Asus K55A-DH51 15.6-Inch Laptop

Finally, I returned it to J&R Music in NYC today. Thank God, J&R offered 30 days return policy.

J&R tested and found this product defective, so no restock fee charged. During the past 4 weeks, I have experienced the following :

Windows 8 refresh : 3 times

Windows 8 reset : 1 time

Keyboard & Touch pad issue

Frequent random shut-off : this bothered me a lot especially b/c it shuts off all of sudden with no warning.

Asus support wasn't that helpful. If they don't know what to do, it seems they suggest resetting Windows. Personally, I found Windows 8 is not for me. Not very user-friendly, IMO. Now, I will look for better laptop from Lenovo or Toshiba with Windows 7.

I just received this Asus laptop, literally within the past hour, so this review is not on how it works I will give that later. But for those who are in love with the mocha/brown laptops this laptop only appears brown if the sunlight hits it just so. I was torn between brown and a red Asus K55, and I absolutely LOVE my MOCHA Asus Slider Tablet so went with brown, against my daugther's wishes. (The laptop is for me, not her.)

I spent several days researching laptops on amazon and elsewhere, before deciding on this model, which I bought from J&R Cameras and Computers who provided great service and quick delivery. There was an $80 instant rebate at the time and I was able to purchase it for $519. I instantly bought another 4GB memory card as it was highly recommended I get nothing less than 6, with 8 being preferable. I am not a computer geek and rely on my friends who are, but I do use Adobe software products and such for photography and photo editing.

I have had very good experience with Asus customer service and decided to go with the Asus brand again after my HP Pavilion lasted less than 2 yrs before it started having issues with internet which appears to be a common problem from what my husband has learned in trying to resolve the HP issue.

Once I have time to explore this new laptop I will return with an update on satisfaction, other than color.

**********

UPDATE 5/2013 I cannot stand Windows 8. I need to find time to remove it and add on Windows 7. The computer is constantly jumping screens on me. From what I am hearing from others, it is not me, the user, as I figured, but a bug in Windows 8 as many have the same issue. I can't really give a laptop update as I continue to use my old one due to familiarity and ease of use.

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Above all sincerely,

I wonder if this computer comes with a hard drive 7200rpm or 5400rpm as in seen in many web pages that show this team with a 5400rpm disk.

Thanks,

regards

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HP ENVY x2 11t-g000 Tablet Notebook PC

I pre-ordered the HP Envy X2 from HP Direct. I have purchased lot of DM4's for most of our sales staff and been happy with the quality, performance and price. I was concerned about the crazy things going on at HP lately. I wanted an ultrabook for travel but I didn't like the early versions that HP had come out with. I was researching the Asus and Lenovo but nothing ever struck me to buy. Then, I read about the upcoming X2 Hybrid. This thing is everything I wanted: small, fantastic battery life, snappy performance, and touch screen. It came in earlier than expected so I was able to take it with me on a business trip. It's good that it did, because I had time on the plane to learn how to navigate in Windows 8. I highly recommend using the "Getting Started" tutorial and the "Windows 8 Cheats Keys" Apps. It got me up to speed and now I see where Microsoft was headed with this. Back to the Envy, this is by far the nicest product I have every purchased from HP. It is truly incredible. The construction is beautiful, and it doesn't even get hot on your lap. AGAIN, the battery life is INSANE because you get a battery in the tablet and the base. In the first day, I literally had 4 different people ask about it when they would see me use the touch screen on a laptop. It was hilarious when I would show how the screen detaches into a tablet, lots of WOW and OOOH! I used it for an entire 3 hour flight and only ate up 15% of the total battery. You do the math ... that is awesome.

Regardless of just the cool factor, this thing is a great multifunctional tool. I have all the features of an iPad, but the power of a business PC. Most of the apps I use like Evernote, Netflix, Skype, Shazam, Youtube, Facebook etc are already in the App Store. One bummer is that I'd really like to have my banking App too. I'm sure the number of apps will grow rapidly. I loaded MS Office and even a CAD reader to view 3D renderings. It works flawlessly.

Any review that doesn't glow about this thing must be a bipolar Apple/Mac user.

I have had my Envy X2 since it was released in December. I purchased it directly from HP. It is a beautifully designed laptop/tablet hybrid with only a few issues, most of which are not in anyway the product of HP or its design team.

The size and weight of the computer are perfect for traveling with the computer. The hinge release design and overall build quality far exceeds those of comparable products (Asus and Samsung ATIV). IT has two usb slots, an HDMI connection, and a SD card reader built into the keyboard dock. The tablet has a Micro SD card reader that will increase the overall storage up to 64GB. This is an excellent feature given the unit comes with only 64GB and over half of it is taken up by Windows and the recovery partition. The keyboard dock also houses a separate battery and separate CPU, so when the tablet is docked, the battery and CPU in the keyboard power the unit. When it is not docked, it runs off the battery and CPU in the tablet casing itself. Overall sound quality is decent, but nothing to write home about. It lacks bass completely.

The Intel atom chip is a vast improvement over the prior chip that bared its name and was found in almost every netbook previously. The processor will allow you to run multiple apps and is responsive in basic programs such as Office. It is not a gaming system and it will not give you the performance required to run most major games. Also, the graphics chip is the Intel chip based on the Power VR design (arm design) so it does not support Direct X, which is another reason this machine is not meant for gaming. For business use and school use, this machine is ideally suited.

The wireless chip is a major design flaw, albeit an Intel one. The nature of the Atom chip is a SOC (sytem on a chip design). It is this design that allows for the 14 plus hour battery life on this system. To accomplish this all of the components are built in to system chip and the chip regulates power usage to a minimum. As a result, the wireless card is not capable of handling speeds over 65mbps. Despite being a wireless N design, it will never come close to 300 mbps of wireless N. It is a single antenna design, despite its multiband capability. It is designed this way to maximize power. However, since the computer does not have an Ethernet connection, this is some what of a drawback if you have a high speed internet connection or need to move large amounts of data over a wireless network. My Fios connection is 75 down and 35 up and I cannot achieve my maximum speed on this device. This feature is shared on all Intel Atom designs, including the Samsung ATIV 500 and the Asus equivalent. The manufacturers conveniently leave this fact out of their spec sheets and websites. It is a trade off for the battery life, but it something that prospective buyers should aware of when looking at this system.

The memory is sufficent for most everyday apps and it will allow multiple programs to be open in the background, as long as the programs are not memory intensive, such as Photoshop or video editing.

The Touchpad has some issues as well, and hopefully a fix will come via a driver update in the future. It will stop responding for no apparent reason, especially if the computer is left sitting for awhile.

The only other drawback is the stylus. At this point it still has not been released, and HP does not have a release date. This is one of the major reasons I purchased the computer. Also, according to the manual, the stylus is an Atmel stylus instead of WACOM. This means that you will only get 512 levels of pressure at most and it could be as little as 256. This will limit the stylus to basic handwriting and editing tasks. If you are looking to do graphic design or heavy photo retouching, this is not the stylus based computer for you.

