Best Samsung Series 3 NP300E5C-A0DUS Notebok Laptop / Intel Pentium Deals

Customer Ratings:

After buying a different laptop which had horrible audio I went to the retailer and bought this laptop primarily for the sound. It does sound good, but obviously not a boom box. The last one (different brand) was just plain horrible. This one performs well. Battery life seems to be very good. It came with a 4GB memory chip installed and there was an available memory slot so I was able to install another 2GB SODIMM, so now running 6GB. This laptop doesn't have a numlock led which is kinda weird. All in all its easy to use, keyboard is nice, mouse/touchpad is appropriately responsive, screen is bright and crisp. Has Bluetooth, which is good for transferring files. Was the only one I found with BT. Lid seems sturdy. I would recommend.

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Gateway NE51B18u 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black) Review

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List Price: $379.99
Sale Price: $315.78
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The condition of the Gateway Laptop was great. It is easy to use and navigates well. I would definitely recommend this item for purchasing.

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The best for creating highest quality works, films, and business networking USA and Europe. There are no words to describe how fantastic this system is.

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I purchased this laptop based on the Amazon description and it seemed as if it would be a suitable computer for my needs. I don't know whether it was the Windows 8 or the actual system hardware, but the day that I set up my account and got the computer running, there was an instance where I had to shut down and restart the computer. Two days later my system crashed at least two times. I am now on day four and my laptop screen won't even turn on. I've absolutely had it with this laptop. Save your money!!! Don't buy this computer. I even have to write this review on my old laptop that I thought I was replacing.

Honest reviews on Gateway NE51B18u 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black)

i like the gateway laptop,it download fast but it have no bluetooth ,it pick up wifi good but need bluetooth.

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Liked the laptop but returned for an iPad. I also have a Kindle Fire, less bulk to carry, otherwise 5 stars.

Reviews of Acer Aspire 7551-7422 17.3" Quad Core 2.2GHz 4GB 500GB

Customer Ratings:

This laptop is absolutely amazing! I've actually come to love Acer laptops because they are reliable and affordable. I purchased this Acer Aspire 7551-7422 to upgrade from my Acer Aspire AS7736Z-4088. I also wrote a review on that one as well. This particular model is slightly different but similar in specs to the Acer AS7741G-6426 that has the 2.66 GHz Intel Core i5-480M dual-core processor which makes it more expensive. It also has a 640 GB SATA hard drive (5400 RPM)and this Acer model has 500 GB SATA hard drive with a 2.2GHz Quad Core processor (AMD Phenom II X4 N970).

I purchased this particular model at Walmart for $478.00 which I thought was a great deal. I have this exact model. It's black with a mesh like top so you don't have to worry about all those nasty little finger prints! This computer is blazing fast. It even takes less than 30 seconds to boot up. My previous Acer laptop made a little bit more noise compared to this model. This particular model is fairly quiet. You can barely hear it running. I especially love the bright 17.3 screen. It's absolutely beautiful! There is also a full numeric keypad and the keyboard has plenty of space. The keys are a nice size and have a spring like feel to them when pressed. The touchpad also has the multi-gesture feature where you can pinch and zoom ect. I don't particular like this feature. I bought a new wireless mouse to use with the laptop. I have never really liked the touchpad on a laptop. I prefer to use multi-gestures on my iPad. I also wanted to say that I was a bit surprised by how light the laptop is. I expected it to be much heavier. Acer did a really nice job with the build. It's a beautiful laptop at an affordable price. You are getting a lot for the price. If you are on a budget and don't want to spend the extra $100-$200 on Intel processor, I would definitely go with this option.

The only cons that I've noticed so far was that I only got just over 3 hours in battery life. There is also no Bluetooth which is a little disappointing. I got over it fairly quickly though. I don't use Bluetooth that often on my laptop. I also felt that the speakers were a little weak. If sound quality is very important to you then I would invest in some good quality speakers if you're going to go with this laptop. The sound quality isn't terrible but it could definitely be a lot better. Overall I'm happy with my purchase and feel like I got a lot of bang for my buck! I have included the technical specifications below in order to present them to you a little better.

-AMD Phenom II X4 Quad-Core N970 processor 2.2GHz

-2MB L2 Cache 4GB DDR3 SDRAM system memory (expandable to 8GB) Gives you the power to handle most power hungry applications and tons of multimedia work

-500GB SATA hard drive Store 333,000 photos, 142,000 songs or 263 hours of HD video and more

-8x SuperMulti DVD Double-Layer Drive Watch movies, and read and write CDs and DVDs in multiple formats

-10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet

-802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Connect to a broadband modem with wired Ethernet or wirelessly connect to a Wi-Fi signal or hotspot with the 802.11b/g/n connection built into your PC

-17.3" HD+ widescreen CineCrystal display

-ATI Radeon HD 4250 Graphics with 256MB of dedicated video memory and support for Microsoft DirectX 10.1

Additional Features:

-Built-in 1.3 megapixel HD webcam

-5-in-1 memory card reader

-3 x USB 2.0 ports

-1 x VGA port

1 x headphone/speaker/line-out jack

-1 x microphone-in jack

-1 x RJ-45 Ethernet port

-1 x line-in jack

-1 x HDMI port

-1 x DC-in jack

-6-cell lithium-ion battery, up to 3 hours battery life Software

-Genuine Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition

-Microsoft Office Starter 2010: Includes reduced functionality versions of Microsoft Word and Excel, with advertising. PowerPoint or Outlook are NOT included.

-McAfee Internet Security Suite Trial

Backup and Restore options built into Windows allows you to create safety copies of your most important personal files, so you're always prepared for the worst

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I use the laptop for everything, including my photography, post processing, and office work. It's quick and I haven't had any problems with it at all. The only reason I don't give it five stars is that the battery life is short. I can only work about 2 hours before I have to recharge it. I'm sure that has to do with the fact that it has a big screen and the display eats power. Still, I think they could have done better. I'm going to have to get an accessory battery charger for taking the laptop on photo shoots. I had hoped that wouldn't be necessary. Otherwise, this thing is screaming fast for my purposes. The keyboard is comfortable to use as well.

Best Deals for Acer Aspire 7551-7422 17.3" Quad Core 2.2GHz 4GB 500GB

PRO: AMD's FX Quad Core processor will definitely plow through your basic office tasks without hesitation. After a bit of adjustment, the keyboard works quite well under normal conditions, and the trackpad is better than most I've dealt with.

CON: Graphics is about average for student/home business use, unsuitable for gaming (no L3 cache, only 256 MB max memory, which is shared and set in the BIOS). 5400 RPM HDD is simply inappropriately slow for any use today. Out of the box you will spend hours doing security updates on Windows 7 (typical for anything out of Microsoft the last couple of decades), or you can spend about a half hour installing Ubuntu Linux and not have to deal with that mess, I did both do to the need of a few Linux programs I use regularly. There is no Bluetooth, something that I always thought to be standard on laptops the past few years (it created problems for me with several cameras that required it), but you can purchase the card separately and install it yourself if know how. Battery life is nowhere near half what was promised, from power-on to shutdown I got a maximum of 73 minutes (a lot was wasted in the boot-up process) under Windows 7 Pro, 98 minutes under Ubuntu Studio (Linux), far short of the 180 minutes promised, and this under very strict energy settings.

