Toshiba Satellite Laptop Computer - 15.6" LED Screen / Intel Core Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $824.99
Sale Price: $664.95
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Nice general-purpose laptop. Great for using around the house, office, dorm, and the occasional road trip no bulky additional accessories needed.

The keyboard great feel, love it even fat fingers can't miss the mark. Keys are readable, even in low light. The keyboard is not backlit a fact, not a flaw. The primary purpose of the function keys (a space-hogging holdover from pre-Windows days) is as buttons for help, brightness, media controls, touchpad on/off, volume, wireless mode, and even switching between multiple monitors no SHIFT, CTRL, or ALT required. Now, if they would only do that with the number pad, we non-accountants would get some practical use out of another large chunk of the keyboard. There is a caps-on light on the caps lock key, which is blocked by your hand if you are typing, but was omitted entirely on some other models I looked at. (If you are reading this, Toshiba person, move the light to the left corner of the caps lock key so it can be seen when hands are on the keyboard.)

The sound loud enough for a hearing-challenged person (me) to easily hear a few feet away. The built-in mic is loud and clear for phone calls.

The speed fast! As another reviewer noticed, the computer is faster than the DSL speed, so I try to be patient and not blame the machine my IP is throttling and it is just easier to notice now. To get all the speed and memory, Windows 8 64-bit is installed, which is the future but not backward compatible with older software, so expect to spend some time visiting software and vendor sites for updates and replacements.

The touchpad basic but easy to use. The manual says the touchpad will scroll, but mine doesn't. (Yes, I checked for updated drivers!) The touchpad is placed left of center, below the standard keyboard, so it falls between your hands when typing. This placement eliminates accidentally brushing the touchpad with thumb or wrist when typing a problem of previous laptop generations with a center-placement touchpad.

The CD/DVD-RW drive I'm just not ready to give that up. The little bit of extra laptop weight is less than having to carry an external drive (and looking dorky in public). A built-in drive also doesn't take up extra desk space or use a scarce USB port.

Screen resolution low. In fact, it's the minimum screen resolution required for the current functions of Windows 8. Text and pictures are certainly readable/viewable, but can be grainy. The viewing angle with text is flexible enough so that people looking over your shoulder can easily view it, but for pictures and movies, the view needs to be straight ahead. (You can, however, attach an external monitor if you really want those people looking over your shoulder to clearly see your vacation pictures.) What you probably won't be doing with this screen resolution is serious gaming or graphic design. To be fair, when shopping, I found low screen resolution on laptops across all brands and models at this price point and above, so low screen resolution seems to be a favorite manufacturer's compromise for mid-price laptops. I would sacrifice some of the abundant built-in storage, which I will never use, for a higher screen resolution, and add a star to my rating.

The webcam ok for occasional use, but you may want something better if you do a lot of online face time.

Battery lightweight, but not user replaceable, so it will be expensive to have replaced when it no longer holds a charge. Personally, I like the resulting lighter weight and am gambling that the battery will last until I need a different configuration and then use this laptop with the power cord as a backup at home or office. Full battery charge is enough to watch a couple of full-length movies or half a season of your favorite TV series, but for continuous all day use, you will need the power cord for a recharge. It does recharge fast, though. You can extend the battery-only usage by putting the laptop in sleep mode when you are distracted or away the laptop pops immediately out of sleep at the touch of the power button (my favorite feature). I tried the `battery power-saving' feature to extend the battery charge, but it made the screen so drab and dreary that it wasn't worth the resulting mental depression to gain a few extra minutes between charges. When attaching some external peripherals, the laptop is under-powered on battery power alone, so you will need the laptop power cord and/or separate device power when attaching some devices, including speakers. A mouse or flash drive is no problem, though.

Port placement Two USB, the mic, and the headphone ports are located toward the front of the right side, so anything with a cord is in the way of using a mouse or reading/writing materials for right-handers. The exhaust fan vent is on the right, too, which keeps the bottom of the machine cooler for true lap use, but also keeps the right side a few degrees warmer than the rest of the workspace and the mouse hand toasty. I still have many corded USB devices and use a mouse for most work, so the port and vent locations make this laptop inconvenient to use as a full-time desktop replacement. Lefties will find the port placement good for them. As a righty, I find so many nice features on this laptop that I will suffer the occasional cord tangle when necessary and start seriously looking for wireless replacements.

The most incomprehensible design feature is that the port labels are tiny etchings on the bottom of the laptop, so you must turn the laptop over and use a flashlight and magnifier to see them. Although I have been able to visually match a round peg to a round hole from an early age, I cannot identify which identical round hole is for the mic, which for the audio. There are three identical lights on the front of the laptop, which probably convey important information, but without visible icons, are useful only to help find the laptop in the dark. It also took me a couple of turns around the perimeter to find the SD card slot, hidden under the front beveled edge next to the lights. The audio ports, card slot, and lights are all below the metal portion of the keyboard, so there is no excuse for not etching the icon labels for these ports on the top so they will be visible/usable without manhandling the laptop. Toshiba did find space for several stickers you don't care about, but if you want port labels, you will have to make your own stickers. Ok, this paragraph was a rant thanks for listening.

The User's Guide well done, easy to follow, and very helpful getting started. Do skip directly to Chapter 1 (Getting Started) to bypass 28 pages of warnings, cautions, and responsibilities (yours, not Toshiba's) it's way too late to tell me that stuff after I've already bought the machine. As of this writing, Toshiba does not provide the User's Guide online for this model, which is standard practice for other brands and appliances. I saved a copy of the User's Guide to external storage, but think that should be Toshiba's responsibility, not mine.

Free cloud storage. I got free storage for 2 years on Dropbox through registering with Toshiba plus more free storage on Skydrive courtesy of Microsoft Windows 8. Free is nice.

In summary:

You will no longer need external speakers, a headset (unless you want privacy), a USB laptop cooler pad, external storage for your zillions of pictures, a portable CD/DVD player/burner, or a rolling laptop case.

You will need to update or replace old 16-bit software, consider replacing corded with wireless external devices, and find something to do with all the time this speedy machine saves you.

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Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14217CXP 14-Inch Core i5 Touch Laptop Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I was really excited about the high resolution screen,touch screen and other features. Two days after my purchase the laptops touch screen stopped working. I contacted sony support and tried PC refresh and then reformatting as suggested by them. Nothing worked!! Sony support person said that it is the automatic window 8 update that is causing the problem. I don't think its worth spending 800+ on something has obvious issues. Now I am returning the device!

