Sony VAIO T Series SVT1311CGXS 13.3 LED Notebook Intel Core Review

Customer Ratings:

As a corporate user I am really impressed with the light weight, great processing speed and sub 10 second Windows boot! As an IT professional I travel often and bought this for frequent travel. I'm so impressed with the performance this may be my main machine. I was nervous about the keyboard feel given the limited reviews I found on othe sites. In fact the keyboard is great!

Very happy with this machine, and as an owner of an Lenovo think pad, iPad2, iMac, MacbookPro 2nd gen, that says a lot! I did upgrade to 8GB of memory and love the SSD in this model.

Cheers!

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Dell XPS XPS13-1500sLV 13-Inch Ultrabook Reviews

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,210.00
Sale Price: $999.99
Today's Bonus: 17% Off

I am a big fan of Dell laptops and my previous one was the XPS 13 which I like a lot but had issues with it while writing, the cursor will jump to a previous location just like that, and also got the tingling electrical vibration from the keypad while charging it. So I decided to give this one a try. Had problems with it since I got it, the must typical issue with this model seem to nbe the Network card, Dell technicians are very helpful and they do seem know a lot, but the guy they sent to replace the card didn't sseem to knowleable about it. Before changing the network card, it was not reading the network at home or anywhere I went. After changing the card it was better but not perfect, I had to keep loging out and in in order for the darn thing to respond when I click on any icon. After many calls to Dell tech. (Nice guys from India) I had to reset back to the factory settings, reinstalled all the software again and so far so good. Note that not having the DVD drive I had to purchase the external one, It doesn't have HDMI so I purchased an adapter for it. The picture is not as great as the XPS 13, which is beutiful, but it isn't bad. I did purchased the one with 256GB SSD, since I need all the storage space I can have. It does tun on and off very fast, about 5 seconds.

I must admit that my first 12" Dell laptop had been the less problematic one so far. They are not building them like they used to.

Once you fix the network card issues, the laptop works great (at list so far.) Not sure why Dell don't take care of this issue when building them, reading reviews online this looks like a big problem with this model.

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It's not a MacBook Air, but for a windows-based laptop, it does very well. A smidgen under 3 lbs, and with a SSD it's fast to boot. No moving parts means a longer battery life as well. It's a true Ultrabook, so like the Air, there is no optical drive, but with most software and pretty much every driver update you can imagine available online, not having a built-in drive is not an issue. External drives are cheap, assuming you even need one. No ethernet, so you either need a USB/Ethernet dongle, or a docking station such as the Plugable docks with ethernet built in (which I use along with a usb VGA/DVI adapter for multiple monitor support).

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Perfect condition! I love it. XPS 13 is very light and handy. boot so fast. But the screen visual angle is too small.

Honest reviews on Dell XPS XPS13-1500sLV 13-Inch Ultrabook

Overall this computer is running quite nicely and the battery life is phenomenal, but there are a couple quirks that can be extremely irritating. One is that the touchpad could be a lot better, at times it doesn't do what you tell it to and at others it seems to have a mind of its own. The other quirk is that about once an hour the wifi drops out. It typically reconnects automatically within 10-15 seconds, but if you're in the middle of a download or something it can be really annoying (I plan on contacting Dell about it).

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This is a speedy, tiny, beautiful machine. The only hesitation I had was with Windows 8, which once you turn off the track pad gestures runs beautifully (swiping changes between apps unless you disable gestures). With 8 GB of memory and an Intel i5 quad-core processor, this computer can handle just about any load. Not much unbloating is necessary and just about every productivity program I've run has gone well beyond the benchmarks.

The machine itself is beautiful and solid. Imagine an Apple quality build with a powerful Windows system installed rather than Mac OS. The screen is nice and bright with a flawless glassy design. The keyboard is soft and responsive with a track pad that is easy to customize. The computer is shockingly light and has a beautiful aluminum casing.

Buy DELL LATITUDE D600 1.6GHZ 1024MB 40GB CDRW/DVD WIFI XP PRO LAPTOP

Customer Ratings:

I have bought dozens of laptops and this company provides some of the best computers out there. They are just as fast, if not faster than the new ones out there because the company loads these up with the newest RAM, and the latest processors. I would NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER (can't say it enough)buy another new laptop. By the time they are 3 years old, they have to be refurbished anyway.

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I ordered a Dell Latitude D600 from this seller...and what a mistake that was...when the computer arrived it was broken! it just came apart..at first the seller was trying to blame me what a joke..I just received the computer..I had to return the computer using my own money which was not cheap for them to find out that it was not assembled right. It took them another twice weeks to send me back another computer all this time I have not computer to work with after I have paid for one.

After two long weeks I get the other computer delivered to me..finally I have a computer that work...so that is what I was thinking...plug it in thinking the power cord work..and my computer went dead...the power cord did not work!! so now I have a computer with no working power cord! I contacted the seller again..and he made me out to be a liar saying it was a new cord (which it was not)and I had to be joking.. he claims he would send me another one out..well that has been since August this is now Oct..and no power cord still to this day the power cord has never arrived..I can't afford to spend even one more penny to send this thing back so its seats in my closet...I have since purchase a new computer which I should have done in the first place.

DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS SELLER OR YOU WILL BE SORRY YOU DID. Buy new...oh beat this...one more for the road...the "G" key is broken...and its an old computer in maybe ok shape at best..what a waste of time and money...buy new.

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This is the first laptop that I purchased from Amazon and am very disappointed. First of all, the battery does not hold the charge, and secondly the vendor said that there is nothing he can do as he claimed that it was tested and found that the battery held it's charge for more than five minutes. I can't return it because it did not come with any warranty and the vendor did not offer other solutions. I am not comfortable buying another laptop from Amazon or recommending others to do.

Honest reviews on DELL LATITUDE D600 1.6GHZ 1024MB 40GB CDRW/DVD WIFI XP PRO LAPTOP

There are only two issues I had at all with this product. The first is that it lists incorrect RAMI got 512mb not 1024mb, so it can be a bit slower than what I prefer. Also the battery with it needs replacement, but that is normal for a less than new machine. Other than those two points, so far its a pretty darn good machine and an AWESOME deal :) This is my first laptop and I will likely just put a bit more money into it to bring it up to par.

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Item functions well as a Dell should. WIFI has good range and speed. Has not frozen up yet. Accepts new MS windows updates with no glitches. All around a superb product for its age and specs. Arrived well without scratches or dents. Good sound system.

Discount Sony Vaio VPCEE23FX/T AMD Athlon II X2 P320 2.1GHz 4GB 320GB

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $699.99
Sale Price: $672.88
Today's Bonus: 4% Off

Though I have only had this computer for about 5 days, I am liking what I'm seeing. It's fast, has a great display, and is running all the additional software, that I've loaded, without a hitch. It even was willing to run my HP printer without downloading the specific drivers from HP. The keyboard is comfortable, and is not cramped as was the case with my netbook. The dedicated numeric keypad is also a definite plus. When hooked to an external monitor, I don't have to tell the computer to turn on the external display, it does it automatically. The trial software that comes with Windows 7 is a pain, but is easily removed. It isn't necessary to shell out a bunch of cash on Microsoft Office when Open Office is readily available as a free download. This past weekend when I had some free time I popped a movie into the DVD drive, and enjoyed a couple of hours of downtime. I hooked up some USB powered speakers to enhance the sound a bit, and was set. The picture quality while watching movies was great! I will update this review as I gain more experience with this laptop, though I doubt that I will have anything negative to add. It looks as though this computer is a gem. I let you know if I continue to think that way. Right now I'd say that it merits my recommendation to anyone looking for a very nice laptop. ***Update*** Having had my VAIO for a while now, I can still claim that it's a great computer. So far no hardware, nor OS problems with it at all. I got crazy last week and decided to double the memory. I went to Crucial.com and ordered 2 sticks of 4 gigs of memory. Mind you that the memory I put in is almost double the speed of the old. The difference was instantly obvious. Not only do applications load faster, the computer boots up in about 40 seconds! I subscribe to the belief that it is impossible to have too much memory, and this experiment seems to have bolstered my argument. In summation, this is a great computer. It does what I want, and does it well. I can, and will recommend the Sony VAIO(R) VPCEE23FX/T E Series 15.5" Notebook PC to anyone wanting a great little laptop!

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This is my first under $700 laptop ever and I have to say that this is an extraordinary product.

