HP COMPAQ NC6320 LAPTOP CORE DUO 1.66GHz/ 1GB/ 60GB/ WIRELESS Reviews

Customer Ratings:

Outside had certain details, as expected of a used product, the computer is an older model and practical for certain types of work, even so, the seller must serve worry for any details, but the laptop is generally looks great and the software runs perfectly, thank you very much

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I am in awe that a couple of the reviews on this laptop are not about the computer at all but gripes about the operating system "Windows" or customer service! Isn't a product review supposed to be about the product and not the operating system or the people that you bought the laptop from? If you don't like Windows XP then get Vista or Windows 7 or even 8. And if Windows just turns you off completely, then try Linux!

As far as the HP NC6320 is concerned, it is very durable, fast, and reliable! Are there faster laptops yes, but not at this price level. I own a couple of Dell D630s, Lenovo G560s and a Lenovo R500 and would say that this HP is the second fastest of the lot but at about half the price! Even better, things that wear out like batteries are available for the NC6320 at bargain prices on Amazon! And if you want to add memory or a larger hard drive, the upgrades are cheap compared to the Apple.

My hobby is photography and one of the things that I use my laptops for is photo editing. The display on the NC6320 is beautiful and there is enough speed in the Intel dual core CPU to let me edit photos without any major wait between edits.

My suggestions to any prospective buyer is to make sure you get at least 2GB of memory and 4GB if it is available. Opt for a larger 320GB drive and if you can choose an operating system, Windows 7 and 8 use less memory and CPU power than Vista. It also comes standard with a 4400mAh battery that lasts for about 2.5hrs new and most used ones last only 1.5hrs or so. Get a 7800mAh replacement battery and you will have over 5hrs of computing time! The memory, larger hard drive, operating system, and larger capacity battery are all available on Amazon.

I have had mine for years without any type of repair, just upgrades in memory and hard drive size and a larger capacity battery.

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I have to say that customer service for this product is excellent. If you want to try it, you can be sure that they are reliable about taking it back/issuing a refund. The only thing is, that the product runs an OS that is not one that is familiar to the general public or easy to use by someone without a software background. The seller is open about this, so I knew what I was getting into. It was a nice laptop, sturdy and functional. A little fading on the keyboard, but otherwise worked well. I had hoped we'd be able to adjust to the OS, but it was too difficult for us. And there is no tech support; this OS is one where you get tech support from asking for help on message boards. If the seller would change the OS to Windows 7 even if he has to increase the price by $50, this would be a great deal.

Honest reviews on HP COMPAQ NC6320 LAPTOP CORE DUO 1.66GHz/ 1GB/ 60GB/ WIRELESS

the computer did not work. I had to buy another computer that did work. I could not give the computer to my son for school.

Best HP Pavilion dv7-4170us 17.3-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 7.5 Hours of Deals

Customer Ratings:

I was almost sad to see it go as I dropped it off at UPS today for a refund. After about a week of troubleshooting with HP about why it would lock-up after two hours or so, they reported that it must have had defective hardware.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS (FINISH, HEAT, QUIETNESS)

When I first took it out of the box and powered it on, I loved it! The aluminum finish was the biggest plus for me. After an hour or so setting it up and installing (and uninstalling) software, the entire unit (save for the plastic heat outlet) was still cool to the touch. And it was incredibly quiet, too. I don't think I ever heard the fans wind up in the week that I had it. The low setting that they were on was hardly audible.

SCREEN

The screen was brilliant, though vertical viewing angles were unimpressive. Colors were great out of the box. I chose not to play with the ATI display settings. The 1600x900 resolution is a good choice for this screen size. I wouldn't go any lower, and while I would still go higher, that is only to satisfy my greed.

KEYBOARD

The keyboard had a generally positive feel to it. I didn't have time to get accustomed to the keyboard layout. I'm used to my HP dv4 which does not have a numberpad. And the fact that I used my dv4 for trouble-shooting purposes for the better part of the week didn't help. One of my favorite features, though, was the integrated action keys like you find on Macs. The function keys up top are, out of the box, primarily used for functions such as play/pause, volume up/down, brightness up/down etc. You don't need to press the fn key to access the functions. If this is undesirable, there is a toggle in the bios setup.

TOUCHPAD

The touchpad is a serious design problem for me, though I knew what I was getting into when I ordered it. I am pretty readily adaptable to keyboards and touchpads, so I figured it wouldn't be a problem. Truth be told, I wouldn't have a problem if I kept it. It was just an annoyance. Let me clarify: When I'm using the touchpad, I like to keep my index finger on the mouse button while my middle finger does the tracking. Since the touchpad is an entire unit, with the buttons integrated beneath the sensitive track pad, any movement of my index finger would send the cursor in a frenzy across the screen. It wouldn't take terribly long to get used to, though. And tapping the top-left corner twice disables or enables the touchpad, so accidentally moving the cursor when typing isn't a worry.

AUDIO

Sound quality was a big factor in choosing this laptop. It had a brand-name moniker (apparently well respected, so I'm told), so I figured it must have been something special.

Let me be clear up front: If you are looking for sound quality, YOU WILL NOT FIND IT HERE. The laptop speakers themselves sound good, with the built-in subwoofer carrying some of the lower frequencies you don't typically find in a notebook. But this does not mean the unit sounds good. There is some filter applied, which I could not find for the life of me, that was heavily COMPRESSING the sound (boosting the quiet sounds while ruthlessly drawing-back the loud sounds). It made listening to music with the on-board speakers literally painful at times (play a song by Atreyu with lots of cymbals and it will sound like you're underneath a helicopter from the dramatic volume cuts with each hit of a cymbal). I searched all over, and even reinstalled Windows and updated drivers, and nothing would fix the problem. On the other hand, sound through the minijack was great. The output was strong, though it seems the low-mids were boosted a little as compared to my dv4 with IDT HD audio.

This whole Beats thing though is a complete gimick. Out of the box, the bass and treble controls in Windows are set to full boost, which sounds like crap. By toggling the "Beats" feature (fn+b), it simply turns the bass all the way up (on), or all the way down (off). Not intuitive at all! Also, the control panel is the exact same as my dv4's IDT control panel, but with the Beats logo stamped in some places. I am much more pleased with the Altec Lansing setup on my HP dv4.

PERFORMANCE

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to test the performance of the laptop. I did have pretty high expectations, though, as I'm coming from (actually, currently typing on) an older AMD laptop with integrated graphics. I used to be pretty interested in computers and could tell you how certain components would perform, but over the years I lost touch with that side of me. Now days, I don't know how the AMD phenom stacks up. My understanding (confirmed by a few searches) is that AMD has gotten increasingly closer to Intel's competing processors, but is still a little behind in most regards. I'm guessing that ATI graphics processor is in the midrange as far as GPUs go. With its stay on my desk, it never felt underpowered, though I admittedly did nothing to truly exercise it. When purchasing, I felt that this laptop had an outstanding price-spec ratio, which helped me pull the trigger.

BATTERY LIFE

Another thing I never got to try. If it can live up to its claim of 7.5 hours, then that is very impressive for a laptop of this size (in my opinion). More time than I would ever need in one sitting. Truthfully, I don't doubt that number can be seen if settings are kept low and activity is kept reasonable.

PROS

stunning aluminum finish, nice screen, runs very cool and quiet, good featureset for the price

CONS

touchpad can be finicky, pathetic Beats audio, disc drive eject button can be challenging to press

I'll miss most the sleek and stylish aluminum finish. I'll forget the somewhat quirky touchpad. I'm glad to be away from the terrible Beats audio.

...

I know I didn't delve into as much as some would like, but due to my unit being defective, I spent most of my time focusing on getting it working rather than putting it through its paces. I hope my review can be of at least some value to most.

*Note: My dv7 being defective has no effect on my rating. All manufacturers have duds, and I'm still in a positive relationship with HP.

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I received my computer this morning. It looked perfect out of the box. Short and easy set up, customized Windows 7 to my liking and tried some music first to try out the sound. The sound is much more clear and much louder than my little Sony Vaio. Typing is really nice on this HP pavilion. The touch pad has a nice consistency but the click button is rather on the firm side. It would be nice if it loosens up a little with use but so far that is the only thing I can even criticize. At 8+ pounds I don't think I will lug this around like I did with my 14inch Vaio. This is definitely a desktop replacement computer and the quality is as such. I imagine once I purchase a nice case for it I will be more likely to take it out. I'm anxious to try out the battery life. So, day one, I'm super happy with this purchase. If anything goes wrong I will be sure to pop in and comment. I was VERY hesitant to do such a large purchase online but so far, am not regretting it.