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I'll start with my only serious beef with this laptop: the built-in wireless, which is godawful. I tried out the wireless with three different wireless networks, and could only get one bar of service by sitting mere feet from the wireless router. More than 10 feet away and connections were choppy-to-nonexistent. Luckily, this was fairly easily and cheaply resolved with a USB wireless adapter: Edimax EW-7811Un Wireless USB Adapter. Still, there's not really an excuse for a laptop made in 2013 to not have solid wireless, and now 1 of 4 USB ports on my laptop are committed to wireless internet.

Other than that one serious problem, this is a good machine and a pretty good value. The sharp graphics are great for video and games, it's light, the rapid wake technology really is quite fast, and it seems that Windows 8 is the most intuitive iteration yet. The touchscreen bells and whistles, though, which are this line's main selling feature, are pretty cheesy. Think about it--a touchscreen is designed to give an ultra-portable computer device like a tablet or smartphone more functionality; it gives these devices mouse functionality and keyboard functionality in exchange for their small size and portability. A laptop ALREADY HAS a keyboard AND a trackpad, which are always a more effective option than touchscreen analogs; putting a touchscreen on something that already has a trackpad and a keyboard is like wearing a belt and suspenders at the same time--this is made comically apparent when you pull up the touchscreen's keyboard function--there is real keyboard LITERALLY inches away from the graphic keyboard on the screen! I understand people are hot for tablets and smartphones right now, but in the end this is still a laptop--it's got a screen and a body, and because of this it's not as portable as a tablet. The trade-off is the added functionality of USB drives, a keyboard, a CD/DVD drive, etc. I can only imagine using the touchscreen in preference to the laptop controls if scrolling through a photo slideshow or something, but even then, that's what the arrow keys and space bar on the keyboard are for. So, Sony's attempts to replicate an iOS experience are definitely superfluous and a bit on the cheesy side. Luckily, this doesn't stop this laptop from being "traditionally" operated with great success.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I was skeptical when I recieved this laptop after a reviewer had issues with the touchscreen. I've used this everyday for 24 days and have had no issues!

Windows 8 has been a challenge, this is the first time using it. I have to say, the touchscreen has made it so easy to swipe from one page to another, from one internet window to toher applications. I love the keyboard how it lioghts up. It seems very durable. The hinges are solid, it's lightweight and comfortable. If you're not familiar with windows 8 then it may be difficult to navigate at first. You can download apps, such as amazon & netflix for easy access. I'm very impressed with not only the style but the ease of the latop use. It does have a disc compartment, which I really appreciate to watch dvd's or listen to CD's. I haven't even used everything it comes with yet.

Out of the box set up was super easy. In the box was the laptop, ac/adaptor cable plug & instructions. All you have to do is follow the guickstart guide, connect to the wireless internet and it's that simple.

My only con is it has zero office software.

Honest reviews on Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14217CXP 14-Inch Core i5 Touch Laptop

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Let me start by letting you know that this is a very snappy machine (thanks to in part to the i5, discrete graphics, and 8GB or RAM) and it's very well suited with Windows 8. The capacitive touchscreen is a necessity for this OS, even if you do use mostly desktop apps. The keyboard is very comfortable with responsive back-lit chicklet style keys, which I have come to enjoy. The battery life is reasonable at 3+ hours, not as long as some tablets, but it has a lot more power and a DVD drive. The 1600x900 resolution is sharper than most 14" laptops. I liked that in addition to keeping the laptop light they also kept the power cable slim. The plug is a simple two prong (swap-able with 240 volt cables) and the AC adapter box is out of the way in the middle of the cable is a diminutive 1"x1"x4". NFC has been a particularly fun gimmick, it made paring a set of bluetooth headphones ridiculously simple. NFC also let me transfer URLs between my Android phone and the laptop, unfortunately Windows doesn't yet support transferring images or large files to and from Android phones yet (although Windows phones will work fine for this). The included software is fortunately without too much bloat, there are a few media creation type apps that may appeal to novice music and video creators as well as a few Windows 8 apps (which are easy to uninstall if undesired, just right click). The only app that is a blatant up-sell is the 30 day trial of Kapersky anti-virus, it's easy enough to buy or uninstall, but it feels spammy until you do (although it's good in that at least it makes you think about anti-virus).

Okay so now what are my quibbles... The biggest is the touchpad supports multi-touch, which is great but, the two finger swipe to scroll is too similar to the two finger pinch and zoom action. I was zooming in and out so much that I eventually had to disable the pinch and zoom action (control panel... mouse... device settings... settings... uncheck pinch zoom). Problem solved... except that now you can't have pinch-zoom since the touchscreen doesn't seem to support it (maybe it will with a software update). The rest of my quibbles are more along the lines of why can't my family car drive as fast as a sports car... The screen can open up to 120 degrees but can't lay flat (or flip), which would be nice for some touch screen centric apps. Also the screen is not IPS so it quickly degrades as your viewing angle shifts away. The a security feature if you have nosy neighbors, but it makes it a little less share-able with more than maybe one person. I would also have liked a few for direct access buttons instead of having to use the FN button to access volume, mute, and the page up/down controls. Oh and I'd also like infinite battery life and a built-in money printer.

But overall this laptop is a joy to use (especially after disabling the touchpad's pinch zoom). It's a great compromise for power, speed, weight, capacity, capabilities and price. There are also a lot of high end spec sheet type things that I haven't fully enjoyed yet, but it nice to know it's waiting for me... Like USB 3, Bluetooth 4 BLE, Wireless N, and HDMI out.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program A few months back I bought a Lenovo $400.00 laptop, and it came with Windows 8 and it was bad. The laptop is fine, it's Windows 8 that is the problem. The first thing you need to know is that if you are getting a laptop with Windows 8, GET A TOUCH SCREEN. Even with Classic Windows software on your computer, if you want to take advantage of Windows 8, the touch screen is the way to go.

I have had no issues with the touch screen functionality thus far (other than trying to touch the screen of my Lenovo and being frustrated because nothing was happening.)

Really, every aspect of my experience with this computer has been great. It's fast, the visuals and sound are good. It has 4 USB ports. (2 ultrafast, 2 standard) Rapid wake is awesome, the touchpad is SO much better than the Lenovo. The keyboard has a great feel.

As this point, no down sides. I'm really happy.

Dell Inspiron M5030 Laptop Computer - Classic Black Review

Customer Ratings:

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.

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I have tech support workshop and I have seen 3 of this laptops with motherboard problems, all of them less than 2 years old, don't waste your money!

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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

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron M5030 Laptop Computer - Classic Black

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.

