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Showing posts with label promotional notebooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promotional notebooks. Show all posts
Asus Zenbook UX31E Ultrabook / 13.3-Inch LED Display / Intel Core i7-2677M Processor / 4GB DDR3 Mem
It loads in under a minute. No more waiting, waiting and waiting. I love the lightness of the laptop. Processing images is a snap. This computer does everything I wanted it to do!
Acer Aspire S3-391-6899 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne)
I can't believe that there are no reviews for this item and I was a little hesitant to buy it since it did not have any reviews. I was also looking at the Zenbook but the reviews were mixed and the price was high, I decided I could wait a few more years for them to work out the glitches. I have tried all major brands out there and they were just ok to absolutely horrible, and I really can do without a disk drive as I never really used them in my other lap tops and why bother paying for something you won't use.This is lightweight, the screen is great, the touch pad is large and all the connections are on the back which is a personal preference for myself. I bought this mainly to take with me on road trips and for dedicated use for personal stuff. My favorite feature is the bluetooth, I connected a stereo headset and found the sound quality to be crisp and clear, perfect for those times when I may want to listen to something without disturbing others.
I got an awesome deal with a amazon promotion so for the 550.00 I paid for this I found it to be an exceptional value given the size, weight and features!! A great item and price for students!!!
Pros: it really is ultra-light, the sleek design is similar to the 13-inch version of the MacBook Air (though the material & build are likely not as sturdy or well put-together, hence the immense price difference), and it has a sleek outer shell that doesn't retain fingerprints or stains so easily (which is something that netbook/notebook users seem to care about). Most importantly, it is immensely portable. The i3 processor is quite capable when it comes to intensive web use (which is what I mainly do with it), and it does start up quickly from its "sleep" or "hibernation" modes. Some consumers have mentioned that the speed slows down considerably when having too many windows/programs open, but I can't verify if this is the case with my own machine since I'm not the kind of user who likes to have more than 8 Word documents open while using a tab-heavy Google Chrome open as well. If you expect to execute intensive business-related activities on your notebook, I definitely would recommend stepping up to an i5 or i7 processor; I own an Acer laptop with an i5 on it, and it's able to handle larger-order tasks like that. My advice: use an i3 ultrabook for basic to intensive web use (especially cloud use), and since this machine has a 500 GB harddrive, you'll be able to save quite a lot of material on it.
Cons: the 5.5 hour battery life is something of a fabrication. You get 2.5 to 3 hours MAX if you use it for that long without break, but if you intersperse your sessions with occasional use (closing and re-opening it from time to time) the battery will drag itself out through a good part of the day. I suppose this kind of intermittent use was what Acer meant by "5.5 hour battery life". One user has accurately recognized that the screen is liable to shake too often if the notebook is moving too much; so long as you have a sturdy table or desk that doesn't budge or shake, the screen won't shake at all, even if you're clacking away at the keys with any degree of intensity. I imagine that, in general, the keys might not be responsive...at first. In the case of this notebook, the key for letter "C" was not loose enough (as if it were semi-stuck into the groove of the body), but after 2 months that particular key became loosened and now is about as responsive as the others. I had (and continue to have) a similar problem with the larger i5 Acer notebook I own: the blue "Fn" key still does not work in conjunction with the Fn controls (such as turning the volume down or up, increasing or decreasing the brightness, etc.), but since that key and its related controls are not absolutely crucial to the basic performativity of the notebook, I don't give it much mind. I still get the performance that I need from the machine. In any case, I think that Acer machines generally seem to have a slight looseness or vulnerability to their build--which is why their prices are what they are. So I can't complain.
All in all, I'm satisfied with what the notebook gives me: portability, sleekness, lightness, connectivity. I've been a consistent Acer user for a few years now (I own 3 machines by them), and I can't say they've disappointed me thus far. Even though the Cons seem to outnumber the Pros in terms of quantity, they are actually quite minor quibbles in relation to the fantastic price the notebook's offered at, and quite minor too in relation to the overall quality the notebook gives you; which is to say, it functions just as it is marketed to you (except for that fib concerning the battery life). And it really does hold up in style when placed next to the implacable army of MacBooks that you inevitably meet each time you walk into a cafe or library to work on something.
Buy Acer Aspire S3-391-6899 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne) Now
I bought this to use for my work, which did not involve heavy graphics or such things, but just a simple process of having multiple Microsoft Word windows open together with a couple of Internet tabs open in Google Chrome, one or two Excel files, and one or two more text programs (e.g. Evernote).And this computer is slow with that amount of load. It freezes more often than I would like -about three to four times DAILY -which is a wonder because it's not like I'm running heavy games on it. Is having about six to seven Word documents open together with two or three Internet tabs on Chrome too much for a new laptop to handle? I certainly did not think the i3 processor would be so slow as to be inadequate for my simple tasks.
UPDATE: Had this laptop for about four months now. Of the aforementioned problem, I contacted Acer service center and the man there told me to try reinstalling some drivers (he sent me links). He told me that if that didn't work, to try factory-resetting the laptop. Fortunately, reinstalling the drivers fixed the problem -for three months. After that, the same problem reoccurred -freezing, disability to click, etc., etc. I reinstalled those same drivers again, and the problem has been fixed. I suppose I'll keep doing this every time the problem reoccurs. Other than this, though, the laptop is usually moderately fast and functional.
Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire S3-391-6899 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne) Here
2 Months UpdateSo I have had the ultrabook for about two months now. For the most part it is still pretty good, but some issues have come up. Firstly, the screen does kinda shake a bit when you move it around and a little when you type. It actually shakes more than you would want a screen to shake. Secondly, my laptop has just started randomly turning off for some reason every few days. I know it is not a virus for sure, so I will look into that. Lastly, at times the fan can get annoyingly loud. Like a little too lound, and there is only one vent on the entire laptop. So that is why this goes from 5 stars to 3 stars.
Original Purchase Review
I had been shopping for an ultrabook for about 2 months for college. I had my eyes set on an acer S3 for a while, but this laptop on Amazon sealed the deal. I got it for 550 dollars at the time of my purchase (That Promo has now expired). But even at its current price. I would highly recommend the purchase. It is a very classy looking ultrabook. The new Champagne Color is really good to look at. I have gotten tons of compliments from friends and Family alike.
As for the performance aspects. The computer runs just as it should. It has instant boot up. Although I would venture to say that the Speed of the ultrabook is nothing to scream about. However, it does assure that I will never buy another computer that is not at least have a partial SSD. The Screen is decent. You get what you pay for, and then some.
If nothing else, the computer is worth buying for its aesthetics.
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I've only had my new ultrabook for a month. So far, it's been problem free. I thought it would be difficult to adapt to the very flat keyboard, but it's great. I type VERY fast (over 140 wpm), and it hasn't hampered my speed in the least. Someone commented that the screen shakes when you're typing. I've found that if the laptop is on a stable surface (i.e., table), the screen stays rock steady. The other user might have the lid open too far, causing an instability. I'd recommend adjusting the screen angle, and then it's good. Another negative comment I read was about the touchpad. I can't really comment on that, since I don't care for touchpads, and am using an external mouse. So far, it's fast and reliable, without any problems.My only reason for 4 stars, instead of 5, is that I wish the laptop had more USB ports and the USB port placement. It only has 2 USB ports, and if I need to get something off a flash drive, I have to unplug something else, since I'm often charging my iPad, while using a USB mounted IR mouse. Also, the USB ports are on the back of the laptop -not a great placement. But given the thickness of this laptop, that's about the only place with room to mount the USB's.
Overall, I'm glad I purchased this laptop, and I can recommend it.
