Acer Aspire One AO722-0022 Notebook AMD Dual-Core Processor C-60 Review

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List Price: $469.99
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The Acer Aspire One 722 may be small in size and price, but don't let that fool you. With it's 500GB hard drive and 4G memory it's larger than any desktops we own, and faster too.

Though I haven't had the Acer long, it is continually impressive. Out of the box, I was pleased to see it lacking in much of the bloatware that came on my HP netbook and Gateway laptop. The desktop was blissfully vacant, leaving me to populate it with my own selections of programs.

Connecting to any WiFi has been a matter of a couple of clicks, including our sometimes difficult home wifi that treats new devices with deep suspicion. The Acer was accepted onto our home network with no issues at all.

Whether loading on photos from sd, using the built-in webcam, or utilizing 3rd party readers such as Kindle for PC and Overdrive Media Console, everything works seamlessly.

I've read some reviews recently that laptops can run annoyingly hot, but that is not the case with the Acer. It's quiet and cool, even when streaming videos. If you are a person who, like me, is easily bothered by excessive electronic noise, you will especially appreciate this quiet little Acer.

A early drawback was the whiteness of the background. Even after turning the brightness all the way down, the whiteness was too intense. Fortunately, it is completely adjustable in the Control Panal where you can customize themes, colors etc. I was able to choose a background with a gentle glow much like the color on my favorite e-readers.

For many, the multi-gesture function is a good selling point and many will enjoy it. I, however, could not get accustomed to it and was happy to discover I could disable the features one by one until it functioned perfectly for me.

Certainly, this is not a high end laptop and it shows in the plastic and hinges, we well as the plug for the ac adapter. I'm gentle plugging it in because the connection feels a little frail. Same with transporting it. The shell is light plastic so I am extra careful. But for such an outstanding low price it's worth it. I only paid 250.00 for mine with a rebate, but it is a good value even at a higher price.

If you plan to listen to music or videos without headphones you'll want a good external speaker, but this is true for many laptops. I used my Jawbone Jambox speaker and it sounded great. I don't think this Acer model has bluetooth, so I used a cord into the audio.

Comes with Windows 7. Finally, Microsoft has produced an operating system I like almost as much as XP. It even has a built in security suite from Microsoft.

And lastly, there are amazing desktop background photos including landscapes and screens from around the world that automatically rotate through the day. I never know what dynamic desktop scene I will treated to next. It's an unexpected pleasure.

The Acer Aspire One is an excellent choice for the budget-minded person who also wants some speed and storage space. I'm so impressed, I would consider Acer in the future for my higher end electronics.

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This is the exact model with the 500G HD, 4G ram that was sent out to all the tech magazines and bloggers for review. Beware that other retailers might have other versions that not only have a smaller HD but also half as much ram for a minute difference in price.

Acer vs Asus

Obviously the this machine is 2 1/2 years newer than the Asus 1000he and wins the spec-war hands down. However below are a few key points that really stand out for me as a casual user (word processing & websurfing):

My main peeves with this new Acer over my old Asus are:

a) Reflective glossy screen with lots of glare.

b) No light indicator for camera on/off

c) Function key is only on one side of the keyboard so to adjust a function, both hands are needed

d) Fewer screen brightness options darkest setting on Acer is still too white in low-light conditions

e) Soft flexible keyboard key's not as springy or responsive as Asus' chiclets.

f) Shorter battery life. My old Asus started at 10hrs+ with Wifi at second to lowest brightness and still squeaks out 8hrs. This new Acer only pushes 7hrs at a comparable brightness setting.

g) Lack of built-in BT (I use for tethering)

h) There is no pre-programmed function button for resolution or display size adjustment. It all has to be done through the Control Panel

Despite all of the above, I do love my new netbook. I love the 11.6" screen (compared to the 10.1") and the better resolution. I also love how there is an HDMI-port in addition to a VGA-port. The new water-drop design and tapered edges make the Acer look smaller and thinner despite being the same as the Asus.

Overall this is a lot of computer in a small package at a reasonable price and I would not hesitate to recommend this to others.

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If you want an incredibly fast 11.5 inch netbook this is the one. I can't believe the speed. Also the display is very bright which some have complained about but I happen to like it as I work in low light conditions often. My impression is that due to the blazing speed this is a keeper. Just about everyone will be delighted with this, as am I.

I want to mention a few tiny things that kept me from giving this five stars.

I am replacing a three year old Asus eee PC netbook with this.

Cons:

1. The case isn't as sleek as the streamlined little Asus. This is more boxy and the hinges in particular are downright ugly. I wonder why any computer manufacturer wouldn't include great design of the computer as an obvious way to help sell them.

3. This is way heavier. Of course I am willing to lug around an extra 1.5 pounds for that extra 3 gigs of ram and faster processor. This is truely a speed demon.

4. This one seems unforgivable: there is no light to tell you when the cam is on!

Come on, those little LED lights cost what, 10 cents? There were a few times when the only way I knew my cam was still on was that little light! I don't know how to check to make sure it goes off on this.

6. It is RED HOT on the bottom. The fan is on but it is hot enough to iron clothes with.

I am wondering if those tiny circuits are going to quickly fry.

But after waiting around forever for that little Asus to get around to doing it's job this is wonderful. Everything happens in a flash on this. Loving it! And I suspect just about most people will too.

I got mine at the local "big box" store that starts with a W and I feel it was a fair price. I had to order it online and pick it up. There are lots of different similar models of the Acer Aspire One so make sure you get one with 4 gigs of ram for about $50 more, it's well worth it, and the processor is slightly faster too. I paid around $400 for mine. Amazon has a model about the same for the same price, but a different model number.

I can't tell it's any different from the one I got from reading the description.

Some models have Bluetooth but if I need it I can get a Dongle that plugs into the USB port here on Amazon for twelve dollars.

Seems to be a great incredibly speedy netbook so far.

And it has an HDMI port to stream movies to my TV with. Love that!

I think you will be pleased with this netbook.

edit: I've been using this for about five weeks and it appears the hard drive suddenly died. I was afraid of this since it heats up so bad. It just died and won't boot no matter what. Started making a little hiccup sound every few minutes then while watching a movie on it, then whamo, dead. I'm very upset.

Now I have to deal with the whole mess of customer service. I spent a couple of hours trying various ways to boot it without luck.

I've never had any computer die before after a month. So my new recommendation is DO NOT BUY.

I now see many other reviews here for various Acer Aspire One models where the exact same thing has happened.

edit number 2: After struggling with this for 3 whole days I finally got the

"eRecovery Partition" to function, which is the recovery partition of last resort that

Acer includes for just such an emergency in a non booting computer.

As the computer is just starting press ALT while you at the same time press F10 multiple times to bring up the eRecovery screen. From here you can basically re install windows.

I had to try this twice before it works. I have no idea what happened. I would have sworn the hard drive was fried. My data was lost but at least it is working again.

hmm.....I think I would look at a Dell or Gateway after this experience.

Honest reviews on Acer Aspire One AO722-0022 Notebook AMD Dual-Core Processor C-60

This machine packs power. Acer has given 4gb to this netbook which make up for the processor, however the processor is much better than you see on many netbooks. It is dual core which lets it out-compete intel atom single core processors. In addition the processor is very economic with its energy usage, as is the small screen, which allows this netbook to get a true 6.5 hours. The 4gb memory means that it comes with 64-bit Windows 7. Also the display is a full 1366x768 which means it has the same resolution as almost every 13.3" notebook. At the same time all of this remains in a 11.6 inch, 3.4 pound unit, which is light enough to make it feel the same as basically any other netbook. It doesn't feel cramped and the touchpad's features work well enough to make it an easily navigable system. It plays HD internet video and has both VGA and HDMI connectivity plus ethernet and 3 USB 2.0. It also has a 500 GB hard drive which is very uncommon in netbooks. This machine can easily be compared to many 13" notebooks in its speed and hardware while a netbook in size and energy consumption. At the price point there is nothing better on the market.

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Very good option to consider if like me, you want a Windows 7 machine before they disappear from the marketplace, and you want a travel size notebook (11.6" screen is perfect for me) with a full keyboard, but don't want to shell out the bucks for the sleeker ultrabooks or settle for a Chromebook. Another key feature for me on this model is that it has a 6 cell battery which effectively allows me to use it most of the day untethered from the power cord. Very beefy Memory (4 GB) and Hard Drive (500 GB) for this price point, but one shortcoming is that the Processor is just adequate (listed as 1.00 GHz but really 1.37 it would be better to have one 2.0 or higher.) It's fast enough for email, surfing the web, downloading music and e-books, watching You Tube videos, etc., but don't even think about gaming. The machine runs cool and quiet and the fan rarely comes on. Nice that it has an HDMI output so you can easily hook it up to a HD TV. A potential shortcoming is that it doesn't have a backlit keyboard but the keyboard is easy to see in dim light and shouldn't be a problem unless you're completely in the dark. The touchpad is not half bad, but easy enough to add an external mouse (the mouse and touchpad can operate simultaneously, making it seamless to switch back and forth). Screen glare is about average, shouldn't be a problem for most unless you are in very harsh lighting. Stylewise it's OK, but certainly not a sexy choice compared to the touchpads or ultrabooks which are sleeker and about a pound lighter. Then again, you don't have to worry as much about this one getting swiped, and even if does get lost or stolen, at this price, it's not such a big deal. In any case, it suits my needs quite well, and I'm very glad to not be lugging my old laptop around with me anymore when I travel.

Buy Compaq CQ57-410US (15.6-Inch Screen) Laptop

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I'm moderately tech-savy and I think this computer has it all. Built-in camera takes awesome video even in low light, the sound quality is incredible and the processor on this thing is fast...much faster than my old desktop. I love the many USB ports it has and my wife and I am excited about how sleek it looks and the quietness of the keys. Very pleased.

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Once again, Amazon has provided excellent service, products, and prices! My new Presario CQ57 was a snap to set up and comes with lots of bells and whistles... so many shortcuts and even a free introductory period of Norton Security! If you just want a laptop for fun, photos, email, and web browsing, this is your best buy!!

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I bought this recently as a gift. I'm a PC tech and deal with laptops and desktops a lot. The first thing I noticed out of the box was the quality of the build. Compaq used to be a very high end laptop company back in the mid to late 90's before HP bought it out. So the laptop was well packed, and the case and fittings were very high quality matte black.

On setup, I was walked through the usual Windows legal blah blah, and on startup I noticed it a bit slow. Not bad, but I noticed it. I was pleased to find that Compaq didn't load a pile of junk on it like the other companies do today, and they all do. I only had to remove the antivirus to install free Avast and remove the HP Dock and one other docking station on the desktop.

The installation went great and after paring down the operating system I still felt that the computer was lacking speed. So I opened it up to add a 2GB memory SIMM and found that Compaq had used 2 X 1GB memory SIMMS! For those of us in the industry we know this is "cheaping out" by the computer company. They could have at least used 1 X 2GB memory SIMM so I could have a total of 4GB of memory. The installation was a snap, if you need to know how go to youtube.com and search for compaq latpop memory upgrade and it will walk you through the procedure.

