HP G62-340us 15.6-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 4 Hours of Battery Life (Charcoal)

You need to understand where I'm coming from - my most recent computer was running a Pentium 4 with 512MB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive. That being said this computer is a significant step up, and I think it's great. I think it's also important to know what I'm using this computer for....I work in a hospital and use this to log on to the hospital system, use Microsoft Office, and surf the internet. For these applications this computer is perfect. I've had it for about 1 month and have had no issues. It does come loaded with a bunch of HP software which can be uninstalled so that's not a problem.

The battery is listed as 4 hrs...it probably doesn't last that long - I haven't officially timed the battery life but it's probably closer to 3 hrs. The case is plastic, the cold startup time is fast <30 sec, the wake from hibernate time is close to 3 seconds, the display is clear; the keyboard is easy to type on. The only thing that took me some time to get used to is the touchpad as it does not have any defined boundaries and the buttons are a little stiff. I seemed to have gotten use to both and for me they are minor issues.

I think the computer is ideal for any student or person who has similar tasks to the mine (listed above - probably the vast majority of people). I'm not a gamer and don't intend on using this for playing high intensity video games or doing a lot of photo/video/music editing. This computer is probably not suited for that type of work.

Overall I'm very happy with the product. I think for the money (paid $420 pretax) its hard to beat.

HP Pavilion dm4-1160us 14-Inch Laptop PC - Up to 6.25 Hours of Battery Life (Argento)

I won't bother telling you how powerful, quiet, and lightweight this machine is. People seem to just want to focus on the touchpad. Maybe early runs of it had problems, but mine works perfectly. The only quirk is that if you have two fingers on the touchpad at the same time, and try to move the mouse, you get this fricking 4-headed arrow that has crazy effects (in chrome, it increases and decreases the font size). Just make sure that one finger stays on the mouse button, and another finger can move the mouse. The problem arises because there is no tactile border between the mouse buttons and the touchpad, so if you are careless, you can end up with two fingers on the touchpad, and.....chaos. It took me about 7 minutes to figure out that if you keep your index finger on the lower half of the mouse button (which you *can* feel) then it's easy to move the mouse with another finger and have no problems. I actually find the touchpad quite responsive.
I love this machine, and think it is a steal for not much more than $700. Maybe it's not for everybody, but don't let rumors of touchpad issues dissuade you.

Acer Aspire TimelineX AS5820T-6401 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black Brushed Aluminum)

I was surprised after reading the first and only review gave this machine 3 stars.... This is a five star machine. I did A LOT of homework before getting this computer. If you read the reviews of similar models that simply have smaller hard drives and slower processors, you will get the jist of just how solid this laptop is.

I am not going to go into a lot of detail, but if you go into the purchase understanding that this laptop does not have bluetooth (not an issue for me at all), then you will love it!

I got this for my daughter for an early graduation present and to take on to college next fall. She wanted a laptop that had longer battery life than MOST computers. It does! You will not find a model with these specs, for this price with longer battery life. You will have to get a smaller screen size to do that. She wanted it large enough to watch a movie or tv show via the internet from time to time (plus it has the HDMI out to hook to TV). She wanted a hard drive large enough to hold all her pics and songs. We put everything on there already (tons of pics and about 1500 songs) and it still has 528 GB left! If you need a computer with more storage, you should GET AN EXTERNAL DRIVE! Geez! You can get 2 TB drive for less than $100 at Newegg.

And I would like to add that NO hard drive is going to yeild the space that is advertised because of two main factors- 1) It is measured differently by the operating system vs. the manufacturers (about 7% less)- which is true of of all hard drives! Of course this disparity becomes more apparent the larger the hard drive (7% of 640 is almost 45 GB!).
2) Hey folks! There is a thing called the OPERATING SYSTEM that uses some space. And sometimes there is a separately partitioned drive (d:) that is embedded within the c: drive used for system restore. Yes, it may come to a surprise to some, but the operating system does take up some space! So no, this laptop will not have 640 GB of free hard drive space when you boot it up for the first time, but seriously, many are trashing it for this reason when they are simply ignorant of why.

