ASUS G55VW-ES71 Review | Top Laptops 2012

The ASUS G55VW-ES71 far exceeds expectations when it comes to gaming or any other heavy processing activities, and it performs all of its duties while encased in one of the most beautiful laptop shells ever designed. The keyboard is laid out in a Chiclet style with each button as its own “island,” and ASUS managed a 10-key number pad on the right hand side. The lighting behind the keyboard is adjustable, making it the perfect the brightness for anyone. The palm rest is layered with a soft mat material resulting in a comfortable gaming and typing experience.

The incorporated processor is blazing fast. Intel’s new quad-core processor with eight threads lives up to expectations with a Windows Experience Index of 7.6 (out of a possible 7.9). Memory on this beast of a machine scores at a 7.8, and the graphics chugs up a more than respectable score of 7.3. This machine is only bottlenecked by the hard drive score of 5.9 (the only one out of all the categories that does not score a 7 or higher). Not to fret, with a little bit of dedicated time, replacing the factory hard drive with a shiny Solid State Drive (SSD) is quite a breeze, boosting this category’s score to the max of 7.9. This of course means that the lowest score for this machine would be the GTX 660M’s score of 7.3, but there should not be a soul who would be mad about the graphic card’s performance when comparing to other similar machines.

ASUS took no expense in giving their users the best of the best. Keeping in consistency with the machine’s speed, ASUS decided to load this rig with four total USB 3.0 slots. No more finding or struggling to look for more USB 3.0 inputs for your external hard drives because the manufacturer only decided to upgrade one of the four USB inputs to the 3.0 generation, now you can plug it into any of the USB slots and you will experience the glory of USB 3.0 speeds. The cable gets in the way for the USB slot in the back? Plug it in on the side! The user experience gets better. Usually gaming units such as the G55VW will need increased airflow to keep all its parts running cooler and lasting longer. This usually meant that the fan would have to run incredibly fast and loud. ASUS took the liberty to design a machine that runs comfortably cool and indescribably quiet! Whether you’re on your bed instant messaging and gaming or you’re at your desk, well, instant messaging and gaming, you will be able to relax without the noticing your laptop blazing on your leg and you will not be disturbing anyone else in the vicinity with what sounds like a giant portable fan that other gamers are lugging around.

As with all products, there are some drawbacks. For this particular machine, the power brick is quite sizeable. It is heavy enough to break a toe and large enough to make an uncomfortable bulge in just about any laptop storage bag. However, the power brick does come with two Velcro ties to sort both cables. This machine comes with a sub-woofer. YES! A sub-woofer! 2.1 channels! Sounds like an exciting feature, right? Unfortunately this is not the case because VIA’s drivers are not performing as expected. Instead of using the sub-woofer to compliment the sound that flows out of the laptop, it actually plays every single sound its two speaker buddies are playing. It does not provide the bass that we all would love to enjoy, just awkwardly (and most horribly) acts as a third speaker that would output voice as you would think any sub-woofer would. Luckily, the sub-woofer can be disabled through the volume properties of the ASUS speakers.

Finally, although above I said that it would be a “breeze” to swap out the underperforming hard drive for a lighting fast SSD, it also contributes to one of the few low points of this laptop. This is because cloning this hard drive one-to-one is very much impossible with any of the freeware (and some paid software like Acronis) available online. I will not get into too much detail and just say that it is due to the fact that the hard drive is formatted under GUID Partition Table (GPT), and most cloning software does not know how to handle this. As of now I have not found any software that is able to handle GPT and would greatly appreciate the knowledge of one in the comments. The easiest way for anyone to swap in a SSD is to create recovery discs at first boot and then use the discs to boot up and install on the SSD.

LG BP620 Review | DVD Player Reviews

I bought this as a companion to my LG55LM7600 3d tv. It’s my second 3d blu-ray player, and it compares well to my first, a Samsung product. I hooked it up to my newly-mounted tv just 12 days ago. Haven’t used the wi-fi yet…need to get a router. I’ve watched a 3d movie, several 2d blu-ray movies and some dvds. The 3d is fine, no ghosting, no trails, smooth motion. 2d movies are extremely sharp, but I don’t know whether to credit the player or the tv for that. One thing that startled me was the picture I got when playing non-blu-ray dvds. Almost indistinguishable from blu-ray.
The player hooked up easily - they all do - and looks great, all slim and shiny black. One other thing: it operates much faster - much - than either of my two SONY blu-ray players. I’d recommend this unit.

Compaq CQ57-410US Review | Best Laptop 2012 June

I bought this recently as a gift. I’m a PC tech and deal with laptops and desktops a lot. The first thing I noticed out of the box was the quality of the build. Compaq used to be a very high end laptop company back in the mid to late 90’s before HP bought it out. So the laptop was well packed, and the case and fittings were very high quality matte black.

On setup, I was walked through the usual Windows legal blah blah, and on startup I noticed it a bit slow. Not bad, but I noticed it. I was pleased to find that Compaq didn’t load a pile of junk on it like the other companies do today, and they all do. I only had to remove the antivirus to install free Avast and remove the HP Dock and one other docking station on the desktop.

