APPLE MacBook Pro 17-Inch Widescreen Laptop

I have been a PC person for 20 years. i took a chance and bought a MAC. I will never go back. For those who are thinking of moving to mac, don't worry you will love it. The only issue was all my Microsoft office products. But Microsoft for mac 2008/2011 took care of that. I can literally use the computer for 6-9 hours on the battery. It is hands down so much more of a tool than the PC thought of being!!

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Toshiba Satellite P845t-S4310 14-Inch Laptop

I got this as a Christmas gift and absolutely love it. Feels great and is pretty fast and responsive. I already have an Ipad so I am very comfortable with the touchscreen feature, having a keyboard and CD drive makes this the all around best option. Navigating between the apps and the internet takes a little getting used to with Windows 8 though.

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MSI G Series GE40 2OC-009US 14-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)

If you want to have only 1 computer (vs. 1 gaming & 1 portable), and you like to move around with it (even just around the house), then this is definitely the one to get. It strikes the perfect balance between price/specs/portability. I used to have the Samsung 9 gamer from last year (which was surprisingly under-appreciated considering its price, specs and gorgeous screen), but it was a 9 lbs monster that almost never left my desk, partly because of the typically lousy battery life. Funnily enough, 1 year later, this MSI has almost the same performance at half the weight and triple the battery life. So now I take this one out to the library or coffee shop at least a few times a week. And even just around the house, I don't hesitate to bring it to the sofa so I can chat and surf while watching TV. I like my HTC One, but multitasking on Android still sucks. The long-lasting battery really is a big deal. I leave it plugged in overnight and while I'm at work (full charge in < 3 hrs), and then I can use it from the time I get home until I go to sleep, or all afternoon on the weekends. I shake my head when I see people lugging around their power bricks.

I've had the laptop for a few weeks now, and overall I'm very happy with it. I decided to buy it without waiting for reviews because of the good things I heard about Haswell, and I haven't been disappointed. I was a little concerned about fan noise, which can be a problem with many gaming rigs, but it's not a problem with the GE40. I haven't tried gaming on it yet, but I've heard the fan go max a few times, and the noise level is very acceptable. Most of the time, if there's any amount of background noise, the fan isn't noticeable.

The matte screen was a pleasant surprise, I can't stand glossy. The viewing angles aren't great, but this is MY toy, so I don't care, and the colour is good. There is, however, 1 bright pixel, and MSI will only replace it if there are at least 5 bad ones (I didn't buy from Amazon). That's pretty poor by industry standards, especially since MSI has a crazy chart for identifying what is, in fact, considered a bad pixel. Regardless, I only (barely) notice the bright pixel if the area around it is completely black, so it's almost a non-issue.

What IS a minor annoyance is the hinge. No problems when it's open, but there's a bit of bounce when it's closed and I'm walking around with it. I hold it by the battery against my hip with the lid facing out, as I think most people do when walking around with a laptop. Other than that, no complaints.

So, if you want a machine with specs that will last a few years and won't break the bank or your back, you can't go wrong with this one.

Never had an MSI Laptop before so this purchase was mainly made on the overall specs of the machine.

With a dual hard drive setup its very fast(SSD 128GB on 6GB SAS + 750GB 7200 RPM drive 3GB SAS) you have enough space to load your os on to the ssd and gaming data ect on the 750GB drive. Running games are very smooth. With a brand new GTX 760M 2GB vid ram it can run most any new games with little to no issue. Comes with one 8GB ram stick so adding additional ram is a snap. Removable battery and slot for optical drive(have to remove ssd drive).

Trackpad and keyboard feel really responsive.(No back-lite on keyboard though..) Screen is very bright and matte display so no annoying reflections.

Running games from battery actually works Ok, I've had some gaming laptops that stutter so much because the GPU/system is not getting enough power but from the looks of this system its able to run on battery without issue(though you will notice a slight fps drop due to the system not using turbo boost as often.)

Not a big fan of the windows 8 install but I living with it until i can dual boot win 7 or Ubuntu. I did backup the win 8 recovery system to a usb disk in case of a re install.

Course this system doesn't have a optical drive so if you need it you can always hook up an external drive to one of the usb ports(2 USB3.0 and 1 USB 2.0). You can order the same laptop without an ssd drive and then it will include an optical drive but i prefer the fast-boot time and launching of apps that run off the ssd drive..

Overall I think this is a great new laptop with new generation intel i7 haswell processor.

Buy MSI G Series GE40 2OC-009US 14-Inch Laptop (Black/Red) Now

Finding balance between a good gaming system and portable notebook is a difficult endeavor. There are plenty of 15.6" or 17" screen systems out there that are able to pack the highest performing components inside, but leave your shoulder/back aching. On the other side of the spectrum, there are a number of sleek, ultra book class notebooks that are easy to carry, but leave you wanting more performance. I needed a high performance notebook that allows me to multi-task and game a bit while away from home. The MSI GE40 is a nice compromise between the two categories with a few caveats.

Design:

Weighing in at 4.4ish pounds, the GE40 is quite light for what it packs inside. The palm rest and lid are a brushed aluminum. The lid has eye-catching red LEDs in the form of "dragon eyes". The rest of the body is comprised of your standard glossy plastic that attracts finger prints, but isn't handled all that often in everyday use. There is more flex in the palm rest and keyboard than a full aluminum chassis, but it doesn't scream poor quality.

Screen:

My main issue with the GE40 is the quality of the screen. While it does feature a high 1600x900 resolution for a 14" screen, it is an average TN panel with OK viewing angles. This evaluation is quite subjective although I personally think the vertical viewing angles are poor. You will need to view the screen dead on or the image will be washed out. This left me a little frustrated trying to watch netflix on my bed.

Performance:

With a high wattage Intel Haswell Quad-core 4th generation processor, it chews through everything quite quickly. The lower wattage CPUs in ultrabooks are primarily designed for battery longevity with decent performance. The difference between Apple's latest generation Macbook air with it's 15W Dual-Core CPU and the GE40 is very noticeable in the programs that I use (namely Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, transcode applications). The dynamic overclocking of the CPU also allows lightly threaded applications to take advantage of higher clock speeds whilst putting the unused cores to sleep.

The graphics duties are shared between the integrated intel HD4600 and a dedicated NVIDIA GTX 760M. The switching is handled with NVIDIA's optimus tech. The integrated graphics are powerful enough to handle the Windows GUI acceleration, Flash, and movie playback to conserve power and reduce heat generation. The GTX 760M kicks in when you launch a full screen 3D application, allowing you to take advantage of a large performance increase. The GTX 760M did a great job of providing acceptable frame rates at the native resolution in the games I play. For specific numbers, look up the GTX 760M on Notebookcheck.com

This version of the GE40 has a 128GB solid state drive and a 750GB hard disk drive (occupying the bay where the DVD-ROM is on the cheaper version). Out of the box this notebook is much faster, but you should ask yourself if that is enough room for your OS and programs. Personally, I think a 256GB SSD is the minimum size, but you can always put your steam folder and larger games on the mechanical drive if you're willing to deal with longer load times.

While the GE40 has 8GB of DDR3-Low Voltage memory installed, it is a single DIMM. This is both a plus and minus. With a single DIMM, you drop your effective bandwidth to 10GB/ps for the CPU and integrated GPU. You'll be hard pressed to see a noticeable drop in performance, but this is supposed to be a high end system. On the other hand, if you were planning to go to a total of 16GB of RAM, you won't have to buy x2 8GB DIMMs. Just grab 1 8GB DIMM and you'll get your dual channel memory performance.

Preinstalled Software:

Windows 8: You either love it or hate it. I personally like Microsoft's new OS due to the faster performance and support for new hardware technologies. I'm not a fan of the Start Screen, but that's easily remedied with a third party start menu replacement. The product key for Windows is integrated into the UEFI BIOS of the system so you won't need to enter a key during Windows setup. Just activate once you've reinstalled the OS.

As I mentioned before, Norton and other trialware is preinstalled. You'll be greeted with a number of desktop cluttering icons and background services taking up system resources. It isn't nearly as bad as some, but again, this is a gaming system that shouldn't have junk preinstalled to begin with.

I personally reinstalled Windows 8 after installing an extra 8GB DIMM. Be prepared to download the wireless LAN drivers beforehand as Windows 8 doesn't come with them out of the box. There are also a plethora of other drivers that need to be installed to restore full functionality (Bluetooth, WLAN switch, ETC).

Noise/Heat:

In normal operation, the notebook is a bit warm to the touch and the fan constantly runs at a slight hum. The fan is audible, but not overtly or annoyingly so. When gaming, the notebook does get hot. Not unbearably so, but it isn't super comfortable. The fan kicks it into high gear and is very noisy. I was able to hear it every between explosions in game with my headphones on. Both the heat and noise levels are to be expected, especially with the amount of performance packed into such a small chassis.

