Acer Aspire V5-571P-6642 15.6-Inch Touch Screen Laptop (Silky Reviews

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List Price: $814.99
Sale Price: $549.99
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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program I've had mine for a few hours so these are just first impressions:

The build quality is very high this laptop feels solid despite being very light. The design is clean and simple, the screen is bright and the colors are vibrant. The sound is well above average for a laptop, but that's not saying too much.

This is my first exposure to Windows8 and from what I read in the press, I was expecting to hate it. On the contrary I think for home use it's going to work out perfectly. If you are comfortable with the iPhone style interface you'll have no problem with Windows8. During the initial setup boot it shows you the two main things you need to know in order to navigate. With that I was up and running. I wasn't too sure about the touch screen idea: love it for my phone, but how would the ergonomics feel with a laptop? Answer: awesome. With the Windows8 "tile" based interface, touch just works. I've barely used the touchpad since I got this thing. My other computers seem lame now. Again, this is based on a few hours of use, but the first impressions are very good. I think the Windows OS has made a big step forward out of the cluttered mess it was.

I work in the computing industry so I looked a little closer into some of the specs for those who like to know these things: the CPU, as noted is an Intel i5. That doesn't really tell you much, since that can refer to multiple generations of Intel chips. In this case it is the latest and greatest "IvyBridge" dual-core Intel CPU (22nm, Tri-gate transistors). This is a 17w(!) CPU. That is insanely low power for the performance you are getting. This CPU also includes some fairly robust integrated graphics on the die with 16 graphics execution units. This is 4 more than the previous high-end, and 10 more than the current "second tier". I've read up on the benchmarks and it out classes many discrete graphics solutions. This should actually enable you to do some fairly decent gaming on your laptop if you so choose. It will won't compete with a dedicated "gaming" laptop with high-end discrete graphics, but then again it won't cost you 2-3K. One thing to note is that the Intel graphics drivers generally fall short of AMD or Nvidia when it comes to some of the more high-end graphics settings. Most users don't even know how to get to those features, but if you are serious gamer this is something to consider. On the other hand when it comes to mainstream applications and video performance, Intel performs as well or better than the competition.

A few things to note: this laptop has a nice big 500GB hard drive, but it's a conventional drive and not a solid-state drive. All conventional drives are at risk of failure, and so you should pick up a cheap external back-up HDD just to be safe (or sign up for an online back-up service from somebody like Amazon). It's cheap insurance. Another thing worth mentioning is that while this is not an "Ultrabook" it's pretty close to being that thin. While cool looking, it does mean you have an adapter for network cables and VGA displays. Nobody should need a VGA display connector anymore (the laptop has a conventional HDMI port) but if you plan to plug into a network you have the adapter to think about. Fortunately the wireless on this laptop is first rate. I've got a pretty high-end business class HP laptop from work, and this Acer blows it away on connection speeds.

So my overall impression? This is a great laptop and based on what I've experienced I can comfortably recommend it to anyone. Any doubts I had about Windows8 have been erased. It's simple, intuitive and with a touch screen, computing is kind of fun again.

****

Just a note that after a week of using this laptop I still really like it. I'm finding Windows 8 is fairly intuitive to use and learn. That being said if you are really used to tweaking around in the old Windows there are some frustrating moments trying to figure it out in Windows 8. However overall they've made configuring things like privacy settings *much easier* so I think the average user will find themselves doing things in Windows 8 they would never do in Windows 7.

I still think that touch is why Windows 8 works and I'm not sure I could suggest buying a non-touch laptop with this OS. I've really gotten hooked on the "10 fingered" touch. It makes my "two fingered" touch on my phone seem antiquated. This makes me wish there were more convertible tablet/laptops out there. It seems like laptop makers are missing the market here.

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program On paper, this laptop has a lot going for it a 3rd generation Ivy Bridge i5 dual core processor, 6 GB RAM, a 15.6" multi touch screen, a 5GHz wifi adapter (Atheros AR5BWB222), 3 USB ports (1 USB 3.0), 5 hour battery life (as per the product specs in reality this is about half that), and a modern design aesthetic.

Unfortunately, the more I used it, the more I ran into its limitations, and hence my 3 star (It's Okay) rating.

1. Performance.

Its Windows Experience Index numbers (on a scale of 1 to 7.9) are:

Processor (6.9), Memory (7.1), Graphics 4.5, Gaming (6.2), Hard disk (5.9)

The V5 is really hurt by its anemic Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip (only 128MB of dedicated video memory); as well as by its 5400 RPM hard drive.

2. Construction

This is a handsome laptop, but its cut corners soon become apparent with use it feels plastic-ky and less well finished than my other laptops.

3. Usability Touchpad

The touchpad is located too far to the left making left clicks a challenge, has a stiff click action, and tends to lose sensitivity when performing click-drag operations (when closing Modern/Metro apps, touch pad drags were often ignored.)

It supports Win8 actions such as invoking the Charm menu, but these were easy to trigger inadvertently yanking me out of my thoughts.

4. Usability Keyboard

The keyboard is firm, full sized, and backlit. However, some keys are simply too small, and the Caps/Num Lock keys provide no indication when active.

5. Usability Touch screen

The touch screen is the perfect complement to Windows 8's Modern/Metro interface, and is natural to use. However, right click and click drag actions were harder to pull off, and I kept resorting to the mouse.

Reaching across the keyboard can be an uncomfortable action depending on user position.

Touching the screen can also be sacrilegious for those sensitive to screen smudges :)

6. Screen

The display was sufficiently bright, with adequate color reproduction. Its 1366x768 resolution is measly for a 15.6" screen, but has the benefit of making text easier to read and icons easier to click since each pixel is larger.

7. No built-in Ethernet/VGA ports

In a tragic design decision, these ports are only available using a separate adapter cable. That means I not only have to pack this itty bitty connector each time, but I also have to worry that I will misplace it :(

8. Battery life even with light use, the battery ran down in 3 hours. This is too short for mobile use.

9. Integrated Optical Drive a nice touch, but as expected at this price point, Bluray is not supported.

10. Software

This unit was surprisingly clear of bloatware (except for NTI Media Maker). Even the trial Windows Office 2010 is a download link. Unfortunately, Acer was just as sparing with useful software.

Who is this for?

###########

This laptop seems to be aimed at users with light to moderate usage needs it should be adequate for Internet browsing/streaming, general home use, and for school homework. The larger pixels at this resolution and screen size should also be easier on older eyes.

However, gamers, road warriors, developers, and other power users will likely be better served elsewhere.

Conclusion

#######

While this may seem to be a lot of laptop for the money, I found that there were some material compromises.

How satisfied you will be with this laptop will depend on which of these compromises matter to you.

Happy Computing!

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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program Acer isn't an unfamiliar brand around our house. In fact, my husband's first personally owned computer was an Acer (486SX-25, cira 1993), as were the first and second computers we bought together. Over the years, Acer's quality has ranged from excellent for the money, to dismal at best. Especially after buying up Gateway, the Acer seemed to struggle with quality. In more recent history, they're back on the upswing, but still not wonderful. So, it was with some hesitation that we got the Aspire V5, not quite knowing what to expect.

After a few weeks, I can say that we're pleasantly surprised. The V5 is quite thin and light compared to the other laptops we have around the house (Lenovo G770, Lenovo ThinkPad T420s, Compaq CQ56, HP DV4, and HP DV9000). The backlit keyboard is quite nice, both in appearance and feel. Typing away feels good, with just the right amount of tactile resistance. Of the models we have, only the ThinkPad outclasses the V5 in this area. The inclusion of a numeric keypad was an added bonus, as only our 17" models have these. For me, the addition doesn't make the keyboard feel cramped, but, my hands are on the smaller side, so this could vary. The touchpad itself is very sensitive, with a surface that lets your fingers glide right across it easily. I'm not a touchpad person myself, but I did check out the extensive adjustments and gesture control options that are built in, just before turning them off. (Yes, I know, how antiquated of me.)

