A72F-X1 17.3" LED Notebook - Core i3 i3-370M 2.40 GHz - Gray Review

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(More customer reviews)This laptop is nice, its got awsome specs that sound really cool but when it comes down to it, save your money and go buy something cheaper, I had bought this product in the hopes that I would be able to play games on it only to discover later that the product was no better than if I had purchased a netbook. Without the ability to install a dedicated video card, you cant play any sort of decent video game, its good for media but as far as entertainment goes with games, its useless. Wish I would have saved my money for a better product, or just spend 250 on any netbook because this thing is only good for looking at videos, the blu-ray player is awful and skips and stuters all the time, so I use it for facebook and youtube, my ipod is capable of about all the same.

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MSI A6200-040US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought one of these to use for work and for writing. It's a good laptop for the price. (Mine has the i5). Battery life is long enough, the screen size and resolution is good, it runs the entire windows office suite without a hitch, also runs firefox and winamp just fine too. Speakers are a little weak, but probably has more to do with where they are mounted than quality. Overall, this laptop is worth the price.

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Dell L701x XPS 17 Laptop NEWEST MODEL 17.3" HD+ Screen / 6GB RAM / BLU-RAY / Windows 7 / NVidia 435M 1GB Graphics / 500GB 7200 HD / Bluetooth / Backlit Keyboard Review

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(More customer reviews)I'm not a huge fan of Dell, but their new XPS line is really great. It's important to get one with a backlit keyboard like this one has - they are not standard, and most of them that are sold do not have it. It is something that you don't really know you need until you've already bought the computer. The 435M is a top notch graphics card and the newest generation from NVidia, and the Blu-Ray drive makes it future-proof (at least for now!). What's the point of buying a laptop nowadays that can't play Blu-Rays?? The 6GB of RAM instead of 4GB is also a nice addition.

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MSI A6200-021US Notebook PC - Intel Core i5-430M 2.26 GHz / 15.6" LCD / 4GB DDR3 Memory / 320GB HD / 802.11b/g/draft n WLAN / DVD Super Multi Drive / HDMI Port / Built-in Webcam / Windows 7 Home Premium Review

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(More customer reviews)Would recommend this laptop. However, when I purchased it I did not realize it came with 32bit Home Premium Windows 7 and not 64 bit. So I went and purchased 64 bit and reinstalled the OS. Works even better with 64bit Windows 7 Home Premium. I ran it with 32 bit for a day and for the last few days have had 64 bit windows on it. Screen is great. Can't complain except MSI should clearly state that it comes with 32bit on their packaging. Better yet they should install it with 64bit.

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Acer 15.6" Aspire® AS5741-6073 Intel Core i5 Laptop 4GB Notebook 500GB Computer PC Review

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(More customer reviews)I love this laptop, it's FAST, fashionable and inexpensive! I can understand paying more for a ruggedized Lenovo ThinkPad or for the fanboy factor of a Mac, but I don't understand why some people would pay HP, Sony and Dell more money if you can get more for less with Acer. This little guy has everything, core i5, large RAM and storage, webcam, wireless n, and HDMI port!! Laptops are so much cheaper now, and this one is great bang for the buck! Looks good, runs fast with windows 7. Highly recommend!!

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Dell Studio XPS 15 Laptop, i7-2630QM, 8GB DDR3 Memory, 15.6 INCH FHD LCD Screen, NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1GB graphics, TV Tuner, 750GB 7200 RPM HD, Tray Load Blu-ray Disc, Windows 7 Home Premium, Backlit Keyboard, 2 Year Limited Warranty Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)In December 2010, I ordered a studio XPS computer with all the goodies from Dell. This machine has been a total nightmare for someone who works online. In January 2011 (within 30 days of the purchase) the motherboard, display, and optical drive failed. Dell did send a technician to the house to replace these items. The fixes did not work and Dell sent me a new computer. The new computer was no better than the last; it started crashing on a regular basis. I called Dell for support; they insisted it was a software issue, not covered by the warranty (which expires in 2015).
They transferred me to the software department; I had to pay $107 for them to look at it online. Then the technician insisted that my computer had many viruses. I asked how that could be since McAfee protection came with my system and I was using it regularly. The technician insisted that McAfee was no good - you must buy Norton or this will keep happening. Okay - I did that. Then the technician did something that caused my computer to no longer boot. It took a couple of hours for him to reformat my hard drive. I lost all my information. Thankfully, most of the information was on my old computer since I had had only the new one for a couple weeks.
The past couple of months I have had difficulties using my CD/DVD optical drive. Dell sent a technician out to the house and replaced it. It was tested and worked fine. About 10 min. after the technician left, I tried to install a new program. My whole computer crashed. I called the technician and he called Dell who said that I had to call Dell for further repairs. I did. I spent about four hours with somebody in the hardware support division fishing around inside my computer. He kept trying to update my drivers for the optical drive, which the technician installed a few hours earlier. Eventually, the online technician deleted something and my computer crashed and refused to reboot.
I called Dell back and they sent me back to hardware support making me do a number of tests with the different F 1-12 buttons. Eventually we got it restarted and he sent me over to software because he could not figure out what was wrong. Once again, I had to pay for software support. After about three hours of testing, software support could not fix the problem either. Software decided that it was a hardware problem and the motherboard and optical drive need replaced again. There was no refund from the software support I purchased, even though it did not help. Here is a word to the wise - DO NOT BUY A DELL COMPUTER!


