Cheap Lenovo IdeaPad Z570 1024-AYU 15.6" Notebook PC - Intel Core

Customer Ratings:

I would recommend it to students because the keyboard is awesome and it can do anything pretty much! My only complaint is it takes awhile to recognize flash drives but overall it is excellent!

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Cheap ASUS G74SX-DH73-3D 17.3-Inch 3D Gaming Laptop - Replublic of

Customer Ratings:

This Asus 74SX-DH73-3D laptop has gone way beyond my expectations!

I have trouble even finding words to describe this laptop. Beautiful, sleek, powerful and truely plays games incredibly well! Looks like a stealth jet and built like a tank! I bought this laptop to play Battlefield 3 and Skyrim (when it comes out), never seeing a laptop play graphically intense games as well as a gaming desktop, I was doubtful. But after loading BF3 and firing it up, those doubts disappeared instantly! The auto graphic settings in the game set everything to ultra and high and plays at those levels without a glitch. Come on Skyrim!

I did plenty of research and comparisons between this and other Asus g74,g73 and g53 models and the DH73-3D model won out, even despite its price. All the issues that other models have had have been fixed in this model. I keep trying to find a con or issue with this laptop but haven't yet other then the 3D mode switch next to the power switch only switched between different power modes until I did the 203 BIOs update(which was easy as pie, lol). This fixed the button to act only as a switch to turn on or off the 3D and switching between different power modes is now controlled by the function btn and space bar. Have I mentioned this laptop is freaking Sweet!!! 120hz Screen is WOW!!!! Worth the price difference from the models without it.

The 3D is amazing and works so effortlessly. I bought a 3D Blu-ray to test out the 3D movie aspect, beautiful. Just pop it in and put on your glasses and enjoy. Gaming in 3D also is really amazing, cool and has brought life to some of my older games like CounterStrike Source. The first time I started CSS on this laptop (and haven't adjusted any settings yet), the game started and it was playing in 3D, talk about taking an old game and turning it into a new one. I didn't even know CSS could be played in 3D. Can't wait to test it with other games. Amazing!

I really like the included gaming mouse, in fact I have been using it instead of my Logitech G700, it reminds me a lot of the older Logitech MX gaming mice. Didn't find much of any bloat-ware. If you are planning to reload OS, at least start it up and do the online registration and don't forget to mail in your warranty card asap also. Sound is loud and clear. When I plug in my headphones, it only gets better.

The cooling truely is amazing, after playing BF3 for a few hours and then stopping, the air coming out of the back cools off in minutes showing how well it dissapates heat and runs cool.

I've always (over 15yrs) used Asus when building gaming desktops and pc's and have never been disappointed, and this laptop just confirmed that Asus is still the best.

This thing is big and heavy but to me, both of those terms mean badass. This thing blows away my gtx/quad-core desktop. Go sit next to a Mac user with this laptop and you will see them start changing there mind about pc's.

In short, this Laptop is worth every penny and once I add my new SSD, I don't think I could be any happier with a laptop. If you want the best, this is it! Do it, join us, the Republic (of Gamers) wants you!

(Update 11-11-11)

Skyrim runs flawlessly on this computer, auto-detect sets the graphics to ultra settings and playing it in 3D is even more awesome.

Added SSD drive, So now its even quicker and a little lighter, worth the upgrade.

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=== The Good ===

This laptop performs well as a result of the pairing of a quick CPU, a quick GPU, and plenty of RAM for each. I purchased this laptop to use for game playing and game programming and I'm pleased with the performance of both. The keyboard and chassis stay cool even after being on all day, so cool that it's very difficult to tell if the laptop is on by feel.... it feels like room temperature to me. The screen hinge does a good job of keeping the screen in a steady position even as I type this review while sitting on a couch with the laptop on my lap. The matte screen is bright and crisp, with a much nicer surface coating texture than my desktop IPS LCDs. I haven't used the 3D glasses much yet, but even so I recommend this model over the other G74SX models that lack the 3D display since the matte screen and very high brightness capabilities of the 3D panel make it possible to work in what would otherwise have been poor lighting conditions for the dimmer, glossy-screened 2D models.

The memory configuration this laptop ships with is three 4GB DDR3-1333 SODIMMs, two DIMMs in one bank, and a single DIMM in the other bank. Mine shipped with the same Samsung 1.5v DIMMs mentioned on other reviews on the internet. Because I write a lot of code that can take advantage of more memory, and because having a non-uniform memory configuration can cause performance irregularities I decided to upgrade to 16GB. I was unable to locate a reliable source for a fourth, matching Samsung DIMM so I bought four 4GB DIMMs DDR-1333 DIMMs that Crucial recommends for this system. As a bonus the DIMMs from Crucial only require 1.35v, which should help further reduce the laptop's temperature compared to the original 1.5v DIMMs. Eager to use the laptop, I ran just a single pass of Memtest86+, but so far, so good. I've not experienced a single bluescreen or any application instability, and my WEI Memory score went up by 0.1 point.

I wanted a faster boot and applications drive so I swapped out the primary 750GB WD Black drive for a Intel 320 Series 160 GB SATA 3.0 SSD. I'm very pleased with the boot, login, and overall responsiveness improvements. After installing the SSD I installed Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

edit 28 Nov 2011

I have also since replaced the secondary hard drive with a Samsung 830 Series 128 GB SATA III SSD, also with great results.

-

I also wanted a wireless card with better support in other operating systems and a better reputation for good performance than the wireless card this laptop shipped with an AzureWave AW-NB037H, so I purchased and installed an Intel 6230 WiFi + Bluetooth 3.0 adapter. Installation was painless, and fn+F2 (the enable/disable wireless button) works great still.

edit 28 Nov 2011

I've now put about 60-70GB of data across the Intel WiFi card's network link.... no problems with drop outs or performance.

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I also picked up this Right Angle 90 Degree Converter for 5.5 x 2.5mm Connector LC53 adapter for the power cable to ensure that the power cable didn't get in the way of my mouse. It works great, but may have been unnecessary based upon where I'm finding I keep my mouse.

After my modifications, my WEI scores are:

Processor: 7.5

Memory: 7.6

Graphics: 7.2

Gaming Graphics: 7.2

Primary hard disk: 7.7

After installing Win 7 Ultimate I found a good reference of where to get the latest drivers for this system on the Republic of Gamers Forum. I was pleased to discover that this laptop, even with the 3DVision support, can use the stock video drivers from the Nvidia website.

edit 28 Nov 2011

At night sometimes the display was feeling a bit too bright, so I installed the Asus Splendid app/driver so I could quickly swap color profiles and found one of the color profiles it includes is a lot easier on the eyes.

-

The laptop is sturdy, has a pleasant feel, and the keyboard spacing is very comfortable. A nice backpack and gaming mouse ship with the laptop.

=== The Not-so-Good ===

There are lots of mentions of keyboard woes with the G74SX on the internet, I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm running the 2.0.3 BIOS and latest keyboard filter and ATK drivers. Here's what I found... quite a few keys needed to be broken in a bit to register properly, when encountering a missed keystroke, I carefully exercised the offending key about a dozen times, the key feel noticeably changes for the better and all is well. The only on-going issues I'm experiencing are:

if I hit the left-most or right-most edge of the left arrow key I can basically press it all the way down without it registering. It was easy to learn not to do this... to write this review I had to hunt around to remember which key it was that had this issue.

my right shift key will stick in the down position (and registering as being down) if I push it all the way down by pushing on the center of the bottom edge of the key. To get it un-stuck I have to gently lift the top center of the key using a finger nail. I've also found this very easy to avoid doing... all I have to do is only push down on keys when my finger tips aren't on the edge of a key.

