Reviews of TOSHIBA Satellite L505D-LS5010 Notebook PC - AMD Athlon II

Customer Ratings:

Pros

Cheap price (460.00 for mine with shipping)

Dual Core processor

4gb DDR2

Windows 7 x64

Plenty of inputs, but lacks a modem (shouldnt matter for much, but con for me since it is a work computer)

Cons

A bit weak in the graphic's department (Fine, unless you plan to use this for gaming)

rather weak battery life (Lowest brightness + Eco Mode gets me 2 1/2 hrs)

Does not come with Driver or restore disk!

I bought this laptop looking for something cheap and powerful, and this thing has power aplenty. Boots in around 20 seconds. It can handle WoW at max resolution, even in Dalaran without chugging, so it is capable of doing some modest gaming. If your like me and looking for a powerful laptop for under 500 dollars, I really cant recommend this laptop enough. I am starting a job as a field networking engineer, so having my own laptop was a must. I had to buy an external 56k to USB modem and a USB to DB-9 Serial converter, but I really didnt expect to find a laptop that had such old technologies standard anyway, but it is worth noting. The battery life may prove to be an issue during long class sessions or long nights on site, but at around 2 hours, it is satisfactory.

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Pros : Ram, cpu, and hard drive compliment each other well. Integrated video card is impressive: Rise of Legends and Age of Empires 3 run very well with settings at 3/4 of the max. Win7 Premium was a welcome addition (I had thought basic would certainly be installed.) Very light and reasonably quiet. Screen and keyboard take some getting used to (both are wider than standard), but are well-suited to most tasks.

Cons: Almost all the bundled software is useless and adds a significant amount of overhead to usage. Overall I spent 3 hours uninstalling and updating. Windows 7 is definitely the best Windows OS so far, but severely lags behind the most popular Linux distros, namely Ubuntu and Fedora, for everyday use and productivity.

The battery life is average: 2 to 4 hours, depending on how you use it (however it's not a big issue to me.)

Best Deals for TOSHIBA Satellite L505D-LS5010 Notebook PC - AMD Athlon II

I have always liked Toshiba in that they keep adding more features to their laptops! This one is no different. The dual core technology enables this machine to multi-task on a whole new level. The wide screen allows for enjoyable movie/TV watching. I also like the windows media center addition. This laptop is very versatile when compared to those of equal value.

Best Sony VAIO Duo SVD13215PXB 13.3-Inch Convertible 2-in-1 Touchscreen Deals

Customer Ratings:

First: the Amazon product description isn't accurate. This laptop contains a 256 GB SSD, but no conventional hard drive. (They currently list it with a 500 GB HD, which is not correct.)

The good: this is the laptop I'd been holding out for. It's fast enough and capable enough to run Adobe Photoshop with no problems or to allow me to manipulate a hugely complicated Excel spreadsheet filled with formulas without any noticeable lag. At the same time, it wakes up in less than 2 seconds, and the touchscreen when folded down into tablet position is great for taking notes on. The battery lasts far longer than most laptops, generally giving me 8-10 hours of work before running out. It's shockingly light.

The bad: while the hinge works great, I worry about its long-term sturdiness. The webcam light often stays on, which is creepy. The angle of the screen isn't adjustable, so although the brightness makes it readable from many angles, if you'd like a different angle than the default for ergonomic reasons you're just out of luck.

No buyers remorse on my part a week into having it, but I'd say that the primary audience is people who need high performance, long battery life, a touch screen, and light weight all wrapped up into one package that they're willing to pay a premium for.

UPDATED: It appears to be the case right now that there's no pressure sensitivity for the stylus in Photoshop. That might or might not be a dealbreaker for folks, and it might or might not eventually get fixed with a driver update.

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I own the Sony Vaio Duo 13 with i7-4650, 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD and Windows 8 Pro. It is an impressive convertible ultrabook.

Build:

The device feels very solid and has a premium feel.

The left and right edges of the screen bezel has a slight lip near the middle that catches your fingernail (it's not perfectly flush).

There are two hooks on the base that attaches to the bottom of the screen to keep it secured when the screen is up, but the hooks can sometimes miss and the screen needs to be realigned. If the Duo is on a 45-degree or more slant then the screen will become unhooked and hang loose.

This ultrabook does not have a lock hole.

Weight:

The Duo 13 is lightweight for a laptop but not light enough for one-handed use as a tablet.

Screen:

Beautiful IPS display.

The screen can be hard to view in direct sunlight.

The screen is great, although a 60-degree angle (like the MS Surface) instead of 45 would be better. The IPS display has decent viewing angles so I can live with that.

The sliding screen design allows the screen to be closer within reach than traditional laptops. I like this design over others where the screen is further at the edge of the base.

Having the screen on top and slide out has its benefits to be used as a tablet/slate without having the keyboard in the way. This was one of the main reasons why I chose the Duo over the Pro.

It would be nice if the screen can somehow flip out of the way if you didn't need it. All I need is the keyboard when connected to an external display and the blank screen is just in the way.

Other ultrabooks may have higher resolution screens but 1080p seems sufficient for this 13" screen. The screen magnification is set to 125% by default, which still allows a large workspace. Setting it to 100% gives you a very ample workspace but items can be too small.

The touch accuracy works as intended, but it can get tricky to pinpoint some buttons in desktop mode with your finger. This is where the pen comes in handy.

Note that this screen only has 5 touch points instead of 10, but I haven't found the use for that many touch points. Windows 8 doesn't allow you to drag multiple items with multiple fingers anyways.

I had the Duo custom built at Sony's online store and had them apply the screen protector at the factory. The screen protector does takes away some glare, glossiness, and color.

Note that output displays are limited to 1080p. I wish it could go higher for my higher resolution monitors.

It has a flat surface for use with Windows edge gestures.

Keyboard:

The keyboard could be larger with more key travel.

The keys are very well spaced and I can type at full speed. Most of my typing errors are from missing the right Shift key and pressing Up on accident.

My main gripe is that the right Shift key is too small. I find myself frequently pressing Up instead of Shift with my right pinky finger on accident.

The key travel is very shallow and takes some getting used to.

Trackpad:

It's small but does the job.

The trackpad does the job but I rarely use it. I cranked the sensitivity up so it is more usable.

It's easy to accidentally tap the touchpad while typing so care is needed while typing. Good thing Sony included a hot key to disable the trackpad (Fn + F1).

The left half left-clicks and the right will right-click.

Gestures work just fine with the Synaptics drivers and can be customized.

The pen does not work on the trackpad.

Pen:

The pen works as intended. It comes in handy for accurate pointing but I can live without it.

It feels nice and solid but could be more comfortable.

The top half of the pen where the clip meets already broke loose, as if the super glue no longer sticks.

It is not a Wacom pen so limited apps can use the sensitivity feature at the moment.

The clip holder snaps into place and is much better than having nothing to hold the pen. If it weren't for the clip holder then I would probably leave the pen at home.

The "ink well" holder is built in and slides out when needed, but I rarely use it.

Cameras:

Mediocre cameras on front and back.

The front camera is not adjusted to account for the 45-degree angle screen. If the screen is up then the camera will also be looking up 45-degrees.

Included is a FastAccess Facial Recognition app to log in, but it is pretty slow at recognizing faces.

Connectivity:

No wifi issues here. The wifi signal is stronger when the screen is propped up.

Bluetooth works as intended.

I haven't tried Intel Wireless Display but look forward to testing that out since it's built in.

Performance:

This ultrabook is no slouch!

The SSD allows for fast boot times as well as quick read/write times. It'll boot up in about 10 seconds and restart in about 20 seconds. It almost instantly wakes up when resuming from sleep.

The i7 CPU doesn't break a sweat when I push it.

The fan is not too loud (there's a setting in Vaio Control Center that allows you to adjust the fan noise and CPU performance).

The vent hasn't gotten hot, but the port side where the power plug can get warm when I'm charging it and running multiple USB displays off one port.

Battery life:

This was one of the main selling points for me. An advertised 10 hour battery life was unheard of until Haswell came out.

I can get about 4-5 hours using CPU intensive apps like Traktor to mix music at regular screen brightness and timeout settings. I can picture it lasting 6-8+ hours if I try to conserve power by lowering the screen brightness and shortening the display timeout/dimming settings. I have the display set to dim in 1 minute to 0% and it has helped with battery life.

The battery doesn't seem to drain when the laptop is in sleep mode so I just put it to sleep instead of shutting down.

It charges pretty quickly at about 1% per minute.

--

Conclusion:

I like this convertible ultrabook very much and I can picture myself using it for years to come. I can recommend it to others.

It is overpriced but you get what you pay for (powerful CPU/GPU, good battery life, beautiful display, quick SSD [probably the most expensive part], solid and thin build). This is a premium ultrabook.

