Cheap Everex StepNote NC1510 VIA C7-M 1.5GHz 1GB 60GB DVD±RW DL 15.4"

Customer Ratings:

The computer was promptly shipped and arrived safely, but it did not have enough ram and it operated slow. When I informed the seller that I liked to return the item because I needed more memory she refunded my money back to my credit card within four days with no hassle. Overall I would rate the seller service at 7.

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Review of Apple G4 12.1" Powerbook (1.5 GHz Processor, 512 MB RAM, 60 GB Hard

Customer Ratings:

Quick shipping, got a crummy DELL case for the laptop, pictures are not the same as posted. The memory was not erased when received. But what can you expect for $149 for a mac? This apple g4 is great for watching movies, the programs are not downloaded such as word, or flash player.

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TRUST ME IF YOU GET IT YOU WILL LIKE IT, JUST REMEMBER IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT YOU CAN RETURN IT AND GET YOUR MONEY BACK!

Dell Inspiron i17R-6121DBK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Diamond Black) Reviews

Customer Ratings:

[Note: I've edited my review on 10/17/2011. The problem is that this laptop is no longer offered directly by Amazon. The price varies and shipping isn't always free. Therefore, it's up to you to make sure you're getting a good deal.]

This listing is for the 2011 model Inspiron 17R, while most of the other listings are for last year's product. I purchased a Dell Inspiron 17R similar to this one for my sister during May 2011. It's quite impressive as compared to my Asus laptop from less than three years ago. I would definitely recommend one these to a friend.

CASE: The 17R is surprisingly thin considering that it isn't advertised as a thin laptop. The Diamond Black finish is very attractive. [Note: the listings that mention the Mars Black finish are for last year's model.] The hinge operates smoothly and appears to be durable.

LCD: The quality of a laptop's screen is particularly important to me. This one is better than most. It's somewhat glossy but, fortunately, not nearly as glossy as was common a couple of years ago. Text is a lot easier to read than it was on the ultra-glossy screens. There appears to be some anti-reflective treatment but it is not overdone. Viewing angles are quite good horizontally, and are adequate vertically. You won't need to clamp your head in a vise to use this laptop. Vertical resolution is 900 pixels, which is as good as it gets without spending twice as much. Movies and photographs look very good on this widescreen display.

SPEAKERS: Typical mediocre laptop speakers. They are perfectly intelligible, but you'll want to use headphones for movies or music.

WIRELESS: There is some good news and some bad news. The good news is that Bluetooth is included, so you won't need any wireless dongles to use a wireless mouse or keyboard. Also, this current model Inspiron 17R supports the new version of Intel Wireless Display technology [WiDi], allowing you to display your desktop wirelessly to your television at full 1920x1080 resolution. Of course, you have to buy a second-generation (1080p) WiDi adapter for your television before you can use WiDi. Suitable second-generation WiDi adapters are available from Belkin and Netgear. [Note: last year's Inspiron 17R with the Mars Black finish is permanently limited to the first-generation, 720P version of WiDi. There are some credible reports that even second-generation, 1080i WiDi technology is not quite ready for prime time due to problems with playing DRM protected content. You need to investigate this for yourself.]

The bad news in the wireless category is that there is no support whatsoever for the 5GHz wireless band! Look up the Wireless-N 1030 adapter on Intel's web site. Bummer if you live in a crowded neighborhood!

PORTS: This current 17R includes a combo eSATA + USB 2.0 port, plus two USB 3.0 ports and an HDMI 1.4 port. That's a good reason not to buy the last year's 17R without at least a one-third discount. The last year's 17r is limited to HDMI 1.3 (translation: will never play a 3-D blu-ray disk in 3-D over HDMI) and doesn't have any of the new, ultra-fast USB 3.0 ports.

BATTERY LIFE: Too soon to tell, but there appears to be at least 3.5 hours available for basic web surfing and watching movies over Netflix. Battery life could be better than that, but I don't know the limits yet. In any event, battery life will be significantly better than it was on last year's 17R due to the second-generation i5 CPU. More on the CPU later in this review.

RAM: Six gigabytes of RAM are included, a nice upgrade from the usual four GB. It's unlikely that you'll need to bother to upgrade the memory during the laptop's lifetime.

VALUE: There's always a deal at Dell, but the deal changes faster than you can follow. Dell is throwing in a free Blu-ray combo disk with this particular version of the Inspiron 17R. My sister's 17R did not include Blu-ray, but it did come with a full copy of Microsoft Office for free, while this 17R only includes the crummy starter edition. Deals at Dell are a lot like the weather here in New England: if you don't like it, wait a minute.

Conversely, I would suggest you jump on this model if the Blu-ray upgrade is what works for you. It's easy to buy and install a full copy of Microsoft Office at a later date, whereas upgrading the optical drive in a laptop is too expensive and too difficult for the average consumer.

CPU: In case you haven't heard, Intel made a major overhaul of its processor architecture for this Spring. The new CPUs are code named Sandy Bridge. For the i3, i5 and i7 lines, Sandy Bridge CPUs are identified by having four digit model numbers versus three digits for discontinued CPUs.

This Inspiron 17R uses an Intel i5-2410m processor, identifying it as a new Sandy Bridge CPU. There are lots of other 17 inch Inspirons available here on Amazon that use last year's models, such as the i5-580m. Personally, I would not recommend buying a laptop with a discontinued Intel CPU unless there is a discount of at least one-third. The Sandy Bridge CPUs are significantly more powerful (for an equal GHz rating) while consuming significantly less battery power than their predecessors.

In case you were wondering why I said that last year's 17R with the Mars Black finish was limited to the original 720p version of WiDi, now you have your answer: second-generation WiDi only works on computers with Sandy Bridge processors. Remember, any i3, i5 or i7 processor with a three digit model number is NOT a Sandy Bridge CPU.

The i5-2410m is sold only to manufacturers, so a little less information is available than for Intel's retail CPUs. Retail i5 processors have four physical cores without hyperthreading, but the i5-2410m has only two physical cores with hyperthreading, making it more like an i3. Calling this CPU an i5 is a bit deceiving. However, unlike the comparable i3 CPU, turboboost technology is included, allowing the i5-2410m to throttle up to 2.9 GHz when operating on only one physical core. VT-x virtualization support is included but VT-d is not. If none of this means anything to you, the bottom line is that the i5-2410m is as good as you need it to be.

CONCLUSION: I probably should have taken one star off for the lack of support for the 5GHz wireless band. That was a very odd choice by Dell, in my opinion. Otherwise, this is a very nice laptop that I would recommend to anyone who isn't preoccupied with first person shooter ["FPS"] games. Game players should read my own comment to this review, regarding AMD's next-generation processor ["Llano"] that will be reaching the marketplace soon.

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I've had the Dell Inspiron laptop for about a month now, and I'm wondering how I could possibly have lived "BDI" (Before Dell Inspiron). The 17" screen has amazing color and resolution and seems as large as a football field, I'm in the "I'LL Never Have Another Desktop" crowd. I am still discovering all of the bells and whistles, it's lightning fast(I have high speed DSL), more memory than an elephant, and has a built-in web cam. I also purchased the Microsoft Office software and it loaded flawlessly. Couldn't be happier with this purchase. I took advantage of the 6 months no interest offer, which is a great bonus. Shipping was quick and safe. Get one and be happy!

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron i17R-6121DBK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Diamond Black)

First of all, 17" is too big to carry around, but I mostly use it at home. I like the keyboard but I hate the touchpad. The touchpad is so big and so sensitive. When I type with keyboard, the touchpad often move cursor to another place. Very annoying.

Other thoughts, There is no way to open the bottom so it wont let you update memory or hard drive in the future. do not like this.

The battery, I saw some information saying the battery can last 2 hours. It can only last 1 hour. I did charge the battery for more than 12 hours before I turn on laptop.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron i17R-6121DBK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Diamond Black)

I love this laptop! its perfect for everything, even gaming. Windows 7 is better than any of its predecessors. the 17" screen is perfect for writing essays and doing other school work, and watching HD movies. the price is right and dell is a great computer company... unlike HP or Apple. It keeps its charge and is the perfect laptop for any purpose. id recommend this laptop to anyone. and the free xbox 360 was great too! (end of summer deal)

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This is my first laptop so not a lot to compare it to, but here goes, I love the clarity of the display, it is a little slow on the start up but is very fast once it is booted up. The thing I am most disappointed in is the battery life, I may get 2 hours if I'm lucky. Overall it is a good machine and I haven't had any problems at all.

Cheap Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C-A07US 15-Inch Premium Ultrabook (Ash

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,699.99
Sale Price: $1,649.99
Today's Bonus: 3% Off

I just got my Series 9 AO7 with Windows 8 and it is nothing short of Awesome! In August I bought a 13" MacBook Air, which revolutionized my business travel experience with its slim profile and light weight, and for the most part it is a very satisfying laptop. The problem for me with the Mac was that I mostly use Microsoft Office programs, and Excel on a Mac is a true nightmare of biblical proportions; slow and not at all user-friendly. That was my first Mac experience and if not for the Excel issues I would probably be very happy. The Series 9 has all the great multi-function pad features of the Mac, but this 15" has double the Ram plus the latest 1.9 I7 processor and it is blindingly fast. Win8 is taking a little getting used to but the learning curve is very fast if you are comfortable playing around a bit. The weight difference between the 13" Mac and 15" S9 isn't noticeable and the bigger screen is quite welcome with a length profile that is less than 2" different. The S9 case is sleek and beautiful, it fits perfectly in my briefcase which was a concern, and the powercord comes apart and is much slimmer than my old Dell (which I'll never go back to).

I have not noticed any of the wifi issues others have complained about; maybe it was fixed?

This Samsung Ultrabook is hands down the best PC I've ever owned. I highly recommend it!

UPDATE added 10/24/13:

Having used this ultrabook for the past year I can't say enough about how great it is. The worst thing I ever did was listen to the Apple crowd and go Mac Air, and the best thing was dumping it and buying this Samsung. As I said a year ago, this has proven to be the best PC I've ever owned and I've had more than 10 over the past 2 decades. The battery remains as robust as it was a year ago. I had a minor problem last month when I booted up one morning and it would not accept my login passwords at startup. I reentered like 500 times and finally it took, but I could tell there was still a problem. I believe this was a Windows 8 issue and not a Series 9 issue. My IT people were able to fix the problem using a PW hack, but I suggest if you haven't already done so to take a memory stick and make a backup key for your login prompt. It was stupid that I hadn't done that but now I know.

