Dell Inspiron 15RM i15RM-7412DBK 15-Inch Laptop (Black)

I want to first say that I have only had this laptop for 2 days. However, in those 2 days this laptop has already surpassed anything my Toshiba or Lenovo have achieved in a much longer period of time.

Positives:

1. Speed This laptop, with its AMD A-6 quad-core processor(with 4GM Ram), is lighting fast for what I use it for. I mainly do a lot of multi-tasking online. I will have more than 5 tabs open at once most of the time and this processor handles it with ease. Going from web page to web page is a breeze, even on sites that typically are slow in general!

I haven't tried playing games but from what I understand it deals with games/video rather well too. I'll give that a try later...

2. Graphics The HD graphics on this laptop are amazing. I would say they surpass those on my HD television rather easily. The colors are crisp and the detail is amazing.

3. Feel (keyboard, touchpad) I'm still in shock at how nice the touchpad is. It is so smooth and easy to use that it makes me a bit emotional! :). Keyboard is fantastic as well. Only minor issue is I accidently press the wrong key sometimes...keys could have been slightly bigger but not a big deal!

4. Look The laptop itself is very sleek. The lid is nice and can be replaced with other lids. The keyboard has a nice silver lining around it. It is not heavy either.

5. Software The Dell Stage software is one of my favorite things about this laptop. It really is this amazing one-stop place for you to handle your movies, pictures, music, social networks(Facebook), etc. Its very easy to use and pops up as soon as you log into your computer! The amazing HD graphics just make that whole experience even better!

It also comes with Windows 7 Home Premium, the 64-bit version, which is neat.

6. Battery The battery life seems to be decent. I believe I lasted a bit over 3 hours on the battery last night, and still was at 16% ! You can change the Power settings so that when you are on the battery, the laptop conserves power by for example conserving on the screen brightness.

Negatives:

1. Dell and AMD I don't believe this is a big negative but want to mention it. From speaking to Dell, they no longer have a relationship with AMD(in terms of using the AMD processors) so that is why this laptop is NOT on the Dell website. However, they told me there is nothing technically wrong with this laptop and the warranty on it will be honored same as with any other Dell laptop(you can also extend the warranty).

In fact, I believe this might be why it is lower in price than it should be. There is nothing about this laptop that makes me thing its a $500 laptop! It feels like a much more expensive laptop.

2. Using the battery When I set the power settings to conserve battery life, the laptop naturally did not function as quickly. However, the drop off in speed was not extreme...and of course you can change the settings to not conserve battery life.

Conclusion:

I obviously need to use this laptop for more than 2 days. However, in terms of what it is capable of doing, to me this laptop is not a $500 laptop(it was $500 when I bought it). It is very hard to find a laptop with a quad-core processor and 4GM RAM and 640GB Hardrive for this kind of price. I believe that even at $569.99 it is a good value...but maybe it will drop in price again.

Speed This laptop, with its AMD A-6 quad-core processor(with 4gb ram ) is ok for word excell PowerPoint etc. when it comes to using heavy duty software like photoshop, illustrator the computer keeps hanging. It needs a good processor.

Graphic card The HD graphic card on this laptop is average. Graphics run slow for the call of duty game!

Aesthetic I think the inspiron series laptop are one of the very few that look very nice.

The laptop is very elegant. The cover is sweet and can be replaced with other covers

Battery life is decent

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I know the review is kind of late, but i got this steal of a deal for $570 back in January. its lightning fast and you can play games on it. I am currently playing fifa13 on it which all the factory spec.

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I was convinced I should buy the "other" type of laptop but my daughter talked me out of it. I got this Dell for 1/2 the price I would have spent on the Apple. I just love it!

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This laptop was bought to meet a time-sensitive need in the workplace. Buying it through Amazon proved to give more computer for the money and much faster delivery than was available from other sources. It's not the most high-powered laptop, but for a basic machine, it was a very good value and arrived exactly as specified. Very pleased.

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Dell XPS M1330 13.3" Tuxedo Black Laptop Computer

I purchased XPS M1330 on March 2008. Based on a year of usage, I do not recommend this product.

Let me layout the good things about this computer first. The screen quality is very good and shiny (I bought the Slim light-LED display for additional money). The colors are very good. The system does not come with a load of unnecessary software and does not slow the performance. The keyboard feel and comfort is excellent.

However, the hardware integration of this computer is weak. In less than 8 months, the graphics card was completely dead. The mother board was replaced by Dell. Worst of all the problems is the audio skipping and stuttering during just about anything, playing DVDs, listening to music (either from the harddrive or from an external harddrive), or just working. If you search the web for XPS M1330 audio skipping, you'll notice that many other individuals have the same problem. There is a resource conflict between the sound card and the other components of the computer. Dell is aware of this, yet, they still ship out the computers with this problem. Apparently, the Sigmatel, the sound card for Dell, and its drivers are responsible for this. Even if you remove the Sigmatel drivers, you'll hear the audio skipping. My motherboard was replaced second time after consistent errors by the sound card. Still, I hear the audio skipping. I tried all the temporary workarounds that were suggested by many people in forums. But to no avail.

In sum, I do not recommend this product. This is one of the premium lines of Dell products. It is supposed to be highest quality, because it is the highest in price. Yet, the hardware integration is sloppy and poor in quality. I personally regret going with Dell. Next time, I will seriously consider other options, such as HP, ASUS, Apple, etc.

I am now on my 3rd mother board. Each time it takes 5 to 6, 3-hour phone calls and at least a 7-10 days to get fixed (but usually not for long).

Deal with Dell at your own risk!

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This is a solid laptop with great performance. I too was disappointed with the very dim display when running on battery until I figured out that Dell has set it that way in the system BIOS to persumably extend the battery charge. If you hit the F2 key while the laptop boots up you can enter the Setup and correct this. I moved it from a default setting of 3 to 6 and the display dims only slightly now on battery.

Be careful not to change other settings while in setup unless you know what you're doing. You could cause major problems.

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These dell laptops seems to have really bad hardware integration. Purchase at your own peril. This is my 4th or 5th laptops in the last few years, and by far the worst. I purchased the dell thinking it would be relatively decent, but I guess I missed all the posts of touchpad issues that should have served as a serious warning.

In short, the touchpad integration in these dell laptops are awful. Less than 90 days after purchasing this laptop, I started having issues with the touchpad being frozen resuming from standby. I'm relatively computer savvy, but nothing seems to fix it -I've replaced drivers, done a system restore to an earlier point, and done a full reinstall of vista, at a cost of close to a day. You can also find stories of people having dell replace motherboards, trackpad hardware, etc., and still can't get to the root of the issue. It's pretty scary. Just search on dell touchpad problems for more details on the variety of issues. I've also had problems with the DVD "disappearing", requiring a reboot to see the drive again. Dell has a community forum for issues, but it is worthless -there are many more unsolved issues than solved ones.

