
Lenovo U410 14.0-Inch Ultrabook (Sapphire Blue)

HP G60-440US 16-Inch Laptop

What it is good at: Web browsing, light gaming (does well with anything other than 3D games), office apps (word, excel, power point, etc...) and basic media tasks (playing and creating MP3s, watching movies, editing short home movies).
What it is not good at: 3D gaming, editing large video files, or any heavy computational tasks.
Here is a quick break down of the specs:
Display: This 16" screen is a good bright display that works best indoors, but can be used outdoors except in direct sunlight. A good display is an HP trademark and this one lives up to that standard.
CPU: The Intel Pentium T4300 is a good dual core CPU for light home use. It is the newest version of the Pentium line and is based off the most advanced of the "Core2" processors. (Pentiums are just "Core" or "Core2" CPUS with less cache and slower clock speeds.) I'm a big fan of this CPU for people who mostly want to web browse it's got two cores so you can surf while the anti-virus does it's job so why pay more for a CPU you won't use? If you plan on doing any serious gaming this is not the CPU for you (though it's a lot better than older Pentiums based off the old "Core" cpus).
Memory: 3GB is plenty for light home use. Again plenty for web surfing and playing movies. Not enough for serious gaming.
Graphics: Comes with Intel's new 4500 integrated graphics. While this is a great improvement over previous Intel graphics parts it's still not going to run high-end 3D games at any decent resolution. Old games and non-3D games will be fine.
HDD: 320GB is far more than most light home users will use. I know few using more than 60GB. However anyone who plans on editing home movies will need more space than this (and more memory, and a faster cpu...).
Battery: 6 cell lithium ION. Pretty standard. Gives you about 2-3 hours of light use. If you order it custom from HP you can get an 8 cell. However if you are looking for good battery life you really don't want the G60 line. Look for something with a 14" display and at least an 8 cell battery.
Wireless: Most notebooks from high to low end are using the same few wireless chipsets. This one is covers a wide wireless spectrum including the newest "Wireless N".
Weight: 6.7lbs is a good weight for a screen this large. You will find them up to 8lbs. Again if you are looking for serious mobility you want a thin-and-light, but if you want something you can easily carry from room to room this should suit you.
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I received this notebook a couple days ago, and I'm currently in the process of cleaning all the "bloatware" off of it (though pretty much any computer maker is going to install this on systems they sell, this is really my main problem with HP products). It should run Vista fine after that (though I may end up "downgrading" to XP -I plan on doing IT work with this notebook and need specific software tools that I know run on XP -the 10-key is definitely a plus for entering IP addresses quickly for IT work). This notebook gets a 3.5 performance rating in Vista (the weakest component is the integrated video, but that is to be expected). One thing you don't really see in the pictures on Amazon is that the top of the shell is very shiny black, and will easily show fingerprints, and will quite likely be susceptible to scratches, so make sure you get a good case if you want to maintain its appearance. At the current pricing, this thing is a steal (especially when you factor in the free upgrade to Windows 7, coming out this fall).Update 10/17/09: I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate (I wanted the Bitlocker drive encryption feature, so I will not be using the free upgrade of Windows 7 Home Premium HP will be sending me) last night without a hitch -I did not need to download any drivers from HP and the notebook successfully connected to the Internet after only having to enter the wireless network key. The notebook is much snappier with Windows 7 than with Vista. Still, an excellent value, even though the OS I just loaded onto it cost almost half as much as the notebook originally did.
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Wow! Really light computer. Overall, great computer and fantastic deal on Amazon. Came with battery already half charged. Has cleaning cloth, notepad, and contact numbers if any problems right when you open the box. Initially thought screen was a little small, but I wanted a full size keyboard because I use 10-key sometimes, so it was perfect.It took 4 minutes to boot, took another 4 to go through HP software. HP tries to get you to allow them to track your use of the computer, which, fortunately, you can skip. Did not recognize my network right away and had to go through setup with more lousy, HP(network) software that did not work. I searched My Computer and Network to figure out where the network was and it took 2 seconds doing it my own way took me 20 minutes to figure this all out. Comes with Ebay on Desktop, Norton Trial, and Office trial, and more dumb HP software (which I promptly closed out).
Keyboard is a little slick to touch, but recognizes fine touch, it has a separate section to slide your finger down to make the page scroll up or down. Screen is bright, but sound is just ok (Altec speaker) and a little schrill (get better sound from my Altec surround sound desktop speakers. Keyboard/windows response is fast and crisp. Computer was really quiet and the fan did not start right away like my old computer. Actually, the computer did not get very hot at all after using until battery died.
Recognized CD right away, but was slow opening images. Took 7 minutes to copy 556 MB to harddrive from disc. After using a few days, I found the battery lasts about 3 hours. The 10-key is really convenient if you crunch numbers. The one bad thing is the wi-fi doesn't recognize my network automatically, I have to manually set it up every time this may be due to my other wi-fi on my desktop or other interference or the router I have (which is a few years old). I would recommend anyone to get the new chipsets that have a wireless N router built into the wi-fi chipset. I also got a USB hub to add more devices (comes with 3 USB ports); also does not take a CF card, only SD, MMC, XD and SMpro.
I haven't bought a new computer in several years, so I really shopped around and this is a really good computer so far and at a great price.
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I've had my HP G60-440US laptop for four months now. During those four months, the laptop's been out of order (non-functioning) three different times for an aggregate period of about five weeks. During the first month, the hard drive crashed, and I couldn't turn the computer on. Then the little chippie-thing that allows the computer to connect to my wireless modem broke down. Most recently, the dvd player died while, at the same time, the new wireless card went kaputt. Consequently, I've had to send my laptop away to the service department twice, and have had to reinstall some chip or other part so that the computer could pick up a wireless signal. The computer has been a complete lemon. My friends warned me about purchasing an HP product, and I didn't listen.One of the worst parts about my HP experience has been the attitude of the customer service people. The technical guys in India were nice enough, but they kept me on the line for more than an hour before they agreed that I wasn't lying about my hard drive having crashed. My experience with the managers in the U.S. was much worse. My conversation with customer service notwithstanding all the scripted "I'm sorry to hear that, sirs" left me feeling absolutely powerless and with the feeling that, now that HP had my $500, they cared not a bit about my needs or satisfaction.
So, be warned this is not a good product. I wish I had listened to my friends and spent a little more cash for a better product instead of this toy laptop.
Dell Studio XPS 16 (x1647-533OBK), Intel i5-430M (2.26GHz, 3MB L2 Cache) Turbo Boost to 2.53 GHz, G

