Cheap HP Envy dv7-7240us 17.3-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I replaced my dell inspiron with this laptop, and I was quite impressed when I first layed my hands upon the envy dv7.

EXTERIOR DESIGN:

It has a very solid chrome-like feel. It isn't made of plastic except for the outer edges of the screen (which most laptops these days are trending to have), but the rest is very sturdy. It has an LED-lit HP logo, and also a light if you plug in your computer through the ethernet via the ethernet cable. A small warning would be that the light is particularly bright, but that does not bother me one bit when I go to bed, as it is all personal preference. Another smaller LED light is next to the charger port, but compared to the other lights, this one is barely noticeable.

The Keyboard is very sleek, living up to my expectations. The keys are able to be lit-up with a bright white LED, which can be turned on/off at any time of preference. Overall, the keyboard is nicely done and comfortable to use by HP, as all other Envy models. Same goes for the mousepad.

PERFORMANCE:

I was impressed in that they lived up to their spec's expectations. It boots up very quickly from a hard shutdown to a working desktop in around 20-30 seconds. With 8 gb ram, multitasking is strongly encouraged, with a 2.5 gHz clockspeed processor. However I must note that this is note a gaming laptop. Intel HD graphics 4000 is at the very low end of the graphics card department, but that does not drag down my experience with this laptop. Intel is still known for delivering crisp and simple graphics, though it isn't made for anything too graphic intensive. Another thing to note is that for some odd reason, all of my youtube videos seemed to stream inexplicably slowly. I upgraded to the latest version of adobe flash, but I would have to wait to stream anything that is 360+, forcing me to watch videos at 240p. Despite this huge letdown, overall the general performance was generally good.

The camera was flat-out average, with the mio. Nothing was too impressive here, it was all standard.

The sound was impressively loud. I would always be shocked of the capabilities of noise being produced by the Envy dv7, though I wish the subwoofer can do more of the base work. The sound quality was kind of a let-down. I could feel the base change as I toggle it through the Beats program, however the change is not very noticeable. This is not a problem for me though, because I usually only use my laptops at home, with built-in conveniences such as another external 3-inch creative sub woofer with surrounding speakers.

OVERALL:

Pros:

-Fast in general for basic use

-Great specs for price

-Great sturdy build

-Loud built-in speakers

-Great layout with lit-up keyboard and comfortable mouse pad

-17.3 inches delivers crisp experience

Cons:

-Not made for anything graphic intensive like games

-Youtube streams very slowly (may be just me)

-Camera and mic are average

-Speaker quality didn't live up to the hype it has received

I am not saying anything about windows 8 because I feel like it should not affect a PC/laptop's rating in general. I feel like if you want to review 2 stars on a laptop just because you strongly dislike windows 8, you should review windows 8 directly somewhere else.

OVERALL= 4/5

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

On November 15, 2012, I wrote this review: Hadthe beastfor 24hours now and used it about 12 of them. LOVEall thevisualreal estateof the 17.3inch display. Stilltrying to wrapmy mind aroundWindows 8.The keyboard is makingme crazy. The touch isso uneven.Size is great, almost asbig asmany desktop keyboards. But the keys all seem torequire different pressure. I am leaving all the spacebarerrors in place so you can see howthat just isn'tresponding totouch in anypredicatble manner (I am fixingmissingorduplicatelettersforreadability,butbeieveme,itcangetstrange).The tinyup anddown arrowsin the directional array areabitannoying, asismoving tothe up/downon the numerickeypad. Numericisanice feature to have.

The speed is impressive, bootsvery quickly, goesfrom fullshutdown to ready in about 20 seconds. Movesamong appsblazingly fast,no lagtimeasit repaintsthe screen,exits and shuts downwithease. Set upfor anewmachine was easy withthe offer of standard orcustom. There arequite afewset up chpoice available in Custom, which I liked. I wasonlinevery quickly, itseemed the longesttask wasgetting the passwordfor the securenet.

Whilemany peoplearegoing forsmallerandsmallerlaptops (wonder when laptops and iPhoneswill converge?) I chooseto go big screenbecasue I usemy laptop forreal work. Iwantedessentialya desktopthat I couldtake with me. Idoalot ofpublishing and like to be able to seelayouts andgraphics clearly. Also,I canshowslideshows tosmall groupswithout need for aprojector.

Thescreen is allI'dhoped.The speed is all I'dhoped. Thekeyboard,forall itis extremelyattractive, just seemsbroken fortyping.

Added November 28: After working with HP Tech support, which was very polite and useful and agreed I had a hardware problem, I then went to Amazon customer support, which arranged for me to get a new, replacement laptop, and ship the defective one back no cost to me. The new one arrived and--after Thanksgiving holiday--I had time to explore the Envy.

The same delights: speed, graphics, big display, fast boot and shut down, fast change between apps, were all there. The keyboard works well, and I notice, the mouse buttons are easy too. After a day or so of typing, I am as fast as ever I was on my other keyboards. In fact, the keyboard has a nice feel: a gentle travel, responsive, nice space between keys to lessen the dread two letters/one touch problem. The ports are good, the SD up front is good design.

I'm upping from the original three stars to five. It is a handsome, quick, useful, easy to use, much more than adequate to my current needs. I don't regret the earlier review, HP's quality control should have caught that. I'm very glad I bought from Amazon. Their excellent customer service made the small increase ($6)over the lowest online price well worth it.

Best Deals for HP Envy dv7-7240us 17.3-Inch Laptop

I bought this computer to replace my old HP Pavilion dv7, works well, looks great, sound is bomb and it is a whole lot faster than my old computer. Only issue I have is that the LED light on the side that is on when you plug the power in, is waaaay too bright. So if you have this in the same room while you are sleeping plugged in it can be a problem though I just unplug when I sleep.

Honest reviews on HP Envy dv7-7240us 17.3-Inch Laptop

I needed a laptop with a large screen and a solid processor. This seemed to fit the bill. It arrived quickly and was well packaged. It. The screen is crisp and clear and the full size keyboard is quite usable. The sound is also very good. It has held up to well to minor abuse. I am also quite pleased with the battery life.

The only short coming is windows 8. It is extremely infuriating. The "metro/modern" interface (the tiles) may have limited usability on a touchscreen (which this is not) but not in any other significant capacity. Navigating through it was an effort in frustration. Additionally, every time my mouse got to the edge or corner of the screen, some kind of windows related pop up would appear. This slowed me down as I waited for it to recede. Additionally, various build in PDF, picture, and video player/viewers were not at all user friendly. Fortunately, I was able to fix most of these issued. By using Adobe PDF reader and VLC video player as the default, I was able to replace the incredibly frustrating native Windows 8 viewers. I was also able to solve the windows 8 usability issue.

While I was researching laptops, I found references by others to a program called CLASSIC SHELL. I had not used windows 8 previous and within 30 seconds of full boot up that it would be a mandatory installation. It installed quite easily and Windows 8 went from being a (to be polite and thereby less accurate) tremendous headache to being usable. It removed the worthless Metro/modern/tile interface, provided a standard start button, allow for disabling of the edge of screen pop ups, and provided easy access to all of Windows functionality. In other words is basically made it like previous versions of Windows. Without CLASSIC SHELL, I would have been forced to return this computer for one with windows 7.

This computer would have rated 5 stars except for the fact that it came with Windows 8. It would have been rated 2 stars except that the problem that is windows 8 was so easily fixed.

Would I recommend this to others? Yes but only with the above mentioned fixes. Otherwise, no. Windows 8 isn't worth the frustration.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Envy dv7-7240us 17.3-Inch Laptop

I am happy with the purchase of the 7240us laptop, i am having a hard time with windows 8 ,but i will figure it out soon.

Reviews of ASUS U38N-DS81T 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Dark Silver)

Customer Ratings:

I was quite impressed with several items on this computer:

1) The overall build quality is excellent, and the fre laptop case was a nice (and unknown by myself) touch

2) After removing most of the Asus bloatware and putting the computer power settings on the Microsoft balanced settings I found that the battery life improved significantly. Also the fan noise greatly decreased as the processor can now idle properly.

3) The performance of the processor and full bore is also quite good (6.2 processor score and 6.6 gaming graphic score on WEI) more than sufficient for any application with the exception of high end gaming and video editing/compression

4) Fantastic monitor. I am not even sure what is the next cheapest laptop you can get with a high quality 1080P TOUCHSCREEN monitor.

5) Very light overall. Honestly if it was much lighter I would be concerned about its overall structural integrity as a touchscreen computer.

6) Although I have previously installed windows 8 on a desktop, using it on a touchscreen laptop is a significant improvement. I find myself able to find a sweet spot for when to use the touchscreen (which can also easily pull up a keyboard) and using the actual keyboard. I find it better than either a traditional desktop/laptop or a tablet.

7) The only negatives I have are the initial bloatware (which can be easily removed) and the trackpad/mouse on the keyboard. The trackpad is actually too sensitive and it takes some time to be able to type on the keyboard without activating the trackpad.

Strongly recommend this computer as I know of now other which can do as much as this computer for less than $1000.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I have been using this laptop for the past month and could not be more pleased! It has exceeded all my expectations and my friends are envious. The Look and feel, Size, AMD A10 processor, and Touch Screen... ALL for under $800 is a total deal!!

