Review of HP Envy 4-1115dx 14-inch Touch Ultrabook

Customer Ratings:

After poking around a store and peeking in the returns cage, I found my HP Envy 4 at a heavily discounted price due to a missing battery? Really? The battery is built in. I had been shopping for literally months for an affordable Ultrabook with a touchscreen, backlit keys, small footprint, an I5 CPU, and for under a grand. The closest one I could find was an Acer M5, but that one has all the USB connections in the back (yes, under the monitor hinge), and the power button is on the front edge?!? Silly design.

The HP Envy Touch 4 is nearly perfect for me, especially after the minor tweaks I have made, and plan on making. It would be perfect if it had an IPS screen. Like most TFT screens, you have to angle it right to get the most contrast. However, the screen looks better out of the box than the Acer M5. 4GB of ram is a little light for my Photoshop needs, but I can add more ram with the removal of the bottom casing. The first and easiest tweak involved a little angelic program called Classic Shell, which not only boots straight to the Windows 8 Desktop, but also adds a Windows 7 style Start Button! I have NO use for the Start Screen or Screen Formerly Known as Metro. I didn't when I beta-tested it, and I still don't. Metro is a shameless marketing ploy to get on the app bandwagon. Silly Microsoft! Apps are for kids!! With Classic Shell, you get all the familiarity of Windows 7, with all the speed of Windows 8.

The backlit keyboard is hard to find among the plethora of laptops out there, and this keyboard is perfect for me. I had considered an Asus Q500 laptop once, but the grey backlit keys were a turn-off. My last laptop was a 17-inch with a 10-key number pad, and I never used it as much as I thought I would. This keyboard is just the write size for the writing I do.

The sound is nice through the headphones, and okay without. How much sound can you expect from a 14-inch laptop anyway, Beats Audio non-withstanding?

The battery life is adequate. I haven't timed it, but I've easily used it for over 3 hours with still plenty left. It is a 4-cell Lithium Ion Polymer battery, much better than Lithium-ion alone.

I really don't use the touchscreen that much since I installed Classic Shell.

Boot-up is under 15 seconds!!

Pros: I5 CPU, super fast PC3-12800 ram, touchscreen, 2 USB 3.0 on the left, 1 USB 2.0 on the right, and SD card reader. Small, thin form factor.

Cons: Nearly 5 lbs, Windows 8, no access doors, no IPS or hi-def screen. Hey, it costs under $800 everywhere, less for an Open-Box deal!

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Lenovo Ideapad Z575 12992DU 15.6-Inch Laptop (Gun Metal Grey) Review

Customer Ratings:

The laptop came ready to go out of the box but not before I replaced the existing 4 GB ram with an 8 GB set. It comes loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit and I was also delighted to find out that there wasn't much bloatware but definitely enough to warrant a clean wipe. I then installed a fresh copy of Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. It handles basics tasks without breaking a sweat and can even run many current games, like Diablo 3 and Star Wars: The Old Republic, at mid to high advanced settings with a maximum resolution of 1366x768.

Current Windows Experience Index:

Processor: 6.7

RAM: 7.3 (@ 8 GB)

Graphics: 5.9

Gaming Graphics: 6.5

Primary HD: 7.1

It's very lightweight for its size and seems sturdy enough, although I'd feel safer with it in a case even when at home. The attractive gun metal grey finish rounds out a great package. Definitely a great buy for a mid level entertainment laptop if you're looking for one at a sub-$500 price range.

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Bought this AMD-based Ideapad because it seemed that folks thought its Intel counterpart was problematic. I'm not the least bit disappointed. I needed a basic laptop with moderate horsepower. I replaced the OS with my copy of Windows 7 Pro and it's a fairly fast machine, I won't need more than its 4GB of RAM or an SSD drive. I use a fast 32GB SD card for Microsoft's ReadyBoost feature but I'm not sure this laptop even needs that. I use it mostly for web surfing and remote sessions to my more powerful computers downstairs, but like to watch videos every now and then too. As many have noted, the sound is adequate but could be improved, however I'm hard of hearing and usually use headphones anyway. The touchpad is textured but it's not distracting, and it's positive and accurate. I do miss a middle button -this rig has a single button bar below the touchpad that acts sort of like a rocker for right and left clicks. Seems strange but it works fine. Very minor complaints for an otherwise excellent computer, I certainly think my money was well-spent.

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High Performance and best value all in one on this Lenovo Z575 Laptop. MUST HAVE laptop for under $500 with great graphics HD card that handles most games new on the market! Does DVD Burning in minutes not hours!!! Great energy management system and boot optimization software!! Key board and lights are outstanding! So far this Lenovo Z575 exceeds all my expectations! You will be satisfied with the performance of this Lenovo laptop. Recommended!!

Honest reviews on Lenovo Ideapad Z575 12992DU 15.6-Inch Laptop (Gun Metal Grey)

This PC plays Max Payne 3 at 1336x768(high) with normal settings(such as texture quality) on, and Skyrim plays at high smoothly and ultra at a mostly playable framerate! Im amazed considering how cheap this laptop is! I played the games as vannila as the computer was out of the box, so no overclocking, modding, etc. The fans do a great job, keeping the computer at a just below warm temperature when gaming, and cool when browsing/ doing light loads on cpu. Don't let the 1.5 ghz scare ya, you can still overclock since the computer came unlocked. Laptop came 1 day early, Monday, when it was supposed to come Tuesday. Amazons shipping is great, fast, and efficient. I highly recommend it!

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Got this used for $300 on ebay about 6 months ago. Upgraded to 8 gig ram. Runs fine. Can play World of Tanks online. Has about 2 hours of battery life. Two minor problems. When I unplug the ac, the laptop many times freezes. Also many times the laptop does not turn off when I try to shut it down, and I have to be careful to not "hotbox" it. However, just holding down the on button will do a force shutdown.

Best Apple iBook Laptop 12.1" M8758LL/A (800-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM Deals

Customer Ratings:

As a writer for LowEndMac ( I know my Mac. I've had this comptuer for a few months now and absolutely love it! While it's not my main computer, I use it to take to class and around campus. Paired with an AirPort card it's awesome. For the price, this provides every I'd ever need. The small size is great to take around campus or anywhere, and everyone thinks it's so cute!

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First thing I should mention: I bought this laptop at a spectacular sale price. I paid $729 for this machine with 640mb of RAM (maxed out) and an Airport card with it. I highly recommend that you do max it out. I played with the 128mb version of this in Compusa and I noticed it to be significantly slower. When maxed out, this machine will run significantly faster than my 1.67Ghz Windows XP desktop in any task you will throw at it. On top of that, the Mac OS is far superior to anything ever put out by Microsoft. It's stable, easy to use, it just works. I have OS X Panther on this and I highly recommend it. I could never live without Expose, Apples far superior answer to the PC bar at the bottom. For those who are not familiar with it, this new feature in Panther will allow you to push F9 on the keyboard and show every window that is open. It will show exactly what is happening in that window at the moment, meaning that if I were to have a video running on it, the video would play on the tiny window as I look for the window I want. I click the window and it goes back to normal, only with that window on top. VERY USEFUL.

