Acer 15.6" Intel i3-370M 2.40 GHz 500GB Notebook | AS5733-6607

Purchased this PC on closeout at Walmart for $270.00. It has handled everything I have thrown at it well so far. Those things include video format conversion, some gaming (The Sims, and some other first person shooter games), and lots of high profile video playback.

I have not noticed any issues with overheating as I did with my previous laptop made by HP. The screen is very bright and sharp. Battery life is good. Just a good all around computer, and incredible for the price. It feels really sturdy, and I like that it is not a huge finger print magnet like pcs covered in glossy finsihes. I really love that it has all Intel products inside. I am not a fan of AMD, NVidia, etc since they have given trouble on almost ever PC I have owned.

Less than stellar bits include speakers that are decent, but not super rich sounding like some higher end models. They keyboard has a nice layout, and good key travel. It also looks cool. It is a raised "floating" chiklet style. I only mention this as a possible downer because you will want to be mindful not to leave the keyboard exposed for long periods of time in a dirty environment. Because the keys are raised it is easier for junk to get under the keys. It is easy to clean it out with some canned air, or just by blowing on it! But still something to be mindful of. Lastly, the mouse is multitouch, which is nice especially as more and more software is optimized for such devices. But it takes getting used to, and I recommend that you go through the pointing device settings to adjust the sensitivity to your liking.

bought this about 8 months ago from walmart the 1st 3 weeks the computer ran fine and i had no issues other than i noticed it got hot fairly easily(standard acer issue) and the keyboard was stiff here and there. within the next month i decided to play some games...., when i mean games i mean skyrim and halflife2 not chess. anyway it played them fine but 1hour in to either game and the system went black from overheating, i figured it was because of using it on my lap(still dont get how youre not supposed to use a laptop on your lap)tried it on a desk and it still overheated. i decided to use a cooling mat but to no avail it was too weak and i said to hell with if i pulled an old wind dance window fan and put it under it, luckly it works...kinda the things a bit ugly lol. anyway after i "fixed" that issue i noticed that a few keys were jamming constantly, this is an engineering flaw produced by a moron, this keyboard is one of the worst ive seen, it is a raised system on standard a standard styled plastic spring with no dust guard and plenty of space for hair wires/cables/crumbs and whatever to fall into it, only way to clean it without removing the keys would be alot of canned air, when looking closer at the springs they may look standard but they are much cheaper and very fragile, they also come apart easily causing jammed keys, which if forced will break and bend the springs.... obviously not good and rather frustrating. the next issue that i still have is ive filled the hd about 180gb so far and its started to lagg horribly during load up, ive even uninstalled and prevented unnecessary programs from running on startup but its not working, im asuming the hd is going bad i have yet to finish my first year so atm im waiting for it to finally die and if it doesnt then im going to tear it apart and build a liquid cooling system for it along with get it a much more reliable hd hopefully built better than the current anyway thats my 2 cents if you still wanna buy it i dont suggest any decent quality games on it. also on another note buy a pc from someone that alows a 90day return policy not walmart....

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Apple MacBook Pro MD314LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

I recently made the switch from PC to Mac, and I can say that I'm not sure why I waited so long. Considering that I have only had my computer a few weeks I can't say much about the durability and longevity of the hardware, but I can say that the operating system (mine shipped with Lion) and software is top notch.

I labored for a long time trying to decide whether the 13" MacBook Pro (MBP) or MacBook Air was the right choice for me. I liked the form factor, screen resolution and weight of the Air, but couldn't get comfortable with the comparatively small hard drive and the RAM fixed at 4GB. Considering these factors along with the significant price premium for an Air, I decided that the MBP was right for me.

I also thought long and hard about whether to go with the base model with the 2.4Ghz i5 processor and 500 GB HDD or the 2.8Ghz i7 processor with the 750GB HDD. after looking at reviews and benchmark tests I decided that for my uses, the less expensive model would be perfect and that the incremental added performance of the more expensive model is not worth the additional cost. When large solid state drives become more affordable I will probably switch my HDD out, but until then 500GB should provide plenty of storage.

I opted to get my computer locally, but purchased the Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 Memory Module (CT2KIT51264BC1339) from Amazon for a great price. Once I got my computer home I installed the RAM in 10 minutes, start to finish. If you are planning this upgrade just be sure that you have the right Phillips head screwdriver.

After using this computer for the past few weeks and carrying it on weekly business trips I am very pleased with my choice of computers. It handles the Microsoft office suite flawlessly, and the added ram allows me to open and view very large pdf files without any lag. I have done minor video and photo editing on this computer and it performed very well. The added weight compared to the

Air hasn't proven to be too noticeable, but I am a big guy at 6'4" and 210 pounds.

So far I am pleased with this computer and my Mac experience overall. The process of learning a new OS and overall user interface was daunting at first, but Apple has done a great job creating a system that is intuitive and easy to learn.

I would recommend this computer to anyone looking for a new laptop that they expect to have for awhile and would like to be able to customize to fit their needs.

UPDATE 5/29/12: I have been using my MBP for six months now and couldn't be happier with it. I may have been lucky enough to get a great unit, but during the time that I have owned my MBP I have NEVER needed to contact technical support. I use my Mac for my primary business computer every day and have traveled extensively with it.

Aside from its performance and reliability the feature that I like most about my Mac is the multi-touch trackpad. By using gestures on the trackpad I can be very efficient, and I'm not sure that I will ever be able to go back to a regular mouse or trackball.

One addition that I made was to get the Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter MB570Z/A to attach a second monitor when I'm at the office. This allows me to use both my MBP monitor and an external, which provides me with much more area when using Excel or other programs and also allows me to keep my mailbox visible when working on other things.

Considering how pleased I am with my Mac, I have a feeling that I will be buying a lot more Apple products in the future.

The reviews here are for the MD313LL/A, yet the computer is actually MD314LL/A, which has a faster processor and bigger hard drive.

The MD314LL/A features a 2.8 GHz i7 processor, integrated Intel 3000 graphics and a 750 GB hard drive. I've never owned an Apple laptop before, so there was a little bit of a learning curve. Now that I'm getting the hang of it, I'm beginning to like OSX Lion better than Windows. Programs can be run on separate virtual desktops, and the computer never misses a beat when several programs are active. Switching between different desktops or open programs can be done by merely sliding three fingers forward on the large touchpad. Control-clicking on words or phrases in Safari brings up a context sensitive menu which allows the user to select to view a dictionary, Wikipedia, or do a Google search in a pop-up window in the browser. You can also ask the computer to speak the word or phrase, if you have any doubts about pronunciation. Safari also includes links to a library of plug-ins at extensions.apple.com, which includes a plug-in for Flash, so you can now watch free Hulu videos and other videos online. The network preferences window makes it far easier than Windows to set up a list of public DNS servers to bypass the sometimes slow, glitchy ISP servers.

This computer is completely silent. I wasn't even sure it had a cooling fan until I downloaded a utility to monitor the fan speed. This computer is super fast, and the base plate never gets more than lukewarm. The light weight, small footprint, lighted keyboard, crisp screen and speed really make this computer shine.

The attention to detail is really outstanding. The cooling vents on the back of the base are completely covered by a sliding plate when the lid is closed, keeping dust out of the innards. The power supply has flip out legs for winding the cord for storage and the prongs can be removed so it can be used as a brick type supply with the supplied AC cord. The computer also has a green LED battery status gauge built into the left side of the base, which is activated by a flush button. The lid snaps shut quietly even though there are no cheesy stick-on rubber bumpers, and it is held closed by magnets. The built in light sensor shuts off the keyboard backlighting and brightens the display in bright ambient light. The computer also has a 3 axis accelerometer to protect the hard drive from damage. The attention to detail is why Macs are more expensive than the various PC clones.

Buy Apple MacBook Pro MD314LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) Now

I waited a month before writing this review to make sure my initial impression would hold up & it did.

MacBook Pro's -

1. Track Pad (Fantastic!)

2. No Trial Software (everything installed is fully functional no more nag screens)

3. Battery Life (I get around 5 or 6 hours on a charge)

4. Incremental Backups with Time Machine (You can use almost any external HD instead Apple's expensive Time Capsule)

5. Support is Awesome (Nuff said)

6. It's Just Plain Sexy (No more Windows bricks for me...)

MacBook Con's -

1. No HDMI out

2. USB Ports too close together

3. Steve Jobs is Dead

If you're a long time Windows user; ask yourself if this story sounds familiar?

You've got a girlfriend/boyfriend who annoys you on a daily basis, but you stick with her/him year after year because you don't want to spend the time learning the ins & outs of a new one?

Then one day, a sleek, sexy chick/dude catches your eye & you start hanging out with her/him & pretty soon you're kicking that old broad/bum out on the street.

That's me & Microsoft.

I started; decades ago, as a DOS user with an 8088 machine & continued all the way up to Windows 7.

I've got a new girlfriend now & she blows the old one away.

The old one just blows.

Read Best Reviews of Apple MacBook Pro MD314LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) Here

Packaging:

Very impressed with the packaging. I was very impressed how well this thing was packaged. A well thought-out design protects the content and minimizes customer dissatisfaction.

First impression:

I am sure everyone who are interested to buy this product, has gone to best buy and played with it a bit. well, the new MBP right out of the box is 90% more impressive and attractive than that of the store. It is a good looking piece of machine.

