Showing posts with label notebook on sale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label notebook on sale. Show all posts

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E535 3260EFU 15.6-Inch Laptop

Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E535 3260EFU 15.6-Inch LaptopI am by no means a computer expert, but it runs great, especially for the price I paid. The only thing I'd complain about is the RAM, but I can easily upgrade it, and plan to do so soon :)

Acer TimelineU M5-581T-6490 15.6-Inch Ultrabook (Silver)

Acer TimelineU M5-581T-6490 15.6-Inch UltrabookPros:

good battery life

good build quality

excellent value for it's price

plays mid-range games on low with acceptable frame rates

Cons:

screen is thin feels too thin not that its totally a bad thing

other notes:

bought this laptop for my programming classes at my university, typing on it is pleasant and it's battery life is impressive compared to my last laptop. Held off on a graphics card because I wanted no temptations to game whist in class or studying, but it didn't matter because the HD 4000 is actually a decent integrated solution.

I would recommend this laptop to others because its a excellent value for it's price.

will return feedback in 2 months time.

I bought this slick-looking M5-581T-6490 one month ago. Everything worked fine out of the box.

The first little trouble I ran into is the touch pad keeps doing strange zooming in/zooming out, and the mouse is difficult to control. Turns out the default setting turns on multi-finger functions. After some research, I turned it off. control Panel -> Mouse -> Touchpad, turn off all multi-finger function. After this, the touch pad was at mostt manageable, still not as good as my old laptop.

A few times when I turned on the laptop to use, instead of turning on as expected, it said, "Loading Update 1 of 40." Even AFTER I had selected the option that supposedly allowed me to choose whether or not to install updates. I had to wait about an hour for the updates to finally load, and nothing seemed to have changed or improved.

Then I installed Microsoft office, Acrobat, Visio etc. Suddenly, the laptop took a very long time to boot up the windows, and the mouse was constantly drawing in circles. Word, Visio, also slowed down for no reason. I tried many tips from online, like "disable all programs at startup", "uninstall McAfee", but none helped.

Finally, I spent $35 to have an IT Pro to run diagnostic. Bingo, a Hard Disc defect. Office software happens installed in that sector. The Video card RAM also has defect.

Acer said I can send the unit back, they will fix it, likely replace the hard drive but I will lose ALL installed software license.

The touch pad still bother me a little. I had enough with this unit, and decided to return.

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I'm completely satisfied with this laptop. The keyboard is especially comfotable. The only negative comment I have is that all the USB ports are on the back. They would have been better on the side.

Read Best Reviews of Acer TimelineU M5-581T-6490 15.6-Inch Ultrabook (Silver) Here

Fast computer overall and fast internet response if compared with my wife's Macbook Pro. The battery life is incredible. The integrated software management features provided by Acer should improve. For example, the sleeping mode works randomly. Sometimes it works sometimes it does not. I constantly have to turn on the computer again (fast booting though). I hope Acer look into this problem and communicate with its customers. Maybe from drivers updates, I don't know. This product would be almost 5 if Acer were more careful to design integrated management features that actually work.

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Bought two Acer Timeline M5 laptops a month ago.

Computer number one died with a short circuit on the motherboard after 3 weeks use. Computer smoked briefly and terrible odor.

After an hour and 30 minutes on hold with Acer warranty, given a return number. Computer back in use within 10 days. Acer refuses to tell us a) what burned and b) what chemicals we were exposed to.

Second failure within 24 hours of receiving it back-display died, case too hot to touch (can't remove battery, it's built in!)

Back at Acer for another 10 days lost service.

Computer two has an hdmi port defect, external monitor keeps losing signal. Also, case bottom has so much bow in it rubber feet don't all touch desk and it slides around while you are typing.

We aren't buying anymore Acers. Do you really want one?

11-29 update. computer video failed within 24 hours of return and has been returned for the third time! It took over two weeks, 6 phone calls and over 3 hours on the phone to get a return label this time! This computer has worked for two weeks out of two months! The only thing worse than their product is their customer service

HP Envy x2 11-g010nr 11.6-Inch Convertible Laptop

HP Envy x2 11-g010nr 11.6-Inch Convertible LaptopThe Envy X2 is a sleek hybrid laptop\Tablet that runs Windows 8. This isn't a Windows RT device like the Surface, the Envy will run all your Windows desktop applications. This tablet has a dual core Atom processor which is not the speediest processor in the world but the trade off is fantastic battery life. The Envy has a battery in the tablet portion and a second battery in the keyboard base giving you around 12 hours of total run time.

The build quality of the Envy X2 is excellent and the IPS display is a pleasure to use. The tablet portion clicks solidly in to the keyboard base. I've read reviews elsewhere that had concerns with the keyboard but I have found the keyboard to work fine.

The Envy comes with 64 GB of storage but about 10 GB are devoted to a restore partition. There is a MicroSD slot on the tablet and a full SD slot in the keyboard base allowing for expansion. The Envy has 2GB of RAM with no option to increase it.

