Samsung Series 3 NP305E5A-A03US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver)

This laptop would make the perfect family notebook, desktop replacement on the go laptop, or even a college gamer laptop!!

I played Batman Arkham City, Half Life and did the 3d Marked 2011, with low settings and just used the stock unit with out any adjustments:

Arkham City:

Average:18

Maximum:20

Lost Coast50fps

I did the free edition of 3DMark 11:

Graphic Test:

1-2.4

2-2.35

3-2.75

4-1.61

Physics Test-6.01

Combined Test-2.06

I got this as a "College Gamer" laptop. I could have spent more, but I don't feel it was necessary. The fastest graphics card in a laptop will cost you thousands of dollars, while a basic desktop card, like the one i got in my desktop, will out perform any laptop. So i saved my money and upgraded my desktop and got this affordable guy!

This little guy has a better multi-touch pad than the silver apple computers, and i am not lying. I can't emphasize on how much the feel of the mouse and the keyboard are when it comes to choosing this laptop. It makes the actual use of this laptop much more worth it! The only mouse that has as good as feel is the $1200 MBP.

This AMD Model is the way to go. From everything i know, the graphics will out perform the stock Intel graphics that are in the more expensive laptops. The quad core AMD is very powerful cpu. The i3 line are just dual core's that are slightly faster, but have way less graphic power! Not to mention that Intel charges more. So you get a great price/performance when you stick to AMD!

Description of Laptop:

It doesn't have any place where your finger prints smudge. The lid is solid and not all shaky. The screen is actually really crisp. Surprisingly there was very minimum bloatware, like a bunch of games, samsung software that is useful and a pack of cyber link software.

The GPU isn't the best you can get, but for under $600 you can't get anything this strong especially on the Intel's. All the other brands at this range all lack in 2 or more places and all the others lack when it comes to graphics.

This one is seriously top notch compared to the others. They all have smudge city, cheap plastic, worth-less touch pad and flimsy keys. The chiclet keys on this make cleaning it much easier. and way easier to use.

The weight on this is very light and I could barely feel it in my backpack. I started a timer from the second the computer booted and the battery said 100%. When the timer started I began playing Arkham City with 75% lighting. The laptop went "4 HOURS", with about 20% left. It probably would have gone another 30-40 minutes, but I don't like draining the battery.

There was surprisingly no heat at all. The hottest spot is on the left side of the mouse, but the other side was just cold. The sound on this can get as loud as you need. The sound played beautifully and was real crisp. I mean it was really nice quality!

Unless you want to spend an extra $250-$500, then this is your best bet for a good gaming/college laptop. Actually this is a laptop that everyone should get! Think of the graphics as the best you can get for under $800-$900!

Pros:

1.5 Ghz Quad core processor with Turbo Core (2.4 Ghz)

4 GB of RAM

Multi in 1 card reader

BRIGHT, vibrant, matte finish screen

Full sized chiclet keyboard

500 GB HDD

Bluetooth

Discrete class graphics processing unit with 512 MB RAM with HDMI capable of 7.1 audio output

Light

Mostly ingerprint resistant

Webcam and digital microphone array

Easy access hardware upgrades

3+ hour battery life on "full" charge

Real, fully functional restore disc set

Can be easily and safely overclocked

Cons:

Some keyboard buttons are a bit small, placement makes editing your typing a chore sometimes

Touchpad gets in the way when typing

HDD is 5400 RPM instead of 7200

Frame around keyboard and screen is not fingerprint resistant

Battery configuration is slightly annoying

Restore disc set is one part aggravation

3 USB instead of four, no 3.0

Optical drive will not read all types of recordable media

Bloatware is partially necessary

----------

Indepth:

1.5 Ghz Quad core processor with Turbo Core (2.4 Ghz) can be overclocked to 2.4 for base speed and 2.6 for Turbo Core...and it's stable! (The free k10stat program is required, but not included.)

4 GB of RAM, with one slot unoccupied. Throw in a second stick 4 GB and max out the system to 8 with ease. (This upgrade should be a priority. The full 8 gigs really make a difference.)

Multi in 1 card reader (You'd be amazed how much you'll use it. Can also be used to make your spare SD cards function as a ReadyBoost device. (creates a cache to help with HDD read times speed up)

BRIGHT, vibrant, matte finish screen with no glare, no gloss to grab fingerprints. Beautiful.

Full sized chiclet keyboard with numeric pad, really comes in handy since the Fn key isn't always needed.

500 GB HDD is spacious, even with their recovery partition. They even give you partition software that makes it simple and easy to customize your PC.

Bluetooth works amazingly well. Grabs a hold of all the signals I've sent it's way.

Discrete class graphics processing unit with 512 MB RAM is more than enough power to run Source engine games such as Left 4 Dead at 1366x768 with everything maxed out in the graphics settings, along with 2-4x AA and 16 AF! Even Sega's Sonic Generations and Activision's War For Cybertron can be run at 1024x768 to 1366x768 with medium graphics quality and look gorgeous, with no drops in frame rates.

Lightweight. Not a back breaker if carried in backpack, or shoulder bag. Weighs 5 pounds, even!

Easy access hardware upgrades with ONE panel and screw to remove. So easy. HDD, RAM and optical drive access in one spot!

Real, fully functional restore disc set...with a catch. The Windows disc is factory made and comes in the box. The drivers/software disc must be made by the user, through an easy to use wizard interface.

Battery configuration is slightly annoying because of the 80/100 setting. When charged all the way to 100%, the overall life span will diminish like all batteries of this type. You have to go into the BIOS to fully unlock the battery, plus settings in Windows. A real hassle. If you leave it locked at 80% (factory, out of the box setting) it's supposed to ensure long life of the battery.

Restore disc set is one part aggravation because the optical drive is picky about which brands it'll use. Philips will not work. Maxell and Verbatim will. Of those that won't, it won't even read them or detect their presence.

Bloatware is partially necessary to get full functionality, such as enable/disable of: wifi, touchpad, backlight, print screen key, you get the idea. Without it, many important things will not work. At all.

All in all, this is a very powerful system for under $400.00. As is, it's a fantastic multimedia machine. With the mods I made (maxed out RAM, overclocked CPU, Blu-Ray I added) this is a hearty HTPC, with medium to high gaming, that is easily a desktop replacement PC that's portable!

I highly recommend it. Fantastic machine.

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I am a computer person. I do my research before I purchase anything and usually know exactly what I am getting for my money. I found this beautiful little machine and grabbed one for $399 while they were at Best Buy. I was completely surprised by the performance of this little beast. First of all, the laptop is beautiful, light, feels well built, and has a battery that lasts 4-5 hours even while streaming video over wifi. What really blew me away however was how strong the AMD processor and graphics capabilities are for a notebook at this price point. Since the video card shares system memory I bought another 4GB stick of DDR3 Ram for about $30 and installed it in the second slot (A nice feature) that starts empty on this laptop. I can run World of Warcraft on high with consistent 60fps everywhere, or even on ultra with up to 60fps in dungeons and 20-30fps everywhere else. I was also able to run The Old Republic for several hours at a time on medium settings with 30fps. This is a fantastic laptop for the price point, and for the mobile gamer or MMO person it gets the job done. The screen is very clear and resolution looks great, plus the HDMI port is a nice plus. Bluetooth built in is a feature usually found on more expensive laptops and makes uploading photos from your smartphone an absolute breeze.

Aside from the RAM upgrade, I would also recommend a decent laptop cooler mat, as like every other laptop this thing can get a bit hot after several hours of gaming. One that props the laptop up a little allowing air to move beneath it is the best. I picked up this one at best buy for $20 and it does a great job:All in all I paid less than $500 for the Laptop, Ram Upgrade, Cooling Pad, a nice case and a mouse for when I game.

This is unbeatable and if you are considering doing any gaming at all, I would definitely recommend these AMD systems over the I3 and I5. Only when you get up to I7 do they start beating the A6 in graphics capability.

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I liked this laptop and still kinda like it, I got what it says on the box, fast, lightweight and cheap. The only reason what I am giving a 1 star is because of the material what is made of, pretty cheap plastic. I mean this is a portable device, the case material gotta be enough resistant for the daily handling: holding, lifting, open/close the lid, whatever. Well the story is after 2 months of having this computer, after a full day of working on it (was pretty hot btw) I grabbed from the left side of the case using one hand (lid open) and then I heard the crack and a big fissure appeared at the topcase, from the internal side of the lid support until reaching the keyboard (even through the keyboard by now), I gotta say this is not a heavy laptop, it weights the half of my former vaio computer and I am really not a strong person that crush stuff while holding it. I would feel better if I just dropped it or something, at least it would be my fault, but in this case I don't feel that was my fault, it wasn't a crack on the screen which the most common thing that might happen when you hold a laptop badly, it was a fracture on what's suppose to be the strongest part on a laptop. The temperature might also influence in this situation, but if you have bad quality plastic and heat then there is not surprise. Called Samsung and they consider this as an accident so it's not covered by the warranty. The crack is on the topcase, which is not a common replaceable part, after digging on the web for a replacement found a chinese site that sells the top cases for this brand, 50 bucks + shipping, received it today and during the replacement just found out that everything is cheap regarding this computer from screws to wires used on it. I almost broke the new topcase while replacing it. So beware about this product, use both hands while holding it, treat it extremely careful like you were holding a baby.

