Showing posts with label new notebook computers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new notebook computers. Show all posts

GATEWAY NV5927U LAPTOP WITH INTEL CORE I3-330M (2.13GHz), 4GB DDR3, 320GB, 4xBLU-RAY, 15.6" LED LCD

GATEWAY NV5927U LAPTOP WITH INTEL CORE I3-330M, 4GB DDR3, 320GB, 4xBLU-RAY, 15.6' LED LCD, GbE, WEBCAM, CARD READER, WIN 7 HOME PREM 64-BITI've had my NV5927u for a couple of years now and it's been a great machine. I've edited a feature length movie on it and can still play many of the latest games. It's not a top of the line machine and that should be considered, but for the money I paid, I cannot complain at all.

I wish I could give less than 1 start if any. The worst laptop and worst customer service ever. The battery went bad in a year. the charging cord went bad in two years. The hard drive broken in 2.5 year. I was lucky enough to buy an additional warranty which changed the hard drive for me. However, the original win7 came with the laptop expired because of the change of hard drive (speculated by customer service). I could have reinstalled win 7 if the key number at the bottom is not worn off. Since the key is not readable, I asked Gateway to send me again my key. Sorry, your warranty expired and we cannot help. But, if you buy reboot CD and reboot yr system, everything will be fixed. I paid $20 and bought the CD. The CDs (4 total) do not work. After two 3-hour chatting with customer services, they told me the CDs may be defective. I could be better off to buy win7 from my college book store for $20, but the customer persuaded to buy their dame CD. They have told me to reformat my computer to allow the CDs to work, which did not work. The next time, I tried to contact them, they told me again, sorry your warranty is expired. I told them, maybe, but the CDs you sold me last week are not expired, right? They told me to call during office hours to try again, whereas no phone number could be found anywhere on their website.... Gateway, the worst laptop and customer service. Do not buy it.

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Toshiba Satellite L675D-S7104 17.3" Notebook (2.5 GHz AMD Turion II Dual-Core Mobile Processor P560

Toshiba Satellite L675D-S7104 17.3' NotebookBought my laptop at the local Office Depot for $649.99 then got $150 off for instant savings which makes it a better performance bargain. Love the fact that the windows 7 that is installed is the 64bit version instead of the 32bit version. Which is a good sign soon i am upgrading to 8gb. Like the fact that the screen is a 17.3" led backlite screen which makes the laptop lighter but not by much. The hard drive is of decent size but 500gb is more than enough for the average user. Can be used for casual gameplay at best. Might play some demanding games at lower settings. Built in speakers are not the best but the integrated desgin is neat to ponder at. Like the fake looking carbon fiber design that they chose. Process is of increadible speed for a mobile dual core desgn running at 2.5ghz. Doesn't get that hot for a large laptop computer. Full keyboard layout is good. But don't like that they chose not to use a DVD R/RW drive with labelflash or lightscribe support. Only has two usb inputs when most have atleast 3 and the location is right next to dvd drive. Two other features i like is the integrated esata and hdmi output and it still has vga output as well. I would highly recommend this computer who is looking for a better laptop that doesn't want to break the bank.

Toshiba computers are very nice, even though i'm an Acer fan and have been for about 14 years. I've never had a single problem wit Acer and i think they should rate higher for reliability than they do. Toshiba had a ruff time last year with a lot of technical issues with their machines and were getting a bad rap form about everyone. They have always been good quality built computers, but i guess every laptop can have it's defective parts here and there. I work on computers, and have for many years, there is only so much you can do with a laptop(to work on) but here are some of the pro's and con's as i see it, based on this one i got for my father.

PROS

1. Nice bright screen with a basic ATI HD 4250, good for HD movies, bad for gaming.

2. Good solid build from the ground up, although all computers today feel pretty much the same.

3. Pretty quiet, although the fan usually always runs, but it's subtle.

4. Good for surfing the net, word processing, music and movies not much else.

5. Good burner, usually Toshiba puts on Cyberlink, but not on this machine, i put it on myself with an old disc i had.

6. Very smooth keys, soft actually, and where you rest your hands feels very comfortable.

7. Good sounding loud speakers, no Harmon Kardon but good.

8. No track pad problems, its sensitive but right over the track pad guess what? Yeah a shut off button, imagine that ha.

9. High Speed 3.0 USB, with sata port.

10. Large 17.3 inch screen, which is hard to find for this price. Not LED though, LCD only.

CONS

1. I myself hate AMD especially Turion, but this one does "ok". My Acer has the Pentium Dual Core P6100 which is much faster overall. Converting movies shows a big difference even though this is a 2.53ghz dual core. Mainly because the Acer has 3mb of L3 cache.

2. Finger print magnet, although it looks nice.

3. Little bit of flex in the keys, just a little though.

4. Extremely cheap mouse buttons, probably the worst i've seen. Very loud when using

5. Horrible web cam picture.

6. Runs a little hot sometimes underneath your right palm, small potatoes.

7. Slow boot, as with even faster computers.

8. Not enough "useful" software out of the box, no burning utilities, Microsoft works, etc.

9. Extremely weak on board ATI GPU, you can barely play half life on low settings. :(

So all in all it's an average computer with mediocre performance, but a good deal for the money. Every AMD i've used in the last few years on any computer i've worked on has been very sluggish. But if you want a good deal that won't break your bank, and just for everyday regular use, this computer is for you. Also as i said in this range other than Acer you won't find very many 17.3 inch screens for the price.

Buy Toshiba Satellite L675D-S7104 17.3" Notebook (2.5 GHz AMD Turion II Dual-Core Mobile Processor P560 Now

I'll start off by saying the only reason I chose to buy this PC was because the price is right. It was on sale for under $500 so I didn't think there was any risk in such an investment. I've always wanted to get into PC gaming and to do that I knew that after a while I would either have to upgrade (which I don't know how to do for the life of me) or trade in for a new one further down the road. This computer will be awful for gaming! If you are looking for a good gaming laptop than I suggest looking for a laptop that costs at least $1000 and do your research about GPX cards. Regardless of that, I was easily able to make this otherwise weak GPU play very demanding 1080p HD videos with very high bitrates. Out of the box it didn't play them so well, but a $10 investment into CoreAVC will go a long way and improve H.264 video decoding like a pro.

The design of the laptop is also top notch in my opinion. I was hesitant to buy a gray computer, but only the lid is gray, and very dark at that. The keyboard was outstanding for me with soft flat keys with a stylish glossy black finish. Has a full number pad and a track pad lock as well. The track pad isn't the best....no maybe it is. All track pads seem to be different kinds of suck, but at least this one has a nice texture to it and not just smooth and flat. Either way, get yourself a wireless Logitech mouse. The display is your typical LED screen, and while it looks as good as you would expect a 17.3 inch 1600x900 LED screen to look, I can't help but remember how much more I enjoyed my old Sony Vaio and its regular LCD screen. But I guess laptops these days are all about seeing your reflection if you using it in a bright room. Ports are nice. Comes with 2 USB ports (and a 3rd in the form of a USB/Sata combo port) HDMI, VGA, and an SD Slot. 3 USB ports is alright, but the standard is 4. SD Slot makes the SD card stick out rather than click in, so I always took out the card before moving it to avoid the card getting hit. But everything works as expected.

I'll finish by saying that despite my small complaints, I liked this laptop. For a computer this price you can't go wrong with it. For just an average PC user I highly recommend it. It is by no means powerful, but if you really needed it to be, you wouldn't be reading a review for a laptop of this price anyway. Just seriously, don't game on it.