Sometimes the fn+something key combinations seem not to register... no idea what's going on here... I think it's usually when I've hit the same combination several times in a row before the on screen indicator pops up. For example if I'm changing the sound volume or screen brightness.

edit 28 Nov 2011

So F3 definitely requires more force than the rest of the keys to register a keystroke. This was a bit annoying in Minecraft though it didn't get long for me to get used to hitting the key a bit harder. For whatever reason I think I tend to type lighter on my laptop keys than my desktop keyboard. The amount of force needed to make F3 work on my laptop keyboard is less than my normal typing pressure on my desktop keyboard.

-

All that said I've experienced none of these keyboard issues while programming, gaming, or writing this review. So, yes, keyboards really ought never have these issues, but I'm finding these issues are rarely triggered in my normal usage of the laptop, and thus don't spoil the experience.

Additionally the slippery surface of my trackpad appears to be a sticker, and it's installed ever so slightly out of alignment such that the lower left hand corner sticks up a very tiny amount. Looks curable with a sharp crafting knife, but I haven't had the time to try that remedy. This hasn't caused any issues, just something I noticed while inspecting my laptop.

While writing this review I just noticed that the trim in front of the trackpad buttons can make some popping noises under relatively heavy pressure. (I wasn't paying attention when trying to click a trackpad button and pushed down hard on the trim and it made stiff buttony sounds.)

=== Conclusion ===

I'm very happy with this purchase, and I'm glad I opted for the 3D model with the bright, matte screen. I'm enjoying gaming on this laptop more that on my faster, purpose-built desktop which is not at all what I expected when I bought this.

Best Deals for ASUS G74SX-DH73-3D 17.3-Inch 3D Gaming Laptop - Replublic of

I have had this PC for about two weeks. I was agonizing between this machine and the Alienware X18. I finally decided on this unit due to comparable hardware at a much better price, and reliability ratings as high as anything on the market. I couldn't be happier with my first impressions of the ASUS.

My main concerns with a PC are the things I spend the most time with... the display and the keyboard. The screen is stunning and bright with the perfect anti-glare coating. I had read that the Alienware machine has a very high gloss screen and was like a mirror. If you hate those type of screens (as I do), then you are in for a treat on the ASUS. Did I say stunning?

Next the keyboard. I was hesitant due to other reviews about missed keystrokes and a dislike for the "chiclet" style keys , but I've found it quite comfortable and have had no issues with missed strokes. The larger engraved letters and back-lit keys are an awesome aid to my 56 year old eyes. The separate number pad with the wide space between it and the other keys is a nice touch. The touch pad, although I really don't use it much, is large and responsive.

I'm not a game player, but rather a web/media/CAD/application developer who needed a robust desktop replacement with the guts to burn through some of my processor and graphics intensive work. I have yet to bog this thing down (or even make it breathe hard), and it does it all in quiet and cool style. I really can't hear any noise or feel any heat even when working for hours with this brick on my lap. For me, it's been virtually silent.

I REALLY like the sturdy feel and rugged look. Big, yes. Heavy, yes. Sweet, yes. 3D is a bonus and the glasses work well (with the demo provided).

If you are considering this unit, then I highly recommend it. If you are still hedging, ASUS is available at Best Buy so you might want to give one of their models a hands-on review before clicking the "Buy It" button.

Honest reviews on ASUS G74SX-DH73-3D 17.3-Inch 3D Gaming Laptop - Replublic of

This is my review of Asus G74SX-DH73-3DE model laptop.

NOTE: This review is typed after installing Sentelic Touchpad driver v9.1.7.7. Before that (with driver version 9.1.3.5 or earlier), I could not type anything on ASUS G74SX. This driver seems to make the laptop bearable. New driver made me think there is a chance of keeping this laptop, while I was almost on the verge of returning it. Ironically, this driver is not even available easily on the Asus website. That means Asus people did not bother to look at thousands of posts complaining about touchpad and keyboard problems. If they did, they do not want to show the solution by posting these updated drivers on their drivers list. Their "Asus Live Update" utility is one worthless misleading app that started telling me that `all drivers are up-to-date' from day one, all the while I was updating drivers left and right with newer versions. How did I find these latest drivers? I had two weeks to spare and Google on my side (nothing can hide from Google, even if Asus wants to hide their latest drivers).

Now that I vented my frustration, here is my review of the laptop features.

Physical features:

Heavy at 9.7 pounds. Power brick (2.5 pounds) comes with a long cord. Screen size is 17.3", but the overall size is larger. It does not fit in normal 17" size laptop bags. Asus provides a backpack free. Together with mouse and other accessories, total weight could reach about 14-15 pounds, barely fit for traveling on flights. It has solid and sturdy build. Keyboard has num-pad spread out to the right and arrow keys spatially separated. Touchpad is big (more on it later). Upgrading the hardware is easy due to the placement of hard drives and memory. A simple plate secures them with a single screw and press tabs.

My laptop came with the following specs:

ASUS G74SX-DH73-3D Intel Quad Core i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) Processor, 17.3" Full HD (1920x1080 @ 120Hz) "3D" LED Display, 12GB DDR3 1333MHz Memory, 1.5TB (750GB 7200RPM x 2) Hard Drive, Blu-Ray Burner, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M 3GB GDDR5 Graphics Card, Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit, Bluetooth V3.0 / USB 3.0 / Illuminated Keyboard / 3D Vision Kit

Keyboard:

Looks and feels good. Without appropriate ATK driver, you will not be able to use it due to the lag. You could type as fast as you want, but you will only see few keystrokes registered. It has single key layout (Chiclet keys) mounted through an aluminum plate. This makes it sturdy and it can withstand furious typing when you're using your keyboard for game play. Keyboard is backlit but back lights are not turned on until you boot (if you have a boot up password, you have to type it in the dark). Keys are not overloaded (no hot keys) and most functions are on the fn-keys. Other reviewers complained about problems with registering multiple keypresses, some keys not working well, etc. Arrow keys are also hot keys for media playback (fast forward, rewind, play/pause, stop). These keys have significant lag when you use to navigate in a word document or browser. Arrow/media keys are spaced out and are placed between keyboard and number pad. Home, pgup, pgdn, and end keys are above num-pad all the way to the right making them not usable for most office work.

Screen:

Bright (good for sunny outdoors if you can take it out), crisp, matte (no annoying reflections), good viewing angles, 3D capable. Nicely tucked in the black frame. The display is fixed to the base using single sturdy hinge. Its range of motion is between closed to about 135 degrees bent backwards (it does not bend flat backwards).

Touchpad:

This is the worst component of this laptop and makes every other nice feature pretty much unusable. Mine came with Sentelic Touchpad (never heard of them). It caused/causing so much frustration to me and my family members who tried to use it. This could be a deal breaker. No amount of description can convey the problems accurately. I feel the only way to use this laptop is to totally disable the touchpad. It is a big touchpad plush mounted with surrounding surface. Buttons are also plush mounted. Its placement is below F/C and L/. keys. When you place your hand on the home row of the keyboard, you will cover more than half the touchpad with your palms. Unless you strain your wrist, there is no way to avoid touching this touchpad. Since it is not recessed, you will not feel it. Attempting to press the buttons is challenging because there is no spatial differentiation. You have to gaze down at it to see the buttons. On top of these challenges, the cursor keeps jumping around the screen randomly with up-to-date driver from Asus website (v9.1.3.5 or earlier). What you can do is: download a more up-to-date driver (Google search: Sentelic Touchpad Driver 9.1.7.7), which has a feature called `Asus SmartSense'. It simply disables the touchpad when you are typing and enables it when you touch on a configured spot. As I specified at the beginning, this makes it bearable. It still causes cursor jumping, but less often. Here is what Asus says: "ASUS SmartSense is useful to users whose hands may unintentionally touch the pad while typing at keyboard. With ASUS SmartSense enabled, the pad is disabled while user is typing at the keyboard. The pad keeps disabled until finger moves on the activation region which is a circle you can configure by specifying the center and the size." As I use this laptop more, I figured it just makes it more bearable, but not good enough. Asus says: "Inspiring Innovation, Persistent Perfection". I think they are inspiring us to innovate solutions to the problems they created. They have to be persistent to make it perfect, because they are not getting it right in first or second attempt (this problem existed from earlier model G73). In these two weeks, I learned so much about Asus that I never knew. I am guessing all other reviewers who gave 5 stars do not use the touchpad.