Overall evaluation:

The MSI GE40 is a great notebook that fills my needs well. The balance of portability and performance allows me to finish my work quickly to get a little bit of play in. If you can cram your programs and games onto a 128GB SSD, you'll find more value in the upgraded version of the GE40. Otherwise both notebooks can stand to have an additional 8GB of memory and a clean install of Windows to maximize its performance and your enjoyment.

Update 7/10/2013:

I was curious if I could get the thermals down a bit, so I opened up my notebook again to see what kind of job MSI did with the thermal paste. As I suspected, they put way too much on which was hindering the heat transfer from the CPU and dedicated GPU to the heatpipe assembly. I'm sure it's their policy that it's better to have too much than too little.

Dis-assembly was not that difficult; 8 philips screws and the fan and heatpipe was easily removed. I cleaned up the factory paste and wiped the CPU/GPU and heatpipe with some isotropic alcohol. I then applied a thin layer of artic silver 5 and put it all back together. Subjectively, the notebook runs cooler. The fan spins slower at idle and comes back down from 100% quicker after playing a game. The palm rest and WASD keys were also a bit cooler. I didn't record before and after temperatures, but there are a couple youtube videos detailing this modification and the tangible results.

If you are comfortable performing this procedure, I wholeheartedly recommend doing it. You're left palm and wrist will thank you.

Read Best Reviews of MSI G Series GE40 2OC-009US 14-Inch Laptop (Black/Red) Here

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HP Pavilion DV6-1375DX Entertainment 15.6-Inch Widescreen Laptop (Black)

HP is the best computer thaer is from my owne exsprince and I have tried other computers befor but I never had one last as long as the hp duse and I had other computers befor the only reason I am giving it such A lowe review is because I just got it and have not had it long enugh to work it and review it and the windows program has gliches that I alone can't fix so till I am able to see A teach to fix it this is all I give it for now

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MacBook Air 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

i am currently writing this review after several weeks of use. i spent about 3 weeks researching different laptops before i got this one. it was no easy task. i hope this review will help you decide.

i have the 1.6GHz, 4GB Ram, & 128GB Flash Storage. (not sure if this review will be placed for this specific spec or for all MacBook Air 11".)

LAPTOP USE:

mainly for work. checking email and managing contacts. viewing documents.

i am also an amateur photographer so i will be doing some light photo work.

huge gamer. see below for more details.

DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION:

there's not much to say regarding this. it's built like no other machine i've ever used. it's rock solid. i have read some reviews stating that they were concerned with the joint where the screen meets the keyboard area but it should not be of any concern. it feels great in your hands. i can find no flaws with the laptop itself. make sure you go to an Apple Store and play with it to see for yourself.

OS:

i am currently running both OS X 10.6.5 & Windows 7 Ultimate 64. it came installed with OS X 10.6.4. make sure you update this before you install anything.

Apple states that you can only install Windows 7 through Boot Camp using a DVD player. after some research before i bought the laptop, i found this to not be true.

by using an open-source program called rEFIt, you can install Windows 7 using a USB flash drive. you can also install Linux, if you wish. by using this program you can dual boot or even TRIPLE BOOT on your MacBook Air.

if you would like to install Windows 7 using a USB flash drive, you can use a program by Microsoft called "Windows 7 USB/DVD Download Tool" to accomplish this. make sure your USB flash drive is at least 4GB for installation. YOU ALSO NEED A COPY OF WINDOWS THAT YOU PLAN ON INSTALLING HANDY.

INSTALLING WINDOWS WITH A USB FLASH DRIVE...

** UPDATE ADDED **

** before you go and install Windows 7 on your shiny new MacBook make sure you've updated your OS X to 10.6.5 first! i was so excited to get Win7 on my MBA that i installed it first before upgrading. i had installed EVERYTHING. all my PC programs and had it set up perfectly. bad mistake. when i upgraded the patch it wiped my NTFS (Windows 7) partition and everything there. ugh. save yourself that headache and PLEASE UPDATE OS X to 10.6.5 FIRST!!!

i have recently increased my Mac partition to allow for more room for my Mac needs. it is now at 48GB for Mac and 70GB for Windows. your needs may vary so give yourself ample space for both partitions. if at a later time you need to increase/decrease your partition sizes, you can do so easily by doing a FULL BACKUP WITH A SYSTEM IMAGE using Windows BACKUP or any other Backup program. remove your Windows partition ONLY AFTER doing the backup. go into Boot Camp Asst and create a new partition. connect your choice of Windows 7 installation, either USB OR DVD. do a RESTORE with the backup of the system image and backup files you made. VOILA... you have everything the way it is again. ***

make sure you first go into OS X. click on Boot Camp, which you can find using the Finder feature or go into your Utilities folder. get to the second page. download the Windows support software for your Mac. you're going to need it later after you've installed Windows. save this on your other PC. hopefully you have a PC to run that Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool. just go through the steps it tells you and you should be done. now place the "WindowsSupport" folder you dl'ed through Boot Camp onto your flash drive. you should have 3.65GB used. i used Windows 7 Ultimate 64 so your size may be less.

now you should already have installed rEFIt. if not, you should do so now. follow the instructions on their site. this gets installed through OS X, just in case you're wondering. after installation, make sure you reboot your MB Air at least twice. don't ask me why. it just takes at least twice before it gets fully working.

as you're about to do your second reboot, plug in the flash drive you have Windows 7 installed. as your MBA loads up, you should get a screen with a few icons, which you may have noticed after your first reboot. just select your USB drive and VOILA! you should now be starting your Windows 7 installation. once you're done make sure you install the Boot Camp drivers in the "WindowsSupport" folder. Boot Camp 3.2 is out so make sure you update to that ONLY AFTER you've installed 3.1 first. you will not be allowed to install 3.2 without 3.1 installed.

WINDOWS 7 GENERAL USAGE:

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 runs smoothly on the MBA. i was very surprised. it boots up almost as quickly as my 3.4GHz desktop which has a SSD drive. considering the MBA only has 1.6GHz this thing can only be labled as a BEAST. i like to tinker with my computer a lot so i've removed many startup services and programs that i don't need and just eat up valuable resources. i will not go into details about it now but if you are curious just ask and i will comment back with some good info for you.

i have installed Lightroom 3.3 and Photoshop CS5 and they run very nicely. it will definitely not give you the same experience as a 3.4GHz desktop but considering the size of this laptop, you should be pleased.

Hulu & Youtube runs quite nicely. definitely not as smooth as my desktop but then again look at the size of this laptop.

i personally have not installed Windows Office 2010 because i've opted to go with the free Libre Office program. it is still in beta stages but runs quite nicely without any major hiccups. i also have Firefox and Thunderbird installed. they both run well.

WINDOWS 7 GAMING USAGE:

i currently play Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Black Ops. i installed both on the MBA. i was quite shocked that it ran pretty well. of course, you will most likely have to run at lowest settings but if you need to get your fix for blood and you're away from home then you can! let's be realistic though. you really don't want to be playing games on a 11' screen. to be honest, i had such a hard time seeing enemies that were far away in BFBC2.

MAC USAGE:

this is my first Mac. i was very hesitant booting up the MBA the first time. it's like that first day at high school... as a freshman. you thought you knew it all but now you're in a totally new environment. fear strikes in.

don't fret. you're about to embark on a wonderful new adventure!

i am beginning to love the Mac OS X. it's so stable and runs as smooth as a babies bootie on this laptop.

i have Aperture 3, Final Cut Express 4, Lightroom 3.3, Photoshop CS5, Firefox, and Thunderbird installed on the Mac OS X. they all run very well. Final Cut Express will not be the same as a desktop experience most definitely but you can do some light work on your MBA. i also suggest you install a program called Onyx to remove any garbage files. also get Growl. a very nifty program for Mac's.

** UPDATE ADDED **

** a commenter had asked about doing a fresh install of the Mac OS X. i know what he meant immediately. most laptops come with some sort of BLOATWARE (garbage programs that slow your system down). Mac's are not plagued by this issue so you do not have to worry. since the storage on your MBA will be limited compared to other systems, every bit of free space is valuable. OS X contains files for use with X11, which is a X Window System implementation for running X11-based applications on Mac OS X. Based on the de facto-standard for X11, the open source XFree86 project, X11 for Mac OS X is compatible, fast and fully integrated with Mac OS X. It includes the full X11R6.6 technology including a window server, libraries and basic utilities such as xterm. if you have no idea what i just wrote, then you won't need this. :) i'm not sure if it's installed by default but since i had to do a fresh reinstall due to the OS X 10.6.5 Update patch wiping my Windows partition. there are also over 1GB worth of language support files within OS X and other Mac programs. you may want to do a fresh install due to these reasons but if X11 is not a concern of yours and only removing the language files then there is an easy solution. check below for more details under the "RECOMMENDED MAC OS X PROGRAMS". **

RECOMMENDED MAC OS X PROGRAMS:

after a few more weeks of use, i have been using OS X a lot more than i had first thought i would. due to these reasons, i have been researching for more OS X programs. here are my results. i will add more as i come across them.