Awakes from stand-by in 4 seconds and from hibernation in about 12 seconds. My colleagues, family, and friends are impressed by its processing speed. Truly!

Despite its large 15.5" screen it isn't heavy in my briefcase. Maybe because of the lighter than usual power charger, which I also like because of its cable junction design (it won't break as with all my previous HPs)

If I wanted something different I probably asked for a larger hard drive, but, I worry that making any change may mess its apparently unique configuration.

Best Deals for Sony Vaio VPCEE23FX/T AMD Athlon II X2 P320 2.1GHz 4GB 320GB

After doing some light research, I bought this laptop as a quick fix to serve as my go-to AutoCAD tool for school. I already have a Mac so the stakes were high for this machine. Right out of the box the thing worked like a charm. It detected my wi-fi and printer in almost seconds so I was ready to go. Loading the AutoCAD software was easy as well, no hiccups, and I've been able to use it consistantly for 3 months without incident. Overall, I'm extremely pleased with this laptop and I have to say Windows 7 isn't half bad either. I have yet to spring for the full-blown MS Office 2010, but the Office Starter that comes with the machine has worked perfectly enough that I find I don't need the full version yet. I'm able to work in Excel and Word without a problem, inclusive of editing and creating new docs. I use Excel a LOT and have yet to be hindered with the Office Starter capabilities. It is a free tool, which means there are ads present, but they are shuffled to the right margin and never jump out into the document itself. Granted, you lose a fair chunk of working space, but it IS a free tool so consider what you are getting for the money. For my school needs, I'm just fine working around that for now.

A couple nits:

1) the constant Windows Updates. It seems like everyday, either Windows or VAIO wants to load something new on my machine. I've started becoming selective based on my needs, but if this sort of thing doesn't bother you then its a non-issue. It has died down since the first days of having the machine so it probably just needed to catch up with the current info once it started up for the first time.

2) the screen is HIGHLY reflective and that can get annoying if your light source isn't in the exact, right spot. I've not quite found that sweet spot, but it's definitely not behind or directly overhead. Off to the side and not directly pointed at the screen seems to work well.

Other reviews I read poo-pooed the power cord placement on the side of the laptop vs. the back, but this hasn't been a thorn in my side or anything so it's all personal preference.

For under $700, I am extremely happy with my purchase and definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a cheaper alternative that will still handle most tasks with ease.

PS I've streamed Netflix over my home wi-fi very successfully as well.

Honest reviews on Sony Vaio VPCEE23FX/T AMD Athlon II X2 P320 2.1GHz 4GB 320GB

Everything on this computer is slow or slower. Opening a window like My Computer can take about 30-45 seconds. Closing one even longer. If a window freezes while sufacing, go get a cup of coffee because that revolving circular thingy will be going for at least a minute. It's insane. This new operating system has none of the snap that Windows XP had. Everything kind of 'floats' open, like it's in no rush. Despite having 4GB of RAM and a 320GB Hard Drive and doing little more than surfing and some word processing, this computer is just plain garbage. I will say, after my HD fried, SONY did provide excellent customer service as it was still under the one year warranty. Stay away!!!

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Though I didn't purchase my PC through Amazon, I feel that I have an obligation to review this PC. I bought it last August and have to say between now and then I have had it running at least 2/3 of the time since. I fall asleep to movies in my MediaGo library. I use it to record local music. I use it to make music. I go to college online with it. I work this machine, there are always at least 4-5 programs running. It rarely crashes because of hardware issues. No problem running and Adobe CS5 program. This computer is truly a beast, I could keep listing what I have put this machine through all night. I have put this machine through hell, it comes everywhere with me. In the time that I have had it, I have only had 2 issues. The first I easily fixed myself because it was a software malfunction, I had to restore the system to factory settings which is a grueling process when you create and accumulate as much data as I do. Though my computer is still a fully functional machine after the few hours it took to get it to where it needed to be. The second issue is that sometimes when I put it down swiftly when it is closed, it shuts down. The strange thing about that is.... It doesn't recognize that it shut down incorrectly when I turn it back on. But this happens few and far between, like I said I've put this thing through the electronic equivalent of hell, and there is no handbasket involved. I have definitely received output of data that is far beyond the financial input for this laptop. I find SONY to be a very reliable company, any time I have had a problem or question they have been easy to deal with. I look forward to upgrading the Hard Drive and RAM in the next coming months. I enjoy its aesthetic, and the full sized keyboard. Its not heavy, it does run a bit hot. The power button is awkwardly placed, I accidentally put it to sleep sometimes when I pick it up open. (reminiscent of the poorly place power switch on the PSP, when intensely involved in a game it is easy to accidentally power off... I guess that's the price we pay for smaller and smaller electronics). All in all, if you are looking for a PC that is reasonably priced, will meet your entertainment (besides hard core gaming (though oblivion runs fine on it... prolly not skyrim though), and can handle multitasking too, SERIOUSLY consider this Machine.

(BIG)pros

Quality Screen

Upgradable Hard Drive, RAM, and Optical Drive

Full Size Keyboard

great for Everyday Entertainment use

and... It still Multi-tasks amazingly.

CONS

poorly placed power button (minor nuisance)

has needed maintenance (after 15 months, but it was easy to DIY)

lots of Bloatware... (easy to fix)

loud optical drive (minor nuisance)

Review of Gateway NE52203u 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silky Silver)

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $379.99
Sale Price: $329.99
Today's Bonus: 13% Off

This is my first Gateway, I must say I am impressed. I like the way the NE series is put together. The keyboard layout is fantastic. Specially the Function Keys(F1-F12). They are setup so when pressed alone, what is pictured on them is what action is taken. No more useless keys for beginners. It has a nice screen with good graphics, even looks great when using the HDMI output. It has WiFi and Bluetooth. Had only 2 downfalls since purchase. One downfall, though minor, is that there is no internal optical drive(ie: cd/dvd rom). If you install one on your own you void the warranty, so buy an external USB drive. The second downfall is that I had some minor issues shortly after setup(mouse pad issues, screen going blank, etc....), DON'T BE ALARMED. All I did was run a system refresh with the help of Gateway. Has been PERFECT ever since. So I don't believe what others are saying about this laptop. Other than that, the laptop is great for the price and is perfect for students, general everyday users or for those getting their first. Comes with enough hard drive space and memory for most people. I would recommend this to other, definitely. Just not to those who are deep into high end gaming or programs that need a lot of system resources.

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Really, you need to specify there is no optical drive included especially at this price. Very disappointing. Returned without even opening the box.

Best Deals for Gateway NE52203u 15.6-Inch Laptop (Silky Silver)

This machine is basically functional and it does what it is supposed to do. However, after going through 5-6 older $300 lap tops, I have to say this is the worst screen quality I have ever seen. The contrast is harsh, the sharpness is very low and the general skin tones are unrealistic. To be clear, the problems are with jpeg files and video, not graphics.

If you plan to watch anything of quality, just skip this series of Gateway. Regardless of how I adjust it, the same things I watched on my $300 D**l which just died are just trash on this machine. They really cut corners here. If this is the future of LED technology, I want none of it.

Added: I am beginning to wonder about this screen. I tried everything I could to adjust the screen and could not make it better. Then, for a different issue, I have had to do a few recovery cycles going back and forth and back and forth, ending up where I started and now the screen looks much better. Very odd.

Toshiba Satellite L505D-S5965 Athlon X2 QL-65 2.1GHz 3GB 250GB Review

Customer Ratings:

Five stars for bang for the buck.

Got this for my long-suffering Dell-owning girlfriend three months ago, after much searching for a basic laptop at a good price. We paid well under five bills for it new, and have had no problems whatsoever. Even the dreaded Vista is working fine, as there's plenty of RAM for it to hog.

First time with a Toshiba laptop and I must say I'm impressed. The body and keys are light plastic, but still feel solid. To sell this unit this cheap, some corners must be cut. Those are good ones to cut. The stuff under the hood is what matters, and that stuff is solid. The burner burns cds and dvds well and quickly. The computer gets a tad warm but not overly so; the fan blows very warm air out to the left, and is so efficient that you can warm your hands in the air in the winter! The screen is wider than most and I like that effect.

We got it mainly for the net and it does that very well indeed. As fast as my friend's 2,500 clams MacBookPro, in fact. Sure, his graphics are tighter and the machine is way more solid...but it cost six times more. If, like my gal, you mainly use your laptop for the net and making cds, looking at photos and the occasional movie, this is a very fine unit. I've been writing on this one for nine hours straight today, and have no eye fatigue or signs of impending carpal tunnel. Gotta like that.

