Best Laptop Computers
Acer Aspire E5-575-33BM comes with these high level specs: 7th Generation Intel Core i3-7100U Processor (2.4GHz, 3MB L3 cache), Windows 10 Home, 15.6" Full HD Widescreen LED-backlit Display, Intel HD Graphics 620, 4GB DDR4 Memory, 1TB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM), 8X DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive (M-DISC enabled), Secure Digital (SD) card reader, High Definition Audio Support, 802.11ac Wi-Fi featuring MU-MIMO technology (Dual-Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1, Gigabit Ethernet, Built-In HD Webcam (1280 x 720) supporting High Dynamic Range (HDR), 1 - USB 3.1 (Type C) port, 2 - USB 3.0 Ports (One with Power-off Charging), 1 - USB 2.0 Port, 1 - HDMI Port with HDCP support, 6-cell Li-ion Battery (2800 mAh), Up to 12-hours Battery Life, 5.27 lbs. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"With that said, I spent about 20 working hours comparing over 400 laptops (nerd) from all major brands, and looked at over 300 deals(super nerd) offered on laptops by all major retailers on both black friday and cyber monday. 2) DDR4 ram, again the latest and greatest, also happens to be the cheapest ram available. Most things cost more when new, but because PC components become obsolete so quickly, when ram is first introduced this is the product being currently manufactured, which in turn means supply can easily exceed demand, which means lower prices. Also ram can EASILY be added to this laptop, takes less than 5 minutes and costs exactly $24.99 for the best available, here is the link to the 4GB stick I added: https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-16GBx2-PC4-19200-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B01DGOF6GE?th=1. ***Additional note about ram, I chose to purchase an additional stick of 4gb rather than a 8gb or 16gb. There is a phenomenon known as "dual channel" with regards to ram, the concept is that if you have 2 like sticks of ram (they need to match in a few tech specs), in the exact same size, ie: 2 sticks of 4gb of ram, your pc will be able to access both sticks of ram at the same time. Therefore after talking to a computer genius friend of mine and doing about an hours research on this specific application, my best guess is that the extra money on the 8gb stick of ram would be a waste, two 4gb sticks of dual channel ram will out perform a 4gb and 8gb stick together for most applications. If you do want to have more than 8gb of ram total, I would recommend purchasing 2 identical sticks of 8gb or 16gb ram to utilize dual channel. You can either purchase a traditional sata SSD and replace the existing hard drive, or purchase a m.2 SSD and have 2 hard drives. ***If you decide to pull the stock hard drive, you can purchase a usb case for it and turn it into an external hard drive that connects via usb cable. This laptop is a unicorn in the fact that it has ALL SOLID FEATURES, with 2 potentially weak spots for some users (ram and hard drive). But these are easily upgraded, and the truth is (regardless of what tech nerds might argue), 4gb of ram, and the included hard drive are more than adequate for the majority of users."
"It's a Great Laptop: Even Novices Like Myself Can Upgrade it (Explained). I came into this laptop for the same reason most of you probably are; my budget is "as cheap as I can make it" while still having a functional Windows operating system (not a chromebook) for school related reasons. It seems like a silly thing to talk about but you'd be surprised, especially with lower-end laptops, how problematic that can be when it isn't L shaped (for that reason, I recommend staying away from Dell Inspirons and any other laptop like that). Kingston Technology HyperX Impact 8GB 2133MHz DDR4 CL13 SODIMM Laptop Memory HX421S13IB/8 is the RAM I used to upgrade with. If you were so inclined, you could pay for 8 gigs of ram to bring you to twelve, or buy two sticks of 4/8/16 and replace the stick they give you as the laptop can theoretically be taken up to 32. If you move windows and programs onto the ssd, and you upgrade your ram, you'll have a real real nice laptop and it shouldn't cost you more than 500 total. This laptop's integrated graphics will limit it when it comes to playing modern, intensive games but the 7th generation i3 hold up strong and upgrading ram/ssd will improve that. The only real downside to this laptop, which is to be expected in the pricerange, is the integrated graphics card which limits its gaming possibilities but in reality, it makes much more sense to have a basic laptop and a dedicated gaming pc at home as you'll get much more bang for your buck that way. I strongly urge you to purchase this unit, even if you're not going to screw around with upgrades, over spending the $1,500 Apple wants for their worst 13 inch laptop (they want 2,400 for their low-end 15 inch laptop.). Buying expensive laptops is a luxury with minimal value and you'd be better off spending it on other luxuries instead, as this is a new golden standard for laptops."
