HP Pavilion g6-1d73us 15.6" Laptop (2.30 GHz Intel Core i3-2350M Processor, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard D

The seller is wonderful to work with and communicates very effectively. I would definately buy from the seller again. the product is better than advertised. the altec lansing speakers are good. this was bought for a high school student. the wireless features work well, as does everything else. overall this is a great product for the price.

i Love HP, i would never ever buy another brand. They last forever, they are fast enough for what i need, which is basical software, and they look very modern

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I bought a G6-1d73us in July 2012, feeling confident I'd get a phenomenal PC for the price (since I like HP products and have been a devoted customer for years). The laptop has good specs and is definitely a step up from my last HP laptop (whose processor is out of date and too slow to accommodate my current needs). This G6 met my expectations EXCEPT for one thing: I've noticed a substantial decrease in the quality of the sound / audio since July (quality that seems to decrease daily). It's been 6 months and I can't even watch or listen to anything without my headphones on. Without the headphones, the sound is so dim one can barely hear anything (even when there's no other phonic distraction in the background). It's a huge inconvenience for me to have to send it back to the manufacturer for repair. My warranty hasn't expired yet, thankfully; I'd be even more frustrated if this had happened to me post-warranty. After a bit of research online, I discovered that many people had encountered this problem --probably a hardware malfunction (and not a driver problem). Had I known my sound would die in a matter of months, I wouldn't have purchased this particular model.

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Alienware M14X R2 14-Inch Gaming Laptop Black, Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.0GHz, 8GB Memory, 750GB HDD,

There isn't too much to gripe about this laptop. The only downside I can really think of is the screen touches the keyboard when its closed so when you open it there is small smudges. However, there are screen protectors out there or even little rubber dots that can make that stop when closing.

Its pretty much all out there. 16 gigs of ram, i7 quad core, and it came with windows 7. Now compared to my desktop Windows 7 is great for gaming, while running Windows 8 I've run across a few issues. Therefore, Windows 7 is ideal since this is a gaming PC and most products like steam tend to run a little better.

I bought the computer mainly so I could take some games with me on deployment and get some college out of the way. One thing I didn't expect but is a great little quirk is that you can customize the colors of nearly every light on the computer. It doesn't affect how it runs, but it is kind of cool.

Over all this PC runs like you'd think it runs and behaves as it should and I do recomend it if you can find one for cheap enough as I had. If you don't want to build a desktop or don't know how to(easy but time consuming) this would be a good purchase for the next few years if you want to play higher end games on a computer.

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HP Envy 6-1110us 15.6-Inch Sleekbook (Black)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I have several traditional laptops and an HP Ultrabook to compare this to, and it does quite well. The Ultrabook is all the rage now, and they tend to be amazing, but there are a couple of requirements to be an "Ultrabook" that this computer does not meet. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as I will explain.

First off, the term "Ultrabook," is owned by Intel, so since this has an AMD chip, it cannot be an Ultrabook. The AMD chip in this computer, however, is a quad-core lightning beast for a laptop, so you really aren't losing out there. For your every day programs, this performed a little faster than my Gateway and Lenovo Windows 7 laptops and only slightly slower than my i5 HP Envy Spectre XT Ultrabook. The slight difference in performance is likely due to the second Ultrabook requirement, a solid state drive.

Having a solid state drive can really speed things up, but it also significantly adds to the production cost. So, for an almost imperceptible difference in speed, you get far less drive space with a solid state drive. In my case, the HP Ultrabook has a 128 GB drive, while this HP Sleekbook has a 500 GB drive. If you use a lot of music and movies, the choice is already clear. The only other place where the solid state drive comes into play is boot time.

My Gateways boot to Windows 7 in 65 seconds. My Lenovo does the same in 46 seconds. This HP Sleekbook boots to Windows 8 in 40 seconds. The Ultrabook? Four seconds! OK, once you get past that amazing stat, ask yourself how many times you tend to re-boot your laptop? It really shouldn't be that often, and with the tweaks of Windows 8, even many updates won't require a reboot. Therefore, once I got past the part where I was rebooting my Ultrabook just to show off to people how fast it boots up, I was using it the same way as this Sleekbook. In other words, don't let the difference in boot time sway you away from this Sleekbook.

Another requirement for an Ultrabook is a unibody design which means no optical drive. The Sleekbook follows this pattern, so there is no optical drive. If there is a deal-breaker for many people, this may be it. You can download all the Windows 8 apps from the app store, but your legacy software will have to be loaded some other way. If you have other computers, this isn't a problem. If this will be your only computer, it may be a problem for you.

At 4.6 pounds, this is significantly lighter than my other standard laptops, but also significantly heavier than the Ultrabook. The comparison, however, is more fair to the standard laptops because it matches their screen sizes (it isn't fair to compare the weight of a 15" screen to a 13" screen). Therefore, this is actually a pretty light and portable computer.

The 15" screen is bright and clear, and really a joy to watch. Movies play flawlessly, and the crawl at the bottom of ESPN3 doesn't jitter at all! As for games, well this is one area where this Sleekbook really beats the other computers, including the Ultrabook. It handles some graphically intensive games like Star Trek Online at the highest video settings without the slightest problem. Again, there is no optical drive, so you are limited in your gaming options. If you have a game that checks to see if the disk is in the drive before you can play, you will be out of luck.

Like many HP products, this comes with Beats Audio. It has four speakers and it actually has a sub woofer of sorts. Nevertheless, while it sounds better than any other laptop, there is only so much you can do with so little speaker space. Attach a pair of decent headphones, however, and the audio soars!

Battery life is amazing. I've gotten over four and a half hours while pushing it pretty hard. That's with factory default power settings, but playing an online game that pushed the graphics (Star Trek Online). For normal, non-gaming tasks, this computer clears the six hour mark easily without a charge. The battery is built in (again chasing the Ultrabook crowd), so you cannot change it on the fly, but you probably won't need to.

As for appearance, the red bottom with the brushed metal black top is a great look. Very unique. The rubbery bottom surface is great for grip, so it doesn't slide. About the only problem with the design is that the heat exhaust is from the bottom rather than the sides. As a result, if you put it on your lap with your legs together, they can get pretty hot. It has HP Cool Sense technology, so it will throttle the CPU and graphics if necessary to keep it cool. Also, with the accelerometer, it is able to tell whether the computer is on your lap or on a table. It will throttle performance a bit to keep cool on your lap while going flat out on a table. The accelerometer also provides protection to the hard drive in the event of a drop. If you drop this computer, it will save your data (although it will probably break the screen).

On a final note, it is running Windows 8. This means the Metro interface and multitouch capabilities. The touchpad handles the interface very well. Windows 8 is still not perfect, but this is the best implementation I have come across. Nevertheless, I set this up initially for two users. When I removed one of those user accounts, I had some trouble with Windows, and it eventually died in an update. This required me to perform a full factory reset. This is a fault of Windows 8, not of this computer. The reset did take 17 hours to complete. That was pretty bizarre. After that, however, it has worked perfectly. I wouldn't let this put you off from buying this computer, but I would suggest that you do not remove user accounts once you have made them!

Overall, this is an amazing computer. It is certainly a step up from any other standard laptop out there. While it doesn't have some of the abilities of an actual Ultrabook, it comes pretty close, and it is even better in terms of drive space and gaming. Also, the price cannot be beat for what you are getting here. Add this puppy to your Christmas list this year, and hope Santa thinks you've been good!

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This HP Envy 6-1110us 15.6-Inch Sleekbook (Black) is not just another ultra-light ultra-fast notebook laptop; this one has Bluetooth! With this sleekbook, I can connect wirelessly not only via 1x1 802.111b/g/n WLAN but also via Bluetooth! So I can wirelessly listen to my music through bluetooth headset and access the laptop through bluetooth keyboard and mouse. Also, I can use bluetooth to sync my bluetooth-enabled smartphone with my Envy Sleekbook 6-1110us! This is handy for whenever I am not around wifi, I can still connect my smartphone with this sleekbook since it is bluetooth enabled. I can wirelessly sync and print from up to 30 feet away on this sleekbook with Bluetooth.

The HP Envy 6-1110us 15.6-Inch Sleekbook (Black) has the same brushed aluminum in midnight black finish that I prefer and HP really delivers! In addition this sleekbook has a red soft-touch base which is easier to grip, doesn't scratch as easily and looks super cool; the red/black combo reminds me of a ferrari for some reason. Not only does this sleekbook look awesome, it is sensual to touch. It seems the bottom of my laptops get scratched before the top does, so this new soft-touch base is a big plus for the laptop looking awesome for a longer period of time. I anticipated it feeling softer and rubbery from reading the description than it actually does in person. It feels like solid metal when I touch only the base and it is not until I touch both the base and the top that I can tell the softer grippier texture of the bottom. It looks like red metal not rubber or soft. The red goes up on the sides where the ports and plugs are but not onto the inside around the keyboard or screen. It is a really cool looking black with ruby red combo and each day I seem to fall a little bit more in love.

The HD BrightView LED-backlit display is so impressive. I just love photos and videos on it as they look more vivid and crisper than even on my HDTV and that is amazing as every cable provider comments how my HDTV makes their feed look the best they have ever seen!

The HP TrueVision HD Webcam with integrated dual array digital microphone delivers a superb Skype experience.