The battery life, screen, keyboard and weight could use some improvement to earn another star. If the battery could last 10 hours as advertised under normal use then that would be great. The screen would be better if it were adjustable or at a 60-degree angle. The keyboard is not the best but works for daily use. It could be lighter for one-handed use.

Best Deals for Sony VAIO Duo SVD13215PXB 13.3-Inch Convertible 2-in-1 Touchscreen

This is a review of the stock version with 8gb RAM and 256gb HDD.

My needs include grading and commenting on papers and exams for graduate school students. I wanted a convertible tablet with digital ink capabilities, that was larger than the typical 11.6 inch tablet. I needed something that could handle very large PDF files, so I could read and mark-up coursebooks in PDF form. Ideally, I would be able to replace my iPad and Macbook Air with one device.

Along the way, I tried the Asus Transformerbook TX300. It was too heavy, lacked the digital pen capability, and too slow in handling large pdf files. (It also had defective keyboard unit). I tried the Samsung ATIV 700t. The ATIV 700t had digital ink, but was as sluggish as the Transformerbook with large PDF files, and the screen was too small at 11.6 inches.

I thought a long time before going with this Sony -not sure I liked the slider form; concerned about the Wifi problems people seemed to have. But, I went with it, and find it to be extremely useable, and a great fit for my purposes.

The slider format, I've discovered, is far superior to the detachable tablet approach in the Transformerbook and the ATIV 700t. For marking papers in MS WORD, I can easily change from typed comments to handwritten comments, just by sliding from notebook to tablet. It's quick, and simple. Durability may be an issue, but I plan to get Square Trade or some other kind of extended protection.

The unit is light enough that I can and do take it with me to work on a daily basis, as I did with the iPad. It boots up very quickly. Easy to use it to get work done in the subway, or wherever.

I have not had any significant Wifi problems. It gets a signal (though weak) two floors below where the router is, and a strong signal on the floor where the router is. I had considered the version with ATT broadband, but decided I could use the mobile hotspot function of my phone. The Sony connected with that Wifi from my phone just fine as well.

Battery life is great. It's reassuring not to have to worry about the computer losing its charge before I lose interest in doing more work.

I've seen that many observers are questioning whether this Sony has any real market. From my perspective, this Vaio Duo 13 has a great design and set of features for students and teachers.

Of course, some things could be better. The key travel is too shallow. As is true with almost all Windows machines these days, the aspect ratio is not right for reading in portrait mode (something that students and faculty would likely want to do). Windows programs for marking up PDF files are far more cumbersome than is Goodreader for the iPad -hopefully someone can create a program like Goodreader for Windows 8. (This is not a Sony problem, but something that a person switching from iPad to this might want to consider).

But, again, having a real computer, with real computing power, with a sufficiently large screen, in such a light form, with all my Office and PDF programs, able to handle multiple programs simultaneously without getting bogged down, easily convertible from notebook to tablet, and with the active digitizer -it's really a great package.

Honest reviews on Sony VAIO Duo SVD13215PXB 13.3-Inch Convertible 2-in-1 Touchscreen

I looking for great laptop and good for tablet. This machine is amazing fast and great responsive in many ways. It can be one of my favorite gadget if it does not have serious Wifi connection problem. I use Apple Time capsule (old version) as my router to internet. Normally, I use my computer, tablet far from it around 15-20 feet, nothing go wrong. All my machine work and run internet extremely fast and never have disconnected problem.

My new Sony Duo 13 is show only 2 bars for Wifi connection (all other devices show 5 full bars) but on top of that they running all download super slow and disconnected from my router occasionally. I have to move my Duo very close to my router, the result is super fast as 10 times as 15 feet away. I try to update all the driver and patch of window 8 by lay it down next to each other.

The result is the same. I have to returned it to AMAZON. sorry.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Sony VAIO Duo SVD13215PXB 13.3-Inch Convertible 2-in-1 Touchscreen

I was intrigued by the Duo 11 but hesitated due to its difficult to use smallish keyboard and short battery life. Thanks to Intel Haswell and Sony's updates, I finally get the perfect hybrid laptop I've been waiting for. Beautiful and light weight, fast, 1080p multi-touch IPS screen, long battery life, decent keyboard and a pressure-sensitive stylus.

Agree with the first review, Amazon need to correct the HDD spec, it is a 256GB SSD. The top end model with the 512GB SSD cost 2700. Anyway, I've used it for a few days and here's my initial impression.

Pro:

Beautifully designed and thin, form factor is quite an eye catcher

Surprisingly light, feels like holding an 11" notebook instead of a 13" one

Boot up is incredibly fast, takes only a few second like a game console

Performance is very snappy, the i7 is plenty fast for most computing use

Quiet and cool under light use, have not tested heavy loads yet

Beautiful 1080p IPS screen. 1080p is about prefect for 13"

Usable back-lit keyboard

Real touch pad instead of some weird pointing device, though a little small

Very good battery life for such a fast notebook, approaching that of a tablet

NFC. May not be useful but good to know it's included

Pressure sensitive digitizer and supported art software included

Con:

Screen angle not adjustable

Screen is quite glossy but expected just like in most tablets

Hinge does not seem very sturdy so be more careful with it

Only the screen bezel is white. I wish the entire body is white

Keyboard keys lacks travel compare to normal notebook

Does not have a slot to keep the stylus in

Not Wacom digitizer so third party support may be lacking

Non-removeable batteries

No RAM slot

A little pricey

Overall I am very pleased with this hybrid notebook and my wife loves it. I really wanted the Duo 11 when it came out but my wife did not like it. Glad I hold out for the Haswell update. The Duo 13 is better than the Duo 11 in every aspect. The larger screen is more useful for 1080p, the larger keyboard is more practical, and it is amazing that Sony was able to keep its weight almost the same as the Duo 11. And thanks to Haswell, battery life about doubles. It is more expensive, but in this world you usually get what you pay for. I would give it 4.5 stars, but since there's no half star, I give it a 5.

Other thoughts: this is my first Windows 8 experience. I took an evening to learn it and it was pretty nice. After a while the touch experience feel quite natural. Only thing I miss is the Start menu, glad that 8.1 is almost here and will bring the Start menu back. On the other hand I can understand users on a desktop with a non-touch screen would complain about the start screen.

Discount Dell Inspiron 1545 15.6-Inch Jet Black Laptop - Up to 4 Hours 34

Customer Ratings:

I've owned several laptops and would be considered an intermediate to advanced computer user. I've built my own desktops, tweaked a few laptops and owned various brands of laptops including HP, Fujitsu, Sony and Dell (Inspiron, Latitude and XPS series).

I purchased this exact laptop directly from Dell (got a better deal than current Amazon pricing) based upon Consumer Report's November 2009 article recommendations where the Dell Inspiron 1545 was rated a 'Best Buy' for every day computing. I purchased it for my husband who will use it primarily for watching an occasional movie from Netflix streaming wirelessly on our home network, emailing to share jokes and videos with his friends, and browsing the Internet.

After setting it up, which other than running into a snag with my home network was a breeze, and playing with it for about an hour, these are my impressions.

The PROS:

+ Comes with Windows 7 no need to upgrade, and the 64-bit combined with the more than adequate memory makes things move nicely. Slightly different than Vista's look, but should be easy to use.

+ Adequate hard drive (mine came with a 320) for storing photos, videos and music.

+ Great 1.3mp webcam which delivers pretty nice snapshots (not too grainy) as well as excellent video (very little drag of movement).

+ Good speakers! Better than those on my Dell XPS, for which I paid 30% more less than a year ago.

+ 3 usb ports

+ Bright 15.6" display; nice size. I sometimes find the 13" on the XPS too small and the Fujitsu had a 17" which is fine for a desktop replacement but really adds weight to the overall unit.

+ Virtually silent running. No fan noise to speak of and yet...

+ Stays cool to the touch! Not worried about overheating on this one.

The CONS:

Keyboard is OK, but not as responsive as some others I've used.

The touchpad seems a tad small and the buttons (left/right click) seem too low by comparison to the keyboard. It could be the size of my hands (small...) but I tend to think it's just the layout.

The high gloss finish inside and the glossy display (versus matte finish) look cool, but do show fingerprints and reflect light to the point of sometimes being a nuisance.

There is no 'media only' button like on the XPS where you don't have to turn on the computer to watch a movie, but this is something that higher end laptops would have and may simply be a perk to paying more.

Heavier than some others, but at under six pounds, it's still not too bad.

Matte finish on the outside shows greasy smudges where you've touched it. I have the same issue with my XPS, but frankly I've never found a finish that doesn't show something.

Not a multi-media or gaming powerhouse. It will play dvd's and games, but if you're buying a laptop and really into those things, spend a bit more and make sure you upgrade your video and audio to support your interests. The 4GB of memory really helps as much as anything and I didn't notice any issues with the media I tested.

