Windows 7 Home Premium
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2GHz
4GB RAM
64 -bit OS
ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3670
500GB Hard Drive
I have owned my Dell Laptop for a year and have no complaints. It can get pretty warm with graphic intense games, but so did my old laptop, which would freeze up every few minutes. My favorite features are the backlit keyboard and slot-load DVD drive. I miss the plethora of USB slots, and prefered the earphone jacks up front, instead of on the side, as they are on the XPS. The screen makes movie-watching fun. I carry it to work almost daily and reccomend a case of substance as it feels quite heavy. Probably not a good idea for a travel laptop; it is billed as a desktop replacement, but it works well for me on the go.
Showing posts with label laptop vs notebook. Show all posts
Showing posts with label laptop vs notebook. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
Best Dell Inspiron 15 Laptop I15N-2657OBK / Intel® CoreTM i3-2350M Deals
NO TEN KEY BOARD. THE TOUCH-PAD BROKE AFTER ONE MONTH. HOWEVER, THE CUSTOMER SERVICE WAS GREAT. THEY SENT A TECHNICIAN TO MY HOUSE!!!! TO FIX IT. SO I CAN'T WHINE TO MUCH ABOUT IT. I DON'T LIKE THE SCROLLING AND I AM NOW HAVING A NETWORK PROBLEM THAT THE DELL HELP DESK OFFERED TO FIX FOR $110.00 EVEN THOUGH MY COMPUTER IS STILL UNDER WARRANTY.
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Buy Toshiba Satellite L775D-S7135 Laptop AMD64 technology Quad Core A6
Don't be fooled by the processor speed listed in the descriptionthis laptop is plenty fast! If you're like me, all I've ever gone by is the listed GHz speed. But the quad core processor in this laptop really does the job. I love the keyboard and the built-in webcam. Like others, I was not impressed with the speakers, and that's the only reason this laptop gets four stars. And it's easy enough to get around that with external speakers.
Great machine. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.
Great machine. I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.
Friday, October 17, 2014
Review of Alienware ALW14-1869sLV 14-Inch Laptop (Silver)
bought this laptop a couple of days ago, it is just as other Alienwares... I mean, they are heavy, with amazing lights and perfect for games... the only thing I'm not satisfied is that C disc can't be divided, which really annoys me a lot...
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
the Alienware hsa problem with its lights, it sometimes only work half of them and the indicator light doesn't work as same as the other lights, I don't konw if this is the hardware problem or the software problem, I'm so annoyed with this, and I don't have time to repair it, I don't know why does the new laptop has such as this problem, is this new laptop? I'm so doubt it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, September 19, 2014
Buy Sony 15.5" Vaio VPCEB3TFX/T Intel Core i3 Laptop 4GB Notebook 500GB
This is a great laptop for the price. It's fast, the picture is clear and I love the number key pad on the right side. My only complaint was the sound. There isn't much volume and the sound was weak and tinny. That was easily fixed with a $29.00 Gigaware speaker I bought at Radio Shack that sits on top of your open laptop. The sound is incredible for $30 and it plugs in with a USB cord. I would recommend this computer and this speaker.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
Beware! The Intel wireless display feature is not available although it is advertised as such for this model. I purchased the Netgear push2tv adapter and it was a waste. I called Sony Vaio support and they took a long time to tell me that this feature is not available on this model and the software cannot be installed as the hardware is not compatible. So do no waste your time if you are buying this computer for this feature. There are other ways to stream wirelessly to your TV, but Intel wireless display is not one of them for this computer.Wednesday, June 18, 2014
Best ASUS B23E-XH71 12.1-Inch Laptop (Black) Deals
I have had so much trouble with this machine (**3** trips to Asus repair center and it's still not right!) that I have to rewrite my review. Lest anyone think I have a vendetta against Asus, nothing could be farther from the truth. I just opened my ASUS VivoBook X202E-DH31T 11.6-Inch Touch Laptop and THAT machine is behaving the way I would expect from the more than a dozen other Asus notebooks, laptops, and tablets I've bought for myself, family, and friends.
I am one of the closest things Asus has to a fan-boy without (as this review demonstrates) actually being one, so if I'm giving this notebook 1 stars, and recommending against buying it, something's up. It started out as the trackpad. Now, it's that and more.
Whenever I'm in the market for a product, I'll buy an Asus model if they make one. So, when I was looking for an i7 notebook, it was only natural that I'd get this one. It's i7 fast. While I wish the hard drive were larger, 500Gb is nothing to sneeze at. Nice screen. Fingerprint reader, if I ever decide I want to try it. But then there's that *&%&*% trackpad.
It's hard to type a full paragraph without the cursor jumping around the page at some point. It's bad enough that I wish I'd never bought this machine. I'm getting really good at using Ctrl-z to erase the messes the trackpad makes.
* It's not the driver. I've tried three different ones at all range of settings, all with the same results. Right now, I'm back to the original with Smart Detection as great as I can make it, and the cursor has still been jumping around nearly a dozen times (with me having to go back and make corrections) as I type this review.
* I don't think it's me. As I've said, I've got a bunch of Asus notebooks and netbooks.
* I don't think it's this particular machine because I've searched the Web to find others with the same complaint. If I turn off the trackpad and use a mouse, everything is fine, but if I wanted to turn off the trackpad and use a mouse, I wouldn't have bought a laptop.
* This machine has been back to Asus TWICE and each time it has come back as jumpy as before and now the left button sticks under the top (bad alignment) unless it's pressed just right. I'd send it back again but I just sent it back for that problem and it came back the same way.
I'm sick and tired of pressing Ctrl-Z and Ctrl-Y to recover after the cursor goes off on its errant way.
I tried the *free* utility Touchpad Blocker, which locks the touchpad for a short period (from 0.1 sec to 3 sec; I like 1 sec) after a keyboard key is pressed. At one point it got me to upgrade my review to 3 stars, but do you know the joke about Sam the Tailor? (Credit: I cut and pasted the text from iamlearningdisabled dot com and tweaked it a bit.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A guy goes to Sam the Tailor to have a suit made. He comes back and....
"This suit doesn't fit me at all!"
"What's wrong with it?"
"Well, the right sleeve is too long"
"So, raise your shoulder and it will be fine". He raises his right shoulder.
"But the left sleeve is too short!"
"So, hold your arm like this and it will be fine!" He holds his left arm in that position
"But it's too big in the chest!"
"So arch your back and stick out your chest and it will be fine". He arches his back and sticks out his chest.
He pays.
He's walking down the street: One shoulder raised, one arm crooked, back arched, chest out.
Another guy stops him and says "You poor man! Who is your tailor?
"Sam the Tailor. Why?"
"Because if he can fit you, he can fit anyone!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Well, this machine must have been contracted to Sam the Tailor...and I'm tired of it. In fact, I'm SO tired of it that after I get the X202E up and running, this machine is going back too Asus again...and yet again, until they get it right! I'll keep you posted.
I try to keep reviews balanced. *IF* (that means a BIG "if") you would be content to never use the trackpad (that is, use a mouse, instead) 4 or 5 stars would be appropriate. It's an i7 and runs like it. The overall Windows score is limited by the graphics. But, if the trackpad matters at all, stay away!
Misc items from my original review.
Yes, it DOES NOT have a DVD drive. Other business models do, but this one does not, as can be seen on the Asus website. I'm guessing it's to keep the size and weight down, which is why I chose this model.
Battery life is mediocre at under 3 hours, but such is the price of an i7 processor, I guess, and that's what I got this machine for...its speed. If I need more battery life, I'll grab a netbook.
I could go on, but with the trackpad behaving the way it does and a "Don't buy!" recommendation, is there a point to it?
The performance on this laptop is top-notch, as should be obvious by the i7 processor and 7200RPM HDD. An SDD would obviously be faster, but then you'll have to settle for a lot less space. The battery life is decent, nothing impressive; but that's to be expected considering that this is quite a powerhouse for its size.
I think 12" screens are optimal for laptops. 11" and below are too small, and 13" and above are too big. This is compact and light, but also comfortable enough to type on.
But there are issues I have with the trackpad. I do not like that they do not have side-scrolling via the edge of the trackpad. You have to use two fingers to scroll. Side-scrolling is so much simpler, and I don't see why ASUS would switch to a trackpad vendor that uses such stupid scrolling methods.
