Order was placed, confirmed, and delivered ahead of time. Out of the box, the laptop checked out petfectly. Went through a couple of lengthy Win8 updates. After that clear sailing.Good purchase. Taxes done.
Showing posts with label light laptops. Show all posts
Showing posts with label light laptops. Show all posts
HP Pavilion g6-2228DX 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
Order was placed, confirmed, and delivered ahead of time. Out of the box, the laptop checked out petfectly. Went through a couple of lengthy Win8 updates. After that clear sailing.Good purchase. Taxes done.
Sony VAIO VPC-EH32FX/B Intel Core i5-2450M 2.50GHz 6GB 500GB DVD+/-RW Win7 15.5" (Black)
The computer came with a corrupted restore partition in the D drive. Which means, if this computer crashes, I have no way of restoring it. Sony technical support can provide me with the restoration software. but at a cost of $75.00! The service technician told me that because I purchased the computer through a third party, this issue is not covered under warranty. I therefore ask, what good is having a warranty if when the time comes to utilize it, it's rendered invalid simply because of the vendor??? This remains an ongoing issue that has yet to be resolved.
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Lenovo ThinkPad T60 2623 15-Inch Laptop
The Thinkpad T series is IBM/Lenovo's standard business laptop, and as a college student, I have found it to be perfect. I have the T60 model with the specs listed above: T2500 (2GHz Core Duo), 1 GB Ram, 100 GB Hard Drive, SuperDrive, Bluetooth, Wireless Internet, Fingerprint Reader, Windows XP SP2, 128 MB ATI Radeon x1400. The laptop is very well constructed and sturdy. The keyboard is excellent, and very responsive. The screen is slightly dim, but I usually use it at an even dimmer setting anyways to conserve battery life. I also have a dock and a 21" widescreen monitor. Recently, when my computer became infected, I merely used the backup sector (which takes away 20GB from your hard drive) to reload everything it was a lot easier than manually reformatting, installing Windows, installing the thinkpad drivers, etc. The drivers are also very good, with the exception of the Thinkpad Access Connections, which I uninstalled immediately. The embedded security chip works well, if you need to use that. I prefer to key in a password rather than use a fingerprint reader. The fingerprint reader will not work if there is moisture of your fingertip. It also needs to be recalibrated (i.e. reprogram your fingerprint) every know and then. Since getting a dock though, I've chosen to forego the fingerprint reader completely.I purchased this thinkpad with the accidental damage protection warranty, which means I can do nearly anything to the thinkpad I want, and it will be replaced. Why would I though it's a great computer.
Battery life is pretty good the 6 cell battery is rated at 3.5 hrs and will give you a decent 2.5. You can always upgrade to a 9 cell battery and/or take out the DVD-burner and stick in an extra battery there.
Opening up the T60 is also easy, and allowable under the warranty to some extent for example, adding RAM or replacing the keyboard (replacement keyboards are shipped overnight!)
I also like the matte-ish finish off the laptop cover as well as the screen. All in all, a wonderful laptop, and with a student discount, very affordable. The newer Thinkpads have Core 2 Duo processors (marginal performance increase over the Core Duo in this laptop), and are Vista Ready. You can always upgrade. Highly recommended laptop.
Anyhow, this T60 feels a lot more "plasticky" than the T41. It just seems cheap and flimsy. I also have a lot of problems docking and undocking this machine. With the T41, I can undock the machine, run to a conference room, open the laptop and not miss a beat. The T60 has problems adjusting screen resolutions, recognizing my mouse on the dock, and crashes with the blue screen of death. I feel pretty frustrated right now...
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I was a little hesitant at first buying a "used" or "refurbished" laptop. After receiving this unit I must admit it was better than anticipated. The laptop was in very good condition. Over the next two weeks I put it through the wringer testing every feature possible including battery life. I would have posted 5 stars if backup/recovery disc(s)would have been part of the package.Shipping was quick and laptop was adequately packed.
Read Best Reviews of Lenovo ThinkPad T60 2623 15-Inch Laptop Here
I am in search of a laptop for college :) and I heard great reviews on Lenovo, so I purchased one. Turns out, its one of those old computers, that isn't for the modern student, no offence but its great for mom and dad :) but for a gamer/student, yeah not the best product ^^. The company, computerpawn, is fairly decent, although a little disappointed I had to pay for my own shipping, as I returned it.
Toshiba Satellite L655D-S5164 15.6-Inch LED Laptop (Grey)
It's a short story how I landed on buying this laptop at a local retail store. I was looking for something below $1000 and a 15" size and good performance and this was it. This was the first time I ever used a personal laptop or computer at home with AMD processor and I should say I loved it. First I was at the retail store and picked up another brand with I5 processor. It has more memory and more hard drive space than this laptop. Took it home and playing some high performance pc games and some streaming apps and noticed that the I5 really was bad. The graphics was slow, the performance was bad. So I went back to the store and tried other similar I5 laptops with other manufacturers and same bad result. Finally I thought I'll pick this one ( as it's quad core) and ran the same games in the store (thanks to my mobile hotspot ..;-) ) and the performance was simply superior for almost the same $$$. I was really impressed even with 1/2 the memory of other laptops how it handled the same games and programs. Well, I was sold!!! I've been using this for couple months now. Great performance, no heat issues, fantastic display, nice looks.I feel really sad now, as amazon now sells it for less than $600! I paid over $750 + tax for this! Although definitely worth that money. Less than $600 is fantastic price!
Only complain I have is that sometimes when I type my palm accidently hits the touchpad and puts the cursor elsewhere or puts in scrolling mode. I think , then I learnt to position my hands differently. The issue is because the touchpad is fairly large and its possible you'll touch it accidently when your typing.
Overall great product. Kudos for AMD too!
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I just recieved this laptop and have been so impressed with it over the last few days just had to write a review about it. To put it simply here are the benifits: Very very well priced when i bought it at $549.00. Super fast. It runs at about what you would expect from a $1,200 laptop. LED screen looks vibrant and amazing so far. If this had blu ray it would be the perfect laptop but i guess it can be added down the road and for $550.00 i wont complain.All in all great purchase and i am very impressed with the whole Toshiba line. Quality, long-lasting excellence. Sick computer!!!
Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite L655D-S5164 15.6-Inch LED Laptop (Grey) Here
Just unwrapped my new Toshiba L655D-S5164 RT from the box, and am using it now. Have yet to determine the best way to remove the "bloatware" (any suggestions?), but no real complaints so far. This is my third Toshiba laptop, and the keyboard layout (including 10-key) is more than acceptable. Mouse pad was simple to disable (on/off switch). Obviously, I prefer a wheel mouse (ordered a nice wireless type, Logitech, at the same time). Machine runs cool as a cuke, despite the faster microprocessor, and have yet to hear the fan come on. For the price (or even for NOT the price), I find this little gem to be an amazing value!The wide 16:9 aspect ratio screen took me a little getting used to in the beginning. If you are more concerned about a "full-height" display, you might consider the 14" screen as opposed to this 15.6" version. My wife's old Toshiba (low-end model) is a 14", yet is about an inch and a half deeper than my new one. However, with any 14-incher, you might sacrifice that handy10-key numeric pad on the side. I work with figures a lot, so the added keypad is a nice feature to me.
While the screen is not visibly brighter than my former Toshiba, it is still the famous TruBrite screen, which beats most anything else out there in the world of notebooks. It's as vivid as you can wish for. Matter of fact, I was considering an HP (have a couple of friends who love theirs), but the HP laptop screen is no match for a Toshiba. Plus, the Toshiba reliability record handily beats out HP (along with most any brand on the market).
The speakers are no better than what came with the Toshiba I purchased in 2004, but this is a laptop, not Carnegie Hall. If you want to use your laptop as a substitute for a real sound system, then invest in a set of external speakers, which are cheap enough.
My only real "complaint" is that, along with Windows 7 (which was highly intuitive), it came packaged with a "starter" version of MS Office 2010--which did not even include Outlook! But such is the case with software packaging these days...no fault on the part of Toshiba. You get what you pay for. After creating a system restore disk, I will get rid of this starter package and load my older version of MS Office 2003. Besides, other than a few annoyances, and unwanted bells and whistles, I have not noticed any real "improvements" in MS Word, Excel and Outlook over the years.
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Nice features on this thing. It's not a monster by any means, but the quad core processor doesn't fail to impress. It's got four gigs of ram, and that should be more than enough for day-to-day use with a reasonable amount of applications running at the same time. Can handle some light gaming, but anything more and you'd need one with a decent (non-integrated) video card. Has a cool camera, mic and all that jazz. The speakers aren't bad, and hey at least there's two of them (yes I've seen laptops with just one speaker).The battery is complete garbage, and barely lasts two hours even while doing menial things like typing up a review on the lowest power mode (eco mode, toshiba calls it). I estimate that it will last at most two years before completely dying. I recommend getting a 9-cell battery, but if you're going to just be using it running on ac power most of the time anyway, then why bother. I completely expected this about the battery though. The longest lasting types of standard lithium ion batteries seem to be those sheet batteries that are in mac books and such, but it will be a million years before I ever purchase an apple product.
