Apple MacBook Air MB940LL/A 13.3 Inch Laptop

First, I was very anxious to get it, so when arrived at the end of the "arrival time estimate" I was antsy for it. But it was worth the wait. Good condition as described, works well. No DVD slot, which I did not know when I bought it, but I was unfamiliar with Apple products at the time so I didn't know the Air was missing it. I may have bought a Pro instead for that reason alone. Overall, Apple suits me better than their competition. I am glad Amazon offers used items . I could not have afforded this otherwise. Thanks Amazon and sellers!!

After using this laptop for over 4 years, it still performs better then my new PC. The SSD keeps it running, it's still compatible with Apple's latest software. Works well, doesn't lag at all. Build quality is amazing. It still works great.

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Lenovo Ideapad Z570 i5-2430M Dual 2.9GHz 8GB 750GB WiDi Win7HP-64 15.6" 10249ZU 15.6" HDMI 6-Cell/5

Cannot connect wirelessly. Ran a manual diagnostic test and says "failed", "driver version does not support intel PROSet/Wireless..." So frustrating!

Works flawless. Very happy. No issues at all. It is robust, wish the screen size be a little bigger. Actually bought 2 of them

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Dell Inspiron 15 1564 i3 4GB 320GB DVDRW 15.6" Windows 7

This is one of the best laptops I've ever purchased, and I've gone through plenty. The combo of Windows 7 Home Premium, Intel's i3 processor and 4GB of DDR3 RAM make for a fast and smooth functioning PC. Battery life is on par with other laptops. The LED display is very nice and for a 15.6" screen, it's lighter than I expected. Looks great, I like the slim form factor makes it similar to a Macbook in that regard! A+ for Dell on this laptop.

Just a caution about purchasing a USED Dell Laptop. Dell has become very demanding about transferring ownership. Probably for several reasons they now require the name, address and purchase order number OF THE ORIGINAL purchaser before they will transfer ownership.

Why should the prospective buyer care? Simply because without transferring ownership, the new owner may not be able to get the computer serviced. Often newer used computers have a warranty remaining. That is a VALUABLE portion of the purchase price.

My suggestion is get a written statement from the person you are buying from that they are the ORIGINAL owner. Ask them to send the service tag number in that e-mail. Ask them to assure you that they will help with the transfer. Ask them to agree to take the computer back for a full refund if Dell refuses to transfer ownership. Then, as soon as the computer arrives, go to the Dell website and attempt to transfer ownership. If Dell will not transfer ownership, you may want to consider returning the item.

If you don't care about being the actual owner of record of the computer, then please ignore the above.

This is not written specifically concerning used laptops listed on Amazon or anywhere else. This is a general statement of caution.

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I own one of these, bought it NEW and after 6 months, I had to warranty it out through Dell because the HD crashed on it and had to be replaced. Mind you, I use this for business only, so I never download anything onto it & use it for E-mail, surfing the web for information and FB. Now my keypad types words in that I did not press & it is overheating so it is again going to Dell for another Warranty Repair. I called Dell and purchased another warranty before mine expired because you can not trust this Laptop. One of my acquaintances has the same Laptop and has had the same exact issues and has also had to have them repaired.

The space by where the mouse is, is silver and gets very hot, my fans are not working right & that is causing overheating according to Dell. This is the biggest pile of junk I have ever owned and as soon as my warranty is up again, I am not paying another $110.00 I am buying a Acer or HP. SAVE THE HEADACHE & BUY ANOTHER BRAND!!!!

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Probook 4430S 14" I5-2410M

This laptop really lives up to its description: ultra portability without sacrificing performance. I'm posting this review after a two week of ownership.

Good bright display, Awesome aluminum design, bluetooth and keyboard. One open SO-DIMM slot for cheap expansion. Excellent hinges. Decent webcam and audio. Fingerprint scanner is great. Great battery life. Fast Sandy Bridge processor. USB 3.0 port removes the USB bottle neck from external devices. Great for external hard drives. 4 USB ports, more than usual in this form factor. Doesn't have a ton of blue LEDs everywhere to distract you. All leds are white or amber depending on status and aren't bright or annoying. Windows 7 Pro 64bit. The fan is quiet, and it won't set your lap on fire. Sturdy construction. Light and easy to manipulate with one hand.

The biggest issue is the bloatware. You're going to want to do a reinstall right away (bcoz lots of HP unwanted software's)the other thing it has HDD with 4 Primary Partitions (Boot, C:drive, HP Recovery & HP Tools)means you are not able to shrink your C to create more logical partition and if you need more partitions you needs to reinstall and by using HP's restore partition you'll just end up right where you started. Going to contact HP support for getting installation media to reinstall my machine according as per my wish with Hard disk Partitions. Except this this machine is really fast and great

Few Updates : If you have little knowledge of Hardware you can even shrink your C drive for that you just need to convert your C from primary to Logical and after that you can create more partitions all logical ..don't worry about loosing OS, as system boots from Boot partition, I tried it myself and now have four partition of C drive as C,D,E & F.

After updating windows i found my System goes lil slow basically booting time... found the reason is again HP bloatware... but Not an issue i got a free CD from HP for Win 7 Pro 64 bit without any bloatware... Just the OS :)....so will going to reinstall my System with OS only ..... HP rocks :)

I am the kind of person that knows exactly what it wants on a laptop. I was looking for an especific set of features and when this laptop came into the radar I research it extensively before purchase. before purchase I called Circuit City which is the vendor who shipped the item, on their website is listed as having a USB 3.0 port same as HP website for models 4430s and 4530s, the person from circuit city told me it has USB 3.0 I also got the PDF with specifications from HP website saying so.

My laptop came without USB 3.0. I called HP and the first tech support I spoke with said they had problems with the USB 3.0 parts and some shipped out with it and after some shipped out without...WTF??? they promote this laptop as having USB 3.0 then it doesnt??

after several calls to tech support, customer service (one individual tried to convince me this model never supposed to have USB 3.0) I spoke with a HP manager in customer care, she admitted that they had an issue with some parts and that there is nothing they can do. Very dissapointed.

The laptop is fabulous, very fast and great features,great screen, HD webcam not too heavy and not bad looking, nothing wrong except that I do not want to buy a new laptop without USB 3.0.

I will send it back just because of that. If USB 3.0 is not important for you this is a great machine, I had a Pro book a couple of years ago and it was problem free and very fast.

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I've been using the computer for a week. So far it serves most of my needs well: fast, portable, decent battery, etc. My biggest issue is the up/down arrow buttons to move the cursor. To configure the keys into a nice compact rectangle, the designer made these buttons really small, i.e. half the size of a normal key on the keyboard. While this may seem trivial, it's a big problem for anybody who uses those keys a lot, especially for Excel (which, admittedly, I used much more than the average person). I'm constantly hitting the wrong button, because these cursor buttons are too small. Since this is a work issued laptop, I have to stick with it. I hook it up with another keyboard to get around the issue at work, but there's no way around it when I'm traveling.

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Very good computer. It has a good memory, and a good capacity. A little heavy, I thought I would weigh less than before I had an IBM. However, I recommend it.

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It is exactly what I was looking for. I used it at work and it works quite fast and also it has all the disk capacity I need.

I plugged on it a bigger monitor, my printer, a wireless keybord and mouse, and the scanner too.

Besides it occupies very little space and it's really light. And if I want or if I need, I can easily take it home.

I received it much more sooner than the page says, and that meant a nice suprise to me.

I am very pleasead with my purchase. Thank you.

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ASUS A53U-ES21 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mocha)

I recieved this computer yesterday and I am impressed with it's speed for the price. I purchased based on the reputation of Asus as a quality brand/manufacturer and will use it primarily for web surfing, streaming amazon prime, and light home office use. It is a very dark brown almost black color. The outer shell is a matte textured surface which is a nice change after my very shiny and fingerprint covered dell netbook. The screen is a glossy screen and is very bright and clear. The keyboard has a nice feel and includes a number pad which is a great bonus. The touchpad works well for me but I like touchpads. It started up quickly and only included a few nonesscential programs which I promptly uninstalled. Internet explorer opened quickly for the first and only time as I downloaded chrome right away. A quick test video loaded and streamed well and other websites such as facebook loaded quickly. As of right now I would recomend this Asus as the price is right and the hardware is good enough for my purposes. This is all the info I have for now but I will update with more info later.

