Review of Dell Studio 1537 15-Inch Laptop (2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 GB DDR2

Customer Ratings:

Have owned this laptop for 4 years now and it's still going strong. Can still do anything I need to even though it is so old. People are mentioning that keys fall off, I have never had this problem. Never had to perform any repairs on it. People also mention that the touch activated sound buttons have a mind of their own, its probably because they don't clean their laptop so there is residue built up tricking the computer into thinking that you are pressing the buttons, I've never had this problem.

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I bought this Dell Studio Laptop after my thinkpad crashed. I was attracted to its look and fancy touch sensitive buttons on top. But immediately I started noticing that the volume, eject touch buttons have a mind of their own sometimes. I wish they were normal buttons instead of touch sensitive. The mouse touch pad is not good. It works well only sometimes. And the worst part is the keys. I lost some of my keys because they key pad is JUST bad. Ask anyone who used a Dell studio before and you'll see that at least one key is missing. Wait...while I was typing this the volume touch button came on ...on its own and it stays like that and you can't reduce the volume while its on. Also, it heats up pretty fast and the battery life is prob around 1:15 mts max.

Never should've bought this laptop.

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Since I bought this computer two years ago, I have been plagued with problems from it. Keep in mind that I use this computer for school, internet and gaming. I have since had to replace the charger cord 4 times. I have had to get an entirely new hard drive 4 times as well due to overheating issues. The hinge on the computer is flimsy plastic and has broken 3 times, which made the entire screen case pop off, as well as making the hinge unable to close which led to the back of the screen actually CRACKING. The eject and sound buttons (as another reviewer mentioned) often choose to work/not work whenever they want. Just from regular use of the keyboard, the keys often pop off. The track pad left-click button has ceased to work for about a year now (but I use an external mouse). I understand that all computers start wearing after awhile, but the problems I have had with this computer started not long after I bought the machine and have been persistent. I would STRONGLY not recommend this to anyone.

One mitigating factor was that the Dell Customer Service has been more than accommodating to all my issues. The extended warranty was a must-have. Still very, very disappointed.

Honest reviews on Dell Studio 1537 15-Inch Laptop (2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 GB DDR2

I've owned this laptop for over 4 years now and it is still going strong. Screen is still working just like the first day I got it, all the keys still function, and it can handle almost anything I throw at it. Though this isn't a perfect laptop.

One huge issue I had with it was Windows Vista. It was fast at first on the Dell, but after a while it slowed my Dell down greatly. So I updated its operating system to Windows 7 and it is much faster now, not to mention Windows 7 is way better than Vista in terms of appearance and customization. The upgrade was pretty much flawless too. Only had a delete or upgrade a few of my programs but then it would run normally. It now even beats my girlfriends MacBook on the boot-up. I'm very happy now that it's running Windows 7. I HIGHLY recommend upgrading from Vista to 7. You can find good deals online.

Another issue with this Dell is the processing speed and RAM. As a student engineer, I need something that can handle AutoCAD and other 3D drafting software. The 2.0GHz processor and 4 GB of RAM is nice for web surfing and basic gaming, it's a bit sluggish when I run my AutoCAD software. It takes a good 5 minutes for the program to boot up, but once it's up it can run with some of the newer computers. I'm looking into possibly upgrading the RAM to 8 GB (2x4GB) which is the max that this computer can handle. However I'm currently saving as much money as I can to get me though school. So for now, it is a good computer for my needs.

The other issues I have with this laptop are minor, such as the touch buttons at the top, minor heat issues, short battery life, and minor cosmetic defects. I really don't like touch buttons. I wish they were dim then when you touched them, they brighten up and go back to dim. Instead, they're dark and brighten when you touch them. This gets frustrating when you're on your computer in a dark room and want to adjust the volume. I don't know which one I'm touching until I touch it. But could be worse. As for the heat issues that others have said, my computer actually had very few heat issues, as mine came with the extended life (9 cell) battery that propped the back up. So whenever the fan turned on, it would breathe perfectly fine. However, I have had this battery since I first got the computer, so now it can only hold a charge for a good hour, then I have to plug it in. For me, I learn to live with it and always work near an outlet. As for the cosmetic defects, it's from normal use. I've hardly ever slammed my laptop shut, I try to keep it as clean as I can, and I handle it carefully everyday. In return, the laptop has not fallen apart on me. Even when I dropped it once from waist height, nothing happened except a little damage on the hinge but it still works perfectly fine, hard drive and everything.

I would recommend this to anyone who needs a good laptop for everyday use. Just upgrade the operating system to Windows 7 and treat it nicely.

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I've had this laptop for 5 years now. And I can tell you anything about it. For commercial use and gaming its an awesome computer. Granit you can't play wow on ultra graphics but you can play on fair with no lag. The touch buttons on the top I thought was neat. But I do have to agree that I wish they weren't. Sometimes my disc tray will just eject the disc on its own. But that's rarely. Yes this laptop has poor battery life now mine only lasts about 30min. And I never had to replace the power cord at all. This laptop does over heat easily but all you have to do is prop something behind it to let it breath a little and it will do fine. This laptop also has an internal mic for which I can't seem to find. Because it broke on me :p. the only major downfall to this CPU really is that it has vista. You can always upgrade to windows 7 (already did the test for it and this laptop is capable of win7). This laptop is a good gift for someone. I recommend it. If you need more RAM space it can be expandable to 8gb. (2 x 4gb memory sticks). I've never really had a problem with this laptop. But I do think its time for an improvement for me :)

Cheap Lenovo G580 15.6-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

Our daughter needed a new laptop for college. We gave her a budget. She selected this one. It worked great for the entire first semester except for a couple of glitches caused by some third party software she installed.

We got the 2-year service plan with the computer and Lenovo was great about answering all of our daughter's questions.

They resolved the issue in one call, although it took twenty minutes to do it.

( I told her, "twenty minutes is not bad," but when you're a teenager who is missing crucial gossip, it seems an eternity!)

Our beloved daughter types faster than a raging robot, and so, is very hard on keyboards. Sure enough, at the end of the school year while she was visiting home, her keyboard developed a broken key.

"This cheap thing is ^$%%# &&$5 (*#&^$6) "

(She was in the middle of an important discussion with some of her friends about some other friends when it died. From my den downstairs I could hear her hammering away above me (in her room) with the frenetic passion of a Jack Kerouac.)

Two keys had been pressed so hard that they collapsed and wedged in place, rendering all other keys useless as they sent repeating !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! messages. That day I learned that all teenagers believe you can make your point LOUDER if you type harder.

Well, one quick call from momma, and Lenovo sent her a NEW KEYBOARD. They were very helpful both over the phone and by referring us to their excellent repair videos. Momma, (who is NOT particularly good with tools) got the old board out and the new one in in less than a half-hour!

She was so impressed with this service that she bought another Lenovo exactly like the kid's. The difference is that Mamma doesn't BANG on her keyboard when typing emotional messages. Result? We have had both of these working perfectly for over a year and a half now. For any computer that runs Microsoft, I consider that a victory.

SO, the machine is well-designed, works like it is supposed to and does not break if it is not abused. If it does break, Lenovo has resources to make fixing it faster and easier. It may not be "emotional teenage girl YELLING ON FACE BOOK proof" ...but it is darn close.

If you are an adult, (or behave like one) you will probably have no such problems. If you snap a gasket some night whilst typing furiously, Lenovo will come through for you under warranty, no shipping charges for parts.

That's better than any other PC company I've dealt with.

Hope that helps!

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The laptop came from Amazon within a couple of days and was nicely packaged. The initial setup for the Lenovo was also nice. That is where nice ended.

The laptop shipped with a malware/spyware package called Nitro. Nitro blocked the Windows 8 updates. There were some Lenovo instructions that said to update Nitro but that crashed too. If you buy this laptop, the answer is easy: UNINSTALL NITRO immediately. It is some buggy emulation software that you will never need. You will also need to disable Nitro's spyware cousin, Nalpeiron. The instructions to do this are on the Lenovo Community Forum for Windows 8. Normally this would have caused me to rate it 1 Star but unfortunately all the laptop makers are taking payola to put spyware on your computer. You will probably have similar experiences with any other Windows machine.

Also, Windows 8 is a major change. Don't buy this for the non-computer savvy person in your family. Buy a Windows 7 PC for them while you still can. And remember, Windows 8 is built into the BIOS and you cannot downgrade even with a complete disk format.

And buy from Amazon because they will stick up for you in these sorry deals. Their hardware, Kindle, just works.

Best Deals for Lenovo G580 15.6-Inch Laptop

Pros: price, keyboard, power management, screen clarity.

Cons: wifi takes a couple of minutes to start from cold boot; no issues after that.

I've been scouring the internet for a new computer after mine was stolen. I looked at the new breed of instant on, 14 inch display units. But why sacrifice screen space? Real work requires a sizable screen and a 15 inch is my minimum. I tried a 12 inch that I borrowed but that is simply too small.

