Lenovo - Thinkpad Twist S230u Convertible Ultrabook Tablet - Intel i5-3317U 1.70GHz - 4GB RAM - 500

Mostly the computer is a good buy. The problem is Windows 8. There is no media player in Windows 8. There are only a few close buttons available within the app. The START BUTTON is missing. The return to last page button does not work most of the time. You have to create a shutdown button on the desktop. So I would say that WINDOWS7 is superior to Windows8 and that is why I cannot recommend the purchase of this computer.

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

this laptop has done every tasks for me, i go to school so i do alot of papers, stores alot of files, i can multitask with out problem, it is overall a great laptop. i also love the casing of it it makes it look nice and clean with its aluminum casing.

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

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

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

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Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E430 3254 - 14" - Core i3

Bought this for my daughter. She's been really happy with it. Get's great battery life and does all the basics really well.

I just wanted to warn everyone from buying this or other products from ANTOnline (ANTOnline.com).

I bought this laptop from ANTONLINE and he sold the laptop as new but I later found out that it was already used. Several weeks ago it began to turn off for no reason so I contacted Lenovo Technical Support--since it still was supposed to have warranty (I bought it on November 22, 2012 and the PC stated it had 1 year of warranty) so Lenovo told me that the warranty had expired on May the 3rd 2013. They asked for the machine number and Serial and said it had been used on March 7th 2012. I have contacted the seller and I haven't received any reply leaving me with the only option to leave a negative feedback.

A WORD OF ADVISE:

>>CHECK the SERIAL and MACHINE number with Lenovo and see whether it has been used.

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ASUS G53SX-A1 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop - Republic of gamers (Black)

I bought this laptop after mine broke down (Toshiba TECRA A7, which lasted more than five years). It's fast, the keyboard is ergonomical, the lighting on it is awesome too, battery life is more than I expected for a laptop with these specs (more than three hours! with no energy savings settings). I'm mainly using it for studies and video processing, so it gets the job done fast. Definitely a good purchase, although my plans of buying a 4 GB SODIMM module to expand it's memory to 16 GB may be hindered since dismantling it can prove to be a bit difficult. Other than that it's awesome. I don't mind the design, I personally like it, but I know there's a few out there that absolutely hate it. It's a bit heavy but I don't plan to carry it around much, mostly home or friends' houses so I don't mind that. The backpack is cool, BIG and "shiny". The ROG mouse looks and feels awesome, but I'm in love with my old Microsoft Trackball Explorer USB 1.0! For it's price, the ASUS G53SX-A1 is a steal.

I was in the market for a monster gaming laptop and this was the one I ended up buying and I've been very happy about it.

Pros:

1) I was looking for Core i7, decent discrete graphics card, Blu-Ray, 1080p, and backlit keyboard. Even though this machine did not have BluRay, it's still pretty decent for a sub $1200 machine

2) 12GB of RAM! That's way more than I'll need for now!

3) GTX560M is no slouch. Only been playing WOW, but it looks very good so far

4) The case is matte, which is better than glossy at attracting finger prints

5) 2 year global warranty is better than 1

6) An empty drive bay just in case you want to install a 2nd HDD or SSD

7) Not much bloatware. Still quite a bit to uninstall, but not as much as say HP

8) The backpack & mouse that I got was surprisingly good.

9) Runs really quiet (when not accessing the optical drives) and cool. There is a monster exhaust system in the back, so the vents gets very warm.

Cons:

1) Slow GFX bus when compared to G53SW-A1, but the other one have less RAM

2) Odd power adapter connection location and doesn't really fit in to the machine well

3) The computer is a MONSTER. It's about the same size as my old 17" Dell, definitely NOT portable

4) Speaking of portable, the battery life is also awful, again not really surprising and really pretty much expected.

5) You have to burn your own back up DVDs

6) Speakers are a bit weak when compared to similar machines

7) The extended keyboard is kind of squished, but I'm used to it now

8) Weird HDD partitions. There is a hidden 100GB recovery partition and two 300GB partitions (one is SYSTEM and the other DATA). Might mess around and install a 128GB SSD and make the 750GB the data drive later

9) Upgrading the GFX card not possible (again expected, but it is possible on a Dell)

10) No BluRay and only one USB3 port

So it's not a perfect machine, but the cons are mostly expected. Given the cost of this machine compared to say XPS 17 (Sub par GFX card & ram at the same price) & HP Envy (Suspect Motherboard), this machine was really too perfect to pass up. So far it's been very stable, quiet, fast, and cool. Really can't ask for much better other than maybe an internal BluRay drive. Did I mention that this machine is really fast and powerful?

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This is a powerful machine. It is a BEAST in every meaning of the word. I love how it came with an OK quality backpack and a very nice gaming mouse.

The laptop itself has a very nice feel. Let me make a long story short:

Pros:

Amazing quality LCD screen. I LOVE the Matte finish.

Super powerful specs, 12 GB DDR3 1333 RAM, with best graphics of NVidia GTX at 2 GB, an i7 with great 7200 RPM Hard disk.

Super quiet, awesome feature.

Feels sturdy and nice keyboard.

Good multi-touch mouse pad.

Cons:

I like 15.6 laptops more than 17 because they are easier to carry. This one is supposedly 15.6, but has a big fat butt that makes it huge, and its very very heavy. My old 15.6 laptop fits nicely in my backpack, but this one doesn't... I wish I bought a 17 laptop instead :(

Big and heavy charger, looks like a brick actually.

My laptop couldn't find my 5 GHz network for some reason.

I don't know how to classify this, but the laptop design is very nice, except for the fat part in the back.

In short, I highly recommend this laptop, if you don't mind the weight, and huge charger. I guess a muscled beast like this requires heavy equipment to run. I love it so far :)

Read Best Reviews of ASUS G53SX-A1 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop - Republic of gamers (Black) Here

Great laptop all around, easy on the eyes.. Looks like it was designed by the military Lol

Well, I got this laptop to play games with and I gotta say this laptop doubled the power of my desktop. My desktop wasn't too bad either.. Anyways the only complaint I have is the sound, you would think that for the price and all the high quality parts included with this laptop that the sound would also be highest quality. Wrong, the sound sounds pretty cheap, and other laptops in the price range of this one come with a subwoofer as well. This one only has its realtek sound and the 2 bass-less speakers. Oh another con is it doesn't include a bluray player. The screen is 3D and supports 3D but the laptop doesn't have a bluray player -.I find that a little.. meh

As far as the rest of the laptop, I can't complain. EVERYTHING else is top of the line and the computer doesn't lag at all, it doesn't matter what task I throw at it. The cooling is amazing as well, I can keep this laptop on my lap and since the laptop has its intake and exhaust through the back I don't have to worry about it overheating. I just thought that for the $1200 it should include a bluray drive and a better quality sound system.

