Showing posts with label laptops best buy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laptops best buy. Show all posts
Friday, January 2, 2015
Reviews of Hp Pavilion 15.6" Laptop 4gb Memory 500gb Hard Drive AMD A6-4400m
A friend needed a laptop and she picked this one as her first laptop. I showed her the basics and she was off on her own. She has had it a few months without a single problem or complaint :)Very good machine .... is fast everything works fine, I have to adapt to windows 8 but all in excellent condition
Monday, December 8, 2014
Reviews of Acer Aspire V5-131-10074G50akk 11.6" LED Notebook - Intel Celeron
Great out of the box experience.
Load the battery, plug it in and be on the internet within 10 minutes.
Small and compact. The photos do not show the battery which elevates the rear by a half inch--but also makes a nice keyboard angle for typing and allows for cooling of any heat dissipation.
Near full sized keyboard, perfectly adequate for typing.
But no keyboard back light for hunt and peck typists.
11.6 inch screen is sometimes difficult to see small type, but otherwise is fine.
Proven simple reliable Windows 7.
Fast for tasks like word processing, spreadsheets or web surfing.
But needs an external disk drive to load DVD based programs.
Quiet, fast for simple office work. No overheating battery.
Battery can last for days if properly managed.
Great Price and Great Value. Small and compact.
This product is perfect for business tasks. A nice compact size and easy to set up
Load the battery, plug it in and be on the internet within 10 minutes.
Small and compact. The photos do not show the battery which elevates the rear by a half inch--but also makes a nice keyboard angle for typing and allows for cooling of any heat dissipation.
Near full sized keyboard, perfectly adequate for typing.
But no keyboard back light for hunt and peck typists.
11.6 inch screen is sometimes difficult to see small type, but otherwise is fine.
Proven simple reliable Windows 7.
Fast for tasks like word processing, spreadsheets or web surfing.
But needs an external disk drive to load DVD based programs.
Quiet, fast for simple office work. No overheating battery.
Battery can last for days if properly managed.
Great Price and Great Value. Small and compact.
This product is perfect for business tasks. A nice compact size and easy to set up
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Samsung Series 3 NP350U2B-A01 12.5-Inch Laptop Review
post-review edit: after owning this laptop for 2 months, I've come to be very disappointed with the headphone jack. It's terrible quality and it takes great effort to find a position where it transmits sound to both ears. If it's sitting in place it's bearable, but if it's in my lap and I so much as tap my leg, the sound jumps in and out. It makes listening to music on the go unbearable. Deducted one star for it. At $800 (I bought it for $700 from amazon and have seen lower), I would not buy this laptop today.
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I bought this laptop about a week ago as a replacement for my MacBook from '10. I'm an engineering student and I got tired of the incompatibility of OS X with the majority of my CAD & engineering software. I was looking for a lightweight laptop with quality construction that would be able to run programs like SolidWorks and play HD video--no games. With this laptop, I found exactly what I was looking for.
The great part about this laptop is that all the components are really exceptional--except for the hard drive, which is crap. But see, that's precisely what I had hoped to find. When the hard drive is so awful, I didn't feel like I paid extra for a good component that I had intended to replace from the start. I went with a Crucial M4 128GB as the replacement drive. With the SSD installed, there's really no weak point to this system (except for the GPU, because there is no dedicated GPU). The standard voltage processor keeps programs running smoothly and the SSD makes programs load instantly. Power on to login in ~9 seconds. Temps stay low with no fan activity so it's totally silent. If you're just using the internet and playing music, it doesn't get above room temp. Great stuff.
Next I'll outline some key features in no particular order.
----------
Display: coming from my MacBook (not pro), the screen falls short. Same resolution but it doesn't look as crisp or colorful as the Mac--it's not a huge difference, but I noticed it when making the transition. I don't notice it anymore unless I have them side by side. Maybe it's the glossy screen vs. the Samsung's matte screen. The screen doesn't match the maximum brightness or the range of brightness available to the Mac. So, it's not a bad screen, but it could be better.
The slim bezel looks really classy & I like it a lot. The screen doesn't feel flimsy and the lack of a large bezel really makes the laptop look fantastic. The laptop overall looks beautiful & feels tough enough to leave in my backpack without worry. Some laptops I've seen in stores feel like they're made of plastic and I hate it. I don't get that with this one.
Oh, and 12.5" is the perfect size for a screen. 15" is too bulky for a work computer and the netbooks are cripplingly small. This is perfect.
----------
Keyboard: it feels SLIGHTLY smaller than a full-size keyboard, but I think it's the same as the Mac and it's not small enough to cause me to make mistakes while typing. I'm 6'4 with big hands, so you'll probably be okay. Function & arrow keys are nice to have. Keys feel responsive when pressed--it's almost exactly the same look, feel, and size of the keyboard on a similarly sized Macbook Pro. No backlight on the keys.
----------
Trackpad: I've seen worse on laptops, but the Mac's trackpad is significantly better than the one on this laptop. The laptop has drivers to allow for the same sort of "gestures" (2-finger scroll, 3-finger back) but it's not nearly as smooth as what I'm used to. I'm so glad it includes gestures though. It really does make everything significantly easier, even if the implementation has room for improvement.
Sometimes the trackpad doesn't detect my finger when I try to move the cursor. There's another problem that I run into where I try to drag a window and midway through, it 'drops' the window (for lack of better phrasing) and I have to re-click & drag. Same thing happens sometimes when I try to highlight a large section of text. The trackpad loses the position of my finger and the highlighting stops short of where I want it to be. It doesn't happen if I consciously press harder on the trackpad, but in normal use it happens enough to be annoying. The trackpad is this laptop's major flaw, but only by comparison to the Mac. By itself it's not a dealbreaker.
----------
Hard Drive: it sucks. 5400 rpm is as slow as it gets but it's the only weak point in the hardware of the system. Perfect opportunity to replace with a SSD. I really can't emphasize enough how much of a difference the SSD makes. The included hard drive is dead weight in this system and it really drags it down. You need a good replacement to unleash this laptop's potential. Read up on proper care of solid state drives if you're considering replacing the hard drive.
Just for perspective--with a SSD, this laptop 'feels' faster than a $1000 gaming computer running on a 7200RPM hard drive. The gaming computer will always outperform this laptop in games, editing software, and the like. BUT, when you're just running iTunes, Chrome, and other programs that don't require a ton of constant CPU/GPU power, this laptop will perform faster. I think that's pretty cool.
----------
CPU (processor): 2nd gen i5 & it's standard voltage, which means it's not scaled down for portability. I don't play games on it, but SolidWorks runs great and video is smooth as silk. Exceptional processor for a laptop, especially for one in this price-range/weight class.
----------
RAM (memory): 4GB is plenty for all but enthusiasts and some graphic designers. No expansion slot, but I don't really care. Wish I knew if it could be upgraded to 1-DIMM of 8GB, but you really don't need more than 4GB.
----------
Sound: I don't have a pair of great headphones so I can't speak for the sound card, but the speakers are pretty crappy. It's enough to show people videos or for once-in-a-while use, but they're no replacement for standalone speakers. The sound from MacBook speakers is an improvement, but still bad. It's laptop speakers in an ultra-portable laptop... what do you expect? I wouldn't be mad if they had left out the speakers altogether to cut down on weight.
----------
GPU: integrated with the i5 processor, the HD 3000 is enough for HD video but probably not enough for gaming. I don't use it for games so I can't speak on that behalf, but it hasn't held me back at all.
----------
Optical Drive/USB slots/etc: 2 USB slots, not USB 3.0. Not a big deal. The usb slots are on opposite sides of the laptop (one per side). No optical drive--had to install windows 7 with a thumb drive. Downloaded the drivers from here:Nothing to say about the other slots. USB and headphone slots are the only things I make use of.
----------
Battery: I get about 5 hours on a full charge while connected to WiFi. I use the 80% max charge option to save battery life but if I took it to full and took the screen to minimum brightness, I could probably push it to 6-7 hours. Not replaceable but I hope Samsung is right and it lasts for a few years.