I had an older g580 variant that I picked up for 500 dollars two years ago. Loud fan, not so great power management. Great keyboard. This is an evolutionary product. The fan noise is gone; at least not as I use it. Power users may find it otherwise.

The keyboard is different, but just as nice as the newer high-end lenovo laptops. Its the best keyboard currently available. So if you are planning to do serious typing, as I do, then this is a major plus. One note on the keyboard/touchpad. The touchpad is the latest variety that is multitouch and very large. It makes typing more difficult. You learn to reposition your hands and most of the time it is a non-issue. To make things easier, I went in and changed the multitouch settings, turning over the perimeter of the touchpad, where you are most likely to have an issue. Works well with that tweak. Others just use a mouse and turn it off altogether. Either way, this is the size of touchpad that's here to stay, so we just have to deal with it.

How is the screen? Those that crave a high resolution will need to cough up more cash for a different model. But let's be practical: you simply do not need it. I've watched netflix movies on here, and its as crisp as an HDTV to my untrained eye, overall excellent.

As for the battery life, that is why I elected to wait for a third generation I3 chip. The improvements are notable. I can get up to 3 hrs with routine use, better than the 90 min of my old laptop, though I haven't timed it precisely. While a far cry from some of the newer models, you pay more for those, so figure out how many hours unplugged you really need.

What about the sound? It has dolby stereo and plenty of power. Great for netflix.

So what's not to like? My only nit is that the wifi takes a while to find the router. Occasionally I have to run the troubleshooter to reset the adapter, a pretty simple task. But once the wifi is running, its fine. You can watch a film front to back without a glitch.

Overall, I think this is the best bang for the buck in a 15 inch laptop, especially if you can find it on sale.

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This is going to be a perfect gift for Mom and Dad (baby boomers) and their first PC windows 8 is a nice touch and will be our third Lenovo laptop very solid performers and very little in the way of hardware issues. Nice bright screens and fantastic touch on the keyboards. Nice addition with the USB 3.0 ports. All in the all for the price and with an Intel i3 3rd gen a really nice package for the price $429 on 11/22/12. We own a G780 also and highly recommend it as well.

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Update of original review -

After owning this machine for less than 2 weeks I began to have software problems, specifically with the Windows Updater. The machine would hang while updating any software that used the Updater. I called the Lenovo Helpdesk and was told to reload the Windows partition, which I didn't want to do since I would have to reload hours of installs and updates to Norton, MSoffice, Itunes etc. I was transferred to advanced software support where the tech told me he would help but at a cost of $59.00. "WHAT!" I said, "the machine is only 10 days old". "Too bad" he said. "Goodbye" I said and returned the machine to Office Depot taking advantage of their 14 day return policy, and traded it for a Toshiba. In retrospect I would have given the machine 0 stars and I will never buy a Lenovo product again.

Original review =

This is a nice machine for the price. Lenovo makes several G580 models with different configurations. This one has the Core i3 3110M processor which is pretty fast. I was a little disappointed that this model didn't have Bluetooth but I can live without it.

So far the only redeeming feature I can find about Windows 8 is that it boots fast. Other than that the menus, screens, and features are different from other versions of Windows and take some time to get used to. They've removed the Start button from the Desktop view. The most aggravating thing I found so far is that the Windows Mail tool in Windows 8 doesn't support POP3 servers used by a lot of ISPs. You have to sign up for a Windows mail account to find this out. If you have a POP3 server for your incoming mail delete the Windows 8 Mail and download Windows Live from Microsoft's website or some other tool.

I saw complaints about the sensitivity of the touch pad but it's adjustable and can probably be set to most users preferences. The default settings are set to very sensitive touches and pressures.

I like the feel of the keyboard but I'm a 2 finger typist so YMMV.

The Nitro program mentioned as Spyware in some reviews is, according to Google, a third party PDF viewer. I installed Norton 360 and didn't get any bad reports on it but I uninstalled it since I use the standard Adobe Reader for that stuff. I also saw a complaint about the Chrome window size not being adjustable but it sizes fine on my machine. Things like using the Ctrl +/to magnify work too.

Wireless connectivity is good. The machine has a Broadcom 802.11n adapter and it connected with my Linksys router with no problems. It also recognized my Canon Mg5320 printer on the network and configured it without having to run any setup programs so I guess that's also a plus for Windows 8.

The display is bright and crisp enough for me to be happy.

All in all I think it's a good machine for the price.

Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF15215CXP 15.5-Inch Core i5 Touch Laptop Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $829.99
Sale Price: $799.99
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After you uninstall the bloatware and stop a few startup programs in msconfig the laptop is perfect for everyday use. The screen is amazing and the touchscreen is very responsive.

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great screen, nice slim design, i had a glass of water beside my vaio and my cat knocked it over... the water went all over the keyboard. i immediately turned it off and used dry tissue to soak up what i could. i let it sit upside down for 2 hours and water was still slowly dripping out of the keys, and it still works like new! I LOVE IT!!!

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Bought for my wife and spent bit of time getting programs installed and getting her up to speed from XP to Windows 8, as it is a leap! Computer is functioning perfectly and the screen resolution is the best I've or she has experienced. Back lit keyboard works extremely well in reduced light situations. i5 core is fast and reliable. I am sure she will find much more to like about the computer as she works with it in the future.

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Like the features of the laptop (this is my first) but the battery life really sucks only seem to get a couple of hours on it. Not a good choice if you travel a lot and depend on the battery lasting for you flight

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Really good and works as expected! The touch screen is perfect and sound system is great. The laptop metallic finish is not upto the mark at the bottom.

Discount Asus X52FXR6 / X52F-XR6 / X52F-XR6 15.6, Intel Core i5-480M, 4GB

Customer Ratings:

This is a great laptop. I looked for a while before settling for this one, and I'm not disappointed. My HP died after only 2 years (after the warranty expired of course!) so I wanted to change brands. I settled for ASUS because they have the best reliability reviews among all manufacturers, and it was $550 at Fry's! The Intel core i5 makes this machine run like a breeze. Its screen is brilliant with great color gamut and contrast. The keyboard is chiclet style, and very comfortable. It comes with a numeric keypad, some people may find the keys a little too small, but I find them very useful. I've been running intensive processing software (Seti@home) and the keyboard never felt too hot, core temperatures stayed between 72-79 C. The fan is very quiet and never got too loud even when processors were running at 100%.

Pros:

Fast processor (comes with Intel's first i5 generation CPUs)

Bright screen

Quiet fan, keeps cool.

Great keyboard

Number pad

Cons:

Reflective screen, can be bothering if you have a strong reflection.

Poor sound quality: the speakers are on the front, but face downwards, so they give an awkward sound.

No discrete graphics card, but at this price, can't complain.

Overall, I am very happy with this laptop and would recommend it to anyone.

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Review of Dell Latitude E5520 15.6 LED Notebook Intel Core i5 i5-2520M 2.50

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,208.00
Sale Price: $649.99
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I'm an IT tech, and we buy Dell for all our customers, both commercial and residential.

We buy two models, the Optiplex and Latitude laptops, and have a long list of satisfied customers. The most common model we buy is the Latitude E5520 because it offers a good balance of speed, versatility, scalability, and function. It's a high quality item designed for businesses and private users. The E5520 isn't available from Dell anymore (replaced by the Latitude E5300 and 5500 series).

It's a mid-sized machine with a 15.6" widescreen monitor. The machine itself is pretty big, about the same size as my 17" MacBook Pro so about 12" deep, 16" wide, and over an 1" thick, and weighs about 6 lbs. It's constructed mostly of sturdy plastic, which covers the chassis top bottom, and palm rests. with the exception of a thin piece of brushed gunmetal colored aluminum with a matte finished Dell logo covering the top of the lid. The bottom is also metal, and the sides are reinforced with extra plastic. There's a full seal around the edge of the screen, and a zinc alloy latch firmly secures the assembly, which is very secure. The LCD itself is sealed to the lid and protected around the edge of the lid by protective bumpers. The frame is constructed from a mix of aluminum and magnesium to keep it lightweight, and the lid's hinges are steel. Overall the machine is very sturdy, solidly built, and is able to withstand some heavy use and abuse. The keyboard is sealed underneath the keys to prevent leaks or spills from getting inside. This machine is not far off from being a Toughbook.

The touchpad is offset from center to the left due to the full 10-key pad on the right side of the keyboard. The touchpad supports multitouch and is a little small, but not too bad, and features a pointing stick like Lenovo machines, with auxiliary mouse buttons above the touchpad. As a plus, this model comes with a backlit keyboard.

The monitor is a 15.6" anti-glare, LED backlit, 16.7 million color widescreen. In stock trim it's 1366x786 resolution, so it's not super high resolution, so don't expect a full HD experience on it. You do have the option of a full 1080 HD screen though, but the stock display is plenty bright, has excellent color reproduction, contrast, and does a good job of showing fine detail. The anti-glare works very well outdoors.

