For years it been Gateway computers only.... I believe in them... They last long....
A couple years ago I bought a Gateway NV79C52u 17.3 Inch Laptop Velvet Blue: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003Y733KU/ It's been through a lot of use, not to mention travel. It's still holding up, but is basically for business only. I like so much I tried to find one for personal use but couldn't. Gateway/Acer complicates matters when it comes to getting a Gateway, anymore... When I see what I want on their site I have to do an almighty search to find it on or offline... There was nothing locally. I did find this one (as close to the NV79C52u, as possible) via Amazon/TigerDirect -after multiple searches....
It came directly from TigerDirect. The laptop arrived safely and well packed...
The BLUE NV79C52U has headset/mic/usb/power(and more) on left; 2.0 usb / BlueRay driver on right. Speakers at the front, underneath / Windows 7. It has a sturdy DVD/BlueRay.
The WHITE NV76R23U seems heavier; Ports are on the opposite side... mic/headset/power/3.0 usb on the right w/ DVD drive no Blueray ; Wide/Long Speaker behind the keyboard. Windows 8.
Okay... I'm not a Windows 8 Fan... And Gateway has too many Apps installed, but they can be uninstalled... Thank goodness the old-fashion desktop is available that's where I put my icons for quick access... I'll figure out Windows 8, slowly... and maybe I'll like it...
here are the features to WHITE NV76R23U amazon/tigerdirect
Key Features and Benefits:
Intel Core i5-3210M processor
2.50GHz, 3MB L3 Cache
4GB DDR3 SDRAM system memory (expandable to 8GB)
Gives you the power to handle most power-hungry applications and tons of multimedia work
500GB SATA hard drive
Store 333,000 photos, 142,000 songs or 263 hours of HD video and more
8x SuperMulti DVD Double-Layer drive
Watch movies, and read and write CDs and DVDs in multiple formats
10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN
Connect to a broadband modem with wired Ethernet or wirelessly connect to a WiFi signal or hotspot with the 802.11b/g/n connection built into your PC
17.3" HD Ulbrabright LED-backlit display
Intel HD Graphics 4000 with 128MB of dedicated system memory
Additional Features:
Built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam
5-in-1 memory card reader
2 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 x USB 2.0 port, 1 x headphone/speaker/line-out jack, 1 x microphone-in jack, 1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port, 1 x VGA port, 1 x HDMI port
6-cell lithium-ion battery, up to 4.5 hours battery life
Showing posts with label notebook memory upgrade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label notebook memory upgrade. Show all posts
Monday, October 6, 2014
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Discount Lenovo G500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
This computer is great from a hardware point of view. It is light, fast, and feels like it's made of high quality materials. The problem is Windows 8. It is designed to work well with tablets. It makes no sense for a laptop application without a touchscreen. You need to drag too much, which is super awkward with a mouse. If you can get this laptop with Vista or Windows 7, it's a buy. If you can't, buy a computer with a touchscreen.
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Cheap HP EliteBook 8770w C6Y84UT 17.3' LED Notebook - Intel - Core i7
List Price: $2,839.00
Sale Price: $2,470.97
Today's Bonus: 13% Off
This machine is built to withstand almost anything you throw at it. The build quality and materials are exceptional. From a industrial design and manufacturing perspective, it is even nicer than a MacBook Pro.
I really like this machine, except for one issue, screen resolution. Apple has proven how beautiful and productive higher resolution displays can make even a laptop. Spending the extra money, weight, and bulk to get a 17.3 inch display should result in more room to work. Because the resolution on this machine is no higher than it is on 15 inch machines, you get a display that isn't as attractive and doesn't fit nearly as much content on it as it could with a higher resolution. This is especially important for content creators and for people that work in spreadsheets, but really it is an issue for all professional users. Apple gets this with their Retina displays, Google gets it with their Pixel laptop, and Dell gets it with their Ultra high resolution series of displays. Hopefully HP will make a higher resolution display available soon on their workstation class laptops.
The only excuse for the screen resolution on this machine is that most people are going to use it in a docking station with external monitors. I have mine attached to 2 Dell U2713HM Ultra High resolution displays. The screen resolution only bothers me when I am using this machine on the road, but then again, that is the whole reason I bought the 17.3 inch workstation.
When you are deciding on which machine to buy, I recommend you consider the screen resolution issue. A 15 inch or even 13 inch machine with similar specs and the same resolution display might save your back and shoulder some pain from lugging this heavy machine around.
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This machine is built to withstand almost anything you through at it. The build quality and materials are exceptional. From a industrial design and manufacturing perspective, it is even nicer than a MacBook Pro.I really like this machine, except for one issue, screen resolution. Apple has proven how beautiful and productive higher resolution displays can make even a laptop. Spending the extra money, weight, and bulk to get a 17.3 inch display should result in more room to work. Because the resolution on this machine is no higher than it is on 15 inch machines, you get a display that isn't as attractive and doesn't fit nearly as much content on it as it could with a higher resolution. This is especially important for content creators and for people that work in spreadsheets, but really it is an issue for all professional users. Apple gets this with their Retina displays, Google gets it with their Pixel laptop, and Dell gets it with their Ultra high resolution series of displays. Hopefully HP will make a higher resolution display available soon on their workstation class laptops.
The only excuse for the screen resolution on this machine is that most people are going to use it in a docking station with external monitors. I have mine attached to 2 Dell U2713HM Ultra High resolution displays. The screen resolution only bothers me when I am using this machine on the road, but then again, that is the whole reason I bought the 17.3 inch workstation.
When you are deciding on which machine to buy, I recommend you consider the screen resolution issue. A 15 inch or even 13 inch machine with similar specs and the same resolution display might save your back and shoulder some pain from lugging this heavy machine around.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Cheap Compaq Presario Cq62-215dx Laptop Pc
Picked it up yesterday. i wanted a clean Windows 7 install so i used the HP Recovery Manager. Then chose System Recovery. It rebooted and then gave me the option of a 'minimized image recovery'. This took about 35 minutes with numerous reboots.
Once done I had a nice, fresh OS install with just the necessary stuff (including HP Recovery Manager )
Oh yeah, had 46 updates to install but that's another story. I also updated the BIOS to the latest version. F15 A.
Kudos to HP/Compaq for giving us the option to setup our systems with no bloatware.
Good basic machine for the average user. NO HDMI, webcam, or memory card reader but a lot of folks do not need those frills.
I purchased this CQ62 and when I took it out of the box I was impressed on how quick it was and for what we need it is perfect. As an entry level laptop I highly recommend it. I think I even got 5% cash back by using my Discover Card and a coupon which brought it down to $250 which made it even cheaper. Keep a look out its still on sale in the stores at $299 and backordered online. It is worth it in my opinion. This V series is for my father who does the basic surfing, watching vids, e-mailing etc. and he loves it.
Oh as for my wife, we replaced her Compaq Sempron with an HP G72-B66 because she liked the 17" screen and when I saw that on a promo sale at Staples in November for $475 with an Intel I3 360 processor, 500 GB HD, and 4 GB memory It seemed like a good deal so I grabbed it. She is happy with that also, but is having trouble getting used to the funky mouse pad on these HP G models. other than that it seems like a good laptop for the price. I have been watching these prices and they seem to hover around $550 so I guess we did get a good deal. I know nothing about I3 cores, yada yada compared to AMD Phenem's and they seem to be in the same price range so thats why I decided to try to give the Intel a try.
In conclusion, I think both of these laptops are great. The Compaq serves it needs for the low price, and the HP G72 has more bells and whistles but again it was $200 more but seems to be rated very well. Forgive my long review and my lack of the new technology. LOL, I actually work on the large Mainframe computers and all I knew about these Brands lately is that my Mainframe Changed from Digital to HP, then somhow HP and Compaq became an entity. Thats the extent of my computer exp. Correct me if I am way behind on things.
Once done I had a nice, fresh OS install with just the necessary stuff (including HP Recovery Manager )
Oh yeah, had 46 updates to install but that's another story. I also updated the BIOS to the latest version. F15 A.
Kudos to HP/Compaq for giving us the option to setup our systems with no bloatware.