I bought this laptop for $999 and 2 years on, Best Buy is selling it for $829 so you know it was a good machine to have kept its resale value. It is a little bulkier than other machines being wide screen but definitely not too heavy to carry around. I take it with me for business presentations, etc.
Acer Aspire V5-571-6662 15.6-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black)

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Toshiba 15.6" Satellite C655-S5225 Intel Laptop

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I absoulutely love my Toshiba 15.6" Satellite C655-S5225 Intel Laptop! I have recommended it to friends & family that are looking to buy new laptops.Read Best Reviews of Toshiba 15.6" Satellite C655-S5225 Intel Laptop Here
do not buy this computer. My friend and I both have the same laptop and both of us had the hinge break. This laptop is poorly designed. It is big and bulky. Once the hinge breaks it is pretty useless and difficult to fixI will not buy a toshiba again
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I bought one for mom and she loves it. It's fast and the screen is a good size. Overall, not a bad laptop for the price.Dell - Inspiron 15.6" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Black

I will put this review together as I wanted to see when I was researching:
Is it fast enough? I have Google chrome (7 tabs), Opera (3 tabs), Evernote, Word, Excel, WMV player, and Mozilla (7 tabs) all open as I type this and the CPU is ranging from 10% to 30% and the memory from 30% to 60%. So, if this describes your usual desktop, yes...it's fast enough. (One thing I cannot under-emphasize...while a well working and efficient computer is important, for web surfing, slow internet is slow internet. A newer computer will definitely help when doing other activities while surfing the web and that's why I had to have this computer)
It's fairly light...which is why the battery doesn't last forever...but it is consistent at over 4 hours unplugged.
The construction feels solid.
Windows 8 takes a little to get used to and to find the cheats/short cuts, but it isn't terrible.
There were other computers with more memory and bigger hard drives, but the bang for the buck of this computer was too good to pass up. And I have yet to max the 4GB this computer has and I'm using external drives for most of my pictures and large files...so I'm not worried about filling this 500GB hard drive.
I actually took the time to find a place I could write a review because I really like this laptop. So hopefully this emphasizes how much I have enjoyed this purchase.Excellent laptop at a great price.
Good features:
1. Good processor speed.
2. Wi-Fi is too good.
3. Nice touch pad
4. Sound and picture quality.
5. Windows 8: just awesome.
Cons:
Weight (2.6 kg)and Backlit keyboard : But at this price, we should not expect too much.
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I bought 3 computers 2 already need to be replaced. The computers are great, they just have hardware problems and I need to send them back.Read Best Reviews of Dell - Inspiron 15.6" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Black Here
Acer Aspire AS5749-6492 15.6" LCD Notebook (Intel Core i3-2350M, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, DVDRW, Windows
ASUS VX5-A2B 16-Inch Black Lamborghini Laptop (Windows 7 Ultimate)
ASUS Eee Box EBXB202-BLK-X0179 Nettop PC with Windows XP Home - Black