Besides that, this machine is very well designed. The ports are on the side, no more reaching behind to plug it in. Its got a thick layer of plastic casing, yet is just over an inch thick. The 12 inch screen is amoung the clearest I've ever seen, and is suprisingly easy to use. The speakers are just okay, but you don't buy a laptop for speakers anyway. The snow colored design is absolutly beautiful, and is a nice plus. The screen is on a solid bar, not one of those flimsy PC hinges. This is the most solidly built, yet lightest, thinnest, most compact laptops I've ever owned or used. I have had several PC laptops before this one, and this is, by far, the best machine I have ever owned.

By the way, the battery life on this machine is, to sum it up in one word, unbelievable. I can get about 4 hours of battery life while watching VIDEOS on this, surfing the web I can get upwards of four and a half or more! The low power consumption of the G3 processor makes this an ultra-portable machine.

For those who are considering switching. Don't be discouraged by the OS right away. It is something you will need to get used to, but after a few days you will never know how you ever lived without it. I now go back to my PC and just absolutly despise it every second I use it. I have now gotten used to the Mac and enjoy it more than I ever did with my PC. You know what they say, once you've gone Mac, you don't ever go back.

Well, to sum it up, this machine is perfect. I have yet to come across any sort of flaw whatsoever. Mac has thought this thing through, their attention to detail is amazing. Everything down to the little hook that comes out just as you close the lid to lock it shut has been designed perfectly. This isn't something that has just been scrapped together by Dell or something, this is a powerful piece of computing genius that has been designed for people out to make the intelligent choice for their computing needs. If you're stupid, go the ways of the PC world and conform to the ways of Bill Gates If you're smart, buy a Mac, you won't regret it. I guarantee!

Best Deals for Apple iBook Laptop 12.1" M8758LL/A (800-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM

My girlfriend and I bought this computer for college for her and we both use it. Excellent Purchase

ProGreat battery life (we've gotten 7-8 house using wireless and www/word/email

Pretty sturdy, not as much as my clamshell ibook but better than other laptops I've seen

Great display, clear and bright

Fast ENOUGH...

ConHave had to repair it once for the display that stopped working, although the local repair center fixed it in 3 days and was covered under warranty

Would recommend that you buy applecare extended though.

Honest reviews on Apple iBook Laptop 12.1" M8758LL/A (800-MHz PowerPC G3, 128 MB RAM

It was in good condition. But the OS was extremely outdated. I expected a more versatile cd drive. Feel me?

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You won't only get what all windows based laptops have but a whole lot more of good stuff such as software and some fantastic applications that will blow your mind off. I can't live without my ibook . . . and I mean it.

Discount Sony VAIO VPC-S135FX/S Intel Core i5-480M processor 13.3-Inch LED

Customer Ratings:

A bought this laptop over 6months ago, and i have been using it consistently, this is not my first laptop, but it is the best i have ever bought so far.

Pros:

Slim and light, hence easy to carry around.

Battery life very good, more than 4hrs when in a good climate (be careful if you gonna use it in a hot climate, battery life could be just 2hrs).

Automatically activated lowlight condition for keyboard, this makes it good to use in the dark, the backlight only comes up in the dark when the keyboard is pressed.

Hard disk size is big enough for any multimedia data.

Cons:

The only issue found so far is the memory, though i have not proved this much, but I noticed atimes when the HDMI port is being used and a movie is played at the same time, there are atimes some delay. Hence, am trying to increase the system memory from present 4gb to 8gb. But so far, this is a very good laptop.

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. I have used this amazingly capable computer for many applications and communication under many conditions driving across this country several times both indoors and outdoors wired and wireless with bluetooth, skype and android apps. With Intel-i5, Windows-7, and a back lit keyboard after 20 months, it has proven to be a very dependable portable asset to my personal and business needs. I have added a Nushield screen protector, a hygienic keyboard skin from Abeststore.com, and a Microsoft Explorer Blue Track mouse. Tiny Built in speakers are quite weak, some lower case heat buildup, and the battery life is fair to good depending on use and settings, none the less I rate this 13.3-inch laptop very good to excellent .

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I am completly satisfied with the product. This one is offering me more than what I have expected. Best part about this product is the very less heating effect. I keep on using this all day and I can feel very less heating effect. I would rate this product 4.5/5.0.

Best ASUS Vivobook V500CA-EB71T 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop Deals

Customer Ratings:

I bought this to replace a Toshiba laptop that we'd been using for a few years. I heard a lot of great things about Asus so I gave it a try. The preformance of this laptop is great but it's the design that I had problems with. The keypad is terrible. The keys are recessed so it makes it very uncomfortable to type. I constantly had to press keys more than once to get a response. I ended up returning and purchasing a HP with the same specs and the keyboard is great!

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This is a very pretty machine. It has everything I needed for the perfect price. HOWEVER, The spacebar does not work 9 out of 10 times that you try to use it. If you are a person like me that has to type a lot, this is a MAJOR problem. The whole keyboard is kind of awkward, but at least the other keys actually worked. Sadly, I had to return it, because who wants a computer without a properly functioning spacebar. It's like a nightmare come true. WTF?!! I would say to take your chances and purchase this if you are the hunt and peck kind of person. Then you might be able to slam the spacebar with all your might perfectly in the middle to get it to work. This doesn't seem to just be a rare defect. I would have to think they are all functioning like this.

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I bought this for a graduation present for my niece, and she absolutely loved it. Very powerful machine for the money.

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I just had it and I love it so far! You just need to get used to windows 8 and you're good to go.

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this is a grate computer for mostly anything and the touchscreen makes windows 8 so much better! I would total recommend this computer.

Best 2go NBCQW6 Notebook - Pentium SU4100 1.3GHz - 11.6" - 2GB DDR3 Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $499.00
Sale Price: $350.99
Today's Bonus: 30% Off

I've had a really good experience with my 2go QW6. For the money (paid only $375 on a bid site 6 months ago) it's a great value for a netbook with 2GB DDR3, 320GB HDD and Windows Home Premium. The 11.6" size is pretty ideal from my perspective small enough to carry around and yet a full-size keyboard. The screen is bright and clear and the tactile response of the keyboard is better than any netbook that I've used. It's really too bad that CTL netbooks are not more widely available.

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Best Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Metal - Dusk Black) Deals

Customer Ratings:

I will come back and update this review [done, several updates have been added below] as I have more experience with this laptop, but since there are few reviews, I thought I'd get something up quickly to help others out as they do their comparisons. More details later, for now, let's talk about gaming performance, as I suspect that's what most people will be wondering about.