Review of Apple MacBook Air MC505LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Customer Ratings:

I have a somewhat interesting take on the 11.6-inch MacBook Air. I chose the 13-inch model for myself, but my father who is always on the go for business, chose this 11.6-inch model. He wanted the extra portability, and I wanted the extra performance of the larger machine.

Visually, the machines look different. My 13-inch model does not look significantly different from the front or rear compared to a full featured MacBook Pro. In other words, on the 13-inch model, which I love, the footprint of the device is basically the same as a 13-inch MacBook Pro. The difference is the slim side profile, and the two missing pounds.

This 11-inch model is not only light and thin, but has a smaller footprint too. It is striking to see. It looks small, and it's gorgeous. I do have some envy for the portability of this model compared to my own, which is light, but yet takes up just as much space so to say as a MacBook Pro.

The drawbacks to this model and the reason I chose the 13-inch? The processor included in this 11-inch machine is a fair bit slower. Comparing some online benchmarks, this entry-level 11-inch model with the 1.4 GHZ Core 2 Duo brought in about 70 percent of the processing speed of the entry level 13-inch model. While other parts of the machine are equally as fast, such as the graphics processor, solid state storage, and memory, the processor performance difference is not insignificant. You do feel a slight performance difference between the 13 and 11.

The included storage on this model is 64 GB. This will be plenty to store text documents and a moderately sized photo library. However, you will not store much video on here. However, the storage is solid state and fast, which enables fast startups and allows the machine to still feel snappy despite the slower processor.

Apple specs the battery in this model at 5 hours, whereas the 13-inch model has a quoted 7 hours. Apple is using a new battery testing procedure, which is said to more accurately predict real world battery life. Nevertheless, the battery life edge does go to the 13-inch model.

The display is no slouch despite its 11.6-inch size. Indeed, its resolution is similar to the Mac Book Pro's 13-inch display, so there is no question that the display is gorgeous.

iLife 11 is included and already installed on this device, so you will be able to take advantage of the latest iLife software right out of the box. Two USB ports and a mini display port allow for expandability and compatibility with external devices. Connect an external hard drive for expanded storage, or sync up your iPhone. No problem. Indeed, believe it or not, this small 11.6-inch MacBook Air can drive the 27-inch Cinema Display that Apple sells. That shows the impressive graphics performance this small machine offers.

I was able to spend another hour today with the 11.6-inch model. I am nearly beginning to question my decision to choose the 13-inch model. The 13-inch asks you to take fewer sacrifices in terms of performance and storage. However, this 11.6-inch is oh so portable. Honestly, it's surprising when you see it in person. This 11.6-inch is probably destined to be the "cool," choice.

Overall, it is clear to see there are several drawbacks to the 11-inch model. Less storage, shorter battery life, and slower processor. However, there are several benefits: a smaller footprint, lighter weight, and therefore easier portability. Plus, there a cool factor that makes jaws drop when you pull this 11-inch model out of your bag. Despite its diminutive size, it's a quality product. Make no mistake about it, while it might be less powerful than other Mac notebooks, the 11-inch Air is no net-book. The quality and performance far outshines any net-book. This machine will serve your word processing, consumer photo editing, music listening, email writing, and web surfing needs without issue. I might caution its use as one's sole computer only due to the limited onboard storage (64GB) and somewhat slower performance (1.4 GHZ Core 2 Duo Processor). Highly recommend product for the correct application/use.

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I have a MacBook Pro 15 inch and love it for every day home use. But, I sometimes travel overseas and to lug the 15 inch all over due to size and weight is not ideal. Currently I have a Samsung NC10 Netbook with Windows XP, 2gb ram, 160gb hard drive and use that for travel. I like the netbook for travel as it is small and light and has built in camera for Skype when traveling. Overall, not a bad device except for one thing.....it is slow!!! Even after upgrading to 2gb ram on the netbook it is just plain slow and sometimes moving around is painful and frustrating. But, it was the best choice until now. I checked out the new MacBook Air and it is a thing of beauty, so I picked one up. I like the slightly larger screen size then the netbook, which at times seemed too small. I also like the larger keyboard on the Air compared to the netbook. But what I like most is the speed. With the core 2 dual core processor and flash storage, the Air is quick. I never feel frustrated. The Air is also lighter then the netbook which for the size screen and keyboard is amazing. So here are my pro's and con's.

Pro's

1. Quicknot a full speed notebook but for the size and weight this thing is great compared to netbooks.

2. Light2.3lbs for 11.6 inch Air is fantastic.

3. Keyboardkeyboard feels good.

4. Mac OS Xenough said. If you have never tried it compared to XP or Win 7 then you don't know what you are missing.

5. Storagefast flash storage. More dependable compared to hard drive on mobile device.

Con's

1. Price1k for base 11.6 inch unit is not cheap by any means.

2. Storagethe storage is fast and more dependable but its expensive and limited. The 64gb works for me as this is for travel and not my main notebook so I keep a lot of "stuff" off of it and just do internet, email, word docs etc.

3. Upgradecan't upgrade RAM if needed after purchase.

Overall, I'm thrilled with my purchase. Yes its pricey but for the size, speed, quality and OS it is worth it in my mind. I probably wouldn't buy it for my only notebook but its a great travel notebook while my MacBook pro stays at home. My netbook did well for what it is but time to sell it as for me it is just too slow and XP is getting old as an OS.

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I hesitated a lot to buy this thing, costing as much as it does.

I finally did, and LOVE it.

I have been using PCs for years. Have a PC at work, figured I'd just do the same at home.

Bought a netbook price was great but the screen was small and it just never was easy to use. Gave it to my neice.

Bought a 17" laptop with Vista I actually thought Vista was OK, and I loved being able to make the screen resolution larger so it was very easy on my 52 year old eyes. But the thing was HEAVY. So big and bulky I would often leave it home when going on a trip. Also got real tired of having to run anti-virus software (and pay for it), and having glitches regularly with various types of software adobe, the sync programs, etc. In addition, if I was in bed and wanted to check something real quick, it took 30 seconds or so to boot up, and then had a glitch where the screen wouldn't turn on, so I'd have to put it to sleep and wake it up again.

I bought an iPad, and the instant on was great, but after using the iPhone4 I didn't like the screen resolution. In addition, it was quite heavy for holding up to read, did not have a keyboard, and couldn't play Flash videos. Sold it.

So finally bought this little guy, and it really fits the bill. I thought the 11" screen would be too small, but for some reason it seems much bigger. I think it's because it is so easy to scroll up and down, back and forth using the touch pad. (On the PC, the scroll never became "unconscious" it often seemed to distract me just enough to find the proper place to push on the touchpad). Maybe it's the resolution of the Air, maybe it's the fact that it is so small I can position it right where I want it to be.

