ASUS G51J-A1 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Blue)

I have been waiting for the i7 core laptops to release and here it is. I originally had a dell XPS 16 on order forever and a day (32 days to be exact) and they delayed it AGAIN, so I looked elsewhere. Amazon had this one in stock and got it for next day shipping for $40! And saved a ton off the dell version.

As for the laptop itself, it is a great machine. It boots very fast, does not run hot (considering equipment). The screen is beautiful and the keyboard has a nice feel to it. What it used to take my Core 2 Duo desktop 12 hours to do, this does in 4 (compressing and archiving over 100gb of photos in a .rar)! I have tried to tax the crap out of it and can never get the processors to 100%. Gaming will fix that.

I am not a huge gamer, but wanted a powerful machine for a lot of photo \ movie stuff and also play the occasional game (COD MW2). Also, as a graduate student, I often hook up external monitors and use Dragon NS 10.1 and it has absolutely no issues with it. This is way overkill, but a sweet machine nonetheless.

Prosbuilt in Blue-tooth, sweet wireless card, cooling seem adequate. Core i7!

Some minor annoyancesLights on external lid can not be shut off.

One more noteAmazon's write up states only 4gb, but it can actually go to 8gb according to ASUS and a lot of 'boutique' sites.

Reasons for not getting four stars:

Very low batt. lifeGaming laptop, so take that for what it is worth

No fingerprint reader (comes with facial recognition, but that can be beat with a photo)

Dual drives but no RAID?!??

A very excellent gaming laptop for the money. Sure, it's not as fast as a dedicated desktop gaming rig, but for a portable one it's hard to beat. My only complaint would be the LCD is somewhat washed out which appears to be from the LED's in the top of the lid. Notice when the rig is asleep and the screen raised, one can see bleedthrough from the blinking LED in logo. Not a big deal, but if I had one complaint, that would be it. Also, much to my surprise this thing stays pretty cool to the touch. I expected it to get extremely hot, but it doesn't. The air coming out of the left side is very hot, but to touch the laptop remains cool. You can actually play games on this for hours without baking your hands and face off.

Pros:

* Great performance for the price

* ASUS provides an awesome warranty and accidental protection for this, so you can take it to a lan-party and not worry

* Plays Dragon Age, Torchlight, Empire Total War, LFD1, Warhammer: DOW2, OFP2: Dragon Rising, MSFlight X, Demigod, all extremely well at native res

* World of Warcraft runs beautifully at native res!

* Keyboard functions well and has adjustable illumination

* Relatively quiet for a gaming laptop

* i7 processor is blazingly fast

* HDMI and VGA output means this can be used to game on a TV (keep lid open!)

* Included mouse and bag are both excellent and high quality

* Totally reliable, no crashes even after hours of playing

Cons:

* The LED lights in the lid can bleed through into the LCD

* ARMA2 runs very poorly

* 260M graphics card slightly underclocked on this model

* Cannot be used to game on an external monitor with lid closed (not really unexpected though)

Buy ASUS G51J-A1 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Blue) Now

Pros:

-i7 mobile processor

-Sturdy Construction

-Beautiful Display

-Backlit Keyboard with a num pad and superb feel.

-Great Graphics (Full 1920x1080)

-Solid Webcam

-Free Accessories (Bag and Gaming Mouse)

Cons:

-Battery Life (Not really that bad considering the amount of horsepower in this machine.)

-Another review mentioned the RAM being upgradable to 8GB but I'm not seeing that on ASUS' website:

-Does come with ASUS' bloatware but some of it is actually useful unlike every other laptop I've ever owned.

I was in the market for a new laptop that I could take with me to and from work. This was the only machine I could find that had the spec set I was looking for.

I don't do much gaming on my PC. I mostly use it for work: multimedia editing/production. In the short time that I've had this machine it has blown me away with its performance. Video previews render out very quickly for a laptop. Captures also perform admirably. Disk burning and ripping is fast and flawless.

I would recommend this machine very highly to anyone looking for a portable multimedia editing station.