Performance:

I upgraded it with Crucial 256 GB SSD and total 24 GB memory (win 7 home premium can use only 16GB, but Ubuntu Linux was able to use 24GB so mother board has no problem with up to 32GB). My Windows Experience Index now shows the following:

Processor: 7.5, Memory: 7.6, Graphics: 7.2, Gaming Graphics: 7.2, Primary hard disk: 7.9

With this configuration, it feels like it is flying. Even with highest loads, laptop was cool and silent (you could confidently say, it is a cool laptop!). It takes about 5 seconds to get the boot up password. After SSD upgrade, windows boots up in about 15 seconds (to get login icons). Once password is entered, it takes another 15 seconds to load desktop/initial programs. Only problem I noticed with the graphics card is that at 1920x1080, it could only serve external displays at 60Hz, not at 120Hz available for laptop screen. I noticed some frames skipped when connected to LG 3D TV via HDMI cable. When running the 3D demo connected to external TV, I saw some scenes skipped altogether. When playing `Need For Speed: Shift', I could see some frames blacked out, more so on external screen than on laptop screen, but I could see flickering on both. These problems probably could be eliminated by reducing the frame rate/frequency.

Battery Life:

Battery can last from 1 hour up to 4 hours depending on usage. If you put laptop in Battery Saving mode, you will see better battery life but overall performance is only suitable for basic tasks. In High Performance mode, you could run down the battery in an hour.

UPDATE 01/19/12: BD Player & DVD Burning

Blu-Ray discs play well. I viewed 'Pirates of the Caribbean' 3D BD, it looks great. With Active Shutter Glasses it appears slightly better on Asus screen compared to playing in 3D on Panasonic BD Player connected to LG 3D TV with passive glasses (both at 120Hz). Playing on Asus and connecting to external LG 3D TV works at 60Hz only.

DVD Burning takes about 2+1+3 minutes (burn+finalize+verify) for an ISO image (nearly full on disc).

UPDATE 01/19/12: Wireless

I tested wireless connection with 802.11g at 10/5 speeds, no loss noticed. I don't have router with N, so I could not verify packet loss reported with 802.11n.

UPDATE 01/23/12: Camera and Microphone

I used built in camera and Microphone for Google talk and video chat. Picture quality was good. Microphone picks up voice well and other side could see and hear very clearly. On my side, I could hear little bit of (microphone) echo through speakers. Probably I need to adjust Realtek driver configuration.

UPDATE 01/23/12: Still having some issues with touchpad (BIOS 203, Sentelic 9.1.7.7 driver with customized activation area for SmartSense). Surprisingly, touchpad has very few problems with default driver in Ubuntu Linux. I still have two family members very unhappy with it (Windows users). Looks like I am going to return it at this point (I am not expecting much to find in configuration or drivers to improve its behavior).

UPDATE 01/23/12: *** Asus Service and Support ***

I took out my upgraded memory and SSD. After inserting the original hard drives back, it booted up from primary drive, but does not recognize the secondary drive. The ribbon cable that connects the drive seems loose, but can't do much with that part. Owner's manual says one ribbon cable is included in the packaging, but could not find it. I called Asus Support. After explaining what happened, first thing he said was "You are not supposed to open the laptop, it voids the warranty"! So much for their advertisement about easy upgrades and all the instructions in the manual on how to open and replace hardware!! Now Warranty is void. He also said ADP (Accidental Damage Protection) does not apply. The rep said it has to be mailed to them and it will take 10-14 days to service the laptop. He also said customer will be liable for all charges if they find the problem was caused by customer. Oh boy! When I compare this to Dell's warranty/support, nowhere close. This Global Warranty thing appears to be a sham. Now I feel 5 stars for this product and service are not at all justified.

1 Year Accidental Damage Protection (ADP)3

Accidents happen. But when they happen to your ASUS notebook purchased in the US or Canada, you have extra protection. Whether your notebook is damaged by accidental spills, drops, electrical surges, or fire, ASUS will fix it or replace it during the first year after purchase.3

This is rather a lengthy review for my standards, but wanted to put out as much as I could to help fellow shoppers (hopefully, it saves a week or two of your time potentially spent on these reviewed features). My final decision to keep it will be made in few days based on further tests (I am considering Dell Precision M6600 as alternative, but costs $400 more for similar specs.)

Final Note: I made my final decision. This is going back for sure. I am also reducing one star from 3.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS G74SX-DH73-3D 17.3-Inch 3D Gaming Laptop - Replublic of

[[ASIN:B005PAJIGC ASUS Republic of Gamers G74SX-DH73-3D 17.3-Inch 3D Gaming Laptop (Black

Pros:

Ordered Friday, received Monday. Great service Amazon!

All I can say is that this things is just sooo sweet. Laptops are just now (recently) being able to compete with This is the first laptop I've ever owned, because I've always felt I could build a much more powerful desktop for the money. This laptop approaches being more powerful than anything I could build in a desktop for the same amount of money.

I've been setting it up and playing with it for the last 3 days, and I've yet to find anything I could even call a blemish.

Keyboard types easily and great (if using a mouse, disable the touchpad, it gets in the way of typing alot of times). Asus gives some really neat wallpaper (pics of the machine itself) that look great.

Cons:

If I had it to do all over again, I'd go to: and order the laptop from them, because you can 'build it', choosing the components like a special order. I'd choose slightly different options (like making it 16Gb of memory instead of 12, SSD drive(s) or drives instead of the two 750 Gb drives, etc.)

It comes loaded with ALOT of software, of which about half is just crap (trial versions, and watered down software). If you build your own machine by ordering it from , you have the option of them NOT installing all that stuff.

All in all the best choice of Laptops available... Amazon, Newegg, Tiger Direct, etc. If you want the most powerful laptop available for your money, then this one comes out on top of all available choices.

Buy Toshiba Computer Systems - Satellite 15.6" Laptop - 4gb Memory

Customer Ratings:

This budget laptop has some nice features for the money. It's got a good size hard drive (640GB) and 4GB of RAM, and it's reasonably fast. It also has a nice bright 15" screen. But I just can't get past the horrible sounding speakers. Now I know the speakers on most laptops are terrible. But these are by far the worst I've ever heard. The SRS Premium Sound HD option that comes with this laptop improves the sound SLIGHTLY. But even when using that option, the speakers still sound very tinny and trebly...to the point where I can't even listen to them anymore. Because they actually grate on and cause a very unpleasant sensation in my ears. After just a few days, I had to buy some Logitech multimedia speakers to use as a replacement speaker system for this laptop. Also, after just a few days, I've noticed that the mouse freezes up sometimes. I guess it's like anything else...you get what you pay for. But despite its positive attributes, I can't recommend this product.

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Best Sony VAIO VGN-FW350J/H 16.4-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Deals

Customer Ratings:

These are the things that sold me on this particular VAIO:

Under $1000

Huge resolution (1600x900)

Blu-Ray

Wireless N

Amazing dolby sound

Keyboard has independently isolated keys

The fact that it is relatively light weight and looks amazing was just a bonus.

Some impressions after several days of use:

The touchpad is superior to those on dell laptops I've owned.

The speaker is huge, it spans almost the width of the entire laptop.

The media buttons, especially av mode, are slick.

Blu-ray playback is flawless.

Battery life out of the box was about 3 hours, but using heavily optimized settings (in vaio control center) I've achieved upwards of 5 hours.

Webcam+Mic+Speakers = very high quality skype calls, better than my bluetooth headset.

The location of the power button and charging plug-in is really, really slick.

Only frustration:

I have not been able to output via HDMI at 1080p, despite being hooked up to a 42" 1080P LCD. 720P works fine, but for some unknown reason 1080P is grayed out in the settings.

