HP G3 ProBook 450

• By carminjt
• 4 April 2016
• Product Reviews
• 0 Comments

Specs:

8 GB RAM
i5 Processor
256 GB SSD Hard Drive
15.6″ Display

Pros:

Best price point for a laptop with SSD I have seen. Battery Life is very good, but that is a given without the spinning disks. Very sharp 15.6″ display with the added benefit of the 9-key.

Cons:

May have been rushed out of production, there are at least two driver conflicts: 1) “Intel(R) 100 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port…” all need updates. 2) Video card is still a little buggy. Last major con is the lack of a 5 GHz wireless card, sure the 2.4 GHz card is fine, but I want more.

Summary:

Stock features include Windows 7, 8, or 10 Pro, DVD-R/W, Webcam, Card Reader, 4 USB Ports, VGA port, and an HDMI port. I have had it 3 months and it has run reasonably well. The things that have really hindered this laptop are some VERY BAD driver errors:

1) As soon as you get your Laptop up and running, you need to immediately and painstakingly individually update the drivers for each of the below items with Windows Updates. If you do not, you will find an unbelievable number of cyclically generated errors that “A corrected hardware error has occurred”.

Intel(R) 100 Series Chipset Family LPC Controller/eSPI Controller – 9D48
Intel(R) 100 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #1 – 9D10
Intel(R) 100 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #5 – 9D14
Intel(R) 100 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #6 – 9D15
Intel(R) 100 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port #9 – 9D18
Intel(R) 100 Series Chipset Family PMC – 9D21
Intel(R) 100 Series Chipset Family SMBUS – 9D23
Intel(R) 100 Series Chipset Family Thermal subsystem – 9D31

You will also need to update the BIOS.

2) For reasons unknown, the Laptop will BSOD with a drive error for “Synaptics PS/2 Port TouchPad” (SysTPN.sys). Seems only to occur when I use the track pad, so I try to favor the Wireless Mouse.

3) From time to time, if I have an external monitor attached via the HDMI port, and the screen saver turns on, the HDMI connected monitor will go blank and the video card refuses to acknowledge the Monitor until I restart windows.

Bottom Line:

My last laptop review was for a Sony VIAO which I considered a “Mac-Book-Killer”, this laptop is great for work and play, but it is certainly not the ultimate windows machine. I would recommend it to a friend or colleague, but only if they were relatively computer competent – it has a few bugs that are not hard to work out, but they need someone who understands what to do.

Google Nexus 5

• By carminjt
• 15 May 2014
• Product Reviews
• 0 Comments

​Pros:

So far the battery life has been great (very important to me). The reception has been great, easily better than the iPhone. Great forward and self-camera, user-interface is wonderful, really good screen resolution, picture, and brightness.

Cons:

Not available on Verizon (not the phones fault). No expandable memory or replaceable battery. Many people complain that if the phone is not RIGHT UP TO your mouth, it is difficult to understand what you are saying.

Summary:

I previously had the Nexus 4, so when the Nexus 5 came out, it was a must have. Full sized screen, great sound and picture quality. Out of the box, it was one of the best looking phones I had ever seen. It even feels like it is of a sound build so I do not always feel like I am going to accidentally crush it.

Because this is a Nexus phone, it is one of Google’s flagship models. As with all the Nexus phones, Google works to pack it with all the latest and greatest features and abilities that are available to the general market.

Bottom Line:

The price is very reasonable, it has all the same features of other phones, and it is another one of Android’s iPhone Killers! As much as I dislike using iPhone as the gold standard, it is the phone which all other phones are compared against. That said, I would take this over an iPhone any day of the week.

Microsoft Office 365

• By carminjt
• 9 May 2014
• Product Reviews
• 0 Comments

​Pros:

No more dealing with overly complex licensing in the form of CALs, Install Media, and Versions. No more worrying about backups, redundancy, multiple points of failure, or Spam Walls. No need to setup MS Exchange (Front End/Back End), SharePoint, Lync, Licenses Servers, or File Shares… It’s all hosted – Just setup the account, enter the billing info and GO!

Cons:

Every now and then, you find these surprise “nuggets” of non-support, system limitations, and “I was not expecting that”.

Summary:

For a flat monthly rate, Microsoft provides you licensing for Office Pro Plus (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, and Outlook), an email host, SharePoint for public and private sites, Lync for messaging or Web Conferencing, and file storage. All of these services are than hosted by Microsoft in their cutting edge data facility.

You no longer have to back up your data, create redundancies, or failovers. The only services you have to host your self are going to be Active Directory (if you use it) and any application servers beyond the standard suite.

Bottom Line:

Realistically, for all the services Microsoft is providing you for this flat monthly rate, you are getting a ridiculously great deal. It is a phenomenal cost cutting measure when you think of how many hours of troubleshooting you can remove from Exchange and SharePoint, never having to guestimate on CALs (I hate CALs), and not playing games with SSL Certs, DNS, auto discovery, and firewalls.

I would advise anyone looking to dive into this that first they take a long hard look inside and make sure they have what it takes when it comes to troubleshooting some of Microsoft eccentricities’.

SONY VIAO SVF142

• By carminjt
• 7 March 2014
• Product Reviews
• 0 Comments

Specs:

6 GB RAM
i5 Processor
750 GB Hard Drive

Pros:

Battery Life is Amazing, Sharp Screen, No Pre-Installed Bloat-ware, Lots of USB Ports, Quiet.

Cons:

No VGA Port, Needs a lot of Essential VIAO Updates before ready for use.

Summary:

I have always looked at the Sony VIAO as a Mac-Book-Killer; it is a premium laptop with Windows in the same sense that the Mac Book is a premium laptop with OSX. This laptop comes pretty well equipped with a CD-ROM, Webcam, Card Reader, 4 USB Ports and an HDMI port. I have had it 5 months and it is yet to crash on me, over-heat, or have any dead-pixels. It does seem to need a lot of Sony VIAO updates though – one such case is the Wi-Fi Update, unless you install it, the Wi-Fi will drop out for no reason, will fail to switch networks unless you restart it, and chooses to use the least amount of signal power, even if you are plugged in; no worries though, the update fixes all of this.

I also am terribly appreciative that this laptop comes with no bloat-ware. Other than MS Office Trial and Norton 365 trial, the only thing installed is the Sony VIAO software. Nothing irritates me more than booting up and HP or Dell for the first time and having to spend 90 minutes uninstalling junk-ware.

Bottom Line:

I would recommend this laptop to anyone who asks, with its reasonable (actually great) price, relative ease of use (do not worry, the updates are easy to install), and great reliability, I think this is the perfect laptop for any business or individual who uses their laptop to conduct business.