Seagate 1TB Laptop SSHD (ST1000LM014)

Well, this was a oppoturnity after a nightmare of DOGS CHEWING FUCKING LAPTOP CHARGERS. Which really enraged me, especially since it was on a Friday and although i had a chance to get a temporary charger for the weekend, i was still fuming.

So after searching around, i finally found one. But i also wanted to try a SSHD since the laptop has been feeling slower and slower and i noticed its in relation to the HDD speed. Since i'm a seagate partner (Well i signed work up as a partner and info is in my name) and i already have good experience (i've heard otherwise but barracudas haven't been too bad. They were a next port of call.

Now i was tempted to go for a 500GB option but due to the fact that i was almost less than the formatted size of a 500GB drive left (465GB) on there, it would be best to get the ST1000LM014.
After pricing around, or more so looking for one supplier for both items. LambadaTek was my choice. The invoice i paid is below:

The invoice i paid from them. 

• The charger (Part number: AA-PA1N90W/UK) was £50.11. One of my works suppliers is selling that for £70 :O
• The SSHD was £64,81. Dabs have reduced it to under £60 by £0.02. But if you want to be safe with amazon, your free to click below

Then after 2 couriers i know of, they turned up and then both items, arrived.

The items i ordered that arrived. 

Also if you want to see the Segate specs, the PDF they provide is embedded below:

The SSHD before the fitting

Both products arrived, i was testing android the night before and it has to be the luck of getting windows to boot again. But once that was done, i opened the box and started to review. If you want to watch the video, check below:




Now the packaging wasn't in a retail box, which can give me a scare to wonder if its an OEM product, which if it is, that fucks the warranty completely :(, But it wasn't as far as the labels go, so i'm fine for the moment.

The only marking on the box, with the seagate part number and the size aswell as seagate

The top of the box

Then i opened the box and the SSHD. In a nice anti static bag, it was the standard you usually get. With all the part number, serial numbers on the label.

The front of the SSHD

The back of the SSHD

Fitting it was not a problem, it was the same size as the old HDD, which i thought was 7mm, but it must of been 9.5mm since the SSHD is 9.5mm from the seagate spec. Either way, it was nice to have no "OH SHIT TEH DRIVE IS TOO BIG FOR ME LAPPY" issue.

After fitting, it was time to boot it up and get the drive cloned.

The tales of a slow discwizard. 

If you want DiscWizard, click HERE. ]

The basic features are free, acronis sell more features for ££/$$$.

Now this was the more troublesome part, Cloning the drive, i must admit, it was a nervy process but with the old drive being slot to initate the cloning, i ended up installing it on my desktop, then make a usb version (it does let you do this) then i ran the cloning from there, It took about 2 hours and then it was all done, all cloned and bootable. 

The best advice i can say here is create the bootable media and then do the clone that way. it would of saved me at least 30 minutes or made it quicker within that time. 

The testing after the clone

It felt the same speed for the first few boots, but by the 4th or 5th boot, it was much smoother, i mean the fact the boot time was UNDER 2 MINUTES, compared to it being between 4 and 7 minutes is a nice improvement to say the least. 

There was even a problem with chrome not rendering the pages properly when the HDD was in full use. But once the SSHD was running, i've had none of that problem, thats a definate sign of goodness. I can also log on quickly. 

With the NP550P7C, there is a thing with the 2 SATA ports. The main port (the one i didn't put the SSHD in the video) is actually the SATA III port. Which i didn't realise, but it does help to speed it up and since the drive is SATA III, it makes it smoother even further. 

There is also less sign on the HDD indicator which makes it better again.

Speccy was reporting it fine and even 27C, which its interesting since the other drive never went below 30, even in the colder (SATA II) port. 

