APPLE MacBook Pro 17-Inch Widescreen Laptop

I have been a PC person for 20 years. i took a chance and bought a MAC. I will never go back. For those who are thinking of moving to mac, don't worry you will love it. The only issue was all my Microsoft office products. But Microsoft for mac 2008/2011 took care of that. I can literally use the computer for 6-9 hours on the battery. It is hands down so much more of a tool than the PC thought of being!!

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HP Pavilion g7-1317cl Notebook PC 4GB, 640GB HD, 17.3", 2.5GHz/1.9GHz VISION A4 Technology, Win 7 6

This is a nice computer for the money. Works great,very fast shipping, seller easy to do business with,battery life seems a lot longer then my old computer, Thanks

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Toshiba Qosmio X775-Q7384 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop - Fusion X2 Finish in Red Horizon

First off ... I'm not a gamer. I had a 15.6" Lenovo entry level laptop that worked fine but I wanted more in a laptop. I wanted to be able to watch Blu-ray movies; I wanted an HDMI connection to tie the lap to a TV; I wanted a built in card reader; I wanted dual HDDs so I could designate one strictly for backup. There are several other features that my Lenovo lacked so I opted for a high end gaming machine. I was torn between an Asus gamer and this Toshiba. I did a huge amount of research, comparison between the 2 manufacturers and comparative cost shopping. Finally I pulled the trigger on this Qosmio. All I can say is ...WOW!! It not only met but exceeded my expectations. I upgraded the OS to Win7 Ultimate, threw on Office and A/V software and was good to go. A lot of the Toshiba bloatware is actually useful. I blew it all away and then reinstalled the select ones that I wanted to retain. For instance, Eco Utility is a cool feature ... turn it on with the touch of a button and the screen dims about 10%, all the idiot lights disappear and battery life increases about 25%. Sweet if you're working/playing away from an AC outlet. Tap the desktop button again and Eco is off. Harman/Kardon speakers have to be heard to be believed! With stereo above and a sub woofer below, the sound is unmatched in ANY other laptop. The NVIDIA GTX560M vid card is top of the line, latest state of the art. Intel Core i7; 8GB of 1333 RAM; 1TB of HDD (2-500GBs); Backlit keyboard. I could just go on indefinitely. On a scale of 1 to 10, this is a 10 laptop. I have zero negative comments. There is no room for improvement. Lastly, Amazon's price beat out the competitors'. Don't hesitate even if you are only remotely considering this unit. Pull the trigger ... with Amazon!!

Just bought this a few days ago at $1399, and NOW you go and take $100 off.

Well anyway, still a good gaming notebook at $1399. Took a bit of doing though. Had to downgrade the bios to 1.10 to fix the occasional choppy framerate that I experienced playing Witcher 2. Also had to go to the global settings in the Nvidia control panel and set the Nvidia processor as my preferred processor in the global settings in order to get some of my other games to run smoothly. But now everything's smooth as butter on max settings at 1080p (Samsung TV). Love the hybrid drive, speakers, and price so much that I'm willing to overlook the max 8gb ram, 1600x900 17" screen, and ugly design (in my opinion).

Not bad for $1399. Even better at $1299.

Buy Toshiba Qosmio X775-Q7384 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop - Fusion X2 Finish in Red Horizon Now

If your looking for a laptop, that could essentially replace a desktop, then you may wanna highly consider this one.

with all the high end specs, it is definitely worth it, and the price is right. I listen to a lot of music, some has lots of bass,

but no matter what it sounds great. I also play games on it, the graphic are just simply put, amazing. Day or night

i can clearly see the keyboard,which by the way work very well, and feels great. although, when i hit the volume button,

it make a loud beeping sound, and i cant quite figureout how to make it stop, so that one downer...also the mouse buttons

have quite a loud click... but over all this is an amazing computer, and Toshiba did it again :D

>-HOPE THIS HELPED-

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Qosmio X775-Q7384 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop - Fusion X2 Finish in Red Horizon Here

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Apple MacBook Pro MB076LL/A 17-inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Glossy Display, 2 GB RAM, 160

I had been wanting to switch to Mac for a little while now and was just waiting for the best timing for me. When Apple updated the MacBook Pros with a better processor, better graphics, more system ram and led-backlighting, shortly after the birth of our daughter (the selling point to my wife was that I would be better able to edit videos and whatnot of the kiddo), the timing was just right. I've been a longtime DOS/Windows user and now I feel like some kind of refugee fleeing PC for a Mac OS X world and I couldn't be happier although it's not without its adjustments.

I originally wrote this review for the 15", 2.4 gHz, middle of the line MacBook Pro. However, Amazon has set this review to appear for all three models in the line, which can make it confusing. I've tried to edit it some to make it clear what the differences are between the models. Also, now that Amazon has actually added extensive product information for the MBP, I'll try to take out some of my initial information on specs that is now redundant.

There remain three models in the line and the price points for each of those models has remained the same from the previous generation.

15" models now have an LED backlit screen, 17" models do NOT (as of yet). Some folks think you have a better rendition of black in the screen I'm not sure if it is better or not, but it is gorgeous. In the store, it appeared to me that the new screen (as viewed on the 15") was brighter than the older screen type (which is still on the 17"). The LED screen initially appeared washed out in the lighting of the Apple store, but I then realized that at full brightness, it can have that effect turning down the brightness (who ever heard of that) took away the washed out look.

Apple says that using LED's (instead of flourescent tubes) uses less power, generates less heat, provides more range of brightness and more even lighting. This would appear to be true in practice as well as theory. Battery life is good and the lighting of the screen (as noted above) is quite bright and appears to be very even. As for heat, I really haven't checked the screen temps, but the computer itself does not run as hot as I thought it would (based on reviews of prior generations). It is warm, but not at all uncomfortable to have on my lap (with the caveat that I have not done a lot of processor intensive work as of yet). Oddly enough, Apple states above that the display is mercury-free, but the box label says that the screen contains mercury it may well just be a label update glitch.

These models are MATTE screen. If you want GLOSSY you'll need to order from Apple or pick one up at their store (I did). I have heard that the glossy is actually more readable outdoors than the matte, but I have yet to confirm this for myself. That said, I've had no viewability issues in widely varied lighting conditions of my office (which is pretty bright, with overhead lighting and lots of exterior light) and my house (which is largely the opposite).

The system runs well (or so it seems) with 2 GB, but I am upgrading to 4 GB (the sticks are on their way but not from Apple way overpriced).

the 17" and higher-end 15" get 256 MB of video ram, 128 MB in the lower-end 15" model most folks are probably fine with 128 MB as it is the change in the graphics processor here that is truly the big news in performance. On the other hand, the extra video ram may give you the feeling of being a little bit more future-proofed and may be more helpful for hardcore gamers and people who are driving large external displays. I opted for the 256 MB.

hard drive is a very nice 160GB, 5400 RPM Fujitsu drive in the 17" and higher-end 15". The lower-end MacBook Pro hard drive is a 120GB, 5400RPM Drive this, oddly, is smaller than the 160 GB drive that is in the top line MacBook that is several hundred dollars less. I'll probably add an external Firewire 800 drive for the video work I want to do.

processor speed gets a minor upgrade to 2.4 gHz (from 2.33, or to 2.2 from 2.16 for the lower-end 15" model but this is the new Santa Rosa processor with a faster bus speed of 800 mHz (although the memory speed remains at a max of 667 mHz).

For $500 less, the lower-end 15" model has 128 MB of video ram (instead of 256), a 2.2 gHz Santa Rosa processor (.2 slower) and a 120 GB hard drive. However, it still retains the other upgrades, including the 4 GB maximum system memory and the LED backlit screen and seems to be an excellent bargain as most of the differences appear reasonably nominal. That said, I chose to go with the higher end 15" version I probably don't need it, but I plan to do a fair amount of video editing and perhaps some high resolution projection warranting the slightly faster processor and more video ram) and I'm also somewhat neurotic and unlikely to second guess having made the higher end choice. At least I can admit it.

A friend of mine asked why I didn't get the MacBook for a thousand dollars less. For me, the screen-size was not so much an issue, but I feel that twice the maximum ram, the separate graphics processing unit, the Firewire 800, the ExpressCard slot (if I wanted to add a CDMA or GSM-based wireless connection card) and the LED screen was well worth the difference.

Perhaps it goes without saying, but the computer itself seems well-built and well-engineered but it's all relative and it's not hard to be a better, more integrated product than most windows-based pc's. The MBP replaces an older Toshiba laptop for me and there's really no point in even trying to make a comparison, it's a joke. The Mac O/S is a bit of a learning curve for me but more like I am trying to unlearn "bad habits" from Windows things now make sense in an operational and functional manner. Overall, it's an attention to detail that I really appreciate on both the hardware and the software side little things like a backlit, auto-dimming keyboard or the magnetic power connector. I have to admit though, that after initially being impressed by the light-sensing, auto-dimming screen I am annoyed by the fact that the sensor is apparently in the keyboard and, in a bright room, certain hand movements cause the screen brightness to change back and forth. I'll probably turn off the feature because of this.

