Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (34442HU) 14" Ultrabook - Core i5-3317U Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I've had the machine for 2 weeks now (ordered directly from Lenovo, not Amazon).

I'm very impressed. The keyboard is outstanding... one of the best I have ever used, on any machine. For a work machine, this should be the biggest selling point. I tried many keyboard in the ultrabook category and couldn't find anything that was close.

The 14 inch screen is very nice. It has great colors, and is quite bright. The "white" on this screen is certainly whiter than on my older laptop. Viewing angles seem quite fine to me. If you take measurements there are certainly laptops that allow larger angles but I don't spend a lot of time trying to look at my laptop screen with it mostly folded shut---the viewing angles on this are much better than on typical Thinkpad screens and are fine for normal use. The 1600x900 resolution of the LCD makes it great for doing things side by side (browser/document browser/email document/email, source code/program output, etc.)

The machine is very compact and light. The 14 inch screen really does stand out as being large relative to the size of the body.

I am a trackpoint user but the trackpad on this does seem very nice. It's the "clickpad" type trackpad where the whole trackpad is a button. The actual surface of the trackpad is very large and has a nice smooth feel.

I see the biggest negative of this machine the lack of upgradability. For example, the RAM is soldered to the motherboard so can't be upgraded later. This is the price you pay for the extreme portability. Similarly, the battery cannot be removed without disassembling the laptop; thus, you can't travel with an extra battery to boost your usage time. (Presumably, something like the Veho Pebble will be an option when they release an adapter tip for it which is compatible with the X1C.)

Speaking of battery life, I get a little over 4.5 hours of work time (wifi connection, typing, emailing, light processor usage, brightness at 40%, which on this machine is plenty for indoors---movie watching would probably drain it a bit faster). This is running Ubuntu Linux 12.04. Windows might last slightly longer.

Speaking of Linux, this runs it without any problems. I have checked all the hardware functionality except for the fingerprint reader.

If you are looking for a very portable machine to *do work on*, then this is a terrific machine.

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I buy a new ThinkPad every year and so far the best one in memory is still the venerable T61p model and recently the x220. I was deciding on between x230 and x1 carbon and chose the latter. So how does the x1 carbon hold up after more than 3 months of usage?

PROS

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1) Thin and light. Even coming from an already small x220 I am still amazed at how light and thin x1 carbon is. Carrying it on your shoulder bag feels like you are not carrying anything at all compared to the x220. It is really that light.

2) Rapid-charging. 30-40 minutes charging brings the computer from low power to full power. If you travel a lot, this will save your bacon more than once.

3) Keyboard is generally good. The new chicklet lenovo keyboard is softer and more silent than the old Thinkpad keyboards I have grown to love but it has its moments in the sun and certainly an item you get used to with time. At first, I thought the keyboard was a downgrade from the previous gen but after a few months, I do appreciate the fact it's softer to type and spacing between the keys is quite good with very few false key registers.

CONS

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1) Pig of a AC adapter. It came with a bulky 90W adapter with the new square charging pin which I like but it is absolutely gigantic compared to the 60W one I use to carry for my x220. At the time of purchase, it was the only AC adapter of choice. Due to the super rapid-charging ability, Lenovo had to use 90W adapter but this one just feels cheap. In fact, I believe the new x1 carbon touch come with the same 90W output adapter but in a much slimmer design. Lenovo should never have used this bulky adapter in the first place.

2) Touchpad is mediocre at best. Left click is many times registered as right click. Multi-touch gestures is flaky and I had to dial down all sensitivity settings to almost the bare minimum to get the touchpad working to avoid false having my palm registered as mouse movement or clicks. If you feel comfortable with the dimple Thinkpad touchpads, you will really dislike this one despite the larger surface area.

3) Screen is just average. Many people have commented on how bad the screen is but I don't think it's that bad. It is much better than almost all glossy consumer laptop HD screens just because it is matte and doesn't reflect the room light back into your eyes. However, compared to the IPS 12.5 x220 matte screen, this one is garbage but then again that one is excellent and you are comparing something that's bad to one of the best. So average screen with good resolution is my final verdict.

4) The keyboard I mentioned is generally a good one to type on with one caveat. The paint finish/texture of the chicklet keys appears a little cheap, too smooth, and doesn't have enough friction on it. What I mean is that if you have wet palms or generally oily finger tips, your fingers will more likely to "slide" on the keys and and not stick to them when typing. I did't get this sliding feeling typing on older Thinkpad keyboards.

Overall

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The package itself is amazing but the sum of the parts is only slightly above average. If you want a Thinkpad build quality and lightness, you have no other choice. If you need absolute power like 16GB of ram, dual SSD drives, and more potent CPUs, then I would suggest you to stick with a x230 until the next x1 carbon revision. The only thing you gain from jumping from the x220/x230 series is weight and thinness and that's it.

UPDATED 2/10/2013:

The 128GB ssd is showing signs of quality control issues. Windows 7 randomly starts up in repair mode to fix partition, files are starting to go missing randomly, and windows itself is reporting some folder as inaccessible and prompts user to restart to start the repair process. The frequency of the problem is increasing leading me to believe the ssd drive included is crap. Buyers beware.

Best Deals for Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (34442HU) 14" Ultrabook - Core i5-3317U

I received the Lenovo X1 Carbon for Christmas and I was instantly blown away by this laptop. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon has a 14-inch screen and weighs only three pounds. This laptop doesn't just look great, it feels great too. ThinkPads laptops are known for being very reliable and durable and the X1 Carbon is no exception. This is certainly the best ultrabook laptop in the market. It is so elegant, pretty, and sturdy. My laptop came with Intel Core i5, 4GB of ram and 256GB HD which is super-fast for day to day tasks. It boots extremely fast and the screen resolution is pretty good. I just wish it came with a 1920 x 1080 resolution instead of 1600x900. The screen is readable at any angle regardless of the light conditions.

The keyboard is the best thing about this laptop. It is a spill-proof keyboard which for me is great because I tend to spill liquids on my keyboard very often. The touchpad is also nice and smooth. I have found that this laptop generates quite a lot of heat when doing intensive multitasking. I use my X1 Carbon for video rendering with Adobe After Effects and it really heats up the laptop after an hour of use. The battery life with the X1 Carbon is the best I have seen. It can easily last for more than 6+ hours with the brightness turned down a little.

Overall this is a great laptop for someone who travels or just wants a very light and thin laptop. I have been using this laptop heavily for a week now and have not experienced any problems. I am very impressed and pleased with the excellent build quality. Lenovo has another winner in their hands with this laptop. The spill-proof keyboard is the best feature this laptop has in my opinion. The resolution is 1600x900 which is great but it's not 1080p.