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Hello everyone including Sony technitions.

First it's important to know that the laptop arrives with the default set at 720p and must be manually changed to 1080p when utilizing the HDMI connection.

Next is you must change the viewing to only external monitor otherwise you cannot watch a Bluray dvd. You will recieve a security problem issue which will not allow you to proceed watching the movie if both the laptop monitor and the TV are viewable at the same time.

I guess someone feels you're attempting to make a illegal copy?

Next is really important especially to all Disney Bluray DVD owners.

When you watch the previews of coming attractions everything looks and sounds great on your Sony TV from the laptop HDMI connection.

However, when the movie plays you will lose the sound. NO SOUND!

Even the Sony technitions were baffled.

Here's the reason....

The Disney soundtrack is automatically default set for 7.1 surround sound.

You cannot hear the sound at this default setting.

You must access the DVD setup menu and change the audio to ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK.

This happened with "Sleeping Beauty", "Pinochio" & Wall-E.

I only own these 3 Bluray DVD's so no one could figure out why I wasn't hearing the sound when the movie played.

Also, I might add that the movies play great on the laptop no matter which audio track you utilize.

This problem only happens with the HDMI connection to a TV such as my new Sony KDL-46XBR6.

The only other item I will mention is the volume on the laptop is really low when watching a movie so plan to use headphones or an external powered speaker when a little noise is in your enviroment.

I plan to keep this laptop because overall it performs great even with Windows Vista installed.

UPDATE:

I contacted tech support at Sony again and this time talked to someone who knew what the problem was and changed a setting on my laptop.

The result is that all Bluray DVD's will play okay with 7.1 surround sound thru the HDMI port.

Best Deals for Sony VAIO VGN-FW350J/H 16.4-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

My old Sony died unexpectedly, so I needed a system that was ready to go, not one to order customized, as it shipped faster. I looked at other brands, but knowing how great the Sonys are for graphics I decided to stick with what I love.

This laptop is terrific as far as brightness and clarity of display. I've never seen brighter, and I work on friends laptops all the time. I couldn't ask for better. The 4GB of RAM and Windows 64 bit Vista are very responsive. My only complaint with the 64 bit version is I've already found a couple of common software programs that are not 64-bit compatible.

I'd highly recommend this laptop for out-of-the-box readiness to go.

Honest reviews on Sony VAIO VGN-FW350J/H 16.4-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

I was pretty happy with it until I checked the hard drive space: only 287 GB out of 320 GB AND no other partition! Where did the remaining 33 GB go? There usually is a partition that adds up to the total number of GB.

I like the color (gray) and it's a pretty good deal for the price. Bluetooth and wireless N!!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Sony VAIO VGN-FW350J/H 16.4-Inch Laptop (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

I purchased this product in February and after 4 months I can state that this is a great value purchase. It's hard to find a comparable product with Blu-Ray etc. from a name that is known for great products and great customer service (Sony).

Pro's: Beautiful display, Blu-Ray drive, light-weight (for the screen size), price

Con's: Limited battery life, When upgrading to Windows 7 (Evaluation Copy) the shortcut keys become disabled with no patch/fix out from Sony yet, relatively low speaker volume.

This is a dream machine for the basic PC user, just open it up, plug it in and you are good to go. Out of the box it takes about 10-15 minutes to enter your information and register the product with Sony. Once you get to getting you feel for it you will notice that the display is amazing (especially when playing a blu-ray player). If you are using this as a desktop replacement you should definitely have external speakers to use with it due to the limited volume output from the built-ins.

My only issue is if you are like me and feel the urge to upgrade to Windows 7, beware that the "short-cut/quick keys" for media playing (pause, volume up & down and the s1 button etc.) will be disabled with no fix yet from Sony.

Hope this helps!

Best Acer Aspire AS7736Z Refurbished Notebook PC - ACEZ7736 Deals

Customer Ratings:

First of all, besides being a bit thick, the computer runs week. The screen is beautiful and the sound is wonderful. For the money you pay, it is definitely worth it. I have already dropped it a few times on accident and there are no scratches.

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Reviews of Apple MacBook Air MD712LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,199.00
Sale Price: $1,139.98
Today's Bonus: 5% Off

So first I will say I am coming from a MacBook air 11' mid 2011 with 2GB ram and 64GB harddrive. This one I got has 4GB of ram and 128GB harddrive. I use this laptop mainly for browsing the internet and some programming. Now that you have a little background Ill give a quick review.

From the get go this laptop is MUCH faster then my previous Macbook air. When you open the lid you are ready to go that second. On the old one I would have to wait a little for it to load and if I left chrome up and clicked on it right away then I would get the loading wheel. I havent seen this do it once. That could be because of the harddrive being so much faster.

When I opened the box the laptop was already charged to 91% so im trying to kill it. Well I was on it ALL NIGHT last night and now its the morning and its only at 60%. That battery life is amazing and let me honest thats what we ask for in a laptop.

If you are up in the air about this laptop(no pun intended). I would say give it a go. You could even buy it from the Apple store and if you dont like it just return it.

If you are replacing an older Macbook air and have one thats because the mid 2012 then I would say get it but if you have the mid 2012 I dont know if I would suggest spending the money unless you really want battery. I hope this helps anyone trying to purchase this laptop.

I am not an Apple fan boy. My desktop is a custom build Window machine so I know both worlds. Please if you have any questions just comment and I will be happy to try things for you or just answer questions.

I am a Computer Engineer so im use to testing things so feel free to ask.

(This is my first review)

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This might look like just a minor spec bump from last years model. However, the new MBA boasts all day battery life: 11 inch (9 hours) and 13 inch (12 hours). This is a big step up from the previous generation. This is due to a larger battery and more efficient processor. The upcoming OS X Mavericks is supposed to be even more energy efficient than Mountain Lion. The MBA is also faster due to the new processor and has a faster wifi connection. The solid state drive in this computer makes it much faster than a regular hard drive computer.

This is a great computer overall. The screen is not as nice as the retina Macbook Pro, however it is not a deal breaker. The MBA is a lightweight, portable computer and the Retina screen is thicker, heavier, and more expensive. Once they manage to make a thin, lightweight Retina Display this computer might be perfect. You will probably not miss the disc drive on this computer because it is a featherweight without it and you can use an external disc drive if you have to or remotely access another computer with a disc drive.

If you are debating between the 11 and 13 inch models, it depends on what you want to use it for. The extra screen space, SD card slot, and longer battery life for $100 more makes the 13 inch a worthy choice. However, some want a truly portable machine that can fit easily in a large purse or briefcase.

If you are debating between this computer and an iPad with a bluetooth keyboard, consider the ease of use of the computer versus the portability and cost of an iPad. For students, it is nice to have a real keyboard and be able to easily create documents, spreadsheets, and powerpoints on an actual computer, but I see more and more students with iPads and a keyboard case getting by just fine.

If you are debating between 128GB and 256GB (or custom order 512GB from Apple), consider cloud storage. Flickr now has 1 TB free photo storage with no size restrictions. Google Drive and Evernote are great for documents and you can always store your iTunes library on an external hard drive if you have a massive library.

If you are debating between this and a Windows Ultrabook/ Google Chromebook, consider the operating system, reliability, customer service, and resale value. People love Apple products and you can resell the computer if you want to eventually upgrade. They hold their value pretty well. The operating system takes a little getting used to but it is a lot smoother than Windows and you will probably never want to switch back to the dark side. If you really need a Windows Program, you can run Windows on a Mac.

Best Deals for Apple MacBook Air MD712LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION)

Working off formerly a 13" macbook air mid 2011, I just bought this new 2013 model with the Haswell CPU and low power consumption infrastructure.

Off a full charge, I disconnected 3 hours 40 mins and had an external drive connected the entire time, restarted 4 times, and did NONSTOP heavy application installs (Office suite, Photoshop etc.), a total of 23 applications, and ran youtube vids in the background the entire time, and after all of that nonstop heavy loading, I had 76% on my battery, of which id have around 35% on my older Macbook Air.

