Reviews of ASUS UL30A-A2 Thin and Light 13-3-Inch Silver Laptop - 12 Hours of

Customer Ratings:

Like the previous reviewer, I also pre-ordered the UL30A-A2 and it was delivered on October 22nd proper. (Kudos to amazon.com for such quick delivery!) I also have only had it for a day, but thus far these are my impressions:

Middle of the Road:

1. Lack of an Optical drive either internal or external. While this may be an issue for some people, it is plenty easy to hook up an external optical drive to it. However buyers should keep a sharp eye out for which external drive they get. The cpu in this machine is an ultra low voltage processor, and some of the external optical drives out there that only run on the power of usb ports (1 or 2) will find that the UL30A-A2 does not crank sufficient power through the usb ports for many of the drives available. I fortunately had an external drive powered by only usb ports and one with an external power supply. The usb powered external drive I owned (a nu-esw860, which worked with an HP 8710w laptop) did not work, whereas the external power source usb drive (an dvd writer/cd burner from Iomega) worked fine.

2. The Touchpad and Mouse Buttons. While the touchpad is fine for me the mouse buttons actually consist of a single button that rocks back and forth. I find it a little awkward, but not unusable. In general I try to use an external mouse with laptops anyway.

3. DDR3 memory limitation. While the inclusion of DDR3 RAM is excellent in of itself purchasers should be aware that this model maxes out at 4gb of RAM that is, the amount it sells with. No upgrades in this area of the machine. And since the machine sells with a 64 bit OS, which is not subject to the 3.5 gb RAM cap of 32 bit OS's, it kinda makes one wonder what Asus was thinking, especially with the video card potentially borrowing so much memory. That being said, other UL models DO come with an 8gb max and ship with 4gb of RAM, although usually those models use DDR2.

4. Keyboard. While I very much like the chicklet design of laptop keyboards my unit has noticeable (but not terrible) flex across the keyboard proper. For those of you who are used to the standard of the old IBM laptops this is a bit of a disappointment. But even though I thought it should be mentioned it is very easy to live with nonetheless.

5. Tiny power adapter. A very small adapter comes with the unit, and although I too have seen reviews (admittedly of the UL30A-A1 model) where the adapter got downright hot thus far my use of it has not achieved that. At worse it has been noticeably warm. Maybe a determining factor for the size of the adapter was to shave a few extra ounces off of the overall weight of carrying the machine and its accessories around?

6. Intel x4500 graphics card. Not the greatest of cards, but sufficient to the the job on a basic daily level. Likely chosen in part for purposes of battery life.

Negative:

1. No bluetooth. This was a disappointment for me, but there are models in the UL series that do come with bluetooth capability. In the end I opted for battery life over the bluetooth a person could always get a usb bluetooth adapter if need be. Still it would have been very convenient to have this.

2. Usually Asus's laptops come with a bag and a mouse, as the previous reviewer has mentioned. No such extra accessories came with my machine.

3. Internal Wireless Card. My unit was bundled with an Aetheros wireless card and only one of the two antennae was attached/active. I would presume that this was to reduce power consumption. For me personally it is not a problem, but I have heard many fellow users complain about its weak signal and limited range. It works just not very strong or far-reaching. This has been a deterrent for some in considering to purchase this machine.

Positive:

1. Sturdy build, light weight. I am impressed by the general external build of so thin and light a laptop as this one it is not super sturdy, like, say, the old IBM T40 series, but it is quite adequate. Kudos to Asus on this front!

2. Screen. It is a lovely and vibrant screen indeed although potential buyers should be aware that it is the reflective screen.

3. Aesthetic Design. I personally think it is an attractive laptop as well. The same basic design comes in both silver and black. Looking only at pictures I thought the black looked slightly better of the two, but on receiving the UL30A-A2 (which is the silver model) I am quite satisfied with how it looks, and even impressed. Asus did a very good job on this one!

4. Cooling system. As advertised, Asus did an impressive job with this. The machine stays very, VERY cool when running. Even when doing high intensive cpu tasks the machine only heats up in a barely noticeable way.

5. HDMI Port. This is something I have seen many people ask about. Different models of the UL series either come with or omit the hdmi port. This hdmi port also is not of the sort that can also be used as a usb port.

6. Not a whole lot of bloatware. Mostly Asus programs a few could be useful, like the power saving app, which I have not yet used. Mine came with a trial of Trend Micro antivirus and MS Office 2007 student level both were easy enough to uninstall.

7. Windows 7. This is my first hands on look at the OS, and while it took a while to find my way around the thing, I have to say I am impressed, in particular by the power saving features and general speed improvement over Vista.

8. Battery Life. This was the deal breaker for me. The battery itself fits up very snugly to the overall design of the laptop, and the UL30A-A2 model was advertised (perhaps incorrectly) as having up to 16 hours of battery life. I put it through some initial tests and these are the rough figures I came up with:

Initial Battery Life Results:

When I make a power saving profile maximized for battery length (which means screen dimmed to lowest possible and wireless turned off) AND reduce the color from 32 bit to 16 bit this is what I got before shutting down the machine at 5% power these are rough numbers only, mind you:

Playing .avi files and installing a fair size program: about 8 hours of battery life.

Playing .avi files only: about 10 10 1/2 hours of battery life.

Only word processing: about 13 13 1/2 hours battery life.

So, at least based on the first run of draining the battery life, while it does not live up to the 16 hours listed on amazon.com, it DOES do better than the advertised "up to 12 hours" for the other machines but this is in extreme power saving mode.

Conclusion

Overall this is an ideal machine for me personally. I thought long and hard before choosing what my next laptop was going to be, and I am very satisfied with the result. I would recommend this machine to others who need long battery life with decent cpu strength and speed in their machine at the same time. For the record, the Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 cpu is very roughly the equivalent of an Intel Core 2 Duo T5500 and/or an AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-64.

I am hopeful that in the future Asus (or some third party) will make available larger power supplies and especially larger batteries! Then something like 16 hours of battery life could easily be reached with dedicated power saving settings (as opposed to ultra-extensive, as I did).

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If you're like me, you research hours and hours before deciding what kind of laptop you want to get. It's a big purchase no doubt, and you want to make sure that you're getting a great laptop for your money, which is why you've taken the time to scroll all the way down the Amazon page to the customer review section. So while I'm procrastinating from studying for final exams next week, I'll write this review for the Asus UL-30A2. While I might be a little biased because I'm already an owner, I'll try my best to give you some of the pros and cons to be fair.

When I bought my first laptop in July of 2008 for college, I thought that the sony vaio I was getting was great because it recieved alot of editor's choice awards. Being young and naive, I thought that it was a good purchase. While it was nice and flashy with the red cover, it didn't suit my needs as a college student. It was large (15.4 in), bulky (6 lb), and didn't even have the blu-ray player, which is why it won the awards in the first place, being one of the only laptops at the time to play blu-ray. It was meant to be a multimedia laptop, which is not what I needed as a college student. So this Thanksgiving, I started hearing about this Asus UL30 that was getting rave reviews and alot of attention. I researched it more, and the more I read about it, the more I liked.

Before going into college, I was positive that I wanted a Macbook. Apple claims that they're the most used computer on college campuses, and just by walking around you can see they're not lying. But the pricetag just wasn't cooperating with my dreams to get a mac. Not only does this computer have a mac-like keyboard, but you won't have to drop a grand to get it! So I stuck with Microsoft, which was further cemented due to my purchase of a Microsoft Zune HD (which I also highly recommend). But I digress, back to the Asus UL30.

Put simply, the Asus UL30 is probably one of the best purchases I've ever made. It is so thin and light, the 'UL' part doesn't do justice. Compared to that behemoth of a vaio, the Asus UL30 weighs less then a Mac for crying out loud! Weight and portability were one of my top concerns because I would be lugging around this laptop with me to campus, going from class to class all day. This laptop weighs less then my calculus book! I can easily carry it in my backpack, and when I get to class, just whip it out and go.

The hardware is simply divine. The screen is so bright and vibrant, as we speak I have the brightness level set to a little less than halfway, because I might get blinded if I put it up all the way. Yes, the screen is quite glossy, but you could barely notice it when you're using the laptop, unless you're sitting in the sun, which would make any screen hard to see anyway.

