Gateway NV5387u is a 15.6 inch laptop having AMD Turion II Ultra Dual-Core M600 processor having a clock speed of 2.4 GHz. Apart from that, the system has 4 GB DDR2 RAM, and 320GB HDD hard drive. There is a 15.6 inch LED backlit screen having a resolution of 1,366x768 pixels, six cell battery, 802.11 b/g/n, and DVD burner. The machine runs on Windows 7 Home Premium and this configuration is quite good for daily use. People will be very satisfied. Noteworthy here is that the Gateway NV5387u is a popular laptop in the market and a lot of people are fans of it. During my tests, I found that the AMD Turion™ II Ultra Dual-Core M600 Processor gives great performance in multitasking and it can handle demanding games and applications very easily. This laptop combines powerful graphics and multi-core processing for superior digital entertainment experience. There is HDMI port built in for high quality crisp visuals and also high fidelity audio for connecting it to an external  [...]

Dell Inspiron 17 laptop has a list price of $799.98 and this is average for 17 inch laptops. After reviewing it, I observed that the performance is above average as compared to desktop replacement laptops. The feature set here is standard as for desktop replacement systems but the performance is much better and this makes the Dell Inspiron 17 stand out from the competition. Dell Inspiron 17 review says that this machine is the bigger sibling to the Inspiron 15R series which is 15.6 inches big. Both these laptops have the same metallic and glossy lid which attracts a lot of fingerprints. The silver and glossy deck of the keyboard resists a lot of smudges. When the lid is closed, the chassis looks really appealing. There is a tapering front edge from the top to the bottom and the back of this notebook is one third past the hinge. This design lets you bend the screen back in constrained seating conditions. The keyboard is traditional and there is an included  [...]

The name ThinkPad is now synonymous with high end business laptops but this company has been struggling to make a good impact in consumer market. Lenovo IdeaPad U350 is the big departure from the ThinkPad line up and it is the first product from this company in the Ultra-Low Voltage platform. This product certainly has everything that you’d in a travel companion. The weight is just 1.64 kgs which is good for a laptop and there is no optical drive which makes the chassis really thin at just 25mm. Lenovo IdeaPad U350 isn’t really attractive looking and this might turn off fashion enthusiasts. The lid has a textured brown, odd check and the keyboard is surrounded by silvery gold material that is supposed to look like brushed metal. The bezel of the screen is glossy black. It is not a disaster but Lenovo could have done better here. The manufacturer  [...]

Toshiba Satellite L500D is one of the most beautiful laptops I have ever seen in this price range. On the lid, there is an understated fingerprint pattern which is continued on the inside too. The touchpad is quite flush with the wrist rest and this is seldom seen in laptops. Toshiba has also taken care of potential problems of the user in locating the edges. They have put a silky texture on the wrist rest and a stippled, coarser texture on the touchpad. There are a couple of quick launch buttons along with simple media controls, volume mute button and power button located below the display. The screen is 15.6 inches big and has a resolution of 1,366x768 pixels. The left side of the laptop has a hot air vent and this might annoy left handed users. There are ports on this side like VGA port, combined USB/eSATA port, 100 MB Ethernet, microphone and headphones jacks. The right side houses 56 KBPS modem, a DVD burner and 2 USB ports. On the front, there is a rotary wheel for volume adjustment  [...]

Gateway NV7915u is a low-end desktop replacement laptop which gives a good set of features for the price that it is offered. I reviewed a predecessor to this system an year ago, it was Gateway NV7820u and it was good example of value for money system from this company. The price has been lowered here and there is a new processor inside. This sweetens the deal further. The price of this system is $599 and it is one of the least expensive laptops you will find in the market having Core i3 chip. The performance is clearly much superior as compared to other systems in this price range which use older AMD and Intel processors especially for multitasking. The 17.3 inch screen lets you juggle between various screens and you can also use it to sit back and watch movies comfortably. My only complaint here is the low battery life but then all desktop replacement laptops have low battery life. Other than that, the Gateway NV7915u is a stellar product. This laptop has a silver and black chassis  [...]