Also, the placement of the headphone and microphone jacks is absolutely ridiculous. It's positioned right where the edge of your left palm will rest while typing on the keyboard. It's extremely uncomfortable, and I'm not sure who is the moron who designed this placement, but I hope they're out of a job today.
I'm on the fence of giving it three stars, but I have to give it four because it's next to impossible to get a powerful Windows 7 laptop these days. Everything is just moving more and more into Windows 8, and I don't want to put up with that. This is a fairly good machine for the price despite some stupid design choices.
I am one of the closest things Asus has to a fan-boy without (as this review demonstrates) actually being one, so if I'm giving this notebook 1 stars, and recommending against buying it, something's up. It started out as the trackpad. Now, it's that and more.
Whenever I'm in the market for a product, I'll buy an Asus model if they make one. So, when I was looking for an i7 notebook, it was only natural that I'd get this one. It's i7 fast. While I wish the hard drive were larger, 500Gb is nothing to sneeze at. Nice screen. Fingerprint reader, if I ever decide I want to try it. But then there's that *&%&*% trackpad.
It's hard to type a full paragraph without the cursor jumping around the page at some point. It's bad enough that I wish I'd never bought this machine. I'm getting really good at using Ctrl-z to erase the messes the trackpad makes.
* It's not the driver. I've tried three different ones at all range of settings, all with the same results. Right now, I'm back to the original with Smart Detection as great as I can make it, and the cursor has still been jumping around nearly a dozen times (with me having to go back and make corrections) as I type this review.
* I don't think it's me. As I've said, I've got a bunch of Asus notebooks and netbooks.
* I don't think it's this particular machine because I've searched the Web to find others with the same complaint. If I turn off the trackpad and use a mouse, everything is fine, but if I wanted to turn off the trackpad and use a mouse, I wouldn't have bought a laptop.
* This machine has been back to Asus TWICE and each time it has come back as jumpy as before and now the left button sticks under the top (bad alignment) unless it's pressed just right. I'd send it back again but I just sent it back for that problem and it came back the same way.
I'm sick and tired of pressing Ctrl-Z and Ctrl-Y to recover after the cursor goes off on its errant way.
I tried the *free* utility Touchpad Blocker, which locks the touchpad for a short period (from 0.1 sec to 3 sec; I like 1 sec) after a keyboard key is pressed. At one point it got me to upgrade my review to 3 stars, but do you know the joke about Sam the Tailor? (Credit: I cut and pasted the text from iamlearningdisabled dot com and tweaked it a bit.)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A guy goes to Sam the Tailor to have a suit made. He comes back and....
"This suit doesn't fit me at all!"
"What's wrong with it?"
"Well, the right sleeve is too long"
"So, raise your shoulder and it will be fine". He raises his right shoulder.
"But the left sleeve is too short!"
"So, hold your arm like this and it will be fine!" He holds his left arm in that position
"But it's too big in the chest!"
"So arch your back and stick out your chest and it will be fine". He arches his back and sticks out his chest.
He pays.
He's walking down the street: One shoulder raised, one arm crooked, back arched, chest out.
Another guy stops him and says "You poor man! Who is your tailor?
"Sam the Tailor. Why?"
"Because if he can fit you, he can fit anyone!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Well, this machine must have been contracted to Sam the Tailor...and I'm tired of it. In fact, I'm SO tired of it that after I get the X202E up and running, this machine is going back too Asus again...and yet again, until they get it right! I'll keep you posted.
I try to keep reviews balanced. *IF* (that means a BIG "if") you would be content to never use the trackpad (that is, use a mouse, instead) 4 or 5 stars would be appropriate. It's an i7 and runs like it. The overall Windows score is limited by the graphics. But, if the trackpad matters at all, stay away!
Misc items from my original review.
Yes, it DOES NOT have a DVD drive. Other business models do, but this one does not, as can be seen on the Asus website. I'm guessing it's to keep the size and weight down, which is why I chose this model.
Battery life is mediocre at under 3 hours, but such is the price of an i7 processor, I guess, and that's what I got this machine for...its speed. If I need more battery life, I'll grab a netbook.
I could go on, but with the trackpad behaving the way it does and a "Don't buy!" recommendation, is there a point to it?
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
I have had no problems with this computer. It is very fast, light and I am enjoying it. Sorry that I am not a tech person, so someone else will have to tell you those things. I sure can say that I like ASUS products.Best Deals for ASUS B23E-XH71 12.1-Inch Laptop (Black)
Think the only thing i didnt like about it is its a little heavy 4a little computer have a 10" single core internet labtop & its light as heck guess thats what u get when u actually pay for a real processor.Honest reviews on ASUS B23E-XH71 12.1-Inch Laptop (Black)
First, everyone giving one-star ratings for the lack of an optical drive is obviously being unfair. This laptop is not marketed as having one. Do some research next time.The performance on this laptop is top-notch, as should be obvious by the i7 processor and 7200RPM HDD. An SDD would obviously be faster, but then you'll have to settle for a lot less space. The battery life is decent, nothing impressive; but that's to be expected considering that this is quite a powerhouse for its size.
I think 12" screens are optimal for laptops. 11" and below are too small, and 13" and above are too big. This is compact and light, but also comfortable enough to type on.
But there are issues I have with the trackpad. I do not like that they do not have side-scrolling via the edge of the trackpad. You have to use two fingers to scroll. Side-scrolling is so much simpler, and I don't see why ASUS would switch to a trackpad vendor that uses such stupid scrolling methods.
Also, the placement of the headphone and microphone jacks is absolutely ridiculous. It's positioned right where the edge of your left palm will rest while typing on the keyboard. It's extremely uncomfortable, and I'm not sure who is the moron who designed this placement, but I hope they're out of a job today.
I'm on the fence of giving it three stars, but I have to give it four because it's next to impossible to get a powerful Windows 7 laptop these days. Everything is just moving more and more into Windows 8, and I don't want to put up with that. This is a fairly good machine for the price despite some stupid design choices.
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS B23E-XH71 12.1-Inch Laptop (Black)
This laptop is absolutely killer. it's small size, rugged case, good power, docking capability and ease to swap out to an SSD makes this the best laptop I have ever bought. and I buy 20 laptops a year.Friday, May 30, 2014
Review of Gateway M-6848 15.4" Notebook (2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T5750
I bought mine in August 2008. It comes with Vista 64-bit but I found that some programs I wanted to install would not so I installed Vista 32-bit (CD & instructions were included when I bought mine). It does not have a S-video outlet(I miss it). I have not figured out how to connect it to my TV yet without S-video. After changing from 64-bit to 32-bit I had some minor issues reinstalling the drivers. I had to call GATEWAY SUPPORT. My problem was taken care of. I recently noticed that when I use any equalizer on any music player (Win. I-Tunes. Jet Audio etc) the music level goes down instead of up when I increase the settings. WEIRD!! I'm in the process of trying to fix that bug. The lay out of the KEY BOARD is not standard. The ENTER & BACKSPACE buttons are smaller than usual and I keep hitting the buttons next to them. The CTRL & ALT buttons are not where I'm used to having them on other boards. It has a 3-pronged power cord so make sure your outlets are 3-pronged receptables. It could be a problem when traveling on the road. Other than that I have no other problems with it.
I love this laptop. It's very fast, graphics are crisp, resolution is great. Not too heavy just ove 6.3 lbs. This is also my first year using VISTA so some of it has to do with the difference between VISTA & XP.
I recomend this laptop but if you change from 64 bit to 32 bit be prepared for some WTF momments. Oh by the way I tried to put XP on it but GATEWAY says they do not support XP on it. I could not get XP to install.
I guess if I was a geek I could find ways around it.
I love this laptop. It's very fast, graphics are crisp, resolution is great. Not too heavy just ove 6.3 lbs. This is also my first year using VISTA so some of it has to do with the difference between VISTA & XP.
I recomend this laptop but if you change from 64 bit to 32 bit be prepared for some WTF momments. Oh by the way I tried to put XP on it but GATEWAY says they do not support XP on it. I could not get XP to install.
I guess if I was a geek I could find ways around it.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Buy Dell Latitude D430 12.1" Laptop (Intel Core Duo 1.2Ghz, 60GB Hard
The laptop was chosen to replace my broken Acer netbook. The goal was also to find a better screen size.
