Cheap Dell Latitude D610 Laptop CD-RW/ DVD Wireless Computer (Refurbished)

Customer Ratings:

I bought one of these laptops two months ago. It has been working just fine. Today Microsoft told me that the license is not valid. It has a valid certificate of authenticity on the back but does not have a second "refurbished" CoA. When I look at the internal System Properties/General tab it says "XP Corporate" which means it was covered under a volume/site license which can not be transferred or sold. I will probably have to buy a fresh copy of XP ($150) and re-install.

Before I made the order I checked to see that the advertisement specified "Genuine Windows XP". I also checked the CoA when it arrived. When the Microsoft updater offered to run "Genuine Advantage" to check the authenticity I confidently thought "sure, go right ahead." Now every time I restart I get a big message that says I am a victim of software piracy. If left uncorrected, I expect the operating system would eventually simply stop running.

Some vendors specify "Genuine Windows XP". If it arrives with XP it may be legitimate, or NOT. Microsoft has a very active updating and authenticating program. You probably don't want a system that is not kept up to date and free of security vulnerabilities. The updater will check the system validity.

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Got my laptop today, was shipped quickly. Before I even received it I emailed the seller with some questions and was met with quick responses and the seller was very helpful. VERY happy with this laptop and with the customer service I received. I will definitely order again in the future and will recommended them to family/friends!

~~This is an update to my previous review. I forgot to mention also the price. So affordable for people who could never afford to buy brand new. I am so very happy with this laptop so far. It is everything it was said to be. Some people gave reviews about these particular laptops and nitpicked a lot of stuff. Stuff the average person may not even notice (even the high pitch sound with headphones that people complained of, even back when these were brand new, I have not noticed). I find this laptop to be PERFECT for my needs. I'm not a "gamer" and graphics stuff isn't one of my needs.

To sum it up: I got everything I expected and a little more since the things I worried about were not an issue. For a family who is low income or at least on a very tight budget, and just wants a laptop to surf or read, etc. this is it. Also, the seller was wonderful to work with. I gave five stars and those still stick!!!!

Best Deals for Dell Latitude D610 Laptop CD-RW/ DVD Wireless Computer (Refurbished)

I was skeptical about purchasing a refurbished D610. It has worked like a charm the speed and capacity are suitable for my needs. It's a great home computer, I don't have to do any heavy computing with it but it seems quite capable to take on any job.

The only thing that could be better is the brightness of the screen. I need to do some research to see if I can make adjustment in the screen brightness.

I purchased the updated anti-virus and malware software and updated my router, it accepted all I could throw at it and works just fine.

For $233.00 this has been a great bargain!!!

Honest reviews on Dell Latitude D610 Laptop CD-RW/ DVD Wireless Computer (Refurbished)

I purchased this laptop as a Christmas gift for my daughter. It was specified as being in B condition. This made me a little nervous as to what I would receive. It came with a small wear spot in the paint on the key board. Other than that it looks like new and seams to be functioning just fine. Its a much sturdier machine than some of the lower end / like priced units I looked at in the department stores. My daughter loves it and I'm very satisfied with the value.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Latitude D610 Laptop CD-RW/ DVD Wireless Computer (Refurbished)

i already did like 3 reviews on this. so i will do one more and this is it. it is great plays games, download, everything a pc can do. would recommend this to anyone.

Buy HP 15.6" Pavilion G62-225NR Entertainment Notebook PC

Customer Ratings:

This laptop should have been called the $%^#storm Series G62. Specifically I do not like:

* The mousepad buttons are basically a seesaw with a center fulcrum. The only place where the action feels natural is on the extreme end of the bar.

* I hate HATE the keyboard layout. HP put all of these dedicated hardware buttons along the left side, so I am constantly launching the Calculator when I'm intending to hit Ctrl.

* The normal action of the Fn key bar is for Special Functions, not the Fn series. One has the toggle the Fn action to keep from sleeping the computer if one intends to use F4, for example.

* The cable is about a foot shorter than the one that came with the HP laptop I got the year before.

* One year out, the battery is dead.

* This is the last laptop I will buy that doesn't have gigabit ethernet.

The screen is nice, the speed is fine, the Wifi works fine, and it is a GREAT light weight, but the problems above are not good and make me seriously worried about buying another HP laptop again.

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It is worth having this beautiful laptop. I am a Writer and Published Author of two books "Speechless Thunder" and "It Looked Like Earth" plus I have published one song in Nashville, TN called "It Is Me Or Superman" and they are working on a Record now. soon to be out for sale.

Anyways, where I am going with this and with my little background which I use my computers every day for writing. This computer is good for entertainmet and is great for writing your books and homework for school, reading e-mails, watching a movie, and on top of all of that, for those of you that did not like the smudges that was created on the dv7 series of laptops, this one is less prone to that. Though I still keep my dv7 series :) both of them are my great working tools. Plus I have another one which is dv7 bought it for my parents. All of my three computers which are HP are great and I love HP. So, don't hasitate to buy this one G62-225NR Notebook. And with its size of 15.6" you can carry it anywhere, for those that love smaller computers. But you can also, get the bigger variation which does have 500GB hard drive and 4gb Memory Ram. But for the memory on this beautiful little one is 3GB, and you get 350GB spacious Hard drive. And give or take it is budget and energy saver. For those that don't need alot of Hard drive it is great. And on your pocket wallet, you don't have to pay extra 500 dollars for the extra drive and +1gb memory. Though for the memory you can upgrade and so you can the harddrive anytime. It is also pretty fast and I love it!!!

So, buy it and you won't regret it. Plus School is beginning and many students would love to own one and parents would be thrilled to get them this, and as I said, it is perfect on the pocket book :)

Also, never forget, to keep your computers clean and you can use for screen and keyboard "Endust for Electronics Screen Cleaner"

It does the Job marvioulasley

and excellent!!!

I forgot to mention, it does have a built in camera!!! For those that are wondering. There is one that is simillar sold in Walmart that does not have.

From Author Petar Kostadinov

Review of Lenovo U400 099329U 14.0-Inch Laptop (Graphite Grey)

