Review of HP Pavilion dv8t Quad Edition series - FULL HD (1080) - Windows 7

Customer Ratings:

I've owned this machine for several years. About 3 months in, the touch buttons started to act oddly. At first the wifi would turn off unexpectedly. Sometimes the volume would go up and down sporadically or the treble and/or Base would adjust up and down. I knew this because it would show on the display which interrupted my work and sometimes turned the internet off.

I stupidly didn't do anything about this until after the warranty expired, but they still attempted to update some drivers and so forth for free despite being out of warranty. No such luck fixing it. I think I spent probably $3,000 on this laptop when I bought it.

I read online that the true fix for this problem is to dismantle the computer and wrap the button assembly in some kind of insulative tape. I did not do this. I just live with my internet occasionally shutting off and sometimes I can't get on the web at all until I bend and flex the laptop or push on the keyboard in just this one spot until it comes back on.

The machine performs well despite that complete defect. Other than that, the machine runs hot, the batteries last about a half hour fully charged because of the massive amount of memory and processor power. It is a massive and heavy machine for a laptop witch makes a great machine for computing, but horrible to take through the airport. I only found one laptop bag that would accomodate the size at the time.

The remote control is nice, although tied somehow to the HP entertainment suite of lame software that I have only once bothered to use.

My wifi has turned off twice during the typing of this post.

I will likely stay away from HP Products in the future.

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I have had mine since 12/2010. It came with 1 500 gig 7200 rpm hard drive, There are 2 bays for hard drives. I installed another 750 gig in the second bay even though H.P. said it would not work. Went on line and found the connecter for 12 dollars. Their Tech support sucks unless you are from India and can keep up with them when they start getting very exited and talking faster,and faster and faster. This laptop is very heavy, but the good (far outweighs the bad) The full 1080P picture is outstanding and, the sound is like no other laptop I have ever heard, It actually has a sub woofer.(IT IS LOUD) This computer never froze on me. I got mine with 6gigs of memory 1gig 230 gforce 230m video card, I7920 processor,8 cell battery.intigrated tv tuner,antenna,remote/bluray player/dual layer DVD burner/no blu tooth/Brightveiw screen that can be seen from all angles with no ghosting/fingerprint reader/Windows7Pro and built in recovery that I used about a year ago just to refresh it. The cons however are low battery life,and crappy H.P. software such as the tone control for bass and treble which will pop up on screen and drive you nuts.Go to start/run/ msconfig/startup/tone control and uncheck it. This due to a static electricity build up that HP has been aware of and has done nothing about. You can take the battery out and hold your finger on the power button for about 30 seconds to discharge the static but it will come back within hours.Just set your bass and treble and disable the HP tone control. Another one is the H.P. TV tuner software,(Garbage) use media center for you TV. Be aware that when using media center your computer will not wake out of sleep mode to record any shows that you selected?? HP doesn't know either,They just get exited and start talking faster when you ask them why??? One more little problem is after about a year you will get a rattle from the sub woofer on the bottom of the unit. This is due to the cheap little plastic cover that covers the sub woofer itself. My buddy got the same computer and his started doing the same thing. I just took a rubberband and made a gasket and it solved the problem. This computer does get warm but not hot like some of the other reviews said. If you use it for any type of gaming get the NZXT CRYO LX aluminum note book cooler from amazon, it is AWSOME! All in All any computer will have it's problems, They all do! The problems with this machine I can deal with! It has been a killer computer for what I spent in 2010 at $1400 with the 3 year warranty.Now I see them on line for $2500 dollars, What is that all about? (GREED)

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If you want a awesome large screen laptop for school, work, or multimedia, this is an awesome machine. I bought one 2 Christmas's ago and am typing this review on it now. I bought it for $1400 with the blu-ray and i7 proc with some free upgrades at the HP online store. I use it almost every day and it's been working very well. The only reason I can't give it 5 stars is that it has a heating problem, so I can't recommend this machines for gamers. If you have heavy graphics going on, the graphics processor will overheat and there aren't enough vents to keep it cool. It will start to freeze, especially when it gets older. You will need a laptop fan, and if you use the HDMI port you will need to set the graphics to only laptop screen or hdmi out, and not both. This will help keep it cool, especially at 1080P. I use this computer for surfing, Netflix, HBO-GO, and music to my Sony Bravia TV/receiver. I DO NOT recommend using it as a DVD/blu-ray player as it will wear down the hardware, use a $100 player for that.

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion dv8t Quad Edition series - FULL HD (1080) - Windows 7

I bought it from Sam's Club back in 2010. And within 2 weeks of using it, I had to do a hard drive reset by the recommendations of HP customer service to fix the screen freezing issues and the crashes, which happened a lot for a BRAND NEW laptop. Took it back to Sam's Club and get my full refund. Even though I liked the design and the sound system and Sam's club price was cheap(799.99). But get frustrated with it.

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In spite of the impressive specs this laptop was a huge disappointment. Even when fairly new this laptop would continuously run hot, the wifi and treble/base controls would continuously cycle themselves off and on again. All these problems persisted even after sending the laptop in for service. It died a mere two and a half years after purchase, I squeezed 7 years out of last laptop. Will not be coming back to HP for computers.

ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop (11.5 Hours of Reviews

Customer Ratings:

EDIT: An updated and revised review of this laptop can be found at over at Expert Laptop Review:

I recently went on a laptop buying rampage and have ended up with the Dell Studio 14z, HP dm3z (L625 + Radeon 4330), and the Asus UL80VT-A1 in possession all at once. The first part of this review will focus solely on the Asus UL80VT-A1 and the second part of this review will compare it with my experience with the Dell Studio 14z and the HP dm3z.

ASUS UL80VT-A1 DETAILED REVIEW

First and foremost, let me say that I ordered the UL80VT-A1 because I thought it was simply an awesome idea to have switchable graphics in a laptop because you get excellent battery life + excellent performance when needed. There were no reviews of the UL80VT out when I purchased it, so I purchased the UL80VT-A1 from , which has a 100 percent refund on purchases just in case things didn't work out with me and the new lady.

While I was waiting to recieve the laptop in the mail, I read a review over at . Oh boy, was I disappointed considering all the bad things the reviewer had to say about it (i.e. bad keyboard, bad track pad, horrible build quality, poor gaming performance). Needless to say, I had second thoughts about even opening up the Asus UL80VT-A1 because I didn't think it was worth my time considering the all the problems the reviewer had with his review model.

So that morning I got my HP dm3z in the mail and was really excited about how incredibly beautiful the laptop was. It is definitely sexier (in my opinion) than every other ultraportable out there, including the Macbook Pro 13" and HP Envy 13. I'll get to the dm3z a little later... either way, my first impression led me to believe that I'd probably be keeping the dm3z and just returning the Asus. When the Asus came in the mail, I wasn't even watching for it like I had been the dm3z. But I did take it upstairs and opened it up. (Unboxing video coming soon...)

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

My first impression was astoundingly contradictory to review I had read. I picked it up, squeezed it, pushed on the keyboard, which had minimal flex that wasn't noticeable to me when typing. My other first impressions were just how well the trackpad worked. The two finger scroll worked flawlessly (though it isn't as smooth of a scroll as Apple's, it functions equally responsively and is just as useful).

GRAPHICS PERFORMANCE Rating 9/10

Over the last view days, I've been taking the UL80VT-A1 out for spin in a series of gaming tests. The first game I tested was the ever popular Counter-Strike: Source. I was astounded by the computer's ability to put out 150 FPS in the stress test at native resolution of 1366x768. I had been expecting to get closer to 80-100 FPS. I then tested it with 4x AA on, and it resulted in 99 FPS, which is phenomenal considering that AA usually cripple weaker graphics cards like the Nvidia 210M.

I was eager to test out the UL80VT's performance in some of the latest games because of the previous review I had read that had denounced its ability to play modern games. I had recently purchased Batman: Arkham Asylum. I loaded it up with the default settings, which were set on Very High at native 1366x768 resolution. Game play was moderately smooth and playable, but it was also noticably choppy at times with those settings (26 FPS average in the video stress test), so I dropped the settings down to medium. This time the Asus got 40 FPS average in the video stress test, and the game play was perfectly playable and smooth.

