Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3A-S06US 14-Inch Laptop (Silver)

I'm very happy with this machine. Fast, light, solid build, good-looking, great screen, comfortable back-lit keyboard. About identical in size and weight to a 13-inch Macbook, but with a 14" screen. Screen resolution is 1600 x 900, equivalent to Macbook and a step up from the 1366 x 768 standard on a lot of Windows laptops. (Sony touts its "full HD" 1920 x 1080 displays, but I found it made screen objects just too small. This is a happy medium.) It's quiet: the fan hardly ever comes on, and when it does it's not too loud. Good battery life: 5 to 6 hours easily without even going to the "max" power-saving scheme.

I have no real complaints, only a couple of wishes. More USB ports -it has one 2.0 and one 3.0 (although personally I've never needed more); a Blu-ray drive; a Core i7 option.

I bought this after returning a 15.5" Sony Vaio S-series, which had a flimsy, wobbly screen with the aforementioned "Full HD", an annoying off-center touchpad, and a form factor that was just too big and wide. I'm much happier with the Samsung.

One recommendation: whichever power-management scheme you use, edit it so that the wireless card is set to "Maximum Performance" when unplugged -the default slows wireless to a crawl in order to save a little juice. (If you see Samsung dinged on forums for slow wireless, that's why, and it's an easy adjustment that completely resolves the issue.)

Update 7/9/12: I'm still very happy with it. No changes to my earlier comments. Some people complain about the touchpad, it is very sensitive by default, but I lowered the sensitivity using the control panel and now it rarely misinterprets random thumb or palm touches as taps.

The pictures for this product are for the 15.6" version and are NOT of the 14" version. The 14" version does not have the number pad on the keyboard. The 14" has one USB 3.0 port and one USB 2.0 port on the left side. There are no USB ports on the right side.

Overall I REALLY like this laptop. It is plenty fast, has a higher resolution display than most of its competitors, is very portable, and is well built. I am a big fan of matte laptop displays and Samsung does not disappoint on this device. I find the keyboard on this laptop to be easier to type on than most others I have tried, especially the Asus G51VX I am coming from. Unibody construction would be nice, but given the price point and the hardware this contains I can overlook it. The track pad is very large. If I'm not careful I can hit it with my left wrist while typing. I'm 6'2" and have large wrists though, it may not be an issue for everyone. This isn't a big issue for me since I typically disable the track pad and use a mouse anyways. If you're in the market for a lighter, very portable, but yet powerful laptop: I highly recommend the Series 7 14".

EDIT: Amazon has updated the photos for this product. They are now correct for the 14" version.

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After having my Sony Vaio SA2 stolen I was forced into purchasing a new laptop. The things I loved about the Vaio were: dedicated graphics card, battery life, weight, hdmi output,backlit keyboard,screen resolution 1600x900, and appearance.

However there were some things that I didn't like; build, materials, noisy fan, and slow hard drive speed. So sense I had to buy a new laptop I wanted to make sure to address some of the issues I had with the Vaio, but maintain the things that I did like about it as well. Thus I came across the Samsung Series 7 NP700Z3A-S06US Laptop.

This Laptop addressed every single issue I had with the Vaio, its better built(screen is solid not flimsy like it was with the Vaio) has a bigger and faster hard drive(1TB, and 8gb of ssd),more ram(8gb vs 4gb on Vaio) and it maintained all the things I loved about the Vaio(speed, graphics card, backlit keyboard, screen resolution 1600x900, and size) .

The only very small, almost not worth mentioning difference, between the Samsung vs the Sony, was that the Sammy cost $150 dollars more, and it weighs about 1lb over the the Sony. Either way these minimalistic differences didn't stop me from making the switch and not looking back at my Vaio SA2

I also want to reinforce what the previous reviewer said, the picture that Amazon has is for the z5a and not the z3a. That being said if your looking for a well made, good looking, portable power house, BUY THIS LAPTOP!

PROS:

Speed processor(dual core i5 2.5 up to 3.0ghz speed)

Hard drive 1TB and 8gb of SATA(SSD like speed)

Screen 1600x900

Dedicated Graphics Card AMD RADEON HD 6490M

RAM 8GB DDR3

Build Screen Lid is solid, brushed aluminum

HDMI If you like to watch movies, play games, and stream videos on a larger screen this is a must.

Back Lit Keyboard Helps allot in low light situations it became a must for me after experiencing it.

Cons:

Weight Over 4lbs tends to be a little heavy(subjective)

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A little bigger than other ultrabooks, but alot more powerful.

PROS:

supports 8GB RAM, this was lightest laptop that I could find supporting 8GB of RAM

Very fast, CPU is better than most other ultrabooks

nice resolution.. things are small, but not too small

some newer battery technology, supposedly letting it last longer

the backlit keyboard is very nice, and the keyboard layout is easy to type with

CONS:

Only 2 USB, both on left side. The USB3 seems to give me issues, might be my driver.

Battery is NOT removable (as long as the battery-life works as intended, this shouldn't be a problem).

