This is a great computer it's very fast, has 4 gb of RAM. The only problem is it sometimes heats up and gets pretty hot.
Showing posts with label kindle notebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kindle notebook. Show all posts
Gateway NV53A82u 15.6" Blue Notebook PC
This is a great computer it's very fast, has 4 gb of RAM. The only problem is it sometimes heats up and gets pretty hot.
Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Metal - Dusk Black)
First of all let me say that I've only had this laptop for a few days of heavy use, so I'm sure my opinion of it will change over time. I will update this review if it does change.First impressions:This laptop is very impressive, especially for the price.
Look and feel: this laptop is big and sexy. The brushed metal case, the red backlit keyboard, and the sleek angular profile of the back of the display and the speakers all contribute to a good looking piece of equipment. The brushed metal surface, however, is really a fingerprint magnet. No matter how many times you wash your hands, this laptop will still pick up fingerprints if you even touch the outer case. If you're one of those people who is obsessed with keeping your technology spotless, don't buy this laptop. Personally, the fingerprints don't really bother me, and the brushed metal looks great from a distance, fingerprints or not. The keyboard is very solid, and does not give, even if you're a hard typer like me. The keyboard feels very nice, with good tactility and key spacing. The backlight isn't blindingly bright, but provides plenty of light to type with no ambient light and with the screen brightness all the way down. It has 3 settings: off, low, and high, which can be changed using the function key and the space bar. It doesn't have an ambient light sensor, so you'll have to manually adjust the backlight. personally, I don't mind this at all.
Weight: this laptop is heavy, clocking in around 6.5 pounds. for a 15" form factor, this is significant, and if you're looking for ultra-portability, this laptop isn't the right choice for you. The fact that you're looking at a laptop with two graphics cards means mobility isn't your highest priority.
Battery life: as you can see from the specifications, the battery life on this thing is pretty bad. It has no integrated graphics cards, so it's always powering the two GT650M cards that it has. this obviously consumes quite a bit of battery. Early tests (3 full charges/discharges) have the battery giving about 3.5 hours on normal usage (low screen brightness, taking notes, nothing intensive) and about 2 while doing intensive browsing (youtube videos, streaming music, running a compiler, etc). Once again, this is a non issue for me, because I use this for mobile performance, not for mobility.
now, for the best part: the Graphics!
This laptop has AWESOME graphics capabilities. As of now, it is the only laptop available that has the GT650M SLI setup. With 4GB of dedicated video memory between the two cards, this thing can really churn out the FPS. So far, I've only tested two games: League of Legends and Trine 2. On maximum settings, during a normal match, I got a max of 190FPS on League of legends and averaged about 80-120 during fights. wow. League isn't the most graphics intensive game out there, but still, I think it's impressive. On trine 2, with the settings maxed out and with anti-aliasing on maximum (8x) It looked amazing and didn't lag.
As you may have read elsewhere, the SLI setup can cause micro-stutter if your FPS drop below 30. It isn't the end of the world, and is definitely still playable even with the stutter. obviously, you'd hope to be above 30fps for most games anyway.
note: there is a downside to this being the only device with a gt650m SLI as driver updates may be scarce. Nvidia (as of right now) does not provide the drivers on their website, and they must be obtained from lenovo. There is a built in update utility included. I have experienced some driver issues (display driver stopped responding and recovered). I'm not sure what caused these issues, and I'm hoping for an update (this setup is still very new) but even then it's not the end of the world. The graphics were fine during gaming, and they glitched out while I was installing software, so I may have caused the issue for all I know.
Trackpad: there have been a lot of complaints about this trackpad, I haven't experienced any of the issue mentioned. It seems fine to me, with the multi touch functions working correctly and the feel is fine. Trackpads are all slightly annoying, and this one isn't special. It's middle of the road. I like the texture (a matte feel), but its still a trackpad. I'll be using a mouse the majority of the time anyways.
Speakers: the included JBL audio is decently loud, and sounds a little muddled and missing treble. Obviously i'm not surprised, and these speakers are better than I expected for laptop audio. Again, nothing special, they're fine.
Processor: the 3rd gen i5 included is plenty at least for me, and is decently future proof.
Hard Drive: probably the weakest element of this laptop, it's a 5400rpm, which is going to be slow. If you want faster boot up times, just upgrade to a SSD. this laptop does have an mSATA port which would be used to add a system SSD.
Heat: this laptop does get warm, not hot. It has very effective cooling, and even while maxing out the GPUs it didn't get that toasty, nothing that was uncomfortable. better than I expected, but still pretty average. the bottom of it isn't awfully bad, so it would probably be fine sitting on your lap for a while.
Display: this is one of the only 15" laptops I could find that had a 1920x1080 native resolution. It looks fantastic! my only complaints here are that text and other elements can get a little small, and that the bezel of the screen is surprisingly large. Its not huge, but it's bigger than I expected, and there is a significant bezel. The colors are fantastic and the pixels are invisible.
Overall, This is an awesome laptop. It's very high end, and I still feel like I got a fantastic amount of hardware for the price I paid. Again, it is best equipped for gaming or other graphics intensive tasks, but It can definitely hold its own with much pricier options.
I know this is a wall of text, but thanks for reading it (if you got this far). I hope this helps you in your decision. Feel free to comment and ask me questions, I will try to answer them. I will provide updates as my opinion of this laptop changes over time.
Edit 1: Had a hard time disabling the automatic screen lock after 1 minute of inactivity. had to reset local security policies to fix. Annoying, but was able to solve with some googling. Still no video driver update that I have found. Everything else is still awesome!
