XPS XPS15-9062sLV Deal

JOS : The biggest drawback from my personal point of view is combining the arrow keys with PageUp/PageDown and the Home/End keys. Unless one is a real good typist, pressing Fn in order to do PageUp or End is not at all user friendly.
Another example: Shift+End or Shift+Home is a very efficient way to select text while editing (MS Word or otherwise). With this keyboard layout, one needs to press 3 buttons to do it. … why ?? there is tons of space for 4 more keys ….!

Shane Fulford: Overall the laptop is nice; however, one glaring exception is the wifi card. The Dell 1901 card that comes with this is horrible. I have two iPads (2nd and 3rd gen), a Windows Phone, a Lenovo, a MacBook Pro and a MacBook which all connect to the router without issue at twice the distance from the router. While the Dell can only see my router, the rest of the devices finds 5-10 other routers in the area. If I'm more than 10' from the router, the Dell constantly drops the connection. Even if it can connect, then it's horribly slow. Totally unusable. I had to get a USB wifi adapter to make it even usable. And again, it can connect at twice the distance.

Andrew Rutan: Unfortunately I only was able to use it for a few days before the issues began. After a day of trying to diagnose why it would shut off, I realized that simply putting pressure on the lower left side of the bottom panel would cause it to immediately shut down, pressure such as placing your palms on the palm rest while typing, or picking the laptop up to more it to another place. Which is why one typically buys a laptop.

XPS 12 Convertible Deal

Rajive Kumar (Seattle, WA USA): I love the laptop (I would have absolutely loved it, if it were not for the issues noted below), it is light and easy to convert between a tablet and a laptop. This is one of the very few touch screen laptops in the market with 1080p resolution and I absolutely love the extra real estate. With Windows 8, the touch interface seems to come alive, especially some of the Microsoft bundled apps with Windows 8, like travel, news, finance etc which you can experience to its fullness. Btw, I have the Core i7 version.

David Pearlman "sound fanatic" (Arlington, MA): This is one of a new breed of convertible laptops created to take advantage of the Windows 8 paradigm, which allows use as both as tablet and a laptop. While this category is expected to grow, right now, there are essentially only a modest number of entrants, and only two that could be reasonably be called innovative: The Dell XPS 12 (this one), and the Lenovo Yoga 13. The Dell and Lenovo sport similar power specs (cpu, memory, hard drive, battery life), but the Dell has a much higher resolution, better, screen. In my opinion, the Dell takes that competition handily.

Matthew J. Kreuscher "Matt K" (Milwaukee, WI): Out of the laptop / tablet conversion products this is definitely one of the best. It is not perfect and here are my only complaints. First, it does not support SD cards, which I was able to overlook by buying a new micro USB jump drive. The new ones hardly stick out of the computer preventing them from damage, so this will solve the problem unless you need multiple USB ports for other things. Another negative is the lack of an HDMI output. I used this very often on my old computer when traveling. It is great to put movies on the computer and play through the TV in hotels. However, you can purchase a cable to convert the mini-display port (correction) to HDMI for less than $20. (Update: I found the cable on Ebay for less than $4). This solves that problem. The final issue I have with the XPS 12 is the weight. At 3.5 pounds, it is fairly light laptop but a very heavy tablet.

XPS XPS13-1000sLV Deal

ZPM "zpm" (Baltimore, MD): I am returning the laptop and getting a replacement in hopes of receiving a non defective one. I received a Windows 8 error from the first time I logged on and put all my information in. After I finally got through that, the computer (software) was acting up. Programs not working, occasional freezing, wireless connection going in and out. I downloaded a bunch of Windows Updates which seemed to help a lot but the Internet was still just awful.

Trauquen: As for the physical computer, I've never seen anything like it. The design is awesome. It's much smaller than I imagined. The screen is very clear. Once I got through the updates, the computer moved very fast. The trackpad is really not that bad. If people have a problem with it, use a wireless mouse. The keyboard is great. My prior computer (Dell Latitude Z) had the best keyboard I've ever used and this XPS13 is up there with it.