Overall, this is an excellent system for the money and it will allow you to run legacy windows programs in addition to Windows RT software from the app store. It is apparent that HP put some real thought and design into the system. The fact that the system comes with the keyboard dock is also an added plus to help justify the slightly higher cost. The overall build quality is far superior to the Samsung ATIV and ASUS, both of which are made of plastic components.

As long as you know that this is not a powerhouse computer for gaming or heavy photo and video editing, you can't go wrong with this computer.

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Great Concept. It's a laptop when I want it to be and tablet when I need it to be. I have full access to all my windows applications and a growing table app marketplace to support the tablet environment.

About the hardware: Snappy performance, very light-weight. Expandable (Micro and standard Secure Digital card slots); 1 on the tablet and one on the base. Extremely long battery life (2 batteries). The screen resolution is very good and clear from a wide range of angles. Let's be clear, this is no retina display, but it is a high resolution In-Plane Switching panel.

The tablet is extremely light and comfortable in my hands. The volume and power buttons are easily accessible and in the right spots. The "detach" mechanism for the tablet and base is intuitive and easy thanks to the integrated guide magnets.

The Beats audio sounds great and requires no intervention.

Out of the box:

Out of the box the unit was charged and ready for use. Windows 8 setup was quick and easy, however there were many updates that needed to be downloaded for the OS and pre-installed apps.

Minor issue:

CameraI'd like to see better camera/video apps

Metro InterfaceSome things still seem to work better with a keyboard/mouse rather than a touch interface. We will have to see how that comes along.

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This PC is great, all I expected from it, I highly recommend this PC for personal use, the screen and detachable tablet is a great idea!!

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I needed a new notebook for school, I waited for this and suffered thru my last semester without a good notebook. It was totally worth the wait. This is the notebook/tablet I have wanted for at least 2 years.

This has the battery power, the features, and a solid build for school and work. It is portable enough to toss in my backpack for school and powerful enough to get work done while traveling.

It did not come with a stylus pen, so I'll need to figure out what pen to get for this.

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Toshiba A665-S6100X Satellite Notebook 16.0" PC - Slate

I think this Laptop is one of my best aquisitions. Very, very fast... All advertised and publicited is true... The supplier (Eaprisa) is very good, very fast to send their items... Toshiba succeed all and every expectations of their clients/customers through this notebook. I love this computer. I recommend this stuff a lot... Very light weight... This machine reunite all and every demand/requisite from exigent users...

When I received the item the packaging was slightly destroyed, but the actual box that contained the laptop was fine and the computer was unharmed. I love the looks of the computer very sleek. After set-up, the laptop was a little slow, but I deleted a couple of existing programs everything was great and the computer ran much, much faster. I am very pleased with my purchase!

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HP Pavilion DV2-1110US 12.1-Inch Entertainment Laptop

Just one week after I buy this notebook from Amazon, the price falls by $27 and Amazon refuses to match the price drop. Quite disappointing in that regard. I ordered this on a Wed, Amazon shipped on Sunday and it arrived on Tuesday with free shipping. So that was good.

On to the notebook. First the pros:

Build quality is good and it feels expensive compared to most sub $500 note/netbooks.

Large keys on the keyboard while not as spacious as a regular keyboard works better than than those from Acer that use the chicklet size keys. One of the reasons why I chose this over the Acer Timeline series.

Screen is bright and sharp.

Small compact and lightweight since it doesn't have a built-in DVD drive (uses an external drive). Design looks clean and modern with none of that clunky look from the low end Lenovos or Toshibas.

Uses Vista 64 bit edition

Has HDMI port to plug into HDTVs

Dedicated graphics processor and memory.

Now the cons:

Battery life is average 2-3 hours

Uses single core AMD Athlon Neo processor which is underpowered for Vista. There're occasional lags when running basic things like browsers, Word, etc. The CPU is maxed out at 100% most times.

The initial applications and drivers installed seem to make the notebook run really slow. I tried to watch videos on Hulu.com and they were jerky and slow. After installing updated video drivers and IE8 and Firefox, it worked better. Strange for a notebook professing to be an "Entertainment" notebook to be that bad at video until the drivers were updated. Despite the dedicated graphics processor and memory, video performance is just average and can a bit slow at times.

Bloatware. There are several but not too bad.

HP MediaSmart: this is pretty useless since the notebook already has Windows Media Center. The software itself is nothing great and eats up additional memory and CPU cycles.

Bottom line: This notebook is just barely able to run Vista 64 since the CPU is underpowered. It's a compromise between a full blown notebook and netbook since it has a decent size hard drive and screen. To make it perform better, you'll have to remove all the bloatware and unnecessary applications, and download the latest software updates and drivers. I'll be upgrading to Win 7 when it arrives so hopefully, that'll improve the performance further. Also probably look into upgrading the 2gb ram to 4gb.

This device is a better option for those who are thinking to buy a netbook

as I wanted. There are some reasons I didn't bought a netbook:

Almost all have 160 GB HD

It has only 1gb ram, instead some that have 2gb

Some have reduced keyboard

They don't have dedicated video card

This HP-Dv2 has more good things like:

It's also thin as netbooks

It's only 2 inches bigger than netbooks

It comes with an exteral usb dvd drive

Good processor similar to the intel atom in netbooks

More space 250GB HD

Dedicated video card

2GB ram

The price doesnt have a big difference comparing with netbooks cause

the aditional things and performance are compensated in the aditional

money. The external DVD drive is original HP, if it would be sold it

could cost like U$100.

Well those who are thinking in buying a netbook I recomend to you this DV2

the model is very nice and interesting.

Here you have a review of this product:

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Straight to the point This little guy is great for the price. It runs great and I see no problems in Vista. HP's bloatware is a seperate issue.

Things it can do better than a netbook:

1. Play games to an extent (slightly older games or newer ones with lower settings). Left 4 Dead ran fine on medium settings.

2. You can watch 720p HD video thanks to the discreet video! I used Media Player Classic with the CoreAVC h.264 codec. HDMI output to my HDTV played flawlessly.

The screen's native resolution negates 1080p, but even with CoreAVC 1080p is barely watchable.

3. Hard drive is larger so it holds more.

Things it can't do as well as a laptop:

1. Single core cpu doesnt to multitasking well. It was a little slow loading vlcplayer and IE at the same time.

2. Flash video on the web can stutter if it's high def. I blame Adobe for this. Flash is poorly coded. Why can this computer run 720p video with a good codec yet stumble on streaming flash video?! Adobe is working on hardware acceleration but it looks platform specific. Seems shady that I can play a 4gb video file flawlessly yet web video that streams at 150kbps stutters. Shame on you Adobe.

