After much research, I bought this computer for my partner, as she was getting frustrated with her 3-year old one. This one is a keeper.Is it  the fastest machine in the world ... no; but on the other hand, it is not the slowest either. In fact, its speed is more than adequate. Is it a good "gaming" computer? Absolutely not! The graphics are "par excellence," and the sound from the front loaded speakers is much better than I expected. However, for $500 including 8 gigs of ram and a 256 gb SSD , I do not think that the value can be beat.  It is very well constructed and solid, except for the DVD read/write drive. You must be gentle with it, but it works fine. We also appreciate the hidden, private, and covered camera and built-in microphone which becomes observable and usable only when you want to use it. We always had to put a covering over the camera and over the microphone port in all the other machines in our house hold including the smart TV's.