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I like the computer. If is relatively fast, and it has lots of space on it. The monitor is large and clear. I love the fingerprint reader mostly for the novelty. I've had no real issues with performance of the computer itself, but the driver for the fingerprint reader was out-of-date when it arrived. I initially set the reader up, but within a couple of days it mysteriously stopped working. I had to do a little research to find out what I needed to do. I updated the driver, and now it works fine. The worst thing about this computer for me is that it is not left-hand friendly. There is a spot on the top left of the mousepad that completely turns the mouse off. Being left-handed, I am constantly hitting this area. According to tech support, there is no way to turn this feature off. The tech support person did offer to tell me how to turn the whole mouse off. (Wasn't that the problem to start with???) Had I known this, I am not sure that I would have purchased this computer. It does seem to me that there must certainly a better place to put the switch. I feel that it was poor planning and lack of consideration on the part of hp.

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When I first received the computer, I had some problems with it crashing, loading CD reading cds. But after installing windows updates, most problems evaporated. I love the portability of this laptop, much lighter than last HP I have, and keyboard is easy to type on. Seems to work flawlessly most of the time and very quick. Only gripe I still have is the cd door closer, hard to open. Heard that from other reviewers also. Much too cheap hardware. Coming from HP should be better.

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I have tried 3 laptops before this one. This is like a Cadillac compared to the others. I love the keyboard. The mouse-pad is not a problem. The display is bright and crisp. Movies are great!! Love the fingerprint reader. The sound is much better than my old unit, so I don't really have a problem with this one. Had never made this large a purchase online. but everything went like clockwork. HP Pavilion dv7-4170us 17.3-Inch Laptop PC Up to 7.5 Hours of Battery Life (Argento) Just really happy overall with this computer. Thanks Amazon. My old laptop (also an HP Pavilion) was about 7 years old, so maybe that;s why this one is such a pleasure. But there's a lot to be said for the fact that it lasted so long. I don't think you can go wrong with the value either. A laptop with the same features at a warehouse club is almost $200.00 more. And that's after the price increased on this one.

The one gripe I have is with Microsoft not HP. It's the starter editions of Word and Excel. I already bought an upgrade for 2007, now if I want Outlook I have to buy another. Can't use my old one. Enough boohoo.

Best Dell Latitude D620 14.1" Core Duo 60GB Notebook Deals

Customer Ratings:

I received my laptop in a timely manner but the box was damaged when it arrived. It wasn't packaged very securely in the box. And I come to find out that the laptop is refurbished. Description never mentioned that detail. Would not have purchased if I had known.

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Discount Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Customer Ratings:

The white Macbook was updated on May 18 2010. There are minor differences between the 2010 Macbook and 2009's model, detailed below.

The UPGRADES are

1) Geforce Nvidia 320M integrated graphics processor with 48 processing cores. This is better than the Geforce 9400M in last years model. Useful for content creation.

2)Mini display port now supports video AND audio with a compatible Mini-DP to HDMI adapter. (Last years model only supported video)

Thats it.

STANDARD FEATURES from last years model (minor changes noted in brackets)

Polycarbonate unibody

Core 2 Duo processor (2.4ghz up from 2.26 ghz)

1280 x 800 resolution Glossy LED backlit screen,

iSight camera,

2 GB Ram 1gb ram sticks x 2

250gb hard drive

8x slot-loading SuperDrive dvd burner

Large multi-touch trackpad ( Intertial scrolling is now enabled ),

2 USB 2.0 ports ,

Wi-Fi 802.11n specification; 802.11a/b/g compatible, Bluetooth 2.1 and Gigabit Ethernet -10/100/1000.

Inbuilt battery (which Apple advertises as capable of lasting between 9 to 10 hours.) Not true. Real world battery life is between 3 to 6 hours depending on what tasks you use your computer for.

Software included is OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and the iLife 09 suite of content creation tools. A 1 year warranty on parts and 90 day telephone technical support is standard.

The Macbook as it is is good for basic computing activities such as browsing the web, typing articles or watching movies. However, if you're planning to buy a Macbook for multimedia work, such as editing high resolution photos or HD videos and plan to use multiple applications at the same time, please ensure that you upgrade the ram from 2gb to 4gb.

Why?

Because using a macbook with 2 gb of ram (such as this one) to multitask is a GREAT way to drive yourself crazy as the computer struggles to keep up. Try editing 10 megapixel RAW images while playing music in iTunes with Safari open. 2gb of ram is not at all adequate for multitasking / using processor intensive applications on a Macbook. I understand that Apple has to differentiate between the Macbook and MBPro to justify the price differences but skimping on the ram and putting 2gb inside a $999 product and thus, affecting the user experience is not the way to do it.

Upgrading the ram yourself from 2gb to 4gb is a great idea. Currently, Crucial CT2KIT25664BC1067 4GB 204-PIN PC3-8500 SODIMM DDR3 Memory KIT (2GBx2) costs $39.99. So that brings your total to $1010 ($969 MB + $39.99 Ram) if you upgrade your Macbook's ram

So for only $160 more than your Macbook, (if you take into account the cost of the ram upgrade) a viable alternative is the standard Apple MacBook Pro MC700LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop which costs approximately $1160 on Amazon. The MBP 13 comes with the added benefits of a more durable aluminum unibody, a backlit keyboard, an SDXC card slot, a firewire 800 port, a thunderbolt port and most importantly, 4gb of ram. Which allows you to multitask effortlessly.

If you're going to use the Macbook for any computationally demanding activities such as content creation, editing large RAW images or HD videos you should upgrade the ram to 4gb or just buy the standard MBPro 13 inch. The significantly faster i5 processor and 4gb ram in the MBPro 13 make a big difference in the daily usage experience.

However, if you only want to use the Macbook for general tasks like writing articles, browsing websites or watching movies, it will handle those duties adequately. At the same time, also keep in mind that if you only need a laptop for basic duties, many other manufacturers offer less expensive laptops which are just as (if not more) capable.

Hope this helps!

P.S. Update Feb 15 2011 At present, the Macbook is extremely out of date compared to other computer makers current products. C2D processor, 250 GB 5400 rpm hard drive, 2 gb ram, 2 USB ports. In 2011, these are totally unlike a $999 notebook's specs and more like a netbook's specs (excluding the C2D processor)

I'd recommend waiting for a Macbook update by Apple. Another good option would be to buy a notebook by HP,Sony or Toshiba (for $999 you'll get a much more powerful machine with regards to hardware) or buy the updated 2011 Macbook Pro 13 base model.

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As a student, I've been trying to find a well-built computer for under $1000. For me, the MacBook is a perfect fit.

Pros:

-The touchpad is incredible for web browsing. I have been using PCs notebooks for years, and I have never liked touchpads, but this has proved to be an exception. I can easily do two-button clicking, scrolling with two fingers, and going back and forth through pages with three fingers. I find I no longer do I have to lug around a USB mouse (except if I want to some gaming).

-The computer starts up in 20 seconds without having to wait for background processes to load up (unlike windows).

-The build quality of the MacBook is unmatched for its price. The unibody does not creak at all when handling it.

-Multi-tasking is surprisingly good for only 2GB RAM. The only hiccups I have had were at the first couple of seconds of playing movies on iTunes with a lot of other programs running.

Cons:

-No HDMI port

-Battery does not last 10 hours (about 4-6 for me with iTunes and Wi-Fi running). Still, it is much longer than the competitors for the price range and size.

Even though the build is solid, you may want to get one of these covers if you worry about scratching:

Speck Products See Thru Satin, Soft Touch Hard Shell Case, for 13-inch MacBook Aluminum Unibody/Black Keyboard (Black) DOES NOT FIT WHITE MACBOOK

They snap on in seconds and look great.

If you are a student who is not looking to do any graphic design I highly recommend getting the MacBook instead of the MacBook Pro if you want to save money. Sure it only has 2 GB RAM, but you can easily upgrade it now for $100 Crucial CT2KIT25664BC1067 4GB 204-PIN PC3-8500 SODIMM DDR3 Memory KIT (2GBx2) or wait a year and do it for about $50.

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As a student, I was pretty hesitant to get the MacBook, but after MONTHS of exhaustive research looking for the right laptop (I'm a networking student, and also I am working on my A+ PC Repair certification, so I know a thing or two about PC's and Windows), I decided that I needed a change in my life. I've had an IBM ThinkPad T60 last me four years through school, but after 4 re-install's of XP, I've had enough of the constant attacks of viruses, spyware, etc...and I decided to go with the MacBook.

