Marantz SR5004 Audio/video Receiver (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)This beautiful new receiver is packed with high-end options and the sound quality is nothing short of exemplary. For a full listing of technicals and features, see the site at: [...]. As compared to Yamaha, Onkyo, Denon, and Pioneer, you'll notice a far more "natural" and "forward" sound, whereas the formers are more "punchy", "dark" or "processed". Marantz has been at the business of making receivers in this vein a long time and the 5004 is sure to please even the most discerning audiophiles. Of course, if you have $8K to spend, the Reference series is a nice upgrade. But for us common folk who still appreciate the performance and sound quality that a top-end receiver can produce, this is the one. On the "things to consider side", the SR5004 only has 3 HDMI outputs, so if you're in need of more such connections for your home theater, you might need to consider upgrading to the 6004. All in all, however, you can't beat this receiver for the money. This reviewer recommends pairing it with either Polk RTI or Bowers & Wilkins 600 series speakers.

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Dolby TrueHD, dts-HD MA and Dolby ProLogic IIz decording, Audessey MultEQ&Dynamic Volume, Color GUI, Analog to HDMI scalling, Marantz MX-Port for Bluetooth transmission for iPhone/Mobile, M-DAX compressed audio expander

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Dell Inspiron 15R 15.6" Notebook with 2.26GHz Intel Core i3 350M Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, Mars Black Review

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(More customer reviews)The real product name of this laptop, as shown in BIOS and in Windows System Information, is Dell N5010. For its price, this is a good laptop, but it can also piss you off if you are peculiar about things:
1. For no reason at all, the fan will ramp up and whir every 2-3 minutes for about 20 seconds, even if there is no spike in CPU load. This can become really annoying in a quiet environment, such as a classroom or library. I've updated to the latest BIOS (A12), and the problem is still there. One possible way to fix this is using a tool called "i8kfangui", but installing it on Win7 requires some hackery (see the forums on its site).
2. For a 15.6" screen, the resolution is low: 1366x768. Business laptops have standard 1400x900 for 14" screens. I've had one for years and that resolution was great for the screen size. The screen is glossy and will reflect light. Outdoors, it's almost impossible to see anything, unless you hunch over the screen to shade it. POOR vertical viewing angles. 20 degree off the perpendicular direction to the screen, colors begin to shift visibly: whiteout if you look at the screen from above, darkened if you look from a bit below.
3. The keyboard can be really annoying:
- silly reassignment of Fn keys to perform laptop-specific functions (volume up/down, Wi-Fi on/off etc.) instead of doing those by pressing Fn+F#. Configurable from the BIOS though.
- besides that, the F# keys are labeled a faint blue on black, and are barely visible in a well-lit room. The reflection of the screen on the glossy laptop finish near the hinge doesn't help. The visible labeling is for the laptop function keys (Wi-fi on/off, brightness up/down etc.). This shows how the laptop is aimed at those who don't know what F5 does.
- odd placement of the PrintScreen key between Insert and Delete
- narrow trackpad buttons, often annoying to hit with the thumb
- the arrow keys are too thin, half the height of normal keys
- after having used laptops without a numeric keypad for the past few years, the keypad is not only useless; it gets in the way. where I expect Backspace to be, there's now Keypad Minus.
- there is no Break key (useful for Win+Break to get the Windows System properties, or Ctrl+Break in command line applications)
- there is no context menu key (equivalent to right click on the focused control)
So make sure these things don't bother you, or you'll hate the laptop. Try to get a feel for the keyboard and trackpad at a local store (Staples, Office Max, Office Depot, Fry's etc.)


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Dell Inspiron 15R 15.6" Notebook with 2.26GHz Intel Core i3 350M Processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 Home Premium, Mars Black

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Dell Inspiron i15R-1974MRB 15.6-Inch Laptop (Mars Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have had this laptop for about three weeks now. Here are my pros & cons:
Pros:
- Fast processor. My most processor intensive application is Adobe Lightroom 3 and this processor along with 4 gigs of ram make easy work of photo editing.
- Screen - The resolution of the screen is incredible. A big improvement over my previous laptop.
- Price - I shopped for weeks looking for a machine with a good combination of features. I wanted an i5 processor, 4 gigs of RAM, HDMI port, etc. This machine had all of the features at the best price point.
- Track pad - The track pad is nicely sensitive, has a good tactile feel and works great.
- Construction - The machine seems to have a solid build.
- Windows 7 - This isn't directly about just this machine but Windows 7 is great. I was able to set it up on my home network easily and it easily connected to our shared printer (something that was a task with Windows XP)
Cons -
- The lid and palm area do show fingerprints. It is not as bad as some others but I hate fingerprints on my computer.
- Offset keyboard - This keyboard has a number pad so the letter keys are naturally offset to the left. I will probably get used to this but it is taking some adjustment.
A note about the Mars Black color - Mars black is sort of a brushed metal black. Mine is actually more of a brushed metal dark gray than black. The brushed metal is an appearance, the actual finish is shiny and smooth.
I do like the computer and would buy it again although I would give very serious consideration to a 14 inch display instead of the 15.6.

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Meet the Inspiron 15R--a 15.6-Inch laptop computer for your everyday needs. With an attractive, stylish design and mobile technology, this laptop features everything you want for everyday computing. The Inspiron 15R offers a modern black palmrest, Intel Core processor, a 1.3MP webcam, media card reader, HDMI and VGA output, and plenty more. Solid performance at a solid price.


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