Lenovo Ideapad U-450p 14-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium) Review

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(More customer reviews)So, I did extensive research on the ulv-class laptops from Asus, Acer, Toshiba, and Lenovo. My main goal was to buy a mid-range ($500-700) culv laptop with Windows 7 to tide me over until the release of the Asus UL80-JT (I3 CULV with automatic switchable graphic cards and 12 hours of battery life), which won't be released until later in the year.
What I got was exactly that. The reviews complained mostly about the Lenovo customer service, which I have not dealt with personally. However, I have heard that Lenovo's customer service isn't *that* bad and it is a smaller company than HP or Dell (you and your laptop will actually end up worse for the wear after dealing with their customer service). No one's customer service can ever compete with the quality Asus customer service, and I was sad that the price point on the Asus ul30 and ul80 moved back up to around $850 on Amazon and that they were sold out on most other websites, but so it goes.
So, onto the Lenovo, it has a sleek look and you will never have a fingerprint problem. The keyboard is the most ergonomically designed keyboard I have seen on a thin and light laptop and it has the greatest feel to it. The laptop does not feel flimsy at all and seems pretty sturdy all around. It comes with a CD/DVD drive, which is great, since most of the other thin and lights have eliminated an optical drive in favor of weight.
The veriface log-in is a cool added feature.
The screen has really good resolution and the laptop comes with a really decent graphics card. The one obvious drawback to this is that it takes a toll on the battery life. Now, I've moved from a normal laptop getting 2 hours of battery life at the most, so I am enjoying the added battery life. However, it is not as good as some of the other culv laptops. I get about 4 hours and 15 minutes on average depending on what I am doing. This is again, great compared to the regular lithium ion batteried-laptops, but it seems pretty average for the culv class laptops with Acer boasting 9 hours and Asus boasting 12 hours. (Asus doesn't get 12 hours but instead close to 9, but that still rates above the Lenovo). So, I ultimately find myself a bit annoyed when I have to plug the Lenovo in.
The laptop runs cool and quietly and with no real noticeable fan noise.
I think the only con on this laptop is the battery life AS COMPARED to other laptops in its class. Overall, however, I am happy with the purchase and would recommend it to people who are looking to get a less expensive culv laptop, because it ultimately has a better price point than its competitors.Lenovo Ideapad U-450p 14-Inch Black Laptop - Up to 6 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

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The future is now, and it's in stunning high-definition. Introducing the IdeaPad™ U450p notebook with HD graphics support and an integrated DVD player/burner for watching movies on the move. Weighing in at just 4.62lbs and a mere 1.1 inch thick, the U450p features long battery life and is great for mobile entertainment, or simply for connecting with friends. And with Windows® 7 Lenovo Enhanced Experience certification, you'll enjoy fast boot and shutdown, rich multimedia capabilities and easy system maintenance tools.Best of all, it's from Lenovo, makers of the award-winning ThinkPad notebooks for business.


IdeaPad™ U450p Notebook Key Features

Processor: Intel® Pentium® processor SU4100
OS: Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium
Display: 14.0 inch high-definition LED backlight display, 16:9 widescreen
Hard Drive: 250GB 5400rpm SATA
Memory (RAM): 3GB DDR3
Video Graphics: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M
Integrated Communications: Ethernet/802.11b/g
Battery: Battery life up to 6 hrs
System Weight: 4.62 lbs

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Breakthrough Portability
Breakthrough Entertainment
Breakthrough Technology
A Better Windows® 7 Experience

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ASUS N61JQ-B2 16-Inch Versatile Entertainment Laptop (Dark Brown) Review

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(More customer reviews)I purchased the asus n61jq-b2(blue ray version) and was very unhappy when I couldn't open any programs out of the box without the system freezing up on me! I tried everything from removing blote-ware, to moving the few files (pictures and music) that I put on the C drive along with the OS, to the D drive which was empty. that did not fix the issue, I finally reformated the C drive and re-installed the Windows 7 OS. now this computer is running like a dream. I have a desktop with intel q6700and 4g of 800 mhz ram to compare it with and it is faster. dont know what caused the problem, but the reinstall saved me from returning the unit. this laptop also came with 1333mhz ram not the posted 1066mhz. just a little bonus. It also runs very cool compared to my old hp laptop. I am very happy with my purchase and impressed with the new intel i7-740QM. 5 stars for the money. and one last thing. Don't let the brown color scare you, it can pass as black.

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HP Pavilion dv7-4190us 17.3-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 5.25 Hours of Battery Life (Argento) Review

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(More customer reviews)Although I haven't done everything on it yet that this computer can do, I am very happy with it. It is lightning fast,and I don't have to wait and wait for things to appear. Very light (I wish I could open it with one hand, though) and easy to move. Screen resolution is marvelous, sound is great. Well worth the money!

