Showing posts with label notebook quotes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label notebook quotes. Show all posts

ASUS G55VW-DH71 2.40-3.40GHz i7-3630QM 16GB 1TB 7200RPM 2GB NVIDIA GTX 660M DVD RW

ASUS G55VW-DH71 2.40-3.40GHz i7-3630QM 16GB 1TB 7200RPM 2GB NVIDIA GTX 660M DVD RWThis machine is a great options for any gamer, in my case I requested it with 16 gb ram which could be upgraded till 32 gb. W8 is great just need to spend some time to be familiarized. Its dual and quiet fan cooler system keep it really like an ice, even when you are playing for long time.

ASUS G51JX-X5 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop PC - Dark Brown

ASUS G51JX-X5 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop PC - Dark BrownThe "ultimate gaming machine :) " arrived in the original box , shipping was very fast as always , but ofcourse it better be , because I had to pay 14$ for shiping.

The laptop had no deffects , no dead pixels( something I was very woried about).

I have been using it for about a week now and I can say that I am impressed . Very fast machine , I wish it came with an XP tho , but thats fixable :D

It does get very hot on the left side , but poor thing is just trying to get the heat out! No problems so far from that except some burned leg hair :D

What's intresting is tha price changeing. I bought it for 1279$ , a few days after I recieved it the price went down to 1150$ , and now it's 1380$ or so. You better time your purchuase or you might end up paying more for something that actualy costs less.

I recomend this product to anybody who is willing to pay that much for a laptop , I couldn't find a better deal.

I just bought this from a week ago. The $100 rebate is what motivated me to buy this particular one. The cost is $1,150 after the rebate. This is an excellent deal for the type of hardware loaded. I tried to create similarly configred laptops on Dell site and Sony site. The cost was usually over $1500 for the same type of hardware.

I am taking one star off due to three minor issues (1) weight, (2) bulk, and (3) no multi-touch touchpad. I believe Asus could have make this model (15.6" screen) smaller and lighter and put on a multip-touch touchpad. One of the main reasons that I like Asus is its multi-touch touchpad. I had no idea this model does not come with one until I received it. I was somewhat disappointed and thought about returning it a couple of times. But now, I think I can live without a multi-touch touchapd because its touchpad feels quite solid and high quality.

I am no gamer and I may never play any games with it. But, I need a fast CPU (i7 720 QM) that doesn't cost me an arm and a leg. I need generous amount of RAM (6 GB). BTW, both the BIOS and CPU-Z reported that it has the 1333 MHz RAM instead the advertized 1066 MHz RAM. I believe this may be arbitrary depending on the supply and cost of RAM at the time of manufacturing. I also need a fast hard drive (7200 RPM). I also want high resolution (1920x1080) to see more content on the screen.

I know its supposedly game-grade graphics capability will go to waste for the way I use it. But it has everything else I want. So, I think I can live with its somewhat cheesy Republic of Gamers deco/logo/lighting on the lid.

Buy ASUS G51JX-X5 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop PC - Dark Brown Now

Pros:

-----

Well capable machine indeed, I've played Crysis, Battlefield III, Assassin's Creed Revelation and others with no problems, I also have done some 3D rendering with quite a good performance.

Illuminated chiclet keyboard is a plus specially in poorly lit areas, some people would love having a numpad as well.

Screen is beautiful (if you're looking at the right angle!)

Cons/areas of improvement:

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

Keyboard: Well, if you're a gamer (and you ought to be if you're buying a machine like that!) speed is important, and usually if you lose your contact to the arrow buttons it's easy to get back to them on any other keyboard, since usually there's an empty space around the arrow keys in standard keyboards, unfortunately not this one! I mean why ASUS?! why have you chose a keyboard where the arrow buttons for some unknown reason is quite embedded around the rest of the keyboard keys??! now if you're navigating in game menus, or using the arrows in even some word processor you have to actually look to the keyboard to locate them with your eyes. that wasn't a smart choice of the keyboard layout -period-.

It gets HOT! I wouldn't say this is a major con, if you're a gamer you want your machine to perform and you'd expect some heat to get out of it. I'd strongly suggest buying a cooler along with it.

I don't particularly like having the power socket right beside the network socket, they get in the way of each other when you have one plugged and you want to plug the other.

Screen: the vertical viewing angle (screen tilt) is a major setback for me, if you haven't aligned your screen angle at its best you might be missing some wonderful details in the game, or have an overall 'darker' view. Vertical viewing angle should have been worked on before releasing this strong machine.

Sound: Sometimes the speakers aren't loud enough, I think the sound card is capable though as it becomes really loud if you're using headphones. I had a Toshiba Qosmio before and never had this problem. ASUS should have invested a little bit more in the speakers area as well.

Read Best Reviews of ASUS G51JX-X5 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop PC - Dark Brown Here

God this was a great laptop! Glad I got it while it was still available. Though my power cord had some kinda fuse thingy and now the adapter wont worked and I dont know how to get a new one! Can anyone help?

Want ASUS G51JX-X5 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop PC - Dark Brown Discount?

Came from a Toshiba Satellite I had bought from BestBuy. I returned that for $693.03 as this was my replacement. That had an integrated 4200 mobility and a dual core AMD Phenom II. You can't even play games on that or watch 1080p video smoothly. The screen is 1600x900 and was amazing looking but this 1920x1080 is far better. I can even play games with 60 fps if I'm not greedy with graphics. I'm in the process of switching out this CPU from a 720QM to an 820QM. I only spent up to 10 dollars for the switch. I got an 820QM ES for the price I sold the 720QM. In the future I see I will need the 5870 Mobility. It's far better than the 360M. The watts of my laptop is only 120W max. I can't go higher than the 5870 because the watts would exceed 120W. That Toshiba only had 4GB of ram this has 6GB and is way faster and way more bandwidth. It's also 4 core and 8 thread. Clock for clock it's faster too. The difference was up to $150 for the switch to this. The fact I didn't really spend anything to make it 820QM is a huge plus and the fact I can put a 5870 which is far better than the 460M in the $1,400 laptops today for the same price to upgrade now if I choose is another plus. I'm going to wait until the 5870 price drops then I will get that and put it in. This laptop is MXM 3.0b. You can drop a 580GTX in but it's too bad the powersupply cannot power it.

When I first opened the box and saw how amazing the top cover looked I already knew it was worth it. I even see the keys have backlight and light around the keys that are white which no PC keyboard has and has LEDs on the top cover that light up the side and the logo wow. The feel of the touchpad is amazing and the buttons surrounding it as well. The stickers on the palm rest and the palm rest itself look and feel great. I feel the Toshiba, which was already good, is like a Toyota compared to this BMW. Those who been in both and know the difference between those. Screenshots don't say anything like the real thing. I was very reluctant on buying this laptop. I thought it looks bad. See it in real life and damn. I'm glad I bought it.

Acer Aspire Celeron M 1.86GHz 512MB 80GB CDRW/DVD 14-Inch Vista

Acer Aspire Celeron M 1.86GHz 512MB 80GB CDRW/DVD 14-Inch VistaWe purchased this laptop in 2006 or 2007 when we had dial up and now we still have it and use it as our family's primary computer. Don't get me wrong, we are ready for an upgrade but this computer really lasted us well. We have teenagers and no one is gentle with it. Although I know people complain about Vista, we haven't had any issues with it. You can burn CD's, edit pictures, watch movies, connect it to the TV, all basic things with no issues. Definitely a worthy investment. We did upgrade the memory when we bought it though since it didn't come with much...super easy to install though.

I've owned my Acer Aspire 3680 for three years and I love it!! I've never had any problems whatsoever with any part of it. I'm not a gamer, but I am into Graphic Design. I don't know how well it performs with games, but it has absolutely no problem running any of my Adobe Creative Suite programs which several of my friends complain about taking a while to load on their laptops. I don't use it too much anymore just because I got an Acer Aspire Netbook because it is easier to carry with me to school and traveling. I recommend this computer and all Acer computers to anyone and everyone!!

Buy Acer Aspire Celeron M 1.86GHz 512MB 80GB CDRW/DVD 14-Inch Vista Now

HP G60-635DX Notebook PC - 15.6" HD Display / Intel Pentium T4300 2.1GHz / 3GB DDR2 / 320GB HD / DV

HP G60-635DX Notebook PC - 15.6' HD Display / Intel Pentium T4300 2.1GHz / 3GB DDR2 / 320GB HD / DVD±RW/CD-RW Drive / Built-in HP webcam / 802.11b/g/n WLAN / Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bitThis is an ok product for the price I paid (529.99 at Best Buy). The built in mic is barely heard, but I use my own so that's not a big deal with me. I've had it since early April 2010 and no major issues, but more like annoyances. When I burn cd's now for some reason it makes a loud noise and it seems as if the cd is spinning too fast. There also seems to be bugs in windows media, which may not have anything to do with the hp g60 itself. Battery life isn't that long(a little over 2 hours) but I keep it plugged in anyway unless I'm doing something really quick. If I just close the laptop without shutting it down and open it at my next location (within an hour) it gets VERY hot. soon as I plug it up, the fan begins to cool it more. The screen and webcame are great pluses. Windows 7 is great too, but I'm not too fond of IE, which is a whole different review lol.