PROS:

Perfect for web browsing, e-mail, and document creation.

Comes with great features right out of the box: iLife simply rocks; it comes with PhotoBooth, Garageband (where you can create your own music or learn to how play an instrument), Preview, and iMovie (it's basically an easier version of Windows Movie Maker)

Time Machine for backing up documents and pictures, which is FAR SUPERIOR than using the Backup Feature in Windows.

Wi-Fi is SO EASY to set-up using what Apple calls "Airport", just go to the wi-fi antenna at the top of the right-hand corner and set-up right there.

Printing: Coming from a Windows world, and living in a household with a wireless network, setting up a printer was a pain in the butt with Windows, with Mac, it's SO EASY to set-up and begin printing.

BlueTooth: BlueTooth is common in all laptops nowadays, and again, like setting up a printer, it basically connects with the BlueTooth device automatically.

MagSafe Adapter: Apple introduced this idea called MagSafe. If someone got caught on your power cord, it would take the cord and not the computer. I can't tell you how many times my dogs got caught on my IBM power cord and basically almost took the computer with it.

Battery Life: Wow, what a difference. I was coming from a half-hour battery life on my IBM, although Apple says that the battery can last on a 10 hours on a single charge, in the real world, it's falls under 6 hours, but still this is pretty incredible.

CONS:

2GB of RAM. Now coming from a Windows world, Windows is a memory hogger, so the more RAM you have in a Windows system, you are good to go, but with a Mac, it's different. Now if you are compressing 1080p video on a MacBook, the system starts to hick-up trying to catch-up. My advice? Upgrade to 4GB or get the MacBook Pro.

EXPENSIVE: Like all Apple products, it's pretty expensive. I was pretty hesitant to buy a MacBook because it was pretty pricey and being a student i.e. poor, I needed to save up a good chunk of money to buy one of these machines.

So if you are in the market for a new laptop, only need to do some document creating, and web-browsing this Mac is for you. If you want to do some high-end video compression, go with the MacBook Pro since the Pro lines are more aimed at high-end video production. This is definitely a perfect system if all you want is just web-browsing and document creation.

Happy Shopping!

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook MC516LL/A 13.3-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

So your in the market for a new laptop, maybe your a student. You need something portable, no 17 inch screens here. It needs to be light, well built, and easy to slip into a bag, for say, a ten minute walk on campus. But at the same time, you don't want a netbook. You don't want to squint at an 11 inch screen, type on a cramped keyboard, or put up with hardware that was out of date five years ago. In other words, you need something that just works, and doesn't complain about it. Well my friend, the Macbook might be just right for you. To me, it's the perfect "in between" product: its not so small and underpowered that your overall computing experience is compromised, while at the same time, its not so big, hot, and heavy that its only ever at home on a desk.

So what kind of computing is the Macbook built for, exactly? Its absolutely perfect for your day to day tasks, emails, word processing, web browsing (Hats off to Apple, after you get used to the multi-touch touchpad, every other laptop you touch feels sluggish and outdated) I'm sure with a serviceable C2D and a GT320, you could get away with some light content creation (Photo/Video editing, etc), but if you plan on using more intensive applications regularly, you'd probably be better off with a MacbookPro, or any number of higher powered Windows laptops.

Also worth noting are a couple of the Macbooks other superlative features. Exceptional battery life for one, I can easily make it 6 hours on a charge, under moderate use, Wifi, max brightness, everything that drains the battery. Speaking of brightness, the 13 inch LED is spectacular, it's bright without being washed out, colors are vivid and vibrant and despite a relatively low resolution, everything looks sharp. The overall construction and feel of the device, also, is excellent. The key's are well spaced and easy to type on. I also mentioned the touchpad, which combines a glass cover with multitouch to make probably the easiest to use notebook navigation I've ever seen. The laptop itself is very well built, very light, but still very stiff and solid. It doesn't feel fragile, in other words. The bottom can get warm after sustained use, but its also worth mentioning that there are no fan vents, and aside from the HDD spinning up, you won't hear the guts of this machine making a single peep.

To sum up, so far I've loved my experience with the Macbook, its perfect for my needs. Mac OSX fits well on a light processing laptop, and despite modest hardware, for the most part you won't feel it lagging or hanging. It's worth mentioning that I am NOT normally a fan of Apple. I will never buy an Iphone, iMac, or a Mac Tower, and I barely use my iPod. Unlike most Mac users, I am perfectly comfortable using Windows, am a big fan of Windows 7, and i'm no stranger to the unforgiving, enthusiast side of a PC. I've built PC's before, and my main computer right now is a high end, self built gaming PC (PII955/GTX 480). In other words, I'm not the normal Apple customer. But when it comes to a portable laptop that will breeze through every day tasks while providing stability and superb battery life, all wrapped up into that premium hardware/software bundle only Apple can provide, the macbook might just be the only way to go.

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I will keep my review to key points aimed at perspective buyers. There is an excellent summary page for a Macbook and some really in-depth reviews with specifications and cool buzz words.

1-Selecting your vendor

Make sure you are getting the right macbook from a source you trust. The 2009 and 2010 models are quite similar visually. Ensure you are getting the right model with the specs you want.

2-Special Offer

200 dollar discount on ipod touch and 100 dollar discount on printer from apple when you buy a mac product. It usually runs from june to early september, and can compensate the high price of the macbook(you have to be a card carrying educationalist to get it).

3-Pricing

If price still hits you below the belt, consider refurbished models, last year models, open box models. All of them give apple's one year warranty and all can be brought into apple for repairs. All will cost you a few hundred less.

4-what's the difference from macbook pro?

4gb ram ,aluminum case, light up keyboard, extra ports(firewire/memory sticks) is whats usually mentioned. Macbook pro also has a screen protector built in and an ambient light sensor to dim your screen automatically. The latter two are nice, especially if you plan to treat your macbook like garbage and eat while working on it.

And all this for an additional 200 dollars on top of 1000 you are already paying for a notebook.

5-software.

Apple is good about not giving you trials. You get legitimate programs, no fills.

When you get a new mac, especially if you are new, go to apple website an watch some introduction videos. They are all under 5 minutes and give excellent summaries of mac basics and fundamentals of software that you just purchased. All of them are free.

Summary.

Macbook is a cost effective way to get a mac. I hope this review will make your choice a more thorough one.

Review of Lenovo IdeaPad Z580 15.6-Inch Laptop (Grey Metal) - Windows 8 - 500

Customer Ratings:

I've been using a Lenovo Thinkpad Edge for the last two years for work and love it. So I bought my wife the Ideapad z580 the other day. For the money you can't get better specs. Intel core i5 processor, 8gb Ram, 750gb hardrive were included in a $499 deal at Staples. The other laptops of similar spec were at least $100 more and then some. The feel and handle of the z580 are great. But there are some key problems with this computer that have caused us to return it in favor of something else.

1. The track pad doesn't have separate buttons, they are integrated. I don't care one way or the other, but they have to work. The buttons seemed to work only half of the time. I soon just started to tap on the pad to select things because the buttons wouldn't do it. I even tried to adjust the sensitivity of them to no avail. It's also super sensitive. If you even remotely touch anything other than your finger to it, the pointer jumps all over. It also seemed to select things when our fingers hovered over the track pad. For me, the track pad has to work well since you use it for everything. If it doesn't it'll make your computer experience a disaster.

2. The network card would lose signal and we would have to reset the connection. This is unacceptable as well.

3. The computer, if left open goes into sleep mode, which is fine, but the problem is that it won't wake up. The only way to wake up the z580 if it goes to sleep with the screen open is to push the power button and restart the computer. There is no fix for this per the user forums about this laptop.

Between the poor track pad, poor internet network card, and a computer that you can't wake up; it made our decision to return it and look for something else pretty easy. those things just make the laptop experience miserable.

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I never thought I'd say this but the trackpad alone is reason enough you should not buy this laptop. It is the worst design I have seen in any of the half dozen laptops I've owned. It is way larger than most trackpads making it far too easy to bump when typing. Additonally, as others have noted the integrated buttons don't work properly. Whenever I'm trying to right click on something the computer keeps left clicking. Usually there's this perfect sweepspot to the far left, but it doesn't work consistently. I think the designers must have realized midway through that you'd wind up using a mouse all the time because they put a shortcut key (Function-F6) to turn off the trackpad, which I now do all the time.

