VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A1 15.6-Inch Laptop

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Price: $899.99   

Product Feature

• Intel Core_i5_3317U Processor 1.7GHz
• 4 GB DDR3 RAM
• 128GB Solid-State Hard Drive
• 15.6-Inch Screen
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Product Description

With uncompromising performance, and premium picture and audio quality in a remarkably thin profile, the VIZIO Thin + Light is the Ultrabook � that’s impossible to ignore. But don t let its thin profile fool you - it outperforms notebooks twice its size. The high-performance 15.6" models each sport a Full HD or HD+ display and premium SRS sound for the best entertainment experience. Powered by the latest Intel Core processors, the VIZIO Thin + Light uses instant-on, flash-based SSD drives for speedy boot-ups and includes Microsoft Signature for fast performance right out of the box. If good things come in small packages, this must be the best there is.

VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A1 15.6-Inch Laptop Review

First off, let's just get this out there: paper spec-wise, few other laptops can compare to this laptop in my opinion. Laptops with 15" 1080p IPS screens are very few and far between, and then weighing just 4 pounds and being very thin is icing on the cake. The rest of the system is pretty average for this price range nowadays, but if you haven't experienced a screen like this you might just not realize how big of an asset it truly is.

Now, the caveats: the first sample I got had a rattly fan. It was very noticeable, and made me worry that it might break after a short amount of time. Wanting my laptop to last more than a few weeks, I returned it and got another which was quick and painless, but it definitely did not inspire confidence in Vizio's build quality. My second CT15-A1 is fine, but I'm strongly considering the 3 year aftermarket warranty that Amazon offers just in case it has problems down the line. Not only is this laptop priced very aggressively, but Vizio is brand new to the laptop space, so it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect some growing pains with early models. Subjectively, the laptop feels like it's actually built very well. The aluminum body is stiff, and there's very little screen flex. The screen hinge is stiff without being too stiff. There are no obvious build quality defects like bumps under the keyboard or that kind of thing (which I had with my previous Dell XPS M1330).

With that out of the way, I do have to say that I truly love this laptop. It's crazy lightweight for the specs. The matte 1080p IPS screen is beautiful, and when calibrated with my X-Rite i1 Display 2 (using the Lacie Blue Eye software), the average dE is less than 0.2. Read: this display is capable of near perfect reference color reproduction. I can do Adobe Lightroom work on this laptop without color reproduction concerns any more, in fact I moved away from a separate monitor to save space on my desk and for a little extra cash.

The keyboard is very nice tactile-wise. Before I got this laptop, I was using a mechanical keyboard with Cherry Blue switches. So I definitely appreciate the benefits of a nice keyboard. And while the keys aren't the same as a mechanical keyboards', they're still nice. The travel is pretty limited but there's good feedback. It's not too loud but also isn't silent. Everything's laid out pretty nice, although I'm not a fan of the arrow key setup and I hate the complete lack of home/end/pgup/pgdown navigation keys. I think the default option of the F1-12 keys acting as special function keys without needing to hold fn is an excellent decision. I only ever used F5 for refreshing a page, which can be accomplished by ctrl-r, but on the other hand I need volume, playback, and brightness control very often. One thing I have noticed that could be a problem: sometimes it seems like key presses aren't noticed, and other times it seems like I unintentionally double press a key. I'm a very fast typer (about 90 words per minute on a 1 minute test), so it could be that I'm just being really inaccurate with a new keyboard, but if you're concerned about this I would check for a trend in other reviews.

The touchpad is okay at best, and if it's having a bad day it's absolutely terrible. This is my first multi-touch touchpad, so my experience here should be noted as very limited overall. I like the gestures, and scrolling usually works pretty well. I really like that the entire touchpad clicks in for a left click - no more need to keep my left hand on the click button. I dislike that the default option for touch to click is "on". This was an amazingly stupid decision that wreaks of limited to no end-user testing. It makes typing almost impossible because there's no palm detection and merely brushing the pad moves your cursor. But thankfully this can be turned off, and as I mentioned previously the push-in-entire-pad-to-click design makes it unnecessary anyway. As another reviewer mentioned, sometimes the touchpad decides to just take a break and turn off. Other times, it decides to get all coked out and just randomly go around the screen, in no clear relation to what I'm actually trying to do. I'm not exaggerating. It's just completely broken in that respect. I have the most recent drivers and occasionally this happens with just no warning at all. It's infrequent enough that it's not critical, but it's pretty pathetic. Finally, it should be noted that there's no off button for the pad. I feel this is OK with touch to click being set off, since then the pad shouldn't randomly click unless you have a habit of bending your wrist to go between your hands and pressing down pretty stiffly, but it's still something some users might be concerned about.

