HP Pavilion 2000-363NR Notebook Pc Review

Customer Ratings:

So I got this laptop for 300 at Frys on black friday. It's not too bad a laptop if you get rid of HP's crapware, minus two or so relatively useful utilities. Keep in mind this laptop is not meant to do any heavy lifting, so no gaming, vid editing, etc. What it can do is movies, light gaming like java or the like, music, web, email, composition, etc. For the price, not bad. The touchpad throws me off. I'm used to having an obvious border; this one just uses a light tactile feel. It's also wide, something I'm not used to. It also uses the dual finger thing which I'm not a fan of but I'm pretty sure I can disable this. The hard drive speed is relatively slow in the world of performance. Again though, not a huge issue for what this is supposed to do. One thing that does bother me; the UAC performance. The whole screen goes black for about half a second, which throws you off. You'd think that with a core I3 processor and windows 7 64 bit this would be damn near instant. However, I believe this is an issue with intel video lagging.

I'll possibly edit this in the future when I have more info.

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Dell XPS 469-4078 12.5 Convertible Multi-touch Screen Review

Customer Ratings:

I actually purchased my Dell XPS 12 directly from Dell, but wanted to share on Amazon which is where I buy most of my electronics my opinion on the machine.

This is my second ultrabook, but I am really impressed. I love my previous ultrabook, but I really love the keyboard on the dell xps 12. It is has the nicest touch of any laptop keyboard I've ever used. The gesture touchpad is very nice and the convertible touchscreen is very sweet.

I'm mainly a laptop user that likes to have a tablet and this totally fits the bill for me. I've passed my Asus Zenbook prime 13.3 and transformer prime 10.1 table down to my partner in exchange for this tablet and I am very happy with it.

It has taken a little bit to get used to Windows 8, but as I get used to it, I really appreciate what the XPS has to offer more and more. I'm a web application developer. I've loaded Adobe Creative Suites to my XPS in addition to Visual Studio 2010, Office Professional, SQL Server 2008 R2 and ColdFusion 10 to support my development and I'm able to run all of them with out an issue when I'm doing work on my personal laptop; however, I still get to switch to a tablet and the Windows 8 tiles to check in on facebook or twitter,

This laptop is a great balance between size, power and features. The USB 3.0 ports are fantastic. I've added a USB 3.0 docking station and the laptop in combination with the docking station has no issue supporting dual 22" HD displays for heavy duty coding, testing and debugging.

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I'm very impressed with the quality of this ultrabook. It even competes with my "full notebook" a Lenovo Thinkpad W520. I have used Lightroom and Photoshop for editing images from the Nikon D600 (24 megapixel cámera with 20-30 MB RAW files), and it works at least as fast as my Thinkpad. The screen gamut 53% of AdobeRGB and only 71% sRGB (vs the Thinkpad which is 97% AdobeRGB), but in terms of performance is as fast, and sometimes I find it even faster. So I'm very happy, making it a capable machine to take for trips and edit photos on location without needing necessarily to take the "Monster" :P

In Windows it's performance: Processor (mine it's a refurbished with i7-3687U @ 2.10) = 7.2, Memory 8 Gb = 7.5, Graphics (intel) = 5.4, Gaming 6.4, Primary hard disc (SSD 256) = 8.1 (vs on the Thnikpad to which I added a Samsung 512 SSD, just as a reference: 7.4, 7.6, 5.8, 6.4, 8.1)

I haven't used it much as a tablet, I bypass Metro and added a Start button with Classic Shell freeware program, but the touch screen feels responsive, and the flip screen mechanism feels solid.

It's a pitty it doesn't have more USB ports, an SD reader and even an ethernet port... but those aren't showstoppers.

The keyboard is nice, a liiiitle more travel would have been better, but for the size its pretty good, the trackpad and mainly the trackpad buttons are not good, having it's surface part of the trackpad, sometimes you want to clic and you end moving the cursor and clicking other thing. Besides the software doesn't allow customizing tapping with 2 and 3 finger which I have done for years on linux, having 2 finger clic as middle button (to close tabs, open links on new tabs and closing windows) and 3 finger clic set to right clic/menu. And as the trackpad is not good, I end up using a USB mouse whenever I'm not typing on my lap, so ONLY one USB port left :(... so a USB hub is a must.

Review of E-Machine E525-2632 2.2GHz 2GB 250GB 15.6'' Win7

Customer Ratings:

I needed a VERY inexpensive computer for my worker to use at the scanning station. This arrived very quickly and is actually a very nice machine. All we will be using it for is scanning documents and burning CDs so it may not be fast enough for more complex users but it sure is nice to have this machine here. (The old one literally died right as I was bringing this one over to the station). It jumped right on the internet. it did have that annoying "Do you want Norton Antivirus" crap on the first bootup but I got rid of that.

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Asus G60JX-RBBX05 Intel i5-430M, 4 GB, 500 GB, NVIDIA GTS360M Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I've been using an old Toshiba laptop for a long time, and it was time I upgraded. I'll start with what I was looking for: a powerful gaming laptop that I could still use for school. I certainly got what I asked for.

It's positives are obvious at the very start. Its i5 processor and 4gb of ram make it lightning fast, this is in comparison to my friend's desktop that has several thousand dollars piled into it. I tested a multitude of games on it, Mass Effect 2 ran without a hitch at max settings, Left4Dead2 runs at max, even Starcraft2 on Ultra settings ran cleanly when playing normally (note custom maps are a different story, and if you've ever played a custom you know what I mean...). This of course is only possible because of the lower resolution. Since it's not at full 1080p, it can handle the amount of graphic intensity of high settings. In all honesty I love full hd, and am quite used to it, but the sacrifice of resolution for quality was well worth it. I can easily run any program without any issues, word, photoshop, et. Often enough I'll have a few things running and play starcraft2 at the same time without any slow down, which says a lot. All three ran without any frame rate issues. In terms of the actual look of the laptop, it's sleek and clean, it had no scratches or dings, and everything was intact. the keyboard and the wrist rests are textured, which I really like because it gives me some feeling to when I'm typing et. The extra touch buttons that allow you to turbo boost the cpu (possible since it's an i5) and turn the touchpad on and off are very helpful when you already have a mouse. The size of this laptop allows for a numpad, which I absolutely love because I HATE typing with the 10 button numbers. Also, the fact the keyboard has back light is quite nice in a dark environment. The webcam is good quality as well. For a refurb (after hearing the horror stories), mine is in perfect condition.

Now the negatives do exist, this laptop isn't perfect. The chiclet keyboard might be an issue for some, I know it's not much for me but since I'm so used to the responsiveness of a normal keyboard I have to adjust to the change. The speakers are a little low on volume, but all you have to change is the volume equalizer to on in Creative's audio driver. The laptop itself didn't come as I expected, it's black with a small streak of silver instead of the blue. I actually wanted blue as it matches my mouse and I love the color but why be picky, it still looks good. When the laptop came I had some fears instilled in me thanks to my paranoid friend, who told me that some refurbs come with no charger or battery, but I got this from Amazon and my fears were just that. However, even if it came with the charger and battery, what you do not get is the driver dvd, or a Windows disc. Now, this isn't too much of a problem as you can download all the drivers, but if you don't have a Windows disc redoing the system is impossible. Your Windows key is on the bottom of the laptop, but it's useless without the install disc. This issue became relevant as I redid the system because I didn't need or want the extra things installed on it (like roxio burn or some crappy antivirus trial et.). The only actual problem that I have with this laptop is the top edges of the laptop wrap around the screen for a few pixels... thought it was strange design, but it's not noticeable after a day.

As for the other negative reviews that I read, they're a bit dumb. The shipping speed is explained when you buy it, they have to build the computer before they send it. The fan is NOT loud, if you're not playing a graphic intensive game there's virtually no noise at all. When you are, the fan does make a bit of noise but seeing as this laptop is built for power it needs to get rid of the heat, but even then it's easily ignorable.

Ignore the shipping speed issues, it's a refurb they have to build the computer before they send it hence the "usually ships from 2-3 weeks". Also, who complains about the weight of the laptop when they have it listed under specifications? These complaints wouldn't exist if people could read.

Overall, this laptop is one badass puppy for the price (I mean cmon, $800 for a top quality gaming laptop?!?! Other $800 laptops are crap in comparison.). For what it is, I give it a 4.5. It's powerful, practical, and looks good. Well worth the price.

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I bought this lap top after a VERY long search online for the best computer for how much I was willing to spend. My budget was $850, and I was willing to buy either a laptop OR a desktop. I wanted something that was portable because I play games at my friends house's all the time. I also wanted something that can play the games I like to play

Games.

World of Warcraft

Star Craft (1-2)

warcraft 3

Call of duty 4

Portal

Half life 2 +(Episode 1-2)

Team Fortress 2

Left 4 Dead (1-2)

Civ 5 (2-4)

and a few others.

I have been able to play all these games on ALL HIGH SETTINGS. I get about 45-60 Fps while playing. Even during intense battles where I'm really using the GPU and CPU pretty harshly, It plays cool, and still maintains AT LEAST 45 fps.