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Now there's a notebook PC made for the way you play. In fact, the HP Pavilion dv7 comes with software that lets you start playing right out of the box. With amazing graphics, audio, and video, plus a wide array of options, the HP Pavilion dv7 Entertainment series notebook delivers power and performance to match your fast-paced lifestyle.

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Compaq Presario CQ5500F Desktop PC - Black Review

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(More customer reviews)Well I just received this computer about two days ago, but despite this, I think I can make a pretty good assessment about its pros and cons thus far. I'll begin by saying that from an aesthetic viewpoint, this computer looks very nice. The case itself is matte, but the front bezel itself is a nice, glossy finish that really does look nice, all things considered. It has two USB 2.0 ports on the front as well as jacks for both headphones and a microphone, so no need to reach around to the back of the unit if you don't feel like it. Oh yes, just so you're not as confused as I was at first, the power button is technically located on what would be your right hand side if the computer's front is facing you, situated near the top of the case. The button is illuminated by a somewhat irritating bright blue LED, a lighting choice that seems to have become popular in the computer market these days, so it's kind of a take it or leave it thing depending on how you feel about such. The only ridiculous part of the external design is, in my opinion, the terribly designed bay for the DVD reader. A plastic flap obscures the drive itself, and to open it, one presses a silver button directly underneath this flap. Now this is all fine and dandy until you try to use it: would a nuclear power plant have a computer monitoring the reactor that is rendered inoperable after turning it on? The same issue takes place here--the plastic flap actually flips over the button itself after opening, making it a totally unnecessary fiasco to press the button again to let the drive read a placed disc. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that after a few uses the flap becomes a little stiff; it will show some difficulty closing after the drive door recedes. This is not anything severe, but you will probably have to push it closed manually. There's one more big issue that came up, actually: NO CASE FAN. I'm surprised this evaded my notice for so long. This computer should run pretty cool, and a case fan can run anywhere from $5-20, but the fact that they didn't include this is actually really underhanded if this is HP's idea of "cutting costs." Still, it hasn't blown up on me yet, and a fan is shipping in the mail. 1/2 point off.
The hardware itself is decent; nothing mindblowing in this box to be sure. Two gigs' worth of DDR3 memory should give this computer some decent punch, but why not upgrade to four and max out its potential?***NOTE*** Apparently Amazon was wrong about the memory type. Another reviewer found it to be DDR2 memory instead of DDR3, so plan accordingly before purchasing!***NOTE*** The PSU is 250 watts, I believe. This should be enough to power everything on board adequately, but in case you were intending to add a second hard drive or add a graphics card, upgrading the power supply may be wise. In any case, it only comes with two power couplings for SATA-type devices, both of which are already in use by the hard drive and DVD drive. It does have some older MOLEX-type adaptors, however, and the motherboard hosts one IDE slot. I do have to mention that the power supply is kind of a pain in the rear to remove, though. The box also hosts one PCI slot, two PCI-e and one PCI-e16, I think. I'll verify this later. Graphics are integrated--not what you would want for gaming, but I find they're adequate enough to play PoxNora online with minimal hiccups, so it can carry you through in many cases. Processor is an AMD Sempron, which is a lower level unit, although it's definitely strong enough to run Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit without any issue. I'm having the hardest time finding out what's the biggest processor the motherboard will take, however; even the HP website and several manuals I've read thus far seem not to be willing to divulge this useful bit of knowledge. Overall, though, I think I can recommend this one as a purchase, especially for this ridiculously low price.
***EDIT*** They (Amazon) just lowered this PC's price to under $300 for a few days. It has since went back up to the default price, sadly. I'm not sure if that means I bought a lemon, but this is a definite must buy if you need decent computing power and the latest Windows OS at a price so low it could be called criminal. Just remember that Windows7 Home Premium does have some compatibility problems with older programs...to remedy this, you will need to change to either Professional or Ultimate.