I would definitely recommend this product to others if you're looking for a laptop in this price range.

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What can I say, this is a great machine!

Laptop

I agree with the other reviews. This laptop can run every game now on the market. The graphics are amazing and the fps are ok (tested with Starcraft 2 and the Assassin's Creed series).

Anyway, when trying to play GTA 4, although it says in the graphics menu that the resources needed for maximum settings are half the GPU capacity, I get low fps sometimes.

Apart from gamimg, the high ammount of RAM allows you to run multiple programs at the same time without lack of performance. I specially mean 'heavy' programs that I use for the Chemical Engineering career: HYSYS for process simulation, HTRI for heat exchanger design, MATLAB, Origin, Visual Basic, AutoCAD 2D and 3D, etc.

As several people said, the laptop is heavy and has a big butt, but is expectable, as it's one of the newest 15.6 gamimg laptops on the market, and it's designed for heavy gaming and multitasking. For the same reason it's understandable the weight of the battery and the transformer: voltage, current and therefore power have higher values than standard notebooks.

Another thing to note is that this transformer comes with a three-pronged plug. That means that it has a ground prong, not usual on standart notebook transformers. Extra safety to avoid an eventual electric shock.

Mouse

The gaming mouse that comes in the package is the 'ASUS GX800 3200DPI USB Laser Gaming Mouse' you can search it to get more information. It has it's own driver to configure the buttons. The driver comes in a CD or you can download it from the ASUSTeK page.

It's the best mouse I've had, and it's big and comfortable.

Bag

As a picture is worth a thousand words, you can refer to the images I've uploaded and their notes. Click on 'View and share related images' to see all 3.

The bag is nice, with a combination of black, green and grey. It has plenty of pockets and compartiments to store the notebook, its accesories and other stuff you want to carry with you.

The only thing to remark is that the laptop fits tight in the bag, and when you close it, you can notice the edges of the laptop marking the outline of the bag (see the image). Maybe this is not sufficiently safe for the laptop, but you could improvise something to protect more, if you want to. Personally, I won't be carrying the laptop much, and I am very careful with this kind of stuff, so this don't bothers me much.

As a conclusion, I can say that this is the best laptop I've had, and with an excellent price. Also, I want to comment that in my country, the prices of the notebooks are far higher. For the price of this notebok here you can buy a notebook with an i3, 750 GB HDD, 4GB RAM and no gamimg GPU! (taking a LENOVO Z470-8373 as a reference)

If I have something else to add, I will update the comment. Hope it's useful to you!

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Dell Studio XPS 1645 Laptops pack the power you need for work or play, Intel Core i7-820QM Quad Cor

It is a good sturdy gaming laptop. It has a lot of computing power. I have it for over 2 years now without any problem so far.

Honestly, I wish that the motherboard did its job and booted when turning on the computer. This computer is sexy, fast and a joy to compute with. Each time I turned it on, it booted only after a hard shut-down. It never made it out of the Dell logo and blue progress bar. For $2300 it should do better. The exchange unit (which I cancelled) had inferior parts substituted. DUH! Like I wouldn't have noticed. And oh yeah, part shortages mean't waiting another three weeks. Let's see, ordered the laptop 9/6, received 9/16. Problem with the boot-up from the beginning. Stupid me. Waited until 10/2 to contact Dell Support. BTW: It is not award-winning support if you're told to disconnect the AC and remove the battery and then push the power button for 45 seconds, then put it all back together and turn it on and your troubles are gone. Hmmm, okay, being jerked-around for two weeks and then told mid-November replacement arrival time but we're not sure. So the laptop is not exactly "bricked" but not exactly what one would expect for premium dollars.

To recap: Dell built an expensive laptop for me with shabby quality control (faulty motherboard), battled with me for two weeks before offering an exchange (with inferior grade parts), telling me the queue for the exchange is 15 business days (3 weeks), and already I've made 1/12th payment to DFS and the next due in two weeks.

My best advice if you want this laptop: order but be prepared. Everytime you speak with Tech support, memorialize the conversation, ask for the rep's name AND badge number AND extension. Be professional and don't take it personally although it is your personal money :-)

Remember it is NOT your fault the computer is non-operative. It is the company you purchased it from DELL.

The DFS people can help to cancel the order much better than Tech Support.

Although I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, it is pretty stupid of Dell Computer company to tell me to wait 3 weeks to get an exchange AND that then exchange is not the same Like I wouldn't notice? So tonight back goes the laptop that I couldn't load programs and data onto, the laptop that I couldn't use for work (to make money to pay for the computer) and entertainment when needed.

All this to be insulted; to have made payments to DFS and have NO ONE say, can we at least offer you a gift card? Or, we'd like to hold your payments in abeyance until we resolve the problem to your satisfaction. We value you as a customer.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN and hope that there are no goblins in your laptop!

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I have to say, I have yet(Knock on wood), and hopefully will never experience anything wrong with my XPS 1645. Dell is GReat, and I have had problems with other laptops from them, but now I am very happy.

I would def buy Dell again, but I will be switching to Mac when ever this computer gets too old/slow.

so all I have to say is

I love Dell.

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I purchased a Dell XPS 1645 lap top as it was hailed as their best machine. I had constant problems with it crashing randomly. In order to save time, I paid a dell 3rd party service center to reformat the hard drive. Still the problems consisted. I kept calling Dell tech support. They kept trying things. Finally they sent out a service technician to replace all the insides of the lap top, the mother board, hard drive, everything. Still problems persisted. Random crashes continued. Finally I called them to ask for my money back as the lap top they sold me never has worked since the day I bought it. I thought I by being patient they would fix it. However, they told me that my 21 return window had expired and that they could do nothing for me. So, I have a $3,000 Computer from Dell that doesn't work and they won't take it back. They won't refund the two additional AC adapters that I purchased with it either. I will never buy another Dell again.

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Dell Alienware M11x 11.6-Inch i7-640 Laptop (Cosmic Black)

I love this little computer! I like having both a wide-screen laptop for long term projects, and a small laptop that I can carry for "just in case I need one" trips. This laptop is small, compact, and powerful--perfect for a videographer like myself. It runs the Adobe Master Collection CS5.5 with no trouble. I love the firewire line-in for video uploads; and it has plenty of USB 3 ports. I read else where that the only flaw in this laptop was the lack of disc drive. For me that wasn't an issue, since I have 3 external drives already. I keep the slim portable disc drive packed with the laptop, so I always have the option available. If you're looking for a small, powerful laptop, this one is a good pic!

A few months back, I bought this computer hoping for a quality gaming pc. After 2 months, it started going to s***. It overheats extremely fast, and I can't fix this because I am supposed to take the bottom cover off, but it was screwed in horridly tight, and I could not get it off. Therefore I am stuck with an $800 piece of s*** that I cannot return. Do not buy. Ever.