One thing well worth mentioning is the amazingly intelligent idea of having an analog dial for the volume on the front of the unit. Duhhh!! Why have I never seen this on a laptop before? It makes so much sense. Plus there's a mute button up top near the power button, and ff/rew and play buttons. These are features we use a lot and it's wonderful to not have to open them on the screen every time. Very smart design.

We looked at every laptop out there and decided that this Satellite offered the most value.

So far, we think we made a very good choice.

Well done, Toshiba.

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It is a nice laptop with good memory. It has a variety of DVD viewers I use a few different ones depending on the type of movie. I have my iTunes on my laptop ... playback is good. The only thing I recommend is to have a laptop cooler pad and additional speakers because the computer speakers are good but not great. It is definitely a good buy if you are on a budget. If you looking for a light weight laptop ....it is kinda on the heavy side. It works for me though!

Best Deals for Toshiba Satellite L505D-S5965 Athlon X2 QL-65 2.1GHz 3GB 250GB

First thing to note: I did not purchase this computer on Amazon. I bought it through Best Buy. Second, I've had this computer for nearly three years at the time of this review. Originally, I purchased it around July of 2009. It came with Win Vista, but it qualified for the free upgrade to Windows 7, which I got through the mail a few months after that OS came out. So, my time with Vista was limited, and I can't say for certain how the computer performed then versus now, because it seems to me that the performance is similar.

I've done a lot of personal experimenting on this computer. When I upgraded to Win 7, I originally stayed with 32 bit for awhile, just to get a feel for the OS in a more stable environment. Eventually, I did a clean install of Win7 64 bit and ran into a few surprises. First, the drivers that Toshiba provides for the 64 environment didn't seem to work as well. Flash cards didn't work at all (the utility that uses your FN keys to do nifty things). The display driver was atrocious. I had screen lags, and a lot of my software didn't display properly. I even looked for an update from ATI directly, but because this is a device that is heavily controlled by Toshiba, I couldn't find a workable solution.

So, I went back to Win 7 32bit, and I've been using that ever since. My overall experience has been satisfactory, but there have been issues with this laptop. First, the battery life was terrible on both Vista and 7. On average, I was only getting about an hour and a half with mild usage. Second, several of my ports displayed bad behavior. In particular, I haven't had much luck with the built in SD card reader. It tends to lose the drives after awhile, causing corrupted files. Sadly, this is one feature that I haven't been able to use.

About a year into owning this notebook, I had to have the screen looked at. I took it to a friend who works on computers, and he told me that the connector for the display didn't have a locking mechanism on it, so it just kind of sat on the motherboard. He reconnected it for me, and I haven't had trouble since, but I'm still waiting for it to happen again.

I also had to replace the hard drive early on, because it apparently shipped with defective sectors. Probably physical damage. I was constantly losing files because of this, and so I wasn't productive. Once I replaced the hard drive (a very simple process), the problem was cured, and I haven't had those issues since.

I've also noticed a tendency for the USB ports to function in an erratic way. This problem has become worse in the past few months, and I beleive that the motherboard may be about to quit on me.

Despite these issues, the notebook has given me two and a half years of computing. I've done light gaming on it, ran virtual machines, surfed the web. All without a hiccup. My biggest complaint with this notebook, is the screen brightness. Even on its highest setting, the display doesn't seem very bright, which makes watching TV and movies a disappointing experience.

I've also come to dislike the volume knob on the front of the computer. I sometimes work in my car, and so the computer is jammed up against my stomach. As I move in the seat, the knob often gets hit, causing the volume to fluctuate. This isn't a big issue, but it can sometimes surprise me when I get home and fire up a video or song.

The speakers are blah. If you tweak the setting in Realtek manager, you can get a somewhat better experience. But don't expect miracles there. A decent set of headphones will solve the problem, as will external speakers.

I did eventually get a high capacity battery for this thing. 98,000 mWh versus something like 47,000. The irony is, I get about 2.5X the amount of battery life. So, I went from an hour and a half on average to about five hours, fifteen minutes.

Regarding the hardware issues. I purchased this notebook from a Best Buy store. Honestly, I believe it was something in the way they handled the thing when they brought it into their inventory. Maybe they were careless or something. With the exception of the screen going out, I can't really say that it's a design issue. It cools well enough, and it's been a pretty reliable computer for the most part.

I'll be retiring this beast in another few weeks as I have a replacement on the way. I should tell you that I purchased another Satellite through the Toshiba website. I hope that tells you how much I've liked this one. For less than $500, it was a good bargain at the time. Despite the problems I've had with it over the years, I've come to love it. It was my workhorse for a long time. I'm thinking of either selling it, or re-purposing it for a linux installation.

A sidenote: I have tried linux on this computer. Mainly Ubuntu. The notebook did well with it, although the fan seemed to run all the time. I noticed that the usb ports didn't seem to have as much of an issue, and even the SD card reader worked a lot better.

I would recommend this product to someone who's thinking of buying it as a refurbed model. It's not a bad computer for the money. A little dated now, but still a worthy road warrior.

Honest reviews on Toshiba Satellite L505D-S5965 Athlon X2 QL-65 2.1GHz 3GB 250GB

I bought this laptop in the late summer/early fall of 2008. This was a quick/cheap replacement as I boke the screen on my old HP. Got this bad boy for $375 with a wireless printer package deal at a local best buy mainly got it for college papers, movies, the usual college stuff... I TAKE iT EVERYWHERE with me and has not failed me yet. Its now 5/16/11 and about time for a new battery as it only holds about 30 minutes of charge but its a cheap replacement and well worth it!! I'd buy another one with out hesitation.... For under $400 after tax this laptop has saved me thousands and still runs fast and is reliable. Finally going to upgrade to 6GB memory as I now have 3. it runs quick with 3 can't wait for 6!!!!

2/21/12 UPDATE: My PC is still running like a champ! :)

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The battery life is short, you will need external speakers or head phones. But the biggest problem I had was the motherboard was fried, dead as a door nail three days after the manufacturers warranty ran out. I had to send it in for repairs twice in the year I had it because of loose connections to the screen. So if you are looking for a cheap disposable laptop this one is for you.

Discount Apple Mac Mini MD388LL/A 2.60-3.60GHz i7-3720QM 8GB RAM 500GB SSD

Customer Ratings:

The upgrades are worth the money, very fast computer, it starts up in less than 15', its amazing. Still I have the option to upgrade memory to 16gb, but as it is, is outstanding for me. I work mainly with audio recording and its simply amazing.

Nothing else to add.

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Best Lenovo ThinkPad X201 3249EPU 12.1" Notebook Computer, Core i5 Deals

Customer Ratings:

THIS, is the computer equivalent of the child of the original Hummer and the Prius. Tough[ish], rough on the edges, powerful, but with the stamina of a horse. If this sounds like a commercial, that's because it practically is: I got this baby a few months ago and I STILL love it like it was my first day.

I ended up giving my model a few upgrades: a solid state drive and 8 gigs of ram. Lenovo also lets you add in extra features such as bluetooth, GPS and mobile broadband (essentially, a SIM card slot), and a smart card reader -so if you're looking to make the ultimate business machine -you've picked the right vendor.

With my current specs, I can easily run multiple virtual machines at the same time (and if you use VMWare Workstation 7, run 'em in a seamless Unity mode!) and not notice any performance degradation. Oh yeah, it's FAST too. Blazing fast.

Cold boots take seconds (I'd be betting somewhere in the 10 second range), and sleep/unsleep is pretty instantaneous. If you go for the 9-cell battery (which you should) -this thing can run on its own juice for HOURS. And by hours, I mean at full brightness, wifi, music, browsing, writing software, etc... for 4+ hours. Maybe longer -I never tried to run it all the way down.

The battery can hot-swap as long as you are plugged in (duh), and there are spill drains on the bottom of the keyboard for water, coffee, and beer. I don't personally recommend doing any of those three (or eating over it) -but apparently the engineers at Lenovo (and previously, IBM) thought about all these concerns and built it into their laptops. There are stories out there of a beer-soaked X201 being brought back to life, though I wouldn't dare try it myself.

