Friday, February 05, 2010

HP Pavilion DM3-1130US 13.3-Inch Laptop (Silver)

The only difference between this model and the one I have is that mine has no bluetooth.

Now to the review:

Pros: STYLISH WELL-BUILT MACHINE. This one looks COOL even when turned off.
4 USB Ports
HDMI Output. Plays 1080p flawlessly when I connect it to my plasma TV.
The Screen is AMAZING. Colors look so realistic and this is especially noticeable on human skin.
Fantastic Keyboard.


cons: No Optical drive, but this is really a good thing since discs are being replaced by downloads.
The Touchpad takes some time to get used to. Because of all the extra features.


Acer Aspire AS1410-8414 11.6-Inch Sapphire Blue Laptop - 6 Hour Battery Life

I purchased this laptop after a fair amount of research. I know that I wanted a smaller, portable laptop that we would use for general activities like web surfing, e-mail and the basics. This laptop is packed with an impressive set of specs. The screen was bright and sharp, it loaded up quickly and was quiet a cool running. However, I ended up returning it for a refund because after about a week of use, the touchpad started to become next to impossible to use. It was twitchy from the beginning. When I viewed web sites, it would occasional cause the brower's back button to activate, font sizes to increase or decrease and it almost acted like it had a mind of its own. Despite that we were planning to live with it but when it because next to impossible to use the touch pad, we returned it and will look for a slightly larger screen size. The cover was nice but showed finger prints immediately. Still a great machine for the price and wonderful features but not the right one for me.

HP Pavilion DV4-2161NR 14.1-Inch Laptop (Black)

For those who want an all-in-one performance notebook with rich multimedia features, the HP Pavilion dv4 Entertainment series delivers mobile performance that looks as great as it runs. Powered by the latest processor and graphics technologies, it delivers optimal mobile performance to support your lifestyle.

HP Pavilion DV6-2150US 15.6-Inch Laptop (Black)

I just got this and it booted right up, the screen quality is very nice, much better than the older style of laptops with the satin finish. This high glass finish really makes the screen stand out. I've used laptops by dell, lenovo and gateway in the past so my first impressions are below.

The laptop is not heavy, very reasonable and despite the 6 cell battery, most times I'm plugged in so it's not a big deal to me. I haven't timed out the battery yet but so far as with any new laptop is seems to do just fine. I wish it came with a cover or bag of some sort until I get my laptop bag, but I guess I'll be careful.

The side connectors are well laid out, I don't see issues with too much in a spot, it all seems pretty nice. My version did not have a modem (which I hope we don't need much longer). The one thing I'm trying to determine and it may be my misunderstanding but this should have "N" network wireless ability but when I booted it up, my dual band router only showed the regular G.

The big thing I like is the touch controls of the keyboard layout, everything is touch sensor, no buttons to break. The other thing that I really like is the pc does not get hot like older laptops do. It has no "side vents" for the cpu so it's clearly a much cooler operations than its earlier laptops. I always had to make sure I powered down the laptops in the bag or they'd overheat. With this style I'd be surprised if I had an issue. It comes with a little video remote that is nice if you are watching movies on a flight or don't want to mess with the keyboard. The hdmi on the side probably would be of good use if showing videos that way.

I personally don't care for the "bubble" design on the black finish, it could have been left alone without that stuff but oh well. As I work with it more I'll be able to post more but it's a very nice laptop and they even have a 50 dollar rebate on some locations.

As far as gaming, I haven't tried it so far but I'd suspect in most average games this I3 should do fine. I'm sure on call of duty versions it probably will not work well but I have a home desktop pc for that kind of gaming.