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I was hoping to get a decent computer when I ordered this. Since they have stopped manufacturing this model I was afraid that I would be getting a pretty beat up definently used version of the M11x. This was not so in my case! I got a pristine model which is so much faster than I thought it would be for such a small little system. I absolutely love the illuminated keyboard for such a little system.

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HP ENVY TouchSmart Ultrabook 4t-1100

I've had this laptop for two weeks now and so far it's been amazing.

PROS:

-Touchscreen's great, very snappy and responsive. Works well with windows 8

-Windows 8 is really nice with the touchscreen, all the security and all the new features.

-definitely worth the money, only 700 when I bought it

-beats audio integration is good with the headphones, not so much with the speaker

CONS:

-Average display, really not that noticeably great but it isn't noticeably bad either. what you expect to get for the price.

-Speakers aren't really that great, not for prolonged music listening, but work well.

Overall, a great all around laptop for students, workers and personal use.

The Laptop has been awesome. Had a hard time choosing between a nice tablet or a touch screen laptop. I love using Windows 8 (didn't take too long to figure out). My daughter loves the picture password and the touch screen has enabled my 3yr old son to navigate games without use of the mouse or keyboard.

At times I still would love to be able to fold the screen all the way back (Yoga style) and making selections (opening links, folders, files...) with the touch screen doesn't always respond well. I've also had a couple times when the WiFi wasn't working even with a connection and good reception.

Overall, I love it.

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cute notebook, found the 14" screen a bit too small for me and doesn't have CD/DVD drive, not for me

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Dell Inspiron i1545-4583JBK 1545 15.6-Inch Laptop (Jet Black)

I'm not sure where the above bad reviews came from, but I find it hard to believe that anyone had such a bad experience with the same system that I bought from Amazon. Looks like most of the reviews are for computers bought from someone else or even directly from Dell, and the guy that bought 3 in the last year and had all of them crash within a month after the warranty expired????? well that doesn't make since.... they all come with a 1 yr warranty, and if he bought three within the last year, then they would still be under warranty..... but I digress,,, and here is my review:

I bought the Inspiron i1545 that is sold on Amazon.com and it has more than met my expectations. I figured that a $619 laptop would be the low end of the spectrum when looking for performance, but this has all the componants of the "high end", as far as RAM and Hard disc. Win 7 makes it easy and has very fast start up and shut down times. It runs very effeciently when I have multiple windows open and I'm gettting close to 8 hours between charges (so far). I did a ton of research for computers before making this purchase, and even went to places like Best Buy so I could get a better feel for what the computer looks and feels like. This Inspiron has all the qualities I was looking for: Sleek, light weight, incredibly clear screen, and responsive keys. Add that together with the 4GB of RAM, 500GB of Hard disc, and I love the "Dell Dock" that allows me to put all my icons in one place, which keeps my desktop clean and professional looking.

My opinion is that you cannot go wrong with this system. You certainly get more for your money!

I have purchased three from this company in the past year -we have twins in college and each needed one -then one for personal/home use.

Within a month after each warranty expired, the hard drive died. Nothing could be done but order a replacement which first requires a $49 diagnostic fee....before they can even tell you what the part is that is needed and how much that will cost.

They cannot replace items lost on the drive --so be sure to have your own external hard drive or system for back up. They are no help.

This happened three times!! Three different laptops!! All with simple use at home and university. Each just AFTER the warranty expired -and they are in India -and make no adjustments to "policy" -and have the most effective system of blocking customers from access to attaining help.

Never, ever again. Burned THREE times -with THREE different laptops. Never, never again.

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My wife and I have been loyal Dell customers over 10 years and four machines. All our previous machines have performed well and we have never had much reason to call customer service for anything. The few times we did (years and years ago) were reasonably pleasant experiences, though. My impression of Dell has always been that they are a solid company that produces solid products.

Not now.

This laptop, which is my wife's, has been nothing but a nightmare from day one. Pathetic battery life, hardware and software issues, trackpad problems, cursor jumping around, intermittent wireless problems, a shoddily-made machine with flimsy screen hinges that easily break.

Dell's customer service has been the absolute worst experience I have ever had with any company in my entire life. I started out trying to return the unit, but quickly found out that they count the number of days that you have had the computer as starting on the day you order the unit, not the day you receive it, so I was two days past the last day I could return the unit. After being transferred back and forth between two different departments who each thought the other department was supposed to help me, I finally found someone who understood the issue and said he would work on getting special approval to return the unit and then call me back. He also sent me an email. He never called back, never responded to emails, never answered the phone, never returned calls. Anyone else I talked to acted like they knew nothing and told me I could not return the unit. Then I tried to appeal to their business sense, by trying to exchange the unit for a higher model (figuring that if they saw I wanted to pay them more money, they would forgive the 2-day thing).

It took me two more weeks of calling every day to find a guy in their corporate customer service group who (even though he shouldn't have even helped me) agreed that what I wanted to do made good business sense and would help the company hold onto a loyal customer. It took him two more weeks to get what he told me was internal approval for the return (their system only allowed them to process it as a return, not a repair or replacement). He even CC'd me on the email where the manager approved the return and gave him instructions on how to process it. I was told I would receive a return code and instructions on how to return the unit for credit. A week went by--nothing. I called and emailed the guy over and over. No response. I finally got someone else who's email address was on the approval email to respond, who explained that the person who approved the return was in one of two different departments who had to approve the return. He said what everyone else always told me--that he would personally take responsibility for resolving my case. He gave me a phone number that was supposedly his direct number and an email. Never heard from him again. The phone number went to a generic mailbox.

After months of getting the runaround and taking every my lunch hour every day to sit on the phone while eating a sandwich, I simply gave up and decided it just wasn't worth it for a $560 laptop. We are already shopping for a replacement after 7 months of owning this thing. Guess who we won't be buying it from.

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After seeing some of the other reviews I thought I would add my two cents worth, as it may help out some of you who are looking to purchase an Inspiron 1545.

I've owned this laptop now for a little over a week and I am very happy with the experience so far. I am very knowledgeable about computers, and currently run several machines running Windows 7, Windows Home Server, Mac OSX, and Ubuntu. I have also worked in IT support in the past, so diagnosing and upgrading PCs is something I'm very comfortable with.