It came with a charger, extension cord for the charger, instruction book, screen wipe, and nothing more that I needed. I took the cord out, and started charging it. A full charging is highly recommended before use. after a few setup screens, I am up and running.

Upgrade time:(Make sure you shut down your machine first)

I ordered this machine with a 8GB memory upgrade (DDR3-1333) from Crucial. I did not want to pay a premium for the apple upgrade. Instead, I bought a dual channel kit separately for $39.00. I highly recommended Crucial brand as they use Samsung memory chips and for one more reason I am telling you next. I will not go through how to change the memory(a lot of youtube videos available). when I took out the existing memory out of the MBP, guess what chips they use on the memory sticks? yes, guessed it right, samsung.And I also have reasons to believe that the RAMs are OEM version of crucial memory judging by physical similarities. but, that is just my opinion, not a fact.

User Experience:

After the upgrade, turned on the machine and few beeps and clunks later, it started flying. I repeat, it is flying and my machine is currently running over 600 threads without any sign of slowing down. virtual box? NO PROBLEMO! this little beauty is a little beast in performance. I have installed over 50 applications, running dozens simultaneously, 10 more browser windows open, and it just happy. I can't say enough about the multi-touch gestures. No other laptop I have ever used that had such ease of switching between applications, scrolling, searching, sliding and navigating. I have never used Mac OS before(not more than a few minutes of playing around at best buy), and I felt it was very intuitive to use and learned fairly quickly. I still don't know a lot about the OS, but it has not stopped me from doing what I need to do.

What could be better:

Not that I cared much, but the standard power cord is a little short. I bought a sleeve to keep it safe, and it does not allow room for the extension cord that comes with it(big and bulky).

It has good speakers that play nice sounding beats. But the 15" plays them better.

The outer shell is aluminium, but don't think you can't scratch it. I spent a sleepless night just cause it put a small scratch under it by accident. But, I am over it now.

Advice to the people who wants to take the plunge:

I felt like it was the best $1100 I spent on a laptop. I could not justify it before using it as I always thought that Mac is more style than performance and usefulness. I admit that I was wrong. This machine offers more features and performance per dollar than I thought. This is a well-built machine that would serve me longer than any other laptop ever has for me. I have half a dozen windows machines in my house including a 990X extreme desktop that I built 4 months ago. I love windows, but I have learned that I can like both (Macbook pro and PC).

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Steve Jobs had returned to Apple, which had been a struggling company, and it was time to align it once again with world of creative users. In 1997 an ad was run with actor Richard Dreyfuss reading the voiceover, which began with: "Here's to the Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently." Think Different... that was the 1997 slogan and theme for Apple's comeback to the world of serious computing after the return of Steve Jobs, and perhaps it was a cynical reference to IBM's famous "Think" slogan. Whatever it was, this was the ad campaign that restored Apple's reputation under the leadership of the late Steve Jobs.

Take this MacBook Pro review as one from a dedicated Windows PC user who made the switch awhile ago, with time enough to put it through its paces, to do side-by-side comparisons. I've owned a Mac before, back in the day of the Macintosh SE, and though I found it to be extremely useful for desktop publishing in the days when Aldus PageMaker reigned supreme in that area, I saw things blend as Microsoft slowly got its act together, for the most part. When it came time to upgrade back then, I stuck with the Windows PCs... until recently, when I found the need to diversify a bit.

To make this easy for those who just want to get to the facts quickly, I'll list the positive and negative points that I've personally found with the MacBook Pro first, then elaborate with details a bit further on. Please also remember that these are coming from a satisfied Windows 7 PC user, and one with multiple computers.

MacBook Pro Positives:

* Well thought-out packaging, easy out of the box setup

* Excellent build quality, unparalleled detail in workmanship

* Superb aluminum unibody chassis construction, has a good solid feel

* Sharp 13.3-Inch backlit display, first-rate 1280-by-800 Resolution

* Screen display has excellent color resolution and contrast for photos

* First class backlit keyboard, easy to use in low-light situations

* Very fast boot up even with password protection enabled

* Proven Mac OS X operating system; based on UNIX (like a server)

* Built-in SD card slot; great for transferring photos to computer

* Responsive ergonomic multi-touch trackpad; no buttons, excellent cursor control

* Well-engineered 60W power adapter with decent cable management system

* Automated incremental backups with Time Machine, works with almost any external HDD

In Between:

* Claimed 7 hour battery life; 5-6 hours is more like it, depending on the apps that you're running

Negatives:

* No built-in HDMI or VGA output, adapters must be purchased separately

* Only 2 USB 2.0 ports, and they are too close together

The Details:

We each have our reasons for the computers that we own. Mine were primarily to have a compact yet sturdy platform for word processing, accessing the Internet, and digital photo processing. That stated, there's little to not like about this MacBook Pro. The Intel Dual-Core Processor is fast and efficient, and even better than the Pentium Dual-Core 2.20GHz processor on my Windows 7 notebook PC. It's one thing to see it in the store, but when one gets it home and takes it out of the well-designed box, it's apparent that this is a better grade computer than might have been anticipated. The first thing that is noticed once it's unwrapped is the workmanship. The unibody main enclosure, constructed from a single block of aluminum, is proof of this attention to detail and it helps add to its durability.

The 13-inch backlit LCD display is sharp, and has the excellent color resolution and contrast that I need, especially when working with photos. The glossy screen actually helps to see images with their full clarity. Using both Adobe software apps and Nikon Capture NX 2, having clear and sharp resolution is an absolute necessity, and this MacBook Pro offers that. The backlit keyboard is a pleasure to use, and quite functional in low-light mobile locations. I'm also very impressed with the quick boot up, even with the password startup screen enabled, a security necessity when at some mobile locations.

It's hard to fault OS X in any way. This operating system is UNIX-based, and therein lays its strength, along with its ability to run 64-bit applications. It works right out of the box without fiddling or tweaking. It's far better than Mac OS 9 and its predecessors, and the security while on the `Net is reassuring.

The tiny built-in SD card slot has proven itself to be good for transferring photos from the digital cameras to the computer. I've also used it to transfer other media files and documents between computers in a pinch. It took awhile to get used to the trackpad, with its so-called "multi-touch gestures," but once mastered it's easy to use. Must admit that I do revert to using a mouse when using the computer at home... call it years of conditioning.

This computer really shines with the inclusion of the Time Machine application, and I was happy to find that I could use a reasonable priced off-the-shelf hard drive to do automated incremental backups. I have a Toshiba 500 GB USB Portable Hard Drive, and all I did was reformat it to HFS+ Journaled file system to use the Time Machine backup software. It works like a champ.

The external 60W power adapter is well engineered and keeps my computer running cooler than PC notebooks with internal power supplies. I appreciate the magnetic DC connector as it pops off easily if some klutz trips on the cord, necessitating a costly repair as I found out when someone did that to one of my PC notebooks. The LED in the connector head helps: amber it's charging, green it's charged; very simple and effective.

Other Notes:

The battery life being less than advertised I can live with. I would have expected HDMI and/or VGA output to be built-ins with a computer of this quality. But I have yet to buy the adapters. But to have only two built-in USB 2.0 ports is irritating, and those are too close together. Problem solved with an external 4-port ISB adapter, so that issue is closed.

I have had issues with laptop carrying bags in the past, and now carry my MacBook Pro in a ThinkTank Artificial Intelligence 15 V. 2.0 Laptop Bag. I picked this one over many others from heavy experience with photo gear, and know that Think Tank makes exceptionally good pro gear. It protects my computer from the elements quite well, holds more gear than I can explain here (I have reviewed it), and can highly recommend it to anyone who wants to protect their MacBook with the kind of case that it really deserves.

Browser note: I've used the included Safari browser, but my de-facto standard remains Google Chrome. Safari is a decent browser, but because I find it necessary to synchronize my email on the Mac, the PCs and even one older Linux-based notebook (it's a geek/support thing), Chromes just works better, and I find it faster. Your experiences may differ, so try whichever works for you.

I'm running Office for Mac 2011 and have found its interface to be even better than Microsoft Office 2010 or 2007 on the PC. Didn't know if the implementation of Outlook for Mac 2011 would be better than Entourage, which was buggy, but Outlook turned out to be excellent, and it's become my mainstay over the PC version.

Heat is an issue that I had heard of by some, yet I have not experienced. The heat level is better than my old HP, Compaq or Dell, and far better than my VAIO (which was very bad). The only one that has been better heat-wise is my current ASUS notebook running Windows 7, but not by much. Had been tempted to get a keyboard skin for general protection in the field, but heard that these interfere with the ventilation, so that idea has been tabled for the present.

Future:

I may upgrade to 8 GB of RAM, which has been recommended by a number of people if and when system performance issues arise. The RAM upgrades are quite reasonable, but I'm pleasantly surprised at how well it runs with the standard 4 GB at this point.

In Conclusion...

I could say more, but the best advice that I can offer is that if you get one, take it out of the box, plug it in and charge it. After that, turn it on and see how easy it can be... the MacBook Pro just works, as you'll see. Think Different is a reality, and this one proves it.

