Review: Abbyy FineReader 11 Professional Edition does clean OCR and is easy to use

Anyone who's purchased a multifunction printer or scanner recently will probably recognize the name FineReader, as the Sprint version ships with many such products. Obviously, there are deals being made, but there's no questioning that the program also does a very nice job of OCR. Text extraction is great, though it's not quite as good at recreating complex documents in Word and RTF files as Acrobat or OmniPage.

Abbyy FineReader 11 Professional ($170, 15-day free trial) is straightforward and easy to use. The main window shows a list of images in a column to the far left, the image being processed in a pane next to it, and the OCR'd text and elements in a pane on the right side. This side-by-side arrangement, shared with OmniPage Standard 18, makes it super-easy to spot mistakes and compare page elements.

Abbyy FineReader 11 Professional's easy-to-understand interface makes it easy to use even if you're new to OCR.

Abbyy FineReader 11 is fast, recognizes text in 189 languages, and outputs in a number of different formats including editable PDFs, Microsoft Word, ePub and even open-source PDF competitor DjVu.

FineReader created a searchable PDF of my yearbook scans just fine, but like OmniPage, it was over-zealous at rotating images trying to find text until I turned off this feature. With most OCR programs, you're better off using Windows' own Photo Viewer to rotate scans to their correct orientation before OCR'ing.

Jon L. Jacobi has worked with computers since you flipped switches and punched cards to program them. He studied music at Juilliard, and now he power-mods his car for kicks.
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Review: Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition serves up the classic RPG better, and worse, than you remember

Bioware made it big riding on the back of Baldur's Gate, and its success became the basis for add-ons, sequels and spin-offs that established Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk as legends in the gaming industry. A mix of undiluted 2nd edition D&D rules along with party combat dynamics, well-paced leveling and a strong, character-driven narrative produced an experience so satisfying, its remains a benchmark other RPGs are measured against. Overhaul Games, fresh off the slick remake of MDK2 HD, aimed its sights considerably higher in the Bioware back catalog and produced a long-requested and highly anticipated update to this crown jewel of gaming. Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition ($20, buy-only) introduces official native high-resolution visuals, new story content, multiplayer support and a gladiator-style combat mode for quick action. It delivers on these promises, but like most translations, something of the original spark is lost in the process.

1) Character creation is a step down memory lane with D&D 2nd edition rules used throughout.

Overhaul Games, who started out life as a division of online game distributer Beamdog, petitioned Bioware for over a year before being given access to the sacred Infinity Engine source code, the lifeblood from which Baldur’s Gate, Icewind Dale and Planescape flowed. What followed were hundreds of bugs fixes and improvements as the engine was refitted for modern OS and hardware environments along with visual upgrades to the artwork and interface graphics.

The technical improvements are largely successful. The game runs in crisp high resolution without lag and supports widescreen monitors natively, feats the original game can only perform with substantial end-user modification. Engine improvements from later games in the series, such as Shadows of Amn, have been retroactively fitted so additional class kits and subraces are available to round out character creation. The experience cap has also been raised, giving a little headroom for point gobbling multiclass builds.

Combat is a mix of RTS mob management and RPG clickfest.

Gameplay is largely the same, with characters arrayed on the right side of the screen, mode selections to the left, and actions across the bottom. Control is more like an RTS game than a traditional action RPG, focusing on mob attacks using a pause-go command flow to issue orders to your party or relying on AI. Quick slots let you pick preferred weapons or items via function keys and despite its age, the ergonomics of the layout are easy to appreciate. In some ways, they surpass the radial menu paradigm Bioware used for the subsequent Neverwinter Nights series.

Stylistic changes are less on target, however. The redone, 2D overlay cinematics are obviously derived from vastly improved content creation software, but this doesn't render them any more effective than the sparse originals. The rudimentary 3D animation featured in the 1998 version seems more authentic and fits the rest of the game's art style more closely, even to modern eyes.

3) Baldur's Gate leaves plenty of backstory lying around. Be prepared to read.

Content updates are hit and miss. Some new material is welcome, such as the gladiator mode that allows you to level up, try out different combat strategies, and generally master Infinity Engine combat outside of plot-affecting encounters. New side quests are less polished, however, with dialog and creative aspects that don't hold a candle to the original storyline.