Quick Pros and Cons List:

PROS:

+ Windows 7 (it really is a nice and stable OS)

+ Intel dual-core T4400 processor (works well for most users, easy on battery life)

+ 4GB of RAM (helpful for running programs simultaneously, such as Office, Photoshop, Media Center, etc)

+ 320GB hard drive (plenty of storage for most users)

+ Integrated 1.3MP Creative Labs Live! webcam

+ 7-in-1 media card reader (almost a necessity today)

+ Easily upgradeable (discussed below)

CONS:

T4400 is a dual-core processor, not as powerful as a Core 2 Duo, or the current Core i3 (1545R)

Memory is slower 800MHz speed, not current 1066MHz (1545R)

Wireless (wifi) card is A/B/G, but not N-spec

While the webcam is 1.3MP, it isn't of the highest quality but it's okay

VGA-out included, not HDMI-out like on the newer 1545R

Bluetooth not included (though upgradeable)

High gloss surfaces do attract fingerprints (not a big negative)

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

I've owned many Dells, and this is the third computer I've purchased from Dell this year... not because something was wrong, but they've had good deals on desktops and laptops this year. This is the first entry level laptop that I have purchased from Dell, and overall I am happy with the design, layout, and quality of the build. The high gloss plastic areas on the palmrest and LCD bezel are obvious fingerprint magnets, but not as bad as an iPhone or iPod. They keyboard is laid out well, with good distance between the keys and a nice feel when typing. The keyboard includes dedicated buttons on the right hand side for Home, Page Up/Down, End, and the four arrow keys.

The hard drive, a Seagate Momentus 5400.6 has decent storage space at 320GB, though it is slower at 5400RPM with an 8MB cache. After formatting, you have about 300GB of usable storage. The memory for this machine is 4GB, though the motherboard can support up to 8GB. The memory speed is 800MHz, which is fine, but is slower than the current 1066MHz memory available. It would have been nice if Dell included an HDMI video port, but instead chose VGA. The HDMI comes standard on the new 1545R with the Core i3 processor. The LCD is crisp and bright, with decent viewing angles. The native resolution of 1366x768 is good, though a little compact, but makes viewing 720p video very nice. The AC adapter is the slim variety... the only issue is that the power plug into the computer fits a little loosely though probably on purpose to prevent damage to the laptop if the cable is snagged by a passerby.

UPGRADEABILITY:

The nicest aspect of this laptop is that if you find that you need more speed, hard drive space, memory, faster wifi, or even bluetooth all of these components can be easily upgraded. Reading the service directions at Dell, you can see that taking apart the Inspiron 1545 is easy and straight forward. By removing the keyboard, you can easily add the bluetooth module and cable, which together go for about $25 on eBay. By removing the bottom cover, you can replace the memory, wifi card, and processor with little difficulty. An Intel 5100 N spec wifi card goes for about $12 on eBay. You can also add memory if need be up to 8GB is supported. The processor can also be replaced, though make sure that the processor you choose is supported by the laptop's bios. The 1545 supports Intel Socket P (478-pin Micro FCPGA) processors; with the bios specifically supporting the Celeron 900, Dual-Core T4200, T4300, T4400, and the Core 2 Duo T6400, T6500, T6600, P7350, P7450, P8600, and P8700. The faster processors, like the P8700 include more onboard cache, faster processor speed, faster bus speeds, and virtualization. Replacement processors like those mentioned can be found on eBay for around $20-150. The hard drive can also be easily upgraded I installed a new Western Digital 64GB SSD, which took about 60 seconds to install. The hard drive slot is on the right hand side, and comes out with the removal of two screws. I installed the new wifi in about 60 seconds, adding bluetooth took about two minutes. It doesn't take a lot of know-how to upgrade these components just a screwdriver and a quick read of the manual.

CONCLUSION:

It's a good laptop for the price, which can be upgraded into a better computer easily and cheaply... all you have to do is read the manual, which is straightforward. I usually keep computers for about a year or two, and by next year I'll probably be ready to sell this at a decent price and use the proceeds to get another Inspiron but it will have been worth it for sure. In my opinion, for the price, quality, and support, you can't go wrong with a Dell.

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I have purchased two of these now.

The one I bought at Best Buy lasted 5 days before having hardware failure. I returned it.

I bought the second one at Staples. It lasted 3 hours before giving an error saying, "No hard drive detected."

Don't buy this laptop!

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Toshiba Satellite C655-S5090 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

I bought this laptop thinking especially for the number pad thinking it would be almost as good as my last Toshiba. Within a month the power cable was shorting and by 3 months several of the keys on both the number pad and the keypad are no longer working. The numlock key is perpetually on the light cannot come off. I would never recommend this laptop or any other Toshiba for that matter. Buyer beware

Not my best experience with buying a computer. The Toshiba Satellite C655-S5090 web cam wasn't working (out of the box). Couldn't do recovery from partition; ordered recovery disks (free but shp. is $24.95). Used recovery disks to restore Satellite to factory state, still no web cam. Circuit City didn't have any replacement Satellites; since I didn't want a refund, I had to send to Toshiba repair center. I had to pay shp. one way ($20.00). They've had it a week so far.

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This Is My First Laptop Ever and it is an AMAZING device... it have all what i want and more ! simply amazing

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I ordered this laptop to replace one that had burned itself up. Gotta love those SONY batteries, eh? Anyway, this computer is fast enough for my needs, yet runs a lot cooler than my last one. I also like the Windows 7, compared to the Vista on my last computer. 7 is a lot less resource intensive, so the computer doesn't lock up as much as my old one. ALSO, I was pleased to find a 64 bit operating system installed. This allowed me to max out the RAM, making for much cleaner processing.

The only negative here that this laptop only has 2 USB ports. Once I stick a pick=up for a wireless mouse in one port, and a thumbdrive in the other, I have no room for anything else... like an external hardrive or DVD=RW drive. That meant I had to buy a USB hub so I'd have enough ports.

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Came in just in time, everything works fine. I was a little bigger than i thougt but i love it. I recomend this purchase for everyone

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Dell XPS 17 X17L-751ELS 17.3-Inch Laptop (Elemental Silver)

Love this laptop! It's great looking, feels sturdy, and it runs very quiet. The display is beautiful colors are bright and true to life. I even like the touchpad, which is a first for me. For me, it's just responsive enough without being too sensitive. I have not noticed any issues with it getting hot, but I have only had it for 3 days now.

The backlit keyboard feels great very easy to type on, and it's very helpful when working in a not so brightly lit room. The 2nd generation Core i7 processor is really fast. All my programs and applications are ready to use within a minute or so after I turn on the computer.

I had one minor issue after I finished with all the Windows updates (there were about 50 of them). Every time I shut down the computer, it would restart instead of shutting down. It was getting frustrating, so I did some research online. Some suggested that it was a "hardware issue", but one person suggested that it could be that the BIOS needed to be updated. I went to the Dell website, and there was a BIOS update there, along with several driver updates. I downloaded all the updates, and the restarting problem was gone. It's been smooth sailing ever since.

