Apple Laptop Powerbook G4 A1095, 15", 1.33GHz, 512MB RAM, 60GB HDD Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I needed a laptop to keep around the house to surf the net and to business on. This laptop is great. If you are looking for a great laptop I would strongly consider. Shipment was fast and easy.

Cons: Its outdated software cant be upgraded

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Sure the GPU might over heat and die (like mind did), or become desoldieredbut logic boards are $50 on eBay. While you are at it, you probably can upgrade from 1.33GHz to 1.5GHz. I like this computer, it's just old enough to have an Appletalk port and modem, and theoretically communicate with my ancient macs, but new enough to use the Internet and archive old data on an external hard drive. If you are like me and don't care much about intel macs, and still regularly use os10.5 and older, then give it a try.

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IT IS LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO BEAT THIS COMPUTER!

Especially for 300 bucks!!! You did it again, Mr Jobs. From the grave, no less!

Who cares if the hard drive is 60 gb there's so much online storage now and everyone has at least 1 external hard drive.

with that much ram you can run, like a billion processes at once like a BAWSE no slowing down here, just gogogo!

Honest reviews on Apple Laptop Powerbook G4 A1095, 15", 1.33GHz, 512MB RAM, 60GB HDD

I have had this PowerBook G4 for about 3 months now. I put and extra 2GB of RAM into it and downgraded th OS X. The screen is warn down so the backlight is TERRIBLE! But the upside is it is great to use around the house! although the PowerPC processor is VERY OUT OF DATE YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO UPGRADE 10.6 and up. think about what your buying some programs are incompatible with the PowerPC processor... oh and the battery life IS TERRIBLE!

IBM Lenovo T61 Intel Core 2 Duo 2000 MHz 80Gig Serial ATA HDD Reviews

Customer Ratings:

The laptop itself is in great condition. I didn't see any scratches or dents. Everything on the system works great (wireless, cd/dvd,usb). Almost like having a brand new laptop. The only downside was that the battery was not able to hold any charge (4 stars). Traded in my junk laptop and paid $25 for a brand new battery. if you're interested in trading/selling, find a place near you that restors and sells computers.

Overall; great buy. For future buyers, enjoy, and have fun. I know I am.

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Purchased for my husband as a Christmas present. The worst product I have ever received.

Product came with a dead battery and the sound card lasted approx 1 month when only using it once a week to skype with a family member. Completely dissapointed in this product and their customer service. I called customer service tthey advised I would need to pay to have it repaired. They felt it was my issue not theirs since it was over a month. Even after I purchased as a Christmas gift. The amount they wanted me to pay was more than 1/2 of the amount I paid for the laptop.

Would not purchase through this company again!!

Best Deals for IBM Lenovo T61 Intel Core 2 Duo 2000 MHz 80Gig Serial ATA HDD

Received the unit with a defective battery but thanks to excellent customer service, I was quickly shipped a replacement battery. You'd never know this is a used laptop. It works perfectly. I really enjoy my laptop. I've had it for several months now and I've had no problems with it.

Honest reviews on IBM Lenovo T61 Intel Core 2 Duo 2000 MHz 80Gig Serial ATA HDD

The machine seemed to work fine except for the disc drive. It doesn't seem to have the right support software to run it.

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Very affordable and works great. Timely delivery. I am very happy because I would have spent at least about 5 times as much in a regular retail store. A fifth of the price for a great product makes me a super-happy customer.

Dell XPS 469-4078 12.5 Convertible Multi-touch Screen Review

Customer Ratings:

I actually purchased my Dell XPS 12 directly from Dell, but wanted to share on Amazon which is where I buy most of my electronics my opinion on the machine.

This is my second ultrabook, but I am really impressed. I love my previous ultrabook, but I really love the keyboard on the dell xps 12. It is has the nicest touch of any laptop keyboard I've ever used. The gesture touchpad is very nice and the convertible touchscreen is very sweet.

I'm mainly a laptop user that likes to have a tablet and this totally fits the bill for me. I've passed my Asus Zenbook prime 13.3 and transformer prime 10.1 table down to my partner in exchange for this tablet and I am very happy with it.

It has taken a little bit to get used to Windows 8, but as I get used to it, I really appreciate what the XPS has to offer more and more. I'm a web application developer. I've loaded Adobe Creative Suites to my XPS in addition to Visual Studio 2010, Office Professional, SQL Server 2008 R2 and ColdFusion 10 to support my development and I'm able to run all of them with out an issue when I'm doing work on my personal laptop; however, I still get to switch to a tablet and the Windows 8 tiles to check in on facebook or twitter,

This laptop is a great balance between size, power and features. The USB 3.0 ports are fantastic. I've added a USB 3.0 docking station and the laptop in combination with the docking station has no issue supporting dual 22" HD displays for heavy duty coding, testing and debugging.

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I'm very impressed with the quality of this ultrabook. It even competes with my "full notebook" a Lenovo Thinkpad W520. I have used Lightroom and Photoshop for editing images from the Nikon D600 (24 megapixel cámera with 20-30 MB RAW files), and it works at least as fast as my Thinkpad. The screen gamut 53% of AdobeRGB and only 71% sRGB (vs the Thinkpad which is 97% AdobeRGB), but in terms of performance is as fast, and sometimes I find it even faster. So I'm very happy, making it a capable machine to take for trips and edit photos on location without needing necessarily to take the "Monster" :P

In Windows it's performance: Processor (mine it's a refurbished with i7-3687U @ 2.10) = 7.2, Memory 8 Gb = 7.5, Graphics (intel) = 5.4, Gaming 6.4, Primary hard disc (SSD 256) = 8.1 (vs on the Thnikpad to which I added a Samsung 512 SSD, just as a reference: 7.4, 7.6, 5.8, 6.4, 8.1)

I haven't used it much as a tablet, I bypass Metro and added a Start button with Classic Shell freeware program, but the touch screen feels responsive, and the flip screen mechanism feels solid.

It's a pitty it doesn't have more USB ports, an SD reader and even an ethernet port... but those aren't showstoppers.

The keyboard is nice, a liiiitle more travel would have been better, but for the size its pretty good, the trackpad and mainly the trackpad buttons are not good, having it's surface part of the trackpad, sometimes you want to clic and you end moving the cursor and clicking other thing. Besides the software doesn't allow customizing tapping with 2 and 3 finger which I have done for years on linux, having 2 finger clic as middle button (to close tabs, open links on new tabs and closing windows) and 3 finger clic set to right clic/menu. And as the trackpad is not good, I end up using a USB mouse whenever I'm not typing on my lap, so ONLY one USB port left :(... so a USB hub is a must.

Discount Lenovo Thinkpad X100E 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Customer Ratings:

I have used this as my main work machine, doing office / productivity work, for about a month now. It is a great small laptop, especially for the price.

Build quality is superb. The X100e does not have a roll cage (i.e. internal metal skeleton) like some higher-priced X and T series Thinkpads, but you'd never know it, probably because the small size makes it largely unnecessary. The case is nice and stiff; the hinges are superb; and in general the build quality seems to be a cut above the T6x series, at least. However, I do miss the slightly rubbery paint from my other Thinkpads; this black matte paint is smoother. Still nice, but not as nice.

The keyboard is the best I've used on a laptop. It is superior to the ones on my T60 and T61, previously my favorites.

The touchpad is also superb.

I've disabled the camera, partly because I'll never use it and partly to save on battery life.

The screen is very nice and bright. In fact I have to turn it down from the brightest setting sometimes indoors, as it can hurt my eyes due to the extreme brightness. The resolution is just fine for doing research, writing, etc. After a quick period of adapting, the screens on my T6x series feel huge and overly tall by comparison. It is enough resolution to dock side-by-side windows and work with dual documents, barely.

I haven't had any problems with heat. I think this may be because I don't stress the video card much if at all. The bottom gets quite mildly warm under prolonged use.

Performance is just fine in my book. With 9 windows of Google Chrome open, two Word documents, one Notepad text file, Windows Media Player playing an HD movie, two Windows Explorer windows, Adobe Reader 9 opened to a large PDF file, TrueCrypt drive encryption running, AVG, and Warcraft III-RAM usage was around 1.2 gigs, and processor use hovered around 60-70%.