Nevertheless, the game remains supremely entertaining and a nice package for the $20 asking price. With more updates planned, remakes of the rest of the Infinity Engine based series in the works and an eventual plan to create Baldur's Gate III, the people at Overhaul deserve a little love and attention. If springing for the PC version irks you because the original, complete with mods, graces your hard disk, consider the iOS or upcoming Android version.

Note: The Download button on the Product Information page takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software.

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Review: Razer's Blackwidow Tournament Edition is great for gamers on the move

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David Daw has studied the history and future of television and has a master's in Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts from San Francisco State University along with a BA in genre fiction from NYU.
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The Razer BlackWidow Tournament Edition packs many of the high-end keyboard features gamers love, most notably a full mechanical keyboard and support for programmable macro keys, into a smaller, cheaper package.

At just over 2 pounds you won’t want to carry this keyboard around with you just for fun, but when you do need to move it the comparatively low weight (along with the detachable USB cord and complimentary storage sleeve) make the process a lot easier. The BlackWidow Tournament Edition, as the name suggests, is ideal for gamers who frequent tournaments or LAN parties and would like a keyboard that’s a little simpler to detach and move around than some of the higher-end gaming keyboards Razer offers.

That doesn’t mean that Razer has sacrificed quality for portability, however. The Tournament Edition sports the same Cherry MX Blue mechanical keys as it's older brother, and it feels as sturdy and responsive as any keyboard I’ve used.

Razer even finds room for some nice extras, with the function keys acting as convenient multimedia buttons and swapping back out to their standard F1-F12 functionality when needed at the press of a button (specifically F10, which doubles as the “Gaming Mode” switch). The keyboard also has all of the standard anti-ghosting capabilities of other Razer models, so even if you’re mashing ten keys at once you shouldn’t have a problem.

While it’s hard to find fault with the keyboard itself, Razer’s Synapse software remains a mixed bag. On the one hand, it’s incredibly powerful and allows you to script complex macros to make your gaming easier. It also gives you a great deal of control over how you organize your keybinds and lets you assign macros, alternate keyboard functionality and even settings for your other Razer devices to any key on your keyboard, then store those preferences on remote Razer servers and access them from anywhere by downloading and logging into your (free) Synapse account.

You can use the Razer Synapse application to manage multiple Razer devices and save your settings to the cloud.

On the other hand, the latest version (Synapse 2.0) is frustrating both to set up and to use. The process of downloading Synapse, tying your peripherals to your Razer account and setting up your preferences is needlessly time-consuming even when you’re familiar with the software; novice users can expect to spend some time learning the precise methods Razer prefers for you to record and bind your macros to your keyboard.

Getting the BlackWidow Tournament Edition set up with Synapse and configured the way I liked it took an hour or so. Not terrible in the grand scheme of things, but also not exactly plug-and-play simple. Considering some of the advanced options available in the Synapse 2.0 software, gamers who like to customize and tinker with their hardware settings could spend far longer in the Synapse software.

Nothing in the Synapse configuration process is pointless or particularly poorly designed, but if you’re in a rush to get playing (or if you prefer to configure your gaming via the keybinding and macro controls found in your favorite games) it's an extra set of hoops to jump through.

All of this effort comes with a big payoff for tournament players, of course: since Razer is saving all of your settings on their server all you have to do to keep your keybindings and macros consistent across any number of computers is download Synapse.

For players who tend to do most or all of their gaming in one location, however, the BlackWidow Tournament Edition is a bit more of a mixed bag, losing some features from the beefier Razer BlackWidow 2013 keyboard in exchange for portability. The Tournament Edition also comes with a price tag that’s 20 dollars lower than the larger Blackwidow, however, so its worth asking yourself if you’ll really miss what’s gone.

In fact if there’s any problem with the BlackWidow Tournament Edition, it’s with what's been lopped off to make the keyboard more comapct. To make the keyboard cheaper and more portable than its big brother a few things had to be lost, including the numeric keypad and dedicated macro keys.

Razer actually touts the lack of these keys as a feature that makes the BlackWidow TE more portable, and they're right; while the smaller keyboard layout isn’t a problem for me, I know several left-handed gamers who use the numpad extensively when gaming. The loss of 5 dedicated macro keys means you'll have to assign your Synapse keyboard macros to regular keyboard keys which might be better left to their regular functionality. This keyboard also lacks the USB port and audio input/output jacks found along the edge of the larger Razer BlackWidow 2013, though tournament players who regularly move their gaming rig probably won't mind the loss since they're constantly plugging, unplugging and organizing cables behind their PC anyway.