Aanother plus for me, I originally ordered this model (but without the blueray player) from BB because I liked their financing of 18 months with no interest. I ordered online, because it is not an item they carry in the store. Anyway, the item stayed in process for several days after the estimated arrival date with no progress. As I got more and more impatient, I decided to see if Amazon carried that model, or a similar one. Bottom line is, Amazon offers 24-month financing (even better!). Even though the Amazon price was about $100.00 more than the other store, I only wound up paying $20.00 more for an upgraded model, even though I used 1-day shipping, because Amazon does not charge the sales tax sweet!!

This computer is big, gorgeous, fast, doesn't get hot and the fan isn't noisy. The lighted keyboard is wonderful! I haven't bought a computer in a few years and I didn't even realize that was available.

I needed something for making movies, and the Intel i7 handles it just fine.

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I love it it's a great machine, works perfectly for gaming and working with heavy CAD data! The 9 cell battery is worth it!

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One day, I turned it on, and just black screen appears.

All I can see is the cursor sign. I can only run it in safe mode, and I haven't even used it that long.

I'm appalled by how short it lasted..

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if you're purchasing this laptop because you think it has 3-D will find yourself disappointed. I purchased this laptop after reading that this laptop had 3-D capabilities. I looked it up online and also saw reviews from other people saying 3-D works great. The person who said that as I now know was not telling the truth. While this laptop may have good features there are better laptops with better features for the same price. The catch of this laptop to me was supposed to be 3D abilities. In the description it stated that it has 3-D capabilities. Upon receiving it I saw a button program that said enable 3-D in the control panel that says 3-D management or setting. I thought great maybe I'm misunderstanding some things that it might've been a bit more difficult for me to set up 3D and I'm not understand what's going on. By the way I purchased the nvidia 3-D wireless glasses the thought maybe just maybe I didn't know what I was doing. My brother suggested that since the laptop that I bought from Amazon that it might still have the Dell warrantee and therefore I called Dell to set up my 3-D. I did so I waited a day and called Dell to help me set up my 3-D.

To My Shock!!! Dell representatives personally told me this computer does not have 3-D. I of course immediately called Amazon. Long story short the word capabilities is deceptive. This laptop can have 3-D if it had the right processor and the right screen which it does not. It may be possible to connect it to a 3-D TV and have 3-D but that's not what I bought it for. The nice people at Amazon quickly understood my problem and immediately issued me a refund following the return of the item. Do not purchase this laptop if you want it to have 3-D already on screen. If you had any doubt to what I'm saying simply called Dell give them the model of this computer and hear it straight from them this computer does not come up equip with the ability to support 3-D as it is now.

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HP Pavilion dv7t Select Edition Notebook PC, Intel Core i7-720QM Quad Core processor 1.6GHz, 17.3"

This computer has great hardware, an awesome screen, top notch graphics and an amazing sound system. It's fast and sleek, relatively light and very easy to use and customize. The only downside is battery time. Fully charged, it only seems to last for about an hour and a half. Other then that, it's a great product.

I am sending this piece in for the third time for the same issue. HP support is the worst support I have ever dealt with. The computer randomly reboots. HP doesn't even try to reproduce the problem. Steps to reproduce: 1) turn computer on. 2) Wait. If you can follow those steps, you are already more capable than their techs.

Sent it in the first time and they wiped the hdd and sent it back. They did not take any time to even try to reproduce the error. In fact, looking at the event log, it unexpectedly rebooted twice while HP had it, after the hdd was re-imaged. Makes me think they had reproduced it, but didn't care.

Sent it in the second time. Looking at the event log after I received it back, they only had it running for 2.5 days. (This time I did not it was powered on, then osee that it had unexpectedly rebooted on them) On Feb 25,n Feb 26th the date was changed to Feb 28, then on Mar 1 it was powered down. I assume the date change is due to having the CMOS battery out of the computer for 2 days? Why would they need to do this to reproduce a reboot issue? I explicitly asked that they not send it back until it was reproduced and fixed. It seems like they have a list of things they check, anen,d if those items are not brok they assume the computer works. I also asked that they call me so I can help them through reproducing it. No call.

After receiving it back, I turned it on, opened up a browser, then let it sit. It rebooted on its own just over a day later.

Run away from HP. Just run away.

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supposed to be high performance entertainment, awful touchpad, no firewire port, bad keyboard layout (to far away), graphics card is average.

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HP Pavilion dv7t Quad Edition Notebook PC, Intel i7-2670QM (2.2 GHz), 8GB DDR3 RAM, 750GB HDD, 17.3

Laptops have been around for quite a while and they keep improving. HP has really gotten it right with the DV7t Quad Series. These are powerful and beautiful machines that are well-thought out, with impeccable build construction, and lightning-fast performance. I bought the one featured here on Amazon with the exception that I added a 2GB Hard Disk Drive and went with 12GB of DRAM. Overkill perhaps, but there you are.

The screen is superb on this Notebook. I have an external HP 2511x 25 inch monitor which I have considered to be pretty much the gold standard for monitors. The 17 inch screen on the DV7t is every bit as crisp and bright (perhaps even a touch brighter and crisper) and is very, very pleasant to work with. The keyboard is well laid-out and the keys are what touch-typists like myself look for. The touchpad is about as good as pads of this type get, and it has a hardware off-switch by tapping rapidly on a designated part of the pad. So if you are using an external mouse, like I do, you can deactivate the touchpad without having to deal with layers of Windows menus.

One nice feature that the touchpad has is the ability to "pinch" the screen so that it is magnified less or more. This is a very convenient feature for those of us who wear reading glasses. If a given website uses too-small type, on this computer the user can "pinch" the touchpad causing the size of the type (i.e. the magnification of the web page) to increase to any desired amount. I find myself using this feature often.

The Blu-Ray disk drive works perfectly and the picture is incredible. I played several movies on it with great results. I have not burned any Blu-Ray files yet.

Performance of this computer is what you would expect: lightning-fast. It can manipulate huge digital files with ease and perform other heavy-duty tasks better than any other computer that I personally have used. Unfortunately most digital photography programs are still 32 bit, but when they become 64 bit this computer will be ready for them, with performance that we can only guess at.

Physically, this is a beautiful machine. The black chassis has a spectacularly nice metallic look to it that is not the fingerprint magnet of earlier HP chassis. There are 4 USB ports (two on each side) and an HDMI port, which many users will want to use in connection with a second monitor. Personally I would have preferred that the USB ports be on the back rather than on the side.

The audio on this unit is pretty good, but the volume could be better. Playing a Blu-Ray disk, I found myself wanting and preferring powered external speakers.

The fingerprint reader is easy to use and works well. This enables the user to scan a finger, and subsequently log into Windows with just a swipe of the finger rather than typing in a password. Very nice. The Hard Disk Drive indicator LED is (weirdly) on the side rather than the front, so it is not visible to the user and thus pretty useless. Not a huge issue in the greater scheme of things. In mitigation of this, the external headphone and speaker jacks are on the other side of the computer, rather than the front, which is a big improvement over earlier models on which these jacks were on the front, presenting the user with cumbersome cables. Plus, this unit gives you two speaker jacks instead of one, which is nice to have.