3. Edit photos or video. Photoshop loads and runs fine but can't handle large files well. I used a 150MB PSD file and it took forever to run some filters.

4. 1080p video basically requires at LEAST dual core.

Another downer BLOATWARE. Come on HP, things are ridiculous. I had to uninstall probably 15 different apps/trials and used msconfig to trim the startup to get decent boot times. This should be resolved with the free upgrade to Windows 7 I'm due. Clean OS load = happy computer!

Ratings 10/10 system

1. Hardware config 8/10 ( dual core proc probably would up the price $50 and GREATLY increase performance but also chip away battery life.)

2. Performance 8/10 (720p video is fine, flash stumbles, gaming performance is on par with hardware config)

3. Software config 5/10 (HP loaded bloatware, needed driver updates for best performance)

In short, this computer is a great step up from a netbook because I can watch movies on the plane, and play some games for entertainment. The battery life is about 3.5 hrs which is better than what I would get with a laptop that CAN edit video. I estimate I can get 4-4.5 hrs out of the battery if I play movies from a thumb drive (no spinning platters = power savings!) and dim the screen. I actually like the external optical drive cause it saves battery life! It does what I got it for. Plays 720p video, surfs the web, basic gaming. A netbook with similar performance is $700 at the moment, and this HP has a larger screen!

Can't wait to load Windows 7 on it. Since I'm an IT guy, I am used to tweaking units to get the best performance. I know having a straight load of Windows 7 will be best, loading only the HP drivers and performance might even go up a little more above its current "cleaned out" state. A standard user may not be comfortable doing what it takes to get an OEM computer performing as it should, but that's what it takes. That's why HP, Dell, Gateway, etc can sell computers so cheap, the money they get for including bloatware covers some of YOUR costs.

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I got it for net of the rebate, and came with a free DVD player. Nice slick appearance, neat and light. I use the HDMI port to interface to a wide screen TV and play Netflix and other movies. I thought about paying more for the upgraded model with the dual core Neo but went ahead and took the deal for this one and I do not regret it. Without a doubt the dual core is faster, but this does what I need.

It was loaded with HP garbage and it is annoying to have to spend the time to get that stuff off. HP gets two thumbs down for continuing this annoying practice.

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This is a good price BUT with one BIG CATCH! There's only one ram slot in this laptop and one 4 gig ram cost around $200. Not a good deal if u plan to upgrade the ram. From what I read this laptop runs slow if u go beyond emails, surfing....even streaming video is jerky without the additional ram. You better of getting the Dv2z with the duo core and ram upgrade from hp.

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Samsung RC512-S01 Core i7-2630M 2GHz 6GB 750GB DVD±RW NVIDIA Optimus 15.3" LED Notebook Windows 7

I bought my laptop in late April or early May of 2011 on EBay (brandnew). As advertised, it boots up in seconds. The picture is crisp clear. The numeric keyboard is a plus. But from the very start I had problem with power button. Sometimes it would start and shut down within a second. As time passed it happened more frequently and then it would happen three times before I could get it started. I called and sent it to Samsung (they provided UPS label); they returned it stating it had been fixed. It was not. I sent it back again asking for a different laptop with similar specifications. They refused to replace it; but, they fixed it. Within a few months the problem reappeared. Of course, each time I had to move all the data to an external disc and remove all my passwords and reconfigure it upon return. I have a washer/dryer from Samsung and the dryer has the same problem. I am very disappointed. No more Samsung products for me.

Hadi,

McLean, VA

This laptop worked perfectly for the first year I had it. After that, it started having a host of problems. It is unable to run games that it used to run perfectly. It randomly restarts. It will freeze up on certain web pages, without fail, and have to be manually turned off and on. It keeps overheating. AND it keeps shocking me, which I know is not good for the computer! Tried to talk with Samsung, but ran into a major problem...there isn't a serial number on the laptop! Of course, customer service doesn't believe me and is treating me like I'm an idiot, but I can clearly see where the serial number is supposed to be and isn't. They have promised to call me back in 2-5 business days several times, and weeks later I still have not heard back from them...will not be buying a samsung product again.

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Looking back on my purchase I do not regret it. It is a powerful laptop with all the necessities and has two hard drives that amount to about 700gb of storage capacity. The camera is decent and the ram plus the video card are very useful. I loved it and the only complaint I have is that it cost a little too muvh for what it delivered. That is not to say it doesn't deliver.

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I have had multiple problems with this laptop. First it doesn't start up properly half the time and TWICE my touchpad has gone out and I have had to get it fixed. It looks great on the outside and the screen has wonderful picture but it does no good when the damn thing wont run properly. VERY disappointed. Will never buy a samsung again!

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HP Pavilion Dv6-6136nr Notebook PC, Steel Gray Aluminum

I won this as a prize in the HP holiday shopping sweepstakes, received it in the mail yesterday! All I can say is the BEAT AUDIO is an amazing sound system for a laptop! I loved my Toshiba Satellite i5 but the speakers were crap. I will keep this i3 and give my mom the other. Looking forward to checking out all the features.

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Tohisba Satellite A665-3DV10X 3D Notebook Laptop: Intel Core i5-2410M, 6GB Memroy, 640GB Hard drive

Highly recommend this PC. I have always been a HP or Compaq kind of guy, but this Toshiba has won me over. Starting to play video games again after a 20 year absence. Now, in amazing 3D!!

Toshiba really hit a homerun with this thing! It out-performs all three of my PC's. I'm very happy with it's ability to do 5 things at once without getting bogged down or clogged up.

It is win 7, much better than win 8.

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Just love this computer, fast, powerful, and 3d can't get any better for the price! Win 7 but can be easily upgraded if you even care.

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Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

The white Macbook was updated on May 18 2010. There are minor differences between the 2010 Macbook and 2009's model, detailed below.

The UPGRADES are

1) Geforce Nvidia 320M integrated graphics processor with 48 processing cores. This is better than the Geforce 9400M in last years model. Useful for content creation.

2)Mini display port now supports video AND audio with a compatible Mini-DP to HDMI adapter. (Last years model only supported video)

Thats it.

STANDARD FEATURES from last years model (minor changes noted in brackets)

Polycarbonate unibody

Core 2 Duo processor (2.4ghz up from 2.26 ghz)

1280 x 800 resolution Glossy LED backlit screen,

iSight camera,

2 GB Ram 1gb ram sticks x 2

250gb hard drive

8x slot-loading SuperDrive dvd burner

Large multi-touch trackpad ( Intertial scrolling is now enabled ),

2 USB 2.0 ports ,

Wi-Fi 802.11n specification; 802.11a/b/g compatible, Bluetooth 2.1 and Gigabit Ethernet -10/100/1000.

Inbuilt battery (which Apple advertises as capable of lasting between 9 to 10 hours.) Not true. Real world battery life is between 3 to 6 hours depending on what tasks you use your computer for.

