Lenovo Thinkpads have always had the best keyboard layout in my opinion. This economy priced model has everything my college student needed at a great price. Unlike the Compaq CQ's and the low end HP series, this unit has Intel processor not AMD. You can get it with an AMD but why really? For the price point of this unit it feels great, not cheap. I like it so much I am going to order another one for me since this one is for my daughter in college.
Shipping from this vendor was a little slower than others, but not unbearable. I guess Amazon's fast shipping has spoiled me.
If you need a great value in a laptop, you might really like this model.The computer seems to slow down a bit sometimes when a couple applications are open which is why I gave it a four star rating but overall i am happy with the purchase
Showing posts with label designer notebooks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label designer notebooks. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Friday, November 7, 2014
Cheap ASUS N56VM-AB71 Full-HD 1080P 15.6-Inch Laptop
Build:
First of all, the build quality on this machine is EXCELLENT. Having never owned any asus product, I'm seriously impressed at the build quality on this thing. Even though I only paid $899, this feels like a $1500+ machine. The aluminum finish is fantastic and feels really good. I will say it's a bit of a fingerprint magnet, but that's nothing a quick wipe with a cloth won't fix. Also, since Amazon doesn't disclose this, the ASUS logo on the front lid is BACKLIT. Some reviewers have knocked on the weight a bit, but for everything you're getting, it's a non issue. Unless you weigh about 30lbs, I don't see how you could knock on the weight.
Keyboard:
The keyboard is great. I very much enjoy the feel of the keys and the response is excellent. Even for someone with big hands like me, I have no trouble typing at full speed. Also, this keyboard is BACKLIT for those of you not sure, and it looks great in the dark. You can also adjust the level of brightness as you see fit.
Touchpad:
Wasn't too happy with this at first but I've grown to like it. I'm a big fan of the pinch to zoom and all the other features it comes with. Yes, sometimes you might not get the exact response you want or you'll accidentally zoom in on something, but the touchpad is great. No regrets and no serious complaints.
Performance:
Initial boot up takes a bit, but even with all of the bloatware ASUS puts on this thing, it's pretty fast. The i7 along with the 6GB of RAM really makes navigating through all programs a breeze and I've no freeze ups or noticeable lag. I plan on installing an SSD sometime in the near future and doing a clean install but for the average user, there shouldn't be any performance issues.
Graphics:
As some reviewers have previously mentioned, you are using dual cards for graphics. The laptop uses the Intel 4000 for non extensive actions and the NVIDIA for heavy graphic tasks such as gaming. I don't really plan on gaming at all so this is perfect for me. But from what I've read, gaming shouldn't be an issue.
Display & Sound:
The display is AMAZING. Videos, websites, programs......everything looks excellent. Hands down the best display I've used on a Windows machine. I would highly recommend pushing for 1080p if possible. The sound quality for a laptop is amazing. It's loud and clear. I've just started doing insanity workouts and using this and the sound and look of everything is amazing. No complaints at all. I haven't used the included speaker, but I'll get around to it. Webcam is also nice and clear and video chatting is no issue. Other party can hear me loud and clear with no echo.
Overall, I am completely satisfied with my purchase.
I really wish Amazon would get proper specs up for this. I ordered in hope that it would have a backlit keyboard, and I got lucky.
I will update this review with more info if I find anything worth remarking on the specs speak for themselves, and of course there is a ton of nonsense bloatware, but that's easily dealt with.
I highly recommend this machine to anyone who wants something that looks good and you can be proud to own.
1). I bought this laptop hopefully to build a Hardware Specification equivalent of a Macbook Pro without paying the Apple Hardware Tax and without having to use MACOS.
2). Window 8 Sucks. Hated it immediately. I would have bought the Windows 7 version of this Laptop, except it is slightly different and has less base memory. So I bought the Windows 8 version and just installed my own copy of Windows 7.
3). The UEFI is locked to Windows 8. I removed the hard drive and replaced it with a SSD. The Boot process would not hand-off to Windows 7 during the setup process when using UEFI and mounting Windows 7 install as a CD. If I toggled the "Launch CSM" setting in the BIOS to "Enabled" this worked fine, but without UEFI. Less exciting but still very usable. (CSM means Compatibility Support Module and it's a UEFI setting for backwards compatibility with older BIOS devices.)
4). The only 16gb memory I was able to get to work to upgrade this machine to 16gb was Kingston ValueRAM 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 (PC3-12800) Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM Notebook Memory (KVR16S11/8). I tried three other sets of 16gb DIMMs without any of them working before I found the Kingston. Thanks to the person in the comments who suggested it.
5). The upgrade plate is on the bottom toward the front and merely requires removing the one center front screw. This involves prying up the plastic foot thing in the center and unscrewing. Easy access to the HDD, the Memory and the NIC from there.
6). The laptop was both heavier and thicker than I expected. This is not a fault of what is reported, but a fault of my expectations. Temper your own expectations to match.
7). As others have noted here and elsewhere, the trackpad gets in the way of typing sometimes. It's very easy to click things with you wrist while typing. I personally think this is true of many laptops due to my own typing style, so YMMV.
8). Once I got Win7 installed on the SSD, this laptop screams. Really loved how fast it boots. Haven't installed much yet though, so we will see.
9). If I could not have gotten Win7 working I would have RMA'd this faster than you can say... well, just about anything.
10). If you are looking for Windows 7 x64 Drivers, you will not find them on the Asus website under the N56VJ model. You need to look under the N56VZ model and use those drivers. The N56VJ and the N56VZ are basically the same computer with slightly different specs. All the drivers are common and seem to work just fine. Drivers can be found there.
Ran down the battery yesterday and got over 4 hours out of it no games but lots of installing and downloading. Good buy for the price and is has everything once could ask for for a desktop laptop.
Update I had to return the first laptop because I did not want to go through the hassle of getting the keyboard repaired Amazon exchanged it with no problem (same model) and the keyboard on the replacement laptop works great. The first one didn't have the backlighting (or maybe it was a driver problem) this one works without any hitches.
-The best screen on any Windows machine released so far!
-The sound quality is amazing!
-Premium quality overall!
-It is really fast!
-Very nice soft back-lid keyboard!
Bad:
-This machine is relatively bulky for 15.6 inch laptop.
-Quality control issues. My first machine was defective (crack under monitor). I had to replace it.
Conclusion:
Perfect home multimedia center. At this price level there is no competitors at all! There are no other 15.6 inch laptops with the same specification and the same screen and sound quality under 1000$.
I expected it to be a good machine but it is much better than I expected!!!!!!!
Update:
After listening to music on this laptop for a month I realized that with this laptop you probably dont need any external speakers. The sound quality is just that good.
Update:
I have been taking this laptop to my work to use it with DELL 2408WFP UltraSharp 24-Inch Monitor. Usually most external monitors beat any laptop monitor. And this Dell is relatively expensive and accurate monitor. Monitor on ASUS laptop represents colors much more accurately than external Dell monitor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Update: After 6 month of using this beautful machine I think that it has the best screen on any electronic device I saw. Colors on this machine are bette then on iPad 3, my panasonic 42 inch plasma, my HTC sensation and any other electronic monitor I have look at in my life. Defenitely there are some professional monitors for 1000 dollars that might have better colors, but for a notebook I colors on this screen are probably unbeatable. When Apple presented iPad 3 they wanted to make a big deal with its screen. In real life iPad 3 has very high resolution but just good colors, nothing exeptional. Screen on this laptop is trully exaptional.
First of all, the build quality on this machine is EXCELLENT. Having never owned any asus product, I'm seriously impressed at the build quality on this thing. Even though I only paid $899, this feels like a $1500+ machine. The aluminum finish is fantastic and feels really good. I will say it's a bit of a fingerprint magnet, but that's nothing a quick wipe with a cloth won't fix. Also, since Amazon doesn't disclose this, the ASUS logo on the front lid is BACKLIT. Some reviewers have knocked on the weight a bit, but for everything you're getting, it's a non issue. Unless you weigh about 30lbs, I don't see how you could knock on the weight.
Keyboard:
The keyboard is great. I very much enjoy the feel of the keys and the response is excellent. Even for someone with big hands like me, I have no trouble typing at full speed. Also, this keyboard is BACKLIT for those of you not sure, and it looks great in the dark. You can also adjust the level of brightness as you see fit.
Touchpad:
Wasn't too happy with this at first but I've grown to like it. I'm a big fan of the pinch to zoom and all the other features it comes with. Yes, sometimes you might not get the exact response you want or you'll accidentally zoom in on something, but the touchpad is great. No regrets and no serious complaints.
Performance:
Initial boot up takes a bit, but even with all of the bloatware ASUS puts on this thing, it's pretty fast. The i7 along with the 6GB of RAM really makes navigating through all programs a breeze and I've no freeze ups or noticeable lag. I plan on installing an SSD sometime in the near future and doing a clean install but for the average user, there shouldn't be any performance issues.
