Official Laptops Review Thread

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hemanigill

Estimable
Feb 19, 2014
3
0
4,520
-Brand: HP laptop
-Model: HP Laptop 15-G004AU
-Bought From/Price: Rs.24999 from http://www.lotuselectronics.com/Product-Laptops-86
-OS: windows 8.1
-Processor:APU Dual Core
-GPU: AMD Radeon HD 8210
-Resolution:1366X768 pixel
-RAM:2 GB DDR3 RAM
-Usage (Gaming, Internet, Office Apps, etc…): can be used for for editing, video editing along with business use
-Real World Battery Life (in your estimation): 4hour of
-Your Rating (out of 10): 7 out of 10

other than the other mentioned above bullet point my laptop also excel in other features also that includes:

  • HP True Vision HD Webcam as the web camera
    Touch pad with Multi-touch Gesture Support as a pointer device
    comes with a security "Kensington Lock Slot" lock port
    with a perfect screen size of 15.6 inch and has HD Bright View LED Backlit Display as its screen type
    Has 64 bit system and OS architecture and has an 8 GB expandable memory.

other than the above mentioned technical specification the laptop has a awesome operating speed and just second to start with quick start and get shutdown in 2 second and provides me a perfect experience whatever program i am using

 

Claymoresama

Honorable
May 3, 2013
44
0
10,580
-Brand: Sony Vaio E Series
-Model: SVE14125CXB
-Bought From/Price: 500
-OS: Windows 8
-CPU: i5-3210m 2.5ghz & turbo: 3.2ghz
-GPU: Intel HD 4000
-Resolution: 1366x768
-RAM: 4gb
-Usage (Gaming, Internet, Office Apps, etc…): Light gaming, mostly school
-Real World Battery Life (in your estimation): 4, maybe 5 hours if doing light tasks on low brightness
-Your Rating (out of 10): 0

What can I say about this computer. Well for starters it is my reasoning for never EVER purchasing a Sony Vaio computer ever again. I purchased this computer in April of 2013 and it hasn't worked properly at all. Right out of the box, when I came home from Frys I noticed some keys felt funny, but by the time I started noticing keys falling off it was past the return time. So first keys were falling off so I had Sony send a representative out to replace it. Then after having the machine for maybe 2 months it started having this odd issue where my disk usage would jump to 100% randomly even if nothing was open or running in the background. So it gradually grew worse and worse as the days progressed and eventually it crippled my laptop to the point where opening a word file was hard to do. Finally I spend probably close to 10 hours on the phone with tech support trying to resolve this. Now let's fast forward to today, March 1, 2014. I have sent my computer to Sony 4 TIMES to receive a repair. Pretty much every time I sent it in they just wiped the hdd and sent it back. I am battling Sony over receiving a refund because I have been royally ripped off. As a college student it is very irritating to have to be stuck with a desktop when I'm always out and about. My word to anyone looking at a Sony computer is this.... DON"T BUY IT. Sony is a terrible computer company and I would consider this purchase the worst mistake I have ever made in my entire life. I don't know if I was cruel to puppies in another life to deserve this sort of punishment, but I'll let you know that I didn't even scratch the surface of all the "fun" times I've had dealing with Sony.
 

Herobrine

Honorable
Nov 2, 2013
6
0
10,510
LOL Business laptop for gaming, internet and watching HD movies.
-Brand:Lenovo
-Model:B590
-Bought From/Price:Lenovo Exclusive Store ~700$
-OS: Originally FreeDOS now Windows 8.1 Pro x64
-CPU:Intel Core i5 3230M
-GPU:nVidia GT 720M
-Resolution:1366x768 @60Hz
-RAM:8Gb 1600Mhz DDR3 (2x4Gb Dual-Channel)
-Usage:Gaming, Internet, Movies
-Real World Battery Life: Around 2-3 Hours browsing Internet or watching movies or 30 min playing games
-Your Rating (out of 10):For gaming 5 For everything else 9 (except UHD video editing might take ages)