Looking forward to seeing what's next from Asus\AMD!!

Best Deals for ASUS U38N-DS81T 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Dark Silver)

Pros:

Slim and sleek. Absoluteyly gorgeous

Fast Boot up

Crytal clear screen

back-lit Keyboard

Lighweight

Cons:

Extremely short battery life for AN ULTRABOOK.

Desktop and touchsreen windows freezes once in a while with only two windows open very annoying for a brand new and slightly powerful ultrabook

Conclusion: I will return this laptop because of it's extremly low battery life barely three hours when watching a movie and web browsing. However, if you are always plugged-in I highly recommend this laptop.

Honest reviews on ASUS U38N-DS81T 13.3-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Dark Silver)

My wife purchased this for me from Tiger Direct a few weeks back. Previously I was using an HP notebook and liked it except for the weight and bulk.

The screen is amazing super HD you wont believe how some pictures look on this screen. It is also super light and thin and amazingly fast. I was a little suspect of Asus quality prior to this but this unit has changed my mind! Great unit and worth every penny!

Acer Aspire 13.3-Inch Ultrabook / 3rd Generation Intel Core Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,399.99
Sale Price: $1,045.00
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

This is by far the best laptop computer I have every used, though it does have a few flaws as we all do. This is my response after about 3 weeks of daily use.

First the PROs:

1. It is as described very light and thin. I switch from use of this computer to another frequently and the heft and size make this movement easy to do without requiring movement of everything else on my desk. I like it!

2. The speed of the i7 chip and of the two solid state "hard drives" are also as described fast to recalculate large spreadsheets and quick to load any program. I have never had this performance available to me short of some sort of mini-computer.

3. And one is spoiled by the responsiveness of the solid state flash drives.... I don't ever want to go back to the performance of what many of us remember in the 1980s as Winchester hard drives which at that time we thought were above our expectations! Programs seem as if they instantaneously load.

a. I deliberately bought a unit with two 128 Gb solid state (flash) drives. After I loaded a normal (but not "extensive") array of programs I had only about 128 Gb of flash storage available for data and other programs. I needed that second drive and I anticipate most others will as well.

4. The solid state drives provide another advantage I never shut the machine off. I just save my files and close the cover when I am through work. There are no moving parts, no heat is being generated. The programs are in the condition as left at shutdown when I restart.

5. The unit is rugged. When I open the display by lifting from the left-hand corner, there is no strain on the display or movement of the chassis.

6. The screen is bright and easy to read from most any angle associated with my use.

7. The published (CNET) concern about not having enough ports is unwarranted at least for my use. It comes with a Bluetooth connection AND very nice Logitech Bluetooth Mouse. It also comes with an HDMI port AND an adapter to connect HDMI to VGA (for my large flatscreen monitor). So there remain unused two USB3 ports and a Thunderbolt port.

8. Music sounds both very well and adequately loud through the backward pointing sound system. I think sound from laptop computers has finally become adequate!

Then the NEUTRALS:

1. The fit and finish are smooth; the unit feels solid, balanced. The chassis is of jet black anodized metal; it's not shiny. There is no special appearance factor, except that it is thin and looks just OK.

2. The published (CNET) concern about lifetime of the lift system which exposes the array of ports at the back for use appears also unwarranted. Actually, this lift is nearly always in the upward position (exposing the ports) because it also raises the computer frame to allow improved heat transfer from the chassis. In my experience, the lift is nearly always in the up position to improve heat transfer or to expose the HDMI port for use to drive my flatscreen monitor.

3. Keystrokes are solid despite the presumed short stroke length with a thin chassis. They are not "springy" or "dead."

4. The keyboard is not backlit as are some on other machines. That's the single feature I missed on this machine

Finally the NEGATIVES:

1. The thinness comes with a price. Necessarily, the power switch (located on the back left side of the frame) is very thin, and hard for me to activate with finger or thumb. This flaw stops being annoying and becomes difficult when I have to hold the power switch down for 6 to 8 seconds in order to reboot (that does happen, especially with Chrome!).

2. The keyboard is a compromise, as I suppose one would expect with a thin/lite computer with a 13.3" screen.

a. While it has all the normal set keys, some of them are hard to access. and and half size and only accessible through simultaneously pressing the blue Function key. For those who use spreadsheets, this is a drawback.

b. And for those who use a word processor or Adobe Reader, both the and keys are impaired by being half-sized sharing and respectively.

c. The good news is that there are two broad keys, that the and keys are full-size. Four function keys are unused: , , , and . However, these keys do work in other programs.

d. The normal "full-size" keys are slightly smaller than those of an Asus laptop with a 13.3" screen which is not "thin" and "light" which has no half-sized keys.

3. It's overpriced! The Decide (http://www.decide) rates it on July 3, 2013 as a 71 on a scale of 100 with values above 90 being excellent buys and below 60 being "don't buy." The price from Amazon on that date was $1,099... From about late April to late May the price from Amazon had been between $925 and $975. I got it in late May 2013 for the lower number! The thing is that one really is socked for the second 128 Gb flash drive as the same machine with one flash drive sells for $710 at the same time.

And one more aspect of this purchase. Since it was actually made from an Amazon associate firm, they are not bound (apparently) bound by Amazon's pledge to collect sales tax in Texas. That outcome saved me nearly $1000!

SUMMARY

This is a fine machine. I would buy another at a favorable price.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Best laptop I have ever owned. Thinnest, lightest laptop on the market. Uses two solid state drives in a RAID array that gives it the fastest read/write access of any laptop. Had issues getting the bluetooth mouse to work, as another reviewer pointed out, but once I fixed that it works beautifully (i deleted the existing driver, let windows install driver, now it connects automagically just fine). Long battery life, maybe 6+ hrs. So slim, light, long battery, love the aesthetics of this laptop.

Best Deals for Acer Aspire 13.3-Inch Ultrabook / 3rd Generation Intel Core

I like it so much!,

Lightweight: weighs very little

fast: turns and loads in less than 10 seconds

comfortable: small intestine, you can carry around

powerful: good processor, good RAM, fast hard drive

I recommend it 100%

Honest reviews on Acer Aspire 13.3-Inch Ultrabook / 3rd Generation Intel Core

I purchased an Acer 13.3 Ultrabook (i7, 256GB SSD). While the ultarbook seems to be very fast, the display awesome and the size and weight are prefect for travelling. However, I ran into a small problem with the mouse and had to go through an awful and arrogant Acer Technical support service. The product came with an Acer Blue-Tooth which was not recognized by the notebook. I tried the chat facility first. It took hours to go through the entire procedure to address the problem. The advice I got re-install the OS and loose everything you have already installed on the computer. This did not seem to be the right approach, so I tried the support number. I was told that the product warranty does not support peripheral and that I would need to pay for the phone support. After spending hours and losing my temper I was routed to a supervisor. He repeated the unbelievable claim that the warranty did not include peripheral support. He suggested that I purchase a USB mouse. It took me a while to convince him that the purchase included an Acer Bluetooth mouse as the pointing device and it should work as advertised. He finally agreed to send another mouse. The problem was resolved immediately after I received the replacement mouse. The conclusion the product may be fine but do not expect to get good warranty or other support after you purchase it.

Acer Aspire 13.3-Inch Ultrabook / 3rd Generation Intel Core i7_3517U Processor/ 4GB DDR3 Memory / 256GB Solid State Drive (SSD) / HDMI / USB 3.0 / Bluetooth / Win 7 Home Premium / 2.65 lbs (Black)

Reviews of MSI G Series GT780DX-406US 17.3-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

OK, it took me months of searching for a notebook. I started looking for a notebook around August and there were a couple of them that piqued my interest. That list included the Asus G74, Alienware M17x, HP Envy 17, and the Dell XPS 17. I wanted a gaming notebook, but more then that I wanted a notebook that would be future proof for a couple of years well as my Gateway FX was when I bought it. Knowing this, I know for sure that I made the right choice. I started looking at the MSI GT780DX after I heard these newer core i7 processors were coming out, I decided right away that the 2670QM was right for me. At that time when I purchased this notebook all of the above listed notebooks, except the Alienware had these newer processors. So why did I choose this notebook? GTX 570M at a price that no one else can beat. At the time of this writing, there is no other brand that even offers the GTX 570M as an option. Its 15% faster then the GTX 560M and not much slower then the GTX 580M, and with the overclock option on this MSI, it's not that hard to reach this 580M stock speeds.

So when it was finally time to choose I bought this over the G74SX, those were my two final choices and the MSI was more appealing to me. Better audio system, 5 USB vs 4 USB, Matte display vs glossy display, an unbelievable multicolored changing keyboard vs a regular white keyboard, and in my opinion better styling (debatable of course). Not to mention this MSI was only $50 more and what you get in content was worth a lot more then $50, I would argue the multicolored back-lit keyboard alone is worth that price. Also, this comes with a DIRT 3 voucher where you get the game for free. You just scan the code or take a picture of the voucher, and attach it to the online form, and a couple of days later AMD emails you the game key and you download the game (Have not received mine yet).