The computer was delivered quickly and no damage on the box. Within 5 minutes after inspection I had the computer running. The Dell D430 has the appearance of a solid machine and works faster than I expected. The screen is great, the sound a little tinny for watching movies. The wide screen is not 16:9 but the 1280x800 shows web sites and photos nicely. A sign of professional computers is that there are double buttons with the trackpad. There is also a trackpoint but I do not use that as I am geared towards the mouse.
As a "compact" laptop the machine is light, but not to light. There is no space for an optical drive, so they gave me an external USB connected drive. It does not burn DVDs but that does not bother me as I have other computers for that purpose. With the HD capacity of 60 GB, of which 20 GB are taken, there is no room for big projects. I searched for bigger hard disks as backup but 1.8 inch hard disks max out at 120 GB and get expensive (other than my broken netbook which came with a 250GB drive).So I use an SD card as storage extension (like for downloads) and an external drive for my video/audio/photo stuff. The USB ports have enough power to run my external drives. On top, there is a firewire port which I like for an external drive. Integrated Bluetooth runs my wireless mouse.
Dell has a weird power connector and I will be looking for a duplicate power tip because I do not want to be without a backup. The computer gets hot on the right side which I think is not unusual, especially not with dual core processors. So do not use it right on your lap but get a cooling pad.
Talking backup: XP and Dell utilities are on a hidden disk partition and I did not find out yet how to copy that to a hard disk. If the hard disk dies I want to be able to recover XP. My files are backed up on an external drive anyway. There was not a single sheet of paper with the computer so it takes some knowledge to work things out.
But right now: I am happy I bought that computer.
i ordered this computer and within three days (even on standard shipping) i received my package. It's somewhat small but i find it to be adorable. There were only 2 tiny scuff marks on the outside, barely noticeable, but otherwise it looks and runs brand new. It took me just minutes to get it up and running, and by the way, it runs quite fast. I, being the teenager i am, have already downloaded programs like iTunes a new web browser, a couple games and a couple other software components and it still runs amazingly fast. Though i have only had if for a little over a week, i cant seem to keep a way from it. It's quite a deal. A lot of people find the external cd/dvd drive a hasel but i find it convenient, it doesn't bother to much in travel and i mean what if it breaks? its easy to replace without having to pull the poor computer apart. anyways, i love this laptop and so far its been quite helpful. I will admit it does heat up rather quickly, but thats noting a simple cooling pad from walmart or so can fix. now, another downside is that there are only two usb outlets, and with a cooling pad, that only leaves you with one, so you would probably need to order a cheap usb port like i did to go with it to help in that issue, but other than that this product is a steal. I hope you make the right choice, i mean, it took me a month to find the right computer for me, and im quite satisfied.
P.S if you find you are not satisfied with its hard drive space, i recomend looking at amazons wide variety of external hard drives, i found a 160 gb one for only 36 $.
hope this review was helpful! :)
Thanks again Sam
The computer was delivered quickly and no damage on the box. Within 5 minutes after inspection I had the computer running. The Dell D430 has the appearance of a solid machine and works faster than I expected. The screen is great, the sound a little tinny for watching movies. The wide screen is not 16:9 but the 1280x800 shows web sites and photos nicely. A sign of professional computers is that there are double buttons with the trackpad. There is also a trackpoint but I do not use that as I am geared towards the mouse.
As a "compact" laptop the machine is light, but not to light. There is no space for an optical drive, so they gave me an external USB connected drive. It does not burn DVDs but that does not bother me as I have other computers for that purpose. With the HD capacity of 60 GB, of which 20 GB are taken, there is no room for big projects. I searched for bigger hard disks as backup but 1.8 inch hard disks max out at 120 GB and get expensive (other than my broken netbook which came with a 250GB drive).So I use an SD card as storage extension (like for downloads) and an external drive for my video/audio/photo stuff. The USB ports have enough power to run my external drives. On top, there is a firewire port which I like for an external drive. Integrated Bluetooth runs my wireless mouse.
Dell has a weird power connector and I will be looking for a duplicate power tip because I do not want to be without a backup. The computer gets hot on the right side which I think is not unusual, especially not with dual core processors. So do not use it right on your lap but get a cooling pad.
Talking backup: XP and Dell utilities are on a hidden disk partition and I did not find out yet how to copy that to a hard disk. If the hard disk dies I want to be able to recover XP. My files are backed up on an external drive anyway. There was not a single sheet of paper with the computer so it takes some knowledge to work things out.
But right now: I am happy I bought that computer.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
awesome computer :) i am more than pleased to say the least.i ordered this computer and within three days (even on standard shipping) i received my package. It's somewhat small but i find it to be adorable. There were only 2 tiny scuff marks on the outside, barely noticeable, but otherwise it looks and runs brand new. It took me just minutes to get it up and running, and by the way, it runs quite fast. I, being the teenager i am, have already downloaded programs like iTunes a new web browser, a couple games and a couple other software components and it still runs amazingly fast. Though i have only had if for a little over a week, i cant seem to keep a way from it. It's quite a deal. A lot of people find the external cd/dvd drive a hasel but i find it convenient, it doesn't bother to much in travel and i mean what if it breaks? its easy to replace without having to pull the poor computer apart. anyways, i love this laptop and so far its been quite helpful. I will admit it does heat up rather quickly, but thats noting a simple cooling pad from walmart or so can fix. now, another downside is that there are only two usb outlets, and with a cooling pad, that only leaves you with one, so you would probably need to order a cheap usb port like i did to go with it to help in that issue, but other than that this product is a steal. I hope you make the right choice, i mean, it took me a month to find the right computer for me, and im quite satisfied.
P.S if you find you are not satisfied with its hard drive space, i recomend looking at amazons wide variety of external hard drives, i found a 160 gb one for only 36 $.
hope this review was helpful! :)
Best Deals for Dell Latitude D430 12.1" Laptop (Intel Core Duo 1.2Ghz, 60GB Hard
I'm satisfied with the new computer(: .The transaction was really fast, i got it within 5 days of purchase. The only thing I would say that i dislike about the pc, is that it heats up pretty fast, and it runs on about 2 hours of battery. Other than that, it performs quite well, and the programs that come with it, like the Open Office is fantastic! Overall it was a good purchase, especially for the amount of money spent.Thanks again Sam
Honest reviews on Dell Latitude D430 12.1" Laptop (Intel Core Duo 1.2Ghz, 60GB Hard
This computer has been the best purchase I've made, originally came with Windows XP, now add 1 gb of RAM and installed a linux distro. It works great!Saturday, February 22, 2014
Sony VAIO VPCEH27FX/B Laptop (Black) Reviews
This item arrived 3-4 days after I placed the order around 12/19. Excellent packaging. LOVE the Sony VAIO laptop computer! Very easy setup it was easy to get connected wirelessly. The HD screen on the laptop really makes a difference when looking at video or pictures.
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5303 Laptop Computer / 15.6-inch HD Review
List Price: $559.99
Sale Price: $379.99
Today's Bonus: 32% Off
This Laptop is everything you would expect It to be. Giving that your expectations are good. I've read some reviews and everyone seemed to hate this laptop. I love it, I've had it for maybe a week now and nothing has gone wrong so far.
Pros:
. Beautiful Operating System (Windows 8), So fluid and fast
. The 2GB RAM is not bad at all
. Stunning Graphics on the Start Menu (Tiles)
. Lots of apps, makes it feel like a really big tablet(Not a TOUCH SCREEN!)
Cons:
. Only one, The gaming capabilities for games such as runescape and World of Warcraft is not great, works, but is not al that due to the 1.3 Ghz processor
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
We got this for our middle-schooler as her first laptop & it's just right for her. And it was just right for our budget!Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5303 Laptop Computer / 15.6-inch HD
I got this laptop really cheap at best buy ($242.99). It was brand new on clearance. I did not accept EULA for Windows 8, instead installed Fedora Linux on it. Works great except for the wireless card. I think I can get it working with ndiswrapper. It needs more memory and that's about it. The speakers aren't loud but if I normalize the volume or use head phones, they are acceptable.My key requirements are:
1. I want to run Linux, not Windows
2. I don't want to play games on it (I have an Ultimate Gaming Machine {UGM} desktop)
3. Perfect for surfing the web and watching movies
If I could get the wireless to work, I will be golden.
--------------
Update (21 February 2013): Wireless works out of the box with Fedora 18. The kernel packaged with Fedora 14 did not support wireless.
Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5303 Laptop Computer / 15.6-inch HD
This computer has poor screen resolution, a slow to respond touchpad, and is too slow to run a TV show without stopping. It is for sale.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5303 Laptop Computer / 15.6-inch HD
until now I am not using this, I even pay over the hundred for another gig hoping to make it faster. Staple noticed it has only 1 gig they said may be adding another one will be faster still not doing right...I will not recommend windows 8. I think its too late to return I don't know what to do with this...Saturday, January 18, 2014
Buy ASUS UX51Vz-XH71 15.6 FHD Ultrabook Intel Core i7-3612QM 2.1GHz 8GB
Cons: The computer is much heavier than expected, the sound out port is a tiny proprietary plug that only takes the Asus speaker unit (I have not been able to find any adapter units so I can hook it to my external speaker system on the desk), performance is fine but not blazing. The absolute worst feature is that it comes with Windows 8 installed. What an awful Operating System! Any busienss that buys a computer with Windows 8 will regret it from the first time their employee turns it on.. none of my networked scanners are supported, some of my online sites are incompatible with the new Internet Explorer version, etc. I am buying a new license for Windows 7 so I can remove Windows 8 from this computer... resulting in another $400 Microsoft extracts from my company.
But any one of my Sony VAIO computers can beat it for performance and, of course, none of the Sonys have Windows 8. Overall if you want to play games and have the OS act like a virus and take control of your screen at the most inopportune times, then buy this one. If not, then find a different computer without Windows 8!
Pros: The computer has a nice keyboard, and a decent display.
But any one of my Sony VAIO computers can beat it for performance and, of course, none of the Sonys have Windows 8. Overall if you want to play games and have the OS act like a virus and take control of your screen at the most inopportune times, then buy this one. If not, then find a different computer without Windows 8!
Pros: The computer has a nice keyboard, and a decent display.
Friday, January 17, 2014
Cheap Dell Inspiron 15R i15RN 5297BK 15-Inch Laptop i7 2670QM 6GB RAM
This is great budget gaming laptop as the reviewer before me mentioned For the money it can't be beat I got mine off of Ebayy for $389 Although the laptop states it may only support 8GB I think it can do 16GB, but do not know for sure -
For $32 I put in a Blu Ray Drive and had a spare Seagate Momentus XT 500GB (with 4GB Flash and 7200rpm, super fast). Honestly, really good looking laptop I have it connected to Samsung 24" LED The only con is it has just 3 USB ports but HDMI is very cool along with the ESATA Port Really love it and it' great looking!
I game on WIFI and it is very capable on COD MW3go get one!
Updated*** Well, about 2 weeks ago I just upgraded the memory to 16GB on this thing I am wondering if down the road, whether or not the system can do 32GB anyway, just a great laptop someone did ask me regarding the blu ray upgrade I did my homework and found a samsung blu ray drive on ebayy, but I did tell them that you need blu ray software like power DVD 12 or something like that Power DVD is what I use it's worth $20 or $30 bucks I spent on it This laptop is pretty much like a little beastie now! 16GB Ram ($65), 500GB Seagate Momentus XT Drive with 4 gig Nand SSD and 7200rpm (I had this HD drive for about 2 years lying around cost about $70 my Dell now boots up in under 22 secs) + Samsung BluRay ($32) wow and installed win 7 pro 64bit (no cost my version) it's like a $1700 laptop The Used Mac equivlant is about $1700 except no blu-ray... and of course Paid $389 off of ebayy that includes shipping!!! tada....... by the way the NVidia Card is very close to a AMD/ATI HD67xx series cards a while back ago I had an HP with a HD6750 great card The GT525M just as good if not better Handles all my games and the supports 1080p out through HDMI Love it!!!
I haven't used it for work yet, just for watch movies and internet and this is what I have found so far..
I have to clean up the surface regularly because all the grease from my hands remains on it
Once time I turned it on and it showed some kind of win7 safe mode screen, it said something like a file was missing.. I just rebooted and it did not showed it again so far..
I use bsplayer to watch movies with subtitles files and from time to time the software crashes..
I found the speed of transfer data from the dvd unit or from a usb unit, a little slow.. perhaps its just an impression but I bothers me.
I think these problems are related with the OS and perhaps if I make a clean new install, or just use another OS these details would disappear.
One more thing: When I am in a very quiet room I can hear the reading/writing sound from the HD, its not a problem for me though.
I gave it 4 stars because I think its a good machine but perhaps win7 its not so stable on it..
For $32 I put in a Blu Ray Drive and had a spare Seagate Momentus XT 500GB (with 4GB Flash and 7200rpm, super fast). Honestly, really good looking laptop I have it connected to Samsung 24" LED The only con is it has just 3 USB ports but HDMI is very cool along with the ESATA Port Really love it and it' great looking!
I game on WIFI and it is very capable on COD MW3go get one!
Updated*** Well, about 2 weeks ago I just upgraded the memory to 16GB on this thing I am wondering if down the road, whether or not the system can do 32GB anyway, just a great laptop someone did ask me regarding the blu ray upgrade I did my homework and found a samsung blu ray drive on ebayy, but I did tell them that you need blu ray software like power DVD 12 or something like that Power DVD is what I use it's worth $20 or $30 bucks I spent on it This laptop is pretty much like a little beastie now! 16GB Ram ($65), 500GB Seagate Momentus XT Drive with 4 gig Nand SSD and 7200rpm (I had this HD drive for about 2 years lying around cost about $70 my Dell now boots up in under 22 secs) + Samsung BluRay ($32) wow and installed win 7 pro 64bit (no cost my version) it's like a $1700 laptop The Used Mac equivlant is about $1700 except no blu-ray... and of course Paid $389 off of ebayy that includes shipping!!! tada....... by the way the NVidia Card is very close to a AMD/ATI HD67xx series cards a while back ago I had an HP with a HD6750 great card The GT525M just as good if not better Handles all my games and the supports 1080p out through HDMI Love it!!!
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
This laptop is worth every penny! I bought it back in May and have had NO issues since! The laptop is PERFECT for a budget gaming laptop. With its dedicated graphics card, it did just as well as my gaming desktop does with it's ATI Radeon HD 6870 Card (The laptop itself has a Nvidia GeForce GT 525M). I absolutely love this thing. If you are looking for a laptop around this price range, this is THE laptop to get!Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 15R i15RN 5297BK 15-Inch Laptop i7 2670QM 6GB RAM
I had to completely disassemble the laptop just to get to the hard Drive to swap it with a SSD. The Hard Drive was buried under the motherboard. The internal design is awful! Whats worse, I damaged the keyboard trying to take this laptop apart. Then later after putting it back together I realized Dell didn't send a Windows 7 restore disk with the laptop. I will never buy a Dell laptop again! I would not recommend this laptop to anyone who would want to upgrade it in the future.Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 15R i15RN 5297BK 15-Inch Laptop i7 2670QM 6GB RAM
I like it, took a while to arrive, but it did in certain periods, expected to have less wear marks, but otherwise everything is fine, I'm very satisfiedFind helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Inspiron 15R i15RN 5297BK 15-Inch Laptop i7 2670QM 6GB RAM
Good presentation, It came in its box with all the protection.I haven't used it for work yet, just for watch movies and internet and this is what I have found so far..
I have to clean up the surface regularly because all the grease from my hands remains on it
Once time I turned it on and it showed some kind of win7 safe mode screen, it said something like a file was missing.. I just rebooted and it did not showed it again so far..
I use bsplayer to watch movies with subtitles files and from time to time the software crashes..
I found the speed of transfer data from the dvd unit or from a usb unit, a little slow.. perhaps its just an impression but I bothers me.
I think these problems are related with the OS and perhaps if I make a clean new install, or just use another OS these details would disappear.
One more thing: When I am in a very quiet room I can hear the reading/writing sound from the HD, its not a problem for me though.
I gave it 4 stars because I think its a good machine but perhaps win7 its not so stable on it..
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Best Acer Aspire V5-531-4636 15.6-Inch HD Display Laptop (Black) Deals
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program It is a beautiful laptop. Sleek and light weight. [See update at the end Jan042013]
I have an HP g7 1326dx that I just got a few months ago. This unit fares very favorably and despite some of the things noted below, I'd choose this one over that one. The Acer is noticably snappier, the display is better looking and the USB 3.0 port seals the deal. Integrated bluetooth 4.0-HS is a great added value that the 1326dx doesn't have, 4.0 or otherwise. That dang dongle is just about a deal breaker though. For what it is worth, the Windows score for the HP is 4.5 and the Acer is 4.3. HP's graphics drag it way down and the processor drags the Acer down.