As for the Lenovo/IBM brand, it has a reputation for a reason: reliability and longevity. When you make an investment like this, you don't want it to go down the drain in a couple years. My friend is still using a ThinkPad from 2005, and he still swears by it. While I'm not nearly as attached to my laptops, it's good to know that I can smash the keyboard of my X201 for many years to come without worrying about things breaking or parts coming loose.

The only, and absolutely only, complaints I have are that the 'joystick' or TrackPoint tends to get a little carried away sometimes and move the mouse on its own for a little bit after you use it for a while. Apparently this is common and doesn't get worse as the laptop ages. It's a pretty mild inconvenience that is easily overcome, but it's the only thing I can think of mentioning. That said, there are also some issues with the TrackPoint scroll mechanism and some applications (e.g., Office 2010, etc..) -these can be overcome fairly well by editing a few text files, though it's certainly a process that could be made more easy. Ultimately, if you're not too picky, you can always go over to the right hand side and drag the scroller or press the arrow keys -however the scroll mechanism for the TrackPoint does make the TrackPoint almost as efficient as using a mouse. I should also mention that cleaning the TrackPoint is easy and fast.

If you don't like the TrackPoint, they offer models with a touchpad as well, or a touchpad exclusively.

I'm not gonna be the best reviewer for this product since I don't have a bunch of crunched, digested numbers for you. But don't take my word for it -do some research, read some of the more involved reviews (I think there was a 5 8 page one somewhere that convinced me) -and read up on what others have to say about this particular model.

Bottom line: FAST, powerful, lightweight (even with a 9-cell, it's pretty light!), and reliable. Well worth the $$$.

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Discount Dell Latitude E6430 - 14" - Core i7 3520M - Windows 7 Professional

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,299.99
Sale Price: $949.99
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I spent some time with this machine when I set it up for a customer we bought it for. The machine I am reviewing is the "s" model, which was custom configured for the customer.

This is the newest variant of the Latitude business-class notebook PC's. The e6430 is designed to have the same footprint as a 13" notebook, but sports a larger 14" display. It's still really compact, although not as thin or light as a competitor's notebook, but that's ok because this isn't designed to be an ultra-lightweight machine. It's still about 4 lbs, which is a couple lbs. lighter than the E6500 or D5500 series Lats. It's pretty thin, not as thin as my MacBook Pro though.

It's made mostly out of plastic, which isn't a bad thing because plastic is lightweight and durable, and if you drop it, it won't dent or deform like an aluminum or aluminum-clad machine. The top of the display cover and some trim pieces are clad in brushed aluminum though, and that makes it look really nice and adds some scratch resistance. You still get the same features as the bigger Lats like the weird pointer button and finger buttons above the trackpad, which is also programmable for multitouch input (pinch to zoom, rotate, etc.). It's a little small, but that's not a problem as I found it really easy to use. The trackpad mouse buttons and palm rests are coated in soft touch rubber, which feels really nice. The keyboard is backlit and has 3 brightness settings. It turns off when you aren't using it though,. The keyboard is sealed underneath to protect the components inside if you splash or spill something on it. The permimeter of the laptop is also reinforced with plastic and the display lid is sealed to the chassis with a rubber seal. The screen lid locks into place with a sturdy latch system. Overall, this machine is very well-built and the build quality is top-notch. It doesn't feel cheap or flimsy, or fragile like some other laptops. I wouldn't feel so bad if I dropped this one as it would probably just scuff the plastic trim whereas with a MacBook or other "unibody" machine, you'd get a big ugly dent.

The OS is Windows 7 Pro 32-bit, which we chose because the RAM is only 4 GB. It will take up to 8 GB, and with only 4 this is still a smoking fast machine.

The 14" display is 1366x768 LED backlit LCD display with the anti glare coating, which for a machine in this price range is just mediocre. There are 2 USB SS 3.0 ports, a VGA, eSATA, mini HDMI, and ethernet ports.It includes a 8x super multi writer drive (DVD R+RW. CD-R R/W) that reads, writes, and re-writes CD's and single or dual layer DVD's. The internal hardware is what makes this machine so great. Inside is Intel's 4000 graphics chip, and one of the most powerful mobile CPU's on the market. The E6430s is configured with Intel's 3rd gen Core i7 3520m quad core CPU 2.9 GHz 4 MB cache, 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 RAM, Dell's 1520 802.11 g/n single band mini WiFi card, and the optional Dell Mobility 256 GB SATA 6 gb/s solid state drive (SSD) which was a $600 option and brought the price to this machine up to a hair under $2,100. I also tested this in the less-powerful i5 2.8 GHz CPU and standard hard drive and it's still extremely fast. It performs like a $2,000 laptop should.

The hardware makes this a smoking fast machine. From POST to Windows desktop is a hair under 8 seconds. Apps and large resource-hogging programs like iTunes and Photoshop didn't slow it down at all. Installing things like Windows service packs, updates Office with service packs was very fast. I'm an IT tech, and can honestly say this is the fastest machine I have ever worked on, and I've had my hands on some pretty impressive computers. It will do everything you ask it to and a lot more. It's not an ultra high end entertainment or gaming laptop like the XPS line or Alienware. It doesn't have a super high res screen, super thin chassis, or made of exotic materials. This is designed for a business user as a mobile workstation, and perfect for anyone who needs a fast, portable, rugged, no-nonsense machine with good battery life. I ran this computer without being plugged for over 2 hours and the battery gauge barely moved. I have no doubts this would last for 6 hours on a charge. Plus, it's easy to use. The keyboard isn't cramped and the palm rests are sufficiently large. Dell also doesn't ship their computers with loads of bloatware or unnecessary trial programs that expire, or are just annoying. You can tell that Dell designed this to be a mobile workstation. It also works with the port-replicator dock thanks to the connector port on the bottom, so you can mount extra USB devices, 2 monitors, or other devices when you want to use it like a desktop.

The 14" screen makes viewing documents easy, and is a lot nicer to work on than an ultra book or netbook. However, for a machine costing $2,100, I wished it was thinner, lighter, and had a better display. This is supposed to run with the MacBook Pro 13 and even 15, and I think it does a great job at it, but I think Dell could have done better. The i5 model of this is just as fast and it's about $300 cheaper (minus the SSD).

Pros:

Latest Intel i7 mobile CPU

Fast RAM

SSD

Lightweight

Fantastic build quality

Nice display

Good battery life

Dell quality

2 USB 3.0 ports, HDMI and eSATA

Able to connect to Dell's port replicator dock

Cons:

Display is just mediocre

Could be thinner and lighter

A little on the expensive side

I have no reservations recommending the Latitude 6430s. It's a no-frills, solid, well-built, and high performance business computer, but will be equally at home in your home as much as the office! Check out the new Latitude E6430 line before you shop elsewhere. They might be more expensive, but you do get what you pay for.

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I have been a loyal Dell customer for over 15 years. The E6430 is about to change that. This laptop is the product of a cost cutting exercise. The screen is the main problem. At 1600x900 it's smaller than that of the E6410. The laptop lid size, however, remains the same. There's now a ridiculous strip of wasted space above the screen, the only purpose of which is to make it hard to open when used in an airplane. The screen contrast is abysmal and has a unpleasant "checked" quality to it. The E6410 has an excellent, sharp screen.

I will be returning mine.

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I made my purchases directly through Dell.

I have been a loyal Dell customer since 1999.

Prior to the Latitude E Series Lap Top Dell really had a reputation for building a machine that could be a dependable work-horse.

I have purchased several E Series Latitude note books and I have to tell you. THESE MACHINES ARE POORLY MADE and WILL MALFUNCTION all the time.

I have spent 100's of hours on the phone with tech support with the E series note books. I have had technicians perform onsite service and I have had system replacement. None of this is convenient. It has cost me thousands in lost productivity.

I can't say it enough DO NOT BUY A DELL NOTE BOOK!! You will regret it.

A partial list of Issues that I have had -

1. Mother Board Replaced due to Wireless Malfunction;

2. Mother Board Replaced due to Overheating;

3. Mother Board Replaced due to Finger Print Reader Not Working;

4. Complete System Replacement;

5. Returning a machine to their repair depot only to get it sent back to me with a completely malfunctioning hard drive they made no attempt to notify me that the PC was not fixed; and

6. Complete Hard Drive Replacement.

PS. This is only one of several E Series note books that I use on a regular basis. They all have similar issues. Some of the issues are present right out of the box. Dell makes no effort to ensure that the system that you buy is configured the way you ordered it. Here is the kicker if you are willing to spend a day on the phone with them, they will walk you through the configuration that you bought and paid for when you purchased the machine. In other words, you get to work for Dell but don't get paid.