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It does everything it is supposed to. Sound is very good for a laptop. It boots fast and battery life is very good

Honest reviews on Lenovo IdeaPad Z580 15.6-Inch Laptop (Grey Metal) - Windows 8 - 500

A great computer. Love it. Received one as a gift and purchased the other one for our son. Sound, display, keyboard; all very user friendly.

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TERRIBLE TERRIBLE TERRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

I SENT MY LAPTOP IN TO BE SERVICED FOR "$127 WITH A WEEK TURN-AROUND". AFTER ONE MONTH, 2 WEEKS, AND 3 ARGUMENTS LATER (BECAUSE THEY TRIED TO CHARGE ME $300 AAFFTTEERR QUOTING ME $127) I STILL HAVE A BROKEN LAPTOP!

THEY ACTUALLY TOOK MY MONEY AND STILL SENT IT BACK BROKEN! I WILL NEVER BUY FROM THIS COMPANY AGAIN! SHAME ON YOU LENOVO!

I WOULD RATE THEM A ZERO IF I COULD. LOUSY CUSTOMER SERVICE/REPAIR!

Reviews of Dell Studio s1557-1148CBK 1557 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black Chainlink)

Customer Ratings:

Unless you turn speed step off in the BIOS this laptop will overheat as soon as you reach 20 min watching a video, or video conferencing. This causes the 1.6GHz processor to run in the 900MHz. Another thing to note is that without turning off speed step the Clock speed is actually in the 2.5GHz witch is strange to say the least. The average temp of the processors are 65-70 Celsius with speed step off. With it on it easily reaches 89C-90C until 100C and shutdown. I never complained to Dell, by the time I realized the issue it was passed the 1 year warranty.

I've had 5 Dells. 2 have overheating issues, 1 completely failed. And 1 had a HD fail, which was replaced. They were: Dell Inspiring 1500, Dell XPS GEN 4, Dell Studio 1557, Dell Duo, Dell 11z. If you know how to fix it... Take the risk in a Dell as they are cheap. Otherwise avoid any Dells or any HP machines.

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well, i bought this online but when i went to best buy i felt i could have got a better deal. The laptop is a bit on the heavy side and the battery is large (great battery life) but there is a bulge on which the laptop rests. This makes it a bit uncomfortable when you put it on your lap.

I recommend thinking of the DELL xps instead. It is lighter and has better aesthetics and just a 100 dollars more or so

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I can't really find anything negative to say about this computer. I love the backlit keyboard and how fast it is. I guess the only thing I can say is that after a while of running, it can get loud sometimes.

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

Customer Ratings:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Summarizing,

Pros:

Beautiful super high resolution 1920x1080 12.5" screen

Very high build quality

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

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

Incredibly fast boot time (10-15 seconds)

Very good keyboard

Responsive touchscreen which operates in both laptop and tablet modes

Fast SSD drive in all configurations

Decent webcam (1.3mp)

Light, portable charging cable.

Bluetooth, Wireless N (5 + 2.4Ghz)

Backlit keys on keyboard

Eh:

Battery life is 5-5.5 hours.

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

Speakers are predictably mediocre for a small laptop

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

Cons:

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

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

Only two USB ports (both USB 3.0, however)

Battery is not easily user swapped/replacable

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

No GPS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The laptop itself is awesome.

Pros:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Acceptable battery life.

Cons:

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

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

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

Observations:

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

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

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

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

Recommendation:

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

Update: 8/4

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

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

**UPDATE 5/25/13***

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

Discount Toshiba Satellite C55-A5243NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black in Trax

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $434.99
Sale Price: $429.99
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I am a low end computer geek, meaning that I know my way around basic functional issues. I build medium end desktops for a hobby. I have had this model for a couple months, and out of the 5 others I have, this is my fave, not too big or small, stable and keeps up with any chore. The display is great. I think the real telling factor of any computer is longevity, so we will see about that a few years down the road. I have an early t satellite (7 yrs old) that is running xp flawlessly to this day.

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This laptop is great for everyday use. If web surfing, using word, and playing indie games is what you want to do with your laptop then this one is for you.

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After having another Toshiba laptop for about six years that has been running great, it was time for a new one. Although my other Toshiba worked, it just started getting old and decrepit. I had no reasons not to get another Toshiba since it had served me well. As a student I needed something lightweight and portable to carry around for school/class and this fit the bill. Set up was easy, and I was up and running within 30 minutes. I was able to sneak a deal only paying $363 during their back to school sale. After adjusting a few settings (battery, brightness, display, etc..) I tailored it right to my needs and it has worked flawlessly. The Windows 8 took a bit getting used to, but I almost prefer it. I just wish it was easier to get to some things. But then again, it's easier to get to email, photos, and weather than previous windows. The only downfall is the word processing. It is not that great, but I don't want to spend the extra $$ right now for the Office Suite. The WordPad is pretty annoying, but it gets the job done. Other than the word processing, it is a great computer that I am excited to work with for years to come!

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite C55-A5243NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black in Trax

this is a capable notebook for a good price, comfortable and meets my needs, all you need is great, yes

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I bought a Toshiba Satellite C55-A laptop about a month ago because it was the only one that had Windows 7 installed (I choose to avoid Win8) so I didn't have much of a choice to replace my aging laptop (wanted one with the current wifi spec). It is a good value for the features. It didn't have bloatware and I only needed to remove one program.

It is a competent computer but it has a few ergonomic issues for me. The keyboard has flat keys with the letters centered in the key, they are not formed like most keyboards keys (shaped for your fingers) and most keyboards have the letters in the upper left corner of the key. The keyboard works fine but I prefer shaped keys. Most of the connections are located at the right front corner right where I use a mouse (I prefer using a mouse). The Numlock key needs to be set every time you power up. When I open the top the bottom comes with it so you need to hold the base down to open the top.

This a secondary computer for my home so I only have a few programs I need to run with it, it is mostly used to access the internet in a another room in my house from my main computer, and it gets taken on some trips; it serves my use very well. It has the same vertical resolution as my old full screen laptop but it is physically shorter. (All laptops have this style wide screen these days). I won't be watching movies with it so I don't really need a wide screen but the width does help when multiple windows are open but it makes forces the use of a mouse further to the side than I would like. I would prefer a taller screen then a wider one bit no one makes that.

Reviews of Dell Inspiron 17R i17R-1842sLV 17.3-Inch Laptop Core i7-3632QM

Customer Ratings:

AWESOME! Of all the laptops I've had, this is by far the best. It's well constructed and sturdy. Our almost 80 pound dog walked across the screen and there was NO damage. This Dell runs Quiet....no whirring wizzing or loud fan sound. The keyboard is very quiet when I am using it: no click-clack, plus the number pad is a great addtion. The on/off key is well placed and the mouse works well.

Now, Windows 8: It is great once it is set-up to your liking. It has an Apple-esque feel to it, but not quite there yet. If you do not like the new Windows, you can always convert back to the regular old-school Icons by hitting the desk top key.

This Dell has been a very good purchase for me. Dude, I got a Dell!!!

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I should have paid more attention to the reviews, but this computer had everything I was looking for at a decent price. It was great for six months until it wouldn't boot on startup. I talked with tech support, and was instructed to send the computer to Dell for repair. The last update on the Dell site said that the part needed to repair the computer wasn't in stock and that there is no timeframe on when it will be repaired. Dell never even tried to contact me about this issue. It's bad enough that the computer quit working, but I'm extremely displeased with Dell's customer service.

Update: I finally got my computer back. I contacted Dell through their Facebook page. The gentlemen I corresponded with looked into it and kept me in the loop with what was going on. I haven't had any trouble with it since. It's a great computer as long as it works.

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I love the computer. Not sure how I feel about windows 8 yet. That will hopefully get better in time. Thank you very much.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 17R i17R-1842sLV 17.3-Inch Laptop Core i7-3632QM

Got this laptop and like it. The video is awesome with 17 inch screen and it is super fast. Overall a great laptop!

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it's a very great laptop, and it has no problems and run s fast and good, it's the best computer ever!!!!!

Discount Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop I15N-2733BK / Intel® CoreTM i3-2350M

Customer Ratings:

I wanted a decent laptop with i3 and about 15" screen. It's got a nice hard drive, it's fast, I can connect to my tv With the HDMI output. It's pretty much got everything. For the price it's a steal. I got mine locally, didn't realize Amazon sold it. But would highly recommend one. The other reviewer with the horrible review got me a little worried, but it seems like he might be writting about another model as this one is too new for him to have it for the length of time he says he had it.