----------
Conclusion:
The laptop isn't perfect, but I would argue that it's the best in its price range (with a SSD). All in all, I paid $879 for this laptop (including SSD), which is a few hundred dollars less than its Apple counterpart (the MacBook Air). This laptop does everything I need it to do and more, especially for the price. I'm really happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~REPLACING THE HARD DRIVE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Remove all the screws holding the back plate to the laptop. Two screws lie underneath the rubber pads. I used a philips head 0x50 screwdriver. BE CAREFUL--IT'S VERY EASY TO STRIP THE SCREWS. I cut it close a few times because I rushed through it. Take your time.
2) Now the back plate has to be pried off. This part sucks; it took me around 15 mins to finally get it. Pry off a corner and slip something underneath. Slide it around the edges and you'll hear pops when you do it right. Latches are placed around the edges and they need to be unsnapped to get the backplate off. The backplate splits the fan vents in half, so be mindful of that when you're looking for a leverage point.
3) With the backplate removed, you need to remove the screws holding down the hard drive. Carefully remove it from the SATA connector and unscrew the cover from the hard drive (the thing with the rubber pad on it).
4) Install the new hard drive and use the cover to screw it back into place.
5) Snap the backplate back on, replace the screws & rubber pads and you're all set. Remember, you'll need a USB drive to perform a fresh install of Windows 7.
I hope this helps someone who is as picky with computer purchases as I am.
PROS:
* super light i'm a pretty small person and a couple pounds can make a huge difference when i'm carrying something around all day. at just about 3 pounds this notebook is hardly noticeable in my bag.
* super small this thing is tiny, which coupled with the weight makes this an extremely portable notebook.
* attractive this may not be important to everyone but this notebook looks really nice, and as a graphic designer it is important for me to present a good appearance to my clients. it has a sleek, modern design, a nice brushed metal look on the cover and keyboard, and nice, compact keys with rounded corners.
* keyboard these keys don't have a lot of travel which i actually didn't like at first but now that i've used the notebook for a few weeks i've changed my mind. i also like the font type and size for the lettering on the keys very clear yet subtle.
* processor the i5 is a really good processor and handles photoshop, illustrator, word, and a couple of internet tabs open at the same time.
* ram 4gb of ddr3 is more than enough for most people, and from what i've read an additional 4gb can be added which helps "future proof" this notebook.
* matte screen i love not constantly having glare on my screen and i also find that the matte screen is easier on my eyes. there is also a con to the matte screen so please read that.
* noise level this notebook is really quiet compared to others i looked at. when the fans aren't on i can't hear anything (some others emit a high-pitched noise like that of old televisions) and when they are on they produce a faint humming noise that i soon forget about until they turn off. the keys are also fairly quiet i don't think typing would disturb others in a classroom or library.
CONS:
* matte screen the only down side to the matte screen is that the colors aren't as vibrant as on other screen types. my desktop uses a semi-matte screen, also made my samsung, and i notice that the colors are a bit more vibrant. that being said, even as a graphic designer this does not have a significant impact on my work as: a) the vibrancy difference is minimal, b) i don't use this notebook to create designs, only to show them and make minor modifications, and c) colors will look different on virtually every screen. i have not yet messed around with the display settings so that may have an impact but no matter what you do the colors will not look the same as they do on a glossy or semi-matte screen. however, there is no noticeable color bleed on this matte screen which would have been a deal breaker for me.
* indicator lights my eyes are very sensitive to light and motion so the first thing i do on a new computer is turn the screen brightness down and turn off the indicator lights on the keyboard...except in this case i was unable to turn these lights off. i called samsung and they confirmed that the lights cannot be turned off so i'm going to cut some tiny pieces of electrical tape to put over them until a third party solution is available. on the plus side, the screen brightness control is great (i use 3/8 8 is instant eye pain and 1 has me squinting to see).
* no dedicated graphics card i would really prefer a dedicated graphics card but in this price range it's nearly impossible to find a notebook with this feature. for the average computer user this won't be an issue but if you are using graphic intensive programs a dedicated card can help with lag time and be even more useful when newer versions of such programs come out as they will most definitely be more demanding.
* no usb 3.0 not a big deal now but may be annoying in the future. if necessary i'll get an adapter.
OVERALL
really nice computer in terms of processing power, ram, portability, and style. i would recommend this computer for: graphic designers as a supplemental portable, students as a primary computer that can also easily be carried to class (boy do i wish they made computers this light when i was in college), and for any person who wants a portable computer for everyday stuff (word processing, internet use, etc) that has a good enough processor and enough ram to be useful for years to come.
edit 12.10: i forgot to mention that when i got this computer the function keys didn't work. i solved this problem by downloading the "easy display manager" from this samsung downloads page:
The system did not come with an over abundance of bloatware applications pre-installed so it was usable right away without having to uninstall unneeded junk. The Fast Start technology seems to work as it does wake back up very quickly. I am anxious to try the wireless display but need to buy one of the TV adapters to make it work.
I would definiately buy this again.
12/17/2011 Update:
I found I was occasionally having trouble with the wireless connection when unplugged. I changed the windows power settings to have the wireless network use maximum power when on battery and it seems to have fixed the problem.
---------
I bought this laptop about a week ago as a replacement for my MacBook from '10. I'm an engineering student and I got tired of the incompatibility of OS X with the majority of my CAD & engineering software. I was looking for a lightweight laptop with quality construction that would be able to run programs like SolidWorks and play HD video--no games. With this laptop, I found exactly what I was looking for.
The great part about this laptop is that all the components are really exceptional--except for the hard drive, which is crap. But see, that's precisely what I had hoped to find. When the hard drive is so awful, I didn't feel like I paid extra for a good component that I had intended to replace from the start. I went with a Crucial M4 128GB as the replacement drive. With the SSD installed, there's really no weak point to this system (except for the GPU, because there is no dedicated GPU). The standard voltage processor keeps programs running smoothly and the SSD makes programs load instantly. Power on to login in ~9 seconds. Temps stay low with no fan activity so it's totally silent. If you're just using the internet and playing music, it doesn't get above room temp. Great stuff.
Next I'll outline some key features in no particular order.
----------
Display: coming from my MacBook (not pro), the screen falls short. Same resolution but it doesn't look as crisp or colorful as the Mac--it's not a huge difference, but I noticed it when making the transition. I don't notice it anymore unless I have them side by side. Maybe it's the glossy screen vs. the Samsung's matte screen. The screen doesn't match the maximum brightness or the range of brightness available to the Mac. So, it's not a bad screen, but it could be better.
The slim bezel looks really classy & I like it a lot. The screen doesn't feel flimsy and the lack of a large bezel really makes the laptop look fantastic. The laptop overall looks beautiful & feels tough enough to leave in my backpack without worry. Some laptops I've seen in stores feel like they're made of plastic and I hate it. I don't get that with this one.
Oh, and 12.5" is the perfect size for a screen. 15" is too bulky for a work computer and the netbooks are cripplingly small. This is perfect.
----------
Keyboard: it feels SLIGHTLY smaller than a full-size keyboard, but I think it's the same as the Mac and it's not small enough to cause me to make mistakes while typing. I'm 6'4 with big hands, so you'll probably be okay. Function & arrow keys are nice to have. Keys feel responsive when pressed--it's almost exactly the same look, feel, and size of the keyboard on a similarly sized Macbook Pro. No backlight on the keys.
----------
Trackpad: I've seen worse on laptops, but the Mac's trackpad is significantly better than the one on this laptop. The laptop has drivers to allow for the same sort of "gestures" (2-finger scroll, 3-finger back) but it's not nearly as smooth as what I'm used to. I'm so glad it includes gestures though. It really does make everything significantly easier, even if the implementation has room for improvement.
Sometimes the trackpad doesn't detect my finger when I try to move the cursor. There's another problem that I run into where I try to drag a window and midway through, it 'drops' the window (for lack of better phrasing) and I have to re-click & drag. Same thing happens sometimes when I try to highlight a large section of text. The trackpad loses the position of my finger and the highlighting stops short of where I want it to be. It doesn't happen if I consciously press harder on the trackpad, but in normal use it happens enough to be annoying. The trackpad is this laptop's major flaw, but only by comparison to the Mac. By itself it's not a dealbreaker.
----------
Hard Drive: it sucks. 5400 rpm is as slow as it gets but it's the only weak point in the hardware of the system. Perfect opportunity to replace with a SSD. I really can't emphasize enough how much of a difference the SSD makes. The included hard drive is dead weight in this system and it really drags it down. You need a good replacement to unleash this laptop's potential. Read up on proper care of solid state drives if you're considering replacing the hard drive.