CD-Rom is NOT removable... i really not even need an optical drive

Weight is a little heavy, it's not bad.. but could be a little lighter

NOTE: If you do a clean install of windows, like i did, be sure to get the WIFI drivers from the Intel website (not from Samsung). I spend hours trying to figure out way my WIFI would not stay connected in Windows 7 64. Once I installed Intel's drivers (which claim to be an older version) it worked flawlessly.

For $1K, I'm pretty happy. The only comparable light/powerful laptop that met my RAM requirements was from Sony at about $2K.

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I've had my Samsung for two months now so I'm here to tell you about it!

What I like:

Screen is bright enough I usually just leave it at minimum brightness and it is suffice

The backlit keyboard and the spacing on the keyboard as well

Quick start-up

Webcam is decent-not amazing but better than my prior computer

Speakers are great-you get a lot of sound at a relatively low setting

Not too heavy

The screen isn't flimsy, after I got it I had to open my old computer for something and it felt so flimsy compared to the Samsung

The machine loads fast (although for the first week after I got it I would've said differently but after some updates that was fixed)

What I don't like as much:

The vent-it's in the hinges where screen meets machine so it can get hot but more so on the top so as long as you have some heat tolerance and don't go sticking your hand above the vent you'll be fine

It came with Skype installed but it was the 32-bit version so I had to get rid of Skype and download it in the 64-bit version-took about 20 minutes to fix but 2 days to figure out

Things to know:

CD/DVD player is a slot you slide the disc into (I have no negative opinion on that)

1 USB 2.0 and 1 USB 3.0 (I would have liked there to be one more, but I can settle for two)

Microphone and headphone are combined into one hole for both

Mouse pad has clickers built into the pad-beware, the clickers only work if you click on the fourth of the mouse pad closest to you

If you think you can't adjust something try googling it, I've learned a lot through doing so-For example the machine comes and it will change screen brightness to compensate the amount of light coming through the light sensor, but you can disable that

Some of the bloat ware like Youcam (similar to photobooth on Mac) can be very useful, others like Mediasuite I have no use for and it may pop-up when working with song files rather than iTunes (which you'll have to download if you want)

Be sure to do updates! Otherwise you'll feel like you got robbed, but it moves swiftly as soon as the updates are on

Overall I have enjoyed this computer so unless I update (if I do I'll post the date I do so) I'd have to say it might be a bit overpriced (I got mine on sale though) but overall I am happy with mine. I would recommend this as a personal computer, if you're mainly doing work I think you'll find a better price that will fit your needs but I'd defiantly recommend this to a person who spends a good bit of time with their machine!

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HP Pavilion 15-b150us 15.6-Inch Ultra Thin TouchSmart Sleekbook

This laptop packs a lot of features into an incredible price. For your everyday email, browsing, spreadsheets, etc. this machine with its quad-core processor handles everything with ease. I was most impressed as I tried out some more entertaining apps (games) as well as streaming videos nice and smooth and the system doesn't get hot or every feel like its working hard. For its features, I love the full size keyboard as well as number pad, and there is plenty of memory and hard drive size for what I need.

One of the coolest new features, which took me some time to get used to, is the ability to use the touch screen. Once I got used to Windows8 and the touch interface, I've found that if I use anyone else's notebook I wind up touching their screen and am surprised when nothing happens. Its great for quickly browsing through photos, scrolling through web pages and getting around the new Windows8 interface.

My only criticism would be that it needs a higher definition screen (which of course would make it more expensive) so its a qualified criticism.

If you are ready to ditch your old notebook and jump into the world of touch with a full featured notebook at price that can't be beat, this is the machine for you.

Don't let the price fool you, this laptop has lots of power and compared to my old Intel unit, is at least 3x's as powerful when it comes to graphics. I'm a digital animator, I budget on excel, and do just about anything you can imagine on my computer, so if this baby can handle everything I throw at it, it'll handle everything you can throw at it too.

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After doing some research on laptops, I came across this specific model and was impressed with the specifications. I had read many people dislike Windows 8, so I was a bit skeptical. However, since I bought it, I can't seem to stop bragging about it! The laptop is thin, sleek, and fast! The screen size is perfect and clear. I LOVE the touchscreen! It makes everything so much easier and faster! I use on a daily basis to access my email, view documents, etc.. and it works marvelous! Love it!

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The HP Pavilion Sleekbook 15 is awesome with its awesome design and touchscreen. The con is Windows 8. Windows eight is very touchy. With a touch screen one little wrong movement and you will have a complete nightmare. God Luck.

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Lenovo Thinkpad Twist 12.5-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Black)

March 2013

I travel extensively in the course of my work and needed a lightweight, but powerful tablet to keep up with my schedule: emails, spreadsheets, heavy web usage, web-based programs, etc. I wanted more speed and agility than an Atom processor can deliver, but I wanted to spend under $800.00

Having researched the various options until I couldn't bear it anymore, I settled on what I considered the best option: Lenovo Twist. It is truly an Ultrabook that is ultra-portable like a tablet. And, at $749.00 at my local OD store (sorry Amazon), it was a great value.

My experience so far is very satisfactory. In fact, the more I use the Twist, the more it exceeds my expectations.

