Reviews of Samsung Series 5 NP530U3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Light Titan)

Customer Ratings:

This is my first Samsung computer and my first Ultrabook... I do a lot of traveling and I've been using a 10.1" Asus Netbook for the last two years. I've loved the battery life and accepted the speed and small screen as being the sacrifice that I had to make to get 8 hours on a battery charge. This Series 5 has a 13.3" screen that is very readable in most every situation with the possible exception of direct sunlight. The 1.7Ghz Core I5 processor is blazing fast for a portable computer and even rivals a lot of desktop systems. All of this comes with an actual battery life of over 8 hours!!!

I really considered not getting this computer when I read the review that talked about the screen shaking, I don't know if they got a bad unit or if they are sensitive to movement but I've used this computer on my lap, on an airplane and in a car and I can't say that my screen has ever moved enough to even get my attention much less bother me. I can't imagine another computer being any better match to what I need, a small, lightweight, long battery life computer with substantial processing power.

My only complaint so far has been Samsung Customer Service. I need to use this computer with a VGA projector and no one at Samsung could even tell me what adapter I needed to convert the monitor port to a VGA output. I ended up buying a HDMI to VGA converter to be safe. Their lack of knowledge about a basic function had me questioning my choice but the computer is so good I'm still going to give it five stars.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

It just arrived earlier today, and after working with it for the better part of the afternoon and evening, I can say that it's very, very nice: compact, with a nice screen, and extremely speedy. (And by the way, I've seen absolutely no indication of screen-wobbling, which is something another reviewer mentioned.) There are, however, a couple of minor issues that prompted me to take it down a notch, from 5 stars to 4. Actually, if I could have given it 4.5 stars, I would have, but since I have to choose between 4 and 5, I'll go with 4.

One of the issues is fan noise. I must admit to being extremely sensitive to the noise of laptop fans, and for the past several years I've been spoiled given that I've had a Dell Mini 10, which is a now-discontinued fanless netbook. Being fanless, and since I had installed an SSD in it, it was completely silent. The netbook, however, finally gave out on me, and so after some research, I ordered the Samsung NP530 as a replacement, both for on-the-road use on my job, and carrying around room-to-room in my house. From reviews I had read, it was supposed to be one of the quietest ultrabooks, and I think that's probably true. However, I can now say that, when running at load, the fan does become fairly loud. On the other hand, when it's idling, the fan is inaudible unless you put your ear right up to it. The other piece of good news is that, even when it's under load and the fan is going full tilt, it's loud but not as high-pitched as some laptop fans, which makes it less annoying. Bottom line: when it comes to noise, the NP530 is about as good as I can expect from a laptop (other than a fanless model), and it's something I can live with, especially since everything else about the unit is so nice. For those of you who are less sensitive to fan noise than I am, you probably won't even notice it.

The other issue isn't so much a problem as a quirk. I ordered it intending to replace the 500GB HDD with a 128GB SSD that I happened to have lying around. The actual install was easy. Just remove one screw on the underbelly and the drive, along with RAM, are immediately accessible. Make sure, however, that you have a good, small-size phillips-head screwdriver, because the screws that attach the drive to the bracket are on rather tight, and my small set of jeweler tools didn't deliver enough torque to unloosen them. I had to use a larger-handled screwdriver with a small head that, thankfully, I bought last year for another purpose and still had lying around. Anyway, aside from that, the install was easy, and my SSD fit perfectly in the bay. (There was no need to use one of the new super-slim SSDs that are required for some ultrabooks; my standard SSD fit perfectly.)

Now, however, we get to the quirky part. After I installed the SSD, I did a clean install of Win 7. This could be probably avoided by using cloning software to image the drive that the NP530 shipped with. However, I wanted to install a copy of Win 7 Pro (rather than Home Premium) since I happen to have an extra Pro license on hand. Also, I dislike the bloatware that most OEM's install on new systems. I can't say for sure whether Samsung installed much bloatware because I didn't experiment much with the unit before replacing the drive and doing the reinstall.

In any event, when I tried to do a clean install of Win 7 Pro, I was stymied by the fact that the NP530 simply would not boot to my USB DVD drive, so there was no way for me to install Windows other than by installing it from within the existing Win 7 installation (which often causes problems). After several hours of troubleshooting and reviewing information available online, I figured out that the culprit was a special BIOS setting, apparently unique to Samsung ultrabooks, called "Fast BIOS Mode." This mode causes the BIOS to completely skip over USB devices when booting, no matter what boot priority they're set to. This is apparently to speed up the boot process, but when I figured this out and disabled Fast BIOS mode, I saw no appreciable difference in boot speed. My USB DVD drive was, however, finally recognized when booting, after which the installation went smoothly. I will say that I have an older USB DVD drive, so maybe those of you with newer ones won't have this problem.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 5 NP530U3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Light Titan)

I purchased this machine and have been using it for a few days. This thing is blazing fast! My desktop is a Core 2 Duo at 3.00GHZ and this machine is as fast as or faster than it! And to the poster above that complained about the "wobbly" screen, he must have had a lemon; mine works perfectly. I cannot think of a single negative about this computer. Its very thin, light, and fast. The screen looks great. It boots up very quick, it wakes up from sleep mode very fast. About the only negative is the battery is not user-replaceable. So, when it dies you'll have to send it back to get changed. But they did put a battery life extender technology in it, so it only charges the battery to 80%, not 100%. This greatly enhances battery life. this is also what major car manufacturers do as well, they only run their batteries from 20-80% capacity so that they last up to 10 years.

The only reason why I'm giving it 4 and not 5 stars is it comes with Win 7 Home Premium and not Professional, and the battery is not user-replaceable.

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 5 NP530U3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Light Titan)

Sleek, lightweight, battery lasting 5-6 hr; easy to use, soft keys easy to type on. Beautiful matte finish doesn't show fingerprints. Would buy it again in a heartbeat.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 5 NP530U3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Light Titan)

Well I ordered this laptop last night, with next day air, Saturday delivery; Today (Saturday) it arrived at about 10AM. Good Work UPS/Amazon.

First impressions:

Let me preface this by saying that I've owned A LOT of laptops. I've probably had 20 laptops in the last 7 years. The worst of these was probably an eMachines laptop (made by gateway I think), back in 2006; The best was by far a late 2011 Macbook Pro 15". So the scale is 1-10, 1 being the eMachines, 10 being the Macbook Pro.

Another point I'll make is that this is the first Ultrabook I've owned. I recently owned a Lenovo Thinkpad X220, which is kind of the same class of laptops, but not quite.

Having owned it for all of 6 hours, I'd probably give this laptop a 6-6.5 out of 10. The most obvious thing it has going for it is the zippy Third Generation Intel Core i5. Overall, for a laptop this small, thin, and light, its a really quick machine. For $200 more you can buy the model with a 128GB SSD, something I think is a must in all computers now (an SSD). I opted for this one because its $800, and I can buy a better 128GB SSD, and another 4GB stick of RAM for about ~$125 and ~$20 respectively. I happened to already have both of these lying around, and installation was easy enough. There's one screw that holds on a panel on the back, then it just pops off like the back cover on a Samsung android phone.

Biggest problem, and pretty much deal breaker for me: The hinge for the screen. It's wobbly. The screen shakes when you move, when it opens. Just poor build quality.