Otherwise everything has worked flawlessly. I'll also add that the laptop is tough. I was recently on a commuter flight to Chicago and had to stuff a bag in the overhead. I used a little too much force and made a small dent in the bottom of the PC. No problem. Aside from a slight cosmetic blemish it is not any worse for the wear.

Overall this remains the most satisfying and headache-free computer I've ever known, plus it delivers a 10 on the Awesome factor when you're in a room full of people with their sorry clunkers.

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This is a great laptop. well built. strong feel. super cool look. really fast boot time in seconds. The only th;ng I really couldn't stand was windows 8. was willing to deal with it but then i found out that my work VPN was not compatible with win8 so it had to go.

It took a long time to figure out how to make this computer boot from USB so I could install Win7 so i'll give some instructions here:

1. boot computer and push F2 repeatedly to enter bios

2. hit arrow key to right and stop at Advanced. Disable Fast BIOS Mode

3. tap over more to Boot tab and disable secure boot; change OS Mode to CSM OS

4. Select Device Priority and ENTER, then change Boot Order making USB first

5. F10 to save.

now should boot USB.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C-A07US 15-Inch Premium Ultrabook (Ash

I was very surprised with just how much I enjoy this laptop! I was looking for something light and mobile, but still big enough to accommodate a good sized screen and a decent resolution. I read a lot of reviews, and the general consensus was that it was a great laptop but, of course, not perfect.

The first thing I noticed when I got it was how ridiculously good looking it is. It has a sleek, dark metallic design with silver brushed sides. It is definitely something I wouldn't mind being seen with :-P

It is also extremely light and comfortable to work with. It is easy to move around, even in tight quarters. It also never gets too hot from what I could tell, although I mostly stick to just web browsing, so you can take that with a grain of salt. The joint between the screen and the base also has a great resistance to rotating. It is enough to stop it from tilting the screen from moving it around, but still easy enough to adjust it when you need to.

The keyboard is fantastic. The backlight is useful in the dark, and the keys have a nice, responsive feel to them. The only thing I don't like is that you have to turn on the "Fn Lock" to use the programmed keys for volume, brightness, etc.

The trackpad was the best I've ever used (yes, even better than the MBP). It has all of the familiar features (click with two fingers for a right click (or you could do a normal right click), swipe with two fingers to scroll, and pinch to zoom), and it is much easier to click than on the MBP. There is honestly nothing bad about it. Bravo!

The screen is beautiful. I was hoping to find a laptop with 1920x1080, but the 1600x900 is not bad at all. The picture looks crisp, and the colors are bright and vivid. The screen also gets extremely bright; it's pretty impressive considering the big battery life.

The battery life blows my mind a bit. It says 7.2 on the specs, but with just web browsing, I've been getting somewhere between 9-10 hours. It's nice not having to worry about the battery throughout the day.

In my opinion, they had too much pre-installed software. I'm not a big fan of pre-installed software, but luckily they made it easy to get rid of it all. You just go into the Windows 8 settings and reinstall Windows 8. Erase everything and once it boots up again (all of the pre-installed software will be gone) it'll have a nice little convenient Samsung download center on your desktop with all of the drivers and software that you need.

I should also note that the webcam works very well. A lot of laptops ignore the webcam quality, but the Series 9 did a great job with it's.

Overall, it is the best laptop I've ever used. It suits my needs perfectly, and I don't plan on upgrading for a while. Although, I have heard that they are working on a new series 9 laptop with a ridiculous resolution and touch screen. So if that is important to you, you might want to Google it to see if you want to hold off for that one!

So in Summary:

PROS:

Good looking

Light and comfortable

Resposive, backlit keyboard

Best trackpad I've ever used

Bright, vivid 1600x900 screen

Outstanding battery life

Easy to use software for required drivers and additional software

Great webcam

CONS:

Too much pre-installed software

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C-A07US 15-Inch Premium Ultrabook (Ash

I spent lots and lots of hours searching for the best Ultrabook for travelling while maintaining my ability to do work for an extended period of time. Since I am a software developer, I need power and I had clear criteria that I needed to be matched:

1. I7 (or even I5) processor

2. 8 Gb RAM mimnimum

3. 256 Gb SSD minimum.

I can only say that Samsung Series 9 NP900X4C-A07US 15-Inch Premium Ultrabook (Ash Black) matched everything and now using it for almost 1 month I can only praise the processing power and speed while doing intensive work on both databases and computations.

The keyboard back lit is amazing, the keyboard is amazing, the track pad is very good compared to previous laptops that I had, but I'm using an external mouse anyway.

The battery is also amazing, because doing development can be quite demanding in terms of battery consumption, I can get 5-6 hours depending on the tasks. While only browsing/reading takes you to 9-10 hours. Watching movies is also very demanding in terms of battery so it holds for 5-6 hours.

The only draw back is the video card which cannot be really used for any serious gaming, also the resolution that is not amazing having a maximum 1600x900. But that's fine with me since I don't do graphical work on it.

All in one, this a masterpiece and I can fully recommend it which I rarely do since I'm very picky on computers.

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Really nice notebook, well-built, thin, light, boots amazingly fast, good battery life, but definitely overpriced. Power jack looks fragile as on most laptops, but no problems with it yet. Don't know why these laptop manufacturers can't look at how Apple does the power connection on their Macbooks.

I cannot get WiDi to work. I have the Belkin Screencast but haven't gotten far enough through the configuration process on the notebook to make a connection. I have downloaded the latest WiDi updates, with no success when I try to run the WiDi app. Something to do with the Samsung custom driver for the Intel 4000 graphics not being compatible with Widi software. Samsung support is of no help, at first they say they are working on the driver, then they say this laptop is not compatible with WiDi, despite product literature statements to the contrary. Either way, WiDi does not work out of the box on this notebook. This is false advertising in my opinion.

Also, I cannot figure out how to use the supposedly combined headphone/mic jack for mic input. Works fine as a headphone jack, but I have not been able to get an external mic to work. May have to use USB mic/headset for things like Dragon.

Touchpad is a pain, had to disable/reconfigure a couple of things, but I'm starting to get used to it. Windows 8 also takes getting used to, not sure I ever will. I hate the way Windows 8 apps take the whole screen, no controls visible, you have to go to top of screen and pull pointer down to bottom to kill apps. I spend all my time in the Desktop mode. Maybe I should have stuck with Win 7, perhaps WiDi would still work. On the plus side, all my old 32-bit apps seem to run fine under Windows 8.

Review of Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p Laptop Computer - 59370005 - Dusk Black - 4th

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,499.99
Sale Price: $1,074.99
Today's Bonus: 28% Off

A lot of these on Amazon don't have DVD drives this was important for me to have. Be sure to read the descriptions carefully as I bought a different model and had to return it as it didn't have a DVD drive. This thing is super fast, though, and I can really tell a difference with the new Haswell processors. I especially like the OS on the SSD that this has, and you MUST get Full HD 1080p like this one has (again, something to be careful of as many others just have the poor 1366x768 resolution, which is a HUGE difference!). This is one heck of a powerful laptop that I hope will last for a long time.

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After searching for just the right laptop for months, I've just acquired two of these Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p laptops (the 59370005 configuration), one for myself and one for my wife. These machines ROCK! I say this not simply because of their performance, but because they also shipped with the right software.

Lenovo deserves serious kudos for these laptops. Not only are they blazing fast and put together like Rolex watches, but Lenovo has preloaded them with some software to make life with Win8 really quite nice. As most already know, Win8 relies on Microsoft's new "Modern UI" interface, which sports an ill-advised "Start Screen" better suited for smart phones and tablets than PC's. Realizing this is a terrible arrangement for anybody who needs to use his PC to perform any real work, Lenovo has included the Pokki Menu with these machines. The Pokki Menu is the coolest, most powerful Start menu I've ever seen, bar none. It's wonderfully customizable, and once configured to one's preferences, it makes living with Win8 not only painless, but a genuine improvement over Win7. (I never imagined I'd ever make that statement.) Every Win8 machine should ship with this app. It even supports booting the PC directly to the desktop, completely bypassing the hideous Start Screen altogether. Great stuff! Thanks, Lenovo.

Best Deals for Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p Laptop Computer - 59370005 - Dusk Black - 4th

I've been using the Y510P for a few weeks now, and overall it is a good machine, particularly for the price: the screen is big, bright and provides excellent color and resolution, the sound system better than most, the processor and RAM (mine's 8GB) deliver the performance. I can't tell if the 24GB SSD, serving as a buffer for the 1TB HD, really makes a difference, it is definitely slower than an SSD solo.

I must say at the outset that I am not a computer games person, so my criticism of this gaming machine is based on using it in ways it may not have been designed for. In any case, here is what I found lacking so far:

Windows 8 is not to my taste at all, I'm working on downgrading, and I'd advise others to get Windows 7 preinstalled. Although its search facilities are more powerful than in previous versions, most things are also better hidden, and it is rather frustrating.

I am having trouble hooking up to WiFi sometimes it works, but sometimes it fails, and sometimes it disconnects for no apparent reason when other devices around it (including other Lenovos) chug merrily along. I found no tools that can point to what the trouble may be besides the Windows Troubleshooter which finds nothing wrong and refers me to the Administrator (which happens to be me). It seems to consistently ignore the 5.2GHz channel, although it is configured to use both that and 2.4GHz.

The machine is not very portable, at 6 lb, and its battery is good for 4 hours at most get a spare.

Finally, I'd would have liked a fingerprint reader for security.

Ronny

Honest reviews on Lenovo IdeaPad Y510p Laptop Computer - 59370005 - Dusk Black - 4th

This is a great laptop for school.I love it.It has everything I need in a laptop and is really fast.

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This thing is a beast! It will play all the latest games and do daily task without breaking a sweat! If you are looking at getting the Y510p make sure you get this model, it has everything you need.

Pros:

Fast!

I7 processor

Sleek metal design

Matte 1080p screen

Decent webcam

Backlit keyboard with 2 different levels.

Stylish

Cons:

Runs a bit hot

Touchpad is a disaster

Fingerprint magnet(impossible to remove them too)

The ultrabay GPU's are still not on the market.