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IBM ThinkPad T41 (2379DJU) Laptop (1.60 GHz Pentium M (Centrino), 256 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD
I researched for 6 months before choosing this IBM. Great value, solid notebook. Love the keyboard and the access IBM help. I have called tech support for information and help with software installations and driver updates and they were very good and patient with all my detailed questions. This is important to me... to have good tech support available. This T41 comes with a 3 year warranty.IBM's website has excellent support. I love the automated stuff where it analyzes your computer and tells you what updates you need. Sometimes their driver upgrades are more for the IT person. But, just download their software installer and it works great. However, you must focus...if you want to understand what you have downloaded. Not totally for the novice. Tech support walked me thru it once and I was on my way.
So far so good after only a month, the T41 rocks! Particularly the higher-end graphics card, glad I went for that. I can tell the difference when comparing with my desktop LCD.
The CD burner works well and I use Nero 6. I had been using a 4x burner on my desktop and this one writes at 24x...what a difference.
If you are contemplating a notebook, consider this one. Pay the extra bucks and go with IBM...very glad I did!
I've had several Thinkpads and love their functionality. IBM's service people are friendly and helpful. The problem is that I'm getting to know the guys in Atlanta way too well.
I asked IBM to replace this T-41 as a lemon. They responded by giving me an extra year of warranty. That was nice, but every time this thing goes down, it costs me lost time, and for someone who is self employed that is a bad thing.Back in 2004 I did quite a bit of research before settling on a T41 (from newegg.com). I got more RAM for 768M total. Over four years later it is still going very strong.
Great keyboard, light (even today), thin (even today), fairly fast, well-built screen tilting mechanism. Quiet, doesn't heat up too much.
If you're a vi user, you probably won't like the position of the Escape key (you can remap it to F1).
It took about three years for the battery to become unusable (I recently got a new one for about).
The built-in wireless antenna stopped working and I got a new one from Lenovo support (for free, it was still under the 3-year warranty), but the old one fixed itself as soon as the replacement arrived and has been working now for a few years since.
The left 25% of the space bar don't produce a space when pressed --started happening after around three years.
The left button on the lower mouse controls stopped working --started happening after four years.
I've been using a Macbook Pro for work, and every time I open the T41 now, it's such a relief to be able to tilt the screen as far back as I want.(a) Best keyboard ever made for laptops, (b) Decent speed, runs Office 2007 O.k., (c) Acceptable graphics (ATI 7500) or good graphics (ATI 9000 / 9600 / FireGL, the latter 2 can play Far Cry 1.0), (d) Thinklight is very useful on overseas plane flights, (e) fits perfectly on all airplane tray tables, (f) Outstanding battery life with CD-battery + 9-cell (5-6 hrs if you dim the screen), (g) It actually sleeps and wakes up properly unlike 50% of all laptops, and (h) You can just grab it and run to a conference room, yanking it out of the minidock, and it will sleep properly, unlike newer (T60, T400) machines where you have to hit a key first !!
DONT buy anything with less than 1.8 Ghz processor as the 1.7 Ghz and lower have a smaller cache(2MB vs 3MB) and are about 33% slower.
I have used about 4x of these machines at work over the past 6 years. I just got my 4th machine so each machine lasts about 2 years. The typical failure is a really bad/sticky key (1st), a failure of some buttons on the synaptics track pad (2nd), a hard drive failure (3rd), or a failure of the power-port male plug, making it difficult (but not impossible) to charge the unit. With the exception of the hard drive failure, NONE of the failures were catastrophic "I cannot do any work right now" type of failures, so the system is robust.
The IBM repair manual is fantastic so I buy new parts on ebay and repair it myself. I've replaced hinges(very hard), screens(very hard), keyboard(easy), touchpad(easy), fans(medium you need CPU paste). The keyboard in particular takes 120 seconds to replace as it's just 5 screws and it pops out.nice laptop for the money, clean works well. They upgraded it with a new 160 GB hard drive, and 2 GB of memory for the same price. Fast delivery.
HP - Pavilion 15.6" Laptop - 4GB Memory - 500GB Hard Drive - Sparkling Black
this laptop is sweet, still getting familiar with it though. hp is the best bought a hp printer to one of the best brands in electronics
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Acer AS5755-9401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black)
I made the purchase on the midnight of the 9th and the package got in the afternoon of the 12th! It took only 3 business days to arrive, although I only chose the super saver shipping method and it only promised to arrive in 7 business days.The packaging is good, everything is brand new-definitely not opened before. The body of the machine is also brand new, sleek, and solid, albeit its 15.6" size. It's not thick at all; maybe because I had been well prepared for it since I knew it weights about 5.7 lb.
Another important comment: about its cooling system. I think overall it exceeds my expectation. I have read comments complaining the fan's excessive noise and that cpu temp easily gets up to over 80 degree Celsius. Well, it's not the case I experience with this machine. It installs various software fast, and temp kept between 46 and 58 degree Celsius, mostly swayed around 50.
I bought it at the price of about $682. So far I'm quite satisfied. I owned a thinkpad which I thought would be much better than other cheaper brands in terms of finishes, but now I'm changing my opinions a bit.
POSITIVES
1. I bought this laptop specifically becuase I wanted the fastest CPU I could find to help me edit a book I'm working on. For a new computer (no refurb) this is currently the cheapest 64-bit i7 4-core processor laptop on the market and costs hundreds less than others I looked at: Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba, Asus, Lenovo (I will never buy another Lenojunko after capacitors blew in my last one), Fujitsu, IBM Thinkpad, Panasonic, etc. I didn't consider Mac. I think I paid about $649 last month directly through Amazon. With the 3-year warranty, it came to just over $800. If you can still get it this price, buy it asap. From everything I reviewed, this is a steal, as far as I'm concerned. I would give this laptop 9/10 stars.
2. My IT buddy warned me about buying an Acer for durability reasons, so I bought the "Canopy" three year extended warranty for about $143 through Amazon. Don't worry, it will pop up when you try to buy your laptop on Amazon. It covers drops, spills, electronic malfunctions, etc. Actually, Acer's 1-year warranty covers the first year and then the "Canopy" warranty kicks in for years 2 and 3. I called Canopy to verify everything before purchasing. So, at least for the next three years, I've got a screaming fast laptop under warranty. I just wish I could find a place to sell me a warranty for years 4 and 5. Does anybody know of one? If so, please send me a pm.
3. I like the sleek attention-grabbing style (you wouldn't think it was an Acer from a distance). It looks very modern, like one of the Korean or Japanese computers I've seen on college campuses and when traveling over seas. This is definitely a head turner. You've never seen a laptop like this. If you use in a public place don't be surprised when people are looking over your shoulder trying to figure out what brand it is. After they find out it's an ACER, though, they may lose interest.
4. The mouse pad is super responsive. Be sure to go into the control panel and adjust the eon mousepad settings (or whatever the proprietary mousepad software is called). It has an adjustable feature to prevent accidental palming of the mousepad while typing. I cranked that setting up as well as the sensitivity for finger scrolling and browsing. Also, it has a vertical scroll function on the far right of the pad that makes scrolling up and down pages very easy. It also comes factory set so that if you are surfing the web and want to go back one page you simply use *two* fingers, tap the mouse pad, and simultaneously move your fingers to the left. To go forward one page, you do the same thing but move your fingers to the right. If you don't like it, you can turn that setting off.
5. The extension chord is two or three feet longer than my Dell Dimension D520 chord.
6. One of the USB hubs is like a USB 2.5 or 3.0 or something (it's the blue one on the right side of the computer. I forget what it's called). It makes downloading and uploading to flash drives or external hard drives doubly fast. I always hook into that one rather than the other ones.
7. The extension chord pulls out of the laptop *very* easily, which is a plus in our house with kids flying around. . . nevertheless, this could be a negative if you don't notice that it pulled out and you run your battery down. I have my battery warning set to notify me when I reach like 20% of the battery capacity.