Acer Aspire E5-575G-57D4 comes with these high level specs: 7th Generation Intel Core i5-7200U Processor 2.5GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.1GHz (3MB L3 cache), Windows 10 Home, 15.6" Full HD Widescreen Comfy View LED-backlit Display supporting Acer Color Blast technology, NVIDIA GeForce 940MX with 2 GB of DDR5 VRAM, 8GB DDR4 Memory, 256GB SSD, 8X DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive (M-DISC enabled), Secure Digital (SD) card reader, Acer True Harmony High-Performance Sound System, Two Built-in Stereo Speakers, 802.11ac Wi-Fi featuring MU-MIMO technology, Bluetooth 4.1, Gigabit Ethernet, Built-In HD Webcam (1280 x 720) supporting High Dynamic Range (HDR), 1 - USB Type-C port: USB 3.1 Gen 1 (up to 5 Gbps), 2 - USB 3.0 Ports (One with Power-off Charging), 1 - USB 2.0 Port, 1 - HDMI Port with HDCP support, 6-cell Li-ion Battery (2800 mAh), Up to 12-hours Battery Life, 5.27 lbs. 15.6" Full HD Widescreen Comfy View LED-backlit Display supporting Acer Color Blast technology.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"If you're reading this review it's because you're in the marketplace to buy a new puter running the latest i5 CPU or killing time. SSD - None. SK Hynix M.2 SATA III 256 GB - 5 *****. Surprised to discover my rig is running with an M.2 SATA III stick instead of an SSD. The SSD hole is empty in case one wishes to add one. You do this by right clicking an empty spot on your desktop, the drop down menu will list Intel Graphics Setting and Nvidea Control Panel. Set every control to the Nvidea card; 3D and PhysX, brightness, contrast, hue and saturation. The system is set to auto select between the two but appears to always choose the crappy fuzzy Intel GPU. I can't tell you enough how horrible the Intel GPU makes the display look. Once set for Nvidea the display comes to life, letters are crisp and sharp, and colors vibrant. This display has zero glare, zero reflection even with a reading lamp above and behind my shoulder pointing directly at the screen or sitting in front of a bay window with mid-day sun. It's nice to have DVD R/W, Ethernet rj-45 port, HDMI and VGA outputs, an SD card slot, headphone jack, and 3 USB ports two of which are 3.0. And, laptop comes with battery life indicator icon located in the taskbar. Weight is heavy attributed to the long battery life. In a few years I anticipate the market will be flooded with replacement batteries. Font size changes unexpectedly, usually smaller, lighter with squigly lettering. Close & reopen the browser and/or App resolves the problem. Pull gently on the small plug and, wala, the battery comes out."
"1) Not a hardware issue but beware the Windows 10 upgrade (for latest fixes) took 3 attempts (12 hours, 16 hours, and 20 hours) with a reboot between each. It took the upgrade 3 hours to get to 99% and then just sat there. 7) With no external power button it is difficult to use an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse because the laptop must remain open to allow access to power button to turn on and off."
"Before anyone is scared off by the idea of adding a stick of RAM, I literally spent more time googling an instructional video on YouTube than I did installing the RAM (TL/DR: three screws, a few snaps, plug and play, ready to go). The key board itself feels great to type on, and, one final positive, this has plenty of ports, including an old school VGA port and a disc reader. It's not pretty, it's not chromed out, and it's not particularly light (I'd say a good 6 lbs.). Second, the screen is a good 1080p TN panel display; however, it's not IPS and you will notice the difference between it and an IPS panel (if you've gotten used to IPS). I don't want to scare anyone away - the screen is still good, but it won't be as gorgeous as a 4K or UHD IPS screen; however, as an unexpected positive, TN Panels consume a lot less energy, so you do get a battery-life dividend."