Today I was busy installing software and uploading music into itunes and everything ran smoothly. I was able to multitask without slowing things down. The audio quality isn't amazing but it is adequate. It does not get super loud and it doesn't have great sound quality. For listening to music I would recommend headphones or plugging in some speakers. For watching streaming video it will suffice. The battery lasted for about 4.5 hours with the screen dimmed. The fan is very quiet and the palm rests really do stay cool. It also starts up, shuts down, and comes in and out of hibernation quickly. Still very happy with my purchase.

First of all, I got the -xa1 flavor of this machine about 5 months ago, but spec wise their identical. I actually purchased this computer for a friend of mine, I have the N71jq series and I knew he didn't need anything like this, but wanted him to have the ability to play some games and enjoy his computer, while also getting good battery life and productivity on the go.

I'm impressed. I was really leery of the APU especially one with low clock cycles such as this but I was way off. This is an impressive computer! Start-up and shutdown are very quick, it runs DX11 games (with moderate settings) very well, web-surfing, watching movies, and listing to music simultaneously is not a problem. I work in IT for a living (I'm obviously not a writer) and I'm very familiar with what you get at the bottom end of the laptop market. Pentium D or dual core, or dirt slow Amd equals... those processors don't cut the mustard in today higher end programs, this thing handles them well.

To sum it up... If your looking for a gaming laptop spend $1400 on a high end laptop and spend a few hundred more to stuff an SSD in it (it's worth it.) If you're on a tight budget and need a laptop that can get it done, look no further.

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I will preface this review by saying that I have been an HP guy for the last 7 or so years.

I was looking for an affordable, well built unit at a good price for my father to use. When I came across this unit at the $369 price point I could not help but order it.

First, the unit has a very solid feel. Unlike the glossy laptops out there, this unit does not show the finger prints on the case.

The unit stays extremely cool both on the wrist rests as well as on the underside.

Screen is absolutely gorgeous. Very clear, and the clear isn't especially an issue because of the gloss.

I was impressed with how little crapware was preinstalled. I got used to HP which simply loads down every machine with copious amounts of crapware that need to be removed prior to use.

Keyboard is quiet and the keys have a very nice feel when pressed.

I would certainly recommend this laptop to anyone who is looking for an entry level laptop for basic web browsing and video viewing.

Will provide updates as our use progresses.

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I purchased this for someone in desperate need of a new laptop, and she's pleased.

It's not a surprise to me, as I've gotten several AMD Fusion-based machines before this and it makes for a great overall platform for general use.

The Fusion platform doesn't win benchmarks. What it does do is allow low-cost computers to do everything pretty well.

Overall the best term to describe this laptop is "adequate."

That remark sounds negative, but it's not at all. Adequate in the sense it has enough to do everything well enough, as opposed to being too weak or lacking in any area where you have to prioritize your usage expectations in order to buy a laptop that fits into the lowest possible budget.

It looks and feels like a quality machine and has enough of everything to do well by most. The build of the casing, the keyboard (not so much the trackpad :P), the LED monitor all would feel perfectly in place on a $1000+ machine.

The included MS Office starter edition (Word and Excel) runs great.

I cannot give anything less than 5 stars to a well-built, nice looking laptop that runs everything from MS Office to games for the asking price of this one.

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I agree with all the other reviews on this laptop. I imagine it would be very difficult to top this machine for this price. No, you won't confuse it with an $800 laptop. Yes, the mouse buttons are a bit loud and obnoxious. It won't blow you away with speed. But for the money, a really nice, well built, quality laptop. When I saw that it had 4GB of memory and could be upgraded to 8GB, I figured they would cheap out and put in two 2GB modules. But they didn't there's one 4GB module and an open slot. Hooray ASUS!

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Acer 11.6" i3-330UM 1.2GHz Notebook |AS1830-33U2G25ncc

AT&T also supplies this machine if one buys their laptop with a 3G data-only plan. It has an AT&T SIM built in, but can of course be used with another carrier's MiFi or USB stick. This is a quality, solid little unit and is identical to Acer's upper-market Ultrabook design, "TimelineX." In order to get this into a low price point, though, Acer has installed an Intel Core i3, 1.2 MHz rather than the TimelineXs' i5 or i7 CPU's. In Acer's defense, however, it should be pointed out that this dual-core Intel i3 CPU is INFINITELY superior to similar units which sport such processors as Intel Atom, ARM, AMD "C" or "E's," or Samsung Exynos brains. Those were primarily designed for smartphone use and, thus, have an emphasis on low power consumption rather than raw processing power. The Intel i3 is a, "Sandy Bridge" design, the latest generation of their mobile dual-core line and from the beginning was intended for use in laptops.

From original review: "One other possibly significant difference between this and the Timeline X: this model has a slot for a multi-memory card reader, but that slot is blocked off on the i3 machine." OOOPS! That is WRONG! A day after writing this, the plastic piece I thought was a blank popped off revealing a fully functional card reader! Due to manufacturers' using the same User Guide for several models, there was no indication this reader was covered and that the piece I thought was being used to cover the slot was spring-loaded. So, in short, YES! The Acer Aspire 1830-3595 does, indeed, have a multi-card reader!

SORRY!

Overall, decent performance and very nice quality for a reasonable price. Retailers are trying to get rid of now-obsolete Windows 7 models, so it pays to shop around! There are several fine deals to be had even a couple weeks before Christmas! Second benefit to buying a Windows 7 unit: if you've tried Windows 8 on a NON-touchscreen device, you KNOW you want to stick with Windows 7!!

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Dell Inspiron 15R-2nd Gen 15.6" Notebook / 2nd Generation Intel(R) Core(tm) i7-2630QM / 6GB Memory

i orderd this produc but i didn't arrive in estimated time delivery so i made a full refund purchase the seller was verry prompt about my refund and i got my money back in no time .it's a trusted selle i may say.all good and tks about my refunds

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HP Mini 1033CL Notebook (Intel Atom Processor 1.60GHz, 10.2" LED Brightview Infinity Display, 1GB D

It is hard to believe that HP and other netbook makers packed so many features into such a small package. This HP netbook is a little bigger than the average DVD case. It is TINY...and slim too. At 2lbs and some change, you can carry this thing all day long and not even notice the weight.

The features in the 1033CL match up with other netbooks on the market. The hard drive is a bit smaller than average 60GB v/s 120GB. This model comes with 1GB RAM v/s 2GB RAM on most Vista-enabled netbooks. Not deal breakers by any means...but savy shoppers can get more bang for their netbook dollars.

Now, let's talk about this netbook. The keyboard is darn near full-sized which makes touch typing possible. I crank out 80wpm on a regular keyboard and can get near that speed on this netbook. There are a few compromises though. The touchpad has buttons on either side v/s on top like most netbooks and laptops. The arrow keys are smaller than regular keys. There is no dedicated home key and now requires two keys be pressed (fn-left arrow). Most people won't notice it but power users might have an issue.

The speaker sits directly above the keyboard and sounds great! Some laptops and netbooks put the speakers under the unit or in the palmrest (so your hand covers it!) but HP got it right. Volume is loud and sound is full. Not tinny.

The 1033CL has plenty of ports. Power, USB, headphone/mic, and Ethernet are on the left. Another USB port and a smartcard slot are on the right. The front has buttons for power and for turning off the wireless network card. (great for saving power)

Speaking of power, this netbook comes with a 3cell battery. It is good for quick trips but if you want long-term power, shoot for a 6 cell battery or better. The battery compartment is in the bottom of the unit for easy access. RAM can also be upgraded via the bottom of the unit.

