Lenovo Ideapad U-550 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of Review

Customer Ratings:

Not quite as solid as a Thinkpad, but not the price of one, either, nor the weight. And much sexier. This is a larger 15.6 inch version of the U350, the earlier version of which critics seemed to love for form factor, but complained about sub-par processing performance. The new lineup seems to fix that problem, and now it is the complete package. The SU7300 Core 2 Duo is lightning fast for the tasks I am doing to this point. Granted, I haven't pushed it to generate 3D CAD drawings, but for Office, Web browsing, working with iTunes and the things most of us do on a daily basis, I certainly am impressed. Huge HD, plenty of RAM. Beautiful keyboard as always from Lenovo. It does lack Firewire, but has every other connection you could want. 3 USBs are nice, as is the card reader and HDMI output. I thought it had bluetooth, but I can't seem to locate it this appears to be a difference between this beautiful black version (bought right here on Amazon) and the brown versions sold by Lenovo directly. The other difference appears to be I seem to have an integrated graphics card, while the brown Lenovo version has a 512MB card. Not that I can tell a difference so far. This is a great value.

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Here's the summary of my experience with the Lenovo U-550

Pros

* Combination of 15.6 inch screen and relatively light weight

* Relatively long battery life

* Reasonably solid construction

* More than sufficient for moderate MS Office use and heavy internet/ entertainment use

Cons

* Lenovo customer support is a bureaucratic nightmare

* Numeric keypad occupies right-most section of the keyboard, shifting the remainder of the keyboard to the left

* Glossy screen and body translates into a grimy appearance due to finger prints

* Screen will slam shut against the keyboard unless you slow it as it closes

My previous Dell Inspiron E1505 laptop was near death, so it was time to replace it after ~ 4 years of heavy use. I was happy with the Dell, but it was a heavy beast that plowed through battery power. In looking for the replacement, I wanted an impossible combination of desktop replacement like the E1505, but minus the weight, bulk, and limited battery performance of the E1505. Upon shopping, I was unimpressed with MacBook Pro given the price. Other Wintel thin and light machines appeared to be cheaply built or with low-quality components/ limited screen size. The Lenovo Ideapad U-550 stood out to me as a higher quality build with a large screen. I knew that it came with a glossy screen, but I couldn't find any other comparable machine without this annoyance. Also the numeric keypad placed on the rightmost section of the keyboard displaces the other keys to the left, which seems unnecessary to me (how many of us really key in data with a numeric keypad?).

All considered, I am happy with the purchase. The U-550 is easy to carry around, is good for the intended use (i.e. moderate MS Office use, heavy use for internet, movies, music), and has a reasonable battery life (~4+ hrs under perpetual use, less with a movie/ DVD thrown in).

The major shortcoming is Lenovo customer support. I wanted an additional battery for the U-550 to really cover a 6 hour flight under moderate use with DVDs. Attempting to get even this simple of a request accommodated through Lenovo customer support was a true nightmare. It took two days of transfers and frustration. Dell support was much better (but I was not impressed with their thin and light PCs).

Best Deals for Lenovo Ideapad U-550 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of

This is my first Lenovo laptop and so far it has been a good experience. On the practical side, the laptop has a bigger screen than my old 15" Dell Latitude, but so much lighter that it doesn't hurt my back carry it around in a shoulder bag. It is very quiet. That battery seems last forever. Design-wise, being an architect, I think it is one of the best looking laptop out there that is not a mac (but so much cheaper). It looks very thin. It has a very interesting texture on the cover that reminds you of a Louis Vuitton bag. From gadget standpoint, beside the multi-touch pad, the computer come with a face recognition software that work with the built-in webcam, so you don't have to type in password ever again to log in.

Honest reviews on Lenovo Ideapad U-550 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of

I was just about to purchase this Ideapad U550 from but, I read the first review on this product and changed my mind due to the color comments. The ones on Lenovo website are DARK BROWN, I read these ones were BLACK but NOT... they're DARK BROWN also so don't get confused. The color is not bad, let's say it's different from the one I thought I was purchasing.

I recieved my deapad U550 (model # 374959U) on Dec 10th and so far it's up to spec, shipping was pretty fast (Free Super Saving) and got on the third day to South Texas.

If you don't mind getting a DARK BROWN laptop, this is a great value for $699.99 (4GB + 320GB), if you want to save $110 usd, get the 3GB + 250GB HD.

Note: Amazon's description says it's 1000GB but it's a 320GB HD.

Happy Holidays !!!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo Ideapad U-550 15.6-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of

My lenovo y 430 is just 1+ year old it has screen flickering issue. Same problem with my friend's. Horrible customer service. more over you will not find parts in market.

DONT BUY!! Check the lenovo forum to get clear idea.

Asus G60JX-RBBX05 Intel i5-430M, 4 GB, 500 GB, NVIDIA GTS360M Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I've been using an old Toshiba laptop for a long time, and it was time I upgraded. I'll start with what I was looking for: a powerful gaming laptop that I could still use for school. I certainly got what I asked for.

It's positives are obvious at the very start. Its i5 processor and 4gb of ram make it lightning fast, this is in comparison to my friend's desktop that has several thousand dollars piled into it. I tested a multitude of games on it, Mass Effect 2 ran without a hitch at max settings, Left4Dead2 runs at max, even Starcraft2 on Ultra settings ran cleanly when playing normally (note custom maps are a different story, and if you've ever played a custom you know what I mean...). This of course is only possible because of the lower resolution. Since it's not at full 1080p, it can handle the amount of graphic intensity of high settings. In all honesty I love full hd, and am quite used to it, but the sacrifice of resolution for quality was well worth it. I can easily run any program without any issues, word, photoshop, et. Often enough I'll have a few things running and play starcraft2 at the same time without any slow down, which says a lot. All three ran without any frame rate issues. In terms of the actual look of the laptop, it's sleek and clean, it had no scratches or dings, and everything was intact. the keyboard and the wrist rests are textured, which I really like because it gives me some feeling to when I'm typing et. The extra touch buttons that allow you to turbo boost the cpu (possible since it's an i5) and turn the touchpad on and off are very helpful when you already have a mouse. The size of this laptop allows for a numpad, which I absolutely love because I HATE typing with the 10 button numbers. Also, the fact the keyboard has back light is quite nice in a dark environment. The webcam is good quality as well. For a refurb (after hearing the horror stories), mine is in perfect condition.

Now the negatives do exist, this laptop isn't perfect. The chiclet keyboard might be an issue for some, I know it's not much for me but since I'm so used to the responsiveness of a normal keyboard I have to adjust to the change. The speakers are a little low on volume, but all you have to change is the volume equalizer to on in Creative's audio driver. The laptop itself didn't come as I expected, it's black with a small streak of silver instead of the blue. I actually wanted blue as it matches my mouse and I love the color but why be picky, it still looks good. When the laptop came I had some fears instilled in me thanks to my paranoid friend, who told me that some refurbs come with no charger or battery, but I got this from Amazon and my fears were just that. However, even if it came with the charger and battery, what you do not get is the driver dvd, or a Windows disc. Now, this isn't too much of a problem as you can download all the drivers, but if you don't have a Windows disc redoing the system is impossible. Your Windows key is on the bottom of the laptop, but it's useless without the install disc. This issue became relevant as I redid the system because I didn't need or want the extra things installed on it (like roxio burn or some crappy antivirus trial et.). The only actual problem that I have with this laptop is the top edges of the laptop wrap around the screen for a few pixels... thought it was strange design, but it's not noticeable after a day.