This HP Envy 6-1110us 15.6-Inch Sleekbook (Black) is super fast with its Next Gen AMD Quad-Core AB-4555M Accelerated Processor with 1.6GHz up to 2.4GHz speeds, 4MB L2 Cache, 4GB DDR SDRAM (1DIMM) (up to 16GB is supported). It is nice to know my sleekbook and data are protected on the 500GB 5400RPM hard drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection.

The touchpad as well feels great to touch and use and includes the normal mouse moves including double tap, 2finger scroll, pinch or stretch to zoom, top-edge swipe to display app commands, right-edge swipe to display the charms (search, share, start, devices, and settings) and left edge swipe to switch between open apps. You can quickly return to the start screen by pressing the windows logo key on the keyboard.

Windows 8 just came out so it is new to me and of course there is a learning curve but so far I like it. I like that it is linked to my Microsoft account which means that every time I sign into a Windows 8 device, my settings and custom tweaks will come with me and be applied. Because Microsoft accounts are linked to SkyDrive storage, Office 2013 will back up automatically uploading to the cloud. Windows Media Center will not be included for free in Windows 8 but right now through January 31, 2013, you can request a free product key for it at the microsoft windows website.

Some people complain about the "missing DVD drive" as we have come to think of them as standard must-have but I think soon we may view them as obsolete because now most software and media are downloadable/ uploadable to cloud or social media, flash drives are faster and more portable as well as safer, and technology is moving toward syncing via cable or wirelessly through wifi or bluetooth between devices including those specifically designed for media storage. When I mention a floppy disk or floppy drive, people in their 20s give me blank stares having no clue what I am talking about and ask "what is that?"; undoubtedly someday I will get the same questions when I mention the optical/dvd drive, but how soon/long until that day? Secondly, on those seldom occasions when a dvd drive is needed, one could easily use an external DVD drive when needed or connect via USB cable to a pc or laptop that has a dvd drive. The benefit of not having a dvd drive is a lighter thinner notebook. I think I prefer having a lighter thinner laptop going commando without the DVD drive.

The bluetooth feature is costly though as for the same $699MSRP, the bluetooth-less HP Envy dv6-7210us 15.6-Inch Laptop is available which has:

a faster AMD Quad-core processor,

50% more Memory (6GB DDR3 RAMM compared to 4GB DDR3 RAMM).

50% larger hard drive (750GB compared to 500GB),

a 3rd USB 3.0 port (only two on sleekbook),

a VGA 115-pin port (not on sleekbook),

a super-multi DVD burner driver (not on sleekbook)

Beats Audio quad speakers and a subwoofer (sleekbook has Beats Audio dual speakers and a subwoofer)

a numeric keypad

HP SimplePass with integrated fingerprint reader

50% larger battery(6cell compared to 4-cell) its battery life is up to 5:15 while sleekbook's is up to 6 hours. This results partly in sleekbook being lighter (4.53lbs) than laptop (5.66lbs).

However, not only do you give up the bluetooth but also the supercool red soft-touch base.

HP is also coming out with a 14" touchscreen sleekbook which I am also interested in what features you get on that at what pricepoint as it sounds super cool as well.

What is a sleekbook?

A sleekbook is an HP Ultrabook-like thin-and-light laptop that can't be called an Ultrabook, in some cases because it uses an AMD processor (Ultrabook is an Intel trademark; all Ultrabooks are therefore Intel machines, by definition.) or for one reason or another, can't qualify as Ultrabooks under the Intel's specific criteria:

quick start up and app launching

21mm or thinner for notebooks with 14-inch and larger displays

5 hour minimum battery life

CULV Intel processors

Flash storage if not completely solid state, then at least in a hybrid format

7 second resumption from hibernation

Ultrabooks and sleekbooks are nothing fundamentally new. They're just the latest gloss on thin-and-light laptops/notebooks. Maintaining that they're something else just confuses matters, especially when some Ultrabook-like computers don't qualify as Ultrabooks for reasons that consumers shouldn't need to care about. All these different names are just marketing by manufacturers trying to cut out their own niche. Everybody knows technological devices/equipment keep getting slimmer, lighter, faster, cheaper, and brighter; does that warrant a new name different from notebook or laptop? I don't think so.

If you are looking for a bluetooth-enabled ultra-fast ultra-light sexy notebook

especially in the black/red soft touch bottom combo, look no further!

You will be thrilled with the HP Envy 6-1110us 15.6-Inch Sleekbook (Black).

I am. Thank you so much HP and Amazon Vine. I must be the luckiest girl in the world.... what a super awesome laptop is the HP Envy 6-1110us 15.6-Inch Sleekbook (Black)

Buy HP Envy 6-1110us 15.6-Inch Sleekbook (Black) Now

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I've got to admit, I wasn't expecting much from the HP Envy 6-1110us Sleekbook, as I had my doubts that the AMD processor could keep up with some of the processor heavy applications I run. My doubts were nicely proven wrong, and I found out this AMD powered Sleekbook is a real powerhouse for an incredibly reasonable price.

The build quality of the Sleekbook is excellent, the fit and finish is somehing you'd expect from a top of the line product. Nowhere does it feel like any corners were cut. Even the chicklet style keyboard has a nice feel to it, not at all dead and lifeless like I was expecting.

The Sleekbook runs quietly for average tasks, but when starting to heat up under a load you'll definitely start to notice the fan starts to ramp up in speed. During general use you can set the Sleekbook on your bare lap and it is barely warm at all. Once it starts heating up and the fans kick it, you'll really start to notice some warmth, but it isn't nearly enough to cause any discomfort.

The screen size and resolution are excellent, the resolution is just right for the size screen, proving a clear, sharp display with reasonbly accurate colors. No noticeable color shifts were noticed on my unit, nor were any dead or stuck pixels spotted.

Audio from the speakers leaves much to be desired, as is the case with all laptops, but once a pair of headphones or IEM's are plugged in, the audio processing engine really brings the sounds life, especially good for music lovers.

HP is a company that is well known for the excellent customer service, so if any problems are ever experienced under warranty, you can rest assured HP will take care of you.

This is a great laptop, powerful and cool running for a great price. You'd be hard pressed to find a better model at this price point.

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The HP ENVY 61110-US, a 5 Star Computer! Thin and light, comparable to a Macbook Air with a brushed aluminum

cover (instead of Apple's silver aluminum) as well as weight and screen resolution. At 1/3 the price of an Apple

Laptop and a savings of $1,000, the HP ENVY also throws in EXTRA FEATURES beyond Apple's including Beats audio

dual speakers with a subwoofer, at 15.6", a larger video screen, and a 500GB Hard Drive.

Like a Macbook Air, no DVD\CD drive, as USB Memory sticks and cloud computing make the need for a DVD\CD drive

less important than ever, and the absence of of a DVD\CD drive allows a thinner sleeker design. If a DVD\CD

writer is occasionally important to you, then purchase a lightweight USB DVD\CD\Writer for $35 to carry in your

laptop bag for the occasional time that you will need it. In economic terms, DVD\CD\Writers have a declining

utility, so much so that Microsoft has decided to save the bucks that it pays for licensing patented DVD player

technology, and not include copyrighted DVD playback as part of its included Windows 8 Media Player. But that can

be easily overcome by simply downloading the free opensource VLC Media Writer or pay WindDVD, PowerDVD, or a

plethora of other companies $50 or less.

Both Macbook Air and the HP Sleekbook work seamlessly with the cloud, and free 5GB storage (or more) is available

from Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Dropbox, etc. If you don't need to store video, free storage on the cloud will

be more than adequate for most needs. For those that might need to store video, the HP ENVY includes a 500GB

Drive (Macbook Air provides faster electronic memory up to 500gb and no hard drive, but at additional cost over

and above the base price of a Macbook Air), or you can pay to store your video on the cloud. The HP Sleekbook

battery lasts up to 8.5 hours when fully charged, if properly configured and when new.

So, what is it that you're actually paying APPLE $1,000 extra for? The Apple Operating System. Is it worth it?

Less than 20% of the world seems to think so. 75% of the world would rather save $1,000, not be bound to Apple's

choices for Hardware and Software there is no computing system in the world more versatile or with more choice

or options than Microsoft Windows. Apple provides a more user friendly experience, but limits consumers to the

choices that Apple makes in its limited line-up of laptops and computers. The beauty of Windows 8 is it allows

you to make the choice of hardware features and options, go outside of the box and create the user experience that

you individually desire, and saves you $1,000 in the process.

If the power cord for your Macbook Air goes bad, expect to pay Apple's exorbitant $85 for replacement. Apple's

computers and accessories are typically patented or proprietary, and as a result, non-OEM Apple power cords are

junk (read the Amazon reviews). Genuine HP accessories, parts, accessories and repairs are typically 1/2 of

Apple's, and non-OEM replacements are often of good quality and even cheaper. So, you'l save money in the long

run as well.