Slow 5400 rpm hdd(really is the only cause for slowdown on this laptop)

For a full review check out my youtube channel

User= CrematedFated

Review of HP Consumer Refurbished Pavilion m6-1045dx 15.6" Entertainment

Customer Ratings:

This is a great product for a pretty good price, 3rd generation core I5 with speedboost is extremely fast, 8 gigs of ddr3 plenty of memory hardware specs are top the screen is beautiful, the hard drive leaves alot to be desired, you have this powerhouse of a laptop and then a 5400 rpm drive!??!, needless to say i threw a samsung SSD 840 in there and my boot time is so fast it almost goes back in time.

Pros:

Top of the line hardware

Speedtests/stress tests all successful and good ratings

Intel Graphics 4000 HUGE improvement over the 2/3/3.5 graphics on the previous line of chips, i can even play battlefield3 with little to no lag although not on the highest settings

Ram is quality ram although its not max speed the board can handle.

Screen is extremely vivid esp with the led backlite

Audio is LOUD but quality due to the beats framework

Cons:

5400 rpm drive is a disgrace to this powerhouse, I personally recommend a Samsung MZ-7TD250BW 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 250 GB Sata 2.5-Inch

a bit on the heavy side and it gets very warm on your lap but thats to be expected

power settings in OS before i replaced and reformatted where defaulted to HP economy settings, set to high performance

not really a con but an observation that battery life on high performance was about 5 hours

Overall its a great laptop, but i would spend an extra few bucks on a SSD for it

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super fast laptop love the simple pass reader now don't have to remember all passwords. Plus the beats audio just make it even better I do recommend this pc with the i5

Review of Acer Aspire V5-552G-8632 15.6" Notebook AMD Quad-Core

Customer Ratings:

I wanted a thin laptop that was also able to play some games. I am very surprised and happy with what I got.

Pros:

0.8 inch thick (this thing is crazy thin)

A8-4555m quad-core CPU is plenty powerful for everything I have run. Only 5-10% slower than the A10, not worth the upgrade price in my opinion.

Radeon HD 8750m 2GB graphics are fantastic! I have run Skyrim, Diablo 3, Guild Wars 2, Battlefield 3, Borderlands 2 all with 40-60 fps on on med-high detail.

The screen looks great, gets plenty bright, and is a good size.

I have squeezed over 6 hours of battery time on battery saver with low brightness, so it is definitely doable if you are simply tying a document.

Trackpad is responsive and large, keyboard functions well enough. Not the best or worse.

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ASUS Republic of Gamers G51JX-A1 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Blue) Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I did a bit of research and this laptop seemed pretty highly anticipated by those looking to buy and well received by the few that already had them. I also saw that it seemed most of the initial shipment came with 1333MHz DDR3 ram instead of 1066. I opened mine up and it does have 1333MHz. A supply issue I guess. Very nice considering it's a $150+ upgrade on some websites.

I installed Borderlands and it seemed like a dog at first, then I realized I didn't have the AC adapter plugged in. It automatically goes to a power saver mode when only on battery (of course) and it makes a big difference. Once plugged in I put all the settings on high except for anti-aliasing at 4 instead of 16 and resolution at native 1920x1080 it ran a little slow. Frame rate was around 30 usually. Fine for most games but not a FPS. At 1280x720 the frame rate was in the 50s. I played for about an hour and it was running very hot so I stopped for a while. I bought this laptop to replace an older Dell laptop I had because I burned out the vid card on the Dell, so I was a bit worried, maybe needlessly.

The keyboard is fine but the keys are real slippery, could use some kind of texture or concave shape. They are lighted which will be very useful (hit Fn+F4 when you 1st get it, mine were turned off).

Could use a USB in the back (I like to use a cooling pad) but it has 2 on each side near the front which is nice.

Lights on the lid are annoying. The side ones turn off in battery mode, I'll have to look into a setting to turn them off all the time. The logo light in the center of the lid never turns off.

I like the physical switch for wireless and bluetooth.

No dead pixels, I'll be looking close for 30 days but I hope to not have to RMA. Nice warranties on this thing, definitely a selling point. Watch out if you try to buy an ASUS from Best Buy --they do not honor all the standard ASUS warranties, I think the accident insurance. Because Best Buy wants to sell you their own insurance for $179.

The thing I don't like the most about this laptop is the screen size. Not the resolution but the actual physical size. There is approximately a 3/4 inch bezel on the sides and bottom and nearly 1 1/4 inch at the top. This makes the laptop less attractive visually also, like it's chunky and thick. The large top bezel is likely because of the webcam which I will never use. The screen could easily be 16+ inches which would help lots with the high resolution. At 1920x1080 for a laptop you need all the size you can get. Text at 100% is tiny but mine shipped at 125% so that's smart on their part. I primarily use it for painting in Photoshop and Painter so the high resolution is great. Trying to show someone text on the screen is difficult when they can't read it unless they are real close.

One other thing I didn't like was 40+GB of pre-installed software. Why anyone would want all this crap is beyond me. I was going to wipe and reinstall but there is the quick start OS which I need to look into and see if that will be wiped and if there is any difficulty reinstalling it. I pretty much always plan on wiping a new computer but most people wouldn't so that is a factor.

I got my backpack and mouse, I see some others didn't.

Oh yeah it's not black, even the darkest part of the lid is a dark blue.

So:

+Free ram upgrade

+speedy

+lighted keys

+wireless switch

+free backpack and mouse

-slippery keys

-physical screen size

-bloatware

All in all very happy with it.

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Yeah, I guess you could be upset that you didn't get some complimentary swag or whatever with this machine, but I didn't buy it for swag.

Let's get down to business, shall we?

Pluses: Gorgeous, smooth graphics in Star Trek Online, DDO, Champions Online and Team Fortress 2 with the sliders cranked just shy of the max. EAX sound is amazing: even sounds decent out of the built-in speakers (really rocks with my headphones though). CPU performance and multitasking is sweet and responsive. I have multi-surfed Word, Visual Studio and Photoshop CS with no lag or issues.

More ports than you can shake a stick at: plenty of USB, eSATA, FireWire (1394) and even HDMI (which outputs to full 1080p if that floats your boat). Bluetooth devices are easily paired. Amazing Windows 7 performance (rates a 5.9 Windows Experience out of the box, with 6.6s in graphics, before any tweaking)

This thing is a sweet PC for money.

Cons: Runs hot. Be sure to keep side vents for cooling free. Might be worth investing in a cooling mat for this bad boy. Also, can we please not pre-install a bunch of crap on our new, high-performance gaming machines? I had to uninstall a bunch of cheesey ASUS games and stuff before I could really get down to business.

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Overall, I'm very happy with this laptop. I don't use my computers unplugged very often at all, so battery life isn't a big issue. I was a bit timid about buying another Asus since my last one was defective, but the 2 year warranty made me feel better about taking a chance on this model. This may tell how long it's been since I bought a laptop but it was common to see 2 year warranties and frankly I'm surprised that not all the Asus models offer this coverage. To be fair, I give this laptop 4.5 stars, being dinged primarily for going "cheap" with the OS choice.

Gripes:

Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium for a "high end" gaming platform just doesn't make sense. I was expecting, at a minimum, the Professional version at this price point. As an aside, nearly all my complaints are around Windows and the lack of it's ability to run many not-so-old applications that I depend on. So be prepared to also drop some bucks on newer versions of programs that won't run on 7 that were perfect on XP. Also, approximately 100gb chunk of the 500gb hard drive is not available out of the box thanks to Microsoft's "instant upgrade" OS to Professional/Ultimate are already on the drive. I guess it's convenient for some to upgrade this way but I always insist on a Physical Disc for that day the hard drive craters. (Asus: It would be helpful if you offered instructions or an "uninstall" option to delete these files for those of us that want our hard drive space for our use), or maybe I should charge Microsoft rent?

No Blu-ray. Ok, maybe I shouldn't list it as a gripe since I knew it didn't have this when I bought it, but seriously, why go through the hassle and expense of a true 1080p display and NOT have a drive to watch/load Bluray or HD titles?? I hope Asus will make a replacement drive available with Blu-ray/HD capability at a reasonable cost. By the way, Microsoft did not think it important to support HD playback in Windows 7 (incredible blunder!) and as of this date I have not found a pre-installed application on this machine that will play Bluray/HD files! More $$$ for a program for that I guess.

Speakers: The sound is best summed up as anemic. I was expecting much more from the Altec Lansing branding...while they sound ok (not great by any standard, as an audiophile), my biggest gripe is VERY LITTLE OUPUT AT MAX compared to my last HP notebook which would get loud enough to embarrass me! No worries with this one in this regard, sadly. (Asus,I've gone through all the convoluted menus to try to tweak more output but I'm disappointed!). Not enough bass nor treble. . Perhaps I got a bad sound module?? At least the headphone output is quite good.

The included bag, while appreciated, is just large enough to carry the laptop/power brick, mouse and few knick-knacks. It feels a bit on the cheap side compared to my other Targus bag. Perhaps it's easier on your back this way. ;-)

This is not really a gripe, just a "heads up": Heat! Under heavy load (or any graphics intensive operation) this puppy will pump out some BTU's! It's main exit vent is on the left side and I've found it quite handy for keeping my coffee HOT (not just warm!). This is almost a plus but I can see why Asus didn't want to advertise this. Just be careful for spillage. The heat is extreme enough under load that I worry about anything remotely flammable within a foot or so of the vent. Asus did a great job of keeping the heat off the keyboard and upper area (although it definitely will be welcome in the winter, keeping your hands warm while you type!). I have read that the Intel i7 chip is a HOT chip under load, so this is going to be "normal" if you run an i7 quad core, no matter who builds it. The i5 I had previous was also a hot machine, but the i7 is definitely hotter.

What I like:

The part of any laptop you look at the most and thus, in my opinion, the most important part, the display,is sharp and bright. Colors are natural and the "Splendid" application allows one to customize viewing almost limitlessly. Perhaps 1080p on a 15.6" screen is a bit overkill, but I'm not complaining. I do find myself zooming in a lot though.