Customer Ratings:

~~~1 year Update~~~

I have downgraded the score from 5/5 to 4/5. This laptop is, for the most part, great. However it has several very serious flaws including: Terrible trackpad, bad monitor, and bad sound.

-Performance3/5 [Average]

Very powerful specs. This laptop may not be a gaming laptop, but will play most things you throw at it very well. Including AutoCAD, SAP2000, light games, and Movies.

-Build5/5 [Excellent]

All in all, its built very well. The exterior, as you can see, is beautiful.

-Keyboard4/5 [Good]

The keyboard looks and feels very nice. The keyboard is slightly narrower than usual, which makes it feel a little awkward. But I haven't had any problems typing.

-Trackpad1/5 [Terrible]

This trackpad is a piece of junk, after using it for a year, I've learned to use the "F6" -turn off trackpad buttonmore than 90% of the time.

I have also disabled "tap to click" and "multi-finger gestures." Left/Right clicking is a nightmare.

-Monitor2/5 [Bad]

The monitor is 1366x768. Which is pretty disappointing but it the norm for 14in laptops and even 15in laptops. The colors are a bit washed out, and I really notice it when I have my laptop next to my desktop monitor. There is definitely a sweet spot for using the monitor, and its pretty small. The hinges don't let it bend back all the way. I'd say, you get about 135 degrees of motion on the hinges. This laptop also has terrible viewing angles.

-Sound2/5 [Bad]

The speakers on this laptop just don't push enough. They are useless in most enviroments that have ambient noise. The quality of the sound itself is pretty average.

-Weight5/5 [Excellent]

It's pretty light weight. I can easily move/carry the laptop around with one hand. I have fallen in love with the ultra light weight. This is truly a mobile laptop.

-Temperature4/5 [Good]

The exterior stays pretty cool. However, inside temperature gets really high. Under 100% load, the cpu easily hits 85C.

The outside occasionally gets pretty hot, but in general, it keeps to a very comfortable temperature.

-Battery Life4/5 [Good]

I get about 2+ hours when running this laptop with 9/10 brightness + with everything on + none of that power saving stuff, with pidgin+firefox+thunderbird+Movie.

-Wifi3/5 [Average]

I have not had any problems with the wifi, but I spend most of my time on a landline. And I haven't had any connection issues on campus, or at my friend's homes.

-Boot Time[NA]

Stock Boot Time 55s to 70s.

Stock Resume Time 1s to 3s.

Boot Time with SSD 15s to 22s

Other:

-Minor Design Flaw!

The majority of the ports are on the right side including the power, hdmi, 2x USB. This makes it a bit hard to use your mouse when you have alot of stuff connected to your laptop power, mouse, external harddrive. Unless you are left handed and have your mouse on the left side of the computer.

Also this laptop does not come with a system recovery disk.

*********************************************

Now if you want to add your own SSD to this laptop Or increase the amount of RAM.

Any hardware modification to this laptop will void it's warranty.

If you go to the Lenovo Forums and to this page: /t5/IdeaPad-Y-U-V-and-Z-series/New-U400-General/td-p/580903

There is a thread on hardware modding this laptop and on page 2, there is a link to a Lenovo website with videos on how to take this laptop apart. Note that Taking this laptop apart is VERY difficult and much harder than it seems in the video.

***Note The hard drive bay in the Lenovo U400 can not fit a traditional SSD and can only fit HDD. This is because a USB port intrudes upon the space for the Hard Drive and the traditional hard drive has a small space above the SATA and Power connectors where there isn't anything to obstruct The SSD unfortunately has a lip.

In order to fit a SSD You pretty much only have three choices 1. disassemble your SSD and tape it into to laptop. 2. disassemble your SSD and cut off a corner of it's case with a power tool. 3. Purchase a mSATA SSD and install that alongside your HDD. [I went with option 2] 4. Purchase a height 7mm SSD ex. samsung 830 (will still need to tape ssd).

***Doing a clean install of Windows 7 did not work for me Installing drivers became a nightmare. Recovery Disk can be used Unfortunately your laptop doesn't come with one.

***Upgrading RAM

You only have easy access to one of two Memory Slots. The second slot requires some serious hardware disassembly included the removal of the entire motherboard.

Luckily, the 2GB Memory Chip is on the side that is easy to access. However, having two separate memory chips from different companies on the same system may cause instability and occasional crashes. Which happened when I upgraded the stock 2GB Samsung to a 4GB Corsair.

I would suggest purchasing a single 4GB Samsung stick of the same model as the one in the computer. It'll make your life easier.

***

How to take apart the laptop:

Watch the Lenovo Support Videos.

1. Take off two rubber feet The ones in the back next to the monitor hinge. I used a flat head screwdriver with its head covered with a microfiber cloth (to prevent scratches) to pry the feet off.

2. Unscrew two screws under the rubber feet.

3. Pull the bottom cover towards the back of the laptop (back = where the monitor hinge is). You only need to pull it about 2mm. Gently lift the back of the bottom plate while pulling towards you. The back should pop out of the clips with some patience. Be careful not bend the part of the back of the bottom cover that bends up along side the monitor hinge.

After releasing the back and side clips. While pulling the cover to slide it off, also lift the front of the back cover gently.

-This part is the most difficult and I enlisted the help of a friend. I had my friend gently tap the front of the bottom cover with a hammer on top of the back of a screw driver that was covered with some gauze pads.. While he was tapping, I gently pulled the front of the bottom cover away from the laptop.

4. Once the cover is removed the rest is self explanatory.

5. Putting the cover back on. Put the cover back on with the front first. The rest of the clips should click into place as you push down. Afterwards, slide the bottom cover towards the front of the laptop. While pulling, screw the two screws back in. This part was easy and I was able to do it without enlisting help.

-If you have trouble lining up the two screw holes you may have bent the back of the bottom cover, you will have to bend them back into place with your hands or pry them back into place with a flat head screw driver.

***

Random Stuff:

It took me about 4 hours to finish my hardware modifications the first time. I also made alot of mistakes and ended up with a few chips. My second and third time opening up the computer took me about 10 minutes each.

Attempting to get the computer to work and install all the drivers with a clean OS install took me 8 hours and ultimately failed.

Attempting to figure out how to clone the drive and after much google and tech forum searches as well as many failed clone attempts took me about 10 hours. Cloning ultimately was successful.

I experienced some hard drive hangs with the Corsair GT. I was able to fix this by updating the firmware on my SSD.

Tools I used: Philips Screw Driver, Flat Screw Driver, Cloth (micro-weave cloth and a towel), Gauze pads, Hammer, Bench Grinder (Powertool).

Extra Purchases: Acronis True Image Home 2012 $50, Corsair 120GB GT SSD $155, 1x DVD-R $-

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Follow up So it's been almost a year since I got this laptop, and I would have to say...I have to change my original rating of a 5 to a 1 star. Over the period of time, my battery itself started to have problem, my laptop stopped staying cool, and I had issues with it twice. 1 of 2 times I had problem with it, I had to figure it out myself, because the customer service was just horrible. I mean the computer itself is still pretty good but the change to a one star is mainly because of the customer service. So basically, my laptop had a blue screen. Keep in mind, I keep my laptop in very good condition physically. I got my laptop sent in to the repair center and after 1 week, my repair status remained the same. I gave them a call, and I was told that I had water damage in my motherboard and I would have to pay $360+ some fee in order to fix my laptop. I told the rep that I never had water spilled on my laptop ever. She then mentioned that I had some water mark on my keyboard...I proceed to explain to her, I washed my keyboard with a very damped cloth before I sent my laptop for repair, and she tried to explain to me that might had been the problem. All in all, after speaking with a few other reps, I didn't get my problem solved. They insisted on me paying $360+ some fees I couldn't understand. Felt like I shoulda sticked with a brand I was more familiar with and listened to those who said the customer service was horrible. The laptop cost $600-700 bucks now for a new one, so I didn't even bother paying for the repair, hopefully I can retrieve my harddrive datas.

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

Original Review

I had this laptop for about a few weeks now. I've been waiting for it to be available since it was announced. I'm sure a lot of buyers will want this laptop because it's basically a Window Macbook. And that is exactly what you get. I am also a mac owner, the quality is on par with Macbooks. This is a very pretty laptop and spec are pretty decent. On the pictures, the shade of silver looks very similar to the macbooks, but it actually a dark slate gray.

Pros -

-Laptop stays cool. It vents from the side, I've had it on for 14 hours once and it was stayed very cool.

-Chiclet keyboard feels really nice.

-Glass trackpad is on par with macbooks.

-Battery last around 6-7 hours.

-Light weight.

Cons -

-Don't really have any beside that I would had preferred an SSD option and Lenovo should make accessories for this laptop already! And I really wanted the Black/Clementine Orange color, but it's only available for the U300s.

So basically if your looking for a nice looking laptop with decent spec, great battery life, light weight and stay cool, this is the laptop for you. Especially if your looking for a Macbook alternative.

Best Deals for Lenovo U400 099329U 14.0-Inch Laptop (Graphite Grey)

This thing is pretty amazing!

I needed a new laptop after having my previous one for 4 years. I love windows (not that I have anything against Mac OS, just don't prefer it), but I wanted something with the build quality of a mac book pro but a lower price tag. I was really considering getting a mbp, until I saw this laptop. If you are in the same boat as me, then this is the perfect laptop for you. All aluminum body, extremely sturdy look and feel, very sleek design, I would say it matches up perfectly with the mbp but at $300 less.

The thing runs extremely fast. The 2nd generation mobile i series is catching up to the power of the desktop versions. I really don't notice a difference between this laptop and my i5 desktop tower as far as responsiveness. Trust me, performance is not an issue for this laptop. It can handle anything that you can throw at it (obviously that's an exaggeration, but anything reasonable that you can throw at a laptop it can do). It also runs very cool. mbps get hot, especially when setting them on your lap or on a cushioned surface. The cooling out the side and through the keyboard of this laptop makes it stay cool and keeps the bottom of the laptop from becoming a personal heater (which may not be a good thing if are use to using your laptop as one).