Windows 8 is an absolute improvement over any OS Microsoft has delivered to date. The naysayers and complaints

about Windows 8 are primarily from old Microsoft users who are not ready to learn a new OS because its easier to

just do things the old fashioned way. So Windows 8 attempts to find a middle ground between the future of

computing (the new Windows 8 Touchscreen Interface) and the old fashioned Windows 7 and before OS. The future

means touchscreens instead of mice, the cloud instead of hard drives, phones, tablets and laptops that all use the

same interface, ultimately seamlessly so that you can move between one and another without ever noticing, and

that's what Windows 8 sets out to do and attempts to deliver. So realize that the future is not quite yet

here, and what Microsoft is moving towards, is to integrate it all. At this point in time, Windows 8 as an

unified single operating system fully integrated for phones, tablets and computers\laptops. Apple is still two

separate and disparate operating systems, Mac OS for Laptops\Desktops and IOS for Tablets\Phones. Windows 8

arrived in October, 2012, and the endeavor of writing computer code is long, complex and cumbersome, not only for

Microsoft, but for Apple as well. Apple has just a few variations to deal with, while Microsoft attempts to

integrate hundreds and thousands of disparate electronic components (thus more options). Both Apple and Windows 8

Operating Systems are continually updated while you sleep (if you choose automatic updates) to correct flaws,

eliminate bugs and improve and address the future of computing. For those who complain about Windows 8 give it

a chance, as Microsoft has no choice but to evolve or die.

As an informed consumer, make the choice for yourself.

Features:

Windows 8

AMD Quad-Core A8-4555M Accelerated Processor

CPU: 1.6GHz up to 2.4GHz

4MB L2 Cache

4GB DDR3 SDRAM (1 DIMM)

Maximum supported16GB

AMD Radeon(tm) HD 7600G Discrete-Class graphics and up to 2029MB total graphics memory

500GB 5400RPM hard drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection

Brushed aluminum in midnight black with a red soft-touch base

HP TrueVision HD Webcam with integrated dual array digital microphone

15.6-inch diagonal HD BrightView LED-backlit display (1366x768)

10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN (RJ-45 connector)

1x1 802.11b/g/n WLAN and Bluetooth®

Multi-format digital media card reader for Secure Digital cards and Multimedia cards

Beats Audio(tm) dual speakers and a subwoofer

Full-size island-style keyboard

HP Imagepad supporting multi-touch gestures with on/off button.

2 SuperSpeed USB 3.0

1 Universal Serial Bus (USB Boost) 2.0

1 HDMI

1 RJ-45 (LAN)

1 Headphone

1 Microphone in

Kensington® MicroSaver lock slot

Power-on password

Accepts 3rd party security lock devices

65W AC adapter

4-cell 60WHr 4.1 Ah lithium-ion polymer battery

Up to 8 hours and 30 minutes

Warranty 1 Year Limited

I hope that this post helps make it easier for you to make your choice.

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I docked this 1 star for having to return this item twice. However, this machine, once it was working, is a great computer.

I like the size of this. It is very thin and very light. It's easy to carry around.

The keys are very nice to type on.

The trackpad has multitouch and is very responsive (a must for using windows 8)

The computer is fast and runs programs easily.

I use it mostly for consuming media and wordprosessing (though my kids use it for games and don't complain) and it works just fine.

I don't like HP's QA department. We got the first one and after about 5 weeks and then it got caught in a continuous reboot cycle and wouldn't come out of it. Amazon took the return and sent us a new one. After about 7 weeks it went black. Nothing worked. Amazon wouldn't take it back anymore (a first for me), so I sent it in to HP and they fixed it under warranty saying some wires had come loose.

I also don't like that it doesn't come with a DVD drive, but I guess that's why it's so thin. I bought an external drive from amazon that works just fine with it, but it's one more thing to pack along.

I almost gave this 2 or 3 stars based on the hassle of the machines not working, but when it works I like it so much that it overcame the problem, and our machine has ran strong for many months now without a problem.

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Toshiba Satellite P755d-s5266 15.6-inch LED Laptop - Fusion X2 Finish in Platinum

Toshiba P755D-S5266 is a decent laptop given all the bells and whistles it comes with(blu ray rewriteable, USB 3.0, Backlit keyboard and premium sound system)

However, the battery life is pretty mediocre barely lasts for 80 minutes when fully charged. Am considering returning this laptop since I expected battery life to be couple of hours.

The laptop freezes a lot when you open several application and my 4 year old Acer laptop does better than this.

6GB RAM is good but the processor speed is slow.

Overally, I don't recommend this laptop unless you find it for $400ish.

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Sony VAIO E17 Series SVE17127CXB 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

This laptop is really good ,looks nice ,i can see the quality ,works very fast but only need a change (SSD) and you'll be in the heaven,i been playing MW3,GTA4,Battlefield 3 and runs nice,the cpu fan do not make almost noise.Only has windows 8 Home edition and there is not serial number in the computer,so think about it if you want upgrade your hard drive by SSD.The sound sound great so clear...,no heating or anything weird

update:now even whit the original hdd the boot time is 10 second maybe less

update: looks like the intel core I7 processor is ready for turbo boost but ,in the bios there is no option to activate it,so i think that the board intel does not support turbo boost,i tried to install t boost gadget and gives me a error saying that i don't have a processor capable whit turbo b technology.

update:the new bios update has fixed all isues,now is a dream,/i love SONY ;)

Attention to all those that got this lap,go to the sony's website and update your bios,this will improve the system stability ,other thing is tha you can upgrade the ram up to 16 gb,i got the confirmation here ,just run the assistant from crucial and it will tell you how much your pc support

Got my Vaio E series laptop about 2 weeks ago from Amazon. I have nothing but praise for it. First of all the processing power and RAM are capable of handling just about anything you throw at it. I've edited and re-encoded 1080p video without much slowdown. I could still browse the web. When I'm not doing something intense, I can have tons of applications running in the background on Windows 8 and forget all about them. I used to close apps all the time to conserve power and RAM, now I don't have to. Despite the 5400rpm hard drive there aren't many hiccups or slow downs there. Plus having 1 TB of data storage makes up for it. Transfer speeds are just fine. One slight negative is the lack of an eSATA port, which I use a lot with my 1 TB external HDD.

The screen is gorgeous and Blu-Ray playback is beautiful and painless. HDMI out to the TV works like a charm. It's not nearly as heavy as my old 17" Toshiba, and can be moved around pretty easily. Although you probably won't be dragging it to Starbucks, but that's why I have a smartphone.

The Keyboard is fantastic for a laptop (and the backlighting is boss), not sure how they managed to put a full numpad on top of the full keyboard and still have plenty of space for my big hands. The touchpad is maybe the only weak point, but it's actually not too bad if you configure it correctly. The stock configuration makes it a little tricky, but I tweaked it and now it's hardly an issue. It just feels a bit soft, not as precise as I'd like. But otherwise it's a quality machine and I'd recommend it to anyone who needs some serious computing power but doesn't like to stay in one place.

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Bought this laptop for under a grand and could not be happier with my purchase. Lots of features and great pricepoint. Included software are trial versions but I did not mind them as they kind of suck anyway.

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The desktop works fine but the windows 8 start/apps page will fail and the fix is to reload software with nothing to prevent it from failing again. Microsoft has released another piece of trash on the public.

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Bought this E17 series for an employee and Sony and MS do not give you any methods of controlling the touchpad. The heat from your palms causes the cursor to shoot across the screen.

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Toshiba 15.6" Satellite C655D-S5136 Athlon II Laptop 3GB Notebook 320GB Computer PC

The first key item of note in reviewing this laptop is that I now own it as a replacement for a slightly cheaper HP with almost identical specs but suffered a massive hardware failure just 31 days after purchase. Between a solid prior experience with Toshiba and results read in an online study on laptop malfunction rates (where Toshiba came in second only to Asus and ahead of pricer brands like Apple and Sony) I feel far more confident that this machine will last for me.

Now onto the specifics of this model....

The specs on this fall within the general standard of what I call the level-2 laptop (one price-step ahead of the single core celeron/sempron pure budget machines).

The keys are as follows:

Athlon II Dual Core 2.2 GHZ with 3 gigs of DDR3 RAM, Mobile Radeon 4250 Graphics, and a 320 Gigabyte hard drive.

These are all a good blend of price and functionality that won't be able to run the hottest games on the market (as is the case with any integrated graphics) but handles normal day-to-day along with programs like photoshop or low-res settings of newer games without any problem.

The hard drive size is a nice boost from the 250 gig you normally see at this range, though it would probably still behoove anyone with a fair amount of digital media to pick up an external hard drive.

Battery life is pretty good as a reflection of it's modest power at about 3 1/2 hours, which should be plenty for most-people's purposed.

The one place this machine does lose points however would be peripheral-type hardware.

The keyboard is fairly nice with and included 10-key that doesn't cramp the regular keyboard at all. It also has a memory-card reader built-in that is especially handy for those with phones/cameras/etc. that use sd/microsd/etc.

Beyond that however the machine is noticeably lacking in this department with no webcam, only two usb slots, and a smallish oddly textured touchpad.

Final Verdict:

As long as you are willing to pick up a USB hub this is a great multifunctional machine that is powerful enough for all regular home needs (power gaming and HD video editing aside) while still falling within that budget (i.e. sub-$500) range.

As with all of these machines however I recommended you shop around, Amazon's listed price of $488 is about $90 more than I paid, just enough to take it from a great machine for the price to a somewhat average value.

