Apple MacBook Air Core i7 1.8GHz 11"-4GB RAM-128GB SSD-Lion-(2011) Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,879.00
Sale Price: $1,299.00
Today's Bonus: 31% Off

Do not buy from Techno Intelligence. Their listed price is a scam.

The laptops are good, I own one myself. But they are not worth as much as what they are asking.

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Small

Fits in a small neoprene carry case made for the iPad I picked up and that fits into my mini-backpack/carry case, goes through the security X-ray at the airport with only a slight tug and a flip into the plastic bin.

Lightweight:

I needed to lighten the load this thing is about the same weight as my iPad 2.

Fast:

The ability to work in graphics programs like Illustrator and photoshop is a must, this thing has no problems with either program and with a small scratch drive it runs photoshop like a champ. Both photoshop and Illustrator pop open in less than six seconds and all the controls move at speeds better than my aging Mac Pro.

Excellent screen and expandable:

While quite small the screen is excellent and the colors are great, I also like the ability to connect HDMI to a big screen and uses photoshop in its greater glory in the hotel using the LED TV screens common.

What did I ever do with my MacBook pro at twice the weight... (I handed that down to the wife and she is quite happy).

I wish the battery life was longer but at that size it is what it is (about 4.5 hours now) on the next long trip I may get a small external battery.

I was worried that I would miss a CD/DVD drive but I have only had the chance to use an external for installing the new CS6 and other goodies.

Thunderbolt is fast it works great as a replacement to my older FW800 stuff.

All in all a great addition to the traveling team.

Reviews of Acer AS5732Z-4867 15.6-Inch HD Display Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:

A little disappointed as I recently ordered and received from amazon this Acer AS5732Z-4867 and was satisfied that it was a good, basic laptop, at a budget price. However, I discovered today, that Acer was good enough to give me a nice, integrated webcam with this model, but NO microphone, only a microphone jack to connect an external mic. When shopping for laptops, I am in the habbit of searching the specs to see if one includes a webcam and not whether it comes with a built-in mic as well. A built-in mic would be on most laptops, I thought, especially if it comes with a webcam. Not so with this model. If you are going to use the webcam for Skype or Messenger or other communications, you will have to know sign language or the other party will have to lip read unless you are willing to buy the external mic to plug into the microphone jack.

UPDATE: Purchased this mic Olympus ME-52 Noise Cancellation Microphone from amazon and use it with the included black windscreen cover via the mic jack (without the extension cord). It works very well, but would have preferred the built-in kind.

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So far this has been a good laptop for doing the basic tasks (e.g. internet browsing). I haven't and don't plan to do too much power computing with this thing, but overall I have been happy with the performance. I've been able to load demanding websites with no issues. All other included applications appear to respond quickly and perform well.

The laptop's physical design is good overall but the laptop's outside case material is not of the sturdiest plastic. Compared to my wife's Dell, the plastic feels a bit flimsy. I don't think this will be a big problem in the long run, but wish the case was a bit more rugged. On the plus side, it is a bit lighter than my wife's notebook. I thought that the numeric keypad would make the keyboard feel "squashed", but I've found that it feels no different than any other notebook keyboard.

Two lights at the left palm-rest indicate power-on and charging status. Above the keyboard are buttons with indicator lights for turning the touchpad and wireless functions on and off. The hard drive activity light is also in this area. Unfortunately there are no lights to indicate when the caps lock and number lock are on, which has been somewhat annoying, especially when dealing with passwords. Everything else is comparable to a standard laptop, with no outstanding additional features.

This laptop does not come with recovery disks or even a backup partition. I guess this is standard practice for many laptops sold today. A recovery disk can be obtained from the Acer website for a fee, but I was unable to order it since the site wouldn't recognize my laptop's serial number, even after registration. Some select drivers are available for direct download, but I feel a recovery disk should be included with any new laptop or at least provided for free upon request.

There is a lot of additional trial software loaded on this laptop, with annoying popups once in a while to register or purchase a software product. I haven't found a good use for any of the products yet, and will eventually have to consider uninstalling each item. I'm assuming the included trial software is helping to keep the price of this laptop reasonable, so I find it only mildly annoying to deal with it.

Other: Wireless was easy to set up and has been reliable with good range. The track pad and scroll feature are accurate and function well. The screen is bright and easy to read. I've added a Microsoft wireless mobile mouse, which works well and makes a perfect companion to any laptop. There are only 2 USB ports, both are in use by the wireless mouse adapter and a Bluetooth adapter. I would have liked to have 1 or 2 extra USB ports available.

Despite the few minor annoyances, I am very happy with the overall performance of this laptop. I would recommend this computer to anyone looking for a good-performing budget notebook. Updated Feb 17, 2013: I see this notebook is still available for purchase. I've had no problems with mine since purchase about 3 years ago now. It gets a lot of use daily, so it doesn't get pampered in any way. Wireless performs flawlessly, bootup times are like when new, applications load quickly, internet browsing works perfectly. I've traveled with it a few times, but mostly use it at home. This notebook has held up very well both in physical appearance and performance. Extremely happy with this system!

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Update: I actually purchased another one, still an eMachines but this time even closer to this model's specs (same CPU and RAM, vs AMD and 2GB RAM). Read my update in this review's "comments" section.

I'd like to respond to Linda's complaint/review. I do agree that the mfr should be more up-front in disclosing lack of internal mic, however please let me provide a different point of view... for the benefits of other readers, at the least. I actually think a built-in webcam and no mic is the 'best of both worlds'. I know, that seems strange, but here's why.

A built-in webcam is creepy enough, but you can easily cover it with a piece of tape. We've seen in recent news that people can and DO hack into webcams and mics of people online--even (illegally so) a school providing loaner laptops to students, spying on them in their bedrooms.

You can't turn an internal mic off (no mfr provides a hard switch). You can disable it in the OS, but it's inconvenient, and you have to trust the OS and apps that nothing's switching it back on. Plus (and maybe most importantly, if not realistically), internal mics usually SUCK. Even if it's good, it's generally too far away and too close to the speakers when integrated. So what you usually get, is a built-in mic which stays on all the time, with the creepy security risk (and Google saying someday it will eavesdrop on your mic and if it hears a dog barking in the background, will spam you with dog food ads, for instance)... and you end up using an external mic anyway. Maybe you've had good luck with integrated microphones? I know I haven't. Nothing beats a headset, or something close to your mouth.... especially if you're using the laptop's speakers to hear your party.

A few years ago I had the opposite experience. I bought a laptop with no webcam, and it had an internal mic which wasn't documented. I'd had it about a year when I installed a recording program, and noticed it was picking up noises when I was just trying out the program (with no input). The quality was so low it wasn't useful, and the fact I had a useless mic which was only a security and creepiness liability made it an albatross. I wished they made laptops WITH webcams, but NO integrated mics, but I didn't think anyone would do that. Then I bought this laptop (not this actual model, but similar) and was so happy--but surprised--that there was no internal mic. Really. YMMV.

Let me make a comment on my laptop. I have an emachines version which is identical but mine has a lower-power AMD CPU with a lower-capacity hard drive. Chassis and hardware should be identical. I was astounded at the quality of my webcam. It does appear to be only QVGA (quarter VGA), but the quality is better than the VGA cams I've seen. And because it's QVGA, it updates a 4x faster on the user's end (seems smoother, more motion-y). Best of all, it really is "optimized for low-light" like it says on the computer. If you have a white background on your screen, the light from the screen is enough for the webcam to pick you up fine in an UNLIT room (too bad Skype has a black background; I can't seem to change it). (And it works fine in well-lit rooms too; no 'overexposure'.) One low-powered light on in the room is good enough for this webcam (exceedingly rare to find on an integrated cam IMO). Which is really nice for those late-night conversations, which is really when you want to use a webcam, right? I can tell you firsthand it's substantially better than a late-gen iMac webcam which didn't do well in existing artificial light.

Over the internet, I let a friend a choose between my integrated webcam and a well-respected USB VGA webcam I'd previously bought. I didn't say which was which, nor give techincal details, just: "which do you prefer?". My party chose my integrated webcam, to my surprise (and delight). Almost all integrated webcams are crappy, and I've never heard of one which is actually excellent. Plus, it is aimed right at me, taking into account proper screen angle. It's as if someone knew what they were doing when they designed it!

Personally, I use a little over-the-ear mic which came with that previous webcam I mentioned (now made obsolete by the excellent internal cam). These are really cheap to buy on the net. You can also get little "stalk" right-angle connector mics which are made for notebooks as you just plug it into the jack and angle it at you. But something close to your mouth is best. meritline, dealextreme, pcmicrostore, amazon of course and many others sell cheap mics of wildly varying style and quality. You can leave the stalk type ones connected--the smaller the stalk, obviously the easier it is to leave connected but the father away it'll be from you. Other options would be a USB 'speakerphone', also pretty handy, but that's more wires, or an adapter (which you can get on Amazon) which allows you to use your 2.5mm connector cordless phone headset in your computer.

With this laptop, ALL the connectors are in the right place. Very rare. The sound, power, and network ports are all on the left--where God intended them to be :) . You don't have a power cable running out one side of you and a network cable out the other. Everything comes in at the left (yes!). There is nothing on the back, and nothing on the right to interfere with your mouse hand except for the optical drive, which again is also in the correct place for you to replace disks.

In the front, you have the card reader--which is a good card reader. It's BOOTABLE, and faster than a USB card reader I have. Yeah it's a little difficult to get to, and the action is very positive (you have to push pretty hard on the card to get it to pop back out), but I see that as a good thing, as the card is flush and is not going to pop out accidentally pushing up against you.

