MSI CX61 2OC-206US 15.6-Inch Laptop Review

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List Price: $851.60
Sale Price: $720.69
Today's Bonus: 15% Off

the real specs are

Intel Core i5 4200M(2.5GHz)

6GB Memory 750GB HDD

NVIDIA GeForce GT 720M

resolution 1366 x 768

Windows 8

DVD Super Multi

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Dell Latitude E6400 14.1" Laptop (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53Ghz, 160GB Review

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Looks like it is new, not a scratch, operate good, i like the feel of it just two problems the technician told me that the 2Gb memory was (1GBX2) instead i got it as (2GBX1), i also got DVD reader and not a DVD burner, and i had to reinstall the OS bcuz it keep crashing when it was booting, it also used came Windows 7 64bit n not Windows XP

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Hewlett Packard Wa781uaraba Hp Factory Recertified Pavilion Review

Customer Ratings:

I bought this computer 6 months ago and immediately realized it had a graphics/video issue. I contacted tech support, who gave me the run-around until I told them to escalate my case. The Case Manager kept denying there was an issue and then closed the case without it being resolved. I filed a complaint with the BBB, which provoked HP to reopen my case with another Case Manager, who has now rendered the computer completely unusable. After he did this and sent me recovery CDs (which the laptop won't even open-that's how bad he ruined it), HP told the BBB that they resolved the issue by sending the CDs. The CDs had nothing to do with the original issue and don't remedy either issue. This is how they treat their customers, so it's best to stay away.

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Product is exactly as described. Very fast shipping got it the day after it was shipped out!!! Great Seller!!!

Reviews of MSI G Series GE40 2OC-009US 14-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)

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List Price: $1,299.99
Sale Price: $1,269.98
Today's Bonus: 2% Off

Finding balance between a good gaming system and portable notebook is a difficult endeavor. There are plenty of 15.6" or 17" screen systems out there that are able to pack the highest performing components inside, but leave your shoulder/back aching. On the other side of the spectrum, there are a number of sleek, ultra book class notebooks that are easy to carry, but leave you wanting more performance. I needed a high performance notebook that allows me to multi-task and game a bit while away from home. The MSI GE40 is a nice compromise between the two categories with a few caveats.

Design:

Weighing in at 4.4ish pounds, the GE40 is quite light for what it packs inside. The palm rest and lid are a brushed aluminum. The lid has eye-catching red LEDs in the form of "dragon eyes". The rest of the body is comprised of your standard glossy plastic that attracts finger prints, but isn't handled all that often in everyday use. There is more flex in the palm rest and keyboard than a full aluminum chassis, but it doesn't scream poor quality.

Screen:

My main issue with the GE40 is the quality of the screen. While it does feature a high 1600x900 resolution for a 14" screen, it is an average TN panel with OK viewing angles. This evaluation is quite subjective although I personally think the vertical viewing angles are poor. You will need to view the screen dead on or the image will be washed out. This left me a little frustrated trying to watch netflix on my bed.

Performance:

With a high wattage Intel Haswell Quad-core 4th generation processor, it chews through everything quite quickly. The lower wattage CPUs in ultrabooks are primarily designed for battery longevity and much lower thermals with decent performance. The difference between Apple's latest generation Macbook air with it's 15W Dual-Core CPU and the GE40 is very noticeable in the programs that I use (namely Acrobat Pro, Photoshop, transcode applications). The dynamic overclocking of the CPU also allows lightly threaded applications to take advantage of higher clock speeds whilst putting the unused cores to sleep.

The graphics duties are shared between the integrated intel HD4600 and a dedicated NVIDIA GTX 760M. The switching is handled with NVIDIA's optimus tech. The integrated graphics are powerful enough to handle the Windows GUI acceleration, Flash, and movie playback to conserve power and reduce heat generation. The GTX 760M kicks in when you launch a full screen 3D application, allowing you to take advantage of a large performance increase. The GTX 760M did a great job of providing acceptable frame rates at the native resolution in the games I play. For specific numbers, look up the GTX 760M on Notebookcheck.com

This version of the GE40 has a 128GB solid state drive and a 750GB hard disk drive (occupying the bay where the DVD-ROM is on the cheaper version). Out of the box this notebook is much faster, but you should ask yourself if that is enough room for your OS and programs. Personally, I think a 256GB SSD is the minimum size, but you can always put your steam folder and larger games on the mechanical drive if you're willing to deal with longer load times.

While the GE40 has 8GB of DDR3-Low Voltage memory installed, it is a single DIMM. This is both a plus and minus. With a single DIMM, you drop your effective bandwidth to 10GB/ps for the CPU and integrated GPU. You'll be hard pressed to see a noticeable drop in performance, but this is supposed to be a high end system. On the other hand, if you were planning to go to a total of 16GB of RAM, you won't have to buy x2 8GB DIMMs. Just grab 1 8GB DIMM and you'll get your dual channel memory performance.

Preinstalled Software:

Windows 8: You either love it or hate it. I personally like Microsoft's new OS due to the faster performance and support for new hardware technologies. I'm not a fan of the Start Screen, but that's easily remedied with a third party start menu replacement. The product key for Windows is integrated into the UEFI BIOS of the system so you won't need to enter a key during Windows setup. Just activate once you've reinstalled the OS.

As I mentioned before, Norton and other trialware is preinstalled. You'll be greeted with a number of desktop cluttering icons and background services taking up system resources. It isn't nearly as bad as some, but again, this is a gaming system that shouldn't have junk preinstalled to begin with.

I personally reinstalled Windows 8 after installing an extra 8GB DIMM. Be prepared to download the wireless LAN drivers beforehand as Windows 8 doesn't come with them out of the box. There are also a plethora of other drivers that need to be installed to restore full functionality (Bluetooth, WLAN switch, ETC).

Noise/Heat:

In normal operation, the notebook is a bit warm to the touch and the fan constantly runs at a slight hum. The fan is audible, but not overtly or annoyingly so. When gaming, the notebook does get hot. It's not unbearable, but it isn't super comfortable either. The fan kicks it into high gear and is very noisy. I was able to hear it every between explosions in game with my headphones on. Both the heat and noise levels are to be expected, especially with the amount of performance packed into such a small chassis.

Overall evaluation:

The MSI GE40 is a great notebook that fills my needs well. The balance of portability and performance allows me to finish my work quickly to get a little bit of play in. If you can cram your programs and games onto a 128GB SSD, you'll find more value in the upgraded version of the GE40. Otherwise both notebooks can stand to have an additional 8GB of memory and a clean install of Windows to maximize its performance and your enjoyment.

Update 7/10/2013:

I was curious if I could get the thermals down a bit, so I opened up my notebook again to see what kind of job MSI did with the thermal paste. As I suspected, they put way too much on which was hindering the heat transfer from the CPU and dedicated GPU to the heatpipe assembly.

Dis-assembly was not that difficult; 8 philips screws and the fan and heatpipe was easily removed. I cleaned up the factory paste and wiped the CPU/GPU and heatpipe with some isotropic alcohol. I then applied a thin layer of artic silver 5 and put it all back together. Subjectively, the notebook runs cooler. The fan spins slower at idle and comes back down from 100% quicker after playing a game. The palm rest and WASD keys were also a bit cooler. I didn't record before and after temperatures, but there are a couple youtube videos detailing this modification and the tangible results.

If you are comfortable performing this procedure, I wholeheartedly recommend doing it. Your left palm and wrist will thank you.