As for the other negative reviews that I read, they're a bit dumb. The shipping speed is explained when you buy it, they have to build the computer before they send it. The fan is NOT loud, if you're not playing a graphic intensive game there's virtually no noise at all. When you are, the fan does make a bit of noise but seeing as this laptop is built for power it needs to get rid of the heat, but even then it's easily ignorable.

Ignore the shipping speed issues, it's a refurb they have to build the computer before they send it hence the "usually ships from 2-3 weeks". Also, who complains about the weight of the laptop when they have it listed under specifications? These complaints wouldn't exist if people could read.

Overall, this laptop is one badass puppy for the price (I mean cmon, $800 for a top quality gaming laptop?!?! Other $800 laptops are crap in comparison.). For what it is, I give it a 4.5. It's powerful, practical, and looks good. Well worth the price.

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I bought this lap top after a VERY long search online for the best computer for how much I was willing to spend. My budget was $850, and I was willing to buy either a laptop OR a desktop. I wanted something that was portable because I play games at my friends house's all the time. I also wanted something that can play the games I like to play

Games.

World of Warcraft

Star Craft (1-2)

warcraft 3

Call of duty 4

Portal

Half life 2 +(Episode 1-2)

Team Fortress 2

Left 4 Dead (1-2)

Civ 5 (2-4)

and a few others.

I have been able to play all these games on ALL HIGH SETTINGS. I get about 45-60 Fps while playing. Even during intense battles where I'm really using the GPU and CPU pretty harshly, It plays cool, and still maintains AT LEAST 45 fps.

Pros VERY good buy, it is the best laptop for this price. I have been looking for a LONG time for something that had a least a tri core CPU running at least 2.2ghz, and a dedicated graphics with at least 512mb dedicated to the GPU. After benchmarking the parts inside this laptop I found that the GPU(graphics processing unit) was in the top tier. There are 3 tiers, tier 1 is the best out there were tier 3 is low end crappy. The CPU, and GPU both scored well on the benchmarks in tier 1. Other people have said that they want more FPS(frames Per Second) out of this laptop. The only way for that to happen is for it to have 2 graphics cards. believe me, 60fps is good, and that's about the most you will get with almost ALL single graphics cards. the processor is very good as well. Its a duel core, running 2.27ghz, but can easily be overclocked to 2.54ghz from inside windows. Asus made a program that you can launch from within windows that makes it easy to overclock your CPU, just as easy as setting the battery to high performance. The other thing is that the CPU also has 4 threads, witch makes it run like a quad core, ex. That's like partitioning your hard drive into 4 partitions! its one hard drive but you have 4 storage areas now. It is a true LED wide screen display, so the rez might not be 1080p but it still looks GREAT. The key board is a chiclet style, all that means is that they buttons are a little smaller and have more space in between them. If you have ever used a mac book pro, its just like that. NOT HARD to get used to at all. within minutes I was typing at normal speeds with it. 4g's of DDR3(GOOD, but can be upgrade to 8g's, witch is GREAT). Hard drive isn't bad, 7200rpm means quick launching and WAY less time in loading screens, plus 500gb of storage isn't bad either. would like 1t but ehhh, now I'm just being picky. (cough) 500gb SSHD/Flash Storage would be nice (cough). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I already know that would jack up the price a grand or two though. . . . any way

CONS HEAT. . . This thing tends to get a little hot while playing these games with all HIGH setting. I invested $32. on a laptop cooling tray. BELIEVE me, it is worth the investment. It keeps the laptop from overheating and the one i got sits it at an angle witch makes it just that much easier to use. BUY a MICROFIBER CLOTH rag, this thing doesn't attract much dust but the oil from your hands and fingers dose stand out and creates smudges. Plus its always good to keep your com clean ;)

other then that this thing has had NO PROBLEMS, Ive had it for 1month and a week. so far so good. not to much bloat ware, wasn't damaged at all when it arrived and runs like a CHAMP. It replaced my desktop as my main computer and like I said is the BEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK. I looked at Newegg.com for the same laptop, and a few other places, It cost a little more els where, and the ones they had were NOT factory refurbished. Believe me that is a big enough deal, You don't want something sent back to the retailer who just wants it sold. the factory/company that sells it will take the time to make sure that it is fully functional and is LIKE new, they will even replace parts with BRAND NEW ones because they already have them.

In short. . best laptop at this price. really good CPU/GPU. Runs like a Champ. CAN replace your desktop. HEATS up, buy a cooling tray. you will not be disappointed with your purchase.

Best Deals for Asus G60JX-RBBX05 Intel i5-430M, 4 GB, 500 GB, NVIDIA GTS360M

I have owned my ASUS G60 for about 10 months, prior to that I owned the previous model (G51) for several months. Overall, my experience has been mostly positive and I would strongly recommend ASUS gaming notebooks for their great features and tremendous value.

What I use this computer for:

I have used this particular notebook for as a complete desktop replacement system, it is my one and only PC. I do some moderate gaming, namely Call of Duty Black Ops and Modern Warfare II. Additionally, I do a bit of light video editing and audio production (Adobe Premier Elements, Adobe Audition) along with day-to-day internet browsing and word processing. For my purposes, most folks would agree the specs are total overkill but when I feel like playing a new PC game I don't want to have to suffer. The system is a power hog, so don't expect record-breaking battery life (2-3 hours with some power using features disabled, 45 minutes on full blast.) Also, the monitor's max resolution is a little low (1366 x 768) given the size of the screen (16" widescreen.) Below I'll break down some of the pros and cons.

Some of my favorite things about this system:

The case is extremely sturdy and has a very substantial feel on the desk. The keyboard feels like a real desktop keyboard and doesn't cause the screen or case to shake or flop around on your desk when you type heavily. This is a huge plus for me, given that I use this as a desktop computer.

The keyboard is backlit with several brightness settings, adjustable using the function keys.

The screen is extremely bright and crisp on its highest lamp setting, but you can also adjust the screen brightness quickly using the function keys. This is a great feature for both battery life and avoiding eye strain.

The video card offers HDMI output to a television or monitor. It also has VGA for older analog monitors and automatically switches to dual monitor output when either port is used.

There is a large heat sink with side case exhaust (not on the underside of the case) which eliminates the need for a laptop cooling pad for most users.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTS 360M 1GB graphics card is in fact a discrete, PCI-Express graphics card (x16 bus speed) not an "integrated" or "on-board" graphics card. This, of course, is the prime selling point for any laptop marketed as a "gaming machine."

The Ethernet port is on the back of the machine (thank goodness!) as is the power cord input.

Some of my least favorite things about this system:

There are 4 USB 2.0 ports, two located on each side of the case proximal to the user. For right handed users, this means that your USB ports will get directly in the way of your mouse hand if you are using an external mouse (and of course you would be considering this is a gaming laptop) Bad case design, ASUS!

The audio jacks are located (of course) on the right side of the case, proximal to the user. So, if you plug in your headset/mic you'll be cluttering your mouse pad with unruly wires which conveniently get in the way of everything. Bad case design, ASUS!

The audio jacks are *very* poorly constructed. The headphone jack microswitch is extremely likely to become "stuck" rendering your built-in speakers useless (more on this below.)