It jumps to life right away, I love that. Easy to look stuff up, or send that one email, or whatever I want to do. (I think I have a little ADHD, so when I turn on my computer and it takes 60 seconds to get ready, I often forget why I turned it on!).

It downloads web pages much faster than my PC laptop or my PC desktop, and handles pictures much faster too.

And the size makes it so I can just grab it and go, rather than having to make a conscious decision about "should I bring the laptop?" It easy fits in my hand next to my notepad/binder and I hardly notice carrying it.

IMHO, this is what a laptop was always supposed to be. I LOVE it, LOVE it, LOVE it. Thanks, Apple!! Now I have to decide if I'm going to move everything from my home PC to Mac platform and if so, should I use only this little guy? (i.e. TurboTax, all those accumulated Word documents, etc)

Oh, BTW, I did hook it up to my 24" HP monitor, and it works great. You can use two screens if you want (i.e. have the AIr open and the desktop monitor is an "additional" screen or having them duplicates of each other, but the resolution is less than the desktop can handle. It doesn't look quite as stunning as those iMac screens, but very close.

And the final thing the "chicklet" keys very worried about getting used to them, the spacing seems a bit different than my other computer keyboards. It did take a day or two, and I still make the occasional mistake, but overall I like them BETTER. I can type faster on them for some reason -?less key travel? Anyways, that turned out not to be an issue for me at all.

I just think it's amazing to have this little slab of metal that I can pick up and take anywhere in my house, or anywhere in town, and have full computer access and use within seconds. Right now I'm standing in the kitchen (it's sunny in here but not in the office) typing away. I'm a happy camper! (And now I have to make my lunch can't afford to eat lunch out for a few months to pay for it, but it's worth it!)

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Air MC505LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

I mostly do film, video and photo and use a 2006 MacPro for editing and a recent MacBook Pro for writing. Two weeks ago, I got the 11' Macbook Air with a 64GB Flash Drive and 4GB of Ram to replace the MacBook on a few occasions. Or so I thought...

Ergonomics:

Ever since they replaced the 12' for the 13' in 2005, I was hoping for something smaller. In a interview, a 13' or 15' screen acts like a wall and it's size and weight keeps you from grabbing it easily. The 11' Macbook Air makes this possible again. Closed it feels more like a small binder then a computer. Open, it feels like a normal laptop but the screen is low enough, not to separate you from the person in front of you.

The Screen:

The resolution is very high, but this also makes everything a bit small for my eyes and the colors change a lot depending on the angle in which you view the screen. But, and this is big... the screen has a luminosity of 360 cd/m². This means that you can go out on a sunny day and work without straining your eyes. This is head and shoulders above anything else on the market.

The Battery:

I would definitely wish for more then 5h, but this is probably the price to pay for a bright screen. I'm actually wondering how they got a battery into the casing.

Processing Power:

Office: Very fast. The Flash drive works wonders here. Absolutely no problems.

Photo: The Air is just as fast as the new 13' Macbook Pro or the older but mach bigger MacPro. The mix between 4GB of ram and a fast flash drive lets Aperture work swiftly trough the 20MB files from the Canon 5D Mark2. Attention tough, it also seems that the 2GB version tends to joke on the amount of data.

Video editing: I can perfectly edit and grade a ProRes 1080 24p file in Final Cut Pro with the MacBook Air. There are a few differences to the MacPro. It plays h.256 video files smoother then the MacPro with its older 7300 Graphic card. But the 4 processors of the MacPro are faster for video exports and transcoding. It's a tie...

Connectivity:

A 11' screen is rather small for video or sound editing, but when you add a keyboard with a mouse and an external HD, you can close the Air and use it with the full native resolution of the 30' screen. This is very cool. Same goes for TV. Just attach a HDMI cable to the Air's video port and you have a beautiful 1080p image on the big screen. As nice as this is, the Air hasn't been built for professional editing tough. You cant hook up 3 screens at once and when you have 16 TB of data to work with, you end up with a lot of external cables. But the new video port works wonders and the fact that you can close the computer and still use it, is very nice.

Conclusion:

Because of the flash drive, there actually is only a small performance difference between the new 13' MacBook Pro and the 11' MacBook Air. Compared to a 1e generation Intel MacPro it does a few things faster, like playing h.264 video files and a few things slower, like exporting and transcoding video files. Thanks to Moors Law, we got now a extremely silent, small and powerful computer at a very low price. The new Air isn't some crappy net-book that can barely run a text-editor, it's a computer that can hold it's own against a 1e generation Intel MacPro in a package that is about 200x smaller.

The Macbook Air feels like a glimpse into the future. Who else has access to the cheap flash, the precision machining and the electronic know-how that is necessary to create such a slim, portable and capable computer at this price? Just a year ago, the 64Gb Flash option costed as much as this whole computer costs today. The luxury prototype of yesterday has turned into the most affordable laptop in Apple's lineup today.

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As a student in high school, I depend on a computer daily to do assignments. My teachers distribute rubrics and have us turn in all of our projects online via a website. Many students use the 400+ school computers that the school provides, however, I used an iPad for three quarters of the school year. It worked good, but I always had the feeling that something was missing. I felt like I had to adapt my entire workflow based on the apps, which should never be the case for a daily-use device. The iPad 2 has nothing new to help with this issue, so I decided to sell my MacBook Pro 13" to buy a MacBook Air 11.6".

As far as specifications go, the MacBook Air is a great upgrade from the iPad no matter how you look at it. The MacBook Air has a 1.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Dual Core), the original iPad has a 1GHz single core A4 chip (iPad 2 has a 1GHz dual core A5 chip). The MacBook Air also has a much better GPU with it's NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics chip. It has a FaceTime camera, USB ports, MagSafe charger, and it runs OSX, which is far more sophisticated than iOS in every way. It is a phenomenal operating system. It also has a larger screen with a higher resolution, a full sized keyboard, and stereo speakers (you wont be rocking a party with these tiny speakers, but it is impressive sound considering how small this laptop is). Not to mention the fact that the MacBook Air can run Adobe Flash (even though it isn't installed out of the box).