The details of the drive in Speccy. (Serial number is hidden for obvious reasons)

The conclusion:

After more booting and some software testing, i found it was making the laptop much better, faster and easier to work with. Sure the value is reasonable but you have to look around to find that £5 off or in my case deal with a hyper puppy eating wires on halloween which makes you have an excuse to purchase it.

omracer's Rating: 8/10

The good points

• a clear sign of faster improvement in terms of booting and application loading. 
• 1TB which is plenty.
• as seagate said, no extra effort needed other than to replace a hard drive like normal.
• potential for this under £70

The bad points

• 8GB NAND isn't that much even though corporate testing say its perfect or a nice amount
• The speed is noticeable but not with a click of a finger style speed like a proper SSD.

so, this has made my life a little quicker for a while and if your feeling like you need a SSD but need a bit of storage internally, this is your best bet and doesn't break the bank.

More reviews soon

omracer

Some of the top 5 trending Laptops in April 2013

So with many gift ideas and the use of the internet. Laptops are becoming quite crucial to be productive, be entertained and store memoires of your life on the go. But with people having limited budgets and also not knowing what the best offers are available currently, this post can help you choose some good laptops that are best selling on the major shopping network, Amazon.
Below are the top 5 laptops selling and a short review to go with them.

5: ASUS K55A-SX398

This laptop is made by ASUS who are based in Taiwan. They do make quite good quality laptops as well as other components such as Motherboards, Graphics Cards, Monitors/PC Screens.
The quality of this laptop has high standards, featuring a 15.6" High Definition Screen, Windows 8 and an Intel Core i7 2.3Ghz which is a very powerful processor which can fly by with many multi-tasking features.

Also the laptop features a generously sized 1TB hard drive. Which is more than plenty to store pictures and videos to archive many memories in your life. As well as any documents like those dissertations you might of made in university, to novels based off a dream you had over a person you are in love with.

This laptop also has a amazing 6GB of RAM (Memory) installed which is useful for doing very powerful tasks such as Photo editing on the go.As well as this, the laptop includes Wireless LAN which is powerful and easy to connect to any network easily and quickly using the latest technologies.

A DVD-RW drive is also bulit in which allows you to read CDs and DVDs as well as make movies for DVD and burn music playlists to CD. With a integrated webcam of 0.3MP, it can be easy to skype your friends and family from close and afar.

Windows 8 is installed, which is an easy to use version of windows for beginners of computers and the internet alike. If your used to the ways of windows 7, windows 8 has a desktop mode which gives you the same look and feel as windows 7.

With a price of £499.99, its a powerhouse for a budget buck the specs are below:

• Processor
  Intel® Core™ i7 3610QM Processor
• Operating System
  Windows 8
• Chipset
  Intel® Chief River Chipset HM76
• Memory
  6GB DDR3 1600 MHz SDRAM, 1x 4GB and 1 x 2GB with expansion up to 8 GB SDRAM
• Display
  15.6" 16:9 HD (1366x768) LED Backlight
• Graphic
  Integrated Intel® HD Graphics 4000
• Storage
  1TB 5400rpm 2.5" SATA
• Optical Drive
  Super-Multi DVD
• Card Reader
  2 -in-1 card reader ( SD/ MMC)
• Camera
  0.3 Mega Pixel Fixed web camera
• Networking
  Integrated 802.11 b/g/n
  Built-in Bluetooth™ V3.0
  10/100/1000 Base T
• Interface
  1 x Microphone-in jack
  1 x Headphone-out jack
  1 x VGA port/Mini D-sub 15-pin for external monitor
  2 x USB 3.0 port(s)
  1 x USB 2.0 port(s)
  1 x RJ45 LAN Jack for LAN insert
  1 x HDMI
• Audio
  Built-in Speakers And Microphone
  Altec Lansing® Speakers
• Battery
  6Cells 4700 mAh 50 Whrs
• Power Adapter
  Output :
  19 V DC, 4.74 A, 65 W ((Dual Core)) , 90 W ((Quad Core))
  Input :
  100 -240 V AC, 50/60 Hz universal
• Dimensions
  25.1 x 37.8 x 2.55 ~3.19 cm (WxDxH)
• Weight
  2.52 kg (with 6 cell battery)
• Security
  Kensington lock
  BIOS Booting User Password Protection
  HDD User Password Protection and Security
• Manufacturer Warranty
  2-year limited International hardware warranty. *different by country
  On-line problem resolution through web interface (BIOS, Driver update)
  OS (Windows® 7 ) install/uninstall consultation
  Bundled software install/uninstall consultation
  ASUS software supporting