UPDATE: I'm changing it from 3 stars to 4 because I suppose its unfair to say that this one detail makes it a 3 star product. For me, I can't deal with it, and I'm going to return it. But for most people, this is such a standard problem that they wouldn't even notice it or be bothered. Even as I type this with the laptop on my lap, the screen is wobbling with every keystroke...it's driving me NUTS!

Another thing I personally don't like is the keyboard. I always use mechanical keyboards on my desktops, like the dasKeyboard, so I'd say every laptop's keyboard is complete garbage...but coming from a Lenovo Thinkpad, with that awesome old school IBM laptop keyboard, to these flat, silent, chiclet style keys...kind of drab. I also feel like backlit keys are a standard thing now. Maybe because the last few laptops I bought are >$1000.

The touchpad is great. Obviously still nowhere near as good as a Macbook touchpad, but by far the best PC touchpad I've ever used.

Aside from the screen hinge...great laptop. Great price for a new Core i5 Ivy Bridge Ultrabook. This was my first Samsung laptop, and it'll probably be my last without trying it out in the store first.

Review of Acer V3-771G-9804;NX.M1WAA.002 17.3-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

My previous laptop died about a week ago. The new Acer V-3-771G-904 is spectacular! At first I had trouble adapting to the new OS, and to the new Office suite, but now, after only a few days, I have adjusted and consider the purchase well worth while. The "machine" boots in 10 seconds, or less (I turned off the password sign-in. The display is clear, sharp, with vivid and true colors. The included software, while sometimes beyond my needs, makes such chores as photograph entry and handling very easy. I did not need a lightweight laptop, because I seldom have to move it very far. I looked at Acer's smaller and lighter models, and decided against them.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Light weighted, fast, powerful laptop. After installation of the "Start" knob from third party software it fully met my expectations. I do not work in Metro environment. Screen resolution is not a full HD, but because of this all letters on the screen are bigger and easier to read.

Buy Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 68852BU 15.6" Notebook - Intel Core i5 2.60

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $786.77
Sale Price: $544.99
Today's Bonus: 31% Off

I bought this for my upcoming MSc in Machine Learning, which is a data science and programming course. I've owned and used many laptops over the last few years, including HP, Apple, and Dell, and to be honest nothing compares to this laptop.

It's a very slick and professional design, with a keyboard complete with all the standard keys you would find on a desktop keyboard, and it runs very quietly and efficiently (there isn't much noise from the cooling fan, which I am happy about, and the cooling fan runs efficiently and doesn't run erratically). The color is a matte black and the laptop looks great whether closed or open.

The trackpad, which is used to drag the cursor, is smooth and precise very good quality. One of my favorite things about the laptop is that the trackpad gives you the option of using a quick-tap function in order to left or right click more discreetly AND it has the buttons for those same functions for more precise clicking, which is slightly less quiet but still within reason. So you can click however you want. In addition to that, there is the "dot pad" in the middle of the keyboard for those who prefer to sometimes use that to drag the cursor.

The OS installed on it is Windows 7, but it is also full compatible with Linux (for those of you who are programmers), which is very useful for data processing, and it is also compatible and fit for using Unix. Windows 7 (pre-installed) comes with all kinds of Lenovo support programs, including an official Lenovo hardware scanning and health reporting program and many others. There's even an app store for Lenovo that, in my opinion, is even better than the app store for Apple. A free subscription to SugarCloud was also provided with 6 GB of free cloud storage than can sync to your other devices (mobile phones, tablets, etc). Other programs and essentials are provided, such as Skype. Microsoft Office is offered with a paid subscription (so no need to venture out and buy it yourself). Another program they provide with a free trial is something called Nitro Pro 8, which is a PDF formatting program MUCH better than Adobe and can be purchased from the application setup.

There are many other programs included that I don't have much time to write about but trust me it comes fully loaded with just about everything you need plus extras.

Overall, this laptop was certainly worth the money and should definitely be useful in my Machine Learning course this fall. Great buy A+++

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

It is a good work horse and does what it is supposed to do just fine. The processor is very fast and works well for the music production software I use.

Best Deals for Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 68852BU 15.6" Notebook - Intel Core i5 2.60

I wanted windows 7 on my new computer but most companys only use the newest operating system which is windows 8. I am use to windows 7 and like it allot. The Lenovo Thinkpad is a very good grade business computer and works well with windows 7. The computer came with an anytime upgrade to Windows 8 if desired, nice touch.

In short, the computer is excellent and does what I need it to do with my business.

Honest reviews on Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 68852BU 15.6" Notebook - Intel Core i5 2.60

Comfortable keyboard, but did take me a while to figure out how to right-click for copy and paste, as there is no right-click button you click on the lower right section of the touch pad. I usually use it with a mouse because I'm old school; just like the control of a mouse. The battery life when fully charged is not quite what it claimed. Usually 4 hours, not 5. But I didn't buy this to take everywhere, its just replacing an antique desktop. Came with 30 days of Microsoft Office 2013, which I liked, as I can't decide whether to get the office edition or home. Overall, happy with choice.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 68852BU 15.6" Notebook - Intel Core i5 2.60

Performance is good, very nice screen, keyboard is better than most, AND I was able to get it with Windows 7 rather than the dreaded Windows 8.

Dell Inspiron i13z-9318sLV 13-Inch Laptop Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $728.00
Sale Price: $539.99
Today's Bonus: 26% Off

This product Dell Inspiron i13z-9318sLV 13-Inch Laptop is very good

I am very happy with the performed of this product

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Will give it just 2 stars the laptop is nice and thin as I wanted the only problem is over-heating I always like to us my laptop on my lap but I cant because of how is burning me will return it as soon as possible.

Discount Asus X52FXR6 / X52F-XR6 / X52F-XR6 15.6, Intel Core i5-480M, 4GB

Customer Ratings:

This is a great laptop. I looked for a while before settling for this one, and I'm not disappointed. My HP died after only 2 years (after the warranty expired of course!) so I wanted to change brands. I settled for ASUS because they have the best reliability reviews among all manufacturers, and it was $550 at Fry's! The Intel core i5 makes this machine run like a breeze. Its screen is brilliant with great color gamut and contrast. The keyboard is chiclet style, and very comfortable. It comes with a numeric keypad, some people may find the keys a little too small, but I find them very useful. I've been running intensive processing software (Seti@home) and the keyboard never felt too hot, core temperatures stayed between 72-79 C. The fan is very quiet and never got too loud even when processors were running at 100%.

Pros:

Fast processor (comes with Intel's first i5 generation CPUs)

Bright screen

Quiet fan, keeps cool.

Great keyboard

Number pad

Cons:

Reflective screen, can be bothering if you have a strong reflection.

Poor sound quality: the speakers are on the front, but face downwards, so they give an awkward sound.

No discrete graphics card, but at this price, can't complain.