For business use, I can find no fault with this laptop, other than described above. Unfortunately, I purchased this laptop for entertainment, to keep my mind off the size of the needles being stuck into my spine. The slow hard drive, lack of L3 cache, and minimalist video memory combined to make playing any modern graphics-based games all but completely impossible. Without Bluetooth, I was also forced to work strictly offline with any video I captured, and the Acer could only communicate with my Blackberry via USB or WiFi. rather than the preferred (and to my mind much more secure) Bluetooth.

The only game I was able to get running was Microsoft Flight Simulator X (FSX), a simulator I've been playing with for decades in various incarnations. While FSX works just fine on my old Dell Studio 1737 (Pentium T3400), the Acer FX simply can't handle FSX due to the absence of any L3 cache at all, and the minimalist 256 MB vRAM didn't help matters. Best frame rate under FSX recommended settings was 5 fps, just under 20 fps if I set all the display settings to absolute minimums (not very realistic at that point, more like an old arcade game).

The upside I liked was the ability to upgrade the installed Win 7 Home Premium to the Professional version, something I needed in order to run certain XP based 32 bit programs I still need (no replacements for them yet), a feature that never worked right under Vista. I also installed the Ubuntu Studio version of Linux, which deals with my cameras (when connected via USB) far better than Windows (any version).

And, as usual for Microsoft, right out of the box I spent a long time doing "updates" on their latest software, mostly security issues that hackers were exploiting long before Windows 7 hit the marketplace here in the US.

All in all, however, this Acer cost me half in 2012 what I paid for my old Dell Studio 1737 in early 2009, so I think I got an okay deal on this one. Still, one must wonder what the good folks who built this thing were thinking when the hobbled the graphics so badly by omitting L3 and half the needed memory, especially in today's very graphics intensive computing environment.

This computer is only suitable for basic student/home office functions that do not involve heavy graphics or unusually complex mathematical functions (even some Zynga games on Facebook fail to work well, go figure). Those with such needs, or who are interested in a gaming laptop (which is what I was told I was getting) should consider another laptop and/or manufacturer. Otherwise, not bad for what I paid.

EDIT to add more information...

The laptop gets very hot (220+ F) when room temperature is above 74 and doing anything that is graphics intensive, likely owing to the under-powered graphics built in. The GPU is definitely the source of the heat buildup, and I strongly recommend downloading a utility program to shut the computer down if the heat exceeds 225 F (if you want the laptop to last very long). As most already know, GPU's cannot be replaced on laptops.

Honest reviews on Acer Aspire 7551-7422 17.3" Quad Core 2.2GHz 4GB 500GB

GREAT computer, I have no complaints, except for one: the speaker volume tends to be low. I had to buy an external speaker for watching some content on the computer. However,it is the best I have owned. Easy to use, and inexpensive!

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This was the cheapest by far amongst the various options for a Phenom Quad core 2.2 GHz and 17" or bigger screen.

To give an idea: Frys was selling a refurbished laptop with Phenom with dual core for 150 dollars more and WalMart had the same one for around 80 dollars more.

The look and feel was great it looked and felt new. The downside was that the laptop came with a lot key drivers missing starting with the wireless and LAN drivers. though there was a page with the information that buyers might have to download LAN and wireless drivers it could have been more comprehensive. The ACER site has both Broadcom and Atheros as options for the same model and it was not clear as to which one needed to be downloaded.

What they did not mention in their FAQ was that both the screen/display drivers, card reader drivers and audio drivers were not the recommended drivers but default ones from Windows. The Acer program for the web cam still does not work though the web cam works in skype and msn. There is also no firewire port.

To be fair, Tech Turn the seller did have a help number to call but they work Monday to Friday and since I received it on Friday evening it was not much use to me.

Once I got all the drivers set up a solid three hours of trial and error and downloading and installing straightforward stuff though no need to be an expert it works well and I am satisfied enough with the price / value of money equation to happily give 4 stars. (it is a solid 17.3" LED screen with a great quad core chip). TechTurn also had amazing delivery I had super saver delivery in 4 days.

Overall looks like a great Amazon purchase fingers crossed it is two weeks old as I write this review.

Cheap HP Essential 3105m XU009UT 11.6' LED Notebook - E-Series E-350

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This pc works really well for what i have got it for. for such a tiny 11.2 in pc it has a power to it, great vid card, and will work for what i tended it to do.

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I bought this notebook as a safety net in case my other systems had a problem. The size is just right for something that lays around my workspace and does not get in the way. The on board software was a real bargin as I needed the window 7 professonal. The more I use it the more I like it. Some days I don't turn my desktop on for the business day. Overall I am very satisfied and would buy it again.

Buy Apple MacBook Pro MC723LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

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List Price: $1,999.00
Sale Price: $1,945.00
Today's Bonus: 3% Off

First, a little background. Aside from a TI-99 we had when I was a kid and the Apple IIc computers at my middle school, I've always been a Windows guy. I feel very comfortable in the Windows environment and have been building my own PCs for about 15 years. I don't hate Microsoft. But when the need for another laptop became clear, I decided to focus my search on the higher end machines. I wanted good horsepower, but I especially wanted a nicer form factor than the creaky Dells I had become accustomed to. As I had fallen in love with the interface on my iPhone, I decided it was time to give MacBooks a try. I kept my Windows desktop in case I ran into compatibility problems.

The short version of that story is that I quickly dismantled my PC and now use this laptop as my only machine. I am fortunate to be able to do so because my work as an attorney requires only Word, Excel, and an internet browser. As a bonus, my copy of Lightroom 3 also installed on the MacBook. I'm trying not to sound like a Mac zealot, so let's have a list:

-Aluminum unibody is no marketing gimmick. It's sturdy and feels great with no flex and no creaking. Looks nice, too.

-Keyboard is well-engineered. The key travel and spacing between keys feel just right for my taste. There is no flex here, either, which I often find disconcerting on other laptops.

-Trackpad is a marvel. It really is. It's very large, but I've yet to feel like it's in the way. And the finger movements are intuitive and work very well.

-The screen is bright, clear and has great color. The reflectivity is sometimes an issue in bright locations, but I find tilting it a little solves most problems. Otherwise, you can custom order the anti-glare screen direct from Apple.

-The lid closes with a magnet, so there's nothing to break.

-It is very fast. In my experience, Mac OS X starts up and shuts down far faster than a comparably spec'ed Windows machine. I have yet to feel a need for 8 GB of RAM, but an upgrade would only cost $90 if you know how to do it yourself. Otherwise, I have no issues running lots of standard programs at once.

-Comes with Time Machine. As an attorney and amateur photographer, I have lots of stuff that needs to be backed up regularly and reliably. Time Machine works so well and so seamlessly that I can't imagine how I survived before.