Simply put, the gaming performance is excellent and beats any comparably priced machine I am aware of currently (March 2013). The dual Nvidia 650M SLI GFX cards will outperform a 670m and usually be snapping on the heels of a 675M (even beating it on occasion, though very rarely). The 675m is usually about 10-12% faster, but in some games like Skyrim, the 650M SLI combo actually wins (by a hair). Let's just say that nearly all games will run in their high/ultra settings with a few tweaks, and even the tough games will run on mid to high settings at full HD resolution. Turn down a few settings or lower the rez and almost anything will run smoothly at high frame rates. As Nvidia improves their drivers (this is still a very new config) performance should only get better.

So, in short, you get exceptional gaming performance at this price point, especially considering the 1920x1080 HD resolution (most comparably priced rigs will have lower rez displays). This is a TN display, not IPS, but it is a good TN display with excellent color, good viewing angles, and good contrast ratios. It is also bright, though the glossy screen does show reflections, the glossy finish does help with color saturation and contrast. Indoors, it will usually not be a problem. And here's a good place to say that this is a *portable* notebook, but one that will usually be tethered to A/C power for gaming. It's more of a desktop replacement than a laptop. Still, only about 6 lbs., so not bad to grab and move around. Update: Also, when on battery power, only one GFX card is available, you must be on A/C power to run in SLI mode.

It has a sleek looking case (aluminum), truly great red backlit keyboard (one of the best I've used), and red accents on the speakers (which sound pretty good for a notebook). All the basic ports, bluetooth, HDMI, USB 2.0 (1) and 3.0 (2) -however, no optical drive, that bay holds the second GFX card instead. A special DVD/Blu-Ray module can be purchased and swapped out with the second GFX card if you wish, or you can use an external optical drive which works fine and is what I do, as I already had one handy.

Gamers will nearly always be using a mouse, so the iffy touchpad (not awful, but not too good for gaming) won't be a problem for most. The keyboard is very nice and even has a numeric keypad scrunched in. Typing feel is above average. When you are not gaming, this unit makes a nice high end work rig as well (think video editing, photoshop, audio, etc.). It doesn't hurt that you've got an exceptionally fast CPU and a bunch of RAM stuffed into this thing, either. Benchmarks are great.

The 5400 rpm hard drive gives many pause, but it is a good quality Samsung drive with an SSD cache and, really, it works pretty well and is faster than I expected. In normal use, I hardly even notice any lag compared to my SSD rig. No, it's not as fast all the time, but it's perfectly fine and not something that bothers me at all. Not yet anyway. For gaming, I doubt it will be an issue. The new windows 8 secure boot BIOS make it harder to swap out for an SSD (though it can be done, it's not trivial), so this may still be a consideration for some. I'm happy to leave the HDD in place, myself.

Great gaming and media performance, great performance overall, really. Nice Full HD screen, Good speakers, Plenty of storage and memory, plus good, solid build quality make this an attractive choice and an excellent value.

Update: Five weeks in and I remain very happy with this rig.

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

Some notes that I think might be useful to those considering the Y500:

- On CPU performance, the Y500 beats many more expensive gaming rigs thanks to the newer Core i7-3630QM 2.40 Ghz quad-core processor capable of running 8 threads, and equally important, capable of single-thread burst modes up to 3.4 Ghz.

- Not all games support SLI GFX, some will run only with a single card. Even then performance is pretty good as the 650M used runs at a slightly higher clock speed than usual and Lenovo has used the faster DDR5 RAM and plenty of it, so even a single card has strong mid-range performance. Luckily, almost all newer games *do* support SLI mode.

- I have posted an image (gallery "user" images at top left of product page)showing some benchmark results for Skyrim where the 650M SLI tops a 675M in med and high settings and ties it on ultra (full HD) settings. See notes on image for more info.

-There are tweaks you can apply to make Windows 8 look and act more like Windows 7, if that is your preference. I see no need to install Win 7, though I do prefer it, being more used to it. Gonna have to accept Windows 8 sooner or later. ;)

-Most often noted "cons" by others, battery life of only 3-4 hours, not an issue if you're plugged in most of the time (as I am). Hard drive at 5400 rpm not as bad as many make out. It's a good performing drive even at 5400 and you get less noise and heat. The SSD cache works well. Having 1 TB of storage is good for gamers, too, given the size of newer games and media (music, videos, photos, etc.). No DisplayPort if that matters to you. Not an IPS display, but a pretty decent TN panel. Some have complained about the exhaust ports, not an issue for me, but could be for some depending on how you use and position your notebook.

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I wanted so so much to love this computer. Its specs are unbelievable for the price, and the ultrabay and backlit keyboard are major bonuses. It has a great array of ports (side note: the product description says it's got 2xUSB2.0 and 2xUSB3.0 this is incorrect. It has only one USB2.0 port on the right side), and the screen is simply beautiful.

I knew ahead of time that the trackpad and the keyboard might leave something to be desired, but I was not prepared for the degree to which this affected my ability to use the computer. The trackpad is just...straight up aggravating. There is a clear lack of spit and polish with the user friendliness of the keyboard/trackpad.

Let's take the trackpad -

Good:

*Nice texture

*Synaptics, so at least theoretically a good piece of hardware

*Two finger scroll

Bad:

*This is a circular problem. There is no physical button you have to push down the trackpad; if you want to *click* the trackpad, you have to put just a few more pounds of pressure down on it than seems reasonable, and the computer seems to agree, as doing this appears to actually depress the entire pad into the body of the laptop by a few mm and sometimes make a disconcerting creaky noise; since you don't want to have to try to click the pad, you want to tap it, and here is where software fights you right and left for control of the computer. Granted I have my mouse sensitivity set very high, but it has been really frustrating to tap or double tap on things and find that for whatever reason the mouse has moved in some direction during that action. Unavoidably, there will be times where you HAVE to click and hold something while you drag it around or resize a window or something, and this is next impossible without turning on the click lock feature buried in the mouse settings, which you will then have to flip on and off every time you plug in a mouse, which you will DEFINITELY be doing because it's the only way to make mouse interface with this computer in any way a pleasant experience. It's enough to make me say that it's a shame this computer didn't come with a touchscreen so I could just avoid the trackpad for clicking things, which should say something.

*Even the fastest tracking speed seems a little sluggish to me. This may be a Windows problem and not a Synaptics problem, but I thought I'd mention it.

*Major smudgefest. Doesn't bother me all that much, but it sure doesn't do much to preserve the sleek look of the machine.

Now the keyboard-

Good:

*Backlighting is GREAT. I LOVE having a backlit keyboard, and having a couple brightness options is pretty handy too.

*Good solid keyboard. It feels great to type on. Not mushy or wiggly. For a laptop, I think this is a totally acceptable keyboard.

*Number pad! Hooray!