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If you want to have only 1 computer (vs. 1 gaming & 1 portable), and you like to move around with it (even just around the house), then this is definitely the one to get. It strikes the perfect balance between price/specs/portability. I used to have the Samsung 9 gamer from last year (which was surprisingly under-appreciated considering its price, specs and gorgeous screen), but it was a 9 lbs monster that almost never left my desk, partly because of the typically lousy battery life. Funnily enough, 1 year later, this MSI has almost the same performance at half the weight and triple the battery life. So now I take this one out to the library or coffee shop at least a few times a week. And even just around the house, I don't hesitate to bring it to the sofa so I can chat and surf while watching TV. I like my HTC One, but multitasking on Android still sucks. The long-lasting battery really is a big deal. I leave it plugged in overnight and while I'm at work (full charge in < 3 hrs), and then I can use it from the time I get home until I go to sleep, or all afternoon on the weekends. I shake my head when I see people lugging around their power bricks.

I've had the laptop for a few weeks now, and overall I'm very happy with it. I decided to buy it without waiting for reviews because of the good things I heard about Haswell, and I haven't been disappointed. I was a little concerned about fan noise, which can be a problem with many gaming rigs, but it's not a problem with the GE40. I haven't tried gaming on it yet, but I've heard the fan go max a few times, and the noise level is very acceptable. Most of the time, if there's any amount of background noise, the fan isn't noticeable.

The matte screen was a pleasant surprise, I can't stand glossy. The viewing angles aren't great, but this is MY toy, so I don't care, and the colour is good. There is, however, 1 bright pixel, and MSI will only replace it if there are at least 5 bad ones (I didn't buy from Amazon). That's pretty poor by industry standards, especially since MSI has a crazy chart for identifying what is, in fact, considered a bad pixel. Regardless, I only (barely) notice the bright pixel if the area around it is completely black, so it's almost a non-issue.

What IS a minor annoyance is the hinge. No problems when it's open, but there's a bit of bounce when it's closed and I'm walking around with it. I hold it by the battery against my hip with the lid facing out, as I think most people do when walking around with a laptop. Other than that, no complaints.

So, if you want a machine with specs that will last a few years and won't break the bank or your back, you can't go wrong with this one.

Best Deals for MSI G Series GE40 2OC-009US 14-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)

Never had an MSI Laptop before so this purchase was mainly made on the overall specs of the machine.

With a dual hard drive setup its very fast(SSD 128GB on 6GB SAS + 750GB 7200 RPM drive 3GB SAS) you have enough space to load your os on to the ssd and gaming data ect on the 750GB drive. Running games are very smooth. With a brand new GTX 760M 2GB vid ram it can run most any new games with little to no issue. Comes with one 8GB ram stick so adding additional ram is a snap. Removable battery and slot for optical drive(have to remove ssd drive).

Trackpad and keyboard feel really responsive.(No back-lite on keyboard though..) Screen is very bright and matte display so no annoying reflections.

Running games from battery actually works Ok, I've had some gaming laptops that stutter so much because the GPU/system is not getting enough power but from the looks of this system its able to run on battery without issue(though you will notice a slight fps drop due to the system not using turbo boost as often.)

Not a big fan of the windows 8 install but I living with it until i can dual boot win 7 or Ubuntu. I did backup the win 8 recovery system to a usb disk in case of a re install.

Course this system doesn't have a optical drive so if you need it you can always hook up an external drive to one of the usb ports(2 USB3.0 and 1 USB 2.0). You can order the same laptop without an ssd drive and then it will include an optical drive but i prefer the fast-boot time and launching of apps that run off the ssd drive..

Overall I think this is a great new laptop with new generation intel i7 haswell processor.

Honest reviews on MSI G Series GE40 2OC-009US 14-Inch Laptop (Black/Red)

Excellent computer I love it... the design, the portability, now I can play on every place without problem and now I can carry it without the people attention.

The computer have 8 gb ram but I want to buy 16, it is not necessary but I think is better to make my work and play properly with some applications opened.

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bought it for college so I didn't need my desktop...it's faster then my desktop ( a suped up dell xps)..amazingly good graphics

Best Gateway i5-2430M 2.40 GHz Laptop Blue - NV57H44U Deals

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I bought this little laptop for my wife last week to replace her aging Dell Inspiron e1505 (which was also a fantastic laptop), and I can tell you (as an IT expert since 1979) that this is the best bang for the buck out there in the world of laptops! The only thing missing is that it does not have USB 3.0 (which some specs say it has, but it does not). You can't beat the new Intel i5 2nd generation CPU for speed (Sandy Bridge Core), and the Intel HD graphics are fine unless you plan to be playing games with high demand on video. You can easily upgrade the memory from 4 to 8gb for cheap, and the 500gb hard drive should be plenty for 98% of folks out there. We got ours at Best Buy for $450 plus tax. Take my advice and don't spend more for a laptop you don't need to. Also, keep in mind that if a laptop breaks it usually isn't worth getting it fixed unless it is really simple, or you can do it yourself (as I do). So, don't invest BIG money (not over $600 in my opinion) in one. My 2 cents based on many years of experience.

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of all the prices listed here, it is actually cheaper at bestbuy for around one hundred dollars less than this

Best Deals for Gateway i5-2430M 2.40 GHz Laptop Blue - NV57H44U

Lets be basic. Here are the pros and cons.

PROS:

As long as you don't run super intense programs, or high graphics on games, the computer functions very well.

Comes with I5. Its much better than I3, and you will see the difference.

For a laptop, it has a GIANT screen. In today's world 15.6" may not seem like a large screen but when you get your hands on it, it is.

Portable. Fits in any case and is easy to carry around.

3 USB drives. 2 on the right and 1 on the left. you would be amazed with how convenient it is to have USB drives on each side of the computer.

60 day free norton security. After that you have to pay, but for internet security, norton is great. While its only 60 days, it avoids the hassle of installing and paying for it on the website.

Windows 7 is great.

for the 500 bucks, its a great value.

The touch pad works well

CONS:

when you use it for a while, the computer starts to heat up. While it doesn't affect performance, it just makes you a little weary about the computer, and can be uncomfortable at times. (but during the winter it is amazing.)

while it can run many games at decent settings, you will not be able to play games at maxed out settings.

There is no obvious visual division between the left and right click. While when you use it you will figure it out, it can be a little confusing at first.

the F1-F12 buttons also serve as the display buttons. so if you need to hit any F# button, you need to hold down (Fn). It is just a little hassle.

OVERALL:

Great laptop for daily use and basic gaming. Takes a little while to get used to the little differences. Good price, good hardware, good buy.

Honest reviews on Gateway i5-2430M 2.40 GHz Laptop Blue - NV57H44U

Great pc... Wish it had blue tooth it never said it had usb 3.0.... It always said it had 3 usb ports... No problems

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For a 15 inch notebook, this only weighs 5.65 lbs which is really light for its size. I upgraded from a 14 inch 4.65 lb notebook and the difference is significant but not too bad. I have a bad back but when I carry it to school I don't feel that its too heavy. I can definitely feel it there but its really not bad. Its still this light even though it has an optical drive with it which my previous notebook didn't. Not bluray though..

The keyboard is unique because its similar to mac where you can see a little bit of the metal casing between the keys (like a chiclet keyboard).

The touchpad buttons are a little annoying because you have to put a lot of pressure to press. The side of the touchpad has little arrow markings for scrolling. You just slide your finger up to scroll up and vice versa.

The thickness of this thing is amazingly thin at around 0.85 inches. Everything but the screen is nice and matte although its not necessarily the coolest design around.