HP ENVY 17-2280NR Notebook PC - Gray Reviews

Customer Ratings:

Let me lead off by saying I'm a devoted fan of HP's laptops and desktops. I use equipment from just about every manufacturer and always seem to come back to HP (speaking solely of Windows OS machines, my choice for Linux and Apple of course would be different). So I was really excited to be able to get this Envy 17 at a really good price.

For the dollar, it's loaded with an impressive array of hardware (RAID Array 0 HDs, slot BluRay, true HD display), the extra battery was a bonus, and the ability to upgrade RAM from 6GB to 16GB was sweet.

Turned on and was wow'd (in a good way) by the 1900x1080 display. Played a little with it and was then wow'd (in a bad way) by the laptop locking up. No problem I thought, just the Envy finishing initial OS installation reboot and drive on.

But no, the system would lock up continually (and usually in the middle of some disc/RAM intensive operation) and completely. A bit frustrating, but such a sweet laptop. Maybe a little system maintenance would fix the problem. So on to some Level 1 tech fixes reseat/swap RAM, reinstall system, clean out bloatware, check BIOS settings, etc. In the end, nothing I did could rid the system of the dreaded lock-up. Could be the RAID setup, could be a million things. But I wasn't interested in paying for a laptop that was going to spend more time in the repair shop or in the post than in my hands. So I did a system restore back to the original OEM setup, packed up the box, and submitted for a return back to Amazon.

Three final thoughts. First, look at reviews of other Envy models (especially the Envy 17-2290NR). You'll note many reviews where owners are having similar problems and returned their laptops to Amazon. So Amazon, if you're reading this, you might want to talk to HP about this. This isn't good for either one of you.

Second, kudos to Amazon for their return policy. I have bought/buy almost exclusively from Amazon (to include computer hardware) and rarely have a problem (this is the first computer I've received that had a DOA issue). I really appreciate Amazon's customer service and easy return policy. As a result, I plan to stick with Amazon for 99.9% of my shopping needs.

Finally, while this Envy 17 experience was a disappointment, I plan to stick with HP. I'm no "fan boy." For example, I thought HP's giving up on the Touchpad and WebOS was stupid, bordering on imbecilic. But occasional stupid things aside, I think that when one takes an objective look at what HP offers and their prices, HP remains an excellent value.

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Screen is very nice. Slot loading Blu-ray, back lit keyboard and sound quality are excellent. The graphics adapter crushes most things thrown at it. Coupled with the processor included and there is little this thing cannot do. The power brick is giant but that is to be expected. Little bloatware too. Very satisfied thus far.

UPDATE: Finallly got around to playing some 3D games on Steam. Guess what? The machine will shut down after about 2 minutes every time! The fans are insufficient to cool the processor and it overheats each time. I've tried elevating the machine and removing any speck of dust from the fan assembly to no avail. Do not expect to game on this machine. Thanks Amazon!!

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The keyboard have the function keys changed. It's necessary combine to get the function (inverted). It's like anoyng 'breaking standard'.

However, the most awful is the touchpad. It moves the mouse pointer to ramdom positions on the screen. This makes you click on the wrong area. Even setting up the touchpad for the better settings, this seems to be a 'normal' behavior. Beyond that, the touch sensibility is not good, even tunning the settings. Such CPU, RAM and HD could be included in a better computer. Another fault is the few USB ports.

Honest reviews on HP ENVY 17-2280NR Notebook PC - Gray

I purchasd this from Amazon because the benefit in price was such that I could deck it out with third party poducts and still save a bundle over purching the configration I really wanted directly from HP. I have other laptops and a desktop, so I was in no hurry to get this unit fixed. The HP warranty is out, but I have a 3 year third prty extension in case the unti ges back and ca fix the software myself. This review is witten one year after the purchase.

There were some surprises.

1. The unit has two drives in a RAID 0 configuration. RAID 0 puts data striped across the 2 drives so when you read large files you can be reading different pieces of the file simutaneusly from both drives. But, RAID 0 has your data on both drives and if you ever have a failure, you loose ALL your data even though you have 2 drives. RAID 0 is also more difficult to backup. Windows backup of RAID 0 identifies the backup size as that the partition which is spread over the 2 physical hard drives, in this case 1 Terabyte. Thus a restore requires that a 1 terabyte partion be available and that the data is fully backed up. Third party software must be procured e.g., Easus partion Manager, (takes a geek to operate, so no typical user should purchase this laptop unless they have a geek friend.

You an use Easus (or the like) to shrink the 1 TB partiton to more managable size. Windows disk management will notallow sufficient shrinkage.

2. The 2 drives are controlled by special Intel hardware and software (Intel Rapid Storage) part of which is hiden in the BIOS and not seen by the OS. In my opinion this gains a bit of performance at the cost of simplicity and data securty. It is not easy to remove this feature and is undocumented feature as provided by HP, but there s some help in forums. I have spent aproximately 12 hours reconfguring my drives including several hours on the phnone with HP and watching the system doing backups and restores. Afterthis, I am currently exactly where I started, but I now understand the details of the processes involved. I intend to removeIntel Rapid Storage and install RAID 1 (mirroring) on the 2 drives with a system volume (C drive) on each physical drive and a D vlume on the second drive mirrored on the first physical drive. The performance should be equal or better than RAID 0 with benefits oneasy backup and recovery. I will likely use windows to do th raid.

3. Undocumented lack of features. I was told by HP that this laptop WILL NOT support solid state drives because the entire run of this production was made eliminating features to save money. Presumably there are other missing features.

4. No docmentation specific to this unit. Using the HP Owner software (which is actually quite good) for the HP ENVY 17-2280NR Notebook takes you to the documentation for the standard model. HP support could not find any documentation for this one off model.

On the good side, this unit has plenty of power and HP had revolutionized their support where they are actually trying to reflect the best interests of the customer. The screen is beautiful and the hardware is solid. It does not overheat. During the learning process to undo RAID 0, I was able to talk to some of their HP's best support people. Unfortunatley, it does not help when the engineers are directed by HP Product management to release a product without adequate documentation. Support cannot adequately support undocumented features for which they have not received training.

Update 2012 12 19

I have just backedup my data and via Easus Partition Manager shrunk my main partition (C drive) to 70GB and then backed up to external drive with Windows backup (system image). 30 minutes of work, several hours cmputer run time. ready to remove rRAID and Intel Rapid Storage Technlogy management of drives and then restore from external hard drive via bootable recovery disk. I can then mirror and configure cache n second drive to boost performance and provide data security.

Update 2012 12 21

I am unable to restore the system image I madeusing windows after shrinking the C drive so that the restore would fit on one drive. I found out that the internals of the sytem image folder do not contain ".vhd" files for the actual system image but instead contain backup sets. Restoe aparently can't work with themand gives me a error saying it can't restore to the target. My guess is that this has something to do with the Intel Rapid Storage manage and my not having enabled ACHD driver before doing the system image and breaking the RAID 0 array with the firmware which destroyed the data. But bottom line is that I no longer care and am re-installing and accepting the data loss. I have now re-installed via HP Recovery disks. Now comes the long task of reconfiguring windows so it is usable, removing the bloatware, and re-installing all the many third party products.

Bottom line is do not put Intel pseudo raid 1 on a 2 drive laptop unless you are into S&M Pain or have a real good backup & restore method.

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP ENVY 17-2280NR Notebook PC - Gray

I didn't buy the notebook from Amazon but I am posting this because I am a very happy Amazon users and buyers need to be aware that when you are buying an HP ENVY you are at the mercy of your luck. I am writing this while my hubby is driving all the way back to FRY'S ELECTRONICS to return the worthlessMAC PRO look alike.

We just bought it couple of hours ago and when I registered the screen started blinking and I couldn't do any trouble shooting after a few restartswe gave up on the damn thing.

Waste of a star...

Reviews of HP - Pavilion G6-2278DX Laptop / AMD Quad-Core A8-4500M Processor

Customer Ratings:

So far so good. Love the space, love the numeric keypad, love how the keys feel when I press on them, the cam is good, mic is good. I'm not up to date with Windows 8 so navigating around has been kind of frustrating but I love the computer. Bought it for school so I think it could have came with a Microsoft package but ooh well. I still love it!