Pros VERY good buy, it is the best laptop for this price. I have been looking for a LONG time for something that had a least a tri core CPU running at least 2.2ghz, and a dedicated graphics with at least 512mb dedicated to the GPU. After benchmarking the parts inside this laptop I found that the GPU(graphics processing unit) was in the top tier. There are 3 tiers, tier 1 is the best out there were tier 3 is low end crappy. The CPU, and GPU both scored well on the benchmarks in tier 1. Other people have said that they want more FPS(frames Per Second) out of this laptop. The only way for that to happen is for it to have 2 graphics cards. believe me, 60fps is good, and that's about the most you will get with almost ALL single graphics cards. the processor is very good as well. Its a duel core, running 2.27ghz, but can easily be overclocked to 2.54ghz from inside windows. Asus made a program that you can launch from within windows that makes it easy to overclock your CPU, just as easy as setting the battery to high performance. The other thing is that the CPU also has 4 threads, witch makes it run like a quad core, ex. That's like partitioning your hard drive into 4 partitions! its one hard drive but you have 4 storage areas now. It is a true LED wide screen display, so the rez might not be 1080p but it still looks GREAT. The key board is a chiclet style, all that means is that they buttons are a little smaller and have more space in between them. If you have ever used a mac book pro, its just like that. NOT HARD to get used to at all. within minutes I was typing at normal speeds with it. 4g's of DDR3(GOOD, but can be upgrade to 8g's, witch is GREAT). Hard drive isn't bad, 7200rpm means quick launching and WAY less time in loading screens, plus 500gb of storage isn't bad either. would like 1t but ehhh, now I'm just being picky. (cough) 500gb SSHD/Flash Storage would be nice (cough). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I already know that would jack up the price a grand or two though. . . . any way

CONS HEAT. . . This thing tends to get a little hot while playing these games with all HIGH setting. I invested $32. on a laptop cooling tray. BELIEVE me, it is worth the investment. It keeps the laptop from overheating and the one i got sits it at an angle witch makes it just that much easier to use. BUY a MICROFIBER CLOTH rag, this thing doesn't attract much dust but the oil from your hands and fingers dose stand out and creates smudges. Plus its always good to keep your com clean ;)

other then that this thing has had NO PROBLEMS, Ive had it for 1month and a week. so far so good. not to much bloat ware, wasn't damaged at all when it arrived and runs like a CHAMP. It replaced my desktop as my main computer and like I said is the BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK. I looked at Newegg.com for the same laptop, and a few other places, It cost a little more els where, and the ones they had were NOT factory refurbished. Believe me that is a big enough deal, You don't want something sent back to the retailer who just wants it sold. the factory/company that sells it will take the time to make sure that it is fully functional and is LIKE new, they will even replace parts with BRAND NEW ones because they already have them.

In short. . best laptop at this price. really good CPU/GPU. Runs like a Champ. CAN replace your desktop. HEATS up, buy a cooling tray. you will not be disappointed with your purchase.

Best Deals for Asus G60JX-RBBX05 Intel i5-430M, 4 GB, 500 GB, NVIDIA GTS360M

I have owned my ASUS G60 for about 10 months, prior to that I owned the previous model (G51) for several months. Overall, my experience has been mostly positive and I would strongly recommend ASUS gaming notebooks for their great features and tremendous value.

What I use this computer for:

I have used this particular notebook for as a complete desktop replacement system, it is my one and only PC. I do some moderate gaming, namely Call of Duty Black Ops and Modern Warfare II. Additionally, I do a bit of light video editing and audio production (Adobe Premier Elements, Adobe Audition) along with day-to-day internet browsing and word processing. For my purposes, most folks would agree the specs are total overkill but when I feel like playing a new PC game I don't want to have to suffer. The system is a power hog, so don't expect record-breaking battery life (2-3 hours with some power using features disabled, 45 minutes on full blast.) Also, the monitor's max resolution is a little low (1366 x 768) given the size of the screen (16" widescreen.) Below I'll break down some of the pros and cons.

Some of my favorite things about this system:

The case is extremely sturdy and has a very substantial feel on the desk. The keyboard feels like a real desktop keyboard and doesn't cause the screen or case to shake or flop around on your desk when you type heavily. This is a huge plus for me, given that I use this as a desktop computer.

The keyboard is backlit with several brightness settings, adjustable using the function keys.

The screen is extremely bright and crisp on its highest lamp setting, but you can also adjust the screen brightness quickly using the function keys. This is a great feature for both battery life and avoiding eye strain.

The video card offers HDMI output to a television or monitor. It also has VGA for older analog monitors and automatically switches to dual monitor output when either port is used.

There is a large heat sink with side case exhaust (not on the underside of the case) which eliminates the need for a laptop cooling pad for most users.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M 1GB graphics card is in fact a discrete, PCI-Express graphics card (x16 bus speed) not an "integrated" or "on-board" graphics card. This, of course, is the prime selling point for any laptop marketed as a "gaming machine."

The Ethernet port is on the back of the machine (thank goodness!) as is the power cord input.

Some of my least favorite things about this system:

There are 4 USB 2.0 ports, two located on each side of the case proximal to the user. For right handed users, this means that your USB ports will get directly in the way of your mouse hand if you are using an external mouse (and of course you would be considering this is a gaming laptop) Bad case design, ASUS!

The audio jacks are located (of course) on the right side of the case, proximal to the user. So, if you plug in your headset/mic you'll be cluttering your mouse pad with unruly wires which conveniently get in the way of everything. Bad case design, ASUS!

The audio jacks are *very* poorly constructed. The headphone jack microswitch is extremely likely to become "stuck" rendering your built-in speakers useless (more on this below.)

Major issues/complaints:

I only have one major issue or complaint with this laptop (and all the other ASUS laptops for that matter, since this issue is not limited to just this model.) The headphone jack microswitch has a strong tendency to become "stuck." What I mean by this is that when you plug in headphones or external speakers to the headphone jack, two pins (the microswitch) are suppressed which tell the motherboard to direct sound into the device you've plugged in. When you remove the headphone/speakers, the two pins should "pop" back out to an unsuppressed position which tell the motherboard to direct sound to the laptop's built in speakers. In this ASUS model (and most other ASUS models) this microswitch is faulty and easily damaged. In other words, when you unplug your headphones/speakers the switch remains suppressed and the built-in speakers never get "told" to turn back on. The end result: you have to use headphones or external speakers to hear any sound. This is a common, widespread and known defect with the Realtek on-board sound card in these systems and cannot be easily fixed or replaced, since a full motherboard replacement would be needed. So, it's something you should just be prepared to live with. Overall, it's merely a nuisance and not a terribly debilitating defect.

Summary and Rating:

To wrap things up, this is a great mid-range gaming system at a great price. You get a high end graphics card, a great sturdy case with a bright screen and some great little features. There are some cons with the layout of ports and such, and of course, that unruly headphone jack. But overall, I think you'd be quite pleased with the performance vs. price of this system.

Honest reviews on Asus G60JX-RBBX05 Intel i5-430M, 4 GB, 500 GB, NVIDIA GTS360M

The machine is great. Big screen, really good to either play videogames trough the HDMI Cable or watch movies. The configurations provide a excellent gameplay, all the games I tried worked perfectly and this is very important. The battery don't last too long, but I already was aware of this and I always carry the charger, so this is not a problem for me.

I only have a little problem, that is sometimes when I unplug the charger the computer freeze and I need to turn off and start everything again, and I lost school work because of this. But Overall is a great computer and for me, it worth the price.

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I'm a college student and this computer allows me to work fast and yet still enjoy games. Battery life is okay with me, but i plan on getting a 9 cell for it. The graphics card is great. I can edit movies and pictures at great speeds. my old laptop used to try and keep up with me, but now i can barely keep up with this baby. 4 gigs of ram allows me to run many programs at once and i haven't seen any lag or slowing. Great hard drive space and speed 7200 rmp. I was able to dual-boot windows 7 and ubuntu. WOrks excellent with ubuntu after you install the graphics driver which are available at Nvidia. Overall i am happy with this purchase. I got a great product for a Awesome Price. One of the most confusing things though was that it has a bluetooth led that lights up in ubuntu even though it physically doesn't have bluetooth built it.

Buy HP g4-2320dx Pavilion 14" Laptop/ AMD A6-4400M/ AMD Radeon HD 7520G

Customer Ratings:

I absolutely love this computer.

I'm a very techy person and this is everything I was looking for at the price I could afford.

I've owned numerous HP products ranging from cameras to laptops, etc.

HP is a great company with great products.

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This laptop more than exceeded my expectations considering how cheap it is. It runs games good enough, has a very nice feel to the keyboard (wish it had a backlight but I'm okay with it for how much this thing costs). It is the perfect size to take anywhere, battery life more than exceeded my expectations as well. The screen on this laptop looks excellent as well! I highly suggest installing Windows 7 on this, I did. Windows 8 just feels awkward on PC without a touchscreen. Definitely install Windows 7 on yours!!! This will be a good, reliable laptop for on the go use; I got it to use for college.

Overall, I would highly recommend this laptop if you're not trying to spend over $400 for a new, portable laptop! Not too big, not too small, it feels just right!