This thing is really quiet (at least from what I'm used to anyway). You can barely hear it most of the time. The keyboards are a bit loud though but I think most laptops are like that. It stays cool and you can put it on your lap. It won't scald you but it will feel a little warm.

This is really fast. I was planning on putting in an SSD but I really don't think its necessary because its really fast. Boot time is under 30 seconds. Haven't really timed it yet but its really fast.

Screen is nice and big. Its glossy so it has better colors but don't use it against the light because all you will see is your reflection and glare. Might work with a very light background though..

No problems watching HD videos on youtube. Nice and smooth. Don't know about gaming because I don't really do games.. I'm horrible and I always die in the first stage. I do use adobe light room and it runs quite smoothly.

Lack of bluetooth may be a deal breaker for some.. Sheesh every laptop should have bluetooth. You can buy one of those USB bluetooth devices but I hate that I have to.

Reviews of Lenovo IdeaPad U410 14-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)

Customer Ratings:

I've had this computer for almost two months now. The only problem that I've found is with the touchpad drivers. Sometimes when the computer wakes up from a sleep, the two-finger scrolling function on touchpad does not work. Other than that, everything else has worked flawlessly for me, including the wireless network card. The only other items worth mentioning is that the display is not as bright as some other laptop, like the Dell Inspiron 14z, and the battery lasts nowhere near the 9-hours claimed by Lenovo. It's closer to 4 5 hours with display brightness at 50%. Despite having less ports on the Dell 14z, I would recommend the Dell over this Lenovo. Dell also includes a built-in DVD drive, which comes in handy. (I don't work for Dell. I just have both machines.)

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We bought this computer new and had to return it because the wireless internet did not work properly. The operating system and other programs seemed to work okay, but the wireless didn't work. We know the problem had to do with the computer because other laptops we had in the home worked fine. We spent a few hours with customer support, but they were not able to fix the problem. We also researched the problem online. The suggested resolutions did not resolve the problem, and we decided to return the laptop.

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DO NOT BUY THIS LAPTOP! This is my first amazon review and I was motivated to write it because of the totally unusable experience I've had with it. The wireless is unusable. I'm a pretty sophisticated computer user and we have multiple devices operating on our wifi network but this computer without question has repeated wifi connection problems. In addition, the trackpad driver software crashes constantly when microsoft office is opened. I'd recommend cruising the lenovo forums for feedback on these issues from other unfortunate Lenovo buyers.

Honest reviews on Lenovo IdeaPad U410 14-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)

Keyboard sucks it's got some 'give' that feels really strange, keys seem OK just the plastic it's on.

Otherwise, seems OK. Some of the software load issues. Windows 8..Yuk!

I'm deciding on a new operating system, W8 has got to go!

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I've had this ultra-book for about 1 week and I am a heavy user of adobe software. It has not let me down once! The 8 GB ram and i7-3537 CPU delivers when I am running Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 5, and Premiere Pro at the same time. The portability is also great since it is relatively small 14" screen, but has enough size to get a great display and use the keyboard efficiently. The battery does about 4 hours when I have the graphics running high, and using adobe software. The overall build and quality is superior too majority of laptops due to its aluminum build.

Best Dell Inspiron 15RN i15RN-7059DBK 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Deals

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Wanted a laptop to replace my 3-year old Toshiba Satellite, which slowed down and froze up until it died. Replacement was to be for family use primarily, with basic applications such as word processing, banking, shopping, browsing etc. So far, I have had no complaints.The I3 processor is quick enough for my needs, the system boots up very quickly (about 20 seconds or so a far cry from the Toshiba), and I've had no crashes or freezes so far. Build quality could have been a bit better....this Dell feels....well, delicate. You don't feel like it can take any sort of abuse...which is not a real issue with me because it remains on my dining room table anyway. Dedicated numeric keypad is a definite plus, along with USB 3.0 connectivity, Bluetooth and WIDI. Overall, a competent and capable family laptop,

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I bought this laptop from Dell direct a little while ago. I am quite pleased with it. This is my third laptop, the first Dell laptop, although I have bought many Dell desktops over the past 10 years, both for personal use and for the company I worked for. I have never been disappointed with Dell quality and this is no exception thus far. I had an issue because I was promised a complimentary 15 month subscription for McAfee as part of the package, but when I activated McAfee, they only activated it as a trial version for 3 months. Sent an email to Dell support and their response was immediate and effective. McAfee was activated for 15 months in a matter of hours.

I don't understand why people gripe about the keyboard. I have no issues with it. I even had to remove it to bump the memory up to 8GB and everything kept working just fine when I replaced it. The only criticism I have is the fact that the indicator LEDs are on the side of the unit, out of sight of the user. This was a stupid design decision by Dell.

The machine has all the horsepower I need for my work (mostly software development). I don't use it for games my machines work for a living, they are not toys. You cannot reasonably expect better performance at this price. If you want better performance, expect to pay more.

I will buy it again if it ever became necessary.

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This is the first laptop that I have owned and really tried putting in the time in finding just the right one for me. I believe I have done that with this Dell Inspiron. Features that I was looking for included screen size, weight, variety of hookups and the memory card readers ability to read many different cards. It has only been a month since this typing but I am extremely satisfied with this laptop. Thanks, LRE

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 15RN i15RN-7059DBK 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

This laptop was purchased for my child and worked well. After 7 months the hard drive crashed and couldn't be booted. A call to support took awhile after being shuffled around determined that the drive needed to be replaced. A box was to be mailed to send computer back to company. After a week and no box I called again. They told me that no box was sent and they could send a box (after I went through the entire set of problems again) but it would take 4-6 weeks to get the computer back. For $40 I could have someone come out to the house and fix it in 2 days. I bit the bullet and the tech came out and fixed it. He was quick and the computer came back to life after decompressing (2 hours). Of course everything was lost on the computer and we had to start all over loading itunes and every other piece of software. Lost all documents, mail, etc. Do those backups your computer may fail 6 months in and not 3 years in.

BTW my other child has a Dell also (3 years older) and it started getting really hot and shutting down. While the tech was here I mentioned that to him and he suggested we pull the cover off and see if lint was collecting near the fan and heatsink. He was right on pulled a little hairy mouse ball out and the computer works like a charm. Remember to get that compound/paste for the heat-sink if you remove it.

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Excellent, the laptop offers a number of applications, the components are in perfect condition, it would be great if I had installed office xp

ThinkPad T530 239246U 15.6" LED Notebook Intel Core i5-3320M 2.6GHz Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I got this laptop as a replacement for my dying MacBook, and have had no hardware problems as of yet. I installed 16GB of RAM I bought from Crucial (i.e. not from Lenovo). I currently run Mint 13 with MATE (which runs like a charm). Hence, I cannot say much with regards to how well the Lenovo distribution of Windows will run. Nowadays, the only time I use Windows is running MS Office inside of VirtualBox. I give it one 2.6GhZ CPU and 2GB of RAM, and it runs fine. Albeit, the limit of my Windows usage is Chrome and MSO, so I wouldn't know about heavy computing in Windows.

Lenovo, unlike any other manufacturer, puts function before form. Here are some specific things I admire about it:

1. It is the only non-Apple laptop I have found that has a keyboard that is pleasant to type on.

2. It has the lost and forgotten mouse thingy in the middle of the keyboard (don't know the technical term for it).

3. The trackpad is flush with the rest of the top plate, making it much easier to clean.

4. Unlike MacBooks, the edges are rounded, so you don't get sores on your forearm after extended usage.

5. The CD drive is a tray instead of a slot.

6. Unlike MacBooks, extended usage of the laptop on top of lap does not result in third-degree burns.

Mine came with Lenovo's own flavor of Win7 Professional 64-bit. I used it for maybe half an hour before I installed Mint, but I can say this:

1. If you want Windows 7 Professional, buy it seperately, and upgrade it yourself. Lenovo's version comes with a good bit of unwanted trial software. This is true of any brand, so don't let it turn you off Lenovo.

