This laptop is currently sold in two versions, a grey/black color and a pink/white color. I picked up the pink/white version for my daughter. I'm the techie of the family and work on computers regularly. So as soon as it arrived, I spent some time going over everything about it and setting it up.
The outer casing of this laptop has a brushed metal look to it. Looks great and hides fingerprints. Little detail areas like the mouse pad buttons are done in a shiny chrome. The colors on the keyboard are offset by a section of the same brushed metal from the casing. In the pink/white version, the keys are white, while the board area is pink brushed metal. The keys are a nice full size and have a good tactile clicky feel to them. There's no issues with knowing if your pressing the keys down or not. Feels and looks quality made. Much nicer than in the stock images online. The top area above the keyboard is not overdone with buttons, just one simple back-lit blue LED power button. This is also where the speakers are, however they are subtly hidden, so you don't necessarily realize this is where they are. The screen is bright, and I had no issues with dead pixels. It's a soft brightness, not a high gloss screen, so there are no problems with reflection.
The CD/DVD drive opens easily and is located on the right side of the laptop, along with 2 USB ports. On the left side of the laptop are the headphone jack, mic jack, an HDMI port and an additional USB port. This is also where the power cable plugs in (not the back) and the VGA port are. There is a memory card reader in it, located in the very front of the computer below the mouse-pad. There is a small subtle webcam located in the screen as well.The laptop if fairly light weight, at least compared to my 19inch ASUS desktop replacement PC. I like that it has a little weight to it, giving it some substance and not feeling like cheap plastic.
The Intel HD Graphics card holds it's own for basic online games and such. Extremely high end graphic intense games will need to have their resolution turned down a notch to play smoothly on this system. And example being Sims games run fine, however games like first person shooters will need more power. This has an integrated graphics card in it, not dedicated. The 2.1 GHz Intel Pentium B950 dual-core processor is similar to the Core i3, both being in the Sandy Bridge group of processors and both being duel core. However the B950 has Hyperthreading and Turbo Boost disabled, where as the i3 has them enabled, giving the i3 better performance stats. With the popularity of the i3 (and quad-core i5 and i7) processors right now, you may get a better price per performance getting a laptop with the B950 in it, like this one has. It still has more than enough power for everyday PC needs.
It comes with 4Gb of RAM installed, as of right now, plenty for most casual users needs. However it can EASILY be upgraded to 8GB, which I'm glad to see it can be expanded to that amount. The sticks of DDR3 RAM can even be bought here on Amazon. To know for certain which RAM will work best for your system, I suggest going to the Crucial website and using their "Crucial Memory Advisor Tool" to help guide you in explaining exactly which kind of RAM to buy, and how many sticks you need. The laptop has Bluetooth built in, meets Energy Star standards and has an ample 500 GB hard drive.
Conclusion:
This laptop is nice system for the casual user and those who like basic and online games. Emailing, FaceBook, internet, shopping, writing documents, games and surfing the web are all done with ease. Watch DVD's, download pictures from memory cards, burn CDs, watching Netflix and other media type things are all smooth and download easily. I also like that the laptop came with system restore disks, a rare things these days. It has a very nice keyboard, a plus for those who type well or at higher speeds, and the brushed metal design helps make it sturdy and attractive at the same time. This system is great for casual users, youths, college students and I'm even thinking of picking another one up to give to my mother as a gift. It has enough power and appeal for a wide range of possible users.
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