I was not expecting the Envy X2 to be a powerhouse due to it's limited specs but it runs Windows 8 and Office with no problem. Boot time and shutdown are quick. Overall for my needs the trade off for better battery life over the core i5 tablets is worthwhile. I should note that this is a secondary system that I bought to travel with and I have a Laptop with a core i7 for the heavier processing.

In terms of a tablet I still prefer my iPad 3 to this device. That isn't so much because of the hardware but rather iOS seems better suited to touch than Windows 8. If you are after a tablet that will run your Windows desktop software, though the HP Envy X2 is a great little device.

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I'd like to preface by saying my review is of the hardware, not the software. Suffice to say the Envy x2 comes with a 32-bit edition of Windows 8 pre-installed. I will not be reviewing the pros and cons of the OS, just the hardware.

INTRODUCTION:

HP's new Envy x2 hybrid is a tablet masquerading as a laptop, not the other way around. It has a tablet specs (processor, ram, storage) so don't go thinking this is a high powered laptop that will run your latest online multiplayer game. It won't. That's not to say the Envy has no entertainment value because it runs videos and casual games quite competently. I personally think the tradeoff is worthwhile because it makes the Envy light weight, highly portable, and above all, it has a long long battery life.

For the purposes of my review, I will be referring to the Envy's two distinct parts: the tablet side, and the keyboard side.

PROCESSOR, RAM, GRAPHICS:

The Envy x2 has an Intel Atom Z2760 CPU clocked at 1.80GHz and 2GB of 533MHz LPDDR2 SDRAM (not upgradable). It has Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (integrated). I find my programs and apps run really well. I'm running MS Office 2003 without a hitch (my primary use for a laptop) plus a number of casual games and apps purchased from Amazon and the Windows Store. Everything runs great.

TOUCH SCREEN:

I find it sensitive and responsive; very nice, no complaints. There is a NFC area in the upper center of the screen. I don't have any NFC devices so I can't test this. This beautiful widescreen LED backlit display runs in a native resolution 1366x 768 @60p Hz.

CONNECTIVITY:

The Envy x2 has a Broadcom 802.11a/b/g/n wireless SDIO adapter for WiFi. I have a dual-band wireless-N router, and the Envy x2 is capable of connecting to either the 5Ghz or 2.4Ghz band. I use the 5Ghz band and I haven't had a problem connecting or staying connected. It is also Bluetooth compatible and (as mentioned) has a NFC area in the top center of the screen.

KEYBOARD & TOUCHPAD:

The Envy features a full size keyboard with chiclet style flat keys. They have a nice tactile feel and sound when typing. I did initially have a bit of an issue with the keyboard which has been fixed with a BIOS update from HP. I recommend this update if you have the extra space/repeated last letter keyboard issue.

The docking mechanism works really well. The tablet/screen is magnetically guided into place and so there's no fiddling around trying to find the correct position. It's super easy to pop off and re-dock.

Since my main use is writing, I also found it convenient to turn off the Synaptic touchpad by double tapping the square in the top left corner (toggle) to avoid accidentally moving my cursor when my thumbs grazed the surface. I just plug in a wireless mouse and use that instead.

STORAGE & DRIVES:

The 64GB solid state drive makes the Envy zippy. While 64GB doesn't sound like much storage, there are two additional SD slots for expansion--a micro SD slot in the tablet side, and a standard SD slot in the keyboard side. I purchased a SanDisk Ultra 64 GB MicroSDXC Class 10 UHS-1 Memory Card with Adapter (SDSDQU-064G-AFFP-A) (so it's usable in either slot) which I installed in the tablet side so I can undock without losing any storage. I'll purchase another for the keyboard side if and when I need it.

Roughly 10GB of the 64GB SSD is set aside as a recovery drive. You can reclaim this space once you make a recovery flash drive. HP includes the app needed to make a recovery drive; all I needed to do was supply the 16GB USB flash drive. At the end of the process, I was given a choice to reclaim the recovery partition as useable space. I recommend making the recovery drive even if you don't reclaim the partition, so that you have an independent backup of the factory default OS should you ever need it. Of course, there's an option to purchase this directly from HP, but expect to pay $$$ plus tax and shipping. Making your own, while your recovery partition is in good nick, is a much cheaper option.

There is no optical drive in the Envy, but if you have, or purchase, a USB DVD drive like the AmazonBasics USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive (Black) then you can load your older software and compatible games.

FEATURES & SLOTS:

Tablet:

1 x MicroSDXC expansion storage slot

1 x headphone/microphone (single 3mm jack)

2 x cameras (front facing and back facing) with integrated mic, 8MP, 1080p video capable

Power on/off button

Volume control button

Stereo speakers featuring BEATS audio

Keyboard:

1 x standard SDXC expansion storage slot

2 x USB 2.0 slots

1 x HDMI output

1 x headphone/microphone (single 3mm jack)

Synaptic multi-touch gesture touchpad

Power charger slot

The Envy has two batteries, which makes for an incredibly long battery life. It is also designed to drain from the keyboard side first, so if (after using it all day) you decide to undock and take the tablet, you (hopefully) don't have to recharge first. Neat idea! I find I only have to recharge every 2nd day, and that's after a full day of using Word.

