Showing posts with label laptop computer reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laptop computer reviews. Show all posts
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Reviews of ASUS N53SN-RH71 15.6" Notebook PC
Bought this over a year ago as a gift to my wife. The only problem I have was a loose power plug receptacle which Asus promptly replace without any expense on my part even shipping. I had to send the laptop to them Doubleboxed in the original box with provided Fedex overnight shipping label and recieved the unit fixedc the same week, sent to me overnight in a very well protected box with the laptop in a bubblewrap case with out the original box I sent. I since then bought my wife a new Touch ultrabook Win8 Asus laptop but I still see her using this one more often. She said this one runs a lot faster than her Ultrabook with dual ssd and HDD drive. I am planning to install a SSD on this to make it even faster.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Reviews of Dell XPS 17 Laptop, i7-2630QM, 6GB DDR3 Memory, 17.3in FHD WLED AG
I got the latest XPS 17 aka L702x last month to replace an HP Pavilion dv6. The specifications are,
CPU: i7-2630QM
DRAM: 6GB DDR3-1333
Screen: 17.3in FHD 3D
GPU: GeForce GT555M 1GB
Hard Drive: 640GB
Optical Drive: Blu-ray burner
Battery: 9-cell
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium.
My first impression is that the XPS is huge compared to the HP, even though the screen is just 1 inch bigger. The weight is also substantially greater. The 9-cell battery protrudes from the bottom, making it even harder to fit into tight space. Although the 9-cell is supposed to extend the battery life, I get just under 3 hours in mixed usage. So, the XPS is a desk-top replacement through and through. If mobility is an important consideration, the XPS 15 can be had with the same CPU and screen resolution, and will be a much better choice.
In terms of computing power, the XPS does not disappoint. The i7-2630QM is capable of 8 threads simultaneously, and I have not experienced any slow-down so far due to CPU overload. The GT555M can run all the latest 3D games if the graphics is set to low quality, but it gets really hot and loud, not to mention the quick battery drain. For gaming, a good desk-top remains the best option. The XPS comes with a pair of 3D glass, but I have not had the urge to try it out either for movie, because of the lack of interesting media, or for games, due to the heat and noise the GPU generates. I intend to use the computer for numerical work, and the CPU, the memory system and the hard drives are the key components.
6GB of memory and a 5400-rpm drive do not match well with the high-performing 2630QM, and I had planned to upgrade them right after the purchase. Once the machine arrives and gets its belly opened up, however, I am shocked to find just 2 SODIMM slots. Dell is advertising "up to 16GB RAM" in 4GBx4 configuration, and this is clearly not the case. After some exhaustive research, I finally find the explanation in an obscure Dell customer forum. It turns out that, to save literally a few pennies, Dell has used two different motherboards in the same model: one with 4 SODIMM slots and 3GB of GDDR RAM, the other with 2 SODIMM slots and 1GB of GDDR RAM. I had noticed and got puzzled by the $170 price difference when one stepped up from the GT555M 1GB to the GT555M 3GB. This kind of explains Dell's thought process in the pricing hierarchy. Still, I am upset that Dell fails to explain any of this on its website because there are customers like myself who do not care about the graphic RAM but do want to have the potential to upgrade to 16GB of system memory. I had paid $300 extra compared to HP dv7 for Dell exactly because XPS was supposed to be a premium brand without too much corner-cutting, but I under-estimated Dell's capacity for taking advantage of their customers. In the end, I can only replace the 2GB SODIMM with a 4GB module. The swap costs me $30 after the old SODIMM is sold on ebay, still much less than what Dell would have charged me to upgrade to 8GB memory in the factory.
Upgrading the hard drives, on the other hand, is something that the designers of XPS obviously take into account. The XPS comes with 2 drive bays, with the 640GB drive occupying the first one only. I have a new Crucial RealSSD C300 Solid state drive 64 GB internal 2.5" SATA-600 ready and just have to move the 640GB drive to the second slot before replacing the SSD in the primary drive bay. Unfortunately, these drive bays are covered with aluminum shields that are attached to the motherboard with tiny screws. I strip one of the screw heads by using a driver a little too large. This necessitates some drilling followed by the application of a screw extractor. The whole process is extremely scary because of the danger of breaking the motherboard, and should be avoided if at all possible. In the end, I have to say that installing the SSD is quite straightforward if I had not had the accident with the screw. Once the hardware is in place, I reinstall the OS with the DVD which had cost me $19 extra, and wipe the 640GB drive to use for data. All the drivers are either included in a free DVD or can be downloaded from Dell's support site easily. The applications such as PowerDVD, however, are nowhere to be found. I have to call Dell support line and have the DVDs shipped to me, but they are at least free of charge. All together, the pre-installed softwares including the OS take up 30GB, leaving 29GB of usable space ("64GB" drives really have only 59GB of usable space in another case of misleading vendor advertisement.) on the SSD for other applications.
Once the upgrades are done, I am very happy with the performance of the machine. The SSD really makes a big difference. Windows 7 boots up at under 15 seconds and shuts down in 10. For this alone, I am willing to endure the bulk of the XPS 17 for the dual drive bays. Overall, however, I am somewhat less happy with Dell than HP for three reasons:
1. The HP dv6 just seemed more tightly put together;
2. I did not experienced misleading feature descriptions with HP;
3. I miss the fingerprint scanner on the HP notebook.
========================== Added 9/2/2011 ==========================
I replaced the boot drive on another PC with an SSD recently. This was an older computer and the drive had been cluttered with various files and programs. Reinstalling everything seemed impractical, so I went looking in download.com for a drive-cloning software. I tried Acronis first, but it was extremely buggy and the trial version did not allow downsized cloning. Eventually, I found EaseUs Todo Backup Free 3.0. It worked very well and, as the name suggested, was totally free. If I have to do it again, EaseUs is the way to go.
========================== Added 3/20/2012 ==========================
Although Intel does not officially support 8GB SODIMM modules with the HM67 chipset used in this Dell, intrepid users have tried them and generally found the new denser format to work just fine. As the price for these new SODIMM comes down, I give it a try as well and it works! Now this XPS sports 16GB of DRAM even though Dell has seen fit to equip it with only two SODIMM slots.
In every way possible they replaced my computer with inferior components.
I immediately called Dell and proceeded to be put on hold and bounced around for over 6 hours trying to get the issue resolved.
As I write this I am on hold yet again with a Dell representative who is completely unable or unwilling to assist me.
I cannot speak to anyone in the United States for support without paying an additional $250 for some support package
CONS: Extremely unreliable, battery not great, track pad not good, and some serious hardware issues
OVERALL: This product is not worth your money.
When I bought it, it wouldn't play dvd's. Had to waste hours of my time dealing with completely lame customer service to get it fixed. Even after that, problems continued to pile up, conveniently right after the warranty ran out. USB ports will stop working randomly. The track pad, which isn't good to start with, sometimes will turn permanently on, making typing difficult, or not work at all. Last of all, using Photoshop makes the graphics card (which is supposedly good) crash my computer on a daily basis.
CONCLUSION: I will never buy a Dell again after how I was treated as a consumer.
The seller Hayley is is offer the Dell XPS 17 with in the following condition and specs, "From Dell, never used or opened" with specs that include: " Genuine Windows® Home Premium 64-Bit English, 2nd generation Intel® Core(tm) i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz, Memory 8GHz Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory, Standard Keyboard English, "17.3" HD+ (900p) LED Display with 2.0MP HD Webcam, NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 550M 1GB graphics with Optimus and TV Tuner, 1.0TB 500GB 7.2k HDD x 2, Color Elemental Silver Aluminum,Integrated 10/100/1000 Network Card, Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9, CD ROM/DVD ROM Blu-ray® Triple Writer (reads and writes CDs, DVDs, BDs), JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3, Wireless Plus Bluetooth and Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000, Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed), Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook, Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 30-Day Trial
Battery 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, Hardware Support Services, and very importantly 1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty (Mail-in repair in 10-14 business days Shipping not included), Data Safe DataSafe 2.0 Online Backup 2GB for 1 year.
When I clicked on the link to the XPS 17 to check it out I was skeptic because it didn't seem to be much from what i could see from the specs listed on the site. When I did click on the link I was wasn't let down by the specs listed because I knew this was a laptop that that had the potential to be beefed up. If it wasn't for the good things I've herd about the XPS 17 I would have never clicked the link, and after I did I saw the specs listed in the title weren't even as good as I hoped, but when I checked the other new XPS 17's by other users, which was Hayley's because she was the only person that had some listed for sale, The specs blew me away and came with a Dell one year warranty, I was shocked. The equivalent XPS on the Dell site was selling for more but the specs listed for the XPS Hayley is selling here on Ebay, but the specs reflected what I thought a High Performance Dell XPS 17 should be.
I highly recommend this laptop if your looking for a great overall high performance laptop and the warranty it comes with can be renewed.
CPU: i7-2630QM
DRAM: 6GB DDR3-1333
Screen: 17.3in FHD 3D
GPU: GeForce GT555M 1GB
Hard Drive: 640GB
Optical Drive: Blu-ray burner
Battery: 9-cell
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium.
My first impression is that the XPS is huge compared to the HP, even though the screen is just 1 inch bigger. The weight is also substantially greater. The 9-cell battery protrudes from the bottom, making it even harder to fit into tight space. Although the 9-cell is supposed to extend the battery life, I get just under 3 hours in mixed usage. So, the XPS is a desk-top replacement through and through. If mobility is an important consideration, the XPS 15 can be had with the same CPU and screen resolution, and will be a much better choice.
In terms of computing power, the XPS does not disappoint. The i7-2630QM is capable of 8 threads simultaneously, and I have not experienced any slow-down so far due to CPU overload. The GT555M can run all the latest 3D games if the graphics is set to low quality, but it gets really hot and loud, not to mention the quick battery drain. For gaming, a good desk-top remains the best option. The XPS comes with a pair of 3D glass, but I have not had the urge to try it out either for movie, because of the lack of interesting media, or for games, due to the heat and noise the GPU generates. I intend to use the computer for numerical work, and the CPU, the memory system and the hard drives are the key components.
6GB of memory and a 5400-rpm drive do not match well with the high-performing 2630QM, and I had planned to upgrade them right after the purchase. Once the machine arrives and gets its belly opened up, however, I am shocked to find just 2 SODIMM slots. Dell is advertising "up to 16GB RAM" in 4GBx4 configuration, and this is clearly not the case. After some exhaustive research, I finally find the explanation in an obscure Dell customer forum. It turns out that, to save literally a few pennies, Dell has used two different motherboards in the same model: one with 4 SODIMM slots and 3GB of GDDR RAM, the other with 2 SODIMM slots and 1GB of GDDR RAM. I had noticed and got puzzled by the $170 price difference when one stepped up from the GT555M 1GB to the GT555M 3GB. This kind of explains Dell's thought process in the pricing hierarchy. Still, I am upset that Dell fails to explain any of this on its website because there are customers like myself who do not care about the graphic RAM but do want to have the potential to upgrade to 16GB of system memory. I had paid $300 extra compared to HP dv7 for Dell exactly because XPS was supposed to be a premium brand without too much corner-cutting, but I under-estimated Dell's capacity for taking advantage of their customers. In the end, I can only replace the 2GB SODIMM with a 4GB module. The swap costs me $30 after the old SODIMM is sold on ebay, still much less than what Dell would have charged me to upgrade to 8GB memory in the factory.
Upgrading the hard drives, on the other hand, is something that the designers of XPS obviously take into account. The XPS comes with 2 drive bays, with the 640GB drive occupying the first one only. I have a new Crucial RealSSD C300 Solid state drive 64 GB internal 2.5" SATA-600 ready and just have to move the 640GB drive to the second slot before replacing the SSD in the primary drive bay. Unfortunately, these drive bays are covered with aluminum shields that are attached to the motherboard with tiny screws. I strip one of the screw heads by using a driver a little too large. This necessitates some drilling followed by the application of a screw extractor. The whole process is extremely scary because of the danger of breaking the motherboard, and should be avoided if at all possible. In the end, I have to say that installing the SSD is quite straightforward if I had not had the accident with the screw. Once the hardware is in place, I reinstall the OS with the DVD which had cost me $19 extra, and wipe the 640GB drive to use for data. All the drivers are either included in a free DVD or can be downloaded from Dell's support site easily. The applications such as PowerDVD, however, are nowhere to be found. I have to call Dell support line and have the DVDs shipped to me, but they are at least free of charge. All together, the pre-installed softwares including the OS take up 30GB, leaving 29GB of usable space ("64GB" drives really have only 59GB of usable space in another case of misleading vendor advertisement.) on the SSD for other applications.
Once the upgrades are done, I am very happy with the performance of the machine. The SSD really makes a big difference. Windows 7 boots up at under 15 seconds and shuts down in 10. For this alone, I am willing to endure the bulk of the XPS 17 for the dual drive bays. Overall, however, I am somewhat less happy with Dell than HP for three reasons:
1. The HP dv6 just seemed more tightly put together;
2. I did not experienced misleading feature descriptions with HP;
3. I miss the fingerprint scanner on the HP notebook.
========================== Added 9/2/2011 ==========================
I replaced the boot drive on another PC with an SSD recently. This was an older computer and the drive had been cluttered with various files and programs. Reinstalling everything seemed impractical, so I went looking in download.com for a drive-cloning software. I tried Acronis first, but it was extremely buggy and the trial version did not allow downsized cloning. Eventually, I found EaseUs Todo Backup Free 3.0. It worked very well and, as the name suggested, was totally free. If I have to do it again, EaseUs is the way to go.