Major issues/complaints:

I only have one major issue or complaint with this laptop (and all the other ASUS laptops for that matter, since this issue is not limited to just this model.) The headphone jack microswitch has a strong tendency to become "stuck." What I mean by this is that when you plug in headphones or external speakers to the headphone jack, two pins (the microswitch) are suppressed which tell the motherboard to direct sound into the device you've plugged in. When you remove the headphone/speakers, the two pins should "pop" back out to an unsuppressed position which tell the motherboard to direct sound to the laptop's built in speakers. In this ASUS model (and most other ASUS models) this microswitch is faulty and easily damaged. In other words, when you unplug your headphones/speakers the switch remains suppressed and the built-in speakers never get "told" to turn back on. The end result: you have to use headphones or external speakers to hear any sound. This is a common, widespread and known defect with the Realtek on-board sound card in these systems and cannot be easily fixed or replaced, since a full motherboard replacement would be needed. So, it's something you should just be prepared to live with. Overall, it's merely a nuisance and not a terribly debilitating defect.

Summary and Rating:

To wrap things up, this is a great mid-range gaming system at a great price. You get a high end graphics card, a great sturdy case with a bright screen and some great little features. There are some cons with the layout of ports and such, and of course, that unruly headphone jack. But overall, I think you'd be quite pleased with the performance vs. price of this system.

Honest reviews on Asus G60JX-RBBX05 Intel i5-430M, 4 GB, 500 GB, NVIDIA GTS360M

The machine is great. Big screen, really good to either play videogames trough the HDMI Cable or watch movies. The configurations provide a excellent gameplay, all the games I tried worked perfectly and this is very important. The battery don't last too long, but I already was aware of this and I always carry the charger, so this is not a problem for me.

I only have a little problem, that is sometimes when I unplug the charger the computer freeze and I need to turn off and start everything again, and I lost school work because of this. But Overall is a great computer and for me, it worth the price.

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I'm a college student and this computer allows me to work fast and yet still enjoy games. Battery life is okay with me, but i plan on getting a 9 cell for it. The graphics card is great. I can edit movies and pictures at great speeds. my old laptop used to try and keep up with me, but now i can barely keep up with this baby. 4 gigs of ram allows me to run many programs at once and i haven't seen any lag or slowing. Great hard drive space and speed 7200 rmp. I was able to dual-boot windows 7 and ubuntu. WOrks excellent with ubuntu after you install the graphics driver which are available at Nvidia. Overall i am happy with this purchase. I got a great product for a Awesome Price. One of the most confusing things though was that it has a bluetooth led that lights up in ubuntu even though it physically doesn't have bluetooth built it.

Cheap HP Envy 17-j050us 17.3-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I have had this PC for a couple weeks and I love it! The finger scan for passwords, fantastic. I have not mastered the Leap Motion but I am working on it. I was so worried about Windows 8, with all the reviews saying they hate it. But I am finding I love it too. My last HP laptop lasted 7 years and is still running just slow. Hoping this one lasts as long. The easy transfer program for transfer of files is great. I bought the transfer cord and it's working out.

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Reviews of Dell Inspiron 17 i17RM-2419sLV 17.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $707.99
Sale Price: $569.00
Today's Bonus: 20% Off

May 5 Update: Dell Support was very helpful with a quick solution to upgrade the BIOS on the laptop. One that was complete, it became a nice quiet laptop that fully meets my hardware needs. Windows 8, however, I still do not like, but that is not what I'm reviewing here.

Original post:

I like everything about this laptop (not counting Windows 8 which, so far, I do not like) except for its fan noise. It's quiet for a little bit when I first boot it, but once it warms up the fan comes on and is annoyingly loud. Once on I have not yet had the fan slow back down into quietness. I haven't yet decided if this is annoying enough to return it. I'll decide that this weekend. All of my previous laptops were quieter than this one. I'm leaning toward a non-Dell but don't know which might be better and quieter.

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I was replacing my older Dell with this one. I was very pleased and it was exactly what i was looking for. If you are not familiar with Windows 8, it will take some getting used to. I would buy this again hands down.

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 17 i17RM-2419sLV 17.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

So far I love my Dell laptop and I don't have any problems with it yet, the features it has as well as the how big the screen is.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 17 i17RM-2419sLV 17.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

This is an excellent laptop for everyday use and, despite being a 17', it's light for its size, making it confortable to carry around. Never tried any games on it, so I can't talk much about graphics and all, but everything else works like a charm. Only thing though, sometimes it's kinda slow, probably because its 5400 RPM hard drive.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Dell Inspiron 17 i17RM-2419sLV 17.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

After having a home computer for over 6 years the old computer finally needed replacing, & I decided to go the way of a laptop for a new one. For what I was looking for this one matched what I wanted for the price I could afford. So far I couldn't be happier. I had to get used to Windows 8, but it didn't take long to figure out how it works. I actually really like it because you can go between the "Start" page & a regular desktop screen. The "start" page is customizable so you can put all your favorite programs on one page without having to navigate through other stuff to get the program/s you want to use.

I do not use my laptop for anything fancy: regular internet stuff such as checking e-mails, hanging out on a few forums & my favorite websites, Netflix (hence why I bought a laptop with such a large screen), editing my business website, search engines when necessary, etc. Once you get used to everything its very easy to navigate including settings. Im not very techy so I cant give a fancy review about RAM & RPM, but for what its worth the computer runs smoothly, quickly, & I haven't had any issues so far. This computer starts up & is functional VERY quickly: it doesnt take more than a minute or 2 to start up from when you hit the power button to typing in your log in password & getting to the "start" page.

The touch pad took getting used to as well, & like any laptop it makes scrolling a little difficult & slow, but I bought a wireless mouse for when I need to do stuff with extra speed. The screen is bright (when you set it to be), & all pictures/images are clear & crisp.

A full battery lasts a little over 6 hours at full screen brightness (which is a big battery killer), & charging a dead battery takes no more than 2 hours. This laptop comes with a battery monitor so it tells you percentage & how much longer your battery should last as well as battery health (so you know when the battery needs replacing), & there are settings you can change if you plan to keep the laptop plugged in for extended periods of time, plan on frequently charging it with a not low battery (ex: 50%, 75%, etc), etc.

Shipping wise it was packed well & arrived on time.

The only con is the size of the laptop can be be a bit bulky, but I think its worth it so its not a huge deal for me.

Overall VERY happy with my purchase!

Dell Inspiron 13z i13z-4091sLV 13.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver) Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $699.99
Sale Price: $549.98
Today's Bonus: 21% Off

1. Very fast

2. Light weight

3. Heats a bit especially on the left side

4. scroll from the touchpad is slightly sluggish and uncomfortable

5. Ok for students and people on the move looking for a budget laptop

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I love the service you can expect when backed by Dell. Battery life is fairly long and display is crisp.

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 13z i13z-4091sLV 13.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

The computer functions nicely, love the intermediate size, not to big but bigger than Netbook. Fast processor and quick startup. Windows 8 is different but okay.

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron 13z i13z-4091sLV 13.3-Inch Laptop (Moon Silver)

it worth the price. And is thin enough. Can be called ultrabook. Hope it can be better than now. haha

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Good for elementary browsing and elementary use. I DONT RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT FOR ANYTHING OTHER THAN THAT. this laptop has immense wifi issues. Slows down almost instantly if it comes out of hibernate and is definately not as responsive as any other laptops you have used. To add to it they deliver windows 8 with it which in my opinion sucks. Still a good value for money. It has a good form factor and decent battery life.