I bought this machine at Best Buy on 2/1/11, when it was on sale for $. What a fool I was. On 3/3/11 when I tried to boot up I got screen saying it was attempting to repair itself. After 12 hours (I'm not kidding), it finally booted to the desktop, but I immediately got error messages saying my applications were having problems. Frustrated, I took it back to the Best Buy, where one of their "Geek Squad" morons told me it needed to be "restored," and to come back in 4 hours. When I returned that night, another guy told me the hard disk was defective, and I needed to pay for and procure a "restore disk" from Toshiba. Even though it's under warranty, Best Buy refused to fix it or refund my money. Toshiba refuses to provide the "restore disk" unless I pay for it. This is a fraud, and this "computer" is a piece of worthless junk.

I refuse to pay, so I took the computer back from Best Buy. They demanded I sign a form saying I was satisfied with the repairs! I refused to sign and took my computer. Now, it doesn't even boot to the desktop.

Don't ever buy from Toshiba OR Best Buy. They are partners in crime.

Buy Toshiba 15.6" Satellite C655D-S5136 Athlon II Laptop 3GB Notebook 320GB Computer PC Now

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MSI G Series GT780DX-406US 17.3-Inch Laptop

OK, it took me months of searching for a notebook. I started looking for a notebook around August and there were a couple of them that piqued my interest. That list included the Asus G74, Alienware M17x, HP Envy 17, and the Dell XPS 17. I wanted a gaming notebook, but more then that I wanted a notebook that would be future proof for a couple of years well as my Gateway FX was when I bought it. Knowing this, I know for sure that I made the right choice. I started looking at the MSI GT780DX after I heard these newer core i7 processors were coming out, I decided right away that the 2670QM was right for me. At that time when I purchased this notebook all of the above listed notebooks, except the Alienware had these newer processors. So why did I choose this notebook? GTX 570M at a price that no one else can beat. At the time of this writing, there is no other brand that even offers the GTX 570M as an option. Its 15% faster then the GTX 560M and not much slower then the GTX 580M, and with the overclock option on this MSI, it's not that hard to reach this 580M stock speeds.

So when it was finally time to choose I bought this over the G74SX, those were my two final choices and the MSI was more appealing to me. Better audio system, 5 USB vs 4 USB, Matte display vs glossy display, an unbelievable multicolored changing keyboard vs a regular white keyboard, and in my opinion better styling (debatable of course). Not to mention this MSI was only $50 more and what you get in content was worth a lot more then $50, I would argue the multicolored back-lit keyboard alone is worth that price. Also, this comes with a DIRT 3 voucher where you get the game for free. You just scan the code or take a picture of the voucher, and attach it to the online form, and a couple of days later AMD emails you the game key and you download the game (Have not received mine yet).

So OK, on to the notebook lets start with the speakers. The speakers truly are phenomenal, I have known about Dynaudio for quite some time, a lot of Volkswagen cars use this audio system and the speakers are very solid, just like they are in the cars. I listen to all types of music from classic, all the way to Rap/RNB/Country/Rock and have never felt disappointed with the audio, great job here. The keyboard is wonderful, I love the spacing of the keys, it took me only one day to be able to use this keyboard perfectly fine. It really feels like you are typing on a desktop keyboard, anyone should catch on quick. The back-lit keyboard is truly amazing, you can use many different color combinations, and have different types of settings on the back-light. You can have the keyboard breath, wave, dual color mode (the keyboard changes between two different colors), and gaming mode. Gaming mode is intelligent, it only lights the left hand side of the keyboard so the other keys don't get in your way especially when gaming at night. Another nice thing about the keyboard is they put the windows key on the right side, so you won't hit it while gaming!

I have run some benchmarks already, 3DMark06 and Crystal Disk Mark. Both have blown me away, I am getting a score of 17500 in 3DMark06 and for Crystal Disk Mark I am getting read and write times at 125! That is very fast for a normal mechanical HDD, I was expecting about 100 read and write but 125 was very unexpected. This notebook comes with a Western Digital Scorpio Black drive which is known to have great performance. I have not run any other benchmarks yet, and have not overclocked the notebook using turbo mode to run benchmarks, I will update the review and add this in. Before I go, I have to add one thing, this notebook like any other notebook on the planet is not perfect. There are two gripes that I have, the first thing I don't like is the touch button you have to press on top of the keyboard to open the DVD drive, it is not intuitive. I tried to open my DVD drive while I was restarting my computer, and had to wait until windows booted up all the way to open up the disk drive, very annoying. If there was a physical button, it would have been able to open right away. The second problem I have, is those touch buttons in general. Maybe its just me, but it doesn't seem responsive, you have to hit it exactly in the middle for it to work, and it's hard because these button are not lit period! So you have to actually look very closely to even see especially at night time. That's something I hope MSI considers on the next revision of this notebook, give those buttons back lighting so you can actually see them without having to put your head against the screen at night. It lights up when that key/feature is activated, but still that is not enough, make it another color when it's off so people can still know its disabled.

So overall, I have to give it 5 stars. The value, GPU, build quality, keyboard and the speakers are all truly phenomenal for any notebook under 2 grand. My gripes are minor and something I can live with, for every one thing I hate, there are 5 things I like, this is how a notebook should be made, great job MSI!

I previously owned a MSI GT735 laptop and was very satisfied with its quality and performance. However, it was aging and I'm one who tends to like the latest technology. After searching new models and reading reviews, I decided to by another MSI, the GT780DX. I did not order mine from Amazon but from an online retailer of gaming laptops. All, I can say is this laptop is just beautiful. It is built tough, uniquely designed, and performs better than my expectations.

Screen +

Coming from a glare type screen, the matte was a concern before ordering this laptop. I'm very pleased with the matte screen and really like it more than my glare type. The screen on the GT780 is much brighter than on my old GT735 so that makes a difference as well. If matte is a concern, don't fret because it is probably better than what you have.

Keyboard -

The keyboard is the only issue I have with this laptop. I had read reviews of keyboard problems with the GT780 series, but I was hoping MSI and Steelecase had worked out those bugs before I purchased. I had an issue with the spacebar not working when the bottom left/right were pressed. I fixed this by gently lifting up on the spacebar which seems to have reseated the key. Also, the down arrow key won't register if the bottom edge is not hard pressed. I've used many laptops and I've never seen a keyboard which required the key to be pressed dead-center. A couple of other keys also won't register if they are pressed on the left edge. I have an open RMA with MSI to fix/replace the keyboard. Not wanting to be without the laptop for up to two weeks, I'm waiting on a convenient time before sending it for repair. Too bad they won't send me the keyboard and I'll replace it myself :). Other than that, I've had no other issues with my keyboard. It has no flex and keys are easy to press with minimal pressure (except noted). The lighting, as you know, is an added benefit and is evenly lit across the board. The lighting is not a bothersome feature. In fact, I forget it's even there.

Touchpad +

No issues and it works very well but I have seen better. Pleased with its performance and I am very picky about touchpads. I've worked on family laptops which had touchpads that were horrible to use. The touchpad buttons are easy to press and they do make a click sound...they are not silent. The pad is hard plastic and not the rubbery, softer pad.

Build +

Very well built machine all around. Feels very solid. Screen hinges have just the right amount of tension. The power brick is huge. I thought my old brick was big, but this one is about an inch wider and longer. I don't have a ruler nearby but estimated it to be 3"x6.5"x1.25". One of the features I like about MSI gaming laptops is the rear power connector. This allows me to site anywhere without a power cord stretched across my lap. My old laptop's power adapter had a right angle, where this one is straight. I prefer the angled adapter because it places less tension on the cable. The DVD drive has no eject button. You have to press a button on the S-bar to eject. This is my first machine without a button but so far it has not been an issue for me. I sorta like the s-Bar eject feature over searching for an eject button on the drive.

Sound +

Couldn't believe my ears. There is a demo which comes with this laptop called Stone Giant. Run it to hear the full effects of this laptop's sound quality. The program is difficult to exit however, so I had to watch the entire show. Run it full resolution. Don't expect booming base because the laptops just don't have the speakers capable of such but the clarity is astounding.

Very pleased with this laptop thus far.

Games played with no issues on max settings, (WOW, Ultra settings, obtain 60fps in SW), (Crysis 2, max Settings), (Battlefield 3, max settings). Laptop fans will kick in (they are quiet) and blow some warmer air when playing these games on max settings. The laptop has a touch button to increase fan speed to assist removing the hot air (noticeable noise of course).

Installed a Samsung 830 series,128GB SSD, . Now getting bootup to Windows login in about 12-15 seconds. Windows login to desktop is about a second.

Buy MSI G Series GT780DX-406US 17.3-Inch Laptop Now

This is more of a review concerning MSIs business practices rather then on the PC itself. Laptop was received quickly from Beach Audio. I went to install SWTOR and it failed on the first DVD. 5 minutes later I had a Blue Screen crash. The laptop has since crashed so many times I lost count. I emailed MSI and left numerous voice-mails and finally received a reply. Seems this laptop has a bad MB and get this! MSI wants me to pay to ship it to them to fix their defective laptop! If I return it to the Amazon etailor the only way they will pay for shipping is if I order another laptop and charge my credit card again and wait 2 weeks for a credit back to the card, but if I just want to return it I have to pay shipping!!! I really wanted to love this laptop it has many nice features, but unfortunately it has given me nothing but problems. I tried many different OSs, HDs and memory configurations, but to no avail. What a waste of my time! MSI needs to learn how to service customers immediately and with proper procedures.

attached are some other comments about MSI...MSI support is terrible...I got a MSI GT780r after 2 weeks got an RMA# send it back, the laptop arrived yesterday at MSI headquarters... I am on hold right now waiting for over 30 minutes and I have to keep pressing star on the phone, if I do not the phone call is terminated, when I got a hold of someone is a voice mail. I find the phone choices on the menu very misleading also. I hope they fix the laptop really good it cost me with insurance to send it back, $42.00.

