So nothing is perfect. Out of the box
582916
Ok.  So nothing is perfect.  Out of the box, fueled it up and I could not get it to ignite.  Had to mess with the lousy screw in the bottom of the unit(beyond cheap. Think of the worst thing an adjustment knob could be and it's worse) Finally got it to ignite and it seemed like it would work well after that, but it continued to be difficult to ignite. Then we used it twice in the kitchen to sear some things we cooked Sous Vide.  The second time was the last.  The inadequately engineered trigger is functionless and cannot be easily fixed.  For the amount of money, I guess I should have figured out it had somethings that wouldn't be up to par, but the only thing good about it is the looks. The guts are not made to function long term
The unit disassembles easily enough, but there is absolutely nothing that can be done to fix the thing.

Don't buy this.

Again, Don't buy this.

You will regret it.
1929488
Bought one of these "used" from a coworker - box had never been opened - then bought one from Amazon as I prefer using 2 of the exact same monitors over two different monitors that don't match color profiles perfectly. Sadly, one of the monitors is significantly brighter than the other - I run one at 50 and the other at 75 to match, and even then it's not quite perfect. It's good enough for a home office, though, and I like the slim bezel and lightweight.
1399926
Had to do a lil mod to it but not bad at all , molded so its not perfect nothing ever is right ??
523399
A three star laptop in my opinion. I didn't expect much more.

This is a Christmas present for my 13 yr old son, I opened it to get started installing updates (Im the IT Guy both at work and home), and this way he can enjoy his Christmas gift and not have to mess with it Christmas morning.

My first order arrived damaged. The box was in perfect condition, but the laptop had something rattling around inside of it, like a loose screw or broken piece of plastic. I didn't even try to turn it on. I immediately initiated the return/exchange process (which Amazon handled beautifully), and I had a replacement within a few days.

The replacement arrived in perfect condition, so now I can get started.

The laptop looks nice; it has matte black textured finished cover, brushed finish around the keyboard, and a different texture around the touch pad/wrist-rest area. It still picks up fingerprints, but not as bad as glossy finishes.  The plastics feel cheap and flimsy (on par with most entry level laptops), as does the touch pad and keyboard. I realize plastic is a strong material, so Im sure it will hold up fine if treated with care, just not sure how it will hold up to my 13 year old?

The keyboard is off center, set to the left (which I don't care for), in order to make room for a full number keypad on the right. The touch pad works fine, but the hard mouse clicks are harder than they should be, if you plan on using a mouse this isn't an issue.

The power cord is one piece with the converter build into the plug. Its nice to have a one piece cord, but the plug/converter uses up real-estate on power strips.

The battery is not removable (unless you disassembling the laptop). I've never replaced a laptop battery, because its usually time to upgrade by then. Although, I have remove batteries when preforming maintenance tasks; so Im disappointed I won't have that option.

As other have stated, it comes with Windows 8, and will need to be upgraded to 8.1 (free upgrade).  Microsoft recommends preforming all of the Windows 8 updates before installing Windows 8.1, which makes this a painfully slow process (not difficult, just slow). So after several sets of updates and reboots, Im finally ready to upgrade to Windows 8.1, which is followed by more updates and reboots and the uninstall of the ASUS bloatware. The entire process takes the better part of a day.

The sound and screen are adequate, nothing special. Youll find a DVD/CD-R/W drive, 2 USB ports (one is USB 3.0), HDMI out, VGA out, and 10/100 Ethernet. This is all nice, because many entry level laptops do not have DVD/CD drives or Ethernet (strictly wireless).

What you're paying for here is the Intel CORE i3 processor with 6GB of RAM, and the option to upgrade to 8GB (most in this price range ship with 4GB).  The CORE i3 is a great lower/mid-level processor, and although its only a dual core, its Hyper Thread technology means it will out preform many of its competitors quad core processors.

So after all of the updates, and uninstalling bloatware, Im happy to report  the laptop runs Windows 8.1 smoothly with no hesitation, and handles common computing tasks (web surf, streaming, common applications, light gaming, etc) with ease. Im sure it will serve my son well.