Keyboard lighting is great and you can adjust the intensity (3 settings to choose from). The ergonomics is fair and I really love having a keypad on the keyboard. The keys feel a slight-bit on the "cheap" side but they work just fine. I say "fair" on the ergonomics since the edge of the palm rest tends to "bite" into my lower forearms after a few minutes. The top of this palm rest is coated with a "rubbery" layer which is comfortable enough but the edge is just a little too sharp for my tastes. This is not a big issue but I'm very thorough and critical of my big ticket items.

Wireless: The best and most sensitive I've witnessed yet. I'm amazed at the range this laptop wireless has from the base station. Almost double anything I've used prior to. Well done Asus!

Bluetooth: I've had issues using Skype (about the only time I used the bluetooth) with it dropping my Plantronics headset after a few minutes in a session. It could be just Skype's software, I don't know. The headset works flawlessly for hours at a time with my Blackberry. Perhaps there is a conflict? I'm going to find out the problem and update when I do.

Gaming/graphics capability: I consider myself a casual gamer but I've been VERY impressed with the frame-rate even at full 1920X1024 resolutions! Runs X3, Silent Hunter IV, Half-Life 2 with all options maxed no problem. (Heat! will be generated!) I will update on this as I try other games. My main use for this power is TurboCAD as I do a LOT of design work and this machine flies through everything I throw at it.

The included mouse is great! I've always used logitech mice but I think I found a new alternative. It isn't wireless (which would be even better) but it is a joy to use.

The touchpad, while not the "new" style of the one on my other Asus, is much nicer to use. I HATE the multi-fingering gesturing and I MUCH prefer having a scroll bar like this one has. It also will auto-shut off when a mouse is attached (software option). This touchpad is great!

I plan on doing a 90 day update so stay tuned.

Honest reviews on ASUS Republic of Gamers G51JX-A1 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Blue)

On paper this machine seems to have it all. However, there is one major issue it completely shuts down in the middle of gaming. When running COD MW2 the machine would make it about 5-10 minutes into the game and would then completely shut off as if someone had cut the power to the machine. We tested this over and over with gaming as well as with several different stress testing tools (Furmark, etc.) The laptop did not shut down in every single instance, it happened about 50% of the time. While running non CPU/GPU intensive apps we had no issues. After making several calls to ASUS support, they could not determine the problem and wanted me to send the unit in for repair (after only having for 2 days). Thankfully Amazon let me return the unit for a replacement. However, we just received the replacement machine yesterday and are having the same exact problem with it!

After doing some digging on the internet, it appears others have had the same problem and is a known issue with these laptops. All indications point to the fact that either the CPU/GPU are getting too hot or the power supply itself is getting too hot and the machine completely shuts down.

You may want to look at other options when considering this laptop especially for gaming.

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I can't say enough good things about this machine. Yes, the "gameboy" packaging is a bit garish and it is a fingerprint magnet, but it's what's on the inside that counts. The ultra-high-density screen is amazing. Speed is incredible and the features can't be beat for the money. As an IT professional, I have dealt with Asus' technical support in the past and have found them to be outstanding. The free accidental breakage coverage is unprecedented. Get yours now!

Best HP 14" EliteBook, Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD Deals

Customer Ratings:

I purchased this from TigerDirect.com and the product description page stated that it weighs 4.56 lb. It weighs at least 5.5 lb and probably closer to 6 lb. For that weight you can get a 15" ultrabook that will cost less, comes with a new 3rd generation Core i5, a HDMI port, and has a nicer screen. Contacted TigerDirect to return it but you have to get an return authorization from HP first. FYI, I tried to post this review on the TigerDirect.com website but the review never showed up...

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No problems is the most impotant thing when you buy something mailorder and this computer had none. Like most of you, I don't set up a new computer very often. Windows 7 on the HP did not have everything installed like my previous Acer had. I didn't know where to find how to do particular things. There was no written docs or instructions in the box. For example. To intall games if you type into the search box: Turn Windows Features On or Off and follow the instructions you'll bring them to life. If you're a geek, you probably know that's how to do it. If you don't play with computers you have a problem of what to do to install games. I ran across that info on a forum by accident. The computer is fine for what I want it for and it's not games. For me Microsoft is where the fog is by it's assuming I know how their new whiz bang works over a previous version of Windows.

k

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I am now returning my second EliteBook 8460, both purchased new from Tiger Direct and both having developed driver problems within the first week of usage. The first computer seemed to be missing the MSVCR80.dll driver from the outset. The problem came to light as an error message when I installed a relatively new Epson printer that works smoothly with other HP computers that also have Windows 7. I spent 2 hours on my own trying to download and install the driver from an on-line driver library and then 2 hours working with HP Customer Support, who finally gave up and provided the authorization needed to return the computer to Tiger Direct. I assumed the first computer simply had a manufacturing defect and didn't think twice about ordering again. Tiger Direct was cooperative with the return; and promptly shipped another EliteBook. The second computer seemed to be operating without problems both before and after I installed my Epson printer; however, the same missing MSVCR80.dll driver message showed up on the heels of several Windows updates HP Support Assistant listed as "important". Again I spent a couple of hours unsuccessfully trying to download the missing driver from an on-line library. As a last resort I decided to take the computer to a local PC repair shop and let the guys there take a look. But, before I had the chance to take it in several more Windows updates installed after which my computer screen went almost blank. There was no start menu, no desk top, and no ability to get on line. I called HP support once more and worked with a representative for an hour and a half, who then finally gave up and issued an authorization to return the second computer. The next day I used my slow but reliable netbook in a web search that produced instructions sufficient to partially troubleshoot the problem myself. I was able to access enough of the computer's functionality to restore the system to a point right before the last group of Windows updates were installed. Although the computer appears normal, I still have error messages that HP Assistant and several other maintenance functions aren't working properly. My fingerprint reader no longer works; and I am no longer able to print from the computer because the .dll driver never did successfully download. Needless to say, I am frustrated and disappointed. I specifically wanted a computer with Windows 7 instead of 8. I would have been quite happy with the size and processing speed of this computer and not bothered that it's a bit on the heavy side. I also like it's steel construction, it's spill-resistant keyboard, and the responsiveness of the touch pad and the keys themselves. The only feature I would have added, besides the missing driver of course, is a back-lit keyboard. If I knew a third attempt would result in a new EliteBook with the driver problem resolved, I wouldn't hesitate to try again. Under the circumstances, I can only give it two stars.

Honest reviews on HP 14" EliteBook, Intel Core i5-2450M 2.5GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB HDD

i have purchased several (20+) HP 8460p and 8470p elitebooks from both CDW and Amazon. All work very well out of the box.

i have in the recent months started to replace the included hard drive with an SSD from Samsung. this upgrade was cheap, $150 or so and caused an extreme bump in performance.

if you like the hp security software that comes with the laptop, merely restore the system with the included recovery disks. i on the other hand rebuild from an already built image that includes the most recent drivers and default software that my office runs.

the solid casing and robust batteries are a definite plus with this laptop. it has an "elite" feel and quality about it. you can get the same feel from apple and samsung but their laptops will cost you upwards of $1200.

my one complaint with this laptop is the cheapness of the integrated camera led. the pop out button is cheap and often sticks in the open position the more they are used. i have gotten around this issue by closing it with small pieces of duct tape or electrical tape. my newer 8470p elitebooks dont seem to have this issue.

i am writing this review to counter the terrible reviews made here by absolute novices. if you have to sit on tech support with hp for two hours to fix a driver issue with an epson printer, or windows, you shouldnt be blaming the laptop....you should be blaming the driver compatibility or the windows install. none of these reported issues actually had to do with the hardware except for maybe one where the fellows screen died and that will happen to any laptop no matter the price.

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by the name its a real workstation laptop, i had an accident in car, the computer fly away trough the window, still in greats conditions!

Discount SYNET7WID 7 Inch Wireless Mobile

Customer Ratings:

Is it junk or is it not? I took a chance on this product because it seemed to me that most of the negative reviews associated with it were not based on product quality (though who knows how long it will last), but on how the product failed to live up to the purchaser's expectations. And it is those expectations that I think are misplaced.

I bought this at CVS for $100+tax; MY expectations were that it could replace my Palm TX, which got a cracked screen in a mishap. The Palm TX was a handheld PDA with pretty similar specs in terms of processing power, ROM memory, CF slot, etc. It was no speed demon on the internet luckily, most sites would call up a page optimized for mobile devices. So you avoided most of the fancy stuff that bloats web pages down (or, depending on your POV, adds rich and exciting content). I think what helps foster unrealistic expectations is that this Sylvania unit looks like a laptop, not a handheld PDA. So people come to it with expectations that it will perform like a laptop. Instead, it runs Windows CE 6, which, I understand, was an OS designed for PDAs, handheld PCs, etc. So it is against THAT class of device that this product should be judged. So far, I am impressed with what you get for the money, and I'm having a bit of nostalgia in terms of configuring things. It's not that hard, but if you never had a Win98 computer, you may be spoiled in the sense that you've never had to go under the hood and change a few settings. I'm no expert there are many settings that I don't understand at all but I did remember enough to get it going.

I did consider a modern netbook (I have a regular laptop and desktop too), but I decided to take a chance on this first. Here's why. I learned that my 2.5 year old laptop had a processor that was something like 3-5 times as fast (depending on benchmark) as a new netbook. Yes, you pay for it in battery time, but the real problem is that netbooks try to do everything a full blown laptop can do including accessing full-blown websites that are, day by day, getting weighed down more and more by Flash and other "enhancements" that just cripple the rendering time on a netbook. What I liked about my palm TX was that it didn't even try to load a regular website, for the most part. It did the "lightweight" mobile versions instead (even then, not really fast). I realized that the problem of netbooks is that they were trying to do too much. It was like putting a Honda Fit engine in a schoolbus and going to pick up 50 kids in a hilly subdivision. This Sylvania thing should do OK if you treat it more like a 65 hp classic Beetle driving on the flat roads of central Ohio.

With that, let's take a brief look at the good, bad, and the ugly.

The good:

Screen is quite good and large again, compared to PDAs. Compared to a laptop it's tiny.

size and weight is amazingly small.

Keyboard arrows have inverted T, a layout I much prefer.

3 USB ports; I've heard that two are USB 1.1, one is 2.0. Have not tried them.

CF card slot. Not sure if this will be limited to 2 GB, but it would not surprise me, as that was the limit on my TX, I think. I have a card from it and have used it it works.

Touchpad pretty good, though the buttons are stiff.

