Customer Reviews

Acer AS5738Z-4111 15.6-Inch Blue Laptop (Windows 7 Home Premium)

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

After making a lot of comparisons between the various laptops being offered since Windows 7 was released I found the Acer 4111 to be an outstanding buy at $479.99 through Amazon. It has so many nice features, 4 gigs of memory, 4 USB slots, a built in modem, 2.1 gig CPU and I could go on and on. It is a long list of features. I have only had it for 4 days and am impressed with it in so many ways. So far I am pleased with Windows 7. It seems pretty solid and it does have some nice touches to it. A word of caution on this model is that it does not come with backup DVD's. You will need at least 4 blank DVD disks and the built in backup program works very smoothly.
One irritant I ran into was a very annoying Macaffe (trial version) pop-up window every few minutes. I solved that by deleting the program. As the Acer comes with a 320 gig hard drive you will find that you have only about 260 gigs free. There is a lot of junk on the hard drive that could come off to free up more space.
I recommend this Acer and gave it 5 stars. I also am very well pleased with Amazon.

At first, I really liked this Acer. Great display, Win 7 runs well, everything loads quickly, startup is fast. The keyboard felt a little flimsy, but I figured it was me. Yet, instead of my typing improving as I got used to it (I'm a pretty good typist) more and more errors appeared: many missed letters, r letters coming in double, just like another user reported. In less than three weeks of use, the key for Q became stuck, and i had to flip up the flimsy little cover to get at the actual mechanism; eventually that hinged cover came off. I spent a lot of time setting this macchine up, and to think that I will have to get rid of anything personal, like quickbooks and tax info so that I can get it fixed -- well, let's just say I'm NOT happy!! Never mind lost productivity because I'll have to go back to my old, slow-as-molasses XP laptop. I gave it three stars because everything else is great.

I got this last week and am generally pleased. The display is great--large and very sharp. Everything works very quickly, and there weren't too many junky programs preloaded.

HOWEVER, they keyboard is really terrible. It fails to recognize about 1 in 10 letters I type. Then, sometimes, it doubles letters. It is very, very frustrating to type on this thing. I would not recommend it if you have lots of typing to do!

I've been itching to review this laptop ever since I bought it.

I was one of the people who bought it on Amazon even before the release date. I was in need of a new laptop and was looking practically all over the internet for good deals on laptops. I almost picked a not so good laptop before I checked my email and found Amazon's message about new laptops available with windows 7.

I checked at all the computers by ACER (yes, I specifically wanted an acer because I haven't ever had problems with the Acer computers I've used). I found this computer, read all the specs, and oh you know it.. I jumped on it! Was so eager to receive it that I paid for 2 day shipping.

AT 479.99, this was a great deal, so i didn't at all mind paying the extra bucks for fast delivery. Amazon, true to their reputation, delivered this faster than I expected.
I opened my laptop's box, and it was love at first sight. Turned it on, got on the internet, and started typing, and... that was when the problem started.

The keyboard seemed nothing short of annoying! I am a pretty fast 'typer', and having to repeat practically everything i typed really got on my nerves.
I immediately knew I had to call Acer, after all, this came with a one year warranty (thanks to God). The Acer customer service tried all they could to help me 'fix' this keyboard issue (like most reviewers on here have already mentioned), but all to no avail. I was eventually told to send in the laptop for repair.
I had to spend additional bucks to send in my laptop to the Acer office in Texas. I wasn't getting mad though, cos apart from the typing issue, I had already fallen in love with everything about the laptop... and windows 7 was just so lovely (Well done Windows. Don't worry about what that Modern-day, hip dressing dude says about you..lol)

Anyhoo, I now have my laptop back, and the keyboard is working PERFECTLY! I think if I found this laptop at the current price Amazon is selling it, I'd close my eyes and still buy it. It's worth every penny (Then again, If you think about it... original price + 2 day shipping + gas price to staples to ship it back to acer + shipping fee kinda all equals this current price). And worry not if your keyboard is misbehaving, Just send it in back to ACER.

I know I've said enough already, but I just wanna add, the huge screen is a big plus when watching movies, videos, etc.
The numerical pad is a bonus. I thought it would hinder my typing, and take up unnecessary space, but it is not.
The Webcam is Awesome.. so clear and works good with skype! The microphone is loud too, and speakers work great..

The mouse pad was slightly getting on my nerves, but all that resolved when i disabled the extra gestures, by clicking on Mouse from control panel. I also removed the plastic cover on the mouse pad (the one with the multi-gesture touch pad picture on it), and all these changes helped.
Ok. That's about it.. :-)

I ordered this laptop the day Windows 7 was released, and so far I am quite happy with it. Maxed out RAM (4 GB), Super-sized hard drive, dual-core Pentium (this is Intel's NEW line of Pentium CPUs), nice display.... Video is integrated but it's plenty good for watching DVDs, online video, web surfing, photos, etc. Windows 7 runs fast and slick on this bad boy.