Reviews of Dell Inspiron 14R i14RMT-7475sLV 14-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Moon

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $749.99
Sale Price: $599.99
Today's Bonus: 20% Off

I like its design, i.e. touch screen, Windows 8, screen size, and above all, the price is right. Only glitch is the screen glare or resolution.

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The computer is nice, fast, light, ok. But the windows 8 is confused, i m still trying to learn it!

Best Deals for Dell Inspiron 14R i14RMT-7475sLV 14-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Moon

I have had this computer for almost two months and it is working very well, the only think is that sometimes it takes to stopped, but I think so that is for the W8, maybe because I have a virtual account and not a PC account. I recommend this PC for people who need it to study or just review o create documents. I don't really recommend the PC for people who wants install heavy games programs.

In general the PC work very well and it faster, I love the touch screen, that make use it very easy.

Toshiba Satellite P75-A7200 Reviews

Customer Ratings:

About Me

I'm currently a full time student that was looking for a desktop replacement. I also have a background in IT. As a full time student, I mostly enjoy using my laptop for consuming/creating media content and school work. When purchasing this system, I did extensive research and was also considering the other "P" series laptops with vanilla-colored brushed-aluminum finishes at Best Buy. While this system is nearly worthy of a five-star rating for its class, I have deducted one because of battery life and because I had to exchange it twice. The following categories are my impressions of different areas of this system.

Display:

This system has the best display of any Toshiba laptop I have seen to date; many other laptops too. If it weren't for the slightly off viewing angles, I'd have guessed it to be an IPS display. When comparing this screen to the other Toshiba models on the display floor at Best Buy, it looked vibrant and bright in contrast to the murky and dim screens of the other P55 series Toshibas. These models include the P55t-A5202, E45t-A4200 and P55-A5200. These are the 15" touchscreen, non-touch and Ultrabook models that are currently being sold with Ivy-Bridge and Haswell processors at Best Buy. This system has an HD1080P panel and the resolution looks great compared to many of the poorer 1366*768 screens. The screen is also very bright and vibrant; I'm assuming it to be at least 300+ nits compared to the other models at around 200 nits or less. I'm curious to find out who the supplier is for this 17" screen/panel considering this is the first time I have ever been impressed by a computer screen from Toshiba out of at least six of them that I have owned. See for yourself if you are considering this system in the Toshiba lineup. One negative though is that the two previous computers for this model that I purchased had screen issues. The first one had a couple of dead pixels. These are pixels that don't light up (not too noticeable, but It's a pet-peeve on mine). The second system had two hot pixels (pixels that don't turn off; they were green and blue).This is partly why I rate this system at four stars. The third system was a charm and I can't express enough how impressed and satisfied I am with it.

Speaker Sound/Noise

The sound quality is great/fantastic! It has a wide range from low basses to high trebles. The speakers are Harmon Kardon. Harmon Kardon speakers are used in premium items and vehicles such as the 2014 Subaru Forester and Mini Cooper. This laptop has some of the best speakers I've ever heard in a laptop. They go great with the screen for an awesome movie or light gaming experience.

Fan Sound

One of my pet peeves when purchasing a laptop is the noise it may produce. I do not want to be distracted by the system, especially if I'm up late or stressed out working on a paper and find myself easily distracted. For example, I was temporarily using an HP laptop. The fan would continually spin up and idle down with no particular set speed. This was very annoying. This Toshiba (P75-A7200) I'm very glad to say does not give off any loud/excessive fan noise. It has variable speeds and is usually runs on low out of it four speeds. The fan gives off a consistently pleasant whoosh of air that blends in with the ambient noise of the room or class unless you are taxing the system.

Keyboard

The keyboard was nearly a deal breaker for me considering I spend hours on end typing and working on papers at times. I first considered this laptop "P" series from from Toshiba because I was excited to see that they brought back the raised tile keyboard. However, when I began to test type on it, I found the keys to be the same, but the keystrokes to be slightly stiff and shallow. This makes for slightly uncomfortable feedback for extended periods of typing. With time though, I have adjusted to the keyboard and my typing is more accurate and fairly comfortable. The keys also make crisp click/tap sounds, which provides reassurance and cadence while typing. The keyboard is back-lit. There is a function key to activate/deactivate it. The first press will turn the back-light on that will time out after a couple of seconds of not being typed on. The second press will keep the keyboard back-light on regardless of any activity on the keyboard. There is also a circular light around the power button when the system comes on. There is little to no "trampolining" effect on this keyboard for those of you who care and understand what I'm talking about. Strangely, it's also worth noting that the arrow keys do not feel the same as the rest of the keyboard, they feel soft and don't have the "crisp click/tap" sound I described earlier in the paragraph.

Touch-pad

The touch-pad responds consistently. I had systems in the past where the track pad would stop responding and go back to working. Two-finger scrolling is smooth and consistent. My most favored feature that I'm ecstatic about is the two finger tap for right-click. The track pad can also be disabled by double tapping on an image in the upper left hand corner. Once you double-tap the image, it will light up white so you know the track pad has been deactivated. The track pad works well enough that I do not find it necessary to use a mouse with it when I'm out of my study room and moving about with the laptop on campus. The track pad provides crisp feedback and sound when pressed upon. The surface texture is nothing worth writing home about. It feels like smooth plastic with slight resistance.

Ports and CD-ROM

It has an arsenal of all USB 3.0 ports (four total) with Toshibas charging technology for when the system is powered off. It also has an Ethernet jack, HDMI, VGA and separate microphone and headset jacks. I find the CD-Rom eject button difficult to press since it provides little to no feedback.

Performance

The hard-drive that came with this system holds back its potential. It's a 750GB drive that runs at 5400RPM. I swapped it for aa SSD (Samsung's 840 series at 250GB). To my excitement, I found that there is a second hard-drive bay in this system after exposing the internals. This laptop (P75-A7200) has one screw that holds on the bottom panel. Also worth noting is that this system comes with 8GB of RAM. Under the bottom panel are two empty DIMM slots. You cannot access the 8GB of RAM that comes with this system by removing the bottom panel. I don't know if there are other DIMM slots available or if the 8GB of RAM are soldered on. I added an additional 8GB of RAM since I had them on hand. My system has a total of 16GB of RAM and it has been able to handle anything I've thrown at it. The latest 4th generation Haswell processor comes in this system if that matters to you. I'm a techie, so it matters. Otherwise, I wouldn't have compromised on this system given that I was initially interested in a 15" Retina Macbook Pro. No Haswell meant no purchase for me.

Wifi

This system comes with one of the better wifi cards offered in laptops. It's an Intel Centrino 2230n. I have not had any issues with dropped wifi signals. My home is 2200 Sq ft and most devices I own have trouble getting a signal on the other side of the house opposite of the router. This is why I must use a range extender in my home. However, this system only drops one bar going from one side of the house to the other making use of the range extender unnecessary. I'm very impressed since this is rare.

Battery

Time for the bad news. The battery life is rated at 3.88 hours. The good news is that you can get about 5 to 6 hours out of it in eco mode while browsing the web or working on papers in Google Docs or MS Office. You'll likely get around two hours watching a video. Another piece to the good news is that the battery is interchangeable and can currently be purchased through Toshiba for $100. If you are considering any of the other premium laptops offered by Toshiba, be aware that the batteries are sealed in them and you cannot easily access the hard-drives without disassembling the cases. This was another reason I choose the 17" over the 14" and 15" P-series systems/laptops.