And, they'll run Windows 7 Pro quite well, particularly if you kick 'em up to 2GB of RAM.This Asus Eee Box was purchased for my sister-in-law to replace a dead "tower" computer that was too large for her anyway (both in terms of size and power). Installation was stone simple, and it worked perfectly right out of the box. The only glitch, if you will, was that her existing flat panel monitor (which she wanted to continue to use) had a connecting cable that was VGA on both ends, but the Asus's output for the monitor is DVI. So, I had to go to Radio Shack and buy a VGA-to-DVI adapter in order to use her monitor. Moral of the story is to look at your monitor cable, and if it's not DVI, buy the adapter that you need while you're on-line where it will cost you a few bucks, instead of three or four times that at your local electronics store. While you're at it, check to be sure that your keyboard and mouse are USB, otherwise they won't work. We used this new computer "opportunity" to upgrade to a wireless keyboard and mouse (Logitech with unified USB receiver).
The Asus is more than powerful enough for simple Internet browsing, email, and the occasional letter that you might want to write. This kind of usage is probably what 80% of the home-computing population needs, and the small "box" and price is great. So, if this sounds like you, this computer should work fine.
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This item DOES NOT come with keyboard, mouse, or the DVI to VGA adapter that has been included in the nearly 100 eeeBox units we have purchased over the past year. So figure in another $20 for that on top of the Amazon price.Read Best Reviews of ASUS Eee Box EBXB202-BLK-X0179 Nettop PC with Windows XP Home - Black Here
Compaq Presario CQ56-219WM 15.6" 2GB 250GB Notebook PC
Toshiba Satellite P205-S7476 17-inch Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5250, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Har

There are some disappointments though: keyboard felt somewhat cheap (typical plastic feels, a lot worse than the thinkpads'); integrated graphics card made playing games on this gorgeous 17'' screen impossible; sound sometimes have issues (noise); And of course the defeat of HD-DVD to Blueray didn't help much either...
Overall, this is a great lappy for just your DVD needs and a little bit of other type of work/entertainment. If you are looking for dedicated graphics card or a better keyboard, go look elsewhere.I need the number pad on the right like this computer offers. Great invention that was! I bought a brand new HP with this number pad. I type lightening fast and the problem I had with that HP was I kept hitting an up arrow throwing me into an upper paragraph someplace and what a mess up. Good thing for the undo button. The keyboard was off just enough to make fast typing not possible. I have the thing to my two finger typer husband and went to the store and `pretend typed' on every laptop there. This is the one that won. I can type like the wind and not hit other keys from a scrunched up keyboard. You couldn't really see the difference in looking it was that slight but man what a different it was! I still have my number pad and can type like crazy.
The sound..oh yeah, the sound!! I watch movies on here all the time and play music. Great sound!
It has 6 usb ports and of course head phone jacks etc. I use it a lot for skype talking with a headset.
I have worn out one keyboard, I mean letters worn down and faded off. I replaced the keyboard for the heck of it.
My only complaint is the volume button is a dial on the front and my belly keeps bumping it which will unmute the computer. I would prefer the volume be up by the monitor. But, that being my only complaint isn't bad!!
I am NOW a loyal Toshiba fan. I will go kicking and screaming into my next computer because I do not ever want to give this up. I will repair until it no longer makes sense to do so because this is my baby!For more than fifteen years I have bought laptops marks Toshiba, the same have been characterized by its robustness but beautiful design, trustworthiness in their operation, never has failed to me, and for being equipment of technological vanguard. I have replaced when them is motivated to changes in the operating systems and looking for greater capacity of storage and more and more fast processors, in addition I have sold laptop Toshiba that had to very good price of re sale. This is my second Toshiba Satellite P205-S7482, my experience has been so good with this equipment that I bought initially one for my work, being its so satisfactory performance that I bought another one for my home. In the future it would only buy Toshiba, I am a satisfied client.
HP ENVY 15t-3200 Notebook