1. CleanMyMac: this program is A MUST HAVE. it does so much i can't even begin to tell you everything it does. basically, it cleans out all your garbage files, unnecessary junk, and language support that you won't need. i gained over 2GB worth of storage space from this program. THAT'S A LOT! considering i just got my MacBook so it wouldn't have any accumulated that many temp files. it goes to show you how many other files there are you don't need.

2. Onyx 2.2.1: this is another MUST HAVE. it is a multifunction utility for Mac OS X. It allows you to verify the Startup Disk and the structure of its System files, to run miscellaneous tasks of system maintenance, to configure the hidden parameters of the Finder, Dock and of some of Apple's own applications, to delete caches, to remove a certain number of files and folders that may become cumbersome and more.

3. KisMAC: it is an open-source and free sniffer/scanner application for Mac OS X. i've used this for when i'm out and need to get more WiFi info than is given through OS X. many of you probably won't need it but it's a nice program to have.

4. WinClone: clones your Boot Camp partition. can be useful for many applications. (use with precaution, as it seems to be no longer developed. i suggest you google this application and see if it fits your needs.)

5. Libre Office: an open-source Office platform program. it's the better version of Open Office, in my opinion. it's FREE so try it. it's also available for PC.

6. Text Wrangler: 90% of you won't need this, but for the other 10% it can be very useful. this is the only free program that does this that i could find. A powerful and richly-featured tool for composing, modifying, and transforming text stored in plain-text files. It features flexible "grep" pattern-based search and replace, syntax coloring, and function navigation for C, C++, and Objective-C. Also includes integration with the UNIX command line via the "edit" tool, built-in support for opening and saving files to remote FTP servers, and a rich plug-in architecture.

SUGGESTED PRODUCTS FOR YOUR MACBOOK AIR (which i am using. do a search on Amazon for these products.):

elago Mobile Nano II USB 2.0 microSDHC Flash Memory Card Reader (Black)

Western Digital My Passport Essential SE 1 TB USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 Ultra Portable External Hard Drive WDBACX0010BBK-NESN

Logitech Wireless Performance Mouse MX for PC and Mac

Samsung USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive for Mac and PC SE-S084D/TSBS (Gloss Black)

Transcend P8 15-in-1 USB 2.0 Flash Memory Card Reader TS-RDP8K (Black)

FINAL WORDS:

i love the MacBook Air 11". i do not regret purchasing it at all.

i hope you have all found this review helpful. i am sorry to those who i have bored with my long rant. i hope i helped a few people decide on purchasing this laptop. if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments section.

cheers!

I should admit upfront that I am not a scientist or engineer. Nor am I a gamer or video editor. I am a scholar and writer, so my use of this machine is largely limited to word processing, Power Point presentations, web browsing, and watching streaming videos. Thus, my experience will very likely differ from those who'll be using this computer to run several large and sophisticated programs simultaneously. Given these parameters, I am simply thrilled with this addition to Apple's MacBook collection. I am a relatively recent convert to Apple products after nearly two decades on PCs. So my views might be positively colored somewhat by the enthusiasm of the newly converted. I have been using a MacBook Pro 13" for the last year or so and I can safely say that this new MacBook Air 11" is simply a charm and a wonderful companion to the larger computer. Mine is the fully maxed-out model, with the factory-installed 1.6 chip, 4GB ram and 128 flash. I bought it to use for travel to libraries and research centers, and to carry easily from home to school. While I've only had the machine for a short time, there is no doubt this will be instantly more useful than any PC or Apple I've owned before. I have now spent several hours running it through its paces and I am genuinely impressed.

My first reaction was that it truly is as amazingly thin and sleek as it looks in the ads--almost disconcertingly so compared to my MacBook Pro. My first few times typing, I thought I might break it, it seemed so thin. But it's a toughie, no doubt about it. Light yet solid. Easily slips into my bag--hardly noticeable. It took almost no time at all to set up. The battery charged in less than an hour and, so far at least, seems to run almost as long as my Pro, though I do have to be especially careful to quit programs I'm not using to preserve and prolong power. I installed Office Suite 2011 in 15 minutes via the wireless network through the university. No need for a disk drive in this instance. Even more exciting, it easily networked wirelessly with my Pro and I was then able to operate its DVD drive as if it were part of the Air. Amazing. Assuming you have another MacBook, there really is no need for a DVD drive in this machine.

Since I write for a living, having a comfortable keyboard is essential. I was delighted and surprised to see that the 11" Air has a keyboard that measures exactly the same as my 13" Pro--no difference whatsoever. And the overall feeling is quite good with just enough bounce and resistance--essential in my view for effective typing. Only thing lacking are the illuminated keys--a nice feature, but certainly not essential. I don't think I'll miss it. The backlit screen is physically smaller, of course. But there are more pixels per inch, so it is amazingly bright and crisp. In fact, in a side-by-side comparison, this screen is every bit as brilliant as the screen on my Pro, and is certainly brighter and with greater high and low contrasts than the screen on the standard MacBook. Again, I am quite delightfully surprised by how good this screen is, since I was expecting something less in such a small package. Everything reads slightly smaller as a result, of course. But I still have no trouble reading whatever's on the screen. I imagine people with poor vision might have a slightly harder time reading their usual sites and documents. But I have no trouble--and my eyes are not perfect by any means. The improved track pad is a joy to use and genuinely intuitive. I am especially pleased to see the one finger "tap to click" option once again that you don't find on the older MacBooks--makes navigation that much faster and easier.

Despite the processor being only 1.6GHz, the speed seems to be about the same as on my MacBook Pro. Here, I'm sure more sophisticated users and gamers will disagree. But I am able to run Youtube, Netflix, and Hulu videos flawlessly. No discernible lag, no annoying pixelating. It certainly boots up faster (that solid state storage makes a noticeable difference there) and many of my usual websites seem to load up just as fast if not faster than they do on my Pro. So I'm not sure I will notice any difference in CPU speed, given my rather mundane needs and uses. But I'm glad I got the faster chip and larger RAM, nonetheless, given the ever-increasing demands of programs and the Internet. These upgrades make normal usage a breeze and should extend the machine's viability a bit longer.

Downsides? None yet--apart from minor issues like the lack of an SD slot, an Ethernet port (USB extension is available for purchase) and additional USB outlets. But I'm happy to sacrifice these things for the convenience of a light, ultrathin MacBook. No doubt this machine will now become my primary tool.

Be aware that this maxed out edition (1.6/4GB/128Flash) must be factory installed through special order. As a result, it takes longer to arrive than most might expect. Certainly longer than the 1-3 business days Apple claims it takes to process the order. Mine took 18 days from the time I placed the order until it arrived from the Apple factory in China. Your experience may be different. But don't expect it to arrive within just a few days.

In short, this is an excellent machine. Whether it is worth the price is up to you. But I'm more than happy with it. Obviously, I can't attest yet to its durability, but it feels solid and stout, and I expect it will get quite a bit of use.

Buy MacBook Air 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Now

I have a core i7 main 15" MBP and I wanted a travel laptop. I figured for big trips I would need the big boy to take the load. I was wrong. I bought the pimped out 11" model and it has handled admirably. I would like a 256 model as well but I think I will be able to find a bigger flash drive soon enough. I have been amazed with the ease the 1.6ghz handled everything I threw at it and multitasked like a champ. I would not do any video editing or encoding on this little guy but I don't really do that on the road anyway. I think my 15" MBP will be getting a lot of at home time these days. if you have the money to pay the apple tax you will not be disappointed.

Read Best Reviews of MacBook Air 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Here

I bought it, I love it. It has a full sized keyboard, a screen with about the same dimensions (in dots, not inches) as my old 13" Macbook, is small, light, and beautiful.

It also, to my surprise, will run World of Warcraft at a respectable frame rate.

Want MacBook Air 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Discount?

10 years ago, I bought a 12" powerbook. It was an amazing laptop. Small, powerful, the perfect travel companion. I used it as a road warrior for years. The full sized screen and reasonable battery life were ideal. I later replaced it with a 13" black macbook. I liked it, but it wasn't the portable wonder that the old powerbook had been. I've tried netbooks, bigger laptops, an ipad, etc, and they all work well, but still left a little something to be desired. Enter the 2010 Macbook Air 11". Wow. It's everything my old powerbook was, but better. Better screen, better keyboard, better battery life, and fast. It's not a replacement for a video render farm, you wouldn't want to run the latest game or lots of virtual systems on it, but for my needs, it's brilliant.