Edit 2: DRIVERS! so it turns out, if you go to nvidia's geforce graphics driver site, and you turn off SLI in the control panel, it allows you to download and install the most recent package from nvidia. this is awesome! currently running on 314.21 (beta) and testing it out, it seems there was actually fewer SLI profiles supported on the previous version than 314.10.... the important part is... graphics update from nvidia, awesome.
The laptop arrived safely no thanks to Amazon. I order a ton of stuff through Prime and even cheap kids toys have at least some bubble wrapping and are placed in a standard shipping box. This was shipped in the original (and small) laptop box from Lenovo and with no additional packaging materials. Why???
Now onto the hardware….
All of the built-in hardware seems great with the exception of the slow but ample 5400 RPM 1TB hard drive. It's by far the biggest bottleneck of the system, but it's not a deal breaker. Most people will appreciate the huge capacity for storing large game libraries. Apparently you can toss in a compatible mSATA SSD and boot from this or set it up as a cache. I would set it as boot drive and keep the 1TB drive for data if given the option.
The screen is VERY nice and clear. Colors look great and overall I can't find any flaws with the screen. This is true HD running at 1080p. Most other gaming notebooks in this price range only provide 720p (do not want). I updated the Nvidia drivers from Lenovo's site and they do seem to perform better than what was included. SLI is awesome to have in a notebook and I'm super impressed with how all of my games are performing so far. Steam Big Picture mode works well on this when connected via HDMI to my Panasonic plasma TV.
The case is very basic and to be honest, does have a somewhat cheap feel to it. However, I have no concerns of it breaking or coming loose. It's also a grease magnet, but I knew that before from other reviews. I'm surprised that the laptop feels so light for the size. The PSU is huge, but I've seen bigger. There is a minimal amount of external ports on this laptop, which is a bit of a surprise for a laptop of this size and intended use. There is nothing truly lacking for gaming, although, I would have loved to have an eSATA port included as well.
Opening the case for the first time was a bit scary. Some of the hinges come off easily and others do not. It took me around 10 minutes before I finally had carefully opened this up. Once opened up, it's easy to replace the internal components (RAM, HDD, mSATA, etc.,).
The keyboard is good. I'd give it a solid B. I would prefer a slightly stiffer response as I find the keys a bit spongy for my liking. Not a deal breaker by any means though. The backlit keys look cool and be turned down to a lower setting or turned off completely using the function keys.
I was very concerned about the track pad due to all of the noise online about this. Take a deep breath it is fine, but far from perfect. I'm not crazy about the texture and I would have preferred physical mouse buttons, but these are unfortunately getting harder to come by and only seem to be found on much more expensive gaming laptops and/or models geared for business use. The detection of the right and left mouse buttons is good and basic tracking is also fine. The gestures, however, don't always work but I hear that you can disable this.
The battery seems OK and matches the 3 hour advertised average when used for non-gaming use. I will keep it plugged in to AC power when gaming. Apparently the GPU's throttle down when not on AC power, but I can't imagine ever gaming without it since you would maybe get 1 hour tops of playing time before having to plug it in back to charge.
Onto the included OS and build from Lenovo…
Like all OEM consumer PC's, there is a fair amount of crapware/trailware included, which I immediately uninstalled before attempting to do anything else. McAfee was the first to go. Just use the included Microsoft Security Essentials and be done with it. All you need to keep on this system is the drivers and some of the Lenovo utilities. The rest can be removed.
For those who don't like the new Metro interface (and I assume this is the root cause for the hatred of Windows 8) should download and install Classic Shell for free. Windows 8 performs great and is a bit faster than Windows 7. This will give you the best of both worlds (a great interface and great performance). You can get this from ninite.com (an awesome site for downloading a bunch of apps at once).
Final Verdict: This system provides a lot of value for the money and you will not find a better gaming laptop for the price at the moment. If money is not a factor and/or if you don't want to upgrade any parts yourself down the road, you may instead want to check out an Asus ROG model. Of course, if you are not going to use this for gaming, there are better laptops to be found in the same price range.
Buy Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Metal - Dusk Black) Now
Solidly built and hefty. Bought it as an occasional gaming laptop (WoW, BF3, SCII), and it plays the part well. i won't rehash what's already been covered, but will mention the trackpad issue. It was fixed in y500 built December 2012 onward (don't remember the date). i just received mine, and it was built late February 2013. The trackpad's fine. No random wandering or anything. that's it. enjoy.Read Best Reviews of Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Metal - Dusk Black) Here
I am still tinkering with my laptop trying to change specs on the dual graphics so I can get the gaming experience I originally wanted out of it. At the moment I cannot for the life of me find out how to run Napoleon Total War smoothly on the laptop yet it runs smoothly on my desktop with noticeably worse specs (if you have any suggestions feel free to message/comment.)Now for my only problem. I know this laptop came with dual graphics, and that is fine. However, I can not find a reliable site/store willing to sell me the removable ultrabay DVD burner/writer. I would gladly spend $70 for it but was forced to instead purchase a USB dvd writer because of the fact that the ones I do find hold low retailer ratings complaining about horrible customer service.
I basically wrote this review to point out a few flaws in this device but don't let that scare you away. I have come across WORSE laptops that are sold at twice or more than twice the amount this one is. 4/5 (for the graphics control and the dvd writer)
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First thing's first. After over a month with this laptop and doing what I assume everyone else has been doing to try to deal with the touchpad by lowering the sensitivity, I've finally discovered that the fix for the touchpad is to move the sensitivity all the way to the left. Sounds backwards to increase the sensitivity when it's jumpier than a cat using a jackhammer, but apparently the touchpad is not sensitive enough and loses track which causes it to jump. It's way better at the highest sensitivity (left side). In fact it only works at the highest sensitivity.Oh by the way I'm talking about the "touch sensitivity" slider in the touchpad driver. Not your windows mouse sensitivity in the regular control panel. Now since this is supposed to be a review of a laptop. You'll also have a better experience with the touchpad if your palm isn't right next to it throwing off its readings.