Overall, this is a very nice laptop, but with all the random hardware/device bugs, it is not my idea of a functional piece of hardware. I wish that I had read more negative reviews myself before purchasing, so maybe this advice will help others. Unless dell releases new drivers/BIOS, etc soon, it will be the last dell I ever buy.

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This is the sixth Dell computer I own for work or home. I also own a couple macs and Thinkpads at work. This computer was purchased in Jan. 2008 and the mother board has been replaced three times, and the power adapter twice. None of the other computers I own have even needed service, just one Dell desktop that needed the hard drive replaced. Luckily on both I purchased the 3 year warranty (a must with Dell products). But the replacement and repair is slow and given the millions of problems experienced by other XPS 1330 owners just like or worse than mine--Dell is negligent in still marketing this product. Please don't waste your time or money.

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Sony VAIO VGN-NW120J/S 15.5-Inch Laptop - Silver

This is a nice looking laptop and I like the design.

As for speed and performance, it's a lot faster than my old Dell so no complaints.

I'm motivated to review the touchpad here because to be honest it's driving me crazy. It's not a smooth touchpad you'll see from the photos that there is a slight texturing to it. I didn't think it would be a problem but my fingertips no matter how light or hard I press don't move smoothly over it in any direction but downwards. They catch and start-stop. It's so frustrating I went back to the dealer and we tried cutting a plastic iPhone cover down to size and affixing it over the touchpad but it didn't stick very well. Sadly I'm contemplating returning it which would be such a shame.

I don't mind using a USB mouse but still I encourage anyone thinking of going with this particular design to really give the touchpad a try. Maybe it's just me, but ... ugh.

Nice product in a very good value. My only disappointment was the battery duration. I never could get up to 5 hours as described in the product especification. Battery lasts for as much as 2 hours. Consider in your budget a long duration (6-9 cell) extra battery.

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I do not like the bumpy, textured touchpad my finger catches frequently even with the lightest pressure and it is simply unpleasant to the touch, especially during long hours of use. The experience is obnoxious enough that I am considering getting rid of this laptop after only a few days!

Battery life is only ~2 hrs, not 5 as advertised.

Otherwise, the laptop is fast and attractive.

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I have nothing but good things to say about this computer. It runs fast and has everything on here that I need and more. Everyone else review has said it all in regards to good things. The only negative I agree with is battery life but for all the good that comes with this... I can deal with that.

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Though my Sony laptop has been dependable, I will never buy a Sony again. Sony has no automatic updates for software, hardware or drivers. They do not even have all of the Sony models listed, including the model that I own. They say that you can sign onto their site to see what if any updates might be available for your model, but if your model is not listed, then it is difficult to get to that site. Even if you do get to a comparable site, the updates that are listed tend to be generic updates that are applicable to a wide range of models. When I asked them which updates I should download, they said I should download the updates that fix any problems I am having. That is fine for serious problems because I actually know that I have them, but that advice does nothing for those subliminal problems that do not crash a program, but merely slow down the computer function. I am just a moderately savvy computer user, so Sonys might be great for the advanced computer user. Otherwise I would suggest that you look for a brand that gives better automated support if your computer knowlege ranges from limited to moderate.

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Apple MacBook Core 2 Duo P7350 2.0GHz 2GB 120GB DVD±RW DL 13.3" Notebook AirPort OS X w/Webcam, 6-

If you are looking for an affordable way to get into the MacBook scene, this would be a great model to start with. Can't beat the quality for the price. Our family loves it!

This is the first Apple computer I have ever owned, and I would highly recommend this MacBook to anyone who is in the market. It is really fast, the battery life lasts a really long time (much longer than my last Windows based laptop!) and you can tell it is really well made. Love the white color, too.

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Sony VAIO VGN-NW320F/B 15.5-Inch Laptop (Black)

I LOVE this laptop. I have both worked on and owned several brands and types of laptops. This is by far the best one yet. I know this sounds silly but after owning (and constantly cleaning) stainless steel appliances the thing that caught my attention on this laptop was the 'non-fingerprint' finish and the keyboard touch. I have owned the laptop for about a month now without any issues whatsoever. I have owned more expensive (and heavier) laptops in the past. For the price and size this baby delivers.

Although this laptop is a bit more expensive than some of the others, I really like the chiclet keyboard, and the HDMI port is great to hook up the laptop to my LCD TV (there's a special button to turn off the computer display when I'm using the TV as a monitor). I don't regret this purchase at all.

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This laptop is really worth the money.I bought this laptop from costco..

Pros:excellent hd quality;nice speed

cons:WORLD'S MOST WORST WIRELESS NETWORK CARD,battery life.

I have had severe issues with this n/w card.Reputed brand like SONY should take serious note on the reviews by customers and should provide some assitance.

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This laptop has a great value for the money you spend on it... good stuff

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HP ProBook 4530s XU018UT 15.6-Inch LED Notebook

This laptop has everything you could possibly want as far as tech specs. You got a sandybridge i5, 4 gb of fast ddr3 ram, USB 3.0 slot, hdmi out with hd codec ausio outputs for home theater systems. And the price is a steal of a deal. I got it at 666.02. The price on this thing certainly fluctuates on amazon so patience and a watchful eye on this one will probably get you the best price.

Before going to my in depth rants here's a quick sum up for those that don't want to read the whole thing

So to sum it up

The i5 2410M 2.3 ghz with turbo boost to 2.9 ghz and HD 3000 graphics performs well in games and everything else, all at the same time too

The 4 GB DDR3 1333 does its job while leaving room to upgrade

It has all the desirable features I was looking for such as

7200 RPM HDD

USB 3.0

i5 sandy bridge

spill proof keyboard

720P webcam

Great battery life (though I haven't been able to really test that)

Light weight

Win 7 Pro

Num pad keypad

Bluetooth

Wireless N

gigabit ethernet

Light weight

It is amazing, you should buy it. I found most laptops have the same basic specs with 4 gb ram and a i series cpu with a 320-750 Gb 5400 rpm HDD, 15.6" screen, keyboard with keypad, and a built in webcam. Then each brand has there own extras and quirks, like toshiba never seems to have gigabit ethernet it's always 10/100. Asus likes to only have a 640x480 webcam, though they also have a accidental 1 year warranty with their laptops. Those are just a few examples I saw when searching for a laptop. This one is a sneaky little fella out of the main line of hp's consumer lappys that has all that you could want at a more than fair price. I highly recommend it

Now for some semi-organized scatter brained rant of a hopefully informative review...