The touch pad has no left/right buttons so that is something to get used to. The bottom part of the pad tilts down for clicks. I've found right clicking to be a challenge. Put your finger pad on the edge of the hard plastic and use your finger tip for right clicks.
Left clicks that need to be held, like Chrome's back button being held to see history, requires use of the bottom left click as opposed to a tap and hold anywhere.
The keyboard is part of the ventilation system so it cannot be covered with a protector if you like to use those.
The display is really crisp.
Although it doesn't come with a restore disk, you can make one. It offers to do that when you boot up the first time. Mine said I'd need 5 DVDs (~15 gig) but I reckon you could cut it down with higher capacity disks. If you don't have any pick some up so you can burn your restore image right off the bat.
Battery life is okay. I played some mp3s for about 2 hours before the battery gave out. Far short of the 4 hour mark but running the built in speakers non-stop isn't what you'd do anyway on battery power alone. I was just curious to see how long the battery would last. The 1326dx has much better battery life but it has 6 cells and weighs a little over a pound more.
There is one USB 3.0 port and two 2.0 ports. It is hard to believe that the price difference in the two types of ports is the reason for not having all three be version 3.0. It is backwards compatable with 2.0. The performance difference is huge. I'm guessing it was mostly a marketing decision so folks don't have to know 3.0 is backwards compatable or even what backward compatible means. A nice 3.0 thumb drive would be cool to get with this laptop: Corsair Flash Survivor USB 3.0 32GB Drive (CMFSV3-32GB)
[Edit 07/14/2012
I ran a some casual tests on the USB ports. Wow! The 3.0 thumb drive is super fast even on the 2.0 ports. I found that copying to the drive on the 3.0 was almost as fast on the 2.0 as the 3.0 port. For testing I used a folder that had a couple of dozen files with a size of about 450MB. The 3.0 was as quick as 28 seconds and the 2.0 was around 35 seconds.
I tested the same folder on my HP's 2.0 port and it took 101 seconds to transfer the folder to the drive.
So a good USB 3.0 drive would be a great purchase to go with your new laptop if you don't have one yet.
/edit]
All 3 USB ports are on the left side. Something to be aware of for sure. My other laptop has one port on the right side and two on the left which I find to be very convenient. All other ports for the Acer are also on the left side. The right side has only the DVD drive. A USB hub may be handy: J-Tech Digital SuperSpeed USB 3.0 4-Port Hub Backward Compatible with USB 2.0 with USB 3.0 Cable
There is no Lan plug. Nor is there a monitor port. Instead Acer has created a proprietary port that uses a dongle cable for external monitor and RJ-45 cable. I'm on the fence about that as a feature. It means that you have to keep up with the dongle or you won't be able to use a Lan cable or D-plug type monitor. So if you forget or lose the dongle and the location you are at does not have wifi you're up the creek for Internet access. WiFi is built in so that may not be an issue for you at all.
There is a built in HDMI port so you could use that if you didn't have the dongle with you. As long as someone had a handy HDMI cable and a monitor that supported it. Bah.
Amazon has this in the tech details: "500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive Solid-State Drive". Acer lists the drive like that too. According to Hitachi it is a SATA drive. [edit: Nor is it a Hybrid HD. Just a plain old normal HD.]
I really like this laptop. The snappiness seems to be better than the HP, which is a quad-core, and the screen looks better. It is a lot of bang for the buck.
[Update Jan 4th 2013
If you will need to do a lot of typing with this laptop's built-in keyboard you may want to rethink your purchase. I noticed that I made more mistakes on this laptop but I assumed it was just my poor typing skills. In the comments Running Rampant asked about that very thing.
I've been using a USB keyboard for a while now. So if that is an option then the no worries.
/update]
Easy setup and configuration straight from the box to streaming Netflix in 10 minutes, flat. Wow. IMPRESSIVE smooth HD video! Great digital audio via "virtual surround sound" (per an audiophile!) Not alot of included junk and papers, just the bare minimums without sacrificing anything necessary, also impressive (and saves a few trees!) The viewing angle of the obviously HD screen is good I can readily read the screen or watch a video from a 45 degree angle to the screen.
Feather-light-weight, form fitting, cool package easy to use keyboard, very intuitive even in the dark for this touch-typist. Love the built-in numeric keypad! (This review was written and posted via this laptop during the first half-hour of use... during therapy time (while flat on my back...))
Included in the box:
Laptop and Battery (when installed appears as part of the hinge so tiny!)
typical 2-part power cord
Dongle for ethernet and 15 pin video (neither of which are used as much with today's technology but great to have for those necessary times.)
small collection of assorted documentation
Ports and Features:
15.6" HD display with true 16:9 aspect ratio viewable at least a 45 degree viewing angle
4 GB ram, 500 GB hard drive
1.3 megapixel webcam
Left Side Front to Rear:
Headphone/headset standard size (supports headset mic double circuit single jack)
2 USB 2.0
1 USB 3.0
HDMI full size
Dongle Port (ethernet and 15 pin video)
Power port
Right Side Front to Rear:
DVD-RW multi-drive (not always built into laptops anymore)
Cable lock port
Front left:
SD/SDHC/MMC card reader
All in all I am very impressed. I have not yet found how to "right click" with the built-in keypad as there are no left/right click buttons near the touchpad (instead I plugged in a mouse, for now...) left click is the typical tap on the touchpad. This laptop is now my goto laptop for both daily use and for those crazy days traveling whether for business or for pleasure.
My last laptop was a Toshiba satellite, and this notebook makes that laptop seem huge, yet it has the same size screen, and does everything and more than the Toshiba does. None of my other laptops had a webcam or microphone, and this one does, so I can talk and see my relatives that live out of state, which is really cool!
My favorite thing about it is probably the speakers, though. I've always had to use an external speaker with my laptops because the speakers weren't loud enough. These speakers are excellent, and loud! I haven't had to use an external speaker for anything not Netflix, YouTube, iTunes or anything I've listened to.
I'm just a basic computer user using email, facebook, iTunes, Netflix, etc., and I do a lot of online shopping this computer does everything I need it to and more. I also had a chance to deal with the Acer online customer service because something happened to my adapter cord (I suspect my puppy, but don't know for sure). I asked where I could buy a new one, and they sent me one for free! It got here in about 2 days, so I have to say their customer service is also excellent.
The computer has a nice, sleek look, it's very light as well. I honestly can't think of a single con for this one, and I highly recommend it.
I continue to use this laptop and it continues to perform without any issues other than the battery not staying fully charged as noted in my last update. If you do nothing and leave the laptop plugged in and running, the battery seems to drop to 92% and then just stays at that level unless you power cycle it (see my July update).
I have the full version of Office 2010 loaded on this laptop as well as Visio Pro and everything runs perfectly. I am still pleased with the performance of this laptop and continue to recommend it as an excellent value for an entry level computer.
UPDATE: 27 July 2012:
I have been using this computer constantly now for about two months and it has started to show battery issues. If the computer is left plugged in and turned on for a period of 5 days or more, the battery level indicates that the charge level is starting to drop (around 94 to 95% charge) and states that the battery is not charging. The only way I have found to fix this is to unplug the power supply with the computer turned on and to drain the battery for at least 10 minutes. After that amount of time, you can plug it back in and the battery will start charging again and take it up to 100%. This then seems to hold until you leave it plugged in and turned on for 4 to 5 days. At that point, you need to go through the same process all over again.
This probably would not be an issue if you constantly use the computer on battery and only plug it in to charge it. However, if you are using it as a desktop unit for any amount of time you should pay attention to the charge level on the battery. Experience with other laptops that exhibit this has shown that if you do not pay attention and the charge level continues to drop, you may NOT be able to recharge the battery and will need to buy a replacement! Just something to keep in mind.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I received this product through the Amazon Vine program. This is a light weight 15 inch laptop that is configured as an entertainment, Internet use, and light computing work laptop. The battery is a 4 cell unit that is probably the smallest battery I have ever seen for a laptop. However, it delivers a bit over 3 hours when playing a DVD with the wireless connected to the network. The laptop is very thin, so thin in fact that it cannot support a wired Ethernet connection and resorts to a dongle that provides a video connection and an Ethernet connection (the cable is a Y configuration). This makes for a very light computer. Of course, if you have wireless, the dongle is probably not needed. The wireless on this computer is VERY easy to setup! It also supports all of the current standards. I had no problem connecting to my n-router.