So, basically, plan on using a trackball or a mouse with this laptop.

The ports are a little limited. Just two USB ports and only HDMI kind of sucks. Lots of projectors are still behind the curve and only have VGA, but the D-Sub connector is huge so I can't blame VIZIO for leaving it out.

The headphone audio is really nice. I would consider myself a practical audiophile - I don't believe in $500 power cable snake oil, but I appreciate a good DAC and good pair of cans. In that regard, the audio from this VIZIO is pretty respectable. There's none of the hissing that you get with truly awful DAC/amp combos, but it's also nothing to write home about and the gain is pretty low. Shouldn't be a problem unless you're planning on driving expensive high impedance cans, in which case you're probably the type of person to have an external DAC/amp combo anyway.

Also, cool feature sidenote: like smartphones, the laptop detects when headphones are plugged in, and it remembers the difference between last speaker volume and last headphone volume. So otherwise, you can have the speaker volume set to muted but the headphone volume set to average so you won't disturb anyone but still not have to mess with the volume constantly.

Finally, the OS experience is very nice. Turning on from standby is instantaneous. Turning on from hibernate isn't blazing fast but still only about 20 or 30 seconds. Turning on from being completely off or restarting takes about probably only 15 or 20 seconds. Not having bloatware is a godsend. This is the first prebuilt I've ever bought where I didn't do a Windows fresh install first thing. I just uninstalled the Bing and Zune crap and I was good to go 30 seconds later. Also, as a sidenote, there aren't ridiculous brand stickers plastered all over the place. The CT15 has a great design that's very nice to look at, and they obviously cared more about the user experience than absurd brand identity/advertising when they were designing it.

Final geek note: I haven't tried yet, but I see any kind of hardware changes being difficult or impossible. The entire underside of the laptop is a single piece, so there's no easy-to-access hard drive, RAM, etc. doors. This is frustrating, especially since I'd like to drop in a 512GB SSD in a few months since the prices keep dropping and 128GB is a little small, but I would research into this more if you're considering the laptop and need this capability.

Anyway, to summarize, this is an amazing laptop for the price. The screen is superb, and doesn't even require a "for the price" qualifier. Everything else is pretty average, with nothing being terrible except the touchpad depending on how much you plan on using it and if you're OK with messing with the settings (very easy to do). The internals are nice, but you might not be able to change them (research this if it matters to you). It's indeed very thin and light, and again at a great price. I recommend it, but consider the quality control risks before buying., and if you're willing to also carry around a mouse or a trackball.

Really I would have given this laptop a -1 star for the touchpad, and -0.5 stars for the one I had to replace. But since you can't do out of 10 ratings, I think a 4 is more appropriate because the rest of the laptop is good and the screen is greaet.

Most of the consumer Reviews tell that the "VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A1 15.6-Inch Laptop" are high quality item. You can read each testimony from consumers to find out cons and pros from VIZIO Thin and Light CT15-A1 15.6-Inch Laptop ...

VIZIO All-in-One CA24-A2 24-Inch Desktop

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Product Feature

• Intel Core_i7_3610QM Processor 2.3GHz
• 8 GB DDR3 RAM
• 1000GB 5400rpm Hard Drive
• 24-Inch Screen
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Product Description

Elegantly combining a powerful PC with premium entertainment features that work like a TV, the VIZIO All-in-One PC does it all. With a stunning 24" Full HD display, subwoofer-enhanced SRS 2.1 surround sound audio, remote control and dual HDMI inputs for connecting cable boxes and game consoles, the VIZIO All-in-One delivers serious entertainment. Featuring the latest Intel Core processors and the Microsoft Signature experience, it �s as fast as it is fashionable, allowing you to conveniently jump between the Web, movies, shows and work. The VIZIO All-in-One is everything you need in one simple, striking design.