To me, this MacBook Air is really everything that I wanted the iPad to be. It is small, compact, silent, fast, and light. This laptop feels weightless when in my backpack, and leaves plenty of room for other items even in the smallest pouches. Apple also claims that this computer has "instant on", just like the iPad. Many people have misinterpreted this. The screen wont turn on instantly, rather, everything is up and ready to go right away. On my MacBook Pro 13", the screen turned on very quickly, however, after the screen turned on, everything felt very slow for about 30 seconds. This is not the case on the MacBook Air. The screen turns on at about the same time, however, everything is all ready to go. There is absolutely no lag, thanks to the SSD. The SSD is also why the laptop feels much faster than the specs give it credit for. It is amazing; the laptop manages Pages, Keynote, iPhoto, and Safari flawlessly. It's speed is equal to my 3.06 GHz iMac in basic tasks (iPhoto, Pages, Safari, etc). The USB ports on the MacBook Air are on separate sides of the product. This is nice if you have very large cables that take up a lot of space, because you don't have to worry about covering up the other port. I'm sure this was unintentional, but it is very nice to have. There is no backlit keyboard, however, the brightness from the screen (50%) offers plenty of lighting for the keys. The lack of an optical drive has not been an issue for me at all. There is something about this computer that I have yet to figure out that makes it very very zippy. It is the perfect coffee-shop companion. It is ideal for people who are always on the go, travelers, and (maybe) college students.

All in all, if you want more power and freedom (with the OS) out of your iPad, you will be very satisfied with the entry level MacBook air. The screen resolution is great; it makes you feel like you are working with a much bigger screen. Build quality, battery life, speed, and portability are all phenomenal. I highly recommend this Mac. If you are on the fence, I recommend heading over to a Best Buy or local Apple Store to get your hands on one. Simply, the specs do not give this laptop justice, and will perform perfectly for 90% of Mac users out there.

Discount Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14218CXP 14-Inch Core i7 Touch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This Sony VAIO Fit Series laptop happens to replace another Sony VAIO laptop that I previously owned and pretty much enjoyed using. That one was a red version (the /R rather than the /W, icy white version) of this Sony VAIO VPC-CW17FX/W. I had gotten that laptop back in late 2009 specifically because it had some features that made it somewhat more appropriate for gaming and/or for use as a portable media consumption device (the included Blu-ray drive, something that I must note that I did experience issues with as it would mysteriously not want to handle Blu-ray discs when I'd want to use them). I wound up passing that laptop on to a co-worker who has now passed it along to his former significant other. For her needs, it is still a fine device that will do everything that she'd want to do on it (browse the web, play games like Words with friends, etc.)

This particular VAIO Fit Series laptop is a nice enough device with some nice advances, but at the same time, perhaps a few areas of regression to comment about.

First up, I like the touchscreen, especially for use with Windows 8 which is very touchscreen friendly, if not downright touchscreen demanding. While it (Windows 8) can be used with a mouse and/or touchpad and a keyboard, there are just so many ways that using a touchscreen is much more efficient with Windows 8. That said, I must admit that the touchscreen also drives my OCD self a little crazy as the screen tends to get fingerprinted easily, making the display more cloudy/fuzzy than I would like. Considering that the touchscreen already makes things a little cloudy to begin with (not badly, but enough to notice), the added fingerprint oil smudges on the screen can be distracting.

I dislike that there's no Blu-ray drive built-in and find it a bit mystifying that Sony, the purveyors of, if not the downright pushers of, Blu-ray technology have opted to include just a DVD drive. The added cost to go with a Blu-ray drive, or even better to have included a Blu-ray RW drive in this laptop should have been minimal for Sony to have done. It makes me think all the more that Sony, as with other studio owners, just wants to push their consumers all the more toward streaming digital media. :-/

I also find myself disappointed that there's no Memory Stick PRO(tm) reader slot on this device. This was something my earlier laptop had and since I have a couple of Sony cameras that I've used that memory on, well, it would have been nice to have a reader for same on this laptop. I can use a USB adapter that I have for such purposes, but that requires using a USB port and having the card reader stick off to the side of the laptop. Not necessarily a "clean" solution.

Performance wise, this laptop is pretty nice. Its built-in Core i7 processor is plenty fast. The graphics performance is nothing to rave about, but is reasonable for typical usage. Even for lowered expectations in a game like the latest SimCity, it would be acceptable, though it would mean turning down some of the advanced graphics features in such a game.

The memory is already maxed out as shipped, with 8 GB of RAM the maximum for this device. That is another area where I wish that I could perhaps make changes here. My older VAIO had topped at the same level and that is now nearly 5 year old device. With thoughts of perhaps running VM's (Virtual Machines) on this device, well, more RAM would have been an area to make improvements in, but it just isn't in the cards for this machine, or at least not without limitations.

Disk capacity is plentiful with 1 TB of hard drive space built-in. For most users, that is more than should be needed. If someone did want to work with virtual machines and the like, I could see using up considerable portions of that disk space, but again, for more typical users the 1 TB that is included should be fine.

Wi-Fi performance has been quite reasonable for me. In my case, this laptop easily found both of the available Wi-Fi access points and networks and would happily operate on either even when sitting farther away than I might have expected other devices to be able to work from. For example, I have tablet devices and/or other laptops that just can't find the access points unless they are sitting much closer to the access points (which is why I have multiple APs in my home, basically one for either end of the home), but experienced none of those issues with this laptop.

The size of the unit is a bit bigger than I had originally expected when looking at the system specs, but not really that much bigger than the VAIO that I formerly had. Having the backlight available behind the keyboard is kind of neat, but as a touch typist, I don't necessarily need the visual clues that others might.

Having 4 USB ports, two of them USB 3.0, is nice as it seems that I'm always plugging something into those ports.

All told, this is a nice laptop. Not necessarily top of the line or gamer ready, but nice for most home users. It is stuck in the middle of a crowded marketplace when it comes to these devices, and the performance and other features are not necessarily enough to make it stand out.

It doesn't feature the lightweight and/or longer battery life features that would be found, as an example, in my ASUS X202E 11.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop which is more of an Ultrabook type device, and at 5+ pounds, well, it is actually relatively heavy by comparison. Especially in an era where tablet PCs are becoming more the rage. It is not a convertible device, doesn't flip the display, doesn't break into two pieces (the keyboard "dock" and the touchscreen device of a typical convertible device) and as such, well, again lands somewhat squarely in the middle of the marketplace with customers that will likely expect more.

If asked about recommending this device for purchase, I could easily do so, but I'd also want to ask the intended purchaser hard questions such as "what do you intend to use it for", "where do you intend to use it", and things like that which might make them think all the more about perhaps looking into a Microsoft Surface Pro Tablet or something of that ilk.

Oh, one minor complaint, but something that I think all laptop makers do (and I wish they wouldn't), comes up in the fact that this device includes Windows 8, but not Windows 8 Pro. I will be adding, eventually, the media center components to this device and doing so will require "upgrading" to Windows 8 Pro. Yet another opportunity to hand Microsoft more funds. Ugh. I'll also be looking to add Office to this device and will likely do so via subscription to Office Live. Ah, the fun of owning laptops and other computing devices.

