Anyone here know any part of the world where it’s perfectly legal to marry a machine? Because if there was such a place I would so be eloping with it. It’s not exactly the most powerful machine on the market (and with technology always evolving by the time you finish reading this it might be outdated) but for the price I got it for I felt I got my money’s worth.
Place of Purchase: I bought mine from HSN when they were doing a flex pay special. The estimated time of getting to me was the last day in May. The special was on Saturday (May 21) and it got to me on Wednesday (May 25) so I got to give points to UPS for not waiting till the last possible day to get it to me.
When I got it, it was in a box…within a box…within another box…and then another box. Needless to say it got to me unharmed and functioning.
Functionality & Things: After booting up it picked up my network right away. A few shutdowns later due to multiple updates of Windows 7 and I’m good to go. Programs could take up to about 5 seconds to load at the absolute most which in my book isn’t too shabby (especially when you compare it to my last laptop which could take 40 seconds or more).
One thing does bother me about this model is that it has no volume buttons on it. For less than average users probably wouldn’t think to hold the Function key (Fn) and then hit either up or down to adjust the volume. For me its fine, but defiantly not for those who are less than computer literate. Another bothersome thing is the mouse pad. It’s a bit twitchy, but nothing that can’t be fixed by tweaking the sensitivity or using an external mouse. That’s peanuts to my concern about the buttons on the built in mouse pad. It’s one big button but it works like a standard mouse pad. This might be enough to drive some people crazy being used to two clearly split buttons. Again, overcome by using an external mouse.
The operating system runs swell though it takes some getting used to. I tend to go into MSCONFIG to turn off things that I don’t want leaping on top of me during the boot up (like my instant messengers). I’m so used to clicking Run then typing the command. Here, there is no run button when you click on the start menu but you use the search bar in the start menu to execute commands. It saves a few seconds but was a brief adjustment for me. Still thought I should point it out for those not familiar with Windows 7. On that note I want to mention the OS liking to constantly double checking if you want to use certain programs. I can see the value in it (spyware can be a douche bag) but it could drive some people up a wall feeling smothered by their OS.
You know how earlier I touched on how the volume controls aren’t on this model unless you use the keyboard command (or OS task bar)? Well this model has only one speaker and its mono. So unless you’re using it in a place that has some badass acoustics don’t expect it to be too loud. It’s louder than Aron’s Dell XPS Insparon which is really low, but that’s another time…maybe. One more thing to note. This laptop comes with its own built in webcam. I only used it once, but it’s so clear and the picture is gorgeous. I’d show you an example of how well it captures images, but I’m not plastering myself on the web anytime soon.
Gaming Potential: With four gigs worth of ram, 640 gig harddrive and triple core processor it makes for one slick gaming machine. The only issue I’ve had with it in this respect is how it murders the battery. If you plan on playing something with high graphic demands you MUST be near an outlit. Sound as I mentioned earlier is on the weak side so if you’re someone who like to be immersed in a bath of sound you might want to get a set of external speakers or a pair of stereo headphones.
Frame rate doesn’t drop on online games unless you’re lagging due to having a slow connection or clunky router you just want to shoot in the face.
HSN Got A bad Batch: As I stated earlier I ordered mine from HSN. The ones from the HSN batch seem to have some bad ones mixed in with the functioning models, problems ranging from harddrive not working, keyboard being unresponsive and one complaining how they didn’t like the color and sent it back and gave it a 1 star on that merit.
If you intend on ordering from HSN, buying beware. I got lucky, but there have been some rather unfortunate cases. Then again when you mass produce something there’s bound to be a few defective product in the mix. Par for the course. As of this post it turns out that it sold so take that however you wish.
Final Judgment: Outside of all the concerns I had with some not-so-tech-savy people being driven crazy I love it. Runs quiet, plays big, bulky games, plenty of room on the drive and runs as quiet as a church mouse. Still, I wouldn’t give it to the tech illiterate. Now, for the more techy people in the audience…the specs.
The Key Specs
| AS5552-5495 |
| Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit version |
| AMD Phenom II Triple Core N830 Processor - 2.1GHz |
| 4096MB Dual-Channel DDR3 Memory |
| 640GB (5400RPM) |
| DVD-Super Multi double-layer drive (plays and records all standard DVD and CD formats) |
| SecureDigital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC) |
| 15.6" HD Widescreen LED-LCD display 1366 x 768 resolution 16:9 aspect ratio |
Additional Specs
| ATI Radeon HD 4250 |
| Up to 256MB |
| L2 |
| 1.5MB |
| Built-in speaker (1) Headphone/speaker jack; (1) Microphone-in jack |
| 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Certified |
| 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet LAN |
| (3) USB 2.0 (1) HDMI (1) VGA Connector (1) Kensington Lock Slot (1) AC Adapter Connector |
| 6-cell Li-ion (4400 mAh) Approx. 3.3 hours of battery life |
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