Good basic machine for the average user. NO HDMI, webcam, or memory card reader but a lot of folks do not need those frills.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
I found this laptop at Bestbuy online Saturday for $299 and had to grab it. I checked every site and it was the best deal for the price. It is a great basic laptop and the AMD V Series I believe is a Sempron which was AMDs way to compete with Intel way back when processors were expensive. I always prefered AMD because they were cheaper and reliable. The Athlons were great, and much cheaper than the Intel Pentium so Intel came up with the Celeron to compete with the lower price Athlon. AMD fired back with the Sempron which was even cheaper yet, and a good over all processor. I kind of got away from the PC world after that so I am not sure how things are now. I think the Celerons never really hit it big, but I can say that my wife's Compaq with the Sempron lasted 5 years with not one issue. She used it daily for normal everyday computing and loved it. We just replaced it a month ago and gave it to our friend who feels it is as good as any newer laptop for surfing, using word and excel, and watching You-Tube. Her only complaint to us has been when she opens up dozens of windows by mistake (being new to the internet) she finds that the Sempron slows up a bit, but as she is learning to get rid of the pop up screens etc. she is not having any problems.I purchased this CQ62 and when I took it out of the box I was impressed on how quick it was and for what we need it is perfect. As an entry level laptop I highly recommend it. I think I even got 5% cash back by using my Discover Card and a coupon which brought it down to $250 which made it even cheaper. Keep a look out its still on sale in the stores at $299 and backordered online. It is worth it in my opinion. This V series is for my father who does the basic surfing, watching vids, e-mailing etc. and he loves it.
Oh as for my wife, we replaced her Compaq Sempron with an HP G72-B66 because she liked the 17" screen and when I saw that on a promo sale at Staples in November for $475 with an Intel I3 360 processor, 500 GB HD, and 4 GB memory It seemed like a good deal so I grabbed it. She is happy with that also, but is having trouble getting used to the funky mouse pad on these HP G models. other than that it seems like a good laptop for the price. I have been watching these prices and they seem to hover around $550 so I guess we did get a good deal. I know nothing about I3 cores, yada yada compared to AMD Phenem's and they seem to be in the same price range so thats why I decided to try to give the Intel a try.
In conclusion, I think both of these laptops are great. The Compaq serves it needs for the low price, and the HP G72 has more bells and whistles but again it was $200 more but seems to be rated very well. Forgive my long review and my lack of the new technology. LOL, I actually work on the large Mainframe computers and all I knew about these Brands lately is that my Mainframe Changed from Digital to HP, then somhow HP and Compaq became an entity. Thats the extent of my computer exp. Correct me if I am way behind on things.
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Buy Compaq Presario CQ56-110US 15.6-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 4.15 Hours
I cant believe how inexpensive this laptop was and how fast it works. It also has a webcam I was unaware of. Its a awesome laptop for the money.
First of all, I'm not a computer guy, in fact, I hate technology with a passion. I'm the kind of guy who would rather sit in a garage all day rebuilding an old engine than sitting on a computer playing vidya games. That being said, I use computers quite a bit. Do I know a hell of a lot about them? For a 29 year old, hell no, I don't. What I will say is that when you have multiple windows open, this thing lags bad. Really bad. I've yet to have major problems with streaming movies & for the most part, it does what it says on the tin. Just don't expect to have a hundred tabs open on your browser or run multiple programs at once, because you'll be sorely disappointed.
I'm not going to lie, I've had to replace the battery once already(about 2 months ago) & I'm looking at doing so again soon. Not just to have another spare battery, but because this thing eats batteries like a U.S.N. Gato Class submarine(That's WW2, in case you don't know. Not the best tech around at the time). Fortunately, the batteries, as of now, are easy to come by here for a relatively cheap price. Something around $20-25USD will get you a new one, & that's not too bad.
It over heats. Oh, I don't mean that it just gets warm, no, that wouldn't be bad. No, this thing has gotten so hot that my keyboard keys are actually a higher elevation by the power button than the rest of the keyboard. Yes, I allow for ventilation & no, I don't use this thing while laying in bed with it sitting on my comforter. I bought a little tray table for that exact reason.
Will it play movies? Yes. Will it play vidya games from 4 years ago? Yes. Will it browse the net? Yes. Are you buying an Alienware? Are you smoking crack? I bought this thing for $305 at Wal-Mart a year ago, it's now $200 on here. That means that you're looking at a cheap laptop, so exactly, what do you think you're looking at? Idk why, but I didn't get a webcam & I feel kinda cheated by that. Whatever, I'm not really the Chatroulette kinda guy anyway.
For some reason, & I really don't download, but I find that restoring this thing to the factory settings every other month or so makes it faster that before. Or maybe it's because I go on 4Chan all the time & click the links like a summerfag. Overall though, this thing will get the job done, barely, but it will get the job done nonetheless. For what it is, being a cheap laptop, I'd reccomend it even though it pisses me off sometimes.
TL;DR if you're looking for a cheap laptop to bring everywhere & not worry about, stop looking & buy this. If you want amazing quality, what the hell are you doing looking at a $200 laptop?
By the way, let's not forget the mouse pad. You have to use actual strength to push down on the pad in order to click something. It's the worst design I have ever seen. Forget about highlighting anything because you won't have the finger strength.
Poor design, poor quality, unbelievably slow and worthless. You'd be much better off buying a basic netbook at Target or Walmart because they will run much faster than this.
P.S. Many people received this (like me) as part of a class action lawsuit against NVIDIA as a settlement. Choosing cash was not an option. So I received this to replace an HP laptop ($1400 in 2007). What a joke. Nice to know what you think of your customers.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
I've read some of the other people's reviews here & some bear merit & others are complete horse... actually, I don't know if I can use that word here, but you get the idea. That said, I'm going to try to be as fair as possible with this review.First of all, I'm not a computer guy, in fact, I hate technology with a passion. I'm the kind of guy who would rather sit in a garage all day rebuilding an old engine than sitting on a computer playing vidya games. That being said, I use computers quite a bit. Do I know a hell of a lot about them? For a 29 year old, hell no, I don't. What I will say is that when you have multiple windows open, this thing lags bad. Really bad. I've yet to have major problems with streaming movies & for the most part, it does what it says on the tin. Just don't expect to have a hundred tabs open on your browser or run multiple programs at once, because you'll be sorely disappointed.
I'm not going to lie, I've had to replace the battery once already(about 2 months ago) & I'm looking at doing so again soon. Not just to have another spare battery, but because this thing eats batteries like a U.S.N. Gato Class submarine(That's WW2, in case you don't know. Not the best tech around at the time). Fortunately, the batteries, as of now, are easy to come by here for a relatively cheap price. Something around $20-25USD will get you a new one, & that's not too bad.
It over heats. Oh, I don't mean that it just gets warm, no, that wouldn't be bad. No, this thing has gotten so hot that my keyboard keys are actually a higher elevation by the power button than the rest of the keyboard. Yes, I allow for ventilation & no, I don't use this thing while laying in bed with it sitting on my comforter. I bought a little tray table for that exact reason.
Will it play movies? Yes. Will it play vidya games from 4 years ago? Yes. Will it browse the net? Yes. Are you buying an Alienware? Are you smoking crack? I bought this thing for $305 at Wal-Mart a year ago, it's now $200 on here. That means that you're looking at a cheap laptop, so exactly, what do you think you're looking at? Idk why, but I didn't get a webcam & I feel kinda cheated by that. Whatever, I'm not really the Chatroulette kinda guy anyway.
For some reason, & I really don't download, but I find that restoring this thing to the factory settings every other month or so makes it faster that before. Or maybe it's because I go on 4Chan all the time & click the links like a summerfag. Overall though, this thing will get the job done, barely, but it will get the job done nonetheless. For what it is, being a cheap laptop, I'd reccomend it even though it pisses me off sometimes.
TL;DR if you're looking for a cheap laptop to bring everywhere & not worry about, stop looking & buy this. If you want amazing quality, what the hell are you doing looking at a $200 laptop?
Best Deals for Compaq Presario CQ56-110US 15.6-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 4.15 Hours
Kudos to HP for this little powerhouse. My daughter left it out in the rain overnight, the cover wide open. When I found it and picked it up it was dripping wet, and water poured off of it onto the ground. The keyboard was swimming. Fearing the worst, I turned it on and, voila! Fired up instantly like a champ with no screen problems. The touchpad was inoperative so I figured it was toast, but after turning it upside down for a day and letting it dry out completely, the touchpad restored itself as well, and it's all working perfectly ever since. wow!Honest reviews on Compaq Presario CQ56-110US 15.6-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 4.15 Hours
Overall this is a great little computer (purchased for my junior high age child). But Amazon indicates this model has a built-in webcam. That is dead wrong. I don't think I will return it for this simple fact, but the product features need to be updated.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Compaq Presario CQ56-110US 15.6-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 4.15 Hours
Please do not waste your money on this completely worthless piece of crap. It barely has enough memory to run a browser and paint, and quite often I cannot even watch a streaming movie when nothing else is open and my internet is at full speed. Sometimes if I right click to save a picture, it takes literally 10 seconds for the dialog box to open. And it was like this from the time I got it.By the way, let's not forget the mouse pad. You have to use actual strength to push down on the pad in order to click something. It's the worst design I have ever seen. Forget about highlighting anything because you won't have the finger strength.
Poor design, poor quality, unbelievably slow and worthless. You'd be much better off buying a basic netbook at Target or Walmart because they will run much faster than this.