Out of the Box Windows Experience Index:

Processor: 7.0

Memory: 7.3

Graphics: 6.7

Gaming Graphics: 6.7

HDD: 5.9

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There is a lot to like with this laptop. Including: great performance, good price, beautiful screen, sturdy feel, good standard warranty and the two hard drives. I have very quickly become a fan of ASUS, it seems you get a lot for your money and the company is really trying to build a quality differentiated product. The added mouse and backpack are a nice touch and are very reasonable quality.

The screen and size of the laptop feel a lot bigger than the 15.6". I think it is the illusion created by the HD 16-9 format screen and the high native resolution 1920x1080. Win 7 seems to run very quickly on the machine and it frankly is a huge upgrade of Vista/XP.

So what kept my rating from 5 stars is a couple of quirks that could be a deal killer for some people. Number one is the often mentioned battery life, if you are going to be using this on battery, expect about an hour give or take depending how you use it. I like full screen brightness and power and at those settings about an hour is all I get. I know, it is a gaming PC, but still an hour seems a bit short. I just purchased a bigger 9 cell battery and we will see how that does. The 9-volt battery should be standard or at least an option. Nonetheless, the battery life is the main reason why I gave the machine four stars and not five.

While, I love the dual drives, not sure why they partitioned the drives into 4 separate partitions, it doesn't take much to undo the default set up but was a minor hassle. Also, they should give you the option of having the drives in a RAID configuration, which as far as I know is not possible. So while I like the dual drives it could have been implemented better.

Also, the 120W ASUS power brick is exactly that a brick. I know it is giving off a lot of power, but the thing is a boat anchor. It feels like a couple of pounds which takes the total package weight up. I ended up buying a second power adapter, for work so I don't have to carry it back and forth from home to work along with the laptop.

I like the keyboard now, but it did take some getting used to. The keys are similar to a Mac keyboard and they squished a full keyboard with num keypad. At first, I really did not like it as it was causing a lot of typing errors, and some of the keys are in slightly different spots. After a week or so I am used to it and now really like it. I like having the full keypad/numpad and I am used to the size and the keys. Some people may find the keyboard a deal killer as well, but like I said I didn't like it at first, but it only took about a week to get used to it. Now I really like it.

My other complaints are that the manual was very skinny and the web presence for ASUS is lacking so not much info there. I suspect as ASUS gets bigger in the states that will improve. Also, I could not find a travel adapter for the machine that works on airplanes and ASUS does not make one. I guess the downside of a lesser known brand is the fewer peripheral choices.

Overall, the quirks were not deal killers for me and after investigating numerous gaming/multimedia laptops this was far and away the best choice in my view.

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NOTE:This is for the Intel Core 2 Duo model. Not the I7.

I really loved this computer, i say loved because i just didnt think it was necessary for me, since i already have a PS3, 360, and a gaming Desktop, so yes it was a bit overkill. But i'm glad i tried it out just the same. I got this laptop right after the release of the windows 7 models, also i had a friend who had the old Asus G51 i believe, with the Nvidia 9800GTM, with 512mb of memory. This one comes with the Nvidia Geforce 260M, which isnt quite as powerful as the desktop models, but holds its own for a laptop. I actually have an ATI 4850 1mb that beats this card quite a bit, and can play pretty much anything at 1920 x 1080, but thats neither here nor there. Being able to play pretty much any game thats on Xbox on this laptop is a very cool way to do things, especially if you travel and want to whip out, Call of Duty MW 1 or 2, Dead Space, Devil May Cry 4, Borderlands, or even something old like Doom 3 or SIMs 2, whatever your pleasure. So bascially yes this is a portable Xbox 360, and plays much the same, resolution wise, etc. The speakers leave something to be desired, but if you go down to your icons next to the clock you'll see the real tek red speaker. Click on it, go to the menu underneath where it says sound effects, you'll get many options like Club, Rock, Classic, etc. Choose live, and the volume will shoot up drastically, the only time you should uncheck it, is when watching a movie, not sure why this is, but it works. The native resolution is low, but even the G72 is still only 1600 x 900, and not full 1080p, but most laptops aren't considering the punishment the smaller screens will take with this high resolution. You really shouldnt start getting into the 1080p area until about 24inches or so. Besides if you look on Xbox live and see the demos, it tells you exactly which games have what resolution. Well sadly, very very very few have it, and most are 720, or 1080i. The only draw back i've seen or heard are two things, what i've heard is the wireless drops quite frequently and even on all the Asus models it may do the same. Thats the biggest issue i've heard about ASUS in general. While i didnt have a problem in this area, what i did notice is when copying movies, the max speed you can get with the software your given is 4x, this i thought is totally unacceptable. Next to my girlfriends cheap Toshiba(which i gave her) it was really really slow at burning. Converting is fast and a breeze, and why the drive slows when copying or burning, i have no idea. Thats why i decided to move up to the G72 which was a beast in itself, but just to much money for me to blow. After using it for a few days i decided i didnt need it, but compared to its little brother, the burning was fine, speakers where much better, the resolution was well, about the same, but had 6 gigs of RAM to make up for the slower 5400rpm hard drive. So all in all they are about on the same level, and if you check with this model the calculations per second and the Pentium Core 2 Duo of 2.13ghz actually gets 5 stars, as compared to the G72 getting 4 on the intel sticker. Best buy now has this model(not the I7 which i imagine is sweet) for 899, i would definitely get one while they last. So if you want a great computer for all around, and its not to big, get this lil bad boy, or just up and get the big brother, they are really about the same.