So OK, on to the notebook lets start with the speakers. The speakers truly are phenomenal, I have known about Dynaudio for quite some time, a lot of Volkswagen cars use this audio system and the speakers are very solid, just like they are in the cars. I listen to all types of music from classic, all the way to Rap/RNB/Country/Rock and have never felt disappointed with the audio, great job here. The keyboard is wonderful, I love the spacing of the keys, it took me only one day to be able to use this keyboard perfectly fine. It really feels like you are typing on a desktop keyboard, anyone should catch on quick. The back-lit keyboard is truly amazing, you can use many different color combinations, and have different types of settings on the back-light. You can have the keyboard breath, wave, dual color mode (the keyboard changes between two different colors), and gaming mode. Gaming mode is intelligent, it only lights the left hand side of the keyboard so the other keys don't get in your way especially when gaming at night. Another nice thing about the keyboard is they put the windows key on the right side, so you won't hit it while gaming!

I have run some benchmarks already, 3DMark06 and Crystal Disk Mark. Both have blown me away, I am getting a score of 17500 in 3DMark06 and for Crystal Disk Mark I am getting read and write times at 125! That is very fast for a normal mechanical HDD, I was expecting about 100 read and write but 125 was very unexpected. This notebook comes with a Western Digital Scorpio Black drive which is known to have great performance. I have not run any other benchmarks yet, and have not overclocked the notebook using turbo mode to run benchmarks, I will update the review and add this in. Before I go, I have to add one thing, this notebook like any other notebook on the planet is not perfect. There are two gripes that I have, the first thing I don't like is the touch button you have to press on top of the keyboard to open the DVD drive, it is not intuitive. I tried to open my DVD drive while I was restarting my computer, and had to wait until windows booted up all the way to open up the disk drive, very annoying. If there was a physical button, it would have been able to open right away. The second problem I have, is those touch buttons in general. Maybe its just me, but it doesn't seem responsive, you have to hit it exactly in the middle for it to work, and it's hard because these button are not lit period! So you have to actually look very closely to even see especially at night time. That's something I hope MSI considers on the next revision of this notebook, give those buttons back lighting so you can actually see them without having to put your head against the screen at night. It lights up when that key/feature is activated, but still that is not enough, make it another color when it's off so people can still know its disabled.

So overall, I have to give it 5 stars. The value, GPU, build quality, keyboard and the speakers are all truly phenomenal for any notebook under 2 grand. My gripes are minor and something I can live with, for every one thing I hate, there are 5 things I like, this is how a notebook should be made, great job MSI!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I previously owned a MSI GT735 laptop and was very satisfied with its quality and performance. However, it was aging and I'm one who tends to like the latest technology. After searching new models and reading reviews, I decided to by another MSI, the GT780DX. I did not order mine from Amazon but from an online retailer of gaming laptops. All, I can say is this laptop is just beautiful. It is built tough, uniquely designed, and performs better than my expectations.

Screen +

Coming from a glare type screen, the matte was a concern before ordering this laptop. I'm very pleased with the matte screen and really like it more than my glare type. The screen on the GT780 is much brighter than on my old GT735 so that makes a difference as well. If matte is a concern, don't fret because it is probably better than what you have.

Keyboard -

The keyboard is the only issue I have with this laptop. I had read reviews of keyboard problems with the GT780 series, but I was hoping MSI and Steelecase had worked out those bugs before I purchased. I had an issue with the spacebar not working when the bottom left/right were pressed. I fixed this by gently lifting up on the spacebar which seems to have reseated the key. Also, the down arrow key won't register if the bottom edge is not hard pressed. I've used many laptops and I've never seen a keyboard which required the key to be pressed dead-center. A couple of other keys also won't register if they are pressed on the left edge. I have an open RMA with MSI to fix/replace the keyboard. Not wanting to be without the laptop for up to two weeks, I'm waiting on a convenient time before sending it for repair. Too bad they won't send me the keyboard and I'll replace it myself :). Other than that, I've had no other issues with my keyboard. It has no flex and keys are easy to press with minimal pressure (except noted). The lighting, as you know, is an added benefit and is evenly lit across the board. The lighting is not a bothersome feature. In fact, I forget it's even there.

Touchpad +

No issues and it works very well but I have seen better. Pleased with its performance and I am very picky about touchpads. I've worked on family laptops which had touchpads that were horrible to use. The touchpad buttons are easy to press and they do make a click sound...they are not silent. The pad is hard plastic and not the rubbery, softer pad.

Build +

Very well built machine all around. Feels very solid. Screen hinges have just the right amount of tension. The power brick is huge. I thought my old brick was big, but this one is about an inch wider and longer. I don't have a ruler nearby but estimated it to be 3"x6.5"x1.25". One of the features I like about MSI gaming laptops is the rear power connector. This allows me to site anywhere without a power cord stretched across my lap. My old laptop's power adapter had a right angle, where this one is straight. I prefer the angled adapter because it places less tension on the cable. The DVD drive has no eject button. You have to press a button on the S-bar to eject. This is my first machine without a button but so far it has not been an issue for me. I sorta like the s-Bar eject feature over searching for an eject button on the drive.

Sound +

Couldn't believe my ears. There is a demo which comes with this laptop called Stone Giant. Run it to hear the full effects of this laptop's sound quality. The program is difficult to exit however, so I had to watch the entire show. Run it full resolution. Don't expect booming base because the laptops just don't have the speakers capable of such but the clarity is astounding.

Very pleased with this laptop thus far.

Games played with no issues on max settings, (WOW, Ultra settings, obtain 60fps in SW), (Crysis 2, max Settings), (Battlefield 3, max settings). Laptop fans will kick in (they are quiet) and blow some warmer air when playing these games on max settings. The laptop has a touch button to increase fan speed to assist removing the hot air (noticeable noise of course).

Installed a Samsung 830 series,128GB SSD, . Now getting bootup to Windows login in about 12-15 seconds. Windows login to desktop is about a second.

Best Deals for MSI G Series GT780DX-406US 17.3-Inch Laptop

This is more of a review concerning MSIs business practices rather then on the PC itself. Laptop was received quickly from Beach Audio. I went to install SWTOR and it failed on the first DVD. 5 minutes later I had a Blue Screen crash. The laptop has since crashed so many times I lost count. I emailed MSI and left numerous voice-mails and finally received a reply. Seems this laptop has a bad MB and get this! MSI wants me to pay to ship it to them to fix their defective laptop! If I return it to the Amazon etailor the only way they will pay for shipping is if I order another laptop and charge my credit card again and wait 2 weeks for a credit back to the card, but if I just want to return it I have to pay shipping!!! I really wanted to love this laptop it has many nice features, but unfortunately it has given me nothing but problems. I tried many different OSs, HDs and memory configurations, but to no avail. What a waste of my time! MSI needs to learn how to service customers immediately and with proper procedures.

attached are some other comments about MSI...MSI support is terrible...I got a MSI GT780r after 2 weeks got an RMA# send it back, the laptop arrived yesterday at MSI headquarters... I am on hold right now waiting for over 30 minutes and I have to keep pressing star on the phone, if I do not the phone call is terminated, when I got a hold of someone is a voice mail. I find the phone choices on the menu very misleading also. I hope they fix the laptop really good it cost me with insurance to send it back, $42.00.

Honest reviews on MSI G Series GT780DX-406US 17.3-Inch Laptop

I bought this laptop not knowing what to expect as i had originally intended to purchase a machine from alienware. After searching for cheaper alternatives I came across the MSi GT780DX. Not only was it cheaper than its dell made equivalent (by over $200), but it's specifications were far better. 12 GB or ram compared to 4 GB!!!! NO contest.... (and that's not the only specification that is better). I've had no troubles with the laptop after almost 2 months and am very satisfied with my purchase. I've thrown at least 20 graphically demanding games at this machine and it has yet to slow down. Well done MSi.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for MSI G Series GT780DX-406US 17.3-Inch Laptop

The GT780DX stays very Cool under Load, consistently pushing the graphics the GPU temperature never rises beyond 40c. A welcomed changed from previous gaming PC configurations I have owned. You will be able to tell the difference after the first 45 minutes of game play. No noise.

Reviews of ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook

Customer Ratings:

Truth be had, I've been pretty disappointed with ultrabook offerings so far low resolution screens, terrible keyboards and below average power. With the UX31A and UX32VD series, Asus promised to change all of that, and, in my opinion, succeeded remarkably well.

1. Design/Aesthetics. This is a very pretty machine. It's lightweight, looks good and doesn't seem to smudge. Not much more that I can say here it's pretty and sleek. I wish that it had a MacSafe power adapter instead of the right angled plug, but I guess we have patents to blame for that.

2. Keyboard. The keyboard on this machine is fantastic. I would put it in the same league as the MacBook Air's keyboard, which is to say that it is very very good. In comparison, I thought that the keyboard on the original Zenbook was terrible. It's not quite as nice as the keyboard on my Lenovo T430, but it is still really high quality, and probably the best ultrabook keyboard currently available (and backlit, too). Love it. Some people have mentioned keyboard flex there is a tiny bit if you push down hard near the middle of the keyboard, but it's not something that I would have noticed if I wasn't looking for it.