I am not a big gamer. Playing Warcraft III against my 4-year-old, though, at full res with all eye candy turned on runs smoothly.

Going further on the performance angle, the AMD MV-40 is often roughly compared with a Pentium M 1.6 GHz or thereabouts. That is probably pretty accurate, but my machine feels a bit faster than machines of that rough vintage, such as the T4x series. This is probably due to the SSD, faster RAM, faster better everything else etc. in the X100e. So you would essentially get a better-than-X41 performer in the X100e in my opinion, for a budget price. Not bad for doing productivity work at all, though it is no speed demon by today's standards.

I spent roughly $100 to upgrade to an X25-V SSD, which noticeably improved performance. After the upgrade, my Windows boot time is 25 seconds, shutdown time is under 10 seconds, sleep/standby mode time is 4 seconds, and resume from sleep/standby is 2 seconds. The 160 GB drive my machine came with went into an $8 enclosure and now serves backup duty.

Battery life easily goes beyond 5 hours for the type of work I do (before the SSD upgrade it was generally around 4:30). I have the processor set to max out at 60% in battery mode, and the screen is generally set to around 5-6 brightness, which is usually enough.

I still don't have Photoshop loaded on this machine. I think that's where the processor's shortcomings would be most noticeable, processorand ram-hungry applications like that. But this is not a slow machine IMHO.

I also don't think most people would need more than 2 GB of RAM, unless using something like Photoshop where they wanted better performance. Simple multitasking that most people would do probably wouldn't need more than 2 GB. Even with music running in the background, a slew of browser windows, etc. I just don't see how it could stack up to 4 GB. It seems to be an increasing practice to load a machine with 4 GB or even 8 GB of RAM, but I wonder how many eager buyers realize that the RAM they're buying will never be used.

Of course, I am running Windows in a minimal way. I guess some OS features could consume extra RAM, although I wouldn't know what they are. I tend not to like a lot of junk running in the background, unless it will actually help me run my programs or the machine.

The machine is very attractive and professional-looking. People constantly ogle it, and I've received many questions about it. I personally prefer the size to that of the X200 (the X100e is noticeably smaller).

The lack of an optical drive is definitely a negative for me. It makes it much mroe of a hassle to install things. If you don't already have an external drive, take this into account.

The lack of the Thinklight is also a downer. It is one of my favorite Thinkpad features, and I wonder why Lenovo couldn't have charged an extra 25 cents or whatever it costs for a single LED light and a bit of wire. I suspect it was intentionally left out to differentiate the X100e more from the X200.

Another really disappointing drawback, for me, is the tiny half-size media card reader. An SDHC card will only insert halfway, meaning I cannot have a built-in, always-ready backup device for my most important files. I understand the machine is tiny, but they still could have squeezed in an extra few millimeters for a bigger card reader. The card reader also has no documentation, apparently, meaning I have no idea if any of the formats it supports (which I cannot figure out) would fit completely inside the reader. I plan to follow up with technical support on this.

The ordering process was not so smooth. Lenovo customer service sent me an .xls file, telling me to update it and send it back them to start my service contract. Eventually they caved on this, after I griped. It just didn't seem fair to make people install Microsoft Office or similar program to get what they bought, and in any event I didn't have an office program installed at the time. The machine itself was back-ordered and took weeks to produce, and the status was seldom updated. The machine and accessories came piecemeal: first the extra power supply, followed weeks later by the machine, followed later by the neoprene sleeve.

However, I am really glad to be able to take advantage of Lenovo warranty service. I bought next-business-day support for three years. I have never been anything but impressed with IBM or Lenovo warranty service, and since this is my work machine I needed it.

All in all, this is my favorite notebook, ever. I would buy a Thinkpad netbook if they made one, but this is not a netbook. Netbooks are characterized by super-cheap price, excellent battery life, poor performance, and usually by poor ergonomics and durability. This machine offers perfect ergonomics, great durability, enterprise-class service options, middling battery life, and middling performance. I'm not bothered by the "netbook" name some apply to this machine, but I would not, could not do my everyday work on a netbook. This machine, I can.

The single biggest drawback, for me, is the battery life. But if I wanted longer than 5 hours of battery life, and wanted better performance and even better durability, I would have saved up for an X200 series. For what it is, this machine is perfect for me.

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After having the computer for a week, I was about to toss it out the window it ran so slowly. I know this model isn't the same one you'll find on most review sites, since they removed a lot of the available "upgrades" to get the price down to $399, but they really shouldn't have skimped on the 2nd gb of RAM. I highly recommend this little guy, but only if you spend the additional $25 (that's how much I spent at Crucial.com) for 1gb of ram. I've never installed hardware on a laptop before, so I was a bit concerned about any traps the manufacturer may have laid, but it was super easy to remove the plate and snap in the gb!

Best Deals for Lenovo Thinkpad X100E 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

Nice little netbook style laptop. Too slow without additional memory which I pumped up to 4 gig and needs bigger hard drive. Functions well though runs kinda warm as do most laptops so nothing unusual. I bought it mainly to have something to take on the road and this will meet my purposes. I like the small lightweight size. Who needs an IPAD.

Honest reviews on Lenovo Thinkpad X100E 11.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

I bought the Thinkpad X100E when my regular computer needed extensive work for some period. It's a bit slower (a good bit less memory), but it seems easier to use, and the keyboard is more comfortable. I don't miss my old Toshiba at all. I did have to get an accessory CD R/W unit, but it works well. One nit It requires re-entering the password after each time it goes into sleep mode, and I can't find a way to diasble that feature. And it runs slower if I don't clean out history, etc. daily. But, a great unit for it's size.

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In the world of 11.6 inchers, those that are not quite laptops & not quite netbooks, the Lenovo

Thinkpad X100e stands head & shoulders above the competition.

I ordered the bare bones, matte black model, running 2 GB mem/ 160 HD.

It came standard with Windows 7 Home premium, Window's best operating system to date, which is also

leagues beyond Windows 7 starter (which is featured on just about all netbooks).

The screen is a non-glossy matte, yet it's absolutely gorgeous!

The screen is HD, backlit, and very bright & clear.

The machine itself is built like a tank: Solid, extremely durable, albeit a tad on the heavier side.

The keyboard is among the best i've ever used on any Laptop or netbook, for that matter.

If you like to write, or type, this is the portable machine for you!

I had read about problems with the unit running hot & a noisy HD or fan, but mine seemed to run cool & quiet, right out

of the box (mine was a Refurbished model in almost new condition).

When i ran multiple applications, it would run slightly warm, but nothing beyond that.

It streamed video (both HD & regular youtube) fine.

I downloaded a couple movies & video clips, all which looked great on the standard Windows media player.

Also of note are the speakers!

These are fairly loud & full sounding, compared to other laptops & netbooks.

For a small machine, it does put out a decent level of sound.

After a week of use, i can honestly say i love this machine.

For about fifty dollars more (or less, i got mine for $315.00), you can get a compact laptop that runs circles

around any netbook on the market, in both build & function.

The only minor thing to consider is, because of Lenovo's attention to quality & overall durability, this machine

is heavier than most netbooks & 11.6 laptops.

Reviews of Toshiba Portege R705-P35 Laptop, Intel Core i3 Processor, 13.3"

Customer Ratings:

I agree with those who say the keyboard is a little weird at first, but it took me little time to get used to it. I also agree that you should not buy this machine here since I just picked mine up at Best Buy for $699.99 with the added convenience of being able to take it back to them should anything go wrong (in the first year).

As with any computer you ever buy, the first question you ask yourself is, "What am I going to use it for?" I don't plan on doing any heavy lifting with it and the specs are better than either of my desktops which I've used to run Photoshop and AutoCad. I don't see how anyone can complain about the speed for the price. I want to do word-processing, surf the Net and watch video. This laptop handles all of these things nicely. Why did I pony up an extra $150 for this model over the other Toshiba at the store? It's small. Very important to me.

After reading a thousand reviews on this thing, I have one last thing to say: Suggesting to me that I should go get a MacBook instead of a Toshiba is the most useless thing you can put in a review. I already have a MacBook that I got as a hand-me-down, and it's sitting on the ping pong table in my garage. I don't like Macs, and there is nothing wrong with me because of it. It's like saying, "Oh, that's a nice laptop, but you really should have bought a Chevy." Just tell me about THIS computer, and then go make out with your Mac.