The Sandy bridge i5 2410M is awesome. Not sure what the other guy is truly talking about as far as lacking integrated graphics. I do realize that a high end dedicated card will do better but the sandy bridge with the HD 3000 graphics is by far the most impressive on board graphics I have ever seen. For example I have tried running basic games on other laptops with them struggling to run at 640 x 480 with all settings at low. This thing can smoothly run Crysis on medium graphics. I am not a hardcore pc gamer so I haven't tested every game ever but the a few of the ones I have tried mostly just to see how it does are Crysis, Portal 1, Bulletstorm (demo), Half life 2 episode 1, Bioshock 1 & 2, & Mafia 2 (demo). All of which run smoothly at low to medium graphics and look amazing. Mafia 2 is one that runs at the lowest settings and still looks great, of course that game recommends a quad core processor and a high end video card or 2 to run at high settings so with that in mind running it at all is impressive. As well I do light editing for photos that works smoothly, not photoshop or anything of that sort though. As well I watch movies, it plays netflix hd beautifully, though that's not that hard. I have played some 1080p videos out the hdmi that are gorgeous. The windows sound settings claim that the hdmi audio out support all the current HD audio formats. DTS HD Master audio, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD etc. This shows when it's hooked up to my Home Theater Receiver. Sadly I don't have a way to test this because it doesn't come with a program that supports that output. Which is a slight disappointment considering it comes with arcsoft TMT 3. But the digital audio codecs are disabled in the program which makes that player useless. Though the DVD editing software in that bundle isn't so useless.

As far as this glorious cpu's speed and power, it is just straight up awesome. Being the techy geek I am I monitor the speed and temps using Speccy. It ranges from 800 mhz per core at idle use to the advertised 2.9 ghz but that's only one core at a time, the other is usually around 2.6-2.7 when the other is at 2.9. Under my normal workload, which is relatively heavy and involves lots of multi-tasking. it boosts to 2.6-2.7 at temps of 60-70 Celsius. Which at first sounded high to me but that's just where these things run. The cool part about that is even when it is 70 Celsius or more in there you don't feel the heat. And of course the 4 gb (single dimm [stick]) 1333 DDR3 ram certainly helps with all that fun stuff as well.

Also in the performance category is the 7200 rpm Hard drive. I have found that this is hard to find in main stream laptops in this price range. The majority have 5400 rpm. Trust me when I say that the 7200 makes a difference. And the 500 gb is of course plenty of space.

There are of course other fun features such as the 720p webcam, the usb 3.0 slot, the "Spill resistant" keyboard, which I have not and will not test. The keyboard itself is very nice. It has the num keyapd and the buttons press smoothly. The mouse pad takes a bit of getting used to with the multi finger gestures for scrolling and such. But you can play with plenty of settings to turn that on or off and customize it and such. And the fact that it has win 7 PRO instead of just home premium is also a big plus.

The bluetooth 3.0 is also great. I have a Bluetooth mouse that connected easily and I continue to have the joy of a wireless and recieverless mouse. I have also synced my phone with the Bluetooth to sync it with outlook and put music on it and the like.

The Wireless connection is great. If I had to give a con it's that it only supports 150 mbps. Since it is a combo adapter with the Bluetooth replacing it would lose the Bluetooth. I actually tried putting a intel ultimate n adapter in it, only to find that HP has a very restrictive bios, so be careful when buying upgrades, cross check with hps's site. But I also discovered in that process that the under belly is very easy to get to via the maintenance slider thingy. Can't remember the technical term at the moment, but it has a tool-less entry system to all the user upgradable parts that is next to the battery. Back to the wireless though, regardless of that 150n instead of the more standard 300n it still has a great connection. It also only supports 2.4 ghz, kinda makes me sad to not be able to use the 5 ghz 300 mbps connection from my router but it's a small sacrifice for a constant great signal anywhere in the house or office. I work in a basement office with the router not in optimal position for that and still get a ~70 mbps connection that runs smooth. It speeds test just as fast if not faster than other 300 mbps computers on my network as well. So the wireless connectivity is awesome.

The screen is also beautiful, and the speakers are impressive for what they are. It's certainly not audiophile status but it works for quiet music and such.

This laptop also is very light weight, barely feels like it adds any weight to my backpack.

Also it's shiny and silver. I didn't actually know what color it would be when I got it since there weren't any good pictures, hence why I added some. It looks like there is a better stock picture now though. I'm not one to care about finger prints on the finish but if you do care this one doesn't have that problem.

There is a bunch of bloatware, but that is expected with hp type brand computers. Though it isn't all useless. The security program powered by digital persona gives a user friendly set up for the finger print scanner and the face recognition. When using the scanner and face recognition it adds like 10-20 seconds to start up time, which is a bit annoying so I don't use it anymore, but I'm not currently in a environment where heavy security is necessary. When I take it to college in the fall that might change. It also includes drive encryption features, something called evernote, and the arcsoft media suite. It's update software is also nice for the average consumer though I'm still a fan of checking their website manually myself. But the bloatware isn't too hard to get rid of so it's not that big of a deal. I personally have got rid of most of it, but to some it may be useful and worth keeping. Like the other guy said you will also have quite a bit of windows update to get, but that is to be expected with any new computer.

So it is all in all practically perfect. The only things I would change is the 150 mbps to a dual band 450 mbps. Thought that was just at first when I found out it only had 150 mbps. Now I don't care so much since it works amazing the way it already is. I highly recommend this laptop or its little brother with the i3-2310M that has just about all the same features.

This laptop has all the features that anyone would practically need. The price keeps dropping so any newcomers will definitely benefit from its lowered cost.

The only reason I didn't give it the full 5 star treatment were several reasons.

cons first

1. No instruction manual, download the HP 4530s pdf ONLINE, I Goggled it.

2. No Win 7 Pro Repair disk, available separately for $10 on Amazon or eBay.

3. Download Win 7 Pro updates from Microsoft, many and timely but necessary.

4. UPS delivered, arrived OK but packing was almost non-existent in a large box. The HP box had enough packing though, so the laptop seemed protected.

5. Be prepared for a lot of garbage which can be removed.

positives next

1. After running setup which was timely, I was impressed with the numerous features and add-ons that came with this model. I compared this HP with several other makes and this laptop excels against similar

i5-2410s.

2. Value for monies paid will surely increase buyers interests obviously.

3. This Sandy Bridge make all the previous i5s pale in comparison. My recommendation is to get the i5 with its turbo boost and never look back.

4. The newly listed price from Circuit City/Amazon is fantastic for a "Sandy Bridge" i5 laptop.

5. The unit seems sturdy enough.

6. I like the ease of upgrading the laptop. Flip it over, remove the bottom plates and you can get to the RAM, HDD, etc quite handily.