Build quality

It's ok. Overall, I feel the system is fairly sturdy and well-built. It doesn't express any strange creaking sounds when closed and transported under the arm. I wouldn't dare test pushing down on the center of the lid while it's closed though. While the upper lid is sturdy, it does compress a little when pressed upon. I really like how the rubber "stops" on the bezel are no longer little pieces of rubber stuck to the outside bezel with stickers. The stops I speak of keep the screen from touching all the way down on the keyboard when being closed. The stops are replaced with one large rubber seal around the outside of the lid (like a Macbook). The sides and bottom half of the laptop are all plastic, while the keyboard, palm area and top lid are brushed aluminum. while it's nothing incredibly special, it does look nice and professional.

Summary

If you found my review helpful, please give it a "thumbs up."

I would recommend this system to anyone looking for a well-rounded, up-gradable and powerful desktop replacement that is occasionally on the go with it. Overall, I'm impressed with the build of this system. However, I wouldn't consider any of Toshiba's other laptops unless I was in the market for a budget system and just trying to purchase one as cheap as possible. Originally I wanted a 15" Macbook pro w/retina display. But since Apple didn't update the processor to Haswell, I considered this system (P75-A7200). I'm glad I did and so is my wife and my bank account. I purchased this system at Best-Buy on sale for $729.00 marked down from $799.00. It's an awesome price if you are in the market for this type of system with the latest hardware.

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I did about 2 weeks of research. I watched prices. I consulted with people that actually buy/sell computers. I am even personally coming off owning an Alienware and was wholly interested in buying another. My interests aren't so much gaming as they are simply to have a laptop that can replace a desktop and still be a smokin'-good computer in a year or two or three. To that end, I passed on numerous brands because of the lack or complications in expanding the RAM or to an SSD. The ONLY thing that might be considered a negative in this computer is the integrated graphics card, and since I've got a designated gaming desktop... why should I care?

The computer is lighter than I anticipated (remember, though, my reference point was an Alienware I'd bought three years ago). The screen far wider and nicer than I dared to predict. In short, it's been a wonderful surprise. My colleague that works in our IT department took one look at the price and circumstances-I bought with no shipping and no tax, and immediately offered to buy it off me. He was almost as excited for me to get it as I was to finally have my laptop.

Toshiba has a good reputation and so far it has lived up. I highly recommend. Get a 256 SSD drive for cheap and just slip her on in there and the computer boots in about 8 seconds. I put in the 8 gig of RAM from my previous computer and this computer is a solid piece of hardware. No complaints at all. Shipping was fine, and adequately protected. My seller had the computer on its way the day after my purchase. BUY IT.

Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite P75-A7200

Hardware is as advertised. This is a fairly powerful computer with lots of room for further expansion. Excellent screen. The Windows 8 is lousy but you have little choice here. The computer comes with many useless programs and a Norton trial that doesn't work because they don't supply a activation key.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite P75-A7200

I really can't say enough great things about this Toshiba. The graphics are superb and it handles every hard task I send it's way. The way the HDMI port handles is great to. Love it.

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My girlfriend bought this computer from Amazon just a few days ago. This computer was delivered faster than expected. Worked perfectly right out of the box. Very sturdy and beautifully designed. I checked other dealers and computer makers for comparative specs and no one could even come close for the price. Free shipping and no taxes, what else could I say. Quad Core 4th Generation with a true HD screen, Harman Karman speakers and HD Web Cam! Speaker sound is awesome and surprisingly loud for a laptop. Don't pass up on this deal! Toshiba Satellite P75-A7200

Discount Dell Inspiron i14R5-5743sLV 14-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:

I purchased this laptop ten days ago. So far so good! I have used 15R before, I like it! But this time I need something smaller, this 14R did not dispoint me. And Dell is always good for your money!

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I haven't found any flaw in this product. I have been using it for a while now. I will recommend this product.

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I've had this laptop about 3 months now and so far it has been trouble free. It's a nice size; not too heavy, but large enough to have a comfortable keyboard. Love the touchpad and the streaming video and sound are really good if the source is a good one. I would much rather have Windows 7 than Windows 8, but it isn't available any longer on a new computer. I hope this one is as long-lived as the last Dell we purchased

Honest reviews on Dell Inspiron i14R5-5743sLV 14-Inch Laptop

Yes, my daughter love this product. Viewing in the car, airplane in travel, and sometimes when we are out of home..!!!

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So far so good.

It is working fine. No problem show up.

It is light. I like it.

Thanks Dell

Cheap Acer Aspire 5742Z-4200 Intel Pentium P6100 2.0GHz 2GB 250GB DVDRW

Customer Ratings:

Seeing as there is not many reviews on this, and I happen to own one, I figured I would give my opinion on this laptop.

I got this laptop as a Christmas present in 2010 to use for general use and college in 2011. This laptop, so far, has held up very well.

The only minor difference between my exact model is that it came with a 300GB HDD and 3GB of ram(which I have upgraded to 6GB).

The laptop is excellent and quick in every day tasks, unfortunately it is now beginning to show some age. I have the free version of Microsoft Office and it can take upwards of 30-40 seconds on first time load (Restarts will go much quicker).

For everyday computing, this will be a good laptop. The screen is very crisp given the resolution. Web surfing and web games are quick and offer no problems.

For reliability, I can see this has been the most reliable, trouble-free computer I've owned. Granted, I take good care of it. It has had only one minor failure when booting one day, then the problem disappeared.

For gaming, you may want to look elsewhere. This laptop CAN game on older games, I can't say the same for newer though.

I regularly play Minecraft, Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, and other similar games.

Minecraft will play decently on this laptop, provided you install Optifine and set the graphics mostly to low. I get about 15-30 frames-per-second depending on what's happening.

Left 4 Dead 2: EVERYTHING on low I average about 15-20 fps. Which is decently playable.

Team Fortress 2: Everything on low I get anywhere from 10-30 fps depending on game type. (Man Vs Machine is a FPS killer)

In conclusion, this game will be a good buy for those who do general web surfing or low power apps and maybe the occasional game. However, this is a 2-3 year old budget laptop that is reaching the end of it's life. A year or two ago I would have given this 4 stars, however. It's still a very good computer for those who do light computing, but anything higher than the games I mention will probably not be worthwhile. This computer was not built for that, and is deteriorating rather quickly in today's market.

Don't get me wrong, the laptop is good. Just not good enough given the current price. (350$ for a used, 400+ refurbished) If you're looking for a better laptop to game on, or do anything graphically intense; I recommend going AMD. Their integrated cards are much better than Intel's.

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I bought this Acer in need of a large screen for living in Ecuador. I immediately loaded Ubuntu 10.3 on the system. It runs like a dream and never crashes as my HP did before. With a 15.6 inch screen, you will have more than enough desktop space. The memory screams with Linux as a motor. I like the large keyboard for typing, with big fingers, it surely helps. The HD sound card and video card work like a dream. I recommend the Acer 5745 over any HP product out there, it is Linux ready.

Discount HP Pavilion DV7-4274NR 17.3-Inch Entertainment Notebook Computer

Customer Ratings:

I have owned this PC for over Two (2) years. I have about had it with this PC. I hate this computer. It's decent when its working properly 10% of the time. But if you love crappy computers, buy this one.

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Acer E1-531-2644;NX.M12AA.017 15.6-Inch Laptop Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $480.70
Sale Price: $389.96
Today's Bonus: 19% Off

We are having a hard time because we have lost the Aol information on our Desk top 9.7. Will microsoft seven help?

