Dell Latitude D630 14.1-Inch Notebook PC - Silver

I bought this laptop directly from dell Financial Services auction on ebay. I did not even know that they have it here on Amazon Marketplace too. Even though the description said manufacturer refurbished the laptop I received looked like new. It came with power adapter and a Dell Windows XP Reinstallation CD and built in Intel PROSet Wireless Card. Absolutely no bloatware is included.

Now this may not be a top of the line machine but it is pretty adequate for home and school or even Small Home Office use. The neat part is that once you boot up the machine for the first time it would automatically install Windows XP after going through some preliminary steps. It even gives you option to enter setup and configure things but you are better off leaving the machine alone to do its thing and install windows XP or whichever operating system it is bundled with unless you're techie. Once windows finishes installation you can pretty much install anything you want. I have so far installed Open Office, MS Office 2003, Firefox, Chrome, Avast Anti Virus, Trusteer Rapport security Software and many other productivity softwares and the machine boots up and runs smoothly.

It does not come with webcam so I installed Logitech Quickcam Pro 9000 and Microsoft Lifecam Cinema and either camera runs smoothly even on HD modes. I use Lifecam Cinema more often because it's stand is perfect fit for D630 bezel as opposed to the Quickcam Pro 9000's stand which tend to wobble.

I will advise you buy this laptop directly from Dell either here on Amazon Marketplace or on ebay where it is listed under Dell_Financial_Services. You will likely receive a laptop that will be like new but more importantly you will get 30 days warranty.

This laptop is of right price, size and specs: 14" bright LCD, 2GB Ram, 80GB harddisk space and 2GHZ Intel Dual Core processor that is more than adequate for most home, school and or Small Home Office use. It is sturdy and sleek looking too.

There is one thing that Dell scrimped on here: the tiny single speaker that is barely audible! I use an external Frisby USB laptop Speakers. I also use headphone when I am on the road. It is worthy to note that this tiny speaker belies a powerful sound card that only becomes apparent when you put on a headphone.

NB: Don't forget to switch on the wireless radio or you will not be able to use the wifi connection. The switch is on same side and next to the headphone jack. It is switched off by default. Once you switch it on it will detect a bunch of wifi hot spots including yours, if any. Select your SSID from the displayed options and enter your router's WEP Key and you will be good to go. I have at&t 2WIRE Wireless Gateway and the WEP Key is the ten digit number directly below the serial number located on the side or bottom of the router depending on whether it is standing vertically or lying on it's side. The built in wireless card is powerful. I highly recommend this laptop to anyone who may be on budget but not willing to compromise on quality and performance.

I got this laptop in a timely manner and it appears to be in excellent shape. However, when I had problems and called Dell tech support, they told me that the laptop owner had not transferred the laptop to me. Thus, I am unable to get help! I have contacted the seller requesting assistance with this, but have not heard back. When buying a laptop, be sure you get the ownership transferred to you.

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I bought two of these. The first one was in excellent condition, really impressive for a "refurb". So when hubby murdered his laptop by spilling a drink into it, I thought this D630 would be the perfect replacement for him. When it arrived, we were both a bit disappointed. It functions correctly but has a loose lid/screen that can wobble and some sticking keys and generally looks quite used. He's satisfied enough to keep it, partly because he doesn't want to be without one for any length of time, and partly because we've had positive experiences with off-lease Dells in the past even if they have a wart or two.

My personal disappointment was that after receiving the first one, I expected the same level of quality from the second one because at that time, it was sold by Amazon -not a marketplace refurb seller where you can never be sure of what you'll get until you open the box.

Read Best Reviews of Dell Latitude D630 14.1-Inch Notebook PC - Silver Here

If you buy one of these refurbished computers be sure to buy the warranty. The one I purchased only lasted 46 days which is 16 days past the 30 day return period. It quit working and it needs new screen ($600.00) and new battery. I didn't notice that you could buy a warranty when I bought it so I just wasted $300.00. Be sure you buy the warranty!

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I,ve been a pc tech for 20 years and my dell d630 is awsome the keyboard is a little worn but got one off of amazon for 18 dollars also i added 4gb of ram. Had to get a new harddrive i had the warranty but the sent me a new one quicly with no fuse or trouble my only regret is paying double from tigerdirect instead of buying from amazon i know next time.

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Gateway NV4402u Laptop / Intel® Pentium Processor / 14" Display / 3GB Memory / 320GB Hard Drive -

I've had this laptop for half a year now, after buying from a relative who upgraded his laptop. It is very good! I watch movies here always in great clarity. Very fast and easy to use. My needs are basic, as most of us probably do: surf the net, watch movies and word/spreadsheet processing, and I'm glad I didn't shell out too much money to get these jobs done. If you're not a heavy gamer or a video editor, this one should be right for you.

Great laptop for the money, lots of power packed into a small package. No problems with this laptop whatsoever. I would have given 5 stars but I have one complaint and that is that the "fit and finish" of this laptop isn't as good as it should be. The battery doesn't fit tightly in place, it is a bit loose... also the main cover seems a bit flimsy and thin. But even so, I haven't had a problem with it.

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I absolutely love my new laptop!!!!! You can't see it well from these pics but it has a cool pattern on the case and it works excellent.

Read Best Reviews of Gateway NV4402u Laptop / Intel® Pentium Processor / 14" Display / 3GB Memory / 320GB Hard Drive - Here

I purchased this laptop last May and have had problems with it from the start. I have had it repaired two times, and customer service says the same thing over and over. I contacted the corporate center in Irvine, CA and they seem to think that I only have the choice to have it repaired. I told them that this was not acceptable and that I wanted to speak to a supervisor. I was then told that supervisors do not take phone calls. Really?!??!? This company is a joke how can you run a business and not stand behind your products. If you are considering buying this laptop DON'T BUY IT! It is a piece of junk and if you look at any gateway complaint sites you will see hundreds of complaints. Gateway says they have customer care, well they have forgotten to care for their customers.

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Samsung - NP-RC512-W01 - Intel i3-2310M 2.10GHz - 6GB RAM - 640GB HDD - Blu-Ray - 15.6-inch

Its worth 300$. I got it second hand,2011 model. Its working perfect. I had some minor issues like ' key not working at once but after reformatting, it was all perfect.

I am an engineer and its great with 6GB DDR3 RAM, lots of multitasking possible. Awesome screen and never have hanged since I got it past 2 months.

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Acer TimelineU M5-481TG-6814 14-Inch Ultrabook (Gun Metal Gray)

I have owned the previous model Acer Aspire TimelineX AS4830TG-6450 and upgraded to this model in the past few days -note that this review pertains to the same laptop I purchased from another retailer, although I did purchase a second one from Amazon for a friend.

I will post various technical specs that are not specified in Acer's specifications first:

Battery: Internal, same battery as in Acer Aspire M3 ultrabook, model AP12A3i (31CP7/67/90) 11.1V 4850mA, 54Wh

Hard disk drive (HDD): Western Digital Scorpio Blue, 2.5" SATA, WDC WD5000LPVT-22G33T0, 7mm height, not 9.5mm -replacement SSD must be 7mm height!!!

Optical disk drive (ODD): HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GU61N (9.5mm height), easy to swap with a UJ-232A or UJ-242A for Blu-Ray burning.

Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GT 640M LE, Optimus-based, 384 shaders/CUDA cores, clocked at 500MHz, memory clocked at 10000MHz. v296.32 stock driver

SSD (mSATA PCI-E): Shows up as "SATA SSD" w/ firmware S5FAM014. Same as used in Acer Aspire M3 ultrabook -Acer P/N: KN.0200Q.002, also identified by SSE020GTTC0-S51 AM014

Webcam: "HD WebCam" VID_18CF PID_2C19

Touchpad: Synaptics -ACPI SYN1B60, compatible IDs: SYN1B00, SYN0002, PNP0F13

Ethernet: Broadcom NetLink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet -PCI\VEN_14E4 DEV_1692 SUBSYS_07121025

WiFi/Bluetooth: Qualcomm Atheros AR5BWB222, driver version 10.0.0.42, dated 2/23/2012, PCI\VEN_168C DEV_0034 SUBSYS_E052105B

Onboard audio: Realtek High Definition Audio ALC269 (82801G) chipset, driver date 4/10/2012, version 6.0.1.6612, VEN_10EC DEV_0269 SUBSYS_10250713

A/C adapter: LITEON PA-1650-69, output: 19V DC, 3.42A, 65W max, either blocks vents slightly or ports a bit due to right-angle connection.

Backlit keyboard can be enabled/disabled via Fn+F9 key.

Processor Tj. Max is 105 C.

The 20GB SSD has a 4GB hibernation partition (which will have to be changed if RAM is upgraded) and a 14.64 GB partition used for caching via installed ExpressCache software from Diskeeper. There is a 16GB hidden recovery partition on 500 GB HDD from which DVD recovery media and drivers DVD can be created via Acer eRecovery Management.

Acer's free 'Theft Shield' solution seems to only provide an audible alarm if laptop is carried away more than a few feet from a connected Wi-Fi hotspot -I am assuming it used WiFi signal strength as a trigger, and if it detects a noticeable change (caused from movement), it sounds an audible alarm from the system speakers.