Pros:

-Spill-proof keyboard

-Amazing touchpad surface

-Light and sleek

-Well built

-Good overall performance

Cons:

-1600x900 is okay but it's not 1080p

-Gets pretty hot

-No Ethernet port

Honest reviews on Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (34442HU) 14" Ultrabook - Core i5-3317U

@ 06/05/2013

I returned it. It has major flaws.

@ 05/05/2013. 7:00 am.

----------------------

I bought this device from Lenovo website for $1850. i7 3rd generation/8Gb RAM/180 SSD/Windows 7. It was delivered to me as expected with the expected delays. From China then to Japan then to USA. I couldnt wait to get the package on to my hands. Thats how good of a puller is this product. I loved it right out of the box, really good looking piece of technology.

Pros:

.Sturdy to hold, good grip in hands. Doesn't slip away.

.It can handle all your computing needs. I am a business man and it is quite a good performer for me.

Can take some real load. 2 Ghz and auto boost up to 3.2 Ghz. That is some serious speed I am talking about. But on high loads the machine heats up,

which is normal thing. More speed more heat, at least for the current technology level we are at.

.Backlit keyboard.

.Keyboard. One of the best keyboard i have ever used and that too on a ultra book makes it more special.

.Real crowd puller, people want to know about it more.

.Dolby speaker systems. These are good. I love it.

.Matte screen.

.Rapid charging.

Cons:

.Finger print magnet. Your finger prints can be easily found all over the machine. It will absorb oil from your fingers and make it looks like oily

patches here and there. This annoys me a lot and i bought a electronics cleaning pack!

.Battery just gives me 4 hours. I would have liked a 6 hours for the price paid.

.Keyboard Back lighting has leakage, you might see light coming right off to your eyes from under the keyboard. I think i am being a perfectionist here.

Cant i be for the price i paid?

.Lenovo bloatware. Adds no value in what so ever way they meant.

.I would have loved if the charging block was smaller. Compared to the ultrabook the charging block looks so weird. Man this is big unlike you think.

.I have all the reason to retain it as i have all the reason to return it. It might put you in a dilemma :)

.Touchpad can be annoying to some.

.Within 2 weeks of buying, Lenovo has reduced its price by $230. I still need to get in touch with them to get the money back! how bad is that?

.Backlit keyboard, which can be made to perfection. You can see the cheat white plastic from under the keyboard especially when the backlight is on.

Which is kind of a heart breaker for such a good design.

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I have had my X1 Carbon for about 4 days now. I am comparing it to the ASUS Zenbook Prime UX31A, Samsung Series 9 (new series) and the Apple MacBook Air 11.6 (2012 version). I have used Thinkpad computers since before Lenovo took over the PC division at IBM. Thinkpads were always durable and had the best keyboards in the business. I am happy to say that the X1 Carbon has the best Ultrabook keyboard hands down. Possibly even one of the best laptop keyboards ever. Here is how I would rank the experiences: X1, Apple, Zenbook Prime and Samsung Series 9 (which is atrocious). Unfortunately there aren't many more nice things to say about the X1 Carbon. If you have always used Thinkpads you will be very happy, but if you have had the chance to use the Zenbook Prime, SS9 or either of the MacBook Airs you won't be overwhelmingly impressed.

The one thing you can count on Lenovo for is to design a product, call it ground breaking, and proceed to use outdated technology in the laptop. Oh, then they charge a 25% upcharge for being a Thinkpad. I can agree that the build quality is pretty good. It is not as solid as the Zenbook or MacBook Air and is a close tie with the Samsung Series 9. It is thin and light for a Thinkpad, but with a 14" display still takes up a tiny bit more space than the Zenbook or MacBook Air 13. Many reviews have praised the trackpad. I spent hours adjusting the settings and still can't get it to work as reliably as my Zenbook and not even close to the MacBook Air. Plus, my trackpad was broken when I received it. The right side is lifted up from the front edge substantially and is very loose, so much that it clacks and rattles. Using it is pretty much impossible, so I will be returning it for this reason. The trackpad might be a little more reliable than what I have experienced, but the texture requires a firm solid touch to do anything, even if you have the touch sensitivity turned all of the way up.

Here are the biggest Cons of this laptop:

1. DisplayHere is one of those key areas where Lenovo dropped the ball. It is a standard TN panel display with only 300 Nits of brightness. I would bet it is slightly lower than that. The viewing angles are Ok if you are used to Thinkpad displays, but for someone that has used the Zenbook Prime or Samsung Series 9 (one with IPS and the other PLS, one 350 Nits and the Samsung with 400 Nits). The X1 does not come close. It is matte which helps but you will need to use this display on full brightness most of the time and in turn your battery life will suffer. I have run the battery down several times and the best I can get is about 3 to 3:30 hours and that is not on High Performance setting. The power cable is the largest laptop brick I have seen in over 10 years. I guess Lenovo needed it to be big for the rapid charge technology, but it is unsightly and not very portible. There are more issues that I have with this laptop, but will reserve more comments until I have had more time to use it.

TO BE CNTD

After using this laptop for 10 days I ended up returning it. My trackpad was loose from the start and ended up just falling off. I noticed that the only thing holding the glass trackpad to the keyboard is some sticky adhesive and simply a flat metal contact for the controls which just pulled out of the slot. I have used Thinkpads for years and I can honestly say that this is one of the poorest quality Thinkpads I have owned. The display is not even in the top 5 compared to other ultrabooks. It has lines on the screen from the matting on the display, the volume from the speakers is sub-par and while the keyboard is very nice that is not enough to warrant the high price of this laptop. The battery life is terrible. I averaged about 2-3 hrs with 50% screen brightness and power save mode. This display needs to be used at full brightness unless you are in a dark room. There are missing features on the trackpad like two finger tap for menu (you have to physically click this trackpad), the AC brick is one of the largest on any laptop I have ever owned, certainly the largest of any ultrabook. That is probably due to the rapid charge technology, but it negates the portability aspect in an ultrabook (like you have with the AC adapter on a Zenbook or Mac Book Air). I would not recommend this to anyone unless they have to have a Thinkpad for work and don't want to carry around a 5lb. 410. I would still recoommend the X230 over this.

Best Dell Inspiron 1545 Core 2 Duo T6400 2.0GHz 4GB 320GB DVD±RW 15.6" Deals

Customer Ratings:

I have had this laptop for over two years, and to be honest, it is amazing. The only reason i retracted a star from the rating was because of the fan, it isn't too much of a problem, but it just isn't good enough and it can be loud at times. This computer runs super fast as i even have a dual boot between Linux and windows, and put it under heavy use. I bought this for around $615 so it was basically a steal on my part.