This is not a small computer. Most users will not be toting it around for casual use like a tablet or netbook. This one, with its 17 inch screen, is really a portable desktop computer and that is how it fits into my scheme of things. It is really designed to be the user's main computer (it has no compromises as regards performance) with the added capability of being portable and capable of use without an AC cable for a time. For me (I am an attorney) that means I can work with it at home or in the office, and when necessary take it to the courthouse. For this type use this computer is hard to beat. iPads and netbooks have their own niches, and this computer is no iPad. But there are still certain applications for which a full-powered computer is required, and the so-called demise of the personal computer will not be occurring any time soon.

This is the best computer that I have thus far owned and used. Recommended without reservation. RJB.

The pavillion feels very cheaply made compared to previus pavillions. It feels like a toy and like it would break if I looked at it wrong. I picked the computer up by the bottom and the bezel and this caused the screen to crack. HP will not cover it under warranty because they say it was "accidental damage". I picked up my computer on purpose ... not accidentally. I should have a reasonable expectation that the act of picking up the computer wouldn't break it. I've tried on other laptops to apply enough pressure to the bezel to effect the screen and I couldn't do it. I would not buy from HP and buy from a company with a better constructed product and better customer service.

Update HP has decided to do the right thing and fix the computer for free

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I ordered this laptop to do CAD work on. So far no problem opening and working with the very large Catia files I use for design. I had to mess around a little with the switchable graphics to get it to run Catia with the stand alone video card. It was trying to run it off of the built in video card. The obviously wan't cutting it. The battery life is pretty short, about 3-1/2 hours but that is expected considering the hardware this laptop has. I only have a few complaints. No back-lit keyboard, minor but slightly irritating for such an expensive laptop. HP bloatware that slows the boot time down quite a bit. The flat keyboard bezel was not snapped down all the way on the top part of the keyboard right at the center. I thought I was going to have to send the laptop back because of it but was able to snap it into place with a little prying and pushing. I guess I would say that the laptop is fast but typical of the way things are built now a days, not very refined and kind of cheap feeling. You shouldn't have to snap the keyboard in place on a brand new laptop you just spent $1,250 on. I guess if you really want build quality you could buy the similarly spec'd mac book pro and spend $3,000 for the same computer with a different OS.

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La mejor inversion, super rapida , calidad de sonido, imagen, y salidas de video increible.....El autocad funciona sin tiempos de espera, igual que corel, photoshop, pinnacle studio, etc.

Tengo pc para muchos años...

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Gateway MT6705 Dual-Core 1.6GHz 1GB 120GB DVD±RW 15.4-Inchwith Windows Vista

Had mine for over 3 years now and still love it! Only problem I have had to buy a new power cord ever other year or so.

Gateway MT6705 Dual-Core 1.6GHz 1GB 120GB DVD±RW 15.4-Inchwith Windows Vista

I bought a demo unit of this machine in 2007 from an Office Depot, and reinstalled from disc (any legitimate MT6705 -even demo models -came with discs, unlike that of one of the reviewers, apparently).

It has worked flawlessly ever since, other than things I dislike about Vista (had to do serious workarounds to install software that was safe and secure and updated -so there was no reason to use multiple measures to prevent it -but whose developers had not paid a royalty to Microsoft. If you use exclusively software desired my Microsoft, it will install like a dream)

The screen is bright and beautiful, the machine runs fast (probably helped by my adding RAM to arrive at its 2Gig maximum), and I get decent battery life for a machine this size.

In my case, I do not keep the screen at full brightness in order to save power and heat, but it still looks very nice. I use it primarily for Internet access, running programs (C, java, etc.), using the webcam, making CDs.

The only problem I ever had with it is that in its initial configuration, it would yank down the wireless card when you unplugged the unit's power source, and to get it back you have to use hotkeys Fn-F2 (using control panel's networking commands to try to enable/disable wireless did NOT get it working, only the hotkeys did -had to have a friend look them up for me on his computer since I couldn't get online to find out for myself;-) I believe that configuring "power options" in the control panel was what solved this for me.

I have not had the power supply problems. Perhaps my electric supplier has a more clean, regulated power supply, or perhaps it really did help that I have always had it plugged into an APC surge protector instead of directly into a wall outlet.

In 2011 I am still using it.

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We bought a Gateway and Windows got hosed for some reason. We called 1-800-GATEWAY for support. Guess what? If you buy a Gateway anywhere but their website you must call a separate toll number. WTF!? Then we needed to restore it but the restore partition was bad. Had to get the recovery disk. They charged me $20 for a $1 CD-R. Then it wouldn't work, and they wanted to charge me to tell me how to use it. Again WTF? These people are horrible. Save yourself a lot of trouble and get a Mac. Get HP. Get an abacus. Anything but a Gateway.

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Sony VAIO VPC-SC1AFM/S 13.3" Notebook (2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M 4GB RAM 500GB HDD Blu-ray Read On

fast delivery. the vendor said the condition of the computer and match the product I received. They say it has some outside cosmetic scratches and interior clean, but They did not mention that the some keys from the keyboard felt stuck. they work but the do not recoiled. you also need to upgrade many of the windows programs on the net. overall, It is a portable computer compare to 15.6" which is kind of big to carry on all the times. It is like a tablet but with lot of computing power. After searching and comparing for 5 hrs and buy the best computers in the $400 range. I decide to get this one (it play blue rays-I feature that many computesr don't have). I can used it as a bluray player in the hotel's TV. I can save my bluray disc on the HD.

I am a big fan of the Sony S model, I have had Z models and for the money and comfort as well as conveniece, I pick the S hands down. The laptop is full of goodies all priced as a bundle which was exclusive to Best Buy. The color silver looks great, nice backlit keyboard with a full 2mm keystroke for comfort and speed typing. Very responsive cpu & graphics with a built in "onboard" blu-ray player and DVD/CD read & write. The display is great and typical of Sony products. The speakers are liveable, I would still recommend a "capsule speaker" for about $30. For the budget minded person who demands some performance, this is it. The Sony Vaio S model wreaks of style and has a beautiful display. The performance is equivalent to it's competitors who often have a larger & bulkier chasis. I would like to note there is a newer model of this one available now, not sure of the model number but I believe it now has 6 gig of ram vs. 4 in this model. The important thing I like to mention about this "blue-label" laptop as the market calls it, is it's value. Lot's of good things that make it great deal as opposed to configuring one on your own on the Sony website. The appearance, quality & performance of this laptop make a great laptop for all sorts of users. Great job Sony.