Overall, the Tournament Edition is a powerful keyboard for gamers that are frequently on the move. It’s cheap, portable, and the compromises it makes for that portability aren’t likely to be deal-breakers for most gamers. Gamers who are just looking for a powerful keyboard to keep in their homes, however, might want to ask themselves if they’d rather shell out the extra twenty bucks for a full-sized gaming keyboard with a few more bells and whistles.

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Swear Off Time-Wasting Websites With Cold Turkey Free Edition

ColdTurkey’s simple interface lets you pick from a list of sites to block, or add your own custom sites.Cats would be far more remorseful if they only knew how many hours of productivity are lost on funny cat pictures across the world every day. Then again, the same could be said about random YouTube videos, aimless Wikipedia crawling, and the numerous other forms of online procrastination keeping us away from doing boring (or scary), yet essential, work. The trouble is that pulling the plug is often not an option: Many of us need the Internet for work. One interesting solution is censoring your own Internet usage, blocking out distracting websites while still being able to use the Web for work. This is what open-source utility Cold Turkey Free Edition offers, at no cost and with no ads.

Free browser add-ons such as WasteNoTime for Chrome and LeechBlock for Firefox offer easy ways to block distracting websites, but they are also easy to disable. All you need to do is switch to another browser, or start a private browsing session, and you're free to procrastinate again.

Cold Turkey, modeled after Mac utility SelfControl, takes blocking much more seriously. Specify which websites to block, pick a time frame for blocking, and start. When I used ColdTurkey, I also turned off my smartphone and put it in another room (the application won't do this for you, unfortunately).

Before you start blocking, ColdTurkey gives you one last chance to reconsider.When Cold Turkey is active, you are truly locked out of those sites: Opening a different browser (or a private session) won't help. Neither will restarting your computer or killing the ColdTurkey process (it doesn't even run in the background, so there's nothing to kill). And if you try to do something clever like tamper with the HOSTS file to disable blocking, ColdTurkey may detect that and lock you out of your distracting websites for a whole week.

Simply put, there is no way to abort blocking once you're midway through, so you need to carefully consider the websites you block and the time frame. I once locked myself out of Gmail so I could focus on writing, but I finished sooner than I thought and was then unable to submit my work until the lock expired. When you try to access a blocked website, the browser simply fails to find it—just as if you were offline.

Once the blocking period elapses, ColdTurkey reminds you that you’re now free to browse anywhere.Another technical limitation is that Cold Turkey does not let you block site paths. For example, there is no way to block just google.com/reader (Google Reader) while leaving google.com accessible. Since Google Reader is a gateway to endless procrastination (at least for me), my solution was to block Google altogether and use alternative search engine DuckDuckGo instead.

The free version of Cold Turkey offers plenty of features, and is easy to use. You can also donate $5 to developer and self-described "student in need" Felix Belzile to get a more powerful version that can block executables, such as games, and supports a time frame of up to 30 days (compared to 7 days for the free version). Combined with screen-recording utility TimeSnapper, these two programs form a powerful duo of productivity-enhancing tools for changing long-time habits and getting work done faster and with less stress.

—Erez Zukerman

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Aomei Partition Assistant Home Edition Review: Partitioning Utility Is Great for Home or Business Use

Partitioning utilities were once mysterious, geeky, and expensive. No more--witness Aomei's Partition Assistant Home Edition 4.0, which is highly competent, and free. Aside from being a nice upgrade from the integrated Windows tools provided by Microsoft, PAHE is probably the easiest-to-use partition utility I've encountered.

Partition Assistant Home Edition doesn't deserve its "Home" designation, which frequently appears in software names as shorthand for "feature-deprived." The program can resize, move, split, extend, copy, create, delete, format, wipe, and hide partitions--mostly within Windows, and without a reboot. There's not a lot else you can do with partitions. The program can also copy entire drives, but it can't copy to an image file--a feature that would have made this program well-nigh perfect as a disk utility. Even the paid editions of Aomei Partition Assistant don't offer copying to image files, though.

Simple, straightforward, and effective, Partition Assistant Home Edition's interface is all it needs to be.PAHE's interface is utilitarian in the best sense of the word. My favorite feature is the list of pending changes at the bottom of the tasks pane on the left side of the main window. As that description suggests, you can stack changes and then apply them all at once so you don't have to wait around for each operation to finish. The app is simple to use and its help file is well written. When I wanted to check on dynamic disks, however, I did miss the search function found in most help files.