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Acer Aspire V3-772G-9653 Intel Core i7 4702MQ(2.20GHz) 8GB Memory Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,099.99
Sale Price: $1,048.88
Today's Bonus: 5% Off

899$ in techpoint. A price that I can never dream of with GTX 760m GDDR5 with this card you can play 90% games in the market. Compare to Acer aspire v3 772g 9829 as the same price gtx 760m will run a lot faster and smoother especially at the high resolution like 1920x1080 than gt750m

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Reviews of ASUS A550CA-EB51 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dark Gray)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $519.00
Sale Price: $499.99
Today's Bonus: 4% Off

This is the worst laptop I know, I feel not comfortable with this laptop and refund it mediately. I picked up ASUS K55N-DB81 as well later. ASUS K55N-DB81 is cheaper, higher system, longer battery life. I can use it in my college. One more time, my advice is DO NOT buy this laptop. You can see my new laptop here.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00COR29XI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00COR29XI&linkCode=as2&tag=best-refer-20

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Its not as good as I expected. I have the same problem as another customer where the spacebar doesn't register sometimes. The battery life isn't very long so it has to stay plugged in for most of the time. The Startup is also a little slow. So overall rating, not impressed. Gonna return It and buy a different computer.

Best Deals for ASUS A550CA-EB51 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dark Gray)

I ordered a new laptop, but they sent me a refurbished laptop with pre-used problems. The space bar had to be pressed hard on the right side to work and on the second day I had it, the mouse wouldn't move and the screen would freeze up repeatedly! I had to turn it off then back on to make it work, but it would eventually happen again. Lastly, it kept overheating to the point where I thought it was going to catch fire. This laptop was horrible! I would not recommend this to anyone!

Honest reviews on ASUS A550CA-EB51 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dark Gray)

It's a fast computer, I love windows 8 personality because it's like been working with a tablet. Not heavy computer and very good size for students.

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The laptop works really good and it has a very good performance, the prize is low compared with all that you can have with this laptop.

Discount ASUS G53SW-A1 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I have been researching getting a new laptop for quite a while now. I am quite experienced with computers in general. I'm not really a PC gamer (I prefer to game on Xbox 360 and PS3 because I like to be in the living room). That being said, I like powerful PCs, because they do everything faster, so I was seriously considering an Alienware, the MacBook Pro, and this Asus. The Alienware has a really cool design, and great performance. The Macbook Pro was very sleek with a nice, elegant design, and provided the benefit of being able to install native Windows XP via Bootcamp (I still need XP for some of my vintage PC stuff). The Asus has a very cool design, very good performance, nice graphics card, excellent specs, and a beautiful 1080p screen. To get the same specs as the Asus on the other 2 you'd have to pay almost twice as much.

So I didn't like the other two twice as much as the Asus, so I took the plunge.

I ordered it from Amazon because of the very favorable experience I'd had with them in the past. I read about them putting the laptop box inside of another box with no padding, allowing the laptop to shift around during shipping which is not good for drives, etc. Some said to order 1 day shipping to avoid this. I ordered 1-day shipping, but they still shipped it in a larger box with no padding, so this part isn't great. I was very unhappy with the shipping arrangements (they shipped it signature required, which I understand given the $$$; I tried to get UPS to hold it at the distribution center because I wasn't going to be home so I could pick it up later that day they said NO, the shipper has to call to do this I called Amazon and they contacted UPS, but they DIDN'T tell UPS that I wanted to pick it up that day, so I had to wait a day. Ordinarily this is OK with me, but I paid $50 to get it overnight so I was not happy. I emailed Amazon about this. They apologized and refunded my shipping cost, which was nice of them.)

Anyway, I eventually got it. Opening the laptop box, it's well packed. I comes with a Republic of Gamers bookbag and gaming mouse (both with ROG logos and both seem to be high quality) pretty nice extras.

The laptop just looks so cool. I'm very glad I decided to get the 15" screen as opposed to the 17". Both have 1080p, and I like a screen with higher density pixels. Really nice design on the whole. Magnetic lid closure, bright clear screen, no dead pixels. It's really quiet and stays quite cool, although I haven't given it a real test yet. I burned my Recovery DVDs without a hitch. Tested the media reader, camera, microphone, ports, etc. Everything checks out. The keyboard does have a little flex, but it's hardly noticeable. If no-one told you it had the flex, you probably wouldn't have noticed it. Sure, if you STARE at it when pressing keys, you notice it, but I think people are really blowing this fault out of proportion. The key backlighting is nice, but it looks a little messy with the light escaping from the edge of the keys. I would prefer that just the letters on the keys are lit. The trackpad works well, although smaller than many other laptops, and much smaller than the MacBook Pro. It's very zippy, and runs everything very quickly. Lots of bloatware, but I'm in the process of reinstalling a clean windows copy.

Design things I would change: 1) I would have put the power plug in the back because it looks so messy in the middle of the right side of the laptop. 2) I would like to have had the USB ports towards the back not the front, so the cables stay out of my way. 3) screen hinge is a bit stiff, so you have to hold the base down while opening it to keep it on the table, 4) screen doesn't pivot back quite far enough for me. These quibbles are pretty minor though.

One thing that is clear the moment you open this thing up. It's so masculine. It really makes the MacBook Pro seem quite girly. The stealth-fighter look is totally badass. Now I love macs, and I've got a few, but this machine just makes you feel like a man (grunt, growl). Yes, it's heavier and thicker than the MacBook Pro, but I plan on using it as a desktop replacement anyway.

So I'm very happy with my purchase. I would have liked to have a Blu-ray drive in it. Given the sale price with the $150 rebate on top of that, it can't be beat for value.

If you've been considering it, GO FOR IT! I think you'll be very happy with your choice.

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I received this laptop yesterday and I've been very satisfied so far.

Packaging: Amazon put the laptop box in a larger box with no padding. It could have easily shifted back and forth in the box. Previous users mentioned this problem so I opted for the overnight delivery to minimize UPS handling of the unit. It seems to have worked.

Screen: Looks amazing although strangely there wasn't a plastic covering when I first lifted the lid. There was no damage or scratches so it didn't bother me so much.

Sound: It's nothing fantastic but it's doable. The laptop has a sub woofer so it's definitely better than most out there.

Video: I tried playing starcraft II at 1920 x 1080 at "Ultra." It wasn't amazingly smooth and there was a bit of lag. I turned the resolution down and textures to high and the game works flawless. This is the only game I've tried so far. 3dmark01 score was 39,421.

Keyboard: I love the backlit features. I've had no problem with it so far. I read reports that the lights will sometimes go out but I've yet to experience that.

Mouse/Backpack: Quality items. The backback is pretty awesome and stylish. The mouse is a Razer Abyssus.

Overall I'm very satisfied with the purchase. There was a lot of bloatware pre-installed however. I simply removed everything that wasn't windows related and installed the drivers again (included on a CD). All of the hotkeys work great and windows boot-up is very fast. I would definately recomment this computer especially since Asus is offering a $150 mail in rebate. Mine is already in the mail.