Buy Sony VAIO VPC-SC1AFM/S 13.3" Notebook (2.3GHz Intel Core i5-2410M 4GB RAM 500GB HDD Blu-ray Read On Now

blu-ray works good for a 13" laptop thats why I bought it. and the price was right also lots of memory

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Lenovo X60 Thinkpad Laptop Duo Core 2GHz 1GB RAM 80GB XP Pro WiFi Notebook

I got this on Amazon for $250.00. It's a ridiculously amazing deal. Mine came with the attachable dock/drive-totally unexpected, and made me even happier with the bargain. I also got an extra 1gb of ram (total of 2gb).

The computer is slick weighing in at about 3.5lbs. I feel like a secret agent carrying it around (I'm also a [multiple] Macbook Pro owner, so I love compact quality). The laptop is incredibly sturdy, as Thinkpads are expected to be. For a business user, this is a much better deal than most of the consumer laptops on the market. The keyboard is small, but not too crowded for typing comfortably. The keys are solid and don't feel like they're going to pop off any second.

The trackpad (stick) takes some getting used to. I wouldn't recommend traveling without an external mouse.

The display is unexciting TFT using integrated graphics, so don't expect any eye-popping colors, but it does the job. The lid closes securely, and closes the gaps between the keyboad/lid so that dust or debris stay out.

For word processing, e-mailing, or quick graphic/spreadsheet editingthis laptop is fantastic. 12" is too small for extended use, but it's perfect for mobility. Since there's no optical drive, you can download VLC media player and load your movies as .avi files.

There are 3 USB portstwo on the right, 1 on the left. Integrated VGA lets you hook this up to projectors for presentations or an external monitor (if you don't have the dock). There's also an infrared receiver (for remote controls), a finger print reader, dedicated volume buttons, mini-firewire, SD, ethernet, mic/headphone, Wireless A/B/G. There are external power indicator lights. My battery is showing 10 hours with the brightness turned down and 8.5 hours with the brightness on max. It has Windows XP installed, so I'm going to test it out with both Ubuntu and Windows 7 to see where it scores.

This laptop is much more powerful than a netbook, and the price beats most other ultraportables out of the water.

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Toshiba - 14" Satellite Laptop-6GB Memory-750GB Hard Drive- Model P845-S4200

How does one spell junk with the worst service oh yeah TOSHIBA.....Stay away from this or any Toshiba laptop. Case is sprayed aluminum paint over PLASTIC. Keys are more touchy than your nightmare mother-in-law. Quality is pure fiction with this company but......for another $149.99 for the first year above and beyond the rip off price you can have customer service....or for just $99.00 for one customer support visit. I have laptops that are 5 to 8 years old and built like tanks.

OH did I mention if you were lucky enough to get the Win 8 Pro upgrade ($14.95) and installed it, YOU VOID THE ENTIRE 90 DAY SOFTWARE WARRANTY. They warrant certain hardware but only if it is virtually used by one of God's angels. NO HUMAN KIDS ALLOWED. NEVER EVER AGAIN....

I should have listened to the other reviews and not ordered this. The touch pad is so sensitive you cannot even use it. Pages shut down and bounce all over the place. I spent half the time trying to keep the pages up I was working on. Also, it repeatedly loses internet connection.

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For the price, this is Amazing!

I just bought it few months ago and its been a great With Windows 8 ... Highly recommend it!

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For the price, this is a steal!

We just bought it few weeks ago and its been a great experience... Highly recommend it!

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ASUS G53SX-DH71 Full HD 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop - Republic of Gamers (Black)

Just got this from J&R as it's local.

Only had it a few days so this is just a first impression -

What a beaut! This laptop looks and feels like my perfect ideal for a laptop, understated (no crappy chrome-esq plastic, big glowing lights etc)just a very nice matte black soft finish, nice lines, small(ish) logo, everything looks and feels so solid it just comes together and seems right, a good weight, its not trying to be sleek and light, its just doing one job (high performance) and that is how it looks and feels, I will put up with the weight (not that bad in the included rucksack). So my first impression is very favorable.

So I'm in the process of getting all the software sorted out, which i guess is fun.

Here's my initial pro's/cons:

Pro's:

1 This beast barely breaks a sweat I mean its so quite, the stealth image does do it justice, it's very quite almost silent, when I reran the window index thingy the sound never changed, and doesn't even feel warm.

2 Screen is lovely Matte and very very bright clear and generally amazing, way too intense in a dark room, my old dell xps 1330 which is sitting besides with both at max brightness it looks like a dull yellow compared, it has very good angular visibility too.

3 Keyboard is nice, firm well spaced out, I like the keyboard lights without it keys actually very hard to see in low light, as the text doesn't contrast at all with the black keys.

3 Touchpad nice size and nice to have multi-touch gestures.

4 Asus software, actually some useful software(and bloatware see Cons) like fastboot which delays boot items.

5 Backpack (rucksack) good amount of pockets, sturdy and compact, only just fits laptop in fact, but has plenty of space for extra stuff, nice touch Asus.

I don't know about performance as not pushed it at all yet, but from the index score its pretty good, I am mainly using it for graphic's work so its more important to be fast processor and memory than graphics, but I am tempted to buy and try some of the latest games cos this beast is designed for them. Btw in case you don't know one downside to this rig is the graphics card has a 128bit memory bus instead of 192, which from what I have read makes a difference, the 17" has the 192 bit bus. It's no big deal for me and having a usable size for a laptop was more important than Memory bus speed, still would have preferred to have the option for this, recon most gamers will pay the extra and Asus should have made some models with the bigger bus, and given us the choice.

Cons:

1 Bloatware crappy crappy annoying bloatware, such a shame cos in my mind Asus has really got there stuff together, making some seriously decent equipment and marketing and doing everything right, except bowing to the pressure to include crap on their rigs (for a small dime no doubt) I decided to create a backup disc set and reformat which took hours only to find that the backup disc puts all the crap on again except the drivers which you need, so either way you have to uninstall it all. I ended up taking almost everything off then using the asus utility to load the drivers and useful stuff back on. thing is there are tons of processes running and I hate not knowing whats happening behind the scenes on my rig, I wish I could completely disable/delete most of these processes and services running but I don't know what they all do.

2 included gaming mouse is nice, uninstalled software for it, limited control and adds to the startup.

Will update after a while when I learn more.

Update 1:

Had a problem with the Realtek Lan network drivers, they kept failing to install fully and could not get windows to get the drivers to work or install, spent many hours trying to find the solution online and in their help guides, was thinking either the lan hardware was dead or in some kind of zombie like deep sleep. Eventually got it to work, uninstalled everything Realtek driver and windows device hardware, rebooted then manually installed by handpicking the type of device and the driver -thankfully everything started to work! I now have lan working and don't have to do a emergency disk reinstall from scratch or send it back.