Honstly, I wish I had this model (I think it's a new model). What I'd really like to know is how often the fan turns on when idling in this model? Mine is really quiet. Fan doesn't run much, and is quiet when it does. My 160GB drive is the quietest drive I think I've ever heard, and I hope this 250GB is too, as it's only 5600rpm. A lot of the 250GB drives are 7200rpm, which are quite noisier, and not worth the speed tradeoff for me (I use a 7200rpm in my work laptop daily, so I know). I only have 2GB RAM and most for users running Windows 7 (Windows 6.1 technically), that's enough. However, if you open tons of web tabs, it is possible to max out in Windows 64-bit (I was surprised). 3GB or 4 would be enough for me but I'm a power user. This has 3, or 50% more than my 2GB. (The RAM inside may also be DDR3, which if true would be contrary to some spec lists.)

Likewise, I could use the more powerful T4400 processor in this model, I just don't know if it creates extra heat. The mobile Intels are very efficient. I have an AMD but one of the newer low-powered variants... but gutless compared to this. However, my fan is usually off in idle, only coming on a couple seconds every once in awhile after it's been on for awhile. I'd want to keep that--and want to know if this T4400 is cool enough it behaves similarly. Max heat of a T4400 is in the thirties of watts; my AMD creates 15 watts max, but max heat rating is not a good indication of idle usage. Anecdotal stories are much more useful.

Having used my laptop enough now, I like it so much (everything being in the right place, etc) that I'd pay extra for what I have now with more ram and a better processor--if that did not mean more noise. I've seen a lot of crappy laptops in my day (crappy=bad heat management/noisy, bad keyboards, and ports/connectors in illogical places). So I'm soliciting any feedback?

There's no perfect laptop, but I think the fact that this one's 'thicker' than most laptops these days yields hidden benefits that outway lack of thinness (and the lappy is pretty lightweight when you take the battery out, if you use w/a cord like I do). I have some issues with the keyboard, and yes there are only 2 USB ports (macbook only gives you 1?). But the intangibles are high here, including the very nice glossy screen, almost equivalent with HP/Compaq.

The keys are almost 'stealth chiclet', or 'hybrid'. They have good travel (unlike chiclet), and are larger (unlike chiclet), but have no bevel (like chiclet), and only an imperceptible curve (essentially flat), which makes it surprisingly hard for your fingers to find the keys in the dark (and keyboard is unlit). That said, they're nice and big and feel good due to good travel. Key location is above average, not perfect. They missed an opportunity to put page-up/page-down where they put those half-sized arrow keys. Why just leave that part of the keyboard as a blank hole, and make a button half-size, when you could either put a full-sized key there or put another half-size key above it? Again, nothing's perfect. I'm not a fan of numberpads, so I sacrificed the keypad and assigned a slew of non-character keys to it using a freeware app called KeyTweak. Now a pretty happy camper.

If you go through Windows 7 power management in Control Panel and get aggressive on the 'power saver' profile (including aggressive screen dimming), as well as turn off the stupid Aero interface and other animations/effects, you can squeeze about 50% more battery time out. Disabling wireless helps, if you can, and also frees up about 50MB of memory.

I love the laptop overall, and friends who see it are envious. Thinner is not necessarily better. Read reviews of the newer thinner Acer models and you'll see reviews are not as good. Most common complaints about this chassis form factor is only 2 USB ports, the silly layout of the number pad, the flat keys, and an occasional "slow Wi-Fi" problem I've seen in reviews which appears to be hardware-related (mine is fine and quite fast, actually). So if you get one, test out your wi-fi speed within the exchange period.

Honest reviews on Acer AS5732Z-4867 15.6-Inch HD Display Laptop (Black)

This is a good basic computer, and I purchased it specifically because it came with a webcam. Who now days would get a webcam on their computer without a microphone?? It doesnt make sense. I see that another person wrote a review with another point of view, but clearly thats not why people usually buy computers, and I'm sure Acer wanted to save $$ so it omitted the Microphone. Whats even more ridiculous is on the computer itself where the camera is on the top of the monitor, there is a call out saying "WEBCAM OPTIMIZED FOR LOW LIGHT VIDEO CHATTING" Chatting is the key word here, you cant chat with someone when there is no microphone. (Unless you can read their lips) besides the no Microphone issue, this is a good computer for the price, very light and portable. I purchased a Olympus ME-12 Noise Canceling Microphone from Amazon which works great with the laptop but would have much rather had it as a part of the computer than having this mic stick out as an added accessory.

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I was a little skeptic about this... the name "Acer", wasn't a familiar name to me. I've always had the "OTHER" type. I have to tell you that, I really love this product. I use it everyday, all day.

I would recommend this to everyone.

You won't be sorry!

ASUS Republic of Gamers G75VW-AS71 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop Review

Customer Ratings:

So I noticed some weak reviews for this product and am quite disgusted. I bought this unit from Best Buy and have so far been impressed. I typically am a desktop user, in fact, I normally custom build my own rigs. I was in the market for a laptop, and didn't want to frustrate myself with custom building one so I shopped around a lot. For the price, it will be difficult to beat this machine. The only laptops that will come close (Dell XPS, AlienWare, and MSI) would all likely cost and extra $500-$1000. Every game I have played so far (Portal 2, Skyrim, etc) have ran on ultra settings with extremely great frame rates. Now for the Pros and cons:

Pros: Great heat displacement, it has two large exhaust ports on the backside of the machine. This keeps the heat off of the bottom and allows for "lap-top" computing. Processing speed is amazing. Cost is low, but shop around, I got it at Bust Buy for $200 cheaper (though the build is not exact to this model make your own decisions as to what you need). Back-lit key board is extremely neat. Large vibrant HD screen. Its not loaded down with a bunch of bloatware and demos. GTX 660M is a great GPU for most all (with the exception of the have to have the most expensive and overkill, melt your face GPU) users. Additional port for secondary HDD. Easy access for upgrades to HDD an memory. Ivy Bridge! This thing has blistering fast multi-app processing power!

Cons (and the reason for 4 stars): The biggest drawback for me is the 1TB HDD, as it is slow (5400 RPM). For this reason alone Windows Experience Index rated it a 5.9. All other ratings were mid to upper 7's. Shame on you Asus. For $130 buy a 128GB SSD from Amazon and up your computing potential. Just use the 1TB as a slave. It is bulky, but to be expected as it is a gaming lappy. Good luck trying to find a case that fits it.Lastly the power brick is enormous and the battery is lucky to give you 1.5 hrs unplugged. Again, this is a gaming laptop so this is to be expected.

Other thoughts: The pros highly out weigh the cons! For the price this Republic of Gamers laptop by Asus is a great investment.

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Everything you've read in the other reviews about its power is true. Portal 2, Skyrim, etc. all look beautiful on this laptop. The matte screen with full 1080p resolution is very nice and easy on the eye. The jet engine fans on the back of the laptop have allowed for hours of gaming without feeling like I could flip the laptop over and grill an egg.

Now, some issues. One is that the space bar is not as responsive as I would like on a gaming keyboard. If I have my thumb too far over to one side, it will fail to register the press. This being the jump key in a lot of games, one can imagine the annoyance this has caused (I've run straight off of platforms like a dork).

The major issue, however, is that the subwoofer will sometimes play when you have headphones in. For a while, every time I started a media source that had audio, I would have to pull out my headphones and reinsert. This is quite annoying when you are trying to play something in a crowded room, or when someone in your house is sleeping. I uninstalled the drivers and let windows install its own, but now it mutes the audio until I click mute then unmute again. I don't know what is going on with this audio chipset, but there appear to be some kinks to iron out.

The audio issue is not a dealbreaker for me, as the laptop really is quite nice looking with excellent performance.I am hoping an update in the future will make my $1300 purchase perform as it should.

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I'm not a super gaming computer geek, but i know computers well and am an avid console gamer. I like playing fighting games like SFIV and the like and I also love first person shooters, action games, etc. Well so far I am VERY impressed with this behemouth of a machine! Not that street fighter is the most graphically intensive game, but i was coming from runing on my macbook pro under bootcamp with windows 7. Night and day difference. I can crank up all the settings including 8x antialiasing and the frame rate is stunning. no lag whatsoever. full screen full resolution all the bells and whistles enabled. Just Cause 2 i couldn't get the same with everything maxed out, but you probably would need a higher end machine to do that. With everything maxed out i was getting like 20fps but when i turned off the GPU water effect and toned down a couple other things i was getting a solid 60fps on the in game benchmark tests. Batman arkham asylum and the newer arkham city look positively stunning and smooooooth. The picture is great on this machine and the sound is quite good especially with the subwoofer. The power supply practically needs it own carrying case! Seriously this is the biggest brick i've ever seen on a notebook. The keyboard is very nice as is the track pad. the buttons on the trackpad have quite a bit of travel and feel kind of soft, but not mushy. The track pad also supports two finger rotation and pinch to zoom and 2 finger scrolling and 3 finger aero conrol of the windows 7 windows ala macbook (although it's nowhere near as smooth as the mac, but i didn't get this machine for smooth window navigation). I LOVE the rubberized feel of the plastic of the case. I also love that the machine doesn't come with 100 pieces of "bloatware"