Bad:

*I don't know who the hell patented what that causes Windows PC's to hide all their most helpful function buttons BEHIND the function keys, but it's stupidly frustrating. Basic things like brightness, volume, keyboard backlight, and all the fun little additions lenovo gives you for quick access to search functions or program switching or whatever they're all spread out in, I guess, contextual places on the keyboard. That's great except /why aren't they on TOP of the function keeeeeeyyys/?! Who uses those flim flammin keys so frequently that they take precedent over these basic, extremely important things? Why do I need two hands to turn down the volume. Also,

*WHY IS THERE NO MUTE KEY?

*The right shift is fun sized. Since my last keyboard lost it's left shift to someone spilling water on it, this is very hard for me to work with. Not a deal breaker, but again, a needless minor annoyance.

Maybe all these things are significant to me because while I am a gamer, I am also a person who likes to browse the internet and get other stuff done, and these sorts of basic UI problems significantly impede my enjoyment of this computer. Basically, I *need* a computer for all sorts of communication reasons, and these sorts of things can be done very easily and very well by a huge variety of computers. I have a 2006 Macbook Pro that fills my computer *needs* really well. It sends emails and skypes and clicks the stuff I intend it to click and even scrolls down in the direction that feels natural to me, which is all I ask of any computer. I also have computer *wants* i.e. I *want* a computer that I can play Skyrim, and Tribes:Ascend, and Starcraft 2 on, and I presently have a Y500 that yawns in the face of these challenges. I was really hoping that it would cover my *needs* as well, but it falls flat on its face in that department, so I can't really justify the combined 15 or so lbs of computer it now takes to cover all my bases here can I? And which do you think is still under a return policy? *Sigh*

EDIT: I forgot to mention, that I had a few technical problems with the SLI cards. I installed and played enough games from my Steam and Humble Bundle accounts to fill up about 65% of the hdd, which, since it's a terabyte, I believe is impressive. Several of the games had some very strange, very quirky problems that are hard to describe. Weird stuff like not scaling text properly at some resolutions, or not behaving normally unless run in a windowed mode. Some games refused to work at all, and one even refused to explain itself it simply closed without comment every time I tried to run it. I also had some graphical issues outside of games, specifically while using Chrome. At least two dozen times during the month I owned this computer, the screen would randomly black out, then pop back on at full brightness (not awesome in a dark bedroom watching TV) reporting that the graphics card had crashed and had been recovered, followed by Chrome locking up and needing to be force closed and reopened. These are all likely driver related issues that Nvidia will likely (hopefully) hammer out in the future, but it's worth knowing if you're thinking of buying this computer.

Best Deals for Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Metal - Dusk Black)

I purchased this laptop for work purposes (Video Editing, etc.) and so far it has exceeded my expectations in many ways!

The graphics capability is phenomenal, the speakers sound great and the laptop itself feels well-made and solid, but just light enough to make it easy to carry around for in-the-field editing. The screen is bright and looks great! The keyboard is comfortable and feels nice when doing a fair amount of typing.

The only problem I've had is the mouse pad. It's a little hyper-sensitive at first and it's hard to find a good setting that makes it easy to use. However, this is easily fixed with a wireless mouse and the multi-touch functions are very useful!

I don't know what everybody's issue with Windows 8 is, it just takes a little bit to get used to it. If you don't like it, just install Win 7, it's not that hard to come by.

And well, it just looks cool. Some people may life the flashy stuff, but this laptop just looks classy.

If you're doing anything that requires intensive video processing, buy this laptop! You won't regret it!

Honest reviews on Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 15.6-Inch Laptop (Metal - Dusk Black)

First off, for the price, this laptop is great. SLI, backlit keyboard, 16gb of ram, and 1tb of hd space are all the great features in this laptop. The screen is beautiful at 1920x1080 and pc gaming is amazing with the screen and gpu. Other complaints on here state the lack of optical drive or a crappy touchpad, the touchpad does sound rather cheap but works fine. I use a mouse so I don't use the touchpad very often. The lack of optical drive is understandable because its replaced with an extra gpu. The ultrabay allows you to switch between an extra gpu, a fan, another hdd, or an optical drive. Windows 8 gets some getting used to. After a week it feels natural and with the installment of software like pokki or startisback, this gives you a start button and the option to boot straight into desktop mode, bypassing the metro UI completely. I thought the 32gb ssd was for the operating system for fast boot times, but its just for cache. Not that this laptop needs an ssd for a faster boot, I still get 8 second start ups everytime. If you are looking for a computer similar to this but with a bluray drive and 3d, check out the toshiba qosmio, similar price but bulkier. Gaming on this is a breeze, and with a 3d monitor, games and movies look amazing. Every game so far has had optimal settings for ultra high, crysis 3, metro:last light, and tomb raider are some examples of games that play without stutter. The JBL speakers are some of the best laptop speakers I have ever heard, sound is clear and crisp. I feel as if this computer is lacking some ports, I thought I would have had more than 3 usb ports. I ordered the toshiba dynadock to compensate that though, it gives me 6 usb 3.0 ports 2 video cards for extra displays, 5.1 surround sound, and extra usb 2.0 ports for the hell of it. This computer has some nice features like a 1-button back up system, energy management tools and dust removal program that puts fans on high and pushes out dust from inside. Don't have many complaints about the laptop, except maybe the battery life, but with the amount hardware the bad boy is powering, its expected.

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This computer is amazing dont get me wrong but it broke 6 months in due to a hard drive malfunction and when i called the "Lenovo #" on google they said the warranty would cover anything, blah blah blah. Aparently i was calling "MyTech Help Repair". When we finally got things sorted out and called Lenovo they were amazingly helpful. Best costumer service ive ever had. NEVER GO THROUGH MY TECH HELP REPAIR for repairs.

But overall this is a great computer that i would buy again.

Review of HP Pavilion dv6t-7000 Quad Edition Entertainment Notebook PC

Customer Ratings:

If you compare the specs of this laptop with others of the same price range, you will find that this one is outstanding. Fast latest generation processor, and impressive 1TB hard drive, 8GB memory, the Discrete NVIDIA graphics, backlit keyboard, Blu-ray drive etc are all good.

What this lacks is two things.

1) A really pathetic webcam: Unless your face is illuminated with direct sunlight, all you will see is some dark shadows on the the screen when the webcam is used. It is impossible to use this webcam if you use it indoors for a video chat. This is with all the defaults settings. If you adjust the "Exposure" setting for the webcam, if will become brighter but then the motion blur on the video causes it to be unusable again. I went to a local costco and compared the units there too and see that this is a problem with the dv6-t model from HP. I saw another dv4-t model which was having a good webcam. ( which was sitting right next to the dv6t, so the lighting is not any different between both ) .

2) Another annoying thing is that the LCD is having a bluish tint. So the colors were all different than what it really is. This is a problem if you use if for some photo/video editing. You may be able to do some color calibration and get what you want, but having payed close to 1000 bucks, I would expect HP put some effort into creating a color profile for the display which is actually good enough for most users to use with.

