Showing posts with label laptop shop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laptop shop. Show all posts

Dell Mini 9 Inspiron 910 Laptop Notebook (Black) - Intel® Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB DDR2, 8GB HD, 8.9"

Dell Mini 9 Inspiron 910 Laptop Notebook - IntelĀ® Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB DDR2, 8GB HD, 8.9' WSVGA, Integrated Webcam, Windows XP HomeI've been looking for something like this for years to chronicle my motorcycle trips.

I was loathe to give up saddlebag space to a full-size laptop and worried that the heat, dust and vibration of motorcycle travel would kill a laptop with a conventional hard disk drive.

So I started out with travel journals, but I had to wait until I got home to blog my trip stories.

Then, five years ago, I tried blogging from the road with a Palm Treo 300. It was barely adequate. I stepped up to a Treo 600, and then the 700p, but even with the accessory fold-out keyboards, it was still a chore to write blog entries and manage my e-mail. And while the cameras have improved, they're still pretty bad.

I miss the 3G connectivity with the Mini 9, but Wifi hotspots are becoming more plentiful and it's getting easier to find them, especially if you have the AT&T deal with Starbucks or McDonald's.

The SSD (solid state drive) seems perfect for motorcycle travel, since it has no moving parts and is, therefore, less vulnerable to damage from vibration.

The 1GB of RAM and 8GB of SSD capacity are plenty, assuming you don't junk the Mini 9 up with lots of software. And there isn't any reason to do that, considering that you can do all of your email, word processing, spreadsheets, calendars, and other office-type functions up in "the cloud" with Google Apps.

I found the Internet Explorer browser's menu bars took up too much screen real estate, so I installed Google's streamlined Chrome browser that lets me see more of the web pages at a glance. I also avoid loading up the SSD by using an 8GB SanDisk thumb drive as a D: drive.

I'm not much for touchpads the Mini 9's touchpad works fine, I'm just not a touchpad guy so I use a wireless optical mouse.

The built-in webcam is surprisingly good. I have yet to use it for a live conversation, but it shoots quite acceptable still photos. The SD card reader is perfect for importing images from a higher-quality digital camera.

The smaller keyboard takes a little getting used to. The apostrophe and quote marks and dash/underscore are not where my fingers expected to find them, but it doesn't take long to make the synaptic adjustment.

The Mini 9 is intelligently designed when it comes to upgrades. You can access its guts by removing two screws and a cover plate on the underside. As I said, it comes with 1GB of RAM. You can double that for about $30 and the conversion takes about 5 minutes.

Computer development being what it is, there are sure to be subsequent generations of netbooks with more speed, power and versatility. But for now, I think the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is one of the best buys out there.

i have had my dell mini 9 for almost a year now and still LOVE it. I do a lot of writing and it is excellent fr that. I have Windows XP but did not get the office software. I downloaded openoffice.org software and the programs I use (writer and presentation are they are compatible with word and powerpoint thus far).

I purchased additional SD cards which I use for storing my info...

Using a mouse is best for me, and the keyboard takes a little to get used to, but for its purpose, the Dell mini 9 is wonderful...I had an ASUS, which was fine, but I prefer the Dell mini.

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Same problem as others have mentioned here, died and can't reload operating system. Of course, two years out of warranty. Main purpose for buying was the SSD and my motorcycle travels. Felt without a regular HD, I'd be safe. Was for two years, and it worked great during that time, but now it's useless, unless I want to spend big $$ to get it fixed, and it's probably not the hard drive giving the problem. Anybody know of a sturdy netbook that can withstand the vibrations of a bike on the road??

Read Best Reviews of Dell Mini 9 Inspiron 910 Laptop Notebook (Black) - Intel® Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB DDR2, 8GB HD, 8.9" Here

I've had the Mini 9 3 years, I use it for travel, vacations, not business, I love it. I can do stuff on the internet, stream my chicago classical music station on the road and upload travel videos to youtube with the multi-card slot. It boots up fast with the 16GB SSD and is quiet as a tomb. I hope this little bugger lasts forever! It's small, cute and smart, just need a mouse, i hate touch pads! A year ago I bought a Mini 10, just because it had a webcam, TV tuner and a 250GB hard drive, I switch off on the two, depending on my travel needs. I love them both, good, solid little machines. I currently own 4 Dells and I'm writing this review on a 5 year old Dell Vostro 200, which runs at home 24/7. I get 5 weeks paid vacation a year plus 10 paid holidays, I sorta string them together, so I travel a lot, and I need a computer (addicted). It's not a "gamer", but a nice basic computer.