Also something else to note is i really liked the rubbery texture to rest your hand on as opposed to the high glossy blue that comes on the G72. This one shows prints much less and can easily be removed. Another thing is don't always rely on the Windows Rating Index, this computer shows the same as the G72 pretty much in every area, which i don't see how its possible considering the bigger model has a 2.53ghz duo core processor. Strange. And least but not least, do not i repeat do not but your PC games anymore at Gamestop(which is stopping anyways) or Best Buy. Go and download them from either GamersGate or Direct to Drive dr2d(my personal fav) and you'll find anything you want DRM free. No kidding, the DRM is removed and there are no discs and you can re-download anytime you like. Also i've heard went Infinity Ward gets up off its rear and finally fixes all the flaws with the pc version of COD MW2 they are aiming for these sites to be the first with the fixed versions. So definitely take the warning, stay away from discs, download digital. :)

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Asus G72GX RBBX05 Notebook PC

Although this laptop makes a few sacrifices in quality for the sake of bringing you affordable power, it is really a great little, or should I say BIG, laptop.

First off I want to address the overheating issues that others mentioned. I originally thought that my G72 was overheating too. It would randomly slow down during games sometimes and it didn't seem to me to be linked to how hard it was working. I would usually just restart the laptop and it would be fine. Then I noticed that it seemed to only do it when I played games after waking it up from sleep mode. I stopped using the sleep and haven't had the problem once in literally months. I'm not sure exactly what's causing it but it definitely seems to be linked to the sleep. It is probably a driver problem or something. This laptop in fact has great heat management. I have played Shogun 2 Total War on max tubo gear(the little overclocking program that comes with it) and on max setting(almost) for literaly hours at a time without any overheating problems.

The Pros: This laptop has great power for the money. Even today the GTX 260M GPU is no slouch. You can run games like Oblivion, Medieval 2 Total war, Bioshock, Batman Arkham Asylum and other such games on full setting with no problem at all. The newest game I have played on it is Shogun 2 Total War. I run it with the best settings except for some of the fancier shadow effects, I don't use blur effects and only use 4x anti aliasing. It does very well. The larger battles slow down a bit but over all it's very playable. The laptop is also pretty cool looking with the lights and stuff. It has decent battery life for the type of laptop(about 2hrs). I mean let's face it, for gaming laptops the batery is just to get you from one outlet to the next.

The Cons: This laptop isn't perfect though. I only gave it 5 stars to ballance out the other two reviews that I thought were misunderstanding the heating problem. My biggest complaint with this laptop is the screen. It's not terrible. The refresh rate is good. You don't get streaks and blurs when the action is going. The problem is the colors. I've just seen better color ballancing on other screens. The other problem is it's a little picky about the angle you look at it. The construction of the laptop is also a little on the plasticky side if you know what I mean. I guess you have to skimp somewhere to get the price down.