OTHER:

The Envy has a really nice brushed aluminum shell, which gives it a really classy look and feel. It's also a very thin computer for in a backpack or book bag, and ultra lightweight while still maintaining a huge 11.6" screen. As mentioned, the Envy comes with a full version of Windows 8 pre-installed, meaning most of my older software will run. This is a big plus for me.

The power brick is tiny, measuring only 3.25" x 1.5" x 1" approx. This is a nice for when you need to take it with you.

IN CONCLUSION:

If you're after a laptop for high powered apps and games, then the Envy x2 probably won't fit your needs. However, if you're after something that has the convenience and portability of a tablet but the functionality of a laptop, then the Envy x2 might just fit the bill. Yes, you might get more bang for your buck by lugging around a traditional heavy i3 or i5 laptop, but for me, the lighter weight, 12+ hours of battery life, in an easily transported compact shell makes the HP Envy x2 my ideal choice.

Buy HP Envy x2 11-g010nr 11.6-Inch Convertible Laptop Now

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program First things first, the HP Envy x2 11-g010nr 11.6-Inch Convertible Laptop isn't necessarily designed to replace your more sophisticated laptop or desktop computer. If you have heavy processing needs or more challenging applications, you're going to want to continue to utilize your other devices. But, that said, this portable unit does show great flexibility in its ability to adapt to the more routine tasks that you may need to perform on-the-go. As with any convertible laptop, this comes in two distinct parts. The screen contains most of the "brains" necessary to fuel regular tablet functions, so you can just unclip it and take it on the road. However if you need standard keyboard or mouse functionality, just connect it back up and you're ready for computer operations.

Windows 8: One of the successes of the HP Envy x2 11-g010nr 11.6-Inch Convertible Laptop is in its usage of Windows 8. If you are a die-hard Windows user, you know that the programs can be somewhat problematic on touch screen devices. There is, oftentimes, too much going on to be wholly effective. Most, therefore, use the less impressive Windows RT technology. So the ability to run any Windows software (unlike the pale shades of RT) is an attractive selling point.

Graphics/Display: The graphics and clarity are perfectly serviceable, if not somewhat better than expected with a HD, Anti-glare, LED-backlit IPS display is powered by Intel Graphics Media Accelerator technology. Once again, this is not meant to stand up to intensive gaming but is suitable for common usage including casual games and HD video.

Compatibility/Additions: The unit has two USB 2.0 ports, a built-in card reader, and a HDMI port. With these, you can customize your experience with external storage or connect to larger monitors depending on your needs. It is Bluetooth compatible and has Wireless network access. And there are headphone/microphone jacks. The unit comes with a front facing camera good for chat (HP TrueVision 1080p HD webcam) and a rear facing camera for specialized tasks (8.0MP). The audio speakers are surprisingly solid Beats.

Design: The HP Envy x2 11-g010nr 11.6-Inch Convertible Laptop comes in a lightweight Brushed Aluminum case. All together, it's about 3 pounds.

Processing Power/Storage: The device is powered by an Intel Atom Z2760 processor which is a 1.8 GHz, dual core unit. This is fairly comparable to what you'd find in other tablets. There are 2GB on on-board RAM and 64GB SSD. While this is probably more than enough for most users, there is no way to upgrade or customize the 2GB RAM with additions.

Battery: The tablet has a battery which boasts about 7 hours of usage. The base, however, also has a battery. When attached, the usage extends to about 12 hours. The double battery really makes a nice difference.

As a Windows user, I really do like the HP Envy x2 11-g010nr 11.6-Inch Convertible Laptop. If that Windows functionality is NOT of major import to you, you might find less expensive alternatives that better serve your wants and needs. But overall, I think this is an incredibly successful marriage of laptop and tablet. When I'm on the road working for any length of time, I still take my more powerful laptop as it is my LIFE. But for convenience and daily activities, I've found myself relying more on this lightweight and handy unit. KGHarris, 1/13.

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I was so excited to get this convertible laptop/netbook. If the device didn't have the following issues, I would be very happy with it. However, after 1 week I decided to return it. Here are the issues:

1) Light Bleed Around Screen: The screen had significant 'light bleed' around the edges of the screen. I was sitting in a dark room the first time I turned it on and wow, the light bleed around the edge of the screen was very annoying, especially when watching a movie. Out of curiosity I decided to compare the light bleed to that of an iPad. The iPad had NO noticeable light bleed whatsoever. The screen on this device certainly needs to be manufactured better to avoid the light bleed issue that many complain about.

2) WiFi: Unfortunately the WiFi reception is very poor. This is ultimately the reason I returned the device. I used it with various WiFi routers and could never get it to connect faster than about 30 Mbps. Most of the time it would connect around 5 Mbps. Additionally the signal reception was very poor. Even when sitting within 10 ft of the router, it would only get two bars of reception. I think HP has an antennae design flaw. My other laptops and Windows Phones get great WiFi reception in my home and office.