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The first machine came with a problem on the LCD screen a white line down the left part of the screen which was promptly exchanged without much hassle.

Now I am facing an issue with the intermittent wifi connection. I lose connection for a minute every now and then. I know it is not a router problem, because I check with another machine. After reinstalling wifi drivers, the problem seemed to go away, until the day before yesterday. I have sent the machine for a checkup and have not heard back from them. I will update the review once I hear back from them.

Pro's

Instant start up. quite a fast machine (I have lots of files and pages on my browsers open, and the memory of this machine seems to handle it well.

Touchscreen is great. Though it takes some time to learn, and there are youtube help videos, once mastered, win8 does not seem to be a big deal.

the keyboard light is good and bad in low light it is wonderful, but once it is darker, the keyboard light reflects on the screen which is a nuisance.

Cons,

Keyboard light in dark places

Machine heats up quite fast.

Wifi issue? ( i thought only the lenovo's had this problem!!!)

Best Deals for Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14218CXP 14-Inch Core i7 Touch Laptop

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program First, let me say that this laptop is gorgeous. I was pleasantly surprised how nice the white color looks on this laptop. The color is more of a Pearl white and looks very elegant and gives a very good impression at first glance. This device is plastic, and not the aluminum trim model. Still, the fit and finish is superb, and definitely Sony quality. The buttons are great quality and the backlit keyboard is stunning behind the white keys. The buttons have a great feel to them, and a nice, soft click. The screen is also of great quality. Very bright with good contrast ratio. The machine is a solid piece of hardware.

The i7 processor keeps up very well when multitasking, but can become QUICKLY bogged down when making multiple downloads. I was a little surprised that the machine slowed down as much as it did, but I feel this is more a function (or limitation) of the HDD than the processor. The fan runs very quiet and minimal heat is felt from the laptop, though it does heat up pretty fast. The touchscreen also works flawlessly.

There are a few important issues with the laptop that keep it from becoming a player, in my opinion. The main issue being the touch pad on the device. The pad does not register any clicks on the right side of the pad. It does, however, register scrolling, etc. At first, I thought the pad was designed this way, until I realized after using the laptop for an hour how frustrating it was to click on the touch pad and not get a response. I did all the necessary updates, including the bios update, and even tried to reinstall the touch pad software with no success. I called Sony, spent an hour on the phone with their technician, and received no help with the issue. I'd say about 75% of the touch pad works great. The right side of the pad did not work out of the box. Another issue is battery life. I'm getting about 2.5 hours at 50% brightness with a balanced power plan. I was expecting a bit more. The WIFI has been a bit sporadic, but lately it seems to have become a bit more stable.

I guess I was expecting a bit more from a Sony laptop that retails in the $800+ range. I recently purchased a mid range Aluminum laptop for my wife that is on par with this one for hundreds less, plus the quality controls were much better on her laptop. This laptop does not include a hybrid drive, which would help speed things up a bit. My wife's laptop has a hybrid drive. I think at this price point, you can find a much better laptop that will give you better performance out of the box.

UPDATE: After spending another hour on the phone with the Sony technician, I was asked to send the Vaio in for repair. The return process is very smooth and Sony pays for overnight shipping, as well. Thanks to Sony for the good service after the initial call, though it is always a little disappointing when you have to send in a brand new device for repair. But it does happen. I will have the laptop back in 10 business days, and will update this review if the issue is not corrected.

Honest reviews on Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14218CXP 14-Inch Core i7 Touch Laptop

I was a bit unsure when I went to buy this computer, but now that I have it, I love it. Many of the complaints that I had read about, I googled them and found a solution for most of it and I'm really happy with this purchase. The touchscreen is awesome and I love Windows 8, yes it's confusing at first but along with the computer comes a little Windows 8 tutorial that shows you the basics. The backlit keyboard is not as bad as people say, its really helpful actualy. Also, you can fix the sensitivity of the trackpad so its not jumping all around & when people say that the right side of their trackpad doesn't work, its because that's your right clicker (the one that brings up the drop down menu)so you just have to get used to clicking on the left side when you want to select something, and if you can't get used to that, then just tap it, the touchscreen is great. I haven't had problems with my wifi, it's actually been working great. I'm super happy with my purchase, and if you have any questions about anything, you cant go wrong by googling it, or if you're thinking about buying it and haven't yet,comment on this post & ask whatever you're debating about so maybe I can help clarify.

p.s DataVision is a great company, the delivery got here sooner than expected. ALSO! I thought this was the aluminum model, but I'm really happy with the plastic model, it looks very sleek.

I would definitely recommend this Laptop to a friend.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14218CXP 14-Inch Core i7 Touch Laptop

When I first received this computer I was fairly impressed with it. It is a very sleek computer with a modern design. It runs great and the touchscreen is very nice, but I would not recommend this laptop until the WIFI issue has been fixed.

The laptop has the worst wifi range of any device I own. My kindle fire has a longer range than the vaio 14 laptop. If im outside of 15-20ft of my router the laptop has 1-2 bars of connection in the same place where my older computer has full connection. This is outrageous for such a new computer. Unless you plan on leaving the Ethernet cable plugged in at all times DO NOT BUY THIS LAPTOP

Buy HP ENVY TouchSmart 17t-j000 Quad Edition Notebook PC (FULL HD Touch

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,599.99
Sale Price: $1,549.95
Today's Bonus: 3% Off

This is replacing my HP Laptop that is 5 years old. Although I am not fond of

Windows 8 the touchscreen was a must to me. The HD display is everything it

is supposed to be. The only complaint is the flexibility of the left side of the keyboard, but I can live with that for a trade off.

Windows 8 is going to release 8.1 in October and I believe it will be an update. This will no doubt improve

functionality of windows 8. Like a start button and booting into desktop mode. Can't wait.

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Review of HP G60-445DX - Turion X2 RM-75 / 2.2 GHz - RAM 3 GB - HDD 320 GB

Customer Ratings:

This is an amazing labtop. Got it for a great price and I really love it! This should have been at least 600.00 when I bought it and I got it for less than 500.00.

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I purchased this laptop in late 2009 for $500.00 brand new. For all its flaws, I could look past them knowing I'd never buy a then new computer that cheap. Not once have I had to take it in for maintenance! It's spared me the grief that a 2 year warranty would otherwise cover. I don't expect to have any serious problems with it. It is highly recommended that you upgrade to Windows 7 home premium, and ditch Vista. Mine came with a free upgrade, and it loads much faster.