========================== Added 3/20/2012 ==========================
Although Intel does not officially support 8GB SODIMM modules with the HM67 chipset used in this Dell, intrepid users have tried them and generally found the new denser format to work just fine. As the price for these new SODIMM comes down, I give it a try as well and it works! Now this XPS sports 16GB of DRAM even though Dell has seen fit to equip it with only two SODIMM slots.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
I bought a Dell XPS 17 directly from Dell. It came with a defective screen. So I called Dell. The screen replacement was on back order, but they said they could ship me a replacement computer with identical specs immediately. I received the replacement computer just two days later. Unfortunately the replacement computer had severely downgraded specifications. 900p screen instead of the 1080p screen, i7-2630 processor instead of i7-2720, gt550m graphics instead of gt555m.In every way possible they replaced my computer with inferior components.
I immediately called Dell and proceeded to be put on hold and bounced around for over 6 hours trying to get the issue resolved.
As I write this I am on hold yet again with a Dell representative who is completely unable or unwilling to assist me.
I cannot speak to anyone in the United States for support without paying an additional $250 for some support package
Best Deals for Dell XPS 17 Laptop, i7-2630QM, 6GB DDR3 Memory, 17.3in FHD WLED AG
I bought this computer in 2011 and have had nothing but trouble with it. Almost every piece of it has been replaced at least once. I have had three keyboards, and I still have trouble with typing. I have had to reformat the hard drive three times, because Dell techs couldn't figure out what was wrong. I decided recently that I wanted to upgrade the hard drive from 500gb to 750gb, and I thought I would be getting a faster hard drive. Dell gave me the specs on one made by Samsung that they said would fit. I ordered it from Amazon, and it didn't fit into the laptop. So I ordered one from Dell and was told it would be delivered on June 5. It wasn't. The email they sent said to check for a tracking number, so I tried that and couldn't retrieve one. I called Dell and got two different answers: one, it must be in stock or we wouldn't have sold it to you; two, it isn't in stock, and we don't know if or when it will be, but we will find out. Today I get a third answer; it isn't in stock, but the expected delivery date is June 12; since it isn't in stock we don't know when it will ship, but you have to wait until June 12. One suggestion a customer service rep offered today is to buy a hard drive from Walmart or Staples who he assured me would know which brand and model would fit this computer. I don't trust either place to have the right answer. One option is to just buy a new computer, but this one was too expensive to discard after little more than two years. Besides the OS is Windows 7, and I've read too many negative things about Windows 8 to even try it.Honest reviews on Dell XPS 17 Laptop, i7-2630QM, 6GB DDR3 Memory, 17.3in FHD WLED AG
PROS: Display is nice, weight not too bad, keyboard is good, speakers are awesomeCONS: Extremely unreliable, battery not great, track pad not good, and some serious hardware issues
OVERALL: This product is not worth your money.
When I bought it, it wouldn't play dvd's. Had to waste hours of my time dealing with completely lame customer service to get it fixed. Even after that, problems continued to pile up, conveniently right after the warranty ran out. USB ports will stop working randomly. The track pad, which isn't good to start with, sometimes will turn permanently on, making typing difficult, or not work at all. Last of all, using Photoshop makes the graphics card (which is supposedly good) crash my computer on a daily basis.
CONCLUSION: I will never buy a Dell again after how I was treated as a consumer.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell XPS 17 Laptop, i7-2630QM, 6GB DDR3 Memory, 17.3in FHD WLED AG
The Specs Listed in the title aren't the Specs being sold by Hayley. The laptop Hayley is selling is a Dell XPS 17 but more beefed up then what the product name says it is. Its listed as "Dell XPS 17 Laptop, i7-2630QM, 6GB DDR3 Memory, 17.3in FHD WLED AG (1920x1080) Screen, NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 3GB graphics with Optimus, 500GB 7200 RPM HD, Tray Load CD/DVD Burner, Windows 7 Home Premium".The seller Hayley is is offer the Dell XPS 17 with in the following condition and specs, "From Dell, never used or opened" with specs that include: " Genuine Windows® Home Premium 64-Bit English, 2nd generation Intel® Core(tm) i7-2720QM processor 2.20 GHz with Turbo Boost 2.0 up to 3.30 GHz, Memory 8GHz Shared Dual Channel DDR3 Memory, Standard Keyboard English, "17.3" HD+ (900p) LED Display with 2.0MP HD Webcam, NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 550M 1GB graphics with Optimus and TV Tuner, 1.0TB 500GB 7.2k HDD x 2, Color Elemental Silver Aluminum,Integrated 10/100/1000 Network Card, Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9, CD ROM/DVD ROM Blu-ray® Triple Writer (reads and writes CDs, DVDs, BDs), JBL 2.1 Speakers with Waves Maxx Audio 3, Wireless Plus Bluetooth and Intel® Centrino® Wireless-N 1000, Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed), Microsoft® Office Starter: reduced-functionality Word & Excel w/ ads. No PowerPoint or Outlook, Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 30-Day Trial
Battery 56 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery, Hardware Support Services, and very importantly 1 Year Limited Hardware Warranty (Mail-in repair in 10-14 business days Shipping not included), Data Safe DataSafe 2.0 Online Backup 2GB for 1 year.
When I clicked on the link to the XPS 17 to check it out I was skeptic because it didn't seem to be much from what i could see from the specs listed on the site. When I did click on the link I was wasn't let down by the specs listed because I knew this was a laptop that that had the potential to be beefed up. If it wasn't for the good things I've herd about the XPS 17 I would have never clicked the link, and after I did I saw the specs listed in the title weren't even as good as I hoped, but when I checked the other new XPS 17's by other users, which was Hayley's because she was the only person that had some listed for sale, The specs blew me away and came with a Dell one year warranty, I was shocked. The equivalent XPS on the Dell site was selling for more but the specs listed for the XPS Hayley is selling here on Ebay, but the specs reflected what I thought a High Performance Dell XPS 17 should be.
I highly recommend this laptop if your looking for a great overall high performance laptop and the warranty it comes with can be renewed.
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14217CXP 14-Inch Core i5 Touch Laptop Reviews
I was really excited about the high resolution screen,touch screen and other features. Two days after my purchase the laptops touch screen stopped working. I contacted sony support and tried PC refresh and then reformatting as suggested by them. Nothing worked!! Sony support person said that it is the automatic window 8 update that is causing the problem. I don't think its worth spending 800+ on something has obvious issues. Now I am returning the device!
Other than that one serious problem, this is a good machine and a pretty good value. The sharp graphics are great for video and games, it's light, the rapid wake technology really is quite fast, and it seems that Windows 8 is the most intuitive iteration yet. The touchscreen bells and whistles, though, which are this line's main selling feature, are pretty cheesy. Think about it--a touchscreen is designed to give an ultra-portable computer device like a tablet or smartphone more functionality; it gives these devices mouse functionality and keyboard functionality in exchange for their small size and portability. A laptop ALREADY HAS a keyboard AND a trackpad, which are always a more effective option than touchscreen analogs; putting a touchscreen on something that already has a trackpad and a keyboard is like wearing a belt and suspenders at the same time--this is made comically apparent when you pull up the touchscreen's keyboard function--there is real keyboard LITERALLY inches away from the graphic keyboard on the screen! I understand people are hot for tablets and smartphones right now, but in the end this is still a laptop--it's got a screen and a body, and because of this it's not as portable as a tablet. The trade-off is the added functionality of USB drives, a keyboard, a CD/DVD drive, etc. I can only imagine using the touchscreen in preference to the laptop controls if scrolling through a photo slideshow or something, but even then, that's what the arrow keys and space bar on the keyboard are for. So, Sony's attempts to replicate an iOS experience are definitely superfluous and a bit on the cheesy side. Luckily, this doesn't stop this laptop from being "traditionally" operated with great success.
Windows 8 has been a challenge, this is the first time using it. I have to say, the touchscreen has made it so easy to swipe from one page to another, from one internet window to toher applications. I love the keyboard how it lioghts up. It seems very durable. The hinges are solid, it's lightweight and comfortable. If you're not familiar with windows 8 then it may be difficult to navigate at first. You can download apps, such as amazon & netflix for easy access. I'm very impressed with not only the style but the ease of the latop use. It does have a disc compartment, which I really appreciate to watch dvd's or listen to CD's. I haven't even used everything it comes with yet.
Out of the box set up was super easy. In the box was the laptop, ac/adaptor cable plug & instructions. All you have to do is follow the guickstart guide, connect to the wireless internet and it's that simple.
My only con is it has zero office software.
Okay so now what are my quibbles... The biggest is the touchpad supports multi-touch, which is great but, the two finger swipe to scroll is too similar to the two finger pinch and zoom action. I was zooming in and out so much that I eventually had to disable the pinch and zoom action (control panel... mouse... device settings... settings... uncheck pinch zoom). Problem solved... except that now you can't have pinch-zoom since the touchscreen doesn't seem to support it (maybe it will with a software update). The rest of my quibbles are more along the lines of why can't my family car drive as fast as a sports car... The screen can open up to 120 degrees but can't lay flat (or flip), which would be nice for some touch screen centric apps. Also the screen is not IPS so it quickly degrades as your viewing angle shifts away. The a security feature if you have nosy neighbors, but it makes it a little less share-able with more than maybe one person. I would also have liked a few for direct access buttons instead of having to use the FN button to access volume, mute, and the page up/down controls. Oh and I'd also like infinite battery life and a built-in money printer.
But overall this laptop is a joy to use (especially after disabling the touchpad's pinch zoom). It's a great compromise for power, speed, weight, capacity, capabilities and price. There are also a lot of high end spec sheet type things that I haven't fully enjoyed yet, but it nice to know it's waiting for me... Like USB 3, Bluetooth 4 BLE, Wireless N, and HDMI out.
I have had no issues with the touch screen functionality thus far (other than trying to touch the screen of my Lenovo and being frustrated because nothing was happening.)
Really, every aspect of my experience with this computer has been great. It's fast, the visuals and sound are good. It has 4 USB ports. (2 ultrafast, 2 standard) Rapid wake is awesome, the touchpad is SO much better than the Lenovo. The keyboard has a great feel.
As this point, no down sides. I'm really happy.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I'll start with my only serious beef with this laptop: the built-in wireless, which is godawful. I tried out the wireless with three different wireless networks, and could only get one bar of service by sitting mere feet from the wireless router. More than 10 feet away and connections were choppy-to-nonexistent. Luckily, this was fairly easily and cheaply resolved with a USB wireless adapter: Edimax EW-7811Un Wireless USB Adapter. Still, there's not really an excuse for a laptop made in 2013 to not have solid wireless, and now 1 of 4 USB ports on my laptop are committed to wireless internet.Other than that one serious problem, this is a good machine and a pretty good value. The sharp graphics are great for video and games, it's light, the rapid wake technology really is quite fast, and it seems that Windows 8 is the most intuitive iteration yet. The touchscreen bells and whistles, though, which are this line's main selling feature, are pretty cheesy. Think about it--a touchscreen is designed to give an ultra-portable computer device like a tablet or smartphone more functionality; it gives these devices mouse functionality and keyboard functionality in exchange for their small size and portability. A laptop ALREADY HAS a keyboard AND a trackpad, which are always a more effective option than touchscreen analogs; putting a touchscreen on something that already has a trackpad and a keyboard is like wearing a belt and suspenders at the same time--this is made comically apparent when you pull up the touchscreen's keyboard function--there is real keyboard LITERALLY inches away from the graphic keyboard on the screen! I understand people are hot for tablets and smartphones right now, but in the end this is still a laptop--it's got a screen and a body, and because of this it's not as portable as a tablet. The trade-off is the added functionality of USB drives, a keyboard, a CD/DVD drive, etc. I can only imagine using the touchscreen in preference to the laptop controls if scrolling through a photo slideshow or something, but even then, that's what the arrow keys and space bar on the keyboard are for. So, Sony's attempts to replicate an iOS experience are definitely superfluous and a bit on the cheesy side. Luckily, this doesn't stop this laptop from being "traditionally" operated with great success.
Best Deals for Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14217CXP 14-Inch Core i5 Touch Laptop
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I was skeptical when I recieved this laptop after a reviewer had issues with the touchscreen. I've used this everyday for 24 days and have had no issues!Windows 8 has been a challenge, this is the first time using it. I have to say, the touchscreen has made it so easy to swipe from one page to another, from one internet window to toher applications. I love the keyboard how it lioghts up. It seems very durable. The hinges are solid, it's lightweight and comfortable. If you're not familiar with windows 8 then it may be difficult to navigate at first. You can download apps, such as amazon & netflix for easy access. I'm very impressed with not only the style but the ease of the latop use. It does have a disc compartment, which I really appreciate to watch dvd's or listen to CD's. I haven't even used everything it comes with yet.
Out of the box set up was super easy. In the box was the laptop, ac/adaptor cable plug & instructions. All you have to do is follow the guickstart guide, connect to the wireless internet and it's that simple.
My only con is it has zero office software.