7. The HD+ screen was quite a bonus for these old eyes.

8. The offset touchpad was OK.

9. The Cap lite is a necessity for me and this unit has one.

20. The Intel video with its turbo boost on shared video is supposed to really make a difference, as told to me by a friend who swears by it. We shall see.

Overall, I'm looking forward to video editing and doing Photoshop, which were my main reasons on getting this HP. As to its reliability, time will tell.

Footnote, June 7.

Runs quite cool and very quiet. No problems so far. May need to get a Vi Dock 4, or better; to boost my integrated video. Seems that the onboard video is a bit lacking and adding an Ati card via the expresscard slot should solve that problem.

Footnote, June 15.

Discovered HP Documentation earlier when investigating Programs and the PDF was very informative. (Wish there was a note inside the box upon opening)

Onboard HD Video is very good for intermediate gaming and video editing. The Crucial 4GB RAM which I added today will handle my multitasking needs quite nicely. Buying and installing the Crucial RAM was most inexpensive method for any upgrade and easy. My PhotoShop and Illustrator applications plus my Sony Suite will benefit highly with this increased RAM.

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This is a very thoughtfully engineered and full featured business oriented laptop. Some positive features that set it apart from other second generation sandy bridge core i5 laptops in this price range:

An express card 34 slot for high bandwidth peripherals

An excellent keyboard with numeric pad

A matte screen finish (thank you!)

A generously sized, sensitive and configurable multi-touch trackpad from synaptics with a on/off switch

Very easily accessible components and fan ducts to keep dust bunnies under control

This unit purchased from Amazon comes with a 1 year warranty.

After using it for some time, I have some other observations... There are no OS rescue disks included or the ability to burn them yourself. Booting to the OS recovery partition is the only way to restore the computer to the factory state. Needless to say, it is a useless option when your hard disk dies. Also, the image eats up around 16GB! This is totally unacceptable. It was not helpful when swapping in an SSD.

The included software is comprised of "special" offer trials for office 2011 and norton internet security, adware, bloated "maintenance" programs, and a "security" suite that poorly duplicates functionality already included with windows 7. There is no unified uninstall for these programs and with the exception of the included Arcsoft media suite and hp power management utility, the only useful function of the included software is to lull the user into a false sense of security. HP, please stop! Expect to spend about 3 hours removing these useless packages.

Without the hindrance of the included bloatware and with an SSD equipped, this laptop becomes the weapon of choice for people who like to get some work done on the road. It is sturdy and pleasant to use, with understated design for buttons and non-distracting illumination. The LED back-lit screen has poor resolution (1366x768 ? please.), but is otherwise high-quality. Finally, I cannot say good enough things about the keyboard! Overall, I am very happy with my purchase and I think that you will be too.

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I've had this laptop for about six months now. I'm reasonably happy with the laptop itself. I use it for word processing, spreadsheet, downloading photos and editing, and on-line games. Just routine stuff. The Windows 7 software takes a little getting used to. There's a game that my kids like to play where you walk by pressing the directional keys. If you're walking a long distance and holding the key down for awhile, the computer seems to think that you're telling it that you want it to do something and the game is then messed up. (I'm convinced that this is my computer's fault, not the game's.) This is my first experience with W7.

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We've had this machine for a couple of weeks now and it's an excellent performer. Excellent feature set for the money it's really hard to beat. The ProBook line is oriented towards heavy daily use while still being reasonably priced. Core i5-2410M processor, 500GB 7200 RPM drive, 4GB RAM, Win7 Pro 64 bit, Webcam, SD card reader, Gigabit LAN, wireless N. Plus it's got a solid feel. The display is nice and bright and very clear, but I wish it had more pixels. 1366 x 768 is really limiting so figure on plugging this into a larger monitor for extended home use. A BluRay drive would have been nice too.

It seems that all store bought machines are loaded with trial versions of a lot of different software. It gets annoying until you get it all out of your way. I guess that's how they get the cost down. There was a Microsoft Office shortcut on the desktop. I entered the serial number from my store bought Office package and it all just worked. Never had to insert the disk.

If you're in the market for a machine in the $650 $750 range, I'd definitely recommend this one. You're not out a whole bunch of money but it still feels as though it should hold up for 5 years or so.

NOTE: I ordered this from one of the third party suppliers and they shipped me the i3 version poorly packed in a beat up box. I returned it and ordered one from Amazon and got the correct one in a nice straight box. Cost me $90 more but it was worth it. Regardless of who you get it from, check it to be sure you got an i5. I'm still waiting for my refund.

UPDATE: Upgraded rating from 4 to 5 stars. Yes I had a couple of minor gripes, but at this price point, it's a stellar deal.

UPDATE II: Finally received the refund for the i3 machine I returned. The merchant was Portable Guy and they were responsive to emails and courteous. They took the time to explain what caused the shipping error. I'd consider giving them another shot.

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HP G60-630US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

This laptop worked perfectly right out of the box! I had absolutely no problems setting this machine up or in getting it to connect to my network. It does everything that it was advertised as being able to do. Even the built in webcam works great. If there is even a single negative , it's that it comes with a lot of superfluous HP software. Other than that, I am incredibly pleased with this laptop.

Overall, I'm very happy with this laptop. Works great, is fast, clear picture, and love the Windows 7 vs. my old Vista. Only gripe is the battery lasts under 2 hours with normal use not the 3.75 hours listed. We keep ours plugged in mostly, and use on the go as necessary. Would buy similar one again, just upgrade the battery.

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The internal microphone is broken, and not just in the one I bought. According to HP, it's broken in the entire G60 series of laptops. I've had mine for one week; I discovered the microphone was broken on the second day, and I've been talking with HP's case managers about my options. Looks like I'm going to return it, because there's no fix in the works at HP. And who needs a laptop that you can't use for videoconferencing, Skype, Gmail Videochat, and so on? It's a shame, too, because the laptop is otherwise great.

Why is HP still selling this product when they know it's dysfunctional?

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I too was very frustrated when I purchased this laptop and discovered an issue with the mic. However, HP has put out a downloadable software driver and I installed it and it works fine now!!! My wife uses skype and messanger. As for the rest of the laptop....we are very happy with it. The webcam has fantastic clarity even in not so good lighting. So, ignore the previous gripes with the internal mic. You may purchase the laptop with the defective driver but you can download the new one in two minutes.

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I have only had this laptop for a week and so far it has been working very nicely. I have always been an HP fan so I love it even more. I love the look and feel. The graphics is wonderful and the brightview screen enhances the colors. All the features makes it very exciting to use and I love the fact that it has a built in webcam and wireless network ready. I have also notice that it is not a noisy machine in which is a plus.....thanks its wonderful!