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Before buying this I had my doubts if I'd ever get used to or get to like this weird keyboard. However, it did not take long. The keyboard is nice. The touchpad is the best I've had so far yet in a laptop.

The screen resolution is amazing once you get the proprietary ATI driver installed.

I had a little trouble with this system at the start. It would boot to blank black screen in Bodhi 1.3 and the current Linux Mint. However this seems to be an issue with "new hardware" and the lag time of linux support for the chipsets related to the amd a6 3400m family. luckily google pointed me to a message board thread relating to this; setting the linux kernel boot parameter with the option "radeon.modeset=0" made mint and bodhi installable from CD.

My summary of pros and cons is listed below.

Pro:

--speed of quad cores and GPUs, as well as the internal drives and memory; amazing, especially considering the low wattage of the integrated CPU chip--a supercomputer that runs on batteries, something that could not be imagined a decade or two ago.

--great value for a sub 500 usd laptop.

--amazing crisp display; has hdmi output also.

--great touchpad, good keyboard, and first impression makes me believe quality of components seems nice.

--fits in a backpack; light and fairly compact.

Con:

--bluetooth (nor wifi) cannot be turned off from bios directly or from keyboard fn buttons--needs --software to do it. haven't figured out how to make linux do it yet.

--no caps or num lock lights.

--only 3 usb jacks (1 left, 2 right)

--linux setup and support leaves a lot to be desired; thank goodness for message boards, google, and the kind geniuses posting on said boards.

--I'm still very bothered and annoyed by not being able to shut off the RF of wifi and bluetooth with a single tap of two buttons like I was in my old laptop.

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Lenovo ThinkPad T410 2516DCU 14.1-Inch Laptop

I have been using Lenovo Thinkpads for the past 14 years and have always been super happy. This is also a good machine but has one major drawback "improved" bumpy touchpad....

It is rather horrible I don't know what they've been thinking.... I purchased my Thinkpad online, so didn't have a chance to test it in advance and now a few months into it I am super disappointed. I am an active user of touchpad (I travel a lot and don't like to carry a mouse around with me) and I actually have a very sore index finger most of the time.... The touchpad is extremely uncomfortable to use on the finger and the previous ones felt so good, smooth and silky....

I am also considering using a very delicate version of sandpaper to get rid of the little bumps (as they do seem to wear off eventually) but I am worried about damaging the thing for good.... My fingers are now constantly sore. And I would like to quote another online user here: "This is the worst computer interface experience. It is like grating your finger over 80 grit sandpaper. What a shame. It is a dealbreaker. Miserable! Do not purchase this machine without a test drive."

Note to Lenovo: Guys, you really need to fix this!

Very common for the fans to run to often and to stop working. Mine stopped after two years. Lenovo was dropped the ball on what used to be a great laptop. Google "Fan Error and T410" to read all about it.

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I HAVE BEEN A LONG TIME MAC AND LINUX USER AND WAS WEARY OF A WINDOWS COMPUTER. AFTER TONS OF RESEARCH I DECIDED ON THE THINKPAD. THE T410 IS A FEW YEARS OLD AND CAN STILL OUTRUN ANY i7 PROC. I'VE STRESSED TESTED IS AGAINST. BOOTS UP IN LESS THAN 15 SECONDS. SEVERAL MICE AND CLICKERS TO CHOOSE FROM FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. GREAT STURDY KEYS. BIG ENOUGH TO TYPE WITH ALMOST NO TYPOS. WHAT A RELIEF ON MY DELETE KEY. NO BACKLIT KEYBOARD BUT HAS AN LED LIGHT NEAR THE WEBCAM THAT LIGHTS IT UP JUST RIGHT.

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I bought this computer for music production, and it works great for that. Super solidly built, all around great computer. except the touch-pad doesn't scroll (it's supposed to).

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Hard to believe the product was used, it came timely and fully operational. The support provide by the company was quick and outstanding.

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Dell Vostro V3550 15.6" LED Notebook - Core i3 i3-2310M 2.10 GHz - Metallic Silver (469-0346)

I bought this direct from Dell so this is a review of the actual product and not the vendor or Amazon.

The build quality of this laptop is horrible. It feels like the "metal" used on the exterior is about as thick as a coke can. Also, the keyboard has so much flex that it feels horrible and it makes this aweful hollow "clank" every time you press a key.

On the good side: the backlit aspect of the keyboard is nice and that's about it.

Stay away I returned mine to Dell and got a refund.

good PC strong processor, performance was strong as well, But: very bad built casing, falls apart after a while or get bent, really annoying to have to deal with it, sold it on Craigslist after i bought it.

over all srtong PC i got a to say, however, you pay a small premium for your dell and want some return, not here. really frustrating to have the case just fall a part on you,.

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Note older reviews show good customer service, recent ones are AWFUL!!! Ordered this instead of purchasing same unit locally for 300 more dollars. However, unit arrived with wrong amt of RAM, who knows what else different? After many confusing phone calls got vendor to agree to reimburse me (in writing) for local installation of additional RAM but after many days and submission of invoice I have still not received any acknowledgement of receipt of invoice or payment for same. Saved money but not worth it! Would NEVER use this vendor again! Buyer Beware!

Read Best Reviews of Dell Vostro V3550 15.6" LED Notebook - Core i3 i3-2310M 2.10 GHz - Metallic Silver (469-0346) Here

I bought this laptop in 2011 for programming and day to day computing. After 2 years of use I can say with confidence it was definitely one of the better laptop purchases given the product price point around six hundred dollars. I would recommend this product for those who need a reliable low cost machine for non-gaming related computing.

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I am a Dell lover, had a Inspiron for 6 years and had my Vostro for 2 years. Unfortunately, I do NOT recommend the Vostro to ANYONE because its quality does not come to the same standard as the Inspiron.

The 2nd week of ownership, by the time I cannot return to my reseller anymore the chassis start getting loose and make squeaky noises everytime I type.

Within the next 2 years the HDD connectors came loose 4 times so I could not start my system, lucky I had warranty for onsite support (Which is excellent btw). But it did not fix the root cause and I just conclude the design is flawed.

After my 2 years warranty expired I am an orphan user left with a poorly designed machine, and have to rely on paid tech support for something that's depreciated to... NOTHING.

I still love my old Inspiron and my Dell support team, but I don't trust and recommend the new Dell products.

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Apple MacBook Pro ME665LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop with Retina Display (NEWEST VERSION)

I purchased the newest version (Early 2013) which had the upgrade to 16GB Ram and 512GB SSD.

The notebook is extremely fast. Computer seems solid, boots in 10-15 seconds from off, sleep to ready in 4-5 seconds. It opens programs in no time flat. It is not light as an air book, but still defiantly lighter than previous models. The screen is great, bright, and responsive. With heavy use I get about 5-5 1/2 hours of use on the battery.

Some peoples complaints are the new power adapter, I will agree with them, the new adapter sticks out further and gets knocked off a lot. Not having a dvd drive, not a big deal...I dont think i've used a dvd or cd in a computer in a few years! If I need to I will just have to purchase the external.

This is by far the best laptop I've ever owned. A 2.7GHz quad-core processor, 16GB RAM and (I opted cheap) 256GB flash storage makes for the fastest, smoothest computing experience I've ever seen! The design is superb, materials are by far the best in any computer, and the overall package blew me away. I've had powerbooks and macbook pros, but this is a whole new level. I love all the trackpad gestures, it makes operating the laptop very intuitive and easy. The display is incredible I can't wait to get photoshop and final cut up and running! No, it doesn't come with a CD/DVD drive and I'm glad it doesn't! Besides, you can get a usb one for pennies on the dollar now if you really need to have a physical disc (I have one lying around that I haven't used in ages). Yes, it's expensive, but I honestly don't foresee ever having to buy another laptop! I'm sure at some point I'll replace the flash memory, but maybe 6-7 years down the road, and 16GB RAM will hold me over forever!

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I ordered this computer on may 21st, received it on may 23rd. The shrink wrap on the box was intact, but when I opened it I found the charger missing. So I called customer support and they were willing to refund the amount for the charger so that I can I pick one up at the apples store, since I was leaving out of the country. I took the computer along with me to the apple store, bought the charger and I also asked them to check it out. They input the serial number on the Mac and guess what showed up.. The name of the owner of the computer and already 20 days of the warranty has lapsed. So I come home call the support and they agreed to refund it. I don't know if the apple store or Amazon is responsible for this. On the whole it was a bitter experience, I never expected this from amazon.

