ASUS X501A-WH01 15.6" Notebook | Intel Celeron B820(1.7GHz), 2GB DDR3, 320GB HDD, WebCam, HDMI, Win
ASUS U46E 14.1" Core i7 750GB HDD Notebook
Buy ASUS U46E 14.1" Core i7 750GB HDD Notebook Now
I agree on it's worthless speakers but then again who uses laptop speakers as their primary speakers???I got this so we can replace our old Dell and I couldn't be happier. We put the old Dell next to our LED TV and let it serve multimedia.
Although it's plenty quick as is but I recommend upgrading it's HDD to SSD and use http://www.amazon.com/SATA-caddy-12-7mm-Universal-DVD-ROM/dp/B0056EW4A4/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_y so you can get speed + space in one package. Don't forget to buy http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00274HQY0/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3HDZ91DLL5YJC so you can use your DVD-ROM as portable DVD-ROM so nothing will go to waste.
Read Best Reviews of ASUS U46E 14.1" Core i7 750GB HDD Notebook Here
I was impressed with the performance of this Asus. It has so many good things about it, like the battery life, processor, and size, but there are just a few small details that really hurt this laptop for me.For one, the speakers are terrible. I like to listen to music while I do most anything on my laptop. If it isn't music, then netflix is playing. The speakers are situated on the end closest to the user. On the right side only. The tiny speakers are crammed into one end under the dominate hand of most users. So my wrist muffles the sound and it all sounds like it's playing from inside a tin can.
My other small complaints deal with the trackpad and mouse buttons. The buttons are a little difficult to click and the pad has a bit too much friction.
There are all very small things that the average user won't mind. If you are looking for a powerful, reliable laptop, this isn't a bad one. But if you want all of that and good speakers, don't bother with this unless you buy some speakers.
On the plus side, there is little bloatware preinstalled and the battery life clocks in at about 7 hours with a full charge.
But I was very disappointed by the speakers, and am now considering taking back the laptop, which is both unfortunate and sad. I don't know why Asus would make this nice machine and neglect to put some halfway decent speakers into it. At least put them on both sides of the machine!!I have owned this laptop for almost exactly a year. I snagged the display model from Office Depot for just $529.99. I see it is now on Ebay for $500. Definitely worth the price for such powerful hardware. Great price for an i7 and 8Gbs RAM. That said, I am getting ready to use my warranty to claim the laptop and expect I will be sent a check rather than a fixed computer. The stock speakers are terrible, practically unusable, and my headphone jack has broken. I am without audio, so I'm sending it in. Would buy again though, great deal.
Lenovo IdeaPad U110 11.1-Inch (1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 Processor, 3 GB RAM, 120 GB Hard Driv
Hp 2000-2c20dx Laptop with I3-2328m
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OK, is a good laptop but has scratchs, works as spected and is good option for price, box damaged but fine about.Read Best Reviews of Hp 2000-2c20dx Laptop with I3-2328m Here
Acer Aspire V3-551G-8454 Gaming Notebook AMD A-Series A8-4500M(1.90GHz) Quad Core 15.6" 4GB Memory
Pros:
Awesome dedicated graphics card. I will update after trying some games
Windows 8 64 bit(Yes windows 8 as a pro...I'm not crazy...I find it much simpler and customizable than windows 7...hopefully gaming won't be a problem.
Sound is pretty nice
A little bloatware
Cons:
Fingerprints are so visible in this laptop
500 gb Hardrive( wish it was 750)
On one occasion, the laptop's backlight dimmed on and nonstop every second...I don't know why it happened...I restarted the laptop and I never encountered that problem again.I purchased this and its an awesome laptop. The price is a bit inflated. Check out Acers website and the msrp is $529.99.I also bought this laptop from newegg. It was $499 with free shipping, but add in 5% for discover cash back, and 1.5% cash back from Fatwallet.com, and it i managed to get it for around $470. It has na on-die AMD graphics, and a AMD dedicated graphics card, which you then crossfire in games that utilize it. 4 gigs of ram is not great, but can be expanded pretty cheap. CPU wise it can't touch the Intel sandy bridge, or ivy bridge CPUs but for under $500 this is a solid laptop that will play most games at mid resolutions.