I bought this HP laptop in July, so I've had it for 5 months, and I've got to say that I love it. For the people who seem to have issues with it... perhaps you mistreat it, because I've had absolutely no problems with it.

Pros:

-SPEED: Initially, I was very impressed by the speed of this laptop, and to this day it hasn't slowed a bit.

-SIZE: It seems to be very good at 15.6" screen size, with no troubles about it being either too big or too small.

-SPEAKERS: The Altec-Lansing speakers it comes with are very functional, and were quite a bit louder than I was expecting. Now, are they anything compared to the 300-watt surround sound speaker system that I use for iTunes? No, but they are quite exceptional nonetheless

-CAMERA: Had no complaints from people on Skype about the camera or microphone... really, I don't know what these other people are saying.

Cons: (Though few, they should be addressed)

-BATTERY:... yeahh.. not so good, if I'm honest. However, I almost always have it plugged in, so it's really not a big deal, but off the charger and on power save mode you might get... 3 hours out of it? Then again, they do sell a bigger 12-cell battery (I believe) for it, so if battery's your thing, you could always purchase that.

-BLACK CASING: So, the black plastic finish is very attractive... for about 3 weeks. Finger prints are almost impossible to get off, but I've come to live with it being a little smudge and just moving on from aesthetic appeal.

-BACKLIT KEYBOARD: or rather, lack thereof. I wish the keys were backlit on this, but it's not too difficult overall to get a light somewhere lol.

OVERALL: Quite good. Would but it again if I had to.

Buy HP G60-635DX Notebook PC - 15.6" HD Display / Intel Pentium T4300 2.1GHz / 3GB DDR2 / 320GB HD / DV Now

I bought this laptop in early 2010 and to be fair, it's still kind of okay, especially for less than $600. Also, it was the first new laptop I purchased in years so at the time, almost any upgrade seemed kind of awesome. Now, it's probably a 2.5 star machine. ...meh.

CONS after two years:

*I have replaced the battery once and it's due for a second replacement already. The first one crapped out within the original one-year manufacturer's warranty--within months, actually--so it didn't cost anything but it was a pain in the ass. The diagnostics were screwy, couldn't get anyone on the phone in the US. Was told by some people they wouldn't replace it but after sending some screenshots in to customer service a battery just showed up at my house. Not sure whatever happened with that ticket that must've had two different answers on it...?

*Originally, the battery holds about a 2.5 hour charge anyway.

*The AC adapter has needed replacing three times. None covered under warranty. I've used a cheap laptop cord replacement service from online for about $20 each but that means with shipping I've spent an additional $70 on AC adapters.

*Monitor broke last month BUT to be fair I did accidentally drop it on the corner from a couple inches off the ground. The screen didn't crack or anything but a wire was clearly loose. I was able to see the screen but it was green and magenta until I found the sweet spot where it would go back to normal. After some research online, I was able to buy a replacement LDVS cable and install it myself for about $30. The $30 covered the cord, a screwdriver set to open the laptop up, an anti-static wristband, and an extra set of laptop screws. Works like a charm now. Of course, after opening up the bad cable, it revealed at last three tiny wires totally severed. I suspect the constant opening/closing of the lid did the majority of the wear and my wrist slip just sealed the deal.

*I also took the opportunity to totally clean and dust the CPU fan when I had it opened up and that improved noise and performance quite a bit.

*Upgrades are limited: Comes standard with 3GB RAM but hardware only accommodates 4GB RAM and only if you are running a 64 bit operating system. On the other hand, it also comes standard with Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit OS.

*At almost 7lbs, it's pretty heavy to tote back and forth to school.

*Webcam software (YouCam) has to be uninstalled to use the webcam with Skype. The two programs are not compatible and once you uninstall YouCam I think you have to purchase separately. I ditched it in favor of Skyping since I don't upload videos of myself anywhere anyhow.

*Machine comes with a crap-ton of crappy programs installed that are all set to run on startup. Then again, what PC doesn't these days? I had to clean off all kinds of useless HP stuff and adverts and clear away the programs that run on startup. If you're not really savvy about getting rid of these dumb programs you'll be highly annoyed at these settings.

PROS after 2 years:

*I like Windows 7--fewer bugs than Vista and easier to use. Control panel is nice.

*Speed still good after 2 years. I run a bit of software on it--photoshop, dreamweaver, aptana, MS Office suite, gimp, corel, irfan, itunes, etc, etc. but I don't run movie or music editing software and I'm not a gamer. So, if you want to run a normal suite of productivity software, write papers, edit photos, and surf the web, this computer is adequate. I suspect if you're an online gamer or an editor this is a woefully inadequate setup.

*Decent value for a student. I bought this my second year of school and it'll take me to graduation this semester. However, I've had to put about $100 of maintenance into it between the cords and the screen issue. A RAM upgrade from 3GB to 4GB on Crucial will run you about $60 if you find you're ready for it. Plus another battery replacement (especially if you want a 6-9-12 cell (that will add a weird oversized bump to the battery compartment, btw) is going to be another $40 to $60. So, if you pay $550 for it originally, it will end up costing and additional $100/year or more for maintenance, etc, and end up costing you closer to $800.

*Easy to open and clean and fix. Lots of youtube videos on this and similar computer models if you're shy about fixing your own electronics.

*285GB usable hard drive isn't bad if you're the average user, again. For movies, etc, that would probably fill up pretty fast but for average sized photos (as in, not a prosumer or pro photo person, music, or movie person) it's okay.

*Streams video pretty good (depending, of course, on your internet connection) and can simultaneously run a good ten or more programs.

*Never had issues with mouse trackpad, wireless internet, hard drive or motherboard.

In general:

Student? Casual user? Looking for basic computer to surf the net, write a letter, and store some family photos? This laptop is fine. With proper maintenance it will probably last for 5 years or more. Expect to spend an additional $200-$300 in software and hardware upgrades over the life of the laptop; more if you plan on paying someone else to service and fix it for you.

Gamer, editor or photo pro? Invest in better hardware, RAM, graphics, storage, etc, and don't bother with this machine.

Read Best Reviews of HP G60-635DX Notebook PC - 15.6" HD Display / Intel Pentium T4300 2.1GHz / 3GB DDR2 / 320GB HD / DV Here

I've had nothing but issues with this product. The DCD/CD drive won't read discs, the hard drive has crashed twice, and I wasn't able to install Microsoft office on it without taking it to a local shop. I use it for basic home business and finance work and am already looking to replace it.

Want HP G60-635DX Notebook PC - 15.6" HD Display / Intel Pentium T4300 2.1GHz / 3GB DDR2 / 320GB HD / DV Discount?

I've have this product for a little over 4 months. I got it June 4, 2010 and It's now October 11, 2010 so you can do the math. I got this laptop as a graduation present from my parents and it was thrilled. But I soon learned that the mic sucks. I managed to do a few things w/ it and its better now but still barely heard and occasionally flips out and kills the ears of who ever is talking with me on skype. Then in June the DVD player completely busted. The laser was shot and now I can no longer play DVDs or burn any CDs. Thinking perhaps it was just a dirty lens I tried to clean it but no luck it is actually busted. Then last month my internet explorer crashed and is unusable now ad I had to go download firefox. Now my charger has now begun to refuse to work and unless it's positioned just right then my laptop will not charge. I've talked to friends of mine who have had hp's have had the exact same problem. Go spend your money else where b/c you'll be wasting your money here.

Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown)

Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch LaptopI've only had this for a few days but this seems to be a quality machine. I've owned 6 computers so far, 2 desktops and 3 laptops before this, and this seems to blow them all away. It has a button you can push that will take it back to the original factory settings, the same as the day I received it. Which is fine for me as I always have important things backed up on disks anyway. It is blistering fast and the 17 inch display is excellent. I called tech support the day I received it and was on the phone with someone who spoke english as well as I do in under a minute, who answered everyone of my questions and walked me through everything I needed. This is my first experience with Lenovo and I'm really liking this product and this company.

Have had this Laptop for a month now. I simply love it. I have no complaints except one. It came with Macafee. I had Norton 360 that I wanted to put on this machine. Just could not get it too install. Norton tried and tried and tried. No luck. In fact they messed it up trying to fix it that I used the feature that came with this unit the 1 key restore.

This is awesome if your pc does not load or you get a problem. Just shut it off press the 1 key button next to the power button and will restore your pc to factorey state. Now you will lose everything but hey if you use have files that are important you should save them to an external drive anyone.