Overall, I am very happy with this laptop and would recommend it to anyone.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5148 15.6-Inch Laptop (Ice Blue Brushed Review

Customer Ratings:

I am a computer science student so I am pretty well versed when it comes to computers. I know my hardware, can write operating systems, and am constantly programming. I began searching for laptops because I needed a more powerful one. I play a few games so I also wanted something able to power through some graphics. This laptop has pretty amazing specs, especially for the price. Windows 8 is pretty intuitive once you get used to it, so don't let that defer you from getting this laptop. The operating system that it comes with is 64bit. The quad core amd and radeon graphics card can crunch through just about anything. Plenty of RAM, plus it is up-gradable to 16gigs if you desire. The hard disk is the only thing that can slow some operations down, but at this time solid state is a little too pricey. I would have loved to have a back-lit keyboard, however for the price and specs I wasn't going to let that be the reason I did not buy this laptop. I researched laptops for weeks and this turned up to be the best; and at a very reasonable price. I would most assuredly recommend this laptop.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I've had the computer for a little less than a week, but am very pleased with it. (See below for how to fix the scroll bar problem if you encounter it.)

The display looks great, and it has all the peripherals you could need (including usb 3.0).

It has a separate numerical keypad, which I find great because it's much easier when doing anything involving typing lots of numbers, and even though some complain that having that addition requires the computer to be too big or the other keys too small, that is not the case. At 15.6" it is still a compact enough size and does not weigh much.

The tile keyboard is great (not back lit if that is a concern for you, but the screen provides enough light to see the keys). The sounds is fine, not expecting anything mind blowing from a laptop.

The quad processor is more than capable of handling what you can throw at it, as well is the 8gb of ram installed. It is a computer built to handle heavy gaming, and if you're not into that, then don't worry at all about it having enough power for you. Oh, and the 1tb hard drive makes sure you won't run out of storage space.

The battery life seems fine so far, somewhere around 4 hours.

I'm a big fan of the brushed aluminum. The computer stays cool to the touch and is well suited to stand up to some abuse.

The biggest problem people will have is getting used to Windows 8 if they haven't used it before. Honestly, I was skeptical, but after a day of tinkering around with the start/tile screen to get it to my liking and figuring out the shortcuts (for instance, hovering your mouse in the lower left corner from the desktop screen gives you settings,search,power, and share options; also right clicking on the live tile screen gives you the option to look at all apps, because if you install a program, that is how you will be able to access it and pin it to your taskbar) I am fine with it. Windows 8 is pretty customizable, and that is a plus.

***The only issue I ran into was that the scroll bar did not work on the mouse pad at first. This turned out to be an easy fix though, and if you are having that problem, hopefully you read this before losing your mind.

*All internet advice says to update or uninstall/reinstall the driver. Won't work. It's not a driver issue. The problem is that the scrolling simply was not enabled.

*Simply show the hidden icons on the desktop task bar, and double click on the Synaptics pointing device icon.

*Go to the Device Settings tab --> click Settings... --> check the Scrolling box (not done yet though, so keep reading) --> the next step is to click Scrolling so that it is higlighted, then click on the settings button (looks like 2 gears) --> check 'Enable Vertical Scrolling' and 'Enable Horizontal Scrolling'.

make sure that you hit okay and apply on every screen, and that's it. Told you it was simple.

That was my only complaint about the computer, and once I fixed it I have absolutely none. It is a great computer from a great brand and you will be very pleased if you get it.

Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5148 15.6-Inch Laptop (Ice Blue Brushed

It's all about the A10 Vision powering this thing. Right now, this is AMD's most powerful mobile APU. But with the A10, you need to know what you are getting: a chipset with a lot of graphic power for the price, but one that cannot come close to competing with Intel in computing power.

So, if you want a cheap gaming laptop (meaning integrated and not discrete graphics), an A10-powered laptop is your best choice. You can toss darn near any game that leans more on the GPU and not the CPU at this thing, and it will do just fine. The Intel HD3000 and HD4000 graphics cannot compare. But if you need something that puts a heavy burden on the CPU, you need to look at Intel. I specifically wanted a cheap gaming laptop, and combined with the decent sound and 8GB of memory on this model, I got exactly what I wanted.

So why only three stars? Simple: fit and finish, the devil's in the details. Although the Chiclet keyboard on this laptop is supposed to be better than the even cheaper A6/A8 Toshiba models (which I've owned), it isn't, and it doesn't help that the left shift key on the laptop I got is flaky. I hate the spacing of the two USB 3.0 ports; they're right up where right-handed mouse users are going to be working, so if you've got a big USB stick coming out of thing it's going to get in the way. The A10 runs hotter than the earlier A6's I've owned. I'll even gripe about the button that pops out the DVD tray; it's practically flush with the unit and unresponsive to all but the most enthusiastic presses.

But otherwise: look, I wouldn't have picked this thing up for the retail of $600+ (I'd have soldiered along with my earlier A6 Toshiba, which for $400 was a great bargain), but Amazon knocked it down to a little under $500, so I'm happy with it. If you go with this laptop, know its strengths (best integrated graphics in the market) and weaknesses (pure CPU power).

One final thing: Windows 8 is terrible. Fortunately, Toshiba still has the full complement of Windows 7 drivers on its site, so with an evening's work you can scrub Win8 off the thing and get Windows 7 on there.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5148 15.6-Inch Laptop (Ice Blue Brushed

I see a lot of other reviews here that do a good job of pointing out the pros and cons of this laptop, so I'll try not to duplicate them.

I received the laptop yesterday, and I'm totally thrilled with the features and performance!!

I'm pleasantly surprised by how cool the laptop runs and the feel of the keyboard. It does a fantastic job of venting the heat out the side of the laptop you can sit this comfortably on your lap for hours. The keyboard is soft and responsive very comfortable to type on and even includes a dedicated numeric keypad (which I tend to use frequently). Normally when I use a laptop, I'll plug in a USB keyboard when I need to do some number-crunching. I don't need one on the Toshiba.

At this price, I expected some things to be skimped on. Toshiba really didn't cut any corners, this is a quality laptop. Even the tiniest details, such as having USB ports on both sides of the laptop.

I'm not thrilled with Windows 8, but that's not Toshiba's fault. First thing I did after going through the initial setup was to install Classic Shell, a free application that gives you the look and feel of Windows 7. That takes care of most of the complaints I have with Windows 8, but it's easy to accidentally bring up the Windows 8 shell. Eventually, Microsoft plans on releasing Windows 8.1, which is supposed to give you the option of a Windows 7 shell. I'm hoping that's a free upgrade from Windows 8.

I don't like the touchpad mouse much, but I haven't met a touchpad I like. It's no worse than any other laptop, I just don't like them. I'll likely get a trackball to plug in for when I'm sitting at a desk.

The webcam and sound are excellent for videoconferencing, and fairly good for music playback and watching movies. It would be hard to find much better sound on a laptop, but I prefer more bass for music and movies, so I plug in headphones for media playback. Conveniently, the headphone and microphone jacks are located at the very front of the right side of the laptop.

Given the performance, the design quality and the price, you really can't go wrong with this laptop.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Satellite S855D-S5148 15.6-Inch Laptop (Ice Blue Brushed

Ordered this Toshiba laptop from Amazon on Tuesday and received it the next afternoon in full and perfect condition (as usual, thanks Amazon!). Only into my 3rd day, but must say I like this laptop (expected) and Windows 8 (surprised about that).