The speakers are unlike other laptops. They're situated underneath the laptop, towards the front. It kind of muffles the sound if you have it in your lap, but when it's on a hard surface, the sound bounced off the table and is amplified. When I first got the ASUS UL30, I set it on the table right next to my brother (HP) and sister's (some other 15.4 ASUS) laptop. I blasted the same song from all 3 laptops, and my ASUS UL30 completely hit the other two out of the ballpark in terms of loudness and clarity. You seriously have to listen to how loud the speakers on this small laptop really is to believe it. As I'm typing this, I have my headphones on and the volume set to 17% and the pandora volume set to like 25. The loudness capability of the ASUS UL30 is excellent, you will not be disappointed.

The part that I might (and that's a big MIGHT) come to miss is an optical drive. There is no way to play DVDs or CDs on the ASUS UL30, but that's a blessing in disguise! Because there's no optical drive, the laptop is lighter, and uses less battery because all it's running is just the hard drive. I don't really miss the optical drive because these days, everything you need can be downloaded off the internet. Ever since I've gotten this computer, there hasn't been a single time when I've had to play a CD but couldn't. Let's face it, ubiquitous storage on the internet and flashdrives are the future. The last time I used the optical drive on my former laptop was months ago to play some video game I rented from the library. Not having an optical drive should be no big deal.

Another part that I absolutely adore about the ASUS UL30 is the trackpad. The dimples are very unique and the single mouse button makes the laptop seem more simplistic, and I love simplicity. I remember reading a review about the ASUS UL30 and someone said that once you get a little 'finger grease' on the trackpad, that it's becomes really smooth, which I found to be a little disgusting, but now I know what the reviewer meant. When you first get the laptop, the trackpad is really dry, imagine yourself swiping your finger on any dry plastic surface, and thats what it feels like. But once you get some of that 'finger grease', the trackpad works like a charm. And it's so cute and unique, what other laptop has little dimples?

One thing about the trackpad that I do NOT like is the multitouch thing, like how you scroll down by using two fingers, and can right click by using 3. The 2 finger scrolling isn't that accurate, and the 3 finger right click is kind of a shot in the dark if it works or not. Often time, when 2 finger scrolling, accidentally I get that arrow thing that scrolls the page when you move the arrow to the edge. I admit it's kind of annoying, but hey, it's great when it works! lol fml

When buying this laptop, I was debating whether to get the A2 or the X5. I ultimately chose the A2 because its silver, and I read that the black attracts finger prints like crazy, and I liked the better battery life. I was already slapping down $700, so why not just spend another $100 and make sure that I'll be completely satisfied with what I get?

Some people say that the laptop feels like it's made of cheap plastic. I can see why they would say that because if I press the front part down, it makes a little clicking noise. But that is barely noticeable and doesn't really affect the overall laptop. The ASUS UL30 doesn't get overly hot like my old Sony did, I could use it one my lap all day/night and I still wouldn't notice the heat. So now I kind of regret buying a logitech lapdesk for $40 a couple weeks before I got the ASUS UL30.

The battery is one of the strongest points of the laptop. I'm sure you've all heard how great the battery life is by now, and while I don't get the 12 hours as advertised, I probably get a good 8-9 hours from a single charge. And that's from browsing the web, playing music, watching videos, and the many other multi-tasking things that college students do. The battery life simply pays for itself over and over again. Whenever I go to the library, I don't have to walk round and around for a table that's close to an electric outlet. Now I just smile as I watch people walking all over the library looking for an outlet to plug in their drained computers that only last 2-3 hours on a charge, or at other students who have to turn their brightness down to the lowest level to conserve battery while in class. It's like they're reading from a fricken kindle for crying out loud! All the while, my screen is bright as the sun, and untethered from the bondage of electrical outlets.

Now I have to say something critical of the ASUS UL30 just to be fair in this review. If I had to choose something, the only thing that I wouldn't like about this laptop is that there's no bluetooth capability, so I cant wirelessly transfer pics I took on my phone to my computer. But that's not that big of a deal because there's a memory card slot so I can just pop that SD micro card into a SD mini reader and bam bam thank you ma'am, everything works fine.

Even though I gave the rating of a 4 out of 5 simply because I think 5 is some perfect, imaginary laptop that can only exist in our dreams. But this computer is fairly close to that!

The graphics are great, the sound and screen are great, the chiclet keyboard and dimple trackpad is real cute, the ASUS UL30 is one of the best 13.3" laptops on the market, and I'm extremely glad that I bought it!

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After 1 month of ownership (as of tomorrow), I'm extremely impressed. However, I'm giving it four stars simply due to a few things that ASUS could easily change to make it even better.

First, before you consider buying one of these, you should realize what it's designed for. It's meant to be thin, light, and have extremely good battery life; it's NOT meant for extremely intensive tasks (video encoding, number crunching) or gaming. The machine is still very capable of everything I throw at it, and unlike netbooks you won't find yourself making compromises in every-day tasks to avoid slow downs.

Pros:

GREAT battery life. I've seen about 6-8 hours on average, with 9-10 hours during very light use (and that's all on the moderate "Entertainment" battery setting). 12 hours may be achievable using the "Battery Saver" setting, which dims the display quite dark, throttles the processor even more, and reverts to the non-Aero Windows theme.

Excellent size and weight. 13.3" really is the sweet spot for me; it's very portable, and really seems significantly smaller than my previous 14.1" laptop. This thing really seems as light as a feather compared to many other laptops. Too bad I just got out of college, I would have loved the "lug" things thing around.

Decent build quality. The brushed aluminum cover is a very nice touch, and really makes the UL30A look very classy (though it would have been nice to see aluminum used on other panels as well). The screen is firmly hinged and it takes some force to make it wobble. Unlike other reviews I've read, the battery is locked in very securely by two locks, one on each side. There are a few small areas on the laptop casing that can be depressed, causing an audible click, but it takes a decent amount of force and the chassis seems to be very sturdy overall.

Decent keyboard. The chiclet-style keyboard is a breeze to type on. Having the extra space between each key is very nice, especially when hunting for an unfamiliar key. There is some keyboard flex present, but it's much less pronounced that my previous laptop (ASUS N80Vn) and I generally don't find that it causes any problems with my typing speed (~90 WPM).

LED Backlit Screen. After using one on my previous laptop, and now this one, I don't think I could stand to go back to a standard CCFL screen. The lighting seems much more even, and the colors are far more vibrant. I find that the screen causes less strain on my eyes over long periods of time, and even when I dim it to save battery life, it's still MUCH brighter than other laptops. With that said, the laptop most likely uses a cheaper TN panel (are there any laptops available with MVA/PVA/IPS panels?), so it may not be ideal for professional photo work.

Great overall specs. Graphics card aside, you get a Core 2 Duo that sips power and is still capable of every day tasks, 4GB of memory, a 500GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Some multi-touch support on the track pad. Two-finger scrolling really beats a dedicated scroll bar once you get used to it, especially since it frees up more track pad real estate. The three-finger right click gesture is also nice. Why can't we have more?!

Cons:

Intel Integrated Graphics. The X4500MHD (a.k.a. GMA 4500MHD) just plain sucks. It's more than plenty for basic desktop use, watching videos, and surfing the 'net. However, if you're looking to do any gaming, you should look elsewhere. For example, I read one review that stated they experienced stutters even playing World of Warcraft at a laughable 800x600 resolution. If you're not looking to do any gaming (or if the games you want to play are graphically simple, like Bejeweled, or over 5 years old, like Starcraft), the X4500MHD should do the trick. I REALLY wish the UL30Vt (user-switchable graphics between the X4500MHD and a Nvidia GT210M) was out when I purchased this one. If I had the opportunity to return mine and get the UL30Vt instead, I would in a heart beat.

No Bluetooth. ASUS, really... it's 2009. Bluetooth is popping up everywhere. Sure, I can buy a tiny, cheap USB Bluetooth adapter, but that ties up one of the three USB ports on the machine. Ugh... this is probably the only thing about the laptop that really irks me. Integrated please.

So-so track pad. The dimpled effect takes a little getting used to, but it's not horrible. I still prefer a smooth, recessed surface like traditional track pads, though. The available multi-touch gestures (mentioned above) are really nice, but I'd like to see more. I'm hoping more can be added with driver updates, and it's mot a hardware limitation. The biggest downfall to me is the buttons; they work fine, but they're a bit too stiff for my liking, and they emit a loud click when pressed. I use a wireless mouse (Logitech VX Nano highly recommended) most of the time anyway, so it doesn't make much difference to me.