-Spotlight is brilliant. Type in any word, and Spotlight almost instantly gives you results from your entire hard drive, including INSIDE your searchable documents, preferences, web results, and even definitions of words.

-Seven hours of battery life is very possible, even on wireless. I can sit in Starbucks for hours unplugged and still have plenty of life left. The caveat is that you really can only surf and use programs like Word. I also have Flash installed, which is a huge battery drainer, so I grabbed a Flash-blocking program that let's me choose which Flash files to activate. Nice solution.

-HD webcam. Nice quality, though I haven't really done more than messed around with it.

-The magnetic power cable is slick.

-As a former Windows user, I find the Mac OS X interface to be really nice and intuitive. There's obviously a learning curve, though I've found it be surprisingly short. Lion is anticipated to be a nice upgrade, too.

-PRICE! Well, a lot of people complain about the Apple premium, and it definitely exists. I found this laptop to be a few hundred dollars higher than the really nice Windows laptops with mostly similar specs, although I don't think comparing raw horsepower between two different operating systems is always an accurate benchmark. I live on my computer, so I'm willing to pay a little more to get what I want. It's like buying a BMW because you have to spend three or four hours a day in your car. Whether that value equation works for you or not is up to you and your checkbook.

-Anything I dislike? Not really. I'd like maybe one more USB port and a CF card reader. I'd love to start seeing cheaper SSDs in these things, but that's really not Apple's fault. Decent SSDs with any size are still expensive for everyone. I was a little nervous about having a 5400 RPM HDD. I think transferring large NEF files from the card reader might be fractionally slower. The tradeoff in battery life is probably worth it. Will Thunderbolt be worth it? Who knows? I don't care just yet, but ask me next year.

I know there's more to say, but I'm running out of steam. I'm happy to discuss anything in the comments.

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The update to the 15-inch MacBook Pro in February 2011 was significant. Indeed, significant may be an understatement when it comes to the increase of processor performance offered by the updated machines. Quick thanks to Amazon and Apple Stores for having these immediately available at launch.

The primary upgrade to this revision? The processor! Intel has a brand new architecture called Sandy Bridge, and these MacBook Pros are the first Macs to feature this technology. Some have called it some of the most significant changes to Intel architecture since Pentium 4 was introduced. These 15-inch MacBook Pros as well as its big brother, the 17-inch, not only take advantage of Sandy Bridge, but the Quad Core i7 Variant. Quad Core processor in a notebook Mac! Wow.

I actually chose the 13-inch model for my personal use (only Dual Core on the 13-inch), but a 15-inch is replacing an aging iMac at the office to save space and leap over its performance. These Quad Core Chips are amazing. Early benchmarks are showing this entry-level 15-inch, 50 percent faster than the upper end i7 15-inch MacBook pro from a year ago. A dramatic improvement. This higher end model is even better. Furthermore, if you're still on a Core 2 Duo machine such as the iMac I am replacing, the performance is as much as 2.5 times faster and 3x faster with this higher end model. At least in terms of the processor. This is most beneficial in processor intensive applications, for consumers such applications are iMovie and Garageband. Professionals will see the new processors beneficial in any professional photo editing, video, or music work.

This model also includes a fantastic dedicated graphics card with 1GB of graphics memory. 1GB of graphics memory is a a first for Mac notebooks.

One downside is that due to cost, the machine still comes with a spinning hard drive standard. In this case, the standard drive is a 5400 RPM 750 GB drive. That offers plenty of storage, but is slightly slower than a desktop 7200RPM drive and much slower than a new, solid state drive. You do have options. You can special order the machine from Apple with a 7200RPM drive, or Solid State Drive. However, what I have decided to do, is simply, when I'm ready, swap out the drive myself. Other World Computing sells solid state drives compatible. It might not be easy for every user, but for those with some computer experience, it is a fairly easy swap. Then I can install a faster solid state drive, when the more acceptable capacity drives come down a bit in price. You might also choose to do the swap yourself because you can then put the hard drive that was originally in the machine, into an external enclosure, and use it as an external drive for backup. Of course, any damage you cause to the machine would not be covered under warranty. Therefore, if you have any concern, you might want to see if you can special order from Apple online, or in many situations, you will find the standard hard drive to be acceptable.

After the processor advancement, Thunderbolt is the other great new technology included in this revision to the MacBook Pro. Thunderbolt looks like the Mini Displayport that was already included on the MacBook Pros. Indeed, it will still function perfectly as a Mini Displayport, for connecting an external display. However, Thunderbolt is more importantly a new interface to connect external devices in the future, such as, external hard drives, HD camcorders, and perhaps even iPads, iPods, or iPhones someday. Data would then transfer many times faster to and from these devices than it does currently. These devices were not available at the time of the MacBook Pro's launch, but we have already heard that external drives should be available later this year with Thunderbolt connectivity.

iSight camera has been upgraded to HD resolution and Face Time pre-installed on the computer. This gives you the ability to video chat, easily, with other Macs and notably, iPhone 4s and the newest iPod Touch with front facing camera.

The consumer software you expect to be included by Apple is once again here. The latest version of Mac OS X Snow Leopard (operating system), iLIfe 11 including iPhoto, Garageband, iMovie, iDVD, and iWeb is all here. OS X always includes Safari web browser, iTunes, and Mail applications too. The average user would be good to go out of the box. You might pick up Microsoft Office for your office document needs, or simply purchase Apple's iWork applications (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) from new Mac App Store on your computer.

The new MacBooK Pros, thanks to Sandy Bridge technology are fast. They will save you time, when using processor intensive applications. Time in business, saves people money and frustration. The average consumer might see less gains with this update as physically the MacBook Pro has retained it identical appearance, size, and weight. Nevertheless, under the unibody, improvements have certainly occurred which result in a much faster notebook. The fact that these 15-inch and 17-inch models now include Quad Core Processors standard is really extraordinary. This is putting recent top of the line desktop performance, into a sleek and attractive Mac Notebook. A breakthrough. Recommended Product!

Best Deals for Apple MacBook Pro MC723LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Apple MacBook Pro MC723LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop

I have spent months reviewing different laptops. I've gone through at least 10 laptops in the last year looking for that one laptop that I will be pleased with and keep for more than a year or two. I've had Acer, HP, Compaq, Asus, Sony, Toshiba, and others. Sony was the only laptop that didn't go FUBAR within a year or so.

So, I thought I would give Apple a shot and I was not disappointed. I first tried out a 17" dual core that was super but the resolution was just too small for my eyes and I returned it. But I was so impressed with the quality of the case, the screen (albeit the resolution too small for my eyes), the quality of the innards (no cheap stuff under this hood), the quality of the power cord, the very fast 800 firewire, the backlight keyboard, the ease of typing on the keyboard, and the mouse pad. The mouse pad on this laptop was the first one I have not had to disable while typing. I have no idea why we have been stuck with those stupid PC mouse pads for so long when the solution was so easy! On the Apple laptop you push the pad down instead of tapping it. This means the cursor does not move to some abstract place and you find yourself typing three pages back!