3) Speakers: I was hoping I could put movies on this for the kids to watch while we are in the car. However, the speakers don't put out nearly enough volume. Without supplemental speakers, it would be way too quiet for use in a car or a room with moderate background noise.

Unfortunately after doing quite a few web searches, I determined that many people have noticed the same issues with this device. Therefore these items must be a result of poor design/fabrication. Therefore, I chose to return it. Hopefully HP fixes these items in next iteration of this device. If they do, I'll be sure to buy it. Windows 8 on a touch device of this form factor would be awesome.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program

One has to imagine this sort of device is exactly what Microsoft had in mind when Win8 was in development. An interesting marriage of laptop and tablet, offering all the touch screen benefits of the latter with the power and access to mainstream software of the former, all in the body of what used to be called a netbook. Netbooks, of course, died out as a species with the popularization of tablets, the iPad and various Android offerings all but pushing those small, inexpensive, bare-boned PC offerings right out of relevant space. The HP Envy x2 isn't a rebirth of the netbook, it's really a new species entirely, and despite being a relatively early entry into a new arena, it's polished and sophisticated.

As a disclaimer, I own and love Apple products without crossing whatever line is necessary to get into unabashed fandom. I have and use an iPhone, I have and use regularly an iPad mini which replaced an old and tired (but loved) first generation iPad. You could easily replace Apple/iOS with comparable Android devices here, because my point is that I really enjoy these devices, and all the portability and ease of accessibility that they bring BUT there are areas of use that they just can't and don't address. Then there's my main laptop, 18" of desktop replacement that is technically portable, but I'd feel sorry for anyone who actually wanted to lug it around, and popping in on your lap to work away from a desk or table would be akin to having a German Shepherd as a lap dog; hot, blows a lot of air, heavy, not particularly comfortable.

As my short and silent video demonstrates, you're out of the box and running here in less than 10 minutes. The brushed aluminum body of the device is pleasing and manages to avoid major fingerprint issues. In laptop form, it weighs in at 3lb 1.4oz/1400g, when detached the tablet/screen is approximately 1lb 8.5oz/698g -compare to a 1st gen iPad which is about 862g with a stock soft cover, and what you have is more power and flexibility in a lighter device (again, compared to a 1st generation iPad).

The solid state hard drive makes for lightning quick boot ups. Those of you out there still using systems with traditional drives will marvel at power on to desktop waiting times that can be measured in the teens (seconds) or even less. My fastest of a few different tries (demonstrated on the video) was 10 seconds, that's cold to Windows ready to go, which is remarkable.

There are sacrifices, of course. Processing power is not going to be up to speed with current desktops or higher end/larger bodied laptops (though it will be superior to every tablet I'm presently aware of). Battery life isn't going to be as substantial as larger laptops with one or more substantial battery packs. Graphical power is going to be what one would expect with integrated Intel graphics, this is not a high end gaming rig but that's not what it's trying to be. But it's capable on each of these fronts, and it exceeded my expectations which, going in, were more in line with "this is going to be a tablet with a keyboard" rather than "this is going to be a capable PC with the ability to split off and be a tablet".

My iPad mini is still going to be my go to browsing and email device; but I can't work on that because of the PC-specific requirements my job requires, so the HP Envy x2 *will* be getting heavy use (assuming I can get it away from my wife who has decided it's just what she needs too) when I need to have a capable java-enabled browser and the ability to have multiple open windows. What that means is I'm untethering myself from my big laptop, and that's a great thing. Even in the comfort of home, portability and agility is king. I find the touch quick and responsive when the screen is docked to the base and when it's not. I find Win8 right at home on the device, quick to load and responsive either in the new Start menu or in the old. Office loads right up, and the machine handles a reasonably heavy `work-style' processing load efficiently. The specs are all listed in the product description and other reviews have rehashed them smartly, so what's left for me to say is that the Envy x2 exceeded (and continues to exceed) my expectations. This is a PC, not a watered down PC the way netbooks were, but a capable box that also offers touchscreen in the way Win8 was truly intended, *and* is capable of splitting off and being a powerful tablet as well. Throw in Beats sound and an HD camera, and this will be a dream machine for those who want the best of both worlds. Note that the ports (with the exception of the SD slot *and* a secondary headphone jack) are on the base of the unit and not the tablet/screen portion). But connecting them on the fly without closing or changing applications is quick and easy, as demonstrated in the video. Outstanding job, HP.

tl;dr -Outstanding `tweener' device, highly capable both as a PC and as a Windows-based tablet. Highly recommended for those who need the functionality of the former and value the portability option of the latter.

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Dell Inspiron i15N-3636BK 15-Inch Laptop

Dell Inspiron i15N-3636BK 15-Inch LaptopThis computer was delivered on time. It has a great feel and it is very responsive. The first thing I noticed was the brightness of the screen it is clean and sharp, and the colors really stand out. The keyboard is solid and feels nice when typing. The other thing I noticed is how light this computer feels; this has been sitting on my lap for hours and I hardly feel it. I think that for the money I made a great choice. I have owned Dell before and I had great results, I guess that is why I went back to it. I highly recommend this laptop to anyone.