8. Screen resolution is incredible! Beats my Dell Dimension D520 by a long shot. Much better than our television (however, the only TV we have is an older RCA glass front analog type).
9. It has a full number pad on the right hand side, which comes in extra handy if you ever have to do any calculating, accounting or other work with numbers.
MY RESPONSE TO OTHER AMAZON CUSTOMER NEGATIVES THAT I'VE READ
I've read everything everyone else has said and, for the most part, the negatives are very minor, as follows:
1. Chiclet keys: When you get used to the chiclet keys (took me about a month), you'll be able to type faster than with a standard keyboard. Your fingers will fly unimpeded. It's hard to explain, but after the first month or so, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. I'm wondering now if that's not why chiclet keyboards are actually used.(?) It's kind of like the difference between sprinting with cross-trainers, verses ultra-light spiked track shoes, if you understand what I'm saying.
2. Screen glare: This *may* be a problem if you're trying to watch a movie at an angle and there are bright lights in the room. So far, we've had no issues with this. However, we always turn the lights off when watching movies.
3. Fingerprints: You'll have the same issues on your eye glasses, clean plateglass window, clearcoat finish, glossy mahogany wood finish in your luxury yacht or car etc. (Not that I'll ever own one of those). OK, so you can see the fingerprints. . . that's the price of style, I suppose.
4. Offset keyboard: Ok, so the keys are offset to the left of center by an inch or so because you have a number pad on the right. My thoughts? Yes, it does take some getting used to, it took me like 2 minutes and it took my wife like 30 sec. After that, you never think of it again.
5. Fan noise: I honestly worried about this after reading the complaints before purchasing. My thoughts after owning it? If that little amount of noise is all you have to complain about. . . then you are definitely spoiled. I remember our first PC Junior. . .it sounded like a tornado. I can't believe this bothers people. If we lived in a perfect world, some people would still find things to complain about.
6. Battery life: I don't know what anyone is complaining about here. This thing has the longest battery life out of all 4 laptops I've ever owned. Again. . . maybe you're spoiled.(?) Maybe I don't know what I'm missing.(?)
7. Size: It's not like it's 10 lbs. and bulky. Come on. It is very thin, yet wide. I care less about size than functionality. As long as it is a performer, I'm happy. Also the extra wide screen is a plus when watching movies.
8. Shareware extras: Or, whatever you call all those extra programs that are already loaded on the desktop. Some of these are actually useful for us (Skype, etc.). For the rest? Just delete them. No biggy.
9. I read a complaint about the mousepad being less responsive than Dell. I don't know what you're talking about. Have you adjusted your settings to your specifications? If anything, it may be *too* responsive. In that case, readjust your settings down a little.
MY NEGATIVES (This is why I would give 9 instead of 10 stars).
1. The speakers aren't as loud as I would like (are they for any laptop?) Can ACER speakers be upgraded to make them louder? If anyone knows, could you send me a pm?
2. The speaker cover, which runs the width of the laptop just above the keyboard, is a mesh screen that can collect debris. My solution? Blow it out with a can of compressed air once a month is the only thing I know to do. Unless you want to cover the holes with some transparent tape, which would be awkward.
3. I like the rubber strap on the Dell laptop power cord as opposed to the velcro strap on the Acer cord. "Acer, go to the rubber strap!"
4. The ACER brand isn't especially associated with durability, from what my IT buddy tells me. I will definitely keep you updated if anything EVER goes wrong with this machine.
5. It didn't come with a full version of MS Office (it has some type of cheesy mini-version; something like, MS Office Light). You either have to buy MS Office or download some freeware like OpenOffice from CNET.
6. This computer comes with no digitally-generated free standing hologram images, mind activated functionality, or flux capacitor for time travel. I guess I can deal with that for now.
Buy Acer AS5755-9401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black) Now
I am just blown away by the power and performance of this product!This is a replacement for my wife's laptop. I grew tired of hearing 'Ah come on!!"
I'd have to tell her "Honey step away from the computer til it's done updating!" LOL! I checked the rankings of performance by processor and hers was bench marked ranked 463rd at the time of purchase. This one is ranked 19th!
(!Just checked, and they have released some new processors and this one has dropped to 52nd. Understandable The number one ranked will never stay there long.)
This unit is sleek, quiet and runs surprisingly cool. Has built in WiDi for streaming HD content to your HDTV.
The sound quality is very good and the screen size and quality is very nice.
Number the pad is a big plus
Now she is happy!
Read Best Reviews of Acer AS5755-9401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Glossy Black) Here
first time i got this, the space bar key wasn't quite working right so i promptly returned it(amazon was very good about it-no hassles) and got it ordered again. i was sure i wanted to order this laptop again as soon as i turned it on.windows 7, i7 is new to me and it felt like such an update from my older system.
it has a larger keyboard with number keys like a regular home pc keyboard which is convenient.
the one negative with the layout of the keys though is that the volume adjustment requires the use of 2 buttonsthat is really a pain. i mean if you turn something on and it suddenly blasts into a loud volume, you better have both your hands free to turn it down or mute. i think that that's probably the most significant thing they got wrong.
so far, i've had no issues with it (i've had it for about a month). i really like the smooth keys, that it comes with USB 3.0 port, WiDi, complete photoshop elements. it's got a lot of likable features.
all in all, a very good buy.
also, i forgot to add, another feature i like of it is the inbuilt post-it.. i love post-its for pcs and this one had a program with it.. love it.
UPDATE:
I have now had this pc for 9 months. 3 days ago, when i was trying to turn it on, it started making a loud beeping noise. After recovery, it turned on but not all the way so i had to manually shut it and turn it on again. Same thing happened with the loud beeping noise all over again. After a couple of times, it finally turned on but there was some problem still like i couldn't scroll pages in any web browser and on clicking an icon, another one opened. Not sure what the problem was so i turned it off.
This afternoon, i tried again and it turned on normal but very slow but the thing with the browsing and wrong program opening still happened.
i have no idea what is wrong with it. I have yet to take it to someone to get it analysed and fixed, however, i did a quick check online and it seems that i'm not the only one having this problem. i saw a few other posts talking about the loud beeping.
I am disappointed that the laptop got problems so soon. I was mostly travelling with my work laptop last year and have 'lightly to medium' used this one. Certainly not an everyday heavy used case. It is just bad that it malfunctioned so easily.
I originally gave this 5 stars but with its performance over time, i have to downgrade it to 1 star.
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I bought this for my wife and she loves it. This is a great computer for a reasonable price. Everything works great and I would buy another one for my self but it they don't have any available right now. Crossing my fingers and hoping they will have more soon.
Gateway ID47H06u 14-Inch Laptop (Silver)
I received this laptop about a month ago, and so far I like it very much.Pros:
-Compact (Thin screen and body, compact even for a 14"I got a 13.3" sleeve and it fits)
-Great battery life (I have had it on and working for 3+ hours, and charge still above 50%)
-Stays cool even sitting on my lap, I have never felt this laptop get hot
-Great sound very loud and clear sound, I was amazed at the sound for such a small computer.
-Solid Brushed aluminum top and inside, looks good too
Cons:
SD slot is a little tricky to access and use
The light which indicates the battery is charging is unnecessarily large and bright, while the other indicator lights are very small and poorly marked.
-The pictures can be deceptive, the screen does not extend as far as shown. I like the screen, but I was disappointed because the illuminated area of the screen does not extend as far as shown.
Other stuff worth mentioning:
-Mouse pad is not for everyone. It has a lot of functions, but I have not found them very useful.
-Processor is plenty fast for everyday computing. I don't really do anything that requires lighting speeds though. Starts up and shuts down quickly.
-It has a USB 3, if you need one of those.