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ASUS K55A 15.6" Core i5 500GB HDD Laptop

I exchanged my Lenovo z585 for this awesome laptop! I didn't get it from Amazon but the store I bought it from doesn't give you the option to leave a review. My Lenovo was an AMD A10 with much more ram but this Asus is so much faster! I even downloaded MapleStory just to see how long it would take to download, install, load and play and it actually downloaded pretty quick. Of course installing takes quite awhile but still faster than Lenovo. When I tried to install on the Lenovo, it kept failing midway. Loading took a couple of minutes, where the Lenovo took over 20 minutes. Also, the game plays much better on the Asus. The Lenovo was constantly lagging! The A10 is supposed to be the equivalent of I7 but it runs worse than I3. So if you're going to get a laptop, get this one! Asus is known for a really good and reliable motherboard. The failure statistics are much lower than almost every other company. Lenovo is right there with HP and Dell. I haven't had mine long but have used it constantly since I got it and I have not had any issues with it. Also, ASUS gives you 1 year accidental warranty.

I'm using this for personal, school and business use so this definitely fits the bill and was on sale at my local Fry's.

Just remember, don't go for AMD! Intel is definitely the way to go!

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Toshiba Satellite P25-S507 17" Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard

if you're looking for a portable desktop/multimedia center, look no further. although it's probably one of the heaviest notebooks out there at 9.9 lbs, you'll soon forget about the weight once you see the enormous 17" widescreen display. not to mention the blazing fast p4 2.8gHz hyper-threading chip and the 800mHz system bus. the dvd-rw is also a nice feature for home movie making and watching. because of the widescreen, it is able to house a full-size keyboard, which is always a plus when performing tasks that require lots of typing. the entire notebook is housed in a sleek, modern casing with a metallic blue outer shell, and silver metallic on the inside. it has all the ports you need, including an s-video out for connection to your tv, and four that's right, count'em four usb 2.0 ports for hooking up peripherals. it even has an SD drive for loading pictures from your digital camera.

the harman kardon speakers, while a good idea, are a little on the "tinny" side, so the integration of a subwoofer would have definately rounded out the audio experience. battery life is a little on the short side, but what do you expect from something this powerful? i probably wouldn't recommend extensive traveling with this beast due to it's sheer size and short battery life (in addition to finding a laptop case that will fit it), but as a portable desktop going from room to room in your house, it should fit the bill just fine.

This computer really does have it all. Its quick, has plenty of extra's and has a great screen. Sure its heavy, and the battery life is not great, but if your looking at THIS kind of power, those factors don;t matter. Your more likely to have this plugged in the wall and not on the go anyway. Its really a small desktop: 2.8P,(with 800mhz bus) 512MB RAM, 32MB Video RAM, DVD-R/RW, 17 inch screen, and a pretty good software package!!!! On paper, it matches or BEATS many of today desktops. And on top of it all, you can have it for under 2 grand. I've owned it for 5 weeks now, and its been running great. The built in Wi-Fi is great too, because if you manage to take it somewhere where there is wireless internet, its ready to jump on. The Screen is without a doubt, the greatest feature. You can see everything, and watching DVD movies are really fun. Its like you have a portable desktop with a 17" widescreen that you can carry with you if you had to. The battery lasts about 1 hour and a half, depending on how heavy you use it, but like I said, power like this comes with a price. Great for digital pictures, great for home movies, although the hard drive is a bit small, I suggest buying the opitional 2nd hard drvie for the unit. Great for a first time buyer, or the professional.

Buy Toshiba Satellite P25-S507 17" Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Now

This is one fantastic machine. I'd do it again even though I found a few problems.

First, the Toshiba carrying case is the only one that really works. You can get them at CompUSA. Kensington has a small one but not enough room for all your stuff.

It's possible to get a virus almost immediately after going on line. Mine needed 13 Windows critical updates and 9 other recommended. Norton was no help as it was an XP flaw. I did my updates on a LAN system behind a router configured to block all the nasty ports. I recommend this procedure if you can get access to Cable/DSL with a multi-port router.

The only shortcoming I found is the touchpad sensitivity. It's way too high and there's no way to reduce it through software properties. Toshiba has updates for numerous things but not touchpad sensitivity. You can shut off the pad, Ctrl-F9, and use an external optical wheelmouse plugged into the side USB port.

These few problems will be solved so don't wait to enjoy the machine.

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite P25-S507 17" Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Here

I have had this laptop for two months and it is in general a fine machine. The big screen, accurate colors on the screen, DVD burner, and powerful processor make this a fantastic machine to write code/design websites/edit multimedia files on. The reason why i haven't given it a five star review is that toshiba will probably never release an updated video card driver for the geforce fx 5200 that is part of this laptop. Usually I manually install the driver update nvidia makes (as of now it is the ForceWare Rel. 50 Driver Download) to avoid lazyness of the company selling the machine/card, but since this is a wide screen machine with a rare resolution (1440 x 900), nvidia's generic driver doesn't work. After speaking with a Toshiba rep on the phone I was told that their offical policy is to not make updated drivers unless a MAJOR problem happens. This is crazy. Everyone knows that updated drivers make a huge difference in performance and quality of hardware (especially since the FX series of cards are new and I'm sure that in a year the drivers will need major updates), so it is irriatating to see toshiba make such a fine machine in general and not bother updating their drivers. Am I going to have to wait until Half Life 2 comes out (and chokes on old drivers), and everyone complains due to poor performance of the video card for Toshiba to maybe do something? Does Toshiba seriously expect me to ever buy anything they make again if this continues to be a problem??? (i'm going to say hello to alien ware, LOL) The funniest part about all this is that the stickers on this machine when you pull it out of the box advertise the geforce fx card for gaming.

Also speaking of the video card, why have 32 MB of RAM on it with no offical way of upgrading (i guess i could always ask yoshi on tech tv if there is a way i can mod this thing LOL)? This alone will probably make Half Life 2 unplayable at a decent resolution whenever it comes out.

If you are a Toshiba employee and you are reading this, show this to your bosses and show them that there ARE customers who actually expect their hardware to work as best as it can and if a company is too LAZY to ensure this they WILL look elsewhere when the time comes to buy a new machine (due to moore's law it will be sooner than later). I would be a toshiba fanboy for life if they just did the right thing on this issue since their hardware is of high quality. Ask your bosses why they don't want to support their hardware with new drivers. They may think that I will have to buy more hardware at a earlier time, but if I do, it definately won't be a toshiba machine.

Shame on nvidia for not supporting wide screens on their generic driver too! (but since it is a generic driver i don't really expect much) Would it really kill you guys to do this?...bad support from ATI on their Rage 128 (yes this a old school card) made me steer clear of their new cards and this incident isn't helping your standing with me right now either. You COULD pressure your OEM customers like Toshiba to do the right thing you know.

Another tip: whenever you buy a laptop or LCD screen at a store, make sure that there are NO BLOWN PIXELS before you pay for it or you will be stuck with it unless there are more than 8 (i even had the service plan)! If it wasn't for the DVD Burner not working right I would've been stuck with annoying blown pixels!

Want Toshiba Satellite P25-S507 17" Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4 (Hyper-Threading), 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard Discount?

this machine is one of the most awesome pieces of equipment i have ever come across...it is fully loaded...like buying a rolls royce with a ferrari engine...the 2.8GHZ processor keeps it humming...while the huge screen and RAM keep it kicking...i love it

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Dell Inspiron i15R-526MRB 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mars Black)

Looks nice even when its keyboard cover is not black as I saw in the amazon pictures. Web Cam is not HD. Good Compute for its price. I'll add 3 more GB RAM since it is cheap and for sure its performance is going to increase.

Got this for $379.00 sold and shipped by Amazon with FREE 2-day shipping because I'm an Amazon PRIME member. Awesome machine upgraded the RAM to 8GBs ($39 after rebate free one day PRIME delivery). What a deal, this thing screams for that price we're talking major value for money. Sad thing is I was so happy I wanted to get another one, but 2 days after I ordered it the price went up $110! Of course just more evidence I got an amazing deal. Thanks Amazon!

Buy Dell Inspiron i15R-526MRB 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mars Black) Now

If you think to replace/upgrade hard disk, re-think. You will have to open mother board to access the hidden hard drive. Very difficult to deal with those tiny plugs.

Read Best Reviews of Dell Inspiron i15R-526MRB 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mars Black) Here

The price was right and the product is very good. I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking of purchasing a laptop.

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Bought this Laptop about a year ago and I have been pleased with it ever since. I just upgraded the memory to 8GB and loaded WIN 8. Works even faster and I believe it came with a 2 years warranty.

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Dell Inspiron 15R-2nd Gen 15.6" Notebook / 2nd Generation Intel(R) Core(tm) i7-2630QM / 6GB Memory

i orderd this produc but i didn't arrive in estimated time delivery so i made a full refund purchase the seller was verry prompt about my refund and i got my money back in no time .it's a trusted selle i may say.all good and tks about my refunds

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Sony VAIO VGN-NS325J/T 15.4" Notebook (2.0GHz Intel Pentium Dual-C T4200 3GB RAM 250GB HDD DL DVD-R

I came to Amazon looking for this notebook because it has been the very best computer I've ever had.

Hands down.

It is and has always been fairly quick with very minimal work on my part (I got rid of Norton's and installed McAfee.) I have never had a single issue with this laptop. As a matter of fact mine is now 4 years and 5 months old and is still running like a top. I wanted to get another one in case mine ever dies so I started looking to see if they are still made. My only complaint, as someone else noted on another site, is the have a cheapish CD drive door but mine still works and still works fine so I shouldn't complain about that even.