2. If you want upgraded RAM, buy it separately, and install it yourself. It isn't that hard, and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than buying it from Lenovo.

3. Don't get the fingerprint reader. If you don't have a choice with regards to getting a fingerprint reader, make sure to disable it in the BIOS. Fingerprints may seem more secure than passwords, but they aren't. Fingerprint readers can be spoofed easily. Using a fingerprint reader instead of a password is like using a password that's literally written on your computer.

If you want any given upgrade, if possible, buy it separately and install it yourself. It will save you a lot of time and money.

Things that I don't like (there aren't many):

1. The physical switch to unlock the monitor seems somewhat flimsy. I anticipate that it will be the first thing to break.

2. The physical monitor is somewhat flexible.

3. It seemed a little heavy at first, but you get used to it. What is one to expect with a 15" laptop? It is certainly lighter than a 15" MacBook.

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Acer 15.6" i5-2450M 2.50 GHz Notebook | AS5750-6867 Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I bought a new computer thinking it wouldn't have any issues, but apparently acer has issues with windows 7 and there isn't a fix yet. Why would acer continue to put out a product knowing it still has problems. There support services said it is in the process of fixing it but doesn't have a timeframe, but they will email me. Not too impressed yet.

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I was a bit skeptic at first since I owned a Mac before this, but this computer is great (not to mention 1/3 the price of a Mac which is why I got it). Although not as fancy as a Mac, it is great for people who just want a basic computer. Works great.

Best Dell XPS 14Z X14z-2310ELS 14-Inch Laptop (Elemental Silver) Deals

Customer Ratings:

The standout feature of the XPS 14z is that it has a 14-inch display housed in a chassis of a 13.3-inch notebook. Apart from the all-aluminium design, the narrow bezel is the first thing that you'll notice as the laptop boots up. The display has superb brightness and clarity good for gaming, HD video and everything else in between. In terms of build quality, Dell has kept up with XPS tradition and used metal extensively. The entire shell and palmrest is brushed aluminium. The backlit keyboard is comfortable to use for long typing sessions and the large track pad responds well with good support from the anodised aluminium and magnesium alloy palm-rest full marks to Dell for build quality.

There is both USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI and DisplayPort all present neatly on the rear to minimize wire clutter. On the left side is the card reader and audio jacks, while the right side hosts the slot loading optical drive and a battery status indicator. There are heat dissipation vents present on the side, back and bottom useful as with such hardware it is bound to get heated up. The XPS 14z boasts of being the first Skypecertified laptop for video chat. The webcam quality is very pleasing great output, both in terms of video and audio. Another impressive feature of the laptop is the sound. The onboard JBL speakers are loud and clear good enough for a small room.

Overall very pleased with this notebook if you can get it under four figures, it's a good buy considering the build quality and components. It feels like it will hold up to anything, and is very sleek and impressive looking (similar to the Macbook Air).

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I have a dell and I love the computer except for the issue with wifi that so many are describing. I had initially thought it was a problem with my router so I called tech support through time warner cable. they came out to trouble shoot my router and found that the wireless card in the laptop is faulty which you can see in different forums online. they turned off what they called the "N" portion of my router and all was good. I was finally pulling the speeds I was supposed to (initially pulling 2mbps with n off getting 19-20mbps). after that it would take several minutes for my laptop to connect to the router and they fixed that issue too although i have no idea what they did there. So the computer is at fault there but there are ways around it :) If you google dell xps 14z wireless card you can find multiple forums about this issue. Hope this helps!

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I purchased dell xps14z about a year ago. The product looks quite good. The performance of the dell xps14z is good except for wireless connection. sometimes it is very hard to connect to wireless network unless otherwise you are 1 meter away from the router (then it works okay). I have contacted dell to solve this problem they gave it a few tries but never solve the problem. As I said, the computer is quite fast and the performance of the machine is good. But when you have problem to connect to wifi network, the laptop is not really useful. Now I am always using it with a cable internet as the wifi connection is not stable. Sometimes I am connected after a few minutes I am disconnected and so on. I do regret buying it as it is too expensive and makes life harder.

Honest reviews on Dell XPS 14Z X14z-2310ELS 14-Inch Laptop (Elemental Silver)

it has been only 6 months that we purchased this product. Now, the computer is really hot. We do not know the reason.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell XPS 14Z X14z-2310ELS 14-Inch Laptop (Elemental Silver)

I have had two persistent problems with my XPS 14z. The first one is related to projecting images for whatever reason projecting images on both the laptop and a projection screen is not possible. The second is related to my wireless network adapter. It is very fickle, and I need to disconnect/connect to my home wireless internet sometimes ten times a day to keep it working. That while all other wireless devices (my husband's laptop, iPad...) are working fine. Now, I understand that not all computers work 100% perfectly and that sometimes things needs fixing. But I have tried to work with Dell on both issues, and they make me do so many things for so long, that I just gave up. You are literally with them on the phone or on chat for hours without having your issue resolved. I don't want to pick the issues up again and waste another five hours talking to them about all the issues I know my computer is NOT having to cut to the chase. I'm so disappointed with their customer service, I'm pretty sure this is the last time I'll buy a Dell (I have had Dell consistently over the last 7 years). Honestly, unless you don't have a job or a life, don't get a Dell!

Cheap HP ENVY 17t-j000 Quad Edition Notebook PC (Silver); Intel Core

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,299.99
Sale Price: $1,249.95
Today's Bonus: 4% Off

This 4 stars are there because it is a great computer and has every function I needed but it's a bit bigger than I thought. The new features on windows 8 are pretty good, maybe a little disorganized but on the other hand, it's really fast and works perfectly with Adobe software which I use a lot.

So if you don't mind the size (or maybe if you do) this is an amazing computer for those who want a great performance and a well sized screen.

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Took me some time to choose this one,the specs i loved, but not the operating system....however i decided i`ll go ahead.Been using it for over a month now, and is very satisfied.....One prob i have noted, is that the finger print is not working...don`t know if am doing anything wrong, but up to this point it`s still not working......Like i said, though, i just love this noetbook!!!

October 7th 2013 Update:After software update,about a week ago finger print has been activated, and is working just fine!!

Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black) Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,299.99
Sale Price: $1,299.00
Today's Bonus: $0.99 Off

I want and still do love this laptop from a design perspective. The quality control is troubling though.

Problems with the first laptop:

1) Screen had extreme back-light bleed through on the edges, especially the top right corner. Before asking for an exchange I went to a local store to see how the screen looked and it didn't exhibit the back-light bleed problem.

2) Laptop got very hot so I opened it up to see what was happening. The right fan vent was completely blocked by a plastic tab when the fan was installed so even though it was running, it wasn't bringing cold air into the machine.

3) While opening the laptop to inspect fan, I noticed that the battery was missing all of it's screws to hold it securely in place. It wasn't even assembled correctly.

Problem with second laptop:

1) Screen bleed problem was resolved, but not there it had a very obvious dead/stuck pixel on the screen. I expect the screen to not have bad pixels when paying for a $1300 laptop.

Problems with third laptop:

1) Screen is perfect, no back-light bleed or bad pixels.

2) Track pad is horrible, very loose and makes clicking noises when just swiping finger across it, not even pressing it for the left/right "click".