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Dell XPS M1330 Laptop - (Crimson Red)

I ordered a Dell Inspiron laptop 1 1/2 years ago and it worked great until recently. The screen went black and the system would not start. Turned out that the video card had failed.

I contacted Dell customer support to activate my next business day warranty and after more than a week I have gotten nowhere with them. My claim has been "escalated" twice with the same excuses and refusal to fix the problem. They claim they have no video cards in stock and I will have to wait 2-3 weeks for a replacement card, 2-3 weeks for a loaner system, or 2-3 weeks for a replacement system -basically my NEXT DAY warranty is anything but.

I explained that this is a mission critical system and a 2-3 week delay is unacceptable given the high price I paid for the next day warranty. I offered to take another make or model of graphics card and even offered to go buy the card myself if the agreed to pay for it.

They refused to help in any way. So, I am left with a useless laptop for 2-3 weeks until it becomes convenient for them to honor the warranty. I will never buy another Dell product again and recommend that others who are not technically experienced with fixing computers or that need a "mission critical" system that they look elsewhere because Dell cannot be relied upon to fix broken systems in a timely manner.

I paid 2000 dollars when I custom built one of these systems from Dell's online store. At first the system running Vista home premium was great, fast and ran all the programs and games I could ever want. After about 3 months the wireless card began failing, dropping connections and then died altogether. So I purchased a D-link wireless adapter and my wireless was faster then it had ever been with the crappy Dell wireless mini card. At this time I really began to also notice the system starting to degrade in performance big time. I was running 64bit Vista and the 6gb ram wasn't even noticeable as it increased nothing and was a waste of money to add to this system. The XPS was now performing slower than my year old Gateway T series, and the XPS had dual core processor, 6gb ram, Nvidia video card, etc The boot up times got a lot longer too and it seems with the XPS that by just installing programs (even small ones) or games that the system got progressively slower even though it was built and paid for to handle it. The laptop gets extremely hot and unstable when playing games like Oblivion or even watching youtube which Im puzzled with. Also now when playing games and starting up the system crashes several times a week for no reason other than cheap unreliable hardware. Another extremely stupid, annoying feature of any dell notebook I have used (XPS, Inspirion, Latitude) is after ripping approx two cd's worth of music or burning two or three dvd/cd's or changing disc's the dvd rom slot loading drive stops working and goes missing from the my computer screen like you don't even have a dvd rom drive, how stupid is that. This laptop sucks. This will be my last Dell system as their 2000$ XPS or 500$ Inspirion or Latitude all have the same horrid performance and are nothing but the same cheap, unreliable garbage hardware with different housings.

Oh and as the above reviewer said Dell does not stand by their warranty. Here is the Dell Limited Warranty on their products and as you can read it covers basically nothing.

What is not covered by this limited hardware warranty?

This limited hardware warranty does not cover:

Software, including the operating system and software added to the Dell-branded hardware products through our factory-integration system, third-party software, or the reloading of software

Non-Dell branded products and accessories

Problems that result from:

External causes such as accident, abuse, misuse, or problems with electrical power

Servicing not authorized by Dell

Usage that is not in accordance with product instructions

Failure to follow the product instructions or failure to perform preventive maintenance

Problems caused by using accessories, parts, or components not supplied by Dell

Products with missing or altered Service Tags or serial numbers

Products for which Dell has not received payment

Normal wear and tear

F-Dell.

Buy Dell XPS M1330 Laptop - (Crimson Red) Now

The worst laptop I have ever seen in my life time. The main problem is that Video card or graphic card, which is on board, has same big issues and gets overheated amazingly fast once you log on. The heat of video card kick in at 80 C degree. Also, Dell is very reluctant to change video card because the motherboard needs changing with a new one and cost a bundle to DEll.

Never buy a laptop from Dell. Once you have a problem with your laptop, they just ignore you.

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We have owned an M1330 Dell XPS laptop for about a year and a half now. about 8 months in the motherboard failed. After 4 hours on tech support they agreed to fix it under warranty. Now, 8 months later the same motherboard failure has stricken the computer rendering it inoperable.

When it works, this is a fast, light, portable performer. If you can afford a new motherboard every 8 months, go for it, otherwise I recommend staying as far awas from this dog as you can.

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When my last laptop crashed, I wanted a good and reliable one. This is not the one I should have bought. I've had problems with the CD drive from day one: disc doesn't get in position unless I tip laptop on it's side, gets boiling hot after burning a couple of CDs and won't work. Overall, it is a decent laptop, not a top of the line laptop worthy of the $1400 price-tag. For the love of God, don't buy any brand of laptop with "Windows Vista!" I believe I will try a Mac next time.

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

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

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

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HP ENVY Ultrabook 4t-1100 1.70-2.60GHz i5-3317UM 8GB 32GB mSATA SSD + 500GB 5400RPM HDD 14" 2GB AMD

i got this laptop because i needed a light laptop 4lbs its ok wight ,also the laptop dont have a back light keyboard ,the spec is good had i5 and 8 gig of ram also with 500 gb hard drive ,so basically its a good computer for a little gaming and working

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Toshiba Satellite U845t-S4165 14-Inch TouchScreen Laptop (Sky Silver Brushed Aluminum)

This laptop exceeded my expectations, it is thin & light while not compromising performance with its i5 processor and 6 GB of RAM. I bought this laptop after CNET dubbed it their "most recommendable laptop of 2013" so far. The battery life is fantastic. The touch screen is very responsive and the battery life is fantastic compared to its peers. The only downside in my mind is the screen could be a higher resolution. I did not know what to expect switching to windows 8 from windows 7 after reading very mixed reviews. I personally think windows 8 is fantastic once you get the hang of it and it boots in 5 seconds! At under $800 dollars this a solid buy that I do not regret.

This laptop starts up instantly. No waiting around. The touchscreen is something I have to get used to but it's an interesting feature. The visuals and graphics are all very good. I was going to use this one mainly for my writing, but since my main laptop began having issues right after I bought this one, I've had to use this for everything. So far it works just as well and better. Super fast and light. This is a great purchase if you're looking for an ultrabook.

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Many legacy Windows programs don't work well on this machine. The same programs work well on other Windows 8 machines, including a laptop and desktop. There are also unaccountable delays of 3-5 seconds when executing common functions. Tech support couldn't figure out what the problem was. The item was returned without incident for a full refund.

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I have used number of Lap tops from different brands for last 20 years and I found Toshiba U845t-S4165, by far the best value for the money I spent. Very light to carry and sleek looking!. It has provided me with all the features that I was looking and more from a lap top. I got the products within few days of ordering and highly recommended.

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I bought this and went through the automatic registration. I made sure it was working properly and everything seemed to be working fine. I did not install any additional hardware or software, and the second day of use, began getting blue screens with error codes every few minutes. I thought maybe there was a problem with internet explorer, so I downloaded Firefox from Mozilla's website. That did not fix the issue. I shut the computer down after it had automatically closed down a few times, and after that the keyboard would illuminate after turning on the power button, but the screen wouldn't even turn on at all.

There was no phone number included in any of the documentation for support or help, and I couldn't look anything up online since the computer wouldn't work at all.

I had to wait until going to work today to access the internet since the Toshiba left me high-and-dry. I'm very, very, upset to say the least. If Toshiba can't make a product that will work, exactly as shipped from the factory, for more than 2 days, I've got my doubts about how reliable this model would be even if I had been lucky enough to get a "good one".

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Acer Aspire AS5250-0639 15.5" Laptop (1.65 GHz AMD Dual-Core Processor E-450, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard

I love this computer. I have several Dells (1 desktop) (1 laptop) and an older Mac. I am amazed at the thinness and and the styling. The screen is beautiful (widescreen format). The keyboard is full size and the connectivity was incredibly easy. I absolutely recommend this computer.

I really am enjoying my Acer. I am able to store so much music and personal videos in a flash. It is user friendly, light to carry everywhere and the color screen is soooo great. Couldn't ask for a better product.

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This Laptop PC was much better than the advertisement would lead one to believe. It processes inputs quickly, has the facilities and software to handle most computer challenges and looks good on top of all it's other qualities.

For bang for the buck, it would be hard to beat this unit.

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I couldn't be happier with this laptop. Good battery life, fast, gets the job done, and for the price it was the best thing out there.

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I purchased this computer because I spend a great deal of time in the hospital and will continue to. I had one laptop stolen when I was taken out of the room for a test (about 20 minutes). I got back and it was gone...and it was an expensive one with all the newest tech (core i7, 16 GIG RAM, Blue Ray Player and much more).. I was lucky that my insurance replaced it and I had remote software on it so as soon as they turned it on near a hot spot, it wiped the hard drive clean. It even geo located where it was but by then who ever stole it figured out what was going on an dumped it.

