I am by no means a computer expert, but it runs great, especially for the price I paid. The only thing I'd complain about is the RAM, but I can easily upgrade it, and plan to do so soon :)
Showing posts with label quadrille notebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label quadrille notebook. Show all posts
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E535 3260EFU 15.6-Inch Laptop
I am by no means a computer expert, but it runs great, especially for the price I paid. The only thing I'd complain about is the RAM, but I can easily upgrade it, and plan to do so soon :)
HP Pavilion dm4-2180us Entertainment PC - Gray
I love this computer. Absolutely head-over-heels love it. It's compact and light enough for me to carry to and from class without breaking my back (can't say this of my old, 7-lb Dell!). They keyboard feels WONDERFUL. Construction feels solid. Beautiful design. Really amazing specssame hardware as a MacBook Pro!for half the price. The trackpad is a tad finicky, but I've adjusted the settings so it works for me. It'll take a tiny bit of getting used to, but there's an adjustment period with any new computer. I'm super happy with my purchase, and with the SquareTrade warranty I bought with the computer, I see us having a long, happy life together!EDIT: I just realized that the keyboard on this computer has a strange hill in the center, like it's being squeezed or something. It doesn't interfere with typing at all, but a brand new computer shouldn't have this kind of defect. What's more, when researching this computer, this was one of the things someone cited as a flaw in a review on another website, so I guess it happens fairly frequently. I didn't mention in the first draft of my review that this is my second of this model of computer; I bought the first one at Staple's a couple of weeks ago and had to return it because it had a faulty "W" key and a really jumpy track pad. I've noticed that this track pad is kind of inconsistent, and maybe more finicky than I previously thought. These design flaws have me considering returning the machine, but you just can't find this kind of hardware and gorgeous design for the same price point. Maybe I'll just get another one... third time's a charm, right?
I had a HP DM4-2070us and it skip letters like crazy after 3 months. Every 5-6 keystrokes you type will have one keystroke that is missed, that is, even though you did type that key, it will not appear on the screen. Or, you would hit the space bar or the Backspace key and it will not respond.
I had to call and deal with HP Technical Support. They wasted my time trying out all kinds of stuff: Windows system restore point, uninstall and re-install keyboard drivers, full system recovery (that's a fancy term for re-formatting your whole hard disc), etc., etc. All these attempts failed to fix the problem.
After struggling with all these for over two weeks, I have to ship it back to HP Warranty Repair Center and that took two weeks back and forth. During those two weeks I was out without a laptop to do my work. The Warranty Repair Center replaced the keyboard and ship it back to me. Unfortunately, that does not fix the problem. HP is kind enough to replace it with HP DM4-2180us but the whole process took another 7 days. I would be happy if that solve the probelm. Unfortunately, when I get the brand new HP DM4-2180us, it has exactly the same problem -as soon as you type fast (over 45 wpm), the problem is obvious.
I am not the only one with this problem. Use the two links below to take you to the HP Support Forum website and you will see different people with DM4-1165DX, DM4-1127 sb, DM4-2015dx, DM4-2070us and most recently, DM4-2180us having the same problem:
Buy HP Pavilion dm4-2180us Entertainment PC - Gray Now
I spent a long time researching computers and this one fit the bill in terms of functionality and price point. I really like almost everything about this machine its cool, quiet (even with the fan running), and fast. I did uninstall a little bloatware when it first arrived, but that was easy and quick. The only issue i'm having is with the keyboard. It is very stiff and significantly slows down my typing speed because I have to hit all of the letters very hard to make sure they all come up on the screen. The shift key in particular is hard to use to the point of severe frustration. Nobody else seems to have this issue, so it may just be my machine.Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion dm4-2180us Entertainment PC - Gray Here
I was looking for a computer to replace my 4 year old Dell laptop, and came across this HP in consumer reports. It was recommended by them, so I figured it must be a good one. And it certainly is!!! I have always had Dell laptops, but I thought it would be a good time to try HP and I'm really glad I did. It has wonderful features, and Windows 7 is amazing. I don't do any sort of gaming or anything like that, so I can't speak to the graphics or processor capabilities. I do however, normally have many internet and excel windows open at once, and it has yet to skip a beat. It never hesitates. This is an excellent computer, and I highly recommend it.Want HP Pavilion dm4-2180us Entertainment PC - Gray Discount?
I was very hopeful getting a laptop, having been used to desk top computers for business and home. I must say, that I agree with the reviewer that if you type more than 40wpm or so, the keyboard inputs aren't always correct. The "shift" button seems to me to be too low and to the right and I always end up hitting the "enter" key, changing the paragraph. When I consciously type slow, as when I force myself to look at the keyboard, it's ok. Worse yet, when I type an email, the message often times gets deleted mid-sentence. I'm not sure what key does this all the time, but it's annoying because I have to retype a message, sometimes multiple times, to get it through. I love the computer in every other respect and find the display to be crisp and the navigation and speed excellent. But the small keyboard introduces many mis-keys and errors typing. To me,it seems like a desk version of an ipad. Is it a sub-notebook? I don't know...it's not advertised as such. But for all but the most ardent believers of everything small, this notebook computer should be skipped for one with a full-size keyboard.
ASUS K55N-DS81 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
This is a review of the Asus laptop, not Windows 8. I'm a retired computer professional and I've had over a dozen different laptops over the years, from economy models to the top-of-the-line (so I have a large frame of reference). I'm really pleased with this laptop -it's a great value and I really don't need any more power or features for what I do these days. I use it mostly for web browsing, Office apps (Word, Excel, Outlook, Powerpoint), Photoshop, iTunes management of a huge music library, and email. I'm "on my computer" over 8 hours a day. For those purposes, this laptop is serving me well at a great price. I looked at a lot of others in the same price range and decided on this one for these reasons: a good processor (I don't think I saw any faster ones in this price range), 500GB disk drive (I really don't need more space and I have larger external USB drives if I ever do), a decent integrated graphics adapter, 3 USB ports including USB 3.0, an HDMI port, VGA output for non-digital TVs and monitors (not found on many current laptops but it's still useful), DVD burner, a pretty long battery life, and a 1-year warranty on accidental drops and spills.When I first started using the laptop, I was very impressed by the feel and the action of the keyboard and the brightness and clarity of the 15.6" screen. I was also pleased that it wasn't pre-loaded with a bunch of free-trial crap software (all I got rid of was the 30-day(?) free-trial McAfee anti-virus, which I replaced with AVG free edition). I added 4GB of Kingston memory for a total of 8GB RAM and so far I have no complaints about performance. (
Some buyers may want to know that the disk drive is formatted with C and D partitions, 186 GB and 258 GB in size, respectively. That's smart, but I wonder if non-technical users will ever even access and use the large D partition since all user files (My Documents, etc.), by default, are put on the C partition. On the D drive, I put all my music files, my thousands of digital photos, and other large data collections which I don't need to frequently access via the convenient user folders (My Documents, My Pictures, etc.). I think there's an additional recovery partition, but it doesn't appear in the file manager.
I have only a couple complaints. The left/right buttons at the bottom of the touchpad take a lot of pressure to make them click (probably intentional to avoid accidental clicking) and I don't like the feel of their action. I thought maybe I'd stop using a mouse and switch to using the touchpad only, but the feel of those buttons caused me to go back to my mouse within a few hours of use. The other complaint is that there's no LED indicator when Caps Lock or Numeric Lock is enabled on the keyboard, but that's a pretty minor issue. (UPDATE: I just discovered there *are* LEDs for Caps and Numeric lock -they are small green LEDs on the front left edge, next to some other LEDs like the disk activity LED).
So, I'm very pleased with this laptop and I think it's a tremendous value in its price range. No regrets on this purchase! Windows 8 is a different story and I'm not crazy about it, but I'm learning to adjust. I would prefer to have Windows 7 which was the best Windows OS to date. Windows 8 is not nearly as bad as many reviewers would have you believe. By creating my user account as a 'local user', ignoring the Start Screen that looks like a smart phone and only using the Windows desktop, it's very much like using Windows 7. You just have to find where they hid some things like the Start Menu (use Windows key + X combination). And so far, all the software I have (some of which is pretty old, like Office 2003), has installed without compatibility problems. I almost paid much more to get a laptop with Windows 7 instead of 8, based on all the negative comments, but I'm glad I didn't do that. The negative comments are overblown.