I then downloaded Team Fortress 2. It has been known to give ultraportable gaming machines a tough time due to its high shader requirements. When playing, I averaged about 50-60 FPS at native resolution with everything on High with no AA. I noticed drops down to 30 FPS when in heavy action, but it was not too disruptive to game play. I don't think it went below 30 FPS during the time I played.

After hearing claims that Asus UL80VT could not run Need For Speed: Shift well. I downloaded the demo to see if these claims were true. Fortunately, they were not. I was able to achieve playable frame rates, though it was a little choopy with the default settings, which had the screen at 1024x768 resolution and everything else up in detail. I tried changing the settings, but after changing the settings to lower the resolution to 800x600, the game repeatedly gave me an error and crashed right as the race was about to start. Unfortunately, I was not able to do a formal test, but it was clear that the game was getting at least 30 FPS at 800x600 resolution with texture settings on High. I would expect the game to be very playable as long as you are content with 800x600 (or maybe slightly better res) and medium settings.

I also managed to squeeze in a little play time in Protoype, another recent game that was released earlier this year. It played very smoothly at the default 1280x720 (which was the max res for some reason) and on the default medium settings.

Another game I was able to try was Call of Duty: World at War, which has identical specs to the latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. People will be glad to know that I was able to achieve 35-40 FPS constant at native resolution 1366x768 with texture settings on "normal" (except for "shader settings" which I set to "low"). I also turned off all of the extra graphical features, which didn't make much of a difference in visuals anyway.

In conclusion regarding the gaming peformance of this ultraportable laptop, it has excellent performance and handles most modern games fluidly at native resolution.

BATTERY LIFE Rating 10/10

Yesterday, I used the laptop for 3 hours early in the morning with wifi on and brightness up. Later that day, I used it for about 15 minutes running Batman: AA. I then used it about 7 hours more with brightness at about 20% (2.5 hours with wifi on and 4.5 with it off). In total the laptop lasted me 10.25 hours between a mixture of wifi, gaming, and note taking/paper writing. I was extremely happy to get this excellent of performance out of it. This was precisely what I was looking for in terms of battery life.

BUILD QUALITY Rating 6/10

My initial impression was that the build quality was just average--not great, but nothing bad about it either, but now after having it for a couple days, I now agree with Charles' review about some of the issues with build quality. Yesterday morning when I was typing, I noticed that when I pressed down on the front edge of the left palm rest it squeaked annoyingly (it hadn't pressed down on this part of the laptop when it was on a hard surface yet because it had always been on my laptop up until this point).

I began squeezing the front edge and noticed that top part of the chassis isn't cemented to the bottom part of the chassis very well so that when you put pressure on it (such as when you rest your palm on it) it made a noise. I tried placing about an inch long piece of scotch tape across the part that was sqeaking, and the squeaking went away completely. It was disappointing to find this because it was the first issue with the build quality. Also, I now understand what Charles meant when he said that when he pressed in the center of the laptop it causes the bottom of the laptop to touch the surface it is resting on...

It's not if you press in the middle of the keyboard like I had thought Charles had said (my bad!!)... it's if you press on the trackpad buttons (like Charles had really said), he was right that you can feel the laptop touch the surface it is resting on, but the thing Charles was wrong about is that it isn't the bottom of the laptop touching the surface below it... it's a little "support peg/foot" that protrudes from the bottom of the laptop about 1/10" of an inch.

The overall chassis does flex a tad, but it is just the peg touching, and the peg is maybe moving 1/16" of an inch tops (probably less). So yes, the chassis does flex just a hair, but not as bad as the review makes it sound (I think the review should be updated with this information personally).

I am thinking about putting a drop of super glue on the edge of the left palm rest to keep it from squeaking. I'm pretty sure it would work without a hitch unless you put too much glue and then tried to take the casing apart and wasn't able to. I figure it wouldn't void the 1 year accidental warranty but maybe the 2 year standard warranty if they figured out what I did. I'm not sure though... I figure you can always "cut through" the glue so that the chassis can be opened if you needed to send it in for repairs.

I also noticed that the entire surface (including the aluminum top) acquires fingerprints. I was disappointed that the aluminum top also was prone to oils from my fingers.

HEAT MANAGEMENT Rating 10/10

The heat on this bad-boy is hardly noticeable. I think more heat is generated because it is restricting the airflow over your lap more than anything. Whenever my lap started to feel a little warm, I would feel the bottom of the laptop but the bottom of the laptop never got hot. It was always just the fact that my legs weren't getting as much air to cool them down.

I was also able to play Batman:AA while on my lap just fine, though it was starting to be mildly uncomfortable by the time 30 mins rolled around. Still, as far as gaming on the lap goes, I think it would be doable, and far more doable than on any other laptop I have ever tried.

This laptop is by far the coolest running laptop I have ever owned (I've owned about 14 different laptops...). For this reason, I give it a 10/10 in heat management.

KEYBOARD Rating 8/10

Overall, I find the keyboard to be a little above average. I do not like the fact that there are no keys dedicated to playing and pausing music. To access media controls, you must hold the FN button down and tap the arrow keys (down arrow = play/pause). I do not notice any flex when typing. The primary concern that I had was from the squeaky palm rest edge when typing. After I fixed that issue, the keyboard became quite pleasant to use.

TRACK PAD Rating 9/10

I find the track pad to be the best track pad I have ever used on a PC. It does have a glossy surface, but I did not find that the surface was not nearly as sticky as the surface on many HPs (including the dm3z). I also found the trackpad to be responsive and that the multitouch gestures such as two-finger scrolling to work perfectly nearly every time.

The ELAN touch pad has configurable options to enable you to change the sensitivity of the two-finger scroll as well as enable you to use two and three finger taps to do customizable actions. I have my two-finger tap to do a right click and my three-finger tap to show my desktop.

My only complaint regarding the touch pad is that the uni-button. The uni-button looks like only one button, but has a left side and right side that makes up two buttons. When the uni-button was pressed towards the middle, it was very difficult to click, but if you pressed it near the ends the button became more usable. This was also the case with the Acer Timeline 4810t that I had owned for some time. I have found that the tap to click function is very usable, especially since I can just use two fingers if I need to right click. Therefore, I hardly use the button anymore anyway. My system works just fine.

OVERALL VERDICT Rating 9/10

Despite its (fixable) flaws in build quality and poor touch pad button (again just use "tap to click" instead), I'm still impressed with laptop and can definitely recommend it to friends who aren't particularly picky about build quality. The UL80VT-A1 will provide the performance most casual gamers want in a portable package that has a very long battery life and is inexpensive compared to similar models. [Oh, wait, scratch that... There has never been anything like the UL80VT-A1 to ever come out before... except maybe the Acer Timeline 3810TG that had switchable graphics, but that computer was only available in the UK. ]

COMPARED TO THE COMPETITION (DELL STUDIO 14Z and HP DM3Z)

I have now owned a Dell Studio 14z for about two months. I also purchased a HP dm3z, which I had originally planned on writing a review of but I don't know if I'll find the time. Maybe I'll just do a video review...

Anyway, the HP dm3z initially impressed me tremendously with its fantastic metal looks and thin profile. However, two issues became immediately apparent that prevented me from considering the laptop further: the HP dm3z produced a tremendous amount of heat even while just idling (the bottom got roasting hot while playing games... though the palm rests stayed pretty cool) and I quickly became frustrated by track pad lag and malfunctioning two-finger scrolling. The problem with the two finger scroll is due to the fact that it does not always register that you are actually using two fingers, therefore, it thinks you only have one finger down and shoots your mouse all the way across the screen where you didn't want it to go.

Beside the two-finger scroll I noticed minimal track pad lag (though there was lag). The track pad was definitely usable and should not prevent someone entirely from purchasing it for that sole reason, but after trying out the UL80VT's track pad and comparing the two. It was night and day. The UL80VT's was immediately responsive and the two-finger scrolling worked perfectly pretty much all the time. I have sorely missed two-finger scrolling since getting rid of my Macbook Pro a year ago. I am very glad that PCs are starting to make it standard on the majority of notebooks today. Unfortunately, the HP dm3z did not have good enough drivers to make the two-finger scrolling worthwhile.

One thing that I really liked about the dm3z is that it had an excellent keyboard with zero flex and it included media control buttons for the function keys (like Dell Studio 14z). I would definitely recommend the dm3z to people as long as you understand that it is going to produce a lot of heat (especially while watching video/playing games), the track pad is just going to be so-so, and you aren't going to achieve the same battery life you would if you went with the UL80VT (unless you went with the intel version with integrated graphics).