I decided that for hospital stays i wanted an inexpensive computer and this one fit the bill. While the case is clearly plastic, it feels sturdy. The screen is really clear. 4 GIG of RAM and a 500 GIG hard drive. Separate numeric keypad, webcam...all the basics on a machine around today. It was also only around $400 total. Since I backup my PCs to the net, loading it up took less time than getting the preloaded mountains of trial software off.

If this laptop is closer to me than my more expensive one when I am home, I don't think twice about grabbing it to do any basic task from web surfing to typing (it has a very comfortable keyboard to type on raised "chicklet" style keys with a good feel and bounce back after being depressed. While it is only running an AMD dual processor (I prefer Intel quad core processors), the dual core processor in it is more than sufficient for the things I would use it for in the hospital like web surfing, watching TV, etc.

I would definitely recommend this computer to anyone. If asked I would say that it would be best used as a 1st computer (and expect that it would be around for a long time; as I said, it clearly is plastic but still feels well constructed) or a computer for school (if being used for college note that it doesn't have an HDMI output port to connect it to a TV which is becoming more common these days). But it has the overall power to do any reports or papers that need to be done. Keeping in mind that you'll need it plugged in somewhere because also like most of today's computers the battery life is about 2 hours. I have seen a couple ads for this computer claiming that can run up to 5 hours but don[t believe that for a second. Real world is about 2.

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ASUS K53U JS11 - 15.6" - E-450 - Windows 7 Home

I bought this for my daughter for Christmas. Quick enough, inexpensive and seems to be of good quality. So far, we are all happy with this purchase and since she is 14, that is a tall order.:)

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HP G72-260US 17.3-Inch Laptop

Big, beautiful wide-screen. Laptop runs fast, quiet and cool. Windows 7 is a definite upgrade from Vista. I was a little worried about the touch-pad area at first because it has the same texture as the rest of the laptop surface. However, the touch-pad area is fully customizable and adjustable through the menus. The one con I was concerned about before purchasing this laptop was the speakers (Altec Lansing). The speakers are fairly weak, and the sound, like on most mid-level laptops is only adequate. Battery life clocked in at a little over 3 hours. Overall, I'm satisfied with my purchase.

I'm just saying. Be careful. I bought this sleek looking laptop from Office Depot. It had all the bells and whistles and the price was $600, give or take a few lunches: webcam, 17" screen, lightweight, windows 7. At home office, and during my 14 day free trial from Office Depot, I found that HP had not loaded my webcam. Next I couldn't find my "insert" button. HP tech support from India(very nice, very professional, and very patient) corrected the webcam and the "insert" button, which is a bit of a pain as you have to depress the shift button and then the "delete" button, even though there is a button next to the "delete" which unequivocally says "ins" but rest nexts to "prt sc" on same button. So, are you with me? Now, I am getting worried that someone in design forgot the insert software and "jury rigged" the delete button to quickly correct. Then,there's the cursor and touchpad. You seem to constantly have to clean your hands for the cursor to move "at will" when you are trying to merrily go about your computer business. Then,yes there's more, in a lamp lit desk office environment you can't see the letters on the keyboard very clearly...could have made the white on black ink bolder to help out aging eyes. Then, the computer started shutting down without my assistance(Computer number one).so computer number one was returned and I was given a replacement. But, alas,same scenario...without the automatic shutoffs...but with continued webcam and "insert" button issues....so, that is why I am packing it up again....14 days is not long enough to find what other bugs may hide in my brand new computer...I have loved HP for many years, so am sorely disappointed that I have been sold two "lemons" to date. I will be glad to retract all of what I have written if HP will let me know "what gives?".

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Got this two years ago and it has been a good computer. It is time to replace the battery to give me a bit longer when I am unplugged.

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It boots up quickly (not as fast as an apple). The keypad on the side is awesome if you're using it for work. One thing to note however is the speakers broke after about 2 days of use. Everything else works fine though.

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The laptop itself is fine, but the real life battery life is about 2.5 hours, NOT the 4-5 hours that HP claims. It has all the specs to be a good laptop (dual core processor, 4 GB of memory) but the mouse pad/pointing device is INCREDIBLY ANNOYING! It keeps doing all kinds of annoying things like zooming in or out, or paging up or down when all i want it to do is move and point where i want it to. And bringing up the Synaptics Pointing Device program and trying to fix the annoying habits was futile. It seems like HP decided the looks of the pointer/mouse pad were more important than it functioning simply and properly.

I was removing a virus from my sister's 2005 laptop the other day and her pointing device was so simple and just did what it was supposed to do. And of course there's tons of annoying software that I don't want pre-loaded on Windows.

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Lenovo U510 15.6-Inch Ultrabook

Bought this just before Christmas. It arrived right before New Year's. I started moving my files off my external hard drive to the Lenovo and foolishly thought I was back in business. Wrong. Here are all the problems I confronted in the last 3 weeks. Note that some can be fixed, some can be fixed but instantly revert to how they were before, and some can't be fixed at all.

1) The wifi is shaky. It will connect to some networks, not to others. The computer will slow then halt, and you can't access anything. Rebooting doesn't work and it has nothing to do with resetting the wireless router.

2) The computer crashes in sleep mode. I'm used to being able to have some documents open, close the screen, open it either 5 minutes or 5 hours later and have my documents all there again. It's fine for a few minutes, but anything longer and it crashes. It's hard to tell when this happens since Windows 8 boots so quickly, I'm not sure if the crash is happening on the restart or during sleep, but regardless, it crashes and you have to restore all your work. Lenovo support walked me through a "fix" for this, but it didn't work. In fact, none of their attempts to fix this worked. When you go to your power profile and select "what computer does when I shut lid" as sleep mode, it still crashes. Lenovo support's great idea was to change it to say "do nothing." Well, then it drains the battery down just as fast when it's closed as if you were working on it. I changed it to hibernate, which worked for 2 days, then it started resetting itself backward to "do nothing."

3) The battery indicator cannot be shut off. I first tried to shut off the low battery indicators in the sound profile, that didn't work. I disabled all sound, and that didn't work. I have to mute all sound which does work, but then you can't listen to music at the same time. It's aggravating that at 10%, your computer will loudly beep every 5 seconds and you can't stop it.

4) The media card reader won't read my SD card. Lenovo support had me reinstall drivers, still won't work. They told me I need to connect with a USB cable and I said this is brand new it should work the way it was intended. They said to send it back to them for a factory reset. Three weeks old and this hunk of junk needs a factory reset? Awesome.

5) Every hour the computer tells me that it's running low on memory and I need to reboot. This is fantastic news isn't it?

6) The keyboard is shaky at best. If you know how to type, you'll be shocked that your fingers keep hitting the wrong keys. There's some give in the whole keyboard that makes it feel like it can easily break. In fact, when I pulled this out of the box, the keyboard shell was actually outside of the computer. I had to snap it back in.

7) Why why why did these idiots mess with the function keys? I had to access the BIOS profile (boot up, hit FN F2) and change the hotkeys to legacy mode. I've worked in Excel for years, and F2 allows you to edit inside a cell. But no, Lenovo had to make F2 the volume key.

I did manage to fix some Windows 8 issues added a shutdown key and modified the registry to get rid of the annoying lock screen because it would hijack a couple letters of your password so you'd get the "wrong password" message every time you logged in. But those two fixes weren't enough to console me through the rest of the drama.

There seems to be a known issue with the touchpad of the U510. Google search query "lenovo jumpy and laggy touchpad" for literally PAGES of complaints. Avoid this model, and potentially the entire U510 series. Below is one excerpt:

"After calling Lenovo about the jumpy mouse experience on the first U510 they sent me, they said they would ship me out another laptop as a replacement.

The new machine arrived, and I took it out of the package and turned it on. As it booted for the first time, I was presented with the standard Lenovo "click Accept" screen (so I could create my Windows 8 account, etc.). I touched the touchpad for the first time to try to click `Accept', and the mouse jumped all over the screen! I couldn't even click the very first button to allow the computer to continue setting up! The replacement exhibited all of the same issues as the first laptop!

So I continue working with it. I tried adjusting all of the sensitivities related to the touchpad, but to no avail. I called my wife over, and we stood back and watched the mouse jitter randomly all over the desktop, find its way to a program icon, open the program, and then drag part of the screen to resize the application. ALL. WITHOUT. BEING. TOUCHED.

We now have TWO laptops sitting on our table, each with the mouse jittering away completely unusable as-is. I have a backup corded USB mouse that I am using in the meantime, and the only way I can prevent the machine from randomly clicking and dragging things across the screen is by physically disabling the touchpad using the F-keys.

And I tried everything to fix it: uninstalling the drivers. Reinstalling the drivers. Trying the drivers from ELAN, as well as Synaptics. I tried working with the Device Manager, and with other Windows 8 settings. No solution.

I have to send the first one back, and the second one will follow.