3. Screen. The screen is excellent beautiful colors, 1080p resolution. There was a bit of backlight bleeding, but it's only in a few places, and it's only noticeable if the screen is entirely black, so really not a big issue. When the screen is not purely black, you couldn't even find it if you were looking for it. By default, the display is running at 40Hz not sure who was responsible for that decision which made things look choppy. Setting it to 60Hz fixed that problem though.

4. Software. Includes standard PC bloatware, which is kind of annoying but it is easy enough to remove. Of particular note is the Asus Update Manager, which is supposed to pull updates from Asus' website, but in reality just crashes repeatedly (I booted my Zenbook the first time to Asus's update manager giving me a wonderful stack trace as it died). Other included software is of similar low quality I'd recommend wiping the machine when you get it if you can. Also includes software for a touchscreen/pen I'm not sure what that's about, since this machine has neither.

5. Touchpad. I hate touchpads. This one seems responsive and sleek, but I just switched to using a mouse and disabled it. YMMV. Edit: Played with the touchpad for a bit, and I have to admit, I kind of like it. It's not as usable (in my most humble opinion) as the nub on a Thinkpad, but it gets the job done. Some settings I found to make it nicer: Turn off tap to click, so that your mouse doesn't click randomly while you're typing. And turn off Inertial Scroll in the Elan -> Multi-Finger -> Scrolling setting. It's makes scrolling choppy for some reason. Unfortunately, multi-touch isn't as integrated into the operating system as it is with OS X, so I feel like we'll have to wait until Windows 8 to see the true power of this touchpad. In its current form, the touchpad works as advertised it's responsive, smooth and very configurable.

6. Graphics. This machine has a dedicated graphics card, and while it's not the most beefy, it's certainly an improvement over the standard Intel 4000. Linux users note: This uses nVidia Optimus to switch between the integrated and dedicated graphics cards, which apparently doesn't have very good Linux support yet so if you plan on running Linux on this, do some research first.

7. HDD. 500GB HDD. In 2012. Unacceptable. However...

8. Upgrades. This is why I bought this machine. You can put an extra 8GB of RAM in (in exchange for 2GB of the built in 4GB) for a total of 10GB of RAM. You can also swap out the HDD for an SSD, which is awesome get one with a 7mm height though, or it won't fit.

Overall: If you are willing to upgrade the HDD and RAM, get this machine you won't regret it. It's light, it has a beautiful screen, an excellent keyboard, it's very fast, and with the upgrades, it is the nicest laptop that I have ever owned. If you are not willing to upgrade, I would say that you should get a MacBook Air or the Zenbook UX31A (or the Sony Series Z if you are willing to spend more) instead the SSD makes a huge performance improvement. I give it 4/5, because you have to spend a bit of time to clean up the garbage on it and install a better hard drive and more RAM, but once you do that, it is unmatched. Also, Microsoft is apparently going to offer a $15 upgrade to Windows 8 Professional, which is a great deal.

EDIT:

After a week with this machine, some more thoughts:

Really liking the trackpad. Turning off tap to click is key it is downright bizarre that the default has those settings on, I think that every reviewer complaint about the erratic touchpad is due to this setting being on. After turning it off, it's smooth, accurate and actually really nice to use. I upgraded to the Windows 8 Release Preview, and for a while I was wondering what the heck was going on when things were randomly being clicked and dragged around, before I realized that I had to disable tap to click again.

As for the keyboard after working with it for a while now, I don't like it as much as the MacBook Air's. It's still a very good keyboard, but the keys are a bit flimsy feeling for my liking, and very occasionally a keypress gets missed. Not bad by any means, but it could have been better. If you are really looking for a great typing experience on an ultrabook, you may want to wait to check out the Lenovo X1 Carbon, which should be available in August. Again though, the keyboard is very usable I'd put it as better than the Samsung Series 9, but worse than the MacBook Air and both of those machines have very nice keyboards. On the upside, keyboard flex on the UX32VD is definitely a non-issue.

Also, Asus's included software is bizarrely bad. Don't even try to use it. It doesn't work, or it crashes, or it uses a ton of CPU, or it just looks plain ugly.

Finally, if you are planning on upgrading the RAM, see the comments on this review I installed an 8GB 1600MHz stick, but it is only running at 1333MHz for some reason. This apparently has to do with the CAS latency of the onboard stick vs. the new one. I don't know how to get around this, that said, I wouldn't have noticed the difference if I didn't check the settings.

Still, very happy with it. I haven't put the battery through its paces, but unscientifically, it seems to last about 4 hours under high workload (writing code).

Anyway, knowing what I know now about this machine, I would be less hesitant to buy it than I initially was. It is very much an awesome computer.

EDIT (3/5/2013):

Months later, after using this extensively, taking a star off. This laptop has since become my primary machine, and I use it for hours every day. Since I wrote the review, I've upgraded to Windows 8 which I actually find really nice. (As an aside and this is NOT reflected in my rating I found Linux (Ubuntu distro) support somewhat depressing. Some keyboard Fn shortcuts didn't work in particular, brightness display the battery life was under 2 hours, and sleep didn't work at all. YMMV, though I run a VM now for my Linuxing).

Mostly I use this machine for writing code and basic internet stuff.

The machine is still speedy, and the screen is still beautiful Asus deserves a ton of praise for that. Battery life is about what I thought it was 4 hours on average under my normal usage, which isn't anything to write home about these days, but it's certainly more than adequate. I can even play modern games usually I have to lower the graphics, but on medium settings and at 1600x900, most games run at a smooth 60fps, which is impressive.

Things that I don't like though are the little things. The keyboard isn't as great as I thought it was I find that I miss keys, even when I clearly pressed them down. Again, it's not terrible, but Lenovo and Apple both do much better, and for a $1500 laptop I expect a lot. My hypothesis is that the keys click (both physically and audibly) slightly before the button press is registered, and as a soft touch typist, it causes me to release the key milliseconds too soon.

The touchpad is pretty bad too. The hardware itself is fine it's accurate and spacious, but palm rejection is just too bad to be useable. So I use a wireless mouse instead.

And the software oh the software. The wifi driver crashes every day or two, so I have to restart my laptop frequently. And when I put it to sleep by closing the lid, sometimes it doesn't go to sleep, so when I pull it out of my backpack it's too hot to hold and the battery is almost dead.

So overall, this is not a bad machine it has some very excellent points, in particular the display but my problem with it is that it's not the premium experience that I would get if I'd bought an Apple computer for the same price. The keyboard is mediocre, it doesn't always go to sleep, the built in software crashes, and the touchpad is unusable. And while I can deal with all of these things, I feel like I shouldn't have to, considering that I paid top dollar for this (and then some to upgrade it).

The end result is this: I'm going to buy a new laptop, probably this summer when Intel releases their new line of chips (Haswell). If Lenovo brings out a laptop with a nice screen (for example, an X1 Carbon with a 1080p display, or the Yoga 11S with at least 1600x900), it'll be a Lenovo, since their keyboards are unmatched. Otherwise, I'm going to switch to the evil empire and get a Mac.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

For specific details about the product I suggest reading other reviews from Amazon or other sites especially those done by Notebookcheck (here: ) or Anand (here: ). Keep in mind that Anand's review is for a different model of the same series, but many of the things are similar and there is some good info in there.

I HIGHLY suggest you read this review before buying. I am going to go over main points that I think everyone should be aware of before buying.

Disclaimer: For me this is a 5 star machine after the upgrades. I rate it 3 stars based on how it came from Asus. If you don't want to upgrade the hardware or don't feel comfortable opening the laptop, I would suggest getting either a UX31A or something like a Samsung Series 9.

1. Only buy this computer if you are willing to upgrade the HDD to an SSD. SSD prices are falling rapidly and you can even get a 240GB SATA III drive for $210 now if you shop around (this is end of June, 2012). Make sure you get an SSD that is branded as a "notebook upgrade kit", because they have a smaller form factor than standard SSDs, with a height of 7mm. As long as you get a 7mm drive, it will fit in this notebook. Keep in mind you will need a T5 torx bit and small phillips screwdrivers to replace the drive.

2. Upgrading the RAM is also a really good idea. 2GB are integrated into the mainboard, and there is only one DIMM. The 4GB the laptop comes with is not very future-proof, so I would recommend picking up an 8GB stick of DDR3-1600 (like this Corsair piece, model number CMSX8GX3M1A1600C10). You can pick it up now for only $57. This will bring the total RAM to 10GB, which is more than pretty much every other ultrabook out there.

3. You will need to install Windows without a DVD once you install your new SSD. If you use a USB drive you may get an error in the setup which says something like "Windows was unable to load CD/DVD drivers, please insert disc media and try again". What is actually happening is that because all three of the USB ports on this laptop are USB 3.0, the Windows 7 install disc files don't have native support. You simply need to go to the Asus product page downloads section, and download the USB 3.0 drivers for the 64-bit version of Windows. Extract the driver folder to the USB stick with the Windows install files and try again. The problem should be fixed.

