Lenovo ThinkPad Z61t 9442 - Core Duo T2500 / 2 GHz - Centrino Duo Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I saw that this laptop had all of the system requirements that I needed. I now use it to connect to the internet at home and work on many church projects. I also use it for personal use.

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Sony SVE14A35CXH VAIO 14" Touch-Screen Laptop/ 3rd Gen Intel® Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $899.99
Sale Price: Price Unavailable
Today's Bonus: 27% Off

I really like this machine. I was in the market for a new laptop for some time an decided a touchscreen would best serve my purpose. I'm an artist so working with the touch is a dream come true.

I wasn't sure about windows 8 when it came out but after playing with it for a while decided it was in fact a good OS. Just different. I can see where it isn't optimal for a business but it suites my needs.

But don't let windows 8 turn you away from a good quality computer. There is a program that will allow you to use Windows 8 like Windows 7, Vista, XP, or even 98! And it's free to boot! Just look up in any search engine Classic Shell and you'll find it. Classicshell.net.

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Let me start by saying that I am a computer technician, and was looking for a touchscreen laptop that was fast out of the box. This VAIO hit the mark. It has a fast processor, fast RAM, and a semi-fast hard drive. Out of the box, booted up in about 15 seconds (after the initial setup).

Now day 1 after getting it set up and configured the way I like, I replaced the hard drive with a solid state drive Kingston's 120GB HyperX drive extremely fast. I cloned the hard drive to the SSD, and was able to boot up in less than 7 seconds with Windows 8 just what I was hoping for.

All and all, this laptop is a must have if you are looking for fast, and touchsreen. Yes, it does pick up fingerprints, but I put a screen protector on it, and it reduced the glare, and keeps away those prints. So don't let the other reviewers steer you wrong, as this is a sure fire speed deamon, especially if you plan on installing a SSD.

Thumbs up from the PC Whiz!

Best Deals for Sony SVE14A35CXH VAIO 14" Touch-Screen Laptop/ 3rd Gen Intel®

This is a nice compact size lightning fast laptop, works great with decent configurations. The laptop has excellent screen resolution, lighted keys to work at night in reduced lighting. Best buy ever.

Honest reviews on Sony SVE14A35CXH VAIO 14" Touch-Screen Laptop/ 3rd Gen Intel®

I am writing to you from my Sony Vaio which I will be returning tomorrow. After less than three months of careful usage, the hard disk is failing and causing issues. The mouse is too sensitive and frustrating to use, the screen produces a lot of glare, the finish attracts an insane amount of fingerprints. Up until the hard drive failed I was fairly satisfied but a hard drive failure on a $700.00 laptop? There are no excuses for that.

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I LIKE IT,AND IT'S MEET MY EXPECTATION .

SONY IS MY FAVORITE BRAND

I LIKE IT

I LIKE IT

I LIKE IT

Reviews of HP Pavilion dv6-1245dx 16-Inch Black Laptop (Refurbished)

Customer Ratings:

OK, got the DV6-1245 at the end of the year. I ended up getting the REFURB'd unit since I have always had lots of luck. Anyway, the unit arrived fast and in a standard sealed HP box. the unit was factory fresh, not a fingerprint on it! All accessories and docs were included. And like many laptops in the second half of 2009, it included a coupon for a free upgrade to Windows-7. I went to the web, entered the shipping info and then, free of charge, a CD came in the mail in a week. Installed Win-7 using the docs and disk provided and viola'... Windows-7 spcifically built for this laptop was running!

As for the unit, nice. The screen is a big 16-inch one, with their brightviuew technology. Some people describe this as a 'glossy' screen, but the reasons have more to do with color rendition, rather than aesthetics. In fact a color photo displayed ona 'glossy' screen is hands-down a much more vivid picture than anything possible on a Matte finish screen. User preference here, but for my money, I would ONLY buy the new 'glossy' style screen for ANY monitor.

The machine is quiet and fast. Standard Intel T6500 dual core CPU, it runs great. Several similiar models include the AMD TF20 or M300 chips, but I wanted an Intel version. This one is a great balance betwen COST and SPEED. Yes, there are faster CPUs, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

Unit comes with a 12-cell battery and is great for long-life. Usually this 12-cell is the battery that you have to buy later, for $125 or so, but this unit COMES WITH IT!!! (Yes, I went out and purchased a 6-cell unit for $50 to make this laptop a bit thinner when needed, and now I have BOTH!)

Webcam? Yes, and they throw in the unique Media Manager which can substitute elements of the video stream in real-time, based on your face. So, I can stream what looks like Abraham Lincoln or a Sock-puppet talking (and following my REAL face expressions) when I am on Skype or similiar!

Comes with standard apps installed.

Worth it! Get it! 'Nuff said!

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Review of Acer C7 C710-2847 Chromebook 11.6" Intel Dual Core B847 1.1 GHz 2GB

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $299.99
Sale Price: $255.79
Today's Bonus: 15% Off

Update: In my opinion the right Acer C7 to buy is the Acer C710-2834. As of late September 2013 it may not be shipping for a few weeks from Amazon, so you might want to wait for the C720 instead! If you can't wait, consider the Acer C710-2833, which is available for $199 from other Best Buy and Newegg. Either the 2833 or the 2834 has a 16GB SSD instead of this model's 320GB slow spinning hard drive; that is an important and noticeable performance upgrade, at the cost of disk space which is simply not that important on a Chromebook for most users.

Executive summary: $199 is a great price. Chrome OS is quite an interesting and enjoyable computing environment which serves a wide range of needs (close to all of my family's computer use for sure). The Acer C7's performance is noticeably better than that of the $249 Samsung ARM Chromebook for certain things, notably 720p video and Flash games. Plus, the Acer can be opened up and upgraded, unlike the Samsung. Along with "cheaper" those are basically the only areas in which the Acer beats the Samsung, but those made my decision for me. The major flaws of the Acer C7 are the tiny hard-to-use cursor keys, and the downright horrible speakers; the major flaws of Chrome OS, for me, are local network file access and limited supported media formats. Those are significant problems, but for $199 they are not showstoppers.

I'm quite fond of my Acer C7 Chromebook. The overwhelming feature is the price. $199!

Chrome OS offers a zero-maintenance solution to having a second computer around for family members who essentially only need a web browser anyway. I've come to really enjoy using it. I enjoy knowing that I will never need to provide much tech support for it.

A potential buyer of the Acer C7 might also be considering the $249 Samsung ARM Chromebook. I think the Samsung Chromebook is substantially more beautiful, has no fan or spinning hard drive, and has a much better keyboard and speaker. However, it is underpowered. At Best Buy I was able to try them side by side. The Acer was able to handle 720p video from YouTube almost (though not quite) perfectly; on the Samsung dropped frames were much more noticeable. I also tried a Flash game, Bloons Tower Defense 5, which I've noticed is surprisingly stressful for my older laptops. It runs fine on the Acer C7, but is very choppy on the Samsung. Finally, it is easy (if potentially warranty-breaking) to expand the RAM on the Acer C7 up to 16GB (!), and even to replace the silly hard drive with an SSD. The Samsung ARM Chromebook is essentially impossible to upgrade. That, for me, was the clincher.

