Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I usually buy my electronics through [...]. Newegg didn't have this model so Amazon got my business on this one and I'm glad that I happened to stumble across it.
I wanted 2 things in my PC. One was a large screen and the other was speed. The 17.3" screen is perfect. Not as bulky as an 18.4" but larger than a 15.6", so it's a good compromise. The new i5 chip is great. I didn't see the point in buying a PC with the old INTEL chips or AMD. I buy a new PC maybe every 6 years or so and considering I could have spent a lot more on a model by another manufacturer with the older chipsets it just makes more sense to buy this....which is really what makes this PC such an excellent purchase.
Usually when you find something that's a good buy you're making numerous compromises. That's not the case with this Acer. From the new chip to the 500 gb hard drive to the 4 USB's, card reader, VGA, HDMI, and dual-layer drive it's top-notch and is of an excellent quality build. Nothing feels cheap.
I have always despised notebook PC keyboards and anticipated using an external keyboard. Well, surprise surprise surprise....with the touchpad turned off, I find this keyboard works great. The keys are a good size for my stubby fingers, I don't mistype on it and find that the straight down touch you use, instead of the slightly angular touch I like on the external keyboards, works perfectly fine. The keyboard has a great feel to it as well. Rest your palms on the lower portion and go to work. I won't need an external keyboard with this PC. I definitely give it an A.
The screen is excellent. It's very sharp, equally bright and does justice to all my pics. Video is excellent and although it does not do 1080p HD, it does do lower resolution HD perfectly fine and on the 17 inch screen it looks fantastic. In fact, watching YouTube or other videos in full-screen mode looks good, but will look better when these on-line videos start sending out higher resolution streams than they do now. DVDs are excellent.
When I made my purchase decision I had looked at 6 or 7 other brands and found that the ACER beat them all on price when you compared the options it came with. The biggest dilemma for me was to get a model with a blu-ray drive and an i3 chip, or to go with the much faster i5 and not have blu-ray. For me, the best decision was to take the faster chip. I believe it would likely provide for smoother video and graphics overall and I could always add an external blu-ray drive later, if I really wanted to.
The only other factor about this PC which concerned me was that this model uses the integrated INTEL video card. I have used PCs with that in the past and found that I preferred having a separate graphics card. But my research indicated that INTEL is using a different methodology on the motherboards that have the new i series chips so I decided to go with it. So far I am pleased, but since I have not used one with a separate graphics card, I cannot say whether or not the separate graphics card offers any advantage in terms of performance. My guess is that a separate graphics card with 2 meg of dedicated RAM in addition to the 4 meg the system comes with might perform better under certain situations, however the software for this PC automatically dedicates 1,756k to video memory of the main 4mb and it's all DDR3 so I wonder if the difference would really be that noticeable. The additional price would be though, so I think this might well be the better purchase.
One disappointment...the sound on the speakers is very low, and since it's Dolby Home Theater with Virtual Surround Sound I expected more volume from the PC itself. Internet radio is hard to hear, but if I watch a video and use Windows Media Player or Winamp, that software boosts the sound a bit more. I use external speakers whenever I can and will continue to do so with this, but these internal speakers really are low volume.
If you're in the market for a new notebook this is a great PC. It's a great buy too. To borrow a phrase from a mortgage broker who advertises locally here...."It's the biggest no-brainer in the history of earth."
Click Here to see more reviews about: Acer Aspire AS7740-6656 17.3-Inch HD Display Laptop (Blue)
Acer Aspire AS7740-6656 Notebook comes with these specs: Intel Core i5-430M Processor 2.26GHz with Turbo Boost Technology up to 2.53GHz, Windows 7 Home Premium, 17.3- InchHD+ Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit Display, Mobile Intel HM55 Express Chipset, 4096MB DDR3 1066MHz Memory, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator HD, 500GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive, 8X DVD-Super Multi Double-Layer Drive, Built-in Webcam, Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader, Dolby Home Theater Audio Enhancement, Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED, 4 - USB 2.0 Ports, HDMI Port, Multi-gesture Touchpad, 6-cell Li-ion Battery (4400 mAh), up to 3-hours 30 minutes of battery life, 7.05 lbs. | 3.2 kg (system unit only), AC Power Adapter, AC Power Cord, Wireless Setup Card, Registration/ Limited Warranty Card, McAfee Internet Security Suite (60-day trial)
Click here for more information about Acer Aspire AS7740-6656 17.3-Inch HD Display Laptop (Blue)
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