I bought acronis software and that backs up my whole pc but I love this PC

OH one thing I do hate it is a fingerprint magnet.....get ready to wipe it down constantly

Oh, by the way I was successful in upgrading this model to Windows 8 I like Windows 8! The PC boots up faster runs fine. Make sure you run the Windows Upgrade tool but I had no problems. I don't know if my one key recovery will work guess I will have to wait and see. Thanks

Buy Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown) Now

Recieved the Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown) in good time, and it was well packaged. Unfortunately the DVD/CD player was not recognized by the Windows 7 operating system. Also the DVD/CD player was not secured in the laptop. Apparently a single screw holds the two together, and it was not installed.

Took the computer to an Lenovo authorized repair shop to be repaired under warranty it was only three days old. Two days later we were told Lenovo would not pay for the repair!!!

We did not even ask how much the repair would cost. If Lenovo can't stand by their warranty for even one screw, we were not interested in keeping their computer.

While we had the computer, it performed admirably, the screen was sharp, hooked up to our wireless easily, etc. Just no DVD/CD player.

We returned the defective computer to Amazon, no problem I cannot praise Amazon enough for holding up their end. If you order one we hope you don't get ours. We have since ordered a Dell Inspiron i17R-2105SLV 17-Inch Laptop (Silver). The Dell Inspiron i17R-2105SLV 17-Inch Laptop (Silver) so far has performed flawlessly.

Read Best Reviews of Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown) Here

I've had no less then half-a-dozen notebooks in my lifetime. This Lenovo G780 tops them all.

It powers up in a flash and has many pre-loaded Lenovo helps. One of the best is the Lenovo Solution Center.

It came with 6GB of ram and I quickly upgraded it to 16GB. I know, specs say only 8GB maximum but not true. The two sticks of 8GB installed like a breeze and was instantly recognized.

The keyboard is large enough to be comfortable/not crowded. Keys have a definite snap to them making them ease to use.

The only quirk I don't like is the touch pad seems to get in the way when it's active...moving the cursor at random if you accidentally brush your thumb across it. Ah! Easily solved by hitting the Function Key and F6 to turn off the pad. Once the machine 'wakes' from sleep, the pad is active again.

I use a wireless mouse however; if you wish to use the touch pad, it operates flawlessly. ..very sensitive, and large enough to have full the range of control.

Getting inside the machine to replace or upgrade is a snap. One panel exposes most of the 'workings', no more "This little panel here or this little panel there"

That lovely 17inch screen is near HD quality. I watch movies a lot and with a set of Bose headsets, it's better than being at the theater.

This is one of the best. Buy it and you won't have any regrets.

Want Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown) Discount?

I bought one with slightly higher spec 8gb RAM

Take 40 sec to resume from hibernating state

60 + 15 to boot

Monitor not as colorful as my other cheaper Asus

Freeze randomly for 2,3 sec

Otherwise no problem, a jack of all trade.

Scroll and type well!

I think next time I'll buy an Entertainment Asus and see

Toshiba PSC0YU-02N002 Amd C50 1.0gh/2gb/250gb/dvd-sm

Toshiba PSC0YU-02N002 Amd C50 1.0gh/2gb/250gb/dvd-smLaptop was just okay. One of the reasons I wanted it was for Skype. It was advertised on Amazon as having a web cam. NOT.

It did not have a web cam and was clearly an inferior product. Returned...

Apple iBook Laptop (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 15 GB hard drive)

Apple iBook LaptopTo put it simply, Apple's new iBook is an engineering marvel. The design is sleek and elegant, yet the case can stand up to a good beating. The iBook comes with an awesome set of features--pretty much everything you might need is already part of the package, including FireWire, CD-RW drive, and 10/100 Ethernet. Despite having a relatively small screen (12.1" diagonal) compared to some PC laptops, it still supports a full 1024 x 768 resolution at millions of colors. The screen is very bright, and the battery, while not quite the 5-hour powerhouse that Apple advertises, still manages about three hours doing normal operations. The 500-MHz G3 processor is spritely and gets things done quickly, although it doesn't have quite enough power to do a large amount of movie editing or graphics work.

A few drawbacks are as follows:

The internal CD burner is only 8x at this time, which is markedly slower than the 16x and 20x external FireWire burners available now.

The iBook comes with only 128 mb of RAM, which is just barely enough for most things. I would strongly encourage upgrading to at least 256 mb total, as RAM is very inexpensive these days.

The video memory in the iBook is only 8 mb, with a weak graphics controller as compared to what goes into the G4 desktops. As such, the iBook is only mediocre at gaming.

The 10GB hard drive is already pre-loaded with almost 5GB of software and sample mp3's, so I would highly recommend upgrading to at least a 20 GB drive.

In conclusion, the iBook is a solid purchase for anyone who wants many of the features of a desktop machine, but in a portable package. The drawbacks listed above are mostly forgiveable, as sacrifices had to be made somewhere to make this such a reasonably-priced machine. The new iBook no longer has a built-in carrying handle, but Apple has managed to trim quite a bit of weight and bulk, making it a joy to use on a daily basis.

Apple has reinvented the iBook as one of the best laptops. Not just Mac, but in all of the PC world. The second generation of this version has a faster processor, a larger hard drive, and still looks great. People are drawn to look at this machine from the time you pull it from it's case. I would certainly recommend a RAM upgrade. 128 is okay, but it is just barely getting by. I'd suggest at least doubling that. Since the iBook only has one RAM slot, you may want to do that on ordering. However, you can get quality chips for less from other sources, and since it's a fairly simple install you can do it yourself in a few minutes.

I use my iBook as a webmaster with Macromedia Dreamweaver and Fireworks, Adobe Photoshop, and iMovie 2. My digital camera mounts as an external hard drive. My digital video camera links through the Firewire port with no fuss at all.

Overall, I would highly recommend the iBook.

Buy Apple iBook Laptop (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 15 GB hard drive) Now

Almost all of the SPECs on this baby are just what you want in a laptop -fast processor, just over 1 inch thick case, less than 5 pounds, 5-hour battery. In person, you won't believe how small and truly portable this machine is. It's great for reporters on the go such as myself, or for students in a dorm room. It has all the right ports, and appears to be made with quality in mind.

The screen is exceptionally bright as well.

My only two complaints: 1) The low-end model skimps horribly on the memory (for shame, Apple! They could have added another 64 MB). You can upgrade the memory easy enough aftermarket, but that's an annoyance (128MB is practically required for OS X, BTW).

2) The screen is a fairly miserly 12.1 inches, although it is active-matrix and high-resolution. Now, keep in mind that this contributes to the low-cost, svelte form factor and long battery life, but I wouldn't mine having a 13-14 inch screen when I'm squinting at text all day. I generally solve this problem by upping the size of the fonts, but still, this screen is rather small. If you buy one of the higher-end models, say the one with the DVD drive, you may find that watching a DVD on this small screen is not exactly the cinematic dream that you find on the amazing Titanium Powerbook G4 (with its glorious ultrawide 15.3" screen.)

Enjoy!

Read Best Reviews of Apple iBook Laptop (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 15 GB hard drive) Here

First off, I think it is important to note that the rating I give the iBook is as a consumer portable. The iBook is NOT meant to replace a desktop machine. It is not designed, built or sold for heavy duty graphics, professional photo or video editing, or desktop publishing. The iBook IS designed to be very light weight, easy to use, and flexible. It is designed for the hobbiest, or consumer that wants the ability to edit their vacation pictures and videos, surf the internet, e-mail freinds and family, and generally do what any computer can do given the limitations that any portable will have.

The iBook comes with both OS9 and OSX pre installed. It also comes with a very usefull suite of productivity software that includes: 1. AppleWorks A suite of software that includes a more then competant word processor, A spread sheet, A data base, A presentation module and others. Basically a suite similar to Microsoft Office but not as robust and not costing 400-500 bucks. It also comes with iTunes, and excellent software for listening to and burning your MP3's. For those creative people it also comes with iMovie, the best consumer video editing softer available bar none. Also software listed is also OSX compatible (though it may require software updates.

Now that OSX version 10.1 is becoming available (I just upgraded my iBook to 10.1 today), OSX is a very viable every day OS. 10.1 adds an excellent DVD player and enhanced performance, however as any totally new OS, it will take some time for some software to migrate. It is also an exceptionally stable operating system. In the three plus months that I've had my iBook, I can honestly say that the operating system (OSX) has never crashed on me. I have ofcourse had applications crash, but I've never had to restart.

Yes, the lack of a 100Mhz+ front side bus might be considered a short coming by some, however for the average home user that does not do heavy duty video editing or other extremely demanding applications on a regular basis they will rarely if ever notice this. Another short coming some may consider is the lack of a PC slot or docking capabilities. However, with two USB ports, one FireWire port, VGA port (and cable included), built in 10/100 ethernet and a built in 56k modem I'm hard pressed to think what I would need them for. As for that reviewer that warned anyone from buying an Apple product due to their support all I can say is I've been using Macs for 8 years now. I've never had one of my computers in the shop for any reason. I suppose there is always that possibility of a lemmon. I have probably called Apples support line 4-5 times in that eight years and they have always been able to fix any problem I had while I was on the phone with them.