ASUS G75VX G75VX-BHI7N09 17.3-Inch Laptop
I won't lie, this thing is a monster. There is simply no way around it. If you plan on lugging this thing around frequently, I'd seriously recommend either physical training, or a good Laptop Backpack. I do both, and the Slappa Matrix allows this behemoth to fit, although quite snugly. I will say, I was surprised at how small the power brick was, I expected a significantly larger brick. Those of you worried about the power supply being proportionately large shouldn't worry too much. I would imagine the reduction in size is due to the Kepler based GPU, which requires less power than its Fermi GPU cousins (more on that later).
The build quality and design are quite optimal and are what I expect from a premium ROG branded laptop. Everything seems to be well mounted, or fastened down and that glue or adhesive use is at a relative minimum compared to other laptops. This machine look like it will stand up well in the long-haul as well as moderate abuse, but in the end, only time will tell. I will say, I am not as worried about wear and tear with the G75 as I was with my previous M17X R3. My previous R3 had a considerable amount of glue and adhesive and over time, due to the heat from the CPU/GPU (and despite significantly lower temps after re-pasting) several parts of the trim began to peel and pull away, not what I had expected from a "premium," brand laptop. Like I said, time will tell and I plan on updating this review with any problems I come across.
One of two Major Complaints I have against the Laptop is the lack of End-User customization or maintenance. Without completely tearing the G75 apart, you are limited to swapping out hard drives (there are two easily accesible bays), and RAM. You could tear it down to install an mSata SSD, change the wireless card, or access the other two RAM slots, but you would only do so knowing that your warranty is void and that you know exactly what you are doing. On the other side of the coin, I understand why the motherboard and the layout is the way it is. With that said, in my opinion, the percentage of performance gained from upgrading most likely does not merit the cost of a CPU or GPU upgrade.
My Other major complaint rests with windows 8 and the lack of recovery options. I knew going into this the 1TB HDD was a measly 5400 RPM. Completely unsatisfactory for any gaming laptop. I had pulled my 512GB SSD from my previous R3 and planned to use that and install/restore Windows 8. This was a unique learning experience to say the least. After exhausting many options, from cloning partitions to tweaking partition tables using GParted from a Linux Live USB, I even considered ordering the OS disc from ASUS, but I ended up installing Windows 7 on the SSD and using the drivers from the G75VW. Thus far, I have had no problems.
I am pleased with the keyboard and the spacious trackpad. I think the white lighting is a good, neutral touch. I like the idea of different color lighting schemes, but don't believe it to be at all necessary. The keyboard itself is nice to type on (for a laptop), and shows very little flex towards the center. The trackpad is quite large and accommodates multi-touch as well, making for quick zoom-in and out functions. With Windows 8 this feature seemed almost a requirement without a touchscreen. The wrist-rest is stout and feels as if it were made of a high grade ABS type plastic. There is also a soft-touch type texture applied and seems as if it would hold up well in the long-haul to wear and tear.
Performance and thermal testing. I am impressed with the performance of thislaptop (for the time being). Not only can the 3630QM hit 3.4GHz on one core during turbo, but it can maintain load at more than optimal temperatures. Same goes for the GTX 670MX. Even while gaming for extended periods, the fans are nearly inaudible. Borderlands 2 with Ultra Settings, I get an average of 49 FPS. Skyrim on Ultra I see an average of 40 FPS. Hitman Absolution I can only take it to high settings and my frames are generally 34 FPS. In Far Cry 3, I usually see 46 FPS with high settings. All are played in 1080p using the Nvidia 314.07 Drivers. During stress testing, The GPU's temperature maxed out at 68C in furmark for thirty minutes, while the CPU maxed out with 82C in Prime95 for thirty minutes. While gaming, I have not seen higher than 62C on the GPU, and 73C on the CPU. Personally, i'd like to see temperatures after re-pasting the thermal compound, but I don't plan on doing that for several months as I'd like to keep my warranty.