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At 1st I wanted to buy a mini because I thought of it being more portable. Then I found out that they are quite slow when you start to add programs like Microsoft office because they are mainly for internet, email, etc. plus they don't come with a CD drive (unless you purchase one separately)

But the laptops seemed too big and heavy for me to carry around (student).. After doing tons of research I found this computer. The R705-P35 it's super light, might be as light as a mini. It has tons of memory and it runs many programs at once with no problems. It's quiet, it's thin, and it's pretty small! 13.3in!! So, if you are looking for a mini with the memory of a bigger computer, this is the one for you.

Can't say much about battery life because I always have it plugged in, but I will make sure to update if there are any issues.

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This is the laptop I've been waiting for. It's light. It's lighter than my old netbook but includes a real processor (no atom) with a dvd player. Finally I have something I can do real work on that doesn't wrench my shoulder out of its socket. It has great battery life. Recently took two connecting flights down to FL no battery problems, and it was on pretty much the whole way. Amazing. And the small form factor means I can actually use it on the airplane without any yoga positions. It's plenty fast for what I need it for light duty programming, office apps, surfing the net, etc. Did I mention its lightness? I'm always handing it to people to amaze them with its miniscule avoirdupois.

What I don't like: not a whole lot. Toshiba limits the crapware it installs, but I wish it were easier to get rid of their proprietary "enhancements" to the OS. There's one left that I can't figure out how to ditch the webcam controls that pop out annoyingly from the side if you move the mouse over the edge. Something dumb that I wish I didn't have to pay for but that doesn't hurt anything Wimax. Useless to me (and most people I suspect). Also it's fan is sometimes a bit noisy but only a problem when watching dvd's with the speaker's volume turned down.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Portege R705-P35 Laptop, Intel Core i3 Processor, 13.3"

Pros:

-Big hard drive (500gb). Wont run out of room on this thing.

-New intel i3 processor is peppy. It runs fast and multi-tasks quite well.

-Portability (amazingly light)

-13 inch screen is just the right size for a decent work space.

-No noticeable screen glare

Cons:

-Chiclet style keyboard is not well executed. The keys are slick to touch and mushy to press. Space Bar is especially bad. Feels very cheap for a computer of this price.

-Touchpad needs to be fine tuned. Default settings for sensitivity and multi touch features are crummy

-Speaking of multi touch... It is EXTREMELY spotty. I installed Ubuntu Linux alongside the provided Windows 7 and the two finger scrolling worked much smoother

-I'm BIG on battery life. I got this computer especially for it's advertised 8-9 hour battery time. In reality, however, it gets around 4 1/2. Hardly enough to last me through the day. (This is on low screen brightness and in the "eco-mode" power setting)

All in all, this is a good machine. I would love it if the keyboard wasn't so crappy and it got a little better battery life. Still, for the money it's tough to beat the specs provided. If you've got some extra cash I would probably go for the MUCH better constructed Macbook or Macbook Pro.

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I've been looking for a PC equivalent of the MacBook Air since...forever. But so far, nobody has been able to combine light weight, big screen size, and affordability. I've looked up and down, and only the R705 can beat the MBA.

Pro:

1) Only a feather heavier than the MBA 13";

2) But has twice the specs in CPU, hard drive, and RAM.

3) Also has eSATA, SD reader, HDMI, DVD burner, WiMax and one more USB port. MBA = nada.

4) In case you haven't noticed, it's so much more affordable.

Con:

1) It's not sexy like the MBA. You're not going to fall in love with it. Strictly a workhorse.

2) Power adapter is still the same brick that Toshiba has been including for the past 10 years. No innovations there. Cable management definitely needs improvement.

This is THE laptop to get if you need a light but powerful travelling laptop!

Cheap Lenovo X131e 33722VU 11.6-Inch Laptop

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $589.99
Sale Price: $513.89
Today's Bonus: 13% Off

The only thing keeping me from buying this laptop is the incorrect description of the processor.

The ThinkPad X131e 33722-VU has an AMD processor. See page 110 of:This model has the features I want, including the AMD E2-1800 CPU, an a/b/g/n WLAN card and Windows 7 Pro64.

I'll feel comfortable about making the purchase when this advertised information is made correct.

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is a good computer, comes with Norton antivirs I do not like it because the machine works slower, but the rest is very well

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I thought this laptop was suppose to be tough. I got it and with in a week I noticed the screen was flickering and turning blue. the battery was advertised as having 8.5 Hrs of life but I am lucky if I get 4 Hrs of use out of it.

Honest reviews on Lenovo X131e 33722VU 11.6-Inch Laptop

Product worked fine, and as expected...until we began the process of configuring for mobile use: then it was discovered the cellular antenna is malfunctioning if not broken. To be certain, we tested a number of mobile modems (GOBI 3000, etc) before concluding it was the x131e itself that was at fault. Attempted RMA, only to discover it was 1 day past 30 day period...so no return authorized by vendor. I'm stuck with a device purchased for a mobile user, and cannot use it as such. I have over a dozen others of this make functioning properly, so I the device series is not bad, but only this device. Unfortunately the vendor is not willing to compromise, and will be stricken from my company list of approved vendors. I am not referencing Lenovo here, but ANTONLINE.COM

Amazon.com please take note.

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Lenovo doesn't make the x131e with an i5 processor. This error is there since a while, attracting hits. They must know what they sell.

Reviews of HP Envy dv6t 15.6-inch Laptop (Latest dv6 Model), 3rd generation

Customer Ratings:

After previously purchasing an HP Envy dv6 laptop for my husband, when I needed to replace mine, I immediately opted for this latest model of it. I feel it is a well rounded offering and excellent value for the price. It was received promptly, was easy to set up, and I couldn't be happier. I highly recommend this laptop to families and individuals.

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Reviews of HP ProBook 4530s (XU017UT#ABA) Intel Core i3 2310M(2.10GHz) 4GB

Customer Ratings:

This laptop has everything you could possibly want as far as tech specs. You got a sandybridge i5, 4 gb of fast ddr3 ram, USB 3.0 slot, hdmi out with hd codec ausio outputs for home theater systems. And the price is a steal of a deal. I got it at 666.02. The price on this thing certainly fluctuates on amazon so patience and a watchful eye on this one will probably get you the best price.

Before going to my in depth rants here's a quick sum up for those that don't want to read the whole thing

So to sum it up

The i5 2410M 2.3 ghz with turbo boost to 2.9 ghz and HD 3000 graphics performs well in games and everything else, all at the same time too

The 4 GB DDR3 1333 does its job while leaving room to upgrade

It has all the desirable features I was looking for such as

7200 RPM HDD

USB 3.0

i5 sandy bridge

spill proof keyboard

720P webcam

Great battery life (though I haven't been able to really test that)

Light weight

Win 7 Pro

Num pad keypad

Bluetooth

Wireless N

gigabit ethernet

Light weight

It is amazing, you should buy it. I found most laptops have the same basic specs with 4 gb ram and a i series cpu with a 320-750 Gb 5400 rpm HDD, 15.6" screen, keyboard with keypad, and a built in webcam. Then each brand has there own extras and quirks, like toshiba never seems to have gigabit ethernet it's always 10/100. Asus likes to only have a 640x480 webcam, though they also have a accidental 1 year warranty with their laptops. Those are just a few examples I saw when searching for a laptop. This one is a sneaky little fella out of the main line of hp's consumer lappys that has all that you could want at a more than fair price. I highly recommend it

Now for some semi-organized scatter brained rant of a hopefully informative review...