Over all I was very pleased with this laptop. Had it for almost 2 years now and it's still running great. The screen flickers sometimes but I think that's just due to a dirty connection. When I bought it it was $1000 but even now $670 is a good price for this machine.

I've had this laptop for over a year and it's my favorite thing ever.

This laptop runs almost everything. There is some lagging on say Civilizations V and GTA IV, but you can overclock this easily. On that, definitely get a cooling fan for this laptop, as it really helps to increase the life and play of this laptop. Asus makes very quality products for a relatively low price. A definite must.

I rate this a 5/5, but there is one thing that will have to be attended to either right away or months down the line. Once it happens, it requires hardware work every couple of months. The cord for the laptop (I forget the name of it on the top of my head) was made too short and Asus had it designed to be held with simple hard scotch tape. When it disconnects, all you get is a white screen when the brightness is on max and black when it's not. There is a video to fix it, so it's not a complete loss.

Besides that, a very customizable laptop (two hard drive bays!) and runs so many games smoothly. Of course most likely outdated now (technology moves quick) but it's still good enough to play even new games at the best settings (Ultra settings Skyrim is possible even without overclocking).

Also, rip off the shields on both sides for the USB ports and Headphone/Mic jacks. They're annoying.

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This laptop is amazing! It powers through all the games in my Steam Library. The Nvidia GTX 260m is very fast and over clocks nicely providing for excellent frame rates. The 500GB hard drive is very roomy with plenty of space for all my 100GB+ Steam folder. This laptop is a true mobile gaming beast! Buy it now, you won't be disappointed! The battery life is a bit short but that's normal for computer of such processing magnitude.

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I bought it year and half ago and it's still running as new. For gaming laptop under 1000$ I consider it very good. Very powerful for that time it could run majority of games on high settings. A little bit heat doesn't bother me if you put it on the table. I also connect it to 24inch monitor if I need a big screen to work. Plenty of memory let me work with internet without any delay.

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I got this for my high school graduation never had a laptop for gaming my desktop was my main computer but obviously not very mobile so asked for this. I have had it for less than a year the first 6-7 months it worked amazing but after using it a while it started to slow down. the thermals characteristics are horrible it will run any of my games but after a couple hours it gets so hot i cant even run them on low. then a month back i ran into a much bigger problem the ac adapter stopped working and it would just bring up the ac/battery logo every second back and forth and at first it would charge the batter if computer was off but not on then it would charge batter at all but if i took it out the ac only would run the computer just fine and then that stopped working and i ordered a replacement ac adapter for 60 bucks since this particular model seems to have an impossible to find size and power output even the universal rocketfish and others didnt work. so ordered the replacement from amazon and it worked great for about 2-3 weeks and now im back to where i was no laptop at all i recommend getting a different laptop.

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Asus Eee PC 4G Surf Celeron M 900MHz 512MB 4GB SSD 7-Inch Linux

I didn't bring my laptop with me on holiday because it's too heavy. Competition is intense for the computers at my son's house so I've staked out his Asus eee pc, and I've really fallen for this little gadget.

I'm not a Linux user but the interface is pretty seamless and believe me, I'm not missing Windows at all. This is a subnotebook the size of a paperback book, with a 7 inch screen and a full--though slightly small--keyboard. It has a 4GB SSD and 512k of flash memory, Intel Celeron M 900 MHz processor, and no optical drive to weigh you down.

My son has Firefox on it, and LaTeX Editor, and he pops up a Unix window when he needs it for work. The eee pc came preloaded with Skype and a webcam, OpenOffice tools (documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and PDF reader), photo/music/video managers, a media player, integrated speakers, and some cool learning software. And of course ethernet.

I watched and laughed when my granddaughter, just turned eight, picked the Asus up one day when it was the only computer available; there was some eye-rolling (if you have an eight-year-old girl, you know what I mean) but in no time she had checked her email and was playing a game online.

