Buy Acer Computer AOA110-1722 Aspire One 8.9-Inch Notebook PC

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UPDATE 08/29/2008: Received my new Acer Aspire One today. Wow, one day shipping from J&R rocks! The blue AAO with Win XP looks just like the Linux version: there is the SD "Storage Expansion" slot on the left side and a multi-format card reader on the right, 3 USB ports, etc. It boots up pretty fast and runs the so familiar WIN XP OS. I liked the Linux graphics, but to be honest, as a Windows user, I felt lost. So far, I haven't had any problems with the wireless (knock on wood) that I have experienced when I used the Linux version. Yes, you can hear the fan, as some of the reviewers have mentioned, BUT, it is not nearly as annoying as they claim. I can live with that. The Hard Drive is listed as 120GB, however, it shows up as 105 GB. The windows XP version comes with a 60-day trial of MS Office 2007 and McAfee Security Suite. Curiously, it also comes with InterVideo WinDVD, although, as you are aware, there is no DVD drive. Other programs included are: MS Works, Adober Reader 8, IE, MSN, Windows Media Player, Windows Messenger, Windows Movie Maker, Acer eRecovery Manager. I installed Firefox without a glitch. So far, I am very pleased with the laptop. It's not a $2,000 Sony or Mac, but it's a great value. It does what it is supposed to do. I am glad I returned the Linux and ordered the Windows. It works better for my needs.

UPDATE 8/28/2008: So, Amazon dropped the price on Acer Aspire One with Linux OS. However, the Win XP version continues to be overpriced compared to other online retailers. I've decided to order the blue Win XP machine directly from J&R for $369.99 and will get an additional 15% off via Live Search Cashback (total price after cashback excluding shipping: $314.41). I decided to go back to the familiar XP configuration simply because I believe that learning Linux will involve too much effort to justify the cost. In addition, the Linux version of Acer Aspire One appears to have more wireless bugs than Windows. We'll see how the Win XP netbook performs.

UPDATE 8/25/2008. So far I haven't seen any price reductions by online retailers. I think they are waiting to purge their inventory. Best Buy, however, does have the blue Acer Aspire One with 1gb Ram, 120 gb HD and Win XP Home for $349.99. So far they are the first ones to jump on the Acer price drop bandwagon.

UPDATE 8/20/08. Acer just (4 hrs ago) made the announcement on Market Watch that it will slash the prices for Acer Aspire One to $349 for Win XP and $329 for Linux. I miss my Acer One and will order one again as soon as retailers update their prices. I thought it was a great deal for $379 but for $50 less it's an absolute bargain. I do hope that I won't have anymore wireless problems with this one.

ORIGINAL REVIEW: I had purchased this laptop from J&R in blue with Linux and it was in my hands the very next day. I really liked Acer Aspire One from the moment I pulled it out of the box. It's very compact, light, elegant, boots in no time (20 sec). I am a first-time Linux user and was actually pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to use. I followed the instructions from one of the Amazon reviews here to unlock the full OS and was able to add Skype (Fedora version) without a problem. OpenOffice is very straightforward and easy to use, email setup was a breeze. I plugged it into my cable modem and loved the very fast web page loading times. All in all, it's a great little laptop alternative, the screen is easy to read, the keyboard size is adequate for error-free typing, the trackpad took some getting used to but it was fine within a couple of hours.

Now to the negatives:

-the surface is very prone to fingerprint smudges

-the screen is very glossy and reflective, but the brightness compensated for the fact that I could always see my reflection on the screen

-the left and right mouse buttons are oddly positioned on either side of the keyboard, so that takes some getting used to

-now last but not least wireless connectivity problems. I've had the Acer Aspire One for over a week and have tried every single approach out there to get the wireless connection on it. the wireless networks would show up on the connection manager, but when I would attempt to connect to a particular network I would get an error message saying connection was terminated. One of the networks I tried to connect to was my own home wireless network which successfully worked for all of my other laptops. I tried the WEP protocol no success, I changed the router settings to WPA tried to connect no success, I changed it to the open network no success although I am sure my neighbors appreciated the open net access they could steal from me in the interim. I've searched the web for a solution and found out that this wireless problem seems to be an issue for a number of Acer Aspire One users out there. Some were able to fix it by running Live Update on a wired connection (I did it, but it didn't fix the problem), some played with sleep modes, reboots, etc. None of that worked for me. I tried to look up this issue on the Acer website, but their customer support is not very user friendly. So, I gave up, called customer service for an RMA# and am returning the Acer Aspire One today. I wish it had worked as I liked it so much, but it's no use to me without wireless connections and I believe that if I purchase a brand new item, it has to be fully operational straight out of the box. So, goodbye my dear sapphire blue Acer Aspire One, you will be missed, I hope your maker solves the wireless problem and I will buy you again when that happens. I would recommend this product without reservation if only the wireless problem is resolved.

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I bought this netbook to keep in my backpack at all times for email and web opportunities while I'm out and about. Other netbooks seem to suffer a bit from spec bloatbigger drives, more memory, higher prices.

Pros-

1. Small and light. Really light. I also have the eee pc 1000h. The difference is dramatic.

2. Given it's size, keyboard is ok.

3. On a purely personal note, the blue color is great.

4. Cheap, cheap, cheap. I picked mine up for $309. Other comparable netbooks seem to be up over $400.

5. I really like the Linux operating system. Its more like a PDA's. Lots of apps are included. Upgrading to latest versions looks easy.

6. Quiet

7. Very fast boot

8. Second SD slot that adds to drive size is a cool idea. Now if 16 or 32gb SD card prices would just come down, things would be great. I have lots of media files on SD's for other devices, I can plug them in and still have one free.

9. After seeing the 7" screens, I think the 8.9" is as small as you can go and still have it useful

10. Total travel package is really light. Small, light power brick and cord.

Negs-

1. Battery life is good, but would be amazing with a 6-cell

2. Shinyget used to lots of fingerprints. Would have been much better matte.

3. Included sleeve will protect from scratches, but not much else. No padding, no zipperjust basically a plastic pocket. I'm looking for an aftermarket sleeve.

Because of it's specs its more of a net appliance than notebook. But if you're looking for a cheap way to use hotspots and apps that don't require lots of resources, this is great.

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I bought the Blue Acer Aspire One (XP version with 120 gigabyte HD) just as soon as one was available. Did not buy it from Amazon because the price was higher than a local retailer (Micro Center). Micro Center has dropped the price to the Acer suggested retail price of $349 (XP). I did see the Linux Version at Circuit City for $307. So far no real complaints except that the touch pad is difficult to work with and it is not very precise. Actually the buttons are awkward to use and it often "double-clicks" seemingly on it's own. I use a mouse now. So far I have not needed a DVD player since I usually rip my DVDs "for my own use" and load them via the USB port on a Jump Drive or use my card reader. I purchased a home version of MS Office and simply entered the code. No need for the DVD just the code and it worked seamlessly. As noted the exterior is very prone to smudges and I find myself cleaning the unit regularly. I did note that the fan noise is a little loud when used in a quiet room but at coffee shops and other WIFI hotspots it is not noticeable. Again no real gripes and for the price it does what I was hoping for, a small websurfer with the capability of performing more complex tasks if needed. I purchased it for the price of a good PDA and it surfs the web better than my iPod Touch. Its a winner in my book...

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It comes with Linux, but it's packed with everything you need while traveling! I was looking for a small alternative to my heavy 17" MacBook Pro for surfing the Internet while traveling, and this was the right device! Not only does it find wireless connectivity easily with its built-in wifi, it comes with two media slots (actually, one is a SDHC-specific slot for adding more memory space). All you have to do is plug in a HDSC card and it does everything for you.

It's also pre-installed with OpenOffice, which is a great and free alternative to Microsoft's Office. It's compatible with MS Office's applications, too (just in case you're wondering). Boots very fast since it's running on Linux and uses a solid-state disk. If you are looking for a stylish, affordable, small laptop for surfing the net and office applications, this is for you! It's very light and comes with a nice faux-leather sleeve. If you have never used Linux before, the learning curve is very easy since this version of Linux uses a similiar windows-based GUI application, and no commands are needed.

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Beside the lesser time at booting up, the software seems really easy to operate with, which is Linux. After a little hack for installing more things, then I just added a bag of the kind that are used with portable dvd players, and extra 4 gig SD memory and a tiny retractable trip mouse (because my fingers are simply too big for any touchpad), and was amazed at how fast everything stuck together. It connects fast to the wifi network, so I have no complaints there, it browse really well. No moving parts gives the battery a long run for the money, and the screen really looks right. The camera is awesome, mics are ok, don't expect too much from the speakers of course. And it runs everything really fast, suspiciously fast I might say. No more than 3 process at a time... just in case. I took a long trip by airplanes, three legs. In every plane was able to use it for about an hour. For that price, I better start getting addons. 325$!!! wow!

Review of Acer Aspire V3-571G-9683 15.6-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black)

Customer Ratings:

This is the perfect laptop for anyone looking for a gaming laptop for under $1000. All the games I've tried on it have run perfectly, the most difficult probably being Skyrim, which ran perfectly on ultra settings. The laptop is very aesthetically appealing in my opinion (although some reviews for Acer Aspire V3 computer's said it was not attractive, I completely disagree). The main upside is gaming, but it also has a great keyboard which is very important to me as a college student, the screen is great, which is awesome for me because of netflix. The biggest issue I have with the design of the laptop is with the location of the track pad, and the buttons on the track pad. I was just playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 (which works perfectly), and my left hand would occasionally tap the track pad, causing my gun to fire at random. The buttons at the bottom of the track pad are frustratingly bad, but since I use a mouse that is not a big deal; the track pad is touch sensitive, and you can scroll up and down on the side of the track pad which is a nice feature.