The Acer C7, though not actually ugly, is not a particularly pretty machine. The plastic around the display has a particularly cheap look-and-feel. The hinge at least feels strong. The display itself is reasonably nice, with a decent viewing angle. It's glossy.

I do not like the keyboard. I think overall it's not a great keyboard (especially compared to the Samsung ARM Chromebook which has a lovely pleasant-to-use keyboard). The really awful thing is the cursor keys, which are startlingly small and also scrunched up with the page up and down keys. It is really, really unpleasant to use the cursor keys on this keyboard. There are other oddities, if not real problems. The Enter key is oddly shaped for no apparent reason other than gratuitous ugliness. The keyboard has a Caps Lock key (usually replaced by Search on Chrome OS keyboards), and also a Fn key, the only purpose of which is to have a Wifi-Disable keypress Fn-F11 (did anyone really need that?) and to send function keys over Chrome Remote Desktop (I suppose someone might need that---but I regret having a whole key for it in prime territory). This keyboard puts the Chrome OS Search key down with the Control and Alt keys, which is unusual in Chrome OS devices, but it does work to my benefit as it sends Command to Macs over Chrome Remote Desktop. In case it helps anyone, right-Control also sends Command.

I like the Chrome OS keys for back, forward, refresh, full screen, and next window.

The touchpad is quite a bit more resistant to clicking than I would like. I use tap-to-click instead, but there's no tap-only variant of click-and-drag. (I want the 3-finger drag from Apple.)

I often use this Chromebook attached to an external display (and keyboard and mouse... think of it as a desktop replacement!). When I first posted this review I mentioned some issues with this configuration. A Chrome OS update in mid-February 2013 fully resolved these issues for me. The OS auto-update feature is delightful, by the way, automatic and non-intrusive.

With an external Mac keyboard, Command sends Control, which is great for someone whose hands are used to Mac key shortcuts.

The absolute worst thing about the Acer C7 is the speakers. They are bad. Really, really, bad. They're quiet and tinny and I can hardly stand to listen to them. I'm no audiophile, either---I think almost anyone who uses this machine will cringe a little bit at the sound quality. Was this really necessary to hit this price point? Be prepared to use headphones or external speakers. (And not Bluetooth external speakers... I'm told they are not supported in Chrome OS at all, and this machine doesn't have Bluetooth anyway.)

The fan is audible. Not awful, but this is no silent machine. I can't really tell which sounds are the fan and which are the spinning hard drive.

This Acer C7 model comes with a 320GB hard drive. The question here is... why? As far as I can tell the only filesystem access you get is your Downloads folder. Which the OS is allowed to clear at will to free up space! Chrome OS was designed for minimal local storage, and frankly I don't see how this space will ever be that useful. I suppose there's the "load it up with movies before the car trip" argument. I'll probably even do that myself when I go to visit my family this holiday season. But I'd prefer to have a silent, fast, tiny SSD for normal use, and bring my movies on an external hard drive. Update: This is now possible with the Acer C710-2833, which I recommend instead of this model, and which is also really available for $199 on Amazon.

I wish it had USB 3.0. Oh well. (Another point in favor of the Samsung ARM Chromebook, there.)

On to software. You can use the Web. You can get a terminal with Control-Alt-T and use ssh (but no real local shell). Chrome Remote Desktop is entirely usable. Google Cloud Print seems to work fine, for those of us who have an always-on computer around anyway. Offline Gmail and Google Docs are great if you sometimes lack internet access. Flash games work fine. Google Hangouts has a dumb name but is a fantastic videoconferencing product (the camera and microphone are fine).

While I'm on Chrome Remote Desktop: You'll want to right-click the app icon to get it to "open as window", because if it opens as a tab Chrome itself will consume keypresses like control-N and control-W instead of sending them to the remote host.

One thing that is lacking is the ability is access network file storage. We have an always-on computer filled with video and audio and I'd like to be able to access those files conveniently. What I've done that's workable is started an FTP server on that machine. But it's not a great interface, and each file has to be downloaded before playing, rather than being streamed. "Sneakernet" via USB drive works fine too of course. I think there is pay software, like TVersity, that will set up a media server for you with a nice HTTP interface, but I haven't tried it. And I wish this was built in.

Media playing is a mixed bag. This is irritating... why can't every computer just come with a player as nearly universal as VLC? I haven't had trouble with audio; it seems to play my various mp3, m4a, flac, and wav files just fine. Video is trickier. It seems to play mp4 files happily. It will play some avi files, but not others. Wmv files don't work. For the somewhat technically proficient: you can convert to Chromebook-playable MP4 using various products, like Handbrake or VLC, or the command-line tool ffmpeg: "ffmpeg -i file.avi -c copy file.mp4", "ffmpeg -i file.avi -qscale 5 -strict -2 file.mp4", and "ffmpeg -i file.wmv -qscale 2 file.mp4" are three simple sets of options I've found useful. Frankly having to learn about ffmpeg is, again, irritating; this should just work.

You can enter Developer Mode using a particular keystroke during bootup. This gives you a root shell which potentially allows all kinds of fun. It also wipes all storage in your "stateful partition", so don't do this after filling up your silly 320GB hard drive with things you want. The wiping also happens on leaving Developer Mode. Developer Mode also makes Netflix stop working. After playing with this for a bit I decided I didn't really need it. I like that it's there... the principle of the device being unlocked is pleasing to me. But in the end the clean, minimal, just-works built-in Chrome OS is essentially what I want from this machine.

Conclusion: At $500+ Chrome OS is an oddball. At $200 Chrome OS is a remarkable new paradigm in computing. It's pleasant to use, and for $200, the various hardware and software flaws aren't bad enough to give me much pause. In fact, for $200, if you're at all tempted, you might as well buy it and see for yourself. A reason to pause would be to consider the $250 Samsung ARM Chromebook, which has significantly better aesthetics and might be a better choice for some people. For me, the Acer C7's better performance for 720p video and Flash gaming, plus the ability to upgrade memory and hard drive, makes it the winner.

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First of all, I didn't purchase this from Amazon, since the only sellers here are selling it at absurd prices, there are plenty of places selling it for the $199 price. Because of the low price, I wasn't sure what I was going to get. I was quite surprised to see that although it is hardly a premium build, it is quite attractive for the price. Basically, this is about a $300 machine (if it ran Windows) being sold for $199.

I am getting about 4 hours of battery life, which is more than I expected. Since unlike the Samsung unit the battery is removable, I am sure that extra batteries and batteries with a longer life will soon be available.

Compared to the Samsung model this unit costs about $50 less. What you give up is (a) battery life (but the Samsung battery is not removable); bluetooth, some weight and size, and you get a 320gb hard drive instead of the Samsung's 16gb ssd. What you gain is a slighty bigger keyboard, a slightly better screen, and the ability to play Netflix (since the Acer uses an Intel processor). Although there isn't too much use for a large drive in ChromeOS, it is a huge benefit if you want to install Ubuntu which is easy to do on the Acer if you want a "real" OS on it along with ChromeOS. You can also easily expand the RAM and swap the hard drive out if you want, although it will void your warranty.

My big worry was that the hard drive would result in slow boot up times, but honestly this thing boots up from off in about 15 seconds and is extremely quick while surfing, so it hasn't been an issue.

