Showing posts with label acer netbook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label acer netbook. Show all posts

HP - Pavilion DV6-3225DX / Intel® CoreTM i3 Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Dr

HP - Pavilion DV6-3225DX / IntelĀ® CoreTM i3 Processor / 15.6' Display / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Drive - Aluminumthis laptop has done every tasks for me, i go to school so i do alot of papers, stores alot of files, i can multitask with out problem, it is overall a great laptop. i also love the casing of it it makes it look nice and clean with its aluminum casing.

Not a terrible little laptop by any means. Great deal for the price. I wouldn't cut video or try any intense gaming on it, but it served me well for casual games, web-surfing, and daily computing tasks.

Buy HP - Pavilion DV6-3225DX / Intel® CoreTM i3 Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Dr Now

I purchased this laptop from best buy about four months ago. I cant remember what i paid, somewhere in the neighborhood of $500-600. A pretty good deal. It has the fingerprint reader which is a great little gadget. It alows you to log on with just the swipe of a finger. Plus it also alows you to lock out other users (if anyone else may use your pc) from accesing cirtain files and websites. The problem is, you get used to never having to input a password to log on, so you forget your password. Then after a couple months, the fingerpring reader stops working, or only works half of the time, which is a huge pain. But that is not the worst part, the worst part about this pc is the mouse pad. it requires you to use two fingers to scroll up and down on menus. the mouse pad keys are integrated into the mouse pad (the buttons are not seperate, as on most computers). which makes any click and drag mouse function very tedious and sometimes impossible. The mouse pad and the mouse keys are separated only by a grey line (T). if while scrolling up or down on a web page, your fingers hit the grey line, it will cause the web page to skip around. This makes even playing solitair a difficult task. sometimes the mouse pad will lock-up entirely, causing the cursor to stay in one place, and the only way to remedy this is to shut the computer down manually and lose whatever you were working on, unless you have a mouse you can plug in (either wireless or a usb corded one) I have always been a huge fan of HP products, all of my other computers, printers, keyboads, speakers, and other components have always been HP, and ive never been this dissatisfied with any of their products. If i would have known the problems with this computer, i never would have purchased. On the day i purchased this computer, i never knew what havoc this style of mouse pad would cause. This is my first laptop that i have purchased new. The cooling motor reves up and down like a siren, i dont know if this is normal or not, but it is annoying.

So in closing if you have another mouse to use and don't plan on using the mouse pad at all, this computer does ok. its not a super value, but not bad.

Read Best Reviews of HP - Pavilion DV6-3225DX / Intel® CoreTM i3 Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 500GB Hard Dr Here

VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A1 15.6-Inch Laptop

VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A1 15.6-Inch LaptopFirst off, let's just get this out there: paper spec-wise, few other laptops can compare to this laptop in my opinion. Laptops with 15" 1080p IPS screens are very few and far between, and then weighing just 4 pounds and being very thin is icing on the cake. The rest of the system is pretty average for this price range nowadays, but if you haven't experienced a screen like this you might just not realize how big of an asset it truly is.

Now, the caveats: the first sample I got had a rattly fan. It was very noticeable, and made me worry that it might break after a short amount of time. Wanting my laptop to last more than a few weeks, I returned it and got another which was quick and painless, but it definitely did not inspire confidence in Vizio's build quality. My second CT15-A1 is fine, but I'm strongly considering the 3 year aftermarket warranty that Amazon offers just in case it has problems down the line. Not only is this laptop priced very aggressively, but Vizio is brand new to the laptop space, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect some growing pains with early models. Subjectively, the laptop feels like it's actually built very well. The aluminum body is stiff, and there's very little screen flex. The screen hinge is stiff without being too stiff. There are no obvious build quality defects like bumps under the keyboard or that kind of thing (which I had with my previous Dell XPS M1330).

With that out of the way, I do have to say that I truly love this laptop. It's crazy lightweight for the specs. The matte 1080p IPS screen is beautiful, and when calibrated with my X-Rite i1 Display 2 (using the Lacie Blue Eye software), the average dE is less than 0.2. Read: this display is capable of near perfect reference color reproduction. I can do Adobe Lightroom work on this laptop without color reproduction concerns any more, in fact I moved away from a separate monitor to save space on my desk and for a little extra cash.

The keyboard is very nice tactile-wise. Before I got this laptop, I was using a mechanical keyboard with Cherry Blue switches. So I definitely appreciate the benefits of a nice keyboard. And while the keys aren't the same as a mechanical keyboards', they're still nice. The travel is pretty limited but there's good feedback. It's not too loud but also isn't silent. Everything's laid out pretty nice, although I'm not a fan of the arrow key setup and I hate the complete lack of home/end/pgup/pgdown navigation keys. I think the default option of the F1-12 keys acting as special function keys without needing to hold fn is an excellent decision. I only ever used F5 for refreshing a page, which can be accomplished by ctrl-r, but on the other hand I need volume, playback, and brightness control very often. One thing I have noticed that could be a problem: sometimes it seems like key presses aren't noticed, and other times it seems like I unintentionally double press a key. I'm a very fast typer (about 90 words per minute on a 1 minute test), so it could be that I'm just being really inaccurate with a new keyboard, but if you're concerned about this I would check for a trend in other reviews.

The touchpad is okay at best, and if it's having a bad day it's absolutely terrible. This is my first multi-touch touchpad, so my experience here should be noted as very limited overall. I like the gestures, and scrolling usually works pretty well. I really like that the entire touchpad clicks in for a left click no more need to keep my left hand on the click button. I dislike that the default option for touch to click is "on". This was an amazingly stupid decision that wreaks of limited to no end-user testing. It makes typing almost impossible because there's no palm detection and merely brushing the pad moves your cursor. But thankfully this can be turned off, and as I mentioned previously the push-in-entire-pad-to-click design makes it unnecessary anyway. As another reviewer mentioned, sometimes the touchpad decides to just take a break and turn off. Other times, it decides to get all coked out and just randomly go around the screen, in no clear relation to what I'm actually trying to do. I'm not exaggerating. It's just completely broken in that respect. I have the most recent drivers and occasionally this happens with just no warning at all. It's infrequent enough that it's not critical, but it's pretty pathetic. Finally, it should be noted that there's no off button for the pad. I feel this is OK with touch to click being set off, since then the pad shouldn't randomly click unless you have a habit of bending your wrist to go between your hands and pressing down pretty stiffly, but it's still something some users might be concerned about.

So, basically, plan on using a trackball or a mouse with this laptop.

The ports are a little limited. Just two USB ports and only HDMI kind of sucks. Lots of projectors are still behind the curve and only have VGA, but the D-Sub connector is huge so I can't blame VIZIO for leaving it out.

The headphone audio is really nice. I would consider myself a practical audiophile I don't believe in $500 power cable snake oil, but I appreciate a good DAC and good pair of cans. In that regard, the audio from this VIZIO is pretty respectable. There's none of the hissing that you get with truly awful DAC/amp combos, but it's also nothing to write home about and the gain is pretty low. Shouldn't be a problem unless you're planning on driving expensive high impedance cans, in which case you're probably the type of person to have an external DAC/amp combo anyway.