Further still, the entire unit has run UTTERLY COOL during this EXTREMELY heavy loading, installing and heavy 1080P video graphics play. My other Macbook Air would be almost too hot to touch underneath near back under same conditions.

Even without 802ac (new Wifi connection thru the new Air), I notice roughly 25% faster throughput on likewise file downloads using my new Macbook Air than that of my older version Macbook Air.

This new Macbook Air contains PCIe-Based Flash Storage Approaches 800 MB/s Read and Write. I notice BLAZING fast write speed on my 1.1 Gig Photoshop app, and seemed about 40% faster than my previous generation Macbook Air. Also, this new Air model contains PCIe-based SSD modules made by Samsung and is smaller than the previous Air model SSD made by Toshiba.

These new Airs also sport batteries with increased capacity driven by higher voltages: increasing from a 7.3 V, 6700 mAh power battery to a 7.6 V 7150 mAh power battery. Other changes include a redesigned expanded heat sink covering both the CPU and GPU, which must be why this unit runs SO COOL even maxed out.

ALL my apps run perfect on this new Air, including Office suite, and the entire Adobe suite and the rest of my apps, ....which it should, its still running Mountain Lion OS.

I really have to say again, that write speeds on HUGE app instals is just faster than you dare hope for; its just blazing faster than my previous gen. Air.

My Macbook Air has been without a question my most treasured gem of "go-to" Mac product hands down, I own all of them (2 Airs, Macbook Pro, MacMini etc),...I was skeptical when I shelled out $1099 today for the new Haswell Air and its presumed prognosticated "crazy long" battery life and improved speeds overall; but the hype isn't hype, its real and amazing. The mere NOTION that I can overload this Air with App installs, and have a 2.5" HD attached for nearly 4 hours, run 1080P Youtube vids,...and still be at 76% Batt life is just, well, its stunning.

Tested out the NEW dual (stereo) mic and it IS much nicer in record, additionally the camera/vid is much sharper and crisper than my other Mac Air. Considering the price point is lower on these new Airs than the older ones, I give the new Macbook Airs a "110%". Having repaired laptops (non mac) in the past, and owned at least 20X more laptops than most consumers, I don't lightly conclude this is the cornerstone workhorse for everything I dare consider doing, fast got faster, and battery life now is enough to make a crusty "hates everything" person like myself nearly cry with joy. Congrats Apple! Homerun on this lovely gem.

I didnt get this delivered in one day, I picked it up from my local Mac store, I got my buddy to sell it to me 1 day before they officially "have" them which is today 6/12. As for the questions about using this new Air with Photoshop and it lagging on heavy filtering and photo editing, Ive tested that fully and this IS the machine you want for ultimate portability, it works fantastic.

Also of great importance is that this version of Mac Air is supposed to have "nearly double" fast write speeds as the Macbook Pro Retina. And the new Hard storage on this Air has "up to 6X faster than a 5400RPM disk drive" as found in current Macbook Pro which contain 5400RPM Toshiba Hard drives (made by Hitachi for Toshiba actually). In short, YES, this is a perfect "must own" book in the field or travel use for photoshop work, with just blazing fast write speeds, and crazy long battery life.

This new Macbook Air brings TRUE definition to being "disconnected" and "portable" to those who want to do a LOT of work free of the power socket! Genuine portable is finally here, ...no more staring at the battery % to rush to shut down!

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Air MD712LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (NEWEST VERSION)

A lot has been written about how great the Macbook Air is. I agree, this is a truly fine thing. Forget the "feeds and speeds" metrics so many people seize on (although the performance is pretty good on this for what most people do), I just feel that this thing is in total harmony with me. It is powerful yet light and agile. I have a 13" Macbook Pro and it is great but a bit heavy. The Macbook Air is insanely light and yet very sturdy.

The one thing I really stressed over was whether to get the 11.6 inch model or the 13 inch model. Years ago I had an early netbook. It was nice as a novelty but it was really underpowered. It turned out the 10 inch screen was just too small. The size of the screen on the netbook was just too much of a compromise (my eyesight isn't what it used to be!). I was concerned that the 11.6 inch Macbook Air screen might be too small also. I really wanted to get it instead of the 13 inch screen because to me, getting a larger Macbook Air just seemed to defeat the purpose of getting a small, light computer in the first place. I really wanted the 11.6 inch model to work out. The price difference really wasn't an issue, I just wanted to have the perfect size for me. I saw a few 11.6 and 13 inch models and I thought the 11.6 inch would be okay but I had the nagging feeling that when I started using it, I would regret getting the smaller version. You know how that goes, your first look at something is brief and you don't really get a feel for how you will use it in the real world. Sometimes your initial conclusions turn out wrong and you regret your choice. Well, I took a chance on the 11.6 inch version and after using it for a while, I am really happy with the choice. It is the perfect size for me for a portable computer. If you are struggling with the same decision, I hope this helps.

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I have been using the new Macbook Air for almost a week now. I actually started with the 11 inch because I wanted the lightest possibly laptop, and I used to have a smaller screen, but I guess it was just too small. I was noticing things like a shaking screen and I had been using a 15 inch Macbook Pro with the aluminum keyboard for the last five years. When I got the 13 inch, everything looked and felt just right.

In my opinion, a laptop battery has one major task. It should allow users to do everything they want on their laptop without having to plug it back in. I used it for about 1.5 to 2 hours two evenings in a row doing internet surfing, minimal video watching, and some word processing. The next day I used it for close to 8 hours of word processing and internet surfing. You know you have an amazing battery when the bar goes red, and you check to see that you still have two and a half hours remaining. I did not check exact times, but I think I got over 11 hours before charging it back up (including 3 days of sleeping). I was also surprised to see that it had recharged before I went to bed!

In this day and age, laptop users should understand that you never get the same amount of battery life watching non-stop high quality videos as you would using basic software and the internet. I use a laptop fairly frequently for projects/entertainment, but can not think of one instance in which I would need over 12 hours of battery life. More than 8 hours and my eyes start to blur. The bottom line is that Apple's initial estimate of 12 hours is not off, and I am happy to say that I will not be taking my charger with me anytime I plan to return to my house to sleep later that evening. I don't have to worry about battery life for the first time.

One small quirk is that the time estimates of the battery are sometimes off. For instance, I have checked my battery status and seen an estimate of 17 plus hours remaining. I admittedly got overexcited before it quickly went back down to over 12. The percentage is always accurate, however, and it's intriguing to see how long you can last with 100% battery life remaining.

As for the rest of the computer, the keyboard is great, the screen is nice, but not stellar, and there is a slight glare when I work in direct sunlight though it's nothing objectionable. I think that Apple has set a new standard with this laptop because it's obviously light, but the battery is truly amazing. It's also picking up the internet feed in my house as good if not better than my other devices.

IMPORTANT UPDATE: I have noticed an issue with volume fluctuation when watching movies on Netflix and sports on ESPN. The issue persists on Safari and Firefox. Unfortunately, other are having this issue and no one that I could find as of yet reports it as being resolved. This is a shame. This laptop is so good otherwise I am still giving it 4 stars, but this is a major issue. I have downgraded to 3 stars until this gets resolved.

Best Lenovo ThinkPad T430 23426QU 14' LED Notebook - Intel - Core i5 Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $899.00
Sale Price: $695.00
Today's Bonus: 23% Off

I've been a Lenovo T-series user for about a decade, going through 4 T-series laptops for work. I finally bought a personal laptop for myself, because the soon-to-be released T440 is trying to be something it's not, which is an ultrabook (no more ultrabay, touch screen, internal battery). So I thought the T430 would be the last of it's kind for traditionalists who like Windows 7 better than 8, and like that this laptop can be upgraded with a 2nd hard drive, etc.