Acer Chromebook 14 CB3-431-C5FM comes with these high level specs: Intel Celeron N3160 Quad-Core Processor 1.6GHz with Intel Burst Technology up to 2.24GHz, Google Chrome Operating System, 14" Full HD ComfyViewTM Widescreen IPS LED-backlit Display, Intel HD Graphics, 4GB LPDDR3 SDRAM Memory, 32GB Internal Storage, 802.11ac WiFi featuring MIMO technology (Dual-Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.2, HD Webcam (1280 x 720) with 88 degree wide angle lens supporting High Dynamic Range (HDR), 2 - USB 3.0 Ports, 1 - HDMI Port, 3-Cell Li-Polymer Battery (3950 mAh), Up to 12-hours Battery Life, 3.42 lbs. 14” Full HD IPS Display (1920 x 1080), Intel HD Graphics.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"As I write this, the Acer Chromebook 14 is sitting with 13 reviews, all of which are 5 stars... and I do feel a little bit bad here breaking up the perfect game, but after using this Chromebook for a few days, I feel I have an obligation to point out both its strengths and its drawbacks. Chromebooks have generally been budget-friendly devices, but recently we've started to see some that are either mid-range and high quality (like the Dell 13) or are upper-low end budget devices that still use more premium build materials, like the Asus C100P "Flip" and now, the Acer Chromebook 14. This processor isn't exactly going to light the world on fire, but for most of what folks do with a Chromebook, it is going to be adequate, and it provides a user experience that feels significantly faster and more responsive than the N3050 on Windows 10 or Chrome OS, and is also more responsive in Chrome here than the x5-Z8300 is in Windows 10 (such as you'd see in the Intel Compute Stick or Asus E200HA). The screen is great, for both media consumption and general computing/web browsing; it offers a nice amount of local storage and solid performance via the Intel processor and 4GB of RAM, and it looks sharp, thanks to modern design queues and aluminum build materials. I keep reading comments along the lines of: "Forget the Dell Chromebook 13 / Toshiba Chromebook 2 2015, this is the Chromebook to get!" I think that a lot of Toshiba customers should probably consider the Acer, but those who were aboard the Dell train for its build quality and performance will likely still want to move forward with that device instead of this one; if I had to choose between the two, I'd likely go Dell... but then again, budget isn't my number one concern. The Acer is very nice, to be sure, especially considering the price or $299, but tapping the trackpad results in a hollow response compared to the MacBook's assured sturdiness, and the keyboard lacks the superb feel and response you find in a MacBook keyboard. It is solid, and does a decent job rendering pages, and paired with the extra RAM here, it adequately handles streaming content in the background - such as YouTube or Spotify - and still maintains a decent browsing experience across eight to ten additional tabs; but realistically speaking, this Chromebook offers slower performance than the $199 Acer C720 from late 2013. There's a very real performance gap here when compared to more expensive devices, but also when compared to Chromebooks running on the Intel 2955U or 3205U/3215U, which in the case of the latter Broadwell chips can churn out Octane scores nearly double what the Acer 14 offers. None of this means the Acer Chromebook 14 is a bad Chromebook; on the contrary, it is an excellent Chromebook! I led with those first five points for a reason: being able to purchase a decently-performing Chromebook with aluminum build, a 1080p IPS display, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of local storage, and an Intel quad-core processor for $299 is basically what the entirely of the ChromeOS subreddit has been asking for over the past few years; as such I have to tip my had to Acer and commend them on building a very nice Chromebook for the consumer space, one which should do a great job converting people to the idea of Chrome OS. That doesn't mean that I can't be disappointed in the lack of an SD card slot, the hollow feel and sound of the trackpad, the quite average keyboard, the feeling that the "premium" build quality is really just a nice "coat of paint" so to speak, the solidly average performance which is exceeded by devices 2.5 years old or matched by Chromebooks at half the price, the absence of a touchscreen upgrade, or the use of slower eMMC storage instead of a real M.2 SSD."