Graphics:
As some reviewers have previously mentioned, you are using dual cards for graphics. The laptop uses the Intel 4000 for non extensive actions and the NVIDIA for heavy graphic tasks such as gaming. I don't really plan on gaming at all so this is perfect for me. But from what I've read, gaming shouldn't be an issue.
Display & Sound:
The display is AMAZING. Videos, websites, programs......everything looks excellent. Hands down the best display I've used on a Windows machine. I would highly recommend pushing for 1080p if possible. The sound quality for a laptop is amazing. It's loud and clear. I've just started doing insanity workouts and using this and the sound and look of everything is amazing. No complaints at all. I haven't used the included speaker, but I'll get around to it. Webcam is also nice and clear and video chatting is no issue. Other party can hear me loud and clear with no echo.
Overall, I am completely satisfied with my purchase.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
I asked a few questions about this laptop from other reviewers but could not get an answer... to anyone who needs to know, it does indeed have a backlit keyboard. I got mine this morning and it's simply beautiful, the screen and sound are amazing, typing is a joy and I could not be happier.I really wish Amazon would get proper specs up for this. I ordered in hope that it would have a backlit keyboard, and I got lucky.
I will update this review with more info if I find anything worth remarking on the specs speak for themselves, and of course there is a ton of nonsense bloatware, but that's easily dealt with.
I highly recommend this machine to anyone who wants something that looks good and you can be proud to own.
Best Deals for ASUS N56VM-AB71 Full-HD 1080P 15.6-Inch Laptop
Received it yesterday, great turn around time by Amazon. That said, I have the following gripes with this laptop already.1). I bought this laptop hopefully to build a Hardware Specification equivalent of a Macbook Pro without paying the Apple Hardware Tax and without having to use MACOS.
2). Window 8 Sucks. Hated it immediately. I would have bought the Windows 7 version of this Laptop, except it is slightly different and has less base memory. So I bought the Windows 8 version and just installed my own copy of Windows 7.
3). The UEFI is locked to Windows 8. I removed the hard drive and replaced it with a SSD. The Boot process would not hand-off to Windows 7 during the setup process when using UEFI and mounting Windows 7 install as a CD. If I toggled the "Launch CSM" setting in the BIOS to "Enabled" this worked fine, but without UEFI. Less exciting but still very usable. (CSM means Compatibility Support Module and it's a UEFI setting for backwards compatibility with older BIOS devices.)
4). The only 16gb memory I was able to get to work to upgrade this machine to 16gb was Kingston ValueRAM 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 (PC3-12800) Non-ECC CL11 SODIMM Notebook Memory (KVR16S11/8). I tried three other sets of 16gb DIMMs without any of them working before I found the Kingston. Thanks to the person in the comments who suggested it.
5). The upgrade plate is on the bottom toward the front and merely requires removing the one center front screw. This involves prying up the plastic foot thing in the center and unscrewing. Easy access to the HDD, the Memory and the NIC from there.
6). The laptop was both heavier and thicker than I expected. This is not a fault of what is reported, but a fault of my expectations. Temper your own expectations to match.
7). As others have noted here and elsewhere, the trackpad gets in the way of typing sometimes. It's very easy to click things with you wrist while typing. I personally think this is true of many laptops due to my own typing style, so YMMV.
8). Once I got Win7 installed on the SSD, this laptop screams. Really loved how fast it boots. Haven't installed much yet though, so we will see.
9). If I could not have gotten Win7 working I would have RMA'd this faster than you can say... well, just about anything.
10). If you are looking for Windows 7 x64 Drivers, you will not find them on the Asus website under the N56VJ model. You need to look under the N56VZ model and use those drivers. The N56VJ and the N56VZ are basically the same computer with slightly different specs. All the drivers are common and seem to work just fine. Drivers can be found there.
Honest reviews on ASUS N56VM-AB71 Full-HD 1080P 15.6-Inch Laptop
I received this laptop about four days ago and still in the process of removing and loading software. Started with the standard operating procedure, Windows updates and removing McAfee (this requires a special removal tool from the McAfee website to do a clean uninstall). Had trouble with the wireless connection crashing and had to call Asus customer support who directed my to their website to download a new driver for the Atheros AR9485-EG wireless adaptor. Seems to have taken care of the problem from what I can tell. 1920 x 1080 resolution is nice most models with that resolution are $1,200 or more.... 750 GB and 6 GB ram great specs. Having some problem with the spacebar. I type about 70 w/minute and it doesn't respond as well as I am used to unless I hit it dead center and pretty firm. Other people reported a similar problem after researching this issue in forums. I will wait for a few days and if needed have Asus install a new keyboard under warranty. Sound/speakers are OK not great and for movies I would recommend external speakers. This model has the separate numeric keyboard off to the side (good for working on spreadsheets) which makes the model a bit larger and likely heavier.Ran down the battery yesterday and got over 4 hours out of it no games but lots of installing and downloading. Good buy for the price and is has everything once could ask for for a desktop laptop.
Update I had to return the first laptop because I did not want to go through the hassle of getting the keyboard repaired Amazon exchanged it with no problem (same model) and the keyboard on the replacement laptop works great. The first one didn't have the backlighting (or maybe it was a driver problem) this one works without any hitches.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS N56VM-AB71 Full-HD 1080P 15.6-Inch Laptop
Good:-The best screen on any Windows machine released so far!
-The sound quality is amazing!
-Premium quality overall!
-It is really fast!
-Very nice soft back-lid keyboard!
Bad:
-This machine is relatively bulky for 15.6 inch laptop.
-Quality control issues. My first machine was defective (crack under monitor). I had to replace it.
Conclusion:
Perfect home multimedia center. At this price level there is no competitors at all! There are no other 15.6 inch laptops with the same specification and the same screen and sound quality under 1000$.
I expected it to be a good machine but it is much better than I expected!!!!!!!
Update:
After listening to music on this laptop for a month I realized that with this laptop you probably dont need any external speakers. The sound quality is just that good.
Update:
I have been taking this laptop to my work to use it with DELL 2408WFP UltraSharp 24-Inch Monitor. Usually most external monitors beat any laptop monitor. And this Dell is relatively expensive and accurate monitor. Monitor on ASUS laptop represents colors much more accurately than external Dell monitor!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Update: After 6 month of using this beautful machine I think that it has the best screen on any electronic device I saw. Colors on this machine are bette then on iPad 3, my panasonic 42 inch plasma, my HTC sensation and any other electronic monitor I have look at in my life. Defenitely there are some professional monitors for 1000 dollars that might have better colors, but for a notebook I colors on this screen are probably unbeatable. When Apple presented iPad 3 they wanted to make a big deal with its screen. In real life iPad 3 has very high resolution but just good colors, nothing exeptional. Screen on this laptop is trully exaptional.
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Discount Samsung - All-In-One Computer / Intel Core i3 Processor / 23"
This computer is a beauty. Just to look at it is awesome. I purchased this computer for my Salon/Dance school and it does the job I got it for. Videos look awesome and music sounds loud and crisp. If I had the extra money I would buy another one for my home. It being a touch screen is the icing on the cake. Best investment I made for my salon. Thanks Amazon and Samsung for such an awesome product.
The touchscreen is not very responsive and not always accurate. I thought perhaps these computers are all like this until we bought a Sony All-In-One. Although SONY has poor customer service, the touchscreen is very responsive, not as good as iPad, but quite useable.
The ELO Touchscreen utility that comes with the Samsung can't do much with the sensitivity of the touchscreen. You have to push down quite hard and sometimes hold it briefly for it to work. It is a TOTAL DRAG to use the touchscreen; you will probably never use it again after trying it for one minute.
The LED screen is super thin and beautiful. However, you cannot raise the monitor; you can only alter the angle of the monitor.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
We have two of these. This is a good computer, IF you are not going to rely on the touchscreen.The touchscreen is not very responsive and not always accurate. I thought perhaps these computers are all like this until we bought a Sony All-In-One. Although SONY has poor customer service, the touchscreen is very responsive, not as good as iPad, but quite useable.
The ELO Touchscreen utility that comes with the Samsung can't do much with the sensitivity of the touchscreen. You have to push down quite hard and sometimes hold it briefly for it to work. It is a TOTAL DRAG to use the touchscreen; you will probably never use it again after trying it for one minute.
The LED screen is super thin and beautiful. However, you cannot raise the monitor; you can only alter the angle of the monitor.