Santiago Kegevic: Very impressive design in person....pictures provide limited justice... My first experience using a ssd drive...neither a hiccup or stall at all and is upgradable. Great ultrabook for my needs....burden less travel - great size slightly under 3lbs. Screen is beautiful at front angle views. Wireless connection is reliable and strong. Windows 8 however is a work in progress as I like what was done 'under hood' over Win 7 but the new start mode but requires practice.

XPS XPS13-40002sLV Deal

Zach : Great product, very happy with my purchase. The laptop is constructed amazingly well and really feels premium. The soft touch keyboard deck is much more comfortable than the aluminum of the Macbook Air or Pro. I use the laptop on my lap and it never feels warm. Very quiet. SSD speeds up the computer. From boot to opening the web browser takes about 20 second with no slow down at all. Trackpad is great, just make sure you install the latest touchpad drivers on the Dell website. It was awful at first but now it is definitely acceptable and responsive. Only thing I wish was better is the screen. Wish the resolution was higher and viewing angles were better. That is my only problem with this amazing ultrabook.

Chris G: Netbooks were never an option for me, but I wanted something small like a netbook with just a bit more oomph. Then Intel started pushing these "Ultrabooks" into the market, and I gotta say I love it. I've owned Dell Desktops my whole life, but this is my first Dell laptop. I've had a couple HP laptops that have burnt out on me after just a couple years. So far, this little guy is doing just fine. Right away, I noticed that it doesn't ever get nearly as hot as my HP laptops did.

Mr M in Nevada (Nevada): But with all that, my real issue is with Amazon and the vendor. My advice: don't EVER buy a computer from Amazon, because you're not buying directly from Amazon, you're buying from a vendor, who can make whatever policy they want. And in this case, the vendor (Data Master LLC) said, You can send it back within 30 days, but if you opened it (which, of course, I did), then you automatically lose 15% of the price. And in fact, a direct quote from their email was "Pick up phone" -- and call Dell. Now, if I had bought directly from Dell, I would have simply sent this dog back and gotten all my money back. But to lose 15%? I have decided to try and like it.

Vostro 1500, Intel Core 2 Duo T5470 Deal

Reviewedia.com "The free review encyclopedia" (Madison, WI): The new Dell Vostro 1500 is a new dell laptop design. Dell has done good in designing the Vostro. The looks of the Vostro is amazing. It has a stylish look, yet is very durable. The 15.4-inch LCD is wide enough for anyone's viewing pleasure and the screen's glossy feature makes it look like your viewing a glass screen. The dual-core 1.6GhZ (upgradable to 2.4Ghz dual-core) processors are powerful enough for most applications. The 2GB RAM (upgradable to 4GB) can do more then enough for a user. It comes with a DVD burner to burn all your DVDs. The video card offer is good enough to handle the new Vista features. The 80GB SATA HDD (upgradable to 250GB SATA)offers plenty of space and the speed of the SATA is extremely fast. This new Dell is worth every penny.

Charles Critchlow (tACOMA, WA, US): I have had my Vostro 1500 for roughly 3 years now it is the duel core 1.40 ghz 2 gigs of ram. overal I would say it is and has been a 7 out of 10. as far as the Neg. umm when I first got this pc the cd-rom issue was happening where it would not read and disk. this was found to be an easy fix the cd-rom drive is set to a location of (00) you must edit this under the system tab of windows xp and use Device manager and set it to (01) United States or find the country you are in and this solves this issue. oddly Dell had a real problem with this issue because upon release of the pc over 250,000 computers had this error and and this is when del just started releasing their computers to be sold at best buy and walmart. But Ironicly no body wanted them cause they didnt work out the door. so they flopped. rofl, best tried to sell it for $ 949.99 and Like I said they flopped and they flopped bad. they sold less than 2000.

Farhaddad (California, USA): I've had my Vostro 1500 for about 9 months now, and it's worked perfectly. I bought it with a fast Intel Penryn Processor, 3GB of RAM, nVidia 8600M GT video card, and Windows Vista. The Vostro 1500 is built like a tank, and pretty heavy. That might be a negative to some, but I like to know it can handle the everyday use I put it through. This is my 5th Dell notebook, and I've never had a major problem with any of them. The 1500 has since been replaced by the 1510. IMO, it is not nearly as well built as the 1500. You can still find the 1500 around, and IMO it is still a great notebook that's more than fast enough for most of today's uses, except heavy gaming.