Despite the bulkiness of the G75VX, I appreciate the trade-off received in performance and cooler temperatures. It is also nice to see the new Kepler based 670MX. It may not be a 675MX or 680M, but I understand the compromise of speed, energy efficiency and temperature. Not to mention I need some reason to go back to my desktop every so often. As of now, I highly recommend the G75VX over an Alienware or Clevo-based mobile gaming platform.Pros:
fast Fast FAST! For the price, its really hard to beat the specs of this machine. The i7's and the factory 8 gigs of ram make this machine a screamer.
Build quality is excellent. I cant find any build defects whatsoever.
Keyboard is quite nice to use and is good quality. Keys aren't exaclty what i would consider high quality, but for a laptop I have no complaints
Large multi-touch trackpad. Having multi-touch in Windows 8 makes for a MUCH better experience than a standard trackpad.
GTX670MX is an excellent GFX card. It should run most modern games for you, although some will be need to be tuned down a bit. I played the demo of Mass Effect 3 and it looked brilliant. Also, being Kepler based it stay much cooler and saves on energy than some of its counterparts.
Excellent ventilation. I play SWTOR for hours on end (not the most demanding game) and it barely warms up. Laptop stays cool to the touch and very little heat coming from the exhaust.
Dual Hard Drive SATAIII bays. It comes standard with a 1TB 5400rpm Hard drive, but its nice to have the spare slot for additional storage/SSD boot drive.
Cons:
Size. This isn't really a con to me but I thought I would list it for potential buyers. This is no small laptop. I use this as more of a desktop replacement so it works well for me. If you plan on traveling a lot I would probably something smaller and lighter.
Standard 1TB 5400rpm Hard Drive. To me this is an odd choice by ASUS. A very high performing machine hindered by a slow drive. Do yourself a favor and replace it with an SSD and move this drive to the 2nd bay for storage.
No blu-ray drive. This isn't really a con for me but I thought I would list it. You really wouldn't want to be toting this thing around watching movies anyway
No OS discs included. Why is this becoming so rare? If you want to re-install Windows 8 to a different drive you'll have to order an OS disc from ASUS or find someone with a Windows 8 disc (Key is stored on the motherboard so it will auto detect for you)
Wrap Up:
All in all this is an excellent laptop. It performs very well out of the box. If you want to make this thing even better for a little extra cash, replace the standard 1TB 5400rpm with a SSD and move the 1tb to the other bay. Re-install windows to the SSD and this machine boots in less than 8 seconds. Also to future proof a bit (or for bragging rights), install 2 x 4gb ram sticks in the 2 open slots on the bottom of the computer to 16 gigs total. As of today, you can get a 64Gb SSD for about 80 bucks and 2x4GB Ram for about 60.
Feel free to comment with questions!
Buy ASUS G75VX G75VX-BHI7N09 17.3-Inch Laptop Now
Hey everyone!I have this gamer for about 90 days now. I did not buy it here since this version seems to have the worst hard drive one can put in a laptop that otherwise got the power to match a 1GB desktop GTX 650Ti or so !!! Pixel & texture fill rates are even higher than 650Ti, when OC'd.
Now, let me tell you about how much OC one can do on it :D
As most know by now Kepler GPUs have a core limit that won't let you clock more than +135MHz on laptops, without doing modifications that will void the warranty or may harm your hardware if you don't know what you're doing. Anyway, the core on 670MX is good enough to play all the latest stuff in 1080p on Ultra and even go ahead and turn on MSAA or FXAA it's not a surprise when you see that the chip is a GK104, which is also the chip that powers 675MX/680M/MX as well as desktop 660/Ti, 670 & 680 :)
The only "downfall", if you will, would be the memory bus (192 bit) and the clock frequency the memory runs on 1400MHz is low, even 670M ran @ 1500MHz.