Note on rebate/warranty: You have to send in the warranty card that comes with the notebook. I've read that if you don't mail it in you will experience troubles in the future if you need to utilize warranty repair. The mail-in rebate is very strict and has small details you have to include be sure to read the instructions carefully. The most annoying part is the UPC code there were so many I didn't know which one to include. It turns out the one I needed was taped on the very tough cardboard box. I just sent the cardboard cutout itself.

UPDATE: 7/25/11

I've been experiencing freezing issues. A couple of times per day my system just freezes. It has yet to freeze while gaming though. When I'm viewing pictures, browsing the internet, etc. When the computer freezes, about 5 seconds later the system makes a large "beep" noise. After a few seconds it unfreezes for about 5 seconds but the freezing continues it's a never ending cycle. I have tried for hours to get ahold of phone support, but while I'm waiting for an agent I get disconnected which leads me to believe phone support is non-existent. I've written an email but it says it'll take 48 hours to respond. I've dropped my review from 5 stars to 1 until this problem gets handled.

UPDATE: 09/23/11

Problem has been fixed. I forgot exactly what I did but it was related to hibernation/sleep mode (which is now disabled).

Best Deals for ASUS G53SW-A1 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop

I realize that this laptop probably isn't very popular anymore, but I thought I would chime in on it anyway.

The Good-

In terms of hardware for the price, this laptop really can't be beaten. Starcraft II can be run on Ultra/High, and multiple processes (eg. Photoshop, Sony Vegas, Powerpoint) can all run simultaneously with ease. The 12 gigs of RAM is frankly a bit much; I don't think I've gotten over 4 gigs of usage at a time. However, it can be useful if you're looking to create a RAM disk.

The screen is extremely sharp and vibrant. The keyboard illuminates nicely, and the "flex" that other reviewers mentioned is really insignificant. The default sound, while nothing special, is pretty good for a laptop.

The Bad-

Most of the bad things about this laptop are annoyances, and not that bad at all. For example, all of the ports are on the side, which makes things very crowded. Also, sometimes the keyboard fails to register a keystroke, although this isn't common enough to be frustrating. Of course the battery life is horrid, but that comes with the territory.

The Ugly-

There is a freezing issue associated with this laptop. I have to manually reboot the computer because it completely locks up. Another annoyance is that the sound card in this computer is garbage. My subwoofer barely works with it, and (the sub) works perfectly with my friends $600 Dell and my iPod.

Overall-

The tone of this review may have seemed negative, but really the laptop is pretty awesome except for the annoyances. It's powerful, looks good, and is cheap (for what you get). 4/5 stars

10/2/11 edit: Upgraded this review to 5 stars because I fixed some of the issues with it. The freezing issue can be avoided if Hibernation or Sleep mode are not used. The sound card is fine. A pre-installed THX program was set to laptop speakers, preventing the sub from working properly. It sounds great now. 5/5

Honest reviews on ASUS G53SW-A1 Republic of Gamers 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop

I had the ASUS G53Sw-A1 for about a month now. The first thing I did was put it to a rigorous, non-stop, two maybe three day download. After which I would play a game that takes a fair chunk of the processor to run. The game ran smoothly and the cooling fan (I call it the jet-engine) stayed cool although it did get hot when the GPU was running. I was impressed that only the region around the vent heated up and not the entire back surface of the computer. Even more impressive was how cool the laptop stayed when the gpu was not in use. Casual use of this product for however many hours will barely produce any heat. The ventilation system is top notch for the price!

I own an old 32" 360p t.v. so the difference between HD and standard definition was made very clear (no pun intended). This laptop provides vivid colors (along with other visual preset settings like "theather mode") and sharp pictures. 1080 pixels is enough said. Sold with a high tier graphics card, this is deal is really a bargain. I don't know how people tests Graphics card but just as a benchmark, I'll note that I've played BFBC2 on this laptop. It ran smoothly despite the high settings (although you can really go beyond 4x filtering without compromising the frame rate).

The laptop speaker comprise a strip of space just in front of the keyboard. I don't like the sound quality but would rather listen to the audio of this laptop over another laptop's audio any day. I use headphones most of the time so I can't give an accurate review of the audio quality although the sound outputing to the headphones is great. It had a nice range of power for you party animals and casual listeners out there.

When I called ASUS tech support for help with nonresponsive Function keys, they directed me to download some drivers and the problem was fixed within 10 mintues. I wasn't happy that the laptop wasn't shipped with this particular driver installed but it was a minor detail. Tech support is mediocre but I don't expect a jolly welcome from my laptop provider.

Windows 7 runs nicely on this laptop. I like the slide-show background feature. The first thing I did with this laptop was load the computer with 146gig of files. It handled them without incident.

My only gripe was the battery life without the power adapter. You'll get about 3-5hrs of use running no applications, 2 hrs of use running nonstrenous applications, and 45mins-1hr intensive running of the gpu.

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This computer is a monster. I was able to play all the games I wanted including WOW, Crysis 2, SC2 and Portals at high resolution.

It also included the following:

1Targus Gaming Backpack.

2Razor Gaming Mouse.

I have no complain about the laptop itself just about Amazon packing it was not that good however ASUS packing was good enough to protect it.

I have had this computer for over a month and I have not faced any problem. I did an update of the drivers and even changed the OS to a ultimate edition.

I am running GNS3 with several routers and the computer performs smoothly. The battery is not great but it is not bad too. I mean if you are playing then yes the battery will last no more than 2 hours, however if you are working on any office program it might last 3 hours.

Yes, I strongly recommend this product, I talk with Amazon about the packing issue and they were extremely polite about it and gave me several solutions.

Discount Thinkpad T520 15.6" 500GB 4GB

Customer Ratings:

No problems here great system that comes with an NVidia 4200M graphics card and a nice screen resolution (1600x900). 9 Cell battery makes it last quite long (at least longer than my prior Thinkpad), and happy it comes with Win 7 Professional as that's the version I needed. All in all, very happy with the purchase and the quality seems good. I've had it for about 3 months now and everything seems solid.

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Please read this before you buy a Lenovo Thinkpad.

I have owned several laptops in the past and I this year it was a good time to replace my 500$ Acer home laptop which is still working after 4 years.

Since I use my computer as my main working tool I decided I was going to get something that is robust. A business laptop.

My first choice was an Asus Business edition and I regret that I did not bought the Asus vs this Lenovo.

After several failed HP (screen dies and other problems) I was recommended to get a ThinkPad, its suppose to be a Enterprise laptop and to be a rock solid computer initially designed by IBM.

IBM is really trashing their brand leaving their ThinkPad name to Lenovo.