the 750gb hard drivecomes partitioned with about 300 (drive c) for OS and other programs and then a drive D (presumably for your gaming data) is about 400gb. There is still an open expansion bay for another hard drive I believe. Now remember, this is kind of the "bottom of the line" G75 with the 2gb graphics card (the 660) and the processors on the higher end units run a bit faster. So far the machine stays quite cool and it not even as noisey as my macbook pro (and not nearly as hot, you could make toast on my macbook when i was runing games in bootcamp). I don't know a lot about gaming machines but i've read that you can't just look at the graphics card or the processor but you have to look at everything together including how well the machine can cool itself because that can affect how well the gpu runs. I'm sure there are faster notebooks out there, but for 1500 bucks I am beside myself. I use an xbox 360 wireless controller and it works flawlessly, just make sure you download the 64bit driver from microsoft. For steam users, install it to the larger partition (the D drive). There is plenty of room on the 400gb partition. Even if every game you use is 10gb (which they usually are not) That's a lot of games with no external drive and you still have the C partition to store files on, plus you can always get another drive installed. I'm giving it 4 stars just to be conservative, but so far the only thing that's a bit off-putting is it's sheer size. it's much deeper than my 17 inch macbook and won't even fit (width-wise) into the sleeve of my 17inch backpack although it barely fits the length. I had to order an alienware backpack that accomodates the larger machines with the 17.3 screens. I travel A LOT and it is going to be really fantastic to have a complete gaming library with me wherever I go! Unless you're an uber-geek I would highly recommend this unit. Im sure it will do me for several years, but then again, technology is such that you're constantly kicking yourself for not waiting for the next better, faster, quieter, cooler, more power efficient thing to come along.

Oh, by the way, the unit is lighter than it appears. Still heavy, but it is a desktop replacment, so that's just part and parcel...Hope this helps

Honest reviews on ASUS Republic of Gamers G75VW-AS71 17.3-Inch Gaming Laptop

I just bought my new Asus Laptop June 2 at a Best Buy. The unit I received has slightly different specs than the one listed here however they are minimal. The laptop I purchased has only 8gigs of RAM instead of 16 but has a 1TB Hard Drive. Besides that it is the same machine. However, I found it at Best Buy for 1299 instead of 1499 (which is rare because I never expect Best Buy to have the best price). I ended up paying 1566 after 5% tax but that included two year comprehensive warranty, Microsoft office, and two years of antivirus which I couldn't pass up. I went straight home to try it out and so far I am impressed. The unit looks beautiful with the matte screen and the fingerprint resistant finish. The resolution is stunning and the backlit keyboard is solid. (though the keys feel a bit cheap I am not at all concerned)

As my main concern was graphics, the first thing I did was download Skyrim from Steam. Booting up the game for the first time showed me how this unit is worth every penny. Many reviews talk generally about the graphics of their system but at the end of the day, I want to be able to say how it handles specific games. That being said, Skyrim looks FANTASTIC. I played it on my xbox360 in HD and the performance on this laptop makes the 360 version look like its from the 90's. The lighting effects, graphical details, and resolution are all amazing and the smooth framerate blew me away. I couldn't believe how well it was rendering the dense foliage and textures without missing a beat. I am confident this baby will run anything I throw at it for years to come. I also noticed that getting my music onto ITunes was fast as well. On my old computers, uploading hundreds of files into the program often caused it to crash and took hours. I got all my music up in a matter of minutes.

One thing I did notice was the vibrations of the DVD drive when it is reading a disk. I didn't worry at all but you always prefer quiet disk drives. As I don't plan on using much media from DVD/CD's the concern is minimal. Also the sound quality is rich and there seems to be a built in sub woofer but the volume doesn't quite reach loud enough for my tastes. However, I have external speakers whenever I really need great volume so this is another non issue for me. I have yet to find any real cons to this system yet although I have only had it for a day.

The computer runs very quiet and looks like a professional/nerdy mix of materials and design. I would also like to emphasize that I did lots of research before arriving at this laptop. I found that it had minimal negative reviews with many good ones that matched my graphical expectations and price point. While some people may complain about the hefty size of the computer or the large AC adapter brick that accompanies the unit, you must remember that this is a desktop replacement gaming laptop and it serves its role admirably. I would strongly recommend this laptop to anyone looking for a gaming powerhouse laptop without breaking the bank and is willing to sacrifice portability for power.

**Update**

I bought a SanDisk 120 GIG SSD on Amazon and went to Best Buy to let them install it. The warrenty I purchased covered the instalation and migration of the OS to the SSD. It took them three days to complete the job and I now have both hard drives in the machine: the 120SSD and the 1Terabyte 5400RMP-HHD. I have to say it was a great idea to upgrade. My computer boots in 20 seconds (as oppsed to about 60 before)I was able to load saves in Skyrim in five second as opposed to 10-15 seconds. This is as fast as I have ever seen a computer run. I store all OS related files and programs as well as games on the SSD and my music, docs, and movies on the HHD. The people at best buy did remove the recovery partition, but I can take it back if something happens. I highly reccomend doing a similar upgrade if you have an in store warrenty or if you know how to do it yourself.

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I have only had this notebook for two days now and would like to focus this review on my first impressions and experiences with it. I received it two days ago when I got home from work. After charging the battery for a couple of hours I turned it on and it went through a process of setting up some things in Windows and I had to enter my wireless key. Everything went smoothly. I was surprised to see only five icons on the desktop-Recycle Bin, Asus Vibe Fun Center (whatever that is)Asus Web Storage, eManual, and McAfee! I suspected that there might be some anti-virus software lurking and sure enough, a one month free trial from McAfee which I had five days to activate! Amazon didn't say anything about that.

So, knowing I would need to have an anti-virus program, I went to the McAfee website to activate the temporary account and ended up buying a year's subscription online for around $70 and downloaded it. Before it could download, McAfee had to first uninstall the free one month anti-virus trial program. I guess if I opted out it would have been up to me to figure out how to uninstall it entirely before installing Norton. Anyway, I bought it from them and everything seems OK.

Now the first order of business was to create the four Recovery DVD's. Using some HP DVD+R 4.7GB, the first DVD took 45 minutes to burn, the second and third 10 minutes each, and the fourth 7 minutes for a total of 72 minutes. Had I checked the box "Fully verify data when burning disc" it would have been longer.

After waiting through many Windows updates, the machine seemed to be functioning very well. I downloaded Google Chrome and installed Adobe Lightroom 4 without any problems at all. I noticed a previous reviewer had a blue screen due to playing a you tube music video, so I tried one from Little Richard and it worked perfectly. If Richard can't give you a BSOD, nobody can!

I was hesitant to get a 17 inch screen, thinking that it would be too small for gaming, but when you sit in front of this notebook it looks a lot larger than 17 inches! I love it, and the matte finish is excellent, as is the illuminated keyboard (you can vary the intensity). I feel very good about buying this notebook. I originally ordered the model with the gtx 670 video card, but I had it backordered for ten days and nothing was happening, so I got this one. I don't think it will matter much to me because I am more interested in photography than gaming, except when it comes to Thief.

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Customer Ratings:

I bought this product about 2 months ago, strictly for school. I needed a laptop that had the storage room to hold all of my pictures, music, videos, and school files. All in all I've wasted about 150GB in just that, and to still have about 580GB to use, is GREAT. I also needed a laptop that could run editing programs, because of the i5 processor I could run multiple internet windows, iTunes, Photoshop CS5 Extended without it even slowing down a bit.

I don't mind that the keyboard is NOT back lit, like the previous review I also misunderstood and read that it WAS back lit. But at the end of the day it really makes no difference, yeah it would be a lot nicer but if you know how to type (which I'm assuming a majority of buyers know how to) it won't make a difference. It has a full keyboard so when I'm inputting numbers I don't have to go to the top row and input them horizontally. I personally, prefer inputting numbers vertically, I don't know with cellphones being that way, calculators and a heap of other devices to me this keyboards number pad feels great.

Don't get me wrong, not all of this laptop was shimmering gold to me. Let me begin by saying that none of these things I'm about to point out make me change how I feel about this laptop, the mouse pad is a little TOO sensitive. The first few days you find yourself being frustrated because you might close your windows because you grazed the mouse pad, or realize that you're no longer typing where you intended to. The good thing about this oh so sensitive touch pad is the fact that because it's so smooth and sensitive it responds EXTREMELY well.

The sound on this laptop can be a 9 to me, it handles all of my music well ranging from death metal to Chopin, or whatever I feel like listening to. The reason why I say it CAN BE a 9 is due to the fact that the speakers are, wait for it.....on the bottom. What? Yes, the speakers are on the bottom. As a student at first it really really pissed me off because what do students love to do? Do their homework comfortably on their bed. And if you don't have those little laptop stands like I don't, your sound becomes muffled and sounds like it's underwater. If the speakers weren't on the bottom it'd be a 9 but because of this I will give the sound a 6.5-9.

I want to touch one LAST thing before I conclude my review, the day I went to go purchase this laptop at Best Buy there was a disgruntled buyer returning this EXACT Laptop. He was complaining that the product description was false and that it did NOT have a memory card reader. It does, don't fret, it's a little hard to find but it's RIGHT BENEATH where the little stickers of INTEL and HDMI are. Just lift a little bit and you can see it there.

In conclusion, don't let the little flaws of this laptop stop you from buying it, I am actually considering purchasing another one for my Mom. You get your moneys worth and it will handle everything you do well. Oh and I know that there will be people looking for reviews on how well it handles games, the best it could handle (that I tested) was BF3 on normal settings.