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HP DV6-3257CL Argento Pavilion 15.6" Notebook (Intel Core i3-370M Processor, 4 GB RAM, 640 GB Hard Drive, Blu-ray Disc Drive) Review

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(More customer reviews)Just brought this laptop for 499.99 at Sam's club. Can't believe i3 processor, 640 gb hard drive,4gb memory, blu ray for that kind of money!!!Thank you HP!

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Sony VAIO VPC-EA47FX/B 14-Inch Widescreen Entertainment Laptop (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I got this laptop for my birthday and I have to say I am very satisfied with my purchase. With 640GB of HDD and Intel Core i3 processor this model wont slow down on you. This model has a nice glossy black finish with little grey squares to style it off, the touch pad is also very good, you won't get lost where your finger is thanks to the texture style. Keyboard is also very comfortable to type, with raised keys and nice space between, I have no trouble typing in the dark. This model also comes loaded with Blu-ray ROM Drive, even though its not full HD still I can tell the difference between standard DVD quality compared to the Blu-ray. (inserted TRON: Legacy DVD and Blu-ray). The added VAIO Gate is also very neat, I can add all my icons to VAIO Gate and don't have to deal with crowded desktop to look at. There are just too many things you can do with this notebook that it will take me all night to write, (connect with PS3, wireless Display one button to launch WEB, Media, and assist).
I will recommend this notebook to any students looking to work on video editing and add music, video, photos to your media with plenty of space left. Oh and watch Blu-ray on the go.

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Sony VAIO EA Series: Affordable, Stylish and Lightweight Mobile Computing
Portability, performance, and multimedia entertainment are combined with a contemporary design in this Sony VAIO EA laptop in matte black (model VPC-EA47FX/B), which also includes integrated Intel Wireless Display technology. And with the smart performance of the Intel Core i3 processor andMicrosoft Office Starter 2010, you have everything you need within reach to power through daily tasks and enjoy your media wherever you are.
The 14-inch Sony VAIO EA laptop is designed with inviting finishes and subtle patterns (see larger image).

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ASUS N53SV-A2 15.6-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Silver Aluminum) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I am a independent repair tech and was looking for a replacement for my Dell 3 year old xps1530.
Was looking for something with all the new tech and power I could get for about $1k. The i7 powered n53sv-A2 fits the bill. Silver Aluminum looks great and the unit worked perfectly out of the box. Had to do usual removal of software that was not useful but not a big problem. Put it through 3 solid days of software loading and testing and the unit did very well. No problems noted. Everything just worked.. Unit runs very very cool. The A2 model has Blue ray,a top notch screen,usb3 and great speaker system that are all pluses. The face recognition logon software is also nice not to mention the I7 cpu gives it speed when there is a need.
Warranty info
You get 2 years warranty included in the purchase price( most are 1 year) also 1 year of no fault damage ( normally something you pay extra for). I do suggest the purchase of an additional "ASUS Offered" 1 year warranty extension($90.00) just round out the protection to a 3 year package. Lojack theft software and Norton 360 would also be nice additions .

I would have no trouble suggesting this to a student, office or a home business user.
JP

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Hear the Power. Feel the Power Turn up the volume on the 15.6-inch N53Sv-A2 notebook and prepare to be impressed. Featuring ASUS SonicMaster Technology—co-developed by the audio experts at Bang and Olufsen ICEpower—and a unique top-mounted speaker design, this multimedia powerhouse combines top of the line hardware and software for an unsurpassed, ear-pleasing experience. Powered by the 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2630QM processor with Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology, the N53Sv-A2 delivers the multitasking muscle and smart performance that senses the tasks at hand and dynamically boosts the processor for a stutter-free experience. Boasting powerful NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M graphics with NVIDIA Optimus Technology, the N53Sv-A2 excels in video editing, DirectX 11-enabled gaming, and graphic rendering while conserving battery for less-intensive tasks. Bundled with ASUS VideoMagic 3-in-1 software package, you get image-enhancing programs like PowerDVD 9 with True Theatre that instantly scales DVD-quality to Full 1080p HD with smoother frame rates so you can enjoy videos and movies in the quality they deserve. Specially built into the N53Sv-A2, the ASUS Super Hybrid Engine extends battery life via the ASUS Power4Gear Hybrid utility. The N53Sv-A2 also comes with SuperSpeed USB 3.0 that charges USB 3.0-enabled devices quickly and transfers files from USB storage devices to your notebook up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0.1 The N53Sv-A2 features a 2.0 megapixel webcam with security lens cover, 750GB 7200RPM hard drive, ASUS Splendid Technology, multi-touch trackpad, Express Gate, and a brushed aluminum design.