My previous (non-Windows) laptop was a trusty 12" G4 ("titanium"). I loved it, as it was (and still is) of an almost perfect size, and capable to do almost everything I needed to do on the road. But it *was* getting old, and when Apple came out with the slightly speedbumped MacBook Pro (a name I still don't like), I ordered it. I'm reviewing the 15", 2.4 GHz, 2 GB, 200 GB hard drive version.

The first thing that strikes you is how thin it is. My good old G4 was already slim, and the envy of almost every other passenger next to me. However, due to the increased screen size, the new MacBook Pro seems even slimmer (it actually *is* slightly slimmer than the G4 in case you wonder). What is really impressive is that the 12" G4 weights nearly the same as the much larger (and newer) 15" that's progress! And the 12" G4 is a lot lighter than my Wintel laptop.

The next thing you notice is when you turn it on: the screen's brightness. I've purchased the matte screen, as I'm not really fond of glossy screens (reflections). Still, the (now LED backlit) screen is astonishingly bright, and bright enough to use outdoors on almost any occasion (except in direct sunlight on a sunny summer day). Contrast is good (even exceptional compared to my G4). The screen's resolution (1440x900) is great, and more than enough for most presentation, spreadsheet and word processing work. Since it's 16:9 aspect ratio, it is also great for most image processing (lots of space for your palettes). It is less well suited for coding, as it is not wide enough for two 'real' code windows side by side. Then again, the MacBook Pro comes with a graphics card that can drive an external (additional) 21" monitor without breaking a sweat, and that *is* enough for most coding needs. I should note that Apple chose to make the video connector DVI (luckily a standard connector this time, unlike in my G4, where it is a proprietary connector), and omits a standard 'VGA' style connector. This means that, if you plan on giving a presentation, you should always bring along the DVI to VGA adapter (that Apple thankfully includes in the box).

What I really enjoy about the MacBook Pro is it's selection interfaces. I have rather large amounts of data that I have to move in and out of it (from our production machines that do most of the heavy lifting), and having a FireWire 800 port is a godsend. Using Firewire networking, I can move gigabytes in minutes (limited, it seems, more by the laptop's hard drive than bandwidth). In addition to that, it sports a USB 2.0 (for connecting all those Wintel things, plus iPods), a FireWire 400 port (can be used with older Macs, and many HandyCams), and 802.11 ("Airport") connectivity (b/g/n). Since the 'n' part of the 802.11 is not yet officially ratified, there aren't many hotspots that support it (unless you are lucky enough to be close to a new Apple Basestation).

Sadly, it does not have a slot for memory cards (CF, SD, whatever), but since readers are really cheap today, that's not an issue. On the upside, it also comes with self-sensing Gigabit Ethernet, wich is something that is really important when you want to quickly connect the laptop to a wired high-speed network.

The MacBook Pro also comes with a front-loading trayless DVD (DL) writer. It's not really fast, but it integrates nicely into the laptop, and is decidedly much, much cooler than those flimsy contraptions that I see sliding out of so many other laptops (my Dell included). I know that there are faster writers, but then again, if I want to write large amounts of data, I usually transfer them to a big box that can write at four times the speed.

Temperature-wise the MacBook Pro shares the same problem as most recent laptops: it gets uncomfortably warm for something that is supposedly be used on your lap. I didn't get burned, but did not enjoy the sensation either. So, whenever possible, use a surface you can put it on instead of using it directly on your lap. Speaking of using it the keyboard is very similar to the one built into my G4. It's OK, but nothing much to write home about (sorry, couldn't resist that pun). The keys are, however, backlit, which is a definite improvement (and looks really, really great). I still have mimxed feelings with regard to the trackpad. It supports the 'two-finger clicks' to simulate a two-button mouse and to implement scrolling, but I havn't much used it, opting for a small two-button mouse instead (purchased separately, and not from Apple).

There are some other things that come with the MacBook, most notably the built-in iSight (which can't be physically disabled short of voiding your warranty), and a tiny remote. I don't plan to use either. Looking for some freebies on the disk, I discovered that Apple, too, had succumbed to pre-installing demo versions of (thankfully few) applications: MS Office, Aperture and iWork (Keynote and Pages). Freebies are Comic Life, iLife (iMovie, iTunes, iDVD, iWeb, Garageband), and Omni Outliner.

It took me roughly 2 hours to completely configure the new laptop the way I wanted it (most of the time taken up by installing Parallels (with Windows XP taking 45 minutes), Final Cut Studio, XCode, Office, Aperture, Freeway, and iWork). I did not take advantage of the 'transfer from other Mac' feature (which I know to work well), because I wanted a freshly set up Mac. Still, compared to the time it took me to install and configure my last (Wintel) laptop, that is next to nothing. Network and Internet setup was a snap, and didn't require much more beyond adding it to our Firewall's 'good guy' list. I then took it on a road trip over the week-end.

I'm happy to say that it passed the trip-test easily. The 'mag-safe' power adapter is definitely more than just a gadget, but also definitely less than revolutionary. It came off twice during the week-end, but both times a normal power adapter would not have snapped. The second time it came off I only noticed because the screen dimmed immediately (to conserve power, as per energy settings).

I never worked with it off the normal power for longer than two hours, so I don't know how realistic Apple's figures are. The battery pack does come with one of those cool green LED charge meters, and after two hours they indicated about 50% charge left (as did the on-screen meter). Working with the MacBook Pro was always good, with all applications being very responsive (except, of course MS Office, as my version is not Universal. It was responsive enough for serious work, though). The wireless antenna seems slightly more sensitive than that from my old G4, but still can't hold a candle against reception in most PC laptops with low-cost (and sometimes drop-dead ugly) WiFi adapters. This may be caused by the metallic casing. BlueTooth reception, on the other hand, is good, and proved no problem with any of the bluetooth devices I tried (well -I only have two: my phone, and my car).

All in all I'm very happy with my new laptop, prefer it immensely over my Windows-based laptop (which, now that I have an Intel-based Mac, I can safely store in the attic and return it for the regular company-sponsored upgrades), and only feel slightly guilty of purchasing over my old (but still working) G4. The screen size and brightness, the connectivity, and the incredible slickness of the form factor make this a great laptop. It's really a hot laptop. The only downside is that it is also literally a hot laptop, but not more than my Windows-based laptop from Dell. I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone looking for a slick, high-end laptop.

Buy Apple MacBook Pro MB076LL/A 17-inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Glossy Display, 2 GB RAM, 160 Now

Let me stress at the beginning that I am not a Mac fanatic. I work with PCs and find them much less annoying now than I did 10 and 20 years ago. I've owned an iMac for four years and find it nice but imperfect. Macs and PCs are converging when it comes to reliability and ease of use, but Apple products are much more elegantly designed than most other computer products, and the Mac OS is still cleaner and more stable than Microsoft's product. I doubt the price premium makes Macs worth it for everyone, and in some ways Apple computers are like luxury cars that aren't designed either for stellar performance or to make things easy for the home mechanic, but rather to make driving as easy and comfortable as possible for people who don't much care to change their own spark plugs. They aren't for everyone, but they're definitely for those of us who want things easy and want our toys to have some style.

I like my new MacBook very, very much. It's thin, light, clean, and oh, so simple to use. The screen is brilliant, the keyboard feels nice (and I love the back-lit keys). Without subscribing to a service or dealing with any settings, I turned it on and had immediate wireless access to the Internet. I plugged my camera into it and immediately downloaded pictures no mess, no software to install. The included software that loads and edits pictures, music, and video is all nicely integrated and very easy to use, and also more than adequate for the casual user. I'm a little more than a casual user of photo software and will install Photoshop, but for most of my pictures I'll probably stick with iphoto. I popped in the disc for my four-year-old version of Office for the Mac and in a few minutes had smoothly functioning word-processing and spreadsheet software running the files I brought in from my office PC. Easy, easy, easy.

(This does lead me to note a negative that isn't minor: Apple computers used to come with a decent word processing and spreadsheet package, AppleWorks. That's no longer included. If you want to do word processing, you must buy some other software to do it. The absence of AppleWorks is unfortunate.)

I bought this computer for my wife (yes, I called it mine she may have to pry it from my hands) and opted for the MacBook Pro over the regular MacBook. She plans to use it on her sabbatical this year, toting it around to various libraries and archives and writing a book. I tried out my brother's MacBook and liked it very much, but I think the MacBook's chicklet keyboard would be annoying and uncomfortable if I had to type long or quickly on it. If this computer weren't destined to be used for long keyboard sessions away from home, I'd have been happy with the MacBook. If it were destined to be used mostly at home, I'd have saved a few hundred dollars and just bought a plug-in keyboard. But for our purposes the better keyboard and brighter screen really matter, so I spent the extra money on the Pro. If you don't plan to do a lot of typing, or if you plan to use it mostly at home, I don't think the extra expenditure would really be worth it.