Click below to buy it from Amazon:

4: HP Compaq Presario CQ58-250SA

This is made by one of the most well known computer manufacters in the world. Hewlett Packard. Still around and creating laptops perfect for the user of many tastes. That and Compaq is still a well known brand of lower end laptops and desktops for sale. This is one of those laptops. 

Featuring a Intel Celeron B830 1.8Ghz processor which is powerful with Intel HD Graphics yet power saving which is a nice balance for the budget user. Although this has a budget processor, the ram hard drive are far from budget. Featuring a nicely sized 4GB of DDR3 ram which is a good amount for home use and a 750GB Hard drive which is more than generous for storing files on as well as the standard features like DVD-RW drive, Wireless LAN, Integrated Webcam, Card reader and 3 USB ports to connect devices that you will need in your daily life such as printers, external hard drives and even mice. 

The specifications are below:

Operating system Windows 8 64  Processors Intel® Celeron® B830 • 1.8 GHz  Chipset Intel HM70 Express Memory Memory type 4 GB DDR3  Memory layout (1 x 4 GB) Memory slots 2 DIMM Storage Hard drive 750 GB SATA (5400 rpm) Hard drive description 750 GB SATA (5400 rpm) Optical drive SuperMulti DVD±R/RW with double layer support Graphics Graphics Intel HD Graphics (up to 1.65 GB) Expansion features Ports 1 VGA 1 HDMI 1 headphone-out 1 microphone-in 3 USB 2.0 1 RJ45 Slots Digital media card reader Media devices Webcam HP TrueVision HD Webcam with integrated digital microphone Input devices Pointing device TouchPad supporting multi-touch gestures and on/off button Keyboard Full size textured black Communications Network interface Integrated 10/100 BASE-T Ethernet LAN Wireless 802.11b/g/n Power and operating requirements Power supply type 65W AC power adapter Energy efficiency ENERGY STAR® qualified; EPEAT® Silver Dimensions and weight Weight 2.45 kg Minimum dimensions (W x D x H) 37.6 x 24.7 x 3.13 cm What's included Warranty 1-year limited hardware, pick-up and return, parts and labour Software included HP Registration for Windows8 Getting started guide with Windows 8 HP Utility Center HP Recovery Manager (recovery partition, recovery USB/Flash unit creation tool) Symantec Norton Internet Security 2013 (60 days live update) HP Connected Music powered by Universal Music Group HP Connected Photo HP Games powered by WildTangent HP Connected ePrint Cyberlink Power DVD Windows Live Essentials Buy Microsoft Office to activate Office software on this PC Product color Black licorice

If you wish to buy this from Amazon, your welcome to click below:

3: Toshiba Satellite C855-2ET

This laptop, developed by the Japanese corporation known as Toshiba. Has bee crafted with a slim and simple design but proven effective to make the average user know what to expect when using a laptop. This particular model features an Intel Core i5 2.6Ghz processor which includes a nice turbo boost feature.

The laptop boasts a plentiful 6GB of DDR3 RAM which is perfect for making sure you can have a smooth running laptop with no slowing down on multitasking with the power of the i5. Along with its 15.6" HD screen and Intel HD Graphics, you can enjoy the best of entertainment from the cloud or even from a DVD when on the go and even share in a living room with a HDMI port on the right side of the laptop. Plenty of storage is included with a 750GB hard drive so you can put over 50 hours of HD video and still have room for pictures and documents alike. 