The one area I would say the mbp beats this thing hands down is the screen. The screen on the u400 is 1200 x 768 and doesn't look as sharp and clear as the mbp's screen. I like running my screens at really high resolutions even though it's probably not great for my eyes. But it is only a 14 in screen and a higher resolution probably wouldn't make sense. Another small flaw that seems to be common is the screen not closing perfectly flush around the entire edge of the laptop. On the front right corner of mine there is about a 1 mm gap. I can see how this might bother someone. I am one of those people that has to have everything in mint condition and if I know somethings wrong, it bugs me. But for some reason, this doesn't bother me at all. Another aspect that brings up a lot of debate is the glass mouse pad. The u400s pad feels exactly like the mbp's. The only downfall is Windows. It doesn't have the nice soft, smooth scrolling and zooming, or the friction-less gliding scrolling that Mac OS does. It is a little choppier on Windows, but I can live with that (I also believe that Windows 8 does this better).

Another problem for some people might be the amount of I/O it has. It has 1 USB 3.0, 2 USB 2.0, and HDMI, and an optical drive. Laptops are moving away from having PCI buses available and VGA outputs. Not having some of these things can be painful (I am a college student and not having a VGA out can be annoying since all my classes have VGA projectors. But this just requires me to get an HDMI to VGA converter, which is basically what mac users have to do). For me, the USBs are enough.

In summary, if you want something that is sleek and powerful, regardless of your price range, then this is it. I really believe that spending more to get a mbp or one of the top sony vaios is not buying you a better laptop. I don't think anyone will regret owning this thing.

Honest reviews on Lenovo U400 099329U 14.0-Inch Laptop (Graphite Grey)

The laptop looks nice. It is still not ready for prime time.

Nice.

1. Looks. It is a looker. Layout is mostly nice, keyboard has a good touch. Screen is large, clear, bright. Not a bright as I would have hoped. The colors are a little washed out.

2. A lot of features USB, LAN, Slot DVD works with double sided DVD. Have not tried blue ray and will assume it does not work.

3. Cool. It does stay cool and the breadthable keyboard is a nice feature.

4. Weight. For what it has it is nice.

Not so nice.

To fit the bill of being at the top, when a feature is included, it is very well built and works with ease and wonder. This not so with this laptop. Which the concept is good, the features are plenty, they all fall short and make you wish you purchased a different laptop. So here goes my grips. I had a Sony Vaio before and an Acer Aspire. Also played with some Apple, original IBM, Dell so have some comparision to those.

1. The DVD slot is slick but so noisy with loading the CD that it sounds like a cheap DVD player. Some CD's are very noise in their rotation and there is nothing you can do about it but listen to the high whine of the noise. Most CD's play well but that noisy ones number about 10%.

2. You cannot purchase a replacement or extra AC power adaptor. So you are stuck with one. Calling Lenovo will get you redirected to IBM parts which does not have any part by this number. I tried this several times and emailed them, always getting the same push around and ending up in IBM parts. This is the most disappointing of the support and warrants the 1 star. If I lose my AC power adaptor, I am stuck unless I go with a different make/model or 3rd party.

3. The touch pad mouse keys are part of the touch pad so everytime you go to right click and left click you are moving the cursor around. You have to be very accurate and only use a tiny portion of your fingers on the clickers or you will be clicking on something else. The touch pad is smooth and nice but ultra sensitive. This makes for unwanted touches when you want and no moves when you want because the palm or something is close.

4. The build quality seems solid but it is marred, at least on mine. The frame was bent and scratched on the inside. It is small enough that I am just keeping it.

5. There arent enough indicators. You cannot tell when the disk or CD is being used. There are only 2 indicator lights on the front Battery charging/use and on/off. It would be nice to show the disk in use. When booting up and running program, you cannot tell if the laptop is hung or the program is working on the drive, or just slow because of drive access.

5. The right Shift key is so short and it is next to the up arrow so a miss will move you to some other place on the screen when you are typing. This is really annoying if you are used to using the shift key with both hands.

6. The CPU is really fast but the disk is really slow 5400rpm. So it slows the whole computer down. I could not find any options to get the Solid state drive installed. The service manuals show a space and install/removal of an additional solid state drive but this is not the normal solid state drive. It looks like solid state flash memory card with no casing. Because of the disk, you can only tell how fast the CPU is when doing CPU intensive programs.

7. The battery life is only 1 hour when used normally from 1st install. You have to go in and turn off a lot or turn down a lot to get it up to 4 hours.

If you really cripple it, you could possibly get up to 7 hours. This is quite a stretch in their advertising. The battery is internal so you would have to take it to a service center or open it up yourself to get this serviced in the future.

8. The WIfi is probably the worst of the whole laptop. They put the antenna on the bottom of the screen and it is unidirectional. I was stilling next to a person with 5 bars and I could barely hold 1 bar until I turned the laptop a specific direction, even then I only got a sparadoic 3 bars. Comparing this to same locations with the Sony Vaio, I could easily get much better reception on my Vaio in the same locations. The only remedy to this is to get an external Wifi connection. What a dissapointment.

Overall this is not worth a $1,000 (or $800 if you get it from the right place), laptop. I would suggest you wait until Lenovo is ready for prime time before paying this much money for a laptop that has some very bad basic functions wifi, Shift key, buttons on mouse pad, AC Power adaptor (This is the most ridiculouse item in my opinion). Lenovo is still growing up and given a year from now, I am sure the next gen will have all these bugs fixed.

Update.

Found another change which does not work well. The Function keys are not accessible directly and require holding down a function Shift key as well as the function key. Hence F2 in excell requires more keys to get to it then a direct hit. While it is not such a big deal, it is a shift from prior keyboards. Unfortunately I use the Function keys a lot more then the system keys which are the directly level. system keys are volume, brightness, screen selection.

I started using a small external Wifi purchased for $15. This has dramatically improved the Wifi connectability and strength.

I did consider selling this and purchasing something else but it was not it is nice enough to keep and hard to find a replacement with the majority of features I like.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo U400 099329U 14.0-Inch Laptop (Graphite Grey)

Lenovo really hit the nail on the head here. Finally, they made a well-rounded and full powered laptop in an extremely stylish package. It is solid aluminum so I'm hoping it's very durable as well, but I've only had it for two days so far. It's very fast, has great, really great speakers for a laptop (not much bass though), never gets hot except right around the fan area on the left hand side, even running flash 1080p videos on youtube. It has a dvd burner, an i5 processor, and the biggest selling point for me was that it has no vents on the bottom, so you can lay it on your bed and never worry about it overheating (which happened to my last laptop and crashed my hard drive.) The trackpad is phenomenal, although I did bump up the sensitivity a bit because the gesture features (which any apple user will tell you are lifechanging and really an ultimate feature of mac laptops' huge glass trackpads) are a bit wonky on windows 7. This trackpad is absolutely beautiful. It's huge, made of glass and has enough sensitivity that makes using gestures on a windows laptop almost as good as on a mac. I'm not sure if its a driver or windows software, but its just not as perfect and effortless as macs, but as good as anyone has ever come on a windows machine. Everything about this laptop oozes style and functionality, but I'm still waiting to see how durable and quality the build is. My last laptop, a Sony Vaio VGN-S480 lasted me 7 years, and would still work if I would pay 100 dollars and install a new fan, but it's time to move on and enjoy all the great features developed for laptops since then, and this laptop embodies the best of what laptops have to offer right now. If you wait for the i7 SSD version, I'm sure you will be even more satisfied, but this build has everything I need or want at a great price, and I'll upgrade to an SSD in two years when they are dirt cheap.

Buy Samsung RF711-S01 17.3-Inch Laptop (Brilliant Black)

Customer Ratings:

Very happy with this laptop. Great specs for the price. Plays Portal 2 and Arkham Asylum on High at max resolution without any hiccups. It hardly makes any noise. Vents are ideally positioned so it never gets hot. Beautiful display. Nice keyboard. Only complaint is that the shipping was slow.

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No complaints with this laptop after several weeks of use! Starcraft 2 runs great, 900P screen is crisp. Plenty of other perks... would buy again.

Best Deals for Samsung RF711-S01 17.3-Inch Laptop (Brilliant Black)

The touchpad is going to make you wish you had a mouse. Its annoying for copy and pasting. Its also not centered relative to the laptop itself, but offset to the left. I've maxed out the sensitivity for it and it still needs more.

The wireless has software AND a button which only work together the first time after booting. So if you turn off the wireless and want to turn it on... you may have to Reboot. Plus they decided to make it more insecure by allowing it to default to on while booting... and even turning itself back on if powering off. Its annoying to push the little wireless button and nothing happens, or using the software and getting a connection error, requiring a reboot. (goodluck trying to find the actual wireless software exe file)

At this point I'm feeling I just need to uninstall their poor attempt with Win7 and put my own system onto it, assuming its not going to depend on their garbage software.

And why on earth couldnt they just make a pdf of their manual instead of some exe file which is overkill and fairly useless if you've been around computers for a few years?

PowerDVD software still hickups playing back bluray even with 8GB of memory installed.

Speakers give a hollow sounding playback.

I'm glad I only paid 740 for this.. I bought Samsung because I have a Samsung monitor thats lasted over 6 years and is user friendly. I guess it didnt translate to laptops.

Maybe my review will improve if the clean install improves performance and cuts some of the annoyance...