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got this in the mail for my brother, for his graduation. Had a free case, was nice, works well and in good condition as advertised.

HP Pavilion TX2500Z 12.1-Inch Widescreen Laptop

HP Pavilion TX2500Z 12.1-Inch Widescreen LaptopBought one of these for $2000 with the best memory and options.

8 months down the roadthe CD/DVD/ LightScribe drive no longer works, 1/3 of the USB drives no longer works. The tracking pad makes my fingers raw, and when I plug in the mouse, its erratic as well. If you are at a desk, plan on using the unreliable wireless anyway, because the port for a wired cord is in the right front, which means if you are using a mouse you knock the internet cord out all the time. I got the best memory available for this computer and it still runs Vista at a glacial pace. The touchscreen is cool, except no matter how many times you calibrate it, your writing appears 1/2"-1" away from where you intended it.

My 4-year old Mac runs better. Look at different computers, this one isn't worth the money.

I purchased a TX1000z in March 2008. Things worked relatively well until May 2009 when it suddenly started shutting down for no reason. I would have to let the laptop sit for a couple of hours before I could get it to turn on again. After several weeks of this, the laptop finally died due to a design problem with the motherboard. This is a common problem for this line of laptops. Search 'TX1000z motherboard' on the HP forums and you will quickly discover the extent of the issue. If you buy this item get an extended warranty because the motherboard will most likely fail a few months after the factory warranty expires.

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Overall this is a nice laptop especially for the cost. There's a couple things to consider.

If you're looking to do a lot of drawing, keep in mind the pen is not pressure sensitive, so it's more limited than a drawing tablet.

The page up/down keys are up at the top rather than the more intuitive location next to the arrow keys.

The touchpad surface is not as comfortable to use as other laptops I've owned, but with the pen and touch screen, you don't have to use it as much.

Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion TX2500Z 12.1-Inch Widescreen Laptop Here

While I love the design, the touchscreen, and the tablet capability, it's not worth the money. Numerous times I had to replace the adapter, it repeatedly got viruses eve with protection, and after less than a year the laptop simply gave out. I decided it was not worth the money to fix it again, and bought a cheaper, similar laptop that I haven't had an issue with.

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Save your money! Don't buy this piece of junk. Serious design flaw with the mother board....just do a google search on the TX1000 line regarding mother board failure and you will see. Mine went bad after 2 years. Save your money and get an ASUS net book.

Sony VAIO VGN-NR160E/S 15.4-inch Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5250, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Dr

Sony VAIO VGN-NR160E/S 15.4-inch Laptop SilverThis is an excellent computer. I never booted Windows Vista, instead, the first thing I did was throw in the Ubuntu Linux disk, so I have no idea what kind of bloatware was originally on the computer. Everything worked out of the box with Linux, except for the Fn key, which I never use. There is a fix for it that I will try out, just in case.

Yes, it is expandable to 4GB of RAM. The display is beautiful. The keyboard is very comfortable to type on. It is blazing fast. Ripping CDs takes no time whatsoever. For a laptop, the sound is very good. I get great wireless signal strength.

I was at first regretting not purchasing the wenge brown computer, but at the time the silver one with the same specs was much cheaper. For the money I saved, the color is perfect.

For the typical web surfing, light photo editing, and music listening that I do, I do not need anymore computer than this. I have no complaints.