Hardware set varies and there are a dizzying list of available options. We order ours with the Intel Core i5-2520M 2.5 GHz quad core CPU, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 320 GB SATA 6 HDD, DVD-R/RW super multi optical drive, and Intel's HD 3000 graphics chip, which shares system memory. Nothing fancy. There's also gigabit ethernet, b/g/n wireless card, an eSATA/USB port, 4 USB 2.0 ports, memory card reader, 54mm express expansion slot, 1 full and 2 half height mini card slots, HDMI, VGA, and 1394 800 FireWire, and Dell's docking port on the bottom that lets you connect the laptop to an expansion bay with extra USB or other ports. This configuration makes it fast and reliable. We exclusively order Win 7 Pro 32 bit. The Intel CPU sips power, runs cool, and has great performance for lots of computing power. You can get 3 battery options with the Lat: a 4, 6, or 9-cell lithium ion pack, with the top being good for 97 watt hours. I forget which battery we ordered, but the machine lasts for about 3 hours under normal use with WiFi running.

Overall, it's a very good package that rivals Lenovo, HP, and Panasonic's Toughbook for features and affordability. Adding options adds to the price considerably though. For a similarly configured HP or Lenovo, figure on the Latitude costing a couple hundred more dollars. For a business or home user, it's great. The E5520 will last a long time, and if something does happen to it, Dell's warranty is first-class. If you add the optional 3-year, you extend the 1-year, which in itself awesome. If it breaks, Dell will fix it by either sending a tech or shipping a new part. As a plus, the Latitudes are fairly easy to work on, unlike the Lenovo's, which are a nightmare. I've been inside lots of Latitudes, and can say it's nice to work on them. I love how Dell doesn't load their machines with bloatware from the factory. There is only one or two programs that are easy to remove if you don't want them.

Pros:

Dell quality

Well built solid construction

People proof

Easy to maintain

Great performance

Backlit keyboard

Good features and lots of expandability

Little bloatware

Excellent warranty

Cons:

Touchpad is a little small

Screen could be better

Gets really expensive with add-ons

I highly recommend the Latitude. It's a no-nonense laptop that does whatever you ask it to (aside from playing graphics intensive computer games), offers a lot in terms of reliability and durability, and performance out of the box.

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I love this computer it's fast, efficient and very asthetically pleasing with a streamlined clean design. My favorite feature is how fast it isno hicups or waiting around just smooth continous operation. I recommend it for someone like myself who is just looking for a good solid computer for work, study or entertainment. (watching videos or listening to music) I don't do gaming or download movies so I can't coment on thatbut for basically anything else you can think of this computer delivers and then some. Highly recommended.

Lenovo Thinkpad Twist 12.5-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Black) Review

Customer Ratings:

March 2013

I travel extensively in the course of my work and needed a lightweight, but powerful tablet to keep up with my schedule: emails, spreadsheets, heavy web usage, web-based programs, etc. I wanted more speed and agility than an Atom processor can deliver, but I wanted to spend under $800.00

Having researched the various options until I couldn't bear it anymore, I settled on what I considered the best option: Lenovo Twist. It is truly an Ultrabook that is ultra-portable like a tablet. And, at $749.00 at my local OD store (sorry Amazon), it was a great value.

My experience so far is very satisfactory. In fact, the more I use the Twist, the more it exceeds my expectations.

PROS

Fast processor, 7200 rpm cached drive, clear, crisp display with a responsive and smooth touchscreen, and all the ports you could want.

Lenovo "QuichLaunch" is an easy and much appreciated replacement for the familiar Windows Desktop. In fact, i find myself effortlessly going back and forth between the two, as I learn the more tablet-like Windows 8 interface.

Build quality is excellent. The unit is sturdy, light, easy to hold (rubberized feel over a magnesium body) and the twist mechanism is solid yet smooth to rotate.

The keyboard is fantastic. I could not really understand what others were saying about the Lenovo keyboards being so wonderful, but now, I get it!

Overall, best value for the money, and I had my list narrowed down to Surface Pro (mt first choice if money were not an issue) and the Asus Iconia W700. In the end, the idea of detached keyboards and docking stations did not fit my idea of true portability.

Minimal bloatware, removed Norton AV fairly quickly.

CONS

Battery life is truly only four to five hours (max). But knowing this going this purchase, it is not a true problem. I travel alot, but my car has a built-in charge plug for these things. Way to go Ford Flex!

Two hours (+) of software and Windows updates, but everything went smoothly.

Battery has a feature that prolongs its service life, but does not allow a full charge. I will be disabling this feature to fully use my battery time.

I am otherwise, very pleased so far with this purchase. And, Windows 8 is not so bad, though they really need to fill out the offerings on the Windows (App) Store. Windows Defender works very well as an AV software and is faster than aftermarket programs, but you need to fully uninstall Norton before the option for Defender shows up as a choice (very tricky). i will update with any issues that arise. Good luck.

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I bought Lenovo Twist 12.5 Touchscreen Ultrabook for my father for $649. Built in keyboard and convertibility and the Lenovo brand were the main 3 reasons behind this selection. I also recently bought an Acer W700-6831 for $699 from Amazon. Although Lenovo Twist is almost 1.5 pounds heavier than Acer W700 considering the W700's keyboard and case they both feel equal and not heavy at all.

This laptop looks cool with couple of shortcomings outlined below:

1) Battery life: ~3 hours with heavy usage. If you are looking for a tablet with day long computing with battery back up, Lenovo twist is not for you.

2) Fan Noise: During the start up it has a high pitch fan noise. Other than that fan noise is as expected from any laptop with a hard drive in it. I have to emphasize I think Acer W700 is slightly more quite though.

3) Screen Resolution: Lenovo has a1366 x 768 pixels HD screen. After I see 1920 x 1080 screen at Acer W700, I appreciate the higher screen resolution, this laptop should have a higher resolution screen. That said similar models in the market, in the same price range have also 1366x768 resolution screens.

Overall I am happy with Lenovo, I needed a convertible and there is no other solid tablet in the market to beat Lenovo Twist with a $649 price tag. If the battery life was better, I would give 5* to this product.

Best Deals for Lenovo Thinkpad Twist 12.5-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Black)

Pros:

It is light and I can see all notebooks going this way it future. The ability to have a hard disk and the SSD is great. The touch screen is also responsive

Cons:

One of the major limitations is that the memory cannot be upgraded after you buy it. With 4 GB and Windows 8 it is OK for email, Office etc. but slows down considerably when you have too many apps open.

Another problem I had was that intermittently, the screen would change orientation by 90 degrees and it was a pain to click on the key board sequences to make it right. Put the latest updates and it seemed to reduce but still had it happen once. At that point I decided to return it.

Overall:

It is a great concept and I am sure I will look for something like this in future as the vendors and Microsoft tweaks some of the flaws.

Honest reviews on Lenovo Thinkpad Twist 12.5-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Black)

The Twist is a solid, well-priced tablet that fills a niche today. This is an old-school, flip the screen around and turn it down-kind of tablet, the kind they used to make before slates like the iPad and the Surface Pro became the norm. But unlike the older tablet notebooks, with the plastic displays that scratched easily, the Twist is made from iPad-like Gorilla Glass and is very crisp-feeling to use and very scratch resistant. Most will not need a screen protector, like the old tablets did. The Twist is also a lot thinner than those old convertible notebooks used to be.

The i5 processor and battery life are adequate and the 24GB cache SSD and 500GB 7200RPM hard drive provide a faster experience than most right out of the box. Personally though, I replaced the 24GB mSATA SSD and 500GB stock drives with a 250GB mSATA SSD and a 240GB SSD in the main bay (be careful, the main bay is a 7mm drive, not the standard 9.5mm in height than most notebooks can accept). The speed increase is significant and, with no drives with moving parts, its more suitable as a handheld device and the battery is a bit longer lasting too with an all-SSD configuration.

The port selection is excellent for a small notebook. Two USB 3.0 ports (sensibly, one on each side), a media card slot and both DisplayPort and mini HDMI ports are available. And, most happily, a Gigabit ethernet port is there too. So many tablets (including the Microsoft Surface and Lenovo's own Yoga) lack this critical port. It also has a SIM card slot for a mobile broadband card that can be custom ordered from Lenovo. It uses the mSATA slot that is currently taken up, out of the box, by the 24GB cache drive. But, alas, you cannot remove the mSATA card and replace it with a mobile broadband card because there are no antenna leads to connect to the broadband card.

The screen at 1368 by 768 is perfect for a 12.5 inch screen in my opinion. Unlike MacOS, which scales its desktop to the resolution, the Windows desktop icons and text become smaller and smaller as you increase the screen resolution. The Microsoft Surface, at 1920 by 1080, requires you to increase scaling by 25 to 50 percent to be usable for those of us without perfect eyes. And not all apps look right with that setting. But with the Twist, standard scaling is perfectly usable and the 768 height is adequate for 99.99 percent of what you might use.