The laptop also features a 1.0MP webcam which is perfect for crystal clear Skype calls with friends and family on the go with the powerful Wireless LAN adapter built in. Another addition is 3 USB ports including USB 3.0 which will copy files over twice as fast as the time it used to take with a USB 2.0 device (that being said, if your using a USB 3.0 device). With windows 8 installed, this simplifies the ease of access to the internet, storing your memories, being productive and much more. Enjoy the full specifications below:

Processor	type : 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i5-3230M Processor with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 clock speed : 2.60 / 3.20 Turbo GHz Front Side Bus : 1600 MHz 3rd level cache : 3 MB
Operating System / Platform	Windows 8 64-bit (pre-installed)
Design Colour	colour : Dark Silver Finish with Crossline pattern, black keyboard
System memory	standard : 6,144 (4,096 + 2,048) MB maximum expandability : 16,384 MB technology : DDR3 RAM (1,600 MHz)
Hard disk	capacity : 750 GB drive rotation : 5,400 rpm
DVD Super Multi drive (Double Layer)	compatibility : CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-R(DL), DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+R(DL), DVD+RW, DVD-RAM maximum speed : Read: 24x CD-ROM, 8x DVD-ROM/ Write: 24x CD-R, 4x CD-RW, 10x HS CD-RW, 24x US CD-RW, 8x DVD-R, 6x DVD-R (Double Layer), 6x DVD-RW, 8x DVD+R, 6x DVD+R (Double Layer), 8x DVD+RW, 5x DVD-RAM type : DVD Super Multi (Double Layer) drive
Display	size : 39.6cm (15.6”) type : Toshiba TruBrite® HD TFT High Brightness display with 16 : 9 aspect ratio and LED backlighting internal resolution : 1,366 x 768
Graphics adaptor	type : Intel® HD Graphics 4000 memory : up to 1,696 MB shared memory with 4 GB system memory installed (with pre-installed 64-bit operating system) memory type : shared
Internal video modes	The following internal video modes are supported: : resolution : 1366 x 768
Max External Video Modes	Max Resolution : 2,048 x 1,536 Max Refresh Rate : 100 Hz Non-interlaced resolution with max refresh rate : 1,600 x 1,200
Interfaces	1 × external monitor 1 × RJ-45 1 × external microphone 1 × headphone (stereo) 2 × USB 2.0 1 × Multi-Card Reader (supports SD™ Card up to 2 GB, miniSD™/microSD™ Card with adapter up to 2 GB, SDHC™ Card up to 32 GB, SDXC™ Card up to 64 GB and MultiMedia Card™ up to 2 GB) 1 × HDMI-out supporting 1080p signal format 1 × integrated 1.0MP HD Web Camera (1,280 x 800) with built-in microphone 1 × USB 3.0
Expansion	2 × memory slots
Wireless communication	Compliancy : Wi-Fi® Network Support : 802.11b/g/n Manufacturer : Realtek Wireless Technology : Wireless LAN Version : RTL8723AE Manufacturer : Realtek Wireless Technology : Bluetooth® 4.0 Version : 4.0
Wired communication	topology : Fast Ethernet LAN speed : 10BASE-T/100BASE-TX
Sound system	supported audio format : 24-bit stereo speakers : built-in stereo speakers with SRS Premium Sound HD™ manufacturer : Realtek ALC269Q-VB6-GR
Keyboard	keys : 102 Windows keys : Yes special features : Matt black tile keyboard and 10-digit numeric keypad
Pointing device	type : Touchpad with multi-touch control supporting various scroll, zoom and launch functionalities at your fingertips.
Battery	technology : lithium-ion maximum life : up to 4h00min (Mobile Mark™ 2012)
AC adaptor	input voltage : autosensing AC adapter (100/240 V) for worldwide usage output voltage : 19 V output current : 3.42 A
Physical dimensions	W x D x H : 380.0 x 242.0 x 33.52 mm weight : starting at 2.3 kg
Warranty	1 year European Carry-in incl. local Pick-up & Return in the UK & Ireland. Toshiba also offers a large range of services to upgrade your standard warranty, please have a look at our website www.toshiba-europe.com/services to find the right service for your product.
Bundled hardware	AC adaptor
Bundled software	Intel® AppUp Center Intel® Rapid Storage Technology McAfee® Internet Security (includes complimentary 30 day subscription) McAfee® Security Advisor for Toshiba Microsoft® FreshPaint Microsoft® Office trial Microsoft® Solitair Collection SRS Premium Sound HD™ TOSHIBA Desktop Assist TOSHIBA Eco Utility™ TOSHIBA Function Key TOSHIBA Media Player by sMedio TrueLink+ TOSHIBA PC Health Monitor TOSHIBA Places TOSHIBA Recovery Media Creator TOSHIBA Resolution+ Plug-in for Windows Media Player TOSHIBA Service Station TOSHIBA System Settings TOSHIBA Tempro
Toshiba EasyMedia	Easy Entertainment HDMI-out SRS Premium Sound HD™ Easy Connectivity Bluetooth® Built-in 1Mpix HD Web Camera & Microphone USB 3.0 Easy Usability Power-saving Eco Utility Touch Pad Gestures
Security features	HDD password on request slot for Kensington Cable Lock supervisor password user password
Special features	ENERGY STAR 5.0 qualified computer Enhanced Intel® SpeedStep® Technology HD Audio support SM BIOS compliant