ASUS 1 year "360 Notebook Warranty" including 1 year of Accidental Damage/Handling and a Limited 1 year manufacturer warranty.
The AMD A8 4500M APU is super speedy. If you're purchasing a laptop beware that the A6 4400 has a 1MB L2 cache while the A8 has a BIG 4MB L2 cache. While the dual core is rated at a higher frequency the quad core is capable of handling multiple data loads simultaneously much more efficiently.
The Radeon 7640G has 512mb dedicated memory and is capable to pull from the system resources. While this machine CANNOT run games at the highest settings it does an excellent job of being able to run MOST games at low-med settings with high FPS.
4gb ram upgradeable to 16gb.
Pros: Low Price point, 1 year ADH warranty, fast quad core cpu, 4mb L2 cache, fast HDD, fast boot option, instant on resume function2 second wake-up from sleep mode.
Cons: Poor viewing angles on screen, plastic shell/case,
Buy ASUS K55N-DS81 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Now
I doubted this laptop would perform that well given its $399 price tag. Incredibly I continue to be blown away by its superb performance, it has quickly become my favorite (of six) computers to use! Even though it's comprised of plastic, it's light weight and superior performance leave me wanting little. Even with 3D games, the performance continues to astound me given the low price I paid.I bought a 16GB memory upgrade for $85 a week later and it has solidly placed this laptop at the top of my techy toys list. I am dumbfounded by the sheer performance of this low cost laptop.
Pros: low price, above average performance, memory up-gradable to 16GB and out performs my MacBook that cost $1300.
Cons: Made of plastic and does not have superman powers..
Read Best Reviews of ASUS K55N-DS81 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
I'm using this laptop mostly for internet browsing, work, and gaming. It does it all, more than I expected after a few weeks of owning it.This laptop is fast. It's fast booting up, shutting down, loading programs, buffering videos, downloading, etc. Never had a problem. All the features: IceCool palm rests, SuperBatt Tech, InstantOn, and 5% AutoBackup work great. The InstantOn is my favorite, my other laptops and desktops are nowhere near as fast booting up and shutting off. The laptop will boot up to the start screen as long as it takes for you to sip a cup of coffee.
Win8 gets getting used to, many people like to complain about changes, but I have no major complaints. The only complaint I have is I was disappointed that there's no Microsoft Office installed. When I had to do work I was prompted to buy a CD key, not what I expected.
What I love the most is the gaming power of this laptop. You wouldn't expect much from an entry level priced laptop, but I'm playing Shogun 2 Total War on medium smoothly. With that being said, I'm already starting to fill up my hard drive downloading Steam games!
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I'm re-writing this review to include a tutorial on how to fix up the laptop without voiding the warrantee. I'm upping it to 4 stars now that I've fixed it. The hardware is great, the software can be fixed.Pros:
Great Hardware
Fast Processor
Big Video specs
Built in tutorial for windows 8
Comes with 50 GB cloud storage for 3 years
Cons:
Windows 8
The trackpad is awful (tutorial below reduces annoyance)
The wireless will drop out (tutorial below fixes)
Packed with bloatware (you can uninstall it)
Webcam sucks (mic is great though)
Small HD space
Performance expectations:
You will be able to play most games at max settings if the game was released prior to 2010. You will be able to play most new releases up to current day at reduced graphics settings. Applications will run at a reasonably high speed.
Hard Drive(s)
The laptop comes with two small 5400 RPM hard drives (C and D). The OS is installed to C, and D is empty. If you install your programs to drive D, you will get significant performance gains because your motherboard can process twin data streams at 100% capacity. YOU MUST DO THIS TO MAKE GAMES AND APPLICATIONS RUN SMOOTHLY.
Trackpad fix:
The built in drivers for the trackpad add "smoothing" effects and whatnot that make the trackpad even harder to use. They do not provide basic functions like turning off the trackpad.
Fix it:
1. Plug in a USB mouse
2. Download the Synaptics driver platform for mouse, windows 8 option.
3. Using the USB mouse, uninstall the trackpad drivers.
a. right click on the bottom left corner of desktop
b. in the context menu, select "device manager"
c. in the device manager, right click on the trackpad's controller, it is under "Mice and other pointing devices"
d. select "properties" from the drop down menu
e. select the "driver" tab
f. select "uninstall" and follow the on-screen instructions
4. Install the new synaptics drivers
5. You now have better mouse handling, and you can right-click the trackpad icon in the desktop tray, go to the "Device Settings" tab, and disable the trackpad.
6. Install touch-freeze
This will "stun" the mouse while you are typing, which will prevent accidental clicks from messing up your typing.
Wireless fix:
The built in drivers disable the wireless card on a regular basis in order to conserve power. You will need to replace the aetheros drivers with the most up-to-date drivers, and disable some features in the Realtek PCIe driver context menu.
1. Download the Aetheros drivers
download link:
site:
2. This package will install just fine. Follow the on-screen instructions.
3. Reboot.
4. Go to the device manager, select "network adapters," and right click "Qualcomm Atheros AR9485WB-EG Wireless Network Adapter"
5. Select "properties"
6. Select the "Power Management" tab
7. uncheck the box "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power"
8. Click "OK"
9. Go back to the device manager
10. Right click and slect properties on "Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller"
11. Go to the "advanced" tab
12. Modify the following Properties
Energy Efficient Ethernet> Disabled
Green Ethernet> Disabled
13. Go to the "Power Management" tab
14. unchcheck "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power
15. click "OK"
16. Enjoy stable internet.
Windows 8 Fix:
If you miss the traditional Windows layout, you can install a third party start button. I recommend this one:
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Apple 13.3" MacBook Pro (with Retina display) dual-core Intel Core i7 2.9GHz, 8GB RAM, 256GB flash
I've been on the market for a new mac for over a year now. I've put it off hoping the next year's upgraded version would be better value than the ones released the previous year, but when I found a deal (elsewhere for cheaper) for the exact same spec I pulled the trigger and never regretted it.My work requires me to travel with my computer. I have been using a 5 year old white macbook with osx snow leopard prior to my purchase, and in my experience macs are reliable, sturdy, highly capable machines which lead me to the decision to stay with mac for this purchase. I use my computer for basic computing, word processing, excel, power point presentations, pdf files, light photo shopping and video editing. I'm highly dependent to the internet and send my files and exchange data online regularly. I've never had to use the dvd/cd drive from my last computer, at least not in the past 3 years, hence I am not sad that they got rid of it on the new retina macbooks.
At first glance you notice the quality of the retina display macbook. It has the same thought of design the previous macs had. Beautifully crafted, great materials and amazing feel. Macs just have that quality that makes you reach for that credit card with reckless abandon! Yes, it is exorbitantly priced compared to most other computers out there in the market but it is worth every penny. My old mac gave me 5 loyal years of service and until recently when I started noticing lag from the infamous (rainbow colored) wheel of death that shows up everytime my computer fails to compute-I have not had the need to replace it. They last long which is great considering how fast the turn over is for electronics these days. This 13.3 retina mac, while arguably an offering from late 2012 is still very current. It has the same exact specs as the feb 2013 versions with the exception of the bumped up speed of .1ghz, which in my opinion is highly negligible. It is also worth noting that this offering was over $500+ dollars more when it was first released at a price point of about $2,199.00 for the same specs offered here. This is a substantial savings for a highly capable and well made machine. If you consider the offering they have at the apple store, a feb 2013 macbook retina 13 with 2.5 ghz i5, 8RAM, 256Flash will cost you $1,699. If you are considering the upgraded version at 3.0 ghz i7, you'll have to pay an additional $200 for the upgrade + tax at about $115. Just the base model retina 13 is about the same price of this offering for better specs. A no brainer in my opinion if you are already set in purchasing a new mac anyway.