Lenovo, what are you going to do to fix this? I have been a loyal customer for years, and my confidence in your products is severely shaken. When I called the customer service representative the first time, I specifically asked: "Is this problem typical for this model" and I was told "No". Two unusable laptops in a row, now. And as the second one was on its way to me, I was shopping around for other laptops on your website (Yand Z-series)... but I refuse to get ANYTHING from Lenovo since they all seem to list "standard trackpad" as the mouse input.

Unbelievable. What will you do to salvage your reputation? Unless something is done, and quickly, I cannot vouch for your products to my friends or family ever again."

Buy Lenovo U510 15.6-Inch Ultrabook Now

After a month, I thought I fixed it with Lenovo support, but the laptop's wireless adapter stops functioning occasionally after being asleep or off. The only way to fix this issue was to restart the computer, hoping that it would function correctly upon restart--and sometimes it wouldn't. Another issue was that the laptop would shut down instead of go to sleep upon closing the lid (even though the settings were not set to do that). I thought I solved this issue by installing Lenovo drivers and windows updates, but it turns out that wasn't the case. Finally, the brightness indicator did not function correctly--leaving the brightness fully lit when the indicator showed it at half, etc.

Overall, I had purchased this laptop and then exchanged it for a new one when I ran into issues with the first. Turns out, it seems that every one of the laptops have issues like this. In the end, I decided to return and go with a different brand that I've used in the past that I believe is more reliable. Once Lenovo can start proving their consumer lines like they can with the ThinkPad, then maybe I'll pay attention. Until then, consider me a non Lenovo-fanboy.

Read Best Reviews of Lenovo U510 15.6-Inch Ultrabook Here

There are so many good things about this computer but I can't understand why Lenovo would release it with this keyboard. The keys have no spring in them & it sticks. The mouse pad is worst. If they couldn't match the Mac pad why not just leave the standard Lenovo mousepad? I'm going to look for another option maybe next year they will fix these kinks. The size, weight & keyboard lights are great... Stinks that they took cheap route on the keyboard & mouse pad.i

Nick

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I got this product because I was looking for a thin laptop with good capabilities. I especially liked the fact that this laptop looked like a mac without the expensive price. However, I got home and whenever you shut off the laptop the wireless disconnects and it doesn't recognize any wireless networks unless you are within a few feet away from your router. Apparently this is a defect that these laptops have and I am not the only one with this problem. Other than that this laptop is ok. I did notice that the picture quality is just okay and its very pixelated.

The bottom line is that I wouldn't recommend this laptop to anyone unless you are going to be using it within a few feet from the router.

Save 21% Off

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Toshiba Satellite U845W-S414 14.4-Inch Ultrabook (Midnight Silver)

Toshiba U845W-S414 Ultrabook -An interesting design, top performance, good bang for the buck.

This is a very unusual and interesting design which is one of the things that first attracted me. As someone who constantly has multiple app windows open, 20 or so browser tabs (or more) and multiple browser windows, various utility programs running and so on...anything that gives me more screen real estate is welcome. As someone who also watches a *lot* of video on my laptop, anything that improves that experience is welcome as well. And as someone who has a speaker fetish and listens to a lot of music, sound quality is important as well. This U845W seemed to meet a lot of those needs.

But I hesitated a lot because reviews were very mixed. If it had an IPS display it would be a no-brainer, but it does not. And reviews were all over the place as to display quality, some rating it very high, others not so much. A lot of people complained about the keyboard. Not a biggie for me, but still. The screen size vertically was a concern, so much that I made a cardboard template to see what it would look like compared to my current systems. I then realized it is the same vertical height as my Acer Chromebook 1366x768 display, so no worries there. I considered a lot of other options. Did a ton of research. All the various machines I looked at had flaws of some kind. None are perfect. So, as usual, it came down to bang for the buck and my own particular tastes.

What finally won me over is that this machine seemed like the best overall compromise and I felt I could live with the trade offs. I wanted SSD, but felt 128 GB was too little, that ruled out several nice alternatives. An I5 might be enough, but if I could get an I7 for just a little more, that's insurance I will buy as I will also benefit from it every single day. And as someone who does a lot of video and audio conversions, the added horsepower will be gainfully employed. The ability to have side by side app windows visible was a big plus and when I compared to 1920x1080 options, I felt this (21:9) aspect ratio would work fine and I would get all the other key things I wanted at a very attractive price. A back-lit keyboard was a big plus as I work a lot late at night. A big item for me was that I am not yet ready to move to Windows 8, so I wanted a machine with Windows 7 (Yes, I could always wipe and load whatever, but I don't have the time anymore these days for that. I really wanted something with factory installed [and tested] Win 7.) The 6 GB of RAM vs. 4 GB in several alternatives, the long battery life, the Intel HD 4000 (vs. 3000) [though a discrete GFX option would have been great]. The three USB 3.0 ports are a big plus, especially now that USB 3.0 external disk drives are available at good prices. I will be loading/saving a lot of content, so transfer speeds are important. HDMI out is a win on an Ultrabook (rare). All the ports and HW must haves are there.

Another thing is that in many benchmarks, this rig was a screamer by comparison, outperforming (or tying) all the other top competitors. It even outperformed several rigs with the same Intel HD 4000 GFX. And all of those benchmarks were for the i5 CPU 550GB HDD unit, so the i7 and 256GB SSD performance boost were not even included. All of which told me that performance was going to be top notch with this unit. Something very important to me.

Portability, reliability and design are also important to me. The design won raves from everyone, and the portability seems good to me, even with the elongated form factor (in fact, I like it). Reliability is an unknown, but I have owned several Toshiba notebooks over the years and all have proven very reliable, so fingers crossed, this one will be as well.

And then there are the nice pluses like the sleep-n-charge port, sleep-n-play music feature, and the Harmon-Kardon audio. No need to haul external speakers when on the run. (The speakers actually do sound very good.)

So...top notch performance, tricked out hardware, productivity boosts from 256 GB SSD, i7 CPU and added screen real estate...plus great video and audio for the R&R time spent with this nice rig. It's even up for some casual gaming and for the games that can use the added real estate, that's another unique and fun feature.

So, purchase decision made, how does the pudding taste?

The out of box experience was great. One of the simplest I have encountered. Everything was set up and running in a very few minutes (really!). The ugly stickers were there, but Hallelujah! -they were easy to remove. There was almost no crapware, only Wild Tangent Games and Norton Security that I could find. Some might like Norton. Both easily removed. The desktop was pristine, only the Recycle Bin Icon. Best and cleanest setup I have encountered in a very long time. (Having had several other Toshiba laptops, I do not consider the Toshiba apps 'crapware' as several are actually useful.)

There was actually very little setup. The only thing on my list is to attach an external DVD drive and burn some recovery disks. So, quickly up and running, I check things out and everything seems fine. Everything is very snappy, as expected. Opening windows is nearly instantaneous, starting programs equally so. The 256GB SSD, fast 6 GB of RAM, and the i7 CPU are a treat. I did a few tweaks, disabling indexing on the SSD, disabling disk defragementer, etc. which are better for SSD's.

I try out the windows sample videos and music. The videos look good, the music sounds great. The screen is pretty good for a non-IPS display. Fairly typical, maybe a bit better than average. Text is sharp, clear and readable (at 100% default setting). Screen is very bright, I had to turn it down. Colors look good. Black levels OK. Viewing angles not great, but OK. Man, if Toshiba had put an IPS panel on this they really would have had something, as it is, the display is fine, but not in that league.. Actually very good compared to many, though.

The speakers are very good. Video tracks and music sound great. There is an SRS enhancement that seems to work fairly well. I almost always use external speakers with notebooks, but I will not need to do so with this one. Very pleased. They are also capable of getting very loud. I'm very satisfied with them. Great that they are on the sides and fire up. Interestingly, they sound great with the lid shut, too (came as a surprise to me). This is nice because this rig has an unusual "sleep and play" feature. You can plug in an audio cable to the mic input and play your mp3 player, phone, or whatever via the laptop speakers --even while it is off/sleeping. Cool!

The system is fairly quiet. When the fans do rev up, they have a quiet whoosh sound that is pleasant and not annoying. In normal use, I rarely notice them. The SSD drive is great, silent, fast. In mine, it is a Samsung unit. There were mixed reviews on the keyboard, but it seems quite fine to me. Same for the touchpad. No issues. You do have to be careful when right-clicking to use the lower right, but there is a raised line on the touchpad that marks the "button" areas and if you use this aid, no problems. Scrolling (two fingers) worked fine. No complaints at all. Seems quite fine to me.

The backlit keyboard is very nice. The keys press easily and the layout is good. There is a little flex around the yhuj key area, but not enough to be objectionable. I like that you do not have to use Fn key by default for the control functions on the top row (e.g. media controls, screen brightness, mute, wireless on/of, etc.). The only true button is the power button. The whole unit has a very clean, classy style and look. It has all the essential ports, too, including 3(!) USB 3.0 ports and HDMI out.