As it turns out, the app doesn't support dynamic disks. But it was flawless in my testing with normal partitions, performing every operation in fine style on both GPT and MBR disks. Aomei's Partition Assistant Home Edition has won an extended stay in my toolkit: It's easy, effective, and to the point. Pros can opt for $36 Professional Edition (for workstations) and $139 Server Edition that handle dynamic disks and (in the latter case) will run on a server operating system.

--Jon L. Jacobi

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Deal of the Day: Core i7 HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition Just $699

Today’s deal of the day is another great one for gamers. The 17.3-inch HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition boasts a 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-2670QM Quad-core processor (TurboBoost up to 2.9-GHz), 8GB of RAM, 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 7470M graphics and 750GB hard drive — more than enough power to handle the latest games and HD movies. Normally $1,249, the HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition is available for $699 plus free shipping through a deal at LogicBUY.

When we reviewed the Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition, we loved its strong quad-core performance, solid gaming frame rates, high-quality Beats Audio and attractive design. In addition to its powerful hardware, the laptop features Beats audio and HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer, TrueVision HD webcam, and a fingerprint reader. A stylish metallic finish ensures that the machine looks as good as it runs. Buyers also have the option of upgrading to a 1080p anti-glare screen, steel grey/dark umber system colors, 2GB Radeon HD 7690M graphics and up to 16GB of RAM.

Base specs: 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-2670QM Quad-core processor (TurboBoost up to 2.9-GHz), 8GB of RAM, 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 7470M graphics, 750GB hard drive, 17.3? HD+ BrightView LED LCD, 6-cell battery, 8X DVD+/-RW, TrueVision HD webcam with Mic, Fingerprint Reader, 802.11n WiFi, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Beats superior audio, USB 3.0, fingerprint reader, HP Coolsense technology, 2-year warranty

HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition with a 2.2-GHz Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 1GB ATI Graphics and 750GB HDD for $699 through LogicBUY.

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AIDA64 Extreme Edition Has an Extremely Large Variety of Benchmarks

How much do you know about your computer? Even if you're a power user, chances are you know less than you think. Most geeks can break down the basics--CPU, RAM, video card, OS, etc. but the deeper you go, the harder the questions are to answer. What are your current memory timings? What extended instructions does your CPU support? What's the product ID for your motherboard? Instead of reaching for the manual, booting into BIOS, or interrogating Google for the details, there's another answer: Finalwire's AIDA64 Extreme Edition.

AIDA64's stress test is worth its weight in gold.Now in its third incarnation after nearly a decade of development, AIDA64 is comprehensive system information and benchmarking suite designed to lay bare every conceivable aspect of your computer. Multiple versions cater to different markets; the initial 30 day trial version of each can be unlocked into either Extreme ($40) or Business ($80/5 nodes) editions. Extreme focuses on enthusiasts and performance computing while Business provides IT network inventory functions and can scan several systems at once. We took a look at the Extreme edition for this review.

AIDA64 Extreme is presented Microsoft Management Console-style, with a single window containing two panes of nested commands and data. The left pane lists the available tools and the right pane displays the results of each query or operation. Most of these are informational, breaking down each of your computer's subsystems by hardware component or software module and allowing you to drill down to details you never imagined were readily accessible, such as your DIMMs’ serial numbers or how many reboots you've performed since your desktop went live.

Beyond the audit, several benchmarking tools provide data on CPU, hard disk and memory performance. AIDA64 ranks and compares results against a comprehensive database of other systems past and present giving you context for your results. While the memory tests are well regarded by enthusiasts, the real gem here is a flexible system stability tool that allows users to stress test main components in any combination desired while tracking system temperatures, voltages and fan speeds via graphs that are updated in real time. Overclockers will find this indispensable, as few tools combine these features.

Problems are few but noteworthy. First, there's no way to measure 3D performance, a curious omission given the otherwise comprehensive nature of the suite. Price is the second factor. With no free version beyond the 30-day trial license, $40 is the minimum buy-in for AIDA64. SiSoft's Sandra, a similar system information and benchmarking suite, has a free version with many of the features found here, although it lacks the stress tests. This price may hurt AIDA64's appeal, but it doesn't take away from its utility or unique function. Take the trial out for a spin. The stress tests may be worth the price alone for hardware enthusiasts.