Of course, the biggest issue most people have with newer Acers is with Windows 8; at first I found windows 8 incredibly frustrating, but within a couple days I got used to it. The only major difference is that instead of a start button where a sidebar pops up (like windows 7), you open up a start screen which has a tablet-esque feel to it. The start screen is slightly worse in my opinion, but not enough so that I feel the need to switch to windows 7. One thing that I don't care about, but others may love, is that there is a full numbers pad on the side of the keyboard, which would be great for programming or accounting or something like that. I have yet to use it, but others may love it.

The worst thing about this computer is its poor battery life, with full brightness you might get 2-3 hours, whereas my old hp pavillion dm4 got about double that. This doesn't bother me excessively because I almost always have a computer cord handy, but if you plan on taking this on the go don't count on a great battery. Of course an easy fix is to buy another battery (preferably with a lot more mAh) for about $50.

Pros: Great Graphics card, great processor, good GPU and enough GB hard drive make this a great gaming computer; screen resolution; nice keyboard; the ports (headphones, usb etc.) are tighter than usual which means your headphones won't fall out easily;

Average: speakers; screen size; Windows 8; start up time; internet connection;

Cons: Poor battery and heavier-than-average weight make this computer not particularly portable; Track pad location is bad (when you first get it the track pad will seem kind of sticky which will be annoying but this goes away quickly); comes with too much junk previously installed (for example who wants an ebay app installed on their computer?);

Note: Windows 8 will not let you do certain things because the original account you create will be called administrator but will not have full access to everything to prevent you from screwing things up. There is a simple fix to this, go to command prompt and type some stuff in you can find online and you will be able to log into the real administrator account.

Also, I definitely recommend a mouse (I think Logitech is the best) because the buttons on the track pad and the location of the track pad are abysmal.

Edit: Extremely fast start up speed, under 10 seconds.

Edit: As the comment below says, if you hit fn+f7 it will shut off the trackpad so you don't accidentally click it while playing a game.

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I've just recently bought this laptop and it exceeds expectations! I bought this computer for playing games and watching movies on netflix. This computer can not only play games on high/ultra graphics but also has a great display. Watching movies on it is great. The problem I have with this laptop is the short battery life. I get around 3 hours when gaming on high settings but I usually keep it plugged in so not a big problem. Another con with it is the placement of the track pad. I end up occasionally tapping the track pad when playing games causing something I don't want to happen. To fix this I bought a USB mouse. This laptop has been great for what I need it for and hopefully you'll love it two.

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the laptop is good and all just that there are 2 different graphic cards in it, you can't really tell the diffrence between the HD 4001 and the 730M inside... but if you are playing a game that needs the card like some steam games [Merto 2033] the 730m will give you a better picture and smoother loadings per frame. The laptop gets hot after an hour of playing so not recommended over 2 hour 30 min of playing for regular use the laptop does not get to hot unless left on to long the bat life is about 3 hours on low settings in real world if just typing a paper or using the web. use if playing games on bat its about 1.5 hours if watching a videos on dvd it lasts about 2 hours.

overall its a good laptop and it looks like its priced correctly the heat would come from underneath and from where you rest your wrist its quiet and fast.

Reason for the 4 starts is cuz the screen resolution looks like its 720P instead of 1080. games run at 60 FPS most of the times the worst it got was 30 FPS. i did put all the setting maxed [Metro 2033] the game ran about 50 to 65 FPS some parts the game would drop to 35 FPS [This will be my bench marker for this PC]

Honest reviews on Acer Aspire V3-571G-9683 15.6-Inch Laptop (Midnight Black)

Save for the one or two special keys that were mixed up on the keyboard (easily overlooked as they are few and far between) and my unfortunate first time encounter with the confounded mass of unnecessary options that is Windows 8 (Remedy: Only use the desktop and you're golden), the laptop performs above my expectations and at a fair price. I could also nitpick at some discomforts like where volume control and brightness adjustment were placed, but its hardly an issue and more a personal preference. This product is powerful, thumbs up!

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Needed a new computer for my employees and this notebook was top notch helping very well with what we needed.

Toshiba Satellite L855-S5171, Up to 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-3630QM Review

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at a first glance this lap top blew my mind with its sleek look, bold colors, smooth operation and break neck speed when running games, but upon further inspection, i realized that (in my opinion) windows 8 wasn't all it cracked up to be, and what was especially a bummer was the fact that it gives you hell to downgrade to a lower more familiar version. But all in all it is a steal of a buy. If i had a chance to buy it again, the only thing i would do differently is get it in windows 7 lol

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Discount Lenovo G570 4334DBU 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:

Expecting great performance from this product is unrealistic. The laptop does have a surprisingly decent touch-pad which is always nice to have on a laptop. It is pretty pack for the price, and for less than $50 you can throw 4gb more of ram to help give it a further boost. It is also fairly light for a budget 15" laptop and has great battery life. My complaints on it would be the screen quality. The picture is not great and it does give off a lot of glare. Given the price, I can't really complain about the product. Consider it buying last years technology only new and cheaper (i.e. it runs USB 2.0 and not 3.0)

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I've owned this computer for about a month now, have had no problems at all, and am very happy with it. I'm writing this review with it, in fact.

The computer starts up quickly and runs just fine for me. I'd say it's typically ready to go in well under a minute. As others have stated, it does not come pre-loaded with a bunch of software. That may be a drawback for some folks, depending on what you're looking for. For me it works out great as I can add things later, as needed, without having to delete extra pre-loaded items that I never wanted to begin with. You do get a basic version of Microsoft Office including Word & Excel, as well as Google's Chrome and IE Explorer for web browsing. All of which fit my needs and have given me no problems.

As far the fingerprint issue that other people have mentioned, yes, the cover is a fingerprint magnet. I couldn't care less about that myself. The only minor complaint I might have is that the screen is reflective and can be a bit hard to see in the sunlight. But you can work around this pretty easily. But on a 1-10 Bothers Me scale, I'd rank the screen issue at about a 2. Meaning that I can easily live with it.

As for the computer feeling a bit cheap and plastic-y, as I think someone else may have said...about all I can say is, it doesn't seem that way to me. Hey, it's not a high-end computer. But it's not an etch-a-sketch either, you know? It more than does the job I ask of it, and I think it looks and feels perfectly fine while doing it. If that's an issue for anyone.

The keyboard and touchpad both work perfectly. The keyboard is surprisingly big for a laptop, at least to me, and is quite easy to use. The cooling vent is located on the side, and I've never had any issues at all with the computer getting hot, or even noticeably warm. Connection ports are located on both sides and easily accessible.

The DVD drive.....others have mentioned the bullet-like speed with which it opens. They aren't kidding about that. It pops out in a hurry, and unfortunately the button that opens it is fairly easy to hit by accident. Again though, this is a pretty minor issue.

Also, and again as I think other reviewers have said, the speakers aren't the greatest. They're not awful, but you may decide you want to attach some external speakers, or some earphones. I use a cheap pair of earphones I got at Wal-Mart for ten bucks, and they work great.

All in all, for under $500 you're getting a surprisingly good little computer. As someone else wrote, it may not be a $1,500 laptop, but it's not supposed to be. But if you're like me, after you've used it a while, you'll find yourself thinking that it's a heck of a lot better than it's price-point might lead you to believe. It's a very good value.

I would definitely recommend this computer to others.

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This is the 2nd Lenovo and 4th "IBM" laptop that I have purchased, all have been great and never died, just needed to update processors and features over the years. This one is perfect for the price and highly recommend it for students and home use. Waiting for another one to arrive and will see how that one is as well.

Honest reviews on Lenovo G570 4334DBU 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Well i will start by saying its built to a price and it kinda shows in some areas. my biggest concern is the plastic looking hinge for the screen...not sure how that will last, but for 450 you get a decent laptop.

The speakers sound noticeably small, the top surface is a fingerprint magnet and well the webcam is not the best but for this price i can't complain.

Well update if things fall apart....just giving Lenovo a chance :)

~Update 3rd April 2012~

Forgot to mention that the DVD drive kicks out with such ferocity...."look out", but even so it closes flush with the side of the system. The button on the drive is also somewhat recessed so pressing it without looking will take some practice.

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Great value to get an i3 for $400 in a decent shell like this one. No it's not comparable to a 1500 dollar laptop but better build then a Toshiba we have. It is plastic (as you would expect at the price point) but it could be a lot worse. The lid just sits closed instead of been clipped which is not ideal. Layout is good with keys and plugs e.t.c. Screen is reflective but everyone is copying the apple shinny thing now days and the back of the lid shows smudges and finger prints if you just look at it.

Didn't come with a lot of bloatware and what it did come with was easy enough to get out. For the intended purpose we have (email, web browsing, downloading pictures from a p&s and very light word processing) it's reasonably fast. Extra memory is cheap and that would help but it's certainly not required unless your running something more serious. Battery life so far is quite good BUT the devil of that is in longevity so I expect it to crash like all my other laptops over time :-/

I hesitate to include this as an IT person I realise how little it means but will anyway. Like most laptops, it's hurt from the GP more then the other stuff with the cpu been better then I would expect. From the windoze experience thingi :-

Processor 6.7

Memory 7.2

Graphics 4.6

Gaming (3D) 6.1

Hard Drive 5.8

Razer Blade (Win 8) RZ09-00830500-R3U1 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black) Reviews

Customer Ratings:

Pros:

-The build quality and attention to detail on the laptop is exceptional, rivaling the MBP. It's one of the only windows laptops in existence where you can tell a lot of thought and care went into the design and build.

-Fan noise level is decent even under load.

-It's light and thin enough to put in a bag and transport on a regular basis.

-It's got a powerful cpu and gpu capable of driving even graphically demanding games at smooth framerates, and completely demolishing anything system-friendly like Torchlight 2 or League of Legends.

-SSD caching makes many common tasks extremely fast.

Cons:

-Battery life tends to be a bit short even when not gaming.

-No second audio port for my headset.