But, then Intel released their new Sandy chips. I figured that Apple would not use these chips for some time so I started looking at PCs again just for the new chip. I couldn't bring myself to buy a PC after owning a Apple. Fortunately Apple did release these new Macbook Pros with Intel's new chip with increased graphic memory and the new Thunderbolt. Plus Apple increased the speed of the memory.

I just could not help myself and I purchased this MBP 15" with the 2.2 i7 Sandy Bridge with the 1G memory. I am very glad I did. This laptop is fast. Its unibody case makes this the most solid and durable laptop on the market. The innards are easy to access to upgrade memory and the hard drive. Everything inside this machine is neatly arranged and is of top quality. The battery is rated for seven hours which is pretty accurate. The Mac OS is written to take advantage of the quad core chip, memory, etc. The LED screen is crisp and clear, and with the regular 1440X900 resolution I can easily use this laptop without any eyestrain.

I only have one puzzling complaint about this new laptop. Why in the world would a company build one of the fastest top quality laptops in the world and stick a hard drive spinning at 5400 RPM? Yes it is a 750 gigabyte drive, which few people including myself could never fill. But running at 5400 RPM? I just cannot understand this.

You can order the drive spinning at 7200 RPM or opt for a SSD on the Apple online store. The strange thing is that the 7200 RPM drive is the same price as the drive spinning at 5400 RPM. But that is not the point. Yes, most people will never notice the speed difference between a 5400 RPM and a 7200 RPM drive unless you are doing some pretty intensive media editing or are a avid game player. The point is why build a top of the line laptop and stick in a old busted down 5400 RPM hard drive like an afterthought. I fixed this discrepancy by installing a new Intel 160G SSD (solid state drive).

I have been using laptops since 1991 when they made great paperweights when they died. This is the best laptop I have ever owned. Do yourself a favor and try one. Even if you don't like it you can always return it. I don't think you will, but you do have that option.

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Pro MC723LL/A 15.4-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

I've been a power Mac user since its introduction in 1984, and have owned various portable and desktop configurations since then. Frequently, you will see major leaps in desktop performance, but it is rare to see dramatic improvements with laptops (you typically see 25-50% improvements). But I have to say, in all the Mac laptops I've owned since my very first PowerBook G4, this is the most dramatic leap in performance I've ever seen. Not only is it 2.8x FASTER than my mid-2009 2.66GHz Core2-Duo 15" MacBook Pro, it is slightly faster than my 2008 2.8GHz dual-quad-core MacPro!

I bought my 2011 MacBook Pro (2.3GHz quad-core i7, 15" high-res screen) as an upgrade from my mid-2009 15" unibody MacBook Pro. I wasn't expecting to be LITERALLY blown away by the raw computing and graphics performance of this update. I have run every standard benchmark suite in comparison not only with my 2009 MBPro, but also against my 2008 dual 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Xeon "Harpertown" MacPro. And to my surprise, this little wonder beats BOTH machines in CPU and graphics performance. Imagine carrying a laptop with true desktop power. My real-world tests (iMovie, Aperture, Photoshop and Nikon Capture NX) simply validate the benchmark results.

Here's what my tests reveal:

Geekbench: 10450 (vs. 3722 for 2009 MBPro vs. 9533 for 2008 MacPro)

Cinebench 11 CPU: 5.56 (vs. 1.53 for 2009 MBPro vs. 5.76 for 2008 MacPro)

Cinebench 11 GPU: 36.38 (vs. 13.77 for 2009 MBPro/nVidia vs. 26.51 for 2008 MacPro/ATI 5770)

Now THAT is impressive!

Even though the Intel "SandyBridge" core i7 processor in this Mac is advertised as quad-core, each core supports 2 simultaneous threads (8 operations), which you can literally see when running Cinebench. If your computing needs don't support multiple cores, the i7 can bump the speed of a single core up to 3.4GHz (TurboBoost) as well.

To truly match/replace your desktop environment, you'll need to replace the built-in hard drive with an SSD, because 2.5" hard disks, even in 7200rpm configurations, are much slower than their 3.5" desktop counterparts. I bought my SSD through OWC, and I'm seeing anywhere from 3-40x(!) faster performance for I/O intensive operations such as booting, working with VMWare/Parallels virtual machines, and processing large files (images, video, etc). It is simply the best investment you can make, if you can afford it.

Beyond the raw power, there are a number of incremental improvements over the 2009 model:

integrated Intel 3000 graphics, and ATI Radeon 6750M (dedicated graphics with 1GB VRAM)

1.33GHz memory backplane, supporting up to 16GB of RAM through third-party modules

new Thunderbolt interface using the Mini DisplayPort connector (super-fast 10Gbps interconnect for up to 6 devices, although no Thunderbolt devices are available yet)

Mini DisplayPort supports digital audio and video on a single cable (including HDMI with suitable third-party adapters)

higher-resolution FaceTime camera

SD slot now supports SDXC

updated optical drive (ingest mechanism is less finicky for me)

better battery life

The high-resolution screen in this model REALLY makes a difference over the standard screen (which I had on my 2009 model). The 1680x1050 resolution is the same as my older 21" Apple Cinema Display. I was afraid the higher resolution would make it harder to read (the text is smaller), but the brightness and wide-angle visibility makes this one of the best displays you can get in a laptop form factor. If you work in heavily-lit or outdoor environments, you might want to consider the anti-glare (matte) screen which is available in Apple's build-to-order configurations. Both dual and mirrored display configurations are possible simultaneously supporting full native resolution on the built-in display and up to 2560 by 1600 pixels on an external display, both at millions of color. Interestingly, in my configuration, I was only able to get an external HDMI display to operate on the high-performance discrete GPU only.

Another pleasant surprise for me was the battery life of this new 2011 model. Even with all that processing power, I'm consistently getting 6-7 hours of usable life (lightweight not heavy work). One big tip for saving battery life is to install the freeware gfxCardStatus utility, which lets you choose integrated only (much lower power), automatic, or discrete/ATI graphics. Apple's own Energy Saver system preference only lets you choose between automatic or discrete. And when you're running on the battery, this can be problematic because simply launching some programs (eg. PhotoShop) can force the discrete adapter. Like earlier designs, the battery is built into the unit and cannot be swapped or user-replaced. In practical use, I don't find this to be a problem because I'm getting the same extended runtime that I got on earlier MacBook Pros with 2 battery swaps.

Rounding out the compliment of ports (on the left side only) is Gb ethernet, FireWire 800, 2 USB 2.0 ports, audio out and audio in (both supporting analog and digital/TOSlink connectors). If there is any weakness, it would be nice to have a right-side USB port, or at least enough separation between the USB ports to not force you to use a short USB dongle cable with your 3G wireless card (if you want to use both ports).

As with Apple's other MacBook Pros, this model is built on their "unibody" construction, where the main case is crafted from a single piece of aluminum. This makes the laptop amazingly rigid, and also allows it to be lighter weight, thinner, and better at dissipating heat than more traditional laptop designs. Apple makes it easy to upgrade the memory or hard drive (you just need a fine #00 phillips screwdriver to remove the screws on the bottom plate).