The battery life is very good, with ours lasting just under 6 hours while doing some light gaming the whole time. This bested the older models we have, but came in about the same as the pair of Lenovos. Speaking of gaming, the Intel graphics chip inside isn't a slouch, but, it's not going to come close to what can be had with a dedicated gaming laptop or other laptop with decent graphics chip from NVIDIA or AMD. The CPU is certainly powerful enough, especially when backed by Intel's Ivy Bridge chipset, but expect to be turning down the graphics options if you're into heavy gaming (first person shooters, RPGs, etc). For your typical tasks, like web surfing, emailing, document creation, watching videos, playing games on Facebook or Pogo, and the like, you'll be more than happy with the performance. In terms of overall performance, I feel the V5 held put itself ahead of the rest of our pack, with most everything seeming to run a bit quicker and more smoothly than on any of our others.

Yes, V5 comes with Windows 8, but, I'm not going to try and review that, as it's a whole beast in and of itself. I would like to note that the V5 does come with a fair amount of bloatware, those programs that no one really wants but the manufacturer stick in there as a "value add" item. The V5 wasn't nearly as bad as the HPs and Compaq, which are notorious for the amount of garbage they come with. Bummer there wasn't a full copy of Office Home and Student instead of the trial version, but I can't actually complain about that since I knew that what it came with in the first place. Lastly, and the only thing I will say about Win8 is that it runs very smoothly compared to some prior new major releases (*cough* Vista *cough* WinME *cough* Win95). Not a single hitch to be had during this whole time, and we've been putting the V5 through it's paces.

Lastly, just a few bits on the V5's other features. Touchscreen! Yes, it works very well, but you'll likely love it or hate it, depending on if you like reaching up to the screen a lot and if you don't mind cleaning the screen a lot more often than on a conventional laptop. The HDMI output has come in very handy for things like gaming, watching Netflix, and web surfing on an HDTV. Our son loves it for the gaming, so he and his friends can all watch the action without having to crowd around the person at the keyboard. Sound quality is decent enough, though you're not going to get quality enough to satisfy an audiophile. The webcam is...well..meh. It works well enough, to be sure, but don't expect crystal clear and grain free image quality. It's simply not that great, at 1.3MP.

Overall, I think the V5 is an excellent machine in terms of price, performance, and features. I'm almost tempted to trade my G770 for it but...I really like the bigger screen. Our son is loving it, and as previously stated, hasn't run into a single hitch yet. Only time will tell if the quality inside is up to snuff though.

Honest reviews on Acer Aspire V5-571P-6642 15.6-Inch Touch Screen Laptop (Silky

I have only been on this laptop for a few hours, but I wanted to share how great my experience has been! Yes, it's a new OS so it takes a little getting used to, but the touchscreen and the keyboard can be interchanged flawlessly and if you are familiar with previous windows versions you can get yourself going with a little brain power. Anyway, this review is for the laptop. All specs are accurate. This laptop is so thin for it's size! It is heavier than I wanted, but still light for it's dimensions. The screen is beautiful and very responsive to touch. I love the keyboard as well back lit, but only when being used. The track pad does NOT have buttons on it, instead you need to double tap the trackpad if you don't want to use the touch screen. A little different than what I am used to but I think I can get used to it. Love all the USB ports, including one that is 3.0, and the hdmi port. Another big thing for me, an SD slot. For photo editing, this is really helpful.

Amazon's price was the same as trusted tech sites, so I went with them since I am a prime member.

Overall, I realize it's still early, but I am very impressed with my initial impressions. For the technical specs you are really getting a good deal. Acer's reputation is really not as high as it should be they make great products.

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This is my first review ever on a product, so excuse me if it's a tad jumbled or jumps from subject to subject. I guess I should also mention that this is for the 6648 model that is Best Buy exclusive ($519, but i3 processor)

I received this laptop as a gift after I sold my gaming desktop computer. I am about to start graduate school, so I was in the market for a nice, efficient laptop for school work. I fully intended on buying a Surface tablet, but after extensive review and playing with this in-store for a few minutes, I decided this would do much better for my needs.

So there I was in Best Buy, wondering why this was so cheap. From first looks of this device on the exterior, I was drawn towards it. The shell has a nice smooth, silvery exterior, but is actually plastic. Oh well, it looks great. The backlit keyboard is just an awesome bonus, as NO OTHER keyboard in this price range has this feature. Seriously, I HATE having a bunch of light on, and I cannot function without a backlit keyboard. The track pad is nice and large, but guess what? I hardly use it due to the AWESOME touch screen feature.

The touchscreen itself is insanely accurate, even down to the small menu boxes! It's so great to use, that I find myself neglecting the large trackpad below the keyboard. One really negative aspect of the touchscreen is that since it's so great to use, you WILL notice horrible smudges. I happened to have a slight cold when I got this last night, so just remember to keep your hands clean before groping the screen with your dirty hands.....just saying.

I'd consider myself pretty high-tech, and just recently, I laughed at someone for getting a windows 8 laptop and crying about it not being touchscreen. Man, I need to go apologize to them. I think I'd cry to if this didn't have it! Windows 8 is......unique. I've tried the windows 8 phone platform and did not like it one bit. Windows 8 on a touchscreen-enabled laptop is pretty slick. If you don't like the tiles you can always switch back to a classic desktop for a minute for more familiar navigation. It does take some getting used too.

I don't really have TOO much experience with laptop keyboards, but this one seems to do just fine for me. It's a good mixture of softness and firm "clickiness" to let you know you've hit the key successfully. I don't feel as if I've had to compensate for anything while typing, which is good because I type close to 100 wpm. I imagine I'd be pretty upset if I had to slow down my typing deliberately to make up for a keyboards faults. Like I've said before, I just could NOT live without a backlit keyboard. It helps tremendously, even during the day. At night, it's a blessing. Keyboard keys are nice and bright, and are illuminated by a nice, bright, white LED lighting. (I could be biased somewhat as well, because white those bright, white, almost light blue LED lights are my favorite at Christmas!) Just as a bonus, there are a full set of numbered keys to the right of the main keyboard. The keys also have a nice matte finish to them. It's really nice to type on I've found.

For all of the aesthetics so far, the screen is really nothing special to look at. I mean, hey, it's not bad, it's just not GREAT. Like I said, I'm a techie, but I can live with the screen. The native IE browser appears washed out while typing this. Colors just don't "pop" out. It's definitely not an iPad Retina display (Before you cry bias, I've used Android products primarily over the past few years. I can just recognize when certain brands have better qualities, and Apple makes ridiculously awesome screens. Truth.)I watched a few YouTube videos and an episode of Battlestar Galactica and Family Guy on Netflix, and was neither amazed or disgusting. It's just.......a screen. For $519.00, an awesome backlit LED keyboard and touchscreen, I'll manage!

The audio is actually pretty decent for a laptop. It touts a Dolby Advanced Audio Virtual Surround Sound capability. I mean, I dunno, I'm no Audiophile, but judging purely in comparison from the laptops I've owned before, this laptop seems to project sound a little better. No bass to speak of (obviously), but pretty decent. No distortion on 100% volume. I find the best to be around 50% volume. I can definitely hear it from across my bedroom at 50% with ease. No complaints whatsoever about the sound on this laptop.

All of the reviews I have read on this battery describe it as terrible. I agree. It drains really, really fast. I have no benchmarks or tests to prove it from, but I can attest to the reviews. It is just. plain. horrible. Whatever, I don't plan to take this camping, or skydiving, or watch DVDs for hours on a car trip with it. It's a core i3 laptop, I just plan to do work with it for a graduate program, so I plan to be in civilization and near electrical outlets like 95% of normal Americans. This is fine with me. All hail the electrical outlets.

What else to say? I have really, really enjoyed using this laptop so far the past day! I am still figuring out various aspects of windows 8. Some are annoying, some are cool. As a previous power PC user, it is slightly aggravating that I can't just jump in and go, but the new part of me is enjoying something fresh and fun. The fact that I have an Xbox 360 is even sweeter, as this integrates awesomely with my Xbox! Game requests and messages from my friends all are shown on the tile screen to let me know. It's really cool. I love how in windows 8 you can split screen with applications! This is where touchscreen really, really shines. I couldn't imagine doing some of these functions without it.

Like I said, this is the Best Buy exclusive variant, which is $519.00, but replaces the i5 with the i3. I couldn't imagine performance being any different with the i5, maybe slightly faster if anything. It comes with 4GB, which is been sufficient for me. Power users might want to consider an 8GB upgrade. Startup time for the laptop seems to be lengthy, but I've been spoiled by an SSD. I will be looking to upgrade to an SSD if possible. I can't think of any other upgrades I think would be necessary.