PROS

Fast processor, 7200 rpm cached drive, clear, crisp display with a responsive and smooth touchscreen, and all the ports you could want.

Lenovo "QuichLaunch" is an easy and much appreciated replacement for the familiar Windows Desktop. In fact, i find myself effortlessly going back and forth between the two, as I learn the more tablet-like Windows 8 interface.

Build quality is excellent. The unit is sturdy, light, easy to hold (rubberized feel over a magnesium body) and the twist mechanism is solid yet smooth to rotate.

The keyboard is fantastic. I could not really understand what others were saying about the Lenovo keyboards being so wonderful, but now, I get it!

Overall, best value for the money, and I had my list narrowed down to Surface Pro (mt first choice if money were not an issue) and the Asus Iconia W700. In the end, the idea of detached keyboards and docking stations did not fit my idea of true portability.

Minimal bloatware, removed Norton AV fairly quickly.

CONS

Battery life is truly only four to five hours (max). But knowing this going this purchase, it is not a true problem. I travel alot, but my car has a built-in charge plug for these things. Way to go Ford Flex!

Two hours (+) of software and Windows updates, but everything went smoothly.

Battery has a feature that prolongs its service life, but does not allow a full charge. I will be disabling this feature to fully use my battery time.

I am otherwise, very pleased so far with this purchase. And, Windows 8 is not so bad, though they really need to fill out the offerings on the Windows (App) Store. Windows Defender works very well as an AV software and is faster than aftermarket programs, but you need to fully uninstall Norton before the option for Defender shows up as a choice (very tricky). i will update with any issues that arise. Good luck.

I bought Lenovo Twist 12.5 Touchscreen Ultrabook for my father for $649. Built in keyboard and convertibility and the Lenovo brand were the main 3 reasons behind this selection. I also recently bought an Acer W700-6831 for $699 from Amazon. Although Lenovo Twist is almost 1.5 pounds heavier than Acer W700 considering the W700's keyboard and case they both feel equal and not heavy at all.

This laptop looks cool with couple of shortcomings outlined below:

1) Battery life: ~3 hours with heavy usage. If you are looking for a tablet with day long computing with battery back up, Lenovo twist is not for you.

2) Fan Noise: During the start up it has a high pitch fan noise. Other than that fan noise is as expected from any laptop with a hard drive in it. I have to emphasize I think Acer W700 is slightly more quite though.

3) Screen Resolution: Lenovo has a1366 x 768 pixels HD screen. After I see 1920 x 1080 screen at Acer W700, I appreciate the higher screen resolution, this laptop should have a higher resolution screen. That said similar models in the market, in the same price range have also 1366x768 resolution screens.

Overall I am happy with Lenovo, I needed a convertible and there is no other solid tablet in the market to beat Lenovo Twist with a $649 price tag. If the battery life was better, I would give 5* to this product.

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Pros:

It is light and I can see all notebooks going this way it future. The ability to have a hard disk and the SSD is great. The touch screen is also responsive

Cons:

One of the major limitations is that the memory cannot be upgraded after you buy it. With 4 GB and Windows 8 it is OK for email, Office etc. but slows down considerably when you have too many apps open.

Another problem I had was that intermittently, the screen would change orientation by 90 degrees and it was a pain to click on the key board sequences to make it right. Put the latest updates and it seemed to reduce but still had it happen once. At that point I decided to return it.

Overall:

It is a great concept and I am sure I will look for something like this in future as the vendors and Microsoft tweaks some of the flaws.

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The Twist is a solid, well-priced tablet that fills a niche today. This is an old-school, flip the screen around and turn it down-kind of tablet, the kind they used to make before slates like the iPad and the Surface Pro became the norm. But unlike the older tablet notebooks, with the plastic displays that scratched easily, the Twist is made from iPad-like Gorilla Glass and is very crisp-feeling to use and very scratch resistant. Most will not need a screen protector, like the old tablets did. The Twist is also a lot thinner than those old convertible notebooks used to be.

The i5 processor and battery life are adequate and the 24GB cache SSD and 500GB 7200RPM hard drive provide a faster experience than most right out of the box. Personally though, I replaced the 24GB mSATA SSD and 500GB stock drives with a 250GB mSATA SSD and a 240GB SSD in the main bay (be careful, the main bay is a 7mm drive, not the standard 9.5mm in height than most notebooks can accept). The speed increase is significant and, with no drives with moving parts, its more suitable as a handheld device and the battery is a bit longer lasting too with an all-SSD configuration.

The port selection is excellent for a small notebook. Two USB 3.0 ports (sensibly, one on each side), a media card slot and both DisplayPort and mini HDMI ports are available. And, most happily, a Gigabit ethernet port is there too. So many tablets (including the Microsoft Surface and Lenovo's own Yoga) lack this critical port. It also has a SIM card slot for a mobile broadband card that can be custom ordered from Lenovo. It uses the mSATA slot that is currently taken up, out of the box, by the 24GB cache drive. But, alas, you cannot remove the mSATA card and replace it with a mobile broadband card because there are no antenna leads to connect to the broadband card.