All in all I'd say this thing is great for the cost. Some two or one and a half years ago my mom purchased a toshiba satellite similar to this one for around the same price. It is only half as good as this one in all aspects (cpu speed, ram, even disk space). The integrated video card has seen little improvement over the years, (just like the integrated media accelerator from intel), but it's still amazing to see how fast technology progresses.
Oh yeah, and both this laptop and the older one that my mom and I got from amazon some time ago have been running great so far with no problems. I have to say out of all the different brand of laptops that I have owned and worked with, Toshiba is the least problematic of all.
HP Pavilion DV6-1354US 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 4 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premi
I purchased model DV6-1354US with 500gb hard drive and 6 cell battery. I use this laptop for editing photos with Adobe Photoshop CS4, as well as editing audio with Adobe Audition 2.0.I have a five year old HP laptop running XP and it is still going strong. Despite outsourced Indian phone support, I was able to communicate support issues effectively. I am confident in future hardware performance and support from HP.
Transition from XP to Windows 7 was intuitive. The new taskbar is my favorite improvement. Followed by much better graphic interface and widgets. Some of my XP software causes Windows 7 to turn off Aero mode. I feel that windows has caught up with Apple in terms of graphics and workflow.
As far as laptop is concerned, Dave from Portland has a great review comparing the different models available on Amazon. The DV6-1354US is sufficient for me to use Adobe Photoshop and Audition, as well as multitask.
I will never go to a laptop again without a numeric keypad, this was an unexpected plus. I do miss the old HP media controls above the keyboard. They are replaced now by a volume and wireless control. I like that they are no longer buttons but touch sensitive surfaces above the keyboard.
The DV6 is quieter and cooler than my old HP. The power cord is beefier, which was always a problem with my old HP. Although I would prefer a magnetic power cord like Apple offers. Compared to other manufacturers, I would have to say that HP has the best price for great, reliable hardware.
Everything is a wonderful improvement except for the sound. Frequently, friends would ask where the music was coming from when I used my old DV1000. I felt that the sound was very rich for such a small system. I find the DV6 to have a much shallower, smaller sound that finds trouble filling a bedroom. For this reason, I drop the DV6 to four stars.
Also, the DV6 doesn't come with recovery disks. You need 3 DVD+R or -R (not RW) disks to create your own.
Overall, I really enjoy this computer, and probably will continue to enjoy it for another 5 to 7 years until RAM is in petabytes and laptops cook dinners. If I had to do it again I would still choose it over an Acer, Asus, Dell, Mac, or Sony.
The reviews on this style of HP were good. Friends and colleagues at other companies were happy with theirs. I ordered this for my wife. I received it a month ago and am using the multimedia stuff, the lightscribe CD/DVD burner etc. All very simple. Windows 7 seems very solid. The 4 Meg of RAM moves it along quickly. The N wireless card is fast and furious on the N+ Router (Belkin). we are doing Amazon movie on demand and no delays. Keyboard feels good, has built in number pad, nice. However the keys do get lost in w very low lighting. Maybe back-lighting the keys or iridium down the road?
So for the first month anyhow, very happy with it.I have got this HP notebook due to the software I need to use. I usually use Mac and like its stability and smoothness. When I used windows (it was windows Me and XP) years ago, it was not really a good experience... But this time is different. Windows 7 works solid and reliable. The machine is fast enough for its price, and I was surprised how light it weighs. If you carry your computer around, this is nice. You cannot complain about this machine since it deserves credit for its functionality, reliability and the price cost. For average user like me, this is good.
Only annoying thing is you have to make your own recovery disks (3 dvd blank disks you have to prepare). There is no os disk so this is important to do. It does not matter except for waiting a long time to burn those 3 dvd disks...Buyer beware. Yes they do look shiny and nice. Yes the specs look very impressive. Awesome price too. But the build quality is complete garbage. My well cared for 1.5 yr old HP laptop has died because it runs way to hot and eventually the motherboard got fried. This is a known issue in many models. Don't trust any. No support from HP. "Total Care" ya right. Don't take my word for it, do as the other people have posted..Google HP problems and you'll see. Also check out their HP community support page laptops then hardware section and see all the happy customers there too. Don't make the same mistake I did. Buy some other brand.Well, I tend to whisper mean things and curse my computer on a daily basis, but I haven't felt the need to do that with this one. It's quick enough with lots of storage and with a good amount of quality programs already loaded. I like how the computer manages its own health and happiness issues and it regularly reminds me to backup my files. The computer handles the large graphing programs I use with out the long pauses I have experienced previously. My one complaint is the screen shape. It has a short-wide screen. The short is the problem for me; with most programs having large tool bars at the top and or bottom of the screen a short screen creates a smaller workable space, however movies look great on it and the resolution is good even when viewed at angle. I know I could have sprung for the DV7 with the 17.3" screen rather than the cheaper 15.6" but the extra screen size added an addition 4 pounds (ouch)!
Acer AS5755-9401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black)
I made the purchase on the midnight of the 9th and the package got in the afternoon of the 12th! It took only 3 business days to arrive, although I only chose the super saver shipping method and it only promised to arrive in 7 business days.The packaging is good, everything is brand new-definitely not opened before. The body of the machine is also brand new, sleek, and solid, albeit its 15.6" size. It's not thick at all; maybe because I had been well prepared for it since I knew it weights about 5.7 lb.
Another important comment: about its cooling system. I think overall it exceeds my expectation. I have read comments complaining the fan's excessive noise and that cpu temp easily gets up to over 80 degree Celsius. Well, it's not the case I experience with this machine. It installs various software fast, and temp kept between 46 and 58 degree Celsius, mostly swayed around 50.
I bought it at the price of about $682. So far I'm quite satisfied. I owned a thinkpad which I thought would be much better than other cheaper brands in terms of finishes, but now I'm changing my opinions a bit.
POSITIVES
1. I bought this laptop specifically becuase I wanted the fastest CPU I could find to help me edit a book I'm working on. For a new computer (no refurb) this is currently the cheapest 64-bit i7 4-core processor laptop on the market and costs hundreds less than others I looked at: Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Asus, Lenovo (I will never buy another Lenojunko after capacitors blew in my last one), Fujitsu, IBM Thinkpad, Panasonic, etc. I didn't consider Mac. I think I paid about $649 last month directly through Amazon. With the 3-year warranty, it came to just over $800. If you can still get it this price, buy it asap. From everything I reviewed, this is a steal, as far as I'm concerned. I would give this laptop 9/10 stars.
2. My IT buddy warned me about buying an Acer for durability reasons, so I bought the "Canopy" three year extended warranty for about $143 through Amazon. Don't worry, it will pop up when you try to buy your laptop on Amazon. It covers drops, spills, electronic malfunctions, etc. Actually, Acer's 1-year warranty covers the first year and then the "Canopy" warranty kicks in for years 2 and 3. I called Canopy to verify everything before purchasing. So, at least for the next three years, I've got a screaming fast laptop under warranty. I just wish I could find a place to sell me a warranty for years 4 and 5. Does anybody know of one? If so, please send me a pm.
3. I like the sleek attention-grabbing style (you wouldn't think it was an Acer from a distance). It looks very modern, like one of the Korean or Japanese computers I've seen on college campuses and when traveling over seas. This is definitely a head turner. You've never seen a laptop like this. If you use in a public place don't be surprised when people are looking over your shoulder trying to figure out what brand it is. After they find out it's an ACER, though, they may lose interest.
4. The mouse pad is super responsive. Be sure to go into the control panel and adjust the eon mousepad settings (or whatever the proprietary mousepad software is called). It has an adjustable feature to prevent accidental palming of the mousepad while typing. I cranked that setting up as well as the sensitivity for finger scrolling and browsing. Also, it has a vertical scroll function on the far right of the pad that makes scrolling up and down pages very easy. It also comes factory set so that if you are surfing the web and want to go back one page you simply use *two* fingers, tap the mouse pad, and simultaneously move your fingers to the left. To go forward one page, you do the same thing but move your fingers to the right. If you don't like it, you can turn that setting off.
5. The extension chord is two or three feet longer than my Dell Dimension D520 chord.
6. One of the USB hubs is like a USB 2.5 or 3.0 or something (it's the blue one on the right side of the computer. I forget what it's called). It makes downloading and uploading to flash drives or external hard drives doubly fast. I always hook into that one rather than the other ones.
7. The extension chord pulls out of the laptop *very* easily, which is a plus in our house with kids flying around. . . nevertheless, this could be a negative if you don't notice that it pulled out and you run your battery down. I have my battery warning set to notify me when I reach like 20% of the battery capacity.
8. Screen resolution is incredible! Beats my Dell Dimension D520 by a long shot. Much better than our television (however, the only TV we have is an older RCA glass front analog type).
9. It has a full number pad on the right hand side, which comes in extra handy if you ever have to do any calculating, accounting or other work with numbers.
