ASUS Zenbook UX21E-DH71 11.6-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook (Silver Review

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This is a significant product, and a long-awaited one. Previously, if you wanted to have a notebook like MacBook Air, you'd be forced to switch to Mac regardless of how much of a Windows person you were. Nothing else on the Windows side was really even remotely comparable. Now, this is the first real alternative in the Windows camp.

Is it better than the MacBook Air? It depends. If you are a Windows person, it is. Previously, you had to be seriously biased to say any Windows-based laptop in the ultracompact category is better than the MacBook Air. Now, that can be an honest assertion. But if you are a Mac person, you might still say the MacBook air is better, which could be a debatable assertion, but a respectable one.

To me, ZenBook is better than the MacBook air, even if I objectively lay aside the operating system difference, because for my personal preferences I give a higher value to some of the strong points of Zenbook, especially its thermal performance. Your preference may be different.

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THUMBS UP FOR BOTH MACBOOK AIR AND ZENBOOK

(1) COMPUTING PERFORMANCE First of all, in terms of the primary computing performance, including the CPU and memory performance, they're very similar, and both are very good. Asus' own tests say that the Zenbook is faster, but I don't feel much of it. This is, however, mainly because both are so fast. Comparing the speed of the CPU and memory of these two computers really has very little practical meaning. Only labs would be interested in doing that. Who is going to choose a computer over another because one opens up Microsoft Word in 1.5 seconds versus the other's 1.7 seconds? You see what I mean.

ZenBook does have much faster data transfer through its USB 3 port. It is easily multiple times faster than MacBook air's USB 2. But unless you routinely transfer very large files, I'm not sure if this is so important. Also, MacBook Air has a thunderbolt port which I've not tested in comparison with the ZenBook.

ZenBook also uses a much faster SSD (nearly twice as fast as that of the MacBook Air), but for some reason, I did not notice a very big difference in actual performance. Again, it's probably because both are already superfast for daily tasks. Gamers may tell a different story, but why do you buy an ultracompact laptop like these if you are a gamer?

(2) DESIGN AND BUILD QUALITY Both computers are extremely well-designed and well built. To me, the ZenBook is almost a bit too pretty (a bit too showy and trendy to my taste). This is usually a problem I have with Mac products, but now, you've got a Windows product that beats that. I wish they would make a ZenBook in all black, and with a more plain business looking (but keep the feel of the high-quality and compactness). Had Lenovo made a similar machine maintaining the basic black square-edged ThinkPad style with the same compactness and thermal performance (see below), I would nearly certainly buy the ThinkPad instead. But there's nothing even in the radar screen on the ThinkPad side, so I caved in.

(3) BATTERY LIFE The smaller ZenBook (UX21) uses a 35W battery and has 5+ hrs of battery life, comparable to that of MacBook Air. I did not do a strict test. But both are very good. The key is that both laptops would run through a whole day, even a busy day. That's what matters. Once a laptop reaches an all-day battery life, further extension of the battery life really no longer matters that much, unless of course it then reaches much longer to become days or even a week. You will be doing an overnight charging anyway. It's the mid-day recharging that brings trouble.

You may ask, how can a five-hour battery support whole-day use? Well, this actually has something to do with the instant resume feature of these computers (see below), and you have to experience it in real life to fully appreciate its usefulness.

(4) TWO-SECOND INSTANT RESUME If you have got used to waiting for your Windows to boot up, you'd be pleasantly shocked by how ZenBook manages to always wake up in 2 seconds, unless you've done a cold shutdown.

Instant resume was a famous feature of MacBook Air, but now ZenBook completely matches (perhaps even surpasses) MacBook air on that. Asus designed a Super Hybrid Engine which enables the ZenBook to have a true 2-seocnd resume in the entire two weeks standby time. Asus claims it is better than MacBook Air because MacBook air's instant resume works only for a day of standby time, and after that would take 6 seconds to resume. I did not test that. But if you use your laptop on a daily basis, both these machines have reliable instant resume, and you will appreciate this feature in your daily use.

Instant resume is not just a cool feature. It is very practical and has a huge impact on user experience. For example, without such instant resume ability, a laptop would have to have a minimum of eight hours of battery life to reliably last through a whole day without causing headaches. With instant resume, a 5+ hour battery life will last a whole day for most people in most situations. You usually don't use the computer constantly every minute, and the reliable instant resume of these computers makes a seamless whole day long user experience with a single charge of a five hour battery. For example, while I'm traveling, I can set this laptop to go to sleep after every 5 min. of inactivity without feeling distracted. Only a laptop that has instant resume can work this way, or it will drive you crazy. In this situation, "instant" is the key word, and even a 5-second resume may feel bad by interrupting your natural workflow and you will most likely end up setting an auto-sleep longer than a minimum of 30 min. Instant resume is therefore a crucial factor in the matter of intelligent power management.

(5) REASONABLE PRICE for a similar configuration, the prices of ZenBook and MacBook Air are comparable. Many expected Asus to beat the Apple's price, but personally, I'm glad to see that they were even able to match it, particularly with a design that had very few compromises. One should note that a serious scaling factor is at play in the economics of making and selling these. Once occupied that enviable leveraging position facing suppliers and manufacturers on the bargaining table, Apple has an almost crushing advantage over others in the ability to make these new products requiring cutting-edge components at the lowest possible cost and sell them at a good margin. It will take time for commoditization to happen to let others to catch up. Before that, painful sacrifices (so painful that a company like HP has decided to quit) have to be made by the competitors in order to be competitive, even if assuming that they can come up with attractive competing designs at all in the first place. I just hope that ZenBook starts a momentum that leads to better and more affordable ultracompact laptops based on Windows.

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THUMBS DOWN FOR BOTH MACBOOK AIR AND ZENBOOK

(1) Neither has built-in 3G/4G cellular communication capability to take a SIM card. I'm surprised that these newest laptops still don't have built-in 3G/4G cellular communication. This would be OK three maybe even two years ago. Not now. You need cellular communication for a device that can be called "mobile". I hope they will introduce this soon. Before that, to get cellular connection you will have to either use an external adapter or through your cell phone (either tethered or using a mini hotspot).

(2) Neither uses an IPS screen, and both are (unfortunately to me) glossy screens. An IPS screen would have superior sideview performance. New screen technologies competing with IPS are emerging, but not found on these, MacBook Air or ZenBook. But for daily use, both screens are very good, and probably a good point to bring down the price because an IPS screen would definitely have cost more.

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THUMBS UP FOR MACBOOK AIR ONLY

MacBook air beats Zenbook on these areas:

(1) It has a backlit keyboard.