Best Deals for HP g4-2320dx Pavilion 14" Laptop/ AMD A6-4400M/ AMD Radeon HD 7520G

This is a sweet machine. Great sound. Great graphics. Great design. Lousy Operating System...but that isn't a big deal just switch the UEFI BIOS to Legacy and reload it with Windows 7. Perfect. The drivers and apps are all on HP's site (use the g4-2149SE Windows 7 drivers and search for the Youcam, Roxio Burn and DVD Play apps).

Enjoy!

Honest reviews on HP g4-2320dx Pavilion 14" Laptop/ AMD A6-4400M/ AMD Radeon HD 7520G

I needed a computer and this one with the A6 AMD vision chip works great for me because I like to watch movies and they are cheap. With the HDMI port I connected my TV real easy and started to watch all my movies online on my TV. Even without the TV the computer ran great using its own screen. The disk drive lets me put all my saved data from last computer to this one very easy and I can watch DVD movies with no problem. I was impressed with windows 8 because it had a new platform window to log in for your Microsoft mail account to access it immediately and then it takes you to the applications window where applications buttons are installed for each program if available. Then from there you can enter your regular windows desk top. The windows 8 was confusing at first and I thought my computer pointer was sticking but the windows program was starting for the first time and now the pointer is right on track as fast as I want it to move. And I have an ITunes account and it works great on it as a external program installed like an app and has a icon on the windows desk top. For the price I thought this was a good deal for a computer that is up to date and current with todays programs and net surfing abilities.

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I love my New computer! Windows 8 took a little bit of getting used to but I love it now! Overall its a great computer with everything you need for college!

Best Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-5099SLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Moon Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $699.99
Sale Price: $610.19
Today's Bonus: 13% Off

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program

*** Quick edit / update: I need to say that all around, this is a very good laptop. It performs well and has a great keyboard with a more than adequate screen. It has touch screen capability and has plenty of ports. It is small enough to be mobile and powerful enough to be a desktop replacement. All in all, a solid, solid machine.You will get good value from this machine and should do great for many years.

First of all, the Dell 15R here is a solid performer in all areas except one. I would certainly give it a solid 5 stars for performance and value except for one detail. The screen resolution. I am not sure why all the windows 8 laptops that have touch enabled have moved to this lower resolution. The resolution is slightly better than 720p, but not by much. The additional cost to upgrade a screen size to full 1080p couldn't have been that large. So it makes me think it must have something to do with the touch screen interface and the ability of windows 8.

Anyway the keyboard is fantastic, the battery life is very respectable (I was able to get 5 hours + of decent use), and it has a good array of usb ports, a dvd drive, a HDMI port, and a sd card reader. This is really best designed for students that need a laptop that they can do everything at the dorm and occasionally pack it up and take it to the library.

The finish is good, but when when you pick it up, it has the plastic bottom. Bummer. It feels very solid and I have no doubt the quality of the machine will allow it to last.

Pro's:

1. Solid and capable construction with a nice brushed aluminum look tot he cover and keyboard area

2. Fantastic keyboard that is wonderful to type on. Good travel and no flex.. Awesome ..

3. Very fast processor, good drive space (500GB), and good amount of RAM

4. Has all the ports you need and a dvd drive

5. Good price with tech support (not mom and dad at 10 pm on a wed night yippie!)

6. Touch screen, but this is low on the list. I am not sure that the touchscreen is all that useful for 99% of the work you do an a laptop ... I think it is kinda gimmicky ...

Cons:

1. Plastic bottom, with no sex appeal :(

2. Low Screen resolution

3. Windows 8 (jury is still out, but I like windows 7, hopefully windows 8.1 will bring back the productivity of win 7)

Otherwise, you cannot beat the affordability and the "bang for the buck" in productive tasks. It works, it is fast, and will handle anything you throw at it. Any student will be able to do whatever school work and more on this machine. Just be warned, that if your new college student is at all socially minded and wants to be like the other kids, they will want a mac. While Dell has done a good job at making an attempt at a sexy laptop, it just doesn't compare to a sexy macbook.

This is an effort to match the affordability and raw horsepower of a Dell, but also adding some design elements (cover and keyboard platform in brushed aluminum) to give it some respectability, just wait to pick it up and put it away when everyone else isn't looking.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a very good laptop, and overall nice parts overweight its issues. However the price is approaching ultraportable levels, so the choice is not a clear cut one.

First the things I liked:

The touch input actually works. The combination of the touch screen, with the trackpad makes both local movements (like scrolling), and targeted movements (like closing a window) very easy to perform. The Dell configuration application is very useful for this purpose. Yet, I should say that I could not get some of the trackpad gestures working.

There is actually little "crapware" installed on the system. I only needed to uninstall the antivirus, and some Intel drives (you would not need RAID on a laptop). This is of course if you like the installed OS that comes with the system.

Overall performance is very good, the boot speed is fast, and applications rarely slow down. The only thing I would recommend after switching the antivirus program is getting an SSD. I could not find this model offered with such on option neither here on Amazon nor on Dell's own site. This makes the installation harder. Unfortunately UEFI and OS migration rarely work smoothly.

It is very silent. The third generation core processor helps keep the fan off most of the time.

The laptop seems to be upgradeable. There is easy access to RAM, disk, and several other on board items. If you need more headroom in the future, this might help keep your options open.

The battery life is rather good. I can use it for a few days without needing a recharge. My usage is light, but the battery easily lasts more than six hours in total.

There are a few bad parts though:

The port locations are not optimal. The USB on the right side is on the middle, below the optical drive. This makes connecting a wired mouse more difficult than necessary.

The SD card reader is only USB 2.0. I understand that USB 3 bandwidth is precious, and better spent on regular ports, however given recent expansion of SD storage, I would prefer to transfer my media faster. An HD recording easily takes 10GB per hour depending on bitrates.

The driver update failed on the first run. Generally OEM software for these kind of purposes are really low quality, and Dell's updater is only slightly above average.

Wifi did not work on 5GHz band. For most apartments, this is a less congested option than the regular 2.4GHz.

My overall judgement about this laptop is positive. While there are annoyances, they are minor. This is a job well done by Dell.

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-5099SLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Moon

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I have a mixed relationship with Dell laptops. I have been using or helping those who are using Dell laptops since about 2004. They had a great build quality then, great service and prices. But, it seems that Dell goes up and down in quality as the years past. You never know if you're buying during a lemon year (2008) or a great year (2006). I note those years because those are specific laptops. My wife had one from late 2008 and it was constantly causing problems. Constantly crashing, restarting, freezing. It was always a bother, even with lots of attention. Finally died entirely early last year.

On the other side, I got a laptop in very early 2007. Still use it. I've replaced some parts here and there, like the touchpad and keyboard and LED screen. But, it keeps on ticking. Works great. We got a Dell Desktop in 2010 and it works great.

So I want to like Dell, but I've known others who have mixed stories like we do, and so I'm cautious.

Dell has a winner with the Inspiron 15R here. I recommend it absolutely. It's not a sleek, light laptop, but you have to pay a fair amount more for that. It's really the laptop that has been around for about 10 years, updated with contemporary technology. And updated well.

First of all, it has Windows 8. Windows 8 can be a real bother for all kinds of reasons, but I find this computer works as well with it as possible. No glitches or crashes or any problems. My wife has an HP model of similar build and price, and it seems to have consistent problems with drivers or other concerns which cause a freeze. After 6 weeks of constant use of this (I'm a professor and writer), not a single problem. The trick to getting Windows 8 to work right is a very cheap program called Start8. Look it up online, made by stardock. It basically restores Windows 7 convenience while still making use of Windows 8 functionality.

As to this computer. The touchscreen works wonderful, though, I find I have to remind myself to use it. I'm used to the old fashioned way. Add to this the problem that Microsoft insists on Windows 8 having a touchscreen look, while not really making a touchscreen all that necessary. For instance, the Office programs have very little touchscreen functionality that I've found. It's good for apps and such but basically a distraction.

Features include USB 3.0, which is the newer standard and makes USB transfers extremely fast. Which usually isn't a big concern except for backing up onto an external hard drive. And with only 500GB of space on this computer, I'd definitely recommend an external if you're doing any multimedia. There's also an HDMI out, which is wonderful, but there's no VGA out, so if you're planning to use this for presentations you might need to get an adapter.

This 15R has strong wi-fi and bluetooth, picking up and holding onto signals better. I have a Onkyo CS-355 CD Hi-Fi Mini System with Bluetooth. The bluetooth signals from other laptops I tried would be very, very tentative. Move the wrong way, signal is lost. Sit the wrong way (like with the laptop on your lap) it would lose the signal. With this laptop, it's consistent and strong. Another one of those minor strengths that points to the overall build quality of this laptop and the components they are using. In other words, they're not shoving in cheap and sketchy components just in order to boast about features. The features work and they work well.

The memory is 6GB, which is probably the minimum for good running computers these days, however, it's easily upgraded. It often costs more to have higher memory upfront than to upgrade later.

Video works solid, HD though not the highest resolution. Honestly, you probably won't notice. I don't notice a big difference between my computer and my wife's, which has a dedicated video card and higher resolution. Such dedicated cards take away battery life and add complexity to the system, resulting in more problems.