Software included is OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and the iLife 09 suite of content creation tools. A 1 year warranty on parts and 90 day telephone technical support is standard.

The Macbook as it is is good for basic computing activities such as browsing the web, typing articles or watching movies. However, if you're planning to buy a Macbook for multimedia work, such as editing high resolution photos or HD videos and plan to use multiple applications at the same time, please ensure that you upgrade the ram from 2gb to 4gb.

Why?

Because using a macbook with 2 gb of ram (such as this one) to multitask is a GREAT way to drive yourself crazy as the computer struggles to keep up. Try editing 10 megapixel RAW images while playing music in iTunes with Safari open. 2gb of ram is not at all adequate for multitasking / using processor intensive applications on a Macbook. I understand that Apple has to differentiate between the Macbook and MBPro to justify the price differences but skimping on the ram and putting 2gb inside a $999 product and thus, affecting the user experience is not the way to do it.

Upgrading the ram yourself from 2gb to 4gb is a great idea. Currently, Crucial CT2KIT25664BC1067 4GB 204-PIN PC3-8500 SODIMM DDR3 Memory KIT (2GBx2) costs $39.99. So that brings your total to $1010 ($969 MB + $39.99 Ram) if you upgrade your Macbook's ram

So for only $160 more than your Macbook, (if you take into account the cost of the ram upgrade) a viable alternative is the standard Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop which costs approximately $1160 on Amazon. The MBP 13 comes with the added benefits of a more durable aluminum unibody, a backlit keyboard, an SDXC card slot, a firewire 800 port, a thunderbolt port and most importantly, 4gb of ram. Which allows you to multitask effortlessly.

If you're going to use the Macbook for any computationally demanding activities such as content creation, editing large RAW images or HD videos you should upgrade the ram to 4gb or just buy the standard MBPro 13 inch. The significantly faster i5 processor and 4gb ram in the MBPro 13 make a big difference in the daily usage experience.

However, if you only want to use the Macbook for general tasks like writing articles, browsing websites or watching movies, it will handle those duties adequately. At the same time, also keep in mind that if you only need a laptop for basic duties, many other manufacturers offer less expensive laptops which are just as (if not more) capable.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Update Feb 15 2011 At present, the Macbook is extremely out of date compared to other computer makers current products. C2D processor, 250 GB 5400 rpm hard drive, 2 gb ram, 2 USB ports. In 2011, these are totally unlike a $999 notebook's specs and more like a netbook's specs (excluding the C2D processor)

I'd recommend waiting for a Macbook update by Apple. Another good option would be to buy a notebook by HP,Sony or Toshiba (for $999 you'll get a much more powerful machine with regards to hardware) or buy the updated 2011 Macbook Pro 13 base model.

As a student, I've been trying to find a well-built computer for under $1000. For me, the MacBook is a perfect fit.

Pros:

-The touchpad is incredible for web browsing. I have been using PCs notebooks for years, and I have never liked touchpads, but this has proved to be an exception. I can easily do two-button clicking, scrolling with two fingers, and going back and forth through pages with three fingers. I find I no longer do I have to lug around a USB mouse (except if I want to some gaming).

-The computer starts up in 20 seconds without having to wait for background processes to load up (unlike windows).

-The build quality of the MacBook is unmatched for its price. The unibody does not creak at all when handling it.

-Multi-tasking is surprisingly good for only 2GB RAM. The only hiccups I have had were at the first couple of seconds of playing movies on iTunes with a lot of other programs running.

Cons:

-No HDMI port

-Battery does not last 10 hours (about 4-6 for me with iTunes and Wi-Fi running). Still, it is much longer than the competitors for the price range and size.

Even though the build is solid, you may want to get one of these covers if you worry about scratching:

Speck Products See Thru Satin, Soft Touch Hard Shell Case, for 13-inch MacBook Aluminum Unibody/Black Keyboard (Black) DOES NOT FIT WHITE MACBOOK

They snap on in seconds and look great.

If you are a student who is not looking to do any graphic design I highly recommend getting the MacBook instead of the MacBook Pro if you want to save money. Sure it only has 2 GB RAM, but you can easily upgrade it now for $100 Crucial CT2KIT25664BC1067 4GB 204-PIN PC3-8500 SODIMM DDR3 Memory KIT (2GBx2) or wait a year and do it for about $50.

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As a student, I was pretty hesitant to get the MacBook, but after MONTHS of exhaustive research looking for the right laptop (I'm a networking student, and also I am working on my A+ PC Repair certification, so I know a thing or two about PC's and Windows), I decided that I needed a change in my life. I've had an IBM ThinkPad T60 last me four years through school, but after 4 re-install's of XP, I've had enough of the constant attacks of viruses, spyware, etc...and I decided to go with the MacBook.

PROS:

Perfect for web browsing, e-mail, and document creation.

Comes with great features right out of the box: iLife simply rocks; it comes with PhotoBooth, Garageband (where you can create your own music or learn to how play an instrument), Preview, and iMovie (it's basically an easier version of Windows Movie Maker)

Time Machine for backing up documents and pictures, which is FAR SUPERIOR than using the Backup Feature in Windows.

Wi-Fi is SO EASY to set-up using what Apple calls "Airport", just go to the wi-fi antenna at the top of the right-hand corner and set-up right there.

Printing: Coming from a Windows world, and living in a household with a wireless network, setting up a printer was a pain in the butt with Windows, with Mac, it's SO EASY to set-up and begin printing.

BlueTooth: BlueTooth is common in all laptops nowadays, and again, like setting up a printer, it basically connects with the BlueTooth device automatically.

MagSafe Adapter: Apple introduced this idea called MagSafe. If someone got caught on your power cord, it would take the cord and not the computer. I can't tell you how many times my dogs got caught on my IBM power cord and basically almost took the computer with it.

Battery Life: Wow, what a difference. I was coming from a half-hour battery life on my IBM, although Apple says that the battery can last on a 10 hours on a single charge, in the real world, it's falls under 6 hours, but still this is pretty incredible.

CONS:

2GB of RAM. Now coming from a Windows world, Windows is a memory hogger, so the more RAM you have in a Windows system, you are good to go, but with a Mac, it's different. Now if you are compressing 1080p video on a MacBook, the system starts to hick-up trying to catch-up. My advice? Upgrade to 4GB or get the MacBook Pro.

EXPENSIVE: Like all Apple products, it's pretty expensive. I was pretty hesitant to buy a MacBook because it was pretty pricey and being a student i.e. poor, I needed to save up a good chunk of money to buy one of these machines.

So if you are in the market for a new laptop, only need to do some document creating, and web-browsing this Mac is for you. If you want to do some high-end video compression, go with the MacBook Pro since the Pro lines are more aimed at high-end video production. This is definitely a perfect system if all you want is just web-browsing and document creation.

