ASUS Laptop N73JN-X1 Intel Core i5 1st Gen 450M (2.40 GHz) 4 GB Memory 500 GB HDD NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M 17.3" Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

Pros: Case/Design is very sleek and clean. The construction is sturdy, and the top hides fingerprints well. The build overall is more solid than any other notebooks that I have had for work (dell's, hp's, IBM/Lenovo) Core i5 Processor screams along with the nVidia GT335M found in several Alienware models. Runs COD, L4D2, Unreal Tournament, World of Warcraft all on 1600x900 ultra settings with solid framerate and no system lag. The system has several configurable power profile settings to extend battery life greatly which can push the standard 6-call lithium ion battery until you charge. SOUND: So clean, and has a nice range. *I have not found a notebook that has strong bass with b-u speakers. Screen: This huge 17.3" widescreen is quite brilliant, and crisp. Runs quiet and cool - you will feel the vents head up during heavy graphical work, but it remains quiet. Touchpad "Elan" works - but i use an external . allows pinch, rotate, scroll, and much more.

Cons: Minor issue with the keyboard (it is full size and has ample resting zone for your wrists). I view this as a desktop replacement, so although I would be happy to see Asus release a 9-cell upgrade option, this works great for my tasks and usage. The Asus N series

Overall Review: Overall, this is a well built notebook with excellent quality components, and would recommend the system at twice the price (don't tell Newegg. ;P ). Other Asus notebooks have BlueRay upgrade, but I did not see that on the NewEgg site. Very happy with this system

Pros: Great sound for a laptop. Beautiful screen. Good keyboard...but not the island type. Very good battery life for general surfing, transferring files. Mousepad is easy to use and I like the feel...perfect. Fast HD, processor, etc. USB 3 will be handy. Sturdy yet light (for a 17").

Cons: Bloatware (but let's face it...a lot of people like that stuff). Can't get the wireless adapter to recognize my NetGear Dual-band router on some N settings, and when I lower the settings the actual speed of info transfer is so slow. But on G wireless it is amazingly fast so I'm happy yet puzzled (maybe this is a con). Outer shipping box was crushed but ASUS computer box was fine. Played around with battery settings but I'm getting about 4+ hours on Entertainment settings while transferring files from my external drive and surfing/downloading. Very happy with battery life.

Overall Review: My time is limited on this machine, but I have zero complaints. Good buy for a great notebook. Asus just has their stuff together. Better than I expected.

Pros: This is my work/entertain laptop. As an IT guy this laptop has a lot of value. As someone looking to do a little gaming and video watching on the road, it also has a lot of value. The speakers sound AWESOME for a laptop. The screen is bright and it renders video cleanly and accurately. Don't uninstall the "Express Gate" software without looking into it first. (Hint: hold down the space bar, and press the left power button) EG is an Operating System that lets you do common stuff (web, calendar, look at photos, some other things) with a fast boot. No more worrying about the friend checking his yahoo account and infecting your computer. (It's a Linux install so it's pretty safe.) Setup time was fast once I was done with the DVDs. It is NOT loaded with a lot of bloat ware right off the bat. I uninstalled about 5 things right away, and will play with (and then remove) a few others. The box it came in came pretty well crushed, but the packing protected it well.

Cons: I scratched the glossy part around the screen already, and then scratched the area near the keyboard after that. :( The outer case seems tough. If you are the type to fuss over that, be warned. The DVD drive door makes me nervous, but it's no more fragile than normal.

Overall Review: You will need 5 blank DVDs for the recovery disks. I really strongly suggest you invest the time and disks to do this. Put them in a safe place.

Pros: Build quality - Phenomenal. Sleek and beautiful. The brushed metal really looks fantastic. Feels light for a 17 inch. Screen - bright and beautiful. Horizontal viewing angles are good while vertical angles are just OK. The screen flickers black for a second at the windows login, I'm assuming this is Optimus kicking in. It flickers a little on battery at low brightness, but from what I understand this may be part of the "breaking in" process. Touchpad - I love the feel of the brushed metal. I disabled most of the gestures except 2 and 3 finger strolling and put palm check to minimum, which I found was necessary for light taps. Speakers - The best I've heard on a laptop. They're still laptop speakers, so don't expect to much bass, but they have plenty of volume. Performance - so far, it blazes. Runs very quiet and cool.

Cons: First boot - the laptop wouldn't boot up. I had to switch the boot order in the BIOS. Kind of crazy that I had to do that, but it worked fine from there on out. Keyboard - The weakest element, for me. Non-chiclet. No backlight. Moderate flex all over. The keys are too flat and tend to press together. The arrow keys and numpad keys are too small. I don't usually like chiclet keys, but I think they may have worked better here. I'm sure I'll get used to it though. Still, I find myself wondering if the keyboard will be replaceable on this model. Battery life - Looks to be around 2+ hours, but it's too early to say. Need to run the battery through a few cycles. I also think it might benefit from a fresh Windows installation, without all the Asus bloatware. HD/Ram access - Can't open it. Called Asus twice and the reps were of no help. There seems to be one large access panel on the bottom - I forced it pretty hard (at the advice of Asus) and half the tab broke off.