Also attractive about this computer is the processor- a Core i5. This computer is twice as fast as my Gateway NV52 that I am typing on right now. It has twice the hard drive space of my Gateway. It has at least thrice (that means three times!) the battery life of the Gateway. Sure, you may not get 8 hours, but that was the official measurement using the MobileMark 2007 Productivity test, which is what most use by the way. Like ALL the battery life ratings out there, take it with a grain of salt because they are ALL stretching the truth.

It is also lighter than my 2 year old Gateway, however it seems more solidly built. And the Acer was just a little bit more than Gateway I bought less than two years ago. This is the nature of electronic/computers though. I got a good price on the Acer for my daughter though- [..] and free shipping from B&H. I suspect more retailers will sell it for around that price for the pre-graduation sales soon.

Again, I doubt you will do any better for the price than this laptop, but more power to you if you do!

Acer AS5742-6475 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mesh Black)

i got this computer on the day the super-bowl was on. and i'm glad i got this laptop. its FRIKIN AWESOME!!

the keyboard is nice, the touch pad i didn't use(i would buy a wireless mouse if i were you) and the sound on it aren't bad.
what i hate about this computer is that its hard to push stuff into the usb ports(theres a certain way you have to push your stuff into the usb ports.)

its a nice fast computer with 5oo gb, 4 gb of memory, hd graphics, its great. it can last for 4 hrs (depending what your using your computer for.) and even better, it has Intel. good company, and i love how fast the internet is on this thing.
so if your looking for a computer to do your school work on, games, and movies, then i would recommend this computer.

ASUS UL80Vt-A1 14-Inch Thin and Light Black Laptop - 11.5 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

EDIT: An updated and revised review of this laptop can be found at over at Expert Laptop Review: [...]

I recently went on a laptop buying rampage and have ended up with the Dell Studio 14z, HP dm3z (L625 + Radeon 4330), and the Asus UL80VT-A1 in possession all at once. The first part of this review will focus solely on the Asus UL80VT-A1 and the second part of this review will compare it with my experience with the Dell Studio 14z and the HP dm3z.

ASUS UL80VT-A1 DETAILED REVIEW

First and foremost, let me say that I ordered the UL80VT-A1 because I thought it was simply an awesome idea to have switchable graphics in a laptop because you get excellent battery life + excellent performance when needed. There were no reviews of the UL80VT out when I purchased it, so I purchased the UL80VT-A1 from [...], which has a 100 percent refund on purchases just in case things didn't work out with me and the new lady.

While I was waiting to recieve the laptop in the mail, I read a review over at [...]. Oh boy, was I disappointed considering all the bad things the reviewer had to say about it (i.e. bad keyboard, bad track pad, horrible build quality, poor gaming performance). Needless to say, I had second thoughts about even opening up the Asus UL80VT-A1 because I didn't think it was worth my time considering the all the problems the reviewer had with his review model.

So that morning I got my HP dm3z in the mail and was really excited about how incredibly beautiful the laptop was. It is definitely sexier (in my opinion) than every other ultraportable out there, including the Macbook Pro 13" and HP Envy 13. I'll get to the dm3z a little later... either way, my first impression led me to believe that I'd probably be keeping the dm3z and just returning the Asus. When the Asus came in the mail, I wasn't even watching for it like I had been the dm3z. But I did take it upstairs and opened it up. (Unboxing video coming soon...)


FIRST IMPRESSIONS

My first impression was astoundingly contradictory to review I had read. I picked it up, squeezed it, pushed on the keyboard, which had minimal flex that wasn't noticeable to me when typing. My other first impressions were just how well the trackpad worked. The two finger scroll worked flawlessly (though it isn't as smooth of a scroll as Apple's, it functions equally responsively and is just as useful).

GRAPHICS PERFORMANCE - Rating 9/10

Over the last view days, I've been taking the UL80VT-A1 out for spin in a series of gaming tests. The first game I tested was the ever popular Counter-Strike: Source. I was astounded by the computer's ability to put out 150 FPS in the stress test at native resolution of 1366x768. I had been expecting to get closer to 80-100 FPS. I then tested it with 4x AA on, and it resulted in 99 FPS, which is phenomenal considering that AA usually cripple weaker graphics cards like the Nvidia 210M.