Performancewise, I have no complaints. The new trackpad took a bit of getting used to as I was accustomed to the old model track pad with the left and right click buttons on the bottom but other than that, everything about this mac is just perfect. The display is stunning specially for doing editing work and even just reading documents. The details just pop out and are absolutely superb. I tried watching a subpar quality movie online and even that looked great on the retina. The i7 dual core 2.9 ghz processor gives this machine an umph that i've never experienced before using other computers. It is speedy and very responsive. It can take multitasking jobs easily without issues, load videos quickly and can even do light gaming without a hitch. Overall, this is just a well made computer that's worth every penny. You won't regret getting it I assure you. So, if you're in the market for a new computer... get this one! Great value, great price for a super reliable product.
I can tell you that this computer is phenomenal. It is probably about 10x faster than my Mac Mini and the boot up time of the SSD is a dream. It handles Lightroom and Photoshop with ease. The screen is a bit small on real estate, but the clarity of the retina more than makes up for the space. This is the perfect "on the road" laptop for me. Now, if you are looking to make this your main computer, you may want to think twice. I just don't think it would suffice. You'd probably want to invest in the 15" with more power and perhaps skip the retina so you can upgrade in the future....but for travel, I couldn't be happier with this snappy machine!I have always been a pc user and was talked into purchasing this...I think it is absolutely awesome! It is so easy to use! The only disappointment was that it did not have a dvd drive, but I purchased a great one, and it works great.This is an awesome computer. All the best of a Macbook Pro and Mac Air. Shipping from seller (On Sale) was 3 days faster than indicated on tracking and came in perfect condition.
Best price around. checked every retailer I could find online and brick and mortar and this was the best price and quickest shipping option around.
Definitely would recommend this computer and would recommend the seller.
ASUS F75A-AB31 17.3-Inch LED Laptop (Black)
me encanto el producto, el equipo es muy bueno, me gusto el envio y el precio! lo recomiendo 100% .
Sony VAIO VPCS137GX/B 13.3" Silver Laptop
this laptop is compact and pretty fast. A businessman look laptop. A must have laptop for the people who are not into gaming and want to use the laptop for its real use.
Buy Sony VAIO VPCS137GX/B 13.3" Silver Laptop Now
Sleek and more than enough power for the normal Joe. This is a Grade A laptop. The keyboard is what got me. Love the quite key taps.Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO VPCS137GX/B 13.3" Silver Laptop Here
I am a bit disappointed that the laptop is very slow and sluggish. I have owned a Vaio laptop before even though the RAM was only 2GB, and 6 years older its performance was a lot much better than this one. I am afraid to load new applications for fear that it might slow it down even more. It comes with a single drive unlike my older Vaio which had factory partitioned drives. The only positive on this laptop is the battery, a standard battery which can go up to 6 hours and a bit! And I love the silver colour it appears rich and expensive.Sony VAIO VPCS137GX/B 13.3" Silver Laptop
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How could Sony come out with a serie of laptops that people are complaining about their low volume for years, and still not fix it. You have to raise all the dials to 100% in order to hardly hear it. You can use earphones but that is why they invented MP3 players for. If one had to attach external speakers to it, then what is the benefit of buying a small and light laptop.
Dell XPS XPS15-1579sLV 15-Inch Laptop
I bought this since I heard rave reviews about this being one of the best designed and performing gaming laptops. Even though its not explicitly labeled "Gaming" doesn't mean that it isn't!! This has truly performed all my other laptops and ultrabooks I have ever owned.What I love:
-Quad Core Processor performs outstanding
-32gb SSD Drive (I installed Windows 8 on this and it boots incredibly fast!!)
-Nvidia graphics (try playing Assassins Creed 3 on this, its amazing)
-Design is incredible, looks incredibly slick
-Thing despite it being a 15" screen size
-Battery Life is Superb, this laptop has lasted me over 7-8 hours watching movies (because of the dual graphics card that maximize efficieny)
-2 Integrated speakers provide solid audio quality which seemed to by lacking on my other ultrabooks
-Bluetooth 4.0
-Sd Card Reader, HDMI, & Blu-Ray DVD reader tie this all together!!
-Price Is Incredible compared to my friends Macbook Pro 15" that costs $500-$800 more
What I don't like:
-I've been told that it looks like a "Wanna-Be Mac" (even though this outperforms my friends Macbook Pro which costed much much more)
Overall 5/5 Stars
I have been using this computer for about a month now, and I honestly have 0 complaints. While this is the most basic XPS 15 offered, it still gives excellent performance. The i5 on this particular model is only dual core, but I have had no problems gaming or with any other task I have given it. Coming from a quad core AMD on my previous laptop, this processor hands down performs better, not to mention, I can usually squeeze a good 4+ hours of use out of the battery.
The screen is brilliant and the fact that it is 1080p makes the 15" screen feel like a 20" screen when carrying out everyday tasks. If you're looking for something sleek and solid with an HD screen like--dare I say--a MacBook, look no further. Perhaps I was being picky but in looking through just about every Windows laptop currently available, this was the only one of its kind. Compare the price of this to that of a similar MacBook Pro and the XPS 15 is a clear winner. I have to agree with the other reviewer that said this laptop is worth every penny.
One thing to note is that the hard drive seems to be more of an HDD/SSD hybrid drive. From what I can tell, you cannot access the 32gb SSD portion independently from the HDD portion. It will act as a single 500gb drive, but the 32gb SSD gives it some sort of "cache" that improves performance and boot time.
Buy Dell XPS XPS15-1579sLV 15-Inch Laptop Now
Yes, a RGB screen. But it probably means nothing to people who are not nerds. Beside, you get what you paid for. DELL has started order from the major Chinese supplier of Apple, so there should be no quality issue at all. Mine works great so far.Read Best Reviews of Dell XPS XPS15-1579sLV 15-Inch Laptop Here
It is great laptop, mine came with some bad wifi issue but that was resolved by Dell quickly.The look and feel of this laptop is very good and when you will hold such a kind of laptop, you would never want to go for something below level from this Laptop.
You will not find any information about this laptop with value as XPS15-1579sLV as that value is amazon internal, which was confirmed by Dell to me.
To get more appropriate value, look for DELL XPS 15 L521X. By searching this you can find all the information that you need.
Great value of the price and functionality wise too.
The Screen 1080p quality is really amazing and boot time is 3 seconds, that is true 3 seconds from the time you press power on button to see Windows 8 screen.
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I am extreemly impressed not only does it have beautiful graphics but super fast. I really recommend it, learning Windows 8 is a real trip. Amazon got it here ahead of schedule my compliments to the organization.Save 24% Off
Lenovo IdeaPad Z585 261724U 15.6-Inch Laptop (Grey Metal)
First, let me point out by saying that I absolutely hate the wifi on this laptop. The signal is so poor and the connectivity to my router is nearly non-existant unless I'm within 10 feet of it! Apparently, the lower end Lenovo laptops made within the last year are suffering from wifi connectivity problems, all of them, not just this one. I had the manager at Fr y s, electronics test out three other laptops and they all had the identical signal problem while the HP laptop we had right next to them connected to the router without issue. This laptop's wifi is unusable and I believe half of the reason is that for some reason, Lenovo decided to offer this laptop with two Wifi Antenna configurations. Most laptops with integrated Wifi have the antennas placed at the top of the screen for best Wifi signal but on this laptop, and many others, they're selling it with the antenna placed in the base. You can test for this by lifting a laptop off the table when using it and see if the signal improves.But not withstanding the Wifi problems and the trackpad that easily makes itself looked aged about three years within the first 10 minutes of usage, I have to say I really like the laptop. The sound quality is very good, the processor and video performance is excellent, I like that the GPU provides acceleration to firefox to make web pages load faster, the flash video acceleration makes 1080p videos playback with low CPU usage (useful if hooked up to tv) I like the many adjustments available for the fan speed/noise control, I like how the laptop feels sturdy, the keyboard is excellent to type on, the screen is decent though I'd prefer one with a higher resolution like 1920X1200.
I also like that despite what Lenovo says, the laptop actually supports 16GB of memory, just like AMD's chipset specifications imply. (I know because I installed 16GB of ram without a hitch!)
I paid $480 for this laptop making it a very very good deal but because this laptop is for a friend who plans to use the laptop exclusively on WiFi, even at this price point, this is a dealbreaker. Using an External Wifi USB was of no help either as the signal was much worse than what the laptop came with. I have 8 year old laptops that provide much more usable WiFi signal and connectivity than this laptop. I hate to give this laptop back as it was on sale despite just being released but unless lenovo offers a repair for the poor wifi, it looks like its my only choice.