The Windows 8 experience has been less than ideal. The lack of a Start button makes the OS difficult to use sometimes. But there are several third party products you can use to give you a Windows 7-like experience. I personally use "StartIsBack", a $3 program that restores the Start button to Windows 8. Its a great product that replicates a Windows 7 Start button exactly, even right down to the config menus and menu transparency effect. That little edition made Windows 8 become a whole new (or should I say old) experience. (rumor has it that Windows 8 Service Pack 1, when it comes out, will restore the Start button to Windows 8)

There are some issues though with the Twist. For one, the 4GB RAM is soldered on and is non-upgradable. You have to custom config order directly from Lenovo to get 8GB. Also, a personal pet peeve no illuminated keyboard. But the biggest issue is that there are some confirmed issues (probably driver-related) with the wifi/bluetooth card (Broadcom). The wifi has problems with some (not all though) routers in maintaining a fast, stable connection. And bluetooth mice will sometimes just drop out. So, that is something that buyers should be aware of.

Once they iron out that wifi/bluetooth problem, things should be looking up. I would give it an overall 5 star review because the Twist is a good, solid experience. But the soldered RAM and wifi issues knock it down to 4 stars in my view.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo Thinkpad Twist 12.5-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook (Black)

Things I love about the Twist:

+ The touchscreen is ultra responsive, and provides super clear resolution

+ I have found the moveable monitor to be far more useful than imagined, especially when sitting on planes or giving presentations

+ This was my first Win8 experience. After a few hours, I started to like it now actually preferring to use the touch screen rather than the mouse.

+ The physical keyboard is very nice, but I now prefer the soft keyboard on the touchscreen

+ The Twist is light enough for road warrior use , and seems sturdy and well-made.

Things that could be fixed:

The Wifi support is ok, but is limited on distance compared to my other devices

The energy management causes me to lose Wifi connectivity quite often; I am still experimenting with this to find a better balance

I did have to play with the audio settings to get my headset to work, but there was good help on the Lenovo user site.

I do get frequent messages for my Norton software telling me that CPU utilization is high even if not running many applications or tasks. I am not sure if these are real or phantom but I don't notice much performance degradation.

All in all, I am quite pleased with this platform. A recent WSJ review of touch-screen Win8 devices in general was quite fair. I'm sure this class of products will continue to improve, but if you need to buy a new Ultrabook today the Twist is a decent choice.

Cheap Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown)

Customer Ratings:

I've only had this for a few days but this seems to be a quality machine. I've owned 6 computers so far, 2 desktops and 3 laptops before this, and this seems to blow them all away. It has a button you can push that will take it back to the original factory settings, the same as the day I received it. Which is fine for me as I always have important things backed up on disks anyway. It is blistering fast and the 17 inch display is excellent. I called tech support the day I received it and was on the phone with someone who spoke english as well as I do in under a minute, who answered everyone of my questions and walked me through everything I needed. This is my first experience with Lenovo and I'm really liking this product and this company.

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Have had this Laptop for a month now. I simply love it. I have no complaints except one. It came with Macafee. I had Norton 360 that I wanted to put on this machine. Just could not get it too install. Norton tried and tried and tried. No luck. In fact they messed it up trying to fix it that I used the feature that came with this unit the 1 key restore.

This is awesome if your pc does not load or you get a problem. Just shut it off press the 1 key button next to the power button and will restore your pc to factorey state. Now you will lose everything but hey if you use have files that are important you should save them to an external drive anyone.

I bought acronis software and that backs up my whole pc but I love this PC

OH one thing I do hate it is a fingerprint magnet.....get ready to wipe it down constantly

Oh, by the way I was successful in upgrading this model to Windows 8 I like Windows 8! The PC boots up faster runs fine. Make sure you run the Windows Upgrade tool but I had no problems. I don't know if my one key recovery will work guess I will have to wait and see. Thanks

Best Deals for Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown)

I've had no less then half-a-dozen notebooks in my lifetime. This Lenovo G780 tops them all.

It powers up in a flash and has many pre-loaded Lenovo helps. One of the best is the Lenovo Solution Center.

It came with 6GB of ram and I quickly upgraded it to 16GB. I know, specs say only 8GB maximum but not true. The two sticks of 8GB installed like a breeze and was instantly recognized.

The keyboard is large enough to be comfortable/not crowded. Keys have a definite snap to them making them ease to use.

The only quirk I don't like is the touch pad seems to get in the way when it's active...moving the cursor at random if you accidentally brush your thumb across it. Ah! Easily solved by hitting the Function Key and F6 to turn off the pad. Once the machine 'wakes' from sleep, the pad is active again.

I use a wireless mouse however; if you wish to use the touch pad, it operates flawlessly. ..very sensitive, and large enough to have full the range of control.

Getting inside the machine to replace or upgrade is a snap. One panel exposes most of the 'workings', no more "This little panel here or this little panel there"

That lovely 17inch screen is near HD quality. I watch movies a lot and with a set of Bose headsets, it's better than being at the theater.

This is one of the best. Buy it and you won't have any regrets.

Honest reviews on Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown)

I bought one with slightly higher spec 8gb RAM

Take 40 sec to resume from hibernating state

60 + 15 to boot

Monitor not as colorful as my other cheaper Asus

Freeze randomly for 2,3 sec

Otherwise no problem, a jack of all trade.

Scroll and type well!

I think next time I'll buy an Entertainment Asus and see

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823DU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown)

Bought this laptop for a friend and was happy with the reviews obtained to its sleek design, fast processor and larger memory and hard disks.

Review of Samsung Series 3 NP350V5C-T01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver)

Customer Ratings:

My wife wanted a laptop that could play World of Warcraft. We normally play on desktop computers with high performance video cards, so laptops have historically been a disappointment. This year, she requested (for Christmas) a laptop that was capable of playing WoW so that when she is upstairs with the kids she has something more fun to play than solitare and more entertaining than watching Barney or Sesame Street on television.

I shopped around, but honestly knew very little about laptops. I have always custom built my own gaming PCs, but laptops were never on my radar. And gaming laptops can get very expensive.

I saw this Samsung on Amazon and was impressed by the price. The KEY feature is the included Radeon HD 7730M video card. If you want to play video games, you must have a 3d graphics card. The built-in Intel HD graphics card is great for anything else, but for playing video games good luck.

I was skeptical about Windows 8. I still am, I suppose, but I've heard such horrible reviews that I almost didn't buy this laptop. I took a chance, and honestly within about an hour or two I find myself using it just fine. I've already connected to our printer, network drive, installed World of Warcraft, etc. It was pretty painless. I'm not sure I like it better than Windows 7, but it seems to work just fine.

IMPORTANT NOTE: This laptop has two graphics cards. It took me an hour of playing around with graphics settings to figure out how to "switch on/enable" the Radeon card. This made a massive difference in performance. The Intel HD card struggled to play World of Warcraft at "Good" settings, and the laptop became very hot to the touch. When I finally figured out how to enable the Radeon card, I was able to bump the graphics to "High" and I even turned on 4x anti-aliasing. I'm getting 25 frames per second, and the laptop doesn't feel nearly as "hot." It is very important to configure this setting or you will be disappointed and you won't know why. One annoying thing about computers is that it is sometimes difficult to tell how the hardware is being used. This is the primary reason that I wanted to post this review right away (I wish I could have read this before I bought it.)

They key detail that isn't obvious: Right-Click on the desktop, select "Configure Switchable Graphics." Everything else is relatively obvious.

Here is a tip: Turning on anti-aliasing in a video game is a good way to "test" if your graphics card is working. You should get similar frame rates either way. With the Intel HD graphics adapter, anti-aliasing destroys your performance.

Bottom line: This laptop is great for the price. Windows 8 was a pleasant surprise. I don't hate it, and it seems to work just fine. It really isn't that different from Windows 7 once you get used to it. This laptop DOES have a Radeon graphics card. It seems to work just fine. It can play World of Warcraft with High settings and 4x anti-aliasing. Not bad. Plenty for what my wife wants/needs. Note: I couldn't update the driver from the web. The generic Catalyst drivers say the hardware is incompatible, "check with your hardware manufacturer." Hopefully this doesn't become a problem in the future. For now, the drivers seem to work just fine, but it is slightly troubling that I can't update them manually.

In case you are wondering how I posted this review before Christmas: I didn't want to wait until Christmas to give this to her. I didn't want to take any chances (I wanted plenty of time to find something that works -what if I needed to send it back?) Plus, with the long Thanksgiving weekend, now she can use it and have fun right away. My wife is pretty awesome, I'm glad she now has a laptop that works well.

Update June 17th, 2013:

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

My wife is still using this laptop daily. Windows 8 hasn't grown on her (she would still prefer Win 7), but she does still play WoW frequently and still likes the laptop. So far so good. The quality level seems high. It hasn't broken yet (knock on wood).

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I've owned this laptop for about two weeks now and I can say that I'm pretty happy with the purchase. I hate investing in computers, seeing how new processors are released every 3 months, that's why I did a lot of research and compared dozens of models before committing to this one.