Considering this I have to mention that if your GPUs ASIC quality is 80% and up, like mine is, you'll be able to max the memory clocks in MSi Afterburner @ +1000MHz !!!
The sweetest thing about this is that 670MX seems to embrace that crazy 60% memory OC and DOMINATE any game I tried @ only 2-3*C over the stock clock temps. The highest temperature I got while playing 2 hours is 65*C !!!
OK, enough about the graphics for now :D
Let's take a look @ the sound.
Sound is supplied by a Realtek HD Audio.
No more playing BF3 with headphones and having sound coming both from speakers and headphones simultaneously like my older G75VW with VIA HD sound card did.......I loved it by it was kind of an annoying issue, especially when you have a hot chick sleeping in the room and she does not like gaming sounds and she decides to leave after that, not cool :D
The sound is a lot more crisp and focused and it has a lot of options that will give you a surround sound-like quality on the stock speakers and theater-like sound with a HDTV. I use a 24" 1080p Toshiba TV and together they just KILL IT!
One small sound issue is the instance when you plug or unplug audio-in or -out, like headphones or a mic from the laptop and you have your Windows taskbar set to "auto hide". Sometimes it will lock it in "visible" position preventing it from "hiding". Anyway, it can be resolved by simply plugging/unplugging again this will make it hide properly. In the end I remember having the same on a Win7 Asus K53SV-A1, which also used the same sound card it's more of an Windows issue than Realtek HD problem.
The hard drive it came with is a 7200rpm 750GB Seagate Momentus XT. It goes for about $125-150 or so right here on Amazon and is pretty fast for a mechanical drive.
My older VW came with the non-XT version of this HDD and I'm happy to say this one is visibly faster....1080p BF3 gameplay playback recorded with Fraps would cause lag on the Momentus, the XT is yet to choke :D
I do use an OCZ Vertex 4 SSD with it for gaming only, Win8 is on the Seagate XT, it makes games near seamless fps drops are caused by the GPU.
My model is a G75VX-RH71 and comes with 12GB of Hyundai Hynix memory, which is pretty cheap but I do have 16GB Kingston Hyper X RAM and plan to put it in anyday now (voiding the warranty if I do it too rough, damn those G75s are tight inside :D). Honestly, this gamer doesn't need that much RAM though I have it from my VW as it does everything @ thunder speed already.
The processor used in this Asus is a Intel Core i7 3630QM an entry level Ivy Bridge Quad Core which is more than you'll ever need. I edit around 50-100GB of raw/uncompressed 1080p video a week and this processor, does it ~10-15% quicker than 3610QM did.
In my opinion it's the best CPU choice, since all the 37xx/38xxQM and 3940XM are way overpriced and will make this Asus cost as much as an damn Alienware, while delivering just few more "horses". Not to mention most today's laptop components will be outdated next year and you gonna be stuck with an older GPU, while your CPU has enough power till 2014.... makes no sense.
This laptop is a great buy today and will sell with ease when you're ready for the next one believe me, I've sold 2 of them by now and it never took more than a week to get them sold.
The fps is just wonderful on this bad boy in any game I threw at it.
Like I said before you can turn all the bells & whistles in them and get high fps.
Battlefield 3 all ultra, 1080p, 2xMSAA 50-80fps, with Fraps 35-70fps, though I turn MSAA off when recording;
NFS:Most Wanted You'll never go below 60fps maxed-out, period;
GTA4 + over 60 high-poly car mods + ICEnhancer v2.1 with High-End PC config.ini file all very high, shadows medium, draw distance 50 the fps is 30-45;
When recording this game all GPUs I had: GTS 360M, GT 540M, GTX 660M & now GTX 670MX never worked @ 100% core engagement, so when recording the fps might go as low as 15fps and as high as 35fps;
I never tried this game without mods but I'm sure you can put all settings on max and still get like 50fps with ease......the car/graphic mods are what's causing the drops.
Some of the things I feel are worth mentioning too is the fact that even with Win8 on an HDD, this Asus takes about 10seconds to go from being off to asking for your password.