The display is very crisp. 10.2 inches sounds small but the Windows XP resolution is 1024x600 so it's bigger than expected. Movies look great on it. The display has the a reflective coating on it (don't remember technical name).

A few minor annoyances with this netbook. The webcam requires a lot of background light just to get a half-way decent picture. There is a port for an external monitor but the dongle for it wasn't included in the box. HP charges extra for it. The touchpad includes a generous space for scrolling. Almost too generous. About 3/4 of an inch of the touchpad is reserved for scrolling down a page. Fortunately, it can be adjusted using software.

Overall, the 1033CL is a fun netbook. It isn't the fastest or packed with the most features but the crisp display, the almost full-sized keyboard, and the audio make this unit stand out among competitors. I'm happy I bought it. The portability of it is just addictive. I take it to the kitchen, the bedroom, the garage, the front porch, backyard and more.

In addition to the HP, I have an Asus eee, which runs Linux and has a keyboard that's just a little too small for sustained typing. The HP Mini 1033CL has a very nice keyboard and good screen resolution. I added an external optical drive and loaded MS Office with no problem.

However, for whatever reason, HP saw fit not to include a VGA port. Instead, there is an "expansion slot" that claims to carry VGA output (though an incoherent HP representative told me that it did not). HP does not yet sell a cable or adapter for this bizarre proprietary expansion slot. Thus, if you buy this machine for its portability, hoping it will reduce your luggage on business trips, as I did, you must also hope that your business does not require you to use your computer to project PowerPoint. Sadly, my business travel always requires this, and is a key reason I would sacrifice the ease of a full-sized laptop for a mini. Therefore, until such time as HP releases a proprietary connector to provide a normally-standard output dock, I will be traveling with my eee. I'd rather take the HP, but it is useless if I can't project.

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I love this laptop! it's so miniature and light-weight. I just toss it in my back pack and off I go. I also have a wireless air card which I got from AT&T, so I had get 24-7 internet anywhere. There's also many wifi hotspots nowdays to take advantage of free internet.

I'm going to Japan in a couple months. I plan to put the laptop in hibernate mode, and when I need to look up a restaurant, or places to go, or translate something, I'll have the resource with me.

Things I didn't like about the laptop:

The laptop could use a built-in bluetooth. The laptop taskbar had a bluetooth icon, but it says it's disabled, but I might get one of those miniature blueTooth dongles that sitcks out only a few millimeters. I think HP could've put in a couple more USB ports, so I carry around a USB hub just in case. Other than that, you should consider this laptop. I give it a 9.5/10 for this laptop.

HP Mini 1033CL Specsby the way, I bought mine from adilux, he/she shipped fast and insured via UPS! thanks again adilux! Kudos!

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This netbook is everything you need in a netbook. Easy to type on keyboard. nice screen and battery life. All components are quality made. The only problem I have noticed is a line developed on the screen due to it rubbing on the keyboard. Other than that, this is great.

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Finding anything on this specific Hewlett Packard HP Mini 110-1033CL was a challenge. My wife just bought one for my Grandson from COSTCO and it appears to have more features than were available in the past. For one, it has a 160GB SATA hard drive, and for another the standard battery is a 6 cell which lasts way longer than the smaller 3 cell. I haven't had much time to work with this machine but the display is fairly bright and the keyboard easy to use. My only concern was how long Microsoft plans to continue supporting Windows XP. I may turn it back in in a couple of months if HP comes out with a mini that has Windows 7 loaded, along with 4 GB of ram to make it work correctly. I suspect it will cost more as well.

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Lifebook T900 - Intel - Core I5 - 520M - 2.4 Ghz - DDR3 Sdram - 2 Gb - Serial At

I am a doctor in a busy practice. I own a Fujitsu lifebook T4220 for close to 5 years. The tablet gets used > 8 hours a day over that period. I have been very satisfied with it's durability and performance. I have been looking for a tablet with a pen digitizer and a larger screen but the 13.3" is the biggest they make theses days.

I believe the Fujitsus in my office have been surprisingly free of mechanical defects.

We use the tablet to sign off on documents , prescriptions etc., and they have worked quite well.

I would suggest getting a long term service contract (2-3 year upon purchasing the unit however given the fact it is costly to service.

Just what I needed to sign documents. Runs Windows 7 Ultimate. The screen rotation is a bit funky only in one view, but found a Youtube video on how to overcompensate for that. Other than that, this is a great laptop with a 'Real' pen for everything including taking notes, drawing, signing. Not that Capacitive Stylus crayon(y) looking stuff

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HP Elitebook 8460p Intel Core i5-2520M 2.5GHz, 250GB, 8GB DDR3, 14" (1366x768), DVD-RW, BlueTooth,

It was well packaged and arrived on time. It has Windows 7 to be like all the other office computers so we don't have to retrain the staff.

I searched for a computer with Windows 7. I heard about the problems they were having with Windows 8. This computer is fast and just what I needed.

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Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5043 TruBrite 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Was looking for a laptop with ATI Radeon graphics and this laptop was a steal for the price of 449! Got it within 2 days through Amazon and was amazed at the size of the screen. The screen is very bright since it has the Tru Bright technology and it is also a wide screen which makes it nice for videos and movies. Sound is really good for a laptop and even plays 780 HD youtube videos without trouble!

Only had this since about 4 hours ago so am getting used to everything now. Windows 7 is very different and will take time to adjust to if you have been on XP for years. One thing though this model 655D S5043 DOES NOT have a webcam, facial recognition software or the microphone in the LCD bezel like it says on this website. I checked through Toshiba website before I bought it and noticed that it did not come with it which was okay for me, but for people who see that in the description IT DOES NOT come with the cam or facial recognition software!

Here is the link to the study I talk about:Was looking for a laptop to replace my 7 year old Acer *which Acer is one of the WORST brands to buy according to a recent study*** And yes, the Acer died. It has been going out for the past 3 years with multiple hardware failures and system restores. So this worked out well since Toshiba had one of the highest ratings and least hardware malfunctions. Overall the laptop is fairly sturdy and feels solid, weighing in a little more than my other IBM Thinkpad laptop which is okay with me also. The feel and design of the outer shell is really cool and I love the keypad on the right side. The keys are kind of shifted to the left and so is the touchpad which might be hard to get used to at first. The keys are not as raised up as other computers and sit a little flatter so it might take a while to adjust. Looking at the screen is like looking at the sun it is just amazing how bright it really is! So far very happy and for this price you can NOT go wrong. The wireless connection wizard located the wireless the first time I turned it on and was setup within 1 minute. Downloading FireFox and Chrome are fast and simple. Another good thing is that there is NOTHING on the desktop except for Recycle Bin when you get the computer! Really great! This computer plays the video games I play very well without using too much CPU or slowing other programs down.

I am returning this laptop tomorrow for many reasons. I recieved this computer on September 13, 2010

First the Pro's:

(This could be difficult)

-The HD is very nice and I did play a movie on it and it had great picture quality.

-Having a standard version of a regular desktop keyboard was nice and a treat.

-It comes with only two USB ports, which may be enough for some.

-It comes with a port for a wired mouse, printer and the like.

Cons:

-It did not come with the advertised webcam or microphone. (I knew this in advance due to another posting the same about it, so I have no complaints about that...but if it is important to you, buyer beware)

-The sound quality leaves a LOT to be desired. I remedied that with my headset which will amplify sound, still a pain to have to do, when I shouldn't have to. I do not use my laptop plugged into speakers, so if I wanted to watch a movie, I had to grab the wireless headset to do so.

-If there is a way to shut off the touch pad, I never found it. But then again I was having other issues from the first few days. I use a wireless mouse and do not like the touch pad. It's location being where your palms are inevitably going to hit send you to places you really do not wish to go to while typing. That was extremely annoying to me as I'm a rapid typist and to have to continualy go find a way back to what I was doing, didn't exactly please me. The touch pad is extremely sensitive, one brush and you never can tell where you will land next.