Inspiron 15 i15RV-10000BLK 15.6-Inch Deal

Cassandra J: I was looking for the perfect laptop to replace my old Toshiba. This laptop works great, no complaints so far. The price for this laptop is actually a steal with how fast the processor is. My mom bought one as well (her first laptop). I will update my review later if any problems arise and/or if my mom has anything to add.Pros: Boots super fast (like SUPER FAST), lightweight (I carry it to class with me), Windows 8 is actually very easy to use once you get the hang of it (even the most computer illiterate person could figure it out), I LOVE the number pad as well
Cons: None yetSound Quality: It's loud enough for a laptop. I actually find the sound pretty efficient, but don't expect any "super bass" or anything.

Veil_Lord: The first thing that you'll notice is that it's extremely lightweight and is very uncomplicated. This is something that my 87 year old mother-in-law would be able to use right out of the box. Since she's never used a computer before, that says a lot. Many of the everyday apps that you use on a daily basis, are preloaded into the device. It comes with things like YouTube, Gmail and other Google products, and there are literally thousands of free apps available. It starts up very quickly and according to Google, updates are installed automatically. I've found all applications to run smoothly and quickly.

Brian Dupree: The Desktop vs Metro thing, including separate, non-inter-compatible programs is mind boggling. Switching back and forth between the two (IE can run in either mode, but the session is not shared, Word will only run in Desktop) is a pain. The lack of a task bar or even the ability to take IE out of full screen makes using two things at once a huge chore. Say you're updating a cover letter in word to line it up with a job posting (true story) was incredibly frustrating.

XPS 13 XPS13R2-1250sLV 13.3-Inch Ultrabook Deal

Y. Zhou:  The 2nd most important aspect...Touchpad. The touchpad was absolutely horrendous. This is not because I am spoiled by the Macbook's touchpad. I loved the new Asus zenbook ux31a's touchpad, and the lenovo yoga's touchpad. They were both great. The XPS 13's however, was just terrible. Updating the drivers didn't help at all. The touchpad oftentimes would not recognize finger movements at all, even if I was pressing with a good amount of pressure. Othertimes, would do something that I didn't want to. Multitouch functions worked fine though.

Pen Name: Lastly, Dell has "tweaked" Windows 8 so that you cannot use the built-in wipe/erase functions. I spent hours looking for a way to wipe the drive before sending back to Amazon (since, of course, it came with no reinstallation media). I did not find any instructions ANYWHERE on how to use the restore partition and upon any attempt to create a restore USB drive, the Dell utility failed to even see my USB drive. I eventually gave up and just sent it back with my data still on it.

S. Hasnain (Chicago): Horrible product and service. Three motherboards and three hard drives later, after 6 months computer still didn't work. Onsite service is a joke. Asked for a refund and denied by Dell. Customer service is rude and useless. My advice, buyer beware, and stay away from Dell. Used to have a good reputation, but not is junk and junk service. Finally just disposed of computer. $1300 stupid tax.

Adamo 13 A13-6349PWH 13.4-Inch Deal

Greg L. Stewart (San Antonio, TX USA): Excellent machine, very comparable to the new Macbook Air. Recently decided to run Windows 7 as my primary OS, and this machine doesn't disappoint. Purchased through Dell directly for $824 for the Pearl version with SL9600 (2.13Ghz, 6mb cache) processor and 4GB ram, all other specs same as this one. Currently sells for $899 for the Onyx version, suggest you purchase direct. Negatives are few - battery life not as good as the Air, the screen backlighting is obtrusive at times, the speakers and all the ports are on the back (not ideal). Overall though, very responsive and well made ultra light laptop.