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Gateway NE56R13U 15.6, Intel Celeron, 4GB RAM, 320GB Hard Drive, Windows 7

You really can't go wrong with this deal at Target. We're talkin' Win 7 64 bit, 3 USB ports, HDMI, cardreader, 4 gig ram, 320 gig HD, 15" display, 6 cell batt, Intel CPU, DVD burner. I'm continually amazed at these prices and values. Picked one up for the in-laws so grampa could have his own laptop! For web browsing, pictures, and the basics, you don't need to spend over $350 with today's prices.

My only complaint is the Function keys are reversed (why would they do that??). If you want to use the actual F1-F12 keys, you need to hold down the FN key. This means that these keys work directly to enable/disable things like wi-fi and trackpad etc. So if grampa inadvertently hits the F3 key, he'll turn off the wi-fi. I don't think this was a smart decision by Acer/Gateway.

UPDATED Never mind my complaint about the function keys! As noted in the comment section, this can be changed in the BIOS setup SWEET!!

Also got this for $250 from Target. I only got it since I had the top end model since 2010. The only difference between the two is the CPU one Intel this one and the other is AMD. Both dual core 2.0GHz vs 1.7GHz in this one. But the L2 cache is 2MB instead of 1MB in the one I had. Same 4GB of RAM but this one can be upgraded to 8GB. Both have the same LED/LCD HD panel. Mine has optional Blue-Ray player that gives you higher contrast panel very deep blacks. Other than that the keys placement is the same. You'll learn to live with it in time. For the price this is not a bad laptop if your in the market for one. The Target sale will end when they're gone no rain checks. But if you can get one or more time is right to give all your kids and you and the wife one. Can't go wrong with this purchase. It only comes in one color black with touch of grey. Panel is glossy ultra bright you want that type of panel you don't want flat matted type ones are washed out look and older technology LCD it has to be LED which this one is.

3x USB ports

1x Full HDMI port

1x SDHD Card Port

1x Power

1x Stereo Head phones

The one I have has all of that plus red amber lite soft touch controls. Still this one not that heavy like the one I have. If you able to get on one buy it!

Update 8.12.12

Had order additional 4GB from Amazon for $21 and install it. Now 8GB with 7.48GB usable. Index rating gone up from out to the box 4.5, then tweaked changing the system from the default power (Balance) to High Power 4.9 and now it's 5.0.

1. Before you do anything with this tablet you need to get Norton Removal tool too take off the bloatware.

Run that twice. Freeware just search for it on Google

2. Run Pc-Decrapifier (freeware) That finds everything you have installed and then you choose what to take off. Hint keep all ACER software.

3. SmartDefrag (freeware) use that for boot defrag, MFT, pagefile and system. Set to once every first boot

4. Slimcleaner or Cloud System Booster (both freeware) or ToolWiz Care freeware

Do 1 thru 4 and that laptop will be quicker.

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I have to say this is a great little laptop for the low price of 249.99 at Target and with the "red card" they took an additional 5% off.

I can't say enough good about it for the money.

It has 4GB of DDR3 Dual Channel memory for fast everything!

A 1.7Ghz Dual Core processor is plenty fast enough for everything i do daily on this laptop.

Youtube videos are crystal clear and in HD thanks to the Intel HD card with 128 of dedicated memory and up to 1700 shared.

It has a very good webcam with built in microphone and is very clear on Skype.

For what i paid i am extremely happy to have this as an "everyday use" system.

I have owned about every brand of laptop from low end to high end and this one, well, i have no complaints.

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For the price, I guess this laptop is ok but it does have some flaws. As other reviewers have pointed out, it doesn't come with discs. You have to create back up discs, which I did immediately after getting it up and running. It did crash on me and I had to rely on those back up discs. They did get it back up and running but I had to wipe it and start all over again, so you have to make sure that you continually back up your data files or you will lose things.

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I did not buy this on amazon but i will give you an idea of this computer. This computer stays fast for a very long time and i love this computer. It has a video camera and a microphone so you can use video camera chat for any program. I would definetly recommend this to you. if your looking for a computer that is a good brand and lasts along time this is definetly a computer for you. i have had this computer for a while and i love it so much that it has changed my computer experience.

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Toshiba Satellite L755-S5353 Laptop 15.6" / 4GB / 500GB

I purchased this laptop from Amazon through the distributor "detailsurfer" as a present for my husband. The purchase was made through Amazon and the hard drive stopped working after less than 2 weeks of use. A technican for Toshiba and Norton both said the hard drive was defective. The Tobshiba rep gave a claim reference number and stated that the distributor whom I purchased the laptop must be notified concerning replacement. I contacted the distributor Andrew within the return period. He did not accept return of the computer. Toshiba has a one year warranty on the laptop. My husband contacted Toshiba concerning this laptop and they stated that they would send a box so the computer could be returned. We have not received the packaging 2 months after the purchase.

I would recommend that you NOT purchase anything from Andrew at "detailsurfer". He has provided no customer service for this laptop. The computer stopped working during the reurn period. He took my money and when the laptop was defective he did not take his "junk" back and send a new computer.

I have purchased a Toshiba laptop in the past and had no problems. I would be reluctant to purchase their products in the future because you will not get any customer service from their distributor or the company.

This Toshiba is one of 3 laptops I've been waiting for a sale on, and I've just

picked it up at OfficeMax for $379.99. It's probably not the fastest if you're looking for a gaming computer, but for my varied uses, it is perfect. I was looking for a fast processor without mortgaging the house, a HDMI port, DVD player/writer, WiFi of course, great memory and hard drive storage included without having to upgrade immediately (or ever), full sized keyboard with separate numeric pad, and a brand I can trust. This laptop is all that and more. Dual core processor running at 2.1GHz, 4GB RAM, and 500GB hard drive. Great price, great computer.

Won't know about battery life this soon after purchase. Also some bloat to remove, and don't forget to update your drivers.

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This is a very good laptop. I bought it for my sister and it works quite fine. No problems at all....well...except for the webcam. It gave some problems at first so we just reinstalled the driver using the website and it was fixed and ready to go. I recommend this to anyone!

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Toshiba 15.6" Satellite Laptop 8GB 750GB | S855D-S5120

This computer is fast right out of the box with massive memory. The new windows layout took some getting used to, but there is an option to use the classic view as well! I bought this computer for business use, and so far it has passed all my test's! Great computer!!