What this thing is NOT is a Windows computer that will allow you to download programs like Office or iTunes. I am amazed at the number of people bitching about this when it is so easy to read and find out what ChromeOS is.

What this excels at is web surfing, not having to worry about viruses, and having automatic updates. WHen I use my Windows and Apple systems I seem to spend most of my time updating, worrying about viruses, etc. For the times when you are watching netflix, hulu or amazon video, catching up on emails, surfing, using goole+ hangout for video chats or doing light weight work with Goggle docs this Acer is quick, cheap and maintenance free. What more could you want for this price?

Best Deals for Acer C7 C710-2847 Chromebook 11.6" Intel Dual Core B847 1.1 GHz 2GB

I researched the chromebook prior to my purchase and was worried that I had made a 200 dollar mistake. Many blog reviews mentioned the poor design or cheap materials. So I pictured this very ugly and flimsy laptop showing up. I opened the box and was delighted by what I found inside. I thought the Acer Chromebook really looked good. It passed the preverbal test of I would not be ashamed of being seen with the device. To me it seemed too many reviewers had taken the smallest things and made them seem like critical defects. In my opinion from an appearance perspective the Chrome book holds it own in the economy laptop world.

Performance on the Chromebook has been pretty good. The battery life seems low with only 3.5 to 4 hours. I cant stress enough that it is a different world working with a Chromebook. Not a bad world just a different world. I really like the simplicity of the device. I was not a big google product user so that has been the biggest part of the learning curve. After two weeks I have found that I am really learning to let go of a Windows universe. Life after Windows has been refreshing.

I picked the Acer due to the cost and tasks i typically use my iPad for. For example, I wanted to watch Netflix and other video streaming and the other Chromebook with the SSD seems to be unable to do that at this time.

Some reviews have mentioned the fan noise but I have not had any issues with that. It does turn on but it is not a distraction. I think much of the really detailed criticism is more for people who are very refined in what they expect for a laptop. For 200 dollars this is a great machine to surf the net, watch movies, do social media, and do homework on. It has build in virus protection and no other software is needed. The apps/ browser extensions allow for a great deal of variety in how you use the device. Add a ten dollar wireless mouse and this little machine is good for a casual evening of digital consumption or the typical homework assignment.

I would buy it again.

Honest reviews on Acer C7 C710-2847 Chromebook 11.6" Intel Dual Core B847 1.1 GHz 2GB

First off, I gotta get it out there... I am absolutely IN LOVE with this thing! I have been a Googlephile since joining Gmail in 2005, so obviously this is right up my alley. But you don't have to use all the Google services to appreciate this revolutionary piece of machine.

Anyone thinking about switching to the Chrome OS needs to know what it can and can not do. In a nutshell, if you can do it with a web browser in Windows, you can do it here. There are a few rare exceptions, but those are disappearing. If you are willing to rethink how you do things, I've found that the Chromebook can do about anything you would want to do. I am a heavy computer user, fix PCs for a living, and I have not once had to use my Windows 7 desktop since purchasing this Chromebook on 12/21/2012.

Now you won't be able to use a lot of peripheral devices with it, but most of the standards work. Keyboards, mice and external storage devices will work fine. Things like cameras, phones, etc will not (though they will still work for charging of course). This does not mean you can't accomplish your task though. The Chromebooks still have SD card slots, so for something like a camera, rather than plugging the camera in to dump pictures, you just take the SD card out and plug that in. Same task done, just in a different way. It also will not interface directly with printers, but with Google Cloud Print, that's not a problem, and you'll still be able to print from it just fine.

As far as this particular Chromebook, I don't have much to say or to compare against other models. This review is mostly about the Chrome OS itself, which is certainly the shining feature.

As someone who spends most of his days cleaning up viruses, re-installing software, etc, the Chrome OS is a HUGE breath of fresh air. It simply works exactly how it is supposed to, and it works the same every single time. I haven't had to install a single bit of software or wait for a single update. All the software you need comes from the cloud through the browser, and all the updates are done silently in the background, and at MOST will make your boot up take an extra 30 seconds. I have not once had to restart the Chromebook because of an odd glitch, though that's not to say it's impossible. Just hasn't happened to me at all through a month and half of heavy use. My Windows machine surely would of done it many times in that month and a half.

The other really great thing about living a cloud-based computing life is never worrying about losing your stuff. Services like Google Docs are constantly saving your work in the cloud. I can in theory (and have once just for fun) stop in the middle of working, go sign into my sister's Chromebook and pick right up where I left off. Fantastic. Gone are the days of losing everything you've done simply because your computer died.

The Chrome OS is also GREAT for people who share a computer. All information is kept private between accounts, unlike Windows where some security exists, but most files are still open for everyone by default. Someone could use my Chromebook to look at all sorts of awful things, and I would never know. The guest mode is also great for the security minded. Anyone who's ever owned a laptop knows that people are CONSTANTLY asking "Hey can I use your laptop real quick? I gotta check XYZ". Well in the Chrome OS, they can just use the Guest account so that they will not mess up any of your stuff, and unlike Windows' guest mode, Chrome OS will delete everything the guest downloaded/viewed as soon as they log out. It's a beautiful thing.

I feel like I could keep going on and on about how much I love this thing, but I bet hardly anyone will read it, so I won't bother. So, on to the wrap up... Oh and did I mention, like everyone else has, just how quickly this thing boots?! Less than 20 seconds. Jesus...

The Chrome OS is not for everyone, but actually it pretty much is. And it is constantly getting better and adding even more features. If you're ready to give up all the frustrations you normally have with a computer, and want to spend your computer time actually DOING stuff rather than working to keep the thing running, then get a Chromebook. If you just spent 10 minutes waiting for your computer to boot up because it had 20 updates to install, and it sent you into a fit of rage, get a Chromebook. If you're tired of paying $50 a year for virus protection that slows things way down and ultimately still lets a virus through, get a Chromebook. If you simply want to be cool like me, then get a Chromebook.

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I got the Acer C7 almost a week ago and I have barely put it down! This is an amazing machine, it does absolutely everything I want and it was two hundred dollars. How can you beat that? Since receiving my Chromebook I have touched my iPad a total of one time, and that was just to get music and movies off of it. It is comparable in weight to the iPad and it has a bigger screen. I haven't noticed any issues with the battery life. It lasts upwards of four hours. And honestly it's rare (for me at least) to be using it for that long without being near a power source. I have been able to find web apps for everything I need or want. I am a student so I do writing, research, web browsing all that fun stuff and this takes it all in stride. I love the three hundred and twenty gigs of memory. I am very comfortable with the cloud, but it's nice to actually have some music and such on your device. I read reviews of the fan being loud, or the vent blowing out really hot air, I have experienced none of that. If the room is silent I can here the fan, but if there is any other noise it is silent. The air is warm not hot. The keyboard is great. The trackpad was just a tiny bit sluggish for my taste, but as soon as I turned up the speed in the settings it was perfect.

This is a great device. If you are considering this device I highly recommend it.