In order to use the hardware-based Intel Anti-Theft (AT) feature, activation codes may be purchased separately (~$25 1yr, ~$40 3yr). The item descriptions/part numbers for US market are:

BXIATSC1YRENG Intel Anti-Theft Service Activation Code Card 1YR English Retail

BXIATSC3YRENG Intel Anti-Theft Service Activation Code Card 3YR English Retail

In addition, Acer included a URL link on the Windows 7 Start Menu for a trial of McAfee branded Intel AT service, which I just enrolled in. The way it works is that the downloadable software client that gets installed upon activation via your web browser synchronizes with the server to check for the existence of a lock activated via web browser or (good luck with this one!) phone support. After a few painful phone conversations with phone representatives -first at McAfee support, then at Intel Anti-Theft support, one stated that the activation period for the service was for the duration of ownership of the product. I still doubt that, given that the terms & conditions I revisited when I signed up mention that if no term is given it would be for 1 year, so I am assuming that is how long it will really last, but we'll see.

Anyway, so if the anti-theft software syncs with the server and finds an existing lock in place, it immediately powers off the computer and sets the lock flag. When powering up the computer again, you are greeted with a screen that it is locked. The web interface permits you to customize with a short message with (presumably) contact information to return the laptop to you, but you could put any text in that field. In addition, via the web interface, you can set a pre-defined lock time choosing from disabled or 3-30 days in 1 day increments -so if the PC does not sync with the servers via an internet connection for that amount of time, it will lock itself the same way as explained before. By default, the pre-defined lock time is 21 days.

---

Now for the actual review -I purchased this because I needed/wanted a portable NVIDIA Kepler based workstation for developing CUDA code. Currently (as of 07/12/2012), NVIDIA has a Verde 304.79 driver that supports CUDA 5 Preview -there will eventually be a non-beta driver, but in the meantime this driver works for my purposes. Access to the DDR3 memory slot requires removing all the back screws and using a platic pry tool in order to open up the top case, in addition to removing at least 3 Zero-Insertion Force (ZIF) connectors for keyboard, keyboard backlight (KB) and touchpad (TP), which are all in the bottom part of the case, so pry and lift from the LCD side. Be very careful, as it is VERY easy to break these type of ZIF locking connectors. Disconnect the battery cable also, just to be on the safe side. Replacing the HDD with SSD is possible, but also requires taking the daughterboard (DB) that contains the SD slot/headphone/mic port out -held by two small screws, as one HDD screw is underneath it.

Replacing the ODD is easy, just one screw holds it in. However, I suggest being VERY careful while removing/replacing the ODD, the standoff holding the drive became loose on the laptop I purchased from the previous retailer -it is held down poorly to a thin piece of metal attached to the bottom of the palmrest, boo Acer! I successfully used super-glue to re-attach it, but it is not an easy task, it took a few tries. If you are replacing the drive with another one, check the thickness -if it is just a little bit more thick, remove the top cover entirely, put the drive in place with the screw bracket over the standoff, and screw everything back together. That way the standoff does not have force applied to its side, and is MUCH less prone to breaking off. In fact, I'd say loosed all the other bottom screws before attempting to take the ODD out in the first place. It's a tight fit... that's what she said! ;) For that matter all the clearances/lengths of FFCs/ZIF sockets are very close and not much give is left, it is good to keep in mind if you decide to open up the system for upgrades/repasting or some other reason.

I figured this hardware review would help any tech-inclined people that want to try to Hackintosh this or use Ubuntu/some flavor of Linux.

Unlike the previous TimelineX generation that throttled the CPU to avoid overheating, the M5-481TG seems to throttle/downclock the GPU to 270 MHz. This proved acceptable in my initial testing with Heroes of Might and Magic VI and Metro 2033, as gameplay was decently responsive, even at the highest settings. (Caveat, New Game/Load/Quit screen of Metro 2033 had black bands when using DirectX 11, changing to DirectX 10 fixed this -probably a driver issue). In my opinion throttling and not the greatest ever panel are the true downfalls of this laptop, and account for my 1 star deduction. Other than that, I think this one is a keeper for a while!

Not-so-technical review -The touchpad can be very fluid, especially with a lighter touch. I'm still getting used to physical buttons being part of the touchpad, so I cannot comment much. There does not seem to be any flex on the keyboard -it is screwed into the palmrest/top cover from the inside with plenty of small screws. There is, however, some slight flex along the top part of the palmrest, but nothing that creaks/cracks. Viewing angles for the LCD screen could be better, but for a laptop that's about 1/3 of the price of a MacBook Pro model with Kepler graphics there had to be some compromise.

The SSD hard drive caching the HDD is nice if you're not used to SSD speeds -I am, and it feels slow. ;) I mistakenly ordered a regular form factor (9.5mm height) SSD to use, only to realize that the HDD is a low-profile 7mm height. I was able to return it and purchase SAMSUNG 830 Series 2.5-Inch 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7PC256B/WW, given it is a 7mm height, and will fit. I have used Crucial M4s and Plextor M3s, but this Samsung sounds quite promising, and faster write speeds compared to the others, so it's a worthwhile upgrade.

I like Acer as they usually make very solid products for the price and have much better support that Lenovo... But sadly there is just something very wrong with the 14 inch M5-481TG-6814 model.

While the notebook is still good value for the money, playing some of the more recent games at higher settings will utterly destroy it AND there seems to be no sort of built in overheat protection. Planetside 2 and The Secret World, while not too graphically intensive will bring this ultrabook to it's knees.

Using it as an actual laptop (the way it's meant to be used) results in damaging the system, however these problems go away with a very cheap add on. This is one of the few notebooks where I absolutely MUST suggest that you also get a decent laptop cooler.

The Good:

About 6-7 hours playtime when doing anything but gaming.

USB 3.0.

Third gen Intel CPU + GPU.

HDMI.

SSD for (almost) INSTANT on!

Full sized back-lit keyboard!

14", lightweight form factor.

Great price if purchased elsewhere (I got mine slightly cheaper and with a $100 gift card).

Good sound for such a small notebook.

RAM can be expended to 10GB (with an extra 8GB stick).

Fairly powerful Nvidia GPU.

The Bad:

Only ONE slot for a RAM upgrade (the other 2GB is built in).

Comes with a lot of pre-installed useless software (bloatware).

The 20GB of SSD is NOT accessible. Yeah, that's right. No idea behind the reasoning on this one.

It gets hot REAL fast if you start gaming. To the point of actually burning your lap. This is the hottest notebook I have ever owned, and I had plenty.

Flaky wireless. Lots of dropped packets. Fixed easily and cheaply by buying another adapter.

Replacing the HDD, WiFi card, or even RAM requires unscrewing over a dozen screws (around 14 to 16 actually).

Screen resolution is limited to 1366 x 768. This is a WASTE of the powerful Nvidia GPU in this unit (which is good at overclocking, but should not be because of the intense heat the laptop already experiences).

While playing graphically intensive games, this laptop's tiny three cell battery becomes nearly useless. You will get a few hours (at most) of gaming done unless the system is plugged in.

The Ugly:

My first M5-481TG-6814 worked great during my initial Planetside 2 playsession. After about three hours of gaming, it got so hot that it shut down. Turning it back on failed. It just died. Since it was still during my first week of purchase, I contacted the Egg and had them replace it.

This time I bought a single fan, low profile cooling pad to keep it on. My second M5-481TG-6814 still got a bit hot and eventually the screen started to artifact while gaming (at least it didn't shut down by itself). Restarting would fix it for a while, only to have the problems reappear in a few more minutes of gaming.

The third (and I hope final 6814) is sitting on a dual fan cooling pad, which rises quite a bit higher and keeps it relatively cool. No issues so far (for a few weeks now actually), but the trade off is that this ultrabook is now not nearly as mobile as it was designed to be.

Conclusion:

If you are in the market for a laptop that you can use just for browsing the web, watching movies, and word processing do yourself a favor and get something (much) cheaper.

If you are in the market for a gaming ultrabook, the Acer TimelineU M5-481TG-6814 is a good purchase for the price, just do yourself a favor and buy a nice cooling pad...Or you could get a much nicer desktop at a fraction of the cost, since with a giant pad this thing becomes a monster (defeating the ultrabook purpose).

If they just solved the heat issue (by adding more/better fans and better heatsink), this would easily be the best ultrabook for the money.

UPDATE --I ended up returning this ultrabook because the massive cooler prevented it from really being mobile. For $120 more, I got a much better (and cooler) machine. It also came with a GT 640M LE, and I managed to overclock it to 850MHZ (with a simple bios flash), allowing me to play all the games I wanted at maximum settings.

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14" Acer Aspire TimelineU M5

3rd gen Intel i5

4gb RAM (max is 6gb)

Nvidia Geforce GT 640M LE 1gb DDR5

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I stumbled upon this laptop about a month ago after doing some extensive research on laptops. I didn't want to spend too much money, but I also wanted some premium features like dedicated graphics and a slim design. Enter the Acer TimelineU M5-481TG-6814, which was $780 from Amazon. At first, I was a bit hesitant since Acer has never been a brand I've trusted. To me, it's always been synonymous with cheapness. However, I decided to take a risk and purchase it since it had many key features other laptops charged an arm and a leg for. Things like Intel's newest Ivy Bridge proccessors, Nvidia Kepler graphics, and an optical drive. Some features even caught me by surprise, like the backlit keyboard. However, now that I've spent almost a month with it, I can say I've experienced something I never have with any other laptop I've ever purchased: No feeling of buyer's remorse.