Also, cool feature sidenote: like smartphones, the laptop detects when headphones are plugged in, and it remembers the difference between last speaker volume and last headphone volume. So otherwise, you can have the speaker volume set to muted but the headphone volume set to average so you won't disturb anyone but still not have to mess with the volume constantly.

Finally, the OS experience is very nice. Turning on from standby is instantaneous. Turning on from hibernate isn't blazing fast but still only about 20 or 30 seconds. Turning on from being completely off or restarting takes about probably only 15 or 20 seconds. Not having bloatware is a godsend. This is the first prebuilt I've ever bought where I didn't do a Windows fresh install first thing. I just uninstalled the Bing and Zune crap and I was good to go 30 seconds later. Also, as a sidenote, there aren't ridiculous brand stickers plastered all over the place. The CT15 has a great design that's very nice to look at, and they obviously cared more about the user experience than absurd brand identity/advertising when they were designing it.

Final geek note: I haven't tried yet, but I see any kind of hardware changes being difficult or impossible. The entire underside of the laptop is a single piece, so there's no easy-to-access hard drive, RAM, etc. doors. This is frustrating, especially since I'd like to drop in a 512GB SSD in a few months since the prices keep dropping and 128GB is a little small, but I would research into this more if you're considering the laptop and need this capability.

Anyway, to summarize, this is an amazing laptop for the price. The screen is superb, and doesn't even require a "for the price" qualifier. Everything else is pretty average, with nothing being terrible except the touchpad depending on how much you plan on using it and if you're OK with messing with the settings (very easy to do). The internals are nice, but you might not be able to change them (research this if it matters to you). It's indeed very thin and light, and again at a great price. I recommend it, but consider the quality control risks before buying., and if you're willing to also carry around a mouse or a trackball.

Really I would have given this laptop a -1 star for the touchpad, and -0.5 stars for the one I had to replace. But since you can't do out of 10 ratings, I think a 4 is more appropriate because the rest of the laptop is good and the screen is greaet.

I do purchase lots of laptops each year, as I have a nag for trying new tech.

But I like to think that I am in constant search for the perfect gadget and never finding it (be it a laptop, a tablet, a phone, a remote control...)

And let me tell you, I have never been torn by a product as much as I did with Vizio CT15-A1

The laptop is gorgeous, the screen is amazing, and the build quality is superb. But there are some serious short comings.

I had the laptop for nearly a month now, and I stil feel this love and hate realtionship. I can't make up mind wether to keep it or ditch it for another laptop. (either way, in few months, a new laptop must fill its shoes, especially with Win8 on the way)

What I love about the laptop:

* Looks space-age. And I don't mean like a Macbook Air does (althoug the similarities are stunning), it is the angular design of the screen lid, and above all, the grayish hue on the body.

* Excellent construction, with very useful rubber bottom.

* Amazing IPS full-HD matte display

* Cool charger ligths (abit too bright)

What I hate about the laptop:

* The touchpad

* The touchpad

* The touchpad (yes, that much!) of all the laptops I ever used, no touchpad ever came close to the horride experience of this laptop; gestures are erratic, touch sensitivity is horrible, and above all, the touchpad always ignore any minute gesture: to stick the pointer over something small, you must first swipe hard to get the cursor moving and then quickly set the cursor where you want... an exercise in patience.

* Short battery life: while doing nothing but surfing the web, I get about 4 hours.

* Keyboard is not likeable, but in reality is not as bad as other users have described. and of course, it is not backlit. It would not register some keys if very lightly pressed.

* Should not really be called an ultrabook, because it does not standby as other laptops do: if you simply close the lid, the laptop goes on standby, not the deep sleep mode. So in few hours, battery would have dropped by about 20%, and then it goes into hibernate. So, first you are faced with unexpeted reduction in battery, second, you have to wait for the laptop to resume from hibernation, which BTW takes longer than a full boot.

* There is a 2GB hibernation partition, which is weird given the laptop has 4GB of memory, so I think it is useless and unused (which might be the cause for the behavior above)

* Recovery partition is there, but there is no way to extract it on Media, and, you must boot windows in recovery mode to be able to access it. pretty useless if your main parition is corrupt (which is at times why you would like to do recovery in the first place). It is a weird decision to do this, and maybe it is justified by the fact that the hard drive is not meant to be user replacebale. Or maybe such decision reflects Vizio's inexperience in the PC business world.

* Charger is standard size (which is to say big), which is a shame given how beatifully designed the laptop is, and since battery life sucks, leaving the charger behind is not something you would want to do.

You can see how many shortcomings there are, and yet I cannot hate the laptop... that should be an indication how beautiful the laptop is :) Beauty is skin deep? yeah, but it got me!

Buy VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A1 15.6-Inch Laptop Now

This was purchased from Amazon, but by my boss, not by me. He was so disgusted with it that rather than return it, he just gave it to me.

Weight, looks and performance-wise, this is a good notebook! Slim, easy to carry and a beautiful screen.

However it needs a few accessories to make it what is in my opinion, usable.

1. A wireless mouse or touch pad as the provided touch pad is extremely unusable. Granted, I'm used to the one on Apple notebooks, but my wife's cheap HP notebook touch pad is much easier to use. I suggest going with a Bluetooth mouse or touch pad as there are only two USB ports on this computer.

2. A wireless keyboard as the provided one looks great but the keys don't always work. I have to pay special attention when typing an 'f' or a 'c' for instance as it usually won't appear. Or you'll easily get double keystrokes. Combined with the native touch pad which I haven't been able to disable, when typing up a report, letter or even a Facebook post, I'll find that the cursor has suddenly jumped up a number of lines and I'm typing in the middle of something previously written. Again, I suggest a Bluetooth keyboard as there are only two USB ports. Though if you have a Logitech unifying receiver, you can use one port for both the keyboard and mouse/pad.

3. An external hard drive. The 128GB SSD is fast. However, 100GB for applications and data really isn't very much. I've install the software that I need to use for work, (Adobe Creative Suite, Office 2013, etc.), my documents and very little else. I ended up with about 41GB free. I can't install Dropbox as our shared folder would fill the drive. So, tie up a USB port with an external USB hard drive. I picked up a 2TB Western Digital that uses USB3 at a decent price.

4. A USB network adapter. The radio on this thing is WEAK. Our WiFi router is currently two walls and about 40 feet away. Every few minutes, I lose Internet access and have to reset the radio by pressing the F3 key to turn it off and then again to turn it back on. (That same key also disables Bluetooth for some strange reason.) My wife's HP sitting two feet closer has NO problems. If I move to within six feet of the router, I can keep a connection a lot longer but it still drops out from time to time. The latter also applies with my Verizon 4G LTE hotspot sitting 3 feet from the Vizio. Using a USB WiFi adaptor, I don't get any network dropout.

So, if you're willing to spend more money, use the Bluetooth and both USB ports, this is a pretty snappy and beautiful notebook and very usable.

On the other hand, I think that if it was MY money being spent, I'd have gone with the Acer at Costco. 8GB of ram vs 4GB, almost as thin but has a DVD burner and 3 USB3 ports and a touch screen perfect for Windows 8. It only uses a 750GB spinner hard drive so wouldn't be as snappy. The keyboard is backlit, has a numeric keyboard and types a LOT better. Even the touch pad is very usable. I only use the Acer as an example of how for a $100 more, one can get a much better thin notebook.