Dell XPS 15z XPS15z-72ELS Laptop (Elemental Silver)

My new laptop arrived and setup was a breeze. However within a week the batter stopped charging and was disabled. After hrs on the phone with Dell and everyone assuring me this was a unique problem, they sent me a new system. guess what same problem 10 days later. Another 2 days on the phone with their customer service folks in Hyderabad who kept trying to fix the problem. Ultimately they sent in a technician who replaced the battery and the system has been working fine since then. They extended my warrant by 4 months to compensate me for my troublesi guess i should have just bought a refurbished one which is what I essentially got for buying their top of the line laptop.
Now a month later, the wireless card has started acting up. If I step into a room away from where the router sits, it randomly disconnects and tries to connect. Its disconnected 90% of the time. Funny thing is I have a 6 year old Dell Inspiron which works fine and streams video movies without once dropping the signal sitting right next to this machine. I've tried new wireless routers but the problem persists. Called their customer service and they claim it is a software issue without even looking at it and want to charge me to troubleshoot the problem. Dell's service was one thing going for thembut i'm afraid that has started to suck too now.
I would strongly discourage anyone from buying this unless you enjoy being on the phone with a service technician being bumped from hardware to wireless to software to XPS support teams.Other than that it seems like a pretty decent machine that looks sleek, works well when no issues.I have owned several brands of laptops in all different size screens, but I have mostly stayed with Dell. I opted for all the bells and whistles on this one such as a higher resolution 1080 and the Core i7. Therefore, the configuration is higher end than the one listed here. But, basically it is the same computer. This XPS 15z is by far the best one I have had to date. I might add that I also have a MacBook Pro 15 inch. Both computers have their good points, but overall I prefer this Dell XPS.
The design is similar to the MBP, yet keeps a distinctive style. The keys on the keyboard are well spaced and the key travel works just fine and I find it easy to use. And of course, the backlit keyboard really comes in handy. I have had this feature before and love it. The screen resolution and brightness is fantastic, very sharp and clear. The speed is, well, fast. What else can I say. Everything just zips right along. The sound quality is above average for a laptop. The large touchpad is well placed and also easy to use.
I really cannot fault this computer at all. Even though nothing is perfect, I have yet to find anything I don't like. I am just not the type that will complain about the cup holders in a Lexus. That is pointless.
If you want a high end laptop, then I highly recommend this Dell XPS 15z. Give it a try and see for yourself.
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I bought this laptop in 07/11 when it was newly launched. I must admit that the looks got me. Dont get me wrong, its a decent laptop. Sleek looks, good display, light weight and decent battery life...it had it all going for it. Until one day, out of the blue, when I got a message while starting it up "the battery has been temporarily disabled. Please turn off your computer and try it again when the unit is at operational temperature". Initially, I thought that the system might have gotten overheated, but with a surrounding temperature ofRead Best Reviews of Dell XPS 15z XPS15z-72ELS Laptop (Elemental Silver) Here
HP ENVY 17-2090NR Notebook - Silver