MY RESPONSE TO OTHER AMAZON CUSTOMER NEGATIVES THAT I'VE READ
I've read everything everyone else has said and, for the most part, the negatives are very minor, as follows:
1. Chiclet keys: When you get used to the chiclet keys (took me about a month), you'll be able to type faster than with a standard keyboard. Your fingers will fly unimpeded. It's hard to explain, but after the first month or so, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm wondering now if that's not why chiclet keyboards are actually used.(?) It's kind of like the difference between sprinting with cross-trainers, verses ultra-light spiked track shoes, if you understand what I'm saying.
2. Screen glare: This *may* be a problem if you're trying to watch a movie at an angle and there are bright lights in the room. So far, we've had no issues with this. However, we always turn the lights off when watching movies.
3. Fingerprints: You'll have the same issues on your eye glasses, clean plateglass window, clearcoat finish, glossy mahogany wood finish in your luxury yacht or car etc. (Not that I'll ever own one of those). OK, so you can see the fingerprints. . . that's the price of style, I suppose.
4. Offset keyboard: Ok, so the keys are offset to the left of center by an inch or so because you have a number pad on the right. My thoughts? Yes, it does take some getting used to, it took me like 2 minutes and it took my wife like 30 sec. After that, you never think of it again.
5. Fan noise: I honestly worried about this after reading the complaints before purchasing. My thoughts after owning it? If that little amount of noise is all you have to complain about. . . then you are definitely spoiled. I remember our first PC Junior. . .it sounded like a tornado. I can't believe this bothers people. If we lived in a perfect world, some people would still find things to complain about.
6. Battery life: I don't know what anyone is complaining about here. This thing has the longest battery life out of all 4 laptops I've ever owned. Again. . . maybe you're spoiled.(?) Maybe I don't know what I'm missing.(?)
7. Size: It's not like it's 10 lbs. and bulky. Come on. It is very thin, yet wide. I care less about size than functionality. As long as it is a performer, I'm happy. Also the extra wide screen is a plus when watching movies.
8. Shareware extras: Or, whatever you call all those extra programs that are already loaded on the desktop. Some of these are actually useful for us (Skype, etc.). For the rest? Just delete them. No biggy.
9. I read a complaint about the mousepad being less responsive than Dell. I don't know what you're talking about. Have you adjusted your settings to your specifications? If anything, it may be *too* responsive. In that case, readjust your settings down a little.
MY NEGATIVES (This is why I would give 9 instead of 10 stars).
1. The speakers aren't as loud as I would like (are they for any laptop?) Can ACER speakers be upgraded to make them louder? If anyone knows, could you send me a pm?
2. The speaker cover, which runs the width of the laptop just above the keyboard, is a mesh screen that can collect debris. My solution? Blow it out with a can of compressed air once a month is the only thing I know to do. Unless you want to cover the holes with some transparent tape, which would be awkward.
3. I like the rubber strap on the Dell laptop power cord as opposed to the velcro strap on the Acer cord. "Acer, go to the rubber strap!"
4. The ACER brand isn't especially associated with durability, from what my IT buddy tells me. I will definitely keep you updated if anything EVER goes wrong with this machine.
5. It didn't come with a full version of MS Office (it has some type of cheesy mini-version; something like, MS Office Light). You either have to buy MS Office or download some freeware like OpenOffice from CNET.
6. This computer comes with no digitally-generated free standing hologram images, mind activated functionality, or flux capacitor for time travel. I guess I can deal with that for now.
Buy Acer AS5755-9401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black) Now
I am just blown away by the power and performance of this product!This is a replacement for my wife's laptop. I grew tired of hearing 'Ah come on!!"
I'd have to tell her "Honey step away from the computer til it's done updating!" LOL! I checked the rankings of performance by processor and hers was bench marked ranked 463rd at the time of purchase. This one is ranked 19th!
(!Just checked, and they have released some new processors and this one has dropped to 52nd. Understandable The number one ranked will never stay there long.)
This unit is sleek, quiet and runs surprisingly cool. Has built in WiDi for streaming HD content to your HDTV.
The sound quality is very good and the screen size and quality is very nice.
Number the pad is a big plus
Now she is happy!
Read Best Reviews of Acer AS5755-9401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black) Here
first time i got this, the space bar key wasn't quite working right so i promptly returned it(amazon was very good about it-no hassles) and got it ordered again. i was sure i wanted to order this laptop again as soon as i turned it on.windows 7, i7 is new to me and it felt like such an update from my older system.
it has a larger keyboard with number keys like a regular home pc keyboard which is convenient.
the one negative with the layout of the keys though is that the volume adjustment requires the use of 2 buttonsthat is really a pain. i mean if you turn something on and it suddenly blasts into a loud volume, you better have both your hands free to turn it down or mute. i think that that's probably the most significant thing they got wrong.
so far, i've had no issues with it (i've had it for about a month). i really like the smooth keys, that it comes with USB 3.0 port, WiDi, complete photoshop elements. it's got a lot of likable features.
all in all, a very good buy.
also, i forgot to add, another feature i like of it is the inbuilt post-it.. i love post-its for pcs and this one had a program with it.. love it.
UPDATE:
I have now had this pc for 9 months. 3 days ago, when i was trying to turn it on, it started making a loud beeping noise. After recovery, it turned on but not all the way so i had to manually shut it and turn it on again. Same thing happened with the loud beeping noise all over again. After a couple of times, it finally turned on but there was some problem still like i couldn't scroll pages in any web browser and on clicking an icon, another one opened. Not sure what the problem was so i turned it off.
This afternoon, i tried again and it turned on normal but very slow but the thing with the browsing and wrong program opening still happened.
i have no idea what is wrong with it. I have yet to take it to someone to get it analysed and fixed, however, i did a quick check online and it seems that i'm not the only one having this problem. i saw a few other posts talking about the loud beeping.
I am disappointed that the laptop got problems so soon. I was mostly travelling with my work laptop last year and have 'lightly to medium' used this one. Certainly not an everyday heavy used case. It is just bad that it malfunctioned so easily.
I originally gave this 5 stars but with its performance over time, i have to downgrade it to 1 star.
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I bought this for my wife and she loves it. This is a great computer for a reasonable price. Everything works great and I would buy another one for my self but it they don't have any available right now. Crossing my fingers and hoping they will have more soon.
HP Pavilion 15-b150us 15.6-Inch Ultra Thin TouchSmart Sleekbook
This laptop packs a lot of features into an incredible price. For your everyday email, browsing, spreadsheets, etc. this machine with its quad-core processor handles everything with ease. I was most impressed as I tried out some more entertaining apps (games) as well as streaming videos nice and smooth and the system doesn't get hot or every feel like its working hard. For its features, I love the full size keyboard as well as number pad, and there is plenty of memory and hard drive size for what I need.One of the coolest new features, which took me some time to get used to, is the ability to use the touch screen. Once I got used to Windows8 and the touch interface, I've found that if I use anyone else's notebook I wind up touching their screen and am surprised when nothing happens. Its great for quickly browsing through photos, scrolling through web pages and getting around the new Windows8 interface.
My only criticism would be that it needs a higher definition screen (which of course would make it more expensive) so its a qualified criticism.
If you are ready to ditch your old notebook and jump into the world of touch with a full featured notebook at price that can't be beat, this is the machine for you.
Buy HP Pavilion 15-b150us 15.6-Inch Ultra Thin TouchSmart Sleekbook Now
After doing some research on laptops, I came across this specific model and was impressed with the specifications. I had read many people dislike Windows 8, so I was a bit skeptical. However, since I bought it, I can't seem to stop bragging about it! The laptop is thin, sleek, and fast! The screen size is perfect and clear. I LOVE the touchscreen! It makes everything so much easier and faster! I use on a daily basis to access my email, view documents, etc.. and it works marvelous! Love it!Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion 15-b150us 15.6-Inch Ultra Thin TouchSmart Sleekbook Here
The HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15 is awesome with its awesome design and touchscreen. The con is Windows 8. Windows eight is very touchy. With a touch screen one little wrong movement and you will have a complete nightmare. God Luck.Want HP Pavilion 15-b150us 15.6-Inch Ultra Thin TouchSmart Sleekbook Discount?
Apple MacBook Pro MD104LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION)
I had eagerly been awaiting the new Mid-2012 MacBook Pro upgrade primarily because of the move to the new Intel processor, "Ivy Bridge." The 2.9GHz Intel Core i7 dual-core processor just makes this MacBook Pro fly. And it runs much cooler than its predecessors. I had my laptop running while on my lap for a couple hours and the bottom case was barely warm. Fan noise was not noticeable whatsoever. To be honest, I don't even know if the fan was operating or not, it was that quiet.The aluminum unibody case has remained pretty much unchanged for several years. In fact, my previous MacBook Pro, a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4GB of RAM has the identical case that this new laptop has... it is designated as Model No: A1278 if you look at the bottom of the laptop case.