I've been an Acer fan since 1997, had my first major Desktop from them and it ran forever. I use to like Toshibas laptops back in the day, 2004 till about 2009 or so when they really took pride in their machines. Now they are cheap plastic toys, and fall apart like leaves in the fall. First off the lid has horrible wobbling when you open it, the keys smash down into the body of the computer like grapes on pavement. The fan runs either constantly, or it can't decide and kicks on and off, on and off etc. Very loudly i might add. The speakers are horrible, i have headphones that are much louder. And the over all feel of the machine is just bad. It's really a shame when a company like Emachines (now owned by Acer) makes (made) a better quality laptop the Toshiba. I had one back in 2010, and it was built rock solid, tiny speaker sound, and a decent processor, but definitely better than this doorstop. I remember taking this out of the box thinking, are you kidding me?

I have an Acer 17.3 inch laptop that i got in 2010 as well, and it is fantastic, never an overheating issues, burned literally 100's of discs (maybe more), converted movies, great speaker volume, and the body is made very firm, with a good solid feel. I was never an AMD fan either, sure you get 4 cores, and it's more powerful than my laptop, but honestly, who games on them anymore? Hence the cheap price, look on Wal-Mart and the computer is 578$, ask why? Now you know. So good specs, don't mean your getting a good reliable quality machine. I've loved the underdog, (Acer) for years, and it's been great. Even my girlfriends new Gateway is made far superior. I miss the old Toshibas. Even the higher end models suffer from problems, i work on desktops only. But i've heard many people say they get more HP's Dell's and Toshibas coming through with problems, more than any others. So buy at your own risk. They didn't even make this model for 8 months, and now they are gone. Or overstocked at Wal-Mart. Buyer beware.

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HP - Pavilion g6-1b79dx Laptop / Intel Core i3 Processor / 15.6" LED HD Display / 4GB DDR3 Memory /

I've had my computer for about a year now and I've had to replace the battery twice. It's a good computer, runs quickly, affordable etc... but the battery life is horrible. The batteries are very expensive as well. I give it 3 stars.

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Dell XPS M1710, Intel Core 2 Duo T2600 2.0 GHZ, 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM, 100 GB HD, DVDRW, 17" WUXGA TFT LC

This is such a great and well made gaming laptop ! It arrived well packaged and it looked like it came right off the assembly line from dell :)

Pros :

*Build Quality*

*Design*

*Upgradable Parts*

*Still plays majority of today's demanding games, Crysis, WIC, WRC 2010, UT3 etc*

*16 customizable led lights*

*Powerful*

*Not Heavy*

Cons:

NONE :D :D :D :D

Well if your looking for a good gaming laptop, but want one that's of quality and isn't the most powerful, then don't hesitate to get one !

I purchased one of these back in 2007 and it is still running strong. Yes there is a video card issue with them. They need to be on flat free from debris, table clothes, and other stuff that will limit air flow. I have only had to bake my video card once and replaced the thermal pads on the CPU and GPU with artic silver with no further issues. Also get the I8K GUI software to control your fans and monitor your CPU and GPU so you know when it is time to service it yourself. This laptop is highly serviceable and the documentation has always been available from Dell. The only downside is that you do need to clean it and replace the thermal paste periodically due to the amount of heat that is created from running this powerhouse. I recommend replacing the hard drive with a Solid state unit since it is blazing fast then and extends the battery time to something realistic. The standard battery time while gaming is only 45 min due to the awesome graphics and processing.

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I bought this computer from Dell in 2007. At the time it was one of the most powerful laptops available and retailed for approximately US$3000. I have carried it across the world and used it in Japan, Nepal, India, Thailand, the US, and now in the Middle East. I am still using it today.

Like hundreds of others, mine suffered from the poorly installed graphics card, but fortunately this didn't cause serious trouble until this year, when I had to have the card remounted. Dell does not provide this service and will not tell you how to do this. Nor will they sell you a reasonably priced replacement graphics card, as they are keeping what they have for computers still under warranty.

The only other problem I've had is the loss of both power sources. Batteries quite naturally have a short shelf life, but I've never had a AC power source burn out on any appliance I've ever owned. Only on this Dell. And getting a replacement was a bit of a hassle as this machine uses a bit more current than your average computer.

Otherwise, this has been a wonderful machine. On balance, it has provided far more hours of productivity and entertainment than it has hours of frustration.

#

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I was given this computer to replace a constantly-overheating Dell XPS generation 1 since it was still under warranty with Dell. They had fantastic customer service and took care of me no problem after some security questions were asked. This one arrived and it was fantastic from the beginning. It still has served me well though the military, medical school and graduate school, as well as being a pretty high end gamin machine. It does relatively well even today, though for gaming it is now underpowered; for anything else it is still great. This laptop is one of the best and most reliable; I've updated it to windows 7 x64 and the RAM to a full 4G to keep it as current as possible.

This is a great machine and I will gladly buy from Dell again in fact I'll probably stick to high-ends and get an alienware from them in the next year or two.

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I had really enjoyed my Dell XPS M1730. One day the LCD panel started having problems. I contacted Dell Technical Support via chat. They had me run a series of lengthy diagnostics. These diagnostics did not find any problems. The problems with the LCD panel continued. I contacted Dell Technical Support via chat again. After 3 seperate lengthy chats they authorized that the display adapter be replaced.

In a few days a contracted service technician (authorized by Dell) came to my home and replaced the display adapter. This did not alleviate the problems with the LCD panel. After the technician performed the service on the computer the FN key on the keyboard ceased to function. I contacted Dell Technical Support via chat once again. They authorized the same technician to replace the keyboard on one visit and he replaced the LCD panel on a 3rd visit.

Replacing the LCD panel resolved the specific issues I was experiencing with the LCD, however the new LCD panel had a number of new issues. The original LCD panel which came with the computer was a Sharp. This Sharp LCD panel had no issues until about 10 months after I had purchased the computer. The LCD panel which was installed to replace the Sharp is an LG. This LG LCD panel has very bad backlight bleeding, extremely slow response time and a purple blemish in the bottom left corner. These issues make the computer unbearable to use. The original Sharp LCD panel did not experience any of these issues.

I contacted Dell Techical Support via chat once again. They had me send it to the Dell Depot in Houston, Texas. The chat technician verified that the LCD would be replaced with a Sharp LCD panel that did not experience these issues and be free of defects. I sent the computer to the Dell Depot using the box that Dell had shipped to me. Included in the box was a sheet of paper which listed an area to describe the problems with the computer. I listed the problems in great detail, including the problems with the LCD display.

When I received the computer back none of the issues I detailed had been addressed. The LCD panel had not been replaced. Only now the computer would not boot from the hard drive. Something had happened while the computer was at the Dell Depot which caused the BIOS to not recognize that a hard drive was installed. Now I could not use the computer.