Honest reviews on Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14217CXP 14-Inch Core i5 Touch Laptop
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Let me start by letting you know that this is a very snappy machine (thanks to in part to the i5, discrete graphics, and 8GB or RAM) and it's very well suited with Windows 8. The capacitive touchscreen is a necessity for this OS, even if you do use mostly desktop apps. The keyboard is very comfortable with responsive back-lit chicklet style keys, which I have come to enjoy. The battery life is reasonable at 3+ hours, not as long as some tablets, but it has a lot more power and a DVD drive. The 1600x900 resolution is sharper than most 14" laptops. I liked that in addition to keeping the laptop light they also kept the power cable slim. The plug is a simple two prong (swap-able with 240 volt cables) and the AC adapter box is out of the way in the middle of the cable is a diminutive 1"x1"x4". NFC has been a particularly fun gimmick, it made paring a set of bluetooth headphones ridiculously simple. NFC also let me transfer URLs between my Android phone and the laptop, unfortunately Windows doesn't yet support transferring images or large files to and from Android phones yet (although Windows phones will work fine for this). The included software is fortunately without too much bloat, there are a few media creation type apps that may appeal to novice music and video creators as well as a few Windows 8 apps (which are easy to uninstall if undesired, just right click). The only app that is a blatant up-sell is the 30 day trial of Kapersky anti-virus, it's easy enough to buy or uninstall, but it feels spammy until you do (although it's good in that at least it makes you think about anti-virus).Okay so now what are my quibbles... The biggest is the touchpad supports multi-touch, which is great but, the two finger swipe to scroll is too similar to the two finger pinch and zoom action. I was zooming in and out so much that I eventually had to disable the pinch and zoom action (control panel... mouse... device settings... settings... uncheck pinch zoom). Problem solved... except that now you can't have pinch-zoom since the touchscreen doesn't seem to support it (maybe it will with a software update). The rest of my quibbles are more along the lines of why can't my family car drive as fast as a sports car... The screen can open up to 120 degrees but can't lay flat (or flip), which would be nice for some touch screen centric apps. Also the screen is not IPS so it quickly degrades as your viewing angle shifts away. The a security feature if you have nosy neighbors, but it makes it a little less share-able with more than maybe one person. I would also have liked a few for direct access buttons instead of having to use the FN button to access volume, mute, and the page up/down controls. Oh and I'd also like infinite battery life and a built-in money printer.
But overall this laptop is a joy to use (especially after disabling the touchpad's pinch zoom). It's a great compromise for power, speed, weight, capacity, capabilities and price. There are also a lot of high end spec sheet type things that I haven't fully enjoyed yet, but it nice to know it's waiting for me... Like USB 3, Bluetooth 4 BLE, Wireless N, and HDMI out.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Sony VAIO Fit Series SVF14217CXP 14-Inch Core i5 Touch Laptop
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program A few months back I bought a Lenovo $400.00 laptop, and it came with Windows 8 and it was bad. The laptop is fine, it's Windows 8 that is the problem. The first thing you need to know is that if you are getting a laptop with Windows 8, GET A TOUCH SCREEN. Even with Classic Windows software on your computer, if you want to take advantage of Windows 8, the touch screen is the way to go.I have had no issues with the touch screen functionality thus far (other than trying to touch the screen of my Lenovo and being frustrated because nothing was happening.)
Really, every aspect of my experience with this computer has been great. It's fast, the visuals and sound are good. It has 4 USB ports. (2 ultrafast, 2 standard) Rapid wake is awesome, the touchpad is SO much better than the Lenovo. The keyboard has a great feel.
As this point, no down sides. I'm really happy.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Best ASUS Republic of Gamers G73JH-A2 17-Inch Gaming Laptop (Black) Deals
In short this computer is amazing. You wont find anything else under $2000 that can beat this. It comes with a standard 2 year warrant and 1 year accidental damage warranty plus a 30 day zero bright dot policy. The included mouse and bag are also great. So far I have been playing crysis and bad company 2(a great game for your new computer) on near full detail with amazing frames with the ati radean 5870(best single graphics card for laptops), 8gb of 1066mhz ram, and the new blazing fast core i7 processor. Although the computer is the size of some 18 inchers, I found that it looked and felt amazing. The whole back, palm rest area, and keys are rubberized which provides a great feel and grip. The keys are also back lit and the speakers on the computer are very loud and provide good audio The one thing I did not like about this computer was the touch pad buttons (not the touchpad its self which is great) are combined under a plastic cover which is really hard to press down on.
Pros:
Best for the price
Back lit keyboard
rubberized feels great
Best single graphics card ati 5870 with 1gb gddr5 ram
8gb of ram is more than enough
Great processor
Cool unique look
and i can just keep going on and on..
Cons:
Touch pad buttons I find hard to press down on
Number pad on keyboard feels squished
Overall 10/10
And as I said before this is the best!
Update after about 3 months
of use
I have already lost nearly all the rubber feet which do not seem attached well (medium problem). The keyboard has a lot of light bleeding through under the ` key (minor). And the worst problems i have experienced, my computer overheats! It shuts its self down randomly and i do not believe that the fan over the CPU is working (very major). I have sent it in for RMA with asus and will post an update later.
If i could change my rating I would give it 3.5-4 stars.
After reading more on the web, I downloaded the FurMark benchmark utility and tried the stability test. In less than 3 minutes, the laptop reached 110 degrees and shut down. If the GPU ran hotter than a "normal" 95 degrees, but remained at a constant 100 or 101 degrees without reaching critical temperature, it might have been acceptable. Perhaps by using a cooling pad and making sure the ambient room temperature wasn't higher than 90 I could do without having to send my G73JH for service. But the fact that a gaming laptop could overheat to shutdown with GPU intensive programs meant an unstable video card.
Just to make sure it wasn't the benchmark utility, I tested it on my desktop computer which has an ATI 5770. It ran at a constant 96 degrees for 15 minutes. A friend installed FurMark on her laptop with an nVidia 360m and it was stable at 85 degrees.
I'm glad this happened during my first 30 days. Instead of having Asus replace the video card or entire laptop with possibly a refurbished one even though I had just purchased it new, I had Amazon issue me a RMA for an exchange. Hopefully there's one in stock when it reaches them because I really did like this laptop and am willing to give it another chance.
Aside from the GPU overheating and having to deal with an exchange, there were some minor cons. I won't bother with what I liked because it's been covered by plenty of other reviews.
The screen is way too glossy, causing lots glare and reflection on the monitor.
After a week the spacebar sometimes made a squeeking noise.
Dedicated volume buttons would have been easier than having to use both hands to press two keys, the Fn + F11 or F12.
I wish the Numlock light was on the right side of the keyboard near the number keys. Instead it's on the left side of the laptop, beside the Capslock key.
On the Numberpad, the right arrow key is under the 1 and the 0 is under the 2. I'm used to pressing 0 with my thumb and have been trying to get used to the shorter 0 key.
The touchpad bar for the mouse buttons is difficult to press. I'm glad I use a separate mouse.
This laptop is so big it doesn't fit in my old 17" laptop case. Asus provides a decent backpack but it's on the thin side and won't hold more than one or two textbooks. Be careful and make sure you buy a laptop case or backpack large enough.
4-stars if the laptop didn't overheat but 3-stars because of the lemon. If Amazon is able to send another for an exchange I'll update this review again when I receive the replacement.
Update July 9, 2010: Received my exchange today. I have to really commend Amazon's return service. It was very easy to request an RMA and they even refunded me the shipping costs for sending it back to them!
After initial setup, the first thing I did was install Furmark and then I held my breath. I can let out a sigh of relief. After 5 minutes it was at 90 degrees, and after 20 minutes this new G73JH-A1 was running at 93 degrees. It might have hit 94 or even 95 but I think 20 minutes was enough to confirm it's stability.
A couple of other things about this laptop:
The included mouse's buttons are very sensitive. My fingers sometimes press a top or side button when I pick it up to move the cursor. Will take a little getting used to since the buttons are so delicate.
I wish Asus had included recovery discs with this laptop. Perhaps it was a cost cutting measure. After all, this is a $1650 laptop that other companies would easily charge $2100 or more. Regardless, I don't mind because if I uninstall the bloatware and run Windows Update, I can have bloat-free updated recovery discs.
Despite all the nitpicking, this is an incredible gaming laptop. Quad-core CPU for future programs and games, 8 gigs of RAM, Blu-Ray player, and one of the best laptop video card currently available, the ATI mobility 5870.
Pluses
-have not had a single technical issue
-function keys for volume and brightness do not bring me to the desktop when playing games (like it did my previous HP)
-HDMI to HDTV is plug and play (video and audio)
Now for the Gaming part
I play around with AA (anti-aliasing) from highest and then bring it down until very smooth playability. These are the games I found to push the notebook the most (settings to be very playable at native 1920x1080, I don't use vsync):
Crysis/Crysis Warhead no AA, almost all on High/Gamer settings
Batman Arkham No AA, All Max
RE5 All Max
Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions HDR at medium, No AA, almost all at max
Prototype All max
Wolfenstein All max
Borderlands All max
Red Faction Guerrilla No AA, almost all at max
Just Cause 2 No AA, almost all at max
L4D 1 and 2 All max, even vsysnc
Every other older game (even newer ones), the G73 just breezes through, (such as GoW, UT3, Dark Void, L4D, TR:Underworld), I've found it handles the Unreal engine quite well.
I can't believe how this notebook handles games at 1920x1080. Stays cool and quiet. Audio is pretty decent, even takes care of Prototype's low volume issue (just crank it up!). I've been gaming on laptops for more than 12 years (no space for desktop rigs) and I've never had a gaming laptop, always had to compromise the graphics. Not anymore. Playing at 40-50 frames/sec is surely a welcome change.
The casing: The casing is all black with different materials composing the laptops exterior. The top of the laptop has a heavy and thick rubber that feels good to touch, stays cool, looks good and provides some gripe, but the bad thing about it is that it scuffs easily. Now you might not think this is a big deal but when you start to see scuffs on your new laptop out of no where well... the armrest has a different feel from the top of the laptop and less rubbery more like a semi plastic version which is by no means bad. There is a grill that covers the speakers at the top of the keyboard. Because of this there will be a lot of dust that may accumulate there and is hard to clean. There is no volume rocker or other media controls on the outside casing which makes it hard for anyone watching a movie or playing games. Two vents in the back which drives the hot air out and also a couple of vents underneath the laptop to draw in cool air. The panels to the casing is not that good for normal maintenance, what I mean by this is when you have to clean the two fans out which your supposed to do every month or so, it will be difficult because the access is on the top, so you will have to remove the screen and the keyboard to reveal the fans. The bottom side do however have easy access if you want to upgrade rams and hard drives.
screen: the screen is all glass not that edge to edge design but still pretty good. It is very bright... makes my old gateway laptop screen look dark and faded out. It's 1920x1080 resolution is awesome, however if the laptop is ever outside it will produce a annoying glare. Plays bluray movies and game all beautifully. A 2.o Mp webcam sit on the top of the screen.
Keyboard: the keyboard is kind of bad. At around the middle the keys when pressed will flex and the keys will have a kind of spongy feel. There was a guy on youtube who said that it prevented him from typing too fast and I laughed at him, that is until I got my unit and started typing on it. The keyboard in particular has a long response time so when typing there will be a lot of compound words being formed. Is the keyboard durable and will it last? well I think it will last if you take care of it but I highly recommend a external keyboard if you are planning on typing on this laptop alot. Still it sure is nice looking when lit up though, well my friends and family were impress by the look of it anyway. The other bad thing about the keyboard is the arrow keys. For some reason asus grouped them together between the qwerty keys and the number pad so it makes it kind of weird.
performance: well the performance depends on alot of what you do even though it is heavily spec. If you are planning on playing games and running intensive programs on this computer than you will definitely see alot of improvements depending on how old and under spec your computer is now. My old Pentium M gateway is still running strong but when I tried to load up batman arkham... well it was so slow the computer just kind of gave up trying to install. The g73 however loaded in about 15 minutes. When surfing the web Youtube videos loads a few seconds faster and the responsiveness of loading pages are a tad faster as well compared to my old computer. In short if you are planning to use this computer as a hardcore gaming or multimedia entertainment system that I think you will be impressed, but if you just go online and use standard office products well maybe you should just save your money and get a cheaper computer.
track-pad: huge track pad that has multi touch and scrolling feature on the side. Not very well positioned but you can disable it so your thumbs don't accidentally activate it while typing. The track pad itself is smooth and glides easily but the double tap can sometime be unresponsive and the single click button can be hard to use as it takes a bit of pressure to actually click on it.
For me I had to spend about a day deleting bloatwares and tweaking the computer to my preferences. So software wise well once your done you will have a barebone laptop with windows 7 home premium 64 bit and some utilities support. One of the biggest gripe for me was even though there was a ton of useless bloatware there was no bluray playback software. So basically you can't play bluray movies on the laptop from stock. You will have to download 3rd party software like powerdvd or windvd to play movies. Asus free windvd 8 was a bad program and caused a lot of pause and skips during the movie. It does come with trendmicro and windows firewall but I had deleted and use other 3rd party software which they are much better.
The computer stays cool for the most part but summer haven't come yet so I will have to wait and see. The ati graphics card tend to be hotter than the cpu so the fan on the left side gets little more noiser but overall I can't complain about fan noises. For those who wonder if you need to upgrade thermal compounds than the answer is no unless it makes you feel better and you got the money to blow.
There is 2 hard drive both partitoned into 2 parts so when you look under specs it will show up as 4 parts. At 7200rpm the computer booted up in about 45sec. I have seen people upgrade to ssd and boot up in less than 20 sec. But for the price I think I will stick with the 7200rpm seagate hard drives.
ATI HD 5870 mobility runs good and though I have yet to upgrade to 10.3 catalyst the system still plays most games I throw at it with great fps. However the gpu can run pretty hot. For those than wonder if you can upgrade the gpu, well it is no soldered to the board so....?
My laptop came with 8 gigs of Kingston 1333mhz rams so that will probably last for the life of the laptop without a need for upgrade even though you could take it up to 16 gigs. From my use I have not experience any latency problems.
The speakers are good it actually gets pretty loud without distortions but the sub-woofer at the bottom is barely noticeable.
The backpack and mouse that comes with the A1 and A2 are pretty good, for people who said the mouse cannot be use for regular purpose well I have to disagree.
well I doubt I have cover all points since this is my 1st review ever but overall I like this laptop even the keyboard really bothers me and I will have to plug in a external keyboard the machine itself will work great as a gaming and entertainment system. Make sure to have 6 blank dvds to make the recovery disk as Asus did not include one. If you have any question just ask under reply and I will update. Hope this helps
1. Didn't make it look absolutely tacky (like their G51 series with some lame graphic on the front).
2. Matte black surfaces (no more fingerprints!).
3. 17.3 backlit LED screen (great colors).