In short, while your millage may vary, in the 3-4 months that I've had my iBook I have had absolutely no problems with it and can recommend it whole heartedly with a clear conscience.

Want Apple iBook Laptop (600-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM, 15 GB hard drive) Discount?

I bought a 500 MHz ibook.

While it's true that the 10 GB model does fill up rather quickly be realistic a laptop is a toy, unless you're truly using it as a total desktop replacement. I actually do more of my daily work on my ibook now than my regular Pentium 4 station and that's a good thing. My ibook rocks.. now I just need an ipod. Granted, you will need to up the ram. I'm maxing mine out at 640 MB. I read one reviewer saying it was hard to exchange files between PC's & Macs... but exchanging files between pc & mac platforms isn't hard. Some programs haven't come to mac yet, but I seem to like the programs that mac has better for example, itunes rules...

Anyway, I'm not gonna ramble anymore just face the facts. Apple builds an excellent laptop (it's really eye-catching, and sturdy), and when you compare the two, there's no reason to get a PC laptop, in my view (though tons of people still do). :)

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-3927 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-3927 11.6-Inch LaptopHere is my review on the much anticipated new notebook from Acer, the Timeline 1830T-3927. This machine is a 11.6" ultraportable notebook equipped with the new Intel processor, the core i3-330um CPU, which is maufactured especially for smaller notebooks, 3 GB RAM and a 320 GB Hard Drive running on Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit

This notebook just arrived from Amazon the other day and I have only been using it for a couple of days but since there are very few reviews thus far on the 1830T, I thought I'd write one.

The overall build quality of this notebook seems to be very good, it is made of very tough light weight plastic and has a black matte finish on the outside which is very sharp. The HD screen is designed for 720p viewing and seems to have a very sharp and bright display, this resolution is of course ther best you can expect on a smaller 11.6 ultraportable. I have seen many displays on 11.6 models and I believe the 1830T has the best screen that I have seen. The keyboard on the 1830T does not seem to be full size as the typing experience is comfortable but somewhat cramped. The keys have a very nice feel and good feedback but I was disaapointed to discover that the keyboard has allot of flex and seems a bit flimsy, something I did not expect on a $599 notebook.( This is why I am giving the 1830T 4 stars instead of five.)In addition, the trackpad, although comfortable seems very small. The mouse buttons are excellent.

The ports on this machine are very good with a nice selection, certainly all you will need on an ultraportable, of course there is not optical drive as Gateway is the only manufacturer I know of that is equipping an 11.6 notebook with a DVD drive.

In addition to the excellent screen, the real strength of this notebook is the new and powerful Core i3-330um CPU. ( Note that there is an even more powerful model equipped with the Core i5 but it retails on Amazon for $699,a bit much to pay for an 11.6 ultraportable in my opinion.). The Core i3 on this machine seems very fast and responsive and seems to handle just about anything you throw at it. This CPU is noticably faster than the other Intel ultra low voltage processors currently on the market and certainly much faster than earlier Acer models like the 1410. With the new Core i3 CPU, you will lose a bit in battery time but the speed more than compensates for this. I expect the 1830T-3927 to last about 5 hours on a charge.

Overall , this is one of the best, if not the best 11.6 ultraportables out there but you will have to pay a premium for it, mostly because of the new Intel processor. As I said, if not for the average keyboard, this notebook would be easily 5 stars.

Pros:

Thin, light, screen is bright and has good color, screen's high resolution makes up for its small size, processor is powerful enough for general use, doesn't get too hot, great battery life (6+ hours), great port selection, good keyboard

Cons:

Touch-pad isn't well demarcated from the wrist rest making it too easy to drift into no man's land, the screen's vertical viewing angles could be better

Overall I really like this laptop. It boots quickly and has generally snappy performance. It isn't the fastest at some processor intensive tasks like compressing audio and video, but that's to be expected for a low voltage processor. For general use like web browsing and watching videos it is perfectly adequate. I'll gladly accept some reduced performance given that this laptop doesn't get nearly as hot as other laptops I have used and it has fantastic battery life. I can get over 6 hours with the wifi on and the screen set to half brightness.

The screen looks nice, has a good resolution, and isn't too reflective. The vertical viewing angles, however, aren't the best but they are hardly prohibitive to use. Probably the most annoying thing about this laptop is the touch-pad. It's not terrible; I just wish it was easier to tell by feel when you have left the touch sensitive area. Not a deal breaker, but annoying nonetheless. Fortunately the keyboard is great. It isn't missing any important keys and is comfortable to use. I also really like the large port selection for such a small laptop. I've had larger laptops that had only two USB ports.

The thing I like most about this laptop is its portability. After owning a couple of big and bulky laptops over the years, it's fantastic to carry around this little machine. If you are looking for a solid ultra-portable laptop, you won't be disappointed with this one.

Buy Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-3927 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

To me this ACER ASPIRE laptop is the perfect computer for travel. It offers a great compromise between the need to carry it around on one hand and the speed/CPU power on the other. The laptop is only slightly larger and heavier than the 10" netbooks with the Intel Atom processor. In return it offers the new core-i processor which puts it on a different planet in terms of computing power. I have been using it for a couple of days now, and I am generally very pleased with it performance.

What I like:

Small dimensions and weight make it easy to carry.

Very powerful given the size.

Sturdy built, seems solid and durable.

Responsive keyboard with very large keys.

What I do NOT like:

The mouse touchpad. It has a rather rough and sticky surface which makes it rather challenging to use. This compounds the problem that the touchpad is quite small. I would have preferred to have the keyboard downsized to generate more space for the mouse.

The HOME and END keys can only be reached through the FN key. Not a big deal, but I happen to use them quite frequently, and there would obviously been enough space for two extra keys (and a larger tochpad).

I cannot help closing with a bit of a rant: I absolutely HATE WIDESCREENS. I would certainly not have bought this computer if there had been a suitable alternative with a 4:3 ratio screen, even for a considerably higher price. Unless the computer is used exclusively for watching movies, a widescreen of this size has only disadvantages. When browsing the web or editing documents, it makes me feel like standing in a room with a ceiling 4 inches below my height (this last point is not included in my ranking as all competing models would have the same problem).

Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-3927 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here

Well, i had a Toshiba Mini NB205 that was an excellent netbook, very portable, resistent and had a beautiful appearance, I really liked this computer the internet and word worked razoably nice in this PC, but sometimes the internet conexion was a little too slow for me, and another sites, like and that are very heavy sites, were extremly slow to download and that irritated me a lot. So, I decided to change for a new netbook, and when I discover this ACER ASPIRE 1830T with the new intel core i3 inside I got crazy. And now I am really happy with this little PC!!!

Pros: the 11.6 inch lcd screen is a lot better than the 10.1 inch ones, it makes lot more easier to see the internet or work with the Office. Using for long periods the 10.1 inch screen is very tiring for the eyes, and the 11.6 is the perfect size for a ultraportable notebook.

The computer is very fast, you can see any page in the internet with no problem. And the Windons 7 64 bits works like a breeze, it's sensational.

The built quality is very good, it really is a superior computer very beautiful and resistent.

The keyboard is very good, the letters have a really nice size and you can type on this for hours and hours. I really loved the full size left SHIFT button, what is extremelly annoing in others netbooks. The keyboard don't have problem of flex, maybe just a little bit but that's will not be notice or be a problem when typing. The Toshiba Mini NB205, that is one of the best netbook in the market has a lot more flex than this one that almost don't have flex at all.

The duration of battery is fantastic and even more for a i3 processor. I thought that just the processors n450 could have the capacity of lasting so much. Fortunatly I was wrong, and I discover that this machine can last longer than 6 hours of solid internet conexion.

The computer is very very thin, and light, and the best thing is that the battery don't come out of the machine, it just stay where it should be, with any part out from behind or down the netbook like the N205 da toshiba.

Cons: it could come with a minimum of 128 MB of dedicated Video Ram, But that's not a big deal because I will not play games in this little computer.

Another problem is that this don't come with 4 GB of RAM, it could be included because this computer is expensive, but the 3 GB works more than perferctly for me.

Well, finally I highly recommend this computer for ANYBODY, who wants portability, fast internet conexion, and long battery life.

Want Acer Aspire TimelineX AS1830T-3927 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?

Pros: This is a nice notebook (not a netbook). Well built, but light. Fast enough for everyday use and light gaming. The 11.6" screen is bright and crisp. It will run 1080P flash without any problems. Keyboard is great, and has nice feel. Great battery life. Windows 7 Home Premium a definite plus over lesser models that come with Windows 7 Starter installed. Swapping out the wi-fi card, memory and hard drive is easy via the bottom panel.

Cons: Acer puts these really crappy Broadcom 802.11n Single band 2.4GHz Wi-Fi cards in their portables. I had a spare antenna lying around, so I upgraded the Wi-Fi card to an Intel 6300 PCI Express Half Mini Card. If you don't want to mess with adding a additional antenna, an Intel 6100 or 5100 (which only need two antennas rather than three) should work fine. Swapping out the Wi-Fi card is easy (if you can swap out memory, you can swap out the Wi-Fi card), and very much worth the additional $30 cost.