Overall Review: Missing Newegg specs - USB 3.0 and Optimus are missing from the Newegg specs. It has both. Also, has bluetooth.

Pros: Its a great system for the user who wants to replace a desktop. It has the same stats as most desktop systems and is an ok gaming rig. I plays Starcraft II and RUSE just fine when you run on the dedicated card. My CPU is actually running at 2.8 ghz without me doing any manual overclocking which is a huge plus for me

Cons: Super-hybrid engine seems to act up when I turn it on. I have to restart the PC and then it works fine. The bloatware is a problem but you can remove it all with time.

Pros: Beautiful Screen (not quite HD though), NVIDIA Optimus (which also lead to some cons, though), and otherwise a functional and fast laptop, 2 hard drive slots (although I haven't gotten around to installing my SSD yet)

Cons: Built-in DSDT has lots of errors, NVIDIA Optimus doesn't work with linux yet (that's not ASUS's fault though, VGA_SWITCHEROO crashes), RAM not quite sufficient to support a virtual machine (came with 2x2GB PC3 10600, and has 2 empty slots (4 total), though)

Overall Review: Once linux supports NVIDIA Optimus and I get around to installing 4 more gb of ram, this will be the perfect laptop

Pros: I am impressed by the Express Gate software. Initial boot goes to this if you choose, and yet you can exit to Windows with one click. The internal finish around the keyboard is very unique. The image doesn't do it justice. I like the way the cool brushed metal feels. The optimus technology is nice, for applications that support it well. I have had some issues with Star Craft 2 switching over the graphics for better performance. I have even tried setting application preference in the control center and even global preference, but SC2 refuses to recognize it. I think its a driver issue but havn't had the time to fuss with it. My last lap top was a 15", and so I find this rather large to actually have on your lap, but I love the larger screen so still a pro. This has a multi-touch pad, which isn't advertised real well in the specs. You can see it in the photo though. Not real great for scrolling but nice to have all in all.

Cons: Unfortunately the screen has a poor viewing angle. I'm used to Samsung TV's and Old HP glossy lap tops where you can be at 179 deg above or to the side and still see where here if you aren't directly in front of it forget it. BUT thats good if you are in class and don't want Suzzy Q looking over your shoulder while you surf FB. It does get poor batery life, but what do you expect? You are buying a lap top that can run most new games at fairly high settings and you have a 17" screen running 1600x900. The battery is the size of a cigar so quit your complaining! I put this in the cons because most folks search the cons for reasons NOT to buy rather than the pros for reasons to buy, and you should know that getting 2+ hours of entertainment is more than adequate. Unless you live in Nicaragua stop complaining and find an outlet to plug into! Underneath side can get warm, but not the top! Not like my old HP would.

Overall Review: Go to YouTube and look at Nvidia Optimus. Thats what this thing switches graphics cards with. I let my friend play on the internet on this thing for a 6 hour drive to Ohio while wirelessly hot spotted from my Nexus 1 and plugged into an power inverter in the car... Probably the most entertaining 6 hour drive I ever had. I did a ton of searching before I purchased this lap top. I do mean a ton! Comparisons in Excel spread sheets and weeks of reading about technologies available. I have no doubt I chose the best I could get for my price range of 900 - 1,100. I've had it a month and would buy it again if it broke next month.

Pros: High speed, high performance. For the price it is an unbeatable computer that will continue to serve for years to come. The computer stays relatively cool with the exception of the vent(to be expected). The video is most impressive and the sound(for a laptop mind you), is fantastic. It is very simple to use and even the novice users should have no problem adjusting the settings for optimal performance. Especially considering that you can literally do it with the touch of a button. 2 year accidental damage plan provided by ASUS. Oh yeah, did i mention it's an ASUS with an i5.

Cons: The first thing i noticed other than the fact that the keyboard flexes a little more than i am comfortable with, is that the cd tray is a bit flimsy. Both of these are minor issues and if careful, they will not be problems. Other than that, I have not found anything to be concerned with. To be honest, the worst thing about this computer is that(for me at least) it is more computer than i need. The bloatware is a joke. Hence the name. Sadly, no 1080p and this is why i took an egg off. For the size and capabilities of this machine, it should be able to run full 1080p HD

Overall Review: The screen does blink on the login screen, but i assume that is the video card kicking in. Not to be worried about(so i'm told). This is a tough computer and can take an unrecommended beating. The screen size is a bit big and the battery does not last very long. After properly charging the battery, the max life was listed at 2 hours and 56 minutes. Not to bad, however, I don't believe they make anything other than a 6 cell for this computer. The web cam isn't all that, the quality isn't horrible but the lag is something to be discussed, I actually don't use webcams so it is not an issue for me but might be for you. Fastest speed i've clocked so far is 2.73, this was with the preset settings on the computer. I haven't had the need to overclock it yet.