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I bought this computer a year ago and guess how many viruses and problems I've had with it? ZERO!!! This is bar none the BEST computer I've EVER had!!! My step-father and my husband are both in the computer industry. For YEARS, I struggled with PC's and they were always fixing my computer. After my laptop of only 6 months started acting up terribly, I bit the bullet and bought the macbook pro. I got it directly through Apple. They were WONDERFUL!!! They were AMERICANS and spoke ENGLISH that I could understand. With the infinite patience of Job, they helped me choose the right computer for me, as there are many options on the Macbook pro. I wound up with a middle of the road 15" which is PERFECT for my school, professional and personal needs. I invested in the Apple Care extended warranty and the year of lessons (One to One membership). The screen is beautiful and the images are crisp and clear. I LOVE the keyboard that lights up in the dark. I was able to set it up and install software MYSELF, which is something I've NEVER been able to do with the old PC's. It's a very fast machine with a battery that lasts a long time and is just wonderful. I waited a year to write the review because I wanted to see how many problems I would have. I'm happy to report NONE. Not ONCE have I hollered for my husband or called my step-father out of frustration. In fact, my biological father was so impressed, he got one for himself to use at his office and for personal use! He loves his as well! I also have gotten an ipad, which syncs with this computer, and will be completing the "trilogy" soon with an iphone. All I can say is, this computer just works, and it works wonderfully! If you're reading this, contemplating the price, etc... GO FOR IT!!! You will NEVER regret it! It's worth the extra money to have a product that holds up and works flawlessly. I will NEVER go back to a PC. In fact, when I have to use one, it is frustrating. Windows runs better on my macbook pro than it did on my old PC!!!! Go for it!!! I did and I am a happy and satisfied customer.

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Here I am at day 10 of ownership trying to decide if I should take advantage of Apple's 14-day return policy and reclaim the better part of my retirement fund back from what until recently was one of the world's richest kingdoms (or companies or whatever).

I'm mostly a PC guy, but I use Mac's enough to appreciate them and perhaps even enough to take them for granted. This is not a device you will take for granted. The refinements in the latest version of Mac OS X (mine came with Mountain Lion) are truly elegant. I giggle a little every time I use it. The retina display defies belief. (Just hope you are lucky enough, as was I, to get one manufactured by Samsung and not an LG display where there is talk of a class action suit for screen burn-in.) It boots almost instantaneously (and I'm grateful for that because mine is rebooting ALL THE TIME). And it's put together in typical gem-like fashion, though I also think the design is starting to appear dated. But I don't need to describe it. People you know who have one can't wait to show it off. And you can just go down to the Apple Store or the Amazon showroom (err, your local Best Buy) and check it out yourself.

I gave up on Macs the first time in 1997 when I had a Power PC and System 7.6 and the stock was trading at $4.00 per share. (Yes, the decimal place is correct.) System 7.6 was also rather elegant (remember, the competition was Windows 95, ugh) but it crashed at least twice a day. The bitter memory of tears shed when I realized I lost forever my precious work that I thought I had saved to disk but really only was just cached took more than a decade to wear off. Only recently have Macs wormed their way back into my cold little heart.

Or so I thought. Not since System 7.6 or Windows ME (which is a repressed memory for probably even Melinda Gates) have I dealt with such a flakey OS. Oy, where do I begin?

Apple indeed does have a Blue Screen of Death. Only it's gray and looks stylish. But it emerges unexpectedly in the middle of doing something or not really much of anything at all, unpredictably, two or three times a day. Kernal Panic is I guess what their calling it nowadays. Get used to it.

Time machine for backups is a model of simplicity. It has two modes. In one mode, with a brilliant and erudite nod to Charles Simonyi's Hungarian code, it flashes nothing but, "The Backup disk image #^&!##!&.sparsebundle is already in use." In the other mode it runs eternally and seemingly won't stop until it backs you up all the way to the Big Bang, or at least until before you existed and hence find yourself pondering existential questions about killing your grandfather and not having to worry about finding the file you were never born to delete.

Then there's the amazing solid state drive. Not only is it fast, but defying the laws of physics, whenever I check the hard drive's "get info" I astonishingly learn that I have more available space than the disk capacity itself, and it grows every day. Here again, Apple has figured out how to magically warp my little scrap of the fabric of the space-time continuum.

When you close that lid to fill up at Starbucks, you'll be glad to know that you'll have plenty of time to drink that cup of Joe. The dang thing takes so long to wake up from sleep, at least when it hasn't fatally OD'd, that you'll be tempted to wonder if coffee is what this machine need. That or Narcan.

One other thing you should know. Apps, like the OS, that are made for the Retina Display are indescribable. There is nothing you will ever see as sharp, not on paper, film, or a screen. Unfortunately, everything else looks like a$$. Want to run Office? How about a year-old version of Photoshop? It's worse than Mr. Magoo without his glasses. Inexplicably, apps that are sharp on lesser Macs and even on cheapo netbooks are so fuzzzy you won't even be able to tell if there is an extra Z or two.

Well, if you've read this far you probably can tell not only do I love this machine, but I love to hate it, or hate to love it. I'm not sure. How can a product this good be so bad? How can I pay so much and be so disappointed but so hesitant to return it to get my money back? You'll just have to own one to understand.

UPDATE:

I decided to keep it. Apple has since introduced an update (10.8.3), which has greatly improved the stability of the system. In the two weeks since updating I've only :( had just 4 crashes/freezes requiring reboots, and it no longer reliably freezes when the lid is closed overnight. In contrast, I can't remember when either of the couple-year old Windows 7 systems I use last crashed (if ever)--yet I still prefer to work on this machine. The update to 10.8.3 does completely fix the fan issue; previously, even while idle, the fan would go on at full blast (actually loud enough to interfere with conversation) seemingly for no reason and the only way to stop it was to reboot.

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ASUS Q200E 11.6" Core i3 500GB HDD Notebook

I bought this laptop after doing a lot of research both online and in a store. I wanted a laptop that was light, had windows 8 and a touchscreen.

Most of the computers that fit all of my needs were way out of my price range and when I saw this computer I was hesitant but decided to make the purchase.

I have not regretted it for a minute. The computer is lightweight, the screen is vibrant and very responsive the track pad is also very responsive. I Love windows 8 and the ability to totally customize the start screen. I did learn that Google Chrome does not work if you use it to pin tiles to your start screen. You need to use internet explorer. Google Chrome can be used to browse.

If you are looking for a lightweight computer that doesn't cost an arm and a leg I highly recommend this one.

Update. My affair with this computer ended sadly. It really started to slow down and the fan really got loud after about an hour of use. I ended up returning it. :(

I purchased a Microsoft Surface when it was released because I thought it would finally bridge the gap between a fun tablet and a productive tablet. And while it was a very nice device, it just felt like a prettier "fun" tablet. And I was needing something small that I can do work on and with a touchscreen. I saw this ASUS Q200E and immediately sold my Surface to snatch this thing up. While I may miss my Surface, this is really what I needed.

I wanted PC that was easy to take with me and a touchscreen and this one fits the bill. I was surprised at the speed after seeing some reports of it being slow (hard drive). While the initial updates were kind of slow, I've had no problems out of this device.

It doesn't have dedicated graphics but let me tell you...I wasn't planning on loading Bioshock on this but I did install Star Trek Online and Star Wars Old Republic and BOTH ran well. No stuttering and fairly smooth. If you are a hard core gamer, you may notice frame rate issues but I was not disappointed at all and actually quite surprised.

This laptop also boots VERY fast once you are all setup. About 6 seconds from a cold boot and about 1-2 seconds from sleep. I was also very impressed with this.

The sound is very impressive on this laptop. The first time I played a game or fired up XBOX music, I was blown away. It was a nice surprise.

About the only thing I would give this low marks for is the display. Coming from the Surface, I could see a big difference. For sure, not as sharp and some colors seems washed out. But it isn't bad either. Touchscreen response is good but sometimes can over compensate. Just takes a bit to "learn" it.

I am actually a Windows 8 fan. I have it on my home PC, work PC and other non-touch laptop. I've gotten used to the new interface and organized my tiles and it is joy to use. That said, TOUCH makes it even more enjoyable. And I admire Microsoft for sticking with this as touch is the future. This being as mix of touch and mouse control makes it just a totally awesome device.

For this price, this is a MAJOR steal and I highly recommend this laptop! If you don't mind an 11.6 inch screen, you will not find a better bargain than this.

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I've been testing the Q200E-BH13T45, which I've purchased from Best Buy during a sale, for several months now and, overall, my conclusion is that, as others noted, it's a very good product for the price without any major flaws.

Rather than getting into an overly winded review, I will try to touch upon the most important aspects of the ultrabook.

Performance

There will be arguments about this, but my personal feeling is that performance should come first as an electronic's first purpose is to make its user's life easier or, at the least, more entertaining. Frustrating and pissing the user off by being slow, freezing, and causing aggravation is sort of counterproductive to that goal.

In this regard, the Q200E comes off spectacularly well for all the most important aspects of a computer uses, although gaming is a bit weak.

It comes with an Intel Core i3, 4GB RAM (with 64-bit OS to take advantage of it), and an Intel HD 3000 video card. In the majority of cases, the Q200E runs pretty flawlessly; certainly, you're not going to encounter slow downs just navigating Windows 8 or editing office documents/spreadsheets as I'm wont to do. Videos (even 1080p ones), music, web surfing (yes, even with a dozen tabs opened) aren't problems either.

However, games is certainly the Q200E's weak point. One could have guessed that playing games like Crysis on Ultra is not going to be easy from the fact that it has an Intel HD 3000 GPU, but it's quite a bit worse than I had hoped. Still, I can't dock any points for this weakness as the Q200E is not meant to be a dedicated gaming device and turning it into such would make it lose some of the things I find attractive about it (attractive thinness, very low weight, etc).