Buy Lenovo IdeaPad Z585 261724U 15.6-Inch Laptop (Grey Metal) Now
This laptop is amazing. It supports everything that i need it to do and i see no problems with it. It is a sturdy, powerful machine that came at a great price. I love everything about this laptop and wouldn't give it back for any reason.Read Best Reviews of Lenovo IdeaPad Z585 261724U 15.6-Inch Laptop (Grey Metal) Here
Compaq Presario CQ50-210US 15.4-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz AMD Athlon X2 QL-62 Dual-Core Processor, 2 GB
This Laptop is great for the price so far no complaints. Its great for business use. The Compaq Presario CQ50-210US looks similar to the HP 6000 series but without all the flashy aesthetics, which I prefer. Put in a finger print reader and it would be good to go.
The first bump in the road occured after the first month when i realized after about 25 "practice uses" for windows vista i was unable to use it anymore. In my haste i didn't bother entering my product key (located under the notebook) to make Vista official.
I also use my compaq stationary on my desk and kept it plugged in, so i never really realized the heat this thing gives off, and it DOES get HOT. So after some reading into it i bought a laptop cooler to prevent damage from overheating and whatnot. the fan can get rather loud as well(presumably from working so hard trying to keep it cool).
I had no problems connecting, and the few times it did have trouble, i shut it down, reset my wireless router and it was back up, so not the computers fault. I did notice that every so often Internet explorer will stop working(Not Responding) in the middle of use, resulting in opening task manager and closing the window. This doesn't happen an overwhelming amount, but enough to take notice.
Lastly(just a personal thing)the outside tends to get VERY smudgy. It's very slick looking when its clean, but easily leaves fingerprints.
Not a BAD computer, could be cooler, literally, and quieter, and my review probably could've been improved if i had been more knowledgable about the purchasing and the components of a good computer in the first place :PI really like this laptop. Performance wise it is really good much better than I expected. The HP install of additional software is minorly intrusive, but it's easy to disable or uninstall the stuff that I didn't want. I use it as a general purpose laptop for accessing the internet, reading email, and watching videos. It fits my needs well. I've been able to successfully install Ubuntu Linux on the device, with the assistance of this link: . All features work correctly.
I paid $ for it (after $ in ). So from a price/performance perspective, that's one kind of hot.
But then there's another kind of hot. The devices generates extremely high temperatures. So high that I am concerned that the device will fry itself.
I use speedfan to monitor temperatures. The GPU seems to be parked at 110C, the CPU is typically above 60C sometimes going into the 70's and 80's, and the HD is usually around 55C sometimes spiking above 60C. The GPU and HD temp seem excessive to me: especially the HD. I just purchased a laptop cooler to deal with this (not yet arrived).
I occasionally need to leave the device running overnight (e.g. in order to complete a backup). In order to do this, I have to close the screen, and lean it against a wall so that the bottom side is exposed to open air. If I do that, the temps for GPU, CPU & HD fall back into much more reasonable ranges (GPU
Acer NX.M12AA.030;E1-531-2621 15.6-Inch Laptop
Just was I needed. Arrived a day faster. The Laptop was new , with all the proper paperwork and in it's original box sealed.Our whole family uses Acer and would recommend this band to others.
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Samsung Series 7 Gamer NP700G7C-S01US 17.3-Inch Laptop
I've had my Samsung Series 7 Gamer laptop for over a week now, and I thought I'd share my thoughts on the machine since I haven't found much out there about it. Overall, it's a very fancy, very powerful piece of hardware. And the price certainly reflects that. While you could spend thousands more on even fancier, gobbed-out custom notebooks or even a completely tricked out Alienware the S7G was more than adequate for my purposes (and for the price of a top-end Alienware, you really should buy a desktop system, anyway). I bought the laptop for two primary reasons: 1) To run Guitar Rig 5, which is a very CPU-intensive virtual guitar amp/effects program used for performing and recording, and 2) to play games from the past several years at high levels. Gaming-wise, I'm primarily a console gamer, but since it's looking less and less like the next Xbox and PlayStation will be backward compatible with current-gen games (probably with the exception of platform-defining first-party titles like Halo and Uncharted), I wanted to start collecting my current favorites on the PC so I don't have to shelve and maintain extra consoles when the next-gen rolls around. I wanted titles like Batman: Arkham Asylum/City, Skyrim, the Mass Effect trilogy, GTA4, Fallout 3/NV, Dead Island, BioShock, and Metro 2033 to all be available when the mood strikes me. Not to mention the upcoming final round (for the Xbox 360 and PS3) of highly anticipated current-gen titles: Max Payne 3, Metro: Last Light, Far Cry 3, BioShock: Infinite, GTA5, etc.While the S7G is definitely a brute of a laptop (in a good way), let me get its bad points out of the way first. The most negative aspect of this laptop is Samsung's proprietary Mode Dial. Basically you can turn a knob on the front of the laptop, and there are instructions built into the system to enable/disable certain features depending if you want quiet (no fan), battery savings (backlit keyboard off), or all-out gaming performance (everything on and maxed out, battery be damned). It's pointless, and what's worse, the interface that overlays on your desktop is annoying. It comes preloaded with desktop themes that will engage a screen saver after 60 seconds no matter what. The good news is from the desktop you can disable the themes and revert to a traditional Win7 desktop, which also kills the screen saver. However, there's still a clickable node in the upper-right corner of the desktop that allows you to tweak the Mode Dial settings; this will not go away. I personally have the dial set to "game" mode all the time; the likelihood that I'll used this laptop unplugged for more than a half-hour is close to zero.
The second biggest disappointment with the S7G is its plastic case. While it looks like a TRON wet dream when the lid's open, the laptop's housing is light-weight plastic. For almost 20 bills, this really needs to have a higher quality metal case. Perhaps it was an effort on Samsung's part to reduce weight, but it's probably an effort on Samsung's part to reduce its cost.
Other negatives: I have the laptop connected to an external monitor via HDMI, and I use an external USB keyboard and USB mouse (running through a USB hub). The laptop sets under a shelf, on which the monitor sits. I put the computer into sleep mode overnight and during the day when I'm at work. The problem is, the factory default settings kill the power to the USB ports when in sleep mode, and I could not get the external keyboard to "wake" the computer. The only way I could wake it is to unplug everything, move the keyboard out of the way, pull it out from under the shelf, open the lid, make sure it wakes, close the lid, slide it back under the shelf, reposition the keyboard, and plug everything back in. I wasted an hour on-line chatting with Samsung tech support, and never once did the support rep understand the problem, even though I explained it to him about 873 times. I went to Google and found the solution: you have to get into the BIOS and enable the USB devices to retain power while in sleep mode, which allows them to wake the computer. Shouldn't tech support know this? If you need to contact Samsung tech support, do yourself a favor and exhaust all other searches before you call because my on-line tech support chat session with Guptarjeeshaputa in Bombay was akin to slamming my face into a brick wall repeatedly for 60 straight minutes.
The final negative is one gamers want to pay attention to: the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675M is a very, very nice GPU. However, it is essentially a rebadged GTX 580M from the previous generation. NVIDIA will soon release the new GTX 680M, which uses a whole new chipset, will be faster, and run cooler. If I did not need a new laptop immediately, I would have waited for the 680M. If you are concerned about such things, hold on a little longer until laptops are available with the new GPU.
This is not really a complaint, but more of a warning to those who might be unaware: this laptop is huge ("It sure is, Tiny Elvis!"). It's big and it's heavy, and it's not something you'll want to just pop out of your bag on the metro or an airplane. The power brick is also enormous. When I was unpacking the laptop, I saw the edge of the power supply and thought it was another box of parts. Not until I pulled it out did I realize it was the power brick! It's also worth noting that to order a second power supply, expect to spend some serious money. I ordered a travel/backup supply through Samsung parts (it's not available anywhere else), and it was about $150 for the brick and power cord (note: they are sold separately from each other, so make sure you buy both pieces). The battery also doesn't last long; expect maybe a couple of hours if you're lucky. Again, I knew this when I bought it, but if you've never owned a 17"+ high-power laptop, be aware of this stuff.