In short I bought this with great expectations form hp's shopping site, but ended un in returning it 3 days after I got it delivered.

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I bought this computer a year ago because I needed a pc that could handle my entertainment needs and work. I even got a few memory upgrades so that it could handle everything I do. At first this computer worked great and I was really happy with it. A month after receiving it the display got these horrible horizontal lines across it. I sent it in for repair and then it worked fine. Two months later, I got the same problem. Lines all across the screen. So I called HP's repair service and sent it in, they fixed it and sent it back. 4 months after that the lines appeared again. and I had to send it in for a third repair. The problem still isn't fixed because they showed up again.

Now, my computer refuses to read an external drive. I have a Hirachi external drive, brand new, and whenever I try to open files on it, my HP computer freezes up and then the screen goes blank. HP repair because since they have failed to solve the screen problem how can I expect them to solve this. I spent $1100 on my HP and feel I wasted my money.

I ended up buying a low end Toshiba 6 months ago and thus far it has worked far better than this computer. Hp still refuses to change out my computer or refund my money despite the fact that it is still under warranty. I have done system recoveries and virus scans. Nothing has worked. Basically, I feel cheated. Do not buy. I do not recommend and will not be buying HP again.

Best Deals for HP Pavilion dv6t-7000 Quad Edition Entertainment Notebook PC

I purchased this laptop for my work where temporarily big processing power is needed for simulations 1-10 seconds long. I also record sound and measure microphones, speakers and various audio gadgets. Thus I need QUIET laptop, with rather steady audible noise level during medium intensity tasks. The worst laptop I had in the past used to be reasonable quiet for a while, then suddenly it would starts producing loud audible noise.

My previous laptops generally seemed to generate too much heat and produced too much associated audible noise. So I put newly purchased laptop to testing for power consumption and audible noise. Results were so good that I put two additional computers to testing. I attach here a short summary comparison for three computers working with similar display brightness. Monitor power 40W is included in Desktop numbers. I tested power consumption with "Kill a watt" meter available on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4400-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU

I plan to check later electrosmog a few mm above keyboard, with Magnetic Field, Electric Field meters. With Keyboard Backlit = ON and OFF. So far so good, first impressions is very good for laptop functioning, performance, laptop fits me perfectly. Meter does not show any power consumed when Laptop = OFF, with AC/DC Power Adapter attached.

Power Consumption for this laptop is really low, I am happy with it. Audible Noise could be improved, but it is acceptable to me.

AC Adapters for this laptop are rated 120W and 90W, indicating much greater power consumption under certain extreme conditions.

A. Laptop HP Pavilion dv6t-7000, Windows 7. Purchased 2012.

B. Laptop HP Pavilion dv2000, Windows XP Home. Purchased 2006.

C. Desktop HP Compaq DC5100, Windows XP Pro. Purchased 2005.

Power Consumption BOOT

A = 22-50W

B = 29-39W

C = 125-160W

Power Consumption IDLE

A = 12W

B = 28W

C = 115W

Power Consumption SIMULATION (5sec long simulation)

A = 24W

B = 35W

C = 150W

Audible Noise IDLE (scale 0 = no noise, 10 = loudest)

A = 3 (laptop is even quieter when raised above table surface)

B = 4-6

C = 10

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion dv6t-7000 Quad Edition Entertainment Notebook PC

I did not wanted to jump into the windows 8 bandwagon to be disappointed like the Vista fiasco. I love my new Pavilion with Windows 7 all the way. Coming from Windows "Workhorse" XP, I'm still learning the W7 runarounds of its features and folders managements. I am very happy with my purchase since I don't follow the crowd for new operating system that won't fully support my legacy softwares (I've got tons of them even Musicmatch from v6-v8,2, Nero from v6 to v10, Roxio from Adaptec v5 to Roxio10, Chessmaster 7000, Pacman, Frogger,Etc....All original purchased), Would they work flawlessly with windows8? I don't think so! So why get yourself frustrated willingly? Any new operating system that has no regards for your past purchased soft-wares and makes you buy them all over (if can they be repurchased) has no sympathy or support from me. I love technology, new gadgets but not W8, That's why I'm super glad I could buy the top of the line HP dv6t-7000 while they still had them available and Microsoft won't force me to buy W8. I heartily recommend this product!

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I needed a good gaming computer. I wanted one that could handle my Sims 3 game without freezing or crashing.

Review of MSI G Series GT70 2OD-001US 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $2,299.99
Sale Price: $2,129.89
Today's Bonus: 7% Off

Full disclosure, I bought this computer from a different vendor and not through Amazon. That said, I had to put a review out there to warn folks.

I got the computer and it was fast and well appointed. But within a few hours of getting things set up, the HDMI stopped working. I thought it was a the cord. Got a new one. Still didn't work. So, I tried the DisplayPort. It worked. Yay! I figured I could live without the HDMI as long as I didn't lose the DisplayPort too.

A few hours after that, I was playing Skyrim, getting that set up the way I liked it and...game freeze. Not unheard of with Skyrim, so I blamed the game. I tweaked and played with it, but it just got worse. After about an hour of fiddling, the machine got blazing hot and I got a video card error message. Mmm, not Skyrim's fault after all.

I called the vendor that sold me the computer and they confirmed that my video card was in the process of dying. So, the computer was basically a dud.

I know this happens but, this was the second MSI laptop to die within hours of ownership. (I will post a review for that machine as well.) I got an RMA for the comp, so I'm not going to criticize MSI's customer service. But, their quality control leaves a great deal to be desired.

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This machine has a price above the average of other laptops, but when talking about speed, this machine rules!

Having the Windows 8 being started in 1 second is really great!

The quality of the hardware seems great too.

And the button to activate the fan whenever you want is a nice feature too.

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This newer GT70 series are the most powerful well rounded single graphics card laptops on the planet for what you pay for it period, and if MSI could have better quality control for there hardware and software as well as compatibility of parts I would no doubt give this PC a 5 star review but the one I received had a few problems I with it and I must tell people so they no and so hopefully MSI will know and fix these problems so this PC can be the awesome monster it should be. With this being said I am going to try my luck with the next level model up from this that has almost all the same parts and if that one fails too then I will review it as well to let people know but about it but since amazon is refunding my money for the PC I'm gonna go for it again and find out if this was an isolated problem or and abundant one. Look below for pros cons and more detail of my review.

NEGATIVES

Windows 8 was only supposed to take up 24 GB of my SSD when its updated but some how it used up 40 GB.

When I delete items from my hard drive some how they were still taking up some or all of the space after being deleted.

I had to spend hours and hours messing with this pc to try to get it to work properly but could not get it to do so.

Windows 8 is rumored to use up to 8GB of ram sometimes so you better have A lot more than that.

Windows 8 has a new interface and everything is not where it used to be in previous windows and it did not have a tutorial to teach me how and what to use it so I had to Google how to use some of the stuff in Windows 8.