I am not a high tech person. I use my computer for Shopping, scrapbooking, social media. My daughters boyfriend (who does know computers) recommended this computer to me. It was easy to use. Easy to set up. I am able to work my way around it and maintain it. The only thing I wish it has is Keys that light up. I suppose if I had spent more time or money I could have found that. I can't think of anything else negative to say. It met my needs and was very affordable. My Teen daughter uses it for school projects and I have not heard any complaints from her.

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I began purchasing Dell products in 1993 and bought 3 MP3 players, 4 laptops, 4 desktop computers, 3 printers, a camera and more. However, about 5 years ago, I noticed a sharp decline in Dell's customer service and quality of their products. So I purchase 5 MP3 players from Apple and Samsung, a laptop from Apple and another laptop from Acer, and 3 tablets from Samsung and amazon. Recently I have been reading some positives about Dell, although there are still complaints about their customer. So I decided to consider Dell again, but I wanted to still go through Amazon because of their customer service. I received the laptop in 2 or 3 days and it was great right out of box. I like windows 8 even though I am still learning. I really like this laptop and it was a good price. The processor is fast, there is plenty of hard drive space and memory. I highly recommend this laptop and for those who have lost faith in Dell to consider them again.

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Good team, recommended. But no antivirus license office and must give information to make the purchase of the software along

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Windows 8 takes a bit of getting used to but once you do it's great.

So much faster than my old laptop.

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Sony VAIO EL2 Series VPCEL24FX/B 15.5-Inch Laptop (Charcoal Black)

Sony VAIO EL2 Series VPCEL24FX/B 15.5-Inch LaptopI absolutely loved my Sony Vaio when after about a year, I would be typing (like so) and look up and the cursor would have jumped back to 10-15 words prior and continue typing in a prior part of the sentence/paragraph. As I type this, it has happened twice so far. I looked it up and it seems to be an issue with Sony Vaio and other than getting a wireless mouse (and what good is that with a laptop) there is nothing that can be done. Very frustrating and dissappointing!

After just a month or so of purchasing my Vaio laptop, the mouse and keyboard stopped working. It was under warranty and a technician replaced the motherboard. I asked for a new laptop rather than have the board replaced, but SONY refused. It's less then a year later and now the laptop won't boot up and if it finally does, the screen will go black after a few minutes. We took it to be repaired again and the technician said the hardware is defective. Basically, SONY sent us a defective laptop through and through. It's out of warranty now and SONY pretty much told us they're not going to make it right for us.

In a nutshell, we paid $800 for a defective laptop that barely lasted long enough for the warranty to expire.

DO NOT BUY SONY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have a 10 year old DELL that's still going strong.

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This Sony laptop is good for the $500 range, with decent specifications that lets the user do basic computing (microsoft office, editing software), web surfing, and for media purposes (watching a movie, streaming, playing music). I'll break down this review into several parts: Hardware, keyboard, Design, touchpad, screen, and performance.

Hardware

* Some connections: 4 USB 2.0, 1 HDMI input, DVD drive, VGA port. All basic necessities.

* The AMD Dual core E 450 1.65 Ghz processor isn't bad. It doesn't have enough juice to play games, but it does give you enough power to run through programs like Microsoft Word, powerpoint, and some editing software (windows movie maker) fairly easily. Just don't expect it to be blazing fast. The processor is one of the main weakpoints of this laptop.

* 4 GB of RAM (Can upgrade to 8GB RAM) is more than enough RAM for computing tasks. Windows 7 64 Bit is the installed OS.

* The AMD Radeon 6320 Graphics card is a step up from integrated graphics. It won't run powerful games like Crysis 2 nor Bioshock, but it will smoothly run some of the less graphic-intensive games like Left 4 dead 2, counter strike, Call of duty 4, and team fortress.

Keyboard

* The keys are in an island layout and keys generally feel quiet and comfortable. I've adjusted to the island style, but I still prefer the keys to be together.

* There is no flex. The keyboard is stable.

* Keys are responsive and have good feedback. Keys "pop" back up quickly, which is a plus for fast typists.

Design

* I like the black and gray pattern that is on the front cover and palm rest. The pattern includes squares, hexagons, and parallelogram (finally, geometry comes in handy). It gives it a subtle, but bold texture to the laptop.

* The speakers are placed on the horizontal panel where the screen meets the keyboard. The power button and indicators are placed in the top right corner. The placement of the power button and speakers make good sense.

* The battery charger is thick, sturdy, and feels built to last.

Touchpad

* The touchpad is positioned a little bit off centered to the left, which is a different. Notebooks and netbooks I've tried in the past have had the touchpad centered. I like this subtle change. It also reduces the chance of the right palm accidentally grazing the touchpad while typing.

* The touchpad has a nice texture and is very responsive. The left and right clicks are rigid and isn't too loud when clicked.