Hopefully, Vizio has learned from their mistakes with their first notebook and has fixed them in the newer models.

Pros: Thin, light, lovely and snappy performance

Cons: Bad keyboard, bad touch pad, weak WiFi radio, limited storage, limited memory and poor expandability. (Remember, like the newest Apple notebooks, what you buy is what you get. Nothing in this is upgradable or expandable. No swapping the battery, putting in a bigger hard drive or more memory.)

Read Best Reviews of VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A1 15.6-Inch Laptop Here

It's a great ultrabook at an approachable price if you use an external mouse. The included Sentelic "Finger Sensing Pad" and their drivers is the biggest piece of . If you don't mind your touchpad behaving like it's drunk 75% of the time and sometimes just freezing for a minute or so, this computer is easily 5 stars. I would pay Vizio extra just to switch out this touchpad for a different manufacturer (that's what Asus did with their Zenbooks they switched to Elan).

Update: I got used to the touchpad... slightly. I still think it's bad, but I edited down my review a bit.

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I bought this for my mom, knowing what she would use it for, mainly Microsoft Office, internet browsing, and streaming videos. So I wanted something light, with mid-range specs and an HD display. I figured the Intel i5 processor would be enough for this, and the graphics driver didn't really matter a whole lot, since she doesn't run graphics-intensive programs. An SSD was a must, ever since I heard that computers are being built with them now. SSDs are faster, quieter, use no electricity, and produce less heat. Since she does quite a lot of typing, I wanted to get her a 15" laptop because of a bigger keyboard, a significant increase in size from her old 10.1" netbook. And I also wanted Windows 7. Windows 8 is a hot mess, in my opinion, plus I wouldn't want to to have my mom learn a new operating system.

I did am internet search for computers with SSDs, windows 7, and an i5, and couldn't find any below $900. Right before I made a purchase of nearly $1000, I stumbled upon this. It had all the specs I was looking for, with the added bonus of a 1920x1080 matte display. I quit what I was doing and for a few days, read up on the reviews for these. Most agree, it is well built, with flaws, even "fatal flaws." These flaws were the trackpad, keyboard, and lack of ports. Since my mom uses a mouse, I saw the trackpad as a non-issue. The flaws in the keyboard were explained to me, but I really saw it as a matter of opinion. And since the ports would not be used, besides one USB, this also was a non-issue.

But I have used the machine, so here's my opinion of these aspects of this computer:

1. Trackpad: After the initial boot up, the first thing I did was download the drivers for the trackpad. Yes, it is pretty buggy, and it would get annoying after a while. But I think the problem comes more from the design than the drivers. Your fingers have to be a little greasy to use. I used this with my clean hands, and my fingers would not slide on it. And the left and right click is built right in as a single piece, which means that you can't keep one finger on the click button and another on the touchpad, or it gets confused and the cursor jumps around. But the 2 finger scroll worked pretty well for me. Also, the cursor got stuck a time or two, which is the only software problem with the trackpad, but a simple right click fixes it right up.

2. Keyboard: Like I said, I think this is a matter of opinion. The lack of a numpad might scare some people away, but it allows for bigger keys. They are large and have a somewhat slippery surface, and little travel. However, the travel is still substantial enough. When I type, I glide my hands across the keyboard from one to another, instead of pulling my fingers off all the way. And this keyboard works well for that. It is actually the best keyboard I have ever typed on, to be honest. And since my mom has the same typing habits, she loves it too.

3. Lack of Ports: You get 2 USBs, a headphone jack, and an HDMI. I don't know what to say about this really. If you need more ports, get a different computer. If that's all you need, you won't have any problems.

So who should use this? Anybody looking for a mid-range, light laptop, like students, or people looking to stream movies. Don't buy this for gaming, or graphic-intensive programs. If you have a lot of data, don't get this one either. It is advertised as 128GB of storage. It is never exact. This one is just a bit less, and the OS takes up quite a bit of space, so it comes down to around 75GB of free space out of the box. There is no bloatware to be removed, unless you count Skype and Zune (I removed Zune). And one last thing, the unibody is very nice looking, but if hardware problems occur, this would be very difficult to repair, and very costly and time consuming to have someone else do it (the battery is built in by the way, and upgrading RAM will require a lot of work.) This could cause problems down the line, but for now WEEEEEEEE!

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Dell 15.6" Inspiron i15R-1847MRB Intel Core i3 Laptop 4GB Notebook 640GB Computer PC with BLU-RAY

Dell 15.6' Inspiron i15R-1847MRB Intel Core i3 Laptop 4GB Notebook 640GB Computer PC with BLU-RAYScreen resolution is very good. The web camera has excellent image quality. Very nice appearance. The weight is appropriate to the size of the equipment. 4 hours duration battery is discrete.

HP Pavilion DV7-1450US 17-Inch Entertainment Laptop

HP Pavilion DV7-1450US 17-Inch Entertainment LaptopJust recieved the DV7 1450us and read all the reviews about similar products with this new bronze color and the problem some are having seeing the keys. This seemed to be on models with bronze keys/ white letters. This model shows bronze keys with black letters and thats what I wanted. Guess what color letters I have ????? Not Black. Bad Start already. I dont see a major problem, but the black would be much clearer against the shiny bronze keys.

We purchased the HP dv9000 series model which was manufactured with a defective left hinge. HP acknowledged the problem on their site, but did not inform registered customers of the issue. You had to go deep into their site to find the limited time offer for repairing the issue for free. Ours broke after the service offer had expired. When we called customer service and tech support, they extended the service program for our case. Unfortunately, Julie (manager of repairs) refused to honor the original agreement. Apparently, the defective hinge compromised the laptop while in transit. She claims that the both hinges are broken, the clasp is also destroyed as well as the LCD panel is cracked. When we sent it, there was only problem with the hinge. She was irrate and did not want to hear what we had to say. What should have been a free service, now costs us $300+. According to Julie, it is not profitable for HP to contact registered product owners regarding flaws or defects in their systems or products. When I repeated this back to her, she was silent. Then she said "I meant 'possible' not profitable." If she did mean "possible" ... they don't know who owns what. Not true, my dear Julie, HP spams me everyday to sell me products for my HP Pavilion Entertainment PC... She had nothing to say about that.

Based on this experience, I cannot recommend HP Pavilions to anyone. The product is manufactured with inherent flaws. When you register your computer, your information is used for marketing purposes -not for what you think it will be used for -to inform you of recalls, service extension programs, etc.

The technical support staff and customer service people are very knowledgeable, but the repair group will not honor service packages or agreements. Unfortunately, there is a definite turf war between repairs, technical support, customer service and warranty departments within HP. Keep in mind if you have a problem, they will demand your credit card for non-refundable repairs or they will send your laptop back damaged. You are at disadvantage and they know it.

I cannot recommend Hewlett Packard for this reason. Apple, Toshiba, Sony and IBM have much better service records and will honor their obligation to customers and stand by their products.

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I just purchased the HP Pavilion DV7-1450US 17-Inch. We got it at Staples (though I usually get my computers from Amazon) for $599!!!

Admittedly, I was skeptical about a laptop so cheap being any good since most of the ones we have are in the $1,500 to $2,500 range. Surprisingly, this laptop grows on you from the moment you open it up. It's a beautiful looking piece of work and as nice as our HP HDX, Sony Vaio and other HP laptops we have.