What Apple threw into the mix, which made my decision of which new Apple laptop to purchase more difficult, was the addition of the Retina Display MacBook. Initially I was tormented with making the correct decision of which computer to purchase. After I weighed the differences and factored in the cost, it became clear to me that for my use, the 13" MacBook Pro was the way to go rather than an Air or Retina Display MacBook Pro. Here are my reasons...
-The Retina Display MacBook lacks an optical drive. For me, that was a critical feature as I am a Mobile DJ and still rip a lot of CD's to my computer. I did not want to have to carry around an external optical drive so having the internal optical drive on the new MacBook Pro was key.
-The Retina Display MacBook does not have an Ethernet port. Again, this won't affect all people, but for me it was an essential feature that I use all the time. I wasn't ready to give up my dedicated ethernet connectivity port.
-The Retina Display MacBook was priced out of my comfort zone. It's a phenomenal computer but I just could not justify the price.
-The Air doesn't offer the disk space that I need nor the right combination of ports.
Honestly, the display on the 13.3" MacBook Pro is gorgeous. I can see where a photographer might enjoy the Retina Display, but for me, the 1280x800 resolution of the screen on this laptop is perfect. The display is bright, very bright, sharp and has excellent viewing from side to side. I'm a little conflicted with the glossy screen, but I think I have grudgingly accepted it for the most part. In most situations I find it nicer than a glare-free screen. For some situations however, it is not the best because of the reflections on the screen of surrounding lights and such. You must remember that while reducing glare on a screen might make it easier to view in certain situations by reducing reflections of light and surroundings, by its nature the anti-glare will reduce sharpness of the screen image. By having the glossy screen you have an amazingly bright, clear and sharp image that is just beautiful to view.
I had also considered getting an early 2012 refurbished MacBook Pro. That was my second-best option. But for the small difference in price, I would not have gotten USB 3.0 ports and that was important to me, as well as getting Thunderbolt. Admittedly, there are not yet many peripherals that utilize Thunderbolt or USB 3.0 but that is certainly going to change quite rapidly. USB 3.0 is 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and offers throughput of up to 5Gbps. Thunderbolt is even faster and allows daisy-chaining of monitors and other devices. This new MacBook Pro also has an upgraded facetime camera. It is now 720p HD and that's pretty awesome.
Firewire 800 is still included on this MacBook Pro. Undoubtedly, Firewire is getting towards the end of its lifespan but many videographers are still using video cameras that use Firewire and I also have external hard drives using firewire, so this is still useful for me.
The newly added Tunderbolt port is also useable as a mini-display port and you can easily obtain adapters to enable you to hook up to DVI, VAG and HDMI. I do miss not having a dedicated HDMI port, but at least it is possible to get an adapter to fill that need.
The Lion and soon to be released Mountain Lion operating system has garnered a lot of comments both positive and negative. Personally I have not experienced any issues with Lion. The integration with iCloud is fantastic and allows me to keep my contacts, address book, bookmarks all in sync across all my devices (iMac, iPhone, iPod Touch and another MacBook Pro.)
The iLife suite of applicatons included with the computer are excellent. iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand are tightly integrated and work well. There is room for improvement, to be sure, but I use iPhoto and iMovie all the time and it is an amazingly capable duo.
If you're considering a MacBook Pro for the first time and are coming from the PC world, welcome. You will have a little adjusting to do but it's really easy and you will probably be impressed with how straightforward the operating system is. It just works. I can't even think of when I had a crash or freeze.
I've not yet reached the 7-hours mark for battery life, but still, I've been getting at least 5 hours plus so no complaints.
If you are considering the new MacBook Pro and you're already a Mac user then you will welcome the addition of a much faster processor, the addition of Thunderbolt and USB 3.0.
I am really liking my new MacBook Pro and with 8GB of RAM, and the new i7 Processor running at 2.9GHZ (turbo-boost to 3.6GHz) you will be very happy with the performance.
Regarding the 8GB RAM memory maximum for this MacBook Pro, it is interesting to note that Crucial sells a 16GB RAM kit for this particular model. Despite this, Apple does not acknowledge that the computer will accept 16GB of RAM. I called Apple Technical Support to ask about this and I was told that even though the computer may accept 16GB of RAM and seem to run without any problems with 16GB of RAM, the full amount of RAM may not actually be used by the MacBook Pro. It's kind of hard to say what the implications are of adding 16GB of RAM when Apple says the maximum is 8GB for this model. What will happen though is if you have any issues with the computer and Apple discovers that you've put 16GB of RAM in it, you could be denied service under the warranty. So I guess I'd be happy with 8GB of RAM until this issue gets more clarification, either by benchmark tests that show an improvement in performance or a firmware update or some acknowledgment from Apple approving the option of 16GB of RAM. I"d like to think that if Apple wanted to make as much money as possible that they would offer this computer with an 16GB option. Since they don't, there must be a technical reason why.
I've been using a protective case for my MacBook Pro and I recommend it. It's priced very fairly, comes in a variety of colors and has worked really well for me. It even lets the Apple Logo shine through the case. Here is a link to the Red color version of the case. RED iPearl mCover® Hard Shell Case for A1278 Aluminum Unibody MacBook Pro 13-inch (RED color)
UPDATE: July 1, 2012 I've been reading reports online about the fact that the new Retina Display MacBook Pro has pushed the graphics handling capabilities of the computer to the max. This has resulted in some problems that are only just beginning to manifest themselves, such as sluggish screen draw in some situations, slow frame rates in other situations and image retention issues.
In other words, by pushing the limits, as Apple frequently does (and I'm not suggesting that that's a bad thing) early adopters are paying the price. So I'm feeling even better about choosing this particular model rather than spending significantly more for the Retina Display MacBook Pro and having to deal with the first generation issues.
UPDATE: July 5, 2012 Note to PC users considering the switch to a Mac. Don't be intimidated to switch. Mac OSX is a fantastic operating system and not difficult to learn at all. But there are definitely some subtle differences between the PC and Mac user interface and experience. I would strongly suggest getting a good book such as Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Lion Edition. It's an excellent overview of what you'll need to know regarding the Mac experience and the Lion operating system. I use both Windows 7 and Mac OSX and own both a PC laptop and Mac laptop and desktop machines. I consider Macs to be my primary computer because of my familiarity with them and their ease of use. However, a helpful book will ease your transition and eliminate the guesswork.
UPDATE: August 24, 2012 I've upgraded my OS to Mountain Lion, 10.8, and have been running it for about 2 weeks. I have not noticed any issues and the upgrade went very smoothly. Some of the new features are great. I particularly like the dictation feature that lets you speak while in any application that accepts text input and the MBP will automatically and accurately convert your speech to text. The new way that messages are handled is very similar to IOS and I like it. Some users are reporting less battery life but I have not noticed any degradation in battery life on my comptuer.
To start with the strengths:
1. OSX Lion is a great performer..extremely fast and reliable. I have it installed on my iMac desktop computer as well and love it. Not to mention this comes with a free upgrade to Mountain Lion, which is very nice.
2. Screen looks great. Even though it is not the Retina display you can get on the 15.4 inch model, the screen is fantastic. Very bright and crystal clear with excellent color.
3. Quietest laptop I have ever owned. Keeps quiet even when the computer is under a heavy load.
4. First computer I have owned with USB 3.0. I bought an external hard drive when I purchased this laptop as well so I could utilize the USB 3.0. I got the hard drive yesterday and transferred all of my files from my old laptop to the new hard drive so I could put them on my MacBook. It took about 1/5th of the time it did with USB 2.0.
5. My Lenovo laptop does not have an illuminated keyboard, so the keyboard on this laptop is a big plus in my opinion. Excellent for people that like to work or surf the web while their significant other is sleeping.
6. The trackpad can't even compare it to any trackpad I have seen on any other laptop computer.
7. Excellent battery life while being a very fast performer. It definitely has the best of both worlds. I average about 6 hours on a charge. My Lenovo (with similar graphics, processor, etc. and same use) only lasts about 4 or 5 hours on a full charge.
8. Typical Apple simplistic styling. I love the look of the Apple products. Simple and clean.
9. Many, many more...but those are the most notable ones to me.
Now, for the weaknesses.
1. The only thing I dislike about this laptop are the rubber pads found on the bottom of the computer for grip. They may get softer and more sticky as time goes by, but right now they are far from that. The pads on the bottom of my Lenovo are definitely much better and don't allow the computer to slide around while I am using the computer on a glass topped desk.
2. Price it's a bit pricey for the performance you get, but the added perks of Mac OSX and the durability and support of Apple products makes up for it. For the same price, you can get a PC with more memory, larger hard drive, better graphics, and a faster processor, but then you remember you're running Windows 7, which isn't nearly as well built as Mac OSX.
In conclusion this is a great laptop. Although it is a little pricey, it is well worth the extra money. So far, the only issue I have with it (rubber pads) is a very small problem that does not change how this laptop performs in any way.
If you are thinking about getting a MacBook Pro laptop but do not want to spend a huge amount of money for one, this is definitely the way to go. It may be considered the "base model" MacBook Pro, but it still an excellent computer. The size and battery life of this computer makes it excellent for people that need a laptop that is very mobile. Between work and college classes, I needed a lightweight yet durable computer and this definitely fits that criteria.