P.S. Many people received this (like me) as part of a class action lawsuit against NVIDIA as a settlement. Choosing cash was not an option. So I received this to replace an HP laptop ($1400 in 2007). What a joke. Nice to know what you think of your customers.
Saturday, July 26, 2014
Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4050 14-Inch LED Laptop (Fusion Finish Review
The L640-L655 Toshibas have a serious software and BIOS issue with the cooling fan. The issue is well-documented on the official Toshiba forum. The cooling fan runs fast and loud (you will not be able to use this computer in airplanes, libraries, classrooms, group work sessions, etc. due to fan speed). The loud fan will prematurely wear out the fan spindle, and uses excessive battery. I am encouraging anyone even considering the purchase of these lines of TOshiba computers to do online research and search these words: Toshiba forum cooling fan constantly. You will see many threads, but the main one has now thousands of views and elucidates the problem well. If you don't wish to look at it now, you will be looking at it intently once you purchase this model of TOshiba. Thus far, there is no fix for this cooling fan software issue. I am posting here as an owner of a Toshiba in this product line and simply as a method to help my fellow Amazon shoppers with a known issue. You certainly can buy or pass based on your own experience and research. Thank you and happy computing.
6/82011: Still issues. Some Toshiba laptops have a fan and cooling issue that is software related.
Google "Toshiba forum cooling fan constantly on", or highlight and right click what I have type here to see the 13 page thread on this subject. The most recent 5 pages are 3-4 non-Toshiba computer programmers trying to solve the problem as Toshiba has been uncaring and useless. The key is to read the thread from the beginning to review all the people who first define the problem. I encourage anyone seeking a Toshiba computer to review the thread to see if their model is affected before purchase--most models are with AMD processors, but some are Intel latest chipsets (e.g. i5). It is not "a few bad computers", it is computers in each of the series specified. The post on the Toshiba Forum from FunkeA dated May 30, 2011 at 4:11pm has a list of Toshibas affected by this issue.
This post is totally informational for you, a potential buyer, so that you can make your own informed decision about which computer to buy before making the purchase. Whether you buy Toshiba, one of these models, a different model, or a different brand, is completely up to you. Thanks and have fun time computer hunting.
It has built-in web cam is an important detail.
We have not had any kind of technical failure, so we are very happy. By the excellent results already bought another one.
Now one of them has a broken left click button too! Not to mention the very cheap feel of these things. My Dell Inspiron is 10 times quieter, better quality and ZERO issues.
Goodbye Toshiba, hello Dell!
6/82011: Still issues. Some Toshiba laptops have a fan and cooling issue that is software related.
Google "Toshiba forum cooling fan constantly on", or highlight and right click what I have type here to see the 13 page thread on this subject. The most recent 5 pages are 3-4 non-Toshiba computer programmers trying to solve the problem as Toshiba has been uncaring and useless. The key is to read the thread from the beginning to review all the people who first define the problem. I encourage anyone seeking a Toshiba computer to review the thread to see if their model is affected before purchase--most models are with AMD processors, but some are Intel latest chipsets (e.g. i5). It is not "a few bad computers", it is computers in each of the series specified. The post on the Toshiba Forum from FunkeA dated May 30, 2011 at 4:11pm has a list of Toshibas affected by this issue.
This post is totally informational for you, a potential buyer, so that you can make your own informed decision about which computer to buy before making the purchase. Whether you buy Toshiba, one of these models, a different model, or a different brand, is completely up to you. Thanks and have fun time computer hunting.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
Haven't had this unit very long but all seems to be great at this point. I like the small screen and light weight. I would suggest buying a Toshiba wireless mouse to use with this instead of the built in one or a cheap one like Microsoft. Love the LED screen, crisp and clean picture. First time user of Windows 7 so just getting used to it. More later as I use it more.Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4050 14-Inch LED Laptop (Fusion Finish
The design is very good. I bought this computer for my 9 year old nephew. It is easy to use, yet allows your processor to work fast and efficiently. Although the use that we are giving is very basic I'm sure you can work heavier.It has built-in web cam is an important detail.
We have not had any kind of technical failure, so we are very happy. By the excellent results already bought another one.
Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4050 14-Inch LED Laptop (Fusion Finish
Purchase on December 15, 2010, still have it working it very hard to until around jan 2012 the keyboard finally need to change reason some keys refuse to type. got another replacement keyboard for and it is still going strong. up to now i have no heating issues or break down. recommend to other but i did got it on deal for 459 last time.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Satellite L645D-S4050 14-Inch LED Laptop (Fusion Finish
This is my first AND LAST Toshiba product! Bought two laptops (L645DS4050) last December and just having WAY too many issues with them both. My kids complain constantly about various issues including NOISE (very noisy fan, running hot, random shutdowns and rebooting issues etc. etc.Now one of them has a broken left click button too! Not to mention the very cheap feel of these things. My Dell Inspiron is 10 times quieter, better quality and ZERO issues.
Goodbye Toshiba, hello Dell!
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Best HP Pavilion g7-1365dx Laptop - AMD Quad-Core A6-3420M Accelerated Deals
I bought this laptop several weeks ago, right after it came out on the market, as a replacement for my old, obsolete Lenovo Thinkpad R61e (and as a backup for one of my desktop computers that, at nearly 7 years, is really showing its age). I was attracted by the balance of price and features, and so far I haven't regretted this purchase for a single moment (though I did get a wistful moment when I saw a similar HP model at a local computer shop that had a Blu-Ray drive :) )!
The g7-1365dx is one of HP's latest entrants in its highly successful Pavilion series of notebook/laptop PC's, with a slightly less capable twin in the g7-1355dx model which came out about a week after this model did (the only difference is that the 1355dx has a 500GB hard drive as opposed to the 1365dx's 640GB hard drive). With a quad-core AMD A603420M CPU, Radeon HD 6520G graphics, 640GB hard drive, 17.3" display (bigger across than some desktop LCD monitors!) and 4GB of DDR3 memory installed, we have here a suite of features that's comparable or superior to a great many more expensive laptops, so much so that one hesitates to call this machine a "budget" laptop for fear of unjustly labeling it a cheap or corner-cutting machine, neither of which it manifestly is.
I strongly recommend adding another 4GB of RAM to this computer, a cheap upgrade which I performed within an hour of purchase. This simple upgrade will significantly boost the power and speed of a machine that is already highly capable. The Windows 7 Home Premium system starts up and shuts down quite speedily. The graphics unit is rated as "A6" by AMD, the second-highest rating on its scale, which means that this computer is at least theoretically capable of playing Blu-Ray discs with the appropriate hardware. You will need to buy an external Blu-Ray drive, however, and probably a HDMI cable to connect the drive to the available HDMI port (the computer also has a traditional monitor port for connection to an external monitor). The hard drive has more capacity than the internal hard drives on any of my other computers, but depending on how much data you have to store, you may want to purchase a compact external HD to take along. The machine is very elegant in design, with an attractive black/silver-pewter color scheme, and has a satisfyingly hefty, solid feel. While it weighs 6+ pounds, when stored in its laptop bag along with the peripherals I've purchased for it, the whole package actually seems to weigh less than my old Thinkpad!
Some users feel that the built-in speakers are a bit puny, but it's my experience that speakers on notebook PC's tend to be comparatively undersized/underpowered affairs due to the constraints of the design, so I'm not really bothered by that (plus which, since I'm hearing-impaired, the sound system is less important to me anyway than the graphics quality). And speaking of which, the LCD monitor delivers beautiful, crisp, clear pictures. Fans of cutting-edge FPS games might need to step down the graphics level to play their favorite games on this machine (notebook PC's, again, tend to have less powerful graphics than desktop PC's so are usually not the best options for playing highly graphics-intensive games in any case) but other genres of games (e.g., strategy games like the Civilization series) should play without any issues. I got Cyberlink PowerDVD, my preferred movie-playing software, installed it on this machine, and it works like a charm very important since playing video away from home is one of the more frequent uses to which I intend to put this machine. (At the time of this writing, I haven't experimented yet with the built-in webcam.) Take note, also, that the hard drive is actually _larger_ than its marketed size of 640GB; the usable partition shows up as 678GB in all reporting software, along with two smaller recovery partitions, totaling some 700GB (which makes me wonder if HP actually installed a 750GB HD in this model remember that usable formatted sizes on a hard drive are always smaller than the size on the label but decided to market it as a smaller one).