When I got this laptop, immediately what struck me was the design. It looked slim and nice enough in pictures, but in person I was much more surprised because of how good the weight felt in my hands and how slim it was, this coming from someone who also owned a (at the time) very slim Sony Vaio SA model by the way. While the whole design isn't unified materials, the bottom being sturdy plastic, the cool, metal lid and deck eschewed any worries I had about shoddy workmanship as it felt far more premium than what I was expecting. Even opening the lid has proved to be very sturdy despite the thinness. In fact, the overall look and feel has really taken me by surprise, as things I had been bummed out on previous laptops, like my aforementioned $900 Sony Vaio SA, like flexing while opening the lid, were nowhere to be found. I was even impressed by the audio quality. Nice, loud, and even sound.

Performance has also been stellar. In casual use, the laptop runs quiet and cool. Using the graphics card can make for some fan noise, but it's nowhere near the levels of other laptops, in particular the Sony Vaio SA series which at times sounded like it was getting ready for liftoff, and can easily be drowned out by the audio coming from the speakers. In most cases from being completely off, it takes about 20 seconds for it to boot into Windows, probably less if I didn't require a password. Resuming from sleep or hibernation is even quicker, and I always seem to be able to jump right in to using applications without any lag. Gaming has also been very smooth. Older games play without a hitch, and the newer games I've tried, like Star Wars The Old Republic, run at medium to high settings at native resolutions in very playable form. It's only when I have the laptop connected to my 1080p monitor that things can get a little slow, but then again for the kind of laptop this is (ultraportable), that's understandable. Battery life has also been within the realm of what Acer states. Most of the time that's about 4-5 hours if I'm browsing with WI-FI and Bluetooth turned on. Gaming nets me 2-3 hours, but that is a given as the dedicated graphics card is getting a workout. Finally, the keyboard is a pleasure to use and the trackpad is surprisingly accurate. Multitouch gestures work well, better than they ever did on my Sony and Asus, and keys click nicely and are spaced well enough.

Now despite what you may think from what I've wrote so far, not everything has been peachy. As much as a I like the design, the LG Shuriken display has a tame resolution that isn't bad, but isn't great like some of the other ultrabooks out there. Everything is bright and vivid, but it doesn't match the 1600x900 resolution of more premium models. Still, it's not awful and since most of the time the laptop is a good 20+ inches away from your face, I doubt anyone will be disappointed by it. One thing that can be called that is the black boarder around the display. It's a bit jarring when you notice it. A flush bezel would've made more sense. Also, as nice as the keyboard and trackpad are, the backlighting can be easily seen in certain angles from the slivers of the keys and can be pretty bright, and the trackpad is slightly off center, which seems like a strange design choice if intended to be that way. Also, sometimes when resuming from sleep the multitouch gestures stop working except for zoom. I'm not sure if this is just something I'm doing wrong on my part, but it seems that sometimes I can't two-finger scroll or do other multitouch gestures unless I reboot the computer.

Port selection is also a bit sparse, with only two USB 3.0 connections, and being aligned on the back of the laptop means when using wireless mouses that have dongles that connect to the USB, the connection can be spotty depending on use. Still, all of this is nitpicking at what is a really a fantastic, premium-laced bargain, and it by no means detracts from the overall impressiveness of this laptop. From the sturdy, premium-like build quality, to the robust features, fast, and quiet performance, this laptop is well worth your money if you don't want to spend $1,300+ on an upscale ultrabook or you're just looking for a great deal without sacrificing anything. Buy it. You'll love it...or at worst, like it. =)

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I'm not too ashamed to admit that I mostly chose this laptop for it's low price and ability to play Guild Wars 2. The laptop boosts very fast and plays GW2 on medium setting very smooth and nicely. I tried it on the highest setting as well, although the graphics was great, the game play slowed down a lot. The LED lit keyboard makes it great for working in the dark. However, there are a couple of things that really bugs me about this laptop.

1. Connection to Wifi. Compared to the three other laptops in my house (Toshiba, Dell, and ASUS), this computer has issues getting enough wifi signal. I have to sit very close to the router for the wifi bar go to fill up. If I'm downstairs, it's connection will be very weak and sometimes with no signal.

2. Overheating. The fan is located on the top right side of the laptop. It overheats to a point where it burns my skin. I use a cooling pad with it to reduce the overheating, but that greatly reduces the laptop's portability.

3. Only two USB connections and they are both in the back. This is not very convenient at all! My boyfriend got me a USB hub to go with it...but it's such a pain in the butt =(

However, overall, this is a great product! The smooth surface makes it great for laptop decals! :D

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Dell Inspiron M5030 Laptop Computer - Classic Black

Pros: Price, enough RAM for day-to-day work, good display with a decent graphics chip for video playback, very little bloatware, good wireless connectivity, runs relatively cool with good battery life, webcam.

Cons: Said graphics chip isn't sufficient for gaming. Likewise, the single-core processor is a tad sluggish for multi-tasking. Not quite as bad as you'd think, but this is obviously not designed as a machine for gaming/zippy multi-media performance.

[ ... ]

[This AMD sits around the middle in performance benchmarks, toward the later half of that range. You can find some laptops in this price range with dual-core processors, albeit some with lower clock speeds combined with a bit less RAM.]

For the money (bought mine on sale at Micro Center for $269), the Inspiron m5030 is a good, sturdy laptop. Download Chrome, AVG and Malwarebytes, and you're good to go. However, keep in mind that this is a budget priced-machine (and I'm rating it as such). You get what you pay for. This Dell will be great for internet surfing with 3 or 4 browser tabs open (one on youtube or Pandora, of course), listening/storing music, watching a movie here and there, word processing and the like. But if you plan on playing graphically-intensive games or video editing while having a bunch of other programs running, look elsewhere. Otherwise, this will easily get you through the day.

My first laptop was a dell and I was happy. My second laptop was a dell ispiron m5030 and I was very unhappy. I never really liked it from the start. Within 18 months the display was all messed up. I will never buy a dell again. The thing really sucked

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This has been the worst laptop i have ever had! It has been "repaired" three times by dell. All for problems with the laptop not charging or not recognizing the charger. Dells customer service is by far the worst that I have ever dealt with! The laptop is currently sitting under my desk waiting for me to figure out what to do with it since Dell in their infinite wisdom stated that my laptop would not charge due to "damage" that was not covered by my warranty. They said that the mother board needed to be replaced and i guess they did not want to cover their shotty equipment and wanted me to pay a 300 dollar service fee to have it repaired. I would say that is a bit ridiculous since that is almost the price of the laptop when i bought it. I will never buy another dell product due to their horrible customer service and cheaply made products. I expected a lot more from such a big name company. Buy a Sony Vaio if you are looking for a well made product, I had one before the dell and bought another one after the dell stopped working.

Read Best Reviews of Dell Inspiron M5030 Laptop Computer - Classic Black Here

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Acer Aspire V5-571P-6464 15.6" Touch Screen Laptop - Intel Core i3-3217U 1.8GHz CPU, 4GB DDR3 Memor

I bought this because I wanted a touch screen for Windows 8.

It includes Windows 8 and the touch screen is wonderful. Once you use Windows 8 with a touch screenyou'll get it. The keyboard is backlita first for me and something I find it convenient in low light.

The touch pad is huge! I'm not sure why, but it doesn't have a scroll region. At least, that I've found. I'm downloading the manual now to find out how to enable it.

Speaking of downloadingthis is one area of Acer support that is frustrating. I'm attempting to download the 96MB manual form the Acer US support site and it's so slow. The estimated download time is over 30 minutes! Come on Aceryou can do better than this.

One of the other reviewers mentioned that the plastic case flexes and it's true. To me this isn't a big deal I don't need an industrial strength case and would rather they use the minimal amount of materials to make something that (in the US) will eventually end up in a landfill.

Overall I'm very pleased with this notebook. This is a slim design that's lite weight and is convenient to carry. It's very quiet and runs cool.

My friend bought this for my eight year old daughter. She insisted on having a touch screen. I had some misgivings on this one due to the other reviews on Acer products having internet issues. This does have some issues in that regard. It isn't consistent though. My daughter uses the internet for school. (she is home schooled) There were days when she'd have to reconnect 3 times in an hour then not again for a few days. Frustrating but not a deal killer. It would only be a real issue if you were playing an online game. I tried to download the new driver, which it did but it won't find it when I search for it. To be honest I haven't tried it again; my daughter doesn't complain about it that much.

The case does seem flimsy but she's had the computer for about 3 months now and it's holding up fine. The touch screen works well, even if it doesn't get used much. Even my eight year old prefers the mouse for most things. The screen itself is very bright and movies look good on it.

The touch pad doesn't work as well as the one the HP I had did. It doesn't seem to be sensitive enough to catch the Win. 8 swipes. I don't know if that can be adjusted or not. I haven't looked.

The keyboard is a typical island keyboard and the back lighting is good. It can be turned on or off; so that is helpful. I only wish there was a light or notice if you turn on/off the cap or number locks. The only way to know if either of these is on or off is to just start typing. It resets the number lock to off when you turn off the computer or switch users. Frustrating, all my other computer default to this being on not off.

Once you get used to Win. 8 this is a good computer. It plays the games she wants to play; specifically Sims3. It also plays a few others but as they weren't designed for Win 8 there are a few glitches. This isn't an issue with the computer though, I know it would play them fine if not for Win 8.

We got this computer when it was a little cheaper and my daughter is very happy with it. I would have preferred it to have more RAM memory though. That was a trade off though for the touch screen. All in all it is a decent computer.