"Acer has identified the Chromebook market gaps and solved almost everything in this extremely solid offering - a thin, metal, almost Mac-like build, armed with 4GB of RAM, a full 14" HD display and a Quad-core CPU. For students and road warriors, the extended battery life and automatic cloud integration makes sync-ing a breeze, especially if you hotspot from your phone. From the camera and audio quality through to the build styling, every aspect of this PC has been meticulously considered and it represents the best Chromebook that has been delivered to date."
Best 2 in 1 Laptop Computers
Microsoft Surface Book features the 6th Gen Intel Core i5 processor, NVIDIA GeForce GPU with 8GB memory and a 128GB solid state drive. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"- It's solid, even when you're holding the tablet, when connected to the keyboard, it will not get loss of feel it’s about to disconnect. - Unlike many laptops, you will never see any key outlines of oily imprints on the screen when you close it. - The keyboard layout is one of the best as it private a deep click, creating a satisfying feedback. - Two USB 3.0 ports. - Nvidia graphic chip will be able to run some basic gaming. - Dark scenes in videos are deep and consistent in quality, even when the brightness on the computer is turned up. - Backlit keyboard is a beautiful light display that illuminates the symbol on each key. - High power I-core and GTX 965M graphics card make this a beast with higher end programs. - 6-10 hours of battery life (this is also a Con) of the normal day browsing the web, jumping between apps, writing an email, social media. - The webcam is enough to have meetings on it as well has a built-in facial recognition for signing into Windows without a password (Yes, it does work just as it promises). - No key function to control the screen brightness as sometimes the auto-adjusting light sensor isn’t entirely accurate. The battery life can be as low as 6 hours and as high as 13, given on how much power you use it for, but I believe this system is built for specific people. Specific people who are illustrators, Media professionals, designers, office presenters (PowerPoint), and video / photo editors will enjoy the concept this system. The detachable design makes it excellent for business collaboration and is built for those who need to show others what they’re doing."
"I'm happy with the purchase and I would recommend it (unless you want your decision to make financial sense, because it doesn't). Pros: Unbelievable screen. Touch and pen work really well. Great finishing and quality. Fast performance and no preinstalled software apart from a couple that are meant to show the capabilities of the surface book. Great battery life (base part). Cons: Wireless performance is OK but 2 years older laptops with Intel 802.11ac Wi-Fi cards perform better. You'll have to install loads of updates when you first receive it, not really a con but it took me a few hours. Long charging time. Not very easy to open the lid when its closed."
"What is clear, though, is that all of those who are disappointed were first-day buyers so I'd look at the one star reviews as a cautionary tale about the perils of being an early adopter. I was a bit lucky, in that I live in Australia and the release was delayed until Microsoft's new flagship store opened in Sydney a couple of weeks ago. The service was excellent and it means my experience is of a Surface Book with the latest Windows 10 updates, which seems to make all the difference. It eliminates the inner dialogue where I try and work out which device will involve the fewest compromises for any given task and it means I can now leave my tablet at home when I have my sBook with me. So, for me, this is what makes the sBook a five star product - the overall experience and massively expanded utility over my old laptop. The specs are far less important, other than being more than adequate to run all my professional software, from Adobe Creative Suite 6 to Autodesk 3DS Max and Maxon Cinema 4D. It is also very capable when it come sot my realtime music software and I can't wait for an opportunity to use it on stage, in front of an audience. EDIT/UPDATE: Many of the problems other users were reporting kicked in for me after a month or so and took until about April for Microsoft to finally fix them all through firmware and software updates."
