Sharp PCGP22W Notebook PC (2.20-GHz Pentium 4, 512 MB RAM, 40 GB Hard Drive, DVD/CD-RW Drive)

Rating:
Summary: Good features but mediocre sound and video card
Review: We purchased the Sharp GP22W from Circuit City over Dell, HP, and Compaq because of the price and its features. It had a Pentium 4 2.2 GHz, 512 DDRAM, 4 USB 2.0 ports (SIS), 802.11b wireless, 40GB Fujitsu hdd, 15" sharp XGA, and SVideo Out. However, the LCD was already damaged right out of the box! 2 pixels were bad right in the middle of the screen, not the side or the bottom, but in the middle where you can see it clearly. Also, the sound quality is awful probably because of the onboard sound (AC 97). We played a DVD movie and the sound could not be heard with the volume up all the way. We tried the same movie in my Dell Inspiron 8000 and it was loud, very loud. Be aware that the video card is also part of the motherboard (SIS) with only 16MB of video memory. It should be enough for DVD playback, but it was jerky as soon as I played it out of the box. After turning off some programs, it worked smoothly but I still couldn't hear the sound, only mediocre sound. Overall, I recommend this computer only for basic features such as email, Internet, office word processing, spreadsheets, but not for DVD playback for lousy sound/video card.