The Sandy bridge i5 2410M is awesome. Not sure what the other guy is truly talking about as far as lacking integrated graphics. I do realize that a high end dedicated card will do better but the sandy bridge with the HD 3000 graphics is by far the most impressive on board graphics I have ever seen. For example I have tried running basic games on other laptops with them struggling to run at 640 x 480 with all settings at low. This thing can smoothly run Crysis on medium graphics. I am not a hardcore pc gamer so I haven't tested every game ever but the a few of the ones I have tried mostly just to see how it does are Crysis, Portal 1, Bulletstorm (demo), Half life 2 episode 1, Bioshock 1 & 2, & Mafia 2 (demo). All of which run smoothly at low to medium graphics and look amazing. Mafia 2 is one that runs at the lowest settings and still looks great, of course that game recommends a quad core processor and a high end video card or 2 to run at high settings so with that in mind running it at all is impressive. As well I do light editing for photos that works smoothly, not photoshop or anything of that sort though. As well I watch movies, it plays netflix hd beautifully, though that's not that hard. I have played some 1080p videos out the hdmi that are gorgeous. The windows sound settings claim that the hdmi audio out support all the current HD audio formats. DTS HD Master audio, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby True HD etc. This shows when it's hooked up to my Home Theater Receiver. Sadly I don't have a way to test this because it doesn't come with a program that supports that output. Which is a slight disappointment considering it comes with arcsoft TMT 3. But the digital audio codecs are disabled in the program which makes that player useless. Though the DVD editing software in that bundle isn't so useless.

As far as this glorious cpu's speed and power, it is just straight up awesome. Being the techy geek I am I monitor the speed and temps using Speccy. It ranges from 800 mhz per core at idle use to the advertised 2.9 ghz but that's only one core at a time, the other is usually around 2.6-2.7 when the other is at 2.9. Under my normal workload, which is relatively heavy and involves lots of multi-tasking. it boosts to 2.6-2.7 at temps of 60-70 Celsius. Which at first sounded high to me but that's just where these things run. The cool part about that is even when it is 70 Celsius or more in there you don't feel the heat. And of course the 4 gb (single dimm [stick]) 1333 DDR3 ram certainly helps with all that fun stuff as well.

Also in the performance category is the 7200 rpm Hard drive. I have found that this is hard to find in main stream laptops in this price range. The majority have 5400 rpm. Trust me when I say that the 7200 makes a difference. And the 500 gb is of course plenty of space.

There are of course other fun features such as the 720p webcam, the usb 3.0 slot, the "Spill resistant" keyboard, which I have not and will not test. The keyboard itself is very nice. It has the num keyapd and the buttons press smoothly. The mouse pad takes a bit of getting used to with the multi finger gestures for scrolling and such. But you can play with plenty of settings to turn that on or off and customize it and such. And the fact that it has win 7 PRO instead of just home premium is also a big plus.

The bluetooth 3.0 is also great. I have a Bluetooth mouse that connected easily and I continue to have the joy of a wireless and recieverless mouse. I have also synced my phone with the Bluetooth to sync it with outlook and put music on it and the like.

The Wireless connection is great. If I had to give a con it's that it only supports 150 mbps. Since it is a combo adapter with the Bluetooth replacing it would lose the Bluetooth. I actually tried putting a intel ultimate n adapter in it, only to find that HP has a very restrictive bios, so be careful when buying upgrades, cross check with hps's site. But I also discovered in that process that the under belly is very easy to get to via the maintenance slider thingy. Can't remember the technical term at the moment, but it has a tool-less entry system to all the user upgradable parts that is next to the battery. Back to the wireless though, regardless of that 150n instead of the more standard 300n it still has a great connection. It also only supports 2.4 ghz, kinda makes me sad to not be able to use the 5 ghz 300 mbps connection from my router but it's a small sacrifice for a constant great signal anywhere in the house or office. I work in a basement office with the router not in optimal position for that and still get a ~70 mbps connection that runs smooth. It speeds test just as fast if not faster than other 300 mbps computers on my network as well. So the wireless connectivity is awesome.

The screen is also beautiful, and the speakers are impressive for what they are. It's certainly not audiophile status but it works for quiet music and such.

This laptop also is very light weight, barely feels like it adds any weight to my backpack.

Also it's shiny and silver. I didn't actually know what color it would be when I got it since there weren't any good pictures, hence why I added some. It looks like there is a better stock picture now though. I'm not one to care about finger prints on the finish but if you do care this one doesn't have that problem.

There is a bunch of bloatware, but that is expected with hp type brand computers. Though it isn't all useless. The security program powered by digital persona gives a user friendly set up for the finger print scanner and the face recognition. When using the scanner and face recognition it adds like 10-20 seconds to start up time, which is a bit annoying so I don't use it anymore, but I'm not currently in a environment where heavy security is necessary. When I take it to college in the fall that might change. It also includes drive encryption features, something called evernote, and the arcsoft media suite. It's update software is also nice for the average consumer though I'm still a fan of checking their website manually myself. But the bloatware isn't too hard to get rid of so it's not that big of a deal. I personally have got rid of most of it, but to some it may be useful and worth keeping. Like the other guy said you will also have quite a bit of windows update to get, but that is to be expected with any new computer.

So it is all in all practically perfect. The only things I would change is the 150 mbps to a dual band 450 mbps. Thought that was just at first when I found out it only had 150 mbps. Now I don't care so much since it works amazing the way it already is. I highly recommend this laptop or its little brother with the i3-2310M that has just about all the same features.

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This laptop has all the features that anyone would practically need. The price keeps dropping so any newcomers will definitely benefit from its lowered cost.

The only reason I didn't give it the full 5 star treatment were several reasons.

cons first

1. No instruction manual, download the HP 4530s pdf ONLINE, I Goggled it.

2. No Win 7 Pro Repair disk, available separately for $10 on Amazon or eBay.

3. Download Win 7 Pro updates from Microsoft, many and timely but necessary.

4. UPS delivered, arrived OK but packing was almost non-existent in a large box. The HP box had enough packing though, so the laptop seemed protected.

5. Be prepared for a lot of garbage which can be removed.

positives next

1. After running setup which was timely, I was impressed with the numerous features and add-ons that came with this model. I compared this HP with several other makes and this laptop excels against similar

i5-2410s.

2. Value for monies paid will surely increase buyers interests obviously.

3. This Sandy Bridge make all the previous i5s pale in comparison. My recommendation is to get the i5 with its turbo boost and never look back.

4. The newly listed price from Circuit City/Amazon is fantastic for a "Sandy Bridge" i5 laptop.

5. The unit seems sturdy enough.

6. I like the ease of upgrading the laptop. Flip it over, remove the bottom plates and you can get to the RAM, HDD, etc quite handily.

7. The HD+ screen was quite a bonus for these old eyes.

8. The offset touchpad was OK.

9. The Cap lite is a necessity for me and this unit has one.

20. The Intel video with its turbo boost on shared video is supposed to really make a difference, as told to me by a friend who swears by it. We shall see.

Overall, I'm looking forward to video editing and doing Photoshop, which were my main reasons on getting this HP. As to its reliability, time will tell.

Footnote, June 7.

Runs quite cool and very quiet. No problems so far. May need to get a Vi Dock 4, or better; to boost my integrated video. Seems that the onboard video is a bit lacking and adding an Ati card via the expresscard slot should solve that problem.

Footnote, June 15.

Discovered HP Documentation earlier when investigating Programs and the PDF was very informative. (Wish there was a note inside the box upon opening)

Onboard HD Video is very good for intermediate gaming and video editing. The Crucial 4GB RAM which I added today will handle my multitasking needs quite nicely. Buying and installing the Crucial RAM was most inexpensive method for any upgrade and easy. My PhotoShop and Illustrator applications plus my Sony Suite will benefit highly with this increased RAM.

Best Deals for HP ProBook 4530s (XU017UT#ABA) Intel Core i3 2310M(2.10GHz) 4GB

This is a very thoughtfully engineered and full featured business oriented laptop. Some positive features that set it apart from other second generation sandy bridge core i5 laptops in this price range:

An express card 34 slot for high bandwidth peripherals

An excellent keyboard with numeric pad

A matte screen finish (thank you!)

A generously sized, sensitive and configurable multi-touch trackpad from synaptics with a on/off switch

Very easily accessible components and fan ducts to keep dust bunnies under control

This unit purchased from Amazon comes with a 1 year warranty.

After using it for some time, I have some other observations... There are no OS rescue disks included or the ability to burn them yourself. Booting to the OS recovery partition is the only way to restore the computer to the factory state. Needless to say, it is a useless option when your hard disk dies. Also, the image eats up around 16GB! This is totally unacceptable. It was not helpful when swapping in an SSD.