Screen

* The native resolution is 1366 x 768. The screen isn't as bright as I had expected. Even at the highest brightness, it still feels a little bit dim. Still, details and picture quality is good.

Performance

* The graphics card is a huge plus and gives the laptop some juice when it comes to processing pictures, and providing a smooth experience. The dual core 1.65 ghz CPU will do fine with basic computing tasks. While it is capable of gaming and heavier programs like Photoshop, it's barely playable/usable.

* Bloatware (as expected) is installed on this laptop. There are some useful programs, but most should be uninstalled for an optimal computing experience.

Overall, programs and loading is generally instantaneous. Again, not blazing fast, but definitely good enough for schoolwork & at the workplace, some editing, and media (movies, streaming, and music). This laptop has a nice, stylish design and is a decent laptop for the $500 price range.

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Great laptop for the everyday user. For the price, I was surprised to get so much style and performance. Looks great, works great!

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AMD Athlon seems better than this processor

Very slow IE,Chrome browsing..

Long bootup time and unwanted applications on startup.

I would recommend not to buy this laptop

thanks and have a great day

Acer Aspire E1-571-6837 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black)

Acer Aspire E1-571-6837 15.6-Inch LaptopIt took a few minutes to work out windows 8, but once I did I couldn't be happier with this computer. It is so lightweight, the bottom of the computer doesn't get hot, and I love the number pad next to the keyboard. I would recommend this to anyone.

The computer allows you get stuff done but mine makes a really weird creaky noise and I don't know what it is. I shutdown the computer before I sleep but sometimes I'll wake up the next morning with my computer still running. Acer has installed a fair amount of bloatware and I don't know if you can fully remove them or not. I'm tech savvy but only to a certain point so I can't fully remove them. The keyboard isn't spaced out and is flat so don't eat things that crumble while using the computer unless you want crumbs inside your keyboard. I'm actually planning on sending my computer to acer to have them figure out what the creaking sound is and fix it since its too late for me to return the computer now to the seller.

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It was what I expected, really works as I wished. It was good as I wanted so I am going to continue looking for this good products.

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System comes with windows 8 which is a typical Microsoft product where they won't let you do what you want but must follow their instructions. I only had the product for 1 week and am getting use to it but don't like windows 8. see not need for all the apps and the clutter. The system finds printers and wireless quickly but if there is a choice I would not choose Windows 8.

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Samsung Series 3 NP300E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Blue Silver)

Samsung Series 3 NP300E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch LaptopI give the Series 3 four stars, minus 1 for the crappy touchpad sensitivity. See Con comment below.

Pros:

Xlnt display resolution

Aesthetically appealing to the eye; cover is brushed 'ribbed' aluminum with 2" black band at rear.

Wide keys, short pressure, positive feel

Full numbers keypad on right

Single screw holds cover to memory and HDD, makes for easy swap out

No dumb WiFi on/off switch front panel, prevents accidentally switching off connection

A full pound lighter than Dell

Strong solid looking hinges

i5-3210M Ivy Bridge, HD4000 controller works as designed

3MB L3 cache

CON: The super sensitive touchpad.

**First thing first; Use the touchpad to set screen size, then go to ctrl panel, Synaptics Touchpad to disable BOTH one-finger and multi-finger gestures. If you don;t this is what you can expect:

1. Sensitivity -horizontal AND vertical scrolling is at the next to last slowest speed.

2. If the left palm is within 1/8-1/4" proximity of the touchpad, the touchpad shrinks or enlarges your screen on its own. Tapping an resetting screen size constantly is annoying. Mostly dues to far left placement of the pad, not centered.

3. Email composes start @ 14+ font then shrinks to 10 and back and forth and back and forth all over the place. When composing the font size appears normal. When the display size changes the fonts do to but they never reset to the last display. Major bug.

More CONS:

1. Annoying bloatware

2. Power cord on left, I prefer right

3. No keyboard backlite

4. OK Samsung memory, 1x4GB & 1x2GB, latency 11-11-11-28. This was swapped for new 2x4Gb sticks

5. Big hunky/clunky 750GB SATA HDD. This was swapped for an SSD. Boot time is now 9 seconds. HDD being used as an external drive

6. Weak/low L1 & L2 cache [256kb]

7. Samsung online Chat Support is h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e. They're absolutely brainless and will waste your time. With a rating of 1 to 10, I generously give them a -10 [minus ten]. Do your own troubleshooting.

8. Battery life claim is up to 6.3 hrs. Even at the lowest setting the best I can get is 4.5 hrs, as indicted in the notification bar.

Don't forget to check the update page. The i5-3210M is fast for a tier 2 CPU, better than other i5's as it does turbo from 2.6 to 3.1GHZ.

The Atheros wireless card that came installed in this laptop was defective and wouldn't hold a connection no matter what network it was connected to. I contacted Samsung and they confirmed that it seemed to be a hardware issue. I returned it and got a replacement laptop. Same issue. I did some research and these cards are just bad. It's a shame because otherwise, the computer is great, but trying to deal with the all the internet issues and hardware problems were beyond frustrating. Terrible experience.