P.S. I know some of you care about boot-up time. It personally doesn't bother me at all, but here are the stats: From complete shut down, booting up to usable Windows is roughly 10-11 seconds and it's another 10-15 seconds for all background processes to start up depending on how many you have. From sleep (i.e. closing the ultrabook's lid instead of shutting down), it is 2 seconds before the Q200E is completely active.

I see a lot of people quail about putting in an SSD in the Q200E in order to improve performance, but personally, I rather save the money and keep the 500GB space.

Touch Screen

I originally thought of putting this in the 'performance' section, but I decided to give it its own section simply because of sheer importance. A big reason why I chose to buy this ultrabook was because of the touch screen, so for others in the same position as me, it's only fair I give touch screen a section of its own.

To make it concise, the touch screen is well done.

It is responsive and using it with Windows 8 works as well as using the iPhone, Android phone, or, if you will, Windows Phone. I have to commend Microsoft (and Asus for putting in a responsive screen) as I had not expected to like using touch screen nearly as much as I did. The touch screen responsiveness and ease of usage on the Windows 8's Modern UI and the desktop mode really does a lot to add to the enjoyability of the Q200E.

And for those wondering as I did whether the touch screen works well with legacy applications/games instead of Modern UI-designed apps/games, the answer is a resounding yes. I tried games and applications designed specifically for non-touch screen Windows XP/Windows 7 and they work excellently. Basically, touch screen presses react as if you had left-click with the mouse and, if you need more precision, you can drag on the screen and it will highlight items.

Display/Battery Life

The display for the Q200E is fairly good. It is bright and, especially at 100% brightness setting, the color become more vibrant giving the screen a nice liveliness. The resolution (1366x768) might be low for some, especially when there are ultrabooks that head into the 1920x1080 'full HD' resolution, but despite it, the resolution does not distract from the quality of the display for me.

No doubt, a number of people are wondering about how well the display works in sunlight too. The truth is that, in direct sunlight, it is absolutely horrible. You can't see a damn thing, except for glare and reflections. But...this is pretty standard for most screens anyway. As for indirect sunlight, though, the screen works decently well. There is much reflections, of course, but what matters is the screen is very visible and thus usable so long as the sunlight is not directly hitting the screen.

The battery life is a bit of a downer, though. On a full charge using 'Balanced' power setting, battery life seems to be around 3-4 hours. Now, that battery life doesn't bother me too much. While the Q200E is intended to be my main computing device, I'm generally near a power socket whenever I intend to use it in excess of 1-2 hours. Otherwise, I find the 3-4 hour estimated battery life to be plentiful.

If you are the type to use your laptop/ultrabook extensively on the go, though, be forewarned of the battery limits on this device.

Hardware Design

One of the things that made me fall in love with the Q200E while browsing the mobile section at Best Buy was the low 2.9lbs weight combined with what I feel was a sleek design.

The top and touchpad/keyboard area is designed as a smooth metallic surface while the screen is, yes, glass and the bottom is the standard plastic. This is good in practical use. Generally, the metallic areas is the area you tend to touch and stare at allowing you its more high end feel.

What adds to the sleekness, a bit surprisingly, is that it was designed so that all of the ports is located at the end near the screen. This makes the ultrabook become slimmer as you move away but thicker as you move in rather than giving it an equal thinness distribution. It might sound a bit awkward and I'm guessing it might not be a popular design as I noticed most other ultrabooks seem to add an optical drive (which the Q200E lacks) plus a few more ports and even out the thinness distribution. However, to me, it feels much better to hold and adds to the sleek appearance.

Audio

This is the last thing I want to touch on, but it is important to me and I'd imagine quite a few other people too.

The Q200E places the speakers inside the casing in the area beside the touchpad and allows the sound to flow out through two openings at the bottom. Unlike smartphones, which also tend to place speakers on the back, the Q200E's speakers is located near the edge and the edge curves up a bit meaning the sound doesn't get muffled when you place it on a flat surface.

Additionally, also unlike smartphones, the sound quality is loud and of good quality. I am not familiar with Asus' 'Sonic Master' speaker brand, but according to Asus, it brings 'audiophile' quality music to their laptops. I'm not so sure of that, but yes, it sounds good through the speakers and on headphones (though be forewarned, headphones is not nearly as loud through the Q200E as when used through a desktop).

So pound for pound, it places speaker in an out of the way location for good looks, but ensure the quality remains good and well.

Overall Rating

Now lets tally up everything and give the Q200E an overall rating.

Pros:

Excellent performance

Sleek and thin hardware design

Great audio quality and speaker placement

Great display quality

Easy to use touch screen

Cons:

A bit weak with gaming

Battery life seems to top out at 3-4 hours; likely 5 hours if you turn down all settings and use it conservatively

Overall Rating: 8/10

Read Best Reviews of ASUS Q200E 11.6" Core i3 500GB HDD Notebook Here

I would like to come right out and say that this is a great general usage computer. By general usage I mean that you're using it mostly for word processing, viewing videos (maybe two or three loading in different tabs), or maybe a light java scripted web based computer game (like Farmville or Poker, games on Facebook are fine for this). So now that we have our target user not an aspiring gamer or CAD user let's talk about this computer.

It comes preloaded with Windows 8 and has a bit of a learning curve attached to it. Fortunately this computer is touchscreen, which makes Windows 8 a lot easier. However, there are a few times when the curser seems to jump to a different position on the screen which only seems to happen if I've just been touching then switched to the finger mouse pad. But it's in a blimp of a second, my guess is it's simply taking a moment to figure out that you've switched control, and is calibrating the cursor to the new relative position from the change over. It's not a problem, I mention it so if you see this you don't flip out thinking "I've got spyware and someone else just moved my cursor!" Now if that happens and you're not switching between the two run your anti-virus or other protocols depending on your level of computer knowledge. One thing users should keep in mind is that Windows should be evaluated separately from the computer itself. If you don't like W8 you'd probably love this computer with W7 or Vista.

On the physical aspect I'd say this computer is perfect for students, writers, and other's who prefer to be able to take their computer on the go with them and aren't planning on making it a main movie computer. This puppy fits anywhere your tablet will for most part. It's thin and light compared to other laptops. The touchscreen makes it great for reading books on. For me as a science major I'll often read technical articles or books. Some of these are on websites or PDFs, but when your reading along and there's a diagram referenced that's a bit small compared to the font zooming in with the touch screen then zooming back out to continue reading is very nice. So you get some tablet advantages with the touchscreen, making this laptop excellent as a reading device if you have a sturdy location to set it and are planning on being there long enough to where standard boot up times aren't an annoyance. Which on that topic the computer boots up relatively fast, but nowhere near those laptops with Solid State Drives (SSD).

Again for the target audience, the hard drive is plenty at 500GB. I would like to mention however there is NOT a built in CD/DVD drive. You will need an external one. So if you want to watch movies on the go you'll need to preload them or stream them from the web (assuming you'll have WiFi). One reviewer said his came with an external drive in the box, mine did not. But that shouldn't be too big a deal as you can come across one on sale for as low as $30 and pretty standard around $50. The reason they do this is to make the laptop thinner and lighter.

That being said, the screen. The screen gives you plenty of light in my opinion, for use indoors. Outdoors it's a bit dim but still usable. Now I also put on a Zagg screen protector as I take mine with me a lot. You'd be surprised how much just little dust particulates will gently mar the screen of your laptops in general. With this one being touch screen I don't want these mars there potentially de-functing the sensors so I do recommend you buy the screen protector. Mine as stated was Zagg, specifically cut for this computer. I found it was easy to put on as long as you put on a nice even coat of the applicator solution TO THE PROTECTOR NOT THE SCREEN.

Another regard for the screen is that if you do want to watch a movie using the laptop as a source, don't despair. There's an HDMI out port on the left upper corner to plug into your HDTV. I also really like that there are two USB ports on this same side and one more on the opposite side near the headphones jack and card slot. A few USB devices come out and turn at 90degrees essentially blocking the next port, so this ensures that if you have one of those devices it doesn't block you out.

The charging cable is nice too. It doesn't have a bulky transformer like a lot of laptops, and it's got plenty of length. As far as battery life goes, it last's around 3+ hours no problem. I generally always keep mine plugged in, so what's the max and how does it vary on usage, I don't really know. I mostly am watching educational videos or typing when using mine.

As far as anything burning out, I'll have to make that an update when something finally does. I've only had this computer for about two weeks now. So far it's been good to me and I anticipate good things. I have a couple friends who were using ASUS products and their stuff has lasted for quite some time. Sadly many of them are pretty rough on their machines.

Bottom line, I like this laptop and recommend it as a general use (not for gamers/CAD users)and portability focused users. Especially good for sitting down and really focusing on e-books due to it's touch screen zooming ability (I've really enjoyed this, can you tell?)

AS AN ASIDE FROM THE COMPUTER'S REVIEW.........................

That being said I'd like to also note for those of you who seem to have a lot of hard drive failures on your laptops. Any standard spinning hard drive needs to NOT be tilted during use, it damages the drive and reduces the life of your computer. Don't just walk around leasurely while it's on. Be careful to move it within the same plane (think back to geometry). Many people seem to not realize this type of treatment is bad for their computer or they just don't care to exercise the extra caution. If your either one and say I'll just buy a new laptop after this one burns our from my tipping and bumping it around while it's on, don't blame the manufacturer. Also, you may consider buying a SSD laptop. Since there's no moving parts you can be pretty careless while it's on like with a tablet or your phone. But those SSD laptops currently have very small drives and are really expensive. But hey, if you can afford to buy a new laptop every four or five months maybe it'll be cheaper for you to go this route.