It's very good laptop. But the "s" key won't work unless pressed harder. For gaming it's surprisingly good (if you keep AA off on newer games c: ) On League of Legends @ nearly max settings (shadows @ low and AA off) it gets solid 60FPS, TES V: Skyrim @ medium-high gives around 30FPS outside and 60FPS inside. Nope Battlefield 4 won't work on settings greater than medium :D. For internet it's great but nVidia's beta drivers are quite unstable (they're beta so...). Fast Wi-Fi, fast 1Gbit Ethernet, Wi-Di always crashes :( , good Bluetooth but just 2 USB 3.0 and 2 USB 2.0 ports and 1 DVD+R DL. Well basically it's one very good laptop for the money. RAM extendable up to 16Gb. But GPU can get very hot (90°C) without external fan. Just the monitor lacks vivid colors and the keyboard is kind of slow or not very responsive it's good laptop. :D
 

cpsuperprosecrets

Honorable
Dec 16, 2013
23
0
10,570
Brand: Lenovo
Model:U410 Touch
Bought from/ Price: Amazon £699
OS: Windows 8
CPU: Intel Core i7 3517U @2.00GHZ
GPU: Intel HD 4000/ Geforce 710M
Resolution: 1366 by 768
RAM 4GB
Usage: Schoolwork, gaming and internet use
Real World Battery Life: 4-5 Hours
Your Rating: 9 out of 10. The Wireless card is a bit disappointing, and keeps cool even when playing WarThunder
 

Calaphos

Estimable
Apr 3, 2014
9
0
4,520
-Brand: Lenovo
-Model: Thinkpad t61
-Bought From/Price: originally 200$
-OS: windows 7 porfessional (originally vista)
-CPU: Intel T7300 (2*2hgz)
-GPU: Nvidia Nvs 140m
-Resolution: 1280*800
-RAM: 4gb (originally 2 gb)
-Usage (Gaming, Internet, Office Apps, etc…): some light gaming, office, web surfing)
-Real World Battery Life (in your estimation): 2h (9 cell battery)
-Your Rating (out of 10): 7

The laptop is now arround 7 years old and im a bit surprised that it still works really well with borwsing / office.
Its solind like a brick - and as heavy as one. You wont find any flexing on the base unit adn the keyboard is one of the ebst ones i ever had. BUt the battery life is quite bad, despite the 90 wh battery (which adds to the wheight quite signifincantly). I think the fan is also breaking, it started making weared noises some weaks ago, so im getting a replacement. BUt if your consider that the laptop is now arround 7 years old and its still perfectly usable for office and still able to run light games i could really recommend it to someone who needs an reliable notebook for work, just make sure you can charge it where you use it, the power usage is quite high. I think there are several on ebay for arround 200 $...
 

Haleemakhan42

Estimable
Mar 28, 2014
14
0
4,570
I’m planning to go with Lenovo B50 or G50. Both laptops packed with 4th generation processors. I also heard these laptops will come with Core i7 processor and Nvidia GeForce 820M Graphic. Both laptops will way cheaper than other laptops, starring from $399 only.

Lenovo B50 Specification
15-inch 1366×768 Pixel Resolution Touchscreen Display
4th-Generation Core i7 Processor/AMD A8 Processor with integrated Graphics
Nividia GeForce 820M Graphics Chip/AMD Radeon R5 M230
1TB of HDD or Hybrid SSD
Built-in Fingerprint scanner
Dolby Advanced Audio V2
2 USB 3.0 ports, 1 USB 2.0 Port
HDMI Slot
Ethernet Port, Audio Jack
4-in-one Card Reader
 

Bacon_Party

Estimable
May 9, 2014
13
0
4,560
-Brand: Toshiba
-Model: Satellite L55-A5299
-Bought From/Price: $539
-OS: Windows 8.1
-CPU: Intel Core i7-4700MQ @ 2.4GHz
-GPU: Intel HD Graphics 4600
-Resolution: 1366x768
-RAM: 8GB
-Usage (Gaming, Internet, Office Apps, etc…): Multimedia (Light gaming, movie/tv watching, minor photo/video editing)
-Real World Battery Life (in your estimation): 5 hours
-Your Rating (out of 10): 7/10

To preface this, I am an avid programmer and for me the keyboard is paramount in a system, and I trust Toshiba products and have never encountered and hardware issues with them, until now.