Start/set-up was automatic, fast and easy. After getting up and running Norton did inform me of a new video driver and provided the link to the AMD site to download. It installed without issue. Windows didn't pick up my wireless printer, which I had to manually install through port selection. I decided to try the 1 month trial of Office365 and activated that as well. This laptop is fast and the display is bright, sharp, and with good color. I tried viewing some Netflix movies and the picture has no bleeding or flicker, and the sound from the speakers is much better than expected. I'm not a gamer, but this processor/graphics system is fast, and the provided 8 GB of RAM insures it doesn't bog down. Excellent performance for this price point. Note: I paid $499 but see the price does rise and fall...

I took a few minutes to register with Toshiba and received their free e-copy of Windows 8 for Dummies, which is useful. This is my first time touching Windows 8 so I must admit it took a little while to understand what was going on, and why. After several hours (about six altogether) I felt acclimated and had things pretty well set up.

I hated Windows 8 for about four of those six hours, now I like it a lot. First, I learned the start screen niceties adding/removing Apps, pinning websites, arranging tiles, screen (and edge of screen) geography, opening/closing files. Also how to access the control panel and standard desktop workspace. Two other things that helped with using Windows8 a lot were downloading the "Cheat Keys and Tips" App that gives you a lot of information on shortcuts and commands, and going to the Synaptics touchpad set-up in Control Panel, and learning how it's features allow you to use the touchpad as a surrogate to a touchscreen.

The laptop itself feels solid and well put together, and it runs cool and quiet I do have two items of concern: 1) the mouse-pad buttons are near identical to my last Toshiba laptop and I'm not convinced they're mechanically durable the left button on my last system became loose underneath on the left side and would misalign the entire button. 2) the "piano black" bezel around the screen is flimsy and cheap looking and appears to be snapped in place with plastic pop rivets.

Overall, I'm more than satisfied with this purchase. I feel this laptop offers great bang for the buck in a package that's overall very nicely put together and easy to use. I'm an older guy, and was able to learn Windows 8 fairly easily and with minimal cursing. Now I quite like it and feel it's quite similar to using my Android and Apple smartphones.

Cheap HP - Pavilion g6-1c57dx Laptop / Intel Core i5 Processor / 15.6"

Customer Ratings:

This laptop is the best it will do everything you need it to and more.

I use it to record music and it runs the program great, download stuff from the internet wich it does fast and play games and they run great to. The picture is great when watching movies and the keyboard is real comfortably ALSO there is a hdmi plug so you can hook it up the the tv with ease.

All and all lthis computer is great, i bought it about a yaer ago and it is one of the best investments i have ever made.

if you got the money buy it

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

i bought this laptop a while ago but not from amazon... the laptop is great and i love it. best thing is has the second generation of intel processor and the ram is also great. i love everything about this laptop

Toshiba Portege M780-S7241 12.1-Inch Laptop (Titanium Silver) Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I am a student that has had my Toshiba M780 for about four years. I you are at all capable in correctly setting your power consumption, which is very versatile, the battery can last for 3 to 4 hours. I have sat through many long lectures with the ability to take handwritten notes in tablet mode. I am able to utilize AutoCAD 2006/2010/2011 & Revit in both PC and tablet modes. With current battery technology any laptop is going to require AC to run for extended periods. The tablet note taking has been invaluable as a student. I would only ever buy a tablet that has a stylus for writing on. Whats the point of having a tablet you have to type on, it's a waste in my opinion. You might as well buy a regular laptop, because your just substituting a hard keypad for a soft one that is a drain on resources, which in my opinion completely defeats the whole purpose. Having the ability to hand write notes on downloadable lectures and textbooks not only completes the lectures but allows me to stay organized and carry a lot less. I have a soft notebook for different classes so all I have in my backpack is my tablet PC and the textbook(if it's not available for download). If I ever have to go back to last semester notes I can at any time and know exactly where they are without looking on my shelf for an old notebook. My Toshiba M780 was expensive, but worth every penny and I would do it all over again. When I made my purchase Tablet PC choice was limited. If your a student, shop around and when you buy familiarize yourself with the configuration options ESPECIALLY the POWER MANAGEMENT, because little tweaks can make a big difference on how long the life of the battery will last. Overall I have not been disappointed in my M780, yes I would like it to run a little faster, but I could also clean up what's in the startup a little more and Everyone has to be careful when we load ANY software, because generally almost any program you install puts itself in the startup BY DEFAULT and WILL bog your system down. So whenever you purchase ANY new computer you MUST remove ALL software you won't be using and trim down what you do use in your startup. If more people realized these simple facts they would have much more satisfying systems. Simple configuration can go a long way, it's unfortunate many people overlook the little things that end up stacking over time, which bogs EVERY system. Sadly, Common sense escapes many of us. If we utilize the tools available to us and choose those tools carefully for the particular job, there is a point to which the tool should not be blamed. The Toshiba M780 has been a great tool for my uses.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

This laptop is great giving user both laptop and tablet experience. Can be converted into tablet. Stylish and eligant. Love using it.

Best Deals for Toshiba Portege M780-S7241 12.1-Inch Laptop (Titanium Silver)

Recommended by a software company it disapoints in numerous important ways.

OS: Windows 7 is confusing and slow compared to Windows XP on my Acer DuoCore 6593.

Display: The screen is fuzzy and out-of-focus.

Battery life: nowhere near the stated 4.8 hours. With less than 2 hours battery life this device is useless for the intended purpose...electronic health records which are accessed in the examination rooms. Okay I suppose I could just settle for a 2 hour work day :) but come on Toshiba....be honest!

Core 7 processer: I was prepared to be thrilled by the increase in speed. Instead I found it not as fast as my old Acer laptop even with it's slower-speed hard drive and smaller number of cores.

Tablet rotating screen: I never even used the tablet feature because of the low battery life. The stylus was an extra-cost feature ($35) which I found expensive.

Conclusion: A total waste of money which also damaged my business:

I never was able to use the electronic health record system because of the poor battery life in the examination room.

So....I spent $12,000 for the software and $2,000 for the computer; both of which are useless to me.

Paul in Napa

Dell Inspiron i17R-1713 17.3-Inch Laptop (Diamond Black) Review

Customer Ratings:

I've had the Dell Inspiron 17R (500 gig hard drive; 4 gigs RAM; i5-2410m processor) for about a month. I upgraded it to 6 gigs of RAM.

The Inspiron is a pretty good value. You get a lot of machine for the money. The i5-2410m processor is fast. Combined with the large amount of RAM, it'll handle with ease any normal, everyday task, such as watching movies, browsing, word processing, home video editing, and so on. I can't speak to whether it'd be suitable for gaming, because I don't use it for that. However, it is quite a powerful laptop for routine computer stuff.

I have seen the screen criticized elsewhere, for not being super-high resolution, but I disagree. The 17.3" screen is one of the high points of this laptop. It is bright, sharp, and easy to read. I've always been a fan of "desktop replacement" laptops, and have several over the years, always with a 17" screen. I think this is one of the better screens out there. It's 1600x900, which is not 1920x1080, but it's still very sharp, and the Inspiron 17R is half the price of a 1920x1080 laptop.

It comes with a nice mix of ports. Two USB 3.0, a USB 2.0, and an extremely useful eSATAe. The USB3.0 ports are not providing the kind of performance I was hoping for. I think that either the laptop or my external drives are not configured properly to take advantage of USB3.0. I'm getting USB3.0 speeds that are little better than USB2.0. On the other hand, the eSATAe port is blazin' fast. I plan just to use the eSATAe port and not bother with the 3.0 ports.