As expected, my Windows Experience scores are slightly higher than those in most reviews which were for the i5, 500GB HDD model (and those scores were very good!). The i7-3517U CPU and the Samsung 256GB SSD give some performance boosts. My initial scores out of the box were: CPU 7.1, RAM 7.3, Dsktop Gfx 5.8, Gaming Gfx 6.4, and Disk 7.9 -those are all very good scores for an *ultrabook* in this price range. I miss having a discrete Gfx card, but the Intel HD 4000 is respectable for an on-board GPU -so I can live with it. Casual gaming is quite doable with this rig.

The system boots in about 10 seconds. Resumes from sleep nearly instantaneously (say 1 second). The build quality is excellent. I love the rubberized accents on the bottom, lid and palm rest area. Feels great and the whole thing feels very, very solid. As an online reviewer mentioned, it has the appearance of a piece of high-end audio/Av gear. Definitely a nice looking notebook.

I tried some videos (music videos) none were HD but they looked very good. I was surprised by how good the black levels were and the colors are very true not overly saturated as on many screens. I was very pleased as these were far from the best content, but they looked very good. And the sound as I watched was great. Very nice not having to hook up any external speakers. Not IPS quality, but very good for this type of panel and at this resolution. Viewing angles are the only hitch, but they are about average and OK. (I have been spoiled by my Toshiba Excite 7.7 tablet's Amoled screen though where black is really black, the absence of light, with no backlighting. Best vids ever.)

So, the initial experience is great and I am very pleased with this system. One of the slickest out of the box ever. I am already seeing the benefits to the wide screen in daily use. Can't wait 'til my external Blu Ray drive gets here!

I will come back and update this review once I have enough time and experience with this ultrabook to give additional useful feedback.

2012-12-13 update:

This display seems to have better than average colors based just on my eyes and comparisons with other notebooks I have handy. I've watched some HD Netflix movies and they look great. The viewing angles are the only noticeable hitch. As with most non-IPS notebook panels, you have to angle things just right. It's about average or better, not an undue problem, but I'm very used to IPS and AMOLED now, so I notice it. The HD Vids looked fine, though, and the sound was good. So as a portable entertainment center, it's a win. Played some games and they also looked very good.

2012-12-14 update: If you can live without the 256GB SSD and i7 cpu, the i5 cpu 500GB HDD GB 32GB SSD cache model is now selling at a lower price than when I purchased, making it very attractive (Toshiba Satellite U845W-S410 14.4-Inch Ultrabook (Midnight Silver)) and an almost unbeatable value proposition. Maybe the best deal on an ultrabook going if you are OK with the 1762x768 21:9 screen. For everyday use it performs very well. (12/15 price has gone back up, too bad!)

2012-12-29 update: Purchased BUFFALO MediaStation BDXL Portable Blu-Ray Writer BRXL-PC6U2B external Blu-ray drive for use with my U845W and it works well. Has a nice "smart-stretch" feature (for DVD's only) that seems to compliment the U845W display well. I posted a quick review of the drive, so see that for more info.

2013-01-18 Update: I am really pleased with the U845W-S414. I have continued to compare and I cannot find anything that can beat it for total overall value. Almost all Ultrabooks are shipping with 4 GB RAM (vs. 6 GB) and only a few have 256 GB SSD's (most have 128) and many have i5's (vs. i7). Only the 1920x1080 HD screens are a win for some of the others. But, I am very happy with the video and movie quality, so even though I lust for IPS, I can live with the nice S414 screen (great color). And the productivity of this screen aspect ratio is superb. Many of the pro reviews seem to miss this completely. I do a lot of things that require multiple windows open. And in many cases you want one a bit larger than the other which the default Toshiba utility handles very well. I was also very pleased to discover an "Advanced" options tab for this utility. It allows you to design your own custom screen layouts -very neat. For example, I made a layout with one large wide aspect window and 4 small square windows (l full height left and 2 over 2 right) or 5 total. Being able to build your own layouts and have windows "snap" to them is a great productivity feature and one I will use a great deal. It's a totally unique and useful feature of this line.

Performance is as good or better than anything out there (better than most). I love the style and handling all the more the longer I use it. And the good speaker quality is very enjoyable -having it "built in" is a luxury I enjoy. I congratulate the Toshiba engineers and design team on having the courage to try something different. I'm loving it!

2013-02-03 The 256 GB SSD in mine is the Samsung 830 which is a top quality SSD with great performance. A great choice by Toshiba.

UPDATE 2/23/2013:

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

Everything below remains true. I continue to be impressed by this device's combination of power and portability.

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

The first thing stated in any computer review, I believe, should be a description of what the customer's needs are. That way you can understand much better why I was satisfied vs. unsatisfied.

My needs are the following:

=============================

1. Durability

2. Portability

3. Easy to write and type on because I write a lot of both fiction and code

4. File transfer speed for ease of backup

5. Ability to play a decent set of simple / old computer games but not the very latest or most photorealistic.

6. Hard Drive Space

I have owned a Toshiba Satellie A234(not 100% sure about the #) for a long time. I bought it on December 6th, 2006 and it lasted until Sept. 1st, 2012, at which point, the fan broke, although the hard drive and processor and other parts still work great. However, I did not want to risk other parts breaking due to age, so I decided to keep it in storage as a backup and buy a new computer. I was very satisfied with this 5.74 year lifespan especially considering I have driven up and down the east coast many times and taken the laptop many places, including going hiking. It was this solid durability, combined with my past experience as a computer repairer at a university --that gave me great confidence in the Toshiba brand and caused me to buy this particular computer as a replacement--especially because there is a big trend in the computer industry now to decrease durability in order to force customers to spend more money and make more purchases.

The U845W

================

I have owned this computer for about a week now, and I plan to update this review as time goes on.

Good Things:

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

The U845W is: Lightweight. Solidly constructed. Has a big screen. Has extremely powerful, high quality speakers (This was a happy surprise to me, because I had assumed it was impossible for a laptop to create "bass" sounds at all). The processor and GPU, while not the greatest ever, also meet my needs. One of the 3-D video games that I like play for a few minutes at a time is a game called Minecraft. It doesn't have huge demands on a processor or graphics card, but it runs smoothly in full screen and windowed mode. All 2d computer games, obviously, run perfectly. 3-D Visualizations on music players like iTunes and XMPlay also run smoothly.

The flash drive is amazing. I copied files from my USB 3.0 backup drive (I have ~150gb of music so it's a lot) and I was blown away by the speed: 90 megabytes per second. Very impressive! The computer also starts up and shuts down, hiberate or not, lightning fast. I really like this feature and I am glad I got the model with a 250gb flash drive. I also hear that a solid-state drive really increases durability so I am feeling very confident about that, although only time will tell of course.

OK Things:

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

The keyboard is fine, it is backlit and has no problems when typing. The function keys work well, although I would probably have preferred a sound volume wheel instead of using F4 and F5 as sound volume keys. No issue for me though.

Bad Things:

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

Not much is bad. The only thing I have found annoying is that it's been difficult for me to get used to the trackpad: on this trackpad, "Left-Click" is the entire trackpad, not one button anywhere. "Right-Click" is the lower right corner of the trackpad. I would like to change the settings so that only the lower left is the left button and lower right is the right button, but I haven't found a way to do that. Overall though, I don't really care, since I am not trying to be the world champion real-time video game player.

In short: Everything is great, except for the trackpad, which is not a very big deal to me.

Buy Toshiba Satellite U845W-S414 14.4-Inch Ultrabook (Midnight Silver) Now

I've had this computer for about 3 weeks now, and I love it. My last 5 laptops were convertible tablets, as I live in One-Note (I'm trying out a Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 for note-taking). I'd been investigating Ultrabooks, and was really focused on an 11" screen for mobility (I travel at least 2 weeks out of each month) and the ability to use the laptop in a coach seat. I stumbled onto the U845W at a brick and mortar store and had the opportunity to play with it. I researched reviews, and the functionality of the widescreen appealed to me not for viewing video, but rather for the ability to view documents side-by-side. I do a lot of analysis, and being able to see 2 spreadsheets side-by-side is a real productivity plus. I was sold! I chose the -414 for the SSD rather than the i7 chip.

Positives:

1. Form factor I love the low screen height and the width

2. Keyboard spacious and backlit

3. Speed I've always converted my laptops to SSDs and they ROCK

4. Light weight

5. Case design the rubber cladding allows for secure maneuvering of the computer

6. Generous connectivity 3 USB 3.0, Full-size HDMI etc.

7. Great speakers

Negatives:

1. Had to get a new case for it to handle the width

2. Trackpad I prefer left and right buttons, but I'm getting used to it

Overall a good choice if you view a lot of video or need the width and height for the way you work.