Buy Samsung Series 3 NP300E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Blue Silver) Now

This laptop is awesome!!! I am a full time student and use it primarily for school, not gaming. It does have an integrated HD graphics card which gives an excellent graphic performance for watching videos or just browsing the web. The i5 processor accompanied with 6GB of RAM makes this laptop super-fast. Out of the box the Windows Experience Index rates this laptop at a 5.7. You can check you WEI by going into the Computer>System Properties> Windows Experience Index. It rates a 5.7 because of the Graphics card, the processor and RAM rate at 7.1 and 7.4 respectfully and the hard drive rates at 5.9. This computer has room for improvements if you want make some upgrades, upgrading the RAM to 8GB and swapping out the hard drive for a solid state will make this thing ridiculous and raise the index on it considerably, especially if you are using for the same thing that I am which is mostly school work and emails.

I have always hated using touchpads on laptops until I started using the touchpad on this one. The pad is large and the so are the buttons, the pad also lets you do multi finger gestures. You can pinch to zoom, two fingers lets you scroll up and down, and three fingers lets you navigate forward and backward. You also have the ability to turn off the touchpad altogether by holding down the Fn key and hitting F5. There are many other features to this laptop that it makes it great like the sleep function when you close the laptop. The laptop is sturdy and is of good design, esthetically it looks great and the sound from the speakers is loud and clear. The boot time is under a minute, I have never timed it but it is significantly faster than my old computer. It also runs cool so no need for a cool pad.

Aside from all the positive things that I have to say about the laptop there is a few negative. I have experienced some malfunction when browsing with Facebook. Sometimes when I try to navigate to Facebook the browser throws up an error and I cannot logon. This could be a problem with Facebook or the browser that I am using, either way the problem is only intermittent and is not too much of an inconvenience. I have also on occasion heard when opening a file or a link that plays audio the speakers will make small pop before playing. These are all problems that I have yet to address but I think are very fixable. All in all this is an excellent laptop for the price and is very versatile and sturdy enough to last for several years. I give it 4.5 out of 5!

Manual:Recommended RAM upgrade:

Crucial CT2CP51264BC1067 8GB 204-PIN PC3-8500 SODIMM DDR3 (4GBx2)

Or:

Samsung Electronics Extreme Low Voltage 30nm SODIMM 8 Dual Channel Kit DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM MV-3T4G3D/US

Recommended hard drive upgrade:

SAMSUNG 830 Series 2.5-Inch 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7PC064B/WW

Read Best Reviews of Samsung Series 3 NP300E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Blue Silver) Here

I bought this item recently and am wondering why , when i open up experience index, my cpu is reading at 2.5 ghz

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3210M CPU @ 2.50GHz 7.1

Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB 7.5

Graphics Intel(R) HD Graphics 4000 5.1

Gaming graphics 1696 MB Total available graphics memory 6.5

Primary hard disk 618GB Free (675GB Total) 5.9

Determined by lowest subscore 5.1

somebody help! :)

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Purchased this Samsung Laptop (NEW) as a Christmas gift from "City Electronic" thru Amazon.com. AVOID BUYING FROM THE THIS SELLER.... Here is why. When this laptop arrived, it started to BLUESCREEN from the beginning..having some knowledge of Windows machines..I ran a hardware check and found that the Ram or memory was defective. I immediately contacted the seller and ask for a refund or exchange...the seller told me to contact Samsung and refuse to take it back...called Amazon and filed a complaint...because third party sellers must have a 30 day return or exchange policy ...but that did not matter, because the seller was still allowed to sell the same new Laptop thru Amazon.com...Called Samsung and was told mail it to them at my expense and it wound take 3-4 weeks for it to be repaired...later I purchased ram for $42.18 and asked the seller to pay for that ( he did) later after seeing the claim...I swapped out the ram and the laptop worked perfectly (note) the door to the ram and hard drive...is made of very cheap plastic, has to be bent into place for it to fit...I did buy a 3 year SquareTrade warranty for this laptop...did not think that that I should be having to use it 7 days after a new purchased that comes with factory warranty... the seller and Amazon.com let me down....Samsung just has slow and bad customer service...LIKE MOST BIG COMPANIES...bigger is not better. look closely at the seller's return policy before buying from them....good customer service is not important most companies...their bottom line seems to be more profit.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_201077750_RRlandingCantReturn?nodeId=201077750

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HP ENVY dv7t-7200 Quad Edition Notebook PC

HP ENVY dv7t-7200 Quad Edition Notebook PCI expected some "change adjustment", as this is my first Windows 8 product. It does take some adjusting, but it's so similar to smart phone (at least Android) functions, that it's not much of an adjustment.

Very pleased with the speed of this laptop. Even with multiple applications running (some CPU intensive), any wait times are minimal.

Not a gamer, but I am an amateur photographer. Many of my photography applications are very CPU and disk intensive. No issues whatsoever.

I have not tried videos (e.g. DVD) yet.