Overall rating (purely subjective, and no scale or previous experience for judgment):

Windows 8: 4/5 This is due to some annoying aspects of Windows 8.

Display: 3.5/5 I feel this is an average screen, nothing horrible, nothing fantastic.

Touch screen: 5/5 This touchscreen is AWESOME, and INCREDIBLY accurate. After using it, I would NOT recommend getting Windows 8 without a touchscreen capable device. You are missing out on so much!

Keyboard: 5/5 I am a power type, and do not have to compensate for anything while typing. Keys are slightly small, but so are my hands. Backlit keyboard is just incredible, as I found no other laptop in my price range that offered this option.

Sound: 4/5 Horrible low end (It's a laptop, duh). Good representation of mid/high ends with music. 50% volume is the sweet spot for me, and music sounds good, clear across my bedroom from previous laptops I've owned. I'm no expert, but it sounds good enough for me.

Hardware: 4/5 Nice options for a budget laptop. 4GB DDR3. 500GB HD. Second Generation Core i3, which is quick enough for all the applications I use here. Intel HD3000 graphics, which is good enough for HD videos and all the apps. Comes with Bluetooth, Wireless, and all the necessities. Having an SSD drive, 8GB, and possibly Intel HD4000 GPU would have been nicer, but saving ~$200 bucks is definitely worth the downgrade for what I use this laptop for.

Battery life: 2/5 My non scientific testing of just running it slightly to see the drain seems to match up with more through reviews and bench testing. It drains really, really fast. But like most technologically savvy Americans, I am near electrical outlets. It's acceptable if you don't use it on commutes or long trips. Who uses a laptop in a car anymore anyway?

Overall, I give this laptop a 4.5/5. I really am not including the battery life, as this would drag the rating down. Its quick, THIN, and meets my needs perfectly so far. If you get this, you won't be disappointed. And if you can find one for $519.00 at Best Buy, I would HIGHLY recommend you snag it while you can! I would be hard pressed to believe you'd find any significant performance differences between the i3 and the i5 for what you would use this laptop for. I hope this review has helped!

Discount HP ZBook F2P73UT 17.3" LED Notebook - Intel Core i7 i7-4700MQ 2.40

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List Price: $2,449.00
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This laptop is great. It is powerful, well made, and even has good battery life for a 17" machine. Our only complaint is in terms of value. After buying one of these ZBooks, we found that the Dell Precision has similar performance at a much lower price. With the 3200 x 1800 resolution screen, we found that employees who used to demand a 17 inch display were now begging for the higher resolution, lighter weight, and smaller package of the Dell Precision M4800.

There is nothing wrong with this machine, but give Dell a chance if you are looking for a better value and higher screen resolutions.

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Buy Sony VAIO T Series SVT14126CXS 14-Inch Touchscreen Ultrabook

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List Price: $899.99
Sale Price: $769.99
Today's Bonus: 14% Off

I spent lots of time doing research on the internet before buying this laptop. I have had an 15.6' Acer for years and it was time to look for a replacement. Since my plan is to keep the new laptop for several years as well, I wanted to get something that would stay up to date for a while. I decided to go for a touchscreen since apps and programs will only require it more and more.

After reading reviews on the internet and comparing prices, I narrowed down my selection to this Sony, its 13' little brother and a Acer 14' ultrabook (a brand that usually gets you more bang for your buck). After comparing them in a store, the 14' Sony ended up the clear winner. The 13' Sony is fantastic, slim and very light but since I spend a lot of time on my laptop, I was concerned that the smaller screen would make my eyes bleed. The 14' feels much heavier but offers similar performance (its processor is actually a little bit faster, and it has a DVD player). The Acer turned out to be a huge disappointment, especially the touchscreen. There were streaks and strange shadows around my fingertips everywhere I touched it. I read complaints about it before; it turned out the be worse that expected.

You can probably find cheaper 14' laptops but this was the one with the best performance at this price point based on my extensive research. I usually prefer to spend a little bit more and have computers that don't get outdated after a year or two. If you carry your laptop with you everyday like I do, 14' is a nice compromise between the heavier 15.6' laptops and the smaller 13' ultrabooks. I have already done some heavy photo editing in Lightroom and some music production using Native Instruments software, and am very satisfied with the way the Sony Vaio handles these.

My only complaint would be about the screen resolution (a standard 1366X768). It's not bad but it isn't that great either; you can see the pixels. I am no Apple fan but the resolution on their macbooks blows this Sony out of the water (2560X1600 I believe). Important features like that make brands like Sony lose customers to Apple. This is a great product but why did Sony decide to cut corners? The resolution is basically the same as that of the Acer I purchased 6 years ago, and much lower than the resolution of my cheap 3 year old smart phone. Come on, Sony! Is that the best you can do for your ultrabook lineup?

Enough said. This is a very good deal for a slick ultrabook.

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5 Stars for the Amazon rep seeking the answers

1 Star if this is a proprietary model with the Sony Factory sub model specification indicating other features.

I am asking this now because I tried to buy this but note it says "500 GB" hard drive, not "500 GB + 24GB SSD" as specified for the "Sony VAIO T Series SVT14126CXS" on the Sony website. Apparently unless clarified by another department, the Amazon rep I just talked to said this only has the 500GB HD. That would make it a marginal value given pricing of this computer elsewhere.

If you bought this, please confirm the hard drive arrangement.

If this only has the HD, Amazon needs to change the model number or indicate it has a proprietary hardware setup.

In the meantime that $900 I almost spent this morning will likely be spent elsewhere.

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It is fast and smooth in operation. But has only 2 USB ports. Good value for the price. The monitor screen is shaking a lot while typing.

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Excellent package. Still early in usage. A little slower than expected. Windows 8 is a pain, but one to be endured. Bought this unit because wanted optical drive in an ultrabook.

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This was given as a graduation gift and therefore I can't really rate it for myself. What my granddaughter said is it is good and she really likes the touch screen. My only concerns are the battery life. I was expecting more from an Ultrabook and was disappointed with the spec for this machine.

Lenovo Z580 15.6-Inch Laptop Review

Customer Ratings:

Bought this forn my wife, It's faster than my Toshiba quad core AMD. Better if it had a backlit keyboard.

Update 1/29/13

GET RID OF WINDOWS 8. Once I did and loaded Win.7 this machine is great. Win.8 not so great. it might be ok for a smart phone,

but not a real PC.

Buy a disk of Windows 7 use it to format and reload Windows. Go to Lenovo and get the drivers, Very easy to download.

Hope this helps anyone thinking about buying a PC but not sure about Windows 8.

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I purchased this computer used as the box was open, but the computer itself was never set up and was still in the packaging. I expected everything to work great, it it does for the most part. Except for when the keys stick or don't seem to work at all at times. Also there is a dead pixel dead center in the middle of the screen. When it arrived to my door the box it was shipped in was falling apart and basically completely open to show the world it was a Lenovo laptop. I Bought this to play games with and it is performing adequately so far. Other than the few minor hardware problems I mentioned it seems to be okay.

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I am 25 years old, and this is my first laptop purchase. Windows 8 is taking some time for me to get used to, but other than that I do not have any complaints. I had read that there were some issues with Network Connectivity from other purchasers, but I personally did not experience this. When the laptop was closed for quite some time, upon opening it back up, I would typically have to reconnect to the WiFi network I was using, but that is to be expected. Overall, I really like the laptop, quick, great visuals, I could use a little better audio (again, personal preference), but in terms of a convenient, casual-use-at-home laptop, this is definitely doing the job. Glad to say I am not disappointed.

-I am giving 4 stars because I am one of those people that say nothing is ever perfect! (More specifically, I would rate this 4.5 stars)

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Speedy laptop, very easy to get started and set up. However, I'm not too certain about Windows 8. It takes some time getting used to.

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I took a chance on this one. Wanted to upgrade to a current LT. Understood it was IBM child with windows 8 and all the bells I was looking for. Smooth operation, easy operating. Had a 17" Toshiba with windows 7 but wanted to cut down to a 15.6. Great look and easy handling.