Okay, on to the positives. This laptop is very powerful. It has not choked at anything I have thrown at it (with one exception, see below). It also has a very eye-pleasing, modern design. While I normally use it with the lid closed, when I do open the lid it feels like you're at the helm of a spaceship. It's wickedly fast booting up Windows. I go from entering my Windows password to a fully ready desktop in about 10 seconds or less. This is thanks to the 8GB ExpressCache SSD. For everything going on under the hood, the heat output remains nicely under control, even under the duress of Battlefield 3 and Skyrim. While the built-in cooling system is nice, I still HIGHLY recommend a laptop cooling pad; they're inexpensive, easy to use, and keep your big investment running at a safe temp. It also has tons of storage (note that the system has two 750GB HDDs that are NOT in RAID 0, so it has a total of 1.5TB of storage, but not in a single C: drive). Also not listed in any spec sheets is the laptop uses DDR3-1600 RAM, so expect 1600 MHz speeds (verified with CPU-ID).
So far I have had a wonderful gaming experience with the S7G. I use 1920x1080 resolution for all games, and I'm generally able to get high performance numbers even at that high of a resolution. However, DirectX 11 is just a bit too much for the system to handle with some games at that resolution, and I sometimes back games down to DX10. Here are some of my performance numbers (collected using reports generated by FRAPS, or the game's internal benchmarking tool):
Batman: Arkham Asylum 54 FPS (Ultra settings, PhysX on HIGH, 4x AA)
Batman: Arkham City 47 FPS (Ultra settings, PhysX on HIGH, DX10, 4x AA)
Battlefield 3 30 FPS (Ultra settings, 2x AA)
Crysis 2 30 FPS (High Quality Texture Pack, Ultra settings, DX10)
Diablo III 60+ FPS (Highest settings, 8x AA)
Grand Theft Auto IV 62 FPS (Ultra settings, View Distance = 50, Detail Distance = 50, 8x AA, sometimes dips to < 30 FPS during top speeds in heavy traffic)
Max Payne 3 30+ FPS (with HDAO and minimum AA)
RAGE 40 FPS (Ultra settings, 16x AA)
Serious Sam 3 BFE 30 FPS (Ultra settings, 4x AA)
Skyrim 54 FPS (Hi Res Texture Pack, Ultra settings, 8x AA, 13 additional user mods running)
The only game giving me problems is The Witcher 2. To get a playable frame rate of over 30 FPS, I have to switch everything to low. With medium settings I get less than 20 FPS, and it chugs and stutters. After doing some research, I'm finding a lot of people unable to get this game running well, even on machines exceeding the recommended specs from the publisher. I am still investigating this, but I believe this is a situation where the game has incredible graphics, but is very poorly optimized. I can play Battlefield 3, Max Payne 3, and Batman: Arkham City at very high quality and not run into the frame rate problems The Witcher 2 has.
In conclusion, if you're looking for a fast gaming laptop right now, the Samsung Series 7 Gamer should be at the top of your shopping list. I looked at several other brands (Alienware, HP, Sager), and the Samsung, more than any other brand/model, met my needs at a price I was willing to pay. You can spend thousands more if you can afford it, but you get a lot of bang for your buck with the S7G. It isn't perfect, but it sure will get the job done.
Purchased this system as a Grad student for both college and play.
Screen
The screen is a beautiful HD 1920 X 1080 Resolution screen. I've never seen anything like this; not even on a television. It is a retina scorching 400 nits with superb contrast and very deep blacks.
Sound
Dolby home theater surround sound. System sounds lifelike and has a built in sub-woofer. I'm very pleased with the sound quality all though I think the JBL sound system on the new regular 17.3" Samsung series 7 sounds better.
Keyboard
Most comfortable keyboard I've ever used. The keyboard slopes back to accommodate wrists and sys cooling. The keys are a curved style like Lenovo's laptops. Very ergonomic. White backlighting; "WASD" keys light red in "gamer mode."
Performance
One of the best-performing systems available for the price. Runs cool and quite. One game won't run so far; "Tribes Ascend." I'm very upset about this as it's my favorite game to play right now. It will not run on any of the new gaming laptops with 3rd gen i7. Battery life is not that good (2.5-3.5 hours). No wifi or connectivity issues. Wifi has great range and seems a little above average.
*****Coreection*******
The game would not run because of the Nvidia driver. I had to delete a file from the Nvidia driver folder. I don't recall what file was deleted. Tribes Ascend now runs on the system after deleting the file. I have not noticed any problems with the system since deleting the file.
Design
Plastic Chassis, glossy black-like finish and black-anodized brushed aluminum palm wrest and keyboard area. Overall, a beautiful and sturdy computer. I'd prefer all aluminum, but Apple would probably start another lawsuit lol :-P. At-least Samsung didn't ripoff this design. System looks both fun for gaming and professional in office environments.
Value:
Great v competition in my own opinion i.e. Dell Alienware and Asus G75. I'm am biased as Samsung is my brand of choice and Apple second to Samsung.
Concl
Overall, I'm very excited and pleased to be the owner of Samsung's first gaming system. I think they are a company that takes themselves seriously and will continue to excel in their ventures. Thanks Samsung for a high-quality and innovative gaming system.
Hope this quick overview helps.
Buy Samsung Series 7 Gamer NP700G7C-S01US 17.3-Inch Laptop Now
I've had this laptop for about a week now and I absolutely love it. I have a busy lifestyle with kids so the only time I can carve out for gaming is late at night. I used to head down to the basement while my lovely wife would be in bed and play on my desktop. I got tired of feeling neglectful of my wife and getting eaten by spiders in my unfinished basement so I figured it was time to get a laptop for the bedroom.I purchased this tray to use in the bed: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001GU7GAK/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00 and the laptop sits atop it perfectly.
After my wife drifts off to sleep I pull out this bad boy and am treated to spectacular gaming experience in ultimate comfort.
Pros:
Best screen on a laptop I have ever seen, it can even do 120Hz if you want. The brightness is nearly blinding (in a good way) and the black levels are excellent.
Keyboard is pleasant to play on and the backlighting really helps when playing in the dark. The best part of this keyboard is that it doesn't feel cheap and it has extensive "anti-ghosting" for gaming. It really helps when playing games that require a lot of button pressing.
Very quiet. This was a huge concern for me due to the fact I am lying next to someone while playing computer games in a bed. My wife says she has no problem sleeping with the small amount of noise it does make.
Very cool, I've had laptops that feel like they could boil a pot of water, this laptop runs at a very reasonable temperature considering the internals.
I can run all of my games on ultra (so far). I've only played Diablo 3, TF2 and SC2 so far but it looks a heck of a lot better than my desktop sporting an older 9800 GTX.
Cons:
It's HEAVY. Not really surprising considering what's in this thing but it's noteworthy. I will never travel with it so it's not a huge problem for me.
Doesn't support RAID, it comes with 2 750GB drives but no hardware raid which is kind of silly. Not the end of the world but it would have been nice.
The video card is not an AMD 7970M. The 675M is still a great card even if it's just a re-labeled 580m but it's not cutting edge anymore. I was aware of this fact when I bought it but it didn't stop me from forking over my cash based on how great this laptop is otherwise.
I would highly recommend this laptop to anyone who wants a great desktop replacement gaming laptop. It does not feel cheap; it's gorgeous and has all of the features you need for gaming. A job well done by Samsung.
Read Best Reviews of Samsung Series 7 Gamer NP700G7C-S01US 17.3-Inch Laptop Here
I read literally hundreds of reviews of everything I could find. Being retired I simply can NOT afford this. But it kept "calling out" to me....The wife "called out" a few things her own self when I showed it to her as well. But, I simply will cut to the chase and say I love this thing. I have no games that I can't run at their highest settings. To my amazement, it even plays Sid Meier's Civilization V: Gods and Kings so fast it literally altered game play. I mean, it was so slow on any of my other 4 computers I had abandoned it completely. now, it simply RIPS through all that used to flat kill my other rigs.I will leave all the already repeated hype to the others...I just want to throw out there that this is rock solid for weeks now. Bummer was the price dropped a LOT within a few minutes of my buying it but I kept it anyway. Not going to make Amazon suffer & send it back then reorder! I guess I never paid top dollar before yet came away still so happy. Only weird glitch I have had is once I had turned Bluetooth on and my games ALL turned to crap. I mean this computer flat fell on it's face! More embarrassing was it took me 2 days to figure out the problem and what I had done to screw things up. Most of the reason it took me so long is I had been playing nonstop for 18-20 hours both days! I was mortified once I realized my stupid mistake.