One last note on this MacBook Pro Apple bundles a special build of OS X 10.6.6 which you will want to immediately upgrade to 10.6.7 using Apple's Software Update mechanism. (You can't apply the 10.6.7 combo updater since this version of 10.6.6 is later than the standard build). The "OS X 10.6.7 Update for Early 2011 MacBook Pro" includes an important fix for the discrete graphics processor under heavy workloads.

For those of you (like me) who still have older PowerPC software that hasn't been updated (Quicken!), this will most likely be the last generation of Apple notebooks to run on OS X 10.6.x "Snow Leopard". The next release of OS X 10.7 ("Lion") has removed support for running PowerPC applications (Rosetta). This alone was worth me upgrading to this model.

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I've used a pretty wide variety of both PCs and Macs, both for personal use and for work. I've used them for gaming, development, and run-of-the-mill tasks. However, my last two machines (three counting this one) were all Macs. I'm still a believer in the PC for hardcore desktop gaming, but as far as laptops go I'm pretty much sold on Apple. Why? Quite simply, Mac laptops are just a lot less fuss. They don't break down or exhibit weird quirks as often as PC notebooks, generally last longer on battery power, and take up less space. For my latest machine, I decided to splurge a bit and get something that can actually play gamesfully intending to take advantage of Boot Camp to run the loads of Windows titles I usually play on my monster desktop gaming rig. The 15" 2011 Pro with 1 GB video was the obvious choice: not so big I can't carry it around, yet with enough muscle to run anything in my library. Was it worth the huge price tag? In a word: yes.

Pros:

Case design is superior, not just elegant but functional as well. It's actually somewhat water resistant (don't ask) and very easy to clean. The form factor is slim and handyeasy to carry around.

Hardware layout is well thought out, and design is excellent. Speakers are positioned so the sound is crisp, almost as if you had externals. Camera is sharp. Trackpad is huge and very responsive.

Mac OS X is still the best OS out there. I must say, Windows 7 is a whole lot closer than any other previous incarnation of that franchise, but OS X still has it beat in many ways: no defragging, doesn't degrade over time (especially when used for software development), more stable, boots up and shuts down faster, and generally speaking more intuitive in UI layout. You'll also have a lot less to worry about as far as malware and spyware are concerned.

Screen quality is great, and the backlighting for both the display and keyboard are excellent. Note: I strongly recommend paying the extra for the high-res 1680x1050 display upgrade, unless you're always going to have your machine hooked up to an external display. It is totally worth it. Second note: if you do get this upgrade, don't bother with the anti-glare, as it's equally totally NOT worth it (you can get a third party stick-on that does the same for a lot less, and is removable).

Has enough power for pretty much anything. RAM/hard drive are easily upgradeablebuy it yourself and install it yourself; it's about as hard as loading VHS cassettes. This model straight out of the box can run most current games on max settings.

Dual boot is easy to set up. I'm running Win 7 64 alongside Snow Leopard for gaming purposes. Boot camp sets up all the drivers with little fuss. The only issues I've seen are that the graphics card switching doesn't work on Windows, which eats up battery a lot faster, and right clicking with the trackpad is a bit awkward. The latter is easily solved by hooking up a 2-button mouse.

Magsafe is awesome. I'd probably be out a few dozen machines from tripping over the cable if not for this simple yet brilliant feature.

Battery life is great. It doesn't usually last for 7 hrs as advertised; 5 hrs is more typical when doing various tasks. However, even that is huge compared to most similarly specced laptops.

For a laptop of this size with this power, it's really light.

Apple's customer support is top-notch. If you're in the US their stores are pretty much everywhere, and you can get same-day repair service in most cases. Try doing that with Dell or HP sometime...

Cons:

The mini displayport/Thunderbolt connector means you'll need an adapter for pretty much every different video device you hook up. They're a bit awkward to hook up and can get bulky if you have enough of them.

If you run 3-D intensive apps like most games the big video card turns on, and it runs pretty darn hot. When the fans kick in, it gets pretty loud.

Compared to some older unibody platforms, it's harder to get at the innards. You have to unscrew the whole bottom plate and remove it to even access the battery. For most users, though, this shouldn't be too big a deal.

It's considerably more expensive than a similarly specced Windows laptop.

Doesn't have a blu-ray drive, if you care. Most Windows machines in this price range do.

Is this machine for everyone? Probably not if due to the price alone, but I've found less to complain about than just about every other laptop I've owned. I'm still a fan of the regular MacBook for non-gaming/coding tasks due to its smaller form factor, lower cost, and lighter weight. However, it doesn't have the power to do anything more serious than video playback. If that's all you're going to do and ease of transport is a priority, then go for it. If you're planning on replacing a desktop or want some serious mobile power, then the Pro is a better choice.

Discount Toshiba C675D-S7109 17.3" Satellite Laptop 1.5" thin, Webcam

Customer Ratings:

My husband, who is very computer knowledgeable, and I really like this laptop for several reasons. The touch pad is not so sensitive that it moves my cursor while I type, The speed is reasonable and several other reasons. The only reason I did not give this laptop a 5 star is rating is that the power jack has a very loose fit and does not stay connected to the laptop so I am continuously pushing it in.

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Great value, nice screen, good for daily use.

This is the lowest price 17.3" laptop. Very very affordable, and well build, have almost everything I need.

I also bought a 60GB SSD for $50, and installed in this laptop. And this laptop runs like a rocket.

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However after playing with the computer for 2 weeks i later discovered that the computer kept giving me a warning notification saying: THIS COMPUTER DOES NOT HAVE A GENUINE COPY OF WINDOWS 7 INSTALLED" and another notification advised me that "YOU MAY BE A VICTIM OF SOFTWARE FRAUD".

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I received a brand new DEFECTIVE laptop. I bought this laptop (not through Amazon) for my very un-techy aunt, so when I received it I unpacked it to create an account for her and get some software installed/removed before turning it over to her. At the screen where you create an account name is where I realized what a POS this computer was. The keyboard was completely defective...most of the keys (at least 90% of the keys) did nothing. There were keys that did respond though...the backspace key inserted a "k", the "t" key inserted a "j", the "d" key inserted a semi-colon. None of the arrow keys worked. None of the number pad keys worked. The enter key did not work. I could not do anything with this laptop.

How this laptop got through quality control reflects on the the Toshiba brand, and based on this I will never buy a Toshiba anything again and will give that word of caution to all my friends and family.

Buy MSI A6000-225US Notebook PC - Intel Pentium Dual-Core T4500

Customer Ratings:

I bought this because it is a slightly lighter (under 5lb) 16-inch machine at a good deal. Here are my peeves in order of frustration level.

1. Wireless reception is VERY weak. I read about this on MSI Wind on other forums too. It cannot catch 802.11 n over a 2 story 2500 sq ft house. Only in the room with wireless router and the next room. All my other devices have no problems AT ALL. I can catch signals upstairs, downstairs, in bathrooms with other devices (laptops and iphones/ipods)...