Buy Dell Latitude D630 Core 2 Duo T7250 2.0GHz 2GB 80GB DVD±RW 14.1"

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After reviewing a number of refurbished laptops, I chose this one. I am very satisfied! It was delivered on time, delivered in perfect condition, and it runs beautifully. I would recommend Computer Geeks as a source for refurbished laptops!

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This laptop was purchased to use at Church for the overhead during service. It is perfect and runs well. The software is older so Windows 7 is perfect for it.

Review of ASUS Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR 10.1-Inch Convertible 2-in-1

Customer Ratings:

Last years set of windows 8 tablets were a great start to getting windows 8 into the ultra mobile arena. The Atom processors in them kept them thing, cool, and energy efficient all while allowing us to run a full windows operating system halfway decently. They weren't perfect, with limitations like usb 2.0, 2gb of ram, poor graphics, and a sometimes lackluster desktop performance. Intel sets to out do itself with the newer Baytrail chipset giving better processing and video performance as well as compatibility with newer technologies. With windows 8.1 a while slew of new tablets are being released with newer processors and other updated specs, the Asus T100 is one of the first.

Design: If you have used a transformer pad, you will be in a familiar territory. The T100 has a glossy back with the usual Asus logo coming out of the center. It is comfortable and has a decent enough grip to it. The front compared to some other tablets has a decent bezel but nothing to bad, it helps when holding it so you don't accidentally touch the screen. On the right you have the micro usb (for peripherals and charging), micro hdmi, micro sd, and headphone jack. Top has power, and left includes a volume and windows start button strangely (the front windows button doesn't do anything). One bad thing is I am putting an sd card in to stay, and it kind of sticks out a little on he side which could eject it easily or have more of a chance of damaging it.

On the bottom you have the port connection the the keyboard. This snaps and locks in to the keyboard to kep it steady and from disconnecting. Overall the feel of the tablet on the keyboard is pretty good, it feels for the most part like a laptop (as well as looks like one albeit a tiny one). The provided keybaord looks good, it has a polished metal look and some good weight to it (which helps with the weight of the tablet).The size is fairly is tiny, which is expected and because of this kind of hard to type on, I wouldn't try a very huge typing session. The only thing That I really don't like is the mouse pad, it works for pointing but the clicking goes far to deep and is just hard to use overall.

Display: The display looks pretty nice, it has good angles, good color and just really for the price doesn't disappoint in the slightest.

Battery life: I haven't had any trouble with it so far but I haven't actually paid enough attention to give an accurate say on it. It looks like I could get the advertised 11 hours, some reviews have claimed they got up to 12 hours even. I will try and update once I get a better read on it.

Software: Windows 8.1 seems to have some decent additions to what windows 8 already offered. As I have said in other reviews windows 8 I think it is the most dynamic mobile operating system right now. I have used many android tablets, as well as Ipads and while they are all great in their own right windows 8 just takes the cake. Apple has the most apps (especially tablet apps) , Google is a good mix of openness and a large amount of tablets apps. Windows 8 doesn't have a ton of table optimized applications, but the ability to have a full windows desktop applications is just awesome. It runs a smooth touch interface tablet when I need it for that, but if I really want to do business I can do it with this and run real windows programs such as photoshop, flash, steam etc.

Performance: Bay trail performance greatly meets my expectations. Almost all of the performance woes I had with clover trail are gone. The desktop lag I had is now pretty much gone, applications and windows open pretty much immediately. I had issues with websites like hulu before and now it runs without any issues. The metro touch interface is as smooth as ever, dual apps work like a charm as well. I've also tested the gaming ability, with some older and newer games just to test out the video capabilities.

The first game I tried was Elder Scolls V: Skyrim , I know right , is this thing ever going to start? Well after a lengthy load session I got in and at lowest settings I got a 10-15fps really not the worst performance ever though not really playable. From there I tried some more realistic titles

Bastion For some reason stuck at 20fps, probably a glitch between the hardware and software.

League of legends At low settings a very playable 40fps which is just great!

Half-life 2 At medium settings I got around 40fps

Far cry 2 low settings 20 fps

Torchlight high settings 40-50 fps

Rollercoaster tycoon 3 high settings 40+ fps

Tony Hawk HD 15 fps

Legend of Grimrock 40-50 fps medium settings

Flatout 2 40-50 fps

I figure that should give a pretty good idea of what to expect as far as older games, it really doesn't do bad at all considering it is a 10 inch tablet ultra thing tablet, with 11 hours of battery and no fans.

Overall my conclusion is a real giant thumbs up to this new generation of windows tablets. It did everything it's predecessor did but better. Asus itself gives a really great deal here including the keyboard that works well for what it is. The only thing I wish this tablet had is dual digitizer pen input which if you have ever used it on these makes things a lot easier sometimes. Spending extra on a Surface Pro tablet might have some performance advantages but you lose a lot of mobility and battery as well. Looking at the other platforms I really encourage you to give windows 8 a go, it really has a lot of advantages to possibly consider switching over to this newer tablet market.

You can check out my videos of the T100 at http://www.youtube.com/user/th3drow?feature=watch

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Asus was the manufacturer of the best motherboards available 25 years ago. They know hardware well. My Linux based EEE PC 1000 was my device of choice for years, before the days of tablets, because it was so portable. The T100TA is about the same size, weighs a fourth as much, has respectable processor power, and mine has been running on battery for about 7 hours now and seems to have a quarter tank left. Like the EEE, this device put good electronics in an ok package.

It would make my fingers hurt to do any serious, all day, writing on this keyboard. The right shift key is tiny. I wish they made the comma and period keys smaller instead. That was plain dumb. The touchpad is not what you get with a Thinkpad or a Mac; but it's far superior to sacrificing half the screen and using a touch input. The screen is perfectly fine, not as crisp as my son's Nexux 7, also made by Asus, but it looks sharp and crisp next to my two year old Thinkpad. The sound is good. Importantly, it can charge up with my micro usb cables from my Samsung devices and my son's tablet. The dock/keyboard is pretty much an external keyboard with a usb3 port. The upside of that is it doesn't get hot. In the real world, this internet counts.

I have been using Window 8 since it came out and 8.1 still feels awkward to me. Using my Thinkpad, I keep touching the non-touchscreen after only having this for a day. Use a touchscreen and you won't want to go back. I'm loving Bing News. To look at my information choices in a landscape format is comfortable on my eyes. Ebooks work well on this in that format as well. The recipe app can be used on a kitchen counter better than a tablet because it holds itself in place and it's way better than a big notebook which hogs the counter.

Internet Explorer let a website popup a commercial which blared at me while my wife was sleeping and I couldn't turn it off before she woke up. I killed the popup box but the audio kept going until I exited Explorer. I installed Firefox and made it my default browser because it has plugins to protect me from those shenanigans.

Are you a Kindle books user? This is the best device I have ever used for Kindle books. This counts a few tablets, including a couple Kindles. The reason is simple: Like a book, a tablet gets hard to hold after a while for those of us who have a hard time putting down a book. This sits on your lap, on a chair or in bed, and doesn't get hot or hurt your wrists holding it. The spacebar turns the page and seeing pages side by side feels right to me.

If this were an expensive device, I would give it three stars. If the software was more user friendly, I would give it five. Some reviews have noted that Amazon's vendor is charging more than retail for it. I would wait for it to come to $399. I just ordered a 64 GB SDXC card and should have done so when I ordered this. It should be good enough to hold enough data for me to get done the things I want. If you want a perfect compact touchscreen convertable computer, look elsewhere and dig deeper into your pockets. I think I'm going to be happy with this, especially after getting more used to the software.

Best Deals for ASUS Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR 10.1-Inch Convertible 2-in-1

ASUS has done it.

They have made the ultimate tablet/laptop hybrid, the first company to do so without some poor compromise somewhere.

How you say?

FULL Windows 8.1 CHECK

Performance of an entry level laptop with the form factor of a tablet thanks to Intel Bay Trail CHECK

Microsoft Office 2013 Home CHECK

10.1" screen, perfect to hold as a tablet but not too small for a laptop CHECK

Comfortable keyboard, takes a day to get used to, but it works great! CHECK

Docking mechanism that is easy to use and does not tip over CHECK

1366x768 IPS panel, good colors, high resolution, perfect res for 10.1" with no need for DPI scaling CHECK

Webcam CHECK

FAST Wifi CHECK

Built-in speakers that sound better than the average laptop, nevermind tablet? CHECK

USB 3.0, microUSB, and MicroSDXC ports CHECK

Good build quality CHECK

$399 CHECK!!!