This laptop is quick, not prone to errors,smudge proof, great screen, and even more unbelievable, still on the original battery even after 4.5 years!!!

If I can't find this at the time mine dies I will stay with the Sony family of products for sure!

JB

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Lenovo ThinkPad 23535UU 14-Inch Laptop

This model "Lenovo ThinkPad T430s 23535UU" doesnot include Bluetooth, FingerPrint Reader and Backlit keyboard.

I was in the impression that all T430s models include above options as standard.

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Dell Inspiron 1526 Laptop Midnight Blue (15.4" Wide Screen with true life, built-in Webcam, AMD Tur

Ok, as an actual user of an Inspiron 1526, I can honestly say that this has been a great buy. This other review that is in this page is not a fair review because it is stating an opinion in general of Dell instead of writing about the actual product.

My Inspiron specks are a little different from the one advertised. Mine, which I had now for 4 days today (8/30/08) has an AMD Athlon X2 1.9 GHz processor with 2 GB of RAM (Insp. 1526 can be expandeble to 4 GB of RAM) with a 160 GB HD, a DVD RW, and Windows Vista Home Premium. This also includes 4 USB ports, Ethernet, Modem, Wireless network connection, IEEE and HDMI ports and 8-in-1 Media Card Reader for your digital camera. I did not include the Web Cam nor Microphone.

Right out of the box, this machine has performed very well. This is designed for the casual user in mind. The main reason for me to buy this laptop is for writing screenplays. I added Office 2007 and Movie Magic Screenwriter 6. Both work great in this machine.

The system has been stable so far. Video quality is great with the True Life Widescreen display with vivid colors. The speakers are not the greatest, they sound rather tiny, but you do have two headphone jacks (if you're watching a DVD with somebody) or you can add external speakers to this laptop.

The video card is a X1270 AMD Radeon. It can display 3D graphics, but this card is not a good option for any of the new games out there. If you want to play any of those games like Halo 2, Bioshock, etc., then this machine is not for you.

Now, this machine can play older games, published about 2004 like World of Warcraft, which I can play it at the normal screen resolution of 1200x800 in the ranges of 18 to 32 FPS, which is playable and it looks good. I also have Unreal Tournament 2004 which performs well enough to play it, and and Magic The Gathering Online V3 which is a newer game but it will not tax your video card.

Overall I'm very pleased with this. It is a solid machine that would be great for a writer, student, or casual user who can read e-mail, surf the web, write documents and play World of Warcraft and is on a budget.

I bought this baby the same day I was going to get ripped off/tricked by someone into buying one of their old laptops. I figured why get an old one when can get a brand new one for the same price with more hard drive space.

When I opened the box I was pleasantly surprised to see my brand new jet black inspiron 1526 with all those wonderful specs, sans the video card (I don't play games on my laptop much anyway so not a problem.) It and Vista worked great, especially because every piece of hardware that I had (mouse, printer, digital camera, cell phone) all were compatible with Vista.

3 Months later I get an error code that will not allow me to log onto my computer. I figured the nice people at Dell would help. They gave me a hardy *BLANK* Off, go to the retailer that you purchased the laptop from for help. I go to Best Buy who wanted to back up my files for $90? ahmm how bout no. (Best buy didnt have a warranty option on the website when I purchased it) They sent it to get "repaired" under the dell warranty. Dell had it for a week, did a diagnostics check, sent it back to me with an A OK! Got home, STILL COULD NOT LOG ON!

I had to split the drive into 3 partitions, re-install Vista on a second partition, in order to access all my files. Then burn them on disks for safe keeping while I formatted the entire hard drive and reinstalled all the drivers myself and put back all my files.

2 Months later. Sitting listening ( the speakers aren't great at all. But plug some headphones in and turn it up you'll be partially deaf for a minute or so) to a CD in the laptop while browsing, BLIP system shuts down wont turn back on. Take it back to best buy. They send it out for another week. Diagnosis... Mother Board burned out (after 5 months). I'm hearing its a common problem with the 1526. Dell fixed that. I get my laptop back from Worst Buy WITHOUT my CD. My calls have not been returned by Hells repair people or Worst Buy.

I would give this laptop a low 3. A 2.9 if possible. When its good its good, but when its bad it REAL bad.

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I apologise first of all because I didn't buy this from Amazon. I bought it from a dealer in Beijing's Computer Area for roughly the RMB equivalent of GBP600. After my last laptop, a BenQ JoyBook which should really have been called MiseryBook, this truly is a joy to use. It's fast: on a fast internet connection you can work almost as fast as you can think and that feels amazing. Compared to the Benq, the screen is really bright. Really bright. It looks totally cool in navy blue and silver. The keyboard (which was the reason I had vowed never to have a Dell again)is a real pleasure to use: I love it. I'm running Avira, Spybot, Spywareblaster, Malwarebytes, CCleaner, Stopzilla, Eusing Registry Cleaner, Ad-aware, Glary Utilities and Superdefrag and it runs really clean. Before I was always having to waste time getting rid of viruses. All in all, IMHO this is a just a wonderful machine to use. My only gripe is that all the documentation and software was in Chinese and Dell China/Hong Kong refused point blank to provide a duplicate in English despite my many efforts, although they could have done so had they wanted to. I did manage to download an English manual from their US website, but no thanks to them. Shameless. So I will never buy from them again since their's is a culture of contempt. What self-sabotaging incompetents they are. "One customer properly looked after is worth more than $10000 of advertising" Jim Rohn

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My 11 year old son purchased this laptop 11 1/2 months ago with his own money. Three weeks ago the hard drive failed suddenly. The hinge on the left side of the machine was also failing, so I contacted Dell. The hard drive is a self install and I was sent a postage paid box to send the laptop to Texas for the hinge repair. Dell contacts me the following week to inform me they WILL NOT cover the hinge because the unit has been "abused". This laptop has NEVER been dropped, thrown, etc. They want to charge me $120 for the hinge repair which will not happen.. When you complain online or via telephone you will NEVER speak with a english speaking tech unless you buy an extended warranty in which case that will entitle you to speak with someone in the good old USA. If you like throwing your money away and being frustrated, please purchase this laptop!

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I have the Inspiron 1526 and have had it since 2008. Overall it hasn't been a bad operating computer and I haven't needed Dell Support Service as I am able to solve most of my computer problems and am mechanical enough to repair and replace parts my computers need (having been the first female office equipment repair technician in the Denver area in the 1970's). While the operation of the computer has been good, the overall construction is chintzy, flimsy, and of poor quality. The computer's overall appearance is attractive, but having offered that positive observation, I would caution that the case will fall apart easily with minimal use. I bought this computer as a secondary computer, my primary being a HP Pavilion. With opening the computer no more than 4 times, the plastic hinges began to separate exposing the wires contained within. Then the top back cover began to separate from the bezel. These problems worsened with every use. One day the computer fell off of the sofa onto a thick and thickly padded carpet while closed. Keys popped off of the keyboard. Normally keys can be pressed back on, but one of the keys broke a clip necessitating the replacement of the keyboard. With the stress being placed on the bezel from the separation of the top back cover and hinges, the bezel has cracked in half at the bottom nearest the left hinges. Estimates to replace these parts were almost $500. Ordering the parts directly from Dell is out of the question as they are more expensive than ordering them from online computer repair companies. I have ordered the parts from an independent Dell repair company for slightly more than $100 and will repair the computer myself. My HP Pavilion was dropped on a hard floor by TSA at the Denver Airport and other than a couple of scratches to the case, the Pavilion's case and keyboard emerged unscathed, and the computer is fully operational. Had that happened to the Dell, I would have been carrying the Dell through the airport in a million pieces, I'm sure. Additionally, the touchpad to the Dell show a great deal of wear from minimal use, while my 7 year-old Pavilion's touchpad shows no wear and tear from hours of use daily. In doing searches for the parts to repair my Dell, I found numerous computer repair companies that do complete cosmetic refurbishing of Dell computers (including replacement of the top and bottom cases, keyboards, palm rests, touchpads, etc.) for $250 to $300 which indicates to me that Dell's computer cases and the other plastic parts aren't built to last. I can't comment on Dell's technical support having never needed to use it, but overall I'm not impressed with the quality of the Dell laptops in comparison to HP, Toshiba, etc. If the laptop will be getting a great deal of use or is being carried around a great deal, I wouldn't recommend a Dell unless one buys a Dell that has been manufactured for business use (which also comes with a high price tag). I just replaced a broken screen in an E Machine, and in comparison, the case to the E-Machine is far sturdier than the case to the Dell Inspiron and the E-Machine laptop wasn't nearly as expensive. My rating of this computer is probably better than it should be and wouldn't have been as low as it is were it not for the poor quality of the computer case and its lack of durability and suitablilty for everyday use. I can't rate a computer very high if with light use, one has to duct tape the case together.