Obviously the killer feature in this laptop is the SLI. It makes this laptop a better value than anything that has been on the market. Ever. Yeah the cooling, the specs, the build, the screen, the speakers, the camera, the mic, all great. You can read about them on the spec sheet and other reviews talk about them in detail. I bought this laptop because short of $2000, there is no better laptop. And I don't have $2000. Seriously. I don't even know why I spent all my money on a laptop.
But I'm not giving it 5 stars because Lenovo dropped the ball on the keyboard and touchpad. Yes I tried all the keyboards and touchpads in store and everyone has the same rubber keyboard and hinge touchpad. Even the boutiques. But if everyone jumped off a bridge, I'm still not giving you 5 stars for jumping off a bridge.
As said, I fixed the sensitivity problem with the touchpad. But that's not the only problem. The hinge is horrible. It drops the bottom of the pad into the laptop body. Which is absolutely the most loving way of pushing dust into your system since the sledgehammer. And only the bottom half goes down because it's on a hinge, so you can't click on the top half. A step backwards from having mouse buttons is an understatement. It's square wheels on a wheelbarrow bad. No, it's triangle wheels bad.
The keyboard is bad. You've heard the writers like this keyboard, you've read reviewers like this keyboard. You might have tried this keyboard and liked it. But it is bad. It's a piece of rubber with some Christmas lights except they are all the same color and don't do fancy patterns. Sorry I'm not a fan of typing on a piece of rubber. I could type on a washable keyboard if I wanted a piece of rubber but I don't. Because it sucks. Laptops used to come with scissor keyboards, in other words rubber membrane keyboards with a bit of plastic to hold it and control its movement. But oh what a world of difference a bit of plastic makes compared to this. No, you can't find a laptop with scissor keyboards anymore. But that doesn't excuse you from failing to do it. You can't rate a laptop 5 stars for failure. I'm not asking for capacitive here, just a bit of plastic. Yeah make the laptop a bit thicker so I can actually type on it! Oh the arrow and numpad keys are substandard size. I mean really now.
Oh yeah no matter what you do, don't use the recalibrate battery function. It will cause an unfixable problem with your battery management.
Since this is a laptop review I will update it as long as there is something worth updating. Especially the touchpad sensitivity.
Gateway NV52L08u 15.6 Notebook PC - AMD A6-4400M Accelerated Processor 2.6GHz
I had a Gateway NV52 and it was a great machine while it lasted. After 3 years both mine and my sister-in-laws (same model) died of the same problem a bad motherboard. A common problem and replacement parts are too expensive.Sad because other brand laptops (HP, Dell) have lasted way longer and the Gateway wasn't treated rough or anything.
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Acer C710-2487 11.6-Inch Chromebook (Iron Gray)
This is my first chromebook, so I am still getting used to it. But it is lighting fast (compared to the dell I had before). Probably the most memory I use is watching Netflix, but I don't have a problem streaming. It starts up in seconds and the battery seems to last for days on standby, which is nice. Its super light and easy to carry around at work. You can pull it out like a phone and google for quick answers or bring up documents without the hassle of waiting for startup or a tiny screen. I haven't had any connectivity issues with it.The thing I am disappointed with is the slides, docs and spreadsheets programs.. they are not as compatible with office as I thought they would be, but they will open and edit office docs. However, even with simple documents the formatting is changed dramatically. Its still usable, just requires more effort to re-edit. Being able to store everything on the google drive and open from any computer is awesome.
The only thing that's not good is the bottom doesn't come screwed on and there are actually "warranty void" stickers over the screw holes, so the back does fall off every now and them, which I feel is asking for trouble.
For the price, the value is great. I've never had a computer this mobile or fast. I'm hoping the apps will improve as time goes on.
No crapware.
No frequent updates.
No more Norton price increases.
Lite weight.
Easy to read text
I am still adjusting to the google spreadsheet and trying to figure out photo downloads.
I don't like having to buy a new printer or boot up the old laptop to print
Buy Acer C710-2487 11.6-Inch Chromebook (Iron Gray) Now
When I was shopping for a new laptop i did a lot of looking and research...but then someone asked "how are you going to be using it?" That is when I realized that I didn't need all the programs that came with most laptops...MS Office kind of stuff....and even thoughI didn't know exactly what I wanted, I did know that I didn't want something that took forever to turn on, had to update all the time, and would get sluggish eventually with or without the updates. So I tried out Google Drive and Picasa and some other Google apps and they are great. This was my solution and I couldn't be happier. So great.
Read Best Reviews of Acer C710-2487 11.6-Inch Chromebook (Iron Gray) Here
The product arrived as expected and packaged great. I have a MacBook Pro, and wanted to see If the Chrome OS was a functional product for me. The system is actually great and so streamlined to my needs, this is the next best OS system after the Mac OS. I would definitely recommend this OS system to any one who wants a system with a quick start up, ability to run multiple apps with no decline in performance, and a nice size hard drive at a very affordable price.Want Acer C710-2487 11.6-Inch Chromebook (Iron Gray) Discount?
The office I work for bought some of these (we are a small firm-and can't afford macs) so that we wouldn't have to lug our personal laptops to and fro from work.It's cool. I wouldn't have gotten one for myself. There are limits to what you can do with a chromebook. Of course it isn't a full OS laptop so its limits are within expectations, yet some are very bothersome. I'm just going to list the Pros and Cons for my Acer Chromebook.
Pros: Fast start up, decent battery life, integrated google doc, drive and app support. Decent entry level specs for the price. Low price. Light and mobile unit. Has offline mode (in the case of no internet), 4 usb ports
Cons: offline mode isn't the best, limited productivity apps and behind software titans Microsoft Office and Apple's Keynote, very little storage.
