I've owned this laptop for the past 3 months. Paid $370 @ Best Buy. If anyone is considering taking the plunge on this one, here are my $0.02:
Pros: Incredibly sturdy, solid machine. It doesn't overheat, and believe me, I've tried. Once left it on underneath blankets on high performance no AC for nearly a day, and although the fan was on full blast, the PC was just a bit warm. Battery lasts well over 7 hours on battery save mode. HD replacement is just as easy as RAM replacement. I replaced the 320 HD with a 1TB recently and I was surprised, it's unlike some dell laptops out there which require you to practically dismantle them completely.
I use it on my home Gigabit network, and I can transfer about 100 megabytes per second to and fro my file server. It's strange how this feature is not available in many more expensive laptops, which puts this one at an advantage over others when in many LAN scenarios. The USB3 is a nice thing to have especially to restore the hard drive from an image.
It has a neat feature where you can use one of the USB ports to charge your phone even while the computer is off. Not much of a gaming PC but I've been able to run Starcraft 2 on lowest settings. I have been able to also run Arma 2 on low settings without a problem. The gesture software for the touchpad is nice after you get used to it.
Cons: The keys are not smooth surfaced, which means that the ones you use most will wear off noticeably. After 3 months half of my spacebar is already stripped shiny as well as my AERTF & J keys.
Although you can play Starcraft 2 on it, there are high demanding maps where enough action will noticeably overload the PC and will enfuriate everyone you're playing with. This is not really a gaming PC.
The camera's functionality is abysmal in low light conditions. Forget about video conferencing at night. It only works during daytime or in a brightly lit room.
The audio is also sub par. You'll need headphones or external speakers for this one.
Conclusion: Unlike what some people here might believe, this is much more powerful than a netbook (even though it's priced as such), and in many ways it can compete against laptops sold here around the $500 range. At $270 I'm tempted to clone myself and buy another.
If you don't mind the cons, you will probably feel the same way.
Hope this helps.
