Sunday, March 30, 2014
Review of Toshiba Satellite S70-AST2NX1 Laptop Notebook Windows 8 - Intel
compared to my 3 yr old HP laptop, this is a great machine!!! The one quirk is that the touchpad is too far to the left of center so my palm keeps touching it and bringing the screen back to whatever I was previously doing in Windows 8. Finding my way back has been no problem, just inconvenient...
Reviews of Sony VAIO VPC-EA45FX/BJ 14-Inch Widescreen Entertainment Laptop
First an explanation -I was in the first batch of people to buy this computer from Amazon. But I have had to return it because the bluetooth was defective (confirmed by tech support). Amazon quickly sold out and is now backordered 3-5 weeks, and since I need a machine "now" I have had to buy something else rather than get a replacement for this model.
That said, here is why, though I like the machine, I was not too disappointed to get something different.
What I did not like :
1. All 3 USB ports are on the extreme front of the right side -pretty dumb, because if you have devices always plugged in, the cables are always in your way. This may sound anal, but in fact I bet most people will find it a constant nuisance.
2. There appears to be no way (certainly no easy way!) to re-assign the three physical buttons above the keyboard. They do internet-without-computer (never use it), Vaio help (really, how often?) and the Sony photo etc program (NEVER use it and don't like it). But they can't be changed. (My old Vaio had buttons that you set to do whatever you wanted.)
3. I was all excited to have been able to order the MATT black, as I hate the glossy crap that is so popular these days. Well, yeah, turns out that it's matt ... EXCEPT for the most important part, in front of the keyboard where your wrists rest. That panel is super glossy, so it feels "sticky," you know, that annoying feel of rubbing against glossy plastic, exactly what I wantd to avoid. WHY do they do that on a "matt" black machine?
4. The screen is TOO GLOSSY (too much reflection). (I know, they all do that now...)
5. Touchpad is textured. Not bad, but I prefer smooth and dull.
(Final comment -why can't computer companies offer SOMETHING for those of us who do not like the wide screens? I long for the old proportions, higher and less wide.)
What I do like about the machine -well, all the obvious, good performance, good keyboard, very fair price, reasonable compromise on size, price, portability, power.
First, the look and the sense of buttons placed is perfect. Although I do not like all the three USB ports in line since it renders one port useless (they are very close).
Second, the keyboard. I know for a fact that many people who review laptops do not put up a decent review for keyboards and I am going to do just that. I can compare this keyboard with HPs that I had before I was forced to change and I got this Sony. Keyboard makes a hell of a difference specially when you are someone who has to write a lot. I tried to adjust to the HPs new keyboard but I could not. The keys were hard and I used to miss a lot of letters as i typed. This keyboard, however, is just amazing. It is so soft at the same time very nicely fitted. All keys a leveled, something HP can not do apparently. All keys need the same power to work, again something HP is unable to achieve with their chicklet style keyboard. I will recommend this laptop to everyone and specially those who are looking at using a laptop for some serious writing.
Third, very sexy. This laptop is very sexy. I got the black one and I am very happy with how it looks.
Fourth, battery life is good, about 5 hours.
Fifth, I think the laptop gets hot a little more than the HP dm4 (new) that I had but it is not something that I can not live with. All laptops these days are like that and that is why they started calling that Notebooks instead.
Sixth, RECOMMENDED :)
had an old, slow dell inspiron that was great for 5.5 years, but a workhorse.
I can get on the internet in seconds, great size, love the 5 hr battery, light, easy to transport can watch movies good resolution
only thing I would change ports for headphones would like on side of computer but a small complaint
worth the extra money
hope this review helps someone I took a long time to make my decision
I have to transport it to work daily and it is great
cover scratches easily wish there was a fix for this
but for the important issues this is a great computer !!!
Amazon had a fast 2d delivery ontime as always
I have had this computer for 2.5 years nowstill love it -no problems except one and wanted to let readers know about it so that maybe Sony will correct it. The touch pad is way too sensitive and I have trouble with the cursor jumping to another place and messing up my typing
I found a solution tape a non-bar plastic card (shape of a credit card) and tape it over the touchpad and use a mouse. You can still use the split bars, and if you press hard you can use the touchpad this solution works for me but wish they would fix it but otherwise still a great computer.
overall, it is agood one.