Update: Re-installing a clean Win7 Ultimate sure made it better. Even the touchpad works better.

Honest reviews on Samsung RF711-S01 17.3-Inch Laptop (Brilliant Black)

We purchased the 17.3 inch model NP-RF711 about six month ago. We loved the screen and performance about this Samsung but the battery life was only 3 hours normal use. Still, we were mostly using it home so 3 hours was enough. But, that was just a beginning! Few month later it went down drastically and now its literally ten minutes! So, we contacted Samsung about this issue and after they verified everything they told us to ship it to them by UPS and wait approximately two weeks for them first to test it. Now, we had a Sony laptop being warranty serviced before and they never expected us to give out our laptop for at least a two weeks in order for them to first test it. I offered their Customer Service rep. Jessica to take it to a Samsung Service Center which I know they have in the area but they only give you one option mail it and wait! Their Rep was unprofessional and unfortunately very ignorant. You would get more help from automated answering machine probably than from their Service team. I hope this will warn some of you considering buying Samsung laptop. Don't buy it unless you confident you wont have to ever call their Service Department! Save your money and buy something else, not worth it.

Cheap Toshiba Satellite U925T-S2120 12.5-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,149.99
Sale Price: $809.00
Today's Bonus: 30% Off

I use a laptop for business travel, so I was pleased to be able to order this Toshiba Ultrabook. I find it to be a bit bulky when used as a tablet, with nice features, adequate battery life, and good performance overall.

Design:

The device is a handsome brown color, with a very nice "soft touch" back. The big draw of this model is the ability to use it as a tablet or laptop. To convert to and from a tablet, the screen slides out (away from the person holding it), then locks upwards in place. I found it easy to use, although one really needs to use both hands when sliding the screen. On the front of the device are lights to indicate on/off, charge and wireless. The left side has a power button, a volume rocker, a USB port, and a button to lock the screen orientation. The rear has a circular power port, twin fan outlets, an HDMI port, and a USB Port. The right side has a door that covers the memory slot and the headphone jack. On the front of the screen is the microphone, a web camera indicator, the front camera, and a large button under the screen that presses the "Windows" key (which I found useful). The small speakers are on the bottom of the device. When in tablet mode, the screen can be slid an inch or so up to allow one to use the rear camera (otherwise covered). It comes with a mini power brick and 30 day trial versions of Office 2010 and Norton Internet Security, plus a bunch of other software that I may end up uninstalling.

Operation:

This would be an good laptop for daily use. It ran all of my legacy Windows programs nicely, and the Windows 8 programs also ran well. The computer is great as a tablet (if you don't mind the size), or when used as a laptop. Although the manuals are full of warnings about heat, on battery or external power it never got hot while I was using it, and the fans are whisper quiet. The front video camera is actually quite nice for Skype. Programs opened rapidly, with no significant lag. Sound output was good with a headset, and acceptable from the speakers.

Keyboard:

The keyboard is acceptable for typing, and is probably the single weak point of the device. I found that it seemed to bow in a bit over the middle keys, and I would prefer more of a raised portion on the F and J keys to make it better for touch typing. There are small ridges, but they are hard to feel.

Battery:

The battery lasted a little over 4.5 hours after the initial charge. This is on the default "eco" settings, which features high performance settings for the CPU and SSD, and leaves the Bluetooth and NFC turned on. Also, Windows 8 has the screen auto brightness turned off by default. I would expect that if one changed these, and decreased the maximum screen brightness settings, the time could be pushed to 5 hours. Conversely, if one was gaming with the battery set to high power and bright screen, I think it would last no more than three hours. The device has an "eco" mode that dims the screen at 25%; otherwise it is fairly bright until the screen timeout. Eco mode gets very aggressive below 15% remaining charge, trying to save that last bit of battery. Overall I had to take back one star for the limited battery on WiFi.

What I like:

+ Boots up very quickly. The Windows log-in screen shows up in about 10 seconds. It takes an additional 30 seconds or so to finish loading the various programs that run in the background over on the desktop side.

+ This is one great tablet to use with Windows 8. It is snappy and very responsive.

+ One of the two USB ports can function as a charging port for a phone or other device, even when the tablet is powered down. This is a nice feature for those times when you need a bit more phone charge but don't have a plug nearby. This feature has to be turned on via software settings; it is disabled by default. When the tablet is connected to the wall charger, the USB port can be set to high power, which is used for IPad and some Android tablets, or regular power output. On battery alone, the ports are regular power only.

+ Windows based platform. One can run every Windows program desired with complete compatibility. Windows 8 is another story, and it already has people who like it and hate it. But there are add-ons to Windows 8 that allow it to function almost exactly like Windows 7. So I don't see any real problems with Win 8 being installed.

+ Very good specifications; Intel based I5 processor, with appropriate supporting firmware. This device it built for some major computing. The only real detraction is the on-board Intel graphic chip, which did not score very well in business graphics. However it worked well enough with Microsoft Office. I don't think this device is suitable for heavy duty gamers.

+ Support for SDXC high capacity memory. It is therefore possible to double the internal storage, although at present these SD cards are pretty expensive for 128Gb.

+ HDMI output, to connect with a monitor or TV.

+ There is a Near Field Communications area next to the touch pad. NFC is likely to become more important in the near future, so it is nice to see this feature.

+ The keyboard is backlit (this can be turned off to save power). Very useful if the room is dim.

+ Toshiba includes an Eco software utility that really makes it easy to change the power setting. It shows the power drain in real time so one can see the effects of settings as they happen.

+ There is a power setting for people who keep the device connected to the power connecter more frequently. It places the maximum charge at 80%, to lengthen battery life. I tested the battery with this feature off, so that I actually got to 100% of the battery, but it is nice to have the ability to choose to have a longer life on the battery, especially since it is non-removable.

What I'm not so fond of:

The Windows Experience Index is a bit low overall: 4.7 (limited by the business graphics score). Processor is 6.9, RAM is 5.9, gaming graphics 6.2, and hard disk 8.2.

The device does not have built in DVD or CD-ROM capability, but that not surprising in a portable this thin.

There is no standard DVI or Video output. This is due to the thin design, but it reduces the business utility of the device.

It is heavy for a tablet. It weighs in at around 50 ounces (1.4 kg for those outside the US). That makes it a bit heavy to carry around. However, I find in use that it is distributed well due to the large size, and it is acceptable.

There is no built in Internet jack. I'm not sure one could be fit into the thin case, but they could have provided some kind of proprietary solution so that when on the road, the device could plug into the more secure 10-Base T connectors rather than rely on WiFi. One has to buy a USB to RJ-45 device to connect via wires.

Due to the large screen size, it is pretty bulky. I bought a sleeve for it (no one would want to lug around something this size, and this expensive, without some protection), and it it much more trouble to carry than a standard 10.1 inch tablet. I may well decide to use a carrying case with handle instead of the sleeve.

The battery is not removable. I realize this was done to keep the device thin, but it means that one has to keep a sharp eye on the battery level when using the laptop function and recharge is the only option when power is low.

The power strip is customized for this individual device, so standard power mini bricks (even from Toshiba) apparently won't work. This one uses a 4mm barrel size, whereas other Toshiba ultraportables use a 5.5mm (or so) size. So the only place I've seen a replacement is direct from Toshiba, at a high cost. I usually have a brick at home and at work, but I don't with this model; I carry the small brick with me.

To take pictures with the rear camera, one has to partially slide the screen up. It is not a big deal, but a bit inconvenient. I really don't think people will be using something this big to take a lot of pictures!

The GPS is not supported on the desktop side; only on the Windows 8 interface. I've seen some comments that GPS doesn't work, but the Win 8 Maps seems to work fine with it; it shows my location exactly. I think that some of the confusion lies with people not understanding how Microsoft designed Windows 8. The new Windows 8 workspace is completely separate from the desktop, which runs as a single Win 8 process. The GPS is controlled on the Win 8 side, and therefore desktop applications can't communicate with it. That is not really Toshiba's fault, in my opinion; Microsoft designed it that way. I think the design intent of the device is to use tablet while mobile, and the laptop mode otherwise. Having GPS on the Win 8 side is completely understandable from this perspective.

At this price point, I think a 256 Gb SSD would have been better. 128 GB isn't much room these days.

Summary:

An excellent compromise between a tablet and laptop. It has it's drawbacks, but I highly recommend this if you need a device that can switch between tablet and ultrabook and if you can afford it. If you simply need a portable small laptop, there are cheaper devices available that may suit your needs.

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

Additional comments about the concept:

What exactly is it? With the screen slid closed, it can function as a tablet, but the fast processor and relatively small 3-cell battery mean that it won't last 8 10 hours like an RT, Android, or Ipad. Also, it cannot be charged except by the power brick that comes with it, unlike other tablets that can charge from a USB cable. The screen size is 12.5 inches, which doesn't seem too much larger than a 10.1 inch tablet, but I found that it is exactly twice as wide and tall as the 8.9 inch screen HP windows tablet it is replacing. It is portable, but not really mobile.

With the screen slid open, it functions as a netbook, but again, it is heavier and bulkier than the original netbooks (and the battery does not last as long). As a full-time laptop the screen is a bit small. Cost wise, it is more expensive that even the highest end Android, and around 400 more than a comparable ultra portable that doesn't morph into a tablet.