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I bought this laptop not knowing what to expect as i had originally intended to purchase a machine from alienware. After searching for cheaper alternatives I came across the MSi GT780DX. Not only was it cheaper than its dell made equivalent (by over $200), but it's specifications were far better. 12 GB or ram compared to 4 GB!!!! NO contest.... (and that's not the only specification that is better). I've had no troubles with the laptop after almost 2 months and am very satisfied with my purchase. I've thrown at least 20 graphically demanding games at this machine and it has yet to slow down. Well done MSi.

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The GT780DX stays very Cool under Load, consistently pushing the graphics the GPU temperature never rises beyond 40c. A welcomed changed from previous gaming PC configurations I have owned. You will be able to tell the difference after the first 45 minutes of game play. No noise.

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Toshiba Satellite C655d-5300

The quick description says this computer is an intel computer, but the processor is actually an AMD E-300. This is not a negative. I have an laptop running an AMD E-350 and the price/performance rato is amazing. Just wanted to let you know that you will not find an "intel inside" decal on this.

Nice surprise......all you need plus duel core.....fast for a 1.3ghz ...Very sharp picture.......Windows 7 home premium

great value for the price.........

Buy Toshiba Satellite C655d-5300 Now

This is a fantastic sub-500 laptop that features a CPU marked at 1.3 Ghz but rated to 1.95 Ghz, and a very nice graphics card for the money. The hard-drive is relatively small, but is sufficient for most office and school needs. The 4.5 GB DDR3 RAM is nice also, good for multitasking. the 15.6 inch screen is fantastic, and has great color depth and, being covered with glass, is easy to clean. The full sized keyboard is nice, though some buttons are in un-orthodox positions, but they are easy to get accustomed to. The island style keys help to avoid typos. The battery life with display turned down is approximately 6 hours with light use, with heavy use (playing medieval 2 total war with volume all the way up, graphics settings all on max, and brightness all the way up) yielded a battery life of about 4 hours, which is phenomenal. All that being said, the speakers are very sub-par, a trait I have noticed on several of my other Toshiba laptops, and it is recommended that you purchase external powered speakers. Another minus is that they volume controls and brightness are controlled through some Toshiba program that displays a dark gray bar over things you are working on, and fails to properly initiate sometimes, forcing you to reboot or disable the software (this seems to be one of those flashy things laptop makers include for the "wow" factor, similar to HP's quick launch garbage). It comes loaded with a bunch of useless and near-useless bloatware from the manufacturer, like "Toshiba book place" which launches by default, and Norton internet security is on there, which is an awful choice, so I just deleted those things and disabled them in start-up through msconfig. For those interested, it features a wireless card capable of packet injection, works great with Backtrack 5 live CD. It comes with Windows 7 64bit edition, though it works flawlessly with Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, and FreeBSD (haven't tried Fedora, sorry). No complaints so far, except for the speakers. Very professional product, great for students and business applications, though gamers will be disappointed, as this can not handle titles published within the past 3 years, but it will run older titles beautifully. I would recommend it, especially to parents looking to buy their kids a good laptop for college. Hope this review was helpful.

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I got this for Christmas 2011 and here it is July and it is already broken. I am sticking with Sony from now on, never had any problems with their laptops and they are only a little bit more, but it was a gift so I didn't want to complain. You get what you pay for I guess, and that seems to follow over to customer service as well. For a company that has been sued before for hinge problems (), you would think they would be nicer to customers calling about them, but no. Because it doesn't matter how short of a time you have had the laptop, it is apparently normal wear and tear. So understand Toshiba only expects there laptops to last up to seven months before there are problems. You have been warned. Spend about $100 and get a better laptop.

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In the 7 months I have owned this, I have gone through 4 hardrives. Toshiba refuses to acknowledge an issue with the motherboard and says hardrives are unpredictable. Customer care could care about the amount of time this has cost me and they actually charge you for shipping back to you even when they repair it under warranty. Toshiba is a classic company that has forgotten that the little guy got them to where they are. Based on my experience, I will not buy any Toshiba products because their attitude toward the consumer is horrid.

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Dell XPS XPS14-3182sLV 14-Inch Ultrabook

Hi, before I begin my review, let me tell you a bit about myself. I am a tech enthusiast and I have used a wide range of laptops and smartphones. Recent laptops include:

-Dell XPS 13

-Asus UX31A

-Macbook Pro and Air

-much more

So now you know my background, I will give you my list of PROS and CONS

PROS:

Build Quality. Like the XPS 13, Dell really focused on making the build quality as premium as you can feel. I actually like this feeling more than my macbook pro. I like the rubber underbelly with aluminum casing, very high class and premium. Built like a tank.

Trackpad. A very responsive and accurate trackpad. Very big, very macbook-like.

Battery life. It lasts very long. I get about 6-7 hours when doing light web browsing.

CONS:

Screen. Like the XPS 13, Dell cheaped out on the screen. They have the same type of screen the macbook air has, but the quality is way worse, and it shows. Viewing angles are very narrow, and colors change with the slightest angle adjustment.

Size. For an "ultrabook" this thing is huge. It has an ULV (ultra low voltage) processor, found in most ultrabooks, but it is as heavy and thick as a macbook pro! For the size, the power on this XPS 14 is very low in comparison with the macbook pro. It also doesn't have a DVD player, or really anything the XPS 13 doesn't have. So to be honest, I don't even know what Dell stuffed into this giant that would explain the size. Maybe more battery?

CONCLUSION:

If you don't mind the heft, I would say this would be a better machine than the XPS 13 due to the better trackpad. Otherwise, I would highly recommend the UX31A from Asus or one of the newer haswell ultrabooks. This machine is targeting a very small audience who prefers (for whatever reason) the heftiness of this laptop over slimmer and lighter ultrabooks, even though the size doesn't give any extra power or utility.

Looked at several Ultrabooks -looking for a 14", aluminum finish, etc. Many manufacturers have similar designs, but execution is where it's at. I have Lenovo Thinkpads and Macbooks at work and other Dell desktop products. Let's go right to the pros/cons:

Pros

well-thought-out, solid chassis, little heavy (good thing).

decent keyboard, good feel

good battery life

i5-3317U good mid-range processor

Cons

screen. The 1600x900 display was a step up from 1366x768, but the viewing angles (up/down) were just too awful to keep this one. I'm no machine spec snob, but this one thing made the laptop unusable for me.

the palm rest part of the case is too soft and pliable. It attracts/absorbs grease and fingerprints like 2 minutes after you use it making it look like an (old) greasy fry pan.

Even the Inspiron 14z with it's cheaper overall build quality got this right. If you're into aesthetics, this one thing alone will convince you there's no "Mac" logo on the back.

bottom aluminum cap is hard to keep in place.

One more spin of this design should do it.

Buy Dell XPS XPS14-3182sLV 14-Inch Ultrabook Now

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Sony VAIO T Series SVT131190X 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver Mist) / 3rd gen Intel® CoreTM i5-3317U /

Great performance, sleek form factor, great price. I love this ultrabook.

It got good storage, many ports, great processor. You can add RAM with the Free slot upto 8 Gb for $20.

Very nice keyboard.

So, the fan runs and is annoying even when CPU shows no load. At the same time, CPU temp is at 50C.

Under the load, the fan is as loud as some old old desktop computer fan.

Amazing what they make in 2012 while the fan needs to cool a 17W CPU.

Buy Sony VAIO T Series SVT131190X 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver Mist) / 3rd gen Intel® CoreTM i5-3317U / Now

Every thing on this computer is great, except for the fact that the screen can flex and rub on the keyboard when just carrying it around. Be sure to buy a screen protector with it. Other than that the computer works flawlessly and runs very fast and quiet, except for the slightly louder than average cooling fan.

Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO T Series SVT131190X 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Silver Mist) / 3rd gen Intel® CoreTM i5-3317U / Here

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Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180U/B 15.4" Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive,

I just bought this computer about three weeks ago. Love the screen, bluray player is beautiful, super fast. I upgraded it to 4gb of ram but it was fast without it. I bought it for design work. Runs the entire Adobe CS3 Suite super fast.

Cons: Took me two days to uninstall all of the trial and other junk software installed by Sony. Battery life is horrible. I bought another power supply so I have one at work and one at home. The minute I unplug the thing from the wall it says 91% battery life remaining. ??? I have never seen such horrible battery life. I got used to my old Gateway that gave me 4 hours of battery life. I'm lucky if I get an hour just browsing the internet. This above all is the only thing that is bad about this machine. If the battery were better I would give it five stars.

I purchased a computer and it arrived. Taking the machine out of the box, I was very pleased with the look and feel and design of the computer itself. However, after the computer booted up, I realized just how unusable this product was out of the box. The machine comes with more trialware installed than any reasonable person should have to put up with. The software was so overrun with trialware that the machine crawled after booting up. All of the trialware started popping up dialogs asking me to update my software and and asking me to purchase full versions. The computer was utterly useless. I had to format the computer and put a clean version of Windows Vista on the box. However, this machine doesn't come with ANY disk -not even a recovery disk. If you want a recovery disk, you have to pay for it. The downside to that is, even if you had a recovery disk, you'd still end up installing all of the trialware again.