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I love this laptop. When it works. The main issue is overheating, which happens frequently. It happens mostly when watching video or playing games, though this computer was supposed to be excellent for that. Less than 18 months after I bought the computer, the entire cooling system has died. That doesn't seem like a reasonable amount of time before a major system of the computer craps out.

Howeverdespite all my problems with the computer itselfthe customer service while the computer was under warranty was AMAZING. They really work hard to help you and frankly, that makes me consider buying another Toshiba.

As for the computer itself, the 4gb of memory is great. 500gb of storage is more than enough. The integrated webcam and mic make Skype super easy. And the battery lasts a good deal of time when not plugged in. The only real con is the overheating/cooling system issue.

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After owning several problem-free Compaq and Dell laptops over the past 15 years, I made the mistake of buying my first Toshiba, a Satellite L675D. I admit that I was enthralled by the 17" display. Big mistake. HUGE MISTAKE. Less than four months after purchase, my wife opened the laptop one evening and the screen showed a crack in the upper right corner. I sent the laptop to the Toshiba repair depot and they claim she accidentily damaged it and they want $325 to repair it. BTW, the entire system only cost $530 brand new. According to Toshiba Customer Relations (and I quote) the "accident was caused by opening the case too hard". I asked how that was even possible. Seriously, how do you open a laptop too hard? Toshiba said (and I quote), "you could have pulled too hard". If anyone from Toshiba is reading this, refer to T1-1174583 case # 110 331 001 320. I swear these are exact quotes. I currently own several Toshiba products, but after this experience I will never purchase another Toshiba product of any type in my lifetime. And now whenever I see someone even looking at a Toshiba laptop in Best Buy, HHGreg, WalMart, etc, I will warn them not to even consider Toshiba. Stick with manufacturers who stand behind their products. Toshiba is not one of them.

Toshiba Satellite C655-S5121 15.6" Laptop

Toshiba Satellite C655-S5121 15.6' LaptopI've been a Toshiba notebook fan for a while, this is my third. The notebook is loaded with windows 7 but only 2gb of RAM, I'd suggest grabbing a $15 stick of RAM when you purchase it so you can immediately upgrade your memory. I run Adobe CS5 on this with no problem and also some lightweight video editing. It's a great computer for office work and I'm pretty pleased with the battery life.

It's perfect for what I need. I mainly need it for school and entertainment. I can watch tv.com or Hulu just fine on it. It didn't have Word or Works, etc, but I use Google Drive anyway. The only problem is a tiny little white spot in the screen, but it's hardly noticeable.

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I really enjoy my lab top It is very dependable and has window 7 on it. The only thing that I have liked that I did not get was a mic and camera in it. But that was my mistake. The wifi works great. Will buy a nother toshbia.

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This is a very nice laptop easy to use and serves it purpose no issues love it. Toshiba makes a product worth it's reputation, in other words it is high quailaty.

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Dell Inspiron 14Z i14z-2026DBK 14-Inch Laptop (Black)

Dell Inspiron 14Z i14z-2026DBK 14-Inch LaptopI have been having a nightmare with this computer and Dell Company. Computer freezes almost once a day, yet Dell tells me it is a software issue. We have tried restoring etc. But does not work. Tried for a refund but they repeatedly told me they had fixed the problem. No, it still has problems. Now they say the time period has expired. It has been 23 days since they shipped it, but only 15 days I have owned the computer. I spent over 5 hours on the phone with Dell today, and been hung up on 4 times. I will not ever buy from Dell again.

I'm a student, and I was debating between getting a Dell or an Asus EeePC. I went ahead and got this one, because a friend of mine owned the 15z for a bit more.

Here are some pros and cons.

Pros:

-good performance, actually just fine for a laptop this size and price

-relatively long battery life (six hours and 35 minutes)

-I got the black one, I liked the design

-Nice keyboard feel I type a lot during the day, so the cushy keyboard was nice

Cons:

-The trackpad and buttons are a bit stiff, but not much of a problem unless you use it when gaming

-Lots of dell bloatware. I.e., mcafee security, roxio, and a few others that flood you with popups when you first open the 14z.

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Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2330M CPU @ 2.20GHz 6.5

Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB 7.3

Graphics Intel(R) HD Graphics Family 6.3

Gaming graphics 1696 MB Total available graphics memory 6.3

Primary hard disk 26GB Free (92GB Total) 7.6

Great Laptop

Pros:

Nice bright screen.

Great price (50 dollar gift card for a total of 499.99.)

Lightweight.

Great battery.

No flex in keyboard.

Easy access to hard drive.

Aluminum cover (top and around keyboard.)

Cons:

Plastic Bottom.

Second memory module location is located under the keyboard.

No back-lit keyboard (this really isnt a con considering I knew this laptop would not come with one given its lower price.)

Great computer for what is paid. I installed a SSD and eight gigabytes of memory. It is now lightning fast.

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This machine has a solid, all metal construction, with the only plastic being the keys and the bezel surrounding the screen. It is quite fast with a 2nd gen core i5 CPU. Keyboard is one of the best I've ever used, compared with Lenovo thinkpad T420. Very satisfied with the screen is bright and clear. Highly recommended!

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Bought one of these for someone who is in the IT field and is mobile he absolutely loves it. I paid $659.99 when I bought it (felt a bit high) but knowing that it does what it needs to do, I have NO remorse.

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Dell Latitude D610 Pentium M 1.6GHz 1GB 40GB CDRW/DVD 14.1" XP Professional

Dell Latitude D610 Pentium M 1.6GHz 1GB 40GB CDRW/DVD 14.1' XP ProfessionalGot laptop and within a day lost windows and now wont load or anything.. not happy at all with the dell laptop.

I was looking for a second computer, specifically one with Windows XP. I read the seller's notes and was I surprised when it arrived. It arrived sooner than I'd expected. What I got was much more than I expected; the "scratches and scuffs" I didn't notice. The "works great" is the Honest-Abe's truth. It's always a risk buying used; I'm glad I took the chance on John Amrhein. Couldn't be happier!

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Very impressed with the product and the seller. First of, i received the laptop way faster than expected. Its in very good physical condition. I dont know much about laptops, but its seems to be working, hopefully as i dig further into it i would continue to be pleased. The only thing is, i hope this seller or any others can be more detailed about the conditions of their products, because it can really help. I almost didnt buy this laptop bc i was afraid it would be in bad shape.

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Got it in short time, was everything they said it would be , plus!! no complaints none at all, would recommend if your looking at this comment. I sure didn't go wrong!!

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I purchased this laptop for my brother's daughter who is 11 years old for educational purposes, as well as, playing games and stay connected to her family and friends. She loves her laptop and it was readily available for a faction of the cost. It works well even as a used item. No problems with this item as of yet.

Dell Inspiron i13z-8864sLV 13-Inch Laptop

Dell Inspiron i13z-8864sLV 13-Inch LaptopPros: price, seem very well built, keyboard, size/convience. When it was working, it was fast and ran very smooth.

The Issues: After about 4 weeks it would not boot. I sent it off to Dell service center and they needed to replace the motherboard, hard drive, audio board and reinstall Windows 8. Not sure what the exact issue was and Dell support has been somewhat vague. When the laptop was returned an administrator profile was setup and it would not allow me to create a profile. I was on the phone with tech support for over an hour for them to tell me the OS needs reset/put back on the computer properly (not sure why this was not fixed properly before sending back to me). Anyway they want me to buy an external disk drive and install Windows 8 again.

Overall I'm very pleased with the build of the laptop and wish that it would work.

UPDATE: I sent the laptop back and was given a refund. I do not recommend buying this laptop because of the 4 weeks issues (will not boot). I have found several other reviews stating the same issues as mine. It appears Dell's quality has lowered. I was also not pleased with the customer support.