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excellent product with features requested, lightweight, practical and versatile I recommend it for how good it is good brand and model

Best Deals for Acer E1-531-2644;NX.M12AA.017 15.6-Inch Laptop

Got this for a great price, delivery was fast, and computer is as described. I would recommend this product to anyone!

Thanks a million

Reviews of Toshiba Portege R705-P25 13.3-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Finish in Blue)

Customer Ratings:

After a long research I chose Toshiba Portege R705-P25 laptop as my final answer for a very light but powerful home unit. Being spoiled at work with a much more expensive and sturdy military spec 12' HP Elitebook 2540p with Core i7, I wanted something that wouldn't break my home bank, equally light and of a similar power, with a bit bigger screen, so I decided to look for a 13.3' screen size. At first I thought that this laptop was expensive, but when I compared it to other units of similar size and features, this was actually very attractively priced (bought on special at a local M&B store for $800 plus tax). What really made me go back to the store and buy it after reviewing all the alternatives is the fact that I had it in my hands and felt its weight, or lack thereof. It is so light that it reminds me of fake laptops they use at furniture stores. After several weeks I could tell why this one won CNET's Editor's Choice. After several months everything it is mostly great except that I'm still not too fond of its keyboard.

This laptop is lighter and much faster than Macbook Air and faster and much lighter than the 13.3' Macbook Pro, not to mention double the amount of RAM and hard drive capacity. At 3.2 lbs, this is the second lightest 13.3' laptop, still with full blown 32 nanometers Intel Arrandale Core i3 CPU with built in graphics and 5-8 hrs of battery life... It has similar capacity and speed but longer battery life than the barely lighter 3 lbs Sony VAIO of same size, but you will pay more than double for the Sony. The spanking new Intel Wireless Display technology is also a good perk, but be aware that you need the receiver on the other end (I believe you can get Netgear's device for under $100) or one of the brand new and expensive TVs that have this feature built in.

Many other laptops have an incomplete 802.11 b/g/n wireless network card, thus lacking the capability to connect to a 5 GHz WiFi a/n access point. This one has a fully compliant 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi NIC and this is important to me because of the interference I'm getting from hundreds of access points in our building (I see over 40 from my condo), so I'm able to happily utilize the 5 GHz a/n radio on my dual band WiFi router, while everybody else is struggling with great interference on the few available 2.4 GHz b/g/n channels.

Long battery life is somehow achieved without using the slower ultra-low voltage CPU. The sticker at the store claims eight hours. I say maybe you'll get that when you're not doing anything processor-intensive and while using Toshiba's Eco power setting, which slows down the system a bit, but even on the normal balanced power settings and bright screen we still get five-ish hours, depending on the activity. Charging the battery while the system is working seems to take longer than on my 12' HP Elitebook 2540p work laptop. I can't figure out why, because this machine has the equal number of battery cells (6) and equally powerful 65W AC supply. Did Toshiba achieve a better battery capacity at same number of cells and weight and is that why this unit's battery lasts longer than on most similar laptops of other manufacturers? Still, the 12' HP 2540p has similar battery life, but charges much quicker (smaller screen?).

About Core i3 vs Core i5 and i7 humans can barely notice a 20% performance improvement on a computer. Core i5 and i7 CPUs do provide a bit higher speed particularly at turbo boost, but turbo works ONLY when another core is not busy, and at that time the single core is working at only up to 25% faster. I decided to stay at Core i3 and not be taxed the significant amount for the marginal benefit on a home laptop. According to my experience throughout the years, about 10% under the performance mountain top lies the treasure cave with best bargain systems that are still powerful enough to keep you zipping through the next 3-5 years without any disadvantage or impairment. Of course, if you're a gamer, you may be willing to go for 100% or so higher price for that 10-25% increase in speed, but that definitely doesn't apply to a home laptop. However, if you really want to see the biggest return on upgrade investment, instead of upgrading to i5 or i7 CPU eliminate the biggest bottleneck and upgrade the hard disk to a solid state HDD. That alone is the biggest performance boost you can give to your laptop and I might do the same soon because I've seen SSD drives do miracles.

Although very light and thin, this thing still has a DVD burner. Blu-ray would be a great plus, but you benefit from Blu-ray movies when watching them on a 1080p big screen (40' or more) HDTV, which usually already has a dedicated Blu-ray player or PS3 connected to it. This 13.3' screen, although at 720p HD, is too small to experience the full benefit of the Blu-ray movies. If you really want the high definition movies and the higher data capacity of the BD technology, this may be a deal breaker and you may go with one of the 14' Samsungs or lower end Sonys at a similar price. I wonder if an upgrade to Blu-ray could be purchased from Toshiba, but considering their loss during the format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD, I understand their lag with this feature.

Pros:

Very light, but still sturdy with a robust hinge

Much faster than most other ultraportables of this size and weight

Plethora of ports (HDMI/eSata/3 USB/Multi-format card reader), DVD/CD writer

Windows Home Premium 64 bit w/ 4 GB RAM, upgradeable to 8

Brushed metal magnesium alloy chassis with good cooling

It gets totally cool if you put it to sleep for 1-2 minutes, even after hours of work

Intel WiDi

One USB port (the one combined with eSATA) provides power even when the laptop is shut off

Cons:

After two months I'm still not entirely used to this keyboard. It's not as good as on HP business laptops or Thinkpads.

No keyboard backlight or LED

Instead of being in the center, the touchpad is slightly moved to the left. This is causing occasional sudden and unintentional moves of my cursor to a different position whenever my palm touches the touchpad.

Some reviewers have complained about the fan noise under normal load I can only hear it at night when it's absolutely calm and quiet, but it's not loud enough to bother me. If you're in your 20s the high pitch sound coming from the fan may bother you, but at 45 I can barely hear it as it's virtually ultrasound. But now about work under heavy loads:

I noticed recently that the system can get significantly louder and warmer (not lap-comfortable without a lapdesk) when the CPU/GPU is heavily taxed as in Google Earth flight simulator mode with 3D landscapes and objects enabled and set to max. This also happens when I'm viewing HD Flash video on it.

All in all, this is the winner. Not perfect, but close to it, considering its cost, weight, size, power and features. It can get loud and warm when under heavy load, but most of the time it stays quiet and cool. Recently I've seen this unit priced at about $1,100 which is $300 more than what I paid for it. At that price I'd think twice, particularly when similar model with faster Core i5 CPU (model r705-p41) can be bought for way under $1,000, so first check the faster model's price at Toshiba Portégé R705-P41 TruBrite LED 13.3-Inch Laptop (Metal/Blue). If you can get either one for about $800 it's a no brainer. Go for it.

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I bought this computer from best buy because it had a better price. Anyhow, i researched a lot before buying this pc. I finally decided over the fan critics (the fan actually can be heard, but is not as noisy as the people says)considering that it is actually 3lbs!!!!!! it's very light!!!! has the best performance for a pc of this capacity. I totally recommend it!

Best Deals for Toshiba Portege R705-P25 13.3-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Finish in Blue)

This computer is everything you could ask for in a laptop: Fast, extremely light weight, plenty of RAM, large HDD, relatively small size (13.3). I have been very happy with overall performance.

However, two issues are worth noting on the negative side: Fan noise and durability.

The fan noise has been noted on many sites. Some reviewers are not bothered by it, some are. I am one of the people that is bothered by it. It's not terribly loud, but it is a unique frequency that stands out from other ambient noises. After hearing it the first time, my brain locked on to it and it's all I hear when the machine is operating in my home office. I have another computer humming away with normal fan noise (air flow through an opening), and other low level noises, but I hear this over everything. It's tolerable but not desirable.