I bought this laptop on Black Friday at Best Buy and only paid $399...for four hundred dollars you absolutely cannot beat it. The computer is very nice to look at, the screen is beautiful, the keys are comfortable, and the sound is great. The only problem I have with the computer has nothing to do with the actual computer at all I hate Windows Vista. Since I bought the computer I have been spending all my free time trying to downgrade from Windows Vista to Windows XP with no avail. Sony won't open up this model for a downgrade until at least the first quarter of 2008 and even then you will have to pay for this to be done. Vista isn't compatible with all routers, so since my roommate already had an Airport Extreme router (and isn't open to switching to a new router), I have no internet access. If you are buying this computer make sure you check the compatibility with your router first or be prepared to buy a new one along with the computer as it is a huge hassle to try to make them compatible. This is not the fault of the computer though, just a general warning to anyone buying a new Windows operating computer (all new PCs come with Vista).

Other things:

-The computer is a little heavier than I would have liked, but that's honestly not that big of a problem (haven't weighed it but I'd say in the range of 6-8 lbs).

-It is clear that this isn't the best Vaio that money can buy. Sometimes the responses are a little slow, and when I was transfering music from my old computer to this one on CDs the CD driver was humming a little louder than I would have liked. Generally it is quite quiet though.

-It comes with a bunch of programs that I immediately removed because they aren't necessary and just take up space. (ex. Napster)

Besides Vista being a pain though, these aren't huge issues and for the price you absolutely cannot beat it. If you are looking for a computer to do general computing (AIM, Internet, listen to music, store photos, etc) then this is the computer for you. Remember though, check the compatibility with your router!

Buy Sony VAIO VGN-NR160E/S 15.4-inch Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5250, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Dr Now

No webcam which isn't a huge deal, the 1gb of memory can be upgraded, but what the hell is Sony think they are doing spamming Vaio users with Vista bloatware. This notebook lags so badly, and by no fault of it's own it's just all the bloatware that Sony loads on these computers to annoy and slap users who paid their hard earned money for a good notebook. To save everyone time go to yahoo or any search engine and type in "remove crap ware tool" and download it. Rather then spend hours removing all the needless nonsence that is bloatware off this notbook, this program will scan your computer and bring up an amazing list that you can select what programs you want removed, saves time, lots of time considering how much spam is on this machine.

Happy hunting!

Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO VGN-NR160E/S 15.4-inch Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T5250, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Dr Here

The biggest problem is that it comes with Vista and hundreths of preinstalled software that turn the machine slow. The Recovery CDs are not included, you got to make them from the OS. After you create then, and reinstall partioning the Hard Disk, uninstall all the preinstalled software and tune up Windows Vista for performance (i mean, no AERO Themes), the machine works great and fast (even with Vista).

I strongly recommend this machine, but only if you would do the "hard work" described.

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Glenn Skow's post is correct. This problems goes a looong way back and they haven't(refuse to) corrected it yet. This problem exist with Vaio P4 or other models of VAIO.

Yeah, it's the soldering problem with the SODIMM memory banks which gets broken w/ mobo over time. When that happens, you won't be able to use the laptop. Sony continues to ignore the problems and pass it on to your pocketbook.

Certified Pre-Owned MacBook Intel Core 2 Duo/2.4 GHz, 2 GB of RAM

Certified Pre-Owned MacBook Intel Core 2 Duo/2.4 GHz, 2 GB of RAMI bought this laptop in June 2011. About 1 month after receiving the laptop the screen would go black for no reason and the keyboard would phantomly type. Attributing the problems with the screen to the laptops age I made no attempt to fix it since it was still useable by adjusting the brightness. Unfortunately about 1 week ago the screen totally went black. So I took it to the apple store to get either the invertor cable or lcd screen or both replaced. In doing so apple called me back 2 days after dropping it off to tell me that someone had spilled significant amounts of liquid on the laptop and they wont touch it without sending it to their repair department for no less than $750, more than the laptop is even worth. Unfortunately the laptop totally crapped out after the date that I could get amazon to file a guaranteed A-Z claim.

So thanks for lying about selling me a damaged laptop that you obviously ruined and sold before the damage was obvious to me the sap who was totally taken by you. I advise that no one trust this crappy person and I rely on Karma to pay you back for the $500+ you stole from me.

WOW...what a great Mac. It replaces my aging G4 PowerBook. It is faster, lighter, has a larger screen, and does everything I could want. And the cost was half of a new one. Kudos to Instant Replay Electronics. Prompt delivery, great product, and good price. No one could expect more.