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I like it, it's pretty fast w/ lots of room for storage

for under $500. was a great buy

one disappointment, but, was my misunderstanding

I read back-lit..........I taught it was ,,the keypad was back-lighted....NO BIGGIE..

Best Deals for ASUS U57A-BBL4 15.6" Laptop, Intel Core i5-2450M CPU, 6GB DDR3 RAM

This product is a piece of junk, doesnt do anything i want it too. too bad i cant take it back to the store or else i would. it sucks.

Buy HP Pavilion dv7-7010us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program After owning various other laptop computers (Toshibas, Gateways, etc.), I can say I'm sold on the HP Pavillion series. This is my second Pavillion laptop from HP, the first being the 11.6 inch Pavillion dm1 which I've owned and used daily for a couple years now. HP Pavillion computers are built sturdy and reliable, intuitive in design and simple to use.

This HP Pavillion dv7-7010 model has met my expectations and has been a joy to use so far. It's large! At 17.3 inches (on the other end of the size spectrum from my 11.6" HP) it's slightly less portable and versatile just because of it's size. The battery that came with it is also large, it has a foot that props the laptop up a bit--which was strange to me at first, but I like it. This also probably allows air to circulate under the laptop to prevent overheating.

Set up is simple, although we did encounter a hiccup with our model. When it arrived, I immediately began setup, which is as simple as loading the battery and plugging it in. Once I powered it on, however, the computer initially had issues and gave an error message telling us the hard drive was failing. While this was a major let down at first, it was resolved quite quickly by a call to HP tech support (I was happy to have my call answered straight away) and the tech had us disconnect the hard drive and plug it back in, then restart and see if it worked. The computer then started up just fine and has worked perfectly ever since. Apparently, this was probably caused by a loose connection due to jostling during shipping or something. Sometimes the hard drive gets disconnected slightly or wasn't properly connected at the factory. I'm happy to say that tech support was very helpful, and even offered to call back the next day to check and see if the computer was still functioning properly. Since then, as I said, there have been no further issues. My experience with the tech support was a good one, and I'm happy to report that is the first time I've ever needed to contact them, my other HP has had zero issues over the last couple years. So, obviously, I think this is a very reliable brand!

The screen is bright and clear (and large!), the sound is better than most laptops with it's fancy Beats Audio speakers, and the laptop itself is sturdy and good looking. One of the coolest features that is new to me as a laptop user was the "HP Simple Pass" fingerprint scanner. Located on the right side, just below the keyboard, is a little scanner that uses your fingerprint as a password! You can sync it to most accounts (Yahoo Mail, bank accounts, Facebook, Twitter, Paypal, etc). I think this feature is really neat and cutting edge.

With 6GB of memory, a 750GB hard drive, and ginormous screen, this would make a great laptop for mild to moderate gaming (or moms like me, who store a million and one photos and videos of their kids...)and young professionals. Due to it's size, this laptop makes a great desktop replacement. If you like the style of a desktop, but need a portable computer, this is a great choice. The Cyberlink You Cam software is fun, and the webcam seems to be better quality than on my smaller, older HP Pavillion.

The touch pad is smartly designed, a double tap in one corner will lock it, and you can pinch your fingers inward or outward for easy-zooming in, and two fingers drawn up or down controls scroll.

Though I haven't had this Pavillion dv7 for long, it's been impressive and met my expectations. I'll definitely update this review if I encounter any changes in performance or reliability. Since I've been using an HP Pavillion laptop for a few years now, however, I can definitely vouch for this series having a reputation of reliability and durability. I really love the HP style keyboards, too. I used to have lots of issues with my old Toshiba & Gateway losing keys like crazy, they seemed much more fragile.

HP is a trustworthy brand, in my book, and I'm so happy to have another great laptop from the Pavillion series. I would definitely recommend this laptop to those searching for a large, competent computer that will last you a long time. If you have questions I didn't answer about this product, feel free to leave a comment and I'll be happy to answer it the best I can.

UPDATE 7/26/12: I've had a request for photos of the battery size, which I've added and you can now see in the photos on this product listing. The battery does definitely add some bulk. That, and the size of the entire laptop, is why I suggest this might be the perfect choice for those who'd really prefer a desktop, and will mostly be keeping a stationary computer, but for whatever reason need to have it be portable from time to time.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I'm a graphics/web professional and have owned many laptops over the years, from tiny netbooks to larger portables like the Macbook Pro 15", but none this large. At 17", this HP DV7 is a hulking beast. It's a beautiful machine with a beautiful wide screen, perfect for people who keep a lot of windows open. Most of the programs I use have a lot of menus and floating toolbars all over the place, especially Adobe Creative Suite, so a wider screen lets you see more of the workspace unobstructed. The machine is loaded up with plenty of hard drive space and RAM, so for it should fits the bill for most users. Set up was easy. It took about 15 or 20 minutes from unboxing to getting the laptop all configured and getting online. I find the contrast of the screen a bit low, however. Colors aren't as deep as I've seen on other laptops. Viewing angle is also limited. You have to look dead on at the screen at a 90 degree angle, otherwise the contrast and colors look slightly faded. In Chrome, under low light conditions, the screen kept adjusting the brightness by itself as I scrolled from top to bottom. I did not find a way to disable this.

Weighing in at over 6 1/2 lbs, this is really a desktop replacement and not a very travel-friendly machine. It's possible, but not recommended. I tried lugging it around for several days to and from the office on my commute and it felt very awkward carrying such a large contraption around. The protruding battery makes for an awkward handhold and may cause fitting problems with laptop sleeves. It makes the laptop look lumpy and causes an unsightly bulge in my Case Logic LAPS-117 17 17.3 -Inch Laptop Sleeve (Black)! The battery is meant to elevate the laptop off the desk and provide better airflow underneath, but it doubles the height profile. True to its claims, the CoolSense technology keeps the laptop operating at very cool temperature. By far, it's the coolest laptop I've ever used. I've had many lap cookers, but this one is comfortable and I don't have to worry about starting a fire on my bed or baking my thighs. It's been on for an hour and the bottom of the laptop is only slightly warm. Battery life is very good. At the 1 hr mark, it has only depleted 15%, but of course, this will vary greatly depending on what you're doing. I'm only typing in a browser, so I'm not demanding a lot of processing. If you're watching a movie or playing a game, the battery will drain faster.

I like the dedicated WiFi on/off button. It makes it easy for me to switch between WiFi and a hard line. I also like the integrated AuthenTec finger print scanner. It's the wave of the future (Apple recently acquired them for $350 million). You can login to your machine with it. When you login to a website for the first time, it'll ask you if you want to remember the password. The next time you come back to the site, the finger scanner will blink. Just swipe your finger on it and the system will login for you. The swiping isn't perfect and if you do it too fast, or are off-center, you'll have to do it again. This is a huge help because I have so many passwords to so many sites that I cannot keep track. You do know NOT TO keep passwords in something like an Excel file, right? Or using the same password for multiple sites? This finger scanner gets rid of that huge headache. The functionality isn't browser dependent. If you register a site in Internet Explorer, you'll be able to swipe if you go there in Chrome, or any other browser. Coming back from sleep, however, HP SimplePass failed. It did not recognize when I was trying to login and the sensor did not blink. Worst of all, Windows reported that the sensor was disconnected. I had to reboot to restore functionality. I will update my review if this keeps happening. So far it's only happened once.

HDMI is another great feature, if you do presentations or want to watch movies on your HDTV. A Blu-ray drive would've made this perfect as a complete portable entertainment rig. The speakers are loud and suitable for parties or presentations. Sound output varies greatly with laptops and I'm glad this one is loud. You'd have no problems hearing it from across the room at max volume. Other features: SD card is standard these days as is integrated webcam. It has three USB 3.0 ports to be future-proof, since most portable hard drives these days are USB 3.0. The new plug is up to 10x faster than USB 2.0. All 4 ports are the same, so you can still plug in USB 2.0 devices into the 3.0 ports.

I have not yet tested gaming performance.

DISLIKES:

The full keyboard, to me, is suboptimal and less of a blessing and something of a curse. As my first 17" class laptop, I'm finding myself having to relearn the keyboard layout to account for the extra keypad. My spatial memory wants to think that the keys just end before that. I rarely use the keypad on a desktop keyboard, so I don't need it on a laptop. The arrow keys are way too small in comparison to their importance, particularly the up and down keys, which are half the height of the left and right. I have to feel for them to locate if I don't want to look down. Other laptops have the familiar inverted T configuration. On a full-sized desktop keyboard, the arrow keys are usually isolated into its own block of buttons (just look down at your keyboard if you're on a desktop computer). Here, they are jammed together under the Shift key in a very cramped and poorly thought-out configuration. For gamers, this is very detrimental. It is also worth mentioning that my spacebar squeaks.

Another very big annoyance is that during typing, if you brush your palm even slightly against the trackpad, the cursor will get moved to another location. This has happened about 5 times as I type this review. I consciously tried to avoid triggering the pad, but all of a sudden, the cursor will pop to someplace new or click into a previously browsed page in my history. While trying to write some code in a text editor, the cursor kept popping to different lines in my editing window. This makes for a very frustrating experience as it's easy to just type over entire blocks of text and I have to spend time undoing the accidental typing. I've never experienced this ever on another laptop.

Pinch to zoom I didn't like at all and turned it off. It kept misfiring in Google Chrome and zooming my text up and down unintentionally. I highly recommend an external mouse, like Logitech M305 Wireless Mouse.