The Alps Touchpad is also a bit difficult to get used to. It was much better after I played with the settings.

Other: Mine came with 3GB of mismatched memory. 1-1GB 1066MHz Samsung memory module, and 1-2GB 1333MHz Elpida memory module. The combination works fine, but seems odd. Notebook does not come with Bluetooth.

Overall, I'm very happy with my purchase. I would have given it 5 stars if it wasn't for the crappy Broadcom Wi-Fi card. I'll probably upgrade the memory and drop an SSD in it in the near future to make it really fly.

Sony VAIO E Series SVE17135CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Sony VAIO E Series SVE17135CXB 17.3-Inch LaptopI received this laptop from my employer and for the average user it is probably more than sufficient but I am a programmer and I have special needs this if what I found and did with the machine:

1. I hate Windows 8 and can't live with it for software development purposes; so I wiped the hard drive and installed Windows 7 on it (No I did not pay Sony for a downgrade I looked at the included hardware and found a Sony Vaio slightly older than this one on their downloads section of the Sony website and used the older Windows 7 Drivers and it has worked flawless)

2. The touch pad has no buttons instead the whole touch pad moves down if you click on the left or right bottom corner. This is hard to get used to but I use a mouse so no problems.

3. It is slower than my two year old HP DV8 computer since it only has a 5300 rpm vs a 7600 rpm hard drive. It should have an SSD drive for performance but I think the machine is not capable of having two drives. Again not an issue for a normal user but for a power user this may be unsatisfactory.

4. As a good point, I installed Linux Mint on an external USB 3 drive and was pleased to note that everything worked on it including the build in USB camera and everything else without having to search for drivers. This is partially due to the Linux developers getting really sophisticated and quite frankly Linux is starting to get better than Windows and it is free.. However, this shows that the laptop uses relatively standard components unlike some other manufacturers that use proprietary components and you are stuck with their version of the operating system.

All in all not a bad machine and the keyboard is nice.

Bought this to replace an older model Vaio & so glad I stuck with this model. I went back & forth with a smaller one but so glad I went with the bigger. The touch pad takes soem getting used as does the Windows 8 but just need to work with it.

Buy Sony VAIO E Series SVE17135CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

was very ill and could not respond till now.i wanth my money back 1.

haed drive not working .

window 6 is the biggest gimmic ,oweful o use.

microsoft always ,whants you to sighn up with window 8 ,so greedy.

i use sony for a long time ,i am so disapointed

thea s schlosser

think before you buy this one it is more then terrible.

finally had a computer man came to set the computer with printer up,he said send it back your hard drive is broken.Sony VAIO E Series SVE17137CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO E Series SVE17135CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Here

It is really absurd. Just in six months, four main parts including screen, HDD, Ram, and camera got broken. It's really disappointing;however, Sony has supported and replaced them for free, but in the last time they told me that I need to extend my guarantee because more than four parts have been replaced!!!!! Was is it my fault?

Want Sony VAIO E Series SVE17135CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?

So this laptop was for my dad. He has had it for about a week or 2, the machine itself he says it is great, the only downside is Windows 8! Like with everyone, he doesn't complain about the hardware, he actually likes it a lot, but he hates the new OS!

And for the price it is a great machine to be honest, kind of envious of my dad at the moment haha!

ASUS G75VW-DS73-3D 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

ASUS G75VW-DS73-3D 17.3-Inch LaptopPro: A cheaper high end gaming laptop that's comparable to Alienware. It has 3d function making your gaming experience much more in depth. Screen is sharp and will not glare. Keyboard is crisp with a metallic gun finish. Blue-ray player is always a nice addition along with the back lit key for working in the dark. Internal memory and hard drive is easy accessible for upgrade. 1.5 Tb harddrive is massive.

Con: Some bugs with the sound system where the subwoofer doesn't turn off until the lowest decibel. The resting pad is changed into a foamy texture instead of the soft rubber texture from G74x. This version comes with only 12 Gb instead of 16 Gb, but you have an easy access slot for expand. There are 2 hard drives but they are both partitioned giving you 4 smaller hard drives, not sure why they did that. 3D function is great but it turns down the screen resolution when in use and makes your backlit keyboard into a strobe light. Kinda wish they had one of the hard drive for loading OS as SSD.

Conclusion: This is a great machine, you will like it if you can afford it. The 3D function is the key here, so if you don't really care for that, go with the G75vw-DS72. It is a faster computer for $100 less.

I've been using this laptop for almost 2 months (Bought in Aug 2012). So far it's been pretty solid. Everything works out of the box no crashes so far.

I bought this from Amazon. The box included the following:

1. Laptop

2. Laptop Bag

3. 1 pair of Nvidia 3D vision glasses (3D vision emitter is built into the laptop). Glasses comes with a soft material pouch to store it in and keep it from getting dust. You may need a hard case to protect it if you want to travel with it in your bag!

4. Manuals and driver CD

5. Soft cloth to wipe laptop screen. 3D glasses also came with a cloth to keep it clean.

6. Power adaptor As other people have mentioned this is pretty big. It also gets hot so be sure to place it in a safe spot where you won't touch it and keep it away from surfaces that might be damaged by heat.

7. Gaming mouse

As mentioned by others, there are 2x 750 GB hard drives running at 7200 RPM. There are 4 partitions across these 2 hard drives. I was considering swapping out one of the hard drives with an SSD drive for booting and games but after using the laptop for the past 2 months I found that there doesn't seem to be any noticeable hard drive lag. I mostly play "The Lord of the Rings Online" and haven't experienced hard drive lag. My home PC definitely benefitted from an SSD upgrade but I'd say this laptop has performance comparable to my PC even with just the 7200 RPM hard drives in it.

Others may get more mileage with an SSD upgrade depending on the games being played etc. For me, I'll hold off on an SSD upgrade since the laptop seems to be pretty fast as is!

The laptop comes with 1 month of McAfee Internet Security (subscription automatically activated on first boot). After this expired I uninstalled it and I'm using Microsoft Security Essentials (free). You have the option to purchase an extension to the McAfee Internet Security subscription if you wish.

Also of note:

Don't forget to register your laptop online to ensure your warranty is put into effect! There's a card in the box with instructions to follow. I believe the laptop must be registered within a month of purchase I don't recall the exact time frame at the moment.

3D:

I tested this with Mafia 2. The 3D experience was comparable to my home PC which is hooked up to a 40" Samsung UN40C7000 3D TV. The PC has an Nvidia GTX470 video card and the TV has its own 3D glasses (no 3D vision as with the laptop). Mafia 2 on my PC and on the laptop is comparable. The 3D effect is more enjoyable on a large screen but there's no issue with the 3D on the laptop. Also, "The Lord of the Rings Online" came up in 3D at first launch without needing to be configured first. The 3D effect in this game is pretty impressive. I prefer to play it in 2D though since 3D is a little uncomfortable for long gaming periods. It's nice to switch to 3D in between to sight see. I also watched Tron 3D blue ray to test out the blu ray drive and 3D movies. This was good and confirmed that you can watch 3D movies with the included software.

Overall great laptop. Good performance, met all my expectations and runs my favourite game without issue.

Buy ASUS G75VW-DS73-3D 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

So far, I've enjoyed my new RoG laptop to the fullest. It has a great aesthetic, and doesn't skimp on performance. The 1 Year Accidental Damage coverage is amazing as always. The system comes with a pre-installed gadget that lets you switch from "high performance" to "battery saving", essentially throttling the proccesor and GPU to extend off-cable life. The stereoscopic 3D on this model is quite good, though it wasn't my main reason for the purchase. There are a few downsides, but nothing too terrible. Like most gaming laptops, it is very large and heavy, has low battery life (about 2 1/2 hours), and gets hot quickly (ventilation is excellent, however, and I haven't noticed any performance issues related to heat). The keyboard has a nice feel to it, but occasionally will not register a button press (I think this is a result of not pressing hard enough). The partitioned hard drive is a bit odd (I found that using one for storage, one for Steam, and one for all other games worked well). The system comes with the typical bloatware, easy to remove. Overall, I am pleased with my purchase.

Read Best Reviews of ASUS G75VW-DS73-3D 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Here

Updated November 2012.

I cannot recommend the G75VW-DS73-3D which is a pity as it's a nice looking machine when its working. In fairness to Asus after months of haggling they sent me a replacement G75 at their expense. But it has the exact same hangs freezes and system lockups! Is this coincidence? A bad batch perhaps? I don't know, so I'll leave it to the prospective buyer to decide.... Nvidia Driver updates do not fix the problem believe me I've tried, and Asus VIP support is the absolute worst!