Just for perspective--with a SSD, this laptop 'feels' faster than a $1000 gaming computer running on a 7200RPM hard drive. The gaming computer will always outperform this laptop in games, editing software, and the like. BUT, when you're just running iTunes, Chrome, and other programs that don't require a ton of constant CPU/GPU power, this laptop will perform faster. I think that's pretty cool.
----------
CPU (processor): 2nd gen i5 & it's standard voltage, which means it's not scaled down for portability. I don't play games on it, but SolidWorks runs great and video is smooth as silk. Exceptional processor for a laptop, especially for one in this price-range/weight class.
----------
RAM (memory): 4GB is plenty for all but enthusiasts and some graphic designers. No expansion slot, but I don't really care. Wish I knew if it could be upgraded to 1-DIMM of 8GB, but you really don't need more than 4GB.
----------
Sound: I don't have a pair of great headphones so I can't speak for the sound card, but the speakers are pretty crappy. It's enough to show people videos or for once-in-a-while use, but they're no replacement for standalone speakers. The sound from MacBook speakers is an improvement, but still bad. It's laptop speakers in an ultra-portable laptop... what do you expect? I wouldn't be mad if they had left out the speakers altogether to cut down on weight.
----------
GPU: integrated with the i5 processor, the HD 3000 is enough for HD video but probably not enough for gaming. I don't use it for games so I can't speak on that behalf, but it hasn't held me back at all.
----------
Optical Drive/USB slots/etc: 2 USB slots, not USB 3.0. Not a big deal. The usb slots are on opposite sides of the laptop (one per side). No optical drive--had to install windows 7 with a thumb drive. Downloaded the drivers from here:Nothing to say about the other slots. USB and headphone slots are the only things I make use of.
----------
Battery: I get about 5 hours on a full charge while connected to WiFi. I use the 80% max charge option to save battery life but if I took it to full and took the screen to minimum brightness, I could probably push it to 6-7 hours. Not replaceable but I hope Samsung is right and it lasts for a few years.
----------
Conclusion:
The laptop isn't perfect, but I would argue that it's the best in its price range (with a SSD). All in all, I paid $879 for this laptop (including SSD), which is a few hundred dollars less than its Apple counterpart (the MacBook Air). This laptop does everything I need it to do and more, especially for the price. I'm really happy with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~REPLACING THE HARD DRIVE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1) Remove all the screws holding the back plate to the laptop. Two screws lie underneath the rubber pads. I used a philips head 0x50 screwdriver. BE CAREFUL--IT'S VERY EASY TO STRIP THE SCREWS. I cut it close a few times because I rushed through it. Take your time.
2) Now the back plate has to be pried off. This part sucks; it took me around 15 mins to finally get it. Pry off a corner and slip something underneath. Slide it around the edges and you'll hear pops when you do it right. Latches are placed around the edges and they need to be unsnapped to get the backplate off. The backplate splits the fan vents in half, so be mindful of that when you're looking for a leverage point.
3) With the backplate removed, you need to remove the screws holding down the hard drive. Carefully remove it from the SATA connector and unscrew the cover from the hard drive (the thing with the rubber pad on it).
4) Install the new hard drive and use the cover to screw it back into place.
5) Snap the backplate back on, replace the screws & rubber pads and you're all set. Remember, you'll need a USB drive to perform a fresh install of Windows 7.
I hope this helps someone who is as picky with computer purchases as I am.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
Love this laptop, using it to write this review. I got it because we recently started started going paperless at work and wanted my own notebook to carry with me and do my work. Its absoultely perfect for the job. Most people notice the aesthetics first, its a very attractive machine. Even though the series 3 is the budget series of Samsung, this notebook does not feel cheap in any way. The next thing people notice is the weight and size. It's got the same form factor as an 11.5 inch laptop thanks to Samsung's trademark thin bezels, so you get more screen for the same form factor. The weight is perfect, i carry it around with me all day without problems. Also like the keyboard, its a full sized keyboard with chiclet keys. Also has arrow buttons, which is a huge plus for me. With a full version of Windows 7 and the horsepower of the i5 and 4GB RAM, it runs better and smoother than any other laptop Ive ever owned. Overall, a great purchase for a great price. Would buy again in a heartbeat.Best Deals for Samsung Series 3 NP350U2B-A01 12.5-Inch Laptop
i am a freelance graphic designer and primarily use this notebook to take to client meetings to give them progress reports (secondary use is pretty much all internet). while this computer is not powerful enough to substitute for a desktop when using programs like illustrator and photoshop, it does run these programs well enough for my purposes (haven't really noticed significant lag time...maybe a bit with 20+ layers open but nothing ridiculous). these are pretty much the only programs i run on the computer besides office; i haven't started any new projects using this computer but i do make adjustments to projects that i have already started on my desktop and this computer handles that really well. now for the pros and cons:PROS:
* super light i'm a pretty small person and a couple pounds can make a huge difference when i'm carrying something around all day. at just about 3 pounds this notebook is hardly noticeable in my bag.
* super small this thing is tiny, which coupled with the weight makes this an extremely portable notebook.
* attractive this may not be important to everyone but this notebook looks really nice, and as a graphic designer it is important for me to present a good appearance to my clients. it has a sleek, modern design, a nice brushed metal look on the cover and keyboard, and nice, compact keys with rounded corners.
* keyboard these keys don't have a lot of travel which i actually didn't like at first but now that i've used the notebook for a few weeks i've changed my mind. i also like the font type and size for the lettering on the keys very clear yet subtle.
* processor the i5 is a really good processor and handles photoshop, illustrator, word, and a couple of internet tabs open at the same time.
* ram 4gb of ddr3 is more than enough for most people, and from what i've read an additional 4gb can be added which helps "future proof" this notebook.
* matte screen i love not constantly having glare on my screen and i also find that the matte screen is easier on my eyes. there is also a con to the matte screen so please read that.
* noise level this notebook is really quiet compared to others i looked at. when the fans aren't on i can't hear anything (some others emit a high-pitched noise like that of old televisions) and when they are on they produce a faint humming noise that i soon forget about until they turn off. the keys are also fairly quiet i don't think typing would disturb others in a classroom or library.
CONS:
* matte screen the only down side to the matte screen is that the colors aren't as vibrant as on other screen types. my desktop uses a semi-matte screen, also made my samsung, and i notice that the colors are a bit more vibrant. that being said, even as a graphic designer this does not have a significant impact on my work as: a) the vibrancy difference is minimal, b) i don't use this notebook to create designs, only to show them and make minor modifications, and c) colors will look different on virtually every screen. i have not yet messed around with the display settings so that may have an impact but no matter what you do the colors will not look the same as they do on a glossy or semi-matte screen. however, there is no noticeable color bleed on this matte screen which would have been a deal breaker for me.
* indicator lights my eyes are very sensitive to light and motion so the first thing i do on a new computer is turn the screen brightness down and turn off the indicator lights on the keyboard...except in this case i was unable to turn these lights off. i called samsung and they confirmed that the lights cannot be turned off so i'm going to cut some tiny pieces of electrical tape to put over them until a third party solution is available. on the plus side, the screen brightness control is great (i use 3/8 8 is instant eye pain and 1 has me squinting to see).
* no dedicated graphics card i would really prefer a dedicated graphics card but in this price range it's nearly impossible to find a notebook with this feature. for the average computer user this won't be an issue but if you are using graphic intensive programs a dedicated card can help with lag time and be even more useful when newer versions of such programs come out as they will most definitely be more demanding.
* no usb 3.0 not a big deal now but may be annoying in the future. if necessary i'll get an adapter.
OVERALL
really nice computer in terms of processing power, ram, portability, and style. i would recommend this computer for: graphic designers as a supplemental portable, students as a primary computer that can also easily be carried to class (boy do i wish they made computers this light when i was in college), and for any person who wants a portable computer for everyday stuff (word processing, internet use, etc) that has a good enough processor and enough ram to be useful for years to come.
edit 12.10: i forgot to mention that when i got this computer the function keys didn't work. i solved this problem by downloading the "easy display manager" from this samsung downloads page:
Honest reviews on Samsung Series 3 NP350U2B-A01 12.5-Inch Laptop
What a great little laptop. I wanted thin & light but did not want something underpowered. So far I am extremely impressed with this system. The screen is bright and at 12.5" feels big enough to do most anything. It is very thin and at 3 lbs really does feel very light, in fact any ligher and it might slide around the desk when you use it. The core i5 2410m is quite fast and has the upgraded HD 3000 video, so far all of the graphics and video work has really impressed. I considered a system with an SSD however I do like having the space that the 500GB HDD provides.The system did not come with an over abundance of bloatware applications pre-installed so it was usable right away without having to uninstall unneeded junk. The Fast Start technology seems to work as it does wake back up very quickly. I am anxious to try the wireless display but need to buy one of the TV adapters to make it work.