The touchscreen itself is great. Multi-touch, meaning it can sense at least ten points of contact. I only have 10 fingers, so that's all I was willing to test. Very sensitive, very fluid. There are good apps that do make use of it well.

My one complaint has to do with the screen. Very glossy which means very reflective. Turn it on and you're looking at yourself in a reflection. It has good brightness, so mostly overcomes this, but if you're working outside a lot, this might be an issue.

All in all, I'm exceedingly pleased with this model. I'm not entirely sold on touchscreen necessity yet, but the great thing about this is it's a bit more future-proofed should software (like Word or Powerpoint!) be increasingly more touchscreen optimized. It makes for a great bridge between a traditional laptop and a workable tablet like access. Great for school or work. It has worked well with all the software I've used and that includes Microsoft Office, the new Adobe Suite, Corel Painter, and other multimedia. Not a glitch, or a problem to note at all.

Highly recommend if you're looking for a workhorse laptop with a touchscreen.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-5099SLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Moon

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program First of all, this laptop ships with Windows 8, "Metro" user interface and all. This isn't going to be a review of Windows 8, but users should be aware that it's a huge and weird UI shift anyhow.

Second, it has a touch screen. You might not think you want it, but this is a surprisingly great feature for everyday tasks like web-surfing and scrolling as you read documents. It's not perfect -I found it sometimes mistook a swipe for a click, with unintended results, and it's very hard to tap small targets -but it's pretty good. The screen itself is somewhat thicker, and feels more like the image is under glass (rather than like the pixels are right at the surface), as a result, but it's a reasonable tradeoff for the neat functionality.

The 15R's hardware specs are all very reasonable, especially considering the price. But before buying, check the pricing on the 8 GB / 1000 GB model before purchasing -the prices fluctuate, and sometimes the more capacious unit seems to be available for a very small upcharge over this one.

The other thing to realize is that it's a very big and bulky laptop. It's every bit as thick and clunky in shape as you might think, and it's much heavier than the claimed weight -Dell's data sheet says it has a 5.1 lb "starting weight," whatever that is, but the actual laptop (with battery, but without counting the power adapter) weighs 5 lbs 13 oz on my scale. I wish they wouldn't lie about these numbers. And for all the size, the keyboard is quite small and fiddly in feel, and off-center, because they've added a numeric keypad. Which is great if you need that, but otherwise makes typing words less pleasant.

All in all, despite a few minor flaws, this is a great low-end laptop for Windows 8 users. Recommended.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-5099SLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Moon

I hate trying to pick out a computer. So many options, so hard to decide. I finally narrowed it down to this one and then spent time trying to find the best price (which honestly changes from day to day on many sites). I have a just about figured out windows 8 and the computer works great. Of course my old computer was 85 years old in computer years (5 years), so this machine seems like a wonder comparatively.

Best Acer V5-431-4689;NX.M17AA.002 14-Inch Laptop Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $539.62
Sale Price: $460.80
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it looks great, sleek, windows 8 as it is. but this thing is driving me INSANE because of its poorest internet connectivity EVER. I mean I have the best connection in my house. all my iPads, iPhones and good old laptop never ever have any issues with my wireless-N router signals. everything is working just fine except this acer thing which is breaking connection every 5 minutes. interestingly i have observed that whenever i do stuff on the internet the frequency of breaking connection increases. as if it cant tolerate the 'load' of the data transfer. now please do not teach me the steps I should take to improve the signal and reception. the problem is with its hardware. in next few days I will decide whether or not it is worth living with this problem or just get rid of the headache once for all.

update: downgraded to 1 star. Guys, DO NOT BUY this piece of CRAP! I guess you get what u pay for.

update: I was about to ship it back. i thought i should give it one more chance. so i chatted with customer service about this wifi issue. they said that it was a well known issue and had a simpler than expected fix. they forwarded me a link. i was supposed to uninstall the wifi driver and then reinstall it from the link. BOOM!!! Problem solved. now it is working like a charm. i am upgrading it to 4 stars. i would have given it 5 but this wifi thing was very inconvenient and acer should fix this problem so that it worked right out of the box.

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I bought this laptop on sale on another website. I thought the cpu 1.5 ghz Pentium 987 dual core would be a little slow but truthfully it does quite well if you use this for basic document creation/editing and net surfing. The machine runs quietly and stays fairly cool. Reviews of other V5 laptops mention a problem with the wifi signal but I did not have that problem with my unit. Windows 8 is different but it's nothing you can't learn in a day or two. To minimize frustration go to the Windows app store and download the Windows 8 shortcuts app as soon as you set up the laptop. Note that this laptop does not have a touch screen so you manipulate everything from the touchpad or a mouse. The touchpad (smartpad) was great while it worked but it went crazy in just a few days and tweaking the settings did no good so I had to return the laptop. I will try a laptop with a faster cpu and touch screen next. Apart from the touchpad problem however, this Acer laptop is not a bad machine for the price.

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a half of star the dam thing dont work right and i call tech support and get the run around....

Honest reviews on Acer V5-431-4689;NX.M17AA.002 14-Inch Laptop

Everything I ever wanted in a Laptop . Could Not ask for more ! I am really liking windows 8 on it !

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Customer Ratings:

I bought this computer open-box special from Best Buy and it is amazing! I love it, quiet mouse-button, ten-key on the right side, fast, and very user friendly. I strongly recommend this laptop!!

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Cheap Toshiba Satellite 15.6" Laptop - 3rd Gen Intel® Core i5-3230

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $799.00
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Replaced my old Toshiba with this one and was not disappointed. Fairly good speakers for a small laptop. Lighted keyboard is a plus. No issues playing high quality HD video without lag. Shop around, BB smokes this price.

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Shopped around a lot before buying this laptop. Other laptops may have more features/performance but I felt the $$$ went up faster than the features. Very happy with this purchase, definitely got my moneys worth.

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the computer is fast and efficient, plus the backlit keyboard is wonderful.. i will recommend this for anyone. :) windows 8 takes a bit getting used to and i hate that there is no start button but the computer workd fine :)

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite 15.6" Laptop - 3rd Gen Intel® Core i5-3230

over all. performance and quality. hope to get as many years service from this one as the old one did.

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Defanatly a very good laptop for the money. I'd recommend you shop around. I picked this up at a local retailer for 629. I don't think you can do high end gaming on this computer though. I have yet to see this computer slow down. I love how you get 4 usb 3.0 ports. the speakers sound awesome and the mic is good as well. I really don't think you will find a computer with this much performance for the money. Plus the expandability to 16 gb ram is awesome. I picked up the coolermaster x2 notebook cooler for this thing and it works perfectly to keep it cool. The battery life is not the best. I'd say 3 hours or so. I do wished it had bluetooth but it's not a deal breaker for me. The keyboard is not all that bad. The best keyboard I ever used on a laptop was on a macbook pro but this keyboard is not bad.

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Customer Ratings:

First, this ultrabook is awesome! Starts up fast, thanks to the 128gb SSD. High quality brushed aluminum casing, USB 3.0 connection, HDMI output, WiDi connectivity and backlit keyboard.

Now, for the not awesome part (this is for me. for other users, this might be sufficient..), only 4gb of ram, and it's on-board, meaning not upgradable. Ram prices are cheap nowadays and it would be more awesome if the ram is not on-board so you could put an 8gb stick. One more thing, there's no option for a higher resolution screen. 1366x768 is nice for 13 inch, but a 1600x900 would be a nice option. 1 USB 3.0 and 1 USB 2.0, now why not just both 3.0?

If you buy this directly from HP, there is an option to upgrade to an i7 proc, and 256gb SSD. But still no option for a higher on-board ram, or higher resolution screen.

Pros

Core i5 IVY bridge processor, ULV The processor is a ULV version (Ultra-Low Voltage). This is slower compared to full-pledged i5 processor. All ultrabooks have the ulv processors. The number one advantage of this is lower TDP (low wattage), which means longer battery life for the notebook. In return, the performance is slower too. The i7 ulv version is only dual core compared to the quad core for regular i7 non-ulv.

HD4000 graphics This is considerably faster than the older HD3000 found from the sandy bridge processors. You should get 30~40% increase in performance, so you should be able to play even the latest games, but not with high settings. This can even outperform older dedicated gpu like nvidia gt620m

128gb SSD Fast reads and writes compared to a regular HDD. Windows bootup and shutdown is quick as well as opening up applications. Upon logging in to windows, you can even click the internet explorer and start browsing. You can't do that with an HDD, you have to wait for a few seconds before you can start browsing.

WiDi connectivity Note: You'll need a Widi receiver connected to your HDTV in order for you to use this functionality.

Backlit keyboard Isn't this nice? Now you can use your laptop during night on a dark room or in a low light situation, and you can see your keyboard clearly. No more guessing with the correct key (unless your a very good in typing)

Cons

4gb on-board ram, not upgradable

No option to upgrade the screen

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Pros: Great design and features. You get full Adobe Elements photo and video editing software, and two full years of Norton. Keyboard is well set up and has decent travel when compared to the samsung series 9 or asus machines (at hundreds of $ less, i might add) and the trackpad is excellent--smooth and responsive.