Battery life is not huge but it's respectable and you get plenty of warning that you need to plug in. Intense use doesn't seem to be a problem, though this evening when I had four browser tabs and a few other applications open, then tried to open the "planetarium" software, the eee pc froze. I left it alone for a while and it worked the kinks out, even offering me recovery of my unsaved document (which happened to be this review).

This little object of desire would never replace my Thinkpad, but it would fit in my handbag and be the perfect traveling link to my online life. The netbook I've been coveting is two or even three times its size and now looks gross and huge to me, I'm SO glad I got to play with this eee pc--it has gone straight to the top of my wish list.

Linda Bulger, 2009

I have had my cute little EEE PC for nearly two years and this little thing is a fantastic and amazing little computer. I use it for business and primarily for internet access and email that is what it does best! It loads in a second (mainly because it does not run on stupid Windows!) It's easy and quick to find wireless internet access points. Great full color screen, keyboard is close to full size and quick to adjust to. I just think it is a beautiful little computer for a 2nd home computer not a main computer (no CD drive, etc) but that is not what this little unit is about, really. It's all about secondary computer access that is what it is made for and what it does masterfully!

I bought mine for 399.00 and thought it was a steal. Now I have seen them for nearly half that price ! What a steal get this little gem you will never regret it.

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I wanted a laptop to just check emails, applications, and type documents. My Asus was the perfect choice. I don't miss windows either, the Linux system is pretty easy to figure out. I wanted something small that would fit in my purse and this works just fine. It also worked great with my digital camera.

There are some things that could be better. The keyboard is rather small and took some getting use to. The screen could be bigger but after frequent use you get use to it. I'll probably upgrade to an 8.9". I prefer more memory, but at the price I purchased it for, I'm not complaining. I love the fact that it loads so fast. The internet connection is faster than my desktop.

If you need something to just browse the internet and type a document, Asus is your man!

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I did not know what a netbook was until I purchased one! I knew I needed my own computer because my daughters had taken over the desktop and the laptop! I saw this teeny tiny one for $129 and thought why not! It's in my price range and I can buy it right now so...bam! Life changing! Could not possible live without!

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Extremely pleased with this used product. Seller included all the necessary accessories, books, etc. Netbook

looked brand new and works great. Easy to learn the system as well.

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Lenovo G550 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 3.8 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

I ordered this on the advice of one of the Amazon reps since it had everything I was looking for (and I was very specific on what I wanted.) It runs great. The only issue I had trouble with was the face recognition for login; the light always seemed too low for it to work properly and it would just churn forever. I disabled that (uninstalled it) and it's been running fine ever since. Plenty of speed and power for what I use it for -Internet browsing, light games, word processing, spreadsheets. Movies play great, display is great.

This is the first laptop i'm buying..CD Drive worked only one day..Now it s not working..Dont know how other laptops in lenovo...Totally i'm not saisfied with the product..

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ThinkPad X120e 06112EU 11.6" LED AMD E-350 1.6GHz 4GB DDR3 SDRAM 320GB HDD 64-bit Windows 7 Profess

I had used an earlier x100e, but when I damaged it, I needed a new small unit for easy travel and work. I liked the reviews on the X120e so I did not hesitate to buy it and Amazon and the right price, shipping and tax free values.

Within two days of the unit arriving , I began to realize I wanted a more powerful unit. There was nothing wrong with the unit, i just realized it was so much slower than my work laptop that I did not want to continue. I was happy with smaller screen and the keyboard is really quite good for a smaller unit.

I passed the x120e to my sister and they love it 3 months later.

I feel I can recommend this as you get a good unit for a low price. If you want more, spend more for faster options. I bought a X220 that is awesome...but 3 times the price of thex120e.

Save 49% Off

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Acer Aspire AS5750Z-4835 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

I just bought this laptop and although I like the hardware, it does have a few minor parts. Not a bad thing just things I would like to point out. So I'll try to keep this brief and useful.

Pros

1. Has space for 8gigs of ram. Mine came with four and I already had another four, so now I have a total of 8 gigs on it. Four should work just fine, I just happened to have the extra four. My old laptop only has 2 and I still use it.