So let's start with the good stuff first:

Intel i7-3630QM, quad-core processor 2.4 GHz with Turbo Boost technology to 3.4 GHz, released in Q3 2012.

Two graphics cards: the built-in Intel HD Graphics 4000 and the dedicated AMD Radeon 7730M with 2 GB (performances similar to the NVIDIA GT 640M).

Being able to choose which applications use the dedicated graphics card to help save battery.

Being able to only charge the laptop 80% to extend the laptop's battery life.

The HD screen, with native 720p resolution.

Assassin's Creed 3, Hitman Absolution and Far Cry 3 run on high and ultra.

Now the bad stuff:

The HDD on SATA II with 5400 rpm is pretty outdated. This was probably my biggest disappointment about this laptop, but I'm planning on investing in at least a Hybrid SSD.

6 GB of RAM seems a little bit cheap on Samsung's part, but considering a new 4 GB dim is $20, whatever.

The numpad. I can't see how this is useful, unless you're an accountant.

I'm OK with the keyboard not being backlit, but what I find annoying is there's not even a small LED on the Num Lock and Caps Lock keys. I think that's a little detail that would have raised the overall quality and look of the laptop.

The one problem I did have and upon doing some research it turned out this is a problem with all Samsung models, not this one in particular: the mouse pointer freezes when using the touch pad from time to time for a few seconds. Mine did it while installing games for example and the HDD was going at max speed, but I don't think this is a general rule. If I also had a mouse connected at the time, the mouse would work while the touch pad was still frozen. Not a show stopper, but irritating for sure. So what I did was a system refresh (Settings -> Change PC Settings -> General -> Refresh your PC without affecting your files). What this does is basically restore the system to a fresh Windows 8 install. So all the applications/drivers you or Samsung installed will be removed, but the pictures, videos, music and downloads will not be affected. This is probably overkill and just removing the touch pad driver will fix this issue, but I simply wanted to get rid of all that stuff since it was slowing down the laptop. Now I get boot times around 5 seconds long, compared to 30 seconds 1 minute.

Overall a good buy.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 3 NP350V5C-T01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver)

Pro's:

For the price I got this at, it was more than a steal. I bought this laptop for $700 and from what i've seen, its worth almost double that! The speed is unbeatable for gaming and despite the fact that I haven't replaced the 6GB standard ram, It still runs games like planetside 2, starcraft 2, Diablo 3, and league of legends on full graphics without any lagging or choppy moments. Not to mention I've never experienced this thing getting hot before. Windows 8 is a breeze once you get used to it! so anyone who is thinking secondly about this computer because of windows 8... JUST GIVE IT A TRY! I was skeptical at first, but after removing some bloatware apps and getting the start menu organized, I actually like it a lot more that any other windows operating system. It is compatible with nearly any program, and is very easily connected to wireless devices. Now for the Wi-Fi on this computer, Its probably the best I've seen on my or any of my friends' laptops. Its always connected to my router with full bars and never skips a beat when it comes to watching videos or playing games. If you are looking for an all around amazing computer with gaming/editing capability, an excellent wireless receiver, awesome built in speakers, a FULL keyboard, anti-glare screen, and a sleek and very appealing exterior than this is the one for you!

No Cons whatsoever!

Hope this helps!

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 3 NP350V5C-T01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver)

When i started looking for a laptop the first thing i came to look for is the graphics performance, because i'm a designer and sometimes a gamer. This laptop combines an integrated intel hd 4000 and a 2gb radeon chipset with an i7 processor: Just what i wanted!... or so i was thinking until the app responsible of managing both graphic cards failed to work, and soon i discovered how many people were having the same issues trying to enable their radeon graphics when playing games or 3d applications.

Now, i have to say it was a desperate situation for me, for i tried every suggested solution from samsung and other people, it was days, weeks, and a month almost, with no success. But now that's in the past thanks to a new generic driver released by amd, wich is compatible with all models and systems so i highly recommend getting it, specially if you're running windows 8.

So, after the change it seems like a totally different laptop, i can't believe how i was thinking on selling it before, now i just can't wait to finish working and start the games!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 3 NP350V5C-T01US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver)

I purchased this computer to replace my 8 year old gateway crap heap, so by comparison this is next to a super computer. With this out of the way their are things that are important to say about this computer.

Structure of the computer:

The computer has a very plain look, this shouldn't scare people away considering the cases that you can buy to make it look allot better. The number pad is a nice feature, but the arrow keys are too close together, this is a problem that more than one person has had, not just me and my stubby fingers, however, it should be noted that most games use the WASD controls over the arrows so for gamers this isn't that big of a deal. Very nice to have 2 3.0 USB ports, and the additional 2 2.0 USb ports, I can plug allot of things in. The finger mouse pad is cheap material and probably wouldn't last longer than 2 years of use,that being said extra wireless mice can be purchased for really cheap, thats what I did and its worked very well. The camera is standard cheap laptop camera, Don't touch the camera screen! it scratches very easily. The line around the edge of the screen is rather cheap material, and has begun to move and wobble after a month of light use, just don't open and close too much and it should be fine though. CD/DVD drive is a bit wobbly and looks like its going to fall out, but it has held tight for a while, don't apply allot of direct pressure to it and it should be fine though. and finally, the SD card port is nice and works well.

Interior of the computer:

What this computer lacks in looks it makes up for in running capacity. This computer has 6 gigs of ram which is enough for most things that you could need, including gaming. The i7 processor is magnificent, its an amazing core for a laptop, lighting fast and doesn't crash,I have only had crash problems once and that was a game problem not the computer itself. The Radeon graphics card is great for most gaming, it cant handle incredibly taxing games on high but it can handle them on medium to low. It flies however through almost all other games. Here is a list of the games I play on max settings without problems.

Star Wars Kights of the Old Republic 1

Star Wars Kights of the Old Republic 2

Star Wars Starfighter

Star Wars Republic Commandos

Star Wars Empire at war

Star Wars Empire at war forces of corruption

Lego Star Wars 1

Lego Star Wars 2

American Conquest

Star Wars Battlefront 2

Eragon

Age of Mythology

Age of empires

Rome Total War (Have to download from amazon, doesnt work from anywhere else)

Lego Digital designer

All of these games work on peak graphics settings with no problems. It is fair to note that these are lower graphics intense games.I am assured however that most other games will work quite well on this computer.(If compatible with windows 8)

The Graphics card mixed with the low price is after all the reason I bought this computer. Now lets move on to the Operating system. Windows 8 is a disaster! I cant stand it. I have been going strait to the desktop short cut menu every time I use the computer because I cant get used to the app page. it reminds me too much of my iPhone. Windows 8 is fast ill admit, but i cant get used to it. I attempted to install windows 7 home premium but I had many errors and it wouldn't let me, so im stuck with windows 8. I appreciate the people who know how to use it and like it. I may have gave up too early, but I just dont like change. Even though I cant stand windows 8, that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Dont let that stop you from buying this computer. The majority of the low ratings on this computer are due to windows 8, which is absurd,I am the first person to say that windows 8 inst great, but it shouldn't stop someone from buying a computer, that can be fixed later. I guess what im saying is, windows 8 isn't great, but you can live with it.

The computer doesn't get very hot as long as you remember to turn on the Radeon graphics card.(Remeber not to delete the Radeon catalyst otherwise you lose all control over the graphics card.Yes that includes the clean install of windows 7) And it is quite quiet when your not gaming or downloading large files.

Conclusion:

What this laptop doesn't have in looks it makes up for in internal workings. it has amazing specs for such a low price.(I bought it for 689.99) I would highly recommend the laptop to anyone who wants a good laptop for a cheap price. And don't let windows 8 stop you from getting this computer. The only reason that you shouldn't like windows 8 is if your favourite games aren't compatible. But most games are coming out with compatibility modes though. Just remember this isn't meant to look amazing, its meant to run very well, and thats all I need.

Reviews of Apple MacBook Pro MB134LL/A 15.4-inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Customer Ratings:

In March 2008, I decided it was time to upgrade from a G4-based laptop to one of the new Intel models. I deliberated back and forth whether the lower priced MacBook would be sufficient or whether to pay the premium for the "Pro" model. Ultimately, I decided upon the MacBook Pro for these reasons.

Construction quality

The aluminum case of the MacBook Pro reminds me of a product made by the Swiss. The build quality is outstanding for a mass-produced device. It feels very substantial, and all the pieces fit together nearly seamlessly. The MacBook's case, however, is made from a high-grade plastic rather than metal. It's nice ... but I found the front edge of the MacBook's case a bit sharp on my wrists as I typed.

Ports

Compared with the MacBook, the MacBook Pro provides an additional USB port plus Firewire 800. The latter is desirable for people who work with video and external drives that have Firewire 800 connectors. The ExpressCard slot is useful for future expansion and services such as wireless broadband (EVDO).