-The computer itself is extremely sluggish. I thought I'd do okay with 2Gig's...apparently not with the work and other things I enjoy doing. If you game on sites such as Pogo or the like, you'll need more than 2 Gigs, I have no idea if this product has a way of upgrading it as other issues cropped up.

-One extremely annoying side affect was that since I use Yahoo to communicate with others and the touch pad is very sensitive I'd be calling people without meaning to on there. They would answer and say hello and I could not respond UNLESS I ran to grab my microphone headset. That irked me to no end.

-Lastly (and the reason I say I probably got a lemon) is that the computer started blacking out on me for no reason what-so-ever. First time I thought it somehow became unplugged and the battery died, but it hadn't. Rinse repeat about a dozen times in a two day period. That was enough for me to throw in the towel after less than 10 days of grief.

I gave this a two star for it's value in price...just remember you get what you pay for. If you are not one that likes to communicate via vocal or visual chat, do not use headsets, could care less about sound quality, love to use a touch pad and don't get a lemon like I did...then this computer would likely fill the bill, for the price.

Updated to add:

Major Pro's on working with Amazon. Earlier today I conversed with a representative in less than one minute via live chat, expressed my concerns (in specific) recieved an email with a return UPS label less than a minute later, and they have since updated this product to remove the fact it does not have a webcam or microphone. Now that is service at it's finest! They also got a new order from us today for a different computer!

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As a purchasing agent for a computer reseller I see a lot of laptops come and go and for the money this Toshiba is a knock-out! Yes it's only a single core with 2gig, but very fast and windows 7 64 bit works very well on it. The only thing I would change would be the SPEAKERS they are not very loud and are the weakest part of the laptop. But the rest of it is built with quality and I am very happy with it. I use it for music, watch Hulu, Netflixs on my big screen LCD without problems.

I looked and reviewed Acers, Asus, Compaqs, Lenovo, and HP laptops before getting this one and I can tell you that Acer has quality issues, the Asus was nice and has good ratings but is much more expensive, and the Compaq just felt cheap and poorly designed. HP has nice laptops for double the cost but nothing can touch this laptop at this price. The screen is gorgeous!!! And I love the matte finish. Even the touch screen is nice (at work I use two desktops exclusively) but at home I have ditched my Dell dual core 2 in favor of this laptop.

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The Toshiba Satelite 640 has been extremely unreliabile. Purchased new an 3 months later failed hard drive, mouse and screen. Sent in for repair and internal mouse was backordered with no delivery date after 30 days. Toshiba supplied refurburished computer and had screen failure in 1 month. Received repair and on start up fan drive failed. I would not recommend Toshiba to any user due to no resolution of issues.

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This is an excellent laptop for the price.

It comes with very little bloatware. The OS--Win 7-64--works great. Performance wise, it runs very smoothly for everyday activities, from web surfing to word processing. It has a bright glossy screen. Personally, I like the matte finish on the case and keyboard, which gives it a better tactile feel compared to the glossy ones out there.

One con might be that it doesn't have 4 GB of RAM, but for the price I really cannot complaint.

Hope this helps.

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HP Pavilion dv5-1000us Entertainment Notebook PC

I was very eager to get my HP Pavilion only to find that they all have an overheating problem that leads to a shot motherboard. Unfortunately even if you replace the motherboard the heating issue will not be repaired so you can look forward to replacing another motherboard until you buy a Mac in frustration. HP will not admit this is a design flaw and they need to address this so until then Bye-bye PC, Hello Mac.

I bought this laptop just over 1.5 yrs ago, but finally decided it was time to write a review on this monstrosity.

I paid over one thousand dollars for this, and having had positive experiences with HP in the past I thought this would be the perfect laptop to lug around when starting University.

Okay, I will begin by saying that I hardly ever carry this laptop around, and usually keep it sat on my desk or use it while lying in bed. The few times I have traveled with it, it has been for short extents of time and I would carry it in a highly-padded computer bag. I am positive I took better care of my laptop than many people, however, I guess that doesn't change a thing if the laptop is already poorly made. I will now list the problems I have encountered in my DV5-1000us from the day I got it up until today (1.5 yrs later):

*The easy pad (touchpad) controls stopped working many times during my first few months of use, however, now work 99% of the time. One thing that has not changed, although I believe this is simply a design flaw is that you can't skip, pause, play, or stop songs on itunes unless you have the itunes window displaying immediately infront of you. Because of this, I deem these controls useless since it's just as easy to press any of these buttons simply from the itunes window. It is also very annoying when you want to control itunes, but can't simply use the touchpad.

*The sound card: This computer has an awful sound card simply because it continually turns on and off. I have a password-login which I must use to access my computer, but if the computer falls asleep, sometimes the sound card turns off which requires me to close and reopen my computer screen, relogin and then wait a minute for my computer to allow me to actually use it while it makes a loud engine sound. It's not that bad, but quite an annoying flaw.

*The keyboard:After a few weeks of using my laptop, the keyboard buttons would easily jam and sometimes the plastic holding them to the laptop would pop up and the keys would essentially "break." They all worked, however, many became loose or stiff after this.

---And today my keyboard simply stopped working, so I am now typing on a usb keyboard (which is actually much better than my laptop keyboard and it only cost $18!) I should mention that although this laptop cost over one thousand dollars, the keyboard is not water resistant and also easily attracts dirt under the keys. It cost nearly $400 to fix my laptop keyboard (and I live in the Silicon Valley right next to HP!), and simply put: This computer itself isn't even worth $300-$400!

*The "paint job" -when you open up this laptop you will see "small, smooth metal squares." These are painted on and can easily be chipped off -my laptop is a perfect example!

*The "mouse paint job" The mouse pad on this laptop is a great size and I love that it is centered, rather than placed to the side like in some other HP DV's and Toshiba Satellites, however one day I came home after class and while studying next to it, noticed that the mousepad was scorching hot. I figured, "Hey, it's an HP!" HOWEVER, just a few minutes later I go to browse the internet and notice the metal paint job on the left-hand cursor had BURNT OFF! This was only after around six months of use, and to this day nearly the entire left-hand cursor is burnt-black.

*The graphics card: You wouldn't think it would be bad, and it's not that bad...BUT it is a very cheap, OLD graphics card and can cause computer games to skip around.

*The INTERNET: I have LOST COUNT of how many times the internet on this computer has suddenly stopped working. You will be browsing the internet and WHAM! You will close the lid to your computer and come back to it and WHAM! No matter how or when it happens, this laptop will find a way to disconnect to the internet (another reason I should mention that I simply keep it in my apartment room). It is NOT easy to reconnect the internet when this happens. Especially if you do not have access to the router, it is basically trial-and-error each time this happens -and it happens quite frequently and usually waste a few hours trying to fix it. For some reason there is no solution to this problem, because one method can fix the internet one time, and not work at all the next! ---The touchpad wifi control sometimes can mess up and stay on "disconnected/orange" even if you try and try and try to enable it and make it blue. This is NOT a portable laptop, because many times it doesn't even pick up wireless points many other laptops do!

*The safety-rubber attached to the laptop IS ATTACHED WITH FREAKING ELMER'S GLUE!!! Okay, so maybe it's not...however, a few of the pieces of rubber placed on the very bottom and screen fall off. They literally will just melt off...You will feel something sticky and realize the rubber is melting off.

*built-in microphone of poor quality. I didn't even REALIZE this laptop had a built in microphone like my mom's new mac, simply because...It doesn't pick up sound unless you have your mouth to the screen -and how many people do that?!

*CD-rom sometimes doesn't function -you will insert a CD or DVD and be all stoked to listen or watch it when nothing pops up. You go to my computer>CD/DVD-drive to notice it hasn't picked up the fact you just put a cd or dvd in. Sometimes it says, "NO DVD/CD INSERTED." and jot-fully pop out the CD/DVD door as if you really needed that lol So again, you should restart your computer...and get used to it if you buy this...