Any dust is (of course) easily visible on the exposed surfaces. Not unexpected with a (mostly) black surface.

Well pleased.

I like HP products but their service is terrible. Most of the times you end up in India, and those people are very unprofessional.

Anyway I found another laptop HP Extreme with 16 GB RAM, processor 3.0, Hard drive 2 TB, and price was $2900.

I'm pretty happy with that, because it's an ultimate, and also has Windows 7. The above computer had Windows 8, which I personally don't care for.

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Dell Latitude D610 1730MHz 1024MB 40GB CDRW/DVD 14.1" Notebook (1.73GHz Pentium M 740 1GB RAM 40GB

Dell Latitude D610 1730MHz 1024MB 40GB CDRW/DVD 14.1' NotebookI got my laptop and have had problems from day one, when you ask for help you get a very rude response with no help, I have had to pay someone to repair my laptop. They person who responses to your help email only blames you for the problem. Which I had my computer checked out by a repair guy only to find the mother board is bad in the computer. I would not recommend anybody buy this computer. Oh and if you do don't forget you only have 30 days to make sure it works properly.

Exactly what you need in way of a basic laptop. We have bought several of these 610's over the years for my repair shop. They are tough and can take harsh work area and keep working. Good product.

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so far it is doing well, no trouble out of it. its work like a new one.this is my very first labtop.

Read Best Reviews of Dell Latitude D610 1730MHz 1024MB 40GB CDRW/DVD 14.1" Notebook (1.73GHz Pentium M 740 1GB RAM 40GB Here

Was very pleased get a very capable laptop for under 300 bucks. I needed a 2nd computer for my home based business, so even though it came with windows business vista(preferred xp) the overall physical condition and performance is top notch. Item arrived quickly(1wk) and well packaged from shipper

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few day after get it the charger died

the replace in about 2weeks

now get error message can't read the charger got hit f2 key all the time yp gett it working

I did get a dell cd with it or owner book

when u get to boot the screen bkinks then come one

MSI 16''C2D 2.2/4/320/DRW/W7HP/CAM - A6005-201US

MSI 16''C2D 2.2/4/320/DRW/W7HP/CAM - A6005-201USJust got it in the mail. MSI makes reputable laptops, and this one looks like a good quality one. No too heavy for the size, with pretty blue lights in front of trackpad.

My only problem with it is that they squeezed full numeric keypad in there. This comes at the expense of Enter and Right Shift keys. This should be a steal for folks who do data entry.

Also please note: no HDMI output on this one.

I love the laptop and the keyboard, I think ANY keyboard without the numpad looks funky and I won't buy them. The only issue I have is it gets a little hot some times,I've had mine for 2 years and after about an hour of use I can't set it on my lap without overheating myself. I think it just needs a better fan or more ventilation ports.

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Dell Inspiron 15R i15RM-4634SLV 15.6-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

Dell Inspiron 15R i15RM-4634SLV 15.6-Inch LaptopOkay, I JUST got the computer today, so I will have to do an update after awhile. The computer is fast. I installed a driver and had to restart the computer. It restarted in less than 30s. As in, I clicked restart and then was back on the internet in less than 30s. Moving around windows is very fast as well. Windows 8 is very different, but easy to learn with a little bit of effort. There is a build in tutorial to make it easier to learn. Its not very heavy considered how powerful it is and the size. Thinner than I expected, sleek and nice looking. I cannot hear the fan which is great. My last laptop was LOUD! Screen is bright and glitch free. Keyboard is a normal size and buttons type nicely.

There is a problem with the left mouse button. It clicks fine, but I have to press and hold to get it to work. Its annoying so I contacted technical support. I've heard A LOT of bad things about Dell support, so I was dreading it. However, the agent was very nice. She said it sounded just like an alignment problem. Normally they have you send the laptop in and fix it and then send it back. However she said since the laptop is brand new, she would ship the parts to a technician in my area and have him come to my home and fix the laptop there. That way I dont have to be without it. I didnt even have to ask for that :) As long as dell follows through with that, I'm very happy with the support. I got to talk to someone within a minute and got my problem handled in just a couple minutes. She also noticed my registration hadnt gone through properly and fixed that for my right then.

edit**

only been a couple days and the technician has fixed the touchpad. Very happy with dell service :)

I needed this for a business trip and it arrived 4 days before I was scheduled to leave. Upon opening the laptop I noticed it had a pixel that was bright white on the screen. I called Amazon and they amazingly sent me a new laptop 2 days later just in time for my trip!! GREAT customer service Amazon, thank you! The Dell laptop is awesome as well! I've never had a problem with Dell, I call them die hards! always works no matter what! Love love love my new Dell!

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I am completely satisfied with this laptop. Everything was up and running, updates installed automatically, and without a hiccup. The jury is still out on Windows 8 so far, but the computer itself is a winner. I made a good choice in picking this one.

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A product that a busy executive can rely on! Although it is not exactly light weight, it is manageable to carry around.

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I don't own a laptop. But this one looks cool. To bad for me I don't have monney to buy it!!!!!!!!