Many blogs and reviewers gripe about the screen, but at 13.3 inch, the resolution works. I briefly had the higher-res Spectre 14 and the higher res screen made things a little too small on this size machine--don't get me wrong, it was a gorgeous screen aside from the defects I experienced on two separate models, but the XT screen does the job well. Build quality is very good for windows based machine. Specs are good too--Ivy Bridge i5, 4 gig of ram and a speedy SSD.

Boot up time is minimal and it awakes from sleep almost instantaneously. Battery seems decent too. From what I can tell so far, I get roughly 5-6 hours out of it. Minimal bloatware. This machine feels light and sturdy. I get the feeling it will last me several years. On board speakers are decent, but i probably wont be using them much. I didn't buy this for beats audio, but listening through a pair of good headphones is great.

Cons: Although it is a well built machine from HP, it isn't perfect. Screen wobbles a bit and the underside has a soft-grip, but plastic quality to it. The SSD is fast, but a lot of the space is eaten up by the system restore partition. I'd rather have that space and put the system restore on an SD card or something. Out of the box, you're looking at about 70 gig available. But with SSD, you trade speed for space. And this thing is fast.

I think the screen is nice, but the colors don't blow me away. I don't expect to be playing any new games on this, but it seems powerful enough to dabble. Also the memory is on-board so you can't upgrade it. That may be a problem in two or three years.

Other Thoughts: Overall a great computer. If you're looking for a computer with equal build quality to the macbook air and don't care about the OS, just go with a macbook air. This machine comes close, but little things like screen hinge balance (so you can just open with one hand) aren't there. HP definitely did a great job paying attention to detail, but they overlooked a few superficial things. Of the available options, this one is the best for the price. I wanted a Windows machine, and after extensive research and screen defect issues with two HP Spectre 14's, this one is the best available for the money. All the other ultrabooks seems to have some issue with the screen, trackpad, cheap keyboard or poor build quality--these manufacturers can't seem to get it right, and a computer like the macbook air kind of destroys the competition (in terms of build quality).

You're not getting a super-hi-res display here, but you're getting a great computer with very good specs and excellent support from HP. They're trying. Really. And if you're in the market for an "ultrabook" today then you can't go wrong with the Spectre XT when you consider the other options. I really shopped around. Went to stores and played with tons of different models in this price range--Acer laptops felt poorly made; the Asus machines had weird screen bleed on the display models and the trackpad--the main method of input--was terrible; other HP's were either non-SSD or had strange ripple defects on their screens (Sandy Bridge Spectre 14's); the Samsung models, once you figure out the huge difference between the 2011 and 2012 thirteen-inch models had junky keyboards and were incredibly expensive; I wouldn't touch Vizio yet and they haven't been reviewed well; Dell's... meh, they didn't have a good feel either; Lenovo has a weak plastic keyboard tray and a ton of flex. It felt like it was going to break.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is a beautiful thin and light computer with a fast processor and solid state drive. The brushed aluminum on top (behind the screen) and around the keyboard (where you put your wrists) is very nice looking and doesn't show fingerprints easily. (We also own an HP Envy 4-1030us 14-Inch Ultrabook (Black) which has a brushed black aluminum finish and that shows fingerprints very readily.) The bottom is silver colored plastic and blends well with the rest of the laptop.

This is an Ultrabook, a designation owned by Intel (the maker of the computer chips inside this laptop) to designate thin and light computers featuring their products. This computer is an excellent example of what they are trying to encourage. My scale weighs it at 3 lbs 2 oz and my calipers measure it at 0.68" at the widest dimension.

The 13.3" screen looks great (resolution of 1366x768) although it is glossy instead of matt. It isn't going to "wow" anyone, but it is a fine screen and a decent resolution for the size. There is a great loss of fidelity if the screen is tilted too far up or down, but it is easy to get a position where it looks fine. Off axis (someone sitting to your side), it is much better with just a little degradation until you get to extreme angles. 13.2" is a good size to be both portable and useable. 15" and above is just too big and below 12.5" I feel it is too small.

The keyboard is composed of flat and square keys and is full sized. It has a backlight that I think it the right intensity (the 14 inch Envy I have it too bright) so it isn't overpowering when using your computer in a darkened room (e.g. while watching TV). The insert, page up, page down, home, and end keys are not dedicated keys but instead are on top of other keys (arrows and prt scrn) so you have to shift to use these. No big deal.

The touchpad is a multitouch that works very well. It supports two-fingered scrolling, pinch and zoom, and two-finger rotation, among other things. Where it is less ideal is when you need to click and drag, as when you want to select multiple items on the desktop or you are scrolling with a scroll bar. This is a necessary tradeoff to enhance the multitouch functionality over the older mode of mouse pad and buttons. Once you get used to it, there really isn't any downside and it is an overall better experience to never have to use a scroll bar. By the way, the whole pad is a click button, so you can just scroll with one finger if you press firmly on the scroll bar. I am a left-handed mouser so sometime I accidently double-tap in the upper right on a box that turns off the mousepad and I need to double-tap to turn it on again (and then double tap to do the thing I wanted to do in the first place!). A little thing, but something to be aware of.

The computer is fast with a very good i5 processor. i5 is Intels main line (i7 is faster, i3 slower). It runs HD video just fine and I don't notice any lag even when multiple programs are open. I'm not sure who would benefit from an i7 (perhaps a gamer). I think most anyone else would be very happy with the performance of this computer.

The performance is aided by a solid state hard drive that makes starting the computer, opening programs, and shutting down very fast. The computer starts from off in 16 seconds, resumes from sleep in just a few seconds. On the Windows performance index (I uploaded a screenshot), the hard drive got the hightest possible score (7.9). The slowest component is the memory, but that is still pretty fast. It would have been nice to have more memory (I'd choose 8 over 4 if I could) but the memory is not upgradable. That said, this is a very fast computer and I am suggesting more memory out of "conventional wisdom" than any perceived need for it.

The solid state hard drive is nominally 128 GB but the way the hard drive folks count bytes is different than windows, so the drive is actually only 119.4 GB. Furthermore, 4 GB are dedicate to hibernation (equals your memory size), 15.4 GB for the recovery partition, and 0.2 GB for booting, giving you only 99.6 GB of useable hard drive space. Windows and other programs take space from this, giving you about 71 GB of free space. This should be enough for most folks, but this will be quickly eaten up by video files, a large music collection, or a picture library. You are trading speed for capacity ($100 will buy you a 1,000 GB conventional hard drive or 128 GB solid state drive) with this computer. Other HPs use a hybrid system (small SSD with conventional hard drive) which might be a better compromise. Advanced users would be able to disable hibernation to recover that space if needed.

The webcam (1280 x 720) is fine but it doesn't quite look HD. I am using it inside at night at fairly low light conditions, and it works well, just not stunning. I've seen cams that work better.

It has fewer ports than a typical laptop, but I find I don't use many anyway. One USB 3.0 is fine for backing up, a USB 2.0 for charging or a mouse. HDMI for video is pretty standard and an SSD slot for transfering pictures is also welcomed. They also kept a ethernet connection, which is nice for large file transfers on the network.

I was happy to see very little bloatware. There was nothing on the desktop and only a few Adobe products on the taskbar. I've put a copy of the untouched desktop in the images. I disabled the Adobe products (premier and photoshop essentials) using the settings under the HP docking utility (Launchbox) which puts them on the taskbar. I also uninstalled Norton antivirus and put in place Microsoft Security Essentials (which is free and works well.) I also uninstalled the Bing Bar and Microsoft Office 2010 trial edition as I have a full version from my workplace. (There is no CD drive so I have to install Office over a network; you could use a USB drive as well).

This comes with Beats Audio, which just means the sound system meets some standard put out by the "Beats Audio" people. This includes slightly better speakers and a "subwoofer" to improve bass response. I think it does sound very good compared to other laptops I've had, although I'm not going to give up my headphones or home stereo. Don't expect great sound, but is more than passable and certainly fine for casual videos and such. On other laptops I'd find watching movie impossible without external speakers, but this is fine and speech is clear. For music you can certainly hear an improvement with bass response, but it isn't very deep and the highs are still a bit tinny, as one typically finds on a laptop. Volume is more than adequate. Overall a plus, just don't expect miracles here.

The laptop is packaged very well. Inside the box in which it is delivered is a black box with the logo. Open that and you see the laptop inside a soft cloth sleeve and nicely done quick-start graphics. Pull a tab and a zippered bag with the power supply is revealed. A bit useless in the long run, but something to consider if you are getting this as a gift or when presentation matters.

Overall a top-notch laptop in looks, usability, and portability. If pressed, I couldn't give a good reason not to get the somewhat less expensive HP Envy 4-1030us 14-Inch Ultrabook (Black). This is more compact and lighter, but overall both have been great so far.

Honest reviews on HP Spectre XT 13-2050nr 13.3-Inch Laptop (Silver)

I looked for a long time to get the computer I need, and this does the trick perfectly. I upgraded from a 3-year-old Acer 11.6-inch screen running Intel Celeron and 2MB RAM. It was a workhorse, but it is slow. I need ultra-portable because a travel with a work laptop, too, and I need my own computer and I have to carry both on to the plane.