However, my complaint is that I received a model with a noisy fan. Search for "T430 noisy fan" on a web search engine and you'll find several others who had the same issue as me. The noise is an extremely annoying high pitched whine, like a jet turbine. So after having it for a day, I had to send it into Lenovo support. Per their instructions, I removed the hard drive and replaced the hard drive cover.

They shipped it back a few days later and seemed to have fixed the fan issue (if you get a noisy fan model, demand that they replace the fan with a quiet fan. There's nothing that can be done with software to fix it). However, when I tried putting the hard drive cover back on, the screw wouldn't thread back into the laptop. I called Lenovo again, simply asking them to send me a 5 cent replacement screw. They refused, saying the "Hard drive cover is cosmetic", even though it's the piece that prevents my hard drive from falling out of my computer. Hey, the hood on my car is cosmetic, but if a car shop gives it back to me with a broken latch, I expect them to fix it.

I ended up taking a screw from an old Lenovo which was the proper width, but too long, so I had to use a hack saw to get it to the correct length. Even though they have a 30 day return policy (through Lenovo) I decided to keep the laptop for now because I didn't want to go through the hassle of buying another laptop, but I'm unhappy with the frustration I've went through after buying a brand new machine.

On the plus side, the lighted keyboard is nice and I don't mind the new chick-let style keys, though I wished they kept the page up / down and Home / End keys in the same place they were located on the T410 / T420.

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the power interface of this computer is not working just within a month and I don't think should have happened on a thinkpad.

Best Deals for Lenovo ThinkPad T430 23426QU 14' LED Notebook - Intel - Core i5

I bought this for a student and they literally hit the ground running with it. I own a G770 and I love it. Homework has never looked so good.

Honest reviews on Lenovo ThinkPad T430 23426QU 14' LED Notebook - Intel - Core i5

I would say, Yes, It worth the price. I used to have a R61 ThinkPad for several years and recently changed to T430. I am really satisfy with my purchase. For some days I tested an Ideapad model the specification of that notebook was higher. However, I think this one is much faster and reliable. At last, if you want to but a ThinkPad T430 I do recommend you to but it with Win7 professional. Thank you.

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I helped my friend to buy that computer, and he said it is very good. The speed of this computer is fast.

Reviews of Probook 4720S 17.3"

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I purchased this laptop six weeks ago. It has 4 gigs of ram and that is plenty for running six programs at once glitch free and speedily. The computer is attractive but is very prone to smudges from finger prints just as stainless appliances and glossy black finishes are.

This is a nice high performance computer, but the design engineers need to be rebuked for some simpleton design flaws. The unique touchpad is very poorly designed! The left and right click buttons are part of the touchpad and are not separate buttons. That means as you touch the buttons and every time your finger slides slightly across the button, you will likely miss whatever you want to click on. A separate mouse is needed to work efficiently. Test this in a realistic way and make sure you can live with it or get an external mouse before you buy it!

Most laptops are designed with the USB ports toward the rear so that you don't have cords laying on your desk where you use your mouse and write. However HP put all four USB ports at the front left and right corners. Now I have plugs and cords protruding further into my workspace so that there is even less usable surface area on my desk and this can interfere with mouse movement. This extra-wide laptop takes up 16.1 inches of the surface area of my desk. Protruding plugs use up another 1.75 inches on each side. With cords laying in front of the DVD/CD tray it is a minor challenge to open and close the tray. The ethernet port also is near the USB ports and there is not one port in the back end of the computer. The SD card slot and headphone jacks are nicely located with easy access in the front.

The first day the operating system crashed and I had to format the hard drive and perform a full system restore to the original state. This was due to me alternately hitting the buttons to disable and enable the touchpad and wireless feature (do not test that). This cost me most of a day's worth of time. Subsequently the computer is working exceptionally smoothly and quickly (I am very pleased with the performance). I like the features of the 4720s for the money. The keyboard has space between the keys which allows my fat-finger typing style to not hit two keys at once.

Because I do not know of a better computer for me, I plan on keeping this 4720s. For now I only need 2 USB ports full time and plugged them in on the left side (opposite side of the DVD/CD tray which I rarely use). And I use my external mouse on the right side.

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Reviews of Dell Latitude D630 Intel Core 2 Duo 2000 MHz 60Gig Serial ATA HDD

Customer Ratings:

A WORKHORSE GOING ON 5 YEARS 50-80 HOURS A WEEK

UPDATE 3/8/2013 still going strong

I can't say enough good things. Dependable, sturdy, fine screen, good weight, decent speed, meets all my business needs, very low maintenance. Everything still in perfect working order 54 months later.

* Wireless-N, based on 802.11n technology, with up to 5X the speed and 2X the range of traditional Wi-Fi® when used with a Wireless-N router3

* Display WXGA+ (1440 x 900 resolution) WXGA (1280 x 800 resolution)

* HyperBand Diversity Antenna delivers superior multi-band wireless performance for mobile broadband and Wi-Fi

* Integrated Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate makes it easy to connect personal devices

* Built-in Dell WiFi Catcher(tm) Utility switch lets you quickly find a network, even when the laptop's closed

* The latest Intel® Core(tm)2 Duo processors, with Intel integrated graphics for optimal battery life.

* Genuine Windows Vista® Business or Genuine Windows® XP Professional

* Performance hard-drive options including 7200 RPM, Hybrid hard drive

* Power Supply: 65 Watt or 90 Watt AC adapter with cord wrapping

Batteries featuring ExpressCharge(tm) : Primary 4-cell/32 WHr; Primary 6-cell/56 WHr; Primary 9-cell/85 WHr with 90 watt AC adapter; Secondary 6-cell/48 WHr "Smart" Li-Polymer battery

WEIGHT & DIMENSIONS: Starting at: 4.37lbs/1.98kg Width: 13.27"/337.1mm Depth: 9.37"/238mm Height: 1.26"/32mm

* PC Card: One Type I or Type II; Supports 34mm ExpressCard via USB interface through PCMCIA adapter

Ports: Serial, docking connector, 4 USB, 1394, VGA, headphone/speaker out, RJ-11, RJ-45, AC power, integrated microphone

Docking: D/Port, D/Dock, D/View Laptop Stand, D/Monitor Stand

Modular Options: DVDROM, 24X CD-ROM, 8X DVD +/-RW7, 24X CDRW/DVD, Floppy Disk Drive, Secondary 6-cell battery, 80GB8 Hard Drive or Travel Lite Module

* Wired: Wired: 56K v924 Internal Modem 10/100/1000 Gigabit6 Ethernet network interface adaptor

Wireless: Dell Wireless 5520 Mobile Broadband (Tri-band HSDPA 3.6) Mini-Card with service from AT&T (US) and Vodafone (select countries in Europe) Dell Wireless 5720 Mobile Broadband (EVDO Rev A) Mini-Card with service from Verizon Wireless (US), Sprint (US) and Telus (Canada)

WLAN Dell Wireless 1390 (802.11g); Dell Wireless 1490 (802.11a/g); Dell Wireless 1505 (802.11a/g/Draft n); Intel PRO/Wireless 3945AG (802.11a/g); Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN (802.11a/g/ Draft n) Mini-Cards, Dell Wireless 360 Bluetooth 2.0 internal wireless card (upgradable to Bluetooth 2.1 EDR) (optional).

TNVIDIA Quadro NVS 135M offers all the latest graphics technology to produce extraordinary visual effects, robust wide-aspect LCD support and compatibility with all major business applications.

Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator X3100 (Up to 256MB shared5) is an intelligent and responsive graphics engine built into the chipset that is on the motherboard. This integration provides incredible visual quality, faster graphics performance and flexible display options

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Best Lenovo ThinkPad R61 Intel Core 2 Duo 2000 MHz 320Gig Serial ATA HDD Deals

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The seller was very helpful with my concerns. The computer shipped exactly as written in the description and I have no problems with this item. As usual with lenovo items, the batteries are iffy, but no worries. Just buy a replacement and you're good to go. This computer is fast and I am enjoying it on my travels. Thanks for the product and the help!