The next thing is the presence of Thunderbolt outlet. I never used it myself, but I remember my G75VW having the same outlet in the exact same place and those who said the VW comes without Thuderbolt and complained about it. Well, here all of you "complainers" will finally be satisfied as well it's OFFICIAL this time, the VX has it and it works perfect, I checked it this time :)
Well, that's it for now.....I think the laptop is a great buy, the $1500 amount here seems a bit pricey for what you get (8GB RAM/5400rpm HDD), but that's not my business everyone should do their own research before buying and considering that retailers like BestBuy are just getting them in stock for the first time might explain the price as well.
I'll do an update in 90 days to let everyone interested know if there are any issues that need addressing, but from my experience with AsusTek I can almost be sure there won't be.
Thanks for reading and I hope this review helps y'all to make a decision.
Peace.
Read Best Reviews of ASUS G75VX G75VX-BHI7N09 17.3-Inch Laptop Here
PROS: Really nice HEAVY Laptop. Let's be clear. This is not to be hauled around on a daily basis. This is a desktop replacement for sure. Even with the slow 5400RPM drive, the system flies. I will most likely upgrade it to MAX the ram and put the most capacity SSD drive I can afford, in addition to a faster, additional hard drive.I do not care for games. I want computing power for graphics and business and this does the trick so far.
Man this thing is big..Did I mention how big it is? Think...COFFEE Table Book!
So here is my goal. Use my iPad4 during the day, and this thing at night for the heavy work.
Cons: Slow 5400RPM Drive. But that is minor at best. I am sure they leave this drive in here to hit the $1500.00 Price point. Understandable as ASUS probably figured us nerds would toss it and put something else in...
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After a lot of consideration I finally decided to go with this laptop because of the price for the cpu and gpu combo.I'm pretty happy with my decision despite the poor performance from the 5200rpm hard drive,i knew I should have sprung for an ssd and plan to soon,though it is upsetting it didn't come with any recovery software so installing a new hard drive will require an installation disk.I've already jumped the hurdles of installing windows 7 with a 7200 rpm drive I had which can be a headache if you don't research before you dive right into it lol. anywho before I start bashing windows 8 i'll do a like/dislike listLikes:
bright vibrant display HD
cool simple design almost like a Lamborghini hood very solid
great performance plays my games smoothly at high settings
speakers sound pretty good but I prefer headphones so not a good judge of that
fairly easy access to 2 hard drive bays and 2 extra memory slots
Dislikes:
Matte screen I've owned a matte screen before and I don't recall it having this much texture almost looks dirty annoys me
Wifi seems to have problems connecting at the right speeds research suggests they haven't sorted out the drivers for the qualcom cards yet
keyboard chicklet I think they call it idk but too flat hard to feel for the key I want to press without looking but maybe that's just me
and last but not least the harddrive is painfully slow (by todays standards yees I remember windows 95) installing and loading games or anything else for that matter lol
not much else I can add all I do is play games and watch youtube on it so if that's what you do I highly recommend this laptop just not the windows 8 which isn't really all that bad just annoying and unnecessary
ASUS U52F-BBL5 15.6" Notebook PC (Refurbished)
Pros: Good specs for the price. The LEDs on the front of it are not supernova bright like my previous Dell, and my roommates Gateway. i5 processor is great and is still super fast at boot up.
Cons: Nothing that is to be expected from a laptop of this range. Dont expect to game on this thing with high settings.
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I have had this laptop since Christmas and am very pleased with the performance and features. Still trying to get rid of some of the bloatware that was installed, but this is my issue not the ASUS laptop. Great buy with plenty of disk space and RAM.Read Best Reviews of ASUS U52F-BBL5 15.6" Notebook PC (Refurbished) Here
Acer Aspire S3-391-9606 13.3-Inch HD Display Ultrabook (Champagne)
UPDATE: Be careful with Acer and SSD's. Mine just failed, with no warning signs. Make sure you have your data backed up at all times. No telling when it will break down. I've read about others having a problem with the SSD from Acer as well. Luckily Amazon took it back for a refund.Boot extremely fast, about 8 seconds, very lightweight and fast. This is the best ultrabook/notebook i ever used. I am very happy with the purchase and its performance.