Here are the features of this laptop:
The laptop is configured to deliver the best display for videos. As such, it displays in wide format at 720p and has a screen resolution max of 1366 X 768. Videos look decent as long as they are viewed straight on. Moving up or down and left and right from direct view causes the image to fade and colors to disappear.
The audio is pretty typical of what you would expect from most laptops, tinny sounding at the best and high volume distorts. If you want to watch a movie, I would suggest using headphones! I have a pair of Sony Studio headphones and with those I have more than acceptable audio. This same caveat also applies to music; use either headphones or good powered speakers if you want acceptable audio.
One of the amazing features of this laptop is the fact that the keyboard contains a full 10 key on it. Now, this is not a big deal if you do not work with numbers very much, but it is a great feature if you do a lot of numeric inputs into something like Excel. As long as we are talking about the keyboard functions, I find that the keys are responsive and I have not had any issues with them. I type about 100 WPM and I have a rather heavy hand as I learned to type on a manual typewriter (Ok, I know I am as old as dirt!). So, the fact that there is not any key bounce (double or triple letters on a key stroke) indicates a fairly well made keyboard in my experience. The widescreen format of the display allows for the increased real-estate for the keyboard width to support the full keyboard functions.
The touchpad on this computer is fairly large and includes the normal right and left click positions. This design provides a lot of area for being able to use your fingers to move the cursor, it also provides a wonderful opportunity for frustration as you try to right or left click on something. The reason for the problem is that since the area where you right and left click are also part of the touch pad area, if you do not strike straight down for the function you can wind up moving the cursor to something you did not intend to strike instead of the function that you were looking for. This is NOT my favorite feature of the computer and may be an area where I would adjust to in time. For me, however, this simply means that I connect a wireless mouse to the computer to use instead of the touch pad.
Speaking of using a wireless mouse, this computer only has two USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 port. So, if you normally connect a few devices via USB ports, you are going to need an external port hub. One thing that helps with this limitation is the fact that the computer has built in Blue Tooth so if you have devices that will work with that you do not need to use a USB port.
As long as we are talking about external connections, this computer does have all of the options covered. There is a HDMI port, a combined VGA and LAN port (a supplied Y-cable plugs into a special port and that provides the VGA and LAN connections), a thoughtfully located combined mike/speaker/headphone connection on the left side of the computer right up front, two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 port, and the power connection all on the left side of the computer. A two in one card reader, battery charge indicator (orange when charging and blue when charged) and power indicator (blue) is located in front. The DVD drive and Kensington lock location are on the right side of the computer. All in all, a well thought out design that makes it easy to use.
The DVD drive is just that, a DVD drive that will read and write DVDs or CDs. It does NOT read Blue Ray disks so that may limit some of your movie choices.
The battery for this laptop is a very small 4 cell unit. The advantage in this is that the battery adds very little weight to the computer! The disadvantage is that the run time on battery is limited. The company lists a 4 hour battery life and I found that if you are using a DVD to play a movie and have your wireless turned on at the same time that the battery life is about 3 hours and 10 minutes. Long enough to watch a full length movie and then some.
Probably the two biggest limitations of this computer are the processor and the graphics chip. If you go to the Windows Experience Index (on the System Tab) this computer has a 4.3 number which is driven by the processor. The next limitation is graphics with a 4.5 while it surprisingly has a 5.6 gaming graphics listing. Still, the processor limitations will probably limit any gaming that you might be doing on this computer. If you do any picture editing and like making videos out of your pictures, you will find that the processor works well enough although rendering the pan and zoom features makes the playback a bit jerky.
Memory on this computer is delivered with a single 4 Gig memory module with room for a second memory module (the maximum memory the system bios will support is 8 Gig). This is unusual in that they did not put in two smaller and less expensive 2 Gig memory sticks. This allows you to just buy a single 4 Gig memory module to upgrade to the full supported memory maximum. The memory is easy to get at with the need to only remove two Philips screws. Lift the door carefully as there are two plastic snaps that must be overcome to fully open the door. Also, when you go to close it up again apply pressure gradually in the middle of the door as you close it to re-engage the plastic snaps. Then, re-install the two Philips screws and you are done.
This computer comes loaded with Microsoft Office (requires you to purchase a license key to be able to use all of the features) that gives you basic Word and Excel functionality if you do not purchase a license key. This is not trial software so it will not die in 90 days. This may be enough Office software to be adequate for many people.
Other things loaded on the computer include e-bay, Facebook, Netflix, Skype, and Nook for PC. These are all entertainment types of shortcuts. There is a 60 day version of McAfee anti-virus that will hound you to purchase the balance of a year's protection ( personally, I find the free version of anti-virus software from Microsoft (Microsoft Security Essentials) to work extremely well and it eliminates a recurring fee). They have also loaded Window's Live which provides you with several useful programs (including photo editing) that work quite well. Several games and a shopping center for games are included. As usual, there is a lot of software that you will probably wind up removing, but they do provide you with lots of options.
Speaking of options, the browser is preconfigured with BING as the search engine and with the BING tool bar. You will find that if you want to want to use another search engine, you also need to remove the BING tool bar or you will not realize that anything has changed.
All in all, this is a great laptop for the price for someone looking to surf the Internet, watch videos, have a cool looking laptop computer, and that wants to do business type of work (spreadsheets, Word documents, etc.), and e-mail. If you are looking for a gaming computer, a computer that will support intense graphics, or extended run times on battery, this is NOT the computer for you.
UPDATE:
Here is a link for a valuable quick reference for your new computer:
This link will provide you with a usable reference that shows you how to turn on and off Blue Tooth, Wireless, the touch keypad, and what all of the hot keys that are on the computer. This reference is much better than the one that shipped with the computer (too generic as it covered several models of computers).
I would also like to note that while they made it very easy for you to add memory to the computer, they also made it impossible for you to change out the hard drive! If you want to change the hard drive you need to ship it back to the company to have them change it as it is sealed in the unit. Shades of Apple technology here.
I have continued to use the computer extensively and find that it is keeping a very solid 3 hours with Wireless turned on and the DVD player in use. When I turn off wireless (both Blue Tooth and network) and I refrain from using the DVD player, I am getting just under 4 hours.
While this computer is very thin and light weight, I find it a bit large for use on a plane (if you travel in economy class like I do) and a bit bulky. I still prefer to use my 13 inch laptop for that function even though it is not as thin as this one is, it does better with the space on the plane if you plan on working while you fly.
I have an HP g7 1326dx that I just got a few months ago. This unit fares very favorably and despite some of the things noted below, I'd choose this one over that one. The Acer is noticably snappier, the display is better looking and the USB 3.0 port seals the deal. Integrated bluetooth 4.0-HS is a great added value that the 1326dx doesn't have, 4.0 or otherwise. That dang dongle is just about a deal breaker though. For what it is worth, the Windows score for the HP is 4.5 and the Acer is 4.3. HP's graphics drag it way down and the processor drags the Acer down.
The touch pad has no left/right buttons so that is something to get used to. The bottom part of the pad tilts down for clicks. I've found right clicking to be a challenge. Put your finger pad on the edge of the hard plastic and use your finger tip for right clicks.
Left clicks that need to be held, like Chrome's back button being held to see history, requires use of the bottom left click as opposed to a tap and hold anywhere.
The keyboard is part of the ventilation system so it cannot be covered with a protector if you like to use those.
The display is really crisp.
Although it doesn't come with a restore disk, you can make one. It offers to do that when you boot up the first time. Mine said I'd need 5 DVDs (~15 gig) but I reckon you could cut it down with higher capacity disks. If you don't have any pick some up so you can burn your restore image right off the bat.
Battery life is okay. I played some mp3s for about 2 hours before the battery gave out. Far short of the 4 hour mark but running the built in speakers non-stop isn't what you'd do anyway on battery power alone. I was just curious to see how long the battery would last. The 1326dx has much better battery life but it has 6 cells and weighs a little over a pound more.