Other weird thing is that every single time I open the lid I KEEP getting a damned warning that my auto update feature for Windows needs to be turned on. What pisses me off is I have changed to do auto update over 200+ times already and it simply won't hold that setting! I finally turned off the notification setting altogether so I don't completely lose my old mind. Go to change the speaker volume after a few hours of game play & risk burning your finger, it DOES get that hot. But...it has been rock solid unless I do something stupid to sabotage things so not going to ding it for that. I am giving this a rare 5 stars after honestly torturing it for a month now. I will downgrade it on the spot if it bites me in any way or as I find weaknesses that simply have not shown themselves to me yet. I SO wanted the Asus to save money but all the complaints in reviews scared me off. Glad they did too after a month with this beauty. Like so many, the black is uninspiring, wish it was the candy red like at the CES show. But if after all I have done to this, WITH this the past month, if I still love it this much, at this price and with me on my meager Social Security check to live on...well, it must have EARNED that 5 stars.
Sept 25 2012 UPDATE:
I know being retired is gonna wear me out.....Now I have a battery issue. I always have it plugged in yet after 10 hours of gaming my battery is dead (well, down to 12% remaining). I am forced to close the lid and it then takes a couple hours to slowly recharge so I can resume gaming. Not sure if I am the only one having this problem? Of course I should take a break by then anyway I suppose?
October 25 2012 Update:
Samsung Support (for ME) has been a pleasant surprise. A woman who spoke perfect English and in America now less (!!!!) advised me to do a battery recondition. I did this while explaining to her she was full of crap....well surprise, it solved my problem. I now have had 3 weeks of gaming 12-18 hours a day with my newer XCOM: Enemy Unknown as well as Medal of Honor: Warfighter both as max settings with ZERO issues. Due to this and some new negative reviews that look like scam reviews by LOONS or trolls I am raising this to a well deserved 5 stars. On it's own, this deserves it. I waited to go 5 stars until it had been time tested, not to just rush in when all excited etc. And 1 warning. If you ever have to use the supplied restoration disk that Samsung provides to restore? Well as another reviewer correctly explained, you LOSE EVERYTHING you need to make this computer work! I recommend you go to Samsung NOW and do the following. Go to their support area and download each & every available download so when & if you need to restore, you will have all these drivers ready to go. If not, no track-pad, no sound, no nothing....REALLY pissed me off. It was a nightmare experience but a lesson well learned. Trust me, you NEED to do this now, before you get stuck. Now that everything has "burned in", has a couple thousand (yes thousand) hours on it, all is rock solid. Gaming has become my life sadly, but I am all smiles so why worry? 5 solid stars all around. For the record I am not any kind of Samsung "fanboy" or even Samsung "fan codger"! I have adjusted my rating on this 3 times now and maintain my reviews to honestly reflect all that I spend my money on. I am loyal to NO brand. I just call em like I see em.
10 Month Update on June 19 2013: This computer has fully EARNED it's solid 5 stars. I can't kill it. NO game I have bought even creates any challenge for it. Other than my wife, this has been love at first sight, and a love affair than has never waned......
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I feel like i really did my research before ending up at the series 7. I was torn between this, the MSI GT70 and the ASUS G75. At the end of the day it boiled down to professional comparisons, and build quality. I saw SEVERAL editors choice awards from different publishers. The stats are slightly better than the other two as well on paper. I read over 70 other customer reviews with the only CONS being stupid crap like the charger is too big and keyboard is too thick. Boo hoo. This thing is a big bad game devouring monster that could power the starship enterprise. The build is super solid, screen is amazing, and it hasnt broken a sweat with any game or task yet. Runs super cool as well. Amazon was amazing i had it to my door 22 hours after ordering. Couldnt have spent my money better.
Apple MacBook Pro MC723LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)
First, a little background. Aside from a TI-99 we had when I was a kid and the Apple IIc computers at my middle school, I've always been a Windows guy. I feel very comfortable in the Windows environment and have been building my own PCs for about 15 years. I don't hate Microsoft. But when the need for another laptop became clear, I decided to focus my search on the higher end machines. I wanted good horsepower, but I especially wanted a nicer form factor than the creaky Dells I had become accustomed to. As I had fallen in love with the interface on my iPhone, I decided it was time to give MacBooks a try. I kept my Windows desktop in case I ran into compatibility problems.The short version of that story is that I quickly dismantled my PC and now use this laptop as my only machine. I am fortunate to be able to do so because my work as an attorney requires only Word, Excel, and an internet browser. As a bonus, my copy of Lightroom 3 also installed on the MacBook. I'm trying not to sound like a Mac zealot, so let's have a list:
-Aluminum unibody is no marketing gimmick. It's sturdy and feels great with no flex and no creaking. Looks nice, too.
-Keyboard is well-engineered. The key travel and spacing between keys feel just right for my taste. There is no flex here, either, which I often find disconcerting on other laptops.
-Trackpad is a marvel. It really is. It's very large, but I've yet to feel like it's in the way. And the finger movements are intuitive and work very well.
-The screen is bright, clear and has great color. The reflectivity is sometimes an issue in bright locations, but I find tilting it a little solves most problems. Otherwise, you can custom order the anti-glare screen direct from Apple.
-The lid closes with a magnet, so there's nothing to break.
-It is very fast. In my experience, Mac OS X starts up and shuts down far faster than a comparably spec'ed Windows machine. I have yet to feel a need for 8 GB of RAM, but an upgrade would only cost $90 if you know how to do it yourself. Otherwise, I have no issues running lots of standard programs at once.
-Comes with Time Machine. As an attorney and amateur photographer, I have lots of stuff that needs to be backed up regularly and reliably. Time Machine works so well and so seamlessly that I can't imagine how I survived before.
-Spotlight is brilliant. Type in any word, and Spotlight almost instantly gives you results from your entire hard drive, including INSIDE your searchable documents, preferences, web results, and even definitions of words.
-Seven hours of battery life is very possible, even on wireless. I can sit in Starbucks for hours unplugged and still have plenty of life left. The caveat is that you really can only surf and use programs like Word. I also have Flash installed, which is a huge battery drainer, so I grabbed a Flash-blocking program that let's me choose which Flash files to activate. Nice solution.
-HD webcam. Nice quality, though I haven't really done more than messed around with it.
-The magnetic power cable is slick.
-As a former Windows user, I find the Mac OS X interface to be really nice and intuitive. There's obviously a learning curve, though I've found it be surprisingly short. Lion is anticipated to be a nice upgrade, too.
-PRICE! Well, a lot of people complain about the Apple premium, and it definitely exists. I found this laptop to be a few hundred dollars higher than the really nice Windows laptops with mostly similar specs, although I don't think comparing raw horsepower between two different operating systems is always an accurate benchmark. I live on my computer, so I'm willing to pay a little more to get what I want. It's like buying a BMW because you have to spend three or four hours a day in your car. Whether that value equation works for you or not is up to you and your checkbook.
-Anything I dislike? Not really. I'd like maybe one more USB port and a CF card reader. I'd love to start seeing cheaper SSDs in these things, but that's really not Apple's fault. Decent SSDs with any size are still expensive for everyone. I was a little nervous about having a 5400 RPM HDD. I think transferring large NEF files from the card reader might be fractionally slower. The tradeoff in battery life is probably worth it. Will Thunderbolt be worth it? Who knows? I don't care just yet, but ask me next year.
I know there's more to say, but I'm running out of steam. I'm happy to discuss anything in the comments.
The primary upgrade to this revision? The processor! Intel has a brand new architecture called Sandy Bridge, and these MacBook Pros are the first Macs to feature this technology. Some have called it some of the most significant changes to Intel architecture since Pentium 4 was introduced. These 15-inch MacBook Pros as well as its big brother, the 17-inch, not only take advantage of Sandy Bridge, but the Quad Core i7 Variant. Quad Core processor in a notebook Mac! Wow.