The included software is comprised of "special" offer trials for office 2011 and norton internet security, adware, bloated "maintenance" programs, and a "security" suite that poorly duplicates functionality already included with windows 7. There is no unified uninstall for these programs and with the exception of the included Arcsoft media suite and hp power management utility, the only useful function of the included software is to lull the user into a false sense of security. HP, please stop! Expect to spend about 3 hours removing these useless packages.

Without the hindrance of the included bloatware and with an SSD equipped, this laptop becomes the weapon of choice for people who like to get some work done on the road. It is sturdy and pleasant to use, with understated design for buttons and non-distracting illumination. The LED back-lit screen has poor resolution (1366x768 ? please.), but is otherwise high-quality. Finally, I cannot say good enough things about the keyboard! Overall, I am very happy with my purchase and I think that you will be too.

Honest reviews on HP ProBook 4530s (XU017UT#ABA) Intel Core i3 2310M(2.10GHz) 4GB

I've had this laptop for about six months now. I'm reasonably happy with the laptop itself. I use it for word processing, spreadsheet, downloading photos and editing, and on-line games. Just routine stuff. The Windows 7 software takes a little getting used to. There's a game that my kids like to play where you walk by pressing the directional keys. If you're walking a long distance and holding the key down for awhile, the computer seems to think that you're telling it that you want it to do something and the game is then messed up. (I'm convinced that this is my computer's fault, not the game's.) This is my first experience with W7.

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We've had this machine for a couple of weeks now and it's an excellent performer. Excellent feature set for the money it's really hard to beat. The ProBook line is oriented towards heavy daily use while still being reasonably priced. Core i5-2410M processor, 500GB 7200 RPM drive, 4GB RAM, Win7 Pro 64 bit, Webcam, SD card reader, Gigabit LAN, wireless N. Plus it's got a solid feel. The display is nice and bright and very clear, but I wish it had more pixels. 1366 x 768 is really limiting so figure on plugging this into a larger monitor for extended home use. A BluRay drive would have been nice too.

It seems that all store bought machines are loaded with trial versions of a lot of different software. It gets annoying until you get it all out of your way. I guess that's how they get the cost down. There was a Microsoft Office shortcut on the desktop. I entered the serial number from my store bought Office package and it all just worked. Never had to insert the disk.

If you're in the market for a machine in the $650 $750 range, I'd definitely recommend this one. You're not out a whole bunch of money but it still feels as though it should hold up for 5 years or so.

NOTE: I ordered this from one of the third party suppliers and they shipped me the i3 version poorly packed in a beat up box. I returned it and ordered one from Amazon and got the correct one in a nice straight box. Cost me $90 more but it was worth it. Regardless of who you get it from, check it to be sure you got an i5. I'm still waiting for my refund.

UPDATE: Upgraded rating from 4 to 5 stars. Yes I had a couple of minor gripes, but at this price point, it's a stellar deal.

UPDATE II: Finally received the refund for the i3 machine I returned. The merchant was Portable Guy and they were responsive to emails and courteous. They took the time to explain what caused the shipping error. I'd consider giving them another shot.

Discount ASUS Zenbook UX31E-XB51 13.3 Notebook Intel Core i5-2467M 1.60 GHz

Customer Ratings:

Nice all around for price with excellent feature set with great Amazon service. Keyboard is frustrating and possibly a deal breaker for heavy users.

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So my screen died 1 year and 3 weeks after purchase. ASUS will not cover it under warranty (1 year). Unless you want your purchase to break after a year, don't purchase ASUS.

Best Deals for ASUS Zenbook UX31E-XB51 13.3 Notebook Intel Core i5-2467M 1.60 GHz

Thin, light and very fast. Log Battery life. Looks good and has good keyboard and hi def screen. I was very impressed with this laptop.

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Great profile. Nice machine once everything was set up properly. Keyboard is not backlit I don't think. I read about problems with keyboard, but our employee who is using it has not mentioned any problems. So far pretty good.

Best Tohisba Satellite A665-3DV10X 3D Notebook Laptop: Intel Core Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,199.00
Sale Price: $849.99
Today's Bonus: 29% Off

Toshiba really hit a homerun with this thing! It out-performs all three of my PC's. I'm very happy with it's ability to do 5 things at once without getting bogged down or clogged up.

It is win 7, much better than win 8.

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Highly recommend this PC. I have always been a HP or Compaq kind of guy, but this Toshiba has won me over. Starting to play video games again after a 20 year absence. Now, in amazing 3D!!

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Just love this computer, fast, powerful, and 3d can't get any better for the price! Win 7 but can be easily upgraded if you even care.

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I've had Toshiba products in the past that I was quite happy with. This computer has many problems, any one of which would be a reason not to buy it.

It advertises WiMax. They don't tell you it's an extra fifty dollars a month. On top of that, Clear won't even let me purchase the service even at that steep price. I specifically bought this computer for the WiMax, so I could use it in the field. This turns out to have been a very bad decision on my part.

Battery life is zero. I had the laptop plugged in for days. I went to give a powerpoint presentation in front of a group of fifteen people. The battery died after 45 minutes. Fortunately, I had a backup plan in case of a technology failure.

When you type on the keyboard, you need to completely remove your left hand if you want to use the cursor pad, very annoying.

At maximum volume, the speakers are not loud enough to be heard over the hum of my treadmill.

Software bundled on the computer comes with adware that you have to specifically opt out of in order to avoid getting it. If you aren't paying attention, this software digs in deep and is very hard to get rid of.

You have to purchase Microsoft office for $100 extra. Even when I tried to pay the extra, even though I didn't want to, Microsoft wouldn't even let me complete the purchase. Their web site says, Click here and buy this software in a few easy steps, and then it just freezes, not allowing me to buy the software.

I would never buy another Toshiba product again based on my experience with this product. It does have some pluses, like good picture, and a nice feel to the keyboard. It's positive attributes all together are not enough to outweigh any one of the negatives. I was considering buying an Apple product, but I chose this Toshiba to save money and also to be able to work with Windows-based files when I receive them. This purchase was a waste of money and a very expensive lesson. I will buy Apple in the future.

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Very fast and quiet, quality build. The most important point is that the system is win 7 which is much better than win 8

Thinkpad X220 12.5" 128GB 4G Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,299.00
Sale Price: $1,049.99
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This computer is phenomenal. Don't be lured into unnecessary upgrades like more than 4GB of RAM, the IPS screen, the USB 3.0 slot, or the i7 processor. With the i5-2430M processor, 4GB RAM, and the 128 GB ssd harddrive, this is PLENTY of machine for 95% of all users, except perhaps for folks who intend to use it for high-end gaming or a very heavy load of video editing. Trust me, I'm a very experienced computer user and I use high-powered applications like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. This little thing has plenty of power.

Here's what I LOVE:

best keyboard available on a laptop, and better than most full-size desktop keyboards too; if you're a serious writer, this is the ideal choice for a very portable machine with a phenomenal typing experience. Some people don't like the fact that Lenovo swaps the location of the Fn and CTRL keys in the lower left corner, but you can swap them back in the BIOS and, if desired, affix keyboard stickers over the buttons to remind you that they're swapped.

superb trackpoint and above average trackpad... I disable the trackpad to save power (although it's very good on this machine) because the trackpoint is wonderfully precise and doesn't require you to remove your fingers from the home row of keys when using it. If you have a Lenovo keyboard, you really should try to get used to the trackpoint... it's outstanding and it's a feature I've always missed whenever I've owned other laptops.

good TN screen... you wouldn't know it from all the internet hype about the IPS panel, but the standard TN screen is great and I actually prefer it over the IPS "Premium HD" panel because it uses less power and still allows very good viewing angles for normal laptop use. I chose to avoid the IPS Premium HD panel because there have been so many reported problems with it, including image persistence, pixel bleed, and light leakage. The only shortcoming on the TN screen is in the accuracy of its color reproduction. I've had more accurate color, but you will only notice it if you put it side by side with another monitor displaying the same image and scrutinize them closely. Still, if I were to do a lot of serious photo editing, I'd probably connect to an external monitor.