4. The screen has backlight bleed when showing pure blacks. When there are any images on the screen at all it is not noticable, and turning down the brightness helps a lot as well. Other than the bleed, the screen is beautiful especially in terms of its negative vertical viewing angle (from below). It doesn't have any discoloration and is very nice looking.

5. If you elect not to swap out the drive for an SSD, it comes in a weird kind of partition set up. The model I got had a 186GB boot partition, a 254GB "Data" Partition with no files on it, and 32GB of SSD cache which is not accessible from My Computer, but shows up as a different drive in disk manager. The drive is also very slow despite the SSD cache. But it won't appear to be so to someone who has never used an SSD before.

6. Bloatware. While there is not that much, you are forced to agree to install the Bing toolbar before setting up windows, and there is some creative media suite, craploads of asus tools, something that looks like asus tried to make their own app store, macaffee antivirus pre-installed (trial) and more. More reason to upgrade to an SSD and clean install windows.

7. The power button. Asus elected to make their power button an actual key, putting it where Delete normally would go, in the top right. Now when I heard this, I was a little skeptical and thought that I might try to hit delete when using word or something, and accidentally shut off my computer with one missed key-press. I was happy to find the solution that Asus came up with when I booted into windows. First of all, the power button is much stiffer and requires more pressure to press than all of the other keys on the keyboard. Second of all, just pressing the key within windows does nothing. If you want to turn off or sleep mode the computer, you hold it for about 1 second, and an on-screen display (from Asus) appears with clickable options to either shut down, sleep, do nothing, etc. You won't run into any sudden shut downs with this new placement of the power button, but you might take a bit to re-learn where the delete key is (directly to the left of the on button).

8. Keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard is very nice for a laptop, and functions/feels almost identical to the Macbook Pro/Air keyboards as many have said. It is backlit with user-adjustable brightness levels (3 levels, and off) via the function key. The trackpad is nice, but nothing to brag about. It is a good size, smooth, and easy to use. It's everything you'd want with nothing extra. If you get in the habit of tapping to click instead of actually clicking the trackpad down I think you will be much happier with it.

All in all this laptop can be what you make of it. Having the dedicated GPU makes it a very nice ultrabook for light gaming and more powerful media applications. Also it provides a full-sized HDMI out, and good connectivity (3 x USB, card reader, micro-vga, headphone/mic combo jack, etc). The HDD will appear abysmal to anyone who is coming from SSDs. It will appear normal to those of you who have yet to experience the awesomeness of SSDs :D ... If you want to upgrade to an SSD, fresh windows, and larger RAM, this is the best PORTABLE PC laptop available right now bar none in my opinion. But if you want to keep the pre-installed Asus windows installation, HDD, and 4GB ram, then it is a very nice PC, but for the price point I only give it 3 stars.

If you have any questions at all please feel free to comment and I'll try to get back to you!

Best Deals for ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook

If you haven't already, do your home work regarding the differences between the UX32VD and the UX31A. The main difference is that the UX32VD has a better video card and is upgradeable (can add RAM) but does not come with an SSD drive (which can be added too). I opted to go with the UX32VD and upgrade the memory and drive. The costs of the upgrades are roughly $200 for the SSD (256GB) and $55 for 8GB of RAM. Also, don't forget to get an external CD/DVD ROM drive (another $31).

If you plan to do the upgrade, start by watching the youtube videos on how to do the hardware swaps. Basically, you take off the back plate (requires a T5 Torx driver), swap the RAM, then loosen the battery and swap the hard drive. Be careful not to pull the battery too hard or it will pull off (or break) a wire that is attached to one end. Overall, the hardware upgrading takes about 15 minutes. Nothing too difficult if you're careful.

The software reinstallation takes a bit longer. You have two choices. You can backup (i.e., clone) your existing system using software such as Acronis True Image and then delete the bloatware, or you can just start with a fresh drive and re-install everything.

Initially, I chose the second option because I wanted a "clean" computer. I started by installing Windows. The first problem was that the computer wouldn't see the external CD/DVD ROM. I had to go into the bios (hit the F2 key during boot up) and disable the SSD from the boot sequence. That caused the computer to attempt to boot from the CD/DVD ROM. Don't forget to change it back after installing Windows. Once Windows was installed, I went to ASUS.com and downloaded the drivers. Nothing works well without them, including ethernet, wireless network, video control, etc. There are about 10 or 15 important drivers and applications that must be installed just make your way through the list one at a time. Obviously, you'll need a second computer with internet access to get the first drivers installed. One hint... the ethernet driver on the ASUS website wasn't the correct one for the UX32VD computer. Look in your control panel for the model number and search the web for the right driver. After doing all this, the computer worked fine. It did, however, lack a few drivers, and as a result I saw several yellow exclamation points in the Control Panel Device Manager. That bugged me, and I ultimately decided to go back and backup the original ASUS hard drive and simply delete the bloatware. Comparing the two methods, cloning was certainly less painful. If you have the backup software, I suggest that method.

Now that it's all done, I'm very pleased with my computer. It runs great, and the start up time is simply incredible.

Hope this helps!

Please be kind enough to indicate if reviews are helpful.

Written by Arthur Bradley, author of the Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family.

Honest reviews on ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook

As the other reviews have mentioned, this model has a gorgeous display. After calibrating the screen it looked even better. There's nothing like a good IPS display! It has a slight matte finish, but is still very sharp and bright.

With the original configuration, Windows was using 2.8GBs of RAM. I recommend you either uninstall some of the Asus add-ons or do as I did and take advantage of the ability to upgrade the RAM. I purchased a Patriot 8GB RAM module from Amazon that bumps the unit up to 10GB's.

The keyboard is OK. I'm not a big fan of the chiclet style keyboard.

The touchpad is large and does get in the way when you're typing. It's very easy for your palm to touch it while typing, sending you cursor off to a random location. However, you can turn it off by using the Fn key.

I'm using it with a bluetooth mouse, with the touchpad disabled. I like using bluetooth for the wireless mouse becuase there's no USB dongle sticking out.

The battery life is very average. Maybe 3 hours or so of constant usage is all I seem to get. Though, I am not using the battery saver profile. So, I'm pretty sure it's possible to stretch it out a bit more.

Coming out of sleep mode it is very fast. I have it set to sleep when I close the lid. This laptop comes out of sleep mode in the time it take to raise the lid! What's that, maybe 2 seconds? Fantastic. That's where the hybrid drive really pays off. With all my software loaded, including an anti-virus progam, it takes about 35 seconds to boot up.

The build quality is very good. The design and look is beautiful. I haven't noticed any particulary loud fan noise. If I push the laptop hard, the fans will come on with a whooshing sound. But, nothing terrible. During normal use (Word, Excel, browsing the web) it is silent.

I do wish the power button wasn't just a regular looking keyboard button in the upper right. To easy to press it, as it sits right next to the DEL button.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS Zenbook UX32VD-DB71 13.3-Inch Ultrabook

I have had this laptop for a little over a week, and I must say that I am impressed. After having bought and returned the original UX31 because of its keyboard issues, it seems like Asus really listened to its customers and made all of the right improvements.

The most obvious improvements over the UX31 are the keyboard and the screen. The keyboard is now island-style and backlit. I think feedback is great; it reminds me a lot of my old MacBook Pro. The screen, at least to me, appears to be in a league of its own. With a 1080p IPS panel, it is bright and incredibly sharp. Real estate space is fantastic and viewing angles are superb. And it's even got a matte finish, so glare is minimized. Kudos to Asus for these great design changes.

Additionally, Asus upgraded the CPU in this model from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge and added a dedicated Nvidia 620M GPU. I have to admit that I'm not a gamer, so I don't expect to take advantage of the graphics chip. In fact, I probably would have preferred that Asus provided a (cheaper) version of this laptop without the GPU (but without the soldered components -see below). Also, the Sandy Bridge processor was totally capable for browsing the web, watching HD video online, and performing office tasks. Still, assuming battery life doesn't take too much of a hit (and it doesn't really seem like it has), I guess that more power is better than less.

Two things that really didn't change since the last version are the sound and the battery, and I consider this a good thing. Sound quality from the speakers is excellent -loud and clear, probably among the best I have heard on a laptop. Battery life also seems to be totally acceptable. It's not the best I've ever seen, but I still get like 6-7 hours under normal use, which is adequate for my needs. Also, the power brick appears to be the same. It's square and looks a lot like the Apple brick, except it's black. One good thing though is that it only has two prongs, so you don't need to carry around a 3-prong-to-2-prong adapter.

As I suggested above, I bought this model as opposed to the UX31A specifically because this model has some user-replaceable components, like RAM and hard disk. Apparently the trade-off was that this model doesn't have the same unibody design as the UX31A, but to be honest, I can't tell too much of a difference. It still weighs like 3.2 pounds, and build quality doesn't seem to be an issue. Also, while some people might gripe that Asus didn't include more memory and a larger SSD from the get-go, truth be told, it would probably have made the computer a lot more expensive. For less than $150, I was able to upgrade the memory to 10GB and install a fast 128GB SSD. I also appreciate the fact that, since these components are user-replaceable, it will be a relatively cheap fix if something goes wrong later on. The same can't be said for models with all soldered RAM and hard disks, like the UX31A or the MacBook Air.