I actually chose the 13-inch model for my personal use (only Dual Core on the 13-inch), but a 15-inch is replacing an aging iMac at the office to save space and leap over its performance. These Quad Core Chips are amazing. Early benchmarks are showing this entry-level 15-inch, 50 percent faster than the upper end i7 15-inch MacBook pro from a year ago. A dramatic improvement. This higher end model is even better. Furthermore, if you're still on a Core 2 Duo machine such as the iMac I am replacing, the performance is as much as 2.5 times faster and 3x faster with this higher end model. At least in terms of the processor. This is most beneficial in processor intensive applications, for consumers such applications are iMovie and Garageband. Professionals will see the new processors beneficial in any professional photo editing, video, or music work.
This model also includes a fantastic dedicated graphics card with 1GB of graphics memory. 1GB of graphics memory is a a first for Mac notebooks.
One downside is that due to cost, the machine still comes with a spinning hard drive standard. In this case, the standard drive is a 5400 RPM 750 GB drive. That offers plenty of storage, but is slightly slower than a desktop 7200RPM drive and much slower than a new, solid state drive. You do have options. You can special order the machine from Apple with a 7200RPM drive, or Solid State Drive. However, what I have decided to do, is simply, when I'm ready, swap out the drive myself. Other World Computing sells solid state drives compatible. It might not be easy for every user, but for those with some computer experience, it is a fairly easy swap. Then I can install a faster solid state drive, when the more acceptable capacity drives come down a bit in price. You might also choose to do the swap yourself because you can then put the hard drive that was originally in the machine, into an external enclosure, and use it as an external drive for backup. Of course, any damage you cause to the machine would not be covered under warranty. Therefore, if you have any concern, you might want to see if you can special order from Apple online, or in many situations, you will find the standard hard drive to be acceptable.
After the processor advancement, Thunderbolt is the other great new technology included in this revision to the MacBook Pro. Thunderbolt looks like the Mini Displayport that was already included on the MacBook Pros. Indeed, it will still function perfectly as a Mini Displayport, for connecting an external display. However, Thunderbolt is more importantly a new interface to connect external devices in the future, such as, external hard drives, HD camcorders, and perhaps even iPads, iPods, or iPhones someday. Data would then transfer many times faster to and from these devices than it does currently. These devices were not available at the time of the MacBook Pro's launch, but we have already heard that external drives should be available later this year with Thunderbolt connectivity.
iSight camera has been upgraded to HD resolution and Face Time pre-installed on the computer. This gives you the ability to video chat, easily, with other Macs and notably, iPhone 4s and the newest iPod Touch with front facing camera.
The consumer software you expect to be included by Apple is once again here. The latest version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard (operating system), iLIfe 11 including iPhoto, Garageband, iMovie, iDVD, and iWeb is all here. OS X always includes Safari web browser, iTunes, and Mail applications too. The average user would be good to go out of the box. You might pick up Microsoft Office for your office document needs, or simply purchase Apple's iWork applications (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) from new Mac App Store on your computer.
The new MacBooK Pros, thanks to Sandy Bridge technology are fast. They will save you time, when using processor intensive applications. Time in business, saves people money and frustration. The average consumer might see less gains with this update as physically the MacBook Pro has retained it identical appearance, size, and weight. Nevertheless, under the unibody, improvements have certainly occurred which result in a much faster notebook. The fact that these 15-inch and 17-inch models now include Quad Core Processors standard is really extraordinary. This is putting recent top of the line desktop performance, into a sleek and attractive Mac Notebook. A breakthrough. Recommended Product!
Buy Apple MacBook Pro MC723LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) Now
Apple MacBook Pro MC723LL/A 15.4-Inch LaptopI have spent months reviewing different laptops. I've gone through at least 10 laptops in the last year looking for that one laptop that I will be pleased with and keep for more than a year or two. I've had Acer, HP, Compaq, Asus, Sony, Toshiba, and others. Sony was the only laptop that didn't go FUBAR within a year or so.
So, I thought I would give Apple a shot and I was not disappointed. I first tried out a 17" dual core that was super but the resolution was just too small for my eyes and I returned it. But I was so impressed with the quality of the case, the screen (albeit the resolution too small for my eyes), the quality of the innards (no cheap stuff under this hood), the quality of the power cord, the very fast 800 firewire, the backlight keyboard, the ease of typing on the keyboard, and the mouse pad. The mouse pad on this laptop was the first one I have not had to disable while typing. I have no idea why we have been stuck with those stupid PC mouse pads for so long when the solution was so easy! On the Apple laptop you push the pad down instead of tapping it. This means the cursor does not move to some abstract place and you find yourself typing three pages back!
But, then Intel released their new Sandy chips. I figured that Apple would not use these chips for some time so I started looking at PCs again just for the new chip. I couldn't bring myself to buy a PC after owning a Apple. Fortunately Apple did release these new Macbook Pros with Intel's new chip with increased graphic memory and the new Thunderbolt. Plus Apple increased the speed of the memory.
I just could not help myself and I purchased this MBP 15" with the 2.2 i7 Sandy Bridge with the 1G memory. I am very glad I did. This laptop is fast. Its unibody case makes this the most solid and durable laptop on the market. The innards are easy to access to upgrade memory and the hard drive. Everything inside this machine is neatly arranged and is of top quality. The battery is rated for seven hours which is pretty accurate. The Mac OS is written to take advantage of the quad core chip, memory, etc. The LED screen is crisp and clear, and with the regular 1440X900 resolution I can easily use this laptop without any eyestrain.
I only have one puzzling complaint about this new laptop. Why in the world would a company build one of the fastest top quality laptops in the world and stick a hard drive spinning at 5400 RPM? Yes it is a 750 gigabyte drive, which few people including myself could never fill. But running at 5400 RPM? I just cannot understand this.
You can order the drive spinning at 7200 RPM or opt for a SSD on the Apple online store. The strange thing is that the 7200 RPM drive is the same price as the drive spinning at 5400 RPM. But that is not the point. Yes, most people will never notice the speed difference between a 5400 RPM and a 7200 RPM drive unless you are doing some pretty intensive media editing or are a avid game player. The point is why build a top of the line laptop and stick in a old busted down 5400 RPM hard drive like an afterthought. I fixed this discrepancy by installing a new Intel 160G SSD (solid state drive).
I have been using laptops since 1991 when they made great paperweights when they died. This is the best laptop I have ever owned. Do yourself a favor and try one. Even if you don't like it you can always return it. I don't think you will, but you do have that option.
Read Best Reviews of Apple MacBook Pro MC723LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION) Here
I've been a power Mac user since its introduction in 1984, and have owned various portable and desktop configurations since then. Frequently, you will see major leaps in desktop performance, but it is rare to see dramatic improvements with laptops (you typically see 25-50% improvements). But I have to say, in all the Mac laptops I've owned since my very first PowerBook G4, this is the most dramatic leap in performance I've ever seen. Not only is it 2.8x FASTER than my mid-2009 2.66GHz Core2-Duo 15" MacBook Pro, it is slightly faster than my 2008 2.8GHz dual-quad-core MacPro!I bought my 2011 MacBook Pro (2.3GHz quad-core i7, 15" high-res screen) as an upgrade from my mid-2009 15" unibody MacBook Pro. I wasn't expecting to be LITERALLY blown away by the raw computing and graphics performance of this update. I have run every standard benchmark suite in comparison not only with my 2009 MBPro, but also against my 2008 dual 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Xeon "Harpertown" MacPro. And to my surprise, this little wonder beats BOTH machines in CPU and graphics performance. Imagine carrying a laptop with true desktop power. My real-world tests (iMovie, Aperture, Photoshop and Nikon Capture NX) simply validate the benchmark results.
Here's what my tests reveal:
Geekbench: 10450 (vs. 3722 for 2009 MBPro vs. 9533 for 2008 MacPro)
Cinebench 11 CPU: 5.56 (vs. 1.53 for 2009 MBPro vs. 5.76 for 2008 MacPro)
Cinebench 11 GPU: 36.38 (vs. 13.77 for 2009 MBPro/nVidia vs. 26.51 for 2008 MacPro/ATI 5770)
Now THAT is impressive!