This Lenovo I got here from Amazon and its not even 2 months old and I just have problems I never had with other laptops.

First, let me say that from day 1 I could never open the "Smart Audio" control panel that comes with this Lenovo. I just go an error "Failed to initialize Smartaudio.....

I updated the drivers for this several times, there seems to be just fine but I cant open this thing at all.

This is annoying on a brand new laptop. The software that comes with Lenovo their Access Connections, Power Manager etc is a garbage. The system will suffer from load performances because of this badly programmed software running in the background. Example, when the system goes to sleep it disconnects the wireless device. After waking up the system you will find out you dont have Internet for at least 5 minutes, until it turns on again. Actually it turns on again by you will just have no connectivity.

The screen has dead pixels, if you see it from the sight I can see a bright spot in the screen, something that never happened in my cheap Acer laptops.

I have a logitech laptop stand, now here comes the strange thing. You have the laptop in bed or in this stand the laptop is not in horizontal position and it starts to make a strange sound like if the hard disk is starting to fail. If you put the laptop on a table in normal position again it stops. This is highly annoying, I checked the drive several times and it seems fine. Still this electronic sound it makes every 15 seconds is strange.

2 times the computer started to make an horrible sound and I just had to reboot it and it was gone.

The system is slow. Very slow, when I boot another Acer One, which has a cheap Atom processor and 1 GB ran its twice as fast booting as this i5. I can start browsing in Chrome already and in this Lenovo I still see the Windows 7 loading icon. I suspect something is wrong with the power manager software that this computer is just not performing like it should. It doesnt feel like a new computer at all.

It also never locks correctly. Example, if I go away 20 minutes and come back the screen is off, and Windows is suppose to be locked, when you move the mouse the screen turns on and instead of seeing the Windows Log on screen you see first "Windows is locking..." and then it locks itself and then you can log in again. What ???? Everything just seems to work horrible.

Last week I opened VmWare and suddenly the full screen change to a vertical position, I have this lenovo reading optimization installed but it was turned OFF, I have to open this software, turn it on and then again off so the screen would go back to a normal position.

Today and the reason im writing this review is something that just raised my blood levels to anger for a laptop I paid over 1300$.

I played a youtube video and suddenly the whole system was frozen. I mean the whole computer !!! The speakers started to make an horrible loud sound, nothing was responding, not even the power button. Was this Windows 7 crashing? I never saw Windows 7 crashing and if it was the OS at least you can hard reset the system. No with this Lenovo you cant. The power buttons would not do nothing. Unplugging the power neither. I had to take the battery off to kill the system.

This is just to much. This computer is garbage honestly. It was allot of features and stuff you would say WOW, but I cannot trust this system anymore with my data. This is for sure not a IBM ThinkPad at all. The reviews that say you can drop this laptop from 50 feet of go with a car over it... Well I think if I would drop this laptop from 3 feet high I would break. Only moving this laptop around and playing a video at the same time and the video will start to play sluggish, the minute you stop moving the laptop it plays fine.

My Bluetooth 50$ plantronics headset doesn't work with this correctly either. The minute you go 3 feet away from the laptop the sound goes horrible, so you have move again infront of the laptop so the Bluetooth will be in range again. I suspect the bluetooth is just to weak, the signal is so weak that if you go just 10 feet away it will disconnect. Why do you want a wireless headset if you need to sit infront of the PC all the time?

I could go on and on about the problems I have, in Skype I hear myself when talking as well, something it works perfectly and other times it doesnt. This when I use the build in mic and speakers. It doesnt do echo cancelling at all like it should, the webcam is suppose to be HD but its terrible as well. Colors are washed out.

The keyboard on Thinkpads is suppose to be the best keyboards in laptops. I just hate it from day one. I thought, ok give it time, you will get used to it. No, the design is just made by a monkey. Honestly the IBM design is fine but Lenovo just introduce changes that make it terrible. The control key in the left is not in the default position. This is just bad, I use Logitech external keyboards all the time and I cant get used to this, you always hit the Fn key instead. And Lenovo decide to put a forward and backward keys next to the arrows key. Oh boy !! What a terrible mistake. If you happen to hit one of this accidentally, you will go away from the page you are, which happens allot. Example, im writing this review here on Amazon and I have to be very carefully not to hit them by mistake or I will just lose everything I just typed here when the browser goes backward or forwards depending on which key you pressed by mistake.

The battery is also a bit lose, it doesn't fit tight. I would not expect this from a quality laptop and they even recommend you Lenovo batteries...

A battery should fit perfectly and not move once its secured. A friend of my with another Thinkpad suffers from this as well so Its just bad quality testing from Lenovo. And his system suffers from slow performance as well, he has a i7 and it gets to hot that you can burn yourself. At least this is 1 positive thing I can say about my Lenovo, is just doesnt overheat ever.

To finish this, I have a 23 inch Samsung monitor. If I plug this to this Lenovo the screen will flicker. I tried everything, resolution change, drivers updating, using the Nvidia card or the integrated Intel, nothing, the screen just flickers and you can really see this on black backgrounds. You can plug any other laptop and it doesn't so this.

I think all problems are related to something in the power settings or maybe the power adapter or just bad quality hardware. On the end I don't care, I dont have to figure this out for myself. Lenovo should before shipping a laptop.

So since im travelling I just cannot return this. Otherwise im thinking into going to a Lenovo store in the country im right now and have a replacement. The problem is I dont want Lenovo anymore. This is the worst possible laptop you can buy. Remember this is not a 500$ laptop. It costed me over a grant and I also bought the leather lenovo case for almost 99$.

It seems you can really see this is not made by IBM anymore. Its just a cheap laptop, they put tons of features most that work correctly and put the thinkpad name to sell it for a more expensive price. This is for sure a cheap quality laptop and from design its ugly as well. Everyone ask me if this is a laptop from the 90s and its heavy. I dont care about design, I knew it was ugly but I wanted something that could stand hard usage, a rock solid laptop for work. This is for sure not a work laptop. It feels cheap and it works cheap. It suffers from almost unlimited problems that will just make you hate this laptop.

Buy Lenovo Ideapad N585 59359186 4gb 320gb AMD E 1.48g Hz AMD Radeon Hd

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $459.99
Sale Price: $388.88
Today's Bonus: 15% Off

Excellent buy. No issues with the performance. Just a bit of a task to get used to Windows 8 after getting used to Windows 7.

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thank you my wife she is happy with it, happy wife means happy home.we use it every day every thing is good

god bless you

thank you amazon

Best Deals for Lenovo Ideapad N585 59359186 4gb 320gb AMD E 1.48g Hz AMD Radeon Hd

not happy w/speed or wndows 8 format. to slow and Ikeep losing things. Cannot get back to prior pages ect.