Buy Acer Aspire V5-571P-6464 15.6" Touch Screen Laptop - Intel Core i3-3217U 1.8GHz CPU, 4GB DDR3 Memor Now

my nephew loved this late birthday gift. it was more than perfect, it came with great extras, only thing no directions, or the warranty info. but based on info it should be registered and I can get directions off the net. so no bigy!

Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire V5-571P-6464 15.6" Touch Screen Laptop - Intel Core i3-3217U 1.8GHz CPU, 4GB DDR3 Memor Here

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Sony VAIO VPC-Z216GX/L 13.1-Inch Laptop (Blue)

I was getting tired of having a desktop and a notebook and wanted something powerful and light. Even though many options are available nowadays, none come close to Z2 in performing all jobs well.

At the office I have the dock, USB hub, and 3 monitors (2 connected to the dock and for the 3rd one I need to connect a HDMI cable). All I need to do is to connect 2 cables and I am set.

Pros:

Fast: The machine is fast to boot and to resume (my previous Dell Lattitude was a nightmare), handles all my programs as fast as my quadcore desktop (including video and photoshop). Disclaimer: I do not play games. The noise cancelling headphones are great (light and it works).

Light: My arthrits thank me daily.

Battery: I got the slice battery, but I have not needed yet. I am getting at least 5-6 hours from the main battery.

Backlight: is much less intrusive than Dell.

Display: reflections are very well controlled.

Attention: it calls much less attention than other thin & lights (it does not "look" as thin or light)

Cons:

Noise: I was afraid of the reviews stating that the fan makes the sound of an airplane taking off. It is true, but in my use it never happened with my usual work, including watching/streaming movies. It did happen once while I was making/burning a movie using an USB 3.0 BluRay burner (not the dock). The dock fan/drive is somewhat noticeable.

Speakers: Useless. My Ipad have better speakers. I carry a mini usb soundbar.

Graphics: I have not been able to convince the laptop to recognize my touchscreens as separate units yet (if I touch the 2nd or the 3rd monitor, it thinks I touched the first monitor). I think is fixable, I just haven't had the time (took me while to convince the Dell also)

Price: I am sure Sony is making a hefty profit at my expense. ASUS UX31 is a proof it did not have to be that expensive. I only bought this as it was the most painless 3 monitor option at work.

Overall I am much happier than expected. I hope this helps.

Daniel

Update: A year later...

I stand for almost everything above except for the following problems:

1) Drivers: for some reason, time to time one of the drivers stop working and I have reinstall the driver. Usually the problem is the driver for the SD card reader, touchpad or USB ports.

2) Keyboard Backlight is too weak and too slow to turn on

3) The USB 3.0 port stop working and I can't get it to work again. It still works to connect to the dock and I can still get USB 3.0 from the docking station but when I am on the road I am down to 1 USB 2.0 port and no usb 3.0.

4) When disconnecting the docking station, it is important to OK the message on the center of the screen first then the on the left top otherwise it will crash on next boot and it takes several reboots to start working again.

5) the built-in speakers are horrible. As my portable clip-on speakers use USB, I run out of ports on the road.

6) the volume out to the headphones are also weak depending on your source (like Amazon prime) and headphones. I use a small (chocolate mint size) amplifier but then the noise cancelation is gone.

Would I buy again? Yes, as I like to have 3 monitors to work, Vaio Z2 is still the best solution to use just 1 machine as desktop and laptop. But I am downgrading it to 4 stars.

I hope yours work better than mine .

Daniel

The Sony Vaio Z2 is easily the best laptop I have ever owned and purchased. I have owned various laptops in the past 12 years (Dell, Asus, Alienware, Samsung, Apple, toshiba, NEC, Sony TX), and the Vaio Z2 blows everything away. Having a good grasp of current hardware and an enthusiast in building custom computers (Liquid cooling to subzero cooling included), I was looking for a laptop that would fit what I was looking for. Giving up last year, I ended up buying and trying the asus bamboo which I felt was at best a mediocre machine.

However, when I first saw the Vaio Z2 in ads in Hong Kong, the design immediately caught my attention. I quickly researched the specs when I got back to my hotel room and found it to be the exact laptop I was looking for Light and slim, powerful, adaptable, strong battery (14hours with the sheet battery), tough design, USB3. I quickly purchased one in Singapore and have not looked back since. I simply loved the laptop.

There are however cons as well. The Keyboard keys are very responsive but feels low (this is unavoidable from a design perspective). The trackpad and mouse was at first originally horrible, however with the latest vaio update, it is now responsive and easier to use. The exorbitant price is painful. I believe for the price we should have received the sheet battery, bluray burner, more SSD space, and windows ultimate instead of premium.

The powerdock is a good and bad thing for me. On one hand having to carry another brick is annoying when I travel. On the other hand, if you think of it as an ultra portable laptop with a high end mobile GPU, it sits far better than any other laptop out there. Also the powerdock allows for great future possibilities. Being able to upgrade the powerdock in the future is very viable. However it is unknown yet as to whether sony will use this feature or not.

With all that said. I still believe that the Sony Vaio Z2 has brought the laptop technology up another notch and will be the high end laptop manufacturers will have to contend with in my books. The only reason I took 1 star off this laptop is due to the uncertainty of whether sony will continue to support the powerdock in the future. If they do so by coming up with better powerdock and GPUs for the Z2, I will correct this review and give it a full 5 star.

I hope this review has helped. In conclusion, grabbing a Sony Vaio Z2 is a great choice if you have the cash to spare.

Summary -

Pros+:

Amazing HD screen

RAID0 SSD

Vaio update support is up to date for now

Fast CPU (not under volted like the most laptops)

Design

Powerdock

lightweight

Battery (4hours 14hours w/ sheet battery)

Noise canceling in-ear phones

Portability and adaptability

Cons-:

low level Keyboard

Original trackpad firmware

Fan can be loud on full load

Speakers

powerdock (if not supported in future)

Buy Sony VAIO VPC-Z216GX/L 13.1-Inch Laptop (Blue) Now

I'll keep this short.

Pros:

VERY light chassis that almost feels "hollow"

Incredibly powerful enough to drive GTA4 at 1080p and high res

PMD highly useful, and looks great on desk

Screen with beautiful colors and great resolution

Battery life enough to support more than 5 hours of normal usage under a balanced scheme and 7 under power saver mode

Altogether nice-looking

Cons:

Overall build quality is fine but sort of fragile, doesn't seem like it could withstand a fall

Keyboard far too shallow to provide enough travel for intense typing or gaming

Trackpad too small and the response is sort of awkward.

Speaker quality is plain bad.

PMD makes configurations and driver installation far more difficult than it needs to be.

Overall:

Great for business, rips through most any software you'll ever need portable, decodes tak files at an impossibly fast speed, but if you want this for gaming I would advise a separate mouse and keyboard.

Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO VPC-Z216GX/L 13.1-Inch Laptop (Blue) Here

The laptop is beautiful, it's a Z and it shows, you wouldn't have to be a genius to notice it's quality, it really is a sight. Let me also say the resolution & clarity of the screen at an astounding 1920x1080 on a 13.1 inch screen is amazing all by itself. Some people say they can't read the small print. Well, you can always adjust the zoom. However, if you get the lower resolution you can't adjust up, so if you want the capability of watching a full 1080p video on your blu-ray than this can do it. The peformance of the processor is quite good for a dual core processor, you won't find a competitor that utilizes a quad core in a notebook that weighs only 2.5 pounds and is only a 1/2 thick. It's just to much chip to allow for cooling, so the dual core i7 is mainstream, but if you look close, this one has a much faster i7 than many. That's because this is not an ultra low voltage processor. Somehow they found a way to cool this upgrade even in it's ultra thin chasis. Now, you may have heard that many reviews complain of the fan running loud and sometimes to constant, well, I personally don't see what the big fuss is about a small fan running inside of your laptop, first of all I didn't find it annoying or overly loud. Second, I'd rather have it this way than the alternative, what I don't like is a machine that seems as though the fan isn't working or maybe set on the wrong calibration. The look and feel of this laptop is second to none, it's awesome in every aspect.

Now, the flip side, the portability comes at a price. The speakers are almost non tolerable, easy fix, I recommend a $30 single capsule speaker, Amazon carries the x-mini which works just fine. The next sacrifice you'll make by choosing this machine is the shortage of USB ports, for some this is not a deal breaker. You must utilize the included power media dock to have 3 USB ports, otherwise you'll only have 2. Next, you'll need to plug in the power media dock via one of your USB ports and one other dedicated port to plug in the power media dock. Next you'll have to plug in the power media dock to the wall to power it on. Now you have as many wires as a full blown desktop. The power media dock houses both the blu-ray player and the upgraded Radeon 1 gig graphics card. This means that when the power media dock is not plugged in, your only using the standard Intel 3000 graphics which is onboard your laptop. If you need to load a program off of a dvd/cd, you have to plug in the power media dock. I don't think this is much of an issue since the macbook air is the same way. However the graphics I think may be a little bigger issue. When you open the box the new Z comes in, you'll find an a/c adapter for the laptop, then as you dig more, you'll find even a larger a/c adapter for the power media dock, it's quite large. Now, the biggest issue in my opinion, the keyboard. To say it's a minor adjustment would be an understatement. The keyboard has only a 1mm keystroke as opposed to the Sony Vaio S model which has a 2mm keystroke. The first thing is the backlit keyboard, don't expect the keys to light up as much on the Z as it does on the S model, the reason? Well, the keys are so short of space underneath on the Z that there was simply no room to allow light under the key, the S model on the other hand does. So, this means you'll only be getting light from the letter character itself, not the lower edge of each key. For some, not a big deal, for me, I want the extra light. The oil from your fingers will eventually wear the keys and soil them, before you know it the most commonly used keys are barely visible at night.

