Earlier this month we launched the AMD Center, a portal on AnandTech that aggregates all of our AMD content in one place. As a recap, the AMD Center features all of our independent content just as before but in an AMD sponsored wrapper. Thanks to AMD's sponsorship you'll get a cleaner interface on all AMD articles, as well as reduced advertising on those pages. The portal will also serve as a way for AMD to reach out to you all directly as we're pulling in AMD tweets and have a feed of AMD's own blogs on the right hand side. AMD also wants to hear from you, and we've got some opporuntities to help with that going forward. Finally, the AMD Center serves as a destination for a bunch of pretty awesome AMD giveaways we've got planned. With AMD's support we've got better prizes and more of them to give away.

We kicked off our AMD Center giveaways with three Acer V5s. Today we're continuing with some more powerful notebooks for those of you looking for a little more punch. AMD is supplying three 15.6-inch HP ENVY TouchSmart Sleekbooks for this giveaway.

The ENVY Sleekbook features a touch-enabled 15.6" 1366 x 768 display, 8GB of DDR3 memory (up from 4GB on the V5s we just gave away, and expandable up to 16GB) and has an AMD A10-5745M Richland APU with Radeon HD 8610G graphics. The A10-5745 features four Piledriver cores running at a base clock of 2.1GHz and a max turbo clock of 2.9GHz. This is a 25W part, which is fairly low as far as Richland APUs go. The GPU features 384 Radeon cores (VLIW4) running at up to 626MHz with turbo (533MHz max non-turbo). Just as before, I asked AMD if they would be willing to swap out the hard drives for SSDs and they agreed - so if you win, your Sleekbook will ship with a 128GB Samsung SSD 840 drive.

The Sleekbook is 0.9" thin and weighs 5.6 lbs. 

Here's the deal. To enter, simply post a comment below (US residents only, please only make a single post, contest requirements below) explaining your current PC setup and why you want, or need to win a Sleekbook. What I'm looking for here is an understanding of what you currently own in terms of computing devices (PCs, notebooks, tablets, etc...), how you use them and how winning a Sleekbook would change/improve your current setup. Make your entries good as they may come in handy for some other stuff we've got planned in the future. If your entry from last time still applies, feel free to re-use it.

If you win, AMD wants your feedback on the machine after you get it. You'll be asked to provide a short review (a paragraph or two) talking about your experience with the system. Do a good job and your feedback may even be featured on AnandTech.

Good luck!

Congrats to our three winners. Here's their feedback from using the systems for a few weeks.

Francis

The HP ENVY M6 Sleekbook certainly doesn’t feel like a bargain laptop. With a sleek metal exterior and soft touch plastic on the bottom, the Sleekbook feels solid in the hands. The build quality is quite impressive, especially compared to some of the other HP laptops I have come across in the past. The laptop is slim, and deceptively light considering its size. On the exterior, the laptop features a solid port selection highlighted by dedicated HDMI. Open the lid and one sees a well laid out backlit keyboard that is pretty nice to type on. The keyboard does have some mild flex, but the key travel is good.  The backlight is of the on/off only variety, while the wi-fi light on the f12 key is always on no matter what you do.

Turning the laptop on, one can appreciate the quickness of Windows 8 on an SSD. The laptop is snappy and responsive for your basic every day tasks and is well suited for multimedia as it handles HD video easily. I had no trouble with light gaming thanks to AMD’s A10 APU. The featured Beats Audio Speakers provide good sound quality at an impressive volume. That said, they are not anything to get too excited about. Where the Sleekbook really falls short is in its display and WI-FI performance. The 15.6 inch 1366x768 display is quite frankly, terrible. The low resolution may be forgivable at this price segment, but the screen’s brightness is just plain disappointing. Having the display at anything less than 100% brightness is not really an option. The Wi-Fi is another area of disappointment. The Sleekbook’s Wi-Fi range is limited compared to other devices I own.  With just a quick (and unscientific!) comparison to my Acer netbook, the HP might fail to recognize my router in an area where the Acer would report greater than 50% strength.

The Sleekbook has a lot going for it in terms of build quality and performance. However, it gets hung up by the two huge flaws of display quality and Wi-Fi performance. That said, the AMD platform shows promise here and I look forward to seeing it offered in more devices.

Jamy

The 15" HP Sleekbook comes in an attractive brushed metal package and is clad with a black island style keyboard. It feels higher up market than its price would suggest. AnandTech has said, AMD processors in notebooks allow OEMs to trade some of the silicon cost for higher quality components elsewhere. I can see some of that here with this Sleekbook. It has the best trackpad of any windows notebook Iíve ever used. Itís large, responsive, and handles gestures easily. Itís getting really close to a Macbook in trackpad quality. The screen is bright and looks good, but with the usual 1366x768 caveat. It came with Dragon Naturally Speaking, Box cloud drive space, and a nice temperature utility that uses sensors to keep the Sleekbook cool when it detects it is on your lap. My biggest complaint is, even beyond the wish for more pixels, it came with 600 MHz RAM. I almost couldnít believe it considering how dependent AMD chips are on being fed with fast memory. The A10 feels fast in most cases, but there are definitely times when you miss memory speed. I play quite a bit of Kerbal Space Program on this laptop, which it handles really well at native resolution. Yes, it does borrow some design, and cut some corners in some places I wouldnít have. However, this Sleekbook is aimed at people who are looking for value in a notebook form factor, and it delivers. 