Okay, I know i doesn't sound like alot, but trust me...these cons really get to you after a while, and I haven't even mentioned (although I think this happens to most HP's), all the things which stop working and error messages which randomly pop up.

I know this is a very LONG review, but if it stops you from buying this laptop or at least lets you know what you are getting yourself into, then I'm happy.

I WANT to like this computer, and put aside all of these issues...but I just can't. If this were a $300-$400 computer (the cost to fix my keyboard haha), then I might shrug it off as annoying as it is...but what ever happened to getting what you paid for?

I do not recommend this laptop to anyone and the only reason this review is so long is because the problems-list associated with the laptop...goes on and on. :/

Buy HP Pavilion dv5-1000us Entertainment Notebook PC Now

I've had this lap top for over a year now and I am impressed to say the least. I use this machine every day for hours at a time for work, school and personal use and it still works as good as the day I bought it. I noticed a lot of people have had trouble but I assume they must of got a lemon. I def recommend this lap top. It has been great so far.

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I purchased this computer in July of 2009 and it has never failed from day one. I use it for work and home and for heavy graphic use, AutoDesk products including 3DS Max. I purchased another HP machine (Dv6) because I could not upgrade this one any further to work with the newest software I need. I would recommend the Dv5 any time and will continue to use mine as a back up till it dies. For me HP has made an excellent product.

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I purchased the Pavilion dv5-1000us to replace one that had the screen die. This is awesome and fulfilling every need and expectation.

Great price and great deal..

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Alienware AM14XR2-6667BK 14-Inch Laptop (Black)

Update 10/1/12:

I removed the optical dvd-rw and put a hard drive caddy, and the caddy + hdd works fine. Below is the amazon link of the caddy I used:

Hard Drive Caddy Tray for Apple Unibody MacBook / MacBook Pro 13 15 17 SuperDrive (Replacement Only)

Now I have the performance of SSD and the capacity of HDD (128Gb Samsung 830 ssd + 500Gb 7200rpm Seagate hdd) :)

Update 9/25/12:

I upgraded my hdd to a Samsung 830 128gb SSD, and the WEI rating for the hard drive jumped from 5.9 to 7.9! This alien is now screaming with performance! Windows bootup and shutdown are very quick now. Right after logging in from cold start, I can open internet explorer and start browsing, with hdd, you have to wait for a few seconds and wait for windows to load up after logging in.

WEI rating:

Processor: 7.6

Memory: 7.6

Graphics: 7.1

Gaming Graphics: 7.1

Primary hard disk: 7.9

My next project is to remove the optical bay and put an hdd caddy together with the original hdd to get more storage space.

Original Review:

I got my M14x directly from Dell (for those who doesn't know, Alienware was acquired by Dell around 2006) so I can make more customization to my system. I also suggest ordering directly from Dell especially if you want to upgrade the processor to i7 instead of i5, and the screen to 900p instead of 720p.

Here are the specs that I got after customization:

Intel Core i7-3610

900p (1600x900) High Def+ screen

Killer wireless-N 1202

6gb DDR3 1600Mhz

500gb 7200rpm

1gb GT 650M DDR5

Personalized Nameplate Trigger

Nebula Red

With these specs compared to Amazon (upgraded processor, screen and wireless card, but downgraded graphics from 2gb to 1gb), I still got mine cheaper. You have to talk/chat to a Dell sales rep to get discounts.. :)

To the review:

Case: Let's admit it, this is one of the reason why we're buying an Alienware system. The unique design is one of the trademarks of Alienware system, be it notebook or desktop. This is my very first alienware system, and I really like it. First look and feel after opening the box is awesome! Even though most parts are plastic, the quality is top notch. Quality and workmanship is hardly matched. The weight is 6.45 lbs and the height is 1.5 in, which is heavy and thick for a 14" notebook, but again, quality is top notch. No problem opening the lid with one hand, thanks to the heavy base unit. The rubbery, gummed surface is really very good, I prefer it than a very shiny plastic surface.

Processor: Intel Core i5-3210 IVY bridge, Intel's third-generation CPUs. If you'll use the laptop more into gaming, this processor is more than enough to play. You won't get more FPS if you upgrade to an i7. i7 is like an icing on top of a cake. However, if you will use it other than gaming, like video encoding or other cpu intensive task, you will get the benefits of quad core i7.

Memory: 6gb DDR3 1600Mhz For most users, 6gb is a plenty amount of memory. Other's would like additional ram. It is very easy to upgrade to 8gb or 16gb (16gb nowadays are also cheap and will cost you less than $100).

Graphics: Geforce GT 650M 2GB DDR5 The performance level of this graphics card reaches somewhere in the level of the previous high end cards like Geforce GTX 460M and GTX 560M. There's a 1gb and 2gb version if your buying directly from Dell, some will argue that the 2gb is better, some will say that there's no difference. If you got the extra money, go for the 2gb, if your on a budget, go for the 1gb.

Storage: 500gb 7200rpm You could actually feel the difference of 7200rpm from 5400rpm drives. Now if you want more performance and like a fast storage, you can upgrade to SSD. Once upgraded to SSD, this gaming laptop will surely scream.

Wireless connectivity: Intel Centrino 2230 This is 2x2, single band, 802.11b/g/n wifi + bluetooth 4.0. 2x2 means maximum speed you can get is 300Mbps (assuming you also have a router that supports 2x2 or 3x3). Single band means it uses 2.4ghz (If it's dual band, you can use either 2.4ghz or 5ghz) If you live in an apartment with plenty of wifi signals, you will benefit using 5ghz since it's not crowded, due to most routers only support 2.4ghz. I upgraded mine to killer wireless-n 1202, which can also do 2x2 and bluetooth 4.0, but supports dual band.

Optical drive: Slot-load dual layer dvdrw If you buy directly from Dell, there's an option to upgrade for a blu-ray drive (read-only). My suggestion, if you watch plenty of bluray movies, then go for the bluray drive. If not, and your the type of user that don't use the dvd drive, then you can buy the hdd caddy to put a 2nd hard drive. (1 ssd for the OS, and 1 hdd for media files, programs, etc.). The good thing about slot-load when your replacing the optical drive to hdd caddy, is that it's conceiled/hidden, unlike with a tray type optical drive, sometimes the front facia of the drive will not fit the hdd caddy.

Personalized Nameplate Customize yours by typing your full name, nickname or handle with a limit of 21 characters. I like this a lot! My wife and kid likes it as well (I put our nicknames on it :)). But if you buy from Amazon, I think it's pre-customized to "M14x"

Sound: Klipsch speakers This is a 2.1 speakers, yup, there's a downfiring subwoofer in this baby, and it's incredible for a 14" laptop. You can actually hear more bass compared to other notebooks.

AlienFX Lighting Controls: You can set almost any colors to 9 different zones, with sequence (transition effects): keyboard (4 zones), "Alienware" logo, Power button (alienware head), wifi led light (the tiny led indicator), the front gills (or whatever you call it) and the touchpad.

Bloatware: No bloatware! Isn't that amazing? No antivirus installed (no worries since Microsoft security essentials is a good AV and FREE), no kiddie games installed, no powerdvd etc.. It's almost like a clean install of windows 7.

The advantage of ordering from Amazon is you can get the item immediately. Choose 1 day shipping, wait 1 day and you can start playing with your new gaming rig. With Dell, it's a customized order so you have to wait a week or two (or sometimes more) before you get your order.

I'm highly recommending Alienware M14x R2!!

i must say that i had searched on amazon for several days before deciding on this laptop, and i am glad i chose this one. I had always heard mixed reviews on alienware, but i've got to say, i don't understand how anyone who has ever used one could ever not be satisfied. I am a gamer and have installed both skyrim and minecraft, and it plays both at high settings without a hickup. As for the lit keyboard it was one of those things at first that i thought, "meh i could take it or leave it" but it is actually really cool to mess around with. i would have given this computer five stars but i took off a star for having to tweak the graphic settings at the start. The default that was set was all jacked up and everything that was supposed to be white was a pale blue, after a little tweaking with the contrast and gamma i was able to alleviate the problem. for anyone that wants a great computer for a decent price, don't rule this one out.