Discount Toshiba Satellite L875D-S7332 17-Inch Notebook Laptop

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $599.99
Sale Price: $495.88
Today's Bonus: 17% Off

I actually purchased this laptop a week ag from Staples for about $100 less than the Amazon price. I love it! I agree, Windows 8 takes some getting used to, but the more I use it the more comfortable I am with it. I simply use the Windows 7 desktop that I can easily access from the "Metro" desktop that comes up when I first log on. Also, the Metro desktop shows all the files and program shortcuts that I have on my Windows 7 desktop. They are located over on the extreme right side of the display, and so its only takes a second to get to the programs I use...without even having to go to the Windows 7 desktop.

I love the nice, crisp display. The keyboard is like silk and it's size makes it, at least for me, very easy to use. The Fn keys are useful, and having a separate number pad is terrific. This laptop also has both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 outlets, which is a real plus. The only thing that is a very slight disappointment is that the battery only last 4 hours, but considering that the battery on the 7 year old Toshiba I had been struggling with (as a second computer just for email and writing)only lasted 15 minutes, 4 hours is a breath of fresh air.

I would buy this computer over and over again. It seems to be a fantastic machine.

Additional comments two weeks later:

I still really like this machine, with just one complaint...the display has a blue cast that is impossible to get rid of, no matter how many color corrections I try. I've been able to reduce the blue cast significantly, but if I go try to reduce it further in the color cast setting or in the processor settings, the cast starts turning green or red. Since I use this computer to do some photo editing, I'll just have to make the color cast corrections (which are usually only white balance changes) with my desktop that has a 22" ViewSonic LED and is connected directly to the printer. I have tried three HP G7 laptops, two with AMD processors and one with the Intel i3 processor, and they all have the same cast, so it's the display and not the processor. If anybody has any success correcting this, let me know.

Incidentally, I LOVE Windows 8. Nearly all the low ratings for this computer are because of Windows 8 and not the computer itself. I've been through XP, Windows 7, and now Windows 8, and I think 8 is far better than the other two. Here's what I like so far:

The charms provide easy and quick access to all those files, folders, programs, and system tools that were so darn hard to find, particularly if they're in the control panel. Just type in the name of what you are looking for and the links to the item show up instantly. Very cool.

I can switch back and forth between the media window and the traditional Windows 7 desktop with a simple push of the windows button on the lower left side of the keyboard. And get this every program I install has a shortcut on the traditional desktop AND the media desktop. Since they open at least three times faster when I access them on the media desktop, I always start there. And...with some patience, I've been able to move all the programs I use to the left side of the media desktop so they are front and center on my display at startup; a piece of cake.

One aggravation is that I have not figured out how to make a shortcut to the system tools I use "create a restore point" and "computer management" to put on the desktop. If anybody knows how, please let me know because I use these tools a lot.

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I have bought several lately of various brands, 2 of this one for me and my wife. This one is the fastest. Windows 8 can take some adjustment if one is not tech oriented, so I downloaded classic shell and it opened up old school familiarity with new app functionality.

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This Toshiba is a great laptop for the price and it has a decent amount of memory and disk space, although you can find it cheaper elsewhere. The display is slightly larger and movies look good on it. I personally dislike Windows 8, but that's a minor problem once you get used to it. I also purchased a Toshiba 3TB external hard drive for all my movies and both work excellently.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite L875D-S7332 17-Inch Notebook Laptop

Like others I have found this laptop for a much lower price (in my case $299 after rebate) at local brick and mortar office supply stores (Office Depot). It is last years model so it is on clearance. It runs fine and has a very, very nice screen and keyboard. It took a while to get used to the mouse pad but with a bit of tweaking of the settings it settled down OK. Still, it works much better with an external mouse but that is just my personal preference. Windows 8 took 1/2 to get used to but Toshiba provides a single click link to the traditional desktop. My fifth version of Windows so I guess I've gotten used to making transitions. So I am very, very happy. Was ready to spend up to $200 more to get a 17.3 inch screen with 500+ GB of disk and 6+ GB of RAM but didn't need to.

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I love this laptop. The performance is great. It's fast and easy to use. I like that it's lightweight. Thanks

Buy HP ProBook 4530s XU015UT 15.6" LED Notebook (2.1 GHz Intel Core

Customer Ratings:

***Pros***

I bought this laptop as a family utility machine, it sits in my living room and at least 4 people use it regularly. I was looking for something that was new and had new components, this has a 2nd gen Intel I3 processor along with a USB 3.0 port and bluetooth 3.0. The major pro to this machine is the price along with some new features. The screen display and keyboard are nice as well. It also has a 720P Webcam with facial recognition software and fingerprint reader(it doesn't always work though). For those that care about noise this thing doesn't really make any, my previous laptop fan ran a lot.

***Cons***

I took a star off because the machine has lots of crap software on it. It would be nice if you could have the option of just getting it shipped with the OS only. There are also 3 partitions on the hard drive, 1 called HP recovery, 2nd which is FAT32 for HP tools, and a 3rd for everything else. I'm still working on removing crap software, but it still runs fast and boots in 20 30 seconds.

***Other***

This is not a gaming laptop so if you want it to play the latest and greatest games look elsewhere. You should be able to play most web games or anything that doesn't require a dedicated video card.

Overall I am very satisfied with the purchase. I researched for about a month straight and ended up on this one based on highest functionality for the price combined with the newest hardware.

***Update 8/19/2011***

I updated to 5 stars because I am very satisfied with this machine. The processor is really fast and I really like the USB 3.0 backups are super fast. I don't use the webcam or transport the laptop much so I can't really comment on that. For the price its an excellent machine.

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We (I and my wife) did our own comparison with other brands and found this to have the best specification and also value for money. It is originally sold for 570-580$ in HP, so getting this at a huge discount from CircuitCity is really great.

Our goal was to find a decent laptop for home use within budget of 400-450$ dollars. We compared HP-Pavilion g6-1b79dx priced at 429.99$, Toshiba C655-S5128 at 449.99$, Toshiba C655-S5212 at 399.99$, Dell Inspiron 15R i3-380M at 399$, Lenovo ideapad z560 at 449.99$.

For this kind of price, i receive a HD webcam, anti-glare screen, bluetooth and WiFi. Plus i also receive a HDMI port for viewing images/movies on my larger LCD TV. It also comes with Windows 7 (64 bit) which enables the OS to handle large amounts of data (RAM) when compared to 32 bit. The only flaw if i could say so is that it comes with 320 GB Hard drive whereas others might offer you a 500 GB capacity, but who cares! atleast i find the storage capacity enough. Also only HP Probook 4530 XU015UT provides both, bluetooth and WiFi when compared within this price range. (so transfer files from any device to your PC hassle-free)

This is touted as a business laptop in HP website, so you know it means business and not some decorative (read flashy) home laptop. It also comes with a brushed aluminium finish.

This laptop also offers HP enhanced security comes with fingerprint, face detection and other security features which you can enable using HP proprietory software. I found it so good that i ordered 2 of these from Amazon.

We have been using it for about 2 weeks now and thoroughly enjoy watching movies, using WiFi, Skype and other stuff. CircuitCity promptly delivered this to us and i have no reason to complain whatsoever.

Hope you all will find the review helpful

Best Deals for HP ProBook 4530s XU015UT 15.6" LED Notebook (2.1 GHz Intel Core

This laptops is awesome.

This laptop has the sandy bridge version of the i3 which has really strong integrated graphics card. and very quick processor.