Ill close by saying I paid $269 for this laptop. At that price it was worth the trouble to update, and I can overlook its shortcomings.  At full retail, I believe you can find a better option.
4696685
Looks like box had been opened. Machine looks untouched, but worthy of a side-eye
4650335
Defective out of the box with ErrF code.  Filthy dirty.  Half of items needed for assembly were already assembled.  I think I got a returned unit.
2380672
Works, sort of. There is a major wobble when its drilling, so it won't make perfect holes.
4719250
The product gets 4 stars. Meets or exceeds my expectations. I know I bought an open box item however the unit was sent in a huge box which allowed it to be tossed around. Several connectors were bent. The push button for powering 2nd area was jammed and stuck initially causing the system to malfunction. I released the button and it turned off.
385165
Nothing ever comes completely perfect from the manufacturer. There is always some setup and tweaking that needs to happen to make it perfect. I will explain why Windows 10 is better than all the rest. First of all, "never upgrade".  If you are upgrading Windows 7 to Windows 10 on a mechanical hard drive that's over 2 years old. You will most likely have issues. Run a sfc /scannow  in command prompt and i bet you you'll find corrupt system files. Back up your data and do a clean install. It's time to clean up your computer anyway. But first, buy yourself a 250gb samsung SSD. It's a small investment for the HUGE performance gain you'll get. Leave your old hard drive in "secondary" as a time capsule. You can always plug it back in just case you forgot something later on.

Now, on to Windows 10. At some point you have to know you will be left behind. Windows 7 just doesn't utilize the advanced hardware we have today. Windows 10 uses new CPU, motherboard and memory architecture. Graphics enhancements like DirectX 12.  Ever wonder why Windows 10 boots up in 6 seconds? Besides the start menu, windows 10 looks and acts just like windows 7. Google "startisback" and turn your start menu back into the classic one you love. I posted a picture of my windows 10 with a windows 7 start menu. Works flawlessly on this extremely fast computing experience. You might like the windows 10 start menu and not need this tweak.

I can't even tell you how awesome and useful all the features are. I don't use the app store or cortana but they both work well. Alt-Tab App switching is super nice as well as redesigned task switcher. Drag windows and snap features are enhanced. Windows 10 instantly communicates with your device, phone or pad seamlessly. Installs device drivers for everything. It found my entire motherboard, sound, network, and printer as well. You can actually resize the command prompt. "home view" is awesome.  Tablet mode on/off. Face and finger scanning. Latest version of Microsofts graphics API. Windows defender actually WORKS now, even better than malawarebytes in some instances. Built in "location" for google maps. Connecting bluetooth is much easier. The notification area is super helpful and not annoying.

There is so much to add. Again this is a fantastic operating system. I recommend it.
1247182
Here is my updated review.  This unit could be nearly perfect if a couple of gremlins where properly fixed.  That said, it is a solid unit for around $100.

So here is my list of pros, cons, and cons that have been fixed (mostly):

Con (fixed):  Phone would not connect to cz500 automatically.  Fix:  As mentioned in other comments, simply disable autoconnect, turn off, turn on, then turn autoconnect back on.  (see other posts for more details)

Con (fixed):  Phonebook would not connect to phone for SIM contacts.  For my HTC Touchpro 2 (aka Tilt 2, Rhodium) go to the properties for the CZ500 connection and check the box for "connections authorized".  If that doesn't work, you may need to upgrade your ROM to a "Manilla 2.5" ROM, but I'm not positive and don't have time to go back and test.

Con (sort of fixed):  Phonebook (after fixing above), showed mismatched names w/numbers.  The connection was also unstable (sometimes showed "No Match").  Go into your SIM contacts and remove all special characters from the names.  (like commas and slashes)  Power the phone on/off between your cleaning of contacts (to clear it's memory).  Edit:  The unstability is back, so this issue is not fixed yet...

Con:  The CZ500 does not receive calls when the car is running, but the radio is turned off.  My old Sony Bluetooth receiver would still ring, as long as my car was running, even with the radio off.  Fortunately this is easily fixed by leaving the unit on, but just turning the volume down.

Con:  The receiver seems very suseptical to the phone's cellular radio and makes lots of "buzz - click - click - click" sounds if the radio is on low volume.  My old sony did not do this.  (minor)

Con:  You can't initiate phone calls without changing the source.  (minor)

Con:  Mediocre navigation tools for browsing a USB memory stick plugged in.  (minor)

Con:  HD Radio sucks.  I guess that is not this radio's fault, but in the hills of the San Francisco Bay, it is poor.  I have grown used to it, so it is not a huge deal anymore.  (but I was expecting the performance of the new digital OTA TV)  Don't pay extra for the HD tuner module!

Con (minor):  You can't tell the unit to default display the clock.  You need to press a button 3x to get the clock when you want it.

Pro (big):  Easy to read display.  This baby is easy to see and beautiful, even in bad light.