I went through many reviews to finally choose this one, it's the best you can get at this price. I've been using it now for more than a month and am so satisfied with it.

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Seriously. Not a month of use, and the motherboard is dead. It can't identify a boot device. Been on chat with a (friendly, thank goodness) Dell rep who is sending a tech to replace the motherboard. I hope this is a one-time problem. My previous Dells have fared far better...

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I acquired recently one of the earliest Dell Inspiron 13zs and had to ship it to Dell for servicing. Much to my amazement, their customer service and technical support was absolutely first rate, correcting a flaw in the battery and conducting extensive tests to ensure that this laptop performed as good as new; I am also grateful to them for giving me a year's warranty on this laptop despited the fact that I had purchased it second-hand from Amazon's Warehouse Outlet. As for the unit itself, I am especially impressed with how quickly it loads web pages, due no doubt to having 6 MB of RAM. Despite its relatively slow 1.4 Ghz speed, it has performed nearly as fast as an older Dell XPS M1330 which I still use daily; that older Dell has a 2.2 Ghz speed. This is almost the perfect laptop for web searching. My only reservation is that it seems to be less durable in construction than the Dell XPS M1330 or some other Dell laptops that I still use. Those thinking of getting the Dell Inspiron 13z at its currently faster Ghz speeds will find this a very good notebook equal in quality to similar ones from HP and Apple.

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Dell 13z is amazing for this price. It's fast, quiet and light weight(portable).

The keyboard layout is perfect for me. This laptop runs Windows 8 flawlessly.

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Sony VAIO VGN-CR320E/R 14.1-inch Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 Processor, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Dr

Sony VAIO VGN-CR320E/R 14.1-inch Laptop RedI bought the Sony Vaio CR320E/W after weeks of research. It is light, fast, and stylish (and cheap?). I needed something portable for college so I went with the 14" and I love it. The screen is really bright and glossy. The laptop itself weighs nothing compared to my dad's 15" Dell laptop. The build quality is very sturdy and the gloss white finish doesn't show fingerprints as bad as one would think. It does not have a latch to keep it closed but rather it relies on the tension of the spring. The spring works fine and has never been an issue. The Core2Duo processor is great for all around use. It isn't the fastest dual-core out there, but it is more than enough to get the job done for the average consumer. The bluetooth worked great and instantly connected to my phone. The camera is one of the neatest features. Besides taking regular photos and videos, it also has mac-like effects that can distort the image in weird ways and do random flips and rotations of the image. Another mac-like thing was the keyboard. The keyboard has a slight gap in between each key and they are all rounded a little. The keys have the just right amount of "roughness" to make good contact with your fingers. The speakers on this laptop are not extraordinarily load but they are not weak by any means. I said it was cheap because the older version of this laptop (vgn-cr220e/w) which doesn't have bluetooth and a slower/smaller hard drive is actually more expensive on amazon.com than this one. I personally saved a little more money and picked this laptop up from Best Buy after instant rebate.

There were 3 cons that I found with this laptop. First of all, it comes loaded with Sony bloatware programs. I spent the first 2-3 hours with this laptop just uninstalling the software. All they do is slow down the computer and most of them are very repetitive when compared to Windows programs (Sony Home Video Creator v. Windows Movie Maker). The other issue with this laptop was the battery life. Even though it is advertised as 2-4.5 hours, I just wanted to bring that up because it typically gets around 3-4 hours, which is a little bit too short for me. The third issue was that it comes with a weak graphics card. It is fine for general use, but it probably would have a little difficulty keeping up with the newest games. All in all, this vaio is a great buy.

I can't tell you how happy I was about three weeks ago when I got this Gorgeous Pink Sony Vaio as a gift! Let's just put aside that my favorite color is PINK and this is just the most beautiful pearly pink color I have ever seen. It's like an accessory. Which is the main reason you buy a colored laptop isn't it?

This is a critical part of my work. I'm a paralegal and I needed somthing light but sturdy to take back and forth with me to work. I went with the 14.1" screen because it is big enough to see exactly what I need. Bright and colorful as well. I don't use the computer for much but work and documents, so I'm not sure how it stacks up with things like game play, etc. But I can tell you that it is quick (maybe not the fastest laptop ever) enough for the everyday consumer! This computer also comes in a variety of high gloss colors at great prices!

It took me all of two minutes to have the Vaio up and running wirelessly online! (and I'm definitely NOT a computer savvy person) But it's very easy to set-up. The instructions are clear and effortless! It's all that I need and more. It's quick, runs my necessary programs, music interface and Microsoft Office Professional without a problem. I've owned other Vaios and have loved them all as well. *This one is my very favorite hands down.

It has a lot of room on the hard drive, is super quick, gorgeous color and user friendly. I'm not the most computer literate person, but this comptuter makes it easy to understand.

It's compact and light. Perfect Keyboard, I absolutely love it! I also bought the Sony case for protection and it matches perfectly and keeps the computer padded, protected and easy to carry around!

There are a ton of programs preinstalled on it though. Some I found useful and some I don't need at all. The virus program is great, along with Microsoft Professional and a few others. Mostly I love that it has everything I need on it and more in one tiny, compact, sturdy, and gorgeous machine. What I see so far is wonderful and I know that I'll have many years to come with this notebook!

For me, I couldn't ask for more! You'll have to decide what you need it for, but if you're looking for a machine that does what most everyone needs it for in a compact, light, yet sturdy form, I can't see why you wouldn't love this user-friendly product. Sony is a name I've grown to know and love and would buy their products again and again!

Perfect for students in both high school and college and for adults that use it as a second computer or one to travel with. Not only does it download and play my music, but it also burns cd/dvds, which is a plus! I hope this has been of some help in your decision making, I know I don't know a whole lot about "tech talk", but I do use it every day and couldn't be without it!

ENJOY! I am! I've gotten a ton of compliments on this notebook! It's certianly a conversation piece! A Quality Computer At A Quantity Price! This is THE computer of my dreams!

Buy Sony VAIO VGN-CR320E/R 14.1-inch Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo T7250 Processor, 2 GB RAM, 250 GB Hard Dr Now

My excitment of owning a vaio all went into the drain when I got first hand experience of its performance. In general its processing speed is worse than a pentium 3. And I dont have anything saved on my hard drive since I mostly use it for internet browsing. Everytime I switch on my computer I wonder what will go wrong in the processing today. e.g. internet browsers take ages to open, or if you type its takes ages for the text to appear. I have tried everything possible.

Sony is unwilling to admit that they have a defective model. I would not recommend anyone to buy this. HP, IBM or Dell will provide you with better processing speed. Otherwise you are buying a model claiming to be a core 2 duo and you are getting pentium 2 or 3 at best performance. So if this laptop cant take internet browsing... then if you do more stuff I am not sure how it will take.. it may just crash. So BEWARE!!

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After a few weeks of contemplation I settled on this as my first laptop for use when I start grad school in the fall. However, I've gotten much more than I expected. The graphics are AWESOME!! It's light and quiet, the keys aren't as hard to use as I'd expected after years of desktop use...I could go on and on : )

There are a few consthere's a few more programs loaded on it than I think I really need and like most VAIOs it gets a bit hot but generally I have no complaints!!