Jarrod

The HP ENVY TouchSmart Sleekbook has been my first experience using Windows 8 on a touch screen device. I was able to familiarize myself with navigating the operating system using the built in help menus and minimal internet searching. I primarily use the Sleekbook for web browsing, messaging, and light gaming. I am impressed by the almost instant boot time. The touch screen was calibrated well (for touch) from the factory and accurately responds to my input. I find the track pad difficult to use since it is a one-piece surface that incorporates the left and right buttons. Trying to click on anything without moving the cursor off of what you're trying to click is difficult without a light and deliberate touch. I am satisfied primarily using the touch screen. The keyboard layout is a bit spread out and works well for my larger hands although it may be less than optimal for someone with smaller hands.The AMD APU is powerful enough to handle casual games as well as some less demanding modern PC games. The sound quality is among the best I've experienced from laptop speakers. The Wi-Fi reception is the only aspect of the laptop I find substantially disappointing. This is the only device of several I use throughout my small house that must be in the same room as the wireless router to maintain a connection. Overall I am pleased with the construction and performance of the Sleekbook and would suggest it as a viable option for anyone looking to use Windows 8 on a touch screen device.  

 

Entries will be accepted from 9:00 AM ET on 9/23/2013 through 12:01 AM ET on 9/27/2013. We will draw 3 winner(s) who will be selected by 9/30/2013.

Official Rules and Regulations for AnandTech Sweepstakes
No Purchase Required to Enter or Win

Upon entering any contest, sweepstakes, or promotion (a “Promotion”) offered by anandtech.com (the “Site”), a website owned and operated by AnandTech, Inc. (“AnandTech”), you must agree to the following Official Rules and Regulations (the “Rules”) as well as any additional rules governing a specific Promotion that AnandTech publishes on the Site.

BEFORE ENTERING A PROMOTION, READ THESE RULES AND THE SITE’S TERMS, CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY INFORMATION.   BY ENTERING THE PROMOTION, YOU AGREE TO COMPLY WITH THE RULES AND THE SITE’S TERMS, CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY INFORMATION. 

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN.  PURCHASE DOES NOT INCREASE CHANCES OF WINNING.

  1. Eligibility.  Promotions are open to entrants who are 18 years of age or older at time of entry, and a legal resident of the United States (excluding Puerto Rico).  Entries are limited to individuals only who are not presently banned from AnandTech’s website or comments section; commercial enterprises and business entities are not eligible.  Directors, officers, employees, contractors, and agents of AnandTech (excluding volunteer AnandTech forum moderators) and members of their immediate families (spouses, parents, siblings, and children) are not eligible.  Subject to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.  Void where prohibited.  Participation constitutes entrant’s full and unconditional agreement to these Rules and AnandTech’s decisions, which are final and binding in all matters relating to a Promotion.
     
  2. Entry Period.  Each Promotion will contain a specific time period within which entries will be accepted (a “Promotion Period”).   The Promotion Period for this Promotion shall run from 9:00 AM ET on 9/23/2013 through 12:01 AM ET on 9/27/2013.  Only entries received during the Promotion Period will be accepted. 
     
  3. How to Enter.  Each Promotion will describe an entry procedure.  AnandTech is not responsible for lost, late, illegible, stolen, incomplete, invalid, unintelligible, misdirected, technically corrupted or garbled entries, which will be disqualified, or for problems of any kind whether mechanical, human or electronic.  Proof of submission will not be deemed to be proof of receipt by AnandTech.  All entries must be in English. Individuals are automatically entered in this Promotion by signing up for AnandTech’s Comments at http://anandtech.com/Account/Register and posting a reply to this post. If randomly selected as a winner individuals must provide full name, complete mailing address, telephone number, AnandTech user name and birth date within 3 days of being contacted.
     
  4. Limits on Entry.  An individual may enter a Promotion once only.  The use of any automated launching or entry software or any other means that permits an entrant to automatically enter repeatedly or in excess of the entry limitations is prohibited. 
     
  5. Prizes.  Winning a gift, prize, or other promotional item (a “Prize”) in a Promotion is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements in these Rules.  Winners will be selected in a random drawing of eligible entries received during the Promotion Period.  AnandTech will notify Prize winners using the contact information provided in the winning entry.  Failure to claim a Prize by the time or in the manner specified in the particular Promotion will invalidate any claim to the Prize.  Prizes are not transferable.  The odds of winning a Prize or the Grand Prize depend on the number of entries received by AnandTech.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ALL PRIZES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND ARE NOT EXCHANGEABLE FOR FAIR MARKET VALUE.  TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, ANANDTECH DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE PRIZES, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. For this Promotion, 3 winner(s) will be selected by 9/30/2013 and will each receive a HP ENVY TouchSmart Sleekbook laptop described above (“Grand Prize”).  The Total U.S. Retail Value of the Grand Prize is $699.99.  The Grand Prize may not be substituted for cash.  The Grand Prize winner will be solely responsible for all applicable taxes, fees, and surcharges associated with receipt and/or use of the Grand Prize.  After the Grand Prize winner has been notified and has complied with all applicable Rules, AnandTech will post the Grand Prize winner’s name on this website.
     