2. Touch pad is slightly different for scrolling etc. from the Synaptics style so that's a little relearning curve.

3. Windows Update gave some failures. Could be a Windows 7 issue but I have not seen these on other Win-7 machine. And I haven't even installed too much SW or apps yet.

So if you want long-distance wireless or Synaptics style touch pad, this is not for you.

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Acer Aspire One A0722-0369 11.6" 2G 320GB Amd C-60 Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $415.09
Sale Price: $334.69
Today's Bonus: 19% Off

This is an excellent netbook and I am very pleased with the overall look and performance! I like the overall design for starters. It was easy to use, had all the right features including decent resolution and sound, and it is so lightweight I wonder if it's in the carrier case sometimes. If you're a serious gamer this may not be for you; but if you mainly do social networking, music downloads, blogging, journaling and internet browsing this is a great choice. It was easy to watch movies on as well and mine came with Nook (amongst other things), which I have as yet to use. It also worked well with my paranormal investigation equipment and a programmer friend described it as a 'dream' to connect up to a network.I highly recommend this netbook.

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I bought this amazing little computer for WiFi Internet use and for storing and playing back videos downloaded through the Amazon.com Unbox software. The display was great, and it played videos flawlessly; to me a miracle at the price point. Here I had everything my laptop has only without the DVD drive.

The problem is that the display developed a blue line down the middle that was there all the time. I researched and found that display problems seem to happen a lot with the Aspire One series of machines. Since I was within the return window, I deinstalled everything, wiped the data clean, and returned it. That was a lot of work for very little use. I'm thankful for the return policy, but not for all the wasted time commissioning and decommissioning this machine. It takes time to do that correctly.

I think Acer should have tested the display more before putting the machine into production. That said, I'm very open to buying a future version of this little miracle computer.

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I actually really like this netbook. It's the perfect netbook for someone like me who just needs it to do some online bill pay, Facebook, and general web surfing. I am also using it to save pictures, and so far so good. If you are a student, or someone who will get more than 6+ hours a day out of it, then I would go for a higher model. But this Acer has really impressed me.

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Bought this as a straight upgrade from my Asus 1001p which was 3 yrs old and having problems charging because of the plug port. Once you uninstall the bloatware that comes prepackaged with everything these days and optimize windows 7 to run better on your netbook (search google) it works very well. Obviously I'm not gonna do any video editing or play the latest games on it but for surfing the web, watching videos, listening to music, school work and all the basics its great. As a plus the charger port is bigger and sturdier than that on my old asus.

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It is hard to find anything substantial to complain about here. The two downsides I see are that the display is glossy and difficult to read in bright light (like most laptops) and that the construction appears relatively cheap.

Nevertheless, this is exactly what I wanted and expected, a more or less disposable small laptop that would run Ubuntu well enough. Never even booted up Windows. I installed the Ubuntu 12.04 beta. Everything works: wifi, standby mode, encrypted lvm. 2GB of RAM seems to be plenty for my use.

Discount HP 6910p INTEL Core 2 Duo 2000 MHz 80Gig Serial ATA HDD 4096mb DDR2

Customer Ratings:

overall a good laptop, light and portable. comes with Win7 along with a copy of Win7. I would definately but another if i needed it. I am thinking about replacing the HDD though, since it is really small at only 80gb

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Reviews of HP Pavilion g4-1215dx 14" Laptop (AMD A-Series Processor, 4GB

Customer Ratings:

Got this a couple days ago and am satisfied thus far. It's a budget laptop for sure. The screen will be difficult to see in direct sunlight as it reflects a lot. You can make it a decent cheap machine though by adding in some extra ram and maybe even putting a ssd sata 3 in it. For less than $50 I upgraded the RAM to 8gb and saw a substantial jump in the windows ratings.

This is the ram kit bought. However, this kit gives you 2 4gb sticks of identical ram to what it came with. Same samsung serial number and everything. You really only need 1, so if you can find one... go for it.

Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 Memory Module (CT2KIT51264BC1339)

Windows Experience Index with stock 4GB:

Processor: 5.3

Memory (RAM): 5.9

Graphics: 4.5

Gaming Graphics: 6.1

Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

Windows Experience Index with 8GB kit Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-10600 Memory Module (CT2KIT51264BC1339):

Processor: 5.3

Memory (RAM): 7.2

Graphics: 5.9

Gaming Graphics: 6.5

Primary Hard Disk: 5.9

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This machine has 4gb memory and a relatively powerful cpu. Great for everyday use such as internet, email, MS office and some gaming. For this low price, I cannot ask for more!

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This laptop is ideal for anyone with basic computing needs. I use mine every day for email, light gaming, and household finance. It is light, portable, and user-friendly.

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Purchased for my granddaughter who had been saving for laptop for a long time. It was very easy for her to set up and she has spent hours doing research for school, watching movies, playing games and is generally very thrilled with it. A very good product.

Dell Inspiron 15.6-Inch HD LED Laptop - Intel Core i5 i5-3210M 2.5 Review

Customer Ratings:

Its an okay Dell. However I found that the mouse touch pad is too sensitive and I can't find a way to fix it. It also over heats quickly and sometimes the screen freezes. I wouldn't buy it again.

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Cheap Toshiba Satellite A105-S101 Notebook PC (Intel® Celeron® M

Customer Ratings:

I got this to succeed an HP Pavilion AMD Duron ZE series laptop. I got the HP a few years ago after trying a lot of laptops, because I liked the keyboard feel (I typed without looking on many keyboards and the HP had the fewest keyboard-caused typos) and I found the text sharp. Over time I was held back by: 1) the sound never worked without stuttering, 2) even with a memory upgrade, it was very slow running XP SP2, and 3) the screen was hard to read in a brightly lit room. I could fix none of these, even after removing every memory resident program, uninstalling all unnecessary software, and using a professional defrag program. But the laptop otherwise served me well. One thing I learned about laptops: their performance is influenced largely by the rotational speed of the hard drive and the amount of memory you put in.

The Toshiba, which I got on sale, has been a joy. For a budget laptop, it is one of the few I have found with a 5400 rpm hard drive, and that has made a huge difference! I also added more memory (512 should be your minimum, but adding a 1 gig module is advised). Everything works quickly and I have found no little annoying things! The screen is marvelous: huge and bright. Dvd's are gorgeous, especially when using the Dvd player's widescreen mode. The sound is great. 4 high speed USB ports are wonderful, as they fill up quickly! The wireless not only works very well, but has a conveniently located on/off switch, so you can turn it off to save energy, a feature not available on the wireless card I added to the HP. I also like the fact that the Toshiba's only "extra" buttons are dvd-type controls (play, pause, etc.). I find too many extra buttons goofy. The Toshiba is also lighter than the HP and is thinner. I'm amazed.

On the down side, yes they saved money on the battery. I do not have experience of long battery lives on laptops in the past couple of years anyway, so I wasn't surprised. The battery comes out easily if you want to buy an extra. I'm used to taking my a/c adapter everywhere. Yet another pleasant surprise is that the a/c adapter is smaller and lighter than my HP's. Since I take it wherever I take the laptop, this is actually an important feature!