Batteries discharge quickly, about 3 1/2 hours.
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I bought this somewhere else (BH) a week ago, for a better price. For its spec, it was a huge value purchase. And many vendors got its integrated graphics wrong. It is Intel 4000 that came along with Ivy bridge.Pros:
Price
CPU
SSD
Amazing boot time
Weighted same as MacAir
Good looking
Was worried about battery life. Now it seemed just fine. I don't use it for videos, just schoolwork and browsing the web, somewhere under 5 hours
Touchpad felt somewhat loose, not sure if it is common, but this is a con
Slightly thicker than other ultrabooks, but not noticeable
Viewing angle is a con, but not big deal
There was no overheating issue.. unless tapping the HD 4000 which I never did?
Overall, its was a value performance book
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This laptop is thin (0.7") for an ordinary laptop and weighs only 3 lbs., but I would not classify it as an ultrabook or netbook. It performs as well as any computer I've used, presumably because of the Core i7 processor and 128 GB SSD drive bootup is quite fast, and now that Office programs have been tweaked, startup is fast there as well. The keyboard is comfortable, and overall this is a high quality laptop that justifies the $950 price I paid for it. The downsides are: the trackpad is hard to navigate, even after you try to configure it, and the graphics display is not as good as I need (1366 X 768), especially when it is displayed on a 22" monitor (but you may need to go straight from the Acer's HDMI out to HDMI in on your monitor, which I don't have). It was delivered promptly, and there wasn't too much bloatware to remove, so after installing Office, etc., I was productive with it right away.Want Acer Aspire S3-391-9606 13.3-Inch HD Display Ultrabook (Champagne) Discount?
I am a college student that uses a laptop all day. This laptop has been a great replacement for my 2011 Dell Latitude 15.7"PROs:
fast turn-on
large trackpad
long battery life
light-weight
super thin
quiet keyboard for typing in class
FIXABLES:
No Ethernet port [I purchased a USB adapter]
Bloatware [I uninstalled almost all of Acer's crapware]
CONs:
laptop does not have enough processing power for Civilization 5
Hard drive is partitioned [I was able to get the 3 partitions reduced to 2 partitions (103GB & 15.6GB). I use the 2nd partition of 15GB for my Google Drive and Dropbox]
HP Pavilion DM4-2184NR Laptop, Intel Core i5-2430M. 6GB RAM, 640GB Hard Drive, WebCam, Fingerprint
It is also too touchy. It will open pages while moving cursor across page. I would
not recommend this computer.I want others to know how happy I am with my new laptop.I am very impressed with the performance and speed.nice laptop. I like it.
Gateway NE56R31u Celeron Dual-Core B830 1.8GHz 4GB 320GB DVD±RW 15.6" LED Windows 8 Notebook
When I purchased this I was looking for something with great graphics, wide keyboard, and lightweight. I must say I have all that plus a good amount of memory...
The con of this product the speakers SUCK! I have to order a portable because at the highest volume you still barely can hear, and when I am watching movies or videos I want to hear, also I love to play Sims 3 and I have to be able to enjoy my game time.
I would say this is a product I don't regret purchasing, my teenager is asking for it since day one.
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Sony VAIO E Series SVE15132CXB 15.5-Inch Laptop (Black)
Also, I read a lot of reviews about the hassles of the touchpad and I figured that maybe it just takes some getting used to. It does... The touchpad can be annoying at times and takes some practice to become familiar with it. Most times I have to click repeatedly just to be sure my option is selected.