Overall I am very happy with this computer's functionality and portability. I recommend this computer for occasional travelers or anyone who wants a compact portable computer.
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I received this laptop 2 hours ago. Turned it on, got it set up. Then when I went to shut the screen (barely touched the screen) it shut off and would not come on again. Found out the battery is embedded so it cannot be removed but there is a battery reset button, hit that and was able to turn it back on. Got it started up again and again barely touched the top of the screen and it crashed. There is obviously some connection that is screwed up. I will be returning this laptop and going with a different one.Read Best Reviews of Gateway ID47H06u 14-Inch Laptop (Silver) Here
comparado con otros portatiles que he comprado, esta marca aunque resulta un tanto desconocida, resulto con un gran desempeño, al menos para mis actividades. (a veces uso para diseño en autocad y funciona muy bien), buena portatil y la recomiendo
Toshiba 15.6" Satellite Laptop 8GB 750GB | S855D-S5120
This computer is fast right out of the box with massive memory. The new windows layout took some getting used to, but there is an option to use the classic view as well! I bought this computer for business use, and so far it has passed all my test's! Great computer!!
I have an Acer 17.3 inch laptop that i got in 2010 as well, and it is fantastic, never an overheating issues, burned literally 100's of discs (maybe more), converted movies, great speaker volume, and the body is made very firm, with a good solid feel. I was never an AMD fan either, sure you get 4 cores, and it's more powerful than my laptop, but honestly, who games on them anymore? Hence the cheap price, look on Wal-Mart and the computer is 578$, ask why? Now you know. So good specs, don't mean your getting a good reliable quality machine. I've loved the underdog, (Acer) for years, and it's been great. Even my girlfriends new Gateway is made far superior. I miss the old Toshibas. Even the higher end models suffer from problems, i work on desktops only. But i've heard many people say they get more HP's Dell's and Toshibas coming through with problems, more than any others. So buy at your own risk. They didn't even make this model for 8 months, and now they are gone. Or overstocked at Wal-Mart. Buyer beware.
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Asus N56VM-RB71 Laptop, Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3 GHz, 8GB Ram, 15.6 FHD Screen, NVIDIA GT 630M 2GB
I just received my Laptop yesterday from Adorama.....took 2 days to get it..free shipping...no tax! Highly recommend these guys! Anyway I took out the HDD and 8GB ram immediately and put in a crucial M4 256GB SSD and crucial 16GB (2x8).The installation went without a hitch, took about 5 mins. Turned it on, and installed Windows 8 Pro.
HOWEVER, the Asus driver CD does not properly support Win8. You will need to download some files manually when you upgrade.
I also had to calibrate my battery to make it read about 6 hours. It is advertised to run at 4.5 hours, but initially I was only getting 2.5. After running the battery to zero % and searching to 100% it said 6.5 hours :) Been running it for about 3 hours now...still says 3:15 hours left!!!
You only need to remove one screw to gain access to the HDD and RAM!!! WOW so easy!
I will be using this for VMware labs and VCP5 practice! So far......so good!
This laptop is a 3rd gen I7 with a quad core running on the ivy bridge. Make sure you use the 64bit edition of windows to utilize all ram.
The hardware for this laptop (in its price range) is fairly high end, and it does run fast and smoothly, once you use msconfig to remove some of the initiating processes. My only other caveat is that the directional keys are slightly misplaced on this unit and a tap to the right shift key often ends up hitting the arrow keys instead.
Overall, a nice laptop that is marred by too many proprietary Asus bloatware programs and too much third party promotional software. As it stands now, three stars. However, if you have time and the inclination to remove most of the crap (thank you Revo Uninstaller), and can get the unit down to a nice light state, it is about 4.7 stars out of five.When the system arrived I had a couple of problems with blue screens. After updating video and touchpad drivers all problems are cured. This notebook is phenominal. I love everything about it. The display is bright, sharp and has great viewing angle. The system is fast, the keyboard has a good feel and I love the fact that it is backlit. If you buy this computer you won't be disappointed.Considering it is refurbished and there is a little risk with such a short warranty... it is a nice laptop. Nice, as in works like it should with what it has in it. It can run 3DSMax and Skyrim without any hiccups or low frame rates. I replaced the security system with Avast and installed Windows updates and it has been working smoothly for two weeks. The backlight keys are a bit garish but much preferred to none at all. The trackpad is awful, just get a mouse and you will be fine.It was missing a few drivers, no big deal and it was evident it was made for sale in a foreign country (other than english speaking). Other than get through the set up it has been great. Thanks,
Acer C7 Chromebook 11.6" Intel Dual Core B847 1.1 GHz 2GB DDR3 320GB 5400RPM HDD Wifi HDMI USB3.0 V
The Acer C7 has a very upward battle to fight among the Google community and in people's mind. The Samsung that just came out before it has been getting excellent reviews and has been labeled the better computer, but is it really?I was a bit shocked when I got my Acer at the small size of the product. Let it be stated that these are possibly the most portable computers when it comes to wanting a real keyboard. This computers weighs in at a little over 3 lbs but honestly you wouldn't think so as my wife can lift it easily with one hand. The overall casing is solid enough to give you enough confidence to carry it around without the feeling of breaking it but still not a full laptop/macbook quality when it comes to overall durability.
What stands out when you open it first is the keyboard. People have made this statement over and over but this little $200 system has the keyboard of a decent laptop. The keys are really responsive and nicely spaced, honestly it feels like a full keyboard most of the time. Two of the place where the laptop falls short is the track-pad and camera. The camera is very good compared to the Samsung but really doesn't give you any options when taking pictures (adjusting brightness, contrast, etc) this can be done on the back end with a photo editing program but not during. The track-pad is okay at best. You won't be raving over it but your not going to be giving it praise either. The screen resolution is overall very good, I watched Netflix this morning on it and I was very happy with the overall look and sharpness of the screen.
Differences between this and the Samsung are simple. This computer carries a 320 gig spinning hard drive and the Samsung has a solid state 16 gig hard drive. Both come with 2 years of Google Drive 100 gig service for free which is more than enough for most people. The Google community as a whole prefers a solid state as it has no moving parts and it follows Google's overall vision of the machine. But unlike the Samsung the Acer has a removable hard drive and can be installed with an SSD (same with ram and battery).
This computer also uses and Intel chip which means it can run things that the Samsung can not just yet. Example NETFLIX. The Samsung machine will eventually be able to but currently can not. This computer also has a fan as the ARM process runs cool enough to not need it, however if you are used to the fan of a full sized laptop then unless you are in a completely quiet place you'll never notice this fan.
The Google's OS works about as good as expected. There are many things that you will not be able to do that you could do on a Windows/Mac/Linux Machine that is a given. They are working very hard on resolving these issues. Right now I would say you if you buy this machine you are pretty much a beta tester. I could easily recommend Google chrome for writers, children, people who travel a lot, and people who generally work on the web (you know who you are). I am happy enough with the OS as it's fast and just works. I use it for both personal and business and I have encountered very few issues that couldn't be resolved with a Google Search.
PRO's
Removable RAM, Hard drive and Battery which can lead to replacements or upgrades after/during warranty cycle.
Glossy Screen (better for movies not better for outside)
Ethernet and VGA ports (the Samsung does not have this it is only WIFI/3g)
Quick Start-up (22 seconds on average for me not as fast as the Samsung but Windows users know this is fast!)
Netflix works (Samsung still being worked on)
Con's
Not the fastest Chromebook (Samsung is faster start up, 550 is the best performance.)
Small Webstore (Chrome's web store is pretty small with that being said they still have many programs that you would normally find on windows. Quality will get better as more people purchase the systems.)
Netbook Size (this computer is small, that doesn't mean it's bad but I'd like to see a big computer down the road)
OS Development (The OS is still being worked out so you should be prepared for things to change however if you like change there is nothing more exciting than being part of the process.)