My main complaint with this laptop is the mouse pad. There are some laptops out there that have a mouse which jumps around too much. This is one of them. Many other laptops do not have this problem anymore; it was a design problem that was fixed over the years. So, what does this problem entail? When you're typing, the cursor will occasionally jump elsewhere on the screen, and if you're not careful, you can end up deleting important text. And, as another reviewer noted, there's the occasional related problem of the mouse-pointer sort of pinning itself to the right side of the screen; when this happens, nothing you do on the mousepad will unstick it, and you just have to fuss with it and, ultimately, wait for it to decide to start working again. Experimenting with the mouse pad controls (sensitivity and speed, in Control Panel) helps a little, but not a lot. Fundamentally, it is just a bad mouse pad, something that should have been addressed by Dell and put to rest a long, long time ago. The cursor-jumpiness around the screen is just unacceptable on a modern laptop. The keyboard itself is mediocre; it has nice chicklet-style keys that are easy to type on, but they occasionally miss a letter when they shouldn't. I spilled just a couple of drops of Diet Coke on one key, and now that key and six surrounding keys have permanent pop-and-crackle noises when I touch them. Many (in fact, "most" or "all") other laptop keyboards are more mishap-tolerant than the one in the 17R. I want to love this laptop, but I have to say that laptops from other brands such as Toshiba have much better keyboards and mouse pads.

The battery life is poor. It is the shortest battery life I have ever experienced on a laptop. You can get about 90 minutes if you are doing light browsing. Any sort of heavy usage, like movie-watching, will put you down in the 60 to 75 minute range. I really don't get that. I've had other 17" monitor laptops that ran for 2.5 to 3.5 hours between charges. It doesn't bother me much, because I use it at home, where it's plugged in. If I was in more of a road-warrior mode, I would've already returned it. This laptop basically needs to be plugged in when you're using it. It is also very heavy substantially heavier than my last couple of 17" laptops. It really is not designed for road use, either in battery usage or weight; it's truly an old-school desktop replacement laptop.

In summary: for the price, you get a lot of laptop with Dell. The Inspiron 17R has a beautiful screen, a very fast processor, and ample storage and RAM for normal business or personal use. I don't think for the $600 to $700 (depending on configuration) you can get much more laptop elsewhere. However, the mouse, and specifically the jumpiness of the mouse, truly sucks. The keyboard is very low-end -so low-end it's hard to believe Dell thought this was an acceptable component to put on a modern, $600 machine. All in all, I give this laptop 3 stars. I would like to see Dell really drill down on why their mousepads and keyboards are not up to the competition, and replace them with better parts. I have a feeling this one will last about a year or two, and then I will probably replace it with a different brand.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Overall, I love this product, though considering the last computer I had was a 12.5"

Acer Ultrabook NX.V7QAA.009;TMB113-M-6825 11.6-Inch Laptop Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I felt compelled to endorse the Acer Travelmate. I wanted a 13.3" Windows 7 laptop with 3rd gen Intel Processor and the Acer was the cheapest option I found by far. I couldn't find any reviews but I really like mine so far.:

Pros:

Lightweighta hair over 4 lbs which makes it almost an ultrabook

Full-featuredits a business laptop but still has a webcam and USB 3 port

Fastlighting fast so far. Acer doesn't bog their pcs down with a bunch of crap and its faster to boot up than any computer I have used. That includes comparable Dell, Lenovo, and Toshiba models.

Inexpensivefound mine for just over $600. Couldn't find a comparable model from the other guys for less than $750.

Cons:

Not stylish in anywaysturdy black plastic, no keyboard backlighting

Screen resolutionis not as sharp as some of the newer guys. A step down from HD.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Cheap HP Pavilion 15 15-e010us 15.6-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $699.00
Sale Price: $446.00
Today's Bonus: 36% Off

With all the modern innovative technology out there these days its hard to compete with the ultrabooks, touchscreens, ultraportables, and luxury lines. However, I would say this HP pavilion 15 holds a good spot in the market. Here is why:

Pros

Nice big 15.6 inch screen with viewing angles, I don't have to constantly tilt the screen every which was to watch movies or show people things

Keyboard is pretty nice! I had to get used to this island or chiclet style but that happened pretty quickly

Battery life is superb. It is estimated for up to 5 hours but I've gotten 5 1/2 with browsing video streaming etc

Its fairly light weight

The sound quality is excellent!! Normally I have to turn movies and music to full volume but often I have to turn it down because the speakers get so loud!

Large touchpad, easy to slide your fingers across

Cons

The built-in mic is awful, I sound like a robot. Its a shame since there is no mic jack! However, there are alternatives. This was problematic when I was trying to record a voice sample for a job. I had to use a Samsung earphone/mic combo.

It is a bit on the heavy and thick side. HP makes other models that are less than 5 pounds and .8 inches thick. This one is 1.26 inches thick at its widest and about 5.14 pounds.

Gestures on the touch pad aren't so great, I had to turn several of them off

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I can't describe how bad this company is. 1 of the worst worldwide. Big time business cheaters!!!

Here's HP tricking Amazon buyers PROOF:

You might think this PC is cheap or heard it's good from someone who just bought.

This is how it started with me like an Innocent Good Faith American Consumer till God made me know how bad HP is.

This PC is designed using bad Chinese parts. You will think it is a nice computer till you realize the opposite.

HP Pavilions are defected with Bad Screens. Stained screens! You send it back during its warranty a couple of months later, Pavilions monitors are back to stained for no apparent reason. It is crazy they sent it back to me with a bad cable too. What do you expect from HP made in China?! Fake manufacture HP brings to the US and break the US laws of Consumer Affairs. Selling Defective Products Knowingly is Illegal in the US.

Here's how they trick the buyers and profit over their known defects. They want you to keep buying over $100 warranties to keep fixing their originally bad product.

It wouldn't have mattered if you sent it 100 times back, you would still end up with the same problems.

HP manufactured them in China. Cheap product manufacturer with intent to keep profit using a bad and defective product thru selling warranties over and over again.

Shame on HP. Amazon needs to STOP selling HP defective products online and protect the American Consumers.

Best Deals for HP Pavilion 15 15-e010us 15.6-Inch Laptop

the hp p 15 is a wonderful piece, but the os sucks bad. very hard to use and or learn.

Reviews of Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5234 15.6" HD LED Laptop, AMD Dual-Core

Customer Ratings:

I bought this at Office Depot in October 2011 at Office Depot, price was $289 plus tax it does everything you expect, has an external SD card reader, some USBs, and that's about it, but what else do you need? I would certainly recommend any large screen laptop for under $300.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I bought this laptop in december 2011 at an office depot. The sales person suggested it over several laptops. Got it on sale for $299 before tax. Within a week it crashed on me. It was a display error problem. Would have bought an extended warrenty but they wanted $130 for it. Wish I had now. So I just set it back to factory settings. Hope that solves the problem.