Now, here is what ANNOYS me:

1. The keyboard blows. Acer has tried to imitate the new, flat-style keys (like Apple, Sony), but they seem to have it all wrong. The key placement is funny and I find the keys to be flat, crowded, indistinct, and difficult to get used to. The result is more typos. The keyboard probably won't be a deal-breaker unless you're planning to do lots of typing, or write a novel. Since this is a wide laptop, they've included a numeric keypad. I could do without that, but others will find it handy.

2. The track pad. The good: it has a button which allows you to easily disable it. The bad: If it isn't disabled, your hands will constantly brush against it as you type....hence even more typing errors. I disabled much of the multi-gesture functionality and that helped quite a bit. (Another tip: Get a good wireless mouse (such as the Logitech V450 Cordless Nano Laser) to use with this.)

3. The hard drive makes a distinct CLICK sound when it parks the heads. At least, I *think* this is what is happening. I'm curious if others have this same clicking sound? Write comments! If it's the hard drive "click of death" I'd like to RMA it with Acer...if not, I can probably ignore it as it's only once in a while that it happens.

Other than that... Excellent value for the money. It's on the large side. Make sure you buy the right-sized case.

I bought this computer to integrate on-line radio stations to my home stereo system. This is a nice little computer I use`to store and play all my music. The 300G hard drive allows plenty of space to store pictures and music. I bought this as an alternative to a lot of the MP3 players and other audio devices currently on the market. If you compare the price to some of the high end MP3s/Ipods I think this brings a lot more functionality for the money. For example, I can manage several playlists from different music providers into one portable laptop. This allows me to utilize Apple, Sattelite (XM/Surrius) and on-line radio stations (Slacker/FRhapsody)as well as my music portfolio with one device. I like the energy saving features where the computer powers down when not in use. Windows 7 is fast and easy to use. On the down side, it took several hours to set up the laptop and ACER support was not very helpful. The proxy settings were incorrect and as a result I could not install anti virus software. ACER did not take responsibility for the issue and referred me to the software provider. Also while connecting to my wireless network my passsord was not recognized.... Took several hours to resolve. I think ACER should test their products more completely prior to offering for sale. Also, streaming music between computers seems slow..... I checked network spead and noticed no matter what I do this computer does not go faster than 54Mbps in wireless network mode. Although advertised as wireless N this computer performs as a wireless G network. WATCH OUT! I called Acer and they told me as long as I get a wireless signal this is not their issue. After several more hours working with my ISP I determined there is an issue with the ACER network card. In short this computer operates at Wireless G speeds. This is running an Atheros AR5B93 network card. Acer `finally admitted the issue and I have an open ticket with them to resolve. Also, I agree with other reviews about the poor quality in keyboarde. But again for the money this is a good machine and because of the size and prtability a nice alternative to expensive MP3 or other portable music players...... Would appreciate better customer support from ACER. A rating of 2 because of poor customer support, slow network speed, and keyboard issues.

This laptop is a real standout for the price. Fast. clean. Minimal bloatware that was easy to remove. I'd easily recommend this as a basic laptop for everyday use. The numeric keypad is a nice extra. About my only concern is that the shell on the lid feels a bit thin.

1/1/10 Followup - I've had this a little more than a month, and things are still fast and clean. I do see a little of the skipped letters others mentioned. Not enough yet to worry, but we'll have to see (spellcheck is becoming my friend on longer documents). For those inclined - installation of, and dual booting to Ubuntu went smoother than usual.

Pros:
It came with Windows 7 and not Vista. (The lesser of two evils.)
Good price for the machines specs.
Touch pad disable button.
HDMI out.
Volume buttons.
Number pad if you use it. (If it recognizes all the keys you type...)

Annoyances:(NOT cons)
Touch pad sensitivity w/multi-touch enabled (Easily disabled.)
Touch pad position. (I understand lining it up with the space bar but I would rather it centered to the laptop itself.)
Glossy screen allowing a lot of glare in bright places.
The top of the laptop collects finger prints easily.
Bloat ware. (Easily removed.)
Laptop doesn't enable sound through the HDMI cable when a HDMI cable is plugged in sometimes.

Cons:
Acer support.
The keyboard sucks. Misses a lot of letters while typing.
Does tend to get pretty hot if ran for a long time on a table or lap.
Power cord brick gets considerably warm compared to my old Acer power cord brick.
Sound gets messed up if the computer runs for a long time. (It might be my codecs or Windows. I haven't figured out what causes it yet.)

I got this laptop primarily to act as my game machine while away from my desktop PC during Christmas break. It's the first PC I've encountered that runs Windows 7, and is slick. After an initial four or five hours making backup discs with the DVD burner (necessary, as it does not come w/ a Win7 CD) I was able to settle in and begin installing software.