So I had these requirements: ultra-portable (see above); fast (just because I am impatient); backlit keyboard (so I can use on a plane or watching TV in low light at night); long battery life (I need to work and watch a full movie and listen to music on a cross-country flight and be able to use in the airport beforehand); and good sound (because the Acer stunk in that department). Check in all regards.

Unlike the other reviewer, I think the fan noise is minimal to non-existent (maybe there was something wrong with that one). And it runs very cool.

Complaints: The solid state hard drive is fast, but I thought I'd get a little more out of the 123 GB size. I ony used 65 GB on my Acer and had 235 GB to spare. But this machine, while it says 123 GB, has a D recovery drive that leaves the C drive with 99 GB. After all the software and my basic music and pics and documents, and after I load a few rented movies for a trip, I am down to 48 GB to spare. I have a bunch of flash drives and a 500 GB portable, but still, that is cutting it closer than I expected.

My only other complaint is that the plastic around the screen seems a bit cheap. My work laptop is an HP Elitebook, industrial-grade, and I think I expected a bit more integrity from HP. It closes more delicately than I expected with a plastic-against-metal sound that is a bit inartful. That said, it is the only "cheap" thing I could note. Everything else seems world-class so far: great keyboard feel, the backlit keyboard is attractive and functional, I like the trackpad (just the right umph to make it work without being touchy), and it looks and feels solid, like a Mac book Air (except for the noted concern).

Okay, one more little concern. My Acer rated at 9 hours, and it was good for 7.5-8.5 with my use (more than enough). This HP rates at 8 hours, but I'd say I am getting only 5.5 to 6.5 out of it. Still enough for what I need, but I liked the extra-security of the 8.5 hour machine (in case I forget to recharge before I get on the plane).

As for bloatware, I didn't think it had any. There was a 2-year Norton subscription which is fine, and it comes with (a huge plus for me) Adobe Photoshop (a $200 value at least). Nothing else but necessary stuff.

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I own a small business computer network management company. I have worked on hundreds of computer networks over the years and have recommended countless laptops for clients. I primary live/breath inside Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer. All the fun stuff a computer can do has always been left to my iPad. I have always admired the Mac Air but know that to get full Outlook functionality that I want and full functionality of the websites that I use in my business, I need Windows and Internet Explorer--though the functionality issues between Internet Explorer and other browers is lessening. Still, Mac OS looks very cool, but I still need a PC in the business word. I still consider Apple products primary consumer products and Apple has their hands plenty full just supplying their loyal Apple fanatics. More power to them!

Still, I'm tired of corporate looking PC's that are just NOT SEXY. I had a very un-fun HP ProBook for the last few years. I only used it because I had to and it was cheap. It felt so slow. But, I hate changing computers so I just dealt with it. A few days ago I had enough so I went on a big search for my new laptop...knowing everything I know as I'm deeply entrenched in the computer business.

Lenovo gives us HUGE incentives to buy test models of their computers. I thought for sure I was going to buy a Lenvo X1 Carbon but the reviews were very concerning. I looked at Samsung, Asus and a few others...nothing was really standing out. Then I made my way back to HP..suprisingly....

You know what? Good old HP had lots of good reviews on various thin laptops so I pressed on looking at the Envy line. We have sold a lot of HP Folio laptops to clients and those have worked really well and clients love them. Still, they are a bit too corporate looking for me. Then I came to the HP Envy Spectre XT. All signs pointed to this laptop.

Verdict? I LOVE THIS LAPTOP!!!! I love my computer again!!! The computer is fast. The 13.3" screen is perfect very crisp and sharp. The keyboad feels and works fantastic. Each key has its own LED and it look very cool. The trackpad feels and works very smoothly and intuitively. I like the advanced gestures for scrolling through webpages.

I do wish HP would work on their AC adpaters so they are smaller and less bulky, though this model has a smaller AC adapter than I'm used to which is nice.

If you want Windows Professional, there is a verion of the Spectre XT called Spectre XT Pro you might want to consider..but I only find Windows Pro necesssary if you MUST connection your OS to a corporate domain. But, with all things going Cloud these days, Home Edition will work fine for any personal or home office user.

So, bottom line is you want a cool 3 pound laptop and want Windows for personal use or work, this laptop is a great fit. I'm very happy.

Buy ASUS P43E-XH51 (14.1-Inch Screen) Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I am enjoying my first month with the Asus laptop. My previous laptop was an HP Pavilion 15.5 inch glossy screen. I really like the matte screen of the Asus. As far as screen size, I debated going with the Asus 15.6 vs the 14.1 and decided the 14.1 would be better, given the lower screen resolution. I am totally fine with this decision. I am also very happy with the lightweight laptop and battery life with the standard 6 cell battery. No doubt helped by the smaller screen real estate, I am getting a legitimate 5 hours of use. This is compared to my old HP with a 12 cell battery (heavy) and getting only 2.5 hours.

Also, the wifi is excellent as far as speed maintained and range. I can easily get 25 feet away from my modem, through several walls and still get 80% of the highest speed that I would get standing next to my modem.

Another plus is this laptop runs cool to the touch. No more singed thighs. And the "ice cool" technology also keeps the palm rest comfortable.

My only two concerns with the Asus are keyboard related. The keys are less contoured than I would like, so it is slightly easier to mistype. Having a little more space between them would be helpful. Also, the Caps Lock key (as well as the other keys) lacks an LED indicator. This could have been done and I would gladly have paid more for it. These are minor complaints and would not keep me from recommending this unit. Now, as to longevity...we shall see.

5/4/12 update: I need to downgrade from 4 stars to 2 stars. ASUS product support is virtually non-existent. Sent an email in to product support and it took six days to get a reply. Website is in English, somewhat. Went on to live chat today for support. Nobody came online for almost thirty minutes. Then a message appeared which said "engineers are busy, click here for support site". So I clicked there and another message came up: "Bad request". So, I next called someone who tried to help but suggested I call back the next day to get an RMA. I asked for my case number and he said he can't give me one as they were having problems with their software!

I still like the laptop, but with non-support like this, I will not buy another product from ASUS.

5/10/12 update 2: Actually contacted by ASUS rep after seeing this post. I like that they are willing to make improvements. People just want to know that the company they buy a product from will actually care enough to support that product and improve satisfaction. Upgraded from two stars to three stars. I still like the laptop and am liking ASUS more, thanks to Tien.

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Writing this review on this laptop right now:

After some basic research on RAM, processors, etc., I decided to take a risk on this one (at the time of purchase, this had 2 stars). It had all the specs I was looking for (examples include: 2+ ghz, i5 core, reputable brand, upgradable ram, decent graphics card, icecool tech) for a very low price.

Contrary to a previous reviewer, it worked right out of the box for me.

It only took me an hour to see how much superior it was to my old laptop (an HP Pavilion dv4-1465dx). It's lighter/more comfortable, faster, has better graphics/sound, and doesn't try to burn me. Then again, the HP is at least 2-3 years old, versus ~3 months.

I agree with a previous review on the annoying lack of LED indicator, but for the price, I'm willing to live without it. Although setting up the laptop with the Number Lock on was definitely something I'd rather not repeat.

Now bear in mind, I've had this laptop for a VERY short amount of time, so I can't say much for durability other than it feels sturdy. If I run into any issues, I'll try to remember to update this review. I'll also try to update in a few months to update how well it takes my abuse as a college student.

Feel free to ask me any questions about the laptop! I'm not the most knowledgeable about computers, but I'll try to be as helpful as I can.

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Actually.. The computer was a dud! But the company was great to deal with. They shipped same day and sent the package overnight because I was leaving the country and needed it with me. That was amazing! Then, it wasn't their fault that the computer was having problems and would reboot constantly and display windows error messages and try to reboot in safe mode and I hardly had any software on it at all. I had my IT department walk through technical issues with ASUS and when the problems could not be resolved, Adorama sent me the UPS labels and issued a full credit to my card! Computer = bad.. Adorama = GREAT!

Honest reviews on ASUS P43E-XH51 (14.1-Inch Screen) Laptop

As designed for professional use this laptop works very well,it feels very solid and high quality. I am very happy with it and I can recommend it to anyone.

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Just got the Computer today to use for business and the screen won't turn on. Tried the Fn keys to see if the display was turned off. Hooked an external monitor to it and it worked fine. Tried different settings with the external monitor plugged in but the computer would not recognize its own display. Hopefully I can get a new one fast.

Best Toshiba Satellite L745-S4126 14-Inch Laptop Deals

Customer Ratings:

Nice product. Works fine so far. good speakers. adapter gets very hot, more than many others I have seen. keyboard is a bit tacky.