VIZIO All-in-One CA24-A2 24-Inch Desktop Review

I purchased one of these early September this year and it was promptly delivered. The unit looks great and definately rivals Apple with both build quality and design.

System spec is good apart from the slow SATA HD. Theres no optical drive but I'm happy with that because I have an external unit. The Touchpad is quite nice to use but a little sluggish.

My only negative point was that the power supply/subwoofer packed in just after 10 days use and VIZIO support are quite slow to respond and remedy the issue. So with that said, its a good product for the style concious but VIZIO support and reliability lets it down so only 3 star rating.

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Airpremier N Selectable Dual Band Ap Poe

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Price: $213.99 Too low to display   

Product Feature

• User-Selectable 2.4GHz or 5GHz Dual Band 802.11n Wireless Connectivity for Business-Class Environments
• Operable as Wireless Client, Access Point, Wireless Bridge (WDS), or WDS with AP
• Supports Wi-Fi Multimedia (WMM) QoS Features for Enhanced Performance
• Supports WPA/WPA2-Personal and WPA/WPA2-Enterprise Security Features

Product Description

D-Link C Air Premier N Selectable Dual Band Ap POE

Airpremier N Selectable Dual Band Ap Poe Review

I had tried consumer products BestBuy, Walmart etc and never could achieve the performance I needed.D-Link professional products really did the job and their tech support is the finest I have ever used.

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TVpad M121s Chinese/Korean TV-VOD Streamer Media Player

You looking to find the "TVpad M121s Chinese/Korean TV-VOD Streamer Media Player" Good news! You can purchase TVpad M121s Chinese/Korean TV-VOD Streamer Media Player with secure price and compare to view update price on this product. And deals on this product is available only for limited time.

Price: $225.00   

Product Feature

• Version 3 Application Install on Demand from the Internet.
• Japanese Channels are currently unavailable.
• Chinese (Mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan) TV Streaming and VOD
• Video Output: HDMI (Recommended)/ AV (PAL Defaulted)

Product Description

TVpad M121s is the next generation smart TV box. Powered by Android, it turns your ordinary TV into a powerful smart TV. With hundreds of available live Chinese, Korean and Japanese Channels. There are also thousands of streaming movies and tv series to choose from. Ditch your monthly TV bill right now. With TVpad, there's no contract, no monthly fee! Box contain: TVPad - M121s; HDMI Cable; A/V Cable; Remote; 4GB Micro SD; User Manual WiFi: TVpad requires external USB WiFi Dongle for wireless connection (not included) Internet speed requirement: Minimal 2MBPS M121s is the latest version of TVpad. It is Faster and with more internal memory for buffering. M121s also supports much more content such Children's learning channel in Chinese; Senior health channel; plus many Korean live channels

TVpad M121s Chinese/Korean TV-VOD Streamer Media Player Review

Got the tvpad couple days ago, it is great. It did what it claim. For those claiming that they had tried numerous wireless adapters. You should go the Tvpad forum that was created by the manufacture. I use the one from Mwave and it works flawlessly. Save me $40 to pay Directv (or soon to be DishNetwork) for all the TVB channels.

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J5 Create JUD500 Ultra Station

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Price: $117.22 $105.00   

Product Feature

• J5 Create Ultra Station- HDMI/VGA KVM

Product Description

USB 3.0 Ultra Station

J5 Create JUD500 Ultra Station Review

On my: Win 7 Acer laptop, Intel i3 processor and video adapter.

I liked the idea of just one plug to dock, plus power of course. However, the J5 just hasn't performed. The flaws that I have found:

1) Constant buzz in the audio output. Makes it very annoying, so I unplug the audio to my external speakers. So I'm back to laptop speakers.

2) Runs really hot.