I would advise that if you want something like this to get the newer model which is only $100 morethe CR420...it's processor is 2.1 GHz and it comes with 3GB of RAM....commit to Sony and enjoy : )

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I originally went to Sony web site for this laptop to be built but Amazon had the same laptop ready to go, and I ordered it at 2pm on a Wednesday and it arrived the next day. It is a fantastic laptop, clean looking, all the applications I need were included, including some great trial applications I will purchase, for the money the Viao is a great buy

Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823VU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823VU 17.3-Inch Laptop= Update #1 2012-12-28 =

After installing a fresh OEM copy of Windows 7 x64, I thought my problems would have gone away. For the most part, they did the Windows Update continues to work fine, the system boots up a bit quicker, etc. But... (you knew this was coming).

The wireless card or driver seems to stop responding to the system at random times. Sometimes the system will stay connected just fine for hours at a time (through multiple sleep/restore cycles, reboots, etc), other times it can be powered up fresh and stop working after only a few minutes.

The "Lenovo BGN Wireless" drivers are the latest the Lenovo site, and Broadcom (the maker of the WiFi card) don't have anything for this card (I assume it's a Lenovo special/custom chipset). It's getting to the point that I'm going to re-install the Lenovo Windows OS (without any personalization) and see if the problem returns. I don't want to put them through this troubleshooting step so if someone has an idea on how to confirm the hardware or a driver, I'm all ears.

I'll leave my 4/5 stars for now, but if I track this down to a hardware or Lenovo/Windows issue I'll adjust accordingly. And to be fair, if the Lenovo support team assists in a positive way, I'll note that too.

= Initial review =

I purchased this laptop for some friends of ours. They are retirement age and do a bit of traveling and sitting on their deck, so their old tower system wasn't working for them anymore. The IdeaPad G780 came in at the right price with the specs they wanted so I can help them get quite a few years out of this one (their old tower system was 9 years old).

I tried to get the system updated with the latest Microsoft Updates and related driver updates three times. Each time I started with the "factory fresh" image on the hard-drive, and it would get through most of the updates before the OS (Windows 7) would stop taking more updates. In researching the errors, the Microsoft TechNet solutions always ended up with "if everything else fails, boot with the install CD and run the System Recovery". Sadly, this system didn't come with a regular Windows 7 OS media, nor did the media the system did create boot into a regular Microsoft recovery screen.

In the end, I installed a fresh OEM copy of Windows 7 I had purchased but never activated. This turned out to be the least problematic of all. The few Lenovo drivers/features I did keep (power control is a decent utility) re-installed fine, and the Windows Update and assorted hardware driver updates all installed without a hitch.

One word of warning to those who are new to Lenovo and their "OneKey Rescue" button. When I was trying to boot into the System Recovery, I tried the Rescue button. I pressed it (click #1), it booted into a minimal screen and I chose option #2 (click #2), pressed return (click #3) and it rebooted and went into a Windows-looking boot screen. I let it sit for about 45 minutes, and when I came back....IT HAD TOTALLY REFORMATTED AND WIPED THE SYSTEM CLEAN! I couldn't believe that three key presses and it nuked the drive. I never saw a warning of any-sort that hinted at what was about to happen. This will be good when they finally decide to part with the system, but it's way too easy to have an inquisitive youngster hit the wrong "power button" and erase the entire system.

In the end, the hardware seems rock solid and is acting fine for them. I just wish Lenovo would break the trend and provide a "real" Windows OS install image for those of us who need them.

Dan

This one is very stable in running multi-program.

no blue screen. no fail. about 2 min boot. less noise. monitor quality is great.

MOA, the price is reasonable ($5xx).

AH... Me? a normal user who have used a dozen laptops before.

n now I'm using this as a main computer connecting two external monitors.

(the third monitor runs by externam graphic stuff)

For entertainment & business this is recommendable.

For gaming, I don't know because I'm not a gamer.

One weakness...

SSD upgrade means losing the one-year mfr's warranty.

I will upgrd next yr.

Overall, no regret! surely.

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

a week later...

the fan sound is often noizy. Lenovo could do better.

Buy Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823VU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

This is a very nicely equipped system that performs well. The price was very reasonable and the standard features met my needs. The setup was very simple. I liked the fact that it came with the 3.0 USB ports. I'm very pleased with the quickness of the delivery. I recommend this system to anyone needing a fast system that inexpensive.

Read Best Reviews of Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823VU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Here

I've been using this laptop for a little more than a month now, and I'm very happy with it. One, it has really good specs, and as a result, it's fast! I've installed Windows 8 on it, and there are times when it boots in 20 seconds (Windows 8 also deserves some credit for this). And all apps, like Word, PowerPoint, Firefox, and Winamp load almost instantly. Love it! Two, the keyboard and trackpad are very comfortable to use. And three, it cost me less than $600. You can't go wrong with it. The only issue is battery life. I had to return the first version of the laptop I received because of that. But the replacement is satisfactory. The battery now lasts about 4 hours on a full charge, which is acceptable for a Windows PC.

Want Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823VU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?

Bought this item and the description says it has a NVIDIA GT630M 2GB DDR3 Graphics card however after receiving and gifting the item I discovered that the grapics card is actually an Intel HD 4000. This was due to the optimus technology that basically switches to the lesser graphics card to conserve memory so, you buy this just be aware of that. The only problem we had was that the bezel on the side was coming apart but, I think a little glue would fix that issue. Overall, pretty satisfied with the machine.

Lenovo 15.6" Core i5 500GB HDD Notebook

Lenovo 15.6' Core i5 500GB HDD NotebookThis is a big laptop, but of pretty good build quality and a crazy low price. We bought about six of these for our employees who don't take them home. They are fine for carrying between desk and conference room, but not for taking home because of size.

This computer is exactly as advertised so therefore i gave it a 5 star rating. I did not like the size of it though at all. The keyboard and screen were much larger than I anticipated and I opted to trade it away only days after getting it. If you appreciate a compact design than this is NOT the laptop for you. I have had 16 inch models that were much more compact that this was. So it is not necessarily big because it is a 15.6 inch laptop. No way. Like I said, I have had dozens of laptops in my life, I go through about 2 a year between work and home and this one is exceptionally large. Just keep it in mind. The technology for price ratio is awesome though. I mean, there is plenty of technology here to make it well worth the price. But it is not for me. I traded it for a slightly older U series Toshiba. I love the U series from Toshiba. This is as advertised though and if size does not really matter to you than you will be hard pressed to beat this deal. Great seller too!

Buy Lenovo 15.6" Core i5 500GB HDD Notebook Now

Toshiba - Satellite C655-S5082 Laptop / Intel Celeron Processor / 15.6" Display / 2GB Memory / 250G

Toshiba - Satellite C655-S5082 Laptop / Intel Celeron Processor / 15.6' Display / 2GB Memory / 250GB Hard Drive /Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64-bit - BlackFor the price this is a great laptop! So far so good. I got it up and running out of the box in no time. The speed of the computer seems pretty good, haven't run any extremely resource heavy stuff yet-I will later, Ill update in a few months. A few pros and cons for you:

PROS:

VERY LIGHT! I'm surprised that with the size of this, it is not heavy at all.

Beautiful ScreenThe colors and video look great!

Pretty good battery life-I watched a full movie on one charge, and a few hours of regular internet surfing and work.

Pretty thin-for the price, I thought Toshiba would put this hardware in a clunky package... I was wrong.

Stays cool-my last laptop got pretty hot, especially when burning CD's or other heavy stuffthis one barely gets warm!

CONS:

Keys on the keyboardWhat you think you'd see on a kids laptop, plasticy and clunky. C'mon Toshiba-is it that much more expensive to put somewhat nice keys on this thing?

Speakers-terrible.... perhaps I was spoiled by my last laptop-they are almost handheld radio quality.

Other than that, I'm pretty happy with this purchase. Also considering this price, it really cant be beat (If you don't mind the cons).