4. Full-size chiclet keyboard (lights up, too).
5. Choice of specs Intel i7-720QM, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB x 2 hard drives.
6. ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870, which is currently the 2nd fastest graphics card ever made for laptops (only recently superseded by the NVIDIA GTX 480M).
7. Runs almost all games with high-quality settings at 1920x1080 (includes new games, too).
7. 2 megapixel webcam.
8. Great sound system (comes with a subwoofer and is LOUD).
9. Awesome cooling system that works by taking in air from the vents under the screen and directing hot air to the back of the laptop (little fan noise, even at max load)
10. Free backpack and gaming mouse (with adjustable DPI settings).
11. All for under $1799.99 (I got mine for about $1580).
Here's the problems that I have with the laptop:
1. Standard manufacturer bloatware (I removed most of them).
2. Ports for the laptop (no USB 3.0, eSATA however there is HDMI, VGA, 4 x USB 2.0 and card reader).
3. A single rubber bar for the touch pad's left/right click. Lack of tactile feedback and distinction from the left/right button may cause confusion to some users (good thing there's a mouse)
4. Roughly an average of 2 hours for battery life (This is to be expected but I put this here for your reference).
5. No hardware RAID.
Finally, here are some tips if you are buying this laptop:
1. Register with ASUS online immediately after receiving your product. You are entitled to a 2-year warranty for defects and also a 1-year warranty for accidental damages (requires mailing in some paperwork).
2. Update your BIOS to 209 as this fixes some issues with the laptop. For example, BIOS 206 (what mine came with) has a bug where if your laptop is on battery power, the CPU stays underclocked even if you plug in AC power later. You will have to restart to fix this.
3. Go to AMD's website to install the latest drivers for your graphics card.
4. If you install Steam and are experiencing crashes, Creative's audio software may be causing your problems. Uninstall it to see if it solves your problem (Realtek will continue to provide audio support for the laptop).
5. Referencing the cooling system earlier: Since the air intake vents are under the screen, and you're the kind of person who likes to plug in an external monitor, keyboard and mouse, it is not recommended to use the laptop while it's closed.
I hope this review helps you. If you have questions that weren't answered here, Google and NotebookReview are great places to help you. There are many solutions, tips and tweaks to everything related to the G73JH series and they're out there.
Pros:
Best for the price
Back lit keyboard
rubberized feels great
Best single graphics card ati 5870 with 1gb gddr5 ram
8gb of ram is more than enough
Great processor
Cool unique look
and i can just keep going on and on..
Cons:
Touch pad buttons I find hard to press down on
Number pad on keyboard feels squished
Overall 10/10
And as I said before this is the best!
Update after about 3 months
of use
I have already lost nearly all the rubber feet which do not seem attached well (medium problem). The keyboard has a lot of light bleeding through under the ` key (minor). And the worst problems i have experienced, my computer overheats! It shuts its self down randomly and i do not believe that the fan over the CPU is working (very major). I have sent it in for RMA with asus and will post an update later.
If i could change my rating I would give it 3.5-4 stars.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
I had the G73JH-A1 for almost two weeks before it shutdown while playing a game. A web search for G73JH and shutdown showed it could be overheating problems. I installed desktop gadgets that monitored the CPU and GPU and tested by playing various games. While closely watching and frequently checking the GPU temperature, it was generally anywhere from the mid 90s to just over a 100 and at times would reach 107 degrees.After reading more on the web, I downloaded the FurMark benchmark utility and tried the stability test. In less than 3 minutes, the laptop reached 110 degrees and shut down. If the GPU ran hotter than a "normal" 95 degrees, but remained at a constant 100 or 101 degrees without reaching critical temperature, it might have been acceptable. Perhaps by using a cooling pad and making sure the ambient room temperature wasn't higher than 90 I could do without having to send my G73JH for service. But the fact that a gaming laptop could overheat to shutdown with GPU intensive programs meant an unstable video card.
Just to make sure it wasn't the benchmark utility, I tested it on my desktop computer which has an ATI 5770. It ran at a constant 96 degrees for 15 minutes. A friend installed FurMark on her laptop with an nVidia 360m and it was stable at 85 degrees.
I'm glad this happened during my first 30 days. Instead of having Asus replace the video card or entire laptop with possibly a refurbished one even though I had just purchased it new, I had Amazon issue me a RMA for an exchange. Hopefully there's one in stock when it reaches them because I really did like this laptop and am willing to give it another chance.
Aside from the GPU overheating and having to deal with an exchange, there were some minor cons. I won't bother with what I liked because it's been covered by plenty of other reviews.
The screen is way too glossy, causing lots glare and reflection on the monitor.
After a week the spacebar sometimes made a squeeking noise.
Dedicated volume buttons would have been easier than having to use both hands to press two keys, the Fn + F11 or F12.
I wish the Numlock light was on the right side of the keyboard near the number keys. Instead it's on the left side of the laptop, beside the Capslock key.
On the Numberpad, the right arrow key is under the 1 and the 0 is under the 2. I'm used to pressing 0 with my thumb and have been trying to get used to the shorter 0 key.
The touchpad bar for the mouse buttons is difficult to press. I'm glad I use a separate mouse.
This laptop is so big it doesn't fit in my old 17" laptop case. Asus provides a decent backpack but it's on the thin side and won't hold more than one or two textbooks. Be careful and make sure you buy a laptop case or backpack large enough.
4-stars if the laptop didn't overheat but 3-stars because of the lemon. If Amazon is able to send another for an exchange I'll update this review again when I receive the replacement.
Update July 9, 2010: Received my exchange today. I have to really commend Amazon's return service. It was very easy to request an RMA and they even refunded me the shipping costs for sending it back to them!
After initial setup, the first thing I did was install Furmark and then I held my breath. I can let out a sigh of relief. After 5 minutes it was at 90 degrees, and after 20 minutes this new G73JH-A1 was running at 93 degrees. It might have hit 94 or even 95 but I think 20 minutes was enough to confirm it's stability.
A couple of other things about this laptop:
The included mouse's buttons are very sensitive. My fingers sometimes press a top or side button when I pick it up to move the cursor. Will take a little getting used to since the buttons are so delicate.
I wish Asus had included recovery discs with this laptop. Perhaps it was a cost cutting measure. After all, this is a $1650 laptop that other companies would easily charge $2100 or more. Regardless, I don't mind because if I uninstall the bloatware and run Windows Update, I can have bloat-free updated recovery discs.
Despite all the nitpicking, this is an incredible gaming laptop. Quad-core CPU for future programs and games, 8 gigs of RAM, Blu-Ray player, and one of the best laptop video card currently available, the ATI mobility 5870.
Best Deals for ASUS Republic of Gamers G73JH-A2 17-Inch Gaming Laptop (Black)
You can find a ton of reviews regarding the hardware and you can compare similarly configured gaming notebooks and you'll see that this is HUNDREDs of dollars cheaper. I've had the machine for almost 2 weeks, gaming about 1-2 hrs a day.Pluses
-have not had a single technical issue
-function keys for volume and brightness do not bring me to the desktop when playing games (like it did my previous HP)
-HDMI to HDTV is plug and play (video and audio)
Now for the Gaming part
I play around with AA (anti-aliasing) from highest and then bring it down until very smooth playability. These are the games I found to push the notebook the most (settings to be very playable at native 1920x1080, I don't use vsync):
Crysis/Crysis Warhead no AA, almost all on High/Gamer settings
Batman Arkham No AA, All Max
RE5 All Max
Lost Planet: Extreme Conditions HDR at medium, No AA, almost all at max
Prototype All max
Wolfenstein All max
Borderlands All max
Red Faction Guerrilla No AA, almost all at max
Just Cause 2 No AA, almost all at max
L4D 1 and 2 All max, even vsysnc
Every other older game (even newer ones), the G73 just breezes through, (such as GoW, UT3, Dark Void, L4D, TR:Underworld), I've found it handles the Unreal engine quite well.
I can't believe how this notebook handles games at 1920x1080. Stays cool and quiet. Audio is pretty decent, even takes care of Prototype's low volume issue (just crank it up!). I've been gaming on laptops for more than 12 years (no space for desktop rigs) and I've never had a gaming laptop, always had to compromise the graphics. Not anymore. Playing at 40-50 frames/sec is surely a welcome change.
Honest reviews on ASUS Republic of Gamers G73JH-A2 17-Inch Gaming Laptop (Black)
OK so I've been using this for about a week now. The laptop was originally preordered in march 8,2010 and was received on march 13,2010...not bad of a wait. A lot of people who preordered on other sites are still in a waiting game. So anyhow let me get on with the review. P.S. to make a summary short the gaming laptop is really a 3 1/2 stars in my opinion but I am hard to please and would recommended this laptop? yes I would.The casing: The casing is all black with different materials composing the laptops exterior. The top of the laptop has a heavy and thick rubber that feels good to touch, stays cool, looks good and provides some gripe, but the bad thing about it is that it scuffs easily. Now you might not think this is a big deal but when you start to see scuffs on your new laptop out of no where well... the armrest has a different feel from the top of the laptop and less rubbery more like a semi plastic version which is by no means bad. There is a grill that covers the speakers at the top of the keyboard. Because of this there will be a lot of dust that may accumulate there and is hard to clean. There is no volume rocker or other media controls on the outside casing which makes it hard for anyone watching a movie or playing games. Two vents in the back which drives the hot air out and also a couple of vents underneath the laptop to draw in cool air. The panels to the casing is not that good for normal maintenance, what I mean by this is when you have to clean the two fans out which your supposed to do every month or so, it will be difficult because the access is on the top, so you will have to remove the screen and the keyboard to reveal the fans. The bottom side do however have easy access if you want to upgrade rams and hard drives.
screen: the screen is all glass not that edge to edge design but still pretty good. It is very bright... makes my old gateway laptop screen look dark and faded out. It's 1920x1080 resolution is awesome, however if the laptop is ever outside it will produce a annoying glare. Plays bluray movies and game all beautifully. A 2.o Mp webcam sit on the top of the screen.
Keyboard: the keyboard is kind of bad. At around the middle the keys when pressed will flex and the keys will have a kind of spongy feel. There was a guy on youtube who said that it prevented him from typing too fast and I laughed at him, that is until I got my unit and started typing on it. The keyboard in particular has a long response time so when typing there will be a lot of compound words being formed. Is the keyboard durable and will it last? well I think it will last if you take care of it but I highly recommend a external keyboard if you are planning on typing on this laptop alot. Still it sure is nice looking when lit up though, well my friends and family were impress by the look of it anyway. The other bad thing about the keyboard is the arrow keys. For some reason asus grouped them together between the qwerty keys and the number pad so it makes it kind of weird.
performance: well the performance depends on alot of what you do even though it is heavily spec. If you are planning on playing games and running intensive programs on this computer than you will definitely see alot of improvements depending on how old and under spec your computer is now. My old Pentium M gateway is still running strong but when I tried to load up batman arkham... well it was so slow the computer just kind of gave up trying to install. The g73 however loaded in about 15 minutes. When surfing the web Youtube videos loads a few seconds faster and the responsiveness of loading pages are a tad faster as well compared to my old computer. In short if you are planning to use this computer as a hardcore gaming or multimedia entertainment system that I think you will be impressed, but if you just go online and use standard office products well maybe you should just save your money and get a cheaper computer.
track-pad: huge track pad that has multi touch and scrolling feature on the side. Not very well positioned but you can disable it so your thumbs don't accidentally activate it while typing. The track pad itself is smooth and glides easily but the double tap can sometime be unresponsive and the single click button can be hard to use as it takes a bit of pressure to actually click on it.
For me I had to spend about a day deleting bloatwares and tweaking the computer to my preferences. So software wise well once your done you will have a barebone laptop with windows 7 home premium 64 bit and some utilities support. One of the biggest gripe for me was even though there was a ton of useless bloatware there was no bluray playback software. So basically you can't play bluray movies on the laptop from stock. You will have to download 3rd party software like powerdvd or windvd to play movies. Asus free windvd 8 was a bad program and caused a lot of pause and skips during the movie. It does come with trendmicro and windows firewall but I had deleted and use other 3rd party software which they are much better.
The computer stays cool for the most part but summer haven't come yet so I will have to wait and see. The ati graphics card tend to be hotter than the cpu so the fan on the left side gets little more noiser but overall I can't complain about fan noises. For those who wonder if you need to upgrade thermal compounds than the answer is no unless it makes you feel better and you got the money to blow.
There is 2 hard drive both partitoned into 2 parts so when you look under specs it will show up as 4 parts. At 7200rpm the computer booted up in about 45sec. I have seen people upgrade to ssd and boot up in less than 20 sec. But for the price I think I will stick with the 7200rpm seagate hard drives.
ATI HD 5870 mobility runs good and though I have yet to upgrade to 10.3 catalyst the system still plays most games I throw at it with great fps. However the gpu can run pretty hot. For those than wonder if you can upgrade the gpu, well it is no soldered to the board so....?
My laptop came with 8 gigs of Kingston 1333mhz rams so that will probably last for the life of the laptop without a need for upgrade even though you could take it up to 16 gigs. From my use I have not experience any latency problems.
The speakers are good it actually gets pretty loud without distortions but the sub-woofer at the bottom is barely noticeable.
The backpack and mouse that comes with the A1 and A2 are pretty good, for people who said the mouse cannot be use for regular purpose well I have to disagree.
well I doubt I have cover all points since this is my 1st review ever but overall I like this laptop even the keyboard really bothers me and I will have to plug in a external keyboard the machine itself will work great as a gaming and entertainment system. Make sure to have 6 blank dvds to make the recovery disk as Asus did not include one. If you have any question just ask under reply and I will update. Hope this helps
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS Republic of Gamers G73JH-A2 17-Inch Gaming Laptop (Black)
So here's the things that ASUS did right with the laptop, in my opinion:1. Didn't make it look absolutely tacky (like their G51 series with some lame graphic on the front).