No computer is ever perfect, though, and I do have a few quibbles with it. The battery life is advertised as being "up to 5 hours, 30 minutes", but that's marketing talk; as it comes from the factory, battery life is probably going to be closer to 2 hours and you'll need to do some work with the power scheme to stretch out the battery (and be sure to buy a spare battery once they become available for this model). There are only 3 USB ports, a common limitation on laptops, but if you have several USB devices to run, you'll need to buy a USB port hub. The media card reader only accepts SD and MMC cards, so I had to buy a USB card reader that accepts xD picture cards (the type that goes with my camera). The arrow keys are fairly small, which can lead to some awkwardness with certain games and applications that require lots of arrow-key manipulation; a USB keypad with full-sized arrow keys might be in order here.
All things considered, this is probably the best, most powerful laptop PC I've ever owned, and right now it's the single most powerful PC I do own! I strongly recommend this machine to anyone who's looking for a notebook that delivers a sound balance of features, power and price.
EDIT: (February 25, 2012): Grab this machine while you can. It's *already* (!!!) being superseded by the dv7-6c95dx, whose main differences seem to be that the latter system boasts Beats Audio, a redesigned keyboard and 4G capability. However, the dv7-6c95dx appears to cost up to $350 more, which makes it a very poor cost-to-value choice for the relatively minor improvements. Also, watch for another model called the g7-1355dx, which is identical in all respects to the 1365dx except that the 1355dx carries a 500GB hard drive as opposed to the 640GB hard drive of this model (this is very likely due to the ongoing hard drive shortage which may have restricted supplies of the 640GB hard drive used in the 1365dx).
UPDATE (March 21, 2012): The hard drive advertised as being 640GB in this laptop is actually 750GB! I found this out this morning when I installed the PC analyzer program HWInfo64 onto my own machine (I recommend it, by the way). That explains why the primary partition is listed as 676GB, nearly 40GB more than the stated/marketed capacity of the HD in advertising, and why there are two additional smaller partitions available for recovery and maintenance. This is a GOOD thing it means that you're getting even more of a bargain when you buy this machine, because you're going to get a hard drive that's bigger than anything found on anything except high-end laptops. I have no idea why HP chose to advertise this drive as being so much smaller than its actual size; perhaps they were concerned that people might see the actual formatted size of the drive and, not being aware that formatted capacities of hard drives are always smaller than the unformatted capacity, complain mistakenly about malfunctioning parts or even false advertising.
So I decided to purchase the: HP Pavilion G7 1365DX.
How do I remember the name by heart? Naieve one you are, 'tis the fact that this computer is brand new off the lines, and has virtually no developer support for it as of yet. I've scoured thousands of Google pages looking for everything and anything about this laptop, but alas, to no avail.
I will give the Laptop a good year to mature, before I can port Mac OS and Linux onto the device.
My review:
-Stock: 7.2/10
-Upgraded: 8.6/10
Stock Hardware Review:
6 Hard Drive Speed
8 Performance
8 Battery Life
5 RAM Speed
9 Graphics
----------------------
36 / 5 = 7.2 Rating
Pros:
-At these speeds, the Laptop was quite fast. Blazing actually.
-Plenty of Hard drive room, very slow access speeds.
-RAM is sufficient for everyday users.
Cons:
-The multi-tasking just isn't as good with only the original 4GB of RAM. (This is especially true if you set Windows to utilize all four cores simultaneously.)
-Power users will notice slow RAM access speeds, and will want to upgrade to faster/larger sized RAM.
-Normal/Slow HDD read/write speeds will cause slow down on games, and higher Graphically-based programs or Processor heavy programs will feel that wait time.
After Upgraded RAM and HDD Review:
9 Hard Drive Speed (Increased to Caviar-Black 1.0TB
9 Performance
7 Battery Life
8 RAM Speed
9 Graphics
----------------------
42 / 5 = 8.4 Rating
Pros:
--The Laptop will set your house on fire by how Blazing fast it actually is.
-A Mushkin SSD sped Windows 7 up to Jesus speeds.
-RAM is sufficient for heavy multitaking, and RAM intensive programs.
Cons:
-Installation can be problematic for a novice user.
-Can be pricey for replacement parts.
The 640GB hard drive is more than enough for me. Currently I have 498 GB free, and roughly 120 used GB memory. When this computer was purchased, HP had put about 30GB on it of its own software and windows 7 and etc... What I do is download 20 movies, watch them, and erase. So I do not foresee myself every getting half of this Hard Drive used up. Even if your someone that stores lots of data, 640GD(roughly 600 able to use) is still plenty. The graphics card is said to be very good but not optimal. In my opinion from what I can tell, it is very strong and impressive. The visuals are as good and better than my last laptop, and barring HD TV blu-ray quality, this wil suffice for most users.
The 4 core processors allow very high multi-tasking. I have had about 6-8 programs in the foreground running, and probably 4 or 5 in the background running with VERY minimal slow-down effect.
The audio and speakers sound great and pretty powerful for tiny laptop speakers. The dvd-drive is great, the 3 USB ports are enough for me, the battery life tends to be about 3 to 3.5 hours on average battery power savings(50% screen brightness, etc..). The webcam is as good as any built-in webcam usually comes. It has 6months of internet security on it. The best buy warranty is $270 for 3 years of the full, "black tie", broken, damaged, water damage, vitrus, full warranty that covers literally anything at all.
The many HP programs include so many that I wont list them all, there are about 12 or more off the top of my head. Some are new that I have never seen and still exploring them. The 17.3 inch screen size is larger than my last 15.6 and the difference is visually much better. It technically is 1.7inches but it feels like 2" or more difference. I love it. I have downloaded 5 or 6 games that are racing, golf, etc and they all play fantastically. Graphics are great even when there is alot of action on-screen.
The mouse pad is my first of this kind. Instead of the smooth pad, its bumpy and rough in order to detect motion better. You can only tell this in person, so try it out when you are in-store. I love the design.
The hard drive acceleration allows the processer to speed up when necessary. When it's not using accelerated mode, the copmuter is fast enough. When it comes on, there are no issues that it can't handle, seemingly(of course the biggest games and movies and everything playing all at once would be tough, but for any standard use it is great. I have absolutely no regrets with this computer and I will enjoy having it for the full 3 years of the warranty. I love this computer so much. Im nota HUGE computer guy, but I love my computers if you know what I mean. I think this computer is A) reliable, B) powerful, C)smooth and sleek. If your budget is $500 or less, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this. You can not be dissatisfied unless you expect $900 range while paying $500. Other than that, satisfied is what you wil be. Goodluck computer shoppers and I hope I madeyour decision easy..HP is a very reliable product and above all easily my favorite..
The g7-1365dx is one of HP's latest entrants in its highly successful Pavilion series of notebook/laptop PC's, with a slightly less capable twin in the g7-1355dx model which came out about a week after this model did (the only difference is that the 1355dx has a 500GB hard drive as opposed to the 1365dx's 640GB hard drive). With a quad-core AMD A603420M CPU, Radeon HD 6520G graphics, 640GB hard drive, 17.3" display (bigger across than some desktop LCD monitors!) and 4GB of DDR3 memory installed, we have here a suite of features that's comparable or superior to a great many more expensive laptops, so much so that one hesitates to call this machine a "budget" laptop for fear of unjustly labeling it a cheap or corner-cutting machine, neither of which it manifestly is.
I strongly recommend adding another 4GB of RAM to this computer, a cheap upgrade which I performed within an hour of purchase. This simple upgrade will significantly boost the power and speed of a machine that is already highly capable. The Windows 7 Home Premium system starts up and shuts down quite speedily. The graphics unit is rated as "A6" by AMD, the second-highest rating on its scale, which means that this computer is at least theoretically capable of playing Blu-Ray discs with the appropriate hardware. You will need to buy an external Blu-Ray drive, however, and probably a HDMI cable to connect the drive to the available HDMI port (the computer also has a traditional monitor port for connection to an external monitor). The hard drive has more capacity than the internal hard drives on any of my other computers, but depending on how much data you have to store, you may want to purchase a compact external HD to take along. The machine is very elegant in design, with an attractive black/silver-pewter color scheme, and has a satisfyingly hefty, solid feel. While it weighs 6+ pounds, when stored in its laptop bag along with the peripherals I've purchased for it, the whole package actually seems to weigh less than my old Thinkpad!
Some users feel that the built-in speakers are a bit puny, but it's my experience that speakers on notebook PC's tend to be comparatively undersized/underpowered affairs due to the constraints of the design, so I'm not really bothered by that (plus which, since I'm hearing-impaired, the sound system is less important to me anyway than the graphics quality). And speaking of which, the LCD monitor delivers beautiful, crisp, clear pictures. Fans of cutting-edge FPS games might need to step down the graphics level to play their favorite games on this machine (notebook PC's, again, tend to have less powerful graphics than desktop PC's so are usually not the best options for playing highly graphics-intensive games in any case) but other genres of games (e.g., strategy games like the Civilization series) should play without any issues. I got Cyberlink PowerDVD, my preferred movie-playing software, installed it on this machine, and it works like a charm very important since playing video away from home is one of the more frequent uses to which I intend to put this machine. (At the time of this writing, I haven't experimented yet with the built-in webcam.) Take note, also, that the hard drive is actually _larger_ than its marketed size of 640GB; the usable partition shows up as 678GB in all reporting software, along with two smaller recovery partitions, totaling some 700GB (which makes me wonder if HP actually installed a 750GB HD in this model remember that usable formatted sizes on a hard drive are always smaller than the size on the label but decided to market it as a smaller one).