Has headphone and microphone jacks. I've used the headphones for earbuds, and sound is much improved over the built in speakers. My regular laptop has weak speakers too, so not a big deal.

Keyboard is small (as you would expect) but pretty good. I used to have a Psion 5mx and it reminds me of that, though it is about 1" wider than the Psion. The left shift button is not quite as big as I'd like, though. For some reason, the caps lock above it is bigger.

Windows CE uses reasonably familiar methods of arranging icons, launching programs, etc.

The bad:

Documentation is sparse. Just enough to tell you to fully charge it before use, and to label the features.

Windows CE is not quite as easy to customize nor, probably, as capable of it. . For instance, you can copy/paste new programs (see below) into the "program files" but that doesn't necessarily mean they'll show up in the start menu programs list. Come to think of it, I'm having the same trouble with Windows 7, too!

If you update the OS using the patch on the digitalgadgets.com website, you'll lose some features and gain others. For instance, I noticed that Wordpad disappeared and all the office apps were just viewers. Wordpad appeared to be replaced with a basic text editor named Ke or something in alpha release. But I came out ahead (see below). Another downside was that instead of connecting to a lightweight google search page, it connects to the full blown one now, which I did not want. And I cannot find the lightweight search page anymore using my desktop PC. It appears Google is only supporting such for mobile phones now. But supposedly this OS update fixes a "memory leak" and hotkeys, etc. I just didn't know they'd change the programs that were pre-installed.

Not expandable or upgradeable but then again, neither was my TX. Compare it to a handheld.

Case is a fingerprint magnet OK, this part you can compare to regular laptops.

Battery indicator was kind of unhelpful. I got maybe 2.5 hours out of the first charge of the 1800 mAh battery, with a good deal of that on WiFi and installing/copying/pasting. But I don't recall the indicator going anything like linearly to low. It kind of abruptly warned me power was low and it would shut down in 60 seconds, so I'd better save my work. Better than nothing, but still, not great.

As best I can tell, there's no email client. You have to use webmail (and I have gmail works though gmail chat does not). There are some chat programs though one called Pigeon, which apparently is not Pidgin.

The ugly:

The tomato-soup-red color is just awful. I am trying to think of a way to decorate the outside or "skin" it.

One thing I thought might help on this computer is to use Linux it tends to have lower overhead than windows, but again, this is not full blown windows, so Linux could actually be a greater burden than Win CE. But in the process of looking into that, I came across "Bento Linux" someone is working on a distribution for this system, and helpfully posted links to a "Mega Pack" of programs that he (or she) found to work with Windows CE. These included browsers, game emulators, utilities, media players, games, and even spreadsheets and word processors. I found two that appeared to be close cousins of Word and Excel even able to read/write to "Office 97" formats. Not too shabby. Beware of the game Doom, though it's a DOS port that only appears to work on CE. You can't exit it without forcing a shutdown of the machine (I didn't know how and could not alt-tab or ctrl-alt-del out of it, but holding the power button for 5 seconds did it).

So perhaps the $100 laptop has arrived ... but it's a PDA in netbook clothes. In some ways, better (keyboard, USB, ethernet jack, larger screen, productivity programs, clamshell design to protect that large screen) but in other ways, worse (can't find a PIM or calendar that imports modern file formats, though even among contemporaries, such importing is hit-or-miss; also, it's an older OS that is not really being developed any more). On balance, I think it is good replacement for the TX, if it has reasonable durability. But make no mistake it's slower than a laptop, it's slower than a netbook. It's a PDA in netbook form not unlike the original Asus EEE, frankly. For $100, it's a trip down memory lane (lack of memory lane?), eminently packable, and, if I can dig up some more freeware CE programs, quite capable of fully replacing my Palm TX as my computing travel companion.

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this is a simple machine, to be sure. As the previous reviewer mentioned, the negative reviews come from people who apparently wanted a rolls royce for the price of a hyundai. I had very low expectations of this little machine..just needed to surf the web, really. It does that. It's slow. and some pages don't load. in fact, it doesn't support you tube anymore. This little machine should not be your only computer, it won't support all of your computing needs. However, I like that it's very portable, very simple and , frankly, disposable. if i lose it, or it breaks, I won't be crying. It has held up very well and has way outlasted the time period that I initially gave it.

just don't expect a fancy, fast computer. it's not. (duh!)

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These Cheap 7-Inch Netbooks are suitable only for dedicated hackers!

Also known as MiniLaptops, SmartBooks, Netbooks, etc.: Don't waste your time on this device if you're not willing to open it up and hack it!

But if you're already stuck with one of these, read on, as help is on the way. And please feel free to copy and post this review elsewhere on the internet, for the benefit of all of us hapless 7-Inch MiniLaptop/SmartBook/Netbook users out there.

I picked up mine, for $ 10.00, at a yard sale, from a very frustrated owner. Preliminary research on this device quickly revealed that it, and its many cheap spin-offs, has a notorious reputation. And it's quite obvious that almost all of the retailers of these devices are going out of their way to be unhelpful.

My version has a WMT, ARM-WM8505 300MHz processor, with a Windows Embedded CE 6.0 operating system (despairingly called "WinCE"), was a precursor to Windows Mobile, and is not supported well any more.

But, on a more positive note: Here's a complete and informative 30 page User Manual for your netbook: Titled, simply, as "usermanual.pdf", the 8.8 MB file can be downloaded from:

Google "files.chatnfiles" (an ftp site).

Scroll down and elect the "Sylvania_netbook" folder.

Select the "WinCE_6" folder.

Download "usermanual.pdf".

And, while you're on that ftp page, be sure to download "winCE6freeware.zip", a 109.7 MB MegaPack freeware bundle.

Also, here's another user manual: Although it was written for the CnM book portable mini laptop (Windows CE 5.0), and devotes some of its content to ActiveSync (not possible on Windows CE 6.0), it's another helpful user manual out there for your netbook. The 4.4 MB PDF file (38 pages) can be downloaded from the internet by simply googling "CnMNB7SE Manual.pdf".

The first thing the user of one of these devices needs to do is open up the internal battery compartment, and unplug and remove the internal 7.2 Volt Lithium-Polymer battery pack. That's right, completely remove the battery and simply run the netbook off the plug-in OEM 9 Volt wall wart, or maybe a 7.2 Volt to 9 Volt external battery pack (plugged in to the 9 Volt power jack, on the back of the device). The reason for this is that the CPU of the device runs very hot, with the OEM internal 7.2 Volt Lithium-Polymer battery pack in place, which explains the early failure of many of these devices. The 9 Volt power jack in the back of the netbook fits a standard 4.0 mm O.D. / 1.7 mm I.D. plug (aka: Radio Shack "B" plug, Part# 274-1532).

But a custom made rechargeable internal battery pack, 7.2V, 2500mAh nickel-metal hydride (6 AA's) will run (continuous video with full volume) the netbook for 3.15 hours. A 3 long x 2 wide battery pack will nest, half-deep, in the original internal battery compartment -without the original cover. And the CPU runs much cooler when powered by the improvised internal 7.2V, 2500mAh nickel-metal hydride battery pack. But most nickel-metal hydride batteries will self-discharge about 0.11 Volts per day (= 0.67 Volts per day, as a 6-cell battery pack), unless they're one of those newer nickel-metal hydride batteries that claim to hold their shelf-life charge at least 4 times longer. Unfortunately, the individual AA batteries, of the 7.2V, 2500mAh nickel-metal hydride battery pack, need to be removed and charged individually, as the netbook / OEM 9 Volt wall-wart will not charge an internal nickel-metal hydride battery pack.

But to bring my 7-Inch MiniLaptop up to industrial grade, I took an extra step and glued aluminum heat sinks on the CPU (mine is a WMT, ARM-WM8505 300MHz processor), as well as the Wi-Fi processor. The unit is easily opened up by turning it upside down and removing 12 screws, of which 2 of the screws are fine-thread screws that screw in to the sheet-aluminum underside of the keyboard. Unplug the internal battery pack, and with a thin, sharp knife, carefully separate and pop open the bottom of the plastic case. For the CPU, I superglued a flathead aluminum bolt onto it, drilled a hole into the underside of the plastic mini-laptop case, and, with an aluminum nut, attached a 4"x2.5" piece of aluminum flashing to the underside of the plastic mini-laptop case.

As mentioned, the Wi-Fi module in the device also runs way too hot, but the remedy for this is not as simple. The Wi-Fi module is a small .5"x1" circuit that is attached to the main circuit with 4 wires and a piece of pressure sensitive foam tape. Here I carefully peeled off the Wi-Fi module and removed the foam tape, as it traps heat and causes heat damage. I then soldered additional lengths of wire to the original 4 wires, superglued an aluminum heat sink onto the Wi-Fi CPU, and routed it through the right hinged joint of the video monitor case, and attached it inside the upper-right of the plastic case of the video monitor. I then drilled 6-.0625" holes above, and 6-.0625" holes below the Wi-Fi module, on the inside (video screen side) of the plastic case to allow for essential cooling ventilation. This also positions the Wi-Fi module for much better reception, solving the common gripe many users report of poor Wi-Fi range. I would upload photos of the modifications, but they would only cause serious misunderstandings with customer service staffs.

The next thing one should do is Google "winCE6freeware.zip" and download the ~104 MB MegaPack freeware bundle. Also Google and download "MioPocket 4.0 Release 68.zip" (~86.6 MB download). The OEM bundled software on many of these 7-inch netbooks is lacking. And there are not many apps available for Windows CE 6.0. But these two downloads are definitely a good start. They both include browsers, game emulators, utilities, media players, games, scientific calculators, and even spreadsheets and word processors. Also, Google "LEOFS_CMP.PPC_ARM.CAB" to download an excellent Windows Embedded CE 6.0 compatible flight simulator (jets, helicopters, sailplanes, a Piper Cub, and even a hang glider). Google "qcpparm.zip" for Q-Calc, an excellent scientific calculator that runs on WinCE 6.0.

"winCE6freeware.zip" extracts as three folders. Open the "winCE6soft" folder and browse and try out the numerous .exe software on your netbook.

"MioPocket 4.0 Release 68.zip" extracts as three folders. Open the "MioAutoRun" folder and the subfolder "Programs" and browse and try out the numerous .exe software on your netbook.