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This laptop is awesome! It is exactly what I needed at a great price. It handles everything and more I needed. It is fast! The HDMI output is a nice feature as well.

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For the money it is a great computer. Moves super fast. I have no a problems so far. I use this laptop for internet and for work and it is excellent for both.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop I15N-2733BK / Intel® CoreTM i3-2350M

Half my life is on the computer. So I really needed one that is easy to use, reliable, good quality. (This thing is solid as a rock!) I shopped and shopped for several months, looked closely at other brands, reviews, ratings, etc, and decided this was the one for me!

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Simply the worst computer I've bought from Dell, and this was my fifth one! We paid over $800 for ours (upgraded a few items, thinking we would have it long term what a joke!) and bought it direct from Dell.

I've had to take it to a local repair place since our 1 year warranty has expired (makes you think they build them just to last past that one year mark, doesn't it??) and have spent over 10 hours on the phone dealing with various departments. As upset as I am about the product, I'm even more upset about Dell customer service department (what an oxymoron, they do everything possible NOT to provide service). I honestly think they run their business like the health insurance companies, just keep transferring the client and denying coverage until they give up.

When I was talking to their tech support rep, he admitted that they've had overheating issues with this laptop. So when your car manufacturer realizes that there's an overheating issue, what do they do? They issue a recall notice, they ask that you bring the vehicle to a dealership so they can see if your car has that problem, and THEY FIX IT, no charge! Sadly, this experience has taught me that I should not have assumed that the company I believed in would actually be customer focused. Dell tries to avoid being held accountable for their lackluster product. Do your homework before buying this piece of doodoo, just check the Austin Better Business Bureau and you'll see that they have had OVER 9,100 complaints filed against them in the last 3 years!

Reviews of Alienware M17x R4 AM17xR4-11053BK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

Customer Ratings:

**This review was originally written for the M17xr4 with 7970m graphics, 1600x900 screen, i7 3610m processor, and 6gb RAM, 750gb 7200rpm HD which, i own. That being said, the rest is the same and the processor difference is very, very minimal since the 3630 is simply the "refresh" of the 3610, and NOT a new generation of processor. Anything marked** may not apply to the model you have purchased.

Now, on to the review. I will try to give an unbiased opinion as I have done months and months of research, comparing and contrasting every modern gaming laptop. This review will be fairly in depth (Should be for a $1800+ laptop), and I will try to be detailed, but also universal in describing details, so that you don't have to know any extreme technical jargon to understand the review as well as giving an up-to-date one. Enough said.

The Build:

First things first the build quality is excellent, and this will be the first thing you notice as you un-box and remove it from its protective casing. I researched for months on purchasing a high-end/Gaming computer, and i have learned very much about numerous modern gaming computers and components. Most of the reviews on amazon and on review websites have stated its build quality is of the highest grade and that it is one of the biggest selling points for this laptop, and for good reason. The laptop feels solid, secured, and a bit heavy (weighs in at about 9.5lbs). In my opinion, not overweight considering the amount of components stuffed into this thing. The rubbery matte texture compliments it's sturdiness well, and to me was a great material choice for this laptop as it resists fingerprints rather well and will not show scratches as aluminum or plastic will. Not to mention keeping the laptop light, and relatively cool. I dare you to find a better looking laptop (my opinion) that is more sleek and with better build quality (not opinion) than this one. The reason i put up with the weight over say a Sager NP9170 is that this M17xr4 is the thinnest 17inch gaming laptop with these components i could find. I'll take thinner to lighter any day considering, i will be hauling this in a excellent backpack (Everki Beacon or swiss gear) Where the 1 to 2 pound gain over the NP9170 will not be noticeable. Your port selection is numerous and above average, even for gaming laptops. 4 USB 3.0 ports (2 on the left, 2 on your other left), 1 USB 2.0/Esata combo (right) which is also a sleep and charge port which does just that (allows you to charge your phone, iPod or usb charging device while the laptop is asleep or even completely off). VGA, HDMI and Display port video outs (all left), 2 headphone jacks, 1 mic input, as well as an SPDIF optical out (All left). One cool feature is that the Soundcard software included can be used to configure the audio ports to do anything, For example configure all 4 ports to be headphone jacks, or 2 line -in ports. An HDMI-in (right) (not existent in any other laptop I could find. Trust me, I looked. More on this in "other features" below). Last but not least a 9 in 1 card reader above the optical drive (right) and a Kensington lock (left). The cooling system is well engineered with 3 intakes on the bottom, and 2 exhausts on the back, the left one being for the processor, and the right being for the graphics card. I can't tell you how nice it is having the exhaust shoot out the back instead of the bottom into your lap. You might think you lap will block the intakes but they are almost designed with a peak and valley structure, to allow lap use without block to the intakes. Don't get me wrong this laptop can get warm on the bottom especially during gaming, but it is rare I game on my lap. And when using a laptop pad or cooling pad, you won't notice it at all . The individual laptop exhausts are nice, first they limit noise to 1 fan most of the time, secondly they are effective and accurate at temp detection (i.e. Gaming, the GPU fan ramps up, Heavy app use or multitasking the CPU fan ramps up) not to mention the entire system is silent during basic and medium use.

Components:

I will go into greater detail of the components i have added separately or replaced later in the review. For now, the components it comes with. First off the processor, The Intel i7 3630m is the baseline mobile model for i7 cores in laptops. It is snappy, and has no problem devouring numerous tasks at a time. For gaming an i7 core IS MORE than enough considering most games don't utilize 4 cores to begin with (exception: Farcry 3). In fact you would do just fine for gaming if this laptop had an i5 core and you would not notice a frame rate difference.

**On to the Graphics, this laptop uses a combination of AMD Radeon 7970m ( Nvidia 675m on this model) discrete or dedicated card, in concurrence with an Intel HD 4000 integrated chip. First the 7970m, this is a nasty card that destroys most any game, modern or old. You can comment on this review, and I can test a game you might want me to play and let you know how it preforms. To name a few recent ones it preforms extremely well with that I have played. Black ops 2 (not very difficult for any machine), Battlefield 3 run great maxed out, Arkham city runs great, Farcry 3 runs insane on this laptop due to its great scaling on all 4 processor cores (all though I have had some crashes with this game). I've even played as recent as the Crysis 3 beta which runs great since the new drivers update. I cannot stress this enough, the ability to play such high-end games with such good results, all on-the-go, is a crazy feat to me. I run this laptop to a 27 inch monitor most of the time and it's hard to believe the graphics are coming from my laptop and not a desktop. Comparing it to the GTX 680m recently released by Nvidia, the 7970m in my opinion is on par with it, and even runs certain games better according to benchmarks. That being said in power consumption and cooling is better with the 680m. The biggest difference is the price. When I looked to configure my laptop on Dell or Xotic PC, the price difference is over $350 which is simply not justifiable, even for a Nvidia fan boy. I knew and researched both the 680m, 7970m before I even wanted to purchase here, so seeing that amazon had the 7970, it only pushed me further to buy here. Intel HD 4000 is simply an integrated graphics chip which is used for anything but high-end games and uses MUCH less power. Heck, it will even run older games or less resource hogging ones great. AMD uses "Enduro" technology to switch between the 2 graphics solutions based upon your power source (battery or plugged in) and application (Video game vs. Google chrome) this all can be configured manually, but by default your computer switches to the Intel HD 4000 when on battery power EVEN if you are trying to run a high-end game. But like I said, this can be changed manually with a combination of power and graphics setting changes. All that being said, the drivers are a bit faulty, especially with windows 8. I could not decide whether to install AMD's drivers for the 7970m from their website or Dell's which seemed outdated. I spoke to a few Alienware techs on this issue. All said that it is preferable to use Dell's drivers, but AMD's should be compatible. I noticed some performance loss using Dell's driver version, so I cleared the drivers completely and installed AMD's 13.2 version which had updates for the Crysis 3 beta.

* For your hardrive and standard 7200rpm Seagate 750gb drive. Nothing special here. See my upgrade.

* For RAM you got 6gb** (8gb on this model) of 1600mhz DDR3 ram in one 4gb stick and one 2 gb stick** (2x4 probably on this model). Fine amount of Ram,I was going to upgrade anyways so I didn't care.

* Wi-Fi card is an Intel Centrino 2230, great reception, great speeds wireless N as well as 2.4ghz/5.8ghz bands. Not much else to say

* Standard DVD/CDRW that is a slot-load drive. I happen to prefer slot-load over tray load because: one, sleeker looking, and 2 no worrying about having a clumsy tray slide out and hit something, getting stuck, breaking, etc.