As another reviewer pointed out, this thing gets hot. Very hot. I've always found laptop computers to be a bit warm for laptops, but this one would be painful on unprotected flesh. The magnetic connection for the power cable is very nice. The battery life isn't bad, nor is it great surfing the net and word processing, I've managed a bit over four hours. I haven't watched an entire DVD on it, but that seems to drain the battery more quickly. The kids have already videoconferenced with their grandparents, and the built-in camera is very nice for that.

Overall, this computer reminds me of my iPod sleek, sexy, uncomplicated but sophisticated, fun to be with. How much extra expense that's worth to you will decide whether this is the computer for you.

Read Best Reviews of Apple MacBook Pro MB076LL/A 17-inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Glossy Display, 2 GB RAM, 160 Here

I bought this laptop on the 2nd day after it release. I am happy user until now although it cost more than other PC laptop. But there are many advantages that makes Macbook Pro be the top machine today.

Pro:

Fast Speed I am a photoshop user. This machine runs very fast. Almost as good as the mac pro. I run WindowXP and OS X at the same time, very smooth. Some people complaint heat of the old MBP, I haven't experience heat problem at all. I believe Apple fix the problem in this new MBP.

Beautiful screen I have the Matte screen, very bright, nice color. Very good view angle.

Operating System

OS X very stable and user friendly. Can't wait for the Leopard release.

Battery life

last upto 5-6 hours depends on how you used it. For movies, expect 3 -4 hours.

Parallels support

I didn't miss the Window at all. SupportXP/Vista. Window Xp runs even faster and stable on MBP than the PC.

Slim design, weight

Only 5.3lbs, lighter than another 15.4 laptop.

Web cam, bluetooth, Isync, build in Mic. Apple just make very thing user friendly, they know what user looking for.

At the end, I Iike the touch of the keyboard.

Con: Pricey. But worth every penny

Want Apple MacBook Pro MB076LL/A 17-inch Laptop (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Glossy Display, 2 GB RAM, 160 Discount?

After years of being a PC user I finally made the switch to Mac; at the time the 15" MB Pro seemed like the best choice of computer. Although both the OS and the laptop itself are excellent products, I can't help but glance from time to time at my Dell Inspiron for answers whenever I get stuck in a rut. With that in mind, I'll draw some comparisons between my 14" Inspiron and the MB Pro.

Here's my two cents:

HARDWARE:

* Peripherals:

I think that for $2,000+ I should get at least 3 USB ports instead of just 2. The Inspiron comes with 4 at $1,500 and not even the 17" model comes close with only 3 USB ports available. Both the MB Pro come with Express Card slots but the Inspiron comes with a 5-card memory reader. Granted, the MB Pro comes with an extra FWire slot but I still haven't found a good use for it. A memory reader would be sweet, though!

* Keyboard/Trackpad:

I'll say it up front: I do not like the keyboard's response! The keys feel kind of mushy and the kick-back action is slow which keeps me from typing fast. The backlit function is super sweet, though! It really comes in handy when I use it in a non-lit room... it also attracts the attention of passersby which is always cool hehe. BUT, this very function messes up the key's assigned functions (Spaces, Dashboard, Exposé, etc...) which makes it a toss-up between choosing either the Exposé functions or the Volume/Brightness functions. In this aspect, I prefer the Dell's response but backlit LED feature is not available.

The trackpad is nice and big enough for mouse activity but sometimes gets in the way of my typing and can mess up with my typing especially when I have to reach out to the G, H, V, B and M keys.

*LCD:

The LCD is nice and bright and self-adjusts its brightness when in a low-light environment. Its tricky getting used to it because sometimes it will self-adjust to very low levels and you'll then have to manually tweak it until you're satisfied. I haven't had any monitor problems like other users have stated and I hope I don't run into that problem!

*Speakers:

I can't really say much about the speakers except that I like their location which is at either side of the keyboard and thus gets out of your way when you lay your wrists on the laptop. The sound quality and volume are OK and really don't use them since I either plug my headphones or my external speakers. I can say that they're more powerful than the Inspiron's.

*Battery Life:

The battery life on the MB Pro is great, running at an average of 4 hours which will vary depending on how much stuff you do with the laptop. Inspiron's battery life runs at an average of 3 hours.

*Heat:

Oh, yes... the dreaded subject! This annoying bug takes the "lap" out of "laptop" unless you enjoy your thighs being subject to extreme heat... I kid you not! I can only stand holding the MB Pro on my lap for about 30 minutes and then it just gets unbearable; I either have to set it on a table or turn it off and wait for it to cool down. It seems that the sleek design comes at a very high cost and that's the heat since only one cooling vent is found where the LCD meets the chassis. The Inspiron handles this issue with better results.

*Weight/Size/Design:

The MB Pro will fit just fine on my backpack which was designed to carry my 15" Inspiron and the weight is nothing to either complain or brag about.

The design WILL make heads turn since its aluminum casing (also a con. See: Heat) makes it look cool, sleek and just brings the whole design together since it's not splashed with several colors like other laptops do.

SOFTWARE:

I have to admit that I almost returned the damn thing since Leopard was not pre-installed as "stated" on the Apple website; Apple had adroitly phrased their Leopard marketing pitch as "Ships with Leopard". Oh but Leopard was included all-right, in a drop-in DVD.

Upgrading was a breeze (around 40 minutes) and I didn't have to go back to the laptop every minute for annoying "Would you like to..." pop-ups. I can say that Leopard didn't recognize my wireless connection until after the computer was all setup.

I can honestly say that Leopard is a great piece of software and its features (too many to discuss here) really blow Vista and/or XP out of the water; there's simply no point of comparison! And no, the OS is not perfect either. It will lock up but not as often as Windows... in fact, it has only locked up 3 times since I got the laptop on Nov 24 and I use it every day.

I have really learned to enjoy the difference between platforms and although they're both flawed systems, OS X is the winner in this category. Who says you can't be productive and look cool at the same time!

Bottom line, I don't have any reason to go back to Windows...er, well actually I do have XP installed thanks to VM Ware Fusion, which rocks by the way! Ok then, let me rephrase: I don't see myself buying a PC unless some major development happens in the hardware scene. Sony, HP, Dell, Toshiba... I'm talking to you!

As for the software side, if a major release of Windows happens to be ground-breaking I'll just buy the damn thing and install it on my Mac, ha!

I do have some suggestions though: I honestly believe a memory card reader is needed and don't give me the "oh but you can buy an express card for that purpose" excuse! The heat issue is a big one too: it's like having a Ferrari and not being able to get the juice out of it because the steering wheel gets hot after 30 minutes! The keyboard needs some work, it can be more responsive; the backlit feature rocks though!

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Lenovo ThinkPad W530 24382LU 2.60-3.60GHz i7-3720QM 4GB 500GB 7200RPM HDD 2GB Quadro K2000M 15.6" F

I researched for some time which workstation class 15" laptop could replace my desktop as a portable workstation. After looking at Dells, Sangar, Toshiba, etc. I chose the Lenovo W530. I had a very good experience with a Lenovo G570 I purchased earlier for another employee and it gave me good expectations for this unit. The price and feature ratio on the W530 was very hard to beat. I really wanted the Nvidia Quadro 2K card for CAD work and few offered it or something similar as most are focused on gaming. I'm not gamer, I wanted this for my work/home computer as 75% of my work entails CAD/CAM along with IT support.

The one feature I REALLY wish it had was a 10 keypad and the Ctrl & Fn keys reversed in position. The G570 has a 10 key in a nice chicklet style keyboard with the Ctrl & Fn keys in the correct position. Why Lenovo can't give this keyboard style in a high end laptop is beyond me. At least the included keyboard is very nice to type on, except for occasionally hitting the little red navigation nub above the B key. I could get along without that nav button just fine. It works, but I don't make great use of it and it interferes with typing more than it helps with navigation. Luckily I mostly use the unit with a USB full sized keyboard and mouse.

The other aspect of the W530 I am not very fond of is the Intel LAN/WiFi cards. This is for 2 reasons. First, I have found the Intel WiFi cards to be the least compatible with routers of all the WiFi cards I've used in laptops. I have had the same experience with Sony VAIO laptops using the Centrino cards, they are very finicky to connect. I had to reconfigure my FiOS router at home to get it to connect and most of the time you need to turn off the Ivp6 feature in the card settings or it won't connect. I have never had this problem with Atheros, Nvidia, or other WiFi cards. It is also not readily recognized by many Linux Distros, a fair sized negative in my book. Second, I do NOT like Intel's PXE boot agent which interferes with accessing the BIOS menu. After the Lenovo Tech support agent failed to help me get around it, and much trial and error on my part, I found out if you simply hold down the F1 key for an extended period it will eventually go past the irritating PXE boot agent menu and into the BIOS settings. I cannot find a way to turn this feature off and I have zero need for it. Since it's built into the on-board BIOS Intel's bootutil program won't control it, I tried that option and it doesn't work with on-board PXE. My beef is more with Intel than Lenovo.