I was actually able to get around 35 FPS on Civilization V on low setting which means I could run smoothly at medium settings, which also means that you can play alot of other games like MW2, Fifa, NFS, Portal, Mirror's Edge, Red Alert 3, and games at this intensity on low settings. Fifa will surely run on medium settings.

Aside from the specs, The touchpad is a little bit rough at first as if you're touching very fine sandpaper, but after a while of use you get used to it and realize that it actually works better than glossy touchpads on other laptops.

Also the USB hubs are a little bit hard to get extensions in them, but for me that's a plus so that the USBs don't fall off easily.

The screen is really vibrant, although I haven't tested it in direct sunlight. You will also notice that there is a lot of space beyond the display in the front (a good .5 inch on both sides and like 1.5 inches on the top.)

The speakers are actually really loud and crisp clear.

There is bluetooth built in. And there is two USB 3.0 hubs.

It ways a little bit more than your average 15.6 inch laptop, which I guess is due to the brushed aluminum finish on the back and surrounding the touchpad.

Overall this is the best laptop purchase I have ever made.

Honest reviews on HP ProBook 4530s XU015UT 15.6" LED Notebook (2.1 GHz Intel Core

There seems to be a lot of conflicting reviews on this laptop. Some say they have one usb 3.0 port, some say they have two. I purchased this laptop a couple of weeks ago, and the laptop I received DID NOT have any usb 3.0 ports. If that is a problem for anybody they should probably look elsewhere.

As far as the build quality, this laptop is very nice. I really like the brushed metal lid and the hard plastic bottom seems sturdy enough to me. The webcam is decent enough and the dual microphones perform really well. The chiclet keyboard is really nice, and it's convenient to have a number pad. I find myself using the fingerprint sensor to sign in to windows a lot, and so far I've had no issues. Once again the lack of usb 3.0 might but an issue for some, but I find the four usb 2.0 ports sufficient.

Performance wise this laptop is very good for the price. It can definitely handle web applications with ease, but can also easily handle programs like Lightroom 3, and of course microsoft's suite of productivity programs. I have also done some light gaming with games like Counterstrike Source, Portal 2, and Team Fortress 2 with no problems at all. Anything more demanding than those games, and you should look elsewhere (minecraft gave me lots of frame droppage). One more note, the computer was loaded with a lot of crapware (as expected from hp). I had over 90 processes and 50% memory usage on startup, but I don't consider it a huge issue because it's easily fixed if you want.

Overall this laptop is really nice and I would definitely recommend it to anyone except hardcore gamers and others who would need a dedicated GPU. For the price you can't really go wrong!

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This is an excellent computer,lending me to believe that HP puts a lot into their probook series of laptops. The touch pad is annoying, but not annoying enough to complain. And as far as the extra software, there was not a lot on it at all. And all you need is a good uninstaller (a third party one, I suggest either Revo or Advanced Uninstaller Pro). Took what I wanted off and I have no problems. This thing has so many other features as well. I would suggest not to uninstall any of the HP software, for some of them have been very helpful. Overall, this was a good solid buy, and I am very happy.

Oh, and unless it is a high model specially designed LP, none of them have good speakers, so don't expect them to. Find a good pair of usb speakers and call it a day.

Reviews of Samsung NP540U3C-A03UB Series 5 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop - 4GB

Customer Ratings:

This Ultrabook has spoiled me forever. Full size power and performance in a lightweight product that I use daily. My 2-year old Toshiba Satellite laptop feels like it weighs a ton compared to this one. Battery length is excellent (almost 6 hours unless watching videos, maybe 4 1/2 5 hours) and sound quality is much better than expected although I usually use headphones, it's nice to have a laptop that you can hear clearly through its own speakers. I flow between using the keyboard, the mouse, and the touchscreen (which I love), but the onscreen keyboard has not gotten as much use from me as I thought it might. Windows 8 took no time to get used to for me and is very compatible with this touchscreen Ultrabook. If you miss having a backlit keyboard, as I've read in other reviews of this model, just tip the screen down for a second to see what you're doing. I know where the keys are, so for me the lack of backlighting was a non-issue. Cosmetically, it's absolutely beautiful and fingerprint free (except for the easy to clean touchscreen). I got this exact model for $600 at Best Buy after a very good sale and some other discounts (I bought a Verizon JetPack mobile hotspot and got another $100 off the price of this computer, which was just an added bonus at the checkout counter that I wasn't expecting). This was about three months ago and I haven't seen it on sale for such a low price since then. This model may be steeply priced if it's selling for $900 but if you can find it for $750 or less, grab it!

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Thin, light, and powerful. Battery is pretty good too. And it starts up really fast from sleep. It's definitely good enough to use as your daily laptop.

Best Deals for Samsung NP540U3C-A03UB Series 5 13.3" Touch-Screen Laptop - 4GB

When we were using the Microsoft Powerpoint, it keeps minimizing and maximing on it's own and we were in front of doctors.

Discount HP 2000--2B89WM 15.6" Core i3 500GB HDD Notebook

Customer Ratings:

I bought this laptop for personal use. Some of the best features include light weight, latest OS, and best value for money. It is easy to carry around and retains battery for more than 7 hrs after charging it fully. Money best invested.

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Excellent computer for the price. I first purchased a DEll for almost twice the price and it did not work at all. After returning it I desided to just buy a cheap computer. Boy was I wrong. This Hp is anything but cheap. I've had it in use now for 6 months and have had no problems at all. Only thing I would recommend is to get rid of the Norton security and use the Windows defender security that is already down loaded on this computer and its free!! I did have issues with Norton and windows 8, but since I switched to windows defender there have been none.

Best Deals for HP 2000--2B89WM 15.6" Core i3 500GB HDD Notebook

thanks I received my product in Venezuela, although I have not used yet because I have not configured the Spanish I think everything is fine, the keyboard model might be a little dated but that is overshadowed by comparing it with the aesthetic of the other parts team as well as its configuration. I am very happy with the team, I feel very complete in terms of price and value

Honest reviews on HP 2000--2B89WM 15.6" Core i3 500GB HDD Notebook

The computer seems to work ok. It came with Windows 8, so I'm learning a new operating system. My old computer has Windows XP Pro, which I really like, but I see I can do a lot more things with Windows 8. I do like the HP it is a new computer and has more goodies

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I was very skeptic of purchasing a refurbished item. But my boyfriend convinced me that it can be just as good as a new item. The computer works for the most part but the battery life is little over an hour, the optical drive doesn't work properly and it came with a scratch. Also, the manual is not very detailed.

Disappointing buy.

Discount Samsung - All-In-One Computer / Intel Core i3 Processor / 23"

Customer Ratings:

This computer is a beauty. Just to look at it is awesome. I purchased this computer for my Salon/Dance school and it does the job I got it for. Videos look awesome and music sounds loud and crisp. If I had the extra money I would buy another one for my home. It being a touch screen is the icing on the cake. Best investment I made for my salon. Thanks Amazon and Samsung for such an awesome product.

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We have two of these. This is a good computer, IF you are not going to rely on the touchscreen.

The touchscreen is not very responsive and not always accurate. I thought perhaps these computers are all like this until we bought a Sony All-In-One. Although SONY has poor customer service, the touchscreen is very responsive, not as good as iPad, but quite useable.

