I picked up a couple of these for the kids for Christmas, seeing the model for the incredible value it offered - $449.99 at Office Depot. One week since they were as low as $429.99; Black Friday saw $479.99.
The features you can see for yourself from any number of websites, so I won't rehash that here. The screen is very nice for the price range, 1366x768 being far better than most. Design is bland, nothing flashy. One USB port is all the way to the front right of the laptop, a bit awkward. Wireless N is exceptional for the price range, and seems to work well. DVD drive is standard issue, but I was unable to burn operating system restore DVDs. This may have been due to incompatibility with some older DVD R disks. With network access and other PCs in the home, I was able to save ISOs to burn on another computer. Still, the DVD write functions should work! Partly, I blame the very, very basic disk burning software included with Windows 7.
The video performance is exceptional in the price range, with Nvidia to thank for that. While no hardcore gamer's choice, it is far and away better than Intel chipset graphics. Windows 7 Home Premium is the OS installed, and the Experience Index is Processor 5.7, Memory 5.7, Graphics Aero 4.2, Gaming 4.9, Hard Disk 5.3. Compare this to a Compaq CQ60-211DX purchased under 6 months ago for $360 with CPU 4.3, Mem 4.9, Aero 3.5, Gaming 3.5 (Intel GMA 4500M graphics), and HDD 5.3. The T6600 Core 2 Duo is exceptional for the price range. The CPU and HDD specs are only slightly behind my "Desktop Replacement" Gateway P7811-FX.
Battery life is ho-hum, maybe 1-2 hours. The biggest gripe with the laptop is that the low battery warning is rather "uncalibrated" and I've experienced abrupt power-off without a warning or proper shutdown. Pay attention to the battery indicator and don't cut it close! Still, a forgivable flaw, since any laptop essentially gives you a UPS for free, only needs a surge suppressor as compared to a desktop.
Memory supplied is 4GB, excellent in the category, and good performance. Unfortunately, the OS is 32-bit (WHY???? 64-bit would be the same cost!) which leaves only 3.25GB usable for programs. Don't know if the graphics processor is able to make use of the inaccessible memory.
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