No computer is ever perfect, though, and I do have a few quibbles with it. The battery life is advertised as being "up to 5 hours, 30 minutes", but that's marketing talk; as it comes from the factory, battery life is probably going to be closer to 2 hours and you'll need to do some work with the power scheme to stretch out the battery (and be sure to buy a spare battery once they become available for this model). There are only 3 USB ports, a common limitation on laptops, but if you have several USB devices to run, you'll need to buy a USB port hub. The media card reader only accepts SD and MMC cards, so I had to buy a USB card reader that accepts xD picture cards (the type that goes with my camera). The arrow keys are fairly small, which can lead to some awkwardness with certain games and applications that require lots of arrow-key manipulation; a USB keypad with full-sized arrow keys might be in order here.
All things considered, this is probably the best, most powerful laptop PC I've ever owned, and right now it's the single most powerful PC I do own! I strongly recommend this machine to anyone who's looking for a notebook that delivers a sound balance of features, power and price.
EDIT: (February 25, 2012): Grab this machine while you can. It's *already* (!!!) being superseded by the dv7-6c95dx, whose main differences seem to be that the latter system boasts Beats Audio, a redesigned keyboard and 4G capability. However, the dv7-6c95dx appears to cost up to $350 more, which makes it a very poor cost-to-value choice for the relatively minor improvements. Also, watch for another model called the g7-1355dx, which is identical in all respects to the 1365dx except that the 1355dx carries a 500GB hard drive as opposed to the 640GB hard drive of this model (this is very likely due to the ongoing hard drive shortage which may have restricted supplies of the 640GB hard drive used in the 1365dx).
UPDATE (March 21, 2012): The hard drive advertised as being 640GB in this laptop is actually 750GB! I found this out this morning when I installed the PC analyzer program HWInfo64 onto my own machine (I recommend it, by the way). That explains why the primary partition is listed as 676GB, nearly 40GB more than the stated/marketed capacity of the HD in advertising, and why there are two additional smaller partitions available for recovery and maintenance. This is a GOOD thing it means that you're getting even more of a bargain when you buy this machine, because you're going to get a hard drive that's bigger than anything found on anything except high-end laptops. I have no idea why HP chose to advertise this drive as being so much smaller than its actual size; perhaps they were concerned that people might see the actual formatted size of the drive and, not being aware that formatted capacities of hard drives are always smaller than the unformatted capacity, complain mistakenly about malfunctioning parts or even false advertising.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
This computer is a pretty decent upgrade from my old 2.4 Dual-Core with Intel Extreme Graphics. My old Laptop was over four years old, and you could tell it had seen it's days.So I decided to purchase the: HP Pavilion G7 1365DX.
How do I remember the name by heart? Naieve one you are, 'tis the fact that this computer is brand new off the lines, and has virtually no developer support for it as of yet. I've scoured thousands of Google pages looking for everything and anything about this laptop, but alas, to no avail.
I will give the Laptop a good year to mature, before I can port Mac OS and Linux onto the device.
My review:
-Stock: 7.2/10
-Upgraded: 8.6/10
Stock Hardware Review:
6 Hard Drive Speed
8 Performance
8 Battery Life
5 RAM Speed
9 Graphics
----------------------
36 / 5 = 7.2 Rating
Pros:
-At these speeds, the Laptop was quite fast. Blazing actually.
-Plenty of Hard drive room, very slow access speeds.
-RAM is sufficient for everyday users.
Cons:
-The multi-tasking just isn't as good with only the original 4GB of RAM. (This is especially true if you set Windows to utilize all four cores simultaneously.)
-Power users will notice slow RAM access speeds, and will want to upgrade to faster/larger sized RAM.
-Normal/Slow HDD read/write speeds will cause slow down on games, and higher Graphically-based programs or Processor heavy programs will feel that wait time.
After Upgraded RAM and HDD Review:
9 Hard Drive Speed (Increased to Caviar-Black 1.0TB
9 Performance
7 Battery Life
8 RAM Speed
9 Graphics
----------------------
42 / 5 = 8.4 Rating
Pros:
--The Laptop will set your house on fire by how Blazing fast it actually is.
-A Mushkin SSD sped Windows 7 up to Jesus speeds.
-RAM is sufficient for heavy multitaking, and RAM intensive programs.
Cons:
-Installation can be problematic for a novice user.
-Can be pricey for replacement parts.
Best Deals for HP Pavilion g7-1365dx Laptop - AMD Quad-Core A6-3420M Accelerated
I bought this in early February. I spent $450 on it, which is a great bargain. I previously owned an HP dv5-1235dx for $679, and due to a few viruses, I got credit for a brand new laptop with warranty, and bought this one. This laptop is twice as good as that one, which was very strong for me and I loved it and still love it, and its $230 less. Part of that is that computers become more bargains as the years pass, and the same price gets you abetter laptop year after year.The 640GB hard drive is more than enough for me. Currently I have 498 GB free, and roughly 120 used GB memory. When this computer was purchased, HP had put about 30GB on it of its own software and windows 7 and etc... What I do is download 20 movies, watch them, and erase. So I do not foresee myself every getting half of this Hard Drive used up. Even if your someone that stores lots of data, 640GD(roughly 600 able to use) is still plenty. The graphics card is said to be very good but not optimal. In my opinion from what I can tell, it is very strong and impressive. The visuals are as good and better than my last laptop, and barring HD TV blu-ray quality, this wil suffice for most users.
The 4 core processors allow very high multi-tasking. I have had about 6-8 programs in the foreground running, and probably 4 or 5 in the background running with VERY minimal slow-down effect.
The audio and speakers sound great and pretty powerful for tiny laptop speakers. The dvd-drive is great, the 3 USB ports are enough for me, the battery life tends to be about 3 to 3.5 hours on average battery power savings(50% screen brightness, etc..). The webcam is as good as any built-in webcam usually comes. It has 6months of internet security on it. The best buy warranty is $270 for 3 years of the full, "black tie", broken, damaged, water damage, vitrus, full warranty that covers literally anything at all.
The many HP programs include so many that I wont list them all, there are about 12 or more off the top of my head. Some are new that I have never seen and still exploring them. The 17.3 inch screen size is larger than my last 15.6 and the difference is visually much better. It technically is 1.7inches but it feels like 2" or more difference. I love it. I have downloaded 5 or 6 games that are racing, golf, etc and they all play fantastically. Graphics are great even when there is alot of action on-screen.
The mouse pad is my first of this kind. Instead of the smooth pad, its bumpy and rough in order to detect motion better. You can only tell this in person, so try it out when you are in-store. I love the design.
The hard drive acceleration allows the processer to speed up when necessary. When it's not using accelerated mode, the copmuter is fast enough. When it comes on, there are no issues that it can't handle, seemingly(of course the biggest games and movies and everything playing all at once would be tough, but for any standard use it is great. I have absolutely no regrets with this computer and I will enjoy having it for the full 3 years of the warranty. I love this computer so much. Im nota HUGE computer guy, but I love my computers if you know what I mean. I think this computer is A) reliable, B) powerful, C)smooth and sleek. If your budget is $500 or less, I would HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend this. You can not be dissatisfied unless you expect $900 range while paying $500. Other than that, satisfied is what you wil be. Goodluck computer shoppers and I hope I madeyour decision easy..HP is a very reliable product and above all easily my favorite..