The ELO Touchscreen utility that comes with the Samsung can't do much with the sensitivity of the touchscreen. You have to push down quite hard and sometimes hold it briefly for it to work. It is a TOTAL DRAG to use the touchscreen; you will probably never use it again after trying it for one minute.

The LED screen is super thin and beautiful. However, you cannot raise the monitor; you can only alter the angle of the monitor.

Best Deals for Samsung - All-In-One Computer / Intel Core i3 Processor / 23"

Like the all-in-one design and space saving feature it offers. Not a big fan of the touchscreen feature (Windows 7), but I'm old school...still like the mouse/keyboard option. Only issue unresolved is that it loses internet connectivity when the PC goes into sleep mode; this may be a simple adjustment in the power settings but I haven't explored this yet. Overall, satisfied with the product. Seems well built, hope to get a few years out of it.

Honest reviews on Samsung - All-In-One Computer / Intel Core i3 Processor / 23"

I love that this screen lays flat! It makes it excellent for Computer Board Games. I bought a suite of Hasbro Board Games for the Samsung and played for hours! I wish it had Widi, but you can't have everything I suppose. It is a remarkable product and the shipping was fast and the condition was excellent! Thanks!

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It's great pc because it doesn't takes much room some you can take any where I like colour too I love it

Cheap Dell XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook Laptop Tablet i5-3317U 4GB 128GB

Customer Ratings:

I love the laptop (I would have absolutely loved it, if it were not for the issues noted below), it is light and easy to convert between a tablet and a laptop. This is one of the very few touch screen laptops in the market with 1080p resolution and I absolutely love the extra real estate. With Windows 8, the touch interface seems to come alive, especially some of the Microsoft bundled apps with Windows 8, like travel, news, finance etc which you can experience to its fullness. Btw, I have the Core i7 version.

The battery life is decent, I get about 3-4 hrs max compared to my old Lenovo which would last 6-7 hrs. The lack of ports is also an issue, it does not have SD slot so you have to carry a card reader, it also does not have a VGA or HDMI port so you have to buy a converter to display out to VGA or HDMI. I knew about this going in so not something that deterred me from getting it.

Now the negatives about the laptop. There are 3 things that is bad and I hope Dell fixes these issues:

1. There seems to be some issue with copy/Cut and Paste functionality i.e. you can copy/cut some text but the paste will not work. Dell forum is filled with complaints about this and the 2nd issue below with no resolution. This is what make it very difficult to use since I depend on this to work flawlessly and there is no workaround about this except try multiple time and eventually it will work. But you definitely need some patience for this and this is the worst issue with the laptop.

2. The track pad mouse stops working very frequently and it is absolutely annoying when you keep on touching the touch pad to move the mouse and nothing happens. Having touch does help since I can touch screen to get the desired result. I carry an external Bluetooth mouse otherwise it would drive me nuts.

3. The 3rd thing is the adaptive brightness, it seems to have a mind of its own i.e. the screen brightness will change for the same light condition and it is annoying. Fortunately there is a workaround i.e. turning off the "Adaptive brightness" in the display settings as part of the power option.

I am hoping these are driver/software issues and not hardware issue and Dell is going to fix the 1st two issues otherwise in the long run I am probably going to regret having the laptop since I expect these functionality to work out of the box.

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This is one of a new breed of convertible laptops created to take advantage of the Windows 8 paradigm, which allows use as both as tablet and a laptop. While this category is expected to grow, right now, there are essentially only a modest number of entrants, and only two that could be reasonably be called innovative: The Dell XPS 12 (this one), and the Lenovo Yoga 13. The Dell and Lenovo sport similar power specs (cpu, memory, hard drive, battery life), but the Dell has a much higher resolution, better, screen. In my opinion, the Dell takes that competition handily.

Focusing on the XPS 12, this is a terrific piece of hardware, with a lot of pros, and only a few significant cons.

Summarizing,

Pros:

Beautiful super high resolution 1920x1080 12.5" screen

Very high build quality

Terrific innovative screen that rotates in the frame to go from laptop/keyboard to tablet configuration

Very responsive with even the base configuration of an Intel I5 processor and 4Gb memory

Incredibly fast boot time (10-15 seconds)

Very good keyboard

Responsive touchscreen which operates in both laptop and tablet modes

Fast SSD drive in all configurations

Decent webcam (1.3mp)

Light, portable charging cable.

Bluetooth, Wireless N (5 + 2.4Ghz)

Backlit keys on keyboard

Eh:

Battery life is 5-5.5 hours.

Weight is 3.5 pounds, which isn't heavy, but isn't super light for a 12.5" laptop. A bit heavy feeling in tablet mode

Speakers are predictably mediocre for a small laptop

Base configuration has only a 128Gb SSD hard drive. However, the hard drive IS user replaceable.

Cons:

No HDMI or VGA port. Only a graphics mini displayport, which means you will need to carry a mini displayport -> HDMI or VGA adapter if you want to use this for business or with a TV/external monitor.

Memory is soldiered to motherboard and is not upgradeable. Fortunately, even the base configuration 4Gb of memory is more than sufficient.

Only two USB ports (both USB 3.0, however)

Battery is not easily user swapped/replacable

No built in media card reader. If you want to the SD card from your camera, you'll need to carry an external reader.

No GPS

Of the cons, the worst, in my opinion, is the fact that the battery is not easily swapped/replaced. While the 5-5.5 hour run time is pretty respectable, one can expect battery life to diminish over time, and I am not looking forward to dealing with that eventuality. Also, I like to carry a spare battery to swap out for long trips. That's not possible here.

Having struggled with various underpowered Android based tablets, including the Asus TF301/keyboard dock, I can say that using the XPS 12 in tablet mode is like a huge weight has been lifted. The XPS 12 screams when surfing the web, which is something I can't say about any Android (or Mac) tablet I've used--and I've used a lot of them.

People have complained about the lack of apps in the Windows 8 app store--and it's true that the Windows 8 app store is pretty anemic compared to Andoid or Mac. But some of the most important apps are there (Skype, Netflix, etc.) and it's still growing. There are enough to make using the tablet mode acceptable now...and the responsiveness provided by the Intel I5 processor makes it a pleasure to use.

There are a few configuration options available for the XPS 12, all related to the processor (a few speeds of I5 and I7), memory (4Gb or 8Gb) and hard drive size (128Gb or 256Gb). My recommendation: Any of the available processor speeds will be more than acceptable and the difference between the I5 and I7 processors for almost any user will be negligible. Similarly, most users will not need the 8Gb of memory. Windows 8 runs perfectly fine on 4Gb of memory. Unless you plan on running memory hog processes (advanced video editing, certain scientific apps, etc.) you won't need the extra memory. If you do need the extra memory, however, you need to order the laptop with 8Gb installed from the factory, as the memory is not user-upgradeable (it's soldiered to the motherboard...grrr...) A larger hard drive than the 128Gb SSD that comes installed on the base model is definitely a nice feature. But the hard drive IS user replaceable, and the incremental cost of getting the 256Gb mSata SSD from Dell is more than it would be to buy that 256Gb mSata SSD on the aftermarket and clone your 128Gb drive onto it. (You will also wind up with a spare 128Gb drive that way). Unless you are scared of the idea of hard drive cloning/migration, I'd recommend that path. Please note that this laptop uses the mSata configuration hard drive, rather than a full sized SSD to save space. mSata drives tend to be a bit more expensive than standard SSD drives.