Space-wasting power jack: the plug goes in the right side of the laptop and sticks out another 2 inches. As if the laptop itself isn't taking up enough space! Most laptops have it coming out the back.

SUMMARY:

All in all, a very solid laptop with a lot of ports, features, and versatility at a very competitive price. Well worth considering if you're in the market for a new machine.

UPDATE 9/19/12: I left this in my office drawer for several weeks and then took it on a work trip, but forgot to take the AC adapter! It had about 35% power left and lasted a good 2 hours before shutting down. That's pretty impressive for the battery.

I continue to be underwhelmed by the screen and poor visibility unless you are directly looking at it. Any other angle and visibility is reduced.

UPDATE 10/19/12: I installed my first game, XCOM: Enemy Unknown. Runs very fast, even with all the graphics options turned to high. Absolutely no complaints here!

Best Deals for HP Pavilion dv7-7010us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

I love this laptop. The more I use it, the more I love it. Large easy-to-use touch pad, large screen with brilliant quality, powerful cpu for a laptop, impressive unique style, great keyboard with number pad, very nice sound for a laptop and much more!

One of the features I hardly cared about or noticed, fingerprint scanning, has been one of the more use-changing features about it. It is great logging in to the computer, all websites and even opening custom sets of pages with a swipe of a finger! That's right, swipe your finger when you're not at a login page, and it opens the specific pages you choose! :)

This computer runs everything I wanted it to (including some high-demand CAD programs!). It is the "best of the rest" when it comes to mid-level laptops. The performance ratings seem to be on par with most $900-$1400 laptops for how I use it (CAD, music, video, browser, lots of specialized background programs such as flux and launchy). I have ran all of those run at once without any major slowdowns.

For me, this laptop is sleek and sturdy and light enough to carry around anywhere. I don't even bother carrying the cord. Want to know why? The battery lasts 7-9 hours with the way I use the laptop (normal brightness, lots of programs running). If I put it on power saver and only run a couple things, that can be stretched out. 7-9 hours of usage is plenty for most any given day while I am out and about.

The glossy screen is not ideal but if that doesn't bother you, the rest of the laptop will impress. This is the best laptop I've ever used. I wouldn't even compare this to a macbook air... macbook airs are not in this class of performance and capabilities. If this package had an apple on it, it would be, just rough guessing :P, $1800 or more.

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion dv7-7010us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program This is my first REAL laptop. I feel so grownup (about time many would say). I am not a technophobe but I am definitely not a computer geek either. I have been using an ACER netbook for quite a few years now. And I also have had a Kindle Fire since Christmas 2011. And a desktop PC I never use any more. I sit on the couch, watch television and take care of business (very slug-like I know).

So why did I feel the need to have a full-size laptop? I wanted the storage capacity for one. And this workhorse really has it 6gb of RAM and a 750gb hard drive. Plenty of room for all my photos (LOTS), all my music (LOTS AND LOTS) and copies of my reviews and other correspondence. Those are my main uses for the laptop.

I also wanted a larger keyboard and I especially like having the numeric keypad, too, since I have an accounting background and find it easier to use for long strings of numbers. I like the feel of the alpha keypad, too. Very nice to type on.

This machine is a monster, though. Who would have thought that 17.3 inches was so big...hmmmm...There are a couple of differing sets of outer dimensions listed on Amazon for this laptop so I went ahead and measured it again for you. What I come up with is 16 1/2" length; 11" width; 1 3/16" height at the front of the laptop and 2 3/16" height at the back of the laptop, which includes the battery pack.

One thing I found out is that this laptop is too big to sit on my lap and type in front of the television. Other reviewers who have said this would make a good work station computer are right. But I decided to get a small table to set this on so I could still use in the living room. I went with the 2 Smart Table Mate TV Foldable Adjustable Trays. Free shipping on the tables (I got two since there was a price break). Easy to assemble table, pretty sturdy, the laptop fits nicely on it. The table legs slide under the couch and I can see my TV over the open laptop.

One of the first things I did to the laptop was turn off the touchpad. Call me old school but I like having a mouse. I plugged in my wireless mouse Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 4000 Special Edition Wool Blue and I was ready to go. There's not a lot of extra room on my little table so I use the mouse on the couch. Works fine for me.

I guess I should mention set up. My husband is the tech guru in the house and got the laptop ready for me. He said it came out of the box basically ready to use. The only problem we had and it was OUR problem was we ended up having to get a new wireless router with more band width. Our old one was just that OLD and we had too many wireless devices using it. We got the new router and no problem. My husband downloaded all my old files onto the laptop and I've been using it since.

Things I like:

1. I love the big screen. Photography is one of my hobbies and the bigger screen is great for viewing and editing my photos. Great color too. It is also wonderful to watch movies, TV shows, You Tube, etc. on. Much easier to see than my netbook or the Fire.

2. Typing is much easier on the bigger keyboard than I am used to, at least once the touchpad is turned off. If you leave the touchpad on, you will find that you hit it with the palm of your right hand and the laptop then takes you all over where you don't want to go. I kept losing a review I was typing until I finally turned the touchpad totally off. Double tap on the top left hand corner of the touchpad to turn off (you will see a tiny red light come on to the left of the touchpad when you do this).

3. The camera is wonderful. It adjusts for light and the picture is then very clear for Skype or for videos or whatever you might use it for. There is a fun little program included with the laptop Cyberlink You Cam and you can do fun little things with your picture such as wear hats, etc. while skyping or taking photos.

4. I LOVE the Beats Audio system on the laptop. I am partially deaf and am NEVER able to hear on any of my equipment (until now) unless I put headphones/ear buds on. I don't even have the audio turned up full blast on this and I can hear just fine with no distortion. I love being able to listen to my music on it. There are four speakers two in the lid and two in the base and then a sub woofer underneath the unit. Great sound. I can actually hear movies I'm watching on it, too.

5. My husband played World of Warcraft on the system. Great graphics and sound, he said.

Some minor issues I've noticed:

1. The arrow keys on the alpha keyboard are not set up well at all. The up and down keys sit in between the left and right keys and are half the size of the left-right keys. When my husband was playing World of Warcraft, he turned off the numeric lock on the numeric keypad and used the arrows on it. Much easier for game playing, he said.

2. I wish there were a DVD/CD slot in the side of the laptop, having the entire system internal with an exterior eject button, rather than a disc tray that pops out. It feels a little flimsy as I'm pushing the discs down onto the spindle. Be sure to support the tray from underneath. It works fine, though.

3. There is a hinged cover on the left side of the laptop, covering the network jack. It opens easily but is rather difficult to get lined up and closed correctly. I'm not quite sure why there is a cover on this anyway. None of the other jacks have covers. This one has a rubber hinged little door that fits in slots. Or it's supposed to fit in the slots.

4. I really wish the keyboard was backlit on the laptop especially when watching movies. In the user manual, it says F5 is supposed to light up the keyboard. Well, it's not included on this unit (and it's not supposed to be as far as I can tell).

5. I do NOT like Windows 7 which is included with the laptop. I was perfectly fine with Windows XP. Watch out when you have multiple windows open they are extremely easy to close and thus lose information.

But, all in all, I am very happy with the laptop. I'm glad I made the move to the bigger laptop. I still miss holding the laptop actually on my lap and typing, which you can't easily do with this, but I'm getting used to the table. And the typing is much easier.

Oh, I got a great laptop case for this that looks nice and fits well. It is 17.3" Slipsuit Sleeve Red. Good price and very well made. The only thing that would have made it better is a shoulder strap. But I don't foresee traveling with this laptop too much. It is just too big.

I haven't had this too long. If anything else comes up, I will edit my review and let you know.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Pavilion dv7-7010us 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)

Exactly the laptop I have been waiting for, I like AMD, Could go from Good to Excellent

The stuff I like (What I think makes it Good)

* AMD Quad-Core A10-4600M (2.3 GHz )

* AMD Radeon HD 7660G Discrete-Class

* Up to 12 hours and 30 minutes Battery Life

* 17.3" diagonal HD+ BrightView LED-backlit (1600 x 900)

* Full-Size Island-Style Keyboard with Integrated Numeric Keypad

* Beats Audio; HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer; 4 speakers

* 3 Super Speed USB 3.0

* SATA III

What would make this Excellent (Which is available as parts) if you could Customize & Buy, and add the following and FYI. These options are not available with the HP Pavilion g7z-2100 Notebook PC

* Radon HD 7730M graphics (dual graphics)

* Second hard drive(so that you could add a SSD for Boot Drive)

* Keyboard with backlight

* Blu-ray writer & SuperMulti DVD burner

* WINDOWS 7 ULTIMATE 64-BIT

Well to end this, I hope HP comes out with a Customize & Buy for this, I think it would sell very well, I have sent them emails to this effect

Please!! Contact HP, if you agree about Customize & Buy for This Laptop

Discount Alienware AM11X-2894CSB 11.6-Inch Laptop (Cosmic Black)

Customer Ratings:

I have been looking at this item for quite a while and finally pulled the trigger. My concerns with the speed of the processor on the Core 2 rather than i5 and i7 and the high price were my only reason not to buy. After reading about the battery hit taken on this with the faster processors and the price dropping about $100 so that the price difference with the i7 become quite large, I decided to go with the Core 2 and I am glad I did.