Battery (4 hours max 3:30 to 3 on average needs better battery life or extended battery option)
This is offered by Google on their Play store, and will undoubtedly be offered directly by Amazon later, at a list price of $199. When it is offered by Amazon directly, you will save on shipping since Google charged me roughly $13 for shipping. That's cheap.
Unlike the original CR48 "googlers only" Chromebook, and the first Samsung and Acer Chromebooks which ran Intel Atom chips, a truly mouse-power processor, this one runs on a much, much more powerful in both CPU and GPU terms Celeron processor based on former "Core" technology ("Sandy Bridge" generation) and in fact has been rebranded by Intel recently as a "Core" processor, even though it is based on the prior generation design and has most advanced "Core" "Ivy Bridge" functions disabled. Nevertheless this is a pretty good processor with pretty good graphics (for streaming video, not for games), and is supposedly marginally faster than the ARM processor in the equivalent Samsung "fast and cheap" Chromebook introduced last month but that Samsung "ARM" Chromebook has an SSD (solid state drive instead of spinning mechanical platters) and SSD's have been known to perk up overall system performance by a substantial margin. But all you need to _really_ know is that this isn't the slug that the Atom-powered Chromebooks were, and that with either the new Samsung or this one, you will have a good browser and streaming video experience.
Since this Acer runs a "standard" Intel chip instead of the "smartphone" chip found in the new Samsung Chromebook, software doesn't have to be "ported over" from "Intel code" to "ARM code." This means you can run Netflix etc. out of the box, right now. However, most pundits believe ARM chips are the wave of the future (some forecasting them even for entry level MacBook Airs) since they are much, much more power efficient than anything Intel offers of similar processing and graphics power. What this means today, is that the Samsung Chromebook on the ARM chip can run for roughly twice as long as this one, based on published manufacturer specs, and given Google's good history of updating the Chrome operating system automatically, any application hiccups should be sorted out quickly.
Samsung's last generation Chromebook (12.1") runs an even faster Intel chip, and has an SSD. It is unlikely it will stay in the market place since it is not nearly as thin and light as the new Samsung Chromebook and costs roughly twice as much.
Where this Acer excels over the Samsung is in its "upgradeability" if you are willing to deal with potential warranty issues. It only takes a single screw to remove the bottom panel to access memory and hard drive. I have already placed a second 2gb memory stick in mine to bring memory up to 4gb DDR3, PC 10600, 1333, 204 pin. A commenter on an earlier review states that the maximum memory the machine can accept is 4gb total, but I have no way to confirm this. Their are published reports of users swapping hard drives on Chromebooks (by first making a recovery USB) and so at some point I may replace the conventional hard drive with an SSD but I am not sure how much incremental speed I would get since I now have 4gb of memory and will only be using the Chromebook for relatively light web tasks and occasional streaming video.
I have made good use of the large hard drive, loading (very easy to do) 100 gb of videos (instructional dvd's ripped with Handbrake to h.264 for Apple devices) and 40 gb of music. So the Chromebook won't just be a "brick" when I am away from wifi (since any writing I do is online anyway, the ability to write in Google Docs offline is nice, but not part of what I use a computer for).
So all in all, this Acer Chromebook is "fast and cheap" and, in addition, has a nice screen and good keyboard. It is a real travel/cafe/kitchen computer (or workshop, or anyplace you want to haul a small laptop around to watch YouTube instructions etc.).
Very Secure with a caveat:
Google is pretty renowned for their attention to security, and it shows in the Chromebook. All user information is encrypted, so short of NSA level decryption it is unlikely anyone can "brute force" your hard disk to read off passwords. There is an admin procedure for gaining access to a locked device, but when it is used, user data is first erased. In addition, the Chrome browser safe-lists websites, and spots and warns you of compromised websites faster than any other browser (thanks to Google's constant web-crawling). Chrome is also sand-boxed, etc. etc. boring technical details, but experts seem to agree that the Chrome browser on any platform is the most secure, and Chrome OS is perhaps the most secure operating system out there. So yes you can use the Chromebook for your banking.
The problem I have with Google's security system is that you use your Google Gmail/Chrome password to log onto the laptop. This means physical surveillance could grab your password, and if your email account is known, any computer could be used after that to access your email. Since many people store passwords in their archived emails, and since email is the first route for password recovery, and since Chrome kindly remembers passwords for you (if you let it), this is a potential big security risk. The only two solutions that come to mind are carefully shielding the keyboard when you first log in, and not letting Google remember any banking or other sensitive passwords for you.
A perhaps better solution is to have two Gmail accounts, and log in under two different accounts for your Chromebook. One Gmail address for banking and only use that log in for banking; and one Gmail address for social and everything else, and use that log in for everything but banking.
The Chromebook settings, which are easy to find and change, allow you to freely let other Gmail users log into your Chromebook, or lock down the Chromebook to only the previous people logging in. You can also allow, or turn off, the Guest account. You may wish to lock down the Chromebook in settings if you are worried about other people using it. Remember, unlike other computers, the only credentials required to log onto any Chromebook are a Gmail account you don't set up accounts in the conventional sense, the Chromebook is a lot like a public library terminal, open to everyone if you don't lock it down. This isn't a big negative for your personal security, since your information is always in the cloud not on the computer (except for downloaded or very limited local files which are encrypted anyway), but I wouldn't want a Bad Egg using my laptop. For a purely home computer, not a problem, for a travel computer, lock down the users.
All in all, it is really, really hard to mess up a Chromebook. It updates itself automatically and antivirus is built in. It is encrypted. Enough said! You can't find a more secure laptop for travel or cafes, for banking. If you go to "bad" websites you are less likely to get your computer infected than under any other operating system.
Excellent Browser:
Before you buy one of these, you should really spend a few days or even a week and analyze what you use your computer most for. If you live in the browser, as I do, if you have immersed yourself in the Google-verse, as I have, it's a little scary but once you take the step there is no problem at all. I use Google Docs for all my created documents; Google+ Hangout for video chats; Google Voice (free telephone number, place calls from the Gmail window); all my music was uploaded to Google Pay for free and can be played anywhere I have a browser and wifi (including on tablets). Netflix works. In terms of non-Google stuff, I shop a lot on Amazon, I post a lot on FaceBook, and I read newspapers and articles online. My browser of choice on Windows, Mac, iPad, and Nexus 7 is Chrome, my mail is Gmail.
So far the only negative I have encountered is the inability to use iTunes and FaceTime. FaceTime has become enormously popular with my family. My kid is on her iPad and my wife has an iPhone, so while I don't have an iPhone, when I travel I use an iPod Touch to FaceTime home. It will ring my wife's phone, which is always on, or my kid's iPad, which is usually on, so reaching them is easy. It is less easy to reach them on Google+ Hangouts unless I send them a text first, it either doesn't have, or I haven't learned how to use, or I don't want to leave it on (and suck resources) Google + all the time.
Note that if you are Skype user, Chromebook does not have a Skype app. This isn't a Google problem, so much as a Skype problem when Skype first came out, it decided to market itself as a stand-alone application, not as a web application. They chose to do this so they could run in the background so you could get calls on your computer all the time if it had been browser based, it would have only been available when you had a browser window opened to their website. (It is actually HARD to turn Skype off, once you log in unlike other programs that terminate by clicking the x in the corner of the app window, it keeps running unless you figure out how to really, really close it). For security reasons, Google naturally prefers to run EVERYTHING in its very secure browser, because to run in a browser window, a web-based app has to conform to web standards and Google can scan that website for malware. It Google were to allow Skype and other companies to write stand-alone apps for Chrome OS like Skype, or Adobe Acrobat they would open their very secure OS to security issues for the past several years, for example, Adobe Acrobat has been one of the biggest security holes on Mac and Windows computers. Flash and Java follow closely (Java was even a problem for Apple this years). Google includes Flash directly in Chrome, and Java as well, but Google vets all that code and updates it immediately. So given the security issues with Skype (or any other 3rd party app) and the fact that Google has its own videoconferencing solution, it is unlikely Skype will come to Chrome OS or Chromebooks.