Starting off with the good, I would say in terms of performance the Toshiba Satellite L55-A5299 shines, with its' 4th generation core i7 and 8GB of ram for such a low price. It handled anything I threw at it with ease and never suffered a single second of lag and never hesitated to quickly open programs. It also had an impressive array of ports, one USB 2.0, two USB 3.0, a VGA out, an HDMI out, an SD card reader (interestingly enough placed on the front of the system), a DVD drive, and an audio and mic out (not sure why this isn't commonplace anymore but those combo jacks are just stupid). It was clad in a glossy silver plastic on the top and armrests with black glossy plastic surrounding the matte chiclet keyboard and screen, a classic PC look that I enjoy, and the silver coloration helps deter from fingerprints. The cooling is also very effective as the fan rarely activates, on an already quiet computer and the right side of the keyboard only ever feels slightly warm.

That's it for the good, now on to the bad. First I'll start with my biggest complaint, the keyboard. There's no sugarcoating it, it just sucks, and if I had the chance to use it before I bought it, I never would have. The keys have absolutely zero travel and you have to hit them dead on to get any kind of response, which leads to many missed strokes and having to essentially type things twice. The touchpad took a little getting used to, it's roomy, but at the same time your finger doesn't glide and moving the cursor to the other side of the screen can't be accomplished with one swipe. This can be remedied by just breaking the touchpad in, as it becomes much smoother after a few hours use and tweaking the settings a bit, but I don't think you should have to. The sound quality and screen is average, but at that price point I wasn't expecting any more. All in all, the specs are impressive, but as I learned you get what you pay for, and where the computer shines in power it lacks in usability, and to be fair this was the first mid-range laptop I purchased from Toshiba, all others I've purchased have been high end.
 

TonyL2591

Estimable
Jul 10, 2014
1
0
4,510
Thanks for your review on this laptop. I was look at purchasing one. Can you tell me where you bought it for $539? Also, are you concerned at all about it not having a removable batter?

Thanks!




 

Spac3nerd

Distinguished
Oct 20, 2011
4
0
18,510
-Brand: Dell
-Model: Precision M4700
-Bought From/Price: From Dell outlet for $1050 in August 2013
-OS: Windows 7 Pro stock, replaced with Fedora 18 64-bit with KDE immediately after purchase.
-CPU: Intel i7 3740QM
-GPU: AMD FirePro M4000 with 1GB GDDR5
-Resolution: 1920 x 1080
-RAM: 4GB(2xGB) stock, upgraded to 12GB(2x4GB, 2x2GB(stock mem))
-Usage (Gaming, Internet, Office Apps, etc…): Software development and a few games.
-Real World Battery Life (in your estimation): 2 - 3 hours
-Your Rating (out of 10): 8.5

I will divide this review into several sections. A few things to note before starting. The chassis and general shape of the laptop is identical to the Precision M4600 to the M4800 with similarities to the M4500. With that in mind, any notes I make about build quality and finish should be applicable to the M4600-M4800.
Before I begin, I would like to state why I purchased this machine and what my use case it.
I purchased this machine to be used for work(software developer) and to also be my desktop replacement. I typically run Fedora with KDE on it while I work, but I also keep a harddrive with Windows 7 for the times I need to run other applications or occasionally play a game.
What drew me to this laptop was the performance and features I got for the price I paid. Weight and convenience were not big factors, although I do haul it around in college, it is not too cumbersome.
Note that I bought this machine from Dell's outlet, it was a refurbished laptop(hence the lower price), but warranty support was the same as if I bought it new.

Build quality(8/10):
I would rate the build quality as being good. There are a few minor defects with the product, but overall it is quite well built and thought out. The display hinge has a bit of play in it, but nothing too serious. I only use the point stick, and the finish wore off of the point stick buttons. I would almost say that the trackpad buttons are of a higher quality than the point stick ones.
The palm rests are coated with some sort of rubber, which are very comfortable, but I suspect that it will wear down with time. The main frame is composed of a metal of some sort, as is the top of the lid, but the top of the lid is prone to dents.
Those are my only minor complaints about the build quality of this machine, everything else on it is on par to what you would expect from a workstation, in that parts fit together well and there is no significant flex on the chassis.


Display(8/10):
Not much to say here besides that the display is your slightly better than average 1080 display. I would have preferred it to have a 16:10 display, as the laptop chassis can accommodate it and the extra vertical space would have been nice.