Two valuable softwares in these downloads are:

UCWeb Browser: Although it runs in Chinese mode only, it is intuitive, allowing one to bookmark their favorite English websites (Google, EarthLink, facebook, etc.), and this clever browser enables one to blaze through the internet.

Opera Mini: Another excellent internet browser, which runs quite well on Windows CE 6.0, by using the function and numeric keys on the keyboard open up options.

Minimo: Yet another excellent internet browser, which runs quite well on Windows CE 6.0, and is easy on the limited resources of the netbook. Of particular note is the opening home screen with quick access to Google, maps, local weather, etc.. But some of its features may exceed the limited resources of the 7-inch netbook.

*** A note about "Chinese" software:

China is notorious for pirating software, and Windows is no different. Only about 10% of Windows, sold in China, is fully licensed. 91% of Windows offered in China have some sort of malware. And 72% of those Chinese computers, with pirated Windows, have browser settings altered in a way to lead unsuspecting users to illegal sites, which then fish for financial data and other sensitive information.

I have had almost no success in downloading and manually installing .cab files on my netbook. .exe files seem to be the only software that will work with Windows CE 6.0.

And while almost all of these cheap 7-Inch Netbooks will long be remembered for what they aren't, one needs to focus on what they are, and can do:

Almost all of these devices have built-in stereo speakers, two 1.1 USB + one 2.0 USB jacks, a headphone/line-out jack (although the netbook speakers still work with the plug in), a microphone jack, a SD card slot, Wi-Fi, and a RJ45 ethernet jack.

Inside, most of these devices have a 2GB flash disk.

When loaded with compatible video files, and using "TCPMP" (the Core Pocket Media Player), the device plays video clips and full length movies with ease.

Using "nPOP", one can send and receive email, much like Outlook.

Using "UCWeb Browser", or "Opera Mini", one can blaze through the internet.

DSL, as well as WiFi connections is a breeze with the existing hardware, although WiFi seems only to work with open (unsecured) connections.

Using "TCPMP" (the Core Pocket Media Player), or GSPlayer, mp3 (as well as .ogg, .wma, .mp4, .wav, etc.) music files can be played, with full equalizer controls.

Using "TextMaker" (SoftMaker Office), one can produce complete and professional documents, with photos and charts, as .doc, .rtf, .odt, .psw, as well as proprietary .tmd files.

Using "PlanMaker" (SoftMaker Office), one can produce complete and professional spreadsheets, as .xls, .xlt, as well as proprietary .pmd files.

Using "Presentations" (SoftMaker Office), one can produce complete and professional PowerPoint-type presentations, with graphics, as .ppt, .pot, .rtf, .bmp as well as proprietary .prd files.

With UltraG image viewer one can store and view detailed topo hiking maps, as well as handy road maps, as well as photos.

Challenge yourself with games like "ChessGenius", "PocketChess", "Nankin", and "Solitare".

There's also "CALC", a paper tape calculator, and when used in the ten-key touch keyboard mode, is quite useful for serious number crunching. And there's "Calc98CE", an excellent scientific calculator.

But there are some specific irritating issues with this netbook:

The 1/8" stereo out jack does not turn the internal speakers off, when ear buds are used.

The SD card slot manual eject mechanism crapped out early on. I had to straighten out a paper clip, and then fashion a tiny hook with needle-nose pliers, and pull the damaged micro-spring and mechanism completely out of the SD card slot. It now works just fine this way, as I simply left a 16 GB SD card permanently in place (but can easily be removed, if needed).

The built-in WiFi only seems to work with open WiFi networks, and many password protected networks, but not all. I tried, at home, to log into our secure WiFi, but was unable to get it to work. But it still works just fine in many WiFi coffee shops.

I have yet to find a YouTube application that works.

I have yet to find a Skype application that works, although it is inconceivable that any version of Skype could ever work on one of these 7-inch netbooks, with its limited capacity.

And I have yet to find a printer/printer application available. But there is somewhat of a silver lining in this deficiency in that it is a correct move in the direction of a paperless society. For example, I used to do a daily download of the local TV broadcast schedule, and inkjet print it out, both sides, on a landscape 11x8.5 piece of paper. Now I simply bring up the the Zap2It website (via Minimo browser), on my 7-inch netbook, and download the evening TV schedule, as a PDF file, to the Desktop of my 7-inch netbook. The PDF can then be quickly and easily viewed by my family, as needed.

The keyboard, while of excellent and sturdy construction, is only 81% the size of a standard keyboard. This will cause even the fastest, most skilled typist to feel like they're all thumbs on the keyboard.

As mentioned, the netbook has two USB 1.1 + one USB 2.0 jacks but, Windows CE 6.0 being somewhat of a primitive operating system, will not with all USB devices and accessories. But many mice, keyboards, multi-port USB hubs, flash drives, and SD card readers work quite well with the netbook. I haven't found a webcam that will work, but many digital cameras can be connected, by USB, and the stored photos viewed and copied.

Here is just a partial list of the many aliases this Windows CE 6.0 OS device is sold under (or simply known as):

Chinese CE Netbook

Cheapy-Creepy CE Netbook

Sylvania 7-inch CE6 netbook

CVS Sylvania 7-inch CE Netbook

VIA Mini 7-inch Laptop LCD

Lanyu eBook LY-EB01

ITA Smartbook 7

Cherrypal Africa

Datawind UbiSurfer

Menq EasyPC 790

3K Computer RazorBook 400 CE

Join Tech J1-Pro JL7100

Delstar DS 700

ITA Computers Smartbook 7

And the one thing most of them have in common is that they are mass-produced in Shenzhen, China.

As these 7-inch netbooks will not Activesync with your desktop computer, this is the time to format (be sure to select the FAT 32 file system option) a 16 GB, class 10, SD card, to serve as the "Storage Card" in your 7-inch netbook.

I advise one not to be too eager to reflash a new operating system onto their 7-inch netbook, as some functionality may be lost, due to variations in the motherboard/hard drive chip design, and not easily recovered. One such example is the driver for the internal battery pack. Many have complained about failures of the internal battery, not knowing that the new operating system they reflashed onto their netbook was not written for the existing motherboard. Just to be sure, I broke open the internal "8.4 Volt" (7.4 Volt rated), 1800mAH lithium-polymer battery pack, and the two internal 3.7 Volt batteries, as well as the internal battery management circuit test out just fine. The battery will normally run the netbook for about 1.5 to 2 hours, on a full charge, for routine computer work (word processing, etc.), .75 to 1 hour, if running a high-drain application, such as a video clip with full volume.

But if you choose to reflash, be sure to note the operating system, as well as version, as well as build, that originally came installed on your netbook. To find this information: Click "Start", select "Settings", select "Control Panel", select "System", and, under "General" tab, you'll find the operating system. There is a remote possibility that you will then be able to find, download, and reflash it, if the other operating systems fail. For example, I finally, and successfully, installed Windows CE, Version 6.00 (Build 3122) on mine. Also, under "General" tab, the Processor Type (mine is, for example, "WMT, ARM-WM8505") will be listed. This may prove helpful, and save you a lot of time, as operating systems are very specific as to which CPU they will work with.

And back to the subject of the internal battery pack: There are serious issues with the OEM internal 7.2 Volt Lithium-Polymer battery pack and the netbook motherboard. The overheating of the CPU is an indication of this. The early burn-out of the OEM 9VDC wall-warts, as well as netbook failures, reported by many owners, is another indication of serious internal power issues. I even rewired and bench tested a 7.2 Volt (two 3.6 Volt cells in series) Lithium-Polymer battery pack, without the OEM battery pack management circuit (aka: electronic battery cell balancer), and added a third wire, leading from between the two cells, to the third (middle) post in the internal battery jack, on a hunch that the netbook already had a built-in battery management circuit that conflicted with the battery management circuit inside the OEM internal battery pack. But this was not the case, since the rewired battery pack discharged without being "balanced" (both cells kept at the same voltage), and the rewired battery pack did not recharge through the OEM wall-wart / netbook.

I even built an new 7.2 Volt Lithium-Polymer battery pack, with a larger, more robust battery management circuit, but, it too suffered damage to the Lithium-Polymer cells.

Warning: Experimenting with Lithium-Ion and Lithium-Polymer batteries is a dangerous fire hazard. I bench tested the rewired battery packs outdoors, on a cement surface, with a fire extinguisher handy.

After all of this battery testing, the only option is the custom 7.2V, 2500mAh nickel-metal hydride battery pack, to serve simply as a glorified internal clock battery, as well as an emergency power backup for the netbook and a custom external 7.2V 12V battery pack. But, as mentioned above, the CPU runs much cooler with the internal 7.2 Volt Lithium-Polymer battery pack removed, and the OEM 9V wall-wart (or a custom external battery pack) used. But then, with the 9V wall-wart, you're not portable, are you? Also, the OEM internal battery will completely self-discharge (actually, the flawed motherboard slowly drains the battery) in less than a week. Oddly, a custom 7.2V, 2500mAh nickel-metal hydride battery pack does not self-discharge into the netbook motherboard at all, even though it does self-discharge, by itself, over time.

To make the netbook a truly portable device, I hacked a Sony NP-FX110 7.4V 3800mAh rechargeable battery pack: Adding a charging jack, as well as a plug for the netbook. Measuring 8.25"x5.75"x.375", the thin battery pack fits under the netbook and provides about 7 hours of heavy use (continuous video with sound), and even longer, if running only office software.

But if you really need to try new operating systems (... or love taking risks, like I do), Google:

"netbook.poodwaddle"

And go to the links to that website for a list of different operating system downloads.

There you will find video instructions on how to reflash a new operating system. But more importantly, numerous options for operating systems are available there to try on your netbook:

WinCE.rar

ChineseWinCE.rar (this was the best one for my 7-inch netbook: It appears in Chinese, but reboots to English)

SylvaniaWinCE.rar

BankofWinCE.rar

scriptcmd.rar

Android1.5.2.rar

Android1.6.rar

Android1.9.part1.rar

Android1.9.part2.rar

Android2.2.rar

Android2.2V2.rar

The reflash process is quite simple:

Download the .rar file.

Format (select the FAT 32 file system option) a SD card (2 GB minimum).

Open and extract the .rar file to the SD card.

The SD card will now read as a "script" folder only.

Insert the SD card in the SD card slot of your netbook.