(2) Many insist that MacBook Air has an unbeatable Multi-Touch trackpad. That could be very well true. But I'm not a very sophisticated user of Multi-Touch and can't reach a conclusion on this. Both felt pleasantly good and smooth to me. If it were up to me, I still prefer the ThinkPad's TrackPoint.

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THUMBS UP FOR ZENBOOK ONLY

ZenBook beats MacBook air on these areas:

(1) OUTSTANDING THERMAL PERFORMANCE Although MacBook air is already a quite cool laptop, ZenBook is much cooler still, quite noticeably. I am especially pleased by the thermal/cooling performance of the ZenBook. If there is one company that can do a thermal system design to beat Apple, it is Asus, and they seem to have done exactly that. They've been designing the world's best thermal and cooling solutions for computer motherboards from the start of the company, and no one else can claim better expertise than them on this.

To me, thermal performance is the number one critical element of a laptop performance. I'd rather have a cool and slower laptop, than a hot and fast one. Asus has made one that is cool and fast.

The thermal issue is not just a preference for comfortableness. It is a serious health concern. I believe the current designs of some laptops are outright crazy and reckless. The thermal radiation is likely to cause various skin diseases in less serious cases, and infertility or even cancer in worst cases. Sooner or later, this will become a focus of attention. The whole thing is currently masked by ignorance of mass consumer.

If you dispute with me, I have my slowly burnt fingers to show you.

(2) OUTSTANDING AUDIO You will have to listen to the sound of the ZenBook to believe it. I'm not aware of any other laptop that can match this kind of performance. Certainly not the MacBook air, which is pretty good in itself. It looks like there's something going on with Asus' audio group, which seems to be obsessed by the sound quality. When they first produced Xonar, a high-end internal sound card line, they didn't just match the then top consumer soundcard by Creative Labs, they smashed it. You may not be getting true high-end audiophile sound here on the ZenBook, but you seem to be getting at least some spillover of that audiophile obsession.

I have yet to test the sound input quality through a microphone. Personally, the microphone input quality is far more important than the playback quality because I use speech recognition for text input.

(3) OUTSTANDING OUTDOOR DISPLAY Both screens are very bright, but ZenBook is noticeably brighter under direct sunlight. My experience is that to be just barely usable under direct sunlight, the screen must have a minimum of 300 nits in brightness. Many laptops still have a brightness under 250 nits. ZenBook's screen is 450 nits. I cannot find the numerical specs for brightness of MacBook air, but it definitely feels dimmer under sunlight than ZenBook.

On the other hand, the MacBook air is whole lot better than many other laptops I've seen or used. Also, if you never use the laptop outdoors, this is not important. When used indoors, both screens would have to be set at much lower brightness than its maximum in order to be comfortably viewed.

(4) BETTER CONNECTIVITY ZenBook has a micro HDMI and a Mini VGA Port and MacBook air doesn't have any of these. HDMI would come handy if you connect the ZenBook to your TV, while the VGA port is important if you frequently connect your laptop to a larger external screen. I think MacBook air has its own way to make these connections to a Mac family product, but the difference is that with the standard HDMI and VGA ports, the connectivity is much more versatile in terms of compatibility.

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OVERALL,

Asus has really made an all-out effort in designing and making these laptops. They're gunning at Apple, quite obviously. I'm even afraid that Apple will go after ZenBook's design by alleging infringement (could Apple have patent the tapered appearance of a laptop?).

It gave me a good chuckle that Asus official website for Zenbooks refers to Apple by calling them "Fruit Brand".

By the way, I should note that if this were an Apple product, you would already be hearing about it in all major headlines as if this were bringing new hope to the world, and you would also be seeing Apple fans standing in long lines praying for a chance to get one of these.

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Summary: The Zenbook is exactly what I had in mind when I needed a lightweight, low maintenance portable to carry on business trips with me. Tablets or netbooks were not an option because of their limited capabilities and inadequate performance.

The Zenbook is very pleasant to look at and different, but not difficult to usein fact, my experience has been enjoyable. I've not experienced any problems described by other reviewers. Perhaps Asus is listening and my machine is a reflection of that.

I was surprised at the negative comments on engineering design, choice of components, etc. The emphasis on the keyboard and touchpad are understandable in that they are different the manual explains how to use the keypad and what to expect. I've had electrical "pops" on many laptop chargers, and this one did so about 5% of the time. Asus provides a solid warranty on its laptops. And, I have dealt with their support organization before on warranty work and service calls, with positive results, except one, where it took time for them to find a replacement laptop the outcome was satisfactory.

Pros:

1. The Elan touchpad works very well and has a sensitivity region that shrinks in size when you are typing on the keyboard so that you don't accidentally activate the touchpad while typing.

2. While a source of complaints, the keyboard and keys definitely enhance the look. Keys provide positive feedback with a "tactile click" created by the key giving way when it is pressed down far enough. It's also reliable key presses that failed were not the computer's fault.

3. When done working, I just close the lid on the machine to suspend my work (it has "sleep" rather than "shutdown" as the default option to power off your computer).

4. To resume (hours or days later), I simply open the lid and login -much the same as any laptop only the response is much quicker about 2 seconds. My wireless reconnects fast enough that I can go directly to the Internet and start browsing, or refresh my Outlook to get the latest mail.

5. The extremely small footprint allows me to store the computer anywhere, even inside a leather notebook that normally holds a pad of paper.

6. Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0 for greater speeds and new capabilities

7. Good speakers and audio

8. Tiny camera and good microphone. The mic even works with WSR.....not great

9. My old USB DVD/CD player works fine.

10. Crisp easy to read display

Cons:

1. The keyboard keys are the "chicklet" style found on other Asus, Apple, etc. computers and if you are not used to them they can be difficult to type on simply because they are flat across the top as opposed to the tapered keys found on many keyboards (e.g. ThinkPad) and are low-profile (i.e. short). Personally, all keyboards require some time to adapt to them.

2. I/O ports are limited but adequate.

3. Must carry the port adapters if you need Ethernet or VGA I personally don't need them.

4. 4 GB RAM limit, hopefully this will change with higher density chips. However, with the SSD being so fast, virtual memory use is not noticeable to me.

5. Wireless limited to 150 Mb/s fast enough for real-time data over wireless, but 300Mb/s would be desirable. Most routers still only support G (54 Mbps) in public places, hotels, etc. So I couldn't use it anyway.

In short, the Zenbook represents a significant step forward in mobile technology. I will benefit from Asus's innovatation and the reward/cost ratio is clearly on my side.

Update 12/18/2011:

I've used the computer daily for the last month traveling around the country without any issues. I carry it in my backback or luggage along with my Lenovo work computer. I'm actually starting to depend on the handy mouse pad gestures quite nice. The graphics chip can drive a full HD TV (1920 x 1080) and its own monitor concurrently e.g., watch/listen to amazon movies while I use run programs, handle email, and/or browse the internet on the lower resolution builtin display.