External ports(10/10):
two USB 3.0 ports, Three USB 2.0 ports(one is a USB/eSATA combo)
A 54mm ExpressCard slot
A 10 in 1 card reader
One DisplayPort
One HDMI port
One VGA out
One RJ-45
One 1394 port(M4800 doesn't have this I believe)
One eSATA(USB/eSATA combo)
3.5mm audio out and microphone in
A docking port

This laptop has everything covered. Every mobile workstation should have these connectivity options. There are other self-proclaimed workstations that have missing features. The only negative thing to say is that not all USB ports are USB 3.0, but that has been rectified in the M4800.

Internal slots and upgrade-ability(9/10):
The back cover is easily removed with two screws, and everything you need is easily accessible. There are 4 RAM slots, two under the back cover and two under the keyboard.
Removing the screws that hold the harddrive caddy in place can make harddrive replacement fairly quick, but you have to remove the battery in order to release the latch, an external release would have been great.
You have three options for storage devices. The main harddrive slot, the mSATA slot and the optical drive which can be replaced by a hard-drive caddy. So in terms of storage options, the user has quite a few choices.

Video card(8/10):
This has to be the biggest complaint about the M4700, which is why it gets its own section. Switch-able graphics are not supported for the AMD FirePro. The user is stuck to using the discrete video adapter. Supposedly, removing the AMD card from its slot may force a boot with the Intel adapter, but this is not only inconvenient, but may also void warranty.
Aside from that, the AMD card performs very well, in terms of power it should surpass the more expensive options from Nvidia. My development work relies more on the processor than the video card.
I only play a couple of games, mainly M&B Warband and ARMA II, and the laptop performs well in those games.

Performance for price(10/10):
I am very pleased with the overall performance of the machine given the price I paid for it. It runs the tasks at work very well. I typically run 8 virtual desktops in Fedora along with one or two virtual machines, and it does so without a snag. There isn't much more to say about performance, it runs my demanding tasks quite well, and I'm pleased.

Keyboard(8/10):
Keyboard quality is good, and it's about as good as it gets for laptop keyboard in terms of feel. It is full-sized, but I would have preferred a better layout over the inclusion of the number pad. There is not spacing between the F-keys and they, along with the entire top row, are not full-sized. Also the control keys are placed in a weird format due to space constraints.
The stock point stick cap is next to useless. If you want a better experience, buy the blue caps for the old Dells, they work much better. Mentioned earlier, the quality of the buttons for the point stick is questionable. I can't say too much about the touchpad since I don't use it, except that certain users will complain that it's too small.

Noise and cooling(10/10):
The laptop manages to stay quiet when idle or doing menial tasks, but even under heavy load it does not heat up too much or cause too much noise. The laptop has a two-fan solution that works very well.

Weight and physical dimensions(not applicable):
The laptop weighs over 6lb, and it comes with a heavy 180Watt power supply. The entire package is heavy, but that is not a problem in my case since it spends most of its life on a desk, or being transported in a bag(which I don't find to be heavy). I didn't give a rating since this aspect of a laptop has to be thought about before purchase. Size and weight of a laptop correlates to its indented use, and is more often than not, a user preference so no rating is given here. Don't complain about a performance oriented-laptop not being light enough, it's not a valid argument.

In conclusion, I've been using this laptop daily for nearly a year. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a powerful workhorse laptop.
 

Gamer2886

Estimable
Jul 23, 2014
8
0
4,510
-Brand: ASUS
-Model: G56JR
-Bought From/Price: Store in Singapore $1600 Singapore Dollars ( $1200 US )
-OS: Windows 8
-CPU: Intel Core i7 4700HQ
-GPU: NVIDIA GTX 760m
-Resolution: 1920x1080 15.6"
-RAM: 8 but upgraded to 16
-Usage (Gaming, Internet, Office Apps, etc…): Heavy gaming and Internet
-Real World Battery Life (in your estimation): Gaming around 2 hours but for general use 4 or 5
-Your Rating (out of 10): 10

Display - It's 15.6" 1920x1080 display lets me watch movies and even play games on FULL HD. 10/10

CPU - Very good 4th-Gen Intel i7 which should fulfill all those heavy-threaded tasks easily.