The screen at 1368 by 768 is perfect for a 12.5 inch screen in my opinion. Unlike MacOS, which scales its desktop to the resolution, the Windows desktop icons and text become smaller and smaller as you increase the screen resolution. The Microsoft Surface, at 1920 by 1080, requires you to increase scaling by 25 to 50 percent to be usable for those of us without perfect eyes. And not all apps look right with that setting. But with the Twist, standard scaling is perfectly usable and the 768 height is adequate for 99.99 percent of what you might use.

The Windows 8 experience has been less than ideal. The lack of a Start button makes the OS difficult to use sometimes. But there are several third party products you can use to give you a Windows 7-like experience. I personally use "StartIsBack", a $3 program that restores the Start button to Windows 8. Its a great product that replicates a Windows 7 Start button exactly, even right down to the config menus and menu transparency effect. That little edition made Windows 8 become a whole new (or should I say old) experience. (rumor has it that Windows 8 Service Pack 1, when it comes out, will restore the Start button to Windows 8)

There are some issues though with the Twist. For one, the 4GB RAM is soldered on and is non-upgradable. You have to custom config order directly from Lenovo to get 8GB. Also, a personal pet peeve no illuminated keyboard. But the biggest issue is that there are some confirmed issues (probably driver-related) with the wifi/bluetooth card (Broadcom). The wifi has problems with some (not all though) routers in maintaining a fast, stable connection. And bluetooth mice will sometimes just drop out. So, that is something that buyers should be aware of.

Once they iron out that wifi/bluetooth problem, things should be looking up. I would give it an overall 5 star review because the Twist is a good, solid experience. But the soldered RAM and wifi issues knock it down to 4 stars in my view.

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Things I love about the Twist:

+ The touchscreen is ultra responsive, and provides super clear resolution

+ I have found the moveable monitor to be far more useful than imagined, especially when sitting on planes or giving presentations

+ This was my first Win8 experience. After a few hours, I started to like it now actually preferring to use the touch screen rather than the mouse.

+ The physical keyboard is very nice, but I now prefer the soft keyboard on the touchscreen

+ The Twist is light enough for road warrior use , and seems sturdy and well-made.

Things that could be fixed:

The Wifi support is ok, but is limited on distance compared to my other devices

The energy management causes me to lose Wifi connectivity quite often; I am still experimenting with this to find a better balance

I did have to play with the audio settings to get my headset to work, but there was good help on the Lenovo user site.

I do get frequent messages for my Norton software telling me that CPU utilization is high even if not running many applications or tasks. I am not sure if these are real or phantom but I don't notice much performance degradation.

All in all, I am quite pleased with this platform. A recent WSJ review of touch-screen Win8 devices in general was quite fair. I'm sure this class of products will continue to improve, but if you need to buy a new Ultrabook today the Twist is a decent choice.

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Toshiba Satellite A505D-S6008 TruBrite 16.0-Inch Laptop (Black/Silver)

Great things about the Satelite:

+ 16" wide screen display it's beautiful

+ Fast, starts up in a couple of seconds and no waiting on your apps

+ Huge 500GB hard drive.

+ Windows 7, I wasn't expecting much, but no problems, runs without issues

+ Microsoft Office, installed, free for 60 days

+ Huge high quality speakers, this machine is music and movie ready.

+ Attractive

+ A little heavy but not bad for its size.

+ Toshiba is very reliable

+ Motion detector locks the hard drive in place when it detects the laptop is being jostled around.

Could be better:

> Light above track pad too bright

> Keys are LOUD

> Norton installed and bugs you about paying every time you log on

Overall, this is a great laptop. SOme of the display lights are a little bright and the keypad is noisy. I can forgive that though because this laptop is so fast. I'm never waiting anymore. Windows 7 is proving to be very reliable and easy to use.

Initially, the touch pad was "helping" me and this was really annoying. To turn off some of the trackpad features that do things for you: Go to Control Panel > Hardware and Sound, under the Devices and Printers section click on Mouse. Another dialog pops up, CLick on the Device Settings tab, then on the Settings button. From there you can set up the touch pad the way you want it.

I upgraded my laptop to a 12 cell battery and that battery lasts about 7 or 8 hours. If you can afford the extra battery, it's worth it. THe 12 cell does take about 2 hours to charge though.

My friends who work in computer repair say they get less Toshibas in the shop than any other brand and highly recommend them.

Buy a large laptop case to carry it in. It will not fit in a standard size case.

Norton is slow and a pain, I uninstalled it and installed Vipre.

Review for the A505-S6004

This laptop looks great out of the box and you will be pleasantly surprised by the speed at which windows 7 boots initially. The screen is properly bright and the speakers do a wonderful job for the size that they are. It is not until you start to use it that you will notice the inherent drawbacks that its beauty hides.