2. 1.3 mega pixel camera, seems to work great in low lighting as the lights are low in my room.

3. Nice clear screen and gestures on the pad for zooming in and out on web pages is nice. Still haven't figured out how to use the other gestures.

4. Gigabit network jack, and b/g/n wireless built in.

5. I paid just over 300 bucks which was the reason I got it. It was on special at flys so it was hard to ignore it. So I got this for my dad to use since the old dell died. I also didn't want to spend more than this on a laptop now after I spent over 2k for my old sony years ago.

These are just the main 3 positive points I can think of at the moment but I'll update later. The rest of the hardware seems to work well.

Cons

1. The battery only shows 3 hours. I have it unplugged right now and now it shows 2 hours after about 20 minutes. So this is a big downer if you need to travel.

2. This one has no bluetooth, usb 3.0, or finger reader. I love the finger reader on my sony because I don't have to keep typing the login all the time, but I will not buy another sony again due to their proprietary downloads. Makes it hell trying to keep it updated and they never update anything either.

3. Windows home not pro, but I know it would add more to the price, so just a preference.

4. Weights more than a Toshiba I bought for someone else with the same size screen. Love that light weight on that Toshiba but only had 4 megs maximum.

5. The one other thing that really drives me crazy and that I am not a fan of are the chiclet keyboards. But I'll coin this one today too...this model comes with a mushroom chiclet type of keyboard. Basically each key looks like it stands by itself, and each one is flat. Personally I hate flat keys, I prefer the dented or concave keys so you can actually feel where the key is. I don't know why they keep doing this, but I just thought I point this out because this is why I still prefer to use my desktop over my laptops. So I only use them when I really have to go somewhere.

I only give it 3 stars due to the battery time. One of the most important parts of any laptop, but take that aside and the laptop hardware is pretty good. So even with the cons I would still get one again if I had to, at the lower price that is. As someone else mentioned, technology moves so fast, it's not worth putting more than I need to on these things.

Other

Just uninstall the trial Microsoft office, download Libreoffice and you got an office suite, add your printer and you're good to go.

I have also updated everything on the os and changed the shutdown button to lock, but when I hit the power button, the darn laptop still shutsdown. I accidentally hit the power button on the left corner and shut it down. So yes, I rather these buttons be farther in or middle to prevent accidental power offs. I also don't care for the plug on either side, I like them behind the laptop, but it is what it is. At least this one is near the rear corner and not in the middle like the asus laptop they had on special today.

Here are the Acer specifications...

Update...the power option for the button is under the battery settings, so it can be changed to lock instead of power off in case you hit the power button accidentaly. So this took care of this problem for me.

Update August 25, 2012

Since I started using the laptop and because I carry this with me and move around quite a bit I have found a couple of things that don't work too well if you have to go out to different sites.

1. Having the power button on the top left edge is just bad.

2. Having the power cord on the same top left corner adds to this.

3. The network jack next to the power cord is horrible as I have to use a wire to test things. This is tough since it's next to the power so it's hard to get the wire in and out as I may have to do this a few times at one location and many times throughout the day.

-Now because the power cord is on the left I usually set my computer on the floor on one side and not flat, which means I have to use the right side and the problem is that the cd rom will just pop out as soon as the button hits anything but I have no choice but to use this side. Needless to say the drive came out the first time I was about to do this and almost broke it, so I just use tape over it and don't even close it all the way in since it just pops out with the lightest touch due to that button sticking out of the drive. Also because of this, I have to hold the laptop on the left side which I then end up pushing the power button because that's exactly where you put your thumb to hold it. This has made it a pain to use this laptop on the field. If you don't have to move it around much, it works fine, but these minor things get in the way fairly quickly on this model.

I bought 2 of these laptops to give to people i tested them before handing them over these laptops it boots very fast and shuts down just as quickly not much bloat ware and comes with Skype and Microsoft office pre loaded received no complaints at all from those that received it just ordered another and 2 different brands ones for testing, for the price its worth it, not much to complain about.