-Up/Down directional arrows are dinky. Games often use the d-arrows, so this is suboptimal. It could be solved by a 'directional arrow' setting for the switchblade, but they curiously omitted such a setting. Speaking of which...

-Switchblade UI is fairly immature and lacks vital customization options as of now. Seems like something that will be fixed eventually, but I would prefer a cheaper laptop without the switchblade. Most gamers are going to attach a gaming mouse, and gamers don't really need flashy optimus buttons because they memorize their hotkeys.

Conclusion:

The Razer Blade fundamentals are strong--specs, build quality, design, portability. There is nothing else like it on the market. The immature and expensive switchblade ui holds it back from greatness.

Update:

I've found out how to customize the switchblade UI buttons, and the functionality I wanted (the ability to attach custom macros and pictures to buttons on a program-specific basis) is there, I just wasn't able to figure it out by messing around. This is interesting and negates a couple of my criticisms, but I think I still would have preferred a less expensive Blade without it. Also, apparently the audio jack is combined line-in and audio. Not as convenient as two jacks, but better than what I thought.

Update2:

After using the laptop for a few weeks, I've definitely come around on the switchblade top buttons. I've created a variety of macros for games and normal windows applications, and being able to tag them with custom text and pictures has really upped my productivity. I've raised my review to 5 stars from 4, although I think the switchblade software still has a ways to go.

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I've been a fan of Razer products for a while. Not just the products but the company philosophy of making quality hardware with gamers in mind and so when I saw the new Razer Blade I instantly fell in love with it. The sleek Macbook Pro look, the hardware to actually play games on more than decent settings, and the extras that wow on first glance and then blow your mind when you start to use it. This is definitely the work of people who sat down with a vision and made it without compromise.

This laptop hits the nail on the head in so many ways:

The Design

First off let's look at the competition and their view of a gaming laptop: Huge, plastic, loud, heat blasting, flashing colors, powerful gaming desktop replacements. They get job done but the appeal is more geared towards teens that show it off to friends. It's not something you want in public and not something you really want to lug around with a power brick half the size of the laptop. It doesn't really have a place outside of the gaming world. It is in all senses of the word a toy, and an expensive one at that. In general todays gaming laptops have the bells and whistles but aren't refined products. Enter the Razer Blade a sleek thin .88 profile weighing in at roughly 6 pounds sporting a clean black matte coat over a full aluminum frame with green lighting accents and logo. You wouldn't even know it was a powerful gaming notebook until you launched Battlefield 3 and marveled at how well it played. The Razer Blade is a classy product pulling design cues from the Mac Book Pro, the Optimus Maximus keyboard, and gamer preferences for matte screens and a clean finish. No crazy lights, no heat blasting exhausts, and the only part of this laptop with a shred of plastic on it is the keyboard and with the power brick roughly the size of a remote control it's the most portable gaming laptop there is. And of course sticking to their motto "For gamers, by gamers." They've planned much of the layout and design for the general gamer: Moving the ports to the left side leaving the mouse free to move around without obstructions. Removing the optical drive because most PC gamers are downloading everything they need. Moving the trackpad to the right side and adding custom OLED keys that can be modified with macros, shortcuts, any custom pictures as well as being able to use the trackpad as a browser, email and an array of other apps so you can check guides and email and browse the internet all without leaving the game. I couldn't make a better laptop if I designed it myself. The only thing that bugs me is it doesn't have an IPS panel which would of given a great viewing angle and color reproduction. That's not to say the viewing angles are bad on this laptop, or even the screen quality, but if you're going to set the bar high with the build quality of everything else on this laptop, give it a IPS screen too.

The Hardware and Software

So you're looking at this laptop which means you obviously want two things out of this laptop: You want it to be portable and you want to be able to play games on it. My concern coming from a plethora of other laptops is that with laptops you get either/or. You either get mobility and Intel HD 4000 graphics or some mid-range video card that won't play League of Legends past medium settings. Or you get power and make it a "laptop" in the loosest sense of the word. In other words it's a desktop that moves but it'll play your games on high settings, at least for a year or two before its outdated. Neither of these are the desired result. The Razer Blade however does an excellent job of merging these two together to make a balanced laptop. Now before I go any further, yes, you can buy a desktop for half the price of this and get 3-4x the performance but that's not the point of this system or any other gaming laptop. The point is having a system that can play those same games but is mobile, you don't have to move a monitor and tower along with all the other peripherals if you want to go to your friends house and play a game with them you move one thing and that's all. Laptops will never compete with a desktop computer as far performance goes and if that's what you're looking for in a gaming laptop you'll be disappointed no matter what laptop you buy. But that comparison shouldn't be made. They're for two different purposes and you have to accept that to justify the price/performance ratio. Speaking of performance this notebook is pretty good on it. Sporting a Nvidia Geforce 660m and Intel's new Ivy Bridge i7 processor this thing doesn't only game, it games well. In the time I've received this notebook to the time I wrote this review I've tried Dawn of War 2, Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2, and Far Cry 3, and it played all of the with 35-45+ frames per second on high settings. The human eye can't see past a little over 30FPS so this is more than acceptable especially for a gaming laptop. And when I say 35FPS I mean minimum, no dips into the 20s and no sign of lag and the games look fantastic I am more than satisfied with the performance of this laptop and this is coming from someone who was concerned he wouldn't be able to play games with the high graphic preferences that he's used to. One last thing that makes this a good laptop: No bloatware. This laptop comes clean without any extra software except for the Synapse 2.0 required to run your touchpad apps. No cleanup required after purchase.

What I Would Change

This is a gaming laptop that doesn't look like the average gaming laptop. Its thin, its sexy, and its powerful. But no product is perfect and a few things could be changed:

Allow color customization Green is good and looks great and this feature is kind of gimmicky but people like to customize stuff especially laptops with their own wallpaper and themes and browsers. It's an extension of our personality and the simple ability to change a color can make a huge difference.

The high price It's understandable why the price is so high: the build quality is excellent; without and sponsored bloatware, and not being one of the major computer manufacturers these things can get expensive but if there was a way to cut the cost without losing the quality it would be more of a reason to buy. I think the price is the biggest turn off when buying this product.

A larger hard drive; this should be obvious and it shouldn't cost much more. Throw a terabyte in there.

IPS screen as mentioned before.

Other than that this is an excellent laptop. It's the best quality I've ever owned or seen in any other laptop and it does what it supposed to for something targeted to gamer and I'd strongly recommend if you can afford it. Also I saw concerns about the touchpad and being left handed being an issue. Im left handed (and most people who are left handed still use their right hand to use their mouse but with touchpads on laptops we tend to use our left hand to browse) and I haven't had issues with the touchpad placement. It feels like your using a mouse and its easy to get used to.

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I have a desktop PC for gaming and this laptop.

Pro:

It is able to run all the games I have in Steam smoothly.

It is lighter than most of the laptops that I used.

Big screen!

Fast boot up. I have never used SSD before so I am not sure if this is the fastest SSD. But its definitely much faster than my 3.5" hdd in the desktop.

Gaming-wise, I cannot feel much difference except on max setting. The framerate its lower than my desktop but I expected it.

Cons:

Heat. It can get quite warm. There's once when I rocked my chair and my thigh hit the bottom of the table top. I could feel the heat from the bottom side!

LED display. The button functions are good to have but can live without. But there's no way you can play FPS with the LED. Simply too slow.

Honest reviews on Razer Blade (Win 8) RZ09-00830500-R3U1 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

I love the look and feel of Razer's products, and I have bought peripherals and this laptop in spite of the criticisms that come up regularly. Sadly, my laptop quickly developed an intermittent problem with its wireless card that makes mobile online gaming impossible. Given the accuracy of the comments that cautioned against buying it, I don't doubt that the complaints about the customer service are true as well. But I will give Razer a chance and come back to update this comment afterward.

Update

Ok, first I need to post an important disclaimer: I did not end up contacting Razer customer service. I elected not to bother after I went to their support website and found that there was nothing helpful on it whatsoever, which told me that my time would be better spent learning about what other people had done when encountering my problem.

After reading several online comments from other owners of this laptop, I went to Best Buy and picked up a Linksys wireless USB adapter (AC 1200 Dual Band) for $59.99, installed it and disabled the built-in network card. This not only solved the intermittent connectivity problem, it also made a dramatic improvement over the speed I had been getting before the built in Wi-Fi got squirrely on me.

I have upgraded my rating, but only to 2 stars. Personally, I would give it 4 stars because I love so many other aspects of the laptop, and I'm perfectly happy being able to solve the problem for sixty bucks and a plug in adapter because that means I don't have to go through the hassle of sending the laptop back for repair, or replacement with the attendant aggravation of having to reinstall everything or, worse yet, having to spend a bunch of time on the phone with tech support who want to make sure I've checked every other possible alternative fix before giving me an authorization code to send the machine back to them.

The rating I've compromised on is based on a couple of factors: first, most people would not regard having to buy an external Wi-Fi adapter as an acceptable solution; second, I have had enough problems with Razer's keyboards, mice and most recently my Orbweaver, to know that they deserve the highest marks for design and their commitment to meeting the hardware needs of gamers, but that the reliability of their equipment is an issue.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Razer Blade (Win 8) RZ09-00830500-R3U1 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

I'm a huge fan of Razer and have only Razer accessories on my gaming PC.

However after this big disappointment, and the reaction of Razer, this will be my last Razer product and i will not recommend getting any of the Razerblade line.

I bought mine in March and we are in July and i already have all these problems :

-Overheating : The laptop is unusable on the laps after 15 minutes of gaming. In the beginning it was okay but after 5 month it's just too hot. I asked the support who told me that i should not use it on my laps (LAPtop ...). They also told me to clean the vents which i did, but the problem is still there. I bought a Cooler Master U3 to cool it, and even with it the keyboard is just really really hot.