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This computer has plenty of power for all your needs. For the money it is a real bargan. The look and feel are great. My only complaint is the OS. Windows crashed three times in the first two days. I replaced the Windows OS with Opensuse Linux. With the Linux OS everything works perfictly. It is a shame to see such a fantastic machine shipped with a poor OS

Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite L745-S4126 14-Inch Laptop

My last Toshiba laptop lasted me over 5 years and when the hard drive started failing i decided to buy a new one. Well my last one i payed $900, this one i payed under $400 and it already runs BETTER than my orignial. The fact that it's not actually run on POS Vista really helps...but it runs fast and does everything i need it to. Very happy especially considering what i payed for it. It's also nice to look at which is a bonus :)

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4th toshiba satellite for useasy keyboard placement, ease of use, styling, durable has held up well easy to update with additional memory if needed. Won't buy another brand. If kids using, be careful with hinges, can become loose with excessive wear, but was easily repaired locally. Still would choose for kids andadults alike. Best for price on the market.Great item

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not working well.you cant watch video...handling bad in all aspect.. probably nit good idea to buy computer from amazon...they should not sell computer ..worse is now i cant return but i cant use this useless computer as well.

Discount Asus 14" Laptop Intel Notebook PC (Pink)

Customer Ratings:

So, I'm not really that technologically advanced. My previous PC was a netbook (also by Asus), but it had started to slow down (due, I'm told, to my use of Norton). I also wanted something with a larger screen that was also lightweight. This fit the bill perfectly (and it's pink...WERK). I'll go through a few of the points that I find important.

1. Screen: Crisp, clear resolution.

2. USB Ports: There are only two (as opposed to the four on my netbook)

3. LED function indicator lights: Mostly hidden from view.

4. Speakers: They're eh. But, I didn't really buy it for the speakers.

5. Internet speed: Pretty awesome so far. Connects quickly to the various wi-fi networks at my university.

6. Touchpad: It's pretty nifty--the most like a MacBook touch pad that I've seen in a PC. It is, however, a little large and awkwardly placed. I tend to hit it a lot just while I'm typing, so I use a wireless mouse.

7. Weight: The specs say this thing weighs 4 pounds, but it hardly feels like it! It's also extremely thin.

8. Heat: It hasn't gotten very hot at all. There's supposed to be a special design to encourage that.

9. Battery life: I'm known for killing batteries, so I probably did something wrong the first time I used this computer. But, I find that I can get around 5 hours out of it.

9. Keyboard: I have really long fingers, so typing on the netbook keyboard could be a pain. This full size keyboard is awesome.

10. Cord: I'm a little disappointed that Asus didn't integrate some type of velcro strap to keep the cord organized. Be prepared for a bulky three-prong cord.

I bought this item on sale at Best Buy, and I am very pleased with my purchase so far.

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Bought the sleeky green one from Bestbuy during the labor day weekend (sept 4 2012) and thought its cuteness was fantabulous. it actually still is, but i didn't buy the almost 400 dollar laptop only for its cuteness.

so far it has:

crashed on me a coupla times;

the mouse froze up;

the MICROSOFT C++ error message zonked in a few times;

the windows compatability view thingy also popped up.

the touch pad seems way too sensitive and kept springing into another section of the text as i tried to type and made my spellings wrong.

the space bar was also flimsy as i needed to push it a few times in order to ensure that there was spacing between the words in my text otherwise all the words i typed just were hitched together.

I have had this laptop now for 8 days and i cannot say that i am soooo pleased with it. i may return it if i can't figure out a way to get it in a better working order.

ram and gb and all that stuff i do not understand because all i need it for is to type up stuff, do emailing and watch a tv series or two...nothing major

Best Sony VAIO VGN-P530H/R Lifestyle PC (1.33 GHz Intel Processor, 2 GB Deals

Customer Ratings:

I've always been a fan of ultraportable computers, and I've owned a few, which include a Motion LS800 tablet, Raon Everun, Vaio TX, Vaio TZ, and an Asus 1000H. So, my review is based upon my experience with those machines. The Vaio P, in my opinion, is the ideal combination of portability and functionality, if typing is an integral part of your computing needs. I bought 2 of them (one for me, one for the wife) as soon as they were announced on the Sony website, and have been using it for about 2 weeks.

PRO'S:

(1) SCREEN RESOLUTION: One issue that I have always had with any ultraportable (outside of the Vaio TX and TZ) has been low screen resolution (e.g. 1028 x 680), which has always lead to lots of scrolling and/or zooming-out. The resolution on the Vaio P is, in one word, incredible. EVERY webpage is viewable in its entirety on the screen, as is EVERY document I need to read or edit. The downside is that text ends up being VERY small on the screen, but still legible to me (I type documents in 10-pt Times New Roman font). However, there is a personalization option available that allows you to make text/icons 125% larger than normal, which makes things much easier to see. My wife wears glasses and has trouble reading the text at normal settings, so she uses that mode and it works well for her.

(2) PORTABILITY: Okay, let's not kid ourselves here. This thing will NOT fit in your shirt/pants pocket (unless you're wearing very baggy cargo pants), but it will fit in a purse or any small satchel. Weight is negligible, even with the extended-life battery attached. Portability is a big thing for me in my profession (medical student, MD in a few months), and this machine can easily fit in the pocket of my white coat when I'm on the move.

(3) THE KEYBOARD: I type extensively as part of my profession, and having a usable keyboard is a component that has always been missing from any computer that I could carry on my person. My Motion tablet and Everun were useful for reading on-the-go, but essentially useless for typing anything beyond a short phrase. My Vaio TX/TZ have great keyboards (I've typed thousands of pages on them), but the machines themselves are too large to carry on me at all times.

Let me also take this opportunity to point out that, in comparison to the Asus 1000H, the Vaio P is not just another crappy netbook. The keyboard on the 1000H, for many reasons, is a low-quality component that definitely shows with heavy use. Any typing mistakes made with the Vaio P are genuinely my own keystroke mistakes, which was not the case with the Asus (90% of the time, it was just the junky keyboard causing mistakes). The right-shift key on the Vaio P is truncated, but its placement to the left of the arrow keys makes it a much more natural motion to hit, and something that you can become accustomed to without causing you to alter your typing accuracy on a normal-sized keyboard, which was really just impossible with the 1000H (that had the right shift key placed to the right of the arrow keys).

(4) FUNCTIONALITY: It is a fully-functional PC, capable of running any program you might need to run, given that you're not trying to use this as a gaming PC. I have installed Windows 7 on my Vaio P, which has made it much more efficient at running multiple programs simultaneously, as well as improving stability. I would highly recommend this upgrade for anyone purchasing this machine.

CONS:

(1) VISTA: This machine should have come standard with XP. Vista boot time is horrendously slow, even from hibernation, and installing Windows 7 does not fix this problem. My other ultraportables running XP were able to return from hibernation in about 20-60 seconds. The Vaio P takes probably 2-3 minutes. Maybe I'm a little impatient, but I want my computer to be ON when I turn it on. The integrated instant-on technology is not terribly useful to me because I generally need to use programs other than Media player or Firefox when I fire my machine up.

(2) NOT USER-UPGRADEABLE: As I understand it, the RAM is soldered to the motherboard and thus not upgradeable. 3 GB of RAM would have made the VAIO P much faster, and would have alleviated problem (1) I described above, and with 3 GB of RAM, Windows 7 would not even be a necessity because it would then be able to run Vista acceptably.

(3) STANDARD BATTERY LIFE: Sony touts 4 hours of life with the standard battery, which is of course a lie. It's more like 2.5 to 3 hours with screen brightness turned down to 1 or 2 (at which it is still very much readable/viewable), with WiFi on. I also have the large capacity battery, which takes it to 6.5 to 7 hours at the same settings. The large capacity battery adds maybe 1 to 1.5 cm of height to the machine, which is something of an eyesore, but I will make the sacrifice because the added battery life is worth more to me than the 0.2 lbs (not noticeable) and increased size.

(4) LACK OF TOUCHPAD: This omission is well-documented in other reviews; the pointing stick does what it is intended to do and it does it well -however, it does NOT replace the touchpad or a mouse. Most people are already well-aware of this issue before purchasing the Vaio P. One thing I would liked to have seen instead is the optical mouse like on the Raon Everun, which is an intuitive and exceptional pointing device that is easier to use than the pointing stick.

*CONCLUSION: the Vaio P is an exceptional device of modern engineering that allows its owners to maintain productivity at a level comparable to that of a laptop while away from home, or when lugging a laptop case is impractical -thus, I must stress that it is intrinsically a COMPANION PC. One should not expect this to REPLACE a primary PC, nor should one anticipate using this as their laptop 100% of the time, 24/7, because it simply would be foolish and needlessly uncomfortable to do so. I would make the analogy of comparing WiFi to a T1 connection -given the choice and availability, no one would choose WiFi over a T1 connection, but the convenience and mobility of a WiFi connection are advantages that the T1 cannot match. In the same way, the Vaio P offers unmatched portability and convenience, but its purpose is of a different nature than the primary laptop/desktop -so, as long as you keep that difference in mind, the Vaio P should enhance your productivity and live up to its tag of being a "lifestyle" PC.

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I was one of the first people to buy one of these and have been using it since the beginning of February. (Bought the VGN-P530H) This is my main computing device that I use 12-16 hours a day and I love it, but it is not for everybody.