**********UPDATE*********** MAR 2011

I am still pleased with the laptop. No major performance issues yet.

However, I have another con that I MUST add. Quite frankly I am disappointed that Toshiba, who are not exactly novices in the laptop field, would do this. There are NO USB ports on the right side. This might not seem like a big deal, but if you want to use a mouse (not everybody likes the touch pad), you have to buy one with a long cord, or a wireless mouse. My retractable cord mini-mouse was useless with this laptop-too short.

Your USB cords get jumbled up because they are all in one place on the front left side. I would have bought another laptop at a comparable price if I knew that. Well, there ya go. Thx!

Bought this laptop at bestbuy in store, paid 349 plus tax. Brought it home pluged in and charged battery, inserted my cd from our existing router, and it basically set itself up to pick up router. Set up a couple usernames for family members and off we went to the internet, without a hitch, cheap and easy to operate, so far. We have a nice desktop dell in downstairs family room but was gettin old to run down and check something out fast, downstairs. So we were lookin for something decent size screen, fast speed, ,easy to operate and setup, we can have some portability around the house. This is a nice laptop so far, kids 8 & 11 have found it easy to operate and can keep an eye on what they are into, when it is in the kitchen. So far so good, cheap, easy to operate and portable, just what we wanted.

Buy Toshiba - Satellite C655-S5082 Laptop / Intel Celeron Processor / 15.6" Display / 2GB Memory / 250G Now

There are two ways to judge this laptop; first relative to its competition as an entry level laptop that is basically the first step above a netbook, secondly relative to its price value.

Listed here at $396 the verdict on price value is easy-wait and shop around. There are a host of laptops one step above this (athlon II dual core/3 gig ram/3 usb) that can be had in the $350-$400 range with just a little shopping around.

Now flip the context to entry-level value and the tale becomes a bit more interesting. My impressions of this are still somewhat brief as I am using it essentially as a loaner so I'd have something at my apt. while my regular laptop is in the process of being replaced due to faulty hardware. Judging it from the price range my parents found this at (289.99) this holds up much better.

The hardware is very basic, a 2GHZ single-core Intel Celeron processor with 2 gigs of RAM, 250 Gig Hard drive, 2 USB ports, and that's about it. It does have a few luxuries however that make it quite nice in the basic laptop department.

1.LED+low power processor+ only 2 gigs of RAM= Solid battery life. I have not taken this to the duration of the battery, but after about an hour of browsing the internet on battery alone without lowering display brightness or taking any other power-conserving steps the machine still had an estimated 4 hours of battery life remaining. The low power usage also means this machine has so far ran extremely cool compared to the two other laptops I've owned.

2.Nice keyboard-My first laptop was an older Toshiba Satellite that served me well for about two years but had a somewhat cramped-feeling keyboard considering it had a 15.4'' display and 10-key. This one doesn';t have as nice a feel as my HP, but still is fairly nice and the 10-key is an added bonus.

3.Installed software-In addition to the now standard 64-bit Windows 7 they also included a nice feature of making Office 2010 not simply a short-term trial, but instead adding a stripped-down basic version of word and excel that has no expiration date, treating the full version of office more like an update.

Final verdict (aka tldr version)--

Given these aspects of the machine mentioned above this is not going to be supplanting anyone's desktop or higher-end laptop any time soon, and listed at $396 on Amazon much better machines can be found for the price. But in the right sale (say just at or under $300) and setting this could be the perfect machine for someone looking for a budget machine to fill basic needs (web-browsing, word processing, playing music--assuming a small investment in speakers) or someone looking for a cheap secondary machine to take on the road with them and as as a netbook with improved display/keyboard and no need for an external cd/dvd player.

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba - Satellite C655-S5082 Laptop / Intel Celeron Processor / 15.6" Display / 2GB Memory / 250G Here

I decided to get this @bestbuy after helping my mom shop for a laptop for my brother before Christmas. Works great for everyday computing/school and video converting. Was disappointed in volume loudness so I did some snooping and found a fix.

Right click on the speaker icon in the lower right area of the taskbar. (next to the power and internet connection icon)

Click "Playback Devices",

Click on "Speakers" to highlight it,

Then click "Properties"

Then the "Enhancements" Tab

Then check "Loudness Equalization"

then Apply and OK

Worked for me and increased volume to a much better level.

Hope that helps those that this issue annoys.

Overall the best laptop for the price ($299) once the loudness issue is addressed.

Webcam and mic would have been nice but I usually never use the webcam on my desktop. I have a "Sony Electret Condenser microphone ECM-DS70P" I bought off eBay for 99 cents+ shipping that works awesome with Google Voice when plugged into the mic input. Easy fix that is small and portable.

What's great about it: Low price, Toshiba/Japanese reliability, Fast, Widescreen

What's not so great: Webcam and mic would have been nice but not needed.

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While I do have some issues with this laptop, for the price, it is definitely worth it. I got it as my laptop to take with me to college my freshman year of college. Also bought a desktop, but wanted an inexpensive laptop for the portability. I weighed my options and got the toshiba satellite c655.

I'm not going to waste anyone's time so I'll get down to the pros and cons of this laptop.

Pros:

-Size is perfect to fit in a backpack or briefcase, absolutely no problems there.

-2 USB port, an SD port, and an ethernet port. (Standard on most laptops)

-The mouse pad!!! (It has multi-touch technology similar to a mac. 2 finger scroll to scroll up or down and pinch to shrink or enlarge.)

-decent battery life, an hour and a half when power saver mode is off.

-The keyboard feels nice, keys are soft, but do not feel fragile.

-It has a number pad. (I could never have a computer without one.)

Cons:

-Download time is atrocious. (Took me 15 hours to download software for a class when my roommate had it in under 2.)

-The multi-touch can be unresponsive, but I still love it.

-As far as I've seen, there is no way to adjust the sound on the keyboard, you have to open the speaker settings

-There is not enough contrast between the mouse sensor and the laptop casing. (I often think I'm not touching the mouse sensor, when it turns out that I'm writing a paper and all of a sudden I'm typing halfway across the page.

Neither pro nor con:

-I think Toshiba cut the price on the laptop by putting an average processor into an outstanding laptop. This makes performance very slow compared to my desktop. (I didn't want to spend the money on a more expensive laptop, so am I at fault here? I think so, not Toshiba)

All in all, I am very satisfied with the performance of this computer. There are a few minor problems, but for the price, I doubt you'll find a better buy. Toshiba makes phenomenal laptops, and I am a happy customer.

Would give it 5 stars, except that I am rating Amazon's product, not the laptop itself. I got it on sale at BestBuy for a cheaper price, and this was over 6 months ago. If Amazon dropped their price on this, I would certainly bump the rating to 5 stars in a heartbeat.

Lenovo SL400 Intel Core 2 P8400 2743-89U

Lenovo SL400 Intel Core 2 P8400 2743-89UBe aware that the product seems to have a defect with the left hinge of the screen. There are multiple complaints and it is always the left hinge. other problems are with its cooling fansin less than 1 year of owning it, I had to return it to the service center to be repaired. The laptop would get a fan error and just shut down.

See:

I bought this laptop for just $850 in 2009. Over the last 3+ years, I have taken on trips, meetings, airports, buses and just about everywhere and it still keeps ticking as reliably as ever. I've spilt ice water on it by accident, left it running in the backpack, dropped it a few times onto the floor from the table and couch. Yet, I have never once had a hardware issue, be it faulty screens, touchpad, mic, camera or speakers. I've owned Acers, Dells (ugh), HPs, Compaqs, Macbooks and Toshiba laptops over the last 12 years. This is by far the single best laptop I've owned to date.