-Razer Synapse unstable : I get random crashes of the app, which stops the Touch-pad AND the keyboard for a couple seconds. I can let you imagine when you are playing a multiplayer game and this happens and the best moment ...

-Buzzing power adapter : The power adapter started making a huge buzzing sound (i could hear it with the headphones on). I asked the support to have a replacement which would be ok BUT i am currently traveling for a long time (hence the laptop again) and the support does not replace any part except in the US and I have to first send the power supply in before getting the replacement. Which means i will not be able to use the laptop for some time. The told me to buy a universal replacement. I'm still searching for a 150W laptop power supply that is not either really heavy, or really expensive.

-Dead pixel : 10 minutes ago i just saw a dead pixel appear on the screen. I didn't check with Razer yet, but i can already imagine the answer ...

Other elements are really good, thin and light real gaming laptop. However i just told my brother to take a ROG laptop (half the price ...) and it does not have any of the above problems ... Yes it's not thin and light but since i have to add a cushion or another accessory to be able to play, it's just not worth it.

Too bad Razer everything else was great, but you just lost a client !

Cheap Acer Aspire S3-391-6497 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $599.99
Sale Price: $559.99
Today's Bonus: 7% Off

As I already had a 7200rpm 500G slim hard disk, I decided to replace the 5400rpm one in it. It is very easy to open, no specific care needed. Took a little while to change the standard 2.5" slim disk. compared with the mSATA SSD hard disk used in S7, future updates to SSD could be much more affordable.

Beyond my expectation, this 24G SSD for rapid storage is upgradable with a standard mSATA port. 2 partitions on this disk, probably a system restore image and a cache partition. I just erased them all and assigned all 24G as IRST disk. Now it takes only seconds to fulfill a fully start up. You may need to find the correct IRST driver from other source than the Acer website. And activate RAID mode in CMOS setting.

I've read comments that this laptop may have bad WiFi signal, it could be true. A very stupid design made the white antenna wire too tight that the connection could loose by tiny force. If you have a WiFi problem, check it.

Battery life is not long, excel, word process for around 5hrs. watching movie with speaker for 2.5hrs, all with full screen back light capacity on. It could be improved simply by upgrading the hard disk to a SSD disk. But this battery life is good enough for me. USB port can not charge your phone when the laptop is shut down.

Keyboard is comfort for typing. I also tried to play game with it, cannot response when 3 keys are pressed simultaneously. touch pad is too touchy, but I usually use a mouse and disable it so not a problem for me.

No fancy touch screen or stupid simplified keyboard or weird port like S7, this laptop is functional in every aspects, worth every penny you pay. Surprisingly the price went up after I bought it. English is my 2nd language, leave a note if anything I wrote here is confusing, I'll try to reply~

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it's very light! good for travel and study outside!

love the champagne color a lot!

i5 is faster and easy navigation!

havent check the last of battery yet

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Purchased because I wanted to stick with Windows 7 and for the touted resolution of the screen. It did not disappoint in the latter and the speed and ease of access are exactly as promoted. I use it mostly for travelling and editing photos which required the high screen resolution. The quality for the sale price is more than acceptable.

Honest reviews on Acer Aspire S3-391-6497 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne)

I was looking for something lighter (light weight). You will get many products with same configuration but you have to spend around $950 or above. Then I was considering for MacBook Air but it has some restrictions on Windows, Linux and some windows based software. Finally I got the Acer product which is lighter than MacBook Air. I'm using this with dual boot (windows 7 and ubuntu). I'm satisfied with the performance. You can definitely consider this if you are low in budgets and high in choices!!!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Acer Aspire S3-391-6497 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne)

Just got it for a day. I wanted light weight with window 7 for my dual boot (linux). There are two concerns so far. The fan makes big noise and battery runs for 2.5 to 3 hours only.

Reviews of Dell Alienware M11X - Core i5 8GB DDR3 5.1 Surround Sound Stealth

Customer Ratings:

I bought this through Amazon, kept it for two weeks, then gave it to my grandson, who was ecstatic to get it. I ordered it for myself as an all purpose laptop. It met most of my needs. All applications ran very fast, and web surfing was a joy. The backlit keyboard is very good, and you can adjust the settings of the track pad to fit your preferences. The ability to change the colors of the lighting on the keyboard and other components is very cool. I liked being able to select which programs used the dedicated graphics processor, and which use the integrated graphics. It is whisper quiet, and runs very cool. Battery life is very good with the proper settings. Screen resolution and clarity is excellent. And the sound it produces is outstanding loud and clear. The rubberized finish feels so luxurious, and the included sleeve is a nice extra.

The only two things I did not like were the screen and the lack of a built in CD/DVD drive. The screen was simply too small for my aging eyes this is not a negative for this laptop, but rather an indication that buyers should try before buying. It was the small screen that made me to decide to give it to my grandson. And while the absence of a CD/DVD drive may help keep weight and power consumption down, the need to hook up an external drive with two USB cables tends to defeat the whole portability concept, especially if you play games that require the CD to be active.

To summarize:

The pros:

1) Very portable and relatively light weight

2) Excellent performance

3) Good battery life

4) Good screen resolution

5) Great sound

The cons:

1) Small screen

2) Lack of integrated CD/DVD

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Awesome laptop with amazing performance for it size. It will play the latest games from medium (COD MW2) to high/ultra settings (SC2).

This thing also never overheats. Its pretty big for a netbook but def worth it!

Thanks to nVidia Optimus technology, the battery life on this thing is fantastic (3+ hours playing online,5+ hours regular web surfing,watching videos...). The 8GB of Ram and the option to overclock the processor make this on-the-go gaming laptop a good future proof system.

Overall I'm very pleased with this system.I recommend it to anyone (especially if you can find it for under a grand)looking to do some gaming on the go and want to have the coolest looking laptop around.

Cons: I've heard about some hinges issues but Dell is working on it and will replace them even if the laptop is out of warranty. Make sure you open the lid with both hands to put less strains on the hinges.

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I have owned this notebook for about 6 months now and I'm really happy that I bought this machine. I really wasn't in the market for a new computer but when I got a new job that requires me to be away from home about 90% of the time, I had to get a desktop replacement to help keep my sanity (TV is over rated). This little guy is awesome small and easy to carry around. The battery can last me between 3 to 6 hours depending on what I'm doing. I have yet to peg this machine out with 8GB of RAM it is really hard to do and I had some pretty powerful applications loaded (MW3, WoW, FFXI, CoH, SWTOR, SolidWorks, 3DS Max, Blender, Visual Studio 2010, Netbeans 6). I usually have at least 2-3 of these applications running at the same time and I have yet to see a major hit on performance.

A large disadvantage I think is the factory standard option HD is pretty small. Specially since Dell will partition some of the drive off so you can do a system recovery(inevitable on all computers). I need to use a large amount of hard drive space and 300GB seems rather small for me. Specially if you do a lot of 3D modeling and gaming on the same machine.

Another knock on this little guy, which really isn't a knock against the MX11 but the Optimus Chip. The Optimus only kicks in automatically if the application is in the list already or specifically launched with the graphics accelerator. It will not notice an application if it doesn't use Direct X, I hope that changes (You can get an application to load with the Nvidia GPU rather than the integrated Intel with some work).

Overall this laptop is a great machine to replace your desktop computer. I really enjoy this computer and I will most likely purchase another Alienware in the future, when it comes time to replace this one.

Honest reviews on Dell Alienware M11X - Core i5 8GB DDR3 5.1 Surround Sound Stealth

I can play all my games on max settings np, the battery life is amazing, and It's so tiny and cute that when you travel with it..many heads will turn! If you are interested in buying this laptop Please note there is no way to change the color of the Alienware Head on the back of the monitor, it's not a big deal but it caught me by suprise. I brought this at almost all max setting with the core i7. I needed something I can travel with, and still be able to game on and the Alienware M11x delivers. The lack of the CD drive is not a con to me..it's a bit obsolete because everything I install is digitally especially my games! I do think that the LCD screen itself could have been a bit bigger because they used up a lot of it to create a black border, which is minimally needed really. Other than that I have no complaints. My computer is almost a dream come true. here is my Unboxing/mini review video, please copy the link into your browser in order to check it out!!

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very nice laptop with wonderful keyboard colors and the sound of it is high as well good laptop to travel with and play games ;)

Discount Lenovo® G570 (4334-9GU) Laptop Computer {Intel Pentium B960

Customer Ratings:

Pros: bright screen, great keypad, good "entry level" speakers, fast enough for writing & web surfing

Cons: "clicking" sound from left hinge

I really only use my laptop for my writing assignments and to check email...This laptop is perfect for that. Some back story that would be helpful: This is the 3rd laptop I have purchased in my endeavor to find a replacement for my Toshiba Satellite which has lasted over 5 years. I bought and RETURNED another entry-level Satellite as well as a Gateway; long story short, they weren't better than this Lenovo.

As far as typing goes, it was/is bit of a transition to switch from a basic laptop keypad to one with the numeric keypad at the right something I've never had in a laptop. The good news is that my hand & finger placement on this laptop do not "feel" shifted to the left like they do on the Toshiba Satellite. And there is plenty of space for my large fingers.

2.2 GHz processor and 4 GB of ram is all I need for what I do. I don't "game" or do any heavy graphics editing on this laptop. The boot up is quick and applications start very quickly. I have noticed on the Toshiba that when I listened to music and opened other applications that the music would "stutter" or pause while the processor caught up with the application. That was NOT the case with this Lenovo and multi-tasking is effortless here.

As I stated above, I also like to listen to music when I work which can be a trial on most entry level laptops. The speakers on this Lenovo are really good way better than the Toshiba (sounded like cell phone speakers) and is as good or better than the Gateway. Remember, this is a basic laptop so you won't be able to jam out with big bass.