I travel a lot, nearly all of it internationally, and often in economy. This is a laptop that you can use on the smallest of tray tables, even with the seat in front of you fully reclined. I bought the leather pouch accessory and often carry the laptop around in it. It's great to just be able to walk by my desk, toss it in the pouch and go to a meeting and then pull it out if I need it. Since it is only about the size of a notepad, it's easy to carry around everywhere, to situations I wouldn't want the bother of a laptop bag.

The laptop appears sturdily built for the rigors of road warrior travel. Since February, I've flown more than 50K miles with it, including a 2 week vacation in Japan where we visited 11 cities. It's taken its fair share of bumps and doesn't show it. I originally bought this for my wife but began using it as my own when my company provided Dell E4200 broke in its 3rd week (the monitor backlighting electronics burned out). While the monitor lid is not thicker than other models, it seems to be more resilient because of the smaller surface area.

The Vaio P is visually attractive. When using it in the executive lounge in the airport or on a plane, people will often come up to ask what model it is. The screen quality is amazing, especially when you consider they packed 1600x768 pixels into that tiny screen. You'll need 20-20 vision or better to be able to comfortably read this screen, which will be a deal breaker for lot of people. If you're unsure, try one out in a store before buying. Setting the icons and text to a larger size can help. One of the things that I don't like about the laptop is that it does not have and lower resolutions that are in proportion. For example, the next lower resolutions are 1024x768 and 800x600 which appear distorted since they are out of proportion compared to the native resolution. There are times when I'm in a bumpy car or somewhere else with a lot of motion and use the 800x600, but it would be nice if they had something more proportional like 800x400 or 1024x500.

Love the keyboard and the pointer stick (I can't stand track pads). The right shift key is unusually sized and placed, it drove me nuts for about 2 weeks until I got used to it.

The power adaptor is small. There are no ports for Ethernet and VGA on the laptop, you need to plug in the included dongle for that. The dongle is fairly small and clips on to the power adaptor brick. The only thing I didn't like about the dongle is that it does not have little LEDs on the Ethernet port that show the status of the Ethernet connection. This is a useful features for travelers to know more quickly if the port you plugged into is live or not.

The laptop came with Verizon 3G, which has a nice prepaid option where you can buy service for $9.95 a day, without entering into a contract, which is nice compared to buying WiFi access in hotels, since you can use it anywhere you have coverage for the day. (I didn't find any coverage holes on my trips to southern California, Chicago, Northern Virginia, Baltimore and Miami) However, since most of my travel is outside the US, where the card does not seem to work, this is a mostly useless feature for me and it would have been nice to be able to trade it for something more useful like, GPS.

A few things I didn't like:

The main issue we had with the laptop was poor performance with Windows Vista. As installed, it is unacceptably slow for regular everyday use. We installed the beta of Windows 7 on the laptop and it is working fine. Installing Windows 7 on the laptop is a breeze, the only drivers I downloaded were for the video and the network. I have been running with this laptop as my main computer for the last few weeks (on Windows 7) and the performance is not an issue opening web pages, outlook, powerpoint, excel and word at the same time. Things will start to slow down with too many (e.g., 8 Firefox windows, outlook, 2 powerpoint presentations and 3 excel sheets) closing a few windows will bring back the zippiness. We didn't get the SSD and I wouldn't bother. I keep a fast 32GB SDHC card in the SD bay to increase the storage size since 64GB can be a little limiting.

The battery life is not great with WiFi on, I get less than 2 hours battery life. A little more than 2 hours with the WiFi off. The power adaptor outputs a non-standard voltage: 10.5V, so you will not be able to use it with nearly any universal power supply or universal laptop batteries (like the ADC). Together with the low battery life, this is a serious problem on trips.

A word to the wise, contrary to some misleading information on the Vaio website, this laptop does *not* come with GPS or any navigation software. I was very disappointed about this, as the website intro to this product implies they have it and the sales rep that sold me my laptop over the phone confirmed that the laptop definitely does come with GPS. To the best of my knowledge, none of the P-series laptops Sony is selling in North America come with GPS. We came very close to returning the laptop for this reason alone. Another thing to be wary about the sales rep tried to sell me an Ethernet/VGA dongle when the laptop already comes with one.

The WiFi card does not support 5GHz WiFi N this is disappointing in a brand new premium laptop since this has been available on many laptops since the middle of last year. Also, the laptop does not have an easily found serial number on the bottom. This may sound nitpicky, but it's a problem for those of us that visit buildings that require registering the laptops with a serial number before entering and upon leaving.

In summary, this may sound like a lot of things not to like for someone who loves the laptop, but I wanted to be complete as this laptop is not for everybody. I love the smaller size and that for such a small size it has such a nice keyboard, screen resolution and reasonable performance on Windows 7. More memory, a faster processer and a larger disk would be nice, but I can get by. The bigger problem is the battery life and I'll probably be getting an extended battery in the future to solve that. The Vaio P is also reasonably rugged my last 2 laptops were a Dell E4200 and a Sony TZ-200 both of which developed screen problems and needed repair on my first or second trip with them (and neither suffered any significant abuse). I'd give it 4 stars, but am docking Sony 1 star for being misleading about the GPS.

Best Deals for Sony VAIO VGN-P530H/R Lifestyle PC (1.33 GHz Intel Processor, 2 GB

I have used few other laptops and desktops. But this was my first try with "netbook." This products has a great features, style, and size and that's one of the reason I bought this netbook. There are some pros and cons about this and I'll let you know to help you on purchasing this item.

pros:

1. The Size: size of this product is just amazing. There are few other netbooks came out but this is the smallest. Very handy and portable. I mean who's gonna beat the size of 9.65" x 4.72" x 0.78" and the weight of 1lb 4.8oz? The only thing is, it's not going to fit on your hip pocket, like it advertised. But It will fit on your hand just fine, or for girls, it will fit on your small purse.

2. The resolution: Most of the netbooks came out with the screen resolution of 1028 x 680, but Sony made this 1600 x 768, which provides more comfortable views for users. Although, the 8 inch screen is kindda too small for that resolution, you might feel tired after looking at the screen for long time.

3. The instant booting system: The instant booting system (based on Linux system) takes about 15 seconds to boot up, you can browse websites, watch movies or listen to musics. You can also boot up the computer to windows mode from there. This comes very handy.

Cons:

1. Sony just had to make it with the Vista. The performance goes dramatically down running Vista on this product. You can also downgrade it to XP, which makes VAIO P much faster to perform, but you will find lags watching movies because there's no GMA 500 chip set driver for XP. The best way to use VAIO P is to upgrade its operating system to Windows 7, overall performance was very nice. Although, it might be slower than XP, you can use GMA 500 driver and overall performance is good.

2. VAIO P is using 1.33GHz Z520 Intel Atom Processor. This chip set makes VAIO P not able to perform as fast as other laptops, but for netbooks, it is pretty fast.

3. The price of this is about $1,000 when most of netbook's price is around $500. I don't think VAIO P performs twice as much as other netbooks, but the design of it is more than twice as much as other products.

4. HD (Hard Disk) performance is much lower than SSD (Solid State Disk) performance. I think it'd be much better to choose SSD model if you want to buy this. Bad about it is the capacity. It only holds 60GB for HD, and 64GB for SSD.

Overall, This is a netbook that I personally thought of best. I think this is definitely not for the main computer, but great for sub-computer. It comes very handy and portable, so if you are looking for a sub-computer (or laptop), this is one of the best.

Honest reviews on Sony VAIO VGN-P530H/R Lifestyle PC (1.33 GHz Intel Processor, 2 GB

This is such a nicely made laptop. Awesome style, beautiful design..not a bad price considering Sony Vaio's past history. The text is going to be small and it's something you will have to deal with if you want the portability.You can increase the font size but I didn't like how it distorted some of the graphics. Keyboard is decent as well for the size. It does tend to run really hot so I doubt there is any cooling system in this tiny little package.The pointer mouse also takes some getting used to. My biggest gripe is how incredibly slow this thing is. I had the Vaio TX series before this one and it too was impossible to run on Vista. I agree this needs to be downgraded to XP. In my experience I have not had too many pc's that ran well on Vista anyway. As a matter of fact I just installed Windows 7 Ultimate on an Acer Aspire One and that seems to work better than Vista as well. I might try that first before I switch this to XP. I may end up returning this if it continues to be slow. My $300 Acer runs so much better out of the box than this one. Also, like the TX series I purchased before this, it comes with so much crap on it that it takes up 20gb+ of the 60gb hard drive.

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My model is US version

Good:

Small size and lightweight.

Lots of RAM.

Usable keyboard for the size.

Small power brick.

Great looking display.

Windows XP performance is great.

The external vga / network connector clips to the power brick when not being used.

Bad:

Installing XP is possible but needs a good amount of operation system and driver installation knowledge, and needs a bootable USB CD/DVD drive.

Only 2 USB ports.

VGA and wired network are on an external connector, which is ok when you take into account the size.

Screen resolution of 1600x600 is too small, try 800x600 or 1024x600.

Pointer stick instead of trackpad, not a problem in my opinion.

Ugly:

Vista, performance is pathetic. Install XP.

XP install of GPS and WAN support is in the early days.