Key Features
15.6-inch LED-backlit HD display with ASUS Splendid Technology for crisp HD visual quality (Learn more)
ASUS SonicMaster Technology co-developed by world-renowned audio experts at Bang & Olufsen ICEpower delivers improved clarity, volume, and resonance, and detailed sound. (Learn more)
2nd generation Intel Core i7-2630QM processor with Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Technology for smart multitasking that automatically senses what you're doing and boosts performance (Learn more)
NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M graphics with 1GB DDR3 VRAM and NVIDIA Optimus Technology delivers fast performance for Full HD playback and gaming and switches to IntelHD graphics to save battery for less intensive tasks (Learn more)
ASUS Super Hybrid Engine and ASUS Power4Gear Hybrid optimizes the system to extend battery life for the task at hand (Learn more)
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 for quicker device charging and up to 10x faster transfers than USB 2.01 (Learn more)
ASUS VideoMagic Software for clearer images and smoother visuals (Learn more)
Express Gate mini-operating system grants instant access to internet, music, Skype, and more in seconds




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Relax, ASUS Has You Covered Ranked as the #1 most reliable PC brand by 3 independent sources,2 readers and editors alike choose ASUS as their trusted notebook and netbook. ASUS tirelessly strives to exceed expectations of quality to ensure you an unmatched peace of mind every time you start your PC. This notebook is also backed by the industry's most comprehensive warranty.
2 Year ASUS Global Warranty2 Offers a level of coverage that would add hundreds of dollars to the price of competing laptops:
2 year global warranty
30 day Flawless Display Guarantee
2-way free standard shipping
24/7 tech support
1 Year Accidental Damage Warranty (ADW)3 Whether your notebook is damaged by accidental spills, drops, electrical surges, or fire, ASUS will fix it or replace it for you during the first year after purchase.
Covers accidental drops, spills, power surges, and fire damage
Target 3 business day turnaround time for repair / replacement; not including receiving and shipping time
1-way shipping (from ASUS to the user) at no additional cost
24-hour toll-free phone support

What's in the Box
N53Sv-A2
AC Adapter
6 cell Battery Pack
Warranty Information Card
Specifications
OperatingSystem: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Display: 15.6-inch HD display (1920 x 1080)
Processor: 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2630QM processor (2.0 GHz)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M graphics with 1GB DDR3 VRAM and NVIDIA Optimus Technology
WLAN: 802.11 b/g/n (@ 2.4GHz), Bluetooth 2.0
LAN: 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet
Memory: 6GB DDR3, 2 x SODIMM Sockets (up to 8GB)
Storage: 750GB 7200RPM hard drive
Optical Drive: Blu-Ray Combo Drive
Camera: 2.0 megapixel
Speakers: Built-in speakers with SonicMaster Technology
Microphone: Digital Array Microphone
Card Reader: 5-in-1 card reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS-Pro, MS-Duo)
Input/ Output:1 x Mic-in, 1 x Headphone-out, 1 x VGAport/Mini D-Sub 15-pin for external monitor, 1 x RJ-45 LAN, 2 x USB 2.0ports, 1 x USB 3.0 ports
Battery: 6 cell
Dimensions: 15.6 x 10.6 x 1.2 ~ 1.6 (W x D x H)
Weight: 6.4 lbs (with 6 cell battery)
Color: Silver
© 2011 ASUS Computer International. All Rights Reserved. ASUS is a registered trademark of ASUSTeK Computer. All specifications and terms are subject to change without notice. Please check with your supplier for exact offers on selected models. Products may not be available in all markets. Product may not be exactly as shown in photos. 1All figures theoretical values compared to USB 2.0 benchmarks for reference purposes. Actual speed depends on device and system status. 2Rated number 1 Windows-based PC maker in PCMag.com's Service & Reliability Report 2010. Rated number 1 PC brand according to SquareTrade, the leading direct-to-consumer warranty company (for more information visit http://www.squaretrade.com/pages/laptop-reliability-1109/ ). Rated number 1 reliable PC maker in Q2 2010's RESCUECOM report http://www.rescuecom.com/2010-2nd-Quarter-Computer-Reliability-Report.html 3 ASUS reserves the right to exclude certain SKUs; check with your retailer to confirm coverage of specific models. Valid for notebooks purchased in the US and Canada only. Certain retailers do not participate in ADW coverage. For complete details, please visit: usa.asus.com/event/ASUS360 and adw.asus.com/.