I'm not much of a gamer but do play occasionally. Driving games look especially good using the TriDef 3D software to launch the game. The system ships with one pair of active shutter 3D glasses. The 3D effects in games and movies is fun but I find it tiring to wear the 3D glasses for prolonged periods of time.
Applications perform blazingly fast. I use CorelDraw X3 a lot and performance on the Envy is perfect. I use Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD for video editing and Handbrake to convert video files to portable format for my DroidX. The Envy processes everything much faster than my old Thinkpad.
I did update the drivers and BIOS the day I got the system. I had read about issues regarding cpu throttling and knew the BIOS update would fix the issue.
I have no real complaints with this system. Sure it is heavy and the battery life is not that great (it comes with two batteries though) but then again, I didn't buy this to haul around with me everywhere I go. I have a netbook which fills that role.
If you are looking for a very fast system in a semi-portable form factor then it is hard to beat the HP Envy. You definitely get your money's worth.Within the first few days of purchasing this product, I began to experience issues. These issues included random shutdowns, random freezing (completely unresponsive) and periodic slowdowns. As a customer with standard warranty, I spoke with HP technical service. After my personal experience, it would be a compliment to call their service incompetent. On the first call with HP, I discussed the issues I was having to a technician. She asked me to do various tasks as my computer could not be remotely accessed by HP. The call was concluded with her telling me to call back should the problem arise after I had taken specific actions. The problems still persisted and I called again. The phone was answered by a man who spoke broken English. I asked to be transferred to a different technician and my request was granted. After 5 minutes of being put on hold, I was transferred to another technician. Unfortunately, 10 minutes later the technician transferred me to another department because he informed me that his department was not responsible for HP Envy laptops. After another 5 minutes, the same process repeated until I was finally connected to the HP Envy department. Sadly, the technician decided to hang up on me. On the third call I spoke finally spoke to the right technician. After giving him my ticket number, describing my issues and telling him the previous actions that were taken, he concluded our conversation saying that I should call him when my computer froze...
If you plan on buying HP, beware. Should any issues arise, you will not find any real help at HP.
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I must admit that this is the worst laptop I have ever bought in my life and that too for such a huge price.The bluray player does not read properly. I keep getting the error, "insert disc". The system shuts down so often due to heat.
This occurs especially if you are watching Youtube videos or any other flash content or playing movie. This is very true if you travel around the world where it is hot and humid.
With in a year or two, the laptop has completely crashed with a motherboard failure and now I have to spend money from my pocket again to fix this.
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3D is useless !!! On left eye I can see some % of right eye and the same on right eye. So that is very very annoying. Software to veiew 3D is very very slow. To measure time from click button to finaly see picture on screen you not need stoper/watch rather calendar.I have used many laptops but never seen so bad tuchpad even in 300$ laptops. This itself make the laptop complately usless as a laptop (if you have to carry mouse everywhere).
The speed of this laptop match others in this category but for much lower price without 3D. Speed very good indeed but ...
If you want just a speed get many laptops which are as fast but cheper without 3D
If you want 3D this is not one for 3D look at any high contrast 3D scene and you will see on both eyes nearly same like you will be watching without glasses.
Good points
its very quiet !! Even when really very very hot air coming out the fun are not crazzy like w hair dryier in other laptops.
not bad sound
i like the DVD/BR drive tray-less
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I bought this laptop a few months back ...I have had nothing but problems with it !!!
With in the first month the heat sink stopped working, had to send it back to Hp to get it fixed.
That took almost 8-10 days..
Then the laptop started crashing every time i would run movies or videos.
I thought it was a problem with the operating system, but technicians at Microsoft told me
that the error number suggested that it was a hardware problem(mostly with the processor or motherboard)
So I had to send it back again to Hp.
I took them 2 weeks to figure out what the problem was even after i specifically told them what was
happening, because the call center person who i spoke to entered the data wrong(even after i repeated it twice)
Now since last week i m again having problems with the laptop.
Its heating up like crazy & shutting down.
I plan to send it back & ask Hp for my money back,
I have learnt my lesson, NEVER to buy Hp again.. Bad products & worse support you will ever find.
Apple MacBook A1342 13.3" Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.26Ghz, 250GB Hard Drive, 4096Mb RAM, DVDRW Dri

That being said, here's what I did: Pulled the factory RAM and maxed it to 8GB. Pulled the factory 250GB HDD and installed a Seagate Momentus XT Hybrid HDD/SSD 750GB w/64mb cache (could've gone with a full SSD, but opted for more storage). Installed Snow Leopard. Now it runs like lightning. The OSX is nice and light, so it runs really fast. Noticed a huge difference. This model has great potential and is perfect for anyone who doesn't want to fork out a lot of money for an MBP. Since doing this, it's been one my favorite laptops to use.Bought this computer to replace my powerbook that lasted for 6 years. This one hasn't lasted as long. The hard drive failed after a year and a half. I'm still happy with the product, Macs have served me well. Not getting into the whole Mac vs. PC debate, but if you like Macs, this is a good buy, hopefully with the new hard drive it will last me a few years.
Thinkpad X230 Laptop Lenovo, 12.5" Ultraportable Notebook(Newer model of x220) (12.5'' x230, Econom