The other reviews on the web will complain about this laptop's build quality. That is a fair point, BUT ONLY when comparing it other thinkpads or the macbook. The low price of this laptop means that it does not have the magnesium alloy roll cage and hinges which give Thinkpads their brick like hardness. But when comparing it to any other laptop on the market, the build quality is one cut above. Even with a plastic case, there is no flex on this laptop. You can try to bend it and it won't budge. Even after thousands of openings and closings, the lid hinges snap perfectly shut.

The keyboard is good enough to deserve a review of its own. Many thinkpad users have told me about the awesomeness of a Thinkpad keyboard. I thought it an exagerration until I used this laptop. I am now sold. The Thinkpad Island keyboard is arguably the best laptop keyboard I've ever used and possibly even rivals several desktop keyboards. Unfortunately, Lenovo has recently changed this famous keyboard and replaced it with a chiclet design on newer laptops. While most reviewers don't see this as a problem, Thinkpad diehards still believe that the Island keyboard of old is the best.

There is only one downside with this laptop, as with any Thinkpad. It won't die. After 3+ years, this laptop still looks and works like the day it was bought. The hardware inside has become outdated and while it runs Windows 7 without any issues, I can see it struggling to run future OSes. I have spent about $200 to perform some minor upgrades, by increasing the RAM to 4GB and replacing the hard drive with an SSD. I can see this laptop easily running for another 3 or more years, with occasional formats and OS reinstalls.

Thinkpad diehards will complain about the glossy finish and the recessed ports on this laptop, but both are frankly minor issues, if at all. Highly recommend this laptop or any Thinkpad of a similar size.

Buy Lenovo SL400 Intel Core 2 P8400 2743-89U Now

I have owned this laptop (SL400) for around 1.5 years. All I can say is the build quality is horrible. I have three main issues with the laptop. The DC port on the laptop is loose and possibly a safety hazard. The LCD left hinge broke, so the LCD was dangling on one hinge (until I fixed it). The keyboard is acting up, some keys I have to press hard to get it to register. I treat my laptops with care and all of my previous laptops never had this many issues after 1.5 years of use. Time to try a different model or maybe even a different brand.

Read Best Reviews of Lenovo SL400 Intel Core 2 P8400 2743-89U Here

Apple MacBook Air MD711LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION)

Apple MacBook Air MD711LL/A 11.6-Inch LaptopSo first I will say I am coming from a MacBook air 11' mid 2011 with 2GB ram and 64GB harddrive. This one I got has 4GB of ram and 128GB harddrive. I use this laptop mainly for browsing the internet and some programming. Now that you have a little background Ill give a quick review.

From the get go this laptop is MUCH faster then my previous Macbook air. When you open the lid you are ready to go that second. On the old one I would have to wait a little for it to load and if I left chrome up and clicked on it right away then I would get the loading wheel. I havent seen this do it once. That could be because of the harddrive being so much faster.

When I opened the box the laptop was already charged to 91% so im trying to kill it. Well I was on it ALL NIGHT last night and now its the morning and its only at 60%. That battery life is amazing and let me honest thats what we ask for in a laptop.

If you are up in the air about this laptop(no pun intended). I would say give it a go. You could even buy it from the Apple store and if you dont like it just return it.

If you are replacing an older Macbook air and have one thats because the mid 2012 then I would say get it but if you have the mid 2012 I dont know if I would suggest spending the money unless you really want battery. I hope this helps anyone trying to purchase this laptop.

I am not an Apple fan boy. My desktop is a custom build Window machine so I know both worlds. Please if you have any questions just comment and I will be happy to try things for you or just answer questions.

I am a Computer Engineer so im use to testing things so feel free to ask.

(This is my first review)

Working off formerly a 13" macbook air mid 2011, I just bought this new 2013 model with the Haswell CPU and low power consumption infrastructure.

Off a full charge, I disconnected 3 hours 40 mins and had an external drive connected the entire time, restarted 4 times, and did NONSTOP heavy application installs (Office suite, Photoshop etc.), a total of 23 applications, and ran youtube vids in the background the entire time, and after all of that nonstop heavy loading, I had 76% on my battery, of which id have around 35% on my older Macbook Air.

Further still, the entire unit has run UTTERLY COOL during this EXTREMELY heavy loading, installing and heavy 1080P video graphics play. My other Macbook Air would be almost too hot to touch underneath near back under same conditions.

Even without 802ac (new Wifi connection thru the new Air), I notice roughly 25% faster throughput on likewise file downloads using my new Macbook Air than that of my older version Macbook Air.

This new Macbook Air contains PCIe-Based Flash Storage Approaches 800 MB/s Read and Write. I notice BLAZING fast write speed on my 1.1 Gig Photoshop app, and seemed about 40% faster than my previous generation Macbook Air. Also, this new Air model contains PCIe-based SSD modules made by Samsung and is smaller than the previous Air model SSD made by Toshiba.

These new Airs also sport batteries with increased capacity driven by higher voltages: increasing from a 7.3 V, 6700 mAh power battery to a 7.6 V 7150 mAh power battery. Other changes include a redesigned expanded heat sink covering both the CPU and GPU, which must be why this unit runs SO COOL even maxed out.

ALL my apps run perfect on this new Air, including Office suite, and the entire Adobe suite and the rest of my apps, ....which it should, its still running Mountain Lion OS.

I really have to say again, that write speeds on HUGE app instals is just faster than you dare hope for; its just blazing faster than my previous gen. Air.

My Macbook Air has been without a question my most treasured gem of "go-to" Mac product hands down, I own all of them (2 Airs, Macbook Pro, MacMini etc),...I was skeptical when I shelled out $1099 today for the new Haswell Air and its presumed prognosticated "crazy long" battery life and improved speeds overall; but the hype isn't hype, its real and amazing. The mere NOTION that I can overload this Air with App installs, and have a 2.5" HD attached for nearly 4 hours, run 1080P Youtube vids,...and still be at 76% Batt life is just, well, its stunning.

Tested out the NEW dual (stereo) mic and it IS much nicer in record, additionally the camera/vid is much sharper and crisper than my other Mac Air. Considering the price point is lower on these new Airs than the older ones, I give the new Macbook Airs a "110%". Having repaired laptops (non mac) in the past, and owned at least 20X more laptops than most consumers, I don't lightly conclude this is the cornerstone workhorse for everything I dare consider doing, fast got faster, and battery life now is enough to make a crusty "hates everything" person like myself nearly cry with joy. Congrats Apple! Homerun on this lovely gem.

I didnt get this delivered in one day, I picked it up from my local Mac store, I got my buddy to sell it to me 1 day before they officially "have" them which is today 6/12. As for the questions about using this new Air with Photoshop and it lagging on heavy filtering and photo editing, Ive tested that fully and this IS the machine you want for ultimate portability, it works fantastic.

Also of great importance is that this version of Mac Air is supposed to have "nearly double" fast write speeds as the Macbook Pro Retina. And the new Hard storage on this Air has "up to 6X faster than a 5400RPM disk drive" as found in current Macbook Pro which contain 5400RPM Toshiba Hard drives (made by Hitachi for Toshiba actually). In short, YES, this is a perfect "must own" book in the field or travel use for photoshop work, with just blazing fast write speeds, and crazy long battery life.

This new Macbook Air brings TRUE definition to being "disconnected" and "portable" to those who want to do a LOT of work free of the power socket! Genuine portable is finally here, ...no more staring at the battery % to rush to shut down!