The laptop has built-in webcam and a JBL sound system, which is nice for a small system. The picture is clear and bright. The hard disk is 250GB, which would be more than enough for most users. The keys are very high quality, again, that Compaq touch to finishing, they are quiet, soft and sure feeling. The lid closes softly but securely. All around an excellent build.

After activating Microsoft Office, doing some updates, and removing some startup programs, I feel this is a good speed computer for the money. Sorry Amazon but this laptop can be found for $299 elsewhere.

This laptop exhudes quality and after a memory upgrade and some OS tweaking, it operates just fine. It's no screamer, if you work with 6 or 8 windows open you might want to consider a more powerful CPU, but for casual surfing, email, and movie watching, this one will work fine. I highly recommend this system with one caveat: Upgrade the memory to 4 or 8GB, and bear in mind you will end up using the two internal memory sticks for earrings, they aren't really worth much. Good job, Compaq! :-)

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My old computer just went haywire on me and I didn't want to just replace it I wanted to upgrade. This was a wonderful replacement and I am enjoying all of it's benefits. I have alot of responsibilities that require the use of my computer and this product performs well and can do much more than I need it to do.

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Fairly good starter unit.I use mine for travel and browsing ,e mail .have a pc for morer serious things.Functions well,very easy to set up.Got mine at wall mart for 299.00Dont spend more if you dont need to.

Cheap HP ENVY TouchSmart 15 Quad Edition Windows 8 Professional Notebook

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List Price: $2,049.95
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I'll let others get all technical, but this sucker is fast. I loaded Windows 8.1 and am still missing (or finding) beloved features from previous versions of windows, but that's an OS thing, not a reflection on the computer. Be sure to load the correct drivers! I love the touch screen, though am using it a bit like I did the mouse when it first came out (yep, I'm old) and am still not comfortable touching the screen (and don't like the fingerprints) but that will pass. I hate the bloatware, though there is less than on some computers. An example is when you try to play your purchased music, an HP subscriber service is the default player, vs. Windows Media Player. Battery life is good, the footprint is reasonable, but it feels a bit heavy, though reasonable for all the insides. I haven't put a dent in the 1TB drive and love the speed of the SSD. Color me satisfied.

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This computer is great in many ways. It is just the fact that to view pictures or video--you just have to sit on one place or the screen is dark or silver. Yuck. I will see if this isn't just a problem with his computer. Cause I really do like the computer--even though you can't move the top back very far. I don't like that but that is not a deal breaker--the viewing angle is.

Best ASUS K52 Series K52JR-X4 15.6-Inch Laptop (Dark Brown) Deals

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Been an Asus fan for a long long time. Jumped on this deal for what I expected to be a "performance" laptop, man am I disappointed. First off, the hard drive is a slow as hell 5400RPM which has no place in a machine with this price tag, shame on me I never checked the spec. In addition to that, its not a 320Gig drive, the system is only reading 282Gig and Asus for some bizarre reason decided to partition the drive into a 74G C: Boot Drive a 208G D: Data drive. Makes no sense, its confusing and cumbersome.

My biggest beef with this machine is the 18 (EIGHTEEN) shortcuts I found on my desktop when I booted up. All flavors of crapware that I don't want and don't need that include a 90 day subscription to Trend Micro Anti-Virus which MaximumPC magazine rated as the WORST AV package on the market in their May 2010 edition. Now I know that doesn't mean much, but its disquieting when the defacto Hardware Champion of the entire computer industry (IMO) loads up a new machine with a truckload of unrecognizable garbageware like Splendid Utility and AP Bank, among others I've never heard of and don't have any use for. Oh well, while cleaning all this junk out of my HD I also noticed the boot time is right at 4 minutes, that's with the included utility Asus Fast Boot engaged. Sheesh!!!

On the upside, the display is bright and crisp and the graphics are amazing. And, the real good news here....there are two open DIMM slots so you can easily upgrade to 8Gig of system memory and hopefully improve the performance of this machine. Not a fan of the chicklet keyboard either, and you will find it almost impossible to navigate in the dark.

Very disappointed in Asus, and ya know it would have been nice to get a media player that's compatible with the Blu-Ray drive but alas....and good luck finding one that's even compatible with Windows 7 that doesn't cost $100, well there is VLC for your DVD's but that's about it. The battery gave me 70 minutes on a full charge before the initial boot. I don't expect my mood to soften anytime soon as I am still cleaning this thing up, BUT it does look good, and for a 15.6" it very lightweight, so I got that going for me.

3 Week Update: OK OK, now that I have massaged this thing and gotten rid of all the pre-installed junk provided by Asus I am VERY impressed. This machine is a multimedia/multitasking monster, and the Power 4 Gear power settings will give you about 2 1/2 hours on the battery, and it runs very cool, no heat discharge at all. The display is the most impressive thing about this laptop, I was forced to buy glasses to read my old HP but don't need them with this LED backlit panel. And the graphics are nothing short of incredible. Still not a fan of the chicklet keyboard, its just not as intuitive as it should be. And I think I can still benefit from a memory upgrade but right now that's only around $100 for another 4Gig and I'm hoping that improves the mouse function...not as responsive as one might hope, maybe its a resource thing, we'll see.

Anyway, I'm still upset about all the preloaded junk that came from the factory, Asus knows better but if you're going to take over the world there are things you just have to do as an OEM I suppose. They still make the best hardware out there IMO. So after the courtship phase with this thing I'd have to say I'm very pleased and semi-happy with my new laptop. BTW, PowerDVD10 is the most reliable media player I've found for Windows 7. VLC falls down on some formats and and I've never really liked Windows Media Player. Too bad Asus doesn't provide an OEM version with this unit, haven't tried a Blu Ray disc yet but they cant look any better than a regular DVD on this display.

FYI. if you're into these things, these are the Windows Experience numbers on a scale of 1 to 7.9:

CPU 6.7

RAM 5.9

Graphics 5.1 (Desktop and Windows Aero)

Gaming Graphics 6.2

Hard Disk 5.7

After cleaning everything up and re-running the scores, the CPU performance went from 6.5 to 6.7. Everything else stayed the same. Pretty strong! Also boot times have been cut in half, I can live with that. However, my biggest complaint now that I've upgraded to 8Gig of RAM is that the touchpad (Elan Smart-Pad) still doesnt work. And thats after turning off ALL of its services except the basic functions. HELLO ASUS, FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!! If you buy an Asus laptop you have to expect to have touchpad problems out of the gate, complaints are posted all over the web dating back 3-4 years, and you cannot install the latest drivers....they just wont install. My fix was a Microsoft 3500 mouse which I should have bought with the machine. Problem solved. A 5 star product if not for this pathetic Elan Tech "Smart-Pad"

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I was looking for a laptop with both a Intel Core I5

processor (the I7 laptops seeming to all for for at

least $300 more) and one with a blu ray drive. Also,

I do NOT like the shiny surfaced laptops where you

leave fingerprints and smears all over -this one is

shiny on the outside but they use a matte finish where

you rest your hands so fingerprints really aren't an

issue.

The laptop feels well built and looks very nice without

being flashy. I love the keyboard, with the keys spaced

apart from each other a bit. No place for crumbs to drop

in :P The screen is very clear and bright. It boots up

quickly and runs all my programs on it quickly.

I can't speak for battery life as I usually always run with

the power cord plugged in. As for gaming, I use it mostly

for work and running Office 2007 on it and for browsing, so

I can't say how well it will do with gaming, although I would

think it would be pretty good.

My only complaints would be the speakers don't go up very loud

and don't sound the best -but what laptop speakers ever do?

And I would like to go up a little higher on the screen resolution-

1366x768 being the maximum resolution in Windows 7.

But overall I am quit pleased with my purchase, especially for

the excellent price.

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Good notebook for its price. Use it mainly for programming use and it answers my needs. Graphics display is great.

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I haven't really put it to the test in terms of processor and multimedia, etc. But for everyday use such as video-playing (internet television and DVD movies), also photos, it's great. Boots up fast, and yes it can run for 24 hours, including video for the majority of that time, without getting noticeably hot and there's NEVER a fan kicking in at least that I can hear. Amazing. I prefer the OS partitioned off from the main storage drive. It's simply more efficient and faster to scandisk and defrag-and I like that I didn't have to figure out how to set up partitions on my own.

When I originally decided to buy a laptop, I thought I wanted a netbook something lighter, thinner and more portable. But the ASUS has so much more power and nice specs for several hundred dollars less than than any of the netbooks. And frankly, I bought this ASUS because two non-commissioned salespersons at Office Max simply raved and raved about the company and the quality of their US-Made parts and assembly. They both drooled at this model on the shelf and referred to it as the "dream machine" they'd choose. I know I broke the heart of one of them when I bought it. This was the last one they had in stock. I, too, love the brushed metal textured body and touchpad. I'm a messy typist. I also bought a silicone keyboard cover and screen cover. Unfortunately, this model is way too nice (and big) for me to trust putting in my bike messenger bag and taking to school.... But that's okay.

Freeware and trial software installed all over the desktop is a minor problem. I'm sure all the partnerships help with lowering the cost ASUS charges-so okay. It took me a whopping ten minutes to uninstall the programs including the annoying antivirus program that provided a pop-up screen every ten minutes asking me to install it.

It took me less than 20 minutes to have the new laptop up and running with all the configurations for Windows Update, product registration, and other first time customizations. Easy, clear directions from ASUS, including how to make your own restore disks, which took an extra hour to burn, but easily ran in the background while I used the PC. Backup discs will need to be on DVDs-CDs are not sufficient. That should have been obvious to me, but when I called tech support to confirm this, I got a fast, polite response from a real person. I highly recommend their tech support department.

My last laptop was going on 7 years old. Night and Day difference and the price I paid for the new ASUS was nearly half of what I paid for my older laptop USED.

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The ASUS K52J laptop arrived yesterday, 2 days before the expected delivery date.

After removing the junk software, icons and installed MS Office 2010, Adware, Firefox and other software, so far I like it.

This laptop is fast, it boots up quickly. It is only warm at the fan opening area after using it all day. The fan is quiet.

The DVD/Blu-ray software is on a DVD disc and it is old! I need to install it myself. It can't play Avatar. I need to download PowerDVD 10 to play latest blu-ray disc.

The LED display is better than my HP laptop! It is nice and bright, just like my 23" ASUS LED monitor.

The battery holds about 2 hours 15 minutes of charge. Not too good and not too bad.

The keyboard is nice with just enough space among keys. I can hit the key with confidence. The number keys are smaller.

Wireless is strong. It connects when I am in basement, router is on 2 floors above.

It also comes with Cyperlink DVD suite that allows me to burn CD, create video, print label and more.

A software to create funny video using its build in webcam. Webcam is not high definition like my HP laptop.