I would definiately buy this again.
12/17/2011 Update:
I found I was occasionally having trouble with the wireless connection when unplugged. I changed the windows power settings to have the wireless network use maximum power when on battery and it seems to have fixed the problem.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 3 NP350U2B-A01 12.5-Inch Laptop
I wanted a reasonable sized, light, easily transportable notebook computer that would be fast enough in normal usage to not feel slow. This Samsung works. It is subjectively fast, light enough (3.1 lbs) to carry easily, and has the capacity to do everything I want to do. The keys don't have much travel but are easy to get used to. At full brightness, the screen is fine. At 12.6 inches, it's big enough. Even with the power cord, the whole package is still under 5 lbs. Wish it had more USB ports--2 means I have to use a small 4-hole port. I got an external DVD writer/player for when I have to use a DVD to get software installed. I prefer to not have to carry the additional weight of a DVD around when my need for it is rare. The very smoothly opening lid is a nice touch, adding to the all around good visual and tactile impression of this notebook.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Review of 15.6IN 3GB/160/WIN 7 64BIT
Three weeks after I received this laptop, it suddenly displayed the "blue screen of death" one night while I was surfing the internet. It never would re-start, even in Safe Mode; nor would it boot from the restore disc that I had burned. The only option Acer offered was for me to ship the computer to their repair facility in Texas, at my expense ($30). I did ship it, two and a half weeks ago, and still haven't gotten it back. If this is indicative of the kind of service and reliability a person can expect from Acer, I would recommend not buying one. There's a reason the price is low-you get what you pay for. At least with a company like HP, you can take your computer to a local authorized repair facility if something happens to it, and have it back in a short time. I wish I would have spent a little more money and gotten a better-quality machine.
As for the performance of the computer itself, the speakers are of poor quality (very quiet), so watching DVD's without headphones or external speakers is not enjoyable at all. Also, the DVD player lags/skips at least a few times with every DVD I've viewed; sometimes more often than that.
You can get new batteries and CPUs etc no problem. The motherboards and some of the other parts are starting to run out, and it's getting harder to find an actual new one of these now. If it doesn't come in it's box with clear plastic film covering the whole thing it is not new. If you can get a new one, upgrade the cpu, max out the ram, and throw an ssd in it, you will have a very decent laptop. The biggest bottleneck in this machine is the integrated graphics. the Radeon hd 3200 is not going to let you play new games, but the system is definately powerful enough for anything that is not too graphics intensive.
I like the asthetic appeal and overall design of the laptop. I have a sick gaming desktop and this does everything else. The bottom line though, even if you did get one new in box and spent another $150 bucks to max it out... that's like $600-$700. My newest phone is almost as powerful as this laptop, and $700 will buy something decent even if it's from the low end of a newer upgradable line with a decent parts pool. I'm only here because I have grown attachemd to mine lol. It's going to be sad when it dies, probably miss it more than my first dog. (knocked a star off because it is getting hard to find parts)
The graphics card is the ATI Radeon HD 3200, and it's an onboard shared memory card. Usually those cards are "pieces of crap" but I was surprised with what I could do with it. But don't think you will be maxing out many games.
The processor is AMD Athlon 64 Processor TF-20 which is a lowly single core 1.66 ghz processor. Yes, that's very little but again I was surprised with what it can do.
Games I've played and have ran smoothly have been
-Guild Wars (Maxed out)
-League of Legends (Minimum Settings)
-Forsaken World (Medium)
-Starcraft 2 (Minimum settings) Note here: Single Player ran like a breeze, no lag at all. Multiplayer was differnt, it lagged some. I had to overclock the processor in order for it to play smoothly (and this isn't a processor that is meant to be overclocked so I don't recommend doing it).
-Dragon Age (Minimum Settings) This surprisingly ran pretty smoothly, some lag when in battles.
-Fallout 3 (Semi Minimum Settings) I only had terrain on medium here and it ran somewhat smoothly, it probably would have ran better if it was on low.
I also ran other programs such as Auto-CAD and Pro/E perfectly fine on this machine.
As for streaming videos this computer is finicky about it. Sometimes I can watch Starcraft 2 games in 720p on Youtube smoothly and sometimes I can't. The wireless works perfectly fine, no complaints here, except at my college where the wireless is horrendous.
TL;DR: This is a good computer for anyone if they don't expect to do anything too strenuous on it, just simple everyday task such as going on facebook or playing simple flash games. Like I said before I was surprised with what I could do with this computer. The website says 160gb HDD but it's really about 140 (but that's pretty much the same with all HDD's). If I'm browsing the web not watching videos with the brightness down I get about 1 hour 30 minutes of battery time. But that's also because I just keep my computer plugged in (about 40-50 minutes of life if playing a simple game such as Dungeon Fighter Online). It can multi task to an extent but this Laptop is severely limited by it's processor.
I don't know why the price is $450 now, I remember looking at this before and it was $400.
Also, I kinda wish this laptop was able to output HDMI, as it doesn't have the HDMI port.
As for the performance of the computer itself, the speakers are of poor quality (very quiet), so watching DVD's without headphones or external speakers is not enjoyable at all. Also, the DVD player lags/skips at least a few times with every DVD I've viewed; sometimes more often than that.
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I'm not even sure why they call this a laptop because with less than a 1 hour battery life it certainly isn't portable by any means. Also if you have it on standby and not plugged in it will be completely dead by the time you go back to it, even if it was fully charged when you closed the top. The ac adapter pretty much just falls out with any little motion. It also doesn't have enough video card to play small flip videos either and it really struggles with streaming video as well. By the time you get a spare battery, new video card, louder speakers, etc.. you might as well have spent the money up front.Best Deals for 15.6IN 3GB/160/WIN 7 64BIT
I bought one of these new in 2009, and am typing on it right now. I love this machine and am currently looking for another one for when this one does start to have problems. The thing with this model is that it was released with 2 major variants. the single core TF-20 1.6ghz and the dual core TK-42 1.6ghz. the single core one is crap stock, but you can buy the best processor for the socket for about $35 bucks now. these things were $450 or so new in 2009. be careful when looking for one. if your battery dies fast it is because it's worn out or it's used and someone screwed up the memory in it.You can get new batteries and CPUs etc no problem. The motherboards and some of the other parts are starting to run out, and it's getting harder to find an actual new one of these now. If it doesn't come in it's box with clear plastic film covering the whole thing it is not new. If you can get a new one, upgrade the cpu, max out the ram, and throw an ssd in it, you will have a very decent laptop. The biggest bottleneck in this machine is the integrated graphics. the Radeon hd 3200 is not going to let you play new games, but the system is definately powerful enough for anything that is not too graphics intensive.
I like the asthetic appeal and overall design of the laptop. I have a sick gaming desktop and this does everything else. The bottom line though, even if you did get one new in box and spent another $150 bucks to max it out... that's like $600-$700. My newest phone is almost as powerful as this laptop, and $700 will buy something decent even if it's from the low end of a newer upgradable line with a decent parts pool. I'm only here because I have grown attachemd to mine lol. It's going to be sad when it dies, probably miss it more than my first dog. (knocked a star off because it is getting hard to find parts)
Honest reviews on 15.6IN 3GB/160/WIN 7 64BIT
Hardware is great, really small but deilevers a punch. However the mouse pad is exceedingly annoying. I carry my laptop everywhere and don't use a mouse, so this is aggravating. The mouse pad is maybe 1.5 inches by 4 inches and insensitive to touch. Don't expect much noise out of the speakers either.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for 15.6IN 3GB/160/WIN 7 64BIT
I actually won this laptop in raffle, but for what the price is on Amazon, it's well worth it. You can't expect a power house of a computer under $500 even from Acer.The graphics card is the ATI Radeon HD 3200, and it's an onboard shared memory card. Usually those cards are "pieces of crap" but I was surprised with what I could do with it. But don't think you will be maxing out many games.