Buy Acer Aspire AS5750Z-4835 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Now

I bought this laptop last Thursday while it was on sale at Fry's Electronics. It's got some flaws but it's great for being $300. I like that it has a numeric keypad which I really missed on my old Dell laptop but that shifts the keyboard about 1 key to the left. It took me a little while to get the hang of it but now I usually have my hands in the right position for typing. It boots up quickly. I did have some lag multitasking multiple tabs open in firefox, spotify, and a hidden object game running. It only lag while I was searching for music on spotify. Everything worked fine if I'm just streaming music. I love love love the battery life compare to my old laptop. I get at least 4 hours per charge. It also doesn't overheat like crazy (I got burns from my old one). I had really wanted to get a tablet but that's mostly just a bigger version of my smartphone without the phone so since the laptop was on sale I used the money on this instead. It's not that heavy and I use this on the couch while watching netflix on my TV. In conclusion, I think I made a good purchase and I dont regret not saving my money for a tablet. Will update review if needed.

Update 5/25/12:

Still doing ok. I did notice that it lag a bit when my antivirus was updating but no biggie. I had forgotten to mention I couldn't find a physical volume control button which can be slightly annoying when I decide to change volume in the midst of a full screen game. However, lazy old me finally decide to take a closer look at the keyboard and voila. I just need to hold down the "Fn" key while using the up and down arrows. There's also a nice pause key which is also the Home key. Please do not accidentally disable your touchpad like I did trying out the F buttons. I also tried the webcam. It's really clear even in low lighting not like one I had in the prehistoric ages =]

The touchpad is a little finicky. So there's an up and down scrolling area on the right side of it which works great. There's apparently an invisible left and right scrolling area on the bottom. The problem is that the area isn't clearly define and I could be quite far from the bottom edge when the scrolling kicks in. It made me keep losing my page while reading an e-book on amazon's cloud reader. I guess you can always plug in a mouse if you're doing work where this would be a problem.

Update 6/12/12:

I figured out the touchpad side scrolling issue. Go to the trackpad icon on the taskbar. Under the Elan tab on mouse properties you click options. That will show you the different gestures you can use. Click on edge scrolling and uncheck horizontal.

I haven't had the issue of the cd drive popping out like others have. It's only done it once even with me holding it on the side and sometimes leaning it on it's side. I have to wonder how other people are holding theirs. However, I have accidentally hit the power button twice because of it's location in the top right corner near the hinge. It happens when I'm adjusting the position of the laptop on my lap and it's a good spot to grab because it's near the center of gravity.

Battery life is still good with me streaming music. Be aware that the screen is long and skinny compare to other screens that are the same diagonal size. Widescreen looks great on it. Might make it a little harder to buy a case. I was just trying to fit it in my old case but it's too wide to go in so I'll have to shop for a new case.

Read Best Reviews of Acer Aspire AS5750Z-4835 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Here

I've had two Acer laptops, which have been telling about Acer as a company. The first laptop I purchased when Acer was just starting out selling laptops. It was a superb computer for the inexpensive price. So after a few years of heavy use when it went out I decided to purchase another Acer (February 2012) until I could purchase a higher end desktop (March 2012).

This second laptop went out after THREE months of minimal use as most of my computing is now done on a desktop. I sent the computer to Acer after literally scouring their website for a method to contact customer service, which should of been a sign. This computer was in superb physical shape when sent out, its only issue? Something had gone amiss with the OS and had the blue screen of death followed by a black screen.

Couple days after shipping it out, Acer informs me my nearly new computer (which has never been dropped or moved more than a couple feet on a flat surface) was sporting a crack and repairs would cost $99.00 on a $248 computer. I refused to pay the $99.00 and requested it be sent back. What I received, I can hardly believe is the same computer I sent to them. Keys are missing or busted, it had a nasty crack down the side, was covered in dust and some unidentified grime. Oddity of the situation is that Acer sent me photos of the USPS box I sent it out in and it was in grade A condition. The box I received it back in from FedEx was in excellent condition, too (not to mention the computer was shrink wrapped).

So, if the computer left me in excellent condition and nothing got crushed in shipping, however did all this damage happen? Furthermore, it was all classified as "customer caused physical damage"? And, for all those missing keys and dust, that certainly didn't get in or out after it was shrink wrapped for transport.