Sony did a great job with the computer, but their execution on the full user experience makes me rate this computer poorly. Had Sony at least given me the ability to completely wipe the computer to a clean Vista install, I would have rated it a 2. Had they simply supplied installation CDs for the trialware and shipped the clean machine without anything pre-installed, I would have given this computer a 4 our of 5. Thanks for listening.

Buy Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180U/B 15.4" Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, Now

I was nervous about buying a new computer with Windows Vista, but, this computer is sweet! It is fast and has improved my ability to communicate with my office significantly. Other than a blip with one program, which I was able to fix with an upgrade to the program, Vista has worked fine.

The computer itself is thin, lightweight, and a great performer. I was able to watch feeds from Live Earth this past weekend -it was able to keep up and give me a very decent screen to watch. I look forward to taking it on the road and viewing DVDs. The touchpad mouse is an improvement from my last laptop as it is not quite as smooth and responds better to my movement. To-date the battery life has been better than my previous model as well.

Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180U/B 15.4" Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, Here

Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180E/B 15.4" Notebook PC (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, Vista Home Premium)

I own a 1st generation Powerbook Aluminum. And while I love my PB it is getting quite 'long in the tooth'. I was shopping for a replacement, and the new MacBooks start at $1999.00. A bit pricey. So I started looking at Windows laptops. The VAIO, by far, offers the best feature set, for the amount of money spent. Intel Centrino Core 2 Duo 2GH processor, 2GB ram, 200GB HD, and a Blu-Ray disc burner for under $1400!!

The machine is very peppy. The xbrite display is jaw dropping gorgeous! Very bright, colors seem vibrant, warm.

Setup was a breeze, and Vista practically connected itself, to my wireless network.

The laptop is very robust. I have had several programs open at once, including a desktop workspace manager application, for managing multiple desktops, and I did not experience any performance issues.

If there is a 'downside' to this laptop, it is that Sony loads it with so much bloatware, adware, trialware, none of which in my opinion adds any value to the machine. Boot-up time, out of the box, was a bit slow, but was noticeably faster, and quite acceptable, once I eliminated non-essential programs, from startup.

Simply put, build/finish is very nice, solid feel, robust management of multiple applications with little degradation in performance, inclusion of Blu-Ray burner sealed the deal, as the features provided, are well worth the money that was spent. A good value!

Want Sony VAIO VGN-FZ180U/B 15.4" Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7300, 2 GB RAM, 200 GB Hard Drive, Discount?

I agree with a lot of people on how much junk Sony preloads on this computer. I have removed a lot of it, but there is still more to go.. I've been using this computer about 1 month and have had NO problems.. Definitely worth what I paid for it!

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Edge E220S 12.5"

Amazon really needs to keep their descriptions more up to date. I almost didn't buy this because the description said the hard drive was 5400 RPM. I finally decided it wasn't reasonable that Amazon would be selling old equipment that wasn't even available anywhere else. My reasoning turned out to be correct. My unit came with 320 GB, 7200rpm (Hitachi HTS723232A7A364). It also has the optional Bluetooth (not mentioned in the description). The rest of the description was accurate.

I like this computer, but there is no reason for me to duplicate -there are plenty of reviews out there to read. Here are a few things I did not read in on-line reviews.

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of crapware installed. I chose to decline the Norton antivirus option. on past computers, this left a bunch of junk deeply embedded in the OS. But this time, there was no junk. Declining Microsoft Office 10 leaves files on the machine, but they are easily removed through the Programs option in the control panel.

Creating a backup USB disk is very easy and highly recommended. I use a USB hard drive for backup. After storing everything on the drive somewhere else, I used the Thinkpad utility to reformat it, then put the backup files back. Now I can boot from the USB drive, restore my system, and quickly re-add all my programs and files, should it become necessary.

This computer does not have a disk drive activity light, a feature I miss. I found the utility DriveGLEAM does a nice job. It shows disk activity in the task bar.

I ordered the computer late at night. I got it in a few hours less than 2 days -a pleasant surprise.

This is the second laptop that I bought from Lenovo. The first one was an Ideapad Y430 that operated as smooth as the first day in their 3 years time of use, and after a terrible experience with a HP tablet, I wanted to stay with Lenovo. My first option was the ultraportable Ideapad U260, but then I discovered the new ThinkPad E220s. The same size of the U260 (12.5) plus the newer Intel processors, an E-SATA connections, card reader, fingerprint reader and almost the same price.

After receiving it, I can say that it's a very beatiful machine (great design and materials), very light and compact. It's also packed with full features of a normal size laptop (i5 processor, 320 gb HD, 4gb RAM). It's very smooth and quiet, I would try to update the review after some weeks of use. It's also packed with ThinkPad programs in order to administrate energy, networks, etc.

Cons: No option for upgrade the RAM for now.

Greets

Buy Edge E220S 12.5" Now

most parts installed in the pc is good, while the total performance of the pc is not as good as it should be judged by the parts.

Also it is the only series in thinkpad with lower quality design that seems easily broken.

Read Best Reviews of Edge E220S 12.5" Here

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GIGABYTE M1305C BookTop 13.3" LCD Ultra Thin & Light / SU7300 1.3 Ghz / Window 7 / 1366x768 / 2G DD

PROS

Really good quality for the price. Amazing computer, really fast, images look great, the sound is very good for a laptop. I've had this laptop for 8 months now, I use ALL day, every day since I am a student of web development in California, so when I am not studying I am on skype.

Very light, thin. It comes with a docking station, and the docking station has an extra video card GEFORCE in it!!!!

CONS

The keyboard is not the most comfortable one, but I got used to it in a few days.

It does not have hardware for volume control. Just access through software.

Cons are actually minor things against the Pros that are real great. The best software of 2010 for me.

THERE IS NO INCLUDED DOCKING STATION!!! n Otherwise a pretty sweet machine. Not REAL fast, but nicely made, quiet, altogether a good unit.

Buy GIGABYTE M1305C BookTop 13.3" LCD Ultra Thin & Light / SU7300 1.3 Ghz / Window 7 / 1366x768 / 2G DD Now

This laptop is not open source friendly. If you plan to run Linux on this laptop be prepared to work out the bugs.for starters. I have worked Ubuntu 10.04 amd64 lts into a mostly usable box. Due to the Nvidia card on the dock, open source 3d is not much of an option. Current proprietary Nvidia drivers render X into an unloadable state. Pushing through logs. :/

Read Best Reviews of GIGABYTE M1305C BookTop 13.3" LCD Ultra Thin & Light / SU7300 1.3 Ghz / Window 7 / 1366x768 / 2G DD Here

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Samsung ATIV Smart PC 500T (Tablet Only)

I bought this because I was looking for thin/light tablet to replace my current ipad/laptop combo. I needed a tablet with full Windows 8 so that I could run older programs and games. Besides the standard review, I will be updating this post with games that I find are playable on this Atom (Clover Trail) powered tablet.

Playable games so far:

Torchlight 1

Battle for Middle Earth 2

Farcry 1

SNES Emulator: Using my iPhone as an SNES Controller.

Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind

Playstation Emulator: Played a bit of FFVII, takes a lot of tweaking, but I got it to run smooth and look good. I haven't gotten the iPhone gamepad working with the emulator yet.

Unplayable:

World of Warcraft

Diablo III

Basically, any old strategy, puzzle, adventure game should work. Current generation games will need the i5 I think. I'll be trying more games on the Playstation 1 Emulator soon.

Windows 8:

When I first saw videos of windows 8 in action, I felt it was going to be Vista 2.0. After actually using it on a tablet, I feel it is the best OS for tablet computing. Switching between open programs, quickly seeing what is open, and having multiple programs up on the display at the same time is very easy to do. Some of these features are either difficult to do, or not possible on other mobile OS's. Powering on is very quick, even when the tablet is powered off completely. There is not much different between the iPad and Win8 in power-on times from a cold boot. For security, Windows 8 lets you login with a Windows Live ID, which syncs your settings across you're windows 8 devices (Backgrounds, passwords, etc). You can choose to use a standard password, or use a number (Pin) code (which is what I prefer for speed), or a picture login (you touch/swipe parts of the login picture and that is your password).

The Start screen is filled with active tiles (as apposed to dead icons like the ipad) that cycle through relevant information (Email/News/Weather/etc.) without having to actually open those programs. Time/Date/Battery/Wifi info can be brought up at any time by swiping from the right side of the screen. I used to hate having to power-cycle my ipads display just to get the time/date. Start screen tiles can be arranged in groups to your liking. You can swipe from the left side of the screen to cycle through open programs, or see a list. You can grab any open program and either slide it to your main window, or snap it as a side-app next to your main window, either to the left or the right of the main window. As an example, I like having my email up in a side-window, while browsing the internet in the main window. No more having to switch to my email app. You could also put a movie on one of your side windows, or music. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple/Google add these features in the near future.