Keyboard

Keyboard experiences are subjective; but I find the keyboard on the MacBook Pro the most comfortable of any laptop I've ever used. It feels solid and responsive. Plus, its backlighting is helpful when typing in dark environments.

Dedicated video

Unlike the MacBook that shares system memory for video (integrated graphics), the MacBook Pro has a dedicated video processor. This is beneficial for driving large external displays and running graphics-intensive applications.

Is the MacBook Pro worth the $700 price differential over a MacBook? That depends on whether you are a general home computer user (i.e., e-mail, web browsing, iTunes, word processing) or someone who uses their laptop for more advanced purposes. My user profile is more in the second category. Also, since I intend to keep this computer for three years, I figure that the premium breaks down to about $233 each year. This seems reasonable to me for something I use every day.

In view of the additional quality and benefits that the MacBook Pro offers, I think its higher price brings with it commensurate value. It's hard to imagine even finicky laptop users being disappointed with the MacBook Pro.

P.S. -There are two 15-inch MacBook Pro models. I bought the 2.4 gHz "entry level" model. It is the better value. I do not feel the 2.5 gHz MacBook Pro is worth the extra $500.

Also, people who care to add system memory (beyond the stock 2 gigabytes supplied by Apple) ought to purchase it from a third-party vendor and install it themselves. It is a simple process.

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Short and Quick Review

This model is worth the 500 difference between the entry level. The screen is beautiful, the new LED Displays are great, better color depth, more color, the laptop doesn't get as hot as previous versions. Everything works, it is very fast, and this laptop replaced 2 high end workstations + 2 high end laptops (A dell with workstation class graphics card, and 17 inch macbook pro). I can edit 1080p high def video in real time with no slow down, edit my 12mp raw files in real time with no slow down. I can play the latest games like Call of Duty 4 maxed out on windows vista at native resolution with no slow down online.

With the beefy 250gb HD, ability to upgrade to 4gb of ram, the 512 graphics card, and 6mb cache, this machine is a complete replacement for me, and revolutionizes my life, work style, and workflow.

It is worth buying, and definitely better than the 2k version, by leaps, read my longer review for more.

Longer Fuller Review.

The new macbook pros are fantastic! I had a 17 inch core 2 duo before, it was nice, but it didn't do everything I wanted or needed. I was forced to keep my mac pro, and my custom built windows PC for running the applications I need, and the ability to play games (I do some freelance game design, as well as photography and animation work)

I grew tired of having so many workstations, but what can you do when you need the power? Apples new macbook pro has answered my needs. I have wanted a laptop with a 512mb graphics card for years, it has never happened until now.

Previous to this laptop, my laptops have been "toys" the only close workstation I had was a dell that cost close to 3k, and would break your back to carry it (but it had a 512 workstation class graphics card!)

With this laptop, I have sold my other machines, it is all I need, or want. If it meets my needs and expectations, it should be able to meet yours easily.

The reason you buy this model, is because of the graphics card, and the increase in l2 cache on the processor. The 2k model has less cache than last years santa rosa model (3mb compared to last years 4mb) this model and the 17 inch has 6mb, as well as the 512mb graphics card, dual core processor, and the ability to use 4gb of ram.

After getting the laptop, I use bootcamp to repartition the harddrive (did not need to reinstall OS X, was able to do this on the fly to install windows) I split it up to give me 165gb for OS X, and the rest for windows.

I need to use specialized software that requires windows, and these programs also require very high end workstations. The life of someone in 3d is not easy. This workstation takes care of all my needs. I'm running the 32 bit version of vista ultimate (the 64 bit is horrible, do not run it) I use windows to run the programs I need (mainly zbrush, unreal engine, and 3ds max) I can and do have maya, and can use it on this partition as well as os x thanks to the dongle, but I cannot use my creative suite software on windows, because of adobes licensees. (though oddly enough, I can run Lightroom on both platforms)

On my OS X side, I run maya, photoshop, after effects, and final cut studio (with shake 4.1, yes I need 2 compositing programs) I have no problems running these programs on this system. I can render out quickly, everything is snappy. With the 8600 geforce (opposed to ATI) maya is very responsive, and I get very few render errors. Dynamics are able to be rendered on this machine, and I can run simulations with ease. Render times are quite quick, and this system is very responsive.

I do photo editing, and this machine is fast as well (I upgraded to 4gb of ram myself for 95 dollars) my camera is a nikon d300, which is 12mp, I use lightroom and photoshop extensively, and at the same time with no problems at all.

I also run maya and photoshop cs3 together all the time (with itunes in the background).

With leopard, I find using this machine even better. I can use spaces, and have maya on one screen, then I can swtich to another screen with photoshop to paint textures, or reference something, and go to another screen for safari or itunes.

The touchpad is cool. Even in windows, I can right click by using both fingers on the touch pad, and clicking with the bar, very smart apple! it works in OS X as well (but you have to enable it)

I bought the apple keyboard (not the wireless, as I need a full size keyboard) and that keyboard is fantastic, the best I have ever owned. I love it. I also bought the logitech g9 mouse to use as my mouse (I cannot stand Mighty Mouse) this mouse is perfect, and similar price. With the wired keyboard you get use ports on the side, so you can attach the mouse to the keyboard with no problems. And it saves on clutter.

For those who enjoy playing video games (I do help make them) you will be happy to know you can play the latest games on PC here with great ease. I can play call of duty 4, at native res of 1440x900 (on vista) with little to no slowdown. Same for Unreal 3 (and all games that use this engine). I can play Half Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 maxed out all the way, at the native screen res, with no problems at all. I can play crysis, and bioschock (not maxed out, but pretty close).

I have not been so excited about a laptop in ages. I had the original powerbook and used it all over, but it was slow, it was something to use when on the road, and at school. When the first macbook pro came out, I was all over it, the software was buggy, it only allowed 2gb of ram, and it was not practical as my only system, nor was it applicable for heavy use by me. I got the 17 inch when the core 2 duo's came out, it was great, very snappy, and with the 256 card it was close to everything I need (but only 3gb of ram) I skipped the santa rose, as It did not really address anything. This model addresses everything. With 4gb of ram, 2 cores, 6mb of l2 cache, and a 512mb graphics card, there is nothing I cant do.

I edit HD video (1920x1080p) in final cut with no problems. I composite this video in shake with 3d made in maya with NO PROBLEMS. I play high end PC games maxed out with no problems! (Call of Duty 4 is a hard game to run, this runs it and I can play it maxed at native res, online, with no slowdown at all).

I work on my raw images from my nikon with no problems at all. This machine is just perfect. Everything works the way it should, and the way it needs to.

The only complaint I have is they did not include remotes in this revision. You can still access Front Row by using Command ESC and use that to view videos (which look very good on my HDTV).

I should also note, if you buy another keyboard (such as the apple external which I highly recommend (the wired, not wireless) You need to go into system preferences and turn off the optiion for F Keys, as this keyboad has an FN button, like the one on the laptop, and renders using your f keys impossible without pressing fn, turning on that option, makes your keyboard normal, and you can use fn to adjust the volume of your laptop.

Right now I have this laptop hooked up to my HDTV using the supplied DVI to VGA cable, and a line out form the laptop. I have sound on my tv (which I could pipe to a sound system if needed, or (what I do) have it piped to my wireless head phones). This laptop is where it is at.

Please, do not think the 500 dollars for this model over the other is not worth it, as it is very much worth it. The difference between this model, and the 2k model is night and day for me. It goes from a toy, I can use when on the plane, to my only computer! And that is HUGE if you are anything like me.

Now the difference between this and the 17 inch does matter. If you get the 17 inch, you will likly not be playing the latest games at native resolution, and I plan on using this hooked up to my TV, so I do not need 2 extra inches. If you will only be using the laptop, and have no plans on games, the 17 inch may be better for you. After reading many reviews, the 15 inch has better response times, and everything is slightly snappier than the 17 inch, which is why I went with the 15. There is not much a difference in size between the 2, the 17 is not much bigger than the 15, but for me, you could not get me to part with my 15 inch for anything.

This laptop is perfect, get it, and enjoy it. The design will likely change by the next revision (rumored in june / july) this could be the last time you can get such a beautiful laptop, that works perfectly, and is everything you can want.

5 out of 5, no problems at all.

Best Deals for Apple MacBook Pro MB134LL/A 15.4-inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

As my second Apple purchase (first being an IPOD Touch 16GB) I am quite upset. This is my first Macbook and I am Impressed with several things. Performance, Build, Style, Sound, Touch pad responsiveness and Overall quality get perfect 10's in my book. However, the reason for the 2 star rating was the quality of the display.

Do a little researching on YELLOWING and you will know what I'm talking about. The first MBP I received from amazon had about 2 inches of yellow (stained) pixels at the bottom of the screen. I brought it to the apple store and the guy noticed it and offered a replacement, warning me that if I take the replacement I am risking getting a worse display. He opened a brand new box for me and the display had no yellowing but had BRIGHT SPOTS all over the place. This affected more of the middle of the screen so I went back a second time for my third replacement. This MBP has also disappointed me because it also has YELLOWING on about the bottom third of the screen.