Processor Intel Core i5-3210M on MB
Operating system Windows 8 64
Operating system Language Win8 64 English
Total memory 4 GB PC3-12800 DDR3 (1 DIMM)
Hard drive 320GB HDD 7200rpm
Optical device NONE
Battery 9cell, ThinkPad Battery X44++
Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0 w/ antenna
WiFi wireless LAN adapters Intel Centrino WL-N 2200
Wireless WAN accessories Mobile Broadband upgradable
Warranty Type 1 Year Depot/Express Warranty
Custom images NONE
AC Adapter and Power Cord 65W AC Adpt US (2pin)
Accessible Optimized Preload NONE
Adobe Acrobat NONE
Adobe Elements NONE
Adobe Lightroom NONE
Camera X230 720p HD Camera
Custom Image Language NONE
Display Panel X230 12.5HD Premium WWAN 2x2
What I like:
-i5-3210M processor can handle anything you throw at it (play HD video, edit PDF's using adobe acrobat, casual gaming)
-Customizable, can install aftermarket RAM or hard drive
-Always-on USB port can charge devices even when laptop is turned off
-Very little bloatware
-Fingerprint reader is nifty
-Island keyboard prevents crumbs/hairs from falling in between keys
-This is my first Lenovo, so to me the keyboard is very accurate and a pleasure to type on
-Backlighting of keyboard has 2 brightness settings
-Excellent viewing angles and brightness with IPS display
-Really well-built, no creaks
-Soft grippy texture
-Coming from an Acer Aspire 12 inch laptop, the 12.5 inch display strikes a perfect compromise between a more portable 12 inch and the typically heavier 13 inch
-Lenovo update manager keeps all drivers up to date
-44++ 9 cell battery can easily last 7+ hours of movie-watching
What I don't like:
-Trackpad. This is hands-down the worst trackpad I have ever used on any laptop. It has a small area, has a bumpy surface, feels cheap, and is difficult to press. What's more, the mouse cursor does not move smoothly; it tends to jump around whenever using the trackpad (not an issue when using the red cap or a USB mouse). This problem is well-documented on Lenovo's support website but there does not appear to be a solution, and the latest drivers do not fix the problem
-In order to install anything in Windows 8, I have to go into compatibility mode and have the computer pretend it's Windows XP
-Some Lenovo utilities, such as the Power Manager, do not function with Windows 8
-Attracts fingerprints
-Somewhat heavy
-On Windows 8 versions, Lenovo will not give you a product key or sticker. The activation key is hard-coded into the bios, so to re-install you need to put in a Windows 8 boot disc/USB drive and the bios automatically authenticates the copy rather than you typing in a key
Advice:
-Go for Windows 7
-Go for the premium LCD dispay (IPS)
-Use a USB mouse rather than the trackpad
-Backup the OS onto USB drive or DVD immediately and keep a copy
-44+ 6-cell battery is good for 4.5 to 5 hours of web surfing, 3.5 to 4 hours of movie watching. It does not bulge out the back of the laptop, but does lift the laptop by 1cm
-44++ 9-cell battery is good for 7 hours of movie watching. It bulges out the back AND elevates the laptop by 1cm. I find the bulge is nice to hold onto with one hand and is well-worth the extra weight for the excellent battery life and marginal cost increase
-If you want to install an aftermarket SSD, you need one with 7mm thickness such as Samsung 830 or 840, or Crucial m4. 9.5 mm SSD's will NOT fit because they are too thick
-Check out Lenovo's support website. Almost any problem you can think of will be addressed by the helpful community thereIn most areas, this laptop is good. The keyboard is well designed physically (although it has some baffling design choices; namely the left Ctrl key has been swapped with the Function key for some reason. Fortunately you can fix that in the BIOS). The computer is sturdy and well made. It even looks decent, although it is more utilitarian than your average Ultrabook competitor.
It's fast, the screen is quite good (although the viewing angles and color accuracy isn't exceptional for an IPS display), the battery life is impressive (you can get 11 hours of actual use with the 9cell), and the little trackpoint dot is functional, although using it will never be as fast as using a well calibrated touchpad.
Which brings me to this laptop's major and inexcusable failing. While it appears to have a trackpad shaped space, this is entirely for show. Nobody will ever be able to use this touchpad effectively; it is just not reliable enough. It isn't just worse than modern contenders: it is so bad that it can't be compared to the trackpad on my 6 year old Dell, or any other laptop I have ever used. I'm not sure if the problem is hardware or software: I don't really care. Everyone with this laptop has complained about since release, and Lenovo has done absolutely nothing to fix it. If the hardware is flawed, they should give users the option of replacing the touchpad. If it's software, they should patch the software in a way that actually fixes it. It's not like this problem could have come as a shock; through 3 installs, (2 different OS's), and multiple drivers, it has been constant. The forums indicate everyone has it. They do release patches, but I have no idea what they're fixing about the touchpad, since it doesn't seem to affect this issue.
Similar situation when I upgraded to Windows 8 (a selling point Lenovo played up when I bought this laptop with Win7). Most of the Lenovo specific software just doesn't work properly; you don't have advanced battery manager software, the mic button no longer works, and the network card just dies at random. Again, lots of complaints to Lenovo, no real evidence that Lenovo has really tried to fix the issue.