Durability This one is less tolerable and I am currently working with Toshiba to repair under warranty (with no luck so far). The primary attractive feature of this computer for us was the light weight. No other laptop at the time ( Aug/10) had the same functionality and light weight with a built in DVD drive. Unfortunately, the tradeoff for weight appears to be strength of materials and durability. This laptop is cherished by the owner and carried in a very protective laptop bag at all times when not in use. When in use, it is cleaned with a soft cloth daily and dust and debris blown out of the keyboard and all openings by compressed air at least once a week. The computer is pampered basically. I mention this as background for the issue of durability I am/we are experiencing which is a cracked bezel around the screen and a loose hinge cover on the left side. The hinge cover is not much of an issue, but being loose they do add a feeling and appearance of poor workmanship. The main issue is the bezel around the screen. The laptop was never dropped, bumped, jarred, or otherwise abused in any way whatsoever. However, a thin horizontal crack developed in the bezel on both the left and right side of the screen at exactly the same level top to bottom, just below the rubber bumpers on the inside of the lid/cover. Within a few days of noticing the crack, lifting the screen to use the computer found a small piece of the bezel material to the left of the keyboard. The left side bezel had shed a small piece of material that included the rubber bumper from the area immediately above the original crack. The material is extremely thin and brittle and leads me to believe the rest of it may soon follow and deteriorate in time. There are no marks on the outer lid anywhere that would indicate even a slight impact on either side. If you look at the construction of the screen inner and outer covers, you will see the inner could not be damaged in this manner (by impact) without damage to the outer. It appears a combination of the rubber bumper position and screen/lid flex, has caused stress fractures of the inner bezel on both sides. The bezel is very thin and apparently (from the piece missing on the left side) also very brittle. We have never had any issues with workmanship on any HP we have owned (3 different laptops, all HP). This is our first Toshiba, and so far, Toshiba has been less than sympathetic and even ....less than polite on the telephone when discussing the issue. I'll keep trying though because I honestly believe (I know) this is an inherent flaw with the design/materials of this laptop. I'll give Toshiba customer service the benefit of the doubt and assume I just encountered an employee in a bad mood.

Summary: The fan makes a unique whine but it's tolerable by most people. It appears durability has been sacrificed for weight. I would highly recommend any additional warranty coverage that includes damage. This will let you avoid the argument I am currently having with Toshiba regarding the seemingly spontaneous degradation of the screen bezel or any other issues that may appear. However this will dramatically increase the overall cost of ownership. Alternatively, you could always use it as a desktop to avoid stressing it....

I assume this issue would apply to the entire light weight line.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Portege R705-P25 13.3-Inch Laptop (Magnesium Finish in Blue)

I am not a highly technical person but I like my computer to do certain things well. It has to be light. This one at 3.2 lbs is light. It has the new Intel i3 chip, strong enough for me. 500 GB harddrive is sufficient, 4 GB memory is enough. It has a good camera, decent sound system. If one listens with ear pieces, it sounds just fine. Battery life is around 5 hours (it ran for 8 1/2 hours the first day I turned it on). Some people complain about the keyboard but I like it a lot. It has everything I need at large enough size so my fingers don't mistype. I purchased it around $850 and have seen it advertised at $799, a fair price to me. I use the camera with Skype and it works well.

I don't have anything negative to tell you about this laptop. It is my first Toshiba and frankly I like it more than the several HPs I owned before. The only minor minus will be that it gets quite hot but all other laptops do that also. Placing it elevated or on a laptop table helps to dissipate the heat.

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This is my first laptop, and I couldn't be happier with it. I bought it because it has Intel's Wireless Display, which allows me to sit in my recliner and watch what I'm doing on TV with the Netgear Push2TV adapter. Super cool, and it works! But even without that, this is just a great laptop...lightweight, quiet and fast. I'm a long-time desktop user, so the keyboard takes some getting used to, but after a few weeks I am totally comfortable with it. I got mine from Best Buy for $749, so don't pay more than that for it. And believe me, the Wireless Display is a great feature. I put the laptop on my kitchen table, sit in my recliner 6 feet away with a wireless mouse, and move the mouse around on the arm of my chair to watch it on TV. I watch streamed football games, TV shows, streamed movies, YouTube videos, instructional videos...all from the comfort of my recliner on my 52" TV. Video quality is very good. I will say that the advertised 8-hour battery life is extreme; it's more like 4 or 5. But overall, I am very happy with this purchase and would do it again in a heartbeat. If you're on the fence, go for it...you'll love this laptop!

Best ASUS UL80Vt- A2 14-Inch Thin and Light Laptop (Silver) Deals

Customer Ratings:

I needed to get a laptop to take with me before going on an out-of-state summer internship. I did not want a "desktop replacement" type laptop since I already have a very powerful gaming desktop here at home.

After much searching and deliberation, I decided to get the Asus UL80VT. My reasons were:

1) Asus reliability and reputation: I've always had good luck with Asus motherboards for the PCs Ive build for friends and several family members; plus Asus laptops are consistantly more reliable than other brands ([Amazon deleted the link I had here, go to your search engine of choice and look for "Asus laptop reliability" and see what I'm talking about])

2) Battery Life: claimed to be 11.5 hours. Real-world resutls are about 7-9 hours unplugged. This time is for light surfing and word processing, and allowing the Asus "Battery Saver" power profile to dim the screen, etc. You'll get much less times using discrete graphics, bright screen, DVD drive, etc.

3) Powerful, battery-sipping Intel Core2Duo U7300 1.3 GHz processor: this low-voltage processor is plenty powerful enough for everyday tasks, light gaming, watching HD online videos, etc. Asus is even kind enough to include a feature which automatically overclocks the processor when on AC power and your games demand extra "oomph"!

4) Came with Windows 7 pre-installed: Windows 7 is simply the best operating system Microsoft has ever made, period.

5) Size/weight perfect for me: I carry this laptop to class every day in a Case Logic ENS-14 14.1-Inch Neoprene Laptop Sleeve (Black) in my backpack. At 4.8 lbs (plus 0.8 lbs for the AC adapter = 5.6 lbs total), this is about the same weight as one of my textbooks, and infinitely more useful!

6)Chiclet keyboard: I love the spaced-out keys, great for typing, easy to adapt to from a full-size keyboard. (No full-size number pad, but that's to be expected in laptops this size. Get a 15.6" screen laptop if you need that)

7) Fit/Finish good for the price: I love the aluminum top of this laptop, much less smudgy than the black one. The screen bezel is still black on the inside, which does show fingerprints, but that area doesn't get touched very often.

7) Has an optical drive: I looked into 13.3" laptops, but they typically don't have DVD drives, which is a nice feature to have for watching movies on a plane trip, installing software, etc.

Drawbacks:

1) Glossy screen is very shiny, I have a custom screen protector for this I bought online at which cuts down on most of the glare too.

2) Right wrist rest sqeaks/clicks a little when you put your wrist on it. This is not very loud and I don't anticipate being a problem. I knew this was an issue with this model beforehand. Don't be surprised if it happens to you, although yours could be louder/squeak more, etc.

Other thoughts:

* Some people have complained about the track pad buttons being under one solid piece of plastic. This doesn't really bother me at all. It is not difficult to press the left or right side. The left 1/3 is the left click, the right 1/3 is the right click. Only the middle 1/3 of the plastic is unresponsive as it is solid underneath. I should note that I am using the Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX [Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging], so to be honest, I am not using the trackpad very often.