I was eager to test out the UL80VT's performance in some of the latest games because of the previous review I had read that had denounced its ability to play modern games. I had recently purchased Batman: Arkham Asylum. I loaded it up with the default settings, which were set on Very High at native 1366x768 resolution. Game play was moderately smooth and playable, but it was also noticably choppy at times with those settings (26 FPS average in the video stress test), so I dropped the settings down to medium. This time the Asus got 40 FPS average in the video stress test, and the game play was perfectly playable and smooth.

I then downloaded Team Fortress 2. It has been known to give ultraportable gaming machines a tough time due to its high shader requirements. When playing, I averaged about 50-60 FPS at native resolution with everything on High with no AA. I noticed drops down to 30 FPS when in heavy action, but it was not too disruptive to game play. I don't think it went below 30 FPS during the time I played.

After hearing claims that Asus UL80VT could not run Need For Speed: Shift well. I downloaded the demo to see if these claims were true. Fortunately, they were not. I was able to achieve playable frame rates, though it was a little choopy with the default settings, which had the screen at 1024x768 resolution and everything else up in detail. I tried changing the settings, but after changing the settings to lower the resolution to 800x600, the game repeatedly gave me an error and crashed right as the race was about to start. Unfortunately, I was not able to do a formal test, but it was clear that the game was getting at least 30 FPS at 800x600 resolution with texture settings on High. I would expect the game to be very playable as long as you are content with 800x600 (or maybe slightly better res) and medium settings.

I also managed to squeeze in a little play time in Protoype, another recent game that was released earlier this year. It played very smoothly at the default 1280x720 (which was the max res for some reason) and on the default medium settings.

Another game I was able to try was Call of Duty: World at War, which has identical specs to the latest Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. People will be glad to know that I was able to achieve 35-40 FPS constant at native resolution 1366x768 with texture settings on "normal" (except for "shader settings" which I set to "low"). I also turned off all of the extra graphical features, which didn't make much of a difference in visuals anyway.

In conclusion regarding the gaming peformance of this ultraportable laptop, it has excellent performance and handles most modern games fluidly at native resolution.

BATTERY LIFE - Rating 10/10

Yesterday, I used the laptop for 3 hours early in the morning with wifi on and brightness up. Later that day, I used it for about 15 minutes running Batman: AA. I then used it about 7 hours more with brightness at about 20% (2.5 hours with wifi on and 4.5 with it off). In total the laptop lasted me 10.25 hours between a mixture of wifi, gaming, and note taking/paper writing. I was extremely happy to get this excellent of performance out of it. This was precisely what I was looking for in terms of battery life.

BUILD QUALITY - Rating 6/10

My initial impression was that the build quality was just average--not great, but nothing bad about it either, but now after having it for a couple days, I now agree with Charles' review about some of the issues with build quality. Yesterday morning when I was typing, I noticed that when I pressed down on the front edge of the left palm rest it squeaked annoyingly (it hadn't pressed down on this part of the laptop when it was on a hard surface yet because it had always been on my laptop up until this point).

I began squeezing the front edge and noticed that top part of the chassis isn't cemented to the bottom part of the chassis very well so that when you put pressure on it (such as when you rest your palm on it) it made a noise. I tried placing about an inch long piece of scotch tape across the part that was sqeaking, and the squeaking went away completely. It was disappointing to find this because it was the first issue with the build quality. Also, I now understand what Charles meant when he said that when he pressed in the center of the laptop it causes the bottom of the laptop to touch the surface it is resting on...

It's not if you press in the middle of the keyboard like I had thought Charles had said (my bad!!)... it's if you press on the trackpad buttons (like Charles had really said), he was right that you can feel the laptop touch the surface it is resting on, but the thing Charles was wrong about is that it isn't the bottom of the laptop touching the surface below it... it's a little "support peg/foot" that protrudes from the bottom of the laptop about 1/10" of an inch.

The overall chassis does flex a tad, but it is just the peg touching, and the peg is maybe moving 1/16" of an inch tops (probably less). So yes, the chassis does flex just a hair, but not as bad as the review makes it sound (I think the review should be updated with this information personally).