I'm not trying to be critical of anyone here, I just want to make sure due blame rests where it should and help move buyers to what products will suit them best. Everyone wins when we are educated buyers. To all out there my best regards.

By the way I also bought mine from a local retailor for less than $490 with free shipping if I purchased it off their site. But I do still love Amazon.

Want ASUS Q200E 11.6" Core i3 500GB HDD Notebook Discount?

I was trying to get a good laptop for a decent price and I think I have found it. This is a great laptop that does everything that I need (merely internet use, typing, email, etc) and the fact that it has a touch screen is just icing on the cake. The touchscreen is extremely useful at times especially if you are watching a video you can just touch the screen to stop it or use it when looking at pictures. The screen is not easily damaged unless you are being careless with your laptop which is why I also went ahead and bought a notebook case for it to ensure that it would not be damaged unnecessarily if carrying it in my bag.

This laptop gets around 4 hours of battery life unless you are watching movies and videos on it but it charges up within about an hour. The touchpad on the laptop is extremely useful with all of the additional gestures (it uses Asus Smart Gesture) and it allows you to make your own configurations, although minor. My only issue with the touchpad is that the smart gesture program does not work when the computer is initially turned on, you have to wait a couple minutes for it to initialize so that you can scroll or move between pages with the touchpad. The keyboard is pretty good if you need to do a lot of typing although I am not sure if it will do well for a person with large hands. I found that the sound quality on this laptop is pretty good and you can make certain adjustments to your own liking. The screen is truly great for watching movies especially when the video or movie is in HD as it shows up exactly how I see it on my HD tv.

Regarding windows 8: I have not had any problems with windows 8 really except for having to constantly sign in when starting it up but that is easily fixed. Likewise there are various keyboard shortcuts for accessing various areas of the system which can be found by doing a quick internet search.

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Samsung Series 7 NP700Z7C-S01UB 17-Inch Laptop (2.40 GHz Intel Core i7-3635QM Processor 8GB DDR3 1

First of all, I'd have to say that I am very impressed with this product, though it does have a few minor flaws.

The good: Nice, bright 17.3" matte HD screen, backlit keyboard, 8 GB RAM, Windows 8 preinstalled.

This laptop has a nice, solid frame that doesn't flex much, making it especially suited to pick up one-handed while it's running without having to worry about the battery unlatching and turning the machine off (a problem with my last laptop). It is weighty, but about right for it's size I guess.

It's painless to disassemble the back cover to access the hard drive (about 8 screws), though it will take a little effort to pry the cover off. I took mine apart to replace the stock 5400 RPM hard drive with a Seagate Momentus XT 7200 RPM drive. I'm also not a fan of having a built-in DVD drive on my laptop (wasted space to me), so I stuck the OEM 1 TB 5400 drive there to back up my OS and data drive using a hard drive caddy from my last Samsung laptop.

It looks as firm and well-built inside as it is on the outside. I love the brushed aluminum frame. It dissipates heat fairly well, even with the extra mods. It doesn't get anywhere close to the heat output of my wife's MacBook Pro 15". I don't hear the fan ever, and my temperatures sit around 50 degrees C.

You may read other reviews about the battery being "integrated" and customers who worry about what to do when it comes time to replace it. In this laptop, after removing the back cover, you have full access to the battery which just plugs into the motherboard. One drawback is the motherboard has 4 GB RAM soldered into the board and is not easily accessible by removing the back cover. The other 4 GB doesn't require the entire back cover to be removed at all, it has a separately latched compartment that is bound to the bottom by a single screw. It IS upgradable to 8 GB, for a total capacity of 12 GB of RAM for this machine. 8 GB is sufficient for Windows 8 for now (for what I do anyway), but if you run virtual machines while doing other stuff you may consider the upgrade.

I don't do much gaming, but the graphics seem ok. It has both the built-in Intel HD graphics and a discrete Nvidia graphics card.

I've also read other complaints about the Wifi card. I have had no issues so far out if it.

The screen is amazing, a 1920 X 1080 HD screen. This makes watching movies very enjoyable, but sometimes the on-screen font can be a little difficult to read without changing font size or DPI. I prefer to use the Microsoft ZoomIt tool to get around this.

The not-so good: Battery life is so-so, 5400 RPM drive sucks, reinstalling Windows 8 is a major pain on this laptop (see below), trackpad takes some getting used to.

I am a fairly experienced computer technician and I love to start fiddling with my laptops as soon as I get them. This being no exception, I figured I'd just slap a copy of Acronis on the computer and backup to my new hard drive. Not so fast! Windows 8 out-of-the-box comes with UEFI Secure Boot enabled, which effectively binds an OS installation to the BIOS. After I cloned the original hard drive and installed the new one, the laptop wouldn't boot. After changing some settings in the BIOS (turning Secure Boot off), I could boot the drive (blazing fast on the Seagate Momentus XT by the way) but I had lost a key feature of Windows 8. So I opted for the clean install. Be prepared to format a USB stick for EFI boot plus extracting the contents of the Windows 8 ISO to the stick. I could not get an external CD drive to work with the UEFI BIOS. End of story. It may work better if you keep the original DVD drive though. The whole process (research included), took about 3 hours. But after all the crap, Win 8 installs just like on any other computer.

By doing a clean install, be warned! You will no longer have access to Samsung's pre-installed apps in the Windows Store. Still haven't found a way to reinstall them. A minor flaw.

The original hard drive was SLOW. Very slow, even with the 8 GB Express Cache. The 8 GB cache on the Momentus XT works much better. You do have plenty of space with 1 TB though. And that's good, because out-of-the-box Samsung uses multiple partitions (2 system, 2 recovery partitions). The 2 system partitions are a product of Secure Boot and Windows 8, so there's nothing you can do about those. The 2 Samsung recovery partitions use up about 24 GB of space. I deleted these during the clean install, but if you don't keep your Windows 8 disc on you, you may want to consider keeping these partitions.

The battery life with all OEM hardware was only about 6 hours. This was 2 hrs less than the Best Buy salesman had advertised (which jives with Samsung's claims on 8 hrs). After adding the extra hard drive, I find that I get about 5.5 hours of battery life, which is ok for what I need the laptop for. Just understand this is a full-featured, desktop replacement laptop and not an ultrabook.

I read a lot about the Elan touchpad issues with this laptop. A lot of people don't like it. Mine came with Elan driver 11.2.7.1 out-of-the-box. This was ok, and I didn't experience the touchpad causing the pointer "jumping" too much on the screen. It's definitely sensitive, which is good for the Windows 8 gestures. Be prepared to change some settings in the Control Panel. After making a few tweaks and spending some time with the touchpad, I've come to actually enjoy it as much as the Synaptics on my last laptop. I especially like the 2 finger tap that mimics the right-click of the touchpad. I really don't use the integrated touchpad click buttons that much.

Final thoughts: This is a great laptop that is worth every cent. I feel like I'm getting twice the computer for half the price I'd expect for these many features.

Important to note that Samsung has the worst warranty process I've ever experienced, and as a result, I'll never purchase their laptops again. I've had Toshibas, Dells, IBMs, etc. I'm a high-end power user (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, etc.) and I'm also extremely tech-savvy when it comes to fixing electronics. I purchased this laptop and the drive crashed after 2 months. I had to send the laptop to their Texas facility (it took 3 weeks for the turnaround)... 2 months later, the system crashed a second time. In a 1 year period, this laptop has crashed a total of 4 separate drives. Each time, reloading my system with all my software takes a good 4hrs. Imagine, each time you lose your laptop for 3 weeks. Their "executive customer relations" department is without a doubt, the worst, rudest, and most arrogant department I've ever had the misfortune to deal with. Samsung's entry into the laptop market really leaves a lot to be desired. This has been a nightmare experience from beginning to end. They don't give a damn about the customer.

When they finally offered a "same as or better" replacement, they considered that offering me a 15.6" laptop screen instead of the 17.3" I currently had was the "same or better". Also, their "refund" was not for my full purchase price it was for $200 less after a year of continual crashes. I finally gave up with them, filed a claim with Amex platinum and they refunded me the entire price let them deal with this garbage. My time is worth much more than spending in excess of 10hrs dealing with Samsung...

Incidentally, after the 1TB drive failed that arrived with the system, I purchased a solid state drive. It then crashed that drive. Luckily that drive (by Crucial) was under its own warranty and they have had to continually replace it for me 3 times. At this point, they won't replace it for me any more as it's obvious the fault is with the laptop. So, I'm out the price of the solid state drive ($350). Samsung, even though they accept responsibility that the laptop caused the failures will give me no reimbursement at all.

It really is the absolute worst customer service. It is not only the laptop that stops me from buying from them again, it's the support if something goes wrong, you really are in trouble.