If this laptop suits your wants and needs, the link to buy this from amazon is below:

2: Acer Aspire E1-531-B9604G50Mnks

From one of the PC manufacturers that sponsored the London 2012 Olympic games and also my personal favourite brand which i've used for many years with hardly any problems known as Acer. They decide to bring out their new Aspire E range which allows you to simply fly through simplest of tasks and also have access to stream, create and share all of your media and have a reliable and working machine that will be there for you. The battery life is a nice reasonable time of 4 hours with a 6-cell battery included as well as a 65W mains charger .

This model includes the Intel Pentium B960 which is a nice mid-range processor with added Intel HD graphics for both the built in 15.6" HD screen and also the built in HDMI and VGA ports.
This laptop also features a powerful Wireless LAN chip as well as a webcam and microphone for the late night Skype calls as well as a card reader and USB 3.0 to store many memories. The Multi-Gesture touchpad makes you enjoy many of the tablet features of Windows 8 with just two fingers.

The ram is a reasonable 4GB which is a good size to complete daily tasks with ease and speed. The same goes for the hard drive which is sized up at 500GB. Enough storage to hold 100,000s of photos and programs to help ease your life day by day, which can all be helped backed up using cloud storage such as Box or Skydrive. Below is the full specifications of this sleek looking, reliable laptop:

Operating System
Operating System	Windows 8
Processor & Chipset
Processor Manufacturer	Intel
Processor Type	Pentium
Processor Model	B960
Processor Speed	2.20 GHz
Processor Core	Dual-core (2 Core)
Memory
Standard Memory	4 GB
Maximum Memory	8 GB
Memory Technology	DDR3 SDRAM
Memory Card Reader	Yes
Memory Card Supported	Memory Stick Memory Stick PRO Secure Digital (SD) Card xD-Picture Card MultiMediaCard (MMC)
Storage
Hard Drive Capacity	500 GB
Hard Drive Interface	Serial ATA
Optical Drive Type	DVD-Writer
Display & Graphics
Screen Size	39.6 cm (15.6")
Display Screen Type	Active Matrix TFT Colour LCD
Screen Mode	HD
Screen Resolution	1366 x 768
Backlight Technology	LED
Graphics Controller Manufacturer	Intel
Graphics Controller Model	Graphics Media Accelerator HD
Graphics Memory Technology	DDR3 SDRAM
Graphics Memory Accessibility	Shared
Network & Communication
Wi-Fi Standard	IEEE 802.11b/g/n
Ethernet Technology	Gigabit Ethernet
Built-in Devices
Webcam	Yes
Microphone	Yes
Finger Print Reader	No
Interfaces/Ports
HDMI	Yes
Total Number of USB Ports	3
Number of USB 2.0 Ports	3
VGA	Yes
Network (RJ-45)	Yes
Software
Operating System	Windows 8
Operating System Architecture	64-bit
Input Devices
Keyboard	Yes
Pointing Device Type	TouchPad
Battery Information
Number of Cells	6-cell
Battery Chemistry	Lithium Ion (Li-Ion)
Battery Capacity	4400 mAh
Power Description
Maximum Power Supply Wattage	65 W
Physical Characteristics
Height	33.2 mm
Width	381.6 mm
Depth	253.0 mm
Weight (Approximate)	2.45 kg
Miscellaneous
Additional Information	Wi-Fi: Acer Nplify 802.11b/g/n
Warranty
Warranty	Standard Warranty