Honest reviews on Lenovo Ideapad N585 59359186 4gb 320gb AMD E 1.48g Hz AMD Radeon Hd

I think the computer is fine. I hate the Windows 8. Wish it had Windows 7 so I could manuever better.

Best HP Pavilion G7-1261NR 17.3" Laptop (2.5-1.9GHZ AMD A4-3300m Deals

Customer Ratings:

Purchased the HP 1261NR on sale at Office Depot for $438 w/tax. Excellent deal. The bright screen display and size for the price is amazing! The webcam is crystal clear and makes me look good, which is important (right?). The sleek grey shell design is durable, good looking and easy to transport. At 6 lbs. someone did their design homework because it's extremely nice to carry. The laptop stays cool to the touch while in use. Loud Altec speakers in the front provide quality sound. I'm impressed with the design team at HP. Good job people.

In my opinion, if you get this laptop for under $600 w/tax, pat yourself on the back. 500 gig hd and 6 gigs of memory is sufficient for most users. Personally, I enjoy the SD slot, makes the transfer of files a breeze. Pop the SD card into the slot and bam! there's instant access to media. Awesome. BTW, Windows 7 is easy to use and is pretty much the same as XP (don't stress you'll laugh; 7 is very easy to use). Love that the laptop looks expensive but not super expensive. Perfectly "blending" (not too expensive, not too cheap) laptop for any pc environment.

The blue ray dvd player is great (little loud when playing) but for the price, noise is expected. The springboard to the keyboard is a little sticky. This too is something that is to be expected with price. Simple solution and cool; upgrade to the Microsoft wireless keyboard I reviewed. Touche.

Grab that $500 you've saved since reading my review on dumping AT&T. (Yes, I bought this lappy with the $ I saved dumping them). Be patient and search for this on sale. Order. Enjoy your new laptop which didn't empty your wallet.

Update: Used for over a month and still love this laptop. Connected a really old printer and the laptop downloaded the driver before I knew it! One of the best purchases I've made this year and worth the money.

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Bought two of these for Graduation gifts for my kids. I was threatening to take one of these for my own. Super fast, huge bright screen, and a built in Blue ray. You really can't go wrong.

Best Deals for HP Pavilion G7-1261NR 17.3" Laptop (2.5-1.9GHZ AMD A4-3300m

I bought this laptop at the beginning of July (2012). It is now almost the beginning of December (2012)and after 5 months of using this laptop almost 5 months I now feel that I can review it fairly. I read one of the reviews stated that you could not control contrast, but 2 keys and 3 keys from the escape button on the top left is a small beam and a large beam icon on each which changes the look of the display and perhaps the reviewer just needed to adjust the display. Other reviewers wrote about the battery life.I usually have mine plugged in because I have a terrific laptop table that I keep by my chair and once in a while I unplug to let the battery drain down. I AM really glad I waited to write my review, because I live in New Jersey and we lost our power for 2 full weeks and didn't have a whole lot of gas in the car, so we pretty much stayed home. Since we do have a Starbucks (internet hotspot) about a mile away,I was able to spend some time on the computer and fully charge the battery. On the other days I could go and play some already downloaded games (without electric, our home internet router would not work)in between reading my Kindles. Over the course of two weeks I did this several times. I believe that the battery lasted close to 3 hours, which is reasonable for this size laptop (17.3"). I do not feel that this unit is "delicate" (translation:cheap feeling) as one reviewer thought. I have an HP All-in-One wireless printer system. This laptop set it up automatically ready to use. I didn't have to do anything. I make my own greeting cards it works great with that program. I like to play games and they play without any glitches. The display is clear and bright, I've never had to adjust it. In all, it is a good computer especially for the price (although I DID pay quite a bit less for mine at the time through Amazon!). The 500GB hard drive is good (up from the 350 GB on my old laptop) and I also have an external hard drive to store pictures. I would recommend this to most average laptop users.

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion G7-1261NR 17.3" Laptop (2.5-1.9GHZ AMD A4-3300m

This product is ok, not great! The webcam is crystal clear, the keys are easy to use, the screen is awesome and the appearance is great. However, the touch pad is somewhat stubborn at times. I have only been using this for three days and i am second guessing my purchase. The battery last for 1hour and that sucks, its like its an old battery. The computer also feels very delicate and as such, you have to treat it like an egg. Its a good computer but i think without good battery life and reliable touch pad, its just half way there.

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Right out of the box, the left mouse button was broken. It sticks easily and the spring is either worn out or completely ruined. It barely clicks. Compared to the right click, using the mouse is such a struggle I'd rather use the touch pad to click...

Secondly, the display driver fails catastrophically every 2 minutes or so. I have tried for months now with updating my windows updates and making sure the drivers are current and asking online how to stop this from happening with no solution in sight.

If I could, which I don't think I can now that I've owned the laptop for a few months now, I would return it and do it all again and buy a mac or a different brand. This laptop is terrible and I'm sad that a refurbished product passed inspection in this horrible condition which says how much the seller really looks into a laptop before selling it.

Hp Pavilion Dv6 Dv6t 15.6" Laptop - 2nd Generation Intel Core Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I am very disappointed with this laptop, It doesn't work very well, its functions hang up. The web cam is not working fine, The laptop freezes. I only used this laptop for a week.

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Cheap Acer M5-481PT-6488 14-Inch Ultrabook (1.70 GHz Core i5, 6GB DDR3

Customer Ratings:

I really like this laptop. It was very reasonably priced and came with a touch screen which makes Windows 8 shine. Here is a brief rundown of the things I like.

1) Screen size is very usable

2) Backlit keyboard is very handy when sitting on the couch in low light... I love this feature.

3) Battery life is 5+ hours, plenty for my needs.

4) Laptop feels thin and light. Its not an ultrabook light but it has a good weight and feel.

5) Sleep and wake times are very fast.

6) Has been very reliable.

7) It comes with a DVD drive. Many laptops are omitting DVD drives these days.

8) The primary surfaces are aluminum. Though the back appears to be a foe aluminum actually made from plastic.

9) Although the laptop hard drive is 90% full, the thing still runs like a champ.

Windows 8 on a touch screen laptop is quite nice. On a non-touchscreen laptop it is quite crippled. If you buy a new computer, make sure it has a touch screen. Otherwise, you'll find a program that uses touch and quickly wish you had the capability.

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Got this for my wife whose old laptop died. The combination of Windows 8 and a very quick touch sensitive screen sent her into computer heaven. Add the sexy, super thin look, backlit keys and very fast processor and she was very happy.