9.5/10
Buy Apple MacBook Pro MD104LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION) Now
I used to be a die hard windows fan. I was always bashing OSx for the usual things (too expensive, too dumb, et cetera, et cetera), and I never really gave it a chance. Windows 7 was my OS of choice from the day it came out, and I used it on many different computers with (or at least what I thought then) good results. It's certainly not a bad OS but...This past holiday season, I got an Asus tablet PC. I wanted to love it, I really did. I gave it a five star review here on Amazon, and I tried my very hardest to use it to it's fullest potential. It was working fine for a while, until I tried the Windows 8 beta. It was all down-hill from there. Viruses, problems (beyond those that should be in a beta, and a general ugliness drove me absolutely insane, and I decided to move away from Windows, at least temporarily. I bought a Chromebook, and while I absolutely love it and highly recommend it, I wanted more out a computer than it offered.
So, nearly on a whim, I bought a Mac. I have never made a better tech decision. Literally everything about it is better than any computer I've ever used, from the operating system to the hardware.
People typically say that the real reason they love Macs and other Apple products is because of the build quality. While the build quality on this computer is INSANELY good (I feel bad hauling it around with me; I feel like it should be in an art museum), I really think it's the software that makes this a standout computer and computing experience. I've had absolutely zero backround in OSx up until now, and already I am easily finding my way around this computer. Granted, I've had a good backround in Linux and OSx is similar, but the fact that I'm easily navigating a brand new operating system after only one day is quite the contrast from Windows, now that I can look at it objectively. OSx Lion is wonderful. The multi-touch gestures and the multi-touch mouse itself are immensely helpful, and it's because of features like these that make it clear to me that it's almost necessary for a company to make the hardware for a product if they're making the software as well. Everything works extremely well together.
Like I said, the included apps put Windows to shame. With the exception of Outlook (which I personally hate, but my Mom has a Mac and can't stand the contacts App and uses Outlook), I can't think of a single, rational person who would pick Windows software over Apple software when it comes to things like media, photo/video editing, and email. To be perfectly honest, it's ridiculous how well all this stuff works. I downloaded the iWorks office suite (which is not free, though significantly cheaper than Microsoft Office), and they also work like a charm. I really don't create a whole lot of spreadsheets or slide shows so I can't guarantee a qualified opinion on Numbers (Excel) or Keynote (PowerPoint), but the Pages app is lightyears ahead of Microsoft Word. I also downloaded Logic Pro 9 (an music synthesizer/recording studio app) after having used it with friends a few months back, and have spent hours digging into another fantastic piece of Mac Software, and I can say for a fact that it is truly unparalleled in the Windows world.
The actual hardware internals of the computer are amazing. The new Ivy Bridge processors whip through anything I can throw at them, and the 8 gb of fast (1600 mhz) ram makes multi-tasking a breeze. The nVidia graphics card, while not a show-stopper, is completely adequate for some heavy-duty video editing in something like Final Cut or Photo Shop (though I haven't used Photo Shop in about a year now, so I'm not COMPLETELY sure about the latter of the two statements), or gaming (whether you dual-boot or pick one of the games from the increasingly impressive OSx catalogue). The speakers, while not mind-blowing, are much better than what I'm used to from integrated laptop speakers, and the screen, even though I opted for the non-HD screen, is very good; colors are bright and saturated, the pixel density is more than satisfactory, and the viewing angles are some of the best I've ever seen. Battery life is as good as advertised, and the computer starts and runs much more quickly than I'm used to, especially considering that this computer doesn't have flash storage.
I haven't run into a single thing I would change about this computer up to this point. I love the software, I love the hardware, and I love my decision. If you're in the market for an exceptional, powerful notebook, look no further. I can't recommend this computer highly enough.
Edit: While the great things that I mentioned about OSx are all still completely viable and even after several weeks (months, perhaps?) of heavy usage I haven't experienced any problems. Mountain Lion is a great update and even though I don't own an iPhone or an iPad (I'm more of an android guy), I still like almost all of the additions it brings to OSx.
However, I have since installed Windows. Bootcamp is a marvelous program, and in about 20 minutes I had Windows 7 working great on my computer. All the drivers were installed and performance was great. Once I actually started playing games though, several design flaw were suddenly extremely apparent to me, and they were apparent in a very bad way.
I'm not sure if Windows is just a more demanding operating system or if a fan driver was left out of my Bootcamp install, but the cooling of this computer when doing ANYTHING intensive under Windows is absolutely atrocious. The unibody design is gorgeous. It's revolutionary, it's stylish, it's classy, and it has major practical issues. The vents are hidden under the hinges of the screen, and anything but the most perfect of screen angles will block off much of the fans output. Even with the fans blowing full blast at nearly all times while running Windows, the computer gets extremely hot during usage. I use a laptop as a literal "lap" top computer frequently. This works fine under OSx; it's impossible under Windows. The bottom of the computer gets painfully hot during heavy usage (to the point where I literally can't touch it for more than a few seconds), and the metal area (ironically) around the "wasd" keys gets extremely hot as well. I've had the computer completely overheat three times only in the past two weeks. Since I only play online games, this isn't a real issue, but I can't imagine what would happen were someone actually doing something important on a Windows partition and have the computer overheat and shut down. Even with good ventilation (meaning smooth granite surfaces and a laptop stand specifically designed to enhance ventilation), there is no avoiding an extremely hot computer and constantly whirring fans.
Long story short, I'm very glad they improved the fan design in the Retina Display Macbooks, because it is, frankly, very, very poor here.
I'm conflicted on whether I should change my overall rating of the computer though. Even though Macs are equipped (through Bootcamp) to run Windows, they weren't designed to do so, and I certainly haven't had a single issue while running (the far superior) OSx. Considering the fact that I should be basing my opinion of the product on its own merits and not on those of a competing product, I don't think I will change my overall scoring. I do think it is prudent to add, however, that cooling while running Windows 7 is terrible. If you NEED Windows, stick with a Windows computer. They will most likely handle Windows better than this one will.
Read Best Reviews of Apple MacBook Pro MD104LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION) Here
I purchased the newly updated 13" MacBook Pro and the newly updated 13" MacBook Air the day they were announced at WWDC and released for sale in June 2012. (My 13" MacBook Pro is the 2.9 GHz i7 model, and my MacBook Air is factory upgraded to a 2.0 GHz i7 processor and 8GB RAM.)After using the two machines side-by-side for a couple weeks now, I can say that the MacBook Air outperforms the MacBook Pro in almost every task and in terms of overall speed and performance. Compared with the newly refreshed and updated Air, the new MacBook Pro is frankly a significant disappointment, and I've pretty much stopped using it altogether in favor of the faster Air. Despite the Air's slower CPU clock speed, it performs faster than the Pro in actual tasks due to the performance boost afforded by it's SSD hard drive. The SSD drive on the MacBook Air makes an enormous difference in everything from casual web browsing to video editing.
If you're debating which 13" MacBook to buy, the 13" MacBook Air or the 13" MacBook Pro, here's a side-by-side comparison...
Speed and Performance: Advantage MacBook Air
Apart from the hard drives and port configurations, the technology inside the machines is virtually identical in both the newly refreshed MacBook Air and MacBook Pro. Both Pros and Airs come with either i5 or i7 Intel "Ivy Bridge" processors, Intel HD Graphics 4000, USB 3.0, and lightning-fast Thunderbolt ports. While the MacBook Air models are at a disadvantage to the MacBook Pro models in terms of CPU clock speeds, any performance disadvantage from the processor speed is more than made up for by the lightning fast performance of the Air's SSD hard drive, which Apple markets as "Flash" storage. In everyday tasks from gaming to web browsing to watching Flash movies and editing video, the MacBook Air is faster significantly faster in virtually every task. The Air boots up in less than 12 seconds while the Pro takes upwards of one minute.
Screen: Advantage MacBook Air
If you've never used a MacBook Air, much less the new Retina display 15" MacBook Pro, then you won't notice just how outdated the MacBook pro's screen is. However, once you get used to the super high resolution 1440 x 900 LED display on the MacBook Air, the 1280 x 800 back-lit LED display on the MacBook Pro looks downright grainy and primitive. Simply put, once you get used to a higher resolution display, the 1280 x 800 display on the 13" MacBook Pro just isn't acceptable. Even for simple tasks like email or word processing where you wouldn't think the resolution would matter, the graphics look grainy and pixelated, which just isn't acceptable for a pro-level laptop in 2012.
Upgradability: Advantage MacBook Pro
The Pro's only major advantage over the Air comes in terms of the flexibility of its hardware, ease of repair, and upgradability. With only a screw driver and about 10 minutes of your time, you can add more memory to the Pro, replace the hard drive, and even add a second hard drive in place of the optical disc drive. The Air, on the other hand, is stuck in the configuration you purchase it in except that you can opt to replace the SSD "Flash" hard drive with a higher capacity SSD drive.