First thing you will notice is that this thing attracts fingerprints so quickly its not funny. Just typing this review alone and I am sure the police will get a full set of prints if they needed it. :)

The next problem i noticed while on msn live messenger. As soon as you start up your webcam, you can see where they saved money in putting this thing together. Its aesthetically pleasing to have a webcam that is built "flush" into the lid but they threw all the functionality of it right out the window. I'm not exaggerating here....THE WEBCAM IS THAT BAD; it has so much noise and no colour correctness AT ALL. You will appear like a Vampire to the person who is receiving your webcam feed. My girlfriend has one of the L505D models from toshiba which is cheaper than this model but the webcam in her's is at least 3 times better.

What this model lacks in webcam clarity and resistance to finger prints it makes up for with Battery life. Switching this thing to "eco" mode takes off the LEDs lighting the touch sensitive media control buttons and the "SATELLITE" logo, and also dims the backlight on the screen. In this mode it will achieve roughly 3 1/2 hrs battery life, give or take a couple of minutes depending on the work your doing. The L505D can barely manage past 2 1/2 hrs on battery.

In short

THE Pros:

+ Good Battery Life

+ Good Sound

+ Great Value for the money

+ Bright Glossy Display (its a Pro for me)

+ Piano Black Fusion Finish Looks great

+ 500GB Hard drive (only 426 free initially; that's still alot)

THE Cons:

Bad Webcam (don't even think about this machine for "Social Notworking")

Finger Print Magnet (Piano black finish just shows up every little finger print or scratch)

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Just picked this up at Best Buy for $679 and got to say my only complaint is that the keyboard is a little too loud and the touch-pad is deafening, but an easy feature on the bottom of the keyboard can disable the touch-pad with a click of a button. No hunting around windows 7 to try and figure out. The webcam is so so, but I never use it so i don't care.

It runs quietly, the i3 processor speed you will notice upon the first boot up and all in all after three days I am very pleased with it.

The battery life is excellent as well and I agree with the other 4 reviews. It is a great computer at now even a better price.

And no warranty for me sir. Biggest waste of money ever to spend anything on an asset that depreciates as fast as a laptop.

4 1/2 stars.

Of course right after my price protection ended this laptop is now on sale for 599. You can't beat that price anywhere for what this computer does.

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Toshiba Satellite A505-S6004 TruBrite 16.0-Inch Laptop (Black/Silver)

After several months researching various options available at Amazon.com I decided to stick with Toshiba. A friend of mine had seriously recommended that I should buy an Acer, but the more I researched the more I was impressed with Toshiba, especially in terms of reliability. Since my own experience with Toshiba was so positive once I had decided to stick with the brand I knew, it was a matter of which one. My reason for buying a new one was that I'd had my Toshiba Satellite since 2003 or 2004 -can't remember which and technology had definitely moved on. But that machine is still working, all be it slow.

Well, I have not regretted my decision at all. Many of the negatives reported by other reviews I have found not faults at all. The keyboard, for example is not too loud for me -in fact it is perfect for my touch. One thing that does drive me nuts is the touchpad: when I am surfing it is so sensitive that it keeps scrolling down the page and back up again at what seems like warp speed. (I think somebody in the reviews may have found out how to fix this, so I much look and see if I can find it.)This machine boots up so fast -quite an improvement that the 10 to 15 minutes it took my old machine!

Back to deciding which one to go with. Initially, I planned to go with a 15.6 inch screen -mainly because that was what I was used to and also because there were some really good deals price-wise. However, I couldn't find one in the price range with 4 USB ports and I also wanted an HDMI port. It still amazes me what I can get for around $700 considering I paid $1200 for my old and antiquated machine. The computer looks beautiful, but fingerprints are an annoying problem. Also it's lighter than my old laptop, which is a pleasant surprise.

I've had the machine since April 10th so I am still on a learning curve as how things work and what I can do. But so far it's all worked like magic. I've talked to my son on Skype and he lives in Korea. Some people have complained about the quality of the webcam and my son has told me on one occasion that the picture was not that great and then the next time that it was really clear! My son in Italy said it was great. So what can I tell you -is it the Internet connection or is it the camera. I really like having it and it's worked seamlessly. And it's absolutely true that the wireless connection works right out of the box. I often download tv programs that I've missed and the quality of the picture is as if watching the tv. I should add that I'm American and had the machine delivered to my mother's, but I live in the UK and have been using it here since the end of April. No problems have arisen as a result of being in a different country.

I am going to have to replace a lot of software, which is an expensive negative. I've used Microsoft Office Professional 2000 for years and Adobe 5 and Paint Shop Pro 9 -all will have to be replaced. However, I am experimenting with Open Office software which is free and so far has been great. Having said that I am using the trial version of Office Professional 2007 mostly because I really needed Outlook. So the question is will I just buy Outlook and go with Open Office.

I do like Windows 7, the software that comes with the computer has been adequate so far. I use the movie maker software a lot and was pleased that it could improve the quality of some of my little homemade videos -the kind you can make with either a cell phone or digital camera. Also a nice little scanning/faxing program that has made it very easy for me to scan and email. I was able to make a DVD of some photographs for my husband, but was not able to figure out how to find/use the lable/flash program that I thought was part of the package -the one that is supposed to print directly onto the disc.

Glad to say my old 2179 HP printer was no problem to install and works perfectly. I was sure I would have to get a new one so that was a nice surprise.