If you want to know what problems you might face with this laptop read this letter below to Asus that I sent after test driving a second G75 for a month. Incidentally, a common fault is that both G75's also had wrongly configured Atheros Ethernet slow upload speeds, making me think additional patch(s) weren't run at the time of the build. Either that or its an outright bad batch of G75's with bad 670m GPU's. Either way Asus have no solution. I will probably sell mine 2nd hand and buy a Samsung because I looked at the Samsung Series 7 and regret not buying it, as the Nvidia 675 appears more stable.

If anyone has any questions about the G75 I can answer them in the comments section. For instance is the 3D worth it? In my view: NO! Playing for hours will almost certainly give you headaches as the 3D is not as comfortable as watching a 3D movie at the cinema. Basically the active shutter glasses approach causes strain on the eyes. Moreover the 3D means every game is darker, and even with brightness turned up within the game and in the power options, the clarity is not as good.

Dear Asus,

You misunderstand the problem. Please read carefully! I'm certain the

system freezes are solely due to the buggy 670m GPU. How do I know

this? Because the system can occasionally recover from a pending

crash. When it can, it logs this message :-

"Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered."

Most other times it fails to recover, and the system hangs which then

requires a hard reboot. Either way the symptoms are always the same!

But I'm sure you know this already from internal testing?! Or are you

saying that both of my G75's are part of a rare bad batch? I have a

feeling that the Samsung Series 7 with the 675 is more stable and

that's why there are less complaints about it.

To directly address your question though. I choose to rebuild the new

G75 from scratch. The system image / Windows Easy Transfer options

weren't that useful anyway. But so far on the new G75, I've only

installed the basic programs. So I've held off installing lots of

games and the game design software that I use, such as Unity 3D, UDK

and Blender etc.

Also note, the crashes mostly happen on the Desktop when merely using

Explorer, or Firefox with plug-ins / JavaScript disabled. Or running

IE with basic plug-ins enabled or just using MS Office. Please note that

following on from Asus-ROG postings on G75 hangs, the new G75 has disabled :-

A. all anti-virus software (uninstalled),

B. all unneeded Services...

C. all Scheduled Tasks...

D. all registry RUN commands & updaters etc.

Want ASUS G75VW-DS73-3D 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?

The device is absolutely mind blowing, from performance to speed and economy I'd give this beast of a machine a perfect 10. However I am extremely disappointed with this pixel width line from top to bottom almost dead center of the screen that consist of lime green stuck pixels. Nothing seems to fix it and I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how to get an RMA for this device started.

Save 17% Off

ASUS U47A-RS51 i5-3210M 2.5GHz 14.1" Notebook

ASUS U47A-RS51 i5-3210M 2.5GHz 14.1' Notebook(I'll try to remember to update this in a few months as I'm only 24 hours in to using the laptop, but I know I could have used more reviews when I was shopping so I wanted to share some initial thoughts.)

This unit is exactly what I was looking for. I wanted a bigger screen than a netbook, but something small/light enough to easily carry around and this is perfect for that. So far battery life is great and I've had no problems connecting to various wifi networks, printers, etc.

Set-up went smoothly. There was the typical time to let Windows update (this product DOES have Windows 7huge sell for me!) and then it was good to go. I did choose to uninstall some of the existing programs, but that seems to be a standard issue on most units. I have since installed all of my software (skype, itunes, stata, etc) and they are all running perfectly, including some work with a pretty big data set. You do have to make your own back-up discs (which again, standard) and submit some information for the warranty, but I consider that time well invested.

Since other reviews have mentioned the trackpadit's definitely wider than on any of my previous laptops. However, I haven't had any problems with accidental dragging or my palm touching while typing. I'm not sure if I have smaller hands, or just hold my wrists up higher anyway, but if that has you on the fence I would try to find one in a store to test out. I may end up disabling some of the zoom features as I don't intend to use them, but I haven't had any problems so far.

Things that I wish were a little better: the webcam quality is kind of lownot bad, but not any better than my previous laptop (several years old) and I was hoping to see some improvement. However, people I've skyped with have reported hearing me clearly, so the built in microphone apparently works well. The speakers are on the bottom of the unit, and while the volume is fine, the quality is kind of off. The music sounds kind of tinny, or like there's an echo. However, when I plug in headphones, that sound quality is fine. So I guess I'll be using headphones (or maybe external speakers) more often. However, I don't consider either of these to detract from my ability to use the laptop for all its necessary functions, and I expect to lose some of the bells and whistles when I buy a mid-price laptop, so I'm still giving five stars.

UPDATE: Less than 48 hours after first turning on this laptop, I am getting a boot failure screen indicative of hard drive failure. After an hour on the phone with tech support I am being instructed to send it to a service center (I pay for shipping and the box). Since it's still under warranty the actual fix is at no cost, but I am still going to be without my new laptop for weeks while they fix the problem. This is my first Asus product and is likely to be the last the way things are going. I really liked the laptop while it was working but 48 hours to hard drive failure is ridiculous.

UPDATE #2: On the suggestion of a friend I took it to Best Buy before mailing it in. The guy opened it up and the hard drive wasn't connected to the rest of the laptop. For whatever reason, there weren't any screws holding it in place. He found some screws, put it all together and made it stay together, and now it's fine. I'm glad it was such an easy fix, but I'm taking a star off my original review for Asus selling laptops that are apparently not put together well.

Before this computer I had a Dell Studio 1537. It worked, but not as well as this thing. My main reason for upgrade was because my last computer could not run a DJ software (Traktor 4TRAK edition) and the DJ controller itself (Numark 4TRAK) without freezing. This laptop met all of my must haves. It has a good processor, great RAM, backlit keyboard and more.

I mainly use my computer for web browsing, listening to music, and producing and mixing music. This machine gets the job done with ease. There's rarely any sign it's having a hard time processing my request. I first want to list a few of the things I love about this computer:

What I love:

Backlit keyboard

Chicklet keys (like a Mac!)

Speed of the computer

Comes with bluetooth capabilities

Matte screen (really keeps those finger prints at bay)

Cool to the touch (doesn't get hot at all compared to my old Dell, and it will be even cooler after I install my Samsung 840 SSD.

Touchpads abilities (works like Macbook controllers ex/ two finger tap=right click, two fingers to scroll, and three fingers down to view desktop)

Design (I think this computer looks like a Macbook, it's very sexy, I just hope to God it doesn't scratch easily)

Windows 7 (so glad I didn't get stuck with another awful Vista and I didn't have to go up to Windows 8 which I've heard terrible things about

Starts up quick (comes back from sleep instantly)

I love this computer so far but I'd like to list the things that bug me about it:

Problems:

Bloatware (everyone complains about it, this thing has its fair share, but really only takes about 30 mins-hour to get it all off)

Touchpad(everyone who uses this thing complains about touching the touch pad while typing. I'm having a very hard time not moving the mouse while using it, and I can't seem to find a program that disables the touchpad completely while typing)

HDD (doesn't have an SSD. I purchased a Samsung 840 to put in this thing but couldn't figure out for the life of me how to install Windows on it. I even tried burning an .iso of Windows 7 and booting it up off of that but kept coming back with a "drivers not found". I ordered a SATA cable and will clone the HDD to the SSD. I may update how that goes and comment on the speed of the system if I can get it running properly)

Touchpad continued... this thing drives me absolutely nuts. I can't stand clicking by actually pressing the pad, I need to tap it. The pad is so hard to press down. It feels as though I've broken it in a little but it's still too firm for me.

Overall I can't dock any stars, this machine does everything I need and want it to do and more. I will continue to update this review as I use the computer more and more. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a notebook with an ultrabook look.

Update: I installed my Samsung MZ-7TD250BW 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 250 GB Sata 2.5-Inch into my Asus U47A and it is much much faster!! From a cold boot I am able to see the desktop at 18 seconds and the desktop and all of the services and background apps are loaded by 25 seconds. Not only is the boot time faster but also the time it takes to launch programs... it's almost instant. My internet also feels faster, not sure if that's from the SSD but I don't think it hurts. Before installing the Samsung 840 I need to purchase Vantec CB-ISATAU2 SATA/IDE to USB 2.0 Adapter Supports 2.5-Inch, 3.5-Inch, 5.25-Inch Hard Disk Drives (Black) and used the Samsung data migration software and was able to clone the Asus U47A hard drive (so Windows 7 would launch) and it worked flawlessly.

Very happy with all of my purchases. Would recommend everything listed, especially the Asus U47A.

Buy ASUS U47A-RS51 i5-3210M 2.5GHz 14.1" Notebook Now

The laptop is nice looking. I like the back-lit keyboard. It seems plenty quick but then the problems start.

The wifi connection kept turning off. The only way I could restore it was to let the windows troubleshooter fix it. It would tell me that the wifi is not enabled. What? I enabled it five minutes ago, using the same troubleshooter application! I look into it further and the problem is with "wireless console 3" which is an asus add-on bloatware. I mess around with it and I think its stabilized. For now anyway.

The touchpad is too big. There is no way I can type on this thing without brushing up against it and moving my cursor around everywhere. If I'm not careful I'll end up messing with the entire screen, zooming in or out etc. The only way, really, is to hold my wrists up and out from the center of the keyboard. Not comfortable at all.