Buy Samsung Series 7 NP700Z7C-S01UB 17-Inch Laptop (2.40 GHz Intel Core i7-3635QM Processor 8GB DDR3 1 Now

Nice looking and solid design notebook with good price compared to other brand names. So far every thing is working well. I do not have problem with weak wireless connection and over heat issue as I read some reviews previously. The fan is running rather quite which I like it. This notebook model is pre-loaded with Windows 8. At first I was disappointed with Windows 8 because it did not have the old start menu and it forced me to use Window Metro GUI. After downloading the free Classic Shell from the Internet and installing it, I now have the old start menu back and I have a choice to use Metro GUI by selecting Shift + Window key. I am happy with the purchase.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung Series 7 NP700Z7C-S01UB 17-Inch Laptop (2.40 GHz Intel Core i7-3635QM Processor 8GB DDR3 1 Here

I love the computer. Exceed my expections. Good packing. Good product. On time and affordable price. Samsung best computer. like it.

Want Samsung Series 7 NP700Z7C-S01UB 17-Inch Laptop (2.40 GHz Intel Core i7-3635QM Processor 8GB DDR3 1 Discount?

It's perfect for me! Not expensive for the specs it has, it runs great games like GTA4 on best quality easy!

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Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga 13 13.3-Inch Convertible Touchscreen Ultrabook (Gray)

I got this after a real Odyssey searching for a new ultrabook. I owned the Samsung series 9, np900x3c, and my girlfriend has a Macbook Air (MBA), so I can also compare them to the Yoga.

At this price, the Yoga is a great product if:

you want a great quality ultrabook (parts are solid and well made and it is not as fragile as the Samsung 9).

It is not as light as others but unless you really need an ultraportable (like the Samsung 9) then the Yoga fares well as it weights just 0.3 lbs more than the MBA although it is a little bigger.

About the latter, it is sturdier in some sense than both the MBA and Samsung. The MBA actually delivers a good solid feeling (the Series 9 not much so, I felt like you can break it easily, especially the hinges of the screen) but I feel like I could drop the Yoga without having to say goodbye to it. I believe this is in Lenovo spirit, their laptop are renowned to be sturdy and long-lasting.

good quality control (my first the Samsung 9 came with a dead pixel, the second one had a crappy trackpad which selects things at random while you move the cursor and statics from the speakers and audio output!).

a great touchscreen, also in terms of quality of the LCD display (IPS with decent resolution). Notice that touchscreens reduce battery performance. The Samsung 9 has a brighter screen and more battery life, especially compared if you use the screen at the same level of brightness. That was a drawback for the Yoga to me, because I don't care about the touchscreen. However, overall, considering features and design, quality control, and price (!!) the Yoga wins easily.

a good keyboard. It is not as good as the X1 Carbon, but it definitely beats the MBA (which has a decent keyboard but shallower than the Yoga) and wins hands down the Series 9 (stiff, shallow and noisy).

IT IS RELLY A GREAT ULTRABOOK FOR THE PRICE with the competition out there at the moment.

You can also upgrade the RAM and SSD easily enough (especially the RAM, it's trivial).

What I would like to see improved in the future, in order of importance, are:

battery life! If you use 80-85% brightness and use it constantly (I mostly browse, type quite a bit -coding for example -and listening to some music) you might even wipe it in just 4 hours. That's not awesome. The Series 9 would last 1 hour longer. However, the battery is decent, don't let yourself down because of this. The OS and features drains the battery, the MBA would last 3 hours if it had a touchscreen like this and was running Win 8!

more brightness and bigger screen (the MBA has a slightly bigger screen but worse resolution and quality, that's for sure).

An even better keyboard, like the X1 Carbon thinkpad (with the nipple please!)

I would prefer a metal case in terms of design. It would make it just awesome.

Back-lit keyboard.

NOTE: I don't use the touchscreen much but the factor forms are really useful. Many times you are in a vehicle, or on the plane, or in a situation where you need to bend the laptop and use it with the screen closer to you, taking up less space and such. It is really useful! I love to use it on the couch and bed as tablet (otherwise a little heavy). Even if you don't love the touchscreen and would rather have a better battery life and lighter product (like I do), the Yoga still wins to such product like MBA and Samsung 9 because of its features and quality, for that competitive price!

The Yoga 13 is an excellent computer, which works (almost) exactly as it should (with one minor wifi fix). My real rating would be 4.5 stars, but I'm rounding up because this is a 1st-Generation device, so small bugs are usually common. I've compared it extensively with the Dell XPS 12 and opted to keep the Yoga 13, even though I got the Dell for the same price ($1,000 for a Dell-refurbished unit + a coupon).

Design (9 out of 10)

The 360 hinge works as it should, with one minor complaint. The screen is a little bit "bouncy" when you have the laptop open at all and try to write on it with a stylus, which means you need to either have the screen "open" all the way and flat on a surface or you need to stabilize it with your other hand to use a stylus well. The Dell XPS 12 hinge does not have this same problem. However, overall, I slightly prefer the Yoga 13 design to the Dell XPS 12 design. In fact, I now find it silly to have a laptop with a touch screen that doesn't open all the way. The double joint feature that allows the fold back really can't cost more than $20 or $30; every laptop should have it. The criticism about the keys being exposed is blown way out of proportion. It feels a little funny at first, but that's it. Don't set your laptop down on a dirty, wet, or sticky surface and the keyboard will be just fine.

The one main advantage of the Dell XPS 12 design is that you can leave the base completely stationary and flip the screen. If the laptop is plugged in, this is handy. Still, the flip screen design on the Dell feels a little gimmicky (although it's still a fine alternative design to the Yoga 13 and much better than the Twist, in my opinion).

The overall feel of the Yoga is nice. It is not "premium" like the Dell XPS 12 carbon fiber, but it's not worth paying extra money for a slightly nicer texture, in my opinion. I actually prefer the interior texture on the Yoga 13 -very comfortable typing handrests that don't get cold or hot.

Screen (9 out of 10)

The screen looks very nice; the 1600x900 resolution works very well for a 13 inch screen. Side by side with the Dell XPS 12's 1080p, it's clear that the Dell has a better-looking screen. However, the resolution on the Dell is a bit high for a 12 inch screen, which means you need to increase font sizes for most text to be readable without squinting.

Touch/Tablet mode (10 out of 10)

This is where the Yoga 13 demolishes the Dell. If you plan to use a stylus and are considering the Dell please read this, since I've not seen it come up in any reviews. The Dell XPS 12 is unusable in stylus mode. I tried two different Dell units with the exact same results: jagged lines, missed lines, and illegible text if I tried to write anything small. This occurred in every program (One Note, Word, Corel Draw, Note Anytime), and 6 hours with tech support could not fix it (new OS, new drivers, etc.). The Yoga 13, on the hand, works quite well (although I would pay an extra $150 for a active stylus with digitizer -Lenovo, are you listening?).

Tablet mode has worked great, with no problems. With the Dell, I had problems with auto-rotate and auto-keyboard pop-up failing to work on two different Dell units. The only fix was a complete re-install of windows.

For some who have noted that there is sometimes a lag in the touch screen if you haven't used it for a while, follow these steps (found on a message board):

Open device manager

Expand Human Interface Devices

At the bottom of the HID list are two devices labeled "USB Input Device" On my system, the one we're concerned with is the second one, so the last item in the list, but just to make sure it's the right one:

Open the device properties

Click the Details tab

In the drop down menu, select Hardware Ids

The one we want will say USB\VID_04F3&PID_000A on the second line

Move to the Power Management tab

Uncheck "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"

Keyboard/Trackpad (9 out of 10)

Trackpad is great (I updated to latest drivers). Not sure what the mixed reviews are about. The Dell XPS 12 was not good. Keyboard on the Yoga is also great. I liked the feel of the Dell's keyboard a bit more, but I've had no missed keys on the Yoga.

I don't understand the criticism of lack of keyboard backlight. I've never had a scenario where I needed keyboard backlighting. In completely dark room, the computer screen illuminates the keyboard enough to see the keys. But if you really love keyboard backlighting, be aware that the Yoga 13 doesn't have it!

Wifi (7 out of 10)

While it sounds like some people are having bigger problems with wifi, my failure-to-reconnect on log-on issue was solved with this simple fix: Go to Device Manager (Charms Bar --> search for "Device Manager" in settings), Go to Network Adapter, Right Click on the RealTek, Click on Advanced Tab, Then set Selective Suspend to "Disabled."

Since I did that, I've had zero problems. It annoys me that Lenovo could ship a product that needs a fix for wifi that automatically reconnects at log-on, but the range issues people have been reporting are non-existent for me. In fact, for both my home network and work network, I have 3-4 bars of wifi in places where my Dell XPS 12 had 1-2 bars and would fail to connect at times. Since my fix, I've had zero wifi problems in the past 3 weeks.

Ports/Other Features (10 out of 10)

I like the full-size HDMI port. While DisplayPorts might be the future, everything in my house has HDMI (and HDMI to DVI cables are $6 on Amazon, if you have a monitor without HDMI). No VGA port, though, which is fine for me since it is no longer 2005.

SD card slot is nice. Seems silly that Dell left it out of the XPS 12.

Expandable SSD slot is amazing. I have a 128GB Yoga now, but it's nice knowing I'll be able to add a second SSD in the future as prices drop (see YouTube for instructions). Also, I plan to expand to 8GB of ram, although I've had no problems with 4GB for the time being.