Very portable, convenient and reliable. Still very pleased with the purchase.

Update 2/10/2012:

Just had my first interaction with Asus support the laptop was accidentally damaged; I sent it in under the ADW warranty and it was back in my hands 2 days later Fixed! 1 day to transport in each direction and 1 day for the repairs. As expected, Asus covered the transportation in both directions.

Update 11/21/2012:

Just completed a 1 year anniversary with my Zenbook. I like it even more than before as ASUS continues to refine the drivers and I've found tidbits of info in the user comments here that are helpful like how to configure the touchpad. I plan to migrate to windows 8 the drivers are available, or, switch to one of the new touch enabled Zenbooks instead.

Best Deals for ASUS Zenbook UX21E-DH71 11.6-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook (Silver

I bought this beautiful ultrabook at Frys last week and kept it for 5 days. I actually bought it right off the back of the truck that had just arrived. I was truly excited to get this machine(BUT): The keyboard is truly bad. The trackpad started off bad until I realized I needed to run an update from Asus to get all the drivers updated. The trackpad improved greatly with the updated driver, yet is still FAR lacking compared to a MacBook trackpad I do not know why).

Back to the keyboard. No driver can fix this keyboard. The keys are flat on top. The keys sit very close to the surrounding material underneath. You can push a key at the corner and touch the underlying material and not register a key push. I cannot replicate this on any other keyboard I have in the house. This means you bottom out the key before it registers the key push. Bottom line: you miss every fifth letter unless you hit the key right in the middle. I like to keep my job and I need to spell correctly. Therefore:

I took this machine right on back to Frys. The machine is truly beautiful (prettier than the MacBook Air). The sound from the speakers is very nice and it is much quieter than the MacBook Air (which we also own) because the implementation of the internal fan is much better on this Asus machine. The screen is nice too.

The keyboard sucks though and the trackpad is merely passable. I hated to take it back, but how Asus turned this into the Anus with a keyboard that doesn't work is beyond me. What screwed up committee let this happen?

Honest reviews on ASUS Zenbook UX21E-DH71 11.6-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook (Silver

I have been using the macbook air for the longest time but asus is my favorite brand after apple, when i saw this i couldn't believe the design and hardware thats included in such a small ultrabook, well after couple days of use i love it.

It is the fastest ultra book out there without a question and this comes from a guy thats a computer technician and has been using macs more than anything.

I have owned all types of pc's and laptops but for a ultrabook to be as fast as any device out there is a stunning job by asus to build such a beutfifull designed ultrabook and have all the best hardware inside.

This had a issue with the mouse and scrolling but guess what? Asus released a driver which already has fixed that issue.

Overall this is the best piece of product your money can buy. This machine is a beast.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS Zenbook UX21E-DH71 11.6-Inch Thin and Light Ultrabook (Silver

I just received this laptop and absolutely LOVE all of the features and style. It performs excellently in all aspects EXCEPT for the keyboard. Just in writing this short review it has skipped 11 keys so far, mostly in the w,e,r,s,d,f region. It is so bad it renders the machine utterly useless for me and my typing style. However that being said it may work for anothers typing style. Luckily Amazon is taking it back and issuing a refund. Thanks Amazon.

Cheap Toshiba Satellite C855DS5135 15.6-Inch Laptop

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List Price: $504.99
Sale Price: $449.98
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I've only had the laptop for a few weeks. I am extremely happy with it so far. I really wish I had stayed w/ Toshiba when I bought the previous laptop, b/c I've had nothing but good luck w/ my Toshiba laptops (this is my 3rd in 10years).

I did NOT like windows 8, at first mainly b/c it's unfamiliar. I'm already starting to get used to the features & where everything is located. So far I'm still able to use all the same applications that I've been using for years, so I'm good...

I would recommend this product!! & any Toshiba laptop, for that matter!

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its very fast, the battery life is roughly 2-4 hrs which isn't bad. The only problem that I have had is windows 8, its not computer friendly until you change all of the settings to be more like XP or windows 7. Windows 8 is also overly susceptible to viruses and Trojans (Microsoft made another version of VISTA and they called it windows 8).

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Open office would not install. MS Office would not install. Not good. I suspect MS has designed the operating system to repel Open office.

Discount Sony VAIO Duo SVD13213CXW 13.3-Inch Convertible Touchscreen

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List Price: $1,399.99
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I have been using this machine for about 2 weeks now, and I can't bear to part with it. Yes, there are a couple of drawbacks:

Screen angle does not tilt I mostly use it in tablet format or docked to an external monitor. It hasn't really been too much of a drawback for me.

Wifi strength. This is well noted. I see some lags when watching Netflix, but otherwise it hasn't been an issue.

Stylus easily slides out of its holder. Very annoying, and I think I'd better stock up on styli.

Screen is unprotected when unit is not is use. A sleeve solves this problem, but I'd rather not have the problem to begin with.

Not as many apps available as the Apple AppStore (I know, I know, Windows 8, not the unit's problem anyone in the mood to create a feet and inches calculator???)

But the pros! Oh, the pros!

Stylus is superb. I mark up a lot of drawings with this using both Note Anytime, OneNote and Word, and it never misses a beat.

Processing power has just as much grunt as my regular office laptop

Weight (or lack thereof!) I travel A LOT! Not having to lug around an iPad and a laptop has saved my back. Plus, I also schlep to and from graduate school, so this is a real boon.

Screen size perfect when more than one person needs to view a document or a drawing.

Battery life I've gone 8 hours on a single charge. That has equated to not having to lug a power adapter to job sites (where there usually isn't anywhere to plug into, anyway!)

the "ooh, ahh!" factor undeniably good looking, and the envy of everyone I work with (evil grin!)

Windows 8 I am/was a die-hard iPad fan. I haven't touched my iPad in over a week this is REALLY saying something.

This unit really makes Windows 8 shine. I never thought I would retire my iPad, but it's starting to look to me that I have no real reason to keep it.

UPDATE

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I love this unit so much I took it back after 2 weeks. And upgraded to the I7 model. I truly believe this unit can replace my everyday laptop and my iPad. My chiropractor may never see me again! So far, my original review still stands.

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The features in this device are what I was looking for.

i5

4GB

x64

WiDi

SD Reader

Full size HDMI

2-USB 3

Touch screen (I really like the Stylus)

Light weight

I would give it a 5 Star, if I could adjust the screen angle. It is a great bother, They offer only 1 position. In my offices, I have to prop it up to get away from the glare from the florescent lighting. I just got a foam calculator wedge to prop it on. The only other issue thus far, I would have preferred the screen is protected when closed.