One thing that bugs me about this Lenovo: when you flip up the screen and push it all the way back, the left hinge makes this "clicking" sound. The sound repeats when you wiggle the screen back & forth at this point. I'm believe it's the "build" of the laptop and not a mechanical fault as I noticed it on the floor model. I can live with it, personally. I've never noticed anything like it on other laptops, but when you're buying in this price range, you have to take the bad with the good.

Overall, if this laptop will be for you, it will suit your needs if you'll be only doing the basic administrative type tasks. If you're purchasing this for a "gamer," it won't be powerful enough.

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I bought this for my 12 yr old son.

I was looking for a Lenovo machine because I've had very good experience with a number of Lenovo machines.

This one is also great!! My son runs a number of game packages, including supporting his MineCraft server.

It has delivered solid performance and great reliability at a significant discount to a new machine. I also bought a referb Lenovo desk top which has also been absolutely solid.

We've had the notebook for nearly a year and the desk top for about 9 mo; both Lenovo referbs from Amazon, both solid, reliable machines.

Best Deals for Lenovo® G570 (4334-9GU) Laptop Computer {Intel Pentium B960

The laptop arrived very quickly and in good shape. It was packaged in the original Lenovo box with a Lenovo seal. We have been using it for a while and have had no problems. It was a replacement for my wife's old hp laptop, and she has been very satisfied with its performance.

Honest reviews on Lenovo® G570 (4334-9GU) Laptop Computer {Intel Pentium B960

muy buen vendedor me llego todo a tiempo y en mu buen estado le doy el maximo puntaje al vendedor

Reviews of ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook

Customer Ratings:

Truth be had, I've been pretty disappointed with ultrabook offerings so far low resolution screens, terrible keyboards and below average power. With the UX31A and UX32VD series, Asus promised to change all of that, and, in my opinion, succeeded remarkably well.

1. Design/Aesthetics. This is a very pretty machine. It's lightweight, looks good and doesn't seem to smudge. Not much more that I can say here it's pretty and sleek. I wish that it had a MacSafe power adapter instead of the right angled plug, but I guess we have patents to blame for that.

2. Keyboard. The keyboard on this machine is fantastic. I would put it in the same league as the MacBook Air's keyboard, which is to say that it is very very good. In comparison, I thought that the keyboard on the original Zenbook was terrible. It's not quite as nice as the keyboard on my Lenovo T430, but it is still really high quality, and probably the best ultrabook keyboard currently available (and backlit, too). Love it. Some people have mentioned keyboard flex there is a tiny bit if you push down hard near the middle of the keyboard, but it's not something that I would have noticed if I wasn't looking for it.

3. Screen. The screen is excellent beautiful colors, 1080p resolution. There was a bit of backlight bleeding, but it's only in a few places, and it's only noticeable if the screen is entirely black, so really not a big issue. When the screen is not purely black, you couldn't even find it if you were looking for it. By default, the display is running at 40Hz not sure who was responsible for that decision which made things look choppy. Setting it to 60Hz fixed that problem though.

4. Software. Includes standard PC bloatware, which is kind of annoying but it is easy enough to remove. Of particular note is the Asus Update Manager, which is supposed to pull updates from Asus' website, but in reality just crashes repeatedly (I booted my Zenbook the first time to Asus's update manager giving me a wonderful stack trace as it died). Other included software is of similar low quality I'd recommend wiping the machine when you get it if you can. Also includes software for a touchscreen/pen I'm not sure what that's about, since this machine has neither.

5. Touchpad. I hate touchpads. This one seems responsive and sleek, but I just switched to using a mouse and disabled it. YMMV. Edit: Played with the touchpad for a bit, and I have to admit, I kind of like it. It's not as usable (in my most humble opinion) as the nub on a Thinkpad, but it gets the job done. Some settings I found to make it nicer: Turn off tap to click, so that your mouse doesn't click randomly while you're typing. And turn off Inertial Scroll in the Elan -> Multi-Finger -> Scrolling setting. It's makes scrolling choppy for some reason. Unfortunately, multi-touch isn't as integrated into the operating system as it is with OS X, so I feel like we'll have to wait until Windows 8 to see the true power of this touchpad. In its current form, the touchpad works as advertised it's responsive, smooth and very configurable.

6. Graphics. This machine has a dedicated graphics card, and while it's not the most beefy, it's certainly an improvement over the standard Intel 4000. Linux users note: This uses nVidia Optimus to switch between the integrated and dedicated graphics cards, which apparently doesn't have very good Linux support yet so if you plan on running Linux on this, do some research first.

7. HDD. 500GB HDD. In 2012. Unacceptable. However...

8. Upgrades. This is why I bought this machine. You can put an extra 8GB of RAM in (in exchange for 2GB of the built in 4GB) for a total of 10GB of RAM. You can also swap out the HDD for an SSD, which is awesome get one with a 7mm height though, or it won't fit.

Overall: If you are willing to upgrade the HDD and RAM, get this machine you won't regret it. It's light, it has a beautiful screen, an excellent keyboard, it's very fast, and with the upgrades, it is the nicest laptop that I have ever owned. If you are not willing to upgrade, I would say that you should get a MacBook Air or the Zenbook UX31A (or the Sony Series Z if you are willing to spend more) instead the SSD makes a huge performance improvement. I give it 4/5, because you have to spend a bit of time to clean up the garbage on it and install a better hard drive and more RAM, but once you do that, it is unmatched. Also, Microsoft is apparently going to offer a $15 upgrade to Windows 8 Professional, which is a great deal.

EDIT:

After a week with this machine, some more thoughts:

Really liking the trackpad. Turning off tap to click is key it is downright bizarre that the default has those settings on, I think that every reviewer complaint about the erratic touchpad is due to this setting being on. After turning it off, it's smooth, accurate and actually really nice to use. I upgraded to the Windows 8 Release Preview, and for a while I was wondering what the heck was going on when things were randomly being clicked and dragged around, before I realized that I had to disable tap to click again.

As for the keyboard after working with it for a while now, I don't like it as much as the MacBook Air's. It's still a very good keyboard, but the keys are a bit flimsy feeling for my liking, and very occasionally a keypress gets missed. Not bad by any means, but it could have been better. If you are really looking for a great typing experience on an ultrabook, you may want to wait to check out the Lenovo X1 Carbon, which should be available in August. Again though, the keyboard is very usable I'd put it as better than the Samsung Series 9, but worse than the MacBook Air and both of those machines have very nice keyboards. On the upside, keyboard flex on the UX32VD is definitely a non-issue.

Also, Asus's included software is bizarrely bad. Don't even try to use it. It doesn't work, or it crashes, or it uses a ton of CPU, or it just looks plain ugly.

Finally, if you are planning on upgrading the RAM, see the comments on this review I installed an 8GB 1600MHz stick, but it is only running at 1333MHz for some reason. This apparently has to do with the CAS latency of the onboard stick vs. the new one. I don't know how to get around this, that said, I wouldn't have noticed the difference if I didn't check the settings.

Still, very happy with it. I haven't put the battery through its paces, but unscientifically, it seems to last about 4 hours under high workload (writing code).

Anyway, knowing what I know now about this machine, I would be less hesitant to buy it than I initially was. It is very much an awesome computer.

EDIT (3/5/2013):

Months later, after using this extensively, taking a star off. This laptop has since become my primary machine, and I use it for hours every day. Since I wrote the review, I've upgraded to Windows 8 which I actually find really nice. (As an aside and this is NOT reflected in my rating I found Linux (Ubuntu distro) support somewhat depressing. Some keyboard Fn shortcuts didn't work in particular, brightness display the battery life was under 2 hours, and sleep didn't work at all. YMMV, though I run a VM now for my Linuxing).

Mostly I use this machine for writing code and basic internet stuff.

The machine is still speedy, and the screen is still beautiful Asus deserves a ton of praise for that. Battery life is about what I thought it was 4 hours on average under my normal usage, which isn't anything to write home about these days, but it's certainly more than adequate. I can even play modern games usually I have to lower the graphics, but on medium settings and at 1600x900, most games run at a smooth 60fps, which is impressive.

Things that I don't like though are the little things. The keyboard isn't as great as I thought it was I find that I miss keys, even when I clearly pressed them down. Again, it's not terrible, but Lenovo and Apple both do much better, and for a $1500 laptop I expect a lot. My hypothesis is that the keys click (both physically and audibly) slightly before the button press is registered, and as a soft touch typist, it causes me to release the key milliseconds too soon.

The touchpad is pretty bad too. The hardware itself is fine it's accurate and spacious, but palm rejection is just too bad to be useable. So I use a wireless mouse instead.

And the software oh the software. The wifi driver crashes every day or two, so I have to restart my laptop frequently. And when I put it to sleep by closing the lid, sometimes it doesn't go to sleep, so when I pull it out of my backpack it's too hot to hold and the battery is almost dead.

So overall, this is not a bad machine it has some very excellent points, in particular the display but my problem with it is that it's not the premium experience that I would get if I'd bought an Apple computer for the same price. The keyboard is mediocre, it doesn't always go to sleep, the built in software crashes, and the touchpad is unusable. And while I can deal with all of these things, I feel like I shouldn't have to, considering that I paid top dollar for this (and then some to upgrade it).

The end result is this: I'm going to buy a new laptop, probably this summer when Intel releases their new line of chips (Haswell). If Lenovo brings out a laptop with a nice screen (for example, an X1 Carbon with a 1080p display, or the Yoga 11S with at least 1600x900), it'll be a Lenovo, since their keyboards are unmatched. Otherwise, I'm going to switch to the evil empire and get a Mac.

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For specific details about the product I suggest reading other reviews from Amazon or other sites especially those done by Notebookcheck (here: ) or Anand (here: ). Keep in mind that Anand's review is for a different model of the same series, but many of the things are similar and there is some good info in there.

I HIGHLY suggest you read this review before buying. I am going to go over main points that I think everyone should be aware of before buying.