Overall I will rate the Vaio E series an 8/10. It wasn't the fabulous computer I thought I'd be getting, but I'm quite pleased with it. I guess since the E series is aimed at people on a budget, what could I expect?If your wireless drivers mysteriously break and are unfixable, as mine was, and you have to re-install Windows, you are in for a world of pain. Sony's site has drivers that will literally make your computer inoperable. I am on my third re-install now, first I downloaded a rootkit from Sony's site, then a battery program bundled with the VAIO control center hosed me. I will never buy a VAIO again.
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Everything Perfect! I love it. Nice notebook. Xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xx xxRead Best Reviews of Sony VAIO E Series SVE15132CXB 15.5-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
Thank you for the laptop :D. I don't have any problem with the product. My new laptop is wonderful. Have a good dayWant Sony VAIO E Series SVE15132CXB 15.5-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?
I gave it one star because its a Sony, that's it. I had high hopes but windows 8 sucks, the mouse sucks, the computer shell sucks because all you see is finger/oil marks. I feel like it was made half-ass I really loved there previous laptops.HP Pavilion g6-2260us 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
I did a lot of research comparing all of the HP Laptops in the $400-$600 price range available at the time on Amazon and this one had the fastest processor. I found that all of the HP Envy Laptops and some of the Pavilions had AMD chips in them. I compared this i3-3110M to those specific processors on some benchmark sites on the web, and this chip came in faster in every instance. The price was around $508 when I first started watching it. I put a camelcamelcamel dot com price tracker alert on it and snatched it up when it dropped to the all time low price for this model of $449. A great deal in this price range for the fastest processor and other included features.
First Impression It is a nice looking Laptop. The trackpad has a rough texture which is different, but fine. The screen looks really nice. It has a full keyboard with a number pad which is great. It is only a couple of inches wider than our old 14" Laptop. The dimensions in the Amazon Technical Details section are misleading because they are way too big. I am guessing those are the dimensions of the shipping box. The Laptop is only about 15" wide.
Initial Setup Setup took a little while. Mostly basic questions that you would expect from any Windows installation. It easily connected to my Wireless N Router the first try. It did ask you to set up a Microsoft account so that you can download apps from the store which I did. Once in, I had no problem connecting to the shared drives on my Network. One of the easiest initial setups you could ask for.
Software Installation I immediately loaded a bunch of software on the machine. I installed Google Chrome, Dropbox App, Dropbox Software (yes, two different things), LogMeIn (for remote access), Microsoft Office 2007, tried to install Windows Security Essentials, but it comes with Windows Defender which does the same thing in Windows 8. Everything installed with no problems at all.
Performance and Web Browsing All of the software that I tried worked very well and very fast. No slowdowns to speak of. Web browsing with Chrome was great. No complaints at all about performance during my initial use.
Windows 8 I'm not going to comment much about this. I love Windows 7 and have never used Windows 8, so the first time out, it takes a bit to figure things out. I'm not sure if it is good or bad so far, but I was able to find the Desktop just fine and started getting used to the Metro UI pretty quickly. For what this machine will be used for (Kitchen and Kids access), the Metro tiles may actually work out better. It will just take some time to get used to.
In conclusion, this Laptop is great for the price. You get the fastest Intel processor in this price range, a good amount of RAM, a large hard drive, upgraded Intel HD Graphics 4000 (most in this range have the 3000 version), fast networking and overall nice performance. If you are looking for a lower priced Laptop and don't need the highest performance, you really can't go wrong with this Laptop in the $500 range. Highly Recommended!
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ONE WEEK UPDATE (05/09/2013):
The Laptop is working really nicely so far. The screen looks really nice and the performance has been great.
After using Windows 8 for a little while, I did decide to install Classic Shell, which is a free program that basically brings back the Start Menu to the Windows 8 Desktop. I have used Classic Shell for years on my Windows 7 PC and it has always been great. Now that I put it on the new Windows 8 Laptop, you can barely tell it is a Windows 8 machine. It functions almost exactly like Windows 7, but you can still access the Metro UI and all the other Windows 8 functions. A much more comfortable experience in my opinion. Really a "best of both worlds" situation. Still Highly Recommended!