Reviews of HP Pavilion G7-2220us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $549.99
Sale Price: $449.99
Today's Bonus: 18% Off

I am partial to 17 inch screen laptops and to HPs. I was both excited and a little bit hesitant to try a Windows 8 computer on a non-touch screen laptop. So far though I have found Windows 8 to be very enjoyable and the computer itself has met or exceeded my expectations. Online reviews for Windows 8 on non-touchscreen laptops make it sound almost like a disaster. This has been far from my experience. With just a little trial and error and web searching for solutions I have quickly become a fan of Windows 8 on this computer. And for the price there is a lot going on here.

I use laptops mostly at home so I enjoy having a larger screen for media consumption and work related, MS Office related tasks. But having a laptop lets us move it from room to room and take it on the go when wanted. This is also my 4th HP and my previous ones had AMD chips also. They performed well without any hiccups or failures ever. So my personal go to choice for a laptop is HP. I also like their customer service. I have always been able to get someone on the line at any time with virtually no wait.

For the computer itself its construction is very well done overall, but a few things stand out as exceptional. The screen is very high quality: videos and movies look great. There is nice depth to it, good contrast and clarity. My wife and I loved looking at videos we had shot and Netflix/Amazon movies are a treat. Next I have always liked HP laptop keyboards and this one is no exception. The 17 inch screen allows for a full keyboard with full sized keys. The keys are relatively flat but raised just enough and they have a nice cushioned feel to them. The mouse pad on Windows 8 computers is even more important than before. HP made this one have a nice textured feel that provides a nice grip and feel to it. There are a number of Windows 8 related functions you do on the mouse pad such as swipe right and left and zoom in and out and the mouse pad works well on them. Also of note is a very fast card reader: Really Fast. I personally have never had a faster one. I had 400 photos on a card I inserted many of them in the 5 to 7 meg range and it downloaded them in a minute or so.

Now to Windows 8. I am baffled by the negative responses on non-touch screen laptops. Especially as it is very easy to get to a `desktop' view that mimics a Windows 7 environment pretty closely. In any case when you start off you will have what Microsoft calls the `start' screen. This is in what I think of as 'Tablet View'. A series of `Apps' are displayed. Some of these are actually Apps you would have on your tablet or smart phone. Others take you to `traditional' windows programs such as Word or PowerPoint. You can get out of the `tablet view' by clicking on the desktop `App'. Now the start menu is gone. If you put the mouse in the top right corner it brings up search and some other `charms'. You also have the files icon pinned to the task bar so you can get to my computer easy. Strangely it is not easy to shut down or restart. But a quick search of the web showed that hitting the windows key and I gets you to the power option. Windows 8 easily let me create a control panel `App' so I click on that and go straight to control panel.

I have found Windows 8 to add another layer of enjoyment after figuring some things out. I use my tablet a lot and both enjoy and take for granted the great visuals and ease of use of Apps. Well you get that same user friendliness now on your computer for Apps that work with Windows 8 as true Apps. And then when you want it, a more traditional desktop environment for non-App programs like Word.

I downloaded and installed Office 2010 Professional Plus and it has worked picture perfect and the Apps I have downloaded so far have worked great as well. And you have easier access to pictures, videos, all the items you use a home laptop for easier than before via the `Apps'. Just give yourself a couple of hours and use the getting started with Windows 8 app or searching for information on the Internet to help you along. I couldn't find the desktop App for instance as sometimes the lettering on apps is small, but once I did knowing you have a more familiar option lets you explore the `Tablet view' more and enjoy it more.

I haven't drained the battery yet and I will update it when I do on battery life, but it has been going down pretty slowly for a 17 inch computer. The webcam is also very good, the best pre-installed one I have used. Programs start up very fast. The computer itself starts up fairly start after a full shut down and closes very fast when shut down is chosen. At times some programs have been a little slow though. But the specs here are for a value oriented computer. And from a value and enjoyment perspective the 2220 delivers. I personally feel most people will enjoy Windows 8 on a non-touchscreen laptop. And HP took that into account with the 2220 giving a very good mouse pad and keyboard which makes working with Windows 8 just that much more enjoyable. Don't forget the Windows key-I combo, the ability to switch to desktop mode, and the charms you get to by putting the cursor over to the top right. Bottom line good value for a family computer, especially one used mostly at home where a smaller/lighter size is less of a concern.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I've been pretty happy with this laptop so far.

Physical appearance: It's a bit large and on the heavy side for a laptop, but it's a 17.3" so that's to be expected. The design is very good and I was very happy that all of the obnoxious "Look at my awesome hardware!" NASCAR-style stickers were easily removed to make a more sleek appearance (save the HP logo on the back of the screen). It's a lot thinner than I expected, but again, this is not a Macbook Air. Only about an inch and a half thick means it should be an easy fit in most cases or bags compared to other models.

Performance: The first thing you have to realize is that this is not a gaming laptop. I'm not a big PC gamer, but the video card on this specific model is very good but uses onboard memory, so it's not going to give you the same performance. It did outrank my custom-built desktop with a 2gig video card with dedicated memory in the Windows Experience score though, so it might be better than my guess. I've only used this for casual web browsing, video watching, and typical business tasks (Word, Powerpoint, etc.) and it's performed great with no lag. It even handled a visit to TVTropes (which means I had about 20 or 30 Firefox tabs open at once) without any significant performance degradation. If the 4GB of RAM isn't enough for you, though, be glad to know that the installed memory is a single chip, so you can easily buy a second stick to install. It can be a pain to find out exactly what memory to get, so I'll save you some time: DDR3-1600MHz PC3-12800. Only place I was able to find that was on page 20-something of the 107 page Maintenance and Service Guide, buried in a list of product codes for replacement parts for various bits and bobs like the CMOS battery.

Video: The screen looks great. It's got a good resolution for the size and videos look great on it. The screen's so big, though, that you might have problems getting the viewing angle right, causing the lower half of the screen to be too bright or the top half too dark. Best solution? Set the computer on the table when you're watching a movie, since you'll be far away anyway.

Battery Life: I'm going to be honest here, the battery life kind of sucks. Thankfully, the charging cable is small and light, so you don't have the massive brick you get with companies like Dell if you want to take it on a trip. I'm sure there's things I can do to extend the life, but it tends to get dangerously low on me after only 2 hours of constant use. Considering Amazon rates the battery life at 3.5 hours, this is about what I expected.

Keyboard and Touchpad: It's been a while since I've used a laptop, so this is taking some getting used to. I really like the touchpad. It's textured rather than smooth, so it's easy to figure out where it is without looking, and it gives you a textile indicator of how you're moving the cursor. It's also placed perfectly to allow you to type without accidentally sending the cursor all over the screen because your hand's on the touchpad. The keyboard itself, though, has a few annoying things. The layout's a bit odd, such as the Delete key being above the Backspace key. There's also no break between the Function keys either, so if you're a dedicated Ctrl-F4 browser like I am, it can get frustrating. The biggest annoyance, though is the rightmost shift key. It's actually half shift and half pause. What good is the pause key? It doesn't even do anything in most applications! So when you're typing, you find that half the attempts to write a capital letter doesn't work because you're on the pause key side of the key rather than the shift key side. I guess I'll get used to it eventually. Or I'll figure out a way to remap the keyboard, one.