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worked great with very light use until 2 weeks after the warranty expired. immediately after, the fan failed and the atheros wireless adapter disappeared from the device manager. after researching the issue, found out that this is a fairly common problem and that the cheap atheros card is dead. unfortunately, due to limited choices for compatible wireless cards, I had to order another of the same.

it works, but I've had to replace the fan ($24) and the wireless card ($15).

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I saved over $100 at the time of price. Great speed for the price. Huge screen plus it has the numeric keypad on the side like a traditional computer. Can replace your home PC

Honest reviews on HP - Pavilion G6-2278DX Laptop / AMD Quad-Core A8-4500M Processor

I've had HP laptops in the past and have been far from impressed but that reflects on the company itself. I purchased this laptop as I loved the new design and I heard HP is under new leadership and they were focusing on quality. Let me tell you this laptop does not disappoint! It is really fast and the AMD Quad Core does it justice. Huge HDD and operates super fast considering it doesn't have an SSD. Beautiful on the inside and out. Also Windows 8 is pretty nifty OS. Just bought a second one for my girlfriend and she loves it too! =)

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I purchased this laptop because it was inexpensive and had some really great features, features I needed on the go. It has been a month or so and it has exceeded my expectations, and it only cost me $320! Refurbished?! Looked like new!

Pros:

Quad-core CPU at 1.9GHz (clockable to 2.8GHz!)

AMD Radeon HD 7640G (512MB Graphics memory at 686MHz with 256 shader cores!)

Decent sized keyboard and screen (15.6" LED at 1360x768)

Not too big or too heavy, sturdy

Standby battery life is great, while in use the battery life is average

Cons:

Arrow keys are TINY

Screen glare, the glossy plastic is garbage

If you have on old system and just want a quick upgrade to a decent laptop, get this! If you want to get a desktop, don't get this. If you want a top-notch gaming laptop, don't get this. If you just want to be able to play your favorite games on medium settings (LFD2, CS:S, Minecraft, COD:MW2, GTA:IV) , do some internet browsing and music playing, and want to play movies in 1080p: GET THIS!

HP Pavilion DV4-1430US 14.1-Inch Entertainment Laptop Review

Customer Ratings:

Before buying this laptop I had bought one from Gateway and it gave me so many problems that I couldn't stand it. I returned it to the store and my only other option for the same price was this laptop. I absolutely love it! Its 100x sturdier than the Gateway and much better looking with its lightup "HP" symbol and cool design. Also, the performance is just as good.

PROS

-durability

-style

-speed

-price

-hardware

-audio quality(high definition)

-ports (HDMI, eSATA, VGA, USB)

-comes with a remote

-battery life (over 2 hours of heavy use)

CONS

-runs hot

-seems to be a little buggy (video card driver crashes every once in a while but recovers itself after a few seconds. Reinstalling driver didn't fix the problem)

-there is no program that comes with the computer or from HP that allows the webcam settings to be changed (resolution, quality, etc)

Overall I LOVE this laptop though and I'm glad that I bought it regardless of its flaws. The value is amazing!

-

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It seems like I have get a new laptop every two years, I've gone with Acer, Fujitsu ultraportable (and ultra expensive), Compaq, Toshiba, and now HP. Honestly, the HP wasn't my first choice, I wanted smaller and lighter, namely the dell latitude e4300 which is about 2 pounds lighter, 13" and $900 more. The dv3 wasn't light enough for me to justify the extra hundred and fifty dollars I would have had to spend for a 13" HP. When the dell failed to appear at my price range I knew I needed to make a new choice. Having previously had a nearly indestructible Compaq, I settled for this model when I was able to get it for $50 less than the going rate (about 150 off of the initial manufacturer's recommended price)about 5 months ago; so far I haven't been disappointed. Battery life is about 3:45, about what I expected based on reviews and the always inflated advertised life. There's always a 12 cell battery available if I wanted to upgrade. On the other hand I will use it mostly plugged in since I don't see this as a "light" or "portable" laptop, IMO to qualify for that category you can't top 3.5 lbs.

First the good stuff:

Mine doesn't run hot at all (apparently it was a problem with some dv4 models then fixed by HP) This is HUGE as I exclusively use my laptop in my lap; my compaq ran hot, the acer was unbearable, the fujitsu was so so.

I have recently taken to using a lap desk with it, and with a hard surface underneath I rarely hear the fan, even after hours of use.

The biggest plus though, it has more than enough power to do anything I want it to (I am currently running 29 tabs in Firefox, something that alone would have killed my last computer, MS Word, a remote desktop connection). The Adobe CS4 tests seemed solid for this class of laptop which went a long way in selling me on this model. In the end I switched from CS4 to Lightroom so I don't need as much processor power, but it is nice to know that it is more than enough machine to handle my hobby usage.

I don't expect instant boot but it is fast enough for me to turn on and pull up a document without becoming a painful wait for my client on the other end of the phone.

I like the fact that the DVD is removable and an insert is provided for travel/etc to get the weight lower. My Fujitsu had this and it made a huge difference when I used the insert (I took that laptop with me everywhere, every day, so it had to be super light) I have yet to use this feature on the HP but I have yet to travel with it either.

I am not a big video on PC person, but the few netflix streamed movies I've watched have been sharp and pretty with decent sound. The screen and keyboard are both comfortably sized without being huge. I love the HDMI option and the fact that the usb ports are on both the left and the right.

Finally the cons:

I seem to have problems with the touchpad when working in remote desktop, if a review of the dv4-1433 is correct, the pad is sensing the heat from my hands and the cursor ends up jumping around. Oddly I don't have this issue as frequently when not working remotely. The ability to turn the touchpad off adequately compensates for and solves this issue when necessary.

The shiny surface of the brown version of this machine (slightly different model number) can be a major fingerprint magnet. I happened to like the white better and luckily it hides fingerprints somewhat (not as much as a matte surface machine, but way better than the brown one)

Best Deals for HP Pavilion DV4-1430US 14.1-Inch Entertainment Laptop

I bought this laptop right before my first semester (Fall 2009)of college for school stuff. And eventually I wanted it to replace my main computer (running Linux I was tired of the hassle). Its had its problems: the screen went out within the first year and the charger stopped charging are the big ones I can think of. But HP has a warranty for the 1st year to the screen was fixed quickly and freely! As for the charger, that was my fault this laptop has been dropped sooo many times, and a few on the charging plug while it was charging. But this problem was also fixed quickly and freely due the the extended warranty I bought. So its been almost 3 years, I'm still running vista because I didn't want to upgrade. As far as wear and tear the left/right buttons are starting to lose their metallic finish, but after 3 years of heavy daily use I think that's excusable.

Honest reviews on HP Pavilion DV4-1430US 14.1-Inch Entertainment Laptop

My sister needed a basic laptop to run Powerpoint and use web based apps like gmail, google docs, etc. And take it on the road while making presentations to customers. A netbook was tempting but she needed the DVD unit so we chose this one instead. It is slow, but that was fixed by turning off many unnecessary Windows Vista services that just consume too much CPU power. After tweaking Vista (it took about 2 hours, you can google the term "Tweak Windows Vista" and get to a great site with the proper info) we manage to run it very fast. We also did a clean install of Windows XP and it works even better. At that point we got what we wanted: a Netbook with god battery life and a DVD unit all for less that $499 after rebates. For $499 a good value. For $700 it is a bit overpriced as at that price point the basic Macbook at $999 is a better option hardware wise.

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I had high hopes for this computer, but it has given me nothing but trouble. I've had it for a year and a half now. During the first year, the computer went through a phase where it would just shut down for no reason. The sound card would also turn off intermittently, as would the sound control. The battery died the day the warranty expired. I'd been having trouble with the CD player for a while, but it would play some CD/DVD if I got lucky. I didn't use it that often. Now the CD drive is not working at all, and none of the fixes suggested in the support pages work.

The cover also gets very easily scratched.

Best VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop Deals

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $1,149.99
Sale Price: $999.86
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A beautiful laptop with a lot of issues. The laptop looks great and the screen is very clear. One of the only 1080p ultrabooks with a TPM chip so it works well from a corporate security standpoint. Very quick startup time and overall seems quick and responsive both when in use as well as startup/shutdown. Windows 8 is incredibly fast and 7 is not that far behind. One other plus is the support. So far I've gotten two quick responses through their live chat. Both responses weren't helpful, but it is nice to get someone quickly that can at least confirm your issue.