Pro:  Sound clarity.  The bluetooth mic is very good in my 1997 GMC Sonoma.  (not a picture of quietness)

Pro:  Easy to use controls.  While there are some nuances, the unit is pretty easy to use.

Pro:  Not a gaudy POS for drug dealers.  The unit is nice looking.

Pro (huge):  This unit is an amazing deal for the money!
126155
It's a decently good power supply, if it works.

I was disappointed to find out that right out of the box, the unit did not work.  Naturally, I got some screwdrivers and tore it apart.  After a few minutes of looking around, I found the culprit: the wire connecting the negative terminal on the front of the power supply to the one circuit board along the side had broken free.  Once I located where it was supposed go, I soldered it back on to the circuit board, closed everything back up, and the power supply has been working fine ever since.

While I had the unit apart, I noticed that the quality of the soldering was pretty poor.  The connections seem solid (except for the one broken connection I had), but they are certainly not neat.  Some of the components sit on the circuit boards crooked.  Also, I found that the cover for the positive terminal on the front of the unit was cracked and broken.  It's not a big deal because it won't affect the operation of the power supply, but nobody likes having half-busted stuff when it's supposed to be brand new.

The digital readouts on the front work very nicely.  I haven't tested their accuracy with a multimeter or anything yet, but they look good and seem to work properly.  The knobs on the front are also pretty nice.  They're easy to turn, but they're not sloppy (they stay where you put them).

All in all, this product is just what I rated it: okay.  It's not terrible, but it's certainly not great.  The build quality isn't the greatest, but it works (after fixing a few things).  If you're looking for a high build quality and something that works straight out of the box, this probably isn't the power supply for you.  If the price is cheap and you don't mind the possibility of having to repair it yourself (your mileage may vary), then it's a decent buy.  If I had to buy another power supply, I would probably spend an additional $10 or $20 for a little better quality (hopefully), but now that I have this one working, I'll keep it and use it.

One last note: As other reviewers have said, do not turn this power supply on or off with anything connected to it.
4899743
Fast processor, bright screen, extraordinary battery life.  SSD drive much faster than my old ThinkPad 400.  Runs linux just fine.  Keyboard isn't up to ThinkPad standards, though.  Flat key tops with minimal travel, and the space bar doesn't respond to presses on the far left and right sides.  Left control key placed too far out (not symmetric with the right side). The function key is where the control key should be and can't be remapped, as it's read directly by the hardware to handle things like sleep/wakeup and screen brightness.

Update: The trackpad "buttons" really aren't, and they tend to bounce a lot, making highlighting a chore.  Taking off another star.

Sigh.  What could have been a great laptop is merely okay.
4313862
much smaller than expected and the combination is set and non-configurable as others (or as it should be).
929024
Has many desirable features for the price.  Had problems out of the box with showing only partial screen at default bit rate.  Was intermittently viewable for less than 10 hrs before video couldn't be seen.  Web interface worked ok, but couldn't see the video no matter what encoding was selected.  No problems with any other camera used in this installation.
4568611
Did not work out of the box but problem was fixable. Non-techy: Do not buy
3189594
I am happy with the product, but there are some real problems at their factory.  The product arrived with some minor chipping on one corner that could have happened during shipping.  No biggie.  It also arrived with one of the two drawer-fronts partially knocked off, and the rear wall of one of the drawers completely broken off in two places.  Further, the center guide rail for one of the drawers was loose and fell off as I removed the drawer to try and fix it.  That rail had mismatched screws, one not even long enough to bite into the wood.  Since the drawer was fully inserted and protected by the drawer case, none of this damage could have happened during shipping.  I can't even figure out how this damage could have happened during manufacture.  And the wrong screws?  Replacing the screws, clamping and gluing the drawer front, and gluing the pieces of the rear drawer wall together was easy enough, but not work one expects to have to do.  Also, you need a power screwdriver (or alternatively a drill) to put in the 24 screws, as they are self tapping wood screws with no holes drilled in the wood.  Again, not much of a problem but it would surprise someone who got this and thought, per the instructions, they just needed a screwdriver.  At 130 pounds, flipping the unit over during assembly may need a second person, depending on your strength.  All in all, this was not easy "Ikea" type assembly.  The unit itself however, is quite solid, seems
well engineered, and is attractive.  So I compromised and gave it three stars.  I am happy with it, but buyer beware.
1187853
There's no product like it out there, though it can be improved here and there, still there is no product like it out there...