Happy Shopping!

Read Best Reviews of Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) Here

So your in the market for a new laptop, maybe your a student. You need something portable, no 17 inch screens here. It needs to be light, well built, and easy to slip into a bag, for say, a ten minute walk on campus. But at the same time, you don't want a netbook. You don't want to squint at an 11 inch screen, type on a cramped keyboard, or put up with hardware that was out of date five years ago. In other words, you need something that just works, and doesn't complain about it. Well my friend, the Macbook might be just right for you. To me, it's the perfect "in between" product: its not so small and underpowered that your overall computing experience is compromised, while at the same time, its not so big, hot, and heavy that its only ever at home on a desk.

So what kind of computing is the Macbook built for, exactly? Its absolutely perfect for your day to day tasks, emails, word processing, web browsing (Hats off to Apple, after you get used to the multi-touch touchpad, every other laptop you touch feels sluggish and outdated) I'm sure with a serviceable C2D and a GT320, you could get away with some light content creation (Photo/Video editing, etc), but if you plan on using more intensive applications regularly, you'd probably be better off with a MacbookPro, or any number of higher powered Windows laptops.

Also worth noting are a couple of the Macbooks other superlative features. Exceptional battery life for one, I can easily make it 6 hours on a charge, under moderate use, Wifi, max brightness, everything that drains the battery. Speaking of brightness, the 13 inch LED is spectacular, it's bright without being washed out, colors are vivid and vibrant and despite a relatively low resolution, everything looks sharp. The overall construction and feel of the device, also, is excellent. The key's are well spaced and easy to type on. I also mentioned the touchpad, which combines a glass cover with multitouch to make probably the easiest to use notebook navigation I've ever seen. The laptop itself is very well built, very light, but still very stiff and solid. It doesn't feel fragile, in other words. The bottom can get warm after sustained use, but its also worth mentioning that there are no fan vents, and aside from the HDD spinning up, you won't hear the guts of this machine making a single peep.

To sum up, so far I've loved my experience with the Macbook, its perfect for my needs. Mac OSX fits well on a light processing laptop, and despite modest hardware, for the most part you won't feel it lagging or hanging. It's worth mentioning that I am NOT normally a fan of Apple. I will never buy an Iphone, iMac, or a Mac Tower, and I barely use my iPod. Unlike most Mac users, I am perfectly comfortable using Windows, am a big fan of Windows 7, and i'm no stranger to the unforgiving, enthusiast side of a PC. I've built PC's before, and my main computer right now is a high end, self built gaming PC (PII955/GTX 480). In other words, I'm not the normal Apple customer. But when it comes to a portable laptop that will breeze through every day tasks while providing stability and superb battery life, all wrapped up into that premium hardware/software bundle only Apple can provide, the macbook might just be the only way to go.

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I will keep my review to key points aimed at perspective buyers. There is an excellent summary page for a Macbook and some really in-depth reviews with specifications and cool buzz words.

1-Selecting your vendor

Make sure you are getting the right macbook from a source you trust. The 2009 and 2010 models are quite similar visually. Ensure you are getting the right model with the specs you want.

2-Special Offer

200 dollar discount on ipod touch and 100 dollar discount on printer from apple when you buy a mac product. It usually runs from june to early september, and can compensate the high price of the macbook(you have to be a card carrying educationalist to get it).

3-Pricing

If price still hits you below the belt, consider refurbished models, last year models, open box models. All of them give apple's one year warranty and all can be brought into apple for repairs. All will cost you a few hundred less.

4-what's the difference from macbook pro?

4gb ram ,aluminum case, light up keyboard, extra ports(firewire/memory sticks) is whats usually mentioned. Macbook pro also has a screen protector built in and an ambient light sensor to dim your screen automatically. The latter two are nice, especially if you plan to treat your macbook like garbage and eat while working on it.

And all this for an additional 200 dollars on top of 1000 you are already paying for a notebook.

5-software.

Apple is good about not giving you trials. You get legitimate programs, no fills.

When you get a new mac, especially if you are new, go to apple website an watch some introduction videos. They are all under 5 minutes and give excellent summaries of mac basics and fundamentals of software that you just purchased. All of them are free.

Summary.

Macbook is a cost effective way to get a mac. I hope this review will make your choice a more thorough one.

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Dell Latitude D600 1600MHz 1024MB 40GB CDRW/DVD 14.1" Notebook (1.6GHz Pentium M 730 1.0GB RAM 40GB

The computer is great, a little scratches and well loved looking, but works well. 5 Stars Electronics was the vendor I purchased with. The laptop I received had half the memory and half the HD space as listed and when I emailed 5 Stars they initially said some line about it being my part to do due diligence in assuring my product choice, but I provided screen shots of my order confirmation and they really went out of their way to take care of the issue. It took a little longer to get because I had to ship it back to them, but they reimbursed the shipping and what really impressed me was that they doubled the HD to 80 gigs. I am happy with the laptop and the vendor.

I needed another computer but I didn't want to pay a lot of money, I found this one and I LOVE IT, it does what it says and it is very handy, I am so happy I search on Amazon and found this item

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Sony VAIO T Series SVT13132CXS 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver)

Sony refuses to fix the fan with a bios update.

so go todownload NoteBook Fan Control.

Read the manual for setup.

extract and select Sony E series for configuration. Then right click on sys tray and select "start with windows".

Save 2% Off

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Dell Studio 1737 (Ruby Red)

Bought this refurbished on Woot! and have to say couldn't be happier for the $450 i spent. It zips along when i am running lightroom as well as sometimes four office apps at the same time. Onne drawback though is, that because i upgraded to 7, and it didn't ship with 7, that dell won't help any issue i have in regards to drivers etc.

The comptuer shipped with some pretty weak speakers, so i talk to dell and in a week i had new speakers installed and they do the job admirably. HDMI out is nice so is the card reader. Haven't had a single issue with performance, as it should be more than enough for almost everyone.

This is a base model Dell Studio 1737. This appeares to be a refurbished downgrade. The keyboard feels as though it has had some use....a little quirky....the "e" needs extra pressure to register....the keys are very noisy and give the sense of being a used item. The graphics card, an intel 4 series is just adequate. The studio original box with the original disks is present, a nice touch. The quirkiness continues; this is a Vista32; the included disk is a Vista64. The bluetooth is either disconnected or not present. I like the looks of this computer. I don't like the quirky, noisy, heavy touch keyboard. Oh yeah, the screen looks good,too, with enough brightness for me! My only real disappointment is the keyboard; otherwise, I would recommend this. Don

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I have a dell studio 1737. same one i have had for years. few faulty things to note about this laptop if in your in the market to buy, buy it new unless your computer savvy. its a great computer but one of the main things it is sent back to dell for, the hinges, so if your constantly opening and closing your laptop, i would not reccomend this for you, i just now started having this problem and replaced my hinges, it took a good 4 years for me to get that problem because well my laptop is pretty stationary, i dont move it alot.

if you dont move this laptop like i do or have it for just work, it would be a great asset.

ive had mine for years, i bought it early 08, here it is still kicking in the end of 2012. the beauty of it is consitering the fact that usually computers go antique the minute you open the box, not this one. all you need to do is up the ram after a few years and your good to go. this is a great computer and if you can get it your in for a great multimedia computer. but as i sad before, baby those hinges, if your not tech savvy, it could get costly to fix those little buggers if you have to take it to get it "professionally" repaired.