That said, here is why, though I like the machine, I was not too disappointed to get something different.
What I did not like :
1. All 3 USB ports are on the extreme front of the right side -pretty dumb, because if you have devices always plugged in, the cables are always in your way. This may sound anal, but in fact I bet most people will find it a constant nuisance.
2. There appears to be no way (certainly no easy way!) to re-assign the three physical buttons above the keyboard. They do internet-without-computer (never use it), Vaio help (really, how often?) and the Sony photo etc program (NEVER use it and don't like it). But they can't be changed. (My old Vaio had buttons that you set to do whatever you wanted.)
3. I was all excited to have been able to order the MATT black, as I hate the glossy crap that is so popular these days. Well, yeah, turns out that it's matt ... EXCEPT for the most important part, in front of the keyboard where your wrists rest. That panel is super glossy, so it feels "sticky," you know, that annoying feel of rubbing against glossy plastic, exactly what I wantd to avoid. WHY do they do that on a "matt" black machine?
4. The screen is TOO GLOSSY (too much reflection). (I know, they all do that now...)
5. Touchpad is textured. Not bad, but I prefer smooth and dull.
(Final comment -why can't computer companies offer SOMETHING for those of us who do not like the wide screens? I long for the old proportions, higher and less wide.)
What I do like about the machine -well, all the obvious, good performance, good keyboard, very fair price, reasonable compromise on size, price, portability, power.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
Okay now I will tell you why do I call it the best laptop I have ever owned.First, the look and the sense of buttons placed is perfect. Although I do not like all the three USB ports in line since it renders one port useless (they are very close).
Second, the keyboard. I know for a fact that many people who review laptops do not put up a decent review for keyboards and I am going to do just that. I can compare this keyboard with HPs that I had before I was forced to change and I got this Sony. Keyboard makes a hell of a difference specially when you are someone who has to write a lot. I tried to adjust to the HPs new keyboard but I could not. The keys were hard and I used to miss a lot of letters as i typed. This keyboard, however, is just amazing. It is so soft at the same time very nicely fitted. All keys a leveled, something HP can not do apparently. All keys need the same power to work, again something HP is unable to achieve with their chicklet style keyboard. I will recommend this laptop to everyone and specially those who are looking at using a laptop for some serious writing.
Third, very sexy. This laptop is very sexy. I got the black one and I am very happy with how it looks.
Fourth, battery life is good, about 5 hours.
Fifth, I think the laptop gets hot a little more than the HP dm4 (new) that I had but it is not something that I can not live with. All laptops these days are like that and that is why they started calling that Notebooks instead.
Sixth, RECOMMENDED :)
Best Deals for Sony VAIO VPC-EA45FX/BJ 14-Inch Widescreen Entertainment Laptop
What a great computerhad an old, slow dell inspiron that was great for 5.5 years, but a workhorse.
I can get on the internet in seconds, great size, love the 5 hr battery, light, easy to transport can watch movies good resolution
only thing I would change ports for headphones would like on side of computer but a small complaint
worth the extra money
hope this review helps someone I took a long time to make my decision
I have to transport it to work daily and it is great
cover scratches easily wish there was a fix for this
but for the important issues this is a great computer !!!
Amazon had a fast 2d delivery ontime as always
I have had this computer for 2.5 years nowstill love it -no problems except one and wanted to let readers know about it so that maybe Sony will correct it. The touch pad is way too sensitive and I have trouble with the cursor jumping to another place and messing up my typing
I found a solution tape a non-bar plastic card (shape of a credit card) and tape it over the touchpad and use a mouse. You can still use the split bars, and if you press hard you can use the touchpad this solution works for me but wish they would fix it but otherwise still a great computer.