Buy Alienware AM14XR2-6667BK 14-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

Great product. I have been a Mac user for a long time and I needed a good gamin PC. This one meets my expectations. Playing games like Skyrim or Deus ex look amazing. I only wish Amazon sold it with better specs and that the battery was easily removable.

Read Best Reviews of Alienware AM14XR2-6667BK 14-Inch Laptop (Black) Here

i had issues when i first got it, motherboard went out but Dell hurried and sent a new one and a repair man for free. skyrim is awesome on it must buy

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I read a lot of reviews and a few people complained about the fan being loud. I don't notice it. I love the keyboard. The tapered keys are great for big and small hands and the rest pads feel like silk! I love the LED lighting and the sbility to change it when ever I want. The graphics card is great! It plays BF3 with no problems at all. I have it hooked up to a 27" monitor via the VGA connection. I'll be changing that as soon as I get a mini-display adapter to DVI-D adapter.

Although it's pretty fast on its own the SATA HD by itself could use a bump. For some reason I didn't have the option of adding the mSATA SSD when I bought mine a few weeks ago. I don't know why but I didn't. I would HIGHLY recommend it as the boot drive and the 7200rpm as your storage drive. Unless you want to spend the cash and go full SSD. I'm still deciding what I want to do now but I'll be using one of the two SSD options soon enough. The mSATA is cheaper than buying your own and installing it but if you do go that route, it's REAL easy to crack the case and add it later. As is a full SSD drive. And Dell/Alienware is REAL cool about it. They have walk-through on how to do it and they specifically let you that opening it doesn't void any part of the warranty.

There are two things I don't like about it. The lack of DVI connection is the first. I have to assume the VGA adapter is due to space contraints in the chassis but who uses VGA anymore? Also, I don't like the location of the power plug. It comes straight out the back. On Dell's Latitude systems they have it to one side of the back which makes it easier to get to and less likley to get bent if you're using this on your lap. Also, they went with the LED light power plug which in the past has been an issue with other lines of Dell laptop. It's had the tendance to be a stress point.

All in all this thing is great and I'd recommend it anyone looking for a small laptop with high compute and graphics capabilities!

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Toshiba Satellite L675D-S7100 17.3" Notebook PC - Black

this is my third Toshiba Laptop thew old ones are still going but want a faster new pc these thing are work horses they just go on for ever love it

After owning several problem-free Compaq and Dell laptops over the past 15 years, I made the mistake of buying my first Toshiba, a Satellite L675D. I admit that I was enthralled by the 17" display. Big mistake. HUGE MISTAKE. Less than four months after purchase, my wife opened the laptop one evening and the screen showed a crack in the upper right corner. I sent the laptop to the Toshiba repair depot and they claim she accidently damaged it and they want $325 to repair it. BTW, the entire system only cost $530 brand new. According to Toshiba Customer Relations (and I quote) the "accident was caused by opening the case too hard". I asked how that was even possible. Seriously, how do you open a laptop too hard? Toshiba said (and I quote), "you could have pulled too hard". If anyone from Toshiba is reading this, refer to T1-1174583 case # 110 331 001 320. I swear these are exact quotes. I currently own several Toshiba products, but after this experience I will never purchase another Toshiba product of any type in my lifetime. And now whenever I see someone even looking at a Toshiba laptop in Best Buy, HHGreg, WalMart, etc, I will warn them not to even consider Toshiba. Stick with manufacturers who stand behind their products. Toshiba is not one of them.

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Dell Studio XPS 13 (1340) Laptop

We purchased one of these for our son to take to college. It has been nothing but trouble with overheating, hinges and other things. Three times Dell replaced the hard drive, which of course resulted in the loss of the software, files, etc. and required rebuilding. After the third time, I started insisting they replace it and the agreed. But now we're 5 weeks into this as the end of a semester approaches and the replacement Laptop still hasn't shippped. This has required many hours on the line with Dell over the year and the three rebuilds of the hard disk and other things. This seems to be a systemic problem with this product that Dell should have been aware of through the design and testing process and through it QA processes once the product was in the field. It kept overheating and they kept insisting that a BIOS update and things were going to fix it.

We've been long-time Dell users and have a number of Dell Systems. it's going to be easier in the future just to switch back over to HP or Toshibia or some other manufacturer with better product reliability, because Dell as failed with this. And now trying to get it replaced is something started in Oct, and yet here in Mid-Nov we can't get an estimated shipping date. Totally uancceptable.

I was also about ready to get a new powerhouse Dell desktop, but I'll buy that from a manufacturer with more reliable products too.

I have had nothing but problems with this computer. My frustration with the computer is surpassed only by my frustration with abbysmal support from Dell. It took them THREE tries just to get me a computer that had a functioning "hybrid" video card. After all that (literally tens of hours of run around from customer support), it turned out that the problem was a one-line glitch in the Dell drivers that could have been solved in about 30 seconds if anyone at Dell support had known what they were talking about. All the support people seem capable of is reading from an obviously prepared script.

Eventually they substituted a refurbished unit for the new one I ordered and would not offer me any discount (go figure). Just "sorry." Gee, thanks. They made no attempt whatsoever to even make a gesture of compensation for the many, many hours of time I wasted trying to get their $1000+ computer to work. Even though I ended up with a refurbished unit.

On that unit the DVD drive never worked and I had to have it replaced. The video card still malfunctions frequently but they can not come up with a fix other than a replacement. I am so tired of dealing with their support, that I am just sucking it up and dealing with a very sub-par performance.

Very glitchy computer, awful support. Very, very sorry I bought a Dell.

Buy Dell Studio XPS 13 (1340) Laptop Now

This is an excellent system, great graphics, speed and performance. However there is a slight heating issue with this model. After a few months of regular use, the base warped. When I sat it on a flat surface one corner did not sit flat and the whole thing bounced when I typed.. very annoying! It was under warranty so Dell replaced it (the whole unit, couldn't just replace a part) and now a few months later, the replacement is having the same issue and the whole system is being replaced again... even though I used a cooling pad on this one! I'd look at a different model, no telling what other damage the heating problem will cause after more than 3 months.

This is my first Dell, before this I've had HP for the last 10 years with no issues. My next system will be an HP.

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This machine overheats. Not just a little bit, scorching hot. Then crashes. Some may escape this affliction, but Dell should have recalled this laptop as it is more often than not defective.

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Pros: Very lightweight, decent speed, decent hard drive memory (500GB), decent ram (4GB). Overall, there's nothing that sticks out or is exceptional especially compared to what computers and laptops have to offer today.

Cons: Runs VERY HOT even when just browsing the internet or watching videos. A cooler is a must have. Even with updated bios, and drivers, the laptop runs very hot primarily due to the inefficient GPU(s) terrible frame design (the vent for the fan is on the back of the screen and is blocked when you put the screen upright in viewing position). The GPU is pathetic, and if you're looking to run modern games such as sc2, cod, bf, don't even bother with this laptop. Needing to update the bios and vbios in the first place is risky and annoying. Also in terms of aesthetics, this laptop has an uncanny attraction to grime on the keyboard, and is a fingerprint magnet. Also, battery power was found to be very poor as well, and will only get worse as time goes on w/ only about 2-3 hrs w/ low power settings. Also, had issues with the DVD drive freezing while playing DVDs, and being unable to play CDs at all.

Conclusion: For anyone looking for a light, transportable laptop that looks pretty, with some relatively mediocre specs, but enough juice to be somewhat of an entertainment machine, than this might be what you're looking for. HOWEVER, you can get another laptop with the same and/or better specs for about 400-500$ if you look well. I suggest you look elsewhere and save your money for a better investment in a laptop.