SET-UP:

The only issue I had with setting up this laptop was with my home network not being accepted because Windows 7 didn't like the security settings I had in place. I could get the 1545 to recognize my network, but it wouldn't connect until I changed the settings. I had my wireless settings on WEP and Windows 7 wanted WPA. Once I changed the settings, the laptop connected. I then had to go to 8 different devices on my network and make sure they were happy. Only one item: Myine Electronics IR001 WiFi Internet Radio Adaptor wasn't happy, but eventually accepted the settings with some concentrated tweaking.

BATTERY LIFE:

Battery life seems to be about 3.5 hours. I think the 4+ hour estimate is high, but that undoubtedly is also based upon what things you are doing on the laptop and mobile power settings.

CONCLUSION:

If you purchase this Dell you are getting a solid workhorse for every day computing for a fair price. I think it's quality is certainly higher than an Acer with the same specs, and backed by a 1 year warranty from Dell. (Having had a Dell laptop that needed the keyboard replaced recently, I truly think the warranty service provided by Dell they came to my house the next day is exceptional and worth the small price hike over some other brands.)

The Dell Inspiron 1545 is perfect for a student, a grandma who likes to email or wants to keep up with the grandkids on Skype, or anyone who has no need for the latest and greatest gaming, multi-media computer. For a laptop with a webcam, 4GB memory, and Windows 7 (64-bit) that's ready to fly right out of the box... it's a good choice.

**WIRELESS NOTE: If you are having trouble connecting to a wireless network, be sure you check the included 'set-up guide', page 10, to find the wireless key on your keyboard. You can inadvertently press this key and turn off your wireless capabilities. Handy on airplanes... not so handy at home.

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We bought the Dell Inspiron 15 (1545) to replace an aging ACER laptop as an "everyday" laptop for my teen son to use for homework and casual gaming. For the price, the performance, features and display have far exceeded our expectations. While not a gaming or graphics power machine, it has more than enough processor speed, memory, and hard drive space for our needs.

This is a very simple laptop to set up and use. The box only contains the PC (with battery already installed), the power supply, and a packet of software CDs (which I did not use) with minimal documentation. The instructions recommended charging the laptop for 12 hours before using the battery, which was fine as I just left it plugged in while configuring the machine. The initial setup took about 20 minutes, and was very straight forward as it found and connected right away to my WEP protected home WiFi network. The Windows 7 configuration was straight forward and no errors were encountered. Dell also recommends updating the BIOS right away and the instructions are included in the documentation. It was a very easy process and only took another 20 minutes or so to complete.

PROS:

+ Windows 7 is preinstalled 64 bit OS, works well

+ Very Nice 15.6" Screen Very clear and bright

+ Good Webcam and Software Provides better than expected image and video quality

+ Fast DVD+RW Drive

+ Large Hard Drive

+ Large Amount of RAM

+ Good Touchpad very responsive and doesn't have the "random jump" issue seen on other laptops

CONS:

Only 3 USB Ports, no HDMI, Firewire, etc

Finish is a Fingerprint Magnet

Limited Pre-installed Software

Overall this is a good value laptop that will meet most general daily office, homework, and web surfing needs.

Recommended!

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 1545 15.6-Inch Jet Black Laptop - Up to 4 Hours 34

I also have had issues with Dell and the Inspiron 1545. Firstly, there is a known issue with the cursor randomly jumping to a different spot while typing. At first I thought it was an issue with MS Word, but then it began happening anywhere I was typing outside of Word such as Gmail or even writting a review for Amazon. Researching the issue online, I found I was not alone with this problem. Trying to get support from Dell was a joke. They give you the run around until you give up. Then, about 3 months after I bought it, the touchpad stopped working. I only paid $649.00 for the machine, so I expected mid-level performance, but needless to say I was disappointed with my first Dell laptop. I own 2 Dell desktops that I have had no issues with. However, I will not be buying another Dell laptop.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 1545 15.6-Inch Jet Black Laptop - Up to 4 Hours 34

First off, let me state that this is an excellent laptop for any user. It has any basic requirements that a casual user would want such as: wireless internet, easy-to-use mouse pad, fast start up speeds, DVD/CD player and recorder, and a beautifully sized screen. For the more advanced user it is also more than suitable comprising of 4 GB of RAM, 300 GB of hard drive space, and a 64-bit CPU. Not only all does it contain these features, but it is extremely simple to set up. Dell makes an excellent laptop. All the parts run smoothly and placed into a very durable shell that comprises the Dell Inspiron laptop. Not only does it look great, but with the the new Windows 7 operating system this computer runs faster than ever before. I have owned this laptop for over a year and half and have still yet to come up any issues involving my laptop. The only downside i have to this laptop is the battery life. After about a year of usage the battery life seems to start dropping more rapidly than most other laptops do. Other than the battery life, this laptop contains all the specifications most anybody would be more than pleased with and for the price this laptop is the best buy in the market place.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Inspiron 1545 15.6-Inch Jet Black Laptop - Up to 4 Hours 34

I was looking for a laptop for my wife and I to use to replace our last laptop which was a Dell Inspiron 8100 (yes I know it would seem that this would be a later model but the odometer must have clicked over on their model numbering system). That laptop was 9 years old. Still original screen and keyboard. I did replace the hard drive with a larger one and had to replace the batteries once along with the screen hinge. Other than that my first Inspiron lasted well past its predicted life. The cost of that laptop $2500.

The year is now 2010 and I was able to pick this laptop up from Dell for $549 with a bonus of 4GB ram. It has a dual core intel chip. It is easily as powerful as my current desktop. I reinstalled the Windows 7 operating system right out of the box wiping out all of the Dell factory added software. Usually those programs are just clutter. In 30 minutes I was firing Windows 7 up on the new Inspiron.

We have had it for about a week and we are very pleased with the purchase. I'll just quickly go over a few of the positives, some of the items that could have been made better and some features that I didn't think about when ordering the laptop that I would have liked to add but didn't.

This laptop is the base model of base models in the laptop world. Make sure whatever laptop you get it has a great cpu and plenty of memory. The hard drive you can change later, the rest you can not. For this price point the CPU and memory is fantastic. No issues running multiple applications. It will work great for Photo editing software, internet browsing and watching online movies or playing music.

The network card included is a 54mb/s speed (G) however there was a choice to get the faster N network card which I opted not to get. Two days after I got the laptop my router broke and I bought a new N network router. Now my laptop is stuck at the slower speed. *BUT SLOWER IS PLENTY FAST FOR ANYTHING YOU WANT TO DO HERE* If you don't need the cutting edge speed then stick with the G option. A note about N there is no standard yet for this speed. This means that devices could be incompatible with newer Routers if the standar is finalized differently than it exists now.

I chose the 9-cell battery over the standard 6 cell. I am big on getting alot of time out of a charge in a laptop. It is nice to not have to plug it in for 6 hours. Which is about what I am getting at the moment. This will decrease over time so the higher starting point will make the mid life range of the battery probably be in 4 hour range. Note though that the 9 cell battery uses a modified battery cover and extends from the back of the laptop with 3 extra batteries.

The screen is bright and clear. It is not full high def but close to half high def. (The resolution is not the official 720p half high def but in fact just slightly higher.) Being a base laptop with an economy price the need for anything more expensive will really outdo the other components and I find it is unnecessary for my purposes.

The look is simple which is my preference. The insides of the laptop around the keboard and screen are Jet Black (and attract fingerprints) the outside of mine is flat black with a silver Dell logo. This also attracts greasy fingerprints. You will have to just not let this bother you and clean it with a soft cotton cloth every once in a while. Its a a budget laptop with great looks and clean lines.

So the good inexpensive, good option for a longer life batter, clear bright screen.

The annoying (I wouldn't call it bad because it is a budget laptop). Probably to make these next few items better the cost of the laptop would increase.

The pointer a pad in this model. We loose the fingertip pointer on the keyboard which I used almost exclusively in my old laptop. They cleaned up the touch pad and made it look integral to the remainder of the case of the laptop. There are no edges for crumbs to get caught in. There are two buttons below it for right and left clicking. This is adequate for the laptop of this price range. However the annoying part comes in that it is touch. Typing and a brief graze with a thumb will relocate your pointer. Annoying but you get used to it. The last annoying thing about it is that it is very difficult to select a larger portion of text. This can probably be fixed by adjusting the pointer setting in Windows. I just haven't gotten to that yet.

Since we didn't get a high def screen there is no high def output. I wanted to connect this to my tv to view some Hulu.com shows but there was nothing to accomplish this. There is a single VGA out to connect to a External Monitor or a Project but no dongle as in the Inspiron 8100 that just gave us an S VIDEO out. A sign of the times I guess.

Ok so I guess not too many annoying things. More better than worse with the best feature being the price making this laptop reachable by most budgets. Spend the extra $150 bucks and get this laptop over a Mini (netbook).