The processor is AMD Athlon 64 Processor TF-20 which is a lowly single core 1.66 ghz processor. Yes, that's very little but again I was surprised with what it can do.
Games I've played and have ran smoothly have been
-Guild Wars (Maxed out)
-League of Legends (Minimum Settings)
-Forsaken World (Medium)
-Starcraft 2 (Minimum settings) Note here: Single Player ran like a breeze, no lag at all. Multiplayer was differnt, it lagged some. I had to overclock the processor in order for it to play smoothly (and this isn't a processor that is meant to be overclocked so I don't recommend doing it).
-Dragon Age (Minimum Settings) This surprisingly ran pretty smoothly, some lag when in battles.
-Fallout 3 (Semi Minimum Settings) I only had terrain on medium here and it ran somewhat smoothly, it probably would have ran better if it was on low.
I also ran other programs such as Auto-CAD and Pro/E perfectly fine on this machine.
As for streaming videos this computer is finicky about it. Sometimes I can watch Starcraft 2 games in 720p on Youtube smoothly and sometimes I can't. The wireless works perfectly fine, no complaints here, except at my college where the wireless is horrendous.
TL;DR: This is a good computer for anyone if they don't expect to do anything too strenuous on it, just simple everyday task such as going on facebook or playing simple flash games. Like I said before I was surprised with what I could do with this computer. The website says 160gb HDD but it's really about 140 (but that's pretty much the same with all HDD's). If I'm browsing the web not watching videos with the brightness down I get about 1 hour 30 minutes of battery time. But that's also because I just keep my computer plugged in (about 40-50 minutes of life if playing a simple game such as Dungeon Fighter Online). It can multi task to an extent but this Laptop is severely limited by it's processor.
I don't know why the price is $450 now, I remember looking at this before and it was $400.
Also, I kinda wish this laptop was able to output HDMI, as it doesn't have the HDMI port.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Reviews of Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E431 62775GU 14" i7-3610QM 2.3GHz 8GB 320GB
prfect, small, easy to carry around, light, elegant, fast, good quality, home use, very good specifications and performance. big like!
The keyboard is one of those nice ones Lenovo makes. However, for reasons unknown, where the CTRL key should be on the left side, they put an Fn key, with the CTRL key to the right of it. Already it has caused me so much aggravation that I pulled out a wireless keyboard to use. That really annoyed me as the Lenovo keyboard is usually a pleasure to type on.
This ThinkPad is very light. I can easily pick her up with one hand, and I'm a little old lady, not a body builder. Usually I do not move my laptops from room to room, as I have other computers set up around the house, but this one is going to be moving around with me due to her lightness and incredible speed.
One thing that irked me is this ThinkPad is filled with bloatware, Lenovo-created bloatware. That's a first for me. One of the reasons I have been so turned on to Lenovo was the lack of bloatware and how little time I had to expend to get her ready for work. All of my computers are online 24/7 because I work online, so reliability is a must.
Regardless of my few cons, I would recommend this machine to anyone who needs speed and a lot of memory. For me, Lenovo has proven to be reliable, machine after machine. This is the fifth Lenovo I bought in the past 12 months, and is surely a star, exceeding my expectations.
Lenovo used to have a reputation as a quality manufacturer, this laptop disagrees with that reputation, I don't know if it's a result of Lenovo slipping, the abomination that is windows 8, or an unholy matrimony of the two, but the end result is a product that I instantly regret purchasing and one that I would never recommend to anyone.
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This is a very nice machine running under Win 7 Pro, typical of the quality you get when you buy Lenovo. Compact, with a 14-inch screen, but I can actually see things easily, which surprised me. I was ready to hook her up to a large wide-screen monitor, which I will still do, but for the moment, as I am getting her updated with my work projects, I can see the text just fine.The keyboard is one of those nice ones Lenovo makes. However, for reasons unknown, where the CTRL key should be on the left side, they put an Fn key, with the CTRL key to the right of it. Already it has caused me so much aggravation that I pulled out a wireless keyboard to use. That really annoyed me as the Lenovo keyboard is usually a pleasure to type on.
This ThinkPad is very light. I can easily pick her up with one hand, and I'm a little old lady, not a body builder. Usually I do not move my laptops from room to room, as I have other computers set up around the house, but this one is going to be moving around with me due to her lightness and incredible speed.
One thing that irked me is this ThinkPad is filled with bloatware, Lenovo-created bloatware. That's a first for me. One of the reasons I have been so turned on to Lenovo was the lack of bloatware and how little time I had to expend to get her ready for work. All of my computers are online 24/7 because I work online, so reliability is a must.
Regardless of my few cons, I would recommend this machine to anyone who needs speed and a lot of memory. For me, Lenovo has proven to be reliable, machine after machine. This is the fifth Lenovo I bought in the past 12 months, and is surely a star, exceeding my expectations.
Best Deals for Lenovo Thinkpad Edge E431 62775GU 14" i7-3610QM 2.3GHz 8GB 320GB
I recently ordered this laptop with fairly low expectations. I needed a device that I could word process on/browse the web, maybe I'd use it to listen to music or watch a movie on the go. All in all, fairly low impact computing. I figured at this price point I could get a machine that runs Office/Firefox with no hassles. I figured wrong. I should have known what I was in for when the laptop crashed the first time I tried to launch a windows 8 application from the new metro interface, after being forced to hard reset my brand new laptop less than an hour after opening it I was able to get the thing into desktop mode, which is where the real problems developed. About every 5 minutes or so the laptop will lock up for around 10 seconds, a look into the task manager revealed the culprit, disk usage was constantly spiking to 100% while nothing was going on. I tried troubleshooting I removed some of the crapware, and norton (which is another problem, this machine is bogged down with crap that no normal person would ever want), this didn't fix the issue, I doubled the size of the virtual memory, this didn't fix the issue. Finally I tried disabling Windows Automatic Indexing, this not only didn't resolve the issue, on restart I found myself trapped at the black screen of death. Attempts to do a system restore/factory resets were an exercise in frustration (fun fact, if you need to do a system restore you apparently need to use a USB mouse as the trackpad lets you move the mouse but not click, should you not have a mouse then I guess you're S.O.L.). I tried the "faster" system restore a second ago and it did absolutely nothing. I'm now awaiting the results of the longer "full" factory reset but I have no hope at this point.Lenovo used to have a reputation as a quality manufacturer, this laptop disagrees with that reputation, I don't know if it's a result of Lenovo slipping, the abomination that is windows 8, or an unholy matrimony of the two, but the end result is a product that I instantly regret purchasing and one that I would never recommend to anyone.
Monday, August 25, 2014
Buy HP dv7-6c90us (17.3-Inch Screen) Laptop
I bought this laptop to replace a five-year old Gateway. I was looking for a larger display and the blu-ray drive was appealing, as was the 8GB of RAM and I7 processor. However, this machine has a serious flaw that HP has been unable to correct. The cursor jumps around randomly when you are typing. For instance, it's happened two dozen times already as I type this review. It will jump several lines up or down or just go back several words. It will also just randomly highlight lines of text, which causes them to vanish as soon as you type another letter. Despite hours with HP tech support, they have been unable to correct the problem. An online search reveals that this is a problem endemic to HP laptops. The only way I can correct it is to disable the track pad and use a mouse. Yet I could never use a mouse when traveing, for instance, because this laptop takes up all the space on an airline tray table. There's no room to use a mouse. I'm returning this and getting a Mac Book. I'd give it zero stars, if I could (it took me five tries just to type this last sentence). One more thing, despite the advertised 10 1/2 hour battery life, the best I've gotten is five hours and that's just word processing (or trying to use Word, I should say). A major fail for HP.
Status update:
After more time with HP Tech support, the problem has still not been resolved. We've removed and reinstalled the track pad drivers and reduced the sensitivity of the pointer and palm detector. However, as long as I make absolutely ZERO contact with the case, I can type successfully. If my palms rest anywhere within ten inches of the track pad, the pointer starts jumping around. I'll give HP tech support good marks, because they're always available and they've been trying their best to solve the problem. It's also nice to speak with someone who speaks English as a native language. The display is terrific and blu-rays look great, so in effect I've paid a thousand dollars for a blu-ray player. I'm adding a star because of the responsive tech support and all the other features that work well, everything but the hypersensitive track pad. I'm still leaning toward returning it for a refund but I'm going to give HP a bit longer to try to solve the problem. Stay tuned.