The Webcam is pathetic, seriously. For a high end laptop the Webcam is not even in in the ball park for this decade, it's nearly useless. I tried to skype with it twice, gave up, installed my Logitech 9000, and things rocked, super clear, no lag etc., the way it should be. Do not plan to use the Webcam, just forget it's there. The built-in microphone isn't much better. It works but the audio quality is poor, my skype recipients told me I sounded like I was in a barrel. I just switched to the microphone on the Logitech and bingo, audio quality was right there.

The Speakers are pretty decent for audio playback, movies etc.

Other than the above issues I have been quite happy with the unit. I bought it with the 4GB of RAM option with the plan to upgrade it to 16GB. I was stoked to find out they ship it with the 4GB in the hard to access primary RAM position under the keyboard and the 2 slots for extra RAM on the bottom empty. I was able to plug in the 2 x 8GB sticks I bought and end up with 20GB on board in a matter of minutes, very nice. I have no complaints on the speed of the unit.

The Nvidia Quadro 2K (2GB) card has been so so. It's compatible with my CAM/CAM software but not nearly as fast as I'd hoped it would be running packages that use surfaces. You can use Nvidia's software to configure which GPU runs your applications, either the Intel HD 4000 or the Quadro, or let it choose automatically. You can also configure details of the Quadro. In many instances I find the HD 4000 GPU just as fast which doesn't speak highly for the Quadro card. This isn't a reflection on Lenovo but rather Nvidia. After some research on the card I found they really choked it in terms of the RAM R/W speed. If this feature is a big part of the buying decision (as it was with me) do some research on the card's performance first. This is my one disappointment.

I have been using the system with Lenovo's MiniDock Plus Series 3 and it works great, love it. I run a twin screen setup off the docking station plus the built in screen for a total of 3 screens and it works very smoothly. I have also used the VGA out port for a single extra monitor which works fine. The Win 7 Pro OS is very good about remembering your settings for different monitor setups. I think the docking station approach is completely worth the extra couple hundred dollars, plus you get a second power supply, that's hard to beat. Speaking of power supplies, the 170w supply is a beast. It pumps out the power but sure is a brick to carry around. I'm thinking of getting the smaller 90w unit just to keep in my carrying case and leave the other two 170w bricks at home and work.

I have the 9 cell battery and the life is pretty good if you set it up to optimize battery life. I've gotten 4-5 hrs of run time from it which is pretty dang good for a high powered laptop. The 9 cell battery does stick out the back an extra inch or so. If you want a flush fitting battery you need the 6 cell which would also make it slightly lighter to carry. If you carry it around a lot I'd suggest the 6 cell and 90w power supply, the two would shave off more than a pound from the combo I think.

I have not had any problems with the unit and it's been rock solid in operation. I'm pleased with the 1920 x 1080 HD display. I recently replaced the 500GB HDD with a Seagate 750GB hybrid drive to improve speed and capacity. I cloned the new drive using the Apricorn USB 3.0 SATA kit and it worked flawlessly. The new drive booted up like it had been in there the whole time. I was able to resize the primary partition during the cloning to give me a sizable second partition for my data files. I set the fully configured OEM drive aside as a backup. The HDD bay is easy to access but be careful of the screws holding the caddy on the drive, they are ultra tight and I think have some thread lock compound on them. The first time you remove them have a good fitting screw driver and be very careful or you'll strip the heads of the screws. Once you get them out it's no longer an issue.

To recap, overall I'm very pleased with the laptop and would recommend it. It has a VERY solid build feel and an excellent array of ports. The ultrabay is nice for swapping in other drive options. I had to buy a mini display port to HDMI adapter cable to connect to a big screen TV but it works fine. You'll most likely find that cable in the MAC stuff, it's common for them. If I had a choice I would not get the Intel net cards but you may not have the option. They do work once you tweak the settings. If you can't connect to WiFi try turning off the Ivp6 option first. If you come face to face with the stupid PXE boot agent menu hold down the F1 key for a long time, it will get you past it and into the BIOS setup.

Final note to Lenovo, offer an updated keyboard with a 10 keypad and the Ctrl & Fn keys reversed, ie just like the keyboard in your G570, you know how to do it. And PUT IN A REAL WEBCAM!!!! Professionals use WebEx, Skype, etc for business video calls more and more, it's an essential tool for remote communications. My wife's $350 ASUS netbook has a far superior webcam in it.

If Lenovo fixed the keyboard layout and gave it a state of the art webcam/microphone I'd rate it 5 stars.

I hope this helps somebody considering this laptop.

I bought a W530 with a Pantone color callibrator from Lenovo Direct, and went through an awful experience with Lenovo's customer service department. The color callibrator in my machine didn't work, right out of the box. I've used Lenovo laptops exclusively for the last ten years, and have really enjoyed them. I've had everything from the 12 inch mini to the 15.6 workstation. They've been fast, tough, and reliable. But of the eight Lenovo laptops I've bought for myself and my family, I've had two that have been defective right out of the box, and my son received a lemon, too. Each time, we've been run through the time-consuming and frustrating process of working through Lenovo customer service to get a replacement. Long waits on hold, shut down, reboot, retest, finally send the machine into engineering, etc. This last time with the W530, almost six weeks passed between the time I first called Lenovo and the time I received a replacement computer that worked. My replacement W530 is humming along fine, and it is clearly the fastest, most powerful computer I've ever owned. The callibrated, high resolution screen is fabulous. It's been a month and it hasn't crashed or even hiccuped once. The machine I now have is a five star, but my experience with Lenovo support and the sketchy three out of eight lemon rate makes me downgrade to a three star at best, and I have to wonder how many lemons Lenovo lets out. I tried posting a review describing my unpleasant experience on Lenovo Direct, and .... big surprise, it isn't posted. So I'm posting it here at good old Amazon to let you all know. I think my new W530 is a terrific machine, but I sure have received a lot of lemons.

Buy Lenovo ThinkPad W530 24382LU 2.60-3.60GHz i7-3720QM 4GB 500GB 7200RPM HDD 2GB Quadro K2000M 15.6" F Now

This is an interesting product with useful features, from the ability to use expresscards to add connectivity and functionality to a lovely LCD screen. Review the features list carefully, and proceed if you need those features and can't find them elsewhere (expresscard slots, for instance, are increasingly hard to find).

I was excited to get my new ThinkPad W530, but it was nonfunctional out of the box--something wrong with the communications sequence, from the motherboard to the antenna which makes any kind of internet connection not an option. Lenovo tech support had me reload the OS, replace the hard drive, re-reload the OS (from media this time), use an ethernet connection (luckily I have one!) to run the dreaded Windows updates, run hardware diagnostics, and more. All to no effect. A decent company (and you know they're out there!) would have had me ship them the machine for repair and shipped a new one for me the same day and fixed up the defective one for sale later on.

A month later, I'm finally in the queue for a repair which will take a week or so. I have to deal with the repair process, evaluate the repaired machine, and had to argue with staff to ensure that I was still eligible to return the thing if I don't like the way it works when I get it back.

Lenovo Customer Support, particularly on the sales side, is grossly inefficient. None of the people you talk to when calling them with issues has real authority to help you. This can be very frustrating if you are an individual or a small business. Tech support is competent but not well linked to sales side in the event you need to return product, so techs lean to having customer make repairs on their end instead of asking you to send them the unit to repair at their leisure while providing the customer with a functioning machine.

Do not purchase from Lenovo unless you have strong internal hardware support staff and a dedicated person to manage communications with Lenovo...or just really need a particular feature on their machines. If you have issues with CS, press to speak with supervising staff and express concern with their process. Currently, staff are reluctant to let you go to supervisors, probably due to internal regulations that penalize sales staff for putting customers first. Perhaps they can improve.

Read Best Reviews of Lenovo ThinkPad W530 24382LU 2.60-3.60GHz i7-3720QM 4GB 500GB 7200RPM HDD 2GB Quadro K2000M 15.6" F Here

I recently made this purchase via the official Lenovo store due to my old laptop's battery giving out and have had nothing but grief throughout the entire process.

First of all, I was deciding between this and the M6400, but decided to go with Lenovo due to talking to a sales agent and getting assurance that it would ship before would. What he failed to mention was the delay that would be caused by customs, and the fact that it also ended up shipping 2 days after the stipulated date that he assured me of. 48 hours is a long time when you have deadlines every day in the actual working world.

But that's just overeager sales people, right? So secondly, when I finally checked my order status, I was shocked to discover that the configuration I had listed no RAID whatsoever. I had to look up the product manual to discover that there were some W530 models that actually did not have the RAID mboards in them, and after going back and forth between Lenovo sales/tech phone support (thanks for redirecting me everywhere and not actually answering my question, by the way Lenovo), I ended up getting a solid answer from the user forums: that there ARE no RAID models available at the moment, and not for a few months at least.

I'd like to point out that at NO POINT in the ordering process was this mentioned, anywhere. And on the main product page, it mentions that it supports RAID. If not for the fact that I needed it urgently and had no time to go through the process of cancelling the order and going with a instead, I would never have gone through with this purchase.