Pros:

-10-Key pad! (This was what ultimately sold me.)

-Fast loading at startup and online.

-"Classic" desktop theme makes the computer compatible with older games and programs that required Windows XP to run.

-"Energy mode" makes the battery life much last for about 6 hours.

Cons:

-The shell is plastic. Try not to be careless with it.

-Portable, but not lightweight. (6.5 lbs)

-Unplugged, the battery life while internet surfing can barely make it two hours.

-Low end video card. (Nvidia 8200M) Will run "heavy" games like the sims 2, but this is not a gaming computer.

Best Deals for HP G60-445DX - Turion X2 RM-75 / 2.2 GHz - RAM 3 GB - HDD 320 GB

If you get this laptop at a reasonable price I would not deter you from buying it, otherwise choose another laptop. I am not against HP's cause I've experienced others that do not suffer from the same 'defects' as this.

1)Don't put this laptop on your lap, you will get 2nd or 3rd degree burns

2)Do not expect exceptional battery life (although the same can be said about half the pc's on the market today) but expect to be connected to the power cable for the most part

3)It may run slowly at times but to be fair be sure the cause of that is not user based

All in all it is not a bad machine but HP definitely needed to iron out these issues before releasing this product

Honest reviews on HP G60-445DX - Turion X2 RM-75 / 2.2 GHz - RAM 3 GB - HDD 320 GB

For the price, I thought this would be a decent buy. The specs looked amazing on paper with a good processor, enough ram and memory. The big screen is nice too. It was nice having the HDMI and also SD/XD/etc card slot. Make sure you get the windows 7 upgrade too, it was well worth it.

Cons: As already mentioned,the battery is poor. I couldn't make it through a 2 hour class without it being plugged in. The battery was shot after a year. The computer itself heated up really fast... faster than any other laptop I have used; a friend told me that HP used cheap hardware for a couple of years, and that is why this model gets really hot. I also noticed early on, that the power supply connection was never secure, it seemed to wiggle easily. I also noticed that the CD drive was really loud, but that is understandable being it is a laptop.

My biggest complaint with this computer is its poor recording capability. This computer wasn't able to record anything of notable quality, from webcam videos to audio from lectures I attended (using one note). It always turned out bad, after multiple calls to customer support, re-installing drivers and updating them again, the problem was never solved. There are also multiple forums about users experiencing the same problems... just look up HP G60 recording issues.

Discount LATITUDE E6400 P8700 2.53G 4GB SYST250GB DVDRW WL W7 NVS1603

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LATITUDE E6400 P8700 2.53G 4GB SYST250GB DVDRW WL W7 NVS1603Hi, I have a question about this product (which I attached the product link.) Is it a 32-bit operating system or 64-bit???

Please let me know when you guys can!

Thanks!

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Best HP Envy DV6-7229wm C2M12UA (Midnight Black) - AMD Quad-Core Deals

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My friend kept trying to make me buy a Macbook but I decided to get this instead. I love it, it does everything its supposed to and comes with tons of memory.

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Technicly it's okay I guess, but it has some cosmetic damage on the top and at a side, not too much but it's there. Also the screen it's kinda loose, it moves a lot, I strongly believe that it suffered a fall. I know that the screen should be tighter, and I think that within a few months it could get worse and that would suck for real. So that's too bad!

Reviews of Sony VAIO(R) Duo 11 SVD1122APXB 11.6" Capacitive Touchscreen

Customer Ratings:

The price tag on this configuration might scare some people off for an ultrabook; but consider that you get 8 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD. For the price, this is actually quite affordable. Most other manufacturers don't even offer 512 GB and when they do they mark up the product about $600 (for instance see the Fujitsu T902). Also this is a very capable device; it's basically a desktop replacement in a portable form factor. I got this device yesterday afternoon and already love it. I actually ordered it directly from Sony but felt I had to review it on Amazon to do it justice. The case is simultaneously surprisingly sturdy and surprisingly slim and light. In reviews I've read on Amazon and elsewhere, people complained about the weight, but it's lighter than the alternatives and it didn't feel that heavy to me. If you're used to say, an iPad or a Nexus 7 then sure, it's heavy, but that's not really a fair comparison. Those devices are a closed system with very weak processors and not very much RAM or storage, so of course they're lighter. This isn't a tablet; it's an ultrabook. However, it works very well in tablet mode. I ordered it with the extra sheet battery which does make it noticeably thicker and heavier, but I got used to it pretty quickly. People have complained about the battery life, but given how powerful this machine is, the advertised 4 hours and 45 minutes is very good, especially compared to my wife's Macbook Pro, which even with a brand new replacement battery lasts all of 3 hours; and this device is more powerful! With the sheet battery it lasts a very long time with mixed use.

Following are some additional complaints people have had and my analysis:

Screen hard to slide open: Nonsense. It slides open and closed very easily. If you simply read the 2-step instructions that come in the box you'll figure it out in about half a second. The screen is very thin but doesn't feel cheap or flimsy. It's quite well-seated in both positions and feels sturdy. The magnesium supports for the screen in the upright position are very sturdy feeling as well.

There are exposed ribbon cables behind the screen: Doesn't bother me. There is a plastic guard the runs the entire width of the screen. I suppose if you are careless there is an off chance something could get back there, but it doesn't seem likely. Just blow it out with canned air every once in a while, assuming it's necessary.

The trackpoint in the middle of the keyboard is glitchy: Again, nonsense. I've never had the problem people describe elsewhere of hitting the trackpoint when typing 'g' or 'h'. I find myself almost never using it, and when I do, suprisingly, it works just as well if not better than a full sized pad.

There is no trackpad: Not necessary. There is the trackpoint, which works perfectly, a stylus and a touchscreen. Personally I find myself almost always using the touchscreen, as it's more direct. I only use the trackpoint and the mouse buttons when something is too hard to scroll or click on the screen.

It takes 2-20 seconds for the screen to flip: Just plain incorrect. I don't know how the models configured with less RAM perform, but this model flips in 1-2 seconds, tops.

Windows 8 is hard to use: For starters, this has nothing to do with the device. Secondly, I think Windows 8 is actually a really good OS. It's basically Windows 7 with added features for tablet and touchscreen use. As with any major release of Windows, some major things did change and as is always the case it's initially difficult to figure out how to do things that you used to do in the last version. For instance, there's no Start button so to get to things like Computer Management, you have to go through the power user menu. Some things have been renamed; the Run as Administrator option is only available in context menus from the Desktop, so you have to use ctrl + shift + enter from the search menu for most apps; et cetera. As in all versions of Windows, all of these things have an equivalent solution to the old OS in the new OS. If you are not a ready adopter of new tech, and you're one of those people who still pines for XP, or you're just not very computer savvy, then this might not be the device for you. If you're a tech head or a power user or even if you're just open to learning new tech, then I'd make the leap to 8 with this device.