All in all, with 6 weeks ownership in hand I am thrilled with this laptop.

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Just got it and love it..First time user of Toshiba and its great. Always bought dell with their small hard drives and dumb graphics. I turned to Toshiba mainly because it was a bigger hard drive. I got 640GB and 4GB ram. I didn't even know the keyboard lights up. Its great. The mini touch screen music buttons comes in handy too. I love Windows 7. Another well done job Microsoft. Well the camera is not so good but what the heck.. You dont need it buy an external web cam. Shuts down fast and boots up fast to. Toshiba face recognition is great.

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Samsung NP-QX411-W02UB Laptop - 14" LED backlit - 2nd GEN i5-2450M - 6GB RAM DDR3 - 1TB HDD - WIN 7

I have been looking for a new laptop for some time now. Trying to find a computer that is well-built, has great battery life, plenty of RAM and memory, and is a good price is a pretty tall order. I've looked at all brands, ASUS, HP, Sony, Lenovo, Dell, even Mac. Macs were too expensive, as were the Sony models that I looked at. It came down to a decision between ASUS and this Samsung. However, with the metal construction, and very well put together body, this feels very solid.

Battery life has been outstanding! 6 hours+ with the screen on full brightness. Graphics look great, videos are smooth with no lag or problems. DVD drive is very quiet, and boots up quickly. Very speedy processor, plenty of RAM...TONS of hard drive space. This computer has been flawless. I have a Samsung phone, and several other Samsung products, but this is the first Samsung computer that I've owned. I'm very pleased with it!

Well, I did not bought it from here but it does not matter. The computer has been great before I found out (after the return policy period) that the battery is faulty -it only last for 8 minutes after I unplugged the power cord. The reading dropped from like 78% directly to 8% without intermediate values. I sent it to Samsung for repair, and they seem to repaired the battery to an OK status (last for like 2-3 hours), but brought new problems -the LED lights (wifi, hdd and Numlock indicators) stopped working. I complained and sent it back to repair again, they claimed nothing is wrong and sent it back "directly", but I found out that the LEDs started to work properly, but the battery is now completely dead, even worse than the first time -it won't charge at all. I completely stuck to my desk with a laptop that is without any mobility. I tried to get a replacement from Samsung and they wouldn't let me, claimed that sending it back to repair again was the only thing they can do. Frustrated.

So if you bought a defective Samsung product, don't bother to repair, just return it or have an exchange from the dealer.

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Very good computer especially at the $628 price. A Mac with comparable attributes would cost 4 times. 9 hr battery is a real plus. Watched 2 movies on long flight and had about 40% remaining.

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blazing fast and reliable, I simultaneously installed 5 programs flawlessly! now if only I could get a better router so my internet wouldn't slow me down! I would have preferred a different trackpad layout, one with dedicated buttons rather than one huge trackpad with lines to specify where the left and right click is. choppy gameplay when running "slender" at average graphics, perfectly playable lower than that. can run "Battle for middle earth 2" flawlessly at ultra high graphics. can run "minecraft" at acceptable framerates at decent settings. not a hardcore gaming computer but will definitely stand up to casual gaming and other programs. I'm having a hard time making the processor use more than half of its potential power! usually uses about 1000mh of its 2500mh speed when running a couple of programs at once. I would recommend this product to anyone!

--UPDATE--

5 to 4 stars. I returned to bestbuy because I felt I overpaid for it. Its very durable, has a large hard drive, and has a long battery life, but thats about it. I settled for a sony vaio e series sve15115fxs because I felt it was a better buy (intel 3rd gen 3210m processor, intel graphics 4000 (as oposed to 3000 here, the 4000 is much faster) and the ability to connect to my ps3)

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The keypad has a great touch factor and this is really why I bought the machine. However the touchpad is HORRIBLE! The screen resolution will suddenly zoom, or will fly to another webpage I didn't want. It is so freakin' sensitive it is work to use the computer. I will sell this one. It is frustrating to the extreme.

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Sony VAIO SA3 Series VPCSA33GX/SI 13.3-Inch Laptop (Platinum Silver)

Over the years I've owned laptops from Toshiba, Compaq, Dell and Sony. Sony's have always been my favorites and this one ranks at the top of the list! It is a fast system with long battery life using the included sheet battery. Without the sheet battery it is very light-weight yet still has decent battery life.

The ssd drive really adds to the speed of this system. Even with bloated iTunes installed, it boots in less than 25 seconds and that includes me entering my password.

I would highly recommend this system.

To be honest, I was expecting more from Sony this time. I owned Vaio for the last 3 years, and guided by good experience decided to go for Vaio again. This piece offers good spec for low price, and its performance is spot on!

Boots really fast, system works out of the box, everything configured. I also tried a couple of video games all works like a charm.

But, as someone else here mentioned, the CPU fan is too loud. Whenever CPU does some "heavy" work, fan starts its noise and sounds like jet engine. This actually happens quite often, when I am copying files, video chatting, installing something or playing games. It is sad that this laptop makes more noise than my desktop.

This is a huge disappointment.