So anyway, I finally get the laptop, set about stripping out all the existing software and going with a fresh install of Win 7. And then I get BSODs whenever the AC is unplugged, which took me yet another 4 hours to diagnose before I discovered that the BIOS wasn't updated. After flashing it, now the ExpressCard slot no longer works (thankfully that's not a critical problem, since it just means I lose one USB port). The customer support tech I contacted had the gall to tell me that I had too much RAM that was causing the problem!

Additionally, if you do end up choosing to go with a W530, do yourself a favour, and get the full HD screen (I got the 1600x900 because I hate having screens with anything higher than 90DPI). The lower-end screens have absolutely b ad colour gamut and viewing angles (completely out of whack white point and blue gamma). It's worth mentioning that this is the first ever screen I have actually had to use a colour calibrator to correct gamma, instead of eyeballing it like I usually do. It's that b ad. And I've calibrated Phillips screens before.

Build quality, despite what most people think, is actually not-so-good. The keyboard panel sags, the general material used (with the exception of the screen housing, which is actually quite well-built) is crappy plastic all over and the new keyboard rubber dome feel is not as crisp as other manufacturers' (Acer/Asus actually has better feel)

Also, the lack of a numpad. I knew I was already going to miss it, but it boggles the mind as to why Lenovo chose this new layout, presumably to fit in larger drivers for the speakers, which are massive. Unfortunately, I think it's a poor compromise (who the hell mixes on laptop speakers anyway?) since the speakers don't sound that good at higher levels, and have b ad response through the mid-range of tones. I always use an external sound card and monitors for my audio, anyway, so it's not a huge issue for me. No Caps Lock/Num Lock indicators, however, which means you have to rely on a OSD display, which takes up RAM and CPU, along with GPU draws to screen. So, pretty annoying.

So...the good points. The general aesthetic is actually alright, the matte finish is welcome, and the arrangement of ports (with the exception of zero USB ports on the right side) is alright. The RAM slot positioning and HDD slots are well thought-out, making upgrades accessible and less frustrating (but to be fair, almost every manufacturer has caught onto this these days)

In summary, however, with all these problems of reliability, fraudulent sales, and absolutely useless tech support, there is no way I could recommend this to anyone, or any Lenovo product for that matter, considering this is the way a professional product is being marketed and supported. I am terribly disappointed that in a already small market for workstations, Lenovo has chosen to blatantly disregard its offering, I suspect, in favour of its probably more profitable consumer lines.

Just remember: we're the ones making the actual entertainment media for those products.

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The hardware is great, everything you would expect from Lenovo in a workstation grade laptop. However, you may spend an entire day chasing drivers and loading the color calibration software yourself. When mine arrived, it barely functioned and had no wireless, discrete graphics, optical drive, or wireless monitor capabilities and the device manager was full of exclamation points. I had to load the X-rite software myself and run the first color calibration routine, something Lenovo claimed they would do at the factory. Once you actually get the laptop up and running with the right drivers, it works great, but I wouldn't recommend this to someone who need a machine that works right out of the box.

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Gateway NE56R48U 15.6" 4GB Memory 320GB HDD

First of all I want to say that people need to be more realistic about what they expect from a budget laptop. You can't expect a Budget Laptop NE56R48U for $300 $400 to have the quality and features of a $800 and above laptop. I bought this laptop in May of 2013 as display model for $288.00 from Best Buy. I couldn't believe the condition of the laptop. It looks brand new. No Damage or wear what's so ever. I say any laptop that can still be working and in condition as a display model must be well built. Believe me I ran it through its paces before I bought it more or less because there is limited software included on it. I picked the laptop up and it didn't feel flimsy. It didn't creek or rattle. It felt solid for an all plastic unit. Now, don't get me wrong. It didn't feel like a $2000.00 laptop. But not bad at all for a budget laptop. The keyboard keys felt fine (I wish the keys lit up). I like the spacing of the keys and especially like the numeric keypad. The picture quality is good. The battery life is good, 4-5 hours. All of the pixels on the screen work; nnlike the Dell 14Z-2100Slv that I bought through QVC. Dell's website states that 3-6 Non functioning pixels is considered industry standard Really? I give you $700.00 and I get what I consider a major flaw. Not to mention the computer wouldn't come up to the windows 8 sign on after completely shutting off. The screen remained on the Dell Logo. I had to go to another website in order to find the fix. I bought a budget Gateway Laptop and every pixel works. And it is the same resolution as the Dell Ultra book; I digress :)

BTW, I compared the Gateway NE56R48U to the Dell 14Z-2100Slv Ultra book for the shear purpose of comparing a budget notebook with a mid level notebook. No, this Ultra book isn't considered top of the line. It is considered Dell's budget line of Ultra books (Inspiron). The Dell has a I3 1.9ghz processor with 6 gigs of ram and 32 gigs of SSD. Semi aluminum case. Suffice it to say that there wasn't that great of a difference between the two units. Get this! I turned both machines off (Not Stand by). I turned them both on at the same time and the Gateway beat the Dell by a couple of seconds in coming up to the windows 8 sign on screen. Dell has a SSD card in it. Surprising that Dell and the other advertisements I read about states that the SSD supposedly makes the PC come up to the sign on screen from booting up much quicker than a PC like Gateway(NE56R48U) that doesn't have it. Consider that the Gateway has a intel B960 2.2 ghz processor and 4 gigs of ram. It held its own despite not having more resources and bells and whistles like the Dell. In all fairness to the Dell 14z with its Intel 3 1.9ghz does do a little better when it comes to a more demanding tasks. But the difference isn't all that spectacular. The price of the Dell is more due to a combination of things like the size (Ultra Book); the name; the processor; the ram and SSD.

I was tempted to choose the Dell Ultra book, but the reviews on Dell's website and my experience with the machine lead me to believe that this isn't worth the money and the headache of keeping the notebook. Shame; Nice and solid build but so not worth it.

This is a good computer. I bought mine for $299. It has good memory and a good processor. It's not the top of the line but for the amount of money is a really good buy. I use it for home use only. Its not a touch screen and there are a few things to get used to such as the sensitivity of the mouse pad. Also, when you go too far to the right with the cursor, it prompts a tool bar. Other than that, I am happy with this computer and I would definitely recommend it to others. Hope this helps!

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Dell Latitude D610 Pentium M 740 1.73GHz 1GB 40GB CDRW/DVD 14.1" XP Professional

I was surprised the good condition the laptop looked, also like new.

Everything worked and it was in great shape.

I received it very quickly and I'm more than satisfied with it

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HP ENVY 15t-3200 Notebook

It's been about a month now since i got it and it's working pretty well. no complaints thus far. It's really a good deal people.

I have been in IT field for 15 years. So far, this Envy 15 notebook is my favorite machine. I've used it for almost everything (IT works, digital video/photo editing, games, watching movies). Now with Windows 8 Pro on it, performance is rock solid. For the price I paid, I have nothing less than good to say about this notebook. HP did a great job on this computer.

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I was excited when I bought this product as a gift for my wife. It all went flat the very first day, the notebook hard drive crashed and I got good support from the seller LGI but I had to return it as it had to be replaced. I'm currently working with LGI on a replacement option as this model has been discontinued. Will check back in on the results

Read Best Reviews of HP ENVY 15t-3200 Notebook Here

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Toshiba C655-S5507 Satellite Laptop / Intel Pentium processor B960 / 15.6" LED-backlit TFT-LCD HD /

You have found it!

I say single-tasking because you need to know that it is a single-core computer and set your expectations accordingly, do not expect it to work as well with multiple programs open at once.

This gets a very admirable 5.1 on the Windows Performance Index, where all of the other laptops that I looked at in the sub $400 range get 4.4 to 4.9. Desktop Graphics is the lowest of the scores at 5.1, and suprisingly it picks up a 5.9 for Gaming Graphics! Surely you won't do any hardcore gaming with a computer in this price range, but since I will be doing light vector graphics work as the primary use of this computer, I was very happy to see this.

I was fortunate and found it for $330 at a local retailer, and IMO it becomes the best option with considering cost to performance of similar laptops. Also to my suprise, the SATA controller had AHCI mode already active, so I will probably look into getting a low capacity SSD to boost the performance a bit more, although it already seems quite snappy on the 320GB 5200 RPM drive that it comes with.

For tinkerers, there are two panels on the bottom with one screw in each, one gives you access to the two RAM slots, the other gives access to the HDD. There was a lot of pre-installed "junk" that I got rid of for the most part, but I hung on to a few of the apps as they seem useful, such as a hardware setup wizard that lets you adjust BIOS settings from within Windows, and the native driver updates application.

Of all of my WiFi devices, this one seems to pick up signals that I have never seen before, so I imagine that a lot of this is due to the low density and therefore unobtrusive materials used for the chasis and body rather than a super-powered WiFi module. Regardless of the reason, it is a nice bonus.