Operating System: Okay, here's a sticking point for a lot of people I bet. I agree with you. Windows 8 sucks. The hard part? Getting Windows 7 on this thing. Even though I have a legitimate copy of Windows 7 with a legitimate product key, I couldn't get it installed because of protections built into the system against "malicious software". Thankfully, Linux users are great about sharing ways around blocking products like this. First, you have to go into the BIOS and disable "Secure Boot", then enable "Legacy Boot". This will stop the BIOS from hounding you every time you try to book from a DVD. Next, you have to completely remove ALL the partitions. Every single one. So if you don't know what you're doing, keep in mind that there is NO WAY TO RESTORE WINDOWS 8 TO YOUR COMPUTER AFTER THIS POINT unless you pay HP about $20 for a recovery disc set. Yes, it's really friggin' annoying. Anyway, after you delete all the partitions, you're ready to install your OS of choice. Now comes the final roadblock THERE ARE NO WINDOWS 7 DRIVERS FOR ALMOST ANYTHING IN THE SYSTEM. When you install Windows 7, the only hardware that's going to work properly is the touchpad, keyboard, monitor (kind of, at a horrible resolution), sound card, and the wired ethernet port. No USB, no wifi, 800x600 resolution. HP does not have any drivers for Windows 7 available on their website. So you have to install the Windows 8 drivers. Then run the installation again. Then run it a third time in some cases for the driver to actually install. And that's just for the wifi and video card. You want the chipset drivers? Good friggin' luck. It took me three hours of searching to finally find that the chipset is specifically the AMD A70M chipset, and you're going to have trouble finding drivers for it. I had to use a third party website of dubious reputation to get some (always make sure your antivirus and adblockers are up, kids!) So after about six hours of banging my head against a brick wall, I was FINALLY able to get Windows 7 installed on the system. So it IS possible, just not for casual computer users.

Overall: Once I got the OS I wanted on the thing, it's pretty good. It looks great, feels great, and (aside from a few little quibbles) runs great. You're going to be hard pressed to find a 17.3" laptop in this price range. Trust me, I looked. If you're really concerned about any of the issues and want to pass, know that you're going to pay around $200 more for similar specs or you're going to be forced down to the 15.6" screen size. It's not the best laptop on the market, but it's the best value I've seen in the month I spent comparison shopping.

Best Deals for HP Pavilion G7-2220us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

This would be an even better computer if it had shipped with Windows 7. Make sure your software and printers can handle Windows 8 before you buy. My HP OfficeJet will not even work with this new unit.

This laptop, or at least the one I received, has very good WiFi range. The LED screen comes up to your programmed brightness level right away, instead of starting off dim, like many LCD laptops. Button and control placement are good, with volume, brightness, mute, etc. available with just one key-press. This was a Christmas present for my 12 yr old. Battery life is better than stated.

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion G7-2220us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Got exactly what I needed in a laptop at a great Cyber Monday price. Still look at the weekly adds of local store and glad that I got this one at the now sale prices of smaller and less featured laptops. The 17" screen and full size keyboard were the selling points for me as I have gotten way to used to my old desktop computer with big monitor.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Pavilion G7-2220us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Great price and the unit is great. Windows 8 has quite a learning curve and unit itself is more than needed for family member but larger keyboard and screen is just what the doctor ordered. No problems at all with the unit, setup was problem free.

Discount Apple MacBook Pro MC725LL/A 17-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Customer Ratings:

I upgraded to this model (early 2011 Quad Core i7 17" MacBook Pro) from the first in Apple's series of "unibody" laptops (late 2008 Core 2 duo 15" MacBook Pro). Both have been excellent laptops and have remarkably similar features given the years between them. However, what makes the difference here is pure raw speed.

The i7 processor has four cores each running at 2.2Ghz and the ability to "hyperthread" to operate in a virtual eight core mode. Applications must be written in a specific way to take full advantage of the multiple cores, however the processor has another trick up its sleeve in such cases. If some of the cores are underutilized then the processing speed of the those in use are bumped up. This translates into blazing speed across the board.

Other improvements include automatic switching between the two included (and upgraded) video processors, one for high performance and the other for economic power consumption. A new "Thunderbolt" port is provided, which permits extremely high-speed data transmission to and from external devices (as soon as they become available with this new standard!). This is in addition to the more familiar set of ports, including gigabit ethernet, Firewire 800, USB2.0, digital audio in/out, analog audio in/out, magsafe power, etc.

While this laptop may not physically appear to be a new model, I feel this is an advantage unto itself. This being my second unibody mac, I can attest that Apple has a brilliant case design that needs no modification. One needs only to pick it up to immediately feel the solid build quality and ruggedness despite its thin and relatively lightweight specs. The body is carved from a solid block of aluminum, and save for the back plate there are no visible seams or screws. There is a world of difference between this and most other plastic laptops.

Unfortunately Apple has decided to saddlebag this wicked-fast tank with a relatively pokey 5400rpm hard drive, which ends up being a noticeable bottleneck in performance at startup and other disk-intensive times. I appreciate the capacity of the included 750GB drive, but swapping it out with my existing 500GB solid state hybrid drive provided an additional performance boost well worth the reduced storage space. Incidentally, changing just about any of the internal components appears to be relatively straight forward, as the back plate removes to expose all.

To conclude, this is one speedy machine who's only noticeable flaw is the included large but unimpressive hard drive. Swap it out for a faster drive (especially a SSD) and this is a laptop that cannot be topped.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

INTRODUCTION

Deciding on which size MacBook Pro one "needs" can be a fun and bewildering process. When I went into an Apple Store, I quite literally found myself envisioning a particular niche need for each of their MacBook Air 11", 13", MacBook Pro 13", 15", and 17" models!

In the end, I decided that the MBP 13" screen was too small for my needs and although the i5 and i7 CPUs in the MBP 13" were significantly faster than the previous generation CPUs, they actually underperformed the previous generation in their graphics intensive applications as the integrated Intel GPU was not as robust as the older generation MBP 13" models.

That left the MBP 15" and 17" models with screen sizes suitable for my needs. The MBP 15" is offered in either the 2.0 vs 2.2 gHz i7 speeds and only the 2.2 gHz model comes with the discrete graphics (i.e. AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory).

Considering that the price difference between the MBP 15" with the 2.2 gHz i7 (with AMD 6750M GPU) and the MBP 17" was not as great as I expected, I went with the MBP 17".

PROS

1. Amazingly light for a laptop of its size (i.e. 6.6 lbs). In many ways, it is the perception of weight and size that matters more than the actual measurements. I own a 2008 MBP 15" which is 1.1 lbs lighter, and yet this MBP 17" actually seemed lighter, because of its larger dimensions confined within a thickness of less than 1".

2. Fantastically bright, beautiful LCD. The viewing angles vertically and horizontally are fantastic (and something Apple owners take for granted anyways).

3. Although the sizes of the individual pixels at full resolution (1920 x 1200) do seem smaller than my 2008 MBP 15", they are not too small for me. The text and graphics are sharp and clear.

4. Pure CPU speed with the i7 quad-core Sandy Bridge 2.2 gHz. I haven't benchmarked this personally, but search online and you will find that this generation MBP is significantly faster than the previous generation models.

5. Separate discrete graphics (i.e. AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics processor with 1GB of GDDR5 memory).