In summary, I would like to see a new Z model that is a little thicker, with longer keystrokes, built in high performance switchable graphics and blu ray slot loading as well. Keep the material and workmanship the same, same 1920x1080 display, drastically improve the speakers and provide full backlit keyboard including the bottom edge just like the S model and throw in 2 year warranty instead of one for the Z model, and last but certainly not least, Sony needs to realize the value of promoting a warranty that is openly & honestly as well as easily transferable to multiple owners for the duration of the warranty. Dell does this and it makes a big difference. If I decide to sell, which I have a habit of doing, I want the easy warranty transfer which protects my investment when I sell. It's a win win for all. Now, back to the good again, this laptop looks great on your desk, it's a conversation piece for sure, you'll be the envy of the office. The laptop is truly a piece of art, nice. It's so thin and well made. Just needs a few tweaks. If Sony improved their customer support and listened to their customers, this may have already been changed, remember, there are often more important things in life besides making your scheduled tee time.

Want Sony VAIO VPC-Z216GX/L 13.1-Inch Laptop (Blue) Discount?

This machine is great. It is everything I want. Great resolution, it is 1920x1080 (VPC-Z216). So the res. is better than Amazon says.

Boots up at 15 seconds. Good keyboard layout. Feels like a premium computer.

The machine is amazingly thin and light weighted. Also you got extreme power from the processor and SSDs. Go for it, I truly recommend it.

Amazon has written wrong specs. Check them out at:

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2540P I7-640LM 12.1 160/2GB Pc

I was always an HP fan and for the last 8 years I only used HP laptops. I bought this specific laptop (ordered from this page) about half a year ago. It was so disappointing that I then bought a Lenovo X201s (also from Amazon), which turned out to be way much better. If you're buying this laptop for business, then don't waste your time, buy X201s. Almost everything is better on X201s (weight, heat, noise, display, keyboard...)

For more info and in-depth review see my blog:

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Toshiba Satellite P755-S5396 15.6" Laptop (Intel Core i7-2670QM processor)

I got this laptop and I am happy to report...I am extremely satisfied. It is sleek, fast, durable and long battery time...delivers as promised. I am an old custom tower PC and mainframe guy. I am so used to blazing speeds and this laptop delivers as a consistent work horse. I am pleased with the back lights too...helps to view the keyboard in dark lighting conditions. I am adding more memory and from a guy who actually had a water cooled custom PC tower and to have used some crazy fast mainframe systems...and seen some crazy stuff over the years...this laptop impressed me and that is not easy to do. So far...not one single problem and I have not even seriously optimized it yet. DVD drive ran well in making DVD copies...but the drive is near the electrical adapter...can annoy some people, but I am fine with that. Comes with lots of Toshiba software.

Internet comes up before you log in and stays up and on either system Internet Explorer or Google Chrome...runs nice and quick. Very few bumps in the road so far. This laptop for 2 months straight...even when pushed with several applications running. It never froze up once...so far anyway.

Windows 7 runs consistently well...but updates seem to be eating up too much space and that is a serious concern to me. I have used up 39 Gigs of space out of what is available...449 Gigs...and seriously I will get to the bottom of it, but...I think I have to turn off some type of logging programs, but updates seem to be hammering me the most and I am working on it.

The video cards respond very well to HD video and all videos play smoothly and all programs pop up without much lag time. For someone like me...who needs the speed and power and space and is a pretty advanced user...I am pleased with Windows 7 too on this system. I am someone who HAS TO run multiple programs and push it...and I love this laptop...making a mainframe and server tower type go GO MOBILE and have the same power on the run. LOVE IT>

This is my second Toshiba Satellite in 3 years. I wanted the Harmon Kardon speakers like my first satellite and these are the same great Harmon speakers. I like the keyboard but wish it had a small mark on the keys to tell when I am on the right key. Wanted the lighted keyboard but cannot get it with the Harmon Kardon speakers. There is a small button above the touchpad to turn it on and off, very convenient as I always use an externa mouse. I may upgrade the memory but so far it is working well for my excel spreadsheets and net surfing. Shipping was superb and got it earlier than promised.

Buy Toshiba Satellite P755-S5396 15.6" Laptop (Intel Core i7-2670QM processor) Now

I was able to pick this laptop up at a local Fry's here in the Bay Area for $550 which I think is about the right price point. I bought my wife a Core i5 Vaio at the same time (and about the same price point) and I have to admit there is a significant build quality difference. It's funny back in "the day" when Vaio was the top of the heap it used to come with an endless array of useless-ware, now Toshiba has taken the crown. Perhaps for an entry level user all the extra stuff is great (and most of it was required pre-Windows 7) but that is not the case these days. I suppose that is the only real drawback to the machine and if that is all I can find to gripe about that is pretty small.

The good: In my price range (again ~$550 locally) it's a Core i7-2670QM, so you get the benefit of 4 cores (or what looks like 8 processors in taskmgr for the home user). Full size keyboard including a number pad, seems very reliable runs Ubuntu very well, big drive, nice crisp screen, and very good audio.. The keyboard is either a good or a bad, I am undecided I think I like the feel, I do Unix work in my real life so I am forever hitting the keyboard for terminal sessions.

Plenty of USB ports, button to disable the trackpad (sometimes a button with an indicator is the cats meow), wireless works fine (with Ubuntu I had major issues with my desktop-distro of choice Fedora 16, but I may try again). USB 3.0; HDMI out, integrated camera works fine, (though not as good as i5 Vaio at the same price point), 4GB RAM is fine for the home user.

The bad: My biggest gripe is that I continuously hit the trackpad with my left palm while using my right hand to reposition the mouse resulting in a ZOOM effect in 7. I use an external mouse usually and the button to disable the mousepad is great. Build quality is definitely lacking but I look at it this way, after having a stream of Apple MacBooks, iBooks, iMacs, MacBook Pro's this may feel somewhat flimsy but it is drop proof. I don't feel like it's going to break if I drop it (which has happened already). BUT; the quality is not going to blow you away, the hinge already had a crack when I pulled it out of the box but it's pretty minor, for 500 bucks not worth my drive back across the bay bridge since this thing is for in the house use only.

No bluetooth; sure I picked this thing up for 550 bucks, but still bluetooth is in the cheapest of phones these days it wouldn't have killed Toshiba to source a board with bluetooth. Battery life seems marginal for me but I'm mostly plugged in, and it's okay but nothing to write home about. Weird wireless issues with Fedora 16; weird display issues with OpenIndiana/Solaris 11, I realize most people won't use these but putting them here just in case a spider picks this up and someone searches for it.

Overall: For a few bucks (I got them here on Amazon) you can add 8GB RAM, and this thing runs like a champ. If you need to use *nix, VirtualBoxes, do some photo editing, or movie management for web uploading/sharing and don't want to pay an arm and a leg for an i7 look for this machine, like I said a weekend at Fry's it was going for 550, unbeatable at that price point, no complaints. For the home "PC" it replaces a circa 2006(?) Dell Core2 Vostro, so my bar was pretty high, that laptop was bullet proof and lasted for a very long time.(Reads not the 24" Intel iMac that had a drive die on it, nor the MacBook that had a motherboard go bad, nor the MacBook Pro that fell and had an LCD crack those were replaced by Sony's.)

But in all honestly if I had paid $700 I would probably have returned this box for another Sony VPCEG34FX Sony VAIO VPCEG34FX/B 14-Inch Laptop (Black), that is the other laptop I bought on the same day for about $530 locally. Even with the Core i7 for what I am doing there is little difference, and I think Netflix looks better on the Sony screen which is a bit higher dollar. I kept the Toshiba because, again for under 600 it's a great value, but if you are looking for a replacement laptop for yourself and you plan to travel with it and work on it daily then you may hold off until the price drops on this one.

As I would say when I lived back in Boston all of that and a buck twenty five will get you a ride on the T.

Read Best Reviews of Toshiba Satellite P755-S5396 15.6" Laptop (Intel Core i7-2670QM processor) Here

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ThinkPad R61 Notebook 2GHz 14.1" Widescreen

For some years, LENOVO was making notebook PCs for IBM. All ThinkPads had the IBM logo on them, plus LENOVO in smaller letters elsewhere.

Since 2004, I have purchased nothing but reconditioned IBM/LENOVO machines and have always been most satisfied with them. This R61 is the first ThinkPad I've owned that doesn't include the IBM logo. I can see no difference in it layout or quality-wise from my IBMs of the past.

I prefer this brand because of its DURABILITY. I've heard that ThinkPads are often the choice of on-the-road businessmen. True or not, these are built to last.

The R61 has all the features I want, plus a few that don't interest me. (I never use the DVD burner, mini light, touch pad or fingerprint scanner.) Stereo sound is strong, plus there's an all important miniature headphone jack. Audio adjustments can be seen on-screen. The keyboard's white painted-on characters only wear off if you type with long fingernails, a lesson personally learned with previous notebooks. The processor is an Intel Centrino.

ThinkPads are ideal for heavy daily use. Mine is on at work from midnight to 7 am, and again in the afternoon from 2 to 5 pm or so. That's at least ten hours a day. Every one of my 4,100-plus AMMY reviews was written on a ThinkPad, and I'm a key pounder. The machines really hold up great.

I give this R61, hard tested now for over a year, my highest recommendation!