2. Matte black surfaces (no more fingerprints!).
3. 17.3 backlit LED screen (great colors).
4. Full-size chiclet keyboard (lights up, too).
5. Choice of specs Intel i7-720QM, 8GB DDR3 RAM, 500GB x 2 hard drives.
6. ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5870, which is currently the 2nd fastest graphics card ever made for laptops (only recently superseded by the NVIDIA GTX 480M).
7. Runs almost all games with high-quality settings at 1920x1080 (includes new games, too).
7. 2 megapixel webcam.
8. Great sound system (comes with a subwoofer and is LOUD).
9. Awesome cooling system that works by taking in air from the vents under the screen and directing hot air to the back of the laptop (little fan noise, even at max load)
10. Free backpack and gaming mouse (with adjustable DPI settings).
11. All for under $1799.99 (I got mine for about $1580).
Here's the problems that I have with the laptop:
1. Standard manufacturer bloatware (I removed most of them).
2. Ports for the laptop (no USB 3.0, eSATA however there is HDMI, VGA, 4 x USB 2.0 and card reader).
3. A single rubber bar for the touch pad's left/right click. Lack of tactile feedback and distinction from the left/right button may cause confusion to some users (good thing there's a mouse)
4. Roughly an average of 2 hours for battery life (This is to be expected but I put this here for your reference).
5. No hardware RAID.
Finally, here are some tips if you are buying this laptop:
1. Register with ASUS online immediately after receiving your product. You are entitled to a 2-year warranty for defects and also a 1-year warranty for accidental damages (requires mailing in some paperwork).
2. Update your BIOS to 209 as this fixes some issues with the laptop. For example, BIOS 206 (what mine came with) has a bug where if your laptop is on battery power, the CPU stays underclocked even if you plug in AC power later. You will have to restart to fix this.
3. Go to AMD's website to install the latest drivers for your graphics card.
4. If you install Steam and are experiencing crashes, Creative's audio software may be causing your problems. Uninstall it to see if it solves your problem (Realtek will continue to provide audio support for the laptop).
5. Referencing the cooling system earlier: Since the air intake vents are under the screen, and you're the kind of person who likes to plug in an external monitor, keyboard and mouse, it is not recommended to use the laptop while it's closed.
I hope this review helps you. If you have questions that weren't answered here, Google and NotebookReview are great places to help you. There are many solutions, tips and tweaks to everything related to the G73JH series and they're out there.
Friday, September 12, 2014
Cheap Dell Inspiron 15z Core i5-3317U Dual-Core 1.7GHz 6GB 32GB SSD+500GB
I am having a hard time getting from one place to another. If I stop what I am doing for more than 10 minutes to answer my phone, I have to sign in and look for what I have been working on. I use Quicken for our finance. I purchased a new Windows 8 Quicken but having trouble transferring information from old quicken.
Documents storage is getting hard to get use to. My Microsoft Office which I have been updating will not transfer. To use office I have to download new software and pay an arm an a leg to use on more than one computer and was told I would have to pay each year to keep it upgraded. My husband has a desktop and we both have laptops.
If I had to buy another computer I would not buy Windows 8.
My old Dell with Windows XP is so slow, however I find my self being glad that I have not given it away.
Documents storage is getting hard to get use to. My Microsoft Office which I have been updating will not transfer. To use office I have to download new software and pay an arm an a leg to use on more than one computer and was told I would have to pay each year to keep it upgraded. My husband has a desktop and we both have laptops.
If I had to buy another computer I would not buy Windows 8.
My old Dell with Windows XP is so slow, however I find my self being glad that I have not given it away.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Cheap HP Envy dv4-5220us 14-Inch Laptop
I have been using this laptop for 1-2 month now on daily basis, got it right before school started.
my upgrades:
4GB RAM
460 7200RPM Harddrive
50GB SSD
core i5 2nd gen turbo boost
Nvidia Geforce 630 1GB
I try to take care of by turning it off every 1-2 days, and use high security. The laptop still turns on and off quickly. I have had several updates, and right now it seems I am not guaranteed to have the laptop to upgrade to windows 8.
Pro: small, light weight, quiet, and doesn't get heat up. It has a beautiful smooth look to it. Has a pretty loud speaker.
Cons: I guess it's pretty expected from customization. A lot of the common features easily crash. I can barely look at pictures with this laptop.
The Nvidia Geforce 420M 1GB doesn't seem to do anything more compare to my old Toshiba with no dedicated graphics card.
What annoys me the most is the keyboard. the mouse is constantly interfering with what I type. Even now, whenever my hand hoovers over the mouse pad, the typing tool gets navigated to a different location, so I have to keep putting it back to where I am typing (if you have to write a lot, this keypad will annoy the heck out of you). I am in pharmacy school, and it requires fast note taking in class, it is really annoying when the mouse goes all over the places which I have to make the mouse to come back to the right place and miss many important things professors talk about. One trick I now use is to just turn off the mouse pad, however that still causes inconvenience.
Another thing that bother's me is the up and down arrow key. The two of them are the size of 1 key, and it's ridiculously hard to get use to (which I still haven't). The sound bottom doesn't work sometimes no matter how you try to press the volume up/down, though I can live with that.
The laptop doesn't fold that far flat, so when I try to play bass, I'd have to bent down a lot to see the screen.
The battery life has decreased significantly it seems since the time of purchase. Even though I try to use the battery life whenever I can and fully charge it before unplugging. It has froze on my once, which I am not so happy about considered it is only 1 month old.
6-22-2013 update:
The battery completely died on me in less than a year, it shows that it has 0% and does not charge. So I performed a diagnosis on "HP Support Assistant" for the battery and got an error code. Then I made a call to 800-HP invent (or 800-474-6836), fortunately the laptop is still under warranty, I was able to get a free battery ($120 worth) to be shipped to me soon.
9-14-2013 update:
After 1 year of normal use in professional school (without those gaming or photoshop stuff), this lap top is getting extremely annoying. Not only it turns on or wakes up from hibernate mode with constant beep sound every time, it also has a sticky key on the down bottom, making me unable to read any of my documents! My last HP from 8 years ago was so good to me, but this terrible experience have made me never want to chose HP again.
I had a hp ultrabook envy4 but it wasn't user upgradeable. I returned it and I recieved this inside.
This is my 1st HP laptop and so far the quality is great.
1) Upgradeable to 16gb ram(User Serviceable). This is great for virtual machine testing.
2) User serviceable bays for battery and hard drive.
3) Fast processor and speedy performance.
4) Great screen and the webcam works well.
5) Nice keyboard with good feedback.
Cons:
1) Heavy. at 4.78 lbs. My toshiba was 3.8lbs
2) I wish I didn't have the dvd drive which adds to the weight.
3) Touchpad always gets dirty really easy.
In order to avoid rambling, I think I'll break this up:
Build: Compared to my last monolith of a computer, the dm4 Pavilion is light and portable, although it doesn't feel as sturdy as some of the other computers out there. This is mostly because, despite the good-looking brushed metal on the back and body, it's more or less lined with plastic, and kind of crunchy to open and close. I would never describe this as a computer I wasn't afraid of breaking. Actually, just a couple days after I got it, I bumped the edge of it into something, and there's now a permanent dent in the silver plastic lining. Very attractive. But it's held together after a year of use and having a couple liquids spilled on it, so it gets points there. It's pretty solid overall.
Speaking of the brushed metal, I can tell you that after a couple months of steady use, it starts wearing to a lighter color where your hands rest. I don't mind this, but it's pretty visible. And one of the things I reliably do not like about HP computers is the finish they use on the backs; this thing holds fingerprints like a menace. If you care about appearance like I do, you'll be cleaning it a lot. And, again, the plastic of the top part gets scratched up and looks flimsy next to the metal itself.
And this may just be my computer, but one thing I've always had issues with is the CD tray. It pops open a lot when you don't want it to just because of how you're holding the computer, and mine is really hard to close again. It gets caught on itself, almost, and I have gotten really annoyed with it before.
Oh, and lately the fan will catch on something and start buzzing really loudly. And I've had the battery randomly pop out once or twice for no reason.
Okay, in short, I am very fond of my computer, but its construction feels a little on the cheap and careless side.
Keyboard: This is my first computer with chicklet keys, and I like them a lot. I find them really easy to type on, and I love how they don't hold dirt the way an older keyboard would. There are F-keys to control the volume of your speakers and brightness of the screen, which is nice, except mine stop working sometimes. Especially the audio controls--it will bring up the "I'm changing the volume!" wheel, but it won't actually do anything until I open up the volume control in the bottom right corner and do it myself.
I personally really like the touchpad, and find it appropriately responsive. I like the slightly rough texture it has, and it almost always picks up on my finger flicks to scroll, enlarge something, etc. The buttons have a pretty loud click when you hit them, but that's about it. I like that they're separate from the touchpad itself, and I like that they're even and in a place that's easy to use and intuitive under my hands.
Screen/Lighting: Now, I'm not a graphics kid, so I'll have little to say about the color quality and pixel quality other than it's good enough for me. I can say for sure that it isn't as vibrant and beautiful as the colors on a Mac, but it serves. Having easily adjustable brightness is always nice, because I tend to have my screen a lot darker than most people. And my screen has survived getting stepped on by a full-grown Great Dane and didn't crack or break, so kudos to it there.
Performance: When I first got this computer, it was hella fast, especially compared to my old one. And, even now, it opens things pretty quickly and pretty reliably. It's starting to get slow after reboots, but I think this is inevitable. I have Adobe Photoshop 7.0, and I will say that my computer usually freezes for a moment or two while opening it, which it didn't do in the beginning. Still, it's serving me very well thus far.
I know I don't have a fantastic graphics card and shouldn't be too uppity about what my computer can and can't do in terms of video games, but I've found it frustratingly slow at some fairly low-demand games. It lags hard on Minecraft unless I'm on the HP Recommended power plan and have my rendering set to Short in the game. I guess the recommendation here is be sure you know what you want to do with this computer, and make sure you can do it based on what you put in and what kind of graphics card you're willing to buy. Mine gets a little laggy on bad days if I have too many things open at once.
The battery life has been really good to me so far on this thing, to the point where, over winter break at my parents' house, I could come downstairs with it fully charged in the morning and not have to go plug it in until around five or six at night. Lately, I think it's finally puttering out a little. If I leave and take it for a 9 AM class, on lowest brightness settings and power saver battery mode, it's dying out on me by about 2 PM. But hey, I think it's done pretty well for how long I've had it!
Gimmicks: No matter what they say about the webcam, it's not very good. Highly pixelated, weird lighting, stupid added effects, take a long time to load, the whole nine yards. I mean, it can take a picture or record a video, and if you want it to Skype with it can hold its own, but it's by no means fantastic, especially in low light. The sound when you record isn't bad, at least; it's pretty human.
HP in general has a really bad habit of filling your computer with dumb things you do not need, and this one is no exception. On start-up it automatically gives you HP Assistant, a bunch of windows of stuff, and other things that don't do much for me but take up space, and a while ago I did a major re-haul and uninstalled a ton of what HP started me with. I haven't missed any of it. If you know what you're doing with computers, you'll probably want to do the same. I've also never, ever had a reason to use QuickWeb, although the idea behind it is nice, I guess.
Overall: My computer serves me well, and I'm very attached to it. My daily computer needs mostly consist of word processing, internet browsing, gaming, and painting/designing, and the Pavilion dm4 has held up on all of these counts. If you don't want a super intensive monster computer that can do everything, I still think this guy is a good choice. Just remember it comes a little cheap for a reason and may be flimsier than you want it to be.
my upgrades:
4GB RAM
460 7200RPM Harddrive
50GB SSD
core i5 2nd gen turbo boost
Nvidia Geforce 630 1GB
I try to take care of by turning it off every 1-2 days, and use high security. The laptop still turns on and off quickly. I have had several updates, and right now it seems I am not guaranteed to have the laptop to upgrade to windows 8.
Pro: small, light weight, quiet, and doesn't get heat up. It has a beautiful smooth look to it. Has a pretty loud speaker.
Cons: I guess it's pretty expected from customization. A lot of the common features easily crash. I can barely look at pictures with this laptop.
The Nvidia Geforce 420M 1GB doesn't seem to do anything more compare to my old Toshiba with no dedicated graphics card.
What annoys me the most is the keyboard. the mouse is constantly interfering with what I type. Even now, whenever my hand hoovers over the mouse pad, the typing tool gets navigated to a different location, so I have to keep putting it back to where I am typing (if you have to write a lot, this keypad will annoy the heck out of you). I am in pharmacy school, and it requires fast note taking in class, it is really annoying when the mouse goes all over the places which I have to make the mouse to come back to the right place and miss many important things professors talk about. One trick I now use is to just turn off the mouse pad, however that still causes inconvenience.
Another thing that bother's me is the up and down arrow key. The two of them are the size of 1 key, and it's ridiculously hard to get use to (which I still haven't). The sound bottom doesn't work sometimes no matter how you try to press the volume up/down, though I can live with that.
The laptop doesn't fold that far flat, so when I try to play bass, I'd have to bent down a lot to see the screen.
The battery life has decreased significantly it seems since the time of purchase. Even though I try to use the battery life whenever I can and fully charge it before unplugging. It has froze on my once, which I am not so happy about considered it is only 1 month old.
6-22-2013 update:
The battery completely died on me in less than a year, it shows that it has 0% and does not charge. So I performed a diagnosis on "HP Support Assistant" for the battery and got an error code. Then I made a call to 800-HP invent (or 800-474-6836), fortunately the laptop is still under warranty, I was able to get a free battery ($120 worth) to be shipped to me soon.