Disclaimer: For me this is a 5 star machine after the upgrades. I rate it 3 stars based on how it came from Asus. If you don't want to upgrade the hardware or don't feel comfortable opening the laptop, I would suggest getting either a UX31A or something like a Samsung Series 9.

1. Only buy this computer if you are willing to upgrade the HDD to an SSD. SSD prices are falling rapidly and you can even get a 240GB SATA III drive for $210 now if you shop around (this is end of June, 2012). Make sure you get an SSD that is branded as a "notebook upgrade kit", because they have a smaller form factor than standard SSDs, with a height of 7mm. As long as you get a 7mm drive, it will fit in this notebook. Keep in mind you will need a T5 torx bit and small phillips screwdrivers to replace the drive.

2. Upgrading the RAM is also a really good idea. 2GB are integrated into the mainboard, and there is only one DIMM. The 4GB the laptop comes with is not very future-proof, so I would recommend picking up an 8GB stick of DDR3-1600 (like this Corsair piece, model number CMSX8GX3M1A1600C10). You can pick it up now for only $57. This will bring the total RAM to 10GB, which is more than pretty much every other ultrabook out there.

3. You will need to install Windows without a DVD once you install your new SSD. If you use a USB drive you may get an error in the setup which says something like "Windows was unable to load CD/DVD drivers, please insert disc media and try again". What is actually happening is that because all three of the USB ports on this laptop are USB 3.0, the Windows 7 install disc files don't have native support. You simply need to go to the Asus product page downloads section, and download the USB 3.0 drivers for the 64-bit version of Windows. Extract the driver folder to the USB stick with the Windows install files and try again. The problem should be fixed.

4. The screen has backlight bleed when showing pure blacks. When there are any images on the screen at all it is not noticable, and turning down the brightness helps a lot as well. Other than the bleed, the screen is beautiful especially in terms of its negative vertical viewing angle (from below). It doesn't have any discoloration and is very nice looking.

5. If you elect not to swap out the drive for an SSD, it comes in a weird kind of partition set up. The model I got had a 186GB boot partition, a 254GB "Data" Partition with no files on it, and 32GB of SSD cache which is not accessible from My Computer, but shows up as a different drive in disk manager. The drive is also very slow despite the SSD cache. But it won't appear to be so to someone who has never used an SSD before.

6. Bloatware. While there is not that much, you are forced to agree to install the Bing toolbar before setting up windows, and there is some creative media suite, craploads of asus tools, something that looks like asus tried to make their own app store, macaffee antivirus pre-installed (trial) and more. More reason to upgrade to an SSD and clean install windows.

7. The power button. Asus elected to make their power button an actual key, putting it where Delete normally would go, in the top right. Now when I heard this, I was a little skeptical and thought that I might try to hit delete when using word or something, and accidentally shut off my computer with one missed key-press. I was happy to find the solution that Asus came up with when I booted into windows. First of all, the power button is much stiffer and requires more pressure to press than all of the other keys on the keyboard. Second of all, just pressing the key within windows does nothing. If you want to turn off or sleep mode the computer, you hold it for about 1 second, and an on-screen display (from Asus) appears with clickable options to either shut down, sleep, do nothing, etc. You won't run into any sudden shut downs with this new placement of the power button, but you might take a bit to re-learn where the delete key is (directly to the left of the on button).

8. Keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard is very nice for a laptop, and functions/feels almost identical to the Macbook Pro/Air keyboards as many have said. It is backlit with user-adjustable brightness levels (3 levels, and off) via the function key. The trackpad is nice, but nothing to brag about. It is a good size, smooth, and easy to use. It's everything you'd want with nothing extra. If you get in the habit of tapping to click instead of actually clicking the trackpad down I think you will be much happier with it.

All in all this laptop can be what you make of it. Having the dedicated GPU makes it a very nice ultrabook for light gaming and more powerful media applications. Also it provides a full-sized HDMI out, and good connectivity (3 x USB, card reader, micro-vga, headphone/mic combo jack, etc). The HDD will appear abysmal to anyone who is coming from SSDs. It will appear normal to those of you who have yet to experience the awesomeness of SSDs :D ... If you want to upgrade to an SSD, fresh windows, and larger RAM, this is the best PORTABLE PC laptop available right now bar none in my opinion. But if you want to keep the pre-installed Asus windows installation, HDD, and 4GB ram, then it is a very nice PC, but for the price point I only give it 3 stars.

If you have any questions at all please feel free to comment and I'll try to get back to you!

Best Deals for ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook

If you haven't already, do your home work regarding the differences between the UX32VD and the UX31A. The main difference is that the UX32VD has a better video card and is upgradeable (can add RAM) but does not come with an SSD drive (which can be added too). I opted to go with the UX32VD and upgrade the memory and drive. The costs of the upgrades are roughly $200 for the SSD (256GB) and $55 for 8GB of RAM. Also, don't forget to get an external CD/DVD ROM drive (another $31).

If you plan to do the upgrade, start by watching the youtube videos on how to do the hardware swaps. Basically, you take off the back plate (requires a T5 Torx driver), swap the RAM, then loosen the battery and swap the hard drive. Be careful not to pull the battery too hard or it will pull off (or break) a wire that is attached to one end. Overall, the hardware upgrading takes about 15 minutes. Nothing too difficult if you're careful.

The software reinstallation takes a bit longer. You have two choices. You can backup (i.e., clone) your existing system using software such as Acronis True Image and then delete the bloatware, or you can just start with a fresh drive and re-install everything.

Initially, I chose the second option because I wanted a "clean" computer. I started by installing Windows. The first problem was that the computer wouldn't see the external CD/DVD ROM. I had to go into the bios (hit the F2 key during boot up) and disable the SSD from the boot sequence. That caused the computer to attempt to boot from the CD/DVD ROM. Don't forget to change it back after installing Windows. Once Windows was installed, I went to ASUS.com and downloaded the drivers. Nothing works well without them, including ethernet, wireless network, video control, etc. There are about 10 or 15 important drivers and applications that must be installed just make your way through the list one at a time. Obviously, you'll need a second computer with internet access to get the first drivers installed. One hint... the ethernet driver on the ASUS website wasn't the correct one for the UX32VD computer. Look in your control panel for the model number and search the web for the right driver. After doing all this, the computer worked fine. It did, however, lack a few drivers, and as a result I saw several yellow exclamation points in the Control Panel Device Manager. That bugged me, and I ultimately decided to go back and backup the original ASUS hard drive and simply delete the bloatware. Comparing the two methods, cloning was certainly less painful. If you have the backup software, I suggest that method.

Now that it's all done, I'm very pleased with my computer. It runs great, and the start up time is simply incredible.

Hope this helps!

Please be kind enough to indicate if reviews are helpful.

Written by Arthur Bradley, author of the Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family.

Honest reviews on ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook

As the other reviews have mentioned, this model has a gorgeous display. After calibrating the screen it looked even better. There's nothing like a good IPS display! It has a slight matte finish, but is still very sharp and bright.

With the original configuration, Windows was using 2.8GBs of RAM. I recommend you either uninstall some of the Asus add-ons or do as I did and take advantage of the ability to upgrade the RAM. I purchased a Patriot 8GB RAM module from Amazon that bumps the unit up to 10GB's.

The keyboard is OK. I'm not a big fan of the chiclet style keyboard.

The touchpad is large and does get in the way when you're typing. It's very easy for your palm to touch it while typing, sending you cursor off to a random location. However, you can turn it off by using the Fn key.

I'm using it with a bluetooth mouse, with the touchpad disabled. I like using bluetooth for the wireless mouse becuase there's no USB dongle sticking out.

The battery life is very average. Maybe 3 hours or so of constant usage is all I seem to get. Though, I am not using the battery saver profile. So, I'm pretty sure it's possible to stretch it out a bit more.

Coming out of sleep mode it is very fast. I have it set to sleep when I close the lid. This laptop comes out of sleep mode in the time it take to raise the lid! What's that, maybe 2 seconds? Fantastic. That's where the hybrid drive really pays off. With all my software loaded, including an anti-virus progam, it takes about 35 seconds to boot up.

The build quality is very good. The design and look is beautiful. I haven't noticed any particulary loud fan noise. If I push the laptop hard, the fans will come on with a whooshing sound. But, nothing terrible. During normal use (Word, Excel, browsing the web) it is silent.

I do wish the power button wasn't just a regular looking keyboard button in the upper right. To easy to press it, as it sits right next to the DEL button.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook

I have had this laptop for a little over a week, and I must say that I am impressed. After having bought and returned the original UX31 because of its keyboard issues, it seems like Asus really listened to its customers and made all of the right improvements.

The most obvious improvements over the UX31 are the keyboard and the screen. The keyboard is now island-style and backlit. I think feedback is great; it reminds me a lot of my old MacBook Pro. The screen, at least to me, appears to be in a league of its own. With a 1080p IPS panel, it is bright and incredibly sharp. Real estate space is fantastic and viewing angles are superb. And it's even got a matte finish, so glare is minimized. Kudos to Asus for these great design changes.

Additionally, Asus upgraded the CPU in this model from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge and added a dedicated Nvidia 620M GPU. I have to admit that I'm not a gamer, so I don't expect to take advantage of the graphics chip. In fact, I probably would have preferred that Asus provided a (cheaper) version of this laptop without the GPU (but without the soldered components -see below). Also, the Sandy Bridge processor was totally capable for browsing the web, watching HD video online, and performing office tasks. Still, assuming battery life doesn't take too much of a hit (and it doesn't really seem like it has), I guess that more power is better than less.

Two things that really didn't change since the last version are the sound and the battery, and I consider this a good thing. Sound quality from the speakers is excellent -loud and clear, probably among the best I have heard on a laptop. Battery life also seems to be totally acceptable. It's not the best I've ever seen, but I still get like 6-7 hours under normal use, which is adequate for my needs. Also, the power brick appears to be the same. It's square and looks a lot like the Apple brick, except it's black. One good thing though is that it only has two prongs, so you don't need to carry around a 3-prong-to-2-prong adapter.