6. Phenomenal battery life of 7 hours (using more real-world testing specifications to which Apple has recently changed)

7. Quiet (so far) but I anticipate the fans will turn on with heavy GPU intensive use

8. Great chiclet (i.e. island-style) keys that allow for great tactile feedback to touch typers with lit keys

9. Phenomenal glass track pad that Mac users have come to expect. The OS allows for different finger gestures like pinch and zooming (just like on the iPhone)

10. Amazingly simple and fast setup using Apple's built in migration tools. When I first started the MBP, it allowed me to hook up a FireWire cable to the other MBP and it transferred all my applications, documents, and settings automatically. The transfer of data was amazingly fast, > 300 GB of total data over 2-3 hours!

11. Same great Apple cable management system with the small AC adapter with the interchangeable power cord and MagSafe magnetic connector

12. Same great touches that existed on much older MacBook Pros that you expect, photolight sensor, easy ability and detection of external monitors while remembering the individual relative screen positions so swapping multiple monitors is easier, amazing 1 hour backup intervals using Time Machine, incredibly fast startup and sleep/awake even without a solid state drive, FaceTime camera

13. Mac OS X Snow Leopard with its rock stable UNIX heritage

14. No need for virus check software (so far)

15. New Thunderbolt (i.e. Light Peak) interface via mini-DisplayPort which allows bidirectional 10 Gb/s bandwidth

16. Phenomenal resale value of Apple MBPs when you do need to sell to upgrade later

CONS

1. Before update 10.6.7, there have been reports that when all 4 cores with 8 threads are running, the MBP i7's have been freezing for some users. Supposedly after 10.6.7, most of these issues were solved. I have not yet tested this but there hasn't been any freezing in the short time that I've been using this MBP 17". (Those who have experienced this have reported using a 3rd party utility to select either the discrete or integrated GPU seems to solve the problem.)

2. There have been reports that some models of external LCD displays have had problems as being recognized as TV's rather than computer monitors when attached to the mini-display Thunderbolt connector. It may be more pronounced when using a mini-DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable (than when using a mini-DP to DVI or mini-DP to HDMI cable).

3. Although Thunderbolt (i.e. Light Peak) seems amazing and is far more revolutionary than USB3 or eSATA, there are no devices that take advantage of this yet. I expect that these devices will also cost a premium for all of us early adopters. Thankfully, there is still a dedicated FireWire 800 port.

4. The MBP in the 17" model does not come with a SecureDigital memory card slot. While the 17" MBP lacks this feature found in the other MBPs, there is an ExpressCard/34 slot as well as a third USB 2.0 port.

CONCLUSION

The MBP 17" has exceeded my expectations and is indeed, like most Apple products, far greater than the sum of its amazing parts.

Best Deals for Apple MacBook Pro MC725LL/A 17-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

The new MacBook Pro (released in 2011) is one of the best computers you can currently buy. The recent hardware improvements have made it a top notch computer.

PROS: VERY fast, up to 8gb of RAM, execellent design, great battery life, great for photo and video editing

CONS: Price is too high, Soild state drives should be default at this price point, warrenty is below the indrustry standard

My only major complaints are the price (which is no shock it's a Mac) and the overall package. For what Apple is charging you should really get at least a 256gb (if not 512) SS Drive included. That would make this one of the best computers available anywhere.

The hardware in this model doesn't just beat the previous versions is crushes them. In under 60 seconds you will be online. I've never owned a PC (or Mac) that loads that fast. The wireless connection is very fast as well. It seems like everything about this Mac is faster. One comparrison I can draw is the time it takes to rip a DVD to the hard drive. With my last MacBook Pro it normally took about 60 minutes to rip a full length movie. With this Mac it takes about 20 minutes.

Some computers have amazing specs. Some computers are sleek and sexy. No computer combines form and function like Apple does.

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Pro MC725LL/A 17-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Apple MacBook Pro MC725LL/A 17-Inch Laptop

I waited for Quad core(SandyBridge) based MacbookPro for more than an year. My primary use was for Photo & Video editing and for that, yes dual core system from 2010 would have done the job. But I wanted a powerful machine which could handle future load also so that it lasts longer.

This system is really very powerful. So far it handles all the types of load I could throw at it. If you want to use this system for Video / Photo editing, the first thing I would suggest is to upgrade to a decent SSD(along with 8gb RAM upgrade if you can afford). That really changes things under the hood and its very much visible to you also. Startup, shutdown & Application launch times are significantly improved.

Just to test the drive difference, I imported AVCHD video files & photos combined worth of ~30gb in size from my external hard disk (connected via USB 2.0) into iMovie and iPhoto simultaneously with Chrome playing an YouTube video in the background. I also opened other applications like iTunes,Safari etc to see how far the system can handle the whole load. This test I repeated with both the original 5400rpm hard disk & with my new SSD.

Result? You could really choke the system with the above load, if you have only 5400rpm hard drive installed. Often times when I move the mouse, the mouse pointer actually moved with a noticeable delay. With the SSD installed,I could see the difference through the speed with which the whole thing finished. Not only that, the processor was free to handle few more tasks as well.

One thing that I have to mention here is the noise & heat. With the powerful processor & a Graphics card that comes bundled in this system, under heavy load, the heat could really reach a level where you cant keep the system in your lap any longer. I could not keep it in my laptop, under certain load. To control the heat, the fans are kicking in quite frequently resulting in higher noise. If you are into recording your own voice to mix them with videos, don't sit near the macbook else you can be sure to expect to hear the fan noise as well :) I think some of this can be fine-tuned with software(MacOS X Lion may be??). Till that happens, we cant have everything with this system :(

Overall I am happy with my purchase.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Apple MacBook Pro MC725LL/A 17-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

The 17-inch 2011 MBP has a hefty price tag, but for those looking to replace a desktop or in dire need of a true mobile workstation -look no further. The performance beats my BTO 2.93 GHZ i7 27-inch iMac (late 2010), and the high resolution 1920x1200 display is worth the added cost over the high-end 15-inch MBP.

Prior to biting the bullet I was on the fence over whether to get the entry-level or high-end 15-inch model. Unfortunately unless you order from Apple there's no way to add the high-res display (1680x1050). If you are a Final Cut Pro user, this could be important since Color requires the high-res display. Of course you could connect to an auxiliary monitor, but that's another $999 (27-inch Cinema display) -or $399 for a 24-inch IPS HP display.

At the end of the day the difference in price between the 15-inch high-end and the 17-inch was just over $200 (1959 vs 2163 open box 'like-new' Warehouse Deals). In everyday use I would have no problem using the 1440x900 resolution of the 15-inch model, but I really wanted the hig-res option. Ordering the 15-inch top model + high-res option from Apple with a student discount still ended up being more expensive than the 17-inch MBP through Amazon.

I was hesitant about the size and weight. In the store I felt like the 17-inch model would be overkill, but now that I've handled and transported it for a few days I'm not bothered by the size. With that being said, if Amazon was to offer the high-res 15 inch model I would probably opt for that instead since there's little benefit of going from 1680x1050 to 1920x1200 in terms of application compatibility.

On a side note, if you are considering a Warehouse deal via Amazon, I highly recommend it -just make sure you choose the 'like-new' model. These things are sealed, brand new with just some minor cosmetic damage to the retail packaging (or possibly none). $2163.99 for the 17-inch MBP is a deal.