There is one USB 3.0 port and two 2.0 ports. It is hard to believe that the price difference in the two types of ports is the reason for not having all three be version 3.0. It is backwards compatable with 2.0. The performance difference is huge. I'm guessing it was mostly a marketing decision so folks don't have to know 3.0 is backwards compatable or even what backward compatible means. A nice 3.0 thumb drive would be cool to get with this laptop: Corsair Flash Survivor USB 3.0 32GB Drive (CMFSV3-32GB)
[Edit 07/14/2012
I ran a some casual tests on the USB ports. Wow! The 3.0 thumb drive is super fast even on the 2.0 ports. I found that copying to the drive on the 3.0 was almost as fast on the 2.0 as the 3.0 port. For testing I used a folder that had a couple of dozen files with a size of about 450MB. The 3.0 was as quick as 28 seconds and the 2.0 was around 35 seconds.
I tested the same folder on my HP's 2.0 port and it took 101 seconds to transfer the folder to the drive.
So a good USB 3.0 drive would be a great purchase to go with your new laptop if you don't have one yet.
/edit]
All 3 USB ports are on the left side. Something to be aware of for sure. My other laptop has one port on the right side and two on the left which I find to be very convenient. All other ports for the Acer are also on the left side. The right side has only the DVD drive. A USB hub may be handy: J-Tech Digital SuperSpeed USB 3.0 4-Port Hub Backward Compatible with USB 2.0 with USB 3.0 Cable
There is no Lan plug. Nor is there a monitor port. Instead Acer has created a proprietary port that uses a dongle cable for external monitor and RJ-45 cable. I'm on the fence about that as a feature. It means that you have to keep up with the dongle or you won't be able to use a Lan cable or D-plug type monitor. So if you forget or lose the dongle and the location you are at does not have wifi you're up the creek for Internet access. WiFi is built in so that may not be an issue for you at all.
There is a built in HDMI port so you could use that if you didn't have the dongle with you. As long as someone had a handy HDMI cable and a monitor that supported it. Bah.
Amazon has this in the tech details: "500 GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive Solid-State Drive". Acer lists the drive like that too. According to Hitachi it is a SATA drive. [edit: Nor is it a Hybrid HD. Just a plain old normal HD.]
I really like this laptop. The snappiness seems to be better than the HP, which is a quad-core, and the screen looks better. It is a lot of bang for the buck.
[Update Jan 4th 2013
If you will need to do a lot of typing with this laptop's built-in keyboard you may want to rethink your purchase. I noticed that I made more mistakes on this laptop but I assumed it was just my poor typing skills. In the comments Running Rampant asked about that very thing.
I've been using a USB keyboard for a while now. So if that is an option then the no worries.
/update]
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program The past 8 years has involved *extensive* travel for me, so I look at technology on the go from a unique perspective as someone who must pack light for crazy situations within the US, usually last minute, for unknown durations, yet needing access to current technology including a fully functional reliable laptop. The Acer Aspire V5-531-4636 15.6-Inch HD Display Laptop (Black) is just that the perfect laptop for today's Road Warrior. The laptop is designed for both work and entertainment in a form fitting feather light weight complete package that runs cool to the touch no more burnt legs from typing that report (or book) while resting in the recliner or in bed.Easy setup and configuration straight from the box to streaming Netflix in 10 minutes, flat. Wow. IMPRESSIVE smooth HD video! Great digital audio via "virtual surround sound" (per an audiophile!) Not alot of included junk and papers, just the bare minimums without sacrificing anything necessary, also impressive (and saves a few trees!) The viewing angle of the obviously HD screen is good I can readily read the screen or watch a video from a 45 degree angle to the screen.
Feather-light-weight, form fitting, cool package easy to use keyboard, very intuitive even in the dark for this touch-typist. Love the built-in numeric keypad! (This review was written and posted via this laptop during the first half-hour of use... during therapy time (while flat on my back...))
Included in the box:
Laptop and Battery (when installed appears as part of the hinge so tiny!)
typical 2-part power cord
Dongle for ethernet and 15 pin video (neither of which are used as much with today's technology but great to have for those necessary times.)
small collection of assorted documentation
Ports and Features:
15.6" HD display with true 16:9 aspect ratio viewable at least a 45 degree viewing angle
4 GB ram, 500 GB hard drive
1.3 megapixel webcam
Left Side Front to Rear:
Headphone/headset standard size (supports headset mic double circuit single jack)
2 USB 2.0
1 USB 3.0
HDMI full size
Dongle Port (ethernet and 15 pin video)
Power port
Right Side Front to Rear:
DVD-RW multi-drive (not always built into laptops anymore)
Cable lock port
Front left:
SD/SDHC/MMC card reader
All in all I am very impressed. I have not yet found how to "right click" with the built-in keypad as there are no left/right click buttons near the touchpad (instead I plugged in a mouse, for now...) left click is the typical tap on the touchpad. This laptop is now my goto laptop for both daily use and for those crazy days traveling whether for business or for pleasure.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program The other reviewers have given you a lot of the specifics, so I will just focus on the look and feel. This computer is extremely thin and light. I have a 10" notebook that feels heavier than this. It's a very sleek design and looks a lot more expensive than what it costs. If you carry your computer around a lot, you'll be very pleased with the size. The battery is really small, but I have found that it usually last for around 3 3.5 hours, depending on the activity, so it really stands up well. The charging time doesn't take too long either. I like the feel of the keyboard, nothing seems awkward. The touchpad takes a bit of getting used to, but I like it fine. I really like that it came with Windows 7 Premium. I have an Acer notebook that just had Home Basic and I had to pay to upgrade to Premium, so it's awesome that I didn't have to with this one. I also love that they included Word and Excel since I use both of those a lot. The display is very sharp and clear which is great for watching movies. You won't be disappointed with this purchase.Honest reviews on Acer Aspire V5-531-4636 15.6-Inch HD Display Laptop (Black)
Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I really love this Acer Aspire notebook. I've had 3 laptops, and I would say this is my favorite. I'm not at all technically inclined, so I can't say much about the technical side, except that 3 of my brothers who are "techi's" tried the Aspire out and all of them really liked it.My last laptop was a Toshiba satellite, and this notebook makes that laptop seem huge, yet it has the same size screen, and does everything and more than the Toshiba does. None of my other laptops had a webcam or microphone, and this one does, so I can talk and see my relatives that live out of state, which is really cool!
My favorite thing about it is probably the speakers, though. I've always had to use an external speaker with my laptops because the speakers weren't loud enough. These speakers are excellent, and loud! I haven't had to use an external speaker for anything not Netflix, YouTube, iTunes or anything I've listened to.
I'm just a basic computer user using email, facebook, iTunes, Netflix, etc., and I do a lot of online shopping this computer does everything I need it to and more. I also had a chance to deal with the Acer online customer service because something happened to my adapter cord (I suspect my puppy, but don't know for sure). I asked where I could buy a new one, and they sent me one for free! It got here in about 2 days, so I have to say their customer service is also excellent.
The computer has a nice, sleek look, it's very light as well. I honestly can't think of a single con for this one, and I highly recommend it.
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program UPDATE: 29 Nov 2012:I continue to use this laptop and it continues to perform without any issues other than the battery not staying fully charged as noted in my last update. If you do nothing and leave the laptop plugged in and running, the battery seems to drop to 92% and then just stays at that level unless you power cycle it (see my July update).
I have the full version of Office 2010 loaded on this laptop as well as Visio Pro and everything runs perfectly. I am still pleased with the performance of this laptop and continue to recommend it as an excellent value for an entry level computer.
UPDATE: 27 July 2012:
I have been using this computer constantly now for about two months and it has started to show battery issues. If the computer is left plugged in and turned on for a period of 5 days or more, the battery level indicates that the charge level is starting to drop (around 94 to 95% charge) and states that the battery is not charging. The only way I have found to fix this is to unplug the power supply with the computer turned on and to drain the battery for at least 10 minutes. After that amount of time, you can plug it back in and the battery will start charging again and take it up to 100%. This then seems to hold until you leave it plugged in and turned on for 4 to 5 days. At that point, you need to go through the same process all over again.
This probably would not be an issue if you constantly use the computer on battery and only plug it in to charge it. However, if you are using it as a desktop unit for any amount of time you should pay attention to the charge level on the battery. Experience with other laptops that exhibit this has shown that if you do not pay attention and the charge level continues to drop, you may NOT be able to recharge the battery and will need to buy a replacement! Just something to keep in mind.