Some of the Programs on the PC wont start up till 60 seconds after the PC is at the windows desktop screen.

The PC Would run STARCRAFT 2 1920X1080 AA2 AF4 60-90FPS depending on what part of the game your in but there were times in this game and in other where for no reason the game will drop to single digits or teens for frame rate for no reason and it happend at least 5-10 times an hour and sometimes A lot more and would stay constant, I believe this was caused by an overheating graphics card or some form of incapability in this PC of hardware or software and I came to this conclusion after updating my drivers all across the system witch lessened this affect but was still happening far to often but after I turned a Hi powered personal fan on my PC the problem minimized even more to almost nothing especially if I turn on the AC in my house.

The battery cannot supply the PC to run at full power at all and when you max out what it can hand you have around an hour of gaming, 1.5 hours for movie and 2 hours for internet Ive seen some reviews that say they got these numbers up about 1/3rd but they just turned down all the power and brightness settings.

Can some times disconnect people on your wifi when you power up your pc but this might be something going in with my router as well but it is a brand new 300$ router so might be compatibility problem.

POSITIVES

+ GTX 780M The single most powerful mobile graphics card on earth as of today and more power effeciant than last gen cards.

+ 16GB DDR3 1600MHZ

+ 4th Gen i7 quadcore processor that is more effecient than previous generation i7's.

+ The best bang for the buck for single graphics laptops.

+ SSD with normal HDD so you can have the best of both worlds with speed for games and space for all else.

+ Nice 1080p screen.

+ USB 3.0 for fast data transfer from 3.0 capable devices.

+ killer lan that works great most of the time.

+ Beautiful and awesome multi color programable keyboard with little to no imput lag most of the time except startup.

1-10 RATINGS FOR THE PC WHEN ITS WORKING RIGHT LOL.

8.0 GRAPHICS, You can get about 2 times the power from a dual 780m but you will have to go 18 inch and spend $4000+.

8.0 SOUND, You get great stereo sound from the laptop speakers but will need a nice head set to get surround sound.

8.5 WIFI, ETHERNET, BLU TOOTH, all work fast if your at the right range and have no interference as far as I can tell but some times they will have some problems like when you turn on your pc you can disconnect people on your wifi lol.

9.0 KEY BOARD, Little to no input lag and its beautiful.

9.0 TOUCH PAD, Works better than any Touch pad I have ever used but its a touch pad so it still sucks for gaming lol.

8.0 SCREEN, 1080p 60hz and it looks nice but it is not the cleanest looking, most colorful or brightest but still good.

9.0 HEAT FROM TOP OF PC, Your hand will be very dry and comfy on the keyboard.

7.0 HEAT FROM THE BOTTOM WHILE ON YOUR LAP. It will get pretty warm on the left side where the graphics card is.

10.0 PRICE FOR THE MONEY.

I hope this review helps people who are looking at a gaming PC and dont stop with my review or amazon look around at other people and websites to see what other love and hate before you buy.

Honest reviews on MSI G Series GT70 2OD-001US 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

The products are quality with some great thought into the design & parts. I would say overall the performance is 4 outta 5 stars.

MSI does not offer replacement keyboards on their "Steelseries" version laptops nor does Steelseries. You have to send it in for "service" which has a 2 week turnaround. I will not pay to have someone else to do such a simple task that I have done hundreds of times. Replacing a keyboard is simple. Nor will I send in my laptop for 2 weeks. That's ridiculous.

There are no aftermarket replacement keyboards either. Do not buy. I have officially boycotted all MSI products because of this. I have burned 5+hours with support from both MSI and Steelseries on this problem.

Buy from a manufacturer who offers replacement parts. Hardware goes bad, you want to be able to replace it.

This is why they get 1 star.

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Look, I acctually haven't bought this particular laptop but I am a fan of MSI and just thought that the reviews of the previous two people were a bit off, being of course that one person hadn't even bought his/her laptop from Amazon (could've been from some crazy pop-up tent on the beach for all we know), and the other individual who had valid concerns (that would make me mad too) was describing an older laptop model.

I bought the model down a peg (because this one was too pricey for me) and its wonderfull. So I just thought I'd add some balance to these reviews and the one star rating this product received from the two reviewers.

Review of HP ENVY Sleekbook 4t-1000 14.0 inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

Only bad thing about this laptop is the that touch pad its not very responsive; i ended up buying a wireless mouse -_3/5

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this product is amazingly fast and sleek,great performance everything is awesome except that i wish i went to the upgraded backlit so its easier to see at night but overall its great,beats speaker is loud and clear. grateful to have this as my new laptop. i would recommend.

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I brought this laptop last year and I have to say it has been one of my favorite laptop. The laptop is quiet and light. It is the perfect laptop for me as a college student. I love the shiny black design for the envy 4t. The beats audio also perfect for listening to music and great for gaming. Overall great product.

Honest reviews on HP ENVY Sleekbook 4t-1000 14.0 inch Laptop

Great battery life but awful performance. I bought this mainly because of the battery life. I thought this was a good alternative for macbook air. I was wrong. I enjoy opening multiple windows when I do my work. This laptop can't handle the multitask aspect. My internet browsers crushes at least 2 times a day. I spent $400 for a Toshiba before and it did a better job than this laptop. Overall, it is very slow and not worth the price. This feels more like a netbook than the ultrabook.

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I bought this direct through HP Home and Office. It's a nice little laptop. It is light, and very snappy. It did not come with a lot of crapware. However, I've only had the laptop for two or three weeks, and last night I got error messages repeatedly that the hard drive was about to fail. I hope that it will not be a huge hassle to get HP to fix this problem. I'd give it five stars if it were reliable.

Reviews of HP Pavilion m7-1015dx Entertainment Notebook PC

Customer Ratings:

I need to buy a PC to run some Microsoft project and share point applications for my company. I've been a Mac only guy for at least 10 years, but I do know my way around the windows infrastructure. This is an i7 machine with a good amount of memory, and it does everything you need. The screen quality could be a little better although it is sufficient. The auto installed HP applications are a nightmare. I would strongly recommend disabling all of them. Warning, this machine is not only big but it's also pretty happy I had to switch briefcases in order to be able to carry with me on my last trip. As a desktop replacement it's a homerun but as a traveling computer just keep that in mind. I bought the refurb and so far no problems.

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HP Pavilion m7-1015dx Entertainment Notebook PC I started having issues about 6 months into ownership. After a plethora of phone calls to HP tech support, they finally determined a hard drive was failing. I won't even go in to that nightmare (getting the hard drive replaced when I need this laptop daily.) Anyway, the "new" hard drive is really putting out some heat and I'm afraid we're heading down the same path. I have installed all my software so many times that I have my 20 digit MS product key memorized.

I've decided that I'm going to buy cheap, cheap, cheap laptops from this point forward, and treat them all as disposable. But not everyone can afford that.