UPDATE: Installed 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD without issue. I have also had an opportunity to work with the computer a little and after selling my first generation ASUS zenbook after several months of ownership and use the only difference I notice is aesthetic. One more positive that should be noted about this laptop that I have noticed after some use is the screen. It is not the highest resolution, but it is crisp with very good color reproduction and max brightness looks very usable and good.

I purchased this laptop at Best Buy on July 7, 2012. 5 months later in December it stops burning dvds. I called 800-457-777 given under properties in My Computer for Toshiba support. Don't waste your breath. The little laptop did well for 5 months, but even with the one year warranty which he acknowledged covered all hardware issues you have to pay $49.95 for the phone call if you want them to "fix" this issue over the phone.

There is no yellow exclamation mark in device manager it says the device is working properly. It will read cds and dvds and will burn cds but stopped burning dvds about a week ago.

I would suggest looking around to see if there is any company left where you can understand their "tech support" and will honor their warranties. If you are just looking for an inexpensive laptop to search the internet and get email then this one may do just fine for you.

Buy Toshiba C655-S5507 Satellite Laptop / Intel Pentium processor B960 / 15.6" LED-backlit TFT-LCD HD / Now

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HP Pavilion g6-1b70us 15.6" Notebook (2.4 GHz Intel Core i3-370M Processor, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard D

I guess I should have upgraded a long time ago. Love all the features on the laptop. The processor speed is fast. Plenty of memory and HD space. Display is crisp and clear. Comfortable keyboard. Windows 7 is a big step up from Vista. Can't wait to dig more into the other features. Thumbs up!!!

A very nice notebook at a smashing price. Love the look of it. Just Got it a few hours ago, so still playing around with it. Overall, good speed with the i3 intel processor. Not a techy, so cant say much in that dept. Smashing deal though. I will give it four stars, since i'm still exploring.

Buy HP Pavilion g6-1b70us 15.6" Notebook (2.4 GHz Intel Core i3-370M Processor, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard D Now

It's perfect for me, it might not be a hardcore laptop but it gets the job done.

Why are you reading my comment? HURRY UP AND BUY IT!

Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion g6-1b70us 15.6" Notebook (2.4 GHz Intel Core i3-370M Processor, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard D Here

The laptop is good but the speed is not so good and also the sound though it says SRS is not good compared to the old also it does not have a separate number key pad if you are used to but overall is good one nothing specific to complain.

Want HP Pavilion g6-1b70us 15.6" Notebook (2.4 GHz Intel Core i3-370M Processor, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard D Discount?

I bought this computer for work (primarily doing research, running database programs, writing, emails, etc) and it suits it's purposes well. The computer processor speed seems pretty fast and the RAM and Hard Drive are a nice upgrade from my previous HP. Previously I had an HP G60 with 320 gb hard drive, 2 GHz dual-core processor, was running Vista. A few things in comparing the two I think this newer computer's overall external appearance it a little cheaper looking and made, the wireless doesn't seem to reach as far, and the sound system in the older computer is better. But again, I can't complain good computer that will suit anyone doing similar work or a student.

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Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-68U118 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

I do my serious computing at home on a well-appointed desk top and when traveling need a laptop that can at least handle the kinds of work I perform with my desktop. For the past 2 years I used a Dell XPS M1330 for this purpose and came to literally loathe the machine (heavy and unreliable, with disappointing performance), which ended my respect for Dell and sent me looking elsewhere for something more to my liking. To see if I could get along with a smaller machine I first tried traveling with a $200 netbook, which I found to be simply too weak for my needs; however, I found the light weight and small size to be a major plus, so I went on the prowl for the same kind of form factor in a powerful machine, which led me eventually to the 1380T. At present there aren't many machines in this category, and from what I could tell from specs and user comments, this one is at the top of the list at the present time, which is why I bought one. There has been nothing from my experience to date to indicate otherwise and in fact, my shift to the Acer 1380T (I7 CPU) from the Dell has been like coming up for fresh air, a five star experience.

I've had this unit for about a month now and to date have taken it on one serious road trip, which has demonstrated the machine is all I had hoped for, and actually a good bit more. Other reviewers have thoroughly gone through what this machine has to offer so I will limit myself to what I have found useful.

1. It has handled everything I do with my desktop (something I could not say for the Dell) let me hasten to add I don't do games, which may need a dedicated graphics card for best effect (Asus has a machine in this class that such users might consider, although why one would want to play those kinds of games on a machine this small is beyond me)

2. It runs cool and has a very long battery life (my initial read is that it will easily go 8 or 9 hours when all you are doing is routine text processing kinds of stuff, about 4 times as long as the Dell)

3. It is in that magic weight range of around 3 lbs and its thickness and weight are not amplified by the battery (unlike many other laptops)

4. The screen is excellent (others have carped about viewing angle, but for a single user it is great, and in this size range, isn't that what matters?)

5. I actually like the "chiclet" key board, which has "homing" ridges on the f and j keys that help with touch typing ... I find individual key size to actually be substantial, and touch type at least as easily on this keyboard as the one I have at home ... maybe I have a light touch, but I don't notice any keyboard flex others seem to sense

6. The machine feels substantial, even with all the plastic (which I'm sure holds weight down)

7. The charger does not use a proprietary input, is light, consisting of a single wall wart with a configurable plug (for which you can get alternatives for other country's outlets), configurable meaning you can position the prongs for horizontal or vertical (and it's a 2 prong non-polarized plug) my guess is that the total travel package is a good 2 lbs under the Dell.

Are there annoyances? There is the usual bloatware, but no worse than what I've experienced with other vendors ... it just means spending some time removing or disabling it. There is no optical drive, but that's a weight trade-off, and after honestly examining my usage patterns, I couldn't even remember the last time I required one on a trip. I have a perfectly good $50 Samsung external USB that works just fine for the rare occasions I have to do something with that almost outmoded technology.

My one peeve with Acer is their not supplying system reinstall media, expecting users to create their own. It took 1.25 hours to produce the 4 DVDs their on board utility produces from the partition on the hard disk they have set aside with this content. My advice, start it going while you are watching TV or reading a book and just be prepared for it to take awhile. It would be nice if Acer would set this up so you could create a bootable USB or flash instead.

Surprises? From other reviews I expected to have issues with the touch pad, but have not at all. I've always hated touch pads because I somehow manage to hit them with my thumb at the wrong time with annoying effects, but not this one. Otherwise, it seems to work no better or worse than any other I've used across a spectrum of manufacturers. I also like having less palm space, since I've come to believe that is something that helps to keep my thumbs away from the touch pad.

My other surprise was with the built-in Bluetooth. I have an old Palm TX that has information I wanted to sync onto this machine, only to find USB sync for Win 7 x64 is not being supported by Palm software. A little investigation indicated I might be able to sync via Bluetooth. Sure enough, once enabled, both devices located each other and sync just worked. Incidentally, if you are new to x64 you too will likely find that some of your older apps won't run without an upgrade to a 64-bit version (sometimes this is just a question of needing to locate a 64-bit driver, but some apps do things that are incompatible with 64-bit architecture).

I have not used an external monitor with this machine (yet) and don't have any particular reason to use hdmi or sound I/O, so check what other reviewers have to say if those are important to you. The card reader is the usual for this type of machine and having a hot key for enabling/disabling wi-fi or Bluetooth is definitely more user friendly than the physical switch Dell supplied.

All in all, Acer has managed to wrap a lot of very nice stuff into a very small package. From my first month of usage, I believe it to be by far the best of the dozen or so laptops I've worked with over the years.

January 18 update OK, I've now really put this machine through some heavy lifting. For a week long workshop I was involved in, I used this laptop for extensive editing of PowerPoint slides. Presentation files ranged from a couple of slides to over 500, and sometimes I had maybe as many as 10 of them open cutting and pasting to a master. I also had Adobe Photoshop and Acrobat open at various points, not to mention Outlook, Excel, and web browsers. The machine never crashed. Every now and then I noted a bit of a pause when the system's power misering required spinning the hard drive back up, so a SSD might be worth considering, although this was a minor annoyance. I forgot my charger and went my first day on battery alone without running dry, at least 5 hours of serious use including internet for a chunk of the time. It may be of interest that the generic nature of the charge port allowed me to use a colleague's (for an Aspire one netbook), which while a bit less potent was sufficient to restore full charge in a few hours. The final presentation had notes on each slide and apparently PowerPoint writes to pdf in image form if you ask for notes, which showed one non-gaming reason reason for having a graphics card. It took the machine quite a bit of time to do it. An app we worked on had a bug that was revealed because the CPU evidently runs a good bit faster than Intel's integrated graphics processor. On the other hand, Photoshop runs perfectly fine (at least for the kinds of editing I typically do). As for using projectors and external monitors, the machine brought both up effortlessly and automatically (Casio projector, miscellaneous monitor). For airplane usage and travel, it is the perfect size for today's cramped seating, even room on the tray table for my nano mouse. I managed to get along OK with the touchpad for routine stuff, but when it came to extended or precision work, I pulled out my nano mouse. Communications and networking were flawless, across multiple variations of network configurations. One more thing that may be of interest to some, the built-in mic can be set to pass through via Sound in the control panel, which means if you plug in an external mic and hook up a set of powered speakers, the machine can easily be used as a quick and dirty PA system (my last Dell system did this quite poorly this one is quite good).