I think this device will appeal to techies, but also be suitable for people who need more computing power and the Windows platform. A real estate agent would find it useful, and it would be good for business presentations when traveling (it could lay flat on a surface) provided the business projector supports HDMI, of course. The higher resolution camera on the rear of the screen would make a nice video conferencing solution, using Skype and the HDMI output.

EDIT: I found a decent screen protector that covers most of the screen), and I'm using this sleeve.

EDIT Jan 28, 2013: I reviewed this ultra portable hybrid under the Amazon Vine program, but somehow that review, and the entire product page, got removed from the site. I am reposting this review so that people can have some information on the product.

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The computer is very light and the new Windows 8 operating system runs fast compared to older versions. Well, I have to admit Windows 7 is great also but this offers much more with the tiles. You have to get this touch screen because trust me, I loaded the trial version of 8 on my other laptop and it's just not the same using a keyboard and mouse.

Granted, it is lacking some apps but more and more are getting added daily. I have tried iPad and this operating system is going to create havoc for the Apples system. They made many improvements with security with Defender and other parts of the system. I love the way it slides back and forth where you can use it as regular laptop or tablet and it feels solid.

The battery life is good and 5 to 6 hours life is good enough for me. It is solid and has a great feel to it where you can take it with you with no worries of dropping it. The 128 GB SS drive plus the Sky drive will hold all my work files and more. Also with Sky drive, you keep all those offline where they are safe in case something happens. If you are in to music it will work for you also.

I am not in to gaming that much but it does most of my games good like words with friends and angry birds. The keyboard is great and lights up only when you using it to conserve battery power. One of the negatives I can find is that the battery is internal and just can't be replaced unless you take apart the computer. Another negative is that I have had to restart the computer 10 times in the 6 months I have owned it. The computer will lock up for some reason and I am not sure if it is a Windows problem or the computer. I am leaning towards Windows and I am sure they will fix that one day

Once you start learning Windows 8 you will get the hang of it quickly because I am learning different things every day. One thing I just recently learned was in the apps you can find all those other items programs that are offered in Windows 7 like word pad and media player and maintenance functions. I also installed Microsoft Office 2007 which has no problems and has been working well. The screen size works for me because I watch movies on it when I am on the road from HBO, Netflix and Hulu and definitely like to see it on a bigger screen than say a 7 inch.

Newest Update: Computer continues to stop working on the touch screen. It stops working but you can go to the laptop mode and then it is fine that way. It looks like the computer is having trouble distinguishing between laptop mode and tablet which is causing me allot of headaches. I sent the computer to Toshiba to try and fix the problem but they found nothing wrong. It is definitely a software issue that has not been fixed yet. At this time I cannot recommend this computer unless you plan on just using it as a laptop. I will keep everyone updated

7/17/2013 The latest update on the computer! The computer seems to working good now and doesn't get locked up anymore. It seems it must of been a windows update or the video update because I downloaded updates recently from Windows and it is working great. I will keep everyone posted if anything comes up

8/28/2013 Continues to work great with no lock ups anymore. The internet locks up sometimes but the problem there is my internet which is DSL and at a slow bandwidth. Love the computer and love Windows 8. So much better than iPad

Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite U925T-S2120 12.5-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook

Yes, the Touchpad is stiff and the On/Off, Volume and Screen-rotation buttons (on the left side toward the back, as I face the laptop) are tiny, as a reviewer somewhere noted, but these minor inconveniences haven't slowed me down yet. So, I'm unlikely to push any of those buttons inadvertently and the pad works well enough alongside the Touchscreen, which is suitably sensitive.

Yes, the Touchscreen is highly shiny and becomes "fingerprinted"--of course it does--like most tablets I've seen. Wiping it clear (using a lint-free cloth designed to clean eyeglasses) is easy enough.

And yes, as tablets go this is rather big and heavy--but it's less awkward than I expected. I hope to take it traveling often.

Also, this aside: Yesterday, when I fired this up, was my first-ever hands-on whirl with Windows 8 and I was relieved to realize I could catch on, pretty much, within an hour, though I don't consider myself terribly-techy. The hybrid nature of this little critter and/or Windows 8 must/might be partially behind the double-keyboard effect that distracts occasionally (that I read about somewhere), but I know my confused input, hit-and-missing while learning the new OS and getting used to switching between tablet and laptop modes, caused this weirdness also. Anyway, it's no big deal for me--easy to fix and move on.

Right away I found the hinge mechanism sturdy-enough-feeling and pleasantly-surprisingly easy to work during mode-switching.

The device is too new for me to rate at 5 stars and this 4-star rating is provisional (I didn't subtract a star just for the slightly stiff Touchpad and buttons or glare or smudge-proneness or any weirdness I've mentioned because that's all minor, in my view, considering my purposes); I'm still exploring the features and testing; and I will update this review with further details, probably.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite U925T-S2120 12.5-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook

I did a fair amount of homework before making this purchase, including several trips to the Microsoft Store near my house to see what the options were for these hybrid laptop/tablets (some people refer to them as laptablets). This product was not available at the Microsoft store but they just happened to have a test unit on site and let me tinker with it (folks at the MS store are extremely helpful btw). I was sold on the slider form factor, its just barely light enough to be a tablet when you need it and its great to slide out the keyboard when you need to crank out some type. I have an iPad but I find it just too limiting in order to really get the best of both worlds which is mobility and productivity. This is marginally bigger, so its not quite as mobile as the iPad but its close. The ability to have a highly mobile, full-blown Windows device that performs as a tablet and as an ultra book intrigued me and I began to research the models available at the time. I looked at the Surface Pro, which I thought was terrific but the battery life was just a tad too short for me, I needed a battery that could last a cross country flight NY to LA. Also the Surface kickstand does not adjust so its tricky to type on your lap to laying in bed, which was a deal-breaker for me.

Other devices I compared:

-Lenovo Yoga 13" just a tad too big and it was weird to have the keyboard exposed in the back when folded into tab mode.

-Dell XPS 12 probably the coolest form factor of all with its flipping screen, nearly all the same feature but more expensive and heavier at 3.35 lbs.

-Samsung ATIV Smart PC PRO very comparable but did not care for the docking station type keyboard. I did not want it separated (Surface Pro suffered from this as well). I've always found with the iPad that the blue tooth keyboard was never around when I needed it.

MSI S20 Another slider form factor, which is really what I was looking for, but not available in the US at the time. No track pad on this device either.

My requirements were:

Battery life in excess of 5 hours

Good screen resolution, HD not a deal breaker though

Backlight keyboard

NFC (this was the only device I looked at that had this, though at this time there is no practical use for it until NFC matures and becomes more common so this was more of a future consideration for me).

Track pad for gestures when using the touch screen is inconvenient

USB 3.0 ports (U925T has two)

HDMI out for connecting to external monitors and TV's while on the road

Must weigh 2.2 lbs or less

Full integrated keyboard

Touchscreen (love Windows 8 on touch, I know it's a learning curve for some folks but once you get it you mostly dig it).

Bluetooth

B/G/N Wifi

Front and rear facing cameras (720P FF)

MicroSD Card reader (only the surface pro, Samsung, and Yoga offered this)

Wireless Display (Widi) send your screen to a TV equipped with a Widi adapter

Decent speakers

Adjustable display must be able to tilt the display in different directions to suit your posture/seating

The U9225T is the only device that had all of the above at the time I purchased it about 6 months ago. I have very little to complain about other than I find the keyboard (Chiclet type) at times seems to not always pick up my hits on the space bar, which could just be my typing style but it does drive me bonkers a bit. The price point was a in the middle of the pack and it had more features than any of the others. The battery life has lived up to expectations but of course depends on much wireless you are using. The wireless adapter could be a bit better from a range perspective but its fine otherwise. I definitely recommend purchasing a sleeve to keep it in when transporting it so as to avoid scratching the screen (hard to do with gorilla glass but given you paid a fair chunk of change for this the 10 dollar investment to protect it is worth it).

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Satellite U925T-S2120 12.5-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook

I bought this after trying many different tablets that i was unsatisfied with their versatility. I really needed Word and Excel so it only seemed logical to get a windows computer which got me looking around. I would not say this is the lightest, it is a little heavier than some options but for me the built in hidden keyboard makes that worth it, i dont have to carry one along a detachable one. That being said i am kind or irritated by the space bar on mine. sometimes when i am typing away i will look back and notice several spaces missing between words, im not sure if this is just mine or if this is a common problem.

Other than that minor issue i am really enjoying this convertible, it is fast, start up is almost immediate. All the buttons are conveniently placed, it is well built, touch screen is very responsive, and still has no scratches even without a protector, it also cleans easily which is nice. Battery life is very close to what is said to last, i have gone a week without using it, picked it up and there is still plenty of a charge.

i have recommended this to several of my friends and would say it is definitely a nice computer for what you are paying. It is difficult to go back to a regular computer/laptop.