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ONE MONTH UPDATE (06/06/2013):
Everything has been great with this Laptop so far. We have been using it daily for Web Surfing, Excel Work, Kids Games and Skype with the out-of-town Grandparents. We were told the Webcam through Skype looked really good from the other end. One complaint that I had was that it was driving me nuts that the F2 Key in Excel kept adjusting the brightness instead of editing the cell so I found a trick on the web that would switch the default on the combined Function/Action Keys by adjusting a BIOS setting [Disable Action Key Mode under the System Configuration]. Also since switching to Classic Shell, the Windows 7 like interface has been perfect and I am very happy having my Start Menu back. Overall, the performance has been great and everything is working as expected. We are very happy with this purchase.I received this laptop yesterday after having to return the ASUS A55A-AH51 (unfortunately got a lemon). This laptop has been great so far. The set up was a no-brainer; fast and easy. I added 4GB of RAM (Kingston Value RAM KVR16S11S8/4) and I think this helped with the speed. All programs and apps are running perfectly...no problems. The internet connection was also perfect. This laptop comes with Windows 8. I'm not sure yet how I feel about it...it's different but I like the apps options. It is slightly hard to navigate but I'm sure I'll get used to it soon enough. If anything changes down the road, I'll add to the review.
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I got this so I could do some internet surfing, school work and some light Photoshop. So far so good. It runs Photoshop no problem and for under $500, that is hard to beat. I will probably add 4 GB of RAM in the future but for now the 4 it comes with will do fine. The screen is crisp and the keyboard is nice. I don't really like touchpads too much so will be getting a wireless mouse soon but it works fine just I don't like any of them. I would probably consider this one of the minimal specs for a laptop you would want if you would like to do Photoshop comfortably. Sure a lesser computer could probably do it, but would be pretty rough and of course a $1,000 laptop would handle it better but so far I have had no problems with it. I would recommend this laptop for sure for anyone who just wants it for the basics and even for someone who wants to do some lite gaming, for example, I have played the Sims Medieval on this with no problem at all. (probably games from before 2012 would run nice with this overall) or Photoshop or the like.Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion g6-2260us 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
Lots of apps and plenty of GB at 670. 4 GB of memory. seem to work very good for me. Not sold on windows 8 just yet. I liked visita and XP they were more easy to use.Want HP Pavilion g6-2260us 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?
I love the size of this screen and the graphics are great and unlike a previous review I can say that it is very good for lots of gaming as well as movies. I have even grown to like the new system but what I cannot tolerate is the cost of Office 2013. I didn't expect at this price point to get it included for free but to charge $100 a year for a subscription is really pushing the limit. I would give this 5 stars if not for that.ASUS X55C-DS31 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
And Win 8 sucks sooooo much... 20 minutes after playing with win 8 I end up formatting the hard drive and installing an old copy of windows 7.The right click button on the touchpad is a little messed up. It only sometimes works and it sticks a little. The rest of the time it just left clicks.
Furthermore it has the speakers on the bottom of the laptop. (A very poor choice of location in my opinion.) However, sound quality is still good.
Besides those things, it's a good solid laptop.
If you use an external mouse, you'll be fine.
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The laptop is good enough for that price, but there are certain things about it that are unacceptable even then:1) The body is mostly plastic, and doesnt have a very crisp finish. The edges are wavy (a little), and the build feels weak
2) The hinges had glue on it, similar to the residue left behind by a duct-tape. It's difficult to remove that by scraping, so it's best to just let it be there
3) The battery doesnt fit tightly on the laptop. After it locks in, you can still feel about 0.5 mm of play, which causes noises when you put the laptop on a hard surface, or lift it up. One can tell there is something wrong in the way the battery is fitted.
The laptop is decent if you have a low budget, but be aware of the flaws. Maybe it's the one I got?!
Read Best Reviews of ASUS X55C-DS31 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here
Good product!However, I had to get rid of Windows 8 and install Windows 7. If you don't know how to do this then get a laptop with W 7 installed.