Read Best Reviews of Dell Studio 1737 (Ruby Red) Here

This computer has always had a really hard time connecting to the internet wirelessly. It usually takes at least 4-5 tries, and it is definitely a problem with the computer; it happens everywhere. On top of this I practically have to be sitting next to the wireless source, which kind of defeats the purpose of having wireless in the first place.

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HP Elitebook 6930P Intel Core 2 Duo 2400 MHz 160Gig Serial ATA HDD 2048mb DDR2 DVD-RW Wireless WI-F

This worked out perfect for me as I didn't want to invest in a new laptop as this was a secondary PC to my iMac, so it worked out perfect as the price was low and so far the laptop has worked flawlessly. I'd buy from this seller again.

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Dell Vostro 1500, Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 (2x1.6GHz), 2GB RAM, 80

The new Dell Vostro 1500 is a new dell laptop design. Dell has done good in designing the Vostro. The looks of the Vostro is amazing. It has a stylish look, yet is very durable. The 15.4-inch LCD is wide enough for anyone's viewing pleasure and the screen's glossy feature makes it look like your viewing a glass screen. The dual-core 1.6GhZ (upgradable to 2.4Ghz dual-core) processors are powerful enough for most applications. The 2GB RAM (upgradable to 4GB) can do more then enough for a user. It comes with a DVD burner to burn all your DVDs. The video card offer is good enough to handle the new Vista features. The 80GB SATA HDD (upgradable to 250GB SATA)offers plenty of space and the speed of the SATA is extremely fast. This new Dell is worth every penny.

Overall: Recommended Buy

Review by: Reviewedia.com

The Dell Vostro 1500 comes in a few configurations. I have the setup with 2 gig of RAM and a duo CPU T7250 @ 2.00 GHz. I'm running Windows Vista on it, which I love.

My previous laptop was a Sony Vaio which had an awesome screen display but was as heavy as a full set of weights. OK, I exaggerate slightly. It was massively heavy, and loud, and the keyboard had issues. I finally gave that to a college student to use as a small desktop machine and upgraded myself to this Dell Vostro 1500.

I have been using my Dell Vostro for just over a year now. I am VERY pleased with it. It is light, quiet, the screen display is great, and it has been incredibly reliable. I pound on my laptop for hours every day, doing a ton of typing. I run websites from my home. Any time I travel my laptop goes with me and I am on it several hours a day from my remote location. The Dell has never caused me any issues at all.

The screen display is great. I do a fair amount of graphics work, including judging photo entries for a literary magazine. The Dell's screen lets me accurately view colors and see images with sharp clarity.

I do video game testing and have tested several games out on this laptop everything works quite fine. I haven't run into any issues.

The touch mousepad area works quite fine. I use it constantly during the day and while I do get the occasional "jump" it is no different than any other laptop I've used in that regard.

Really, there is only one minor issue I've ever had with this laptop. If I am wearing shorts and have the laptop sitting on the bare skin of my legs, every once in a while I will get a sharp pain in my leg, as if it was zapped by something. I have to believe that there's some sort of metal or something that creates an electrical circuit and zaps me. It's not an every fifteen minute thing more like a once every two or three days thing. Still, it's annoying enough that I have to find a throw to put between my legs and the laptop to keep it from happening. So I would warn people not to use the laptop on bare skin unless they enjoy that type of sensation.

Still, an awesome laptop and one that has really shown its worth over the past year. Highly recommended!

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I ordered a Dell Inspiron laptop 1 1/2 years ago and it worked great until recently. The screen went black and the system would not start. Turned out that the video card had failed.

I contacted Dell customer support to activate my next business day warranty and after more than a week I have gotten nowhere with them. My claim has been "escalated" twice with the same excuses and refusal to fix the problem. They claim they have no video cards in stock and I will have to wait 2-3 weeks for a replacement card, 2-3 weeks for a loaner system, or 2-3 weeks for a replacement system -basically my NEXT DAY warranty is anything but.

I explained that this is a mission critical system and a 2-3 week delay is unacceptable given the high price I paid for the next day warranty. I offered to take another make or model of graphics card and even offered to go buy the card myself if the agreed to pay for it.

They refused to help in any way. So, I am left with a useless laptop for 2-3 weeks until it becomes convenient for them to honor the warranty. I will never buy another Dell product again and recommend that others who are not technically experienced with fixing computers or that need a "mission critical" system that they look elsewhere because Dell cannot be relied upon to fix broken systems in a timely manner.

Read Best Reviews of Dell Vostro 1500, Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 (2x1.6GHz), 2GB RAM, 80 Here

I bought Dell Vostro about 18 months ago. Exactly 12 months and 2 days battery died. Warranty is not covered if it more than 12 months. I had to buy a new battery. A month after that Adapter stopped charging the battery. I had to buy a new adapter since it stopped working in 14th month. Couple of days back I opened the laptop and it broke at the hinges fell flat.

I have other laptops from HP and Acer they worke for me for years. Dell hardly lasted 18 months with basic use.I will never buy Dell again.

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I have had my Vostro 1500 for roughly 3 years now it is the duel core 1.40 ghz 2 gigs of ram. overal I would say it is and has been a 7 out of 10. as far as the Neg. umm when I first got this pc the cd-rom issue was happening where it would not read and disk. this was found to be an easy fix the cd-rom drive is set to a location of (00) you must edit this under the system tab of windows xp and use Device manager and set it to (01) United States or find the country you are in and this solves this issue. oddly Dell had a real problem with this issue because upon release of the pc over 250,000 computers had this error and and this is when del just started releasing their computers to be sold at best buy and walmart. But Ironicly no body wanted them cause they didnt work out the door. so they flopped. rofl, best tried to sell it for $ 949.99 and Like I said they flopped and they flopped bad. they sold less than 2000.

and guess where they round up? on EBAY I bought mine for $145 after shipping. I bought 4 because of the price do you get it 4 LAPTOPS FOR LESS THEN $600.00 and that included shipping. to this day my mother still uses hers and my sister still is happy with hers. my wife dropped hers 2 years after she owned it and it was gone. as for mine I am still using it to this day. I have done some minor ud grades I ripped the old 80 gig out and threw in a 500 gig because I had it laying around. as far as the guy saying you have to pull the MB to get to the HD...BULL!!! its the screw with a padlock on it.took me less than 10 minutes. also I went from the stall version of XP to Windows 7 64 bit. as far as how I feel I this it is a great PC for the price, and it is great for student just starting out.or a rough Family just trying to make it .Like I said it has been 3 years now and I need to buy a new battery and a charge cord. but for $ 38 it doesnt just kill you dipping into your pocket. so take it from me look around for this laptop check Ebay just saw one on there for $104 so they are still cheep I'd give it a thumbs up