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Lenovo G780 17.3-Inch Laptop

This is a well designed and powerful laptop for the family. The screen is large 17.3" by limited by the 16:9 resolution. So, video enjoyment is not as good as full 1080, but at this price point, it does ok

Bought this laptop for school work for my 2nd grader who is homeschooled. Everything works great EXCEPT for connecting to wifi....did everything that was suggested to do to fix it....still didn't work. Finally called Lenovo support...they fixed it by uninstalling then reinstalling the wifi driver....then it only worked for a day...so now I'm back to no wifi...have to plug in a long CAT6 to get Internet access...gonna call Lenovo tech support AGAIN to see if they can fix it....NOT A HAPPY CUSTOMER RIGHT NOW!!!!!

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It's great! I just didn't expect it to be so big! But still a great deal for an awesome computer!

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I decided not to try and get a Windows 7 machine, and just went with the best Windows 8 machine I could get in my budget (it was on sale for $500 at the time.) For that money, I get more computer than I ever have before. My last machine was an HP Win XP business model with 100GB hard drive, which I got at a discount for $700 five years ago. So I felt really good about how much I was getting for the price.

The machine is satisfyingly large without being heavy. It is in fact surprisingly light for the size. It also runs very quietly and doesn't get hot, even sitting on a lap. The case (a semi-shiny black) is a fingerprint magnet, but that's not uncommon these days. The screen is large, bright, and I found no issues with the angle. The keyboard is really nice; it has very shallow key wells, so no little crumbs falling and getting stuck under the keys to get crunched unpleasantly and make them sticky. It is also much slimmer than I expected.

I get the griping about the Windows 8 PC/Tablet compromise, but it took me all of five minutes of Googling to find some add-ons and programs to revert to Windows settings I was more comfortable with, as an XP user. There are a number of very nice programs available to add a Start button back in, for example (I chose to use Classic Shell, which also adds more functionality to Win Explorer, but that's just one of many.) I have so far not found that convenient "Adjust for Best Performance" setting I used in XP to knock the sleek windows appearance back a bit, but with 6 GB RAM, I haven't found all that fancy animation to affect performance at all. In fact, I had six apps/programs running along and was installing new ones without a hiccup. It is irritating that the Apps don't have an in-program close button, but they can be closed on the left-hand side of the screen. Counter-intuitive but easy enough once figured out.

I am a little irked that all the pre-loaded Lenovo apps have no explanations about what they do or a booklet describing them or something. I couldn't even find a description of them on the Lenovo site, and am not inclined to Google each one to figure out whether I need it or not.

Overall, I found it to be a wonderful laptop for the money. Time will tell if it proves reliable enough to last years, but my first impression is very positive.

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Love this laptop. Has all the features I need at an affordable price. Quiet, does not get hot, sound is great.

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HP Pavilion dv6t Quad Edition QE 15.6" Laptop PC, Quad Core i7-2670QM Processor, 8GB RAM, 750GB Har

I love this laptop. Only issue I have and it was my fault for not reading more carefully is that it is larger than I thought. I should probably have gotten the slightly smaller model since I travel internationally a lot and have to lug it around along with its huge power supply. That being said, on the positive side, the screen is excellent.

Bought one from HP for more cost, gave to my son. I liked it (got to play with it before giving it to him), and he likes it. Decided to get one for me to replace an older Toshiba (i7-740), which was very good 2 years ago. A gift card from my brother and wife brought the price down to "even better".

Pros: The i7-2670 is definitely faster, and the 4+ hour battery life improved on the Toshi's 2 to 2-1/2 hours. Get the 9-cell battery for an extra half to one hour over the standard 6-cell. The Toshi had a 12-cell, but the newer 2nd Gen Intel processor's technology is much more battery efficient, yet still has a noticeable improvement in processing power. Much less heat than the Toshi. My HP had a couple of items just one step down from what was on my son's, but otherwise identical. I like this dv6tqe very much, running Win7Ultimate, Cyberlink DVD Ultra 11, Adobe Photoshop Elements 10 and Norton 360. The 8 Gb DDR3 1333 RAM does a good job allowing multiple windows. USB 3.0 ports with external 3.0 hard drive transfers data up to 4 times faster than 2.0 in my real-world Norton backups, broadband, and photo transfers. Fairly easily set up, the fingerprint reader is a convenient extra layer of security.

Cons: The Beats Audio is a joke, the Toshi's Harmon-Kardons are MUCH better. Still, sound is ok for a knockaround laptop, just not very good for music. My son's has a 1080p screen, significantly better than my nice 720p. The 1366x728 (720p) is better than standard, but not as good as 1080. My son's has the 7200 rpm hard drive, mine has the 5400 rpm, so his response time is slightly better. I hear a clicking when it runs, indicating the head is moving, a very minor irritation. Windows Performance Rating is the same at 5.9, caused by the hard drive being the weakest link. But SSDs aren't yet reliable, large, cost effective, or durable enough for my needs, fast as they are. The dark umber shell and wrist "pad" show fingerprints (skin oils). The DVD/BD tray is still hard to open: the button has to be really depressed to make it work. The touch pad can be (seems to vary) VERY sensitive, so I use an external mouse. HP's Support Assistant took getting used to, not fully logical, but has some good information. Like Windows' problem help, all but useless. Bloatware was easy to remove.

As a result, I gave it 4 stars. It's a very good laptop (not for music lovers, middlin' for gamers) for everyday, general power use. Again, I like it for my uses. I've worked with computers since 1983 (a Tandy), and DOS through Windows 7(SP1). Desktops (currently a Dell Studio XPS 435mt with i7-920 and 12 Gb DDR3 1333 RAM) and laptops. Consider myself an advanced novice (maybe just barely intermediate), not a tech, but help many other folks who want computers but have no interest in tech. Amazon's price was right (especially with the gift card), but in order to get a more acceptable (buyer statistics) price, this particular setup skimps a bit on the components. Again, does well for everyday with a touch of power, cost versus benefit.

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Dell M70 15.4-Inch Precision Mobile Workstation

I've been using the Precision M70 for the last three years and I still think it outperforms most of the new laptops that I've worked on. It is a tough, well constructed latop that is great for everyday work. The video card which seperated this model from other Dells of its time is very good and better than most stock videos on new laptops.

This computer was purchased to replace a newer machine the had failed and has been a fine replacement. After adding the battery that the seller said was missing I have been very pleased with the performance of it. Though it is a used machine, it was in nearly new condition and has worked well, even accepting a 2GB memory upgrade from the failed machine it replaced. with that addition it has been able to run Windows 7 without fault. This is how a purchase should be, honest and easy. If this seller has another machine offered, buy it, you can't go wrong.

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I am very impressed with this laptop for the price. it kicks I highly recommend tampa laptops and amazon for a great deal.

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The Dell laptop I ordered was perfect for my son he stays on it all the time!!! I need to see about getting another one for myself!

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The laptop crashes alot and has to be repaired. It will cost more to fix it then I paid to own it.

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HP 2000-412NR Notebook PC AMD Dual Core 3GB RAM 320GB Hard Drive 15.6" LED

This notebook is a good deal. Overall quality is good. It scores 3.4 on Windows Experience Index, due to the processor. Memory, Gaming, and Hard disk score above 5. Screen, quietness, and sound are very good. Keyboard and case are unimpressive but functional.

Will stream Netflix HD video fine, but that is it's processing limit.

Overall, I am very happy with the purchase.

the front side of the keyboard near by where the touch-pad is, the machine has the 2-two buttons so wrong positioned that when you set this laptop on your lap the buttons activate frecuently.

I'm happy how it performs, the look its simple and the key on the keyboard are all the same color, very basic, good buy.I recomend it buying it, you wont lose (if you get used to the 2-key issue)

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I recently recieved this as a gift from a family member, and im pretty impressed. Not saying its a powerhouse, im just saying it passed my expectations. First of all it can handle light gaming. I played far cry 3 on lowest settings with a decent amount of lag, but iwas surprised it could handle it at all. of course its not a gaming powerhouse but it nice to see i could have a somewhat decent gaming experience with it. my biigest gripe is battery its not very good now i know that this is no ultrabook, but i was hoping for a solid 4 or 5 hours of moderate use, but i get 3 hours of browsing or light use, and thats a rarity, usually around 2 and a half hours. although i was impressed(to an extent) with all the laptops out today 350$ can get you a better machine. but at the time of its releasemid say this was good for the price

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Gave as gift to daughter she could not connect to her wireless router. Called HP and had to return to them to fix it. They are returning it to her today stating that they fixed it. The problem was with the wireless antannae. Once we get back we will be able to tell how it is.

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Acer Aspire V5-571P-6698 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Silky Silver)

I love this laptop. Slim, yet still has a DVD drive (not so common these days). The touch screen makes clunky Windows 8 so much easier to deal with. The touch pad is very responsive, easy to right and left click. Despite being thin it feels sturdy and doesn't flex when you put pressure on it. It can do some serious yoga, the screen tilting back almost 180 degrees. Backlit keys are fancyand for a $500 laptop, it looks really classy. Everyone who sees it goes, "Oooooh".

My love for this laptop doesn't blind me to its faults, howeverit's a budget laptop with a touchscreen, and that's that. I haven't tried to run anything big on it yet, but its speed is not anything spectacular. Should be fine for average web surfing/word processing use but it's nothing flashy. I also don't like the way the keys depress. They feel a bit mushy. I find the speakers a little tinny, though you can get fair volume out of them. They're weirdly located on the bottom of the laptop. The three USB ports are all right next to each other on the front left side.