March 28 Update:
On the verge of returning this machine, I decided to give it one last lengthy test. I took it on a two-week road trip, which covered over 6000 miles,and included plane travel and two days on the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle. I truly wrung out this machine. I've pretty much solved the jumping cursor problem by never resting my hands on the case. It's tiresome and annoying, which is why the max I can rate this is four stars. Actually, I can rest my left palm on the computer with no problem. It's only the right side of the case that seems to cause the problem. I've tried netbooks and an IPad to get my work done when I travel. The keyboards on netbooks are just too small and the IPad . . . well, it's a fun gadget for some things and a great picture viewer, but for the heavy duty word processing, spread sheets, data bases, and the like that I need, it falls far short. And I like my Kindle far better for a book reader. But I digress. During my trip I was working on research projects, designs, contracts and proposals. I was also watching blu ray movies, editing photos and videos, and making data discs backups. This machine did everything with flying colors (mostly). I've managed to get the battery life up to eight and a half hours, which included watching two movies, and four hours of heavy duty power point work. I love the power of this processor and the ample RAM. Graphics are terrific. I'm carrying it around in a TSA-friendly (an oxymoron, if there ever was one) Mobile Edge 17.3 back pack. Yep, this laptop is big and heavy, but the Mobile Edge fits nicely on my roll-aboard,so that's pretty much a non-issue. It took me a long time to like this product but I'm satisfied now. The only thing that keeps me from giving it five stars is the wonky track pad. At least I've raised my rating from the original one-star I gave it.
Update: 05/05/2012
Since I got this laptop, I have no problem with this laptop at all. Everything work great! I would absolutely recommend this product and recommend HP brand for laptop because the price is reasonable. If anyone want to ask me a question about this product, you can comment in here and I will answer as soon as possible. I hope my review can help make your decision.
Oh... and if you need to return it to HP for a repair make sure you know how HP SimplePass works (this is the fingerprint authentication) because your passwords are stored in a clear text format and someone with admin rights can print them out !!! Unbelievable but true. Some tech guy in some repair shop can print your user name and password from your back accounts, trading accounts, etc, etc..... (an admin change or set your password and then it can login as you and print your passwords out). HP will also not allow you to remove the hard drive before you send it back for repairs so good luck cleaning up all the information you have on your laptop, if/when you need to send it back to HP.
As you can see, I have some strong feelings about this, after spending more than 1,000 on it less than a year ago... I bought it from HP directly.
Status update:
After more time with HP Tech support, the problem has still not been resolved. We've removed and reinstalled the track pad drivers and reduced the sensitivity of the pointer and palm detector. However, as long as I make absolutely ZERO contact with the case, I can type successfully. If my palms rest anywhere within ten inches of the track pad, the pointer starts jumping around. I'll give HP tech support good marks, because they're always available and they've been trying their best to solve the problem. It's also nice to speak with someone who speaks English as a native language. The display is terrific and blu-rays look great, so in effect I've paid a thousand dollars for a blu-ray player. I'm adding a star because of the responsive tech support and all the other features that work well, everything but the hypersensitive track pad. I'm still leaning toward returning it for a refund but I'm going to give HP a bit longer to try to solve the problem. Stay tuned.
March 28 Update:
On the verge of returning this machine, I decided to give it one last lengthy test. I took it on a two-week road trip, which covered over 6000 miles,and included plane travel and two days on the Empire Builder from Chicago to Seattle. I truly wrung out this machine. I've pretty much solved the jumping cursor problem by never resting my hands on the case. It's tiresome and annoying, which is why the max I can rate this is four stars. Actually, I can rest my left palm on the computer with no problem. It's only the right side of the case that seems to cause the problem. I've tried netbooks and an IPad to get my work done when I travel. The keyboards on netbooks are just too small and the IPad . . . well, it's a fun gadget for some things and a great picture viewer, but for the heavy duty word processing, spread sheets, data bases, and the like that I need, it falls far short. And I like my Kindle far better for a book reader. But I digress. During my trip I was working on research projects, designs, contracts and proposals. I was also watching blu ray movies, editing photos and videos, and making data discs backups. This machine did everything with flying colors (mostly). I've managed to get the battery life up to eight and a half hours, which included watching two movies, and four hours of heavy duty power point work. I love the power of this processor and the ample RAM. Graphics are terrific. I'm carrying it around in a TSA-friendly (an oxymoron, if there ever was one) Mobile Edge 17.3 back pack. Yep, this laptop is big and heavy, but the Mobile Edge fits nicely on my roll-aboard,so that's pretty much a non-issue. It took me a long time to like this product but I'm satisfied now. The only thing that keeps me from giving it five stars is the wonky track pad. At least I've raised my rating from the original one-star I gave it.
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I have been a video production enthusiast for several years. I now work with my 3rd upgrade of Pinnacle Studio 14 HD editing software. I work with HUGE HD files, & have up until now only used beefed up desktops, & had to endure still, painfully slow processing & crashes. This new HP laptop is quite amazing stable, FAST, & a pleasure to work with. The only improvement to my particular needs would have been a Bluray burner, not just reader, but with the 2 USB 3.0 jacks, I'll probably just buy an external one. I also purchased a fan cooled platform to set this new laptop on, although in observing the processor meter, I have not seen it any higher than 80%, even when renduring a 20 minute AVCHD movie. I also have to praise HP for shipping out a laptop WITHOUT all the excess included software nearly everyone dumps. 'Love screen resolution & Beats sound system. Awesome machine.Best Deals for HP dv7-6c90us (17.3-Inch Screen) Laptop
The computer would be pretty good if it worked. The fan stopped working on mine w/in the first 4 months no dust or abuse it just stopped. After 3 hours of running all of HP's diagnostics, I asked for in-home service per the in-home warranty for which I paid and additional $200. HP told me that the in-home service generally was given for screens and hard drives, not for fans. There was nothing verbally or in any of the written materials when I bought the warranty that says anything like that. The written materials promise in-home service for the laptop, excluding only batteries and software. HP told me that I would have to send in the laptop for service in 7-10 days. My experience w/ this laptop: poor workmanship and deceptive warranty.Honest reviews on HP dv7-6c90us (17.3-Inch Screen) Laptop
I just got this laptop today. It was pretty amazing. I love it. I love the sound, the screen and everything. Perfect for me. I think HP Simple pass is really good. It work very well and very convenient. I think it a little bit warm even I put hp cool sense on but it not too bad. Touchpad is pretty good. Design is pretty nice.Update: 05/05/2012
Since I got this laptop, I have no problem with this laptop at all. Everything work great! I would absolutely recommend this product and recommend HP brand for laptop because the price is reasonable. If anyone want to ask me a question about this product, you can comment in here and I will answer as soon as possible. I hope my review can help make your decision.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP dv7-6c90us (17.3-Inch Screen) Laptop
Do yourself a favor and just google 'HP dv7 fan noise' before buying this laptop (if you can call it a laptop since it gets so hot you can't put it on your lap). I don't know what I was thinking when I bought it. I wanted a desktop replacement but I got an extremely loud, very hot, very obsolete, very heavy and very expensive piece of bla bla....Oh... and if you need to return it to HP for a repair make sure you know how HP SimplePass works (this is the fingerprint authentication) because your passwords are stored in a clear text format and someone with admin rights can print them out !!! Unbelievable but true. Some tech guy in some repair shop can print your user name and password from your back accounts, trading accounts, etc, etc..... (an admin change or set your password and then it can login as you and print your passwords out). HP will also not allow you to remove the hard drive before you send it back for repairs so good luck cleaning up all the information you have on your laptop, if/when you need to send it back to HP.
As you can see, I have some strong feelings about this, after spending more than 1,000 on it less than a year ago... I bought it from HP directly.
Saturday, August 2, 2014
Samsung Series 3 NP355E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Review
I bought this as a cheap beat up laptop. Turns out it's among the best I've ever owned. A half year into it, after using it 6 10 hours most days, it has yet to give me even a single problem. Not one crash, not one malfunction. The only wear came on the keyboard, where the letter paint has come away a bit. Not bad though.
Some other reviewers have claimed that this computer is slow. I'm not going to doubt them, but that has not been my experience whatsoever. The computer is as fast as any other that I have used and I run multiple programs (like Photoshop, Word and Firefox with plenty of tabs open) all at once. A friend purchased a Sony Vaio at the same time and has had nothing but problems, including with speed.