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Best HP ENVY dv7t-7200 Quad Edition Notebook PC Deals

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I expected some "change adjustment", as this is my first Windows 8 product. It does take some adjusting, but it's so similar to smart phone (at least Android) functions, that it's not much of an adjustment.

Very pleased with the speed of this laptop. Even with multiple applications running (some CPU intensive), any wait times are minimal.

Not a gamer, but I am an amateur photographer. Many of my photography applications are very CPU and disk intensive. No issues whatsoever.

I have not tried videos (e.g. DVD) yet.

Any dust is (of course) easily visible on the exposed surfaces. Not unexpected with a (mostly) black surface.

Well pleased.

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I like HP products but their service is terrible. Most of the times you end up in India, and those people are very unprofessional.

Anyway I found another laptop HP Extreme with 16 GB RAM, processor 3.0, Hard drive 2 TB, and price was $2900.

I'm pretty happy with that, because it's an ultimate, and also has Windows 7. The above computer had Windows 8, which I personally don't care for.

Discount VIZIO CT15-A4 15-Inch Thin + Light Ultrabook

Customer Ratings:

EDIT 12/1 I have had a chance to put the PC through it's paces with several full battery runs. That is, working on it (writing, web-surfing, email) a couple of times. The battery life with real world use is about 3 1/2 hours. Maybe a tad less. This is with setting the power plan to "power saver" and the screen at half brightness. Also I ran HWinfo and after 4 charges the battery wear is at 4.8% which is weird.

Bottom line. This is a terrific slim laptop IF you can deal with the terrible battery life. Ultrabook specs call for 5+ hours of battery life so I don't think it can be classified that way.

--

I received this ultrabook on Nov 28th and thought I'd give some quick thoughts then expand later. I'm a writer and I need a laptop with a good keyboard. I took a risk on this laptop but have been pleasantly surprised by the way the keys behave. They don't have the same travel as your typical keyboard it's a bit shallow but I am a heavy typer and I appreciate the over sized keys. The text is black on silver and a bit hard to read without a back light. Wish they had backlit keys.

The box and packaging was good in fact the box is white, colorful, and very sturdy. Amazon shipped the laptop in a small box with only some small padding on the side so I was a bit concerned but the laptop is fine. The docs are minuscule but who reads those anyway?

The screen is gorgeous. I mean GORGEOUS. It' bright and it is such a relief to view a true HD screen after spending several weeks looking at crappy 1366 resolution. Even the Samsung 15" Series 7 with a matte display looked washed out at 1600 x 900 and was the main reason I avoided the Series 9. The Vizio screen is amazing and the high point of the laptop.

It's fast, boots rather quickly. Seems to have overall snappiness with all apps I have tested including office 2013.

Now the downside. The battery life stinks. I'm at 60% and it says I have 2 hours left. I suspect the life is a bit under 4 hours. I was really hoping that this model, with the i5, would have better battery life.

More later.

Edited to correct some typos ...

Now that I have a day on the laptop I continue to be amazed at it. I do think it is necessary to mention that the dreaded touchpad problems persist. I did not try the first generation just read the horror stories. At times this touchpad is great but at others it's maddening. Something like scrolling a page appears to be laggy until I lift my fingers. Swiping from the left to switch windows works about 25% of the time (this is a windows 8 gesture). Tapping and two-finger tapping work very well.

I wrote about 1,500 words today in a new project and found the keyboard to be quite nice. As I mentioned I really like the large keys. I've used macs for the last few years and find the keyboards to be amazing but I fat finger a lot on the small keys.

I've run the batter down to 10% today and I think I got about 3 1/2 hours out of it. That is simply unacceptable in an ultrabook but I can't find another computer with a true HD 15" screen with these kind of specs. As much as I want a 15" Macbook Pro Retina, I refuse to pay over $2,000 for a laptop. My next choice was the Zenbook Prime but I don't think my eyes can handle the tiny screen.

The power brick with the Vizio is really nice. It's compact and the plug features a light that indicates when the laptop is charged.

I noticed that Amazon added the CT-15 A5 to the $200 free gift card deal kind of irritating since I purchased this PC the day before. I would have paid the extra $250 since it now comes with the gift card. I thought about sending this one back and exchanging but with my luck the deal would run out the minute they issued my credit.

I appreciate the clean look off the PC as well as the free space on the hard drive. Because this is a Microsoft signature ultrabook it is not loaded with bloatware. I was really impressed that I didn't have to spend hours uninstalling Norton and Mcaffe crap. Also there were no stickers all over the case. Nothing says cheap quite like opening a new laptop only to find logos all over the palm areas and stickers hanging off the screen that show the PC stats. I KNOW what I just bought, you don't have to remind me that my computer has X amount of hard drive and RAM installed.

I'm really leaning toward bumping this review to a 4 star. It's a strong 3 1/2 right now. I hope that some new drivers will make the touch pad experience better.

BTW I'm a writer but I am also a gear-head with 20+ years of working PC experience. It's the day job ...

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I've been using this laptop for 2 weeks now and I've been extremely pleased with my purchase. This is the best value for an "ultrabook-style" laptop. I was pretty close to buying a 13" mac book air until I saw this computer. It has similar build, it's just as thin, it has the same components but with a larger 15" 1080 screen and it's almost half the price. I was a little concerned when i purchased it because there were quite a few reviews of the older model complaining about the track pad and the keyboard. I guess they've changed the track pad because it's one of the best I've used however the keyboard is still mediocre, not a deal breaker though.

Pros:

Basically a knock off mac book air that runs windows

price!

very fast. boot time is amazing

can do light gaming

excellent screen

battery lasts all day under normal web browsing/e-mail use

thin and lightweight

Cons:

keyboard is just okay

Other thoughts:

the keyboard doesn't have home or end keys. most people probably wouldn't even notice but it really bothers me.

15 inches is the perfect laptop size in my opinion.

SSD is a must for any new computer purchase. 128 GB is ample

Windows 8 is a little strange at first.

There is no bloat ware included. That was a refreshing change.

Best Deals for VIZIO CT15-A4 15-Inch Thin + Light Ultrabook

I was very disappointed. It was the perfect computer, but it had keyboard problems sticking keys. The tech support on Vizio is very good and they told me I could take off the relevant keys and blow under them and then snap them back. This I did and it worked some of the time. But then the space bar decided not to space or sometimes would space.

The keyboard is not backlit and the keys are not indented so the fingers tend to slip on to other keys. The punctuation marks are just about impossible to see because they are minute and instead of their normal position at the top of the key they are placed at the bottom.. To make matters worse the color of the keys is close to the color of the letters etc, so that is an added difficulty. I loved the other features, but whoever chose the keyboard really missed the boat.

Honest reviews on VIZIO CT15-A4 15-Inch Thin + Light Ultrabook

Bought this for the wife for home and remote work.

Overall the design is very good. Light weight is definite plus and it doesn't get hot sitting on your lap. There is a small fan for cooling but it doesn't run constantly.

Display is bright and full 1080. This is a replacement unit though as the first one suffered a display failure in the first 30 days. Amazon sent out a new one with return shipping free in a day. 5 stars for Amazon service.

Boots up in 15 seconds with the SSD. Performance is very good. Video doesn't lag and HDMI output to flat panel works great. Wireless works very good anywhere in the house but then I put 7db gain antennas on my wifi router.

Lack of SD reader is minor but I have an SD/USB adapter to remedy that.

The biggest drawback is the keyboard. All the keys are flat hard plastic with very short keystrokes. I find myself having to retype for missed keystrokes and her nails are a problem for her. Definitely not a keyboard for heavy typing. I bought a Logitech BT keyboard and Dell BT mouse so she can use it at her desk when she has a lot of work to do.

They must have fixed the drivers on the mouse pad as haven't experienced any issues with it.

Windows 8? What a joke. Don't use any of the worthless new features. Run it in traditional desktop mode.