Atheros Wireless card instead of an Intel card; lack of a gigabit network adapter (it's only 10/100), only 3 USB ports.

Overall, it's a a wonderful laptop for anyone looking for portability and battery life over raw performance. However, there are still a few things missing that would really make it a smash hit.

Honest reviews on ASUS UL30A-A2 Thin and Light 13-3-Inch Silver Laptop - 12 Hours of

This is an amazing laptop with a super bright screen, and amazing battery life. My only complaints are that the screen is a little too glossy (but what laptop isn't these days) and that no powerful dedicated GPU is available that can provide this much battery life. This computer can do basically everything though, and is a great buy.

With so many variations of the UL30A, it is hard to know which is the best.

A break down given by an ASUS rep somewhere on the web is below (unfortunately i can't find the link).

A2 vs. X5 vs. A3b

Battery:

UL30A-A2 = 8 cell 5600mAh

UL30A-X5 = 8 cell 4400mAh

UL30A-A3B = 8 cell 5600mAh

HDD:

UL30A-A2 = 500GB 5400rpm

UL30A-X5 = 500GB 5400rpm

UL30A-A3B = 250GB 5400rpm

RAM:

UL30A-A2 = 4GB DDR3

UL30A-X5 = 4GB DDR3

UL30A-A3B = 3GB DDR3

Operating System:

UL30A-A2 = Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

UL30A-X5 = Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

UL30A-A3B = Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) with XP Professional downgrade option

Warranty:

UL30A-A2 = 2 year global, 1 year ADW, 30 day no-bright-dot

UL30A-X5 = 1 year global, 1 year ADW, 30 day no-bright-dot

UL30A-A3B = 2 year global, 1 year ADW, 30 day no-bright-dot

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS UL30A-A2 Thin and Light 13-3-Inch Silver Laptop - 12 Hours of

I ordered my ASUS UL30A-A2 last week with one day shipping so I could get it ASAP with Windows 7. It arrived on Oct. 22, the Windows 7 release date, and I am very happy with it. I did a lot of research on thin and lights with large amounts of battery power, and from all the reviews I could find, the ASUS UL30A was the clear winner, with the Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T just behind it. I've had my computer for less than 24 hours, but keeping that in mind, here's my current assessment:

Pros:

It is very thin and very light. It's about half the wight of my old Dell Inspiron, and the size is small enough to be really portable and large enough to watch movies.

I haven't fully tested the battery life yet, but so far it's been pretty impressive.

The screen quality is amazing, and it comes with some of the most beautiful desktop images I've seen. I am truly impressed.

It doesn't get hot. It has been on my lap for hours at a time while working hard to transfer over files from my other laptop, and it hasn't been even uncomfortably warm.

The keyboard and touchpad design are great. I like the mac-style keyboard that will help keep crud from accumulating under the keys, and is easy to type on. The touchpad is flush with the wrist-rest areas, which means it also will stay cleaner with years of use. Some computer reviewers did not like the touchpad, but for me it's plenty big, and it only feels "sticky" when you press down too hard. You have to use a light touch, but it doesn't take long to adjust to.

It's fast enough and big enough for everything I need. I'm in the midst of transferring all of my music and videos, from both my old laptop and my external hard drive, only my Asus so that I can have everything with me at once, and only use my external as a backup. The system operates fast enough for my needs, though from what I've read it won't suffice if you're a gamer.

It doesn't come with Norton Anti-Virus pre-installed. This means you don't have to go through hours of trying to uninstall it so that your computer can run the way it's supposed to. It simply comes with a basic internet security program.

Most of the computer is somewhat fingerprint-proof. The only exceptions are the big glossy screen (which you shouldn't be touching anyway), the black border around the screen (which you will sometimes need to touch), and the touchpad button (which is small, but you will probably be touching it a lot). However it is still better than most laptops, as the rest of the computer will not show fingerprints.

Windows 7 is great! Again, I haven't fully tested the ins and outs, but so far it's been an easy transition for someone who has been using XP since it came out eight years ago. I avoided getting a computer with Vista, but have used it on friends' computers on occasion, and Windows 7 seems like an improvement.

I read that the power adapter would get hot, but so far mine has stayed cool. And it has been plugged in for 18 hours straight.

If you press Fn and the space bar, you can easily shift through 4 different power options: Entertainment Mode, High Performance, Quiet Office, and Battery Saving. This is an awesome feature because if you're watching a movie, it will let you change settings to stop the screen from dimming or turning off without even exiting the movie.

Cons:

The Amazon order did not come with the mouse or computer case it promised!

I don't like the reflections you can see in the glossy screen. This isn't unique to this computer, I just don't like glossy screens in general.

It came with a sticker on it saying it had 12 hours of battery life, so I'm not sure if the 16 hour claim is true... and like I said I haven't tested it. Either way, though, I don't think I'll ever need it to last more than 12 hours without being plugged in.

The way that the hard drive is partitioned is confusing. It has an OS C drive and a data D drive. However it automatically puts all of the users documents and music folders in the OS drive rather than the data drive. This is easy to change, but I still haven't figured out how to change the start menu links to my documents so that it takes me to the D drive instead of the C drive.

The touchpad doesn't support rotate and zoom motions that are common on Macs and coming out in newer PCs. Certainly not a huge problem, but they would be nice, since the touchpad does support scrolling and right click motions.

I think that's all for now. I'll try to update this when I find more pros and cons worth mentioning, and have measured the true battery life of the machine.

Review of Gateway NE56R10u Notebook Computer, Intel B820, 3GB, 320GB, 15.6"

Customer Ratings:

This is a great laptop for the money. Does all that I need it to. Great battery life as well.

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Hard drive on this laptop crashed within a few months of very light use. Recovery disks would not work so sent it to Gateway for warranty service. I had to pay shipping $25.85 without insurance (big mistake). They claimed I sent it in with the case broken and since I would not pay $210.94 to fix the broken corner they would not repair the hard drive. They sent a picture of the box and there is no visible damage on the box. It was packaged very well with the PC in the middle surrounded by tons of bubble wrap and air bags. I thought they were mixing up customer orders. They made it clear it was my laptop and they would not cover anything unless I paid the $210.94. They also told me they receive 1000, yes one thousand, computers back for service every day. At this point I was raging and told them to send it back to me. THEN I'm told if they send it back I cannot claim the $100 UPS allows for damaged merchandise that was not insured. I thought I was in the Twilight Zone these people are out and out liars and thieves!!!

I did some research for complaints against Gateway and this same scenario has played out many times over. Acer seems to be the owners of Gateway for whatever that's worth. I tried going to WalMart where the purchase was made but they refused to accept any responsibility for the merchandise they carry. So the end user....me, is out $400 and left without a computer. It's a sad day when large corporations get away with tactics like what I experienced. Suffice that I WILL NEVER own another Gateway and WILL NEVER purchase another PC from WalMart. Shame on both of them.

BUYER BEWARE when a company has no skin in the game it's easy to avoid responsibility.

Here's someone else's story:

He even paid Gateway $21.25 for their recovery disks which didn't work OF COURSE THEY DIDN'T

UPDATE 7/2/13

We tried returning the laptop to our local WalMart. They said they could not take it back that we should return it to the store where it was purchased. We made the 600 mile trip (as part of a vacation) and I'm happy to report that this WalMart did take the computer back and gave us a full refund. Goes to show who believes in their customer base and that GateWay could NOT care less. THANK YOU WALMART.

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got this refurbished gateway laptop and have so far been very impressed with the product! looks new and runs great

Honest reviews on Gateway NE56R10u Notebook Computer, Intel B820, 3GB, 320GB, 15.6"

After several months Notebook began blue screening. Called Gateway/Acer for support and they were very reluctant to help. They told us to reboot it to inital config (default). This did not fix issue. Sent the unit back for repair not sure what they did still blue screens. After going through this the warranty has passed tech support said we had insufficient Anti-virus which is BS. They want my company to buy extended warranty to fix. I'm in IT and thier tech support is horrible, not to mention having to but coverage after the fact. I swill never purchase Gateway products for my company again.

