Cheap Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823VU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

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= Update #1 2012-12-28 =

After installing a fresh OEM copy of Windows 7 x64, I thought my problems would have gone away. For the most part, they did the Windows Update continues to work fine, the system boots up a bit quicker, etc. But... (you knew this was coming).

The wireless card or driver seems to stop responding to the system at random times. Sometimes the system will stay connected just fine for hours at a time (through multiple sleep/restore cycles, reboots, etc), other times it can be powered up fresh and stop working after only a few minutes.

The "Lenovo BGN Wireless" drivers are the latest the Lenovo site, and Broadcom (the maker of the WiFi card) don't have anything for this card (I assume it's a Lenovo special/custom chipset). It's getting to the point that I'm going to re-install the Lenovo Windows OS (without any personalization) and see if the problem returns. I don't want to put them through this troubleshooting step so if someone has an idea on how to confirm the hardware or a driver, I'm all ears.

I'll leave my 4/5 stars for now, but if I track this down to a hardware or Lenovo/Windows issue I'll adjust accordingly. And to be fair, if the Lenovo support team assists in a positive way, I'll note that too.

= Initial review =

I purchased this laptop for some friends of ours. They are retirement age and do a bit of traveling and sitting on their deck, so their old tower system wasn't working for them anymore. The IdeaPad G780 came in at the right price with the specs they wanted so I can help them get quite a few years out of this one (their old tower system was 9 years old).

I tried to get the system updated with the latest Microsoft Updates and related driver updates three times. Each time I started with the "factory fresh" image on the hard-drive, and it would get through most of the updates before the OS (Windows 7) would stop taking more updates. In researching the errors, the Microsoft TechNet solutions always ended up with "if everything else fails, boot with the install CD and run the System Recovery". Sadly, this system didn't come with a regular Windows 7 OS media, nor did the media the system did create boot into a regular Microsoft recovery screen.

In the end, I installed a fresh OEM copy of Windows 7 I had purchased but never activated. This turned out to be the least problematic of all. The few Lenovo drivers/features I did keep (power control is a decent utility) re-installed fine, and the Windows Update and assorted hardware driver updates all installed without a hitch.

One word of warning to those who are new to Lenovo and their "OneKey Rescue" button. When I was trying to boot into the System Recovery, I tried the Rescue button. I pressed it (click #1), it booted into a minimal screen and I chose option #2 (click #2), pressed return (click #3) and it rebooted and went into a Windows-looking boot screen. I let it sit for about 45 minutes, and when I came back....IT HAD TOTALLY REFORMATTED AND WIPED THE SYSTEM CLEAN! I couldn't believe that three key presses and it nuked the drive. I never saw a warning of any-sort that hinted at what was about to happen. This will be good when they finally decide to part with the system, but it's way too easy to have an inquisitive youngster hit the wrong "power button" and erase the entire system.

In the end, the hardware seems rock solid and is acting fine for them. I just wish Lenovo would break the trend and provide a "real" Windows OS install image for those of us who need them.

Dan

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This one is very stable in running multi-program.

no blue screen. no fail. about 2 min boot. less noise. monitor quality is great.

MOA, the price is reasonable ($5xx).

AH... Me? a normal user who have used a dozen laptops before.

n now I'm using this as a main computer connecting two external monitors.

(the third monitor runs by externam graphic stuff)

For entertainment & business this is recommendable.

For gaming, I don't know because I'm not a gamer.

One weakness...

SSD upgrade means losing the one-year mfr's warranty.

I will upgrd next yr.

Overall, no regret! surely.

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

a week later...

the fan sound is often noizy. Lenovo could do better.

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I've been using this laptop for a little more than a month now, and I'm very happy with it. One, it has really good specs, and as a result, it's fast! I've installed Windows 8 on it, and there are times when it boots in 20 seconds (Windows 8 also deserves some credit for this). And all apps, like Word, PowerPoint, Firefox, and Winamp load almost instantly. Love it! Two, the keyboard and trackpad are very comfortable to use. And three, it cost me less than $600. You can't go wrong with it. The only issue is battery life. I had to return the first version of the laptop I received because of that. But the replacement is satisfactory. The battery now lasts about 4 hours on a full charge, which is acceptable for a Windows PC.

Honest reviews on Lenovo IdeaPad G780 21823VU 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

This is a very nicely equipped system that performs well. The price was very reasonable and the standard features met my needs. The setup was very simple. I liked the fact that it came with the 3.0 USB ports. I'm very pleased with the quickness of the delivery. I recommend this system to anyone needing a fast system that inexpensive.

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Bought this item and the description says it has a NVIDIA GT630M 2GB DDR3 Graphics card however after receiving and gifting the item I discovered that the grapics card is actually an Intel HD 4000. This was due to the optimus technology that basically switches to the lesser graphics card to conserve memory so, you buy this just be aware of that. The only problem we had was that the bezel on the side was coming apart but, I think a little glue would fix that issue. Overall, pretty satisfied with the machine.