As I suggested above, I bought this model as opposed to the UX31A specifically because this model has some user-replaceable components, like RAM and hard disk. Apparently the trade-off was that this model doesn't have the same unibody design as the UX31A, but to be honest, I can't tell too much of a difference. It still weighs like 3.2 pounds, and build quality doesn't seem to be an issue. Also, while some people might gripe that Asus didn't include more memory and a larger SSD from the get-go, truth be told, it would probably have made the computer a lot more expensive. For less than $150, I was able to upgrade the memory to 10GB and install a fast 128GB SSD. I also appreciate the fact that, since these components are user-replaceable, it will be a relatively cheap fix if something goes wrong later on. The same can't be said for models with all soldered RAM and hard disks, like the UX31A or the MacBook Air.

Some users complained about the fan and the trackpad. I, however, haven't had any problems with either of these. As I said, I'm not a heavy gamer, but for me the unit is practically silent most of the time. Also, I don't really have any complaints about the trackpad. It is large and smooth, which I appreciate. Also, multi-finger gestures -specifically two-finger tap, two-finger scroll, and three-finger swipe -all work great! That is a nice improvement for PCs, which typically have inferior track pads.

Connectivity options seem to be okay. There are 3 USB 3.0 ports, a mini VGA port, an SD Card slot, and an HDMI port. My only complaint is that the SD Card sticks out about half way, so you can't just leave it in the computer all the time. I think this is a pretty stupid design flaw. Why not just make the card totally recessed, like in almost every other laptop out there?

That said, my quibble is minor. This is a really nice computer and I am happy to have bought it. Finally, I don't think I have any regrets about migrating from my laptop to an ultrabook.

Samsung Series 3 NP-RV515-A04US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver) Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I have only had this computer for about a week and haven't had any issues with it and even set it up as a duel boot with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with no problems. The only complaint I have about it right now is the sound, it's not very good but i didn't buy this computer for a sound machine so I am o.k. with that. The graphics are very good which is very important for a laptop computer and the 15.6" monitor is what I really like. For the price, I think it is a very good buy. If things change, I'll write an update to this review. Otherwise, I would recommend buying this laptop. One last comment, the Exclusive Fast Start Technology is great and works as advertised.

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Purchased this item during a one day Amazon special for $339 and I am not looking back at all! The processor is not a speed demon but for Office apps particularly LibreOffice just fine. My large LCD television fried and during the time spent waiting for repair I installed the DirecTV app that enables you to stream recorded items to your PC and the performance was flawless.

I've installed VirtualBox and it runs Virtual Machines just fine.

The laptop is large full size keyboard with separate numeric keypad and the screen easy on my older eyes.

Samsung's battery technology has come a long way and even with this economy model, you get 4+ hours on a charge.

While some metal (for strength) on the case would have been nice, for the money I don't think you can go wrong with this unit.

I successfully registered the purchase on Microsoft's site for a $15 upgrade to Windows 8 Professional, although I haven't taken the time to actually do the upgrade yet.

Lastly, the bloatware loaded on the machine was minimal and easily removed. I commend Samsung on their restraint.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 3 NP-RV515-A04US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver)

I bought this for my wife because she is tired of sharing her laptop with the kids all the time. She primarily uses it to access the web and store pictures. This machine is perfectly fine for those uses. And she likes the way it looks which is important too.

I wouldn't run heavy programs for video editing or anything like that on it, but for basic tasks, Samsung makes a quality product and is sleek. Good battery life also.

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 3 NP-RV515-A04US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver)

I ordered this computer as a back-up to my main computer and for use in my shop so I could keep up with e-mail and stream music off the internet to my shop stereo. At this price point I did not expect a high quality computer but I was pleasantly surprised. I especially like the quick boot feature which takes the computer out of sleep mode in 3 seconds after opening the lid, yet uses no power while the lid is closed. Amazing! If I have to fault the computer, I would take one star away for poor sound quality from the built in speakers. Otherwise, I would highly recommend this computer to any one who wants a quality computer at a budget price.

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I purchased this computer about a couple of weeks ago for my husband. He doesn't really do much on computers except look things up on the Internet and play games. He's totally not computer savy in any way, shape, or form. If anyone was going to have a problem with a computer, it would be him. He tells me he "loves it", so we're thinking about purchasing another one for our daughter for Christmas.

I wrote the above paragraph a couple of days ago and I've been keeping an eye out on this computer because I was hoping the price would go down and I could get one for our daughter. Well, it's gone UP instead. I thought Amazon would have deals on Black Friday....well, not in this case. The price increased about $30.

JVC GZ-HM300 Dual Slot High Definition Camcorder Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $399.99
Sale Price: $224.99
Today's Bonus: 44% Off

I would not recommend this camera because it does not have a flash. Therefore you can not take pictures indoor or outdoors unless it's very well lit. Unfortunately I didn't discover this issue within the one month return window and am stuck having spent $200 with a camera that doesn't prefer as it should. It is easy to use, but what good is that it your pictures turn out very dark and grainy looking?

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JVC is my best brand for video movies. I tried many brand all doing well. But this camcorder is very easy to use, I love it.

Dell Inspiron 15 i15RV-6144BLK 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Black Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $549.99
Sale Price: $479.99
Today's Bonus: 13% Off

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Likes:

The black textured plastic finish is very nice, and is used as top-side panels (top cover, palm rest). I like this better than the two-tone metallic finish since it looks more integrated, more business-like, and less as a "tack-on" like the metallic sheet accents in the 15RM. It also means the side and bottom plastic isn't a silver painted variety, but a hard ABS plastic that when scratched, will stay the same color and harder to detect. In my opinion, it is more practical and unpretentious, and the textured finish makes it no less aesthetically appealing--and in my opinion more so--than the metallic trim edition.

Windows 8 is apparently a very touch-centric OS. I suspect that may have caused some initial complaints and awkwardness with mouse and keyboard users (myself included). Having a touch screen really alters the experience. It's really more like a tablet with a keyboard than a PC with touch screen. In that sense, it is also more intuitive for users who are not tech-savvy or uncomfortable with computers. With a fairly large and vibrant glass touch screen, this laptop offers the full Windows 8 experience. I know this is a controversial issue, but while I still miss the start button, I grew to like the user experience, as did my family--especially my parents who were really uncomfortable of PCs in the past.

The overall build quality feels solid, with hard ABS plastic tub as the main chassis that's fairly durable. The touchpad is very responsive, and the keyboard has a good tactile feel. The glass touch screen apparently have enhanced the lid's rigidity as well, reducing flex which can often be an issue with large screen plastic shell laptops.

The i3 may seem like a low end processor, but to my understanding the i5 offers in addition "turbo" mode and virtualization. The former offers a small gain (a few hundred MHz in the lower end models) in clock speed for single thread applications (such as encoding), which isn't terribly common in daily tasks that are often multithreaded. The virtualization is used for Virtual Machines, XP Mode, VMWare, etc., which I suspect is probably not terribly useful for most of us. In that sense it's really the best bang for the buck, and it excelled at daily tasks like browsing, movies, Office, and the like. It handled everything we threw at it very smoothly.

The battery on this machine actually lasts longer than I expected for this screen size. With around medium usage like playing music and video, I was able to get 3-4 hours. If I try to use it mostly to encode a video or do some 3D gaming, I could still get 2-3 hours. It would last longer, such as 4-5 hours, if you were just doing light tasks like office or browsing.

The onboard Intel 4000 integrated graphics isn't the fastest or the most powerful, but other than 3D gaming, it really handles everything else with aplomb. It plays full HD videos without any issues, and the HDMI out can also let you connect to a larger monitor and TV with even higher resolution than the laptop monitor. It worked with my 27" 2560x1440 monitor just fine. Connect a bluetooth/usb keyboard and mouse, it can be an affordable and versatile energy efficient desktop as well.

It's easily upgradeable. This cannot be overemphasized especially seeing how the "ultrabook" concept often eschew upgradable ease for aesthetics. Both the hard drive and the two SO-DIMM memory slots are easily accessible through the bottom hatch cover with a few screws. It can house two SO-DIMM chips so the maximum capacity would be 16GB of RAM (it comes installed in both slots with 2GB each). The SATA drive can also be replaced with a SSD drive easily as well.

Good Connectivitycomes with bluetooth built in, something that can be appreciated when there are more bluetooth enabled portable devices/peripherals than ever: mice, keyboards, speakers, etc. 4 USB Ports (2 of which are USB 3.0) and HDMI makes for very updated connectivity. The built in multi-card reader as well as DVD burner drive also wouldn't hurt.

Some Potential Issues:

The aforementioned black textured top cover (on the back of the top lid and palm rest), while looking more expensive than it is, still manages to pick up and show oil mark from palm where it is handled. Similar issue with the touchpad and palm rest area. The black just shows oily smudges and lint/dust a bit easier. However, that largely depends on how it is used. A little cleaning easily takes care of that.

It's not the most portable computer at over 5 pounds. With a 15.6" screen, you probably shouldn't expect it to be. This is probably more suitable for infrequent relocation where you get a larger screen and full size keyboard as a trade-off.

The screen resolution is only 1366x768 (good enough for 720p), with no optional upgrades apparently. In the era of ultra high resolution displays (e.g. Retina), that's probably going to be a gripe for some. People would probably expect at least a full HD (e.g. 1920x1080) display, especially given the large 15"+ screen size. However, given the price point and touch screen, the resolution isn't unreasonable. It is suitable enough for most daily tasks, and the lower resolution density makes for larger text and pictures for much easier viewing (particularly for seniors). There is always the option of connecting to an external monitor via HDMI, as mentioned above.