Speaking of which, there's a fair amount of junk software pre-installed, including a great number of Acer-relevant programs, the majority of which you might not find useful. (A few possible exceptions: the Acer backup utilities, and perhaps the Acer multimedia software.) The laptop comes preinstalled with Microsoft Works and a 60-day trial of Microsoft Office. AFAICT, it's safe enough to uninstall quite a lot of it. Being a computer expert myself, and knowing my particular needs, I installed a bunch of software myself: Firefox 3.5, Google Chrome, OpenOffice 3.1, Skype and Dungeons and Dragons Online.

(Aside: after resizing the main NTFS partition, I also managed to get Kubuntu 9.10 installed so I could get some web development work done; overall Kubuntu runs very capably on the system w/ the only minor glitch being the oversensitivity of the trackpad; when the trackpad lock is engaged, the trackpad ceases to function until next reboot. Since I use a wireless trackball, however, this is not a significant issue.)

Finding and connecting to WIFI points is a breeze in Windows 7, and surfing is as you would expect. The keyboard is full-size, responsive and comfortable, and the placement of the trackpad doesn't significantly interfere with typing; if you find your mouse cursor jiggling about when typing, however, you can engage the trackpad lock, which under Win7 temporarily disengages the trackpad.

The webcam in this model is excellent. Skype found and connected to it flawlessly. I called a friend of mine and chatted with him; sound from the speakers was clear and crisp, and my friend claimed the video feed from the built-in webcam is way better than the external webcam plugged into my beefier desktop PC -- higher-resolution, jitter- and lag-free. One note, however: we discovered that the ambient microphone is sub-optimal, as its placement just above the middle of the keyboard tends to pick up each keystroke and transmit it as a "pong" sound over VOIP connections. The lesson: when on Skype, use an external headset.

Once I got the laptop back to my folks' place for Christmas, my buddy and I began playing DDO, and here's where I began to see the first serious issues: once a certain amount of time had passed, the system would start to hard-reboot, usually with a very quick BSOD. We figured out that the 3D graphics card was the issue, as it was generating too much heat for the fans to vent. The solution was to place the entire laptop on top of an inverted cookie sheet. (A laptop fan plate would probably serve better.) The video card is otherwise perfectly fine, suitable for running DDO in DirectX 10. Although the video card uses up to 1795MB of the 4GB system memory I experienced no major issues with jitter or lag, and for all non-3D-gaming activities the system seems to be just fine. Note that for 3D games you may have to turn down details or completely turn some video features off; the optimal settings detector in DDO preset a lot of details that 1) I didn't need and 2) slowed down gameplay a little bit. Once these features were turned off I was able to get down to business and play was smooth and responsive.

Windows 7 is excellent. It looks great, works quickly and generally stays out of my way. Apart from video-card overheating (no fault of the software) the system is completely rock-stable. The control panel has exploded since the last version of Windows I use (XP), but other than occasionally needing to stumble through it to change one option I've got no complaints.

I won't recite every detail of the hardware -- the product description here covers everything. I will note the build quality is significant, and there's a lot of nice touches. Slight complaint: the screen and top case are vulnerable to fingerprints, but a quick wipe with a cloth does the trick. If you're looking for a road-worthy system that can play 3D games (with a cooling base of some sort) and a general workhorse this is the system for you.

This laptop is awesome. The widescreen is awesome and the HDMI output is great. If you have Netflix, you can instantly watch movies online and use the HDMI to watch the movies on your HDTV. I only wish this graphics card could output to 1080p!

Windows 7 seems pretty fast. Like other laptops, just make sure you get rid of all the bloatware programs such as Norton, etc. I am now using Vipre antivirus and is pretty fast because it requires little use of RAM to run.

I agree with the other reviews, the keyboard is a little whack, especially if you have larger hands, but you can get used to it. The biggest issue with me is the arrow keys. I think they are too extremely small. But for the price and all the other features this thing brings, it's worth it. The numerical keys are also great and convenient (had a laptop before that didn't have it).

I don't use the mouse pad too much because I use a logitech notebook mouse that has a tiny USB dongle that you can barely notice. You can also turn off the mouse pad, which is nice so it doesn't get in the way when you are typing.

Haven't used the webcam yet but is nice to have it there. Think it's pretty common these days anyway in most other laptops. I didn't get this from Amazon but got it from Newegg for $360 after Bing Cash Back. Plus with it having 4GB of RAM, it's nice to know that it comes with great hard drive space and you can rely on some speed.

It connected to my wireless network with ease and is fast. I don't have a Wireless N setup, but is nice to know that it will catch it if I do come across a "N" network.

If you aren't too picky, you will love this laptop and has great features. It might not be a gaming laptop, but know it can play movies well. It runs pretty quiet as well.