Some users complained about the fan and the trackpad. I, however, haven't had any problems with either of these. As I said, I'm not a heavy gamer, but for me the unit is practically silent most of the time. Also, I don't really have any complaints about the trackpad. It is large and smooth, which I appreciate. Also, multi-finger gestures -specifically two-finger tap, two-finger scroll, and three-finger swipe -all work great! That is a nice improvement for PCs, which typically have inferior track pads.

Connectivity options seem to be okay. There are 3 USB 3.0 ports, a mini VGA port, an SD Card slot, and an HDMI port. My only complaint is that the SD Card sticks out about half way, so you can't just leave it in the computer all the time. I think this is a pretty stupid design flaw. Why not just make the card totally recessed, like in almost every other laptop out there?

That said, my quibble is minor. This is a really nice computer and I am happy to have bought it. Finally, I don't think I have any regrets about migrating from my laptop to an ultrabook.

Cheap Toshiba Satellite M645-S4055 LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:

I was deciding between this (Toshiba Satellite M645-S4055 LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop (Black)) and the ASUS 14 in bamboo (ASUS U43JC-X1 14-Inch Bamboo Laptop (10 Hours of Battery Life)) which was the same price, but the ASUS was on pre-order forever it seemed and this one was out of stock or available elsewhere for more $$. I happened to catch it back in stock one night 8/5/10. I needed to replace a 5+ yr old HP laptop and a 2 yr old HP desktop, so I wanted the power of a desktop (or near) with the portability of a laptop, and I really like the size/weight of the 14 in. This Toshiba and the ASUS were pretty even on many specs hard drive, 1 gb graphics, RAM, keyboard style, OS, i5 processor, etc so at the time it came down to availability and features. I say at the time because now that the ASUS is available, it also comes with a 150 GC which I can always use. That would've probably made me wait on the ASUS had that been made known when it was still on pre-order.

ASUS over Toshiba:

Longer battery life, 8 cell vs 6 cell on the Toshiba

USB 3.0 currently don't have a use but good for the future

WiDi I currently don't have a use for it

Bamboo finish very nice looking, would look great just sitting on the end table!

And for a limited time, that it comes with a 150 gift card, making it the cheaper option

Toshiba over ASUS:

Graphics card (both 1 gb NVIDIA plus integrated, but Toshiba's is 330 vs ASUS 310)

RAM 8 gb max both come with 4 gb but that's where ASUS maxes out

Sound reportedly better on the Toshiba but I can't say for sure, I know it sounds good and full to me

Keyboard backlit

Sleep & Charge USB port bonus but not essential for me

Sleep & Music bonus but again not essential

Labelflash printing pretty cool and might use this, so far haven't tried it

Have also seen on a couple of reviews that even though the ASUS has a 2.0 mp webcam, the quality isn't good. I don't use a webcam much so this wouldn't have been a dealbreaker either.

Trackpad buttons two instead of one like the ASUS. I've used the ASUS on a 14 in thin & light I got for my nephew and it's awkward, though I'm sure one can get used to it in time.

Bluetooth you have to get the ASUS U43JC-A1 to get bluetooth for more money.

At the same price, I think the Toshiba is probably the better deal, however the ASUS with the 150 GC would've been the better deal of the two.

Now that I have the Toshiba, what do I think? It's great so far, though nothing's perfect! The fusion finish is pretty neat and I wasn't sure what to expect based on the pictures.

Keyboard, Trackpad, mouse buttons I like the slight pattern on the trackpad, have a better feel of where I am on it without feeling like it's friction. As expected, the backlit keyboard is nice. The keyboard itself is good, the spacing, not soft, haven't noticed any flex. The keys are "slick" at first it felt odd but getting used to it. There's a row of "buttons" at the top that are touch buttons they control sound level, play/pause, wifi, and eco mode. These stay lit for easy access, as does a small light bar above the trackpad. The trackpad also has an easy on/off button above it.

DVD Playback I've burned DVD's with no problem. I went to play back a dvd I had just burned to check it, and playback was stuttering, I was worried. However, the laptop had been on for days I rebooted and all was well, playback was fine. Playing a movie was great, smooth, and the sound was full (the movie 2012). The slot loading dvd drive made a little more noise than I expected at times like during software installation but maybe that's normal? Something I'm going to monitor to make sure there's not a problem. I plan to do some home movie type editing, the reason I wanted the 1 gb VRAM and a decent processor, so have to make sure the noise doesn't indicate an impending problem.

Battery Life I'm averaging about 4 hrs when I run it all the way down. Though longer battery life would've been nice, I don't travel much at all and it would be rare that I'd need to run off of battery any longer than that. I believe a higher capacity battery is available though (12 cell) if I decide I need it. I looked into that before purchasing.

Windows 7 I had only had brief experience with Win7, while working on others' computers so this was my first real taste of it. Was still using XP except had Vista on a desktop (that is being sold now!). So far I like it, and def better than Vista. There's a slight learning curve but there are some things I have set so that things like the task bar at the bottom are more like I'm used to. I was also able to install a 32-bit software that I wasn't sure would install and run, much to my surprise. The software is several years old but it's a title I like and am used to, and was sad to think I couldn't use it. Installation however was smooth and it is running just like it did on my old XP laptop (just faster!).

WiFi I have a Cradlepoint router with N (verizon mobile internet), and had no problems connecting to it. Also have a WiFi printer (Epson Artisan 810) went to the Epson site first to get the right Win7 64 bit drivers and am able to print and scan via WiFi as well.

Noise For the most part it's quiet. My old HP laptop and desktop were deafening at times. It's not as quiet as the Dell I use for work, but close.

Heat Warm (just near the back) but bearable Though they never recommend it, I can sit it on my lap without feeling like I'll need burn cream after. Keyboard, trackpad, etc have all stayed cool.

Software/Bloatware Not bad, not as much as I thought there would be and is usually on new machines. I uninstalled Norton AV since I already have a multi-user license for McAfee Total Protection. McAfee downloaded, installed and is running with no problems. I have not tried the Toshiba online backup and don't plan to. It keeps reminding me which is annoying so I've got to see how to stop that. If I need online backup the McAfee I have actually comes with it. I transferred all my email over to Windows Live Mail from another computer. Comes with IE but I installed and use Firefox.

Office 2007 Trial Mentioning this specifically because I saw a review of another M645 model that they had problems with the trial. I didn't use it, I already had Office 2007 Enterprise, so I uninstalled the trial and installed my version.

Update 8/27/10 Picture posted. Finally stuck a SD card in, and you know how most laptops (at least my last 3) you have to push the card in til it clicks and sometimes it doesn't want to? Don't on this one. It slides in smoothly right up front (under the indicator lights, right of touchpad) and it sticks out just slightly, even less because of the angled front.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I've used this laptop for over two months now, and it does good at what I need it for: sitting in class typing down notes, web browsing, HDMI out to my big screen tv at home watching HD videos. I also needed something that could hold its own when I finally get Starcraft 2 (yes I know it's out). A cross between portability and power, and not too far off from my HP desktop performance (Intel Core2 Quad @ 2.5 GHz; 8 GB ram; Nvidia Geforce GT 240). My graphical processing needs aren't that high, much of the software I use is from the Windows XP era, so this Toshiba's Geforce GT 330m (which performs slightly worse than the desktop Geforce GT 220, and any gamer will tell you, is *NOT* a gaming card) does its job nicely.

That said, I ran 3dMark06 on this, and got a score of around 5000 or so, can't remember exactly (~14-34 FPS at Proxycon, ~12-22 at Firefly, ~7-32 at Canyon, ~15-25 at Frost, something like that).

Final Fantasy IVX's official benchmarking program gave this a ~760 out of 8000 at 1280x720 resolution. Comparatively my PC got around ~1800 at same resolution. Those are both really poor scores, but then again I don't really have time to play much PC games these days.

Previous reviews have been comparing this laptop to the Asus' new Bamboo ASUS U43JC-X1 14-Inch Bamboo Laptop (10 Hours of Battery Life), but I'll compare to what I considered while still browsing for laptops ASUS Republic of Gamers G51JX-X3 15.6-Inch Gaming Laptop (Blue), This was 1,100 two months ago, but has dropped their price to as low as 1,000 every now and then.

Going by pure functionality, the Asus gaming one wins out in multiple areas:

-500 GB HDD @ 7200 RPM (Faster load times)

-15.6" Full HD 1920x1080 LED LCD Display; Nvidia GTS 360M Graphics Engine with 1GB DDR5 dedicated VRAM

^ This is where the Asus shines. The GTS 360M is slightly more powerful than the desktop GT 240, not exactly a pure gaming card either but over twice the power of the GT 330M!. 15.6" may be a tiny screen, but to be able to support 1920x1080 means watching Blu-ray quality videos at dot-by-dot pixel accuracy: crisp sharp images. The Toshiba plays 720p videos well but scrunches up 1080p videos making it look a bit fuzzy.