Still, I am debating of going back to the Apple store to replace or just simply return this laptop and go with something else. Keep in mind I have owned this for 7 days total. This is a very valid issue and for a $2000 plus investment it is something to consider.

This is a known problem since the SR MBP's and I thought they would have fixed it in quality control but no. I will give Apple credit for great quality service, but they should really spend more money on quality control!

I have the Macbook Pro 15.4" 2.4GHz 200GB.

The displays affected were the 9C81, 9C81 and 9C83... two had yellowing, one had uneven bright/dark spots.

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Pro MB134LL/A 15.4-inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

I am looking at this machine and thinking hard, but just can not find anything negative. OK may be it might be more convenient if it accept usual headset microphones in the inline plug or display can be opened a little bit further. You see after a week of heavy use, these are the only things I can think of.

It is cool, it is fast, and it is silent (I am very picky about fan noises). Multi-touch trackpad (amazing two finger scrolling), backlit keyboard, LED backlit gorgeous display (best blacks I've ever seen in any computer monitor), great audio output (with no hiss at all), mini iSight with superb image quality, all top quality. And of course the best operating system on the planet, you can't get anything better even if you are a billionaire (think about it).

PS: I have the 15.4 inch, 2.4 GHz CPU, 200 GB 7200 RPM HDD, 4 GB RAM model.

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There was no reason for me to switch to a Mac product. I've always have been intrigued, but XP was doing it for me day in and out. My current Dell Latitude was on its way out and I wanted something high quality. I couldn't find anything that comes close in build quality/finish to the Macbook Pro. Asus makes some nice notebooks but I didn't want Vista, with all of its assorted issues and XP doesn't seem like a sound choice given its looming end of life.

So now I have my Macbook Pro. As a software developer I was drawn to the idea of a UNIX shell as a first class citizen (sorry Cygwin). The toughest part is learning the keys. In XP I could move around an IDE effortlessly, with keys: home,end,ctrl-arrow etc.; not so on the Mac keyboard. This proved the most frustrating. The lack of the forward delete is also a disappointment but I hear there are keyboard mapping solutions.

I installed VMware Fusion and XP for initial comfort and to ease the transition off windows. BTW, Fusion is amazing. It feels like it's native, and it's definitely faster than XP on my current Dell. With Fusion, I can map drives, cut and paste and access servers between the two -it's all very fluid. Full screen your Fusion in a different Expose window and you can quickly swap back and forth between Mac and XP.

Now the downside. In the first few days I experienced no less than 4 crashes, where it had to be power cycled. I haven't had any issues since, so I'm going to conveniently forget. Firefox crashes still, but no more than it did on windows, and maybe less.

So in conclusion, Mac was the right choice for me. High quality in and out and at a decent price. The interface is pure eye candy and orders of magnitude superior (usability-wise) than XP. While there will be some pain points in learning, it will hopefully be worth it. Get VMware Fusion and install Windows for when there is no Mac alternative.

*UPDATE* I have now had the macbook pro for 2 months. I'm really enjoying some of the UI features, such as expose and spaces more and more. The hotkeys are awesome (e.g. show desktop, lock/start screensaver).

There are however a few recurring problems that I have been experiencing. I'm going to detail the top two. The first issue is the screensaver hotkey stops working at times. This is a huge issue because it is also the mechanism for locking my computer, and I cannot leave my desk w/o locking it, so I must either close the lid (sleep) or restart, which fixes the issue.

Now for the second issue: often when I try and restart/shutdown, it does nothing, then a minute later tells me that Finder failed to quit and I should quit Finder then try again -great suggestion Apple, given that you CAN'T QUIT FINDER!! So now I have to hold the power button down for 10 seconds to kill it or run "sudo shutdown -r now" from Terminal.

So in my latest conclusion, my mac is not living up to my expectations of reliability. I was led to believe, by many in the mac community/stupid commercials, that Mac was the panacea from XP. The Mac user interface is *unmatched* and that along with the UNIX foundation were and still are my original reasons for choosing Mac. My previous XP Pro notebook however was significantly more stable. The reliability issues are getting more and more annoying and I just hope Apple is able to resolve and restore my faith in their product. Lastly, I would change the star rating to three but it won't seem to let me.

Review of ASUS X75A-DS51 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:

This laptop is probably the best bang for your buck out there right now. I purchased this laptop because I needed a portable computer to take with me to classes for notes so I figured almost anything would do, which lead me to the lower end of the price scale. The first thing I noticed is how beautiful the screen is. The color depth is spot on and everything looks sharp. Performance wise this guy has a dual core, hyper threading Intel i5 with 8 GB of ram, I have yet to see it lag at all. Other features include Bluetooth technology and a 750 GB hard drive separated in to 2 partitions which allows the OS to be recovered without removing data on the 2nd partition.

The only drawback to this laptop for most is that it comes with Windows 8 on it which most people aren't liking quite yet. However with a start menu replacement program that allows booting straight in to the desktop I think that Windows 8 becomes acceptable at the least.

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I bought this laptop going into my junior year of college as a Computer Science major. I was looking for something that could handle a variety of tasks such as some gaming (Minecraft and League Of Legends), programming, and entertainment (streaming movies/music). I have been using the laptop and am very pleased with my purchase with 2 minor exceptions.

The first thing I am unhappy with is the location of the speakers. I don't use my speakers for more than some music and movies, but the speakers on this laptop are on the bottom of the unit so that the sound is fairly muted. This is a bigger problem when using the laptop on something like a bed than it is if the laptop is on a hard surface. Turning the volume up a few notches can help solve the problem, but it is a little frustruating at first.

The second thing I an unhappy with is the location of the USB drives. All 3 USB drives are directly next to each other on the left side of the laptop. This really isn't a huge deal, but I was using a wired mouse at the time and it was messy running a cord from the left USB around the back to use a mouse. I just bought an inexpensive wireless mouse so this should no longer be a problem.

Both of these problems are small details and can be averted by simply using the laptop on a hard surface, turning up the volume a bit, or using a wireless mouse. The i5 processor and 5400 rpm hard drive help the laptop continue to run fast even when handling heavier loads while the 17.3 inch screen allows me to have multiple programs open on the screen at the same time. I would recommend this laptop to anyone looking for a fast 17 inch laptop.

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I have owned multiple laptops and so far, this one is in my top 3 especially at this price range. I did a lot of research before purchasing and for what you get out of the box and compared to others is excellent. Nice bright display with good color depth. Performance wise it has a dual core, hyper threading Intel i5 with 8 GB of Ram. Compared to some other brands, you're going to pay a little more. The audio sounds goods, but I prefer headphones probably like most. The battery life could be a little better lasting in the 4-5 hour range with use. Now the biggest reason for the 4 rating is the 10key is a little awkward in it's placement there needs to be a little bit of a gap from the main keyboard, the touchpad takes some getting use too, there is a little more of the bloatware on it then probably some (I just uninstall it) and of course it's Windows 8 which is down right awful.

Honest reviews on ASUS X75A-DS51 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

This laptop is really great. The only things I would like improved are:

1. To have USB ports on both sides. It has 3 USB ports and they are all located on the left of the keyboard.

2. I wish the left click part of the mouse were a little longer than the right click side. I often hit the right when I intend on hitting the left click.

3. It would be nice if the numlock key and the capslock key would light up when activated.

4. The speaker is not very loud at all.

Other than these small things, it works great and I love it! It is fast and the screen is big and has great color and resolution.

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im very happy with the asus. i converted it to windows 7 with no problems. it is networked and "purring" along.

HP HDX16-1370US 16-Inch Entertainment Laptop Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I'm a big fan of the HP HDX series. It sits at the top of their Pavilion line and is one of the best built notebooks sold in the retail channel. It's aimed solidly at consumers looking for a high end entertainment laptop. Because the material quality is well above average it's not necessarily the best value: you can get these specs for less money, just not with the same build quality. This is a good choice for someone looking for a notebook that can handle more than just web browsing. The biggest drawback of this HDX model is a slightly under powered battery and a little more weight (though again, much of that lies with the superior frame and shell).

Let's go over the specs:

CPU: The Core 2 P7550 runs two separate cores at 2.26GHz and has 3MB of on chip cache. The Core2 line is the best notebook CPU out there today and and this model this is about in the middle of the mobile Core2 line in terms of performance. At 35W it sits in the same thermal envelope as much slower chips (such as the Mobile Pentium line). Having two cores means you can run your full internet security suite and not have your computer freeze up for events like a virus scan.

MEMORY: 4GB of DDR2 RAM is plenty and the 1066Mhz memory speed is plenty fast.

HDD: The 500GB HDD has plenty of storage, even if you like to do video encoding. The 5400RPM speed isn't the fastest but it is more reliable that 7200RPM drives.