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It was exactly what my wife wanted and replaced the same one that was broken She uses it for hours on end and enjoys it being mobile soe she can take it anywhere.

Cheap Sony VAIO E Series SVE14116FXW 14-Inch Laptop (Seafoam White)

Customer Ratings:

I was kind of nervous about buying a laptop online, but I researched the model I was considering and went into Best Buy to check it out in person. I LOVE this laptop. It's very fast & smooth and fortunately I haven't had any issues with the keyboard as the previous reviewer mentioned. I love how the keys light up and you can set the backlighting to always on, only when plugged in or always off. It comes preloaded with some great Sony software that you can choose to keep or remove. I removed some of it, but kept most of the Imagination Suite, which includes Sony ACID & Vegas. It has very nice features, light weight and has really good battery life. After charging it in the morning I can go almost all day without needing to recharge it. This is doing regular tasks on it like browsing the internet, checking email, watching videos on YouTube, etc. Overall I am loving this laptop and very happy with my purchase. If you have any questions leave it in the comments below and I will try to answer your question. I hgihly recommend this laptop! If you were on the fence about getting it, I say GET IT!

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With almost 750GB of space, there is plenty of room to store an entire music collection, photos, videos and documents.

Unlike some of the other reviewers, I found this laptop to be light, responsive to commands, fast, with a good display. Typing and launching applications is quick. Even while using processor-heavy applications like Handbrake doesn't seem to slow other functions down much. I had to play with the settings of the trackpad to make it work the way I am used to, but now it is responsive and easy to use.

The drawback is the keyboard, which feels a bit cheap and flimsy. I don't like its "bounce" and feedback, though after a week's use, I am getting used to it. The lighting of the keyboard also doesn't actually help in darker environments.

Sony includes some useful applications, like Vegas Movie Studio, but like many PCs, much of what is included can be removed.

Still, for the size, weight and specs I feel like I've made a good purchase.

Best Deals for Sony VAIO E Series SVE14116FXW 14-Inch Laptop (Seafoam White)

First this laptop was purchased for my spouse not me, so I will skip the review on the color. She likes it and that's that. ;)

Now, on to business. Sony VAIO systems have had their ups and downs over the years. However, I can mostly say that Sony has come back with its new line of laptops. They seem to be built better and don't contain as much bloatware as they used it. Why computer companies still insist of packing every piece of horrible software onto their system is beyond me (yes, it could lower the price a bit, but then customers are bombarded with horrible software and blame you for installing it on their system). Anyway, I digress...

What Sony did install on this system that is fairly helpful for the average user, is a "smart" suite that basically checks the system for you and ensures you are running the latest and greatest software and have the right patches to keep your system safe. This suite isn't perfect, however it will at least keep the system cleaner than most suites I've seen from other companies that simply just try to sell you more of their products right from your own desktop (really, commercials on my computer...no, thanks). Additionally, this suite is a teaching tool. Sony takes the time to answer the hottest questions currently floating around the web pertaining to laptops. Need to learn how to hook up that new printer you just purchased to your network or laptop for use? Sony will tell you. Need to figure out if upgrading your laptop to Windows 8 is possible? Sony has you covered (it is btw). Want to know how to fix that annoying little issue that seems to be plaguing you (and likely other Sony customers)? Yep, you guessed it...Sony will post the answer in plain English right on your desktop software suite and even provide you steps to fix it. Not bad Sony, not bad at all.

Now on to the actual system. Let me first give the biggest con of them all. The trackpad is absolutely a nightmare on this system. Seriously I am not able to figure out if I'm clicking or scrolling or simply shaking my mouse pointer back and forth. They decided to incorporate the mouse buttons right into the trackpad, so you don't have separate things to touch but for these burly hands, I am unable to master it. My spouse...no complaints (I think she secretly hates it, but doesn't want to agree with me...*sigh*). If you like those "one surface does it all" type track/touchpads, then this will not bother you and you can ignore the previous portion of this review. The rest of the system is fairly nicely laid out. Keyboard is the newer "chiclet keyboard", which basically means each key is independent on the board instead of a single large mesh for food and other junk to fall into. I like that idea and believe it should become standard on all laptops. The keys, themselves, light up when used, so great for surfing in a dark room during movie night. Most of the function keys are nicely labeled, so you can figure out what two keys you have to hit to replicate the same feature that a normal 108+ keyboard has. Want to page up/down? FN+up-arrow/down-arrow takes care of you (I dislike not having dedicated page-up/down keys, but understand the use due to limited space). The ports (USB, HDMI, card reader, etc) are all nicely placed and easily accessible without looking cheap. There is a powered USB port on one side of the laptop to allow you to charge your USB device, even if you lose the laptop for storage (excellent feature and should be standard, as it is silly that I have to keep a laptop open to charge an iDevice while on the road). The built-in camera and mic work great (Skype tested and approved by family/friends). The powercord and brick are standard and seem solid enough to not cause concern that they'll break within a year (so many manufacturers seem to send crappy powerbricks, so you have to buy their replacement one for $80+ after the original breaks).

So, overall, this system is fairly well built, has a good amount of useful software pre-installed (yes a little bloatware, but nothing worth complaining about), and seems fairly sturdy. If this changes over the next year of use we'll be sure to update this review. As an HP laptop user for work (I know, stop laughing, it is what we have), I can honestly say I am impressed with how Sony turned around and revitalized their consumer line of laptops (their enterprise line was always well-respected and trusted).

Honest reviews on Sony VAIO E Series SVE14116FXW 14-Inch Laptop (Seafoam White)

I foolishly ignored the reviews about this laptop, blinded by the light up keyboard and intel 5 processor. It IS a lot faster than my old netbook, and I really enjoy the light-up keyboard. However, as other people mentioned, the mouse pad is very annoying and hard to use. Luckily I already had a nice wireless mouse that is connected via a small USB chip. If you are going to buy this, I would suggest buying a mouse as well. I would also recommend getting a warranty, I have recently started having problems with my laptop just randomly shutting off and then not turning back on for awhile. It's very strange. I like it, but I think I probably could have gotten something better for what I paid.

Update: the laptop lasted about 3 months of normal use and then refused to turn on anymore. I sent it in since it was under warranty and it could not be fixed. Luckily Squaretrade gave me my money back. I would not by this product again.

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I was worried after reading the other review's about this computer, but after seeing it a store I decided to order it anyways. I so far love everything about. I love the light up keyboard and it also seems to move very fast. I am very happy with my decision to get this computer.

Reviews of MSI C Series CX61 0NF-258US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Brown)

Customer Ratings:

I chose this laptop over a few others for it's value and for the potential of what it can do with a few extra additions to the computer.

DESIGN

The design of the computer is excellent. It has a smooth metal brownish-grey finish, full size keyboard with numpad, and a nice responsive trackpad that is easy to use. The keyboard is chiclet style, and is easy to type on and responsive. One downside is that the keyboard is not backlit, but at the price this should be expected.

SPECS

It's important to note that the processor specs listed on Amazon at the time of this review are incorrect. As listed on MSI's website (and what came with my laptop), the processor is a Intel i7-3630QM, not an Apple A4 (do PC's even come with Apple processors?). The 3630QM is a quad-core processor at 2.4ghz, with a max turbo of 3.4ghz. The laptop also has a max RAM capacity of 16GB (only comes with 6GB, however), and has SATA3. These were both important factors for me for future upgrades to the laptop.

The resolution is 1366x768, so you do give up some screen space, but again at this price that is to be expected as well.

FUNCTION

The laptop comes with surprisingly little bloat, with a few MSI utilities and Winzip, of all things. I found the computer to be quite responsive, even with the 5400rpm drive. Gaming is nice with the 645M Nvidia card. I play a lot of SWTOR and Guild Wars 2, both of which worked well.

One thing to note on this laptop is that MSI puts a tamper sticker right over one of the screw holes on the backplate of the laptop, so that putting in upgrades will essentially void your warranty (the sticker states that warranty is void if sticker is tampered with). It's a risk you will take if you plan on upgrading right away.

The machine doesn't come with recovery disks, but it does have an MSI utility to burn recovery disks on the desktop.

The screen quality is good, not great. I wouldn't put it up there as the best, but it is quite clear with good color representation. Viewing angles are not great, as the color washes out quickly as you get at more of an angle. This has been my experience with most laptops.