I recommend this computer.
Some other reviewers have claimed that this computer is slow. I'm not going to doubt them, but that has not been my experience whatsoever. The computer is as fast as any other that I have used and I run multiple programs (like Photoshop, Word and Firefox with plenty of tabs open) all at once. A friend purchased a Sony Vaio at the same time and has had nothing but problems, including with speed.
I recommend this computer.
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This item was as described, one of my favorite laptops. Well made, great function, great quality for the price, thanks!Best Deals for Samsung Series 3 NP355E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
Out of the box it comes with so much "bloat" that it's a challenge to weed through to the worthwhile pieces of software. The product is nice, hardware is more than decent, but for some reason, it hangs up from time to time. I haven't added any additional software yet, and I'm on 100Mbps fiber for Internet. Just sometimes when watching online videos or surfing the net it slows. It's not an extreme problem but it can be frustrating. I won't fault it for the issues I have with Windows 8.Honest reviews on Samsung Series 3 NP355E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
I ordered this as a Christmas gift for my husband. It is a slow computer! We have tried everything and it just does not have the speed of the other laptops in our family. And Windows 8 yuck! I don't want it on mine!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 3 NP355E5C-A02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
My son loves this computer. It's sharp, fast, and plays his games perfectly. The only flaw would be that the bottom is light so when it lifts the whole computer when you open it must keep weight on the bottom while lifting screen so can't do it one-handed. My son keeps it in his room, plugged in, at all times, so I can't speak to the battery life. But, overall, it's a great computer at this price and we love it.
Friday, August 1, 2014
HP Pavilion DV5-1250US 15.4-Inch Laptop Review
This truly is the best laptop ever. 64 bit OS, 4 gigs of ram, huge hard drive, amazingly fast cpu, perfect screen size, and extremely light! Not to mention this bronze color is really nice too. The other 2 people who reviewed this said they are returning it because they cant see the keys? Sure, the f1-f12 keys are very difficult to see. But return this amazing laptop because its difficult to see that a function key is labeled "f1" is rediculous! As long as you know how to count and have used a computer before this is the best laptop !
1. Keyboard. The keys themselves are a bronze color and the key symbol is black. It makes it virtually impossible to see what the keys are. An unbelievably stupid design decision. Having read S.K.'s review, I thought that maybe the keyboard is back lit, thus making it easy to see which keys are which. The keyboard isn't back lit. Even with good over head light, the keyboard is very difficult to read. I know I tried.
2. Screen glare. Gone are the days, it seems, when laptops came with a readable, easy on the eye, matt finish LCD screen. This laptop, like so many I looked at, has a highly reflective plastic coating which completely covers the screen. Yes, it will protect the screen but the reflections it picks up from everything else to the sides and behind you are incredibly distracting. If I'd wanted a mirror, I'd have bought a mirror.
3. Screen tilt. The screen does not lay completely flat like other laptops I've had in the past. This one goes back to about a 120 degree angle. I sometimes use an external screen with a laptop so need something which can lay flat and not get in the way of the external screen while I use the laptop keyboard in front of it.
Issues #2 and #3 I could maybe have lived with, but the keyboard issue was a deal breaker for me. A great pity because this laptop has a great spec for a great price. HP, what were you thinking?
I bought a Toshiba A305-S6916 instead. It has an almost identical spec to the DV5-1250us. It too suffers with issues #2 and #3, but it was a little cheaper. The small saving will be used up buying an anti-glare filter for the screen. Not much I can do about the tilt. Oh well.
At first I thought, no biggie... I'll get used to it. I like the graphics card with 512 megs dedicated, the 2 AMD Turion 64 bit processors, the 4 gig RAM, the 400 meg drive. Unfortunatley I have now come to the realization that this is a deal breaker for me and will return the product. Too bad.
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I read some amazing reviews of this laptop. The only one I found that had anything negative to say was S.K.'s review here on Amazon. And he's absolutely right. I also returned the laptop to HP (who offered me a $70 credit to keep it, take note). There are 3 basic design issues which, for me, make this laptop unusable.1. Keyboard. The keys themselves are a bronze color and the key symbol is black. It makes it virtually impossible to see what the keys are. An unbelievably stupid design decision. Having read S.K.'s review, I thought that maybe the keyboard is back lit, thus making it easy to see which keys are which. The keyboard isn't back lit. Even with good over head light, the keyboard is very difficult to read. I know I tried.
2. Screen glare. Gone are the days, it seems, when laptops came with a readable, easy on the eye, matt finish LCD screen. This laptop, like so many I looked at, has a highly reflective plastic coating which completely covers the screen. Yes, it will protect the screen but the reflections it picks up from everything else to the sides and behind you are incredibly distracting. If I'd wanted a mirror, I'd have bought a mirror.
3. Screen tilt. The screen does not lay completely flat like other laptops I've had in the past. This one goes back to about a 120 degree angle. I sometimes use an external screen with a laptop so need something which can lay flat and not get in the way of the external screen while I use the laptop keyboard in front of it.
Issues #2 and #3 I could maybe have lived with, but the keyboard issue was a deal breaker for me. A great pity because this laptop has a great spec for a great price. HP, what were you thinking?
I bought a Toshiba A305-S6916 instead. It has an almost identical spec to the DV5-1250us. It too suffers with issues #2 and #3, but it was a little cheaper. The small saving will be used up buying an anti-glare filter for the screen. Not much I can do about the tilt. Oh well.
Best Deals for HP Pavilion DV5-1250US 15.4-Inch Laptop
I had to just give up my 17" screen HP laptop, which over the course of three years, melted down it's own screen, had a bad hard drive and also system board issues. Now I have a DV5 which I cannot get the tracking pad to stop hopping all over my screen, going haywire. The worst tracking pad in the industry. It makes it virtually impossible for me to write an email or a document since the system jumps around the screen and performs functions which I have not commanded, I cannot eve cut and paste or copy and paste without it taking me about 10 minutes to do so after catching the pointer. It is unbelievable. I have to work with this system with an exterior mouse. Which means the level of mobility for my laptop is limited since I have to use an external mouse. Even the controls to disable the pad do not work. Until HP gets their driver and their tracking pad under control, I would reconsider this purchase, unless you like playing hide and seek with the mouse pointer and playing "where will I end up in at any moment on my screen?" I hope that they are working on it.Honest reviews on HP Pavilion DV5-1250US 15.4-Inch Laptop
This is a terrific computer, but has an extremely strange flaw. The keyboard is illegible. You have to strain your eyes to see the letters and characters printed in light grey on a grey background. With all the fuss made in the description about the design and form factor, it is mind blowing that can they make such a ridiculous error in design.At first I thought, no biggie... I'll get used to it. I like the graphics card with 512 megs dedicated, the 2 AMD Turion 64 bit processors, the 4 gig RAM, the 400 meg drive. Unfortunatley I have now come to the realization that this is a deal breaker for me and will return the product. Too bad.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Pavilion DV5-1250US 15.4-Inch Laptop
system lagged alot and i had to add additional ram to system. the wireless card was loose and i had to fix that as well
Monday, July 28, 2014
Toshiba Satellite 17.3"LED Laptop /3rd Gen Intel i3-3120M /4GB DDR3 Review
Great product works very well. I replaced my last computer which was an Hp dv7. No issues so far.Toshiba has great products.
He has been on top of his game with the lap Top
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My Grandson was in need of a great computer to facilitate his schooling in film directionHe has been on top of his game with the lap Top
Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite 17.3"LED Laptop /3rd Gen Intel i3-3120M /4GB DDR3
I really love how big this screen is. I have run Windows 8 and Ubuntu on this computer and both worked really well. It burns dvds, cds, and has great speakers. The webcam is clear and fast. I have really enjoyed this computer!Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite 17.3"LED Laptop /3rd Gen Intel i3-3120M /4GB DDR3
This is the second Toshiba laptop I have owned & this one is more powerful than the first. Great price!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Satellite 17.3"LED Laptop /3rd Gen Intel i3-3120M /4GB DDR3
defects in the screen, has lines in the middle of the screen. please help me to fix this problem because i dont know what to do.