I began searching for a new laptop shortly after I found paint chipping on my Dell Studio 14z. It was frustrating since I try to take excellent care of my laptops and chipped paint tends to bring the resale value of laptops down tremendously. All in all, I found my experience with the 14z to be a good one and would recommend the laptop to someone who has a strict budget and can't afford a UL80VT.

With the dell, I was typically able to get about 3.5-4.5 hours of battery life (8-cell in windows 7) while surfing the internet-writing documents. The HP dm3z seems to get about 4.5 hrs of web surfing time. The Asus literally doubles the length of my time I am going to be away from the wall (with both the HP and the Dell...).

My primary complaints with the Dell Studio 14z were related to the build quality (paint chipping and noticeable keyboard flex that was causing me discomfort). I loved the back-lit keyboard and will miss that feature on the UL80VT, though I am a touch typist so it will make little difference in terms of actual functionality.

I love the fact that my UL80VT has a DVD-RW because I like to watch DVDs at Starbucks that I rent from Redbox. I couldn't do that with the 14z because it lacked an optical drive, but I can do that with the Asus.

It should also be noted that the UL80VT has a better screen than both the Dell and the HP (in my opinion).

IN CONCLUSION

After I discovered the flex, I began contemplating switching over to a Macbook Pro 13". So I went to my local Best Buy to compare sizes, keyboard, touchpad, etc... I got to the store and there was a bestbuy sales guy there that I got to know pretty well when I bought my Dell Studio 14z. I began explaining to him how the 14z hadn't met my needs due to a sucky touch pad and paint chipping off for no reason, etc. I pulled my UL80VT out of my bag and explain to him the features of the laptop (i.e. switchable graphics, 10 hour battery life). I loaded up Batman Arkham Asylum and he was amazed that it played smoothly at native resolution. I showed him squeaky palm rest and explained to him I was considering getting a 13" Macbook Pro. He responded pretty quickly that he didn't think that apple would have anything that would be an upgrade from this so just recommended that I just stick with the Asus... (lol and he's a sales guy that is supposed to sell laptops for best buy, not recommend for me not to buy them... lol)

I agree with the guy at Best Buy. Apple's got nothing on the Asus UL80VT... except maybe better build quality, poorer performance, and a $500 dollar increase in price. Hint: get the Asus, unless build quality is of utmost importance to you.

I'm sorry that this review was so scatter-brained. I like to keep things more organized, but I also just wanted to get this review posted!!

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I don't usually spend my time putting in reviews because it doesn't benefit me much (I know, kind of selfish) but this product was just too good to not leave a review, especially since there's no review here yet.

I've been looking at laptops for years now, always looking for the one that hits all the sweet spot. I didn't NEED it so I was able to just keep waiting for the right one. Here were all the things I was looking for.

Fast speed For gaming like World of Warcraaft, etc.

Long battery life It's not mobile if you're chained to power cord.

Decent price Nobody should be paying more than a grand for a laptop.

Temperature This is something many people don't think much about until too late. Laptops get HOT, and then they're no longer LAPtop, but a DESKtop.

DVD drive Because I like to keep my options open.

Every laptops I've seen through deal sites, etc NEVER met all of these criteria. Until now. This computer really is THE laptop to get right now.

Pros-------------

Great speed I just ran World of Warcraft and it runs SMOOTH with mid-high setting. I also saw from another review that this can run Farcry2 or Crysis2 at 40fps which is pretty damn good.

LED screen This takes some getting used to since I'm not used to seeing such rich black on monitor but it looks bright, crisp, and shiny. (latter might be issue if you live with many light fixtures)

Video YES it has Nvidia video card on top of Intel integrated. This allows for awesome gaming which many other laptops just can't do.

Temperature It doesn't burn! :D It still gets warm, especially on left side near vent but it's not so hot that I have to put something underneath to shield my lap like previous laptops I had.

Weight I'm kinda scrawny guy and I can lift this with one hand with no issue. This will be handy as you move around the house or carry in yer bag.

Battery life AWESOME. just check any other review on this because they'll all tell you this thing last a loong time. It was tough to find laptops that can last long WHILE also having great performance AND be under a grand. Now there is.

ExpressGate It allows you to turn on a laptop from off or hibernation mode, into special operating system that has skype, photo, and web browser among others. So if you need to google something quick, now you can! There's downside to that in cons section.

Cons----------------------

Keyboard This is very minor annoyance but I want to be thorough. When you type, sometimes, you hear this light metal ringing-ish sound that's coming from metal underneath the keyboard. It's not the quietest keyboard you'll use but it won't drive you crazy either.

Touchpad I had to figure out the issue with this because it was bugging the hell out of me. It has two and three finger gestures like scroll and right/middle click. Issue was it wasn't accurate and working sporadically. Scroll especially was driving me nuts because it'll scroll at its own speed/time. I tried pressing my fingers lightly/heavily but difference. Then I figured it out. You have to have you movement straight up and down or left/right. When people use the touchpad, we usually have our hand in an angle so we end up scrolling in almost like \ instead of |. Well, touchpad doesn't like that. Same goes for right/middle click that requires 2-3 fingers. It works best if you have your fingers in same x axis. Some people won't be affected since they'll use mouse but if you'll be using touchpad a lot, be prepared for bit of adjustment. Oh, and if you prefer to click the button instead of tapping the touchpad for mouse clicks, exercise your finger because button's bit harder to press than other touchpad buttons I've used.

ExpressGate Idea is great. Execution, not quite. I was expecting instant on like when you come out of sleep mode but unfortunately, there's still some wait involved. 10-ish seconds I believe. Also, Asus installed regular monitor version of expressgate onto this widescreen laptop so everything's stretched to fit widescreen. So far, I haven't figured out how to change resolution in this mode. It's good for quick browsing but not for long session.

Power cable OMG, where do ASUS think people live in? Castles!? Power cord is the longest I've ever seen. About 10-11 ft total (big power block right in the mid point). And although it comes with velcro strip to manage the cable, I found there's too much cable to roll the cable neatly. Just prepare for some mess when packing cable. Good thing this has 10 hour battery life so you won't have to deal with cable too much.

All in all, Pros are all important crucial items and Cons are minor annoyance at best. This is really the best laptop you could get at this price with this much features and performance. I remember coming across Sony and HP that had similarity (good speed, light weight, dvd) and those were going for 1800ish.. and it didn't even have 10hr battery life. If you don't believe me, when you go out for laptop shopping, just have this computer's feature written down and compare. You ain't gonna find one that beats it easily.

EDIT:

Couple things I came across after prolonged use.

1. It does get hot, especially near vent but only when I'm using it intensely like 3d games. but it doesn't get hot on the surface much. Just underneath near vent.

2. Changing performance mode requires you to quit any apps that use video card, such as Photoshop, games, etc. So change before you load them. Otherwise, when you press the button to change the power mode, nothing happens.

3. OMG FINGERPRINT MAGNET. EVERYWHERE. >.<

Still loving it though.

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I have never written a review of any kind, not that I don't come across good products or service, but it's like the next item on one's list which one never gets to. However, the ul80vt-a1 is just too awesome a laptop that after one week of ownership, I am still jumping up and down like a little puppy, given my typical enthusiasm normally lasts no more than 48 hours.

By the time you read my review, you've already known all the good things about this laptop -very long battery life, fast performance, cool to touch, bright screen with sharp resolution, clear and loud speakers, thin and light weight in spite of the presence of an optical drive, fast to boot. The list goes on and on, and it is all true. By the way, there is one item I haven't seen mentioned yet -the battery charges extremely fast without getting hot. And no, I don't work for Asus. In fact, before I started researching for a good laptop to buy, I didn't even know who or what Asus was, and I still cannot pronounce its name.

But what makes me so happy is that all the bad things I heard in these reviews are also not true. Not every single feature is perfect. There are some items one can fault with, but they really amount to nothing. This is what I want everyone to know so one doesn't gloss over this great laptop because someone out there doesn't like the feel of the keyboard.

1. Regardless of what other people said, the build quality of my laptop is very high, no different from the HP's, the Dell's and the Lenovo's I have owned. No, it is not flimsy, and everything snaps correctly with no gap or sharp edge.