The biggest con for me is the printing. I need to print all the time. Google cloud print is difficult to use, and doesn't support commercial office printers, which is what we have. So either you have to buy a special google cloudprint ready printer, or use their Print share..which is finicky, has a very simplistic driver and often messes up my print margins.
Since I got it for free, I'll use it, because it is definitely lighter than my macbook pro. However I wish chrome would/could somehow add driver support, because the printing is a dealbreaker for my personal use.
I wouldn't recommend this as a primary computer alternative to anyone, it's more like a tablet streamlined for production, with an included keyboard and usb ports. It can be useful if you already have a laptop, and want a lighter one for on-the-go needs.
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Hewlett Packard - HP Pavilion dv7t dv7tqe Quad Edition, 2nd Gen. Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2 GHz
When I purchased this laptop it was advertised as having bluetooth. That was not the case. The seller definitely did right by me by refunding the cost of the internal bluetooth kit and cable.I should note that installing a bluetooth kit yourself is not for the faint of heart as you will have to disassemble the laptop to install it. The module goes just underneath the two mouse buttons on the touchpad.
The previous laptop I had was a DV6 quad which just ran too hot and loud. I'm pleased to say that this is quieter.
The fingerprint reader is a nice addition as well, but it doesn't work with digital persona, so you'll have to do with hp simplepass 2011.
The sound out of this laptop is surprisingly good. Beats audio is basically a built in 2.1 speaker system. (there is a sub underneath the laptop, two stereo speakers at the screen's base plus two tweeters at the front corners). I never cared about sound though as I always use headphones with laptops.
There are a total of 4 USB ports, two on each side. on the left side, the two USB ports are 3.0.
Video: There is 1 HDMI and 1 VGA port.
There is a 10/100/1000 ethernet jack.
two RCA audio jacks as well as 1 microphone jack.
the webcam is "hp trueVision HD" which is basically a webcam that records up to 1024x768 resolution.
The built in microphone is a stereo mic.
The screen is bright as heck, and darkens enough. Even at its darkest level, it's too bright at night though.
Battery life is what you expect from a quad core, 2 hours average.
There is a slot for a second SATA hard drive that can be configured to support RAID 1.
Performance according to windows performance index:
The video card has two modes: high performance or long battery life with an auto switching feature whenever an A/C adapter is connected.
What happens when the mode is switched is that the drivers are swapped between ATI's drivers and Intel HD video drivers.
When on ATI's driver set, the video card performance is rated at 7.4, when on Intel's set, video is at 6.2.
I've upgraded the RAM, but if I remember correctly, the 6gb configuration rated at 7.4
The processor shows 7.0.
Hard drive is highly subject as well. Unless you upgrade to a SSD, expect to acheive a 5.9.
It does support hardware virtualization just note that USB3.0 does not virtualize so you won't have access to 2 of the USB ports in a virtual machine.
The card reader faces the front and only accepts cards half way, so an inserted card does not fit flush with the front of the laptop. A huge annoyance in my opinion as I like to leave an SD card inserted for readyboost and can no longer do so.
No real opinion on the optical drive, but it runs quietly at least.
There is no remote control as with previous hp laptops.
The connector for an HP docking station has been removed so you can't use an HP dock on this sucker. (CRAP!!!!)
There is 1 media key and it opens a web browser.
there is an air intake vent in the upper left corner that you've got to keep clear. so it's another example of a laptop that you can't keep on your lap.
I hope I've covered anything, but comment if you have any questions.
[Update] I was actually asked about installing the internal bluetooth module, so here's a bit more on the subject:
The internal bluetooth is a very small chip with a built-in antennae. It's about the size of a house key without the head. The cable itself has tips that at one end, insert into a specially shaped recepticle on the bluetooth chip and a different tip for another recepticle on the motherboard. I had to pull the keyboard and top plate off of the laptop to insert the bluetooth module. It fits in a small groove that sits underneath the mouse buttons on the touchpad. I really like its position as it gives great bluetooth reception, the best I've seen on any laptop. [/Update]
Dell XPS XPS15-9168sLV 15-Inch Laptop (Silver)
This is an excellent laptop made of high quality materials. I will give some of the pros and cons. I owned the previous Dell XPS 15 with the RGBLED display and sandy bridge processor.Pros
1.Excellent Audio Quality. (This laptop is louder than the previous Dell XPS 15 with JBL speakers and subwoofer) this was a positive surprise.
2.Display is definitely high quality. Colors really look good and edge to edge gorilla glass makes display look even better
3.Case Quality/Design Brushed aluminum is very high quality and rubberized material on top and bottom feels good
4.Excellent Keyboard. No Flex. Very easy to type on.
5.Quieter than other Dell XPS 15
6.32 GB SSD helps with a very fast boot time
7.Very good Battery Life
Cons
1. Not an IPS display. (Vertical viewing angles could be better)
2. No subwoofer
3. Overpriced! This is my opinion. I think the price will come down a bit, maybe to 1199. It does not include 3610 processor and GT 640/650 graphics card.
4. Weak Wifi (Needs an update badly, I really hope it happens soon. It is pretty bad)
This is an excellent laptop but should probably be priced $100 less. I would recommend this laptop to anyone. It just feels really good and it is relatively lightweight. If offers many features and still remains much cheaper than an equivalent Macbook Pro laptop. I still think this laptop is a good buy and would give it a 90/100. It is a bit better than 4/5 but not quite 5 stars. You immediately notice the design and quality of materials is top of the line. As I stated earlier, this laptop does not have RGBLED display, nor does it have the JBL sound system. However, it is very interesting because the image quality is simply incredible when looking at photos and watching videos. Sound quality is also very very good and it is much louder than the previous Dell XPS 15.