Since the computer is not functional I am not able to work. This is a computer I use for work. I have and will continue to lose a great amount of productivity due to this problem.

I contacted Dell Technical Support via phone and explained to them what has happened. I spoke with a first level technician and his supervisor. The only things they said they would do is send out another technician to replace the LCD, motherboard and hard drive. None of these items would need to be replaced if the LCD was replaced at the Dell Depot like it should have been and if it did not get damaged at the Dell Depot.

All Dell is doing is stating that they will do something in the future which should have already been done. They are not taking any responsibility for the problems they have caused me by not fixing the computer correctly the first time, or the second, or the third...etc. They did not even state that they would send out the correct LCD panel, so they may still install an inferior LCD panel to the one which was originally installed.

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Dell Computer I15N-3001BK Dell Inspiron I15n-3001 I3-2350m Dual-core 2.3ghz 6gb 500gb Dvd+/-rw 15.6

I have had the laptop for 6 months now and I haven't had one problem with it. It has an extremely fast processor and great battery life. This is a great deal for $500 or less.

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Toshiba Satellite L855D-S5242 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mercury Silver)

This the 3rd Toshiba Laptop that I have bought for my household! The 1st one was 18 months ago, the 2nd for my daughter for x'mas and this last one for myself! When I was looking at computers I wanted fast, memory, and storage. The L855D-S5242 delivered on all accounts. Getting started was simple and I was up and running via WI-FI in less than 30 minutes! The Fn keys, which also serve to adjustment various operating parameters is really slick! Screen brightness, Speaker Vol, >> the player all via the Fn keys! I prefer the Numeric Keypad on the computer and there is plenty of room. Actually, the keyboard is not much different than a full size keyboard. Having large hands and fingers I don't have any problem moving about the keys while typing. The keys have a soft, yet deliberate feel to them, almost a very soft click! It's not a super small laptop and it's not the larger one that I bought for my daughter but I find it perfect for traveling and connecting to WIFIs. I give this 5 stars! If it had one drawback it would be lack of software installed. It's got all the basics and I guess Microsoft stopped putting Microsoft Works on with Windows 7. I would thing this is their push for folks to purchase MS Word! I would definitely purchase another.

Pros:

Decent Performance

Beautiful screen

Cons:

Battey life

Screen is much too reflective for outdoor use

Sound

Summary:

I use this mostly use this as a replacement for my previous desktop which quit working on me. It offers comparable preformance to my last PC. It gets a 5.9 on the windows experience index (held back by hard disk write speed). The 6gb of ram is great for a mobile device. I don't play many PC games but in my experience it runs minecraft smoothly, granted that's not saying much. On average I get about 5 hours of constant use before I really start needing a charger.

Also, the speakers on this rig are HORRIBLE. Everything comes out bizarrely squeaky and hollow sounding. This isn't a problem for me because I have it hooked up to my surround sound speakers.

All in all, it's a decent machine but there's better out there.

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Had to upgrade laptop for my work and wanted something that could still handle entertainment and basic gaming duties while on the road. Windows performance index score is 5.9, but only due to the slow hard drive that comes with the laptop. All other components are rated a 6.7, except the ram which is a 7.3. Screen is very good with crisp text and vivid colors. Have played several FPS and racing games and haven't had any issues. Used the HDMI out to watch videos in a hotel and it was perfect. Ordered a Samsung SSD to install which will take care of the slow index and expect this computer to perform even better. All of my work is done virtually so the WIFI has gotten a workout and hasn't had any issues. Wish that they would have put a dual band adapter in the system but it is only a 2.4 ghz. There is no Bluetooth and it does not have the antennas to add one internally, already had a dongle so I just plug it in when I need to use Bluetooth. One thing I noticed and didn't like was that there is no locking clasp for the display, it must use a magnetic or other internal sensor to detect the lid being opened and closed. I had the option enabled to turn the computer on when the screen is opened and somehow it did this in my bag while traveling. Really am enjoying this laptop.

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I was looking for Windows 7 and upgrade ability of the RAM to 16 GB and found it with this great laptop. As a new insurance agent I was told Windows 8 won't work with the software in the business. This is one quick and powerful machine. Thanks Toshiba and Amazon.

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Do not buy Toshiba. Screen just all of a sudden cracked. Bought from Best Buy and they refused to even look at it because they said Toshiba was the only company that would not accept them sending it. Toshiba wanted to deal directly with the customer. Toshiba won't replace or fix even though it was within warranty. Spent a LOT of time on the phone trying to get them to fix my computer and they said the warranty does not cover a cracked screen no matter what. Horrible computer, even worse customer service.

See link for others who have had the same problem:

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Asus Eee Pc 900hd

I purchased an ASUS 900HD nine months ago and it has seen very light use. The power supply quit working about three weeks ago. I submitted a help request on their Web site and after waiting for three weeks with no reply, called them. The woman I spoke with tried to trouble shoot the problem (try a different electrical outlet duh) all of which I had already tried. Then she told me since it was nine months old, the battery (understandable) and power adaptor (not understandable) was out of warranty (six months for 'accessories'). I told her I was extremely unhappy and asked if she would like to make an unhappy customer happy for the relatively low price of a power adaptor (retail $49.99, their cost = much less). Nope. So I went online to the Web site she provided and they are out of stock. So now I have a paperweight until ASUS can restock power supplies. My question, which I will never know the true answer is: Why are they out of power adaptors? Is this a systemic problem? For the light use this adaptor has seen in nine months (actually it started giving me intermittent problems in eight months)this is a very poor product.

I have had my netbook for around a year, running often at over 100 hours at a time. In all of this time with constant use, I have come across very minor problems.

Around four months in, the A/C adapter that came with it had burned out, but I replaced it for relatively cheap with an off-brand adapter.

Aside from that, my netbook has occasionally stopped responding to its volume commands, but I found that restarting fixes it.

Overall, this netbook is very durable and can be used for extended periods of time. I have yet to overheat mine. I do suggest that you are prepared for replacing the A/C adapter, however.

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This pc looks sleek and compact but it hanged most of the time. The battery does not hold the charge good and the processor is very slow on window Xp. Lately, after I downloaded the microsoft framework files and window explorer 8 version, it did have improving the speed of the processor and I noticed it did work a little bit faster.

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The small size says it all.. great for travel. XP a little slow but usable, Linux from a usb works fine.

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I know I get what I pay for, but I didn't expect this netbook to be basically disposable. I had problems with the touchpad and click keys not responding within the first couple months. I sent it in for repair and got it back without anything seemingly having been done to it. After a few more months, add to this that the computer would intermittently behave as though the shift key was stuck (I think you can't realize how many problems this creates unless you try itvery difficult to use the computer for anything!) Since it was intermittent, and was my only computer at that point, I waited a few more months to send it in. They sent it back and it wouldn't even start up after I removed it from the packaging! They now refuse to repair it since by the time I received it back the warranty had expired (although they sent it back more broken...). It starts up now, but only runs for 20 mins max before crashing for a few hours.