I would buy this from dell directly. Shipping may take longer however you can often find deals like I did for money off the price along with an upgrade to 4GB memory. It ships with Windows 7 64bit and this OS is plenty worth it, a large improvement over Vista. Brings me back to the Windows XP times.

I give this 4 starts not 5 because of the lack of the fingertip pointer, no external video connection to connect to the TV's of today. I would get 4 and a half probably. I hope this one will last me another at least 5 years.

One other note before I go Dell laptops are fragile. If you take care of them, don't carry them by the screen, close them with not in use and just be overall gentle with their use and placing them down. Keep it in a padded bag and it should serve you well. To get the best life out of the battery, use the battery! Plug it in to charge it to 100% and then unplug it. Use it until it has as close as you feel comfortable to 0% I usually use it to around 15% and then plug it back in overnight.

Hope you enjoy. (see my other reviews and support future reviews by visiting )

Sean

Sean's Review

sean@seansreview.com

Discount HP G72-250US 17.3-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I wanted to replace my 2005 laptop with a 4GB, Core i3 machine and went looking for the best bang for the buck in this category. I did not want thin and light this machine would rarely leave the house and I would just get a desktop except that, these days, it's nice to be able to move the PC from desk to couch to bed to kitchen for use as a TV, as a phone, as a photo album, as toddler entertainment...

The HP was on sale and provided the absolute max amount of screen for the dollar, and that was the deciding factor for me. Unlike a few years ago, most current laptops now have tremendous similarity in design and subcontractor components, so they all have decent keyboard, memory, hard drive, webcam, etc. But the screen on the HP was enormous compared to others at this price point and the casing had a nice texture.

I am very, very happy with this machine. If you are looking for desktop replacement, go big and you will not be disappointed. The only minor flaw so far is the miniature up/down arrows mentioned by another reviewer, though you canalways use the numeric keypad as backup arrows. I actually like the reprogramming of the useless F1-F12 keys for volume and other functions (a la Mac Book Pro) and consider this a plus.

Again, great value, great feel, freaking giant screen. Love it.

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Edit August 2013: This laptop has been toast for months now, with the same problem as my previous HP laptop: a bad fan. Unfortunately, you can't replace the fan without ripping the entire laptop apart (I successfully did this with my old one, but it took many hours). I watched my laptop overheat more and more often until a mere flash video was enough to do it. I finally ditched it and built a very nice PC. In retrospect, this laptop only deserved 3-4 stars. It was so cheap for its specs when I bought it that I really didn't expect an amazing machine, but for the 2.5 years before the fan broke, I felt like I got a deal. Would I buy an HP laptop again? Probably not. This is the second one I've owned that has had a fan problem, both in under 3 years. It ran very well until the fan broke, though.

Best Deals for HP G72-250US 17.3-Inch Laptop

I wanted a 17" screen with 16:9 resolution and 4GB memory at the lowest price I could find. I considered a similar Toshiba offered as a special at the same price by Costco but decided against it because I don't like the feel of Toshiba keyboards and their machines in general seem to have a lower quality feel and look about them. Dell also was offering a similar, discontinued model for a hundred dollars more. I've owned several Dells and have nothing against them but I wanted to try a different brand and this was $100 less. I immediatley liked the feel of the keyboard as opposed to the Toshiba. I also like the look of the silver case, much classier than either the Dell or the Toshiba. I've only owned the machine a short while and so cannot speak to it's long term reliability but so far it is fast and easy to use with no problems. It comes with a 320GB hard drive. I wish it had 500GB as the Toshiba did. But, truth is, 320 is perfectly adequate for most peoples needs. I also wish it had a backlit keyboard as the Toshiba did and so did my previous Dell laptop. I miss that. But for a 17" screen with 16:9 resolution (great for videos, etc. an amazing difference from the 13:7 resolution found in most 17" and nearly all 15" computers) and 4GB memory, this can't be beat.

Honest reviews on HP G72-250US 17.3-Inch Laptop

I've had this HP G72-250US laptop for a few weeks and am very happy with it. I have had an HP zd8000 for about 5 yrs. and it's still working OK but this new one is faster, better screen, larger storage, etc. Actually, it kicks butt over the zd8000.

I waited 'til they got rid of Vista to buy and like the Windows 7 so far.

I bought it at Staples and it was $599. Plus an instant $50 discount and an HP $50 rebate so I end up spending $499 (not bad if you consider my zd8000 was about $1,800+).

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The main reason that I bought this laptop is because of the HUGE 17.3 screen and also because it is made by HP!

PROS about this HP Computer:

1) Fast wireless N Card built in. I just turned on the computer, and the card read my router and I was up and running on the internet in just 5 minutes! (Having the built in card on this desktop like the laptops do was a MUST for me. Also, the internet runs so quickly with this card in the computer, I am just amazed!

2) The Hard Disk is so so quiet, even when it runs it is hard to hear and the hard disk does not run often. (Good signs!)

3) Love the "standard like 101 keyboard" which has a seperate number pad like the large standard keyboards do. This is one of the main reasons I wanted a 17.3 vs a 15.6 HP Laptop was that I like having a number pad!

4) This laptop runs much cooler than my last laptop did,however, I bought a cooling fan and I placed the computer on top of this and it runs very very cool. (I would not own a laptop without a separate cooling fan as laptops tend to run hotter than desktops do).

5) Love the Windows 7 Home Premium that is on this computer. In my last computer, I had Vista and I had a love/hate relationship with Vista. So this experience so far with Windows 7 has been great.

6) The keyboard is almost totally silent, something I love! It did take about 2 weeks for me to get used to this FLAT ISLAND STYLE KEYBOARD because I am a touch typist and used to the clanky clank type of keyboard. Now, I love the flat and quiet keyboard.

CONS:

** NONE WITH THIS LAPTOP PC at all, it is PERFECT!

However, with Windows 7 here is my experience:

* Before buying this superb HP 17.3 Laptop in August,2010, I thought about it for more than six months! So I bought this HP Laptop and also the HP P6510F Desktop and love them both! I knew I wanted an HP 17.3 laptop and this one is just perfect! I am used to upgrading over the years as each time I buy a new computer with new Windows, I have found I had to buy all new software as most of the old softwares would not run with the new Windows program. In addition, about 50% of the time, I had to buy a new printer as well. The last two times I bought a new system, with Vista and now Windows 7, I was able to update the driver of my printer online and install with no problem. All in all, I am so pleased with my purchase and love this HP 17.3 laptop!

Dell Inspiron M5030 Laptop Computer - Classic Black Review

Customer Ratings:

Pros: Price, enough RAM for day-to-day work, good display with a decent graphics chip for video playback, very little bloatware, good wireless connectivity, runs relatively cool with good battery life, webcam.

Cons: Said graphics chip isn't sufficient for gaming. Likewise, the single-core processor is a tad sluggish for multi-tasking. Not quite as bad as you'd think, but this is obviously not designed as a machine for gaming/zippy multi-media performance.

[ ... ]

[This AMD sits around the middle in performance benchmarks, toward the later half of that range. You can find some laptops in this price range with dual-core processors, albeit some with lower clock speeds combined with a bit less RAM.]

For the money (bought mine on sale at Micro Center for $269), the Inspiron m5030 is a good, sturdy laptop. Download Chrome, AVG and Malwarebytes, and you're good to go. However, keep in mind that this is a budget priced-machine (and I'm rating it as such). You get what you pay for. This Dell will be great for internet surfing with 3 or 4 browser tabs open (one on youtube or Pandora, of course), listening/storing music, watching a movie here and there, word processing and the like. But if you plan on playing graphically-intensive games or video editing while having a bunch of other programs running, look elsewhere. Otherwise, this will easily get you through the day.

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I have tech support workshop and I have seen 3 of this laptops with motherboard problems, all of them less than 2 years old, don't waste your money!

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My first laptop was a dell and I was happy. My second laptop was a dell ispiron m5030 and I was very unhappy. I never really liked it from the start. Within 18 months the display was all messed up. I will never buy a dell again. The thing really sucked

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron M5030 Laptop Computer - Classic Black

This has been the worst laptop i have ever had! It has been "repaired" three times by dell. All for problems with the laptop not charging or not recognizing the charger. Dells customer service is by far the worst that I have ever dealt with! The laptop is currently sitting under my desk waiting for me to figure out what to do with it since Dell in their infinite wisdom stated that my laptop would not charge due to "damage" that was not covered by my warranty. They said that the mother board needed to be replaced and i guess they did not want to cover their shotty equipment and wanted me to pay a 300 dollar service fee to have it repaired. I would say that is a bit ridiculous since that is almost the price of the laptop when i bought it. I will never buy another dell product due to their horrible customer service and cheaply made products. I expected a lot more from such a big name company. Buy a Sony Vaio if you are looking for a well made product, I had one before the dell and bought another one after the dell stopped working.