3) Right fan has a much more audible clicking noise than the previous 900x3c's I returned.

4) Question mark key on keyboard has paint missing/scratched so backlight shines through in a slit on the edge of it.

5) After a few days, computer would no longer boot, called Samsung and it turns out to be a hardware, not ssd problem so they recommended another replacement.

That was the last replacement Amazon would allow me to get, now I'm not sure what I'm going to do. I would really love this laptop if the quality control issues were resolved. I feel like I could assemble the good qualities of 3 laptops myself to get 1 good one that's up to par.

-----Update ------

I received my new 900x3c and it has none of the issues the previous three had. Maybe I was extremely unlucky with the previous ones or there was a bad batch? Now that I have one that is working to specs here's my review.

Design:

The laptop is extremely thin and looks very sharp. I've used it in a few public settings and get a lot of compliments and small talk about it from random people that want to hold and feel it. I believe the design is better than the macbook air and very solid with no creeks as I hold it or move the screen.

Screen:

The screen has great viewing angles from above and from the sides, has very rich color, and can be turned up very bright. I have no dead pixels and the screen backlight is very uniform and the resolution is great.

Keyboard and Trackpad:

The keys are slightly on the stiff side, with expected limited travel, but not a deal breaker and still great to type on. The backlight is a nice shade of blue/green and the brightness can be adjusted.

The trackpad is nice and large, supports multi-touch and is very nice no complaints.

Hard Drive:

The hard drive is on the small side, but upgradeable. I wish Samsung had included a 256 gig one instead of the 128 gig one. I have already upgraded the drive to the MyDigitalSSD 256GB SMART SATA III (6G) SandForce mSATA Solid State Drive which is extremely fast and I highly recommend it. It took about 10 minutes for me to removed the old SSD and install the new one.

RAM:

This is the only area that regret about the laptop. 4GB of RAM is ok, but not ideal, especially in a few years. I think I'll be able to get by and I haven't run short on memory yet, but really think Samsung should have included 8GB. The RAM is also not upgradeable in the 900x3c and is soldered to the motherboard.

Battery Life:

I seem to be getting between 5 and 6 hours of battery life on a full charge with light web usage. I would prefer a little more, but this seems acceptable. The battery is user upgradeable and is held in place by 4 screws visible once the bottom of the laptop is removed. This will come in handy in a couple years as the battery life starts to fade.

Wireless Signal Strength:

No issues with the wireless signal strength. It seems to perform well and has as much if not more signal strength than any other laptop I've used.

Heat/Noise:

The only time the bottom of the laptop got pretty warm was when playing Diablo III. The laptop has two fans and they are very quiet. Even at full speed, it's much quieter than a macbook air or pro. The fans don't come on at all during normal/light usage such as web surfing/emailing/word document editing and the laptop regulates temperature very well.

Speed/Performance:

The laptop is very quick for an ultra book. It can do a cold boot in about 10 seconds and wakes up from sleep in about 1 to 2 seconds. Graphic performance is very good too, for an ultrabook. No issues playing HD videos. I even loaded Diablo III and it runs very smooth with all high settings and a resolution of 1600 x 900. That's the only game I've tried so far.

Windows Experience Index:

Processor: 6.9

Memory (RAM): 5.9

Graphics: 6.4

Gaming graphics: 6.4

Primary Hard Disk: 7.4 for the original one... 7.9 when I upgraded to the MyDigitalSSD

Let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to answer.

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Pros

----------

1. Amazingly thin.

2. First rate build quality. Solid as a rock. No flexes anywhere.

3. Fast.

4. Beautiful matte screen with very high brightness.

Cons

--------

1. Touchpad ruins it. I have the latest elan driver and have tried all the trick in the world but this touchpad can't even handle single finger cursor movement correctly. It will either a) stop responding for fractions of a second b) jump all over the place c) activate the left click even when you are just moving the cursor with one finger d) make you want to puke all over the place knowing a $1000 laptop performs like this and how everything else is perfect. You literally cannot use the touchpad for anything meaningful unless you have a bottle of aspirin nearby.

2. Gets very warm at the palm area during charging phase.

Overview

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

As much as I love everything else about this laptop the defective touchpad is making me want to return this item and I hereby highly discourage anyone from buying this computer until they either fix it or issue a recall. This is like buying a 300hp car with a defective steering wheel and it's unacceptable.

UPDATED 9/13/2012. After several days of testing the touchpad issue has been isolated in more detail. If you divide the touchpad into regions horizontally from left to right: 0 to 49% equals good area, 50 to 70% equals bad area, 71 to 100% equals good area. What I mean is that the area from the middle to slightly right of it has absolutely terrible touch responses resulting in false clicks and astray pointers.

UPDATED 10/9/2012. Rating has been lowered to 1 star from 2 after my Samsung RMA experience. First of all Samsung repairs are outsourced to Intelisol in Teaxas. Getting the RMA/repair ticket was painless enough once you get the proper link to it and Samsung does have a pretty decent online tracking service for this. However, after getting the machine back, I was beyond angry. The repair was supposed to fix the defective touchpad which many others have experienced. Well, they did fix the touchpad but they also broke quite a bit of stuff. 1) The repair person forced open the case, looks like they had zero training, and broken one of the latch that secures the battery to the chassis. The battery now no longer is securely bound to the case and if you shake the laptop you can hear it. 2) They used the WRONG/larger screw upon refitting the back cover and as result, stripping one of the back cover screw holes so now a proper screw won't fit that case hole. 3) When they put the case back, they mis-routed the WIFI antenna wires and instead of using the guide fittings specifically for the WIFI antenna, they just put it under the battery. Well, you might ask how I discovered all the repair snafus. I open the machine because part of some shrinkwrap was screwed into the backcase! All in all, Samsung's repair service is 100% garbage. The machine is now back to their outsourced Intelisol repair facility for a second time and let's how this turns out.

UPDATED 11/3/2012. Machine finally back from Intelisol for the second time and everything is properly fixed this time. Just to make sure, I opened the back to verify everything. The mSSD is secured with a mounting plate with two screws but there is only one screw there. Emailed Intelisol and their "official" explanation is that some mSSD configurations for this model only uses one screw out of two. So who do you believe? The engineers designed a mounting plate with two screws for nothing I guess. Look at the timing between my first RMA request on 9/13 and this final report and you can judge for yourself how badly Samsung needs to clean up the RMA process. Lastly, they told us not to open the back cover since it voids the warranty. If we didn't open up the machine after the first RMA, we would never have confirmed their shoddy repair service.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black)

I feel like most people are extremely critical about any laptop on the market other than Apple. Had a Macbook Pro the last two years but wanted to return to PCs so it'd be easier to work on the road/home. Definitely also considered the air before buying this but honestly thought the air couldn't compare to this (though I admit I'm always gonna be a PC fan so not sure if it's a fair fight).

Not sure about the quality control issues the other guys here are talking about sounds awful...but I received my samsung laptop and have been playing around with it for like a week now with no issues. Trackpad is really responsive, keyboard is better/easier to type on than other ultrabooks I've tried like Asus's zenbook and overall haven't had any issues with startup or processing (easy to use and fast). In terms of designplease go in store and see it yourself. Much improved from the previous series 9 (glad I waited) no wifi issues and design is sleaker/more expensive looking material. And so thin/light!

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black)

Bought the Samsung Series 9 13.3" from the Microsoft Store a couple days ago and felt compelled to write a positive review for it.

Highlights:

The *matte* screen in high resolution rocks, and is long overdue in a laptop of this type (side by side this is significantly brighter and crisper than my 2012 Air).