Best Deals for Sony VAIO Duo SVD13213CXW 13.3-Inch Convertible Touchscreen

cracked my surface pro screen awhile ago, and this is my replacement to the surface pro.

this is more of an ultrabook compared to the tablet factor of the Surface pro. the slider design works really well and transforms from tablet to ultrabook very easily. the ergonomics while typing on the lap is great, identical to a regular laptop, as opposed to surface and type cover which you have to balance it meticulously as not to tip over. the screen is beautiful and yields vivid color, almost on par with the retina MacBook pro.

the slider form factor is very practical and easy to use. however there are some issues Sony needs to iron out before slider ultrabook/tablet really takes off. the machine is made in japan, but as oppose to others positive review, the build quality is not quite top notch yet. my unit has one stuck pixel that refuses to go away, and the rear plastic panel where the ports/vent are is loose, and while in tablet mode the lid dose not close flush with the keyboard and yields some creaking noise.

the machine does come with quite a bit of bloatwares and takes a bit to uninstall.

overall, this is nice ultrabook/tablet combo if you are looking for something unconventional but practical.

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Nice design and lightweight for a laptop. Works great, fast, & responsive touchscreen. The touchpad need improvement or perhaps need some calibration tha I have not had a chance to play with it. Cursor moves unintentionally while typing, maybe too sensitive.

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Bear in mind, I bought mine at my nearest Sony Store in person, but I thought I would never find an ultrabook/tablet convertible combo. This is such a svelte package carbon fiber body, made in Japan, gorgeous 1920x1080 screen, quick boot-up, and Win8 finally gets a worthy vessel. My ideal portable laptop (my other one's a Qosmio 18.4"). I did my research before I bought it (a lot, considering how busy I was a few weeks ago, and how semi-impulsive this was), but it seemed it wasn't enough research to justify my owning it.

A day after I purchased it, I had WiFi issues on the same level as the new Haswell Macbook Airs. It took 3-4 hours for the SVD to connect to my home WiFi, which was a shock. I didn't want to deal with constant software updates to fix this. Also, reading more into SVD's pen input option, the choice for an N-Trig was a negative on a couple sites and forums, and the denial of Wacom to support it (or WinTab support denied) was also a key factor in my returning it. I wanted to write notes down as well as have compatibility with Photoshop, Illustrator, and other art software, especially from support from Wacom. You could probably imagine how disappointed I was when I returned it.

I will be eagerly waiting for the ATIV Q with S Pen tech. I hope you all have better luck with the SVD or you take my words seriously and wait as well.

Review of Asus 15.6" Laptop 4GB 500GB Dark Red | K50IJ-RNC7

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This computer is great. I had another Asus notebook which I loved...until I crushed it in an iguana accident. But this one is even better. It has all the specs mentioned in the title (though hard drive is more like 454 gigs not 500). The keyboard has a great light-up feature for use in the dark. That was a nice surprise. Palm rests are comfy and don't show finger prints, nor does the rest of the computer (It's not made of that shiny plastic so it won't show dust and prints as much). I don't know why the description says dark red though, it's black. Speakers are nice and clear and get loud enough for me at about 44 percent.

Internet speed is ok. It's not lightning fast but you won't wait more than six seconds for a page to load. It's always good to download Google Chrome. It's faster than Internet Explorer. Overall speed is good and boots pretty quickly.

The experience index is 3.3. I've only played The Sims 3 on it and it performs just fine. If you're a serious pc gamer or are into all that high maintenance software take your chances or look elsewhere.

It comes with Microsoft office 2010 so I recommend having an office 2010 product key handy (make sure you buy the disk version. The card is only good for one install).

As for bloat-ware there are a few things from amazon, Asus, and a game company. Check them out, and if you want them keep them. If you don't want it uninstall them. It's not rocket surgery.

It has a free trial for trend micro which I'm currently using for security, no problems so far but I've only had it for 10 hours. It will harass you about backing up your system at every start up. You can disable this but backing up is always a good idea. Just make sure you have at least 5 blank DVDs if you decide to do this.

I'm not sure about battery life, at least 3 hours.

Sorry I'm not a computer geek (no disrespect geeks are awesome) so I can't get any more specific than that.

As a young college student on a budget I would totally get this again.

Special thanks to Amazon and UPS. With prime I got it the next day using the free 2-day shipping.

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Buy Toshiba Portege R930-S9321 13.3' Notebook - Intel Core i5 i5-3340M

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I have used and tested this laptop at work. I needed a light weight, system with Toshiba's excellent keyboard. I needed a laptop I could replace the O/S with our company image without needing to spend hours searching for proprietary drivers. I was not disappointed, All the drivers to create where found on Toshiba's website with a easy to navigate menu. I over-wrote the Toshiba image which came on this system.

All the features worked. The boot time is around an incredible 10 seconds to the login screen. Everyone I have shown the laptop to are impressed with the light weight, fast boot time, excellent keyboard and display.

While this is not yet my "daily driver", it gives me the great service that my other Toshiba laptops have given me.

An excellent product.

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HP Pavilion DV7-1261WM 17-inch Laptop With BLU-RAY Reviews

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I'll be brief.

The screen is nice and bright, but for some people 1440x900 is not enough for a 17" screen. It wasn't a concern of mine, and the screen looks great.

The bronze looks nice for the first few months, but since it's just painted on and not part of the plastic or anything, like with an Asus or something like that, it begins to wear off.

The keyboard is difficult to see in some lighting conditions; the white paint blends into the bronze color (which looks grey most of the time, by the way).

The mousepad doesn't have the right amount of friction since it's just shiny plastic/metal. It gets better with use as finger oils make it more slippery, but the oils show up clearly on the mousepad and the plastic wrist rests.

The support was very good, but I needed it more than I should have. The power cord leads going from the cable to the metal part that goes inside the line-in port break easily with cable flex, requiring replacement of the cable. This has been necessary twice so far, in less than a year of ownership.

The speakers are very good, as is the webcam. They are loud and they sound great for laptop speakers.

Battery life started around 1:40, battery deteriorated over time and now lasts about 1:20 on power saving mode.

Blu-ray works well but the built-in software doesn't work with many discs that have advanced features. I tried every leading Blu-ray software player and found that ArcSoft TotalMedia Theater works the best with this drive, so that's what I would suggest.

Processor is fast enough and responds quickly but generates too much heat and noise, as is a common problem I've had with AMD processors.

Video card is good enough for casual gaming; games like Half-Life 2 can be played fluidly on high settings, and new games like Just Cause 2 can be played okay on lower settings.

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I read other reviews on this computer and had a few concerns. I have owned this machine for two weeks now and find all the complaints people had have not appeared here. Battery is just warm, machine is very fast,it's just all around great. I would suggest this machine to my own mother.