Right now Google is pitching Chrome OS and Chromebooks as the "simple" solution because its hard for the average user to understand the importance of security. The average user pays lip service to security (mainly by hobbling their machines with resource hungry overblown 3rd party antivirus programs), but at the end of the day they want Flash to run their video content and commercials, Adobe to read documents, Word (which had many security exploits over the years) to process documents, etc. If you really want a secure device, though, Google and Chrome OS are the best on the marketplace, and the Chrome browser works fine.
BTW if your grandmother is looking for secure email yes this will run Comcast and other ISP emails, Microsoft Outlook, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, etc. Not just Gmail. No, if they open a Gmail account to use a Chromebook, they DON'T have to really use that for their email. They can keep using their regular old email. Short of "phishing" attacks which use psychological ploys, not computer hacking, to gain personal information, it is next to impossible to infect a Chromebook by opening a bad email or downloading a bad attachment or by visiting a "bad" website. In short, this is a perfect granny (and kids) web browsing computer.
As for the 320 gb hard drive on this vs. the 16gb on the Samsung and "traditional" Chromebooks -
given that Google is uploading all my photos taken with my Android phone (Galaxy Nexus) and wants to download them to my other Google connected devices (besides keeping them in the cloud) it is probably a good thing to have 320 gb of Chromebook space instead of 16gb. That allows some room for saving all those pictures! (My Apple devices have been trying to "push" my photos taken with my Touch to ALL my Apple devices nice for access, but not all my devices have the same amount of memory nor so I want this seemingly senseless duplication.)
If you absolutely, positively need the lightest, thinnest (MacBook Air territory) Chromebook, get the new Samsung (Samsung Chromebook (Wi-Fi, 11.6-Inch)). But I think this Acer is a better buy, and I like the large local hard disk.
BTW one reviewer felt the trackpad wasn't very responsive. In the Settings section, I just increased the trackpad speed and it made a great improvement in "feel". Much closer to MacBook Air standards (I am using a Mac mini with a Magic TrackPad to type this tonight so I know how good a trackpad should be). Also I "reversed" the scroll direction on the Chromebook to match the swipe-to-scroll direction on the Apple TrackPad a neat adjustment.
Hope you enjoy your future Chromebook. Buy it for minimalist efficiency, and enjoy the security. Or buy it for the security, and be amazed by how much you have been doing all along, just in a browser window.The major problems that this device seems to face aren't that it doesn't live up to it's potential, it's that most people seem to get stuck on 'but for a couple hundred more dollars I could get a real computer'. Or 'get a tablet'. Google probably should have rethought their marketing (from what I've seen they present the Chromebooks as being capable of 'everything' when that's not quite true). And not everyone jumped on board the tablet train.
The easiest way to explain a Chromebook is: it's a tablet with a built in keyboad. Yes it doesn't have Android OS and it's got a web store instead of Google Play, but it's close. Or you could call it a light computer without program functionality, sounds bad, but I like that it's not bogged down.
I've been dealing with tablets for the past year or so and it's always come down to the same problem for me--no keyboard. The keyboard stands out there never fit right for typing on my lap. I love tablets, I've had a few different ones before I settled. I enjoy Android, but since I'm a big one for typing--whether it's reviews, emails, or anything else-nothing makes up for the lack of keyboard.
I needed something with a keyboard that was smaller and lighter than my heavy Acer Aspire. I fully intended to replace that laptop with whatever I purchased. Also, it needed to be relatively cheap since I'm one of the many people not made out of money.
I thought about what I needed the device to be capable and what I could live without. I checked out Chrome's web store and was surprised at the options (compared to the Play store it's lacking, but it has some useful stuff if you weed through the not-so-useful). I don't have a need for Microsoft Office Word, I find it to be a very expensive frustration, and I didn't have many other programs installed in my laptop. The one program I thought I'd miss was a photo editing one, but they've got alternatives at the web store.
I was looking into the Samsung Chromebook just a day before Google announced the Acer C7. Not being a full convert to Cloud storage I quickly decided that saving $50 and getting 320GB was a fair exchange for slightly slower boot time and slightly more weight (unlike many people, I've never had a problem with Acer products).
I purchased it directly from Google (where it is $199 plus shipping) and received it the next day (I had been informed that I paid $13 dollars for 2 day shipping).
I unboxed it, turned it on, and logged in. I haven't touched my old laptop since. Though to be perfectly honest my household has another computer, which I have used a couple of times for non personal things.
First off your touchpad will probably be slow and need to be adjusted, mine was way too slow.
If you rely on Office or Paint, Photoshop or any other program--you don't want this device to be your sole computer. But if you've got the $200 and you don't think tablets are for you, maybe you'd like to have a keyboard, or you'd just like something lighter to carry around, this baby is well worth the money.
I'd read about the battery performance before I'd purchased and it doesn't feel like it's as bad as they say, though I haven't timed it. Plus the power cord is pretty long--unlike the itty bitty one that came with my tablet, so if I go to another room and there's an outlet nearby I can just plug it in. I've always kept my Aspire plugged in (it hasn't moved from my room since I purchased it). I suppose if you're on a long flight you might be out of luck...
My Drive suits my needs just fine when it comes to typing--I love the awesome auto save--and I appreciate the screen size versus my 7 inch tablet when I'm shopping on Amazon or going through forums.
Like many others, I've had a hard time adjusting to the location of the page up and down buttons and the home and end buttons, it is a little annoying, but I don't find myself using those keys very often.
I still prefer my tablet for reading, I'll check my email on it, and other simple tasks, but this little machine is better than I'd hoped.
So the biggest thing to keep in mind is that, for most of you, this will not work as a replacement for your computer-it could be an alternative to a tablet, for someone too young to have their own computer, someone's first computer, for a writer who doesn't need major formatting at their finger tips, a big blogger, a perfect traveling device...
Just do a little thinking about what you need out of it before making the decision to buy.
If there are any questions I'd be happy to try to answer them.
UPDATE Jan. 5th:
The 3.5mm headphone jack doesn't consistently work, it appears to be an annoying problem for many of the c7 chromebooks. People have suggested wiggling your headphone plug until it works, I've found the only solution for me is a mixture of; unplug and replug/ mute and umute (sometimes switching to different headphones/earbuds makes it work also). It's a little time consuming, but once the audio comes through your headphones it should stay that way until you unplug them.
Printing: I've hit a dead end here. Which is a bummer since the major reason I bought the C7 was for a light, typing machine. If you've got a Google Cloud Print Ready Printer you should be good (although I've read that you may need a computer for a firmware update?), otherwise it seems you have to be signed in on Chrome with a computer that's already got a printer. That kind of set up doesn't work for me since the available computer is a shared one. So, taking the long route, I've found myself either logging in to Google Drive on the REAL computer (being sure to sign out after) and printing docs from there, or emailing things to myself so that I can print later. It's a little time consuming, but it works. If you use a shared computer--and are printing Top Secret documents--make sure you clear the clipboard if you've used it.
I think the printer issue highlights the fact that a Chromebook is not a FULL computer, but if you have access to a real computer you should be able to work around it.I have no idea why Amazon is charging so much money for this thing, I got mine for the Google advertised price of $199 at Best Buy.
Here is my review:
This little computer is fantastic. We purchased it for my mother in law who is not great with computers. All she cares about is going online to shop and play facebook games and sometimes video chat.
Speed:
The computer is very very fast with everything it does. Web sites load fast.
