaints), flashing an unlocked BIOS from the guys over at bios-mods, changing fan heat thresholds, propping it up on a book, using a laptop cooler. I even went as far as ripping the ENTIRE laptop apart and re-applying the best thermal grease I could find. The old stuff that I cleaned off looked like colgate. That was actually the only thing that showed any significant improvement, it actually dropped the temperature down by about 5-7 degrees celsius at idle and 10-15 degrees celsius at load.

Bottom line, this laptop needs two fans, or a shorter heat pipe to the CPU/GPU. the heatpipe had to be at least 6 or 7 inches, and for this dinky little fan to keep up it has to spin like a 737 taking off.

So after my issues with the fan I decided to return it using my "30 day money back guarantee" which turns out to cost about $250... those idiots at dell sell you a laptop with an obvious design flaw, and then tell you "oh, yeah, just box it up, pay for shipping, then we'll just go ahead and charge you an additional 15% restocking fee"

I will NEVER recommend this laptop to anyone, and probably tell people to just stay away from dell completely. That re-stocking fee is just plain robbery.

Just sold this laptop on craigslist about an hour ago, so technically, Dell still has my money, how depressing.

Read Best Reviews of Alienware M14X 14" Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core i7-2630QM Processor, 8 GB RAM, 750 GB Hard Drive, Win Here

Like with anything you buy, you should do plenty of research about it BEFORE you buy so there are no surprises. People who leave poor reviews about this product obviously did not look into it very much. Yes the fan is noisy during gaming... many laptop fans are. But it really is not that bad. Also 90% of people who are gaming either have on their speakers or headphones. And let me tell you the speakers on this machine are absolutely amazing... crisp and very loud. The audio jacks are very good as well, both of which can very easily cover the fan noise while you are gaming. Other than that the fan is almost silent during normal day use. And I have yet to find the machine getting very hot while playing BF3, F.E.A.R 3, or other games for an extended period of time.

The build may seem bulky but it is very portable and if you adjust your power settings correctly, you can squeeze about 6 hours of battery life out of this machine in power saver mode. I use this when I go to class all day and my machine still performs very well despite being on reduced performance settings.

Gaming and entertainment wise this machine is amazing. F.E.A.R 3 runs perfectly on max settings, and when using auto-settings for Battlefield 3 the game sets all settings on medium quality with texture quality on Ultra and the game runs perfect. The machine is fast, portable, and even without the HD screen games are still very clear and very easy to play.

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I ordered a new Dell laptop. I received it and the hard drive could not be found. Called Dell and after several attempts it booted up.

Then the fans became very loud and provided a high whistling sound.

The hard drive is very slow, taking the software minutes to respond to commands.

I, at this time, have had the system for 2 months. I contacted Dell within 21 days and they will NOT provide a refund or take the system back.

The LCD screen has imprints from the keys on the keyboard. I was told it was a design flaw. The touch pad quit working.

I am now, finally after two months of trying, getting them to repair it, but they will not exchange or refund, and I bought a NEW system, now I will have a refurbished lemon.

They are replacing the LCD screen, the keyboard, the frame around the keyboard, the touchpad and buttons, the fans, the hard drive, the battery and charger. I think with all of this additional cost to replace these things, and frustrate a customer, that they should just refund and let me wipe my hands of this.

THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT CUSTOMERS!

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