9-14-2013 update:
After 1 year of normal use in professional school (without those gaming or photoshop stuff), this lap top is getting extremely annoying. Not only it turns on or wakes up from hibernate mode with constant beep sound every time, it also has a sticky key on the down bottom, making me unable to read any of my documents! My last HP from 8 years ago was so good to me, but this terrible experience have made me never want to chose HP again.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
My old toshiba protege(r830) died and I recieved my money back from squaretrade.I had a hp ultrabook envy4 but it wasn't user upgradeable. I returned it and I recieved this inside.
This is my 1st HP laptop and so far the quality is great.
1) Upgradeable to 16gb ram(User Serviceable). This is great for virtual machine testing.
2) User serviceable bays for battery and hard drive.
3) Fast processor and speedy performance.
4) Great screen and the webcam works well.
5) Nice keyboard with good feedback.
Cons:
1) Heavy. at 4.78 lbs. My toshiba was 3.8lbs
2) I wish I didn't have the dvd drive which adds to the weight.
3) Touchpad always gets dirty really easy.
Best Deals for HP Envy dv4-5220us 14-Inch Laptop
I bought this computer for my college classes, and it has exceeded my expectations. Powers on and off quickly, the sound and video quality are great, there's lots of space for my college assignments and programs, and the graphics card is good enough to run the games I enjoy with ease. The battery life fluctuates between 5 and 7 hours, but that's a small complaint. All things considered,I am thoroughly satisfied with the product, and will definitely buy another HP computer in the future.Honest reviews on HP Envy dv4-5220us 14-Inch Laptop
Purchased this little computer at the end of December 2012 for a fantastic price at Amazon. Smooth transaction and speedy delivery. Had it charging up and using it straight from the box. No issues, very quiet and stays extremely cool even if on for long periods of time. Not heavy, weighs exactly 5 pounds on the bathroom scale. I had a small Acer netbook prior to this and my Envy is just as portable and quite attractive as well. It does come with a CD burner which was not listed in the product details. Needed to call Amazon to confirm this. The keys feel fine to me, as there was one review that stated the opposite. It is fast, the screen displays bright and clear graphics. Windows 8 takes a while to get used to but I like it so far, especially the "app" format. All kinds of ports (3 USB) and card reader. Holds a charge for a very long time. Been off the charger all day and still has 7+ hours on it. I searched for a long time to find a lightweight computer with a decent speed and memory that could be my workhorse, as I am using this mainly for business. This little gem has it all! Totally satisfied!!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Envy dv4-5220us 14-Inch Laptop
I purchased a dm4 customized from HP's website, with an Intel Core i3-2350 and 6 GB of RAM, a little over a year ago. As a student on a budget and someone whose last HP computer lasted five years with no issues, it was basically my six-hundred dollar answer to the looming shiny drop-shadow of the Macbook. The beats audio took me a little while to get used to--it sounded kind of off at first--but once it became familiar, I had no issues with it. You can turn beats on and off if you want to (fn + b), and the speakers' sound without it is very tinny and not nearly as good, so that helps endear it to you too. I also have a light-up keyboard, which I thought would be a novelty, but is actually incredibly useful and worth the $25. It makes typing in the dark so, so much easier. My only complaint is it's a straight on-off function, with no changeable degrees of brightness. One point for the Mac.In order to avoid rambling, I think I'll break this up:
Build: Compared to my last monolith of a computer, the dm4 Pavilion is light and portable, although it doesn't feel as sturdy as some of the other computers out there. This is mostly because, despite the good-looking brushed metal on the back and body, it's more or less lined with plastic, and kind of crunchy to open and close. I would never describe this as a computer I wasn't afraid of breaking. Actually, just a couple days after I got it, I bumped the edge of it into something, and there's now a permanent dent in the silver plastic lining. Very attractive. But it's held together after a year of use and having a couple liquids spilled on it, so it gets points there. It's pretty solid overall.
Speaking of the brushed metal, I can tell you that after a couple months of steady use, it starts wearing to a lighter color where your hands rest. I don't mind this, but it's pretty visible. And one of the things I reliably do not like about HP computers is the finish they use on the backs; this thing holds fingerprints like a menace. If you care about appearance like I do, you'll be cleaning it a lot. And, again, the plastic of the top part gets scratched up and looks flimsy next to the metal itself.
And this may just be my computer, but one thing I've always had issues with is the CD tray. It pops open a lot when you don't want it to just because of how you're holding the computer, and mine is really hard to close again. It gets caught on itself, almost, and I have gotten really annoyed with it before.
Oh, and lately the fan will catch on something and start buzzing really loudly. And I've had the battery randomly pop out once or twice for no reason.
Okay, in short, I am very fond of my computer, but its construction feels a little on the cheap and careless side.
Keyboard: This is my first computer with chicklet keys, and I like them a lot. I find them really easy to type on, and I love how they don't hold dirt the way an older keyboard would. There are F-keys to control the volume of your speakers and brightness of the screen, which is nice, except mine stop working sometimes. Especially the audio controls--it will bring up the "I'm changing the volume!" wheel, but it won't actually do anything until I open up the volume control in the bottom right corner and do it myself.
I personally really like the touchpad, and find it appropriately responsive. I like the slightly rough texture it has, and it almost always picks up on my finger flicks to scroll, enlarge something, etc. The buttons have a pretty loud click when you hit them, but that's about it. I like that they're separate from the touchpad itself, and I like that they're even and in a place that's easy to use and intuitive under my hands.
Screen/Lighting: Now, I'm not a graphics kid, so I'll have little to say about the color quality and pixel quality other than it's good enough for me. I can say for sure that it isn't as vibrant and beautiful as the colors on a Mac, but it serves. Having easily adjustable brightness is always nice, because I tend to have my screen a lot darker than most people. And my screen has survived getting stepped on by a full-grown Great Dane and didn't crack or break, so kudos to it there.
Performance: When I first got this computer, it was hella fast, especially compared to my old one. And, even now, it opens things pretty quickly and pretty reliably. It's starting to get slow after reboots, but I think this is inevitable. I have Adobe Photoshop 7.0, and I will say that my computer usually freezes for a moment or two while opening it, which it didn't do in the beginning. Still, it's serving me very well thus far.
I know I don't have a fantastic graphics card and shouldn't be too uppity about what my computer can and can't do in terms of video games, but I've found it frustratingly slow at some fairly low-demand games. It lags hard on Minecraft unless I'm on the HP Recommended power plan and have my rendering set to Short in the game. I guess the recommendation here is be sure you know what you want to do with this computer, and make sure you can do it based on what you put in and what kind of graphics card you're willing to buy. Mine gets a little laggy on bad days if I have too many things open at once.
The battery life has been really good to me so far on this thing, to the point where, over winter break at my parents' house, I could come downstairs with it fully charged in the morning and not have to go plug it in until around five or six at night. Lately, I think it's finally puttering out a little. If I leave and take it for a 9 AM class, on lowest brightness settings and power saver battery mode, it's dying out on me by about 2 PM. But hey, I think it's done pretty well for how long I've had it!
Gimmicks: No matter what they say about the webcam, it's not very good. Highly pixelated, weird lighting, stupid added effects, take a long time to load, the whole nine yards. I mean, it can take a picture or record a video, and if you want it to Skype with it can hold its own, but it's by no means fantastic, especially in low light. The sound when you record isn't bad, at least; it's pretty human.
HP in general has a really bad habit of filling your computer with dumb things you do not need, and this one is no exception. On start-up it automatically gives you HP Assistant, a bunch of windows of stuff, and other things that don't do much for me but take up space, and a while ago I did a major re-haul and uninstalled a ton of what HP started me with. I haven't missed any of it. If you know what you're doing with computers, you'll probably want to do the same. I've also never, ever had a reason to use QuickWeb, although the idea behind it is nice, I guess.
Overall: My computer serves me well, and I'm very attached to it. My daily computer needs mostly consist of word processing, internet browsing, gaming, and painting/designing, and the Pavilion dm4 has held up on all of these counts. If you don't want a super intensive monster computer that can do everything, I still think this guy is a good choice. Just remember it comes a little cheap for a reason and may be flimsier than you want it to be.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Acer Aspire V5-531P-4129 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop Reviews
List Price: $629.99
Sale Price: $469.99
Today's Bonus: 25% Off
you won't find a better 15.6" touchscreen for ~$500. Three usb ports, HDMI port, internal DVD, 500+ GB HDD, backlit keyboard there's a long list of great stuff. it's fast, quiet, and doesn't put out much heat (no Dell thigh-burn here). i bought this for work and liked it so much after a few weeks that i bought another one for my family. expect maybe 3hrs on the battery. meh but that's the market reality.
only real peeve is the physical spacebar response on the keyboard can be erratic when typing fast it cangetannoying. also the trackpad is very sensitive. it can pick up a contact from your hands/thumbs pretty easily while typing and unintentionally move your cursor downscreen mid-sentence super annoying. basically, be mindful of your hand position while you type and be extra assertive with the spacebar.
overall though this is a great buy for work, school & general family use.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
overall, the computer was good, just as described. light in weight and sleek look. Lighted keyboard and other features that make it look a worthy computer for the price especially. only setback is with Operating system windows 8, It became really had for my parents to adopt to the new homescreen as opposed to desktop and start menu in the previous windows versions. applications provided are only microsoft based. one cannot load a yahoo application based on another browser like chrome. then there is the issue of closing the windows. the x on the top right which windows users are used to is gone. closing different tabs and open windows is a nightmare. i found myself closing running applications through the task manager.otherwise, the hardware is recommendable.
ill be more than happy if i can be upgraded to the newly released windows 8.1 which solves most of this issues.
Best Deals for Acer Aspire V5-531P-4129 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop
Be aware this review concerns the SELLER Antonline, not the product from Acer. (I selected "Like" for product -but would rate the Seller, Antonline, "I hate it")I ordered the Acer laptop in June as a graduation gift for my son. It actually arrived earlier than expected and was gifted a short time later. While the laptop seems fine in all other respects, it had one manufacturer flaw it simply would not charge. While plugged in, it operated well and my son loved the Windows 8 interface, but remove the plug and it would not operate. I tried to seek a repair or replacement under the factory warranty through stores local to my area. I was always redirected back to the original seller. I contacted Antonline within the 30 day guarantee window by email through Amazon. I then contacted Amazon to make them aware of the issue and they, also, sent an email explaining the issue. I received an email back explaining that my 30 days had been exceeded and, therefore, outside the return policy (Antonline was counting down from the "order" date, not the "received by" date). I contacted Amazon once again to determine when the 30 day guarantee begins and they confirmed that the guarantee begins the date of delivery to the customer, not the order date. They, also, sent another follow up email explaining to Antonline that I was within the return policy time frame and this matter should be resolved by them. I received my final email notice from Antonline explaining (again) that they do not follow the Amazon guidlines and, instead, begin the 30 days from the date of order, not the date received. (For clarity, the difference between the two dates was 3 days).
After contacting Amazon and asking what to do, I was told I would receive a total refund of the purchase (isn't this why we all LOVE Amazon in the first place?) and I could simply reorder the laptop from another seller. While that isn't the easiest way to resolve this issue, it is one way and I have chosen to do just that. It really seems as though Antonline went out of their way to not resolve a manufacture warranty issue that could have been handled simply and would have resulted in a sale retained by them, a happy customer with a good review and need not have involved Amazon at all. Personally, I would never order from Antonline again knowing their attitude towards the consumers they sell to.
If you like what this laptop has to offer as I did I suggest searching another seller on Amazon and find yourself happier in the end should you face a warranty issue as I have.
Honest reviews on Acer Aspire V5-531P-4129 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop
I purchased this machine from a different supplier but felt I needed to tell all how great the product is. I read all the complaints about windows 8 and almost didn't purchase this laptop. I felt that there were always people who complain about everything, so I took a chance. Boy am I glad I did. Before the laptop arrived I went on youtube and looked at instructions by Jay and I also have a tablet and am use to apps and a touchscreen. When the laptop arrived it took about an hour or so to apply what I had learned, what FUN, so now I am finding out new things daily. As far as the laptop its self, runs cool, great screen, love the lit keyboard, streams look outstanding.I am not geek just an average computer user who shops on the web, reads and sends emails, plays games, downloads photos, etc. I feel the complaints are not on the laptop but the OS, these are people who do office applications and are use to a different format, but for all of "us" average consumers, this is the affordable machine for us.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Acer Aspire V5-531P-4129 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop
This Laptop is one of a kind, the Tablet/PC combination makes it a must have for work and play. Screen touch responds very fast. Its got everything desirable and its really slim and very sleek.Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Dell XPS XPS14-3636sLV 14-Inch Ultrabook Review
I searched a lot of sites and reviews before finally deciding on getting the XPS 14 and I was not disappointed.
The Good:
It is solid, fast and with Windows 8, it is even more fast and presents an enjoyable experience. It is also very solid and stable and you can see the materials used are top quality. It is really good.
The battery life is around 7 9 hours of regular use and it boots and shuts down in 7-10 seconds. Really quick. This can be due to to SSD portion of the drive and also Windows 8
The bad:
Keyboard: The keyboard will need getting used to as they are not like your regular keyboard but once you re used to it, you will enjoy the feel of it.
***Display: The display is good and crisp but when you look closely to the display, the images are not definite and does not look perfect for an HD display. But it is ok and manageable. I am not sure if it is the notebook or it is Windows 8.
***Update: After video driver updates picture quality is much better and HD videos are truly HD. Nice nice now.
Touch Pad: Another new from dell that needs a lot of getting used to. The touchpad is larger and sometimes when typing, there is a likelihood you will touch it. So again, it will take you are while to get used to it.
The mouse has just a line dividing the clicks and you will need some time as well to adjust when right-clicking. The clicks make some sound I don't actually like but well, I am getting used to it.
Weight: It is heavier than the average ultrabook but hey, it is loaded with heavy materials and content.