ORIGINAL REVIEW:
I received this product through the Amazon Vine program. This is a light weight 15 inch laptop that is configured as an entertainment, Internet use, and light computing work laptop. The battery is a 4 cell unit that is probably the smallest battery I have ever seen for a laptop. However, it delivers a bit over 3 hours when playing a DVD with the wireless connected to the network. The laptop is very thin, so thin in fact that it cannot support a wired Ethernet connection and resorts to a dongle that provides a video connection and an Ethernet connection (the cable is a Y configuration). This makes for a very light computer. Of course, if you have wireless, the dongle is probably not needed. The wireless on this computer is VERY easy to setup! It also supports all of the current standards. I had no problem connecting to my n-router.
Here are the features of this laptop:
The laptop is configured to deliver the best display for videos. As such, it displays in wide format at 720p and has a screen resolution max of 1366 X 768. Videos look decent as long as they are viewed straight on. Moving up or down and left and right from direct view causes the image to fade and colors to disappear.
The audio is pretty typical of what you would expect from most laptops, tinny sounding at the best and high volume distorts. If you want to watch a movie, I would suggest using headphones! I have a pair of Sony Studio headphones and with those I have more than acceptable audio. This same caveat also applies to music; use either headphones or good powered speakers if you want acceptable audio.
One of the amazing features of this laptop is the fact that the keyboard contains a full 10 key on it. Now, this is not a big deal if you do not work with numbers very much, but it is a great feature if you do a lot of numeric inputs into something like Excel. As long as we are talking about the keyboard functions, I find that the keys are responsive and I have not had any issues with them. I type about 100 WPM and I have a rather heavy hand as I learned to type on a manual typewriter (Ok, I know I am as old as dirt!). So, the fact that there is not any key bounce (double or triple letters on a key stroke) indicates a fairly well made keyboard in my experience. The widescreen format of the display allows for the increased real-estate for the keyboard width to support the full keyboard functions.
The touchpad on this computer is fairly large and includes the normal right and left click positions. This design provides a lot of area for being able to use your fingers to move the cursor, it also provides a wonderful opportunity for frustration as you try to right or left click on something. The reason for the problem is that since the area where you right and left click are also part of the touch pad area, if you do not strike straight down for the function you can wind up moving the cursor to something you did not intend to strike instead of the function that you were looking for. This is NOT my favorite feature of the computer and may be an area where I would adjust to in time. For me, however, this simply means that I connect a wireless mouse to the computer to use instead of the touch pad.
Speaking of using a wireless mouse, this computer only has two USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 port. So, if you normally connect a few devices via USB ports, you are going to need an external port hub. One thing that helps with this limitation is the fact that the computer has built in Blue Tooth so if you have devices that will work with that you do not need to use a USB port.
As long as we are talking about external connections, this computer does have all of the options covered. There is a HDMI port, a combined VGA and LAN port (a supplied Y-cable plugs into a special port and that provides the VGA and LAN connections), a thoughtfully located combined mike/speaker/headphone connection on the left side of the computer right up front, two USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 port, and the power connection all on the left side of the computer. A two in one card reader, battery charge indicator (orange when charging and blue when charged) and power indicator (blue) is located in front. The DVD drive and Kensington lock location are on the right side of the computer. All in all, a well thought out design that makes it easy to use.
The DVD drive is just that, a DVD drive that will read and write DVDs or CDs. It does NOT read Blue Ray disks so that may limit some of your movie choices.
The battery for this laptop is a very small 4 cell unit. The advantage in this is that the battery adds very little weight to the computer! The disadvantage is that the run time on battery is limited. The company lists a 4 hour battery life and I found that if you are using a DVD to play a movie and have your wireless turned on at the same time that the battery life is about 3 hours and 10 minutes. Long enough to watch a full length movie and then some.
Probably the two biggest limitations of this computer are the processor and the graphics chip. If you go to the Windows Experience Index (on the System Tab) this computer has a 4.3 number which is driven by the processor. The next limitation is graphics with a 4.5 while it surprisingly has a 5.6 gaming graphics listing. Still, the processor limitations will probably limit any gaming that you might be doing on this computer. If you do any picture editing and like making videos out of your pictures, you will find that the processor works well enough although rendering the pan and zoom features makes the playback a bit jerky.
Memory on this computer is delivered with a single 4 Gig memory module with room for a second memory module (the maximum memory the system bios will support is 8 Gig). This is unusual in that they did not put in two smaller and less expensive 2 Gig memory sticks. This allows you to just buy a single 4 Gig memory module to upgrade to the full supported memory maximum. The memory is easy to get at with the need to only remove two Philips screws. Lift the door carefully as there are two plastic snaps that must be overcome to fully open the door. Also, when you go to close it up again apply pressure gradually in the middle of the door as you close it to re-engage the plastic snaps. Then, re-install the two Philips screws and you are done.
This computer comes loaded with Microsoft Office (requires you to purchase a license key to be able to use all of the features) that gives you basic Word and Excel functionality if you do not purchase a license key. This is not trial software so it will not die in 90 days. This may be enough Office software to be adequate for many people.
Other things loaded on the computer include e-bay, Facebook, Netflix, Skype, and Nook for PC. These are all entertainment types of shortcuts. There is a 60 day version of McAfee anti-virus that will hound you to purchase the balance of a year's protection ( personally, I find the free version of anti-virus software from Microsoft (Microsoft Security Essentials) to work extremely well and it eliminates a recurring fee). They have also loaded Window's Live which provides you with several useful programs (including photo editing) that work quite well. Several games and a shopping center for games are included. As usual, there is a lot of software that you will probably wind up removing, but they do provide you with lots of options.
Speaking of options, the browser is preconfigured with BING as the search engine and with the BING tool bar. You will find that if you want to want to use another search engine, you also need to remove the BING tool bar or you will not realize that anything has changed.
All in all, this is a great laptop for the price for someone looking to surf the Internet, watch videos, have a cool looking laptop computer, and that wants to do business type of work (spreadsheets, Word documents, etc.), and e-mail. If you are looking for a gaming computer, a computer that will support intense graphics, or extended run times on battery, this is NOT the computer for you.
UPDATE:
Here is a link for a valuable quick reference for your new computer:
This link will provide you with a usable reference that shows you how to turn on and off Blue Tooth, Wireless, the touch keypad, and what all of the hot keys that are on the computer. This reference is much better than the one that shipped with the computer (too generic as it covered several models of computers).
I would also like to note that while they made it very easy for you to add memory to the computer, they also made it impossible for you to change out the hard drive! If you want to change the hard drive you need to ship it back to the company to have them change it as it is sealed in the unit. Shades of Apple technology here.
I have continued to use the computer extensively and find that it is keeping a very solid 3 hours with Wireless turned on and the DVD player in use. When I turn off wireless (both Blue Tooth and network) and I refrain from using the DVD player, I am getting just under 4 hours.
While this computer is very thin and light weight, I find it a bit large for use on a plane (if you travel in economy class like I do) and a bit bulky. I still prefer to use my 13 inch laptop for that function even though it is not as thin as this one is, it does better with the space on the plane if you plan on working while you fly.
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Cheap Dell XPS 15 XPS15-1053sLV 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silver Anodized
List Price: $1,299.99
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Dell has fixed almost all the issues with this laptop and it runs great! Battery doesn't last as long as i would like it to. After first day it got stuck on bios screen but i fixed it with the other reviewer's link. I would recommend this laptop to anyone looking for one. No wifi issues at all!!!
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They update my computer for free and I got my computer very soon! I like my computer very much.BTW, this computer may have the problem stated by other reviewer. Their solution really works.
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I like this computer, good speed, good looking, good screen. The only but.... a little bit heavyI recomend this computer.
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The laptop looked absolutely lovely and I wasn't dissapointed by the looks. It was also very fast and my colleagues were all impressed.Unfortunately, after the first day, the laptop refused to boot and got stuck on the Dell screen at the beginning. I tried all sorts but couldn't get it to work. Finally, I browsed the internet and found that others too had experienced the same problems. Luckily, instructions for sorting out the problem were on the Dell forum see below.
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I bought this laptop despite of all the bad reviews and I personally don't regret it at all. I've been using this laptop for past 2 weeks and haven't faced any problem; no wi-fi issues or anything. The machine boots very fast and graphics is awesome. I enjoy watching movies and playing games in this pc. Although it is quite heavy and battery life doesn't last that long, it is still a good deal for those who want laptops with good performance and looks. I recommend it for both its looks and performance.
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