The Windows desktop still exists, and is used mainly for legacy support for non-windows8 programs. Eventually all programs should have a Windows8 version that can run through the Start screen (aka metro interface). Until then, it is nice to know I can run Visual Studio, Photoshop, Morrowind =) , on my very portable tablet. As an IT professional, having a full version of Windows 8 is invaluable. Non-windows8 programs may run slow on these tablets with Atom processors, but it is a small trade-off to get a very thin and light tablet with a full version of windows 8.

Battery Life:

The battery seems to last forever on these Atom powered tablets. I can use it all day for work, play games during lunch, watch movies when I get home, all without having to plug it in. And because I can't play a lot of graphics intensive games (yet), this tablet Is far outlasting my iPad.

Cost:

In general Windows RT tablets are $500 for a 32GB version without a keyboard, and $600 with a keyboard. Upgrading to larger hard drives (64Gb/128GB) increase the cost as well. Windows RT will not be able to run old programs but they do use an ARM processor that has better graphics performance (for now). These Atom powered tablets are between $600 and $800. They start with 64GB hard drives, and some include a keyboard. Not all Atom tablets are the same. Some have digitizers, and some don't. I feel that the larger hard drive, digitizer, and full version of Windows 8 is worth an extra $50-$100 more over the Windows RT Tablets.

Display:

The display is nowhere near as good as the iPad 3/4s Retina display. But it is good enough for web browsing/email/MSoffice/light gaming. It is very bright, but hard to see under direct sunlight. I really wanted a 1900x1000+ display, but the cost is just too much. Overall I am happy with this tablets 1366x768 resolution. It is perfect for watching movies. If you do any kind of artsy graphics stuff, you may need to invest in the higher cost, more bulky i5 tablets until manufacturers see a larger demand from us for better displays, on thinner/lighter/cheaper tablets.

Size:

The size made me hesitate a bit before I bought this. Coming from an iPad, I was hoping for a tablet that had similar dimensions. The iPad seems more balanced for holding it with one hand by the edge of the tablet. This one is designed to be used primarily in landscape mode, but because it is so wide, it makes it hard to hold it by the edge. I have found that it is more comfortable to just hold it by placing my hand on the back of the tablet like holding a pizza. Some people may have to pass on these wide tablets due to the preference of holding the tablet by the edge of the screen. Functionally though, Windows 8 takes full advantage of the wide format for having multiple programs on the screen at the same time. The thickness is just about the same as the iPad, and I am happy with it. .38" vs .37"

Sound:

Amazing. Stereo speakers on the edges of the tablet in landscape mode. It's nice to finally have stereo sound on a tablet for watching movies, listening to music and playing games. Don't expect much bass.

Weight:

Very light. Just slightly heavier than the iPad 4. 1.65 lb. vs 1.44 lb. The wide format makes it seem heavier than it is though. I am leery of upgrading to the Surface Pro or any other i5 tablet because they start to reach 2 lb. or higher. I want my tablet to remain a tablet. Hopefully technology will advance quickly so that we can have thin/light/HD display tablets that have the power to play high quality 3d games and do artist stuff. For now, I opted to have a light tablet that makes sacrifices elsewhere.

Digitizer:

Coming from an iPad I did not know what I was missing. Not all of the Windows 8 tablets have a digitizer, so you will need to decide if you want one that does, and shop accordingly. This adds an extra layer to the display that detects the stylus (it shows a dot on the screen when the stylus gets close to the screen). Hovering over a program or icon is the same as hovering your mouse over a program on a Desktop PC. you don't have to touch the screen. Touching the screen is like a left-click on a mouse. Pressing the button on the Stylus while pressing the screen initiates a right-click. (These functions change depending on what program you are using). The digitizer used in the Samsung tablets is a Wacom, which I believe has 1024 points of pressure detection. This allows you to change the thickness of the lines depending how hard you are pressing on the screen. In note-taking programs, when the screen detects the stylus is close to the screen, the program will ignore youre palm, making it much easier to take notes. Some programs perform great with the digitizer, and some are slow/delayed. I think the Atom processer does a good job with processing digitizer input for the most part. For artists, I would say a digitizer is a must have. The stylus is kind of small, and it is stored in the case of the tablet. It is very difficult to remove and I think they should have improved on this. Overall, I am going to like notetaking a lot better from now on.

Performance:

The Intel Atom Clover Trail chip is optimized for windows 8, and battery life. Perfect for a productivity tablet. The built-in graphics processing unit (GPU) is faster than the iPad 2, but slower than the iPad 3/4. I believe this was to improve battery life, and cut down on costs. The drivers for the GPU need some work before it can play full screen 3D games at its full potential. Expect games to perform better after a driver update is released in the future. Advances in technology should allow Intel to provide a better gaming experience without sacrificing battery life, size, weight of the tablet. Aside from gaming, I am happy with the performance of the Atom. Metro apps are flawless. Older desktop apps can sometimes lag, but overall they work fine. I was able to watch full HD 1080p movies with no issues. Old games that don't rely on GPU's perform good. See my list of playable games for an example.

Connectors/Ports:

This has a full, built-in USB 2.0 port, and MicroSD slot, and a MiniHDMI port. The USB port is great for connecting Flash Drives/Hard Drives/ peripherals, without the need for an adaptor. I outfitted my MicroSD slot with a 64GB memory card where I Store my downloads/Music/Movies/Games. I have not tried the MiniHDMI port yet.

My list of Cons:

The Keyboard Dock is unavailable. Aftermarket covers with built-in stands are not available yet. I will be buying the Microsoft Wedge Mobile keyboard. The cover doubles as a stand for the tablet. This will be smaller than the official Dock making it easier to keep with me should I need it.

As already discussed. The Graphics drivers could use an update to take full advantage of the GPU.

The case is made out of plastic. It flexes and feels kind of cheap. This obviously does not effect the performance and features.

That's it. There used to be issues with sound and the digitizer, but Samsung updates fixed them. Just run the Samsung updater when you get your tablet. A work-around is to disable the sound/digitizer in the Device Manager, and then re-enable them. Or just reboot.

Note: If you royally mess up your tablet, you can restore it to factory defaults:

Hold down the Volume-UP button while turning on the tablet to enter the Windows Troubleshooting utility.

Also note that Windows Restore Points are not enabled by default. If you want to be able to go back to a certain point in time, do the following:

To enable System Protection: Go to the desktop, swipe the screen from the right side to bring up the settings panel. Click on "Control Panel". Click on "System and Security" and then click on "System". Then select "System Protection". Then press the "Configure" button. Turn system protection on, then create a restore point right away. Installing updates does not automatically create a restore point like I thought it would. Just create a restore point before any system updates to be safe (not necessary for program updates)

As an owner of tablets before the ipad and all 3 ipad variations including the "new" ipad, I have always struggled to get rid of that feeling of it either being too cumbersome for use(pre-ipads), or just a toy with few cool uses(ipads). I think with this tablet, I have finally found what I am looking for. I am so happy with it, I am actually writing the first review I have ever done for a product.

Ability to hook up common usb peripherals and use them? Check external DVD, USB stick were a breeze to use and install programs (.iso of software CD's, etc). Flawless, and convenient.

Ability to use the programs I have already purchased for my home machine? Check Office 2010, adobe photoshop, etc they all worked without issue. I just can't emphasize how nice this is to finally have in a tablet. I even put world of warcraft on for the heck of it just because I could.

Ability to expand through a Micro SD card? Check bought a 64GB class 10 card and have Apps installed on it (yes, you can install apps to the microSD card) as well as videos, games, MP3's and pictures. Very handy, doesn't fill the O/S drive with unnecessary items.

Great Screen? Check even coming from a retina ipad user. Bright, vivid display with good sharp resolution. The auto brightness is a tad harsh at times, but that can be adjusted in the power settings.

Great battery? Check hours and hours of play each day for the last two days, and the remaining battery life frankly blew me away each night (60%+ available). This is through installing programs, playing games, watching videos, surfing the web (can't count the number of times my son looped that gangum style song on you tube!?!). Very impressed with battery life for a full featured machine.

Windows 8? Not as bad as I thought. I was anticipating a train wreck that would take me a long time to get used to. It is well done and feels good on the tablet. Not sure I am up for putting it on my home machine yet, but on the tablet, it really goes a long ways to make it the experience it is. Also, Samsung includes a program if you use the "SW Updater" that puts the start button functionality basically back on your desktop. Samsung did a nice job with the pen that you get with the tablet as well that thing is handy in OneNote, it can even read my terrible handwriting. When you have to bounce to the desktop, it is also a nice feature to be able to use the pen and click, drag, right-click. Not necessary, but nice none the less.

Processor Speed? Again, not as bad as I thought. I almost didn't buy it when I saw "atom". Perhaps intel should change the name, because this processor actually performs well. It seemed sluggish for the first few hours, but after that it has really been peppy. Perhaps there were some things installing in the background, or maybe uninstalling Norton bloatware did it, but the performance of the Atom processor has exceeded my expectations.

I think the build quality of the tablet is very nice good clean edges, great sounding speakers that point toward you, well placed inputs on the edges. As far as "feel" of the materials, I find it very similar to my wife's Galaxy S3. It is lighter than I expected for the size, but the size poses issues I mention below (non-standard nothing fits it).

Negatives? No docking station in stock anywhere I mean I have tried all over. No Cases and covers available for it yet. I am currently using a $12 sleeve I bought at a discount retailer (actually fits nice, made by merkury) that will have to hold me over until I find something real. The charger for it is like a laptop charger that plugs into the wall (has a mini brick). I don't see any Car adapters for it available, and would guess it will be expensive as you can't seem to use a common USB type charger for it.