The screen is bright and readable. Disk drive is large. Processor is very zippy with Vista 64bit.

I immediately gutted it and installed a production version of Windows 7 on it and the whole process toook about 1/2 hour. End result? This machine runs like a bat out of hell right now!!!

Not too heavy, great screen, exceptional keyboard that is very easy to read and better than the other four laptops we have all costing double or more, great network card which connected easily to both our home and office wireless networks at N speeds...

I am still wondering how HP did this? A great value for the price and I'm not quick to give glowing reviews (read some of my other ones)...

By the way, a full keyboard with numeric pad is so convenient. Very happy!

Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion DV7-1450US 17-Inch Entertainment Laptop Here

Beware of HP's warranty. Customer service takes you to India and it is like dealing with a toothless tiger. They will dance all around the problem and waste your time. The warranty is as good as useless.

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Laptop was received with a broken ethernet port. HP would not service my laptop due to "customer related damage" which it was obviously not. There is a reason they are dead last in all customer service polls. God forbid if you need actually service. Between dealing with people in India, which most barely speak English, and zero warranty support, take your money elsewhere. HP is the worst service experience I have ever had.

Samsung Series 3 NP355E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Samsung Series 3 NP355E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch LaptopI bought this as a cheap beat up laptop. Turns out it's among the best I've ever owned. A half year into it, after using it 6 10 hours most days, it has yet to give me even a single problem. Not one crash, not one malfunction. The only wear came on the keyboard, where the letter paint has come away a bit. Not bad though.

Some other reviewers have claimed that this computer is slow. I'm not going to doubt them, but that has not been my experience whatsoever. The computer is as fast as any other that I have used and I run multiple programs (like Photoshop, Word and Firefox with plenty of tabs open) all at once. A friend purchased a Sony Vaio at the same time and has had nothing but problems, including with speed.

I recommend this computer.

This item was as described, one of my favorite laptops. Well made, great function, great quality for the price, thanks!

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My son loves this computer. It's sharp, fast, and plays his games perfectly. The only flaw would be that the bottom is light so when it lifts the whole computer when you open it must keep weight on the bottom while lifting screen so can't do it one-handed. My son keeps it in his room, plugged in, at all times, so I can't speak to the battery life. But, overall, it's a great computer at this price and we love it.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung Series 3 NP355E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here

Out of the box it comes with so much "bloat" that it's a challenge to weed through to the worthwhile pieces of software. The product is nice, hardware is more than decent, but for some reason, it hangs up from time to time. I haven't added any additional software yet, and I'm on 100Mbps fiber for Internet. Just sometimes when watching online videos or surfing the net it slows. It's not an extreme problem but it can be frustrating. I won't fault it for the issues I have with Windows 8.

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I ordered this as a Christmas gift for my husband. It is a slow computer! We have tried everything and it just does not have the speed of the other laptops in our family. And Windows 8 yuck! I don't want it on mine!

Hewlett Packard - HP Pavilion dv6t dv6tqe Quad Edition, 2nd Gen. Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM (2 GHz

Hewlett Packard - HP Pavilion dv6t dv6tqe Quad Edition, 2nd Gen. Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM w/ Turbo Boost up to 2.9 GHz, 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 6490M GDDR5 graphics, 6GB DDR3 RAM, 750 Hard Drive, 15.6' diagonal HD+ HP BrightView LED Display(1366x768), Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Webcam, Fingerprint Reader, Intel 802.11b/g/n WLAN, Bluetooth, Blu-ray player & SuperMulti DVD burnerGraphics,speed are nice The picture has great details, clarity. This is an excellent Laptop I would recommend this to anyone. I am pleased.

This laptop has the most up dated features & techology, its so perfect & user friendly. Did not regret buying it & I have lots of memory and the hard drive is excellent. It has a sleek look and very pretty.

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its exactly what i expect!!!evething goes true : it was safe , quickly and the product was OK! I recommend to everyone.

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Dell Inspiron i1764-6075OBK 1764 17.3-Inch Laptop (Obsidian Black)

Dell Inspiron i1764-6075OBK 1764 17.3-Inch LaptopUPDATE:::: 3+ Weeks since I got this.... More bulky softwares(even ones that run during start up) / games / videos have gone in, but the performance is absolutely the same. Audio capabilities of this laptop is simply stunning.... I have a HDTV and a Sony Home theater system. When I connect this laptop to the TV and listen to MP3 songs, the audio output is just amazing.... Made me feel like dancing to the rhythm.... I am comparing this with a 2 year old Gateway laptop that I own (does not have a HDMI connectivity, so use VGA Cables instead... So I understand that I'm not comparing apples with apples :-), but still.... ). I don't use this laptop primarily for gaming... But I did try playing Tales of the Monkey Island in complete high settings, and the video and audio were awesome. Connect it to your HDTV and enhance the experience.....

I went and got this from a BestBuy store near my place.... I actually got to compare it with the core i3 laptops.... I restarted all the systems and then tried opening the programs at the same time and clocked them.... I5 has a way more superior load time as compared to the i3 and Core 2 duo systems. Note that BB has the same softwares installed on all of its laptops (as long as the OS is the same).

I loved the large screen... My requirement was a laptop to be a desktop replacement that would mostly be moved just within my home... So the weight of this product didn't bother me much. If your main requirement is mobility, DO NOT go for this laptop... It can be quite heavy....

After hearing loads of negative reviews about Win 7, I didn't expect too much out of it... However, I am beginning to like it a lot... It has some cool features that I find real user friendly.... Specially the shortcut tray on the top of your screen.... Its so customizable and handy... U don't have to minimize your open windows to access it... just take the pointer to the top portion of the screen and hold for a second or two, and it shows up... No more clumsy icons on the desktop.....

Aero theme on Windows 7 looks pretty stunning too.... Note that this takes a lot of memory though... The configuration on this system has no problems handling it.... I have loaded my system with loads of softwares and still the boot time is amazingly fast... Shutdown is even better....

Battery life is pretty good for a laptop with such huge screen size....

One last thing is this: Function keys are by default set to be used with the "Fn" key only.... For example pressing the F1 key on your keyboard would open up the chose monitor option and not help on a particular software..... In order to do that you will have to press the "Fn" + the F1 key... I felt this to be an annoyance, as I use Alt + F4 to close windows. This wouldn't work as F4 is assigned as a Mute button and the laptop mutes the sound instead....

However, I recently realized that this functionality could be changed by going into the BIOS. Just meddle around the various tabs and you should be able to find that option.... Once you change that to default to Function keys and not Multimedia keys.... everything would be perfect (at least it was for me :) )

Good luck with any laptop that you decide to buy....

I have had this laptop for the last 2 weeks. I just love it. The screen size is pefect. I dont have to travel much so the size suits me well. The laptop is quite fast and the screen is bright (HD LED). The audio is really great. Well one thing Dell ought to have improved is the noise of the fan. Otherwise no complaints.

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I purchased an Inspiron 1764 laptop primarily because the combination of specs, features and price was unbeatable.