the i5-2430M processor is very powerful... it runs all my software fine, even on its lowest power setting

the 128GB ssd harddrive is wonderful... no moving parts to worry about getting damaged in transit, no seek noise when accessing files, and much less heat than a spinning drive so the fan rarely even turns on to cool it

quiet fan... I've never had a laptop this quiet, period. I can't believe how silent this thing runs. Note that people who have bought the i7 processor version have had a different experience, including problems with the fan kicking on repeatedly and at its highest setting (which is still reasonably quiet, but much louder than I ever hear out of my i5-equipped machine)

super fast boot/sleep/shutdown... with no tweaking except to disable unneeded services, it powers on and boots into the windows environment in 22 to 26 seconds. Shutdown takes 9 seconds or less. Sleep takes 3 seconds after closing the lid, and about 5 to 8 seconds to resume from sleep. I am very impressed!

battery life... with the 6 cell battery, I EASILY get 4 hours of battery life WITHOUT bothering to try to conserve power (i.e., no dimming screen, turning off wireless, etc.). In fact, you can stream video for well over 3 hours on the 6 cell battery. If you dim the screen a bit, turn off wireless, and use the "Battery Stretch" function, it is possible to get 6 hours EASILY, and up to maybe 8 hours if you're not doing anything processor-intensive. I've seen other laptops make claims to this kind of battery life, but they are usually exaggerated by 50%. In this case, I'm quoting real numbers for actual use. In fact, this weekend, I didn't recharge for three days straight and did plenty of e-mail checking, web surfing, and brief video watching (YouTube) in that time. After three days (i.e., probably a total of 5 hours of active usage, plus all the standby time between uses) I still had 23% battery left over. I almost bought the 9 cell battery, but now I'm glad I didn't because it would've added weight and I simply don't need more battery than this.

excellent stability... everything I plug into this laptop is recognized immediately: thumb drives, VGA projectors, an optical mouse, a backup drive, etc. It all just works. Not one connection problem or delay in device recognition yet. I've had plenty of other computers (including some with the same Windows 7 operating system) that did not work this trouble-free with some of those same devices.

very low heat... I HATE how warm the keyboard gets on the MacAir 13" and especially the 11". On the x220, you don't have to worry about that kind of discomfort at all. It runs very cool (and silent, as I said above).

not a lot of bloatware: even a lot of Lenovo's applications are not pre-installed. I uninstalled some Windows features, the Windows Live programs, the "Business-In-A-Box" installer application, Google Chrome, and Lenovo's Active Protection System (which isn't needed for an ssd, since there's no hard drive needle). Then I installed Thunderbird, Firefox, MS Word/Excel/PowerPoint, and Lenovo's Rescue and Recovery backup software. I also activated the installed Norton Internet Security anti-virus software and then used Lenovo's System Update to update all the drivers and software. That's it. Done! This thing came much, much cleaner than any of the last five other laptops I've purchased, most of which came with an insane amount of pre-installed trial-ware.

DOWNSIDES? Not really any for me, but...

Small drive?: The 128 GB drive may fill up quickly due to all the space occupied by the OS, the Lenovo applications, and the programs you'll want to add in. After installing all the programs I use, mine still has 40GB free. That should be plenty of space for most users, unless you want to store a TON of music, videos, and pictures on your hard drive. In that case, I'd recommend an external drive, a larger ssd, or perhaps a more affordable high-capacity HDD. Having experienced the quietness, speed, and battery efficiency of the ssd, I'll NEVER go back to a laptop with a spinning hard drive.

No keyboard backlight: I've heard many folks wish for a backlit keyboard, but I'm a touch typist so I don't really understand the desire for the backlighting. If you need to see the keys for some reason, a quick keyboard shortcut (easy to find in the dark) activates the x220's very bright "think light," which illuminates the keyboard quite effectively. I don't use the thinklight either, but I prefer it to backlighting because I can leave it turned off. To me, backlighting is an additional drain on the battery for little benefit except, perhaps, style points. (And I say that as someone whose last laptop had a backlit keyboard... yes, I've experienced them, but I don't understand the desire for them.)

Aesthetics?: I think the Lenovo/IBM all-black business look is very classy and professional. But I realize there are folks who believe their electronics need to "express" their unique identity and personality. I belong to the digital generation myself, but I've grown up enough to realize how stupid it is to believe my electronics need to express "who I am." For one, it's pathetic if "who I am" can be reduced to a statement made by the color, texture, or stickers on my electronics. For another, it's naive to think that "personalizing" my electronics is anything other than falling prey to a marketing gimmick designed to part me from more of my cash. The simple, black, functional look of the x220 is something that I can carry into a professional meeting without looking like I'm young and naive about professionalism. But admittedly, it's not "sexy" enough to attract the ladies and win me any dates. That's fine, I'm already married. I've met a gazillion people who think a MacAir is more "awesome" because it has sexier curves and is stylishly thin. Frankly, I don't notice the extra half-inch of thickness or the additional third-pound of weight in my briefcase. I DO notice the MUCH better performance (faster processing, cooler-temperatures, and much better keyboard) over the MacAir and the other PC "ultrabooks" I looked at (especially Asus and Toshiba).

Simply put, this is the best laptop I have ever owned. It comes as close to a perfect, seamless computing experience as any computer I have ever used for business or pleasure. (That includes about eight desktops and nine laptops over the past 20 years). I cannot recommend this computer highly enough. However, beware the high-end configurations (IPS Premium HD panel, i7 processor, etc.), as those users appear to have a much higher number of problems with heat, noise, CPU throttling, screen distortions, and other such problems. It may be that those higher end options tax the system a little beyond what can be comfortably contained in this diminutive form factor. With my configuration as recommended above, it simply works--and works beautifully!

[UPDATE 5/22/2012: Five months later and I'm still thrilled with this laptop. I've only experienced two issues so far. At one point, the automatic Lenovo updates quit working so I missed a Microsoft update and a driver update. When I tried to manually update, it told me my updating software needed to be updated but then froze up. One call to Lenovo tech support and within 3 minutes I had spoken with a representative who directed me to re-download the update software from the website. I did that and ten minutes later problem fixed. The other problem is that on very rare occasions the computer has not gone into sleep mode when I close the lid and thus, gets very hot when I tuck it away in my briefcase. There have been no long term problems as a result, just some surprising heat build up. It seems to occur only when I go several days (or whole weeks) without powering down. It has happened three times total in five months, and in every case, I had not shut the computer down in several days. I really can't complain about either issue since it is to be expected that automatic updates and sleep features might stop working if you aren't rebooting on a semi-occasional basis as you should with any computer. This thing has really performed superbly and I just have to be a little more diligent about shutting it down to reboot every three or four days to keep the maintenance processes refreshed and running well.]

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There is a place for tablet computers, but if you have any amount of typing to do, the convenience of the wonderful keyboard and the access to real 'work' programs such as MS Office, make this lightweight, portable computer a real winner. I have been buying some version of this Lenovo portable since the earlyl 2000s.

Best Deals for Thinkpad X220 12.5" 128GB 4G

Overall this is a pretty decent notebook. It's pretty small and portable. The battery is bulbous, so it's a lot thicker than a Macbook Air, but the weight is about the same.

PROS:

Docking station for about $150 you can get a docking station, which you snap the computer onto and you can plug in all your peripherals, including dual monitors. This is something that I couldn't find any solution for a Macbook or Macbook Air, which are apparently designed to only use a single monitor. The docking station has been flawless for a year with no problems at all. This was a major need for me so I could completely replace the need for a desktop computer.

Flash harddrive I got the 128 GB flash harddrive (instead of the traditional spinning drive). It was more expensive and less memory, but it really does speed the thing up.

Small size it's 3 pounds the smallest PC I could find with a true i5 processor (not some crappy netbook).

CONS:

Webcam/Microphone The microphone is "noise cancelling" so when I play a ukulele and sing, it is nothing but choppy static. I spent hours on the phone with their tech support trying to figure out a way to get my own microphone plugged in and working. It turns out there is no input for a microphone, only an output for a headphone. They claim you can use that as a microphone input but they lie, it isn't possible. So if you want to Youtube or Vlog or anything that uses the webcam, this is not the computer for you. I paid extra to have the webcam and microphone and that is regrettable since it is completely useless to me.