Some of problems I have with the laptop so far:

Battery life not as good as advertised. Mild use is closer to the 3.5-4 hour range.

Abbreviated keyboard. I'm not sure why with all the room on both sides of the keyboard they decided to leave off the PgUp, PgDn, Home and End keys. I use Alt+Home all day long in browsers and the other keys for word processing and general navigation.

Trackpad. Like most other people are saying, the trackpad is a nightmare. The cursor constantly jumps around or locks on to a part of the screen you are not trying to select. Updated the driver, turned off the tap to select and it's still frustrating. I also had the cursor become completely unresponsive a few times already to the point I had to logout and back in to get it to work again.

For some odd reason they partitioned out the hard drive in a way that makes it difficult to carve out space for another OS. Multiple recovery partitions and a dedicated partition for the hibernation file prohibit adding any additional partitions. You can work around it by disabling hibernation and deleting the file and then reenabling it later on but tech support had no idea what I was talking about and couldn't give me a reason they needed multiple partitions for recovery.

Also, there are zero accessories for this device. That may seem like an after thought, but they literally do not sell A/C adapters yet. I checked with support to see about purchasing an additional adapter so I can have one for work and one for home but they do not sell them yet and do not have a timeframe for when they will. I asked what I would do if I lost mine and the answer was literally, "we will see what we can do."

Based on all these faults and the relatively high price, I would not recommend this to anyone.

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I picked this up to use for personal and business travel because I wanted larger screen real estate than my iPad can offer but less weight than a traditional laptop. It's incredibly lightweight and the screen display/resolution is very, very good. On paper, the specs are great: 256Gb SSD, 4Gb RAM, and GB wireless NIC.

Here's where the device falls short: As noted by other reviewers, the touchpad, even under Win7 is pretty poor. I deducted one star for this reason. Downloading the latest drivers from Vizio's website helps a tad but it's just not as responsive as it should be. In fact, my 3 year-old Sony Vaio's touchpad is so much better such that you wonder why Vizio couldn't have pulled off a better design. The other drawback is a lack of a wired ethernet port but I didn't deduct any stars from the review since I knew this omission before buying.

The reason I deducted an additional star is that this device simply won't function under Ubuntu 12.04. The CT15 has an Atheros AR9462 Wireless NIC so Ubuntu (and most linux installs) will try to use the Ath9k drivers. Unfortunately, this chipset is not yet supported so I ended up with slow and often no network connectivity. Tweaking modprobe.d and loading the linux-backports-wireless modules wouldn't fix it. Moreover, the touchpad is just plain wonky under 12.04. Using dconfig-editor and/or Synaptics didn't help either. And you can imagine trying to troubleshoot these problems via a wireless internet connection of 1Mbps. I finally had to dig up an old USB-to-Ethernet peripheral to stay sane.

But the reason I deducted the last star was that after 10 days of daily use (despite the problems described above), the touchpad simply died. At first, I thought it was an Ubuntu issue but it also failed using Win7. (Fortunately, I had setup a dual-boot configuration which is not what I would've normally done I usually blow Windows off the system altogether.)

So while this laptop will probably work fine in Ubuntu six months from now, you'll probably want to wait until purchasing if that's what you want. If Win7 is your OS of choice, note that the touchpad is still just merely adequate and I wouldn't recommend it for long work sessions. I may take a look at the next gen of this unit because the display really is nice but until the touchpad is improved on the next gen, I suggest you wait.

Best Deals for VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop

First I like to say you can probably go to the Microsoft store and buy this. I bought this last weekend and there was a promo going on 20% off anything over a $1,000. So my laptop after tax was only a grand. Bought the two year insurance to go with it and after tax i paid 1250. Not to shabby.

I thought long and hard before I bought this laptop. I wanted all the reason to buy a Mac and to hate the vizio. I was comparing the Macbook Pro 13& 15inc & Air 13 inc, Samsung Series 9, Sony Z series. For the best bang for your buck. I choose the Vizio. Higher resolution then all 3, 1080p HD. Faster processor 1.9 i7. Yes many can argue the retina is better and higher. But be reminded your paying $2,200. There is a full HDMI on the ultra book. I know many normal laptops have the hdmi but for an ultra book Vizio its one of the few. But I believe it will become standard soon and other companies will follow.

Pros-

1. Fast!!! Boots up super quick

2. Screen is super nice, 1080p. Very nice viewing angles. I came from a 13 Inch Macbook and now I have a 15 and I cant go back.

3. Keyboard is wide, keys are shallow. (I can adapt to that)

4. The speakers are fair. Their pretty loud

5. When you adjust the brightness, it's bright!

6. 256 SSD for 1k. I'm not sure where you can find another laptop in that range. At least not yet.

Cons-

1. TRACK PAD!!! I came from a macbook, and even the macbook feels better. Trying to adjust. If I plug a mouse I know it will work fine, but I wish the track pad would be better.

2. No keyboard lights (I can live with, would have been nice)

3. No SD card slot (But I honestly don't remember the last time I used one, the adapter is only 10 bucks on amazon)

Conclusion:

Great machine for the price. The main reason I purchase the Vizio is because for Macbook Pro 15 Inch i would have had to pay 1800. Macbook Air to upgrade to the same specs would have been 1600. Samsung Series 9 with 256 would have cost 1700 (700 difference) And I heard their software takes up like 40 GB off the bat. Sony was like 1700 too. For me it came down to price and not brand. Many may argue you get what you pay. But right now I'm getting a lot for my buck. So I'm paying like 700 bucks less then most competitors. Yes I'm taking a risk with a new line. But that's why I have insurance. My biggest con will be the track pad. Coming from mac I almost cant stand it!!! I'm still adjusting. But this Vizio is a beast!

Enjoy

Honest reviews on VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A2 15.6-Inch Laptop

The 15.6 inch Vizio Thin & Light is simply flawless. It is the best designed PC I have ever seen. I love the fact that the screen is 1080p and is matte. The surface is finger print proof and the body feels really durable. The only minor complaint is that the track pad isn't as amazing as the MacBook track pad. But in comparison to other PCs, this laptop probably has one of the better track pads. The keyboard may look a bit awkward, but after trying it and seeing in person, I am simply amazed. Typing is so easy and smooth. However, it might be a little loud compared to other laptops. The bottom has a soft rubber touch, making it easier to grip. The camera is probably one of the best cameras I've ever seen on a laptop. It shoots in 720p. The audio system is crisp and loud. I'd say that it is even better than the Beats Audio in my HP laptop. It does not offer a SD slot, but that should not deter people from buying this laptop. It is simply sleek, fast, and beautiful. Good job Vizio.

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After purchasing the 15inch Vizio thin & light notebook at the Microsoft Store a few weeks back, and here are my thoughts:

First, the specs of my machine are the following:

15.6" 1080p IPS matte screen

Intel Core i7 (3rd generation "Ivy-Bridge" processor)

4GB RAM

256GB Solid-state hard drive

2x USB 3.0 ports

1x HDMI port

Price: $1199 + tax + $200 Microsoft Store gift card

First of all, I have to say that this machine is a great value for what you are paying. Don't be fooled by the Amazon pricing, I purchased this system for $1199 at the Microsoft Store, and it is listed at $1399 on Amazon (it's even $1249 on the Microsoft Store site, but I got a small discount, but I'm not sure why). Also, if you are a current college student, you can also get a free Xbox 360 4GB console when you purchase this laptop from the Microsoft Store (although I think a few other retailers such as NewEgg and Best Buy also have that promotion). I already have an Xbox, so I just chose to get a gift card instead. This should easily be enough to get a copy of Microsoft Office, a nice carrying case, and any other accessories you may need for free.

In addition, if you were to compare to compare this to a similarly spec'd MacBook Air, you're looking at about $1499. Now, granted, the Air is only a 13" while this is a 15", but all other specs will be similar, and even then you're not getting a 1080p screen on the Air. I'm not comparing this with the MacBook Pros since they all use the full voltage Ivy-Bridge processors, which means they are not really in the ultrabook category. Either way, there are a few caveats here and there, so it's hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison between this and any MacBook, but it's still worth considering.

Performance wise, I can say that I am very satisfied with the capabilities of the machine. I installed a copy of PCMark Vantage and got a score of about 12,300. This is comparable to other Ivy-Bridge equipped ultrabooks on the market (you can see some other results here: . In addition, due to the speedy SSD, I can shut down and restart in about 35-40 seconds.