Overall, this is a terrific laptop, and buying the least expensive configuration version is, for most, the recommended route.

Best Deals for Dell XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook Laptop Tablet i5-3317U 4GB 128GB

Very nice, compact 12.5" laptop. Touchscreen is responsive and has a full size keyboard. The keyboard separates this from the Microsoft Surface and many other conversion products, which have small, abnormal keyboards. Overall, the laptop is fast and loads programs and apps quickly. The startup time is awesome thanks to the SSD hard drive.

Out of the laptop / tablet conversion products this is definitely one of the best. It is not perfect and here are my only complaints. First, it does not support SD cards, which I was able to overlook by buying a new micro USB jump drive. The new ones hardly stick out of the computer preventing them from damage, so this will solve the problem unless you need multiple USB ports for other things. Another negative is the lack of an HDMI output. I used this very often on my old computer when traveling. It is great to put movies on the computer and play through the TV in hotels. However, you can purchase a cable to convert the mini-display port (correction) to HDMI for less than $20. (Update: I found the cable on Ebay for less than $4). This solves that problem. The final issue I have with the XPS 12 is the weight. At 3.5 pounds, it is fairly light laptop but a very heavy tablet. This prevents it from being a great tablet or conversion product. Don't get me wrong it still works as a tablet, and I use it as a tablet while laying around or traveling. I must say it is very nice to only have to carry one device while traveling!

Overall, this is a great product. With the ability to flip the screen and turn it into a tablet, it separates it from others. It is faster than any tablet and works as well as most ultrabooks. If it was a bit lighter, it would be amazing! Some people say it isn't worth the price. To me, it is. I no longer need a tablet and a laptop. In fact, I sold my tablet and my netbook, which paid for more than half of this device. I would definitely recommend. I also looked at the Asus Taichi. I chose this device solely due to the poor battery life on the Asus.

Honest reviews on Dell XPS 12 Convertible Ultrabook Laptop Tablet i5-3317U 4GB 128GB

I researched this laptop for six months before purchasing the same configuration from Dell for less.

It is difficult to separate a review of the laptop itself from a review of Windows 8. Windows 8 is the next step so I figured I might as well get used to it. If I had to review it after one day I would have given it one star because of the learning curve. A week later I absolutely love Windows 8.

The laptop itself is awesome.

Pros:

Touchscreen is very responsive in laptop and tablet mode. (I downloaded all recommended driver updates and patches from Dell a couple of days after receiving it.)

Keyboard is the best I've ever typed on and a comfortable size. Backlit keys are a must, since my old XPS spoiled me; the onscreen keyboard is a pleasure to use.

The beautiful display, at 1080p, was another must. Pinch to zoom works great, so it is simple to zoom in if everything appears too small.

In the Windows 8 environment zoomed images are crisp and clear. I have small fingers so I have no trouble using the touchscreen without zooming in most of the time. In the desktop environment, which looks and behaves like Windows 7, it is possible to adjust the size of icons and font to make it more readable, which I found necessary to do.

Very light for a laptop, (compared to my 7lb, 17 inch studio XPS), and practical as a tablet. Not having to buy a tablet plus a new laptop made this

purchase highly practical. I do rest it on my lap or a surface due to the weight, but it is better than any tablet I've seen.

Extremely fast boot up. Connecting to the internet only seems to take long (30 seconds) because the laptop is on instantly (10 seconds).

Impressive to look at...Rotating screen elicits ooohs and aaahs.

Acceptable battery life.

Cons:

Touchpad is temperamental. Not sure if its just me, but it does different things, or nothing at all, although I tap in the same place the

same way. However, I mostly use the touchscreen (which is the point), with a mouse. (A Bluetooth mouse is the best option to leave USB ports open.)

This laptop is stingy with USB ports. Connecting an external DVD drive, like the ASUS External Slim Black 8X DVD-RW Stylish Diamond Cut Design Optical Drive SDRW-08D2S-U/BLK/G/AS uses both ports. I could have lived without the external battery level indicator if I had another USB port.

Observations:

Without a touchscreen I imagine Windows 8 could be frustrating to use. With a touchscreen and a couple of days to learn, Windows 8 is fun.

This laptop was made for Windows 8 and vice versa. Although there is no SD card port this is not an issue as there are all kinds of inexpensive external readers.

I would not recommend this as an only computer. I still own a laptop with large storage capacity; as well as an external storage drive for all my photos and videos.

Initially, a Dell rep I chatted with told me this was too much computer for me, (they are probably right but who says ordinary folks can't enjoy a cool machine like this one?)

Recommendation:

If you have the extra money to spend, this is the only convertible laptop worth it.

Update: 8/4

Started having issues with internet dropping out only on public wifi and touchscreen not responding, after about two months of use. Called Dell: Tech remotely downloaded some patches I did not see the first time and fixed both issues as well as the trackpad issue I was having. Enjoy my xps 12 more than ever now and have not identified any other issues. In fact I find myself using my old laptop less when I am at home.

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I've only had the XPS 12 for a week and so far, I'm impressed. Everything works great. I've had no trackpad issues at all. I got the i5-4gb version and due to the SSD, it works as well as my old XPS L502X (i7, 8gb) and that's saying a lot. WiFi is very good (tested speeds at home/work & I'm getting higher speeds than all my other devices). Flip screen & overall build is solid -feels sturdy, not cheap (long lasting). Keyboard feels good, not cramped & its back lit. Speakers are surprisingly good IMO. On the net, I watched several reviews with the only complaints being 1) the trackpad, which is working nicely for me and 2) too heavy as a tablet -sure, it's not an iPad but I didn't expect it to be. Still, very nice though. For those who have not used Windows 8, it takes a bit of getting used to (but easy). Best way I can describe it -it's like having two operating systems (Win7 & Win8). Another plus -minimal bloatware. There are other options out there -ie. -smaller tablets like the Surface (you'll have to buy a keyboard & accessories) or other convertibles like the Lenovo Yoga (keyboard is unprotected when flipped, feels odd). This may not be for everyone, but it fits the bill for me, like it a lot.

**UPDATE 5/25/13***

I've used the XPS 12 over a month and everything works great. I paired it with a Toshiba Dynadock (running two extra screens, wireless keyboard/mouse, printer/scanner, Ethernet & extra USB 3.0s) and it's great in Desktop mode. As mentioned above, I'm very pleased. Excellent portability, solid tablet & wonderful desktop. I use it for everything -work & personal. Love it.

HP Pavilion g7-1260us 17.3" Notebook (2.2GHz Intel Core i3-2330M Review

Customer Ratings:

This laptop has everything I need--light weight, long battery life (more than 4 hours), a huge and beautiful screen, fast speed, much less crap software compare to my Toshiba Notebook, and a perfect keyboard which allows you to type very fast once you get use to it. And it doesn't get hot. All of those features only for $520 makes it a great deal.