Best Deals for Acer M5-481PT-6488 14-Inch Ultrabook (1.70 GHz Core i5, 6GB DDR3

Where do I even begin...I have never reviewed anything on Amazon, but I hate this computer so much that I broke that streak so I could come here and bash it. First I thought the color looked a little washed out, so I thought I would calibrate the display. HUGE mistake. All I ended up doing was tweaking the saturation ever so slightly...and it completely broke my touchscreen. The drivers are just gone. They are apparently unavailable for standalone download and can't be found anywhere. I can't even count how many factory restores I did trying to get the stupid touchscreen back, and it did come back...once...for about an hour, until I rebooted it. Acer customer service is almost completely useless and their phone maze to talk to someone is horrendous. I made a mistake with the serial number and instead of letting me repeat it, it hung up on me. When I finally got someone he was completely useless and I was so frustrated and tired of dealing with it that I didn't even try to talk them into letting me send it back. Plus I needed it for school. I figured I'd just live without the touchscreen...so fine, it's kind of pointless anyway. The touchscreen interface was fine when it was working for the first few days and was pretty responsive. The touchpad is pretty crappy, though I have to admit I'm used to a MacBook trackpad which works flawlessly. This thing is mediocre at best. It's not incredibly sensitive (unless you happen to have even the slightest bit of contact with it from another part of your hand, which is common because it is so large, and then it will just completely ignore anything you try to do until you realize you're touching it elsewhere. On top of all this, it's got the stupidest location for a power button I've ever seen. It's on the front edge of the computer and not only is it in a location that makes it easy to bump accidentally, but it's the easiest button to push. Ever. Brush it and the computer turns off. It boots back up where you left off, but good god is that annoying. I pretty much want to throw this computer out the window every other day. I'll probably sell it in a month or two at a loss just to not have to deal with it. Only pros are battery life is pretty ok (~5 hours, maybe 6?) and it boots pretty quickly thanks to the SSD. That's it, though. I hate this computer.

tl:dr -

don't change your display settings or you'll lose your touchscreen drivers

display looks washed out (colors)

crappy trackpad

power button placement/ease of pushing means you'll accidentally turn it off

Honest reviews on Acer M5-481PT-6488 14-Inch Ultrabook (1.70 GHz Core i5, 6GB DDR3

I got this laptop refurb from and amazon marketplace seller. It arrive on time and in mint condition. I love the touch screen. At first it was an adjustment because I went from windows vista to windows 8 but the new system is really fun with the touch screen. After a week it was hard to go back to my old Toshiba to transfer files. Essentially, it's awesome and I love it. It makes me glad I didn't waste $1000+ on a MacBook.

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I thought it was a good idea to buy this refurbished computer thinking the reseller would have replaced parts, updated drivers/firmware etc and fixed it better than before (and I would save a $100). But as soon as I got it and installed chrome and a couple of known and stable programs I began to get 'blue screen of death' failures every 10 minutes (which means the computer shuts down in the middle of your work to reboot... and you loose everything). I spent several hours trying to fix these problems but in the end realized that this computer was very likely returned for the same reason that I'm returning it now. Either this reseller did nothing but wipe the hard drive clean and put it back out on the market or a brand new Acer M5-481PT has the same issues (and this unsuspecting reseller is helpless to fix anything). Either way, this has been a colossal waste of my time and I would stay very far away from thinking it's a good idea to put your money into this product.

UPDATE: I contacted the reseller, they assured me they just get these refurbished items directly from Asus and my situation is rare. So they are promising to exchange it with a newer model...at no charge. My wife recycled the box so I thought I was screwed but they're taking it back anyway. I was shocked at this kind of service. If you still want a refurb I highly recommend going with bestdigitalbuy. I have to say that I love the Windows 8 + touchscreen + normal keyboard. IMO this computer combines the best features of a tablet and laptop and the form factor is quite sexy.

Review of Dell Inspiron 17R i17RM-8355sLV 17.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $849.99
Sale Price: $719.99
Today's Bonus: 15% Off

The horrified experience I had with Dell Repair Depot has made me to write this review so that some of customers can be saved from fake promises made by Dell.

I had issue with Laptop LCD hinges from day one and I was told by Dell Customer Care that it will be smooth with time but it didn't. Then finally the hinges appeared that It will come out if we press hard to close the LCD. Then we reported the problem to Dell and they created report and sent us Dell Depot Box with shipping label and during the entire they were prompt and quick. The Trouble started when the laptop reached the Repair Depot and I got a call that the hinges were not covered under warranty it has been put on hold. I was asked to pay $179.00 to get it repaired then I denied it as I was never informed earlier that hinges are not covered. I was told that my Laptop will be returned unrepaired on 07/17/2013. I didn't get any information on Laptop being shipped till 7/24/2013 and the repair depot status was showing that the Laptop is being repaired after released from hold. I called customer center and they said that it is not getting repaired and it will be send unrepaired. After so many follow-ups they sent back my Laptop which improperly packed and LCD broken by Dell.

I have written to Dell Director Customer care but till no positive response.

Let me mention here that same Laptop had issue with Motherboard too which was replaced after 2 months of online troubleshooting.

I never expected this unprofessional behavior from Dell that they will break my Laptop when I denied to pay extra being covered in Warranty.

One of the Out Of warranty representative staff mentioned me that they can't return the Laptop in same condition in threatening way that If I do not pay $179 for which they said is not covered by warranty they can't return the Laptop in same condition in which sent.

So now I have a Broken Laptop (Broken by Dell) which was unrepaired and I am not sure whom to contact for my grievances.

At least I would never suggest any one to buy even a small part from Dell.

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2002JCN8VMM6Q?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B009FX7DGW&cdForum=Fx1GNCQS2Y27IVA&cdMSG=addedToThread&cdPage=&cdThread=Tx5MR0H0JUIZAR&newContentID=Mx1KPHAV0LUAMLV&newContentNum=2&store=pc#CustomerDiscussionsNRPB

---------------

I got several calls and emails from Dell after I raised complaint with BBB about my Laptop broken by Dell Depot and they told that my Laptop LCD, Heat Sink, Hinges, Bracets are broken which needs replacement and they just need $179.00 as Diagonostic charge and they are not charging any thing for Part. Let me tell you that I have repaired my Laptop myself after going through manuals only thing which needed replacement was Laptop Base costing $16.00 which too was broken was Dell Depot.

So if I would have not have repaired my Laptop myself, I would have ended Paying $179.00 (Instead of $16.00) plus Taxes. Dell stop cheating your Customers please.

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Spoke with someone from another country and after 30 min of us trying to understand each other and them get information from me they wanted to charge me for some support upgrade to do anything. I've always been a Dell guy but not anymore. My dell Insiron is dead and I'm down 1K.