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Acer AS5742-7653 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I own two of these laptops. The i5 processor is probably the best for the money. This laptop has some great features LED backlit, wireless certified N, bluetooth, and 4 GB of RAM. It has a 1.3 MP camera, most others are giving you a measley 0.3 MP camera in this class. A Multicard reader and a HDMI output port so if you want to connect it to your TV. This laptop comes with 128 MB of dedicated Video RAM. Not a huge amount but still better than nothing. Most laptops in this price range give you only the slower shared video memory which means the processor has to do extra work to get the picture output. Most reviews I have read were pretty good. No jittering or picture loss while watching TV. I used the ACER Backup manager to make all my backup DVD's. Its pretty simple to make a complete backup image of your hard drive with this software.Just follow the prompts. No need to pay $30 bucks for someone else to talk you into making them for you at the stores. If you are looking to play stereo music with this, Forget It! It only has a single MONO speaker. Good enough to listen to music or view videos while surfing. But dont expect alot. This isnt that kind of laptop. You could always listen to High fidelity sound through a pair of head phones though . And alot of people do surf that way. Not me! I have all the sound I need right in this speaker to watch videos and short clips. If you plan on watching a movie wear head phones with this laptop! The keybord layout seems pretty decent. The keys are the typical new style Chiclet flat keys. Most laptops seem to offer these now. The keys have a posative little pop to them when you press down on a key to feel the key stroke. Battery life has not been fully tested but from other reviewers it seems to be in the 3 hour plus range. It has very little nagware installed. You can easily uninstall whats there anyway. Amazon was selling these for five hundred and eighty dollars in october. I bought mine at office max for that price. The second one I paid five hundred bucks on black friday at the same place I bought the first one. A really great deal. Amazon doesnt price match and their pricing structure changes weekly depending on sales. So if the item is hot plan to pay a little more. If you can hold out awhile you might save eighty bucks by watching the price changes from week to week like I did. But I still recommend this laptop as a good buy. If you want more features in a laptop, for example, wide screen, stereo speakers, extra ports, larger keyboard, larger batteries, then maybe you should drop down to a intel core i3 for about the same money, and just deal with a little less speed and processing power. I hope this helps your decision.

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The Acer Aspire AS5742 notebook PC (model AS5742-7653) offers powerful performance, the latest connectivity technology, and rich media features for a fast, responsive PC experience. Start with a gorgeous 15.6-inch widescreen LCD display with built-in HD webcam and the smart performance of the Intel Core i5 processor, then throw in cool convenience features and the new Microsoft Office Starter 2010 and you have everything you need within reach to power through daily tasks and enjoy your media wherever you are.
Enjoy smart performance and a seamless visual experience with the Acer Aspire AS5742.