All in all I feel this is a great value for the money. It features several mid to higher end pieces that will allow you to have an above average laptop to do some gaming on, especially with more RAM and an SSD upgrade. As is, it still can handle current games (but surely not as well as a high end laptop or desktop).

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Cheap ASUS N56VM-AB71 Full-HD 1080P 15.6-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Review of Samsung NP-Q430-JSB1US notebook: 14 Inch LED, 2.4GHz Intel Core i5

Customer Ratings:

I purchased a refurbished unit from Best Buy $540 back in February. Overall, I really don't have any complaints and think this is a very nice computer.

My original price range was about $600 but at some point I figured I was going to end up paying about $800 for a 14 inch Samsung QX410. The week I decided I needed to just 'buy it' I found the Q430 for this great price.

*14 inch screen The 14 inch screens tend to be more expensive than the 15.6 inch that predominate. If you are looking for more portability the 14 inch screen is a good size.

*trackpad buttons this laptop has what I would call traditional 'touch pad' buttons which is what I was used to. I don't use an external mouse since I like to keep my hands on the keyboard.

*keyboard keyboard has a good feel, chiclet style, the screen is nice. aluminum

*aluminum finish the outside cover is a nice understated black aluminum, and the gray aluminum on the keyboard is nice. My wife has a Macbook Pro and they look similar. I am not a big fan of those shiny finishes of other models and this one has a nice professional non-flashy finish.

*LCD the LCD is advertised as glass. It looks nice. Some reviews I have read mention a glossy finish. I cannot really say that I have noticed it to be a distraction. I am a software developer and use the computer in different places and outside and I have not had a problem with seeing the screen.

some negatives

battery life I usually use the computer plugged into the AC so I don't have an accurate estimation of battery life. However, my best guess is somewhere between 2 and 2.5 hours. The other day I was working in a restaurant and got about 2 hour and 15 minutes. From what I gather it seems like the nVidia video uses a lot of power. Some of the newer laptops in the the $800 (like the QX-410) use nVidia Optimus which somehow increases the battery life to something like 5 hours +. Also, there is some type of app on the system that only recharges the battery to 80% so that the battery will last longer over time. You can configure the charging to full strength if you wanted although I have not.

software On the QX-410 that I was going to buy there was a version of Microsoft Office 2010 starter other laptops of different manufacturers also come with this version as well. On this Q430 it did not come with this version. It only came with 60 day trial of 2007.

other software no CD/DVDs came with the system. No recovery CDs. I tried using the recovery software and it seemed somewhat of a pain.

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Review of Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p Laptop Computer - 59390951 - Dusk Black - 4th

Customer Ratings:

I was very disappointed when IBM sold their laptop business to Lenovo; I'm not a big fan of Chinese products. Then I saw that my other son's HP laptop is also made in China; so I guess it doesn't make any difference which brand you buy. In any event, my son loves this one; it is a power packed gamer laptop.

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Came on time like it should. The packaging from UPS was a little damaged but not too bad. Opened it up to a nice a clean pc.

This thing is a beast! It will play all the latest games and do daily task without breaking a sweat! If you are looking at getting the Y510p make sure you get this model, it has everything you need.

Pros:

Fast!

I7 processor

Sleek metal design

Matte screen

1080p screen

Decent webcam

Backlit keyboard with 2 different levels.

Cons:

Runs a bit hot

Touchpad is a disaster

Fingerprint magnet(impossible to remove them too)

Price from this seller is the highest i have seen.

The ultrabay GPU's are still not on the market.

Slow 5400 rpm hdd(really is the only cause for slowdown on this laptop)

For a full review check out my youtube channel

User= CrematedFated

Just search that on youtube.

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This is pretty much the best Lenovo laptop money can buy at the moment. Ultra powerful with the latest gen Core i7 Haswell processor, dual 750M's, 16GB RAM, Full HD 1080p .. It will handle anything you throw at it, and then some. Definitely futureproof won't be needing another laptop for a long, long time.

Honest reviews on Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p Laptop Computer - 59390951 - Dusk Black - 4th

I bought this laptop so that I could use multiple screens for my work. Well short story, 2 weeks after getting it out of the box, the VGA out port would not output to my monitor. Such a waste.

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Incredible! Man this is one heck of a machine. If you want the best of everything right now, this is it. A BEAST!

Acer Aspire One A0722-0369 11.6" 2G 320GB Amd C-60 Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $415.09
Sale Price: $334.69
Today's Bonus: 19% Off

This is an excellent netbook and I am very pleased with the overall look and performance! I like the overall design for starters. It was easy to use, had all the right features including decent resolution and sound, and it is so lightweight I wonder if it's in the carrier case sometimes. If you're a serious gamer this may not be for you; but if you mainly do social networking, music downloads, blogging, journaling and internet browsing this is a great choice. It was easy to watch movies on as well and mine came with Nook (amongst other things), which I have as yet to use. It also worked well with my paranormal investigation equipment and a programmer friend described it as a 'dream' to connect up to a network.I highly recommend this netbook.

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I bought this amazing little computer for WiFi Internet use and for storing and playing back videos downloaded through the Amazon.com Unbox software. The display was great, and it played videos flawlessly; to me a miracle at the price point. Here I had everything my laptop has only without the DVD drive.

The problem is that the display developed a blue line down the middle that was there all the time. I researched and found that display problems seem to happen a lot with the Aspire One series of machines. Since I was within the return window, I deinstalled everything, wiped the data clean, and returned it. That was a lot of work for very little use. I'm thankful for the return policy, but not for all the wasted time commissioning and decommissioning this machine. It takes time to do that correctly.

I think Acer should have tested the display more before putting the machine into production. That said, I'm very open to buying a future version of this little miracle computer.

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I actually really like this netbook. It's the perfect netbook for someone like me who just needs it to do some online bill pay, Facebook, and general web surfing. I am also using it to save pictures, and so far so good. If you are a student, or someone who will get more than 6+ hours a day out of it, then I would go for a higher model. But this Acer has really impressed me.

Honest reviews on Acer Aspire One A0722-0369 11.6" 2G 320GB Amd C-60

Bought this as a straight upgrade from my Asus 1001p which was 3 yrs old and having problems charging because of the plug port. Once you uninstall the bloatware that comes prepackaged with everything these days and optimize windows 7 to run better on your netbook (search google) it works very well. Obviously I'm not gonna do any video editing or play the latest games on it but for surfing the web, watching videos, listening to music, school work and all the basics its great. As a plus the charger port is bigger and sturdier than that on my old asus.

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It is hard to find anything substantial to complain about here. The two downsides I see are that the display is glossy and difficult to read in bright light (like most laptops) and that the construction appears relatively cheap.

Nevertheless, this is exactly what I wanted and expected, a more or less disposable small laptop that would run Ubuntu well enough. Never even booted up Windows. I installed the Ubuntu 12.04 beta. Everything works: wifi, standby mode, encrypted lvm. 2GB of RAM seems to be plenty for my use.

Discount Apple MacBook Air MC968LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Customer Ratings:

I've been waiting for a new computer for my wife, something that she can use both as her desktop computer attached to a monitor, mouse and keyboard and still take along on business trips around the world. Ideally, something she could throw in her big purse and go. The previous edition of the MacBook Air was close, but too compromised in terms of processor speed. The Air is perfect for her.

At this writing, Amazon is selling two versions of the 11.6 inch MacBook Air, an i5 model with 2GB of RAM and 64 GB of SSD storage, and an i5 model with 4GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage. You can order elsewhere a third model with an i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage--the i7 is the low voltage 2 core version. This review aims at helping the consumer decide if a MacBook Air is the computer for them, and if so, which one. Short answer is the i5/4GB/128GB model is probably the sweet spot of the lineup, but some people can get along with the 64GB model as a second computer, while others will need the ultimate and expensive model.

The strengths:

This computer is fast. The combination of a Solid State Drive (SSD) hard drive and an i5 (or optionally an i7 processor make this the fastest computer I've ever used, and I have a 2011 13" MacBook Pro as my personal computer. The SSD gives it a qualitative responsiveness--application launching, task switching--which any spinning disk laptop will be unable to match. Quantitatively, it more than keeps up with its larger siblings in CPU intensive tasks. For example, my big laptop can compile a large, commercial application I maintain using Xcode 4 in 9 minutes 38 seconds, this tiny sub notebook can do the same in 9 minutes 5 seconds.