The installation went great and after paring down the operating system I still felt that the computer was lacking speed. So I opened it up to add a 2GB memory SIMM and found that Compaq had used 2 X 1GB memory SIMMS! For those of us in the industry we know this is “cheaping out” by the computer company. They could have at least used 1 X 2GB memory SIMM so I could have a total of 4GB of memory. The installation was a snap, if you need to know how go to youtube.com and search for compaq latpop memory upgrade and it will walk you through the procedure.

The laptop has built-in webcam and a JBL sound system, which is nice for a small system. The picture is clear and bright. The hard disk is 250GB, which would be more than enough for most users. The keys are very high quality, again, that Compaq touch to finishing, they are quiet, soft and sure feeling. The lid closes softly but securely. All around an excellent build.

After activating Microsoft Office, doing some updates, and removing some startup programs, I feel this is a good speed computer for the money. Sorry Amazon but this laptop can be found for $299 elsewhere.

This laptop exhudes quality and after a memory upgrade and some OS tweaking, it operates just fine. It’s no screamer, if you work with 6 or 8 windows open you might want to consider a more powerful CPU, but for casual surfing, email, and movie watching, this one will work fine. I highly recommend this system with one caveat: Upgrade the memory to 4 or 8GB, and bear in mind you will end up using the two internal memory sticks for earrings, they aren’t really worth much. Good job, Compaq! :-)

ASUS G55VW-ES71 Review | New Laptops 2012 Reviews

I just received this computer, and I have to say it’s beautiful. Before I get into the specs, let me address some things the other reviewer has said.

Firstly, Asus’s customer support is about the same as any other computer manufacturer, if not better. There’s absolutely no way to have a bad experience with Asus, and the quality of their computers have been exceptional in my experience with them. I’ve never had a problem before, and I don’t expect for there to be one for anyone now.

Secondly, as for the updating the internal components, there are probably guides on Youtube, and the guide is probably not included because most users won’t need it.

Thirdly, yes, the power brick is quite large and heavy, but I don’t see a problem considering you’ll be stationary while playing, and it’s a rather long cord. It’s not as if you have to lay the power brick on your face while you play.

But as for the Asus G55VW -
+ The Asus G55 is a sleek, gaming-powerhouse laptop engineered specifically for long hours of use while playing the most demanding games. I can throw anything at this laptop, unlike many laptops, and know that it will never run hot. With the left exhaust port, if I remember correctly, being specifically for the CPU, the fan will run independently from the right fan at whatever speed it needs. The right fan, however, being for the GPU, will cool your GPU during long hours of hard gaming.

+ When playing games, the touchpad, keyboard, and palmrest stay at about 70 - 80 degrees Fahrenheit. The cooling system does an excellent job in capturing the heat and throwing it out of the back of the computer…. quietly. The sound from the fan is measured at approximately 30 decibels, which is not even as loud as a whisper. I was very impressed with this, as most laptops with the power that this computer has run hot.

+ The ports are in ergonomic locations. The Asus G55 features four USB 3.0 ports, with two on the right near side, and two on the far left side. On the right, this laptop has both an HDMI and VGA, alongside the DC power port.

+ The keyboard, screen, and touchpad are all phenomenal. Featuring a HD display, everything looks crisp and clear… and runs smoothly. I’ve got no problem playing Skyrim on Ultra, or TOR on the maximum settings.

Klipsch AWR-650-SM Sandstone (Ea.) Outdoor Rock Speaker | Outdoor Garden Speakers Rock

Satisfy your summertime urge to rock out. The AWR-650-SM speaker from Klipsch packs over six decades of audio experience into one weatherized package that won’t ruin your curb appeal. True two-way design Dual voice coil polymer woofer Dual polymer dome tweeters Durable UV-resistant enclosure Available in a granite and sandstoneFor over 60 years, Klipsch has been about no-compromise audio performance and their rock speaker is no exception. Just listen and you’ll discover that it delivers an amazing, full-bodied bass response for its price range. The AWR-650-SM is a true two-way design that employs a 6.5-inch dual voice coil polymer woofer and dual ¾-inch polymer dome tweeters. The speaker’s dual tweeter design allows it to play both left and right stereo signals with precision and clarity. Additionally, it can be wired for mono output in instances where several models are needed to bring smooth and even coverage to larger areas. Available in a granite, sandstone or red rock finish, the AWR-650-SM features a durable UV-resistant enclosure so you can enjoy clean, clear sound all season long. AWR-650-SM Specifications: frequency response: 66Hz-20kHz +/-3dB low frequency extension: 43Hz power handling: 50W continuous / 200W peak recommended amplifier power: 100W sensitivity: 94dB @ 2.83V / 1m nominal impedance: 8 ohms compatible high freq crossover: 2500Hz drive components: Two-way system using two 0.75” polymer dome tweeters and one 6.5” polymer cone dual voice coi