For the price, they should have put a better graphics card and larger power brick to have better gaming performance. Dell offers better but heavier gaming laptops with their Alienware laptops. This laptop is very portable and most people will not do heavy gaming. The computer should be able to handle most of the games on medium and a number of them on high settings.
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This is a well designed, easy to use, and with a nice trackpad computer. The only drawback is that it is a bit heavier and the aluminium chassis is prone to scratches. The display is not crisp (you can see little pixels)(even with 1080p). Other than that, I think it's better than Samsung series 9 in terms of design. If it came with a cheaper price tag (with SSD), and if it was a little light, it would beat MBP. God job Dell, but you can make it a fine product by improving little issues on the future products.Read Best Reviews of Dell XPS XPS15-9168sLV 15-Inch Laptop (Silver) Here
Excelente diseño, sonido espectacular, pantalla nitida, 100% complacido con el equipo, el problema con el wireless se corrige actualizando la bios y cuando activas la bios se activa un pequeño disco ssd de 32Gb!Want Dell XPS XPS15-9168sLV 15-Inch Laptop (Silver) Discount?
Worth waiting for 2012 model upgraded version of 2011. I like it. I love the screen and design of the laptop.Pros:Screen Full HD (Wow Factor)
Cons:Bit heavier and looked huge also (probably I was using 14 inch for quite long time)
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Apple MacBook Pro 13" MD101LL/A 2.50-3.10GHz i5-3210M 16GB 128GB SSD
i really can't stand being told i HAVE to do something. can't a guy just buy a computer and not tell the world about it? that having been said, this is a computer that some round-eye messed with to make it the specs i wanted. it didn't come from Apple this way, that was never made clear, and that pisses me off. but i'm not going to leave a bad review about it, even though i probably should. MEH for the win!
Aspire Aspire Intel Core i3 15.6-inch Laptop | AS5733-6424
the best product, beautiful laptop, comfortable and very modern, I loved the product, I recommend 100% I love it so much.
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Sony VAIO E Series SVE17135CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)
I received this laptop from my employer and for the average user it is probably more than sufficient but I am a programmer and I have special needs this if what I found and did with the machine:1. I hate Windows 8 and can't live with it for software development purposes; so I wiped the hard drive and installed Windows 7 on it (No I did not pay Sony for a downgrade I looked at the included hardware and found a Sony Vaio slightly older than this one on their downloads section of the Sony website and used the older Windows 7 Drivers and it has worked flawless)
2. The touch pad has no buttons instead the whole touch pad moves down if you click on the left or right bottom corner. This is hard to get used to but I use a mouse so no problems.
3. It is slower than my two year old HP DV8 computer since it only has a 5300 rpm vs a 7600 rpm hard drive. It should have an SSD drive for performance but I think the machine is not capable of having two drives. Again not an issue for a normal user but for a power user this may be unsatisfactory.
4. As a good point, I installed Linux Mint on an external USB 3 drive and was pleased to note that everything worked on it including the build in USB camera and everything else without having to search for drivers. This is partially due to the Linux developers getting really sophisticated and quite frankly Linux is starting to get better than Windows and it is free.. However, this shows that the laptop uses relatively standard components unlike some other manufacturers that use proprietary components and you are stuck with their version of the operating system.
All in all not a bad machine and the keyboard is nice.
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was very ill and could not respond till now.i wanth my money back 1.haed drive not working .
window 6 is the biggest gimmic ,oweful o use.
microsoft always ,whants you to sighn up with window 8 ,so greedy.
i use sony for a long time ,i am so disapointed
thea s schlosser
think before you buy this one it is more then terrible.
finally had a computer man came to set the computer with printer up,he said send it back your hard drive is broken.Sony VAIO E Series SVE17137CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)
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It is really absurd. Just in six months, four main parts including screen, HDD, Ram, and camera got broken. It's really disappointing;however, Sony has supported and replaced them for free, but in the last time they told me that I need to extend my guarantee because more than four parts have been replaced!!!!! Was is it my fault?Want Sony VAIO E Series SVE17135CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?
So this laptop was for my dad. He has had it for about a week or 2, the machine itself he says it is great, the only downside is Windows 8! Like with everyone, he doesn't complain about the hardware, he actually likes it a lot, but he hates the new OS!And for the price it is a great machine to be honest, kind of envious of my dad at the moment haha!
Sony VAIO PCG-FRV37 Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, DVD-RW/CD-RW Drive)
If you are looking for a portable computer this SONY is simply awesome. A notebook or laptop it is not; its big and heavy by todays standards but the performance is fantastic! The Gateway desktop died (will never buy from them again) and couldn't be brought back to life so I decided to pick up a "notebook". The FRV37 is blazing fast, the screen is large, bright and clear & its got plenty of HD space (if you need more consider getting an external USB hard drive). With a CD and a DVD burner you really don't need a desktop machine anymore. It comes with a nice software bundle. Its got firewire built in and is great for capturing video from digital video cameras. If you go on vacation, take this computer, a Sony or Canon Digitial video cam and an Olympus digital camera and everyone on the trip can go home with CDs or DVDs of the trip.
Buy this machine if you want to replace your desktop, you don't need long bettery life (it gets about 2 hours max), and you want something portable but not light weight. The only thing missing is built in wireless but for about $50.00 you can get a wireless card that will do the trick. This computer has NEVER crashed unlike all previous computers (desktops from Gateway) that crashed frequently.
Only 4 stars because its heavy, has short battery life and missing built in wireless.
All in all it's a good package though. the documentation that comes in the box is more ad's for sony products than actual info on your $1600 investment. I can't find out the actual dvd burning speed, but it appears that it is only 1x. boo
This barely gets the fourth star.