The system began to malfunction shortly after I installed basic security and office software. It would not connect to my HP printer. There were local network and driver errors, along with frequent hangs, bluescreen crashes and other problems. Dell tech support blamed me for "corrupting" their operating system and said I would have to pay extra for software service, since their "limited" warranty covers only hardware. I restored the machine to factory settings, only to see the problems reappear. Despite my extensive experience as a computer professional, I was unable to fix the software problems. Internet research showed I was not alone.

These issues appear to be specific to Dell systems, since I have another vendor's laptop also running Windows 7 and the identical application software, with no problems whatsoever. I have been a loyal Dell customer for twelve years, but their consumer unfriendly attitude and lack of proper support left me no choice but to return the laptop for a refund. Readers are advised to think long and hard before choosing Dell.

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This is a huge laptop... But, you know that since it's a 17" laptop. It's quick... pretty quiet. And I also use this as a home multimedia computer. So, I'm often plugging it in to my TV via the HDMI connection. It has no problem enabling and disabling the dual monitor mode when plugged in and unplugged.

The only issue that I have is that it doesn't seem to like to wake up from hibernate. So, I just don't ever hibernate it. Not a big deal for me anyway. And, in my experience with computers, hibernate is a hit and miss thing anyway.

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Had this model for 5 months and have contacted tech support at least 15 times.They were and still are unable to fix or diagnose problems.Was sent a new hard drive,still the same problem,which is the graphix and intermitently going to a white screen which after restart goes away.They offered for me to ship it to them I said no but opted to recieve a refurbished replacement.As soon as I recieve it I will put it up for sale and never purchase any Dell product again.

Toshiba Satellite L655-S5103 15.6-Inch Laptop (Fusion Finish in Helios Black)

Toshiba Satellite L655-S5103 15.6-Inch LaptopI have been enjoying my Toshiba laptop for some time now & would highly recommend this laptop to others. It was just what I was looking for at an affordable price.

HP Pavilion G6-2235us 15.6" Laptop (2.7 GHz AMD A6-4400M Accelerated Processor, 4GB RAM, 750GB Hard

HP Pavilion G6-2235us 15.6' LaptopI would highly recommend this product. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much with the amount of money I spent on it,and boy, was I surprised. It's nicely built and runs fast. Well done, HP!This is my first Windows 8 PC, it took some time getting used to, but I'm digging the OS so far. Also, I just wanna mention what a bargain it was, it was a whole 30 bucks cheaper than the similar 2210us model which has lower specs. I'm extremely happy with this purchase, worth every penny!

Just ordered, and received this laptop from Amazon. Ordered it on a Sunday morning, and it was sitting at my front door on Tuesday by 11:00 a,m,. Really enjoy my Prime membership. Great job Amazon.

As for the computer itself, I've only had it a few days but it is exactly what I wanted. Not a high performance machine by any stretch but it's no slouch either, A lot of computer for the money. It came with 4GB of RAM and I ordered an additional 4GB memory card which should be in soon and then this machine will be maxed out. Screen view is excellent. Start up is quick after removing some of the crap ware that came with it. After reading all the hate reviews on Windows 8 I was a little leery. Although it is different, I'm beginning to like it. Windows 7 desktop can be brought up easily if desired. Not a gamer or laptop movie viewer so I can't really comment on these aspects. I haven't even tried the optical drive yet; not sure I'll really ever need it. Went 3 1/2 years with the laptop this one replaced and never needed one. I like the looks of it in sparkling black (finger prints will be an issue but easily wiped away). Having the side numeric touch pad is a definite plus on a laptop at this price. This is my sixth HP computer and I 've never had a single issue with the first five which is why I stayed with HP. The only concern I have with this machine, and I might be picky, is that the scrollable mouse pad is very sensitive and can cause you to move you cursor very easily and unexpectedly if touched by accident. I added a wireless mouse to remedy this. For the money I paid I'm a happy camper and see no reason why I can't get many years of enjoyment from the machine

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When my laptop bit the dust, I scoured the internet for a replacement looking for the best value. I'm retired, and am very frugal with my money. I read reviews, compared specifications, and came down to about 4 laptops. When I realized one of them was the same brand and model that my daughter was using, that made my decision. My daughter's HP Pavilion is several years old, but working great and she shares hers with her 3 children. It's taken a beating, and still performs. My only worry was the new Windows 8 operating system. Other reviews indicated the operating system was difficult to learn and hard to understand. It looked to me like I had no choice. All new laptops were Windows 8.

The laptop was delivered exactly when Amazon said it would be (they are VERY dependable about delivery!). I opened the box, hooked up the laptop and began copying the data from my old computer. I've had the new laptop for only 4 days now, but so far have not found anything to complain about. I love the touch of the keyboard, and really like the numeric keypad. I'm not a fan of the keyboard mouse, preferring to use the traditional mouse instead, but I've been using the keyboard mouse pad occasionally, and find it less sensitive than others I've used. (My main complaint previously was that even when I didn't want the mouse to move, it would move because my sleeve touched it or something else random brushed against it.) This mouse pad is not smooth, it is a little bumpy, which I think makes it easier to use.

And Windows 8? Yes, it's new, a little confusing but even at my old age, I've managed to adapt to it. I know it hasn't even been a week yet, but I am completely satisfied with this purchase, and pleased with the value for my money.

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Overall, this is a great laptop, especially at this bargain price. I'll go over point by point the features and their pros and cons so people know what they're getting and if it's right for them.

Appearance and size: The laptop is pretty compact and very lightweight. Really easy to carry around. It's glossy black, which is prone to smudging, but is easily cleaned with a microfiber cloth. The keyboards is a good size. The finger pad for the mouse, however, I find a little too wide, as I find that my hand naturally rests in the area when I'm trying to move the mouse which got a little irritating, but I overcame the problem by watching my hand placement as I work on the PC.

Screen resolution: It's crystal clear for basic things like webpages and pictures. Videos are a little less clear. Not bad, just not as clean as it could be. It is capable of 1080HD.

OS: Since this is a review for the laptop and not the OS, I won't talk to much about Windows 8. I'll just say it is quite easy to get the hang of, and the regular desktop is still easily accessible. The start menu can also be brought back by purchasing and downloading Start8 from Stardock for $5. Another thing I'll say is because Windows 8 was really meant for tablets, default settings make it so you can swipe to access different apps you have open. This is annoying on a laptop, as too fast a move on your mouse pad swipes you to another app. This can be turned off in your settings.

Movies and TV: As I said, videos aren't the cleanest picture they could be, but aren't bad either. A Netflix app is preinstalled on the PC, which I personally love and use all the time. DVDs play about the same as other media. The DVD drive can sometimes be a bit loud.

Gaming: I should note that while this is not intended to be a gaming PC, this should not scare off occasional gamers. The PC is more than capable of handling the preinstalled games, as well as other more involved games. So far, I've played The Sims 3, Portal, Zoo Tycoon, and BioShock with no problems, save for the occasional slow load.

Microsoft Office: The PC comes with Microsoft Office 2010 preinstalled (however you have to purchase the key code). If you, like me, already have Microsoft Office 2007 or an earlier version, these apps will be useless to you. You can still access Microsoft Office in either the desktop mode or the Windows 8 user interface. Just open the ones you installed rather than the preinstalled.

Security: It comes with Norton. Delete Norton. Download your preferred security software.