-2.0 MegaPixel web camera; I don't know too much about cameras, but my old Sony Ericsson S500i phone has a 2.0 MP camera and takes better pictures than the Toshiba's web camera. Watching myself in the web cam application, there was a lot of noise and it wasn't too clear. The webcam isn't that big of a deal as I don't really use it, but a 2.0 MP resolution web camera should be standard by now.

-10-key Numberpad: Frankly, some things are just easier with a numberpad.

So how does this Toshiba laptop hold up compared to that Asus?

-It's smaller and lighter, it may be a 14" screen but it's pretty thick itself. Granted it's stuffed with lots of integrated goodies like Bluetooth (which the Asus also has). Bluetooth actually inteferes with Wifi frequencies so I normally have it off, but to be able to have the convenience of connecting supporting peripherals is nice.

-Toshiba's processor is slightly faster; meaning its max Turbo-boost frequency is also higher; higher cpu clock frequencies means less battery life. Wait a minute...

Actually Asus also has an ability (Power4 Gear) to overclock the CPU to at least match the i5 450M frequencies, but again, not something you want to do while away from the power outlet.

Luckily with dynamic frequency clocks and Windows 7's automatic (and adjustable) power management you can underclock to save power.

Continuing on about power consumption, this Toshiba laptop incorporates the fairly new Nvidia Optimus technology. From what I understand about it, the integrated Intel HD Graphics solutions offered by the built-in GPU on the i5 chip is the primary display driver. The Geforce GT 330M takes a backseat and is only supplemental, offering processing power when deemed necessary. "Deemed necessary", that's the problem right there. Occasionally there will be a program out there that is slightly incompatible with Optimus technology because all it sees is the Intel HD Graphic's 64 MB of video memory, and not the 1 GB attached to the GT 330M. This may either cause the program to crash, or run poorly because it doesn't know about the extra GT 330M, therefore cannot utilize it. Other times the program initially runs under the Integrated graphics solution, but crashes when suddenly the Optimus technology realizes it should switch up to the High Performance.

Optimus technology isn't bad, I really like the seemless transition that I didn't see when trying out laptops with AMD Vision technology. When switching between ATI and Intel's integrated solutions, they warn of flashing and blackening of the screen, which in that case is normal during switch. This isn't the case with Optimus, everything works in the background, because rather than two seperate entities like ATI/Intel, it's Intel + Nvidia. Eventually (and hopefully) they'll have it all sorted out.

Examples of Optimus Technology flops:

-Running Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 under High Performance Nvidia GPU: Program stalls and eats up 25% (one "core") of the i5's total processing power. Had to run under Integrated Graphics in order to use the program.

-Running the PS2 Emulator PCSX2 0.9.7 under Integrated Graphics will crash as soon as it overflows the 64 MB of video memory (At least that's what I think, or it could be the attempt to switch up, because starting off with the GT 330M I was able to run stable past the crashing point. Final Fantasy X After the initial Square-Enix logo + Final Fantasy X Project, crashed entering the opening Zanarkand scene, Error message referenced the Intel HD Driver)

-I can't run Portal, even with the latest Nvidia drivers + Optimus updates. Launching from Steam hl2.exe*32 will appear in task manager for a split second then apparently crash. SAD THERE IS NO CAKE. I will try and try again, some people have managed to get Portal running with Optimus but depended on their integrated hardware.

Other things to talk about in this long review:

-The Toshiba laptop BIOS has an option to disable multi-core processing. THIS IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH DISABLING HYPER-THREADING. I did not find an option to disable HT, but disabling Multi-core processing will disable both HT, *AND* the one of the logical Cores. Congratulations, this option sends us back to the 2003 era. A single core can easily gets stressed out, disabling HT but keeping dual-cores would only be 2 years backwards, except rather than a 45nm Intel Core 2 Duo, you have a 32nm Intel "Core 2 Duo", which uses up less power and generates less heat. HT may have changed since the days Pentium 4s were using them, but back then they generated more heat and requires additional power and hardware resources. Basically two physical cores is better than a single core with HT.

-The plastic encasing for the screen is a bit flimsy, it's strong enough that you can grab hold of the laptop with one hand to walk around with, fingers clamped on the side, but the plastic encasing will bend. Don't think the screen itself is bending with it, but I wouldn't want to stress the center "Toshiba" part of the screen too much to find out.

-The slot loading drive is nice, but no matter what design they make, a DVD disc will always take up the same amount of space going in and out.

-Both the Toshiba and Asus have the backlit keyboard, not sure which one is brighter, but Toshiba's is bright and normally I find myself turning off the keyboard illumination. One review I read says the Asus' logo on the outward side of the screen lights up too, making is really apparent you're using a high-end laptop. Same with the Toshiba, there's no way to just illuminate the keyboard, have not have the "Satellite" on the lower left hand corner light up.

-Battery Life: I was able to get little over 3 hours of usage with a full charge while in classes doing very little, 2-3 hours worth of "normal" usage. Full stress of CPU + GPU will have power usage of over 55 Watts/Hour. Since the 6-cell battery they give is rated 48 Wh/Hour, the battery will be depleted before a hour is over. 5 hours is completely "realistic" only if you turn on the laptop, open notepad, set to Eco mode, and do nothing but type one letter every 3 minutes or so. They're practically screaming for you to buy their ~61 Wh/Hour 6-cell battery on their Toshibadirect website. Currently there's a deal going on where you can get ~30% off with two coupons, but it's expiring soon, if not already (This review written Sept 14 2010).

In conclusion, if you're looking for a decent laptop with plenty of features and portability, this is one to check out. Competition is fierce and there's plenty of other laptops that may have just what you need (that Asus Bamboo other reviews are talking about for maximum portability beyond a netbook for one, and like I said before I compared it with the Asus gaming laptop because of its specs + price). Other things you'd need to consider is laptop size, this Toshiba one is a bit on the thick side for a 14", given its internal components. I do admit the Asus Bamboo for $850 after $150 Gift Card is awesome. The comparable Asus' gaming laptop for the around the same $1000 price however has nearly all matching or better specifications but is around 2 pounts heavier, bigger, but its screen is best in its class for 15.6".

Just need portability and no need for any games? Get the Asus Bamboo!

Something inbetween? Get this one!

High performance graphical processing needed? Get the Asus Gaming models!

Want to spend rediculous amounts of money on inferior specifications? Get a MacBook Pro!

Thanks for anyone who took the time to read this; I don't regret getting this particular laptop too much, it's basically perfect for what I need. It's just once I start comparing purely from specs rather than what I need.. well you read it!

Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite M645-S4055 LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop (Black)

Bottomline: Laptops are difficult to upgrade as technology improves and computer programs demand more RAM or graphics power, I felt the RAM upgradeable feature and the better graphics card put this Toshiba over the top. That along with the higher build quality means that this Toshiba offers good value at this price.

Best features: i5-450M processor, Nvidia 1gb GT330M, 4gb RAM (8gb expandable), Harman/Kardon Speakers, and Backlit Keyboard!

Like other reviewers I wanted a good quality, powerful, and lightweight laptop. This Toshiba M645-S4055 really had the best bang for the buck when compared to the competition.

Sure you pay a bit more for the Toshiba, but really having owned HP's in the past, I can say thatToshiba is the best PC maker, they are probably the only PC maker that can compete with Apple for build quality.

I compared this 14" to the ASUS bamboo 14" and although now Amazon gives your the $150 gift card with the ASUS, I still think this Laptop will be better in the long run. I checked out the ASUS at bestbuy to visually get a hand on the Bamboo covering, for sure its nice and I almost purchased it. But the bamboo finish felt cheaper and shows finger prints easily.

The Toshiba is better in these select but important categories:

Quality Build: The Laptop feels solid and high quality, the Fusion finish is cool and solid.

Keyboard: Backlit LED lighting (now that I have this, I can't be without it)

Graphics: Nvidia 1gb discrete and switchable graphics (GT 330M vs. 310M, the Toshiba graphics are faster).

RAM: 4gb, but most importantly expandable to 8gb (ASUS is 4gb max)

CD/DVD: The load drive is a slot not a carrier you have to pull out, this design is much better.

Speakers: Sound is probably the best laptop at this price, clear room filling.

Touchpad: has pinch to zoom and hand swipe recognition.

Ultimately the price of the ASUS with the $150 GC is a good deal, but I feel like I can get more life and years out of the Toshiba, which in the end will justify the price. Also the keyboard and touchpad on the ASUS with Bamboo does not feel solid and pressing on the mouse buttons is hard and without much feedback.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite M645-S4055 LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop (Black)

I use my M645 daily as my main computer, as I don't have a desktop computer. I am enjoying using it quite a bit.

Pros:

1)Great speakers. The best speakers I've ever had on a laptop. My girlfriend bought an external add-on speaker bar for her laptop because her laptop speakers suck. The M645's are just as good as her externals.

2)Keyboard. My previous laptop was a Macbook Pro from 2007. I liked that keyboard quite a bit, but I like this one more. The keys are "clickier" which lets me know for sure whether I've pressed a key completely or not. I didn't think I'd be a fan of where the FN key is (between CTRL and "Windows" keys), but it turns out that it's not a problem at all.