Good, but could have been better.I bought this computer recently after I got my old one stolen. As a college student, this computer has proved to be fast and reliable, though the main two reasons why I didn't give it a 5/5 is because:
a)It is pretty bulky by today's standards
b)No S-Video port (a must on most of today's computers, but it does have a VGA port so you can still manage to connect it to other audio/video devices).
The speakers that the computer include are not that great, but I already had Z-680's so it wasn't a big deal.
The graphics on this computer are pretty good, and it has a decent amount of memory. The DVD burner is also a huge +.I purchased this notebook around 2 years back. Overall the performance is good. As mentioned by other reviewer, the battery life is very poor. You can not do multitasking, the performance becomes slow. I don't like the screen as well. It doesn't have the wide, xbrite screen and you can not watch movies in group.
I think I like the most is the the dvd burning capacity. I have copied many dvds without any problem.
Overall its OK laptop.I bought this laptop 7 months ago, as a desktop replacement, and I quite like it. But I'm not sure why it weighs a ton, the battery now lasts less than half an hour, and the DVD burner has a DVD-to-coaster making ratio of less than 50%.
But on the plus side it's powerful (I use it for video editing), and the screen and keyboard are both good, and overall it's not bad value, especially if you're lucky enough to get a reliable DVD burner.
Gateway ML3109
I've been using this laptop for a long time now. It's great. It's light weight with an ultra bright screen. It's great for surfing the internet. It does lack a little bit of memory, but I added 1 GB of memory for $20. It's a great laptop if you are looking to use it to surf the net, listen to music, or do your next paper/project.
It's big, heavy, hotter than molten lava and quite cumbersome but it's been with me in almost every hemisphere through my travels and the hard drive has probably spun more revolutions than the vertical rings of Uranus. It is now February 28, 2012 and still running strong. I do not know how this could be. Everyday I fear it won't wake up or turn on but I now consider it more reliable than humanity itself. It is possessed by a friendly demon that won't go away, and although I will soon jump light-years ahead (relatively speaking) to an Ivy Bridge (once Intel decides it made enough money off the Sandy and finally release it), I will cherish this rugged piece of machinery until the wheels fall off. It's been through Vista, upgraded to XP, and has been running Windows7 ever since it came out. I don't know what the future holds for this laptop, but I know whatever happens to it or me, nothing will ever separate the keystrokes that was had and will be had, on this ML3109.
SONY VAIO VPCS111FM/S 13.3" LCD, 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM, i5 PROCESSOR, WINDOWS 7
I'm a web developer/designer and consider myself fairly computer savvy. I have built several computers from the ground up and was surprised when I found exactly what I wanted at Best Buy.I have been researching laptop computers for the past 4 months and consider the Sony Vaio VPCS111FM/S to be the best option for the price.
Pros: Intel Core i5 2.26 GHZ, 500 GB hard drive, 4 GB of RAM, 13.3" screen, 5 hour battery life, chiclet backlit keyboard, Blu Ray player, Video Card has 256 MB dedicated RAM, 2 year warranty
Cons: Price($1050.00), hard drive is only 5400 rpm and Out of date Bios that caused a minor audio problem
I was looking for a powerful portable computer that didn't cost a fortune. I found cheaper laptops that had the same specs but they were all 15" or larger which was a deal breaker for me. Also, most of these models came with a battery that only lasted 2-3 hours, which was also a deal breaker (the Vaio standard battery last just under 5 hours).
I think the reason this has received some bad reviews is because the installed bios and drivers are out of date resulting in a few minor bugs, most notably unexpected audio drop outs or a buzzing metallic sounds while listening to audio. The Vaio Update software that comes installed won't update the bios automatically you have to download the latest version from Sony's website and install it manually. This is very easy to do and after the bios is updated everything works perfect.
I have installed Gimp, XAMPP, FL Studio, Inkscape, Netbeans and iTunes and so far they all run better then expected. I also tried out the wireless display feature with the NETGEAR Push2TV Adapter that was included in the price. I watched some Netflix movies and it worked great.
I have only owned this machine for 3 days and so far I love it and am extremely happy with my purchase. If you are looking for a highly portable powerful computer for around $1,000 then this is the machine for you. I don't think you will find a 13" model with all the same features for the price.
Strengths:
The keyboard is very good, but it had quality issues.
Keyboard back-lighting
Performance, 4GB RAM and a fast processor made this laptop nearly comparable to my desktop i7 Winx64 system.
Low noise. The fan and hard drive are very quiet.
Low heat. Never did the bottom of the laptop feel hot.
Competitive battery life. I averaged 3-4 hours per charge.
Low weight. This is one of the fastest laptops for the price and weight available today.
Wireless N performance was excellent and reliable.
Weaknesses:
Although the LED back-lit LCD has nice contrast, the screen is too reflective for my taste, and much more so than most Dell models that I've used over the years.
The keyboard is generally very good, but some keys (specifically the shift key for me) clicks and sticks. My keyboard may have been defective so this could be rare occurrence.
The Intel Wireless Display does not work well, and when it does, the video quality on our 47" HD LCD TV was that of an older DVD (video playback was also choppy on the remote TV). Additionally, nowhere are end-users told to configure the wireless connection to operate over the 2.4GHz band. If the default "mixed mode" or 5.2GHz is selected in the connection, the Intel Wireless Display won't function.
The battery didn't fit snug, so it rattled when you moved or handled the laptop.
The 5,400 RPM HDD is noticeably slower compared to 7,200 RPM systems. If I were to keep this laptop, I'd probably upgrade to a faster and larger HDD.
If the laptop's strengths listed above are important to you, and you can overlook the troublesome "Intel Wireless Display" and potential keyboard issues, then this laptop is worth consideration.
