Acer AS7552G-6436 17.3-Inch Laptop (Black)
This is a great laptop for the price I paid $725 and I am very pleased with my purchase. I can not speak to the way Acer sets up the operating system as I never even booted into it. I used a copy of 64-bit Windows with the Key from the bottom of the computer to do a fresh install from the get go. I highly recommend to download the drivers ahead of time, many are not in Windows 7 by default.
Pros:
1) Very fast using multi-threaded applications i.e. Handbrake.
2) Full size keyboard with number pad.
3) Few hardware LED's, the last laptop I had looked like a UFO. This Acer is very sedate I like the simplistic design.
4) Graphics are amazing for this price range.
5) Unit is very quite while routine operation. You can hear it pretty good while intensive operation such as encoding video.
6) Atheros Wi-Fi 802.11N is implemented quite well. I am able to get two rooms away and maintain 7MB/s transfers of large files.
7) Three DDR3 slots in mine it came with two 2Gig sticks of Kingston 1066 Ram. I am upgrading the third slot with a 4Gig stick.
8) Second hard drive bay for upgrades.
Cons:
1) Battery, only a six cell battery and the nine cell from Acer is $128.00 for a battery(wow)With mixed usage I am looking at 2hr 45min.
2) LCD screen viewing angle. Your face needs to be parallel to the screen and your eyes level with the top or the colors are completely washed out.
3) Single touch pad bar. I really wish the left and right buttons were separated, although I am getting used to this configuration.
4) Speakers are on the base right below the screen. I listen to a lot of podcasts and like to close the screen, if I do close the lid it muffles the sound.
5) Second hard drive bay requires a caddy that does not come with it.
6) Acer support website is useless and they will not provide and tech. manuals for their products,a service I have had multiple other vendors do without question.
Over all I say near $700.00 this is a deal for a 17inch DTR.
***Update**** I have seen some confusion on here as to the unreadability of the RAM. This laptop has 3 DDR3 slots that can hold 4Gigs a piece for a total of 12Gigs of RAM. Current configuration is using two of these slots leaving one free for immediate upgrade to 8Gigs
Pros:
1) Very fast using multi-threaded applications i.e. Handbrake.
2) Full size keyboard with number pad.
3) Few hardware LED's, the last laptop I had looked like a UFO. This Acer is very sedate I like the simplistic design.
4) Graphics are amazing for this price range.
5) Unit is very quite while routine operation. You can hear it pretty good while intensive operation such as encoding video.
6) Atheros Wi-Fi 802.11N is implemented quite well. I am able to get two rooms away and maintain 7MB/s transfers of large files.
7) Three DDR3 slots in mine it came with two 2Gig sticks of Kingston 1066 Ram. I am upgrading the third slot with a 4Gig stick.
8) Second hard drive bay for upgrades.
Cons:
1) Battery, only a six cell battery and the nine cell from Acer is $128.00 for a battery(wow)With mixed usage I am looking at 2hr 45min.
2) LCD screen viewing angle. Your face needs to be parallel to the screen and your eyes level with the top or the colors are completely washed out.
3) Single touch pad bar. I really wish the left and right buttons were separated, although I am getting used to this configuration.
4) Speakers are on the base right below the screen. I listen to a lot of podcasts and like to close the screen, if I do close the lid it muffles the sound.
5) Second hard drive bay requires a caddy that does not come with it.
6) Acer support website is useless and they will not provide and tech. manuals for their products,a service I have had multiple other vendors do without question.
Over all I say near $700.00 this is a deal for a 17inch DTR.
***Update**** I have seen some confusion on here as to the unreadability of the RAM. This laptop has 3 DDR3 slots that can hold 4Gigs a piece for a total of 12Gigs of RAM. Current configuration is using two of these slots leaving one free for immediate upgrade to 8Gigs