This computer is portable. I went to the local Apple Store and compared the 11.6 to the 13 inch MacBook Air, and while the 13 is extremely portable it is not a good fit for a woman's purse. This 11.6 can nearly get lost in a purse, I can imagine my wife hunting around for a few seconds trying to find it. It's ridiculously small. The 11.6 is half a pound lighter than the 13 and a pound heavier than an iPad 2.

Battery life when not under heavy load is good. I can web browse, and as long as I stay away from Flash websites, can do it for several hours. However, under load the 5 hours Apple promises for wireless web browsing becomes sub two hours. If the fan is on, the battery will not last, so it becomes time to figure out which page is running Flash, or which application is hogging all the CPU cycles. For example, I can drain the battery in about 2 hours 20 minutes watching full screen Netflix--which uses the Microsoft Silverlight plugin--over WiFi. I believe Apple no longer pre-installs Flash to pump up their claimed web browsing battery life claims. The larger Air has more room for a battery and thus has a longer battery life. The battery life of my MacBook Pro is certainly at least an hour or two longer under the same approximate load.

The screen is beautiful and crisp. Color balance and contrast seem superior to that of my MacBook Pro's (which isn't bad either). Viewing angles are good but not the spectacular IPS angles of an iPad. I had been wary of dropping down to the 11 inch screen from the 13 inch of my MacBook Pro, but I think I could work all day at this size especially if all I were doing was web browsing or video watching. I wouldn't want to edit videos or do long term software development at this size, but of course there is a Thunderbolt port and with the appropriate MiniDisplay adaptor I could attach it to any monitor. This will spend most of its life attached to a 21 inch LCD.

The keyboard is thankfully backlit. Typing is reasonably comfortable, although I'd prefer another milimeter or two of key travel. Again, this will spend most of its life attached to an external keyboard so it doesn't matter much but I much prefer the touch feel of my MacBook Pro.

The trackpad is large and Mountain Lion ready for all your taps, pinches, swipes (one, two, three and more fingers). Apple is renowned for its trackpads and this is no exceptions. Perfect finger feel, no stutters, accurate tracking. The one noticeable difference between this trackpad and the ones in its bigger cousins and the Magic Trackpad is lack of click travel distance, until you get used to it, you are likely to slam your thumb down in hopes of the expected and satisfying button click only to be dissapointed. The Air's button clicking is by necessity a more abstract gesture which usage should make more natural.

Build quality. This is not some shoddy plastic netbook. The unibody construction is amazingly rigid and could be used to bludgeon an attacker in a pinch (and still keep on downloading).

The weaknesses:

Storage size is cramped, especially at the lower price points. I think the 64GB model targets users looking to keep all of their documents, images, videos, music in "the cloud" and while I'm sure people will live in the cloud in the future, most of us live on Earth with our limited speed Internet connections. The larger capacities are fine for many people, including my wife, but not for me, I have too many videos, photos, and music files filling up my MacBook Pro to compress myself even down to the 256GB model.

There are not many ports on the box. Two USB ports, a headset port and a Thunderbolt port are limited. Apple sells the Thunderbolt version of its well regarded but expensive Cinema display which relieves most port complaints and replaces them with "I have to pay a thousand dollars for a monitor with a Firewire port?" complaints. I own this display and it is superb, but it is definitely not for the budget minded or at least those lacking in creative rationalizations. Alternatively, desk bound USB hubs are cheap, and Belkin has announced a Thunderbolt hub, although I have yet to see it for sale.

By the way, I bought the Apple USB to Ethernet adaptor and I do not recommend doing so unless your WiFi is horrible or nonexistent. Turns out WiFi is at least as fast as this adaptor and a whole lot less trouble when dealing with a virtual machine. If anything, make sure you've upgraded to an 802.11N router like a newer Airport Express.

Fan noise under load is a bit loud. Surprisingly, this computer which is dead silent until the fan kicks in can be noticeably loud due to the small space available for the fan vent. At the request of a commenter, I measured the decibel level by laying a decibel meter on the trackpad, and under load it measured 46 dB which is fairly quiet as these things go, my MacBook Pro under the same conditions gave 51 dB. Please take this with a grain of salt as I am not a sound engineer and measuring from the trackpad is not where your ears would be.

The FaceTime camera is weak compared to the cameras in the Air's larger cousins or in the Thunderbolt display. It's OK, but not the spectacular clear HD of the camera in my laptop.

This is not a gaming laptop. The one performance compromise is the lack of a proper discreet GPU. The integrated Intel HD 3000 is OK, probably as fast as the last generation NVidia 320M used in the previous Air, but not something you'll want to throw the most demanding game at. It will be fine for watching video on, and just about anything else but high end gaming.

The maximum memory capacity of the Air, despite being a 64-bit computer, is 4GB and is non-upgradeable. If you get a 2GB machine it will stay a 2GB machine. This is a shame as RAM is cheap these days; I have 8GB on my MacBook Pro. The SSD is upgradeable although online prices for the unusual SSD on a board used in the Air are amazing; maybe in a couple years it will make financial sense to upgrade. The lowest model has only 2GB of RAM and that may be too low for many combinations of applications, or when running a virtual machine.

The lack of an optical drive. I had a USB DVD drive already but many will not. Apple will sell you a pretty one, but in most cases any cheap USB drive will do. The only time my wife used her optical drive on her old computer was once a year to install TurboTax, so this will not be a big problem for her. I did have a problem installing Windows 7 using the Parallels Desktop virtual machine in that the virtual machine would not see my cheap optical drive to install Windows. I ended up using Disk Utility to make an ISO disk image of the Windows installer disk and use that as image for installation. The only other time I needed to use an optical drive in the last year is to get a Digital Download from the Captain America Blu-ray combo pack; iTunes insisted on seeing the registration disk, so I broke out the USB drive. My advice here is to not buy an optical drive but wait to see if you actually need one, and if you do need one, first try to use the included software to use another computer's optical drive.

The lack of an SD slot reader. I use the reader in my larger notebook frequently, although less often as I take more pictures with smartphones. The larger Air has a reader, and while USB SD card readers are cheap, they are also awkward, often slower and easily lost.

The expense. On a per pound basis, this is the second most expensive object I have ever purchased. My wife will mainly be using it to run Windows software, and I guess I could have gotten a netbook for traveling at a third (or less) the price. I felt it important to get a high performance computer that she could replace her desktop with too, one with a nice screen and a decent keyboard. The previous Air wasn't there yet, this is.

Tidbits:

This laptop ships with Apple's new operating system OS X 10.7 (Lion) and should be upgraded to 10.8 Mountain Lion, which means new users will be getting used to the more gestural iOS like elements of OS X, as well as the infamous upside down scrolling. Users should know that 10.7 dropped support for PowerPC applications so longtime Mac users should check that all their needed applications are Intel or Universal. One synergy between Mountain Lion and this laptop's small screen is that many of the standard applications have full screen modes, allowing the user to maximize the space devoted to web browsing for instance.

I've installed Windows 7 under the Parallels Desktop VM on this box, and it works well. I gave the virtual machine its own core and 2GB of memory and it is zippy fast. This was the main reason for moving my wife to a new box, the 5 year old Core 2 Duo she had been using was starting to slog under the weight of dozens of Excel spread sheets and scores of browser tabs.

There are reports online that some units ship with Samsung SSD drives, and some ship with slower Toshiba SSD drives. There is no way to guarantee getting the faster drive, and you may not notice anyway. This review was based on a laptop with a Samsung drive.

Which to Buy:

There are 6 different configurations of MacBook Air. I chose the i7 4GB of RAM 256GB of SSD 11 inch model--a model available in Apple's brick and mortar stores or as a custom build. This is the more portable model and has an adequate RAM and fairly good hard drive capacity. I had been thinking of getting the 13 inch version, but on looking at them in the store, I realized the extra portability and the usability of the screen was enough to make the smaller version preferable. If you don't have a purse and will be putting the laptop in a case anyway, get the 13 inch version, everything will be a bit less cramped, the battery life will be longer and you'll have an SD reader built in. I actually only purchased the i7 because that's what came with the 256GB SSD, it probably isn't worth a premium over the i5 models for what the typical Air user would be using it for.