--Jim Norris

Industry leading system diagnostics and benchmarking solution for enthusiasts PC users, based on the award-winning AIDA Technology. Exhaustive details of system information on 100 pages including CPU, FPU, disk and memory benchmarks, advanced hardware monitoring and diagnostics capabilities.

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Deal of the Day: Core i7 HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition Just $837

Today’s deal of the day is another great one for gamers. The 17.3-inch HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition boasts a 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-2670QM Quad-core processor (TurboBoost up to 2.9-GHz), 8GB of RAM, 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 7470M graphics and 750GB hard drive — more than enough power to handle the latest games and HD movies. Normally $1,249, the HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition is available for $812 plus free shipping through a deal at LogicBUY.

When we reviewed the Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition, we loved its strong quad-core performance, solid gaming frame rates, high-quality Beats Audio and attractive design. In addition to its powerful hardware, the laptop features Beats audio and HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer, TrueVision HD webcam, and a fingerprint reader. A stylish metallic finish ensures that the machine looks as good as it runs. Buyers also have the option of upgrading to a 1080p anti-glare screen, steel grey/dark umber system colors, 2GB Radeon HD 7690M graphics and up to 16GB of RAM.

Base specs: 2.2-GHz Intel Core i7-2670QM Quad-core processor (TurboBoost up to 2.9-GHz), 8GB of RAM, 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 7470M graphics, 750GB hard drive, 17.3? HD+ BrightView LED LCD, 6-cell battery, 8X DVD+/-RW, TrueVision HD webcam with Mic, Fingerprint Reader, 802.11n WiFi, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit, Beats superior audio, USB 3.0, fingerprint reader, HP Coolsense technology, 2-year warranty

HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition with a 2.2-GHz Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 1GB ATI Graphics and 750GB HDD for $812 through LogicBUY.

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HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition: Great Sound and Style at a Reasonable Price

The HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition does a lot for a little. The moderately priced laptop boasts sturdy, striking design, powerful speakers, a generous allotment of external ports, good battery life, and an Intel Core i5 processor. It's not perfect in every way, but it's a solid laptop for the busy audiophile on a budget, with an eye for the urbane.

The Beats brand is endorsed by rapper and hip-hop producer Dr. Dre. So it should come as no surprise that style and high-quality sound components come standard.

The aesthetic appeal of the slim profile and matte-black, brushed-aluminum case of our 14-inch review model can't be denied. The dm4, which starts at $900 and peaks out at around $2000 fully loaded, looks and feels great. Typing on the backlit red-on-black keys is a breeze. An inch thick, this 4.5-pound all-purpose laptop slips neatly into any work-sized bag without weighing you down.

Despite its compact frame, the dm4 packs a punch and goes toe-to-toe with the specs of many laptops in its class. It has a generous allotment of three USB ports (one 2.0 and two 3.0), as well as two display ports (VGA and HDMI), an SD/MMC memory card input, and an ethernet port. Beneath its pretty shell, our entry-level test unit boasts 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, WLAN, Bluetooth, an Intel Core i5-2430M processor, 6GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and Intel integrated graphics.

Of the most recent all-purpose laptops reviewed by PCWorld, the Pavilion dm4's battery outlasted all but one — the Asus U46SV, which held a charge for 6 hours, 41 minutes in our lab, more than an hour longer than the dm4's 5 hours, 23 minutes.

The dm4 Beats Edition bested the HP Envy 15, Lenovo IdeaPad U400, and VAIO S Series with a moderate WorldBench 6 score of 120. The Asus U46SV earned a slightly higher WorldBench 6 score of 123.

While the Beats series of headphones are often derided by audio enthusiasts as being of middling quality while posing as high-end (I'm not disputing it), one of this laptop's clearest strengths is the built-in speakers. Aided by the Beats Audio control interface — which is different from the much simpler Windows sound panel — the dm4 Beats Edition really kicks. It can get loud without sounding overdriven, and the Beats Audio control panel is a big improvement over the Windows sound controls (with a nine-band graphic equalizer and special built-in microphone filters). What would a laptop endorsed by a rap legend be without bass? The lower frequencies really hold up coming from the on-board stereo speakers with subwoofer.

It's just a shame that HP decided to position the speakers on the underside of the front of the device. That placement only serves to ensure that you will muffle your tunes when listening with the dm4 on your lap, especially in bed, and especially since the HP Cool Sense feature on our review model lets you enjoy using the laptop on your lap without cooking your thighs. I used the HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition to take notes at a recent presentation in a crowded theatre. I typed away with the device on my lap for nearly 40 minutes and my legs never got too hot, nor did the bottom of the computer feel all that warm to the touch when I finished.