However, bright side is laptops great performance. Excellent backlit keyboard (even better than the previous one, which was fantastic as well). Display is amazing.

I hope that I will get used to the noise of the fan, as well as my colleagues at work.

I am also wondering if it would make it better if I install Linux, which I will surely try in the next months.

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overall it performs well and boots fast. looking from afar this proves to be a very attractive metallic like laptop. a closer look and feel would disappoint you a bit as the unit is made of plasticky material that looks like titanium but is not. Upgrading to 8gb is a breeze and removing extraneous bloatware is a tad of a pain as expected. Screen quality is typical VAIO, no complaint here. Available ports are adequate but not stellar. keyboard is much better than on the Ultrabook but not as nice as on the Macbook. A silver model (w/ a faster i5 than that of the previous SA23GX) is way more recommended than a black SA model but ... overall the plasticky build makes it less rugged for the road and susceptible to harsh handling.

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The positives:

If you're doing basic office stuff the notebook is blazing fast thanks to the SSD. I can't comment on gaming power. It will run a 1080p movie just fine with MPC and CCCP's basic setup.

High resolution screen.

I find it stylish enough and it's got pretty god build quality.

The included sheet battery is a nice touch.

The negatives:

The typical harddisk partitioning and bloatware stuff. I did a clean instal (which took surprisingly little time) to fix that up.

The screen doesn't have the best viewing angles.

Swapping between the Sandy Bridge graphics and the discrete card requires you to close all of your programs and flip a hardware switch.

Bottom line: I got this off Amazon for ~$950, that's a great deal on something this size with a 1600x900 screen and an SSD. I wasn't disappointed.

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Pros:

Thin, light and fast!!! Boot times are quick.

Even when clipped onto it's auxiliary battery pack, it still comes out thinner and lighter than most traditional laptops.

Cons:

Not quite instant-on.

Maximum SSD capacity is still far less than maximum IHD capacity in the equivalent model.

I just can't get used to that silly drag-down toolbar tracking the cursor around and getting in the way of window controls. Better put it somewhere innocuous.

It's sparking a bit of jealousy among the staff here.

Save 27% Off

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Toshiba Satellite A215-S4817 AMD Turion TL-58 DC 1.9GHz 2GB 160GB DVD±R/RW 15.4" Vista (Onyx Blue)

It is a great product. It is user friendly and portable. My huband gave it to me for Christmas. I can now play my games and do research in the comfort of my family room.

Ok, So I got this laptop for my father. open it up and when I try to boot it up it says enter password. How are you going to send me a laptop that already has a PASSWORD on it? Absolute circus. Minor inconvienece, I am still attempting to reslove this issue.

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Bought this laptop for my dad (75, post stroke). The size of the screen is perfect for viewing and the keys are large enough for him to handle. Got him a mouse to use instead of of pad (easier to navigate).

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happy about the whole experience, item shipped promptly and received in time. Computer is being set now so will update review in due time but so far this is one happy customer. I am reviewing my initial happy out of the box impression, since my tech guy told me that the operating system was Windows Vista and not Windows 7 has indicated on the website. It does not change much for me but to him that seem to make a difference form him, so I am dropping the review to a four stars due to that.

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Dell Inspiron i13z-7729PNK 13-Inch Laptop (Pink)

This is my first review and I'm writing this because there is a lack of reviews out there and the last two comments on this seemed as if those buyers may have been expecting too much for an ultrabook of this price.

I love Amazon but bought this elsewhere online to avoid paying taxes since I live in WA.

I used to sell laptops and desktop etc. for an electronics retailer and now work in IT.

I have owned several laptops and netbooks within the last 6 years.

Decided on something like this because my Asus netbook which has served me well was on its last legs and there weren't any netbooks with processors that are powerful enough for my needs. I have an Asus 14" business laptop but I felt it was too heavy (about 6 lbs).

I went into this purchase with the idea of keeping costs down while not sacrificing too much in performance and weight and am content with my purchase.

The term Ultrabook tends to convey the idea of a super slim, sleek, lightweight laptop with a metallic enclosure.

Well, think of this ultrabook as a budget ultrabook because that's exactly what it is. After all look at the price!

BATTERY

Let me first say that pretty much all manufacturers exaggerate battery life so you won't get stated life in most cases.

Not until there is some kind of ISO standardized rating system like there is now for inkjet cartridge yields.

As far as battery life goes PCMAG and LAPTOPMAG tested and rated it at just over 5hrs which is what I was expecting.

Dell should have stated UP TO 7.X hours which is a mistake on their part. The key is the "UP TO" before the battery life rating indicating that it can go up to that amount but under most normal usage it's for the most part unlikely.

I have drained the battery three times under normal usage (browsing and or downloading/streaming data) and have gotten an average of about 5 hours. Which is a little less than what PCMAG and LAPTOPMAG got.

I did this without using Dell's power management software. Using Dell's power management software could yield better results but I have not tested yet.

Here's the good and bad points I have found so far.

PROS:

relatively light weight. Can be easily held with one hand while screen is flipped open.

nicely spaced out matte keys with slight grip to them.

maximum screen brightness is fine in well lit rooms.