Honest reviews on HP Pavilion g7-1365dx Laptop - AMD Quad-Core A6-3420M Accelerated
I am very happy with this laptop. It runs quickly and smoothly. Downloading items from the internet sometimes takes a matter of seconds where with my last computer is took several minutes. The biggest problem I had was that this laptop is so big at 17.3" that I had a hard time finding a good computer bag that would fit it!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Pavilion g7-1365dx Laptop - AMD Quad-Core A6-3420M Accelerated
This is my first HP and let me tell You I am very impressed with this performance. The Graphics are great. The speed is phenomenal, and just overall a great purchase. It was out of this computer, Samsung, or Toshiba. All had similar specs, but what sold me on this computer was better options for the price. I would recommend this computer to anyone.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Toshiba Satellite C855-S5132NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Fusion Finish in Reviews
The computer is good, really sharp,clear picture. I was a little disappointed with the keyboard, it seemed to me that it was not quite as responsive as it should be. I type well and I keep having to go back and correct spelling because sometimes it wasn't fast enough or sensitive enough to get the spelling correct with a very light touch. I found that when I retyped I had to hit the keys harder than I thought necessary.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
After reading the other reviews I was worried the keyboard would not be good. Honestly I have no clue what they were talking about. This laptop has an AMAZING keyboard. I have owned acer, hp, dell, and macs, this if my first toshiba and it is amazing. The keys are low and are not soft to push. The screen is crisp and clear. Speakers are better and LOUDER then I imagined. The mouse pad feels natural. And windows 8 is amazing. My ONLY critic about this laptop is the button on the disk drive is alil hard to push. But it is no big deal. Honestly for 400$ this laptop goes WAY farther then ANY I have ever seen. Buy this laptop if your considering any kind of computer.Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite C855-S5132NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Fusion Finish in
Great laptop for the money, fast and seems to do what I need it to do. My last Toshiba went through hell and back and was still working fine when I retired it after 5 years. Widows 8 isn't so bad after you get use to it, I can do without all the apps but it gets the job done. Back to the computer, you won't go wrong with this modle and it looks cool.Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite C855-S5132NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Fusion Finish in
I've had a Toshiba notebook for about 16 years and it is great, but because of the keyboard I've always used an external keyboard with it. I thought this model would be different, but the keys are right together and not raised and separated as I had hoped, so I returned it in favor of an Acer (see my review for that one). Toshiba is an excellent brand, but they need to remodel their keyboards.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Satellite C855-S5132NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Fusion Finish in
I received a charger that was not meant for the laptop and had to purchase another one for over $60.
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Discount Samsung Series 3 NP300E4C-A01US 14-Inch Laptop (Blue Silver)
A few things to know in advance:
1) I'm a Mac person. My home network consists of a MacBookPro, MacBookAir, MacPro (2008), and MacMini.
2) I'm an advanced user on Mac OS, running Mountain Lion on all machines. Windows has always been a "company issued machine" environment for me.
3) I wanted a low cost Windows machine, other than my locked down work laptop, to learn the the system in depth, eventually Win 8, and how it interoperates with the Mac OS.
The 2 big problems, out of the box:
a. The trackpad, especially for Mac users who are used to butter, will drive you NUTS until you update the driver. It will sporadically ignore your touch-clicks until you update it.,
b. This IS a low-cost laptop. I expected a TN screen with poor viewing angles, and that's what you'll get, no changing that. (Fortunately it's a laptop, you just tilt the lid until you have an optimum viewing angle.) What I didn't expect was a washed out, somewhat bizarre screen calibration.
Here's the good news on these 2 issues:
a. You MUST update the trackpad driver. Once you do, it will work pretty much as a Mac user would expect, e.g. "like butter".
b. The Intel Graphics driver has color controls that Mac users would envy. Right click the desktop, dig in there, and play with Brightness, Saturation, Gamma, etc. until you are pleased. I lowered Brighness, upped Contrast, and increased Saturation a tad. That did the trick. The washed out screen is totally fixable. But I repeat, the narrow viewing angles are not, but you didn't cough up the dough for a top notch display, did you?
Something very foreign to Mac users the driver updates on Samsung's site are very hard to find, Samsung has about 8,000 models of this machine, only distinguishable by slightly different 135-digit model numbers. And even once you find that page, you need to know you are running 64 bit windows, and you may have to dig into the Programs Control Panel to uninstall EITHER the Synaptics or the ETDWare trackpad driver BEFORE you install the new one.
I will save you some anguish, here's the link to the correct downloads page:
IMPORTANT: If you do nothing else, uninstall your Synaptics/ETDWare driver, and install the "Touchpad Driver ver. 4.5.0.0" dated April 12, 2012, before you judge this machine. It is night and day.
So, if you're compulsive like me, you'll want to install all driver updates. So, first I looked in the Control Panel and saw 4/18 was the install date on pretty much everything. I installed everything dated after that. Still, the trackpad was flaky, so I did a 2nd round and installed all of them (64 bit versions.) Note that there are NVIDIA drivers installed on the machine, and available for update, but this particular model has Intel Graphics. You certainly don't need to update them, and I uninstalled them along with the surprisingly small amount of bloatware that came on the machine. The moral of this story is the imaging disc the manufacturer is using is probably pretty old, so don't assume your machine doesn't need this or that update because of when you bought it or when the software on it was installed.
Aside: it comes with Norton AV Trial. Antivirus software is something Mac people are pretty ignorant about. So I Googled and I uninstalled it and downloaded "Microsoft Security Essentials". It's free and very unobtrusive, but I'd take the advice of more seasoned PC users over mine. I will say, I'm not going to buy it just because Norton made some marketing deal with Samsung.
So, build quality. However much you may hate Apple, the unibody MacBooks Air/Pro are marvelous hardware. Solid, compact, crisp, beautiful. I had no expectation of getting that for this price, and you don't. My Windows work laptop is a high-end ThinkPad, So I'm used to some nice stuff. I have to say, this little guy, considering the price, measures up really, really well. Yeah it's plastic, but it's very pretty. Great range to the screen adjustment, no wobble (which I read previous generations did.) Quite attractive when open, the thin bezel is very classy. The keyboard feels fine, and (AFTER UPDATE) the trackpad MUCH better than my ThinkPad, just slightly smaller than my MacBookAir 11", and supports 2 finger scrolls, pinch and zoom, two-finger right click. It's pretty seamless going back and forth. (Please don't let Apple's lawyers know.)
Interoperability with Macs on network: have to say, the only problems were on the Mac Mountain Lion side. I turned on Windows file sharing on the Macs, but sometimes the Samsung would present a login dialog. To fix this, I just turn File Sharing on the Mac off then on again, and the Samsung will seamlessly just open Mac files shares with a click. It's probably a Mountain Lion "point o" bug. Likewise, logging onto the Samsung from the Mac goes smoothly. (Be aware, when logging onto the PC from the Mac, you will need to include the Windows "domain" before your user name e.g. Sammy\Eric Mars.
Have had no problems connecting to my Airport network, but will say, I can't play a movie off my MacMini file server over WiFi without getting an error a few minutes into play. Copying the file to the Samsung, no problem. My Macs have no problem at all doing this. Maybe this is a symptom of the frequently mentioned wifi issues of prior versions, or maybe I'm just expecting too much of a laptop in this price range. Haven't tried it via ethernet yet but have a feeling that would be OK. Something for other reviewers to investigate.
So, very long review. I did this because I was intrigued by this inexpensive little machine with 6 GB ram, Fast Start, and an Intel processor and I could find NOTHING anywhere on the entire internet. Hope you find it helpful.
I'm extremely happy with my purchase, and looking forward to learning more about Windows, and especially Windows 8. At the risk of being shot as I drive thru Cupertino on my way to work in San Jose, I have to say, Windows is actually pretty nice, and this little machine responds instantly, loads programs fast despite the slow hard drive, downloads pages fast, and best of all, reboots and wakes from sleep in a flash, just like a Mac.
My parting words: IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE, UPDATE THE TRACKPAD DRIVER!
Initial impression: I wasn't too happy. Let me explain. I had read Eric's review about the touchpad. So after 1) installing virus software 2) getting rid of some of the pre-installed crapware (which there was very little of, I thought) I found the Samsung site with the drivers. I was disappointed when, after installing the touchpad driver, it didn't seem to work well at all. Then I remembered Eric's comment about doing it twice. That did the trick. Now it works great. The other negative initial impression was the speed. Honestly, I thought it was a bit of a dog. But after I did some more work (installed Windows updates, MS Office, GIMP, iTunes, etc. and defragged a time or two) I got a nice surprise. It really did seem pretty speedy.
Pros: 1) Memory. Sometimes I wish I had kept this little laptop for myself. But mine is currently only 18 months old and not too shabby itself. So I'll be happy for now and let the kid have the new speedy one. 2) Decent size hard drive. Though after installing all the software and stuff we've already used over 20%. I guess we'll have to start looking for machines with one TB! Or I should just use the external hard drive like I'm supposed to! 3) Physical size. Personally I've gotten used to having the numeric keypad (I do a lot of productivity work on my laptop), but the smaller size and lighter weight are nice when you're just internet browsing. 4) Physical unit. It seems like a fairly sturdy little laptop.
Cons: I haven't used it much since I got it set up, but I haven't really seen any. One thing I should check out is battery life. I can't speak to that but it's usually important to me.
Other thoughts: Somehow I got hooked on Acer laptops many years ago. I've purchased somewhere around six of them over the past 10 years for myself and children. I know everyone has a different story, but I've always had pretty good luck with them. So for me to consider anything different was a stretch. But the specs for this Samsung, along with the few reviews I found, just made me want to try it. I'm glad I did. We've had it for about a week and a half now and so far so good. My background is that I like tech gadgets, but I'm not a hardware person. I am actually an IT professional (20+ years), but on the systems side for a large corporation. So while I am comfortable playing around with gadgets, I'm not always the best at troubleshooting and fixing when it comes to the actual hardware.