I connected HDMI to TV. It needs a reboot to output the sound to the TV. Took me couple hours to figure this out (Felix told me to reboot...). But it is very nice and very easy without any adjusting on the TV or on the laptop. I attached 2 pictures. Only connect laptop with one HDMI cable to TV, it carries both video and sound.

The facial recognition software is not too effective. The lighting needs to be the same every time. The finger print reader on my HP is better.

One more thing. I don't like the hard disk partition. It has 2 partitions, C: and D:. C: has the windows software and is only 78GB. The rest of the space is in D:

It means I need to use D: to hold all my personal files.

I created the "My documents", "My pictures", "Downloads", "My video", "My music" into D: drive. Then change the library property to point to these directories. In the Windows Explorer, right click of the "My documents" to open property, then remove the existing one and change the folder location. Same for other folders under "Library".

I wish it just has one big C: partition, it makes life easier !!

Since I got a good deal and paid only $549 for a re certified unit so I give it 5 starts. If I need to pay $800+ for a new one, I would return it to get another Gateway or HP. There are many good choice for $800.

Reviews of Toshiba Satellite L855-S5240 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mercury Silver)

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The computer has met our needs, for daily home activities such as e-mail, MS office tasks, I have also used it to process pictures and that has worked well. USB3 connection is really nice. So far the only issue is that the SD card sticks out when it is in the reader and could get damaged if the computer is set down without using much care. However the real test comes with time, how will it hold up?

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The Toshiba computer I ordered through Amazon was as advertised and I received it right on schedule. I would not hesitate to order another Toshiba as I have owned four computers from another major computer company that have all died within 2 and 3 years of purchase. Hopefully this one will stand up.

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Wonderful purchase and I was happy to get it when it was on a temporary sale for less than $600.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite L855-S5240 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mercury Silver)

Perfect for the price I paid, but to say it's perfect in general would unfortunately be a lie.

I'll start with the positives. The laptop is still running with virtually no damage aside from HDD issue that I'll get to later. I bought it last year in August for school, so it's impressive to see no real issue from then to now. The computer is still fast, has a brilliantly fast start up time, has not blue screened once, and only overheated one time when I accidentally was laying on my side with the computer tilted and blocked the vents. (stupid mistake but it turned back on quickly enough)

The battery is a little on the weak side, only lasting an hour on high, and ~3-4 hours on eco mode. This is after a year, however, so I'm perfectly fine with these stats as I normally have access to an outlet and the charger is pretty small if you coil the cords around the box.

The screen is still perfect with virtually no pixel issues. There's not even a random red dot on the screen which after all my gaming I'm glad to see.

A few screws have fallen out, and I can tell the case is a little loose because of it, but I don't run while I use it so I really have no issue. It hasn't fallen apart and it doesn't feel like it's ever going to.

Touchpad is fine for a casual user, and it gets the job done for me, but any gaming requires a mouse.

The RAM is a GREAT features of this, truly a plus in my eyes. 6gb of RAM is plenty for a much more expensive computer, yet I got this one on sale for 550, so to say I'm content is an understatement. The CPU could be better but this is on a gaming point of view. It runs smoothly, quietly, and in a cool fashion on virtually anything else. I can rest the thing on my lap without it getting hot (though this wasn't the case with the old HDD)

That leads me to that issue. The HDD failed out after 9 months of use. I noticed issues with the laptop getting very warm, and basic games from the 90's being a little sluggish. I took it to my uncle who examined it and said the HDD was probably going to fail the next day. He tried to transfer my data out of it but most of it was lost due to failure (But I maintained my music thankfully)

A week later the laptop has a nice SSD. I would have liked to have used the HDD as an external source for all my movies and music, but you never know when an HDD will fail. Could last 10 years, or 10 minutes.

I enjoyed the 750 gb of room it had, but my SSD is truly better. With it, I almost never have to use the fan to cool down the system in the winter, and turning my fan on and pointing it where I'm sitting is enough in the Summer unless I'm doing something extensive like a game or Microsoft Visual.

That leads me to the GPU which is below average for games as it's integrated and intel. But it runs everything perfectly fine outside of games. It can even run Skyrim on low (most likely due to the rest of the computer being much better in comparison and having 6 gigs of RAM to leech off of) so I don't have to go without games entirely. It even runs Minecraft on Normal Draw Distance, which isn't exactly an easy feat. For the budget gamer, this definitely is a valid choice.

To say I'm satisfied with the $500 computer is an understatement. It has lasted a year without any parts except the HDD failing. Even so, Hard drives can be sketchy even in high end laptops and I doubt many will have similar scenarios. The SSD I got was only 180 so all in all I spent 700 on a laptop that does everything I want it to, starts up fast, can do everything I need in school, and can even game a little. I really love the Satellite line of laptops, and if you have to buy Toshiba, I'd recommend this laptop.

It isn't perfect, but compared to other $500 laptops it's top tier.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Satellite L855-S5240 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mercury Silver)

This was purchased new and it lasted all of 9 Months. Out $700.00 in less than One year the mother board is gone.

Junk, Avoid this lap top Don't Buy.

Review of Lenovo X1 Carbon 34442DU 14-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

Pros:

Fast, Solid build quality,Low fan noise, Low heat, Excellent keyboard,

The only con i could find was the trackpad isn't as slick as some of the newer ultrabooks and feels a bit wobbly when I click it. If you can get past that, it's an amazing laptop.

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Review of Alienware M18X 18.4" Laptop Computer

Customer Ratings:

Wow I can say this has been the best laptop and bought till this day, and that I have a Asus G73, alienware m17x R3, but the m18x is class apart.

I am a very detail-oriented person (my friends say I am never satisfied with anything) but I have to say that with the m18x I am, why not say it till I was impressed with this machine, I can run all games on the market till this day .

My score in Windows is like my m17x r3

Processor: 7.5

Memory (RAM): 7.6

Graphics: 7.7

Gaming graphics: 7.7

Primary hard disk: 7.7

What else I can tell you: hmmm ..... list XD

1) Key: very good (not the best but does everything you need to do and a little more).

2) Mouse: I was impressed very good the best laptop mouse and had.

3) Display: very good (not perfect).

4) Video Card: hmm there depends on what you want to put (my case CrossFireX 6990)

5) Time Battery: I managed to last from 4 hours to 5 hours (Intel mode)

Others Score:

Dirt 3: 65 FPS

FFXIVBenchmark: 3557

Heaven DX11 Benchmark 2.5: 54.3 (all max, except that in normal Tessellation and of course DX11)

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Best Alienware M14X R2 14-Inch Gaming Laptop Black, Intel Core i7-3610QM Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $2,299.00
Sale Price: $1,699.99
Today's Bonus: 26% Off

There isn't too much to gripe about this laptop. The only downside I can really think of is the screen touches the keyboard when its closed so when you open it there is small smudges. However, there are screen protectors out there or even little rubber dots that can make that stop when closing.

Its pretty much all out there. 16 gigs of ram, i7 quad core, and it came with windows 7. Now compared to my desktop Windows 7 is great for gaming, while running Windows 8 I've run across a few issues. Therefore, Windows 7 is ideal since this is a gaming PC and most products like steam tend to run a little better.

I bought the computer mainly so I could take some games with me on deployment and get some college out of the way. One thing I didn't expect but is a great little quirk is that you can customize the colors of nearly every light on the computer. It doesn't affect how it runs, but it is kind of cool.

Over all this PC runs like you'd think it runs and behaves as it should and I do recomend it if you can find one for cheap enough as I had. If you don't want to build a desktop or don't know how to(easy but time consuming) this would be a good purchase for the next few years if you want to play higher end games on a computer.

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The perfect combination between processor and graphic card. Ideal for games.

The computer is super fast and runs in high quality all the games I've played until now.

Best HP Envy 4-1110us 14-Inch Ultrabook (Black) Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $799.99
Sale Price: $598.99
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

First thing I want to write is that it was amazing to see that it took 13 seconds to get to the home screen or whatever screen they call it in windows 8. That was just impressive. I have own an ASUS laptop before and the touchpad was fairly good but something was missing, I was making too many errors while typing. Hp has done a brilliant job in keyboard placing at least that's what I think. similarly the touchpad feels great, it is not a plain surface, you feel some resistance while moving the hand around it and it feels good, feels I have more control over the touchpad. May not feel much of an important thing but with Windows 8 trust me, you are going to love that.

On the bad side, you can easily see fingerprints on it which is kind of distracting in my case, thinking to buy a cool laptop skin to solve that problem. F5 button is constantly on, which i thought was not necessary before but in the dark you know exactly where to press to turn on the backlit and dont have to try to guess where is Fn button and F5. So i don't have problem with F5 lighting up anymore, trying to getting used to that.

Bottom-line for less than $800 this machine is just perfect for someone like me who wants to get latest in the technology, both flash memory to boot up way faster (Ultrabook thing)and Windows 8,btw i want to comment on windows8, if you have had a windows phone before it should not be much of a problem to get used to it and for the rest, people are buying apple computers for the first time and trying to learn how to use it, trust me it wont be half of that trouble to get used to windows 8, its time to evolve to next generation anyway:)

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HP's Sleekbooks are very handsome devices. They feature top-shelf materials, and the fit and finish is impeccable. Should any of this matter to a laptop buyer? Perhaps not, but when so many machines look alike, it's nice to walk into a meeting (or the corner coffee shop) and draw admiring looks from people when you take your Sleekbook out of your bag. Yes, it's that good looking.

In terms of performance, it's really hard to assess how fast a machine is from raw product specifications. The HP Envy 4-1100us features the newest Intel processor, 4Gb of RAM, a 500Gb hard drive, and a 14-inch screen driven by an onboard Intel graphics processor. It also comes with Windows 8 built-in, which is a very attractive feature for those of us who hate the gotchas and glitches that invariably occur during OS upgrades.

These are not knockout specs, but they're quite good at this price level. In my real-world performance tests (Microsoft Office suite, Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, various business tools, ITunes, etc.), I found the HP Envy to be plenty fast, and exceptionally quiet. (The RAM and hard drives can be upgraded, so if you seek lightning-fast performance, it can be attained if you desire.)

The battery life is exceptional I can work all day at the office or in a coffee shop without plugging in. That's pretty amazing battery performance considering the light weight of this machine.

So for those looking for a very sleek, um, Sleekbook at a very affordable price, I'm not sure you can do better than this machine.

Best Deals for HP Envy 4-1110us 14-Inch Ultrabook (Black)

First, let me say WOW to the backlit keyboard. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it and frankly, think all keyboards should be standard backlit. I do a lot of late-nite web surfing and it was always so troublesome. The keys are 'chicklet' in style and respond easily and quickly to your touch. You can, if you don't want to use the backlit feature, simply hit F5 and it turns it off.

The laptop itself for only 4 gb of ram is pretty responsive it boots FAST and even after its asleep up and going in less than 20 seconds. It feels well made and even though only 14", does not feel cramped or uncomfortable.