Honest reviews on Sony VAIO VPC-EA45FX/BJ 14-Inch Widescreen Entertainment Laptop
I am a little bit leery of writing a review of a product I've had for only a week, particularly since I once gave a 14 inch HP a great review, only to have it crack in half six months later. But...yes, so far this is a very nice laptop. Sharp images, very fast, and a lot of memory. I downloaded about 20 movies, and it barely put a dent in the available space. It's the lightest laptop I've ever had, and unlike my past laptops (mostly HP's), it doesn't attract fingerprints nearly as bad. The only reason I didn't give it five stars, is because the volume is pathetic. What is the point of dolby stereo speakers, if they're given no power? Fixed the problem with a logitech clip on speaker, which makes the computer sound like a two hundred dollar boombox. Well worth the 45 dollar investment. Now, if this computer holds up for a few years, I'll be happy. p.s...I do not know why some of the reviews are claiming only 3 usb ports, as there is a fourth one on the opposite side of the three inline usb's.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Sony VAIO VPC-EA45FX/BJ 14-Inch Widescreen Entertainment Laptop
I bought this product on-line from amazon and got it delivered promptly, through a friend, to Nigeria where i live. I must commend sony for a product like this, ie capacity, battery life etc. The only awful stuff are the 3 USB ports on one side which make no sense as only 2 can be used at a time.Secondly the sound output is not what i expected. It sounds like a gramophone but with ear piecegood to go.overall, it is agood one.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Review of Apple MacBook Air Core i7 1.8GHz 13"-4GB RAM-256GB
Get it from the apple store online refurbished and save a lot of $$$$. At the apple store website...on the bottom left side of the page under special deals click on refurbished mac...they are selling it for $1439+tax and you can get a full 3 year applecare warranty too. I am very satisfied with my macbook air that was shipped to me... it is brand new! no blemishes of any kind. The battery has lasted upto 9 hours! Overall excellent product.
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Finally a device arrived that's worth to be called a notebook. The unit packs a powerful punch of CPU, fast memory and solid state storage which is finally starting to reach practical capacities and capabilities. The top end i7 model fully loaded (4GB RAM, 256GB SDD at the time) does easily rival a MacBook Pro, and outperforms my 2007 17" MacBook Pro (2.4GHz dual, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD with 4GB SDD cache). No moving parts other then the fan, which hardly comes on. The missing optical drive may throw you off originally but other then for software installation and burning the odd DVD you will hardly miss it during day-to-day use. In that case the optional USB drive doesn't break the bank, and if you have another Mac somewhere you can easily mount that drive remotely. The only downside, and I found this will all my MacBooks in the past, is the poor lighting of the displays, it's uneven and most noticeably darkens in corners and edges. I would understand burnout after years of use like mine that run 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, some 5+ years now. But not with a new device out of the box. There are more significantly lower priced Laptops out there that do a much better job in that area. Now, I use the unit as a business notebook with mainly commercial apps and a WIndows VM on top, so I can live with it, but it's still not acceptable at that price point.Best Deals for Apple MacBook Air Core i7 1.8GHz 13"-4GB RAM-256GB
Too bad, amazon only sells a version without core i7 CPU upgrade. If they do and the price is around 1599 (since i5 version is at 1499 and apple store add 100$ for upgrading), I will order immediately.Honest reviews on Apple MacBook Air Core i7 1.8GHz 13"-4GB RAM-256GB
This is a great laptop. I like how it boots up instantly, and the almost weightlessness of it. Hey it is an Apple what did you expect me to say. LOL. I also appreciated John and his fast communication, the care in shipping it quickly to me and his personal follow up. Thanks John.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Apple MacBook Air Core i7 1.8GHz 13"-4GB RAM-256GB
Farhad Manjoo of Slate magazine was 100% right when he wrote recently, " If you want a great laptop, buy a MacBook Air." It's that simple.Buy Acer Aspire E1-572-6870 15.6-Inch Laptop (Clarinet Black)
List Price: $579.99
Sale Price: $459.78
Today's Bonus: 21% Off
First off, let me say that the experience with this laptop and this manufacturer has been overall stellar...it is a great buy @ 449 and is pretty darn fast with the Haswell chip they've included...slide a small SSD in place of the 500GB 5400rpm drive and this thing will sail...very pleased...
with that said, i ordered this at 449 and got 2 (CAMELCAMELCAMEL)...then once i got them, i realized that i assumed it came with a DVD drive (like most laptops that are not super thin) and it does NOT...i contacted Acer and they said to get an external drive...
i did a little more looking and the place for the drive exists...there is a "filler" piece of plastic they have slid in there as a placeholder...i unscrewed the retaining screw on the bottom and slid out the "filler" and shined a flashlight inside to see if a connection exists...it does...the Acer techinician i chatted with refused to admit that i could put a drive in it...