Buy SONY VAIO VPCS111FM/S 13.3" LCD, 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM, i5 PROCESSOR, WINDOWS 7 Now
I have been using this new VAIO for the last few weeks and it is very well built. I read a bunch of reviews and message boards to see what I was getting and have not been disappointed. I bought this to compliment a desktop computer I recently purchased with an i7 processor and the i5 in the Sony is no slouch. It handles everything very well and gives me about 4-5 hours of battery life with a few tweaks to the screen brightness (and turning off the CD burner when on battery power).I was a bit concerned about the keyboard layout since I have never used a "chicklet" style keyboard, but I think I type better on it than I do on most other keyboards, it feels so natural. The screen is very bright but just a touch reflective in certain light, but then nearly every laptop today is the same way. I think the only compliant I have is that I couldn't get it in black, but the silver finish actually looks pretty good.
I've had no issues with my computer whatsoever, wifi is blazing fast, bluetooth is seamless, card readers are automatic, etc. Some have mentioned issues with sound, that can be resolved with a driver update from Sony, and mine updated automatically on the first update so I never experienced the issue. All in all, I paid as much for this as I did for my desktop, but it was worth every penny...I might just give this one to my wife and get a black one once that is released. This is my first VAIO, but definitely not my last...VAIO's for everyone in my house from now on.
Oh and the wireless streaming of audio/video to the TV is pretty nice also. I compared it against the quality of the HDMI out port on the laptop and it was very close (tested using streaming video, there may be differences streaming other videos, haven't tested). The only downside of the wireless streaming to the TV is that the cursor lags on the TV so when you move the cursor, you have to wait a second before you see it move on the TV screen, but I mainly use it to watch streaming MLB games on the 52" screen and it has been flawless.
So I rate this 5 stars since it has lived up to my expectations in exceeded them in some cases. Like I said, this is my first VAIO, but it won't be my last, this laptop made me a fan.I'm giving this laptop five stars because after using it for a week, I have yet to find something to criticize. I paid $1049 at BestBuy, and they included in the deal the box for wirless streaming to your TV, which works well. One of the things that made this laptop stand out for me among all the choices in the store was the keyboard. Very comfortable to use, reminded me of the MacBook keyboards. The laptop is light, the screen colors seem great, and the computer itself looks pretty good and doesn't feel cheap. I do think that the speakers are a bit weak and tinny, but I was not expecting anything more than this. So, in summary, I got what I paid for-a powerful, well rounded, lightweight laptop.
Want SONY VAIO VPCS111FM/S 13.3" LCD, 500GB HDD, 4GB RAM, i5 PROCESSOR, WINDOWS 7 Discount?
Bought this laptop a little over one year ago. My older PCG-Z1WA (purchased in 2004) was showing it's age. Since I travel overseas 6 months each year, I'm a bit tough on laptops.I liked the weight, looks and quality plus it's a Sony!! The only thing that I don't like is that I'm unable (so far) to get Solaris 10 running properly. Once that happens, this will be a 5 star laptop. Right now, it's a 4.8. Oh, and I could use a powered eSATA port, but other than that, this laptop is complete.
Having a laptop that is capable of 8GB memory and comes with a 500GB hard drive is great. The graphics capability is excellent, the auto-dim sensor and back lit keyboard is great when you're on a red-eye and having to do work. You won't disturb your neighbor (too much).
I'd buy this again, but the way Sony's have lasted for me, who knows what innovation they'll have in six years. I'm looking forward to their next generation. Maybe they'll have 500GB SSD as standard!
HP Pavilion dv6-3019wm Phenom II Dual-Core N620(2.8) 4G 500G DVD±R/RW 15.6 Win7 Laptop - Black
Before this laptop, I had a DV6 laptop I recieved as a present, 4 years ago. Unfortunately that laptop suffered major overheating issues which cause frequent freezes, and friend my sound card last year, and eventually made me unable to start my laptop up, about a month ago.Ever since last summer when I first laid my eyes upon the black cherry dv6-3019wm at a walmart, I just knew I had to purchase it. It was like love first at sight. I loved the color, and the overall design. 2 weeks ago, I finally purchased it via ebay, and I am satisfied!
Specs wise, its enough to meet my standards. 500GB is more than enough harddrive space for me.The processor and graphics card are alright. 4GB RAM and 2.8GHZ dual core processor, makes it blazing fast at multi-tasking with programs and watching videos, especially with lots of tabs open on an internet browser. The graphics card is 4250 Radeon Its not a gaming laptop by any means, and it probably can't handle very graphic intensive and advanced 3D video editing programs well, but it gets the job done with most of the basic stuff. I tried canyourunit.com, and I found out that I could play starcraft 2 at minimum/low settings at best (but not recommended settings), but I couldn't play call of duty black ops (though I could play the previous call of duty games) due to the processor not being good enough apparently. From what I've heard, this laptop is as good as an entry level i3 330 laptop in terms of processor performance. It comes at a very good price though, and I'm surprised it comes with 4GB of RAM and 500GB harddrive size. It also has some shortcut keys to instantly access the internet, printer, or calculator. It took some time at first to get used to, because I'm used to the CTRL button to be on the left most part of the keyboard.
Really, the only other cons I can list of, is that the touchpad takes some time getting used to. Its a multi touch track pad that lets you zoom in and out and scroll pages up and down with certain motions. What annoys me though is that the multi-touch features can occasionally interfere when I simply want to use it for the pointer. I'd highly recommend just buying a wireless mouse and using that instead. Luckily, you can turn off the touch pad, by double taping on the white circle on the top left of the touchpad.
Finally, if you're considering on purchasing this laptop, you should know that the battery life lasts about 3 hours with wifi on.
Overall
Pros
+Very sleek sexy design
+Keypad is incredibly comfortable. Great buttons!