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Gateway NV5929u, i5-430m, 4GB DDR3 memory, n-wifi, 6-cell battery, 15.6" laptop computer, Windows 7 64-bit, Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I know my review is extremely long, but I've tried to provide as much information as I can. I will continue to update this review periodically and respond to comments, so if you have questions please feel free to ask.
A note on the error:
A lot of people picked up this laptop on sale at Best Buy for $500. It was an error on Gateway's part; they put in i5 chips instead of i3 chips, but the box was labeled as i3 and the laptop has the Intel i3 inside sticker on it. The system bios says it has an i5 and benchmark tests prove it does have an i5-430m. It will get up to 2.53 ghz when turboboost comes on. Stock speed is 2.26 ghz. Hyperthreading means it has 2 physical cores and 2 virtual cores. This laptop does have a $750 msrp value, but I wouldn't have paid $750 for it. Many people got them on sale because of a mistake. In any case, this is a solid laptop, although not at the retail price of $750. I think for $750 there are definitely a lot of good laptops out there, but you need to buy with your goals in mind. If you want a gaming laptop, look for a really good video card. What you need varies by what you want to do with the computer.
Pro:
The laptop feels sturdy, the screen has little play in it and stays firmly in place to wherever you open it. It looks sleek, is thin and pretty light at under 6 lbs. A 15.6 inch screen is a nice balance between size and portability, in my opinion. 17.3'' is great but they can weigh a pound or two more as the entire laptop is bigger as a result. 15.6 inches fits in my backback with no problem. Overall I really like the design and build quality of this laptop even if it is plastic. The only aluminum-cased laptops I've ever seen are the macbook pro ones from Apple, and those cost upwards of $1500. If you want a metal or carbon fiber one, get a macbook pro or some other high end model.
This thing is fast. The i5-430M is an excellent chip. You can google benchmarks on it. The i3 is 30-40% faster than a C2D, and the i5 is quite a bit faster than the i3 because of turbo boost technology. It also gives better battery life than the i3 because it has speed step and lower voltage. It's odd that the faster chip gives you better battery life, but that's just another perk.
4GB DDR3 1066mhz (3.68gb usable it says) is excellent. DDR3 is the newest type of RAM and it's still really expensive. The Gateway website says it recognizes 4gb RAM max. It only has 2 RAM slots, so it comes maxed out on RAM. This is fine because adding anything more than 4gb RAM would be pretty much useless for most people. I haven't been able to get this to use much more than 2gb, let alone 4. 4gb RAM is perfect for most people, and since the RAM is already maxed, get a solid state drive if you want a performance boost.
320gb 5400rpm hard drive is plenty of space. Whoever wrote the product description made a mistake because it is a 320gb hard drive. It's roughly 284 usable after having been formatted and with the Gateway Recovery Partition still in place. Many people don't understand that when you buy a 320gb hard drive, you do not get 320gb of space. No, you have not been lied to. Manufacturers use decimal notation (320gb = 3.2 billion)but computers read binary, so it's really about 298gb. You always get slightly less than what the manufacturer says, I believe it's 7% less than what is advertised, so this one holds about 298gb. The Recovery Partition takes up some space as well, so for usable space it's in the 280s unless you get rid of the partition. If you want a 500gb hard drive, they're easy enough to buy online and put in yourself. There are guides online for how to do this; it's very easy to do on this model. You remove a few screws from the bottom panel and you have access to the hard drive and the RAM. To remove the hard drive you take out 2 more screws and then pull the hard drive down to free it, and then you can remove it from the case. A solid state drive would make this ridiculously fast, but they're very expensive right now because they're bleeding edge technology. In a year or two they'll be way cheaper and absolutely worth the money for an upgrade.
The screen looks good. It's a glossy LED-backlit LCD screen. The resolution isn't super high, but this isn't a $2000 laptop. It's 1366 x 768. Most people will want to use the HDMI port to watch blu-ray on their LCD/plasma tv. With a 15.6 inch screen you can still enjoy blu-ray movies even if they aren't on a huge screen. I notice they have a lot of detail, but a small screen really doesn't do blu-ray justice. That's what HDTVs are for. This screen, like all budget laptop screens, suffers from poor viewing angles. I really don't mind this at all, but some people want an awesome screen. If this is a concern to you, be prepared to spend $1500+.
The optical drive will play blu-ray movies and you can use it to burn CDs and DVDs, but not blu-ray discs. No one can distinguish between 720p and 1080p on a screen this size, so it not having a 1080p resolution isn't a dealbreaker for me. While I've noticed that blu-ray movies are much crisper and have more detail than standard DVDs, the difference isn't as significant as viewing a dvd and then a blu-ray movie on my hdtv. This laptop will let you play 1080p on your hdtv via the HDMI port, but you can't actually get the full 1080p experience on the laptop itself because the screen's resolution is not 1920x1080. The 720p/1080p difference only matters on bigger screens and depends on how far away you're sitting from the screen. If you want a 1080p screen, you're going to pay the premium price for one. I think this resolution is fine for both blu-ray and normal tasks. As far as the optical drive goes, you can't burn blu-ray with it. If you are wanting to burn blu-ray movies, I imagine you're going to want to be able to do HD encoding, and for that you really want an i7 quad core desktop setup anyway.
There are tactile buttons up by the screen for mute, volume up, volume down, wireless on, etc. Very cool.
The laptop feels cool to the touch. I had it running for 5 hours and it wasn't even warm on my legs. Update 6-16-10: After using this for several months it still stays very cool. CPU temp usually stays in the mid to high 30s C, peaking around 43C when computer is under light use. This is very cool for a laptop. The hard drive also stays cool, in the low 30s C. I've been able to get the temp up to 83C using Handbrake to encode video to .mkv with h.264. That's the max temp I've achieved.
Windows 7 Home 64 bit is pre-loaded. It's better than Vista.
The computer will not continue to charge if you plug it in and it's already a really high charge, say 96-100%. This is a good thing. It means it won't charge the battery when it's not needed. So it will say "96% plugged in, not charging." What ruined my old laptop battery was overcharging and heat.
Cons:
The keyboard isn't the best ever, but I tend to have low expectations for laptop keyboards. I never buy $2000 laptops, so for the price you can't expect something incredible. I have no problem with this keyboard, though. It has the number pad on the right so you can work with numbers a lot easier. This doesn't have a standard 10-key layout, though. The period is above the number pad instead of between 0 and enter at the bottom. I find this to be annoying, but it's ok. Having a number pad at all is a great feature.
The touch pad is somewhat difficult to work with, but overall it's not that bad once you get used to it. I think all touch pads feel slightly different, so it's something that you have to grow accustomed to. I adjusted the settings to remove the two-finger gestures, tapping and what not, so it works much better than it did when I first turned the laptop on.
Normally there are two buttons, one for left and one for right click. This has a plastic bar where you click on the left or right side. I don't really like it, but for me it's not a deal killer. It took a little getting used to. I think the advantage that it offers is that you won't accidentally right click as much. Otherwise it's an odd bit of engineering. This won't matter if you carry a mouse.
128mb of integrated video memory is good, but not enough to play most modern computer games that need 256, 512 or higher. If you're doing something that's GPU-intensive (photoshop CS4+, playing games like Crysis, etc) this will be something to consider. If you need more video graphics, look elsewhere. Make sure to update the graphics driver on the Intel website. Apparently I can't put a valid link in my review despite it being the correct link to the Intel website. You'll have to do a search for it yourself. On the Intel website under Support you can use their Intel graphics update utility or search for the correct update by selecting the operating system and clicking on drivers to find the new updates. As of 6-16-10 the current driver is 8.15.0010.2119
A 6 cell battery isn't the best. A 9 cell would have been amazing, and it's possible there are 9 cell batteries available for this, but 9 cell batteries are heavier than 6 cell ones, so it's a trade off. It gets a little over 4 hours on the lowest power setting. Make sure to go into advanced power plan options by clicking on the battery icon. You should change the "power saving" plan's advanced options. You'll want to set the CPU to use 0% max while unplugged. It's still enough cpu power to watch streamed video or play blu-ray movies and your battery will last a lot longer on a charge while unplugged if you do this. You can also set the cooling to passive so the fans won't come on; this will give you a little extra battery life as well. Getting over 4 hours on a single charge with a laptop that performs as well as this one is fantastic. It's not a...Read more›