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ASUS A55VD-AB71 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

The ASUS A55VD-AB71 is simply overall an EXCELLENT laptop once you get past one or two minor inconveniences. I bought this to replace my one year old Gateway NV55S04u 15.6-Inch Laptop that I also got from Amazon in 2011. My personal policy is to replace laptops within two years of usage but after seeing this ASUS A55VD and the specs it had I decided to break my custom and make it a one year deal. This is my very first time purchasing an ASUS product as I was skeptical about the brand at first since the name is never really mentioned in regular advertising campaigns in comparison to its rivals such as Acer, Gateway, HP-Compaq, Dell, etc. I have only had it for roughly a week but so far so good.

The good parts about the ASUS A55VD are the blazing fast Core i7 processor, the large 750GB hard drive and the IceCool Palm Rest. I was a little perturbed when I saw that the hard drive was split into two parts, a C: drive and a D: drive; the latter being for data only. While I understand this is for protective means in case of data loss or corruption I didn't find it necessary in my case since I don't believe in filling up laptop hard drive spaces as it causes eventual slowdowns. That being said I used the Windows 7 in-built Computer Management tool to merge the partitions together. I prefer it that way overall.

The memory of 6GB that it came with normally would be sufficient for the average user in conjunction with the Core i7 processor but my personal rule of thumb is to ALWAYS max out computer memory....or get as close to the maximum as one can comfortably afford so I purchased the Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory (CMSX8GX3M2A1600C9) kit at the same time and installed it. The system works like a dream no matter what task you "ask" it to do with this boost.

I usually have the laptop on for 8 or more hours plugged in a day so far and the heat levels are pretty moderate. I can keep it on my lap for quite some time and it doesn't get noticeably hot at all. Even at the bottom of it so kudos to ASUS for an excellent dissipating design. The lower right side of the laptop adjacent to the touchpad does get slightly warm when it's on for several hours but it's not enough to be an issue of discomfort for the right hand when resting on it.

There were two things I were disappointed with however the volume of the Realtek HD in-built speakers and the hybrid graphics of Intel HD4000/Nvidia 610M. Firstly, the speakers were allegedly to be Altec Lansing according to the info on the Amazon website but that is not the case. The speakers also sound so low even at their maximum that you'd swear something was wrong with your hearing and that you were prematurely going deaf. Even with adjustments made with the Realtek HD Audio Manager the sound increase was next to negligible. Thankfully, however, my years of gained pc skills reminded me that I could use external software to enhance the sound quality. For all those interested you can purchase DFX Audio Enhancer and SRS Audio Essentials. The combination of both have my volume levels for both music and movies operating at desired output levels....as far as laptops go at any rate.

Secondly, in regards to the graphics card, in no way was it mentioned on the Amazon site that the graphics would be a combination of Intel HD4000 and Nvidia 610M. It only lists the Nvidia. This disappointed me as I prefer dedicated graphics over embedded ones since the latter eats up part of the ram. Fortunately it seems to only consume 115MB of my 8GB ram. This isn't a deal breaker by any means BUT buyers should always know EXACTLY what they are getting before making a purchase. I will accept no excuse in regards to this from Amazon or ASUS.

Overall the ASUS A55VD-AB71 is a raging beast of a laptop. Just keep in mind that some tinkering has to be done to get it to perform at the optimum levels most enthusiasts and/or gamers are looking for when making a purchase of $700 to $900. Personally I got it at $729 which for a laptop this powerful is a real bargain.

UPDATE December 7, 2012: I decided to test the waters after doing some searches online about it and put in two sticks of 8gb each Corsair 16 GB (2x8 GB) DDR3 1600MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory CMSO16GX3M2A1600C11 and they took. The ASUS A55VD-AB71's Intel Core i7-processor and chipset can take 16GB of ram as indicated on the Intel website DESPITE the fact the ASUS website says a MAXIMUM of 8GB only. COMPLETELY INCORRECT!!! This will be a welcome update to those who are music, video and graphic artist professionals. I am loving this laptop more and more now.

I am what you call a tech guru. This laptop is awesome for 769 dollars. although the screen res is a little low for my tastes asus always comes out with quality hardware and I've never been disappointed. Great buy for the cost

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I have several Asus products and have always been happy and satisfied with them...until now. The touchpad jumps around, the Asus power manager interferes constantly regardless of the settings, video only wants to run on the internal graphics (one reason I bought it was for the external graphics) once it hibernates it locks up, sometimes to the point the battery needs pulled.

I sent it in for warranty and they received it 10/31. I got it back 11/27. They kept saying parts were on order. The laptop actually broke about 10/15 but it took about 2 weeks to get the paperwork all in order to their liking. Let me tell you, save every scrap you can showing where it was bought and when. They try every trick possible to deny warranty. First they wouldnt recognize Amazon as a retailer, then the receipt didn't have the correct info, then the serial number wasn't in the system, then no one could find any records. Each time takes a day, then you have to call back for a 30min hold.

Since I got the laptop back, it still does the software quirks but I have adapted myself to them. If this is the quality Asus now makes, I am very disappointed. I guess they will slap their label on anything to make a buck.

Read Best Reviews of ASUS A55VD-AB71 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here

This is a very, very good laptop for the price. But I wasn't absolutely blown away by it, so 4 stars it is.

Pros: Extremely fast for a laptop. the i7 is brutal. I rendered 30 minutes of 1080p video in 15 minutes. (that's insane)

Dead Silent, and minimal noise even when you are maxing out the system.

The "Ice Cold" Technology really works. For the majority of the time, the entire laptop is cool to the touch. Sometimes the area directly behind the cooling fan will be a little warm when doing some major processing or gaming.

The laptop overall feels very sturdy. The keyboard is GREAT. I was a little worried about it being too small, but don't worry about it. They somehow make it work, and I can type just as well as any other computer if not better.

CONS: I can't really be mad about it, because it is as advertised. but....

The Graphics Card (NVIDIA 610M-2GB) Is very, "eh..." Definitely an Entry Level graphics card. For reference, I can play Amnesia: The Dark Descent on the highest settings. Spec-ops: The Line and XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and Star Wars: The Old Republic on Medium/medium-low settings. Games like Planetside 2 and Skyrim are barely playable at the lowest setting. Any higher than that, and you're out of luck.

The screen resolution is not very good. The 1366 x 768 (or something like that) can't show all that much detail. You can tell when something is in HD or not, but honestly it doesn't make that much difference. I would recommend hooking up to an HDTV with an HDMI cord when doing anything that requires you to see specific details. (Graphic design, movie making, photo editing, etc.)

Other: Here's my opinion on Windows 8; Just give it a week and you'll learn to really like it. That is, if you aren't into any heavy mods to any games or files. While I feel windows 8 is more utilitarian in it's use, if you are a hardcore computer user who needs to modify the system, I would recommend sticking with Windows 7. Unless you want the additional specs that come with the Windows 8 version, then just degrade after.

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I have used this computer for about a month prior to writing this review.

When my 10 yr old Sony notebook died I decided to buy a replacement and spent 5 weeks researching for the best one for a reasonable price. It came down to this one and a similar model at Tiger Direct. I had bought a ASUS Nexus 7 inch tablet for my autistic grandson and was really impressed with it. All I can saw is that this ASUS notebook is a really great computer and I have no complaints with it. I don't have any problems with the touch pad now that I have gotten used to it nor have any problems with the display going dim as reported in some reviews. The touch pad has several features that are different than what I have used on other notebooks. The user manual and the eManual (on the desktop) describe all of the touch pads features. The full function keyboard is a nice feature on a notebook of this size and battery life seems to very good as well. The computer is quiet, runs cool and the sound from the speakers when placed on a hard surface is better than any other laptop/notebook that I have used (several job furnished computers). The computer is really fast and the windows performance score does not do it justice. The low score is due to a 5400 RPM hard drive. I decided to do a computation intensive test using the 4 cores in parallel on a CFD analysis program and compare the results with the same program run on an 3.2 giga Hz AMD Pheneon II quad core Desktop computer. This notebook completed the analysis in 1925 seconds vs. 2805 on the desktop. I do wish that it came with a backlit keyboard.