Review of Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1340RD 13.3-Inch Notebook PC - Gemini Red

Customer Ratings:

Netbook computers are ultra-portable and handy. They have more computing power than an iPod but not enough for more serious computing processors are slow, keyboards are small, and the tiny screen requires 20/10 vision.

The 13.3" Toshiba is a nice compromise. It's still quite portable and the keyboard and screen are as usable as a traditional notebook computer. I found that it's good for several hours of hard computing on one battery charge.

I expected somewhat better initial performance due to the dual core AMD processor and 3GB DDR memory. After some extensive benchmarking, I found that the slow 5400 rpm internal hard disk was the principal reason for slow performance. Cloning that hard disk to a Corsair 60GB "Force" Solid State Disk (SSD) and then substituting the SSD for the slow mechanical hard drive resulted in a fast and responsive system. It's even quite quick with 64 bit Windows 7. I retained the mechanical hard disk and put it into an Eagle eSATA external 2.5" disk enclosure and use it for near-line storage when needed. The Corsair SSD has enough room for the OS, a lot of application programs, and data.

If you're a business user, be aware that this netbook ships with Windows 7 Home version and you'll need to spend another $90 dollars to upgrade to the "Pro" version of Windows 7 so that you can run 32-bit business programs and connect to regular business networks. I did the upgrade, with teeth clenched at the extra cost, because I use this as a business system.

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I PURCHASED THIS COMPUTER AND IN THE TECHNICAL DETAILS IT CLEARLY SAYS IT COMES WITH "GENUINE WINDOWS 7"----THIS COMPUTER DID NOT AND I HAD TO SPEND 200 DOLLARS ON WINDOWS FOR THIS...

Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1340RD 13.3-Inch Notebook PC - Gemini Red

I have had this laptop for about a year now.. I use it almost everyday and it works well for what i do.. Web browsing, chatting, and light powerpoint work. The only issue i have with it is the Fan gets noisy when it rev's up i am guessing because the processor is getting warm.. I wish it was quieter. My gateway net book is much quieter when rev'ed up. All in all its a fast light laptop. ITs been around the world t times to pretty god with traveling!!!

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite T235D-S1340RD 13.3-Inch Notebook PC - Gemini Red

Toshiba Satellite T235D Gemini red 13.3 it comes with great features like 3GB RAM, 320 GB of Hard disk, product description is confusing cause it says it could have either AMD or Intel so I was not sure which one I was going to get. But the only thing Amazon does not tell you is that it does not come with CD or DVD driver and it was a huge disappointment!

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IS GOOD LOOKING FROM OUTSIDE. ACTUALLY, I BOUGHT IT AS A GIFT NOT FOR MYSELF.( I USE A MACPRO WHICH I LOVE ALOT).

BATERY LASTS UNDER 3 HOURS, SO THE 6 PROMISSED HOURS IS A BIG LIE

THE SCROLLING IS NOT VERY SMOOTH TO CONTROL

IT IS A VERY MEDIOCRE COMPUTER FOR THE MONEY. I PAID $528

IS NOT REALLY "UP TO DATE" SO TO SAY. I DO NOT SEE MUCH IMPROVMENT FROM THE DELL LAPTOP I HAD 5 YEARS AGO.

IS ALSO GETTING SUPER VERY HOT

OVERALL, IS A BIG DISAPONTMENT . I WILL NOT RECOMAND IT.

I WAS TRYING TO RETURN IT, BUT WAS NOT POSSIBLE.

Buy Gateway 15.6" Laptop PC (NV52L15U-US) with 500GB Hard Drive, 4GB

Customer Ratings:

ill be concise and simple.

Machine can run every pc game in 2011 smoothly on recommended settings. With regards to 2012, max out the ram (16gb) I believe and it should do 90% of all current games. This thing is a monster for the price.

AMD a8 is a 3rd generation processor. It is meant to compete with the intel i5; though many say its not as fast, a minute difference at best, realize one thing both are coupled with a videocard. AMD's is far superior; simply put amd is for gamers.

Style wise, the pictures aren't great on the website so it feels like a gamble. If you want a good idea, youtube it, you should get this single video where in it the guy has random dumb images appear as he unpacks his laptop, this is it. Too lazy to do that, then imagine the red gateway laptop with the amd a6, just black with a metallic gray keyboard.

The sound is pretty good, and the image quality is amazing, better than my lcd desktop monitor.

With regards to the battery, it says it maxes out at 5 hours, But that's probably on a dark screen playing solitare. For movie watching or surfing on powersaver it should be around 3.5-4 hours.

Material wise, its a solid laptop, its really solid plastic, with a metallic keyboard background to prevent things from intruding inside. I find it way better than the quality of my old dell.

Style wise I love it, it has a geometric pattern on the black portion and the lid closed looks like other nv's when closed.

If you still want more review on the laptop, look at the Acer Aspire V3-551-8469 15.6-Inch Laptop. It has 32 reviews, and is from what I find the exact same laptop, just acer branded, and 25$ more. Realize Acer bought Gateway in 2007, and gateway is a branch of it. I looked at the various pics and specs, even the touchpad is positioned like this model.

Honestly if you want a solid sturdy laptop, to play games, watch movies and surf the web this laptop is a wet dream for the price of %420.

Happy shopping :P

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runs great. new games play perfectly with no lag. i recommend this laptop to anyone who is looking for a good laptop at a great price

Best Deals for Gateway 15.6" Laptop PC (NV52L15U-US) with 500GB Hard Drive, 4GB

It was $400. Considering that price, I love this laptop!

It's had a few hiccups, but nothing that makes me angry about the purchase.

The speakers are garbage. I think the sound card is too even with decent headphones, it still sounds cruddy.

It loves to attract dust. Whatever.

The most notable thing is that (and I think this is a software issue) It keeps telling me that my folders are not usable. I have to go back to "users > select > documents/pictures/etc" to save and retrieve. That's annoying. Really annoying.

All in all... it's a decent purchase. It never has refused to follow a command or refused to run anything. Sometimes it thinks for a second too long, but again: AMD... Gateway... $400!

Samsung RC512-S02 Core i7-2630QM 2GHz 6GB 750GB Blu-ray Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I've had this computer for 5 months with no issues. I looked at HP, Sony, Apple, and Asus. I wanted a quality high performance laptop to replace a desktop unit. I don't want to watch movies on my computer that's why I own two nice large TV's, so 15.5" screen is perfect. I feel it's very portable, it fits into a normal briefcase and allows a full size keyboard with numerical keypad. This unit has a separate video card and a hi-rez screen so the picture is excellent. Audio is marginal as are all laptops. I really like the wi-fi performance, very fast downloading of web pages. One of the main reasons I bought this model is the USB 3. I bought two outboard 2 TB drives to store photos and music, very fast loading of huge files as well as perfect playback of large audio files when I hook up to the stereo system. Over the months of researching computers I read many reviews of people criticizing units for noisy fans and excessive heat. This thing has never even gotten warm so I'm not sure if it has a fan! Remarkable when you realize it's running a quad core i-7, 6 GB of memory with another gig on the video card. My HP (company unit) has a fan and it comes on regularly. I do have one criticism, the touchpad is off center relative to the keys which means that as you type you need to lift your right hand/thumb or the page will scroll or the cursor moves. Speaking of the touchpad, it's one of those multitouch jobs so you can pinch, scroll, rotate, etc., very cool. I bought this at BestBuy and the geek squad tech told me that there were fewer returns and repairs on Samsung laptops than any of the brands they carry. Well, we'll see, knock knock knock on wood. Bottom line, I'm very happy with this computer and I'm very difficult to please!

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I am quite happy with this unit. I bought it for about $650 for home use and as another reviewer mentioned, it's pretty sleek, lightweight and fast. I had never intended to take it anywhere but as it is so lightweight I have used it on the go. I have an ipad and even as that is usually my travel buddy, the compact nature (even as its 15") is really something to be noted. I have used the blu-ray, and while that wasn't the selling point for me when I bought this.. it's a fantastic little addition. (may not be around much longer anyway)

The processor is fast and I have had a few issues with screen freezes, but I too believe that is a windows fault not the computer itself. I think this dropped down to the low price due to a new series of Samsung laptops being released... bu i expect this to last me a minimum of 5 years. Im very happy with it.

Best Deals for Samsung RC512-S02 Core i7-2630QM 2GHz 6GB 750GB Blu-ray

When I first received this laptop, I was expecting a very heavy-duty, powerhouse machine that would likely never leave my desk. To my suprise, this machine has ended up being amazingly portable, sleek, and nice to use. The features are great, and the amount of fully-licensed included software is incredible. I can encode and burn DVD's within a couple hours, watch movies from my hard drive in 1080p on my TV using the inbuilt HDMI port, and even get WiFi anywhere in my city using the inbuilt WiMax adapter (if you pay for a 4g service, that is). Sometimes my PC still does freeze though, but I'm going to blame that on Windows and the sheer number of applications that I keep running at all times. Speedboot is a real blessing for me on the go, but be aware that it causes many sensitive applications to crash while using it. Gaming wasn't as nearly as great as expected, but I barely play any gpu-intensive games anyways so it's pretty good for the basics. I had some problems playing MineCraft :D but once again I'm going to blame it on Windows.