Now for the bad: I had read quite a few reviews on Windows 8 some good, some bad, some so/so. Seeing all those ads on TV, I thought, what could be so bad? First, its much too confusing and I'm pretty computer literate. Too much crap that just isn't needed. If I want an ebay "app" or icon on my computer, I'll download and put it there myself. Same with all the other "junk" that comes on it. Second, its much too sensitive. I will be in an email typing away and next thing I know POOF its disappeared and I have a million tiny icons on my screen sure you just put your cursor to the left corner and you can get back to where you want to go but it should not be that touchy feely sensitive. Or you hit a key and you're in somewhere you have no clue why you're there, how you got there, why its even there. Windows 8 takes up a LOT of space. It does have a few nice keyboard shortcuts (once you figure them out) but frankly, if I could put Windows 7 on this it would be PERFECT.

Windows 8 is also not 100% compatible with all your other programs and hardware. For example, my Apple shuffle Windows 8 doesn't even recognize, can't find it and iTunes doesn't see it either on Windows 8. I have now found numerous other websites reporting this same issue so if you are an iPhone or iPod or iPad user BEWARE of Windows 8.

I would have given this 5 stars but for Windows 8. For me it just isn't what its all (excuse me a moment as I find my way back to this review after hitting some random key by mistake).....where was I? Oh yes, Windows 8 just isn't all that much too sensitive and easy to get "lost" and just not compatible with all software/hardware.

Honest reviews on HP Envy 4-1110us 14-Inch Ultrabook (Black)

***I got my new laptop from Amazon and have had a few weeks to play with it. I definitely had a dud before! This one connects great to my internet, doesn't lag or hang up on sites like the other one did. I officially love this little laptop! The battery life is unbelievable, it's so light and portable, the picture is great, love the backlit keyboard,how cool it stays even after a few hours of running, there isn't anything I wouldn't rave about to my friends about this computer. I still haven't messed with windows 8. I just click on desktop and it is just like using Windows 7 in my opinion. I still get excited that I own something I love when I pick it up to use it, especially after having one that was so bulky and had to be plugged in or it would die quickly. And you push the power button and can be online surfing the internet in under a minute! Even my husband watched me looking up recipes, arranging the shopping list, etc for a few hours online, not plugged in, and still had over half the battery left and said he wants one for himself now lol. Changing my rating from 2 to 5 stars because as a person who just uses a computer to surf the internet, play some online games, listen to music and charge my ipod, load and edit pictures from my camera, etc (basic every day stuff, no hard core gaming or any serious business), this computer is absolutely perfect and I couldn't ask for anything else from it. Hope it keeps working for years to come so I don't have to research and find something this good again!***

First I have to say, I love this ultrabook. I don't even mind Windows 8. Took a little getting used to, a few google searches to find out how to find things I was looking for, but things change, you adapt and move on. I don't use any of the apps, personally. I just click on desktop and do everything just as if I was using my windows 7 laptop. Maybe someday I will play around with it and see if I find them useful. I heard horror stories about Windows 8 and was terrified, but it's not bad in my opinion. The laptop itself is EXTREMELY lightweight. I love it! I have a HP DV-7 and it's a beast to carry around, this I can easily hold in one hand. I love the back lit keyboard, I shut it off when I am in the light, push one button to turn it on when I am in the dark, I don't even know how I lived without this feature before! The screen is nice and bright, colors look good, picture is very clear, and 14" was definitely the size I wanted (I wavered between 14 and 15.6). I, personally don't get the whole "beats" audio thing. They sound like generic computer speakers to me. Zero bass, even when adjusted. It was nothing special. Only difference I noticed was I could turn it up all the way without distortion, where my DV-7 would get kind of gurgled at the top volume. I love the volume buttons right up top, along with a mute button, makes it easy to do the things I want to do, with or without sound and change between the two quickly. I have no problems with the track pad, though I admit to using a corded mouse because I am not big on track pads to begin with. I like that a simple double click in the upper left corner shuts it off and has a little red light to indicate it's off. I read some reviews about having to pound on the keys, and this is definitely not true for the one I have. I can type easily and swiftly without any problems. The matte cover is a little annoying because of finger prints, but that would be a silly deciding factor or reason to lower the rating. And I would have probably rated it a full 5 stars for pretty much being everything I wanted EXCEPT, I'm returning mine today after less than a month. The internet barely works. I try to open a site and about 80% of the time or more, it just freezes and is "thinking" and never opens the page. We have other devices that use our home network with no problems, including another HP laptop, so it's not my internet. I tried to see if it was something I could live with, or maybe even improved with updates and I can't and it didn't. I did some searching and didn't really see everyone complaining of this problem, so I am hoping that I just got a slightly defective computer. A computer is pretty pointless if you can't surf the internet. Amazon is sending me a new one, and I will update my rating and this review when I get it and play with it a bit!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Envy 4-1110us 14-Inch Ultrabook (Black)

It is super pretty and light weight. It is quite fast! I love it very much. The sound effect is also wonderful. The windows 8 system is a bit challenging yet thrilling to use.

Discount Apple MacBook Air MC968LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Customer Ratings:

I've been waiting for a new computer for my wife, something that she can use both as her desktop computer attached to a monitor, mouse and keyboard and still take along on business trips around the world. Ideally, something she could throw in her big purse and go. The previous edition of the MacBook Air was close, but too compromised in terms of processor speed. The Air is perfect for her.

At this writing, Amazon is selling two versions of the 11.6 inch MacBook Air, an i5 model with 2GB of RAM and 64 GB of SSD storage, and an i5 model with 4GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage. You can order elsewhere a third model with an i7 processor, 4GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage--the i7 is the low voltage 2 core version. This review aims at helping the consumer decide if a MacBook Air is the computer for them, and if so, which one. Short answer is the i5/4GB/128GB model is probably the sweet spot of the lineup, but some people can get along with the 64GB model as a second computer, while others will need the ultimate and expensive model.

The strengths:

This computer is fast. The combination of a Solid State Drive (SSD) hard drive and an i5 (or optionally an i7 processor make this the fastest computer I've ever used, and I have a 2011 13" MacBook Pro as my personal computer. The SSD gives it a qualitative responsiveness--application launching, task switching--which any spinning disk laptop will be unable to match. Quantitatively, it more than keeps up with its larger siblings in CPU intensive tasks. For example, my big laptop can compile a large, commercial application I maintain using Xcode 4 in 9 minutes 38 seconds, this tiny sub notebook can do the same in 9 minutes 5 seconds.

This computer is portable. I went to the local Apple Store and compared the 11.6 to the 13 inch MacBook Air, and while the 13 is extremely portable it is not a good fit for a woman's purse. This 11.6 can nearly get lost in a purse, I can imagine my wife hunting around for a few seconds trying to find it. It's ridiculously small. The 11.6 is half a pound lighter than the 13 and a pound heavier than an iPad 2.

Battery life when not under heavy load is good. I can web browse, and as long as I stay away from Flash websites, can do it for several hours. However, under load the 5 hours Apple promises for wireless web browsing becomes sub two hours. If the fan is on, the battery will not last, so it becomes time to figure out which page is running Flash, or which application is hogging all the CPU cycles. For example, I can drain the battery in about 2 hours 20 minutes watching full screen Netflix--which uses the Microsoft Silverlight plugin--over WiFi. I believe Apple no longer pre-installs Flash to pump up their claimed web browsing battery life claims. The larger Air has more room for a battery and thus has a longer battery life. The battery life of my MacBook Pro is certainly at least an hour or two longer under the same approximate load.

The screen is beautiful and crisp. Color balance and contrast seem superior to that of my MacBook Pro's (which isn't bad either). Viewing angles are good but not the spectacular IPS angles of an iPad. I had been wary of dropping down to the 11 inch screen from the 13 inch of my MacBook Pro, but I think I could work all day at this size especially if all I were doing was web browsing or video watching. I wouldn't want to edit videos or do long term software development at this size, but of course there is a Thunderbolt port and with the appropriate MiniDisplay adaptor I could attach it to any monitor. This will spend most of its life attached to a 21 inch LCD.

The keyboard is thankfully backlit. Typing is reasonably comfortable, although I'd prefer another milimeter or two of key travel. Again, this will spend most of its life attached to an external keyboard so it doesn't matter much but I much prefer the touch feel of my MacBook Pro.

The trackpad is large and Mountain Lion ready for all your taps, pinches, swipes (one, two, three and more fingers). Apple is renowned for its trackpads and this is no exceptions. Perfect finger feel, no stutters, accurate tracking. The one noticeable difference between this trackpad and the ones in its bigger cousins and the Magic Trackpad is lack of click travel distance, until you get used to it, you are likely to slam your thumb down in hopes of the expected and satisfying button click only to be dissapointed. The Air's button clicking is by necessity a more abstract gesture which usage should make more natural.

Build quality. This is not some shoddy plastic netbook. The unibody construction is amazingly rigid and could be used to bludgeon an attacker in a pinch (and still keep on downloading).

The weaknesses:

Storage size is cramped, especially at the lower price points. I think the 64GB model targets users looking to keep all of their documents, images, videos, music in "the cloud" and while I'm sure people will live in the cloud in the future, most of us live on Earth with our limited speed Internet connections. The larger capacities are fine for many people, including my wife, but not for me, I have too many videos, photos, and music files filling up my MacBook Pro to compress myself even down to the 256GB model.

There are not many ports on the box. Two USB ports, a headset port and a Thunderbolt port are limited. Apple sells the Thunderbolt version of its well regarded but expensive Cinema display which relieves most port complaints and replaces them with "I have to pay a thousand dollars for a monitor with a Firewire port?" complaints. I own this display and it is superb, but it is definitely not for the budget minded or at least those lacking in creative rationalizations. Alternatively, desk bound USB hubs are cheap, and Belkin has announced a Thunderbolt hub, although I have yet to see it for sale.

By the way, I bought the Apple USB to Ethernet adaptor and I do not recommend doing so unless your WiFi is horrible or nonexistent. Turns out WiFi is at least as fast as this adaptor and a whole lot less trouble when dealing with a virtual machine. If anything, make sure you've upgraded to an 802.11N router like a newer Airport Express.

Fan noise under load is a bit loud. Surprisingly, this computer which is dead silent until the fan kicks in can be noticeably loud due to the small space available for the fan vent. At the request of a commenter, I measured the decibel level by laying a decibel meter on the trackpad, and under load it measured 46 dB which is fairly quiet as these things go, my MacBook Pro under the same conditions gave 51 dB. Please take this with a grain of salt as I am not a sound engineer and measuring from the trackpad is not where your ears would be.

The FaceTime camera is weak compared to the cameras in the Air's larger cousins or in the Thunderbolt display. It's OK, but not the spectacular clear HD of the camera in my laptop.

This is not a gaming laptop. The one performance compromise is the lack of a proper discreet GPU. The integrated Intel HD 3000 is OK, probably as fast as the last generation NVidia 320M used in the previous Air, but not something you'll want to throw the most demanding game at. It will be fine for watching video on, and just about anything else but high end gaming.