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Sony VAIO VPC-EB37FX/BJ 15.5-Inch Laptop (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)
Hi, this is my first personal laptop,always wanted to own a Sony VAIO.I bought one black color piece last week from Amazon, I am very much impressed with the look and performance of it, but still I need to explore what r all the features it contains.The keypad is awesome and the screen quality is soo good, watched few movies and the sound quality, though the volume is low(guess this is a standard for all Sony systems) but u could get the feel of quality music.
Hope I will write my review again after exploring the features of it.

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Sony VAIO EB Series: Affordable and Stylish On-the-Go Computing Power
A perfect mix of performance and style, the slim, lightweight Sony VAIO EB laptop in black (model EB37FX/BJ) combines a contemporary design with excellent mobile computing power in one affordable package. And with the smart performance of the Intel Core i5 processor and the new Microsoft Office Starter 2010, you have everything you need within reach to power through daily tasks and enjoy your media wherever you are.
The 15.5-inch Sony VAIO EB laptop is designed with inviting finishes and subtle patterns (see larger image).

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Toshiba Satellite L655D-S5164 15.6-Inch LED Laptop (Grey) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)It's a short story how I landed on buying this laptop at a local retail store. I was looking for something below $1000 and a 15" size and good performance and this was it. This was the first time I ever used a personal laptop or computer at home with AMD processor and I should say I loved it.First I was at the retail store and picked up another brand with I5 processor. It has more memory and more hard drive space than this laptop. Took it home and playing some high performance pc games and some streaming apps and noticed that the I5 really was bad. The graphics was slow, the performance was bad. So I went back to the store and tried other similar I5 laptops with other manufacturers and same bad result. Finally I thought I'll pick this one ( as it's quad core) and ran the same games in the store (thanks to my mobile hotspot ..;-) ) and the performance was simply superior for almost the same $$$. I was really impressed even with 1/2 the memory of other laptops how it handled the same games and programs. Well, I was sold!!! I've been using this for couple months now. Great performance, no heat issues, fantastic display, nice looks.
I feel really sad now, as amazon now sells it for less than $600! I paid over $750 + tax for this! Although definitely worth that money. Less than $600 is fantastic price!
Only complain I have is that sometimes when I type my palm accidently hits the touchpad and puts the cursor elsewhere or puts in scrolling mode. I think , then I learnt to position my hands differently. The issue is because the touchpad is fairly large and its possible you'll touch it accidently when your typing.
Overall great product. Kudos for AMD too!

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Toshiba Satellite L655D: Fashionable, Affordable and Portable with 15.6-Inch Screen
Offering plenty of mobile computing power plus room to multitask, study, and play, the Toshiba Satellite L655D (model L655D-S5164) offers a generous 15.6-inch display that's great for doing more things at once--handling business at home or in the field, watching movies or playing online RPG games. The L655D is perfect for handling computing essentials at home, school or work--from surfing the Web and downloading video to managing household finances or studying for finals. And its high-gloss Fusion Finish in Helios Gray will be sure to raise a few eyebrows.
Enjoy added screen real estate with the L655D's 15.6-inch screen (see larger image).