The comuter boots up and is ready to surf the web in 30 seconds or less.
Opening pictures and other files go very fast as well.
Chrome Operating System:
Yes it will take a little getting used to if you use windows every day, but trust me its not bad.
I was able to hook up my external Hard drive and copy over some family pictures very easily and quickly. You just have to use the "files" app.
There is no support for Skype, however, this is a google computer, so you will need a G mail account which means you can use Google Hangouts to video chat, I actually like it better than skype. (skype will eventually launch a chrome app).
Other notes:
The battery is very small, around 3 hours of usage, so make sure you are someone who is always going to have it plugged in, if not, you may need to spend the extra $50 and get the Samsung Chromebook which has a 6 hour battery.
The computer comes free with 100GB of google drive cloud storage which is great if you are an Android device user.
supports normal plug and use USB mice and other devices. I purchased a $15 wireless mouse and it works without any set up or tinkering.
Summary:
If you are someone who needs a simple laptop to do video chatting, web surfing, shopping, and play online games, this is perfect for you. I cannot over-state how fast this computer is at everything it does, its amazing. There is no waiting (provided you have a decent internet speed).
What more needs to be said? If you need a cheap computer which is blazing fast, buy this thing!!I just got mine yesterday so I'll add some thoughts.
First: Chrome OS is fantastic. It's a very elegant OS with few features, which I feel is the exact opposite of Android. It's almost iOS-like in its purposeful simplicity. In its simplicity, it's lacking some features that I'm used to but it remains to be seen whether they're deal-breakers or if they're mostly things I can get used to doing without. It's mostly minor-ish things I wish I could do, like being able to upload mp3s to Google Music, which requires the Music Manager application. Or maybe just zoom-in on a downloaded photo in the Files utility. For the most part though, getting used to Chrome OS feels similar to using OS X for the first time.
As for the C7, if you're coming from a cheap windows computer to begin with, or if you're not very picky about computers, you'll probably be satisfied with the quality of the machine. However, if you're used to more expensive computers, you may find the C7 to seem downright cheap. The major gripes I have with the C7 are the keyboard and the screen.
My primary computer is a white 2010 Apple Macbook and it was the cheapest laptop that Apple sold and thus had the lowest quality screen of all of Apple's computers. But even that screen is lightyears ahead of the C7 and to be fair, a majority of windows computers. If there's one thing that Apple unequivocally does correctly, it is the screen. The screen on C7 on the other hand looks a bit washed out, blue, and dull. It has poor vertical viewing angles and I can see faint vertical lines between adjacent pixels. To be frank, it just looks cheap to me. I realize this is THE budget machine and that there are people out there that find no issues with this screen but I'm just not sure I'll ever get used to this screen. As for the keyboard, it's sized correctly and doesn't feel cramped but the keys feel very mushy to me.
As for the rest of the machine, the performance feels perfectly acceptable and the claimed 4hr battery life is adequate in my opinion. In comparison to the Samsung, I've seen complaints about the fan noise but so far, they haven't been that much of a bother. The fan is definitely spinning most of the time but I wouldn't say it's as bad as some of the other laptops I've seen.
All in all, I think the C7 is great deal for the price point. I think current chromebooks compete with tablets like the Microsoft Surface and even the iPad extremely favorably for many use-cases because of price, full keyboard, and full-fledged Chrome browser.
HP Pavilion M6-1035DX AMD A10-4600M 2.3GHz 6GB 640GB DVD+/-RW 15.6" Win7 (Black)
i purchased this from a third party but it doesn't have many reviews so i figured i would add mine.i am a gamer and i was looking for a laptop that could do it all but not destroy my bank and i came across this little gem. so far i have played a handful of games and it handles them fantastically, counterstrike source is pulling ~150-250fps all high settings, league of legends is getting a steady 60 with no dips in performance, and sim city just worked flawless.
now onto the features, the usb 3 ports are great to have and aren't colored blue which is kind of nice, the cpu is plenty fast and windows is snappy, the webcam is decent, it isn't great but it works for skype calling, and the keyboard has a really nice feel to it. the best part about its keyboard is the fact that it is backlit, it is a HUGE plus to have that at night or in darker areas. the battery has been GREAT on this thing, i am getting between 3-9 hours of life depending on what i am doing and what the power setting is set to. the screen is nice, there is no upgrade for a full hd screen but it gets the job done and looks nice doing it. the weight is nice, it isn't heavy but when you go to lift the monitor it doesn't pull the whole laptop with it so opening with 1 hand is easy and a great feature that not a lot of laptops have, i know it sounds dumb but when you are on the phone or are doing something with your hand, lifting the screen and getting to work with 1 hand is a life saver. Overall it is a very slim and sexy looking machine, so far i am very impressed with this laptop and i recommend getting it if you like to work and play on the same machine.
Buy HP Pavilion M6-1035DX AMD A10-4600M 2.3GHz 6GB 640GB DVD+/-RW 15.6" Win7 (Black) Now
Got my refurbished HP m6 1035dx about a week ago and I could not be happier. I am a very heavy computer user / gamer and I have found that AMD's A10 is the perfect balance between processing power and battery life. Also, the Beat's audio is superb, it is crystal clear and very loud especially for a laptop. The audio levels can also easily be adjusted by designated keys on the keyboard, which I love. The backlit keyboard is also activated by a key on the keyboard and is one of my favorite features of this laptop. The graphic's are fantastic as well. So far I have downloaded 5 games from steam including Skyrim, just Cause 2, Dead Island, Modern Warfare 2 and Blur and they all run flawlessly on maximum graphics settings. I am defiantly pleased and even blown away by the quality of this laptop for the price I got it for ($479).No complaints. I got way more than I paid for.Product arrived timely from vendor. Windows 7 updates from microsoft were installed and computer was turned off. On second day, computer would not come on... dead. Computer was retuned to vendor. Awaiting refund.
Want HP Pavilion M6-1035DX AMD A10-4600M 2.3GHz 6GB 640GB DVD+/-RW 15.6" Win7 (Black) Discount?
Toshiba Satellite M115-S3094 14.1" Widescreen Laptop (Intel Core Duo Processor T2050, 512 MB RAM, 8
Once again Toshiba re-defines the marketplace with this incredibly powerful lightweight laptop. How can you beat this? It's only around five pounds and packs incredible power at an amazing price. It's a great deal by the best laptop maker out there. The positives totally outweigh the negatives, but I will mention the few problems. The system makes more fan noise than most other models. If the system were more expensive this would be a deal breaker, but again, this powerful laptop is cheap! The other problem is how the system performs out of the box. As usual the system comes with a ton of pre-installed garbage. It took me 4-8 hours to wipe the hard drive, re-image it with a clean OS, and install the Toshiba drivers. Once this was complete the system worked to my satisfaction. This would be a five star review if the system worked well out of the box. All things considered, Toshiba strikes again!
I went to Best Buy, WalMart, Target, etc to test out many different models of many different laptops. The first thing I noticed with this Toshiba is the screen. For being only 14.1 inches, you barely notice that it is inferior in size to the bigger 17 inch models. The colors are vivid, the pictures are as clear as can be, and while testing watching DVDs on it, I felt like I was watching High Def. TV. I decided after that point to research the model farther, and eventually ended up buying it.
I ordered my M115 from CompUSA and it arrived within two short days. I opened the box and started set-up. I was amazed at how few annoyances I had with a laptop that cost me so little. Usually you are going to sacrifice SOMETHING if you're buying a cheaper product, no matter what that product may be. Of course, as I delved deeper into testing this laptop, I figured out several reasons why it is in the budget category.