Ports: No Serial/VGA port, 2 USBs which I think is not enough, No CD/DVD drive. But you can get some of the connectors on Amazon and use the mini port to get VGA etc.
Wifi: Dell confirmed they had fixed the wifi issue but I still experience some disconnections to the wifi once in a while. Not really good though.
It can also get a little hot sometimes.
On the whole, I think it is one of the best notebooks/Ultrabooks I have used yet. It is fast, solid, intuitive, and almost perfect and I wil recommend it to everyone if you can ignore the minor flaws.
It is a good buy for me ad I think it is a real competitor to the MacBook Pro (but not in display).
I will recommend this ultrabook.
I should have read the review , I am experiencing trouble with the wireless card ( hard to make it work more than 10 feet away from the router, very unstable, create instability on the network even for other users)...
I called dell 3 times already they finally send someone to change the wireless card, the technician came, but without the card... he has to come back again...
That may be that I am unlucky and got the wrong one, but I read other review about trouble with the wireless capability of this PC.
UPDATE : DELL Send a tecnician to my place, ;ore than 2 weeks after I reported the issue ( supposed to have a Next business day on site warranty included with this XPS). Technician came a first time, without the wireless card. Technician came a second time 1 week later, change the wireless card, then it was still having issue, he left and tell me : I am only in charge of hardware, this maybe software.
I bought this computer a month ago and Wifi is still not working properly, and I spent maybe 4 hours with the technical support....
Ports: there are only two USB ports on the 14", so one more would be ideal. The video ports are HDMI and mini-dvi, so hi def reigns (outdated VGA ports should never be included on quality machines). The ethernet port is cleverly designed and the audio port doubles as a microphone port.
This laptop loses one star because of persistent issues with the WIFI.
Overaall, Very sturdy, powerful computer and a great buy. Great alternative to a macbook pro. Heavier and thicker than most ultrabooks, but more powerful too.
I did notice however occasional and brief WiFi dropouts so I checked Dell technical support and changed the settings on the WiFi adapter. Note: the Intel adapter on the laptop was not identical to the one on the support page so I was not able to change one of the properties. I'll wait to see if the changes I made did work and if not, another call to tech support.
It seems that some initial tweaking is required to get this laptop sync'ed with Windows 8, drivers, adapter, etc. However, the laptop is very fast and Windows 8 loads very quickly after fixes.
So if you don't mind a little tweaking, this laptop is a good purchase. You can check the reviews to verify this.
Windows 8 is another issue with software incompatibility, etc. but you will have to deal with this with any new laptop or computer that you buy right now.
The Good:
It is solid, fast and with Windows 8, it is even more fast and presents an enjoyable experience. It is also very solid and stable and you can see the materials used are top quality. It is really good.
The battery life is around 7 9 hours of regular use and it boots and shuts down in 7-10 seconds. Really quick. This can be due to to SSD portion of the drive and also Windows 8
The bad:
Keyboard: The keyboard will need getting used to as they are not like your regular keyboard but once you re used to it, you will enjoy the feel of it.
***Display: The display is good and crisp but when you look closely to the display, the images are not definite and does not look perfect for an HD display. But it is ok and manageable. I am not sure if it is the notebook or it is Windows 8.
***Update: After video driver updates picture quality is much better and HD videos are truly HD. Nice nice now.
Touch Pad: Another new from dell that needs a lot of getting used to. The touchpad is larger and sometimes when typing, there is a likelihood you will touch it. So again, it will take you are while to get used to it.
The mouse has just a line dividing the clicks and you will need some time as well to adjust when right-clicking. The clicks make some sound I don't actually like but well, I am getting used to it.
Weight: It is heavier than the average ultrabook but hey, it is loaded with heavy materials and content.
Ports: No Serial/VGA port, 2 USBs which I think is not enough, No CD/DVD drive. But you can get some of the connectors on Amazon and use the mini port to get VGA etc.
Wifi: Dell confirmed they had fixed the wifi issue but I still experience some disconnections to the wifi once in a while. Not really good though.
It can also get a little hot sometimes.
On the whole, I think it is one of the best notebooks/Ultrabooks I have used yet. It is fast, solid, intuitive, and almost perfect and I wil recommend it to everyone if you can ignore the minor flaws.
It is a good buy for me ad I think it is a real competitor to the MacBook Pro (but not in display).
I will recommend this ultrabook.
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The fan was creating problem which they replaced, but actually its a tape or something which was continuously touched to the fan. The warranty is 2-3 months less than a year whcih is quite disappointing.Best Deals for Dell XPS XPS14-3636sLV 14-Inch Ultrabook
I ve been very dispointing by the wireless capability of this PC.I should have read the review , I am experiencing trouble with the wireless card ( hard to make it work more than 10 feet away from the router, very unstable, create instability on the network even for other users)...
I called dell 3 times already they finally send someone to change the wireless card, the technician came, but without the card... he has to come back again...
That may be that I am unlucky and got the wrong one, but I read other review about trouble with the wireless capability of this PC.
UPDATE : DELL Send a tecnician to my place, ;ore than 2 weeks after I reported the issue ( supposed to have a Next business day on site warranty included with this XPS). Technician came a first time, without the wireless card. Technician came a second time 1 week later, change the wireless card, then it was still having issue, he left and tell me : I am only in charge of hardware, this maybe software.
I bought this computer a month ago and Wifi is still not working properly, and I spent maybe 4 hours with the technical support....
Honest reviews on Dell XPS XPS14-3636sLV 14-Inch Ultrabook
This laptop works great, feels great and looks great. It is heavier than a standard ultrabook it's hardware is beefier and it even feels sturdier. How many ultrabooks have dedicated graphics cards? The speed and battery life is great. The keyboard and touchpad take a while to get used to but, it feels great once you do. Screen is quite bright is detailed, fun to watch movies on. The battery life is a pleasant surprise.Ports: there are only two USB ports on the 14", so one more would be ideal. The video ports are HDMI and mini-dvi, so hi def reigns (outdated VGA ports should never be included on quality machines). The ethernet port is cleverly designed and the audio port doubles as a microphone port.
This laptop loses one star because of persistent issues with the WIFI.
Overaall, Very sturdy, powerful computer and a great buy. Great alternative to a macbook pro. Heavier and thicker than most ultrabooks, but more powerful too.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell XPS XPS14-3636sLV 14-Inch Ultrabook
My original review was 1 star because the laptop would not restart after shut down. I didn't want to deal with technical support for a brand new laptop so I requested a replacement. It worked fine until I tried to restart the laptop. Same problem, the Dell splash screen appeared but Windows did not load. This was a bit different because I was able to get into Setup easily and this was a problem with the earlier laptop. I did decide to call technical support since I suspected a driver conflict or something similar. I had to change a hard disk setting in the Setup menu and the tech support guy installed all Windows updates remotely. (Dell tech support is really good, by the way.) That solved that problem.I did notice however occasional and brief WiFi dropouts so I checked Dell technical support and changed the settings on the WiFi adapter. Note: the Intel adapter on the laptop was not identical to the one on the support page so I was not able to change one of the properties. I'll wait to see if the changes I made did work and if not, another call to tech support.
It seems that some initial tweaking is required to get this laptop sync'ed with Windows 8, drivers, adapter, etc. However, the laptop is very fast and Windows 8 loads very quickly after fixes.
So if you don't mind a little tweaking, this laptop is a good purchase. You can check the reviews to verify this.
Windows 8 is another issue with software incompatibility, etc. but you will have to deal with this with any new laptop or computer that you buy right now.
Monday, July 28, 2014
Discount Lenovo 59012696 IdeaPad Y510-1 15.4" Notebook
This lenovo pc its great, it has a lot of features wich include a megapixel camera wieth face recognition software dolby home theater great wich bring great sound and bass ( it has a subwoofer)for a laptop. Im so in love with this computer it works just fine. the design is awesome and unique the cover texture wont leave any figer prints it feels and looks awesome. for your everyday work its a wonderfull computer it might not be the latest pc for gaming but it does come with a lot under the hood. great value great price and it just looks awesome highly recommend it.
I never had any issues with the hinges, or keys. I have to wonder what people do to their laptops to have so many issues. It is true that I didn't carry it around a whole lot though.
The webcam works great, and comes with easy software. The wireless was quick and powerful. I liked the big orange volume control switch. I had zero problems with the hard disk or OS... zero. No bad sectors, almost never crashed... no freezing or other weirdness. I'd buy another Lenovo.
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Keyboard keys are in weird places. Fn key is in where usually ctl key is. Eventhough it has a full size keyboard you have to use function key to type certain commonly used keys like home, end which is very annoying. I find typing with this laptop very hard. Finally you cannot upgrade any component other than memory in this laptop. Mine came with Intel 3945ABG wifi and want to replace with 4965AGN card found a good deal over the internet. After the upgrade the laptop BIOS catchup saying non lenovo item found and wont boot at all. Moreover lenovo is not selling this card and lenovo branded card cost you a fortune. If this laptop is not under warranty anything happens to it forget it you have to throw it out. My Dell laptop few things went wrong after warranty I replaced the components with bargain price and this I have to trash if I have any problem. I already replaced keyboard under warrany and the cusomer service insisted me to send the laptop and they will do a through diagnostics that it is not my problem only then they will replace. I don't recommend this laptop and it is good only if you have warranty and definetly not worth for money. Lenovo will lose customers to their competetors until they change their proprietary mentality.Best Deals for Lenovo 59012696 IdeaPad Y510-1 15.4" Notebook
I used this daily for four years, and had no problems with it-at all.I never had any issues with the hinges, or keys. I have to wonder what people do to their laptops to have so many issues. It is true that I didn't carry it around a whole lot though.
The webcam works great, and comes with easy software. The wireless was quick and powerful. I liked the big orange volume control switch. I had zero problems with the hard disk or OS... zero. No bad sectors, almost never crashed... no freezing or other weirdness. I'd buy another Lenovo.
Honest reviews on Lenovo 59012696 IdeaPad Y510-1 15.4" Notebook
I bought this laptop in 2008 knowing that I would use it for an engineering program at school. It did and excellent job and helped get me through my degree. In 2010 I upgraded the memory and processor in it to use as a gaming system, as well as updating the OS to Win7. I was impressed to find that the motherboard inside would support an 800MHz bus speed, as opposed to the 667MHz bus speed that the laptop uses natively. All the upgrades went off without a hitch. Most people wind up buying a new laptop rather than trying to upgrade the old one, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I had some great upgrade options to help give this laptop a significant performance boost. After the upgrades, I continued to use it as a desktop replacement and it has been excellent the whole time!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo 59012696 IdeaPad Y510-1 15.4" Notebook
I bought a Lenovo Y510 Thinkpad three years ago. As I type one screen hinge is completely broken which has caused the entire screen hinge to separate from the screen. The keyboard is coming apart bit by bit and I have no A key. My hubby warned me about buying a plastic unit but I am quite careful with my equipment so I thought I would have no problem. The repair shop is unable to obtain parts in US so the expense, and time, to get parts from China is both unacceptable and expensive (~$350). The effectiveness of the unit, i.e. performance, ease of use, clarity of screen,etc. is good but heck, if I can't open and close the laptop screen then the other parts mean nothing.Friday, July 11, 2014
Reviews of Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Ultrabook - Core i5 3317U - Windows 7 Pro
List Price: $1,399.00
Sale Price: $1,379.99
Today's Bonus: 1% Off
A great product! Bought it as a Macbook Air killer and that's just what it is! Trackpoint and Touchpad work perfectly under Ubuntu 13.04. Sound and mute buttons work as well and a small hack makes the mute microphone button work as well. No drivers necessary for Bluetooth and wifi.
Laptop is very light and battery lasts 3 hours easily under intensive use.
The keyboard is a typist's dream! The surface of the computer is very nice to touch and it looks stunning.
SSD is a great bonus, Ubuntu boots in under 15 s.
Display width is perfect. Can fit two frames of 80 character text on each side. However, height could be more, 900 px is not enough. On the other hand, resolution is ideal for movies. The picture on the display is also really good and sharp.
The "always on" USB port is very handy for charging a phone and the laptop together from the same outlet.
Drawbacks:
Fn key is in where Ctrl should be, but as an Emacs user, my Ctrl is Caps Lock anyway :-).
Bottom panel gets quite warm.
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booting is quick,CPU is fast enough,
Screen is very bright,
battery life could be better,
super light for thinkpad brand
extremely recommended
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Discount Asus 14" Laptop Intel Notebook PC (Pink)
So, I'm not really that technologically advanced. My previous PC was a netbook (also by Asus), but it had started to slow down (due, I'm told, to my use of Norton). I also wanted something with a larger screen that was also lightweight. This fit the bill perfectly (and it's pink...WERK). I'll go through a few of the points that I find important.
1. Screen: Crisp, clear resolution.
2. USB Ports: There are only two (as opposed to the four on my netbook)
3. LED function indicator lights: Mostly hidden from view.
4. Speakers: They're eh. But, I didn't really buy it for the speakers.
5. Internet speed: Pretty awesome so far. Connects quickly to the various wi-fi networks at my university.
6. Touchpad: It's pretty nifty--the most like a MacBook touch pad that I've seen in a PC. It is, however, a little large and awkwardly placed. I tend to hit it a lot just while I'm typing, so I use a wireless mouse.
7. Weight: The specs say this thing weighs 4 pounds, but it hardly feels like it! It's also extremely thin.
8. Heat: It hasn't gotten very hot at all. There's supposed to be a special design to encourage that.
9. Battery life: I'm known for killing batteries, so I probably did something wrong the first time I used this computer. But, I find that I can get around 5 hours out of it.
9. Keyboard: I have really long fingers, so typing on the netbook keyboard could be a pain. This full size keyboard is awesome.