Overall, I'm really happy I bought this machine, and would definitely recommend it to others. When I bought it, it was for $900 and I thought I got a great deal...so at $600, it's definitely a steal!!

Honest reviews on Samsung RC512-S02 Core i7-2630QM 2GHz 6GB 750GB Blu-ray

We are on our second laptop of this model (RC512-S02) The first one was returned after two days of it crashing and shocking us when touched. It was apparent the power connection was loose and causing the problem. The second identical one worked well for several months and now this one is shocking and crashing as well. It is a random thing and it will now go back for a laptop from a different manufacturer . It is a shame as this is a fast computer and appears well made but it is not reliable. The original model S01 wss recalled by Samsung over the problem with the Intel CPU error. We have all Samsung appliances in our kitchen and love them but this is not up to Samsung's standards. After talking with Samsung tech support their advice was to return it.

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This is really a one-compromise (I'll get to that in a minute) value; and the one compromise is quite small if you really want to get around it. In short, this is a really rounded out quality laptop. Here are a few things I like about it:

-Build Quality: This thing is a tank! I've test-dropped it once on a well-carpeted area and accidentally dropped mine on a hard-wood floor, and not even a chip has come off of the plastic. The shell is a combo aluminum-plastic assembly and holds up quite well to damage. No damage to the optical drive as well. There's also a bit of shock absorption around the hard drive. MacBook owners will know that aluminum is a strong metal, and the plastic on the shell is thick, weighty, and quality plastic. Great build.

-Hardware: You can read the list. All quality, all fast, all powerful. The only thing I have a tiny bit of concern about is the Intel Wifi chip inside. This will make running Linux harder for a first timer, but Googling around will assist you in finding a driver. Optimus won't work with Linux from what I hear anyway; this really is a laptop designed for Windows. Feel free to comment in case I'm wrong however!

-Software: Believe it or not, the amount of crud is actually pretty low on this machine. However, I'm a big fan of a clean Windows installation, so I wiped the hard drive and ran a clean installation. This gave me a speed boost of about 10%. Be sure to use the recovery software to burn a driver disk before doing this though, or download the drivers to an external disk.

-Recovery: Recovery is made simple through the self-booting recovery partition. Since I bought it, I cloned the recovery partition and moved it to another drive; and hammering the "Boot Recovery Partition" key during boot still works, even on an external hard drive. A nice touch. Don't worry if you mess something up, it can be easily restored. Restoration takes a bit of time though.

The two minor things I don't like about this machine:

-Display: The display on this thing, when things are set to defaults, is garbage. 1600x900 would have been a bit more preferable, but even worse than resolution; this thing has very little contrast right out of the box. Using Intel's graphics hardware control panel, you can adjust contrast and gamma to your liking; but initial impressions were quite low for me. Also, there is a HDMI port, so you can hook up an external monitor.

-Optical Drive: Yeah, it's a Blu-Ray drive; which is great for reading huge swaths of data (and the games are inevitably going either Blu-Ray or direct download). However, this drive is really slow. I read into this and found out it's just an issue with Blu-Ray drives in general. Again, feel free to correct me in the comments. I don't consider this to be a "point off" the rating, it's just a minor nit-pick.

Personal usage/experience:

-"Daily" Stuff: Web browsing, watching videos, listening to music, all pretty decent on this machine. The lower resolution makes it tough to multitask (as in, putting windows by windows), but I'm generally not in the mood to multitask on a smaller screen anyway. The speakers are pretty good for built-in laptop speakers; and as noted before, watching videos works well after changing the color settings. The Core i7/Intel integrated graphics actually give pretty good battery life too, I get roughly 3 hours and 45 minutes to 4 hours and 30 minutes.

-Gaming: Here's where low resolution actually comes in handy. You can maximize all settings on your games and chances are, your framerates will be very good! The only slowdowns I have encountered were DirectX 9 games designed to push the technology and the very latest games. However, turning stuff down from "very high" to "high" does not have that much of a visual effect on games today, and this is good news.

-Media Rendering: This thing is also beastly when it comes to media and content creation. The chipset inside allows programs to tap into the integrated graphics processing built into the CPU as well as use the dedicated Nvidia chipset to assist in rendering. It competes favorably with my year-old desktop, which is a Core i5 setup with a GTX 275 graphics card. No complaints here.

All in all, if you can get this thing for under $800, it's a great value.

Review of Toshiba Satellite C855-S5137 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black Trax)

Customer Ratings:

The ONLY complaint I have about this computer actually has nothing to do with the PC itself, at all. The operating system that came pre-installed is, unfortunately, Windows 8. While there are a lot of mixed feelings about the OS, I am settling the score on this end and letting you all know the facts: the laptop is GREAT, the operating system bytes. However, aside from the assault from a handful of minor annoyances, your overall experience will likely be pleasing. I bought this particular laptop for various reasons, most notably for online schooling. However, I DID take some extra time to review the processor and factory graphics for this machine and I am overly satisfied with the result(s). This is a very well-rounded machine at a very generous and affordable price. This review comes from personal experience and from the collective opinion of various friends and cohorts that have had the chance to sit down and explore this laptop with me. I hope this review helps to lighten the load of the decision for all of you!

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This laptop was great buy. i like the 15.6 inches screen. the processor was great. I like the pre loaded programs and the Google chrome browser. so far i have had this for 5 months no problem. Great purchase

Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite C855-S5137 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black Trax)

Bought this at Best Buy after returning a less-than-ideal Asus. This laptop is capable of handling multiple tasks, including big programs, at once. It's fast, it works, it has a number pad; no complaints. Windows 8 sucks, but you can't buy a new laptop without it.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite C855-S5137 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black Trax)

I bought this laptop for school and light gaming. As this isn't a gaming laptop per se, it does play the higher end games just fine. It took a while for me to get used to Windows 8. I installed Windows 7 as dual boot OS and it was flawless. I also set up my home network and remote desktop and again, no complaints. This machine successfully linked to my blu ray surround, xbox, 3 desk top pc's and even my TV! Great product!! Highly recommended!

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Like the computer but do NOT like windows 8, it is ridiculous. Other than that problem we are satisfied and think it is a good computer.

Reviews of Apple iBook Laptop 14.1" M9388LL/A (933-MHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM

Customer Ratings:

I've owned three iBooks. The clamshell was a sturdy design, but heavy and limited. My G3 iBook 800 was great, worked well, but the screen was a little small (dense) and it didn't quite fit on the lap. Plus I wasn't a fan of the drive tray. So this new design is far better. It is much sturdier. They replaced EVERY material in construction for the better, improved battery life, and it is much faster. It might just be the perfect laptop at any price. For most people, it can even replace a desktop. Comes with tony hawk, plays beautifully. All other apps I have work perfectly, airport extreme is faster than airport, and keyboard is MUCH better (no longer squishy, better feedback). You will not regret buying this machine. Not sure that the 1GHz is worth the extra money. This model hits the sweet spot.

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The iBook, Apple's "consumer" portable (a consumer simply being an everyday user), really has it all now: a very speedy processor, great graphics, great design (it took a few years for them to perfect this white beauty), great features (a lazy way of saying "All the other things on the machine I forgot to mention"), and most importantly, a great price.

Ever since the iBook went G4, the machine took on a whole transformation. It is no longer lacking in the processor department and thus is a very "well-rounded" laptop.

As for the machine itself, it's great. The entire laptop is white, crisp white (a mixed blessing...it's elegant, but very, very hard not to dirty it), and the overall design is great. Everything is ergonomical and compact: the little latch to close the iBook stays hidden on the top, but then magically appears as you close it. (Gotta love Apple's design team for those little things!) The keyboard, unlike other models, isn't "spongy."In fact, it is rather sturdy for a laptop keyboard. It is stationed to a strong metal backboard and if you take the keyboard and backboard off, you will see a slot for an Airport Extreme card (card that enables wireless internet). No more PC "NIT" cards protruding from the sides, everything is on the inside. The top of the computer has a translucent Apple logo that glows when you are computing in the dark. The trackpad is large and precise, and the button (Windows users, beware: no "Left-clicking" in the Mac world, only "Command clicking"!) is large and responsive.