Best Deals for Samsung - All-In-One Computer / Intel Core i3 Processor / 23"
Like the all-in-one design and space saving feature it offers. Not a big fan of the touchscreen feature (Windows 7), but I'm old school...still like the mouse/keyboard option. Only issue unresolved is that it loses internet connectivity when the PC goes into sleep mode; this may be a simple adjustment in the power settings but I haven't explored this yet. Overall, satisfied with the product. Seems well built, hope to get a few years out of it.Honest reviews on Samsung - All-In-One Computer / Intel Core i3 Processor / 23"
I love that this screen lays flat! It makes it excellent for Computer Board Games. I bought a suite of Hasbro Board Games for the Samsung and played for hours! I wish it had Widi, but you can't have everything I suppose. It is a remarkable product and the shipping was fast and the condition was excellent! Thanks!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung - All-In-One Computer / Intel Core i3 Processor / 23"
It's great pc because it doesn't takes much room some you can take any where I like colour too I love it
Friday, June 27, 2014
Review of 11.6" Acer C7 C710-2856 Chromebook Intel Dual Core 847 2GB DDR3 RAM
Kind of a long review sorry...
The Acer Chromebook is a great computer for someone looking for a computer to do internet browsing, light gaming, and light productivity. You can not download any programs to it, but there are a ton of apps available to fit almost every need (word processing, spreadsheets, photo editing, games,etc.. check google chrome store to see what's available if you have any questions). Think of it like a tablet with an app store in that regard.
Way too many bad reviews on Chromebooks from people who do not understand what they are buying and don't understand why windows programs won't work on it. A lot of bad reviews are from people who have never even tried one. Unless you are a hardcore MS office user, or serious gamer who needs a lot of computing power this computer can do almost everything you need.
At first I wasn't sure if this would work for me, because it looked like a low end limited use netbook. But it kept getting great reviews and for $200 something bucks, and the option to return it if I didn't like it, I'd give it a shot. There are tons of reviews from people who have moved away from using their much more expensive computers because the Chromebook is just a better online experience for most of their needs. I now know why.
Honestly if I need something, I know my Chromebook can be up and have me searching Google quickly in seconds. Long before my other computers can get to my homepage (even from standby). I also know all my plug-ins are always up to date and ready to go. Why even turn the other ones on unless I absolutely have too then? Having to sit through windows load/resume screens gets old really quick once you realize you don't have to. Chromebook quickly became my go to computer for anything online.
Due to the fact it doesn't run a bulky OS like windows, it doesn't need that much processor power to breeze through websites very quickly. You would be amazed how fast this little Celeron chip (its actually a stripped down dual core i3 sandy-bridge processor) runs when its not having to support a lot of OS background processes. It is just as fast browsing online as my much more expensive i5 computers.
Power off to my internet homepage is under 10 seconds, standby to my homepage is 1 second or less, and total shutdown is under 5 seconds.
However I tried it out at best buy (they have it for $199), and due to the fact they have so many machines running on the WiFi at the same time it seemed slow in the store. Trust me it is very fast on a good WiFi. Remember it is cloud based, so it is only as fast as your Wifi is. If you are using a slow connection your whole computer will seem slow. Faster the connection, faster the computer will be.
It is cloud based, everything is saved, auto updated and configured on the cloud. Since nothing is saved locally on the computer (unless you want it to be) your files (pics music documents movies etc) are available on any computer with an internet connection if you are away from your Chromebook. If you have to replace or upgrade your Chromebook simply log in and everything is instantly restored from the cloud, including every setting, preference, app, and all your saved data and files. Plus since nothing is actually on the Chromebook, no one can steal any info or files from it. Try that with a windows machine. No reason to ever do any maintenance on anything ever. No worry about viruses/malware because there is no real operating system to infect, no old files to clean out, no registry to maintain, no updates to manually install, no defrag, no virus scans, no maintenance at all since nothing is actually stored on your computer (except the OS and offline apps).
Also, since it is cloud based, no matter how much you download or use it, it does not affect the computers speed. Nothing is stored on the computer to bog it down. It actually just keeps getting faster with every auto update. It is the only computer I have ever used that gets faster as you use it.
HD 1080p video streams smooth with no frame rate issues, even in full screen. Aquarium WebGL renders 40 fps on a high setting with 500 objects on screen, and 35 fps with 1,000. The HD webcam is great, and video chat works with no issues. The speakers are a little quiet for my taste, but you can hear everything just fine, just don't expect it to fill a noisy room with sound. HDMI out works perfect with my HDTV.
You can download music, pics, files, pretty much anything, you just can not run any exe. files if you download them. The Chromebook only runs internet based apps, and apps from the chrome store. The chrome store has a great selection of apps to meet almost every need and is growing quickly.
While it only has a 16gb SSD hard drive, you pretty much only need it to temporarily hold files while you transfer them to the cloud, that is where all your data is stored. The 320GB hard drive is larger but much slower. I opted for the smaller faster 16gb SSD one as I store everything online and it allows the machine to run much faster.
Only downsides are
1. You can't pin favorite websites to the desktop, you have to start the browser then pull them off favorites. I'm sure that will be addressed soon as it seems to be a common complaint.
2. Also you need to have a wireless cloud based printer to print directly from chrome book. Otherwise you need to access your cloud files from a different PC to print. While it has USB ports, it has limited plug and play, they won't work with printers...yet. USB mice, cameras, cell phones, hard drives all seem to work fine though.
3. It is limited with Java plugins but then again not much is in Java anymore so it probably doesn't matter.
4. Volume a little low for my taste, but still very audible.
5. Not the best looking construction, but it is durable.
6. Trackpad might take a little getting used to if you're used to separate left and right mouse buttons, but works great once you get it down (Alt key plus left click, or 2 finger click both work for right click).
The biggest question is why buy this over a similar priced windows laptop that can do everything?
One answer... speed. While a cheap windows unit can do more overall...there is no comparison between this and a cheap laptop. Side by side, its much quicker, smoother, and is just overall more convenient to use. Think of windows like a pickup tuck, and Chromebook like a sports car. You can do more with a pickup, but it's not as fast or fun as a sports car. That combined with the super quick boot up times, zero maintenance, and cloud computing, makes it so quick and easy, that I actually don't use my more expensive computers unless I have too.
Acer vs Samsung Chromebook... Acer is somewhat faster and smoother, and is upgradable. While Acer says 4GB ram max...the chrome OS will actually accept and use any amount of RAM you jam into the 2 slots with a few easy tweaks (I've seen these with up to 32GB of ram running). You can also swap out the SSD and battery for better ones if you want. It has a delete key and caps lock key (the Samsung doesn't for some reason). Battery life on Acer isn't great though. The Samsung has much better battery life, looks a little nicer, and has a nicer feeling keyboard and track pad but is not upgradable. It is sealed shut and everything is soldered in. Pick what features are more important to you. There are some other minor details but those are the biggest.
While it is not for everyone, if you're looking for a computer to just browse the internet, watch videos, app and internet based gaming, do word and spreadsheets, photo editing, video chat, etc... basically what 90% of people do with a computer anyway...this is the one to get. If you want to play games that you need to install to the hard drive, run a serious business, or have a slow or spotty internet connection this is not the one to get.
Without sounding to dramatic, I have to say this is one of my favorite electronic purchases in a long while.
I have an amazing MSI gaming laptop, but it's such a power-hungry beast that the battery life sucks and it's heavy, making it impractical for me to lug it around in my backpack. In essence, the C7 is the opposite of my MSI; it's small and light, making for a highly portable machine; the Chrome OS is clean and simple, and although it may take a bit of getting used to, its well worth itby doing everything off Google Drive (the Google cloud service) I can work away knowing that all the essays I type and homework I do are not saved locally but rather store in the cloud. This means that should my C7 be lost, stolen, or damaged, all my work will be not be lost. Moreover, at $199, the thought of having it lost, stolen, etc, isn't as worrisome compared to a similar situation occurring with my $1600 MSI. Also, the Acer C7 is upgrade-able unlike its Samsung Chromebook counterpart. In fact, I upgraded the RAM already, link follows for those curious:
Kingston HyperX Plug n Play 4 GB Kit (2x2GB Modules) 1600MHz DDR3 SODIMM Notebook/Netbook Memory 4 Dual Channel Kit (PC3 12800) 204-Pin KHX1600C9S3P1K2/4G
Blah blah blah... who is this for? Someone looking for a quick, simple-to-use, and highly affordable netbook. Who is it not for? Someone who runs high-end, high-spec programs/games or those who need Windows for said programs.
My recommendation? This little guy is PERFECT if you mostly use your laptop for internet-based programs (facebook, email, google-docs, youtube, et al) OR if you wish to have a portable netbook to supplement a desktop or high-end laptop you already own.
My son is a gamer, has an upgraded PC and the newest XBOX 360, and before my Chromebook he had the fastest systems in the house, but not any more. I tested this theory out the other day. We decided to look up videos on YouTube at the same time on our different systems. My Chromebook searched faster, found the video faster, and started playing the video faster than his systems. I was thoroughly impressed. I still am impressed, every time I use it there's something new I discover it can do. You can't download software on to it, and it's version of Windows Explorer lists external storage devices a little bit different than Microsoft based systems, but what it does have is amazing.