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HP Pavilion dv7-4165dx AMD Phenom II Triple-Core N850(2.2GHz) 17.3" 4GB Memory 640GB Blu Ray Combo ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Mfr Refurbished Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I got this from another vendor as 'refurbished' for a similar price to amazon's.
Screen: huge, glossy, lovely. 1600x900 17.3"
Keyboard: interestingly different than most. I don't know the name of what this tech is called. The keys are not butted up against each other but separated, flatter, straight/individual. I like it a lot and I bet it's great for people with big fingers (or poor typing) who might normally hit more than one key. I'm not fond of the arrow key approach (it shrinks up/down to fit together between left/right) but I'll adapt. Has number pad. Bummer though, the numlock key has no light on it nor on the dash so you have no idea if it's on or not. However, the wireless and the 'mute' alt-function buttons have tiny lights as does the left caps lock. Black keys, typical of nearly all laptops nowdays, which since I use my laptop at night in the dark--and use a diff keyboard during my job hours so my brain-patterns are always 'adapting'--drives me crazy. There are little glow in the dark stickers you can get for keyboards to help with this.
Dash controls: nothing but power button and touch pad, however, media controls are built into function keys with ALT usage.
Touch pad: upside: large, smooth, defined edge. downside: pain in the butt to try and click. Not reasonable for constant use. The alternate 'tap' function so far is incredibly inconsistent. I may need more time/practice. A whole lot of it apparently. That is quite bothersome. Previous reviews I read elsewhere griped about this also. I don't think it's enough to weigh against the merits of the machine which are many--I'd still buy it--but if you don't mind mice (USB) because you mostly use it on a flat surface, you might want to get one. Definitely be sure you go into control panel and mess with your settings. It does have the various options for scroll, zoom in, zoom out, and 3-finger launch which is neat.
Ports: all the standards, USB on both sides, multi-option media card reader. Power cord on right side, sticks out the normal amount for laptops (alas). Standard wireless for this day and age. 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN
Guts: has a pretty decent processor, 4G RAM (the main reason I got this). If you do advanced gaming or 3D animation you'd want something with a lot more speed and RAM, but I do basic graphics and database work and it's fine for all that. Hard drive is large (640G). Go get 'minitool partition wizard' from cnet (free) and you can split it into a few drive letters for more practical storage/scanning/searching/defragging. (Note: if MPW it won't let you create a partition due to 'no MBR keys', change the non-C 'primary' drives this HP has in place to 'logical' (right-click to do that), then it will.)
Peripherals: has mic, internal speakers, webcam. These don't seem special to me but I'm no expert on that. The optical drive is CD/DVD, Blue-Ray and Light-Scribe which is about as much as you can ask.
The case is actually lovely, metallic silver with fine lines of engraving. The back of the lid has the round HP logo that is lit up. I guess so either you can tell it's on when it's closed or just because it looks neat.
Power: typical AC plus a battery said to be much longer life than normal -- and this despite the huge bright screen. I have not yet had cause to test this to verify it though. 9-Cell 93WHr Lithium-Ion Battery
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
Other software: well it's a typical fairly low-end laptop. So you mostly have a bunch of crappy bloatware that wants registration and you should uninstall it and use quality open source based software instead, if clicking a link to uninstall (control panel is where you do that) or install something (once you download an install file to your hard drive) doesn't seem too challenging. Use MS IE to go get free Firefox and Chrome then close IE. Use one of those to go to CNet and get free Avast (an Anti Viral program). Reboot. Uninstall the junk you don't want. Install all the windows updates critically needed. Install the various free software you might want. (I recommend: OpenOffice suite for all the microsoft-like programs, free. 7Zip or WinZip utility. Music Monkey or Jet Audio free jukebox. FileZilla free FTP. When possible stick to download dotcom and cnet dotcom for s/w because they will make sure it is 'clean'.) Textpad is not a free editor but is 'nagware' and is a good customizable colorcode editor if you write code or do much in text. This PC does however come with some decent software free such as two Corel graphic/video programs and Roxio. (I prefer PhotoShop but I can't afford it so I only have it if I steal it. PSP is a good program though. I haven't seen the photo version but the graphics version actually has a photoshop-style interface option.) The microsoft office stuff this machine says it comes with is just to suck you into $. So try OpenOffice which is just as good. Or just use google docs if you're not too demanding and like the idea of being able to get to your stuff from any computer anywhere.
Warranty: mine came with 90 days and I bought an extra year, I'm not sure what amazon's options are.
I think this is a really good computer for the price. I have had every brand of basic laptop (the