There is nothing about the machine to change my review, except to note it is proving to be even better than I originally thought.

I think the other reviewers have done a brilliant job and I fully agree with their assessments. I would only add the following points regarding ports......

I was all set to buy an 11.6" Airbook. That plan came to a screeching halt when I discovered that it didn't have an Ethernet port. The best you could do was to buy a separate USB dongle that would provide 10/100 Ethernet. For an IT professional who is used to walking into a client's server room and taking a 50GB backup copy of a database in no time via gigabit ehternet that was just not going to work out. I don't fancy stepping back to 1990! Also a lot of hotels only have wired Ethernet and I just want to be able to plug in and go. Not spend time playing find-the-adapter.

I also found out that the Airbook has a mini DisplayPort. To plug into an external VGA monitor you need (yep, you guessed it) another adapter. To plug into a TV or projector you need yet another adapter for HDMI. All these are sold separately and are more junk to cart around the world. They are also the exact thing that you would find that you have lost (or left back in the hotel) just when you needed to plug into a projector to give a presentation ;)

So I was all set to lay out serious $$$ on a Sony ultra-portable when I came across the TimelineX. I've had it for a month now and I couldn't be happier with it. For the professional on the road that doesn't want to lug around some 15.6" monster this little guy is the perfect replacement. Compared to the Sony ultra-portables the price is outstanding value.

Buy Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-68U118 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

I just purchased this laptop as a portable solution to my Dell Studio, and i have to say that this is the first laptop that i have ever purchased, and as an IT professional I purchase quite a few, that has exceeded all expectations! I often work with demanding applications such as Adobe Premier CS5, Autodesk 3DS Max 2010, and Maya, and have to say that this machine is able to run them without any issues. Now im not saying this is a replacement for a desktop powerhouse system for heavy graphics editing and such but it is nice to have a small portable rig capable of opening these files and making modifications on the go. Now unsurprisingly this machine only rates a Windows Experience Index of 3.5 due solely to the fact there is no dedicated graphics card, but come on, if your seriously purchasing this with hopes of gaming in mind chances are your not even doing enough research to even be reading this review. But any way more about the product; upon first glance when taking this machine out of its box, and i say machine because i dare not call a system this powerful a "netbook", is "Wow, an i7 in this? Really?". Well lets get one thing straight, iX is a technology, not a specific model series of processors, but it does pack one heck of a surprising punch for a machine this size. As stated above I can easily run some of todays most demanding apps without any problems, and the 4GB of DDR3 RAM is quite handy! And for once, a battery life as advertised! with radios off and screen dimmed but still easily readable i got a 7+ hour life while doing normal operations such as email and word processing. Now obviously battery life drops when you do more demanding tasks, so as a comparison I am currently writing this review from this laptop with WiFi ON, music playing, screen brightness all the way up, and installing a game in the background and my battery life is just above 5 hrs!!! Now how many systems can claim that! Some people have made a couple small comments about a small amount of flex in the keyboard, and it is true, the keyboard does flex maybe a mm or so, but it is not noticeable unless looking at the kb whilst typing, otherwise i find the response and feedback of the keyboard pleasantly comfortable, and the layout is great and you should have no issues typing on it as the dimensions are very close to a full keyboards dimensions with the exception of a few keys such as arrows, but you can get used to that.

Overall I must say that this machine is well worth the money and having now used it, I would have happily paid a hundred or two more for it!

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I have had this laptop for less than a year and it is still under warranty. I have already sent it in twice to be fixed. The first time was because of a crashing issue and the second time was because a group of pixels in the LCD screen died. Each time I had to pay for shipping and was without a computer for more than a week.

My real issue is that after getting the laptop back from the pixels issue, less than two days later more pixels died. I called ACER customer support and they told me that I would have to pay for the screen to be replaced this time even though the laptop was still under warranty. I find it unacceptable to be required to pay to replace something that they were just supposed to have fixed two days ago! I also think that having to send a laptop in for servicing 3 times in less than a year is unreasonable.

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I'm a photojournalist who looked long and hard to find a new laptop. I need a computer I can leave in the car trunk or carry in a fanny pack while shooting assignments, so it has to be tough, compact and powerful. The Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-68U118 solved the problem of cramming near-desktop power into a Netbook-sized package. I've only had it for a few weeks, but here are my impressions:

EXTERIOR:

1. Not as pretty as a Macbook Air, but what is? It also costs less.

2. The tough exterior has a nice texture that is easy to grip and shrugs off fingerprints. The Acer power brick weighs just seven ounces; half the size and weight of my old laptop brick.

3. The 11.6" glossy screen looks great so long as you view it "on axis." The Acer runs at 1366 by 768, 32 bit, 60 Hertz. The 128 MB dedicated video memory is a bottleneck if you are a gamer or want to do video editing. I watched a movie using an external DVD player with no problem, though. The frame contains a fixed user-facing web cam and mike.

4. Unlike the MacBook Air, the compact TimeLineX AS1830T is loaded with three USB 2.0 ports, a HDMI port, and an old-style VGA monitor socket! The built-in multi-card reader will take SD cards, but not CF cards.

5. There is no built-in optical drive. No PCMCIA slot.

6. People complain about the touch pad; they're right. I forgot my mouse one day and it was marginally less painful than smashing my forehead against the keyboard until I pass out. NOTE: I uninstalled the Alps touchpad software and it actually works better.

UNDER THE HOOD:

1. Computers this size rarely contain the powerful i7-680UM processor. It easily runs high-end programs under Win 7 64-bit Home Premium with Service Pack 1. Bloatware wasn't too bad.

2. It comes with 4 GB of DDR3 RAM. I bumped this up to 8 gigabytes, but honestly, I couldn't see much difference. It's just that RAM is so cheap!

3. It has WiFi, Bluetooth and Ethernet connectivity. I haven't used the Bluetooth, so can't say much about it. On field assignments with no WiFi access I've transmitted photos to clients though my Android cellphone using two methods: as a WiFi hotspot and using PdaNet with a USB tether. Easy--no issues.

4. This Acer contains a roomy 500 GB hard drive. Curiously, they chose a slower 5400 RPM HD, though it seems plenty fast. I assume they opted for it to maximize battery life.

5. Which highlights the TimelineX AS1830T remarkable battery life. I spent the first day continuously loading software, updates, rebooting, testing and interfacing my programs. Even with the WiFi on and the screen at maximum brightness, the Acer still had a few gasps of power after five solid hours of heavy lifting. Sweet!

IN USE:

1. The boot time to the first Windows musical tone is 55 seconds. Much slower than a MacBook Air's SSD boot time. (Read the "SSD UPDATE" at the end of this review, though.)

2. The Aspire TimelineX AS1830T easily runs the full-on Photoshop CS6 64-bit, PhotoMechanic, Firefox and other programs simultaneously. Massive Canon 5DII RAW files load in CS6 in about six seconds. Not as good as my desktop, but excellent for field work.

BOTTOM LINE:

The TimelineX is powerful, small and affordable with remarkable battery life. As an added bonus, Acer designed this machine for easy user upgrades:

----------SSD UPDATE----------

Some users turn their TimelineX into an Ultrabook by swapping out the hard drive for a rugged, ultra-fast solid state hard drive (SSD). Both the RAM and the hard drive are easily accessible under a single clearly-marked panel attached with five standard Phillips screws.

I installed both a Crucial 256 GB m4 SSD and 8 GB of RAM in this Acer Aspire TimelineX. Holy smokes, what an easy and worthwhile upgrade! Boot time is now just 30 seconds, but the big news was Photoshop CS6. It performs heavy duty image processing in 1/2 to 1/3 the time! Battery life is extended, it runs cooler and quieter, and the laptop is more shock resistant. It now compares to my very powerful desktop computer and is STILL cheaper than a MacBook Air. If you can afford this upgrade, do it! I turned the original 500 GB hard drive into an external hard drive with a Vantec NexStar TX 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure for about ten bucks.

I posted a video on cloning and installing the SSD and RAM into this laptop. This was my first cloning/replacement/upgrade and it was a piece of cake.

By the way, there is a higher quality You Tube post available that Amazon won't let me link. Search "How to install a SSD into a TimelineX laptop" on You Tube. Beware--the audio kinda sux. I bought a good mike after I shot this.

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

UPDATE: I've been using this souped-up laptop for over a year now and have been very pleased with my purchase. Small and powerful, it really kicks bootie! Absolutely no issues. There are some neat new ultrabooks out there now, so do your homework. But even the best will have a hard time beating this machine.

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HP Envy dv6z 2.7Ghz Processor 6GB RAM 640GB HD 15.6" HD BrightView LED Display BEATS Audio w/ HP Tr

its so interesting to use speed and resolution are excellent.