What is missing? A back camera... big deal, use your phone! ;) Also is a fingerprint magnet, I'd say that is a minor gripe. This is such an awesome 2-in-1 that ASUS made, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Now back to have some more fun using it!!

Honest reviews on ASUS Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR 10.1-Inch Convertible 2-in-1

I've been using this unique machine for about five hours now. Before I review it, I want to give some context: I regularly use the Nexus 10 for mobile computing with a keyboard arguably the best screen you can buy on a tablet. I also have the first Nexus 7. I have tried to present on my nexus 10 and it crashed the projector. So I have been using my Asus 1201n running Win8.1 to handle all MS programs.

Enter the Asus T100. I didn't buy it for the tablet option, though that is useful. I bought it (from B&H for $399 64 gb I live in Canada and it came in two days) for a few reasons 10 hrs of Microsoft usage without plugging in. Good touchscreen. Light (very important must fit in my small MEC shoulder bag with Nexus 10 and a book without strain). Smaller than my 12 inch. Fast processor at least four times faster than the Atom dual core in my Asus 1201n, which really was cutting edge in Sept. 2010 (still pretty solid).

My initial verdict.

Screen you won't be upset. Any rendering problems are Microsoft's and not due to the pixel count. Asus's reading mode turns the screen a yellow hue, but may help the eyes. Touch functionality is exceptional though reviewers say it only has 5 pt touch, not 10 (which used to be standard not sure why this has been reduced though I never use 10 fingers on the screen at once). Track pad is also quite good, though I'm not a clicker I like to double tap which this does well.

Charging slow but this is the first charge. Haven't discharged it yet.

Keyboard cramped compared to my Asus 12 inch netbook. Cramped compared to my bluetooth motorola android keyboard (which is superb). But But But in five hours I feel like I'm already about 50% adapted to the key layout. Way better than typing on the screen. Definitely takes some getting used to.

Processor and performance Snappy. This is not an i5 chip, for sure. But I'm not really waiting for anything to load when I use apps which happens on my three other win 8 machines. This is my fastest machine it feels like a work horse to me, but I don't do video editing and I don't play pc games. I do regularly use ppt, vlc, youtube ripper, lots of chrome. Let's say I'm an aggressive word processor, browser, ppt user. This is ideal for me, though I could enjoy a 12 inch screen. The biggest issue that makes the screen feel cramped is simply the small Win8 text rendering which can be adjusted.

My advice I'd buy this over a Chromebook. I'd buy this over the high priced but attractive looking Yoga and any other Win8 running Mac Book Air competitor (definitely buy it over a surface you'd have to be crazy to pull the trigger on a surface pro over this baby). The 2gb of ram is much speedier on this machine than the 4gb ram in my Asus 1201n (that I upgraded). I haven't had a ram issue yet and I'm running lots of programs and apps simultaneously.

For what it is worth, I agree with most everything said in this review: http://techreport.com/review/25537/asus-transformer-book-t100-convertible-notebook-reviewed

Enjoy!

Update after two days of use:

The battery is exceptional. I used the computer from 9-12, then 1-2, then 3-7 and I had 28% left. From 5:30-7 I was presenting over powerpoint, and also playing film clips. It also accepts a charge from my anker external battery pushing my mobile work time up to double the reported 10 hrs. The only problem I found with presenting is that some of the film clips seemed dark. I'm not sure if this is because the micro-hdmi to VGA converter has difficulty or because I tinkered with the screen's colours and contrast ratio and the projector interpreted this differently.

I'm adjusting to the keyboard, but like many reviewers have noted the right shift key is small and I often miss it. Please note: the two feet of the hinge, which touch the table when the screen is up, can scratch a wood finish very easily. I produced three scratches at home before I figured out what the sound was. Like one reviewer as well, my keyboard had a slight warp that made it wobble. I've bent it back into shape. So some parts of the construction seem needlessly cheap, like the warped keyboard and the glossy and sometimes flimsy back of the tablet. Less like the Nexus 10 back and more like the lid to my old Asus 1201n. You don't notice the flex until you pick up the screen in tablet mode and then it definitely seems less sturdy than either Nexus (one of which Asus made shame shame). Like many have mentioned, I would pay $100 more for this T100 if it had a resolution that rivaled the iPad or Nexus and a sturdy aluminum back.

The device is still snappy. Chrome seems ridiculous on this machine though. I held it up on my Nexus and used all the screen controls (pinch to zoom...etc). Then I showed my wife what Chrome couldn't do in Win8.1. IE puts Google to shame here.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS Transformer Book T100TA-C1-GR 10.1-Inch Convertible 2-in-1

The ASUS Transformer Book T100 delivers a ton of value in a mostly compelling package. The beauty of today's computing devices is that consumers are no longer forced to buy one-size-fits-all, and instead, have the choice to buy what best fits their needs. I've used the ASUS T100 (64GB) over the past couple of days, and while I wouldn't consider it powerful/comfortable enough as primary computing device, I think it makes great sense as a secondary machine, especially with the advances in cloud storage.

From my perspective, the ASUS T100 is basically a tablet with the ability to become a mini-notebook. Whether you will love or hate it strongly depends on what your intended application and expectations are. I plan to use the ASUS T100 for both work and recreation, with note-taking, email, web browsing, presenting, and video playback being the most common tasks, and from my initial impression, it does these jobs quite well. While I found the keyboard a bit too cramped for my liking (smaller-than-normal keys + tighter spacing + my big hands = not very happy), and wasn't too keen on the touch/clickpad (doesn't always respond to the first touch, two-finger scrolling can be a bit jerky, loud and hollow-sounding click), it wasn't a deal-breaker considering the price point. The keyboard dock is really usable, and I appreciated having it when I was typing longer emails and editing office documents.

The ASUS T100 features a Intel Atom Z3740 Quad-Core processor which is exceptionally power efficient and much better performing than previous Atoms, though it is still slow compared to traditional notebook/ultrabook processors. For example, the year-old "low-end" Pentium 2117U, rated at 17W TDP, is more than twice as fast as the Atom Z3470 in single-threaded workloads though it can also draw ~4X more power. The Z3740 is pretty even with the Pentium in multi-threaded workloads, through the slower single-threaded performance will be more evident with slower app/program launches, etc.

At the end of the day, I like the ASUS T100. ASUS has developed many 2-in-1 transforming solutions in the past and its expertise shows in the T100 ~ while made of the plastic, the overall build quality and precision is good for the price. I more or less agree with the specifications such as as the CPU and 64GB of eMMC, though I think 2GB of RAM is too stingy, especially since it cannot be upgraded later. Overall, I think the ASUS Transformer Book T100 is a much needed breath of fresh air and I'm excited about the future possibilities.

Notes:

1) Compared to the ARM versions of Microsoft's Surface RT and upcoming Surface 2 (non-pro), the ASUS T100 offers an exceptional value proposition by bundling Office 2013 and being compatible with regular Windows software.

2) For my own computing needs, I found the combination of a portable machine with good battery life, paired with a powerful desktop to be ideal. The "good-enough" performance of the ASUS T100 along with great battery life and ability to fall back to full-blown Windows makes it well suited for this role.

3) Web Browsing and Document editing on Microsoft platforms is generally a great experience. Internet Explorer on both Modern and Desktop modes is fully functional and delivers a rich web experience with Flash, Javascript, HTML5, etc. Office 2013 allows for native viewing and editing of documents which is something iOS and Android sometimes have difficulty with.

4) Office 2013 Home and Student is pre-installed and includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and One Note. A serial number for activation is in the box.

5) The charging cable is Micro USB but is very short by laptop standards. It attaches to the tablet side instead of the keyboard dock. The USB port on the keyboard dock is on the LEFT side.

6) The Windows 8.1 UI feels very fluid though App/Program launches can be sluggish.

7) Free space on the 64GB version is ~ 37GB. Windows 8 has a built-in recovery mechanism which allows you to re-install/repair Windows or remove all user files.

