I purchased a refurbished unit from Best Buy $540 back in February. Overall, I really don't have any complaints and think this is a very nice computer.My original price range was about $600 but at some point I figured I was going to end up paying about $800 for a 14 inch Samsung QX410. The week I decided I needed to just 'buy it' I found the Q430 for this great price.
*14 inch screen The 14 inch screens tend to be more expensive than the 15.6 inch that predominate. If you are looking for more portability the 14 inch screen is a good size.
*trackpad buttons this laptop has what I would call traditional 'touch pad' buttons which is what I was used to. I don't use an external mouse since I like to keep my hands on the keyboard.
*keyboard keyboard has a good feel, chiclet style, the screen is nice. aluminum
*aluminum finish the outside cover is a nice understated black aluminum, and the gray aluminum on the keyboard is nice. My wife has a Macbook Pro and they look similar. I am not a big fan of those shiny finishes of other models and this one has a nice professional non-flashy finish.
*LCD the LCD is advertised as glass. It looks nice. Some reviews I have read mention a glossy finish. I cannot really say that I have noticed it to be a distraction. I am a software developer and use the computer in different places and outside and I have not had a problem with seeing the screen.
some negatives
battery life I usually use the computer plugged into the AC so I don't have an accurate estimation of battery life. However, my best guess is somewhere between 2 and 2.5 hours. The other day I was working in a restaurant and got about 2 hour and 15 minutes. From what I gather it seems like the nVidia video uses a lot of power. Some of the newer laptops in the the $800 (like the QX-410) use nVidia Optimus which somehow increases the battery life to something like 5 hours +. Also, there is some type of app on the system that only recharges the battery to 80% so that the battery will last longer over time. You can configure the charging to full strength if you wanted although I have not.
software On the QX-410 that I was going to buy there was a version of Microsoft Office 2010 starter other laptops of different manufacturers also come with this version as well. On this Q430 it did not come with this version. It only came with 60 day trial of 2007.
other software no CD/DVDs came with the system. No recovery CDs. I tried using the recovery software and it seemed somewhat of a pain.
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