Discount HP ENVY 15.6" Core i5 500GB+32GB SSD Ultrabook

Customer Ratings:

Well i saw the review that had only one star , and believe its just a bad case, I bought 2 laptops from HP directly, they lower the price by 200 dlls, plus 2 day free shipping, I never had any problems with my laptop so far is great the style, the texture , it's amazing ! I had one problem with one of my HP laptops, two years ago , under the warranty I called , they shipped a box and I returned the laptop 5 days later I got a new laptop , I'm guessing the other person has a bad attitude or simply bad luck !

But great Laptop overall , try to buy it with windows 8 and 1 dimm with a 4 gb , later purchase more ram and add it its cheaper than upgrading directly with HP

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The worst laptop ever. Three times back to service center and they can't fix it. Now they want a technician to come to my house as though that will make a difference. Now we learn that all available technicians are off for the holidays so its now Dec 27 and we wait until Jan 2 to schedule an appointment. Have asked for a refund several times but that is just not in the cards. I will never buy from HP again (and we buy alot around here as we both work through our computers). Bad job HP, very bad job.

12/28/2012...after Peter (see his post below) emailed regarding this issue the representative that we've been dealing with all along called again. His purpose was to confirm (again) that we have an appointment to see a technician in our home to review the issue. So after several weeks of back and forth with the service center now we can wait another 10 days for a technician (they are all off for the holidays I am told). We said to Jamie again that what we want is a refund.

The best companies to deal with would have long ago taken this lemon back...companies such as Amazon and Costco would immediately end our dissatisfaction...but in this case we purchased directly from HP who only seems to care about their own internal metrics. Next step after the technician visits I will be posting the positive outcome or the videos of this Lemon Laptop will be posted on YouTube and every other social media I can find. Yes, we are upset. This was a birthday gift from my wife and she is way more upset then I am.

Discount Apple MacBook - Core 2 Duo 2.16 GHz - RAM 1 GB - HDD 160 GB

Customer Ratings:

No surprises. Everything arrived in time and all together in one box. I swapped out the hard drive with my own and everything booted and is working great!

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idk if they messed up or just didnt care but i ordered a black imac and recieved a white one. so far its ok its a little banged up but for under $400 its good. if you just want something to write papers on or surf the web this laptop is for you.

Reviews of Toshiba Satellite C655S5542 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:

I've never owned a laptop, so I had my husband do a little research and he saw this as the perfect fit for me. He was right! One of my favorite features, because I am a teacher, and we submit grades online, is the number keypad. It's so much easier to use than the numbers at the top of the keyboard. The screen is a great size and the keyboard is easy to manipulate. I am very pleased with my first laptop.

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The laptop has been great for back and forth to class. I use it mainly for school. It's easy to write papers and do homework on. It also keeps up great with the web surfing I do on it.

Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite C655S5542 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

I want to end off on a positive note so the problems with it are.

1. No webcam

2. annoying toshiba messages pop up all the time

3.It really wants you to have a default browser and assumes if you open up another you want to switch internet browsers.

4. Toshiba seems to have partnered with some computer security company you have to pay for cause it lies and says your computers at risk when the FREE security says everything is fine.

5. without opening more than one browser you can't open more than one window at a time.

6. short battery life

Those were really my only problems with the computer after owning it nearly two years already. However the number of usb ports are adequate,the ram space is nice, it never freezes and has a nice display and sound. Good job Toshiba!

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite C655S5542 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

My main concern is that the microphone is useless. I have it set on the highest volume and still my Skype calls are poor, recipients can hardly hear me. I have checked online for possible resolutions but to no avail, many consumers seem to have issues also. I guess I'll need to buy a microphone.

The touch pad is hard to find by touch, it just blends in to the casing, so I placed a raised sticker just to the right and this solved the issue for me.

I like that the mouse left/right are proper buttons, that click properly. Many laptops I looked at were not, they were just touch pads, and I found it hard to get them to work correctly.

My previous laptops have been HP, and the wireless configuration for my HP printer was easier on this Toshiba than on any of my HP laptops ... go figure :-)

I like the computer, but the microphone issue lowers my overall satisfaction with it.

And a heads up, the SD Memory Card slot is UNDER the front of the laptop, not easy to find.

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Do not buy Toshiba. Screen just all of a sudden cracked. Bought from Best Buy and they refused to even look at it because they said Toshiba was the only company that would not accept them sending it. Toshiba wanted to deal directly with the customer. Toshiba won't replace or fix even though it was within warranty. Spent a LOT of time on the phone trying to get them to fix my computer and they said the warranty does not cover a cracked screen no matter what. Horrible computer, even worse customer service.

Best Gateway NV Series NV52L06U 15.6" Laptop (2.6GHz AMD A6-4400M Deals

Customer Ratings:

If you put it in energy saving mode, the battery lasts for hours. It is not a gaming PC, but it meets the needs of an everyday user.

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Although it is a refurb, machine appeared and ran as new. Enough RAM, CPU and graphics for almost any application. Display looks great. Even running modern games is satisfactory (so I hear after all, this *is* for one of my sons). For $340, this is a steal. I just ordered another one for my other son.

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I am 26 which means I grew up with computers and I consider myself tech savvy. This computer looks nice but Windows 8 is so far from user friendly it is not funny. I have had this thing for over 6 months and play with it from time to time, but I still revert back to my 5 year old Toshiba for everyday use.

Save your frustration, save your time, save your money and by something with a different platform!

Honest reviews on Gateway NV Series NV52L06U 15.6" Laptop (2.6GHz AMD A6-4400M

This laptop has been a great blessing to my family in saving money and as a Mother's Day gift. Both affordable, transportable, and the glossy red is perfect for my mom to know that it's totally meant for her. I'm not sure if Microsoft Office came with it but I don't think it did. Either way, they thought it was brand new and I'm satisfied. We can get Microsoft Office from a simple download.

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firstly , was fast ship , and pakaged in a box with little protection but recieved undamaged. I especially bought this for its colors to match living room decor. looked new for being used. however , once i got going with it , found out why someone dumped it, had a virus that cost money to remove , and yet today has malware cannot seem to remove after several programs. it has pluses..it fast, good picture quality , sound , and runs quiet. very touchy pad..been times the page wiped off of the screen and had to bring it back . even with the bugs, bought a second one used , but this time made sure the dealer buying it from checked it over good or else keep it . so, they obliged and got a second one comming.promised better than the last. comes to uesed...buy at your own risk. good luck ..

Best HP G62-140US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Bronze) Deals

Customer Ratings:

I bought this laptop after doing quite a bit of research, looking for a replacement for the family computer at a reasonable price point. Considering the value of the computer against the price, I think this is a good deal, though this machine is not ideal for all uses. This computer is good for general use, such as surfing the net, playing the occasional game or working on spreadsheets. It's neither a heavy gaming rig nor a heavy-duty business machine, but it is sufficient for almost any everyday task that can be thrown at it. This is the ideal for which I was looking. In that capacity it does itself proud.

Having previously bought a Hewlett-Packard laptop I had hoped that this machine would have the standard media set, meaning recovery disks and documentation, but this is not the case. HP has elected to require the owner to make their own recovery media, which is a cost-saving measure for HP and a tedious annoyance for end-users. To be fair, it seems that most manufacturers have taken this route, so this should come as no surprise. Making recovery media requires 3 single-layer DVDs, and the creation tool says that either DVD+R or DVD-R platters are acceptable. I did not try dual-layer media.

On first boot, the user is greeted with a welcome/setup application that guides the user through the process of setting up wireless networking, naming the user account and of course registration. I personally think this application is very cartoony in appearance, using the image of hands to walk you through turning pages and transition screens. While it's clear HP is targeting home users with this approach, it seems out of place for more professional use. It's a personal preference, though, and it accomplishes the end goal.

Once booted up into Windows 7 the first time, the barrage of "Register Me" and "Activate this Software" popup windows began and it not only was distracting and annoying but it interfered with my personal setup. In the middle of creating the recovery media, a window popped over top of the recovery application asking if I wanted to make recovery DVDs. I would have preferred that it detect the process in progress, or at most give me a system tray notification instead. Though annoying, this can be dealt with either by activation/registration or performing an uninstall of the offending application(s).

My first order of business was to strip the extra stuff I don't want from the OS. I removed MS Office 2007 trial and I removed all things Norton/Symantec. This was mercifully very easy and quick. Now, that said, for the user that actually wants these applications (and I suspect there's quite a few people who do) having these pre-installed will be very convenient. For me, I have no intention of using any of these as I have software for which I have licenses already, so I removed them.

Some people have difficulties with the touch pad, though I have not. I personally dislike most laptop touchpads and this one is no exception though it works as it should and is flush with the rest of the plastic shell. That said, the touchpad "mouse buttons" are actually one unified rocker button that is stiff and unresponsive.