The newer laptops from Dell have all been really good and they are really fast too thanks to the Core i5 processor inside. Dell Inspiron 15 review model that the company sent in my labs has a lush widescreen which is not really big but still good for this class of notebooks. I also liked the glossy shell, it adds to the aesthetic appeal of the system. The price of this system is $934 and I would recommend it considering the features it offers for this price point. However, you need to be wary about a few things – the keyboard is uncomfortable and the hardware options could have been wider too. My Dell Inspiron 15 review model had ‘Ice Blue’ finish which is seen a lot in other notebooks by this manufacturer. There are glossy areas which easily attract a lot of fingerprints but it doesn’t ruin the look of the laptop.  [...]

Sony VAIO SR Series laptops are all about balancing play and work. I got the Sony VAIO VGN-SR390NAB laptop in my labs which has a 13.3 inch screen and offers enough power and style for everyone from students to road warriors to home users. The price tag too is quite decent at $1,359 (this is the price of my review model, the laptop starts at $1,049) and has a good combination of battery life and graphics power. I would recommend this as an alternative to the much expensive 13 inch Vaio Z series which starts at $1,739. I also liked the switch mode feature on the Sony VAIO SR series laptop which lets you customize the shortcut buttons according to your tastes. I wish there was less preloaded software and I would have liked a Web cam too but other than that, this is a good system. Sony VAIO SR Series laptops have a good design for this price. The chassis is made up of magnesium allow and it weight 4.2 pounds which is not really heavy. The dimensions are  [...]

HP Compaq 6730b is a very solid machine with professional finish. The screen too is solid and overall, the laptop feels solid in the hand. The only exception to this is the optical drive tray which has cheap plastic feel to it. The screen of the HP Compaq 6730b has a resolution of 1,680x1,050 and in my review model, there weren’t any deal pixels. The screen is very clear having a matte finish. I spent some 15 hours on this screen in one go and still didn’t feel any eye string. DVD playback too feels great on this screen but if you are really into multimedia, I will recommend you to get one of the HP DV line of notebooks. Speakers of the HP Compaq 6730b are its biggest strength. I have never heard such good sounding speakers before in my labs for a laptop. They have wide frequency range and the bass too is deep and excellent. The sound quality of this  [...]

3D became quickly popular in the televisions but this technology is taking its own time in laptops and desktops. This is a bit surprising especially because the functional and tested 3D infrastructure has been around for a long time through Nvidia's 3D Vision technology. I have seen only a couple of laptops with glasses and 3D hardware. Maybe its because gamers prefer consoles to laptops when it comes to gaming. Lenovo IdeaPad Y560d that I got in my labs for testing is based on TriDef 3D technology which is the same as that on the  Acer Aspire 5738DG-6165 that I tested last year. Both these notebooks offer poolarized glasses instead of battery power active shutter glasses used on Nvidia 3D Vision notebooks and lots of other consumer 3D devices. The cost of the Lenovo IdeaPad Y560d is $1,399 and it is priced quite reasonably for its components as the ATI Radeon 5730 graphics and  Intel Core i7 processor are quite high end. However,  [...]

Dell XPS 15 is a multimedia laptop and it gives great value for money considering the specs inside. For a price of  $849 (base price) you get powerful Core i5 chip, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB hard disk drive, backlit keyboard, and Nvidia GeForce GT420M GPU with Optimus technology. Also, it has USB 3.0 and HDMI 1.4 port which is rare for a laptop in this price range. This laptop is available in 14, 15, and 17 inch sizes. I got the 15 inch model in my labs for testing which had a 15.6 inch LED backlit glossy screen having 16:9 aspect ratio and resolution of 1,366x768 pixels. This is a low for a high end laptop. On the bright side, the colors were true and bright, the games and movies looked great. For extra $130, you can get full HD display with 1,920x1,080 pixels. This seems to be a worthwhile upgrade and I would also recommend adding up a Blu-ray drive for another $100. The price of the Dell XPS 15 laptop would then go up to $1,079. The cost is reasonable considering  [...]