10. Cord: I'm a little disappointed that Asus didn't integrate some type of velcro strap to keep the cord organized. Be prepared for a bulky three-prong cord.
I bought this item on sale at Best Buy, and I am very pleased with my purchase so far.
so far it has:
crashed on me a coupla times;
the mouse froze up;
the MICROSOFT C++ error message zonked in a few times;
the windows compatability view thingy also popped up.
the touch pad seems way too sensitive and kept springing into another section of the text as i tried to type and made my spellings wrong.
the space bar was also flimsy as i needed to push it a few times in order to ensure that there was spacing between the words in my text otherwise all the words i typed just were hitched together.
I have had this laptop now for 8 days and i cannot say that i am soooo pleased with it. i may return it if i can't figure out a way to get it in a better working order.
ram and gb and all that stuff i do not understand because all i need it for is to type up stuff, do emailing and watch a tv series or two...nothing major
1. Screen: Crisp, clear resolution.
2. USB Ports: There are only two (as opposed to the four on my netbook)
3. LED function indicator lights: Mostly hidden from view.
4. Speakers: They're eh. But, I didn't really buy it for the speakers.
5. Internet speed: Pretty awesome so far. Connects quickly to the various wi-fi networks at my university.
6. Touchpad: It's pretty nifty--the most like a MacBook touch pad that I've seen in a PC. It is, however, a little large and awkwardly placed. I tend to hit it a lot just while I'm typing, so I use a wireless mouse.
7. Weight: The specs say this thing weighs 4 pounds, but it hardly feels like it! It's also extremely thin.
8. Heat: It hasn't gotten very hot at all. There's supposed to be a special design to encourage that.
9. Battery life: I'm known for killing batteries, so I probably did something wrong the first time I used this computer. But, I find that I can get around 5 hours out of it.
9. Keyboard: I have really long fingers, so typing on the netbook keyboard could be a pain. This full size keyboard is awesome.
10. Cord: I'm a little disappointed that Asus didn't integrate some type of velcro strap to keep the cord organized. Be prepared for a bulky three-prong cord.
I bought this item on sale at Best Buy, and I am very pleased with my purchase so far.
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Bought the sleeky green one from Bestbuy during the labor day weekend (sept 4 2012) and thought its cuteness was fantabulous. it actually still is, but i didn't buy the almost 400 dollar laptop only for its cuteness.so far it has:
crashed on me a coupla times;
the mouse froze up;
the MICROSOFT C++ error message zonked in a few times;
the windows compatability view thingy also popped up.
the touch pad seems way too sensitive and kept springing into another section of the text as i tried to type and made my spellings wrong.
the space bar was also flimsy as i needed to push it a few times in order to ensure that there was spacing between the words in my text otherwise all the words i typed just were hitched together.
I have had this laptop now for 8 days and i cannot say that i am soooo pleased with it. i may return it if i can't figure out a way to get it in a better working order.
ram and gb and all that stuff i do not understand because all i need it for is to type up stuff, do emailing and watch a tv series or two...nothing major
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Discount HP ProBook 6570b C6Z48UT 15.6' LED Notebook - Intel - Core i5
I am so glad I finally decided to buy an HP laptop. It's great laptop that I can use for work and also for my personal use. It's so simple to use. I love this computer!
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Reviews of ASUS Ultrabook S500CA-DS51T 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop ( Black )
List Price: $699.00
Sale Price: $583.99
Today's Bonus: 16% Off
Bought this from another retailer with the i5 processor, which was more than enough speed. I hadn't had any slowdowns even before I upgraded certain items. Windows 8 takes a bit to get used to but so far I like it. I'm getting more used to the app OS's like Android so the mixture in Windows 8 is becoming more convenient.
I still like the 15" size over the smaller sizes so this was the way to go for me. I also find it convenient to have a keypad on the laptop since it cuts some inefficiency when doing a lot of accounting work. I also felt that if I were to get a new laptop with Win 8 I'd have to go touchscreen and that, I feel, has been a great advantage makes surfing the web and other tasks much quicker than using a mouse.
I'm used to an ASUS UL50VT so the screen was no drop off and thus I was still used to the 1366x768 resolution, some may find it lacking but for the price, you've gotta expect some shortcomings I'm tired of seeing people posting how the screen is terrible when you're only trying to spend $500-700 on the thing.
I'm not sure about the other touchscreen laptops (from my research many of the others are difficult to upgrade in the ultrabook sizing) but it's easy to take off the bottom cover to add RAM (I added aCorsair Vengeance 8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Laptop Memory (CMSX8GX3M1A1600C10) bought off Amazon for $40 NOTE: many stats say you can only add another 4 GB but I've found others using the S400CA were able to upgrade up to 12 GB instead). This allowed me to push(through the BIOS) dedicated graphics RAM to 512 MB. I also replaced the drive with a SAMSUNG 830 Series 2.5-Inch 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MZ-7PC256B/WW. The hard part was reinstalling an upgraded windows (Windows 8 core which this comes with lacks support for media center) which required putting the Win 8 Pro iso on a jump drive (adding an ei.cfg file stating
[Channel]
Volume
[VL]
1
to the sources folder) and turning off secure boot in the BIOS. Make sure to also download all the drivers on the ASUS website. The only thing requiring a specific install order is the IRST and Express Cache installation.
The touchpad can be a bit annoying sometimes but once I get used to the click points I'm sure it'll be fine.
I also wanted to add bluetooth since mine didn't come with the wireless so I added the Intel Network 6235AN.HMWWB Centrino WiFi Card Advanced-N 6235 Dual Band Bluetooth Retail for $22 which worked out perfectly. It would've been nice if I didn't have to replace some of these things but at the price I got my S500CA for, it was well worth the additional hassle. If you can find a better 15" touchscreen laptop with the ASUS warranty for these prices please let me know. Also with ASUS brand quality. I don't think there are any new ones at this price (refurbs may come close).
I believe the mSATA drive could be upgradeable if I took off the anchor removing the drive but I didn't want to fully void the warranty (the drive is located to the right of the black plastic covering under the MB ribbon).
Finally, I'm a bit old school so the only game I really play regularly is CS:Source and this laptop was good enough to run it at 60 frames/sec on mid level settings, even better than my UL50VT.
Overall it's a great laptop with quality build and I'd recommend it for anyone.
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Overall:Fast, responsive, lightweight, solid.
Screen:
720p is off-putting after being used to 1080p or better. I overlook it because I knew those were the specs when I bought it.
The touchscreen aspect is solid, no lags, very responsive.
HDD:
Before I replaced the hard drive, I thought it was really fast. The use of the 24GB mSATA is key here. I don't think the ultrabook would be any use without it.
HDD upgrade to SSD:
And I thought the hybrid aspect was fast, this baby is blazing. 5 seconds or less to get this baby running, 5 seconds or less to shut down. I loaded Win 8 without all the bloatware, it's amazing. Very easy, the BIOS seems to have kept my Win8 license key, so the install of the OS was easy with a USB DVD drive.
6GB RAM:
Plenty of memory for what I need it for: browsers, word processing, pic/vid viewing, skype, eReader, etc. I might upgrade eventually, but so far so good. Windows OS handles RAM a little differently since VISTA. More free RAM isn't necessarily a good thing anymore. Win8 handles everything very efficiently.
WIFI:
Just had to update the driver and most problems go away. I still ordered the Intel Centrino Dual-band N wifi card because I have randomly lost wifi connection a couple of times. Not a big deal for me though.
Bluetooth:
Works as expected. My mouse connected perfectly. EDIT: at first it did but it's having trouble staying connected. I'm working on figuring out if it's the mouse, the OS, or the hardware. will update hopefully
Touchpad:
Takes a while to get used to, but once you "get it" you're good. There are two types of clicking, soft-click, which is like a traditional pad, and hard-click, where you physically depress and release the touchpad.
Battery:
I get about 3.5 hours with this baby full charged. Not bad for me, but I also haven't done an official test with it yet. I think I can get 4 hours of use if I wanted though. My power settings for battery-only are optimized to not sacrifice processing power, but other things like brightness and sleep-logic.
Other:
HDMI port works flawlessly, tried it out on my 50" PLasma for Game of Throne season premiere. 3 USB ports are plenty these days. I haven't tried out the LAN and SD card inputs yet. Will update when I have made any other upgrades.
Disclaimer:
IF you plan on buying this device, and don't swap out any of the parts, be sure to UPDATE YOUR DRIVERS (. Additionally, ASUS has some bloatware that does more harm-than-good, I believe the power-something utility is the worst. Just uninstall it and then your device is good to go.
Best Deals for ASUS Ultrabook S500CA-DS51T 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop ( Black )
First, I didn't get this laptop at Amazon, but from another retailer (for $600).The reason why I chose this laptop is because it's portable (it meets intel's requirement for ultrabook specification) and meet all of my specification as a school's laptop. I debated for a long time between a touchscreen laptop (portable) versus a laptop that has superior processing capability with a good video card (a dinosaur). However, I realized that I wanted something to be able to take to a café or a library and be able to do my homework and other work.
So from this point on, I'm just going to write my review based on what information that I find useful in the buying process.
LOOKS
Smooth edges all around, aluminum all around with the exception of the bottom panel, which is a smooth-rubberized finished. Screen is glossy and contained mostly glass, so it is a good idea to invest in a typical clear screen protector. There's none at the moment, but you can find by a third-party seller on ebay.
OPERATING SYSTEM
Get retroUI or startdock version to bring the "start" button back
HARDWARE
This laptop has a 4GB built in ram with one additional ram slot. This model comes with 6GB so there's an additional 2GB stick in the slot. Speakers are on the bottom (they sounds great by the way! I would say it's louder and clearer than the typical speakers and "beats" brand on HP's envy line). SD slot is there but your card will stick out like a sore thumb.
TOUCHSCREEN/TOUCHPAD
Navigating on the touchscreen is smooth and doesn't produce that much lag when you're zooming in or out. The response is quick and accurate. The touchpad too, is responsive. The thing I like about the touchpad is that it is not raised above or below the hand-rest area (it's also a bigger than most touchpads). If you press down firmly in the center, it'll do a right-click.
UPGRADES
I'm waiting for my SSD to come in next week so I can have it run all SSD instead of the slower 500GB HDD. There's a lot of guides out there explaining how to upgrade if you are interested. However, since I don't have a windows 8 installer cd (yeah I know fresh install is better), I usually use Acronis to clone my SSD (I did this with my other two laptops and it works fine after minor adjustment post-cloning).
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
I had an issue with my wifi not working after updating windows, installing avg and updating asus update utility. I couldn't figure which of the three caused the problem in the first place so I tried doing a system restore. Of course, that didn't work, so I was forced to do a factor reset since the laptop was pretty new anyway. After updating windows update again, I didn't install avg, but rather avast, and I haven't update the asus update utility yet. So far I don't have any wifi issue and I've backed up all of my files, just in case.
Check out my other images of this laptop, it might be helpful!
UPDATE 4.09.13
Just installed a Samsung 840 series 250GB SSD (7mm) this afternoon and everything is running fast, very fast. Boot and shut-down time is significantly reduced. I wanted to get the crucial m4 version but I couldn't find the "7mm" version on sale so I had to go with the Samsung.
No problem(s) at the moment.
UPDATE 3.30.13
I had some issues with smart gesture not working. It would automatically disappear after I resume and reappear after I restart the laptop. It already happened twice, so I went and uninstalled the old driver and updated it with a new one from ASUS website. So far it's working fine and I noticed improvement in the touch response Ex. two finger touch (to bring up menu) is quick and more accurate compared to the older driver.
The keyboard protector in my pictures can be purchased by a third party if you search for keyboard for ASUS K55A-DH71.
Honest reviews on ASUS Ultrabook S500CA-DS51T 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop ( Black )
I was so excited when my computer arrived. I glanced at the directions, turned it on, and was ready to be impressed. It is a really nice machine, seems well-built, and I got through most of the initial set-up with no problems. The real problem began when I tried to type full sentences. The space bar, despite being fully pressed, would only register about half the time. This is absolutely not going to fly. I can't imagine a scenario when I would need a computer without a working keyboard. I had read in reviews of other Asus laptops that there were issues with the keyboard, but assumed that those complaints were not the norm (they very well may not be, but my experience indicates otherwise).I am now in the process of returning my computer.I will say, though, that the packaging was great and the computer arrived really quickly. The return policy seems fair, so hopefully this review will be followed by one singing Asus's praises.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS Ultrabook S500CA-DS51T 15.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop ( Black )
After spending several months reviewing and testing Ultrabooks, I have to say that I was very pleased with how this computer has and is now working for my college attending daughter. I bought the computer about a month (beginning of August) before my daughter started college so we could learn Windows 8 and get her computer set up for school. My daughter had no problem figuring out how to navigate through Windows 8 and I was able to catch on pretty quickly. I consider myself about a 4 on a 10 point scale when it comes to walking the talk with computers. We had no issues with the key board as has been suggested by some reviewers. Typing was comfortable and did not have to press down hard on the keys. Bottom line, you have to get used to it. I was able to remove some of the unnecessary programs/bloatware that was installed. The one thing I did miss was having the DVD drive. I had to use the internet to download and install drivers for the printer we purchased. That took some time and would have been much quicker with the disc. Other than that, you really don't need a DVD drive now days with everything downloadable through the internet.We both loved the aesthetics of the computer with it being pretty thin and easy to transport. It was a little bigger than expected with the 15.6 inch screen and in hindsite may have purchased the 13 inch for a little more room in the handbag...my daughter's not mine :-). The touch screen was very responsive and again, had no problems navigating and moving from screen to screen including the programs and apps that we were using. All Microsoft Office products worked well both using the touch screen or pad. I decided to purchase a wireless mouse because I wasn't sure how the pad was going to work but we had no problems with it and returned the mouse. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles but for the price, you really can't beat the value of this computer.
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