Turn the netbook on. The reflash will automatically start and run by itself.

Give it enough time, as it's a large folder (~155 MB, more or less).

When done, turn the netbook off, remove the SD card, and turn the netbook back on.

Be sure to erase the "script" folder off the SD card, as it's no longer needed, and an accidental reflash is inconvenient.

Note that Android operating systems are best suited for touch-screen netbooks (versus WinCE keyboard netbooks), so may not work at all on your Windows CE netbook. But no big deal, just reflash with another operating system on the list, although I've read that small remnants of a previous reflash may still remain.

I've uploaded my own "Microsoft Windows Embedded CE 6.0 800x480 pixel jpeg desktop background, which will fit in well with your desktop icons.

I have gone through great lengths in this review, not only for the benefit of the users, but suggestions for the manufacturer(s) of these devices. It's a pity these netbooks weren't designed and built just a little better, as they could have been the ideal solution for a mass market in the third world. So, for the time being, this mass-produced netbook serves as mute testimony to the reality that the Chinese workplace can sometimes be all too similar to the American workplace, where initiative and innovation is swiftly punished.

After all of this, I have come to the conclusion that there is a place in my life, for this 7-inch netbook. In the move towards a paperless society, it's a handy and convenient substitute for my inkjet printer: Instead of being printed out, printed matter can, instead, be simply downloaded and saved as a PDF file, to the Desktop of the 7-inch netbook, and viewed as needed. But the 7-inch device is not instant-on: It does take about 35 seconds for the netbook to boot up, plus about 35 seconds to open up the downloaded PDF file, of, say, a downloaded evening TV schedule. This netbook is also perfect for reading downloaded books and such, on the go. This device complements my rugged Windows XP laptop, a real workhorse, with a 14-inch diagonal screen and internal battery that will run the device for about two hours. And when I really need to travel light, I have a Palm TX, with a 480x320 color screen (4" diagonal), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a 32GB SD card upgrade, a tiny battery powered thermal printer, and a full-size foldout keyboard (for full-speed typing), and an internal battery that will run the device for over 7 hours.

I hope this helps.

Good luck and have fun with it.

Honest reviews on SYNET7WID 7 Inch Wireless Mobile

As other reviews mentioned, we struggled to get the online set up (Roadrunner wireless). We called the customer service number and within little time we were up and running. Though the rep was clearly ESL, he did a great job letting my husband know what he needed. If this is a problem for another reader, I'd say hang up, call again, and hopefully you'll reach someone else on the next go. For the money well worth it.

As someone else mentioned, more documentation would be helpful e.g. what are the specs for SD cards? Is 8gbs to much? If I arbitrarily buy a standard SC card it'd be my luck is that it won't work for some reason.

Update Jan. 2011 Spoke too soon. It ran great while it ran. It became a little buggy and I think it was a company rep who had my husband download a patch that was supposed to fix his problem. Instead of helping he was no longer able to get online. Then, he was also unable to get anyone on the phone who could help him. There's not even an option to leave a message for a call back. The product comes with little documentation and no troubleshooting advice. After a few days of dealing with customer no service we took it back to CVS and set our sites on something more reliable. Reviewrs who said this is really a glorified smart phone are right except that it's not all that smart. Don't be conned by a low price a cheap piece of junk is still a piece of junk.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for SYNET7WID 7 Inch Wireless Mobile

You get what you pay for. If you're paying $80-$100 for a computer, but expecting one that's usually priced at $250-$400, then expectations need to be more realistic. This computer is NOT junk. The start-up instructions for internet were sufficient and it actually comes with apps you wouldn't expect, like a pre-installed PDF reader. I received this about a week ago and, so far, no problems. Because my expectations were realistic, I'm very satisfied.

If you want to:

-browse youtube

-listen to music/mp3s

-do a lot of downloading

-do fancy word and powerpoint programs

-download and play games

-do anything with flash

...then DO NOT buy this, as none of these functions work.

If you want to:

-type simple documents

-browse simple (not flashy) web pages

Then this is a very efficient little machine.

Reviews of Alienware M17x R4 AM17xR4-11053BK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

Customer Ratings:

**This review was originally written for the M17xr4 with 7970m graphics, 1600x900 screen, i7 3610m processor, and 6gb RAM, 750gb 7200rpm HD which, i own. That being said, the rest is the same and the processor difference is very, very minimal since the 3630 is simply the "refresh" of the 3610, and NOT a new generation of processor. Anything marked** may not apply to the model you have purchased.

Now, on to the review. I will try to give an unbiased opinion as I have done months and months of research, comparing and contrasting every modern gaming laptop. This review will be fairly in depth (Should be for a $1800+ laptop), and I will try to be detailed, but also universal in describing details, so that you don't have to know any extreme technical jargon to understand the review as well as giving an up-to-date one. Enough said.

The Build:

First things first the build quality is excellent, and this will be the first thing you notice as you un-box and remove it from its protective casing. I researched for months on purchasing a high-end/Gaming computer, and i have learned very much about numerous modern gaming computers and components. Most of the reviews on amazon and on review websites have stated its build quality is of the highest grade and that it is one of the biggest selling points for this laptop, and for good reason. The laptop feels solid, secured, and a bit heavy (weighs in at about 9.5lbs). In my opinion, not overweight considering the amount of components stuffed into this thing. The rubbery matte texture compliments it's sturdiness well, and to me was a great material choice for this laptop as it resists fingerprints rather well and will not show scratches as aluminum or plastic will. Not to mention keeping the laptop light, and relatively cool. I dare you to find a better looking laptop (my opinion) that is more sleek and with better build quality (not opinion) than this one. The reason i put up with the weight over say a Sager NP9170 is that this M17xr4 is the thinnest 17inch gaming laptop with these components i could find. I'll take thinner to lighter any day considering, i will be hauling this in a excellent backpack (Everki Beacon or swiss gear) Where the 1 to 2 pound gain over the NP9170 will not be noticeable. Your port selection is numerous and above average, even for gaming laptops. 4 USB 3.0 ports (2 on the left, 2 on your other left), 1 USB 2.0/Esata combo (right) which is also a sleep and charge port which does just that (allows you to charge your phone, iPod or usb charging device while the laptop is asleep or even completely off). VGA, HDMI and Display port video outs (all left), 2 headphone jacks, 1 mic input, as well as an SPDIF optical out (All left). One cool feature is that the Soundcard software included can be used to configure the audio ports to do anything, For example configure all 4 ports to be headphone jacks, or 2 line -in ports. An HDMI-in (right) (not existent in any other laptop I could find. Trust me, I looked. More on this in "other features" below). Last but not least a 9 in 1 card reader above the optical drive (right) and a Kensington lock (left). The cooling system is well engineered with 3 intakes on the bottom, and 2 exhausts on the back, the left one being for the processor, and the right being for the graphics card. I can't tell you how nice it is having the exhaust shoot out the back instead of the bottom into your lap. You might think you lap will block the intakes but they are almost designed with a peak and valley structure, to allow lap use without block to the intakes. Don't get me wrong this laptop can get warm on the bottom especially during gaming, but it is rare I game on my lap. And when using a laptop pad or cooling pad, you won't notice it at all . The individual laptop exhausts are nice, first they limit noise to 1 fan most of the time, secondly they are effective and accurate at temp detection (i.e. Gaming, the GPU fan ramps up, Heavy app use or multitasking the CPU fan ramps up) not to mention the entire system is silent during basic and medium use.

Components:

I will go into greater detail of the components i have added separately or replaced later in the review. For now, the components it comes with. First off the processor, The Intel i7 3630m is the baseline mobile model for i7 cores in laptops. It is snappy, and has no problem devouring numerous tasks at a time. For gaming an i7 core IS MORE than enough considering most games don't utilize 4 cores to begin with (exception: Farcry 3). In fact you would do just fine for gaming if this laptop had an i5 core and you would not notice a frame rate difference.

**On to the Graphics, this laptop uses a combination of AMD Radeon 7970m ( Nvidia 675m on this model) discrete or dedicated card, in concurrence with an Intel HD 4000 integrated chip. First the 7970m, this is a nasty card that destroys most any game, modern or old. You can comment on this review, and I can test a game you might want me to play and let you know how it preforms. To name a few recent ones it preforms extremely well with that I have played. Black ops 2 (not very difficult for any machine), Battlefield 3 run great maxed out, Arkham city runs great, Farcry 3 runs insane on this laptop due to its great scaling on all 4 processor cores (all though I have had some crashes with this game). I've even played as recent as the Crysis 3 beta which runs great since the new drivers update. I cannot stress this enough, the ability to play such high-end games with such good results, all on-the-go, is a crazy feat to me. I run this laptop to a 27 inch monitor most of the time and it's hard to believe the graphics are coming from my laptop and not a desktop. Comparing it to the GTX 680m recently released by Nvidia, the 7970m in my opinion is on par with it, and even runs certain games better according to benchmarks. That being said in power consumption and cooling is better with the 680m. The biggest difference is the price. When I looked to configure my laptop on Dell or Xotic PC, the price difference is over $350 which is simply not justifiable, even for a Nvidia fan boy. I knew and researched both the 680m, 7970m before I even wanted to purchase here, so seeing that amazon had the 7970, it only pushed me further to buy here. Intel HD 4000 is simply an integrated graphics chip which is used for anything but high-end games and uses MUCH less power. Heck, it will even run older games or less resource hogging ones great. AMD uses "Enduro" technology to switch between the 2 graphics solutions based upon your power source (battery or plugged in) and application (Video game vs. Google chrome) this all can be configured manually, but by default your computer switches to the Intel HD 4000 when on battery power EVEN if you are trying to run a high-end game. But like I said, this can be changed manually with a combination of power and graphics setting changes. All that being said, the drivers are a bit faulty, especially with windows 8. I could not decide whether to install AMD's drivers for the 7970m from their website or Dell's which seemed outdated. I spoke to a few Alienware techs on this issue. All said that it is preferable to use Dell's drivers, but AMD's should be compatible. I noticed some performance loss using Dell's driver version, so I cleared the drivers completely and installed AMD's 13.2 version which had updates for the Crysis 3 beta.

* For your hardrive and standard 7200rpm Seagate 750gb drive. Nothing special here. See my upgrade.