The number of apps that are available for the Chromebook is mind-boggling. There's games, utilities, news, weather, entertainment, and more apps. It even comes with a webcam and microphone built in, ready to use. I can chat with any of my friends online using video call through Google Mail. Everything you can do with Chrome on your desktop, you can do with Chromebook... and more! And being Google, everything sync's... want all your bookmarks from your desktop available on your Chromebook? You got it. You want all your contacts on your Chromebook? Not a problem.
Everything you do on the Chromebook is stored online through Google's cloud drive, which is accessible anywhere a computer and the internet are available. I haven't started my new semester yet, but I can't wait to see how my Chromebook handles my online classes. I suppose I might need to access my documents on my Chromebook on my desktop if my professors want MS doc files, but I can still use my Chromebook for all the typing and research and lectures. No longer will I have to use my desktop to download documents or videos because it downloads fast but can't play anything, go to my laptop to watch the videos (it's too slow for downloads, but the graphics are better), then try and figure out what system I should use to write my paper because eventually I'll have to go back to my desktop, because it's connected to the internet (my laptop had issues finding it), so I can actually write my paper and submit it. I am so looking forward to using my Chromebook this semester. It already loads Blackboard faster than any other system I've had.
My best friend got me the Chromebook for my birthday from Wal-Mart. There was practically no setup. We have wireless internet at home, I took it out of the box, put in the battery, opened the lid, it asked for the internet's password, then my Google account info, and I was online and using my Chromebook. I've never owned any Apple products, but I have seen them and played with my friends. I would consider my Chromebook a cross between an iPad Touch and a smart phone, with an attached keyboard. But it's so much better than that, because it's a laptop that happens to have cloud based storage. In fact one of the offers I got when I first used my Chromebook was an extra 100 GB of cloud storage space.
The speakers are pretty darn good for being a little laptop as well. The screen is an HD screen and everything looks so much sharper and cleaner than any other computer I own. Watching Amazon Prime videos or Netflix is a whole lot easier on my Chromebook, as well. And for those of us who like to play computer games now and then, and might have Steam on our desktop, if you purchase a game on the Chromebook, you have access to it through Steam as well, without having to purchase it twice.
It took a little while to get used to how the Chromebook functions. There's no Windows, no start button, no desktop icons, but there is a taskbar, and all the apps you want, every single one of them, is located on the taskbar, in it's own icon. I would definitely recommend starting with the "Get Started" app when you first get a Chromebook. Not only do you get to see everything the Chromebook has to offer, but it gives you a feel for using it and practice using the touchpad mouse. The Chromebook is a Linux based operating system. Now I've used Linux based computers and been less than impressed, even if they did have fewer problems than Windows, and never have blue screens or black screens. Because it's all online and cloud based, and its Google, there's never viruses to worry about, there's no constant update reminders, and anything you have stored that's supposedly not Google Chrome compatible? There's an app for that.
The Chromebook is so much fun to use, easy to use, and it does have the ability to work offline, if any reason you need to be, you can choose what you want access to when you can't be online. It's the most amazing little laptop I've ever owned, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a small, easy to use, lightweight laptop. Once my semester starts and see how handy (or not, but I doubt it) my Chromebook is for my homework/classwork, I'll post another review. I'm anxious to see how it will work if there's any outside software I need, or if I choose to use online textbooks.
Cheers, Laura :)
The Acer C7 version, C710-2856, is identical to the Acer C710-2833 Chromebook, which is currently available for $199. That's the right price, so get it instead. (If Amazon raises the price on the C710-2833, look for either version cheaper at Newegg or Best Buy.)
That said, if you like to browse social media, check your email, and and even use Google+ Hangouts with your knitting friends (it can't just be me who does that), then this compact, lightweight and inexpensive Chromebook might be for you!
I love this Chromebook. I opened the box, popped the battery in and plugged it in. Bingo, it was running. Nothing to download, upload or update. It updates automatically each time you turn it on.
I was already a big fan of Google chrome and Google drive so as soon as I had it running and I signed into my gmail, then it synced to all my other devices. The Chrome OS automatically loaded my bookmarks. It was like this brand new device had known me all my life. Whatever I have put in the cloud I can access where ever I go and as light as this is, it can go everywhere. It even fits in my purse like a tablet, but has a keyboard.
Can you tell that I am impressed?
The Acer Chromebook is a great computer for someone looking for a computer to do internet browsing, light gaming, and light productivity. You can not download any programs to it, but there are a ton of apps available to fit almost every need (word processing, spreadsheets, photo editing, games,etc.. check google chrome store to see what's available if you have any questions). Think of it like a tablet with an app store in that regard.
Way too many bad reviews on Chromebooks from people who do not understand what they are buying and don't understand why windows programs won't work on it. A lot of bad reviews are from people who have never even tried one. Unless you are a hardcore MS office user, or serious gamer who needs a lot of computing power this computer can do almost everything you need.
At first I wasn't sure if this would work for me, because it looked like a low end limited use netbook. But it kept getting great reviews and for $200 something bucks, and the option to return it if I didn't like it, I'd give it a shot. There are tons of reviews from people who have moved away from using their much more expensive computers because the Chromebook is just a better online experience for most of their needs. I now know why.
Honestly if I need something, I know my Chromebook can be up and have me searching Google quickly in seconds. Long before my other computers can get to my homepage (even from standby). I also know all my plug-ins are always up to date and ready to go. Why even turn the other ones on unless I absolutely have too then? Having to sit through windows load/resume screens gets old really quick once you realize you don't have to. Chromebook quickly became my go to computer for anything online.
Due to the fact it doesn't run a bulky OS like windows, it doesn't need that much processor power to breeze through websites very quickly. You would be amazed how fast this little Celeron chip (its actually a stripped down dual core i3 sandy-bridge processor) runs when its not having to support a lot of OS background processes. It is just as fast browsing online as my much more expensive i5 computers.
Power off to my internet homepage is under 10 seconds, standby to my homepage is 1 second or less, and total shutdown is under 5 seconds.
However I tried it out at best buy (they have it for $199), and due to the fact they have so many machines running on the WiFi at the same time it seemed slow in the store. Trust me it is very fast on a good WiFi. Remember it is cloud based, so it is only as fast as your Wifi is. If you are using a slow connection your whole computer will seem slow. Faster the connection, faster the computer will be.
It is cloud based, everything is saved, auto updated and configured on the cloud. Since nothing is saved locally on the computer (unless you want it to be) your files (pics music documents movies etc) are available on any computer with an internet connection if you are away from your Chromebook. If you have to replace or upgrade your Chromebook simply log in and everything is instantly restored from the cloud, including every setting, preference, app, and all your saved data and files. Plus since nothing is actually on the Chromebook, no one can steal any info or files from it. Try that with a windows machine. No reason to ever do any maintenance on anything ever. No worry about viruses/malware because there is no real operating system to infect, no old files to clean out, no registry to maintain, no updates to manually install, no defrag, no virus scans, no maintenance at all since nothing is actually stored on your computer (except the OS and offline apps).
Also, since it is cloud based, no matter how much you download or use it, it does not affect the computers speed. Nothing is stored on the computer to bog it down. It actually just keeps getting faster with every auto update. It is the only computer I have ever used that gets faster as you use it.
HD 1080p video streams smooth with no frame rate issues, even in full screen. Aquarium WebGL renders 40 fps on a high setting with 500 objects on screen, and 35 fps with 1,000. The HD webcam is great, and video chat works with no issues. The speakers are a little quiet for my taste, but you can hear everything just fine, just don't expect it to fill a noisy room with sound. HDMI out works perfect with my HDTV.
You can download music, pics, files, pretty much anything, you just can not run any exe. files if you download them. The Chromebook only runs internet based apps, and apps from the chrome store. The chrome store has a great selection of apps to meet almost every need and is growing quickly.
While it only has a 16gb SSD hard drive, you pretty much only need it to temporarily hold files while you transfer them to the cloud, that is where all your data is stored. The 320GB hard drive is larger but much slower. I opted for the smaller faster 16gb SSD one as I store everything online and it allows the machine to run much faster.
Only downsides are
1. You can't pin favorite websites to the desktop, you have to start the browser then pull them off favorites. I'm sure that will be addressed soon as it seems to be a common complaint.
2. Also you need to have a wireless cloud based printer to print directly from chrome book. Otherwise you need to access your cloud files from a different PC to print. While it has USB ports, it has limited plug and play, they won't work with printers...yet. USB mice, cameras, cell phones, hard drives all seem to work fine though.