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Sony VAIO E Series SVE15115FXS 15.5-Inch Laptop (Aluminum Silver)

Received my new Vaio yesterday, these are my impressions:

Fit and finish: The first thing that struck me as I un-boxed my new Vaio was that it is a very handsome machine. This computer is not for Rocket Boys it has a distinctly adult look to it. The lid is dark, almost pewter-toned brushed aluminum with the deeply engraved Vaio insignia. The inside deck is hard gray plastic that closely matches the exterior aluminum in color and texture. The hinges have a solid, high quality feel, just enough resistance. The Vaio was completely free of dust, fingerprints, scratches, gaps, misalignments and rough edges, with one exception: the upper left quadrant of the keyboard was not completely seated into the deck. A little finger pressure around the edge of the keyboard and it literally snapped into place.

The trend among higher-end laptops these days is toward a seamless machine, one that appears to have been carved out of a single block of aluminum. This is not one of those machines it is made of many pieces of plastic and metal but they all fit together well and look great.

Keyboard: All of the keys worked well, they have a softer and shallower touch than I am used to but the feel is just fine. I don't use the touchpad so I can't comment on that. The keyboard backlight is quite bright with no brightness adjustment. The control panel menu offers several options for the backlight on all the time, off all the time or it will turn on when you touch any key and turn off after 15 seconds of no activity (my preference). It is a little brighter than I am used to but lighted keys are essential so, once again, no problem.

Display: I really like the display. Colors are rich and accurate (reds are deep red, blues are true blue). The screen is plenty bright for me. Script is sharp and clear. The screen is glossy which helps to ensure a vibrant picture but also reflects ambient lighting so I wouldn't advise outdoor use. I belong to a tiny minority that believes 1080P is too many pixels for a 15" screen everything, especially script, gets very small with full HD. 720P works just fine for me. The new Intel HD 4000 graphics are also a major improvement over the older 3000 version.The 4000 control panel offers more picture quality adjustments and (most importantly) allows you to save a list of presets for various uses such as browsing, streaming, DVD, etc.

Performance: The new i5 Ivy Bridge CPU is very quick. It is noticeably faster than the first generation i5 in my 3 year old HP. I'm not a gamer so I can't talk about high performance issues but then this is not a gaming machine by any stretch of the imagination. The sound quality is better than I expected, fine for spoken word but not for music (hey, it's still a laptop).

And the bad news...I use my laptop mostly at home with an ethernet connection and the RJ45 (ethernet) port on my new Vaio is defective. The ethernet cable connector is very loose in the port and the slightest movement causes loss of internet connection. Unacceptable. Rather than bang heads with Sony (their nearest repair facility is 200 miles from my home) I am returning the Vaio to Amazon for a replacement. Otherwise, I really like the computer and I hope everything works out.

Update: Amazon got my replacement to me within 4 days. I have had time to uninstall the bloatware, set up the computer the way I like it and, quite honestly, I couldn't be more satisfied with this product. I ordered a keyboard cover from Sony expensive but it contours perfectly to each key and it allows the keyboard lighting to shine through. Of the 4 laptops I have owned, this Vaio is the most quiet and cool running.

The Sony Vaio E15 is an excellent mid-level laptop. I use mine for a variety of functions including music production (Cakewalk Sonar), gaming (Steam games such as Team Fortress 2), and standard work-related tasks. It runs everything quickly and smoothly thanks to the generous RAM and the dual core i5 processor. To be honest, I custom ordered mine directly from Sony, which wasn't a bad deal. I upgraded the RAM to 8 GB and got the color of my choice (black). They give you free quick shipping (took about 4 days to ship from China), but they do charge tax unlike Amazon.

The default graphics card is the Intel HD 4000, which is surprisingly good for an integrated (as opposed to dedicated) graphics card. I am able to play TF2 with most of the graphics settings on high, and there is never a hitch in the framerate. If you order from Sony, you can also upgrade to the Nvidia Geforce GT 640M with 1 or 2 GB of dedicated graphics processing.

One of the finest qualities is the keyboard. The keys are soft and silent, and they are backlit as well. This is extremely useful for typing at night when the lights in your room are turned off.

It comes with Windows 7 64-bit (with Service Pack 1). After using Windows Vista 32-bit for several years, the upgrade is noticeable. W7 is cleaner, less error-ridden, and has a nicer interface. Some of the pre-installed Vaio software is actually useful, like Vegas Movie Studio and Sound Forge, but it's easy enough to uninstall the crap you don't want.

For $700, this is a great value. It probably performs as well as any $2000 Apple laptop...just a guess.

Buy Sony VAIO E Series SVE15115FXS 15.5-Inch Laptop (Aluminum Silver) Now

Video attached to show you what you're investing in. Sorry if I sound out of breath... I was pretty self-conscious talking to a camera, ha.

I purchased this laptop because my Dell laptop had lost some of it's functionality, such as the CD drive no longer being able to burn CDs. It can still run the internet, but I needed something that could process video and graphics efficiently. And I wanted something under $700. This fit the bill.

The only dodgy thing I have to say about this is the track pad, which I talk about.

I hope this helps.

Read Best Reviews of Sony VAIO E Series SVE15115FXS 15.5-Inch Laptop (Aluminum Silver) Here

Pros:

-boots up and shuts down very quickly

-super fast web browsing, especially when using the Chrome browser

-nice keyboard and overall high quality feel

-good battery life

Cons:

Built in Kaspersky anti-virus.

Unlike better security software that attempts to differentite between malicious and benign threats, Kaspersky takes a "block everything" approach and forces the user to tell it what is harmless or not. Worse yet, it will often interfere with processes (such as syncing a digital camera, mp3 player or toy via USB cable)without warning you it is blocking the process. Thus you spend hours of frustration thinking the device or software is bad when it is actually the crappy anti virus software causing the problem.

Recommendation: Buy the computer and uninstall Kaspersky antivirus. Many ISP's now provide free antivirus/firewalls from better vendors anyway.

Want Sony VAIO E Series SVE15115FXS 15.5-Inch Laptop (Aluminum Silver) Discount?

after researching I decided this laptop had the features I wanted for the best price although the Toshiba Satellite P755 series was also a contender. after looking at them in person I didn't like the keyboard and "clunkyness" of the Toshiba so chose the Sony. I am having a little trouble with the keypad but have changed some of the settings and it seems to be working better for me.

I haven't been able to get the gestures using the webcam to work but maybe need to adjust those settings as well.

so far the speed is many times better than my old laptop (4GB RAM and 80GM hard drive!)

to answer a few questions

I was having trouble scrolling with the touchpad but after modifying some of the settings and practicing it works better I also have found that I can use a lighter touch than on my old compaq touchpad. I belive it was more of a user issue than a computer issue.

as far as battery life: I had it on several hours yesterday but didn't track how long it actually lasted. I normally plug in if I know I'm going to have it on for awhile; I do plan to check on that soon & will report if it's less than the specs indicate (5.5hrs).

I had it on quite a while yesterday & today (plugged in) while I was running updates & getting internet and anti-virus setup, etc and didin't notice it overheating. I use a couple synthetic wine corks under the back edge to keep airflow underneath!

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HP Pavilion DV7-3065DX 17.3-Inch Laptop with Blu-Ray - Black

It was right before Christmas when I bought this laptop and what caught my eye was the price considering everything you get for the price.

First of all the screen is a whopping 17.3 inch widescreen with an awsome color display. On top of the display is an integrated webcam with microphone which I have used from time to time without any problems. Just below the unit are the controls for power, sound, media controls and WIFI. The only button really is the power all of the other buttons are touch sensitive. Just below this you will find the speakers which are decent however the quality could be better but I am satisified for what I do with this laptop. Below the speakers is the full keyboard with numeric keypad just to the right and below this is the touch mouse pad. On the back of the monitor you will find a lighted HP logo and just below that you will find the removable battery.

On the left side of the laptop you will find the following ports...

External Video Connector

HDMI Connector

RJ 45Ethernet port (10/100)

eSATA Connector

2 USB Ports

A notebook expansion Port (which holds the remote for controlling the CD and windows media)

A integrated SD-MS/ProMMC/XD Reader

On the right side of the laptop you will find the following ports...

Power Connection

Locking mechanism

RJ11 Modem port

2 USB ports

Blu-Ray DVD Drive & Burner

On the front of the display you will find indication lights for the power, battery and hard drive and connections for connecting external headphone and a microphone.

After I purchase my unit I upgraded some of the components and actually replaced the 500GB hard drive with two 250 solid state drive which reduced the weight and temperature just a bit but the drives allows Windows to boot now in less that 15 seconds! I also upgraded the memory to 8GB and Windows 7 from the Home version to the Ultimate version.

This laptop works great for what I do which is studying (why I chose the large display), Internet & email, music, visual studio programming and from time to time I will watch a movie. I have not had any problems with the unit since I bought it, to me it does just what I need.

This is a very big laptop and you may have some challenges with weight, heat and finding an adequate bag to carry everything in and because I do significate traveling I wanted something close to what I have at home and this is very close and allows me to work, study or play very comfortly.

Remember laptops tend to be items where personal values dictate your needs so this may not be the unit for you. Also because these are mechanical devices you can experience problems while others do not so I always recommend dealing with a company that will stand behind their product.

Would I recommend you purchase this laptop? No, this is a decision that you must make.

Be very careful with this laptop!