The screen is 15.6" and full HD (1080p). That means that web-pages and videos look great. In addition, the screen also has a matte finish, so this helps reduce the amount of reflections that you usually see in glossy screens. Overall, the screen quality is excellent.

Battery life is decent. From my estimations, I seem to get about 4.25 hours when doing general web browsing/word processing. Keep in mind that due to the Core i7 processor and the 1080p screen, the battery life of this machine will be slightly lower than other similarly priced ultrabooks on the market.

There are a few downsides, however:

As is the problem with many Windows laptops these days, the trackpad is decent, but could be much better. The trackpad is manufactured by Sentelic, and not Synaptics, which tends to make the best trackpads. Strangely, the unit I purchased did not have multitouch enabled out of the box. I had to do a little bit of searching online to find an updated driver with two finger scrolling and pinch-to-zoom gestures. I was finally able to get them working fine, but it's interesting that they are not turned on by default, even since the display units at the store have multitouch gestures enabled. In the end, however, I don't care too much about this since I tend to use an external mouse most of the time.

In addition, I found the wifi to be a little unstable in the first week or so, but after that it seems to be working fine.

Overall, I really enjoy using this machine. In terms of value, this is one of the best ultrabooks you can buy. Vizio has a ton of experience making good screens on their TVs, so it's no surprise that they were able to put a great screen on this machine as well. The performance meets or exceeds other ultrabooks on the market and the battery life is also pretty good. If you are worried about the trackpad, then I'd suggest you go to try one out at a store first before making a decision.

Apple MacBook MB061LL/A 13.3" Notebook PC Reviews

Customer Ratings:

This is a great laptop. First, let me say, I'm a software developer, so I'm very particular about my computers. I was in the market for a new laptop. After a lot of shopping around, I went with a laptop from HP for around $700. It was my first PC with Vista, and it was frustratingly slow. Here's an example... Put your laptop into sleep mode. Come out of sleep mode, and how long does it take to connect to your WiFi network? The HP laptop would take about 45 seconds while the macbook takes less than 5 seconds. It's a small detail, but it's the tip of the iceberg.

So, after I purchased my HP laptop, my wife bought a macbook. I was so impressed, I took mine back and got my own macbook. The battery is great. I haven't timed it yet, but it's easily over three hours. The LCD is great. You don't get all that bloatware that comes with a new PC (like antivirus software that you can't seem to delete) that fills up your new hard disk. And, there's no need to even worry about antivirus software since 99.9% of viruses are designed for Windows.

As for performance, these macbooks are plenty zippy. And, yes dual core does make a difference. If you like to multitask (browse the web while playing mp3 music), then you'll notice the difference. The user interface is more responsive during heavy loading. Just for fun, I took a program I wrote for work and ran it on my new macbook. (I won't bore you with the details of what it does, but it's CPU intensive.) On the HP laptop, the program took about 13 minutes to run. On the macbook, it took 3 min, 30 seconds. Just for fun, I ran the same program on a fully loaded Dell 820 ($3000), and it finished in about 3 minutes. So, I'm very pleased with the performance of this macbook.

And, there are great open source (free) applications you can get for Mac OS X now. So, I quickly installed Firefox, Thunderbird (email), NeoOffice (MS Office replacement), Chicken of the Sea (VNC client), XAMPP (Apache/PHP/MySQL), Transmission (BitTorrent), Burn (CD/DVD burner), and Eclipse (Java development).

The only way they could improve this macbook would be to bundle the DVD writer in the entry-level model instead of a combo drive (CD writer, DVD reader). It's not an issue with me since I have many other DVD writers on my LAN, but others may want to purchase the next model up that comes with the DVD writer.

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This is my first Mac computer as well, after many years of using Windows PC at home and at work. I'm very impressed with both Macbook and OS X. Macbook, performance is awesome with just 1g of ram memory.

From the first time Mac user, I'm very pleased with Apple hardware and software, it just works. And I'm impressed with how it all works together.

As for this specific version of the macbook, I have found no problems at all, works beautifully as advertised. The only thing I found is that mabook's screen needs to be calibrated or adjusted. Don't settle for default screen profile, pictures will appear washed out. Calibrate screens settings; you should be able to get it pretty close to what it should be with just what macbook has in OS X.

I also recommend buying this model, since it has a bigger harddrive, its worth it. This laptop is very fast and reliable!

Best Deals for Apple MacBook MB061LL/A 13.3" Notebook PC

I will try to give a unbiased and responsible review of this MacBook. As a college student I struggled with the decision between purchasing a Windows laptop or a MacBook, but due to all the horror stories out there about Vista imcompatibility and my previous Windows nightmares, I decided to give Mac a try. I don't regret it. The screen is glossy and beautiful, albeit the 13.3" screen can make the font in programs (especially in instant messaging programs) a bit small. You can adjust the font to larger size in, say, AIM, but then that would render the person you are talking to to receive ridiculously large font sizes from you as well. And, if you are new to MAC OSX, there is definitely a learning curve and an experimental phase, so you should be patient; fortunately, there are alot of MAC OSX tutorial sites on the web and resources as well. I love the fast fast FAST boot time (around 20 seconds!!!) from off to on. BRAVO!! And the 2.0 ghz processor is more than enough for me. The MacBook is also very very silent. One thing I don't like though is the mouse track pad. Even on the fastest sensitivity setting, it just doesn't keep up with my fingers. A bit annoying, but a problem that can be solved with an external USB mouse. Let's see how my MacBook holds up in the next four years.

Honest reviews on Apple MacBook MB061LL/A 13.3" Notebook PC

[UPDATE: Written 18 months after the review below: Compared to my iBook this machine proved better built (on the outside), maintained a tighter-action keyboard, was noticeably faster--for 15 months, at which point the hard drive simply, suddenly, and unexpectedly, died.] It's predecessor, the iBook, on the other hand, developed problems like letters disappearing from the keys of the keyboard along with the keyboard action becoming sloppy, loose, and chattery. I'd rather replace a keyboard than a hard-drive any day, but I probably got my money's worth out of both machines (Apple's least expensive models). If I had to do it again, I'd order the extended warranty plan with any Apple laptop. It's expensive, and it's not guarantee (if Apple judges the damage due to the user's incorrect or inappropriate use of the machine), but if it's a laptop and it sees heavy use, the two extra years are probably worth the several hundred extra. (With desktop models I'm still inclined not to buy the extended warranty.)}

I ordered my last small-screen iBook from Amazon just two summers ago. As usual, my heavy touch started shorting out the keyboard, and I couldn't afford several weeks of down time. Factor in the wait, the cost of repairs, and the improvements, and this 13" MacBook from Amazon seemed the best way to go.

It's about a hundred bucks more than the prior edition but worth it. The screen is wider, sharper and brighter (though I had no complaints with the predecessor). The speed of unloading internet pages is noticeably faster, a time-saver. The magnetically attached power cord should save the user the cost of an Apple adapter or two (about $80 each time you snap the thin wire). The keyboard area is larger, which is nice, though the different feel of the tracking area and right thumb-click (little play--it barely seems to go down) takes a bit of getting used to.

I didn't need a built-in camera or remote control, but what can you do. At least I was able to avoid the Superdrive (haven't found much use for DVD burning) and all the extras (and sales tax) they push if you buy from Apple Store. This machine doesn't require any additional memory or RAM, unless you're a heavy duty movie editor/audio engineer. It's a one-click purchase. I even took a pass on Apple's current iPod incentive (I still buy CDs, mostly from Amazon).

Even as I type this review, I'm conscious that the keyboard has a tighter feel and is quieter than the previous model. It also gets around in the often cumbersome and sluggish MS Word more quickly than the comparable machine of only two years ago. A great little work horse, and the transfer of information from your old computer has never been easier (make sure you have a firewire cable handy).

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I have been used to blazing fast desktops for years. This mac really combines all of the great features and capabilities you would expect from a powermac into a great little package.

I love the display, the ease of setup, the keyboard, ...

I thought the gloss display would bug me, but I love it.

Not sure I will want to go back to my desktop now that I have the freedom of wireless!

On thing I will note: The white plastic is like static cling. Dust, hair and dirt just love attaching to it.

ALSO, this does NOT come with a VGA adapter. If you plan on giving presentations, you will need to pick one up.