Just bought her a Nexus 10 so the daily use is going down for this laptop and will probably unload it before long.

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I had to return it because the trackpad was so bad. No amount of driver downloading could make that thing behave like a piece of 21st century hardware. It barely registered two finger gestures, forget three or four. When I realized I was getting anxious every time I wondered whether pinch-to-zoom was going to respond, I knew I was done.

The screen is beautiful, though. And the computer has set a new standard for laptop-to-tv resolution for me. Very sleek, all aluminium with a much appreciated rubberized underside. The part of the charger that enters the computer glows orange when it's charging and green when it's done (or was it the other way round? Whatever. I liked it), but you'll only get 2-3 hours out of a charge.

Cheap Apple MacBook White- 2.1GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB DDR2 , 250GB SATA

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I think it is very deceptive that in the description from Amazon, it states 4GB BUT it only comes with 1GB from the seller. How can you feel good about yourself and sell something so misleading BUT then the seller will sell you some more GB for extra money. I am sure that are several other things in it that I am not aware of. That is what I get for buying something like a computer from you! Really makes me think about buying anything from Amazon again. I have always in the past bought alot of Amazon but I am pissed!

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Cheap Dell Inspiron 15R i15RN5110-7223DBK 15.6-Inch Laptop

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I purchase this laptop 3 weeks ago, it fail on the 12th day, I call Dell to validate the waranty and they told me that only have waranty and tech support on software or windows problems, the laptop motherboard was defective and the hard drive, they refuse to change my laptop and told me they only give 10 days to tested and change parts or give replacement within those days, besisdes the call center is awful.

Thanks Amazon and their return policy, I hope to get a refund and buy another brand, Dell is very dissapointing.

Beware do not buy Dell.

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I ordered this laptop to replace an older Dell Inspiron I had that worked very well and I had a good experience with. As stated in the title at first it was great; fast, it ran Star Trek Online and Fallout: New Vegas on medium settings with no problems. After completing some Windows updates it wouldn't wake up from hibernation. I reset the computer and it never rebooted, it would stop at the Windows loading screen every time.

I sent it to Dell to see if they could fix it, they did......sort of. After taking out of the box fresh back from the Dell repair shop, it booted very fast like the first time and then thirty minutes later the touch pad died. Just died. Luckily, I had wireless mouse on hand and after looking around on the system for awhile I found that the computer no longer recognized that the touch pad existed at all. I went to the Dell support home page and found the drivers for the touch pad, they wouldn't take. I installed them and nothing the touch pad is still dead.

Dell wanted me to send it back to them so they could fix it again, no thanks I said. Amazon however agreed to give me a full refund after talking to them for about 20 minutes. Great customer support. So now I'm waiting for the refund and will be buying a new laptop from a different company.

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When I first unpacked this and set it up I was very excited the machine itself is solid and functional, screen is great, keyboard quite good for a laptop. However, two sets of issues have presented sufficient frustration that I don't think I will ever again buy a Dell product.

The first to appear is the huge amount of preloaded software, some of which is very difficult to get rid of. Central in annoyance is the row of huge tiles across the center of the screen for quick access to all the stuff I will never ever use, totally blocks the screen until you find the little "x" to get rid of it until next time. I probably spent 3 hours figuring out how to make it go away permanently.

I don't know if it's Dell or the new version of windows, but it is all but impossible to get rid of those silly useless little logo tiles and again it took several hours even to figure out how to control them. Documentation is seriously crappy, and there is no support.

I use a wireless transmitter so I can listen to Pandora, as well as to the music I have stored on my hard drive and play them on my stereo in the other room. Almost every time I want to use the transmitter for Pandora, I have to configure the machine to send the signal out through the wireless instead of to the built in speakers (which are tinny, good for nothing beyond talking on Skype). Again documentation is crappy; the little pictures on the devices menu say it is hooked up and running, and it takes an hour or longer to figure out how to get it to work. Often I have to play something through RealPlayer (which for some reason does go to the transmitter) then I turn off RealPlayer and, like magic, Pandora comes out of the living room speakers. But next time I turn it on, it's through the tinny little built-ins again and I have to go through the whole routine all over again.

I bought a wireless printer with the package. Same problem the cute little pictures say it is "ready" but when I print the job goes to a file, not to the printer. Every time I want to print something, it takes an hour or longer to figure out how to get the printer to work I often have to go through the entire setup again.

I've had this machine for over a month, have wasted probably 20 hours trying to iron out the bugs, and it still isn't working right, and Dell offers absolutely no support.

The menu of little pictures they have in place of the former detailed system menu is worthless. Very few options, almost none of what you need in order to get rid of the cutesy crap and clutter or make the peripherals work.

Great engineering, terrible software and interfaces, almost no documentation, help menu worthless, and far too much pre-loaded junk. This is the 4th Dell machine I've bought and the last.

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If Amazon would permit a post with ZERO stars, that is the rating I would give.

This machine has now eaten up four (4) months of my office time and $$ in computer restoration. Dell has had me return it 3 times in the past 4 months, commencing in month 6 of my ownership (brand new from Costco). It does not work, at all, the hard drive and motherboard have been replaced; the techs verbally assured us memory had been replaced although this doesn't show in Dell's internal records. It doeds not finish booting up, it turns itself off (except the power button remains lit up in white, and the internal "guts" keep whirring, so it cannot be turned off except by removing the electric plug as well as the battery.

The Dell floor supervisor in Tech support just informed me that since I've "Owned" it almost a year now they cannot replace it. WTF? I've "owned" it 6 months, and it's been in Dell's hands during the last 4 months while Dell keeps NOT repairing it. I've owned laptops, and this baby is nothing but a very expensive paperweight. DO NOT PURCHASE IT!! You have been warned. I will NEVER again purchase any DELL product; in each call for support we are tossed around through at least 3 departments. Just today, whilst typing this, I am now on the phone 56 minutes, awaiting department #3. Now a second "floor supervisor" who "just wants to help me" is sending me "up two levels" to another department via "escalation", saying that "Corporate Team" may be able to replace my machine.

Wait time, and this is the shortest Dell call to date these past 4 months, is now officially over an hour.

Think Dell looked at my location and realized that shipping me another substandard "refurbished" machine would be cheaper than sending a tech to fix a laptop which obviously is not capable of being repaired.......at least not at the hands of its manufacturer. What a bad, bad, bad joke.

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I've always bought Dell computers because they seem to have a better support system and reliability history than most other brands. I was right about that part--Dell tech support have been very good lately about responding to calls and emails and fixing whatever is wrong. Despite that, I only bought this laptop 7 months ago, and I wasn't expecting to have any type of problem with it for a few years.

So what do I like about it?

-The keys are very responsive to touch.

-It isn't too heavy to lug around.

-The size of screen is just about right for the writing work I do.

-It has plenty of memory for my docs.

-It's fast.

-It's starts up and restarts quickly.

-The battery lasts a few hours so I can leave the house and expect it to work for a while.

What's not to like?

-After a few months it started to not come on at all. I was instructed to take the battery out and put it back in, sort of like those pathetic calls you make to your phone company and they tell you to do things that will not fix the long-term problem. Wisdom prevailed, though, and a guy came to the house and fixed it.

-Occasionally every single window I have open will start spazzing out on me, flashing up and down before my eyes, sort of like when you open the wrong URL and all the pop-up windows start to display content you never want to see again and you can't close them all fast enough. It won't let me close each window; I have to shut down the computer with all the windows open and start over.

-Sometimes the sound and display settings will show up on the screen and won't go away so you have to have a Skype session with the setting box to the side.

-The sound system is terrible. I didn't care about the sound to begin with because I never really listen to music on this, but the speakers are underneath so it comes out sounding far less than clear.

-The keys are so sensitive that you could tip one accidentally and it will move your tracker to some other place on your document, so you go back to typing and don't realize you're typing two paragraphs up. This is a very persistent problem and drives me crazy.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend buying this particular model.