I typically don't write reviews for products I've purchased. But I really appreciated the others I saw for this laptop so I felt compelled to this time. I hope this helps.
Got the computer early (thanks Go4Computers). I removed some bloatware per other reviews, loaded up Quickbooks, and restored my company's back-up. Voila! Fantastic, zippy computer! Quickbooks opens very fast, processes quick, and internet surfing is speedy. Did make a minor color adjustment to the screen resolution, now the color is great!
I'm very glad I decided to buy a computer with Windows 7, instead of buying a similar computer with Windows 8 from a big box store. I've heard Windows 8 is difficult to use if you're not purchasing a touchscreen laptop. I was tempted, just to have a computer in my hands that day. I'm glad I didn't, because Windows 7 is like butter, and WELL worth the wait.
Overall, I'm very pleased and highly recommend this computer for anyone looking for a basic laptop to get the job done!
1) I'm a Mac person. My home network consists of a MacBookPro, MacBookAir, MacPro (2008), and MacMini.
2) I'm an advanced user on Mac OS, running Mountain Lion on all machines. Windows has always been a "company issued machine" environment for me.
3) I wanted a low cost Windows machine, other than my locked down work laptop, to learn the the system in depth, eventually Win 8, and how it interoperates with the Mac OS.
The 2 big problems, out of the box:
a. The trackpad, especially for Mac users who are used to butter, will drive you NUTS until you update the driver. It will sporadically ignore your touch-clicks until you update it.,
b. This IS a low-cost laptop. I expected a TN screen with poor viewing angles, and that's what you'll get, no changing that. (Fortunately it's a laptop, you just tilt the lid until you have an optimum viewing angle.) What I didn't expect was a washed out, somewhat bizarre screen calibration.
Here's the good news on these 2 issues:
a. You MUST update the trackpad driver. Once you do, it will work pretty much as a Mac user would expect, e.g. "like butter".
b. The Intel Graphics driver has color controls that Mac users would envy. Right click the desktop, dig in there, and play with Brightness, Saturation, Gamma, etc. until you are pleased. I lowered Brighness, upped Contrast, and increased Saturation a tad. That did the trick. The washed out screen is totally fixable. But I repeat, the narrow viewing angles are not, but you didn't cough up the dough for a top notch display, did you?
Something very foreign to Mac users the driver updates on Samsung's site are very hard to find, Samsung has about 8,000 models of this machine, only distinguishable by slightly different 135-digit model numbers. And even once you find that page, you need to know you are running 64 bit windows, and you may have to dig into the Programs Control Panel to uninstall EITHER the Synaptics or the ETDWare trackpad driver BEFORE you install the new one.
I will save you some anguish, here's the link to the correct downloads page:
IMPORTANT: If you do nothing else, uninstall your Synaptics/ETDWare driver, and install the "Touchpad Driver ver. 4.5.0.0" dated April 12, 2012, before you judge this machine. It is night and day.
So, if you're compulsive like me, you'll want to install all driver updates. So, first I looked in the Control Panel and saw 4/18 was the install date on pretty much everything. I installed everything dated after that. Still, the trackpad was flaky, so I did a 2nd round and installed all of them (64 bit versions.) Note that there are NVIDIA drivers installed on the machine, and available for update, but this particular model has Intel Graphics. You certainly don't need to update them, and I uninstalled them along with the surprisingly small amount of bloatware that came on the machine. The moral of this story is the imaging disc the manufacturer is using is probably pretty old, so don't assume your machine doesn't need this or that update because of when you bought it or when the software on it was installed.
Aside: it comes with Norton AV Trial. Antivirus software is something Mac people are pretty ignorant about. So I Googled and I uninstalled it and downloaded "Microsoft Security Essentials". It's free and very unobtrusive, but I'd take the advice of more seasoned PC users over mine. I will say, I'm not going to buy it just because Norton made some marketing deal with Samsung.
So, build quality. However much you may hate Apple, the unibody MacBooks Air/Pro are marvelous hardware. Solid, compact, crisp, beautiful. I had no expectation of getting that for this price, and you don't. My Windows work laptop is a high-end ThinkPad, So I'm used to some nice stuff. I have to say, this little guy, considering the price, measures up really, really well. Yeah it's plastic, but it's very pretty. Great range to the screen adjustment, no wobble (which I read previous generations did.) Quite attractive when open, the thin bezel is very classy. The keyboard feels fine, and (AFTER UPDATE) the trackpad MUCH better than my ThinkPad, just slightly smaller than my MacBookAir 11", and supports 2 finger scrolls, pinch and zoom, two-finger right click. It's pretty seamless going back and forth. (Please don't let Apple's lawyers know.)
Interoperability with Macs on network: have to say, the only problems were on the Mac Mountain Lion side. I turned on Windows file sharing on the Macs, but sometimes the Samsung would present a login dialog. To fix this, I just turn File Sharing on the Mac off then on again, and the Samsung will seamlessly just open Mac files shares with a click. It's probably a Mountain Lion "point o" bug. Likewise, logging onto the Samsung from the Mac goes smoothly. (Be aware, when logging onto the PC from the Mac, you will need to include the Windows "domain" before your user name e.g. Sammy\Eric Mars.
Have had no problems connecting to my Airport network, but will say, I can't play a movie off my MacMini file server over WiFi without getting an error a few minutes into play. Copying the file to the Samsung, no problem. My Macs have no problem at all doing this. Maybe this is a symptom of the frequently mentioned wifi issues of prior versions, or maybe I'm just expecting too much of a laptop in this price range. Haven't tried it via ethernet yet but have a feeling that would be OK. Something for other reviewers to investigate.
So, very long review. I did this because I was intrigued by this inexpensive little machine with 6 GB ram, Fast Start, and an Intel processor and I could find NOTHING anywhere on the entire internet. Hope you find it helpful.
I'm extremely happy with my purchase, and looking forward to learning more about Windows, and especially Windows 8. At the risk of being shot as I drive thru Cupertino on my way to work in San Jose, I have to say, Windows is actually pretty nice, and this little machine responds instantly, loads programs fast despite the slow hard drive, downloads pages fast, and best of all, reboots and wakes from sleep in a flash, just like a Mac.
My parting words: IF YOU DO NOTHING ELSE, UPDATE THE TRACKPAD DRIVER!
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A very nice and high quality unit at a hard to find and affordable price point. Runs like a top!Best Deals for Samsung Series 3 NP300E4C-A01US 14-Inch Laptop (Blue Silver)
What was my situation? My youngest child was using my six year old laptop for school work and personal use. It had served us well, but simply... it got old. We had already planned to purchase a good laptop for graduation (a couple of years away), so we didn't want to spend too much right now. We just wanted something that would get through shool work (MS Word, PowerPoint, Excel) and light personal use (web surfing, iTunes, photo editing with GIMP, etc.) for two or three years. I started reading reviews and went to a physical store to do some research. I found this laptop on a couple of websites and liked the specs and it was at the top end that I was willing to spend ($400). Finding the review by Eric Mars sealed the deal for me. I haven't owned a laptop with smaller than a 15.6" screen for a while, so the final thing was to check out how a 14" screen looked at a physical store. I liked it.Initial impression: I wasn't too happy. Let me explain. I had read Eric's review about the touchpad. So after 1) installing virus software 2) getting rid of some of the pre-installed crapware (which there was very little of, I thought) I found the Samsung site with the drivers. I was disappointed when, after installing the touchpad driver, it didn't seem to work well at all. Then I remembered Eric's comment about doing it twice. That did the trick. Now it works great. The other negative initial impression was the speed. Honestly, I thought it was a bit of a dog. But after I did some more work (installed Windows updates, MS Office, GIMP, iTunes, etc. and defragged a time or two) I got a nice surprise. It really did seem pretty speedy.
Pros: 1) Memory. Sometimes I wish I had kept this little laptop for myself. But mine is currently only 18 months old and not too shabby itself. So I'll be happy for now and let the kid have the new speedy one. 2) Decent size hard drive. Though after installing all the software and stuff we've already used over 20%. I guess we'll have to start looking for machines with one TB! Or I should just use the external hard drive like I'm supposed to! 3) Physical size. Personally I've gotten used to having the numeric keypad (I do a lot of productivity work on my laptop), but the smaller size and lighter weight are nice when you're just internet browsing. 4) Physical unit. It seems like a fairly sturdy little laptop.
Cons: I haven't used it much since I got it set up, but I haven't really seen any. One thing I should check out is battery life. I can't speak to that but it's usually important to me.