Best Traditional Laptop Computers
Acer Aspire E5-575-33BM comes with these high level specs: 7th Generation Intel Core i3-7100U Processor (2.4GHz, 3MB L3 cache), Windows 10 Home, 15.6" Full HD Widescreen LED-backlit Display, Intel HD Graphics 620, 4GB DDR4 Memory, 1TB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM), 8X DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive (M-DISC enabled), Secure Digital (SD) card reader, High Definition Audio Support, 802.11ac Wi-Fi featuring MU-MIMO technology (Dual-Band 2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.1, Gigabit Ethernet, Built-In HD Webcam (1280 x 720) supporting High Dynamic Range (HDR), 1 - USB 3.1 (Type C) port, 2 - USB 3.0 Ports (One with Power-off Charging), 1 - USB 2.0 Port, 1 - HDMI Port with HDCP support, 6-cell Li-ion Battery (2800 mAh), Up to 12-hours Battery Life, 5.27 lbs. Enter your model number to make sure this fits.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"With that said, I spent about 20 working hours comparing over 400 laptops (nerd) from all major brands, and looked at over 300 deals(super nerd) offered on laptops by all major retailers on both black friday and cyber monday. 2) DDR4 ram, again the latest and greatest, also happens to be the cheapest ram available. Most things cost more when new, but because PC components become obsolete so quickly, when ram is first introduced this is the product being currently manufactured, which in turn means supply can easily exceed demand, which means lower prices. Also ram can EASILY be added to this laptop, takes less than 5 minutes and costs exactly $24.99 for the best available, here is the link to the 4GB stick I added: https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-16GBx2-PC4-19200-SODIMM-260-Pin/dp/B01DGOF6GE?th=1. ***Additional note about ram, I chose to purchase an additional stick of 4gb rather than a 8gb or 16gb. There is a phenomenon known as "dual channel" with regards to ram, the concept is that if you have 2 like sticks of ram (they need to match in a few tech specs), in the exact same size, ie: 2 sticks of 4gb of ram, your pc will be able to access both sticks of ram at the same time. Therefore after talking to a computer genius friend of mine and doing about an hours research on this specific application, my best guess is that the extra money on the 8gb stick of ram would be a waste, two 4gb sticks of dual channel ram will out perform a 4gb and 8gb stick together for most applications. If you do want to have more than 8gb of ram total, I would recommend purchasing 2 identical sticks of 8gb or 16gb ram to utilize dual channel. You can either purchase a traditional sata SSD and replace the existing hard drive, or purchase a m.2 SSD and have 2 hard drives. ***If you decide to pull the stock hard drive, you can purchase a usb case for it and turn it into an external hard drive that connects via usb cable. This laptop is a unicorn in the fact that it has ALL SOLID FEATURES, with 2 potentially weak spots for some users (ram and hard drive). But these are easily upgraded, and the truth is (regardless of what tech nerds might argue), 4gb of ram, and the included hard drive are more than adequate for the majority of users."
"It's a Great Laptop: Even Novices Like Myself Can Upgrade it (Explained). I came into this laptop for the same reason most of you probably are; my budget is "as cheap as I can make it" while still having a functional Windows operating system (not a chromebook) for school related reasons. It seems like a silly thing to talk about but you'd be surprised, especially with lower-end laptops, how problematic that can be when it isn't L shaped (for that reason, I recommend staying away from Dell Inspirons and any other laptop like that). Kingston Technology HyperX Impact 8GB 2133MHz DDR4 CL13 SODIMM Laptop Memory HX421S13IB/8 is the RAM I used to upgrade with. If you were so inclined, you could pay for 8 gigs of ram to bring you to twelve, or buy two sticks of 4/8/16 and replace the stick they give you as the laptop can theoretically be taken up to 32. If you move windows and programs onto the ssd, and you upgrade your ram, you'll have a real real nice laptop and it shouldn't cost you more than 500 total. This laptop's integrated graphics will limit it when it comes to playing modern, intensive games but the 7th generation i3 hold up strong and upgrading ram/ssd will improve that. The only real downside to this laptop, which is to be expected in the pricerange, is the integrated graphics card which limits its gaming possibilities but in reality, it makes much more sense to have a basic laptop and a dedicated gaming pc at home as you'll get much more bang for your buck that way. I strongly urge you to purchase this unit, even if you're not going to screw around with upgrades, over spending the $1,500 Apple wants for their worst 13 inch laptop (they want 2,400 for their low-end 15 inch laptop.). Buying expensive laptops is a luxury with minimal value and you'd be better off spending it on other luxuries instead, as this is a new golden standard for laptops."