DISPLAY: The 16in (1366×768) display looks great. Like a lot of glossy screens it's a little more susceptible to glare, but in the home it looks fantastic. There's also a HDX line with an 18inch screen.

GRAPHICS: The Nvidia GeForce GT 130M w/ 1GB of DDR2 used in this notebook is a large step up from the standard Intel 4500 graphics. It is basically a Nvidia 9600 on a newer (55nm) manufacturing process. With this notebook you can play newer 3D games at reasonable resolutions. This is still a step down from being a true "gaming notebook" but if you want to be able to do occasional 3D gaming on it you can (I should note that online 3D games like World of Warcraft run fine on this chip). If 3D gaming is important to you I would suggest looking for a notebook with something more powerful (either the Nvidia GTS and GTX line or the ATI 4800 or 4600 series). It is more than enough to handle your home entertainment needs. The only downside is it uses more power and will drain your batter faster than the standard 4500.

AUDIO: The Altec Lansing with Dolby Home Theater and Sub-Woofer is part of what sets this notebook apart. The sound is fantastic. It is rich and deep and has none of the tininess usually associated with notebook sound.

DVD/CD DRIVE: Uses the "HP Super-Multi Drive" which means it can read and write pretty much any CD or DVD format out there except for Blu Ray. The lack of Blu Ray is the main ding on the "entertainment" specs of notebook. You can get Blu Ray on other HDX-16 models or by custom ordering it from HP.

BATTERY: The 6 cell battery falls a little short. With this size screen and the upgraded graphics chip you really want a 12 cell battery (which some HDX models have). If you expect to be plugged in most of the time you probably don't care. If you expect to travel with this the 1.5-2 hour typical performance (3 max) will disappoint you.

WEIGHT: Coming in a 7.06 lbs this is slightly heavier than the next step down from HP (a DV6 comes in around 6.5 lbs) but that's mostly improved framing and heavier grade plastics. This notebook is solid.

WIRELESS: The usually Intel 5100 A/G/N supports the most common standards ("A" and "G") along with the new "N" standard. You should have no trouble connecting to wireless networks.

PORTS: This notebook has all the usual ports (USB2, Ethernet, VGA, headphones, microphones, eSATA) and a HDMI port. Thanks to the included remote you could watch DVDs on your TV (if it supports HDMI) in relative comfort. I'm not sure why you would want to foor DVDs, but if you want to use Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon Video On Demand, it makes it easy to download and watch movies on your TV.

So if you want a solid notebook with good video and sound this is well worth taking a lot at, especially if you want to download movies. If you are looking for a gaming notebook keep looking. If you want Blu Ray keep looking. If you just want to surf the web you don't need a computer this powerful unless you want really good sound. If battery life is important look for a model with a 12 cell battery (or custom order one from HP).

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I originally wrote an extremely in depth review about this computer, but peculiarly enough, it never got published. Rather than spending hours going through the extreme level of detail I did before, I'll just summarize it by saying I've had two of these now (first one returned for a replacement), and both had 1) dead pixels and 2) a horrible rattling/crackling/blown speaker sound in the right speaker. Sent it to HP to fix it under warranty, they fixed the pixels and SAID they replaced the speaker, but the terrible rattling is still there. More troubling, the HP representative tested several of these computers at the repair center and said that they were ALL exhibiting the same problem in the right speaker (which is placed directly over the triple bass) so this may in fact be a MANUFACTURING problem. For anyone that has this laptop, please test and comment back.

Other than that, everything else is fine (minus the horrid amount of bloatware that comes on this thing). But I find it unacceptable for something that calls itself an ENTERTAINMENT laptop to be plagued by audio and video hardware flaws.

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I was looking for a laptop that I could use as a mobile desktop. I do work everyday on my desktop and I needed a machine that could do what my desktop can do on the go. I have owned this machine for almost two weeks now and it has been great. The high-powered processor working alongside the high amounts of ram allow me to surf the web, do my work and computer programming, and listen to my internet radio all at the same time with no slow down at all. The hard drive is huge, so I was able to install all of my large-sized programs with no problem at all. The webcam is very good and produces a clear picture when I chat with my family and friends. Aside from performance, it looks great with its shiny titanium finish and the screen is big, bright, and clear.

My suggestion to anyone who is planning on buying this laptop is to get a 12-cell battery as so that you can get a little more life out of the machine. With the standard battery included with the laptop, it lasts about 1.5 2 hours. With the 12-cell, I got 3 3.5.

One last note... all of the computers that I have owned up until now were running 32-bit versions of windows, so I was hesitant to get a 64-bit machine. However, 64-bit machines are not that different from 32-bit machines. You won't even be able to tell the difference. (Just make sure that when you install software, you pick the 64-bit version if necessary. Some installers will differentiate for you, but just be on the lookout.

Overall, this is a great machine and i would suggest it to others.

Honest reviews on HP HDX16-1370US 16-Inch Entertainment Laptop

I Made a very bad choice of buying this laptop for my business. A few days of use and in the middle of a presentation to my potential clients, the "adjust sound stop play forward" Controls started coming up automatically on my screen along with an annoying clicking sound. No Software update from HP and Microsoft would fix it. Finally, I found out from some online forums that its due to an oversensitive MEDIASMART touch panel that picks up static charges and interpreting it as human touch. A Kid suggested that I put some scotch MAGIC tape on the MEDIASMART bar and that fixed it. It even works with the tape on it.!! Next, It has a Glare friendly screen , which no matter what angle you are watching at, makes it tough to work in a room illuminated with natural daylight. You need to be in a very dimly lit room to use this screen, and then you realize that its hard to read the keys on the keyboard. Avoid this Amateur laptop for business use. Maybe a its good buy for your elementary school kid to watch ELMO or Mickey mouse movies and perhaps to write on the screen with Crayons!!

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I've had the HDX 16 for several years now and the problems I encounter keep adding up.

The first problems I encountered with the laptop were problems with the touch buttons below the screen. The touch buttons enable the user to change the volume or play/rewind/stop media and other useful things. The volume button and treble/bass buttons have a fancy bar that looks like it should indicate the current volume level but don't. The buttons are also a bit slow and unresponsive and may cause frustration with needing to hit the button twice or toggling something on and off accidentally.

The second problem I encountered was with HP software. There is a lot of HP software, but the only piece of software I liked, the webcam software disappeared. I don't know how or when but one day I went to click my desktop shortcut to the webcam software and it was gone.

The third and fourth problems introduced themselves to me as I began installing and playing games on the HDX. The third problem is that the graphics card sucks. I had problems tabbing between a full screen game back to the desktop. Additionally the graphics card fails A LOT. Even playing simple internet flash games can cause the graphics card to crash and force me to stare at a blank screen for a minute as it recovers, not to mention actual computer games. Everyday I visit NVIDIAs site checking for new updates hoping the problem will be solved, and it still hasn't.

The fourth problem is the laptop cooling system. Even the first day I used my laptop I noticed a build up of heat on the left side of the laptop. Just doing simple tasks such as typing on Microsoft word or writing a negative review on Amazon I feel an abnormal amount of heat. Now this wouldn't be a big problem if I didn't play computer games. Unfortunately this is an "entertainment laptop" and I am a teenage boy and computer games are my pride and joy. I started to play Napoleon Total War and after about 10-30 minutes BAM computer shuts off. I felt my laptop and it was scalding hot. I know you might be thinking I mistook the word laptop as a computer I can sit on my lap. However, I have a cooling pad for my laptop and it STILL overheats when I play graphic intensive video games. The only compromise I have been able to find besides tying my laptop to the ceiling and letting in dangle in mid air is to let about half the laptop hang over the edge of a desk. This is the ONLY way I have been able to prevent my HDX from overheating when I play games.

Overall I know this review has been a bit negative but it is these 4 things that of slowly driven me insane while having this laptop. I mean it really drives me insane not to be able to play my laptop anywhere without hanging it off the side of a desk. I am thinking about calling HP and asking what I can do, and maybe bringing my laptop into a techie shop and getting an upgraded fan. Bottom line is this is my experience with my laptop. I don't know if all other laptops experience this problem but if they don't I recommend you forget about the HDX and go with a laptop that doesn't have a fail graphics card and overheats on a flat surface.

Discount Samsung Series 3 NP300E5C-A0AUS 15-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I love that this laptop has such a quick start up. I hate Windows 8 instead of using the tiles i hit the desktop right away. For me there is no need for the tiles with Windows 8 at all waste of time.

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good, works well, windows 8 is certainly an adjustment. Shipped on time, no problems. Cheapest computer I have seen with its specs

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Great computet. It is fast and the most valuable feature is its bluetooth conection. Window 8 has many apps. It is not heavy at all.

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 3 NP300E5C-A0AUS 15-Inch Laptop

the mouse pad is in a weird location and it's hard re-adjusting how you type to avoid deleting everything you just types.

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This is a wonderful laptop for the money. I love learning and using the Windows 8 tile Operating System. Great purchase.