3)Game playing. It rocks at games. I admit I haven't played anything super new, but the games I've played haven't had any problems at max settings. These include Fallout 3, Mass Effect, Bioshock, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Just make sure to have the latest drivers from nVidia because I had problems with Fallout 3. Some games have a problem recognizing the discreet graphics chip and the latest drivers help with that.

4)"Chain link" texture. Almost the entire body is covered in a chain link texture. It's very nice. It's grippy, prevents glare, and keeps fingerprints from showing up. Two thumbs up!

Now the CONS:

1) I don't care for the touch strip above the keyboard. All the functions (and more) are replicated with the FN key.

2)Bloatware. It comes with a lot of Toshiba crapware. All of which can be uninstalled and I recommend it. Some of it's kind of cool, but ultimately useless for most people.

3)The keyboard lighting is nice, but it can't be dimmed or controlled in any way, short of turning it off. I came from a Mac, and that keyboard automatically dimmed based on lighting conditions. I'm unimpressed with Toshiba on this.

4)Screen dimming is not very useful. It's the same complaint as my last one. My Mac would automatically dim or brighten based on lighting conditions. At least Toshiba implemented a crappy dimming feature versus none at all. It has 8 brightness levels. Which sounds like a lot, but the difference between them isn't enough. I basically only use the lowest and highest settings.

5)Battery. I know it's got a lot more power than my old Mac, but the battery drains really quickly while not doing much at all.

That's about it. I hope this helps anyone reading this to make a more informed decision! Overall I would definitely buy it again.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Satellite M645-S4055 LED TruBrite 14-Inch Laptop (Black)

Toshiba manufactures the M645-S4050 exclusively for Best Buy, the everyday price is $720. It is identical to this laptop in every respect except for 3 items. The M645-S4055 comes with Bluetooth, a slightly more powerful graphics card, and a backlit keyboard. If these features are not that important to you, you could save at least a couple hundred after tax on the M645-S4050. I own one and for the price it is quite a bargain.

ASUS X201E-DS02 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $399.00
Sale Price: $359.00
Today's Bonus: 10% Off

I waited a long time for this one. I wanted portability, great battery life, a disk drive and small size. It has blue tooth, HDMI, USB 3.0 has 4 gb ram Windows 8 and it is small enough to carry for travel, but big enough so you can read the screen. Any way the build quality is very high and it is very light. I downloaded classic shell so the laptop is looking like a classic windows laptop. The touch pad is responsive and I have also used the unit with a wireless mouse and big monitor and keyboard and it worked flawlessly. Having HDMI means I can show pictures on our big TV and the resolution was great. Battery life is about 5 hours--I know because used it for 5 hours straight. I could not be happier!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I've had the ASUS 11.6 " for about a month now and everything is working well. I bought this primarily for the size/weight and was interested in a lower price computer with enough hard drive size and speed. I'm really happy with all these functions and Windows 8 hasn't even annoyed me too much yet, but I primarily use all functions from the desktop not Start Screen.

Pros: Screen is nice and clear, and font size adjustment makes it easy to read. Keyboard is a little small, but not uneasy to use. No complaints with the speed yet.

Cons: Only main complaint is the touchpad, which is a little large for the size of the computer and my palm sometimes drags against it when typing and moves the cursor without me wanting it to. The touchpad is also a little under-sensitive when scrolling. #2 Battery life seems good, about 3-4 hours, but the battery only recharges when the computer is off/sleeping.

Best Deals for ASUS X201E-DS02 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Pros : Good design and portability, Great display and good for average user

Cons : Power adapter died within a week. Relatively low processor speed.

Tip : Go for a core i3 processor.

Honest reviews on ASUS X201E-DS02 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Es una máquina muy versatil, ideal para cosas básicas de la casa y el trabajo. Además de ser delgada tiene un diseño moderno. No da problemas al arranque. Según los entendidos, la marca ASUS está considerada como una de las mejores marcas del mercado (PC MAgazine) por encima de las marcas tradicionales.

It's a excellent computer, one of the best I have had. I recomend it for everyone who searching laptops for home, work (not graphic designer work). According to the laptop's experts , the ASUS brand it's in the top 10 best laptops (PC MAgazine)

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS X201E-DS02 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

This is a great little computer. So far, just as reliable as my 'big' Asus laptop, but super light and nice design. Several people have asked me if it's a Mac Air. Great for travel. Probably a bit too small for every day work.

Cheap Lenovo G580 16-Inch Notebook PC (Core i5 500GB HDD 4GB DDR3 Windows

Customer Ratings:

It is a fast machine, and very user friendly. All I need to update the machine to my specifications. Virtual technology is bringing the heat baby!!!

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Sony VAIO E Series SVE1511RFXB 15.5-Inch Laptop (Sharkskin Black Review

Customer Ratings:

I bought this pc for my wife as a replacement for her old Dell. She really is getting a lot of use out of it. She likes the separate number keypad and the backlit keys. One thing she hasn't gotten used to is the hidden buttons on the touchpad, which has made her start using a wireless mouse. I would definitely recommend this pc for someone who needs to satisfy their basic computing needs.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

Dell Inspiron 700m Reviews

Customer Ratings:

Purchased directly from Dell in Spring, 2004. Still working although I just replaced the OEM power cord with a cheap one from Amazon. Now it charges great and cosmetically it still looks and runs like new.

Some people have had issues with the OEM power cord. Mine worked fine for about 4 yrs. but it became very inefficient and the 'brick' started getting way to hot, but all is good now that I replaced the original adapter.

While the 700m is not as slick as my newer Apple MBP, Win XP Pro is still running fine and all my cool PC games are loaded on it so I hope it lasts 7 more years!

A very lightweight notebook(even lighter than my old Sony VAIO) so it is easy to travel with.

I own 2 batteries the original and a 3rd party battery with longer capacity. The newer battery lasts about 4 hrs unless I watch DVDs and play games continuously. That runs it down in about 2 hrs.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

all that needs to be said is if i could find another version of this laptop today, i would buy it again! it is super compact, almost like a netbook, but still has a cd/dvd player.. which a lot of netbooks don't.

i just bought a dell 14 to upgrade, but it just doesn't compare to my little 700m :(

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 700m

I just purchased Dell's newest laptop XPS 15z, wonderful, thin, lots of good

components...but, I can't get it onto my home wireless network. After a long,

protracted and repitive discussion with a Dell tech, she wanted to sell me

some additional software because the new computer already had fragmented

files, etc. (it was diagnosed over the web). I had not even started loading my

Photoshop CS2, or any other programs.

At the same time, my little, old, slow Inspiron 700m goes online (wireless),

does the job albeit very slowly but it does it!

I thought buying from Dell again would be good but it is just frustrating and

time consuming no matter the cost of the product! What a fool am I!

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 700m

I had this laptop for six years, it lasted me through college and grad school. It has a truly beautiful screen, and having a dvd-cd drive is really convenient. Between the optical drive, the nice display, and the faster processor I like this a lot better than my netbook.

Sadly, the motherboard on mine fried after six years, and I am bereaved. It's been two months, and I'm seriously thinking of getting a second used one, because once you upgrade the RAM to have at least a gig then this is a really powerful machine for how small it is, and I've really missed that in my netbook even if the battery life is lacking in the Inspiron. (You'll have about half an hour for movies or games, though it can do about two hours of word processing on a new battery.)

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Inspiron 700m

We bought our 700M the year we were moving from New England to Florida (2006). After moving a lot of stuff, including the big computer, to the new house in the winter of 2005/06, we returned north to pack up the rest of the household items. The 700M came with us and was our "only" computer for almost 6 months. We picked up a Kensington USB hub with ports for a parallel printer, an external monitor and a serial keyboard and mouse, and we used the laptop like a CPU for most of the time, connected directly to our cable internet provider.

When the time came to hit the road, the laptop came with us and worked great with hotel hookups, cable, dial up and wi-fi. Because of the small size (and light weight), the keyboard is a bit small for real fast typing and the screen is a bit small, but very clear and bright. Now I am still using it for travel, and also for sitting on the patio or on the couch to read emails and surf the web. It has all the features I have ever needed, plus plenty of computing power and storage. And it looks really cool!! I dread the day this little laptop dies...I don't know what I will replace it with, maybe an upscale netbook, if they are still around.

Reviews of Compaq Presario V2000, 14.1 Inch Wide-Screen LAPTOP (Black

Customer Ratings:

bought this machine at officedepot with orig specs amd sempron/256g ram/40g hdd. after upgrading to amd turion64, 1g ram, 60g hdd, this machine is flying. runs windows 7 professional and office 2010. so far I have no complaints. machine has a lot of mileage but runs apps and surfs heavily flash websites with no hiccups. best sub $500 notebook ever. I just cant understand why would anyone spend $400 on an intel atom netbook when you can get one of these for the same price

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I had a v2000 Compaq first when they came out it was on a contact from Compaq i was a product tester and i gave the notebook back with a 5 star rating and i'm now using a DV5T witch is great notebook but the v2000 is much lighter and easier to carry around and the screen is very great on it and bright i stile own few parts from v2000 i found a v2000 notebook on here great price on it and its post to be in very good condition's they are great laptop's.