3) Display Adapter drivers did't load w/installer. I can't get the drivers to load, even after a full uninstall/reinstall. That means the video output from the HDMI plug is defaulting to 720x480 or something useless like that. I'm sure there is a fix, but I emailed support for it twice and...

4) Support has not responded to my emails now for two weeks. So, I suppose that means there is no support to help me with my video problem, and I should just disconnect this thing and consider it a waste.

Since I cannot use the J5 for video, nor audio plugs, and I was not interested in the wormhole KVM function, it serves basically no purpose for me. It did not make my laptop two-plug dockable.

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HP Envy 15-3040NR 15.6 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver)

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Product Feature

• 2nd generation Intel Core i7-2670QM processor 2.20GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.10GHz.
• 8 GB SDRAM
• 750GB 7200RPM HDD with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection
• Display: 15.6-inch diagonal Radiance Full HD Infinity LED-backlit display (1920 x 1080).Video graphics: Radeon HD 7690M switchable graphics with 1024MB GDDR5 and up to 5093MB total graphics memory.
• 15.6-Inch Screen

Product Description

Hear music the way the artist intended using the sleek HP ENVY 15-3040NR notebook with Beats Audio. Plus, HP Wireless Audio lets you stream audio to wireless-enabled devices using KleerNet Technology. Watch DVDs and slideshows on the ultra-sharp 15.6-inch diagonal Full HD LED-backlit display. This stylish HP laptop has an all-aluminum body in nero black and natural silver. With the HP TrueVision Webcam and HP Radiance Backlit Keyboard, working in low-light environments is easy, too. The HP ENVY 15-3040NR also has a large hard drive with HP ProtectSmart Hard Drive Protection to help prevent data loss. With an extended life battery that lasts up to 8 hours per charge, stay powered without plugging in your notebook. Integrated Wi-Fi and Bluetooth help you connect and sync your HP laptop to a printer, MP3 player or smartphone without using cables. You can also stream content to your HD TV with Intel Wireless Display. Plus, transfer photos directly from a memory card to your PC. And at 5.79 lbs, the ENVY 15 delivers awesome performance and amazing experiences in a size that� s easy to carry in your backpack or laptop bag. Warranty- 1 year.Ports : 2x USB 3.0 (A), 1x USB 2.0 (A). Display: 1x HDMI,1x DisplayPort. Audio: Integrated Stereo Speakers, Integrated Microphone, 2x 1/8" (3.5mm) Headphone Output, 1x 1/8" (3.5mm) Microphone Input, Flash Media Slot: 1x SD, 1x MMC.

HP Envy 15-3040NR 15.6 Inch Laptop (Black/Silver) Review

I really wanted to like this laptop, because on paper, there are very very few (if any) laptops that offer a similar package at this price point (up to 30% off MSRP after various HP coupons on the web for i7-2620qm, powerful graphics via 7690m, but most of all, 1080p IPS display). However, after 2 months of patience, I can no longer ignore the glaring issues HP has chosen to overlook. First, there have been numerous reports first appearing in forums about users' complaints about the Envy 15 1080p's inability to produce red colors. Since the initial reports in January, numerous tech blogs like the Verge, notebookcheck, and Engadget (among others) have confirmed this issue. While I had tried to overlook the issue myself, the non-reds eventually became far too big of a distraction, especially considering that this was a $150.00 upgrade option. If HP charged $250.00 for a screen upgrade that had a decent color gamut (come on! I'm not asking for Dreamcolor quality or even 95% Adobe coverage like Lenovo offers, just a screen that can reproduce the THREE PRIMARY COLORS!), I would have gladly and without hesitation ponied up the extra cost. I regret that HP chose to cut corners like this, when they were so close to a phenomenal laptop/display. -1 Star for display.