* For your sound card you get a SoundBlaster Recon3Di instead of a basic sound card, paired with a pair of Klipsch speakers, it sounds great. Where it really shines is when you hook this laptop up via optical or analog (stereo out) and tweak settings in the SoundBlaster control panel. I found the Rock preset to improve the sound even more. This excellent sound card is a rare and welcome addition to a gaming laptop. The speakers definitely aren't booming loud, but they are crisp, clean and have decent bass and are plenty loud for nearly any use. I think they could have used a slight volume boost in playing music, but with laptop speakers, it's tough considering power provided and space to put them in. The speakers are definitely above average and much better sounding than Sager or MSI laptops alike.

**(This laptop does have the 1920x1080 Full HD Screen)

The screen as stated before is 1600x900**, decent colors, so-so viewing angle. Before you write this laptop off for the screen resolution, consider these two things. First, at only 17 inches (yes only) you won't see a ginormous difference between 1920x1080, and 1600x900. You will probably see it. But is it worth 200 dollars extra upgrade? Your call. Secondly, I personally route to a 27 inch monitor for gaming which I display 1920x1080 on. If your majority, or even part of your use is to an external monitor: just another reason you don't need 1080p on the actual laptop screen.

Personal Experience/Other selling points/Tips

**The 3 largest selling points that had me choose this laptop over the Samsung series 7 gamer, MSI GT70, and the Sager NP9170 (in my opinion its top competitors) was first, the powerful graphics card which beats the 675m and lower cards (670m, 660m, etc.) by a large amount. I was aware of the driver issues with the 7970m but I decided to take the risk, trusting they will be updated (and they have and will continue to be).

Secondly, the slim profile of this laptop. It beats all 3 mentioned AND has more powerful components. Now this laptop is nowhere near thin at about 1.98 inches but its as thin as its going to get for these components. You want super thin? Razer blade is $2599, and you get less powerful components than this laptop, but the razer blade is super portable (6lb,.88 inches thick).

Thirdly, the icing on the cake for me (it might seem strange) the HDMI-input port. Why? The simple fact that being able to hook a console, Blu-ray player, or nearly any device to use this laptop, solely for use of its screen, is genius. Now I understand that some people do not have use for this feature because they do not own consoles or any form of device to utilize this feature and those that could have use for it might say, "Why would you want to hook a console-a less-powerful system--up to the screen of a more powerful system" well I personally have many friends on console and we often have "system link parties" the idea that my laptop could serve as a screen instead of having to haul a TV or monitor to play on is awesome. Not to mention you feel as if you have full control over your laptop to do as you choose and knowing that by the time the computer gets outdated (not for many, many years), you could still always use it as a screen! I have used it with my Xbox 360 and it is excellent, just the right size, and the Xbox's sound even routes right through the HDMI and out the laptops speakers (HDMI carries audio and video). It was a huge selling point for me and NO OTHER laptop has one of these that I have found.

Another minor cool feature I like is the speaker placement. Since I do use this on an external monitor I prefer to shut the laptop screen when doing that. This might not matter to most, but for me, when I do shut it and just prefer to use the excellent speakers on the laptop it will not block the sound. Why? The speakers on are the front of the laptop (the colored, grill looking things). With most laptops you have a sound bar near the media controls and if you were to shut the screen the speakers would get blocked. Being able to use the speakers with the screen closed is a cool feature for me.

Another selling point for me personally, is it came with components that are hard to upgrade in a laptop that I wanted (7970m graphics**, i7 processor) and nothing I didn't want (6gb ram**, basic HDD). The laptop's accessibility is great. Pop the battery out, unscrew 2 screws, and you're in to most of the system. 2 of the 4 ram bays, HDD bay --which it has 2 of by the way--, fans, even your graphics and your processor can be seen. Again Alienware is giving you nearly full control of the system. Even the Wi-Fi card, other ram bays and optical drive are accessed through a little further, but not too difficult dis-assembly.

Here are the upgrades I have chosen and installed myself easily:

-Samsung 840 250gb SSD (purchased from Newegg for $150 with Farcry 3 Samsung MZ-7TD250BW 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 250 GB Sata 2.5-Inch) an SSD is said to be the single best system upgrade you can make that will grant you the most noticeable performance boost to your system. And after installing one myself, I am a firm believer in just that. Honestly with processors so fast these days your limiting factor comes down to your HDD and good ol' disc drives can only spin to access data so fast. I would even go as far as to say if you don't get an SSD you're missing out on a chunk of your system's performance especially with a processor such as the i7 3610m. Not to mention SSD's silent, cooler, more reliable, and less power consuming operation than traditional HDD's as well as SSD prices dropping like crazy and 1 open bay in this laptop, what have you got to lose? Unleash your processor!

-16gb Corsair vengeance laptop RAM (purchased from amazon for $84.99 Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory (CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10)) I wanted more than 6gb of ram and if you go higher than 16gb its near impossible to stress it. This RAM had great reviews, fast speeds and seems reliable.

-Killer Wireless N 1202, Faster 2.4/5.8 ghz speeds.

-Windows 7 professional OEM (purchased on amazon for $102) I had a feeling I would not care for windows 8 (and I did not that much, not to mention the drivers for the 7970m are nearly unusable on win 8). Bought this fresh OEM copy at a steal price, popped in my new SSD did a fresh install, Used "Sean's Windows 7 installation guide for SSD's" Which you MUST checkout if you do similar configuration as I, with the hard drives. I then formatted my original 750 GB HDD to use for storage space, and boom. My system flies with cold boot times under 18 seconds, and massive amount of storage space. In the future I will definitely move to windows 8 once graphics drivers are updated and the OS becomes more stable. But for now, it's windows 7 professional for me. Your system didn't include Windows 8 recovery disks for when you want to upgrade? No problem. Call up Alienware, and they will 2-day ship you your recovery media on a handy, dandy flash drive.

-One of the many accessories I suggest for this laptop is the U3 Coolmaster cooling pad Cooler Master NotePal U3 Laptop Cooling Pad with Three Configurable 80mm Fans (R9-NBC-8PCK-GP). The reason I liked this for my desk set-up is it seems of good material mostly aluminum which is naturally cool without fans! It uses USB power, fits the M17xr4 perfectly, and the fans are even movable, and Removable. I lined all 3 fans up directly with my m17x's, 3 intake vents which really keeps this thing cool. You do not need a cooling pad, just a personal choice for me! A cool system, is a happy system. The compatibility with my system made this one a winner for me, but I do use it as a stationary "dock" at desk, it's really too big to lug around. For more accessory suggestions, Comment!

-Personally I use this laptop for school, web browsing/multitasking, high-end gaming, and a screen for my Xbox . Even though it is heavy, and many will say it is only a desktop replacement. It is still portable and I have no problem using this computer around the house, on my lap, or "docked" at my desk.

For purchasing locations I would suggest either here or Xoticpc.com. I chose here mostly because of the standard price and the partial refund I receive for the screen mess-up issue.

I do highly suggest this laptop, and encourage you to research more sites for yourself to see if it will fit your uses. I only wish it took me less than 3 months to figure that out. But at such a high price I wanted to be 110% sure this was the one I wanted.

Please feel absolutely free to comment with any at all questions, regarding why I chose the upgrades I did, or anything on the system I didn't touch on well enough, Specific Game performance, purchasing options, how to configure anything, component or accessory suggestions, or other laptop comparisons. I will do my absolute best to get back to you. Also let me know anywhere to improve on the review besides grammar (after a few pages I gave up ;). I will update this review with new info, and corrections.

You have reached the end, congrats and thank you for your time if you have stuck with me, and if you did not stick with it, Hey, I don't blame your skimming.

Thanks again.

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Pros:

Very fast and no bugs so far

Cool design, backlight of keyboard and some other elements, and rubberized "palm rest" area near keyboard (looks and feels really cool, but it is also fingerprint magnet)

Looks very sturdy

Cons:

Only keyboard backlight can be dimmed whereas other elements are very bright for me, still hope to find a workaround; backlight control software works not very reliably (and UI is not quite user friendly) but good enough.

Best Deals for Alienware M17x R4 AM17xR4-11053BK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

Pro: Really fast and beautiful laptop. It is just little bit heavy.

Long battery life when switch to GPU inside the i7 CPU, so it can support mobile office work.

Original SSD is not a nice one, but it is acceptable for this price.

Con: WIndows 8 is not well done OS, after 2 month usage, the apps of start screen cannot launch. OS did not support any problem information, so it cannot be fixed.