Buy Apple MacBook Air MD711LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION) Now

** Apple is offering a $100 App/iTunes Gift Card with computer purchase for students until 9/6/13 ** (as well as $50 off through the education store (no deadline) )

This might look like just a minor spec bump from last years model. However, the new MBA boasts all day battery life: 11 inch (9 hours) and 13 inch (12 hours). This is a big step up from the previous generation. This is due to a larger battery and more efficient processor. The upcoming OS X Mavericks is supposed to be even more energy efficient than Mountain Lion. The MBA is also faster due to the new processor and has a faster wifi connection. The solid state drive in this computer makes it much faster than a regular hard drive computer.

This is a great computer overall. The screen is not as nice as the retina Macbook Pro, however it is not a deal breaker. The MBA is a lightweight, portable computer and the Retina screen is thicker, heavier, and more expensive. You will probably not miss the disc drive on this computer because it is a featherweight without it and you can use an external disc drive if you have to or remotely access another computer with a disc drive.

If you are debating between the 11 and 13 inch models, it depends on what you want to use it for. The extra screen space, SD card slot, and longer battery life for $100 more makes the 13 inch a worthy choice. However, some want a truly portable machine that can fit easily in a large purse or briefcase.

If you are debating between this computer and an iPad with a bluetooth keyboard, consider the ease of use of the computer versus the portability and cost of an iPad. For students, it is nice to have a real keyboard and be able to easily create documents, spreadsheets, and powerpoints on an actual computer, but I see more and more students with iPads and a keyboard case getting by just fine.

If you are debating between 128GB and 256GB (or custom order 512GB from Apple), consider cloud storage. Flickr now has 1 TB free photo storage with no size restrictions. Google Drive and Evernote are great for documents and you can always store your iTunes library on an external hard drive if you have a massive library.

If you are debating between this and a Windows Ultrabook, consider the operating system, reliability, and resale value. People love Apple products and you can resell the computer if you want to eventually upgrade. They hold their value pretty well. The operating system takes a little getting used to but it is a lot smoother than Windows and you will probably never want to switch back to the dark side.

Read Best Reviews of Apple MacBook Air MD711LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION) Here

Well, I purchased this at the Apple Store at Manhattan Beach, CA, and immediately upon opening the box, the Macbook Air had two small dings in the aluminum one on the side of the monitor, and one that appeared to be small hole by the keyboard. It was small but noticeable, so I returned it and got another that was in pristine condition. Any Apple executives out there reading this, please check out this store. I don't know if they're repackaging returned products or what but this was the second time I purchased something from there and had to return it because of some issue.

The Macbook Air was a better choice for me over the Macbook Pro Retina (which I kept for three days and returned), and here's why (1) better battery life (until they come out with the new Haswell Pro's)... you will get 12 hours at least if you're writing and doing light surfing or watching Youtube videos. If you turn off wifi and bluetooth, you may get more; (2) smaller and easier to carry, hold, etc. (this factor might not sound much but it makes a huge difference and is probably the #1 reason why people love their Macbook Airs); (3) less expensive (which means I was less paranoid about it); (4) and for some reason, the screen doesn't hurt my eyes as much. It's strange but the Retina display hurts my eyes after a few hours. (5) the keyboard is great right out of the box so it's easier to type on than the Macbook Pro. I had to work on the Macbook Pro for 3 days before the keyboard was soft enough for me to type faster. Also the fact that the laptop is shaped like a wedge also helps me type faster and is more comfortable for me to type on (Apple exec, please take notice of this for the Macbook Pro's).

Concern?: the monitor is a bit looser than the Macbook Pro. For instance, if you adjust the viewing angle, the Macbook Pro was stiffer. But then again, I am a perfectionist and I notice little things like that.

Conclusion: if you want one of the most reliable brands out there, and you like ultrabooks, the Macbook Air in my opinion is your best bet. Just make sure to check every detail before you keep it. And it sure does beat using Windows 8. Damn that OS is ugly and close to unusable. I have no idea why anybody would want to touch their monitors. I'm probably in the minority, but I think tablets aren't really efficient for productivity. It's harder to cut and paste, use word processing software, etc. I'm more productive on a laptop... and I definitely don't want to touch the screen but that's just my personal preference. THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST LAPTOP I'VE EVER HAD. THANK YOU APPLE!!!! I'M IN LOVE WITH MY MACBOOK AIR!!!

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My oldest son works in the Performing Arts and most of the software they use runs on Mac. The raw specs of every Apple notebook are sufficient to run the specialized software he uses, so it just comes down to individual preference of "battery life, portability and price" vs "screen resolution and hard drive space". In my analysis (see below) I came to the conclusion that 128gb is fine when supplemented with the SD card slot,an external drive and cloud storage (iCloud, DropBox, Box, etc).

I also came to the conclusion that the $300ish price premium for the retina display would be better spent on a very nice external monitor and/or a large external hard drive. The HD5000 video supports up to 2560-by-1600 resolution and with a tiny Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter you can use any HDMI monitor (Tera Grand Premium Mini DisplayPort / Thunderbolt to HDMI Adapter). We also owned notebooks with screens 11" and larger and have come to the conclusion that 13" is the minimum size needed to do "real" work.

Here are the Accessories I recommend:

Apple Magic Mouse or other Bluetooth Mouse

Mini DisplayPort / Thunderbolt to HDMI Adapter

Mini DisplayPort / Thunderbolt to VGA Adapter

External Hard Drive (examples 1tb, 4tb )

Apple USB DVD Superdrive or other USB External DVD Drive

SDXC or microSD Cards (there are some adapters on hte market that let the microSd sit flush)

Office for Mac 2011

[::: 2013 13.3" MacBook Air vs 13.3" Apple MacBook Pro MD101LL/A :::]

[+Air] 2.96 pounds vs 3.56 pounds

[+Air] HD5000 Graphics vs HD4000 Graphics (40% faster)

[+Air] PCIe based SSDs Drive vs ATA SATA drive

[+Air] 17.3 mm thick vs 19.1 mm thick

[+Air] 12 hours battery vs 7 hours

[+Air] 802.11ac Wi-Fi vs 802.11n

[+-Air] 128 GB SSD vs 500gb SATA (faster but less space)

[-Air] 1440-by-900 pixels vs 1280-by-800 Resolution

[-Air] no FW 800 Port

[-Air] no Gigabit Ethernet

[-Air] 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 vs 2.5GHz dual-core Intel Core i5

[::: 2013 13.3" MacBook Air vs 13.3" Apple MacBook Pro with Retina MD212LL/A :::]

*** See above plus differences below

[+Air] $1099 vs $1419

[+Air] 128 GB PDIe SSD vs 128gb SATA SSD (slower interface)

[-Air] 1440-by-900 pixels vs 2560-by-1600 Resolution

[-Air] 4gb RAM vs 8GB Ram

[::: 2013 13.3" MacBook Air vs 2012 13.3 MacBook Air MD231LL/A :::]

[+] Faster PCIe based SSDs instead of SATA SSD drive

[+] DDR3L to LPDDR3 for faster RAM memory

[+] 802.11ac Wi-Fi for faster wireless

[+] 12 hours battery life vs 7 hours

[+] HD5000 video for better graphics and supporting DirectX 11.1, OpenCL 1.2 and OpenGL 4.0. It also features an improved decoder for 4K video

[+] Dual mics

Save 5% Off

HP G60-549DX NoteBook Intel Pentium dual-core T4300(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD

HP G60-549DX NoteBook Intel Pentium dual-core T4300(2.10GHz) 15.6' 4GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Super Multi Intel GMA 4500MAfter searching for a notebook for a few weeks and reading up on them, I found an acer at best buy I liked. While there I searched the Best buy site and found this laptop for 429. Best buy wanted to charge me 69.99 for having it optimized already and putting the OS onto cds. I told them I wanted the advertised price and I can create the OS discs myself. Finally they gave it to me for the advertised price and I wound up having it optimized and the discs were in the box as well. Not bad!