Overall usability: The first few days I had the laptop, it ran a little slow, but I think that was due to all the file transfers and program downloads I bogged it down with. Also, the PC is equipped with 4GB of RAM, but is upgrade capable up to 8GB. I highly recommend upgrading the RAM to 8GB to max out the PC. After installing the RAM and adjusting the PC setting accordingly, it ran fast and smoothly. The RAM is easy to install yourself. Thanks to the built in air conditioner and CoolSense app, the PC doesn't get hot and stays cool even while plugged in. The PC also has a whopping 750GB of storage space, incredible for the PC's price and size (however it actually translates to 672GB with the OS). The 672GB should last a long time.

Bottom Line: This PC is excellent for the price, and should suit the average user's needs. It's cheap, efficient, and pretty sweet.

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This is a likable little computer, but I'd hate to try any really big projects on it. The main problem is that its touchpad is located far left of center, so that a right-handed user tends to contact it on its right edge. But in Windows 8, that edge is (by rights) a very live zone and brings up various screens and overlays which, when you're trying to get something done, you don't want. I say it's live "by rights" because when you want the right edge to bring a screen up, it may or may not respond (possibly depending on the position of the cursor). Beyond this, the user's left hand may also droop onto the screen; if both hands touch, sudden changes of image size are likely ... over and over!

Patience overcomes adversity. Practice makes perfect. Etc., etc. I now know the location of the Escape key much better than ever before. But except for this quirk, the computer has a good feel and is a pleasure to use for light tasks. Weight's ok, appearance is nice, the price is low for what you get. Operation is crisp. Battery life is not bad. It can certainly be recommended, depending on intended use.

By the way, on Windows 8's awkward Start Screen there's no glide or momentum (like on a smart phone or tablet) when you try to scoot from one side to the other using two fingers on the touchpad. I like the navigation keys instead. I can't say whether this is a software issue or a trait of this computer.

HP Pavilion dv6-3020us 15.6-Inch Laptop

HP Pavilion dv6-3020us 15.6-Inch LaptopThis review is from: HP Pavilion dv6-3020us 15.6-Inch Laptop 5.9

Graphics 4.5

Gaming Graphics 5.4

Primary Hard Disk 5.8

I researched long and hard to find the perfect laptop for my needs and a good price... this did it for me. No regrets.

I have recommended this to my friends and I recommend it to you....you won't regret it...I don't work for HP or Amazon.

UPDATED: 1/28/2011

I bought this laptop about 4 months ago. As of right now, it has been extremely smooth and not a single crash or issue.

Pros:

The multitouch trackpad is great.

--use 3 fingers to go back and forward

--use 3 fingers to launch a specific app by tapping

--2 fingers to scroll, rotate, and zoom

--no friction like those chrome plated trackpads

--enough room to scroll, no need to buy the mouse really in my opinion

--Trackpad can be turned on/off by double tapping on the indicator light in the upper left corner of the trackpad.

--1/28/2011Scrybe is the must have app for this track pad...you can use gestures to open websites, shortcuts, copy, paste...very cool

--1/28/2011 You can use the 3 finger gesture to go back in all browsers including chrome but need to google it to make it work....i just use ie9 :)

Camera is 2MP and is fairly good with a nice suite of applications.

--HP Webcam software adds some nice additions

--Used skype to talk to one of my relatives and it was about 90% good when compared to my brothers macbook pro 13...but then again I didnt pay $1200+

Fingerprint Reader

--Extremely accurate

--Dont swipe way too fast because it gets difficult to identify for obvious reasons

--Get Internet Explorer 9/Mozilla Firefox and work like a champion

Keyboard

--Great island style keys

--Dedicated quick launch keys on the left which I use all the time (calc, internet, hp key to open webcam, etc)

CPU, Memory, and HD

--More than enough because higher specs would require more battery

--1333mhz memory

--AMD Phenom II 2.8, it is not bad at all compared to my i7 920 in Alienware (It is comparable to the core i3-330M)

--Nothing less than 500GB should do now a days

--Dedicated graphics card...I dont play games on it. Have a Alienware for that but handles HD media really well.

--DVD Drive is great (not much to talk here :)

Design

--I've never seen anything like it.

--My friend was so jealous and he has a macbook.

--Screen size is great. Anything less than a 15" is really hard to see

--This weighs lighter than my sister's 2009 macbook pro 15"

--Enough USB's and HDMI, VGA

Windows 7

--Enough said, keep in mind i already had windows 7 on my Alienware but this windows is great for laptops.

--Pinning important shortcuts, dragging windows to compare, etc.

--Just used the printer attached to the laptop in the other room through my alienware (same homegroup)

CONS:

Screen

--A little bright due to LED

--Blacks are not exactly black but tune the settings and it should be fine (UPDATE: At a certain angle like many other LED's the black is fairly black but still not like the plasma obviously)

--Resolution could have been higher

Battery

--About 3 hours when I was using MS word to type and IE for browsing. Brightness at like 30%.

--Funny thing I never unplug it...its just me...also my brother with his macbook 13 pro with 10 hours supposed battery keeps it plugged in :)

Fingerprint Reader

--Only mentioning this because I got hooked on Google chrome and IE is different but just as fast now due to IE9.

Keyboard

--No backlit (have no preference really because its distracting to me in low light)

--Screen brightness is more than enough for me.

Seriously, the price that I paid and what I got...I still cant believe it (isnt that a song? :) You will love it. Any more questions, shoot me a message and I'll try my best to reply. I love HP and Windows 7 for this product...:)

Disclaimer: I dont work for either Microsoft, HP or Apple. I mentioned my brother and sister's mac to make a point here for comparison purposes.

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When it works and once you've realized that there's an extra column of keys to the left of the keyboard then it's a good computer.

The extra keys (print, calculator, and 2 others) are useless. I'm use to the far left keys being the ctrl key, etc. These extra keys just get in the way.

However, after having it for only 2 months the hard drive died. I turned it on in the morning. It ran slow. I turned it off. When I got home that evening I turned it on. It said the "hard drive not exist" (that's the verbatim message).

Now I need to return it to get servicing. I've had other HP computers that lasted years and haven't had any problems. I don't know what's wrong with this one.

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This is just a great laptop. everything about it is wonderful and hip, from the light-up hp button on the front to the sleek design to the fast processor. This is jsut great, the speed is top notch and the laptop is nice and big and perfect for me, a student. you cant go wrong!

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I've been using it for just two days, but I must say IT IS WONDERFUL!!

Windows 7 seems to be a good OS. I like it so far.

400 and so GB in the hardrive works very well for me (Since my old laptop had just 120Gb).

Its also very fast. But what could you spect from 4Gb ram.. FAST!!

The thing I think I love the most is the HUGE touchpad, it is very big! (10.8 x 6.6 cms). You can zoom in, zoom out, move up and down with it. And you can pass your finger over the keys and move the pointer, because they will activate only if you click them.

The keys of the keyboard are very soft. So you don't have to click them too hard.

The keyboard also has some extra keys in the left column, so I'll have to get used to the new ubications of the regular keys we use to see in the left column (one column more to the right, if you can't undestand what I try to say (sorry for my bad english :S) you can watch photos on the web)

The external and internal design (Aluminium finish) is.. WOW. I love it! Looks very pretty.

