ASUS N82 Series N82JQ-XV1 NoteBook Intel Core i7 740QM(1.73GHz) 14" 4GB Memory DDR3 1066 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M

Pros: Big specs at a reasonable price.

Cons: 1) Bloatware. 2) system architecture can't support the heat generated from the big components working at max loads.

First on the bloatware: this notebook computer has better specs than my desktop so I expected to see certain programs run as fast or faster but this was not the case until AFTER I installed a fresh copy of Win7. The severe negative impact of the bloatware was obvious and I'm terribly disappointed that Asus thinks this is an acceptable way to sell machines.

The bottom line on the hardware is that this is the main reason for ONE STAR. The system crashes at workloads that don't even begin to approach the capability of the hardware. I'm a bit of a power gamer. On a weaker spec system I can run eight clients of a game. On this system I can only run two. A four-fold performance degradation becaue Asus fails at adequate cooling of the components they assemble. That's as clearcut as I can make it.

Other Thoughts: I read reviews previous to this so I knew that the system gets hot and that the system has poor battery life. Battery life and heat are NOT why I have given this one star. The reason this gets one star is that the temperatures get so hot that the system will not perform at the workload capable of the hardware loaded in this machine. Of course, bloatware is also a contributing factor to one star.

If the only proble were the bloatware I might give this three or four stars because reloading Win7 was extremly easy. But the big showstopper on this one is all out failure of the system components that was clearly the result of component overheating. Like I said, I don't mind the heat. I don't care about my comfort level and heat but the system needs to be cooled and still be able to perform without catastrophic failure.

I'm still weighing my options on how to proceed. I'm shocked that Asus would even sell something like this knowing it will fail under its own weight.

Pros: Had this for about 2 months now and had no issues with it.

4 core, i7 for a cheap price. That means 8 threads that can turbo boost up till nearly 3ghz for really smooth performance.

Graphics card is also pretty nice.

Basically you get an awesome processor and graphics card for under $900 (used to be $800 when i bought it..)

Cons: I'm used to at least a 15.4" screen so a 14" screen seems a just a little small for me.

I also think this processor is a first generation i7 processor but I can't detect any performance issues due to this.

Fan can get really hot especially when playing graphically intense games.

Random green pixel is always present no matter what I do on the bottom left corner. Its somewhat out of the way so its not really annoying but weird anyways.

Battery life is like 1hr 30mins on low settings. Maybe 2 hours at most.

Other Thoughts: Recently I accidentally messed up my harddrive partitions but the recovery disk restored my computer nicely. Still lost all my data though.

Pros: Hardware runs smoothly and efficiently. Love the USB3 and esata ports. Video runs fantastically. It even runs DDO on high graphics mode as smoothly as my desktop monster.

Cons: The os (windows 7 home premium) and software that come pre installed are nightmarish and definitely interfere with smooth operation. Also weirdly the hard drive came partitioned into three sections. I reformatted and installed Windows 7 pro and that fixed everything. Battery life is very short, between an hour and an hour and a half. Definitely needs to be plugged in most of the time, but not a problem for me.

Other Thoughts: Absolutely perfect for my usage. I don't think I could have found a better laptop for the price. I've always had good luck with Asus and so far this laptop is performing at or above expectations.

Pros: Lightning Fast, 1333 ram, nice screen, great keyboard, nice decals, awesome mouse touchpad with two finger multi-direction scrolling. Decent bios from American.