Intel Core i5-3317u CPU view comparison chart at passmark.com. There are other brands with same CPU that benched more or less.

6GB RAM altough most users will be fine with 4GB.

Speakers are pretty loud for a unit of this size

Windows 7 (if you're not interested in Windows 8 "Metro" for non touch systems)

CONS:

no SSD but then again this is a budget model (models with SSD + HD can be found for around $80 more)

would like a removable battery but most ultrabooks don't have removable batteries since they are more like thin plates that are "layered" inside instead of those removable bar or block types.

old smart phone type port covers. Other than helping it look more streamlined and dust protection there is no real reason for this.

If you are resting this unit on a flat surface the port covers will open JUST ENOUGH to allow you to plug in but it will be tight. (reason for 1 star deduction)

heat is mainly in the area under the power button. It gets pretty warm so if you actually plan on using this on your lap please take note.

Del bloatware

Who would like the Dell 13z?

Someone who wants an affordable ultrabook with an i5 CPU for under $600.

Someone who doesn't place an emphasis on how attractive their laptop looks.

If an average of 4.5-5hr battery life is okay for you.

If you mainly use it on a tabletop or other flat surface.

Who might not like the Dell 13z?

Compared to other ultrabooks this just looks average and has no bling finishes and has a mostly if not wholly plastic enclosure. In other words this is not going to turn heads when you whip this out at the trendy coffee shop that you may frequent...seriously. The surface surrounding the keyboard looks like brushed dark bronze metal but is not.

I have noticed very slight keyboard flex but it has not affected my typing or comfort in any way. However, if you're like that other guy who mentioned it you may want to spend the extra $$$ and get a higher end ultrabook because I have not noticed it at all until I read his post and actually pressed hard on the keyboard to replicate his claim.

If used on your lap you will notice your left thigh getting a bit hot so you might need one of those lapdesks which doesn't help if the coffee shop scenario above applies to you.

Other models you may want to consider:

Toshiba Portégé R835-P94 13.3-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Blue)

lighter weight, larger HD, faster CPU, longer battery life, though about 1/3 thicker

Lenovo IdeaPad U310 43752CU 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)

less battery life, CPU benchmarks faster, HD webcam, SSD drive, very little bloatware.

*UPDATE 10/24/12*

Price is now back up to $749 (was at $579 at the time of writing original review)

at this higher price this is definitely not a as good a deal as the other two models listed in this review.

lowering star value from 4 to 3 since price has gone up almost $200 and is same price as the newer model with more memory?

With a 3rd Gen Core i5 and 6 GB of RAM, this laptop is good buy from every angle.

Light, thin and very capable. Wouldn't go any bigger after trying a 13 in laptop like this one.

I have always believed 13 is the magic screen size number and this model is not exception.

Upgrade with an SSD and you have a very capable Ultrabook for a lot less money.

Buy Dell Inspiron i13z-7729PNK 13-Inch Laptop (Pink) Now

The Dell Inspiron i13z-7729sLV 13-Inch Laptop works perfectly. I am a regular user (work in th university in the Economy department) only use it for working (Office, statistics programs), for mail/skype/facebook, searching stuff on the web and watching movies. I bring it constantly with me, and use it everyday. I installed windows 8 and it runs smoothly in the laptop.

I do not use it for playing games or with complicated design programs.

The computer feels very fast, is very light (1.8 kg aprox), the battery runs for long time (6 hours when it is fully charged), and the view in the monitor is very clear.

I had a problem with the keyboard (a couple of keys did not function properly), but this is more a positive issue for the product more than a negative: I called to Dell support service from Argentina, and they had a post-sale service shop in my town (Tandil, a medium-smal city in Argentina). They asked for a new keyboard to the US and in less than a month the problem was solved (that seems preety fast, considering the import restriction policy of our country).

Anyways, I also choosed Dell since its fame of resistant to hard work and constant transport, but I can not give faith of this, since I only started using it two months ago.

Hope this can be useful, sorry for my poor english.

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Here comes my review.

I bought this laptop for 3 reasons.

1. Thin and lightweight

2. Cost effective

3. Battery life (After seeing 7 HOURS description in the product details I decided to buy this without second thought)

Pros:

Core i5, 6gig RAM, nearly 2GB graphics. Nothing more!

Cons:

Its thin, but its not too light. Though the cost is not pretty high, but for sure its not worth for money. I have used this for about 2 weeks now.

Coming to the biggest reason and biggest worry is battery life. As described and promised in the product description, the battery never gave backup of 7 hours.. Oh!! Forget it, not even 3 hours. I didn't play HD games, didn't watch HD movies, didn't run any NASA or Man-on-Mars projects too, but still, the battery drained out in less than 3 hours, all I did is just usual surfing and document edit.

I am not in US now, hence cant even think of returning this product. I am screwed, others be on your alert.

I suggest to pour another 200 bucks and go for Samsung Ultrabook, I am sure you will not repent your decision.

I will post more of my findings soon, but sure this is not worth buying.

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when I start it, it became very warm in 5 minutes. and I think it was a used one, not brand new as discribed...

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