Other thoughts: Somehow I got hooked on Acer laptops many years ago. I've purchased somewhere around six of them over the past 10 years for myself and children. I know everyone has a different story, but I've always had pretty good luck with them. So for me to consider anything different was a stretch. But the specs for this Samsung, along with the few reviews I found, just made me want to try it. I'm glad I did. We've had it for about a week and a half now and so far so good. My background is that I like tech gadgets, but I'm not a hardware person. I am actually an IT professional (20+ years), but on the systems side for a large corporation. So while I am comfortable playing around with gadgets, I'm not always the best at troubleshooting and fixing when it comes to the actual hardware.
I typically don't write reviews for products I've purchased. But I really appreciated the others I saw for this laptop so I felt compelled to this time. I hope this helps.
Honest reviews on Samsung Series 3 NP300E4C-A01US 14-Inch Laptop (Blue Silver)
I purchased this computer on July 26th, 2012. It started running slow about seven months later. Took it in to have it checked and saw little improvement. The first week of August 2013 it began really dragging. Again took it in for checking. On August 28th, 2013 I was informed by the technician that the mother board had failed. Of course, the warranty had expired. After conversations with numerous agents at the repair facility, I was informed that they have been seeing this problem throughout their company's stores. The Samsung representative told me that they had no issues with this computer. Replacement of the mother board may be over $200 plus labor. So.... use your own judgment when considering the purchase this one.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 3 NP300E4C-A01US 14-Inch Laptop (Blue Silver)
I ordered this computer for internet browsing, light school-work, and to run Quickbooks for my company. My other crashed unexpectedly, and I needed a very reasonably priced laptop quick. I chose this one, as it had the best specs out of the computers in my price range. I'm very happy with my decision.Got the computer early (thanks Go4Computers). I removed some bloatware per other reviews, loaded up Quickbooks, and restored my company's back-up. Voila! Fantastic, zippy computer! Quickbooks opens very fast, processes quick, and internet surfing is speedy. Did make a minor color adjustment to the screen resolution, now the color is great!
I'm very glad I decided to buy a computer with Windows 7, instead of buying a similar computer with Windows 8 from a big box store. I've heard Windows 8 is difficult to use if you're not purchasing a touchscreen laptop. I was tempted, just to have a computer in my hands that day. I'm glad I didn't, because Windows 7 is like butter, and WELL worth the wait.
Overall, I'm very pleased and highly recommend this computer for anyone looking for a basic laptop to get the job done!
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Cheap Lenovo Thinkpad T530 2392AQU 2.30-3.30GHz i7-3610QM 4GB 500GB
The computer that will work for ever.
All the components work great, even on linux.
I replaced the ram with 16G and added a SSD for extreme performance.
All the components work great, even on linux.
I replaced the ram with 16G and added a SSD for extreme performance.
Friday, February 14, 2014
Cheap Toshiba Satellite L755-S5248 Laptop 4Gb Ram 500GB Hard Drive WebCam
It product is is in okay position. It was described as "like new" but has scratches on it. Also, a lot of food crumbs in the keyboard area. The shipping was awful. The company used USPS and shouldn't have. I had to sign for the package and the nearest USPS was 30 mins away.
My only concern is the quality of the LCD. I find it not very vibrant and the viewing angles are limited. However, for $319, this was an excellent buy !!
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I got this laptop in September 2011 at a great sale price as I was looking for a nw laptop that would handle HD videos and output them through an HDMI port. This laptop has the HDMI port and has many great features for the price, such as Pentium dual-core processor, webcam, 4gb RAM and 500GB HDD, a wide 15+ inch screen, and Toshiba's reputation for quality. It doesn't have a ton of software loaded on but that wasn't a concern for me. It runs smoothly and handles pretty much any task you can perform. The battery lasts pretty long and so far no heating up problems, which can plague some laptops. If this lasts as well as my last Toshiba laptop (which still runs OK after 7 years) then it will represent a great value for a portable computer.Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite L755-S5248 Laptop 4Gb Ram 500GB Hard Drive WebCam
I bought this laptop from OfficeMax when it was on sale for $369 $50 in store coupon for computers a couple weeks ago for a total $319. The price triggered me to buy it since I needed a laptop with HDMI out to play movies, netflix, etc... on my TV. For the price, the laptop is excellent. It is fast enough for my purposes, and certainly has enough installed memory.My only concern is the quality of the LCD. I find it not very vibrant and the viewing angles are limited. However, for $319, this was an excellent buy !!
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Cheap Dell Latitude D520 1.66Ghz/1GB/60GB/Win XP Pro/15" Notebook
Ordered 2 for my kids x-mas gifts. They looked brand new & work like it too!! Very happy to have the 90 day warranty & support as well, just in case! ;)
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This is my third refurbished laptop...like a good used car,if taken care of,it will last a long time..The Dell D520 with Windows 7 installed was a bonus.I bought this for my wife who needs are simple.I also bought this for its former use as a business computer .Having had it for over a month it works wonderfully.If you are not it need of of the latest bells and whistles,a refurbished is something to take a look at...Check that its done by a microsoft certified co.and that the certificate of authenticity is with it..good buy.Best Deals for Dell Latitude D520 1.66Ghz/1GB/60GB/Win XP Pro/15" Notebook
I WOULD RECOMMEND ANYONE TO BUY THIS REFURBISH DELL LAPTOP IT WORKS GREAT I WOULD GIVE IT A 4 STAR THE SELLER WAS SO GOOD TO WALK MY DAUGHTER THROUGH IT FOR TO SET IT UP THANK YOU SHARON SIMPSONHonest reviews on Dell Latitude D520 1.66Ghz/1GB/60GB/Win XP Pro/15" Notebook
I've had this laptop for 7 years now. I haven't had any major problems with it in all that time, except just recently my number six key stopped working. Otherwise, it can be a little slow at times, loading web pages. However, there's no problem getting into Word or Excel, etc. I think it would be good at this point for a beginner who wants a cheap laptop to do emails and basic Word letters and perhaps keep track of their checkbook on Excel. It's not overly complicated, but it doesn't have a LOT of memory for storing pictures, but a beginner would be ok with the space it has. I keep Norton Antivirus on it and renew every year for $49 and it's been worth it. The screen is big and clear, and you can hook a mouse to it, printers, scanners etc. Hope that helps.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Latitude D520 1.66Ghz/1GB/60GB/Win XP Pro/15" Notebook
I got this laptop for free as a replacement for my old laptop from a friend. It works OK. It's very slow and glitching up though (the bottom half of the screen is malfunctioning currently). In fact, as I am writing this review, it's going to die pretty soon. But overall it was OK, maybe good to use if you're living on the cheap or giving it to your kids and whatnot.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Cheap HP ENVY 15 TouchSmart Notebook 256GB SSD (Intel Core i7-4800MQ 4th
List Price: $2,499.00
Sale Price: $1,549.00
Today's Bonus: 38% Off
ProsSleek. Super fast. Nice touchscreen response. 1080p. SSD is amazing. Nice sized mous pad. Excellent keyboard.
ConsHas windows 8 (meh.), a bit spendy, and the beats audio is nothing special.
Final thoughtsA very nice machine. If you dont mind the cost, it will treat you well!
Sunday, January 19, 2014
Review of Toshiba Satellite A135-S4666 15.4" Notebook (1.73GHz Core Duo T2080
I bought this model 3.5 years ago from Best Buy. I took the 12 month warranty and upgraded the memory. Exactly 12 months and 2 days later bad things started to occur. It started "eating" power cords. I have bought about 10 in the last two years. The battery in the laptop died and I am not willing to put more money into this thing. The task bar at the bottom of the desktop would randomly die when the laptop was unplugged. I would close it and try to restart the task bar but it never repaired itself. I had trouble getting the updates from Windows to install and99% of them would not work after 12 months of ownership. I am pretty computer saavy but this thing was a nightmare.
There is an excellent amount of space for music, movies and photos. I easily watched them at home and when traveling (the first tear when the battery worked). The laptop is also a poor quality. The area where you place your left and right hands on the computer cracked in year two. I have pretty small hands for a guy and I am not rough with them so clearly this thing is junk. I know everything I wrote is true about Toshiba because my wife has the A200 model and at the same time everything happened to hers. I would not recommended this laptop at all. I bought an Acer Netbook and its great their brand is less expensive.
There is an excellent amount of space for music, movies and photos. I easily watched them at home and when traveling (the first tear when the battery worked). The laptop is also a poor quality. The area where you place your left and right hands on the computer cracked in year two. I have pretty small hands for a guy and I am not rough with them so clearly this thing is junk. I know everything I wrote is true about Toshiba because my wife has the A200 model and at the same time everything happened to hers. I would not recommended this laptop at all. I bought an Acer Netbook and its great their brand is less expensive.
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