Design, Weight, Portability, Battery Life, and Form Factor: Advantage MacBook Air
The MacBook Air is the most beautiful computer ever produced by man, and the MacBook Pro looks like it's older, pudgy relative. The Air's aluminum case is impeccably designed, almost tailored to accommodate the necessary internal components, while maintaining practical ergonomics. It's an incredibly thin, svelte, sexy little notebook. The MacBook Air's aluminum case seems sturdy and durable, and its mechanics are very similar to the time-test unibody construction of the MacBook Pro. The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, is a bit of a dinosaur in its bulky circa 2006 unibody. The Pro is heavier than a half gallon of milk at 4.5 lbs, while the MacBook Air weighs in at less than 2.9 lbs. Battery life is roughly even on both machines at anywhere from 4 to 7 hours depending on workload and settings.
Summary Judgement: Buy the MacBook Air (or opt for the new 15" Retina display MacBook Pro)
Simply put, the guts of the MacBook Air and the MacBook Pro are basically the same, but the Air's SSD hard drive gives it a tremendously significant boost in performance. Sadly, the MacBook Pro's 5400-rpm hard drive leaves the machine unable to capitalize on the newest, most expensive Intel "Ivy Bridge" i5 and i7 processors that you're paying a $300 premium for in the newly updated Pros. If you are going to buy a Pro, invest the extra money and get it upgraded with a SSD hard drive and get an extra external hard drive if you need additional cheap storage space for multimedia files. When you also consider the superior display, lighter weight, increased portability, and lower price of the MacBook Air, it's hard to find a reason to justify purchasing the current 13" MacBook Pro, which to me looks like a dinosaur rapidly headed for extinction.
Specs on the models compared:
13" MacBook Air (mid 2012) factory upgraded to the 2.0 GHz dual core i7 processor and factory upgraded to 8 GB RAM (1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM) with standard 256 GB SSD ("Flash") hard drive
13" MacBook Pro (mid 2012) with 2.9 GHz dual core i7 processor, 8 GB RAM (1600MHz DDR3L SDRAM), and 750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 rpm
Both feature Intel HD 4000 Graphics, 3.0 USB, Thunderbolt, 802.11n, etc.
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I just want to issue a warning to people who purchase this product trying to save a bit over Apple prices. I paid for a new laptop, but was sent a used one. I received this item in the original box that had been resealed. While it appeared to be a new item, once I booted it up, it was already set up with an account of another user. I couldn't have used it even if I wanted to. I returned the laptop to Amazon and received a refund, however had it been properly wiped of information, I would have been sold a used machine and never have even known. I'm sure this is not an isolated incident, so buyer beware.
Sony VAIO VPC-EA47FX/B 14-Inch Widescreen Entertainment Laptop (Black)
I got this laptop for my birthday and I have to say I am very satisfied with my purchase. With 640GB of HDD and Intel Core i3 processor this model wont slow down on you. This model has a nice glossy black finish with little grey squares to style it off, the touch pad is also very good, you won't get lost where your finger is thanks to the texture style. Keyboard is also very comfortable to type, with raised keys and nice space between, I have no trouble typing in the dark. This model also comes loaded with Blu-ray ROM Drive, even though its not full HD still I can tell the difference between standard DVD quality compared to the Blu-ray. (inserted TRON: Legacy DVD and Blu-ray). The added VAIO Gate is also very neat, I can add all my icons to VAIO Gate and don't have to deal with crowded desktop to look at. There are just too many things you can do with this notebook that it will take me all night to write, (connect with PS3, wireless Display one button to launch WEB, Media, and assist).I will recommend this notebook to any students looking to work on video editing and add music, video, photos to your media with plenty of space left. Oh and watch Blu-ray on the go.
Lenovo IdeaPad Y460 0633 - Core i3 2.13 GHz - 14? - 4 GB Ram - 500 GB HDD
Been using my y460 for a year and half, never once had any troubles so far with it, its been rock steady with usage around 10 hours a day. I do everything on it from video editing to gaming, since its got a dedicated card I can do all those things without the hassle of waiting to long for the editing stuff, in some programs at least the GPU helps. I would say buying any laptop even a ultrabook now without a dedicated card is just silly even though there is better CPU integrated graphics like the Intel HD 4000 in the new IVY bridge processors to me no laptop should be without a dedicated graphics chip, just really silly if you ask me to not have it.Watch out for the new Lenovo ideapads that have just been announced the Lenovo Ideapads Y400/Y500, they got back lit keyboards and the ability to swap out optical bays called ultrabays that let you add a second graphics card in SLI, a freaking 14 inch laptop that is actually 13.6 inches wide with SLI, HAH, amazing!
HP 15.6" Pavilion G62-225NR Entertainment Notebook PC
This laptop should have been called the $%^#storm Series G62. Specifically I do not like:* The mousepad buttons are basically a seesaw with a center fulcrum. The only place where the action feels natural is on the extreme end of the bar.
* I hate HATE the keyboard layout. HP put all of these dedicated hardware buttons along the left side, so I am constantly launching the Calculator when I'm intending to hit Ctrl.
* The normal action of the Fn key bar is for Special Functions, not the Fn series. One has the toggle the Fn action to keep from sleeping the computer if one intends to use F4, for example.
* The cable is about a foot shorter than the one that came with the HP laptop I got the year before.
* One year out, the battery is dead.
* This is the last laptop I will buy that doesn't have gigabit ethernet.
The screen is nice, the speed is fine, the Wifi works fine, and it is a GREAT light weight, but the problems above are not good and make me seriously worried about buying another HP laptop again.
Anyways, where I am going with this and with my little background which I use my computers every day for writing. This computer is good for entertainmet and is great for writing your books and homework for school, reading e-mails, watching a movie, and on top of all of that, for those of you that did not like the smudges that was created on the dv7 series of laptops, this one is less prone to that. Though I still keep my dv7 series :) both of them are my great working tools. Plus I have another one which is dv7 bought it for my parents. All of my three computers which are HP are great and I love HP. So, don't hasitate to buy this one G62-225NR Notebook. And with its size of 15.6" you can carry it anywhere, for those that love smaller computers. But you can also, get the bigger variation which does have 500GB hard drive and 4gb Memory Ram. But for the memory on this beautiful little one is 3GB, and you get 350GB spacious Hard drive. And give or take it is budget and energy saver. For those that don't need alot of Hard drive it is great. And on your pocket wallet, you don't have to pay extra 500 dollars for the extra drive and +1gb memory. Though for the memory you can upgrade and so you can the harddrive anytime. It is also pretty fast and I love it!!!
So, buy it and you won't regret it. Plus School is beginning and many students would love to own one and parents would be thrilled to get them this, and as I said, it is perfect on the pocket book :)
Also, never forget, to keep your computers clean and you can use for screen and keyboard "Endust for Electronics Screen Cleaner"
It does the Job marvioulasley
and excellent!!!
I forgot to mention, it does have a built in camera!!! For those that are wondering. There is one that is simillar sold in Walmart that does not have.
From Author Petar Kostadinov
Buy HP 15.6" Pavilion G62-225NR Entertainment Notebook PC Now
HP Pavilion DM4-1162US Entertainment Notebook PC Laptop 14.0-Inch Widescreen LED Display, Brushed A
From what i can tell this is the exact same model as the dm4-1160us except with a smaller hard drive. That smaller hard drive should result in a $50 price reduction, but i picked this one up at Office Depot for $ after a $ mail in rebate. Due to the unusually low price i was convinced something must be wrong with this computer, but it's awesome. I've read complaints about the mousepad on the 1160... i'm not sure what they're referring to cause it's been perfectly fine for me, infact its been better than the asus, dell, and compaq laptops i've had in the past.If you're game player with heavy graphics needs you should pass on this model. But if you're a business users or home user who wants a light, solidly built, good performing laptop with great battery life, then I'm sure you'll love this computer even at a $700 price tag.
Compounding the sudden loss of USB ports (essential for laptops these days), this laptop has several other reliability problems including a battery that no longer holds a charge more than an hour, a screen that sometimes flickers (apparently a loose connection somewhere), and sporadic failures to come out of sleep mode (requiring removing the battery and rebooting).
No wonder HP is getting out of the laptop business.
Razer Blade (Win 8) RZ09-00830500-R3U1 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)
Pros:-The build quality and attention to detail on the laptop is exceptional, rivaling the MBP. It's one of the only windows laptops in existence where you can tell a lot of thought and care went into the design and build.
-Fan noise level is decent even under load.
-It's light and thin enough to put in a bag and transport on a regular basis.
-It's got a powerful cpu and gpu capable of driving even graphically demanding games at smooth framerates, and completely demolishing anything system-friendly like Torchlight 2 or League of Legends.
-SSD caching makes many common tasks extremely fast.
Cons:
-Battery life tends to be a bit short even when not gaming.
-No second audio port for my headset.
-Up/Down directional arrows are dinky. Games often use the d-arrows, so this is suboptimal. It could be solved by a 'directional arrow' setting for the switchblade, but they curiously omitted such a setting. Speaking of which...