In January I bought two (in two diferent stores) and less than a couple of months both machines had the main board and video chipset completely fried by it's own overheat! Some technicians I consulted told me that there isn't proper ventilation coolers on the video chipsets, so if you plan to use the blu-ray driver very often it will fry the maiboard.

Just connect the facts: there isn't offers of New DV7-3065 in stores. Amazon only offers refurbished ones. It's hard to find information about it even on HP website. I bought two machines, in two different stores (the second a week later than first) and the two laptops have had the same problem!

I'm even more unlucky because I live outside US and HP doesn't extend warranty overseas. I had to spend about US$340 for each one to have it fixed (almost the half price I've paid) and I'm not sure if the problem will happen again. I'm definetly going to resell it on ebay or similar.

Don't buy this junk, unless you are needed to an egg frier! It should be very good on it!

Buy HP Pavilion DV7-3065DX 17.3-Inch Laptop with Blu-Ray - Black Now

I bought this computer about two months ago for basic video and HD uses. Although I no longer have the use for the Bluray DVD player, I love this computer. The only problems I have had were based on using too many applications of windows explorer at the same time. I haven't taken any of the HP extra software off of this machine and suggest not doing so. There is a remote control that works great and fits into the side of the computer in the express card slot for using the DVD player. The computer would run faster without this software, but I have no need for a screamer. I play a few games to include flight simulator but I just turn down the graphics a little and it runs fine. I purchased this computer refurbished for $569 and have been more than satisfied. The HDMI out has been super useful in that I connect netflix to my other TV for movies. All in all this is a great computer for moderately complex programs. Photoshop CS3 runs fine as well as all of the graphics software that was included. It includes great software: Corel Photo Shop Pro Photo X2, Corel Video Studio 12, a Cyberlink suite that includes Powerdirector V7, and Power2Go, Labelprint. I had no clue these programs were included and they are definitely an added bonus. This is a solid video/graphics machine that delivers with software and hardware. You will not find a better machine for the money that also includes a Bluray player at a great price.

Read Best Reviews of HP Pavilion DV7-3065DX 17.3-Inch Laptop with Blu-Ray - Black Here

bought this DV7-3065DX second hand & repaired it these models overheat easily & crash readily along with poor speakers don't leave much to be desired.

but when you consider hdmi out, supermulti light scribe Blu-ray optical drive with an port for a second hard drive these option's alone in late 2009 puts this machine in rare company I've decided to make it mine even though my hpdv2610us has a 14" screen and way better speakers it's still only entry level.

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It gave me an issue after 3 wks of owning it. I had to call HP Support and pay them to fix it. Seller would not help nor help pay for the extra I had to pay to get fixed. But love the computer. I should have went with the refurbished one because by time I paid HP Support I paid close to the same amount. But HP walked me through steps to fix it so I won't have that problem again. Haven't had any issues since then.

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Hewlett Packard Pavilion 15.6 DV6-6C16NR Entertainment Notebook - Intel Core i7-2670QM Proc.

Best bang for buck laptop out there, I contemplating this and the ENVY 15 for weeks and I deciding to go for it. Awesome laptop, not going to find a i7 laptop with 750GB and features like this anywhere else. Excellent battery management and beats sound system is a bonus. The slick brushed steel gray front is very nice, as the black aswell. I wanted the slot loading cd drive like the ENVY but I couldnt justify the $500 difference in models. Also it seems that every laptop comes with a bunch of Crapware nowadays, but once you remove everything it's good. Don't hesitate, buy it.

Come on people all you need to do is click on the little box that says "Watch" and you can see all the specs on a PDF. I actually went to the website of the seller and found the computer listed on their website as well as called them. I also checked it out on HP.com This is one sweet laptop for the money. The technical description is incorrect. I've been looking for a good week now at the best deals and the only thing this laptop doesn't have is the blueray dvd, which I can live without.

Buy Hewlett Packard Pavilion 15.6 DV6-6C16NR Entertainment Notebook - Intel Core i7-2670QM Proc. Now

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Alienware AM14XR2-6667BK 14-Inch Laptop (Black)

Update 10/1/12:

I removed the optical dvd-rw and put a hard drive caddy, and the caddy + hdd works fine. Below is the amazon link of the caddy I used:

Hard Drive Caddy Tray for Apple Unibody MacBook / MacBook Pro 13 15 17 SuperDrive (Replacement Only)

Now I have the performance of SSD and the capacity of HDD (128Gb Samsung 830 ssd + 500Gb 7200rpm Seagate hdd) :)

Update 9/25/12:

I upgraded my hdd to a Samsung 830 128gb SSD, and the WEI rating for the hard drive jumped from 5.9 to 7.9! This alien is now screaming with performance! Windows bootup and shutdown are very quick now. Right after logging in from cold start, I can open internet explorer and start browsing, with hdd, you have to wait for a few seconds and wait for windows to load up after logging in.

WEI rating:

Processor: 7.6

Memory: 7.6

Graphics: 7.1

Gaming Graphics: 7.1

Primary hard disk: 7.9

My next project is to remove the optical bay and put an hdd caddy together with the original hdd to get more storage space.

Original Review:

I got my M14x directly from Dell (for those who doesn't know, Alienware was acquired by Dell around 2006) so I can make more customization to my system. I also suggest ordering directly from Dell especially if you want to upgrade the processor to i7 instead of i5, and the screen to 900p instead of 720p.

Here are the specs that I got after customization:

Intel Core i7-3610

900p (1600x900) High Def+ screen

Killer wireless-N 1202

6gb DDR3 1600Mhz

500gb 7200rpm

1gb GT 650M DDR5

Personalized Nameplate Trigger

Nebula Red

With these specs compared to Amazon (upgraded processor, screen and wireless card, but downgraded graphics from 2gb to 1gb), I still got mine cheaper. You have to talk/chat to a Dell sales rep to get discounts.. :)

To the review:

Case: Let's admit it, this is one of the reason why we're buying an Alienware system. The unique design is one of the trademarks of Alienware system, be it notebook or desktop. This is my very first alienware system, and I really like it. First look and feel after opening the box is awesome! Even though most parts are plastic, the quality is top notch. Quality and workmanship is hardly matched. The weight is 6.45 lbs and the height is 1.5 in, which is heavy and thick for a 14" notebook, but again, quality is top notch. No problem opening the lid with one hand, thanks to the heavy base unit. The rubbery, gummed surface is really very good, I prefer it than a very shiny plastic surface.

Processor: Intel Core i5-3210 IVY bridge, Intel's third-generation CPUs. If you'll use the laptop more into gaming, this processor is more than enough to play. You won't get more FPS if you upgrade to an i7. i7 is like an icing on top of a cake. However, if you will use it other than gaming, like video encoding or other cpu intensive task, you will get the benefits of quad core i7.

Memory: 6gb DDR3 1600Mhz For most users, 6gb is a plenty amount of memory. Other's would like additional ram. It is very easy to upgrade to 8gb or 16gb (16gb nowadays are also cheap and will cost you less than $100).

Graphics: Geforce GT 650M 2GB DDR5 The performance level of this graphics card reaches somewhere in the level of the previous high end cards like Geforce GTX 460M and GTX 560M. There's a 1gb and 2gb version if your buying directly from Dell, some will argue that the 2gb is better, some will say that there's no difference. If you got the extra money, go for the 2gb, if your on a budget, go for the 1gb.

Storage: 500gb 7200rpm You could actually feel the difference of 7200rpm from 5400rpm drives. Now if you want more performance and like a fast storage, you can upgrade to SSD. Once upgraded to SSD, this gaming laptop will surely scream.

Wireless connectivity: Intel Centrino 2230 This is 2x2, single band, 802.11b/g/n wifi + bluetooth 4.0. 2x2 means maximum speed you can get is 300Mbps (assuming you also have a router that supports 2x2 or 3x3). Single band means it uses 2.4ghz (If it's dual band, you can use either 2.4ghz or 5ghz) If you live in an apartment with plenty of wifi signals, you will benefit using 5ghz since it's not crowded, due to most routers only support 2.4ghz. I upgraded mine to killer wireless-n 1202, which can also do 2x2 and bluetooth 4.0, but supports dual band.

Optical drive: Slot-load dual layer dvdrw If you buy directly from Dell, there's an option to upgrade for a blu-ray drive (read-only). My suggestion, if you watch plenty of bluray movies, then go for the bluray drive. If not, and your the type of user that don't use the dvd drive, then you can buy the hdd caddy to put a 2nd hard drive. (1 ssd for the OS, and 1 hdd for media files, programs, etc.). The good thing about slot-load when your replacing the optical drive to hdd caddy, is that it's conceiled/hidden, unlike with a tray type optical drive, sometimes the front facia of the drive will not fit the hdd caddy.

Personalized Nameplate Customize yours by typing your full name, nickname or handle with a limit of 21 characters. I like this a lot! My wife and kid likes it as well (I put our nicknames on it :)). But if you buy from Amazon, I think it's pre-customized to "M14x"

Sound: Klipsch speakers This is a 2.1 speakers, yup, there's a downfiring subwoofer in this baby, and it's incredible for a 14" laptop. You can actually hear more bass compared to other notebooks.

AlienFX Lighting Controls: You can set almost any colors to 9 different zones, with sequence (transition effects): keyboard (4 zones), "Alienware" logo, Power button (alienware head), wifi led light (the tiny led indicator), the front gills (or whatever you call it) and the touchpad.

Bloatware: No bloatware! Isn't that amazing? No antivirus installed (no worries since Microsoft security essentials is a good AV and FREE), no kiddie games installed, no powerdvd etc.. It's almost like a clean install of windows 7.