High speed internet access is superb.

surface is as seen on amazon

I love factory refurbished models. It means that a problem was found, and fixed. This came to me with the protective plastic on it, brand new, and in perfect condition. This exact same model currently sells for $300 more than I paid. Up and running in minutes. A really great all around machine. I bought it to replace my 5 year old desktop and it does that and more. Very fast, plenty of storage, great audio, and video. Windows 8 is different but not that bad. All in all, there is nothing this laptop can't do, and do well. Why pay more ?

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W510 - Intel - Core I7 - 820QM - 1.73 Ghz - DDR3 Sdram - 4 Gb - Serial Ata - 500

I got this with 120GB SSD for business use, but very disappointed compared to previous T61P after a week use:

Pro:

1. Quiet with SSD;

2. USB3 (not useful for me), eSATA i/f.

Con:

1. resolution maximum is ONLY 1600x900, while T61p can reach 2048x1536, almost 25% downgrade;

2. the "Insert/Delete" keys are separated, "Insert" on left, while "Delete" on right with 2-key space. I always had a hard time try to find the insert key, very dumb layout design.

3. no finger scanner (optional);

4. As a high-end laptop, no HDMI

Not recommended for a software business use.

1/7/2011 Update after 2 weeks use:

1. The left "Shift" key is fall off, and got the whole keyboard replaced

2. 2 USB ports on the left side stop working, on a process to replace it.

Save 37% Off

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Toshiba Portege R830-S8332 13.3" Notebook PC

I bought this laptop for my father from Amazon and brought it to Turkey, where i live. For a week or so it was working fine, then it started to act weird. The documents got lost, random restarts and blue screen of death started to appear. I re-installed windows 7 but it gave a blue screen even in the middle of the setup. Then I knew it was a hardware problem. Because I am in Turkey I couldn't brought it to Toshiba support, so I decided to run some tests on memory with MemTest86 and voila! The ram was faulty, it was a single piece of 4gb Hynix ram and after I replaced it with a decent 4gb Kingston ram the laptop started to run flawless (Toshiba it is 30$ for gods sake!). The performance of the unit is very good indeed but a hardware problem in a new laptop like this is very very disappointing. My father was so frustrated that he kept saying he would never buy another Toshiba laptop again!

Shame on you Toshiba for using cheap products and not testing them properly...

Over the past 18 years I've had a total of 10 different notebooks including 2x Macs, 2x Sony Vaios and several Toshibas (not to mention a brief and disastrous flirtation with Dell). Macs are currently excluded from my shortlist due to lack of compatibility with Sage Line 50 accounts software, so to replace my 2-year old TECRA 110 I looked at the current crop of Toshiba notebooks.

Despite being a fast and beefy computer handling loads of software and ideal for office work, the TECRA has two drawbacks: heavy weight and poor battery life away from the mains. It's so big it often doesn't fit the rectangular plastic tray container at airport security, but has to sit lopsided half-in, half-out. So the portability issue was a major consideration when choosing a replacement. The TECRA's battery life was barely 90 minutes away from the mains, which is hardly enough to do any productive work whilst travelling before having to find a mains socket.

The availability of the recent 2nd generation Intel core processor has finally made possible notebooks with the Goldilocks combination of fast data processing (even with high-demand programs) combined with long battery life and relatively lightweight construction. I've had my Portege R830 with its 13.3-inch screen for two months now and it delivers fast and trouble-free computing together with the convenience of lightweight portability and no exaggeration, I've experienced this on two occasions now 7-hour battery life of continuous working away from the mains. Amazing.

This R830 has a smart black & chrome design, plain and discrete rather than flashy. It has a real CPU rather than a ULV chip, a 500GB hard drive, integral mike and camera, useful speakers with good volume and tone as well as connecting ports for externals, and plenty of port options:

* standard USB on both sides (more convenient than having ports on only one side)

* SDXC card slot

* SATA port

* HDMI port

* DVD drive

* a connector for the chunky 5-point x 3-row plug on the end of your printer cable, whatever the technical name for that plug design is

There's also a fingerprint reader for user-security which I can never get to work properly so don't use; it invariably refuses to recognise two or more prints of the same finger, as the same finger.

It boots in about 30 seconds, the fastest I've ever experienced with a laptop. The screen colour res is beautiful, sharp and clear and it does everything instantaneously.

The minus points form a very short list. The fan can be a bit noisy (but hardly a major problem); and the keyboard is less attractively designed than the previous TECRA with gaps between the keys, but works fine even for someone with fairly chunky fingers.

Overall this is very good value for a mid-range machine: you get a lot of processing power and memory combined with genuine lightweight, carry-in-your-hand portability and long battery life.

I have no experience of Toshiba's warranty service with this R830 as it has, thus far, no faults. I did return the previous TECRA once for a screen fault and on that occasion they sent someone to collect it and returned it, repaired, after two days: very efficient and all FOC.

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This is hands down, the best computer I have ever used. It is super light, boots in seconds, opens programs instantly, handles web video perfectly, and it processes large files seamlessly. On top of all that, it is beautiful. It also has a great battery life. I haven't tested it for time, but I never worry about it. The laptop also runs very quiet and cool. Impressive. One reviewer on a similar model asked what the noise they heard inside was. Since it has a solid state hard drive, it has no moving hard drive parts. What you can occasionally hear is a variable speed fan that ramps up in speed if the processor is working hard. When the fan is running at high speed, it is still quieter than the hard drive of another computer I have on the other side of the room.

My only complaint is that the space bar is squeaky. I am going to call Toshiba about it to see what can be done. It is a minor inconvenience for the most amazing machine I have ever worked with.

Bottom line, get the i7 processor and the solid state hard drive (SSD), you will be impressed.

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I purchased two of these laptops in January 2012. One for my husband and one for me. In March (3 months later), my husband's laptop screen went black. He couldnt see a thing. So Toshiba sent us a kit to ship the laptop back to them to be repaired. He got it back "fixed". But was never told what was wrong with it. The same thing happened again a few months later, but then mysteriously corrected itself withing a couple of days. Then in August 2012 the incident happened again but did not correct itself. So we called customer service. They told us they could "look at the codes" on his laptop and they said it was a virus. They told us we had to buy a 3 year service plan before they would help us. We didn't feel like we had any choice so we said okay and purchased it even though it was only 8 months old and the plan was expensive. We were on the phone for several hours with the technician and never got the problem resolved. So we asked for a refund and they would not give it to us. They were adamant and I was very upset. So after several months of the laptop collecting dust on a shelf, my husband took the laptop to a local repair shop. It turned out the problem was a loose wire. It probably occurred during the manufacturing process and the original repair never fixed the problem. The local repairman also pointed out where the Toshiba repair tech cracked the plastic around the screen and damaged the laptop. The local repairman charged us $60 to repair the loose wire. He said that Toshiba farms out repairs to small shops. Some shops are better than others. My laptop has worked fine. But because of that experience I won't purchase another Toshiba product.

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The laptop I received was working on a 32 bit system, although the seller claimed to be 64-bit.. I called to on-line service (very good Toshiba service) and we tried a few times to reset the computer to 64-bit.. after a while the system crashed and Toshiba recommended me to return it. So I did. I'm using now a 64-Bit Toshiba Portege 835 P92.. it doesn't have SSDrive or i7 but has a i5 2450M, 2.5 ghz and a 600Gb HD.. working perfectly for 6 months now.

I can't rated higher due to my bad luck.. I still would like to buy one with SSD and a better processor, next year.

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HP G42-410US 14-Inch Notebook PC (Black)

I ordered this laptop about a week ago and I have loved it since it was delivered to my house! It's very light which is really nice if you need to carry it around. Set up was really simple. I have no problem running multiple programs on it at once and Windows 7 functions very well with the computer.

The keyboard is comfortable and the function keys at the top that adjust volume, screen brightness and wifi connection work really well and are very convenient.

The only small con I have discovered about the laptop would be the mousepad. The keys can be a little difficult to push compared to my prior laptop (a Dell Inspiron) so that took a little getting used to but now I hardly notice it.

One last observation: this laptop seems like it was created to look like a macbook which I really like. If you're looking for a much cheaper alternative to a macbook, this computer will do you wonders.

If I had to do it all over again, I would purchase this computer over any others.

This was a birthday gift for my husband. He loves it and I find myself using it at times too. We are very happy with this computer. I purchsed this product from Amazon.

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This notebook is a significant upgrade over the Dell Latitude D505 that I recently retired. It is much faster and more stable. My only complaint is with the touchpad. It was somewhat difficult to get comfortable with. If you are not looking at it, it is difficult to tell if you finger is actually on it. Also, if you are not exactly within the touchpad area, the functionality is sometime different and sometimes inexplicable. I have overcome this by using a wireless mouse most of the time. I would still recommend this notebook as very fast and an affordable alternativer.

Read Best Reviews of HP G42-410US 14-Inch Notebook PC (Black) Here

this is one of the worst laptops you can get in this price range. Just keep looking and you will find a better one

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