The keyboard is another matter entirely. Though I have had no issues with the keyboard, I am concerned that the wireless adapter is enabled and disabled through the F12 key, not separated from the rest of the keys on the keyboard. This is asking for trouble for people that do not use a separate keyboard. HP can expect complaints about the wireless getting cut on and off via bad keystrokes.

Another puzzling design decision is that there appears to be no latch for the laptop lid. It simply opens or closes, no more or less. In my case this is not a major issue as the system will sit on a desk and not move; for those on the go this could be a potential issue, especially if the computer is dropped. Keep this in mind.

None of the ports on this unit are on the back; all of them are located on the sides, including the power and the VGA interfaces. At first this bothered me. I can see some wisdom in it now, though, because of the hinge and the ability to move the system flush with the back of the desk which is against the wall. Again, this is beneficial for me. If you are left-handed, though, this could be very problematic as two of the USB ports, the HDMI port and the VGA interface are all on the left and if all of those are plugged in the cords will interfere with external mice. In my case I am connecting an external monitor, mouse and keyboard so the system does not need to be directly in front of the user.

In terms of performance, this is a peppy system. There's 4 GB of RAM, expandable to 8, which gives Windows and applications plenty of breathing room. The processor is 2.13 GHz with 2 cores, sufficient for most software (though not for high-end games). The hard drive is a 7200-RPM drive, a very noticeable upgrade from the 5400-RPM drive in my older HP. The graphics adapter is really the only weakness when it comes to speed, but even so it is still a decent graphics adapter and will work just fine for the majority of users.

I do like the styling with the interesting texture and color of the plastic shell. It is most certainly not necessary but it's a break from the ordinary that makes this laptop a little more interesting. HP did a great job with making the touchpad seamless, too, which will keep crud from gathering in the edges.

Overall, I am satisfied with this system. It meets the needs for which I purchased it, it's stylish and it performs well. It is by no means perfect, but at the price point it's more system than I could otherwise ask for. If you need a good workhorse laptop that is affordable, this is a good candidate. Be aware that there are a few negatives too, such a port placement, when purchasing, though an argument can be made for the negatives being no more than personal preference.

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For the most part, this laptop does everything you'd expect it to. Windows 7 has some quirks, but I'm liking it for the most part (coming from Vista is a much easier transition than I'd imagine coming from XP would be). The HDMI connection is a snap to use (Turn on TV, plug in cable, the computer switches all the video settings correctly. Unplug the cable and the computer switches everything back to the built in display automatically). Bloatware was fairly minimal and easy to uninstall. Not coming with backup discs is annoying, but Windows lets you make a set yourself, so at least there's something. The battery lasts me 2-3 hours depending how much video I watch. The 4GB of RAM and 320 GB hard drive make this a good value. It's a laptop and it works.

The only annoying software related dislike is the defualt of locking the Fn commands as I use the F1, F2, etc keys a lot. This requires messing with BIOS to turn off, but would be useful for an average user who doesn't understand what F-keys do.

I'm really annoyed with the input devices, though. The keyboard is mostly standard, but there's a couple of small things that annoy. The quick launch buttons on the left are useless and get in the way (I always hit "calculator" instead of Ctrl). Esc is shifted over the quick launch buttons, so I keep hitting F1 instead of Esc and F2 instead of F1, etc. There's nothing to differenciate the arrow keys from the other keys, so it's hard to use them without looking. Typing on the keyboard is nice, though.

The trackpad is really annoying. It's difficult to use without looking. If you have two fingers on the pad, it doesn't respond at all (if there's multitouch, I haven't figured out how to turn it on). It's fairly easy to accidentally touch while typing. When I close the lid and open it, it doesn't respond the first time I touch it (which leads to me closing windows and tabs accidentally trying to get the pad to respond). I've eventually learned to work with the trackpad, but that involved changing how I type and use the computer by holding my wrists up, which I really shouldn't have to do.

For the price I paid ($120 less than Amazon currently offers), I can live with the problems. Otherwise, they'd annoying enough for me to look at another manufacturer.

EDIT: Less than a year after buying the laptop, the battery is dead. It barely holds a charge (about 20-30 minutes) and dies unexpectedly (while reading over 20% left on the meter). I never kept the computer plugged in with a full battery charge (charge the battery, unplug, use down to 15-20%, charge again) and used it about 8 hours per day (off at night and while I'm at work). The death of the battery was very sudden: it seemed fine for the first 8-9 months of use, started turning off unexpectedly for a couple of weeks, and then completely failed to hold a charge.

Best Deals for HP G62-140US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Bronze)

I am a college student and, like most college students, I'm pretty broke. Not only am I just a broke college student I am photographer and photoshop lover! I am going into photogrpahy and the computer that I had was over seven years old and bearly running. I needed and I mean needed a good laptop that had all the memory capablity that I needed to run PhotoShop and whatever other photo editing programs I needed.

You could say that my needs for the right computer and my wallet size didn't really see eye to eye. Most of the computers I looked at(that I could afford) were always laking someing. It could be the screen size or the ram or some other little quirk that wouldn't fit my needs. So I was stressing!!

When I ordered this laptop I was so nervus because if it didn't work the way I needed it to then I would have been in a very sad state of mind! Not to mention this is one of my first orders off of Amazon!! (I was a nervus wreck waiting for my order to come in and trying to upload and install photoshop while holding my breathe and crossing my fingers that it would install perfectly haha).

When my laptop arravied it was perfect! I uploaded Adobe Creatve Suite 3 and the Topaz Labs bundle to it and it works like a charm! Oh, and I can work in PhotoShop AND listen to Pandora or ITunes at the SAME time!!! It's amazing! Even with all of the programs I have installed it is so so so fast!

If you are a college student and a photographer or photoshopper and are stressing about finding the right computer then this one is the one for you! You don't have to be a college student or a photographer to love it, but trust me you will love it!!!

Honest reviews on HP G62-140US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Bronze)

DO not purchase this laptop. I bought one and in two months the screen stopped working. Additionally, I heard that this has happened to a few other people that have purchased HP Laptops. Worst part about it is that HP would not help me b/c they said it is out of the "21" day warranty. What kind of company only covers their product for the first 21 days. At least offer a 90 coverage. This has been a very disappointing experience for me. I highly urge anyone considering purchasing this product to rethink their decision.

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Fist off, by the look of this unit some might say it looks alot like the Macbook pro 13", with that being said, looks are NOT everything, This HP G62 packs alot of KICKASS punch, Unlike the other person who wrote that he's having a track pad problem.....GET GLASSES if you cannot see the track pad. One of the features regarding the track pad is the shut off, you just tap twice on the led thats located on top of the pad too disable the track pad, of which then an amber light comes on letting you know that you have disabled the track pad, too enable it, just tap twice and your good too go, this feature was made if you are going too use an external mouse. Now as far as This unit's functionality, its awesome, all hard drives depending on your configuration, are @ 7200 rpm,the base CPU is the new i3 core by intel, of which is upgradeable too the i5 or i7. It also features the new L3 cache, giving you a smoother ride then the older L2 cache systems. The system bus is well over 1066MHz, uses very fast DDR3 ram of which this unit is upgradeable too 8 gigs of ram. In addition the graphics are in true native, and watching a dvd was an experience, with the Altec Lansing audio surround. OK now for multi-task, I have compared it too the Macbook Pro, With the Intel core 2 duo running @ 2.8 Ghz, the results were very impressive, The HP (base model) not only beat the Macbook Pro in muli-tasking, but also ran apples own software like itunes and others with little effort, running adobe CS4 was so fast I could not believe what I was seeing. As far as surfing the web, I have never been on a mobile device that has speeds that are just unbelievable. HP and Intel have put together a product that surpasses systems worth $2000 and up. Of coarse if you deside too get your HP G62 FULLY loaded with the i7 intel cpu, blueray, 500gb hard drive, and dedicated graphics, and built in bluetooth, this unit will run you about $2400. Now weather you get the base model or upgraded version, 1 word....Kickass, its about time a PC company challenges the bar, weather your a casual user or an extreme user, makes no difference, this unit is built for decades too come! Well worth the money!

Cheap Lenovo ThinkPad W530 FHD 1920 x 1080 243857U 15.6" 2.70GHz

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,699.00
Sale Price: $1,489.00
Today's Bonus: 12% Off

This is my second Lenovo that I've owned and my 4th counting work laptops. I've used just about every brand of laptop, and I keep coming back to Lenovo, Toshiba, and Compaq (the compaq branded hps). I've had good luck with all of them. The rest I pass on. I use Linux and FreeBSD mostly. Not much of a Windows user here. I'm also a kvm user. The W530 is a good machine. The only issues I have are the keyboard isn't quite as good as the T61p's nor is the touch pad. My hands have a tendency to brush the touch pad while typing.

If you're looking for a solid machine, the W530 will serve well. It needs only a memory upgrade from the standard 4GB. With 4 memory slots, (2 under keyboard and 2 under bottom cover), it has the space for considerable memory upgrades. I installed 2 8GB sticks bringing the machine to 20GB which fit nicely under the very easy to remove keyboard. As you might have guessed, I run Linux on this beast.

For Linux fans, I run CentOS 6.4 64bit. It installs easily and smoothly. Wifi works, camera works, sound is smooth. All the systems I've tested work as expected. About the only thing I haven't tested is bluetooth and external video. The quadro K2000M video card works well on the open source driver for nvidia.