The advantage of ordering from Amazon is you can get the item immediately. Choose 1 day shipping, wait 1 day and you can start playing with your new gaming rig. With Dell, it's a customized order so you have to wait a week or two (or sometimes more) before you get your order.

I'm highly recommending Alienware M14x R2!!

i must say that i had searched on amazon for several days before deciding on this laptop, and i am glad i chose this one. I had always heard mixed reviews on alienware, but i've got to say, i don't understand how anyone who has ever used one could ever not be satisfied. I am a gamer and have installed both skyrim and minecraft, and it plays both at high settings without a hickup. As for the lit keyboard it was one of those things at first that i thought, "meh i could take it or leave it" but it is actually really cool to mess around with. i would have given this computer five stars but i took off a star for having to tweak the graphic settings at the start. The default that was set was all jacked up and everything that was supposed to be white was a pale blue, after a little tweaking with the contrast and gamma i was able to alleviate the problem. for anyone that wants a great computer for a decent price, don't rule this one out.

Buy Alienware AM14XR2-6667BK 14-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

Great product. I have been a Mac user for a long time and I needed a good gamin PC. This one meets my expectations. Playing games like Skyrim or Deus ex look amazing. I only wish Amazon sold it with better specs and that the battery was easily removable.

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i had issues when i first got it, motherboard went out but Dell hurried and sent a new one and a repair man for free. skyrim is awesome on it must buy

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I read a lot of reviews and a few people complained about the fan being loud. I don't notice it. I love the keyboard. The tapered keys are great for big and small hands and the rest pads feel like silk! I love the LED lighting and the sbility to change it when ever I want. The graphics card is great! It plays BF3 with no problems at all. I have it hooked up to a 27" monitor via the VGA connection. I'll be changing that as soon as I get a mini-display adapter to DVI-D adapter.

Although it's pretty fast on its own the SATA HD by itself could use a bump. For some reason I didn't have the option of adding the mSATA SSD when I bought mine a few weeks ago. I don't know why but I didn't. I would HIGHLY recommend it as the boot drive and the 7200rpm as your storage drive. Unless you want to spend the cash and go full SSD. I'm still deciding what I want to do now but I'll be using one of the two SSD options soon enough. The mSATA is cheaper than buying your own and installing it but if you do go that route, it's REAL easy to crack the case and add it later. As is a full SSD drive. And Dell/Alienware is REAL cool about it. They have walk-through on how to do it and they specifically let you that opening it doesn't void any part of the warranty.

There are two things I don't like about it. The lack of DVI connection is the first. I have to assume the VGA adapter is due to space contraints in the chassis but who uses VGA anymore? Also, I don't like the location of the power plug. It comes straight out the back. On Dell's Latitude systems they have it to one side of the back which makes it easier to get to and less likley to get bent if you're using this on your lap. Also, they went with the LED light power plug which in the past has been an issue with other lines of Dell laptop. It's had the tendance to be a stress point.

All in all this thing is great and I'd recommend it anyone looking for a small laptop with high compute and graphics capabilities!

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Samsung Series 3 NP355V5C-S01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver)

Fastest laptop you will find for this price point. There is a plethora of AMD/Intel comparisons out there on sites like anadtech and tomshardware but all you need to know is any AMD chip beats out their price range competitor (in so few words). (In a few more words AMD has a better GPU while Intel has a fast single core speed... blah, blah, blah. Yeah, of course if you buy a $2k Intel machine it will be faster than this $750. But you're on this page because you wanted to see what the best mobile AMD systems can do. This thing, first thing I did was download steam and buy Skyrim and Dishonored. Opening them brings you straight into high settings across the board. Done deal. Windows 8 is cool, you have a mobile-esque start menu and a charms menu on the right or you simply use the desktop like you do with Windows 7. Boots up before you can sip your coffee (I admit I almost miss having those load screen coffee breaks).

My personal recommendation, is to go ahead and buy a couple of 4GB sticks of RAM and swap out the 2 sticks that are in there. You need a certain type for this laptop: [8GB (2 x 4GB) 204-Pin DDR3 SO-DIMM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory Model]. This is about a $40.00 upgrade. Aside from that you can also upgrade from the HDD to a SSD. But these are things you don't even need to do because this machine doesn't even need the extra speed those upgrades will certainly provide. But who knows, maybe you like the thought of being able to upgrade like me. What to look out for: the new mobile processor release for next year sometime if it still ends up coming out for the same socket.

A gaming machine? Check. A workstation? Check.

WARNING: PURCHASING THIS SAMSUNG LAPTOP does not get you a copy of Windows 8. I am trying to install a new hard drive in the computer, but the Windows 8 copy on the machine is REGISTERED TO SAMSUNG.

I've had several weeks to use this laptop, so here are my considered opinions. I purchased this laptop because it was pretty much the only laptop with dual graphics without two discrete cards that was anywhere near my budget. My goal was to have a laptop that could acceptably run some recent games but still be a portable machine for everyday work. I wanted to casually game without having to have a huge, heavy, expensive, hot, and noisy laptop. Plus, I'm a huge AMD homer.

This laptop succeeds brilliantly given that criteria. It has hours of unplugged battery life doing anything but gaming. The discrete card doesn't turn on until I run a game. It runs DX11 games at playable frame-rates at medium settings (only after installing the proper AMD video drivers though, which the automatic software updates don't seem to do for some reason). I wonder how many reviewers are reviewing AMD laptops without proper driver setup or without altering the settings for max performance as opposed to max battery life. I notice no substantial performance difference between the A10 and i5 devices I have used. Oddly enough, web browsing and multitasking seem subjectively a bit faster on the A10, though benchmarking programs say that I should experience noticeably less performance out of the A10. I just wonder if the APU architecture operates differently enough from previous processors that the benchmark software isn't reflecting reality. I also think the idea that you MUST have a touchscreen for windows 8 is false. In my experience so far, windows 8 is designed to ALLOW a touch-only device (a phone or tablet) to run windows, not to REQUIRE that every device have a touchscreen.

This laptop is quiet, even with the fan on, and it does not get uncomfortably hot on my lap (like my wife's macbook pro does). It's quite easily portable, and has plenty of external device connections so that there's nothing I need my desktop for. (My old desktop is now a mediaPC).

minor complaints:

The touchpad is not as good as Apple's touchpad (but then again, nobody's is). It was way too sensitive with the tapping and edge swipes, so it would switch apps on me while I was moving the cursor around or would take my cursor somewhere else while I was typing due to accidental contact. The two-finger scrolling was also frustratingly inconsistent. I disabled edge-swipes (which I don't need) and tapping (which I dind;t want) and that totally fixed the first two issues. The third issue seems to have worked its way out over a couple weeks. I think the pad just needs some seasoning or something, but I don't have any of the issues with two-finger scrolling right now that I had right out of the box.

The keyboard is not backlit. This is not something I would have expected that I would miss, but sometimes I kinda do. The screen does generally provide enough illumination to find a specialized key though. However, if the Fn symbols were written in yellow rather than blue, the contrast in low-light situations would be better against the black keys (I think).

My wife's laptop has a gloss screen, which picks up a lot of glare, so I was excited to get a matte screen like this one, and the screen looks good, but has less viewing angle than a gloss screen, but no glare. I dislike the diminished viewing angle, but can't make up my mind whether I dislike it more than the glare from a gloss screen. I guess you can't have everything.

Like any plastic exterior, this one smudges easily, so I have taken to carrying a microfiber cloth in my laptop bag for smudges on the casing.

It would be nice if it came with matched memory sticks instead of a 2GB and a 4GB. As cheap as memory is these days, it seems like shipping with 6GB instead of 8GB is a bit nickel-and-dimey. I'll likely end up upgrading to a faster set of memory sticks.

I give 4 stars instead of five because of these minor complaints, but given another chance I would not order a different laptop. I think for less than $900 you're getting at best a 4 star laptop. I regard a five star rating as near perfection. This is a really good machine, but it's not perfect. In my opinion, it is a great value. Given what I wanted it for, I am not overwhelmed by choices from most laptop manufacturers and am very pleased that Samsung makes this laptop at this price-point.

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This laptop is everything I need, great for work and watching movies, and playing games. I recommend this laptop for everyone.

Read Best Reviews of Samsung Series 3 NP355V5C-S01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver) Here

Got this unit at Best Buy in Canada for $499 yesterday and it came with 8GB of ram not 6GB. Best Value by a country mile in an under $500 laptop I could find. Going to try the free AMD RamDrive to see if it works in improving video buffering on web browsing.

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For a general-purpose laptop, this series is probably as good as you'll get for the money. It's fast, quiet, doesn't get too hot, and seems fairly sturdy. It's perfectly serviceable for gaming, although some newer games (e.g. Bioshock Infinite) need to run at lower settings to get smooth performance. The screen is nice and sharp, although it has a fairly narrow viewing angle, the keyboard is responsive and has a nice feel to it, and the number pad is a nice addition. Sound is ok for laptop speakers, but still a bit tinny.

Main complaint is the bundled Samsung software, which is buggy, crash-prone, can make the computer somewhat unstable if you're doing something computationally intensive like video processing, and has the habit of randomly waking the computer out of sleep mode and not letting it go back at odd hours if it's not turned off completely. It's also pretty deeply integrated, making it an incredible pain in the neck to remove.

If you don't mind a few hours of googling and fiddling to strip out the bloatware -or can just put up with it -it's an excellent machine for the price.

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