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 17R i17RM-8355sLV 17.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

This has been an excellent computer! I have run run Ubuntu 12.04 on it. I have been totally satisfied with both this computer and Ubuntu.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 17R i17RM-8355sLV 17.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

This is a nice computer. Plenty of memory, it boots up quickly, and has some sweet programs pre-loaded. The display is very good. There are three USB ports, a card reader, and and HDMI port. All pluses in my book. I even like Windows 8. Of course, I added a program that restores the classic Start menu. That probably makes the transition easier.

The biggest drawback for me is the sound from the speakers. It is pretty bad. There are no settings that make it sound acceptable. It sounds very tinny and thin. Imagine the cheapest speakers you can imagine installed in a tomato soup can. That is what the speakers remind me of. Now, if you plug in a good set of aftermarket speakers or a decent headset, then WOW! The music becomes rich and deep. It is apparent that the music processor and software are more than adequate it is just the speakers or the computer case itself that limits the sound quality so immensely. Trust me, you do not want to start up your favorite playlist without plugging in better speakers or a good set of headphones.

Just a few days ago I streamed a movie through the HDMI port to my Sony television and the music was fantastic. So, it is just the speakers and/or computer case that limit the sound.

Overall, I am very satisfied with this laptop. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a moderately priced machine that can do just about anything well and a few things very well.

One last thing...has anyone replaced the DVD player in this computer with a Blu-ray player or player/burner? I tried to upgrade to a http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AXW2YQ/ref=cm_cr_ryp_prd_ttl_hst_1 but it was a little too thick. I need something thinner.

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Laptop itself was fine as expected. Documentation included and documentation available on the DELL website was extremely lacking in coverage, details, and user friendliness. For example the specifications for this laptop states it has a "media card reader" built-in. A thorough review of all documentation failed to even mention such a feature. Two phone calls to DELL also failed to provide any information on even where this accessory was supposed to be located. Five hours of Internet research scanning user forums, FAQs, and parts references finally revealed a tiny unmarked slot 3/4 inch wide under the lip on the front of the case which was the opening for the media card reader. The factory installed Windows 8 was configured with dozens of useless apps pinned to the initial screen after login. I doubt most computer users need a pre-configured 1-click access to E-Bay, Facebook and Twitter. DELL has obviously eliminated documentation to increase profit at the demise of the customer's satisfaction.

Buy Lenovo G500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $379.99
Sale Price: $369.99
Today's Bonus: 3% Off

I have been using this computer for a week. I am very happy with the performance.

The computer itself was well built and it looks nice too.

Intel Pentium B960 2.2 GHz (2 MB Cache) is actually a DUAL Core processor, not as indicated by another reviewer. It runs fast at normal use.

The memory and hard drive are pretty standard at 4GB and 500GB which are enough for daily use.

It is not a fancy computer of course, but at this price, it's very good.

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Having owned this machine for about 8 months since the posting of this review I can say that I'm quite happy with my purchase overall, despite not being a huge fan of Windows 8, which my unit came bundled with. It still runs fast, is lightweight and stays cool, and I really enjoy having the full keyboard with numeric pad. That said, I do have some minor complaints I have with the device, primarily relating to the screen, and also the speakers.

The display is glossy and wide. I would have definitely preferred an anti-glare screen. The overall size of the screen is adequate and the aspect ratio is good for movies, but the resolution isn't very high (maxes out at 768 pixels high) and I'd have preferred it to be taller and less wide, though that's unfortunately become quite rare in affordable laptops these days. Also, the internal speakers are really quiet and it can be hard to hear out of them when you're watching movies, even at a close distance. You'll probably need external speakers or headphones to get any significant volume or audio quality.

Shortly after purchasing the machine I attempted to replace Windows 8 with an version, which turned out pretty disastrously, and I'm fairly tech savvy. If you don't like the preinstalled OS, I'd recommend getting another device. Overall it's definitely a solid machine with a nice keyboard that still runs well for the price, though.

Best Deals for Lenovo G500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

The main thing that I think a shoppers should get out of this review is that the price is good for a laptop that is reliable for casual use. I personally use it for college, surfing, light gaming, and music storage. I have had it for over 6 months now and it still works like it was the first day. Windows 8 takes some getting used to, but it's not that bad. The major (or only) gripe I have about this computer is the mouse pad. It is absolutely terrible, but a wireless mouse can take care of this problem. I downloaded a program to help with the mouse pad settings which helped some, but the mouse pad is still hard to use for me as it just doesn't read my motions accurately. I will swipe my finger in a direction and the pointer seems to get hung up and lags. Go out and get a $10-15 wireless mouse to save the headache, disable the mouse pad, then you will love this laptop!

Honest reviews on Lenovo G500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

This computer was delivered on Thursday at 4 pm with a return date of the same day. So impossible to return. It didn't work coming our of the package. Called Lenovo. The tech told me it was static electricity and gave a fix that worked for about 30 minutes. Called Lenovo on Friday and was told these computers had a history of manufacturing errors with the video cord and the motherboard. He said I would never be satisfied with it and to return it to Lenovo for replacement. I decided not to go on that path since the G500 would not be something I would want to try again. Amazon finally gave me the chance to return it after complaint.

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What I was looking for was a laptop I could do my schoolwork on while I was at work. What I ended up with is a computer to replace my desktop PC. This thing is fast, light weight, sleek, and functional. At first I was a little put off by Windows 8, but, it just took a little getting used to. There are a number of tools you can install to make it look more like Windows 7 if that's what you're into. The sound and video on the Lenovo is superior to my HDTV. And did I mention it's affordable. Definitely the best laptop you can get for under $400.

Review of Toshiba Portege R705-P42 13.3" widescreen Laptop (Magnesium Alloy

Customer Ratings:

Has exactly what you want and none of what you don't. Light, compact, and powerful. Not loaded up with bloat-ware either. Not a computer to get if you're really into gaming, but has all the power you need for pretty much anything else you need and is only a little bigger & heavier than a net-book. With the advantage of having a DVD RW drive.

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Truly an awesome laptop it's exactly the same as the P41, except it has all the bloatware/trial stuff removed that most people delete and don't use anyway. It's Microsoft Signature, so not only do you get the standard warranty, you also get Microsoft Signature phone support as well for both the computer and software (Windows, etc). This is definitely a powerhouse laptop that is not only ultra-portable with the 13.3" screen, but extremely durable with it's magnesium alloy casing.

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Slick sophisticated look. Very light weight for people who travel and significally cheaper than other comparable laptops

No complaints so far

Discount ASUS X53U-RH21 15.6" Notebook PC - Mocha

Customer Ratings:

Got this laptop for $200 new on a black Friday special. Very high quality ASUS but the "Green" 5,400 rpm HD is so slow it took 75 seconds for Windows 7 to reach the password screen. Replaced it with a 120G SSD. Very usable machine now for still less than $300, recommend with 5 stars after SSD mod, incredible 5 hour battery life is now even longer.

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