3. It is limited with Java plugins but then again not much is in Java anymore so it probably doesn't matter.
4. Volume a little low for my taste, but still very audible.
5. Not the best looking construction, but it is durable.
6. Trackpad might take a little getting used to if you're used to separate left and right mouse buttons, but works great once you get it down (Alt key plus left click, or 2 finger click both work for right click).
The biggest question is why buy this over a similar priced windows laptop that can do everything?
One answer... speed. While a cheap windows unit can do more overall...there is no comparison between this and a cheap laptop. Side by side, its much quicker, smoother, and is just overall more convenient to use. Think of windows like a pickup tuck, and Chromebook like a sports car. You can do more with a pickup, but it's not as fast or fun as a sports car. That combined with the super quick boot up times, zero maintenance, and cloud computing, makes it so quick and easy, that I actually don't use my more expensive computers unless I have too.
Acer vs Samsung Chromebook... Acer is somewhat faster and smoother, and is upgradable. While Acer says 4GB ram max...the chrome OS will actually accept and use any amount of RAM you jam into the 2 slots with a few easy tweaks (I've seen these with up to 32GB of ram running). You can also swap out the SSD and battery for better ones if you want. It has a delete key and caps lock key (the Samsung doesn't for some reason). Battery life on Acer isn't great though. The Samsung has much better battery life, looks a little nicer, and has a nicer feeling keyboard and track pad but is not upgradable. It is sealed shut and everything is soldered in. Pick what features are more important to you. There are some other minor details but those are the biggest.
While it is not for everyone, if you're looking for a computer to just browse the internet, watch videos, app and internet based gaming, do word and spreadsheets, photo editing, video chat, etc... basically what 90% of people do with a computer anyway...this is the one to get. If you want to play games that you need to install to the hard drive, run a serious business, or have a slow or spotty internet connection this is not the one to get.
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I actually purchased the Acer C7 Chromebook with 16 GB SSD drive from Bestbuy which was selling it for a cheap $199.Without sounding to dramatic, I have to say this is one of my favorite electronic purchases in a long while.
I have an amazing MSI gaming laptop, but it's such a power-hungry beast that the battery life sucks and it's heavy, making it impractical for me to lug it around in my backpack. In essence, the C7 is the opposite of my MSI; it's small and light, making for a highly portable machine; the Chrome OS is clean and simple, and although it may take a bit of getting used to, its well worth itby doing everything off Google Drive (the Google cloud service) I can work away knowing that all the essays I type and homework I do are not saved locally but rather store in the cloud. This means that should my C7 be lost, stolen, or damaged, all my work will be not be lost. Moreover, at $199, the thought of having it lost, stolen, etc, isn't as worrisome compared to a similar situation occurring with my $1600 MSI. Also, the Acer C7 is upgrade-able unlike its Samsung Chromebook counterpart. In fact, I upgraded the RAM already, link follows for those curious:
Kingston HyperX Plug n Play 4 GB Kit (2x2GB Modules) 1600MHz DDR3 SODIMM Notebook/Netbook Memory 4 Dual Channel Kit (PC3 12800) 204-Pin KHX1600C9S3P1K2/4G
Blah blah blah... who is this for? Someone looking for a quick, simple-to-use, and highly affordable netbook. Who is it not for? Someone who runs high-end, high-spec programs/games or those who need Windows for said programs.
My recommendation? This little guy is PERFECT if you mostly use your laptop for internet-based programs (facebook, email, google-docs, youtube, et al) OR if you wish to have a portable netbook to supplement a desktop or high-end laptop you already own.
Best Deals for 11.6" Acer C7 C710-2856 Chromebook Intel Dual Core 847 2GB DDR3 RAM
I've owned a number of desktops and laptops over the years, and this little Chromebook is the best laptop I've ever owned. It's so lightweight and easy to use, I can take it anywhere. There's no chunky charge cable, the lid closes so easily, there's no button that weakens over time causing it to have problems opening. For being a small screen, it's really easy to read, browse and type. There's no Windows to wait for every time you want to use a computer. Want to search for something, anything? No problem... my Chromebook is on, ready to go, and opens up Google Chrome the moment I open the lid, whether it was shut down or just in standby. I can find things faster on this than any other device I own. And pictures and videos? Not a problem, at all!My son is a gamer, has an upgraded PC and the newest XBOX 360, and before my Chromebook he had the fastest systems in the house, but not any more. I tested this theory out the other day. We decided to look up videos on YouTube at the same time on our different systems. My Chromebook searched faster, found the video faster, and started playing the video faster than his systems. I was thoroughly impressed. I still am impressed, every time I use it there's something new I discover it can do. You can't download software on to it, and it's version of Windows Explorer lists external storage devices a little bit different than Microsoft based systems, but what it does have is amazing.
The number of apps that are available for the Chromebook is mind-boggling. There's games, utilities, news, weather, entertainment, and more apps. It even comes with a webcam and microphone built in, ready to use. I can chat with any of my friends online using video call through Google Mail. Everything you can do with Chrome on your desktop, you can do with Chromebook... and more! And being Google, everything sync's... want all your bookmarks from your desktop available on your Chromebook? You got it. You want all your contacts on your Chromebook? Not a problem.
Everything you do on the Chromebook is stored online through Google's cloud drive, which is accessible anywhere a computer and the internet are available. I haven't started my new semester yet, but I can't wait to see how my Chromebook handles my online classes. I suppose I might need to access my documents on my Chromebook on my desktop if my professors want MS doc files, but I can still use my Chromebook for all the typing and research and lectures. No longer will I have to use my desktop to download documents or videos because it downloads fast but can't play anything, go to my laptop to watch the videos (it's too slow for downloads, but the graphics are better), then try and figure out what system I should use to write my paper because eventually I'll have to go back to my desktop, because it's connected to the internet (my laptop had issues finding it), so I can actually write my paper and submit it. I am so looking forward to using my Chromebook this semester. It already loads Blackboard faster than any other system I've had.
My best friend got me the Chromebook for my birthday from Wal-Mart. There was practically no setup. We have wireless internet at home, I took it out of the box, put in the battery, opened the lid, it asked for the internet's password, then my Google account info, and I was online and using my Chromebook. I've never owned any Apple products, but I have seen them and played with my friends. I would consider my Chromebook a cross between an iPad Touch and a smart phone, with an attached keyboard. But it's so much better than that, because it's a laptop that happens to have cloud based storage. In fact one of the offers I got when I first used my Chromebook was an extra 100 GB of cloud storage space.
The speakers are pretty darn good for being a little laptop as well. The screen is an HD screen and everything looks so much sharper and cleaner than any other computer I own. Watching Amazon Prime videos or Netflix is a whole lot easier on my Chromebook, as well. And for those of us who like to play computer games now and then, and might have Steam on our desktop, if you purchase a game on the Chromebook, you have access to it through Steam as well, without having to purchase it twice.
It took a little while to get used to how the Chromebook functions. There's no Windows, no start button, no desktop icons, but there is a taskbar, and all the apps you want, every single one of them, is located on the taskbar, in it's own icon. I would definitely recommend starting with the "Get Started" app when you first get a Chromebook. Not only do you get to see everything the Chromebook has to offer, but it gives you a feel for using it and practice using the touchpad mouse. The Chromebook is a Linux based operating system. Now I've used Linux based computers and been less than impressed, even if they did have fewer problems than Windows, and never have blue screens or black screens. Because it's all online and cloud based, and its Google, there's never viruses to worry about, there's no constant update reminders, and anything you have stored that's supposedly not Google Chrome compatible? There's an app for that.
The Chromebook is so much fun to use, easy to use, and it does have the ability to work offline, if any reason you need to be, you can choose what you want access to when you can't be online. It's the most amazing little laptop I've ever owned, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants a small, easy to use, lightweight laptop. Once my semester starts and see how handy (or not, but I doubt it) my Chromebook is for my homework/classwork, I'll post another review. I'm anxious to see how it will work if there's any outside software I need, or if I choose to use online textbooks.
Cheers, Laura :)
Honest reviews on 11.6" Acer C7 C710-2856 Chromebook Intel Dual Core 847 2GB DDR3 RAM
I love Chromebook and I love the Acer C7; see my big review at Acer C710-2833 Chromebook.The Acer C7 version, C710-2856, is identical to the Acer C710-2833 Chromebook, which is currently available for $199. That's the right price, so get it instead. (If Amazon raises the price on the C710-2833, look for either version cheaper at Newegg or Best Buy.)
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for 11.6" Acer C7 C710-2856 Chromebook Intel Dual Core 847 2GB DDR3 RAM
This is not a full featured, maximum capacity, BUSINESS oriented product. So don't buy it if you absolutely need MS Office to function or if you MUST load the latest version of Mortal Kombat, because this won't work.That said, if you like to browse social media, check your email, and and even use Google+ Hangouts with your knitting friends (it can't just be me who does that), then this compact, lightweight and inexpensive Chromebook might be for you!