Not happy about the charger (the unique style means I have to pay top dollar for a replacement, since I like to have two), but it works fine.

Final Thoughts

The upcoming Helix could rival the Yoga in terms of design (detachable screen, 10 hours of batter life, stylus), but if you're like me and do a decent amount of typing, an 11-inch screen is just too small. The Yoga 13's 13-inch screen is just right for productivity, and in tablet mode works really well on your lap. No, you can't hold it with one hand comfortably, but you can prop it up in a variety of ways. I find the 9-11 inch tablet size to be nice, but also too large for one-handed use. I hope the next version of the Yoga has an active stylus.

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I am a big computer enthusiast, and I have went through a lot of laptops/ultrabooks over the past few years. I have owned:

-Macbook pros and airs

-Asus Zenbook ux31a

-Dell XPS 13

-Dell Latitude

-netbooks and other lesser known notebooks.

My favorite out of the bunch was the Asus zenbook ux31a, and it still is if I am talking solely about ultrabooks. I prefer the yoga because of the touchscreen and future-proofing Windows 8 OS. I never really owned any powerful gaming laptops because I have a very powerful desktop sitting at home.

So now you know my techy background, here is my list of pros and cons for the Lenovo Yoga 13 after using it for about a week.

PROS:

1. Windows 8 on a touchscreen. I used Win8 on my XPS 13, which does not have a touchscreen, and I absolutely hated the experience, especially considering the XPS has a subpar touchpad. I think Win8 gets a lot of hate because people use it on a non-touch laptops. Using Win8 on a touchscreen laptop is very fluid and natural. Even in the traditional desktop mode, I can tell they made a lot of adjustments in the OS to make it work well. I do have some problems with the virtual keyboard not popping up sometimes when I needed it to. At rare times, it would even pop up when I don't need it.

2. Screen. 900p IPS glossy display. Not as good as the zenbook's 1080p IPS matte display, but the difference is not noticeable.

3. Touchpad. Some reviews say the touchpad is terrible. I actually like it quite a lot, and this is coming from someone who used the Macbook's touchpad for years. I like the zenbook ux31a's trackpad more, but just by a hair.

4. Construction. There are cons in the build quality (listed in cons section), but overall, it is a solid design. The entire laptop scheme of the construction is rubber. You can feel the rubbery friction on the top and bottom of the laptop, as well as inside on the trackpad and even between the letters of the keyboard. I am guessing they went with rubber instead of aluminum or some other metal is because the laptop is already heavy enough, and they did not want to add more weight to it especially since it's an oversized tablet. Also, the rubber makes for a good grip in tablet mode, something necessary for such a large tablet.

5. Battery life. Yoga 13 has the best battery life out of all the ultrabook/tablet hybrids to date (according to my knowledge at least). This is one of the main reasons I bought this over the XPS 12. HOWEVER, the battery life is still subpar compared to non-touchscreen ultrabooks like the zenbook or macbook air. I get about 5-6 hours, but I have pushed it to close to 7 hours if you use it very conservatively.

CONS:

1. Construction. As I said in the PROS section, there are pros and cons about the construction. I like the rubber scheme design, but there are some flex in the keyboard, making the overall product feel less premium. The size of the screen bezel is thick for my taste (I am spoiled by the XPS 13 thin bezel). The bezel size also increases the overall size of the laptop, and the width and length makes it much larger than my old xps 13, and is also actually larger than my old macbook pro 13. The size combined with the the thickness makes it noticeably heavier than my old zenbook and macbook air.

2. No backlit keyboard. The keyboard itself is alright, I am typing this review on it right now. The top of the keys are straight while the bottom is curved, which feels kind of weird to me, so my touch typing feels slightly off, but no biggie.

3. Bad factory partitioning, easy/automated fix can be found online. Google "Yoga 13 hotfix"

4. Fan. It does seem to be on all the time, but you won't notice it because it's a quiet hum. I only noticed it when I'm alone in my room, and even then it never bothers me. There may be a "fix" online, but I never looked into it.

5. Hard for User Upgrades. This can be argued to be a PRO considering a lot of ultrabooks doesn't even give you the option to upgrade anymore. Anyways, It's kind of complicated to upgrade the SSD. I haven't read too much into it, but I think it's doable, just not your traditional HDD/SSD swap. Also, it only has 1 RAM slot, so the max you can upgrade to is 8gb right now.

6. Hard to open! This is probably my biggest everyday gripe about it. I'm not sure what Lenovo was thinking. When the yoga is closed, there's a strong magnet to hold it in place. You definitely can't open it easily with one hand like you can with macbooks and the new zenbook. You'll probably have to use 2 hands. Furthermore, there is no LEVERAGE for you to hold onto! You basically use one hand to try and keep it down while using your other hand to pry it open, except they didn't make any sort of space you can get your fingers under for a good grip. It's a very slipper experience. This might be the hardest laptop I have ever used to open, mainly because of the strong magnet. I actually have to give a little attention to and focus whenever I want to open it up.

*I did not experience any bad wifi problems.

OVERALL, I do enjoy this Yoga. The PROS still outweigh the cons. The 2 biggest thing I look at in a laptop is the trackpad and screen because that's what people use the most, both are outstanding on the Yoga. While in laptop mode, it looks like a normal 13inch laptop, kind small and portable. But as soon as you use it in a tablet mode, its perception becomes a super huge tablet with tons of screen real estate...mind tricks. Anyways, I do like the machine a lot. I picked the yoga over the microsoft surface because I believe the keyboard and trackpad is an essential part of using a full-fledged windows machine. I can't see myself playing games or doing real work on the Surface even with the keyboard cover, too small and cramped.

Do I recommend you to buy this? I never recommend buying a first generation product. They are usually glitchy and highly priced. If you know you want a touchscreen laptop, get this. Buy the Surface if you really want portability with less battery life and screen estate. Otherwise, I would say to wait for the 2nd or 3rd generation. I can see Yoga 13 #2 having a thinner bezel, and a thinner body, lighter design, and longer battery life, maybe even a higher res screen. Hopefully, retail pricing will also start below 1k.

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Cons:

I think this model only supports SATA2 drive speeds. I have not seen this published anywhere and so I cannot confirm. I tried using the ATTO benchark32 app and can only get speeds below 300MB/S, which is the SATA2 maximum. SATA3 is the newer standard and can go up to 600MB/s. I tried this on both drives (read below).

The keyboard is a bit flimsy. It's not really bad but definitely sub-par for a high end machine. If you're picky about keyboards it might be an annoyance for you.

The proprietary power adapter is expensive, if you want extras.

The tablet form factor is cumbersome and heavy. This is really more of a ultrabook with tablet-like qualities. Don't get it if you want a lightweight tablet-like device with notebook-like power. There are other products that might come closer to achieving the latter description.

No VGA or Ethernet ports

Pros:

It's still lightening fast despite being SATA2. I'm not really sure if this matters when it comes to the user experience. I do advanced stuff like booting virtual machines in HyperV and they boot and run super fast.

It charges really fast. You can get to 80-85% in 30 minutes and get a full charge in an hour

Screen is very nice

Solid construction

The "yoga" hinge aspect is handy. I like having a good ultrabook that can be tablet-like (read con above)

Upgrading to 8GB RAM is easy (look for youtube videos)

It has a second MSATA slot so you can buy a $200 256GB MSATA drive for expansion and not have to replace the primary drive. It's a bit more challenging to install than RAM but not bad. I got it done in 15 minutes. (see youtube videos and make sure you got the right tools)

Overall, I like this machine despite the shortcomings. Knowing what I know now, I would still buy it if I did not own it.

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Update: I have used this computer for about 1 week and the versatility really exceeded my expectation. I actually like the 13.3 big screen for tablet compared to my asus transformer prime, which is about 10 inches. The keyboard is not that bothering on landscape mode for the tablet. The screen is also very bright. For the fan noise, it is really not noticeable if I do not put my ear to the keyboard. The computer is always below 50 celcus degrees. So I am confident that the computer will not burn,compared to my dell xps m1330,which can lead to 90 celcus degrees easily. So really happy with my purchase and I will keep it as my main computer. I would like to upgrade the hard drive for another 256 gb in short time.

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

original review:

I have been waiting for a windows 8 laptop since last June when my dell xps M1330 dies of heat. Many windows 8 ultrabook is out since last October. I mainly target for the laptop but occasional tablet (because windows 8 is VERY short of good apps). For a laptop, I do not want the screen to be too small . So I leave out Samsung Smart PC and MS Surface Pro. I also leave out Asus Zenbook Prime and Samsung Series 9 because they are not able to be served as tablet at all.

Thus, the only left option is actually Yoga 13 and Thinkpad Twist. However, the twist is too old styled and do not look cool. Therefore, I finally decided on Yoga 13, which I have researched a lot online. The main cons are not-so-good tablet because you grab to keyboards and the fan noise. The fan noise could be just bios stetting but also could resulting from the fact that the fan hitting the metal housing (which make a very loud noise). Keyboard is not my concern but fan noise does, because a flawed fan can in the long-term burn your machine. I thought that lenovo should have updated their fan because the the laptop has been out about 3 months. So I ordered from Amazon when it is first out.

