Customer Reviews

Acer AS8730-6951 18.4-Inch Laptop

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had my eye on this notebook as I was looking to replace my dying 4 year old 17" Toshiba laptop. When the price dropped 10% I felt the price became worthwhile. It quickly arrived in 4 days with regular super saver shipping.

This notebook mainly stands out for its large 18.4" screen and crisp audio. The screen is impressive for videos and gameplay. The audio quality sounded superb when I plugged in my headphones. The processor and video card are also quite good - I tested gameplay on "Devil May Cry 4 (PC version)" and it was pretty awesome.

I was also surprised that all input/output ports are on the left and right sides - there are no rear ports. Initially I wasn't sure whether I liked this, but it turns out to be easier than plugging cables into the rear :)

Shortfalls:
- the angled viewing is not as good as my old 17" Toshiba screen
- the touch pad is not centered - it is slightly to the left
- the incorrect product description (no Blu-ray drive)

In summary, I give this five stars as it is a great high performance laptop for multimedia and gaming with a reasonable price point.

Very good product overall; it functions as advertised. However, Acer support is pretty poor. They do not support the software they install, especially the eSecurity software, such as the Personal Security Disk (PSD). The PSD is hidden, and there's no way to get to it, particularly to back it up. So I use Steganos Personal Safe program. There is also a bug in the PSD opening function, which Acer refuses to deal with, asking to be paid to do so. I also don't like the disk partitioning, and especially the third, hidden partition that holds system recovery data. I like to have control over the storage. They partition the disk into the visible C: and D: drives and the third hidden one, and this cannot be changed.

I purchased this computer in March 2009 and purchased it to upgrade my previous laptop - a Dell Inspiron 17" - and as it turns out, it upgrades my desktop - an HP media center w/ 4 gig mem and an intel e6400 chip - as well. I am a severe multi-tasker. Besides working on business transactions and browsing the web, I am an active concert photographer and take it on the road with me, when shooting a music festival, for example. I not only process photos but print up to 13"x19" inches, meaning file sizes of several hundred megabytes. On my web site / photography blog, I have a photo exhibit of over 20 plus 11x17 to 13x19 prints - almost all processed on and printed from the Acer.

My HP desktop would regularly go through long freezes or totally freeze up when working in photoshop with such files. Especially as I am usually surfing the web and watching tv on the computer while having word and a multitude of other programs open while working in photoshop. I have no such problems with this laptop. I don't have an "official" measure, but the acer feels at least 20-25% faster than my HP [the e6400 dual core cpu is a very good cpu]. A lot of credit must go to the updated dual core p8600.

The 18.4" is a noticeable difference, allowing me to view side by side documents and windows much easier than the dell 17" screen, even though I don't think the screen, height wise is any taller (it is noticeably wider). I think I will post a longer article / review / video on my website / blog on how I use and can't live without my 18.4" acer. Fwiw, I am a very active Amazon user, including ordering almost all my big ticket photography items via Amazon.

The main reason for purchasing this laptop is due to the price in comparison to the size of the screen. To be fair it does not disappoint.

The only gripe (as with dell and every other manufacturer), they fill the laptop with loads of software that you don't want, and make it hard to get rid of it.

Luckily all that was solved with an upgrade to Windows 7. With the free upgrade Acer provided all the drivers to ensure all the hardware worked correctly. This luckily got rid of all the pre-loaded software. Well done Acer!

If you buy an Acer with Windows Vista from June 26, 2009 to January 31, 2010 can get a free upgrade to Windows 7. They say it is free, but still charge $20 P&P. Still better than buying it outright.

[...]

In summary, buy the laptop then order your free Windows 7 upgrade to get rid of all the annoying the software. You've then got a great laptop which is ready to go.

Bought to replace a 4 year old laptop. Wanted something to use to watch DVDs and TV shows online. This caught my eye, as it has a powerful graphics card and a large screen.
Pros:
1. GREAT display! Crystal clear picture, love the wide screen.
2. 10 key on a laptop - I have always wanted this!
3. Super fast, seems to handle everything I want it to do. Able to run several programs at once without batting an eye. I don't plan to buy another computer for four years, so hopefully the system has staying power.
4. I love the touchpad with the scroll bar on the side. I am also a big fan of the touch volume control.

Cons:
1. Tends to get warm, but no more so than any other laptop
2. The keyboard isn't the highest quality out there
3. Bloatware

This laptop is BIG and HEAVY, so only get it if you need the bigger screen!

When I started looking for a laptop I was trying to find the Acer AS8920, however after a call to Acer I found out it was discontinued. This was one of the suggestions for an alternative. In short, it is the envy of all my friends. It runs faster and better than my desktop. The 1 GB devoted graphics memory is what really rocks for me because I edit HD video. Some of the great specs include the first big noticeable thing, the screen size. One piece of advice I give everyone is that if don't mind caring it around get the largest screen size available. 15 inches just doesn't cut it for me. The fingerprint reader works great with the preloaded software, all of the Acer software is awesome. Some people will note the off center touch pad, understand that if it were centered your hand would be right on top of it while typing normally, many people don't realize this. If your hands still bump the pad there is a convenient touch pad disable/enable shortcut on the keyboard. The Media Dash is fun to play with the volume control works fine but the only programs that I have that work with the Play and Stop buttons are Windows Media Player and the Acer Player. The Windows Vista rating system gives the laptop a 5.0. The laptop is also excellent for gaming as well. The only thing I didn't like was the 2 140 GB hard drives are small for my needs, however this can be fixed by buying a bigger one. My friend can hardly beleave that the laptop only cost me $960. All in all I thing this is an awesome laptop for a great price.

When I ordered this Laptop for my business, I wasn't as concerned about screen size and all the "extras" as I was about the power and speed. When we opened it up to start loading developer tools on it, I literally went into low-grade shock. I kept saying, every 5 minutes or so, "it's so big..." I was just in a daze. I never expected that a laptop with so much power at such a good price would be so packed out with nice features... like a ginormous screen, for instance... There are cool little bells and whistles like a touch activated volume control and neato little buttons... and a freakin' huge screen.

It's packed out with power... my developer loves it. He didn't need that much power, really, but we wanted to go big and well... we did. Did I mention that the screen is enormous? It's like Sputnik... I think it has its own weather system.

Nice laptop - fast and great graphics. There is NO blue-ray whatsoever and vista 64bit is not compatible with my important software. I'd like to see lighted keys on the higher end laptops, but overall the performance of this notebook is great. The touchpad is too far to the left for us right handed people. I would have liked to have forgone the time consuming process of making backup and operating disks and wish they could just include the os and driver disks with a new pc of this price.

I am very happy with this acer product Acer has been quite prompt in providing the window 7 upgrade.Everything works very well. The only thing that is a drawback is dividing the harddisk into two C & D. But overall it is an excellent laptop.

This isn't my first Acer laptop, but it is by far the best. It has everything I need, is very efficient, and the screen size and resolution are excellent! It was well worth the money.