8) The T100 supports Microsoft's Connected Standby feature which means it only sips power in the suspend state so you don't need to turn it on/off frequently. Modern Apps such as email are refreshed periodically even in suspend so the live tiles are "fresh" when you resume the system. Resume from suspend is nearly instantaneous. It should be noted that desktop apps are suspended during Connected Standby so they are not refreshed.

9) Boot times are quick ~ the system can boot to the start screen in

Reviews of HP 2000-2c29WM 15.6-Inch Laptop PC (Black Licorice) / 4GB DDR3 RAM

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $449.99
Sale Price: $399.99
Today's Bonus: 11% Off

I do a lot of research before spending a lot of money on purchases. After reading reviews on several sites I decided to go with HP. I am very satisfied with this laptop, very good speed and no hangups!

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I am very pleased with this laptop. The start-up was easy. The screen and keyboard size is great. This laptop meets our needs for surfing the net, playing games, and word processing. This laptop appears to be very sturdy as well. I would recommend this product to anyone.

Best Deals for HP 2000-2c29WM 15.6-Inch Laptop PC (Black Licorice) / 4GB DDR3 RAM

Bought is as a gift. Sister raves about how nice it is. Can't go wrong. Buying another if I can find it at the

ASUS G53SW-XN1 Notebook - Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.00GHz 15.6" Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I got one of these laptops to set up for one of my relatives and I have to say for the price it is amazing. It has a very powerful graphics card (GTX 460). The laptop is of high build quality. It is a little bulky but it is very sturdy. I prefer sturdy construction to thin and breakable.

The laptop is lightning fast and handles anything you can throw at it. The only downside is the garbage software that comes with it (but it comes with every laptop). After uninstalling it though the problem goes away. It is full HD resolution (1920x1080), and even has some extra features such as a back-lit keyboard. It also comes with the standard ASUS warranty which is 1 year accidental damage, 2 years parts/labor. No other manufacturer comes with a warranty like this out of the box, but in reality it's not needed, the laptop has very strong construction and looks exactly like a stealth fighter. If you are on the fence about this one, I recommend buying it. I have worked with computers and IT for 10 years.

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This laptop is awesome, it is very fast and can handle practially all games out for pc rite now and more. asus has done a great job with this laptop. the 2 fans in the back grealtly help cycle the heat as well as the aluminum case helps absorb the heat and keeping the surface cool. very quite and fast. does not shut of due to overheating like some previous asus laptops.

The best laptop in its category with a price to beat any other out there.

Powerful, fast, sleek, quite and cool, simply amazing.

Best Deals for ASUS G53SW-XN1 Notebook - Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.00GHz 15.6"

I'm sure this laptop would've been great, if I hadn't received it with a broken screen. Sent it back and got a Qosmio with a larger screen, and couldn't be happier.

Review of ASUS UX32VD-DH71 13.3-Inch Zenbook ( Silver Aluminum )

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,299.00
Sale Price: $968.95
Today's Bonus: 25% Off

This is a great ultrabook if you are willing to upgrade it w/ a SSD (Samsung 830) and some RAM (8GB Mushkin). After that it's the most powerful gaming laptop will you need (for now). I installed Windows 7 on the new SSD and Windows 8 on the built-in 24GB SDD to dual-boot. It's very light and it's one of the very fun ultrabooks that can be upgraded. The pros:

i7 ivy bridge processor

Upgradeable memory (2GB + 8GB)

Upgradeable hard drive (SSD). Use the old 500GB with an enclosure for some portable storage

Upgradeable wireless card (maybe later to the 802.11ac standard)

Discrete graphics card Nvidia 620M

3x USB 3.0 ports

Normal sized HDMI port

1920x1080p resolution

Built-in 24GB SSD

Decent sound

**** UPDATE 07/11/2013***

After having this for a while I must say it is quite a good powerhouse after the upgrades. It's still not as powerful as my desktop but for travel it works great. The only gripe about this is that the trackpad isn't as good as what I would like. I would definitely recommend a mouse if you are planning to use it for long periods of time as the trackpad is very sensitive. Sensitive to the point when I want to double click that it moves the mouse ever so slightly and on this high resolution that slight movement will cause you to miss your target at times. Hopefully they will replace a software upgrade to fix that.

Everything else works as expected. :)

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Got this laptop in March ($1,249.99) and I've been so pleased! I'm here to share the love for this excellent machine (: It's difficult to find a laptop that is this thin, AND has a dedicated graphics card, AND has 1980x1080 resolution IPS display. Clean install your OS upon arrival and upgrade to an SSD and you will have an epic powerhouse in your hands.

GENERAL:

Dedicated graphics card (nvidia GeForce GT 620M 1gb) covers all my gaming and graphics needs.

This laptop is beautiful. It is slim and feels solid. I don't believe in covers/protectors and have an affinity for deserts so it's been dragged around on sandy surfaces, gardens and roofs so the cover has faint scratches, but it's held up very well for all my haphazard abuse. It comes with a very nice sleeve for slipping into tool-filled backpacks. I was actually terrified at how thin the chassis is when I removed it for upgrades, but when tightly clamped to the rest of the laptop the machine is very solid. Yay structural engineering \o/

The 13" IPS display is perfect. The matte texture and 1980x1080 resolution are a righteous combination. For those you haven't experienced matte IPS display, it's such an upgrade from normal gloss screens that at times it feels like you're reading a Kindle. I never thought I've become a display elitist until I got this computer.

UPGRADING RAM:

I'm happy with my 6gb of RAM. I recommend Google to see how much RAM you /really/ need; even gamers only usually need 6 or 8gb. Unless you're CADing in multiple VMs simultaneously I wouldn't worry about it. If you do fall into this category, then be aware that there's a 2gb DDR3 1600Mhz DIMM soldered to one slot in the motherboard, which means only one of the slots are available for upgrade, making the max 2gb + 8gb = 10gb RAM. I've heard you can unsolder the RAM but I was advised by a EE that this requires the use of a reflow gun and may be a tricky operation. But if you are truly running applications that eat a monstrous 16gb, then you might have the means for the deed. And note that the soldered RAM is 1600Mhz and find a matching one, for best performance.

UPGRADING HARD DRIVE:

I replaced the hard drive with a Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD and life is beautiful (: Restarting my laptop is about as convenient as waking it from hibernation. Samsung 840 Pro series is the best of SSD at time of writing, but if you're going for something cheaper be aware that the slot is 7mm tall, and check the SSD height before purchasing or you may have to do awkward modifications (refer to Youtube for guidance if applicable). You'll find that Samsung 840 Pro is usually on sale somewhere on the internet, and can find a 256GB for

Discount ASUS K50IJ-H1 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:

I was apprehensive about replacing my seven year old HP laptop. It served me well but had some hiccups that I had become accustomed to. The thought of adapting to Windows 7, Office 2007 and new hardware besides was daunting.

I couldn't be happier! Windows 7 is a dream and the laptop itself is really an easy machine to work with and no idiosyncracies. The price was a complete bargain! I did my market research and ASUS was listed as the best buy for the money, but I didn't expect to be so happy! I had heard that the touch pad and keyboard were not responsive and that people had trouble using the camera, etc because the instructions weren't included. I found everything simple to use and intuitive. I would highly reccomend this computer to everyone, not just the budget conscious.

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I bought the ASUS K50 15.6-Inch Laptop under the worst possible conditions: my main PC had just failed, and I had emergency client work to do. I bought this notebook based on about 30 minutes of online research and on what turned out to be good advice from a knowledgeable salesperson.

Have to say that I'm quite pleased with this unit and its overall performance running under Windows 7. After cleaning out some of the (unwanted) apps and programs, it has performed flawlessly for about a month now. The Intel Dual-Core CPU has made this notebook a joy to use, but what really shines through are the superb graphics from its 15.6-inch, 1366 x 768-pixel (16:9) display and the overall ergonomics. The horizontal angles on the LCD screen were excellent, and can share the view with a couple of your friends while watching a movie, photos or PowerPoint presentations on its screen.

The K50 keyboard feels solid, and there's barely had any flex. The keys offer a nice response. The spaciousness of the keyboard is a joy during long writing stints, and the numeric keypad to the right didn't need any sacrifice of key space to accommodate it.

The touchpad is large and quite comfortable to use. The buttons are large, and have quietly audible clicks when pressed. The touchpad seemed to lack some response while moving the cursor at high speeds out of the box, but tweaking it a bit seemed to resolve the issue.