I love this Chromebook. I opened the box, popped the battery in and plugged it in. Bingo, it was running. Nothing to download, upload or update. It updates automatically each time you turn it on.
I was already a big fan of Google chrome and Google drive so as soon as I had it running and I signed into my gmail, then it synced to all my other devices. The Chrome OS automatically loaded my bookmarks. It was like this brand new device had known me all my life. Whatever I have put in the cloud I can access where ever I go and as light as this is, it can go everywhere. It even fits in my purse like a tablet, but has a keyboard.
Can you tell that I am impressed?
Saturday, June 14, 2014
Buy Samsung NP-R540-JA06US 15.6" Notebook (2.53 GHz Intel Core i3-380M
I HAVE BEEN VERY HAPPY WITH THIS PURCHASE.
THE KEY BOARD IS EXCELLENT..SCREEN RESOLUTION VERY GOOD.,
ONLY NEGATIVE IS AUDIO(SOUND)IS TOO LOW.We bought this for my father and he loves it. It's snappy, not too heavy, Price was great. No problems with this computer.
THE KEY BOARD IS EXCELLENT..SCREEN RESOLUTION VERY GOOD.,
ONLY NEGATIVE IS AUDIO(SOUND)IS TOO LOW.We bought this for my father and he loves it. It's snappy, not too heavy, Price was great. No problems with this computer.
Friday, June 13, 2014
Reviews of ASUS X501A-WH01 15.6" Notebook | Intel Celeron B820(1.7GHz), 2GB
List Price: $399.99
Sale Price: $319.99
Today's Bonus: 20% Off
Great laptop! One of the smoothest laptop I've ever owned. Beautiful screen. Very fast and responsive. Very sleek and modern looking. I used to be a HP guy, but now Asus got my attention!
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Thirty days after buying it, the spacebar stopped working. Apparently this is a common problem with these notebooks and I am unable to find a fix.Best Deals for ASUS X501A-WH01 15.6" Notebook | Intel Celeron B820(1.7GHz), 2GB
needed something for portability this fit the bill and then some. Mine has a Pentium processor in it. No DVD but who cares everything can be downloaded. Best laptop for the money I've ever had. Very good w/ windows 8. Love this thing! Best Buy had it on sale for 319.00! outstanding value.Honest reviews on ASUS X501A-WH01 15.6" Notebook | Intel Celeron B820(1.7GHz), 2GB
This is a bad laptop. my spacebar didnt work well, so i looked online and found that the problem was widespread with this model. the keys also dont register, there was an issue with zoom i had to fix, and the curser flies all over. it took 20 minutes to write a paragraph because the curser would jump to mid sentance or it would just fly across the screen and click on things. it would rarely register clicks on the first try. it was just bad. i kept it almost to the end of my 2 week window to return it, but i couldnt make it work right. i am so glad i exchanged it because the one i got instead works like a dream.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS X501A-WH01 15.6" Notebook | Intel Celeron B820(1.7GHz), 2GB
i don't like it because the product has not work for for 2month before it pack uppresently not working.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Review of Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 1143ADU 15.6" 320GB 4GB
This laptop is good for everyday use with powerful enough cpu and 4gb memory. Edge is a good model from Lenovo, better than the low end models. At least this is a Thinkpad. For a little more than 500 bucks, I am ok with this model. This can be used for light games but not a real game machine though.
The other reason I prefer Lenovo laptops (over all other brands currently on the market) is because they still offer the "TrackPointer" pointing device. It looks like a tiny eraser located between the G & H keys, but what it does is allow us touch-typists to move the mouse/cursor and click the left or right mouse buttons without ever taking our hands off the keyboard. All the other computers on the market require you to use the "track pad" or an external mouse, both of which require taking your hands off the keyboard. So, I'm very glad that Lenovo still offers the "eraser" pointing device, that allows me to type and move the mouse easily!
As for this particular model E520 laptop, I can say that I've owned one for about 6 months now and it works great. Looks more sleek & sexy than earlier Thinkpad laptops I've owned. Has plenty of ports (USB, HDMI, E-Sata, SD Card slot, etc), and the hard drive, RAM, Wireless N, etc all work just fine. Also, I've contacted Lenovo Tech support over the years with various questions, etc and have always found their English-Speaking, Atlanta based tech support to be very good overall. I'm planning to keep this laptop, and will continue to buy Lenovo products as long as their laptops still offer the Trackpoint pointing device!
I spend more time fixing this unit than effectively using it. I am very unhappy with this purchase. I never had or heard some saying it was needed to replace a computer motherboard 3 times and hard disk twice in less than 12 months period.
I contacted Lenovo and asked them replace the machine; they claim they cannot because it was bought from a third party dealer and there is not they can do about.
I found other users complaining about the same problem and someone informed that model has a design problem. It has to do with a batch of faulty EEPROM chip used in the Edge series produced at the end of the 2011.
I would like to return this notebook and have the money back or exchange by another one that has the same features, but I have to accept the loss because Lenovo warranty cover only for 12 months period.
build quality can be improved.
It works very well had no problems.
Great Laptop for it for $499
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I've been buying Lenovo laptop computers for the past 15 years (back when they were called IBM's)! I specifically buy Lenovo's because their keyboards feel the most natural to me, I learned to "touch type" on an IBM Selectric typewriter in the 1980's, and the keyboards on Lenovo laptops always seem the easiest to type on to me.The other reason I prefer Lenovo laptops (over all other brands currently on the market) is because they still offer the "TrackPointer" pointing device. It looks like a tiny eraser located between the G & H keys, but what it does is allow us touch-typists to move the mouse/cursor and click the left or right mouse buttons without ever taking our hands off the keyboard. All the other computers on the market require you to use the "track pad" or an external mouse, both of which require taking your hands off the keyboard. So, I'm very glad that Lenovo still offers the "eraser" pointing device, that allows me to type and move the mouse easily!
As for this particular model E520 laptop, I can say that I've owned one for about 6 months now and it works great. Looks more sleek & sexy than earlier Thinkpad laptops I've owned. Has plenty of ports (USB, HDMI, E-Sata, SD Card slot, etc), and the hard drive, RAM, Wireless N, etc all work just fine. Also, I've contacted Lenovo Tech support over the years with various questions, etc and have always found their English-Speaking, Atlanta based tech support to be very good overall. I'm planning to keep this laptop, and will continue to buy Lenovo products as long as their laptops still offer the Trackpoint pointing device!
Best Deals for Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 1143ADU 15.6" 320GB 4GB
Since I received this machine on August 2011, it was sent to repair to a Lenovo authorized dealer 3 times already, on Nov 28th. 2011 they replaced the mother board; on Dec 29th. 2011 they replaced the hard disk; on June 6th 2012 they replaced the motherboard again. The Lenovo warranty expired on Aug. 22th 2012. On Aug. 28th, it had a problem with the hard disk again and I paid to replace it because Lenovo refuses to extend the warranty. Now it is broken again and the problem is with the mother board that needs to be replaced again.I spend more time fixing this unit than effectively using it. I am very unhappy with this purchase. I never had or heard some saying it was needed to replace a computer motherboard 3 times and hard disk twice in less than 12 months period.
I contacted Lenovo and asked them replace the machine; they claim they cannot because it was bought from a third party dealer and there is not they can do about.
I found other users complaining about the same problem and someone informed that model has a design problem. It has to do with a batch of faulty EEPROM chip used in the Edge series produced at the end of the 2011.
I would like to return this notebook and have the money back or exchange by another one that has the same features, but I have to accept the loss because Lenovo warranty cover only for 12 months period.
Honest reviews on Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 1143ADU 15.6" 320GB 4GB
Bought this laptop in April 2012, a few months later the laptop would spontaneously shut down after a few minutes of use. After some investigation, I discovered that the fan was shutting off right after BIOS and the laptop was overheating.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E520 1143ADU 15.6" 320GB 4GB
Fast Reliable really like it!build quality can be improved.
It works very well had no problems.
Great Laptop for it for $499
Friday, June 6, 2014
Discount Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5200 15.6" 3GB 320GB Laptop
This item was delivered broken with the screen cracked. It was dead on arrival. We were NOT ALLOWED TO RETURN THE ITEM as we have attempted several times to contact the seller and have been IGNORED!! The laptop is unusable and we already paid for it!! We are extremely distraught and feel cheated by the seller, Secondipity, which will not only give a broken item to a customer, but ignore their request to return or exchange the computer. One star is far too much to give to the lack of service and quality of product.