Power4Gear Hybrid seems really buggy, doesn't connect quickly enough with the hardware button, also when I save it to screen timeout it doesn't work and the screen just stayed on, all night! not a major bug but hope they fix with a update.

Also with all the software installed or most of it, my processes list is way too big for me! I like to know what's running and keep my system simple and bare, but this is more about the extra software included, and being unsure what I can uninstall.

Im gonna cut straight to what you gamers want to hear.

This laptop can run skyrim at MAX settings, and ittl get a TEEENY bit choppy in towns.

It can run WoW at max settings, without skipping a beat. (poor internet connections may still slow the loading of orgrimmar though)

It can run SWTOR at max settings, and same as wow, my slow interet speeds slow the loading of the Republic fleet on a busy day.

It can run Tf2 at max settings, even when i use console commands to DOUBLE the gamespeed on offline practice mode.

It runs minecraft at full settings without flaw.

Im currently installing Just Cause 2 and Portal 2 and Garys mod to test those games, but based on how it handled the first 5, im sure they'll do just fine

The gaming mouse mine came with was a nice freebie, but as a long time user of the Razer Naga, i feel that the button placement for hte included mouse is horrible for gaming. Two on either side of the primary mouse buttons. and 2 below the scroll wheel.

It also comes with a backpack. Ive only used the backpack for 1 day so far, but it seems like a decent backpack.

The backpack is dark grey with mild green. (at least the one *I* received is that color, peraps the colors vary)

at first i ordered this laptop by mistake ( i was reviewing the G73sx ) but after researching more, and seeing in person how big a 17'3 laptop is, im glad i got this version.

The trackpad is OKAY i guess, but when im playing anything but SWTOR or WOW, i use an external mouse.

also its easy to disable the trackpad so you dont hit it by accident, you just press Fn+F9

the lighted keyboard is very nice, there are also arrows on the WASD keys, and a little jumping dude on the spacebar.

The battery life depends what setting u have it on, theres a button on the top left that switches the laptop between 4 modes:

1. High Performance

2. Quiet office

3. Entertainment (Theater)

4. Battery saver

at first i thought my laptop couldnt game with lots of other stuff open in the background, then i realized i just had it on battery saving mode. So dont get worried when that happens, just make sure u set it to high performance.

and as the default background suggests, this laptop has the look and feel of a stealth fighter jet.

This is a fantastic laptop. DEFINITELY worth the money.

Buy ASUS G53SX-DH71 Full HD 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop - Republic of Gamers (Black) Now

I purchased the Asus laptop based on a recommendation from my son, who has had an Asus for the last 2 years. The G53SX is a great PC! It was delivered early and was exactly what I had ordered, all parts in place and ready to rock and roll! I wanted a good gaming machine for Lord of the Rings Online, and it is just perfect for it! The HD screen is wonderful. It's a somewhat heavier laptop, but I chalk that up to the fact that it is made out of sturdy, quality, materials. Oh, one thing that I should mention is how quiet this laptop is. Compared to my older HP laptop, I barely know I am running anything, even my hi-def game! And it is super-cool, temperature-wise, too! I've had it for about a month or so and am very happy with it!

Read Best Reviews of ASUS G53SX-DH71 Full HD 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop - Republic of Gamers (Black) Here

I've been using the computer for just over two weeks now and love it! When I first purchased a laptop in 2007, my main objective was to get something powerful for online gaming. At that time I was playing World of Warcraft, and the rig I had purchased harnessed more than enough power to handle it smoothly. Most people into PC gaming though, are well aware that WoW is not a very graphically intensive game. So what I ended up with was a laptop that was great for playing games at my desk at home, but not practical at all for any other purpose. It was too cumbersome, weighed somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 pounds, had a 17 inch screen and a 10"x3x"4" "Brick" that was part of the power cord. So I essentially had a "mobile computer", that wasn't really mobile at all which I spent far too much money on and turned out being a lemon after 6 months with horrible customer support. But I'm not writing this review on that laptop, I'm just trying to give you a little history on what motivated me to buy this particular laptop. So, back to the original topic at hand...the product review.

This time around when I decided to purchase another laptop I decided to go with something smaller, lighter weight and powerful enough to handle today's games without going too far over the top on the hardware. One of the main problems I've noticed with buying what is regarded as "today's most powerful computer" is that the more powerful the rig, the bigger it gets. This laptop seems to be a perfect balance between the two for me. The size is right, so the computer is mobile and it has pretty decent graphics power. The first thing I installed was "Rift", which is an MMO similar in gameplay to World of Warcraft but far more graphically demanding. I'm currently running this game on the highest factory setting without going into custom settings and the game is running beautifully! The computer design is also quite unique and very appealing. It also comes with a backpack/carrying case which makes the computer mobile in less than a minute.

I would recommend this laptop to anyone who wants a decent machine without spending a fortune on any of the top end models. My intentions are to try a few different MMOs, trade stocks and take online classes and I'm sure this computer has the power to handle any of those tasks. This makes my 5th computer/laptop and I'm extremely pleased with it so far!

Want ASUS G53SX-DH71 Full HD 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop - Republic of Gamers (Black) Discount?

The Asus G53SX is a powerful machine -when it is working. Plays all games at "ultra" settings without breathing hard and at an attractive price point.

However, the video card failed after only one week. Suddenly, the lcd screen remains dark during boot. It is either the screen or video card that is faulty since (fortunately) the video out port works when I plug in an external monitor. This enabled me to recover my files. This problem is apparently a known issue and more common than should be acceptable to any manufacturer. Searching the Web you'll find numerous incidents of this problem with other owners of Asus' Republic of Gaming machines (both G73 and G53 models). In fact there is a You Tube video showing another frustrated owner with this issue.

As powerful this machine is and as sweet as it is to use -when in working condition. My advice is to avoid this machine until this issue is fixed. Or take your chances and get frustrated with a machine that costs $1400+/with a known history of failure. Apparently Asus has an issue with quality control of their notebooks or are ignoring the issue as a cost of doing business.

Update:

After getting little satisfaction from Asus Support, Amazon stepped in and reaffirmed their commitment to excellent customer service. I am a long time / avid buyer and constantly "spoiled" by their adherence to customer satisfaction. The growth and profitability of their business reflects the priority they put on going the extra mile to meeting the customer needs. More companies should learn from their example. It is not surprise that Amazon has such a loyal customer base.

Oh Amazon is sending a replacement. Hopefully, I will have more luck with the reliability of the machine.

Update:

It has been several months since I received the replacement unit and it has operated flawlessly. Continues to be a great machine with all the power you need to play any game without exhibiting any effort. I have updated the rating to 3 stars, it would have been 5 stars except for the fact that the first unit did was flawed.

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