It's a cute little pocket laptop, but be aware it seems to be made of the cheapest possible components (expected for price, but still frustrating). Also, be aware you can only reach support in the middle of the night (I never once got through at any time of the day, with 20-30min wait times at least). I always call after midnight; the people don't know anything about computers, but they're fairly polite.

I expected this netbook to be low-quality based on price. Low rating is mainly for refusal to repair what they broke. I suggest saving up a little longer and putting money towards a less extremely-feeble budget laptop (or for mobility, maybe a smartphone? even smaller, similar quality).

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HP Pavilion G7-2243us 17.3"Laptop (AMD Quad-Core A8-4500M CPU, 6GB DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB Hard Drive, AM

I also bought mine and Staples for use in my classroom and I love it! The Windows 8 is really neat for organizing the programs you have open. It's easy to manage. I use this computer and run 4-5 large programs at a time and it is extremely fast! The tech man at my school recommended this specific computer since it has a 4core and I'm so glad I went with this one. Plus the screen is large and very vibrant.

The Windows Update issue is related to a conflict between the sound drivers and one of the updates. Uninstall 2 sound drivers and run Windows update. The drivers will re-install themselves automatically on reboot.

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I play Call of Duty Black Ops II in medium settings @45-60fps.

I have also played Battlefield 3 in medium-low settings just fine.(doesnt draw fps so i dont know extacly what fps)

I use Adobe Photoshop CS6 as well as Premiere and After Effects.

Plays 1080p video perfectly (my old computer couldnt)

Unless you are using a 3d program to render full 3d scenes i dont think you would have any problem for Video and photo editing, and light to medium gaming.

Also I use this computer paired with a Laptop Cooler (any). It brings the temp down about 10c and runs faster.

Also if you use something like Razr Game Booster, or something that will allow you to close down background services it will improve your gaming.

CONS:

Only thing I do not like is the screen. I edit photos and I feel if I dont have the screen at a perfect 90degrees, the colors and lightness/darkness in pictures changes. So I dont feel I can get an accurate edit of the photo.

Maybe I will upgrade to an HD monitor to pair with this laptop

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This my first Windows 8 computer --purchased for my wife. I dislike Windows 8, she hates Windows 8. HP Support says you are stuck with Windows 8. You can not downgrade to Windows 7. They will sell you the Windows 7 disc but will provide you NO DRIVERS to support Win 7. You must get drives from the manufacturers of each of the components HP puts into the notebook. If you downgrade support and warranty are void.

So...it's good hardware and value. Beware before you buy-----love windows 8!

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The keyboard of this laptop doesn't have a pause/break key. This means that ctrl+break doesn't work. When I called HP support they told me that HP hadn't provided for this function. No big deal to people who aren't programers but if you are running code and need to interrupt it or accidentally create an endless loop you have to stop the parent program using task manager--not the best solution.

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ASUS X55A 15.6" Celeron DC 320GB HDD Laptop

Went to BestBuy to check out the sale deal for the Asus X55... Looks to be a nice student version of a laptop.. great features and style... though after checking out the new windows 8 os, I think I will pass on the deal.. Mainly due to Windows 8 preinstalled.. I do doubt that I will upgrade or move into any computer that has Win 8.. way too far out of the working environment I operate in... Win 8 may be another lossy diversion like Millennium and Vista was... I will stay with computers that offer Win 7... sad to see the direction MS is going here... still I hope that lots of consumers go for the MS 8, makes the older MS 7 pc's cheaper for us working folks...

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Dell XPS M1530

I've had this laptop for 3 years. I bought it refurbished from Dell with a 3 year complete care warranty. It has been a good laptop. I had a hard drive crash once and replaced the hard drive (covered under warranty). Otherwise it has been super. It still runs the games I like to play, like Civilization 5 and MMORPG's, though I have to play Rift with super low graphics settings. Considering that I only paid $800 for it three years ago and it is still functional and useful, I can't complain.

Cons--1. The battery life is low. I have a 9 cell and (as another reviewer states) it doesn't last long at all. However, I always play plugged in, so it isn't a real problem with me. 2. Heat. It does get really hot. The graphics card is a bit much for this computer, and it could use a better fan. It works best on a cooling pad with a fan. That's about it! If you want to buy an older computer (it is 2012 now) that can still play medium level games, this is worth a shot. :)

Not a pc fan as a vetern mac user. But after buying this laptop slighty customized better opposed to this one I am very impressed. The speed, performance, reliability, and gaming on this machine has been terrific, not up to my mac or OSX standard but very well made. Vista sucks hard, but we all know that. Thankfully I only use this machine for gaming or multiplayer when friends come over or online. From a OSX/Mac user this laptop is a very good purchase save the bloated windows OS.

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I have had to replace the hard drive and it has now failed again.

Need to look for another laptop, as i am not about to invest anymore time and money in this one.

other problems I have had with this laptop

1. very hot

2. can hardly hear speakers at full volume

3. will not update windows

4. no battery life at all

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I've owned my XPS M1530 for just over four years. During that time I have replaced the key board twice along with the battery, the hard drive, and the fan. In addition, I found it necessary to re-install Vista twice (or was it three times?). As was mentioned in other reviews, the laptop can run very hot so hot that on a couple of occasions it suddenly shut itself down. Apparently, the Dell M-series laptops have faulty nvidia 8400gs chips which is the source of the heat problem. To prevent damage I purchased a cooling pad, which is not convenient if you travel with your laptop.

Performance and graphics have been acceptable; however, I do not use my laptop for gaming or watching videos. In addition to MS Word and Excel, I mainly use the laptop to run computer algebra systems such as Mathematica and Matlab, or type documents in latex. Maybe I was spoiled by my Inspiron 6000, which I continue to use as a backup. It is about 8 years old and is still going strong (it's just a little too slow for everyday use).

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DO NOT EVER buy this computer. My husband has had it for a little while now and when we got it the mother load was malfunctioning. We bought the warranty with it, but the problem existed when we first got the computer. They will not fix the problem, even though we bought the warranty. We have spent countless hours on the phone with dell and they still will not fix the problem. We are ready to throw the computer out the window. DO NOT EVER BUY. Also DO NOT buy dell computers at all because they will not help you with any problem even if you have the extended warranty. They also tell you one thing and then never document it on your account so what they just told you doesn't exist. Horrible Customer Service. (May 20, 2011)

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