Trackpad Samsung includes support for two finger swipe to go back, forward, and gravity scroll, three finger swipe to explorer view, four finger to view all windows, etc. Recommended that you disable tap to select, however, this is 2nd best trackpad in the business.

Cool "Silent Mode" feature, which disables fans for silent use

With Ivy Bridge and SSD, it is fast enough to develop and virtualize on (tested with 2GB RAM VM with Server 2008 + SharePoint 2010 + SQL + Visual Studio 2010).

Obvious pros:

For the size, the footprint of the laptop is the most compact I have seen, and feels great on a lap or desk.

The frame is strong, scary thin, and light.

Windows 7, Office 2010, and iTunes flies on this thing as expected.

Wake from sleep in 1-2 seconds, resume from hibernate in 10 seconds, from cold boot in 20 seconds

Less obvious cons:

Non-upgradeable RAM even if not upgradeable, an 8GB would been an obvious choice here

Non-Samsung SSD although the laptop is fast, if you're going to be doing development work on it, you'll eventually want more.

Cooling fans are a little louder than I'd hoped for not wind turbine loud, but they do hum at an audible level for heavier tasks

As a take-away, this is a top tier UltraBook with substance, style and speed. As an owner of several competing ultra-portables, this one wins my vote for first place.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Samsung Series 9 NP900X3C-A01US 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Ash Black)

With the new ivy bridge and intel HD4000 graphics, this is the best ultrabook on the market. Period.

However, there's one thing buyers should knowthis NP900X3C is using Sandisk SSD. Not Samsung SSD like NP900X3B.

You won't feel the difference very much in everyday use but the benchmark numbers show the Samsung SSD is far superior than Sandisk.

ASUS G75VW-DH72 i7-3740QM 3.7GHz GTX 670M 16GB RAM 256GB SSD Reviews

Customer Ratings:

< So After getting in contact with iP Camera they said they were sorry and offered me a refund on the computer. I am happy with the end results and iP camera getting in contact with me asap. >

I will leave what I wrote as a warning to other buyers unless the description gets fixed.

Here is what happened.

I received this computer today all sealed up. No work done by HID and also does not come with 3740QM processor. (as per iP camera after talking with them, Be careful as what is in the description is not what you will get.. I am not just a mad troll or reviewer. I bought this hoping it would be everything that I ordered and even gave it a chance after reading on the box that it was not what I ordered, I opened it started it up and went into device manager to make sure it had the 3740qm. Nope.... Stay away they will just charge you huge for lower grade computer. It is not a bad computer as is at all. But when you pay $2,200 you want what you paid for. This is a good computer at the $1800 price range not this price. I will give it 3 stars for iP camera fixing it but the description not getting fixed.

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Carful with this laptop. I have been having issue with the laptop

that i purchased from IP Camera Store from the moment I booted it up. I

have been trying to discover a way to mend the problems but everything has

failed me(ASUS TECH SUPPORT, ASUS FOURMS). ASUS gave me two options return it to the supplyer or send it to them for the to attempt to fix it. There main place is in california im in florida i don't want to wait a month for something that might be fixed. The computer screen is constantly flickering while unplugged from the power cord.From the moment i turned it on to set up my profile on windows 8 it started

to flicker. I have gone to the official ASUS ROG website to

find a solution and have fond that there are several people with the screen

flickering issue and no one has a solution that has worked for me. I have

also had issues with unresponsive programs and randomly closing me out of

programs. My back light keyboard does not turn on with the fn+f4

combination. The laptop has also had an issue connecting to my WiFi while

all my other electronics have no issues. This laptop is over 2200$ and was

not expecting it to have any type of issues.I received this laptop on Tuesday 12

Feb 2013. ROG forms told me to see if a return is possible and receive a

swap for this computer for another one of the same model. IP camera store was my supplier i contacted them and they routed me back to ASUS. In conclusion I am going to return this computer and rebuy it hopeing that it is not a lemon. The computer while plugged in is a fantastic piece of machinery (minus the random screen flickering. I strongly believe that I got a lemon and that is the only reason why I have rated this product 4 stars. I will return here once I receive a new one and will up date on the return process with this company "IP CAMERA STORE".

UPDATE: -"March 01 2013"-

Took me a week but I just noticed. HID work on itNone! Description on CPU completely wrong, extremely over priced. My review went from 4 to 1 star. I want a complete refund for my product. Do not buy this product! It will not be what you ordered.

As advertised is,

ASUS G75VW-DH72 i7-3740QM 3.7GHz GTX 670M 16GB RAM 256GB SSD + 750GB HDD BLURAY Windows 8

The CPU it does have is:

Intel(R)Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.4GHz

I am upset.

-Faulty Product

-Not as advertised

-Completely overpriced for actual sold product

*UPDATE* -"March 05 2013"-

I do want to thank Pavel from IP camera store that has been nothing but completely helpful in this whole situation and they have great customer service and respond to you very quickly. He set me up with a shipping label which made everything very easy sent out the package yesterday. Now it's time to wait for the refund.

The discription error is on Amazon. I have called them and have told them in two diffrent pages that they have discription errors and they just blow me off. Shame on you amazon what kind of business are you running here..

*UPDATE*-"March 08 2013"-

The item was delievered yesterday afternoon at 2PM. Got in contact with the IP store and now waiting on my refund.

Best Deals for ASUS G75VW-DH72 i7-3740QM 3.7GHz GTX 670M 16GB RAM 256GB SSD

It came fast and works great. A MUST have for gamers, as well as everyday speeding business men! I RECOMMEND IT TO EVERYONE ... who can afford it lol. ;)

Reviews of HP ENVY 15-1050NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Alloy)

Customer Ratings:

I have had the Envy 15 for over three months and have enjoyed almost every minute of it. I have been very pleased with its performance and ease of use. The processor is simply amazing, the video card is more than enough for my needs, and the screen is the best I've seen in a laptop. I consider myself a pretty heavy user, often running more than 150 processes at a time, and rarely feel any lag. For the power you get, the size and weight are pretty impressive. The laptop does get warm when under heavy use, as is to be expected with a quad-core machine, but its quiet, effective cooling system does a great job of keeping the system within acceptable/tolerable temperature limits.

The drawbacks, as I expected, relate to its battery power. The processor is restricted to a "Low Frequency Mode" when running on battery power, which for the i7-720QM limits the processor speed to 931 MHz per core. This results in a noticeable difference when doing anything more than simple tasks such as reading e-mail or browsing the web while running on battery power. Despite this restriction, the battery life still isn't very impressive. Under normal use, it runs for just under two hours; under heavy use (3D gaming or streaming HD video), it only runs for about an hour on a charge.

In short, if you find yourself near a plug most of the time, this machine is awesome. If you need more portability, this probably isn't the best choice you might want to consider something with a dual-core i5 processor.

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Pros:

(1) Incredibly fast when working with memory/graphics intensive applications; editing large files in Photoshop, Illustrator, etc.

(2) Looks fantastic slim, gorgeous FullHD glossy screen

(3) Reasonable battery life when using optional slice battery

Cons:

(1) Freezes up or crashes to black screen approximately 10-15 times per day. Many other buyers experienced the same exact issue.

(2) 4k read speed for the SSD is 10x slower than it should be (slower than the 4k write speed!)

(3) extremely expensive

(4) Annoying placement of special function keys to the left of the keyboard.