0
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WORKS GREAT/ will be upgrading to 8gig memory toshiba sells this for $70 great deal! Great price for a laptop with this many features, great battery(4.5 hours) keyboard has 10key number pad!0
Buy Gigabyte 14-Inch Notebook with Intel Core i5-2520M Processor
List Price: $1,049.00
Sale Price: $1,031.67
Today's Bonus: 2% Off
I haven't bought this because I can't justify paying that much
for a 14" notebook. The features do not justify the cost. A couple
of bones less might be good but the current price is just too much.
I'm sure, being it is a Gigabyte product that it really does merit
5 stars because I have built many computers using Gigabyte motherboards
and none of them have failed including one computer that I have had running
24/7 for 5 years now. Bring down the cost and I will be an instant customer!
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
Dell Latitude D410 Pentium 4 Lightweight Laptop Review
I bought this laptop as something i could use to just acess the internet and really nothing more. Computer gave me exactly what i wanted. It was lightweight and ran windows XP, The computer graphics were not steller and this computer does not have a cd drive, The memory is extremly low. I would only reccomend someone this computer if all they needed it for was School, Writing papers, Saving files, Reasearching the web.
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This laptop was missing the charger, did not have any programs I had to pay to get it fixed it was not worth it. I could of just bought a new laptop this way was way more expensive.Best Deals for Dell Latitude D410 Pentium 4 Lightweight Laptop
This computer was nothing like it said it was when I was looking to buy it on Amazon! It was very old and non-working! It was a waste of time,money and trouble to get it and send it back! It should not be allowed to list something for sale and send some broken down old non-working product! It also upset me that I had to pay to get it shiped back and was not refunded for all the cost of shipping and time,Honest reviews on Dell Latitude D410 Pentium 4 Lightweight Laptop
I am very happy with my refurbished computer. It had all up to date programs and user friendly. I would highly recommend others to buy refurbished and save some money.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Latitude D410 Pentium 4 Lightweight Laptop
I purchased this for my 16 year old son and he is very pleased . It's a used laptop and the only thing I wasn't pleased with is the fact that the screen can't stay open , the top of the screen flops to the back of whatever it's on . A desk the bed . It just can't stay open with the monitor standing straight up . Other than that it works perfectly .
Best Sony VAIO VGN-P530H/R Lifestyle PC (1.33 GHz Intel Processor, 2 GB Deals
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Sony VAIO VGN-P530H/R Lifestyle PC (1.33 GHz Intel Processor, 2 GB
My model is US versionGood:
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.
Monday, February 10, 2014
Sony VAIO PCG-FRV37 Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Reviews
If you are looking for a portable computer this SONY is simply awesome. A notebook or laptop it is not; its big and heavy by todays standards but the performance is fantastic!
The Gateway desktop died (will never buy from them again) and couldn't be brought back to life so I decided to pick up a "notebook". The FRV37 is blazing fast, the screen is large, bright and clear & its got plenty of HD space (if you need more consider getting an external USB hard drive). With a CD and a DVD burner you really don't need a desktop machine anymore. It comes with a nice software bundle. Its got firewire built in and is great for capturing video from digital video cameras. If you go on vacation, take this computer, a Sony or Canon Digitial video cam and an Olympus digital camera and everyone on the trip can go home with CDs or DVDs of the trip.
Buy this machine if you want to replace your desktop, you don't need long bettery life (it gets about 2 hours max), and you want something portable but not light weight. The only thing missing is built in wireless but for about $50.00 you can get a wireless card that will do the trick. This computer has NEVER crashed unlike all previous computers (desktops from Gateway) that crashed frequently.
Only 4 stars because its heavy, has short battery life and missing built in wireless.
All in all it's a good package though. the documentation that comes in the box is more ad's for sony products than actual info on your $1600 investment. I can't find out the actual dvd burning speed, but it appears that it is only 1x. boo
This barely gets the fourth star.
Good, but could have been better.
a)It is pretty bulky by today's standards
b)No S-Video port (a must on most of today's computers, but it does have a VGA port so you can still manage to connect it to other audio/video devices).
The speakers that the computer include are not that great, but I already had Z-680's so it wasn't a big deal.
The graphics on this computer are pretty good, and it has a decent amount of memory. The DVD burner is also a huge +.
I think I like the most is the the dvd burning capacity. I have copied many dvds without any problem.
Overall its OK laptop.
But on the plus side it's powerful (I use it for video editing), and the screen and keyboard are both good, and overall it's not bad value, especially if you're lucky enough to get a reliable DVD burner.
The Gateway desktop died (will never buy from them again) and couldn't be brought back to life so I decided to pick up a "notebook". The FRV37 is blazing fast, the screen is large, bright and clear & its got plenty of HD space (if you need more consider getting an external USB hard drive). With a CD and a DVD burner you really don't need a desktop machine anymore. It comes with a nice software bundle. Its got firewire built in and is great for capturing video from digital video cameras. If you go on vacation, take this computer, a Sony or Canon Digitial video cam and an Olympus digital camera and everyone on the trip can go home with CDs or DVDs of the trip.
Buy this machine if you want to replace your desktop, you don't need long bettery life (it gets about 2 hours max), and you want something portable but not light weight. The only thing missing is built in wireless but for about $50.00 you can get a wireless card that will do the trick. This computer has NEVER crashed unlike all previous computers (desktops from Gateway) that crashed frequently.
Only 4 stars because its heavy, has short battery life and missing built in wireless.
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First of all, even though this is a 60 gig drive, you only get 50 g of usable space. Seems they reserved 10g for restoring. You are supposed to be able to use some dvd-rw to restore it (there is no restore cd included), however, it won't let me. I'm not about to sit down w/ 10+ cd-r's to do this. They give you lots of software, but nothing that great. I had been using an old version of Quicken. The Quicken 2003 that came with it would not let me import the info w/o buying the upgraded version.All in all it's a good package though. the documentation that comes in the box is more ad's for sony products than actual info on your $1600 investment. I can't find out the actual dvd burning speed, but it appears that it is only 1x. boo
This barely gets the fourth star.
Good, but could have been better.
Best Deals for Sony VAIO PCG-FRV37 Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB
I bought this computer recently after I got my old one stolen. As a college student, this computer has proved to be fast and reliable, though the main two reasons why I didn't give it a 5/5 is because:a)It is pretty bulky by today's standards
b)No S-Video port (a must on most of today's computers, but it does have a VGA port so you can still manage to connect it to other audio/video devices).
The speakers that the computer include are not that great, but I already had Z-680's so it wasn't a big deal.
The graphics on this computer are pretty good, and it has a decent amount of memory. The DVD burner is also a huge +.
Honest reviews on Sony VAIO PCG-FRV37 Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB
I purchased this notebook around 2 years back. Overall the performance is good. As mentioned by other reviewer, the battery life is very poor. You can not do multitasking, the performance becomes slow. I don't like the screen as well. It doesn't have the wide, xbrite screen and you can not watch movies in group.I think I like the most is the the dvd burning capacity. I have copied many dvds without any problem.
Overall its OK laptop.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Sony VAIO PCG-FRV37 Laptop (2.80-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB
I bought this laptop 7 months ago, as a desktop replacement, and I quite like it. But I'm not sure why it weighs a ton, the battery now lasts less than half an hour, and the DVD burner has a DVD-to-coaster making ratio of less than 50%.But on the plus side it's powerful (I use it for video editing), and the screen and keyboard are both good, and overall it's not bad value, especially if you're lucky enough to get a reliable DVD burner.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Cheap HP Pavilion DV4-2167SB 14.1-Inch Laptop (Black)
For the reference, I got the HP Pavilion DV4 black, 64 bit Windows 7 Professional, Intel Core i3 2.13 GHZ. In a few words: coming out of "slow-paced" windows Vista DV2 HP Pav (2 GB Ram, AMD 2 GHZ), this computer is a HUGE improvement in performance and processing speed. Resuming:
PROS:
Really fast processor;
Good looking black computer;
Windows 7 professional pre-installed (works great);
Nice touch with the detachable CD/DVD drive bay;
The screen is glossy indeed, but the images are crystal clear;
Keyboard and touchpad are responsive and easy to the fingers;
Improved volume control touchpad (more responsive than my previous model);
Nice surprise the HP Quickweb program, a real time saver;
Fingerprint reader (never had it before, now it's a new standard in my "buy-a-laptop" book).
CONS:
Battery life doesn't go as far as advertised, although it's longer than what my previous model ever gave me. Advertised as 4.5 hours max, I'd say it's more like probably 3 hours of decent use.
Speakers are average-below average (I don't really care since its main use is business, not gaming or music)
The 1 star minus if mainly a fault of the wrongly advertised battery life.
Miguel.
That would have probably not been enough for me to send back I would have tried sorting it out with HP support except for that when I downloaded the latest MS patches, the computer wouldn't let me boot into windows again, and needed a complete re-image job. Again, could have been just unlucky and MS patches can be a bit problematic but with both combined, I felt there may be something really wrong with the pc and sent it back.