I'll continue to work with it and see if its something I need to get the hang of. If not then I am going to try and return it.

Read Best Reviews of ASUS U47A-RS51 i5-3210M 2.5GHz 14.1" Notebook Here

The sticker on the computer itself says 750GB HDD. Came with two separate hard drives, a 254GB (209 w/ OS) and a 419GB (Empty) drive that total to 673GB. This is well below the advertised capacity.

I was pleased that the computer ran so quickly when it first came but it has quickly become sluggish and slow to boot up.

A wireless mouse is a must with this laptop. Absolute worst trackpad I've used in my life. The keyboard is very nice and comparable to my Macbook Pro in quality.

I bought this for schoolwork (engineering) and it fulfills that task adequately, but I will be sticking to my 2012 MacBook Pro for everyday computer use.

Want ASUS U47A-RS51 i5-3210M 2.5GHz 14.1" Notebook Discount?

Before I say anything else: the trackpad's working great for me! The trackpad was something that I was worried about after ordering and reading all the reviews. Right now I'm removing some bloatware and installing programs while surfing the web. So far, the trackpad hasn't given me any problems, and the gestures work perfectly. It clung to my fingers a bit when I initially used it, but I guess it was because it's brand new, because it's doing fine now.

For not-so savvy people, make sure you pop in the laptop's battery when you get it!

I'm installing Photoshop CS2 currently, and I'll update this with how well it runs. I'm sure that it'll be fine though-compared to my old laptop (good ol' Thinkpad X41 served me well), it's wonderfully quick in everything.

Screen is matte, which I like. Speakers are placed on the side facing you, so the sound quality's pretty good (my last laptop had the speakers on the bottom, which was weird and ill-placed). Keyboard is wonderful to type on! Backlit keyboard looked funny initially at an angle, but it's nice. The computer is like a Mac design-wise, but the proportions of the laptop don't give it that Mac-feel (if that's what you're going for), since the shape of this laptop is more rectangular (due to 14" screen). But it's a very pretty laptop. :) It's heavier than my old laptop (which was 12" and ridiculously light), but it's much lighter than the laptop my sister has. I think I would be able to carry this laptop around in a bag, along with a few other items (which was one of the main things that I was looking for when I was researching for a laptop).

Overall, super satisfied with this product! I'm taking this laptop with me to college this fall, and I'm sure that it'll be perfect for the job. :)

Lenovo 59012696 IdeaPad Y510-1 15.4" Notebook

Lenovo 59012696 IdeaPad Y510-1 15.4' NotebookThis lenovo pc its great, it has a lot of features wich include a megapixel camera wieth face recognition software dolby home theater great wich bring great sound and bass ( it has a subwoofer)for a laptop. Im so in love with this computer it works just fine. the design is awesome and unique the cover texture wont leave any figer prints it feels and looks awesome. for your everyday work its a wonderfull computer it might not be the latest pc for gaming but it does come with a lot under the hood. great value great price and it just looks awesome highly recommend it.

Keyboard keys are in weird places. Fn key is in where usually ctl key is. Eventhough it has a full size keyboard you have to use function key to type certain commonly used keys like home, end which is very annoying. I find typing with this laptop very hard. Finally you cannot upgrade any component other than memory in this laptop. Mine came with Intel 3945ABG wifi and want to replace with 4965AGN card found a good deal over the internet. After the upgrade the laptop BIOS catchup saying non lenovo item found and wont boot at all. Moreover lenovo is not selling this card and lenovo branded card cost you a fortune. If this laptop is not under warranty anything happens to it forget it you have to throw it out. My Dell laptop few things went wrong after warranty I replaced the components with bargain price and this I have to trash if I have any problem. I already replaced keyboard under warrany and the cusomer service insisted me to send the laptop and they will do a through diagnostics that it is not my problem only then they will replace. I don't recommend this laptop and it is good only if you have warranty and definetly not worth for money. Lenovo will lose customers to their competetors until they change their proprietary mentality.

Buy Lenovo 59012696 IdeaPad Y510-1 15.4" Notebook Now

I used this daily for four years, and had no problems with it-at all.

I never had any issues with the hinges, or keys. I have to wonder what people do to their laptops to have so many issues. It is true that I didn't carry it around a whole lot though.

The webcam works great, and comes with easy software. The wireless was quick and powerful. I liked the big orange volume control switch. I had zero problems with the hard disk or OS... zero. No bad sectors, almost never crashed... no freezing or other weirdness. I'd buy another Lenovo.

Read Best Reviews of Lenovo 59012696 IdeaPad Y510-1 15.4" Notebook Here

I bought this laptop in 2008 knowing that I would use it for an engineering program at school. It did and excellent job and helped get me through my degree. In 2010 I upgraded the memory and processor in it to use as a gaming system, as well as updating the OS to Win7. I was impressed to find that the motherboard inside would support an 800MHz bus speed, as opposed to the 667MHz bus speed that the laptop uses natively. All the upgrades went off without a hitch. Most people wind up buying a new laptop rather than trying to upgrade the old one, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had some great upgrade options to help give this laptop a significant performance boost. After the upgrades, I continued to use it as a desktop replacement and it has been excellent the whole time!

Want Lenovo 59012696 IdeaPad Y510-1 15.4" Notebook Discount?

I bought a Lenovo Y510 Thinkpad three years ago. As I type one screen hinge is completely broken which has caused the entire screen hinge to separate from the screen. The keyboard is coming apart bit by bit and I have no A key. My hubby warned me about buying a plastic unit but I am quite careful with my equipment so I thought I would have no problem. The repair shop is unable to obtain parts in US so the expense, and time, to get parts from China is both unacceptable and expensive (~$350). The effectiveness of the unit, i.e. performance, ease of use, clarity of screen,etc. is good but heck, if I can't open and close the laptop screen then the other parts mean nothing.

eMachines E627-5583 AMD Athlon 64 TF-20, 15.6" 160GB HDD, 2GB RAM, 802.11 b/g WIFI, Webcam, 6 cell

eMachines E627-5583 AMD Athlon 64 TF-20, 15.6' 160GB HDD, 2GB RAM, 802.11 b/g WIFI, Webcam, 6 cellNice inexpensive laptop. I've only had it for a few days, so my comments are on functionality, not on quality or durability.

First, annoyances.

It has a webcam, but doesn't have a built-in microphone. I guess, it's a way to shave a few pennies off the cost, but quite annoying.

It has a DVD drive, but without Lightscribe. Obviously, less common feature than microphone but I tried to label my system backup disks, and couldn't do it.

It has a multi-card reader. I had no problems with SD card and Memory Stick, but when I tried to put a Memory Stick Pro duo (which is shorter that regular MS) it got stuck inside. To short to "click". Couldn't get it out without tweezers.

And, of course, there are no Windows disks. So, if I decide to re-partition the drive I don't know if I can still install Windows.

Last among little annoyances only two USB ports. Given that one is always taken by a mouse (I hate touchpads) only one is left. Oh well there is always a USB router.

Keyboard layout takes a little getting used to there is a numeric pad and Ins, Del keys are duplicated but no Home, End, PgUp or PgDn. Again, hard to find a word other than weird.

Once you get used to all these idiosyncrasies, it's actually a very nice machine. I like the keyboard responsiveness, webcam video is great quality, I haven't seen a 15.6" screen under $400, and it's not heavy.

OS came with a bunch of trial versions (Norton, Office, games); so if you are like me, you spend the first evening uninstalling all the junk. But, I guess, that's how manufacturers keep Windows price low (if not $0) so I don't mind.

My wife said that it "looks cheap"; but (a) I have no idea what it means in relation to a laptop, and (b) it *is* cheap.

I purchased this about 2 years ago on a Black Friday deal. It's still working the same today as day 1. I bought this because it was super cheap, under $300. I didn't really research the specs since I thought I'm not going to play highly intensive video games. What I didn't know was that music files demand a lot of processing power too. Every single time I open Microsoft's Media Player, it crashes in 3 minutes. I haven't even opened the DVD drive for over 1 year now. But I did find an alternative player, called Songbird, which doesn't crash if I disable all advanced features and plugins.

Overall, I got what I wanted an inexpensive laptop to surf the net and play music. But that's 2 years ago before iPad and tablets came out.

Buy eMachines E627-5583 AMD Athlon 64 TF-20, 15.6" 160GB HDD, 2GB RAM, 802.11 b/g WIFI, Webcam, 6 cell Now

Product was really good at the best of it's price available anywhere, shipment was as promised in the description. Bad things were that there was no information available about the product & the communication level of seller was not greatest, if you are patient then I think it's a good idea to deal with this seller. Product was good, seller not so good.