Unlike my previous HP and VAIO laptops and notebooks, I don't need a supplementary cooler when using it for long periods. Their "IceCool" design offers cleverly designed and positioned heat vents which keeps the palm rest cool, lower than that of the average human body temperature at the palm rest area, even after long computing hours.

The K50 notebook has all the necessary ports for my use. On the right side are separate headphone and microphone jack, two USB ports, VGA output, RJ45 Ethernet and the required power jack. The DVD/CD optical drive and two more USB ports are on the left. There's a memory card slot in the front (tested only with SD cards so far) and dual Kensington lock slots on the back.

The ASUS K50 system comes with a six-cell battery installed and accessed from the bottom of the computer. It seems to power the system for four hours with normal usage in power saver mode, and in high workload, I found that the system runs about two and a half to three hours. Since it's not a netbook, didn't expect more. Obviously this notebook doesn't have enough battery capacity to be carried out without the charger.

Was quite impressed with the overall sound quality delivered by the built-in Altec Lansing Speakers. They delivered good sound without distortions, and both the high and low end of the music was clear and crisp. An external subwoofer might be good to boost low bass range sounds, but overall the sound quality impressed this reviewer.

Pros:

Full-size 15.6 inch display with excellent color and brightness

Cool to the touch during operation

Solid full-sized keyboard

Excellent ergonomics

Good performance at an affordable price

Nice subtle design

Good sound quality

Cons:

Upgrade capability may be limited (like many notebooks)

Touchpad response requires some tweaking

If you are happy with its subtle design and don't plan on upgrading the system anytime soon, you won't find any better performer than the ASUS K5 in its price range. If you can spend a few bucks more, there are other computers that might give you better gaming performance, but that wasn't a personal consideration. This is a good laptop providing excellent value for the money, more than this reviewer expected.

In summary, the ASUS K50 is a pleasure to use. It's a solid 5-star product, without a doubt.

Best Deals for ASUS K50IJ-H1 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Black)

I've not had the unit long enough to write an informative review but I did do some extensive research before I selected ASUS and this model to begin with... so far, not a single disappointment...

Honest reviews on ASUS K50IJ-H1 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Black)

I ordered this laptop it was my first laptop purchase. My husband helped me a little when it came to purchasing the product. When it came in he was actually a little jealeous of my laptop. He paid a lot more for his with extra features that he does not use. The computer is WONDERFUL! I am planning on starting my own home business and so far this has been great. Beautiful colors on the screen.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS K50IJ-H1 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Black)

This product is outstanding. It is fast, the screen is excellent, and the battery life is also quite good. So far I have no comments on longevity (bought it at the end of June), but it is working well after a month. I enjoy using it, and given the price differential ($600 vs. $2,000 between it and a more expensive model), this seems to have all that I need. I'm in the real estate and lending business, so I don't need a gaming computer, so it seems perfectly adequate. One complaint: Asus sets up its drive partitioned into a System Drive (C:) and a Data Drive (D:); however, Win7 wants to put "My Documents," "My Pictures," etc. on the C partition. I had to create a workaround to make my programs automatically fetch from and save to a documents directory on the "D" partition. It's minor, but if you are not a somewhat above average user, you won't know what to do to fix this problem.

Otherwise, no gripes at all, and Win7 works fine.

Steve Bradley

Review of HP Elitebook 6930P Intel Core 2 Duo 2400 MHz 160Gig Serial ATA HDD

Customer Ratings:

This worked out perfect for me as I didn't want to invest in a new laptop as this was a secondary PC to my iMac, so it worked out perfect as the price was low and so far the laptop has worked flawlessly. I'd buy from this seller again.

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Just what I wanted, accidently erased adobe reader, e-mailed seller and they were excellent in solving problem! Solid laptop for what it cost!

Sony VAIO VPCEE42FX/WI 15.5" Laptop Review

Customer Ratings:

This machine performs like a beast yet it has a elegant appearance. The video is excellent and runs most popular games. Sony has really made these machines to turn heads. Heads will turn anywhere as a result of this bold white interior. The audio great. Overall a great white super machine by Sony. I strongly recommend.

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I don't know too terribly much about computers, but I haven't had any problems with mine yet. I LOVE that it has a number pad on the side, and the keyboard is very easy to type on. The track pad is textured, which I really like. The webcam is quite nice, and has good resolution.

The only downside that I have found is that the track pad is off center, so sometimes my hand bumps into it while I'm typing, and it messes me up. But honestly, it is a small price to pay for all of the features that I like about it.

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This computer lasted just over a year and a half. There is a problem with powering on which could be anything; I won't buy anything Sony again. I have a Sony from 2001 I still use and will be finding a good recycle place for this one to keep it from cluttering a landfill.

Honest reviews on Sony VAIO VPCEE42FX/WI 15.5" Laptop

I bought laptop not even 3 years ago. Repair guy says about $480 for one plus labor. This now glorfied paper weight almost never left the house. No spills on it, no power surges, no kids pounding the keys. Apparently it was bad luck to choose the computer cost a little more whith a better reputation, so I thought. My bad.

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I purchased this laptop from CircuitCity.com for $499 -it is an excellent value for the specs, and it had everything I was looking for in a laptop. I wanted it to be easy to travel with, have a webcam to Skype with my family when I travel for work, and have enough RAM and harddrive space to run multiple programs and save basic documents for home and work computing. I like Windows 7 and the Sony Viao options so far. The one surprise was it's not just white -the wristrest area is glittery which makes it look rather girly, and that isn't really shown in the photos or descriptions online. I'm just glad I bought it for me and not my husband otherwise it would have been getting returned.

Discount Acer Aspire S3-391-6899 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $699.99
Sale Price: $499.99
Today's Bonus: 29% Off

I can't believe that there are no reviews for this item and I was a little hesitant to buy it since it did not have any reviews. I was also looking at the Zenbook but the reviews were mixed and the price was high, I decided I could wait a few more years for them to work out the glitches. I have tried all major brands out there and they were just ok to absolutely horrible, and I really can do without a disk drive as I never really used them in my other lap tops and why bother paying for something you won't use.

This is lightweight, the screen is great, the touch pad is large and all the connections are on the back which is a personal preference for myself. I bought this mainly to take with me on road trips and for dedicated use for personal stuff. My favorite feature is the bluetooth, I connected a stereo headset and found the sound quality to be crisp and clear, perfect for those times when I may want to listen to something without disturbing others.

I got an awesome deal with a amazon promotion so for the 550.00 I paid for this I found it to be an exceptional value given the size, weight and features!! A great item and price for students!!!

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I've had this ultrabook for about 2 months now, and it's performed quite decently so far. I'm not a very picky consumer, and I don't gripe about small inconveniences, especially when considering that the price for this ultrabook is rather reasonable when compared to others in the same tech/spec range.

Pros: it really is ultra-light, the sleek design is similar to the 13-inch version of the MacBook Air (though the material & build are likely not as sturdy or well put-together, hence the immense price difference), and it has a sleek outer shell that doesn't retain fingerprints or stains so easily (which is something that netbook/notebook users seem to care about). Most importantly, it is immensely portable. The i3 processor is quite capable when it comes to intensive web use (which is what I mainly do with it), and it does start up quickly from its "sleep" or "hibernation" modes. Some consumers have mentioned that the speed slows down considerably when having too many windows/programs open, but I can't verify if this is the case with my own machine since I'm not the kind of user who likes to have more than 8 Word documents open while using a tab-heavy Google Chrome open as well. If you expect to execute intensive business-related activities on your notebook, I definitely would recommend stepping up to an i5 or i7 processor; I own an Acer laptop with an i5 on it, and it's able to handle larger-order tasks like that. My advice: use an i3 ultrabook for basic to intensive web use (especially cloud use), and since this machine has a 500 GB harddrive, you'll be able to save quite a lot of material on it.