First off, the screen is glossy and only of average brightness but the viewing angles and the ability to turn the contrast all the way up and still see a good picture a plus. Second, there is no bluetooth but there are so many tiny dongles these days it isn't a huge issue for your mouse or headphones just use of one the three usb ports. Third, the reason to buy this is for gaming and I am happy to say I was able to load all my games on the spacious 320gb hard drive with room to spare and they are all playable anywhere from medium to ultra settings. I play almost exclusively real-time strategy titles such as StarCraft II and the Command and Conquer titles. They all run really good.

The build quality is phenomenal on this thing. It is fun to just look at and admire. Being able to change the lighting in five zones and in various ways makes night computing perfect. The small keyboard is a little tougher to type on than a chic-lit style on a netbook but the razor sharp backlighting makes it work out fine after a little practice. Touch typing works great. The wrist area does not show fingerprints, the mouse has a great texture and really soft press buttons but I use an external mouse.

My first unit did not work the second day. It went black screen on me and Amazon shipped me a replacement the very next day that has been perfect. I also went into the bios on the second one and enabled turbo mode and it works no blue screens.

I spent all day loading up my gaming titles and look forward to playing on the go and around the house a lot more now. I was also pleased that 1080p YouTube worked flawlessly and my programs seem snappy. So far, so good, enjoying it. The kids love it too and like to change the keyboard to pink for the girls and incredible hulk green for the boys.

A fun toy, I hope to enjoy for a long time, and recommend.

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Dell's m11x is a wonderful, fast gaming laptop with one FATAL flaw: it has a design defect; the screen hinges separate from the chassis with normal use. This defect has occurred in a LOT of computers. Close to 100 are listed on one fan website alone. So far, Dell has not acknowledged this defect, nor have they affected reasonable solutions like extending the warranty on the hinges and tasking an engineer to design a permanent fix. Let me state this again; this is a design defect on the part of Dell and not the fault of the users. Check out the fan forums on Notebookreview or other websites if you need more feedback. This is a great little computer but Dell needs to own up to their design mistake.

Best Deals for Alienware AM11X-2894CSB 11.6-Inch Laptop (Cosmic Black)

Alienware m11x is most powerful 11.6" laptop in the market comparing with all other 11.6"/12.1" netbooks/laptops.

I would give this laptop 5 stars if I write this review in the begining of 2010 because it comes with Intel C2D SU7300 (Performance closer to Intel C2D T5670) and Nvidia GT335m (Performance closer to ATI5730) provding good enough computing power plus graphic engine to play all current PC games at least mid graphic setting.

Why do I only give 3 stars for it after half year?

Because Alienware m11x has the 2nd generation and current amazon price is higher.

The 2nd generation comes with i5 or i7 processors instead of original C2D SU7300, and Dell normally proivde discount coupon to the customer.

I purchased my i5-520um, Nvidia GT335, 4GB Ram, 160GB HDD, and Bluetooth m11x per "$920 + tax" after 100 off coupon from Dell.

Let's compare with another similar model Lenovo U160, which is also 11.6"/12.1" laptop with i5/i7, but its selling price is $1000+ without any GPU. As you already knew, Alienware gives you i5/i7 with GPU (Nvidia GT335m) and better cost.

Beside powerful specs, m11x is easier 11.6" laptop for you to upgrade memory, hard drive, and wifi card. It's the reason I choose 2.5" 160GB hard drive. You can easy get a 2.5" 500GB hard drive in between $50 to $60 to replace the 160GB one without paying Dell like $100. You can check youtube, and find out how easy that you can change those components inside Alienware m11x and how hard for you to change componetns within other 12.1" laptop/netbook hard drive such as ASUS EEE PC 12" series. Alienware did a great job providing user easier way to upgrade the system.

Well, we know that price is higher than EEE PC and other 12.1"/11.6" netbook, but it's a i5/i7/C2D LAPTOP (NOT A NETBOOK) with Nvidia GT335m and up to 8 hours battery life making a unbeatable conditions for user.

Currently, DELL Price is $949 for i5 alienware m11x (2GB Ram + 160GB Hard drive) before all upgrades and discount coupon. For C2D SU7300 m11x (2GB Ram + 160GB Hard drive) starts from $799. That isn't a final cost because Dell keeps providing discount coupons very offen.

I would say current Amazon posted Alienware SU7300, 4GM Ram, and 320GB hard driver making a good combination, but $999 is too high (You can m11x i5 version as $999). If they can cost down SU7300 m11x in between $849 and $899, it will be very worth to buy it.

If you have budget more than $800 for a thin, light, and powerful gaming laptop. It will be the best choice.

Honest reviews on Alienware AM11X-2894CSB 11.6-Inch Laptop (Cosmic Black)

This thing is perfect for me. Its light, compact, long battery life, and has the GPU needed to play my games on medium settings. I sometimes have to carry alot of other gear so the compactness and light weight is very nice. I have used the ASUS G73 series (they make great desktop replacment systems and are very powerful) but those are WAY to big and heavy for my intended use. I wont get into the lights issue as that has already been covered in other reviews.

I did ALOT of research before this purchase. I really wanted the R2 version with the i7 processor and optimus. However I went to several forums and there are many problems with the i5/i7, optimus, and DX10 when it comes to games like Civ V. The R1 has manually switching (FN+F6) and drivers that work really well with DX10. I really like the manually switching to save battery life when doing mundane tasks that dont need the 335M GPU. I also downloaded the updated BIOS (A05) and all the other drivers from the dell website and they all work fine.

I played the Civ V demo with everything on medium with textures and water on high at max resolution and it was very smooth. Company of Heroes online (the best RTS EVER made, its free and its even better than SC2!) plays perfectly on this machine. It also came with Portal for free on Steam, and it plays flawlessly with everything on high. I dont play very many FPS on PC because I have a 360 and PS3 and thats what all of my friends have. I also have a custom gaming desktop rig that I built my self using MSI parts so if I want to do some heavy PC gaming at home I use that.

After I updated the BIOS I was able to overclock the CPU to 1.6 according to CPUZ (great program). The overclocked Core Duo is comparable to an i3 when it comes to speed, the i5/i7 really isnt that much faster, and the battery life takes a big hit too. Some games run better on the R1 and a few R2 users have even traded in their systems to go back to the R1.

The R2 version from will cost you around $1200 out the door with the same specs (except the processor and bluetooth) as this one on amazon. The R1 comes in cosmic black vs the R2 soft touch stealth black. You cant really go wrong the R1 or R2 but there is a well documented hinge issue on both machines if you look on other forums such as . I guess I got a good one because the screen does NOT touch the keyboard on mine. Also the screen is really glossy. I dont use this outdoors so it is not an issue for me but it could be a deal breaker for others.

So if you need a light, extremely portable laptop, and want to play some Company of Heroes, SC2, or Civ V on the move, get the M11x. If you want a big, super powerful, heavy, low battery life destop replacement then look elsewhere.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Alienware AM11X-2894CSB 11.6-Inch Laptop (Cosmic Black)

Update:

Now after owning for about 15 months, during which its never been dropped or compromised, I've had 4 critical issues. The hinge broke twice (replaced twice, each time requiring 5 hours of my time), the mother board fried once, and more recently the battery is again having a connection problem that causes the laptop to shut off on its own when on battery power. Called and was told to replace the battery (at my expense, even though I had a four warranty a faulty battery is considered a peripheral and it not covered). Not exaggerating, I'm put in 30 hours on the phone or troubleshooting b/c of Dell's poor workmanship/engineering. I'm just going to sell this junk on ebay and get another computer. please pass on the "new" Dell owned alienware. It's cheaper, looks pretty, has great specs, but it's junk.

I'd had this for about 8 months. The honeymoon is over for this computer and Alienware in general:

1) The hinge is broken due to an engineering problem (google "m11x hinge"). I've been waiting for them to fix it/address it for weeks to months now. I've spent many unnecessary hours waiting to talk to CS or getting no useful help from Customer Service. I was hung up on twice by the their service team.

2) the computer shuts off on its own (even after turning off the accelerator). I spent hours trying to fix it with their service team. the technician they sent said he was confused and could not help me and to 'call back' to open another service issue.

3) even when purchasing the thing, it was close to a 3 hour process over the phone.

4) the computer feels 'junky'. The parts (side panels), hinge, stoppers, etc are made of a cheaper plastics, glues, and have already noticeably begun to fall apart. All stoppers on teh bottom computer have come off, and one of the top stoppers that rests between the keyboard and screen has popped off.

As context, I had, cared for, and used a Dell XPS for 5 years straight with no issues due to my mishandling of the product. This is a clearly sub-quality product.

Buy another computer, and I would advise not an Alienware. It is really not worth it.

Review of Alienware M14x R2 AM14XR2-7223BK 14.0-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,399.99
Sale Price: $1,248.00
Today's Bonus: 11% Off

For your perspective into my review, I am a middle aged professor of Computer Studies that still enjoys gaming and owns several gaming laptops. I received the Alienware M14x R2 laptop in good condition and have been testing it out for the last few days. I will give in this review my first impression of this gaming laptop.

I picked this laptop mainly for it weight and size. Most gaming laptop exceeds 9 pounds this one weighs in at under 7 lbs. with the battery and charger included. Be aware that most sellers list weighs on their laptops without the battery installed or charger included.

Hardware:

Size is 13.25 x 9.5 x 1.5 and the charger is 6 x 3 x 1. (inches)

The M14x R2 included a 750 GB hard drive even though the listing on Amazon stated a 500. It is a 7200 RPM which is faster than the normal 5400 RPM that most laptops have.