2. The keyboard is fine. It does not feel the same as a Lenovo, but it doesn't flex like others say either. It's just that the keys are not as bouncy, so they feel a little bit soft.

3. Some reviewers mentioned the screen does not have sharp contrast. It is true when the brightness is set on high, the screen may look a little washed out, but it's not something you cannot solve by tilting the screen a little up or down. By the way, reflection from the glossy screen is not an issue, to my surprise, and you can see fine outdoor.

4. The touch pad arguably is the worst feature on this laptop. It is more sticky than one with a matte finish, and once in a while you will go out of boundary without realising it. The large single touch pad button below is positioned awkwardly and is quite honestly hard to press because the frame the button is set in is in the way. The touch pad one can get used to; the button, highly questionable.

5. Yes, fingerprints do show up, but they can be readily wiped off without much fanfare. However, if you like having a bag of greasy chips in one hand and use the computer with the other, this laptop can be a problem for you. On the other hand, it may help one kick one's junk food addiction.

6. So far I have two minor problems. Both are related to switching the power management mode:

6a. When I plug and unplug from the power cord, the screen does black out for a couple of seconds, unlike other laptops I've owned. Furthermore, sometimes when the screen comes back on, it will flicker when I mouse over something on the screen. The only remedy I have found so far is to close the application (IE 8 in my case) and start it again.

6b. When I press the Graphix Boost button, it changes the time zone automatically to pacific time (GMT-8). I haven't tried changing through the power management tool by selecting any of the Power4Gear options, but it probably will change the time zone just the same. It's minor to change the time zone back, provided you notice something is wrong with the time.

I genuinely think there is more than a good chance you will be very happy with the laptop. I know I am.

p.s. If reliability is important to you, a Nov 2009 study published by SquareTrade on the 3 year reliability records of 30,000 laptops from 9 vendors ranked Asus at the top.

Honest reviews on ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop (11.5 Hours of

I went through a long, 6-month search before I finally settled on the ASUS UL80Vt. As a college student, I had many seemingly contradictory criterion. I wanted:

Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of RAM, for general productivity

Long battery life, for working on campus and in class

Decent portability, for carrying it around all the time

Discrete graphics, for the occasional game

CD Drives, USB ports and HDMI, because connectivity is important

Like any college student, I looked at MacBooks, Dells and the idea of a netbook/desktop setup, but for the net $720 I got this computer for, the ASUS UL80Vt blew them away. On to the review...

PRODUCTIVITY SPEED: 8/10

A little technical note: At stock speeds, the Core2Duo SU7300 is a 1.3 GHz processor with a 800Mhz FSB. Asus overclocks this to a 1.73 GHz on a 1066Mhz FSB, matching the 4GB of DDR3 DRAM. For those who, like me, were deciding between this and laptops with faster processors, you will not notice the difference with most software. Microsoft Office works like a charm, even on massive Excel financial models and graphic presentations. Web browsing is quick even with the 11 tabs I have open right now. The only time I've noticed faster Core 2 Duos matter was on extracting large RAR files, and even then the difference is less than a minute for a 4GB file.

PHYSICAL PORTABILITY: 7/10

Definitely heavier and larger than I expected. The 14-inch screen is balanced with a decent bezel on the top and bottom. The 8-cell battery weighs a lot more than it looks. However, it is definitely smaller and lighter than the MacBook Pro. It is also very thin, topping at slightly more than 1 in. It weighs in at 4.74 lbs., and I would say is actually light for its power. However, this is not as much a Thin-and-Light as others in its class, so do adjust your expectations.

BATTERY LIFE: 11/10

Incredible battery life. On integrated graphics, I regularly get 9 hours with 30% brightness, overclocked and WLAN on, surfing the web and taking notes. 11.5 hours may actually be realistic without the overclocking or WLAN. I've watched two full-length 720p movies and still had 25% left. On the discrete graphics, you can get 3 hours of solid gaming before you're drained. This blows netbooks, MacBooks, Dells, etc. away. Simply unbelievable.

GAMING: 8/10

This laptop has both integrated Intel graphics and a discrete nVidia G210M with 512MB of memory. I have mine slightly overclocked, and it gets 4000 points on 3DMark06 with the discrete card. Can play Dragon Age, Civilization 4, Sims 3, NBA 2K9, Warcraft III and WoW with at least medium settings at native resolution. This is probably not important to most people but I love having the flexibility to play games or play movies more smoothly with the discrete graphics. This is not a gaming rig, but can play most modern games well enough.

PORTS AND CONNECTIVITY: 8/10

It has a DVD SuperDrive (burns DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, Double-Layer), 3 USB ports, an Ethernet port, a 4-in-1 memory card reader (MMC, SD, MS/MS Pro), and HDMI port, a VGA port, a microphone jack and a mic jack. It also has a 0.3 megapixel webcam and mic integrated. There's an integrated b/g/n WLAN solution, although it is not as strong as the Intel ones. A solid selection, especially on such a thin laptop. The only gripes here are the lack of eSATA and Bluetooth.

WARRANTY & SUPPORT: 10/10

2 year limited warranty with 1 year of accidental damage protection. Most laptops just come with 1 year of limited warranty. In general, extended warranties are not worth the cost, but in this case it's a welcome plus. Asus has also been very helpful with a solid support site and staff who answer questions even here.

TEMPERATURE: 10/10

Does not burn your lap. Stays very very cool. Right now the CPU is at about 98F, hard drives at 104F and the ACPI is at 118F. On load, CPU hits 130F and the GPU's have hit 180F, but still feels very cool to the touch. Can get a bit warm near the fan area on full load, but normally the fan doesn't even need to turn. The fan is also very quiet; even on max load it only has a soft hum.

Finally... to address some common gripes

BUILD QUALITY: 6/10

Definitely the weak point of this computer. Quality is not as subpar as most reviewers would have it--most laptops not called ThinkPads have some flex and give--but definitely give. The bezel is not entirely cemented to the screen, and there's a lot of give right below the screen. Keyboard flex is fine by itself; it seems extreme when you're on a desk, but that's because the entire chassis flexes when it's slightly raised. That in itself is the bigger problem. On the bottom, the two chassis halves are not cemented well together, and there is some give there. I bought a padded laptop sleeve which seems to protect it fine. I would not put too much weight on the keyboard when it's on a desk (as opposed to on your lap).

DISPLAY: 8/10

To be fair, it's a standard 1366x768 screen, plays 720p videos fine. It's a very bright LED screen, and can outshine the outdoors even though the screen is very glossy. The noted contrast problems are really a device driver problem; on integrated graphics, contrast will sometimes decrease noticeably, perhaps in a play to reduce necessary brightness. On discrete graphics, great contrast, sharp screen.

AUDIO: 7/10

Altec Lansing speakers located on the bottom of the front of the chassis. By no means audiophile-quality at all, but much better than most laptop speakers. You will sometimes block the speakers while it's on your lap, but in general distortion is lower than in, for example, ThinkPads, and volume is better than a Mac's.

In conclusion, I am highly satisfied with this purchase. If there were better speakers and better build quality, I would award this product 10/10, but as of now I am willing to rate it a 9/10 and round up. Amazon was also very helpful; I was allowed to still purchase through the $100 Gift Card promotion even after the link stopped working.

For those interested in the next generation, the UL80Jt incorporates a low-voltage dual-core Core i7 overclocked to 1.73 Ghz and an nVidia 310M with 1GB. It promises even better performance and battery life, but will clock in at just over $1,000.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop (11.5 Hours of

This is also my first review of a product. I was really looking forward to this laptop and when I received it and turned it on I was pretty disappointed. The display on this laptop is very poor. The contrast ratio is low, so everything looks a little washed out. Its not terrible and would be tolerable but the horizontal viewing angle is horrible! You have to get the angle perfect to make the display look acceptable. If you move it slightly towards or away from you, it looks discolored and is pretty much unusable. I have owned several laptops over the last couple years from a 13 dell xps to 18.4 inch hp hdx and I have never had a problem with or complained about a display before. I've never even considered examining a display because I'm not that picky, but that was the first thing (and only thing really) that stood out through all of my time using the laptop. The only reason I'm writing this review is to caution people about the display. If it is not that important to you than this is a great laptop. It's speedy, fairly well made, great battery life, relatively thin and light, and windows 7 rocks. If the display was better it would get 5 stars. If I had the choice to return this laptop for a full refund I would, only because of the display.