GOOD LUCK FINDING A D**N DRIVE WITH THE CORRECT BEZEL...IT'S TOO NEW...I CANNOT FIND SOMEONE SELLING IT ANYWHERE...
so...if you need a DVD drive of any kind, deal with its absence or get an external one...or wait for 6-12 months for the aftermarket to catch up and maybe pick one up on ebay...
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
This brand new laptop arrived in late June 2013 and upon unpacking I was in love. It did have a dead battery but worked on the power brick while charging. That day was my first time using Win8 I was not impressed at all with the stupid changes by Microsoft and wished I had the very same machine with Win7 instead. After a few hours I learned what I needed to mostly turn off the new features from Microsoft so it worked like Win7. However I then had to go online to download a tiny bit of software from PC World magazine that enabled me to add an icon to the taskbar that was labeled "Shutdown PC". That worked great. So far this computer has performed much better (except for the crappy Win8) than my old laptop and cost just over half as much. If Acer would offer an option to order this unit with Win7 installed I would have given it the highest rating available. My favorite thing about it is the price.Best Deals for Acer Aspire E1-572-6870 15.6-Inch Laptop (Clarinet Black)
Fast, attractive, lightweight. Glad I took PC magazine's advice.Had a portable DVD drive, so I did not miss it
Honest reviews on Acer Aspire E1-572-6870 15.6-Inch Laptop (Clarinet Black)
My daughter needed a laptop for college but didn't have a ton of money to spend. This Acer fit the bill. We did our homework and found PC Mag rated it as number one for the price. Good enough for us!Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Acer Aspire E1-572-6870 15.6-Inch Laptop (Clarinet Black)
Not much I can say here other than I got what I bought. It's an Acer, it has everything I need, and it works. If these are the specifications you are looking for in a laptop then you will be happy with this one, provided you don't get a lemon which seems to happen with all manufacturers these days. I would recommend this product to anyone.Reviews of Lenovo IdeaPad U410 43762CU 14-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)
With regrets, I cannot recommend this laptop due to 2 key flaws:
1Problematic Intel Centrino Wireless N 2200 BGN card: worked intermittently at N levels(115 Mbps), for the most part at G levels (54 Mbps) , and occasionally not at all!
See Lenovo Forums for several comments and complaints about these Wifi issues, and it's lack of a hardware/software solution.
2Battery last for only about 4 to 4.5 hours unders regular use, about half of what Lenovo advertises.
These short comings are unfortunate, because the rest of the U410 is an excellent laptop for the money. I may have received a lemon that doesn't represent this product line, but
was dismayed to find so much negative commentary in the U410's forum on the Wifi issue.
But, there is a design flaw in terms of the wi-fi. I was aware of an extremely common wi-fi issue coming from Lenova U series (includes this U410 and U310). People would complain that they have either 1) a disconnecting wi-fi internet problem 2) low signals until very close to wi-fi access.
My theory is that since the casing of the laptop is almost 100% thin aluminum, the metal casing is reducing the wi-fi strength. In other words, the wi-fi adaptor is like your cell phone trying to text inside a metal elevator casingreducing the signal or losing it frequently. Also like when you go through a tunnel. Maybe the design flaw is because they are almost mimicking the mac's metal chassis and they failed mimicking on one key part... like allowing an opening for the wi-fi antenna....
RegardlessMy love for this laptop will outweigh returning the laptopfor nowas I am currently purchasing an external wi-fi antenna USB. An antenna will test my hypothesis of whether it is the whole casing, which is the design flaw, or if the brand new network adaptor sucks (unlikely but possible).
Keep you posted.
Edit: 12/6/2012
Design flaw averted by simply adding on cheap external wifi adapter. Acts like an antenna to get better signals than many laptops. Yay!
I bought a CISCO Lynksis external wi-fi adapter for $49.99even though on best buy I saw it for half off. I needed internet ASAP, so I went for it (I can always order the cheaper version, then return with receipt for the current to save 25$ once it arrives)it works! I can even access my n network now. My download speed went from 0MB to 8.6MB; Upload speed from 0MB to 3.6MB on
I tentatively recommend getting this laptop and investing in a $10-50 external wifi.