11-Inch i5 64 GB 2GB RAM -> People with no media who want a fast web browser, or as a second computer

11-Inch i5 128GB 4GB RAM -> People with little media who run applications occasionally on the go (Most People)

11-Inch i7 256GB 4GB RAM -> People with applications with high performance requirements such as running a VM

13-Inch i5 128GB 4GB ->People with little media who run applications occasionally on the go, like a larger screen over portability

13-Inch i5 256GB 4GB -> People needing a larger screen and high performance.

13-Inch i7 256GB 4GB -> People with applications with high performance requirements such as running a VM and a larger screen

Compared to Other Laptops:

I'll be keeping my 13" MacBook Pro with its much larger disk capacity. Replacing the 750GB laptop drive in my Pro with an SSD would be ridiculously expensive. Also, I like having an SD card reader, a high resolution camera, an Ethernet port and a Firewire port. In most other ways this Air is superior. The Air has a better screen, is much more portable, and with the SSD is noticeably more responsive.

Compared to the larger MacBook Pros. The larger models have real GPUs and bigger screens, and I think are only of interest to people with specialized needs: gamers or people who need to do video editing on the go. They won't be much faster at anything not requiring the GPU. I'm just not the kind of person who'd buy a 17" laptop. It wouldn't fit on my lap. I was at a neighbor's house today and the college bound daughter had just bought a monstrous HP desktop replacement portable, and it was ridiculous, just get a smaller laptop and an external monitor so you have the option of portability--or spend less money and get a desktop.

Compared to Windows laptops. Intel Corporation has started an initiative to encourage other PC hardware manufacturers to basically clone the MacBook Air design as a class of WinTel PCs dubbed "Ultrabooks" and these very familiar looking devices are starting to become available such as the Asus ZenBook UX21, or the Toshiba Portege Z835. I haven't had a chance to look at these, but in general terms UltraBooks will have the advantage of having Windows 7 pre-installed and not forcing the user to install Boot Camp and buy a system builder copy of Windows. The specs will be similar to the MacBook Air, and sometimes better--it seems as though the low end ZenBook has a larger SSD than the low-end MacBook Air. So Windows user now have a variety of computers to choose from, and can make a determination if the higher cost of the MacBook Air (due to purchasing Windows) is worth differences in build quality and parts quality--I would be particularly suspicious of the ZenBook's trackpad and screen. But again, I have yet to see one.

In Summary:

This is a great laptop. Apple's going to sell millions of them. If it fits your needs and you have the cash you will likely be happy with it. I know people with the previous generation Airs, and they love them, and this Air is all that and twice as fast. However, be sure it fits your needs, check to see what your disk space requirements are. Check to see if you have any PowerPC applications which need to be updated. Maybe you'll need the extra battery life of the larger models. Go to an Apple Store and try out the keyboard, maybe the short key travel will drive you nuts. Maybe the short wide screen of the 11 inch will make you feel like you are browsing the web through a mail slot. Maybe you could get a refurbished last years model for a smaller amount and make do with the lesser processor. In short, because this is a pricey little laptop, you have to be sure its the one for you.

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INTRODUCTION

I had considered buying the previous generation MacBook Air (pre July 2011) but just couldn't quite force myself to spend the money on machine that still used Intel's Core 2 Duo CPUs (despite the fact that the older Airs were still actually quite speedy). Apple was using the then newer generation Core i5/i7 CPUs on their other computers.

So when Apple updated their Airs with Intel's significantly faster Sandy Bridge i5/i7 CPUs, I became interested again. But, which size would be best for me?

11" VERSUS 13"

I've been struggling over this decision on which size 2011 MBA would be better. It's the usual dilemma with the 13" boasting pretty much better specs and battery life than the 11". Then I thought, well, the 13" is ONLY 2" larger diagonally, and ONLY weighs a "little" more (and ONLY costs a "little" more).

But the reality (for me) is that for a truly mobile device, like an iPad, only the MBA 11" has a shot at being mobile. The MBA 13" is great and certainly more mobile than a conventional MacBook Pro 13", but the MBA 13" is still IMHO more of a portable, than a mobile laptop.

The MBA 11" is actually mobile.

Once I realized this, there really was no longer a comparison to be made. They are two different devices. One being mobile and the other very portable. I have a 2011 MBP 17" which is my ultimate portable, and now my 2011 MBA 11" is my mobile computer.

PROS

1. Extremely fast CPU The MBA 11" comes with a Sandy Bridge 1.6 gHz dual-core Core i5 CPU (or a 1.8 gHz dual-core i7 directly from Apple). Despite rumors to the contrary, the Turbo Boost and hyper threading capabilities were NOT turned off in the Core i5 CPUs. Geekbench benchmarks show extraordinary speed increases. The previous generation MBA 11" 1.4 gHz Core 2 Duo produced 2024 on Geekbench, while the 2011 MBA 11" now produced 5040 for a 149% increase. This speed even rivals the 2010 MacBook Pro 17" which scored 5423! The 2011 MacBook Air 13" uses a slightly faster 1.7 gHz dual core i5 which scored 5860.)

2. Extraordinarily small! The MBA 11" measures 11.8 x 7.56 x 0.68 inches, while the MBA 13" is 12.8 x 8.94 x 0.68 inches. This means that the 11" is "only" 1 inch shorter and "only" 1.3 inches less deep, but in reality, when you hold up both machines, the MBA 11" feels like a completely different machine. My wife uses a 2011 MacBook Pro 13" which has a similar footprint to the MBA 13". The MacBook Air 13" still felt too much like a laptop, albeit an extraordinarily thin and light one.

3. Extraordinarily light! The MBA 11" weighs 2.38 pounds (while the MBA 13" weighs 2.96 pounds and an iPad 2 weighs 1.35 pounds I actually sometimes hold the MBA like an iPad while reading in bed because it's so light. If you are seeking just a light, portable laptop, then the weight of the MBA 11" or 13" would be great, but if you (like me) are seeking a truly mobile device, then even fractions of a pound matter. The MBA 11" weighs less and is consequently the better choice, but as amazingly light as it is, even lighter would be better. Its doubtful that a mobile device will ever exist that would be considered too light.

4. High-speed Thunderbolt (i.e. Lightpeak) port offering bidirectional 10 gigabits/s throughput Thunderbolt technology is far more revolutionary than USB 3.0 or eSATA. Thunderbolt is NOT limited to the use of a storage device. An external LCD can be attached. Although I use the MBA 11" as my mobile device, it may be acceptable as a primary computer if one attaches an external LCD display and a high-speed Thunderbolt drive. Supposedly an external Thunderbolt hard drive would be nearly as fast as an internal hard drive.

5. Everything is solid state! This MBA feels more like a true "mobile" device since it is fully solid state with its solid state drive. I am far less worried about damaging this versus other laptops I've owned in the past.

6. Extremely fast cold starts and shutdowns thanks to the solid state drive and OS X.

7. Great, full-size keyboard AND keyboard backlighting is back again! While this may seem like a minor point, the previous generation Core 2 Duo Airs did not have the backlighting.

8. The battery life between the 11" and the 13" was only found to be 36 minutes shorter for the 11" (and NOT the 2 hours claimed by Apple) for light usage by Anandtech . The battery life is Apple (conservatively) rated at 5 hours (compared to 7 hours for the MBA 13" and also 7 hours for my MBP 17"). Apple's battery life ratings have become much more stringent in the past few years are much closer to real world usage. I am indeed able to use my 11" for about 6 hours with light usage, which is much better than Apple's claimed 5 hours.

9. Tremendous, typical Apple build quality. The MBA feels like a piece of solid precision crafted machinery.

10. Same great glass trackpad with even more gestures in OS X Lion to be used.

11. Comes with the new Mac OS X Lion (which I won't discuss, but it will allow for apps to use a full-screen mode which is of benefit to MBA 11" owners)

12. Extraordinary aesthetics I can't express adequately in words how beautiful this machine looks.

CONS

1. Although I have a Samsung LCD, the vertical and horizontal viewing angles are not nearly as good as on my 2011 MBP 17". It's still more than acceptable, but it's something that MacBook Pro owners will probably notice.

2. Some MBAs come with a Toshiba solid-state drive which is not necessarily a con, but this may bother some users. In real world usage, I have read that one cannot detect any speed differences, but if you like to run benchmarks, then the Toshiba drives in the 128 GB size seem to be slower than the Samsung 128 GB drives in certain benchmarks.