Overall, I'm thrilled. I've read some complaints about other variations of the Satellite line, but I have read of no problems with the A105 series, and this was a very important consideration for me.

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This is a nice computer, the low end of A105 series, the only major problem is you better put aside $144(on sale at Toshiba direct)for a 8cel high capacity battery, the one come with it is a 4cel(2000mah) that run for about 1hr to 1hr and 10min on a good day.

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I got this A105-S101 model on sale in January, 2006, and for the price it has been very satisfactory. Excellent for light office/work use and excellent for surfing the net.

However: 1) The DVD player does not function at all on moderately-worn rented DVD's, sound is distorted on lightto medium-used DVD's, and the DVD player is only satisfactory at best with brand new DVD's that have just been opened.

And: 2) All USB ports have ceased to recognize my Memorex M-Flyer

storage device, as well as all other plug-in storage devices. So what do I do now with the 4 USB port's...?!

And all my new documents I need to transfer to my Laptop...?!

Any suggestions...?!

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I am compelled to echo my felow Satellite owner from NV. I got this laptop on sale at Best Buy for $499 with a free RAM upgrade to 512. I needed to replace my 6-year-old Dell Inspiron 7000 that was just getting too clunky and trouble-prone, the main problem being it took a full 15 minutes to start up. Anyway I want to talk about the Satellite not the Inspiron. The 15.1 inch wide screen is deliciously beautiful. I cannot accent this point enough. Fantastic for web surfing, dvd viewing, digital snapshot sharing, Hauppauge USB TV viewing, anything. The sound is also top-rate, excellent stereo separation, which I was surprised to hear on most commercials when I started using my above-mentioned USB TV tuner, which I will review separately (minireview = excellent).

The weight is perfect for carrying around constantly for whatever use you may think of, this laptop is really an all-around jack of all trades.

Only reason I gave 4 stars instead of 5 is the short battery life. One hour seems to ne the limit, grossly short compared to my Dell Inspiron. Of course that is not a reflection on the laptop as much as it is on the battery just get a better one or a spare one.

Also need to warn buyers that what brings the price down markedly is the fact that it only comes (at least mine did) with a 6-monh trial of MS Word, Excel, & PowerPoint, but I solved this problem by backing up my 6-year-old Dell to a 300 gb Seagate external hard drive, and all those apps seem to run on the Satellite off the Seagate drive. Also, Sun has free beta programs that mimmick them.

So if you see this laptop in the $500 range, grab it you won't be sorry.

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Owned mine for a little over a yearbeen in the shop twice, once for the display failing and another time when the hard drive crashed. The "." button requires a sledge hammer to work at this point ( 1 1/2 years after pruchase), luckily I dont use it for other than surfing and simple games.

Runs pretty hot for the most partrecommend getting a cooling station.

Best HP ENVY 14-2130NR Notebook PC - Gray Deals

Customer Ratings:

I got this laptop 2 days ago. It came a day early... Thank you Amazon! It was up and running within minutes of being out of its box. It is a very sturdy machine, mostly metal, which is what I wanted. I travel about half the year in a truck so delicate machines just don't work for me. There wasn't really anything on the computer that I would consider to be bloatware. It runs as cool as a cucumber. I can sometimes hear the fan but it isn't a big deal. It is a "pretty" computer in an unusual sort of way. The keyboard is excellent for a touch typist. I like the option of turning off the touchpad while doing a lot of typing. The touchpad works just fine. The display is very good quality. I was afraid it wouldn't work well in sunlight but I can see the display in outdoor light (unless it is turned directly into the sun but who does that?)with no real problem save a little glare from the shiny surface of the screen. I'm not a computer geek and don't know much about the inner workings of a computer but I like this one. It works without alot of fuss and it is fast enough for a pretty impatient person! I have owned an old Macbook which I loved but could not afford to replace. I have owned a Compaq and a Sony Vaio. This computer, so far, is a better made machine than the Compaq or the Sony. I haven't had to deal with HP's Concierge Service or any other support service, which is a good thing, so I can't comment on that. I did a lot of research before making this purchase and I'm happy with the choice I made.

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First off, I must say that the description of this computer does it no justice, and neither do the pictures. This is a gorgeous machine. The laser-etchings on the outer shell make this a uniquely designed laptop that you won't see everywhere. The audio (beats by dre) sounds outstanding, at least for a laptop. For best sound quality, hook up a pair of your favorite headphones, beats or not, and prepare to be amazed. For the price, this computer can't be beaten. The keyboard is nice, especially when backlit and it is extremely easy to type on. Despite complaints in user reviews on other sites, the touchpad is actually not half-bad. People complained the multi-touch didn't work, yet I find that it works nicely. This is a very fast and user-friendly computer and it has a whole load of features that laptops in the same price range do not include. I give it 5 stars and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good, solid laptop.

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I was looking at all the pc options for inexpensive laptops with backlit keyboards, and this was one of them. The newer HP Envies either have really big screens, or are overpriced. I am writing this review after 4 days of owning this, and I am going to send it back. There are pros and cons with this laptop. I would have considered keeping it, if I didn't get a blue screen, after only 4 days, and after not running that many programs on it.

The good:

1.) Awesome keyboard and clickpad. Some things you have to go in and configure on the clickpad settings in order to get the best performance.

2.) Awesome Beats sound and speakers

3.) The fan was never too loud, and the laptop remained cool to the touch.

The not-so-good:

1.) The screen was definitely bright, but without the proper contrast, I was disappointed with it, as it was difficult to spend to much time on it. Also, the glare was too much at times.

2.) This laptop is heavier than my Dell 15.6" laptop! Definitely much bulkier than I expected for a 14".

3.) Not digging the design on the lid and the raised design on the wrist rest.

The bad:

1.) Took over a minute to boot up to windows, each time.

2.) Blue Screen of Death. Not good on a 4-day old laptop.

Maybe I got a bad one, I don't know. HP offered to send me a replacement, but I opted for a different computer.

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The HP Envy series has always been regarded as one of the best premium Windows laptops and this model is no exception. Make no mistake you will feel proud of this laptop's design. It is absolutely first-class. However, keep in mind it is a bit on the big side. While a little over an inch thick may not seem hefty, in practice I found when closed the laptop still seems a bit chunky. It doesn't help it's also pretty hefty in weight thanks to the all metal construction. Basically, it's far from "thin and light." If you're going to be carrying this around often that may be a concern.

The flipside to that is what I stated before, the design of this laptop is simply exquisite. Performance has also been very good. In my use it's always booted up very fast, particularly when coming back from stand-by. It also runs relatively quiet and cool. At times the fan can be audible, but not loud or distracting by any means. Still, you have to remember there's a lot of computer under the hood. Gaming is fairly respectable. Don't expect to play games like Modern Warfare 3 or Skyrim on high settings, but the simple fact it can run games like that with medium settings should give you a sense of how it handles graphics.