R. Hemmer "ontheroad reader" (Dallas TX): I purchased the pearl white Adamo last year for Christmas and loves the color, weight, and style. Games like the Sims played well as long as I didn't add too many extra expansion packs. In August the computer stopped charging. A Dell rep came out and replaced the motherboard and the charging cord. By the end of October it turned on but nothing happened. Again, a new motherboard came this time with a new screen. Dell has agreed to send another computer since the parts did not fix the issue.

Charles in Montreal (Montreal, Quebec): Super solid build, quiet and flawless with SSD, just wonderful unit. Superb design - a Mac Air equivalent for PC but better in many ways. A few negatives - the keyboard letters can be hard to see and prefer the chiclet type board. Overall excellent though perhaps a bit expensive for some but IMHO worth the little bit extra for real quality. Reminds me of my Volvo - rock solid and satisfying to own.

Alienware ALW14-1870sLV 14-Inch Deal

Murph:  Product description says it is an Apple A4 2.4 GHz. There are quite a few other laptops that seem to be mislabeled. I hope they're not starting to put old iPad CPUs in laptops.This new model is horrible. I have the Alienware M14x R2 AM14XR2-7223BK and it is amazing. I'm not too sure where they went wrong here but this one is slow and feels like poor quality in comparison to my other model. I would avoid this model at all costs.

Yuhe Zhang: I've been a Dell customer for over 10 years. Purchased an Alienware M14x R2 February 2013 to replace my old Alienware M11x. I loved everything about it... until a month ago. Less than 6 months after spending close to $1,700 on a top of the line gaming computer, which was extremely well taken care, it broke. During late June/early July I noticed that the left hinge was getting stuck and making a popping sound whenever the laptop was closed and/or opened. Two weeks after the noise/problem began, the left hinge popped out of place and split the case (around the screen) apart. The laptop still worked fine, however, I decided to call Dell customer service and get it fixed. It is after all a six month old laptop, that is still under warranty until 2015.

Sloan : That I mishandled the laptop and that I have to pay for them to fix it. I was also informed that there have been no complaints (at all) on the M14x hinges, however, a quick search on Google will show that this is not the case. There are hundreds of other complaints, which Dell has chosen to ignore. This is the first time that I've had problems with Dell customer service. I never expected to pay top dollar for a "quality" laptop and have it break so quickly from normal wear and tear. Do yourself a favor and do a quick search on "Alienware M14x hinge" and decided for yourself. I'm personally never again purchasing from Dell. I rather take my money and business to a retailer that listens to their customers and sells a quality product.

Alienware M17X 17.3 Inch Deal

G. Dill (Tirana, Albania): I have owned four Alienware computers, including three laptops and one desktop computer. I was severely disappointed with all of them. My first two laptops all died within one year. And, my last two were replacement computers given to me by Alienware and lasted no more than two years. They have a bunch of power under the hood and therefore have a short shelf life. Although Alienware computers look really cool on the outside, it's what's on the inside that is horrendous. With exception to the graphics card, the rest of the components are poor quality. And, the engineers at Alienware did a poor job in constructing the computers.

Michael Jude Kelsey "Denegra" (Cocoa Beach FL): That being said there is a major flaw with this laptop. Within 2 months of owning the laptop, the keys started popping off. Dell does have a picture tutorial on how to put this keys back on, but if you follow the tutorial it will often lead to adjacent keys popping off. And if you push too hard when trying to get the keys to latch, then you are out of luck. Luckily my first experience with Alienware customer service ended in a keyboard replacement in less than 2 days from calling tech support. However when it started happening again tech support was not that helpful. I was told I would need to purchase a replacement keyboard for $110! The laptop is under warranty for 4 more months. I was even considering extending the warranty.

Brady R Faist (pullman, wa, US): I remember that once upon a time, dell was a great company. They built quality consoles, they had the warranty that set the industry standard, they cared about their customer support. It is clear to me that these things no longer matter to Dell. A big name and customer loyalty brings us back time after time. Over the past decade, I have given them dozens of referrals and direct purchases, but in the year since I purchased my dell M17x 8GB with dual Nvidia 260M graphics in SLI and an Intel i7 processor, I have actively scuttled just as many purchases by telling all about my personal experience.