+4GB RAM and 500GB harddrive space is more than enough for most people's needs
+processor and graphics cards (along with the 4 GB RAM)gets most of the basic multitasking jobs done. Can web browse and watch HD videos at ease.
+great price
+fairly quiet and doesn't overheat easily
+relatively portable due to its somewhat thin design and its weight of 5.5lbs.
Cons
-multi-track touchpad gets some getting used to, and can interfere with regular use of the mouse pointer. It can be turned off though. I recommend purchasing a wireless mouse.
-Not a gaming laptop, or one that demands a lot of graphical power (such as advanced 3D editing software) by any means. You won't be able to play some of the latest high end popular PC games at recommended and higher settings due to limitations from graphics card and processor
-battery life is around 3hrs MAX, with wifi on. I'm fine with this for the most part, since I'm not going to take it with me everywhere I go, but its annoying that the manufacturers never listed the battery life on any site with the rest of tech specs. I guess I can see why?
Overall, if you're looking for a laptop for general use (web browsing, watching videos, etc), it will be more than enough to handle most software. If you're a gamer looking to play games like Call of Duty Black Ops, or Starcraft 2 under recommended or higher settings, or using 3D editing software that uses lots of processing power and demands a lot, graphically, consider looking for computers with i5 or i7 processors and a graphics card that is at least ATI HD Radeon 5000 and up (w/ 1GB?).
Great general use laptop overall!
4.5/5 for my overall needs
I thought it would be a bit bulky and heavy, but it's not. I mean, it's not the MOST portable,
but it's perfect for me. 5 pounds isn't a lot for such a powerful PC. The quick access keys are
great. It was weird having them on the keyboard, but I adjusted just fine. The keyboard is comfortable
& responsive. The trackpad gets a little funky at times, but overall it's not bad. Oh & I love the HP
Mediasmart gallery and the quick access to Pandora radio. The webcam is one of my favorite features.
It has so many fun features! I'm on the laptop now and it's great! I LOVE this laptop!First an annoyance the fan frequently cycles on and off even though it sits on a table top in an air-conditioned room. I did modify the bios setting, because it was running all the time, which made it better.
The computer is exactly what it was advertised to be and that is why I rate it three stars. I bought the dual-core because I do a lot of Adobe Elements processing of pictures. I expected more processing speed over the single processor Desktop so I guess I'll move to a Quad processor someday. Also, picture editing brings the fan to life.
The screen is the best feature. It is large, clear, and bright. The keyboard is adequate but I miss having a large one. I find the touchpad too cumbersome so I added a mouse. The wireless connection capability works well although I like to use my wired connection when sitting at the table. I generally have three USB ports in use for an external disk drive, mouse, camera. I have not used the SATA or HDMI plug. The speakers are not high quality but I use headphones anyway.I ordered this laptop on 2/19 and anxiously awaited it's arrival. Got it today and am extremely pleased with it so far. It worked great with the wireless connection at work and now, after a phone call to my ISP, it works great with my satellite internet here at home. It arrived in great condition with only a few smudges that I'm sure a man left on it! LOL Gotta get a carrying case and some kind of mouse for playing my games. Great deal, great computer!!!
3 months later, I love it more than ever!! It puts the computers at work to shame!!! I would highly recommend the product and the seller!!I bought this computer from Speedy Mobile and it just arrived yesterday (12/7/12). So far everything works just fine and it is fast. I have had a couple of freezes but I think that is my own fault. I will create a follow up review in a couple weeks. Overall I am very happy with this computer
[UPDATE]
This computer is still running very good. It is still as fast it was when I got it. I do all my college homework and I have all of music on it. The speakers are amazing for laptop speakers. The best part about this laptop is that I have not had to upgrade or fix anything in it. I would highly recomend this laptop to anyone that needs a fast, cheap and reliable laptop.
HP Pavilion g7-2340dx 17.3-Inch LED HD Laptop - AMD A6-4400M 2.7GHz Accelerated Processor with AMD
I got this laptop at Best Buy considering it was only $402 after taxes and i got it in the store Which beats getting it shipped ( since its not considered for amazon prime as i wrote this i would have to pay for shipping as well..)The AMD APU is great value if your not one of those Hardcore gamers but it is great for value. The cheapest Intel i3 that i saw with the Intel HD 4000 was around 500-600 dollar price range ( the only Intel intergrated gpu i would consider buying from intel. It has 2 3.0 USB ports along with a 2.0 USB port along with HDMI which is great if you want to use it on a monitor ( also a VGA i believe. I can play Diablo 3, Wow ( good settings visually) and also Swtor on it so it does a decent job for games if your willing to play most of them on low :)
IT IS IN GREEK CUSTOMS FROM 25 OF JUNE !!!!!!!!!!!!
NOBODY SEEMS TO CARE ABOUT THAT!!!!
Lenovo IdeaPad N580 15.6" Laptop - Windows 8 (Black)
Great laptop for the price, not much else to say about it. Doesn't get warm, very quiet, and a nice design.
When I streamed a movie last night I was impressed by the decent sound quality, both with earbuds and without. The keyboard action is a little stiff and I understand the rough touchpads on these models tend to deteriorate with light use so I would recommend buying a touchpad skin to protect against wear.
Buy Lenovo IdeaPad N580 15.6" Laptop - Windows 8 (Black) Now
It did not work and cost me $24.00 to return to manufacturer. Still waiting for refund. Asked for return shipping label, did not receive. Would have cost me that much to have the manufacturer repair, so I returned it. Never had a problem with electronics for Amazon before. I bought it because of reviews, very dissapointed.Read Best Reviews of Lenovo IdeaPad N580 15.6" Laptop - Windows 8 (Black) Here