I purchased an Envy 15 about 1 month ago with the following specs:

i7-820QM processor

320GB Dual SSD (Raid0)

16GB RAM

ATI Mobility Radeon HD5830

Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

The complete price including tax for this customized model was well over $4,000. On the very first bootup on the day I received the model in the mail from HP shopping, I went through the process of setting up windows and then the system froze up. The screen became filled with a colorful static effect with moving black horizontal lines.

On restart, the windows error reporting was as follows:

"You received this message because hardware or software on your computer caused Windows to shut down unexpectedly and restart. This is a serious problem, commonly referred to as a stop error or blue screen. If you have received this error more than once, we recommend that you do the following: Back up your files to avoid data loss in case of a complete hardware failure. Contact the original manufacturer of your computer to determine the specific component which is failing. Although we know the problem is caused by a hardware component, the error report does not contain enough information to tell us the specific component. It is likely that the problem is being caused by one of the following computer components: Random access memory (RAM) System board Central Processing Unit (CPU) Power supply"

I called HP Envy tech support and they put me in touch with the customer support rep who sent me a shipping label to return the laptop and get a refund. She offered me a $170 discount in the event I decided to keep it, so I thought I would continue using the model and see if it was perhaps a one-time problem on setting up windows for the first time.

Over the course of 2 weeks, I experienced black screen crash or freezing (with repeating loop of 1 frame of corresponding audio) approximately 10-15 times per day. The only way to get out of that screen was by hard reset.

I also noticed when running the crystalmark benchmark my 4k read speed was 10x lower than it should have been in fact, the 4k read speed for the SSD Raid0 was slower than the 4k write speed!

CrystalDiskMark 2.2 (C) 2007-2008

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

Sequential Read : 469.045 MB/s

Sequential Write : 155.626 MB/s

Random Read 512KB : 253.068 MB/s

Random Write 512KB : 133.743 MB/s

Random Read 4KB : 10.294 MB/s

Random Write 4KB : 55.438 MB/s

Test Size : 100 MB Date : 2010/03/10 1:54:01

I eventually returned my unit for complete refund; however, as it was the most lightning fast experience I have ever had (during the times when it did not freeze or crash on me) working on very large photoshop and illustrator files, I definitely want to order the exact same model once they correct the graphics card and 4k read speed issues.

From a bit of research, it appears many people with other brands of laptops have experienced exactly the same "black screen" issue with similar ATI Radeon graphics cards that we are having with the 4830 and the 5830 used in the Envy 15, leading me to wonder whether many of these ATI graphics cards are simply defective. I'm surprised that HP did not test them more rigorously before choosing to implement them in the Envy 15. I am eager to order another HP Envy 15, but do I need to wait until HP refreshes the line with an entirely different graphics card? Is anyone who has ordered the Envy 15 NOT experiencing this black screen issue? I wonder the percentage of users who are experiencing black screen issues with the Envy 15. Is it limited to those who have custom orders? Are people who bought the "quick-ship" models also experiencing this?

Here are several links to postings regarding the "black screen" issue with the ATI Radeon HD5830, HD4850 and HD4830 in various brands of computer:On an aesthetic level, this model is fantastic. Very slim, even when using the optional 9-cell slice battery. Others have complained about the heat issue but when I used a Zalman NC1000 notebook cooler, I had no problems whatsoever with overheating, in fact the underside of the laptop was cool to the touch.

The only gripe I had about the design was the plethora of special function keys on the left side of the keyboard. I kept accidentally opening the Print menu or web page, email, etc., when playing a video game or working in Photoshop. I had a great deal of difficulty to attempt to disable those keys and even with using the keyboard layout menus in control panel, I was not able to disable them. I was tempted to purchase special software for customizing keyboard layout for the sole purpose of disabling those annoying and poorly located special function keys.

The touchpad was slightly less sensitive and slightly more difficult to use compared to the MacBook Pro. Hopefully this will be resolved with driver or BIOS update.

When using the 9cell slice battery I had about 4 hours of battery life, which is not great, but much better than my previous laptop. For long international flights I would recommend taking along 2 fully charged slice batteries.

Again the graphics performance was amazing except for those 10-15 times per day that the graphics card crashed or froze up. Other than that it was lightning fast. As of today, the only solution I am aware of for the graphics problem is replacing the graphics card. I don't know if replacing the SSD with a third party dual SSD Raid0 will improve the 4k read speed.

Best Deals for HP ENVY 15-1050NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Alloy)

I have owned an HP Envy 15 1050NR for about a year now. I have rather mixed feelings about it.

On paper, the combination is unbeatable:

The i7-720QM Quad Core processor really shines. With hyperthreading, it is as if you have 8 processors. This machine is fast. I use it for advanced statistical work in SPSS with massive databases and I will say that is absolutely eats alive all the desktop machines at my research university. What used to be 10 minute coffee-breaks between commands before purchasing this machine have been replaced by blazing, 10-second runs.

The hard drive is big for a laptop and is about as fast as you can go without SSDs or high-end Velociraptors.

The 4 memory slots!! Two are located inside, but two more are easily accessible behind the battery pack. It comes standard with 6GB DDR3, which is more than most laptops still give you today, but it can be expanded to 16 GB. That is neat.

The high end graphics card allows you to connect a second HD display at max resolution with no problem (the HDMI port helps). In terms of sheer crunching power, this machine can easily hold its ground very well as a gaming laptop even a year after I bought it, but see caveat below.

The screen is gorgeous. I have been so spoiled by its high Dots-per-inch ratio that I find it hard to use regular monitors now. It's also very bright and the colors are truly intense. Shaped in the 16:9 ratio, its top resolution is 1920x1080. It's a bit reflective, so glare can be a bit problematic at times, but I simply love it.

However, there are a great many practical problems that I have noticed in 1 year of using the machine:

The HEAT! Unsurprisingly, given its graphics card and its i7 processor, this beast emits a lot of heat. What is surprising is the sheer incompetence of design, which put either the graphics cards or the processor under the palm-rests. Given even moderate load, the armrest will get hot. The exhaust vents on the sides can probably fry small animals. In fact, my sweaty hands left a permanently darkened mark on the left of the touchpad.

The gargantuan POWER BRICK. It truly weighs about half the weight of the laptop, and was my first unpleasant shock when unpackaging the thing a year ago. Unfortunately, the i7 and graphics card are power-hungry, and while you can go out and purchase a lighter alternative, you will find few that output 130 Watts, which means your laptop will automatically "throttle" your processors, making them work at 60% or even less. Not noticeable if you only do web browsing, so it may work for you. Anyway, for me this is a big deal, because carrying this monster brick around gets very frustrating.

The dismal BATTERY life. I'd say that on average I get about 80-90 minutes on the primary battery, barely enough to watch a movie on battery power. There is an external battery slab, but the little hooks that are supposed to make sure it stays in place are a bit of a joke, and the connection with the slab will often and easily be lost, rendering the thing useless.

The Screen Bezel does not allow you to open your display much beyond 90 degrees. If you're tall, or you're in a coffeeshop at a low table, good luck. This means you can also forget about using it on your lap, although the sheer heat burning down through your pants will probably dissuade you from such silly attempts in the first place.

Relative dearth of ports. Sure, most of us can do with just 2 USBs and an eSata that can double as an USB. But if, unlike me, you're that type that uses the external DVD drive a lot, that will become a bother. Also, you will discover, to your chagrin, that the $1500+ machine you bought cannot connect to most presentation platforms, for the simple reason that it only uses HDMI video output, spurning the (admittedly outdated) VGA ports that are still so common. Sure, an HDMI to VGA adaptor from HP will only set you back $40, but that's no help if you're due to start a powerpoint presentation in 10 minutes and your laptop cannot connect to the VGA port on the projector.