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I thought that my DV7-1261-WM was fast and pretty good. Thanks to a Windows 8 Pro download problem (it basically killed my computer) I had to load a new system (no matter what microsoft says windows 8 is a handicap on this powerful computer, it was designed for tablets and does not like keyboards, mice and touchpads) so on the advice of a trusted friend I loaded Windows 7 ultimate; WOW, my pretty good laptop is now a speed monster (I do have the full 8 gb ram and I am using 64bit system). I have never imagined the full potential of my machine until now. It still has high value it, this is unusual for a laptop over 2 years old.

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Many shipping issues, received wrong product at first. This computer is powerful and feature laden but is not as user friendly as my first HP Laptop I bought 3 years ago. I blame that mostly on the Vista operating system. Hope to get the Windows 7 upgrade soon.

Buy Razer Blade 17 Inch Gaming Laptop

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I had my eye on the Razer Blade Laptop since it was announced two years ago and bought mine in February. After owning the notebook for six months now would like to share my impressions. Having owned a plethora of gaming laptops over the years (DELL XPS 17, ASUS Gamers Republic G73 series, Alienware M15X, M17X, even the huge M18X) I can say without any reservation this is the lightest, sleekest, most portable gaming laptop I've ever owned, and the only one like it on the market as of right now.

Aesthetically, the Razer Blade has all the sleek, unibody looks of the Apple Macbook line, thought it is a matte black aluminum laptop rather than silver. Razer has really designed this unit with gamers in mind. For example, the 17.3" 1080P display is matte with excellent contrast and color reproduction. The keyboard has an anti-ghosting feature (I'm not sure what the other reviewer was complaining about as neither my screen nor keys have ever suffered from ghosting in any scenario). Even the side fans blow hot exhaust back away from the gamer which is a plus. With the aluminum construction the Blade is a solid, well designed piece of hardware.

The most unique feature of the Blade is of course the Switchblade UI, which includes a color video touchpad located to the right of the keyboard, and 10 customizable LED icons. While the location of the trackpad is awkward at first and takes a day or so to become accustomed to, it is a delight to use. Razer regularly updates the Switchblade software, adding new icons and customization features. I, however, have enjoyed more than anything, creating my own icons for apps and games and shortcuts. I press the game icon and my game list profile launches with a list of 20 games, each with their own launch icon. I can slide back and forth on the display using a three finger side scroll, and select Max Payne 3 (yes, the Blade runs it just fine), and then my Max Payne 3 custom profile launches. Bring this thing to a lan party and watch the folks "Ooh and ahh" as you switch back and forth using custom icons. It really does make this laptop one of a kind.

Performance-wise, the Blade is an upper-middle class gaming laptop. This means its somewhat comparable to the Alienware M14X (2011 edition). It features some of the best of last years tech, including a dual core Sandy Bridge i7 CPU, which is quite fast and capable, and runs cooler than the quadcore (also preserving battery life), as well as an NVIDIA 555M GT Graphics Card. With the most current driver, the Blade scores 12530 running 3DMark06. Of course, with the advent of Ivy Bridge and Nvidia's Kepler 6XXX series GPUs, the question is, "Is the Blade still all that powerful?" Well, it was never the most powerful laptop to begin with. My M18X with crossfire outperformed the Blade in every test. Moreover, Ivy Bridge has better performance benchmarks, not to mention better integrated GFX and better battery life. The Geforce 650M has shown itself to be an impressive card as well (Macbook Retina anyone?). These are two upgrades people are hoping for in the next iteration of the Blade (maybe Q4 this year or early next year, no one really knows). As someone who typically keeps their laptop for less than a year, I had mulled selling my Blade a while back but have decided to keep it, at least until I see what Razer's next big offering looks like. Here's my rational for doing so, as well as my advice to those considering pulling the trigger and buying this unique laptop (on sale with 10% off for students right now BTW):

1. This is still a very powerful gaming laptop. Aside from Metro 2033, I have yet to find a game that I can't play on this machine with respectable framerates, high resolution (nearly all my games I play at 1080p, and one or two I drop the resolution down to 1600P or 720p), and high textures. I play Skyrim at 1080P with the high res textures pack, and ultra settings, with only the filter lowered, and average 40+ FPS. Battlefield 3 I lower to 720P but play it maxed out, Dirt 3 maxed out at 1080P, Max Payne 3 at 1080P with low shadows, Spec Ops the Line maxed out, MW3 plays flawlessly maxed out. So all that to say this may have 2011 tech in it, but there aren't any modern PC games that this unit can't play well, leaving me with a satisfied smile.

2. This is still the most portable gaming laptop. The only laptop I would compare this one to as of right now would be the Macbook Pro 17, which was discontinued this year actually. The Blade is thinner than the 17 at less than an inch, is just as light, just as portable. You won't simply won't find another 17" notebook with gaming specs as high as this, that is as portable as the Blade. I would also point out the Blade also comes with a power adapter that is also an inch thick, and weighs about as much as a TV remote. I can actually put the adapter in my pocket and carry the Blade under my arm. Coming from an M18x with a 3lb adapter, its a refreshing thing. I would say if you want a comparable 17" notebook and like OSX, the Macbook Pro 17 2011 is really your only other option. But again, as of right now, you still won't find a 17" laptop with these specs and with this level of portability.

3. This is still the most unique gaming laptop. While you can't change the color of the keyboard (ala Alienware and a few other models), the Razer Blade is still the only notebook on the market that allows you to change your actual keys and touchpad for that matter. You won't find freedom to customize your PC experience anywhere else as of right now. Kudos to Razer for having the chutzpah to bring an innovative product like this to the market before anybody else.

So, is the Razer Blade for you? If you want the most powerful Ivy Bridge, Kepler-infused Gaming Laptop on the market as of right now, then no. Its not the most powerful, not by a long shot. That was never Razer's goal. But if you are in the market for the most portable, most unique, and in my opinion, most attractive 17" gaming laptop currently available, then look no further than the Razer Blade.

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I recently purchased this from Tiger Direct for roughly 1499 US dollars, and I have to say, when looking at the specs in contrast to other machines this size, it was a steal that I couldn't pass up. Amazon is now offering this model as well for 1499, and their shipping and return policy is much better than Tiger Direct's, so I'd go with them.

Design: Absolutely beautiful, albeit absolutely inspired by another fruit related company. However, I think that this laptop is even more aesthetically pleasing than Macbook Pro's uni-body design. From the black aluminum exterior, green illuminated keyboard, to the totally cool, albeit slightly gimmicky Switchblade UI trackpad, this thing screams bad ass! It's rigid, and feels perfect for toting around. Other 17" laptops of this class are just monsters, and that makes carrying them around a hassle for sure.