Edit: 8/15/2013
DO NOT GET A CISCO Lynksis external wi-fi adapter!
It is beautiful until it snaps off. It's long extension knocks into any thing near it (my girlfriend, the wall, people walking by, etc.) Here is the review link:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2R6U9F61SMVW0/ref=cm_cr_ryp_det?ie=UTF8&channel=ryp
I recommend a shorter, cheaper one.
Some guys talk some bla bla bla about the Wi-Fi... works perfect with me.
1Problematic Intel Centrino Wireless N 2200 BGN card: worked intermittently at N levels(115 Mbps), for the most part at G levels (54 Mbps) , and occasionally not at all!
See Lenovo Forums for several comments and complaints about these Wifi issues, and it's lack of a hardware/software solution.
2Battery last for only about 4 to 4.5 hours unders regular use, about half of what Lenovo advertises.
These short comings are unfortunate, because the rest of the U410 is an excellent laptop for the money. I may have received a lemon that doesn't represent this product line, but
was dismayed to find so much negative commentary in the U410's forum on the Wifi issue.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
Hi everyone, I have had this beautiful laptop for a week now. It is a quality built laptop (made of aluminum alloy) and is often compared to the mac due to its quality build. It has windows 8 which I am getting used to (coming from Windows Vista). I love the 3.0 USBs X2. You do not know how important having those is, especially when I am transferring data constantly for homework and projects for engineering. Extremely lightweight and portable which is important for me since I am moving between classes and carrying this on my backpack all dayneed something light. No "optical" drive, or CD ROM drive for playing movies/cd's/etcknow that when you are buying this since it is for making it lighter weight; one can work around this by burning the CD on another laptop and transferring via USB OR by buying an external CD ROM. I might need to purchase an external CD ROM since I desire to download photoshop... and there are 8 CD's. Good to know and be informed as you are deciding..But, there is a design flaw in terms of the wi-fi. I was aware of an extremely common wi-fi issue coming from Lenova U series (includes this U410 and U310). People would complain that they have either 1) a disconnecting wi-fi internet problem 2) low signals until very close to wi-fi access.
My theory is that since the casing of the laptop is almost 100% thin aluminum, the metal casing is reducing the wi-fi strength. In other words, the wi-fi adaptor is like your cell phone trying to text inside a metal elevator casingreducing the signal or losing it frequently. Also like when you go through a tunnel. Maybe the design flaw is because they are almost mimicking the mac's metal chassis and they failed mimicking on one key part... like allowing an opening for the wi-fi antenna....
RegardlessMy love for this laptop will outweigh returning the laptopfor nowas I am currently purchasing an external wi-fi antenna USB. An antenna will test my hypothesis of whether it is the whole casing, which is the design flaw, or if the brand new network adaptor sucks (unlikely but possible).
Keep you posted.
Edit: 12/6/2012
Design flaw averted by simply adding on cheap external wifi adapter. Acts like an antenna to get better signals than many laptops. Yay!
I bought a CISCO Lynksis external wi-fi adapter for $49.99even though on best buy I saw it for half off. I needed internet ASAP, so I went for it (I can always order the cheaper version, then return with receipt for the current to save 25$ once it arrives)it works! I can even access my n network now. My download speed went from 0MB to 8.6MB; Upload speed from 0MB to 3.6MB on
I tentatively recommend getting this laptop and investing in a $10-50 external wifi.
Edit: 8/15/2013
DO NOT GET A CISCO Lynksis external wi-fi adapter!
It is beautiful until it snaps off. It's long extension knocks into any thing near it (my girlfriend, the wall, people walking by, etc.) Here is the review link:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R2R6U9F61SMVW0/ref=cm_cr_ryp_det?ie=UTF8&channel=ryp
I recommend a shorter, cheaper one.