This configuration of the dm4 Beats Edition, however, is certainly not for gaming. It shows average performance at low resolutions (48 frames per second when playing Dirt 2 and 40 on Far Cry 2 at 800 by 600 resolution), and much poorer frame rates as the resolution increases (22 fps on Dirt 2, and 15.1 fps on Far Cry 2 at 1024 by 768). Although its LED display (backlighting is optional) is HD-capable and decent for watching DVDs (no Blu-ray option is available) and for streaming videos, the colors are bit flat.

Budget-conscious gamers should look into the Asus U46SV, which scored much higher in this area, or at least spring for the $100 Radeon HD 7470 discrete graphics option. If you can spend a bit more, look into the Asus G53SX — by far the strongest performer of all our recently reviewed all-purpose laptops.

The trackpad can be a bit jumpy, and I often found myself pressing it a bit harder than I thought I should have to in order to engage the cursor, but the ability to double-tap the upper right-hand corner of the trackpad to disable it is nice, especially since the cursor sometimes jumps around due to poor palm detection. Also nice are the unit's multitouch gestures — pinch to zoom, twist to rotate, and up-down/side-to-side scrolling. The fingerprint reader is a cool feature as well, though I'm not sure if I'd ever use it.

The HP dm4 Beats Edition didn't score the highest ratings in our lab tests, and it in some ways it certainly leaves you wanting. But for under $1000 this laptop will do most anything you need it to do (gaming aside) with respectable efficiency — all while keeping your beats bumping.

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Deal of the Day: Save 35% On Core i7 HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition

With today’s deal of the day, you can get a monster machine for less than $850. The 17.3-inch HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition comes equipped with a 2.2-GHz Core i7-2670QM “Sandy Bridge” Quad-core processor (which can reach up to 2.9-GHz using TurboBoost), 8GB of RAM, 2GB Radeon HD 7690M GDDR5 graphics, and 750GB hard drive. Normally $1,249, the HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition is just $812 plus free shipping through a deal at LogicBUY.

 When we reviewed the Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition, we gave it 4 stars and praised the notebook for its strong quad-core performance, solid gaming frame rates, high-quality Beats Audio and attractive design. Its 17.3-inch HD LED display offers crystal-clear images Beats Audio (with built-in HP Triple Bass Reflex Subwoofer) gives you the sound quality to match. An HD webcam and fingerprint reader are just icing on the cake. 

Base specs: 2.2-GHz Core i7-2670QM “Sandy Bridge” Quad-core processor (TurboBoost up to 2.9-GHz), 8GB of RAM, 2GB Radeon HD 7690M GDDR5 graphics, 750GB hard drive, 17.3-inch HD LED Display, Beats superior audio; TrueVision HD webcam; USB 3.0; 8X DVD burner, 6-cell battery, 802.11n Wi-Fi; Fingerprint reader; Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

HP Pavilion dv7 Quad Edition Laptop with a 2.2-GHz Core i7 Quad-core CPU, 8GB of RAM, 2GB Radeon HD graphics and 750GB HDD for $812 through LogicBUY.

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Deal of the Day: Save $350 on HP Pavilion dm4t Beats Edition

Looking for a super-sleek, unique laptop with a fast processor and great speakers (paying homage to its namesake)? Look no further. HP’s Pavilion dm4t Beats Edition, which just came out in December, is $350 off. Normally $1,100, the 14-inch HP Pavilion dm4t Beats Edition is available for $750 today plus free shipping through a deal at LogicBUY.

When we reviewed the black-and-red laptop, we praised its cool all-black aluminum lid highlighted with a red center and the subtle curves of the design. But the exterior wasn’t all we liked. Its soft-touch palm rest, anti-glare treatment and impressive processor earned it 3 and a half stars. Not to mention its Beats audio, which featured two speakers a subwoofer but had hollow sound at times.

Base specs: Core i5-2430M 2.4 GHz, 8GB RAM, 750GB 5400RPM hard drive, Intel HD 3000 graphics, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 14? 1366 x 768 BrightView LED LCD, 8X DVD+/-RW, 720p HD webcam, backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, Windows 7 Premium 64-bit

HP Pavilion dm4t Beats Edition for $750 plus free shipping through LogicBUY

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