The only other complaint I have, which was something I hadn't picked up at the time of evaluating it on the web, was that I couldn't control the volume by pressing a button on the laptop. It had to be done either by the windows software or by using the remote which would have been good if I could have been able to tell when the remote was on, but I couldn't which was frustrating.
Otherwise, if the first two problems had been non-existent then I would lived with the third one, as it is a nice laptop and it met the spec that I wanted.
So hopefully I was just unlucky, but my review here anyway just to make potential buyers aware.
Finally I would just like to say how FANTASTIC Amazon return policy is I got the full refund and the return shipping, which made up for a lot of frustration thank you Amazon you've made me even more a satisfied customer than I was already!
The 2167 was a problem from day one, it frequently crashed with blue screens and had issues with the wireless adapter taking too long to associate to networks. The only solution HP support had to offer was to re-install everything and to send in the laptop. They neither made an appropriate effort to diagnosis problems directly nor did the support staff seem to understand issues prior to suggesting (unrelated) changes. A very poor support performance.
I was fortunate enough to not follow their "recipes" and finally found that a defect memory module and faulty driver installation were the cause of the problems. I would recommend when buying this product and finding odd behavior from the start consider returning it to the retailer. Don't hope for great help from HP support!
They have been trouble free.
It's too bad they don't make them anymore.
PROS:
Really fast processor;
Good looking black computer;
Windows 7 professional pre-installed (works great);
Nice touch with the detachable CD/DVD drive bay;
The screen is glossy indeed, but the images are crystal clear;
Keyboard and touchpad are responsive and easy to the fingers;
Improved volume control touchpad (more responsive than my previous model);
Nice surprise the HP Quickweb program, a real time saver;
Fingerprint reader (never had it before, now it's a new standard in my "buy-a-laptop" book).
CONS:
Battery life doesn't go as far as advertised, although it's longer than what my previous model ever gave me. Advertised as 4.5 hours max, I'd say it's more like probably 3 hours of decent use.
Speakers are average-below average (I don't really care since its main use is business, not gaming or music)
The 1 star minus if mainly a fault of the wrongly advertised battery life.
Miguel.
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This is the only time I've ever had to return an item for Amazon, and in particular a computer ever. I could have just been unlucky but there seemed to be a weird glitch whenever the screen timed out and I had to enter my password again, it would flicker so I couldn't enter it and had to shutdown to be able to get back in again. It appeared to be a conflict with the fingerprint reader, which I hadn't set up at the time, but I'm only guessing.That would have probably not been enough for me to send back I would have tried sorting it out with HP support except for that when I downloaded the latest MS patches, the computer wouldn't let me boot into windows again, and needed a complete re-image job. Again, could have been just unlucky and MS patches can be a bit problematic but with both combined, I felt there may be something really wrong with the pc and sent it back.
The only other complaint I have, which was something I hadn't picked up at the time of evaluating it on the web, was that I couldn't control the volume by pressing a button on the laptop. It had to be done either by the windows software or by using the remote which would have been good if I could have been able to tell when the remote was on, but I couldn't which was frustrating.
Otherwise, if the first two problems had been non-existent then I would lived with the third one, as it is a nice laptop and it met the spec that I wanted.
So hopefully I was just unlucky, but my review here anyway just to make potential buyers aware.
Finally I would just like to say how FANTASTIC Amazon return policy is I got the full refund and the return shipping, which made up for a lot of frustration thank you Amazon you've made me even more a satisfied customer than I was already!
Best Deals for HP Pavilion DV4-2167SB 14.1-Inch Laptop (Black)
I bought this laptop after having used a DV4-1280 for a year and I had a lot more problems with this new model compared to then (the 1280 "only" had a disk defect within 6 months). HP downgraded a couple of things since then: Earlier they had a 2/5GHz dual band wireless adapter, it was really nice to use 5G access points directly. This has become a 2GHz only adapter. Also there is no more built-in modem, even though this is something I had not used often before.The 2167 was a problem from day one, it frequently crashed with blue screens and had issues with the wireless adapter taking too long to associate to networks. The only solution HP support had to offer was to re-install everything and to send in the laptop. They neither made an appropriate effort to diagnosis problems directly nor did the support staff seem to understand issues prior to suggesting (unrelated) changes. A very poor support performance.
I was fortunate enough to not follow their "recipes" and finally found that a defect memory module and faulty driver installation were the cause of the problems. I would recommend when buying this product and finding odd behavior from the start consider returning it to the retailer. Don't hope for great help from HP support!
Honest reviews on HP Pavilion DV4-2167SB 14.1-Inch Laptop (Black)
I purchased this item some months ago, the finish is really good as is the looks. The computer top is not black as is stated, but it rather has a black with some gray squares on it, but very distinct. The only trouble that this computer has given is with the fingerprint reader which gave some trouble at the beginning but was easily fixed with an update.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Pavilion DV4-2167SB 14.1-Inch Laptop (Black)
This is a great little laptop with Windows 7 Pro.They have been trouble free.
It's too bad they don't make them anymore.
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Acer AS5733Z-4445 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black) Reviews
For the price you cannot beat it. Full keyboard and numberpad. Very impressive looking screen. Very solid build and the mesh black looks very nice. The laptop is also pretty lightweight and thinner than most laptops I have seen. The processor was really fast especially for the price of the laptop.
CONS: As with all laptops it comes pre-installed with a bunch of stuff you do not want and do not need.
Lid wobble, nope. None of that. And I do mean none.
Lid Latch, nope. Nice design needs no latch. Much easier to open.
Display, super. My desktop has a 22" screen and this 15.6" doesn't leave me missing a thing, though it's a bit short, I have to scroll to play Zynga Poker. The border is a gloss finish. Not preferred.
Power Adapter, has an angle to it so there is less chance to knock the receptor off the board. Adds to durability.
Wrist rest, nice, big, has a texture that will pick up grime.
Keyboard, a couple things to get used to, the 4 on numeric keypad is close to the enter key. Home, End and Del, I guess they're in good positions. I don't know what an Alt Gr key is.
Weight? not really great. I kind of have to snug a finger around a bottom foot just to be sure not to drop it when handling it one handed.
Battery, 5 hours, yeah right. Try 2.2 hours. Maybe I can turn down the brightness.
Speakers, it's a laptop. They're bad.
All in all, this is a super laptop. Powerfull? Uh, I will try to do video editing on it but I am sure it won't do well. But everything else is great. I recommend this laptop.
CONS: As with all laptops it comes pre-installed with a bunch of stuff you do not want and do not need.
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I got the Acer two weeks ago. It is a good computer but two of the USB ports did not work. I would recommend this computer, but beware you might have to return the computer due to this problem.Best Deals for Acer AS5733Z-4445 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black)
I haven't had a regular laptop in a long time, the last one was a convertable tablet from HP, add to that a first generation fruity tablet that just isn't a PC.Lid wobble, nope. None of that. And I do mean none.
Lid Latch, nope. Nice design needs no latch. Much easier to open.
Display, super. My desktop has a 22" screen and this 15.6" doesn't leave me missing a thing, though it's a bit short, I have to scroll to play Zynga Poker. The border is a gloss finish. Not preferred.
Power Adapter, has an angle to it so there is less chance to knock the receptor off the board. Adds to durability.
Wrist rest, nice, big, has a texture that will pick up grime.
Keyboard, a couple things to get used to, the 4 on numeric keypad is close to the enter key. Home, End and Del, I guess they're in good positions. I don't know what an Alt Gr key is.
Weight? not really great. I kind of have to snug a finger around a bottom foot just to be sure not to drop it when handling it one handed.
Battery, 5 hours, yeah right. Try 2.2 hours. Maybe I can turn down the brightness.
Speakers, it's a laptop. They're bad.
All in all, this is a super laptop. Powerfull? Uh, I will try to do video editing on it but I am sure it won't do well. But everything else is great. I recommend this laptop.
Honest reviews on Acer AS5733Z-4445 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black)
This laptop was purchased for vacationing. It arrived in good condition, on time and was easy to start and personalize. It's not a high powered machine but more than adequate for most purposes.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Acer AS5733Z-4445 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black)
The laptop is sleek on the outside and durable inside. Graphics are above average, and sound is impressive. The availability of three USB ports as well as a microphone and headphone jack is a plus. Processor is very fast and handles multitasking (i.e. document reading, pandora radio, powerpoint) very well. However, I was confused as to why Acer says the AS5733Z series has a 320 GB hard drive when it only had 280 GB when I booted it up. I don't believe this is Amazon's fault but more likely Acer's. The company must get their specs right or re-adjust the MSRP price of the product. I feel a little cheated even though it's just 40 GB, but I'm an unemployed full-time student, and I want to get the most out of my money. Anyone who works for Acer, or knows someone who does, reads this, please look into this problem.
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