In summary: good laptop physically, with some of the worst driver issues I have ever had. Only buy it if you actually do not use touchpads (ever!), and don't want Windows 8.I custom-ordered from the Lenovo/Thinkpad site. My configuration:
Thinkpad X230 Tablet
+ Core i7 2.90 GHz Ivy Bridge processor
+ 8 GM RAM
+ 128 GB Solid-State Drive
+ 1366x768 Matte Multi-Touch Screen with Active Stylus
+ 9-cell extended battery (sticks out the back and adds a bulge at the bottom; the 6-cell battery just sticks out the back)
+ Windows 7 Pro
+ Ultra-Base 3 with DVD/RW optical drive
No discrete graphics card option
I've been a long-time Thinkpad fan--including 600E (late 1990s), R40 (early 2000s), T42 (mid 2000s), T420 (late 2000s)--for the rock-solid dependability, non-nonsense styling, and in particular the king-of-them-all keyboard. I mistakely tried a Dell Latitude E6400 for a couple of years, and I truly hated it, despite its own pointer stick and solid construction. When I decided to get this X230 Tablet, the only thing I was worried about was how the new keyboard was going to feel. Well, have no fear. I am a big fan of the new keyboard. It's got deep travel, its motion is the perfect blend between smooth travel and pleasing resistance, and the contoured surface actually feels comforable. This new keyboard is a winner. Other than that, there really isn't anything that needs to be said about this machine that the prospective buyer wouldn't already know. I loaded it up to the gills with the fastest and best of everything, except a 3G cellular card--totalled over $3000 MSRP before a the Ultrabase 3 and extra power adapters. On paper, the only thing the X230T lacks is discrete graphics, but the Intel HD 4000 integrated graphics that comes with the Ivy Bridge chipset is good enough for my occasional Engineering analysis and 3D modeling work--just make sure to get a least 8 GB RAM to share with the inegrated graphics. Plus, the Ultrabase 3 is able to support dual monitors via its dual VGA+DisplayPort ports. Just one final tip--get the Multitouch keyboard; you'll be ready for Windows 8 Pro when it's released.Let me start with the improvements (over the X201). In my view, the keyboard is a huge improvement. The lack of a backlit keyboard led me to other laptops in between my X201 and the x230 even though I was a huge fan of the X201. A backlit keyboard is essential for working from bed or on dark plane flights. The new keyboards backlighting is fantastic. I agree with other reviews that the lack of a print screen button, etc, is a bit of a pain but happy to trade it for backlighting (although I'm not sure why you can't do both).
I also find the new built in speaker mute and mic mute buttons really handy. I use them all the time.
I think the new screen is an improvement, as well as the port configurations. Have both a VGA and display port is nice, and there are enough USB ports to get by.
This might be idiosyncratic to my specific laptop but I've had a lot more reliability problems with the X230 than I had with the x201. I'm running the same version of Windows (7 Enterprise) but it crashes, programs freeze and have to restart, and the system just seems generally less consistent then my X201. It have been a very long time since a new processor has made any noticeable difference for me in day to day work, so consistency/reliability is really the measure of a good processor/hardware configuration (and battery life).
As the title suggests, all of this is really moot however, because the trackpad makes the laptop almost unusable for me outside the office (where I can use an external mouse). I have no idea how it made it through Lenovo's product testing/QA process. Someone must have been under pressure to get it out the door and rationalized that it would be OK. It is not OK though, it's a total disaster, and unlike the print screen button it is absolutely fundamental to everyday use. I have no idea why it's seen as a benefit to get rid of the two trackpad buttons (to be more cutting edge/Apple-like most likely) but it's a terrible idea in general if it makes the feature at all less reliability/usable, and this execution is particularly bad (although I've used a couple other similarly designed trackpads from Dell, etc and they have been bad as well). I would say less than 30% of the time the left click button works for me on the first try and right click less than 10% of the time.
The trackpad also thinks I am trying to do some kind of gesture every 10 minutes or so and totally screws up whatever I am working on. This has been a significant productivity hit for me and it just makes me not want to use the laptop outside the office, which is obviously a huge problem. It amazes me that for something this fundamental, the equivalent of a car's steering wheel or voice quality on a phone, they wouldn't have just decided to stick with the previous hardware until they were sure they had it right. No one would have bought a different laptop instead of the X230 because the other had a buttonless trackpad, but as this and the other reviews demonstrate, lots of people are going to move to other laptops because of it.Lite, powerfull, good price, excellent option to buy if you want good price-performance relation. Is available a basic opcion with core i3 processor, good to.
HP Pavilion 2000-363NR Notebook Pc