Best Deals for Lenovo IdeaPad U410 43762CU 14-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)
I've had this computer in for repair twice in less than a year of owning it. Once for a bad hard drive and now for a bad motherboard. I've also had to restore it to factory twice because it wasn't recognizing my hard drive.Honest reviews on Lenovo IdeaPad U410 43762CU 14-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)
The new windows 8 64 bit operating system is not user friendly at all. In fact it sets us back to the times of Windows 3.1. The laptop itself has odd error messages popping up at various times, the lenovo printed material does little to help and their instructions for fixes on the online support are far from intuitive. I am a big user of Lenovo in the workplace and thought it would be great for home use. Just not the case, the support line and support documentation is not consumer friendly. In fact a number of the downloads they have that supposedly could fix my issues once loaded say that my hardware is not supported for this download. When I selected the download by first giving the model and OS operating on my laptop. All in all very dissatisfied.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo IdeaPad U410 43762CU 14-Inch Ultrabook (Graphite Gray)
Works fine, is a great machine and all of my expectations are attended.Some guys talk some bla bla bla about the Wi-Fi... works perfect with me.
HP Pavilion g6-2210us 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Reviews
List Price: $509.99
Sale Price: $412.88
Today's Bonus: 19% Off
I had an hp pavilion from 2007 and decided to stay with the line because of the four good years I got out of that hp computer. I purchased this pavilion because it was(at the time) under 400 dollars. Windows 8 takes some getting used to, but I haven't experienced many frustrations once I downloaded chrome. Firefox and Internet Explorer did have some strange issues and once in a while took some time to open(which I think is a windows 8 issue) so I downloaded chrome, adobe flash, open office and have been using my new computer mostly hassle free.
I would recommend this computer to anyone who is going on the internet, word processing, streaming videos, and saving pictures and movies. I don't know if it's good for gaming or putting together videos. I wouldn't pay the 450 or whatever price it is now for this computer due to some of the hardware limitations.
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This laptop is awesomely fast and terribly pretty to look at. Plenty of computer for a student or home office, with pretty good gaming capabilities too. Boots up like lightning, shuts down without a bunch of questions, and never gets hot due to the HP cooling feature. A little big for your lap on a bus, but I have a small lap. lol Windows 8 has a glitch or two, but I think I like it and they stay on top of it, update-wise.. If you want something really familiar, go with XP or Windows 7.Best Deals for HP Pavilion g6-2210us 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
This computer has been very reliable. The keyboard keys are a little small or shallow for fast typists. The touchpad keeps affecting typing. When you type, you might drag you thumb on the touchpad a bit. This moves the cursor sometimes which then changes the text insertion point. Result? Lots of typos that you have to go fix. Changing the touchpad sensitivity helps but it still happens a bit. Two fingered typists wouldn't notice.Honest reviews on HP Pavilion g6-2210us 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
I am still new to trusting this whole buy from the internet. The first HP had an issue right out of the box. HP support said ship it right back. The amazon return process made it extremely easy for even this novice. But what mazed me wa sthe fact my replacement laptop was being shipped before i even had the old one back to the UPS store. That impressed me. The laptop was actually for my daughter who was in college and because they shipped it expressed, she got it on Monday with very little delay. Anyone can sell stuff. Its service after the sale that is hard to come by these days. Amazon has my business as long as they continue to treat me this way. This is my second very positive return experience this year.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for HP Pavilion g6-2210us 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)
Great computer. runs smooth, looks beautiful, not heavy, fast, excellent keyboard, a lot of space to store music and pictures. My only major concern was windows 8 but after about 3 days use i can honestly say i prefer this os over windows 7. Would recommend giving this laptop a go, especially if you are on a budget.Review of Lenovo G585 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black Textured)
Windows Experience Index 3.3 (Determined by lowest subscore)
Processor: Calculations / sec 3.3
Memory (RAM): Memory operations / sec 5.3
Graphics: Desktop graphics performance 4.0
Gaming Graphics: 3D Gaming performance 5.6
Primary Hard Disc: Disc data txfr rate 5.8
HARDLY a dog for what it went for on Black Friday. I'm very satisfied with the performance thus far. It is also my first experience with Windows 8, but I'm picking up on it pretty quickly. The G585 is working very well with it. Sure, speed could always be increased, but I'm stepping out of an ACER netbook. Anything is going to feel like lightning to me.
Lenovo customer service is also second to none when it comes to hardware support.
I really just wanted a laptop for word processing, browsing the web, and responding to email while I was on the go. I wanted to replace my netbook, which was barely running at that point, but knew that I wanted more screen real estate going forward. Given what I was using it for, anything that cost more than this was absurd. This, however, was agreeable.