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Used Aluminum PowerBook G4/1.33 GHz, 1.3 GB of RAM, 60 GB internal drive, internal Combo Drive, int

Got it instead of getting net book. I had to buy another battery for 30$ as the battery does not hold charging also I had to buy another charger as the charger does not fit well for another 12$. The laptop itself works well and in moderate condition

it's my first mac and i just love it it's fast it's cheep and there are so many ways to use it. i love this mac and i all ways will

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Acer AS5732Z-4867 15.6-Inch HD Display Laptop (Black)

A little disappointed as I recently ordered and received from amazon this Acer AS5732Z-4867 and was satisfied that it was a good, basic laptop, at a budget price. However, I discovered today, that Acer was good enough to give me a nice, integrated webcam with this model, but NO microphone, only a microphone jack to connect an external mic. When shopping for laptops, I am in the habbit of searching the specs to see if one includes a webcam and not whether it comes with a built-in mic as well. A built-in mic would be on most laptops, I thought, especially if it comes with a webcam. Not so with this model. If you are going to use the webcam for Skype or Messenger or other communications, you will have to know sign language or the other party will have to lip read unless you are willing to buy the external mic to plug into the microphone jack.

UPDATE: Purchased this mic Olympus ME-52 Noise Cancellation Microphone from amazon and use it with the included black windscreen cover via the mic jack (without the extension cord). It works very well, but would have preferred the built-in kind.

So far this has been a good laptop for doing the basic tasks (e.g. internet browsing). I haven't and don't plan to do too much power computing with this thing, but overall I have been happy with the performance. I've been able to load demanding websites with no issues. All other included applications appear to respond quickly and perform well.

The laptop's physical design is good overall but the laptop's outside case material is not of the sturdiest plastic. Compared to my wife's Dell, the plastic feels a bit flimsy. I don't think this will be a big problem in the long run, but wish the case was a bit more rugged. On the plus side, it is a bit lighter than my wife's notebook. I thought that the numeric keypad would make the keyboard feel "squashed", but I've found that it feels no different than any other notebook keyboard.

Two lights at the left palm-rest indicate power-on and charging status. Above the keyboard are buttons with indicator lights for turning the touchpad and wireless functions on and off. The hard drive activity light is also in this area. Unfortunately there are no lights to indicate when the caps lock and number lock are on, which has been somewhat annoying, especially when dealing with passwords. Everything else is comparable to a standard laptop, with no outstanding additional features.

This laptop does not come with recovery disks or even a backup partition. I guess this is standard practice for many laptops sold today. A recovery disk can be obtained from the Acer website for a fee, but I was unable to order it since the site wouldn't recognize my laptop's serial number, even after registration. Some select drivers are available for direct download, but I feel a recovery disk should be included with any new laptop or at least provided for free upon request.

There is a lot of additional trial software loaded on this laptop, with annoying popups once in a while to register or purchase a software product. I haven't found a good use for any of the products yet, and will eventually have to consider uninstalling each item. I'm assuming the included trial software is helping to keep the price of this laptop reasonable, so I find it only mildly annoying to deal with it.

Other: Wireless was easy to set up and has been reliable with good range. The track pad and scroll feature are accurate and function well. The screen is bright and easy to read. I've added a Microsoft wireless mobile mouse, which works well and makes a perfect companion to any laptop. There are only 2 USB ports, both are in use by the wireless mouse adapter and a Bluetooth adapter. I would have liked to have 1 or 2 extra USB ports available.

Despite the few minor annoyances, I am very happy with the overall performance of this laptop. I would recommend this computer to anyone looking for a good-performing budget notebook. Updated Feb 17, 2013: I see this notebook is still available for purchase. I've had no problems with mine since purchase about 3 years ago now. It gets a lot of use daily, so it doesn't get pampered in any way. Wireless performs flawlessly, bootup times are like when new, applications load quickly, internet browsing works perfectly. I've traveled with it a few times, but mostly use it at home. This notebook has held up very well both in physical appearance and performance. Extremely happy with this system!

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Update: I actually purchased another one, still an eMachines but this time even closer to this model's specs (same CPU and RAM, vs AMD and 2GB RAM). Read my update in this review's "comments" section.

I'd like to respond to Linda's complaint/review. I do agree that the mfr should be more up-front in disclosing lack of internal mic, however please let me provide a different point of view... for the benefits of other readers, at the least. I actually think a built-in webcam and no mic is the 'best of both worlds'. I know, that seems strange, but here's why.

A built-in webcam is creepy enough, but you can easily cover it with a piece of tape. We've seen in recent news that people can and DO hack into webcams and mics of people online--even (illegally so) a school providing loaner laptops to students, spying on them in their bedrooms.

You can't turn an internal mic off (no mfr provides a hard switch). You can disable it in the OS, but it's inconvenient, and you have to trust the OS and apps that nothing's switching it back on. Plus (and maybe most importantly, if not realistically), internal mics usually SUCK. Even if it's good, it's generally too far away and too close to the speakers when integrated. So what you usually get, is a built-in mic which stays on all the time, with the creepy security risk (and Google saying someday it will eavesdrop on your mic and if it hears a dog barking in the background, will spam you with dog food ads, for instance)... and you end up using an external mic anyway. Maybe you've had good luck with integrated microphones? I know I haven't. Nothing beats a headset, or something close to your mouth.... especially if you're using the laptop's speakers to hear your party.

A few years ago I had the opposite experience. I bought a laptop with no webcam, and it had an internal mic which wasn't documented. I'd had it about a year when I installed a recording program, and noticed it was picking up noises when I was just trying out the program (with no input). The quality was so low it wasn't useful, and the fact I had a useless mic which was only a security and creepiness liability made it an albatross. I wished they made laptops WITH webcams, but NO integrated mics, but I didn't think anyone would do that. Then I bought this laptop (not this actual model, but similar) and was so happy--but surprised--that there was no internal mic. Really. YMMV.