* For RAM you got 6gb** (8gb on this model) of 1600mhz DDR3 ram in one 4gb stick and one 2 gb stick** (2x4 probably on this model). Fine amount of Ram,I was going to upgrade anyways so I didn't care.

* Wi-Fi card is an Intel Centrino 2230, great reception, great speeds wireless N as well as 2.4ghz/5.8ghz bands. Not much else to say

* Standard DVD/CDRW that is a slot-load drive. I happen to prefer slot-load over tray load because: one, sleeker looking, and 2 no worrying about having a clumsy tray slide out and hit something, getting stuck, breaking, etc.

* For your sound card you get a SoundBlaster Recon3Di instead of a basic sound card, paired with a pair of Klipsch speakers, it sounds great. Where it really shines is when you hook this laptop up via optical or analog (stereo out) and tweak settings in the SoundBlaster control panel. I found the Rock preset to improve the sound even more. This excellent sound card is a rare and welcome addition to a gaming laptop. The speakers definitely aren't booming loud, but they are crisp, clean and have decent bass and are plenty loud for nearly any use. I think they could have used a slight volume boost in playing music, but with laptop speakers, it's tough considering power provided and space to put them in. The speakers are definitely above average and much better sounding than Sager or MSI laptops alike.

**(This laptop does have the 1920x1080 Full HD Screen)

The screen as stated before is 1600x900**, decent colors, so-so viewing angle. Before you write this laptop off for the screen resolution, consider these two things. First, at only 17 inches (yes only) you won't see a ginormous difference between 1920x1080, and 1600x900. You will probably see it. But is it worth 200 dollars extra upgrade? Your call. Secondly, I personally route to a 27 inch monitor for gaming which I display 1920x1080 on. If your majority, or even part of your use is to an external monitor: just another reason you don't need 1080p on the actual laptop screen.

Personal Experience/Other selling points/Tips

**The 3 largest selling points that had me choose this laptop over the Samsung series 7 gamer, MSI GT70, and the Sager NP9170 (in my opinion its top competitors) was first, the powerful graphics card which beats the 675m and lower cards (670m, 660m, etc.) by a large amount. I was aware of the driver issues with the 7970m but I decided to take the risk, trusting they will be updated (and they have and will continue to be).

Secondly, the slim profile of this laptop. It beats all 3 mentioned AND has more powerful components. Now this laptop is nowhere near thin at about 1.98 inches but its as thin as its going to get for these components. You want super thin? Razer blade is $2599, and you get less powerful components than this laptop, but the razer blade is super portable (6lb,.88 inches thick).

Thirdly, the icing on the cake for me (it might seem strange) the HDMI-input port. Why? The simple fact that being able to hook a console, Blu-ray player, or nearly any device to use this laptop, solely for use of its screen, is genius. Now I understand that some people do not have use for this feature because they do not own consoles or any form of device to utilize this feature and those that could have use for it might say, "Why would you want to hook a console-a less-powerful system--up to the screen of a more powerful system" well I personally have many friends on console and we often have "system link parties" the idea that my laptop could serve as a screen instead of having to haul a TV or monitor to play on is awesome. Not to mention you feel as if you have full control over your laptop to do as you choose and knowing that by the time the computer gets outdated (not for many, many years), you could still always use it as a screen! I have used it with my Xbox 360 and it is excellent, just the right size, and the Xbox's sound even routes right through the HDMI and out the laptops speakers (HDMI carries audio and video). It was a huge selling point for me and NO OTHER laptop has one of these that I have found.

Another minor cool feature I like is the speaker placement. Since I do use this on an external monitor I prefer to shut the laptop screen when doing that. This might not matter to most, but for me, when I do shut it and just prefer to use the excellent speakers on the laptop it will not block the sound. Why? The speakers on are the front of the laptop (the colored, grill looking things). With most laptops you have a sound bar near the media controls and if you were to shut the screen the speakers would get blocked. Being able to use the speakers with the screen closed is a cool feature for me.

Another selling point for me personally, is it came with components that are hard to upgrade in a laptop that I wanted (7970m graphics**, i7 processor) and nothing I didn't want (6gb ram**, basic HDD). The laptop's accessibility is great. Pop the battery out, unscrew 2 screws, and you're in to most of the system. 2 of the 4 ram bays, HDD bay --which it has 2 of by the way--, fans, even your graphics and your processor can be seen. Again Alienware is giving you nearly full control of the system. Even the Wi-Fi card, other ram bays and optical drive are accessed through a little further, but not too difficult dis-assembly.

Here are the upgrades I have chosen and installed myself easily:

-Samsung 840 250gb SSD (purchased from Newegg for $150 with Farcry 3 Samsung MZ-7TD250BW 840 Series Solid State Drive (SSD) 250 GB Sata 2.5-Inch) an SSD is said to be the single best system upgrade you can make that will grant you the most noticeable performance boost to your system. And after installing one myself, I am a firm believer in just that. Honestly with processors so fast these days your limiting factor comes down to your HDD and good ol' disc drives can only spin to access data so fast. I would even go as far as to say if you don't get an SSD you're missing out on a chunk of your system's performance especially with a processor such as the i7 3610m. Not to mention SSD's silent, cooler, more reliable, and less power consuming operation than traditional HDD's as well as SSD prices dropping like crazy and 1 open bay in this laptop, what have you got to lose? Unleash your processor!

-16gb Corsair vengeance laptop RAM (purchased from amazon for $84.99 Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory (CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10)) I wanted more than 6gb of ram and if you go higher than 16gb its near impossible to stress it. This RAM had great reviews, fast speeds and seems reliable.

-Killer Wireless N 1202, Faster 2.4/5.8 ghz speeds.

-Windows 7 professional OEM (purchased on amazon for $102) I had a feeling I would not care for windows 8 (and I did not that much, not to mention the drivers for the 7970m are nearly unusable on win 8). Bought this fresh OEM copy at a steal price, popped in my new SSD did a fresh install, Used "Sean's Windows 7 installation guide for SSD's" Which you MUST checkout if you do similar configuration as I, with the hard drives. I then formatted my original 750 GB HDD to use for storage space, and boom. My system flies with cold boot times under 18 seconds, and massive amount of storage space. In the future I will definitely move to windows 8 once graphics drivers are updated and the OS becomes more stable. But for now, it's windows 7 professional for me. Your system didn't include Windows 8 recovery disks for when you want to upgrade? No problem. Call up Alienware, and they will 2-day ship you your recovery media on a handy, dandy flash drive.

-One of the many accessories I suggest for this laptop is the U3 Coolmaster cooling pad Cooler Master NotePal U3 Laptop Cooling Pad with Three Configurable 80mm Fans (R9-NBC-8PCK-GP). The reason I liked this for my desk set-up is it seems of good material mostly aluminum which is naturally cool without fans! It uses USB power, fits the M17xr4 perfectly, and the fans are even movable, and Removable. I lined all 3 fans up directly with my m17x's, 3 intake vents which really keeps this thing cool. You do not need a cooling pad, just a personal choice for me! A cool system, is a happy system. The compatibility with my system made this one a winner for me, but I do use it as a stationary "dock" at desk, it's really too big to lug around. For more accessory suggestions, Comment!

-Personally I use this laptop for school, web browsing/multitasking, high-end gaming, and a screen for my Xbox . Even though it is heavy, and many will say it is only a desktop replacement. It is still portable and I have no problem using this computer around the house, on my lap, or "docked" at my desk.

For purchasing locations I would suggest either here or Xoticpc.com. I chose here mostly because of the standard price and the partial refund I receive for the screen mess-up issue.

I do highly suggest this laptop, and encourage you to research more sites for yourself to see if it will fit your uses. I only wish it took me less than 3 months to figure that out. But at such a high price I wanted to be 110% sure this was the one I wanted.

Please feel absolutely free to comment with any at all questions, regarding why I chose the upgrades I did, or anything on the system I didn't touch on well enough, Specific Game performance, purchasing options, how to configure anything, component or accessory suggestions, or other laptop comparisons. I will do my absolute best to get back to you. Also let me know anywhere to improve on the review besides grammar (after a few pages I gave up ;). I will update this review with new info, and corrections.

You have reached the end, congrats and thank you for your time if you have stuck with me, and if you did not stick with it, Hey, I don't blame your skimming.

Thanks again.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Pros:

Very fast and no bugs so far

Cool design, backlight of keyboard and some other elements, and rubberized "palm rest" area near keyboard (looks and feels really cool, but it is also fingerprint magnet)

Looks very sturdy

Cons:

Only keyboard backlight can be dimmed whereas other elements are very bright for me, still hope to find a workaround; backlight control software works not very reliably (and UI is not quite user friendly) but good enough.

Best Deals for Alienware M17x R4 AM17xR4-11053BK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

Pro: Really fast and beautiful laptop. It is just little bit heavy.

Long battery life when switch to GPU inside the i7 CPU, so it can support mobile office work.

Original SSD is not a nice one, but it is acceptable for this price.

Con: WIndows 8 is not well done OS, after 2 month usage, the apps of start screen cannot launch. OS did not support any problem information, so it cannot be fixed.

Honest reviews on Alienware M17x R4 AM17xR4-11053BK 17.3-Inch Laptop (Stealth Black

I bought this laptop in May before the new Alienware 14, 17, and 18 came out. I love this laptop. So far it's been able to run every game I can throw at it with no problems. The build quality is great, as well as the cosmetics of it. I personally like this design a lot more than the Alienware 17, mainly because this laptop is thinner and the AlienFX aren't as generic looking as the newer models. Loved this laptop so far. However, as most horror stories about Dell's support goes, they are true. I opened up the computer one day and all my Windows start tiles were gone. I couldn't pull up the right click menu at the bottom. There were no restore points, AlienRespawn would not work, and the recovery partition of the hard drive was locked. I called up Alienware's support and had to fight with the first 3 support reps telling me it was a virus and that I needed to pay $150 to have them fix it. I told them I scanned with malwarebytes and had AVG installed from day 1 running regular scans, so there's no way it could've been a virus. Eventually they ended up sending me a Windows 8 recovery USB key and disc, which still didn't work. I talked to a supervisor and he was able to just replace my SSD which was the source of the issue. So be aware that if you do get anything by Alienware and something goes wrong, be prepared to battle it out because they won't just give you an easy fix without trying to get some money out of you first. Other than that, highly recommended laptop.