GPU - The G56JR comes with a great Nvidia GTX 760M, It's not the best but it will give you good fps when you play on medium to high.

Keyboard - The keyboard is just amazing, it feels comfortable at all times and it's backlit.

Storage - The G56JR comes with a 5400 RPM 1TB hard drive, which is probably the slowest of hard drives. I needed to change it fast, so this is what i did:

I had some money leftover from my initial $1500 budget so i decided to use that $300 dollars i had left over to buy a Samsung 240GB SSD, an external dvd player and a optical drive bay caddy.

I replaced the default HDD with my new SSD, I removed the dvd player to put in the optical drive bay with the default HDD. I still needed a dvd player, though. So i bought an external one incase i ever needed it.

So i end up with 240GB SSD as my new primary drive and 1TB HDD as my secondary ( for storage purposes )
 

Yuka

Distinguished
May 3, 2007
246
0
18,840


Ah, sorry for the late answer. I usually play whatever I'm playing on my main PC, but on the GO.

Guild Wars 2, Payday 2, TERA, Euro Truck Simulator 2, GRID 2, DiRT games, etc...

None of them have an issue playing at 1080p with mid+ detail level keeping up 40+ FPS (vsync off, minor stuttering). A faster LED display would come a LONG LONG way for this notebook.

It's been 2 years since I bought it and man, what a great purchase it has been.

Cheers!
 

Bacon_Party

Estimable
May 9, 2014
13
0
4,560


I wasn't too concerned with the removable battery, as it seems to be commonplace in the laptop market now, and I purchased it with a special in-store pickup sale from microcenter.

 

asrdhery

Estimable
Sep 5, 2014
2
0
4,510
And it also haves an fingerprint scanner
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DeathJester11

Estimable
Aug 17, 2014
2
0
4,510
Brand: HP
Model: Envy DV7
Bought From: Retail Store (Harvy Norman)
Price: Unknown
OS: Windows 8
CPU: i7 2.5Ghz to 3.5Ghz
GPU: Gt 650m
Resolution: 1920x1080
Ram: 16GB
Usage: Gaming
Battery Life:3 Hours
My Rating: 7.5/10

Pros: This Notebook is pretty decent when it comes to games, it can play all the Arma games, BF3 and more with medium settings. Looks quite nice.

Cons: Aluminium Lid and interior Scratches easily and stains. Fan is unnecessarily loud for a 17.3" laptop even on idle. Takes at least 10 minutes to cold boot. Incredibly hot and loud when gaming. Some USB ports stopped working. Had to replace the laptop two times due to poor quality control (First, the GPU was not plugged in, Second, the screen died after two weeks). Did I mention the noise? I can hear it with my headphones on.
All up I don't recommend this
 

Raptor05121

Estimable
Feb 26, 2014
5
0
4,510
-Brand: ASUS
-Model: Rog GL551-JK 15.6"
-Bought From/Price: Newegg retail $1,049.99, paid $849.00 (Black Friday)
-OS: Windows 8.1
-CPU: Intel i7-4710HQ 2.5GHZ (Turbo 3.5GHz)
-GPU: NVidia GTX850M 2GB DDR3
-Resolution: 1920x1080
-RAM: 12GB DDR3
-Usage (Gaming, Internet, Office Apps, etc…): Gaming, Internet Browsing, Video watching
-Real World Battery Life (in your estimation): Gaming: 45mins max, internet: 2.5 hrs, max (idle) 4.5 hrs
-Your Rating (out of 10): 8.5/10

Only one fan (gets up to 95*C on BF4) so she gets hot, quick. Power button is part of the keyboard so that sucks. The keyboard and num pad are too cramped, so the shift, control, and arrow keys are clumped together messing up crouch/run commands in-game and also capitalizing letters and typing numbers. Video is only DDR3, not DDR5

I bought this on Black Friday sale for $849.00. It feels like a consumer grade HP laptop in a gaming laptops skin, and is not worth the $1,049.99 MSRP. If you're going to spend that kind of money, save more and get the 17" with dual fans and at least the GTX860M DDR5.
 