Windows 8 is a bit of a beast to get used to and the biggest complaint is that it is an OS to fit multiple purposes which made it more difficult to figure out compared to all of the previous evolutions since the beginning of time (Windows). I eventually got comfortable using win8 even though I have to drag the hand from the top of the screen to the bottom to close a program (my biggest complaint). I see this as leading to carpal tunnel problems. My first smart phone had a windows OS and I hated it. Since I started using Android OS smart phones and Linux OS, I have become disenchanted with Microsoft. I managed to get Ubuntu Linux 12.10 installed and use it more than win 8. and still have to use win8 for some applications. I do like some of the security features of win8 compared to 7 and removed the free trial version of McAfee to install windows defender.

I would suggest that anyyone who purchases this computer review the documentation that comes with it as it has helped me tremendously.

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Dell Inspiron iM5030-2792B3D 15.6-Inch Laptop (3D Black)

Dell has done it again! I bought an Inspiron about 6 years ago from Dell (a lot more expensive than this one). And it worked pretty well up until these past few months. Finally though, not the computers fault, it fried on the inside, thus rendering me to look for a new computer at a good price. My sister bought this computer on sale so I thought I'd check it out. I was lucky enough that Best Buy had it on sale for $379.00. I couldn't pass that up so I bought it. To be fair I've only had it for 2 days but it's been great so far!

PROS:

Large screen. The screen is great for view movies and videos as well as just viewing things online.

Sensitive keyboard. I don't have to type very hard. They keys feel smooth under my fingers.

Windows 7. I'm not sure if this is a pro to everyone but having come from the decent Windows XP platform, and having tried the Windows Vista (yuck), Windows 7 makes things smooth a bit easier and faster. It actually slightly resembles using a Mac by having a toolbar on the desk top.

It's been playing my Sims 3 game rather smoothly as well. And seems move from one thing to the next rather smoothly.

It's also nice that the cooling fans are on the side of the computer and not on the back (against my lap).

CONS:

Right now the only problem I'm having is the super sensitive mouse pad.

There aren't a lot of ports either, so you wouldn't be able to have your ipod, non-wireless printer, and camera all docked onto it at one time.

After 30 days from the purchase date, I noticed the computer would shut down for no apparent reason when on battery power. I finally noticed the battery was loose even when secured. When I called Dell they were familiar with the problem and stated it must be sent in to replace the bottom and battery. I sent it in and got it back in 10 business days as promised. The problem was not corrected. The battery was still loose and the machine would shut down when on battery power. So I called in again, they apologized and told me a technician would be sent to my house. The technician arrived and was shaking. I noticed he was intoxicated. Long story short, he bent the keyboard on removal, and when the machine was reassembled it did not boot up. The tech said the mother board was bad. I called Dell again. I requested they send out a new replacement machine. They agreed but stated it would be 2 to 3 weeks. I asked for a supervisor who cleverly stated the machine would arrive in about 10 business days which is, realistically, the same thing. I insisted that since the technician destroyed my machine a replacement be sent out right away. Dell flat out refused. Thankfully after calling Amazon, they worked out a satisfactory resolution.

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I bought a cheap computer for internet and school. It does that and more. It has 3 usb ports which is never enough, but I have looked at some computers twice as much with only 3 so that is that. Has a good screen. Super light, mostly because it is so cheap with out much hardware. Wish it was bluetooth enabled. I don't want to have to use one of my precious usb's for that. It is fast and you should be happy.

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it is not as smooth and fast as i expected. Dell graphic is horrible or the worst i have ever had! however the price is reasonable and i like the pattern on the laptop. overall it is average.

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The laptop is decent for the price. It has dual core Athlon II, 15.6" screen, 3GB DDR3. All in all fast enough for lower end 3d gaming (world of warcraft, older Half life 2 engine titles, newer games played in low detail levels)

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Acer AS5552-6838 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black)

I tried to write a review which was rather lengthy but somehow got mysteriously deleted when I was almost finished. OK, so let's try this again. This machine handles heavy duty programs but its Achilles Heel is the touchpad. First of all, there is apparently no way to adjust sensitivity. Unreliable, unpredictable scrolling. Unwanted links pop up all the time when unprompted. Completely flat profile on the touchpad so that you cannot feel your way to find the left click. I hate this. Why couldn't they put a simple bump there? I have resigned myself to the fact that I will simply use a remote mouse. Otherwise, no problems, so far.

Bought this laptop on cyber money for a great deal. Came today and I am writing this on it. Screen is amazingly clear and bright. Very fast, feels of good quality. Packaged well but amazon shipped it in an overly big box filled with plastic air bags. They should use smaller boxes that are closer in size with the product they are shipping. So far the laptops great. Runs very quiet and the keyboard is very nice. I do wish they had another speaker. There is just one near the power button on the left side of the laptop. Another one placed on the right side would be nice. Will update after more usage. For the price I paid, I couldn't find a better deal so I jumped on it.

Buy Acer AS5552-6838 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black) Now

The integrated video card on my last laptop dropped out, and I needed a new one asap. After a day of extensive research, I ended up buying this one, and I'm very happy with it. It's powerful with far fewer hiccups than any other laptop I've owned and without being overpowered and overpriced. I've already got a self-built tower that cost tons and handles games laptops aren't for that unless you enjoy spending money. That said, I do a bit of gaming on it, and it handles it fine. I'm not exactly running 16x AA, but I am able to set the graphics settings pretty high. Games = heat = short laptop life, though, so enough about that. I installed Windows Ultimate on it, and it runs fine. If a laptop couldn't at least run an OS, I guess I'd be worried.

The appearance is nice. The mesh black is nice because of the lack of fingerprints, as everyone has pointed out. The screen is glossy though, and it's fingerprint city. The speaker sucks, which everyone pointed out. I thought they were exaggerating, but it really is awful. You can max everything out and still have trouble making words out from a foot away. On the upside, the fan is very quiet, so that won't interfere with sound. There's also a camera, which is nice, if you're not paranoid. There's built-in software/bloatware for it, but we all know we're just gonna use gchat or skype. The best thing is the keyboard. It's big and easy to get used to, and I love having a full numpad on a laptop. The key design (not sure how to describe it...chiclets?) makes it pretty quiet too. The only big flaw on the keyboard is that the numlock key is right next to backspace, and I often find myself accidentally hitting that then running into trouble when I try to type numbers later (the 0 key is Insert when numlock is off frustration GO!).

The last thing to touch on is the infamous touchpad. Honestly, I think people are blowing it way out of proportion. Every once in awhile, it will zoom when I try to click or not zoom when I want it to, but it's not any worse than any other laptop I've owned. When you use a laptop enough, you get used to making sure you don't inadvertently touch the touchpad when you're trying to type. Usually that's only somewhat effective, but, with this laptop, I almost never have any accidental touch issues. It works great. The mouse buttons are annoying, as people say. It's one big button and you just kind of have to know where left click ends and right click begins. Is that really so tricky though? Yes, it's very annoying the first few days, but your thumbs gain the necessary muscle memory very quickly, and that issue becomes obsolete. In other words, the touchpad issue is not an issue. I'm happy with this laptop and would recommend it until the tech gets surpassed.

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pros: I really like the acer aspire 5552-6838, it is fast processor for someone browsing the web, emails, pictures. screen is bright with good resolution and good size. cons: speaker is weak, only has one, no very good quality, the battery does not last very long..

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Overall so far very surprised by quality of the computer. Quite an impressive processor, noticeable zippiness all around in Windows 7. The 4gb of ddr3 ram is running at 1066 mhz so its plenty fast to do all notebook type things. I am running multiple windows and about 12 tabs and no slow down whatsoever. This review is subjective because I just got this thing today. The mesh pattern is quite nice and for any normal user it more than meeets the power needs. Another important thing to mention is that it remains surprisingly cool.

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