I got it yesterday and clearly, the fan noise is still there. The FAN runs 100% all the time. I can also hear that the fan is hitting something if I stay in a quiet room and listen carefully. Lenovo clearly has not updated their bios or fan design at all.

I am not sure if I will need to keep this one or not, because clearly it has some flaws in the model (fan design), although the form factor is great. I will wait for a few days and update my experiences. Because Amazon does not have the model in stock, I will not be able to exchange for another one.

Except for the fan noise design flaw, the YOGA 13 is mainly for people who want a new laptop but with occasional tablet function. It has many GREAT things as follows:

1) slick design;

2) ideal laptop and tablet combination;

3) very bright screen with IPS;

4) really nice keyboard with deep punctuation and curved edges;

5) very easy to upgrade with larger SSD and memory.

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HP ENVY DV7T-7200 Quad Core Laptop, Intel® CoreTM i7-3630QM, Full HD Anti-glare LED 1080p Display,

This is my first HP laptop. I'm really impressed with the style and the performance of this laptop. After doing a lot of research I was looking at purchasing either this HP or a Toshiba Qosmio x875. I had actually first purchased the Toshiba but returned it after finding this HP.

Once I first received the HP I could tell immediately that it was much thinner, had a better overall style, much faster boot time and a better display than the Toshiba. My last 2 laptops were Toshiba's, I was always told that Toshiba makes the best laptops. This HP really does give you the most for your money. This comes with 3 hard drives, 1080p display and a blu-ray reader and writer.

The only negative is that when I received the laptop the keyboard wasn't completely attached, but after pushing down on one of the corners it snapped back in and works perfectly. The other negative I can think of is the software for the fingerprint reader crashed a lot for me in the beginning and I could never get it to work on Google chrome. After I uninstalled it and reinstalled it, it worked flawlessly.

I would recommend this laptop to anyone who is looking for a desktop replacement or just a very powerful laptop.

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Acer Aspire 5742-6838 15.6' Notebook - Intel Core i5-460M

I got this notebook because I totally torn the last netbook (also an Acer). I bought this mainly because I'm on budget. I need a computer that functions and does everyday task. This computer comes with i5 processor and its fast enough for everything I have to do. The screen size is 15.6,which is good and actually feels lighter than my brother's Toshiba Satellite 14''. There are things I would want Acer to improve, one of them is the speakers. Those speakers are totally horrible, worse than my Acer Aspire One netbook, i think one side is not even working. Of course, the built-in microphone is just as bad as those speakers. Of course, if i have to record anything, I'll use external earphone and microphone. Another thing is the power input, it is located right next to the fan, which is not the ideal place to plug. Acer Aspire One netbook also have the power plug/input at the same spot, which I relate to why I have to replace power adapter so often because power adapter's cord bends easily and plus the heat produce from the fan will eventually cause damage to the adapter's cord. I hope to find no more problems, after all, It's still my first day on it. Overall, I still give it a five for everything because it is a decent computer.

This is my current ticket to Acer Support:

My Acer Aspire3 5742-6838 has a fan (next to the power cord) that runs every 30 seconds or so. I bought this laptop to do hard drive recording, but when the fan comes on it temporarily accesses the registry and uses such a large percentage of the CPU that it constantly interrupts other programs and makes it nearly useless, except for maybe word processing and mail and even hesitates on that. This model has an Intel i5 CPU and 4 gb of RAM. I've scoured the net for a real solution, upgraded the Acer Epower Management, etc. I even tried taking the laptop back to factory defaults to no avail. Next, I stopped unnecessary Windows 7 services, hid Microsoft startups, unchecked the other startups in MSConfig, changed Visual Affects to Adjust for Best Performance, eliminated unnecessary programs, ran Auslogics Defragmenter, CCleaner, removed the Search Index, turned unnecessary Window features off (such as Remote Differential Compression). I've run Windows Memory Diagnostic, Scandisk, System File Scan, but no matter what I do this laptop has been an absolute nightmare. I have been doing desktop support for a living for over a decade and I constantly fix friends computers (12 or 13 since May). I don't know what I was thinking when I bought this piece of crap. (I just wanted something to tide me over until I could purchase a high-end Mac.) Anyway, unless you can come up with a genuine solution to this problem, I'll just have to sell it on eBay and badmouth Acer to the hilt on Amazon.

Mark Powell / MCP, MCSE, A+ PC Tech

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I love acer computersI had just bought a timelinex that died on me after 3 days, so I purchased this one.

For an i5, this computer is unfortunately a bit sluggishenough so that I went to upgrade the ram right away(it's only 4 out of box). I got the ram and found that (from checking out a few videos) that it is NOT an easy task to install more ram into the computer. The sluggishness was distinct enough for me to return the computer and get something a bit nicer for only a little bit more money.

That being saidI do run a lot of heavy duty programsVB Ultimate, MS Office Suite, Adobe Suite and various developer tools. The average user (games, netflix, and MS Office home) shouldn't have much to complain about with this computer: it's very lightweight for its size, the screen is perfect for basic to intermediate gaming and movie watching, and of coursethe price.

The only big issue most would find with the computer is the speakerit is outright rotten. I'm not the type to listen to music on a computer without headpohnes or external speakers, but almost all audio sounds pretty bad.

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I have purchased my 5th Acer Aspire. All of my kids have one and I bought one for my self and wife. They take a lot of abuse and work very well. My kids are in college and use them every day. Get used to it before you rate them.

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I had this computer for almost 3 years now. I dont have this model i got the cheaper one that was pentium core and just 320gb of memory with 4gb of ram. On the second day of use it gave me blue screen and i got scare but thankfully was not done it again. The problems I facing know is the constant overheating by even the simple of tasks for example im right now i just have typing in my browser and i can feel heat emitted by the computer on my hands and sometimes it gets so hot that using the touch pad and using the keys in the left corner can be painful while having multiple application open. I tried solving this problem by opening it cleaning the fan but that did nothing and also when it starts getting hot it will start lagging and programs will start crashing what can be really annoying. The speakers sucks so you will need headphones. I can complain since it only cost me $349 at Sam's Club and I quest you what you pay for. Right now I am on the process of looking for a new laptop computer for College since this one is not that portable.

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ASUS U47A-BGR4 Notebook, 14" 8GB RAM 750GB HDD

I was not sure of the condition of the laptop while ordering. But when it arrived, I was happy to see the laptop. It was brand new as I ordered refurbished. It also came preloaded with Windows 7, which was not mentioned on the web. I think it should have been mentioned. Thank you

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HP Pavilion g6-2210us 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

I had an hp pavilion from 2007 and decided to stay with the line because of the four good years I got out of that hp computer. I purchased this pavilion because it was(at the time) under 400 dollars. Windows 8 takes some getting used to, but I haven't experienced many frustrations once I downloaded chrome. Firefox and Internet Explorer did have some strange issues and once in a while took some time to open(which I think is a windows 8 issue) so I downloaded chrome, adobe flash, open office and have been using my new computer mostly hassle free.

I would recommend this computer to anyone who is going on the internet, word processing, streaming videos, and saving pictures and movies. I don't know if it's good for gaming or putting together videos. I wouldn't pay the 450 or whatever price it is now for this computer due to some of the hardware limitations.

This laptop is awesomely fast and terribly pretty to look at. Plenty of computer for a student or home office, with pretty good gaming capabilities too. Boots up like lightning, shuts down without a bunch of questions, and never gets hot due to the HP cooling feature. A little big for your lap on a bus, but I have a small lap. lol Windows 8 has a glitch or two, but I think I like it and they stay on top of it, update-wise.. If you want something really familiar, go with XP or Windows 7.

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This computer has been very reliable. The keyboard keys are a little small or shallow for fast typists. The touchpad keeps affecting typing. When you type, you might drag you thumb on the touchpad a bit. This moves the cursor sometimes which then changes the text insertion point. Result? Lots of typos that you have to go fix. Changing the touchpad sensitivity helps but it still happens a bit. Two fingered typists wouldn't notice.

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Bought this in November and has been very good as advertised. Selected this model because of the slightly bigger hard drive 640, USB 3 ports and still has a dvd read/write drive. I also wanted to go with Windows 8 since I had not upgraded since XP. Setup was very easy and Wi Fi connection worked with no problems. Windows Office is installed but not activated. Bought the activation code and Office installed with no problems.

Windows 8 has pluses and minuses. It loads quickly and you can customize the Startup screen to your liking for quick access. The touch pad takes some getting used to and I do not like the first screen that comes up in Windows 8 that does nothing for you! I bought an HP printer 6510 e model (wireless) also through Amazon for a great price and it installed fine.

I did have some crashes prior to the last Windows (never ending) updates that caused me some problems. I had the wireless printer working fine until I think I did an HP support assistant update when I lost direct printing. I did a painfully slow system restore to the day before and the computer is happy again. Really unsure what caused the problem in the first place.

Also I do not care for the Windows Pictures App on the start page for importing pictures or for that matter looking at them. But there are plenty of other picture programs out there. Battery Life is good, audio is good and the performance is good. I like it! A backlit keyboard would be nice, but none of those models came close to the price of this one.

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I would recommend this product. My Hp is fast. The Windows 8 is a joy to work with. All of my educational needs are met. I love my Hp, watching movies online never felt soo good as well. :) You guys will enjoy it!

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