Even though the Intel "SandyBridge" core i7 processor in this Mac is advertised as quad-core, each core supports 2 simultaneous threads (8 operations), which you can literally see when running Cinebench. If your computing needs don't support multiple cores, the i7 can bump the speed of a single core up to 3.4GHz (TurboBoost) as well.
To truly match/replace your desktop environment, you'll need to replace the built-in hard drive with an SSD, because 2.5" hard disks, even in 7200rpm configurations, are much slower than their 3.5" desktop counterparts. I bought my SSD through OWC, and I'm seeing anywhere from 3-40x(!) faster performance for I/O intensive operations such as booting, working with VMWare/Parallels virtual machines, and processing large files (images, video, etc). It is simply the best investment you can make, if you can afford it.
Beyond the raw power, there are a number of incremental improvements over the 2009 model:
integrated Intel 3000 graphics, and ATI Radeon 6750M (dedicated graphics with 1GB VRAM)
1.33GHz memory backplane, supporting up to 16GB of RAM through third-party modules
new Thunderbolt interface using the Mini DisplayPort connector (super-fast 10Gbps interconnect for up to 6 devices, although no Thunderbolt devices are available yet)
Mini DisplayPort supports digital audio and video on a single cable (including HDMI with suitable third-party adapters)
higher-resolution FaceTime camera
SD slot now supports SDXC
updated optical drive (ingest mechanism is less finicky for me)
better battery life
The high-resolution screen in this model REALLY makes a difference over the standard screen (which I had on my 2009 model). The 1680x1050 resolution is the same as my older 21" Apple Cinema Display. I was afraid the higher resolution would make it harder to read (the text is smaller), but the brightness and wide-angle visibility makes this one of the best displays you can get in a laptop form factor. If you work in heavily-lit or outdoor environments, you might want to consider the anti-glare (matte) screen which is available in Apple's build-to-order configurations. Both dual and mirrored display configurations are possible simultaneously supporting full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of color. Interestingly, in my configuration, I was only able to get an external HDMI display to operate on the high-performance discrete GPU only.
Another pleasant surprise for me was the battery life of this new 2011 model. Even with all that processing power, I'm consistently getting 6-7 hours of usable life (lightweight not heavy work). One big tip for saving battery life is to install the freeware gfxCardStatus utility, which lets you choose integrated only (much lower power), automatic, or discrete/ATI graphics. Apple's own Energy Saver system preference only lets you choose between automatic or discrete. And when you're running on the battery, this can be problematic because simply launching some programs (eg. PhotoShop) can force the discrete adapter. Like earlier designs, the battery is built into the unit and cannot be swapped or user-replaced. In practical use, I don't find this to be a problem because I'm getting the same extended runtime that I got on earlier MacBook Pros with 2 battery swaps.
Rounding out the compliment of ports (on the left side only) is Gb ethernet, FireWire 800, 2 USB 2.0 ports, audio out and audio in (both supporting analog and digital/TOSlink connectors). If there is any weakness, it would be nice to have a right-side USB port, or at least enough separation between the USB ports to not force you to use a short USB dongle cable with your 3G wireless card (if you want to use both ports).
As with Apple's other MacBook Pros, this model is built on their "unibody" construction, where the main case is crafted from a single piece of aluminum. This makes the laptop amazingly rigid, and also allows it to be lighter weight, thinner, and better at dissipating heat than more traditional laptop designs. Apple makes it easy to upgrade the memory or hard drive (you just need a fine #00 phillips screwdriver to remove the screws on the bottom plate).
One last note on this MacBook Pro Apple bundles a special build of OS X 10.6.6 which you will want to immediately upgrade to 10.6.7 using Apple's Software Update mechanism. (You can't apply the 10.6.7 combo updater since this version of 10.6.6 is later than the standard build). The "OS X 10.6.7 Update for Early 2011 MacBook Pro" includes an important fix for the discrete graphics processor under heavy workloads.
For those of you (like me) who still have older PowerPC software that hasn't been updated (Quicken!), this will most likely be the last generation of Apple notebooks to run on OS X 10.6.x "Snow Leopard". The next release of OS X 10.7 ("Lion") has removed support for running PowerPC applications (Rosetta). This alone was worth me upgrading to this model.
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I've used a pretty wide variety of both PCs and Macs, both for personal use and for work. I've used them for gaming, development, and run-of-the-mill tasks. However, my last two machines (three counting this one) were all Macs. I'm still a believer in the PC for hardcore desktop gaming, but as far as laptops go I'm pretty much sold on Apple. Why? Quite simply, Mac laptops are just a lot less fuss. They don't break down or exhibit weird quirks as often as PC notebooks, generally last longer on battery power, and take up less space. For my latest machine, I decided to splurge a bit and get something that can actually play gamesfully intending to take advantage of Boot Camp to run the loads of Windows titles I usually play on my monster desktop gaming rig. The 15" 2011 Pro with 1 GB video was the obvious choice: not so big I can't carry it around, yet with enough muscle to run anything in my library. Was it worth the huge price tag? In a word: yes.Pros:
Case design is superior, not just elegant but functional as well. It's actually somewhat water resistant (don't ask) and very easy to clean. The form factor is slim and handyeasy to carry around.
Hardware layout is well thought out, and design is excellent. Speakers are positioned so the sound is crisp, almost as if you had externals. Camera is sharp. Trackpad is huge and very responsive.
Mac OS X is still the best OS out there. I must say, Windows 7 is a whole lot closer than any other previous incarnation of that franchise, but OS X still has it beat in many ways: no defragging, doesn't degrade over time (especially when used for software development), more stable, boots up and shuts down faster, and generally speaking more intuitive in UI layout. You'll also have a lot less to worry about as far as malware and spyware are concerned.
Screen quality is great, and the backlighting for both the display and keyboard are excellent. Note: I strongly recommend paying the extra for the high-res 1680x1050 display upgrade, unless you're always going to have your machine hooked up to an external display. It is totally worth it. Second note: if you do get this upgrade, don't bother with the anti-glare, as it's equally totally NOT worth it (you can get a third party stick-on that does the same for a lot less, and is removable).
Has enough power for pretty much anything. RAM/hard drive are easily upgradeablebuy it yourself and install it yourself; it's about as hard as loading VHS cassettes. This model straight out of the box can run most current games on max settings.
Dual boot is easy to set up. I'm running Win 7 64 alongside Snow Leopard for gaming purposes. Boot camp sets up all the drivers with little fuss. The only issues I've seen are that the graphics card switching doesn't work on Windows, which eats up battery a lot faster, and right clicking with the trackpad is a bit awkward. The latter is easily solved by hooking up a 2-button mouse.
Magsafe is awesome. I'd probably be out a few dozen machines from tripping over the cable if not for this simple yet brilliant feature.
Battery life is great. It doesn't usually last for 7 hrs as advertised; 5 hrs is more typical when doing various tasks. However, even that is huge compared to most similarly specced laptops.
For a laptop of this size with this power, it's really light.
Apple's customer support is top-notch. If you're in the US their stores are pretty much everywhere, and you can get same-day repair service in most cases. Try doing that with Dell or HP sometime...
Cons:
The mini displayport/Thunderbolt connector means you'll need an adapter for pretty much every different video device you hook up. They're a bit awkward to hook up and can get bulky if you have enough of them.
If you run 3-D intensive apps like most games the big video card turns on, and it runs pretty darn hot. When the fans kick in, it gets pretty loud.
Compared to some older unibody platforms, it's harder to get at the innards. You have to unscrew the whole bottom plate and remove it to even access the battery. For most users, though, this shouldn't be too big a deal.
It's considerably more expensive than a similarly specced Windows laptop.
Doesn't have a blu-ray drive, if you care. Most Windows machines in this price range do.
Is this machine for everyone? Probably not if due to the price alone, but I've found less to complain about than just about every other laptop I've owned. I'm still a fan of the regular MacBook for non-gaming/coding tasks due to its smaller form factor, lower cost, and lighter weight. However, it doesn't have the power to do anything more serious than video playback. If that's all you're going to do and ease of transport is a priority, then go for it. If you're planning on replacing a desktop or want some serious mobile power, then the Pro is a better choice.
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