*People have also complained about the stickers present on the inside of the laptop. These peel off easily and leave no residue, in my experience. Those are mostly put there so people who don't know any better can know what's inside their laptop.

*Finally, people have complained about the bloatware/junk software present installed on this computer. True, these programs are very annoying. But one could understand why a manufacturer would agree to install these trial programs and come-ons: higher profits. If you're so inclined, take 5 minutes to uninstall the stuff you don't want, this is not a difficult process.

* People ask what kind of computer this is all the time! Classmates/coworkers/friends who haven't seen Asus laptops (too many Dells and HP's out there!) will ask where you got this laptop :)

* I have installed Microsoft Security Essentials as my anti-virus program, and have had 0 issues so far. I highly recommend it. (Free download)

Summary: Overall I would say the build quality of this Asus is about an 8.5/10. I still rate this as 5 stars though because the minor build quality issues are not enough to detract from the overall value of this fast, efficient, and powerful laptop.

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Had this laptop for a week now and I am thoroughly impressed. I've installed a couple ASUS motherboards on desktops and was always really happy with their performance. This is the first ASUS laptop I've owned/used, and so far it has lived up to the standards I come to expect from them.

I love the 14" screen size/overall laptop size, fast CPU/RAM speed, switchable graphics (very cool, helps conserve quite a bit of battery when unplugged, but still has some muscle to game when needed.) Battery life is amazing for this computer's size and power, I'm getting 8-9 hours with average surfing. Also, I am so far liking Windows 7, after trying Vista and absolutely hating it, it seems like they got it right this time.

Cons seriously take these with a grain of salt, I didn't rate the laptop 5 stars for nothing. The touchpad takes a little getting used to, it's a bit sticky at first but once you get some skin oil on there it works fine. I have had no trouble with the multitouch features others have complained about, in fact it's a pretty cool feature of this touchpad. The mouse button on the touch pad does suck, it's a one-piece, rocker button and it squeaks when I press it (BTW other than that squeak issue on the touchpad, it seems that ASUS has really improved their build quality from previous reviews, I have noticed no other poor build quality-related issues with this laptop.) The LCD screen quality is definitely lacking, the reflections can get bad when you've got a backlight behind you and the poor black contrast makes it look a bit washed out when compared to other LCDs. Finally, the speakers are pretty terrible, but hey, they work which is an infinite improvement from my old laptop...

Overall, excellent laptop. If you are looking for the perfect mix of power and portability, you've found it.

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I based my purchase off all the good reviews I read about the system. Now, I've had it for 8 months, and have had problems for at least 6 months. Many of the ASUS start-up files crash at system start up. Creating a recovery CD will cause a crash too. Also, system restore attempts often fail. I wish I'd read about all this 8 months ago.

The best part about this laptop is that there is dual operating system built-in where there's a Windows based system button and a Linux based button, so when the windows system crashed (daily) I could still check my email in the reliable Linux system. There was a period of time when I just didn't power down at all to avoid the startup issues.

Another good thing is if you call customer service you won't wait 30 minutes to talk to a person. They're good about that. Now, whether they actually fix your problem is an issue that remains to be seen in my case.

The touchpad and keyboard design has been a big problem as well. Even when I'm typing very carefully the mouse will jump around to other text boxes. This is a big problem when filling out any kind of form on the internet as well as typing a Word document. I've opted for a external mouse and have disabled the touchpad altogether.

I don't believe today's laptops are made to last, but I do think you can find a better one that will work as expected for a reasonable amount of time. I would not choose this model/brand again.

****UPDATE*****

I sent this laptop back within the 1-year warranty to be repaired by ASUS. It worked normally for 1/2 a day, and went right back to the previous issues of crashing. I truly believe their fix was merely to re-format the computer only. I could have done that myself. I declined to send it back again because I do not believe they'll resolve the issue nor do I have the time. ASUS has not updated ANY of the drivers the computer needs to function properly. I guess ASUS ripped me off. $700 out of my pockets for a bad product.

Honest reviews on ASUS UL80Vt- A2 14-Inch Thin and Light Laptop (Silver)

This is the third ASUS we've added to our stable and am very happy with what we've received from the company. You get a very high quality laptop without paying the premium that others charge.

a) Build Quality 10/10 -was very nervous about the build quality given some of the previous reviews. ASUS LISTENED. This is better than the Sony VAIO (bought less than a year ago) that we just recycled, the Dell I have from work and the HP that we bought a few months ago. Everything is tight.

b) Keyboard 9/10 -I actually care about how the keyboard feels when typing as I learned how to type of a manual, then selectric many years ago. This keyboard is almost on par with what you can get from Lenovo. And, no, there is no flex that I can feel at this point. I save 10/10 for Lenovo

c) Screen 10/10 -One of the most clear screens that I've seen. Have watched HD movies and also have manipulated images using Adobe Photoshop. Cannot be beat.

d) Video Card 9/10 -Hybrid Nvidia/Intel MHD is awesome. Cutting to the intel chip with battery is seamless and you really cannot tell that you're in powersaving mode. Only reason why not a 10/10 is because the Nvidia chip only has 512Meg on the GBU... Should be 1 Gig.

e) Case -10/10 -as stated in build quality... this looks awesome. Had to really work to figure out which panel was aluminum and which was plastic.

f) Hard Drive -5/10. I was a bit surprised that the HDD was only a 5400 rpm drive. I immediately created an image, replaced with a 7200 rpm drive and reloaded. I have found the 7200 doesn't seem to hurt battery life and does improve performance a bit. Given the prices of HDD's today, there should be no reason for not having a 7200 rpm.

g) RAM -DDR3. Need I say more?

h) CPU -Intel. Need I say more?

i) Battery life 10/10. I have done quite a bit with numerous laptops to try to extend battery life. I don't like having to drag around power cords when visiting clients. I am able to get almost 8 hours in battery saving mode.

j) Bloatware -ASUS seems to be increasing the amount of bloatware they install on their laptops. I just unloaded everything that said ASUS and the laptop still works very well... Some of the 'smart keys' don't work, but that doesn't bother me. The trade off between quick boots and flicking keys to change power modes is worth it to me.

I wouldn't look much further if you're looking for a laptop that can be lugged around all day. The secret for a 14" screen is the laptop isn't much bigger than a 13.3" case, but feels as if you're looking at a much larger screen.

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I received my silver asus ul80vt laptop today, and I absolutely love it! This is my first review, but I thought it was necessary because it was such a great deal! In the price range, (I bought it for around $750) this was top of the line. The battery life is incredible, it was delivered in excellent condition, and best of all it's lightweight! The screen is, in my opinion, of great quality. The viewing angles are not nearly as bad as some of the reviews I read, and the color is awesome! Also, it's the perfect size. It's small, but big enough so that you don't have to squint! It's about the size of a hard back textbook, but much thinner. The processor is great, and the hard drive is adequate. Internet connection works great, and the camera is a lot better quality than I was expecting. I was expecting to have trouble with the trackpad, but so far it seems normal to me. The only thing I noticed is that I tend to move the mouse with the base of my hand while typing on occasion, but that's nothing major. I have heard that asus makes the motherboards for mac computers, and while I considered splurging for a macbook pro, I couldn't justify the cost difference. I could buy TWO of these for the price of a mac and it has more features!