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Acer AM3900-U3042 Desktop - Black Review

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(More customer reviews)After doing research on the Internet and reading the previous reviews, I decided to still take a chance and bought this computer anyway because my main home/office computer has an Acer motherboard and I've had trouble free use from it for over three years now.
This unit did not let me down and delivered on every level. It was purchased as an upgrade for my six-year old computer at my vacation residence, and while that computer was still working faithfully, it was slow running certain programs. This new Acer unit makes up for that in spades! By using PC Mover, I was able to transfer everything from the old computer to this one in a few hours, and outside of a few programs (specifically Microsoft products, Nero, and a couple of others), everything moved flawlessly. I took a couple of the peripherals out of the old computer - video card, sound card and an additional DVD/CD Writer and installed them into this new system in less than an hour. Windows 7 found them instantly and updated all the necessary drivers to get them to work. It's now 24 hours since I finished the upgrade/transfer and I'm using the computer right now to write this review.
The drawbacks? OK, there are three. One is that if you are not computer literate and you are upgrading your previous system to this one, you should have a computer specialist do it for you. PC Mover is a great program but it's not perfect and leaves behind some software like antivirus programs and others that need to be reinstalled, and usually all the drivers for devices like printers, general USB devices, and internally added peripherals like sound and video cards. Because I'm familiar with how to handle these specific situations, this was not a major issue for me, except for the time involved. It did take me the better part of a full day to have PC Mover transfer everything, check and reinstall the software and peripherals, and then set up the system the way I wanted it to be. The second drawback - and this is VERY minor - is because this was a midrange computer, there were only two available PCI slots. One had the wireless PC adaptor, but because I have a LAN cable connection to my router, I was able to remove the wireless card and use that slot for one of the peripherals I moved from the previous computer. There are also two PCI Express slots available - a 1x and 16x - for enhanced graphics or anything else that requires PCI-E, which is excellent. The final drawback is that there is hardly any documentation that accompanies this system. The paperwork enclosed in the box is the basic stuff to get you going, but that's it. There is some documentation stored in a pdf file in the Acer directory on the hard drive, but it is very generic and not that helpful in terms of determining what exactly is inside the case or adding peripherals later on. It seems the Acer web site is sorely lacking in descriptive technical text as well. Again, if you're not computer literate, this will cause you some grief if you don't have a specialist help you, but if you're familiar enough with computer software and basic device installation, you won't need it anyway.
The list price at most other web sites is $599.99 and that doesn't include shipping or sales tax. At the time of this review, Amazon has this for $502.19 including shipping, and THAT IS A DEAL. If you're simply buying a new computer and are going to start from scratch, you cannot beat this system for the price. Just get yourself a monitor and some speakers and you're ready to go!

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Sporting a fresh design and featuring a cool illuminated blue power effect that runs alongside the edge of the machine, the Acer Aspire M3900 (model AM3900-U3042) features a dual-core Intel Pentium E6700 processor--providing the multitasking power you need for everyday computing so you can push play and creativity further. And 6 GB of DDR3 RAM delivers incredible system response to effortlessly play intense games and run the latest multithreaded applications.
The Acer Aspire M3900 desktop PC.

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ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 - AM3 - AMD 880G - DDR3 - USB 3.0 SATA 6 Gb/s - ATX Motherboard Review

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(More customer reviews)I'd wish to be more civil about this.
But the other person rating this motherboard is extremely ignorant and NOT tech savy.
This is a gem of a motherboard. It supports a VAST range of memory so I don't at all understand the complaint.
Memory Supported:
1066MHz DDR3
1333MHz DDR3
1800MHz DDR3 (OverClocking)
1600MHz DDR3
2000MHz DDR3 (OverClocking)Unlike most high end motherboard that don't support below 1600 and at time 2000mhz. This board also comes with a descent integrated Radeon HD 4250 series. All in all a gem that can support both USB 3.0 AND the new AMD Black Edition 1090T 6 CPU-Core processors.
A must buy even if your not on a budget. This includes 2x 16 PCI video card support as well!

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Toshiba 15.6" Satellite C655-S5061 Intel Core i3 Laptop 4GB Notebook 500GB Computer PC Review

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(More customer reviews)This is an excellent upgrade from my old dell. I love how fast it is, i can click on programs and they open right away, and videos load very quickly. The screen, also, is very bright and looks excellent and vivid. I also like the windows 7 operating system a lot. It's not the best looking computer, but you only ever look at the screen anyways, and i prefer this look to something with swirls or bright colors, it's much more classy.
When i first got it i was very disappointed with the speaker volume, i couldn't properly hear videos without using headphones- they were just too quiet. To fix this problem:
1. go to the Control Panel (found in the start menu),
2. click on "hardware and sound,"
3. under "sound" click on "change system sounds," this will bring up a window called "Sound"
4. click on the "playback" tab, click on "speakers," (mine are powered by a "Conexant" driver),
5. click on "properties" (in the lower right of the window). this will open the window "Speaker Properties."
6. Then in this new window click on the "enhancements" tab, and check "Loudness Equalization." Make sure you click Ok or Apply afterwards.
For me this completely solved my only problem with this computer (which was a pretty annoying problem). Enjoy.

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