Still, I would definitely buy this again.

I really not a high tech guy but this laptop is great for me. I love the touch screen. Everyone should try this laptop!

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Have had this for two weeks now and cant brag enough since my neighbor came over and loading a program to allow me go directly to desktop on start up. Windows 8 is the worst operating system MS ever made. Very clunky, but the Acer brad really surprised me. Great item and I would purchase again.. I really like the backlight keys.

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This is a very nice laptop. The touchscreen works great and all of the extra features it has like a back lite keyboard is defiantly worth the money. My only complaint is that the battery life isn't the greatest, only about 4 hours when it is being used. Overall, a very nice laptop.

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Very easy to set up and use. The touch screen makes windows 8 easy to use. Battery life is about the same as any laptop. It plays netfix great without pausing to reload. Would defiantly recommend to anyone wanting a great laptop on a budget.

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Elitebook 8460P 14.0" I5-2520

I will disclose the obvious, I am biased toward HP products. That said, my company recently swapped out our laptops under contract from a competitive brand to the HP Elitebook 8440p. I was really happy to say the least! After having been around the HP Pavilion product line and the HP Mini 110 lines for quite a while, I was shopping for a new personal laptop and the 8440p really hit the button for me. I called HP small business sales and had a very informative discussion with a salesman and he informed me that the 8460p was the newer replacement and that I would find it might even be affordable compared to the older model.

Now for some details:

Processor is the iCore5 and it can be upgraded in the future because it has the ZIF mount. Also, the specs. were not clear but there are two memory banks and it comes with a 4gb filled in one so you have usable memory if you want to upgrade. (I remember the days of getting your memory in smaller size and populating all banks so that if you wanted to upgrade, you needed to chuck them all and start fresh).

I got looking at my optical drive and since I had a spare new blue ray player / dvd burner slim sata drive, I thought what the heck, wonder if it would work? yup! now if you might like the fact that you do not need tools to pull the cover off to access the memory and hard drive area, and your Windows COA label is now protected under the battery so you won't have them become damaged and worn off like on my previous model.

graphics and sounds are very good for a laptop, especially a business one. very neat features like built in smart card reader, finger print scanner, business card scanner, USB3 ports, express-card expansion slot, ability for docking station and secondary battery attachment. the construction of this laptop is very solid and rugged. I feel like the price I paid was very much of a steal for what I got compared to the normal plastic computers at the box stores. the positive latching lid, multiple wireless options, battery configurations and endless power with the HP super battery (I don't remember their name for it, but they have one) all add up to make one heck of a desktop killer. I can honestly say that with the docking station and the processor and memory options, I am ready to retire the desktop!

too many other good things about this to list, but maybe another owner will pick up the football and run with it.

For those unwilling to read this long, long review, the title of my review sums it up for you. Scroll down to where I explain the Pros & Cons if you like, but I am providing a more detailed explanation of my experience for those interested.

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I received this laptop through my school's Campus HP program, and I have to say, it is a very well built laptop all round. Feels sturdy as a rock, lifting the lid is easy with the big release button. There is slight flex in the screen though but this is not a big issue. The rest of the body is very very sturdy. The keyboard is one of the best keyboards I have ever worked on, hands down. I am extremely impressed. That said, I do not like the new format for the arrow/directional keys one bit. Making them half the size of a regular key to save space was a terrible idea and gives rise to quite many unintended key presses. But besides that it is an absolute delight to work on this keyboard. I only wish it was backlit or had a backlit-version as an optional upgrade. The touchpad is very responsive, but the extra multi-touch settings, etc are a headache to work with and I recommend getting a mouse for your work. The touchpad is great but because of the problems I mentioned, only really good for the odd surfing. Scrolling is a pain hence get a mouse.

The Screen though, is one of the most terrible screens I have ever worked with. This particular screen is the 1366x768 screen, and I have worked with the 1600x900 screen as well and there is no marked improvement. It has a matte finish which is excellent, although the only good thing about it sadly. The color range is appalling. I am a graphic design student and have messed up some of my projects on this with the screen displaying one color and the studio's printer giving me something else. I have to resort to the school's iMacs for that, sadly. I am extremely disappointed in this screen, which also has terrible viewing angles you have to have it angled straight at you or it stresses your eyes out really fast. Audio quality of the speakers, too, is extremely, extremely bad. One of the worst speakers ever I feel embarrassed to playback audio/video clips in class using my laptop because of its pathetic sound reproduction as well as low volume output. Highly suggest you get headphones or connect this laptop to proper speakers for any music listening because it will butcher your tracks.

Performance wise, the processor is zippy and extremely fast; at the very last this get your work done for the next 2-3 years with ease. It overclocks marvelously with Turbo boost. The graphics option is really embarrassing though and I wish this came with a better option than the AMD chip it has (Mine does not even have that). For a laptop in the range of (and above) $1100, I expect at least a mid range card considering that competing brands have such options a card like the nvidia GT 540m would have made this laptop an absolute steal. Thus for the aforementioned reasons do not even think about playing any games on this laptop Call of Duty Black Ops stutters at around 25-30fps at best with all settings set at the lowest. Not impressive at all. The reason I recommend a better card is not for gaming, it is because I desire a good performer that can handle anything thrown at it to a somewhat respectable level, not dig its own grave and bury itself in it, like when I ran the music and gaming tests. Tad Imbalanced, huh? Hard drive performance is strictly OKAY for a 7200rpm drive. HP has its bloatware and I highly recommend you get rid of it to avoid the atrociously long boot times. Also, please do not update your BIOS to anything above F.20 (at the time of writing this review) because HP disables SATA III support on later BIOS releases. So if you have an SSD (which is an absolutely recommended upgrade) on this, your speeds will be badly throttled. Kudos, HP.

Upgrading this laptop is not difficult removing the bottom cover is extremely easy and swapping RAM in particular is extremely easy. You can also get an upgrade caddy to replace the optical drive and thus run two hard drives like I am. The layout is clean and very impressive, but this leads me to my next disappointment this laptop runs HOT and can be really loud. Don't even think of playing games, this thing heats up to around 90'C which is TERRIBLE for a non-gaming laptop, because the components are not designed to withstand such temperatures. Consequently, the fans kick and run loud trying as they work hard to cool down. This laptop has a terrible cooling system. A cooler is highly recommended, and repasting the CPU paste with better aftermarket paste is advised if you know how to get that done.

The webcam is of decent quality, the small light meant to light up your keyboard in the dark is almost useless since the screen is actually brighter. The presence of one Powered USB2.0, 2 USB3.0 ports and an eSATA/USB2.0 port is a very commendable attachment since not many laptops have the powered port (useful for charging your stuff even with the laptop off), USB3 ports or the eSATA port. The lack of an HDMI port is extremely disappointing but the DisplayPort is hardly a consolation. There is VGA for connecting to projectors for the businessmen. Also, battery life of this laptop is good, ranging around the 4-hour mark, and about 40-50 minutes more if you turn down the brightness and turn off wireless connections. I expect better from a laptop of this form factor and a lower TDP processor (35W versus 45W), though, but this is still good. Wireless range is good with the Intel 6250 card though nothing to write home about. It works inconsistently. Another strange issue with this laptop is the fact that it sometimes refuses to shut down/hibernate/sleep. It completes any of those actions you picked, but then restarts on itself within a matter of seconds. The only way to stop this is by manually removing the battery. Also, sometimes the multimedia shortcuts (fn + f6/f7/f9/f10) for the brightness and volume refuse to work at all sometimes, and only a restart fixes this. Likewise, the two USB3 ports on the side also just stop working occasionally. This can only be rectified by a hard restart.

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Thus:

Pros: Great processing power and speeds; Good battery life; Excellent keyboard; Good (sometimes inconsistent) wireless connectivity, USB3 + USBpowered ports; Good trackpad (minus multitouch); Wonderful build quality; Good warranty; Open to upgradeability (RAM and CPU);

Cons: Terrible audio and 3d performance; Terrible performance under 32-bit Windows 7 (64bit has no problems); HP bloatware; Horrible, horrible screen (the deal breaker for me); random bugs with multimedia keys and shutting down/hibernating/sleep mode; Terrible cooling system, runs hot, runs loud; Starts-up randomly for no reason sometimes despite being shutdown.

Conclusion: The only reason I have this laptop is because the school requires me to have it for my second major which is business. The school's 4-year complete coverage warranty is also another incentive. I have already bought another laptop for myself and am leaving this for the most basic tasks such as web-surfing, word-processing and running business software. It is a good laptop for businessmen who don't need much but just want good build quality, or the odd college student who needs to do the most basic of work it should thus be priced much lower in my opinion for its rather low usefulness. To anyone else, I cannot recommend this. You would be better off buying a slightly more expensive Macbook 13" or even the Macbook Air, or for less expensive options you could take a look at the Acer Aspire line or a Sony Vaio for a good looking, well built all round laptop. Sticking to HP? Go for the Envy line, they are much better overall although not as well built or with such good battery life. However the terrible speakers which will embarrass you and kill your ears, and the terrible screen which leaves much to be desired are easily the biggest turn offs that, sadly, offset the otherwise great keyboard and build quality to the point where I cannot recommend this to anyone. Hopefully they will do better with the next line of Elitebooks...