Best Desktop Computers
Graphics: AMD Radeon RX 580 4GB Video Card | 1 x HDMI | 1 x DisplayPort.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I decided to write a review because the ad doesn't have all the information that I would like to have, such as which manufacturer the motherboard and graphics card comes from, as well as the power supply. Specs on the one I received are as follows: CPU: Intel core i5 7400. Motherboard: ASUS Prime B250M-A (MSI B250M bazooka is the one pictured as far as I can tell). GPU: MSI RX 580 4GB ARMOR (pictured in ad as far as I can tell). RAM: 2x4GB sticks of ADATA 2400. PSU: ATNG POWER CO., LTD MODEL: ATM-500FB (not specified in ad and I couldnt find any specs or reviews online). HDD: Western Digital Blue 1TB 7200 RPM. Case fans: Apevia branded. Case: Aluminum (I believe) with acrylic front and side panels. Plenty of room to expand if you wanted to add an SSD or more ram, MB also supports intel Optane and has 2 m.2 slots. The case is beautiful in my opinion and the acrylic panels are slightly tinted, which I like very much because the light isn't too bright from the fans, and it looks almost solid black when the pc is turned off. The lack of any information at all online leads me to believe this is probably not a very good power supply, I would atleast like to know what temp it is rated for as well as if it has any protections such as OVP, OCP, UVP, OPP, SCP. My biggest complaint is the missing MB screw, it just really bothers me that it isn't completely mounted. When I wrote this review Cyberpower left a comment which is the reason I contacted them about the missing screw in the first place. 14 days after that I still didn't have a package, but I did receive an email from someone else in their tech support department with a survey about their customer service. I suppose I'll never know, but the 3rd package arrived in less than a week and contained a packet with a few screws and standoffs and a Cyberpower mouse pad as well."
"None of my current systems work with it.. A bit of research and I was about to buy another Dell when I checked Amazon to see what they have to offer and I found this system. This system has a good amount of expandability and it has a 7th gen processor the I5 is very good and as time passes you could put in an I7 as the price drops. The graphic card is a very good card to play all games to what degree I will update once I have some of my games installed. Over all I love the system so far and again I will update the review as a install and use several programs. Should you buy this system I would say yes and do it soon as the supply of 7th gen chips run out the price may go higher or the system may be sold out. so far very good job. VR Update Well the Fall creator update is out and I applied it to my system and ran the Microsoft Mixed Reality Test program. If you are looking for a system to handle VR this system does it hands down with room to grow Also for Christmas I got Titanfall 2 which is installed and ready for me to give it a try."
"The Cyberpowerpc Gamer Xtreme pc has a lovely case, and they were very generous with the amount of case fans included. This may sound odd, but the thing that impressed me the most was how amazing they did with cable management. Its not just thrown together recklessly, someone actually took the time to feed the cables through back and made it look fabulous. Since its using a Kaby Lake chip, and they use a decent mobo, it makes it a lot easier to just add a newer processor and gpu without having to worry about replacing the mobo."
Best Computer Tablets
The next generation of our best-reviewed Fire tablet, with up to 12 hours of battery life, a vibrant 8" HD display, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 1.5 GB of RAM, and Dolby Audio.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It has about 12 hours battery life, it has many settings that you can use to save your battery by going off Wifi if you don't need it. It is an 8 inch HD display, it has a quad core processor, 1.3 gigahertz. You can enjoy hundreds of movies, TV shows, songs, Kindle ebooks you can even have a text- to-speech narrator, who will read the book to you! It seems to have brought us into a different venue. The case that comes with your Kindle Fire is just the back side of the case it does not cover the front."
"All right so I was scrolling through the reviews and read some pretty ridiculous reasons to not give this tablet five stars. For 80 dollars this is a good buy and the complaints on the wieght and the ads are ridiculous reasons to give this tablet a shabby review. Buy this tablet if you want a cheap e-reader that can also sure the web, watch movies and shows, check Facebook or Twitter, or read books on. It is an 80 dollar tablet and it will freeze if you try and treat it like something that has an insanely powerful processor and RAM."
"I paid full price for this product and am not being compensated in any manner to post this review. Pro's: ~Fast. ~Amazing Screen resolution. ~Great sound. ~Responsive. ~Alexa is kind of awesome. ~Battery life. I've charged it once so far, I've watched YouTube videos on it, streamed a movie and a few TV shows and I use it for Facebook and I'm not even half way down on the battery after 3 days."