The maximum memory capacity of the Air, despite being a 64-bit computer, is 4GB and is non-upgradeable. If you get a 2GB machine it will stay a 2GB machine. This is a shame as RAM is cheap these days; I have 8GB on my MacBook Pro. The SSD is upgradeable although online prices for the unusual SSD on a board used in the Air are amazing; maybe in a couple years it will make financial sense to upgrade. The lowest model has only 2GB of RAM and that may be too low for many combinations of applications, or when running a virtual machine.

The lack of an optical drive. I had a USB DVD drive already but many will not. Apple will sell you a pretty one, but in most cases any cheap USB drive will do. The only time my wife used her optical drive on her old computer was once a year to install TurboTax, so this will not be a big problem for her. I did have a problem installing Windows 7 using the Parallels Desktop virtual machine in that the virtual machine would not see my cheap optical drive to install Windows. I ended up using Disk Utility to make an ISO disk image of the Windows installer disk and use that as image for installation. The only other time I needed to use an optical drive in the last year is to get a Digital Download from the Captain America Blu-ray combo pack; iTunes insisted on seeing the registration disk, so I broke out the USB drive. My advice here is to not buy an optical drive but wait to see if you actually need one, and if you do need one, first try to use the included software to use another computer's optical drive.

The lack of an SD slot reader. I use the reader in my larger notebook frequently, although less often as I take more pictures with smartphones. The larger Air has a reader, and while USB SD card readers are cheap, they are also awkward, often slower and easily lost.

The expense. On a per pound basis, this is the second most expensive object I have ever purchased. My wife will mainly be using it to run Windows software, and I guess I could have gotten a netbook for traveling at a third (or less) the price. I felt it important to get a high performance computer that she could replace her desktop with too, one with a nice screen and a decent keyboard. The previous Air wasn't there yet, this is.

Tidbits:

This laptop ships with Apple's new operating system OS X 10.7 (Lion) and should be upgraded to 10.8 Mountain Lion, which means new users will be getting used to the more gestural iOS like elements of OS X, as well as the infamous upside down scrolling. Users should know that 10.7 dropped support for PowerPC applications so longtime Mac users should check that all their needed applications are Intel or Universal. One synergy between Mountain Lion and this laptop's small screen is that many of the standard applications have full screen modes, allowing the user to maximize the space devoted to web browsing for instance.

I've installed Windows 7 under the Parallels Desktop VM on this box, and it works well. I gave the virtual machine its own core and 2GB of memory and it is zippy fast. This was the main reason for moving my wife to a new box, the 5 year old Core 2 Duo she had been using was starting to slog under the weight of dozens of Excel spread sheets and scores of browser tabs.

There are reports online that some units ship with Samsung SSD drives, and some ship with slower Toshiba SSD drives. There is no way to guarantee getting the faster drive, and you may not notice anyway. This review was based on a laptop with a Samsung drive.

Which to Buy:

There are 6 different configurations of MacBook Air. I chose the i7 4GB of RAM 256GB of SSD 11 inch model--a model available in Apple's brick and mortar stores or as a custom build. This is the more portable model and has an adequate RAM and fairly good hard drive capacity. I had been thinking of getting the 13 inch version, but on looking at them in the store, I realized the extra portability and the usability of the screen was enough to make the smaller version preferable. If you don't have a purse and will be putting the laptop in a case anyway, get the 13 inch version, everything will be a bit less cramped, the battery life will be longer and you'll have an SD reader built in. I actually only purchased the i7 because that's what came with the 256GB SSD, it probably isn't worth a premium over the i5 models for what the typical Air user would be using it for.

11-Inch i5 64 GB 2GB RAM -> People with no media who want a fast web browser, or as a second computer

11-Inch i5 128GB 4GB RAM -> People with little media who run applications occasionally on the go (Most People)

11-Inch i7 256GB 4GB RAM -> People with applications with high performance requirements such as running a VM

13-Inch i5 128GB 4GB ->People with little media who run applications occasionally on the go, like a larger screen over portability

13-Inch i5 256GB 4GB -> People needing a larger screen and high performance.

13-Inch i7 256GB 4GB -> People with applications with high performance requirements such as running a VM and a larger screen

Compared to Other Laptops:

I'll be keeping my 13" MacBook Pro with its much larger disk capacity. Replacing the 750GB laptop drive in my Pro with an SSD would be ridiculously expensive. Also, I like having an SD card reader, a high resolution camera, an Ethernet port and a Firewire port. In most other ways this Air is superior. The Air has a better screen, is much more portable, and with the SSD is noticeably more responsive.

Compared to the larger MacBook Pros. The larger models have real GPUs and bigger screens, and I think are only of interest to people with specialized needs: gamers or people who need to do video editing on the go. They won't be much faster at anything not requiring the GPU. I'm just not the kind of person who'd buy a 17" laptop. It wouldn't fit on my lap. I was at a neighbor's house today and the college bound daughter had just bought a monstrous HP desktop replacement portable, and it was ridiculous, just get a smaller laptop and an external monitor so you have the option of portability--or spend less money and get a desktop.

Compared to Windows laptops. Intel Corporation has started an initiative to encourage other PC hardware manufacturers to basically clone the MacBook Air design as a class of WinTel PCs dubbed "Ultrabooks" and these very familiar looking devices are starting to become available such as the Asus ZenBook UX21, or the Toshiba Portege Z835. I haven't had a chance to look at these, but in general terms UltraBooks will have the advantage of having Windows 7 pre-installed and not forcing the user to install Boot Camp and buy a system builder copy of Windows. The specs will be similar to the MacBook Air, and sometimes better--it seems as though the low end ZenBook has a larger SSD than the low-end MacBook Air. So Windows user now have a variety of computers to choose from, and can make a determination if the higher cost of the MacBook Air (due to purchasing Windows) is worth differences in build quality and parts quality--I would be particularly suspicious of the ZenBook's trackpad and screen. But again, I have yet to see one.

In Summary:

This is a great laptop. Apple's going to sell millions of them. If it fits your needs and you have the cash you will likely be happy with it. I know people with the previous generation Airs, and they love them, and this Air is all that and twice as fast. However, be sure it fits your needs, check to see what your disk space requirements are. Check to see if you have any PowerPC applications which need to be updated. Maybe you'll need the extra battery life of the larger models. Go to an Apple Store and try out the keyboard, maybe the short key travel will drive you nuts. Maybe the short wide screen of the 11 inch will make you feel like you are browsing the web through a mail slot. Maybe you could get a refurbished last years model for a smaller amount and make do with the lesser processor. In short, because this is a pricey little laptop, you have to be sure its the one for you.

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INTRODUCTION

I had considered buying the previous generation MacBook Air (pre July 2011) but just couldn't quite force myself to spend the money on machine that still used Intel's Core 2 Duo CPUs (despite the fact that the older Airs were still actually quite speedy). Apple was using the then newer generation Core i5/i7 CPUs on their other computers.

So when Apple updated their Airs with Intel's significantly faster Sandy Bridge i5/i7 CPUs, I became interested again. But, which size would be best for me?

11" VERSUS 13"

I've been struggling over this decision on which size 2011 MBA would be better. It's the usual dilemma with the 13" boasting pretty much better specs and battery life than the 11". Then I thought, well, the 13" is ONLY 2" larger diagonally, and ONLY weighs a "little" more (and ONLY costs a "little" more).

But the reality (for me) is that for a truly mobile device, like an iPad, only the MBA 11" has a shot at being mobile. The MBA 13" is great and certainly more mobile than a conventional MacBook Pro 13", but the MBA 13" is still IMHO more of a portable, than a mobile laptop.

The MBA 11" is actually mobile.

Once I realized this, there really was no longer a comparison to be made. They are two different devices. One being mobile and the other very portable. I have a 2011 MBP 17" which is my ultimate portable, and now my 2011 MBA 11" is my mobile computer.

PROS

1. Extremely fast CPU The MBA 11" comes with a Sandy Bridge 1.6 gHz dual-core Core i5 CPU (or a 1.8 gHz dual-core i7 directly from Apple). Despite rumors to the contrary, the Turbo Boost and hyper threading capabilities were NOT turned off in the Core i5 CPUs. Geekbench benchmarks show extraordinary speed increases. The previous generation MBA 11" 1.4 gHz Core 2 Duo produced 2024 on Geekbench, while the 2011 MBA 11" now produced 5040 for a 149% increase. This speed even rivals the 2010 MacBook Pro 17" which scored 5423! The 2011 MacBook Air 13" uses a slightly faster 1.7 gHz dual core i5 which scored 5860.)

2. Extraordinarily small! The MBA 11" measures 11.8 x 7.56 x 0.68 inches, while the MBA 13" is 12.8 x 8.94 x 0.68 inches. This means that the 11" is "only" 1 inch shorter and "only" 1.3 inches less deep, but in reality, when you hold up both machines, the MBA 11" feels like a completely different machine. My wife uses a 2011 MacBook Pro 13" which has a similar footprint to the MBA 13". The MacBook Air 13" still felt too much like a laptop, albeit an extraordinarily thin and light one.

3. Extraordinarily light! The MBA 11" weighs 2.38 pounds (while the MBA 13" weighs 2.96 pounds and an iPad 2 weighs 1.35 pounds I actually sometimes hold the MBA like an iPad while reading in bed because it's so light. If you are seeking just a light, portable laptop, then the weight of the MBA 11" or 13" would be great, but if you (like me) are seeking a truly mobile device, then even fractions of a pound matter. The MBA 11" weighs less and is consequently the better choice, but as amazingly light as it is, even lighter would be better. Its doubtful that a mobile device will ever exist that would be considered too light.

4. High-speed Thunderbolt (i.e. Lightpeak) port offering bidirectional 10 gigabits/s throughput Thunderbolt technology is far more revolutionary than USB 3.0 or eSATA. Thunderbolt is NOT limited to the use of a storage device. An external LCD can be attached. Although I use the MBA 11" as my mobile device, it may be acceptable as a primary computer if one attaches an external LCD display and a high-speed Thunderbolt drive. Supposedly an external Thunderbolt hard drive would be nearly as fast as an internal hard drive.

5. Everything is solid state! This MBA feels more like a true "mobile" device since it is fully solid state with its solid state drive. I am far less worried about damaging this versus other laptops I've owned in the past.

6. Extremely fast cold starts and shutdowns thanks to the solid state drive and OS X.

7. Great, full-size keyboard AND keyboard backlighting is back again! While this may seem like a minor point, the previous generation Core 2 Duo Airs did not have the backlighting.

8. The battery life between the 11" and the 13" was only found to be 36 minutes shorter for the 11" (and NOT the 2 hours claimed by Apple) for light usage by Anandtech . The battery life is Apple (conservatively) rated at 5 hours (compared to 7 hours for the MBA 13" and also 7 hours for my MBP 17"). Apple's battery life ratings have become much more stringent in the past few years are much closer to real world usage. I am indeed able to use my 11" for about 6 hours with light usage, which is much better than Apple's claimed 5 hours.