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So this product works so well. Since this Black Macbook came out in late 2006 at a staggering price of $1600 I have wanted it and never got around to buying it up until they stopped making it. Then this year I decided to try and get a refurbished version as I already bought a refurbished Ibook G4 for my mother earlier in January 2012 which works wonderfully for her. I am so pleased I did. Although the seller I bought this from had 100% positive reviews, I was thinking I might end up being that one person who has a problem with them, especially since the shipping was not as fast as it was described by many(came day before the last day it was estimated to arrive). I am so glad I ignored all my fears and bought it. It works so so well and came with so many surprises from the seller that I wasnt expecting and feel so blessed that I received them. I mean, as a designer, who wouldnt love to buy a laptop with the entire CS5.5 Suite AND Final Cut Pro installed in? So far it hasnt been a month but the black Macbook works well. Its been upgraded to Mountain Lion OS so I am able to do my work at warp speed. It has Face Time installed although I am yet to use it. My only issue was I know the 2.4Ghz Macs have the illuminated keyboard but this one doesnt seem to do that :(. If I can figure out a way to make that happen I will be in 7th heaven. Highly recommend this refurbished product for anyone who cant afford a Mac Pro at the moment but still want to be able to achieve great things on a reasonably fast system.

Read Best Reviews of Certified Pre-Owned MacBook Intel Core 2 Duo/2.4 GHz, 2 GB of RAM Here

Was more than expected and had extra software, very happy with quality and total experience with this buyer and highly recommend!

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Really quick for the price, makes a great every day laptop & gotta love the black case. You can't go wrong.

Lenovo IdeaPad S405 14" Slim Notebook (AMD A6-4455M 2.10GHz CPU, 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM, 500GB HDD, AMD

Lenovo IdeaPad S405 14' Slim Notebook Model 20196, MO 59351953Having owned HP/Compaq notebooks for business (G6, CQ61, CQ62, NX series) for over seven years, I took the plunge out of HP into Lenovo and am very happy I did. Firstly, this notebook is a "budget" notebook, not a ThinkPad or Macbook Air, and should be compared with other budgets in its price range. It is ultra thin and very light. The 14-inch screen and the near-centered trackpad are best for my uses. Heat dissipation is excellent (no, it will not burn your legs while resting on your lap) and the unit is very quite. The keys are contoured to fit the fingers and require little pressure. The unit lacks a DVD drive but this is a direction taken by manufacturers to reduce weight and cost, and prepares the user for "Cloud" computing.

Aesthetically, upon receiving the unit, I immediately compared it to my Macbook Pro of 2009: sleek, slim and thin but at (what seemed) half the weight. The screen detail and color fidelity are very good for a budget model. The sound quality is satisfactory (as in most notebooks), and whatever narrowness in frequency range exists, it is partially compensated for by a "Dolby Advanced Audio" 10-band equalizer. The single USB 3.0 port speeds data to and from my HP Pocket drive (with USB 3.0) at blazing speeds (unit has two USB 2.0 ports also); wireless sensitivity is above average; trackpad fluidity is close to a Macbook's (smooth!); 4GB of installed memory can be expanded to 8GB; and the HDMI port and 500GB hard drive are essential assets. (Note: A 500GB hard drive model will have 400GB available due to Lenovo using disk space as a "recovery partition".)

I did not order a discontinued Lenovo Win 7 unit but leaped into Win 8 in December 2012 "culture shock!!!" But . . . this is the future for the PC world and even we "old timers" must grow with the times. Win 8 is a "work-in-progress" for sure, and in order to adjust at a more relaxed pace to this OS, as well as get up-to-speed and "productive", I suggest downloading "Classic Start Menu" or "Start 8". These utilities will bring back the "Start" button and menu familiar to users of Win 7, Vista, XP, etc., but remove none of the features of Win 8.

All in all, this Lenovo unit is well worth the money. Again, this is a budget notebook and is not a ThinkPad or Macbook Air, but to me it is top of the line of any budget notebook I've owned.

Smooth, sleek, fast, compact, light . . . and very cool!