OVERALL: 3.5 / 5

Buy Elitebook 8460P 14.0" I5-2520 Now

Love the computer hate the display. Can't work on it for more then 20 minutes without connecting an external display. I'm not a big fan of the touchpad, two finger scrolling is glitchy. The computer is rather heavy as well.

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Lenovo 43302AU 15.6-Inch Laptop

I own this brand and I am very impressed with the quality and reliability. Lenovo was once a division of IBM so its no surprise. The product details are impossible to read above so I posted them here.

Features Include:

15.6" screen with LED backlight (1366x768)

Intel i3-380M Dual-Core 2.53GHz Processor with 3MB cache

320GB hard drive, 5400 RPM

2GB DDR3 RAM (8GB Max)

Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS

WiFi 802.11 b/g/n built-in, Gigabit Ethernet

DVD Super Multi Dual Layer Burner

0.3Mp Webcam with microphone

SD/MMC/MS.MS PRO/xD memory card reader

Keyboard & ouchpad with 2 click-buttons

Fingerprint reader

Stereo speakers

Connectivity: 3x USB 2.0, 1x USB/eSATA, PCI Express Mini Card Slot, VGA, Mic & Headphone mini-jacks

6-cell lithium-ion battery with 4 hours of battery life

Dimensions: 14.9 x 0.7 x 10.1"

Weight: 5.5 lbs.

Weary of hearing my husband complaining about his laptop, I ordered him this one. He says it's a dream to use. He has his working in four languages, plays Civilization V, uses Skype, as well as MS Office. No problems except that I want one now, too!

Buy Lenovo 43302AU 15.6-Inch Laptop Now

Straight out of the box, I love it. I ordered my Lenovo laptop (4330AU) over Thanksgiving weekend. Paid $376 for it with free shipping. Received in 3 business days. I purposely did not want the latest and greatest computer, and looked for solid customer reviews before purchasing. This is my 3rd laptop and, so far, after only using for one day, I like this one best. For the money, I'm pleased. Some of the little things I liked immediately included: a 10-key pad; a textured surface that doesn't show finger prints (finally!); easy to setup with no added crap; fast; quick to connect to my home wi-fi; very nice screen (although seems just a tad bit smaller than stated size). This laptop doesn't get hot like my old one, and the battery life appears to be as stated (4 hours) while running several websites and the wireless card.

I plan to use this laptop mostly for internet, Microsoft Office, photo editing, PC games, etc. Nothing serious. If this laptop holds up even 1 year for me, it will be my best purchase ever!

Updated 12/28/12

I have had two cases where, after a long period of time idle, the screen blinks when a key is pressed. Makes it impossible to shut it down using the mouse, so I use task manager and keyboard commands. After rebooting, the problem goes away. Never experienced this type of issue before, and not sure if it's serious. I plan to look into more over the weekend. Other than that, still very happy with this laptop.

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These were Christmas presents for my twin girls. Both computers worked great at 1st. But then the hard drive died on one of them. I had a major run around with Lenovo on getting it repaired. Their website told me I had to take it a local authorized repair company I tried this and after going to the 3 places they listed the 1st two told me do not make repairs on these computers the 3rd one said they could do the repair but just as i was leaving they called me back to let me know that Lenovo had just changed their policy and now they could not fix it. This company showed me the email they had received from Levono and sure enough the laptop was listed as one that they could no longer repair.

I then called Levono the following day and at first was told that I needed to take the laptop to a local repair company, I explained that that was not the case and I was put on hold for quite a while. When the person came back they said I was right and would have to ship it to them at my expense for repair. I was not happy about this but what choice did I have so back it went and 10 days later it arrived back with a new hard drive.

I will not be buying another Levono product again due to their service.

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This computer is a great buy. It fits all my needs and then some. I like the keyboard set up with the numbers on the side like a PC. It was delivered before the due date in good condition.

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Sony VAIO YB Series VPCYB35KX/S 11.6-Inch Laptop (Silver)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program So in this market of not-quite laptop/more-than-a netbook, it's easy to get bogged down and flustered, trying to figure out which system is the one for you. Sony has tried to bring its own netbook/notebook to the market with the Vaio YB series, but hasn't really succeeded. It hasn't altogether failed though either, but let's break it down and figure things out.

Pros:

1.) Incredibly easy out-of-box experience. Connect battery, turn on. Run through a very simple Windows 7 setup, and you're done.

2.) Not an altogether awful amount of pre-installed software (though still far too many Vaio entries in Programs/Features). The 500GB hard drive (456GB after formatting) has 437GB available, which is pretty reasonable after a Windows 7 installation.

3.) The system itself feels fairly solid, despite its platicky nature, with little to no flex anywhere.

4.) A nice array of ports for an 11.6" laptop, with 3x USB, 1x HDMI, Ethernet, VGA, headphone/microphone, SD Card/Memory Stick.

5.) Nice resolution for the screen size, at 1366x768, and very bright.

6.) Decent battery life (4-5 hours).

7.) Raised palm rests that are quite comfortable, solid, and not smudge-magnets like many other systems.

However, the cons have to come in here, and there's a lot of them...

Cons:

1.) The screen, while featuring a lovely resolution, is desperately (and I mean desperately) lacking in contrast. Viewing angles are atrocious, vertically and horizontally, and I'm just not happy with the way text is displayed due to the lack of contrast. Black text just looks faded and grey.

2.) There's one fan in the system, and that's on the left side of the system. It's always blowing, and makes a noticeable whining in a quiet room. I wouldn't classify it as obnoxious, even under full power, but it's definitely present, and runs 100% of the time.

3.) There's 4GB of DDR3 in the system, but with Windows 7 32bit installed, only 3.5GB is actually usable. Even more bizarrely, after opening up the panel on the underside, I found my system is equipped with one stick of 4GB RAM. But despite having two slots total in the computer, it's only capable of 4GB max (even with Windows 7 64bit tested)! So one slot will always stay empty...

4.) The trackpad, despite being very responsive, is very, very small. Curiously, it supports multitouch (but not for scrolling that's taken care of on one side of the trackpad with one finger, and is adjustable). Pinch to zoom and rotate is present, but good luck doing that with one hand. I found I had to use the index fingers of two hands to make it work. A bigger trackpad would help.

5.) The physical trackpad buttons are very loud and click-y. Definitely not conveying a high-end system here (which of course, it's not).

6.) The E-series dual-core AMD processor in the system just seems to struggle doing the most menial tasks. Watching HD YouTube videos pretty much means not doing anything else, and there's just a general sense of "slow" surrounding the entire computer. This isn't helped by the pedestrian 500GB 5400rpm Hitachi hard drive inside. Thankfully the drive is easily swapped out for something faster (7200rpm drive or SSD, please!). The unfortunate thing is this computer feels slightly less netbook-y, but altogether not enough notebook-y.

7.) The keyboard's keys are not full size. You get used to this for the most part, except for two absolutely obnoxious keys: The right shift key and the question mark key. The right shift is the same size as every other normal letter, and I just can't get used to it. Any time I use this key (which is all the time), I have to look down at it to see where I'm pressing. And entering a question mark is even more difficult, since that key is even smaller than the right shift and they're both next to each other! Ohh the pain!

8.) While the keyboard has a nice, chiclet-style feel to it, the higher rows of keys (the numbers especially) have a noticeably "tinny" sound to them, which once again doesn't convey quality...

9.) The power LEDs (yes, there are two of them, side and top, for no good reason), are astonishingly bright. These things light up a pitch-black bedroom. Good luck to your wife/husband/partner sleeping with you using your Vaio. Bright green fills the darkness. Oh, and you can't cover the larger of the two LEDs (the one on the side) with some felt or duct tape, because the LED houses the actual power button!

10.) Extremely tinny/thin sound, but this isn't altogether unexpected. Use earphones.

11.) Last and definitely least, there are 5 individual stickers on the laptop out of the box. While easily removed, it feels like an advertisement for everything about your new computer. Windows 7 sticker, AMD E sticker, Dual Core Graphics sticker, Energy Star sticker, and the Sony goodness-this-thing-has-HDMI-and-weighs-only-3.2lbs sticker. So many stickers!

Overall, this isn't a horrible system. If you have big hands look elsewhere as the keyboard (and to a lesser degree trackpad) will drive you mental, but if you can get past the cons, it's quite a nice, solid computer. It's hard to recommend, but not exactly easy to dismiss. For the money, though, be sure it's what you want.

3 stars out of 5.

I ordered this laptop for my wife as a replacement for her aging MSI Wind netbook which has server her very well for almost 3 years but has become quite sluggish...

The screen on the Sony is gorgeous (although it has glare issues and a rigid viewing angle), and altogether it is a beautiful machine. It also comes with 4GB of ram which is high for a netbook and compensates for the netbook-grade processor inside the hood. Windows Home Premium is also a welcome upgrade from Starter, and loads up quite quickly.

However, in retrospect the laptop does not justify it's very high price, for 2 main reasons:

1. Build quality is OK but not magnificient, it looks great but up-close and personal you feel the plastic. I actually had to superglue the top part of the display, as it came shipped with a small gap.

2. Battery life is absolutely unacceptable less than 3 hours on a charge, simply browsing the web with WiFi. Come on Sony, this isn't 2008 anymore...