Honest reviews on Alienware M17x R4 AM17xR4-11053BK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

I bought this laptop in May before the new Alienware 14, 17, and 18 came out. I love this laptop. So far it's been able to run every game I can throw at it with no problems. The build quality is great, as well as the cosmetics of it. I personally like this design a lot more than the Alienware 17, mainly because this laptop is thinner and the AlienFX aren't as generic looking as the newer models. Loved this laptop so far. However, as most horror stories about Dell's support goes, they are true. I opened up the computer one day and all my Windows start tiles were gone. I couldn't pull up the right click menu at the bottom. There were no restore points, AlienRespawn would not work, and the recovery partition of the hard drive was locked. I called up Alienware's support and had to fight with the first 3 support reps telling me it was a virus and that I needed to pay $150 to have them fix it. I told them I scanned with malwarebytes and had AVG installed from day 1 running regular scans, so there's no way it could've been a virus. Eventually they ended up sending me a Windows 8 recovery USB key and disc, which still didn't work. I talked to a supervisor and he was able to just replace my SSD which was the source of the issue. So be aware that if you do get anything by Alienware and something goes wrong, be prepared to battle it out because they won't just give you an easy fix without trying to get some money out of you first. Other than that, highly recommended laptop.

Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5110 Notebok Laptop / AMD A6-4400M Reviews

Customer Ratings:

Only bad thing about this laptop is battery life. I've heard a lot of bad things about windows 8, but I like it. This laptop can even run low end games like stwor for the price.

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Discount VIZIO Thin and Light CT14-A0 14-Inch Ultrabook

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $899.99
Sale Price: $699.99
Today's Bonus: 22% Off

I must admit that I was not expecting the world when I picked up the CT14-A0 version of the Vizio thin-and-light laptop as a secondary notebook to take on vacation, for general family use if one of the main computers goes off into the weeds, or perhaps to use a dedicated Linux machine.

The build quality is superb, all metal, and the unit has an elegant, understated design. For web browsing, email, watching videos, light photo editing (cropping, red-eye removal, and the like), and typical office tasks (word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations), the Intel Core i3 processor in my first model (the CT14-A0) is far faster than I expected it to be. I love the clear, bright display and the high resolution, as too many (and even more expensive) ultrabooks offer only the generic low-end 1366 x 768 resolution.

The keyboard is a joy to type on and I'm finding that I like the slightly larger beveled keys far more than the traditional island-style keys on my Sony laptop. I noticed a bit of keyboard flex, but I'm a heavy typer and have experienced some degree of flex on every laptop/notebook I've ever used; the keyboard is still top-notch as far as I am concerned. Because of the types of computing tasks I do, I typically use a Bluetooth mouse with laptops/notebooks more than I do the trackpad, but I think that I can get used to this trackpad; by the way, there is a recommended driver update for the trackpad on Vizio's site.

There is a full-sized (not micro) HDMI port for connecting sound and video to a large monitor or TV. (An HDMI cable is, of course, not included.)

Sound quality was better than I expected, although a disclaimer is in order: I don't typically listen to music while working, and I'm no audiophile.

The SSD had no funky partitioning scheme to undo; there was just a single partition. I appreciated not having to waste any time getting the system set up and running properly.

Three possible cons:

* There is no SD card slot; you can easily find an inexpensive USB adapter for your flash memory cards if that is an issue, but without a dedicated slot, you won't be able to keep an SD card permanently mounted as a sort of secondary hard disk for extra storage.

* There are only two USB ports, one on each side; the good news is that they are both USB 3.0.

* The keyboard is not backlit; however, the screen is bright and the keyboard is silver, if that helps.

My humble suggestions to Vizio for future models:

* Include an SD card slot.

* An 8-GB memory option would be sweet.

Unless the cons represent a problem for you, it is difficult not to like this machine. It seems that Vizio sat back and watched the ultrabook market develop, learned from the mistakes of others, and only then released an initial series of excellent ultrabooks that hit most of the right notes. I look forward to seeing more from Vizio in the ultrabook market.

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I have several laptops, XPS, Alienware, Gateway P7805U, Acer Aspire 11.6 netbook, Macboo Air.

Which one do I prefer to use?

XPS for work.

Alienware and Gateway for gaming

Casual Browsing --> Vizio 14".

Pros:

Very light It feels lighter then the air.

Solid Build quality surpasses the air.

Rubberized bottom You know that feeling when you put cold Macbook air metal on your thighs, well I hate that feeling. Vizio really got it right. The bottom is rubber coated.

Screen If i'm not mistaken the screen is an IPS and is 1600 x 900. Looks better then the air.

Cons:

No backlight keyboard... It makes it very hard to use at night.

Track Pad is nearly unusable. Even with the new firmware... I like a mouse anyways but seriously...? It is soo bad...

Conclusion.

I'd get this laptop over a Air. Simply because it's less expensive by $300-$400 and it seriously is one of the best laptops I've ever used.

Best Deals for VIZIO Thin and Light CT14-A0 14-Inch Ultrabook

My review is biased toward the techno-geek perspective ...I'm a systems administrator with 25 plus years experience. And I'm using the Vizio CT14-A0 model to write this review.

HISTORY. I've been using "ultra portables" since long before they were fashionable ...and I keep them a long, long time before I move on ...I've always had other, larger laptops too, but for schlepping, "light" has been my _first_ consideration since the days I hauled a Compaq CRT-style suitcase computer around to client offices). And my first ultraportable was the venerable HP Omnibook 300 back in Windows 3.1 days (and an OB425, OB430, and OB530: I was a fan). Next was the diminutive Toshiba VHS-box-size miniture (sorry, I don't recall the model anymore ...it was a netbook, of sorts, well before the word "netbook" was coined), and I kept the Tosh' almost through to the Acer 12.1 inch that the Vizio is finally!! replacing. So this ain't my first rodeo lol.

PRIORITIES. In the old days, my main priority was always weight: I was always willing to pay more for less (weight, that is). Weight is still important, but now I accept light weight as a given, and so focus more on the user-to-hardware interface. IOW, I place a lot of importance on 1) the display, 2) the keyboard, and 3) the mouse/trackpad. Almost of equal importance to the display, is cost these days ...and I have to balance what I might think I wouldn't settle for less of, with what I can actually afford: I've become frugal in my dotage.

DISPLAY. I am not aware of a better display in this size. At any price point. The IPS technology means it has excellent off-axis viewabilty (so I don't have to twist the laptop around to show my wife something I want her to see when we're in bed). The 1600x900 resolution means that you have scads of screen real-estate for doing real-world support tasks. It's a gloss finish ...but in use, it *acts* more like a matte finish as soon as the display lights up: regardless it is far past merely nice and well into being luxurious.

USER-INTERFACE. Meh. I actually like the keyboard (which very much reminds me of the old Omnibook keyboard: almost exactly the same feel and tactile peculiarites ...it's kind of what you expect from traditional non-island KB tech ...and so I'm biased toward it). I hate all trackpads as the unprecision instrument they all are ...but I'm also resigned to them as a necessary evil of non-touch screen portability, and once you get past that bias, you just get on with learning their individual quirks and they *all* have quirks lol and figure out how to live with them as best you can ...and the Sentelic actually has some nice multi-gesture options built-in that I've already come to appreciate. From other comments though, I'm guessing it might purely be the luck of the draw whether you get a "good" keyboard and trackpad, or a demonically inhabited one whose sole existence lies in making your computing life thoroughly miserable (in other words: lucky me). NOTE: I did immediately upgrade the trackpad driver after first booting the thing, so I might have suffered less than others who were subjected to the original driver (and from observation of my usage the past few days, most complaints are likely less a hardware-based, and more driver-related issues that could be very, very easily fixed with another update ...for example, the right click "issue" in a browser which is driving me a little bananas right now, doesn't happen at all on the desktop right click menu ...ergo, the software is the issue).