NOTE: I also have asus eee pc 105ha and it has a much better display than this laptop for contrast and viewing angles.

**UPDATE** I feel the need to clarify this because I have received a few comments with tips or information about this display. I have owned and used many laptops of all brands, price ranges, manufacturers etc... This is a BAD display, it's not just my subjective opinion. Here is a link with actual data on the subject=

I'm not saying this laptop is bad, I gave it three stars, but Asus absolutely skimped on the display!

Discount Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV80 17.3-Inch 3D Gaming Laptop - Fusion X2

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,899.99
Sale Price: $1,479.99
Today's Bonus: 22% Off

I purchased this laptop a little over a month ago and I am really happy with some aspects and disappointed with others. The 3D works great. The movies look good and so do the games played in 3D. It has some upconvert abilities when it comes to the 3D. It will upconvert DVDs only and not blurays or so far as I can tell. I could never get standard blurays to play in 3D but I'm sure you can find software that will do it. The PC runs great for normal activities but when it comes to gaming it does not run so great. The PC runs hotter than most as it is, although nothing too bad under normal use, however, when you try to play a game you get stutter for maybe 30 seconds where the frame rate drops significantly. This happens about every minute or two so it is annoying. The graphics are great but this stutter is a major issue that has not been addressed by Toshiba yet. For me even when I lower the graphics the stutter still occurs so it doesn't seem to matter. If you look this issue up on the Toshiba forum you will find several people having the same problem without an apparent solution. If Toshiba puts out an update to fix this problem I would give it 5 stars and recommend it but as it stands I would only recommend this computer if you don't plan on gaming. Weird that this laptop is advertised for gaming but yet has such a problem with doing the very thing it was marketed to do. **UPDATE** I forgot to revise my review but after the BIOS update the games play fine now without any stutter. I give the laptop 5 stars now.

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I bought a Qosmio X775-3Dv80 after Xmas from Amazon in 2011. Screen went bad the first week. Amazon sent me a new one. 3D and display card went south 2 weeks later on the second one. Amazon sent me another replacement.

Kudos for Amazon!!!

Wifi went out 3 weeks later on the 3rd one. Called Toshiba instead of Amazon. Toshiba repaired it (reinserted the wifi card).

5 months later, wifi crapped out again. Sent back to Toshiba. Toshiba repaired and sent it back.

However, upon reception back from the repair, I found a 2-inch long crack on one corner & a chip on the top cover, prying marks inside (trying to get the keyboard out?), and keyboard not seated all the way in. The shipping package undamaged

I contacted Toshiba again and was promised a "complementary" one (I didn't ask for it)

Days later when I called them about it, Tosh rep said NO such RECORD, but told me to send it back for repair.

I did so and got an email from Toshiba saying warranty doesn't cover cracks, and wanting $175.99 to fix it. What???? They broke it.

Called them again and got transferred to a case manager. I spent 30min with him explaining that Toshiba wanted to charge me for damage cause by the repairman, etc. He just kept repeating "Toshiba's warranty policy does not cover physical damages.", and " is there anything else I can help you with?" no matter what I tried to explain.

The previous rep told me to send it back in for repair instead of sending me a different unit???

I was so discussed that I told him "just send it back". It took them 5 weeks to send the damaged laptop back to me.

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Let me just say this is my first 3d capable laptop I have seen other 3d capable devices and was not impressed. Even considered them gimmicks. All that changed once this laptop showed up for my door.

This laptop is replacing my asus g73 Gaming laptop while a great laptop I do believe the Toshiba trumps it in several categories

Obviously this is the 2nd gen Intel Sandy bridge and blows away the other i7 chip in the asus

it also has the GTX 560m 3d capable video card. Which was a nice upgrade

The screen size remained the same but the Toshiba pulls off a win here as its a bit nicer quality the true 1080p resolution capabilities prob. help it in this categorize

Really It dominates the Asus except for the following in my opinion

I think the Asus design is more appealing

I think the keyboard is much nicer on the asus from a touch and input perspective.

the touch pad buttons are huge steps up from the Toshiba buttons.

So far i love this laptop and looks like its going to work out for a long time to come.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Qosmio X775-3DV80 17.3-Inch 3D Gaming Laptop - Fusion X2

I have had this computer for about a year when it started shutting down without warning. No error message, no blue screen of death, no kernel dump. It just shuts down completely and doesn't come back up again. So I did a search on the internet and found that this is a common problem with the model and many people have experienced it. Apparently the only cure is to have the unit replaced with a different model. If you get the same model, the same issue will crop up sooner or later. Toshiba is aware of this issue but still continues to sell a defective product. Before you decide to purchase this product, just do a search on the internet using the model name and 'shutdown' and you'll see what I mean.

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I am happy with my purchase. I have no real complaints about this laptop, the only problem I have had is with the 3D viewing falling out of synch after a few minutes of viewing with the 3D glasses, which tech support tells me will be resolved with a BIOS update which they will walk me through. Very fast, beautiful large display, handles anything I have thrown at it. Highly recommended.

Review of Dell Latitude D610 Laptop + Windows XP (Microsoft Authorized

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Not pleased--after one week of use the laptop's hard drive failed completely and I had to purchase a new hard drive. With the additional costs that went into this unit I could have bought a decent new laptop.

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The computer was OK but had only one USB port which was loose and needed to be tightened before it worked. Only one USB port is not a misrepresentation -but I would think I could assume that one could expect more than one port on a computer like this!

Best Deals for Dell Latitude D610 Laptop + Windows XP (Microsoft Authorized

This is an awesome laptop. Just as it was described by seller. Stellar and super fast. Great Latitude by Dell.

Honest reviews on Dell Latitude D610 Laptop + Windows XP (Microsoft Authorized

arrived in a timely manner works fine ...but loaded with trojan viruses, blackholes u name it!! over 20 found on first scan and more show up when started up

so great for use other than for putting any private data on

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I bought this for my own use during college and have since then, used it many times as a backup computer for my desktop. Battery life is long, computer is fairly fast, and the price is cheaper than a new one.

Best Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5240NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black in Deals

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List Price: $379.99
Sale Price: $356.00
Today's Bonus: 6% Off

The Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5240NR is an inexpensive laptop with an AMD processor and 4GB of memory, running Windows 8 64-bit as an operating system. Frankly, the downfall in this configuration is the 4GB of memory, but this can be remedied, as can the lack of Bluetooth.

For someone who isn't into games requiring fast, responsive graphics, this basic laptop would be a good choice. Good build quality, nice 15.6" display (1366x768 (HD), 16:9 aspect ratio, Supports 720p content), built-in media card reader, lightweight body (only 5.2 pounds) and the perks of HDMI, webcam with built-in microphone, and (1) USB 3.0 (you also have 2 USB 2.0) made me smile. The inclusion of the DVD drive (often omitted on lightweight laptops these days) was also a nice perk.

Toshiba says it has 'enhanced sound', but I didn't notice this to be the case. I added speakers via the line-in port (used for headphones), and later decided to add a Kinivo BTD-300 Bluetooth 3.0 USB adapter For Windows 8 / Windows 7 / Windows XP / Vista, Mac OS 10.3.9 or Later, which is a cheap addition that gives this laptop the Bluetooth capabilities it lacks out of the box.

I then added Bluetooth speakers for additional 'enhanced sound' that made me happy. My speaker choices: (NEW) AYL BSPK202 Portable Bluetooth Speaker Set with Built in Speakerphone + 8 hour Rechargeable Battery and Enhanced Bass Resonator + 3 Year Warranty or (NEW) AYL Mini Touch BoomBox Portable Wireless Bluetooth Speaker with Built in Speakerphone + 8 hour Rechargeable Battery + 3 Year Warranty Black. You can also use Bluetooth headphones with the adapter installed. I've used my Bose AE2w Bluetooth Headphones Black via this method, without a problem.

This laptop isn't high-end. It doesn't have a back-lit keyboard, but it is full-sized and includes 10-key. It's screen resolution is average, and the battery life on a 6-cell is about 4 hours depending upon the type of usage. You can watch Netflix, Skype, Facebook, play online games, email and surf the Web. You can also edit photos and upload videos to YouTube. It's a utilitarian laptop, that anyone can afford.