Photoshop doesn't support pressure sensitivity from the stylus: Not really an issue. I do prefer this weren't the case, but it comes loaded with an app called ArtRage Studio Pro. Some artists have called it bloatware, but it's really not; it's a very capable bit of software that frankly might even be better than Photoshop for drawing. It imports from and exports to Photoshop, preserving layers.

The keyboard is too small: I admit that the keyboard takes some getting used to; it takes about a day.

The screen has only one position: Really not an issue at all. The angle is perfect and the device is so small it's easy to turn around if you need to show someone something, or fold it down. If you absolutely have to have that feature for some reason, I'd get the Fujitsu T902 or the Lenovo ThinkPad Twist; but those are much more bulky, heavy devices and not nearly as portable. The Lenovo, for instance, doesn't even support swiping and comes installed with Windows 7. The Fujitsu on the other hand does have a more powerful processor available and a bay for a second battery that doesn't add to the form factor, giving it 12 hours; it was the runner up to this device. I chose the Duo because of it's portability.

There are a few things I wish were done better (but these are all minor):

Can't upgrade. The RAM is soldered to the board and there is no way to open the device without taking apart the whole case. However, it only takes up to 8 GB RAM anyway and 512 GB is more than ample storage. It blows most other devices out of the water; even my desktops only have 256 GB SSDs. Those are really the only things you'd want to upgrade. The only device that does this better is the Fujitsu T902, but you would only upgrade it once to fit 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD, which you would have to do because Fujitsu charges an arm and a leg to configure it that way. 16 GB is probably overkill anyway unless you are running several VMs; though you could run a couple on this device and be fine.

The screen hangs down and wobbles when touching it a little when laying flat and holding it upside down in your lap while in bed. This goes away completely of course if you fold it down, and I almost never need the keyboard in this position anyway. There's also a very good digital keyboard built into Windows 8.

There is a fair amount of bloatware. However, it doesn't seem to slow the machine down or get in your way.

Reinstalling with all of the correct drivers for touch might be a pain. However, I've had to install specialized drivers for every laptop I've owned when reinstalling Windows.

There is no place to store the cap for the stylus; I ended up just tossing it in a drawer, since I store it in the holder on the sheet battery.

There is no place to store the stylus without the sheet battery.

The volume buttons are hard to reach. However, it's less difficult in tablet mode and in laptop mode there are function keys.

The graphics are not that powerful. They are perfectly sufficient for videos or games that don't require much VRAM, but this is no gaming rig. And of course this chip is a big improvement over previous versions of Intel GMAs. You wouldn't want to use this device for that anyway though; if you're a gamer you want a big screen and a big keyboard. Needless to say, they couldn't fit a big, powerful card in such a small device.

All in all, this is an amazing device that is a joy to use. I've actually found Windows 8 quite user friendly once you know how to work it. There are a few quirks, for example with Xbox Live integration, but again this has nothing to do with the device. Restart times are amazing compared to my Windows 7 desktop machines; we clocked it at 18 seconds for a full restart. Wake from sleep times are almost instant. It transitions seamlessly between the two modes, it's powerful, sturdy, stylish, portable, flexible, et cetera. I feel like this category of device is game changing for some people. I've been waiting for this kind of device before purchasing a tablet device, as I don't like closed systems for anything but my phone; and I think this is one of the few devices currently on the market that actually lives up to the promise of this category. If you can afford this configuration of the Sony Vaio Duo 11, buy it. If not, save up and then buy it. It's a fantastic all around device that you can use for almost anything you would use a desktop system for.

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Light, multifunctional, starts up is instantaneous!

Just face it you need removable storage.

Buying 2 devices will not replace it.

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Listed this item to include Windows 7, was not. Have fought for almost 1 month to return and stating serial number not the one they sold me. Will not give RMA to return. Will not supply shipping. Stating I lied about listing saying Windows 7 on it. I would think twice before I bought anything from J & R Music and Computers

Acer 15.6" Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4500 2.3Ghz 250GB Laptop | Review

Customer Ratings:

I bought one of this at our local Walmart Store for $355.00(tax included). I was so impressed with the features that came with it. All I needed are included in this one magnificent light unit plus Windows 7 is the best OS so far. You don't have to spend that much for a good laptop try this and you will never regret it... you'll even have extra cash for a wireless all-in-one printer.

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I bought this laptop for my wife 3 weeks ago. In that time we have had a chance to try it out. I agree with most of the other reviews as far as most of the features of this unit. The only problem we have is in the speaker. It comes with only one speaker which you cannot hear. I called Acer service and was told by someone in India, that there is no cure for the problem. He said because there is only one speaker, there is low volume. It is a shame because the rest of the unit works so well. If you use headphones the sound is excellent,but if you use the external speaker be prepared to put your ear next to it to hear.

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I purchased this laptop about a month ago. Very fast and quiet operation. The screen is vibrant & very clear. Great price for this system.It acts and feels like a $900 piece.Acer does an awesome job,LOVE their products.I plugged my nastolgic Juster 660 HIFI 3-d speakers and viola,great instant surround.The 1 stereo speaker is small yet audible&stereo.I do wish it had 2,however,just for convenience.DVD multi is great as is the webcam and it's options.Deleting some chub programs made it even quicker. I would recommend this to anyone-again top of the line for the money.

Honest reviews on Acer 15.6" Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4500 2.3Ghz 250GB Laptop |

I would recommend this computer for anyone who wishes to own a computer with a number pad, low cost, and fairly good insides. The down side is the lack of a battery life. This is over come by the prepossessing power, and number pad in my opinion. I have no major issues to report, and I enjoy the computer very much, especially for the price.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Acer 15.6" Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4500 2.3Ghz 250GB Laptop |

my first laptop...works well with internet(mainly wat i got it 4). the built in wifi is great 2(tried it at the library,mcdonalds, n arbys,free of course.works best wen inside of building, but does work outside too). it is a dual core, wouldnt get anything less. it would b 2 slow(cpubenchmark 4 research). jus luv the portability n great lookin laptop overall! love the price 2. jus wish i couldve gotten it cheaper like the other peeps that reviewed this laptop. 1 thing i didnt like nothing major of course, jus prefer vista over 7. overall great laptop, get u 1! (12/6/10 update: price has gone up from $415 to $465)