The second issue I take is the keyboard. To be fair, when I first received this unit, I had no skipped/missed keys, and I decided I could live with the slight flex on the left side of the keyboard. But ever since a BIOS update (F.05, for those of you keeping track), which by the way was ON HP's OWN SITE, the keyboard will miss literally about 15% of my keystrokes whenever I'm running on AC adapter (but strangely, I have no problems when running on battery!). The keystroke issue is actually distracting enough to disrupt my day-to-day web browsing (missed spaces and mistyped web addresses are nothing but common); in fact, the only way you are reading this review without typos in every 3rd word is by my proofreading. Again, to be fair, I am understanding of the fact that software/updates can be buggy at times; it's another matter when the manufacturer does not fix these bugs, not to mention refuse to acknowledge the numerous complaints from customers (google for forums in notebookreview.com and HP customer support forum for "Envy 15 BIOS keyboard" and skim through results). -2 Star, 1 each for keyboard/HP customer service handling complaints.

Others have complained about banged up USB ports, scratches, paint peeling, etc., but my unit arrived cosmetically flawless so I will not dock any stars for that.

It is my own fault for waiting 2 months to try to like this laptop and end up discovering all of this, instead of returning the unit within the initial 21-day period. I hope others will benefit from my less-than-pleasant experience with the Envy 15. I will update this review should HP offer any solutions to these and other complaints not even mentioned in this mini-review, but I am not holding my breath.

EDIT 2/21/12: BIOS F.06 also does nothing to address the keyboard problem.

EDIT 3/20/12: I'm adding one star back to my review. F.07 was released a couple of days ago, and I'm happy to report that all of the keyboard woes are gone! Here's to hoping that those problems don't return... I would like to add on a half-star if I could, for the fact that HP's coming around to responding and ACKNOWLEDGING the problems surrounding the Envy. HP recently made a formal (though somewhat vague) announcement about HP's proposal to fix the screen issue. This gives me some hope that the company's at least taking steps to do what it can to remedy the issues at hand. I will update again after seeing what HP ultimately does w/ the LCD problem.

EDIT 5/10/12: HP released a software that allows some control over colors for the display, but as I had suspected, the software doesn't do anything to fix the red/violet issues (I wasn't hoping for too much out of the software option anyway since my research had confirmed the colors are a limitation of the LG panel itself).

EDIT 7/10/12: I honestly didn't think I'd be updating this review again, but here I am. First I have to say that HP's engineers offered better customer concern/service than any dedicated customer service departments, period (Thanks again, Jonathan!). Second, HP contacted me a few weeks ago to ask whether I had the orange-red issues with my panel, to which I provided details about the problem. Long story short, I was offered a free exchange (HP paid shipping both ways), and quite frankly, I wasn't expecting any difference despite the different panel part number of the new panel. Well I was wrong--wrong about my customer service comments above, and wrong about the panel. The new panel isn't perfect or even great by any standard, but it is definitely a noticeable improvement on the original Envy 15 panels' reds. In light of these two points, I'm adding one more star back mostly due to the way that HP decided to handle the crappy-display issue because the screen, as improved as it is, is still only average. Here's a quote from a post I wrote on another forum, describing the difference:

"While the reds on the new panels are still definitely not a natural, deep red, it's a noticeable improvement from the older panels. The red is at least almost on par with my Galaxy S phone, and noticeably but not hugely worse than my Dell U2311h. Reds are noticeably more orange than on my Dell U2410, but I'm not expecting much there because that is, after all, a 118% gamut display. My Envy 14's red is definitely redder, but I didn't expect the E15 to be as good anyway since the E14's panel is 84% gamut, and the E15's is supposedly 60%. The reds are indistinguishable from the reds on my wife's Late 2011 Macbook 15 (1680x1050 panel), and in some cases (netflix website, fullscreen red in Paint), the E15 actually appears redder--and no, there is nothing "wrong" with the Macbook's panel.

It's very hard for me not to expect more though b/c I've been far too long spoiled by the likes of HP's dreamcolor display, Dell's no longer existent RGBLED XPS 16 display, and excellent desktop monitors... yet, in spite of that, I can confidently say that at least the color aspect of the new panels are no better or worse than the colors of a typical TN panel on the average laptop. That said, I always thought that given equal color reproduction, there is little/no reason not to opt for IPS or TN (at least on a laptop), so I think I can lay aside my gripes about the orange-y reds. I can always wish/complain about wanting a higher gamut, but I know that's not what I paid for, nor did HP advertise high-gamut displays on the E15 as they did with the E14."

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