Cons: Horrible customer service. After my last encounter with them I decided not to go with ASUS as the service from HP is good. This was to good of a deal to pass up. So I get it and the hard drive sucks. It squeels. It is fast because it is 7200 but it screeches whenever it is notplugged in. Is very obnoxious. The customer service requires that I pay for my own shipping. Garbage. You send me a bad product and then want me to pay for shipping? why dont you pay for a brick and mortar building for me to bring it back to then. I would recommend all of the hardware but not the ASUS. Actually scratch that, I wouldn't go with a seagate HDD either. ah well. Get something with the same specs from HP and you will be happy. My last HP laptop lasted 6 years and only broke when I stepped on it. (otherwise I would still have it to this day) Also, I had to replace the disk drive with HP and they paid for everything and were very friendly. EVGA and HP are the only manufacturers I will purchase from. ASUS-

Pros: Great products, no problems for 2 years plus

Cons: Good luck getting product worked on. Don't own this computer, but own one I bought from them 2.5 years ago. Called for service 4 weeks ago. Asus to send box and email. I called back a couple weeks later as had not received either. They advised because of email address being wrong, I hadn't received box. Corrected email. Received email from Asus. Rep advised I would be called back by rep for expedited service. No call from Asus. I called back a week later. Rep advised me no box coming, but label coming through email. I had been also been approved for expedited service. Called back ten min later as hadn't received email. Rep advised, no label. Just send it in. No expedited service. Was never going to be a label or box.

Other Thoughts: Has taken 4.5 weeks as of today. Sending it in tomorrow. After talking to reps, they could do nothing except read from script. Can't even offer to send label after I was told repeatedly to expect the label as well as a box. Will update when resolved. If this is what happens before I can send it in I can just imagine what will happen once they have it. Miscommunications happen all the time, but if you are able to give correct information the next time everything should be resolved. Also, twice I received reps in training.

Pros: - excellent quality, choice of material is outstanding. The palm rest is very pleasant, the keyboard feels firm and solid.
- Worked perfectly right out of the box
- Handles perfectly Adobe Master Suite CS3, surprisingly fast for HD video rendering.
- Bloatware wasn't as bad as some reviews described -- guys, you should see what Sony put in their Vaios!
- I can't imagine you could get better value for money: a Core i7 laptop for less than $800?!?!?

Cons: - Screen is a bit too reflective to use outdoors. Maybe a 3M privacy screen could reduce the glare.

Other Thoughts: I did swap the original hard drive for a Vertex SSD that was on my previous laptop so I can't comment on the excessive heat that was reported.
That said, with the SSD the noise level is near 0 and the heat is not exceeding the one my Vaio SZ produced.
SSD+Core i7 mean you boot in less than 20 seconds with a fully loaded system (Office 2010 + Adobe Master Suite etc)
Will probably upgrade the RAM to 8GB for video editing but the graphic card is flawless for games like Anno1404 or ShipSim.

Pros: Fast and portable

Cons: Hot hot - do not put a chocolate bar down on the left side of your desk. Advertised with Firewire port and does not have one.

Pros: Priced right! Good graphics for a laptop too,well laid out keys,solid and light construction -

Cons: No back lit keys,speakers kinda weak -
fan is HOT this thing can warm up your lap in a hurry.....
Bloatware !
3 partitions on HD was silly

Other Thoughts: I dont know what these MFGs are thinking with the HD partitioning - after a clean install of W7 and a few tweeks WER went up .2
Windows Experience Rating
7.0 Processor
5.9 RAM
6.6 Graphics
5.9 Primary HD

Pros: It is everything you expect it to be; really, no complaints at all.... except.... (see cons)

-Also, it can play some games pretty well on high/max settings:
-LFD2
-Borderlands
-Street Fighter 4
-Breach
-Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

Those are all I've tried so far. I'm confident it'll play NBA 2K11 without any problems, too.

Cons: HORRIBLE BATTERY LIFE. I only get an hour even when in power saving mode (just casual internet surfing). Funny thing is though, i get about the same for high performance.

Other Thoughts: This really is a great laptop if you are like me and are rarely away from a power outlet. I got mine from another retailer just because of the warranty they offer, otherwise it would've been from newegg. (Newegg rocks!) Oh and I know everyone says their tech level is 5 and they have no clue what they are talking about, but I work in IT and i play with computers a lot, so I know more than enough to get by. I said all of that to assure you I know what I'm saying when I tell you this actually is a great laptop. (minus the battery, of course)