Performance: Okay, this is where I would've been mad if I spent the full MSRP at launch (2899 US Dollars). With a dual core Intel i7, 8gb Ram, 256 Gb SSD, the specs looks pretty damn good, until you get to the GPU, which is a fairly mediocre GT555m. Now i'm not saying this thing can't game, because it can, but you shouldn't go into it wanting top performance out of every game. Yeah, I bought this wanting to game, but I also bought this to write papers on and what not. So in that sense, and for a moderate gaming machine, this is an absolute ideal laptop. As long as you're not expecting the absolute best performance, you'll be super satisfied with the laptop's performance (and if "extreme" performance is your forte', build a desktop.)

Software: Windows PC's are notorious for their hard drive being inundated with crap software, but the Razer Blade completely shunts that ideal and instead has just the bare essentials on it; a clean install of Windows 7, their Synapse 2.0 software for customization and update management, to Windows Live Essentials, this thing has the perfect amount of usable software I've ever seen on a new laptop.

Overall: This has been my absolute favorite laptop I've ever owned. I've owned the prestigious Macbook Pro 15" Retina, all the way to Dell's business Vostro 13" laptop, and this baby beats them all. Windows 7, IMO, is just so much more intuitive than OSX, and the Switchblade UI trackpad is truly cool, and adds such a unique taste to laptops that seem to just rinse and repeat. If you can snag this for the aforementioned price, this is an absolute steal, not only for a general purpose laptop, but for gaming and other heavy media stuff as well. I highly recommend it!

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I recently purchased this blade because it Carries portability, large workspace, and power. The blade is portable and powerful, however there are three issues that buyers should know. First, with it's thin design and its long length finding a backpack that it fits comfortably in is difficult, initial startup on the blade 1st gen is glitchy for a couple of hours until the drivers and essentials are updated(battery would not charge for about 5hrs after booting, keyboard and sidescreen freeze up multiple times durring the first day, does still freeze when awaking from hibernate), does not include any for of Microsoft office. Those are the only problems I have ran into with my blade and with the 1080p matte screen and high contrast colors , amusingly slim design, and antimacbook look I would recomend this over an alienware m14x not because of power but because of efficiency, battery life is approx 2hrs gaming and 4hrs normal use. I use my blade for engineering hw, c++ work, recording and editing music, photo editing, and gaming I hope this helped in your desicion, thanks for your time

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From my son:

::unintelligible whooping:: Boots up lightning fast (

Cheap ASUS VivoBook S550CB-DB71T-CA Touchscreen Ultrabook (15.6-inch

Customer Ratings:

Bought two for my two sons.

Both are gamers and are very impressed with it's abilities.

Just update the drivers on the video card (which you should do anyway on a new laptop) and it will handle anything you can throw at it. My youngest had a powerful dell desktop he was gaming on before this. He says this Ultrabook leaves his desktop in the dust.

It would be hard to imagine anyone being less than impressed with this machine.

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Review of Acer Aspire V5-552G-8632 15.6" Notebook AMD Quad-Core

Customer Ratings:

I wanted a thin laptop that was also able to play some games. I am very surprised and happy with what I got.

Pros:

0.8 inch thick (this thing is crazy thin)

A8-4555m quad-core CPU is plenty powerful for everything I have run. Only 5-10% slower than the A10, not worth the upgrade price in my opinion.

Radeon HD 8750m 2GB graphics are fantastic! I have run Skyrim, Diablo 3, Guild Wars 2, Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2 all with 40-60 fps on on med-high detail.

The screen looks great, gets plenty bright, and is a good size.

I have squeezed over 6 hours of battery time on battery saver with low brightness, so it is definitely doable if you are simply tying a document.

Trackpad is responsive and large, keyboard functions well enough. Not the best or worse.

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Buy ASUS X501A 15.6 in. Pentium 500GB HDD Laptop

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $429.00
Sale Price: $327.99
Today's Bonus: 24% Off

It was a great buy, don't regret it at all. It came in a very well packaged box. I guess that was my biggest concern but it came in, in perfect condition.

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I've had my new laptop for 3 weeks. This is my first Asus. Light weight, user friendly, works well for me, so far so good.

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I bought this laptop from one sale a day. It looks well built, screen size is enormous. Screen is bright. Charge holds for more than 3 hours while working.

But the keyboard has issues. The space bar does not space unless you hit it in the center hard. I checked to see if anything was stuck below the space bar, but nothing I can see. All other keys are ok, but for some reason you cannot type without hitting the space bar multiple times and trust me you will not believe how challenging it is for normal users to type if the space bar does not do its thing with a normal tap. I have to go back and repeat spacing since all words jumble up. I am not able to see reviews of this issue or discussions. So I will wait to see if ASUS is willing to fix this for me.

Then the touch pad is also weird. This being Windows 8 and the touch pad is so sensitive, when I start typing my mail, I notice the screen jumping to random applications that are either open or trying to be invoked. I cannot put a finger on this issue because of the tiled nature of windows 8 and the new touch pad that is sensitive. Hence documenting just so you know I noticed that problem too.

When I reached out to One Sale a day support, they conveniently told me that this is covered by manufacturer warranty and so I can reach out to ASUS. ( It has been only 2 weeks since I bought this). I will see how that works.

Another issue is that this laptop is so big that it might not fit into many backpacks. So remember that if you want to lug this around while travelling it might be a challenge. But it still is a great looking screen and responsive laptop for this price point.

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The 2.4 ghz processor seems slow, but that may be windows 8; although, I have to wait for browser searches.

The mouse pad is difficult and flimsy.

Cheap ASUS X550CA-DB71 15.6-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $729.00
Sale Price: $709.28
Today's Bonus: 3% Off

There is a known problem with the spacebar. Just google ASUS X550CA space bar problem and you'll see. Now I have to contact Amazonor Asus to fix this.

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Review of ASUS P43E-XH31 (14.1-Inch Screen) Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I bought this laptop since my brother who is a tech guy told me to get Asus. I did what he told me! And he is right, it is very fast and a good little laptop. The 14" screen is perfect for my use and makes it more portable. The i3 processor is everything that I need. I don't know how many laptops have the smart login, but I love using it. It's just a smooth, fast computer and I have no complaints. My brother told me it would have been nice to have a 3.0 USB port, but I can't say I'm missing it. I highly recommend!

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Bigger than I expected ... The screen has a large border (.7" sides, 1" top & bottom). 14.1 Dims about the size of a 15.6 overall (I'm glad I waited to buy a case).

Big difference in speed with the 2nd gen i3 / 'sandy bridge' ... nice.

Display is fine (it's not high-end, but it is crisp and clear, & I don't wanna pay big bux)

The multi-functional keyboard might take some getting used to.