-Switchblade UI is fairly immature and lacks vital customization options as of now. Seems like something that will be fixed eventually, but I would prefer a cheaper laptop without the switchblade. Most gamers are going to attach a gaming mouse, and gamers don't really need flashy optimus buttons because they memorize their hotkeys.
Conclusion:
The Razer Blade fundamentals are strong--specs, build quality, design, portability. There is nothing else like it on the market. The immature and expensive switchblade ui holds it back from greatness.
Update:
I've found out how to customize the switchblade UI buttons, and the functionality I wanted (the ability to attach custom macros and pictures to buttons on a program-specific basis) is there, I just wasn't able to figure it out by messing around. This is interesting and negates a couple of my criticisms, but I think I still would have preferred a less expensive Blade without it. Also, apparently the audio jack is combined line-in and audio. Not as convenient as two jacks, but better than what I thought.
Update2:
After using the laptop for a few weeks, I've definitely come around on the switchblade top buttons. I've created a variety of macros for games and normal windows applications, and being able to tag them with custom text and pictures has really upped my productivity. I've raised my review to 5 stars from 4, although I think the switchblade software still has a ways to go.
This laptop hits the nail on the head in so many ways:
The Design
First off let's look at the competition and their view of a gaming laptop: Huge, plastic, loud, heat blasting, flashing colors, powerful gaming desktop replacements. They get job done but the appeal is more geared towards teens that show it off to friends. It's not something you want in public and not something you really want to lug around with a power brick half the size of the laptop. It doesn't really have a place outside of the gaming world. It is in all senses of the word a toy, and an expensive one at that. In general todays gaming laptops have the bells and whistles but aren't refined products. Enter the Razer Blade a sleek thin .88 profile weighing in at roughly 6 pounds sporting a clean black matte coat over a full aluminum frame with green lighting accents and logo. You wouldn't even know it was a powerful gaming notebook until you launched Battlefield 3 and marveled at how well it played. The Razer Blade is a classy product pulling design cues from the Mac Book Pro, the Optimus Maximus keyboard, and gamer preferences for matte screens and a clean finish. No crazy lights, no heat blasting exhausts, and the only part of this laptop with a shred of plastic on it is the keyboard and with the power brick roughly the size of a remote control it's the most portable gaming laptop there is. And of course sticking to their motto "For gamers, by gamers." They've planned much of the layout and design for the general gamer: Moving the ports to the left side leaving the mouse free to move around without obstructions. Removing the optical drive because most PC gamers are downloading everything they need. Moving the trackpad to the right side and adding custom OLED keys that can be modified with macros, shortcuts, any custom pictures as well as being able to use the trackpad as a browser, email and an array of other apps so you can check guides and email and browse the internet all without leaving the game. I couldn't make a better laptop if I designed it myself. The only thing that bugs me is it doesn't have an IPS panel which would of given a great viewing angle and color reproduction. That's not to say the viewing angles are bad on this laptop, or even the screen quality, but if you're going to set the bar high with the build quality of everything else on this laptop, give it a IPS screen too.
The Hardware and Software
So you're looking at this laptop which means you obviously want two things out of this laptop: You want it to be portable and you want to be able to play games on it. My concern coming from a plethora of other laptops is that with laptops you get either/or. You either get mobility and Intel HD 4000 graphics or some mid-range video card that won't play League of Legends past medium settings. Or you get power and make it a "laptop" in the loosest sense of the word. In other words it's a desktop that moves but it'll play your games on high settings, at least for a year or two before its outdated. Neither of these are the desired result. The Razer Blade however does an excellent job of merging these two together to make a balanced laptop. Now before I go any further, yes, you can buy a desktop for half the price of this and get 3-4x the performance but that's not the point of this system or any other gaming laptop. The point is having a system that can play those same games but is mobile, you don't have to move a monitor and tower along with all the other peripherals if you want to go to your friends house and play a game with them you move one thing and that's all. Laptops will never compete with a desktop computer as far performance goes and if that's what you're looking for in a gaming laptop you'll be disappointed no matter what laptop you buy. But that comparison shouldn't be made. They're for two different purposes and you have to accept that to justify the price/performance ratio. Speaking of performance this notebook is pretty good on it. Sporting a Nvidia Geforce 660m and Intel's new Ivy Bridge i7 processor this thing doesn't only game, it games well. In the time I've received this notebook to the time I wrote this review I've tried Dawn of War 2, Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2, and Far Cry 3, and it played all of the with 35-45+ frames per second on high settings. The human eye can't see past a little over 30FPS so this is more than acceptable especially for a gaming laptop. And when I say 35FPS I mean minimum, no dips into the 20s and no sign of lag and the games look fantastic I am more than satisfied with the performance of this laptop and this is coming from someone who was concerned he wouldn't be able to play games with the high graphic preferences that he's used to. One last thing that makes this a good laptop: No bloatware. This laptop comes clean without any extra software except for the Synapse 2.0 required to run your touchpad apps. No cleanup required after purchase.
What I Would Change
This is a gaming laptop that doesn't look like the average gaming laptop. Its thin, its sexy, and its powerful. But no product is perfect and a few things could be changed:
Allow color customization Green is good and looks great and this feature is kind of gimmicky but people like to customize stuff especially laptops with their own wallpaper and themes and browsers. It's an extension of our personality and the simple ability to change a color can make a huge difference.
The high price It's understandable why the price is so high: the build quality is excellent; without and sponsored bloatware, and not being one of the major computer manufacturers these things can get expensive but if there was a way to cut the cost without losing the quality it would be more of a reason to buy. I think the price is the biggest turn off when buying this product.
A larger hard drive; this should be obvious and it shouldn't cost much more. Throw a terabyte in there.
IPS screen as mentioned before.
Other than that this is an excellent laptop. It's the best quality I've ever owned or seen in any other laptop and it does what it supposed to for something targeted to gamer and I'd strongly recommend if you can afford it. Also I saw concerns about the touchpad and being left handed being an issue. Im left handed (and most people who are left handed still use their right hand to use their mouse but with touchpads on laptops we tend to use our left hand to browse) and I haven't had issues with the touchpad placement. It feels like your using a mouse and its easy to get used to.
Buy Razer Blade (Win 8) RZ09-00830500-R3U1 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Now
I have a desktop PC for gaming and this laptop.Pro:
It is able to run all the games I have in Steam smoothly.
It is lighter than most of the laptops that I used.
Big screen!
Fast boot up. I have never used SSD before so I am not sure if this is the fastest SSD. But its definitely much faster than my 3.5" hdd in the desktop.
Gaming-wise, I cannot feel much difference except on max setting. The framerate its lower than my desktop but I expected it.
Cons:
Heat. It can get quite warm. There's once when I rocked my chair and my thigh hit the bottom of the table top. I could feel the heat from the bottom side!
LED display. The button functions are good to have but can live without. But there's no way you can play FPS with the LED. Simply too slow.
Read Best Reviews of Razer Blade (Win 8) RZ09-00830500-R3U1 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
Although it is a little overpriced the computer works flawlessly. The track pad takes a little time to get used to but is a great feature. The computer is very light for its size and is probably the best looking on the market .Want Razer Blade (Win 8) RZ09-00830500-R3U1 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?
The title says it all. Regretted so badly. But doing work and playing games on this is epically awesome. Just don't get windows 8.Save 1% Off
Toshiba Satellite L775D-S7330 17.3-Inch LED Laptop - Brushed Aluminum Blue
I have owned this laptop for about 4 days now. I did a lot of research to make sure I found a laptop that I could do multiple things. From office work to light Gamming (Guild Wars) including some poker.Anyway, I owned (still own) a Dell laptop that I have had for about 4 years, I had already maxed the memory and I didn't want to go through the expense of upgrading hard drive.
My fiancé bought a similar Toshiba laptop just like this one but it's a intel icore 3.
I checked hers out and I was hooked. Now I wanted to get something with a little more processer power but without breaking the bank. I choose the AMD Quad core A6. And I'm so glad I did.
This laptop is AWESOME Screen size speed smooth blue finish and everything Dolby sound, blue tooth the works.
I didn't get to buy it here at Amazon though which I would have if I didn't find it on sale at Brandsmart USA.
The laptop is worth it. I don't normally right reviews but I just had to give my input on this laptop. For what it's worth to you ...I would highly recommend it.
Nice job TOSHIBA!!
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I never write reviews but wow. I am amazed at the performance of this laptop! I just got it today. I am a gamer and was looking for something that was a good price and a good performer. This computer is way over my expectations. My first test was skyrim.. When I started it up it recommended High settings (8xAA and 8xAF)! I did not believe it but gave it a shot. It loaded the game in about 7-10 seconds and was perfectly smooth. I closed the game and had to write this review. This A6 processor is amazing AMD really did a great job. Intel cannot touch this for the price. Well as a matter of fact they can't even touch the versatility of this processor at all. If you are on a budget and do not want to spend over $1000 for a gaming laptop get this laptop. You will not be disappointed at all.Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite L775D-S7330 17.3-Inch LED Laptop - Brushed Aluminum Blue Here
Very easy set-up. Product is as exactly as expected. Past experiences with Toshiba lap-tops lead us to this product and it is on track to keep our loyalty to the brand.Want Toshiba Satellite L775D-S7330 17.3-Inch LED Laptop - Brushed Aluminum Blue Discount?