The Toshiba won't be for gamers or those who intend to edit video. The graphics and the memory are lacking, and AMD processors (while the can work fine for this purpose...) take a back seat to Intel for this purpose in my opinion.

If you are looking for a solid choice for a basic laptop that's thin, lightweight, and will allow you to study, work and play for about three hundred bucks, this is a good choice!

I would suggest adding more memory though, as the basic configuration of 4GB is barely enough to run the operating system. This is unfortunately pretty much the standard with laptops in this price range, and how the manufacturers can offer them so cheaply. This laptop can be expanded to 16GB of memory, which is ideal for anyone wanting to get the most performance, but certainly not necessary. At 8GB (doubling the current configuration), you should see a noticeable performance boost.

To upgrade, I suggest either taking it to a local shop (you'll probably pay more than doing it yourself) or opening up the back to reveal the memory slots. There are (2), each with 2GB sticks of DDR3 1600MHz memory. You will need to purchase a kit with 2 sticks of 4GB (total 8GB) for about sixty to eighty bucks to do the upgrade. I suggest you look at what memory is installed first (brand, part number, speed) to verify what's installed prior to the upgrade. Sometimes this can vary, depending upon where your laptop was built.

I upgraded using this kit: Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL11 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Notebook Memory Modules CT2CP51264BF160B. However you can (see comments) add one compatible (any brand) stick of 4GB to the existing 4GB stick for a total of 8GB. NOTE: I like to add two of the same brand and size for best performance, but some argue this is not necessary. I got the 8GB kit for less than I could have gotten 4GB of Samsung memory, so I decided to do it this way and put the Samsung part into another laptop.

Something that Toshiba did which surprised me. Despite having only a 1066Mhz data transfer rate on the installed motherboard per Toshiba's specs, they've installed memory with a 1600Mhz speed. This PC will never be able to attain that speed due to the limitations of the installed hardware, even with the faster memory, but adding compatible 1600Mhz speed memory is the way to go as it will make for a smooth running system and there's no real price issue.

If you prefer to add an additional 4GB of memory (for a total of 8GB with the existing stick (which for most appears to be a Samsung part) you may want to use: Crucial 4GB Single DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL11 SODIMM 204-Pin 1.35V/1.5V Notebook Memory Module CT51264BF160B which costs much less than the existing Samsung module, yet works the same.

Upgrading the memory is not tough, so don't be afraid to do it yourself. Just take your time (look at a few tutorials on YouTube), make sure you're grounded and not on carpet when you open up the case to prevent harmful static which can ruin parts.

So if you want a basic laptop with potential for speediness with an upgrade, snap this one up.

UPDATE: 9/17/13 TIP Recovery Drive to USB

To save yourself some potential grief with ANY Windows 8 PC, think about making a recovery drive from a 32GB USB flash drive (you could do it with less, but to include the recovery partition from the hard drive get the 32GB stick). It's easy! In Windows 8 use the Search box and type in 'recovery drive'. You will see 'Create a Recovery Drive'. Follow the directions and then you'll have an essential back-up of the operating system and drivers, if needed for a reboot when Windows has failed for some unknown reason. Store it somewhere safe and continue to do system back-ups (not the same thing...) about once a week.

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I only wanted a laptop to use gmail, facebook, spotify, netflix, office, skype... You can use all this stuff with this Toshiba without problems. Windows 8 was hard at first, but now I get used to it. Buy this laptop and save your money for a trip. It also has an USB 3.0 port, a HDMI port and a DVD device.

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We talked with a computer guy and this had everything we were looking for. We would've preferred windows 7 since everyone complains about windows 8 but really after messing around a bit with it, its not that bad if your a techy person. If your not comfortable with tablets and smart phones then i would stay a way a look for a windows 7 computer. This was easy to set up and it has a desktop app which is nice just missing the start button so it still is different than your usual desktop.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite C55D-A5240NR 15.6-Inch Laptop (Satin Black in

This is a really nice computer for the basic, every day tasks that someone would want to do. Browsing the web, checking email, typing up documents, chatting on Skype. Everyday task like these are what this computer is for. Don't buy this computer and expect high speed video editing and rendering, or high-end gaming because this won't do you any good. It does have an AMD Radeon 7310 graphics card, so it can do very, very light gaming, but I would not just purchase this computer just for that purpose. The CPU is a dual core running at 1.4 ghz, so it's not the fastest processor for gaming. I personally think the speakers sound a bit low also.

So what are the pros of this laptop? It's very inexpensive compared to other laptops made for the same purpose. It's lightweight, and has an impressive battery life for a laptop. The keyboard is awesome, sleek, and very comfortable to type on. A very spacey 500GB hard drive makes for a lot of storage. Although, there are many people who despise Windows 8, I actually like it. The apps are a nice touch, and there's still the traditional desktop view everyone is familiar with. Yes, it takes awhile to get used to, but once you do, it's a cool operating system. Not to mention, very quick boot up and shut down times. It comes with fast, UBS 3.0, an HDMI out port to connect to your HD television or monitor, and a nice HD display. At $330.00, this computer is a great deal.

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This fine piece of machinery, while not the best laptop in the world, has proven to be extremely durable. Its had its share of falls, including some pretty bad ones. But Last night, I fell asleep on Skype on a top bunk in my barracks room. I woke up in the middle of the night, because I had kicked it in my sleep. It hit a wall, and crashed down on the floor. I woke up immediately afraid to find a floor full of broken pieces and a cracked screen. Nope, nothing but a perfectly working laptop. Like I said, its not the fastest laptop, and its not the best for games, but if you want a durable dependable laptop that works, this one is for you.

Reviews of 8.9/INTEL/4G SSD/512MB DDR2/LINUX/WHITE ( EEEPC900-W073 )

Customer Ratings:

I bought essentially the same version of the Eee from another store--and as it arrives it's not usable.

Here's why: the Xandros distribution it comes with uses UnionFS. That lets you have one read-only partition that has the file system in its initial state, and another read-write that has changes. If a file exists in the read-write partition, it's used instead of the corresponding one in the read-only partition.

That has a major advantage: if you get things totally messed up, reboot and press a key and it will return things to their initial state--all it needs to do is wipe the read-write partition.

It has a major disadvantage: it uses up more space, and with a 4 GB SSD, I found that after it automatically downloaded updates, there was very little space left. Remember, the original version is still there, taking up space on the read-only partition, while the new version is on the read-write partition--and that's separate from the downloaded file containing the update that gets uncrated into position for use. After updating one or two programs, the SSD was totally full, rendering the system unusable.

You have two choices: (1) get a larger-capacity SSD and reinstall, or (2) download Ubuntu Eee (soon to be renamed Easy Peasy) and install it, wiping Xandros from the SSD. When I did that, there was 1.5 GB left on the SSD, and a couple of updates later, there's still 700 MB left.

That said: the display is gorgeous. The touchpad is respectable, and yes, it understands two-finger scrolling. The wi-fi worked for me at a motel a week or so ago when my wife's Dell Inspiron laptop couldn't get a usable signal. Yeah, the keys on the keyboard are tiny, but I will adapt, even with stubby little fat fingers.

So: as it comes from the factory, I have to wonder whether ASUS wanted to put people off Linux--imagine the fury of a parent or grandparent thinking he was getting little Johnny a computer for Christmas only to find that after a few minutes it says the disk is full and can't be used! With a larger SSD, or with Ubuntu Eee/Easy Peasy, it's a marvelous little netbook.

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I bought the linux variant. It works great out of the box, pretty easy. Detects and connects to wifi wherever I go just fine. The included OpenOffice suite ensures compatibility with both Apple and MS office docs. I did decide to upgrade to 2 gbytes of ram from the default 512 mbyte; it makes heavy simultaneous usage of several apps smoother. I bought Kingston Technology KHX4200S2LL/2GR 2 GB 533MHz DDR2 SODIMM Netbook/Notebook Memory (Retail), swapped it in for a cheap and easy upgrade. Thought I would hate the tiny keyboard, but I adapted just fine within a couple days. Hooking up external monitor/keyboard/mouse is easy.

Couple negative points:

1. Lack of support for wpa2 wifi encryption, though maybe that will be solved in a firmware update?

2. I don't particularly like the two prong power cord, I'd like the option of grounding the power.

3. Occasionally when I plug the power in, it'll freeze and require a reboot. I suspect this has more to do with the sketchy wiring at my house than a problem with the netbook.