The 1366 X 768 resolution 14 inch monitor is clear and sharp. You can run either the integrated graphics (Intel 4000) or the 650m NVidia depending on the application. When using a 14 inch monitor you will not see much difference by going up to a higher resolution. If you want to check out the difference there are several YouTube's that run side by side comparisons to the 768 and 900 resolutions. Really the 1366 X 768 is a sweet spot for 14' monitors. You can always connect it to an external monitor and run it at higher resolutions but for portability the 14 is a good carry size.

The sound on this laptop is best that I have ever found. Uses a Creative labs Soundblaster TRX. I am really impressed with the sound quality from the laptop speakers. With headphones it is even better.

The laptop contains very strong Wi-Fi card. This Wi-Fi picks up signals from down the block that none of my other laptops will and on campus my signal strength is much stronger than before.

Software:

The laptop comes with very little bloat ware. It came with Steam preinstalled, trial version of Office 2013, CyberLink Media Essentials, Creative labs software(for sound card control panel), McAfee antivirus 30 trial, and with Alienware applications that allow you to control the color screens on the keyboard and case. There are 7 zones of lighting and each can be different, set to pulse or morph modes, and can be activated by an application. For example I can have the 2 front case lights pulse red for incoming email or change the colors of the keyboards lights depending on which game I am playing. They can also be turn off.

Windows 8 is installed but it will boot into the desktop after you logon allowing you to skip the normal and very annoying Win 8 Metro screen startup screen. It would have been better in my opinion for a gaming laptop to have Windows 7 installed. I can understand the sales reasons behind installing the newest OS but Win 8 does not play as nice with games as Win 7. The only problems I have encountered in playing games are all traced back to Win 8. I am aware of this from having worked with both operating systems and dealing with my students and their problems. (I teach a class that uses gaming toolsets and creations of game modules). Hopefully these will be corrected in the service packs.

Gaming Benchmarks:

Games I have played in testing: Borderland 2, Metro 2033, Tomb Raider (new release), Skyrim, Bioware Infinite, and Fallout 3 New Vegas. All games played at medium to high resolutions. All these games average 39fps to 60fps. Infinite benchmark tested at high setting with average of 54fps, Tomb Raider benchmark tested using game installed setting and got 39.7fps. At custom setting in Tomb Raider I got up to 45fps easily.

Cons:

Very short battery life as expected with any gaming laptop. The battery is an internal design. You cannot switch out or remove the battery. In running Borderlands 2 in Very High mode I got 63 minutes of play before the 10% battery warning came on. If you run applications that use the integrated graphics only you can get over 2 hours of operations.

The hinges on the lid are more center based instead of being set to the outer edge. They are set 3 inches in from the outer edge. This makes it weaker than other styles. You should never pick up or move your laptop from the lid and always open and close it from the top center. The most common case breakage on laptops is the hinges. I don't see this as a real problem for me since I treat my computers with reasonable care.

There are no easy access panels to swap out hard drives or memory. You have to take the case apart.

Some may think the fan is loud at full loads. It is louder than a normal laptop but not for a gaming laptop. I have an XPS and an Asus M55 which are both louder at similar loads.

Conclusion:

High quality hardware that runs modern games at reasonable and very playable speeds. This laptop is a little high in price for a 14 inch but very portable at this size and weight. If you don't mind a few extra pounds and a larger format then go for the 15 inch Asus or MSI gaming computer for around the same price but with lower specs in some areas such as the processor, hard drives, and video. Don't be misled that larger numbers in video cards mean better performance. A 650m will outperform a 730m in many areas and a 750 takes an enormous power brick to run it. In my opinion, at this time the 650m is one of the best all-around mobile video cards on the market and pair with the 3630Q i7 CPU and a 750GB hard drive make this a solid laptop in this price range.

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looks great, runs perfectly, and i love the rainbow keyboard, it is better than what I was expecting!! great buy

Best Deals for Alienware M14x R2 AM14XR2-7223BK 14.0-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

Okay just to start things off I was a MacBook Pro guy for over 4 years, and well loved almost every moment of it.

But I hated not having great specs but they were built really well.

My last MacBook Pro was a 13.3" and my M14X makes that computer look like a useless paper weight. I mean that too, I was so happy when I went to a local store and played with this computer for the first time. I was blown away by how amazing it was.

Alienware does have a somewhat bad reputation of being overpriced. Honestly I feel like it was money well spent. I bought mine at a local store for $1,118 after tax! The specs and build quality are top notch! Do not hesitate to buy this amazing machine!

Things I really like about it:

The Build quality is amazing! I know it is not the pretty aluminum that my old MBP had but still I honestly like the feel of this much more! It feels like it has a rubbery feel to it.

The keyboard is amazing I really love the feel of it, very responsive and not loud at all! Yes I do love the AlienFX too! I was glad I could put my own little spin on my Laptop it really draws some attention too.

The trackpad is great I really like it.

Tons of ports something I really didn't have on my MBP

Screen is really nice I honestly think it looks better than my old mbp.

The battery is decent I mean it is a gaming laptop

I can run all my favorite games at high spec with no problem, Dead Island, Crysis 2, Saints row 3, fallout, Left For Dead 2, Borderlands 2, I mean I can run everything I have tried and never been disappointed in the performance.

Specs on my Exact unit:

Intel Core i7 3610QM

16gb of ram

500gb hdd @7200rpm

2gb Nividia Geforce GT 60M

BUY THIS LAPTOP YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Honest reviews on Alienware M14x R2 AM14XR2-7223BK 14.0-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

I've been a Dell customer for over 10 years. Purchased an Alienware M14x R2 February 2013 to replace my old Alienware M11x. I loved everything about it... until a month ago. Less than 6 months after spending close to $1,700 on a top of the line gaming computer, which was extremely well taken care, it broke. During late June/early July I noticed that the left hinge was getting stuck and making a popping sound whenever the laptop was closed and/or opened. Two weeks after the noise/problem began, the left hinge popped out of place and split the case (around the screen) apart. The laptop still worked fine, however, I decided to call Dell customer service and get it fixed. It is after all a six month old laptop, that is still under warranty until 2015. Apparently I was wrong. Yes, it's under warranty. But after customer support checked it, they informed me that the repair is not covered under the warranty that I have (apparently I needed the complete customer subscription). I asked what could cause a hinge on a laptop, which is less than 6 months old, to break and was told that it was MY fault. That I mishandled the laptop and that I have to pay for them to fix it. I was also informed that there have been no complaints (at all) on the M14x hinges, however, a quick search on Google will show that this is not the case. There are hundreds of other complaints, which Dell has chosen to ignore. This is the first time that I've had problems with Dell customer service. I never expected to pay top dollar for a "quality" laptop and have it break so quickly from normal wear and tear. Do yourself a favor and do a quick search on "Alienware M14x hinge" and decided for yourself. I'm personally never again purchasing from Dell. I rather take my money and business to a retailer that listens to their customers and sells a quality product.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Alienware M14x R2 AM14XR2-7223BK 14.0-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

This is my 3rd Alienware and boy did they hit the nail on the head here. This is a fantastic piece of equipment for gamers. Rumor is that this model is out of production and the new one they made is cheaper in materials and performance lacks. So get this one before they run out! Highly recommend! Cheers :)

Cheap MSI G Series GE70 2OE-017US 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)

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

After several days of getting to know the laptop, I decided to write a review. I apologize for the lengthy review, but there was no way I could just put in a few sentences for a large purchase such as this.

First of all, I'd like to say that the price point for this laptop is amazingly good. Sure, it could have been cheaper, but you'd lose all of the features it had!

Performance wise, it's a great laptop. It dynamically adjusts the clock speeds depending on the load, meaning you'll save a lot of battery. I've seen it run as low as 700 MHz, and I've seen it go all the way up to 3400 MHz The Haswell processor handles it very well, resulting in a very little loss of performance even when you leave it idling and decide to start opening up programs.

When you need the performance, you can expect it with this laptop.

Now moving on to the graphics part The included NVIDIA GTX 765M is nothing to scoff at. Granted, it's a laptop, so you shouldn't expect it to perform as well as a gaming desktop. For all intents and purposes, this card will run everything you need at 1080p in medium to high settings, or sometimes ultra settings! I was able to play several games in 1080p ranging from medium to ultra settings with an absolute minimum of 60 fps.

NVIDIA Optimus is another cool thing on this laptop, it will automatically determine which graphics processor to use. When you want battery life, you can set it so that it'll run on Intel's integrated graphics unit. However, when you want the performance, it'll switch over to the NVIDIA GTX 765M. You can actually see which mode the laptop is running on based on the color of the power button's LED. Blue for integrated, Orange for NVIDIA.

Of course, you can always override this and set it to permanently use integrated graphics or NVIDIA graphics. If needed, you can also configure each program individually to run on integrated graphics or NVIDIA graphics.

I have to comment about the keyboard. When I looked at the pictures, I was concerned that some buttons were cut short (Such as Right Shift, Enter, and Backspace buttons), but after handling the laptop, it proved that it was of no issue. The backlighting, while it didn't look anything like in the pictures, was still decent. It was sufficiently bright, and there was 3 modes. The first 2 modes being on/off, and the third being half lit. Apparently the purpose of this was to illuminate only the keys you'd use during gaming.

The keyboard itself was a pleasure to type on, sharp enough to receive feedback, but soft enough to have that cushioned feel. Also as an added bonus, the wrist area (the space below the keyboard) stays very cool even while playing games!

The display is perfect, there was no dead pixels. Excellent quality and color. The viewing angles are wide enough for me, so I don't have anything to complain here.