9. Tremendous, typical Apple build quality. The MBA feels like a piece of solid precision crafted machinery.

10. Same great glass trackpad with even more gestures in OS X Lion to be used.

11. Comes with the new Mac OS X Lion (which I won't discuss, but it will allow for apps to use a full-screen mode which is of benefit to MBA 11" owners)

12. Extraordinary aesthetics I can't express adequately in words how beautiful this machine looks.

CONS

1. Although I have a Samsung LCD, the vertical and horizontal viewing angles are not nearly as good as on my 2011 MBP 17". It's still more than acceptable, but it's something that MacBook Pro owners will probably notice.

2. Some MBAs come with a Toshiba solid-state drive which is not necessarily a con, but this may bother some users. In real world usage, I have read that one cannot detect any speed differences, but if you like to run benchmarks, then the Toshiba drives in the 128 GB size seem to be slower than the Samsung 128 GB drives in certain benchmarks.

3. MBAs come with either a Samsung or LG LCD panel. It's not clear what the differences are between them. There is pure speculation and mostly fear that one panel is superior to the other, but I have seen comparison photos of both types of displays, and the only difference I can notice is an extremely slightly warmer look to the LG panel. BUT this was on computers that did not have the screens color calibrated. In any case, I can state clearly that my 2011 MacBook Pro 17" display is vastly superior in color and viewing angles, but they are completely different machines.

4. There is no SecureDigital memory card slot on the 11" MBA, although there is one in the larger 13" size. I can't believe I got another Mac laptop WITHOUT a SD slot! My 17" MBP doesn't have one either while the smaller MBPs do! And now, the smaller MBA doesn't have one while the larger one does! I wonder if I'll ever get a Mac with an SD card slot!)

TIPS

1. Believe it or not (do a Google search) but if you use Adobe's Flash, your laptop battery life will most likely be significantly shorter. Some reports show that having Adobe flash turned off allows for 2 hours of additional battery life.

2. I purchased the MBA 11" with standard 1.6 gHz Core i5 and am happy with this. If you get the built to order ones from Apple, you can upgrade your 11" to include the same 1.8 gHz Core i7 that's also available as an upgrade on the MBA 13". Anandtech has found that the 1.8 gHz Core i7 upgrade produces significantly faster benchmarks >20% speed difference without a shorter battery life. The i7 upgrade did produce significantly more heat, however.

3. If you do not need a truly mobile laptop, then the MBA 13" is probably better for most people's needs as a standard conventional laptop (albeit very light, thin, and also beautiful).

4. If you absolutely must have USB 3.0, and you can wait, then you should know that Intel's next future CPU/chipset for Ivy Bridge will allow for native USB 3.0 support.

CONCLUSION

There is no such thing as the perfect computer for everybody just as there is no single tool for every task for every person. I needed a truly mobile laptop to fit with my lifestyle and work needs, which for me included a smartphone, tablet, mobile laptop, and a large laptop/desktop replacement. For the right person, this MBA 11" is truly in a class of its own.

Best Deals for Apple MacBook Air MC968LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

hi there

i am not going to go into a deep review, as there are already a lot of reviews out there covering the same things. but I will talk about special things that other reviews may not have covered. I personally have owned the 2010 11" and 13" airs, and I currently own the 2011 macbook pro 15" and 2011 11" air. the 15" is about 2x the processing power as the air (according to geekbench), but it lacks an SSD for faster daily tasks.

-on Engadget, they recently covered that the 11" air has a faster SSD than the 13" ones. not a difference you'll notice but still a nice excuse to purchase a smaller one :) (it was something like 240mbps vs 180mbps estimated)

-the battery life on the 11" is actually down from the previous generation by about 30 minutes on battery saving settings. Last gen can get about 7 hours, this one is just over 6 (about 25% brightness, web browsing only). Also, air's battery life plummets if it does moderate to heavy processing (flash, photo/movie editing, gaming), the pro's battery life goes down, but by much less.

UPDATE: I am getting around 4.5 hours of ~4 tabs in safari (no flash), Skype IM chat, and mail client running. about 40% brightness, no backlit keyboard, no sounds. kind of subpar for me. similar to the alienware m11x where the 1st gen had super battery life, 2nd gen increase power but decrease battery life, and 3rd gen has both. hopefully apple follows suit.

-online benchmarks show that the 2011 11" air is about 2.5x faster in processor speed than the 2010 model. however, if you never used an i5 or i7 processor before, know that you will also be able to multitask a lot better than the old core2duos. for example, you can edit in iMovies and photoshop at the same time (something that will lag the crap out of the old generation).

-DO NOT WORRY ABOUT THE SCREEN SIZE. with Lion, applications can take advantage of its fullscreen function. For example, for many native applications like Safari, Mail, Calendar, etc, you can fullscreen them and they'll take up the entire screen, however, they dont actually take up the main desktop screen, but a whole new screen on its own. if you have multiple fullscreen apps, you can use 4 fingers to flick between them, fast and efficient. I owned the last gen air 11" with 10.6 SL, and it was a bit frustrating having multiple windows open, i usually have to minimize most of them. Now, you can browse in full 11" screen, and use 4 fingers to flick to check your mail.

-keyboard and trackpad have more of an "umfph" feeling to them. a bit more resistance than the older models. the 2010 air was my first mac, and i was disappointed a bit by the light and cheap feeling keyboard, but the 2011 made it right.

-FYI, if you never owned a macbook, the "instant on" feature is actually in all the unibody MacBooks and Pros, but they are just a bit slower than the air's. so don't think of it as a feature only the air has, it's just a bit faster.

-you can't change anything in the air once bought, unlike the pro.

-screen quality is actually worse than the Pro line up. Yes the air has more pixel density, but the vertical viewing angle is pretty bad. it is NOT made of the same screen as the Pro and iPad (IPS), however, it is a matte screen so a much better screen in the sun. i owned both the 11" and 13", the viewing angle problem was much more noticeable on the 13" just because the screen is bigger. I always found myself adjusting the 13" screen every time i move a bit.

-2gb ram is enough to run lion just fine.

-sound seems to be slightly louder on the 13" vs 11". 11" sound is TINY. i always turn it to max whenever i'm watching videos. headphones are a must.

-if you are deciding between a pro vs air, in general, i would say go with the pro if you do professional work with photo/movie editing, hardcore gaming (at least 15in), or if you plan on buying or already have a tablet. go with the air if you are a light user, want a tablet replacement. Owning an air and a tablet is a huge waste of money.

-I would personally recommend the 1.6ghz, 4gb, 128ssd 11" macbook air. I believe that is the most useful and "bang for the buck" you can get vs the rest of the lineup. but everyone's preferences are different.

UPDATE: there has been 2 instances where the air would have its fan turned on full speed as if I was doing intensive work when i am only doing light web browsing. very rare though. fixed by shutting the system down and restarting.

All in all, my only complaint about this air is the price. the $1200 macbook pro 13" vs the $1200 11" macbook air, the air has a better hard drive, but thats it. it's using less material to make, a slower processor, smaller battery, small and worse screen, less ports, i would think Apple can price it less than the macbook pro. basically, less everything, but paying the same price because it has a good design. thats my 2 cents at least. $899 for the entry model would shut me up :)

Hope this will help you decide.

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Air MC968LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

I bought the base model Macbook air(999), as my budget didn't allow me to get the upgraded model. I also wanted a portable mac to carry around college.

I am blown away by the performance of this little fellow; it handles all the basic computing stuff with ease, and also iPhoto, iMovie very good. I have an iMac at home for heavy stuff, so if you plan on doing extensive video editing, this laptop is not a good choice. Laptop does get hot, even while doing basic stuff, but its bearable, and most importantly there is no fan sound (after playing around for 5 hours).

Update after 30 hours,

I was only able to get 3-3.5 hours of battery doing basic stuff, I mean only safari and mail, and also flash plugin switched off. I am very disappointed, as the laptop's performance was excellent except the battery.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Apple MacBook Air MC968LL/A 11.6-Inch Laptop (OLD VERSION)

Many have commented on how great a laptop this is. I wanted to specifically address a question I had before purchase and have answered for myself.

I was concerned that the 2GB RAM would not be sufficient for my needs. I run productivity software, i.e. iWork, Office etc. I also stream netflix, amazon video, MLB, etc. A friend of mine had the 2010 Macbook air with 2GB RAM and reported no issues normally associated with insufficient RAM. I took the plunge, opting for the base model.

I can report that 2GB runs excellently. I have had up to 4 video streams going at the same time, MLB, Netflix, and two youtube videos, all running fine. No freezes, no spinning beach balls, etc. Now, I don't do video editing or resource intensive applications of that nature. In those cases, you may or may not have a problem.

As far as 64GB storage. I have all my applications, work and personal file folders, etc on this air with 20GB to spare. Could I have my entire photo and iTunes library on 64 GB? No, and it wouldn't fit on 128GB or 256GB for that matter. I use a portable external hard drive for those when necessary.

If money is no object, then by all means go with the next version up....128GB Storage and 4 GB RAM. But if you want to save a a few bucks, buy some additional accessories, or not feel bad when you sell this beauty to upgrade to the next great thing a year or two down the road, you won't be disappointed with the entry level Macbook Air.

Buy HP Chromebook 11 (White/Blue)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $279.99
Sale Price: $279.00
Today's Bonus: $0.99 Off

HP's Chromebook 11 is my second Chromebook because, after one year with Samsung Chromebook I came to realize that not only a Chromebook does almost everything a laptop or a PC or a tablet would do for me but it does it cheaper, usually faster and better, almost always worry-free and very much in style.

WHY A CHROMEBOOK?

There's so much to say here but let me make a quick summary. And never forget that we are talking about an 'under 300' device here because, yes, anything that costs 3-4-5 times as much should do better most of the time.

˕ My Chromebook is my most used computer excluding work hours and by 'computer' I mean PCs, laptops and tablets.

˕ Malware, spyware, adware-free. Since nothing is really 'installed' on the Chromebook, I can't see how one would ever be infected. I am now using my Chromebook to open suspicious emails or click on dubious URLs that I don't dare touch from a laptop.

˕ Extremely safe OS. I don't know if this is common knowledge but Google is constantly challenging hackers to crack their OS. As far as I know, Chromium wasn't cracked yet.

˕ Easy to share among any number of users without any concerns of compromising privacy. If you have a Google account, you simply sign in and you are going to be within your own, personal environment.

˕ Constantly updated and upgraded. Google updates Chromium every few weeks and I found my Chromebook actually getting better all the time rather than slowly fall into obsolescence. HP's Chromebook will not replace Samsung's, it will be used by another family member who really, really wanted one after watching my happy relationship with our first one.