I needed something tough, quick, & mobile ... this is it.

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This is one of the nicest laptops in the market. don't go for other brand names.....grab this one and stay cool for at least 2 years. the build quality, components, the feel...everything is nice. little bit heavy (5 lbs) but that's okay for me. the only problem ive is with the screen quality. but that will be the same for any other 1366x768 LED display. i purchased one Gateway ID series but returned it due to display issues. now im happy.You will be happy too if you get the P43e-XH31.

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The laptop multi tasks very well but is slower than my 3 year old pc when it comes to simpler tasks. Start up takes far too long for a new computer. This could be an OS issue since this is my first pc using Windows 7. Battery life is just ok.

09/30/12

I have to add that this computer is very good at multi tasking and is basically as advertised. I don't think it is a bad pc and have adjusted to it. I think many of the speed concerns I had initially are Windows 7 related. After a few months with the PC, I have settled on the main issue and it may seem trivial, but it is the aesthetics. The black exterior case is ok when closed. It is the key board and touch pad that are the worst. I never thought this would bother me, but in using my PC for work and in front of clients I find this machine embarrassing. This must be the cheapest, loudest, lowest quality, looking like it came from the 1990s keyboard ASUS could find. Maybe they were paid to use it, but it flat out sucks. Then the touch pad looks filthy no matter how clean your hands are or how often I clean the surface. The click from the pad is loud and hollow and signals to everyone around me that I have a POS laptop when if fact, it works quite well. It bothers me so much that I am going to try and have it replaced. I had to share this because all the reviews I read were very positive when it came to performance but none addressed how cheap these two areas look, feel and sound.

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I purchased this laptop on Amazon as a "Like-New" display model for less than $350 for my fiance to upgrade from her dinosaur of a Dell laptop from 8-10 years ago and her little 9" laptop that she also has. This one blows both of those out of the water. Take note that I do an incredible amount of research on any product that I purchase be it a $5 pair of socks or a $1000 television. I like getting a high quality product (which this laptop definitely is) at a bargain of a price.

The laptop itself is very stylish with a dark black textured shell. For my fiance, it is the perfect size to give performance while also allowing for portability by not having to carry too much weight or taking up too much space in her backpack.

The screen is very bright and vivid making movie watching experience great.

It has 3 USB ports 2 on the right hand side towards the front of the laptop and 1 on the left towards the front.

This laptop also features the VGA and HDMI ports on the left side towards the front in case you would like to hook the laptop up to a different display.

The touch pad is skewed just to the left of the center of the laptop. This does not bother me, but my fiance complains about her left hand constantly bumping it and moving the cursor while writing papers. Another note on the keyboard is that there is not a numpad on the right hand side. This does not bother my fiance as she never uses it even if there is one; however, I prefer having one. As a 14.1" laptop I am unsure as to whether any carry a numpad, but if I were buying for myself I would jump up to a 15.4" which does have the option.

We have not had any problems with temperatures running too hot even after a few hours of constant use. Anything more than that we use cooling pads merely as a precaution so I cannot say if it will continue to stay cool after several hours of heavy use.

It has a great battery life. Depending on the settings and what you are doing, this laptop can easily run from a few to several hours on battery alone.

The 4GB of RAM is also plenty you could probably run many games on low settings without a problem. However, this is by no means a "gamer's" computer. For someone looking to buy the computer as a business/school/social media that can also play games like League of Legends or possibly even WoW on low settings, this laptop will do the trick. The 500GB hard drive is also plenty, if anything more is needed there is always the option of an external.

One of the best features that one should always take into consideration when buying an ASUS laptop is they almost always come with the 1 year global / 1 year accidental damage warranty. This feature alone is worth an additional $50 dollars or so.

For the price I paid, this laptop was a steal. However, at the normal price point of $600+/-, I would look to spend a little more and get the ASUS A73E-XA1 17.3" which will offer the larger screen, the numpad on the side of the keyboard, a faster processor (2.3GHz i5 vs 2.1GHz i3), and a larger hard drive. My fiance does not agree with that as she would prefer the still powerful but much more portable 14.1".

Toshiba Satellite L775D-S7305 Laptop AMDA6-340M/4GB RAM/500GB/17.3 Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I have had the laptop for two weeks now. I can play games thanks to its powerful video card; watch movies on its great screen; work on my documents and appreciate the wide keyboard squares. So far, no complaints. The only thing (and I assume that to be the case for EVERY laptop, anyway) I was a bit disappointed about was that the battery's charge does NOT last as much as the computer's specs claim it does.

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I really enjoy this laptop. I spend around 12 14 hours a day on my laptop coding websites and using the Adobe Creative Suite (CS4/5). Needless to say, I need a laptop that can handle major graphic capabilities and numerous programs running at the same time without lagging. After digging around on numerous sites to check the benchmarks for Intel and AMD chips and talking to a local PC repair shop, I decided to go with a quad core AMD chip. Not only did this save me money (around $100-$150), but gave me the same quality and speed I needed from an Intel i5.

I have owned it for about a month now and although I still stand by my purchase and I enjoy what I purchased, I have noticed a few things that should be considered. Below are some pros and cons.

Pros:

1600 X 900 Resolution

17" monitor

AMD quad core processor

Decent graphic abilities (Dirt 2, Portal, Portal 2, Adobe CS5)

64-bit

4GB RAM (upgradable to 8GB)

Glossy graphitish colored finish

10-key number pad

HDMI output

Windows 7

3 USB ports

1 combo USB 2.0/3.0 port

Notification LED colors/brightness

The power cord connects in a secure, flush connection

Built-in webcam/microphone

Cons:

No mute button

Left shift key doesn't recognized that it's pressed unless you're pressing directly on the middle (I don't know if this is just mine or a model issue)

No Bluetooth (even though it's listed as having it)

I have never been able to get the sleep&charge USB port to work. I'm not sure if it doesn't or I just haven't figured it out. Either way it's a minor annoyance.

The monitor lid is a little flexible in the center. I don't know if it will affect the picture construction over time or not.

Webcam quality (at least in my experience through occasional use) isn't very great quality. It's functional, but the color and resolution could certainly be improved.

Overall, there aren't any major flaws or issues that I have found (unless you wanted internal Bluetooth), but in the case the cons I have listed would be an issue, you might need to consider that into your purchase.

Also, on an unrelated note, I discovered (well actually I was told by a Best Buy employee and found it to be true) that an XBOX 360 wired controller (there is an XBOX 360 for PC controller out there for $10 more, but it also requires a software portion for it to work which (I was told) can lead to a delay at times) can be used without any configuration (other than button assignment in the occasional game) to play games on your PC. I have loved playing games on my laptop with an XBOX controller. Finally a quality/easy option for people like myself that can't manage to master the keyboard gaming option.