Other than the failure of the hardware, this is a great Win 7 laptop. Just too darn bad a critical piece of the hardware is not up to par.

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I bought this Refurbished Laptop and it's exactly like a new one!

I am using it for 2 month now and no problem!

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion m7-1015dx Entertainment Notebook PC

When I saw the rave reviews for this laptop, I thought this would be an amazing deal, and would be a laptop that could last for a long time. Sadly, this machine is plagued with problems that add up as time goes on. I actually purchased this particular laptop last year, but had to return it right away (less than 30 days) because of a faulty hard drive. Now almost a half-year later, many issues have arisen. I was no longer able to view pictures at first, and there were many software issues. Now not only is the mouse severely malfunctioning, but the sound card is completely out, and like the previous commenter, the HD is having major issues, and I've tried every possible way to fix it, and I consider myself pretty tech-savvy.

The previous HP laptop I had lasted me over five years, and that machine serviced me very well. That one had minor malfunctions, but they were all fixed just fine at little or no cost. However, this m7 has turned out to be a disappointment, and just managed to begin to majorly malfunction after a short time. Sadly, I will have to purchase another laptop that is not an m7. That is a real shame because there are so many quality features that the m7 has that most other HP laptops do not have like the backlit keyboard (which is a GREAT touch, but I can now live without it), the extended battery, the Beats audio, and the advanced Core i7. However, all of those features are overshadowed by the phenomenal failures that happen over a short period of time with this particular product. I really gave this laptop a chance, but it has now failed me twice.

If you want a top-of-the-line computer with amazing features that may only last you less than a few months, give this a shot. If you want a durable and longer-lasting laptop, then you are much better off looking elsewhere.

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I spent a lot of time reading reviews and researching a computer to replace my desktop. I finally decided on the HP Pavillion M7, based on positive reviews, price; it more than exceeds my expectations.

Buy Dell Precision M4400 15.4 Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53Ghz, 160GB

Customer Ratings:

I had reservations about a refurbed laptop but this one has surpassed my expectations. Being a workstation with 3.06ghz C2D and dedicated graphics, I feel it has the performance of at least an I3 if not an I5 system. The physical condition is beyond what should be expected from a 3+ yr old unit. I had to look very closely to find even small dings or scratches...I am very pleased.

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this is my first laptop i've purchased, so i wasn't sure what to expect. but i really like the speed of this dell. it came with a bigger harddrive than was described. the only thing i would upgrade is the memory, and a mouse.

Best Deals for Dell Precision M4400 15.4 Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53Ghz, 160GB

in need of a laptop upgrade and not have alot a money for the price of this machine i couldnt find a better fit! Was a great deal! i am very happy with the laptop and have no issues! i have totally upgraded it with ssd quad core cpu and 4 gb of ram and changed operating software to windows seven ultimate !! gaming is awesome !

Honest reviews on Dell Precision M4400 15.4 Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53Ghz, 160GB

The Dell M4400 I received was packed secure and easy to install the Windows 7 by following instructions. The only problem with the machine is the Nvidia M770 Video Driver put it in the laptop in BSOD mode often. I could not find

a good fix or solution other than just disabling the Nvidia driver and using the Microsoft onboard driver. I installed 4GB of

Crucial DDR2 PC6400 800mhz ram which helps. It came with only one stick of 2GB, with lower Mhz memory. This

helped with the Windows 7 and laptops performance overall. It is a well built good machine, which is good for performing business functions and even comes with smartcard. It was worth the price.

Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black) Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,299.99
Sale Price: $1,299.00
Today's Bonus: $0.99 Off

I want and still do love this laptop from a design perspective. The quality control is troubling though.

Problems with the first laptop:

1) Screen had extreme back-light bleed through on the edges, especially the top right corner. Before asking for an exchange I went to a local store to see how the screen looked and it didn't exhibit the back-light bleed problem.

2) Laptop got very hot so I opened it up to see what was happening. The right fan vent was completely blocked by a plastic tab when the fan was installed so even though it was running, it wasn't bringing cold air into the machine.

3) While opening the laptop to inspect fan, I noticed that the battery was missing all of it's screws to hold it securely in place. It wasn't even assembled correctly.

Problem with second laptop:

1) Screen bleed problem was resolved, but not there it had a very obvious dead/stuck pixel on the screen. I expect the screen to not have bad pixels when paying for a $1300 laptop.

Problems with third laptop:

1) Screen is perfect, no back-light bleed or bad pixels.

2) Track pad is horrible, very loose and makes clicking noises when just swiping finger across it, not even pressing it for the left/right "click".

3) Right fan has a much more audible clicking noise than the previous 900x3c's I returned.

4) Question mark key on keyboard has paint missing/scratched so backlight shines through in a slit on the edge of it.

5) After a few days, computer would no longer boot, called Samsung and it turns out to be a hardware, not ssd problem so they recommended another replacement.

That was the last replacement Amazon would allow me to get, now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I would really love this laptop if the quality control issues were resolved. I feel like I could assemble the good qualities of 3 laptops myself to get 1 good one that's up to par.

-----Update ------

I received my new 900x3c and it has none of the issues the previous three had. Maybe I was extremely unlucky with the previous ones or there was a bad batch? Now that I have one that is working to specs here's my review.

Design:

The laptop is extremely thin and looks very sharp. I've used it in a few public settings and get a lot of compliments and small talk about it from random people that want to hold and feel it. I believe the design is better than the macbook air and very solid with no creeks as I hold it or move the screen.

Screen:

The screen has great viewing angles from above and from the sides, has very rich color, and can be turned up very bright. I have no dead pixels and the screen backlight is very uniform and the resolution is great.

Keyboard and Trackpad:

The keys are slightly on the stiff side, with expected limited travel, but not a deal breaker and still great to type on. The backlight is a nice shade of blue/green and the brightness can be adjusted.

The trackpad is nice and large, supports multi-touch and is very nice no complaints.

Hard Drive:

The hard drive is on the small side, but upgradeable. I wish Samsung had included a 256 gig one instead of the 128 gig one. I have already upgraded the drive to the MyDigitalSSD 256GB SMART SATA III (6G) SandForce mSATA Solid State Drive which is extremely fast and I highly recommend it. It took about 10 minutes for me to removed the old SSD and install the new one.

RAM:

This is the only area that regret about the laptop. 4GB of RAM is ok, but not ideal, especially in a few years. I think I'll be able to get by and I haven't run short on memory yet, but really think Samsung should have included 8GB. The RAM is also not upgradeable in the 900x3c and is soldered to the motherboard.

Battery Life:

I seem to be getting between 5 and 6 hours of battery life on a full charge with light web usage. I would prefer a little more, but this seems acceptable. The battery is user upgradeable and is held in place by 4 screws visible once the bottom of the laptop is removed. This will come in handy in a couple years as the battery life starts to fade.