Read Best Reviews of eMachines E627-5583 AMD Athlon 64 TF-20, 15.6" 160GB HDD, 2GB RAM, 802.11 b/g WIFI, Webcam, 6 cell Here

I purchased the emachines E627 notebook several months ago for $299. My initial impression was fine. I was disappointed about a month later when one of the USB ports stopped working. Of the 20 or so laptops we've had in our family of 5 over the past 15 years I've never had a USB port stop working. We made do with a USB hub. A couple of months later the second USB port broke. Now we were stuck with a poorly-performing touchpad, since we could no longer plug in a USB mouse. Since it was still under warranty I contacted the manufacturer. They informed me that the repair would not be covered and that it would cost almost $200 to repair. At this point I would not pay $200 for a brand new one.

Want eMachines E627-5583 AMD Athlon 64 TF-20, 15.6" 160GB HDD, 2GB RAM, 802.11 b/g WIFI, Webcam, 6 cell Discount?

I received this laptop June 15, 2010. I didn't buy it, but it was a high school graduation gift from my mother's boss. When I first set it up, it was working well. Then, about maybe a month or less later, without warning, the webcam just stopped working. I didn't care because I didn't have the need of a webcam anyway, but it just annoyed me that it stopped working. The following year, my laptop began to slow down. So, like any other computer, I did PC cleanups to speed it up. I also switched it from "Balanced" to "High Performance". It was improving, even up to last year. However, earlier this year, the "Wireless Network Connection" started to mess up. I would have to uninstall the wireless driver (by Control Panel) restart the computer back and forth until it worked. Sometimes, I would re-install the driver and wait hours until I turned the laptop back on and lo and behold the wireless connection was working again. But, if I restarted my laptop while the wireless network was working or if I put the screen down to put it in sleep mode, then open it back up, the Wireless LAN light would disappear and the wireless connection would once again be lost. I would click and click the Wireless LAN button, but to no avail. Sometimes, I'd wait a couple days and a certain time before I turned my laptop back on and the connection worked again. I tried troubleshooting and that didn't work either. Apparently, the troubleshooting could only detect the "Wired Connection". I use my laptop in my room; my router is all the way in the living room. That's why I relied on the wireless connection. So, after a few months of this annoyance, I erased my hard drive (nothing was on my laptop that I really needed), took it and the memory rams out of the laptop, put the laptop in its original box and through it down the chute. I am currently waiting for my customized Toshiba laptop which I know will take forever to get. In closing, my advice is that this is more of a business laptop than it is an entertainment one. If you want to do more with your laptop than just paperwork and internet search, look elsewhere. If you really want this laptop, I suggest you research before you buy. Thank God I didn't buy this laptop.

IBM Thinkpad X41 PM 1.5GHz 1024MB 60GB DVD/CDRW WiFi XPP (25256NU)

IBM Thinkpad X41 PM 1.5GHz 1024MB 60GB DVD/CDRW WiFi XPPI use Thinkpads for a significant amount of my work and like to purchase them used. This one was purchased refurbished, but some of the keys did not operate properly and the HD bay wasn't installed correctly. I have since made the necessary corrections and now this little computer hums along very nicely.

four stars because is an old laptop but exellent,I'm veri satisfied with it.

I,ll keep on shoping in e-bay.to all of you thanks

Buy IBM Thinkpad X41 PM 1.5GHz 1024MB 60GB DVD/CDRW WiFi XPP (25256NU) Now

Sin duda alguna esta es una de las mejores computadoras, una exelente condicion por un exelente precio.

Read Best Reviews of IBM Thinkpad X41 PM 1.5GHz 1024MB 60GB DVD/CDRW WiFi XPP (25256NU) Here

HP Pavilion g4-1215dx 14" Laptop (AMD A-Series Processor, 4GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive)

HP Pavilion g4-1215dx 14' LaptopGot this a couple days ago and am satisfied thus far. It's a budget laptop for sure. The screen will be difficult to see in direct sunlight as it reflects a lot. You can make it a decent cheap machine though by adding in some extra ram and maybe even putting a ssd sata 3 in it. For less than $50 I upgraded the RAM to 8gb and saw a substantial jump in the windows ratings.

This is the ram kit bought. However, this kit gives you 2 4gb sticks of identical ram to what it came with. Same samsung serial number and everything. You really only need 1, so if you can find one... go for it.

Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 Memory Module (CT2KIT51264BC1339)

Windows Experience Index with stock 4GB:

Processor: 5.3

Memory (RAM): 5.9

Graphics: 4.5

Gaming Graphics: 6.1

Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

Windows Experience Index with 8GB kit Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 Memory Module (CT2KIT51264BC1339):

Processor: 5.3

Memory (RAM): 7.2

Graphics: 5.9

Gaming Graphics: 6.5

Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

This machine has 4gb memory and a relatively powerful cpu. Great for everyday use such as internet, email, MS office and some gaming. For this low price, I cannot ask for more!

Buy HP Pavilion g4-1215dx 14" Laptop (AMD A-Series Processor, 4GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive) Now

This laptop is ideal for anyone with basic computing needs. I use mine every day for email, light gaming, and household finance. It is light, portable, and user-friendly.

Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion g4-1215dx 14" Laptop (AMD A-Series Processor, 4GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive) Here

Purchased for my granddaughter who had been saving for laptop for a long time. It was very easy for her to set up and she has spent hours doing research for school, watching movies, playing games and is generally very thrilled with it. A very good product.

Want HP Pavilion g4-1215dx 14" Laptop (AMD A-Series Processor, 4GB Memory, 320GB Hard Drive) Discount?

Samsung Series 9 NP900X4D-A06US 15.0-Inch Laptop (Silver)

Samsung Series 9 NP900X4D-A06US 15.0-Inch LaptopI've had this a couple weeks now and I'm still as impressed as when I opened it. The 3rd generation i5 Ivy Bridge helps keep the temps low, and the 8 gigs of RAM is a noticeable bump over the usual 4 gigs that seems to be standard in ultrabooks these days. I often write with it on my lap and heat nor weight has ever been an issue.The laptop also comes with an ethernet adapter if you're looking to plug in. Wireless range is good, about what you would expect.

The real sell for me is the solid state drive. Being a 128, you can expect around 100gigs of free space. Windows 8 boots in just over 3 seconds. I'm not a fan of 8 so I went with a dual boot with Ubuntu. Ubuntu boots in a little over 4 seconds, very impressed between the two.

Battery Life is pretty solid. Between writing and just surfing the internet you can expect between 7-8.5 hours. Heavy multimedia you can expect right around 3.5-4.

Screen is gorgeous and respectable at 1600 x 900. As the previous reviewer mentioned it isn't a touch screen but if you're seriously thinking about picking this up you should already be well aware of that.

I just received the Samsung Series 9 NP900X4D-A06US 15.0-Inch Laptop. It is very impressive. Only problem is that it doesn't have a touch screen. How is it possible for a high-end Windows 8 Ultrabook to not have a touch screen? What happened? I can only guess Samsung wants to unload all of their old Windows 7 laptops by loading them with Win8 and a big smile.

I'll try it for a few days, but I suspect I'll end up returning it.

**********************

Update Apr. 6, 2013

**********************

I have returned the NP900X4D-A06US and replaced it with a Series 5 NP540U3C-A02UB.

Don't get me wrong, if you are ok with not having a touch screen, the NP900X4D-A06US is a very impressive machine. It is beautiful and light and there is a lot of attention to detail. It is very quiet and even at high process utilization it only gets a little warm. The only meaningful downside is that you end up with only about 100 GB of free space out of the box, but you probably thought about that already considering the computer comes with a 128 GB SSD.

Buy Samsung Series 9 NP900X4D-A06US 15.0-Inch Laptop (Silver) Now

Dell Studio s1747-2839CBK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black Chainlink)

Dell Studio s1747-2839CBK 17.3-Inch LaptopI had some issues when watching streaming video the ATI graphic card would get a error message then crash. Updated Video drivers and BIOS. now works perfectly ..

This laptop does get very warm So I recommended getting Zalman-ZM-NC3000U cooler.

upgraded the keyboard to backlit type myself. (Part No #backlit M711P ) google search it. cost

Dell Inspiron 14z Laptop, Intel Core i5-2450m 2.5 GHz, 6 GB DDR3 Memory, 750 GB Hard Drive (7200 rp

Dell Inspiron 14z Laptop, Intel Core i5-2450m 2.5 GHz, 6 GB DDR3 Memory, 750 GB Hard Drive, Adobe Elements 9.0 Photoshop and Premiere Bundle, Dual Layer DVD +/-R Drive, Bluetooth, Win 7 Home PremiumI bought this as a gift and looked it over prior to sending it off. Seems to be a nice laptop and is fast. Will let you know if there are any problems later.

This laptop is under my expectation. I faced with a problem in the first day, I tried to split Hard drive but it didn't let me to complete this partition. I am not sure all Dell laptops or just this model has this problem. I even couldn't start to windows. I spent to much time to fix this.

Buy Dell Inspiron 14z Laptop, Intel Core i5-2450m 2.5 GHz, 6 GB DDR3 Memory, 750 GB Hard Drive (7200 rp Now