The battery life on this laptop is good, but not amazing. I haven't really tested it in different scenarios though. However, at full brightness, I was able to watch a 2 hour long movie before it died. However, I would expect the battery life to dramatically increase when you reduce the brightness and do less intensive tasks.

The temperatures are decent, idling at around 40-45c for the processor and the graphics card. I did run a prime95 stress test, as I wanted to see how hot the processor could get. The CPU did go up to 93c, but did not go beyond that. I don't expect the CPU to get this hot with normal usage or even gaming for that matter. The GPU ran considerably cooler than the CPU though. The hottest temperature I've ever seen it reach was at around 75c.

Now, moving on to the cons:

Even though I know that this is a gaming laptop, the battery life could have been better. I'm really surprised that they only put a 6-Cell battery in this laptop. It was probably to maintain the slim form factor, but still, I feel like this is something they could have improved on.

The USB 3.0 ports are finicky. On the first USB 3.0 port, it would only perform at USB 2.0 speeds, on the other port, it'll perform at USB 3.0 speeds, but disconnect constantly (USB 2.0 devices doesn't disconnect however). A firmware update fixed the USB 2.0 speeds, but it also switched ports I was having issues with, so the first port is now having the disconnections, while the second one works flawlessly. I suspect that this is a firmware issue, and might be fixed at a later date. However, it's not a big issue. It seems like a common problem, not with MSI products, but with USB 3.0 in general.

Also, on Amazon's product description page, it said that there was 3 USB 3.0 ports and 2 USB 2.0 ports. This is incorrect, there are only *2* USB 3.0 ports.

The "Cooler Boost" function on this laptop barely did anything. It might have knocked the temperatures down by 1 or 2 degrees, but nothing to be amazed about.

This thing attracts a lot of fingerprints. The area below the keyboard, and on the sides of the keyboard, and the lid all attract fingerprints.

Considering the positive aspects of this laptop, coupled with few (very) minor annoyances, this is a great laptop for the money. I would suggest this notebook to anyone who's looking for a laptop that has the performance of a desktop, and the portability of a laptop.

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This laptop is amazing! Super fast, looks great, solid build. I have been using 17" HD laptops for years and this is the best I have ever used. I bought an miniPCI-E SSD card and used Acronis to move the system image over to it and now it boots SUPER-FAST! The only issues I originally had were figuring out how to scroll with the touch pad. It's like a Macbook, you use two fingers and drag in the reverse direction you want to scroll. Took me forever to figure it out, but it works great. I also couldn't figure out how to force the video card to be the Geforce versus the Intel HD one, so the Windows Experience Index was pretty low (comparatively) until I went in to the Nvidia control panel and changed the 3D default settings. Then, it was zooming (though, no real need for it to always use discrete graphics, so I switched it back).

In the end, everything is great. I love the separate button for the illuminated keyboard and another for the "cooling down mode" which amps up the fans and lowers the laptop temp by 10 or so degrees.

The keyboard feels great. The touchpad is huge and works well (after getting used to it) and there is VERY little bloatware. The MSI utility for creating boot discs also works great (I created a USB key and 4xDVDs).

If you're in the market for a 1200.00-1300.00 performance laptop this is the one.

The screen is beautiful as is the chassis. All around, the best laptop I've ever had.

Best Deals for MSI G Series GE70 2OE-017US 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)

(Updated at Bottom: 08/07/2013)

Original Review:

What can I say, the price you pay for the amount of features, specs and overall quality that you get out of this laptop is just unbeatable. Its no wonder I couldn't find this laptop at Microcenter, Bestbuy, or anywhere else; and they were selling like hotcakes online. Its amazing.

I'll go through the pros and cons (very few) of this beauty.

Pros:

17.3 Inch Screen running Natively at 1920x1080 (1080P). The Anti-Glare and Anti-Reflective work as advertised.

i7 Generation 4 Technology, boy its fast.

SteelSeries Mechanical Keyboard BUILT-IN to this laptop (with light-up keys) (Detection speed is amazing. Also has a Turbo-Fan button which pushes heat out quickly from the inner-workings.

2 USB 3.0 ports for your fast external drives & 2 more USB 2.0 ports for other devices.

Quallcomm Killer Network Manager included with this laptop (keeps you lag and Packet-loss free)

12 Gigs of RAM (Multitasking galore) + Adobe Premiere Pro and Cinema 4D work without any lag

Discrete Graphics (GTX 765M) (Plays everything on high with great frame-rates (60+), plays a few games on Ultra with 60+ frames, but most with acceptable frames (30~45FPS))

VGA & HDMI out for multiple TVs, resolutions and devices.

Bluetooth Syncing with Mobile Devices and Storage

750Gigs of space (Partitioned into 500Gigs for System and 250 for a data partition) (@7200 RPM vs 5800RPM). Included with IntelRapidStorage Technology which actually makes the drive perform closer to a 10,000RPM level than 7200.

Cools well, even without a Cooling Pad (though I'm still getting one)

No bloatware (Useless or advertising programs that take up space, memory and are annoying)

BluRay Combo Drive (How could they do this at $1,300?)

Cons:

No Solid State Drive; SSD. (Would improve performance greatly). If you are proficient at computers, I would suggest purchasing a 128GB SSD and installing it into this laptop, then cloning the system partition to it. It will make this laptop blazingly fast. I'm thinking of doing this myself soon. If you don't know how to do it, and you'd really like the performance out of an SSD, ask your local tech at one of the big stores to do it for you. Its worth the cost.

Windows 8 64-Bit (I'm getting used to it, but still prefer 7)

Low Battery Life (2.5 Hours). Its a gaming laptop though, so its to be expected. Tip: If you want your battery to maintain its maximum performance, disconnect it after its fully charged if you don't have to go anywhere with your laptop. The laptop runs fine without a battery if its plugged in.

The battery is fine for around the house and a short trip somewhere. Otherwise, if you want to go out and game, bring your charger. If you have the need for long battery life and mobile gaming on-the-go, go ahead and get a Razer Edge Pro.

For this price, there are surprisingly few cons with some very high quality parts and software included. MSI did a great job bringing together one of the best multi-manufacturer laptop builds I have ever seen. It looks sleek, it feels sleek and it runs quick and light (software wise and literally). I'd say build a desktop if you don't really need everything to be all-in-one, but the fact remains that its a very tempting buy. You could build only a little better desktop for the same amount of money ($1,300).

Update (08/07/2013):

Before you take this update harshly, let me say that I still think this laptop is very well made, works well, and is extremely high quality for an attractive price. If I could, I would buy it again. There are just a few issues that need to be addressed to make it perfect.

After a few days with this laptop, figuring out all the little nuances, there are a few minor things that you should do to have it running optimally for games. Because of this, I have lowered my rating to four stars. This takes away from the ease-of-use, which otherwise would make it 5 stars.

MSI should update their system image for their Killer E2200 drivers.

#1: Be sure that you always have the Power Options set to High Performance. Otherwise, this laptop WILL throttle the graphics card. I can't tell you how many times I've thought that something was wrong with the graphics card because of laggy games, only to discover that I had the Power Options on Power Saver. Also, make sure that the laptop is PLUGGED IN with the charger. The graphics card will throttle heavily otherwise. This makes high-end mobile gaming on the battery impossible.

#2: When you first get the laptop, uninstall the Qualcomm Killer E2200 Software, and get an official update for "Embedded Ethernet" for Windows 8 64-Bit from their official website: www.killergaming.com. This is simple and easy. The current driver that shipped with this image causes a blue screen at times. This will fix that issue.

#3: Buy a Laptop Cooling Pad. I'm not fully sure that its necessary, but I think it would contribute to the overall health and longevity of this system. It DOES have a high-end, heat producing card and processor in it, and at times it does seem to get pretty hot. The cooling pad I use (Cooler Master NotePal X-Slim Ultra-Slim Laptop Cooling Pad) has helped keep the heat just coming out of the vents where its supposed to.

Because of the blue-screen and having to have the laptop plugged in to play any high end games, and a possibility of needing a cooling pad, I've lowered my rating to 4 stars. That isn't to say those 3 things took away from this laptop, I don't mind plugging it in to play high end games or having a cooling pad, or even fixing a bluescreen issue, but for others understanding of this product that its not quite a mobile gaming laptop and it does have an issue with a driver that causes system failure, and that it could overheat, I must lower the rating.

Honest reviews on MSI G Series GE70 2OE-017US 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)

Brilliant work MSI, runs like an alienware preforms like a god, could not be happier with a product this great at this price! I believe its on par with the alienware 18, just does not have random cool programs or interchangeable blacklit keyboard, or a huge hard drive. But lets serious, you can pickup a 1tb external hard drive for 3$. If you going to go anything better than this, go in to the 2000-2300$ bracket.

cons, Have not found a single con yet, besides the small keyboard layout. But you get use to it!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for MSI G Series GE70 2OE-017US 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)

This laptop runs WoW on ultra no problem, Skyrim, FarCry3 all on highest, and every other game I have thought to try. Pretty large laptop but beautiful screen. DONT try to uninstall windows 8 however because you'll need to order the recovery disks separately to get your windows 8 key back which is hidden in the bios. This laptop is definitely worth the money. EDIT: Only buy this if you frequently travel, otherwise build your own rig! It's a nice laptop and all, but it is just that. A laptop. In a few years this will most definitely not be powerful enough while a custom built PC will allow you much more flexibility. If you're a real gamer, don't buy a laptop.