Wireless Signal Strength:

No issues with the wireless signal strength. It seems to perform well and has as much if not more signal strength than any other laptop I've used.

Heat/Noise:

The only time the bottom of the laptop got pretty warm was when playing Diablo III. The laptop has two fans and they are very quiet. Even at full speed, it's much quieter than a macbook air or pro. The fans don't come on at all during normal/light usage such as web surfing/emailing/word document editing and the laptop regulates temperature very well.

Speed/Performance:

The laptop is very quick for an ultra book. It can do a cold boot in about 10 seconds and wakes up from sleep in about 1 to 2 seconds. Graphic performance is very good too, for an ultrabook. No issues playing HD videos. I even loaded Diablo III and it runs very smooth with all high settings and a resolution of 1600 x 900. That's the only game I've tried so far.

Windows Experience Index:

Processor: 6.9

Memory (RAM): 5.9

Graphics: 6.4

Gaming graphics: 6.4

Primary Hard Disk: 7.4 for the original one... 7.9 when I upgraded to the MyDigitalSSD

Let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to answer.

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Pros

----------

1. Amazingly thin.

2. First rate build quality. Solid as a rock. No flexes anywhere.

3. Fast.

4. Beautiful matte screen with very high brightness.

Cons

--------

1. Touchpad ruins it. I have the latest elan driver and have tried all the trick in the world but this touchpad can't even handle single finger cursor movement correctly. It will either a) stop responding for fractions of a second b) jump all over the place c) activate the left click even when you are just moving the cursor with one finger d) make you want to puke all over the place knowing a $1000 laptop performs like this and how everything else is perfect. You literally cannot use the touchpad for anything meaningful unless you have a bottle of aspirin nearby.

2. Gets very warm at the palm area during charging phase.

Overview

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

As much as I love everything else about this laptop the defective touchpad is making me want to return this item and I hereby highly discourage anyone from buying this computer until they either fix it or issue a recall. This is like buying a 300hp car with a defective steering wheel and it's unacceptable.

UPDATED 9/13/2012. After several days of testing the touchpad issue has been isolated in more detail. If you divide the touchpad into regions horizontally from left to right: 0 to 49% equals good area, 50 to 70% equals bad area, 71 to 100% equals good area. What I mean is that the area from the middle to slightly right of it has absolutely terrible touch responses resulting in false clicks and astray pointers.

UPDATED 10/9/2012. Rating has been lowered to 1 star from 2 after my Samsung RMA experience. First of all Samsung repairs are outsourced to Intelisol in Teaxas. Getting the RMA/repair ticket was painless enough once you get the proper link to it and Samsung does have a pretty decent online tracking service for this. However, after getting the machine back, I was beyond angry. The repair was supposed to fix the defective touchpad which many others have experienced. Well, they did fix the touchpad but they also broke quite a bit of stuff. 1) The repair person forced open the case, looks like they had zero training, and broken one of the latch that secures the battery to the chassis. The battery now no longer is securely bound to the case and if you shake the laptop you can hear it. 2) They used the WRONG/larger screw upon refitting the back cover and as result, stripping one of the back cover screw holes so now a proper screw won't fit that case hole. 3) When they put the case back, they mis-routed the WIFI antenna wires and instead of using the guide fittings specifically for the WIFI antenna, they just put it under the battery. Well, you might ask how I discovered all the repair snafus. I open the machine because part of some shrinkwrap was screwed into the backcase! All in all, Samsung's repair service is 100% garbage. The machine is now back to their outsourced Intelisol repair facility for a second time and let's how this turns out.

UPDATED 11/3/2012. Machine finally back from Intelisol for the second time and everything is properly fixed this time. Just to make sure, I opened the back to verify everything. The mSSD is secured with a mounting plate with two screws but there is only one screw there. Emailed Intelisol and their "official" explanation is that some mSSD configurations for this model only uses one screw out of two. So who do you believe? The engineers designed a mounting plate with two screws for nothing I guess. Look at the timing between my first RMA request on 9/13 and this final report and you can judge for yourself how badly Samsung needs to clean up the RMA process. Lastly, they told us not to open the back cover since it voids the warranty. If we didn't open up the machine after the first RMA, we would never have confirmed their shoddy repair service.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black)

I feel like most people are extremely critical about any laptop on the market other than Apple. Had a Macbook Pro the last two years but wanted to return to PCs so it'd be easier to work on the road/home. Definitely also considered the air before buying this but honestly thought the air couldn't compare to this (though I admit I'm always gonna be a PC fan so not sure if it's a fair fight).

Not sure about the quality control issues the other guys here are talking about sounds awful...but I received my samsung laptop and have been playing around with it for like a week now with no issues. Trackpad is really responsive, keyboard is better/easier to type on than other ultrabooks I've tried like Asus's zenbook and overall haven't had any issues with startup or processing (easy to use and fast). In terms of designplease go in store and see it yourself. Much improved from the previous series 9 (glad I waited) no wifi issues and design is sleaker/more expensive looking material. And so thin/light!

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black)

Bought the Samsung Series 9 13.3" from the Microsoft Store a couple days ago and felt compelled to write a positive review for it.

Highlights:

The *matte* screen in high resolution rocks, and is long overdue in a laptop of this type (side by side this is significantly brighter and crisper than my 2012 Air).

Trackpad Samsung includes support for two finger swipe to go back, forward, and gravity scroll, three finger swipe to explorer view, four finger to view all windows, etc. Recommended that you disable tap to select, however, this is 2nd best trackpad in the business.

Cool "Silent Mode" feature, which disables fans for silent use

With Ivy Bridge and SSD, it is fast enough to develop and virtualize on (tested with 2GB RAM VM with Server 2008 + SharePoint 2010 + SQL + Visual Studio 2010).

Obvious pros:

For the size, the footprint of the laptop is the most compact I have seen, and feels great on a lap or desk.

The frame is strong, scary thin, and light.

Windows 7, Office 2010, and iTunes flies on this thing as expected.

Wake from sleep in 1-2 seconds, resume from hibernate in 10 seconds, from cold boot in 20 seconds

Less obvious cons:

Non-upgradeable RAM even if not upgradeable, an 8GB would been an obvious choice here

Non-Samsung SSD although the laptop is fast, if you're going to be doing development work on it, you'll eventually want more.

Cooling fans are a little louder than I'd hoped for not wind turbine loud, but they do hum at an audible level for heavier tasks

As a take-away, this is a top tier UltraBook with substance, style and speed. As an owner of several competing ultra-portables, this one wins my vote for first place.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black)

With the new ivy bridge and intel HD4000 graphics, this is the best ultrabook on the market. Period.

However, there's one thing buyers should knowthis NP900X3C is using Sandisk SSD. Not Samsung SSD like NP900X3B.

You won't feel the difference very much in everyday use but the benchmark numbers show the Samsung SSD is far superior than Sandisk.