So far everything is running fantastic...Does NOT have the "fast clock" issue.Nice display...Quality sound...Great features...
The blue brushed aluminum is nice, but darker than the web photos show.
HP Pavilion dv6-3259wm Refurbished Notebook PC
I love this laptop. it plays hd video and bluerays with no buffer, for added security you can use the finger print scanner instead of a password. the audio is superb i love listening to music on this machine. combining this with its hard aluminum shell this is a perfect laptop for on the go people like me!
HP 17-1181NR 17-Inch Envy Notebook PC
Now that I've had this computer for a few months, I'd like to modify my review. This computer has randomly shut down about 10 times now, a dozen blue screens of death related to USB 3. I'm sure these are either hardware or driver related and rescind my recommendation for this machine.____________________________
This is a very fast laptop. I'm a computer programmer that needs a very fast machine for pretty much everything I do, and this laptop is awesome.
This machine as it is listed has great upgraded options, like the best resolution screen, blu-ray, extra battery, and extra RAM, however, the hard drive it comes with is very slow. This laptop does have a 2nd hard drive bay and I bought the 225$ 128GB Kingston SSD, made it my primary drive, then made the original drive my secondary drive. To do this was no small task, but here's the steps to take:
Warning: I have no idea if this does or does not void your warranty, I can't find a clear answer to that.
1. Order this laptop
2. Order an SSD ($225-$250 for 128GB, or $360-$400 for 160GB)
3. Order a hard drive caddy and cable kit. HP sells it for 91$ after taxes and shipping, but you can get it for 41$ from newmodeus.com.
And by the way HP, I think that it's awful that the laptop didn't come with this in the first place. $41 for just a 3" cable is robbery and the $91 that you charge is two robberies and a beating.
4. If you get a SATA hard drive enclosure, things will be easier because you can connect the drives to the eSata port. Otherwise you will need to install the ssd to the 2nd hard drive bay, do the clone, then switch them so the SSD is in the first bay. Note: HP does NOT give you the windows 7 installation DVD, so the first thing you should do is make recovery DVDs through their utility. But also know that you can't use these DVDs to set up a new drive because they won't create the special boot partition HP uses. (I learned this the hard way)
5. Resize the original drive's partitions so they are altogether small enough to fit on the new drive. (And be sure to move them so the unpartitioned space is at the end) Easeus partition manager is by far the easiest way to do this, and you will need its boot cd it makes later, so I'd suggest buying the pro version and save yourself a headache or two.
6. Use either clonezilla (free) or Easeus partition manager pro ($40) to create a boot disk and clone the old drive to the new one. I used clonezilla, but Easeus is a lot easier.
7. After confirming the new drive works and is in bay 1, you'll notice the old drive is "Offline", meaning Windows can't use it. You will need to delete all of its partitions, create a primary partition and format it with NTFS in order to make it work. Use the Easeus professional boot disk to do this. Then when you boot Windows, go to disk management, right click the drive and select "Online" to make it Online, whatever that means.
Also note that the back panel to change the hard drives on this laptop was (at least for me) incredibly difficult to remove. I felt like I was surely going to break it with the force it took to pry it off. I've had several laptops in the past, and this one is the first one that I've had any difficulty replacing the hard drive. It's also the first one I've had with two hard drive bays.
So it's definitely a lot of work to get a faster hard drive in there and may be more trouble than it's worth, but in my opinion, buying a high-end laptop at this time without a solid state drive is foolish. So either find a different laptop that has an SSD, order this laptop customized from hp.com (considerably more expensive) to include an SSD, or stepping down to a more economy line laptop would all be better options than not having one.
Gaming
Did I mention that this laptop is good for gaming? The 1GB ATI Mobility 5850 is one of the fastest mobile graphics cards at the time of this review. If you want a faster gaming machine, you either have to spend over $3000 for a better gaming laptop, or get a desktop. This graphics card puts this machine on par for gaming with modern mid-range desktops, which is saying a lot for a laptop. It also allows you to have up to 3 external monitors. (Display port, VGA, and HDMI). However, I do have a problem with League of Legends crashing when using a 1920x1280 monitor through the display port. That is likely just the game, but who knows. It works fine with the VGA port.
Beats Audio
The Beats audio does not live up to the hype. I find the built in speakers to be rather crummy in my opinion. Previous reviews say "Good, for a laptop". I would add, "very slightly above average laptop speakers". The sound card is good, it sounds great with external bose speakers or headphones, but the laptop speakers suck. In fact, it took a lot of configuring to get them to not sound completely broken.
Screen
The display is better than any other laptop I've seen. It's at least equal to high-end macbook pros. It looks perfect from any angle, has great resolution, and is attached by sturdy metal hinges.
Keyboard and mouse
The keyboard is awesome, but I hate the touchpad. I love how it's the back-lit, island style keyboard. The numpad is great to have, the keys are all in the right spot and size. I'm always amazed at how few laptops or even external keyboards get it right.
The touchpad, on the other hand, is awful. I don't think I'll ever get used to it. I can't even drag things with it. I don't know if I'm just "doing it wrong", but it is literally impossible to use. I don't like touchpads in general, I prefer Lenovo button mice, but this one is particularly terrible. I can overlook this huge flaw in a laptop by always using an external mouse.
Connections
Awesome, Mini display port, hdmi, vga, eSata, usb 3, blu-tooth, wireless n, gigabit ethernet. All awesome. One thing though, instead of a microphone jack, it's a "headset" jack? I can't seem to use it as a microphone port either. This confuses me..
Power Supply
It's huge. But what do you expect? Big computer, big power supply.
HD Camera and microphone
Works fine, good for my uses, but not as good as I hoped it would be. The built in microphone sounds great.
Software
HP didn't go overboard with pre-installed software like it did with the last HP I bought, and Windows 7 is great. The partitioning of the drives is weird and the HP recovery software isn't very good. It doesn't come with windows disks, so again, be sure to immediately create the recovery disks.
Other
This laptop has no docking station options. This alone was almost reason enough to go with Dell or Lenovo, but neither of those were as good for gaming at the same price, nor did they match up in many other areas.
Bottom line, this is a power hungry, fast, big laptop. A great desktop replacement, but doesn't have the mobility or battery life as some people might like.
I hope this helps people, and doesn't utterly confuse everyone.
Targus XL Backpack Designed for 17 Inch Notebooks TXL617 (Black with Blue Accents)
Kingston SSDNow V100 128GB SATA II 3GB/s 2.5 Inch Solid State Drive SV100S2/128GZ
Buy HP 17-1181NR 17-Inch Envy Notebook PC Now
I did a lot of research before I bought the Envy 17. This laptop is everything I hoped it would be. Very fast on all my apps. I usually run multiple apps and I've never noticed any lag at all. The keyboard is the best I've ever used and the backlighting is awesome. I was a little worried about the touch paid because I read some reviews that were critical of it. I actually like it quite a bit. It's bigger than I'm used to and very responsive. No problems with the buttons at all. The screen is really bright and clear. Movies are beautiful on this box. I use this as more of a desktop replacement so it's ussually plugged in. I can't really speak to the battery perofrmance. I will note that mine came with both a small (6 cell) battery and a bigger (9 cell) battery. Overall, this is the best computer I've ever owned and I love it.Read Best Reviews of HP 17-1181NR 17-Inch Envy Notebook PC Here
PRO:-Quad core i7 chews through pretty much anything you can throw at it, from Photoshop to simple tasks.
-Flash barely taxes the CPU.
-Even with "only" a 5400rpm drive, it loads apps and docs fast.
-Screen is absolutely gorgeous, best laptop screen I've seen bar none.
-Dedicated number pad is very convenient.
-Rock solid construction.
-Can't beat the value for the price: 6GB RAM, 750GB hard drive, Blu-Ray, full HD screen, 2 batteries.
CON:
-Big. This is a desktop replacement, not something that you travel with easily.
-Hot. Heats up fast, temps can reach 70C+. Get a laptop cooler, I bought this and am extremely happy:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NU5O9C/ref=oss_product
-Graphics quirk. Laptop locked up for some reason when watching video off of the hard drive. System Restore fixed the issue, don't know exactly what the issue was. Make sure you create your restore disks immediately just in case.
Haven't tried watching any Blu-Ray, or connecting to a TV via HDMI, the USB3.0 port, or the webcam.
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Spec it at HP shopping its $700 to $800 more. At first I didn't believe it, but I thought,,, if its not as described I will just return it. Nope, it is identical. I added a 120GB SSD for $270 and HP wanted $410 for this option. So overall I saved $1000.00It pays to shop at AMAZON!!!