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
HP EliteBook 2760p B2C42UT 12.1" LED Tablet PC - Core i7 i7-2620M Reviews
This is one versatile machine. I needed a strong and rugged unit to run my business finances from a variety of locations. At the same time, I wanted it to help with my leisure pursuit of music composition and performance. I use the pad feature primarily for music display using Music Reader during piano performances (I'm putting my whole library on it!). When placed on a music rack the weight is not so much an issue for me as for some other reviewers.. Music composition with the stylus on the pad works much easier than with a mouse and keyboard. The fans are very quiet if they run at all, and the SSD makes bootup and wakeup very fast.
With my business, I do a lot of remote access, so the Windows 7 pro provides a smooth connection. The i7 processor easily handles the half-dozen programs I run simultaneously. I'm especially pleased with how easily this unit switches between the various monitors I connect to extend my desktop at different locations. The abundance of jacks and control buttons provides an advantage over ultrabooks if you depend on such connectors and controls like I do.
If there are negatives for me, they would be the speaker placement pointing out the front below the keyboard. If you use it as a true laptop, the sound disappears into your lap. It would also be nice if it had a USB 3 port. Still, while it might not be the best for everybody, for me this machine is perfect!
With my business, I do a lot of remote access, so the Windows 7 pro provides a smooth connection. The i7 processor easily handles the half-dozen programs I run simultaneously. I'm especially pleased with how easily this unit switches between the various monitors I connect to extend my desktop at different locations. The abundance of jacks and control buttons provides an advantage over ultrabooks if you depend on such connectors and controls like I do.
If there are negatives for me, they would be the speaker placement pointing out the front below the keyboard. If you use it as a true laptop, the sound disappears into your lap. It would also be nice if it had a USB 3 port. Still, while it might not be the best for everybody, for me this machine is perfect!
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Great unit with steller performance and durable package. Our only hope is that HP will continue to make a unit that is as tough and durable as this unit.Best Deals for HP EliteBook 2760p B2C42UT 12.1" LED Tablet PC - Core i7 i7-2620M
The HP EliteBook came with Windows 7 Pro but I immediately upgraded to Windows 8 Pro with no problems. The tablet is just what my husband wanted.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Cheap HP Pavilion Touchsmart 11-E010nr 11.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop
List Price: $567.00
Sale Price: $375.45
Today's Bonus: 34% Off
I bought mine for $329 at Office max when they had an $100 off sale. It was a deal sealer. They said this model just came out, and it was top of line. Its an very attractive model over ASUS which is two tone with Silver and I hated that. This is my first HP and I love it.
This laptop boots up to useable screen in 3 seconds! And I set mine to shut down when the lid is shut.
It comes with windows 8 and you can switch to windows desktop with a push of the screen or by pressing window button on the keyboard. I believe windows 8 is far superior to windows 7 and the touch screen is a real nice item! I bought this after looking at a bunch of them and decided I wanted touch screen & windows 8-with desktop like windows 7. The start button is missing but its coming back in the next update. I'm using short cuts to 'my computer' and 'my documents' to get around it.
The screen is very vibrant to look at, has 2 USB 3.0 ports, and one 2.0port that I use for a wireless mouse. it has HDMI hook ups for HD external monitor and it appears to have an express card slot, VGA, and built in Ethernet for connecting to the internet if you don't have access to wireless.
It doesn't play DVDs with an external DVD player unless you have a program like cyberlink 8 or betterI just happened to have one laying around, those programs can be expensive. I bought the LG external player for $20+ and I used it to install software too and its very portable.
The computer is pretty fast and I had no problems installing stuff. It has 500 Gb hard drive plenty of space, 4 gigs of ram and I believe its upgradable to 8 gigs.
I have to say its the best laptop I have ever purchased.. lightweight, very portable, fast, very attractive, and you're up and running very quick.
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I needed a small laptop with a wired Internet connector (to use in hotels--their wi-fi is often not free, and often isn't very responsive). This unit more than met my needs, and has Windows 8 and a touch screen to boot. There is a LOT of capability here for a VERY reasonable price.The touch screen and Windows 8 work very well together, but of course Windows 8 takes some getting used to if you're not already familiar with it. Having the touch screen makes that a LOT easier.
The main thing I notice about this laptop is how nicely it is designed. The connectors, the keyboard, the lights, the case, the screen -everything just oozes quality and good engineering. HP must have hired some designers away from Apple, because this is a NICE machine, along the lines of Apple's famous hardware. It's not the fastest thing in the world, but after all it's a low-cost laptop.
There's no optical drive in the computer, and I haven't yet hooked it up to an external drive and tried to load any software. Based on other reviews, I don't expect any problems. I haven't used the machine on battery power, but it seems to have ample battery life. It gives you battery reports in percent remaining AND an estimate of what that translates to in time. I imagine that this is a Windows 8 feature, but whoever put it in, it's nice to have.
Best Deals for HP Pavilion Touchsmart 11-E010nr 11.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop
Looking for a laptop to go to Florida that was not as bulky as my 15 inch, or as heavy I picked this up on sale and as of two days it seems a really good buy. It is quick,loads quick has windows 8 which I am getting used to and I am getting used to the key placement although I wush it had a back lit keyboard and as you know it doesn't have a cd dvd drive. Other than that for a little more than 350 I am very satisfied
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Discount HP Promo 4320S,CORE I3-380M CPU,13.3 HD Ag Led Sva, Uma, Webcam
It's been a few months since I got this computer. It works perfect. I have three HP/Compaq desktop and laptop, they are all reliable, never give me any problem regarding to hardware, I can't even say that about the much more expensive Sony. I actually bought a Sony and return it before I bought this one, I think this is better quality built than Sony, the top is actually metal instead of plastic like Sony. I have plastic cracking problem with two Sony laptop and it is not very good. I will definitely buy HP in the future.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Cheap ASUS X52F X2 - Core i3 2.4 GHz - 15.6? - 4 GB Ram- 320 GB HDD
Everyone says buy an Asus they are a decent PC. Not to me, it freezes up all the time and restarts for no reason.I am very satisified with this product. Asus is doing extremely well. Highly recommended for home and small office use.
Saturday, April 26, 2014
Acer 15.6" Intel Celeron 925 2.3 GHz 250 GB Notebook | AS5336-2460 Reviews
my sister bought this laptop 3 years ago, its never been in the shop or has had a problem.
i just wanted this computer to have the credit it deserves, my sister is a heavy user in the youtube, music,netflix, and internet isle. i think there is a lot of laptops that could not withstand the environment this laptop has had to deal with. although the hard drive is at its limit and the ram is between low and average it has all performed like a charm.
my family abuses computers so i am very shocked that this one has held ground.
since amazon hasn't put good description i will clarify that.
RAM-3GB
PROCESSOR-INTEL CELERON 2.3 GHZ
OS-WINDOWS 7 PREMIUM
BATTERY-6-CELL LI-ION
HARD DRIVE-250GB
BACKLIT KEYBOARDNO
ENERGY STAR CERTIFIED
i just wanted this computer to have the credit it deserves, my sister is a heavy user in the youtube, music,netflix, and internet isle. i think there is a lot of laptops that could not withstand the environment this laptop has had to deal with. although the hard drive is at its limit and the ram is between low and average it has all performed like a charm.
my family abuses computers so i am very shocked that this one has held ground.
since amazon hasn't put good description i will clarify that.
RAM-3GB
PROCESSOR-INTEL CELERON 2.3 GHZ
OS-WINDOWS 7 PREMIUM
BATTERY-6-CELL LI-ION
HARD DRIVE-250GB
BACKLIT KEYBOARDNO
ENERGY STAR CERTIFIED
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This laptop is good, if all you are going to do consists of word processing and accessing one webpage at a time. It feels drastically underpowered, as task manager shows that the CPU is maxed out when loading Firefox. Oh well, it will do for a time, then I'll plunk down the extra dough and get a dual coreBest Deals for Acer 15.6" Intel Celeron 925 2.3 GHz 250 GB Notebook | AS5336-2460
Bought the Acer Aspire 5336 after having a Compaq Desktop and a 19" HP Laptop. The Acer exceds my expectations! I love everything about this laptop! In my opinion, it performs better than the previous 2 brand name computers that I had. The 19' laptop was heavy, slow, big & clunky! The 15.6" screen size is perfect & it's light enough to bring to all the wi-fi hot spots. It is very fast and doesn't drop the connection. I will purchase an Acer in the future.
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