Edit: 2013-07-16

This awesome little netbook lasted until October 2012. The original power cord wore out a year previous, but I picked up a compatible brick from iGo. The fatal night was dark, but clear, and calm. It was on, low on power. I plugged it in. The smell of burnt plastic flooded the room. The screen turned black. I disconnected the power, waited a couple minutes, then tried in vain to turn it back on. Alas, its magic smoke is all leaked out.

I'm trying to replace this with a Google/Samsung series 3 chromebook, but the eeepc900 is clearly the superior machine. I ended up running a lean install of Arch Linux in place of the oem OS. Just before it died I was even running Eclipse 3.6 for jsf development! Fat chance doing that on this chromebook.

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I bought this model (cheaper, refurbished from a different vendor, with a gig of ram, sorry Amazon) and while I am not as well versed with different versions of linux as the other reviewer so far, Mr. Jones, I had the same storage space problem. When I started the netbook, it immediately wanted to update, and by the time it had stopped, I had maybe 50 megabytes free. So I actually took both of Mr. Jones options, I ordered a "new" old 14 gigabyte SSD from Newegg (make sure it is compatible with the slightly older M900 architecture), and I downloaded and installed eeebuntu.

So I am very satisfied with the software on the eee. I am not a programmer or terribly conversant with hardware, but I work at a University in the department that provides computer services (servers, email, computer labs, etc) so I like to be conversant with different operating systems and easy sorts of computer upgrades and repairs. And the eee provides me with some access to a type of linux (Unix, essentially, right?).

As far as my evaluation of the hardware of the eee is concerned, everything must be measured against its primary quality, its portability. So I am not wild about the keyboard, and while I think the screen resolution is pretty good for applications and how the OS icons are set up, I find the resolution for surfing only acceptable. The eee is hard to balance on my lap (not a laptop or a netbook but a wobbletop). But, again, the thing weighs practically nothing and fits well into any bag that has padding for a laptop. You probably can't use this as a portable DVD player (even with an external DVD drive) and any video you play through media player is likely to be unacceptably small. And this may not have the power to run the most demanding app's (assuming you can find some that will run on eeebuntu). Still, especially if you get this cheap, this is a good ultra moble web surfer. I have found battery life to be around a solid three hours (I may have charged it too long early on, you may get more).

Honest reviews on 8.9/INTEL/4G SSD/512MB DDR2/LINUX/WHITE ( EEEPC900-W073 )

Great little computer, but owner/vendor does not respond to several emails and submit the access KEY for registration and efficiency. So this makes the computer inefficient due to a lack of value with customer service. So I am out of bucks for the moment!

Best HP Pavilion g6-2237cl 15.6" HD LED Laptop, AMD A6-4400M, 6GB RAM Deals

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It's not a Mac, but I could not afford two Mac's so I got this for my daughter because most of homework is received on the internet. She loves it, it was about the only one that had windows 8 and 1TB HDD. She loves the Beats Audio and the price was amazing for the holiday season. No complants here.

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It's really fast, but, for me, it's annoying that every time I start it I have to activate Num Lock key; otherwise it wouldn't generate any number! Besides, I had to implement certain tricks to get somehow used to Windows 8.

HP EliteBook 8470p B5P22UT 14 LED Notebook Intel Core i5-3210M 2.5 Review

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I have used different types of notebook computers for over ten years. But this HP notebook is the best I have come across. It has all the new known technology and is strongly built with a long life battery.

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Cheap Samsung Series 3 NP350V5C-T02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver)

Customer Ratings:

I ordered from Amazon's 3rd party seller since it was little cheaper than Amazon LLC.

Came with stock condition which were below descriptions.

Windows 8 64 bit

Core i5 3210m 2.5 Ghz 3.1 Ghz turbo boost [not in power saving mode]

6GB DDR3 1600Mhz [2 + 4 GB]

AMD HD 7730m 2GB Graphics card [External]

Intel HD 4000 Graphics [integrated]

500GB 5400RPM Seagate HDD

Overall, Is it not the high end laptop but it is decent laptop that can handle lots of graphic work & gaming.

Since I hated using Windows 8, I decided to downgrade to Windows 7 [I had OEM CD].

It requires some average knowledge of computers & software but it is not so complicated.

First, I copy the disc into my Samsung 128GB SSD by using recovery mode by pressing F4.

Thankfully, windows 8 provides disc copy mode, so you do not need to buy 3rd party software like acronis... etc.

I boot up with SSD [still in Windows 8] blazzing fast boot up which took about 15 sec, 1 sec to resume.

Windows 8 had this BIOS protection called "UEFI" which blocks user to install other old edition of windows like XP, 7 , vista.

What you do is, get into the BIOS [F2] and go to BIOS area and switch the option into UEFI ENABLED.

Once you done that, now you can boot up from your CD.

I believe everyone know how to install windows 7.. so I skip to performance.

Make sure you download the graphics driver for AMD from SW update otherwise it does not work properly.

In the beginning, I got 4.6 for CPU calculation, so I thought it was defective... [sorry I was dumb].

Later on, I found out that I was missing of graphics driver & in bios power saving mode was on.

I downloaded CCC from AMD put into max performance when it's AC plugged, and in BIOS I also put as maximum performance.

Boot up to the window, window experience index shows 7.1 , 7.5, 5.6, 6.6, 8.1 [calculation, RAM, Graphics, Gaming, SSD]

I tested on Starcraft 2 in ultra mode, which has average FPS of 35 ~ 50 depends on connection.

When it is in HIGH setting, has FPS of 60 ~ 80 which is very smooth!!.

I would recommend this laptop if you want to go back to windows 7, not for windows 8.

On the other hand, Samsung support isn't so helpful over the phone.

I asked them about finding the graphics driver, they found different graphics which never worked on my laptop.

Therefore, I needed to my own research to get the best performance from this machine.

It is well built laptop but without Backlit keyboard but it is great performing machine that handles great on games & some graphics works.

However, make sure you turn off the max performance when you are using battery [I always use laptop with AC on]

Hoply it is reasonable review for this laptop, and sorry about my grammar mistakes [I am not English person].

Thank you.

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I have posted gaming experiences on youtube.Running in ultra mode in starcraft II which is very smooth.

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I have this laptop for 6 months already and it works very nice, i play games all the time, it runs games like Metro Last Light on medium graphics, Skyrim runs on high level graphics and Dead Space 3 runs great on high settings.

I switched to windows 7 because i dont like 8, all the drivers are at samsungs web site.

the only thing that i dont like is the hard drive, it is slow, but for the price, the laptop is great.

Best Deals for Samsung Series 3 NP350V5C-T02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver)

It's a great little laptop. You can watch 1080p video files on it, play minecraft on all high settings, and it has 6 hour battery life for low power consuming activities.(like running word,excel,listening to music etc.) it gets about 2 hours battery life for running everything at 100% which is quite good. You'll get even longer if you leave the power presets the way they are. On battery they have processer and graphics limited to 50% power. Of course you can change that if you want like I did, but if battery life is your concern then leave it alone.

Honest reviews on Samsung Series 3 NP350V5C-T02US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Titan Silver)

Discrete graphics, a healthy dose of RAM, and a Core i5 processor makes this a great middle of the road. I will say they have upped the price 10% since I purchased one, and I am sad to see that, but the current price is still $100 less than average market value of this laptop. It is hard to find a laptop with this set of features in this price range that is usually reserved for a basic-use machine. I lowered the rating to 4 stars for the jacked up price and bloatware that unfortunately comes with any computer.

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I really love this laptop. It's sleek, responsive and takes pretty much everything I throw at it without any problems. The reviewer complaining about the graphics card must not know what they are doing because it works flawlessly for me. My only complaint is that the usb 2.0 ports were kinda difficult to deal with, when I first started using them. The 3.0s were fine, but the 2.0s had to be "broken in".

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

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,379.99
Sale Price: $1,349.95
Today's Bonus: 2% Off

Was looking for a laptop that could handle the few graphics intensive games I play and keep up with my school stuff as well. This machine hasn't failed me. Looks great and performs well.