In hindsight the TimelineX series is probably a much better buy. It looks less good IMO (which was actually a decisive factor for my wife), but in terms of battery life, CPU, etc, it probably beats the Sony for about the same price (I have no first hand experience with it, but was debating between the two before the purchase).

Buy Sony VAIO YB Series VPCYB35KX/S 11.6-Inch Laptop (Silver) Now

This is a great product. Sturdy construction, great screen resolution, super lightweight, boots up reasonably fast (it's Windows 7), 4GB of memory value wise, it's hard to beat. Battery life is not staggering compared to some of the Apple products I own, but I needed a windows based machine for a specific application and this one did the trick.

Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO YB Series VPCYB35KX/S 11.6-Inch Laptop (Silver) Here

Popup keeps coming up saying.

"Caution.

The installed battery may not be properly connected to the computer or may not be compatible with the computer.

Click "OK" to enter Hibernate mode, and remove and reinsert the battery.

See the eletronic VAIO(R) User Guide for more information about using the battery."

I would have given one star but Sony warned me of the pending lithium fire.

Thank you for not burning my house down :-)

And thanks to Amazon for having a good return policy!

PS When I say loose battery, I mean moves freely to the point you can hear it when you set the laptop down.

If someone had given me this as a gift, I would carry it in a bag so the battery wouldn't be able to slip out and go skipping across the floor.

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I am not easily pleased with electronics, and I have been searching for a decent lightweight (portable) laptop/netbook for months. I am not into purchasing overpriced anything (including laptops), but with this one I was willing to pay a little extra for a decent product. My basic requirement to the laptop/netbook was portability, but 10" was somewhat too small for me. I am also very easily annoyed by a slow computer (ie slow switching between the windows), so I wanted bigger RAM. I have been considering Acer one initially, but after seeing it in the store, I decided against it (mainly based on the looks and the screen). After quite a bit of hesitation, Sony Vaio 11.6" was selected.

I have been using this laptop/netbook for about 2 weeks, and so far I have been very happy. It looks awesome and is lightweight enough for a frequent traveler. The battery life is about 5 hours using wifi but this works for me. The screen is awesome, so bright and crisp! The overall look is very good, it does not feel cheap (as other similar less expensive models). Performance has been good as well. I am not using any memory-demanding games or software, but this computer is never slow. This is exactly what I wanted as I absolutely CANNOT stand a slow computer! The touchpad is extremely responsive as well. Wifi works just fine and is quite fast.

To sum it up, the purchase seems to be very well worth a few extra bucks, compared to what you will pay for similar cheaper models. So far, I like this product a lot. The only drawback I can see is a very bright LED light on the side, but considering everything else I am willing to live with this. Overall, a 5-star product.

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Sony VAIO VGN-FW510F/H 16.4-Inch Gray Laptop (Windows 7 Home Premium)

Pros:

Good specs for a mid-grade notebook

Comforable & quiet keyboard

Upward facing speakers

HDMI output

Aesthetically pleasing

Cons:

LCD is dark even at full brightness

Fan comes on intermitently every 4-5 mins

Heavy (6.9 pounds)

Low battery life (~2.5hrs on light usage)

Review:

I bought this at Bestbuy the weekend of Black Friday ($649.99). It's rare to find a mid-grade notebook that has dedicated graphics, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD, GigE & 802.11n connectivity, and a 1600x900 display. Even at MSRP, the specs are pretty good for the price. The keyboard is very quiet and comfortable to type on. The touchpad is a decent size but the 2 buttons are hard to click (I generally use the touchpad tap gestures). The max volume on the speakers are pretty good and they actually face up. Many lower end notebooks have them facing down going away from your ear and also gets muffled if you put it on your bed. The HDMI is great for connecting to an external display. Unfortunately, the integrated glossy 1600x900 xbrite-eco display looks pretty bad. Even on max brightness, the LCD is not very bright. The viewing angles are bad. Normal sized text is hard to read unless you're looking at the LCD straight-on. This is my first experience with extended usage on a Sony xbrite-eco display and I'm a bit disappointed. I haven't used a TN-panel in 3 years, so I am a bit spoiled on monitors. I'm also very conscious of computer noise. The fan comes on and off frequently and cannot be controlled by 3rd party software (This is true of all Sony Vaios). I checked this out using HWMonitor. The PC idles around 50C. When the CPU gets stressed to 59C, the fan starts spinning and cooling the CPU down until 51C, then stops. This is a regular pattern that occurs maybe every 4-5 mins, but on the other hand, many notebook cooling systems are the same way. The good thing is this never becomes one of those lap-scorchers. This thing is quite heavy at 6.9 pounds. The big LCD and dedicated graphics add weight and also trim down the 4400mAH battery's life. I get 2.5hrs on light usage. I think this could have used a bigger battery, but I think Sony didn't want to have to market a 7 pound+ computer. There is still pre-installed garbage software that you'll want to uninstall but it's not as bad as it used to be. This is currently my main computer and I usually have it "docked" to my external S-IPS Dell monitor, external keyboard/mouse, and constantly charged, so I don't feel the effect of the dull LCD, weight, or battery life.

Overall, I still really like the computer. To get similar specs elsewhere, you'd have to spend $1000+. It looks very sleek and has the Sony "Vaio" branding if you're into that. With a 16"+ laptop, weight and lowered battery life are a given. The hardware is very good other than the LCD and the cooling sytem is a little bit below average in my opinion. I'd say if this looks good on paper to you, head down to a brick and mortar to check out the LCD brightness, viewing angles, and weight before making your decision.

I have never dealt with such poor service in my entire life as I dealt with for my Sony Vaio VGN-FW. Less than six months after purchasing the computer the network connection stopped working. After two hours of dealing with Sony tech support they finally sent a technician, who replaced the network card but still didn't solve the problem. The next step was to send the computer to the Sony fix-it center where it was to be "assessed" and "processed". Then, I got the news according to Sony the switch to the wireless card was broken in the off position, it was somehow "my fault", and it would cost $700 to replace. This was a complete and utterly false and shameful assertion on their point, especially since the only time that the wireless switch had ever been used was when the Sony tech had toggled it in her diagnostics. After two days and considerable agony dealing with the customer service center I was finally able to get Sony to agree to replace the network card with no cost. All told the experience cost me two full days of my life and a month without my computer all to get what I should've had all along . . . a working laptop. I bought a Sony due to their reputation as a top-notch brand, but I will never make that mistake again they were deceitful in how they approached the issue and they made every attempt to screw me along the way.

Buy Sony VAIO VGN-FW510F/H 16.4-Inch Gray Laptop (Windows 7 Home Premium) Now

I recently bought the FW 501F and it is a great laptop for home and study projects, solidly built and with superb performance and capacity for gaming and browsing. If you do not mind the lack of BD player, this laptop is a winner, but amazon's prices for the same product are way above than Best Buy ($200+ difference). I already own a sony laptop FW 270J and they are excellent products. I would recommend this sony to anyone, over almost any other brands.

Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO VGN-FW510F/H 16.4-Inch Gray Laptop (Windows 7 Home Premium) Here

I recently purchased this for Christmas for a family member as a gift. The Sony VAIO VGN-FW510F/H 16.4-Inch Gray Laptop is very user friendly. The person using this is not the best with computer technology but Sony makes things very easy to understand and all the functions are obvious and easy. Windows 7 is very nice, intuitive and connected with printers and other peripherals very easily. I think for under $800 this laptop is a great buy. 16.4 "makes it easy to read for the entire family, and yet it is not cumbersome at all. I like this much better than the 14 or 15" models I looked at in the stores.

Battery life is not bad, but less than the stats stated here. I'd say 90 min is reasonable expectation with normal use. No blu-ray drive, but that isn't a big deal to me yet. Otherwise, I can't find much wrong with this laptop, and I would buy again if I needed another one.

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First of all I currently own 4 Sony Vaio Computers:

1. Vaio FW (upgraded to Windows 7 Professional): Just a fantastic combination of performance and build quility. True workhorse. HPs and Dell look dull compared to the sleek and elegant FW.

2. Vaio X (64GB SSD + Verizon broadband): Light as a feather, fantastic design, leaves all other netbooks in the dust, Mac Air looks boring compared to this. Performance is significantly faaster than the air as well. Includes VGA and Full Windows 7 Home Premium (which means it comes with the fantastic Windows Media Center). Includes 14 hour extended battery. Even with the extended battery the X looks sleeker than the Mac Air!

3. Vaio TP: I paid around $2000 for this excellent home theatre PC that does eveything. Again, very sleek and excellent performance.

4. Vaio LT All in one: I paid around $2000 for this, again an excellent all in one, better than an iMac in every way possible. Better audio (includes a built in sub woofer!), Blu Ray player and includes Vista Media Center + HD TV Tuner!

So what's the problem? For both the TP and LT computers which are Vista Sony support refuses to upgrade the graphics drivers to support windows 7. This means I can NEVER upgrade these from Vista to Windows 7. Sony makes great hardware, no question. But when it comes to support they are the worse. So IF you are budget conscious in any way or need your computer to be future proof for more than a couple of years NEVER EVER consider a Sony. This is coming from a big Sony supporter. Unlike Apple who back their hardware, Sony does NO such thing. You're on your own with Sony.

The FW is a great notebook and so far has worked flawlessly for me, but recent history tells me that Sony will probably not support it, now that the F series is out.

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