For FreeBSD fans, yes I have booted the machine on FreeBSD 9.1 64bit. It installs easily as well and runs smoothly too. I didn't test it quite as much. Geom disk encryption did use the onboard TPM module reporting hardware encryption enabled and ZFS was quite happy.

This machine is a solid performer under Linux and should be equally so under FreeBSD. A note of caution: Lenovo's tools are Windows based and many retailers won't deal with laptop issues if the hdd doesn't have Windows on it. I highly recommend either storing the Windows partitions somewhere easily restored to the hdd or install a different hdd and put the Windows one in an antistatic bag. It's a rather curious thing consider Lenovo does state they support Linux on their laptops.

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I am a super user when it comes to computers and laptops. I have APPLE (MacBook Air) DELL, and legacy IBM thinkpads (including the W700DS). This computer is really a nice blend of size and power. It lets me do all the hard core stuff I need to do while coming in an nice form factor. I feel like it is the perfect blend between a macbook air and W700DS.

Best Deals for Lenovo ThinkPad W530 FHD 1920 x 1080 243857U 15.6" 2.70GHz

As the owner of a w500 previously, jumping up 4 years later, these W530's are as solid as it's predecessor. Solid performance in all aspects. i7 chip and the option of adding the cache gives you the best performance without having to go to a solid state drive. Although moving to a solid state SATA III makes it simply amazing with a 7.0 performance index, with no exaggeration. Make sure you buy a seat belt to go with the drive upgrade. Outstanding laptop, not cheap, but it's like when you buy a car, all cars are not created equal and I'd place this up there in the Cadillac class.

Honest reviews on Lenovo ThinkPad W530 FHD 1920 x 1080 243857U 15.6" 2.70GHz

Having used ThinkPad (mostly T series and some X series) for more than a decade, I was a little disappointed with my last Thinkpad T500, which was my first one after Lenovo took over. It recently develop overheating problem and I couldn't solve it other than having a fan pointing at it. I know it's time to upgrade to a new laptop, but in the past, I've never upgraded a ThinkPad because it broke; I upgraded because they became outdated for running new software.

So, this time, the first things I looked for was from other brands than Lenovo, but I still ended up with ThinkPad after reading extensive reviews and trying out other brands. Since I am a power user, I decided to pick a W series this time, and I chose it also because the W series is now only the size and weight of previous T series.

So far it's functioning like a workhorse. Quiet and handing multitasking and video editing without problem. I was shopping for less than full HD because full HD makes the fonts too small to read on a 15.6" screen. Considering the price and value, I ended up with a full HD, which should not be something to complain about. If you are young and have good eyes, I would recommend it. As for me, I have to put on my reading glasses.

So, this W530 is everything a workstation notebook is supposed to be, except two things to complain about. The first complaint is about the accessory keys being moved around to strange places. (The main keys, however, continue the ThinkPad's high reputation; very comfortable to type.) The delete key is too far away now. I don't know why with every model, ThinkPad would move these important utility keys around. The Print Screen keys is now in between the left and right arrow keys. I don't know why they put it in such a convenient place; do people use Print Screen all the time? The screen brightness adjustment keys are in a place where you cannot easily get used to. A 15.6" inch laptop has a lot of real state for keys. Asus' 15.6" laptop even has a full numeric keypad on it. Just can't understand why ThinkPad would skimp on keys.

My major complain is the huge charger brick. The size and weight of it is not I expected in today's technology. Looking at the brick, I feel I am brought back ten years. Maybe it's necessary to power a "workstation." I am traveling next week (from Coast to Coast), and I am looking forward to take my new W530 with me, but I am not looking forward to carry the power brick. Yap, I deducted one star mainly for the power brick, and partly for the arrangement of the accessory keys.

I hope this system will last until it become outdated, and not die on me. So far it's running fast and very quietly!

Discount Lenovo IdeaPad U310 43752BU 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $799.99
Sale Price: $676.88
Today's Bonus: 15% Off

I did a good bit of research on laptops before making a purchase, went into stores, read reviews, etc. A few comments.

A number of people note how the screens are flexible, go into a store and try bending screens, all thin laptops are quite flexible. Seems odd to me too, but if everyones doing it, it must work.

I saw a few reviews about wireless problems with the u310, but saw many other good review so I disregarded. Don't disregard. There is a detailed summary at .

Seems to be that lenovo figured out the wifi was really bad, but kept selling units and just fixed it on the new ones. I bought my laptop on Sept 20, it was manufactured on May 28, the fix didn't come out until July 23... The date is printed at the bottom of the tag on the outside of the box, so if you buy in a store you can check.

In my case, the speed seemed not great to me, but the range was terrible. I got maybe 50 feet from the router before I lost signal. Even my phone (which I think has pretty bad reception for wifi) was better than that. I decided to go into work and see if I could pick up signal at my desk and couldn't ... back to the store we go. I read lots of reviews of 2-3 weeks for repairs and the problem not fixed, didn't sound like what I wanted to do with a brand new laptop.

Aside from the wifi issues, it was a great unit, solid build, really nice touchpad, good keyboard, screen was fine. I suppose some people might only use a machine at home, but for anyone that travels around, I think the wifi problems makes this machine a no-buy.

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I wasnt expect the building quality is so wonderful, very cool very solid!

The old wifi signal problem is fixed now, I've tested it intensively use on varies conditions comparing to my thinkpad laptop, iphone, ipad, etc. People who are interested in this laptop shouldn't worry about it now.

but the battery life is not that great. It is advertised as 7h which is not quite possible.

under normal usage of wifi and multimedia, I got about 4h battery life.

Best Deals for Lenovo IdeaPad U310 43752BU 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)

Bought this yesterday and I really liked the look and design.. however, luckily I tested the Wifi reception due to reading the reviews here. Sure enough it only got good speeds when right next to my router. I moved into next room and it dropped to under 1MB (From 20MB) I even changed the settings and un-installed the power mgmt software as detailed on Lenovo forums and it did not work. My 7 year old Dell gets way faster speed over Wifi which is un-acceptable.

Do not buy until Lenovo fixes it if Wifi is important to you.

Honest reviews on Lenovo IdeaPad U310 43752BU 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)

I just received my Lenovo U310 and my first impressions are that it is stylish and lightweight. When I started playing around with the laptop, I figured that the mouse pad, though responsive and accurate, makes an awkward clicking sound every time I tap on the pad. No, I am not talking about left or right clicks, just tap of the finger in the middle of the pad! I figured this is because the mouse pad does not have separate left and right click buttons, but the whole mouse pad tilts/depresses to make the click.

Also, one thing that I did not know when ordered this laptop is that the RAM is maxed out at 4 GB for this laptop and no, you cannot upgrade RAM because there are no more empty slots left. This laptop has only one slot with 4 GB max rating! In this day and age where 8 GB RAM is quickly becoming a norm, I never thought there are computers that are restricted to 4 GB RAM with only one slot!

I did notice slightly noisy cooling fan, but I read that it is a common feature for all ultrabooks. So, I can live with it.

Anyway, the performance so far has been good and I will update the review once I get a chance to try more features. For the price I paid ($653.99, after $100 Amazon gift card), I think this laptop offers high end features compared any other laptop on the market today.

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This is the story of a defective support service, 6 hard disk drives and an empty box.

Back in April 2013, I acquired a Lenovo laptop (about $900), directly from the Lenovo.com site. Everything works satisfactorily until 4 months later. The laptop wouldn't boot and the error message points at a hard disk drive failure.

Request #1: A quick and pleasant call to Lenovo and, two days later, I receive a replacement drive and reinstallation DVDs. The hard drive is used, below the specification of my previous drive... and started to fail noisily in the middle of the reinstallation procedure!

Request #2: Calling Lenovo and asking for another drive, which I receive promptly. I install the drive (used parts and below specs again), turn the laptop on and... What's that horrible whining sound?! Conclusion: Yet another failed disk. And to be sure of my diagnostic, I extract an old drive from an old laptop. I successfully reinstall my Lenovo laptop and the old drive.

Request #3: Calling Lenovo again. They want me to return the laptop. I make sure they understand the nature of the problem, why returning the laptop makes little sense and why I expect a drive with, at least, the same specifications as the one I originally bought. A week later, the promised drive wasn't there yet (and actually never arrived).

Request #4: On the phone with Lenovo... They don't know what happened to the previous drive. They'll send a new one, with the right specifications. I didn't bother opening the drive when I received it, it wasn't the right kind!!! In the meantime, tired of waiting, I had bought a new drive at a local store. Unsurprisingly, it did wonder in my laptop.

Request #5: Moving online to avoid being impolite on the phone. There, I go through a weird registration and realized all the limit of their support tools. I almost feel sad for the support people working there. I try my best to describe all the extent of my issues with Lenovo. The field limit to 150 characters don't help, at all. My request: A real solution, in the form of a real drive or a real check to cover the purchase of a new real drive. And, a couple of days later, I receive... an empty box?? After some head-scratching, I understand they want me to return my laptop... #FacePalm!!! It's time to share my story with the Amazonians.

Request #6: I'll get to that as soon as I'm done posting this story. I'll update the post if anything interesting happens.

If you ever buy the laptop you're looking at, I wish you good luck!

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[Update: 07/09/2013, Lenovo sent another empty box :-((( I'm done with them! This is absolutely hopeless!]