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Buy Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5357 Laptop C855D-S5357

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List Price: $499.99
Sale Price: $363.98
Today's Bonus: 27% Off

This is a very basic, low-level laptop. It's not necessarily bad, it's just not that great either. Loads slow, video buffers a lot and system stutters when browsing through panels in the W8 modern UI. Perhaps with a little more RAM it might run faster, but I don't want to have to upgrade a laptop right out of the box. If money is an issue, this will work, but you can probably find something perhaps $50 more that may be a bit better out of the box.

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Purchased this on cyber Monday, received the laptop in 2 days...so far so good, I have to get use to Windows 8, but I love the format. The keyboard is slick, the laptop is light, easy to open and shut....Will give a later review after messing around with for a month or two.

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My old Dell's screen went out, so I began a search on which laptop would be as reliable but have more space. I purchased this laptop (toshiba satellite c855-ds5357) around November of 2012 I am SHOCKED at how slowly it processes. I don't have it bogged down. I can have only one window open, but videos lag and look choppy. It takes me an hour to process a Fed Ex print order that used to take me only 5-10 minutes because page changes are S-l-O-W. Customer support was a joke they told me 2 months ago that I didn't have a warranty. It was supposed to come with a 1 year couldn't understand their CS Rep but I knew he was trying to sell me more stuff that I didn't need. What I needed was a reliable computer that did what it was supposed to.

It's pretty but it's garbage.

Run away folks. Bad news in Toshiba land.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite C855D-S5357 Laptop C855D-S5357

Well, I got this laptop on Christmas and it was great...for about 3 months. I had a lot of applications on it and a lot of things downloaded from the internet. So a couple months ago I decided to reset it. It deleted all of my things, and now I believe I have about 10-15 things downloaded on the laptop and it works fantastic!

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In less than FIVE MONTHS, this laptop suffered a complete hardware failure and I lost EVERYTHING!!!!!! Very upset! I lost photos, resumes, cover letters, personal information. I am very disappointed.

Discount HP ENVY 14-2020NR 14.5-Inch Notebook (Silver)

Customer Ratings:

After using this laptop for 2 weeks, I am totaly satisfied with it. The new hp envy sb version has all aluminum chassis and feels vry solid. Windows boots up in 18 seconds. Running program as fast as average desktop. Here is some feedback:

The screen: some one may complain this laptop never comes with radiance display anymore. Actually, the bright view screen is great, and it's even brighter and has more vibrate color than my wife's macbook pro.

The touchpad: This sandy bridge refresh version has a nearly as good as macbook touchpad. Multigesture, two finger scroll and pinch zoom all work smoothly. Just remember don't update the synaptics drive. New driver doesn't support double-tab to turn off touchpad feature.

Battery life: If you set the brightness to 60%, and just normal use, the out of box battery lasts about 5 hours. If you turn off the bluetooth and wifi, battery should last even longer.

Finally the noise: Normal using won't produce much noise. You need to put your ear at the air vents to hear it. It does has some noise when playing games, but tolerable.

Purchased from amazon, and happy to deal with them.

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The Envy 14 has a lot going for it. It's a great size, has a backlit keyboard that's a pleasure to type on, and is built very well. Further, HP has released a BIOS update to address the issue of 3D applications and games not working properly with AMD's automatic graphic switching. The solution essentially reverts back to manual switching where the user has control of which graphics processing unit (GPU) he or she wants to use. It can also be set up to run on the high-performance AMD Radeon dedicated GPU (dGPU) when the machine is plugged in and switch over to the power-saving Intel integrated GPU (iGPU) when running on battery. This is basically how graphic switching works on older Envy 14 notebooks (model number 14-1xxx).

Regrettably, I had to send this notebook back for a pair of deal-breaking issues. First and foremost, the trackpad (or clickpad as it's dubbed by HP and part supplier Synaptics), is awful. HP has tried to emulate the Apple MacBook Pro in this area, and having previously owned a MBP, the Envy fails miserably. After trying many different drivers and settings, I simply could not get the trackpad to perform and respond smoothly and predictably. The final annoyance is the orange light that activates whenever you disable the pad, either on its own or by plugging in a USB mouse.

The second major problem is the screen itself. The resolution of 1366x768 isn't a huge issue for me, but at one point, HP did offer the Envy 14 with a high-resolution (1600x900) "Radiance" display that was of excellent quality and color reproduction. The screen in the current model, though not the worst I've ever seen, is sub-standard for something that's marketed as a premium product. Even with a lot of tweaking, the colors are pretty dull. It's also more reflective than other glossy notebooks I've seen and used, which makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to use outside.

In the end, a couple missteps in overall execution make it a less-than-ideal choice for my use.

Best Deals for HP ENVY 14-2020NR 14.5-Inch Notebook (Silver)

I recently purchased 4 of these laptops for our business. We work with 3D CAD drawings. This laptop has no problem running the 3d CAD programs. The display brightness is bright for the user. The bottom of the laptop stays cool. I like the lights on the keyboard helps me see the keys in low lit areas. I also like the usb port on the power adapter because i can charge my ipad with it (ipad cord isn't long enough to make to the outlet). I haven't had much time to test the sound out.

Dislike:

One of the laptop's underscore key doesn't work you have to press it 10 times to get it to type once. Screen viewing angle not the greatest.

Overall I would recommend this laptop to anyone.

EDIT:

RUN SAVE YOURSELF. THE SCREEN ON ALL FOUR LAPTOPS WE BOUGHT GOT SCRATCHED BY THE LIP AROUND THE KEYBOARD. ONE LAPTOP THE SOUND CRAPPED OUT AND NOW SOUNDS LIKE DONALD PLEASENCE in the movie GROUND ZERO. THREE OF THE LAPTOPS HAVE A KEY THAT DOESN'T WORK UNLESS POUNDED ON. HP TOLD ME I COULD SEND THEM BACK AND HAVE THE SCREENS REPLACED,BUT IT WOULD TAKE ABOUT TWO WEEKS WELL I LIVE OUTSIDE THE US BESIDE I NEED MY LAPTOP EVERYDAY FOR WORK.

CONCLUSION: ITS NOT A KEEPER

EDIT 2:

Wireless networking passed away on one of the laptops...can't wait to see whats next

Honest reviews on HP ENVY 14-2020NR 14.5-Inch Notebook (Silver)

I bought this laptop for $799 end of Oct 2011 as a general purpose computer for work and home use. So far, i have been quite satisfied with it.

Pros

1. solid metalic construction

2. backlit key pads is a big plus.

3. solid performing switchable 1G graphic card.

4. i5 processor is more than adequate for general home and work computing.

5. no bloat ware to deal with

Cons

1. Screen is not the highest resolution

2. keypads are fine, but could use a little more tactile feedback.

3. the fan motor is quiet, but there is a constant noise. compared to HP's own D6V, this is loud.

4. Not the most attractive laptop.

5. laptop is a bit heavy

6. battery life is only acceptable

7. no finger print reader

8. ram is a bit low at 4G

Overall, it's not a perfect laptop for the money, but definitely a good total package. you will not be able to play the latest action video games, but for general home/work use, it provides more than adequate power. The fan noise can be a bit irritating, but i guess that comes with a performace chip in a small package.

If you can get this laptop on sale at a good price, then it is definitively a great buy.

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If this thing only had Blu-Ray It would be the best bang for your buck ! I don't think I can say more than whats already been said by others.

Reviews of Apple Macbook Pro MD385LL/A 2.5GHz QUAD CORE i7, 15.4"

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I have bought this product, it's perfect! Real quality! I recommended a lot to everyone! perfect for work, fun and quality! Thanks

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This is the closest you can get to the top of the line recent models without paying twice as much for only marginally better performance. The latest Apple MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.7 15" Mid-2012 has a geekbench result of 12367 while my Apple MacBook Pro "Core i7" 2.5 15" Late 2011 scores 11000 only 12% more for twice the price!

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It is great but another language. Have iphone, ipad, but 1st Mac Pro. Looks great just takes me alot longer because I just don't know how system works. It is very different and different than windows which I was pretty good whiz on .

Honest reviews on Apple Macbook Pro MD385LL/A 2.5GHz QUAD CORE i7, 15.4"

This one speaks for itself. Had 2.66ghz 17inch MBP 2010, and I could not find this model in 17inch so just bought a 15. By the time I realized it doesn't really matter to me that much. So, upgrade was well worth it, it can handle tasks from my previous system better, or just can handle something my previous system could not. I am now waiting on my memory upgrade.

Bottom line 2.5ghz worth's it.