Cons: the 5.5 hour battery life is something of a fabrication. You get 2.5 to 3 hours MAX if you use it for that long without break, but if you intersperse your sessions with occasional use (closing and re-opening it from time to time) the battery will drag itself out through a good part of the day. I suppose this kind of intermittent use was what Acer meant by "5.5 hour battery life". One user has accurately recognized that the screen is liable to shake too often if the notebook is moving too much; so long as you have a sturdy table or desk that doesn't budge or shake, the screen won't shake at all, even if you're clacking away at the keys with any degree of intensity. I imagine that, in general, the keys might not be responsive...at first. In the case of this notebook, the key for letter "C" was not loose enough (as if it were semi-stuck into the groove of the body), but after 2 months that particular key became loosened and now is about as responsive as the others. I had (and continue to have) a similar problem with the larger i5 Acer notebook I own: the blue "Fn" key still does not work in conjunction with the Fn controls (such as turning the volume down or up, increasing or decreasing the brightness, etc.), but since that key and its related controls are not absolutely crucial to the basic performativity of the notebook, I don't give it much mind. I still get the performance that I need from the machine. In any case, I think that Acer machines generally seem to have a slight looseness or vulnerability to their build--which is why their prices are what they are. So I can't complain.

All in all, I'm satisfied with what the notebook gives me: portability, sleekness, lightness, connectivity. I've been a consistent Acer user for a few years now (I own 3 machines by them), and I can't say they've disappointed me thus far. Even though the Cons seem to outnumber the Pros in terms of quantity, they are actually quite minor quibbles in relation to the fantastic price the notebook's offered at, and quite minor too in relation to the overall quality the notebook gives you; which is to say, it functions just as it is marketed to you (except for that fib concerning the battery life). And it really does hold up in style when placed next to the implacable army of MacBooks that you inevitably meet each time you walk into a cafe or library to work on something.

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I bought this to use for my work, which did not involve heavy graphics or such things, but just a simple process of having multiple Microsoft Word windows open together with a couple of Internet tabs open in Google Chrome, one or two Excel files, and one or two more text programs (e.g. Evernote).

And this computer is slow with that amount of load. It freezes more often than I would like -about three to four times DAILY -which is a wonder because it's not like I'm running heavy games on it. Is having about six to seven Word documents open together with two or three Internet tabs on Chrome too much for a new laptop to handle? I certainly did not think the i3 processor would be so slow as to be inadequate for my simple tasks.

UPDATE: Had this laptop for about four months now. Of the aforementioned problem, I contacted Acer service center and the man there told me to try reinstalling some drivers (he sent me links). He told me that if that didn't work, to try factory-resetting the laptop. Fortunately, reinstalling the drivers fixed the problem -for three months. After that, the same problem reoccurred -freezing, disability to click, etc., etc. I reinstalled those same drivers again, and the problem has been fixed. I suppose I'll keep doing this every time the problem reoccurs. Other than this, though, the laptop is usually moderately fast and functional.

Honest reviews on Acer Aspire S3-391-6899 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne)

2 Months Update

So I have had the ultrabook for about two months now. For the most part it is still pretty good, but some issues have come up. Firstly, the screen does kinda shake a bit when you move it around and a little when you type. It actually shakes more than you would want a screen to shake. Secondly, my laptop has just started randomly turning off for some reason every few days. I know it is not a virus for sure, so I will look into that. Lastly, at times the fan can get annoyingly loud. Like a little too lound, and there is only one vent on the entire laptop. So that is why this goes from 5 stars to 3 stars.

Original Purchase Review

I had been shopping for an ultrabook for about 2 months for college. I had my eyes set on an acer S3 for a while, but this laptop on Amazon sealed the deal. I got it for 550 dollars at the time of my purchase (That Promo has now expired). But even at its current price. I would highly recommend the purchase. It is a very classy looking ultrabook. The new Champagne Color is really good to look at. I have gotten tons of compliments from friends and Family alike.

As for the performance aspects. The computer runs just as it should. It has instant boot up. Although I would venture to say that the Speed of the ultrabook is nothing to scream about. However, it does assure that I will never buy another computer that is not at least have a partial SSD. The Screen is decent. You get what you pay for, and then some.

If nothing else, the computer is worth buying for its aesthetics.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Acer Aspire S3-391-6899 13.3-Inch Ultrabook (Champagne)

First let me begin by saying that I am not a tech geek but rather a savy consumer. I researched many various styles of laptops and ultrabooks before purchasing this item. As you may know there are many options to match every demographic of consumer but as I navigated the many reviews and professional critiques I recognized that ACER was a reputable brand. I dug deeper (after owning a Dell, Samsung, HP and Toshiba)and this ultrabook compares with all of these top brand names.

I was in the market for a light weight, verstile, functional computer to be used primarily for school and business. In my research the ultrabook series appeared to be the way to go; this ACER Aspire S3 fulfilled my needs and desires. What I like and list as the positives: (1) stylish exterior design/good eye appeal, (2) keyboard layout is highly functional and comnfortable, (3) keys are soft to the touch and allows for quick typing with no sticking, (4) screen size is perfect for portability and for working with multiple MS Office documents, (5) ultrabook doesn't get hot when on my lap, (6) screen resolution is sharp and radiant, (7) start up speed is faster than my Samsung and HP laptops,(8) memory capacity is more than sufficient for maintaining school/business projects, and (9) Windows 7 software downloaded (not a fan of the new Windows 8).

I read the other reviews posted on this item and for me personally have not experienced any of the freezing syptoms, screen jumping and slow connectivity expressed by other consumers.

I would catergorize the following as the potential negatives (based upon my own experience): (1) WIFI strength sometimes weak and its not my router because I have seen the same with public connections; it appears to be unique to this unit, (2) mouse pad sounds hollow and unlike the key strokes it doesn't feel as comfortable to the touch but it works well, (3) speakers are not the greatest and if you want premium quality sound you would certainly need to add external speakers, (4) battery life is dependent on use, I have gotten between 3.5 to 4.5 hours without a charge -more windows open and multiple activities will drain battery quicker, (5) Note hybernation and sleep modes help with battery life and battery life on this ultrabook is superior to my Samsung, (6) placement of USB ports is unique and may not be comfortable to some users, for me it works, (7) power cord connector must be perfect fit worried I might break the pin, doesn't push in easily, and (8) ACER sent it with a lot of addons and extra programs not necessary which will require clean-up.

To this end, I really like this Ultrabook. It has excellent craftmanship and for my specific needs it was a smart purchase for the price. Despite some of the negatives listed I still rate this item 4 Stars and per my own experience and research suggest it to be a competitive alternative to the more expensive high-end ultrabooks or Mac Airbooks.

I hope this review offered pratical insight and was helpful to making a determination on whether to purchase or not.

Update:

I have now had this laptop for a few months and I love it. It is meeting all my needs very well. Some of the prior reviews and comments shared about potential problems I have not experienced. The light weight, versatility and performance are better than prior laptops -HP, Samsung and Dell. I use it for school and business and have no problems. Have received many compliments about its visual appeal. After a couple months of use the only draw back is the battery life -it does not live up to the manufacturer suggested battery life. Honestly, after about 1.5 hours of continuous use the battery will die. Best used on charger.

I would still recommend this laptop as an economical purchase; especially good for school or moderate use. Certainly just as with most laptops or PCs there are drawbacks depending on usage. Example, not a gamer laptop and sound is weak so may not be the best for watching movies or programs online. Had to purchase additional software and delete pre-loaded items that came with laptop since I didn't need them. Don't list this as a negative just noting for potential buyers.

To this end, if you are reading this review and considering this laptop for purchase I would recommend. Like you I went back and forth between different models before deciding upon this one and I don't regret my decision. Hope this review has helped....

Reviews of ASUS X55A-BCL092A Laptop Computer / 15.6-inch Display Screen

Customer Ratings:

I was super hard pressed to buy a laptop for my job, but pretty short on cash. I bought this laptop as a referb and got a decent deal on it.

Pros:

-Lightweight and compact. (I actually had to buy a smaller bag to carry it in even though it had the same screen size as my last laptop.)

-good for surfing the net

Cons:

-Low processing power/memory (I have a difficult time multi-tasking with this laptop. its pretty much a single task dedication machine)

-Only 2 USB ports

-No indicator lights for things like numlk or capslk

For the most part this laptop suffices as a basic running machine, but dont expect to much from it.

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I got this laptop for less than $300 and I love it. I just wish it came with operating instructions. I love the handwriting element,but can't find the pen that goes with it.

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My laptop isn't functioning as I expected nor meeting the standards describe in the advertisement. I unable to type in a web address into the server or write or send e-mails. This laptop is useless and I would like a refund or a new machine.