Battery life is excellent, I get an average of 5 hours with normal use. The charger has a light indicating the level of charge so you know when the 'book is charged (green for charged, amber for charging) without turning it on or waking it from its "Sleep" mode. Panther, the latest version of Mac OS X (10.3), is stunning, powerful, and reliable in its own right (go ahead and check out those reviews or Jaguar's reviews, the previous OS X version.) I don't want to go into the benefits of its UNIX core, just trust me that it is stable. The "iLife" set of software is one that really revolutionized the Apple world, after OS X, software-wise. It's all here: iTunes (store, burn, and buy music in one easy-to-use program), iPhoto (organize, burn, share, print, edit, email, and more with a plug-and-play friendly piece of software), iMovie (for editing, storing, and organizing your DV movies), but no iDVD...no DVD burner (but you can buy an external one.) Some other good programs that supplement your iLife are Mail, Appleworks, iChat, iCal, etc. It comes with World Book 2003, Quicken, and a few others.

It's fast. CD's burn with one click. My iPod (a great addition to this for music lovers) loads with one slide of a Firewire cable (literally.) Safari has built-in pop-up control (never has a single pop-up existed here.) Games (only the Sims so far) load and play flawlessly. DVD watching is pristine. USB 2.0 and Firewire (a BIG plus for external hard drives) work at top speed. No bugs, no crashes, no viruses. This machine was engineered to have the software and hardware be integrated. Have a problem? You won't be told to call a different company. You will always have one number to call, and they can't transfer you (since they make the hardware and software)

What more is there to say? I love my iBook! It's light, user friendly, and works like a dream. Quick! Go order one. You'll be in for a treat.

Best Deals for Apple iBook Laptop 14.1" M9388LL/A (933-MHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM

This little beauty came into my life around Christmas, and she and I have been inseparable since then. I ordered it directly from the Apple Store Online, and I had it maxed out on RAM, and had the optional 60G hard drive installed. I love the processor speed, immense capability, and versatility. The screen size makes it a suitable replacement for a desktop computer.

I do everything on this computer: word-processing, spreadsheets, music transcription, photo editing, Internet communications, audio editing, and managing my music collection. I have Office X, Sibelius, and iLife 2004. I run iTunes in the background, write a report integrating Excel and Word, plus can have all my pictures handy on iPhoto. I can have five or six applications running at the same time (not including iChat and MSN Messenger, which are ALWAYS running), and the processor doesn't even hiccup. I use an iPod 40G as an external hard drive (not to mention all dem kewl tunes!), and have a Canon PowerShot A80 digital camera, and an iMic audio converter. Add to that an AirPort driven wireless network and a laser printer, and you have an ultra-powerful home office for any kind of occupation, from music composition, culinary research, to communications-based businesses.

Although larger and heavier than the 12" iBook, I believe the 14" screen is definitely worth the extra weight and price. If you get it, the wireless card (AirPort Extreme) is a must. The optional built-in Bluetooth module is nice, especially if you have a compatible PDA or cell phone.

I didn't realize I would love owning a laptop. Until I met this one.

Honest reviews on Apple iBook Laptop 14.1" M9388LL/A (933-MHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM

First of all, let me say that I paid the 1500 dollars in September, before they changed all the iBooks to G4s and the USB ports to 2.0 . Why is this important? Well, a few reasons. Final Cut Pro only works on G4s. I paid 699 dollars for the upgrade that my computer could certainly handle, however the software was designed to look for a G4 or G5 in order for installing. So, as that wouldn't have been too aggrivating until I tried to take it back to CompUSA which I soon found out has a zip-O-la return policy, I got a bit peeved at both CompUSA and Apple Software design. Well, within two months of my purchase the 'new' G4 iBooks were on the net to buy, and I had my answer on Apples ideas for makeing a touch more money by getting me to buy a new laptop, if I want to run something like.. oh Final Cut Pro, or some animation software on the market.

However, the reason I put five stars wasn't Apple's beautiful software marketing and design, or CompUSAs ability to move a person to consider programming a video game thats objective is strangling CompUSA employees.

The real reason is that for laptops, and for this price, it is a quality laptop. You see, I can't justify to myself paying over 1500 of a base price for a tool that I'm going to be using out of my home. At any moment it could be stolen and I am much more at peace with a loss of 1500 dollars for a top of the line iBook which can be much more readily replaced than 3000 dollars for a top of the line PowerBook.

My laptop has survived a 2 ft plus drop while open from a bed to a not so plush carpeted floor. There wasn't too much destruction done other than some of the lineing on the left edge of the screen and the battery doesn't fit as smoothly as before. Everything still works, including all the ports I use, like the USB, firewire, 56K Modem, and the Adapter port. It works fine on battery and plugged in, so I really didn't lose any functionality.

The laptop operating system doesn't break down, although it does freeze every once in a while. The software that it comes with is very useful, and handy, and not as annoying as say, windows media player.. The text editing software that it comes with is ahhhhh!!!ggrrr.. when you try to program html initially.. fortunately, after going to the preferences you can fix this loading html pages as a web browser does initial setting. iTunes is fun, and useful, and the only drawback is that it doesn't read the song encoding on CDs that Windows Media Player does. So you have to either manually type the name of the song in by hand, or buy your songs off the internet at a buck a piece. The iPhoto works fine and allows for some adjustment, but if you're into adjusting your photos, use nothing less than Adobe Photoshop Elements 2.0 . Photoshop might well be a waste of 600 plus dollars if you get good at Elements 2.0 . In fact.. I'd dare say Adobe Illustrator and Elements 2.0 could be a grand combo. Safari is a good browser with annoyances with interpreting java on the web. No joke, web browsers that understand Java well on the web on macs are rare as leopard seals. There is only two of them. One is the Microsoft Internet Explorer(who stopped making new IEs for mac because Safari does everything it does) and the other is Safari. Every other web browser.. say.. mozilla?? like Netscape 7.01, Firebird .7 and Mozilla and Camino seem to all be carbonized. And the problem? Well, for some reason, carbonizing does not like Java or something. No Java, no chatting, or java online gaming. So the only chatting you can do say on Yahoo is on Safari and IE. No problem, they are both free. And Safari is included with all the new macs. But for your daily web browsing, you might want to download Firebird .7 . After you get the tab browsing down and the various keyboard commands, you will find its just the best daily browser out there. It runs secure bank transactions in xml fine and quickly. As a bonus AppleWorks comes with every new iBook, so you definitely have a decent word processor. But don't be fooled with the Microsoft Office that seems to be included, Microsoft wouldn't forgoe a profit that easily. The Microsoft Office on the computer is a 30 day trial. Office X is 500 dollars. Not too much for full licensing for a single user. And well worth it if you're in college or otherwise use it frequently. Look at QuarkXPress for some serious pricing.. oww. The clock is nifty and calendar is useful, and the internet options are easily read in the upper menu bar. And for entertainment, you can talk to the computer and it will do what you say.. if you can speak it well enough for the computer.. you know.. the standard speech recognition flaw. The fun thing about all this is that you talk to the chess game and play an entire chess game by speaking alone. It's actually pretty nifty.

There is enough computer software out there for the mac, especially if you want to get work done and you work with video or images. The Mac OS X and Mac OS 9.2 don't save files quite the same way which can be a touch annoying if you are using old macs at school still. You have to specify the exact program to open this or that file between the two operating systems. This is easy enough.. as long as its only a file or two, come ten or so, and it gets a bit annoying. On the good end, it is more compatable with pcs now. There is a decent software translation of Windows XP for purchase for ultimate compatability. Wasn't too bad, but as always.. anything Microsoft runs as slow as a slug. Try a G5 if you want to run the Windows XP translation a lot. If Windows XP freezes, it doesn't freeze OS X, and thats kinda nice. Adobe has most of there popular software available on the mac, and so does Macromedia. And Living Language has their 9.0 versions of Language Lessons in plenty of European and Asian languages available on Mac. Also, if your into Video, Adobe dropped Premiere because Final Cut Pro was kicking their but in earning the market share. And if your into animation software, Cinema 4D 8.5v and Maya 5 both support mac, as well as Lightwave. So as far as getting something done, the mac is awesome.. it doesn't freeze much if you treat it decent(don't run a zillion programs at once). It simply works, and has better compatability than Linux. Although Linux rocks too, Mac OS X is a Unix base with more compatability. It is simply more compatable with stability than Linux. Microsoft Windows? Well, its compatable with a bonus of being hacked and virus wrecked and blue screened every so often. In other words... Microsoft Windows tends to limit me getting anything done.. particularly in Graphics Design degree which of course is only macs.

As far as games, of course most of the games out there are made for windows. On the other hand, many might argue that if you are a real gamer, you own an XBox or a PS2 already. Besides, Microsoft XP is available for Mac. Like I said, get a G5 for that kind of thing.

The chatting programs? Well, Windows Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, and AOL instant messenger, as well as the OS X customized iChat version of AOL instant messenger that comes with any new mac. The Yahoo Messenger can't do as much as it can on Windows.. on the other hand.. it doesn't get hacked like the one on Windows, which doesn't freeze my computer, which makes my life a bit easier.