Think twice before you buy anything from Acer or have it sent in for repairs. You're either on your own to pay for phony damage claims or left with a piece of tattered junk for rebuking them. If you're still not convinced, look at the BBB and take note of their comments regarding the copious amount of claims made by customers regarding the extensive physical damage claimed by Acer upon arrival or what was noted after the product had been shipped back. Which, I quote: "Consumer complaints received by BBB allege this company sells defective merchandise that they have to return for repeat repairs that are costly and inconvenient.

Consumers also complain that when they ship their computers to the company, their merchandise is often returned to them with physical damage.

The company responds by stating they are not aware of any pattern suggesting defective merchandise sales requiring costly repairs or physical damage of merchandise returned after repairs. They say the original owners of their products receive an inherent manufacturing warranty period for their Acer merchandise. Within that warranty period consumers can also purchase an extended warranty to add to the initial manufacturer's coverage. Out of warranty repairs are made at a charge. The company also states they have very strict and safe packing practices and use reputable national shipping carriers for their return shipments. All products are packed in new packing boxes."

Problem is, shipping is obviously not the issue Acer. It is the company manhandling products to void warranties for extra income.

Want Acer Aspire AS5750Z-4835 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Discount?

I work tech support and have for quite some time, and also being a university student I needed a great computer for a cheap price.

I can definitely say that this is one of the better computers that I have owned. I owned an HP just recently and that thing died after about three weeks! Never, ever go HP.

I'm not too much of an avid PC gamer but for surfing the internet, doing homework, listening to music, and burning CDs this laptop is perfect. And for less than 400 dollars, you can't beat the price.

I'm considering upgrading the RAM but other than that, I have no complaints.

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Dell XPS M1330 Laptop (Black)

My husband got this for me for my grad school, early Spring of 2008. As of this morning the M1330 has exhausted its puny life span of roughly 2-1/2 years.

The problems started early 2009 when the adapter failed to charge the battery, apparently a common problem (google diy options). I was about 10-days out of warranty so as every one knows the company that once was a hallmark of customer service (circa 100 BC) flatly refused to fix it. Even the fix they condescendingly offered was not a guaranteed one.

Apparently, some claim the problem is with the NVIDIA drivers, and a subsequent overheating of the motherboard. It could also be that the adapter jack got fried, the battery is dead or the charge cord is dysfunctional. In summating costs, I realized the best way to fix it was to try and fix it myself.

So I upgraded my bios, changed cord, changed battery (about $175). Up and running again for about a year, until last night, when 'ptzzz, chtink....' tongue-out dead!

Cannot wake it up, tried three different cords, direct charge (no batt). Nothing.

I will take out the harddrive tonight to salvage it. My husband's work place will do it. I admit. Sometimes, just sometimes, I miss working in the high tech industry.

We have two Dell laptops (the other is a 'i-will-die-any-day now' vostro100) and two Dell PCs. Never again.

Now, if Apple hardware married nonproprietary software, I'd be set. But that is for a blog rant.

Although the battery life isn't the greatest with just the standard edition, this laptop packs a lot of performance into such a slim and nice looking machine. The m1330 lets you surf the web, have multiple programs running, etc, all without affecting performance. Overall, great computer. I suggest buying the 9 cell battery.

Buy Dell XPS M1330 Laptop (Black) Now

I've had my Dell XPS M1330 for about 2 years now. It has travelled with me extensively and really I have had no problems at all with it. The power cord did have trouble about 2 months after I bought the laptop, but Dell sent someone round and he replaced the power cord and it was fine after that. Aparently the part of the mother board that the power cord connects is prone to breaking but fortunately it was just my power cord that was faulty. 2 of the other girls in the company that I work got all singing all dancing top of the range Dells and had no end of trouble with them, and the Dell customer support was terrible which was a shame. Anyway, as I said, I've had my little XPS for 2 years and really no dramas so I would recommend this laptop.

Read Best Reviews of Dell XPS M1330 Laptop (Black) Here

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