Let me make a comment on my laptop. I have an emachines version which is identical but mine has a lower-power AMD CPU with a lower-capacity hard drive. Chassis and hardware should be identical. I was astounded at the quality of my webcam. It does appear to be only QVGA (quarter VGA), but the quality is better than the VGA cams I've seen. And because it's QVGA, it updates a 4x faster on the user's end (seems smoother, more motion-y). Best of all, it really is "optimized for low-light" like it says on the computer. If you have a white background on your screen, the light from the screen is enough for the webcam to pick you up fine in an UNLIT room (too bad Skype has a black background; I can't seem to change it). (And it works fine in well-lit rooms too; no 'overexposure'.) One low-powered light on in the room is good enough for this webcam (exceedingly rare to find on an integrated cam IMO). Which is really nice for those late-night conversations, which is really when you want to use a webcam, right? I can tell you firsthand it's substantially better than a late-gen iMac webcam which didn't do well in existing artificial light.

Over the internet, I let a friend a choose between my integrated webcam and a well-respected USB VGA webcam I'd previously bought. I didn't say which was which, nor give techincal details, just: "which do you prefer?". My party chose my integrated webcam, to my surprise (and delight). Almost all integrated webcams are crappy, and I've never heard of one which is actually excellent. Plus, it is aimed right at me, taking into account proper screen angle. It's as if someone knew what they were doing when they designed it!

Personally, I use a little over-the-ear mic which came with that previous webcam I mentioned (now made obsolete by the excellent internal cam). These are really cheap to buy on the net. You can also get little "stalk" right-angle connector mics which are made for notebooks as you just plug it into the jack and angle it at you. But something close to your mouth is best. meritline, dealextreme, pcmicrostore, amazon of course and many others sell cheap mics of wildly varying style and quality. You can leave the stalk type ones connected--the smaller the stalk, obviously the easier it is to leave connected but the father away it'll be from you. Other options would be a USB 'speakerphone', also pretty handy, but that's more wires, or an adapter (which you can get on Amazon) which allows you to use your 2.5mm connector cordless phone headset in your computer.

With this laptop, ALL the connectors are in the right place. Very rare. The sound, power, and network ports are all on the left--where God intended them to be :) . You don't have a power cable running out one side of you and a network cable out the other. Everything comes in at the left (yes!). There is nothing on the back, and nothing on the right to interfere with your mouse hand except for the optical drive, which again is also in the correct place for you to replace disks.

In the front, you have the card reader--which is a good card reader. It's BOOTABLE, and faster than a USB card reader I have. Yeah it's a little difficult to get to, and the action is very positive (you have to push pretty hard on the card to get it to pop back out), but I see that as a good thing, as the card is flush and is not going to pop out accidentally pushing up against you.

Honstly, I wish I had this model (I think it's a new model). What I'd really like to know is how often the fan turns on when idling in this model? Mine is really quiet. Fan doesn't run much, and is quiet when it does. My 160GB drive is the quietest drive I think I've ever heard, and I hope this 250GB is too, as it's only 5600rpm. A lot of the 250GB drives are 7200rpm, which are quite noisier, and not worth the speed tradeoff for me (I use a 7200rpm in my work laptop daily, so I know). I only have 2GB RAM and most for users running Windows 7 (Windows 6.1 technically), that's enough. However, if you open tons of web tabs, it is possible to max out in Windows 64-bit (I was surprised). 3GB or 4 would be enough for me but I'm a power user. This has 3, or 50% more than my 2GB. (The RAM inside may also be DDR3, which if true would be contrary to some spec lists.)

Likewise, I could use the more powerful T4400 processor in this model, I just don't know if it creates extra heat. The mobile Intels are very efficient. I have an AMD but one of the newer low-powered variants... but gutless compared to this. However, my fan is usually off in idle, only coming on a couple seconds every once in awhile after it's been on for awhile. I'd want to keep that--and want to know if this T4400 is cool enough it behaves similarly. Max heat of a T4400 is in the thirties of watts; my AMD creates 15 watts max, but max heat rating is not a good indication of idle usage. Anecdotal stories are much more useful.

Having used my laptop enough now, I like it so much (everything being in the right place, etc) that I'd pay extra for what I have now with more ram and a better processor--if that did not mean more noise. I've seen a lot of crappy laptops in my day (crappy=bad heat management/noisy, bad keyboards, and ports/connectors in illogical places). So I'm soliciting any feedback?

There's no perfect laptop, but I think the fact that this one's 'thicker' than most laptops these days yields hidden benefits that outway lack of thinness (and the lappy is pretty lightweight when you take the battery out, if you use w/a cord like I do). I have some issues with the keyboard, and yes there are only 2 USB ports (macbook only gives you 1?). But the intangibles are high here, including the very nice glossy screen, almost equivalent with HP/Compaq.

The keys are almost 'stealth chiclet', or 'hybrid'. They have good travel (unlike chiclet), and are larger (unlike chiclet), but have no bevel (like chiclet), and only an imperceptible curve (essentially flat), which makes it surprisingly hard for your fingers to find the keys in the dark (and keyboard is unlit). That said, they're nice and big and feel good due to good travel. Key location is above average, not perfect. They missed an opportunity to put page-up/page-down where they put those half-sized arrow keys. Why just leave that part of the keyboard as a blank hole, and make a button half-size, when you could either put a full-sized key there or put another half-size key above it? Again, nothing's perfect. I'm not a fan of numberpads, so I sacrificed the keypad and assigned a slew of non-character keys to it using a freeware app called KeyTweak. Now a pretty happy camper.

If you go through Windows 7 power management in Control Panel and get aggressive on the 'power saver' profile (including aggressive screen dimming), as well as turn off the stupid Aero interface and other animations/effects, you can squeeze about 50% more battery time out. Disabling wireless helps, if you can, and also frees up about 50MB of memory.

I love the laptop overall, and friends who see it are envious. Thinner is not necessarily better. Read reviews of the newer thinner Acer models and you'll see reviews are not as good. Most common complaints about this chassis form factor is only 2 USB ports, the silly layout of the number pad, the flat keys, and an occasional "slow Wi-Fi" problem I've seen in reviews which appears to be hardware-related (mine is fine and quite fast, actually). So if you get one, test out your wi-fi speed within the exchange period.

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This is a good basic computer, and I purchased it specifically because it came with a webcam. Who now days would get a webcam on their computer without a microphone?? It doesnt make sense. I see that another person wrote a review with another point of view, but clearly thats not why people usually buy computers, and I'm sure Acer wanted to save $$ so it omitted the Microphone. Whats even more ridiculous is on the computer itself where the camera is on the top of the monitor, there is a call out saying "WEBCAM OPTIMIZED FOR LOW LIGHT VIDEO CHATTING" Chatting is the key word here, you cant chat with someone when there is no microphone. (Unless you can read their lips) besides the no Microphone issue, this is a good computer for the price, very light and portable. I purchased a Olympus ME-12 Noise Canceling Microphone from Amazon which works great with the laptop but would have much rather had it as a part of the computer than having this mic stick out as an added accessory.

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I was a little skeptic about this... the name "Acer", wasn't a familiar name to me. I've always had the "OTHER" type. I have to tell you that, I really love this product. I use it everyday, all day.

I would recommend this to everyone.

You won't be sorry!

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