If you're into video, you should remember two things.. one, VCD format. You know, that old laser disk format that any CD burner can place on a CD-R/RW. two.. if your into business cards, the business card CD-Rs can hold video flash presentations as well. So, basically, if your not looking for 2 hour movies on a dvd, you can easily burn animations as well as edit them from the CD-Rs on the iBooks. The other detail is that 400 firewire is the only thing sold on iBooks. 800 firewire is considered 'professional'. However, although my 400 dollar Olympus digital camera can make short videos, it, like many Digital Cameras on the market, does not have firewire. In fact, that is much more likely to be restricted to digital camcorders. Such as my Digital Camcorder does have. Still, you still have to look for a firewire port, not all camcorders have them.

Hopefully, you found my review helpful. Oh, one more helpful hint. Certain Epson scanners come with Photoshop Elements 2.0 . A good piece of software with a needed accessory. I definitely recommend it. ArcSoftware is the usual accessory. Don't be fooled.. although its fun and useful, for work with multiple photos, nothing beats Elements 2.0 .

Hope you all enjoy this laptop if you buy it. Obviously every business is out to make money and Apple is no different. But Apple OS X and Apple laptops as a combo are better and more useful than nearly anything with Windows on it.

Brian

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Apple iBook Laptop 14.1" M9388LL/A (933-MHz PowerPC G4, 256 MB RAM

Looks like Apple hit a home run with this one. This has been the best upgrade since my LC. With Panther my 933 is one fast machine. I downloaded US Army and it runs that with no problems. Max out the memory and get Apple Care. With broadband this one great appliance.

Sony VAIO E Series SVE14132CXB 14-Inch Laptop (Black) Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $579.99
Sale Price: $549.99
Today's Bonus: 5% Off

I did online research lot before buying this. You will find very few good 14" laptops in this price range and also very steep increase in price as one move from 15" to 14" with same configuration. Of course one can get better configuration with 15 inches in this price range. But I didn't liked bulky 15 inches laptops much with my previous experiences. I wanted something smaller. I got this delivered with perfect condition. It works marvelously and flawlessly. Bright screen. Flawlessly fast. I like the look of it. Just the one I wanted. It is so light and slick. Battery lasts longer. Had not much problems since I bought it 8 months before. The only small problem I faced till now is that time to time internet connectivity fails. But may be this is because of my router itself. But overall I am very much satisfied with the product.This is one of the best 14 inch laptops in market in this price range!

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I've owned this type of laptop for almost two months now and so far so good. The only thing I hate about this laptop is that it comes with window 8. I have three window 7 and two window 8. Window 8 is not as good as window 7. Another problem is that the wireless disconnected more often than my other window 7. I'm still waiting for Microsoft to update window 8 to see if it works better or not. Will not buy computer with window 8 any more, but will wait for window 9. Any way, I still in love with windows...

Thanks,

Kneng

Best Deals for Sony VAIO E Series SVE14132CXB 14-Inch Laptop (Black)

I bought this product from Frys and I was told just how great it was by a Sony associate. Now the thing that sold me was the i5 processor and this computer was on sale for the same price as computers w/ only a pentium or i3. This computer sucks, I've had it for a month and immedietly i noticed a loose 4 key. Luckily sony can come to my home and fix it but its still iritating. The case is awful, it gathers fingerprints more than any other computer i have ever seen. It gets dirty really easy and the track pad is a flimsy piece of crap. The "HD" webcam is no better than a damn 1.3 mp camera in a cheap cell phone. My 12 dollar phones camera looks better than this crap. I would not recommend this product to anyone just save your money and go with HP. ALSO WINDOWS 8 SUCKS

Best Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-12417sLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,099.99
Sale Price: $899.99
Today's Bonus: 18% Off

Have been anxiously waiting the arrival of my new laptop. When I received it this evening I ripped into the box & immediately began setting it up. It feels like a very durable computer. I've always had HPs, so I was concerned I wouldn't like this one. It is very nice. I like the keys, the metal cover & the touchscreen. I am new to Windows 8 so I have A LOT to learn. I posted pictures on FaceBook with my phone & then I fired up the new Dell. Imagine my disappointment when the screen came on & I could barely see it. I figured out how to increase the brightness, but that didn't fix the problem. I did a few internet searches trying to figure out where the display settings were (I really miss the old days of Owner's Manuals/User Guides). When I could not find any helpful information, I started a chat with Dell. They told me to call for tech assistance. I called & almost 3 hours later (after going through all types of tests, diagnostics, etc.)I was told that the display is faulty. (DUH!)DELL offered to send a tech to my house with a replacement screen. I declined. Then they offered to replace this computer. I told them I needed to think about it. I checked Amazon & knew that I could return the laptop to them for a refund or replacement. I had agonized for weeks before I finally chose this computer. The thought of doing more research & searching again, makes me ill. So, I guess I will try this one, one more time. I will update my review accordingly. :-(

**** UPDATE 8/13/13 ****

After contacting Amazon last week, they gave me the option of exchanging the computer or getting a refund. I chose to exchange it for the very same thing. I was concerned about doing this (don't like being burned twice)but I went for it. I received an email from Amazon very early the next morning telling me that they placed an order on my behalf for a replacement & I would receive it in two business days. Since that was Friday that meant going another 3 or 4 days without a computer, but there was no alternative. Yesterday evening, I received the new computer. FINALLY! I have a computer that works! YEAH!! The computer is VERY FAST & it runs cool. My old HPs would actually burn my lap & the fans ran constantly on this Dell the fan has yet to come on. So far I've only personalized my settings, read email, played on Facebook & done some internet searches but from what I'm seeing this is a nice computer. After I've had it for awhile (or if I have another problem) I will update. So far, so good with the replacement! :-)

I must say, I am completely impressed with the way Amazon responded. They were very apologetic & quickly resolved my issue. They definitely restored my faith in their company!

**** UPDATE 8/19/13 ****

I have bad news! In a nutshell, the colors are NOT vivid on this display. I uploaded photos that look GREAT on other computers & even on my Samsung Galaxy SIII phone.... & while the colors are technically "right" on the display they are VERY DULL & the details kind of "wash" out. For instance, my dog's coat has tones of silver, white, black & reddish brown. On this display, her hair looks flat black. No variation. I have one picture of her sitting on a red plastic toy. In the original picture the toy is BRIGHT, shiny red, on this display it is a dull, muted red. I bought this computer because I take & edit a lot of pictures. While I LOVE everything else about the computer, the dull color display is a deal breaker for me. Dell offered to send me a replacement laptop but I don't think I want to try it again. Dell told me it is almost unheard of to receive a faulty computer once, let alone twice but I'm here to tell you... it happened & I'm truly not willing to go for a third time. If vivid colors are not a big issue for you then get this computer. If they are, I recommend that you pass. GOOD LUCK!

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Fast plenty of storage space light weight

Touch screen just a carryover from my Htc cell

Use it with Final Draft and Dragon Naturally Speaking

5 hour battery life

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-12417sLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop

Love it! Really easy to use touch screen is the best thing ever. I would highly recommend this product to all future laptop purchasers.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-12417sLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop

This may be a good laptop, I don't know. My system quit working completely 7 days after delivery. Dealing with Dell customer support was a nightmare, very unsatisfactory.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Inspiron 15R i15RMT-12417sLV 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop

works really well. This model is very fast, and powerful. absolutely no problems so far. Only thing that it is missing is a back-lit keyboard. but i can live without that. When i get a new computer i always find at least 4 drawbacks. So only 1 is high praise.

Buy Sony VAIO VPC-EA43FX/WI 14-Inch Laptop (White)

Customer Ratings:

This is a great little laptop. It's very lightweight, doesn't get hot (it's been on for about 6 hours straight now), and the display is gorgeous. The widescreen display is great for watching movies and definitely gives the laptop a more "modern" feel. The speakers are OK..they can get pretty loud, but the sound quality isn't the best (rare for Sony!) -but it is a laptop, after all. The chiclet keyboard is different than what I have had in the past, but it is very easy to get used to and makes for quick and error-free typing. The laptop comes with Microsoft Office starter which includes limited functionality Microsoft Word and Excel..no, it doesn't have all the features of the full version, but it's nothing the average user will miss.

Windows 7 is infinitely better than Vista; you can disable a lot of those annoying things Vista didn't allow you to do (such as asking for your password each time upon start-up). When I just got my laptop, I had 261 gigs free of 287; regarding memory: I only have chrome open, and my computer is using up about 40% of its memory.

One qualm against Amazon rather than Sony: the laptop isn't just "white" as the description states -only the keyboard/mouse area is actually white...the cover, the frame around the screen, and the speaker area are actually a very light silvery color (still very pretty). The bottom is, of course, black. I think Sony does have an all-white version (coconut white) but I've only seen it sold directly from their website.

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