To my surprise, though, it's not too shabby for gaming. I installed Steam and have been playing Torchlight II, and even beat Portal and Portal II over Christmas week without any hangups. On the default settings, of course. It's not a gaming rig, after all.
I also love that they included a full 10-key on the right hand side of the keyboard. I can't imagine having a laptop without this now. It's awesome.
I like the multi-touch trackpad overall. I've tried to fine tune the sensitivity, but it still seems to have a few quirks, which are annoying but not a deal breaker. It will often zoom when trying to perform two-finger scrolling. It will also often scroll in the wrong direction if you're trying to scroll a very short distance. There was a problem with it activating app switching when trying to navigate too far to the left of the trackpad. There's an option to reduce the area that will activate app switching (or turn it off completely if you prefer), so now it only switches apps when I start with my finger off of the trackpad and swipe in from the left, just like using a Windows 8 tablet. Two-finger scrolling doesn't work in parts of the Metro UI, which is annoying.
The only thing that really irritated me, and the same thing that irritates me about all laptops, is the bloatware. I expect them to be there, but in this instance, most of the applications that Lenovo pre-installed merely duplicated the features that were already included in Windows 8 by default. Completely useless, and then taking up my hard drive space to boot. For the price, I can't really complain about having to take an hour or so to hunt down all of the junk they installed to remove it, but if I'd paid full price, or the price of most other laptops, I'd have much less to say about this laptop that's positive. It's 2013. People know how to use computers, they know what software they use, and they don't think they're getting a better deal because you're shipping your products with "OMG! So much free stuffs!" It's time for manufacturers to start shipping with clean, unmodified installs of Windows. The hardware is cheap. Most of what I'm paying for is software licenses. Given that, I'd like to get the software I'm paying for.
Cons:
unable to handle video playback without choppiness
screen is too dim even at the highest setting (for my preference)
single DIMM slot, Lenovo site states it has 2 :(
comes with Windows 8 and no media backup or software to create a disk
BIOS options are very limited, even for a laptop (no way to increase shared video size, also Windows 8 license references?)
Pros:
can handle word processing
good weight
Other:
It does indeed come with a 320GB drive, model: WD3200BPVT (this one WD Blue 320 GB Mobile Hard Drive: 2.5 Inch, 5400 RPM, SATA II, 8 MB Cache WD3200BPVT). Windows 8 and the recovery partition, just take up a lot of space. Wanted to see if swapping out the drive for an SSD would help, helps a little. Going to try my luck with Lenovo support, but I have a feeling there is nothing wrong with the laptop itself, its just a very very slow CPU.
Purchased this model for my daughter who needed one for school. and boy was that a mistake.
At a little over 3 weeks the computer would not start up but instead will only show a black screen with the Lenovo logo.
It will not go into safe mode or anything else. However I Did some research on the net and this is a very common problem with Lenovo laptops(regardless of model).
The problem seems to be a bad motherboard which can be replaced if sent back to the company and as usual you pay to have it sent in. Personally I'm still waiting on the return results.
Note: this is my 5th laptopin the past I've purchased HP/Compaq's & Toshiba brands and all are still running without fail.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from Lenovo
Processor: Calculations / sec 3.3
Memory (RAM): Memory operations / sec 5.3
Graphics: Desktop graphics performance 4.0
Gaming Graphics: 3D Gaming performance 5.6
Primary Hard Disc: Disc data txfr rate 5.8
HARDLY a dog for what it went for on Black Friday. I'm very satisfied with the performance thus far. It is also my first experience with Windows 8, but I'm picking up on it pretty quickly. The G585 is working very well with it. Sure, speed could always be increased, but I'm stepping out of an ACER netbook. Anything is going to feel like lightning to me.
Lenovo customer service is also second to none when it comes to hardware support.
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I always build my own desktops, and though I love the mobility of the laptop, I hate paying laptop prices knowing that I could have 5 times the computer for the same price if I built it myself. But, for the Black Friday price, this thing was a steal.I really just wanted a laptop for word processing, browsing the web, and responding to email while I was on the go. I wanted to replace my netbook, which was barely running at that point, but knew that I wanted more screen real estate going forward. Given what I was using it for, anything that cost more than this was absurd. This, however, was agreeable.