3. MBAs come with either a Samsung or LG LCD panel. It's not clear what the differences are between them. There is pure speculation and mostly fear that one panel is superior to the other, but I have seen comparison photos of both types of displays, and the only difference I can notice is an extremely slightly warmer look to the LG panel. BUT this was on computers that did not have the screens color calibrated. In any case, I can state clearly that my 2011 MacBook Pro 17" display is vastly superior in color and viewing angles, but they are completely different machines.

4. There is no SecureDigital memory card slot on the 11" MBA, although there is one in the larger 13" size. I can't believe I got another Mac laptop WITHOUT a SD slot! My 17" MBP doesn't have one either while the smaller MBPs do! And now, the smaller MBA doesn't have one while the larger one does! I wonder if I'll ever get a Mac with an SD card slot!)

TIPS

1. Believe it or not (do a Google search) but if you use Adobe's Flash, your laptop battery life will most likely be significantly shorter. Some reports show that having Adobe flash turned off allows for 2 hours of additional battery life.

2. I purchased the MBA 11" with standard 1.6 gHz Core i5 and am happy with this. If you get the built to order ones from Apple, you can upgrade your 11" to include the same 1.8 gHz Core i7 that's also available as an upgrade on the MBA 13". Anandtech has found that the 1.8 gHz Core i7 upgrade produces significantly faster benchmarks >20% speed difference without a shorter battery life. The i7 upgrade did produce significantly more heat, however.

3. If you do not need a truly mobile laptop, then the MBA 13" is probably better for most people's needs as a standard conventional laptop (albeit very light, thin, and also beautiful).

4. If you absolutely must have USB 3.0, and you can wait, then you should know that Intel's next future CPU/chipset for Ivy Bridge will allow for native USB 3.0 support.

CONCLUSION

There is no such thing as the perfect computer for everybody just as there is no single tool for every task for every person. I needed a truly mobile laptop to fit with my lifestyle and work needs, which for me included a smartphone, tablet, mobile laptop, and a large laptop/desktop replacement. For the right person, this MBA 11" is truly in a class of its own.

Best Deals for Apple MacBook Air MC968LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

hi there

i am not going to go into a deep review, as there are already a lot of reviews out there covering the same things. but I will talk about special things that other reviews may not have covered. I personally have owned the 2010 11" and 13" airs, and I currently own the 2011 macbook pro 15" and 2011 11" air. the 15" is about 2x the processing power as the air (according to geekbench), but it lacks an SSD for faster daily tasks.

-on Engadget, they recently covered that the 11" air has a faster SSD than the 13" ones. not a difference you'll notice but still a nice excuse to purchase a smaller one :) (it was something like 240mbps vs 180mbps estimated)

-the battery life on the 11" is actually down from the previous generation by about 30 minutes on battery saving settings. Last gen can get about 7 hours, this one is just over 6 (about 25% brightness, web browsing only). Also, air's battery life plummets if it does moderate to heavy processing (flash, photo/movie editing, gaming), the pro's battery life goes down, but by much less.

UPDATE: I am getting around 4.5 hours of ~4 tabs in safari (no flash), Skype IM chat, and mail client running. about 40% brightness, no backlit keyboard, no sounds. kind of subpar for me. similar to the alienware m11x where the 1st gen had super battery life, 2nd gen increase power but decrease battery life, and 3rd gen has both. hopefully apple follows suit.

-online benchmarks show that the 2011 11" air is about 2.5x faster in processor speed than the 2010 model. however, if you never used an i5 or i7 processor before, know that you will also be able to multitask a lot better than the old core2duos. for example, you can edit in iMovies and photoshop at the same time (something that will lag the crap out of the old generation).

-DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE SCREEN SIZE. with Lion, applications can take advantage of its fullscreen function. For example, for many native applications like Safari, Mail, Calendar, etc, you can fullscreen them and they'll take up the entire screen, however, they dont actually take up the main desktop screen, but a whole new screen on its own. if you have multiple fullscreen apps, you can use 4 fingers to flick between them, fast and efficient. I owned the last gen air 11" with 10.6 SL, and it was a bit frustrating having multiple windows open, i usually have to minimize most of them. Now, you can browse in full 11" screen, and use 4 fingers to flick to check your mail.

-keyboard and trackpad have more of an "umfph" feeling to them. a bit more resistance than the older models. the 2010 air was my first mac, and i was disappointed a bit by the light and cheap feeling keyboard, but the 2011 made it right.

-FYI, if you never owned a macbook, the "instant on" feature is actually in all the unibody MacBooks and Pros, but they are just a bit slower than the air's. so don't think of it as a feature only the air has, it's just a bit faster.

-you can't change anything in the air once bought, unlike the pro.

-screen quality is actually worse than the Pro line up. Yes the air has more pixel density, but the vertical viewing angle is pretty bad. it is NOT made of the same screen as the Pro and iPad (IPS), however, it is a matte screen so a much better screen in the sun. i owned both the 11" and 13", the viewing angle problem was much more noticeable on the 13" just because the screen is bigger. I always found myself adjusting the 13" screen every time i move a bit.

-2gb ram is enough to run lion just fine.

-sound seems to be slightly louder on the 13" vs 11". 11" sound is TINY. i always turn it to max whenever i'm watching videos. headphones are a must.

-if you are deciding between a pro vs air, in general, i would say go with the pro if you do professional work with photo/movie editing, hardcore gaming (at least 15in), or if you plan on buying or already have a tablet. go with the air if you are a light user, want a tablet replacement. Owning an air and a tablet is a huge waste of money.

-I would personally recommend the 1.6ghz, 4gb, 128ssd 11" macbook air. I believe that is the most useful and "bang for the buck" you can get vs the rest of the lineup. but everyone's preferences are different.

UPDATE: there has been 2 instances where the air would have its fan turned on full speed as if I was doing intensive work when i am only doing light web browsing. very rare though. fixed by shutting the system down and restarting.

All in all, my only complaint about this air is the price. the $1200 macbook pro 13" vs the $1200 11" macbook air, the air has a better hard drive, but thats it. it's using less material to make, a slower processor, smaller battery, small and worse screen, less ports, i would think Apple can price it less than the macbook pro. basically, less everything, but paying the same price because it has a good design. thats my 2 cents at least. $899 for the entry model would shut me up :)

Hope this will help you decide.

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Air MC968LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

I bought the base model Macbook air(999), as my budget didn't allow me to get the upgraded model. I also wanted a portable mac to carry around college.

I am blown away by the performance of this little fellow; it handles all the basic computing stuff with ease, and also iPhoto, iMovie very good. I have an iMac at home for heavy stuff, so if you plan on doing extensive video editing, this laptop is not a good choice. Laptop does get hot, even while doing basic stuff, but its bearable, and most importantly there is no fan sound (after playing around for 5 hours).

Update after 30 hours,

I was only able to get 3-3.5 hours of battery doing basic stuff, I mean only safari and mail, and also flash plugin switched off. I am very disappointed, as the laptop's performance was excellent except the battery.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Apple MacBook Air MC968LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Many have commented on how great a laptop this is. I wanted to specifically address a question I had before purchase and have answered for myself.

I was concerned that the 2GB RAM would not be sufficient for my needs. I run productivity software, i.e. iWork, Office etc. I also stream netflix, amazon video, MLB, etc. A friend of mine had the 2010 Macbook air with 2GB RAM and reported no issues normally associated with insufficient RAM. I took the plunge, opting for the base model.

I can report that 2GB runs excellently. I have had up to 4 video streams going at the same time, MLB, Netflix, and two youtube videos, all running fine. No freezes, no spinning beach balls, etc. Now, I don't do video editing or resource intensive applications of that nature. In those cases, you may or may not have a problem.

As far as 64GB storage. I have all my applications, work and personal file folders, etc on this air with 20GB to spare. Could I have my entire photo and iTunes library on 64 GB? No, and it wouldn't fit on 128GB or 256GB for that matter. I use a portable external hard drive for those when necessary.

If money is no object, then by all means go with the next version up....128GB Storage and 4 GB RAM. But if you want to save a a few bucks, buy some additional accessories, or not feel bad when you sell this beauty to upgrade to the next great thing a year or two down the road, you won't be disappointed with the entry level Macbook Air.