I've had this computer for 2 weeks now. In that time I have come to realize just how sweet this little thing is. Obviously it is not a powerhouse for video editing or gaming, but for the normal online activities it is very good. I do keep the power setting on high, which seems to improve the speed of my web surfing. Windows 8 seemed daunting for the first couple hours, but it is so easy to customize and it boots up at such fantastic speeds. If you just need a competent little laptop that is inexpensive and has a great keyboard, but it now.

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This is a good little computer. It's very slim and light. However, the graphics aren't great: everything has a bluish tint. Also, the mouse pad is just ridiculous. Most anywhere you click it, a menu pops up. You have to be very intentional about clicking it very near the bottom if you want to click and highlight text, for example. I would totally recommend this computer for any day-to-day activities, but I would also recommend getting a mouse. I haven't been using a mouse (I'll get one over the weekend), and frankly it's driving me quite nuts. But everything else is great--fast processor, lots of RAM, lots of memory...Windows 8 is fun, no complaints!

Read Best Reviews of Lenovo IdeaPad S405 14" Slim Notebook (AMD A6-4455M 2.10GHz CPU, 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM, 500GB HDD, AMD Here

Thinkpad X220 12.5" 320GB 4G

Thinkpad X220  12.5' 320GB 4GThis is a review of the Lenovo x220 Core i7 with 128 Gb SSD (rather than 320 Gb hard drive) and bought directly from Lenovo. Came with 2 Gb RAM but I put in 8 Gb of Crucial RAM for $94. This little machine in this configuration is pricey but literally screams. Boots in 20 seconds; shuts down in 7 seconds; switches programs with iPAD2-like speed. Great keyboard for touch-typing, but Thinkpads always have the best keyboards IMO. The screen is extraordinarily bright. Weighs about 3 lbs. I've gotten b/w 6-7 hours on the battery with typical office use. Three USB ports (one hot) and HDMI/VGA. I use the x220 with Dragon Naturally Speaking, and it handles the software very well -the best of any laptop I've used with Dragon. My accuracy has improved, and digitized text pops on the screen quicker than any other machine I've used. This is my seventh Thinkpad, and I've had very good luck with all of them. I think Lenovo has a winner with the x220, especially with SSD. I doubt I'll ever buy another machine without SSD -so quiet and so fast. You might want to check out Lenovo's recently released e220s -same size as the x220 but runs about $500 cheaper than the x220, depending on your configuration. It's really hard to find anything not to like about the x220.

I am a longtime Lenovo notebook fan -I own an x100, 120E, T61, x200, and x201, and now an x220. The main reason I have stuck with the brand is the quality keyboards and Matte displays.

In terms of battery life and processor speed, this notebook is outstanding. However -the touchpad was completely redesigned for the x220 and Lenovo blew it here. If you are typing a document, you'll find that the cursor flies all over the screen as you type -even if you have the 'turn touchpad off while typing' option checked! It's highly annoying. The problem is that your hands are always resting on the touchpad if your fingers are on the keyboard. In previous designs, this was not the case.

The only workable solution for me is to completely disable the touchpad, which is stepping back to an earlier era. My x200 doesn't have a touchpad either, so I don't absolutely need to have one, but they're nice to have.

I agree with another reviewer here who identified this as a serious problem that reduces the usefulness of the notebook. My Dad also has he same issue -he just bought an x220 and needed to turn his completely off as well. People who do very little typing, who just view web-pages or watch movies, etc will probably not be affected. Those needing to do serious work will be.

Lenovo, you're doing a great job overall, but I hope you're listening! This is a serious problem that you'll need to fix in the next design cycle.

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Thinkpad x220 Intel i5, 128 ssd, 8gb RAM, 9 cell battery, IPS screen

This is my 4th thinkpad x-series notebook. In the last 12 years I've had x-20, x-31, x-61. Then swithced to the sexy Macbook Air, then back to the Thinkpad x-series x220. This is by far the bestest laptop I've ever had.

Macbook Air is sure sexy and can run windows, but a real PC makes me feel more at home. Boot time of the x220 is about equal to the ssd Macbook Air (17 seconds). response is lighting fast and crisp. The Macbook Air with 4gb Ram (non-upgradable) running windows alongside Mac OSX would give me long delays with the beachball of death. The x-220 response is instantenuous.