The fingerprint reader is working good for me. Bad part: I mostly use Google Chrome and it doesn't work with it :S (as I know is because google chrome doesn't support it, not because of the laptop)

The speakers are very tiny, yeah I know, but music and stuff sounds very loud and clear! Love it!

The camera is alright, not a HQ camera, but it works fine for me. I also like the camera software a lot, is very funny and easy to use.

I haven't tried the microphones yet, but I think they both work fine.

The screen is big, (bigger from left to right than up to down)

The only bad thing I could think of about this laptop is: NOTHING

I guess the price was alright (got it at 674,99 from amazon, Now Its 659,99 i guess), not too expensive, but also not cheap :S.

It's been a huge changement replacing my two-year old HP compaq 6720s (120Gb hardrive, 1Gb ram) with this HP Pavilion dv6-3020us (500Gb hardrive, 4Gb ram)

As I said, I've been using it for just two days, so I hope it'll continue working as good in the future.

At the moment the only thing I could think of is: THANKS HP! and THANKS AMAZON!!

HP Pavilion DV7-2040US 17.3-Inch Laptop

HP Pavilion DV7-2040US 17.3-Inch LaptopThis laptop is way beyond my expectations! i have had it for over a week and it's a beast!

PROs: the quad core is amazing. not only is it fast, it adds up to 2Gb to video when gaming. the price is top notch! 2 HDD bays(the 500Gb is actually 2x250Gb), eSATA port, great screen! this is the lightest 17" laptop i've held in a while. while i am an nVIDIA gamer, the ATI does a good job withstanding COD4/5, Assassins Creed, and Crysis at almost the highest settings. not bad for a prebuild that is less than $1500!

CONs: beside the fact that HP doesn't include restore discs, there really aren't any... (you will have to create your own restore discs but HP does provide directions on how to do it. it does take a while!)

Other thoughts: i am currently in the process of bumping the RAM from 4Gb to 8Gb and the HDD from 2x250Gb to 2x500Gb. there is nothing wrong with the speed of the laptop but you can never have enough RAM with 64 bit Vista! the hard drives are just for more storage. i love this laptop. compared this one to the latest Gateway FX and the Dell XPS and for the price of this HP, the other 2 couldn't touch this.

Do yourself a favor and buy this from a site other than HP. the same laptop built thru HP was running higher than $2200 for the exact same setup...

The HP DV7-2040US is a great value. I always multi-task and use some really resource intensive programs. This machine is able to handle it. I had been considering a Quad-Core notebook for some time, but did not want to drop $3,000 $5,000 for bleeding edge technology. HP has a winner here as a platform, however, I have a few caveats. The specs state that it has full screen HD. DO NOT MISTAKE THAT FOR FULL HI-DEF RESOLUTION. You may have to hunt to find the resolution buried in the technical specs, it is only 1600 x 900. This machine does NOT have A single 500GB hard drive, rather, it has two 5400 rpm hard drives. The machine is fast enough that the supplied drives have to labor to keep up. This machine uses DDR2 memory, so you will not get bleeding edge speed, but then again if you want to upgrade to 8GB's of RAM, you should be able to do it for the DDR2 price of less than $300 as of this writing rather than the DDR3 price of $600 $800. As I said, for the money, this is a great value. Lots of processing power, handles graphics and any chore like the workhorse computers from which it is descended.

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I work with computers for a living so i've always built and maintained my own systems but have held off on getting myself a laptop. They've always been too small or slow or both until now. For what I am going to be using it for, it fits me perfectly. I like having dual hard drives (2x250) so I could upgrade to SSD (which I plan to do for even more speed) at a later date. I've upgraded my system from 4GB to 8GB and Vista lasted long enough to get a entire system backup. I then formatted the system and installed Windows 7. No matter how big or fast a laptop you buy, Vista will always seem like a dog when compared to 7 or XP. Installing 7, it loaded most of the important drivers (wireless, lan and video) that is needed to get up and running you will still need to download the rest of the vista drivers for the other odds/ends, but was for the most part painless. I've got OpenOffice and AVG antivirus (both free) installed. Be sure to adjust your power profiles within 7 (or Vista for that matter) to get the performance you want during on or off battery use. Mine out of the box was 'vanilla' and needed ramped up a bit to get full use. Just keep in mind this will change how long your battery will last, if you use it much on battery (which I do not). All in all, the only thing I would change about this laptop is it is a bit too glossy for me. Sure it looks nice and stuff right out of the box, but shows a lot of prints. Also, it can get warm if you lay it on your lap for long periods of time. Not sure if this is the right laptop to take with you on long flights across the country it would probably stick out along the edges of your food tray, not to mention the heft as a carry on. A 15" with a quad core would be nicer if you travel often. I've owned it about a week now and would purchase it again without hesitation.

Tip if you plan to upgrade to 8GB of memory, seach ebay...I bought mine for 225. (8GB 2x4gb) Windows experience under Vista was 5.5 (disks being weakest link), Win 7 was 5.6 (again, disks being weakest link Proc/Ram scored 7.0)

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I got this laptop about 6 hours ago and I have to say, after inspecting and playing with it, I really like this laptop. Sure the frame could be more solid and the because of the 16:9 widescreen, it looks smaller then I imagined a 17.3 inch to look like, but I still really like it.

Now for a couple of bad points. The battery life is awful. I unplugged it and in 10 minutes, the battery went down to 94%, with power-saver ON. It doesn't click closed, it's kind-of like folding a piece of cardboard in half and calling it closed. Right now I find no more negitives.

I love the quad-core. Love the 4gb of mem and the room to add 4 more. Powerful videocard. I love it. I will review more in 2 months and share how it's going.

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I bought this computer because it's the cheapest name-brand quad-core laptop I could find. I'm re-encoding some video into H.264 and need lots of computer power. This HP encodes in 2.5 hours what my 2GHz Pentium M mono-core Dell would do in 23 hours. The laptop puts out a good bit of heat with all four cores cranking away, so it might be too hot to rest on one's lap -best to keep it on a table or desk for the CPU chomping.

The laptop comes with Windows Vista Home. I re-partitioned the hard drives and installed Windows 7 RC1 from the Microsoft website and the 64bit Vista drivers from the HP website. Most drivers work except the for Synaptics -that I had to get from the Synaptics website. The laptop runs flawlessly. Beware that HP doesn't supply the Windows XP drivers for this laptop in case you're thinking of using XP.

Acer Aspire V3-551G-X419 15.6-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black)

Acer Aspire V3-551G-X419 15.6-Inch LaptopI've had this laptop almost a week and I love this computer. Windows 8 was weird at first but I used to it, I stopped all the window tiles from being alive all the time because it bogged down the computer. Windows 8 reminds me alot like Xbox Live because the Windows store is just like it. I've been using this laptop to play The Sims 3 & a few other games and it runs so smoothly, my last Acer laptop always shudders and overheats when playing any game even with all the settings to low. I've been playing the Sims 3 on max settings and I had no problems.

Overall this laptop is great for all you general needs and but I wouldn't buy this laptop for serious gaming like playing Crysis 3.

It is better than my last acer laptop.

Dual graphics are very awesome.

The A10-4600 is also very good for running.

The price is very comfortable for me.

It is not expensive, but it has a really great equipment.

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Pros:

Powerful machine that can run most modern games on medium to high settings.