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Dell XPS 17 Laptop, i7-2630QM, 6GB DDR3 Memory, 17.3in FHD WLED AG (1920x1080) Screen, NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M 3GB graphics with Optimus, 500GB 7200 RPM HD, Tray Load CD/DVD Burner, Windows 7 Home Premium Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I got the latest XPS 17 aka L702x last month to replace an HP Pavilion dv6. The specifications are,
CPU: i7-2630QM
DRAM: 6GB DDR3-1333
Screen: 17.3in FHD 3D
GPU: GeForce GT555M 1GB
Hard Drive: 640GB
Optical Drive: Blu-ray burner
Battery: 9-cell
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium.
My first impression is that the XPS is huge compared to the HP, even though the screen is just 1 inch bigger. The weight is also substantially greater. The 9-cell battery protrudes from the bottom, making it even harder to fit into tight space. Although the 9-cell is supposed to extend the battery life, I get just under 3 hours in mixed usage. So, the XPS is a desk-top replacement through and through. If mobility is an important consideration, the XPS 15 can be had with the same CPU and screen resolution, and will be a much better choice.
In terms of computing power, the XPS does not disappoint. The i7-2630QM is capable of 8 threads simultaneously, and I have not experienced any slow-down so far due to CPU overload. The GT555M can run all the latest 3D games if the graphics is set to low quality, but it gets really hot and loud, not to mention the quick battery drain. For gaming, a good desk-top remains the best option. The XPS comes with a pair of 3D glass, but I have not had the urge to try it out either for movie, because of the lack of interesting media, or for games, due to the heat and noise the GPU generates. I intend to use the computer for numerical work, and the CPU, the memory system and the hard drives are the key components.
6GB of memory and a 5400-rpm drive do not match well with the high-performing 2630QM, and I had planned to upgrade them right after the purchase. Once the machine arrives and gets its belly opened up, however, I am shocked to find just 2 SODIMM slots. Dell is advertising "up to 16GB RAM" in 4GBx4 configuration, and this is clearly not the case. After some exhaustive research, I finally find the explanation in an obscure Dell customer forum. It turns out that, to save literally a few pennies, Dell has used two different motherboards in the same model: one with 4 SODIMM slots and 3GB of GDDR RAM, the other with 2 SODIMM slots and 1GB of GDDR RAM. I had noticed and got puzzled by the $170 price difference when one stepped up from the GT555M 1GB to the GT555M 3GB. This kind of explains Dell's thought process in the pricing hierarchy. Still, I am upset that Dell fails to explain any of this on its website because there are customers like myself who do not care about the graphic RAM but do want to have the potential to upgrade to 16GB of system memory. I had paid $300 extra compared to HP dv7 for Dell exactly because XPS was supposed to be a premium brand without too much corner-cutting, but I under-estimated Dell's capacity for taking advantage of their customers. In the end, I can only replace the 2GB SODIMM with a 4GB module. The swap costs me $30 after the old SODIMM is sold on ebay, still much less than what Dell would have charged me to upgrade to 8GB memory in the factory.
Upgrading the hard drives, on the other hand, is something that the designers of XPS obviously take into account. The XPS comes with 2 drive bays, with the 640GB drive occupying the first one only. I have a new Crucial RealSSD C300 - Solid state drive - 64 GB - internal - 2.5" - SATA-600 ready and just have to move the 640GB drive to the second slot before replacing the SSD in the primary drive bay. Unfortunately, these drive bays are covered with aluminum shields that are attached to the motherboard with tiny screws. I strip one of the screw heads by using a driver a little too large. This necessitates some drilling followed by the application of a screw extractor. The whole process is extremely scary because of the danger of breaking the motherboard, and should be avoided if at all possible. In the end, I have to say that installing the SSD is quite straightforward if I had not had the accident with the screw. Once the hardware is in place, I reinstall the OS with the DVD which had cost me $19 extra, and wipe the 640GB drive to use for data. All the drivers are either included in a free DVD or can be downloaded from Dell's support site easily. The applications such as PowerDVD, however, are nowhere to be found. I have to call Dell support line and have the DVDs shipped to me, but they are at least free of charge. All together, the pre-installed softwares including the OS take up 30GB, leaving 29GB of usable space ("64GB" drives really have only 59GB of usable space in another case of misleading vendor advertisement.) on the SSD for other applications.
Once the upgrades are done, I am very happy with the performance of the machine. The SSD really makes a big difference. Windows 7 boots up at under 15 seconds and shuts down in 10. For this alone, I am willing to endure the bulk of the XPS 17 for the dual drive bays. Overall, however, I am somewhat less happy with Dell than HP for three reasons:
1. The HP dv6 just seemed more tightly put together;
2. I did not experienced misleading feature descriptions with HP;
3. I miss the fingerprint scanner on the HP notebook.


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Dell - Inspiron Laptop / Intel® CoreTM i3 Processor / 15.6" Display / 4GB Memory / 320GB Hard Drive - Mars Black Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I am very impressed with this laptop. I needed something quickly because my old Dell laptop wasn't functioning well. This arrived to me sooner than expected and seller was very good about responding to some initial questions that I had. Overall, I am loving this new laptop! It's brand new and much improved from my older version. I love the look and functionality of it. The screen is nice and big for easier viewing, yet not too big. Laptop is fairly light given it's size. Haven't tested all the functionality yet since I just received it not too long ago, but so far it's great!

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Dell Inspiron 15r Notebook Intel Core i5-2140m(2.30ghz) 15.6" 4gb Memory Ddr3 1333 500gb Hdd 5400rpm Dvd±r/rw Intel HD Graphics 3000 Hdmi Webcam Bluetooth Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I received this Dell lappy via Buybooksnow on amazon for $602. Great value in that it has the Sandy Bridge I5 processor in it and it has 2 USB 3.0s as well(which I did not see listed in the specs). Anyhow, it came with only one of the memory slots filled so it was very easy to upgrade to 6 or 8gb of RAM. It is lightening quick and does everything I need. The only thing holding this computer back is the integrated graphics, but you are not going to get a computer like that for 6 hundred bucks. Time will tell, but this looks like one of the best deals I have ever gotten on Amazon.

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