Even the famed Thinkpad keyboard (best in the business for touch typing) feels crisper than previous Thinkpad models.

The screen is equal or better than the Macbook Air. This IPS screen is a huge leap for Thinkpads. My former models had a dim screen. If you buy this computer, insist on an IPS screen and not the ordinary screen.

Battery life is great. I think I should have gotten the 6 cell battery instead of the 9 cell I got. It would make the laptop even lighter and better looking without the extra protrusion in the back.

The 128 GB ssd is a bit small for me. I could have bought a model with 160 GB ssd but it would still be a bit tight. So I bought an OCZ msata 120 GB ssd card from Amazon for $165 and installed it in the slot under the palmrest (instructions on how to do it yourself are here: . (Alternately, his slot can be also used for a mobile broadband card). Now I have an adequate space of 248 GB. I moved the location of all my documents, videos, etc. from the original ssd to the msata ssd (right click on the folder, > properties > Location, type the path to the new location and click "move". Done. All the moved folders continue to appear in the explorer as if they've never been moved. Transparent integration.

The machine runs much cooler than my previous models. No problem putting it on my lap.

I read people complaining about the touchpad. Since I've grown used to the red trackpoint, and could never stand touchpads anyway, I disabled it in the "mouse" control panel. My previous models didn't have a touchpad.

The Intel i5 model has 3 usb 2.0 slots but not one USB 3.0 like the i7 has. The i5 processor is so fast, I don't feel the need for an i7 at all. But I bought a pci-express card with dual USB 3.0 slots to be inserted into the PCI express slot so I have a total of 5 USB slots.

Read Best Reviews of Thinkpad X220 12.5" 320GB 4G Here

Too many good things to list... bright screen, fantastic keyboard even though small with my big fingers, lightweight, huge battery life...

Turn off wifi with the exterior switch and I get 5+ hours on this on cross-country flights, working away with the screen on full bright.

I somehow missed that it would come with the docking station and optical drive, which is just what I wanted but had decided to delay purchasing... that puts it at just the right angle on my desk... and the only place I need cdrom / dvdrom.

The ergo is great, and I have to admit that Win7 has it right, perhaps even over my life-long Mac admiration. What a great, fantastic product. Kudos Lenovo!

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I purchased the X220 to replace an aging Dell M1210. I was drawn to the X220 because of it's Premium HD IPS display option and it's battery life. Well I got those features and they are great. The battery life with the optional 9 Cell is incredible, exceeding 10 hours. What I did not expect was the infuriating Touch Pad. Why did they not sort this out before going live. I'm having to learn all over again after growing to really like the Pad on my Dell. The Lenovo pointer jumps and bounces around like it's possessed. At the moment it's almost unusable. The left button press often yields no action or gives the pop down menu that you would expect from the right button.

My final gripe is that I'm not sure I dig the wide screen format. For business use I'm not convinced it is the best option. I may regret this purchase over the long haul, thinking that I should have instead purchased an HP or Dell.

Update: Ok it's been about three months of torment now with the Touchpad and my opinion still stands. For those of you who are conflicted about the usefulness or merits of a Touchpad let me elaborate. The X220 has both a Track Pointer and Touchpad. The Touchpad is a new design that combines the Left and Right mouse buttons into the Touchpad as integral single unit. The difficulty is that the Touchpad often seems confused as to whether you are pushing a button or simply trying to move the cursor about the screen. For those of us used to two handing the Touchpad it will be especially frustrating. As you attempt to scroll with your right hand fingers and control the buttons with your left, the cursor will wander in confusion. It's always amusing to watch a colleague take control of my computer during a presentation only to recoil from the behavior of the Touchpad. The response is usually something to the effect of "Wow what's up with that?"

Also the durability of the trim around the LCD is poor. The top left corner of my panel trim has already failed. I have not imposed any undue abuse that would justify this. This is my first Lenovo and maybe my last.