Overall, I'm satisifed with this laptop. Heavy weight and thickness, when closed, aside, you can't go wrong, especially in the $849.99-899.99 price range. However, if you truly want something that's thin and light, look elsewhere. This is not as thin or light as some may hope. If you're wanting something truly thin and light, look at models like the Sony Vaio S Series or Dell 14z, but keep in mind those will probably run you more money for an inch less in thickness and about two pounds less in weight.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP ENVY 14-2130NR Notebook PC - Gray

There's a reason Steve Jobs was on the cover of every national publication that mattered the day he died. He transformed the technology we use every day by creating products we LOVE.

Apple's brand love index is the highest of any major national brand, with good reason. Their products make our lives easier, more enjoyable and do so with so much innovation and operational integrity that other brands with similar products are often relegated to the shadows. Okay, so I'm an Apple fan and have grown accustomed to my iMac, Mac Book Pro, iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. But hold on, because HP (already a terrific company albeit with some fits and starts lately) has delivered a wonderful product in the HP ENVY 14-2130NR.

For a while now, my 13 year-old son has been desperate for his own computer. His previous computer (a mac) was sold to a neighbor who lost everything when Hurricane Katrina slammed into New York's Woodstock region with the force of, well, a nasty hurricane. Because my ex-wife is a generous sort my son's computer was enlisted to help this poor soul, which was fine with my son who's been coveting a PC laptop for some time. Why a PC? Games of course, and with the introduction of Windows 7 I couldn't argue. I'm a writer and though I'm all Mac at home, at the office I'm Windows 7. Sure the haters will slam Windows 7 for all it doesn't do, and for it's limitations, but for the average kid in middle school it's more than good.

Enter last week's search process for the perfect PC laptop. I guess my biggest eye-opener was how many models to choose from. With Mac it's simpler. Pick a screen size and you're pretty-much done. My son made the job easier by picking the HP brand, which has cache' with Millennials. Okay, but did there have to be so many models and options to choose from?

After scanning consumer reports, which always seems to be 6 months behind what's REALLY going on online and at retail, I settled on the HP 6180. I talked to the Philippines (offshore home of HP's sales and customer service brigade) and became more than satisfied that I was buying a fast, I7 processor, machine with many strong points. But wait a minute... was the screen too big, and what about no backlit keyboard?

Another scan of consumer reports led me to the HP ENVY 14-2130NR -actually the 2020NR -which was rated tops behind mac in the 14.6" category. After looking at, no lie, 15 models, I ordered the HP ENVY 14-2130NR from Amazon and I'm happy I did.

The laptop came in a day, was packaged in wonderful, innovative packaging, but that was only the beginning. The machine came out of the box working great. Setup was a snap. Sure there's a bunch of programs my guy could care less about, bloatware, but who cares? Here's what we got:

A fast I5 machine with 4G Ram, a 750G hard drive with a back lit keyboard, blue ray equipped DVD burner, USB 3 connections, all the wifi and camera connectivity built in, along with a sweet 14.6" screen for about $500 bucks less than a comparable Mac. The quality seems terrific. Everything works great, the machine is put together well, carefully, and I'm happy to report both HP and Amazon delivered in a big way.

Is the screen a little nicer on my Mac. Yes. Does my son care... not one bit. He's thrilled. The best news is even in this horrible, crap economy, my boy -with the help of my ex-wife and her boyfriend, both sets of grandparents and yours truly -now has a brand new laptop that he LOVES and can't live without.

I wish getting here was a bit easier. So, if you want a great laptop that rivals Mac but doesn't cost as much, with a backlit keyboard, nice fast processor, decent-sized hard drive with enough craftsmanship and design integrity to make even a Mac guy like me happy, then run don't walk to the HP ENVY 14-2130NR.

One last bit of advice. Amazon has been moving the price of this machine all around. I bought it for $849 minus a $50 gift card that was credited to me at purchase for a roughly net $800 price. As I write this review I see the machine is up to about $950. Here's what I would do... call HP and see what they can do. They offered me this machine for $760 on December 30, 2011. If I didn't need it to arrive the next day I would have done that deal all day long.

HP will deal. Amazon, wise up! But Amazon's customer service is first rate and the machine got here overnight.

Best of luck.

Cheap HP Pavilion dv6-6130us Entertainment Notebook PC - Gray

Customer Ratings:

Bought this laptop from Office Max late January. It was on sale for $410, but I had to buy $50 worth of accessories to get that price. Haven't seen that price anywhere else. I would pay much more for this laptop. I think it is built well, sturdy, not too big. It runs cool and has enough power for a casual laptop user such as myself. I use it to surf the web and stream sports and other video. It does everything I need it to with ease, plus it stays very cool. Beats Audio is the best laptop sound I have heard. I know people with Toshiba and Acer laptops and the sound quality is not nearly as good as this laptop. The keyboard is a good size and includes a number pad, which is nice. Screen is bright and crisp. Appearance of laptop is quality as well....it has a brushed stainless steel look. Definitely one of the better looking laptops. I researched laptops for a couple months and found HP to be one of the better units when it comes to quality of materials. I thought Samsung, Toshiba, Acer, and Asus laptops felt cheap in comparison to this laptop. Keep in mind I was looking at laptops in the $400-$500 range. Many of the aforementioned laptop companies improve in quality drastically when you go up in price. I was definitely looking at the base model price range. That being said, this is not a base model unit. This is a mid-range unit that belongs in the $500-$600 price range and will compare to any other laptop in that range. Go to Best Buy and see what you can get for $500-$600 and you will see this is a superior laptop to others in that range. I have been very happy with my purchase. I had to contact HP Support on a couple occasions during setup. Support is hit or miss with any company. The first person I talked to was not much help. The second person I talked to was very helpful and knowledgeable, and he helped me solve my problem quickly. The problem had to do with connecting to my network and had noting to due with computer malfunction. Overall I am very happy with this computer and would buy it again if I needed another.

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I bought this computer for about 510 bucks thinking it was worth but i now have some complains and i also have to send it to HP to fix the webcam.

1. Is weakly built, and the plastic covers above frontal speakers broke and became difficult to use it.

2. The webcam unplugged from the MoBo, and i have to send it to be repaired.

3. Extreme overheating with low-res games. Playing GTA SA or RE4 makes the gpu overheat and smells like burned.

4. Poor GPU. You can't run smoothly a game. Works Fine with arkham asylum but temps increase inmediately.

5. Disk tray screams while reading a dvd.

If you want something to play videogames during a trip or at home, don't buy it, just go for a AMD hp or a Sony/toshiba/samsung or another great computer.

Best Deals for HP Pavilion dv6-6130us Entertainment Notebook PC - Gray

A good deal for a very good price, much better than I first thought. A Fully loaded device in a nice and prestigious look.

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion dv6-6130us Entertainment Notebook PC - Gray

Buyer Beware! Anytime you select an HP product, you are stuck with the worst tech support in the industry. You had better learn how to fix it yourself!

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Bought this laptop in November. The webcam never worked and now it will not even turn on!!! Seller says they do not warranty after 90 days! HP is no help!!! So basicly I bought this laptop about 6 months ago and now I am going to have to buy another to replace it and it will not be a HP!!!!!