Now that the laptop was home, it was time to start other tests. I had already tested the screen at the store, and like I said, it passed with flying colors. Next I tested the battery life. I put in my extended version of "The Return of the King" and let the battery run down. I kept the laptop at full brightness and did NOT use power saver mode. It took two hours and fifty-five minutes before the laptop shut off. This is EXCELLENT for a six-cell battery under the conditions I put it in.
Next, I tested the laptop battery for word processing on the lowest brightness possible with power saver mode. The battery was empty after four hours and five minutes. I was extremely pleased with these results because I use this laptop for word processing in class where I can't charge it up if it runs out of battery, and over four hours is more than enough for me. However, if you are truly concerned about battery life, you can always buy a spare and keep it charged.
After the battery had taken a good beating from all the testing, I started testing sound quality. I popped in my "Best of the Classics" CD and started messing around with the sound settings. On lower settings, the sound quality is not the best. However, the higher you put the volume, the better quality you will get from the speakers. I finally found the perfect spot on the volume adjuster for listening to CDs. However, I need to adjust when watching DVDs and Videos...generally you need to turn the volume up a bit for that. All in all, I was happy with the speakers and sound quality, but not blown away.
After taking my CD out, I started opening every application on the laptop. This way, I could see approximately how many applications I could have open before the laptop either seized up or got horrendously slow. I opened the internet, my word processor, photoshop, my digital photography suite that is connected to my printer, my website editor and finally, I started running the virus-scan. This is a lot to ask of any computer, but especially of one that only runs on 512MB. I found that it ran the applications well up until I opened the website editor. It was just too much for the little M115 to handle. This was expected from a machine that only runs on 512MB, and I decided at that point that an upgrade to 1GB would be needed. I ordered another 512MB the next day, and can now run all the applications I want. From time to time they will slow up a bit, but the fact that it can even handle that work load is awesome and a definite must, since I'm a multi-tasker.
This laptop comes with an 80GB HD, and some today say the new standard is at least 100GB. To be honest, I think that's a complete crock of sh**. I have an old Compaq (from 1999) that still works, and it has a 15GB HD, with only 11GB usable. If I can operate that machine (and I can), then 80GB is luxury. I have all the programs I need installed on this machine and I still have 55GB free. Will I use it? Probably not. Would I need 100GB? No way! Unless you are someone who is using cr**loads of programs that require installation on the computer, then there is NO need for anything bigger than 80GB while operating on a Windows XP machine. Maybe when it's time to upgrade to Vista, but for now, it is just not necessary. Besides, you will not be upgrading to Vista on this laptop. I know several Microsoft developers and they all have Vista already...and some of them can't even run it on machines with 100GB HDs and 2GB memory. So yeah, stick with XP and you will be fine with 80GB HD and 1GB memory (RAM).
One annoyance I had after setting up this laptop is finding the amount of bloatware that came with it. It can be easily removed, but the fact that so much of it was even on my little M115 was a serious gripe for me. This is probably one of the reasons why it was so cheap--lots of manufacturers being advertised from start-up. I now have altered it to my liking, but it takes some time and patience.
Another thing to keep in mind is that this laptop is not for extreme gamers. I do a lot of graphic design with digital photography and I can work from this laptop, but it isn't the best home-base for my work. This is more of a laptop that you would use for typical programs like the internet, word-processing, light gaming, light photo-editing, movie-watching, music listening and chatting. It's great for the TYPICAL user...but don't buy this laptop and then complain that you can't run your huge graphic-demanding games on it without giving up some quality...if you're in that boat, you should go with an Alienware.
Some annoyances that have been listed with this laptop, other than battery life which I have already covered, are the keyboard and some complaints of overheating or loud fan noise. The keyboard is cramped. No two ways about it. This is a small laptop, and the keyboard is spread nicely on it, but it is still cramped. I have small hands so this is not a problem, but a someone with huge piano fingers would probably have a hard time with typing. A very hard time. Test the laptop out at a store before buying it, because if you don't you could be sorely disappointed. I did not notice ANY overheating...it gets warm, but in no way does it "overheat." There is some fan noise, but very little. It turns on every 5-10 minutes for about two seconds when using the laptop under normal use.
My last note on this laptop is that I wish it had come with a faster processor. I have altered it so that it is up to what I want as far as performance goes, but come on, Intel Core 2 Duo is the standard now. Not Intel Core Duo. Hopefully Toshiba will change this on future M115 models, because I would love to get a younger sibling of this laptop at some point.
For what I paid, I could not have gotten better. This laptop gets the job done and is the best of the best in budget laptops. Buy another 512MB of RAM, and you will be good to go.
RATINGS:
Screen Quality: 10/10
Sound Quality: 7/10
Operation Speed: 8/10 (after upgrade) or 6.5/10 (before upgrade)
Battery life: 7.5/10 (excellent for a six-cell battery!!!)
Out-of-box quality: 6/10
Price: 10/10
Design: 8/10
Why not 10/10?
Screen Qualiy deductions: -0. Probably one of the best screens I've ever seen.
Sound Quality deductions: -3 for some tinniness in the sound when playing music or videos on a lower level of sound.
Operation Speed deductions: -2 for a slower processor (after upgrade) and -3.5 for a slower processor and not enough RAM out of the box (before upgrade).
Battery Life deductions: -2.5 for the hardy six-cell, because every modern laptop should come with AT LEAST a nine-cell. Again, good for what it is, but it's time to upgrade, Toshiba.
Out-of-Box Quality deductions: -4 for annoying bloatware, slower processor and not enough RAM.
Price deductions: -0...this is the BEST OF THE BEST in it's price range.
Design: -2 for a cramped keyboard.
OVERALL: 8/10This is second laptop that I have owned. Compared to my old E-machines N10, this is a much better laptop. Some of the significant differences that I see between these two laptops are: I have no problem with wireless network using my Toshiba M115, I like the keyboard layout and the sound system on it.
Another great future is that it allows you to watch DVD's without starting up the whole system, plus, it has S-video if you want to hook it up to your TV.
Toshiba is an established brand in the market and if you want to sell it after using it a while, you will have anough buyers and your laptop will not depreciate in price that much. This is another reason why I bought this laptop.I bought this laptop about 3 weeks ago, and so far everything has been great. The size is nice, with the LCD wide screen making it very enjoyable to watch movies on. It's a pretty light laptop, at 5.something pounds and is very mobile for its size. I really like the keyboard, with the regular sized 'Shift' button on the right hand side. The battery life can last up to (and possibly a little over) 4 hours, depending on your chosen power settings. It's got the built-in wireless card, that you can switch on and off whenever you want to use it. The graphics for this computer are pretty good, and pretty much everything else is well over satisfactory.
The only cons about this computer is the 512mb memory, but that can easily be upgraded, and all you need is another 512mb memory upgrade and you're set. Also, the computer comes with a lot of unnecessary software and junk, but that problem can be solved by simply uninstalling whatever you don't want on there. It can take a bit of time, though, depending on how much stuff you want to uninstall, but I didn't really mind it.
Overall, I'd have to say this is a great laptop at a great price.Ok so my review will focus on how the laptop preformed before I broke the screen. To start out the laptop worked fine for basic activities like surfing the web, looking at pictures, or listening to your music library. But with the entry level amount of ram, and the cpu only being a single core, it lags with basic games like Sim City, and The Sims, and forget graphic intensive games like Flight Simulator's. It always got hot when doing basic stuff, thus the fan kicks into overtime to cool it down causing noticeable noise. The screen (before I cracked it)was very hazy, and the glare in the sun was terrible. Now moving on from the bad, the good things included a roomy keyboard with a very nicely located shift key (its great for fast typing). The battery was good with a two hour life span maybe two and a half if you're doing the basics. It came pre installed with a lot of useful software, that was a plus. All in all it fit my basic needs, but its limited hardware can set you back. I suggest a ram upgrade before you even set foot into the level of games, and streaming movies from Netflix, or Hulu.