To my surprise, though, it's not too shabby for gaming. I installed Steam and have been playing Torchlight II, and even beat Portal and Portal II over Christmas week without any hangups. On the default settings, of course. It's not a gaming rig, after all.
I also love that they included a full 10-key on the right hand side of the keyboard. I can't imagine having a laptop without this now. It's awesome.
I like the multi-touch trackpad overall. I've tried to fine tune the sensitivity, but it still seems to have a few quirks, which are annoying but not a deal breaker. It will often zoom when trying to perform two-finger scrolling. It will also often scroll in the wrong direction if you're trying to scroll a very short distance. There was a problem with it activating app switching when trying to navigate too far to the left of the trackpad. There's an option to reduce the area that will activate app switching (or turn it off completely if you prefer), so now it only switches apps when I start with my finger off of the trackpad and swipe in from the left, just like using a Windows 8 tablet. Two-finger scrolling doesn't work in parts of the Metro UI, which is annoying.
The only thing that really irritated me, and the same thing that irritates me about all laptops, is the bloatware. I expect them to be there, but in this instance, most of the applications that Lenovo pre-installed merely duplicated the features that were already included in Windows 8 by default. Completely useless, and then taking up my hard drive space to boot. For the price, I can't really complain about having to take an hour or so to hunt down all of the junk they installed to remove it, but if I'd paid full price, or the price of most other laptops, I'd have much less to say about this laptop that's positive. It's 2013. People know how to use computers, they know what software they use, and they don't think they're getting a better deal because you're shipping your products with "OMG! So much free stuffs!" It's time for manufacturers to start shipping with clean, unmodified installs of Windows. The hardware is cheap. Most of what I'm paying for is software licenses. Given that, I'd like to get the software I'm paying for.
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Like most of the reviews, I purchased this during the $200 lightning deal and thought it was a great bargain. I wanted a laptop that could handle simple word processing tasks and online video/music playback, primarily YouTube and other flash sites. This thing struggles worst than my older single core Pentium laptop with 1gb of ram. Did I get a defective unit? is this a Windows 8 issue? Well I thought it was Windows 8, I was wrong. Ive tried installing Windows 7 and Ubuntu, both show horrible CPU/video performance. I am not talking about 1080p video playback, it struggles on 360p videos on YouTube with no other applications running. At 720p, CPU usage spikes to 100% for the first 30seconds and remains steadily at 60-75% after. This is my first experience with an AMD APU processor, and would never consider buying a laptop with one again. My friends netbook with an Atom processor can handle flash, I am still unsure if my unit is defective.Cons:
unable to handle video playback without choppiness
screen is too dim even at the highest setting (for my preference)
single DIMM slot, Lenovo site states it has 2 :(
comes with Windows 8 and no media backup or software to create a disk
BIOS options are very limited, even for a laptop (no way to increase shared video size, also Windows 8 license references?)
Pros:
can handle word processing
good weight
Other:
It does indeed come with a 320GB drive, model: WD3200BPVT (this one WD Blue 320 GB Mobile Hard Drive: 2.5 Inch, 5400 RPM, SATA II, 8 MB Cache WD3200BPVT). Windows 8 and the recovery partition, just take up a lot of space. Wanted to see if swapping out the drive for an SSD would help, helps a little. Going to try my luck with Lenovo support, but I have a feeling there is nothing wrong with the laptop itself, its just a very very slow CPU.
Honest reviews on Lenovo G585 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black Textured)
After reading a magazine tech review for Lenovo computers I thought I would give one a try.Purchased this model for my daughter who needed one for school. and boy was that a mistake.
At a little over 3 weeks the computer would not start up but instead will only show a black screen with the Lenovo logo.
It will not go into safe mode or anything else. However I Did some research on the net and this is a very common problem with Lenovo laptops(regardless of model).
The problem seems to be a bad motherboard which can be replaced if sent back to the company and as usual you pay to have it sent in. Personally I'm still waiting on the return results.
Note: this is my 5th laptopin the past I've purchased HP/Compaq's & Toshiba brands and all are still running without fail.
Do yourself a favor and stay away from Lenovo
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Lenovo G585 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black Textured)
Bought this on Black Friday. Good basic computer. Decent speakers and screen. Good value. Would recommend this laptop to others.
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