If you wish to purchase this Acer laptop, the amazon link is below:

1: Samsung NP350V5C-A0DUK

This laptop is developed by the leading brand in Smartphones recently known as Samsung. Now the look of this laptop is fantastic, with the slenderness of the design blending in with the shining tint of blue to give an amazing effect. With a crystal clear 15.6" HD screen, its plentiful for the many potential uses of a laptop. 

Now this model features the latest generation of Intel Core i3 Processor which aids you for having a superb performance in terms of internet browsing, creativity, entertainment, social networking and much more.

The memory is a plentiful 6GB which can help satisfy your needs whether it be from one extreme like playing Bioshock Infinite to the other like checking the weather for the week ahead for a camping trip perhaps ?

The hard drive is a delightful size of 500GB which is a good amount to combine many pictures, documents, videos, games, programs and the USB and HDMI ports allow you to share all of your content with ease, regardless if its to a gathering for a wedding reception, or just for a friend to help them out with a CV.

With Windows 8 installed, you can start from fresh with a good looking machine that can pack a punch to speeding up the many activities in your daily life which utilise the internet, from being shocked at the ending of a series on Netflix, to typing up an inovice for a business who have used your services. 

Have a glance at the specifications below:

Operating System

Windows 8 (64-bit)

Processor / Chipset

Intel® Core™ i3 Processor 3110M (2.4GHz, 3MB L3 Cache)
Intel HM76

Graphic

Intel® HD Graphics 4000

Display

15.6" HD LED Display (1366 x 768), Anti-Reflective

Memory

6GB DDR3 System Memory at 1600MHz (4GB x 1 + 2GB x 1)
2 SODIMM

Hard Drive

500GB SATA II Hard Drive (5400RPM)

Optical Drive

Super Multi Dual Layer

Colour

Pink

Multimedia

Stereo Speakers (1.5W x 2)
SoundAlive™
Internal Mic
1.3 megapixel Webcam

Communication

802.11 bg/n 1 x 1
Bluetooth v4.0
Gigabit Ethernet [10 / 100 / 1000]

Ports

1 VGA
1 HDMI
2 USB3.0, 2 USB2.0
3-in-1 (SD, SDHC, SDXC) Multi-media Card Reader
1 Headphone out
1 Mic-in
1 RJ45 (LAN)
1 DC-in

Input

Island-type keyboard with Numeric key
Touchpad

Security

Security Slot

Power

6 Cell (48Wh)
60W / 90W AC Adapter*
* Adapter is different depend on system

Dimensions

372.5 x 243 x 33mm (14.67" x 9.57" x 1.30")

Weight

2.33kg (5.14lbs)

Software

S Player
S Gallery
S Camera
Evernote
Microsoft Office Trial
Settings
Support Center
SW Update
Recovery
Norton Internet Security (60 days Trial)
Norton Online Backup (30 days Trial)
PowerDVD
※ Software can be changed without notice.

If you wish to purchase this incredible value laptop from Amazon, you can do so down below:

And this is a quick but hopefully detailed guide to help you choose between 5 laptops which might be possible options to purchase, regardless if its a gift for a person you love so much and would do anything for or a gift to treat yourself from that stressful week you might be having but actually people have it worse off than you. These laptops have different features which will interest different types of people, so choose carefully.

More product reviews coming soon as well as the top 5 of more products that are trending and might need a bit of advice before buying.
See you in the next review

Mattie