˕ Nearly maintenance free. Whenever I don't use a tablet or even a laptop for a while, they tend to get very busy for a while once I turn them back on. Tablets, especially, are almost impossible to use until all those dozens of updates/upgrades process. Not the case for Chromebooks. Whatever upgrades may take place don't hit my Chromebook. Whenever I call up an app, I get it in its latest version.

˕ The attached keyboard helps a lot. Yes, you can pair a keyboard and even a mouse to a tablet but the Chromebook's keyboard is always there, it negates the need of a stand or even some protecting case.

˕ Chromium is streamlined and efficiently focused where it matters, on the everyday uses most of us need a 'computer' most of the time.

˕ Chromium being such a streamlined OS, browsing and running apps on a Chromebook is in fact faster than off a PC/laptop/tablet of equivalent specs.

˕ Relatively low prince, 11.6" display and light weight seem to be just about right for something that typically you'd be using to browse the Web while watching TV or take to and from school.

WHY NOT A CHROMEBOOK?

Yes, Chromebooks can't do everything. Google's productivity suites notwithstanding, they are mainly and they are best at media consumption rather than production. Nobody should buy a Chromebook and expect to be able to edit video or perform some heavy word processing or do some hard-core gaming. There are other machines and devices for such tasks. My experience is that a Chromebook can't do 'everything'. Tablets are more portable, PCs and laptops are more powerful but, to me, my Chromebook is the most fun to use and it's likely to stay this way. I am not going to call it my 'second' or 'third' or 'first' computer but, objectively, it's the one most use outside business hours if what we measure is 'hours'.

HP's CHROMEBOOK 11

I haven't spent a lot of time with HP's but, from the start, it was a very familiar feeling. HPs is not 'exactly like' Samsung's but it's easily recognizable as a Chromebook.

Here are some changes:

˕ USB-based charging. This is a BIG thing. The biggest negative in the case of Samsung's Chromebook was the proprietary charger. HP's USB-based charging allows the use of most off-the-shelf chargers so there's a lot less to worry.

˕ Better quality display. When compared to Samsung's the colors are sharper and brighter and you can view the screen from almost any angle left/right or up/down.

˕ Nicer keyboard. It's the same layout but the keys seem to have a little more travel. As a touch typist I am comfortable with both but, on a blind test, I would probably pick HP's over Samsung's.

˕ Somewhat more stylish design. I got the black model and I like both the color and the color accents. Some prefer 'silver' but they are both Okay as far as I can tell.

˕ Fewer ports. There are no USB 3.0 or HDMI ports on the HP's even though my understanding is that you can, in fact output HDMI through the Micro USB. This may be a big deal for some and they should get Samsung's if that's the case. Speaking for myself, I never felt a need to output HDMI off my Chromebook, ever. Same for USB data transfers.

Overall, I am very pleased with HPs device. The lack of USB 3.0 and HDMI ports amount to a big 'nothing' to me and their absence is balanced and surpassed by the non-proprietary charging method, much nicer display and better keyboard.

RATING

I am not going to compare HP's Chromebook with the Pixel or some top of the line laptop. I noticed that many 'pro' reviewers are complaining because Chromebooks and this particular one are not 'high end' and aren't as nice as the Pixel and such. Well... did anyone check the prices? So, yes, let me make a 'duh' statement: this Chromebook is not as good as devices that sell for 3 times or 4 times as much so anyone who doesn't mind paying more should pay more and get one of those. Even though... look at some reasons above for why one my prefer a Chromebook to a laptop or a tablet, regardless of price.

HPs is a five-star to me because it's at least as good and in some way better than my now one year old, often used and much trusted Samsung. The thirty dollars price difference between the two can be justified by HP's supporting USB charging, its much nicer display and its marginally better keyboard. As far as performance, they both appear to be up to the task and they both played Netflix movies flawlessly over Wi-Fi and cast them to the big TV through Chromecast (no need of an HDMI cable for that) I mention it because I just tried that.

Chromebooks are not for everyone and they are not a universal computing device but, if used for what they are meant to be used, they are as good and as revolutionary as tablets.

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CHROMEBOOK vs. CHROMEBOOK (HPs vs. Acer C720

I had the opportunity to play with Acer's Chromebook for a day and was therefore able to compare them side by side.

Advantage HP -

˕ Looks and design. HPs looks much better in my view, you have color choices and that's that.

˕ Display. Same size, same resolution but HPs display is brighter, sharper and, most importantly, can be viewed from almost any angle. Not the case with Acer's.

˕ Charging. The ability to charge HPs Chromebook through almost any USB charger is very important to me. Acer's charger is proprietary.

Advantage Acer -

˕ Horsepower. Acer's appears to be faster and it should be given its faster processor.

˕ Ports. You get HDMI out, USB 3.0 and SD card slot, all of them missing on HP's machine.

˕ Price. At least at launch, Acer's was selling for less.

I would say it's a tie when it comes to the keyboard and track pad's feel.

Acer's machine has the advantage if you are more 'productivity oriented' and need expansion capabilities (ports) and more raw CPU power. You would prefer the HP if you want a Chromebook mainly for fun and casual activities where looks, the availability of a charger and, very importantly, the quality of the display count more.

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NOTES:

Like most Chromebooks, this one too comes with a free 100GB in Google's cloud for two years. I didn't take advantage of that offer and I'm not going to go for this one, simply because I have no use of 'cloud' storage that goes beyond Gmail at this time.

While Chromebooks are immune to viruses and other forms of malware, you are as tracked and 'monetized' while on a Chromebook as you are when browsing from your laptop or tablet or phone. However, there are ways to disrupt and confuse the trackers and my two favorite extensions these days are Disconnect Search (or Disconnect.me) that makes it impossible for Google to log your search activities and DoNotTrackMe which does what the name implies. Worth trying.

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First of all, I believe that words can't express how satisfied I am with my new HP Chromebook. It is super thin and light and extremely beautiful. It is so practical that I can charge this laptop with the same charger of my smartphone and the other way around. This is the best laptop on the go.

The screen is very sharp, bright and high quality. Keyboard feels great when typing, speakers sound comes from the keyboard which makes this Chromebook completely sealed. There's no holes, moving parts, or anything that makes any noise.

Chrome OS has had a lot of improvements since last year. There a lot of offline apps, better notifications and a lot of awesome extensions. Free Google Drive 100Gb is still awesome.

I want to acknowledge that this is not a high performance laptop and is not suitable for high demanding 3D gamers. But for the price you will be fully satisfied because obviously this Chromebook has a really affordable price and is very pretty and performs almost all the task a regular computer does(and some extras that traditional computers doesn't).

One thing worth mention that this computer excels is Sound. Speakers are very rich, precise, loud and clear. Music lovers will enjoy the clarity of the music. You can really enjoy watching a movie due to the richness of the image and the quality of the sound...

I love this Chromebook because it just do the job well done!

Any questions please feel free to ask it in the comments below section...

Best Deals for HP Chromebook 11 (White/Blue)

==UPDATE 10/24/13== Received the Acer Chromebook the other day, so I've updated the section regarding the alternative models!

This is getting to be a long review, so I've split it up into multiple sections. Feel free to jump to the section which you think will help you the most.

==CONTENTS==

1) Upgrades from last year

2) Alternative models

3) First impressions

4) Conclusion

5) Summary

I'll be updating this review as I use the Chromebook more often as well, so check back once in a while! As always, feel free to ask questions in the comments section, and I'll be happy to answer them.

==UPGRADES FROM LAST YEAR==

In 2012, with the Samsung Chromebook becoming the #1 best selling laptop on Amazon, it seemed like there was hope after all for the Chromebooks. It was something that not many people expected, but the thin, silent design, combined with a decent battery life and a low price point managed to attract enough people to give Chromebooks a chance.

One year later, the time has come for its successor--the HP Chromebook 11. Is it a worthy successor? This review will take a closer look at what changed over the last year as well as explore some of the alternative options.

Let's start with the hardware. The design of this Chromebook is completely different compared to Samsung's model from last year. This is partially because it's made by HP, but also because Google teamed up with HP to design this new Chromebook. There's two color choices now, black and white. If you pick the white version, you also have the option to add Google-colored accents to the edges of the keyboard, while the black version is more understated, with an all black finish. Whether you like the new design or not is subjective, but it does retain the thinness (.69 inches) and is actually .1 pounds lighter than the previous Samsung model. There's also a new LED light bar on the back, similar to the Pixel. It lights up with the Google colors when it's on, and it looks pretty nice. Personally, I think it's a well designed laptop. It's simple, lightweight, and the unsightly bump from last year's model is gone.

The keyboard and touchpad are still extremely good. It's comfortable to type on, and overall has a much sturdier feel due to a new magnesium frame that they put in to support the plastic shell. There were some complaints about the Samsung model from last year regarding how flimsy it felt and how easy it was to bend it, and they definitely improved it here. Also, they've moved the speakers to underneath the keyboard, similar to how Apple does it. This way, the speakers do not get muffled when you put the notebook on your laps. Speaker quality is actually pretty decent for a sub-$300 laptop, but headphones are still going to be the obvious first choice for audiophiles.

Another major improvement is the screen. Google's making a big deal about the brightness of the new screen, but it truly is better than last year's model. Though it retains the same 1366x768 resolution (which is fine for a 11 inch laptop), the viewing angles and the contrast is much better. It is a glossy screen though, so unless you absolutely loved the more matte feel of last year's model, then the screen's also a big improvement.

The best hardware improvement for me personally is the new power port. It's now charged through a Micro USB cable, a cable that's currently used to charge most Android phones as well as the Amazon Kindles. As someone who travels a lot, this would mean just packing one cable to charge all my devices, something that I think adds a lot of convenience. Another advantage is that the abundance of Micro USB cables makes it easy to find a replacement should you ever lose it(you probably have one lying around in your house!). Note that it does charge slower if you use another cable: the one that comes with this Chromebook has been optimized for it. With that being said, the HP Chromebook 11 does lose the HDMI port found in the previous model, but it's still possible to connect it to your TV. To do so, you'd have to buy a Slimport adapter and then connect the HDMI cable from there. It's not a big hassle, but it's still something worth mentioning.

All of these changes mentioned above have been mostly good and welcomed improvements to last year's model, but perhaps it's the parts that haven't changed which are the most disappointing. Unfortunately, Google has decided to not upgrade any of the internal aspects of the Chromebook, so it still retains the same ARM based processor found last year's model, the 16GB of flash storage, and the 2GB of RAM. Battery life remains more or less the same as well, at around 6 hours. Considering the brisk pace technology moves at, I think it's hugely disappointing that Google is still using last year's chips, and it's the one major flaw with this Chromebook. One of the biggest changes in technology this year was the introduction of Intel's 4th generation Haswell processors, giving solid processing power while drastically increasing power efficiency. The new Macbooks are using it, and some of the new Chromebooks are too, increasing their battery life to around 9 hours per charge. One might argue that Chromebooks don't require much processing power, but with websites and web apps becoming more advanced every day, I think it's disappointing that none of the internal hardware was upgraded. Note that overall performance isn't bad, but it's not great either. It's the exact same as last year's model most websites I tried run smoothly, but some of the more graphically heavy websites stutter when you're trying to scroll. HD video playback is relatively steady, but if you have too many tabs open, the quality suffers. For the pages most people visit, like Facebook, Youtube, Gmail, etc., I thought this Chromebook handled it pretty well as long as I didn't have too many tabs open.