I'll possibly edit this in the future when I have more info.
Sony VAIO VGN-TZ191N/X 11.1" Notebook (1.2GHz Core 2 Duo U7600 2GB RAM 32GB HDD DL DVD-RW Vista Bus

This thing is small and thin. Feels like it has no battery. Actually does weigh just a tad over 2.5 pounds. The carbon fiber is impressive.
Speakers are lots better than my netbook, not near as loud as my other laptops. At their highest, movies are, let's say, comfortable.
The keys are chicklet style--widely separated and little push. But unlike my older VAIO S150, the cursor won't skip around while typing, so no need for Touch Freeze. Tight here.
At 11 inches it is much easier to type on than the my netbook, but not at all like my regular laptops. Probably no extended typing on this one.
The screen is...OMG! It's not that the color is brighter it's the saturation! Colors are high contrast and just jump off the High Definition screen. Like nothing I've ever seen! It's the saturation, the WHITE (no yellow) background, and the razor (and I do mean razor) sharp HD screen. When desktop icons make you stare.....
Processor speed. The Core 2 Duo Ultra Lo Voltage chip is as fast as any of my other Core 2 Duos. With the Core 2 Duo and Windows 7 Professional, absolutely no need for more than a gig of RAM. It has infinite settings and adjustments for everything possible. I set the power on the chip at 75% to extend the battery life (and not dim the screen), and it is sufficiently fast, but you can feel the chip tugging on the bridle. Powered down to 75%, and the ubiquitos Sony fan turned down to 'quiet', the battery gets 4 hours. I guess that's OK for the (LOTS of) use it has apparently seen.
The blue tooth, fingerprint reader, web cam, etc., I haven't messed with.
Biggest unexpected surprises--the saturation and sharpness of the LED Hi Def screen. Second, how fast that processor is. I guess I was expecting what I get with Goggle Chrome stripped down on my netbook, not what I'm getting with a real laptop and full-blown Windows 7 Professional. Third, how light and thin it is--even with the dual-layer DVD burner. Fourth the wifi--picks up places I didn't know existed. Has wireless a/b/g/n--and I still don't own an 'n' router. Finally, how quiet and tight it feels. 'Lean' I guess is the word, No fat anywhere. Not a speck of wasted space.
Disappointments--impossible to type on in poor light (those dark keys and pale lettering), and the mouse buttons are right on the front edge. Takes getting used to.
All in all, how Sony packed all the stuff into what looks like a netbook, I don't know. Nobody else certainly did. It is aptly described as ultra portable.
Probably more than you wanted to know, but it is a powerfully packed little unit that once was prohibitively expensive, and beyond the reach of us mortals.I purchased this computer in September of 08. It is an expensive computer and of course, I bought the fancy case. I truly appreciated the smaller notebook configuration and the fact that I could carry it easily. It worked very well for two years. In January of 2011, the hard drive failed. This was one year and two months after the warranty was out. I went to Sony customer service and found that, yes, I could send it in. However, the cost to me, minus shipping, would be between $400 and $500 for a new hard drive. I have communicated with three other persons who have experienced exactly the same hard drive failure with this computer. It is a newer, smaller hard drive and obviously does not function over time. If you do decide to purchase this computer I would make sure to purchase the extended warranty.
I have decided not to repair it and certainly will not purchase another Sony computer. We have an HP that is an 04 and going strong. My next purchase will be an I-book.