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite U845W-S414 14.4-Inch Ultrabook (Midnight Silver) Here

I'm not a high tech person but do like high tech equipment. But due to this I won't be very technical in my review. This is more just experience based and what I like or don't like about it as an average consumer.

I have been using an old TouchSmart HP computer. My wife's harddrive died so I gave her my TouchSmart (very slow) as an opportunity to get this computer. The SSD is fabulous. I doubt I will buy another mechanical hard drive. It takes 2-3 seconds to wake-up and 5 seconds to boot up.

I get so frustrated with all the updates from Microsoft, Toshiba, Adobe, Virus programs and they all want to reboot the computer. With the older computer I would just turn on the computer and had to wait a half hour while the updates did their thing and interrupted me with a reboot. With this computer it is no big deal. The whole update and reboot takes less than half a minute. I can actually use the computer instead of using my time updating it.

I bought this specific computer due to the price for a i7 with a 256 SSD. After watching prices for some time I thought the price right at $1000 was awesome.

For me the one negative is the screen shape. This computer has a wide screen for movie watching, which is not what I do very much. The problem with the wide screen is vertically there is not much space which for most programs results in a limited view.

If you watch a lot of movies on your computer you will likely LOVE this computer.

But overall I am very happy with my purchase.

Want Toshiba Satellite U845W-S414 14.4-Inch Ultrabook (Midnight Silver) Discount?

Well built has made it through 15 TSA inspections without one issue. I like everything about it except the default screen resolution and keyboard. Being 50 years old I could use a larger resolution that still maintained optimum focus however unless the default is selected you give up clarity something my eyes can't manage. The keyboard requires more attention than most laptops requires significantly more pressure with every keystroke than any other device I've used. Overall the speed is fast, restarts are a breeze, portability is great. No issues with OS.

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HP 650 - 15.6" - P B970 - Windows 7 Home Premium

+ keyboard normal size & without numeric block

+ non glare display, sufficently bright for outdoor use.

+ decent speakers for a notebook

+ 6 cell battery lasted for 4 1/2 hours after the 1st full charge surfing

+ reasonably stiff chassis, does not bend when lifted

+ bought in germany there was little bloatware preinstalled, the first notebook I did not reinstall

+ decent Processor for low cost notebook

+ webcam better than the minimal 0,3 Mpixel usually used in this price class

B970 processor compared to i3 Turbo Boost, HyperThreading, VT-x, VT-d, Trusted Execution, hardware AES support are disabled

features a low cost notebook user probably won't be missing.

I wouldn't recommend the upgrade to W8 for this non-touch device. (I upgraded)

After using it for a month I dare to change my rating to 5 stars.

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Acer CineCrystal 15.6-Inch Notebook

I should say at least that this computer is at least great for its class. Its affordable and works great. The color suits it the best plus the HD quality screen. One of the best made by acer.

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Samsung Ultrabook NP540U3C-A02UB 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop, 4GB Memory, 500GB HDD + 24GB ExpressCac

I didn't actually purchase this product on amazon because I got it much cheaper through Bestbuy when they were having their "$100 off Windows 8 Laptops" promotion.

That said, this laptop is great and I'm not really sure why people are complaining. One user said the bloatware was eating up 79% of his ram upon bootup. But one thing to keep in mind is that all kinds of processes run for the first boot up of a new user. That usage goes down after everything is setup and updated.

I personally love the fact that this thing has a touch screen and is so light weight. The screen is big enough to use for work but also nice enough to surf the web on my favorite web sites.

The one thing that I really disliked about the laptop is not Samsung's fault... Windows 8. I know a lot of other people don't like Windows 8 and before making some configuration changes, I very much agree with those people. However, you can get the true glory of Windows 7 back into Windows 8 by downloading a program called Start8. It adds back the start menu and allows for some customizations that really make Windows 8 a hybrid OS that works well for both touch and mouse + keyboard configurations.

So all OS issues aside, what you are paying for is great hardware:

1) Good dual core CPU with 4 threads

2) 4GB RAM (standard for the price)

3) 500 GB Hybdrid SSD/HDD (The SSD is only 24GB, but is used for fast boot ups)

4) 10-Point Touch screen

5) USB 3 Port

6) Mini-HDMI

And here are the things that people don't generally mention, for 30 bucks extra you can add 8GB extra memory by heading to Crucial's web site. It will even tell you the exact memory to buy.

So for 30 dollars on top of this price, you can get yourself a laptop with a great CPU, awesome storage, and 12 GB of RAM.

Windows 8 is really not meant for a traditional laptop or desktop. It is meant to be used in any type of hardware mobile phone, tablet or larger computer. It needs to have a touch interface. This ultrabook has a great touch interface that integrates well with the touch pad, so you can move back and forth between touch and mouse seamlessly. The display is very bright and brilliant and the machine is very light. I am very happy with it.

Buy Samsung Ultrabook NP540U3C-A02UB 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop, 4GB Memory, 500GB HDD + 24GB ExpressCac Now

This is a great laptop! It is extremely portable with a sleek design. I use it for downloading/editing photos and accessing the Internet. It is perfect for both of those things. The keyboard is easy to type on and I haven't had any issues with the keys. The battery life is also amazing. Would highly recommend the ultrabook.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung Ultrabook NP540U3C-A02UB 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop, 4GB Memory, 500GB HDD + 24GB ExpressCac Here

The hardware Samsung used in this laptop is stellar but through their own execution of software implementation they have cheapened their own product.

Pros

1) The battery life is great. The 3rd gen i5 maximizes the battery life and Win8 has several battery saving features, by default on, that assist with decreasing consumption.

2) The laptop boots quite literally in seconds with the addition of the Expresscache enabled 24GB SSD. The SSD is partitioned into two drives, 18GB and 6GB. The 6GB partition, to my knowledge, is used for the Sleep function where the state of the OS is stored to SSD for speedy retrieval and the same goes for the OS boot.

3) The external speakers are pretty good when they have breathing room because they are located under the left and right hand sides of the keyboard. Stereo sounds get muddled but I turned on the 3D capability in the included software and have been thoroughly enjoying the experience.

4) Easy access to hard drive and RAM through a panel with a screw on the bottom of the chasis.

5) The touch screen isn't necessary but interestingly enough I enjoy using it more for browsing. It is very sensitive and windows functions are intuitive (press and hold to move a window and press and hold for right click).

Cons

1) Bloatware. This was the most bloated laptop I had ever owned. Samsung touts on their website that this laptop is capable right out of the box. No. Upon first boot I checked Task manager and the machine, while idling, was using 79% of it's 4GB of memory. That was absurd and I began uninstalling everything I knew I could safely uninstall without comprising the parts of the software I would need down the road. Lose a star.

2) After a few hours of uninstalling software and personalizing I noticed the colors of the panel were a bit off. I realize now that on first boot the panel was an awful warm pink. Samsung didn't configure the panel? Pretty critical when they tout that this laptop is "boot and go". Google how to configure a color profile for your panel and you too will see how far off this it is from neutral. Lose a star.

3) Windows 8. Charm. Yuck. There is nothing intuitive about the charm menu. There is no included documentation about how to configure the charm menu. To remove an app from charm touch the app and drag down? I know why I was so disappointed even days after first boot. This lack of anything resembling intuitive science is not Samsung's fault but their product experience is being negatively impacted by the OS.

4. Using the brightness keys you can't turn the panel off. Why wouldn't this be a thing already? I don't want to wait for my laptop to time out, I just want to turn off the panel.

5. There are no dedicated media controls. Not that big of a deal but I have to map a three key combination because the keys I originally wanted to use are usually already taken by the program that I'm active in.

6. Fn+F1 opens Samsung's general settings program because there aren't any hardware buttons to turn wifi on/off. This was a problem because I needed to bridge my Macbook by ethernet to the Samsung while sharing the wifi. Somehow this turned off the wifi when I disabled the bridge. I took an hour to turn it back on because BIG SHOCK there was only documentation on turning airplane mode on/off (this does not turn the wifi hardware off/on just disables the radio).

Overall, the hardware is great but Samsung sucks at everything else for their customers. The panel default color is really bad and there is no screen to assist during setup to configure the panel. The bloatware resulted in 79% RAM usage upon first boot and to this day this really makes me angry. Consumers by default don't hack their registry, disable unnecessary auto load crap in Computer Management or load task manager to find the Samsung programs to delete them (there was no other way to remove them). Samsung could have made my experience with this product more pleasant if they would not have placed their work squarely upon my shoulders.

Want Samsung Ultrabook NP540U3C-A02UB 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop, 4GB Memory, 500GB HDD + 24GB ExpressCac Discount?

I can not rate this notebook from first hand experience because it was a gift to my 22 year old granddaughter. I can tell you, however, that she thinks it is the best computer she has ever owned or seen.

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