Overall, those few negatives aside which time may fix, I love this thing. More than I expected. Thanks Samsung and Microsoft for finally making the tablet I have been waiting for.

Buy Samsung ATIV Smart PC 500T (Tablet Only) Now

I received this tablet with keyboard dock from Amazon on November 13 and experienced a number of problems, detailed in this review. However, I wanted to post my most recent experience at the top of the review so you can know what to expect if you buy the tablet today. My original review is posted below.

Latest Update 12/17/2012:

Samsung released driver updates at the end of last week for the chipset, sound card, and Bluetooth chip. I am glad to say that since those drivers were released, nearly every problem I've had with the tablet has been resolved. Sound is now 100% reliable with no clicking from the speakers, wifi connects reliably every time, and there seem to be no more random freeze ups. The keyboard dock has gradually become more reliable to the point where it has not disconnected in days (I think the connector just needs to "break in" a bit.) I have been pleased enough with this tablet over the last week that I ordered two additional units, one for the lab I work in, and another as a gift. The unit for the lab did experience keyboard disconnects at first, but over several days of use they have declined just like they did with mine. Like any first generation device, this one did have a few rough edges at first, but I'm impressed that Samsung has relatively quickly released updated drivers that solve nearly all the problems. For now I am leaving my review at 2 stars so that this review remains as the "most helpful critical review", but eventually I will update the rating to reflect my current feelings. If you have been eyeing this tablet and hesitating to buy it because of the reported problems, go ahead and buy it. If you run the included SW Update utility to get all the latest drivers, you will be very happy with the Samsung Ativ Smart PC.

Original Review:

I purchased the version with the keyboard dock from Amazon on October 29, and received it November 13. The tablet itself is everything it's made out to be, but the keyboard dock has a major problem. While comfortable to type on, it has a terrible problem where the connection between the keyboard and the screen is lost randomly while typing. The problem occurs most frequently when the system is resting on my lap, as opposed to on a desk. It is made worse if I use the touch screen before typing, or if my legs are angled downward. I believe the issue lies in a poorly designed docking connector on the keyboard. While the tablet does "lock" into place, it is not locked tightly enough to ensure a secure and reliable connection. When the problem occurs, a firm press to push the tablet back into the dock usually resolves it, but it's really annoying to have to do this constantly. In addition, when the keyboard connection is lost, so are the USB ports on the keyboard dock. I've already suffered failed file transfers while installing programs due to this issue.

For the time being, I will keep the tablet and see whether this becomes a serious issue, or whether it's just an intermittent annoyance. However, I cannot recommend the tablet/keyboard dock combination to anyone since Samsung is charging a $100 premium for a keyboard dock that simply doesn't work properly.

UPDATE 11/16/2012

I've used the tablet for a few days now, and my initial disappointment has been tempered somewhat by the amazingness of the tablet itself, as well as by discovering a method to reduce the frequency of the keyboard disconnects. First, regarding the keyboard dock. I discovered that if I firmly press the keyboard into the dock and then push the tablet to the right in order to fully engage the latching mechanism, the frequency of keyboard disconnects is reduced dramatically. I was initially experiencing keyboard disconnects nearly every 30 seconds, but after starting to push the tablet to the right when docking with the keyboard, the disconnects have decreased to maybe once or twice per day. It seems like taking a second every now and then to ensure the tablet is securely docked does a lot to prevent the disconnects.

Now, I haven't said anything about the tablet itself yet. Quite simply, it's amazing. There are a few minor issues that will probably be resolved with driver updates including occasionally glitchy Windows sound effects (resolved by reboot), and an unreliable S Camera app (though the Microsoft camera app works fine). The tablet is extremely fast and does not at all feel like an Atom processor. Websites load quickly and scrolling is smooth. The wifi signal strength is great, and it connected to my university's WPA-Enterprise encrypted network without a hitch (previous tablets I've had have struggled with this). The ambient light sensor is acceptable, though not the best (running SW Update to get the latest driver improves it a lot compared to the driver the computer ships with). The extremely wide, glossy screen looks spectacular and is great for viewing HD content (unlike the iPad's 4:3 screen). HD videos from Youtube and elsewhere play back perfectly. I was also impressed with the quality of the speakers. Despite having a super-thin slate form factor, the 2x0.8W speakers sound incredible better than many laptops I've used, and the volume is louder than you'd expect to get from a device of this type. I was also impressed with the tablet's ability to play MP3's over Bluetooth audio (A2DP) while the computer is in sleep mode, and also how resume from sleep mode is literally instant (no more 5-10 second wait like on most Windows 7 PC's.) The inking experience is great, just like you'd expect from any Wacom-powered tablet, and it's very convenient to be able to store the stylus inside the computer. The included stylus is short (crayon size) and does not have an eraser, so beware that to erase ink in the free Microsoft OneNote app, you will either need to rely on the Undo command or select and delete the ink manually (there is no eraser tool in the free OneNote app, unlike the full Office 2013 OneNote). Another option if you're inking often is to purchase a full size Wacom stylus that includes an eraser on the top. (The tablet DOES recognize the eraser on other Wacom styluses, I tested it.) This resolves the issue with erasing ink in the free OneNote, and is also more comfortable to write with.

Overall, my feelings about this system have changed drastically from when I first posted the angry review about the keyboard issue, so I'm increasing my rating to 4 stars. The missing star is for the occasional keyboard disconnects, and the lingering driver issues with the camera and the sound card. I'll post another update if I discover anything new!

UPDATE 11/25/2012:

A new annoying problem has started to occur on my tablet. The wifi will frequently fail to connect when I turn the tablet on. I'm subtracting a star because of this. It often takes 2-3 attempts of cycling Airplane Mode on/off to get it to connect. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling the driver to no avail. Hoping a driver update fixes this, because other than the wifi issue I am loving my tablet. Even the keyboard disconnects that bothered me originally have been less and less frequent. I credit that mostly to me being more conscious of whether the tablet is securely seated in the dock, and pushing it in every now and then to make sure.

UPDATE 12/2/2012

The wifi problem has continued. Yesterday it took me a full 10 minutes of playing with the Airplane Mode toggle, connecting/disconnecting, sleep/wake, restart, and full shutdown/restart, before it finally connected. I have an email in to Samsung support about this issue, but have not received a response yet. If you search for "Samsung Ativ Wonky Wifi", you'll find a professional review of the tablet that also mentions this issue. This wifi problem is really ruining the fun with this unit. At least the keyboard dock issue could be quickly fixed when it occurred by pushing the tablet into the keyboard dock, but this wifi issue has no easy solution and is extremely disruptive. I'm subtracting another star, and I'm thinking about subtracting another, especially if Samsung support can't help out.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung ATIV Smart PC 500T (Tablet Only) Here

Coming from an Android, I must say this product is fantastic. Mine is extremely fast, without lag on all Metro apps, and the majority of x86 apps (word, excel, onenote..)

However, the standard x86 PDF reader (Adobe Acrobat) does lag a bit.. no worries though the Metro PDF viewer is excellent.

EDIT I've changed the Adobe settings to .show current page only. and now it doesnt lag at all, even on my ginourmous PDFs

The digital pen is AWESOME. I had no idea what I was missing out on when I was using my capacitive-only Android. The pen is exceptional in the desktop mode because in desktop mode, icons are slightly small (11.6 inch vs 13/14/15 inch screens on regular laptops) and easy to mis-press when using the finger.

My tablet had no lag whatsoever during inking in onenote, samsung note, and MS Paint. I don't use photoshop, so I can't say anything about that.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED THAT YOU GET THIS TABLET WITHOUT THE KEYBOARD.

Keyboard is ~100 bucks extra and several reviews have mentioned problems about the keyboard falling out.

What I've done is get a $10 USB keyboard (Bluetooth works as well) and a 1-to-4 USB expander so I can use the keyboard while using flash drives and such. Once aftermarket cases come out, I'll get a case/stand for my Samsung 500t.

Want Samsung ATIV Smart PC 500T (Tablet Only) Discount?

As many others, I questioned the capability of a tablet powered by an ATOM Intel processor. Netbooks powered by the Atom often were quite underpowered and tedious to

work with. But the ATIV Smart PC (with its dual core Atom and Windows 8) is a pleasant surprise. It is quick. Windows open and close quickly and apps launch quickly.

I installed Office, ITunes, PowerDVD, and had no problems running any of the aforementioned programs. Microsoft crippled the media player (too few codecs), but will

rectify that situation by offering a free Media Center update. The ATIV tablet has a large screen with sufficient resolution of make viewing pleasant. A regular sized USB port is

a welcome addition to a tablet. The onscreen keyboard is large and easy to type on. One can install legacy apps by simply attaching a USB thumb drive or a portable

DVD drive, or downloading files from the internet. Since the ATIV Smart PC only has a 64 gig hard drive, one needs to be careful not to overload the system with

apps and media files. But the USB port makes it easy to add video files via a thumb drive. Battery life also seem quite

good (around 6-7 hours of normal use) since the ATOM is very energy efficient. While a tablet with a third generation, I3, I5,

or I7 would not doubt be faster, it probably would have a shorter battery life in a tablet as thin and light as the ATIV Smart PC.

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