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I'm a video editor who also likes to watch streaming movies on my laptop. 17 inch screen, super fast processor, quad core multitasking capabilities...no complaints at all. It's very user friendly, great spacious keyboard and mousepad. The best laptop money can buy you for the price. i7 processors are overrated, AMD is the best because its quad core is actually 4 cores, not 2 with the capability of stretching.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite L775D-S7305 Laptop AMDA6-340M/4GB RAM/500GB/17.3

I bought this laptop a little over a month ago and at first I loved everything about it, that is until I tried connecting it to my bluetooth printer which is one of the main reason I picked this model, after a lot of trying I finally called Toshiba only to be told they made a mistake and the laptop does not have bluetooth after all and their solution was if my laptop was still within its warranty period, to take it back to the store and get another model.

Luckily I bought an extended warranty and the store where I purchased the laptop gave me a free bluetooth adapter for my laptop to make up for the mistake even though it was Toshiba's fault because they were the ones who said it was suppose to have bluetooth.

HP G56-122US Reviews

Customer Ratings:

For the TLDR types skip to the last paragraph.

Just days before black friday my old laptop elected to die. Given the timing and my available fundage at the time, a good deal outweighed a top-end machine.

At $379.99 with a $50 mail-in this was the bargain I was looking for.

I can't comment on reliability given the brief time-frame, but in terms of the rest:

Aesthetic-The case is a nice unit that looks/feels a bit more solid than my Toshiba Satellite, and the matte blue (black in Amazon's version) rather than glossier finish makes it less prone to things like smudges/fingerprints.

Keyboard-Lacking a 10-key allows the rest of the keyboard to feel less cramped, with good sized keys that have good feel to them without feeling like they will jam or take too much pressure to hit.

The one complaint I do have is the column of hotkeys along the left edge of the keyboard. The concept is good, but I'll take keeping ctrl in corner as it's always been over bringing up the calculator at the push of a button for example.

Display-Thus far the display has a good picture and is nice quality, while 15.6'' is for most purposes the perfect happy medium between size and portability.

Temperature-Thus far even with the computer being on for long stretches temperature has never appeared to be an issue, never feeling more than a little warm to the touch with fairly quiet fan-noise. My one concern is that the vents on this machine are a bit smaller than most, but so far it hasn't seemed to have any impact.

RAM-3 gigs of DDR3 is the norm for a machine in this bracket, with upgrade ability should you so desire. Memory usage tends to run around 50% with normal usage (i.e. antivirus active but not scanning, a couple small background items, and web browser with a few open tabs).

Processor-AMD Athlon II dual-core 2.2 ghz. Given that many sub $500 laptops are still using Celeron or Sempron processors this is again a great value. No it won't keep up with that >$1,000 machine with a Phenom/i7 chip, but is quite nice at this price bracket.

Graphics-Finding a dedicated graphics card instead of integrated is virtually impossible on the budget end of laptops, that said the Radeon 4250 chipset has been able to handle fairly new graphics-intensive games (such as Dawn of War 2) with no issue (albeit on lower settings).

Touchpad-Compared to offputting texture of my last laptop this one has a good size and feel while having an on/off integrated into the touchpad is a nice feature to avoid palm-dragging text while typing.

Software-Given that this machine caps out at 8 gigs of RAM it really isn't built to take advantage of what 64 bit has to offer, I would have preferred 32 bit for my needs. The HP advisor dock is a nice tidbit I haven't really put to use, but could be handy for some users, and while the heavy-handed push towards Norton is a bit offputting all new computers have their list of trial programs they try to push on you.

Peripherals-A little bit lacking here the only thing notable would be 3 USB slots instead of 2, coupled with the standard heaphone/mic jacks, ethernet, and vga out. The lack of HDMI is expected in this price range but items like comboing one USB with esata, the lack of a SD card reader, and all controls for things like volume, wifi on/off, and brightness integrated into the keyboard are notably lacking. The lack of a wifi card slot is not an immediate concern, but if the internal wifi malfunctions you'll be using up a less efficient USB receiver.

Other-Remember battery life usually describes the ideal situation (dvd drive not spinning, screen brightness low, etc.)-realistic battery life is probably closer to 3 hours in an average situation. Also the speakers boast 'hd' sound but in reality are tinny and underwhelming.

Bottom Line:

For a sub $500 laptop this is a solid machine with good under-the-hood specs and a nice feel. It lacks some of the peripheral niceties like a memory card-reader but is otherwise a great value machine that packs a little more punch than the 2 gig of RAM sempron/celeron single-core foes common in the 'bargain' bracket.

While the specs for the price are nice, felt I had to add in my less than satisfactory personal experience with the product a little over a month later, for that see added comment:

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I bought this laptop during Black Friday for $300 I figured it was a good deal for a nice laptop. Overall it's a nice laptop but there is a few minor setbacks. First, the clicker is hard to click and it takes quite a while getting used to. Second, when you look at the pictures it may seem like there is a web cam. Don't be mistaken, there isn't. And lastly the battery life isn't 4 hours. It's more like 3 if even that which can get a little bothersome. The keys are also very flat and take a while to get use to as well. On the left side there is a column on the side for convenience to open up certain thing. For me, it's been more of a nuisance than a benefit because I accidentally push the keys and you have to wait for the program to load before you close it. It's a nice laptop for simple things but just that. If you want something more look for something else.(:

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Conservative I am. I want reliable function. My 3 Dell D510s are now about 8 years old and starting to faulter. My nephew said HP is the way to go. Researching reliability was conflicting but thought I would give HP a shot.

This is a lower level notebook which is fine. I am not a gamer, I dont skipe. And it bothers me when a good computer like this is called a starter. I am on my 12 computer..I am no beginner or rookie. Windows 7 messed me up, I have no outlook express anymore nor is it available. The only other problem other then the software is the clicker. below the touch pad. it is single.

I am use to two pads to click left or click right. This has a mono tab that takes excessive pressure to click.

One last gripe is there are no window disks for back up, once I had an HP hard drive go bad and had to buy windows.

I read the first thing to do is make back up CD's. My 1st 4 attempts have failed at this necessary task.

Over all glad I bought it. Screen, appearance, keyboard, battery life, as expected.

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Great product exceded my expectations .I recommend to all how want a loptop for a novice great starter laptop ...Two thumbs up

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Trackpad works on and off. Ended up getting a USB mouse. Battery lasts 2 hours max out of the box, and loses battery capacity quickly. iTunes and a web page open at the same time? Only if you want it to sound like a skipping CD. It's a buggy computer, but it's cheap. The black finish scratches VERY easily. Replaced the HP with a MacBook Pro, it's 4 times the price but it certainly feels like it will last a lot longer.