The heat will eventually cause the 4 rubber feet of your laptop to fall off. If you're vigilant and find them, you can probably reattach them with gorilla glue, but I was not so lucky. This will make the Envy remarkably slippery on many surfaces.

The Web-cam has this fancy low-light "feature" which is basically an infrared sensor that will render you visible if your skyping preferences involve low light. Unfortunately, the infrared feed is not removed in normal lighting situations, making the picture produced look blue-tinted. I played around with the settings and solved this eventually, but this is probably beyond the average user.

The keyboard. Let me say that the keys themselves have a nice, smooth feel. However, my version of this machine has this incredibly stupid design with a bunch of shortcut keys placed to the left of the regular keyboard. Since most of us assume by instinct that "Ctrl" is at the left lower end of your keyboard, you'll end up launching "Calculator" a hilarious amount of times. Equally fun is the "Launch Outlook" key located right under the "Escape" button. You can easily imagine what this will do to dedicated gamers. Fortunately, I was able to turn that off after some registry snooping, and a quick Google search will tell you how to do it, but again, this is something likely above the skill of the average user. Similarly frustrating, the function keys are set as secondary by default (you have to press "Fn" + "F2" to get F2, rather than dimming your screen) but this can be easily switched on or off from BIOS. Not so easily solvable is the fact that the edge of the machine is rather sharp, so when typing, you're basically slowly slitting your wrists.

Pre-installed garbage. I have no experience with this, since I instructed the Best Buy people to give me a clean install, but I hear this can be a hassle.

In summary, a year later, when at home, my laptop sits on a ridiculously quiet Zalman ZM-NC2000 notebook cooler (which has solved the heating problem), I use a wireless external backlit keyboard and mouse (with the cool "unifying" software that means I can connect them to only one USB), and use both its native display and another 22" Samsung (at the same 1920x1080 resolution). In this configuration, this machine is a dream, while still being portable when I need it to be. A true desktop replacement, if you will. The system characteristics and display are great, and in the end make up for the other shortcomings, at least as far as I am concerned. Nonetheless, for the price and given that the Envy series is supposed to be HP's flagship and Mac-destroyer, as it were, I expected better. Much better. I give it 3 and 1/2 stars.

Honest reviews on HP ENVY 15-1050NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Alloy)

so 3 stars is a bit harsh, but i felt its a bit short of 4.. all and all it is a nice machine, and some say it resembles a macbook pro *grin* but not quite there.. there are some glaring oversights with its design.

the good

screen.. i have the higher resolution option (1920x1080) and it is beautiful. very sharp, glossy, bright, vivid.. it is the single best thing about this laptop.

fast.. i went with i7-720 quad 64bit 6M cache. this thing flies

physical design of it. it is nice. although i don't care for laser etching case, smooth silver would have looked nicer IMO.

the bad

this thing comes with a ton of crappy HP utilities pre-installed and running. took me hours to clean it up.

some genius thought it would be a good idea to add shortcut keys on the left of the keyboard for common things like calculator or email and without separating them from main keyboard in any way. this is the dumbest decision ever because if you touch type, you normally expect ctrl to be the bottom left key.. after trying to ctrl+c sometimes you end up with 3 calculators open and brain full of rage. if you hit the mail button accidentally you get the lovely outlook setup screen that takes like 5 clicks to get out of... and there is no easy way to disable this.. have to edit registry. in win7 there are many ways to launch common utilities quickly.. this is really not necessary!

power adapter is ginormous. i took a gamble on buying a travel size one from HP and it seems to be working on the road, although it does get super hot sometimes.. but at least it fits in my bag.

the ugly

the lid doesn't go back far enough. it opens slightly more than 90 degree angle. this totally sucks if you try to use it on your lap, or even at a coffee shop if the table is low. you basically have a crappy viewing angle unless you slide down in your chair to some uncomfortable position. took me a long time to get over this glaring oversight. was it really that difficult to allow this thing to open more?

battery life sucks. with all power options tweaked down to the max (40% of cpu, screen brightness way low) i can squeeze just over an hour of internet browsing on it.. that's really not acceptable. i tried getting the extended battery, but that thing is 1. expensive, 2. very heavy, 3 huge. pretty much makes the laptop twice the size / weight (at least it feels that way) and with that huge extended battery attached, you will get ~ 3 hrs (on both batteries together). also i keep having issues where laptop just switches off when big battery is attached.. had it replaced once, and the problem persists, so i stopped using it.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP ENVY 15-1050NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Alloy)

I've had this laptop for over 2 months. I purchased this unit with the external DVD and battery slice. I don't regret purchasing this unit but as with all electronics it's not perfect. I was looking for a laptop that would be relevant technology for at least 4 years.

What I Like:

-Processor Intel i7 is a powerhouse. I have the CPU/resource widget running and other than system startup that cpu dial never goes above 25%. I haven't done any gaming yet to put it through its real paces but I've ran DVDs, with email running, photoshop, word docs, open, etc. all at the same time and it doesn't break a sweat.

-6 gig DDR3 Ram is great as well. The ram usage widget doesn't break 40% no matter what I throw at it. The ability to expand the ram to 18 gig allows me future expansion (just what I'm looking for).

-Built in camera works well in low light for Skype.

-Speakers are very nice for a laptop, even bass is decent.

-Screen is beautiful at 1080p. Sometimes objects can look small on such a hi-res screen but OS tools allow you to easily increase the viewing percentage to make text easy to read, etc.

-Etching from the laser is beautiful. The laser etching is a nice touch that looks good in a business setting or a home office. I just couldn't go with the "nation of gamers" look.

-Light and Thin without the power slice. This is not a netbook but its easily moved about at its stand alone weight.

-Power Slice Keeps it Going. The 6 cell battery (in the unit) gives about 1.5-2 hours of power. This is enough for some light computer but not squatting down in front of the tube. The power slice adds 9 cells and I've found about 6 hours of power with the combined batteriesplenty for my needs but it adds two pounds of weight. The power slice clips into the unit at the bottom and does an admirable job of "blending in" to the laptop. It does take away from the thin profile though.

-Keyboard is full size and natural to use. The "1" is slightly to the right of my desktop so there is a slight adjustment for numbers but keys are resistant and easy to click. I have nerve damage in my left hand and no problems in jumping on this keypad.

What I don't like:

-The touch/click pad is tough to get used to. Even after two months my fingers will brush on the pad and jump the cursor and the short cuts to scroll up/down and left/right just aren't very natural. I've toggle all the settings and I just can't get it quite right. For me it's not a huge deal but some people may want a mouse.

-Heat. The unit does get pretty warm. I don't find it an issue on my wrists as I type and rest my wrists as I type. Its the underside that heats up. On a desk this doesn't bother me but on my lap it can get uncomfortable. BUT, the battery slice acts as a heat shield. The irony of the extra bulk is it is a decent but not perfect insulator. I'll appreciate the heat in the winter but not now in the summer. Think of investing in a lap pad/insulator. Here is another notewhen the unit is plugged into power the CPU runs full cycle and it ups the heat output. When the unit is on battery it runs as lower cycles which reduces the heat.

Summary

I was looking for a professional laptop that I could play an occasional game and work from office and bring home without skipping a beat. This laptop fits the bill. It's good for work and for play. It's expandable. I've had other HP machines and found them to be reliable. I've had no issues with the OS, firmware, screen, etc. I have found it a bit of a challenge to move from XP to Win 7 but that's not a statement on this machine. I found this unit with DVD and battery slice for much less else where. If price is holding you back shop around. I found it brand new as a special for 40% less than list.