FEATURES. Third generation i3 core ...dual core, hyper-threaded (so functionally a quad core for my uses ...and one of the hardware sites mentioned that it compares favorably with at least one of the 2nd gen i5's ...as I hadn't paid that much attention to the i3's due to my bias, I was very favorably surprised at how very "lively" the i3-3217U was in use ...it "feels" like a much faster processor). 128MB SSD (which translates into about 80GB of free space as delivered ...my old Acer ultraportable was a 60GB, and still has 50% free drive space after almost 8 years, so I'm good lol); please *do* turn off hibernation (I mean, it's an SSD for gawds sake: what possible purpose is served by *hibernating* the bloody thing) via "powercfg -h off" in an elevated prompt. Intel 4000 video (way fast enough for providing remote support and surfing the cloud ...and no, I do not game lol). USB3 (I have a little plug-in USB card reader that I picked up if I ever do want to plug in a card btw: so the lack thereof don't bother me). Very decent wireless (including 5G connectivity). Bluetooth (so you can tether it from your 'droid smartphone, yaay) or whatever. HDMI (full size port: nice touch). Small-ish power brick with cool charging-LED characteristic (with the install key label on the brick: now, that was weird). GREAT case design and construction (this is a later model, so I s'pose I'm lucky to have missed the typical manufacturing birthing pains that early adopters mentioned). Thin (.75 inch closed), light (on a digital scale I read 3 lbs 7.5 oz), metal w/rubber coated bottom (now there's an idea), and very quiet (the fan rarely turns on at all, and so "silent" wouldn't be all that inaccurate a description). Sound quality serves my purposes more than merely adequately (I'm not an audiophile, and I have no expectations of a device this size being able to serve that purpose with any level of elan).

FACTORY SOFTWARE. The lack of bloatware is particularly noteworthy, and appreciated. I didn't uninstall anything: kudos to Vizio. And Vizio already had MS Security Essentials installed, so another pat on the back (someone on the development team was an actual *user* lol). I had a license for Office 2010, and the install files for that were either lurking on the drive somewhere (there was an icon, at least), or it installed from some website when I applied my key. Other than Office (of which, I primarily use Outlook these days), I've primarily been adding patches, and installing the usual plethora of cloud apps (Evernote, Google Drive, Dropbox, Chrome, Gbridge, TeamViewer, etc., etc.) that I use in my daily work. I have a well-refined "digital support toolset", and the disparate parts pretty much cooperate in keeping me trouble-free, so I can keep my clients trouble-free.

PURPOSE. In my case, this is primarily a cloud box used for online reading, and late hours support and maintenance ...I don't onsite much these days (I'm 800 miles from my nearest clients lol), and when we go out-and-about java-hopping, I'm probably bringing the Nexus 7 as tech of choice anyways. I don't install a bunch of crap, and neither is the CT14 a repository for pictures & documents & music (for me, that stuff is destined to be moved to cloud drives or network storage these days ...I just don't see the point of keeping stuff like that on a local drive). For its intended purpose, the machine as configured turns out to be way overkill. Which is a happy thing lol.

USAGE AND PRICE. I picked this one up at Wally World three days ago, and it was a Jefferson-and-Lincoln under five Franklins. Oh yeah. Screamin' deal. Tell me what I could'a, should'a, would'a that even comes close to this hardware level for well under $500. Please. LOL.

MISC THOUGHTS. For all practical purposes, this is an "instant on" device. You have no idea how life-changing being able to close the lid on a working document or project, go do something else for awhile, and come back within seconds to your previous work is, until you don't have it (re: the old OB300). The keyboard is fine. Since I don't think any trackpad is worth using, the one provided is at least of no worse suitability IMHO. Because some of you have scared me, I will be buying an additional two years of Square Trade warranty (so long as it's an *additional* two years lol: I do read the fine print ...and so should you), which I *never* do (I paid little enough that I can justify the extra for the piece of mind). I suspect if this gives good service for a few years, it's likely to be one of my favorite laptops ever. I'm getting 7-10 hours plus of battery life with my current usage patterns, and custom power settings (intermittent use, with frequent "sleep" periods), so I'm not sure what other's are doing that I don't do: I have no complaints on battery life, and it's already a day time use, night time charge device (like the Nexus LTE and the Nexus 7). I've already spread the word around to friends and family and clients about the Wally World sale (local only, so you'll not see this online and you have a chance for a few days), so I definitely recommend the purchase.

FINAL WORDS. Five stars because of suitability, features-at-price-paid, ergonomics and industrial design, the thoughtful lack of crapware, and for inclusion of the utterly stunning display. Buy.

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

UPDATE Three weeks later

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

...regarding the touchpad, and the driver update.

Okay. After several days of no problems whatsoever with the touchpad, I finally got current with Microsoft patches. And since the updated Vizio/Sentelic driver was on the hardware patch list (and even though I had already run the driver update from the Vizio website when I first turned the CT14 on and connected to the cloud), I was feeling lazy and just clicked to include the MS driver. Couldn't hurt, right? Wrong! Big mistake. HUGE mistake. Incredibly stupid move, even.

Do note that I almost NEVER update drivers from the Microsoft update website for anything. As a general rule (I go to the chipset manufactures or the OEM for drivers). So yeah, I broke the rule. This turned out to be a huge, huge mistake: the touchpad absolutely went to crap, immediately upon restart. With problems up to and including the cursor totally freezing (requiring me to go to sleep mode to get the touchpad functional again).

Four days later, after installing/uninstalling practically every Sentelic driver from any-and-every manufacturer on the web ...I gave up. Even uninstalling, deleting the hardware, reinstalling, whatever from wherever (including the Vizio one) ...I simply could not get the mouse back to a reliably functional state.

So. I restored to the pre-patch point. Yes: from before the fateful (and fatal!) installation of the Microsoft patch which hosed my touchpad.

...and ...the restore worked.

The touchpad has been fine ever since. No weirdness. No freezes.

The overly sensitive gestures are working as they were intended again (they're actually useful). And I'm actually getting decent with the touchpad's peculiarities.

NOTE: I've found the Sentelic touchpad is VERY (overly! even) sensitive to finger placement within zones, for example (and a pity it is that touch zones cannot be manually set btw ...that would be a hugely welcome addition, which would go a long ways to ameliorate its crappy reputation). I can finally, and fairly reliably, get a right click menu in IE, without causing the cursor to jump down a half dozen lines (the trick is to press lightly-but-firmly about 2/3 from the lower LH corner ...since figuring that spot out, I'm in the 80-90% plus success rate with the right-click menu, and increasing in accuracy as my familiarity with where that sweet spot is, grows).

The moral of the story here is DO NOT INSTALL THE MICROSOFT SUPPLIED DRIVER PATCH.

I suspect that too many people used the Microsoft patch instead of the Vizio patch, or re-applied the patch using the Microsoft one also ...thereby totally hosing their touchpad (at least: I experienced many of the same symptoms that other people have reported when I applied the patch, and NOTHING I did, until I restored to a pre-additional-patch point was effective in fixing the problems that occured AFTER the reapplication of the MS update site with the same version number).

And yes, I know that both of those files appear to be the same version, size, and date. And maybe it's not the Microsoft driver per se, maybe it's re-applying the driver patch a second time that screws things up. Whatever. I can only suggest that IF the Vizio website updated driver is the ONLY touchpad driver patch you apply, you might not have the problems with the Sentelic touchpad that so many people have reported. You have been warned.

And, as always: YMMV.

Honest reviews on VIZIO Thin and Light CT14-A0 14-Inch Ultrabook

This is a great little laptop, and it is by far the best thin and light available for under $600. No competition. End of story. Build quality is excellent, and the screen is one of the best available in any 14-inch laptop.

Professional reviews have tended to criticize the keyboard and touchpad, but I think this is a largely response to the promotional interviews posted on The Verge which stated this computer has the best keyboard and touchpad among Windows laptops. While I can't say the input devices are the greatest ever, I find the keyboard to be better than average (good spacing, no flex) and the touchpad to be just fine.

The touchpad is manufactured by Sentelic, so it has limited features and doesn't work with Linux as well as some other brands. The driver that ships with the computer is problematic, but an update available on the Vizio website makes the touchpad usable with smooth two-finger scrolling. I have found that this configuration works well for me:

1) Download and install new driver.

2) Disable the confusingly named "Click on Pad." (This is what is usually called tap to click.)

3) Disable all gestures except two-finger vertical and horizontal scrolling.

After going through these steps, I find the touchpad to be as functional as an HP clickpad from 2011. (In other words, it can be temperamental when resizing windows, but it's mostly not an issue.)

In short, this is a quality machine at a great price. Grab it now.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for VIZIO Thin and Light CT14-A0 14-Inch Ultrabook

The computer itself is great, amazing display... But there are some real problems with the mouse trackpad and the keyboard... I find myself constantly annoyed with the horrible sensitivity of the pad and unlike my past laptops, i really have to hit the keys hard for them to register.. typing in class is loud and obnoxious... if your in the market for the laptop.. would really suggest going to a computer store and feeling the keyboard and trackpad first.. if i had.. i think i would have went for a different ultrabook.