Battery The battery life was great out of the box, about 8 or 9 hours. But after one year it is more like 2-3 hours with minimal use (sporadic web surfing). It seems the battery is designed to impress reviewers out of the box, but not meant to be used for more than a few months.

SUMMARY:

It's a bit disappointing that laptops have not come very far since my first one in 1989. Maybe it was 5 or 6 pounds and less power, but the look and feel was not that different. I really wanted something like a Macbook Air small, light, portable, but with the capability to run Microsoft Access and without the annoying quirks of a Mac. I'm a Windows user. Also I wanted it to be easily hooked to desktop peripherals. I wish this thing was about half the size and twice the power, but apparently there has not been a big push to improve on the basic laptop design. This was a lot of money for what it is, since I think I could have paid half as much for basically the same thing, just a little heavier. If you don't need a microphone/webcam, then this thing will not disappoint too much.

Honest reviews on Thinkpad X220 12.5" 128GB 4G

hey, it's a work computer. but while i have now an 8 year history of getting lenovo x-series (which combine near-ultrabook portability with a decently sized screen and good performance) going starting with an X60 through an X200 to this one, hey, the X220 is by far the best one.

not just because it has the latest processor, but simply because the usability has increased.

performance... the WEI reports 6.3 because of graphics, but 6.3 isn't shabby at all. in fact it is pretty awesome considering the price-performance and the fact that, only a year and a half ago, a $220 i5-661 would barely get you a WEI of 4.2. this thing flies if you have realistic expectations, and drives two 1920x1200 monitors running simultaneous HD streams without breaking a sweat. it remains *quiet*. quite the little powerhouse.

it's built well, i continue to love the keyboard, and the only thing i use is the mouse-knob (but that shows my keyboard centric style, hey i have a blackberry too :)).

battery life is amazing considering performance it reports 5.40 hours remaining at 80% battery as i type this, and i am not even running it in Power Saver mode, and yes, this is the small battery.

so i guess i have to come up with some negatives to make it look like i am not bankrolled by Lenovo (which i am not). my complaint is the display. how come my $499 ipad has basically twice the resolution of my high powered work laptop? what is it with laptop vendors sticking to oh so 5 years ago 1366x768 resolution. you know guys, us users have figured out there's stuff like retina displays out there, so there's no excuse.

other than that, no complaints: this thing has the traditional built quality of a thinkpad (my mom still used my old abused X60s that was over 5 years old and still works like a charm acting as my music server after she got my old X200, which looks pristine). in a nutshell: if you want a great compromise between performance and portability, if you value built quality and reliability, and you just want to work on a computer... you can't really ever feel like you made a msitake on this little workhorse.

PS: for the linux crowd i dual boot Win7 64 bit and Ubuntu 12.04 on this x220, and it works like a charm.

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For more comprehensive and words speaking to the greats of this PC, I definitely recommend the other reviewer's on here. At least the one which preceded me on dates. But its bulky so I thought I'd try for something more cursory.

Simply put, this is the best laptop I've ever used. For the last four months or so I've been hunting, reading and researching on all the new 'Ultrabooks'. I never had given one iota of thought to this computer; simply put I'd only ever used it with HDDs, which coupled with its complete business look it wasn't appealing to me. The others I had the privilege of trialling were:

Sony X Series (1.5lbs Carbon Fibre PC 2010; Atom, 2GB RAM & SSD)

Macbook Air 11" (Aluminum 2011; Intel 2GB & SSD)

Asus Zenbook 13.3" (Aluminum 2012; Intel i5, 4GB & SSD)

Lenovo IdeaPad u300s 13.3" (Aluminum 2012; Intel i7, 4GB & SSD)

I also read a lot on the Toshiba Portege 13.3 as well as the Dell 13z. The latter really attracted me because of the Gorilla Glass; the former I liked because the materials its made of make the whole thing feel extremely light.

However, both the Toshiba and the Sony feel way too flimsy (the screen is near-bendable). The Zenbook's keyboard is incredibly stiff and reminded me of tapping my fingers on the Shop Class table. And the Macbook's is just like the IdeaPad's, as in its decent enough. On all of them, the displays were solid. I think in design, I probably liked the edges of the IdeaPad the most.

But the ThinkPad? Seriously it ships with Microsoft Professional 7 which I have to say is far and away faster and slimmer. ThinkPad also didn't come with lots of pre-installed overcomplicated 'bloatware' (Sony, Toshiba, Dell). And because of its softer materials, it actually feels LIGHTER than the MacBook which is considered the pinnacle; you 'feel' the 'heft' of the Zenbook, as well as the Dell.

The 12.5 screen is a good compromise between the two series for the other firms. And to be honest, the design is something which is growing on me; its sort of nice to be seen as plausibly professional even when just personally working in a cafe. Most of all for me, however, was how whisper quiet the fans were. Lenovo's was audible and I was aware it was there, but not a nuisance like the MacBook Air can get when you use video with it. The Sony was incredibly load for literally everything you did after 30minutes of on use.

In sum, I'd really say you should give this a go before discarding it out of hand. The keyboard's layout actually is more convenient now that I've used it, particularly the oversize Delete key and the additional 'Forwards/Back' Keys around the arrow pad (much more responsive than say, 'Alt-Left Arrow'). In addition, the pointer in the middle is actually quicker to navigate than having to reposition your two hands every time you want to navigate the PC.

PS: Oh yea they have a .8lbs add-on to the battery that gives you up to 20hrs of battery life. No, that's not a typo. And the software it comes with is actually useful; Windows Backup isn't very user-friendly; Lenovo's is.

Discount Mini 5103 N455 10.1 250/1GB

Customer Ratings:

I really liked everything about the way the computer was built and the way it looked. Speed was reasonable. The only thing I thought could of been better was the resolution. I realize this comes at a cost so I rate this a 4 out of 5.

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Buy ASUS X202E-DB21T 11.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Grey)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $399.00
Sale Price: $396.48
Today's Bonus: 1% Off

I love Asus, and most know that they create quality computers. A side note, my cousin's fiance has been working at Best Buy for five years as a part of the Geek Squad and informed me about the best computers on the market (Asus being one of those top brands). I also own a larger, 15.6-inch Asus laptop. My reason for purchasing this laptop is for the upcoming school year; I wanted something light, portable, sufficient memory, and multi-functional. I am a software engineer, so I wanted something that I could use for coding, as well as for taking notes in other classes. This computer is brilliant. I have been using it for hours and am entirely satisfied. A $400 laptop that is sleek, light, touch-screen, lots of memory, and efficient? Sold. The model of this computer is very appealing and couldn't ask for any better. No bulging battery, looks similar to an Apple computer. I love it and am looking forward to bringing this all over campus! If you need a computer to bring wherever you go, buy this computer! I've also noticed that it goes for around $500 on other online stores and nearly $700 at Walmart. Don't let the price on Amazon deceive you for this quality computer! :)

Also, those 1-star reviews are bogus and hurt the overall scoring on the computer. One is a lady complaining about a computer that doesn't work (not the actual, working computer); the other ranting about how she detests Asus. If you want lousy plastics and sub-par hard drives, buy an HP or Dell!

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UPDATE: 10/19/2013 Okay, so I've had this thing for a WHILE now, and I wanted to update this review. So here we go!

My ASUS G750JX-DB71 came with a 256GB SSD and I went to swap it out with my 480GB SSD that I put in my old G74SX. When I took out the G750's SSD, I realized it was a 7mm SSD, which fits PERFECTLY in the X202E. This thing boots up in just a few seconds, and now it even comes out of standby faster. With the 500GB HDD (that came with it), there would be times when you had Chrome open (with a few tabs) and you wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING for a little bit. When you look down, you'd see the HDD light staying SOLID... Not even flashing or hesitating. After the slow stock hdd calmed down, then the computer would be responsive again. You do NOT have those problems with an SSD! Whenever it's reading from the hard drive or when the ram is full (because of to many open tabs and applications), it pulls from the SSD. But it's so fast, that it doesn't slow you down at all! If you google me "wwjoshdew", I'll have a video on how to open this thing up and put an SSD in it. Remember, it HAS to be a 7mm SSD, a 9mm one won't fit. I HIGHLY recommend the one linked to below!

Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE250BW

With a USB 3.0 flash drive combined with an SSD, you can transfer files at over 200MB/s to the Patriot Supersonic Magnum flash drive!

Patriot Supersonic Magnum 64 GB Flash Drive Black (PEF64GSMNUSB)

Also, I updated my X202E to Windows 8.1 really easily by visiting the store from my X202E and simply pressing download... Installation was easy, pain free, and all of my programs and files survived the update just fine. Plus I'm pretty sure it starts up faster now (I disabled hiberation and quick stat up. NOT NEEDED with an SSD!)

My ONLY Complaint with this thing is that when you have power save enabled (it turns it on when you reboot), you KNOW it's on... It's slower and YouTube videos stutter and pause so freaking much. Turn on performance mode, and 1080p YouTube videos look and play good. I also recommend uninstall power4gear hybrid and installing the latest version (3.0.5 as I type this review). Some of the programs and drivers have updates OUT OF THE BOX!

ALSO, Google a tool called "ASUS Backtracker" if you plan on upgrading to an SSD! It will take your recovery partition from your HDD and copy it to a 16GB Flash Drive. I recommend doing that ASAP and putting that flash drive in the box that your X202E came with, so that you know where it is if your HDD dies, or if you want to upgrade to an SSD and need to reinstall Windows 8.

MY INITIAL REVIEW IS BELOW!

I'm actually typing this review from the laptop. So far I'm impressed. I opened it up (If you search "wwjoshdew", I posted high resolution photos on Twitter) and the hard drive is easy to replace, but the ram is SOLDERED in! You can clearly see that in the pictures. I can't post a link, but on my Twitter I tweeted a link to an imgur album with several photos. 4GB is okay I guess. I'm going to be putting this 120GB Vertex 3.20 SSD in it and if the computer ever needs to read/write from the hard drive because all of the ram is used up, it will be really quick and you probably won't notice it.

The touchscreen feels GREAT! I review the latest Android smartphones and tablets, and let me tell you... I have many tablets and phones (all touchscreen) and I feel RIGHT AT HOME using this ASUS X202E-DB1T.

The fact that you can't upgrade the ram is a little disappointing, but if you upgrade to an SSD, you probably won't notice a difference (goes back to the whole reading/writing to the insanely fast SSD if the ram is full).

Usually I make it towards my computer doesn't go to sleep when I close the lid, but there is literally only a two second (or so) gap in between opening the lid, and being able to "swipe up" on the screen to use it like you were before closing the lid. So I think I'll keep it this way and only make it NOT do that when it's plugged in (under advanced power options and close lid options).

So far I'm very impressed and love this thing! I don't find myself using the track pad at all! And there is no need to carry around a mouse, because touching the screen is way faster and more convenient than using a mouse or track pad.

I'm on my very first charge, so I'll update this review as time goes on and after I put this SSD in it and clone/restore the internal hard drive that's in this thing.

07/31/2013 UPDATE: I'll need to kill it and charge it a few more times to give you accurate battery life. I just installed Steam and loaded MW3... Without changing ANY settings, it played pretty smoothly! (youtube.com/watch?v=-7dygM0Bk5Y&hd=1)

The SD Card slot is cool. Usually laptops suck the whole card in it, this one it sticks out. So no worrying about the mechanism breaking and not being able to get your sd card out.

This thing only picks up my 2.4Ghz network, NOT my 5Ghz network. Plus the ethernet port is 100Mbps, BUT it has a USB 3.0 port, so Plugable's USB 3.0 Ethernet Adapter will get you a FULL 1Gbps link speed! (I have 120 Down and 25 Up with Comcast. I'm able to pull 116 Down EASILY with the USB 3.0 port and Plugable USB 3.0 to 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Network Adapter)

For 399, you have to settle somewhere. Plus there are USB 3.0 docks (Plugable UD-3000 USB 3.0 Universal Docking Station for Windows 8, 7, XP (DVI, VGA, or HDMI to 2048x1152, Gigabit Ethernet, Audio, 2 USB 3.0 Ports, 4 USB 2.0 Ports, 4A AC Power Adapter)) that let you use that USB 3.0 port to it's full potential! Gigabit Ethernet, extra USB 3.0 and 2.0 Ports, DVI, HDMI, audio, and etc. I'm not complaining at all! This thing was worth it to me.

Best Deals for ASUS X202E-DB21T 11.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Grey)

After returning the ASUS Vivotab Smart Tablet because of weird and unexplained quirks and failures, I ordered this one because of the more traditional specs and full-blown Windows 8. After some software anomalies in respect to Windows Update, (it doesn't tell you the progress of the downloads and installation which makes you think nothing is happening), but everything else worked fine. I was very disappointed in the description of this unit when Amazon failed to mention that THIS model DID NOT have Bluetooth (I just assumed it did). Not a problem though because I ordered the Kinivo BTD-400 Bluetooth Adapter, plugged it in, and the software automatically downloaded (Windows 8), and this thing grabbed Bluetooth devices I didn't know I had!

It is not a perfect little machine by any means but damn it's good. I have had astronomically more good and surprisingly good experiences with it than disappointments. Wireless works well and fast. Boot up is fast! Touch screen works very well with no lapses, freezing, or failure to respond to touch.

Windows 8 will require a learning curve and sometimes the interaction between this unit and Windows is peculiar, but it is there and functional. Most of the time it's that pop yourself in the forehead and saying; "ahh there it is, why didn't I see that" kind of thing!

I gave it five stars because it's worthy of it. For what it was designed to do, and keeping in mind that no computer is perfect, this one does abundantly well what it was designed to do!

Honest reviews on ASUS X202E-DB21T 11.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Grey)

Normally I don't write reviews, but seeing how I read reviews prior to purchasing this laptop I figured I'd return the favor for someone else.

Alright, right of the bat I'll say if you're looking for a laptop with a long battery life THIS IS NOT IT!

I actually debated about sending it back multiple times because the battery life is beyond poor for this type of notebook. If I'm surfing the internet and messing with apps, I'll get about 3hrs max. Also, these apps aren't very demanding they're not games or anything like that. I bought this for school, and it seems to be doing the job fairly well so far. I just have to make sure I charge it fully before I take it for the day. Normally, I'll have to charge it while I'm there as well. It's unfortunate.

Ok aside from that, it's a pretty good laptop for the money. I paid the $399 + Tax which came out to about $430. It's very light (compared to what I was using) and pretty thin for it's class/price. One thing I've been using a lot more than I thought is the touch screen. I figured it would be inefficient holding your arm up to use a laptop that had a keyboard with a trackpad, but it actually isn't anything like that.

Well, I'll end it here. If you're looking for a computer for school/work it should handle it pretty well, but don't expect to leave your charger at home. Hope this helps...

EDIT: Alright, after using this laptop after another day I can't take it anymore. I like to browse a few different websites at the same time, so I almost always have multiple tabs open. I also like to have some music going too, and for some reason this laptop just can't handle it. It connects to my router strong, but surfing the internet is now a hassle compared to my old computer. I have to wait a few extra seconds after the web page loads to be able to scroll or click on it, this ultrabook just isn't fast whatsoever. It's constantly 'micro freezing-up' if that makes sense. It's just not responsive at all. I wouldn't recommend this laptop to a college student, it may work as someone's first computer but that may be it.

I've decided to return it because I like my computers lasting atleast 2 years, and I don't know if I can go another 2 weeks with this thing. Again, this is my opinion you may like it, I thought I was going to after reading the reviews, but that's not the case. Hopefully the return process with amazon is easy. Maybe I'll update this review again in the future and let you know.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for ASUS X202E-DB21T 11.6-Inch Touchscreen Laptop (Grey)

I bought a light portable laptop that i could use for college. I will say that this a perfect laptop for a budgeting college student. The mouse pad is the perfect size, its not too small and not big enough to get in the way when you type! The Touch Screen is flawless and works great. The windows 8 interface and touch screen work really well together when reading my college Ebooks. young college freshman that are wanting a hybrid laptop for gaming and school, do not get this laptop. This laptop is strictly for business use only, it is not a gaming machine.