This notebook can perform just as good if not better than the more expensive models? Oh yes. I am still trying to figure out why would someone buy the 800 hp over this one? The only difference I can see is that the higher priced HPs have larger drives, but who is going to store that much info on their computers? Ram is more important than storage. You can get a 1tb drive for 100 bucks. So no need to spend and extra 400 on storage especially when the ram is only 3!

I am so happy with this model. Fast, efficient, windows 7 is fantastic. Much faster than vista and xp. Sound is awesome. Very happy with this laptop and the money I saved. Highly recommend this one.

I'm generally happy with this laptop. I got it right after Windows 7 came out, and there are some challenges involved when using a platform that is so new. I have a very old multifunction printer that it had a hard time recognizing, for example. For some reason, I've also had a surprising number of miswritten DVD R's (-R has worked better than +R for reasons that I can't decipher). But the computer boots up very, very quickly, multitasks with ease, and has a lot of programs that I haven't even explored yet. My one true gripe with this computer so far is the speakers -they sounded great for two months, and then suddenly sounded busted. Everything I play now sounds weak and distorted. The bottom line is that you should decide what your specific needs are before investing in this machine, and pay more if you have more to spend because when a computer is cheap, there is always a reason why.

Buy HP G60-549DX NoteBook Intel Pentium dual-core T4300(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Now

This is our second HP laptop after a series of HP desktops and current HP printers. Cannot say anything bad about them. I mean I bought the machine knowing its capacities and was not disapointed. Quality of build is good, we've had the CQ 50 139NR for over a year now, it is solid and doesn't come apart with steady use. Outside of more battery life, always want more, we have seen good products from HP. After 8 years we finally just scrapped an HP printer that wouldn't quit. On our Compaq Desktop (made by HP) I thought I needed service, (my bad) and they answered the phone quickly, and were able to remotely access my machine and then took care of everything, I just chatted with the guy over the phone as he cleaned up the mess I made with the software. Then the next day, HP service calls me just to ask if everything is working fine on my machine. A++ service too! I like HP, as long as they keep making good stuff and you can get their products at affordable prices!

Read Best Reviews of HP G60-549DX NoteBook Intel Pentium dual-core T4300(2.10GHz) 15.6" 4GB Memory 250GB HDD 5400rpm DVD Here

Bought this laptop little over a year and a half and have not had any problems what so ever.Great price at the time,and working strong.

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this laptop pretty awesome for what it has

the price was 429.99 + shippin + tax good price for an HP comp

even though a 250gb harddrive maybe to little for me

its find for users that want to surf the web and have a few music n movies files on it

the webcam is oh k what do you expect from a 1.3mega pixel webcam

you get a full keyboard which is nice :)a 6cell battery which sucks it last about 3 or less hours depeding

if you adjust the power settings i just use it straight with the plug i didn't put the battery on

win 7 home premium all ready install but i delete the OS and install win 7 ultimate

weights about 6 pounds looks big when u close it but when its open its not that big its a perfect size....................revise on 9-5-2011 two years later and its still working :D only problem is my jack messing up :(( it wont read the cord so i bought a new hopefully its just that

Acer 15.6" i5-2430M 2.40 GHz Notebook | AS5830TG-6782

Acer 15.6' i5-2430M 2.40 GHz Notebook | AS5830TG-6782As I rarely review, the awesome-ness of this laptop inspired me to actually do one.

Pros:

-Battery life (6 hours give or take)

While watching tv shows connected to wifi, word docs opened, and multiple tabs running in firefox. This is a big pro for a college student like me since finding a plug in school is like trying to finding parking in manhattan, virtually impossible unless you wake up extra early and never leave your spot. There's always a bunch of freshmen hogging it at hours at a time. At this moment writing this review while procrastinating on my paper, I'm snickering inwardly at the poor suckers who are searching avidly for a plug that I currently do not need for longgggg while. Heck I don't even need to bring the charger with me to school since this laptop virtually lasts me the whole entire day that I'm in school, taking notes in class and spending leisure break time between classes. Not bringing the charger makes it so much easier to travel with.

-Solid keyboard and mousepad.

Keys are evenly spaced out and bouncy for the lack of a better adjective. The mouse pad feels smooth and is way more accurate and responsive than my hp laptop that I had since freshman year. Multi-touch interface is a nice add-on and works surprisingly well. Did I mention there's a number pad?? *happy dance* I like how they included for the fn+f6 combination a way to instantly dim your display all the way off to save battery when you need to be afk and the fn+f7 to disable the mouse pad just in case you wanted to use an actual mouse or so it doesn't move accidentally while typing, a feature that I loved in my hp that I worried for nothing that it wouldn't be an option for this laptop. The laptop also doesn't flex at all compared to the other thin ones I've looked at.

-Processor speed

Less than a minute in total to start up with the usual start up programs and 20 secs to automatically connect to the wifi. Took my 3 yr old laptop 10 mins just to do all that. Runs multiple programs well and the fan barely runs, when it does it's fairly quiet.

-Nvidia graphics card =)

-Speakers (clarity not as good as my old HP laptop but a couple of adjustments to the dolby home theater application, the speakers sound decent)

-640 gigs of space

Technically 580 gigs b/c of the bloatware and room for the OS. But it's plenty for my movies and music collection.

-USB 3.0

Blazing speeds for transferring files and you can charge your devices even with your laptop off.

-it's THIN and the physical aluminum chassis screams out durability and edginess

-Cheaper than a complicated mac

Cons:

-Screen quality

Highly reflective especially in sunlight, probably going to get a matte screen protector for it. Other than that movies still look great in the 15.6" screen.

I HAVE BEEN USING MY LAPTOP OVER A YEAR NOW AND I AM VERY HAPPY WITH MY PURCHASE. I WATCH MOVIES ON IT ALL THE TIME. IT IS LITTLE ON A HEAVY SIDE SO I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND AS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO CARRY EVERYDAY. OTHERWISE FANTASTIC

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Bought this computer in November 201170 days later computer will not turn on. Covered by warranty however you must mail computer to Texas to be repaired. Received "repaired" computer back however it still did not work. For the love of GOD do not purchase anything from Acer. Terrible customer service and product. Save yourself time and worry by looking at another manufacturer.

Read Best Reviews of Acer 15.6" i5-2430M 2.40 GHz Notebook | AS5830TG-6782 Here

Both my friend and I bought these from the Microsoft Store (one in Arizona one in Virginia) during the 2011 end of the year sale.

My motherboard died within 1 month of use. My friends died after 3 months. Neither of us put the machine through any strenuous activities.

I am not sure if its a factory defect or if Microsoft did something to mess things up. Good thing is that you get a 1 year Acer warranty that pays for shipping and repair costs (takes about 10 days).

A shot in the dark, id guess it has something to do with the dual video card. The model has HD3000 graphics and Nvidia 240m and alternates between the 2 depending on demand. Sounds like a good balance but it could be messing with the motherboard.

Other than the risk of motherboard failure (lol), its a great machine. I use it as a desktop replacement. I really like the ability to wirelessly stream video to an intel Widi enabled TV.

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Great price for 15.6' laptop with i5 processor, 6GB memory. Dolby audio. Can't go wrong with this purchase. Runs fast. Compare pricing to

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS5830TG-6614 15.6-Inch Aluminum Laptop (Cobalt Blue)