jitkr

Honorable
Jan 13, 2014
1
0
10,510
-Brand: HCL
-Model: ME XITE L55X (AE1v2056-X) (2010 Model)
-Bought From/Price: Retail Store (INR 32000)
-OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit Enterprise (originally DOS :D)
-CPU: Intel Core i5 M460 2.53Ghz
-GPU: Intel HD Graphics HM55Chipset
-Resolution: 1366x768 (LCD)
-RAM: 6GB of DDR3 @ 1333Mhz
-Storage : 128GB(SSD)+500GB(HDD 5400rpm)
-Usage (Gaming,Coding, Internet, Office Apps, etc…): Internet, E-Mail,Apps & Web Development, and Word Processing
-Real World Battery Life (in your estimation): High Performance Setting- 1.5 hours/Balanced Performance Setting- 2.5 hours
-Your Rating (out of 10): 7.5/10

I Purchased HCL ME XITE L55 for the purpose of web development , internet access, word processing, visualization and little bit gaming.
Hardware provided by HCL is excellent. I use this machine 24/7. After using nearly 4yrs it still works flawlessly on recent OS versions without any issue. Battery wear is 41.7% but still gives 1.5hrs of backup(High Performance). Performance wise okay i use windows phone 8.1 emulators. chassis is excellent :p accidentally dropped twice still works

Cons:
Poor service :p
No backlit keyboard
Very difficult in getting spare parts in my home country.

Only i replaced fan in these 4yrs , all hardware parts are still working :).
 

FreeToBeMe2014

Honorable
Jan 23, 2015
5
1
10,510
Asus is TERRIBLE.

I will NEVER EVER buy an Asus laptop again.

Their tech support is terrible, they don't understand English, aren't smart & don't know their job.

They refuse to let me speak to anyone in the US, they have been rude, they don't return phone calls when they say they will & I've so far lost 4 days of my life plus the 2-3 days after the Refresh.

After the wifi wouldn't work, I followed the instructions & didn't know the Refresh would delete ALL of my software. I didn't have access to my MS Office so I couldn't do work.

After wasting hours reinstalling all my software, the Win 8 key was suddenly corrupt. I got a new key from the phone number, but then suddenly it wanted to update. The update took at least 8-10 hours overnight.

Then we were back to not having a key again, this time with no phone number to call.

Fast forward to calling MS, they said Asus has the key (it came loaded with Win 8 on it), Asus blamed MS, Called MS again, they explained it's on the MB so then I KNEW Asus didn't know what they were talking about & they were responsible.

After waiting on hold for an hour for a supervisor & me finally getting someone who understood that YES, they are responsible for the key, nothing he instructed me to do helped & even after sending me instructions via e-mail (I later questioned why he didn't just do this with me on the phone), that didn't work either. He never called back.

Escalations at head office wouldn't help me & said they were hanging up the phone on me.
The operator & escalations blocked my calls because I called back.
I e-mailed Tech support & 48 hours later STILL no phone call.
I e-mailed back the supervisor from the instruction e-mail, & NO CALL TODAY & he had said he would call me to see if it worked
I'm sitting with a laptop that has no working MS key.
I tried to e-mail escalations from the website & their website doesn't work. I've tried with Fx, Chrome AND Opera & their "Send" button doesn't work. I remember it being a problem the day before. I've even rebooted & tried again an hour ago & again it won't work. I'm probably upto 10-15 hours of wasted time & am no further along.

As for the laptop itself:

It's a K55N-DB81
Here are the stats - http://speccy.piriform.com/results/zLUn5gPJdYXs04AXcpurDwj

Looks like it's running too hot & I told them about this before.

I bought it from New Egg in August of 2013 for around $450.

I have had problems with it freezing up almost since the beginning. Asus blamed MS, so I never returned it.

We did a refresh about 6 months ago, but even the other day it froze up again & the only way for me to get it to reboot is by taking the battery out.

Now they won't give me a new battery because it's past warranty & the battery barely lasts 30-60 minutes.

I barely use it except to download video files or when I go away & need it for work which is like twice a year if that. I'm a desktop person.

Based on the terrible tech support, the rudeness & lack of service I give this laptop a 5-6 & the company a 1.

There's more to buying computers then the hardware. If the company is inept who wants to go through all of that stress.
 
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