In regards to the software, this is still running Chrome OS, and if you used any of the Chromebooks before, you'd be familiar with it's capabilities and limitations. There's no real changes here, since all Chromebooks are continuously updated with the most recent version of Chrome OS, but for those looking at the Chromebooks for the first time, here's a little rundown on how the Chrome operating system works. At its core, it's the Chrome web browser, and only the Chrome web browser. Though the pictures in the advertisements shows a desktop and wallpaper, don't be fooled: it's not a traditional PC. Therefore, if you use programs like Microsoft Office, Photoshop, iTunes, etc., know that you won't be able to use any of those programs on a Chromebook. However, there are substitutes for most of those programs online, such as Google Docs, Picasa, Google Music, etc. The advantage of having such a simple system is speed: it boots up in less than 10 seconds, and you're instantly connected to the web (provided you have Wi-Fi). Therefore, if most of what you do on a computer is browse the web anyways (Facebook, E-mail, Youtube, etc.), then a Chromebook allows you to do all of that very quickly.

Overall, this Chromebook is definitely an improvement over last year's Samsung model, but the lack of internal changes makes it really hard to recommend if you're looking to upgrade from the Samsung model. For people looking into Chromebooks for the first time, I'd say that this isn't a bad model it's relatively cheap at $279, it's well designed, and it's overall performance is still solid. For people looking for a "cute" second computer, I do think this is a great model. However, I'd still recommend giving the other models announced this year a look (see below).

==ALTERNATIVE MODELS==

Even though this is Google's new flagship Chromebook the one they're promoting as the Chromebook "for everyone", there are other options coming out.

Acer's C720 Chromebook (Acer C720 Chromebook (11.6-Inch, Haswell micro-architecture, 4GB))

I've been using this model for the last couple days and I must say I prefer this model over the Hp model. It's just so much zippier: websites load faster, scrolling is more responsive, and it handles multiple tabs better. It also has better battery life and more input/output ports. Sure the screen isn't as good, but it's not terrible either. Unless you really desire an attention-catching device, I'd recommend the Acer Chromebook over this model. I've written a full review for the Acer, so feel free to read it for a closer look.

HP's Chromebook 14 (HP Chromebook 14 (Snow White))

HP announced this as an update to last year's 14 inch model, which was moderately successful. They've completely redesigned it, and I think it looks much more elegant. It'll come in multiple colors for $299. It'll also include the new Haswell processors, giving it a 9-hour battery life. I think this is a great model for those who want a larger screen and do not mind the increased weight.

Additional notes:

Google also packages this Chromebook 11 with some extra perks, including 12 sessions of GoGo In-flight Wi-Fi, as well as 100GB of Google Drive storage for 2 years. If you are a frequent flyer, those 12 sessions alone makes the Chromebook pretty cost-efficient. I'm not certain if the other Chromebook models include the GoGo WiFi, but they all include the Google Drive storage. Also something worth mentioning is that this HP Chromebook 11 model is fanless due to its processor, so it's absolutely silent. The other models do have fans, but in my opinion, the sound difference is negligible.

==FIRST IMPRESSIONS==

When I first heard about this Chromebook, I was pretty excited. I looked at a bunch of pictures, saw the price tag, and I thought to myself, "Now here's the Chromebook I've been waiting for". Prior to this, I've used the Samsung Chromebook S3 as well as the original CR-48 Chromebook test model, mainly for taking notes in class. After opening the box and turning it on for the first time, I was ecstatic, because to be honest, this screen looked great, especially compared to the older models. The Chromebook in general looked great. I loved the color bar in the back, the clean design, and the keyboard. It was light and portable, and it looked very...attractive (as attractive as a computer can be I suppose). Setting it up was easy as well: you connect to your Wi-Fi, enter in your Google credentials, and then it syncs with your Google account, and all your bookmarks and apps are automatically transferred over. Anyone who's used a Chromebook before would be used to this.

Bringing it to class was also a pleasure. It fits into one of my smaller bags, and it was light enough to be comfortable to carry. I thought the keyboard and trackpad were pretty awesome they remind me of the Apple's keyboard, and I think that's a pretty high compliment. I'm a fast touch typist, and I was able to maintain my normal WPM with few errors while taking notes. Midway through the day though, I was working on a research project and had a bunch of tabs open and the Chromebook began to feel a bit slow: pages were loading slower and the scrolling wasn't as smooth. I attribute to the fact that Google decided to use last year's chips as I mentioned in the section above, as this was something that would happen with the Samsung model as well. This was frustrating for me, because I thought surely by now, Chrome would run smoothly on Chrome OS. This is the sole reason I'm giving this model 3 stars.

I got around 5.5 hours of battery life, so that's a bit less than advertised. Nevertheless, I did find the charging cable useful, and I was able to use it to charge both my phone and the computer.

==CONCLUSION==

With this year's updates, I'm sure Chromebooks will continue to be a rising star. This model, looks especially good. It's one of the best looking laptops that I've seen at this price point, and really raises the bar for low-end Chromebooks. However, if looks aren't everything for you, some of the other models equipped with the Haswell processors are especially worth looking into. While this HP Chromebook 11 is well designed the screen is great, the speakers are decent, the keyboard is great I'm slightly concerned about it's performance.When someone buys a laptop, they expect it to last them at least a couple of years, and I'm not sure how long a computer with a chip from the previous generation will be able to keep up.

==SUMMARY==

The Good:

Great screen

Great keyboard

Great sound for a sub-$300 laptop

Overall design is eye catching

The Bad:

The processor is outdated, leading to sluggish performance at times

Cannot be taken apart, parts are hard to replace (Cannot increase RAM for example)

Less ports compared to previous generations

Battery life is good compared to last year's models, but only mediocre compared to this year's models.

Overall:

The HP Chromebook 11, with its solid keyboard and fantastic screen, allows you to get some serious work done -and look good while doing it. If you can deal with a mediocre processor and battery life (and of course, Chrome OS), this is a great model. Otherwise, look elsewhere.

Score: 3.5/5

Honest reviews on HP Chromebook 11 (White/Blue)

I am an IT professional (web/application developer), and I must say that I love this new Chromebook. I purchased a Samsung 11 inch Chromebook 4 months ago and have been using it as my primary home machine ever since. The Samsung was great, but the screen was the Achilles heel. I can say that this screen is the same approximate quality of an 11 inch MacBook Air. I can't make out an advantage between the two screens. That is awesome for this price. The design is perfect, and the speakers sound great for a small laptop.

It's my opinion that tablets are great for surfing the Internet and reading, but even though you may add a keyboard they are basically useless for productivity. Multi-tasking is the downfall for those devices and it really needs to get sorted out. The Chromebook is more like a tablet in a laptop disguise, and "multi-tasks" well. Of course it's running one core application (Chrome), but you can use multiple windows, etc. That's very helpful when copying and pasting content, and using productivity applications. For the general public that likes to surf the net, work with documents, write e-mails, etc. this is a highly recommended machine. Work can be done on the device. I also teach college courses both online and brick and mortar, and this device has been my go-to machine for grading, interacting with students, etc. That goes to show the power of the device for the typical office user. It works for advanced users like me if you take it for what it is... A damn quality piece of hardware for the price that offers a far more robust productivity experience than any competitively priced tablet.

If your curious, my usage pattern for technology has now evolved to: Smartphone, Small tablet, Chromebook. No need for a large tablet. Small tablet is primarily for bed and couch surfing and using as an e-reader. Smartphone is my main on the go unit. Chromebook is my primary computer. When I'm at work, I primarily use my corporate PC. My wife's primary computer is a MacBook, so if there's a time when I need to do something more intense (on rare occasions I need to do some web graphical interface design at home) then I use her MacBook or Remote Desktop on the Chromebook to my corporate machine.

If you're on the fence, I say give it a shot.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Chromebook 11 (White/Blue)

I will admit, my loyalty to google started with the search engine, solidified with Gmail and the Chrome browser, and went totally all-in with Android. In this context, let me say that I love the Chromebook 11, my first Chromebook, after owning it for just 2 days.

I have put it through it's paces and have to say it is a great alternative to tablets for those prefering the traditional laptop form factor.

Points of discussion:

1-portability. The Chromebook 11 is the perfect size, weight and thickness for travel. Basically a little thicker and heavier than most 10" tablets but not by much.

2-charger. Using a micro-usb charger is a stroke of genius. Rated at 3A, it will charge my Chromebook, my smartphone and my tablet. Huge plus in my book. Certainly better than the power brick most Win laptops come with and many tablets have.

3-screen. This screen compares favorably to my original Nexus 7. It is bright with good viewing angle. It is my better than my full size Gateway laptop, and it is what I consider a "premium" display. Bright, colorful, sharp.

4-sound. Every laptop I've used suffered in sound quality and volume. The Chromebook has passable sound quality but is much louder from the fact that sound emanates through the keyboard. Plenty loud for my purposes. A negative is that sound stutters if the processor is taxed. Unfortunately, this includes any sort of web browsing while you have music playing in the background. I didn't think audio amounted to a huge processor load and wonder if this isn't some glitch that can be fixed--after all, I listen to music and browse all the time with my smartphone.

5-Google. You have to love google or forget it. That means using Chrome, Gmail, Drive, Music, Google Docs etc. If you do already, great. If not, you better jump on board or don't buy this. If you are thinking about making the transition, definitely search the internet for quirks ie. specific file types, workarounds, etc. May not be "doable" for you.

6-Keyboard. Solid chicklet-style keyboard. Fullsize. Definitely better than most $500 laptops out there. I love it.

7-Trackpad. I was always a mouse guy. I immediately paired the Microsoft bluetooth mouse with the Chromebook as soon as I set it up. But this trackpad is easy to use, so much so that I may ditch the mouse. First trackpad that I'm starting to really dig--just after 2 days!

8-Ports. Not a lot. Just 2 USB 2.0 ports. No SD card reader. No HDMI. Not a problem for me since I am used to using Google Drive or a USB thumbdrive.

9-Processing speed. This is not a fast computer. Some webpages take noticeably longer to load. I feel this is the main downside to this laptop.

Bottom line, I considered a high end Ultrabook (namely, the Samsung ATIV Plus or the LENOVO YOGA 2 PRO) but in the end, the Chromebook satisfies 90% of my travel needs, and 100% of my sitting-in-front-of-the-TV-browsing needs. Lastly, I bought my Chromebook 11 from Google Play. After having an issue with my Nexus 7 after 11 months of ownership, I will say that Google customer service is top notch and a pleasure to deal with. Something to think about. I did have to pay tax and shipping though.