I am thinking about putting a drop of super glue on the edge of the left palm rest to keep it from squeaking. I'm pretty sure it would work without a hitch unless you put too much glue and then tried to take the casing apart and wasn't able to. I figure it wouldn't void the 1 year accidental warranty but maybe the 2 year standard warranty if they figured out what I did. I'm not sure though... I figure you can always "cut through" the glue so that the chassis can be opened if you needed to send it in for repairs.

I also noticed that the entire surface (including the aluminum top) acquires fingerprints. I was disappointed that the aluminum top also was prone to oils from my fingers.

HEAT MANAGEMENT - Rating 10/10

The heat on this bad-boy is hardly noticeable. I think more heat is generated because it is restricting the airflow over your lap more than anything. Whenever my lap started to feel a little warm, I would feel the bottom of the laptop but the bottom of the laptop never got hot. It was always just the fact that my legs weren't getting as much air to cool them down.

I was also able to play Batman:AA while on my lap just fine, though it was starting to be mildly uncomfortable by the time 30 mins rolled around. Still, as far as gaming on the lap goes, I think it would be doable, and far more doable than on any other laptop I have ever tried.

This laptop is by far the coolest running laptop I have ever owned (I've owned about 14 different laptops...). For this reason, I give it a 10/10 in heat management... Read more ›

ASUS UL30A-X5 Thin and Light 13.3-Inch Black Laptop - 12 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Home Premium)

Just received my Asus UL30A-X5 yesterday. After much review, and a try-out with an Acer 1410, I decided that I wanted a full-sized chiclet/island keyboard and the larger screen. I'm already quite pleased with my decision. At the <$700 price point, this is an excellent notebook.

Pros
- Keyboard. A pleasure to type on.
- Touchpad. It drags at first, but once you get some finger oil on it, and change the pointer speed, it's one of the best that I've used. Very smooth two finger scroller. Support for customized two and three finger click.
- Screen. Bright and easy to read at 30 degree angles.
- Battery life. Yes, it will do over 10 hours.
- Weight/size. 1 inch thin and very light.
- Body. Love the brushed black metal look on the case.
- Asus facial recognition login. Didn't think that I would care, but it's nice to have the computer log in, without touch, when I'm sitting in front of it.
- Asus FastBoot (not the BIOS fast boot). This lets you configure which programs load during startup and which load after. Speeds up the boot quite a bit.
- Decent speakers. Not ear-destroying, but suitable for the size. Much better than most netbooks.

Cons
- Placement of touchpad. It still registers my palm as I'm typing even at the extreme setting. Downloaded the new touchpad driver, but that didn't fix. Still looking for a solution. This is by far the most frustrating problem. UPDATE: The TouchFreeze utility seems to almost fix the issue.
- Case still shows fingerprints.
- Web cam is low res and has difficulty in low light (haven't tried different drivers yet).

Apple MacBook Pro 13.3-Inch Laptop

I hesitated quite a while before making this purchase. I had been a Mac user in the late 80's and early 90's but switched to PC around 1995. I had developed an efficient photography workflow and had all my tools on the PC. I needed to replace my infrastructure for more speed. Not an easy choice. My Mac was a little more expensive than a similar PC-based system. What pushed me into the Apple camp was Windows. My XP laptop was solid with few problems (well protected with anti-virus, rebuilt 2 times, ...) but my Vista system was a nightmare. Slow and cumbersome. I was concerned about this.

The system I selected was the 13" MacBook Pro with 4GB memory and a 320GB hard drive (I have 2TB external for archive and backup). I also bought the 24" Studio LED monitor. The combination is fabulous. I can edit my images on the road or shoot tethered directly into the laptop for a better preview. When I get back to my office/studio I can do final modifications on the 24" calibrated monitor. Transitioning from PC to Mac was pretty easy, however it does take a few hours to understand where/how to find stuff. I recommend the one-to-one services if you can get them. I bought them for my wife who also just shifted to Mac, and they have been very helpful getting her started on her various projects (websites, blogs, i-life)

It took me 3 attempts to upgrade to Snow Leopard, but the third time was the charm and the noew OS seems great.

My only regret is not with Apple, but rather with Adobe. I had the PC version of Abobe Photoshop CS3. I've tried multiple times to get through to Adobe to see about a transition -- no luck. Investing in PS will be costly.