Runs a majority of programs effortlessly.

AMD Dual Graphics settings allow you to set how much power you want running to certain programs [Adobe, video games, converters, you name it] or which programs you want to run in power saving settings. A great way to avoid future hassles with programs you use all the time.

Video quality is superb in combination with the monitor and the dual graphics card.

Sound quality is beautiful, the speakers are flawless.

Cons:

After arriving late, opened up the package and began uninstalling Windows 8.

[you must totally format the hard drive and leave it unallocated in order to install Windows 7]

Took a few hours to get all the drivers back on it, and after some searching, managed to get the graphics card fully functioning.

[Install AMD Catalyst 12.8, restart, 12.9 embedded, restart, and AMD CAP 3, restart, followed by 13.1 to avoid BSOD]

Should you choose to keep Windows 8, that would cut out some work. But that's up to you.

Runs hot, look into a good cooling pad.

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This is a great laptop especially for the money! I'm not a big fan of windows 8, but I'm starting to get used to it. Just make sure all of the graphics drivers are up to date and you can download a couple of different programs to give you back the start menu (Start8) being one of those programs. I have tried a few games out on this (Crysis 2, Farcry 3, all Valve source games) and it runs them all very well at almost all high settings. The build quality is very good to and is a very attractive laptop...very happy at the moment!

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Pros: Practically Everything... The hardware is superb. Apps load with a snap. Speakers blew my mind for a laptop, my fathers computer has a beats audio setup with woofer in it(yes a woofer) and this still blew it away bass and all. The screen is amazing. The USB 3.0 is Amazing. It runs everygame Ive threw at it in not just high but MAXIMUM graphics (These games include: The Sims 3 with Supernatural Expansion, APB: Reloaded, Need For Speed World, Star Trek Online, Champions Online, Vindictus, Microvolts, RaiderZ, DC Universe, Burnout Paradise, Lego Star Wars III: Clone wars, NBA 2k13, Blacklight Retribution, Rusty Hearts, and tons of console Emulaters), boot up time aint to bad either.

Cons: Oh god dont listen to these microsoft lovin windows 8 fans. The mouse gestures will have you twisted in a minute. I turned them all off and it wasnt to bad. learning how to navigate windows 8 isnt to hard but the OS in general is a pain. This laptop would benefit from a 2x4 GB ram set up for 8 gig total and a 7200 rpm hard drive if you have the patience, but its not to mandatory. Runs HOT when playin games (Laptop fan helps). Havent tried it yet but might be a good Idea to Downgrade to Windows 7.

I been an Acer fan forever, they never let me down. I send in for warrenty repair they fix stuf that I never mentioned like keyboards etc. These products always impress me and dont let anyone tell you they are not durable, I have a Aspire 5732z that has made 2 falls from the kitchen counter, an asphault impact in the driveway with no bag, and bumped off the couch. Yes its taken dings, lost the disk drawer cover, and even broke the screen hing covers but to this day its still a good reliable laptop. If any one asks my opinion, Acer's are the best Decently priced laptops out there.

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Dell Inspiron mini 9 - White

Dell Inspiron mini 9 - WhiteFirst off, I need to mention that I am a big fan of Linux and in particular Linux mint 6 (a version of Ubuntu) for it's free assortment of software and improved security over windows and OS 10. Linux lets me do everything I need to do with a computer such as Internet, office, bit-torrent, videos, and music. If it had software to let me use/sync my iphone to it's fullest I would probably never use windows again ... but I digress. I was in the market for an affordable netbook for my wife. All she uses a computer for is to word process, do email, and surf the internet. She isn't the most savvy internet surfer and I'm concerned when she shops online about her letting hackers gain access to sensitive financial accounts. I initially considered a mac but decided against it for financial reasons. The Eeepc was also a choice but the odd arrangement of the touchpad was a turnoff. After seeing a similar linux netbook made by Dell (with their great reputation), I was sold. The netbook was easy to purchase from dell with plenty of options and arrived promptly. It worked great right away and behaved perfectly. It has it's own flavor of Ubuntu 8.04 and made it easy for my wife to interact with it according to her limited needs. Eventually the Ubuntu automatic update kicked in and wanted me to update. Being a pc user this was not out of the ordinary since pc users are used to daily antiviral updates, firewall updates, spyware updates, and windows security updates ... so I updated. After the restart it would not start, oops! I also did not have an external dvd/cd drive, double oops and couldn't restore with the provided backup disk!! I called dell tech support but they told me that they did not support the os and that I should call canonical. Canonical said that they didn't have a financial arrangement with dell and would not be able to help me. Being used to making linux flash drives I tried to make a flash drive out the provided dell software ... didn't work. I checked online for the dell linux OS iso image but dell deleted it. I called dell and they were of little support and didn't know why the software was removed. Eventually I used an Ubuntu 8.04 flash drive and reinstalled the OS. I Could not get sound to work but my wife doesn't do music or youtube and was content so I stopped there. I tried a Linux mint 6 flash drive but even it with all it's extra drivers could not get the sound to work. Probably in time the necessary dell drivers will come out with one of the Linux versions and I'll try again. The purpose of this review is to let potential buyers know that dell will not support you if you go the Linux route. If you do you may have a lot of work to do on your own to get it running once it crashes. Lastly even if you have an external drive you probably will still not be able to restore the OS. See the following link.

HP G62-340us 15.6-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 4 Hours of Battery Life (Charcoal)

HP G62-340us 15.6-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 4 Hours of Battery LifeI'm really pleased with the purchase of this laptop. One thing to realize is that it's not the fastest or thinnest/lightest laptop out there. It's pretty much a standard laptop, with modest specs, but it does all many of the functions that a basic computer user out there is looking for.

Pros:

Nice keyboard chicklet style, easy to type on

Touchpad response is smooth and easy to use (note: see con on touchpad below)

Good screen clarity

Speedy enough for most tasks (internet, word processing)

Wireless connection was strong, fast

Fan is quiet and unobtrusive

Doesn't get very hot when on your lap

Cons:

Case design very basic (rubberized?) and not all that attractive

Touchpad button is stiff Hard to push

Too much HP software installed Some of this will appeal to the novice user who may like all the toolbars, picture managers, dvd players, and software update programs installed.

At first it seemed as if the screen was a bit blurry, but then I realized it was the opening HP setup window that looked bad. It's not designed for the optimal screen resolution of the LCD panel. I don't know why HP doesn't fix this, as it's the 2nd time that I've noticed this on HP laptops. The screen looks nice in Windows 7.

I'll try and update this review a bit more once I have more time with the laptop, including battery life.

Overall, a nice machine in this price range. You can find similar specs across the board with the different manufactures of laptops, but this would be a quality choice.

You need to understand where I'm coming from my most recent computer was running a Pentium 4 with 512MB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive. That being said this computer is a significant step up, and I think it's great. I think it's also important to know what I'm using this computer for....I work in a hospital and use this to log on to the hospital system, use Microsoft Office, and surf the internet. For these applications this computer is perfect. I've had it for about 1 month and have had no issues. It does come loaded with a bunch of HP software which can be uninstalled so that's not a problem.

The battery is listed as 4 hrs...it probably doesn't last that long I haven't officially timed the battery life but it's probably closer to 3 hrs. The case is plastic, the cold startup time is fast

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