I want to mention that if you need to make the laptop to display other language such as Japanese, Chinese etc. like I do, you don't need to download anything, just do: Control panel-clock language and region-change the date, time or number format-administrative-change system locale and choose the language, and windows will then restart and update it automatically.

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**REVISED (SEE BELOW)

Alright, I have a major revision to the review that I previously wrote originally. The HP Laptop (which seemed nice at first) had to be returned for an exchange. The reason? The 650 Gig Hard drive stopped working after six days, because it was defective.

I got the blue screen of death when booting up Windows. At first, I thought it was a software crash. But, after using HP Tools in the Boot Manager, to conduct a hardware examination, I soon learned the hard drive was failing. I was shocked. I've never had this happen before with any computer or hard drive I've purchased new. That's why I've revised my rating for this product down to two stars.

I was sort of lucky because the little bugger stopped working within the 14 day return period. But, I ache for the customers who may not be so lucky. So far, I'm crossing my fingers with this replacement laptop. After a few disk self tests (DST) in the HP boot manager, everything seems kosher (but, again, I'm waiting to see.)

As I said previously, I currently own both an HP Netbook and this model.

My original review about the pluses for this machine remain unchanged. In my current line of work, I use my laptop to write articles for an online media publication. I'm guilty of falling asleep while using my laptop. When I was using, just my netbook, it could get searing hot, despite internal fan. For the most part, the 1260 remains cool to the touch.

This model is outfitted with a roomy 640 Gig hard drive (barring defects), a 4 gig RAM memory and a large 17" LED screen. I liked that the keyboard is nice and roomy. I can complete my articles without fearing that the mouse will reposition itself onto another part of the screen while I'm writing an article. The touchpad mouse can be turned on and off (with a button in the left corner). You can even scroll and adjust the zoom using the touch pad. On the right side of the keyboard, there is also a number pad, for accountants, mathematicians, etc; to complete their tasks.

There's also a HDMI plug (cord has to be purchased separately) to hook up with your HDTV. Additionally, there is a SD memory slot (for photographers who like snapping pictures) to easily upload pics to your computer. There are three total USB ports and an internal DVD-R drive.

The HP G7 also comes with a full, customizable version of Windows 7. No backup disk is included with this laptop, so be sure to create one when you first receive your laptop with the HP Recovery Manager. The manager will only allow you to create one full copy (which is four DVDs total). The machine only comes with an evaluation version of Microsoft Office and a 90-day evaluation copy of Norton Antivirus.

I'm going to nitpick, again, here, in spite of its positive features, the speaker quality is sub par. For music lovers who listen to Pandora, watch YouTube or like listening to music on their laptop, the stereo surround sound quality (from Altec Lansing) is poor. I've had similar problems with my HP Netbook, and thought by upgrading I'd get better speaker quality. Not the case. It also comes with a webcam.

The gray case is plain, imo, not so much shiny silver, but a muted charcoal gray. Not very flashy or trendy, if you're looking for your computer to be artsy. I plan on getting a sticker cover to customize mine.

With this model, you'll also have a one year HP warranty. Keep on your toes... you just might need it.

I want to warn customers to make sure that you have copies of your UPC code (don't throw away the box like I almost did). Keep copies of your original receipt on hand in a safe place just in case you have to exchange. Also, do a system diagnostics when you first purchase this machine (hitting the "ESC" after setting up Windows (on reboot). Select the "F2" key from the menu and conduct a system diagnostics to see if your hard drive and other hardware are in good condition.

Best Deals for HP Pavilion g7-1260us 17.3" Notebook (2.2GHz Intel Core i3-2330M

I have owned this laptop for a week now. The processor and memory combination exceed my expectation and needs! This laptop replace my three year old Dell Inspiron 1525, the LED back-light is wonderful, colors and and brightness have improved dramatically. The computer runs cool all of the time and fan noise is minimal. The keyboard is going to take getting used to, being flat with the numeric pad on the right, I need to learn where the keys have moved from my old laptop. Battery life is easily 3.5 hours. My only concerns are the DVD drive door seems to be loose (not really a big deal), the other concern is the sound on this machine seems to be a little muffled, but that is something I think I will get used to. I would recommend this to a friend.

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion g7-1260us 17.3" Notebook (2.2GHz Intel Core i3-2330M

I don't comment much,Short but sweet!This is a Awesome PC for the $$! speedy processor and memory.Verynice upgrade,from my last HP laptop.

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I researched all laptops at the time and found the " HP g7-1260us Notebook PC with

2nd generation Intel® Core(tm) i3-2330M Processor with several extras like 3 USB ports,HARD DRIVE * 640GB 5400RPM hard drive, 17.3" diagonal HD LED display, 1 HDMI* 1 VGA (15-pin). YES HDMI AND HD !!!

My wife has used it mainly as a online browser, email, fb, etc. It does well for her usage....Then I tried it on my passion, Zynga games, Mafia Wars which requires several bookmarks and having many windows open while running scripts. I had been using a very expensive Dell laptop with games using Chrome and after opening 15-20 windows the Dell would crash. This HP will run over 20 screens including scripts that drains memory w/o crashing. I am trying to say that it does better than my $1500 Dell so far.

I was a little concerned about the HP reputation as being described as many complaints on HP Customer Service. But as of over 2 months of use it performs very well and because of this I have not dealt with their Customer Service. It can't be any worse than Dell's CS.

The keys and pad are quiet, no loud clicking and very soft. Long battery life for a 17 monitor. The only thing that I dislike is the mouse pad, as it is not visible and a bit of getting used to, but my daughter has not even noticed. Fan runs as needed buht not that you notice any noise except on startup......I a not going to bore you with the specs as they are easily found under product description. Basically the same specs as any other 17.3 laptop that has a i-3 Intel CPU. The only other thing I can think of is that you need to watch the price and try to catch it on sale. This HP model is no WalletMart HP, it's much better equipped.

Cheap Dell Inspiron 15R-2nd Gen 15.6" Notebook / 2nd Generation Intel(R)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $999.99
Sale Price: $898.00
Today's Bonus: 10% Off

i orderd this produc but i didn't arrive in estimated time delivery so i made a full refund purchase the seller was verry prompt about my refund and i got my money back in no time .it's a trusted selle i may say.all good and tks about my refunds

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Discount Toshiba 17.3" Laptop 4GB 640GB | L775D-S7206

Customer Ratings:

This is our 3rd Toshiba laptop , and have never had a problem with this product (other than replacing batteries) in the years we have owned them .

They are reasonably priced , large enough to use as a desktop , and a big enough screen for those of us with declining vision to enjoy -

As usual, UPS delivered this product well on time (unlike experiences we have had with Fed Ed )

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Had to return. Did not perform as expected. Return process was very OK. It was too slow, blue ray did not work.

Reviews of Panasonic Toughbook CF-53JJCZY1M 14 LED Notebook Intel Core

Customer Ratings:

Bought 4 of these for my service technicians that work in the field. Durable design, ultra mobile, more port's and expansions than most know what to do with. The handle is awesome, lets me know that hopefully they will take care of the 8K In computer's I purchased. Fast and to the point my guy's love them. Ill also add that not all of my technicians are computer savvy, but they picked this up just fine! What really made my decision was that I could still purchase it with windows 7! Teaching old guy's new tricks with windows 8 is becoming a bear.

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