Update two: I've installed an OCZ Vertex 3 240GB SSD and an addtional 4GB of Memory(now 8GB). The OCZ SSD was troublesome initially but has improved with Firmware updates and a switch away from the Intel Drivers to the native Microsoft Drivers. The SSD has really transformed the Laptop, incredible, I'm now contemplating one for my Desktop since it is now a dog by comparison. Photoshop for example opens almost instantaneously. Finally in addition to the top left corner of the LCD bezel failing, so has the front left corner of the keyboard/palm bezel. Also for all of those Lenovo Keyboard fans out there, you should really try a decent Dell, then maybe you will know what a good keyboard feels like.

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Acer Extensa EX5230E-2177 Notebook PC Intel 2.2GH CPU Webcam DVDRW 2GB 160GB

Acer Extensa EX5230E-2177 Notebook PC Intel 2.2GH CPU Webcam DVDRW 2GB 160GBWe purchased this laptop here on Amazon just before Black Friday 2009. We paid $309 even though it was $249 at Best Buy the following week. After getting it home and realizing the single core Celeron 900 was an absolute dog of a processor, I went on eBay and bid $41.66 for a Pentium dual-core T4300 processor. I installed that and bumped the memory up to 3GB from 2GB using a PC2-5300 chip I had available from another machine. PC2-6400 memory can be used but it does increase temperatures inside the laptop. To put it simply, the computer now flies. Video is clean, clear, and stutter-free. It does not hang at times during booting. It does not freeze or lock up when multitasking. I use it as my primary computer and it blows away every desktop I've owned in the past few years. To be honest, I don't use it as a laptop, but as a desktop. I use an ASUS 23.6" LCD monitor (full 1080p video on a VGA connection), Logitech optical mouse and USB speakers, Kensington Keyboard For Life, and I just stick the laptop in my keyboard tray, put my external keyboard on the desk itself, and it's perfect.

This laptop can game. The Intel HD graphics (X4500MHD) is on-board, but it is THE BEST on-board graphics set you can get today. The performance is comparable to any of the following modern PCI Express cards:

ATI Radeon HD 4550

ATI Radeon HD 5450

nVidia 9400GT

nVidia 9500GS

nVidia 9500GT

nVidia GT120

It delivers close to 8600GT performance as well. I couldn't be happier with this laptop-as-a-desktop.

The computer having 3 USB ports is a slight problem, but a 4-in-1 USB hub solved that. I now have all ports in use and one free plug on the hub for flash drives, camera docks, printers, and other such temporary connections. It does not have a webcam (I use an external model) and it has no card reader (I have a microSD adapter and will be getting a full-size SD to USB adapter soon, but worst case, I can plug an SD card into my Kodak camera and unload it from there using my camera dock). The laptop's case appears to support these upgrades and other models of Extensa (5630 for example) do have these options. But a deep research into the computer's service manual shows that the card reader cannot be added to this motherboard.

Other processors that do absolutely for a fact work with this motherboard, chipset, and BIOS include:

Stock Celeron 900 (2.2GHz)

Celeron dual-core T3000

Celeron dual-core T3100

Pentium dual-core T4200

Pentium dual-core T4300

The T3200, T4400, and T4500 should also work fine as they are in the same processor family (Penryn-3M standard voltage, socket P) they are just newer models than when this GL40 chipset was introduced.

The T4300 does not have a noticeable heat increase over the Celeron 900, a degree or two hotter at idle, but identical under load. A T4500 might see another degree here or there. Other chips like Core 2 Duos may work in theory but may run hotter. These include T6400, T6500, T6600, T6570, T6670, T8100, T8300, and some later T9300/T9500 steppings,

Do NOT discount this computer, or any other cheap laptop with the GL40 chipset, for having a single core Celeron in it. These dual-core Celerons and Pentiums can be bought for $50 or less and provide a much needed kick in the rear as far as performance in daily use. The third GB of RAM just provides an extra cushion against slow operating when you're really busy. A $300 or $400 laptop with a $50 processor and $50 in RAM upgrades is now equal to a $700 model. Anyone who bought one of these at Best Buy for $249 just gets to do it cheaper than the rest of us.

Simplemente excelente producto y funcional. Muy bueno sinceramente, cumplió todas mis expectativas y funciona perfectamente. Totalmente recomendable para todas las personas. Muchas gracias

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