The Intel HD4000 integrated graphics isn't good for 3D gaming, so you probably shouldn't look at this if you plan on playing 3D games with it, unless you can stand lowest rendering settings with low framerates. 2D games, however, are very smooth and easily managed.

The included 500GB hard drive is a typical 2.5" 5400RPM drive. Like its storage capacity, it's adequate, and hasn't presented me with any issues with performance or responsiveness. One should probably not expect better at this price point. It may feel slow to some (especially if you are used to desktops with 7200RPM drives or even SSDs), yet it does have the advantage of reduced heat and power consumption over 7200RPM hard drives. If speed is really a priority, SSD is the way to go (at a premium), and can be easily upgraded.

No D-Sub VGA port. It should probably be phased out in modern laptops anyway. This may be an issue only if you use legacy products with only VGA support, such as older presentation projectors. However, a HDMI to VGA adapter is inexpensive and easily solves that.

Notes:

Dell has been a solid choice for budget laptops for years. I personally think this is a great iteration that doesn't feel cheap, but looks professional and almost expensive. The touch screen really completes the included Windows 8, and makes for an intuitive user experience that may be worth your giving it the benefit of the doubt. This is not meant to be a high end laptop, so if you tend to have CPU or graphic intensive tasks (e.g. video rendering, 3D Modeling, 3D gaming, etc.), or want something ultra-portable, you should probably look to pay more for something else. (In my opinion, if you really need ultra-portability, tablet/smartphones is probably the way to go). Yet if you don't carry around your laptop often, or just want something more efficient and smaller than desktop PC, without sacrificing too much power and comfort: this Inspiron offers easy upgradability, vibrant touch-screen, decent battery life, solid construction, and good performance. If you don't mind the bulk, this is a very affordable, functional and solid laptop that will easily satisfy.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This laptop really packs a punch! It will do all of the web surfing, email, itunes, music, etc that you can throw at it! I've even done a little low end gaming and a little video editing on it and it even works smoothly for that! I'm gonna try to touch a little on each aspect of the laptop and how it has performed to me so far..

Webcam

Pretty Solid, It appears to be better than the iPhone cameras and my old laptop one, or so say my callers :P

Hard Drive

Nice and speedy, is not a 7200rpm though but I'm sure people don't move copious amounts of data on their laptops though.

DVD Burner

No blanks, burns fast and isn't as annoyingly loud as my previous laptops drive.

Media Card Reader

A great feature to have, It works and no more draining my cameras battery life in order to get pics off of it!

Processor

Is a new Core i3 dual core and this beats my old laptops core2duo hands down. Much snappier, never lags and even works great to render some small videos, I was surprised how well it performs compared to my farm more expensive Core i7 in my gaming rig I just built.

RAM

4GB? That's more than you will ever need in an "Everday Lappy"

Windows 8

I was so worried about trying Win8 The new start menu and everything seemed like such a turn off but it's actualy fairly pleasant because you have a touchscreen so it really does feel more natural. Just like Win7 Win8 is smooth and very efficient unlike that "Vista" mishap *cough*

Touchscreen

The screen is very bright, crisp and clear. Give it a nice wipe down with a microfiber at the end of each day in order to prevent smudging and fingerprinting. It's very responsive and it smooth to the touch as well. Something I never thought we would see in this price range for awhile!

Audio/Speakers

It's okay, again it is a laptop so don't expect excellent quality bass and everything with the built in speakers. For everyday use and some light gaming it is more than adequate though.

Battery Life

Laptop seems to be energy efficient, I am getting at least 5-6 hours with surfing use on a single charge. Charging time is pretty snappy as well.

Touchpad

Smooth but a light textured feel to it so there is no "skidding" of your fingers when you are trying to scroll fast, Responsive.

Bluetooth

I do not own any bluetooth devices but this should be handy for those of you who like the wireless headphones or have that wireless data cards.

Wireless

This thing gets some pretty strong signal range. Our router is kept up in the attic and I get full signal anywhere in the house, and even out to the edge of our property in both the front and back yards. It's been nice sitting in the shade outside as summer winds down and be on skype calls or the like outside.

Build Quality

Weighs in at around 5 pounds, Have a nice solid feel to it although it is made with a plastic shell. The screen has a little flex to it, It's fairly thin but it shouldnt be a problem unless you really "try" to flex it. I would imagine that it would survive many falls from your lap onto the floor though. The outside texture/design is pretty cool too. Nothing fancy, but it's better than just a smooth and plain texture.

Graphics

The build in Intel graphics look pretty sweet. Playing some of my DVD and Bluray collection on the laptop looks amazing. It can even be used as a "player" when hooked up to your HD tvs via the HDMI connection. This plays my favorite games at around medium settings with shadows turned off (shadows are the hardest on the graphics processors to process) and it has performed well even after hours of playing.

Software/Bloatware

Just say no, Make it a habit to remove all of the factory included software. :]

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 15 i15RV-6144BLK 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Black

Being a Windows 8 hater really forced me to carefully choose a laptop for a friend as Win7 laptops are sparse and usually only the over priced models are available.

With that said, this laptop has a touch screen, which is pretty much required to make the best use of Win8, it has the ivy bridge processor which is best for power management. Some laptops in this price range don't have DVD/CD players in them but this one does.

It worked perfectly out of the box, is fast, and allows Win8 to achieve its greatest potential.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 15 i15RV-6144BLK 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Black

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program My Laptop & Windows History:

Prior to getting this laptop I'd been using my previous one for about 4 years. It was an ASUS and had Windows 7 on it. I liked that one but it was getting old and outdated, full and slow. It was time for a new one. Earlier this year I purchased a Samsung laptop that came with Windows 8. The laptop was horrible. It was slow and cheaply made. I ended up returning it after just a few days. Since this was my first experience with Windows 8 it left a bad impression in my head. I thought my problem with that laptop had something to do with that. When we returned that laptop we told Customer Service that it was like taking a laptop from 10 years ago and slapping a new title on it and installing Windows 8 on it. It was really primitive.

This Laptop with Windows 8:

I was a bit nervous getting this Dell laptop since it comes with Windows 8 but that's pretty much all you can find on the market today. Turns out that I was nervous for nothing. This laptop rocks! Although I'm not a huge fan of Windows 8, it's certainly not as bad as I thought it was. It's easy to maneuver around it.

Size and Keyboard Layout:

Bigger is not always better in my findings with laptops. I do a ton of typing so the keyboard layout is very important to me. I find the layout on the 15.6" laptop very comfortable and spaced out just right. It's not too compact making it difficult to type and it's not too spaced out that you have to reach a bit more than you'd like. They number pad and the arrows are really great on this laptop. On my ASUS laptop I hit the wrong button often and my wrist was a little uncomfortable when using the number pad. The layout on this laptop is just perfect for me in every way.

Other thoughts:

SpeedI think this laptop is very fast. And I love how you can boot it up and you're good to go in less than a minute.

Picture QualityThe picture looks great on this laptop. With that Samsung laptop that I had, the picture quality was awful. I have absolutely no complaints about the graphic quality on this laptop. It's very high quality.

Touch ScreenI've never used a Touch Screen laptop before so I wasn't sure how good it would be. What a great feature. It works really well and always does what I'm telling it to do. I haven't had any issues with it and although I thought I'd have fingerprints or smudges all over the screen I don't. I love this feature.

Space500GB is the minimum that I wanted in a laptop so this is a great size for me. Really good for the price.

CD / DVD DriveA CD Drive is not an option for me, it must have one. There are so many laptops out there nowadays that no longer have this feature. I was very happy to see that this laptop has it. It works great too. On my previous laptop I was constantly accidentally opening the CD Drive. This isn't a problem on this laptop. It stays closed. You have to push a small little button in just the right way to get this one to pop open. This is a plus for me.

Textured FinishAlthough I like the feel of the textured finish on this laptop, it leaves way too many fingerprints. It's difficult to clean them off too. When the laptop is just lying there closed it doesn't look too great because it always looks like there are greasy fingerprints all over it. Our hands are always clean when we use the laptop so it's just the oils from your skin that leaves marks. This would probably be the only thing that I would complain about with this laptop.

SolidnessWhen I had the Samsung laptop for a few days I noticed that it felt empty. It just felt like an empty plastic shell. This laptop feels solid and it's not a cheap plastic feel. This laptop feels how a laptop should feel.

Getting startedRight out of the box I found this laptop to be fast and easy to set-up. I had it up and running in probably 5-10 minutes. It's a very simple set-up process.

Overall I absolutely love this laptop and I would highly recommend it. It's a great everyday laptop that I find to be very high quality.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Inspiron 15 i15RV-6144BLK 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Black

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This Dell Inspiron was my first foray into Windows 8, and I think the touchscreen really made the new OS shine. It's easy to use and fairly intuitive, something I can see appealing across generation lines from little kids to seniors.

The touchscreen is certainly the most advanced feature this laptop can boast. Overall, this is a budget laptop that does everything an average user needs it to do.

It's a large, fairly heavy laptop best suited for a desk. It's not the sort of laptop I imagine people will move from room to room throughout the day, more for someone who wants to have a computer that's portable so they can occasionally bring it with them when they really need to. The screen resolution is fairly low for 2013, but it's really fine for most uses and it has an HDMI out so you can connect it to a larger monitor or your TV easily on occasion. I don't love the textured finish, but that's really an aesthetic choice on my part and nothing that takes away from the functionality of the laptop.

For those who aren't ready to go completely to the cloud, or like to watch or burn DVDs, it has a DVD±R Drive. I think this is an important feature in this price range. It does offer both bluetooth and a media card reader in addition to 4 USB drives, which should be enough for any average user.

Everything I tested ran fairly fast and generally smoothly. It does not have a lot of pre-loaded software, but users can pick and choose what they really need or use cloud apps, so that isn't a deterrent for me. This is not a great choice for a gamer or graphic designer or a hard core photographer, but otherwise, I'd recommend it.