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  • sethcrow - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    My current laptop is an HP Envy but my fan is going out! I'm leaning heavier on my desktop to compensate, but winning this would help me get away from my desk!
  • gharkay - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    I built a desktop for my mom, but she needs a laptop when she is constantly working away from home and staying in an apartment.
  • laytoncy - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    Would love to give feedback on this device while making great use of it.
  • Dfere - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    Hey, No one needs this more than me! (well....). I just bough at i5 acer for my busines, and this POS died on my during tax season. Further, a computer company client of mine wiped the HD and did not keep my Office Keys. So I thought about trying Office 365, but I also had a hosted outlook Exchange server. 365 tried to subvert the server, so I cancelled it, but then my Windows Phone contacts could not be accessed on Outlook.com as Outlook.com tried to access the new subverting cancelled server at my business address. My phone was then dying, so I tried to merge all contacts on the phone, sync with Exchange, which seemed to work! Well it didn't. It only added phone numbers to known contacts already in Exchange, and worse, it updated OLD numbers that were no longer working that I had updated in Exchange already. 2000 contacts, and I do not know it the phone numbers are correct now.

    Have I not suffered enough at the hands of the Tech God? Have I not made enough blood sacrifice. I have been a devotee of this site since 1999 or so, even though I did not have an account for many years. I have posted numerous secular (mac v Win) posts here, made jests about the great robot protector with sword and flaming shield for over a decade to lift the hearts of the hosts. Mother of god, pick me! Pick me! :)
  • warrenk81 - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    I'd like a personal laptop that's not one component away from failure. Currently rocking an iPhone 4S with no wifi and a two generations old latitude with a hinge that's just about to snap. Hoping to get something current before one of these takes the next step into the grave.
  • tacosRcool - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    I have an awesome gaming setup currently and a HTPC that I recently built. I just gave away my 13.3" ultraportable laptop to my dad so he could use it at church. At my job they didn't give me a computer but it seems like a laptop would be good to have since I don't have one anymore. Plus if I go traveling I could always play a game or two!
  • s1175290 - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    My laptop is 5.5 years old....I would love this!
  • abhaxus - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    first of all, it wasn't until the last contest that I realized that the email address I had set up here for probably the last 10+ years was my college email, so even if I've won a contest, I don't know because the email didn't work due to my own stupidity!

    second, I currently have 2 gaming PCs (one fx8320 @ 4.6ghz, one c2q6600 @ 3.6 ghz) and an old acer laptop (turion based), plus an HTPC, and of course 2 smart phones. The old acer laptop is, well, old, and these would be ideal replacements, especially since they are powerful enough to play a game or two if I wanted without firing up the power hungry desktop.
  • semicycle - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    My home consists of 6 main PCs, 2 NAS, 1 laptop, 2 tablets, 4 cell phones…
    My pc is a custom C2Q Q6600, my wife has an HP C2Q 8200, my teen has a small Dell studio hybrid and my two younger children share an AMD 4850e based system running Ubuntu. The living room and master bedroom have C2D based HTPCs for media consumption. Media is served inside and outside the home via (2) Unraid based servers (older 8TB and newer 30TB server).

    I work from home 40% of the time and use my desktop for web, email and virtualbox to log in to multiple VPN environments. My wife and teen use their desktops for web,email, and youtube (teen) while my younger kids are logged into one of the many kid friendly websites (Disney, Nick,CartoonNetwork, etc) on their shared PC. The older Unraid server is used for data backups while the newer one is used for streaming audio and movies around the house. My wife finally allowed me to dump her netbook this past Mother’s day and she now uses an Asus i3 based touchscreen ultrabook when traveling. (10-15% of the time)

    My youngest daughter has a 1st gen kindle fire and my son has permanently taken over my Nexus7. Both are used for reading and light gaming on the go.

    Lastly I use a Nexus4, my wife has an HTC One and my teen uses a hand-me-down HTC Sensation 4G. All are just typical use smartphones. My youngest daughter is allowed to carry the spare LG GS170 with her when she’s over a friend’s house.

    So what’s missing…A laptop for me. I’m tired of sitting in the office away from the family while working. The laptop would allow me to carry my work into any room and not be confined to my desk.
  • rgupta82 - Monday, September 23, 2013 - link

    Love Anandtech. I have been in semiconductor startegy/corp. development roles professionally, and routinely use Anandtech for valuable insights on technologies, roadmaps, tear-downs, reviews etc.

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